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Montana has had its fair share of winter weather this season, and its reflected in customer bills, according to a news release from NorthWestern Energy.

So far, winter in the utility's service territory was 16 percent colder than normal in December and 26 percent colder than normal in January. This is a wide departure from this time last year, when the weather started out average and then turned warmer than average in February.

"Our natural gas and electricity transmission systems, which provide energy to our customers as well as the customers of other energy providers within and adjacent to our territory, has kept up with the high demand," said utility spokesman Butch Larcombe.

"We set a record for natural gas outflows in December 2016 from our storage fields located at the northern and southern points on our system and set an overall record for on-system deliveries to our customers. That system record was subsequently broken the following month in January with a new system record of 6.7 billion cubic feet of delivered natural gas. Our electric system hit a new peak load of 1808 megawatts in mid-December," he said.

This demand is showing up as higher-than-usual customer bills since usage increased significantly due to the prolonged and persistent deep cold.

"Customers are encouraged to look closely at the comparisons provided on their bill that display usage patterns for the current billing period compared to the previous billing period and the same time last year," he said. "The corresponding average daily temperatures over the periods are provided to highlight the correlation between usage and weather."

Recent media coverage about a change to the property-tax rate last month as well as a slight monthly change in the supply rates are not the reasons for the significantly higher energy bills many customers are reporting, Larcombe said.

"The total bill is made of delivery, supply, and tax rates multiplied by the amount of energy used as measured by a meter, plus a small service charge that covers billing and metering costs."

Customers are also encouraged to call the utility if they are worried about their ability to pay high winter bills. Options ranging from individual payment installment plans to information on how to access emergency bill assistance through federal, state, and nonprofit sources are available.

Even though usage has caused bills to increase, the overall cost of natural gas remains quite low compared to previous years, and NorthWesterns overall delivered cost of natural gas is about 33 percent lower than the national average, Larcombe said.
Its been 15 years since Veralee Jordans pet pig passed away, but she says not a week goes by when someone in Butte doesnt ask her about Norton.

He was not only a celebrity, she says, he was a legend  so much so she had him stuffed after he died in 2003. Why, he was even known outside of Montana.

There were a couple of older ladies from California who walked by one evening and stopped, Jordan said. They couldnt believe it.

They took pictures with Norton that day and returned every year when back for visits.

They were always dressed to the nines, and they always stopped by and got their pictures taken with him, she said.

For all 13 years Norton lived with Jordan on Yale Street in Butte  from his first days at 9 pounds to his last at 250  she says not one person complained. An animal control officer even led him back home with crackers one day and was glad to do it, she says.

So she was surprised to learn last month that county officials had told Butte resident Nicole Prather to get rid of her mini pig Pumpkin.

I dont know what the deal is, because there are lot of people in town with pigs, she said. Theyre all just miniature pigs. The ones that have them now probably have them in hiding because they think someone is going to come and take them away.

The issue surfaced recently when Prather asked that Buttes animal-control ordinance be changed so she and others could keep mini pigs in town. Local law doesnt allow pigs in Butte-Silver Bow unless theyre on lots of five acres or more.

POTTY-TRAINED PIG

Prather said a neighbor complained about Pumpkin and animal control told her to get rid of it. She wrote a letter to commissioners and started a petition on Facebook saying her pig was clean, potty-trained, and a family member, so the law should be changed.

She talked to The Montana Standard by phone once in early January and was scheduled to meet with a reporter and photographer at her home a few days later, but she wasnt there. She has not returned several phone messages since.

Ed Randall, the countys animal services director, said a few weeks ago that his department had given Prather ample time to find another home for Pumpkin and planned a follow-up visit to make sure she had.

Theyve been unable to locate her since then, he said late last week, and there have been no signs of the pig, either. They believe through Facebook postings that Pumpkin has found a new home elsewhere.

Prathers request will still be addressed when the Animal Services Board meets Feb. 16, and Randall says hell accept whatever recommendation it makes and take it to Chief Executive Dave Palmer and the Council of Commissioners.

But he said last month he will oppose it, and he hasnt changed his mind.

I think we have come a long way as a community, but I think we have a long ways to go as far as caring for animals, he said.

We have had problems with pigs and some of their owners, he said. I can say that, before I started, things were a lot looser, and because of that, we had an animal problem. I think anyone who lived here many years ago can tell you it was completely out of control.

Because many houses in Butte are close to each other, especially Uptown, the ordinance was written to prohibit pigs, goats, or more than one rabbit unless on lots of five acres or more.

We didnt want someone that doesnt want to hear a pig or smell a goat living next to them, Randall said.

The days of dogs running loose in packs are over in Butte, but there are still irresponsible owners who dont pick up their dog's mess, even though the law requires it, Randall said. There are those who ignore other animal ordinances, too.

Randall said he appreciated Jordans story about an animal control officer leading her pig back home one day years ago. Thats how it used to be done in the old days, he said.

But things have changed, and people expect more (enforcement), and we are doing more, he said.

SMART NORTON

Jordan said mini pigs wont get much above 75 pounds if they are not overfed. Norton was overfed, she says, in part because neighbors and kids would throw food over the fence to him.

And in part because he was so smart.

When trying to nose under the refrigerator one day for a loose Cheerio, he accidentally popped the door open. He learned from it immediately.

Thats when the raiding of the refrigerator began, Jordan said.

Yes, he spent lots of time in the house, just like most dogs. And just like other mini pigs, Jordan said, he was clean, potty-trained, didnt smell, and was never loud.

These pigs are getting a bad rap, she said.

She said she supports an ordinance change, too, and is prepared to go to bat for one.

Most definitely, because I want to get another one (pig) someday, she said. I never thought there would ever be a problem with it.

The Animal Services Board is set to meet at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, in the first-floor conference room of the Butte-Silver Bow courthouse. The board is also expected to discuss a request to change Buttes animal-abuse ordinance.
HELENA  A bill allowing the care of children to be transferred from a parent to someone else via power of attorney passed second reading in the Senate Friday.

An investigative report in 2013 by Reuters on unregulated private re-homing networks revealed that children were being passed around to new families without any oversight. As a result, many states have banned the transfer of custody via power of attorney to stop private adoptions from circumventing state foster care.

Sen. Roger Webb, R-Billings, wants to make it easier to transfer guardianship without state interference. Webb said Senate Bill 117 would allow a faith-based organization to temporarily care for a child if a parent voluntarily asked for help. Democratic senators said the bill could allow a child to be transferred to a stranger with no accountability.

The Foundation for Government Accountability asked Webb to carry the bill in 2015, where it died on the Senate floor. Senate Bill 117 is the revival of that legislation, which passed second reading 30 to 19 on Friday.

Webb said the bill would allow the Foundation for Government Accountability to take in children via power of attorney. The website for its Safe Families program says children are in its temporary custody for an average of six weeks, but there isnt a time limit on if or when a child must be returned to a parent.

Power of attorney allows people to go around a legal adoption, which requires a court and vetting of adoptive or foster families. A power-of-attorney document is one piece of notarized paper that declares the child to be in the care of someone else. It isnt filed anywhere and, as reported by Reuters, acts more like a receipt.

While organizations like Safe Families screen volunteer families, there isnt a consistent process to make sure all parents are subject to the same standards. Its also impossible for Child and Family Services to monitor whether those children are at risk of being abused or neglected.

During discussion on the floor, Webb said the foster-care system is broken and his bill provides a safe alternative.

It gives a faith-based organization an opportunity to help these people, he said. Were not asking for help from the state.

Specific cases gone wrong in the Reuters investigation were mentioned on the floor by Democrats, who strongly oppose the bill.

One family was struggling to raise Quita, a child they adopted from Liberia. The Puchalla family posted an ad online and a few weeks later drove from Wisconsin to a mobile-home park in Illinois to hand off Quita. The only paperwork was a notarized statement transferring guardianship.

The Reuters investigation later found that Nicole Eason, who took guardianship of Quita, lost custody of her two biological children after she was found to be violent. Nicole and her husband Calvin Eason were also accused of sexually abusing the children they babysat, although no charges were filed. On the first night Quita stayed with the Easons, she was asked to sleep in their bed where Nicole slept naked.

When the family called to check up on Quita, they couldnt reach the Easons, and she hadnt shown up at the school she was supposed to attend. The Puchalla family called the police, who located Quita in New York and took her out of the Easons' custody. Law enforcement didnt take any action to stop the Easons from using online networks to take in another child.

In one case, Nicole Eason and a man took custody of a 10-year-old child in a motel parking lot. That man was later sent to prison for trading child pornography.

Sen. Jen Gross, D-Billings, said similar situations could unfold in Montana if SB117 takes effect. She said the bill doesnt implement any of the safeguards and regulations used by the Department of Health and Human Services.

No background checks. No requirement for a home check either before or during the temporary transfer of custody, she said. We could very well call this bill legalizing parking-lot abandonment, Gross said.

Sen. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, had similar concerns that one organization having a screening and background process doesnt mean other organizations or individuals will hold themselves to the same standard.

My understanding of the role of the faith-based group is that it would be providing something of a safeguard to make sure these transfers of custody were not made improperly, but in fact, in the bill, there is no provision for any safeguard of that kind, Barrett said.

Shannon McDonald, deputy chief of legal counsel at DPHHS, said the bill is dangerous without regulations.

This bill would really take us in the opposite direction, she said.

Webb said he believes the foster-care caseload would go down by 25 percent if his legislation passes, but McDonald said there hasnt been any evidence introduced to support his claim.

Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, said the legislation is coming forward at a time when the Legislature should be reforming Child and Family Services, not making it more difficult to monitor the safety of children in Montana. While Webb pointed out the large number of children in foster care in Montana, Caferro said the high number isnt necessarily a sign of a bad system.

It could be that state workers are doing a better job of keeping kids safe and removing them from a dangerous situation, she said.
Butte boy wins $50 in poster contest

A fourth-grader from Hillcrest Elementary in Butte has won second place in Energy Share of Montanas statewide poster contest.

Robby Holman, son of Lesley and Dave Holman, received a $50 check Friday from Energy Share and Action Inc. in Butte. Additionally, Robby's teacher, Bobbie Anderson, received a $50 Wal-Mart gift card to use for classroom supplies.

Robby's poster depicted the state of Montana and the slogan "Our Montana winters are cold, but our homes don't have to be. Energy  share the love!"

The first- and third-place winners in the contest will be announced next week. Donations from individuals and businesses, including NorthWestern Energy, make it possible for Energy Share to help Montanans who face emergency no-heat situations when they encounter temporary financial difficulties. Last heating season, Energy Share helped nearly 200 families in Beaverhead, Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Granite, Madison, Powell, and Butte-Silver Bow counties.

For details on Energy Share, in Butte call 406-533-6855, 1-888-779-7589, or 442-4900 or visit www.energysharemt.com.

Wellness Fair planned for Feb. 15

Highlands College of Montana Tech will sponsor its 2017 Wellness Fair for students, faculty, and staff from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15. The event will be spread around various places throughout the Highlands College.

The Wellness Fair is an annual event sponsored by Montana Techs Office of Student Life and Highlands College and brings together health and wellness students and experts from various Montana Tech departments along with many community organizations and fitness-focused businesses. This collaboration between the college departments and community organizations is intended to create an educational experience focused on health and wellbeing.

Details: Cricket Pietsch, 406-496-3730.

Peer advocacy meeting Feb. 9

The Montana Independent Living Project invites those living with a disability to attend the peer advocacy group meeting from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, at the MILP office, 3475 Monroe (Independent Living suite 103).

This group is designed to provide a safe, nonjudgmental space for sharing, education, advocacy, and fun.

In addition, MILP is hosting a drop-in time for those living with a disability who would like to come in and hang out from 2 to 4 p.m. every Monday and Friday. Visitors can play games, watch movies, work puzzles, or just talk.

MILP is also hosting a cooking class from 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, for those with a disability. The class will be at Gym Dandy, 305 W. Mercury St. (first floor).

Details: Mike Phyfield or Alice de Chelley at 782-4834 or email mphyfield@milp.us or adechelley@milp.us. Details: 406-782-4834.

OGCT plans 24-hour play festival

The Orphan Girl Children's Theatre is hosting its first ever 24-hour play festival, which will be a fundraiser to support OGCTs continued operation.

In the span of 24 hours, artists will write, direct, and produce ten 10-minute plays.

There will be an informational meeting from 4 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, at 315 W. Park (Washington Street entrance) to discuss the format of the event, how to get involved, and the theme.

This event is open to anyone age 7 and up in Butte and its surrounding areas.

If you are unable to attend the meeting, it will be posted on the Orphan Girl Children's Theatre website, www.orphangirl.org, and its Facebook page.

Greenhorn project to be discussed

DILLON  The Madison Ranger District is initiating a collaborative process to design and implement a forest-restoration project in the Greenhorn Range of the northwest Gravelly Mountains. The purpose of the project is to identify and treat areas of the forest to promote resiliency and ecological function. Treatments can take a variety of forms to promote resiliency including, but not limited to, thinning, prescribed fire, and timber harvesting.

Preliminary investigation contributing to the purpose and need for this project was conducted by the Gravelly Landscape Collaborative in cooperation with members of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

Join Forest Service personnel at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Madison Public Library, 210 E. Main St., Ennis, for the projects first public collaborative meeting.

Details: Clint Kolarich at 406-683-3895 or Dale Olson at 406-682-4253.

Historic preservation grants available

The Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization group is accepting grant applications for the Historic Improvement Program. Since 1997, Butte CPR has paid out over $70,000 through this grant program to assist in facade improvements that honor the historic character of buildings throughout Butte.

One or more grants will be awarded to either residential or commercial applicants who meet the appropriate criteria. To be considered for an award, buildings must be circa 1950 or earlier, and improvements must be compatible with the historic character of the building and visible from the streetscape. Grants range from $600 to $2,000. The deadline for applications is Monday, May 1.

Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings in Butte. For grant guidelines and to apply for a grant, go towww.buttecpr.org/services/grants.php. Questions? contact us at info@buttecpr.org or 406-782-3682.

Pinochle tournament Feb. 18 in Divide

DIVIDE  A mid-winter pinochle tournament hosted by Divide Grange 142 will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Divide Grange Hall.

Refreshments will be served, and prizes will be awarded. Cost is $10. Details: Leanne at 406-267-3389 or Linda at 406-498-3344.
Metallurgical professors talk Thursday

Jerry Downey, a Metallurgical and Materials Engineering professor at Montana Tech, will give a talk on the Development of a Continuous-Flow Ion-Exchange Reactor to Recover Metals from Very Dilute Wastewater Streams at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in room 128 of the Natural Resources Building on the Montana Tech campus.

Downey will discuss his research on recovery of metal contaminants from industrial wastewaters with magnetic nano-composites in a continuous-flow process system. Such technology may provide the means to capture dissolved metals from acid rock drainage and other wastewater streams.

He earned his bachelors and masters degrees in Metallurgical Engineering at Montana Tech and his Ph.D. in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Colorado School of Mines. Prior to becoming a faculty member in 2006, Downey gained over two decades of industrial experience that encompasses plant operations, applied process research and development, and corporate management.

The public is welcome. Visitor parking is available on the north side of the Natural Resources Building, which is located on the Montana Tech campus.

Library hosts college workshops

The Butte Public Library will host a free college-exploration workshop for non-traditional students from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the librarys south branch in the Butte Plaza Mall and again from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 226 W. Broadway St. (third floor).

Led by Therese Hinshaw of the TRiO Educational Opportunity Center, participants receive a free gift and get information about career exploration, sources of financial aid, free college prep classes, and college expectations.

Details: Shari Curtis at 406-723-3361, ext. 6302, or scurtis@buttepubliclibrary.info.

Logging closes Douglas Creek roads

DILLON  Sun Mountain Lumber will be harvesting 300 acres of dead and dying lodgepole pine and thinning Douglas fir in the Douglas Gird Salvage Timber Sale this winter. The sale is 13 miles south of Drummond and 6 miles east of Highway 1 along forest road #707 (Douglas Creek).

Forest Road #707 along the North Fork of Douglas Creek will be closed above the junction with Forest Road #1544 by an Emergency Forest Order to provide for public safety during log haul Monday through Friday. The road closure will be posted and is expected to continue through March.

Firewood gathering is not allowed in any of the timber-sale units.

Details: Pintler Ranger District Office at 406-859-3211.

Guided birding hike Feb. 18 at caverns

Montana State Parks will host a guided hike in honor of the Audubon Societys Great Backyard Bird Count on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park.

Learn some bird identification skills and participate in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon Societys project to capture birding data in real time. Assistant Park Manager Tom Forwood will lead.

Visitors are encouraged to download the eBird mobile app and create an account so they can document what birds they saw on their hike.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Muscatine students, from grades 6-12, are invited to submit short films related to literature to the Musser Public Library for Teen Tech Week, March 5-11.

The film submissions should be three to five minutes long, focusing on the themes Let's Play, Book Trailer or Being the Source of Change. Students can use a cellphone, camera, video camera or any other device to create the video and can work alone or with a team of up to five people.

If anyone has a different idea they can check with the library, said Betty Collins, the children's librarian at the Musser Public Library. The contest, Collins said, helps reinforce technology skills while giving students a chance to be creative.

"I think that we feel like it's a way to make sure that the experience of literature is relevant to all the media that is being used in society today," she said. "And you don't have to choose between loving books and loving other forms of media; you can love it all."

Julie Lear, an assistant at the Musser Public Library, said home-schooled students and those in public school have participated in the past.

An example, Lear said, is when home-school students Archer and Morgan Moore created "Diary of a Wimpy Hobbit," a short video that won the Library's Choice award can be seen on YouTube. The video uses drawings and voices to tell a story that combines elements of the books "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and "The Hobbit," although Collins said many students choose to serve as actors in the videos.

The video contest is held nationwide, and the Musser Public Library is part of the Quad-City regional contest. All who submit a video can attend the Premiere Party at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 7, with friends and family at the Putnam Museum and Science Center in Davenport.

At the premiere, students' videos will be shown on the "big screen," Collins said, and they can celebrate like they would on the red carpet.

"It's really honoring the kids who've done it," she said.

Winners of the Library's Choice and Viewer's Choice awards will be given $100.

Videos must be submitted by March 1.

For more information or to participate in the contest, visit the Musser Public Library at 340 Iowa Ave. or call 563-263-3065.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  A Muscatine man will face drug and weapon charges after he was allegedly found with a knife and nearly 20 grams marijuana.

Cory Leibbrand, 24, has been charged with possession with intent to distribute, marijuana, a class D felony, and carrying weapons, a serious misdemeanor.

Leibbrand was allegedly found in possession of a knife with a blade more than five inches long, and 19.5 grams of marijuana, bags and a scale, according to a criminal complaint from the Muscatine County Drug Task Force.

A preliminary hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17, in Muscatine County District Court.

Leibbrand's bond was set at $5,000.

Emily Wenger of the Muscatine Journal
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MUSCATINE, Iowa  President Donald Trumps immigration executive order has caused confusion and anxiety in immigrant communities in eastern Iowa, immigration lawyers say.

Last weeks executive order bans immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries  Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia for 90 days and bars all refugee admissions for 120 days.

Its caused just a general panic within the immigrant community in general, said Muscatine-based Immigration attorney Summer Allchin. I have received numerous phone calls since the executive orders were issued last week from permanent residents ... that have been here for 10, 15, 20-some years or naturalized U.S. citizens that are calling me saying I have a trip planned next week and Im afraid Im not going to be able to come back to the United States.'

Allchin, who has about 100 active cases, with clients from eastern Iowa and parts of western Illinois, said the panic led to a lot of misinformation.

There are a lot of immigrants that are afraid that even if they havent been affected now, its just a matter of time before something else comes down, she said.

Theyre just terrified that ... even if theyre from Mexico and are just going to visit their abuela (grandmother) or a family member that they are not going to be allowed back in, she added.

When the ban was issued last Friday, there were some concerns that it would affect green card holders from the banned countries. But since then, the Trump administration clarified that green card holders will not be affected. The confusion it caused, Allchin said, has led to some frustration.

I understand the fear that is out there, I completely understand the need for making sure that the people who are coming to our country dont pose any threats; I just think that the way these executive orders were issued and how this came about could have been done differently, she said.

The confusion, she said, makes it harder to do her job.

Its frustrating to feel, to a certain extent, helpless that you cannot help your clients, guide your client to the best decision that they should be making, and you know what might be best for their case today might not be best for their case tomorrow and its very stressful, Allchin said.

Rosa Mendoza, of Muscatines Diversity Service Center of Iowa, said the center has gotten an extra eight to 10 calls from concerned clients since the ban went into effect.

There is a lot of anxiety, but its mainly from legal permanent residents ... that have the fear of traveling abroad since they are hearing about the ban theyre afraid to even travel to their home country now, even though their home country is not in the list of the banned countries, Mendoza said.

Mendoza said she spoke to a green card holder whose mother in Peru is sick and needs surgery. The client wondered if she would be allowed to return to the United States if she visited her mom. Despite her moms illness, the client decided against traveling.

She says shes not going to travel, shes scared. She doesnt want to lose (her green card), Mendoza said.

And clients whose immigration applications are in process, Mendoza said, are afraid their applications wont go through.

Immigration attorney Trey Sucher, has offices in West Liberty, Marshalltown and Perry, said the ban spurred some of his clients to submit applications to advance their immigration status.

A lot of people kind of have moved up their plans for benefits, he said, adding that some of his clients asked him to submit asylum applications in light of the ban.

Other clients, he said, call to him with concerns about their application, even if they are not from the banned countries.

Theres a lot of misinformation and a lot of people that are just scared, he said.

I spend a considerable amount of time just reassuring them that nothing with respect to (their) case has changed, Sucher said.

Other clients come to him with travel questions.

Ive had a lot of permanent residents from El Salvador who came into my office and were concerned about traveling back to El Salvador even though El Salvador wasnt one of the travel ban countries, he said.

Despite the panic, Sucher said the ban has not changed his job.

This is the usual. There are changes to immigration law all the time, this one is just very high profile, he said.

Im just really hopeful that this is what its been billed as  temporary  and I have no basis or insider knowledge for believing that it would be something that is temporary or longer term, but my exposure to immigration law and putting in place long-term reform and immigration changes makes me think that this is likely just a temporary ban.

If we can just endure for a couple more months, Im hopeful that things will get back to normal, he added.
Dead coral, Lizard Is. GBR. Credit: Greg Torda

disinformers will make up stuff that they think their readers want to read

disinformers don't think much of the intellectual capability of their readers, with good cause

disinformers are fairly confident that their readers won't bother to do any fact-checking, again with good cause.

Bob is sloppy and careless, with missing links and missing diagrams. Actually, it's Anthony Watts who was sloppy in this case (he also got Bob's name wrong). Bob complained in the comments about some of the missing links and diagrams.

Bob is a messy thinker, with a summary at the end that is meaningless, incomprehensible nonsense.

Bob was writing about an article by Andrew King and colleagues, which was published at the Conversation in April last year. Bob was complaining about it for various non-reasons, and tried to weave a couple of memes into his desperate tale:

He tried on the excuse for Judith Curry quitting science. Judith quit science a while ago and took up science denial. Now she's at retirement age she's decided to formally quit her university post as well, and is apparently going to focus on getting people to work in her business. Bob tried to make out that she quit because science is dishonest, whereas it's mainly people like Bob and Judith who are dishonest.

Bob also tried to weave his silly article around a yarn that scientists live on campus and never get out. That's obviously not true - look at all these scientists in the field, and how many of them just happen to dress like a woman :). (How does Bob think that scientists observe nature and collect data, I wonder?).









Coral bleaching and a hot Coral Sea



Andrew King's article at The Conversation was about how temperatures in the Coral Sea (off the Queensland coast) were at a record high for the month. The authors did some calculations and worked out that there's about a 175 times increase in the likelihood of very hot March months in that region, "because of the human influence on the climate". Andrew King was a lead author in another paper last year, where he did similar calculations to determine the likelihood of high temperatures. I wrote about this at the time.











Bob spliced words to fabricate a quote Bob has had a bee in his bonnet about that article for quite some time. He had another one about it published at WUWT last September . It was at least as wrong as this week's poor effort, and repeated much of it.





Bob doesn't pay much attention to facts, nor to detail. In this week's article he wrote up top:

Here is a screenshot of the headline image for the public release in the university-partnered blog The Conversation, of a death story for coral reefs in Australias Great Barrier Reef (the article). It contained some astonishing claims, one of which (red underlined) went globally viral:



Great Barrier Reef bleaching would be almost impossible without climate change And the only mention of 175 times is in this paragraph:

We found that climate change has dramatically increased the likelihood of very hot March months like that of 2016 in the Coral Sea. We estimate that there is at least a 175 times increase in likelihood of hot March months because of the human influence on the climate. Yes, in true disinformer style, Bob had joined together two bits of different sentences and didn't even put in elipses to show what he'd done.



Now you might think that I'm making a fuss over something little. I'm not. Bob's whole article is complaining that the authors were claiming that coral bleaching is 175 times more likely. That's not what they found or what they said. What their analysis showed was that the Coral Sea surface temperature was 175 times more likely to be hot in March, because of global warming. It's not the same thing.





Bob got stuck in March

Now Bob wrote how March is normally the coolest of the three hottest months - which in the Coral Sea are January, February and March. He also wrote about what he called the "  Super El Nino  (his quotation marks, bolding and colour). What he didn't point out that the very next paragraph in

The decaying El Nino event may also have affected the likelihood of bleaching events. However, we found no substantial influence for the Coral Sea region as a whole. Sea surface temperatures in the Coral Sea can be warmer than normal for different reasons, including changes in ocean currents (often related to La Nina events) and increased sunshine duration (generally associated with El Nino conditions). Compare what Bob claimed was a quote, with the actual article . (I even went back to the Wayback Machine on the date of publication, to see if it had changed. It hadn't.) The words as written above are nowhere to be found. Instead there's this headline:And the only mention of 175 times is in this paragraph:Yes, in true disinformer style, Bob had joined together two bits of different sentences and didn't even put in elipses to show what he'd done.Now you might think that I'm making a fuss over something little. I'm not. Bob's whole article is complaining that the authors were claiming that coral bleaching is 175 times more likely. That'swhat they found or what they said. What their analysis showed was that the Coral Sea surface temperature was 175 times more likely to be hot in March, because of global warming. It's not the same thing.Now Bob wrote how March is normally the coolest of the three hottest months - which in the Coral Sea are January, February and March. He also wrote about what he called the "(his quotation marks, bolding and colour). What he didn't point out that the very next paragraph in the Conversation article was this:



Faker Bob fakes "Fake News"

One has to wonder why Bob is so upset that he writes a scatty, mixed up article complaining that the expert scientists didn't agree with his flawed assessment. He



But there was nothing fake about The scary 175x forecast was not based on water temperature of the narrow Continental Shelf on which the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is located, but was hastily applied to SST data for the CS, presumably because GBR data were not easily accessible at that time (but did exist). "



That's partly correct and partly wrong and very sloppy writing for an engineer (or anyone). The 175 times wasn't a forecast, it was an analysis of the likelihood of March temperatures being higher because of human-caused climate change. The authors even linked to the





Scientists talk about the recent bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef

Scientists have investigated the damage to the reef, as discussed in this video:





One has to wonder why Bob is so upset that he writes a scatty, mixed up article complaining that the expert scientists didn't agree with his flawed assessment. He called the article "Fake News" - again with quotation marks.But there was nothing fake about the article or the analysis . Bob said that "That's partly correct and partly wrong and very sloppy writing for an engineer (or anyone). The 175 times wasn't a forecast, it was an analysis of the likelihood of March temperatures being higher because of human-caused climate change. The authors even linked to the data and methodology underpinning their analysis. There was no claim that the sea surface temperature of the Coral Sea was identical to that in the Great Barrier Reef. I'll also point out that even though Bob himself claims that the temperature of the continental shelf was available, he didn't link to it.Scientists have investigated the damage to the reef, as discussed in this video:



















As you know very well by now, science disinformers abound at Anthony Watts' blog wattsupwiththat.com. It's one of the reasons his blog exists. It's not so that Anthony can write stuff. He doesn't do that much any more. It's so that disinformers and science deniers can comfort science deniers that their false opinions are promoted by other people. (Other reasons include making money, panhandling for jaunts, and trying to convince his readers that he's cleverer than the really clever people.)Another case in point today, when a dud ex-engineer (so he says) called Bob Fernley-Jones (Mechanical engineer retired, Melbourne Australia) made up a whole bunch of stuff about coral reefs (archived here ). I'd say it was so that he could try to portray himself as being cleverer than climate scientists and coral reef experts. Instead he's a Dunning Kruger case , and a whiner.As well as that, Bob's article shows:There was no screenshot. Maybe he meant to put in what he called a screenshot, but wasn't, from his September article . Bob's so-called "screenshot" that wasn't, looked like this - though I added the callout:
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Stanley Consultants announces the retirement of several employees who have retired in recent months, including Mary Garrison, Wes Walker, Steve Tripmacker, Craig Smith, Noe Vega and Kathy Hale-Johnson. These longtime employees represent a combined 216 years of dedicated and loyal service to the company.

Project Manager Mary Garrisons expertise and unique skill set has been highly valued by Stanley Consultants utility clients for decades. During her 43 years with the firm she worked on 107 rate studies and 42 cogeneration studies. She joined the company in 1973 as a clerk in the Operations/Electrical Department, was promoted to assistant engineering aide that same year, and steadily advanced in the firms Energy Business Unit throughout her career. In 2004, she became a project manager and received her Career Service Award.

Principal Engineer Wes Walker spent four decades designing a wide variety of electrical projects including a grounding study at a Trident submarine base in Washington; mini-hydro feasibility study in Malaysia; campus electric inspection in Yemen; thermal oxidizers in Minnesota; resident engineer on University of Iowa Boiler 11; Mt. Coffee rehab study in Liberia; Kuwait air field lighting rehabilitation; data center UPS upgrades in England; air base upgrade design in Peru; and conversion of large water system pumps in New Orleans. He joined the firm in 1974 as an electrical engineer-in training, became a licensed professional engineer in 1978, and held several positions including senior engineer and department manager. He received his Career Service Award in 2006.

Steve Tripmacker, control systems consultant, has retired after dedicating 41 years to the company. He joined in 1975 as an engineering aid in the Operations Process & Utilities Department. Over the years, he steadily advanced through numerous positions including engineering technician, engineering designer and controls systems engineer. He was promoted to principal engineer in 2006, and received his Career Service Award in 2004. Throughout his career Tripmacker wrote several technical papers on wastewater treatment, water supply and drainage projects. He is a senior member in the International Society of Automation, and a founding member in the Industrial Computing Society.

Craig Smith, CADD/Graphics Department manager and senior designer for the Federal and International Programs Market, has retired after 39 years. Smith joined as a drafting technician and received multiple promotions before becoming a department manager in 1979. He served in this role until retirement. Smith devoted his entire career to drafting and member development of CADD/graphics. A major career highlight occurred 1980 when he assisted with the transition from conventional drafting to Computer Aided Design Drafting via a new $750,000 CADD system. The transition caused the company to completely rethink the planning and execution of client deliverables while training staff and meeting deadlines with the new system. He received his Career Service Award in 2008.

Designer Noe Vega joined Stanley Consultants in 1989 as a part-time assistant drafting technician in the Graphics Department of the Civil-Architecture Group. He steadily advanced through numerous positions including graphics technician, engineering technician, senior technician and associate designer. He was promoted to designer in 2013. He received his American Design Drafting Association (ADDA) recognition in 1998 to become a certified drafter. Vegas career highlights include working on multiple bridge projects including a foot bridge in Cameroon, Africa, several I-235 bridges in Iowa, and Chicago's Kennedy Expressway.

As a senior designer, Kathy Hale-Johnson worked on a wide variety of projects during her 24 years with the firm, including military bases, water treatment plants, power plants, and the worlds largest desalination plant. She joined as a graphics technician and received multiple promotions before becoming a senior designer in 2009. In retirement, she plans to dedicate more time to Simply Native Nursery, a native perennial plant business she founded in 2005 that specializes in nursery propagated prairie, woodland and wetland natives, and Monarch and pollinator plants.
The HSUS was founded to get to the heart of animal cruelty and develop programs to stop it. Its a mission we carry out with great care and purpose, every single day. Above, a dog rescued from a puppy mill. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS

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If you live in the Washington, D.C. area, you might catch a glimpse of a commercial during this Sundays Super Bowl pre-game show mischaracterizing the work of The HSUS. Its more from D.C. public-relations operative Rick Berman and his so-called Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF).

Ive written about Berman many times on this blog  hes the original, black-hatted flack whos worked on behalf of tobacco and alcohol interests, and even the tanning bed industry, to peddle falsehoods and to attack critics of those industries. Years ago, CBS News dubbed him Dr. Evil for taking on clients no one else dared or cared to work for. A good deal of his money, it appears, comes from defending animal cruelty and attacking The HSUS and the goals of animal protection.

Ive pointed out that were in good company: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest are just a few other targets of Bermans deceptive front groups. His groups  like CCF or American Beverage Institute  are all headquartered at his public relations firm in downtown D.C. and their boards typically consist of Berman and one or two other people, including his wife. These groups provide no genuine services or have no definable social purpose except to attack groups and agencies doing good work for people, for animals, for the environment, and for society. There are a handful of staff members at Berman and Co. that do the day-to-day work, but the whole thing is just a dolled-up astroturfing effort  with Berman and his public relations staffers masquerading as representatives of real non-profit, watchdog organizations. Its a combination of a shell game and a charade  the very embodiment of the Washington, D.C. swamp that the American public clamors to drain.

Bermans central claim when it comes to The HSUS is that we dont run local shelters, even though weve never claimed to do so. The HSUS was founded in 1954 to get to the heart of animal cruelty and develop programs to stop it, to care for animals in crisis, to professionalize the animal-care field through training and thought leadership, and to tackle systemic abuse on a national and global scale. Its a mission we carry out with great care and purpose, every single day. We help all animals  dogs, cats, horses, farm animals, chimpanzees, lions, seals and every other kind of creature at risk of harm, suffering, or threat. On the other hand, a second group formed by Berman to help shelters, the so-called Humane Society for Shelter Pets, appears to never have donated a dime to shelters. Instead, the money donated by animal abuse groups appears to mainly go to Bermans public relations operations, including half a million dollars on ads in December alone attacking us (in quite a few cases upsetting local shelters because people thought the ads were about them ).

Its a harsh reminder that they dont care about shelter animals at all but simply about trying to divide and destroy the humane movement.

Along with our affiliates, we are the number one provider of animal care among animal organizations (300,000 animals helped in 2016), and we are also the nations leading advocate for animals  fighting to prevent their abuse and suffering by changing policies and finding solutions through private sector outreach, public education, and legislative engagement. With help from our supporters and partners, weve amassed an incredible track record  the very thing that has allowed Berman to go to factory farm interests, puppy mills, cockfighters, and others who dont like our work and fund his disinformation campaigns.

Weve made malicious animal cruelty a felony in every state and outlawed cockfighting everywhere in the United States.

Weve ended the era of invasive experimentation on chimpanzees.

We are putting a stop to the extreme confinement of laying hens, breeding sows, and veal calves on factory farms.

Its a testament to our effectiveness that people and businesses involved with animal exploitation, unwilling to come out into the light of day themselves, give Berman millions in a frantic and futile effort to smear our organization. During the November elections, we faced off against Berman and his allies on a ballot question in Massachusetts to ban extreme confinement of farm animals, and we got 78 percent of the vote. In Oklahoma, he tried to join in with the Farm Bureau to pass a right to farm measure there. We crushed it by more than 20 points. In fact, in years past, Bermans attacked our ballot measures in Arizona, California, Missouri, and other states, and hes never contributed to a single win for his backers. I presume that animal abuse industries, despite losing at every turn, keep turning to Berman because no legitimate PR firm would take accounts with such miserable, uncharitable, and unpopular purposes.

Last year, Berman ran an ad about The HSUS during the Academy Awards in the D.C. market, and it was an epic backfire, helping us raise more than $1 million for our campaigns against factory farms, puppy mills and seal killing (for 2016, as our annual report will soon convey, we added $6 million in net assets to the organization). Two days ago, I sent a note to a few supporters after I heard about Bermans latest high-profile ad, and weve secured another $1 million donation to put more resources into the domains of fighting animal abuse  precisely where Berman seems to draw his strongest support. I extend my thanks to this incredibly generous supporter and offer my condolences to Bermans allies. If they think well relent because of their silly ads, they are sadly mistaken. We intend to put our foot on the gas and to focus even more energy on them and their cruelty.

People arent as easily duped as Berman thinks. When front groups rely on buying exorbitantly expensive airtime to go after a non-profit devoted to helping animals, clearly were doing something right. So enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend, and remember, our achievements are a triumph and something to be celebrated. Animal abusers are running scared  and unwittingly, theyre helping make the case for the continued support of The HSUS.

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During its first summer, the blog presented a series of posts under the general title of "Theologians Under Hitler," ta2016: king its title from a major book and video by the same name produced by the United Methodist Church.





Economic justice has been a recurrent theme of the blog, and the author has frequently taken less-than-popular positions on various issues from low wages and union-busting activities to unsung political candidates both national and local.





The Musical Patriot was one of the first blogs to warn about the seriousness of the Trump candidacy. This was at a time when pundits of mainstream media were claiming Trump would never be nominated.





Issues also given attention have included music both good and bad, the environment including global climate change, European political unrest such as in Greece, the Russian view of modern American life, and the Chinese economic threat to American economic dominance.





This vast array of issues has been somewhat unusual for a small-scale blog. It has, of course, provided a more interesting and varied menu for its readers compared with single-item blogs.





Readership has recently seen an uptick as readers from all continents except Antarctica have visited and read posts.





Most recently, The Musical Patriot has concentrated heavily on the D. Trump candidacy with the blog writer viewing Trump as essentially a fascist and demagogue. Many examples have been given and a clear picture of the real estate mogul has emerged.





The Musical Patriot looks forward to a continued presence on the web during the critical days ahead. Readers will continue to be valued wherever they may reside.

On Saturday, May 28, 2016, The Musical Patriot web log marks its tenth anniversary live on the World Wide Web. From the beginning The Musical Patriot has been interested in world affairs from an ethical, philosophical, and artistic viewpoint.
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 []
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Great Kills resident Cassie Paradise -- aka Miss Richmond County 2016 Miss Southern Tier 2015 and Miss Richmond County 2016 -- has now nabbed the title of Miss Finger Lakes 2017.

Cassie Paradise, Miss Finger Lakes 201

Winning the title presents the opportunity for the blonde beauty to compete in the Miss New York Pageant at the St. George Theatre in May -- and gives her a shot being the next Miss America.

"I am so honored and lucky to have the opportunity to represent Staten Island, and the Finger Lakes at the Miss New York Pageant and always," says Paradise, who's currently working as a medical assistant. "Thank you, Staten Island, for always welcoming me back with open arms."

Paradise was awarded a $500 scholarship to pursue a career as a pediatric registered nurse and work in an operating room.

Cassie's platform during her year of service: "Turn the Label into the Able: Empowering individuals with disabilities to pursue their dreams," she says. "I encourage them to never listen to the words 'you can't' because they can -- and I teach a volunteer special needs dance class every Saturday at Staten Island Dance and Arts Center in Richmond Valley."

BTW: Cassie will dance to Broadway's "All That Jazz" during the talent portion of the Miss New York Pageant.

CELEBRATIONS: FEB. 5-6

Birthday greetings Sunday to Sarah Heather Posner, Isabella Garcia, who turns 12 , Honolee Cole, Ronald Hayward, Steven Marino and Dorothy Grossman.

Happy wedding anniversary Sunday to Bonnie and Joel (Staten Island's premier nonprofit volunteer videographer) Bibula who celebrate 23 years of marriageand happy wedding anniversary to Margaret and Fred Black.

Heading the birthday list Monday is Marie Reindl of New Springville, Kurt Schroder, John Nappi, Meg Ventrudo, executive director of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, Artie Waldhelm, John Boyle, principal of Totten Intermediate School and Jim Morri.

Happy 62nd wedding anniversary to Tess and Bob Koeth.
Career and technical education advocates have started their push for a facelift to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act under President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, a coalition of 85 advocacy groups and businesses, ranging from AASA, the School Administrators Association, to Boeing and IBM, sent a letter to the four leaders of the respective House and Senate CTE Caucus urging them to make career and technical education a priority.

As we consider how federal policy proposals can achieve President Trumps promise to make America great again we urge Congress to support the Perkins Act and allocate adequate resources to ensure our countrys CTE programs can take full advantage of a newly reinvigorated CTE law, says a portion of the letter, which was written to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa.

CTE advocates also held a briefing at the U.S. Capitol lastk to discuss their issues under a new president and new session of Congress. At around the same time, Democrats put out their own $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan, which included $75 billion allocated to school construction.

We know that there are critical shortages of skilled workers in a lot of the areas that would be necessary to implement a lot of the ideas that are coming out of both the administration and folks on the Hill, said Alisha Hyslop, the director of public policy for the Association for Career and Technical Education.

The letter was sent a few days after Trump met with several business CEOs at the White House. Trump emphasized in remarks at the meeting that he was urging companies to keep jobs in the U.S. and not outsource them to other countries. All you have to do is stay, Trump said to the executives, according to the Associated Press. That stance could lead to greater opportunities for CTE advocates, although Trump hasnt spelled out his specific policy preferences for the issue.

Last year, the House overwhelmingly voted to approve a bipartisan reauthorization of Perkins , which is overdue for an overhaul and was last reauthorized in 2006. The bill would have altered the definition of those students considered concentrators in CTE, allowed states to withhold more federal funding for their own competitive grants and formulas, and permitted the education secretary to award grants to states aligning such programs with their individual workforce needs. But a companion Senate bill to reauthorize Perkins stalled after fighting between Democrats and Republicans about the proper role of the education secretary.

The new chairman of the House education committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., used to lead the subcommittee that dealt with workforce training.

The CTE coalition letter notes that from fiscal years 2007 to 2016, Perkins grants to states declined by $170 million. Education funding in general faces an uncertain future under the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress.

Were hopeful that any new investment in infrastructure would be coupled with an investment in training, to allow individuals to enter those fields, Hyslop said.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos about how to improve CTE programs during DeVos confirmation hearing last week . DeVos responded, Theres really a wide variety of alternative pathways to a really great future, but didnt offer more detailed thoughts on effective approaches to CTE.

Read the letter from the 85 groups to the CTE Caucus in Congress below:

Photo: President Donald Trump speaks while hosting a breakfast with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 23. At left is Wendell P. Weeks, Chief Executive Officer of Corning, at right is Alex Gorsky Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
The Newtown, Conn., school board wants President Donald Trump to denounce Sandy Hook truthers"people who claim the 2012 mass shootings at the towns elementary school were an elaborate hoax.

The board this week authorized its chair to sign a letter to the president, calling on Trump to speak out against people who perpetuate the conspiracy theory that the shootings, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, were staged to drum up public support for stricter gun laws, the Newtown Bee reports. Other Newtown city boards are also considering whether to sign and send the letter.

The letter, which was drafted by Democratic Town Committee Chair Eric Paradis, singles out Infowars personality and controversial radio host Alex Jones, who has supported Trump and who popularized the hoax theory, the Bee reports. Trump praised Jones during the 2016 campaign. The White House has denied rumors that it offered a spot in its daily media briefings to Infowars.

Sandy Hook truthers have tormented families of the shooting victims. One was arrested in 2016 for a death threat against a victims relative.

Erica Lafferty, whose mother died in the shootings, previously called on Trump to denounce Jones in a November letter published in USA Today:

Even after an election that exposed deep divisions in our country, surely we can all agree on this: The mass shooting at Sandy Hook happened. Twenty-six families, including mine, were torn apart and will never be the same. Any preposterous ideas to the contrary cannot be allowed to seep into our country's mainstream discourse. They must be swiftly and publicly refuted. Surely, the newly elected leader of the free world can see that."

Not everyone in Newtown, which has notably shied away from the media spotlight since the shootings, supports the letter. At public meetings of other Newtown town boards, some residents, including the relative of a Sandy Hook shooting victim , said they feared it would be unproductive or stir up backlash and give oxygen to something that doesnt deserve it, the Bee reports. Some town officials have been hesitant to sign onto the letter, the paper reports.

Newtown finance board Vice Chairman James Gaston, spoke in support of signing and sending the letter.

Families have been threatened and sometimes you have to speak up as someone who had conspiracy theorists supporting him, Gaston said in a town meeting, according to the Bee. Were asking [Trump] to recognize that 26 were killeddenounce all who spread lie and to not support those who are promoting something hurtful and untrue. Were not asking to pass a law, were asking for support. We received support from President Obama, now were asking for support from President Trump.

Photo: White roses with the faces of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are attached to a telephone pole in January 2013, on the one-month anniversary of the shooting that left 26 dead in Newtown, Conn. --Jessica Hill/AP-File

Related reading on the Newtown shootings:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
The U.S. Supreme Court has set March 28 as the date it will hear arguments in the major case over transgender rights in school and U.S. Department of Education authority to interpret its own regulations.

The justices will hear one hour of arguments on that Tuesday in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. (Case No. 16-273), which stems from efforts by a transgender boy, Gavin Grimm, to use the boys restroom at his Virginia high school.

The high court granted review in the case in late October after getting involved last summer by granting the Gloucester County school district a stay of lower court orders that would have required it to allow Grimm to use the restroom corresponding to his gender identity.

The election of Donald Trump may yet have an impact in the case. A key legal question is whether the Education Department is owed deference for an informal interpretation of a 1975 regulation under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The federal statute bars discrimination based on sex in federally funded schools, and the Obama administrations Education Department interpreted the 1975 regulation to require schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity.

The federal government faces a deadline at the end of February for filing a brief expressing its position in the case. The Obama administration supported Grimm in a federal appeals court. But there is widespread speculation that the Trump administration may withdraw the transgender guidance or assert a position in the Supreme Court that differs from that of the previous administration.
Theres a new hangout on Caymus Street in downtown Napa, and its the cats meow.

Ellas CatHouse & Catnip Bar is a cage-free, no-kill, cat adoption center that officially opened last week.

Ellas provides a free-range sanctuary for unwanted healthy cats and a way to identify forever homes for adoptable cats. Its a project of local non-profit Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch.

Cats are often discarded or treated like no ones property, said JARR co-founder Monica Stevens. We decided well open a place to give good, loving forever homes to those animals.

Ellas is similar to cat cafes that have opened in cities like San Francisco or Oakland. However, Ellas doesnt serve up food  just a healthy dose of cat love.

Guests  up to four per hour  are invited to visit, spend cuddle and couch time and play with the cats. There is no charge for admission.

Open to the public Friday to Monday, Ellas occupies a large open office space formerly home to a graphic design business at 1009 Caymus St. Its just a few doors behind Toy B Ville on Main Street.

The cathouse includes comfy couches, chairs, tables, cat tree houses and a gift shop. Up to 15 cats at any one time will be in residence.

Its hard not to miss Ellas  the large front windows of the cathouse are filled with tree houses offering cat-eye views on either side of the glass.

On Monday morning, Napan Dan Castner stopped outside the window when the lounging cats caught his eye during his morning walk.

I think its wonderful, he said of the cathouse. I just love what they are doing here.

Dwinelle Coffee of Angwin visited Ellas with three other friends. Coffee was celebrating her birthday, as was another member of the group.

I cant get enough of cats, said Coffee, who owns a number of the pets. Spending time with cats is my favorite pastime.

This is delightful, said her friend Eleanor Wood, the second birthday celebrant. The purring brings my blood pressure down.

Im a cat lady, admitted Lydia Wilson, one of the quartet of friends. I read about this and pounced on it right away.

The women said their idea of bliss would be sitting on a couch at Ellas, covered by a pile of friendly cats.

Even though it is occupied by more than a dozen cats, Ellas is free of pet odors.

A cleaner visits daily, explained Stevens. Multiple litter boxes are regularly scooped. Food for each cat is dished out on schedule.

Theres nothing more important than to keep Ellas clean and disease free, Stevens said.

Some 20 volunteers and six JARR staffers help feed, clean and cater to the cats.

For Ellas residents, life seems purrrfect. The cats are free to wander, sleep, stretch and scratch to their hearts content.

Saving one cat wont change the world, but to that one cat, the world will change forever, read a quote displayed on one wall.

During a visit on Monday, many of Ellas occupants were taking the proverbial cat nap, while others padded around, batting at toys or rubbing up against visitors. Unlike at some animal shelters, there was no caterwauling; it was calm and quiet inside.

A three-legged calico cat named Wildflower, who was rescued from a vineyard, gamely navigated along a narrow ledge, while a friendly white and black cat named Kramer literally draped himself around a visitors neck like a furry, warm scarf. A tuxedo cat named Buddy, new to Ellas, hid under a futon, getting the lay of the land.

Forming a visual catalog of available pets, portraits of the felines currently calling Ellas home are displayed in one nook. Six cats have already been adopted since Ellas opened, said Julia Orr, communications manager for JARR.

Stevens said Ellas cat crew will be curbed at 15 so the animals dont get overwhelmed.

Cats are spayed or neutered and vaccinated before they join the club. The fee to adopt a cat is $100 or $75 if two or more are adopted at the same time.

The current cats at Ellas have been rescued from various situations, said Orr.

JARR works closely with the Napa County Animal Shelter to take in any cats that are not doing well at the shelter. Others come from owner surrenders or owners who have died.

The name Ellas CatHouse comes from a beloved rescue cat cared for by a JARR volunteer, Vanessa Conlin. Ella, who died in 2016, was a feral kitten born on a neighbors porch.

The cat casa also plans to offer regular events such as Meow Hour, yoga classes and art shows.

To avoid the catastrophe of too many cat fanciers trying to visit at the same time, reservations are encouraged.
Among Bay Area counties, Napa County has the lowest amount of land at risk for what the Greenbelt Alliance calls sprawl development, though the group also sees cause for concern.

The San Francisco-based Greenbelt Alliance released its latest At Risk: The Bay Area Greenbelt report last week. It concluded 458 square miles is at risk of sprawl development across the Bay Area over the next 30 years, an area roughly 10 times the size of San Francisco.

Napa County, by contrast, has 15.7 square miles at risk over 30 years, an area slightly smaller than the city of Napa. Only 1.2 square miles is considered to be at risk over 10 years, an area slightly smaller than Yountville.

Greenbelt Alliance North Bay Regional Director Teri Shore doesnt want success to breed complacency.

Overall, Napa County has had strong greenbelt and open space protection measures, particularly for the ag land, for many decades, Shore said. At the same time, things are changing. There are potential development threats to our land and open space in Napa.

She called the At Risk report a report card on how the Bay Area is protecting its greenbelt for the long-term. The report looks at eight Bay Area counties and leaves out the ninth county, San Francisco, because most of its land is either developed or protected.

Napa County has laws to protect its famous vineyards, among them requiring a popular vote to remove land from agriculture, the report said. But the success of the wine industry may be putting land at risk.

The longstanding threat of large-scale event centers and resorts being built on Napa County farmland has grown acute, the report said. They pave land with new buildings and roads and put new demands on groundwater, it said.

The county is debating the issue with no resolution in sight, the report said.

One thing the report didnt do is define when a winery becomes an event center. Supervisor Diane Dillon doesnt think Napa County has crossed that line.

I dont see them as event centers, Dillon said. The primary focus is still as wineries. We limit the amount of floor space that is available for marketing. It is not the majority of the building.

The ongoing Napa County debate is really about defining the issues, Dillon said. Until that happens, the county cant work on the resolutions.

Napa Countys most alarming threat is the possibility that 850-acre Skyline Wilderness Park might someday be sold for development, possibly even for mining, the At Risk report said. Skyline Park is located along Imola Avenue southeast of the city of Napa.

The county leases 850 acres from the state for the park and has an agreement until Feb. 19, 2030. But the state wants the county to repeal a Skyline zoning overlay that removes development potential.

Dorothy Glaros, president of the Skyline Park Citizens Association, said last week that the park as it exists today could disappear once the lease agreement expires in 13 years.

Establishing a permanent buffer between the park and Syar quarry would help, Glaros said. Perhaps the best protection would be if the state renews the Skyline lease for another 50 years, she said.

The At Risk report includes a map of lands it says are at risk for sprawl development. Local proposed projects mentioned by name are the Napa Oaks II hillside subdivision in southwest Napa and the Watson Ranch community in American Canyon.

Car-dependent sprawl development is not the answer to the regions affordable housing crisis, the report said.

We can accommodate people, housing and jobs within our existing footprints, Shore said.

Several local infill housing projects are planned, among them at the former Napa Valley Register building site near downtown Napa. Napa County wants higher-density homes built on its former Health and Human Services Agency site along Old Sonoma Road in Napa.

The Greenbelt Alliance from time to time takes positions on specific Napa County issues. For example, it endorsed the recent, failed Measure Z open space tax measure and in 2012 endorsed the Napa Pipe development.

Former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in the forward to At Risk praised the Greenbelt Alliance for 59 years of work.

This report continues that legacy by taking a closer look at every threat to this regions magnificent landscapes and providing the kind of information decision-makers need to shape smart policy, Boxer said.

Go to www.greenbelt.org to see the At Risk report.
Across the street from the BottleRock music festival this May, the Oxbow School hopes to put up a select few music fans for the nights while boosting its scholarship fund  all with the citys apparent support.

The private arts school on downtown Napas Third Street has shared more details about the luxury campground it wants to host on its campus during BottleRock 2017  complete with queen-size beds, hotel-grade linens and rugs, set inside 16 glamping tents it will offer for $10,000 each, with VIP festival passes included.

Early reviews from the city Planning Commission on Thursday hinted at a smooth path ahead for school leaders, who believe the glamping ground  shorthand for glamour camping  will raise at least $45,000, after expenses, to help students cover their tuition.

Over 60 percent of our students get some form of scholarships, and we want to be a school of access, said Stephen Thomas, founding director of Oxbow, which offers single-semester residential programs to high school juniors, seniors and gap-year students.

The chance to better fund a local school  and accommodate BottleRock guests mere steps from the Napa Valley Expo, without adding to festival traffic congestion  was persuasive to officials like Commissioner Gordon Huether.

I love that were taking lemons and making something delicious out of it, he said of the Oxbow Schools plan, which will return to planners later for an approval vote. Theres not been one negative word spoken about that school since it opened.

Oxbow first released its plans in September, saying it could take advantage of the extreme lodging demands for BottleRocks tens of thousands of spectators while bringing to life a campus devoid of students from mid-May to mid-June, between its spring and summer semesters.

Sixteen tents would be set up on the three-acre school grounds for guests to sleep in from May 25, the night before BottleRocks opening, through May 29, the morning after the festival finale. All of the tents have been rented out for the festival, and the school has started a waiting list, according to Mary Bourke, Oxbows director of development.

In addition to the hotel-style tents, the layout would feature a restroom-shower trailer, chairs, lamps, and fire pits where guests could socialize and wind down after each nights performances end at 10 p.m. Breakfasts would be served in the school dining hall.

Up to 16 guest vehicles can be parked on school property, enabling BottleRock fans to explore Napas restaurants and attractions on foot throughout the weekend, Bourke said. In addition, the school is arranging bus tours to take glamping guests to HALL Wines in St. Helena and Silver Oak Cellars in Oakville, she told planners.

To avoid conflicts with homeowners in the neighborhood, the school will set an 11 p.m. noise curfew for its BottleRock visitors, said Bourke. Two school staff members and two security guards will be on duty on the campus, which also will be fenced during the music festival.

Any concerns from Napa planners lay less with the Oxbow School taking guests than with worries about setting a precedent for other, less responsible landowners hoping to get in on the BottleRock lodging market, when hotels throughout the city sell out months in advance. But Commissioner Alex Myers praised the plan as the lightest touch possible, with no housing lost, no demand for on-street parking, and the use of an otherwise empty campus.

A school neighbor also tried to assure city leaders the arrival of high-ticket tourists would be no burden.

I hope you can find a way to make it happen, said Dan Kipp, who moved to a home next to the school last June. I, as a neighbor, have no objections to what theyre doing; its a good cause.

Commissioners suggested Napa would approve the glamping program this year on a pilot basis, then consider a multi-year arrangement if all goes well. Because Oxbow Schools zoning does not specifically allow overnight guests during special events, the tents likely would require a temporary use permit, and Myers suggested that school leaders also seek three one-day alcohol permits, which California offers to nonprofit organizations, to allow wine to be served.

Lets see how it goes the first year and then work in some length, so you have some security, said Michael Murray. Im all for it, so lets get this going.
(This is the final post in a three-part series. You can see Part One here and Part Two here .)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is the role, if any, of an ELL students home language in the classroom?



In Part One of this series, Melissa Eddington, Wendi Pillars, Tracey Flores, Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo, and Mary Ann Zehr offered their thoughts. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Melissa, Wendi, and Tracey on my BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

In Part Two , Rosa Isiah, Tan Huynh, Karen Nemeth, Sarah Thomas contributed their responses to the question.

Anna Bartosik, Nathan Hall, Chloe Smith, Beth Konomoto wrap this series up with their suggestions. Ive also included comments from readers.

Response From Anna Bartosik

Anna Bartosik is an ESL professor from Canada. She is a teacher/facilitator with an extensive background in ESL/ELT education. Her current interests include instructional design, assessment and rubrics, storytelling, motivations role in memory, and thoughtful incorporation of educational technology in the classroom. You can follow her on Twitter at @ambartosik:

It is better to prevent the mother tongue in the classroom in order to accelerate English language learning.

There is no discernible benefit to continuing bilingual education after a child has reached a standard level of proficiency in the target language.

Allowing ELLs who already possess proficiency in the target language to participate in two-way bilingual programs is costly and unnecessary.

We hear these assertive statements being made by administrators and teachers alike. School districts are interested in hard data (read: grades) to support a winning formula for efficient instruction. It would be convenient to make a declarative statement that provides one correct answer to the question of using a students home language in the classroom.

The truth, however, is muddy. Or unclear from an administrative perspective.

Learning cant occur in a vacuum; it needs to be connected to something meaningful and motivating. There is currently a big push for differentiated instruction in education. Each students experience is different, the argument goes. So why arent more teachers looking at language learning as differentiated learning as well? Why is it only one language at the expense of the other?

In the United States, two-way bilingual education can be a hot topic for funding decisions. In addition to being more expensive than transitional bilingual education, participation in two-way bilingual education is discouraged beyond kindergarten. However, transitional bilingual education, where the use of the mother tongue fades as proficiency in English increases, supports funding first, not the learners.

Why cant the learners needs be considered first beyond the school districts needs, beyond the here and now? Being fluent in the home language and the target language helps learners navigate both worlds they inhabit. By insisting on English at the expense of the home language, communication with family becomes stilted and superficial.

How does the learner perceive themselves when their fluency in English outpaces the first language? By not allowing the home language to be used in the classroom, the language learner is not encouraged to see their home language in a positive light. The ties to the home culture become weakened; this can affect family dynamics, where the grandchild who used to be able to share a common language with a beloved grandparent now approaches the relationship with the awkwardness of needing translation to facilitate communication.

Lets consider the long-term effects of English at the expense of the home language. How will not speaking more than one language hinder future career prospects? Is that the best choice for our education system?

Each science learner is different and brings different strengths to the table. A science learners needs should be considered when making decisions about classroom approaches. A science classroom needs to provide instruction that makes all of its learners comfortable and maximize science learning.

Removing the adjective science from those sentences and replacing it with language does not change the teaching strategy. Learning is learning.

In short, eliminating the ELLs home language in the classroom may or may not have an impact on exam outcomes, and the school may feel pressure to demonstrate to the district that it has been successful in achieving academic superiority and fiscal responsibility by erasing the mother tongue from the classroom. But by not allowing the mother tongue to thrive and maintain itself in the classroom, we may be doing our learners a larger disservice.





Response From Nathan Hall

Nathan Hall is an EAP instructor and teacher trainer for Douglas College in New Westminster, BC, Canada. He is especially interested in pedagogically sound uses of technology in the language classroom. He you can contact him through his website at nathanhall.ca or on Twitter at @nathanghall:

Welcome home: Inviting the students home language into the classroom

It was my first day in a language school. Opening the door to my classroom, there was a sign boldly declaring in no uncertain terms: English only! While this was my first real-life encounter with this philosophy of language education, the debate regarding the use of a students first language (L1) in the classroom has been taking place for decades.

The exclusion of a students L1 in the classroom sends a message of cultural hierarchy, with the target language (TL) in a higher position. Until 1996, this was the case in the residential schools in Canada, a system where indigenous children were emotionally and physically punished for using their L1. While this is an extreme case of language isolationism, cultural superiority through language restriction cannot be overlooked. Teachers must recognize the significance of a students L1 and the relationship it has with their culture. With their L1 placed in a role of importance, students are inclined to accept the TL as beneficial.

The importance of a students previous knowledge in mastering a skill has been the core of education since the seminal work of Lev Vygotsky. Students can use their L1 to explore complex ideas and can compare language concepts for appropriateness such as in the area of register. This is typically done in pairs and small groups as learners use their L1 to fill in the gaps in terms of lexis and form.

In many classrooms around the world, the teacher and students share a common L1. This shared knowledge can efficiently be used to explain complex concepts and can also be drawn on to provide clarification, turning the students attention towards cognates and linguistic similarities. Through providing a purposeful relationship between the L1 and the TL, students can appreciate the role of their language in the learning process.

While the potential for difficulties remains, the focus should be placed on a mutual understanding of respect. No rules or punishment can bring this about; only through a clear and open conversation between all stakeholders can boundaries be set and purposes clearly laid out for all to see.





Response From Chloe Smith

Chloe Smith (BA English, MA English, CELTA) is the project coordinator and teacher trainer for New Education Highway (NEH). Chloe is striving to change the local teaching culture in a rural community in Rakhine state, Myanmar from the outdated, passive model of Victorian England to active and student centered:

From my experience teaching in Greece, the US, and now Myanmar, I think the role of the home language depends on the existing learning culture and health of the students, as well as the diversity of the class.



CLASSROOM CULTURE

Classroom culture plays the biggest role in whether I advocate for English-only or duel-language classrooms. For students who have never been taught by native speakers or participated in student-centered teaching, the use of home language keeps them engaged.

My rural Myanmar students do not respond well to 100% English. Having had no prior exposure to foreigners or to an active learning culture, they often become distracted. They need the calming reassurance of instructions in their home language for them to concentrate on the given task. In a rote learning system where students do not think for themselves, the home language also encourages them to engage critically with the new teaching method. They can begin to consider themselves as agents in their own learning. My desire is that the home language will recede into the background as student engagement levels rise to the new teaching method.

In Greece and the US my classrooms were English-only environments as students were familiar with active learning and were used to tourists and foreigners.

HEALTH

Sufficient food and nutrients affect students ability to learn, and therefore, the role of L1 in the class. For students who are malnourished, L1 is critical for the student engagement. I saw this in Greece during the economic crisis of 2012 and in rural Myanmar when my fellow teachers used L1 to keep the students attention. In Greece all of my fellow teachers were healthy and so they could teach for 8 hours a day. In contrast, Myanmar teachers sleep for up to 14 hours each day and are only able to teach 1.5 hour stints.



DIVERSITY

For a mixed nationality class, there is much more onus on the students to be inclusive and use English. This is especially true in English-speaking countries. I cannot and will not use every home language of each individual student.





Response From Beth Konomoto

Beth Konomoto has been teaching English to students from around the world since 2005. Originally from Canada, she completed her masters degree at the University of Birmingham. She has a passion to help international students and immigrants navigate their way through learning English:

A students home language plays an influential role in the classroom. This influence affects how the student processes and produces the target language. Teachers need to consider the student level and the context of the class to consider how the home language should be used in the classroom.

Depending on the level of the student, he or she may still be thinking mostly in their home language and attempting to translate. One option for teachers who can speak the home language of beginner-level students is to discuss both languages and translation in order to help students think about the relationship between the two languages and how to avoid making mistakes with direct translation, formality, pragmatics and other sociolinguistic-related choices.

The context of the class will also affect the role of the home language. If the class is monolingual, students take comfort in talking, confirming, and joking with their classmates in their home language. They also benefit from home language explanation of vocabulary and grammar. However, if the class is multilingual, there will be less time spent in any particular home language. If there are any who share the same language in a multilingual class, they will most likely gravitate towards each other for this comforting sociability. The effect of this is the exclusion of others which can include the teacher if he or she is not familiar with the language. An interesting phenomenon is when students self-police these groups. These students want to stay focused and maximize their use of English while in class. When students leave class they may be returning to non-English speaking families. They need class time to be in English.

Student level and class context are only two of the many variables in the role of the home language. Teachers need to find the right balance to ensure students feel they are getting the most efficient use of their class time.





Responses From Readers

Megan Forti:

Contrary to some advice I received as a student teacher, Ive always told my Spanish-speaking ELs that I share a language with them. Their eyes light up with a look of surprise. When I meet their parents at conferences and explain their students progress in Spanish, their faces are shocked as well. The role of the home language in the classroom is crucial because it shows respect and love for the students and their culture. It also validates their language and experiences. Ive found it useful in my instruction in various ways. Foremost, I understand the challenges of being a language learner. I can relate to the students. For instance, I have a newcomer who is making great progress in listening comprehension. But as she learns more and more, she usually prefers Spanish over English when we speak to each other. When I ask her a question in English, she understands and gives a perfect response to me in Spanish. That demonstrates comprehension right there!

It is a human right to use your home language. I have many students that speak to me in Spanish one minute and English the next. One student will tell me stories that happen at home in Spanish because that is the language she was immersed in when the situation happened. This doesnt mean the student is deficient. It means they have incredible language skills. Knowledge is power, no matter what language it is in.

Cultural exchange and identity. My Ss love when they hear their lang in books and when a word is the same in other languages. @Larryferlazzo //t.co/TGbmQfccCs -- Damaris Gutierrez (@CNE_Gutierrez) January 27, 2017

Thanks to Anna, Nathan, Chloe and Beth, and to readers, for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org .When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if its selected or if youd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a number of education publishers.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. Its titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching .

Just a reminderyou can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And, if you missed any of the highlights from the first five years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. They dont include ones from this current year, but you can find them by clicking on the answers category found in the sidebar.

This Years Most Popular Q & A Posts!

Classroom Management Advice

Student Motivation & Social Emotional Learning

Implementing The Common Core



Race & Gender Challenges



Best Ways To Begin & End The School Year



Brain-Based Learning



Teaching Social Studies



Project-Based Learning



Using Tech In The Classroom



Parent Engagement In Schools



Teaching English Language Learners



Student Assessment



Reading Instruction



Writing Instruction



Education Policy Issues



Differentiating Instruction



Math Instruction



Science Instruction



Professional Development



Teacher Leadership



Administrator Leadership



Relationships In Schools

Instructional Strategies



Author Interviews

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributers to this column .

Look for the next question-of-the-week in a few days...



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Congregation Beth Shalom is hosting a conversation with investigative journalist Robert Rosenthal, executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting, about Journalism, Information & Communication in a Changing World.

Rosenthal, who leads the largest nonprofit investigative reporting organization in the country, was formerly editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The community is invited to this conversation between Rabbi Lee Bycel and Rosenthal at 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11 at Congregation Beth Shalom, 1455 Elm St.

Registration is required by going to: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2858439
Consulting winemaker Bryan Avila has been hired as full time winemaker at Pope Valley Winery, the historic and family-owned 120-year-old winery.

After serving Pope Valley Winery as consulting winemaker since 2014, Avila recently joined the Pope Valley team full time to take on a day-to-day role in the winemaking process.

Pope Valley Winery is as rich in story, character and authenticity as it gets, said Avila. "My focus on these wines is to make them in a way that best accentuates the characteristics of the grape produced in a 120-year-old winery.

Prior to starting his consulting company Winecraft, Avila served as winemaker and tenured faculty for Napa Valley Colleges wine program. Hes also served as a wine judge for several wine competitions, including Sunset Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. His portfolio has grown over the last 15 years to include 1,200 fermentation lots from more than 25 different grape varietals across nearly every California appellation.

Pope Valley Winery co-owner David Eakle will continue to oversee wine production. But with Avila on board, he said he will have more time to focus on vineyard development and his company Eakle Construction & Trucking.

This spring, the winery plans to introduce new labels featuring art of the original weights and measures seal from founder Ed Haus in the 1800s.

Haus founded Pope Valley Winery in 1897 as Burgundy Winery & Olive Oil Factory. A century later in 1997, the Eakle family purchased the winery and renamed it Pope Valley Winery. The winery produces nearly 5,000 cases of wines a year from estate vineyards and vines that were planted as far back as 1940.

For more information visit popevalleywinery.com, email tastingroom@popevalleywinery.com or call 965-1246.
Saturday, January 28, 2017 by: JD Heyes Tags: Cannabinoids , CBD , DEA , NaturalNews.com , regulations This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) If youre an American who is tired of big, fat, inefficient government stealing your liberty and freedom, youre thrilled that Donald J. Trump was sworn in as President. Thats because all throughout his campaign (and since), he pledged to cut the federal bureaucracy and curb its power.

Presumably, that also includes the Drug Enforcement Agency and its war on hemp.

As Natural News founder/editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, reported in recent days, the DEA just launched the latest salvo in the war against human freedom by quietly adding all cannabinoids (including CBD) to its Schedule I classification of controlled substances, a ruling which went into effect January 13.

Granted, this is not something that is very high on the president-elects list of must-do itemshell have his hands full when he prepares to hit the ground running after being sworn in. But hopefully his pick to run that agency will soon see the fallacy of this cannabinoid decision, especially in light of its proven medical benefits that have been demonstrated through decades of research (and centuries of use).

The language of the DEAs ruling means that, in essence, it has acted completely outside of the scope of the proper legislative apparatusCongressin rescheduling cannabinoids as a controlled substance it now labels as a Marihuana Extract (yes, it is spelled with the h rather than the j). This extract is, according to DEA, any that contain one or more cannabinoids

The sky is NOT fallingyet

But of course, CBD is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid, meaning it doesnt produce the high you can get from smoking pot (THC is the substance that produces the psychoactive effect). It is just one in more than 100 cannabinoids that are found in hemp extracts including CBD-A, CBG, CBC, CBN and so forth.

The DEA, in other words, with the stroke of a pen, is attempting to criminalize an entire industry simply because some bureaucrat who has less than a rudimentary knowledge of cannabinoids and hemp thinks it is dangerous. It is not.

In fact, as the Hemp Industry Association noted in a thoughtful response to the DEAs reclassification titled, The Sky is NOT Falling, the new classification is actually not the final word in all this.

The HIA noted that a number of media stories and postings on social media led to some panic among many people who believed that CBD was being banned by the agency.

The sky is NOT falling, HIA said. The Final Rule published by DEA did not change the legal status of CBD. This can only be done by a scheduling action which has NOT occurred.

The organization said it carefully reviewed the ruling with its legal advisors and has also discussed it with experts in the industry. Though there are differing opinions about what the rule could wind up being or meaning in full, there is general agree that [the ruling] did not change the status of CBD.

Importantly, the HIA wants people to know:

 Cannabidiol is not on the federal schedule of controlled substances list;

 Sect. 7606 of the Farm Bill defines hemp as being distinct from marijuana and as such it is not treated as a controlled substance when grown under a compliant state program;

 Despite these facts, the DEA has said that CBD is a controlled substance before;

 HIA said it strongly disagrees with the position taken by the federal drug agency and is ready to take action to defend should DEA take any action to block the production, processing or sale of hemp under Sec. 7606;

 The final rule, which was published Dec. 14, was not a scheduling action but rather was an administrative action that is related to record-keeping.

Grocery store managers as drug dealers?

Adams noted that the new rule could even affect grocery store owners who sell hemp seedswill they now be treated as drug dealers?

He also notes that CWC Labs, where he is the science director, has developed a breakthrough method for accurately measuring levels of cannabinoidseven trace levelsin grocery store hemp seeds.

Using our mass spec analysis, we are able to detect trace quantities of many different cannabinoids in grocery store hemp seeds, commonly used in a vast array of products from hemp milk to hemp protein bars, said Adams. According to the DEA, this means thousands of grocery stores across America will be guilty of felony crimes for distributing drugs beginning January 13, 2017. The insanity of the DEAs new rule is just astonishing.

Stay informed about medical marijuana at Medical Marijuana Update.

Sources:

Trump.news

TheHIA.org

CWCLabs.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) For decades, cannabis advocates have pushed for universal legalization of medical marijuana. Citing scientific study after scientific study, they have forcefully (and truthfully) argued that legalization would provide much needed relief to millions of people suffering from a host of medical ailments.

But the federal government has only responded with continued bans and regulatory restrictions that have limited access to the many who wish to freely choose this alternative medical treatment. In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has now technically reclassified cannabis extracts as a Schedule I substance, putting them in the same category as heroin.

Now, however, the nightmarish over-regulation of cannabis may be about to be dismantled. President Donald J. Trump may be about to nominate someone to head up the Food and Drug Administration who believes in, and is a fan of, medical marijuana. (RELATED: Discover the latest scientific data on cannabis, hemp and marijuana at HempScience.news)

As reported by The Anti Media, Trump has spoken to two potential candidates: Balaji Srinivasan, CEO of bitcoin start-up 21.co, and Jim ONeill, the managing director of investment firm Mithril Capital Management. Both met with Trump about a week before his inauguration.

Srinivasan, Recode noted, does not have much use for the FDA. Though they are now deleted, Srinivasans Twitter archive at one time contained huge criticisms of the federal agency. Now that hes being considered to run the agency, he apparently does not want to give senators critical of him any more ammunition to fire against him than necessary.

And while a Srinivasan nomination would certainly be in the same mold of Trumps previous picks  most of his nominees have been critical of the agencies they are about to lead  its the potential selection of ONeill that should excite cannabis and medical marijuana supporters more.

The Anti Media noted:

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, ONeill has been fighting for weed legalization for years. The Coalition is known for having helped to legalize the plant in the Golden State.

Peter Thiel, billionaire founder of PayPal, and the most vocal and perhaps the only supporter of Trump in Silicon Valley, has ties to both men. That could weigh heavily in Trumps eventual decision about which one to nominate because Thiel is a close Trump adviser. It should also be noted here that Thiel was the first major investor in the cannabis industry.

ONeill is both a vocal supporter of marijuana legalization and an advocate of a more lenient FDA. He has also talked about the importance of implementing dramatic FDA reforms that would permit Americans the choice to start using [drugs], at their own risk.

He is also a board member at the Seasteading Institute, an organization that seeks to create new societies at sea and away from current governments. This organization has been linked to libertarian movements in the past. Patri Friedman, the grandson of free market economist Milton Friedman, was a founder of the institute (as is Thiel).

Plus, ONeill has served in government before; he served as the principle associate deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration.

ONeill voiced support for free market ideals in 2009, saying that because theres not a free market in healthcare, people are suffering very significant health consequences that in a free market they would not suffer. (RELATED: Get the latest news and information on cannabis and medical marijuana at MedicalMarijuanaUpdate.com).

By embracing the free market, he noted, drug prices and healthcare costs would be much lower and allow innovation in cheaper delivery of care, both in terms of drugs and devices and better forms of delivery.

The FDA currently has some of the broadest regulatory powers of all federal agencies. By picking a libertarian-minded nominee to run it, Trump may be signaling that he is prepared to de-emphasize the FDAs role and rein in much of its authority.

Personally, Trump has expressed his support for medical marijuana and, as far as overall legalization, he has said he believes it should be a state-by-state issue. But most of the mainstream scientific community and Big Pharma have been lying about the benefits of cannabis for years.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

TheAntiMedia.org

Recode.net

TheGuardian.com

Bloomberg.com

Science.NaturalNews.com
Monday, January 30, 2017 by: Vicki Batts Tags: bees , Costco , neonicotinoids This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) Could a retail giant help give more traction to the movement against pesticides that harm bees? The popular big-box retailer, Costco, has called for their suppliers to limit their use of non-essential pesticides in their products that will be sold in Costco stores. Specifically, the retailer is discouraging the use of neonicotinoids, a controversial class of insecticides that are known to be especially harmful to pollinator species, like bees.

As a company, Costco has consistently received praise for keeping both employees and consumers content. It seems that they are at it again with their latest policy for preserving bees and other pollinators.

Costco launches policy to protect pollinators

A 2016 policy release, entitled Costco Wholesales Live Goods Policy To Protect Pollinator Health, the retail giant stated:

Costco Wholesale understands that the honey bee population is declining and these bees are necessary for the life cycles of people, plants and the food we consume. We have invested in a multi-year research project to improve honey bee health and sustainability and are committed to following the continuing research, developments surrounding bee colony collapse and other areas of environmental concern. We are also committed to business practices that support the growth and sustainability of bees and other pollinators.

Costcos policy also encourages their suppliers to use eco-friendly methods of pest or disease control when producing goods for their company, as well as minimizing the use of all non-essential chemicals. The retail giant is also mandating that the application of any chemicals must be done in strict accordance with all local and federal laws and regulations.

Costco is also heartily discouraging the use of neonicotinoids, particularly on plants where bees are considered to be primary pollinators, or on plants that are known to attract bees. [Related: Keep up with the latest pesticide news at Pesticides.news]

Waking Times reports that, The policy follows on the heel of an announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mitigate the acute risks to bees from pesticide products.'

Between its 705 stores across the globe and yearly sales totaling upwards of $120 billion, Costco is in an amazing position to help lead a massive movement against the use of these harmful products. Given the devastating decline of bee populations (which continue to dwindle), it is absolutely essential that we begin to end the use of harmful pesticides and other such chemicals.

Recently, the rusty patched bumblebee was added to the endangered species list. Twenty years ago, the rusty patched bumblebee was a prevalent species. It is now the first bee in the contiguous 48 states to have been proposed for endangered species status, but there are grave concerns that it wont be the last.

Dangers of neonicotinoids

Neonicotinoids, or neonics for short, are a popular class of insecticides. Research continues to show, however, that these insecticides dont just harm the intended species of insects  they are also harmful to bees and other pollinator species.

Researchers from Mainz University Medical Center and Goethe University Frankfurt recently found that even low, field-relevant doses of neonics are indeed harmful to bees. Their research was published by the esteemed journal, PLOS One in 2016. They found that even small amounts of neonics can negatively affect acetylcholine levels in developing bee larvae. This can have a serious affect on the bees future development. Larger amounts were associated with more dramatic effects.

Professor Ignaz Wessler, one of the studys lead authors, commented, Our research results thus confirm that the neonicotinoids can jeopardize the normal development of honeybee larvae.

Back in 2013, the EU came to a similar conclusion  prompting them to place temporary restrictions on three popular neonicotinoid insecticides; imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam.

Several scientific publications have indicated that non-lethal amounts of neonics could very well be associated with the dramatic decline in bee populations. Abnormalities in breeding and impaired flight orientation have also been reported.

Sources:

WakingTimes.com

ScienceDaily.com
Disney Settles Animator Class Action Lawsuit for $100 Million

A little more than 3 months after DreamWorks and other animation studios settled out of the massive animator class action anti-poaching lawsuit, Disney is settling the claims against it for a reported $100 million. Like the other animation studios, it was alleged that Disney had a reciprocal agreement with the other companies to not hire their competitors' animators and studio employees, and to artificially keep down animator and other studio employee wages.

Of the animation studios sued in the class action, Disney is by far the largest and most active. DreamWorks settled for $50 million, while Sony and BlueSky settled for a combined $19 million. For the over 10,000 potential members of the class, that's a total of $169 million.

Disney's History in the Case

Disney, as well as its subsidiary companies Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Two Pic MC, were included as part of the settlement with the animators. These four companies were also the last to settle the claims against them. Despite the wholesome programming, Disney's Pixar and Lucasfilm have a history with this issue.

Notably, Pixar and Lucasfilm were swept up in a separate 2012 class action lawsuit that stemmed from a 2010 US Department of Justice prosecution into the anti-poaching and wage fixing claims for software engineers. Shocking, it was discovered posthumously that Steve Jobs was involved in that case. The 2012 class action settled for over $400 million, but included claims against tech giants Apple and Google.

Anti-Poaching Agreements Are Illegal

The type of anti-poaching and wage fixing agreements the animation studios entered into are illegal because it is against public policy for businesses to gain unfair advantages over other businesses and consumers. Additionally, restricting competition harms innovation. Basically, these are violations of anti-trust laws.

By fixing wages below a certain threshold at the major employers in the industry, as well as having the anti-poaching agreement in place, the studio essentially created a monopoly over the skills that their employees, and others, could sell to employers.

Related Resources:
(Natural News) Most Americans understand that in order to continue maintaining the worlds leading economy, corporations have to be regulated as lightly as possible and allowed to make a profit. But most also understand that there should be limits to both; regulations cannot be so light as to allow corporations to harm people or the environment, and profits should never be tied to products that harm.

But Dow Chemical is being allowed to do both, as it puts pressure on farmers to continue using a pesticide that scientists and researchers have tied to childhood ADHD and autism.

As reported by The Intercept, no comprehensive studies were done prior to 2014 into the link between autism and the chemical chlorpyrifos, which Dow manufactures as one of its principle pesticide ingredients.

The CHARGE study, conducted by the University of California-Davis, examined the environmental causes of autism and developmental delay. It found that nearby applications of agricultural pesticides dramatically boost the risk of autism.

Researchers found that mothers who lived less than a mile from fields being sprayed with chlorpyrifos during their second trimester of pregnancy increased their chances of having their child develop autism more than threefold.

Since then, dozens of other studies have linked even small amounts of fetal exposure to the chemical with other neurodevelopmental problems, including ADHD, lower IQ and intelligence, and difficulties in learning.

Finally, in November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a groundbreaking report that made clear the serious health dangers posed by chlorpyrifos. The report, titled, Chlorpyrifos Revised Human Health Risk Assessment, detailed evidence that the pesticide produces intelligence deficits as well as motor, attention and memory problems in children. The report states that children under the age of 2 risk exposure to the chemical just in their food alone, at levels that are 14,000 percent higher than the level the EPA now considers to be safe. (RELATED: What else is the EPA up to? Stay informed at EPAWatch.org)

Dow, which still makes most of the products that contain chlorpyrifos, has consistently disputed the steadily mounting evidence that its bread-and-butter chemical harms kids. However, the government report makes it clear that the EPA now believes and accepts scientific research conducted independently that the chemical which is used to grow so much of our food is dangerous.

A pre-publication copy of the report, The Intercept noted, said that residues of chlorpyrifos on most individual food crops exceed the reasonable certainty of no harm safety standard under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. In laymans terms, that simply means that any particular sample of food may contain unacceptably high levels of chlorpyrifos.

But thats not all. Officials believe that drinking water and non-drinking water exposures to chlorpyrifos also exceed what is safe. So the only remaining reasonable step is to ban the chemical altogether.

Advocates for public health have been pressuring the EPA to ban the pesticide for a number of years. Also, The Intercept reported, four months prior to the release of the report, 47 scientists and doctors who have expertise in childhood neurological development, to include the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, warned that toxic chemicals in the environment are boosting childrens risk of developing cognitive, behavioral and social disorders, as well as contributing to the rise of ADHD and instances of autism.

Called the TENDR statement, it included a list of the most dangerous neurotoxins, and was akin to a plea for immediate action from government regulators to take them off the market. Organophosphate pesticides, the group to which chlorpyrifos belongs, sat atop the list.

However, when the EPAs report was published indicating that the agency appeared ready to finally take action against chlorpyrifos, there was not much joy among scientists and environmental activists because, just a few days earlier, GOP nominee Donald J. Trump was elected president.

The fear among scientists is that Trump will ignore the rule or try to change it. His inauguration Jan. 20 was three days after the mandatory 60-day commentary period for the rule/ban ended. The final rule would then take effect March 31. (RELATED: Whats the latest on the science front? Find out at Scientific.news)

Trump has not indicated that he would block this ban, and The Intercept offered no evidence that it would happen. The fear revolves around Trumps pledge to cut red tape and bureaucracy. However, if there is solid evidence that this chemical is harming children and causing autism, Trump may prove to be the environmentalists best friend on this one, given his belief that too many vaccines, too quickly, can lead to autism.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

TheIntercept.com

BeInCharge.UCDavis.edu

Science.NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Eighty-seven percent of the worlds 1.6 billion Muslims are not affected by President Donald Trumps Friday decision to temporarily withhold visas from citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries.

Approximately thirteen percent of the worlds Muslims, or 199.4 million out of up to 1.6 billion, live in those seven countries, according to a 2015 Pew Research Report, The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050.

(Article by Michael Patrick Leahy, republished from BreitBart.com)

So Trumps reform policy only impacts one of every eight Muslims worldwide.

The Muslim population in each of these seven countries, estimated by Pew Research as of 2010, is: Iran (74 million), Sudan (33.6 million), Iraq (31.7 million), Yemen (24 million), Syria (20.4 million), Somalia (9.3 million), and Libya (6.4 million).

The 90-day temporary block on new visas does not apply to citizens of the six countries with the largest Muslim populations, as determined by Pew Research Indonesia (209 million), India (176 million), Pakistan (167 million), Bangladesh (134 million), Nigeria (77 million), and Egypt (76 million).

It does apply citizens of Iran, the country with the seventh largest Muslim population (74 million).

But it does not apply to citizens of the other top ten Muslim population countries: Turkey (71 million), Algeria (35 million), and Morocco (32 million).

None of the seven countries on which a temporary visa ban has been placed were listed by name in Fridays, executive order, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.

Instead, the order referenced previous laws and findings that designated three of these countries state sponsors of terrorism (Iran, Sudan, and Syria) and four of them (Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen) as countries of concern who are ineligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, according to the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Improvement Act of 2015.

The 2015 bill was made law once it was signed by President Barack Obama.

Six of the seven countries to which the temporary visa issuance block applies were designated as state sponsors of terrorism or countries of concern by previous Democrat administrations. Only one  Iran in 1984  was designated by a Republican administration.

Syria was first designated as a state sponsor of terrorism during the Jimmy Carter administration on December 29, 1979.

Iran was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism during the Ronald Reagan administration on January 19, 1984.

Sudan was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism during the Bill Clinton administration on August 12, 1993.

Syria and Iraq were labeled countries of concern ineligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program in the original Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Improvement Act of 2015 signed into law by President Obama in December 2015.

On Feb. 18, 2016, the Obama administrations Department of Homeland Security added Libya, Somalia, and Yemen to that list:

The Department of Homeland Security today announced that it is continuing its implementation of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 with the addition of Libya, Somalia, and Yemen as three countries of concern, limiting Visa Waiver Program travel for certain individuals who have traveled to these countries. Pursuant to the Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security had sixty days to determine whether additional countries or areas of concern should be subject to the travel or dual nationality restrictions under the Act. After careful consideration, and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security has determined that Libya, Somalia, and Yemen be included as countries of concern, specifically for individuals who have traveled to these countries since March 1, 2011. At this time, the restriction on Visa Waiver Program travel will not apply to dual nationals of these three countries. DHS continues to consult with the Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to develop further criteria to determine whether other countries would be added to this list.

The executive order also temporarily banned refugees from all countries for 120 days.

Read more at: BreitBart.com

See more coverage of total news hoaxes from the left-wing media at HOAX.news.
(Natural News) It seems that the French are bidding farewell to free re-fills and saying hello to an over-inflated government. Late last week, it was announced that restaurants in France would be subject to prosecution, should they continue to offer unlimited amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages for free or at a fixed price. The French government has actually made it illegal to sell unlimited amounts of sugary drinks.

Now, we all know that sugar is not a benign substance: it contributes to disease risk and the raising rates of obesity. In fact, some research has indicated that sugar has a substantially more profound impact on diabetes risk than other foods. And, it is also a well-known fact that sugar consumption is on the rise  especially in Western cultures like the US. Sugar is a problem. But, is big government really the way to solve it?

Soda is already taxed in France

In 2012, the French government imposed a tax on sweet drinks. Taxing sweet drinks may seem like a reasonable approach, but it inevitably does more harm than good. Statistics from Mexico showed that sugary drink sales fell by 6% in just a single year. However, statistics also showed that this decrease translated only to a very modest decrease in calorie consumption: the average calorie intake in Mexico dropped by a mere 5 calories a day. Thats not exactly enough to help a country win the war against obesity. Furthermore, statistics have shown that the poor lost more of their income to the sugary drink tax than the wealthy.

To put it simply, taxes on sugary beverages did not yield the kind of benefits they were purported to, and the tax put more fiscal stress on poor people than the rich. Who knew.

You cant legislate calories away

This new piece of legislation out of France takes the notion of sugary drink taxes one step further by mandating how much soda restaurants can give to their patrons, and forcing restaurants to charge their customers each time they need another beverage.

The Telegraph reports:

Frances Health Minister Marisol Touraine has championed the ban on unlimited refills, telling MPs two years ago: This habit is common in other countries and it is increasingly taking hold in France. I understand it can be attractive for young people who are offered unlimited sugary drinks, which contain an excessive amount of sugar or sweeteners.

The government claims this latest idea will help to combat obesity and diabetes. While a recent health study has indicated that about half of Frances population is overweight, only about 15 percent appear to be obese.

The government clearly wants to put a stop on obesity before it becomes more problematic, but can they truly legislate such an issue out of existence?

People may drink less soda in restaurants, but one cannot predict what other choices they may make. Perhaps more people will choose to order dessert, instead of drinking the same amount of dollars in soda.

In addition to the taxes and the unlimited soda ban, the French have already limited school vending machines to providing only fruit and water, have banned ketchup in school cafeterias and only permit chips to appear in school lunches once a week. When it comes to school lunches, these parameters are slightly more agreeable, because school lunches are provided by the government. In that regard, they are actively trying to improve the nutrition they provide to children.

However, mandating what the private sector can and cannot do is a bit more controversial. It all seems a bit unreal: the government is essentially trying to tell grown adults how much soda they can drink. [RELATED: Learn more about government overreach at BigGovernment.news]

It is not that the desire to encourage citizens to drink less soda is bad: its not. Drinking less soda is a very good thing. But, the government believing that it can simply legislate its desires into action is a very dangerous line of thinking.

Sources:

Telegraph.co.uk

BusinessInsider.com

Economist.com
Monday, January 30, 2017 by: News Editors Tags: Bombings , drones , Fact Check , Obama , Trump , War This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) While the lying media is freaking out over President Trumps (temporary) travel ban for seven Middle Eastern countries deemed security risks, they didnt give a damn about Obama bombing them.

(Article by Chris Menahan from InformationLiberation.com)

Though the media is currently in a tizzy because Trumps executive order held up around 300 people at airports, Obamas bombings were reported as completely reasonable to bring about peace.

Out of the seven countries that were banned by President Trump last Friday, five were bombed by the Obama administration: Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.

Where were the George Soros funded organizations protesting the nearly 100 attacks that have occurred since 2009 in Yemen resulting in the deaths of hundreds of militants, but also many civilians?

Did Chuck Schumer shed a tear for the 62 Syrian troops killed and 100 more wounded that the Obama administration accidentally bombed in 2016?

Did Schumer openly weep when the Obama administration was duped into attacking Somali troops and killed 22 of them in an air strike late last year?

Its fine for the Nobel Peace Prize winning President to bomb these people in their own countries, but for President Trump to temporarily prevent them from traveling to our country to keep America safe is un-American and unconstitutional.

Read more at: InformationLiberation.com

Find more news about the threat of terrorism at Terrorism.news.
(Natural News) The overuse of prescription drugs in America has long since reached epidemic proportions. One of the driving forces behind this mass over-prescription, of course, is Big Pharma. And despite the evidence that certain drugs arent always necessary, reports indicate that doctors continue to prescribe them indiscriminately. If that wasnt bad enough, many people are also prescribed more drugs to treat the side effects of another medication.

Big Pharma has come under fire for a number of things over the years. Monopolization of the industry, questionable advertising and price gouging are just some of the things that the industry has been criticized for. Corruption, greed and a disregard for fellow human beings seem to run rampant in the world of pharmaceuticals; the industry has paid out countless dollars for criminal and civil settlements over the years. And yet, nothing seems to stop them. (RELATED: Find more examples of drug industry price rigging at Rigged.news.)

Physicians, Big Pharma and over-prescription

As a country, the US takes in an exorbitant amount of prescription drugs. In 2011, it was estimated that the average American citizen was taking 12 different prescription drugs yearly to manage or treat chronic health conditions. Over the last twenty years, spending on drugs has increased by a woeful $200 billion.

There are many factors that contribute to ever-increasing amount of prescription drugs in the United States. For example, many drugs come with side effects like depression, insomnia, sexual dysfunction and other health issues. Instead of lowering the dose or trying an alternative drug, doctors will often just prescribe a second medication to treat the effects of the first drug. A 2012 study published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine found that the prescribing cascade  where doctors prescribe more medications to control the effects of a primary prescription  is a key contributing factor to the heavy use of pharmaceuticals in healthcare.

The same study found that most physicians reported prescribing two or more medications per one medical condition to help reach their target for the patient. More than half of the patients observed were taking five or more prescription medications.

Big Pharma has found a number of different ways to influence physicians when it comes to what drugs they prescribe. For example, many pharma companies have serious financial ties to medical communication companies (MCC), like WebMD or Medscape. Physicians who use these sites may not be fully aware of how much money organizations like these receive from the drug and medical device industry. Many of these MCCs also offer continuing education courses for physicians. Physicians may not be aware that the involvement of these MCCs with Big Pharma could inevitably compromise their own education.

MCCs are not Big Pharmas only method of manipulation. Clinical trials are often designed by the industry to influence and market drugs to doctors. The pharmaceutical industry even offers educational courses on their latest products, often showcasing them for non-FDA approved uses  and even when there is no proof of efficacy or safety. (RELATED: Read more about fake science and data manipulation at FakeScience.news)

Big Pharma sells drugs to patients too

Direct marketing to patients is another key issue in the age of over-prescription. When people go to the doctor, they expect the doctor will give them something to make them better. This not only puts pressure on the physician to prescribe, but it also makes even the average person a target for Big Pharma. After government restrictions on direct consumer marketing became more lax, patients became more upfront about asking about new treatments. The pharma industry spends some $21 billion a year just to push their products and many of their advertising and promotional techniques toe the line of being misleading and false without hesitation.

In 2015, the industry spent a record-breaking $5.4 billion of direct-to-consumer ads alone. The same year, Americans spent over $450 billion on prescription drugs. Apparently, Big Pharmas efforts paid off. Direct-to-consumer marketing remains a controversial practice; many people seem to think it somehow empowers consumers, but the reality is that Big Pharma is marketing expensive drugs to unwitting future customers. When you see an ad for a drug on TV  and there are about 80 drug advertisements per hour  they are not trying help you become more aware, they are trying to sell you a product.

Big Pharmas marketing tactics do not end with doctors; they know one of the best ways to get people hooked on their products is to advertise directly to the people who will be consuming it.

Sources:

NaturalBlaze.com

TheGuardian.com

UPI.com

WorstPills.org

DrugWatch.com
(Natural News) Oklahoma State Senator Ervin Yen continues his crusade to introduce mandatory vaccination legislation for all children in his state, except those exempted for serious medical conditions. For the third year in a row, Yen is seeking to push a bill through the Oklahoma legislature that would remove non-medical exemption options for parents.

From NewsOK.com:

Oklahoma is one of 18 states that allow philosophical exemptions for those who object to immunizations because of personal, moral or other beliefs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Yen, a cardiac anesthesiologist, would like to see that change, and this coming session, he will have more support  and opposition  than last year.

Since last years legislative session, the debate has heated considerably, with battle lines now having been drawn between two factions  each represented by its own political action committee.

On the other side of the issue is Oklahomans for Vaccine and Health Choice, who last year opposed Yens legislation on the grounds that it removed parental choice from the equation.

The group is growing in membership and is planning a February rally as part of its continuing effort to defeat this years attempt to pass the forced immunization bill. The groups president, Liza Greve, said that its mission is not to convince parents to avoid immunization, but to fight for their right to informed consent.

Where theres a risk there must be a choice, she said.

The group has contributed to the campaign of Republican State Sen. Nathan Dahm, who has introduced his own vaccine bills into this years session: one that would require school boards to include giving vaccine exemption information to parents when notifying them of vaccine schedules for school enrollment, and another that would require health care providers to obtain informed consent from parents before vaccinating children.

Under Dahms proposed legislation, doctors would be required to provide relevant information regarding benefits and risks of the vaccine as well as information concerning the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Similar bills introduced by Dahm last year were vetoed by Gov. Mary Fallin.

In response to what he viewed as dangerous anti-vaccine legislation, a Norman Oklahoma pediatrician named Dr. Thomas Kuhls decided to establish an opposition campaign represented by a group called Vaccinate Oklahoma.

Kuhls, the president of of the group, was alarmed when Yens bill was soundly defeated last year while Dahms own bills almost passed. He decided to organize a group of fellow pediatricians to lead the campaign in support of Yens bill and in opposition to those introduced by Dahm.

Yen, who is not a pediatrician, but rather a cardiac anesthesiologist, has chosen to ignore the fact that vaccines have been linked to autism and other serious illnesses, despite official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assurances that vaccines are entirely safe.

In fact, the CDC cant be trusted at all regarding vaccine safety since its own whistle-blower revealed that the agency knowingly destroyed evidence that vaccines indeed are linked to autism.

Sen. Yen claims to believe that  despite Oklahomas current 90 percent immunization compliance rate  that children are still at risk.

If I fail this session, Ill keep doing it until we get it passed, and we will get it passed  but I hope it doesnt take a big outbreak where lots of kids die, he said. Id like to get it passed before that happens.

Many, like Liza Greve, cant help but wonder if Yens zealous pursuit of forced vaccinations for all Oklahoma children might not be motivated by profits rather than public safety  perhaps the result of some backroom deal with vaccine industry lobbyists?

At any rate, the showdown in Oklahoma may set a precedent for other states to follow. Stay tuned for further developments on this story.

Sources:

TheFreeThoughtProject.com

NewsOK.com

OPHA.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2017 by: Vicki Batts Tags: Big Pharma , Evzio , naloxone , opioid epidemic This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) It is no secret that corruption is an industry-wide problem when it comes to pharmaceuticals. But now, it seems that corruption has taken an even more sinister twist. As the number of Americans overdosing on Big Pharmas golden ticket  the opioid painkiller  continues to increase, it seems that one pharma company has taken it upon themselves to increase the cost of the antidote by more than six-fold.

In other words, the industry is raising the cost of a drug that is used to treat a problem that the industry itself created. How cunning.

Big Pharma is known for drastically raising the price of much-needed drugs. Martin Shkreli notoriously increased the price of valuable AIDS medication by an astonishing 5,000 percent. Mylan raised the price of the EpiPen to over $600; a staggering increase for drug with relatively cheap ingredients. Now a Virgina-based company, Kaleo, is raising the price of an injector device that is used to deliver a life-saving drug as the opioid epidemic reaches its peak.

Another life-saving device is price-gouged

The device, called Evzio, is used to administer naloxone  the antidote used to treat opioid overdoses. Its been estimated that over the course of 2015 alone, more than 33,000 people died from opioid overdoses. Deaths continued to skyrocket in 2016, as well.

In 2014, a twin-pack of Evzio was priced at an expensive $690. Now, that price has reached an astronomical $4,500 for the very same duo. (RELATED: See more stories of rigged prices and dishonest practices at RIGGED.news)

Ironically, the creators of Evzio  Eric and Evan Edwards  claim that their initial aspirations were to become a competitor of the EpiPen. Now, their company is following in the footsteps of the EpiPens current patent-holder, Mylan, by drastically raising the price of their product by a huge amount. The brothers have even said that they were inspired to create an EpiPen product due to their own food allergies.

Youd think that because of their own experiences, theyd be less inclined to so obviously price-gouge their products for profit, but apparently the temptation to cash in on other peoples suffering is too great to pass up.

Evzio is a talking device  which its creators say justifies the price. And naloxone is not a particularly cheap drug; 10mL of it costs approximately $150. But is the $4,500 price tag really justifiable when just over two years ago, the same product cost less than $700?

Experts say that there is no explanation for the jaw-dropping increase in price.

Leo Beletsky, an associate professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston stated, Theres absolutely nothing that warrants them charging what theyre charging.

Big Pharma creates problems, then profits from them

Evzio is one of the few options for naloxone that is user-friendly and can be dispensed easily by the average person. Another option is a nasal spray. It meets a need: it provides quick and accessible care to someone who has overdosed.

Unfortunately, at its current pricing, it is also unaffordable. Many physicians are prescribing it anyways so their patients who are taking opioids have an extra layer of protection: if they overdose, naloxone can be administered quickly and easily by a family member and theres no need to wait for emergency services.

Kaleo has donated some 180,000 of the devices to 250 different organizations across 34 states. When you consider that opioids are attributed to upwards of 60 deaths a day, however, that number starts to pale in comparison. And if the opioid epidemic continues to worsen, its likely that their donation supply program will be unable to to keep up with demands. Last year, all of their free devices were gone by July; leaving all those organizations up the creek without a paddle for five months, after theyd come to depend on the product.

Follow more news about the medicine industry at Medicine.news.

Sources:

Philly.com

NaturalNews.com
The SM-3 Block IIA is being developed cooperatively by the United States and Japan to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor operates as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and can be launched from Aegis-equipped ships or Aegis Ashore sites.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., Hawaii Standard Time, Feb. 3 (3:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Feb. 4) a medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. John Paul Jones detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1D(V) radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target.

Today's test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile, said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring. The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and U.S. government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world."

Based on preliminary data the test met its primary objective. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

The flight test, designated SM-3 Block IIA Cooperative Development (SCD) Project Flight Test, Standard Missile (SFTM)-01, was the third flight test of the SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, and the first intercept test. This test also marks the first time an SM-3IIA was launched from an Aegis ship and the first intercept engagement using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) weapon system.

Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is the naval component of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program. The Missile Defense Agency's mission is to develop and deploy a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies and friends from ballistic missile attacks of all ranges in all phases of flight.
Evicted LA Renters Sue Airbnb and Landlord

A group of 6 tenants are suing their former landlord as well as Airbnb claiming that their evictions were illegal as a result of Los Angeles's rent control laws. LA's rent control law covers buildings built in 1978 and earlier, and, like other rent control laws across the country, it prohibits landlords from evicting tenants unless they have a statutorily permitted reason.

The tenants in this lawsuit were evicted because the landlord claimed that the properties would be removed from the market for redevelopment. However, shortly after their eviction, the units were listed on Airbnb as available for rent. The tenants believe that their evictions were done so the landlord could rent out the units on Airbnb for a higher rate. However, the landlord's attorney has commented that the units are scheduled for demolition this month.

Why Is Airbnb Getting Sued?

Despite the fact that Airbnb appears to be on the tenants' side here, they are being sued. Airbnb is involved in the litigation because the tenants are alleging that it essentially operated a joint venture with the landlord by allowing the landlord to rent the units on their site and take a cut of the money. A similar case filed against another landlord and Airbnb by 5 other evicted tenants in 2015 is slated for trial in June in Los Angeles.

Airbnb issued a statement where it denounced site users who are removing housing from the marketplace. It explained that the site is meant for individuals to generate extra income, and not for landlords to profit. The statement was made generally, and the company refused to officially comment on any of the actual litigation.

Rent Control Laws

In several cities around the country, rent control laws have been imposed that restrict the ability of a landlord to raise the rent, and/or evict tenants. In nearly all jurisdictions, rent control protections are not absolute, and there are exceptions to when a landlord can reclaim a unit from a tenant. However, the exceptions vary from city to city, as does the level of protection offered. For instance, in LA, a landlord can evict a tenant if they plan to remove the unit from the market.

Related Resources:
16:02

In an attempt to promote cashless transactions in the country, the Reserve Bank of India has given banks the freedom to fix bank service charges for transactions, stated Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance.



The RBI has deregulated interest rates on credit card dues. Interest rates are determined by banks with the approval of their respective Board of Directors subject to regulatory guidelines on interest rate on advances issued by RBI from time to time. RBI does not maintain information on the rate of commission charged.



National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has approved a scheme for giving 0.5 per cent incentive on payments made through the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System to merchants.



With regards to debit card transactions on PoS devices, between January 1 and March 31, 2017, Merchant Discount Rate has been capped at 0.25 percent for transaction value up to Rs. 1,000, and for debit card transactions value between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 2,000, MDR has been capped at 0.5 per cent.



The RBI has decided that till March 3, 2017, banks and prepaid payment instrument issuers shall not levy any charges on customers for transactions up to Rs. 1,000 settled on Immediate Payment Service, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data and Unified Payments Interface.



Further, the government has issued a direction in public interest to all public sector banks not to charge fees for transactions settled on IMPS and UPI in excess of rates charged for National Electronic Funds Transfer for transactions above Rs. 1,000, with service tax being charged at actual; for USSD transactions till March 3, 2017 above Rs. 1,000, a further 50paise discount is provided.



NPCI has waived switching fees for RuPay Card transactions (both for PoS and e-commerce), IMPS, UPI, National Unified USSD Platform and AEPS, with effect from January 1 to March 31, 2017.



Credit card, debit card, charge card and other payment card services by banks have been exempted from payment of service tax for transactions of up to Rs. 2,000. Government has introduced Lucky Grahak Yojana for customers and Digi Dhan Yojana for merchants to promote means of cashless transactions.



In terms of Office of Controller General of Accounts Office Memorandum dated December 14, 2016, the applicable Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges on debit cards for payment up to Rs. 1, 00,000 shall be absorbed by the Government.



In terms of Department of Public Enterprises letter dated December 9, 2016, all Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) are required to ensure that transaction fees, MDR charges associated with payment through digital means shall not be passed on to the consumers and all such expenses shall be borne by CPSEs.



The RBI has also cautioned the users, holders and traders of Virtual Currencies, including Bitcoins about the potential financial, operational, legal customer protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to. The creation, trading or usage of VCs including Bitcoins, as a medium for payment have not been authorised by the Reserve Bank of India. -- ANI


The Pakistan government has in principle decided to appoint Abdul Basit, the country's envoy to India, as the new Foreign Secretary, Geo News reported. In another major appointment, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary has been designated to become the country's envoy to the United States. This was decided during consultations headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, for appointing the new chief of the Foreign Office. The announcement regarding the appointment of Basit is likely to be made next week. Basit is currently Pakistan's High Commissioner in India and the senior most among the contenders of the slot. He was selected for the job three years back but couldn't be appointed due to technical reasons and was instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany. Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, the country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post, Geo quoted sources as saying. Pakistan's ambassador for the United States Syed Jalil Abbas Jailani has relinquished the charge on completion of his contractual period as ambassador in Washington. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh will be acting as Charge D' Affairs in Washington till the arrival of Aizaz Chaudhary in the US capital. It is likely that formal assent for Chaudhary's appointment by the host administration would be received in the meanwhile. The sources said that the Donald Trump administration has stalled issuance of all pending agreement of various countries including Pakistan. Aizaz Chauduary has planned to leave for the United States immediately after the ECO summit to be held in the first week of next month, the sources added. Pakistan will take a decision about the new high commissioner in India after the return of Abdul Basit, the sources said. --IANS rn ( 336 Words) 2017-02-04-15:36:16 (IANS)
Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, who was on a five-day trip to Washington, made the comments during a seminar on Kashmir.

He asserted that it was the international community's responsibility to help resolve the Kashmir issue, Dawn News reported.

In the seminar, held at the Pakistan embassy in Washington, the Minister said that changing realities had made it difficult for Pakistan to reach out to other nations. But "despite these difficulties, Pakistan can not abandon Kashmir", he said.

"If a referendum is not held in Kashmir, people there will be justified to think that the international community has double standards," the minister said.

"The world powers that had stakes in global peace and security must address the suffering of the people in Kashmir as they addressed the suffering of people in East Timor and South Sudan," he added.

Taouqir Hussain, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, explained how changing realities had made it difficult for Pakistan to advocate its case on Kashmir before the international community.

"India's growing economic and political influence were forcing other nations to seek closer ties with India, making them less inclined to hear Pakistan's arguments," Hussain was quoted as saying by Dawn.

--IANS ruwa/rn

( 245 Words)

2017-02-04-15:56:07 (IANS)
Prison's Commissioner Nishan Danasinghe told Xinhua the prisoners had their sentences commuted following a recommendation made by Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse.

Rajapakse made this recommendation based on a report of an expert committee he had appointed to look into the commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment.

Most of the prisoners who had their sentences commuted were charged with murder.

Some of them also included prisoners who were in Sri Lankan jails for many years.

Although Sri Lankan courts have handed out the death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out in the island country since 1976.

All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison.

--IANS ahm/bg

( 162 Words)

2017-02-04-21:46:07 (IANS)
After finalisation of the deal, valued at $400 million, 20 passenger planes will be delivered to Iran in a scheduled manner, Iranian Deputy Road and Urban Development Minister Asqar Fakhriyeh Kashan was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars News Agency.

"ATR will deliver three or four passenger planes to Iran Air, Iran's national flag air carrier, by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending on March 20)," Fakhriyeh Kashan said.

In December 2016, Iran sealed a contract with Airbus to buy 100 aircraft worth over $18 billion. Airbus delivered the first plane to Iran in January.

Also in December, Iran Air finalised another agreement with the US Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes.

The agreement envisages the purchase of 50 twinjet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft with a total value of $16.6 billion.

The planes by Boeing would be delivered to Iran within 10 years. The first deliveries are expected in 2018.

--IANS ahm/bg

( 206 Words)

2017-02-04-21:56:06 (IANS)
"Lion" features a cast of actors as prolific as Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Dev Patel, Deepti Naval, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tannishthha Chatterjee, but all of them came on board without their baggage of stardom, says director Garth Davis, who considers filmmaking a social responsibility. The movie is based on India-born Australian businessman Saroo Brierley's non-fiction work "A Long Way Home" -- a memoir in which he relates how he found his birth mother over two decades after he was accidently separated from her and his family. Sunny Pawar plays Saroo in the movie, which has been nominated for multiple categories of the Oscars and the Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards. Asked about how it was to direct an icon like Kidman and a kid like Sunny in the same frame, Garth said all actors were treated equally. "Nobody acted like a Hollywood star in my film. In fact, the atmosphere on set was also very normal, and there was no hero-worshipping. But yes, for Sunny, because he was so young and faced the camera for the first time, we had an extensive preparation for him," Davis told IANS in an interview during his visit here. To create a comfort zone and give a clear idea of the story, the production team created a children's version of the story in the form of a pictorial book for Sunny. It helped Sunny to not only understand his part of the story but also contribute to his performance in the film, releasing in India on February 24. After a successful career as an Australian television and commercial director, receiving Emmy nominations for the "Top of the Lake" series in 2013, making a feature film was an obvious next step for Davis. But what kept him away from it? "I do not have a definite answer for that, really. I should have been doing it (feature film) a lot earlier. I have a family, which is my responsibility. And filmmaking is a massive commitment. "So, I wanted to make sure that the film is very special. You know, filmmaking is not a job but a social responsibility for me. Therefore, the story has to be meaningful and move people from within," he added. He found the story of "Lion" so heart-warming that he made a trip to India as soon as he read it -- even before it was published as a book in 2014. "There was something magical about the story. So, I immediately came to India when Saroo met his birth mother after 25 years. You see, experiencing that moment was important for me to understand the reactions of these characters that one cannot get from the book," Davis said. As he started his research work, travelling and finding real-life inspiration based on the truth of the story, it was as if the story had begun a new journey -- from book to script, and then transformed into a film. Observation was key to Davis. "I'm a very observant director by nature; so I observed the finest of details. I noticed how little boys in villages, walking down the street in a group, put their arms on each other's shoulders. You know, that is their way to express emotional bonding, friendship, comforting each other," he said with a smile. A lot of filmmakers say movies are often a reflection of the culture in the region they come from, and many foreigners attempt to know India through its films' dance-and-music culture. But it was not so for Davis. "You see, most of the available Indian films in Australia are Bollywood. I did not watch them. In my early days, I watched Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy, which was a beautiful take on social realism. Nevertheless, for 'Lion', I did not watch a lot of Indian films. I went through some photographs of 1980s ('Lion' starts from that period). And you know what? Nothing much has changed here (in Kolkata), expect the energy of the city," he said. The film's shooting took place in Kolkata and Bhopal. "I just love walking down the street in these places, observing people and after a hard day, treat me with chilli garlic naan, along with a slice of raw onion, and chilled beer... I will be the happiest man," he signed off. (Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted atarundhuti.b@ians.in) --IANS aru/rb/vm/sac/ky ( 735 Words) 2017-02-04-13:24:07 (IANS)
The body of Canadian filmmaker and marine biologist Rob Stewart, who had gone missing after he went for a deep sea scuba diving session, was recovered from the Florida Keys, the US Coast Guard has confirmed. Stewart was 37, and had gone for the scuba dive on Tuesday. He was visiting the wreck of the Queen of Nassau, and was in the area filming a sequel to his documentary "Sharkwater". Stewart's body was recovered on Friday, reports variety.com. The news comes after days of rescue operations. The Coast Guard took volunteer help, as did film distributor D Films, which worked with Stewart and considered him a "dear friend" of the company. "If you have a boat with searchlights, please help," a tweet for D Film's account read, among other calls for help and re-tweeted articles and videos about the search. Stewart was best known for directing and producing the 2006 film "Sharkwater", a critically-acclaimed conservation film that helped get shark finning banned worldwide. The film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and won 31 awards internationally. --IANS sas/rb/vm ( 188 Words) 2017-02-04-14:28:21 (IANS)
The 44-year-old rap star calls the president "a bitch" and vows to "make his whole brand go under" in the track "No Favors", featured in Big Sean's new album 'I Decided', reports the Mirror.

The song also contains references to racism and police brutality.

"I'm anti, can't no government handle a commando / Your man don't want it, Trump's a b**ch," he raps in 'No Favors.'

"I'll make his whole brand go under."

This is not the first time that the 'Slim Shady' rapper aimed at Trump. In October 2016, he rapped, "You say Trump don't kiss ass like a puppet / 'Cause he runs his campaign with his own cash for the fundin' / And that's what you wanted."

"A f**kin' loose cannon who's blunt with his hand on the button / Who doesn't have to answer to no one - great idea!"

The rapper has been in controversy for his lyrics throughout his career and had also gone after former US president George W. Bush in a song and video 'Mosh'. (ANI)
Attacking the central government's decision to introduce electoral bonds, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the issue and electoral funding should have been discussed with the political parties first. "They (the central government) should have called all the political parties and sought their opinion. Issues like political funding and floating of electoral bonds should have been discussed," Banerjee told media persons here. Pointing out that her Trinamool Congress has for years been pitching for state funding of elections, she saw some "bigger motive" in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's proposal for electoral bond in the Union Budget presented on February 1. "Just before the assembly polls in five states they made this announcement. I wonder what their motive is. It may well be that later on we will find there was a much bigger motive that propelled them to go for this announcement," she said. The Trinamool would hit the streets in the coming days demanded central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate return the money looted from the people by the Rose Valley and Saradha ponzi firms, said Banerjee. "When they have seized the assets of these companies, why aren't they returning the money?" she asked. --IANS ssp/vd ( 218 Words) 2017-02-03-23:18:07 (IANS)
Branding Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as an 'usurper', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday lashed out at the Samajwadi Party President for cheating public along with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. BJP state Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya added that the one who can't be loyal to his father cannot be relied upon. He further said that even if the Samajwadi Party brings Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in their alliance, the people of Uttar Pradesh would vote for the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. "I sometimes feel pity on them (Samajwadi Party), as on CM's chair sits Mulayam's own son. In this age how can Akhilesh hurt his father like this. I want to appeal to the people of Uttar Pradesh that a son who can't be of his own father's, how can he be yours?," Maurya told ANI. He added that Akhilesh has 'usurped' the chair of Samajwadi Party and Samajwadi Party office which has left Mulayam miffed.Further adding that the former's action clearly indicates that the goons associated with the Samajwadi Party would also have full freedom to exercise his unprecedented powers. "I advice them to go full swing in their (SP) campaign, but no matter what you do your cycle is going to puncture in the long run. They are being delusional. There is no way they can win it. They have helped feud 'Gundaraaj', encouraged crimes and have broken all record of corruption. Therefore even after this alliance, if they were to go and include BSP they still won't be able to garner 50 percent majority," he said. "One can't see development in Uttar Paradesh to the farthest stretch, but one can see vandalism in every village, every district," he added. The relationship between father-son duo has been rough since last year when Mulayam expelled Akhilesh and Ram Gopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party for releasing their own list of 235 candidates and defying his announcement of 325 candidates on December 27 for the polls. Two days later, Akhilesh inacted a coup against his father. He called an emergency convention of party workers at the Janeshwar Mishra Park and got himself elected as the new president of the Samajwadi Party replacing Mulayam, while the party patriarch was given the status of a mentor and senior most leader. Mulayam declared the convention "unconstitutional" and called for an official national convention on January 5 at the same place. He was also quick to suspend key supporters of Akhilesh, but within hours of winning the 'cycle' symbol of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh met his father to seek his blessings on January 16. The Samajwadi Party and Congress, earlier on January 22, firmed up an alliance and vowed to make Akhilesh Yadav the Chief Minister. Earlier, speaking exclusively to ANI, Mulayam expressed his displeasure over the pre-poll alliance and categorically stated that he is against it, adding that he would not campaign for the party. "I am against the alliance formed between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. I will never acknowledge this alliance. The Congress was in power for so long, but it did not do anything for the development of the country. I will not campaign in this election," he said. Mulayam further blamed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for going against his wishes and jeopardising the chances of his own party members. However he was quick to backtrack from his statement, and everything went back to being fine in the Yadav household. The poll process in Uttar Pradesh begins on February 11. 73 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh will go polls in this phase. The filing of nominations for these constituencies will end on January 24. Uttar Pradesh is set to enter into the 'high-voltage' seven-phase polling between February 11 and March 8.(ANI)
Accompanied by his wife, Gen Singh, who is a candidate of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, said that he was confident of victory from the Patiala-urban assembly where he is challenging Punjab Congress President and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Nand Kishore, a Patiala resident, was the first one to cast his vote in Patiala.

"I have been the first one cast to my vote for the past 30 years," he said.

Over 1.98 crore electors will decide the fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and one transgender candidate.

--IANS js/in

( 135 Words)

2017-02-04-08:26:06 (IANS)
Enjoying cool winds of Basant, enthusiastic voters in the grain basket of India, Punjab, started turning up at voting booths since morning. A veil of secrecy- whether winds of change are blowing- remained despite claims and counter claims of stake holders. Clad in colourful warm clothes, people lined up for voting at the booths, raising hopes that the turnout will be higher with the advancement of the day. There are about two crore voters- precisely 1,98,79069 in the state where 1,145 candidates- including a third gender and 81 women are in the fray to pick up members for the 117 member state assembly. Extraordinary security bandobust has been clamped in the state to foil any bid to disturb the poll process . Santour constituency has 18 candidates. Khem Karan and Fategarh Sahib have five each. Ghanaur is seeing four women trying their luck at the hustings. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded 94 candidates while its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party has pitched 23 in the fray where 468 hopefuls are from registered but unorganised parties, including AAP. Congress fielded 116 aspirants and 110 have been put up by the Bahujan Samaj Party.The Communist Party of India has put up 23 and there are 304 independent candidates. In Dera Bassi, where maximum number of voters were enrolled, activities started since morning and many turned up to exercise their franchise soon after opening of booths. Bholath, where minimum number of electors were listed, voters started trickling on the polling stations. There are about 22,615 polling stations in the state where Lambi constituency is witnessing straight contest. Gill ( SC) is the largest assembly segment area wise. Polling commenced at 0800 hrs and will wind up at 1700 hrs. There is a triangular contest among the ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress and AAP. While the Congress has fielded its candidates on all the 117 constituencies, the SAD is fighting on 94 seats while 23 are being contested by BJP. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded its nominees on 112 Assembly segments and left five seats for Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) of the Bains brothers. The campaign, which ended on Thursday, was marred by twin blasts at Maur Mandi in Bathinda on January 31 in which six persons lost their lives and several others were injured. The ruling SAD-BJP alliance is battling anti-incumbency after a decade in power. Corruption, drug menace, Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, law and order, development, agrarian crisis and sacrilege of holy books were the main issues during the election campaign. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is seeking re-election from his traditional Lambi constituency where he is facing a stiff challenge from Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Himmat Singh Shergill. With AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Punjab CM Beant Singh in the fray, SAD President and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is battling hard to retain Jalalabad. In Patiala Urban, Capt Amariner Singh is being opposed by SAD candidate and retired Army chief General J J Singh and AAP's Dr Balbir Singh. AAP is contesting the state polls for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley were among those campaigned for candidates of the BJP and its allies. For SAD, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy, Sukhbir, campaigned extensively.. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi led the party stumping in the state, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the star campaigners for the AAP. After initial dithering, Rahul declared Amarinder Singh as Congress' chief ministerial face. BSP chief Mayawati also addressed a number of rallies for her party candidates in the state. UNI DB-JS NB RP RSD 0800 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1135386.Xml
Traffic on the national highway, connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was resumed partially today after remaining suspended for two days due to massive landslides. Today only vehicles, including those carrying passengers, trucks and oil tankers, stranded at different places will be allowed to move towards their respective destinations. However, no fresh vehicle will be allowed from Jammu or Srinagar until all stranded vehicles are cleared, a traffic police official told UNI. Traffic on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway was suspended on February 2 due to huge avalanche and shooting stone at Digdol, Batery Cheshma and Mehar Nallah. However, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the highway immediately put into service more than six sophisticated machines and men to remove the landslides from the road. There were more than 3,000 Kashmir-bound vehicles, including those carrying passengers and trucks laden with essentials stranded at Batote and Ramban besides other areas. Similarly, about 500 empty trucks and oil tankers besides trucks loaded with fruit were stranded at Qazigund and other places on this side of the Jawahar tunnel. Inspector General of Police (Traffic) Shafqat Ali Watali said that landslides had been removed though the road is still damaged at several places. However, Kashmir-bound vehicles stranded at Batote and Ramban and other places were allowed to move since last evening. ''We were able to help more than 1500 heavy vehicles, including those carrying essentials and oil tankers to reach Kashmir till 0900 hrs this morning. Over 600 vehicles, including carrying passengers, also arrived in Kashmir,'' he said, adding that keeping in view the road condition and forecast for fresh rain and snow during the next 48 hours no fresh vehicle will be allowed from Jammu or Srinagar today, Mr Watali said.MORE UNI BAS CJ 1032 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-1135990.Xml
"Urging people... to turnout in record numbers and vote in the assembly elections. I particularly urge my young friends to vote," the Prime Minister said in a tweet.

In Punjab, out of over 1.98 crore electorates, about six lakh young voters will be casting their vote for the first time and decide the fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and a lone transgender for 117 assembly seats.

Voting for by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat is also taking place.

Goa has 11.08 lakh registered voters, of which about 23 per cent are aged between 18 and 30 years, who are voting for 40 seats.

There are 22,614 polling stations in Punjab and 1,642 in Goa. Voting in Punjab began at 8 a.m and in Goa at 7 a.m.

The counting of votes in both the states will take place on March 11.

--IANS kd/in/vm

( 180 Words)

2017-02-04-11:28:06 (IANS)
Tripura health minister Badal Choudhury today expressed discontent over the poor performance of patient welfare associations in all the hospitals and health institutions, formed as a mandate under National Health Mission (NHM). Addressing a review meeting here, he stated that the government faced a tough challenge with the performance of doctors and paramedical staff in the hospitals, which defamed the government. He said there was a shortfall in health service and most of the hospitals' patients have been raising voice against the medicos and non-medicos as despite a huge infrastructural growth in Tripura health sector and sincere efforts of the government, people were not getting due service. "The situation has reached an extent when high court has to interfere in basic deficiency of service in the hospitals and negligence of duty by the medicos and non-medicos. The state government did not allow doctors to do private practice and ensured round the clock service in the hospitals but nothing works so far," Choudhury lamented. He, however, stated that the government had requested the doctors several times to chalk out a plan to upgrade the service in the medical colleges and all referral hospitals besides ensuring quality of services. Yet, there is no improvement, he added. The minister found that only 42 per cent of the total amount sanctioned by the government for the welfare healthcare services through patient welfare associations was utilised in last financial year, which indicated the poor state of their performance. "The state government has allocated a total of Rs 1.75 lakh to different primary health centres in the first round and is ready to sanction more amounts for the welfare of patients. But, the unspent fund reveals that the association has failed to reach even near to the aspiration in performance," he said. Expressing displeasure, he also stated that most of the associations did not hold review meeting although it was mandated to review the performance at least once in a month. According to the minister, some of the primary health centres do not provide required services and the multi-purpose workers do not perform duty properly. "Though, the government doctors were directed to stop private practice, a section of doctors, who are engaged in 'private practice', is still continuing to deprive a large number of patients in different government hospitals," Choudhury maintained.UNI BB KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1136085.Xml
With hardly a week remaining for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, political parties are going all out to woo voters with senior leaders of all parties para-dropping to address public meetings. With communal sensitive western UP going to polls in the first two phases, the strong hold of the BJP- BSP along with RLD and Congress to some extent, the leaders were trying all their best to hit the communal agenda without breaking the law and seeking vote for their candidates. Law and Order, 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, Kairana exodus, cane farmers dues, post demonetisation blues and local matters of corruptions and failures are the main issue before the political parties and the candidates. The first phase polling for 73 assembly seats would be held on February 11 and the second phase in 67 seats on February 15. Except for BJP and Congress, other parties are based on their single leaders like ruling SP's campaign was led by party president and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav while BSP was only done by its president Mayawati. But on the other hand, BJP had horde of leaders including several Bollywood stars. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch his campaign today from Meerut, while BJP president Amit Shah had already addressed couple of meetings yesterday in Meerut and Bulandshahr. Besides, all the leaders, including Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and Amit Shah along with others, are reaching almost all the 73 Assembly seats going to polls in the first phase on February 11. Similarly, Congress too has drawn up major campaign initiatives with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi already holding a joint roadshow in Agra yesterday with alliance partner SP president Akhilesh Yadav, while its former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other central leaders are criss-crossing the western UP to woo the voters. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has also thrown its hat in the western UP by contesting almost all the seats and its leader Ajit Singh and his son Jayant were the only star campaigner for the party. This was after a long time that RLD was contesting the polls alone and has not gone for any alliance. Similarly, the first timer in UP - Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) - was also contesting in a big way in UP, and they too were contesting in several Muslim dominated seats. Mr Owaisi himself is campaigning in a big way and was reaching all the seats contested by his party candidates. In the first phase, there are 840 candidates in the fray while in the second phase, there are 720 candidates in the contest.UNI MB SV SB 1251 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-1136029.Xml
Minority votes being the deciding factor in Uttar Pradesh elections, all the political parties are trying their level best to woo the Muslims, particularly in the western parts of the state, going to the polls in the first two phases on February 11 and 15. Previous voting patterns indicate that minorities seldom vote en bloc and the only common factor is that their vote differs on a seat-to-seat basis and is primarily used by any party which can defeat the BJP. With this theory in mind, all the so called secular parties have gone all out to attract the Muslim votes in the state with some parties even going for mergers and alliances. There are 140 seats going to the polls in the first two phases where around 60 per cent are Muslim dominated seats. According to statistics, the total population of Muslims in the state is around 19.3 per cent as per the 2011 census of which their percentage is 27.5 in west UP alone. Out of the total 403 seats, 143 seats results are decided by the Muslim voters where their population is over 20 per cent. Of these 143 seats, in 70 the Muslim voters range between 20 and 30 per cent and in 73 seats they are dominant of over 30 per cent of the population. Political parties, which were once dead against each another, suddenly warm up before the election and are ready to forget past bitterness in the name of 'welfare of the Muslims'. While political parties have worked out their permutations and combinations, the minorities too have set their agenda. The community is now thinking and re-thinking their decision since they are well aware of the designs of politicians who forget their promises, once elected to power. Ostensibly, the need for Muslim representation in allotment of seats was felt by all parties this year, except, of course, the BJP, because for the first time in its electoral history, Uttar Pradesh did not send a single Muslim MP to the Lok Sabha in 2014. Paradoxically, this was when the Legislative Assembly had the highest Muslim representation 69 were elected in 2012 against 56 elected in 2007. As per the records, SP had won 48 per cent of seats in the Muslim dominated areas in 2012 assembly poll followed by 23 per cent by BJP and 18 per cent by BSP. But in 2007, it was reversal when BSP won 44 per cent of these seats while SP won 26 and BJP just 19 per cent. In 2002 assembly polls SP won 37 per cent of these seats followed by 23 per cent by BJP and 16 per cent by BSP. This time around, Muslim leaders and opinion-makers wanted to maintain political representation at the State level. And for this, they required non-BJP parties to do well. With most of the seats in Uttar Pradesh set to witness multi-cornered contests, there is a tug-of-war among non-BJP parties to win confidence of the Muslim community which has a vote share of around 19.3 per cent. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is trying to get maximum benefit out of it by fielding 99 Muslims candidates, latest being mafia-don Mukhtar Ansari and his clan. Perhaps, she took the lead not only in announcing her list of candidates, but also ensured that she fielded the maximum number of Muslims. The Ansari's controversial outfit, the Quami Ekta Dal (QED), had only recently merged with the SP, but this had virtually driven a wedge within the ruling SP as Akhilesh Yadav was dead against the "deal" initiated by his chachaji, senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav. The inevitable happened and soon enough, the deal was snapped and went in favour of the BSP. Mayawati, who had all along accused the SP of protecting criminals, suddenly compromised her ideologies as she opted for the QED and signed the deal. The SP too has fielded a number of Muslims candidates and even the Rashtriya Lok Dal, which is contesting on its own, for the first time since last decade, has fielded 12 members of the minority community out of total 73. The Congress-SP alliance could have proved a formidable force in Uttar Pradesh, but there is confusion due to multiplicity of candidates. A section of the Muslims are angry with Akhilesh Yadav who refused to visit Muzaffarnagar during the riots and left rehabilitation work to the officials. However, the SP has given a large representation to Muslims and the party is hopeful to get their support on seats where it is in alliance with the Congress because the grand old party is still the only option for members of the minority community at the centre. The split in the SP, which has percolated down to the ground, reports of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav being sidelined in his own party and now allegations of Akhilesh Yadav being 'anti-Muslim', have added to the confusion among Muslims in the region. Things could swing in favour of the alliance if Mulayam Yadav agrees to campaign because he enjoys more goodwill among Muslims than his son. However, that seems unlikely since the senior Yadav is still sulking over the SP-Congress alliance. In the 2012 Assembly polls, SP won 72 seats of the total 143 Muslim dominated seats followed by 26 each by BJP and BSP while RLD-Congress combine won 14 seats. Rampur district in west UP has the distinction of having the most Muslim population in the state of around 70.2 per cent.UNI MB SB 1239 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-1136081.Xml
Hundreds of farmers of Navalagund taluk havedeclared that they would write a letter to the President of Indiaappealing him to grant mercy death as the Union Government haspresented anti-farmer budget thus pushing them into great peril. The President of Farmers' Acton Committee Lokanath Hebsur andother farmers have in a statement stated that the Union Budget hastotally neglected the farming community in the country and especiallythe peasants of chronically dry districts are made to face severehardship by not allocating adequate money for their welfare. They have stated that the dry districts of Karnataka have beenfacing severe drought since five years and are not able to pay backtheir agriculture loans, hence they want the Union Government towaive all agriculture loans. But on the other hand, the Budgethas expressed the intention of the Union Government just to shedcrocodile tears towards farmers by declaring more loans and doublingtheir income which is totally impossible. They also urged the Union Government to see that Kalasa-BanduriNalla project across Mahadayi River should be allowed to be completeand demanded intervention of the Prime Minister immediately apartfrom asking the state Government to withdraw all cases against thefamers filed during the agitation in Navalagund taluk. Meanwhile, State Law and Parliamentary affairs Minister T.B.Jayachandra has assured the farmers that immediate action would betaken to withdraw all cases filed against the farmers duringKalasa-Banduri Nalla agitation. He said during his one day visit to Dharwad yesterday thatnormally withdrawal process will begin only after charge sheet hasbeen submitted. The issue will be discussed in cabinet subcommitteeand later cabinet will take decision.UNI XC CNR CS 1200 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-1136083.Xml
Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, proposes to publish 500 books in 24 recognised Indianlanguages this year, besides launching 'Gramlok' a new village outreach project this month to take its literary activities to rural areas. Sahitya Akademi Chennai Officer-in-Charge A S Ilangovan toldreporters here today the Akademi had published 600 books last year and a majority of them were translated versions. ''The Sahitya Akademi proposes to publish 500 books in 24recognised Indian languages, conduct around 540 literary eventsand participate in 220 book exhibitions all over India in 2017'',he added. In Tamil language, around 60 new titles would be published,besides organising 40 literary programmes and 30 book exhibitions this year. In a first, the Sahitya Akademi would also launch 'Gramlok'--Village outreach--this year to take Akademi's literary activities to the rural villages, Mr Ilangovan said. The first such programme would be conducted at Ponkulathur village near Villuppuram district on Februray 17. ''Similar programme will be conducted in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Sivaganga districts in Tamil Nadu and villages in the UnionTerritory of Pondicherry'', he added.UNI GV CS 1321 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1136202.Xml
Sripal Sabnis, the outgoing president of the 89th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya sammelan, has said that he was getting death threats from those connected with Sanathan Dharam. He was addressing the 90th Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Sameelan at Dombivili last night in presence of the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Mr Sabnis said that the government should be positive and hold dialogue to clean up the polluted cultural atmosphere in the state. The culture of the state was being ruined in the caste and religious feuds, he said. He also came down heavily on the government and the police department for having failed to nab the assailants of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare he said. ''We cannot tolerate the cultural map of the state in broken pieces and something should be done on priority to avoid the same,'' he said. It is unfortunate that a writer in the state needs police protection. ''I strongly condemn this threat'', he declared in the presence of thousands who attended the colourful inaugural fete last night. UNI XR NV SB 1352 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1136106.Xml
A lady teacher from a school of Kalyan this district has been booked on the alleged charges of fabricating records and siphoning off Rs 2,06,588 the police said today. In the period between August 2003 and March 2016, she had cooked up and fabricated the service book and even when there was no approval by the school board for awarding pay commission benefits got the increment done by herself. She also prepared the fake letter to the Zilla parishad education department and got thebenefit of the pay which amounted to Rs 2,06,588 for herself when it was not at all recommended, police said. The Kolsewadi police has registered an offence under sections 420,467 and 468 against the Associate Teacher Sheela Bhagat for the alleged fraud, police added.UNI XR NV SB 1326 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1136116.Xml
Manipur is known for giving the nation many icons in the field of art and music. These artists have brought laurels to not just the state but also to the nation. Recently, theatre artist, playwright and director from Manipur, Wareppa Naba, became a recipient of the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour of India, for the year 2017. Manipur is one of the few states in India that offers the taste of open air theatre to its people. Open air drama is also popularly known as 'Shumang Leela' in Manipur. A blend of tradition, music, dance and contemporary imagination is portrayed through Shuman Leela. Wareppa Naba is a prominent Sarkirtana performing artist and a popular theatre artist and a director. Naba is being honoured for his tremendous contributions in the field of theatre, sankirtana and narrative performing arts. Naba said, "I feel immensely pleasure and happiness when I received the news from the Ministry of Home Affairs for the prestigious award of Padma Shri. I did not much believe or expected because this is one of the highest civilian award I should say." Wareppa spent his early life in the field of traditional art under the guidance of his father. In 1965, under the leadership of Padma Bhushan awardee late H. Kanhailal Singh, Naba played an active role in establishing his group, Theatre Mirror, with other theatre enthusiasts. Naba said, "I started my theater career as a devotee in the field of culture in the year 1965. Since then, I have been seriously involved in theatre activities in the state Manipur and there are so many number of narrative arts and performing arts and Manipur being the rich cultural heritage, it gives me tremendous help to excel in the field of art with hardships and hard work." He added, "My Adi-Guru, Padma Bhushan awardee Kanhailal, Director of Kala Theatre, he insisted (that) me and he lead me in the field of theatre. I should say each and every works now I have been performing as my duty, all credits goes to my Adi-Guru Kanhailal Singh." So far, he has acted in more than 150 plays and directed and produced 100 plays apart from directing 40 Shuman Leela , the courtyard plays. He has also written more than 20 plays and conducted more than 40 intensive theatre workshops for the youngsters. Naba's devotion to the cause of revitalizing Shumang Leela, has been acknowledged over the years. So far, he has received 23 awards at the state and national levels. Naba said, "I have been always dreaming for a theatre for our region in which theatre is a medium with contemporary touch and by giving colour with all our traditional and culture of Manipur. I would like to give for nourishment of new artist. It is my prime objective. Without being having enough actors in our region, we can do nothing for the promotion of theatre." Such active theatre artists from Manipur act as an inspiration for many, especially to the youngsters. His contribution towards preserving the dying art of the state will help revitalize it and also help it reach out to a wider audience. (ANI)
Chhattisgarh Congress President Bhupesh Baghel today described as serious the allegations concerning Inspector General of Police (Bastar) SRP Kalluri being removed for uncovering bank accounts in which Naxals had deposited money. In a post on social media, Mr Baghel dubbed allegations made by none other than Mr Kalluri himself during an interview to a local newspaper as serious and demanded a probe into it. He said Chief Minister Raman Singh should come clean about the bank accounts in which deposits were made by the ultras. "Whose accounts are in which the money was deposited? Whether these accounts belong to Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, or his cabinet colleagues, or some officials? Why is the regime shying from disclosing the names?" he said.UNI AS-PS SW SNU 1506 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1136359.Xml
Confusion within the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance over seat sharing formula further deepened as the Congress today announced nine more candidates for the seven-phase UP Assembly polls and its official tally goes up to 106 though according to the alliance deal, the party was slated to get 105 seats and the remaining 298 will go to the SP.However, the bone of contention is the issue of 10 seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi districts where the Congress has announced candidates in five seats while the SP has named candidates in eight seats. Congress has been demanding all 10 seats of both the districts, borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family, and particularly of Amethi seat where sitting SP member and state minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and Congress Amita Singh have locked horns.There are around 15 candidates of Congress who have been given Form A and B and have filed their nominations, but the party is yet to clear their names officially and they are pitted against SP candidates.Similar is the case of Lucknow (Central) seat where Congress Maroof Khan is pitted against SP sitting member and state minister Ravidas Mehrotra. Besides, brother of former Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Pramod Jaiswal who was given Form A and B from a seat in Kanpur has refused to withdraw his papers yesterday from Aryanagar seat.A senior Congress leaders admitted here today that at the present circumstances, there is expected to be "friendly fights" in some of the seats as the candidates from both the parties have refused to retire even after several warning.The nine candidates given ticket today by Congress are Angad Choudhury from Kadipur (SC), Sanjay Pandey from Biswanathganj, Kamla Sisodia from Mankapur (SC), Alok Prasad from Maharajganj (SC), Ms Chinta Yadav from Caimpiyarganj, Ajay Shanker Dubey from Mugra Badshahpur, Dr Janak Kushawaha from Mohammadabad, Samad Ansari from Varanasi (North) and Anil Gond from Duddhi (SC).UNI MB SW SNU 1450 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-1136245.Xml
More than 32 per cent electorate exercised their franchise in Punjab to elect the 117- member state Assembly till 1300 hrs today. Voting began at 0800 hrs this morning and will continue till 1700 hrs. Reports reaching here said that there was a heavy rush of people at polling stations in both rural and urban areas of the state. Polling has been peaceful with no untoward incident being reported so far. SAD candidate and former Army chief Gen J J Singh (Patiala city), former finance minister and Congress candidate from Bathinda urban Manpreet Singh Badal, AAP MP and party candidate from Jalalabad Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were among the early voters. Mr Manpreet and the Badal family cast their votes at Badal village and Bhagwant Mann exercised his franchise in Mohali. Congress chief ministerial candidate Capt Amarinder Singh and his family cast their votes in Patiala City after noon. There are 1,98,79069 voters in the state where 1,145 candidates- including a third gender and 81 women - are in the fray to pick up members for the 117 member assembly. There are over six lakh first time voters in the state this time. Extraordinary security bandobust has been clamped in the state to foil any bid to disturb the poll process. Sanour constituency has 18 candidates. Khem Karan and Fategarh Sahib have five each. Ghanaur is seeing four women trying their luck at the hustings. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded 94 candidates while its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party has pitched 23 in the fray where 468 hopefuls are from registered but unorganised parties like AAP. Congress fielded 116 aspirants and 110 have been put up by the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Communist Party of India has put up 23 and there are 304 independent candidates. There are about 22,615 polling stations in the state where Lambi constituency is witnessing straight contest. Gill ( SC) is the largest assembly segment area wise. There is a triangular contest among the ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress and AAP. While the Congress has fielded its candidates on all the 117 constituencies, the SAD is fighting on 94 seats while 23 are being contested by BJP. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded its nominees on 112 Assembly segments and left five seats for Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) of the Bains brothers. The campaign, which ended on Thursday, was marred by twin blasts at Maur Mandi in Bathinda on January 31 in which six persons lost their lives and several others were injured. The ruling SAD-BJP alliance is battling anti-incumbency after a decade in power. Corruption, drug menace, Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, law and order, development, agrarian crisis and sacrilege of holy books were the main issues during the election campaign. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is seeking re-election from his traditional Lambi constituency where he is facing a stiff challenge from Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh. With AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Punjab CM Beant Singh in the fray, SAD President and Deputy CM Sukhbir SinghBadal is battling hard to retain Jalalabad. In Patiala Urban, Capt Amarinder Singh is being opposed by SAD candidate and retired Army chief General J J Singh and AAP's Dr Balbir Singh. AAP is contesting the state polls for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley were among those campaigned for candidates of the BJP and its allies. For SAD, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy, Sukhbir, campaigned extensively.. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi led the party stumping in the state, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the star campaigners for the AAP. After initial dithering, Rahul declared Amarinder Singh as Congress' chief ministerial face. BSP chief Mayawati also addressed a number of rallies for her party candidates in the state.UNI DB SB 1410 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1136262.Xml
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal today polled their ballots at Badal village.Badal village is part of the Lambi Assembly constituency from where the Chief Minister is seeking re-election to the state assembly. The Badal family arrived at the village polling station amid tight security.After casting his vote, the Chief Minister claimed that the SAD-BJP combine would win easily as Punjab was looking forward to peace and development.Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal told the mediapersons that his party was sure to register a better victory from Lambi this time and Congress candidate Capt Amarinder Singh would lose his security deposit. Ms Harsimrat Kaur Badal exuded confidence that the SAD-BJP would again form the Government in the state. She hit out at the Congress and the AAP for making "false promises" to lure voters.The Chief Minister's estranged nephew and Congress candidate from Bathinda Urban Manpreet Badal exercised his franchise at the same polling station earlier. His father Gurdas Badal also cast his vote there.UNI XC DB SW SNU 1454 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1136304.Xml
"EC has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like CBI n RBI," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief said in a tweet.

Taking on the Prime Minister over demonetisation, Kejriwal further said that the move had not eradicated black money as he had promised, and the evidence was visible in Goa and Punjab where polling is underway.

"Modi ji had said that the menace of black money will stop after demonetisation. But it has been distributed vigorously in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the benefit of demonetisation?," the tweet read.

Earlier today, Kejriwal exuded confidence of his party sweeping to power in Goa and Punjab where polling began Saturday morning.

"Goa and Punjab will create history today," Kejriwal tweeted shortly after polling began.

Meanwhile, voting began in Punjab and Goa on Saturday morning for the 2017 Assembly elections.

The two states are the first of the five to go to polling ahead of Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand which are being held simultaneously in the months of February and March.

The counting of votes for all five states will begin on March 11. Voting for 40 seats in Goa began at 7.00 am and Punjab, which has 117 assembly seats, an hour later.

Till 3.00 pm, 67 per cent had cast their vote in Goa and 48 per cent in Punjab till 2.30 pm. (ANI)
In a major rescue operation, twenty children aged between 10 to 14 years, trafficked from Bihar and working in inhuman conditions were rescued on February 2 from various factories operating in the national capital.The Northern Railway's RPF team along with Labour Officers, NGOs and Delhi Police jointly conducted raids at the factories identified by the rescued children.On February 1, the Inspector Incharge of Railway Police Force along with his team also recovered six children from Anand Vihar Railway Station aged between 10 and 12 years. The concerned authorities have sealed these factories. On being enquired, the children disclosed that about six months back they were kidnapped by some unknown person from Motihari district of Bihar while they were coming back from school and brought to Delhi where they were confined and made to work in some factory in Seelampur area. The trafficked children revealed about the exploitation and ill treatment received at the hands of owners of the factory. The children also revealed more children of the same age group from different parts of Bihar are working in the area in similar conditions. The RPF authorities got the medical examination of these children done and produced them before Children Welfare Committee (CWC).Rescued Children have been sent to the Child Home and further arrangement to send them to their respective homes is under process.UNI SY SHK 1652 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-1136535.Xml
International Rating Agency Fitch has said that the Indian government in its budget continued with gradual fiscal consolidation and signalled its continued commitment to a broad reform agenda with a greater focus now on widening the tax base."The target of reducing the central government's fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP has been pushed back by another year, but the general goal of addressing relatively weak public finances over the medium term is still in place," said Fitch Ratings.Fitch views most of the government's assumptions for the FY18 (April 2016-March 2017) budget as achievable. The budget forecasts nominal GDP growth of 11.8 percent, and tax revenue growth of 12.7 percent. According to Fitch, the subsidy bill is set to be stable at around 1.6 percent of GDP, leaving the bulk of consolidation to come from cuts in other expenditure, such as defence spending. The divestment target, which has been consistently missed in recent years, looks optimistic again, and there is a risk that the government will need to allocate more than 0.06 percent of GDP to bank recapitalisation in FY18.The Rating Agency said, "The decision to raise the deficit target for FY18 to 3.2 percent of GDP, from 3 percent, means slower near-term consolidation than was previously planned. The finance minister's budget speech suggests that the main reason for the change is the plan for increases in central government capital expenditure. However, this is actually set to remain broadly stable as a percentage of GDP in FY18 at 1.8 percent, according to the government's forecasts."Fitch said that an official committee that has reviewed the fiscal framework has recommended that general government debt be brought down to 60 percent of GDP by 2023, from nearly 70 percent of GDP in FY17. That would move debt closer to the median of 40.6 percent for sovereigns rated in the 'BBB' range (India is rated BBB-/Stable). The committee also recommends the central government deficit target for the coming three years to be 3.0 percent of GDP, but with escape clauses for deviations up to 0.5 percent of GDP. This would imply general government deficits, including other public entities such as the states, of around 6.5 percent of GDP, which is also significantly higher than the 'BBB' median.More UNI ADP SNU 1557 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-1136422.Xml
The Association of Biotechnology ledenterprises (ABLE) today complimented Finance Minister ArunJaitley's budget for 2017 stating that it would providean impetus to rural India. In a stataement here, ABLE Executive Director- Dr. ShivendraBajaj said ''the Indian economy is at an inflection point today. Thegovernment is tasked with reviving domestic consumption and enablejob creation to revitalise a growing economy. The rural economy hasan important role in enabling this. Mr Jaitley's budget is strongly focused on providing an impetus to rural India- from farmer welfare to improving opportunities for youth. He said credit of Rs 10 lakh crore in agriculture and of Rs 5,000 crore for micro irrigation schemes will give a major boast tothe agriculture sector. Additionally, Rs 9000 crore allocated forcrop insurance will further benefit the Indian farmers tremendously. He however said that the prospect of improved agri-growth of4.1 per cent as highlighted by the Finance Minister, as always,remains dependent on the prospect of good monsoons. ''Whileimproving access to farm credit, increasing farm insurance andcreating a law on contract farming is always welcome, however we seeno provisions for the improvement of the seeds sector or budgetaryprovisions to encourage indigenous innovation in the sector tomitigate the impact of climate change and drought''. He said countries in the Asia Pacific region were increasinglyembracing agricultural biotechnology, while we are still debatingthe merits of this technology. India must use the power of researchand development for wealth creation at the farm level, to developnew domains and agri-technologies that can significantly contributeto GDP and create rural jobs. One important step is to make policiesfavourable to investments in research to enable this virtuous cycleof new technologies, enhanced production, more jobs and favourableeconomic impact. Data shows that India was on a par or even ahead of countrieslike China or those in South-East Asia in terms of yields till the1960s. It now lags behind by a large margin. R&D in agriculture is acrucial requirement for meeting India's food security andagri-export challenges. India remains at the bottom of the laddercompared with countries such as China, Brazil and South Korea. UNI CNR CS 1635 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-1136525.Xml
More than 48 percent voters exercised their franchise in Punjab for the 117-member state assembly till 1430 hrs today.Voting began at 0800 hrs and will continue till 1700 hrs.Reports reaching here said there was still heavy rush of voters at the polling stations in both rural and urban areas of the state. SAD candidate from Patiala Urban and former Army chief Gen JJ Singh, former Finance Minister and Congress candidate from Bathinda Urban Manpreet Singh Badal, AAP MP and party candidate from Jalalabad Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were among the early voters. Mr Manpreet, his father Gurdas Badal and the Chief Minister and his family cast their votes at Badal village. Bhagwant Mann exercised his franchise in Mohali. Congress chief ministerial candidate Capt Amarinder Singh and his family cast their votes in Patiala City this afternoon. Congress star campaigner and party candidate from Amritsar East Navjot Singh Sidhu along with his wife and son exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Amritsar North at around 1145 hrs. Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, also cast his vote at a polling booth in Majithia Assembly constituency. There are about two-crore voters -- precisely 1,98,79069 -- in the state where 1,145 candidates, including a third gender and 81 women, are in the fray. There are over six lakhs first time voters in the state.Extraordinary security bandobust has been clamped in the state to foil any bid to disturb the poll process.The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded 94 candidates while its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party has pitched 23 in the fray whereas 468 hopefuls are from the registered but unrecognised parties, including AAP. Congress fielded 116 aspirants and 110 have been put up by the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Communist Party of India has put up 23 and there are 304 independent candidates.There are about 22,615 polling stations in the state where Lambi constituency is witnessing straight contest. Gill (SC) is the largest assembly segment area wise.There is a triangular contest among the ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress and AAP.While the Congress has fielded its candidates in all the 117 constituencies, the SAD is fighting on 94 seats while 23 are being contested by BJP. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded its nominees on 112 Assembly segments and left five seats for Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) of the Bains brothers.The campaign, which ended on Thursday, was marred by twin blasts at Maur Mandi in Bathinda on January 31 in which six people lost their lives and several others were injured.The ruling SAD-BJP alliance is battling anti-incumbency after a decade in power.Corruption, drug menace, Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, law and order, development, agrarian crisis and sacrilege of holy books were the main issues during the election campaign.The Chief Minister is seeking re-election from his traditional Lambi constituency where he is facing a stiff challenge from Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh. With AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Punjab CM Beant Singh in the fray, SAD president and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is battling hard to retain Jalalabad.In Patiala Urban, Capt Amariner Singh is being opposed by SAD candidate and retired Army chief General JJ Singh and AAP's Dr Balbir Singh.AAP is contesting the state polls for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP Chief Amit Shah and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley were among those campaigned for candidates of the BJP and its allies.For SAD, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal campaigned extensively..Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi led the party stumping in the state, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the star campaigners for the AAP. After initial dithering, Rahul declared Capt Amarinder Singh as Congress' chief ministerial face. BSP Chief Mayawati also addressed a number of rallies for her party candidates in the state.UNI DB SW SNU 1534 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1136390.Xml
Around 57 per cent eligible voters exercised their franchise in Punjab for the 117-member state assembly till 1500 hrs today.Voting began at 0800 hrs and will continue till 1700 hrs.Reports reaching here said there was still heavy rush of voters at polling stations in both rural and urban areas of the state. Barring a few minor incidents, the polling is by and large peaceful in the state.SAD candidate and former Army chief Gen JJ Singh (Patiala city), former Finance Minister and Congress candidate from Bathinda urban Manpreet Singh Badal, AAP MP and party candidate from Jalalabad Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were among the early voters. Mr Manpreet and the Badal family cast their votes at Badal village and Bhagwant Mann exercised his franchise in Mohali. Congress chief ministerial candidate Capt Amarinder Singh and his family cast their votes in Patiala City after noon. Congress star campaigner and party candidate from Amritsar East Navjot Singh Sidhu along with his wife and son exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Amritsar North at around 1145 hrs. Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, also exercised his vote a a polling booth in Majithia Assembly constituency. There are about two-crore voters -- precisely 1,98,79069 -- in the state where 1,145 candidates, including a third gender and 81 women -- are in the fray to pick up members for the 117-member state Assembly. There are over six-lakh first time voters in the state this time.Extraordinary security bandobust has been clamped in the state to foil any bid to disturb the poll process.The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded 94 candidates while its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party has pitched 23 in the fray where 468 hopefuls are from registered but unrecognised parties. Congress fielded 116 aspirants and 110 have been put up by the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Communist Party of India has put up 23 and there are 304 independent candidates.There are about 22,615 polling stations in the state where Lambi constituency is witnessing straight contest. Gill ( SC) is the largest assembly segment area wise.There is a triangular contest among the ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress and AAP. UNI DB SW SNU 1651 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1136509.Xml
"A woman was shot in the head on Friday midnight in her house near Saraghat region in South 24 Parganas district's Falta," Samilt Mondal, Officer in-charge of Falta police station said.

"We have detained the husband Maidul Islam for questioning," he said.

According to the police, the parents of the deceased accused Islam of domestic violence and said he shot his wife during an altercation.

The accused, however, denied the allegations and claimed some outsiders shot his wife on Friday night.

"Islam blamed outsiders for killing his wife. No guns have been recovered from the accused yet. The investigation is on," the officer said.

--IANS mgr/ssp/lok/bg

( 138 Words)

2017-02-04-17:56:07 (IANS)
The Congress today slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling Pakistan occupied Kashmir' as 'Pakistan Ki Dharti' (Pakistan's land) during a public rally in Meerut. Addressing reporters, AICC spokesperson Tom Vadakkan attacked the PM for referring to POK as 'Pakistan Ki Dharti' and asked him to withdraw his statement. ''The DGMO reported that Surgical Strike happened in LoC. However, the PM's reference was to POK. When did the POK become a part of Pakistan's territory? Is it correct for the PM to say this?If another political party had said this they'd be painted as Anti-National. PM needs to withdraw the statement from Meerut,''Mr vadakkan said.Addressing a public rally in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi, lauding the surgical strikes carried out by the NDA Govenrmet, said,''hamaari sena ne Pakistan ki dharti par itna bada operation kiya (Our Army carried out a huge operation on Pakistan's territory).'' Earlier, reacting to PM's speech at the public rally, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari, in a series of tweets, said,''Mr Narendra Modi says in Meerut that 'hamaari sena ne Pakistan ki dharti par itna bada operation kiya (Our Army carried out a huge operation on Pakistan's territory) - isn't PoK an integral party of India?.Has the stance on POK of the BJP government changed? ParliamentResolutions of 1994 &2012 say reclaiming POK is the unfinished business of 1947 Partition???'' ''Surgical Strikes were along the LOC and that divides our J&K from what is illegally occupied by Pakistan. It is not Pakistan Ki Dharti !,''Mr Tewari tweeted. Criticising the PM's speech, Mr Vadakkan said,''Instead of delivering on what the roadmap ahead is, we heard only abbreviations from the PM.'' UNI AR SHK 1800 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-1136717.Xml
Gurugram Deputy Commissioner of Police Sumit Kumar (Crime) attended the meeting of police officers from the crime branches of Delhi, Rajasthan and neighbouring districts of Gurugram.

DCP Kumar said the police of neighbouring states and districts must share more information regarding incidents of crime specially crime against women and minor girls.

He sought help in solving the January 29 incident that took place near Pataudi.

A group of 8-10 men armed with pistols and sharp weapons stormed into a casting factory and poultry farm in Mandpura village near Pataudi, 30 km from Gurugram.

They gang raped two women labourers at gunpoint, tortured the labourers and escaped with Rs 42,000. During the four-hour incident, they also cooked chicken using the gas stoves of the labourers.

The casting factory and poultry farm belong to Gurugram resident Pritam Singh.

Gurugram police chief Sandeep Khirwar, who visited the crime scene, said several police teams were formed to find the robbers.

Despite their efforts, police failed to even identify the criminals.

--IANS pradeep/pgh/bg

( 211 Words)

2017-02-04-18:44:07 (IANS)
A woman Information Technology employee was assaulted by a mob after she protested against loud music in East Kolkata's Kasba area, police said on Saturday. Police have arrested one person in connection with the assault. According to the victim, a group of Saraswati Puja organisers, who were celebrating by playing loud music even after 8 p.m. on Friday, attacked her when she asked them to lower the volume. "The puja organisers assaulted me and pushed me to the ground. The mob also abused me in filthiest language and hurled bricks at our house. One of our gates was broken," the woman said. "The locals were playing music well beyond the permissible limit even after two days of the puja. I only requested them to lower the volume as it was already late at night," she said. "We have arrested one person on the charge of assaulting the woman," an officer from Kasba police station said. In another incident, two people were injured in a minor clash between two groups in West Bengal's Malda district on Saturday, police said. "A minor clash broke out between the two groups of people hailing from the same community in Malda's English Bazar area over playing music at a high level. The fingers of two persons were chopped during the clash and they had to be hospitalised," said Purnendu Kundu, officer in charge of English Bazar police station. "No one has been arrested so far," he added. --IANS mgr/ssp/tsb/bg ( 256 Words) 2017-02-04-18:52:06 (IANS)
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined the SCAM acronym to attack political opponents in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress on Saturday gave the word a Hindi twist to hit back - calling the BJP a "party of Sattabhogi (hungry for power), Kapti-dhongi (fraudster) and Amit Shah, Modi". The party also came out with six abbreviations for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Giving out the abbreviations for BJP, Congress said it was a party that represented - Bhagora Judao Party (party of turncoats), Bhai-bhatijawad Party (party of nepotism), Bhaichara Jalao Party (party that promotes enmity), Brashtrachar Jagao Party (party that promotes corruption), Bhramjaal Party and Bhram Jagao Party (party that creates illusion). Targetting his political opponents in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi on Saturday said that "SCAM" is an acronym for Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. Modi said: "Do you know what 'Scam' stands for? It is 'S' for Samajwadi Party, 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati." Soon after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav hit back, saying the 'A' and 'M' stand for Amit Shah and Modi. According to him SCAM stood for "Save the Country from Amit Shah, Modi." The Congress too joined in. "The Prime Minister today told us the meaning of SCAM. Let us also tell them the meaning of scam in Hindi. SCAM means Sattabhogi (hungry for power), Kapti dhongi (fraudster) and Amit Shah Modi," Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said briefing media persons. "He found abbreviations for the Congress party, the SP and everybody under the sun including all the opposition parties. Instead of delivering on what the road map ahead is, we hear him speak on abbreviations. He is extremely worried because he has realized the faults what demonetization has done across the country," Vadakkan added. Vadakkaan then went on to give the six abbreviations for BJP. "He (Modi) is the Prime Minister of the country. Is this his work to play with abbreviations? Why didn't you take the names of scamsters. They are in your party (BJP) and demonetisation is the biggest scam," he said. The Congress wanted to know if the Prime Minister had fulfilled his promise to provide loan waiver to farmers. "He spoke about giving relief to the farmers in Meerut. It is a Bhram Jagao Party (party that creates illusion). Did they give relief to farmers in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. They only know how to create illusion," he added. --IANS sid/rn/vd ( 423 Words) 2017-02-04-20:08:06 (IANS)
BJP President Amit Shah today accused Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for poor law and order situation and said the state had become crime capital of the country. ''UP has become the crime capital of India, where at least 24 cases of rape, 13 murders, 19 riots, and 136 cases of theft and total 7,650 incidents of crime occur every day. A government which cannot control crime, particularly crime against women, has lost all the moral right to stay in office,'' the BJP President said, while addressing an election meeting in Mathura. Targeting the SP-Congress alliance, the BJP President said ''it's an alliance between the two problem-ridden families, wherein one mother is unhappy with her son while in another, the father is troubled by his son. It's futile to expect anything from the two leaders (Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi), who are the 'Yuvraj' of their respective parties. ''Every day, 'Yuvraj' of the two parties go for campaigning and promise support of the people, claiming that the allaince will change the face of UP .What did Akhilesh do during the last five years as Chief Minister of UP? Now it'' too late and the voters of UP are no longer willing to tolerate such an unpopular government, even for a day,'' Mr Shah said. ''The coming together of the two Yuvraj of two political parties has grim portents for the people of UP, as the Samajwadi Party has made UP a frontline state for crime and communalism. The development of UP is possible only of the BJP government with two third majority is voted to power in UP", asserted Shah. ''This Assembly election in UP, is neither for electing MLA, Minister or Chief Minister, the election is for deciding the destiny of the state . The continuing spell of rule by the two regional parties has ruined the state and pushed it back by several decades'', BJP president said. Countering the criticism by Akhilesh Yadav on elusive "Acche din'', as promised by the BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP president said ``Akhilesh has no right to ask for Acchedin. You just vacate the office of the Chief Minister and Acchedin would dawn in UP as Samajwadi party government has stopped the arrival of Acche Din in UP''. He said as soon as the BJP is voted to power the mafia, criminals and the land mafia who have occupied the public land and the land of the poor farmers will be brought to justice. Shah also targeted Mulayam Singh Yadav saying "he was continuously changing his statement everyday to confuse the people of UP only to help his son Akhikesh Yadav in the state Assembly elections''. ''BJP from day one had maintained that the family dispute in the first family of the Samajwadi party was an stage managed drama scripted with the sole objective of deflecting the attention of the people from the shady record of performance of the SP government and fight the anti-incumbency", alleged Amit Shah adding the actors--Mulayam and Akhilesh played their role very well trying to get sympathy from the people but overacting by Mulayam spilled the beans. BJP leader asked Mulayam to clarify whether he would campaign for his brother Shivpal who is contesting from Jaswantnagar seat in Etawah, whether he would campaign for Akhikesh who is not contesting himself from any of the seat. "Would Mulayam Singh campaign for the SP- Congress alliance after publically opposing it saying the alliance was absolutely unnecessary" asked the BJP leader.UNI MB PS RJ 2025 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1137064.Xml
Goa registered a record 83 per cent voter turnout, while the turnout in Punjab was 70 per cent till 5 PM as the two states went to polls today to elect new assemblies. While voting took place in Goa for 40 assembly seats, it was held in Punjab for 117 assembly seats and Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency. While polling passed off peacefully in Goa, the polling was by and large peaceful in Punjab barring a few incidents of skirmishes at some places. An Akali worker was injured in a clash with Congress workers at Killanwali village in Lambi constituency. In Tarn Taran, a Congress worker suffered bullet injuries after a SAD sarpanch allegedly opened fire outside a polling booth. After EVMs with voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) developed technical snags at some polling booths, these were replaced with conventional EVMs. SAD candidate from Patiala Urban and former Army chief Gen JJ Singh, former Finance Minister and Congress candidate from Bathinda Urban Manpreet Singh Badal, AAP MP and party candidate from Jalalabad Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were among the early voters. Mr Manpreet, his father Gurdas Badal and the Chief Minister and his family cast their votes at Badal village. Bhagwant Mann exercised his franchise in Mohali. Congress chief ministerial candidate Capt Amarinder Singh and his family cast their votes in Patiala City this afternoon. Congress star campaigner and party candidate from Amritsar East Navjot Singh Sidhu along with his wife and son exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Amritsar North at around 1145 hrs. There are about two-crore voters -- precisely 1,98,79069 -- in the state where 1,145 candidates, including a third gender and 81 women, are in the fray. There are over six-lakh first time voters in the state. Extraordinary security bandobust has been clamped in the state to foil any bid to disturb the poll process. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded 94 candidates while its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party has pitched 23 in the fray whereas 468 hopefuls are from the registered but unrecognised parties, including AAP. Congress fielded 116 aspirants and 110 have been put up by the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded its nominees on 112 segments and left five seats for Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) of the Bains brothers. The Communist Party of India has put up 23 and there are 304 independent candidates. The ruling SAD-BJP alliance is battling anti-incumbency after a decade in power. Corruption, drug menace, Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, law and order, development, agrarian crisis and sacrilege of holy books were the main issues during the election campaign. The Chief Minister is seeking re-election from his traditional Lambi constituency where he is facing a stiff challenge from Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh. With AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Punjab CM Beant Singh in the fray, SAD president and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is battling hard to retain Jalalabad. In Patiala Urban, Capt Amariner Singh is being opposed by SAD candidate and retired Army chief General JJ Singh and AAP's Dr Balbir Singh. AAP is contesting the state polls for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP Chief Amit Shah and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley were among those campaigned for candidates of the BJP and its allies. For SAD, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal campaigned extensively. Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi led the party stumping in the state, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the star campaigners for the AAP. After initial dithering, Mr Gandhi declared Capt Amarinder Singh as Congress' chief ministerial face. BSP Chief Mayawati also addressed a number of rallies for her party candidates in the state. UNI TEAM DB SHK 1955 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0430-1137059.Xml
In a sensational revelation, a 32-year-old man, who allegedly killed his live-in partner, encased her body in an iron box and built a platform around it has confessed to killing his parents about six years ago. "Udayan Das has admitted to murdering his parents in 2010-11, burying their bodies in their house in Raipur and later selling that dwelling. A joint team of Bhopal and West Bengal Police would leave for Raipur to ascertain the veracity of his statement," said Superintendent of Police Siddhartha Bahuguna. Udayan was arrested on Thursday in connection with the murder of West Bengal's Bankura-resident Akanksha whose kin had lodged a missing complaint in Bankura after they were not able to contact her for a long time. A police team from Bankura arrived on Thursday to trace the missing woman and discovered that she had been murdered. The accused had befriended the woman on social media. Akanksha then made up a story that she was leaving for the United States but came to Bhopal where both started staying together. Their relationship did not last long as Udayan became suspicious of her character and killed her in July. "The post-mortem of Akanksha's body revealed that she was strangulated. Her body was handed over to her brother and her uncle who did the last rites at a crematorium here," said Govindpura City Superintendent of Police Virendra Mishra. Sources said that Udyan had got the idea of burying the body from an English movie. Udayan told police during interrogation that his father who retired as an engineer from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited had died. His mother who retired from the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police in Chhattisgarh was now living in the United States. However, police got suspicious when his mother could not be contacted. Udayan was grilled and he owned up to killing his parents. UNI SN-PS SW SNU 1946 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1136964.Xml
The arrested traffickers have been identified as women of African origin - Thelma Mkandawire (38) from Zambia and Pamela Devid Kiritta (41) from Tanzania.

Madho Singh, NCB zonal director, revealed the two women were caught from a hotel in south Delhi's Mahipalpur.

During interrogation, Pamela disclosed that she had been staying in Delhi's Vasant Kunj and had been working in collaboration with one South African man.

Singh also informed that Thelma was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 allegedly on drug trafficking charges.

"This whole episode shows that drug-trafficking in the country has been on an increase. We have alerted all our zonal units and have increased surveillance," he added.

Earlier on January 21, three Vietnamese nationals were arrested from a hotel in Paharganj with 3 kg of cocaine and 450 grams of methaqualone worth over Rs. 21 crore in the international market. (ANI)
Briefing the media in the national capital, Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said that no case of paid news was reported in the state. He also said the polling passed off peacefully.

"Till now the information received is 83 percent polling in Goa, in north Goa 84 percent, in south Goa 81.5 percent," officials said.

The officials said that for the first time, 100 percent use of electronically transmitted postal ballot system was done in Goa.

"In Goa, one polling station was picked up which was managed totally by persons with disability," officials added.

Punjab, on other hand, saw mild disruption during the polling process as one case of violence was reported in Lalu Ghuman village in Tarn Taran.

Deputy Election commissioner Sandeep Saxena also informed that Rs. 58.02 crore cash, 12.43 lakh litres liquor worth Rs. 13.34 crore, 2598 kilograms of drugs and narcotics worth Rs. 18.26 crore were seized in Punjab.

A case of minor altercation was also reported where supporters of two political parties clashed.

"One person sustained bullet injury. An FIR has been lodged and main accused has been rounded up," officials said.

There were also some reports of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) developing technical snags which were replaced. (ANI)
"I have not joined any party and I have not taken any call. When I decide will let you know," Krishna told ANI.

The former foreign minister's comment comes hours after Karnataka BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa claimed that the former would join the party soon.

"S.M. Krishna has decided to join the BJP. We don't know when for certain, we'll fix that soon. But he is joining 100 per cent," Yeddyurappa told ANI.

On January 29, Krishna resigned from all the posts held by him in the grand old party.

The Congress repeatedly made attempts to convince the veteran leader to join back.

Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara had urged the Congress top brass to convince Krishna not to quit.

"Hopefully, the high command will be able to convince him to stay in the party," Parameshwara told ANI.

"Particularly S. M. Krishna leaving the party has in one way affected the Congress in Karnataka. But we will definitely make up for that. At the same time, we appeal to the high command to talk to him and see that he doesn't go out of the party," he added. (ANI)
They said that on December 29, last year, one Mohammad Abdullah of village Bharath, District Doda, involved in Hawala case had applied for grant of statutory and default bail under section 43-D of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Court of Additional Session, Judge, Doda.

The Court observed that the accused is involved in heinous offence and was distributing Hawala money to the families of slain militants to revive the militancy.

Moreover, the challan of case is yet to be filed and the grant of sanction is pre-requisite for prosecution in the competent court of law.

Granting bail at this stage will also create a bad impact to the society and as such the bail application of accused is rejected, said the Court.UNI VBH SHS RJ 2048

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1137076.Xml
Special Judge Manoj Kumar Sinha ordered to send three accused of the case on police remand for 11 days for interrogation, accepting the request of NIA.

The court had sent the accused to jail after taking them into judicial custody on their production before the court by NIA yesterday.

As it is, three accused-- Motilal Paswan, Umashankar Patel and Mukesh Kumar Yadav, all natives of Adapur under Raxaul police station area in Motihari district, were arrested for their alleged involvement in planting pressure cooker bomb on tracks near Ghorasahan station in Motihari on October 1, 2016. The bomb could not explode and the major train accident was averted.

During the investigation, the role of ISI, the intelligence of Pakistan came to light and NIA started thorough probe into the case. An FIR in this connection was registered at Raxaul police station in East Champaran district on October 1, 2016.UNI XC KKS RD SHS RK2149

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1137173.Xml
Braving the cold wave sweeping across Punjab, more than 75 per cent voters today thronged the polling booths to exercise their franchise, as well elect 117 members of the state Assembly. According to the Election Commission website, 74 per cent voters had cast their ballots across over 22,000 polling stations in the state till 1930 hrs. However, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said the polling percentage is expected to cross over 75 per cent mark. In 2012, 78 per cent turnout was recorded in Punjab Assembly polls. An Election Commission official said that only 47 EVMs were malfunctioned and replaced out of 22,615 deployed in the state. Out of total 6,668 VVPATs deployed, only 187 were replaced, he added. Voters in impressive numbers started queueing up outside the polling stations, right from the start of polling at 0800 hrs in the morning. Barring a few incidents of minor clashes at some places, the polling was by and large peaceful in Punjab. An Akali worker was injured in a clash with Congress workers at Killanwali village in Lambi constituency. In Tarn Taran, a Congress worker suffered bullet injuries after a SAD sarpanch allegedly opened fire outside a polling booth. Turban of AAP candidate Gurpartap Singh Khushalpur came off during the clash between Congress and AAP workers in Kalanaur area of Dera Baba Nanak constituency. A report from Sangrur said that two AAP workers were allegedly beaten up by Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy and his supporters at a booth in Sultanpur village, falling under the Dhuri Assembly constituency. SAD candidate and former Army chief Gen J J Singh (Patiala city), former finance minister and Congress candidate from Bathinda urban Manpreet Singh Badal, AAP MP and party candidate from Jalalabad Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were among the early voters. Mr Manpreet and the Badal family cast their votes at Badal village and Bhagwant Mann exercised his franchise in Mohali. Congress Chief Ministerial candidate Capt Amarinder Singh and his family cast their votes in Patiala City this afternoon. Congress star campaigner and party candidate from Amritsar East Navjot Singh Sidhu, along with his wife and son, exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Amritsar North, at around 1145 hrs. Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, brother-in-law of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, also cast his vote a a polling booth in Majithia assembly constituency. There are about two crore voters- precisely 1,98,79069 - in the state where 1,145 candidates- including a third gender and 81 women - are in the fray to pick up members for the 117 member state Assembly. There are over six lakh first time voters in the state this time. Extraordinary security bandobust has been clamped in the state to foil any bid to disturb the poll process. Sanour constituency has 18 candidates. Khem Karan and Fategarh Sahib have five each. Ghanaur is seeing four women trying their luck at the hustings. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded 94 candidates while its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party has pitched 23 in the fray where 468 hopefuls are from registered but unorganised parties,including AAP. Congress fielded 116 aspirants and 110 have been put up by the Bahujan Samaj Party.The Communist Party of India has put up 23 and there are 304 independent candidates. There are about 22,615 polling stations in the state where Lambi constituency is witnessing straight contest. Gill ( SC) is the largest assembly segment area wise. There is a triangular contest among the ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress and AAP. While the Congress has fielded its candidates on all the 117 constituencies, the SAD is fighting on 94 seats while 23 are being contested by BJP. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded its nominees on 112 Assembly segments and left five seats for Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) of the Bains brothers. The campaign, which ended on Thursday, was marred by twin blasts at Maur Mandi in Bathinda on January 31 in which six persons lost their lives and several others were injured. The ruling SAD-BJP alliance is battling anti-incumbency after a decade in power. Corruption, drug menace, Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, law and order, development, agrarian crisis and sacrilege of holy books were the main issues during the election campaign. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is seeking re-election from his traditional Lambi constituency where he is facing a stiff challenge from Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh. With AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Punjab CM Beant Singh in the fray, SAD President and Deputy CM Sukhbir SinghBadal is battling hard to retain Jalalabad. In Patiala Urban, Capt Amariner Singh is being opposed by SAD candidate and retired Army chief General J J Singh and AAP's Dr Balbir Singh. AAP is contesting the state polls for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley were among those who campaigned for the candidates of BJP and its allies. For SAD, Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir, campaigned extensively.. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi led the party stumping in the state, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the star campaigners for the AAP. After initial dithering, Rahul declared Amarinder Singh as the Congress' chief ministerial face. BSP chief Mayawati also addressed a number of rallies for her party candidates in the state.UNI DB RJ 2116 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1137115.Xml
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault today that a flare-up of violence in eastern Ukraine may nullify two-year long efforts to pacify warring sides, Russia's foreign ministry said today.Ayrault also told Lavrov that Moscow should do everything to ensure the escalation ends in eastern Ukraine, where two years of negotiation have failed to bring peace.They also discussed Syria in a phone call, it said. REUTERS SHS RAI2319 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1135860.Xml
The Treasury Department said that it was imposing the sanctions on 25 individuals and companies connected to the missile program and those who were providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force, reports CNN.

This list also included three separate networks linked to support the missile program, which was opposed by US.

The tensions between the two countries have been on the boil since the election of Trump.

The disturbing developments come after Trump last week announced a temporary travel ban on Iran and six other Muslim-majority nations, barring visitors from entering the United States.

On Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said Sunday's test was a "provocative" breach of a UN Security Council resolution, following which Trump tweeted Thursday saying, "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE" and should have been "thankful" for the "terrible deal."

A senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the "extremism" of President Trump, who declared Iran was "on notice".

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Thursday, the top official, Ali Akbar Velayati, dismissed the US President's "baseless ranting" and said that even Americans were not satisfied with "Trump's extremism," according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

Asserting that all test-fired missiles were defensive, he added that Iran did not need to seek permission to carry out such activities.

Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted Tuesday that Sunday's missile test was not a violation of the UN Security Council resolution, which bars Iran from testing "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons." (ANI)
US District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart on Friday granted the injunction at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office said that the order applies nationwide, Efe news reported.

"The Constitution prevailed today. No one is above the law - not even the President," Ferguson said.

The lawsuit against Trump's ban was initially filed by Washington state, with Minnesota joining later.

Ferguson has described the ban as illegal and unconstitutional, because it discriminates against people on the ground of their religion.

The ruling is a major challenge to the Trump administration, and means that nationals from the seven countries are now able - in theory - to apply for US visas, the BBC said in its report.

The administration can appeal against the verdict.

Last week's move by Trump triggered mass protests and has resulted in confusion at US airports.

The State Department says 60,000 visas have since been revoked.

Trump's executive order brought in a suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days.

There is also an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. Anyone arriving from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen faces a 90-day visa suspension.

--IANS in/

( 229 Words)

2017-02-04-08:08:07 (IANS)
In an awkward reversal, the US military promptly withdrew an old video by Islamist militants it had released as evidence that a fatal raid in Yemen by American special forces this week was a counter terrorism success.An expert in radical Islamist media said the footage by unknown militants appeared to be part of videos first released by jihadists online some 10 years ago, undermining the Pentagon's explanation about its value.A US Central Command spokesman confirmed that the video was removed from the website because the contents were old."We didn't want it to appear that we were trying to pass off an old video as a new video," spokesman Colonel John Thomas said yesterday.It is the latest controversy surrounding the raid on a branch of al Qaeda in Yemen, the first such operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief.The military said the video was found on Sunday in the operation in al-Bayda province in which a US Navy SEAL, militants and civilians were killed.A US Central Command spokesman had said yesterday the clip of a ski-masked man encouraging people to build bombs, was "one example of the volumes of sensitive al-Qa'eda terror-planning information recovered during the operation."The Department of Defense posted the video on its web site on Friday but pulled it off within several hours when questions began to arise about its age.The footage appeared to be similar to that in other videos that surfaced online in 2007."The video clip that was posted and abruptly taken down was one of 25 videos that appeared (published) in 2007," said Adam Raisman, a senior analyst at SITE group which monitors extremists online. He added that the only difference was that the Pentagon video had English subtitles added.Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the video was still of worth, even if it may have been created earlier."It does not matter when the video was made, that they had it is still illustrative of who they are and what their intentions are," Davis said.US Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens was killed in the raid, which the Pentagon said also killed 14 militants. Medics at the scene said about 30 people, including 10 women and children, also died.US military officials told Reuters this week that the operation went ahead without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.But Central Command said earlier this week that it only asks for operations it believes have a good chance of success based on its planning. Pentagon spokesman Davis has said the element of surprise had not been lost in the raid. REUTERS RSD 0427 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-1135909.Xml
Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said today she hoped a visit by US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to South Korea and Japan this week, his first overseas trip since taking office, would lead to deeper security ties.Inada spoke at the start of talks with Mattis, who on Friday reaffirmed Washington's commitment to its mutual defense treaty with Japan when he met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo."The security situation in the Asia-Pacific is becoming increasingly severe," Inada said, adding she wanted to strengthen the US-Japan alliance."South Korea is an important neighbor," Inada added. "I want to link Secretary Mattis' visit to Japan and South Korea to the further deepening of defense cooperation among the three countries."Mattis said yesterday that provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of UN resolutions, left no room for doubt about US commitment to Japan's defense. It was similar to the message he delivered in South Korea.He appeared eager to reassure Japan of US resolve, after a 2016 election campaign in which Donald Trump, before becoming president, suggested both South Korea and Japan were benefiting from a US security umbrella without sharing enough of the costs.Japan's relations with South Korea have frayed in recent weeks due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation between the two allies vital.Japan has also been keen for assurances that the new administration of President Donald Trump will adhere to Washington's commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China. REUTERS RSD 0654 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-1135922.Xml
On Friday, a day after Italy and Libya signed a deal to curb people smuggling in the north African country, 13 rescue operations were carried out by Italy's navy and coast guard ships, Xinhua news agency reported.

Other forces operating within the European Union (EU) mission Eunavfor, and vessels from aid groups also joined in.

On Thursday, the Italian coast guard coordinating all migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean said more than 1,750 migrants and refugees had been saved within 24 hours.

About 450 people had been rescued in five different operations on Thursday, and 1,300 the previous day.

Of this group, some 754 migrants and refugees including 131 unaccompanied minors were brought to the southern port of Reggio Calabria, and given first medical check and assistance.

On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and his Libyan counterpart Fayez al-Serraj signed an agreement aimed at tackling the flows starting from the Libyan coasts.

In latest years, the north African country has become a major origin point of departure for migrants and asylum seekers, and a crucial hub for smugglers.

Temporary camps for illegal migrants will be set up on Libya's soil, according to the draft deal provided by the Italian government. Such camps will be run by officials from the Libyan Interior Ministry, and funded by the EU, with Italy providing medical assistance.

Illegal migrants in the camps will be asked to voluntarily return to their own countries, or face deportation.

Such plan will be in force for the next three years, and was overall approved by EU leaders who gathered for a summit on the migration crisis in Malta on February 2-3.

--IANS in-sm/vm

( 303 Words)

2017-02-04-11:26:12 (IANS)
Thousands of protesters rallied across Australia today condemning US President Donald Trump's order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries and demanding an end to Australia's offshore detention of asylum seekers.US ties with Australia became strained on Thursday after details about an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull emerged and Trump said a deal between the two nations on refugee resettlement was "dumb."About 1,000 people gathered in Sydney to protest against Trump's executive order on immigration and to call on Australia to close its offshore processing centres on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.Similar protests were held in Canberra, Newcastle and Hobart, while hundreds attended an anti-Trump rally in Melbourne yesterday.Under the "dumb deal", the United States would take up to 1,250 asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus. In return, Australia would take refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.Trump has begrudgingly said he planned to stand by the deal, but a source told Reuters yesterday US immigration officials have postponed interviews with asylum seekers on Nauru.In Sydney, protesters carried placards that said "Refugee torture, Australia's shame" and "No walls, no camps, no bans"."Australia should not be trying to palm off people the government considers problems to the USA. We have the solution here," protester Beverley Fine, 62, told Reuters.Trump's executive order last week suspended the US refugee programme for 120 days and stopped visits by travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days.A US federal judge on Friday put a nationwide block on Trump's executive order, although his administration could still have the policy put back into effect on appeal. REUTERS AKC GC1140 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1136042.Xml
They said he wouldn't or couldn't do it. He did it and is doing it with a vengeance, roiling foes and friends alike at home and abroad. And in the midst of all the turbulence created by his executive pen, Donald Trump always finds the time to tweet -- to trumpet "he did it" as also to change the conversation. In the two weeks since he took over, the new President has signed over a score of orders from one to slash regulations to another pausing intake of refugees and travel from seven terror-prone nations. As protests against what "the dishonest media", as the Donald views it, called "a travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations" caused confusion and chaos at airports across America, Trump was unruffled. "Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!" he tweeted. He even made fun of opposition Democratic House and Senate leaders, Nancy Pelosi and "head clown" Chuck Schumer, for shedding "fake tears" for the poor Syrian refugees. "Pelosi and Fake Tears Chuck Schumer held a rally at the steps of The Supreme Court and the mic did not work (a mess)-just like the Dem party!" he tweeted. Trump also fired a defiant acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, for "betrayal" for refusing to defend his order in court. Then as the Democrats boycotted a few Senate panels to block the confirmation of some of his cabinet nominees over "ethical concerns", Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell changed the rules to do it anyway without them. "If you can, Mitch, go nuclear," Trump egged the Republican leader to similarly advance his new Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's confirmation by stripping the required 60-vote threshold if Democrats try to put hurdles in his path. Ever the showman, Trump rolled out the "terrific" conservative judge's nomination in the Roosevelt Room of the White House at prime time keeping his final choice secret until the last minute. And before former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was confirmed as his Secretary of State, he took diplomacy in his own hands to do some "tough talking" with Mexican and Australian leaders. As media reports citing leaks would have it, he told Mexican President that his "bad hombres" needed to "be knocked out" and abruptly ended a call with Australian Prime Minister over an Obama-era "dumb deal." "Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!" "Dumb or not," the US would honour the deal, the White House said later while downplaying Trump's "hombre" comments as "light-hearted". And in what pundits saw as a sign of return to normalcy, Trump told Israel that new settlements in the occupied West Bank "may not be helpful" in achieving Middle East peace without sounding admonishing. His "desi" ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also "strongly condemned" Moscow for "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine even as she voiced Trump's desire "to better our relations with Russia". Trump also seemed in no hurry to lift fresh sanctions imposed by Obama in the waning days of his regime over Moscow's alleged meddling in the presidential election to help the Manhattan mogul. In response to an Iranian missile test, his administration imposed new sanctions aimed at Tehran's ballistic missile programme. But he again made no move to tear up the Iran nuclear deal that candidate Trump had dismissed as a "disaster". But at a solemn National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump told Americans that "We have to be tough" before he inexplicably mocked Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has replaced him as "The Celebrity Apprentice" host, for its poor ratings. "Pray for Arnold," he asked the audience only to have the Hollywood star hit back with a suggestion, "Why don't we switch jobs?" Meanwhile, Trump's long time doctor revealed to the New York Times that the mogul, who has often let people ruffle his golden top to prove it's real, takes a prostate-related drug to stimulate hair growth. And on Groundhog Day Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog saw his own shadow to "predict" six more weeks of winter. But it failed to say how long the Democrats would have to keeping pulling their hair through a hair-raising Trump-era winter! (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) --IANS ak/tb/sac ( 739 Words) 2017-02-04-13:00:11 (IANS)
US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Saturday described Iran as the world's greater sponsor of terrorism, hours after the Trump administration announced fresh sanctions on the country following a recent missile test. "As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," Mattis told reporters in Tokyo, before adding that he saw no need to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response. "I do not see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time," Mattis said as he wrapped up his visits to Japan and South Korea, his first foreign trip as defence secretary. Michael T. Flynn, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser, said this week that the US was putting Iran "on notice" because of its January 29 missile test and support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom the US has accused of threatening American vessels in the Red Sea and attacking a Saudi Navy patrol boat, the New York Times reported. The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions on Friday against 25 Iranians and companies that it said were connected with Iran's missile programme and the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Mattis defended the decision to put a spotlight on Iran's behaviour, saying that it was important to make Iran recognise that "it is getting the attention of a lot of people", according to the report. He also said that the US did not need to deploy additional military resources to signal its concern. "Right now, I do not think that is necessary," he said. --IANS soni/vm ( 277 Words) 2017-02-04-14:30:06 (IANS)
According to a statement released by the Iranian Army on Sepahnews, the manoeuvres were underway in an area of 35,000 square km in Semnan, Efe news reported.

The drills come amid an escalation of tension with the US, which on Friday imposed 13 sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities related to Tehran's ballistic missile programme. Iran responded with reciprocal measures.

--IANS in/vm

( 108 Words)

2017-02-04-15:12:12 (IANS)
Turkey hit 59 Islamic State targets and killed 51 militants in northern Syria as part of its ongoing incursion, the Turkish military said today.Turkish forces have surrounded the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab for weeks as part of an operation that has been going on for more than five months.Four of those killed were so-called emirs, or local commanders, the Turkish military said, adding that its jets destroyed 56 buildings and three command control centres in the al-Bab and Bzagah regions.Coalition forces also conducted eight airstrikes in the al-Bab region, destroying two defence positions and two armed vehicles. REUTERS AKC AN1429 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1136290.Xml
Air France said today it had reopened US-bound flights to passengers affected by President Donald Trump's travel ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, after the executive order was temporarily suspended by a federal court."Starting today we are implementing this court decision," Air France spokesman Herve Erschler said. "Nationals from the countries concerned are being authorised to fly once again to the United States, providing their papers and visas are in order."Erschler said American government representatives in Paris had advised local airlines they could resume US-bound services for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A federal judge in Seattle on Friday suspended Trump's week-old executive order barring their travel.REUTERS JW AS1601 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1136472.Xml
The Pakistan Interior Ministry has formally raised objections on the report of the Quetta inquiry commission constituted for probing the August 8 Quetta carnage that left 73 people dead, most of them lawyers, and 104 others injured. Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan filed a 64-page document, including the objections and replies to the recommendations and findings, in the Supreme Court, reports the Daily Times. The inquiry commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa of had observed that the Interior Ministry was without a clear leadership and direction; consequently, it was confused about its role in combating terrorism, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar displayed little sense of ministerial responsibility. To this, the ministry said that the commission's findings were incorrect and contrary to the record, and not based on any evidence to support the claims. The report had mentioned a meeting between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar and Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of banned organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). The reply explained that the minister was not scheduled to meet a delegation of the ASWJ led by Ludhianvi, as was alleged by the commission. It said that the minister was scheduled to meet the delegation of Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), which is not a proscribed organisation and is rather an umbrella organisation of 35 religious and political parties. According to the reply, the minister was unaware that Maulana Ludhianvi would accompany Maulana Samiul Haq since he had no prior notice of Maulana Ludhianvi's arrival. In the objections, the ministry said that the finding of the commission that "National Counter Terrorism Authority's (NACTA) act of seeking input from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)/ Intelligence Bureau (IB) is illogical" was flawed. The document also includes submissions on 18 recommendations that were made in the commission's report, stating that proscription of terrorist organisations was a continuous exercise conducted by the federal government, and that 64 organisations had been proscribed to date. The Interior Ministry dubbed the damning findings of the Quetta inquiry commission on terrorism 'unnecessary, uncalled for and violative of natural justice'. "These adverse remarks and observations are without any evidentiary basis. They not only deny the fundamental rights of those affected but also have an adverse effect on the morale of the persons involved," regretted the reply. On January 19, the court had allowed the ministry to submit its objections to the report. (ANI)
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs, Tariq Fatemi, in a meeting with U.S. Ambassador David Hale on Friday, finalised the likely meetings Pakistani officials will have in coming months with the Trump administration. The two sides also undertook an early year review of the state of Pak-US bilateral relations. But the focus of their interaction was to finalise the likely meetings, reports the Express Tribune. A statement issued by the Foreign Office confirmed that Fatemi and Ambassador Hale discussed 'prospective engagements' in the coming months with the new U.S administration. The two sides expressed the confidence that the moment built over the past years, would be taken to higher levels, the statement said. During the meeting, Fatemi also underscored the need to further deepen engagements between Pakistan and the United States, both in the economic and security realms. He expressed confidence that by continuing to work together, the two countries will be able to strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism, in promoting peace and security in the region and in harnessing the potential for regional connectivity.(ANI)
The Nawaz Sharif government has decided to appoint Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit as the country's new Foreign Secretary.According to GEO TV, '' The government has in principle decided to appoint Abdul Basit as country's new Foreign Secretary while Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary has been designated to become country's envoy in the United States.''The Prime Minister's Office is likely to make the announcement regarding the appointment of new administrative boss of the Foreign Office next week.Mr Basit couldn't be appointed to the post earlier due to technical reasons and was instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany.Pakistan's ambassador to US Syed Jalil Abbas Jilani has relinquished the post and Rizwan Saeed Sheikh will be acting as Charged d' Affairs in Washington till the arrival of Aizaz Chaduhary in the US capital. Aizaz Chauduary plans to leave for the United States immediately after the ECO summit in the first week of next month, the GEO TV quoting sources said. Pakistan will appoint new High Commissioner in India after return of Abdul Basit, the sources said.UNI XC SY SHK 1808 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-1136660.Xml
Romania's ruling Social Democrats (PSD) are seeking a solution to defuse a conflict created by the government's approval of a decree decriminalising some corruption offences, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said today.Dragnea, who will hold a meeeting with senior PSD figures on the isssue, told DCNews: "There may even be talks to withdraw it if the Prime Minister would want that."REUTERS JW BL1851 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1136867.Xml
Several thousand people demonstrated outside the US embassy in London today against President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.Protesters held black banners with blood stains bearing slogans such as "No to Trump. No to War" and "Trump: Special Relationship? Just say no." at the demonstration against the ban and Trump's foreign policy.Trump signed an order just over a week ago putting a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the US and temporarily barred travellers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries.On Friday, a Seattle judge blocked the order but many in Britain are angry about the measure, which they see as discriminatory, and the time it took for Prime Minister Theresa May's government to criticise it. REUTERS JW BL1920 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1136956.Xml
South Sudan rebels accused Egypt today of carrying out bombing raids against their positions, drawing an immediate denial from Cairo, and warned of the risk of a regional war.It was the first time either side had alleged Egyptian involvement in South Sudan's festering conflict, which pits President Salva Kiir's military against forces loyal to his former vice president, Riek Machar.The Egyptian air force on Friday dropped "more than nine bombs and explosions on the gallant SPLA-IO positions" near the northern village of Kaka, a rebel statement said, using an acronym for the rebel force.Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid denied the alleged air strikes, saying: "Egypt does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries."South Sudan presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny also denied Egypt had conducted any bombings in the country, describing the allegations as "nonsense.""Those small packets of rebels are ... operating inside our population and we cannot bomb our own population," he said.War erupted in South Sudan in December 2013 after a political disagreement between Kiir and Machar exploded into military confrontation.Under a peace deal, Machar returned to the capital Juba as vice president early last year. But tensions escalated between the two men, who hail from rival tribes, and fighting broke out again in Juba in July.Intermittent clashes continue in several parts of the country. The conflict has often taken an ethnic hue, fuelling fears the world's youngest nation could be plunged into a genocide on the scale of Rwanda's in 1994.In the statement, the rebels accused Kiir's government of seeking to escalate the war. They said they repelled attacks by government forces in several places this week, including at three locations in Unity State, leaving "so many dead bodies".The statement said the rebels had captured nine soldiers after firefights, and destroyed four military vehicles."Egyptian participation in the ongoing war in South Sudan are clear indications to the people of South Sudan...that the Juba regime is provoking the region and tilting South Sudan for a regional war," the statement said.REUTERS JW BL1937 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1137004.Xml
The Philippines' Catholic Church assailed President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs for creating a "reign of terror" among the poor, in sermons read out at today services that will be repeated to congregations across the country tomorrow.In its most strongly worded attack on the crackdown on drug pushers and users, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said killing people was not the answer to trafficking of illegal drugs, and it was disturbing that many didn't care about the bloodshed, or even approved of it."An even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong. It is considered as normal, and, even worse, something that (according to them) needs to be done," the bishops said in a pastoral letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters."An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account," they said.More than 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte launched his anti-drugs campaign seven months ago, more than 2,500 in what police say were shootouts during raids and sting operations.Both the government and police have strenuously denied that extrajudicial killings have taken place. The president's office had no immediate comment on the bishops' letter.Beginning with Mass services today evening, priests read out the letter signed by the bishops of Asia's biggest Catholic nation. Their address did not mention Duterte by name, but urged "elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests" and called for steps to tackle "rogue policemen and corrupt judges".Nearly 80 per cent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholic and, unlike in many other countries where the faith has waned, the majority still practice with enthusiasm. While that support has historically given the Church significant political and social clout, it has been hesitant to criticise the blunt-spoken president's war on drugs.In interviews with Reuters last year, more than a dozen clergymen said they were uncertain how to take a stand against the killings given the popular support for Duterte's campaign. Some said challenging him could be fraught with danger.Duterte has routinely attacked the Church. He cursed the Pope for causing traffic snarl-ups during his 2015 visit, and as recently as this week called for a "showdown" with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, misusing state funds and molesting children."ROGUE POLICEMEN"In apparent reference to accusations that many drug pushers and users have been victims of extra-judicial killings, the bishops said "every person has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty", and the law should be followed."We must also give priority to reforming rogue policemen and corrupt judges," they said.The pastoral letter was read out during Mass today evening to a congregation of about 50 - mostly women - at the domed Church of St. Joseph inside the sprawling grounds of Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Manila.Father Jojo Borja, a chaplain at Camp Crame, said the situation was difficult for clergymen, particularly those employed by the government."We have to be in the middle always," he told Reuters. "When we talk against the government we will be kicked out from the service. Sometimes we will be called for questioning, to ask about our loyalty."The bishops' letter comes less than a week after Duterte suspended all police operations in the drug crackdown due to what he said was deep-rooted corruption in the force. He has put an anti-drugs agency in charge of the campaign and says he wants the military to play a supportive role.In a series of reports last year, Reuters showed that the police had a 97-per cent kill rate in their drug operations, the strongest proof yet that police were summarily shooting drug suspects. The Reuters reports also found that low-level officials in poor neighbourhoods helped police assemble "watch lists" of alleged drug users and pushers that were effectively hit-lists, with many of the people named ending up dead.Duterte used exaggerated and flawed data, including the number of drug users in the Philippines, to justify his anti-narcotics crackdown, according to a Reuters investigation.In a report this week, Amnesty International said police prosecuting the war on drugs behaved like the criminal underworld they were supposed to be suppressing, taking payments for killings and the delivery of bodies to funeral homes.It said the wave of drugs-related killings appeared to be "systematic, planned and organised" by authorities, and could constitute crimes against humanity.REUTERS JW BL1942 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1137013.Xml
US President Donald Trump on Saturday took to Twitter to blast a federal judge's decision to halt his immigration order nationwide. "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" he tweeted. Federal Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee who presides in Seattle, temporarily stopped the order on Friday night. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) then alerted airlines the US government would quickly begin reinstating visas that were previously cancelled, and also advised airlines that refugees who are in possession of US visas will be admitted as well, an airline executive said. Trump sent out a series of tweets lamenting the ruling that halted enforcement. "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" he tweeted. A chaotic Friday night set up the nation for a second straight weekend of widespread uncertainty over the controversial ban, this time with the administration on defence, reported CNN. The White House first called the order "outrageous" and then dropped that word minutes later in a second statement. "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice (DoJ) intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. "The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people." Trump's executive order that he signed last week suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, the US refugee programme for 120 days and indefinitely halted Syrian refugees from entering the US. The ruling came on the heels of its first legal victory over the travel ban. The sweeping ruling from the Seattle judge came just hours after a different ruling from a federal judge in Boston, who declined to renew a temporary restraining order in Massachusetts. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as "the first of its kind" and declared that it "shuts down the executive order immediately". This suit was brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota against the travel ban. Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately hailed Robart's order. "This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," said Schumer. "President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all." "What we're seeing here is the courts standing up to the unconstitutional ban that President Trump imposed," said Omar Jadwat, director of the Immigrants' Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim civil rights organisation, welcomed the ruling. "Because the Trump administration is vowing to appeal the ruling, CAIR is urging travellers to consider immediately contacting relevant airlines to inquire about rebooking their flights, with the recognition that the situation remains fluid," the group said. --IANS soni/bg ( 535 Words) 2017-02-04-19:54:08 (IANS)
France's far-right party leader Marine Le Pen kicked off her presidential campaign today, hoping promises to shield voters from globalisation boost her chances at a time of French political turmoil.Opinion polls see the 48-year old daughter of National Front (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen topping the first round on April 23 but then losing the May 7 run-off to a mainstream candidate.But in the most unpredictable election race France has known in decades, the FN hopes a two-day rally in Lyon, where Le Pen is spelling out her electoral platform, will help convince voters to back her."The aim of this programme is first of all to give France its freedom back and give the people a voice," Le Pen said in the introduction to the manifesto.In 144 "commitments", Le Pen proposes leaving the euro zone, taxes on the job contracts of foreigners, lowering the retirement age and increasing several welfare benefits while lowering payroll tax for small firms and income tax.The manifesto also foresees reserving certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens only, hiring 15,000 police, building more prisons, curbing migration and leaving NATO's integrated command.Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European centrist candidate whom polls say is likely to be Le Pen's opponent in the presidential election run-off, will also hold a rally in Lyon on Saturday to propose a radically different platform."This presidential election puts two opposite proposals," Le Pen said. "The 'globalist' choice backed by all my opponents ... and the 'patriotic' choice which I personify."EU OVERHAUL PLEDGEBuoyed by last year's unexpected vote to take Britain out of the EU and Donald Trump's election in the United States, the FN hopes to ride the same populist wave to victory."We were told Donald Trump would never win in the United States against the media, against the establishment, but he won... We were told Marine Le Pen would not win the presidential election, but on May 7 she will win," Jean-Lin Lacapelle, a top FN official, told several hundred party officials and members.If elected, Le Pen says she would immediately seek an overhaul of the European Union that would reduce it to a very loose cooperative of nations with no single currency and no border-free area. If, as is likely, France's EU partners refuse to agree to this, she will call a referendum to leave the EU.The electoral manifesto is short on macro-economic details and does not give any public deficit or debt targets and does not explain how a Le Pen government would balance raising welfare benefits while cutting taxes.The FN would combine leaving the euro with unorthodox policies including money printing, currency intervention and import taxes, Jean Messiha, who has overseen the drafting of Le Pen's manifesto, told Reuters ahead of the rally.While Le Pen is hoping to benefit from an unpredictable campaign that has seen the favourites drop out one after the other and that has caught up with hitherto favourite Francois Fillon, embroiled in a scandal over alleged ghost jobs for his wife, opinion polls still see her losing the second round.And Le Pen and her party are also facing their own scandals, including one over assistants in the European Parliament and investigations over her 2012 campaign financing.But that leaves grass-roots supporters undeterred. "We're fighting to win the 2017 election," said Victor Birra, the regional head of the FN youth association.REUTERS JW RK1958 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1137046.Xml
"The Egyptian government and people support France and its people against terrorism," Xinhua news agency cited the statement, which urged the international community to intensify collective efforts to combat such "a serious phenomenon".

On Friday morning, a man holding two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre in the French capital city, shouting in Arabic an Islamic phrase meaning "God is the Greatest".

The perpetrator was shot and seriously wounded after he slightly injured one of the soldiers.

Later in the evening, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a press conference that initial investigations showed the man might be a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen who arrived in France from Dubai late January with a tourist visa.

France has imposed emergency rules since November 2015 attacks in which gunmen and suicide bombers loyal to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group killed 130 people in Paris.

In July 2016, at least 86 victims were killed as a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice.

--IANS vgu/

( 205 Words)

2017-02-05-00:50:07 (IANS)
Iranian students take part in a rally marking the 37th anniversary of taking over the U.S. embassy by a group of Iranian students in Tehran, capital of Iran, on Nov. 3, 2016.(Xinhua Photo)

TEHRAN, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister on Thursday dismissed a U.S. security official's remarks about Iran's recent missile test as "baseless," official IRNA news agency reported.

Michael Flynn, national security advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, said Wednesday that Iran's recent ballistic missile launch is in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

"Iran's missile test does not contradict the UN Security Council Resolution 2231," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying.

The remarks by Flynn are "baseless and provocative," Qasemi said, adding that "none of the Iranian missiles has been designed for delivering nuclear weapons."

Resolution 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015 to endorse a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

"Iran's deterrent policy is by no means negotiable," Qasemi stressed.

On Thursday, Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader, also downplayed Flynn's remarks, saying that the Islamic republic does not wait for permission from any foreign state to defend itself.

"The missile, which was put to test (recently) was defensive," Velayati said, adding that the Islamic republic will continue its missile work with full strength, according to Press TV.

"Iran does not seek permission from any country to defend itself," and will remain indifferent to Washington's threats, Velayati was quoted as saying.

Iran is the "foremost regional power," which enjoys extensive political and economic capacities, he added.

Iran's defense minister on Thursday called the recent Iranian ballistic missile test "successful."

The Iranian officials unanimously called the test "inalienable right" of the country to boost deterrent power.
KIEV, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 37 people, including civilians and combatants, were killed and 135 others wounded in the fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine in the past week, reports from the conflicting parties showed on Friday.

Some of the battles have shaken the government-controlled Avdeevka town, killing at least 10 Ukrainian soldiers and wounding 66 others, said Andrey Tsvetkov, a deputy head of the united staff of the Ukrainian army.

The fighting has also been raging through several areas in Donetsk, the stronghold of independence-seeking insurgents, and its satellite towns.

Eduard Basurin, a senior insurgent commander, said that 18 rebel soldiers were killed and 26 injured in the violence over the past week.

The civilian population on both sides of the frontline is also suffering from the ongoing violence.

Nine non-combatant residents of eastern Ukraine were confirmed dead and 43 were wounded in the past week's fighting, with shelling causing the majority of the casualties.

The confronting parties blamed each other for the spike in the hostilities, which marked the sharpest increase of violence in Donbas in the past year.

The conflict has been spreading in Ukraine's east since April 2014, when the government troops launched offensives to regain control over the insurgent-seized cities and towns. It has claimed the lives of some 10,000 people.
LISBON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates is prosecuting the Portuguese state for surpassing the maximum time limit for "Operation Marques," local media reported on Friday.

Operation Marques has led Socrates to be arrested in November 2014.

He spent over 9 months in preventive prison, having been accused of fiscal fraud, money laundering and passive corruption.

Socrates, prime minister from 2005 to 2011, filed a lawsuit against the Lisbon Administrative Court on Friday, local television broadcaster SIC reported.

"The foundation of this action is a scandalous violation of the maximum legal time frame of the investigation." he said during press conference on Friday night, according to local media.

"The longest period for an investigation based on our criminal procedure code is 18 months, and this investigation has been going on for 42 months," Socrates added.

Since the first interrogation in November 2014, the country's public ministry hasn't made any prosecutions.

A decision by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal action is expected to take place on March 17.
HAVANA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cuban government will allow health professionals who defected during collaboration missions abroad to return to the island and work under the National Health System.

"The Ministry of Public Health reiterates its willingness to allow its professionals, who abandon their collaboration missions, to return to Cuba and reintegrate into the National Health System,..." said an official release published on Friday by Cuba's official daily Granma.

At present there are some 50,000 Cuban health workers in over 60 countries "providing their services with a deep humanist vocation and solidarity, and able to adapt themselves to difficult conditions", informed the government text.

Several doctors and other specialists on the island deserted in recent years encouraged by the Parole Program for Cuban Medical Professionals, established in 2006 by the U.S. President George W. Bush, and cancelled three weeks ago by his successor Barack Obama as one of his last actions to boost the ties with Havana. The program allowed certain Cuban medical personnel in third countries to apply for parole at a U.S. embassy or consulate.

The sale of medical services overseas is considered the main income of strong currency for the Caribbean island with reported eight billion U.S. dollars a year, followed by the tourism industry with around three billion dollars.

"Although this last modality represents an economic contribution to the sustainability and development of the national health system, the missions do not lose their solidarity character because our doctors work in regions where professionals from those countries refuse to go ", said the release of Cuban Government.

According to Cuban Health Ministry, the income from the sale of medical services allows Cuba to support other nations with extreme socioeconomic limitations, and contribute to the formation of thousands of foreign professionals at the Latin American School of Medicine.

It also contributes to support multiple missions fulfilled by the Henry Reeve International Medical Contingent, which received the Public Health Award granted by the World Health Organization this week.

Algeria was the first country to receive a Cuban medical mission in 1962, headed by Dr. Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, current Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.
ROME, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,300 migrants and refugees were rescued in central Mediterranean, the Italian coast guard said on Friday, a day after Italy and Libya signed a deal to curb people smuggling in the North African country.

Overall, 13 operations were carried out by Italy's navy and coast guard ships, along with other forces operating within the European Union (EU) mission EUNAVFOR, and vessels from aid groups.

On Thursday, the Italian coast guard coordinating all migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean said more than 1,750 migrants and refugees had been saved within 24 hours.

About 450 people had been rescued in five different operations on Thursday, and 1,300 the previous day.

Of this group, some 754 migrants and refugees including 131 unaccompanied minors were brought to the southern port of Reggio Calabria, and given first medical check and assistance, according to local authorities on Friday.

On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj signed an agreement aimed at tackling the flows starting from the Libyan coasts.

In latest years, the North African country has become a major origin point of departure for migrants and asylum seekers, and a crucial hub for smugglers.

Temporary camps for illegal migrants would be set up on Libya's soil, according to the draft deal provided by the Italian government. Such camps would be run by officials from the Libyan Interior Ministry, and funded by the EU, with Italy providing medical assistance.

Illegal migrants in the camps would be asked to agree to voluntary return to their own countries, or would face deportation.

Such plan will be in force for the next three years, and it was overall approved by EU leaders, who gathered for a summit on the migration crisis in Malta on Feb. 2-3.
Rebel fighters ride in a convoy on the outskirts of the Islamic State-controlled northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria February 3, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is deeply concerned about the situation faced by civilians in and around Al Bab in Syria's Aleppo province, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

Dujarric told a daily briefing that an estimated 30,000 civilians had fled Al Bab city and its surroundings since late December, and the UN and its partners are providing assistance to those who are displaced.

Dujarric said that up to 10,000 civilians remained in Al Bab city, facing increasingly difficult conditions under the control of the extremist group Islamic State (IS), including severe movement restrictions.

People who fled the violence from Islamic State-controlled northern Syrian town of al-Bab arrive in the rebel-held outskirts of the town, Syria February 3, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

Al-Bab is a strategic city for the IS, as its last bastion near the Turkish borders. Securing the southern rim of Al Bab will protect the southeastern rim of Aleppo city.

The Syrian army wrested its full control over the entire city of Aleppo since last December, poising for further military operations in the Aleppo province to drive out IS militants.

The Syrian army announced that it had captured the road connecting Aleppo with the Al-Bab as well as 32 towns during a current military campaign against the IS group in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo province.
U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to media at the White House in Washington D.C.,the United States, Feb. 3, 2017, before boarding Marine One departing for Andrews Air Force Base en route to West Palm Beach, Florida. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed two executive actions as part of his plan to overhaul financial regulatory system.

The first is an executive order which proposes guidelines and principles for the regulation of the financial system, said the White House in a statement on Friday.

The order also directs the Treasury Secretary to work with other regulators to review current financial regulatory rules on the basis of the principles put forward in the order.

The executive order "sets the table for a regulatory system that mitigates risk, encourages growth, but more importantly, protects consumers," White House spokesman Sean Spice said on Friday.

The order was considered to establish a framework for scaling back the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act which was enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Under the law, regulators have introduced strict new capital standards on banks, called for annual stress tests for systemically important banks, and created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank," Trump said at a meeting with a group of business leaders earlier Friday. He added that companies "can't get any money because the banks just won't let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank" .

Although Trump accused of the financial regulatory law, he can' t do away with it, because only the Congress can rewrite the legislation.

The White House will continue to work with the Republican-controlled Congress to address the financial regulation law, said Spicer. Congressional Republicans seem likely to cooperate with the administration on this issue, as some of them have long been against the Dodd-Frank law.

Trump on Friday also signed a presidential memorandum and required the Department of Labor to review a retirement saving rule which was introduced under the Obama administration and will take effect in April this year.

"The rule's intent may be to have provided retirees and others with better financial advice, but in reality, its effect... is to limit the financial services that are available to them," said Spicer.

The rule, which requires financial advisers on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients, was opposed by many financial institutions, because they believed the regulation could raise their costs.
PARIS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- France and the United States reaffirmed on Friday the France-U.S. alliance against security threats and the shared desire to fight the Islamic State (IS) group, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

During a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stressed the importance of the "historic ties" between France and the United States characterized by "crucial cooperation in the area of security, in particular in the fight against terrorism," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Ayrault and Tillerson reaffirmed the strength of the Franco-American alliance against the threat and the shared desire of the two countries to eradicate, in particular in Iraq and Syria where our two countries are fighting together Daech (IS)'s barbarism," said the statement.

This relationship is "fundamental in helping to resolve regional crises, particularly in the Middle East, the Near East and Ukraine," it added.

According to the statement, Ayrault invited Tillerson to visit France soon.
by Peter Barker, Gui Tao

LONDON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The economist who invented BRIC as a grouping acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China has said that globalization is a global benefit.

At the beginning of the 21st century, British economist Jim O'Neill coined the acronym BRIC nations to describe the four economies whose growth in the coming years he saw was phenomenal and also central to the global economy of the 21st century.

He believed the heft of these four nations would alter the gravity of the world economy, the traditional West and its advanced economies would be less dominant, and the connections of economic influence and power would be increasingly linked to these nations.

This phenomenon would be intimately linked with the process of globalization, a process that was already well underway at the end of 2001, when O'Neill, as chief economist at U.S. banking giant Goldman Sachs, put out his BRIC paper.

Since then, BRIC nations have exceeded his expectations. And, as he explained in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, China is the lead among these four nations and is a major, beneficial player in the world economy.

"Globalization is clearly, as President Xi Jinping said in Davos, a really good thing for mankind," said O'Neill.

He pointed to the recent arrival in the London railway yards of a train full of goods that had made a 12,000-km trip from China's Yiwu City in the eastern Zhejiang Province.

This is the first such train to reach Britain from China, and is a bid to boost trade and ties. Its journey took 18 days, slashing weeks off the conventional journey time by sea.

"This is a perfect example of why globalization helps everybody. If the British consumer wants to buy cheap socks and the cheapest happens to be somewhere in China, and they can get here in 18 days instead of 55 days. That seems to me to be a pretty good thing for the British consumer," O'Neill said.

It is also an example of cooperation across the globe, with the train traveling the length of the Eurasian landmass and passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France.

For O'Neill, it is an example of China's Belt and Road Initiative in action.

"The most important thing for me about the Belt and Road is what it does for the trade relationships of those low and middle-income countries along the road," said O'Neill.

"So this could be fantastic for the likes of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and all those places," said the economist.

"I'm a passionate believer that more trade with your neighbors is the way to prosperity. South Korea is the best example in the world, or maybe Luxembourg," O'Neill said.

To reap the benefits of globalization fully, capitalism needed to be aware of itself, said O'Neill.

For him, the habit of companies pursuing globalization as an end in itself rather than as a way of helping consumers and their shareholders and employees share in a prosperous world is not beneficial.

"The role of share buybacks has become very abusive, and they should be curtailed," he said.
MADRID, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign tourists in Spain spent some 77.6 billion euros (83.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, up 9 percent from the previous year, according to data released Friday by Spain's Statistical Office.

British tourists spent the largest amount of money in Spain, which reached 16.2 billion euros (17.3 billion dollars), a 12.8-percent increase compared with 2015.

The British were followed by Germans and French, who spent 11.07 billion euros (11.8 billion dollars) and 6.8 billion euros (7.3 billion dollars), respectively.

In December alone, foreign tourists spent 4.5 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars), up 19.3 percent year-on-year.

In the same month, the average spending per tourist stood at 1,131 euros (1,210 dollars), while the average daily spending stood at 124 euros (133 dollars).

Spain received a record 75.6 million international tourists in 2016. It is one of the most visited destinations in the world, ranking the first in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer declared three days of national mourning Friday over the death of former First Lady Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva, wife of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Mrs. Lula died on Friday,though news that her brain no longer had activity was released to the press on Thursday. She was 66 and is survived by four sons and several grandchildren.

Temer's gesture mirrors an action taken by Lula in 2008, when Ruth Cardoso, wife of Lula's predecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso, died of heart problems. At the time, Lula declared national mourning and attended the funeral as well.

Temer paid a visit of condolences to former President Lula on Thursday evening. It is not known yet whether he will attend Mrs. Lula's funeral, which will be held on Saturday in the Metallurgy Workers' Trade Union at Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo state.

Several Brazilian officials are expected to attend the wake, which will be open to the public. Later on, there will be a cremation ceremony restricted to the family.

Mrs. Lula comes from a family of poor Italian immigrants. She started working at age nine as a nanny for a wealthy family.

She was a widow when she first met Lula. Her first husband, a taxi driver, died while she was pregnant with her first child. She married Lula in 1974 and had other three sons with him.

She was involved with political and trade union militancy in the late 1970s and was a member of the Workers' Party. Mrs. Lula was known as a discreet First Lady, who disliked giving interviews and was not taken to the limelight.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Public Ministry on Friday demanded the government legalize thousands of Venezuelan migrants who fled a political and economic crisis in their home country.

In a statement, the ministry denounced the fact that police in the northern state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela, have been overwhelmed by an avalanche of refugee petitions from Venezuelan migrants.

The statement said Brazil does not have any alternative methods to deal with this "complex migratory flow," so "the only option" is to grant refugee status to all the migrants.

Since Venezuela is currently suspended from the South American trade bloc Mercosur, Venezuelan citizens cannot enter Brazil under the agreement of that bloc.

"Under this circumstance, Venezuelan citizens cannot use this legal instrument to obtain residence documents and work permits in Brazil," said the statement, which was signed by Brazil's National Immigration Council,Catholic charity Caritas, and various NGOs.

The statement also said that not legalizing the immigrants would be "counterproductive" for Brazil and it would not be humanitarian to deny "these people the possibility of seeking temporary survival...when they face a situation of extreme precariousness and hunger in their country."

Finally, the signatories of the statement offered to create a working group "as soon as possible" in order to facilitate the legalization of the Venezuelan migrants.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. District Court Judge James Robart ruled Friday in favor of the state attorneys general of Washington and Minnesota on a lawsuit to overturn President Donald Trump's travel ban.

The temporary ruling appeared to be the most severe legal blow to the executive order Trump issued on Jan. 27, a week after he was inaugurated.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Judge Robart was quoted as saying by reports reaching here.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately, effective now, puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order. It puts a stop to it immediately, nationwide," Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson told a group of reporters Friday afternoon.

"What the judge announced today was nationwide; the president's executive order does not apply," Ferguson added.

Ferguson later insisted in an interview over the phone with Cable News Network (CNN) that the ruling is effective across the United States.

Judge Robart of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, based in Seattle, was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2004.

Trump's week-old executive order barred nationals from seven countries from entering the United States. The seven countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The order has been widely criticized both domestically and internationally.
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian authorities said on Saturday that a female body has been found in waters off Mengalum island, where the ill-fated tourist boat carrying 31 people set out for and capsized afterwards on Feb. 28.

Adama Aziz, a regional official of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, told reporters on Saturday that the body, which was in red shirt and black trousers, was found by a fisherman 13 nautical miles from the sinking boat's last known position.

Aziz said further verification is needed to confirm whether the body belong to the six missing persons, which include five Chinese citizens and a Malaysian crewmember.

The police will take over the verification process, possibly through post-mortem work, said Aziz.

Noting that the search and rescue operation continues for the missing persons, which covers an area of 1,900 square nautical miles, Aziz said search focus will be on the area where the body was discovered.
PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Myanmar pledged on Saturday to enhance their bilateral relations in trade, tourism and education, according to a Cambodian senior official.

The pledge was made during a meeting here between Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and visiting Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw, said Eang Sophalleth, an assistant to the prime minister.

He said Kyaw told Hun Sen that the two Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) members had much room for growth in trade, tourism and education cooperation, and suggested that the two countries promote cooperation in these fields.

"In response, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen agreed with the suggestions," the assistant told reporters after the meeting, adding that Hun Sen also thanked Myanmar for granting scholarships to Cambodian Buddhist monks to study in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said the two countries needed to further strengthen their bilateral cooperation in the frameworks of Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) cooperation, Greater Mekong Sub-region cooperation, and ASEAN.

Trade volume between the two countries is still relatively small. On the tourism side, 11,441 Myanmar visitors came to Cambodia in the first 11 months of 2016, a 43-percent rise year-on-year, according to a Cambodian tourism data.

Kyaw made the four-day state visit to Cambodia on Friday at the invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni. He will conclude his trip on Monday after visiting the famed Angkor archeological park in northwestern Siem Reap province.

Kyaw of the ruling National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected as Myanmar's president in March 2016.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed when a car crashed into a wall in a county road in north China's Hebei Province, local authorities said Saturday.

The accident occurred at about 10:36 p.m. Friday in Anzhou town, Hebei.

Six people died at the scene and one died in hospital.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Photo taken on Feb. 4, 2017 shows the accident site of bus crash in Kaohsiung, southeast China's Taiwan. A bus carrying tourists from the Chinese mainland crashed in Kaohsiung Saturday, with a number of people injured. (Xinhua)

TAIPEI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- About 21 tourists from the Chinese mainland were injured Saturday in a bus accident in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, according to the island's tourism authority.

All the injured, including seven children, have been taken to hospital.
Image taken on Jan. 25, 2017, shows people watching a section of the border wall between Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana city, Mexico. U.S. President Donald Trump wants a 20-percent border tax on all imports from Mexico, said White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Thursday. (Xinhua/Str)

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has given Mexico plenty to quarrel over, but the country is bent on averting confrontation with its main trade partner as it looks to Asia and other parts to diversify its export markets, say Mexican political observers.

Trump's combative style and disruptive policy changes have brought bilateral ties to an "impasse," said Benjamin Temkin, a research professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Mexico City.

Mexico is working to break the "impasse" by playing up its strengths and relying on national unity "to resist the pressures of the new U.S. government," Temkin said.

"Mexico wants to continue to maintain trade ties with the United States, but it is not willing to have conditions dictated ... that no Mexican government is going to be able to accept," said Temkin.

Experts say that although the United States is believed to have the upper hand in the bilateral dealings, Mexico still has options.

Mexico is adapting to the new situation by turning to Europe, China and other Latin American countries to seek more trade ties, noted Temkin.

Trump, who came to power on Jan. 20, has said that he wanted to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) concerning the United States, Mexico and Canada to get better concessions for U.S. industries and workers.

He has also floated the idea of applying a 20-percent tariff on Mexican imports to finance building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out illegal migration and drug trafficking.

The tax proposal is "unacceptable" and in violation of the existing trade agreements, said Enrique Vargas del Villar, president of the National Association of Mayors (Anac).

The Anac supports Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, but "we will only accept conditions that also benefit us, not just Trump," said Vargas.

The mayor of Huixquilucan, a town in the central state of Mexico, believes that Trump's inexperience in public office will complicate negotiations.

Since the United States imports 62 percent of its vegetables, 35 percent of the fruits and many other foods from Mexico, the suggested tariff will first hit American customers who have to pay a higher price for products from Mexico, said Vargas.

Meanwhile, experts have also noticed Mexico's over-reliance on the United States as its main export destination.

Mexico should not be so dependent on a single market, said Vargas, noting that "it can and should diversify its exports to Latin America, Europe, China and Japan."

Temkin believes that Mexico can learn from China about how to modify its economy to adapt to the changing times.

"We know that China has recently changed direction toward promoting greater domestic consumption, and Mexico will have to do something similar ... without closing up to the world, and while pursuing more trade treaties," said Temkin.
TAIPEI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- About 21 tourists from the Chinese mainland were injured Saturday in a bus accident in Kaohsiung city, south Taiwan.

Eighteen people, including seven children, were slightly injured, and another three were "observed with apparent wounds," according to the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.

All the injured have been taken to hospital.

The bus carrying 28 passengers hit a railway bridge tunnel across the highway at about 10:04 a.m. The 28 passengers include 25 tourists and a tour guide from east China's Zhejiang Province, and a tour guide and a bus driver both from Taiwan.

The accident was possibly caused as the driver underestimated the height of the bus, the Kaohsiung authorities said, adding further investigation is underway.

The Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital said that it had received eight people injured in the accident, adding that all eight walked into the hospital themselves for treatment.

The Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital received three injured passengers. The hospital's emergency doctor told reporters that the three could leave the hospital as early as tomorrow.
KUNMING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Border police in a prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province seized 1.6 tonnes of narcotics in 2016, the police announced Saturday.

Police in Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture completed investigations into 668 drug-related crimes and arrested 662 suspects in 2016.

The prefecture is near the opium-growing Golden Triangle.
TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched a major air defense drill on Saturday, official IRNA news agency reported.

The military exercise is carried out in the area of 35,000 square kilometers in Semnan region in the central-north of Iran.

The maneuver is aimed at enhancing the preparedness of the IRGC units in the face of threats.

The home-grown radar systems, commandment tactics, as well as control and electronic warfare systems will be put in the test in the exercise, the report said.

Last week, Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington. Iran dismissed the U.S. concerns saying that the test was aimed at deterrence purposes.
People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. (Xinhua/AFP PHOTO)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The White House is plunged into chaos on Friday after a U.S. judge ruled against President Donald Trump's executive order of temporarily banning global refugees and nationals of seven Muslim countries from entering the United States.

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington, ruled Friday that Trump's order would be suspended nationwide, effective immediately.

In response, the Trump administration vowed to overturn the court ruling "at the earliest possible time" to rescue the controversial executive order, which has sparked nationwide protests and criticism since it was issued on Jan. 27.

It's unclear how the judge's ruling will affect the operations of the federal government in the coming days.

"The Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," the White House said late Friday in a statement.

Yet within 10 minutes, it sent out a new edition removing the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," said the statement.

Robart ruled that the two states of Washington and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's order, which government lawyers disputed.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," said Washington State Attorney General Bot Ferguson after the ruling.

"The law is a powerful thing -- it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States, " he was quoted by USA Today as saying.

Washington is the first U.S. state to sue over Trump's executive order. The state's efforts gained support from Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft, all based in the state, said the report.

However, the judge's ruling could be appealed at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Up to 60,000 visas had ben revoked under Trump's order barring entry to global refugees for 120 days and to people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen for 90 days, said the U.S. State Department earlier Friday.

Since inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal lawsuits in 17 U.S. states, many of the cases filed over his executive order on refugees and immigration, said an NBC News report on Friday, citing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts as the source.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters rallied before the White House, at more than 30 U.S. airports, and in downtown areas of big cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.

A new wave of protests are expected on the way over the upcoming weekend in Washington D.C. and some other big cities across the United States.

Related:

Spotlight: Trump's travel ban hits "litigation wall"

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order to temporarily ban people from seven Middle Eastern and North American countries from entering the United States has met legal challenges nationwide. Full story

Thousands of visas revoked under Trump's controversial temporary travel ban
ISTANBUL, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police opened fire at a suspicious minivan outside Istanbul's Ataturk Airport early Saturday and launched a manhunt after the vehicle fled away, local media reported.

Police fired at the wheels of a white panel van as its driver did not obey the stop warning at the checkpoint at the main entrance to the airport, the Hurriyet daily said.

The vehicle with three people on board managed to escape by taking the opposite direction with a u-turn, the daily said, adding the police were hunting the van.

Police have been on high alert as the metropolis has been hit by a number of terror attacks over the last year, including one on a nightclub on New Year's Day that left 39 people dead and triple suicide bombing attacks on Ataturk Airport in late June that killed 44.
COLOMBO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena have commuted 60 prisoners who were on death row in jails to life imprisonment, in view of the country's 69th Independence Day which was celebrated on Saturday.

Prison's Commissioner, Nishan Danasinghe told Xinhua the prisoners had their sentences commuted following a recommendation made by Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse.

Rajapakse made this recommendation based on a report of an expert committee he had appointed to look into the commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment.

Most of the prisoners who had their sentences commuted were charged with murder.

Some of them also included senior prisoners who were in Sri Lankan jails for many years.

Although Sri Lankan courts have handed out the death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out in the island country since 1976.

All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order to temporarily ban people from seven Middle Eastern and North American countries from entering the United States has met legal challenges nationwide.

Under the immigration ban Trump signed on Jan. 27, refugees from all over the world will be suspended U.S. entry for 120 days while all immigrants from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days. Countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

James Robart, a federal judge in Seattle, on Friday granted a nationwide temporary restraining order, after the states of Washington and Minnesota sued for blocking Trump's travel ban.

The executive order "adversely affects the states' residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel," Robart said in his ruling issued Friday afternoon.

"The executive order effectively mandates that the states engage in discrimination based on national origin and/or religion, thereby rescinding the states' historic protection of civil rights and religious freedom," said Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who filed the lawsuit, calling the order a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

"It's a wonderful day for the rule of law in this country," Washington State Solicitor General Noah Purcell said.

Washington state-based enterprises Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the restraining order, saying Trump's travel ban is hurting their operations.

The White House said Friday night the U.S. Justice Department will seek an emergency stay of Trump's executive order, saying it is "lawful and appropriate."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the White House said in a statement.

Also on Friday in Virginia, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday joined the challenges to Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies, filing a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.

Earlier Friday, a federal judge in Boston, Massachusetts, has declined to renew an order prohibiting the detention or removal of persons under Trump's executive order. The temporary injunction granted on Jan. 29 will expire as scheduled on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in New York, U.S. District Judge Carol Amon on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order that would expire on Feb. 11 to Feb. 21 so that the government and civil groups can have more time to file paperwork. But the Justice Department said it will ask Amon to reject the case.

In Detroit, Michigan, the Arab-American Civil Rights League filed a suit this week saying Trump's order is unconstitutional and targets immigrant communities.

Victoria Roberts, a federal judge in Detroit, on Friday released a restraining order saying U.S. green-card holders should not be affected by the travel ban.

In California, three university students on Thursday filed a suit in San Francisco, saying the ban is unconstitutional and has created hardships for the students.

Under Trump's order, close to 60,000 visas have been canceled, according to the U.S. State Department.

Last Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters rallied before the White House, at more than 30 U.S. airports, and in central downtown of big cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.
LUSAKA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- At least 23 teachers were dismissed in Zambia for sexually abusing and impregnating pupils in 2016, state-run news agency reported on Saturday.

The Teaching Service Commission, a quasi-government agency that oversees all matters related to terms and conditions of teacher services, said the teachers were dismissed for having sex with the pupils and impregnating others during the period January to December 2016, according to the Zambia News and Information Service (ZANIS).

Jennifer Chiwala, the chairperson of the body however said two provinces, Lusaka and Luapula, did not record any cases of sexual abuse of pupils.

"As of January 2016 to December 2016, a total of 23 teachers were dismissed out of which 13 were dismissed for having carnal knowledge of pupils while the other 10 were dismissed for impregnating pupils," she said.

According to her, investigations have been launched concerning the sexual abuse of pupils by teachers and that a comprehensive report will be issued after the investigations.

Last month, some pupils at a girls' school in northern Zambia complained of sexual abuse by teachers, a move that caused anger, forcing the government to launch investigations.

So far, some teachers have been suspended at the school after they were implicated of perpetrating the trend by the pupils during investigations.
3drenderings/iStock/Thinkstock(SEATTLE) -- James Robart, the federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington who temporarily blocked President Trump's immigration order, was praised by a Republican senator in his confirmation hearing for how he represented refugees.



"He brings a wealth of trial experience to the Federal bench after trying in excess of 50 cases to verdict or judgment as sole or lead counsel, and he has been active in the representation of the disadvantaged through his work with Evergreen Legal Services and the independent representation of Southeast Asian refugees," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said of Robart at his 2004 confirmation hearing.



Evergreen Legal Services, the business Hatch referred to, is listed among law offices that offer pro bono assistance to clients on LegalHandle.com, a website that catalogs attorneys who provide legal aid to low income people.



Robart, an appointment of then President George W. Bush, was ultimately approved by Congress with a unanimous vote of 99-0 in a bipartisan show of support.



Video of Robart's complete remarks in the case show him laying out a path for police-accountability reform before citing the rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement.



"Mr. Robart's impressive credentials are reflected in his unanimous American Bar Association rating of Well Qualified," Hatch said of Robart at the hearing. "I am confident that he will be a fine addition to the bench and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting his confirmation."



Robart imposed a nationwide hold on Trump's ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, siding with two states that had challenged the controversial executive order.



"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart saidin his decision. "This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis ..."



Robart, whose career is drawing greater scrutiny in the wake of Trump's comments referring to him as a "so-called Judge," is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, who started his career in private practice, according to his official biography.



He also drew national attention last year for saying the words "black lives matter" from the bench in a case that alleged an excessive use of force by the Seattle Police Department (SPD).



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
TOKYO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis wrapped up a two-day visit to Japan on Saturday, during which he reiterated his country's defense commitment to Japan and pledged to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance with his Japanese counterparts.

Mattis said after his meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada on Saturday the new U.S. administration under Donald Trump places a high priority on the Asia-Pacific region, and "specifically on long-term allies like Japan."

Mattis's remarks have been considered by some Japanese media as aiming to ease concerns from the Japanese side, as certain remarks by the U.S. President Donald Trump about Japanese currency valuations and the cost the U.S. incurs in posting its troops to Japan have perplexed the government here.

During the election campaign, Trump has been quoted by media as saying that he might withdraw U.S. forces from Japan if Tokyo did not shoulder the entire cost burden.

Inada said the issue did not come up in her meeting with Mattis, while Mattis, for his part, said that Japan is a "model" regarding cost-sharing with the United States.

He also noted Japan's growing defense budget since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in 2012, saying that it was "on the right track."

Regarding the controversial Futenma relocation plan, the two defense chiefs agreed that the plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to less-populated Henoko area within the prefecture is the only solution, though the plan has been strongly opposed by the Okinawa people.

"If (the U.S. and Japanese governments) stick to the view that Henoko is the only solution to resolve (issues involving the Futenma base), it will leave serious problems in the future," said Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga on Friday.

Mattis, on his first trip to Japan since taking over the Pentagon, on Friday met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

According to a statement by Japan's foreign ministry, Mattis said in his meeting with Abe that the disputed Diaoyu islands fall under Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan mutual defense treaty.

The clause commits the United States to defend territories that are under the administrative control of Japan.

China on Friday urged the United States to stop making wrong remarks on the issue of the Diaoyu Islands sovereignty.

"The Diaoyu Island and its adjacent islets have been an inherent part of Chinese territory since ancient times, which is a unchangeable historical fact," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Lu said the so-called U.S.-Japan treaty of mutual cooperation and defense is a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights.

"We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu Islands sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," said the spokesman.
ZHENGZHOU, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Henan Province added 7.55 million mu (around 500,000 hectares) of high-yield farmland in 2016, as the grain base modernizes its agriculture, according local officials on Saturday.

The province, which produces a tenth of China's grain, plans to upgrade 63.69 million mu of farmland by 2020, according to the local high-yield grainfield office.

So far, about 53.57 million mu has been upgraded to high-yield, 84.1 percent of the overall target. In 2016, the provincial government spent 9.94 billion yuan (1.44 billion U.S. dollars) on the project.

Agricultural machinery and professional fertilizing methods are used to support the endeavor.

The province also established an information system which contains information on location of the fields and agricultural knowledge enquiry points, soil conditions and meteorological conditions.
BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China urged the United States to correct its unfair decision to impose high anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of Chinese stainless steel sheet and strip, according to a statement released Saturday by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

The U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday that it had determined that imports of Chinese stainless steel sheet and strip should be subject to anti-dumping duties from 63.86 percent to 76.64 percent and anti-subsidy duties from 75.6 percent to 190.71 percent.

China is disappointed by a series of decisions by the U.S. related to high anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese steel products and questions its unfair investigation methods, said Wang Hejun, head of the MOC trade remedy and investigation bureau.

The United States has violated World Trade Organization rules by neglecting the abundant proof offered by Chinese companies and has treated them unfairly simply because of their state-owned-enterprise status, Wang said.

The root cause for current challenges facing the steel sector is the sluggish world economy and shrinking demand, which calls for global cooperation instead of protectionism, according to Wang.

The U.S. should abide by WTO rules and correct their unfair practices and China will take the necessary steps to protect due rights of Chinese enterprises, Wang added.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday met with members of his Strategic and Policy Forum to discuss various issues, after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned from the forum.

The forum was created by Trump as a way for prominent executives to share "their specific experience and knowledge" when the president implements his economic policies.

According to Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group Stephen Schwarzman, the forum provided possibilities for creative ideas to be accepted, which was described in an interview with CNBC by the leader of the forum as "instant receptivity."

The meeting was held before Trump is to sign the executive order on regulating the financial system, with discussions mainly focusing on immigration, taxation, trade and finance, among others.

According to an online official transcript, Trump expressed hope that the meeting could help to "bring back our jobs, to get taxes even lower."

"We're getting rid of your regulations. And I think it's going to be some really very exciting times ahead ... We're going to be coming up with a tax bill soon, a health care bill even sooner. And it's really working out," said Trump.

Although the Strategic and Policy Forum carries the hope of the president to impact certain industries, several members have already been under pressure amid the tension and disagreements over Trump's policies such as the travel ban.

Recently, the U.S. transport technology company Uber has become the target of public outrage at Trump's executive order of temporarily banning global refugees and nationals of seven Muslim countries from entering the United States.

Starting Saturday, social media meme #DeleteUber went viral as people perceived the company to be profiting off the cab drivers who halted work at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in protest against the executive order.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit from the Strategic and Policy Forum the night before Friday's meeting, as the business titan complained that his presence on the panel was misunderstood.

"Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that," said Kalanick in a memo.

The inauguration of Trump, as well as his controversial policies, has been treated with tides of protests in the United States.

Uber is not the only company that felt discomfort as protesting people tended to take whoever has ties with Trump and his family business as the target.
KAMPALA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan military on Friday announced that the former military leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) rebel group M23 has escaped from the country under unclear circumstances.

Brig. Richard Karemire, Uganda's military spokesperson, told Xinhua in a telephone interview that Sultani Makenga who has been under watch disappeared last month to unknown location.

"Makenga disappeared. We don't know his whereabouts. We can't be in position to trace and hunt for him. He has not been under arrest or prison," said Karemire.

The confirmation of Makenga's disappearance comes about three weeks after the authorities in DR Congo accused neigbouring Uganda for letting free hundreds of former combatants.

Lambert Mende Omalanga, the Congolese government spokesperson, told reporters in Kinshasa that hundreds of ex-M23 fighters, including Makenga, who had been exiled in Uganda, sneaked to their former bases in eastern DRC.

The military on Jan. 18 arrested 101 ex-M23 fighters while trying to sneak back to DR Congo.

Maj. Henry Obbo, Uganda's deputy military spokesperson, last week told Xinhua in an interview that Uganda and DR Congo foreign affairs ministries were discussing about the return of over 300 former fighters combatants cantoned at Bihanga military training school in the western district of Ibanda.

Uganda, DR Congo and M23 reached an Agreement in 2014 regarding the return of 1,377 former rebels for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration back home.

Just 200 of the 1,377 ex-combatants have been returned home for official Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programme.

The former fighters fled to western Uganda in December 2013 after they were defeated by the United Nations Intervention Force Brigade in the eastern Kivu province.
BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Spring Festival holiday is a peak period for Chinese to travel overseas, with 6.15 million overseas trips made this year, up 7 percent from last year.

Travel website Ctrip said that Chinese tourists are estimated to have spent 100 billion yuan (about 14.5 billion U.S. dollars) over the seven-day holiday.

SOUTHEAST ASIA IS HOTTEST DESTINATION

"It's a totally different way to celebrate Spring Festival in a foreign country," said Li Chunhong,from the southern city of Nanning. Her family just returned from five-day trip to Thailand, among a growing number of Chinese who visit Southeast Asia to celebrate Spring Festival.

According to online travel agency Tuniu.com, outbound tourists accounted for 48 percent of its Spring Festival business. Southeast Asian countries are the most popular destinations, with Thailand top of the list.

TRAVEL FEVER SPREADS TO SMALLER CITIES

People from smaller cities are now more keen to venture abroad.

China National Tourism Administration reported that inland cities have become important sources of outbound tourism.

Li Jianlin, general manager of Guangxi overseas travel agency's Nanning branch, said that tickets on chartered flights from Nanning to Phuket and Bangkok were sold out Jan. 26, the eve of Spring Festival, and Feb. 5.

Tuniu.com said that second-tier and third-tier cities, such as Nanjing and Wuhan have generated the fastest growth in outbound tourists this holiday.

The number of UnionPay overseas transactions rose nearly 40 percent this holiday to 462 billion yuan. As Chinese tourist numbers grow, more hotels, restaurants and stores overseas have started to take UnionPay cards.

DIVERSE TRAVEL EXPERIENCES ARE NEEDED

In addition to shopping and sightseeing, Chinese tourists have shown interest in a wide variety of travel experiences.

Fu Hua, president of Beijing Damei International Travel Agency, said tours to the United States have gained popularity as tourists can see the northern lights in Alaska or travel to the United States by cruise ship.

Celebrating Spring Festival at the bottom of the earth is not a dream. According to Tuniu.com, ten tourists, most from Shanghai, went to the South Pole.

"The growth in overseas tourism can be attributed to higher incomes," said Fu. Other factors, such as simpler visa procedures and more flights also contribute to the boom.
Staff members of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency transfer a body in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Feb. 4, 2017. A postmortem will be carried out to determine the identity of a female body, which was found on Saturday morning in waters near the Mengalum island, as the search for the missing from the Sabah sunken boat have been refocused on the area where the body was found. (Xinhua)

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A postmortem will be carried out to determine the identity of a female body, which was found on Saturday morning in waters near the Mengalum island, as the search for the missing from the Sabah sunken boat have been refocused on the area where the body was found.

The result of the postmortem is expected to come out on Sunday as the body was already in decomposed state, said Adam Aziz, Kota Kinabalu Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director at a daily briefing on Saturday.

"We are not denying possibility of the body being one of the missing .. The identity can be ascertained through family members or DNA results," he said.

The ill-fated boat, carrying 28 tourists from China, capsized en route from Kota Kinabalu to Mengalum island, which is about 50 kilometers west of Kota Kinablau. Three of the tourists have been confirmed dead while another five and a crewmember are still missing.

Aziz said they have deployed assets to focus on the area where the body was found, about 200 square nautical miles, bringing the total search area on Saturday to 2,100 square nautical miles, covering waters off Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.

The skipper of the boat was sentenced to six months in jail on Saturday for steering an overloaded and unsafe vessel, for the first time shedding light on what caused the tragedy. A preliminary investigation is expected to be released next week.
BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Trade volume between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan was 179.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, down 4.5 percent from 2015, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Mainland exports to Taiwan totalled 40.4 billion U.S. dollars last year, a 10.1 percent year-on-year drop, and imports from Taiwan stood at 139.2 billion dollars, down 2.8 percent.

Taiwan is the mainland's seventh largest trade partner and sixth biggest source of imports.

The mainland approved 3,517 Taiwan-invested projects in 2016, with the actual use of Taiwanese capital reaching 1.96 billion U.S. dollars, up 27.7 percent from the previous year.

By the end of December 2016, the mainland had approved 98,815 Taiwan-invested projects, with the actual use of capital from Taiwan hitting 64.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Last year, the mainland's trade with Hong Kong totaled 305.3 billion U.S. dollars, down 11.1 percent year on year.

Mainland exports to Hong Kong stood at 288.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, a decrease of 12.7 percent from the previous year, while the mainland's imports from the region saw an increase of 32.4 percent to 16.9 billion U.S. dollars.

Hong Kong is the mainland's fourth-largest trading partner and third-largest export market, according to the ministry.

The mainland approved 12,753 Hong Kong-invested projects in 2016, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital reaching 81.5 billion U.S. dollars, down 5.7 percent from 2015.

By the end of December 2016, the mainland had approved 398,966 Hong Kong-invested projects, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital totalling 914.8 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 51.7 percent of the mainland's actual use of overseas capital.
Guangzhou, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China is making steady progress to improve toilet sanitation nationwide since the "toilet revolution" began in 2015, a tourism official said on Saturday.

A total of 50,916 toilets have been installed or upgraded so far, 89.33 percent of the official target the government announced for the three years through to 2017, according to Li Jinzao, head of the China National Tourism Administration.

China wants to add 33,000 restrooms and renovate 24,000 over the 2015-2017 period.

The ongoing project has seen sanitation conditions improve significantly, Li said.

Toilets in the countryside and at tourist sites have long had a nasty reputation. In rural areas, some toilets are just little more than ramshackle shelters surrounded by bunches of cornstalk and others just open pits next to pigsties.

And at tourist sites, complaints of insufficient toilets, unhygienic conditions, and lack of sanitation workers has angered visitors.

The current "toilet revolution" is establishing new standards for toilets.
by Muhammad Tahir

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan is seeking cooperation from Afghanistan to secure their nearly 2,600 kilometer-long common border to consolidate achievements made in major military operations in tribal regions.

Pakistan had long been insisting that loose border control benefits militants by allowing them to move freely across the border and carry out terrorist activities in both countries, which is a source of tension and mistrust between the two neighboring countries.

The military and other forces, after conducting major operations against the Pakistani and foreign militants in tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in recent years, have now shifted their focus to border security to stop the cross-border movement of the militants.

There is no doubt that any border control mechanisms instituted will yield useful results when both countries implement the measures on their respective sides and boost the monitoring of the porous perimeter.

Military spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said on February 1 that the leadership of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP has been "living in Afghanistan for a long time," which security officials describe as a serious challenge for anti-terrorism efforts.

Afghanistan has never officially admitted the presence of the Pakistani Taliban on their soil and also says their armed opponents live in Pakistan.

As Pakistan and Afghanistan are still facing serious security problems, they need a joint understanding on a strong border management system on both sides to check illegal border crossings.

Pakistan had deployed a total of 34,000 Frontier Corps personnel along the border after the U.S. launched its military action against the Taliban in 2001. Pakistani officials said more units of the paramilitary Frontier Corps are being trained for new check posts to be established along the Afghan border.

Pakistan Army Chief General, Qamar Javed Bajwa, who assumed office on November 30, has spoken twice with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani by phone and suggested a "robust border management mechanism." General Bajwa, in his meetings with some foreign military leaders, including the U.S. Central Command chief General Joseph Votel, also reiterated his call for an effective and coordinated border management with Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said that the Pakistani Taliban militants who had claimed responsibility for major terrorist attacks in the country, particularly in the northwest Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces, entered Pakistan from Afghanistan.

The killing of several key Pakistani Taliban leaders in Afghanistan in U.S. drone strikes have strengthened Pakistan's stance on the presence of the Pakistani militants on the Afghan side of the border.

United States and Afghan officials have also confirmed the killing in Afghanistan of Pakistani Taliban leaders, including Omar Mansoor, also known as Narai, the mastermind of the 2014 terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed 150 people, mostly students.

Pakistani national Hafiz Saeed Khan, Daesh chief for the Khorasan region, was killed in a U.S. drone attack in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar last year. Daesh spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, also a Pakistani national, was killed in a U.S. drone strike along with dozens of the group's activists in Afghanistan in 2015.

The U.S. said in May that a drone strike killed the Afghan Taliban chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Besides border management, the Pakistani military and other law enforcing agencies are carrying out combing and intelligence-based operations in the suspected hideouts of the militants and their facilitators, mostly in urban areas. This strategy has been adopted to ward off the possible threats by the remnants of the Taliban, who are belied to have taken shelter in cities.
News / Local

by Warren Givy Salani

Pastor Mawarire remanded in custodyPastor Evan Mawarire who is facing charges of subverting a constitutional government or alternative charges of inciting public violence today made his initial appearance in court and was remanded in custody to the 17th of February.He was asked to apply for bail at the High Court.Pastor Mawarire of the ' #ThisFlag ' movement appears to be losing support from his sympathisers as only a handful turned up for his initial appearance in court.When ZBC News crew arrived at the Harare Magistrates Court, only journalists could be seen outside the court raising questions over his support base.Mawarire abandoned his followers after allegedly inciting public violence which saw some people being prosecuted while he was in the comfort of his alleged handlers in the United States.When Mawarire was arrested last year, hundreds of people came to the Harare Magistrates Court praying for him while others were holding the Zimbabwean flag.However these supporters have gone into oblivion despite Mawarire announcing his arrest through the social media.
TIANJIN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- North China's Tianjin Municipality issued a yellow alert for air pollution and activated emergency response measures on Saturday.

According to the city's environmental protection bureau, the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading passed 200 around noon, with the PM2.5 reading exceeding 150 micrograms per cubic meter.

Emergency measures included banning heavy trucks in the downtown area and suspending dusty construction site work.

The bureau said that increased coal consumption, unfavorable weather conditions and fireworks were to blame for the smog.

The smog will disperse Sunday, the bureau said.

Beijing, which is adjacent to Tianjin, issued a blue alert for air pollution on Friday.

Hangzhou, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province, which banned fireworks displays in its six main districts, reported improved air quality over the Spring Festival week.

On midnight Jan. 28, the Lunar New Year's Eve, the traditional time to set off fireworks, the PM2.5 density was 42 micrograms per cubic meter, the lowest in five years.
File photo shows Mugomga Refugee Camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept. 19, 2013. A lot of residents of Goma became refugees during the conflict between D.R.Congo's government and M23 rebels. (Xinhua/Liu Kai)

KAMPALA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan military on Friday announced that the former military leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) rebel group M23 has escaped from the country under unclear circumstances.

Brig. Richard Karemire, Uganda's military spokesperson, told Xinhua in a telephone interview that Sultani Makenga who has been under watch disappeared last month to unknown location.

"Makenga disappeared. We don't know his whereabouts. We can't be in position to trace and hunt for him. He has not been under arrest or prison," said Karemire.

The confirmation of Makenga's disappearance comes about three weeks after the authorities in DR Congo accused neigbouring Uganda for letting free hundreds of former combatants.

Lambert Mende Omalanga, the Congolese government spokesperson, told reporters in Kinshasa that hundreds of ex-M23 fighters, including Makenga, who had been exiled in Uganda, sneaked to their former bases in eastern DRC.

The military on Jan. 18 arrested 101 ex-M23 fighters while trying to sneak back to DR Congo.

Maj. Henry Obbo, Uganda's deputy military spokesperson, last week told Xinhua in an interview that Uganda and DR Congo foreign affairs ministries were discussing about the return of over 300 former fighters combatants cantoned at Bihanga military training school in the western district of Ibanda.

Uganda, DR Congo and M23 reached an Agreement in 2014 regarding the return of 1,377 former rebels for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration back home.

Just 200 of the 1,377 ex-combatants have been returned home for official Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programme.
KATHMANDU, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- SmartChoice Technologies (SCT) Private Limited, the largest electronic payments network in Nepal will issue cobranded chip cards with China's UnionPay International (UPI) by the end of February.

The cooperation will help foreign tourists and nationals who have UPI cards to make payment in Nepal as well as withdraw money from a total of 72 banks and other financial institutions in Nepal which are members of the SCT, said the SCT on Saturday.

The SCT-UPI cobranded cards holders in Nepal will be able to make payment and withdraw money in 160 countries where 1,000 financial institutions are UPI members, according to the SCT.

The UPI is the subsidiary company of China Union Pay.

The SCT said that it plans to issue domestic and international cards in collaboration with UPI.

"The domestic cards can be used in Nepal, China, Bhutan and India while international cards can be used in 160 countries where UPI has presence," said Rabindra Malla, managing director of SCT.

The Nepalese payment company and the UPI had signed memorandum of understanding to issue SCT-UPI cobranded chip cards in August 2015. A delegation of UPI will visit Nepal on February 13 to finalize nitty-gritty on co-branding arrangement with SCT, according to Malla.

The UPI has been in Nepal with two major commercial banks of Nepal -- Himalayan Bank and Nabil Bank having taken its services.

With the partnership with SCT, the UPI will have connection with majority of banks and financial institutions of Nepal.
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Two militants were killed and two police officers including a senior officer wounded Saturday in a gunfight in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The gunfight broke out at Amargarh locality of Sopore town in Baramulla district, about 50 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Police spokesman said the militants were planning to carry out an attack in the town.

"Today we killed two militants in a brief gunfight here," a police officer posted in Sopore said. "While fighting the militants a senior police officer and a junior-level officer were wounded."

The gunfight according to police broke out after a joint contingent of police and army on a specific intelligence information tried to intercept a vehicle carrying militants.

The wounded police officers were immediately removed to hospital.

Police claimed recovery of two assault rifles and some ammunition from the spot.

"Two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition was recovered from the encounter site," a police spokesman said. "With the elimination of these militants a major militant attack was averted."

The slain militants were identified as local cadres of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989.

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.
JUBA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The UN humanitarian agency has warned that the risk of famine in South Sudan is real for thousands of people in conflict-affected communities and food deficit areas.

In its latest report which cited food security and livelihoods experts, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said South Sudanese are likely to face extreme levels of food insecurity in an extended lean season from February to July 2017.

"Despite the harvest season, levels of acute malnutrition remained high, with the prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM), recorded by SMART surveys conducted between September and November 2016, remaining serious or worse (10 percent or higher)," OCHA said in the report released on Friday evening.

The report says the continued devaluation of the South Sudanese Pound (SSP), insecurity along key road routes, below-average harvests, and the consequent reduction of food availability in local markets have driven prices to record levels.

In November 2016, retail sorghum prices in Aweil, Wau, and Juba averaged 7.7 U.S. dollars /kg, four times higher than the previous year and 10 to 15 times higher than in November 2013, the month before the initial outbreak of conflict.

"Urban populations are struggling to cope, with an estimated 400,000 people in Juba, Wau and Aweil now severely food insecure," the UN said.

According to OCHA, nutrition is expected to deteriorate to "critical" levels during the lean season as food stocks are depleted and prices are likely to peak.

The report says as many households were unable to cultivate, people continue to rely primarily on fish and wild foods to survive.

At the height of the lean season in July 2016, some 4.8 million people were estimated to be severely food insecure.

In the last quarter of 2016 following the harvest, partners estimated that some 3.7 million people were food insecure -representing an increase of one million people compared to the same period in 2015- and food security experts warned that the benefits of the harvest would be short-lived.

"With conflict driving new displacement, and continued economic decline driving market prices up, these figures are expected to increase in 2017," OCHA warned.
JINAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A wedding day is often called the happiest day of one's life. The same cannot be said for the parents of the groom in rural China, where saving face and social pressure often leave them in debt for years.

Wang Yueguo, from east China's Shandong Province, managed to scrape together enough money to fund his son's marriage last month. The wedding completely drained the family's savings account and left them with a debt that will take a decade to pay off.

"All-in-all, my son's marriage has cost me more than 200,000 yuan [about 29,000 U.S. dollars], including around 100,000 yuan I borrowed from relatives and friends," said Wang, whose family earns about 30,000 yuan a year from farming.

Wang is among many parents in parts of China's rural areas that feel pressured to splurge on their sons' weddings in order to secure a daughter-in-law and avoid losing face.

In China, it is expected that the family of the bridegroom will buy a house, pay for the wedding ceremony and provide a dowry, which is usually paid in cash. In the countryside, where people earn less but tend to maintain traditions more, families oftern spend most of their hard-earned savings.

In addition to paying for the wedding banquet, jewelry, and home appliances worth over 70,000 yuan, Wang is expected to provide a dowry of more than 40,000 yuan, and a car worth over 150,000 yuan,

"Fortunately, the girl's family did not ask for a city apartment, otherwise, another 300,000 won't be enough," he said.

According to an official survey conducted last year in Linyi City, Shandong, weddings in the city's rural areas cost at least 200,000 yuan, equivalent to four to five years' net income of a local family of four.

Some families struggling to cope with the debt incurred by a wedding have even been dragged into poverty, the survey showed.

Wedding banquets are not actually free to guests, as attendees are expected to give "Fenzi," cash in a red envelope, to the newly-weds. It is not unusual for poorer guests to borrow money so that they can give Fenzi and not loose face.

"I earn about 15,000 yuan a year, but I easily give out 10,000 yuan a year in Fenzi at weddings and funerals, but mostly weddings," said Tao Yuanfeng, 76, who lives in a village administered by Yucheng City in Shandong.

As rural families now have more disposable income, extravagance and over spending have become a serious problem. The root of the problem, however, is in the concept of "saving face," nobody wants to be labeled a miser because his wedding was plain.

Sociologist Zhou Xiaozheng said gender imbalance means that the family of the bride is more picky, and this is why marital costs in some rural areas have skyrocketed. By the end of 2015, there were 33.66 million more men than women in China, making heating up competition for a bride.

Some rural parents see their daughters' marriage as a lucrative deal. "It just reflects that some villagers are really poor," Zhou said.

The high costs associated with marriage threatens to harm social stability and the wider poverty alleviation campaign, according to Wang Zhongwu with Shandong University.

Private lending disputes in rural China are often rooted in luxurious weddings. Moreover, cash-strapped parents find themselves penniless and unable to cover medical or elderly-care fees, Wang said.

The 2016 Linyin survey suggested that although the majority of respondents disagree with the practice, they will still go into debt to cover a wedding just to save face. And 80 percent of the respondents said this was a custom that should change.

The good news is that a change is going to come. In fact, it's already under way.

Shandong government has supported the establishment of supervisory institutions to help address the issue of extravagant weddings and funerals. Headed by respected villagers, the institutions have designed and implemented rules to help their fellow residents.

Since his village issued a regulation on banquet budgets, Zhao Yuhua had to limit the cost of his son's wedding banquet to just a couple of hundred yuan. Before, the banquet would last three to four days in accordance with the local custom.

Such institutions have also been established in the provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shaanxi.
DUBAI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- As per the directives of United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) said on Saturday that a "large number" of Yemenis suffering injuries would receive medical treatment in UAE hospitals, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

Some 1,500 wounded Yemeni people will be treated in UAE hospitals which coincided with 2017 "UAE Year of Giving" launched by UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

The program and the relief of the UAE in Yemen is working to provide the necessary needs of food and medical materials to improve the humanitarian and health conditions for Yemeni nationals.

UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition comprising nine Arab states to support Yemen's "legitimate" government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition has been air striking on a daily basis the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group across Yemen since March 26, when Hadi fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to take refuge. The coalition said its intervention aims to restore Hadi's authority in the country.
TAIPEI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- About 21 tourists from the Chinese mainland were injured Saturday in a bus accident in Kaohsiung city, southern Taiwan.

Eighteen people, including seven children, were slightly injured, and another three were "observed with apparent wounds," according to the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.

The top of the bus, carrying 28 passengers, hit the top of a tunnel at about 10:04 a.m. as the driver took the wrong way. The 28 passengers include 25 tourists and a tour leader from east China's Zhejiang Province, as well as a tour guide and a bus driver both from Taiwan.

All the injured were taken to hospital. The tour leader surnamed Hong has stayed in hospital for further observation and treatment, while the others have returned to hotels, according to the Shihe travel agency, which hosts the mainland tour group in Taiwan.

The accident was possibly caused by the driver underestimating the height of the bus, the Kaohsiung authorities said, adding that further investigation was underway.

The bus driver told media that he was distracted when discussing the travel schedule with the Taiwan tour guide and went the wrong way.

The tour guide from Taiwan has bruises in hands and forehead, while the driver is unhurt.

Shihe travel agency said the journey would continue until Monday as scheduled.
NAIROBI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) member states should take a cue from China and ban domestic and overseas trade in ivory products, members of the African Elephant Coalition (AEC) said.

The coalition of African elephant range states in a statement released on Friday night hailed Beijing's decision to outlaw ivory trade and urged the EU to follow suit in order to save the giant mammals.

"We welcome China's decisive action to close its ivory market. It is a major breakthrough in the battle to save elephants," AEC chairman Patrick Omondi said.

"But we need other countries with legal domestic markets to follow suit and are calling on the EU to take advantage of the momentum created by China and shut down their trade in ivory once and for all," he added.

The Chinese government on December 31, 2016 announced a ban on processing and trade in ivory products by the end of 2017.

African policymakers and wildlife campaigners hailed Beijing for taking bold steps to eliminate ivory trade that is to blame for loss of elephants in the continent due to poaching.

The EU commission on its part has expressed willingness to terminate domestic and overseas ivory trade.

A statement from AEC indicated that the EU commission will soon announce a common position on future actions to be taken in a bid to hasten phasing out of trade in ivory products.

The statement revealed that the EU committee that oversees trade in endangered species will meet on Feb. 7 and announce major decisions that may impact on ivory business.

On its part, the British Parliament will on Feb. 6 debate a petition that has received 100,000 signatories to close its domestic ivory market.

The African Elephant Coalition rallied the international community to support a total ban on ivory trade during the 17th conference of parties to the convention on international trade in endangered species(CITES) held in Johannesburg in September last year.

Among the proposals presented by the coalition included closure for domestic and international markets for ivory and listing all elephants in CITES Appendix 1 to elevate their protection under international law.

All the EU member states except France failed to support the clause meant to raise the threat levels facing the African elephants.

African conservationists urged the EU to reconsider that decision and demonstrate greater commitment towards protection of the iconic mammals.

"The EU and its member states have an opportunity to realign themselves with France, which recently issued strict regulations and work with China to implement the CITES recommendations," said Omondi.

He added that global solidarity is key to saving the remaining population of African elephants.
BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese industry association Saturday expressed "deep regret" over anti-dumping duties imposed by the United States on imports of large washing machines from China.

"The move hurts not only Chinese manufacturers, but also the interests of U.S. consumers," the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) said in a statement.

In December 2016, the U.S. Commerce Department set final dumping rates on imports of large residential washing machines from China. On Monday, the U.S. International Trade Commission made final rulings on the measures.

"The chamber is concerned about the U.S. use of trade remedy measures to protect its own market, and hopes to solve the issue through negotiations to gain win-win results," the statement said. "The CCCME has organized affected companies to make necessary responses under the guidance of the trade remedy and investigation bureau under the Ministry of Commerce."

Imports of those products from China were estimated at about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, according to U.S. official data.
News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

The Zimbabwe People First (Zim PF) held their first rally in Guruve South in Mashonaland Central ahead of the much anticipated 2018 election.The rally was well attended by all wards surrounding Guruve district and they were told to remain focused and fight the common enemy ZANU PF.Addressing party supporters Mashonaland Central provincial interim coordinator Godfrey Chimombe said Zim PF is a united party and ZANU PF is trying to divide their party by creating fake factions through the media."We are a united party and in Mashonaland Central we are very strong since it is the home of our president Joice Mujuru."The challenge we only have now is that of ZANU PF trying to create non existing factions through the media but I urge you all to be vigilant and ouster ZANU through the ballot," said Chimombe.The vice chairman retired major Simon Machiri castigated violence and encouraged their supporters to be at peace as their builders of the nation.We are builders and violence is not within our syllabus it was a common secret that ZANU PF is the chief culprit of violence hence we have to teach people of Zimbabwe to build the nation in peace, said Machiri.He also denounced those who link Zim PF with ZANU PF saying all political party members are free to join Zim PF not the other way round.However, Criswell Mutematsaka provincial commit member slammed vote buying by the ruling party saying it is a sign of desperation."Do not be deceived by little inputs and brown rice being dished by clueless ZANU PF it is a sign of desperation.We were once there in that system but we left them because we saw it was a sign of desperation at the same time killing our nation, we have to register and vote for a better Zimbabwe," he said
Police have been on high alert as Istanbul has been hit by a number of terror attacks, including one on a nightclub on New Year's Day that left 39 people dead. (AFP photo)

ISTANBUL, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police opened fire at a suspicious minivan outside Istanbul's Ataturk Airport early Saturday and launched a manhunt after the vehicle fled away, local media reported.

Police fired at the wheels of a white panel van as its driver did not obey the stop warning at the checkpoint at the main entrance to the airport, the Hurriyet daily said.

The vehicle with three people on board managed to escape by taking the opposite direction with a u-turn, the daily said, adding the police were hunting the van.

Police have been on high alert as the metropolis has been hit by a number of terror attacks over the last year, including one on a nightclub on New Year's Day that left 39 people dead and triple suicide bombing attacks on Ataturk Airport in late June that killed 44.
KABUL, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan government welcomed a decision of United Nations on Saturday for removing the name of former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from its sanctions list.

"We welcome the recent announcement of United Nations of removing name of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami of Afghanistan, and we are optimistic the move would further boost peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan," Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, presidential adviser in political affairs, told reporters.

On Friday, a United Nations committee removed name of Hekmatyar from the sanctions list.

In September last year, Hekmatyar signed a peace agreement with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, which was brokered by Afghan High Peace Council after two years of negotiations, via a video conference broadcast by the state-run TV.

Hizb-e-Islami, a radical Islamic party, was the third strongest insurgent groups in terms of military power after Taliban and Islamic State groups, has been fighting the Afghan government and the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

In 2003, Hekmatyar was designated by the United States as a "global terrorist" and his name had been blacklisted by UN. However, after the peace deal, the Afghan government demanded the UN Security Council remove name of Hekmatyar from its sanctions list.

Hekmatyar, who is reportedly living in eastern Afghan region, is expected to visit Kabul soon, and the government will have to provide security for Hekmatyar and his followers and release imprisoned members of the group under the peace deal.

The Hizb-e-Islami also fought against the troops of former Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Passengers wait to board trains at the Shenyang Railway Station in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Feb. 2, 2017. Some 11.5 million trips were made Thursday on China's railways with travelers returning to work at the end of the week-long Spring Festival holiday. Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important occasion for family reunions and fell on Jan. 28 this year. (Xinhua/Zhang Wenkui)

CHANGCHUN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Answering queries, punching tickets, collecting used instant noodle pots, the Spring Festival travel rush is always a busy time for the employees of Changchun Railway Station.

Li Qiang, who works on the ticket kiosk, smiles and asks her customer to confirm the details of their booking for the third time.

"It only takes seconds to sell a ticket, but we must do whatever we can to avoid mistakes," said Li. "Ticket changes are difficult over the Spring Festival."

Li talks with more than 2,000 passengers every day for nine hours during the Spring Festival holiday.

Migrant workers are the main buyers of train tickets from the kiosk. "They do not use the online booking system, so we need to help them face to face," Li said.

Sun Tianyou works for the station's security team. Sun and his colleagues have confiscated more than 1,900 dangerous items, such as knives, since Chunyun began on Jan. 13.

Endless streams of passengers walk into and out of the waiting hall where Pan Xiangke is using a cumbersome machine to clean the floor. He drives back and forth at least 90 times everyday.

Everyday over the holiday, the station sanitation team collect more than 5,000 used instant noodles pots and remove 20 tonnes of trash a day.

Yang Hongmei works at the information desk in the waiting hall. Over Chunyun she answer questions from more than 10,000 passengers everyday.

"I spend less than ten minutes finishing my lunch and I don't drink much water in case I need go to toilet too often," Yang said.

Zhang Zhongming is a ticket inspector. Everyday he stands at the ticket gate for up to nine hours, punching more than 10,000 train tickets in that time.

"My forearm muscles now are very strong," he said.

Zhang Zhen patrols the station's platforms for up to 10 hours a day in the winter when temperatures can drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Changchun Railway Station is the largest railway terminal in northeast China. This year it is expected to transport more than 100,000 passengers each day during the 40-day holiday travel rush.

"It is really freezing cold, but I feel warm when passengers thank me," said Zhang.
PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Saturday reiterated the Cambodian government's commitment to the one-China policy.

"We support the one-China policy and respect China's sovereignty," he said during a dinner with about 5,240 Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese. "Taiwan is just a province of China."

The prime minister added that the government also supported the one-China policy on the issue involving Tibet, saying that he had rejected Tibet monks' requests to come to Cambodia.

"Tibet also belongs to China," Hun Sen said.

He called on all Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese in the kingdom to back the Cambodian government in the implementation of the one-China policy.

"The peaceful rise of China does not pose a threat to others, but, through its policy of good-neighborliness and the Belt and Road initiative, brings benefits to developing countries in Asia and other regions," Hun Sen said.
VALLETA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A European expert on China-EU cooperation has expressed optimism over the perspective of collaboration between Beijing and Brussels despite concerns expressed by some EU officials.

In a recent written interview with Xinhua, Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, a Brussels-based business-led association, said that in the coming five years, China is expected to import 8 trillion euros of goods, attract 600 billion euros of foreign investments and make 750 billion euros of outbound investment, and Chinese tourists will make 700 million overseas visits.

"For the EU consumers and business, China is an opportunity," Gambardella stressed.

On a recent statement by a senior European official that China can be a threat to the EU, Gambardella said such a statement has misunderstood the term EU, because it represents 500 million consumers who have benefited from cooperation with China.

"Their mistake was to confuse the term EU with the 500 million consumers living in the EU member states. For the EU consumers and business, China is an opportunity," Gambardella said.

In his opinion, such a statement reflects the fact that some EU officials feel threatened by the Brexit vote, as other EU members might follow suit.

Meanwhile, some EU officials are worried about policies of the new government in the United States, he pointed out.

Ted Malloch, Donald Trump's expected ambassador to the EU, has expressed doubt over the future of EU establishment and the currency euro, as some EU member states prefer bilateral deals to common EU treaties with other countries, Gambardella said.

He said the strongest argument in favor of the EU is that the bloc can achieve results that individual countries cannot by themselves and the EU will have reform aimed at building a more efficient governance.

"Pointing fingers to external threats will not resolve the governance problem of the EU," he said.

The EU and China should work for win-win cooperation deals between their respective companies, facilitate foreign inward investments and address red tape and other regulatory impediments, said Gambardella.

ChinaEU is a business-led association headquartered in Brussels that aims to strengthen joint research and business collaboration and investment in the sectors of the Internet, telecommunications and high-tech between China and Europe.
A female body found early in waters near the Mengalum island is transported to a jetty for further identification in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Feb. 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Xue Fei)

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A postmortem will be carried out to determine the identity of a female body, which was found on Saturday morning in waters near the Mengalum island, as the search for the missing from the Sabah sunken boat have been refocused on the area where the body was found.

The result of the postmortem is expected to come out on Sunday as the body was already in decomposed state, said Adam Aziz, Kota Kinabalu Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director at a daily briefing on Saturday.

"We are not denying possibility of the body being one of the missing .. The identity can be ascertained through family members or DNA results," he said.

The ill-fated boat, carrying 28 tourists from China, capsized en route from Kota Kinabalu to Mengalum island, which is about 50 kilometers west of Kota Kinablau. Three of the tourists have been confirmed dead while another five and a crewmember are still missing.

Aziz said they have deployed assets to focus on the area where the body was found, about 200 square nautical miles, bringing the total search area on Saturday to 2,100 square nautical miles, covering waters off Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.

The skipper of the boat was sentenced to six months in jail on Saturday for steering an overloaded and unsafe vessel, for the first time shedding light on what caused the tragedy. A preliminary investigation is expected to be released next week.
Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese attend a dinner with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Feb. 4, 2017. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen had a dinner with about 5,240 Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese in the country on Saturday, the first largest gathering he made with the Chinese community. (Xinhua/Sovannara)

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen had a dinner with about 5,240 Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese in the country on Saturday, the first largest gathering he made with the Chinese community.

Speaking before the dinner, Hun Sen said Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese had greatly contributed to socio-economic development and encouraged them to continue their contributions to Cambodia-China relationship.

"From here, I'd like to appeal to all Khmer-Chinese to support the implementation of cooperation between Cambodia and China within the frameworks of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation and the Belt and Road initiative," he said.

The prime minister also told them to help attract more Chinese investors and tourists to Cambodia, saying that Cambodia and China expected to see a 5-billion-U.S.-dollar trade volume in 2017.

In addition, he called on the Khmer-Chinese to join him to protect peace and stability in the country.

Pung Kheav Se, president of the Association of Khmer-Chinese in Cambodia, said the prime minister's presence at the dinner clearly reflected the government's high attention to the Chinese community.

"The Khmer-Chinese will continue to support the Cambodian government's policy in building national economy and developing society," he said, pledging to encourage Khmer-Chinese to attract more Chinese investors to Cambodia.

According to Pung Kheav Se, about one million Khmer-Chinese and overseas Chinese, including 800,000 Khmer-Chinese and 200,000 overseas Chinese, are living in Cambodia.

The kingdom has 50 Chinese schools with some 50,000 students, he said.
PARIS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Paris was plunged into panic again after its landmark Louvre Museum survived an attempted attack on Friday. Despite initial tension and confusion, the evacuation under the guidance of museum security guards and police went on well organized.

The attempted attack was thwarted by a french soldier. The soldier guarding the museum shot and wounded the attacker who wielded a machete and shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he tried to enter the museum with two backpacks. But it was later found that the backpacks contained no explosives.

The attacker was seriously wounded in the incident "whose terrorism nature leaves little doubt," according to French President Francois Hollande.

Hollande hailed "the courage" and "determination" of the soldiers who prevented the attack that would have put at risk the life of 1,200 visitors.

"Around 9:50 am (0850 GMT) when I arrived below the glass pyramid, I saw many tourists running inward. There was tension in the air," said a Chinese tourist who was identified only by his surname as Liu and witnessed the attack.

Other witnesses described that visitors in the museum were calm in general although there were children crying.

According to Reuters, visitors inside the museum learned of the incident by loudspeaker announcements and mostly reacted calmly.

"There were announcements, then the security guards started running all over the place and after a short period they started gathering everybody up and getting them to one side of the building," Lance Manus, a 73-year-old New York visitor told Reuters.

After an hour, the tourists were shepherded out by heavily-armed police as authorities began to evacuate the museum, which remained closed Friday afternoon.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS TIPS

With the growing threat of terrorist attacks, it would be wise to learn some life-saving strategies to improve the chances of survival and to ensure safety.

The French government has issued an official guideline in the form of a poster that recommends people take three principle courses of action in the event of a terror attack: flee, hide and raise the alarm.

The first action "flee" advises people under a terror attack to locate the source of danger and escape from the hazardous area. It also urged citizens to help those around them to flee as well if possible.

The second action "hide" advices people to lock the door and/or barricade it with furniture so that the terrorists can't get in.

The third action "alert" asks people to call a police emergency hotline. It also stresses the importance of obeying commands from law enforcement officials.

The guide was issued by the French authorities following the attack that occurred on Nov. 13, 2015, in which 130 people were killed in a spate of shootings and suicide bombings across the French capital.

The Louvre wrote on its website that the museum is strictly applying the security measures decided by the French authorities to ensure the safety of its visitors.

In the event of an incident, visitors must leave the danger zone, alert the security staff and follow instructions. Visitors may be confined or evacuated to a secure area while waiting for the police to arrive, the museum added. Enditem
CAIRO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned the recent terrorist attack by a mechete-wielding man against soldiers outside Louvre Museum in Paris, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Egyptian government and people support France and its people against terrorism," said the statement, urging the international community to intensify collective efforts to combat such "a serious phenomenon" that targets security and stability.

On Friday morning, a man holding two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the French capital city, shouting in Arabic an Islamic phrase meaning "God is the Greatest."

The perpetrator was shot and seriously wounded after he slightly injured one of the soldiers.

Later in the evening, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a press conference that initial investigations showed the knifeman might be a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen who arrived in France from Dubai late January with a tourist visa.

France has imposed emergency rules since November 2015 attacks in which gunmen and suicide bombers loyal to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group killed 130 people in Paris.

In July 2016, at least 86 victims were killed as a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice.

Egypt also has been suffering a rising wave of terrorism that killed hundreds of police and military men, mostly claimed by the IS in restive North Sinai province, since the army removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

In Dec. 2016, at least 28 Coptic worshippers were killed as a suicide bomber attacked their church in Cairo. The crime was also claimed by the IS.
MOGADISHU, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Somali elections will mark a new turn of governance in Somalia thanks to a bicameral Parliament which failed to come into being in 2012, experts say.

The concept for an Upper House was first mooted in the 2004 by regional bloc IGAD which Somalia is a member in the National Reconciliation Conference in Kenya but the semi-autonomous region of Puntland rejected the ideas as it was the only established autonomous region in the country besides the breakaway Somaliland.

The country is yet to formally adopt the constitution which will have to go through a referendum but several articles of the Supreme Law are already in force.

The idea of an Upper House is informed by the understanding of the centralized and powerful system under the previous constitution was among the motivating factors leading to the collapse of the states in 1991.

The Senate or the Upper House together with the Lower House forms the Federal Parliament of Somalia.

The Federal Parliament will elect a new president before the expected one person one vote in 2020 takes that mandate to the people. The formation of the Upper House in Somalia is however not without a raft of concerns.

Under the constitution, the Upper House principally serves to protect the interests of the Federal units. But observers see a point of conflict between the Upper House and the Lower House.

Mohamed Noor Ga'al, a former state minister of foreign Affairs and a legal expert, told Xinhua in a recent interview in Mogadishu that the conflict could arise over the Upper House role in trying to fight for the interest of the states.

"The two houses will conflict over roles particularly as the Upper House strives to defend and fight for allocation of resources and protection of the state," Ga'al said.

The former minister told Xinhua that aspects such as resource sharing and allocation particularly as the exploration of natural resources such as oil takes root in Somalia could be new points of conflict between the two houses of Parliament.

The fate of Banaadir region which hosts the capital Mogadishu is another area of contest which the Upper House has to deal with. Despite hosting the highest number of people, about 2 million, Banaadir region is not represented in the Senate.

The determination of the status of Mogadishu is a matter set for the incoming Parliament through the constitutional review process.

Ga'al also warns the Upper House could also be at loggerheads with the Federal Government which sees the regional administrations as an eroding its power.

"The regional administration were formed to reduce power in the center and that may not go down well with the Federal Government," said Ga'al.

Abdirahman Ali, a legal and policy analyst noted that the lack of clarity on the functions of the Upper House could raise concerns and must be dealt with accordingly in the constitution review process.

"I don't see clear cut functions of the Upper House in the constitution. Unless these are clearly defined, this could create differences among members of the political class," states Ali.

The Provisional Constitution highlights the function of the Upper House as participating jointly with the Lower House in the impeachment of the President, repealing or originating laws and vetting constitutional office holders for appointment among other functions but is not distinct on its role in relation to the Federal units.

Gedi Abdirahman, a student in Mogadishu, is cautiously optimistic noting the impact of the Upper House is matter of wait and see.

"The Upper House is a new institution in Somalia and we hope everything with it will be okay."
News / National

by ZimRights

Harare - Magistrate Elisha Singano of the Harare Magistrates Court remanded #ThisFlag founder and activist, Pastor Evan Mawarire in custody until February 17 and advised the cleric to approach the High Court for bail.Mawarire appeared in court room 6 facing on charges of subverting a constitutional government, inciting public violence and insulting the Zimbabwean flag.The state argues that the charges emanate from the fact that Mawarire organised the #shutdown protest in which he called for people to boycott work, resisted the introduction of bond notes and opposed the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016.Singano said there was a reasonable suspicion that Mawarire had committed a crime and ordered that he be placed on remand and in custody as the state prepares its case for trial.Prosecutors Edmore Nyazamba and Tapiwa Kasema argued on behalf of the state that Mawarire's actions amounted to subverting a constitutional government as defined by Section 22 of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act.The cleric was represented by Harrison Nkomo and Jeremiah Bhamu of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR), who argued that Mawarire's actions were peaceful, within his constitutional rights, and did not amount to subversion of a constitutional government.Nkomo said that Mawarire had the right to freedom of expression as provided for in Section 61 and pointed to the fact that section 61 (d) allowed him to challenge the policies of government as long as his actions were peaceful.The defence counsel complained that Mawarire was arrested by nine members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) who interrogated him without identifying themselves violating the lawful process of arrest.Mawarire was arrested on Wednesday late afternoon at the Harare International airport as he returned to Zimbabwe after six months of self-imposed exile.
TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR will arrive in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday to discuss selling of the passenger planes to the country, a senior Iranian aviation official said on Saturday.

After finalization of the deal, valued at 400 million U.S. dollars, 20 passenger planes will be delivered to Iran in a scheduled manner, Iranian Deputy Road and Urban Development Minister Asqar Fakhriyeh Kashan was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars News Agency.

"ATR will deliver three or four passenger planes to Iran Air, Iran's national flag air carrier, by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending on March 20)," Fakhriyeh Kashan said.

In December 2016, Iran sealed a contract with Airbus to buy 100 aircraft worth over 18 billion dollars. Airbus delivered the first plane to Iran in January.

Also in December, Iran Air finalized another agreement with the U.S. Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes.

The agreement envisages the purchase of 50 twinjet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft with a total value of 16.6 billion dollars.

The planes by Boeing would be delivered to Iran within 10 years. The first deliveries are expected in 2018.
On Friday morning, a man holding two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the French capital city. (Xinhua/Ying Qiang)

CAIRO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned the recent terrorist attack by a mechete-wielding man against soldiers outside Louvre Museum in Paris, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Egyptian government and people support France and its people against terrorism," said the statement, urging the international community to intensify collective efforts to combat such "a serious phenomenon" that targets security and stability.

On Friday morning, a man holding two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the French capital city, shouting in Arabic an Islamic phrase meaning "God is the Greatest."

The perpetrator was shot and seriously wounded after he slightly injured one of the soldiers.

Later in the evening, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a press conference that initial investigations showed the knifeman might be a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen who arrived in France from Dubai late January with a tourist visa.

France has imposed emergency rules since November 2015 attacks in which gunmen and suicide bombers loyal to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group killed 130 people in Paris.

In July 2016, at least 86 victims were killed as a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice.

Egypt also has been suffering a rising wave of terrorism that killed hundreds of police and military men, mostly claimed by the IS in restive North Sinai province, since the army removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

In Dec. 2016, at least 28 Coptic worshippers were killed as a suicide bomber attacked their church in Cairo. The crime was also claimed by the IS.
MANILA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday the government is pulling out of the peace talks with the communist rebels.

In an interview with reporters in his home city in Davao, Duterte said he is ordering members of the government peace panel "to fold up tents and come home."

"Peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation," he told reporters.
BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cut subsidy qualifications for seven Chinese automakers over subsidy cheating.

Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd, one of the punished producers, was accused of equipping 1,353 new-energy cars with sub par number of battery cells in 2015, when it applied for financial subsidies.

The MIIT penalty effectively bans the automakers from entering an official catalogue of recommended vehicle types which get fiscal support to lower their prices and boost market competitiveness.

Authorities will review their application after they rectify their problems in two months.

Authorities launched investigations into subsidy cheating cases in beginning of 2016 after the country had forked out about 33 billion yuan (about 4.8 billion U.S. dollars) of subsidies between 2009 and 2015.

The subsidy program has played an important role in the country's booming market for new-energy vehicles, which are seen as effective in cutting emissions.

China sold 507,000 new-energy vehicles last year, a rise of 53 percent year on year.

The government will cut subsidies to new-energy vehicles by 10 percent this year from the 2016 level and plans to phase out the subsidies by 2020.
MANILA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday the government is "cancelling" its peace talks with the communist rebels.

In an interview with reporters in his home city in Davao, Duterte said he is ordering members of the government peace panel "to fold up tents and come home."

"Peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation," he told reporters.

He said he would order the Philippine negotiators to come home. "I am not ready to resume (the talks). As I have said peace with the communists might not come in this generation," he said.

Asked again if the government is "scrapping" the talks, Duterte answered, "Yes, entirely."

Pressed again if the suspension is "temporary," he said, "maybe."

Asked again if the talks could resume "sometime mid-term," Duterte said, "Do it after my term if there is still one."

"I've tried everything as you can see I walk the extra mile, release prisoners, release their leaders so they can got to Oslo, Norway to talk. Now, they want 400 plus prisoners who fought the government under rebellion crime," Duterte said.

The government and the communist rebels announced before the weekend their decision to scrap the truce they declared since the start of the latest talks in August. The move dampened prospects to reach a negotiated settlement between the two sides.

The rebels were first to announce their intention to put an end to the truce, saying Duterte failed to keep his promise to release some 400 political prisoners. Barely three days later after the rebels' announcement the government has decided to scrap its truce because the rebels of continuously attacked the government troops.

Duterte denied making a promise to release all prisoners, saying he did not intend to free all of them. "We started with 18 (prisoners) and we came up 23 leaders and now it's 400," he said, adding that releasing the prisoners is tantamount to a government surrender.

Duterte, the commander in chief, ordered the Philippine armed forces on Friday to resume offensive against the New People's Army rebels that have been trying to overthrow the government since 1969.

"Let's resume (the military offensive). Take your position and be alert," Duterte told his troops on Friday.

The president on Saturday repeated his order to the military "to prepare for the long struggle."

Duterte expressed his pessimism that a negotiated settlement with the communist rebels would succeed.

"I have lost so many soldiers in just 48 hours. I think to continue with a ceasefire does not or will not produce anything," he said.

The Duterte administration revived the talks with communist rebels in August. Norway has agreed to broker the talks again. So far, both sides have conducted three rounds of talks. Another talk is slated this month.

Since 1986, the government has been trying to reach a peace deal with the communist rebels but failed to make any headway.

The communist rebellion began in 1969 and reached its peak in 1987 when it boasted 26,000 armed militants.

However, the movement has since dwindled due to differences in strategy and tactics and the arrests of many of its top leaders in the late 1980s. The military estimates the communist armed rebels at around 4,000.
DUBAI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) military said on Saturday that a soldier was killed in a routine training mission.

The killed soldier was identified as Obaid Jowhar Obaid Al-Mazrouei, according to the UAE General Command of the Armed Forces in Abu Dhabi.

The general command extended condolences to the family of the dead, saying it "prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the martyr's soul in peace, as well as bestow patience and solace on his family."

The UAE has stepped up military training since it joined a Saudi-led coalition of nine Arab states to support Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the fight against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group.
Iranian students take part in a rally marking the 37th anniversary of taking over the U.S. embassy by a group of Iranian students in Tehran, capital of Iran, on Nov. 3, 2016.(Xinhua Photo)

TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired new missiles in the ongoing air defense drills on Saturday, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

The missiles included home-made short-range and medium-range systems, the report said.

The indigenous missile of 3-Khordad, which was test-fired on Saturday, has a range of 75km and can soar to altitudes up to 30 km.

It is capable of engaging in electronic warfare and incorporates the latest cutting-edge technology and scrambling on multiple targets in lower radar cross-section (RCS).

Another tested missile of Tabas has a range of 60 km and soars to the altitude of 30 km. It is designed and manufactured by the IRGC and is highly agile in offensive and defensive positions.

The third one tested was Sayyad-2 missile system which has the same features as Tabas and has been designed by Iranian Ministry of Defense, according to Mehr.

Also, IRGC deployed three radar systems in the drills on Saturday. Ghadir long-range radar system with 3D detecting feature can capture the aerial threats as far as 1100 km away.

Ghadir is capable of detecting stealth drones and other aerial vehicles and can even trace the targets.

Matla'alfajr and Kavosh radar systems are capable of detecting the threats up to 500km and 150km respectively. They can also detect cruise missiles and drones flying in lower altitudes.

The IRGC launched a major air defense drill, dubbed Defenders of Velayat, on Saturday, official IRNA news agency reported.

The military exercise is carried out in the area of 35,000 square kilometers in Semnan region in the central-north of Iran.

The maneuver is aimed at enhancing the preparedness of the IRGC units in the face of threats.

The home-grown radar systems, commandment tactics, as well as control and electronic warfare systems will be put in the test in the exercise, the report said.

Last week, Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington. Iran dismissed the U.S. concerns saying that the test was aimed at deterrence purposes.
The Republic Square is seen after a rainfall in Yerevan, capital of Armenia, June 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

YEREVAN, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- On Friday, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received a delegation headed by Christian Danielsson, Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission, the press service of the Armenian presidency announced.

During the meeting, President Sargsyan highlighted the dynamic relations between Armenia and the European Union in the course of last two years particularly in terms of political dialogue and cooperation in various fields.

While underlining the active negotiations on a new framework agreement between Armenia and the European Union, the two sides expressed hope the process would soon be finalized.

Mr. Danielsson highlighted the importance of the upcoming visit of the Armenian president to Brussels, which according to the Director General, would convey new energy to the development of cooperation Armenia and the EU.

The president of Armenia reassured that his country was prepared to continue its partnership with the EU in the fields of stimulating reforms, mobility, effective governance, democracy, human rights, economic cooperation and other mutually important realms.

Director General for EU Enlargement Christian Danielsson also met with Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan as well as representatives of civil society.

In September of 2013, Armenia unexpectedly announced of its plans to join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union after nearly four years of negotiations over an Association Agreement with the EU covering both economic and political aspects of partnership between the country and the European Union. Since then the country has been negotiating new terms of partnership with the European bloc.
DUBAI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Saturday one of its soldiers was killed during the operation "Restore Hope" with the Saudi-led Arab coalition defending "legitimate forces" in Yemen, Emirati state news agency WAM reported.

The soldier was named Rashid Ali Mohamed Zhori. The General Command of the UAE Armed Forces expressed its sincere condolences and sympathy to his family members. The report did not disclose the cause of the soldier's death which marked the second military personnel loss within one day.

Earlier in the day, the General Command of the UAE Armed Forces said a soldier was killed in a routine training mission in the UAE.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition of nine Arab states to support Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the fight against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group.
The file photo taken on Jan. 29, 2017 showed that People hold posters during a protest against President Donald Trump's executive order banning entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, outside the Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States (Xinhua Photo/Wang Ying)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Saturday reversed revocation of visas for foreigners under a travel ban which was suspended Friday by a federal judge.

The department said that the foreigners covered by the travel ban who hold a valid visa now may travel to the United States.

The move came after federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington state, ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's executive order on the travel ban would be suspended nationwide, effective immediately.

Up to 60,000 visas for citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries covered by the 90-day ban, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia, were "provisionally revoked" under the January travel ban, which triggered worldwide criticism and protests.

In another related development, the U.S. Homeland Security Department also said Saturday that it had suspended all actions to implement the travel ban in accordance with the judge's ruling.

It means it suspended the passenger system rules that flag travelers for operational action subject to the travel ban.

Meanwhile, many international airlines are allowing citizens from the countries covered by the travel ban to board U.S.-bound flights after the judge's ruling, the CNN reported.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 which bars citizens from the seven predominately Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days, stops accepting refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria, in order to protect the U.S. security.

The ban caused confusion at many U.S. airports as some travelers from the seven countries were detained or prevented entering the U.S. without pre-notice.

It sparked mass protests at major airports and cities in the U.S. and some other countries, as protesters decried it as a "Muslim ban" that targets people because of their faith.

Even Trump's predecessor, former President Barack Obama, issued a statement criticizing the Trump move for "discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion."

Washington state's Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against the Trump order three days later, arguing that the ban violates constitutional rights of immigrants and their families. The state of Minnesota later joined in the suit.

Despite the court ruling, the legal battle is far from being over, as Trump has vowed to overturn it.

"The opinion of this co-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said in a tweet Saturday.

Within hours of the ruling, Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, issued a strongly-worded statement vowing to appeal the judge's "outrageous order" at the earliest possible time.

Spicer later issued an amended statement that deleted the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Civic society activist and critic of government's diamond mining activities in Chiadzwa, Farai Maguwu, has filed a High Court application seeking to divorce his wife of five years - Tafadzwa Munyebvu.The divorce, which was supposed to be finalised yesterday, was struck off the roll after High Court judge, Nyaradzo Munangati-Manongwa, said the names on the summons and those on the marriage certificate were not tallying.The anomaly will be rectified before the matter is set down for another hearing.Maguwu - a development practitioner with Centre for Resources Governance - filed for divorce, claiming they now have irreconcilable differences."The parties' marriage has irretrievably broken down and there are no reasonable prospects of its restoration more particularly in that: the parties have lost all love and affection for each other, the defendant (Munyebvu) has moved out of the matrimonial home," the court heard.According to court papers, the two did not have a child during the subsistence of their marriage and have a residential stand, a refrigerator and some domestic utensils which they received as gifts at their wedding.After their wedding, Maguwu told the court that his wife moved to South Africa where he was pursuing his studies and she was dependent on him.He offered her kitchen utensils and a refrigerator and that he gets 95 percent of the value of their immovable property, while his wife gets 5 percent."It is just and proper that divorce be granted," Maguwu said.However, the parties eventually agreed to divorce by consent.In terms of the consent order, the parties' matrimonial property will be divided and shared between the two equally while Maguwu will get stand number 10262 Rekai Tangwena Greenside Extension, Mutare.On the other hand, Munyebvu is entitled to bed covers, a refrigerator, a laptop, kitchen utensils and $7 500 to be paid by Maguwu.The first instalment of $4 000 will be paid upon the signing of the signatures while the remainder will be paid in instalments of $500 per month until the amount is fully paid.
French President Francois Hollande speaks to media at a press conference during the EU informal summit in Valletta, Malta, Feb. 3, 2017. European leaders agreed Friday on an action plan to stem the migration flow into Europe along the central Mediterranean route during an informal summit in Malta. (Xinhua/Jin Yu)

VALLETTA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande called on European Union leaders to refuse any "pressure" from the U.S. administration and to reflect in a united way and in complete independence on its future, particularly on defence, trade and its relations with Russia.

Hollande did not rule out the possibility of a "multi-speed" Europe when addressing the press during the European Union informal summit here.

A plan was endorsed at the summit to stem illegal immigration along the central Mediterranean route and prepared for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome to be celebrated on March 25.

"There may be different opinions within the 28, even judgments on the Trump administration can be nuanced among us, but there needs a unity of the European Union to take the full account of what is taking place," said the French president.

Hollande also warned against relying solely on the U.S.-dominated alliance for Europe's military defence. Europe must organize its own defence within the framework of the NATO alliance, he said. "We must ultimately have strategic autonomy."

The French president stressed that the EU should assert its interests especially when a country, the United States in this case, aims at changing the situation and adopts unilateral and protectionist measures.

"What matters is solidarity at the EU level. We must not have the illusion of some sort of external protection," he said.

"We in France have a defence policy. We fear nothing...We must have a European conception of our future. If not, there will be, in my opinion, no Europe and not necessarily any way for each of the countries to be able to exert an influence in the world," he added.

"Europe's destiny is not up to others to define," he said.
A workshop is pictured at the China-run Khadori Hydropower Plant, Georgia, Jan. 29, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Ming)

TBILISI, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- When people in China were enjoying family reunion in the Spring Festival holiday, some Chinese staff in a remote hydropower plant in northeastern Georgia could hardly relax and rejoice.

In fact, the traditional auspicious couplets pasted on the gate only increased homesickness for them, including Liu Hong, chief engineer of the Khadori Hydropower Plant located in the Pankisi Gorge in the gigantic Caucasus Mountains.

"Colleagues and I miss our family members very much, particularly at moments of big festivals," said Liu, who has spent eight Spring Festivals with his colleagues in the station, some three-hour drive away from Tbilisi.

Gu Rui, a senior advisor of the plant, has spent five Spring Festivals there.

Liu said that they were willing to stand loneliness in the desolate snow-covered gorge in order to send light to hundreds of thousands of households in Georgia.

The Khadori Hydropower Plant, with an installed capacity of 24 megawatts, was built and operated by the overseas subsidiary of China's State Grid Corp.

Completed in 2006, it is the first foreign-funded power station in Georgia.

To conduct routine inspection, workers usually have to trek through knee-deep snow or jump into biting pools in winter and wade across torrents in summer, even risking avalanches and floods sometimes.

"We choose to brave all the hardships and loneliness because we have made a commitment to keep the station well working and provide electricity to power-short Georgia," said Liu.

Thanks to these efforts, the Khadori Hydropower Plant has been operating smoothly for more than 4,000 days.

The plant has improved local people's life, said Giorge Aha Gumashivili, chief of Jokolo Village at the foot of the mountain.

"The station not only brings us light but also creates precious job opportunities, which have helped lift many people out of poverty," said Gumashivili, who is working in the plant together with his son and other fellow villagers.

"We work and live with the Chinese staff. They treat us like family," Gumashivili told Xinhua, adding that he hopes the friendship can be passed on to next generations.
People search for victims inside a funeral hall after it was targeted by airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on Oct. 8, 2016. (Xinhua Photo)

DUBAI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Saturday one of its soldiers was killed during the operation "Restore Hope" with the Saudi-led Arab coalition defending "legitimate forces" in Yemen, Emirati state news agency WAM reported.

The soldier was named Rashid Ali Mohamed Zhori. The General Command of the UAE Armed Forces expressed its sincere condolences and sympathy to his family members. The report did not disclose the cause of the soldier's death which marked the second military personnel loss within one day.

Earlier in the day, the General Command of the UAE Armed Forces said a soldier was killed in a routine training mission in the UAE.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition of nine Arab states to support Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the fight against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group.
Egyptian children attend a festivity held by Resala Charity to mark the World Cancer Day in Cairo, Egypt on Feb. 4, 2017. Most of the children at the open air festivity came from 10-year-old Children's Cancer Hospital Foundation (CCHF), known as 57357, which is the largest hospital of the kind in the Middle East and Africa. Opening in mid-2007 through donations and civil society efforts, the 260-bed 57357 Hospital for children with cancer managed to raise the survival rate from 50 percent over the past decade to about 75 percent at present. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- "I lost my sight during chemotherapy, but it is OK. With hope, challenge and will, I went through two stages of treatment and survived the illness," said 14-year-old Silwan Nasr-Eddin while surrounded by dozens of cancer children joyfully marking the World Cancer Day.

The teen cancer survival has been acting as a show presenter at a party held by Resala Charity Organization at Mohamed Ali Palace overlooking the Nile River in Giza province near downtown Cairo, while her fellows have been playing, dancing and listening to kids' songs.

"It's surely difficult to be blind after once having sight. I had a tumor in the sight nerve inside the brain that completely damaged my sight. However, with hope and challenge, nothing can break a person," the girl told Xinhua at the palace yard, while Mickey Mouse was dancing to entertain the children.

Most of the children at the open air festivity came from 10-year-old Children's Cancer Hospital Foundation (CCHF), known as 57357, which is the largest hospital of the kind in the Middle East and Africa.

Nasr-Eddin said that she could not focus during her elementary school because of the chemotherapy, but when she joined preparatory school she felt much better as she survived the hardest stage of her life.

She noted it was exhausting for her and her parents to repeatedly move between Upper Egypt's Luxor where she lives and the capital Cairo to receive chemotherapy.

Mahmoud Gehad, a young man in charge of "Wishes Realization" activity at Resala charity, said that his charity marks the day by such a festivity that includes a puppet show to make children happy, then an anti-cancer awareness symposium and finally a workshop for children to make accessories by their own hands and take them as gifts to increase their creativity.

"We also encourage parents and families to let their children continue education regardless of their chemotherapies and radiotherapies, for their children's sickness is a temporary stage that they will hopefully overcome," Megahed told Xinhua, noting the celebration is joined by at least 60 children besides their family members.

During the show, dressed up cartoon characters danced with children hand in hand while Mickey Mouse carried a little girl and kept spinning at the grassy main yard of the elegant palace at Manial district of Giza, where colorful balloons were hanging in the yard corners.

In a rolling chair, Karim Hesham, 15, said he was very happy he joined the party and enjoyed the puppets and the songs, wishing speedy recovery for all people suffering cancer including himself.

"I would like to be a military officer when I grow up," the boy said despite his immobilization and heavy tongue, and then he went on repeating after a song playing in the background about good boys who listen to their elders.

For her part, Hesham's mother, Hanan Mohamed, explained that her son has a tumor at the pituitary glade that affects his sight, noting he had gone through 17 surgeries and he once went through a coma for two months and a half that they thought he was clinically dead.

Opening in mid-2007 through donations and civil society efforts, the 260-bed 57357 Hospital for children with cancer managed to raise the survival rate from 50 percent over the past decade to about 75 percent at present.

"My son has been suffering for seven years, but radiation obliterated the tumor in the end. Now he's one of the survivals and we only come to 57357 Hospital for a follow up," the boy's mother told Xinhua.
PARIS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Health situation of shot machete-wielding man, who rushed at soldiers near Louvre Museum in Paris, improved and was placed into custody on Saturday, according to local media reports.

Citing a judicial source, the local broadcaster Europe 1 said the man's situation has "significantly improved" and "his life prognosis is no longer in danger".

Louvre assailant was placed into custody after he was declared able to answer investigators' questions over his attack targeting soldiers outside France's landmark museum, the report added.

On Friday morning, an "aggressive" man armed with two machetes attacked four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the French capital, shouting Allahou Akbar (God the Greatest).

He slightly injured a soldier in his scalp before he was shot and seriously wounded.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the man was an Egyptian national who arrived in France from Dubai at the end of January after acquiring a one-month tourist visa.

Investigation is underway to determine the motive and to establish whether he acted alone or have been guided, he added.

At a meeting of EU leaders in Malta, French President Francois Hollande on Friday said the "terrorist nature( of the attack) leaves little doubt".

He warned that terrorism menaces are "here to stay", pledging to continue to mobilize all the necessary tools to ensure security indoors where terror alert remain high.
LIMA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian prosecutors on Saturday searched the home of former president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) and seized potential evidence in connection with a long-running graft case.

Authorities arrived at the home at 3 a.m. and searched the site for more than 8 hours, state news agency Andina said.

"Lead anti-corruption prosecutor Hamilton Castro left the premises carrying two boxes of documents, videos and two safes," the agency said.

Toledo is one of three ex-presidents implicated in a multinational corruption scandal sparked by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht and its systematic payments to officials in exchange for lucrative public works contracts.

Starting in 2005, Odebrecht reportedly paid out some 20 million U.S. dollars to offshore firms run by a friend of Toledo's, an Israeli national named Josef Maiman, the company revealed as part of a plea bargain.

The money aimed to secure a contract to build Peru's Inter-Oceanic Highway, one of several projects Odebrecht won in Peru.

Authorities have so far arrested two minor officials, including a deputy minister, in relation to Odebrecht's network of bribes and kickbacks, which also operated in other Latin American countries.

Odebrecht has admitted to paying more than 29 million U.S. dollars in bribes to Peruvian officials during the administrations of former presidents Toledo, Alan Garcia Perez and Ollanta Humala, who between them governed from 2001 to 2016.
Beirut, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Development Priti Patel and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi called here Saturday for urgent international support to Lebanon and Syrian refugees.

According to a statement by the UNHCR, Grandi said following a joint visit to the Bekaa valley, east Lebanon "the humanitarian situation for Syrian refugees in Lebanon remains very serious. They are stretched to breaking point and so are the Lebanese communities that have unconditionally welcomed and hosted them."

"The international community needs to redouble its support to Lebanon during this critical time and share responsibility for refugees and host communities," Grandi said.

Grandi made his remarks during a stop at an informal settlement in Taalabaya, central Bekaa, where the delegation met with refugee families who spoke about their worries and concerns.

The settlement, which hosts nearly 60 families, is one of 1,500 informal settlements in the area where UNHCR provides winter assistance including shelter kits and cash.

The delegation also discussed the needs of the Lebanese education system with Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh during a visit to Taalabaya Intermediate Public School where 600 Syrian students are enrolled in the morning and afternoon shifts.

For her part, Patel said "UK has delivered on the promises we made last year, reaching hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and refugees - now it is essential that the international community and hosting governments alike step up with the funding and reforms needed to complete the ambitious agenda agreed in London."

Lebanon has been at the forefront of one of the worst humanitarian crises worldwide. The country's population has grown by 28 per cent in less than five years with a ratio of one refugee to every four Lebanese.

The government of Lebanon and its national and international partners last month appealed for 2.8 billion USD to provide critical humanitarian assistance and protection as well as invest in Lebanon's public infrastructure, services and local economy in 2017.
BUCHAREST, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Romanian presidency spokesperson Madalina Dobrovolschi late Saturday hailed the decision announced by the prime minister to repeal the controversial emergency ordinance on amending Criminal Code.

"The decision announced this evening by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu is an important step to normalization," Dobrovolschi told official Agerpres news agency, stressing that "an important step is made to correct the situation created".

According to her, the government is responsible with solving the crisis it created.

The prime minister announced late Saturday that the government would revoke the emergency ordinance which changed Criminal Code in an emergency meeting on Sunday.

Grindeanu made the announcement after an emergency meeting of the ruling Social Democrats, saying that he did not want the Romanian people to split into two opposing camps.

"All the arguments we had in supporting the ordinance were not very well communicated ... A lot of confusion was created. And very many distortions that are not related to what was adopted in the end," he explained.

The prime minister said that he would soon initiate a consultation with other parties and send to the Parliament at the shortest a draft law on the amending Criminal Code.

The emergency ordinance, which was passed on Jan. 31, triggered huge protests in Romania over the past several days.

The emergency ordinance has redefined, and partially decriminalized abuse of office offenses.

After the ordinance was adopted, Justice Minister Florin Iordache said that abuse of office was to be considered a crime only if the damages exceeded 200,000 lei (47,500 U.S. dollars).

However, the opposition and protesters complained that the changes would likely prevent some politicians charged with crimes from being punished.
BARCELONA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese community and citizens of Spain's Barcelona celebrated the Chinese New Year on Saturday with a colorful procession and performance.

More than 1,000 people participated in the celebrations, under the theme of "Celebrating Chinese New Year with Barcelona", organizers said.

The celebrations incorporated both Chinese and Catalan traditions -- lions, Chinese and Catalan dragons, martial arts, dances, music and Castellers (human towers).

Celebrating the Chinese New Year has become popular in many cities around the world. It is the most important and traditional festivity for the Chinese community globally.

"This is not only a Chinese festival of the Chinese community, but also a festival celebrated together with the city where the Chinese immigrants live," said Chang Shiru, Director of the Confucius Institute of Barcelona.

"It highlights the plurality and generosity of welcoming immigrants in Barcelona," Chang told Xinhua.

In Chang's view, it was very important to have celebrations together with Barcelona's citizens, since it fosters integration and understanding between different cultures that coexist in the same city.

This year's celebration was organized by the Chinese community in Catalonia with the backing of Barcelona City Council and the Chinese Consulate, and with the collaboration of Casa Asia and the Confucius Institute.
News / National

by Staff reporter

IN an ironic twist, President Robert Mugabe's birthday bash has been moved from Matopos National Park to the Rhodes Estate Preparatory School (Reps), named after Cecil John Rhodes, who spearheaded Zimbabwe's colonisation.There had been an outcry that the initial venue was too close to Bhalagwe, where there is a mass grave for people killed during the Gukurahundi massacres of 1983 to 1987, which could have forced organisers to move the venue, but the choice of Reps could be awkward for Mugabe, who blames most of the country's problems on colonialism and Western interference.Adding onto that, a number of Zanu-PF activists have in the past demanded that Rhodes' bones be dug up from the Matopos National Park and tossed into the Zambezi River.However, the change of venue has not appeased those against Mugabe's celebrations.Anglistone Sibanda, the coordinator for Matobo Development Forum said Mugabe should not hold his bash in the area, arguing it's akin to "spitting on our relatives' graves"."This new site is just five kilometres from the mass graves and we are saying, without an apology from the government to those killed during Gukurahundi, this party should not come here," he said.Zanu-PF youth boss, Kudzai Chipanga has insisted the choice of Matobo is informed by the ruling party's thrust to "promote local tourism".Chipanga has scoffed at howls of disapproval from Matabeleland pressure groups.Mugabe unleashed a North Korean-trained crack army unit, under the guise of hunting down dissidents in the 1980s.What followed was an orgy of violence on a scale never seen before, leaving an estimated 20 000 civilians dead.The Matobo Business Community has called on opposition parties and civic society groups to institute measures to stop Zanu-PF from holding Mugabe's 93rd birthday celebrations in the area.Mugabe's birthday celebrations are held under the banner of 21st February Movement.Meanwhile, civil rights groups in Harare this week launched a campaign dubbed #21DaysCampaign to highlight 21 priority issues affecting the country. The groups are demanding that Mugabe attends to these issues before "cutting your cake".
News / National

by Staff reporter

A CHINAMHORA man last month allegedly killed his six-month-old son after a kick intended for his wife landed on the tot.Chamunorwa Mavhunga (35) was on Wednesday remanded in custody to February 15, when he appeared before Harare magistrate, Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, facing a murder charge.It is the State's case that on December 6 last year, Mavhunga had an altercation with his wife, Ndakarevei Madyo, who was holding their son. It is alleged that Mavhunga then assaulted his wife and pelted her with rocks.The State alleges Mavhunga's misdirected kick landed on the baby, who was in his mother's arms, killing the minor on the spot.Mavhunga allegedly fled the scene after realising what happened, but was eventually arrested at Arda Nijo Farm in Borrowdale following a tip-off.Sebastian Mutizirwa appeared for the State.
News / National

by Staff reporter

AS the government runs around to get funding to rebuild the country's dilapidated road infrastructure, an opposition lawmaker has given notice to move a motion that will stop a State parastatal from collecting licence fees.Harare West legislator, Jessie Majome wants to introduce a law that forces the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) to cede the collection of vehicle licensing fees to local authorities particularly Harare City Council.Majome said the poor state of the roads, as well as failure by Zinara to remit 10% of the revenue it collects from vehicle licensing fees to municipalities for road maintenance, had forced her into action."Zinara took over from Harare City Council and other municipalities the collection of termly vehicle licensing fees, 10% of which revenue would be retained by municipalities for road maintenance. I am concerned that Zinara fails to disburse to Harare City Council sufficient money to maintain roads despite the bulk of the nation's fleet being domiciled in Harare," she said.Majome said local authorities have in the past managed road maintenance commendably, but the situation deteriorated in the last four years after Zinara took over the revenue collection."I am further disturbed by the lack of transparency, inequity in disbursement and misappropriation of revenues from motorists by Zinara, which is not in the national interest as exemplified by the recent purchase of graders with snow ploughs," the lawmaker said.The MP said her arguments in introducing the motion in Parliament are in line with section 264 (f) of the Constitution, which stipulates transfer of responsibilities and resources from national government in order to establish a sound financial base for each provincial council and local authority."Remittances to Zinara must be suspended until all their roads are in a demonstrably recovered state. Zinara must disburse to Harare City Council by July 2017 all the arrears it had undertaken to pay and by December 2017 to all other local authorities," she said.So bad are the roads in Harare that central government last week declared the situation a state of disaster.Ministry of Transport employees were also forced to work overtime patching up the route President Robert Mugabe was to use as he returned from his annual vacation, as well as the one he uses to go to his Borrowdale home.
News / National

by youtube

In May 2016, Baptist pastor Evan Mawarire unwittingly began the most important protest movement in Zimbabwe's recent history when he posted a video of himself draped in the Zimbabwean flag, expressing his frustration at the state of the nation. A subsequent series of YouTube videos and the hashtag Mawarire used, #ThisFlag , went viral, sparking protests and a boycott called by Mawarire, which he estimates was attended by over 8 million people.On 1 February 2016 Mawarire, who left Zimbabwe last year in fear for his life, was arrested at Harare International Airport on his return to the country from New York.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zimbabweans have reportedly been urged to donate at least 150 cattle towards President Robert Mugabe's upcoming birthday celebrations later this month, News24.com reported.Mugabe turns 93 on February 21.The nonagenarian has been in power since 1980 when the southern African country attained its independence from colonial Britain.Over the past years, the long time ruler has been known for extravagant birthday celebrations - which usually would cost millions of dollars.According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, this year's birthday bash organisers said they aimed at raising at least 150 heads of cattle to feed about 100 000 guests.A Zanu-PF lawmaker Never Khanye said that the donations were voluntary, but that large-scale farmers in Matabeleland South, where the celebrations would be held, must donate a cow each to show appreciation of the long-time leader."We have set a target to raise 150 cattle for the event. We are appealing to well-wishers to do so willingly and not to come again tomorrow and say we were forced."All A2 farmers who got offer letters must donate a beast each for this event and those that will fail we will take it that they don't appreciate what the president has done for them," Khanye was quoted as saying.Last month the ruling Zanu-PF youth league said that Mugabe's birthday should be celebrated like Christmas Day.The party's national youth leader, Kudzai Chipanga maintained at the time that the veteran leader's birthday should not be treated like an "ordinary day"."To us, February 21 is not just a day. To us, it is a special day we treat in the same manner Christians treat December 25, the birthday of Jesus Christ. I don't want to be blasphemous, but in my humble view, President Mugabe is second to Jesus Christ. He is our saviour, so his birthday means a lot for us the youths of Zimbabwe," Chipanga was quoted as saying.
Woman back in court for murder of child

The accused mother of two stood in the First Court before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John. She is charged with the November 24 murder of Jenice who lived at Morocoy Extension Road in Whiteland.

Jenice, a pupil of the Whiteland Early Childhood Learning Centre, sustained injuries to her head and stomach at her home on November 24. The child was rushed to San Fernando General Hospital where she died.

WPC Serioux of the Homicide Bureau laid the charge. Yesterday, attorney Frank Gittens requested that the matter be expedited saying he and attorney Chanthal Paul are instructed by attorney Subhas Panday.

Court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan said files have been sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a State attorney to be appointed to prosecute. Only after that, disclosure will be made. The magistrate remanded McLean into custody and adjourned the matter to March 7.
3 February 2017  The head of the United Nations refugee agency today warned developed countries against politicizing the issue of refugees, stressing that the move risked undermining the principle of international solidarity with those fleeing war and persecution.





These are people that flee from danger, theyre not dangerous themselves, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told reporters in Lebanons capital, Beirut following a

visit to Syria, where he witnessed first-hand the massive destruction caused by nearly six years of conflict.





We have serious concerns, and these are not new concerns, weve had them for some time, that the refugee issue in the industrialized world  in Europe, the US, Australia  is very politicized. It shouldnt be, Mr. Grandi said, urging rich countries to show generosity to refugees, rather than regarding them as a threat.





According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (

), Mr. Grandi is the first senior UN official to visit Syria since Turkey and Russia

a ceasefire last month.





Mr. Grandi said that the recent decision by the United States to

its refugee resettlement programme would negatively impact the most vulnerable individuals.





Resettlement means taking refugees from places like Lebanon, where they are already refugees, selecting the most vulnerable and taking them to other places, he said. If we weaken that programme, as has been done in the United States, this is a very dangerous weakening of the international solidarity for refugees. - Read More

Adhere to safeguards, avoid pushing back refugees, UNICEF, UN rights experts urge Europe
News / National

by Staff reporter

CELEBRITY dancer Beverly Sibanda has slammed people who are describing Andy Muridzo as a HERO for having unprotected sex with her.The 25-year-old says she has a sex life despite being known for her dirty dancing.Social media users have been castigating Muridzo describing him as a 'dead man walking'.He admitted to having a love affair with Bev, questioning the latter's health.This was after H-Metro exclusively published a story which Bev was claiming to be pregnant by Andy Muridzo.Some of the jokes on social media include, "Zimbabwe has gone for years without a hangman while we have brave man like Andy Muridzo."Bev, however, said she is not bothered by people who think she is HIV positive because of the nature of her job."I don't mind, I have seen those jokes on WhatsApp but people need to be reminded that Andy (Muridzo) is safe as far as I am concerned."I can challenge anyone to go for tests (HIV). People need to get a life, shame. I am not the type of person who loses sleep with such issues."I am now used to name calling since the day I chose to be a dancer, the same happened to Sandra Ndebele," she said.The Sexy Angels leader said she is among the 'safe' women in town.She said it is not surprising that some of the people who are making 'unnecessary' noise are actually the dangerous to have unprotected sex with."Ndosaka varume vachifa, don't judge book by its cover. Manje pavanopinda vachiti paribho ndopanotouraya. Very sorry to people who are saying Bev anouraya, venyu ndovanouraya."People also need to be reminded that I don't engage in unprotected sex with anyone, I do that with my boyfriend and I date a man I want," said Bev.People should learn separate dancing from prostitution, argued Bev."I am a dancer not a prostitute. Handikechekese ini, I am not a bi***I am different from other dancers you know."Ask people who stay at my flat if they ever saw me coming with different men. You can even ask some of the people I once dated kuti ndakambovadhumanisa here, you know them. People should get a life and mind their own business," she fumed.The outspoken dancer said the public also think Andy Muridzo is a dunderhead who risks his life by fishing from a dangerous pond."Like seriously, people think that Andy is that silly to have unprotected sex with a person who is not safe."So people think that I am stupid kurohwa yakadero nemunhu wandisingazivi status yake. I am very responsible and I even discourage unprotected sex if you don't know the status of your partner. Open your yes hey."You were not here (her apartment) when we (herself and Andy Muridzo) requested to go for tests first before we had sex. Do you know that it is a criminal offence to go public saying that someone is HIV positive? People concluded that with their jokes on social media," she said.Bev said people should also know she is not the one who proposes love but several men stalk her and she chooses who to date.BEV MAIN 2"It is my choice and I don't think that I will stop dating musicians as long as they approach me."However, I turn down most of them."In her parting shots, she warned Andy Muridzo that he risks angering those who invented the calendar by equating last week with last year.Bev made the remarks after Andy Muridzo told H-Metro that his affair with Bev ended last year and it is now water under the bridge."Kana vakagadzira calendar vakazvinzwa vanorwadizwa. He was here Monday last week and he goes public saying he last came here last year, asika."He dodged the Jam Session and came to spend time with me here. I told you when you on your first story that he needs to be careful in whatever he says. And I repeat he needs to be truthful," she said.And to those who doubt her pregnancy after revelations that Depo Provera works for three months not five years she said, "If I am not mistaken I told you that it is Jadelle that expired not Depo Provera. Maybe we failed to understand each other on that. If you want to feel it (Jadelle) you are free."Meanwhile, Andy Muridzo has released a song titled Ndirege Ndiende which is believed to be targeting Bev.Goes part of the lyrics, "WeMuridzo woyee, ndirege ndinange kumba ndanonoka mai vanodya marasha vane hasha nguva dzaenda . . . . mmm usandishusha urizera ramai vangu iweee."
East big bands shine

Both Supernovas and Exodus gave performance like they intend to take the National Panorama Festival title back to the east.

Supernovas played the Amrit Samaroo arrangement of his and Mark Loquans composition of Rumble in the Jungle and for seven minutes and 20 seconds the massive audience was held in suspense as the bands welltuned pans rang out a presentation packed with sweet music at the Surrey Village, Lopinot Road, Arouca panyard.

In St Augustine, Republic Bank Exodus broke with tradition and brought in arranger BJ Marcelle to assist their arranger Pelham Goddard. Without a doubt Marcelle brought an energy to Exodus that could well see them in winners row. Theirs was one of the most energetic performances seen in the Large Band category.

The players delivered Good Morning sung by Barbadian soca artiste Peter Ram, and written by Trinidadian Jovan James, with precision and delight. Hundreds of supporters thronged Exodus panyard with the crowd spilling on to the Eastern Main Road.

Accomplished pannist Mia Gormandy is the only female arranger in this category for 2017 and she chose birdsong to create history. Her bravery is outstanding as she is now in the ring with the likes of Robbie Greenidge, Carlton Zanda Alexander, Len Boogsie Sharpe, Leon Smooth Edwards, Arddin Herbert, Duvone Stewart, Ken Professor Philmore and Professor Liam Teague.

Birdsong played a Mark Loquan composition, Pan Kingdom and received a very warm reception from its supporters including the Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly.

It was the bands first Panorama performance at its new home at 14 St Vincent Street, Tunapuna, since being evicted last year.
Schoolgirl, 13, and man, 27, found in house

The student who was clad in her school uniform told police she voluntary went with the man and he did not force her to do anything. However, because she is a minor according to law, the man will face a number of charges including abduction and unlawful sex with a minor.

It was reported that at about 2.50 pm on Wednesday officers of the Rio Claro police station received an anonymous tip-off that a girl in school uniform and a man were entering an abandoned house in the Rio Claro district.

Officers responded and allegedly found the schoolgirl and the man having sexual intercourse on the floor inside the abandoned house. The two were taken into custody and officers of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) were summoned. The childs parents were called in and expressed shock and horror when told what had happened.

The child was later taken to a health centre where she was medically examined as part of the investigations.

Charges are expected to be laid against the Mayaro man. The teen will receive counselling.
When he drinks, he becomes a monster

A relative said that for years he and others had warned the suspect about his drinking problem and begged him to seek help. He would not listen to us.

He is a very nice person but as soon as he takes one drink, he turns beast. He becomes abusive and curses you...he becomes violent. It is like the Devil himself. He becomes an entirely different person, the relative said.

The suspects father, during an interview on Thursday, said: I was not there to see what happened to this young woman when she left in company with my son, but I know my sons habits and I know his behaviour when he drinks. I saw him drinking that day, the man said. He added that from age 17, his son began to abuse alcohol.

On the day Simms was last seen alive (last Saturday) the suspect brought Simms to his home and introduced her to his relatives.

People are looking at us, giving us bad eye, but we are not criminals, we have nothing to do with this young ladys death.

I saw her, she seemed like a really nice girl. When she was leaving, she was smiling and waved and said goodbye to all of us, the suspects father said.

The man said it hurts when he considers what Simms family are going through right now.

On Wednesday, Simms decomposing body was found in a shallow grave in Santa Flora.

An autopsy done Thursday proved inconclusive as decomposition was so advanced, the pathologist could not identify a specific cause of death.

Tissue samples were taken from Simms body for tests in an effort to ascertain cause of death.

Funeral arrangements are ongoing. Simms left her Rampersad Trace, Rochard Road, Penal home last Saturday to meet with a man who promised to help her find a job.
Garcia: Report due on Monday

Speaking in the House of Representatives, Garcia said, It has not yet been determined that the injuries suffered by this student are as a result of bullying. He continued, We have in our possession the report of the principal, who indicated to us there were two Standard One students who were at play. Garcia added, We have asked the line supervisor to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter and report to the Ministry of Education by Monday. He explained that the Education Act, gives the responsibility to principals and teachers that they must preserve the safety of children. If these rules are disregarded, then there are certain measures which must be taken, Garcia said. Dismissing claims from Princes Town MP Barry Padarath that it would take the death of a child before any action is taken on bullying, Garcia reiterated, We have adequate measures in place to deal with any infraction of discipline. Earlier in the sitting, Al-Rawi said Government is currently engaged in the, exercise of the proclamation of the package of amendments that we did to the Children and Family Division Bill. He said part of those amendments, intersects with this issue, in particular the matter of children beyond control and other aspects. Al-Rawi stated,  I will introduce it immediately to the LRCs (Legislative Review Committee) table on Monday.

We will treat this with alacrity. He said the Education Act provides some relief as far as suspension and explusion go. However Al-Rawi said that law does not go as far as dealing with parental responsibility. Identifying several laws which deal with different aspects of parental responsibility, Al-Rawi said, The issue of parental responsibility is a rather complicated one. However he underscored Government commitment to look at this issue and find the best fit for it. On a separate issue, Garcia said reports that 14 special needs schools were facing imminent closure and government funding for those schools had been cut
Ministry has compensated bullying victims

Seecharan was responding to questions before a Joint Select Committee of Parliament appointed to inquire into and report to Parliament on human rights, equality and Diversity. In response to another question from the MP he said there were 117 teachers before the Teaching Service Commission and 19 of the cases relate to sexual abuse.

Chairman of the committee, Nyan Gadsby-Dolly asked why there was a shortage of guidance counsellors at schools, since there were so many people studying social sciences and social work at tertiary institutions.

Seecharan responded that the Ministry of Education dealt with 10,000 teachers and there were more than 500 people on contract in the Student Support Services Division which manages them, and this presented a challenge to the ministrys Human Resources Department to manage the recruitment issues. He said there were vacant positions which took a long time to fill.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education Lenor Baptiste- Simmons said what is happening in the schools is a reflection of what is happening in homes and communities.
No human trafficking ring in TT

Rowley said Deosarans committee will submit its report on March 31 for Cabinets consideration.

Dillon stated that Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) Stephen Williams is looking to bolster the strength of the Police Service through the absorption of Special Reserve Police Officers (SRPs) into the Service.

He explained the SRPs must meet selected criteria and this includes taking polygraph tests.

Dillon was unable to indicate how many SRPs have been absorbed into the Police Service to date.
Young: Gambling vulnerable to criminals

Young made this point in his contribution to debate on the bill in the House of Representatives yesterday. Indicating the bill is the identical one which the former Peoples Partnership (PP) government allowed to lapse during its tenure, Young said the legislation is, necessary on a global and a national level because the industry is vulnerable to infiltration by money launderers and terrorist financing.

He said the bill will establish a Gaming Commission which will rein in what, so far seems to be a runaway horse and seems to be breeding, harbouring, money laundering operations and the potential for terrorist financing. Young stated the Commission will, aid in minimising the potential for money laundering and terrorist financing, due to the stringent criteria that will have to be met by anyone desirous of obtaining a licence.

Saying the Commission is modelled after a similar body in the United Kingdom, Young said it will share information with entities and individuals such as the Board of Inland Revenue, Commissioner of Police, Financial Intelligence Unit, Customs and Excise Division and the Integrity Commission, among others. He said the Commissions powers will be identical to those of its British counterpart, including preventing the exploitation of children by gambling. Noting the invaluable revenue that a properly regulated gaming industry can bring to TT, Young said the legislation as drafted by the PP was silent on online gambling.

However, he observed there is provision for Finance Minister Colm Imbert to make an order subject to affirmative resolution of Parliament to amend the section to allow online gambling. Young said while the Opposition made much ado about nothing about copying legislation, the reality was that Government saw it as important to put this legislation on the countrys law books. He also observed the public is, seeing some hesitancy by those on the other side on occasion to agree to legislation that we believe is better for TT. Earlier in the sitting, Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh said the bill was designed to move gambling, from sin to fun as he remembered former Prime Minister Patrick Mannings views on gambling. He questioned the method whereby Gaming Laboratories International was selected as the consultant on the legislation and the method of taxation on various gaming devices.

Singh charged the local banking sector abused indigenous entrepreneurs who wanted to get involved in the gambling industry. He also alleged there were cases where banks in other jurisdictions were
Imbert: Casino Bill to go to JSC

The members are Imbert, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, Minister Stuart Young, La Brea MP Nicole Olivierre, Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh and Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh. Winding up the debate, Imbert said, he was surprised to hear Singh say there were flaws in the bill when all 26 members of the then Peoples Partnership government voted in favour of it.

The previous bill was passed in the House in May 2015, but it subsequently lapsed in the Senate.

The flaws, Imbert said, will be dealt with at the JSC. Urging members of the Opposition to consider the seriousness of the bill, he said, one of the highlights of Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) report on Trinidad and Tobago is the fact that we have an unregulated gaming sector. He said, It is one of the areas in which we are in complete breach of FATFs regulations. Noting that TT has been downgraded to a state of enhanced scrutiny, he said, this was due in no small measure that we have an unregulated $12 billion gaming sector in this country. It is a very serious matter. Should FATF downgrade TT again, he said, we will find ourselves again facing problems with corresponding banking and trade with the outside world and so on. The bill, he noted provides for the security of tenure for employees in the industry, regulating the industry, and to establish criteria for key people in the gaming establishments and private members club.

Meanwhile, responding to Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad- Bissessars comments that the bill presented to the House was not the same put forward by her administration previously, as he had said he would, Imbert said, he checked with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel and the Parliament before he laid this bill.

The confusion arose, he said, from the fact that there was an original bill laid by the former administration that had some amendments during the committee stage, and the bill sent to the Senate was a little bit different from the original bill that was laid in the House.

I am reasonably satisfied that the bill is exactly the same, he said
Opposition Leader: Crime, corruption not down according to AG

Today (yesterday) we are told we have 58 murders, six unclassified deaths, she said noting that as she spoke the funeral of young woman who was killed was taking place in her constituency.

Responding to Attorney General Faris Al Rawis contribution to the debate on the gaming and betting bill in November last year, Persad-Bissessar said, he boasted about crime patrols, border patrols and drug seizures.

If we listened to him in November last year then we should have been seeing the crimes dropping (this year), she said.

Recalling from the Hansard that Al Rawi said Government had put a dagger in the heart of corruption, she said, yet in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index for 2016, Trinidad and Tobago dropped by 29 places to 176, in one year. While Al Rawi also boasted on that occasion about putting an end to wastefulness of government spending and corruption, she said, the World Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Report revealed in September 2016, TT dropped from a ranking of 89 to 94 of countries ranked.

She noted some of the indicators such as public trust in politicians ranked TT 118 out of 138 countries; wastefulness of government spending was pegged at 107, compared to the previous year of 78; business cost of terrorism was 74; business cost of crime and violence 132; organised crime, 116; and reliability of police 126, when in the previous year it was 121.

In addition, she said, the Opposition has issues with respect to Government dealing with deadlines and proclamations of legislation. The Attorney General always comes to this House with deadlines - we must pass this, she said, but fails to act to have the bills proclaimed.

Since March last year, she said, the Attorney General came to the House with the SSA Bill to have it passed. We passed that.

Almost one year later it is not proclaimed. The Children and Family Division Bill was passed in February last year. Not proclaimed, she said.

Since November last, she said, the House of Representatives was assured that the regulations for the gaming and betting bill would have been drafted. It was still to be circulated, she noted.

Declaring that she does not share the Attorney Generals views that crime and criminality, corruption, waste and mismanagement have been dealt with, she said, We cannot be happy.

How many more will die?
News / Religion

by AP

Khartoum - Sudanese are reportedly set to demolish at least 25 Christian churches allegedly said to be "trespassing into residential areas".According to Radio Tamazuj, religious leader, Meilad Musa, who is a member of the Sudanese Christian Church, said President Omar al Bashir's led government had been refusing to approve plots for Christians to build places of worship like Muslims.Reverend Yahya Abdurrahman, a pastor of Evangelical Church described the decision as a flagrant violation of religious freedom."This move targets the churches in Khartoum, because they always acclaim that these churches have trespassed into public places, but it I think it's a plan," Yahya was quoted as saying.In 2014, Sudanese authorities issued an order banning the construction of all new Christian churches in the Muslim-dominated country, a report by Christian Post said.Sudanese Minister for Guidance and Religious Endowments, Shalil Abdullah, was at the time quoted as saying that due to the country's separation from South Sudan - where many Christians have fled - the existing churches in the Republic of Sudan were sufficient for the nation's minority Christians.The ban prompted "deep concern" from rights group.The Chief Operating Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide lambasted the move saying that this "constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief"." This policy, and the continued practice of demolishing and confiscating church land, constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief, guaranteed in article 6 and 38 of Sudan's Interim Constitution as well as article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sudan is signatory," Dipper was cited as saying at the time.
FATCA report laid in Parliament Imbert: Time to sign

However, the report on the bill, which is critical to ensuring this country is compliant with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of the United States, was apparently laid without the signatures of any Opposition members of the committee. On January 6, Government bowed to the Oppositions demand for the bill to be sent to a JSC in exchange for its support to pass the legislation.

As he laid the report in the House, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said, We leave the report open for the signatures of the Opposition. Imbert, who is also the chairman of this JSC, said the report will be debated in the House next week. The other members of the JSC are Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat, Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen and Independent Senators Hugh Russell Ian Roach and Taurel Shrikissoon.

Imbert, who is also acting Energy Minister, later said a report which alleged that the National Gas Company (NGC) was going to fire 150 workers was not authentic.

He said when he consulted the NGC, the company had told him that any such report is speculative. Speaking later in the debate, Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh charged that local banks were denying opportunities to local entrepreneurs in the gaming industry but were quick to cry wolf when there was a hold-up on FATCA.

On Thursday, Young said FATCA remains US law and this country will honour its international obligations.
House Speaker lectures Opposition

As she outlined all of the provisions of this Standing Order, Annisette- George stated, I have previously ruled that our continuous concern about heinous crime does not satisfy the requirements of this rule and I stand by my ruling. She explained that to qualify as an definite matter of urgent public importance for the House to set aside its normal business, an issue must have suddenly arisen, is specific in nature and is of current national concern.

While serious crime is undoubtedly a public concern and therefore satisfies the third requirement, it does not satisfy the other two requirements due to the broad scope and ongoing nature of the issue, stated Annisette- George. She reminded the Opposition that it has filed a motion in the name of Naparima MP Rodney Charles that deals with the issue of murders and all MPs will each have a total of 45 minutes under the Standing Orders to contribute to that debate.

Charles motion is the last of five private motions listed on the Order Paper for debate.

At last months Private Members Day sitting of the House, debate began on a motion by Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh on employment.

The Opposition has the ability to suspend debate on one private motion in favour of another on Private Members Day
Budget 2017-18 focuses on educational empowerment and skill development of the Minorities: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

New Delhi, Sat, 04 Feb 2017 NI Wire

Rs 2600 crore provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes for Minorities in the Budget: Naqvi

Ministry of Minority Affairs organizing second edition of Hunar Haat with the theme Craft Aur Cuisine Ka Sangam from 11th to 26th February, 2017 in New Delhi

The Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge), Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said that the Union Budget (General) 2017-18 will be helpful in socio-economic-educational empowerment of Minorities. Naqvi said that the Budget of Minority Affairs Ministry has been increased to Rs 4195.48 crore for 2017-18. This is Rs 368.23 crore more than 2016-17 Budget of Rs 3827.25 crore with an increase of about 9.6 per cent. The Central Governments focus is on educational and skill development of Minorities. Maximum part of the Budget 2017-18 would go for educational empowerment and skill development of the Minorities. It was stated by Naqvi while briefing the press here, today.

The Minister of Minority Affairs further stated that more than Rs 2600 crore have been provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes such as Seekho aur Kamao, Nai Manzil, Nai Roushni, Usttad, Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre and Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship for Girls. Besides this, funds under Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) will also be utilised for various educational development activities. Rs 393.54 crore has been given for Merit-cum-Means based scholarship; Rs 950 crore for pre-matric scholarship; Rs 550 crore for post-matric scholarship; Rs 250 crore for Seekho aur Kamao (with an increase of Rs 40 crore compared to last budget); Rs 176 crore for Nai Manzil (with an increase of Rs 56 crore compared to last budget); Rs 113 crore for Maulana Azad Education Foundation; Rs 170 crore as equity for NMDFC.

Naqvi informed that Rs 22 crore has been allocated for Usttad scheme which aims to promote and provide national-international markets for traditional arts of the Minority communities. Rs 1200 crore has been allocated for Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) with an increase of Rs 141 crore compared to last years budget. MsDP scheme provides basic infrastructure for Minority concentrated areas such as schools, hospitals, roads, multi-purpose community centres Sadbhav Mandap etc.

He said that for 2017-18, Centre has set a target to provide scholarships to about 35 lakh students. Employment oriented training will be provided to more than 2 lakh youths belonging to Minority communities. Besides this, Honble Prime Ministers new 15-Point Programme has been playing a key role in socio-economic-educational empowerment of Minorities. 24 schemes of 11 Ministries/Departments are presently covered under this programme. Various Ministries spend their about 15 per cent funds for development of Minorities. This has been increased by about 19 per cent.

Naqvi further informed that in the last years budget, about 2800 crore out of Rs 3827 crore have been spent on scholarship, training and other educational related activities. This also include scholarships worth Rs 1816 crore. About 90,000 Minority youths have been trained under Seekho aur Kamao scheme. About 70,000 women were provided leadership skills under Nai Roushni. Rs 650 crore were spent on educational infrastructure under Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP).

During last six months, the Ministry of Minority Affairs also approved about 200 Sadbhav Mandap and 16 Gurukul type of schools with a cost of about Rs 262 crore. Sadbhav Mandaps will be used as community centres for various cultural-social-educational activities as well as relief centres during a calamity.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has approved 16 Gurukul residential schools across the country including Telanagana (7), Andhra Pradesh (6), Karnataka (2) and Jharkhand 1. We have also decided to help those Madrasas who are also providing mainstream education.

Naqvi said that our efforts for empowerment of Minorities include Progress Panchayat, Hunar Haat, establishing Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre, Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship for girls, establishing five world class educational institutes for Minorities and 500 quality residential schools and job-oriented skill development centres. About Rs 5300 crore were granted to various states under MsDP in 12th Plan.

Hunar Haat:

Naqvi said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs is organizing second edition of Hunar Haat with the theme Craft Aur Cuisine Ka Sangam from 11th to 26th February, 2017 at State Emporia Complex, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Cannaught Place, New Delhi. Hunar Haat is aimed at encouraging, promoting and providing national and international market to artisans/craftsmen belonging to the Minority communities.

Naqvi said that this Hunar Haat, with the theme of Craft Aur Cuisine Ka Sangam is unique in the sense that it would showcase crafts with the traditional cuisines brought from different parts of the country. Hunar Haat is being organized through National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) under USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme of Ministry of Minority Affairs.

More than 500 applications of artisans & culinary experts have been received covering 24 states. A total of 100 artisans and 30 culinary experts will participate at about 130 stalls in the second Hunar Haat, which will also have Bawarchikhana where various cuisine from different parts of the country will be showcased and the visitors can enjoy them. Hunar Haat is aimed at providing opportunity and a platform under one roof to artisans & craft persons of Minority communities, to demonstrate, showcase and sell their products. The selected artisans include several Awardees from 5 Minority communities representing as many as 23 states.

For the first time in this exhibition very exquisite pieces of Handicraft & Handloom work like Makrana Marble products, Bandhej from Sikar, Mojri from Rajasthan, Banjara Embroidery from Telangana, Handmade Locks & Door Handles along with Phool Patti works from Aligarh, Cocoon decorated products from Nagaland, Mizoram Traditional Crafts, etc would be showcased and sold.

Different cuisines from 13 states are being brought by culinary experts for this second Hunar Haat. The culinary items includes Awadhi Mughlai foods from Lucknow, Dal Bati Churma & Thali from Rajasthan, Sandesh & Rasogolla from West Bengal, Malabari food from Kerala, Litti Chokha of Bihar.

Naqvi expressed confidence that just like the first Hunar Haat, which was organized in November, 2016 at Pragati Maidan, the upcoming Hunar Haat will also be successful.

Source: PIB
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The Court House looks so much better without that bandstand built in the middle of the front steps. Why would they block the front view. Why don't they move it to the left about 100 feet over in the grass area.



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Will be visiting Decatur from Philadelphia for Christmas...and I am counting down the hours. My wife, daughter and I are making it an 800-mile holiday road trip to Atlanta...love it! Many thanks for your site...it keeps me close to beautiful Decatur all year round.

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Thanks Carlos, Road trips are always fun, enjoy your visit to Decatur.



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Hey Decatur, GA! visting from Downey, CA to run the marathon- thanks for the course support- loved the signs and spirit and hope to visit ur town during this stay or the next. Thanks again guys&gals- u were awesome! : Marina from Downey, Calif.

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About Me Next Stop...Decatur My parents used to let me skip school to ride the Pink Pig at Rich's old downtown store. The next day, the note for teacher would say, "Please excuse Dennis ... as he was sick of school." View my complete profile

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Trump and Sessions would probably love to jail some dope-smoking California hippies. But it wont be that easy. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

California and the Trump administration are developing a relationship of mutual hostility that is growing more intense each day. Golden State lawmakers are bristling at the new administrations immigration policies and pledging defiance in the face of Trumps attacks on sanctuary cities. The states climate-change activists are equally determined to fight the new boss in Washington and his oily friends. Silicon Valley is potentially an important source of corporate resistance to Trumpism. Talk of a Calexit from the U.S. is no longer just a gag.

Trump himself is bringing back memories of 1960s Cali-centric culture wars with threats against the University of California, Berkeley, for failing to use force against protesters who stopped an appearance by Daddys little provocateur, Milo Yiannopoulos.

But all this friction could get a lot worse if Trumps likely-to-soon-be-confirmed Attorney General, the unrepentant Warrior on Drugs Jeff Sessions, decides to aggressively prosecute federal laws in conflict with the legalized cannabis regime California voters approved by a landslide the same day they rejected Trumps candidacy.

Sessions dodged questions about his intentions toward jurisdictions with legal marijuana sales and/or consumption during his Senate confirmation hearings. And the issue could come to a test first in the states where legal cannabis is already up and running, like Colorado. Californias new legalized marijuana regime wont take effect until the beginning of 2018, and snarls over licensing and tax arrangements could make that deadline slip. But already, cannabis industry leaders in what will soon be a huge market are nervous about what those California-haters in Trumpland might do, as the L.A. Times reports:

Business leaders  are betting the rapid maturity of the cannabis industry has made it too big to jail. Even before new laws took effect permitting the recreational use of pot in the massive markets of California and Massachusetts, the legitimate pot business had dwarfed its 2011 size, when the Drug Enforcement Administration was still aggressively raiding medical marijuana vendors operating legally under state laws. Since then, President Obamas Justice Department decreed that states should have freedom to pursue their own policies, and the legalization train seemed to have left the station.



But those who have been in the business since the early days of medical marijuana caution the legions of newcomers that federal busts and seizures could quickly make a comeback.



There are people in this administration who will crush this industry if they see the opportunity, said Steve DeAngelo, who is considered a guru among pot entrepreneurs.

For the time being, though, this is one industry  and in general one whole state  where the prospect of lower taxes and less regulation are not arousing much business enthusiasm. At the moment, odds are, taking on the growing majority of Americans with no taste for drug wars is such a political nonstarter that the feds will continue to let states that legalize weed go their own ways. But the temptation for Trump and Sessions to punch hippies may be just too strong for them to resist.
POTUS. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Its been less than five months since Donald Trump became commander-in-chief. But for the presidents detractors, its felt like centuries  long medieval centuries chock-full of plague, illiteracy, and barbarians running roughshod through the ruins of the old republic. But we arent actually living in the dark ages (yet). So we might as well shed some light on what the barbarians have been up to.

Trump has given progressives so many causes for fear and outrage, it can be difficult  both practically and psychologically  to keep on top of them all as they happen.

To help you stay informed despite this challenge, Daily Intelligencer will provide regular inventories of Trumps assaults on civic norms, common decency, and/or liberal democracy. Here is a rundown of everything the president has done on that front in the period between April 28 (the date of our last edition of Terrifying Things) and June 9, arranged in rough order of each affronts apparent significance and severity. Prior editions can be found below.



Fired the director of the FBI for failing to demonstrate personal loyalty to him.

The president has the authority to fire the director of the FBI. But before last month, that authority had only been exercised once  and in that case, Bill Clinton only fired William S. Sessions after a Justice Department investigation found him guilty of flagrant ethical violations.

Historically, presidents have avoided firing the head of the FBI out of respect for federal law enforcements independence. After all, FBI directors serve ten-year terms precisely to ensure a measure of distance from the Oval Offices occupant.

Respect for the rule of law has also, typically, prevented presidents from demanding the FBI directors personal loyalty; suggesting that he demonstrate that loyalty by dropping investigations into White House allies; and then firing the head of federal law enforcement for failing to honor such requests.

But Donald Trump is not a typical president. And so, he did precisely that.

The president did not give James Comey the opportunity to resign. Instead, the FBI director learned of his unemployment when his gaze drifted to a television monitor, in the middle of speech to bureau employees in Los Angeles. Comey laughed, and complimented the officers on a fairly funny prank. Then someone asked him to step into a nearby office.

Meanwhile, the White House had the chutzpah to claim it had fired Comey because he had been unfair to (Crooked) Hillary Clinton during the investigation of her email server. Last October, Jeff Sessions had applauded Comeys handling of that investigation. But then, the attorney general had also recused himself from the Russia investiation  and this did not stop him from advising the president to fire the man leading that inquiry.

But the bizarre nature of Comeys ouster was far less significant than the reasons behind it. By all accounts  including, to some extent, his own  Trump seemed to view the FBI director as his private detective and/or PR representative. When the president accused Barack Obama of wiretapping his phone  an allegation made on the basis of news articles that he had misread  Trump was reportedly furious that Comey wouldnt publicly vouch for his baseless felony accusation.

According to accounts from Comey and his associates, Trump asked the FBI director to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn; redirect the bureaus resources toward combating leaks to the press; and consider imprisoning journalists who report on classified information.

According to the president himself, Comeys firing was the direct result of the FBI directors handling of the investigation into his campaign.

When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, Trump told NBC Newss Lester Holt, contradicting the White Houses narrative  and, arguably, confessing to obstruction of justice.

Tried to intimidate his former FBI director into silence by threatening to release secret recordings of their conversations.

After Comeys associates told the New York Times that Trump had demanded a loyalty pledge, the president sought to prove that he wasnt an amateur authoritarian, by tweeting this:

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

Encouraged Americas intelligence chiefs to undermine the FBIs Russia probe.

Trump also, reportedly, asked Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo to kill the FBIs investigation into Comey for him. As the Washington Post reported:

On March 22, less than a week after being confirmed by the Senate, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats attended a briefing at the White House together with officials from several government agencies. As the briefing was wrapping up, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.



The president then started complaining about the FBI investigation and Comeys handling of it, said officials familiar with the account Coats gave to associates. Two days earlier, Comey had confirmed in a congressional hearing that the bureau was probing whether Trumps campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 race.

At a Senate Intelligence Hearing this week, Coats was asked whether the president had ever requested that he encourage Comey to back off the FBIs investigation of Flynn.

I dont believe its appropriate for me to address that in a public session, Coats said.

Undermined international cooperation on climate change  and Americas credibility on the world stage  out of mindless spite.

The Trump administration was always going to sabotage the Paris climate accord. You cant put a climate-change denier in charge of the EPA without jeopardizing the international communitys collective commitment to curbing emissions.

Still, there were more and less destructive ways for the president to go about expediting the onset of ecological catastrophe. Since the Paris agreement is non-binding, and allows its signatories to set their own emissions targets, Trump could have rolled back Obamas Clean Power Plan, slashed funding for renewable energy, and, heck, established a tax credit to incentive rolling coal  all without forcing the United States to join Syria and Nicaragua at the climate-pariahs table.

In fact, by remaining in the agreement, Trump may have been better able to advance the interests of the American energy industry, which must compete in foreign markets, and, thus, comply with international regulations. Big Oil implored Trump to remain in the agreement for precisely this reason.

But keeping the U.S. in the agreement would have made it harder for Trump to damage our nations credibility as a diplomatic player; cede moral authority to Beijing; make Steve Bannon smile; and, most critically, perform his independence from globalists in a jingoistic Rose Garden speech, full of demagogic lies about how our European allies had used climate change as an excuse to steal our nations wealth.

In the end, giving a middle finger to Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel  and validation to his partys most reactionary billionaires and troglodytic info-warriors  proved more important to the president than anything else.

Mendaciously accused Londons first Muslim mayor of being indifferent to terrorism, hours after a terrorist attack in London.

When news first broke of the attack at London Bridge last Saturday, the president of the United States retweeted an unsubstantiated report from Matt Drudge; reiterated his call for banning immigration from several Muslim countries; and suggested that a low-casualty attack committed by men with knives somehow validated his opposition to gun control.

He also, briefly, expressed solidarity with the people of London.

Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there - WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2017

The morning after the attack, London mayor Sadiq Khan told his constituents that they shouldnt be alarmed if they see an increased police presence in the city, as the mobilization of law enforcement was strictly precautionary.

Shortly thereafter, Trump ostensibly decided that the best way for him to help out would be to take Khans words out of context, and suggest that Londons first Muslim mayor views terrorist attacks with blithe indifference.

At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017

When reporters and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic dared to note the context of Khans remarks, Trump doubled down on his attack.

Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his "no reason to be alarmed" statement. MSM is working hard to sell it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

Trump has said things so patently dishonest, they undermine the very concept of objective reality. He has made dog-whistle appeals to anti-Muslim animus that validate the worldviews of white supremacists and ISIS militants alike. And he has crassly exploited public tragedies to stoke fears of vulnerable minority groups.

In his tweet about Khan, Trump managed to do all three.

Shared highly classified Israeli intelligence with a core ally of Israels top geopolitical foe.

The president does not like homework. In deference to this fact, national security officials have tried to condense Trumps briefings to single-page lists of bullet points. But even these test his patience.

And so, Trump tends to wing his high-level diplomatic meetings, deciding what is or is not wise to say to his counterparts on a whim. On the morning after firing James Comey, Trump deemed it prudent to tell Russias ambassador and foreign minister that his former FBI director was a nut job whose departure would take great pressure off of him.

Then, he decided to let the Kremlin in on the hot new ISIS gossip. Specifically, Trump shared highly classified intelligence that Israel had provided to the United States, on the condition that it not be shared without Israeli permission. Trumps disclosure was so detailed, Putins regime could plausibly deduce the sources and methods that Israel had used to produce it.

This was alarming to Israel, since Russia is a top ally of its enemies in Tehran. And it was also alarming to U.S. intelligence officials, since Trumps violation of Israels trust threatens to jeopardize intelligence-sharing agreements on which the American spy state depends.

Then, accidentally, publicly confirmed that he had done so.

Still, when Trump arrived in Jerusalem, no one in the U.S. or Israeli government had publicly confirmed that he had spilled Israels beans. Best to retain official ambiguity, the two governments ostensibly reasoned, even if extensive reporting made Trumps unauthorized disclosure difficult to deny.

But then some Israeli journalists shouted questions about the matter at the end of a Trump-Netanyahu photo op  and the president decided to defend himself by accidentally, implicitly confirming that hed let Russia in on the Jewish states secrets.

Just so you understand, Trump said,just so you understand  I never mentioned the word or the name Israel in conversation. Never mentioned it.

His comments just confirmed it was Israel something no U.S official had admitted!! https://t.co/duwH9S6sEI  Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) May 22, 2017

Abandoned an alliance with a longtime Middle East ally over Twitter.

Donald Trump went to Saudi Arabia last month with the goals of securing a lucrative arms sale for Americas weapons manufacturers, and winning a commitment from the leaders of the Arab World to cease abetting Islamic extremism.

Or, more precisely: Trump went to Riyadh with the goal of appearing to do those things. The presidents disinterest in actually cracking down state sponsors of terrorism was reflected in his silence about the Saudis role in financing the spread of Wahhabism. And his contentment to project the appearance of a diplomatic breakthrough over an actual one was confirmed by the ersatz nature of his $110 billion arms deal.

Shortly after Trump left, the Saudis decided to exploit the presidents indifference to reality. Riyadh organized a blockade against Qatar, on the grounds that Doha was uniquely guilty of aiding terrorist groups in the Middle East. In truth, the Saudis actions are rooted in a long-standing regional rivalry with Qatar, and resentment of Dohas occasional openness to engaging with Iran.

But Trump proved powerless to resist an opportunity to declare his own success.

So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

...extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

These were problematic tweets.

Qatar is an ally of the United States  one that is allowing the U.S. to run its air operations over Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan from a giant military base outside Doha.

Trump, who has claimed to know more about ISIS than the generals, seems to have been ignorant of this fact when he disavowed Qatar over Twitter.

MSNBC reporting White House sources says Trump "may not have known" the US has troops based in Qatar.  Simon Marks (@SimonMarksFSN) June 8, 2017

Praised a foreign leader for his policy of sanctioning the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug dealers and users.

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is a self-avowed murderer, whose regime has encouraged police and vigilante gangs to exterminate whomever they deem to be drug dealers.

Trump had already displayed a malign indifference to this policy, praising Dutertes leadership and inviting him to visit the White House (over the outraged objections of human rights groups and U.S. senators). But last month, we learned that in a late-April phone call with Duterte, Trump praised his counterpart specifically for treating a public-health problem with mass murder.

I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem, Trump told Duterte, according to a transcript obtained by the Intercept. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.

Released a budget with a $2 trillion math error.

The White Houses official budget dramatically increases military spending; maintains Medicare and Social Security retirement benefits at their current levels; radically reduces taxes on the rich; and, according to the Trump administration, balances the federal budget within ten years.

If that last point strikes you as mathematically incompatible with the previous ones, then you may be too numerate to work in the Trump administration.

The White House budget director Mick Mulvaney did his best to resolve Trumpisms fiscal contradictions. The Trump budget proposes cuts to to federal agencies and anti-poverty programs so draconian, multiple Republicans declared them dead on arrival.

Unfortunately for Mulvaney (and Americas poor), the United States spends very little money on feeding, clothing, and housing its least fortunate. And so, the White House was forced to repeal the laws of arithmetic.

The Trump budget (baselessly) assumes that his enormous supply-side tax cut will pay for itself, by generating $2 trillion in growth-induced revenue gains. It also assumes that the estate tax will generate $328 billion in revenue over the next decade, even though the White Houses official tax plan abolishes that revenue stream. But even with the supply-side voodoo and Schrodingers death tax, the Trump budget still comes $2 trillion shy of balancing.

And so, it just counts the $2 trillion thats supposed to pay for its tax cuts a second time.

Mulvaney later justified this apparent error by saying, I wouldnt take whats in the budget as indicative of what our proposals are.

Shoved the prime minister of Montenegro out of his way, so that he could stand at the front of a group of NATO leaders.

Disputed the Office of Government Ethicss legal authority to oversee government ethics.

In one of his first official acts as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting all lobbyists and industry lawyers hired as political appointees from working on issues that involve their former clients.

Trump proceeded to appoint dozens of lobbyists and industry lawyers to positions throughout the government, granting many of them special waivers allowing them to work on issues that involve their former clients.

By itself, this sequence of moves was not wholly unusual. The Obama administration did allow some ex-lobbyists to flout its own, very similar ethics rule. But any time the Democratic administration provided such a waiver, it automatically published a detailed explanation as to why an exception was being made. These justifications typically cited the unique skill set of the individual in question, and/or the fact that the individuals new responsibilities would only bring her into peripheral contact with her former employers interests.

Trump, by contrast, has not only failed to offer a public justification for his waivers, but also neglected to disclose which members of his staff have received waivers, and which have not.

Without such information, its impossible for the Office of Government Ethics to know who is and is not flouting the administrations own ethics rule.

So, the OGE asked all federal agencies (including the White House) to provide a copy of every ethics waiver theyve issued by June 1. The office has clear legal authority to request such information. In fact, data requests are OGEs primary tool for providing ethical oversight.

However, the office does not have the power to take enforcement actions against agencies that refuse to honor its requests. Which is to say: The OGEs capacity to police federal ethics has always depended on norms of cooperation, not legal powers.

And the Trump administration has little use for norms.

This data call appears to raise legal questions regarding the scope of O.G.E.s authorities, Trumps director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney wrote in a letter to the ethics office. I therefore request that you stay the data call until these questions are resolved.

Allowed the Justice Department to prosecute a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions.

At the attorney generals confirmation hearing in January, Alabama senator Richard Shelby claimed that Jeff Sessionss history of treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented.

Shelbys claim made Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz laugh. This was a wholly appropriate response: Jeff Sessionss history of treating African-Americans unequally is clear and well-documented.

Federal prosecutors decided that Fairoozs laugh amounted to willful disorderly and disruptive conduct intended to impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct of congressional proceedings.

She was prosecuted and convicted, and may soon find herself in jail.

Knowingly hired a paid agent of the Turkish government as his national security adviser.

Last month, we learned that Michael Flynn informed the Trump administration that he was under investigation for secretly lobbying on behalf of Turkish interests  and the president decided to appoint him to one of the most powerful national security posts in the government, anyway.

Flynn then used his short time in office to veto a plan for retaking the Islamic States de facto capital, despite the plans strong support from the Pentagon and Obama administration. The operation would have involved partnership with Syrian Kurdish forces  a prospect vehemently opposed by Turkeys government, for domestic political reasons.

Signed Yad Vashems Book of Remembrance as though it were a middle-school yearbook.

The Trump administration is awkward about the Holocaust. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the White House released a statement that didnt mention Jews. Its press secretary once argued that Adolf Hitlers use of chemical weapons was less outrageous than Bashar al-Assads, because at least the former never used poison gas on his own people (Hitler only used that stuff at his Holocaust centers, Sean Spicer explained).

So, it wasnt terribly surprising that Trump refused to allot more than 15 minutes for his trip to Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust museum. Nor was it unexpected that his inscription in the museums book of remembrance would be less than moving. But it was still a bit odd that he signed said document as though it were the guest book at a bar mitzvah.

This is @realDonaldTrump's message in Yad Vashem's Book of Remembrance. "So amazing + will NEVER FORGET!"

(He forgot: "See you next summer") pic.twitter.com/XcGbR88PXV  Raoul Wootliff (@RaoulWootliff) May 23, 2017

As Times of Israel reporter Raoul Wootliff notes, Barack Obama struck a slightly different note during his trip to Yad Vashem.

For context - this is Obama's message during his presidential visit in 2013 pic.twitter.com/cpYOXgX5w8  Raoul Wootliff (@RaoulWootliff) May 23, 2017



























PREVIOUS ENTRIES:



(March 28 through April 28)





Baselessly accused President Obamas national security adviser of committing a crime  after his White House conspired with the head of the House Intelligence Committee to foment a false scandal.

On Monday, March 20, James Comey revealed that the FBI was investigating ties between Donald Trumps campaign and the Russian government. A little over 24 hours later, the Republican tasked with leading the Houses investigation into Russian hacking, Devin Nunes, was invited onto the White House grounds. There, administration officials provided him with access to classified intelligence reports. And what Nunes saw shook him to the core.

The contents of those reports were so alarming, the House Intelligence Committee chair brought them to publics attention the next day, even before sharing them with his fellow committee members. Nunes proceeded to personally brief the president  an ostensible subject of his own investigation into Russian interference  on what he had learned. These actions jeopardized the integrity of the Houses investigation. And they may also have constituted an unlawful disclosure of classified information. That latter issue, eventually, forced Nunes to step aside from his committees Russia inquiry.

But all this was a small price to pay for bringing the terrible truth to the American public: Some members of the Trump transition team were incidentally surveilled when they contacted foreign agents who had already caught the eye of the American spy state. Granted, thats perfectly legal. But when private citizens have their communications incidentally collected, their identities are supposed to be masked in intelligence reports, unless there is intelligence value in unmasking them. And these reports revealed the names of Trump team members  and did so unnecessarily, at least in Nuness opinion.

Later, Bloomberg revealed that former national security adviser Susan Rice  an official who has the legal authority to unmask names in intelligence reports  ordered the unmasking of the names of Trump officials in some intelligence reports.

Conservative media outlets heralded this news as a vindication of Trumps claim that Barack Obama had wiretapped his phones during the 2016 election, even though Nuness darkest insinuations did not vindicate a single detail of that claim. The White House declared itself shocked and awed: Nunes hadnt merely uncovered a scandal far greater than alleged collusion between a presidential campaign and a hostile foreign government  but one bigger than that which took down Nixon.

Watergate was a little spat in the sandbox in the kindergarten compared to what Susan Rice had done, White House aide Sebastian Gorka told Fox News. The president suggested that Rice had committed a crime, insisting that he would share supporting evidence for that allegation at the right time.

And then, House members not named Devin Nunes were finally given access to the incriminating documents:

After a review of the same intelligence reports brought to light by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides have so far found no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal, multiple sources in both parties tell CNN  One congressional intelligence source described the requests made by Rice as normal and appropriate for officials who serve in that role to the president.

Anonymous intelligence sources told the New Yorkers Ryan Lizza a more detailed version of the same story:

What the intercepts all had in common is that the people being spied on made references to Donald Trump or to Trump officials. That wasnt even clear, though, from reading the transcriptsThe Trump names remain masked in the documents, and Rice would not have been able to know in all cases that she was asking the N.S.A. to unmask the names of Trump officials.



The intelligence source told me that he knows, from talking to people in the intelligence community, that the White House said, We are going to mobilize to find something to justify the Presidents tweet that he was being surveilled. They put out an all-points bulletina call to sift through intelligence reportsand said, We need to find something that justifies the Presidents crazy tweet about surveillance at Trump Tower. And Im telling you there is no way you get that from those transcripts, which are about as plain vanilla as can be.

If Lizzas reporting is true  and, as of this writing, no outlet has published anything to contradict it  then the White House leaked and misrepresented classified intelligence material so as to validate a presidential tweet, and disrupt the Houses investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Then, on the basis of those misrepresentations, the president publicly suggested that the previous administrations national security adviser was a criminal.

But the most shocking aspect of the whole faux surveillance-scandal saga may be this: The Trump White House produces novel outrages at such a frenetic clip, an apparent conspiracy between the Executive branch and a high-ranking member Congress to mislead the public and defame the previous administration dropped out of news cycle days after it was reported.

On the 96th day of his presidency, unveiled a tax-reform plan that was less detailed than the blueprint he had campaigned on.

After three months in office, most presidents have at least introduced  if not passed  multiple pieces of major legislation. Trump failed to secure so much as a House vote for Paul Ryans health-care plan. And the administration has yet to even translate its second priority  the one that the White House planned to take the lead on and that nobody knows more than Donald Trump about  into a proposal more substantial than the presidents detail-less campaign plan.

This week, the administration tried to pretend otherwise. Anxious to demonstrate progress ahead of his 100th day, Trump blindsided his advisers by promising that his tax package would be unveiled on Wednesday of this week. The presidents budget director, Mick Mulvaney, had said that it might be June before the administration released a detailed plan, and that even broad principles would likely be weeks away.

But in a reality stars White House, optics trump policy. And so the administration scrambled to put together a broad outline of its vision to radically reform the worlds largest national economy.

The result was as audaciously regressive as expected. Trumps proposal amounted to a blueprint for a raid on the federal treasury  one that would deliver the lions share of its spoils to the wealthiest individuals and businesses in the United States, while tossing a few bucks in hush money to the witnesses in the middle class. And almost no one would stand to benefit more from this heist than the president himself: By abolishing the Alternative Minimum Tax, repealing the Estate Tax, and slashing the top rate on pass-through businesses to 15 percent, Trump stands to gain tens of millions of dollars from his reform  while his children are poised to gain multiple billion.

Less ethically dubious, but decidedly more surprising, was how bereft of substance the plan was. At the proposals unveiling, National Economic Council director Gary Cohn and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said, over and over, how much time and effort the administration had put into tax reform. And then, they handed out a less substantive version of the plan Trump campaigned on last fall.

The administrations proposal included virtually no ideas for how to offset the multitrillion dollar hole its regressive tax cuts would generate. It did not explain how the administration plans to prevent high-income individuals from abusing the new pass-through rate by reframing their salaries as business income. Instead, the plan merely stipulates that a subsequent version will definitely solve that problem. Most stunningly, the plan calls for consolidating Americas seven income-tax brackets into three, but doesnt propose any specific income bands for those brackets.

In one sense, this incompetence may be comforting. Trumps ambitions for tax reform are repugnant to all but the small minority of Americans who believe that income and wealth are distributed too equally in this country. If the White House is incapable of actually developing their plan into a coherent, politically tenable piece of legislation, perhaps thats all for the best.

But at some point in the next four years, Americans of all ideological stripes are going to be invested in the competence of their countrys Executive branch. In the wake of a natural disaster or economic crisis, blue America will not benefit from the White Houses ineptitude. And this weeks tax-reform presentation suggests that this administration is more inept than many of its harshest critics ever realized.

Threatened to sabotage Americas insurance markets as a means of coercing Democrats into voting for his plan to finance a large tax cut for the rich by throwing millions off of Medicaid.

Earlier this month, Trump announced that he planned to use the powers of his office to jeopardize health-care access for millions of low-income people, while destabilizing Americas insurance markets  because he believed that voters would blame the ensuing chaos on the Democratic Party, leaving Chuck Schumer desperate to negotiate with the White House over Obamacare repeal. As the Wall Street Journal reported:

In an interview in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said the White House may lack authority to make the payments established under his predecessor to reduce copayments and deductibles for some of the poorest customers who buy insurance under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Cutting off the payments could trigger turmoil in insurance markets.



I dont want people to get hurt, Mr. Trump said. What I think should happenand will happenis the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.

There were a couple obvious problems with Trumps gambit:

(1) The presidents hostage and his ransom were the same thing: He threatened to cut off health-insurance subsidies for poor people if Democrats didnt vote for his health-care plan, which significantly reduces health-insurance subsidies for poor people.

(2) It would be hard to convince the public to blame Democrats for Obamacares destruction, after you publicly declared your intention to destroy Obamacare so that people would blame the Democrats for what you did. And, in fact, polls suggest that large majorities of Americans would blame Trump for anything bad that happens to the American health-care system under his watch.

As of this writing, the president appears to have discerned these facts, and promised to continue the Obamacare payments, at least for now. But the fact that the president mulled deliberately hurting his constituents for (wholly imaginary) partisan gain is unnerving.

Said he was absolutely considering breaking up the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Wednesday, a federal district court judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its (essentially toothless) executive order denying federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities.

Weeks earlier, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had struck down Trumps travel ban. And so, when the president heard that another one of his executive orders had been repudiated by the Judicial branch, he didnt waste time reading an actual news report on the details of the ruling  he already knew which court was responsible.

First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017

Out of our very big country, with many choices, does everyone notice that both the "ban" case and now the "sanctuary" case is brought in ...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017

...the Ninth Circuit, which has a terrible record of being overturned (close to 80%). They used to call this "judge shopping!" Messy system.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017

Of course, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did not, in fact, rule on the sanctuary cities order (courts of appeals tend to prefer to rule on, well, appeals).

But that didnt stop Trump from telling the Washington Examiner that he had absolutely looked into breaking up the 9th Circuit Court, noting, There are many people that want to break up the 9th Circuit. Its outrageous.

Typically, respect for the separation of powers prevents presidents from threatening to disband courts that rule against them (while respect for objective reality prevents presidents from criticizing courts for rulings that they never actually made).

But Donald Trump is not a typical president.

Decided to upend the North American economy to win a desired headline  then changed his mind when he was informed that people who voted for him would be among those most adversely impacted by such a measure.

Earlier this week, Trump was readying plans to announce Americas withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement. This decision was inspired by the presidents desire to be able to announce he was making good on a major campaign promise during a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night, his 100th day in office, White House advisers told the New York Times.

You know I was really ready and psyched to terminate NAFTA, Trump told Reuters. I was all set to terminate  I looked forward to terminating. I was going to do it.

But just before the president ripped up the foundation governing $1.3 trillion in annual trade flows, his advisers suggested that he first consider the economic consequences of such an action.

[Agriculture Secretary Sonny] Perdue even brought along a prop to the Oval Office: A map of the United States that illustrated the areas that would be hardest hit, particularly from agriculture and manufacturing losses, and highlighting that many of those states and counties were Trump country communities that had voted for the president in November.



It shows that I do have a very big farmer base, which is good, Trump recalled. They like Trump, but I like them, and Im going to help them.

And, thus, NAFTA was saved.

That Trump considered radically disrupting economic and diplomatic relations on the North American continent without giving much thought to either is discomfiting. But his rationale for scrapping that idea is, too.

On the night of his election, Trump promised every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans. Now, he has publicly suggested that he makes policy decisions not on the basis of what would be best for the United States, but rather, what would benefit that portion of the country that likes him.

Refused to turn over documents on his first national security advisers financial relationships with foreign governments, despite requests from the House Oversight Committee.

Michael Flynns tenure as national security adviser was cut short by revelations that he had misled Vice-President Pence about the nature of his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Weeks after his departure, Flynn acknowledged that he had been on the payroll of the Turkish government while serving as a top surrogate and adviser to Trumps campaign  even as the GOP standard-bearer accused his rival of making pay-to-play arrangements with foreign governments.

Weeks after that, news broke that Flynn had neglected to list three Russia-linked sources of income  including $45,000 in speaking fees from the Kremlin-backed RT news network  in his legally required White House ethics forms.

Both of those actions appear to have contravened federal law, House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffetz told reporters this week. As a former general, Flynn was required to seek the governments permission before accepting payments from a foreign government. Then, after accepting the foreign payments, Flynn had a legal obligation to disclose them fully before taking a job with the Trump administration.

To further its investigation into Flynns apparent misconduct, the Oversight Committee asked the White House for access to Flynns security clearance paperwork, receipts from payments he received from foreign governments, and other documents related to the hiring and firing of the former national security adviser.

The Trump administration has refused to honor a single one of those requests, informing the committee that it was unable to provide the desired documents, as some of the papers were not in its custody or control while others were likely to contain classified information.

The White House has refused to provide this committee with a single piece of paper, the committees ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings said Tuesday. And that is simply unacceptable.

Allowed the State Departments website to advertise his Florida resort.

Donald Trumps Florida resort has amply monetized its owners newfound public power. The clubs annual membership fee has doubled since Election Day, while the president has used virtually every major meeting with a foreign dignitary as an occasion to showcase his for-profit business. And for a brief period this month, the State Department even advertised Trumps resort on one of its official, government webpages.

The page offered a triumphalist version of the propertys history  one in which the resorts former owner, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, had always dreamed that her home would be used as a vacation spot for American presidents. Posts dream of a winter White House came true with Trumps election in 2016, the government website explained.

The page was quickly removed following public complaints.

When measured against Trumps other outrages, this incident may appear unremarkable. But if one measures it against precedent instead  and imagines how the public would have reacted to Barack Obama plugging Dreams From My Father as recommended summer reading on the Education Departments official website  the absurd impropriety of the thing becomes stark.

Had his daughter meet with the Chinese president the same day that her company won trademarks from the Chinese government.

On April 6, White House adviser Ivanka Trumps company won three trademarks from the Chinese government. That night, she dined with the Chinese president at her fathers resort. Shortly thereafter, president Trump announced that China was not actually a currency manipulator, and was really, probably, doing all it could to pressure North Korea over the latters nuclear program  dizzying reversals from the administrations previous positions.

There was a time when the mere appearance of corruption was considered an intolerable affront to our democracy.

Referred to several different North Korean leaders as this gentleman.

In the early 1990s, Bill Clinton negotiated a deal to curb North Koreas nuclear program with the nations dictator Kim Il-Sung. That deal was signed in October 1994, after Il-Sungs death had brought his son, Kim Jong-il to power. In 2011, Jong-il died, and his son, Kim Jong-un became North Koreas leader.

Our president is, apparently, unaware of this basic history: Recently, Trump gave an interview to Fox News in which he suggested that North Korea has had the same leader for more than two decades:

I hope things work out well. I hope theres going to be peace, but you know, theyve been talking with this gentleman for a long time. You read Clintons book, he said, Oh we made such a great peace deal, and it was a joke. You look at different things over the years with President Obama. Everybodys been outplayed, theyve all been outplayed by this gentleman and well see what happens. But I just dont telegraph my moves.

To be fair to Trump, its possible that he believes the soul of the Supreme Leader is indivisible and eternal  passing from father-to-son at the moment of the formers death, such that the gentleman in power remains forever the same.

But whether Trump lapsed into momentary ignorance of basic North Korean history  or believes that Kim Jong-un is a kind of deity  the mogul probably isnt the ideal commander-in-chief for America to have, as Pyongyang creeps closer to possessing a nuclear missile capable of reaching the coast of California.

Praised a cable-news anchor who was fired for serial sexual harassment, days after declaring April National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

One day after Trump made his declaration, the New York Times reported that Bill OReilly and Fox News had, together, paid out $13 million settling sexual-harassment claims against the host. Four days after that, the president expressed his disappointment in OReilly  for giving those lying, gold-diggers a single cent.

I think hes a person I know well  he is a good person, Trump told the New York Times. I think he shouldnt have settled; personally I think he shouldnt have settled  Because you should have taken it all the way. I dont think Bill did anything wrong.

Granted, Trumps remarks probably did raise awareness of how and why certain perpetrators of sexual crimes can escape comeuppance for so long.







______________________









(February 28 through March 28)







Baselessly accused his predecessor of illegally wiretapping his phones.

















(February 28 through March 28)

Baselessly accused his predecessor of illegally wiretapping his phones.

















(February 28 through March 28)

Baselessly accused his predecessor of illegally wiretapping his phones.

On the first Saturday of this month, President Trump announced that Barack Obama had personally wiretapped his phones during the final month of the 2016 campaign.

Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

The president later revealed that this extraordinary allegation was based entirely on publicly available news reports  none of which actually supported the substance of his claim. Asked by Tucker Carlson how he came to discover that his predecessor had spied on him, Trump cited a New York Times article that did have the words wiretapped data in its headline. But the story was about intelligence agencies monitoring Russian officials  and how, through that regular surveillance, they may have discovered contacts between those officials and Trump associates.

The article says nothing about Trump Tower being surveilled, let alone about Obama wiretapping Donald Trump himself.

Despite Trumps tacit admission that his claim was baseless, he continued to insist on its accuracy  even after his allegation was rebuked by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, Bill OReilly, The Wall Street Journal editorial page, and the FBI.



It is unprecedented in modern times for a president to publicly accuse his predecessor of seeking to illegally undermine the democratic process  let alone to do so on the basis of nothing but a paranoid hunch.



Allowed his White House to defame the intelligence agency of a core U.S. ally for the sake of defending the infallibility of his tweets.

Eventually, the presidents inability to admit he was wrong on the internet sparked a diplomatic spat with the United Kingdom. The crisis seems to have been generated by a glaring contradiction facing Trumps defenders: On the one hand, the president claimed that his wiretap allegation shouldnt be taken literally, and that news reports about the Obama administration legally investigating his campaigns Russia ties should be taken as proof that he was right. On the other hand, the White House had previously denied the existence of such an investigation  and suggested that reports to the contrary were fake news.



In other words: The Trump administration didnt want to admit that the president made a bad tweet. But it also didnt want to admit that American intelligence agencies had found cause to investigate ties between the president and Russia.

And then, a Fox News hosts conspiracy theory provided Sean Spicer with a way to square the circle.

Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command, the White House press secretary told reporters, quoting, verbatim, from the commentary of Judge Andrew Napolitano, a conservative pundit who has claimed that the government concealed what really happened on 9/11. He didnt use the NSA, he didnt use the CIA, he didnt use the FBI, and he didnt use the Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What is that? Its the initials for the British intelligence-finding agency.

Obama deputized the redcoats!

Apparently, Spicer was so taken by how elegantly this reconciled the presidents contradictory claims, it didnt occur to him that accusing a core allys intelligence service of participating in the illegal surveillance of an American presidential candidate might not sit well with said ally.

Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct wiretapping against the then president-elect are nonsense, GCHQ said in a rare public statement. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.

The White House then promised the British government that it would not accuse GCHQ of wiretapping Donald Trump ever again, according to U.K. prime minister Theresa Mays official spokesman.

Later, Trump defended the propriety of his press secretarys slander of our ally.

We said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television, the president told reporters. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, so you shouldnt be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.

To be clear: The president of the United States argued that its perfectly appropriate for the White House to spread conspiracy theories that implicate close allies  so long as a 9/11 truther on Fox News spread them first.

Suggested that being wiretapped by Barack Obama was the one thing he and the prime minister of Germany had in common.

At a press conference with Angela Merkel, a German reporter asked Trump whether it was a mistake to blame British intelligence for wiretapping him. Instead of conceding this point, the president decided to remind the world of a recent diplomatic crisis between the United States and Germany.

As far as wiretapping, I guess, by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps, Trump said, gesturing to Merkel.

Wow. Trump to Merkel about alleged wiretapping by Obama: At least we have something in common, perhaps. She appears to be very confused. pic.twitter.com/la4p9ZJGvo  Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 17, 2017

Documents released by WikiLeaks in 2015 suggested that Americas National Security Agency (NSA) had tapped phone calls by the German chancellor and her closest advisers for years.

Gave his daughter an office in the White House and a security clearance  while keeping her immune from conflict-of-interest laws.

Last month, the president used his bully pulpit to upbraid a private company for dropping his daughters fashion line. Now, hes giving that daughter an office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue  and access to classified national-security information.



Ivanka Trump will, effectively, be a full-time White House staffer. However, she will not receive a salary or formal title, and, thus, wont be bound by federal conflict-of-interest laws.

Ivanka claims that she will honor those rules anyway. But as Obamas former ethics czar Norm Eisen told Politico, If she can voluntarily subject herself to the rules, she can voluntarily un-subject herself to the rules.

Allowed his budget director to argue that cutting funding to Meals on Wheels is probably one of the most compassionate things we can do.

President Trumps proposed budget would increase defense spending by $54 billion  while slashing funding for medical research, climate science, public housing, education, aid to the indigent, development grants for poor and rural areas, infrastructure, and many, many other things.

Shortly after the proposal went public, the White Houses budget director, Mick Mulvaney, explained that these changes were inspired by one simple question: Can we ask the taxpayer to pay for this? Mulvaney then explained that, while he could ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mother in Detroit to pay for an increase in defense spending, he couldnt justify taking their money to finance public broadcasting.



At a White House press briefing hours later, CNNs Jim Acosta asked Mulvaney to address some of the tensions in this rationale.

Just to follow up on that, you were talking about the steelworker in Ohio, coal worker in Pennsylvania, but they may have an elderly mother who depends on the Meals on Wheels program or who may have kids in Head Start, Acosta said. Yesterday, or the day before, you described this as a hard-power budget. Is it also a hardhearted budget?

No, I dont think so, Mulvaney replied. I think its probably one of the most compassionate things we can do.

To cut programs that help the elderly and kids? Acosta asked, incredulously.

Youre only focusing on half of the equation, right? Youre focusing on the recipients of the money. Were trying to focus on both the recipients of the money and the folks who give us the money in the first place, Mulvaney explained. And I think its fairly compassionate to go to them and say, Look, were not gonna ask you for your hard-earned money, anymore, single mother of two in Detroit  unless we can guarantee to you that that money is actually being used in a proper function.

Mulvaney went on to explain that the key distinction between the Defense Department and the anti-poverty programs that Trump wishes to cut is that the latter have failed to show results.

But for many a single mother in Detroit, funding for rental assistance, home energy aid, and food assistance deliver such results as keeping her family out of homelessness, her home warm in the winter, and her child well nourished. For many a resident of coal country, the Appalachian Regional Commission has provided desperately needed job training.



Here is how Trump described the return on investment that the Pentagon has provided the American people, back when he was running for president.

Weve spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that, frankly, if they were there and if we could have spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems  our airports and all the other problems we have  we would have been a lot better off, I can tell you that right now.



 I wish we had the 4 trillion dollars or 5 trillion dollars. I wish it were spent right here in the United States on schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart!

Demanded the passage of a health-care bill that he, himself, admitted would hurt his own supporters.

While campaigning for the presidency, Donald Trump promised to pass a new health-care law that would cover everyone; leave Medicaids funding untouched; and provide relief to the forgotten men and women of middle America.

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Trump threw his support behind a bill that would have thrown 24 million Americans off their health insurance; cut funding for Medicaid by $880 billion; and drastically increased the cost of health care for older, low-income people in deep-red rural counties.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson confronted Trump with that last finding.

A Bloomberg analysis showed that counties that voted for you  middle-class and working-class counties  would do far less well under this bill than the counties that voted for Hillary, the more affluent counties, Carlson said.

Oh, I know, Trump replied. But this is going to be negotiated.

But in negotiations with House Republicans, Trump did not push for any changes that would have significantly ameliorated the negative effects he acknowledged. Instead, the president offered to make the bill even more draconian, so as to appease the tea-party hard-liners in the House Freedom Caucus.

Whats more, Trump expressed utter indifference about the substance of the bill in those negotiations, arguing that what really mattered was that passing something would improve his chances for reelection, according to Politico:

Forget about the little shit, Trump said, according to multiple sources in the room. Lets focus on the big picture here.



The group of roughly 30 House conservatives, gathered around a mammoth, oval-shaped conference table in the Cabinet Room of the White House, exchanged disapproving looks. Trump wanted to emphasize the political ramifications of the bills defeat; specifically, he said, it would derail his first-term agenda and imperil his prospects for reelection in 2020. The lawmakers nodded and said they understood. And yet they were disturbed by his dismissiveness. For many of the members, the little shit meant the policy details that could make or break their support for the billand have far-reaching implications for their constituents and the country.

Surely, Trump isnt the first president to ever champion a substantively flawed proposal for purely political reasons. But the scale of his nihilism is breathtaking. By all accounts, the president knew virtually nothing about the substance of his health-care law  beyond the fact that it would violate some of his core campaign promises, while hurting millions of people  and he demanded that lawmakers pass it, as an act of personal loyalty to him, anyway.

Failed to staff nearly 2,000 vacant Executive branch positions.

Trump is governing the worlds most powerful country with a skeleton crew. The presidents dysfunctional transition left him without a pool of nominees-in-waiting when he took the oath of office. Since then, Trumps incompetence  combined with his aversion to hiring any Establishment Republican who opposed his campaign  has allowed nearly 2,000 Executive branch positions to collect dust.

As of mid-March, Trump had not nominated anyone for more than 500 top-tier administrative posts, making his transition the slowest in decades, according to the New York Times.

Back in February, Trump tried to sell this dereliction of duty as an innovative act of cost cutting.

A lot of those jobs, I dont want to appoint, because theyre unnecessary to have, Trump told Fox News. I say, What do all these people do? You dont need all those jobs.

But the president has drafted no formal plan for cutting the vacant senior positions, and White House spokesperson Lindsay E. Walters told the Times earlier this month that Trump intended to fill them, eventually.

For now, the executive offices at the State Department remain virtually empty. And the high-ranking civil servants who are in place have been largely ignored. As Julia Ioffe reported for The Atlantic:

[M]any State staffers are surprised to find themselves on the outside. They really want to blow this place up, said the mid-level State Department officer. I dont think this administration thinks the State Department needs to exist. They think Jared [Kushner, Trumps son-in-law] can do everything. Its reminiscent of the developing countries where Ive served. The family rules everything, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows nothing.

The White House lent credence to this claim on Monday, when it announced that  in addition to being the administrations point man on trade deals, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and broader Middle East policy  the presidents son-in-law will lead a new government office with sweeping authority to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and fulfill key campaign promises  such as reforming care for veterans and fighting opioid addiction.

Signed an Energy Independence Executive Order that will not make America more energy independent  but will likely prevent America from honoring its international commitments to reduce carbon emissions.



On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order that began the process of reversing the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, which would have required states to reduce their carbon emissions by decreasing their reliance on dirty energy sources, like coal. Trumps order also rescinds a temporary ban on new coal leases on federal land.

The official goal of the law is to decrease Americas dependence on foreign energy, while reviving the long-suffering coal industry.

But there is no rational basis for believing the measure will do either of those things. The United States does not import coal. Reducing regulations on carbon emissions will not allow America to replace foreign energy sources with domestic ones, but rather to prioritize dirty domestic energy sources over clean ones.

This shift would do nothing to bolster Americans employment prospects. At present, solar companies employ twice as many Americans as the coal industry does. Whats more, Trumps executive order wont even have a significant impact on the economic fortunes of coal miners themselves.

While the new order will keep older coal plants open for a few years longer, the mines that are staying open are using more mechanization  theyre not hiring people, energy economist Robert W. Godby told the New York Times.

So even if we saw an increase in coal production, we could see a decrease in coal jobs, Godby told the paper.

Thus, the cost-benefit analysis on Trumps executive order is effectively this: On the plus side, coal magnates will enjoy a few more years of profits before natural gas, wind, and solar make their industry obsolescent. On the downside, it may very well accelerate the onset of an ecological catastrophe that threatens to drown major American cities in the next century.

























(February 11 through February 28)

Declared the mainstream media the enemy of the American people.

Trump and his administration have been waging a war on objective reality  and those tasked with describing it  from the moment he was sworn in. In his first appearance as White House press secretary, Sean Spicer demanded that reporters believe the presidents estimate of the size of his inaugural crowd over their own lying eyes.

Trumps tumultuous (and not terribly productive) first month only widened the chasm between the presidents grandiose self-conception and what he sees reflected back at him in the mirror of the mainstream press. And this gap has produced evermore extreme attempts to nullify the Fourth Estate.

In late January, chief White House strategist Steve Bannon branded the mainstream media the opposition party, and suggested that it keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.

Bannons remarks were widely described seen as outrageous; at a subsequent White House press briefing, Spicer distanced the administration from Bannons sentiments, saying, The press plays a very healthy role in democracy, no question about it.

But last week, the president decried the media in terms far more inflammatory than even the former Breitbart mastermind had mustered.

Trump did not have second thoughts about describing several of Americas leading journalistic institutions as enemies of its people. Nor did he subsequently evince concern for whether his rhetoric would inspire some Second Amendment people to defend the American people against its enemies through extralegal means.

Instead, he reiterated his charge one week later, at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people, Trump said. Because they have no sources, they just make em up when there are none  Im against the people that make up stories and make up sources.

Previously, the president had criticized the press for printing illegal leaks from anonymous government officials and suggested that those officials have often shared false information. But hed never before claimed that major newspapers were fabricating sources out of whole cloth and presenting works of fictions as reportage.

Still, Trump insisted that he had no problem with the real media.

Im not against the media. Im not against the press, Trump said. I am only against the fake-news media or press.

He then lambasted the fake news media for failing to appreciate this nuance. Fake, the president said. Fake. They have to leave that word.

On Friday afternoon, the White House appeared to put the presidents distinction into practice: When reporters from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, CNN, and other major mainstream outlets showed up for a scheduled, off-camera briefing from Sean Spicer, they were denied entry to the White House press secretarys office.

Breitbart News, the Washington Times, and One America News Network were waved in. Spicer also welcomed some mainstream outlets, including erstwhile enemies of the people ABC and CBS. Reporters from Time magazine and the Associated Press were allowed in, but chose to boycott the briefing in protest of the other outlets exclusion.

Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties, Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times, said in a statement. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.

Held a nuclear strategy session in the public dining room of his Florida resort.

Instead of hosting the Japanese prime minister at the White House, Trump opted to fly Shinzo Abe down to the private resort he owns in Palm Beach, Florida. This choice of venue cost American taxpayers millions in additional travel-and-security expenses. But it also allowed the president to directly profit off the diplomatic meeting, while increasing the perks of being a member of his club. Now, Mar-a-Lago members dont merely have access to golf, a private beach, and a network of fellow plutocrats  they also get seats in the presidents open-air Situation Room. Per CNN:



The iceberg wedge salads, dripping with blue cheese dressing, had just been served on the terrace of Mar-a-Lago Saturday when the call to President Donald Trump came in: North Korea had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile, its first challenge to international rules since Trump was sworn in three weeks agoAs Mar-a-Lagos wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abes evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN.

The White House later claimed that Trump and Abe did not engage in detailed security discussions in Mar-a-Lagos dining room. But Trump indisputably took a break from discussing the nuclear crisis to reward one of his longtime members with a wedding-night visit from himself and the leader of Japan.

Trump also allowed one of his guests to post a picture to Facebook of the man tasked with carrying Americas nuclear football.

Mar-a-Lago member who pays Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars posts pics of - and identifies - US official carrying nuclear football. pic.twitter.com/oyAfY0E9Fj  Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) February 13, 2017

Trumps weekend visits to Mar-a-Lago cost American taxpayers more than $10 million in his first month in office, according to the Washington Post.

Allowed one of his senior advisers to complain about CNNs political coverage to the networks parent company  which has a proposed merger pending before the government.

The fact that the American president has displayed a fondness for authoritarianism  and an indifference to ethical norms  is concerning for a whole host of reasons. One is that these qualities raise the possibility that Trump might use the powers of his office to coerce private industry into doing his administrations bidding. Shortly after the moguls victory, Voxs Matt Yglesias treated this subject at length in an essay titled, We have 100 days to stop Donald Trump from systemically corrupting our institutions.

In that piece, Yglesias argues that America has long been prey to venal corruption, which consists of rich people buying favors through campaign contributions. The U.S. is not, however, a systematically corrupt nation  one in which political favor becomes the primary driver of economic success.

To explain how Trump might begin systemically corrupting American institutions, Yglesias writes the following:

Trump is not going to crush the free media in one fell swoop. But big corporate media does face enough regulatory matters that even a single exemplary case would suffice to induce large-scale self-censorship. AT&T, for example, is currently seeking permission from antitrust authorities to buy Time Warner  permission that Time Warner executives might plausible fear is contingent on Trump believing that CNN has covered him fairly.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that senior White House adviser (and Trump son-in-law) Jared Kushner complained to Gary Ginsberg, executive vice president of corporate marketing and communications at CNNs parent Time Warner, about what Mr. Kushner feels is unfair coverage slanted against the president.

Allowed his administration to ask the FBI to leak favorable information, in violation of rules protecting the Justice Departments independence.

Earlier this month, anonymous U.S. officials told the New York Times that Trump campaign aides contacted Russian intelligence operatives, multiple times, during the 2016 race.

The day after the Times reported on the Trump campaigns Russia contacts, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had a conversation. Which one of these men brought up the Times story is unclear  according to the White House, McCabe told Priebus that the papers report was overblown. However the subject came up, Priebus eventually asked McCabe to tell the press that the Times story was baloney  or, at least, have that information leaked, anonymously.

Even if the White Houses story is true  and the Times story is false  this request was problematic for at least two reasons. For one, Justice Department rules forbid the White House from discussing the details of ongoing investigations with the FBI  let alone investigations into the president himself  unless those details are vital to the presidents duties. For another, the FBI is not supposed to publicly comment on ongoing investigations.

Hours after his administration admitted that it had asked the FBI to leak classified information, the president condemned the FBI for leaking information.

The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security "leakers" that have permeated our government for a long time. They can't even......  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2017

Declined to publicly condemn the shooting of two India-born engineers by a man who (allegedly) said get out of my country, as he fired.

Declared himself the least racist person  then asked a black reporter to set up a meeting for him with her friends in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Minutes after declaring himself the least racist person in existence, Trump took a question from American Urban Radio Networks D.C. bureau chief, April Ryan.

Ryan asked if Trump planned to seek the advice of the CBC when crafting his urban agenda. The president was confused. Ryan explained that she was referring to the Congressional Black Caucus.

Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours? Trump asked the African-American journalist.

No, Im just a reporter, Ryan said.

Set up a meeting, the president interrupted. I would love to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Reporter: Will you meet with the Congressional Black Caucus?

Trump: "I would. You want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?" pic.twitter.com/8Pp18KBUJd  BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 16, 2017

Trump also informed a Jewish reporter that he was the least anti-Semitic person youve ever seen in your entire life, before explaining that a lot of supposed acts of anti-Jewish intimidation are really just false-flag attacks designed to make Donald Trump look bad.





*An earlier version of this list included the presidents failure to condemn the shooting of two India-born engineers in Kansas by a man who (reportedly) shouted, get out of my country, as he fired. But, after more than a week of silence, the White House did release a formal statement condemning the shooting on Tuesday.





Week 8 (February 4 through February 10)



Declared the court system a threat to national security.

Donald Trump spent much of his presidential campaign promising to use executive power to discriminate against Muslims. Upon election, he promptly banned immigration from several Muslim-majority nations, via an executive order that was Breitbart-tested but not cabinet-agency-approved.

This led to chaos at airports, on-the-fly revisions to the governments interpretation of its own order, and a bevy of legal rebukes.

Last week, judges in New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, and California stayed the order  or aspects of it  on a variety of legal grounds. Then, on Friday night, U.S. District Judge James Robart delivered the body blow.

Unlike other plaintiffs, the state of Washington did not challenge discrete provisions of the executive order, or merely the process by which it was implemented. Rather, the state argued that the order was in fundamental tensions with both federal law and the Constitution. Robart ruled that Washingtons argument was likely to succeed on the merits  and ordered a halt to nationwide enforcement of the travel ban.

The president responded by suggesting that Robart might not actually be a judge.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Then, he framed the existence of judicial review as a sign of national decline.

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Still, superficially, Trumps complaint was with an individual judge, not the Judicial branch, itself. But then the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the White Houses request for an emergency stay of Robarts decision  and the president made his contempt for the rule of law explicit.

Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2017

This was not merely an intemperate tweet. It was the president instructing the American people to view the next terrorist attack on U.S. soil as an indictment of the judiciary. And it isnt just Trump himself whos pushing this line. In its legal challenge to Robarts ruling, the White House argued that the federal judge was in no position to rule on the propriety of the executive order, because he lacks access to classified intelligence.

This is an argument for allowing our fear of terrorism to overwhelm our commitment to the rule of law  a line of reasoning that poses a far greater threat to the American form of government and way of life than any closeted-jihadist refugee ever could.

Insisted that his Supreme Court pick had no problem with attacks on the judiciary, in the face of blatant evidence to the contrary.

Trumps Supreme Court nominee had little choice but to condemn the presidents attacks on his branch of government. In private meetings with senators ahead of his confirmation hearings, Neil Gorsuch described Trumps remarks demoralizing and disheartening.

But the president found it hard to believe that his Supreme Court pick would object to attacks on the court system. And so  even though White House adviser Ron Bonjean had confirmed that Gorsuch had criticized Trumps comments in his meeting with Richard Blumenthal  the president accused the Democratic senator of lying.

Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

The presidents case here was airtight: Richard Blumenthal once apologized for saying that he had served in Vietnam, when, in fact, the senator had merely served as a Marine Corps Reserve during the Vietnam War, but was never sent overseas. (By contrast, the president spent his Vietnam fearlessly weathering round after round of unprotected sex.) Therefore, both Blumenthal and Bonjean are lying.

Trump proceeded to chastise CNNs Chris Cuomo for refusing to ask Blumenthal about his Vietnam record during a Thursday-morning interview  even though Cuomo asked Blumenthal about his (utterly irrelevant) Vietnam record during that Thursday-morning interview.

Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave "service" in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

There seems to be no lie too obvious  nor attack too hypocritical  for the president to deploy as a means of evading responsibility for his mistakes.

Trashed New START during a call with Putin  after putting the phone aside to ask his advisers what that (nuclear-arms treaty) was.

I was a good student. I understand things, President Trump assured America on Wednesday. I comprehend very well, okay? Better than, I think, almost anybody.

But many within the White House beg to differ. In leak after leak, anonymous administration officials paint the president as less teachers pet than class clown  one who refuses to do his homework, demands the Cliffs Notes for every reading assignment, and struggles to comprehend the most basic aspects of the curriculum.

The latest SOS from the West Wing was intercepted by Reuters:

In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.



When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.



Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. Trump also talked about his own popularity, the sources said.

New START is pretty fundamental to U.S.-Russian relations. At his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed his support for the agreement. Trump, himself, was aware of the treatys significance  if not of its proper name  last year, when he complained that Russia outsmarted Obama on START Up.

To avoid such lapses in memory, presidents typically request an in-depth briefing from the National Security Council before dialing up world leaders. But, according to Reuters sources, Trump received no such briefing before hopping on the horn with Putin. (Considering that Trump has often bragged about being too smart to read long things, it seems safe to take Reuters word on this one.)

The source of Trumps antipathy for New START is unclear. On the one hand, the president has expressed enthusiasm for a new arms race. On the other, he has called nuclear weapons the single greatest threat we face  and has a habit of disparaging any deal that he did not, himself, negotiate.

Which is to say: The best-case scenario here is that our president would like there to be fewer nuclear arms in the world  but is willing to jeopardize that objective if it means honoring an agreement Obama negotiated.

Publicly condemned a private company for dropping his daughters (increasingly unpopular) fashion line.

Trump long ago concluded that it would be unreasonable for the American people to expect him to divest from his business interests, just because they elected him president. To forfeit the empire he spent his whole life building was simply too great a sacrifice. While he would cease managing the Trump Organization, he would, nonetheless, retain majority ownership of its assets.

Most Americans sympathized with this position.

Then, Trump decided that having someone outside his family run the organization in his stead  so as to put meaningful distance between himself and its management  was also too great a burden for him to bear.

Trump proceeded to reason that he couldnt fairly be expected to not invite the children running his business to policy meetings with tech entrepreneurs; or to not meet with his business partners while president-elect; or to ensure that his D.C. hotel did not court the patronage of foreign diplomats (in arguable defiance of the Constitution).

And, then, on Thursday, the president decided that we also cant expect him not to attack private companies that refuse to maintain a relationship with his daughters poorly performing brand.

My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2017

Suggested that publicly criticizing his military decisions is tantamount to aiding the enemy.

Last week, President Trump sent a team of Navy SEALs to raid a compound in Yemen  with the aim of capturing or killing the head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Qassim al-Rimi.

When the raid was over, al-Rimi was still alive, and on the lam  while one SEAL, 14 (alleged) Al Qaeda fighters, an 8-year-old American citizen, and an unconfirmed number of other civilians lay dead.

The SEALs did manage to collect some phones and computers, though the value of the information contained therein is not publicly known. Meanwhile, in light of the raids many civilian casualties, the Yemeni government is starting to rethink its support for U.S. ground operations on its soil.

Surveying these results, Arizona senator and prominent war enthusiast John McCain dubbed the mission a failure.

On Thursday, Trump suggested that McCains comment was harmful to national security  and also the kind of thing that a loser would say.

Sen. McCain should not be talking about the success or failure of a mission to the media. Only emboldens the enemy! He's been losing so....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

...long he doesn't know how to win anymore, just look at the mess our country is in - bogged down in conflict all over the place. Our hero..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

..Ryan died on a winning mission ( according to General Mattis), not a "failure." Time for the U.S. to get smart and start winning again!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

Got angry at his press secretary for being impersonated by a woman.

Per Politico:

[T]he devastating Saturday Night Live caricature of Spicer that aired over the weekend  in which a belligerent Spicer was spoofed by a gum-chomping, super soaker-wielding Melissa McCarthy in drag  did not go over well internally at a White House in which looks matter. More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was Spicers portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the presidents eyes, according to sources close to him. And the unflattering send-up by a female comedian was not considered helpful for Spicers longevity in the grueling, high-profile job[.]

















Week 7 (January 27 through February 3)

Used the Executive branchs immense authority over border control to inflict arbitrary cruelty on thousands of Muslim immigrants, create chaos at airports all across America, and sour diplomatic relations with the rest of the world.

Many of the actions catalogued in this post serve as testaments to our new presidents incompetence; others, to his mindless bigotry. Late last Friday, Trump signed his name to a document that affirmed both of his signature qualities  and upended the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people.

That executive order  as of Friday evening temporarily blocked by a Seattle judge  suspended the admission of all refugees to the United States for 120 days; suspended the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely; prioritized the refugee claims of non-Muslims in the Middle East; and banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

These measures were advertised as means of protecting national security. But there is little evidence that they will do any such thing. America already has one of the worlds most rigorous systems for vetting refugees, and the deadliest terror attacks on U.S. soil in recent years were executed by our own disaffected citizens.

Even if one believes that protecting homeland security requires barring travelers from the Muslim world, there is no coherent argument for why visitors from Saudi Arabia should be allowed, while those from Iran should not. In fact, no foreign national from any of the seven blacklisted countries has committed a fatal terrorist attack in the United States since 1975.

As an effort to prevent terrorism, Trumps executive order is incoherent, and likely counterproductive. The orders broad, overt denigration of the Muslim world aids every jihadist who wishes to tie his heinous cause to a broader war between Islam and the West. But jihadists arent the only ones who long for such a clash of civilizations  some of the most powerful people in the Trump White House believe Judeo-Christian civilization really is at war with Islam.

Many of those same people see Muslim immigrants as threats to national security, whether theyre terrorists or not. The two main authors of last weeks order  Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller  have explicitly argued that such immigrants are a threat simply because their religion will prevent them from assimilating into our society. Once you stipulate this view, the order becomes more coherent: The goal is not to stop terrorism but to halt the dilution of the white Christian population in the United States. Its about protecting ethno-national security.

Nearly 60,000 immigrants had their visas revoked to satisfy Bannons Islamophobic paranoia. Countless refugees were stranded. But the costs of Trumps order dont merely fall on nonU.S. citizens. America relies on many of the countries Trump blacklisted to provide doctors for our understaffed hospitals. Now, some medical groups are preparing for a shortage of physicians in our nations underserved rural areas. The order has also disrupted the smooth functioning of American universities and tech companies that rely on immigrant labor.

Finally, even if one shares Bannons worldview  and believes all this is a small price to pay for saving America from the Muslim hordes  the implementation of the order revealed the new administrations profound incompetence. The White House sought little input from legal counsel, Congress, and relevant cabinet agencies. It provided Customs and Border Protection with little notice of its plans. This led to chaos in airports all around the United States as visa-holders arrived to find their legal status had been terminated while they were midair. And the vagueness of the orders wording produced confusion about who was and was not impacted by the rules. At the beginning of the weekend, the order applied to legal permanent residents and dual citizens of the blacklisted countries; by Monday it did not.

Violated court orders against his travel ban.

The sloppiness of the order did have its own silver lining: It exposed many of the Trump administrations directives to effective legal challenge. Days after the order went into effect, judges in Massachusetts and California had issued injunctions, restraining the orders enforcement.

But the rule of law does not seem to matter very much to the law and order president. As Slates Jeremy Stahl wrote Thursday:

Its been more than four full days since the Boston order and more than one full day since the Los Angeles order. Nothing has changed. Travelers cleared by the two court orders to come to America have instead been blocked. They remain in legal limbo, often trapped in places that are not their homes  Trump has violated the spirit of the court rulingsand, in the opinion of experts, the letterthrough a mix of legal chicanery and subterfuge, enabled by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy doing the presidents will rather than the will of the courts.

Heres what Stahl means by Kafkaesque and legal chicanery: The judges in Boston ordered the government to cease detaining or removing individuals with valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas. But the Trump administration claims that it had already revoked the visas of all nationals from the blacklisted countries, prior to the order  a fact that was not publicly confirmed until Friday.

And so, Customs and Border Protection agents have carried on following their orders.

Created a diplomatic crisis with Australia  and threatened to invade Mexico.

Australia is the kind of friend that takes your side even when youre wrong. In geopolitical terms, this means that when the United States asked for some help with our quagmire in Afghanistan, Australia sacrificed 42 of its young people to our cause.

So, when Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull reminded President Trump of Americas commitment to take in 1,250 refugees currently residing in an Australian detention center, he had little reason to believe that hed be met with a torrent of verbal abuse.

But he was.

This is the worst deal ever, the president said during the Saturday call, according to the Washington Post. Trump proceeded to inform our dear ally that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day  including Russian President Vladimir Putin  and that this was the worst call by far.

When Turnbull tried to direct the conversation to less contentious subjects, Trump abruptly ended the call  35 minutes before it was scheduled to expire.

Later in the week, Trump tried to patch things up with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto  and kind of, sort of, threatened to invade our southern neighbor.

You have a bunch of bad hombres down there, Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the excerpt obtained by the Associated Press. You arent doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isnt, so I just might send them down to take care of it.

Mexican officials later characterized this as a friendly offer, rather than a military threat.

Nonetheless, neither of these phone calls increases ones confidence in the diplomatic chops of our commander-in-chief.

Allowed his press secretary to falsely claim that Iran had committed an act of war against the United States.

The Trump administration spent much of the past week rattling sabers at Iran. Not all of this belligerence was unprovoked  Iran did test an intercontinental ballistic missile Sunday, in (arguably) a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.

But one thing Iran definitely did not do was take action against an American Navy vessel. But that didnt stop White House press secretary Sean Spicer from saying that it had.

I think General Flynn was really clear yesterday that Iran has violated the Joint Resolution, that Irans additional hostile actions that it took against our Navy vessel are ones that we are very clear [we] are not going to sit by and take, Spicer said Thursday, intimating that Iran had committed an act of war against the United States.

In truth, a Saudi Arabian warship was attacked by fighters that the Pentagon suspects were Houthi rebels  a Shia militant group in Yemen that the Saudis have been slaughtering for over a year. Iran does back the Houthis, but the latter isnt really the puppet of the former  the Houthis are less concerned with expanding Tehrans sphere of influence than winning their nations civil war.

And yet, the White House eagerly painted a (suspected) Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia as a (confirmed) Iranian attack on America. Which makes you wonder whether or not the Trump administration will do everything in its power to avoid launching another Middle Eastern war.

Retained the author of a reactionary screed that likened the 2016 election to Flight 93 as a national-security staffer.

Michael Anton is a former Bush administration speechwriter and current national-security official in the Trump administration. This week, we learned that he is also the author of an essay titled The Flight 93 Election. In it, Anton argued that the 2016 election put conservatives in a position akin to passengers of Flight 93 on 9/11: They could either charge the cockpit or die.

If you dont try, death is certain, Anton wrote. To compound the metaphor: a Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto.

Antons reasoning was simple: The ceaseless importation of Third World foreigners with no tradition of, taste for, or experience in liberty means that the electorate grows more left, more Democratic, less Republican, less republican, and less traditionally American with every cycle.

Thus, absent an immediate restriction of Third World immigration, America, as conservatives knew it, would end.

This is not merely an argument against Hillary Clinton, but an argument for authoritarianism. If a Democratic victory in 2016 could have brought national ruination, surely the same would be true in 2020. Which is to say: One of the presidents senior national-security staffers is an opponent of American democracy.

Suggested that Frederick Douglass is still alive in speech on Black History Month.

At his speech honoring African-Americans historical contributions to our republic, the president said this about Martin Luther King Jr.

Last month, we celebrated the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., whose incredible example is unique in American history. You read all about Dr. Martin Luther King a week ago when somebody said I took the statue out of my office. It turned out that that was fake news. Fake news. The statue is cherished, its one of the favorite things in the  and we have some good ones. We have Lincoln, and we have Jefferson, and we have Dr. Martin Luther King. But they said the statue, the bust of Martin Luther King, was taken out of the office. And it was never even touched. So I think it was a disgrace, but thats the way the press is. Very unfortunate.

And this about Frederick Douglass:

Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I noticed.

Sean Spicer was later asked what Trump had meant by this.

I think he wants to highlight the contributions that he has made, Spicer said. And I think through a lot of the actions and statements that hes going to make, I think the contributions of Frederick Douglass will become more and more.



*clears throat*



"osama bin laden is dead and frederick douglass is alive!"  Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) February 1, 2017













Week 6 (January 7 through 27)

Told a demonstrable lie about the size of the crowd at his inauguration  and predicted that the media would pay a big price for refusing to repeat it.

Donald Trumps inauguration attracted a much smaller crowd to the National Mall than Barack Obamas did in 2008. This was not a surprise: Washington, D.C., is a majority African-American city, and the first black president won its vote overwhelmingly. Trump, by contrast, received a mere 4 percent of the districts ballots. Further, Obama entered office with an approval rating of 80 percent; Trump was sworn in with one around 40.

But while Trumps (comparatively) sparse inaugural crowd comported with demographic and polling realities, it was wildly inconsistent with the presidents expectations. And so, as he often does when reality disappoints his fondest wishes, Trump discovered a set of alternative facts.

I get up this morning and I turn on one of the networks and they show an empty field, Trump said. I said wait a minute, I made a speech, I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, a million and a half people  it went all the way back to the Washington Monument.

"Even the media said the crowd was massive," President Trump said tonight, claiming crowd stretched "to the Washington Monument." Fact check pic.twitter.com/dbmkBujjMJ  Mark Berman (@markberman) January 21, 2017

So, we caught the media, Trump said, and we caught them in beauty. And I think theyre going to pay a big price.

That big price turned out to be a scolding from the new White House press secretary. Armed with visual aids, an ill-fitting suit, and secondhand indignation, Spicer condemned the presss shameful attempts to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, Spicer baselessly declared, before vowing, Were going to hold the press accountable.

Spicer then informed the White House press corps that the CIA had given Trump a five-minute standing ovation at the end of his speech (the audience stood throughout the speech, having never received permission to sit. Trump would later claim that this had been the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl).



Thats what you guys should be writing and covering, Spicer said, then left without taking a single question.

Told congressional leaders at a private meeting that he only lost the popular vote because undocumented immigrants cast millions of ballots against him.

In November, Trump tweeted that he had actually won the popular vote, if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. That was disturbing for several reasons, all detailed in an earlier installment of this list.

But Trumps repetition of the claim  in a private meeting with congressional leaders, whom he has no hope of conning on this subject  raises the alarming possibility that the president genuinely believes in his own conspiracy theory. Which is to say, the president believes that 3 to 5 million undocumented immigrants risked deportation to illegally vote against him.

Even though there is literally no evidence for that claim. And no losing down-ballot Republican candidate has demanded an investigation into the matter. And he, himself, loudly opposed all attempts to audit the elections results  until reporters alerted him to this apparent contradiction. Then, the president announced an investigation into such acts of voter fraud as being registered to vote in two states (which is a crime committed by several of his advisers and family members, if it were actually illegal).

I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

On Tuesday, Sean Spicer affirmed that this is, in fact, the presidents genuine understanding of how Hillary Clinton won more votes than he did.

The president does believe that, he has stated that before, Spicer told reporters at a White House press briefing. I think hes stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and he continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have presented to him.



If true, then Trumps claim about illegal votes is not just a dangerous challenge to popular perceptions of democratic legitimacy and a pretext for voter suppression  though it is both these things.

It is also a sign that the president may have developed his talent for conning the insecure by practicing on himself.

Suggested America might once again have the opportunity to confiscate Iraqs oil.

Trump has long maintained that one of the biggest mistakes the United States made in Iraq was that it did not expropriate the nations most valuable natural resource. The president is fairly certain that, had the U.S. stolen Iraqs oil, the region would be far more stable than it is today.

Trump reiterated this view in his speech at the CIA on his first weekend in office  and then suggested that his administration might have a chance to rectify Americas great error.

Now I said it for economic reasons, Trump said while introducing Representative Mike Pompeo, his pick to lead the intelligence agency. But if you think about it, Mike, if we kept the oil, you probably wouldnt have ISIS because thats where they made their money in the first place, so we should have kept the oil
Joe Biden did not cast a single tie-breaking Senate vote. Pence may have to cast lots of them. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Today, Senate Republicans cleared a procedural hurdle for a vote on the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education on a strict party-line vote. But when her actual confirmation comes up next week, the odds favor a tie vote, since two Republicans (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski) have announced they intend to vote against the controversial education-privatization advocate, who has aroused the kind of intense and highly organized opposition that lights up phones on Capitol Hill. No Senate Democrats have indicated an interest in coming to DeVoss rescue.

If this is the situation when the actual confirmation vote occurs, Vice-President Mike Pence will have to do something Joe Biden did not have to do for eight years: vote to break a Senate tie. And in fact it would be the first time a tiebreaker has been used in a confirmation vote.

According to Senate records, there have been a grand total of 244 Senate tiebreakers cast by veeps, with the very first, John Adams, being the all-time leader with 29 such votes. The last tiebreaker, by Dick Cheney, occurred on a bill to roll back alternative-minimum tax rates in 2008; it was Cheneys eighth.

Part of the reason Joe Biden never had to break a tie was the large Democratic margin in the Senate for the first two years of the Obama administration. But from 2011 to 2015, the routine deployment of filibusters by the Senate GOP minority made 60 votes, not 51, the threshold for enactment of legislation. And then after Republicans took the Senate, votes typically were not held on Democratic legislation the leadership did not favor, and were not held on Republican legislation everyone knew would either be filibustered or vetoed by Obama.

With Republican trifecta control of the federal government, the floodgates have opened, and the narrow margin of GOP control of the Senate means tie votes are a lot more likely. In addition, the decline in use of the filibuster, initiated by its elimination for executive and non-SCOTUS judicial appointments by Senate Democrats in 2013, will mean the sheer volume of close Senate votes will increase. One could easily imagine Pence having to break ties over the confirmation of Supreme Court Justices (either including or after Neil Gorsuch) if the filibuster for that type of vote is also eliminated, and for such high-profile, high-impact bills as the budget-reconciliation measures Republicans plan to use for most of their 2017 legislative agenda.

So Pence had better grow accustomed to the path from his office to the Senate floor. And lets dont entirely ignore the remote possibility that Donald Trumps veep will someday break a tie against the will of the Senate GOP conference. Anythings possible with these people.
Backlash. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

There has been a blizzard of litigation to accompany the vast protests over Donald Trumps notorious ban on entry into the United States of refugees and immigrants from selected Muslim countries. Multiple judges intervened with orders to stop the madness at U.S. airports.

But previous judicial interventions were focused on that madness, not the underlying policies. And thats why its significant that a federal judge in Seattle, James Robart, issued a nationally binding temporary restraining order on the travel ban that challenges its fundamental validity.

Of equal significance, the order was in response from petitions not just from civil libertarians and immigrants advocates, but from the states of Washington and Minnesota. The Washington Post reports:

[Washington] State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said this week that the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit two days later.



After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.



Judge Robarts decision, effective immediately  puts a halt to President Trumps unconstitutional and unlawful executive order, Ferguson said. The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States.



When it all shakes down, presidential authority over immigration law will be hard to challenge. But for now, barring some immediate countervailing action by higher courts, Robart has put a stop to the travel ban and its deliberate and carelessly incidental human toll.

Update: The government has told airlines to begin allowing the previously barred travelers to fly to the U.S., but the Trump administration vowed late Friday to file an emergency stay as soon as possible:

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate. The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

The White House then sent a second, revised statement removing the word outrageous.
It remains unclear if the president of the United States fully understands what judicial independence means. Photo: Pool/Getty Images

A U.S. appeals court has denied the Trump administrations request for an emergency stay on a federal judges order blocking the presidents recent travel ban. Early Sunday morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said it would not reinstate the ban, pending the appeal that government intends to file on Monday. Meanwhile, government agencies have suspended the ban while President Trump has appeared to question the legitimacy of the judge who issued the nationwide restraining order against the ban on Friday. Tweeting on Saturday morning in response to the block, Trump insisted that, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Additional critical tweets would later follow throughout the day and night.

On Friday, Federal District Court judge James Robart temporarily blocked Trumps week-old executive order from being enforced on a nationwide scale, leading the State Department to reinstate some 60,000 visas of previously banned travelers, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to instruct airlines to begin allowing those passengers onto flights to the U.S., and the Department of Homeland Security to announce that it was suspending enforcement of the travel ban. The White House promised to request an emergency stay on the outrageous order on Friday, and did so on Saturday only to have that request rejected, pending judgment on their actual appeal. In the meantime, all travelers and refugees with valid U.S. visas are free to travel to the U.S.

The president continued to tweet about the order later Saturday, eventually firing off a series of complaints based on the false and fear-mongering notion that foreigners have some kind of unfettered access to the U.S. They dont: The process for obtaining a visa to enter the U.S. includes a lengthy vetting, which can take up to two years and by no means guarantees entry. What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.? the president tweeted, before irresponsibly suggesting that because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. Trump also said that some Middle Eastern countries agreed with the ban, but did not provide any evidence to support that claim. In the evening, he even tried to give his government lawyers some strategic advice, wondering why the administrations lone court victory with regards to the ban wasnt being used to counteract the block. (Judge Robarts ruling appears to supercede the ruling Trump referenced.)

Trumps objections notwithstanding, Robarts order immediately suspended both the 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, as well as the 120-day ban on refugees. Those bans will resume should the White House win an emergency stay on the order, but on Saturday morning, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it was complying with the ruling and had suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of Trumps executive order. Meanwhile, airlines have been announcing that any passenger with a valid U.S. visa will be allowed to board planes to America, though its not clear how many people will take advantage of the opportunity to do so, particularly since the ban could be reinstated at any time.

All airlines now flying Iranians to the US, following court order against Trump ban. Window might close in some days. Airline rep: "Go now."  Thomas Erdbrink (@ThomasErdbrink) February 4, 2017

1st Iranian off the plane. Her daughter is giving birth in 2 weeks, she was afraid she wouldn't make it. She's thankful for American judges pic.twitter.com/9uDP9au3wG  Evan Allen (@EvanMAllen) February 4, 2017

In issuing the nationwide injunction against Trumps order, Judge Robart  an appointee of President George W. Bush who was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2004  argued that there was no support for the Trump administrations argument that the government has to protect the country from citizens of the seven listed countries. In Robarts opinion, the attorneys general of Washington and Minnesota, who had filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the travel ban, had met their burden of demonstrating that they face immediate and irreparable injury as a result of the signing and implementation of the Executive Order since the order adversely affects the states residents in the areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel.

The States themselves are harmed by virtue of the damage that implementation of the Executive Order has inflicted on the operations and missions of their public universities and other institutions of higher learning, as well as injury to the States operations, tax bases and public funds, Robart added. Politico reports that the order appears modeled on litigation conservative states used to halt President Barack Obamas 2014 executive actions on immigration, in that those states argued that they have standing to challenge federal actions that affect them financially.

If only we'd had some warning during the campaign that Trump wouldn't respect an independent judiciary. pic.twitter.com/dxo0vHK4LC  Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 4, 2017

In another tweet sent by the president on Saturday morning, he implied that allowing certain people from Middle Eastern countries would lead to death and destruction. In addition to banning refugees, and especially Syrian refugees, Trumps executive order had also stipulated that the U.S. give preferential treatment to persecuted religious minorities when admitting refugees in the future, which he has indicated as meaning Christians in majority-Muslim countries. That priority classification for religious minorities was also blocked by Robarts ruling.



This post has been updated throughout to reflect newly available information and context.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Ajit Pais FCC is, like the rest of the Trump Train, off to a rollicking and hypocritical start, if two big news items this week are anything to go by. On Tuesday, Pai introduced an initiative to identify areas desperately in need of broadband deployment (good!) and today, the Washington Post reports that the FCC has blocked nine companies from participating in a federal program that subsidizes broadband service for low-income households (bad!).

Well begin with the latter, which concerns the governments Lifeline program. That program provides registered households with a $9.25 credit each month, which can be used to pay for landline or mobile phone service. Last year, the FCC expanded the program to include broadband. Nine ISPs were blocked from participating in the program, including one operating in more than 40 states to provide broadband access to school districts.

These last-minute actions, which did not enjoy the support of the majority of commissioners at the time they were taken, should not bind us going forward, Pai said of the programs expansion, per the Posts report. Lifeline is known among conservative media outlets as the Obamaphone program. Part of the fear is that the programs subsidies could be misused or abused, a concern that is mostly unfounded.

This would be run-of-the-mill conservative government shrinkage if not for Pais Tuesday announcement, which supports increased broadband access in a way more friendly to the private sector. The new Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee will identify regulations impeding the spread of broadband internet. According to the Daily Dot, Pai supports tax incentives for companies to build high-speed internet networks in rural and impoverished regions of the country. At the same time, he has opposed allowing municipal ISPs run by local governments.

Looking at this broadly, Pai (a former Verizon lawyer) seems to support the expansion of broadband only in the case that private, monopolistic ISPs are allowed to build infrastructure and overcharge users for subpar service. The thought of any public programs seeking to increase internet access, which is practically on par with phone service in terms of necessity, is somehow beyond the pale. Broadband access is good, but only if it helps the right corporations.
The Ohio River -- on it, in it, over it, beside it. No politics.




#someonerescueherplease I hope the black girl in this group isn't as fucking dim as the rest of these twits.

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nah she's just as dumb as them Sadly, it's a convenient fact i like to ignore...........

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Sigh. I hope the sister is just brainwashed

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Idk she said in an interview this week she "really had a thing for mixed race boys". i don't think she's said anything awful apart from that though, searching the tag here. but a stan would know better than me.



Edited at 2017-02-04 06:15 am (UTC)

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she is lol

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Can't rescue someone who willfully associates herself with and dates trash. Lol

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Idk, I'm more concerned with the fact that Jade of Middle Eastern descent is cool with this. Trump hasn't started deporting black people to Africa yet (although I'm sure he'd like to try).

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MAN IT FINALLY TOOK THIS FOR ME TO STOP STANNING rip my inappropriate aged loves

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:/ same, i've been clinging to them bc of their voices but they're all legitimately idiots and none of their recent music has grabbed me

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you can be a fan of someone but not agree with everything they do/say imo, like I'm a taylor stan but I thought her silence on this US election was shameful.



I don't know why stan twitter + other places act like if you're a fan of a celeb you're responsible for all the bad things they do or their sins are your sins.



it's just a lazy way for people to pretend they're woke or doing meaningful activism by shaming others for following problematic celebs + because their faves are 'unproblematic' imo. it's all performative.



Edited at 2017-02-04 05:39 am (UTC)

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my stanning was already half-assed to begin with, but i can't fuck with this level of obtuseness.

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do they not have any media training or..........

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They're either trying not to engage in any political situation or they're just THAT stupid omg.



I love their music but they're so ignorant and dumb it frustrates me so much lol.

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The president of the United States just explicitly said he is making a public policy decision so that his friends can make more money. https://t.co/CFTP3hfpwh  James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) February 3, 2017



this is just so shocking, I'm used to corruption here but to openly admit it. apparently this subsidy is to provide computers+internet to poor children so they can do schoolwork+homework + is paid for by consumers in the Universal Service Fund. SO cutting it saves $0.00. Trump is so heartless + spiteful. this is just so shocking, I'm used to corruption here but to openly admit it. apparently this subsidy is to provide computers+internet to poor children so they can do schoolwork+homework + is paid for by consumers in the Universal Service Fund. SO cutting it saves $0.00. Trump is so heartless + spiteful.

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how nice of him to fuck everyone else over for the sake of his friends

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This is disgusting wtf

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I mean, the word kleptocracy hasnt been thrown around for giggles....

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I hope they won't pull a Taylor Swift only using feminism when it benefits them



Please...

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from what I've seen they don't talk about feminism usually except to say their music is empowering for women + they like Theresa May, they don't really use it for their benefit or PR much, at least not compared to swift.



been impressed this US election with how many pop stars did speak against trump or attended the women's march. katy perry went, lady gaga spoke against trump, rihanna went, beyonce's charity sponsored the march, ariana went, zendaya, + others. don't usually see lots of celebs choosing morals over money.



Edited at 2017-02-04 05:40 am (UTC)

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I think it's more to do with the fact that these girls are repeat offenders and don't seem to wanna change. It's hard to stan that especially if you're losing interest in their music to begin with.



I stan a lot of trash but I happily call it out. Everybody has a limit, I think.

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i mean, i think they've already done that lol. look at their answers here and things they've said in the past abt feminism. their "feminism" seems to begin and end at girl power themes in music and defending their right to show skin.

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Things got heated when British Parliament discussed President Trump's state visit to the UK https://t.co/r1UsvRXpnl pic.twitter.com/pQTaLXtj50  CNN (@CNN) January 31, 2017



hope they ban him but Theresa May was the first world leader to meet him + even had a press conference with him smh so that seems unlikely. enjoyed all the offended trump supporters response to this tweet though. hope they ban him but Theresa May was the first world leader to meet him + even had a press conference with him smh so that seems unlikely. enjoyed all the offended trump supporters response to this tweet though.

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Omg, I love this video. It's a rare moment of not being 100% embarrassed by our government.

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So I guess we can assume they know nothing abt any of these topics lol

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Why should they?

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...because they're citizens of this world?

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every time i see support for May under the guise of 'girl power', i age ten years.

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Didn't Perrie not know Obama was president at one point? Good lord....

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I searched + think that was just a made up rumor started by twitter.

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"Bit of girl power" lmao well if that phrase wasn't already dead and buried...

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yeah okay then.

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They really want to be popular in the US. Sad!

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the fact that jade is considered the "smart" one out of them says so much honestly. they're all way too old to be this willfully ignorant

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Mte. In the interview, they keep looking to Jade like she's the only one with answers. Lol!

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lmao it's honestly so embarrassing, like ofc they don't have to be scholars or whatever but u mean to tell me she's the ONLY one capable of handling those questions jkjfjldfkd

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they knew this was racist smh

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yup this was intentional

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It's crazy how geeked ppl are over her pregnancy.

That said I think the tweet was okay?

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they're insinuating that people would get so excited about Bey's pregnancy (re: black people) that they'd go out and shoot off guns at random things and each other. I mean...

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What a randomly racist thing to tweet...



And I thought celebratory gunfire was a Balkan thing? At least get ur stereotypes right smh

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ia, I thought it was racist but thought mods might reject it if I added the racism tag.

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why do u think its ok?

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Wait what?

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..............??!!?!?!?!



they do this shit on purpose...

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I don't understand what's there to be offended for

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I understood it that the cops would start shooting random people out of joy or whatever, but then I came here and read it was about black people rioting on the streets for the same reason. I can't read these things at all.

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bc obvs we coloreds dont deserve any joy during this bleak time and only know how to celebrate by poppin of some rounds.





white ppl stay trying to insert their ashy opinions in our shit

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I saw a bunch of articles complaining about her pregnancy photoshoot written by some white women and I'm just confused like she can't even have fun with her pregnancy and show how beautiful a pregnant woman can be without people complaining

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yeah idg why people were so pressed by that shoot esp knowing how beyonce feels about motherhood and all the shit she's been through

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oh god people are really doing the most re: her pregnancy photoshoot, trying to demean her and poke fun at her for doing something a lot of women do. it's so transparent.

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yeah, I came here to mention them myself as I saw posts on my dash today mocking two separate ones. White women STAY pressed over Bey

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I wonder how many women complaining about it have had babies and particpated in all that extra af pinterest shit like making people come to a party just so you can reveal the sex of your baby

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There was one going around about how she shouldn't have shared the photos because some women have had miscarriages and would feel bad. As though Beyonce herself hasn't had a miscarriage, and as though that experience wouldn't lead her to be super extra and geeked about coming through that to get pregnant with twins.

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This reminds me of that SNL Beyonce skit. Yts have it tough when anything is not about them.

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i've only ever heard of white people celebrating things with gunfire



i don't think white people care about beyonce's babies

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same. my cousin in tennessee posted a video of some dudes in a pick up truck riding in like this land patch behind their neighborhood firing into the air...

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after trump won*

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Lol mte. They love that shit

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white women have been judging her on Twitter someone wrote an entire article on how that's not how motherhood is done or some shit as if Beyonce wasn't already a mom. It was weird

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Same, this didn't process as racist for me at first because my mind immediately went to white rednecks.

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i think it's something idiots of all colors enjoy, unfortunately. 4th of july always results in some deaths/injuries from celebratory gunfire

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Yeah. The police are racist and clueless. The white people I know who celebrate with gunfire wouldn't celebrate that Bey is pregnant- they'd probably be angry.

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This is gross as hell and they knew exactly what they were doing



It's also weird people are so invested in Beyonce's pregnancy to the point of obsession I feel like dehumanizing people to that level where you act like they're gods is just unhealthy

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Which white guy thought that was a good idea

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why is the APD tweeting from houston??

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wow good catch I didn't notice

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super bowl sis lmao

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lol came in here looking for the same answers

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I saw this on Tumblr and my initial reaction was 'wow, that's some backhanded racist shit,' but the comments were like LMAO I LOVE ATLANTA and so I wondered if it was, like, an inside joke I'm unaware of as a Northerner...? But no, looks like it's just weird and tactless.

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is the police department of Atlanta mostly black like the city? maybe that changes it idk.

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a quick google search (idk if it's accurate) makes it seem as if white people are overrepresented and black people and underrepresented

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The Houston police don't even tweet anything

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WHERE is this tweet coming from? oh they are houston for the dam superbowl??????

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ikr, like how many violent ppl are there for other cities to send their cops...

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does rupaul know about this?

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mte

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phi phi was pretty much in constant brownface (is that the right term?), impersonated a stereotype of a working class latina woman more than once, ru (or anyone lbr) didn't seemed to care. i only saw criticism of it here sadly

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after he didn't say anything about willam and lucian i doubt he would say st about this

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rupaul likes shirley q liquor so...

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He'd be the last one to care about political correctness.

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*puts on makeup for blackface*



I'm colorblind, guys!

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lmao

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hope she's gone swiftly



Edited at 2017-02-04 06:53 pm (UTC) OOPhope she's gone swiftly

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Courtney is so beautiful.

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Edited at 2017-02-04 06:55 pm (UTC) welp. i used to watch her youtube vids and she was my early fave this season

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MTE. I love how much stealing goes on from Black culture, specifically Black women, from these super racist queens and their racist fans. Like, the irony is stunning.

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Big shock.

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"I laughed at Wayan's brothers in the movie White Chicks. Am I a racist?"







Edited at 2017-02-04 06:58 pm (UTC)

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lmaoo

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loool, no puedo

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Well this is disappointing.

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I heard about this T on the subreddit. Bloop @ you, henny! GoodLuckBookingThatStageYouSpeakOf...



I don't get why she doesn't just come out and apologize for it. I feel like drag queens bend over backwards to be unapologetic and justify their messiness. Everybody makes mistakes.

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seems like she doesn't think what she did was wrong, since she was attemping to defend herself against the racism accusations in 2013.

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I love how "Laquisha", a black woman, is a fish out of water. More than a genderfluid person or immigrant. Like, did he hear himself?

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Whenever a British person talks about their immigrant experience in America ... SMH



get over yourself tbh, it's not the same and you know it.

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Even worse, he's American and moved to the UK.



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jfc. as an american who had immigrated to the UK i know the system quite well...but to deny you have enormous privilege while not only living there but ease of travel throughout europe and ability to immigrate there is just ridiculous

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i don't like to spend much time on the drag race subreddit since most of the people there are borderline demented, but i noticed that when this was brought up people were mass downvoted for bringing up this trash's racism

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i go on this subreddit way too often and idk i've seen a lot of people being thrown off by that. i feel like there's gonna be a lot of heated debates on it this season

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Idk maybe it was just in the one topic I was going through then. I hope she doesn't just brush it off and that people don't ignore it. Her reaction to it is really obnoxious.

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reddit is the land of 22 year old white men who voted for trump



the rpdr reddit is definitely much better than most but it's still reddit (and once they start stanning a queen.. nothing will stand in the way)

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lol i used to go there a lot and left because of that....and their massive stanning for trixie mattel during that year. my god.

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How the US Trump Administration Deals With Emerging Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran Issues Will Determine How the World Reacts

Exiled Iranian strategic philosopher Dr Assad Homayoun notes: If Iran switches its allegiances back to the West, then the global balance of power will change, so vital a nexus is it to the West, Russia, and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).1

The only challenge to this  and any other sudden Persian movement with regard to potential strategic partnering  is the innate conservatism of the Iranian clerics, who are resistant to sudden change and who are preoccupied with attempting to balance between Islam and Persian historical identity. There is a gradual movement in favor of restored Persian identity.

But even before the question of how the US will attempt to deal with Iran is the question of how Washington must deal in the short-term with urgent and emerging challenges which it cannot avoid in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indeed, dealing with these problems before facing the rhetoric-laden debate on US participation in the 2015 Five+One deal with Iran may give Washington time to analyze options and desirable goals with regard to Iran with less pressure. Because pressure against the clerics, as Homayoun notes, would only galvanize internal support for them, whereas the opening of Iranian society would weaken the grip of the mullahs.

The incoming US Administration of Pres. Donald Trump was elected on the basis of a major transformation of domestic and international policy and attitudes, and it is probable that this transformation will, in large part, be delivered. Given the global US strategic dominance  despite the substantial decline of the past decade  it is this change of context which the rest of the worlds states will have to consider in restructuring their own planning.

And how Washington considers these changes will in part be based on the worldview of the incoming President, moderated by the team he has entrusted to implement his views, and constrained by the existing bureaucracy.

Within this framework, evolving US strategic policy in the Northern Tier states  Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan  is likely to take significant new turns early into the term of the Trump Administration. Several, separate catalyst issues are coming to a head in each of these states, but the reality is that they are also inextricably intertwined with the evolving strategic framework involving Russia, Syria, the Peoples Republic of China, the Central Asian states, the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea states, India, and so on.

The US, since the end of the Cold War, has dealt with each of these issues separately, or at best in the perspective of stovepiped regions, for the most part to the detriment of an overarching US global strategy. The Cold War perspective was at least global: it had forced the necessity to view regional issues within the context of the global East-West ideological competition.

Now, within the emerging global framework, an anticipated, imminent collapse of security and stability in Afghanistan now seems likely to become of major preoccupation. It will require a military and political response early in the Trump term.

This is likely to highlight the failure of the former Barack Obama Administrations Afghanistan strategy of neglect and political misdirection, as well as highlighting the fact that there had been no sense of a broader framework in US strategic and foreign policy for the overarching Northern Tier region.

Significantly, the failures of the Obama reactive (or neglectful) policies with regard to Afghanistan and Pakistan highlight the reality that the new crisis would most efficiently, of necessity, require a very new approach, possibly one which is not solely based on direct military projection. Here, ironically, the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan have common cause in bringing nuance to the new US approach to the region, given that the military-dominated strategies since 2001 have been both expensive and limited in success. Afghanistan and Pakistan have had a tenuous record of cooperation in recent years. Related: Has Big Oil Bought Into The Oil Price Recovery?

Of key importance in evaluating what could happen is the reality that the team put in place thus far by Pres. Trump is heavily focused on relatively narrow options driven from the perspective of the US military and intelligence communities. And the intelligence community (IC) approach to Afghanistan and Iraq  and therefore Pakistan  has been itself driven by a covert, or less formal, kinetic doctrine; the US IC has, in many respects, moved away from an actual intelligence-driven function in support of strategic decision making.

This limits the Trump White Houses options.

And it has made it vulnerable to the landmines left by the outgoing US Administration, specifically designed to make successful outcomes in the Northern Tier difficult to achieve. This is quite apart from the ideological impediments caused by the Trump elections own campaign rhetoric which seemingly eliminated the option of seizing opportunities to transform the situation in Iran.

The Obama Administration  in its final days after the elections of November 8, 2016, repudiated the Obama strategic policy  undertook a number of actions which were designed specifically to hinder the Trump Administration from reversing the Obama policies in the Eastern Northern tier: South Asia.

Sources indicate that the surreptitious  and largely unreported  action by the outgoing US Administration of Pres. Obama on New Years Eve, 2016, to impose sanctions against seven Pakistani State and private entities allegedly linked to the countrys nuclear program was designed to make it difficult for the incoming Trump Administration to respond through Pakistan to the growing crisis in neighboring Afghanistan.

It was not known whether the new Trump Administration had yet focused on the Pakistan sanctions, although the competency of the incoming US Defense Secretary, Gen. (rtd.) James Mattis, in the area  along with the regional knowledge of National Security Advisor Lt.-Gen. (rtd.) Michael Flynn  meant that the situation would likely be reviewed sooner rather than later.

The Obama sanctions were designed to give the appearance of US concern over Pakistans nuclear program, something the Obama Administration did not publicly stress or act upon during its eight years in office.

Indeed, there were no indicators of any new activity in the Pakistani program in recent years which threatened either regional stability or US interests, and which warranted 11th hour punitive action before Pres. Obama left office.

Strained US-Pakistani relations  which harmonizes with the mantra of hostility toward Pakistan driven by Indian-led Afghani approaches of the past decade  suit the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and Russia.

Now, removal of the Obama sanctions by the Trump White House would likely cause an outcry by India, thereby jeopardizing the Trump Administrations relations with New Delhi, even though leaving Pakistan to its PRC options (and the gradually increasing relationship between Islamabad and Moscow) is not really in Indias strategic interests. And the PRC has, indeed, been committing heavily to the US-Pakistan friendship pause by building its dominance over the Pakistani Baluchistan Port of Gwadar and links overland to China through the Karakoram Highway. [India has attempted to compete with that by its own commitment to building and managing the port of Chah Bahar in Iranian Baluchistan, with new rail links moving up to connect to Central Asia and the Western border of Afghanistan.

Significantly, the Arabian Sea, then, is in play, and with it the PRCs strategic logistical framework, as it is in Africa and the Caribbean.

See, for example: Ugandan Unrest Jeopardizes Beijings Logistics Plans, in Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, January 25, 2017.

Irans pivotal and historical geopolitical position in the equation needs to be dealt with in a separate report, but here it is necessary to note that Pakistans significant remaining option would be to continue to rebuild trust with neighboring Iran, and this is something which seems likely to occur over the coming year and more. This is particularly the case, bearing in mind the growing distance between Pakistan and its erstwhile financial supporter, Saudi Arabia (which in many respects mirrors the separation now occurring between Saudi Arabia and Egypt).

See, particularly: How the Saudi Rift With Egypt is Spiraling out of Control, in Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, January 24, 2017.

In all of this, Pakistan remains a central element, controlling as it does not only viable overland access to Afghanistan, but also dominating the Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman Indian Ocean access to and from the Persian Gulf. So the landmines placed by the outgoing US Obama Administration with regard to Pakistan are strategically significant.

The seven sanctioned Pakistani entities were:

(1) Ahad International, Suite 5-6, 2nd Floor, Empress Tower, Empress Road, Lahore, and 2nd Floor, Nomro Centre, Badami Bagh, Lahore.

(2) Air Weapons Complex (AWC), E-5, Officers Colony, Wah Cantonment.

(3) Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd., 726, G-11/2, Ibne-Sina Road, Islamabad.

(4) Maritime Technology Complex (MTC), Plot 94, Karachi, and MTC System Division, PN Dockyard, Karachi.

(5) National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM), Plot 94, Sector H-11/4, Islamabad.

(6) New Auto Engineering (NAE), 72, Industrial Area, Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi.

(7) Universal Tooling Services, aka, the following three aliases: Forward Design and Manufacturing, MSM Enterprises and Technopak Engineering Deen Plaza, 68/62, Adamjee Road, Saddar PO Box 1640, GPO Rawalpindi; G-7, Nimra Centre 7, Badami Bagh, Lahore; 31/B Faisal Town, Lahore, Punjab; and Model Town, HMC Road, Taxila.

The US Department of Commerce said that the organizations had been added to the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR) list, and have been determined by the US Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

Perhaps a significant question should be to determine what motivated the sanctions. Clearly, it was not business-as-usual; nor was it something which arose suddenly. The timing and manner in which the sanctions were applied  after the November 8, 2017, elections and in a period when news coverage of such issues in the US is muted because of the holiday season, and just prior to the end of an Administration  implied a discreet political, rather than strategic, motive, as well as the domestic political agenda in the US to disrupt the incoming Administration.

In dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Trump Administration may be better placed than its predecessor Government to take a clean-sheet approach, identifying the entire history of US-Pakistani relations and why problems occurred when Washington urged Pakistani leaders to undertake actions which Pakistan deemed were not in the longer-term interests of both Pakistan and the US. Pres. Trumps view that all states have the right to act in their own interests first may make a more balanced dialog possible with Pakistan going forward.

With regard to the Afghanistan end of the equation  where the tenuous writ of the Kabul Central Government is now being challenged  the US must almost immediately consider its position. With that, the coalition allies of the US must also review their commitment to saving the geopolitical unity of the state.

Meanwhile, senior-level sources in Kabul indicate that the fragile position of the Government of Pres. Ashraf Ghani seems like to face increasing stress in the coming months. The following five points were based on the comments of those Afghan sources:

- Firstly, one of the most significant challenges for the Government is the lack of support from the major Pashtun tribes in the war against terror. This is not due to an actual alliance with terror by Pashtuns, despite popular reporting to that effect, but rather is due to a lack of trust between the Pashtuns, the Afghan Government, and US intelligence. Key Afghan officials believe that the single biggest mistake made in Afghanistan by the outgoing US Obama Administration was to announce a timeline for US force withdrawal. Afghan officials have been pushing for this message to be changed. Related: Saudis Raise March Crude Prices For All Customers

- US intelligence has had one overriding weakness in the conduct of the war against the Taliban and jihadists in Afghanistan as far as key Afghan officials are concerned. It is that the US intelligence community (IC) allied itself with the same people who were the major players in the Afghan civil war in the 1990s and who did not represent a majority of the country. The only major Pashtun group with which the US intelligence community allied itself was the extended family of former Pres. Hamid Karzai. And the civil war was the reason the Taliban came into existence. The Taliban was a reaction to the injustices being committed by the same players the US IC sought to use. Many of the Taliban were members of the mujahedin from the 1980s but they were not mujahedin. Originally, most Taliban were Pashtun, but that has changed. Due to the empowerment of criminals by the US in the Afghan Government, the non-Pashtun populations have allied more and more and joined the Taliban as well as, now, with DIISH (ISIS). Concerned and informed Afghan officials have told GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs that there must be a reset within the US intelligence community and new blood brought in to work with groups who the old guard would not work with. People need to be given authority who do not have a significant alliance with the warlords who helped in the post- 9/11 invasion or with the Karzai clan. The primary reason that these counter-productive relationships began the tool of US projection is connected to the reality that the US intelligence community in Afghanistan was (and is) being staffed mostly by former US Special Forces personnel and not strategic intelligence types.

- Former Pres. Hamid Karzai allied with only one of the two major wings of the Pasthun tribe, thus pushing the other wing towards the Taliban. A large swath of Taliban recruits and regional victories came from territories from the branch on which Karzai turned his back. Using competent and capable regional experts to start a strategy of winning over the tribes would be a major coup. The ability to turn the tribes against foreign influence as well as providing them with the tools to secure their own territory  thus reducing the need for a massive central government  would start a swing in the direction of restored stability.

- Pres. Ghani is keen to push an anti-corruption agenda. But he has some challenges with which he needs assistance. For example there are elements within his government who he has been told by the US Government are corrupt and that he must remove them. But he cannot do so at the mere suggestions of wrongdoing even though he knows they are corrupt. He needs to have solid information which the US has been unwilling to share. If given proof, he will deal with at least a portion of the corruption. Others who need to be removed are too powerful and connected to the Karzais, Dostums, and Noors of Afghanistan. For these there needs to be some sort of overt push from the US to provide him with top cover to take action. Otherwise he will quickly be faced with elements who will attempt to destabilize the country.

- One key source noted: I believe knowledgeable experts need to be brought in to create a team which is not full of military personnel, or consists of allies of one group or another within Afghanistan. The team should consist of truly high-level thinkers who are not connected to ideologies from either the Bush era or the Obama era. These people do exist but have been successfully sidelined for years. They are still willing to step up if asked.

The incoming Trump Administration has some strong skills in its leadership team on Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, but also carries with it some of the baggage which these players inherited in shaping the Afghan situation in the first (post 9/11) rounds. The Trump team will be looking for low-cost, rapid-effect actions to remedy the years of drift and decline which characterized the Obama commitment to the region. The question will be whether the new team takes the time to do a clean-sheet analysis which weighs the earlier experiences, begins defining what would exemplify victory as far as US strategic objectives are concerned, and how best to re-shape the region.

There is little doubt that this would need to include looking at the successful management of the region during the Richard Nixon Presidency (1969-74), and how a stable Iran helped ensure a stable Afghanistan. And also to ask why Nixons successful balancing of the region  and his innate respect for the major players there  gave way to partisanship and decline, culminating in Pres. Jimmy Carters destruction of Iranian stability in 1978-79.

That paved the way for the world today, and for putting the Northern Tier in play again.

By Gregory R. Copley via Defense & Foreign Affairs

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict

 The White House has put Iran on notice following ballistic missile tests in the country. According to Trumps National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who announced the measure, Irans support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen was another reason for the decision, though this is a direct move of support for Saudi Arabia and its waging of a proxy war with Iran in Yemen. The announcement immediately lifted oil prices as worries grew that the tension between the two countries may escalate into a conflict that would affect one of the main global oil routes, the Strait of Hormuz, controlled by Iran. While empty threats to block the Strait of Hormuz have been circulating for an eternity, the Trump presidency may be the event that pushes this over the edge. The strait sees a fifth of the oil traded globally on a daily basis. This is not the first ballistic missile test Iran has carried out since it struck a deal with six Western powers that led to the lifting of most economic sanctions against Tehran. An open conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iranwhile it could essentially spark World War IIIwould initially be a boon for oil companies.

 More tension is emerging between the U.S. and Iraq, after Donald Trumps executive order effectively banning hundreds of thousands of legal Iraqi resident of the U.S. to enter the country. The Iraqi parliament struck back with its own ban on U.S. nationals, which, although a symbolic move, does not bode well for bilateral relations. Iraq is one of the strongest U.S. allies in the Middle East against the Islamic State and the worsening of relations would not help with this fight. Again, much as Trumps hasty and dangerously broad ban on immigrants from Muslim countries will exponentially aid in jihadist recruitment, so will a rift in relations with Iraq push it fully into the hands of Iran in a geopolitical backlash that will not benefit the USor international oil companies operating in Iraqs oil-rich south.

 Clashes between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian forces in Ukraine are escalating, raising questions whether Russia would interfere, testing President Trumps positive attitude to his Russian counterpart. Its difficult to guess whether Putin will make such a move, especially now that NATO has sent a signal it is unwilling to provoke Moscow, by suspending a planned discussion with the Ukrainian government about the treatys missile defense system and more specifically about the possibility of debris falling on Ukrainian territory if the system is used. However, Russias most likely play here is to forego land and threaten Ukraine from the Black Sea, where it has usurped Ukrainian Crimeas offshore oil territory. An incident in which a Ukrainian military plane flew two low passes over a Russian oil rig tower earlier this week suggests that Ukraine is aware of Russias deployment of radar systems that are used for missile guidance in this area.

Deals, Mergers & Acquisitions

 GE is preparing an investment in Nigerias three refineries, in partnership with the National Nigerian Petroleum Company. The company is competing with Eni for the rehabilitation of one of the refineries, in Port Harcourt. In addition to the refinery projects, GE is also willing to take part in power generations projects with a combined capacity of 4.4 GW.

 Shell offloaded assets in the North Sea and Thailand worth a combined $4.7 billion as part of its divestment strategy to reduce its debt load. Most of the assets were in the North Sea and were sold for $3.8 billion to indie producer Chrysaor, backed by private equity funds. The remainder came from the sale of Shells stake in a gas field in Thailand to Kuwait Petroleum Corp.

 Private E&P Silverback Exploration plans to sell assets worth $855 million. The assets are located in the Delaware Basin, in the Permian shale play and produce a daily average of 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent. The buyer is Centennial Resource Development, which said the acquisition will help it raise its production to 50,000 bpd by 2020, from 30,000 at the moment.

 Enbridge will take a subsidiary private in a bid to simplify its corporate structure. The subsidiary in question is Midcoast Energy Partners, which has an interest in another of Enbridges units, Enbridge Energy Partners. The parent will pay $170 million for the move.

Tenders, Auctions & Contracts

 Brazils national development bank will no longer have a vote on a committee set up to ensure local content for new oil and gas development projects. Instead, the vote will now belong to the countrys planning ministry, to which the bank reports. The move aims to encourage more foreign investment in the local oil and gas industry.

 Bulgartransgaz, Bulgarias gas transmission network operator, will later this year launch tenders for the construction of gas pipelines worth a total $23.5 million. Half of this will be provided by the company and the other half will come from the EBRD-administrated Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund. The pipelines will connect five municipalities to the national gas grid.

 Algerias Sonatrach has invited bids for the construction of four petrochemical plants worth a combined $6 billion. The tender is part of Sonatrachs efforts to boost revenues by focusing more on refining and chemicals production. At the moment, the company produces 30 million tons of refined oil products annually.

Company News

 The president of Venezuela has replaced the vice presidents at state-owned PDVSA and has created an executive vice president position in a stated attempt to curb corruption at the company. The company has a bad reputation, won through practices such as smuggling subsidized fuels, kickbacks and graft. Former Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino will remain President of PDVSA.

 Glencore has overtaken Trafigura as the largest buyer of Russias Urals blend of crude, following its acquisition, together with Qatars sovereign fund, of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft. Glencores chief, Ivan Glasenberg said last week that the commodity trader and Rosneft are discussing future cooperation projects including crude oil supply to India and China.

Discovery & Development

 Gazprom Neft said crude oil output from its Prirazlomnoye field, in the Arctic, more than doubled in 2016, to 15.7 million barrels, up from 5.8 million barrels for 2015. Prirazlomnoye is the only offshore oil field in the Russian Arctic in commercial operation.

 Pemex reported the lowest refinery output in 26 years for 2016. The reason for the slump was a budget cut by the government, which stripped the state-owned company of the funds needed for timely maintenance. As a result, Pemexs six refineries experienced 88 unplanned unit stoppages over the 12 months. The average daily throughput stood at 933,062 barrels, down 12% on 2015.

 LNG imports to Turkey are seen to reach 9 million tons by 2025, thanks to wider use of the fuel in a range of industries. The expansion in mining activity is also a driver for growing LNG use, as is power generation, where LNG is replacing coal and oil as fuel.

 Independent producer Comstock reported that its production replacement rate last year reached 667% with proved reserves rising by 47%. At the end of 2016 Comstock had 7.3 million barrels of oil in its reserves books and 872 billion cu ft of natural gas.

 An audit by two U.S. firms has confirmed Saudi Aramcos crude oil reserves at over 261 billion barrels. The audit is part of preparations for the initial public offering of the worlds largest oil company by output.

Regulatory Updates

 Congress is ready to start removing environmental regulation approved by the previous administration, starting with a requirement for the reduction of methane emissions in oil and gas fields. Methane emissions, most commonly unintentional, contribute significantly to climate change because of their greenhouse effect. The Obama rule would have not just curbed these but by doing this it would have saved money, some $330 million worth of the gas. However, the GOP-dominated House is planning to invoke a Bill Clinton-era piece of legislation, the Congressional Review Act that allows for legislation to be reversed in a matter of two months by a simple majority vote.

 The Scottish government has opened consultation on whether to allow fracking as a method of extracting oil and gas on its territory. The method was banned in Scotland two years ago, giving the government time to evaluate the pros and cons. Scotland has substantial tight gas reserves, it has been estimated, but these are inaccessible with conventional methods. Across Britain, fracking has met with fierce opposition from environmentalists.
By Reagan Knopp

Earlier this week, the Statesman Journal reported that a man named Jim Maguire wrote letters to Senate President Peter Courtney and Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli requesting the censure of his State Senator, Brian Boquist, for sending several disrespectful replies after Maguire had requested Boquist introduce a piece of legislation on his behalf.

After reading the enhance (shown below) I think its quite clear that Senator Boquist made a mistake. Being a legislator can sometimes be a thankless job, but its also a voluntary one. Constituents are going to complain about their elected officials whether they performed their duties to the fullest or not.

That being said, that is not an excuse for an elected official like Boquist to behave has he did. The most offensive part of this to me is Boquist (who is a veteran) questioned the military service of this gentleman. Regardless of whether he was a constituent, this is irresponsible behavior.

I urge Senator Boquist to apologize to Mr. Maguire privately. Let this be a lesson to all for us, but especially our elected officials, to treat everyone with respect.

Note: Below is the exchange between Senator Boquist and Jim Maguire as reported by the Statesman Journal. You can also read the exchange verbatim in the documents Maguire submitted to Senators Courtney and Ferrioli.

The kerfuffle started when Maguire emailed Boquist to ask him to introduce legislation that would require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the Oregon ballot. He received a one-line response: Suggest you contact your US Representative as the State has no say. Maguire wrote back  he says politely  noting that the response, which did not include a salutation or signature to let him know who was responding, seemed discourteous. I do not feel I am being overly taxing by requesting the basic courtesies in correspondence, Maguire wrote. Otherwise I have no choice to be left with the impression that you dont give a damn about your boss  your constituents. I expect more of my elected representative, sir. Boquist responded  this time with a salutation and signature  again urging Maguire to contact his federal representative wherever it is you really live. Boquist also called the address Maguire provided bullshit, saying the county assessor lists it as a vacant lot. Your Portland cell phone number does not pan out very well either as being in Senate District 12, he wrote. He also derided Maguire for putting his Naval Academy status in his signature block, and questioned its legitimacy. I am not impressed, Boquist wrote. Maguire responded by sending Boquist a picture of his house, which he moved into in November 2016. He also sent Boquist a screen shot of his active voter registration. Boquists office now acknowledges that Maguire does live at the address provided and is registered to vote in Boquists district.
Oregon Republican Party Chairman Bill Currier has issued an official call to the Precinct Committee Persons from HD 18 to convene a nominating convention to fill the vacancy in HD 18. The convention must choose three to five candidates to present to a joint meeting of the Clackamas and Marion County Commissions to be held at a later date. Event details are as follows:

February 18, 2017

9:00 AM

Donald Fire Station

20909 Feller St NE

Donald, OR 97020

Read the Official Call

Read the Agenda

Read the Filing Form
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
The Board of Directors of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has praised the ECOWAS for its commendable efforts in ensuring the peaceful transfer of power from ex-President Yahya Jammeh to President Adama Barrow.



In a 10-point resolution issued at the end of a two-day meeting of the Board in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, the Board indicated that ECOWAS action on the Gambian situation was one that will help strengthen and consolidate democratic governance across West Africa.



It congratulated the new Gambian President and urged him to undertake urgent reforms that will help ensure good governance, and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Gambian people.



As a commitment to the human rights reform agenda, the Board further calls on President Barrow to take urgent steps to unconditionally release all political prisoners and detainees under the Yahya Jammeh regime. A similar gesture should be extended to journalists who were arbitrary detained or imprisoned under the regime, the resolution stated.



Below is the full 10-point resolution issued by the Board



Board Resolution



By the Board of Directors of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) at its Meeting held in Dakar, Senegal, on January 25 & 26, 2017.



On January 25 and 26, 2017, the Board of Directors of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) Chaired by Mr. Edetaen Ojo, met in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss and approve the organisations work plan and budget for 2017.



On the second day of the meeting, the Board held discussions with Gambian media experts, editors and the leadership of The Gambia Press Union (GPU) on the recent political challenges in The Gambia. The meeting discussed the prevailing context of press freedom and freedom of expression in The Gambia as well as the challenges and prospects for improving the media and freedom of expression landscape in the post-Jemmeh era.



At the end of the two-day meeting, the Board unanimously adopted and issued this 10-point resolution:



The Board highly commends the ECOWAS for its resilient efforts that ensured the resolution of the Gambian political crisis and the peaceful transfer of power to H.E. President Adama Barrow who won the December 1, 2016 presidential elections. This, the Board notes, is a commendable effort on the part of ECOWAS that will ensure democratic development and consolidation not only in the Gambia but the West Africa region as a whole.



It congratulates President Barrow on his victory and ascension to the high office. It also calls on the President to urgently undertake the necessary reforms to ensure good governance, and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Gambian people.

The Board further commends the people of The Gambia for their resort to peace and dialogue during the transitional process and for remaining resolute in their quest for democratic consolidation and respect for human rights.



Mindful for the very repressive press situation and freedom of expression conditions in The Gambia under the 22-year rule of President Yahya Jammeh, the Board calls on President Barrow to undertake urgent reforms that will promote, protect and defend the rights of the Gambian people to freely express themselves and to guarantee press freedom in the country. Such reforms will include the repeal of laws that criminalise speech offences and the passage of a Right to Information (RTI) legislation.



As a commitment to the human rights reform agenda, the Board further calls on President Barrow to take urgent steps to unconditionally release all political prisoners and detainees under the Yahya Jammeh regime. A similar gesture should be extended to journalists who were arbitrarily detained or imprisoned under the Jammeh regime.



In view of the crucial role of the media in the democratic transition and consolidation processes, the Board urges the new administration to support media sector reform measures such as building the capacity of journalists, improving journalism training institutions, strengthening and reforming the Gambian Television and Radio Service (GRTS), and other initiations that will ensure a vibrant, pluralistic and professional media landscape that will support participatory and accountable governance.



On the regional front, the Board reiterates its deep concern about the slow pace of digital migration among countries in West Africa, including the low level of public awareness of the digital migration process and its potentially massive implications for access to information and the right to freedom of expression.



Mindful of the fact that digital migration will require policy, legal and regulatory reforms, the Board calls on governments to adopt a multi-stakeholder and consultative approach in all policy, legal and regulatory reform processes associated with digital migration so that all critical stakeholders can be effectively engaged.



The Board welcomes the generally noticeable decline in the most egregious forms of attacks on journalists and the media in the region. The Board, therefore, commends the management and staff of the MFWA and its national partners in the region for their significant contributions towards achieving the current generally improved conditions of freedom of expression in West Africa. It urges the secretariat to continue to work closely with it partners to further improve the situation and strengthen the medias capacity to support transparent and accountable governance in the region.



On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the MFWA, which is this year - 2017, the Board expresses gratitude to the organisations past and present funders and partners for their commitment and support for the organisation and its work over the years. To formally mark the occasion, the Board announces a two-day anniversary celebration in the form of a regional conference and awards to be held on October 27 and 28, 2017 in Accra.

Source: Peacefmonline









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The Gambia's new president has scrapped the four-day week introduced by his predecessor Yahya Jammeh.



In a statement Adama Barrow said that public sector employees would now have to work a half-day on Fridays too.



Four years ago, Mr Jammeh had said the country's mainly Muslim population should use Fridays to pray, socialise and tend to fields.



However, under the new rules, the working week is actually officially shorter by three-and-a-half hours.



Official working hours are now 08:00 to 16:00 from Monday to Thursday and 08:00 to 12:30 on Friday - making 36-and-a-half hours a week.



Previously public sector employees were meant to work 40 hours a week, from 08:00 to 18:00, Monday to Thursday.



BBC Africa's Umaru Fofana says the four-day week had its critics, but under the former government, publicly expressing criticism of official policy could lead to severe punishment.



"Now we have rejoined the civilised world," Allieu Ceesay, a trader in Serekunda, The Gambia's largest town, told our correspondent by phone.



The new directive comes less than two weeks since Mr Jammeh went into exile in Equatorial Guinea - and within a week of President Barrow's return from Senegal to assume power.



Mr Jammeh had initially accepted defeat in elections in December, but then tried to have the results annulled.



Mr Barrow went to Senegal for his safety as the regional bloc Ecowas intervened to end the crisis.



Regional troops were deployed to The Gambia when Mr Jammeh's term of office officially ended last month and his exit was negotiated by West African leaders.

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.

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Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
If you thought a helicopter was about to land in your front yard Friday morning, you were close.

I first heard the whirling birds at about 9:15 a.m. near my house in Northumberland. The park across the street has been used as a landing zone for medical helicopters before and I thought the same was happening.

As I peered outside of my front door, I couldn't see anything but could hear them perfectly as they rattled windows and doors of my house.

After about 30 seconds of looking into the sky, I witnessed three of the four helicopters flying in perfect formation and could recognize they were military.

According to The Saratogian, four CH-53E Super Stallions, part of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461, landed at Floyd D. Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury after being turned around by weather.

The helicopters and crew from North Carolina were enroute from North Carolina to Fort Drum after a stop at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey the night before.

The article stated the helicopters are very heavy and do not fly well in snow and ice but the crew require necessary training.

After the helicopters had left the airport, an airport employee, who did not want to identify himself, said the aircrafts were massive and took up the entire runway.

It was only for a short time, but he said the airport was happy the Marines chose the airport to refuel. The helicopters require a massive amount of fuel and they conducted a month's worth of business in one day.

 Adam Colver
MOREAU  The Route 9 sewer project may be canceled Monday night.

The Moreau Town Board will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Town Hall to consider rescinding the project.

The board will consider two resolutions: rescinding the resolution that approved the project and rescinding the resolution that set the Feb. 21 public referendum on the project.

If the board passes those resolutions, the Feb. 21 vote will be canceled.

Board members were reluctant to describe how they plan to vote, but Supervisor Gardner Congdon said he was certain they would rescind the project.

Congdon is so certain that he does not plan to end his vacation in Florida early so that he can race back in time for the vote.

I am certain theyll do the right thing, said Congdon, who wanted to rescind the project. The facts being what they are, it seems to me the board will recognize where were at and take the appropriate steps.

Board members had a conference-call meeting with their attorney on the issue, and member Todd Kusnierz also spoke with the engineer who was hired to design the project.

He wouldnt say which way he will vote Monday.

I think the board has to discuss that, he said.

Board member Alan Van Tassel said the board also wanted to make a decision sooner than Feb. 14, the boards next regular meeting. Thats just one week before the scheduled sewer vote.

I feel it is important that we get back in front of the public as soon as possible and Monday is the soonest we can make that happen, Van Tassel said.

Both Van Tassel and Kusnierz hoped to find some way to keep the project alive, despite major errors in the design. The engineers plan would have charged sewer construction costs to more than 800 people who already have sewer, a chargeback that the state Comptrollers Office said is not allowed under the law.

The plan also came under fire because the engineer did not plan to allow residents in Lamplighter Acres to vote, even though more than 70 mobile home owners in the park receive individual tax bills from the town. The state considers mobile homes to be real property and says that those who own real property, are listed on the assessment roll and thus pay their own tax bills must be allowed to vote.

In addition, the engineer based his per-property cost estimates on the amount of water each property uses, with the assumption that all of the water would eventually go down the sewer. Thats not the case for many companies, including Dunkin Donuts, which uses most of its water to create drinks.

The original plan also wrongly described various voter requirements.

The Town Board was able to fix most of the errors and promised to adjust the per-property costs after the vote. But board members struggled to find a way to overcome the mistake of charging people who already have sewer.

Those people represent a third of the payers for the district. Without them, costs skyrocket.

Kusnierz floated some possible ways to reduce the impact on cost, and some business owners held out hope that construction bids could come up much lower than expected. They also suggested that grants or a zero-interest loan could help bring the cost back to an affordable level.

But Congdon said research this week may have indicated that the board has to rewrite the plan before holding a vote.

Ive been in touch daily as the facts became more clear, he said. I just think it was a case of the board doing its job.

If the board cancels the vote, it will not meet a March deadline to apply for a low-interest federal loan. However, the board could apply for state economic development grants and reapply for a federal loan, though there are no guarantees that the project would rate highly enough in the next round of federal loans. This time, the project was the lowest-rated one on the list of projects to be funded.
SOUTH GLENS FALLS  The price of avoiding water restrictions this summer will be about $90,000.

Thats how much village officials expect to pay for an air stripper that can remove most of the sulfur from an old well.

Workers will attach that well to the village system this summer and run the water through the air stripper. Once it tastes and smells acceptable, they will begin pumping the cleaned water into the villages water supply tank.

The goal is to have the system running by June. Thats when water restrictions have been announced in the past few years. In 2016, villagers had to start rationing water on May 26.

With the new well, village officials hope they will have plenty of water this summer.

But theres still some concern about the water quality.

The air stripper will remove close to 90 percent of the sulfur, Village Board member Tony Girard said.

Then the water will be blended with the villages spring water, so residents shouldnt notice a difference, he said.

Also, the village will not use the water until it meets quality expectations, and even then, it will only be used during periods of high demand, said Village Board member Pete Lemery.

The board voted unanimously to begin the process of purchasing the air stripper.

In other business, board members acknowledged for the first time that last years effort to seal rusty water pipes with a chemical had not been completely successful.

Resident John Brooks of Jackson Avenue brought a discolored water filter to Wednesdays board meeting to prove that there was still a problem.

You cant see it, but after two days my filter looks like this, he said, holding up a yellowed filter. Thats what ruins our water heaters  that rusty, filthy water.

He pointed to two sections of deeply corrugated water pipes on display in the room.

I cant imagine how youd seal that, he said, referring to the goal of the chemical put in the water last year.

Well, you cant, admitted board member Bill Hayes. Thats why we started (to replace pipes) on Prospect Street. Were trying to prioritize the streets up in that area, to start with the worst ones.

But he said the chemical had worked on many newer pipes that werent as badly rusted.

As time went on, it did clear up the water in most areas, Hayes said.

The board is applying for grants to fund the water pipe replacement project.
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The Democratic senator has long advocated the fiduciary rule, which would set in place, universally and for the first time, a requirement for financial advisers to act in their clients' best interests when overseeing retirement money. (You can read more about the intricacies of the rule here.)

Congress passed Dodd-Frank in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis in sweeping reforms that changed how banks could do business.

Here's the full statement from Warren:

"Donald Trump talked a big game about Wall Street during his campaign  but as president, we're finding out whose side he's really on.

"Today, after literally standing alongside big bank and hedge fund CEOs, he announced two new orders  one that will make it easier for investment advisers to cheat you out of your retirement savings, and another that will put two former Goldman Sachs executives in charge of gutting the rules that protect you from financial fraud and another economic meltdown.
"The rule is a solution in search of a problem," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday in a televised news conference.

"We're directing the Department of Labor to review this rule," Spicer added, saying that the department, which passed the rule, had "exceeded its authority" and represented a type of government overreach the president intended to stop.

Trump signed the executive order around 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday. (You can read a full copy of the order here.)

Earlier on Friday, White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told CNBC in a TV interview that the fiduciary rule limited customers' choices in financial products.

"I don't think you protect investors by limiting choices," said Cohn, who previously was Goldman Sachs' COO.

"We think it is a bad rule. It is a bad rule for consumers," Cohn told The Wall Street Journal. "This is like putting only healthy food on the menu, because unhealthy food tastes good but you still shouldn't eat it because you might die younger."

Those who supported the rule have come out against Trump's move.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took aim at the executive order, saying it would "make it easier for investment advisers to cheat you out of your retirement savings."

Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president at AARP, a nonprofit representing retirees with nearly 38 million members, said in a statement, "For many Americans, today's executive order means they will continue to get conflicted financial advice that costs more and reduces what they are able to save for retirement."

Whats the fiduciary rule?

It's a simple enough concept: A financial adviser should be legally required to put their clients' best interests ahead of their own.

But it's actually not the law. The Department of Labor  which concerns itself with such matters because of its oversight of workers' welfare and retirement  decided last year to change that by establishing the fiduciary rule over retirement accounts. That drew rebukes from Wall Street lobbyists and one of Trump's most flamboyant backers, financier Anthony Scaramucci.

The fiduciary rule was set to take effect in April 2017. Its specific requirement is that financial advisers  who can be paid referral fees by asset managers for directing client money into their funds  must put their clients' interests ahead of theirs.

Currently, brokers, financial advisers, and other finance professionals don't legally have to act in a client's best interest, with few exceptions, such as those who are registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission or in individual states. Those who are registered in this way often advertise it  it's seen as good business.

Those who aren't registered, like brokers, just have to prove that the investment is suitable, not necessarily the best option, for their client  no matter that that fund might be more expensive and provide a better commission for the adviser.

"It's kind of like if you let doctors be part of the drug companies directly and prescribe their own medicine," Blaine Aikin, executive chairman of fi360, a fiduciary consultancy in Pittsburgh, told Business Insider last year. "Unfortunately, we have a system where we've not established clarity between the sales side of financial services and the profession of financial advice."

The conflicts of interest inherent in using advisers who aren't serving in clients' best interests may go unnoticed by those who use them and are unaware they are signing into a conflicted relationship.

Conflicted advice costs retirement savers about $17 billion a year, according to a 2015 report from the Obama administration. Despite objections, the administration pushed ahead with a rule change in April 2016, giving fund managers a year to figure out how they would comply.

Advisers could still receive commissions under the new rule, but they have to provide a contract promising to put a client's interests first  the "best-interest contract exemption"  and receive no more than reasonable compensation. Firms would also have to clearly disclose all their compensation and incentive arrangements.

Wall Street firms worried about this exemption because it opens them up to litigation if their clients believe their advisers have not acted in their best interest. "Retirement investors will have a way to hold them accountable," the Labor Department says.

To be clear, this rule applies only to retirement accounts like 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts, not to regular taxable accounts, with which advisers can rely on the weaker suitability standard. Still, there's big money at stake. Americans invest $7 trillion in 401(k)s and $7.8 trillion in IRAs, according to the industry's lobby group, ICI.

Wall Streets rebuke

When it was first raised, the rule prompted rebuttals from the financial industry. Some argued that they would face increased compliance costs and that those costs would price out smaller brokers who wouldn't be able to service smaller accounts.

Scaramucci, now one of Trump's advisers, has been one of the rule's most vocal critics. He also had a lot at stake. SkyBridge Capital, a fund-of-hedge-funds he founded and recently sold, would likely have been hurt by the rule since the firm oversees retirement money, and gets a bulk of its assets via financial advisers at banks.

The fiduciary rule could put this very model of using a bank's army of financial advisers as a sales force for hedge funds at risk, especially at funds-of-funds that often end up in retirement accounts, industry lawyers previously told Business Insider.

Wall Street firms have also been fearful of another secondary effect that would hit them where they are already hurting. The rule was expected to accelerate a shift toward passively managed funds, like exchange-traded and index funds, because it's easier to prove that such products, which are much cheaper, are in a retirement saver's best interest. That has already been a big issue for Wall Street, as index funds have eaten into the share of actively managed funds.

The fiduciary rule may live on anyway

For all the concerns about what Trump could do to the rule, it might be too late for him to do much to undercut the change. That's because Wall Street firms have already made the move to comply with the new standard, creating an industry shift unlikely to bend, experts say.

"Pragmatically, it's very difficult to step back from a rule that's so obviously needed," Jack Bogle, founder of the index provider Vanguard Group, which is known for its low-cost offerings and is likely to benefit from the change, previously told Business Insider.
Trump last Friday signed an executive order barring citizens of Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days while the federal government revisits its screening processes. The order also suspended the US's refugee-admitting program for 120 days, indefinitely barred Syrian refugees from resettling in the US, and gave priority status to minorities fleeing religious persecution.

The Intercept reported on Sunday that the visa terminations began in the days leading up to the official ban and that several visa-holders were charged with violating immigration law even though they had not been informed before boarding their flights that their visas were no longer valid.

The alleged coercion was not isolated to Dulles. Two Iranians with green cards on separate flights from Germany and Qatar to Los Angeles International Airport last weekend were also prompted to sign I-407 forms, an immigration attorney who advised them told Business Insider this week.

The passengers said they contacted their family members for advice after being handed forms to sign that said I-407, according to their attorney. Their families, waiting for them at the airport, were then able to consult with a triage of immigration attorneys on the ground at LAX.

"This was highly, highly unusual," one of the attorneys, Ally Bolour, told Business Insider. "These forms are supposed to be signed in front of a federal officer, not under duress. I've never seen anything like that before, and I've been doing this for 20 years."

Reached for comment, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security directed Business Insider to the "frequently asked questions" section of the DHS website. The spokesman refused to comment on the lawsuit's claims specifically.

A confusing rollout

The forms were handed out as the CBP scrambled to implement the executive order signed by Trump last Friday.

DHS initially interpreted it to mean that green-card holders from the designated countries would still be allowed to enter the US, CNN reported. Green-card holders undergo a lengthy vetting process by the DHS before they are granted permanent US residency.

But the White House overruled that decision by Saturday morning, according to CNN, and green-card holders were detained at airports across the country. Those with valid visas were detained, too  some for as long as 18 hours.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Monday that 109 people were detained or inconvenienced by the immigration order on Saturday. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly updated that figure on Tuesday when pressed about reports that the number had been much higher.

The CBP's acting commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, told reporters on Tuesday that the 109 figure referred to the ban's "initial hours" and that "721 travelers from the affected countries" who had visas to enter the US were denied boarding in their countries of origin.

One Iraqi man had his visa revoked before he could travel to Boston to visit his young son, who was flown there late last year for medical treatment after being severely burned at an Iraqi refugee camp.

Several other people were deported shortly after they landed in the US, including the two Yemeni brothers who were sent back to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after relinquishing their green cards under duress, according to the lawsuit.
Notably absent were Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, who said he could not attend due to a scheduling conflict, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who resigned just a day prior to the meeting in response to pressure from his employees and customers in the wake of Trump's immigration ban.

"We're bringing back jobs, we're bringing down your taxes, we're getting rid of your regulations, and there are some really exciting times ahead," Trump told the press ahead of the meeting.

Here's who had a seat at the table in the White House's State Dining Room.

Stephen Schwarzman  Cofounder, chairman, and CEO of Blackstone

Schwarzman, the king of private equity, is the chairman of Trump's business council. As chairman, he selected its members, and told CNBC that the president "loved them all."

At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Schwarzman said he was bullish on Trump's effect on the economy. "We're going to have higher growth rates in the United States. We're liable to have a stronger dollar," he said. He noted that "We have to watch to see what happens [with] some of the tax proposals because they are highly complex. ... We have to be mindful of that."

Indra Nooyi  Chairwoman and CEO of PepsiCo

Nooyi, along with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, was assigned to the tax and trade topic for the first meeting.

The PepsiCo CEO found herself in a Trump-related fiasco following the election in November: In an interview with the New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin, Nooyi  who supported Hillary Clinton  congratulated Trump on his victory but noted that many of her employees were crying the day after his election, with minorities wondering if they would be safe in his administration. This led to a couple of viral fake-news posts and an online call to boycott Pepsi.

Nooyi joined the business council in December as has not commented on the administration since.

Doug McMillon  President and CEO of Walmart Stores

Though there are three female executives on the council, McMillon and EY CEO Mark Weinberger were tasked with speaking to the topic of women in the workforce.

The Walmart CEO has not personally released a comment about Trump. But Walmart joined the Americans for Affordable Products group, along with more than 100 retailers like Target and Best Buy, who are in opposition to the Republican-controlled House's proposed "border adjustment tax" that would place a 20% tax on imported goods.

Jamie Dimon  Chairman, president, and CEO of JPMorgan Chase

In January, Dimon said in a public statement that he would do what he could to help the Trump administration improve the economy.

"The United States is well positioned to build on the momentum the US economy is already showing," he said. "President Trump and the new Congress have both identified economic growth and job creation as top priorities, and America's business leaders fully agree."

Dimon and the rest of JPMorgan's leadership team sent a memo to staff following Trump's immigration ban offering support to affected employees and pledging dedication to a diverse workforce.

Mary Barra  Chairwoman and CEO of General Motors

Barra was put in charge of the topic of regulation, along with Patomak Global Partners CEO Paul Atkins, and has already met with Trump and other automotive CEOs to discuss her industry.

She told Vanity Fair in January that General Motors, with its "build where we sell" policy, has "much in common with the new administration," and that she is looking forward to working on the business council.

Following the immigration ban, GM's head of HR sent a company-wide memo full of resources for helping employees affected by the travel restrictions.

Mark Weinberger  Chairman and CEO of EY

Weinberger, along with fellow male CEO Doug McMillon, led the discussion of women in the workforce.

The EY CEO told Fortune in December he was "optimistic" about Trump's presidency, notably tax reform and infrastructure spending.

In a statement sent to Business Insider following Trump's immigration ban, Weinberger said that while he understands the importance of national security, he was committed to assisting employees affected by immigration restrictions and noted that the restrictions "will have an impact on our ability to work as a globally connected organization."

Ginni Rometty  Chairwoman, president, and CEO of IBM

Rometty was assigned to leading the the discussion on tax and trade, along with PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. She is also a member of Trump's tech council.

Following Trump's victory, Rometty wrote an open letter congratulating him and offering advice on the topics of vocational training, infrastructure, healthcare, government spending, tax reform, and veteran care. In response, an IBM engineer gathered support among colleagues to sign an online petition calling for the company to expand diversity programs and refuse to take government contracts  it got 1,000 signatures.

In response to the immigration ban, IBM released a statement saying it was committed to diversity and inclusion and said it would advocate for openness in the world.

Larry Fink  Chairman and CEO of BlackRock

Fink led the discussion on infrastructure, along with Global Infrastructure Partners chairman Adebayo Ogunlesi.

At Davos, Fink said that he expects tension between Trump and the Federal Reserve and that the administration would need to carefully navigate relationships with Japan and China, the country's two biggest lenders.

One day ahead of Friday's business council meeting, Fink sent a memo to BlackRock staff calling for a recommitment to maintaining strong relationships with teams overseas and developing a diverse organization, during an "uncertain" and "uneasy" retreat from globalization.

Elon Musk  CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla Inc., chairman of Solar City, co-chairman of OpenAI

Trump has an affinity for Musk, inviting him to his recurring tech council as well as his first big meeting at the White House. It is also in Musk's favor to have cordial ties to the administration, since Musk's companies Tesla, SpaceX, and Solar City have benefited from billions of dollars in government subsidies.

After Trump's election, Musk said he was optimistic about Trump's dedication to American manufacturing.

Musk clearly expressed his disapproval with Trump's immigration ban and said he would discuss it with the business council. Following Kalanick's resignation from the business committee ahead of its first meeting, Musk released a statement saying that he was remaining on the council because while his participation did not suggest an approval of all of the administration's policies, "I believe at this time that engaging on critical issues will on balance serve the greater good."

Jack Welch  Former chairman and CEO of General Electric

Welch, known for his intense and highly successful tenure as the head of GE from 1981-2001, has expressed his support for Trump primarily through his Twitter account.

Following the release of Trump's lewd comments in an "Access Hollywood" leaked tape in October, Welch said he felt Trump was "the wrong messenger" for values he agreed with, but eventually reverted to a vocal endorsement of Trump's policies.

Paul Atkins  CEO of Patomak Global Partners and former commissioner of the SEC

Atkins  as Trump's lead regulation advisor, outside of the committee  led the discussion on regulation, along with GM's Barra.

Atkins was the Securities and Exchange Commission's commissioner from 2002-2008, and is a vocal opponent of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which scaled back risk-taking among America's largest financial institutions in the wake of the financial crisis. Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would repeal the law, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Adebayo Ogunlesi  Chairman and managing partner at Global Infrastructure Partners

Ogunlesi led the discussion on infrastructure, along with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

The Nigerian billionaire investor has not commented publicly on his work with the Trump administration.

Toby Cosgrove  President and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic

Politico reported that Cosgrove, a Vietnam War veteran, was Trump's pick for Veterans Affairs secretary, before Cosgrove withdrew himself for consideration in January. He had previously turned down the same offer from President Barack Obama.

He told the Wall Street Journal in January that he was honored to have the president seek his advice.

Rich Lesser  President and CEO of the Boston Consulting Group

Lesser took to his LinkedIn page the Wednesday following Trump's immigration order to express concerns about the restrictions and promise that he would contribute to the discussion around "America's open culture and welcoming spirit."

Dealbreaker reported Friday that it received claims from inside BCG of dissatisfaction with Lesser's response to Trump's executive order, believing Lesser was not firm enough.

Jim McNerney  Former president and CEO of Boeing

McNerney, the former head of Boeing, has not spoken recently in public about his views on the Trump administration, but last March he told CNBC that he found Trump's rhetoric around trade to be "very dangerous."

Kevin Warsh  Distinguished visiting fellow in economics at the Hoover Institute and former governor of the Federal Reserve System

Warsh was the Federal Reserve's Wall Street liaison during and after the 2008 financial crisis.

He is seen as one of Trump's potential picks to fill a Fed governor slot, according to Politico.

Daniel Yergin  Pulitzer Prize-winning author and vice chairman of IHS Markit
An Ebute-Meta Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos ordered the remand on Friday following arraignment of Ajibola on a murder charge.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court did not take the plea of the resident of Daramola Street, Ijora Badia, Lagos.

Chief Magistrate A. O. Salawu said that she needed advice from the states director of public prosecutions.

She adjourned the case till March 6 for mention.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Koti Aodahemba, told the court that the accused committed the murder on Dec. 8 on Orisunbare Street, Ijora Badia.

He said that the accused pushed one Mr Patrick Orilolo, 56, into an oncoming vehicle because he cautioned him for recklessly driving a truck marked FST 444 XE.

The prosecutor said that the accused alighted from his truck to push the deceased into the vehicle which killed him instantly.

He submitted that the offence contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The Magistrate, Mrs O.A. Salawu, ordered that the accused should be kept at Ikoyi Prison pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Koti Aodahemba, told the court that the offence was committed on Dec. 26 at about 7.30 p.m. at the estate.

Aodahemba said that Idris, sighted the deceased stealing his plate of rice and a malt drink where he kept it and gave the deceased a hot chase to retrieve his meal.

A scuffle had ensued between the duo and Idris picked up a plank and hit Diya on his head thrice and he later died.

The offence contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 which prescribes a death sentence for offenders.
Yusuf of Tsakuwa village, Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano State, is facing a two-count charge of hostage taking and theft of a car.

According to the Prosecutor, Asp. Anthony Edward, the accused committed the offences on Jan. 11.

He said that the accused stole a Honda Accord car, black in colour, with registration number AH945GWL valued at N200,000.

Edward also told the court that the vehicle belongs to one Muawiyya Umar of Brigade Quarters, Kano.

The accused kidnapped Umars two children: Zainab Abdullahi, 4, and Aliyu Abdullahi, 2, all of Brigade Quarters, Kano, he said.

He said the accused took the two children to an unknown destination and during the course of investigation the vehicle and children were found with him.

The offences contravened Section 15 of the Terrorism (Prevention Amendment) Act 2013, and Section 287 of the Penal Code.

However, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge.

The presiding Judge, Chief Magistrate Ibrahim Khaleel, ordered the remand of the accused in prison custody, pending the legal advice of the Department of Public Prosecution.
Accra-based radio station Oman FM has broadcast a leaked voice clip suspected to be that of former Minister of Environment, Mahama Ayariga, negotiating a contract kickback deal. The recording was taken at a restaurant as cluttering of cutlery sets could be heard loudly while the negotiations continued.

"...When I briefed the Old man, he was shocked. And I told him that I was putting one of his boys in charge and he said ok... So far, that boy says they would not do business with Papa Yaw." He went on:"The old man does not understand why SGS cannot facilitate something to be kept upstream. He is not interested in buying waste before he gets his something. He is not interested in factory operating before he gets his something."So he also refused and said that if SGS cannot find something at that level, then we should just give the contract to a different company and SGS will be forced to come and negotiate with the company".
Soon after his appointment, Apeatu axed the Director-General of the CID, COP Prosper Agblor, to head the Special Duties Department as the Director General.

His Deputy, ACP Dennis Ako-Dem, was also moved to the Special Duties Department.

Mr Kudalor expressed confidence in his successor, saying he has the requisite competence to superintend the Ghana Police Service.

Speaking at the change of command parade and pulling out ceremony in Accra on Friday February 3, Mr Kudalor charged the new police administration to continue to build upon his achievement by maintaining peace and tranquillity.

"To the best of my ability, I have handed over the baton as the rules dictate. Im very confident that my [successor], Mr David Apeatu, is well placed to run his duties very well. To God be the glory. The old order has given way to the new change is necessary and divine, therefore, let us all embrace this change with our hearts, body, and soul and ensure that it pays positively, he said.
His reign has seen the end of civil war and an investment boom, but has also been criticised as secretive and corrupt with Angola's citizens suffering dire poverty as his family became hugely wealthy.

Dos Santos told a meeting of the ruling MPLA party in Luanda that "the party approved the name of the candidate heading the list in the August elections as (Defence Minister) Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco".

Lourenco, a former general, emerged as the probable successor late last year at another meeting of the MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola).

Earlier in the year, Dos Santos had said he would step down in 2018.

The MPLA recently issued a statement denying widespread reports that Dos Santos was seriously ill.
She was presented with a plague at the event by an official from the ministry.

Hanna Tetteh was appointed as Foreign Minister in 2013 after President John Mahama secured a first term mandate.

She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya West but lost the seat in the 2016 elections.

She previously served as trade and industry minister under the Mills administration in 2009.

He successor, Ms Ayorkor, says Ghana will pursue economic diplomacy in a bid to woo investors.
It will operate at the Offshore Cape Three Point oilfields in the Western Region.

The vessel is owned by ENI Oil, Ghana Limited, Vitol Upstream, Ghana Limited and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. It is expected to sail into Ghanaian waters by April 2017, to start work.

It is expected to sail into Ghanaian waters by April 2017, to start work.

Ghanas first FPSO was named after the countrys first president, Kwame Nkrumah. FPSO Kwame Nkrumah operates in the Jubilee oil fields off the coast of Ghana. On 1 May 2010, the vessel was renamed Kwame Nkrumah MV21, and on 15 May 2010, she started her trip to her base in the Western Coast of Ghana. She arrived in Ghana on 21 June 2010. The vessel is estimated to cost US$875 mi llion.

The FPSO Professor John Evans Atta Mills is the countrys second FPSO. It is also named after former president in September 2015. The vessel, which was constructed in Singapore started producing oil from the TEN fields in July/August 2016.
READ ALSO: Otiko Djaba to sanitise media

Her approval as the Minister-designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection was put on hold until Tuesday, February 7, 2017.

"If you read the law, these are other extraneous matters that are being put into the eligibility and qualification criteria," Adwoa Safo said on Accra-based Citi FM.

"Going strictly by the law, the president in exercising his powers and she stood as a parliamentary candidate for Bole-Bamboi on one occasion, it tells you that that qualification that is set out in Article 94 of the constitution presumably might have been satisfied before she was even cleared to contest. If she had won, she would have been in parliament," she added.

The minority leader has stated in strong words that Otiko Djaba does not have the support of his side in the house.

She does not have our support and she will not have our support until she behaves in a manner befitting a minister.

All of the MPs on the minority side of the Appointments Committee voted against her approval. They argued that her posture during the vetting did not befit a minister and also because she did not do National Service.
The law says that you cannot be employed by anybody, you can even not be self-employed [if you have not done national service]. National service is only nine months, at most one year; she should go and do her national service. Even the law courts will not condone, will not permit the breach of a statute. If they try [to approve her], we will all go to court, Mr Akandoh said on Accra-based Class FM.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Majority Leader Sarah Adwoa Safo has accused the NDC MPs of introducing "extraneous" matters to stall the approval of Madam Otiko Afisa Djaba as the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection.

"If you read the law, these are other extraneous matters that are being put into the eligibility and qualification criteria," Adwoa Safo said on Accra-based Citi FM.

"Going strictly by the law, the president in exercising his powers and she stood as a parliamentary candidate for Bole-Bamboi on one occasion, it tells you that that qualification that is set out in Article 94 of the constitution presumably might have been satisfied before she was even cleared to contest. If she had won, she would have been in parliament," she added.

READ MORE: Minority MPs launch unstrained attack on Otiko Djaba

The minority leader has stated in strong words that Otiko Djaba does not have the support of his side in the house.
The MPs accuse her of deliberately skipping her national service which they insist is part of the eligibility requiremnent.

However, Mr Nyindam in a strong reaction said Ms Otiko will not be disqualified, daring the aggrieved MPs to go to court.

As at now, I dont see us stepping her down. We will definitely approve her. The laws are made to be tested. If someone strongly feels that because she did not do her national service, she is not qualified, the person should go to court and test it, the Deputy Majority Chief Whip said on Accra-based Citi FM.

According to him, the report recommending the approval of Ms Otiko did not touch on her inability to do her National Service, adding that she has been a parliamentary candidate before.

He said: If you go to the report, and even if you listen to the Minority Leader, he concluded on the basis of emotions.

"As for doing National Service, it was not even confirmed in the report [by the Minority] If it was so important to them as a Minority, they would have stated it that we disagree with Otiko because she did not do National Service."

READ MORE:Minority MPs launch unstrained attack on Otiko Djaba

"They were just on Otiko because of some words that she used. Otiko is no stranger in Ghana. Shes been a parliamentary candidate before.
So in the last week, where polls show that Trump's approval rating is historically low, you have to wonder how he's taking it all. Stern has some thoughts, and it sounds like he thinks Trump cares quite a bit about his public perception.

"I know something about Donald Trump," Stern said on his radio show recently.

"He really does want to be loved, he does want people to really love him, that drives him a lot. I think he has a very sensitive ego. And when youre president of the United States people are going to be very, very critica,l and I think in his mind right now hes saying 'I want to protect the country' I think his motive is 'People will love me because Im going to keep terrorists out of the country.' I think hes genuinely shocked when people come back and say, 'Wait a second, theres more to this.'"

Stern went on to say that he and Trump talked a lot over the phone when Trump announced his presidency, and, along with Stern telling him he was a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter, he tried to talk Trump out of running.

"I said, why would you want to be the president of the United States  youre not going to be beloved," Stern said. "Its going to be a f---ing nightmare in your life."

Stern  who still considers Trump a friend, though Stern voted for Clinton  said he was surprised at the political views President Trump has taken.

"I don't believe that he's had some rethink on abortion  he's playing to his constituency, which is this religious right," Stern added.

And when it comes to the press and Hollywood being critical of Trump, Stern believes that's the deepest wound of all.

"He loves the press, he lives for it," said Stern. "He loves people in Hollywood. He only wants to hobnob with them."

Stern's theory is that Trump's whole run for presidency was just a negotiation maneuver to get more money out of NBC while he and the network were discussing a new season of "The Apprentice."

Now that Trump is president, Stern is concerned about the health of his friend.

"This is something thats going to be detrimental to his mental health because he wants to be liked, he wants to be loved, he wants people to cheer for him," he said.
The period, during which people without insurance through an employer or Medicare or Medicaid could sign up for coverage, ended with 9.2 million people signed up for plans through the Healthcare.gov platform, not including state-based exchanges.

What's most startling, however, is how much the plan selections slowed after Trump took office.

According to the previous biweekly update from the Obama administration, 8.8 million had signed up through January 14, meaning roughly 800,000 people were enrolling weekly. Based on the updated figures from Trump's CMS, 200,000 Americans signed up for coverage in each of the final two weeks.

This also means that enrollment fell by 400,000 people from the open enrollment period ending in 2016. For reference, there were 100,000 more people enrolled than in the previous year at the last update.

Tonal shift

In addition to a serious drop-off in enrollments, the CMS update it also signaled a tonal shift in how the government will talk about the ACA.

Typically, the CMS releases have conveyed not only data but also general support for the law, touting what it has portrayed as an increase in plan selections from the previous year and the ability for people to gain access to health coverage easily. For example, previous emails frequently noted the percentage of people that could get covered for less than $75 or $100 a month.

But in the first communication about the sign-ups from the Trump administration, the tone was drastically different. After first providing the number of sign-ups for plans on Healthcare.gov, the email immediately pointed to increased premiums associated with many of the exchange-based plans.
The president moved toward fulfilling that promise on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, when he signed a new executive order aimed at doing just that.

The order tasks the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, a role currently filled by John Kelly, to "immediately plan, design, and construct a physical wall along the southern border, using appropriate materials and technology to most effectively achieve complete operational control[.]"

If Secretary Kelly is seeking technological inspiration for the design of Trump's wall, however, we hope he doesn't go rifling through the FBI's recently released dossier on Nikola Tesla, a prolific Serbian-American inventor  an investigation that, in a remarkable but purely coincidental twist, has a direct connection to the Trump family.

Tesla is famous for coming up with alternating current, which remains the world standard for delivering electricity. He also devised the induction motor, electrical bolt-shooting Tesla coil, and long-distance radio transmission (though he had his thunder stolen by a rival).

But Tesla also spun his deep understanding and explorations of electricity and radiation to dream up more nefarious inventions, including a "death ray" he described to Time Magazine in 1934, yet kept relatively quiet about.

The government did not forget this and was "vitally interested" in Tesla's unpublished research during a time of war and Soviet espionage. So after Tesla died in the New Yorker Hotel the evening of January 7, 1943, "his papers [...] were temporarily seized by the Department of Justice Alien Property Custodian Office ('alien' in this case means 'foreigner,' although Tesla was a US citizen)," according to the FBI.

Investigators and specialists examined the documents, recorded them on microfilm, wrote up reports, and added the material to their existing dossier on Tesla. The FBI waited decades to declassify the papers, releasing 250 pages of them as early as 2011.

But last September, the Bureau uploaded 64 new pages to its public file vault on Tesla, which we first heard about from Reddit user Pressrewind10.

Page 62, in a report titled "NY 65-12290", is particularly eyebrow-raising:

"TESLA's only military invention was a method to which he once eluded but nevr [sic] fully described. This invention was a means whereby an impenetrable [sic] 'wall of force' can be erected around the United States' borders which would render helpless any military attack. TESLA disclosed the existence of his plan in 1934 and stated he intended to present it to the Geneva Conference but seldom referred to it afterward."

Not much is publicly known about Tesla's impenetrable wall research beyond this. The only other details are presumably the ones he shared with New York Times writer William A. Lawrence, which the newspaper published on September 22, 1940:

"[Tesla] stands ready to divulge to the United States government the secret of his 'teleforce,' of which he said, 'airplane motors would be melted at a distance of 250 miles, so that an invisible "Chinese Wall of Defense" would be built around the country against any enemy attack by an enemy air force, no matter how large.'

"This 'teleforce' is based on an entirely new principle of physics, that 'no one has ever dreamed about,' different from the principles embodied in the in his inventions relating to the transmission of electrical power from a distance, for which he has received a number of basic patents."

Coincidentally after Tesla died, none other than electrical engineer and military technology researcher John G. Trump  President Trump's "nuclear" uncle, as an April 2016 New Yorker article by Amy Davidson dubbed him  was the person who examined Tesla's effects and reported his findings to the FBI.

Per Davidson, and according to Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth's book, "Tesla, Master of Lightning", John G. Trump told the Bureau:

"Tesla's 'thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character,' but 'did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results.'"

Congressional Republicans have said President Trump's wall will cost about $12 to $15 billion. However, analysts say a more realistic price tag, given what is known so far about the scope of the project, is likely to be about $25 billion.
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The group took to Facebook to share photos of themselves all cleaned up nicely by holding signs that read, 'Still I am Single'.

According to the Nairobi News, The group held their protest at the Mansoor hotel in Hargeisa.

The young men bared their belly ache, lamenting over what they have described as extortion on the part of the parents of the brides in the country.

For a country with a struggling economy, the backlash in the area of marriage may seem trivial but has quickly become an issue.

Kenyan News Agency reports that the trend has left Somalian youths in fear, as they are unable to foot the bills for the expensive traditional marriages.

Earlier this year, BBC reported that the country has banned extravagant weddings in a bid to curb migration, but that seems to have done little for the youths in the country.

ALSO READ: Marriage does not make you successful
The suspected thief was apprehended by security operatives in the area, who had already thrown a tire over his head, to be burnt, when residents intervened, saving his life, Daily Post reports.

ALSO READ: Suspected escapes lynching in Bayelsa

According to the reports, Victor jumped over a fence into the compound located on Karaa Street, Ajao Estate of the state, where he was apprehended by security men.

While making his confession, Victor revealed that he had thought that the occupants of the compound had gone to work but he was spotted by a neighbor who raised an alarm.

After receiving the beating of his life, Victor confessed that it was his third operation on the house.

Before I went to jail, I had robbed the same compound two times. When I got out of jail, I came back again to rob the compound, he said.
The council Information Officer, Malam Yau Garba, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Saturday.

Garba said that the children were immunised against polio and other child-killer diseases during the five day exercise.

He explained that the council area received enough doses of Oral Polio Vaccines (OPVs) which enhanced smooth conduct of the exercise.

He said that the council provided 30 cartons of sweet to woo children to participate in the exercise.

Garba commended both the traditional and religious leaders in the council area for their efforts in mobilising people for the exercise.
The walk was a collaboration between the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and Kwara Ministry of Health.

Ahmed, who is founder of the Life Empowers Anchors Hope (LEAH) foundation, said that the theme of this years celebration  We can, I can , was to encourage collaborative efforts to increase awareness and spur affirmative action.

She then urged religious, cultural and social organizations to Assist in creating awareness of cancer to their adherents.

She said early detection is key to successful management of cancer.

We, therefore, need to continuously sensitize and educate ourselves on the causative factors of cancer, the lifestyle to be adopted, signs and symptoms to look out for and how to manage it.

The governors wife explained that data from Ibadan and Abuja cancer registries indicated an increasing number of children who have varying forms of cancer.

She said her foundation launched the LEAH Health Idera Scheme, a health check-up package for individuals and families.
The group, under the aegis of ONELGA Renaissance, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to protect the people of the area from impending annihilation.

The Chairman of the group, Mr Henry Odili, made the call in Port Harcourt during the inauguration of ONELGA Renaissance Foundation and commemoration of its slain members, who were killed in the course of political activity.

Odili, a lawyer, said the only panacea to the LGAs predicament was justice and security for the people.

You are all aware that before, during and after the 2015 general elections, ONELGA was one of the LGAs that suffered a high rate of casualties.

More than 200 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were gruesomely murdered in cold blood; more than 300 suffered different degrees of injury; more than 500 houses were burnt and other properties destroyed.

This situation has left us with lots of liabilities arising from the death of the bread winners of a lot of families.

This necessitated the bold step of this great body, ONELGA Renaissance in instituting this type of programme, as a way of cushioning the hardship suffered by these families.

We call on APC, our great party for which our members paid the ultimate price, to come to our rescue, our stakeholders and other public spirited individuals to please help a family today, he added.

Odili also appealed to corporate organisations to provide scholarship for the children orphaned by the killings in the area and other children desirous of acquiring basic education.

This gesture will go a long way toward reducing the financial burden of training these children as a result of the untimely death of their bread winners, he said.

Odili disclosed that the group would make the programme an annual event with the commissioning of the foundation as a mark of honour for those who died.

ONELGA Renaissance was founded on the principle of equity and social justice, to propagate good governance and peaceful co-existence in the LGA.
Gov. Dave Umahi made the appeal during a courtesy call by the Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Mr Babatunde Fashiola who was on a two-day working visit to the state.

Umahi, who lamented the lean resources of the state, said that the Federal Government had only refunded two billion Naira out of N35billion it injected in the projects.

He appealed to the minister to assist in fast-tracking the reimbursement process, which he said, received Presidential approval before the intervention.

You have been a governor, and you know that Ebonyi has always carried last in Federal Allocation and we are appealing to you to help us recover the money,  Umahi appealed.

He said that the state had intervened in a number of federal roads in the areas of maintenance, rehabilitation and construction of new ones.

The governor listed some of the roads intervened to include; Okigwe-Afikpo, Ukawu-Abomege, Uburu  Mpu  Ishiagu, Ohaofia-Oso Edda, among other roads.

He said that the state also constructed one kilometre three over head bridges on the trans African Highway to decongest the traffic.

He further appealed to the minister to ensure that two bridges that would link the state and Cross River at Oferekpe river and Ndibe beach axis of the state were constructed.

He said that the bridges when constructed would ease movement of persons and goods and enhance socioeconomic activities in the state.

Umahi also commended the minister for releasing One billion Naira that enabled the Setraco handling the road construction of Ishiagu-mile 2, 11.5km road to return to site.

Just a mere phone call about June 2016, you intervened in the Ishiagu-mile 2 road by releasing the sum of N1billion to the contractor, this to us is show of solidarity and friendship,  Umahi said.

He decried the quality job done in the Abakaliki  Afikpo road constructed by Uniglobe and CCC, saying that the state was not happy with the quality of job done by the contractors.

We are not good at petitioning but I want to observe that as a government that we cannot accept nothing but the best for the our state.

We disapprove of the quality of job been done on this very busy and important road in the state and request that you call the contractors to order, he said.

Fashola commended the governor for the giant strides recorded by the government in infrastructure development.

He said that the Federal Government would always partner with state governments in the provision of democracy dividends to the people.

The minister said that he was in the South-East for an on the spot assessment of federal roads projects,

He said that his ministry would ensure that contractors handling road projects in the zone complied to specifications and complete the projects as scheduled in the contract terms.

He commended the state government for the partnership and cordial relationship between the state and federal ministry of Works, Housing and Power.

I have been visiting since 9 a.m that we arrived Ebonyi all the project sites and I want to say that I am pleased with the quality of job being done.

We have noted areas of concern and wish to assure you that we are going to look into the issue.

We cannot tolerate contracts that are done outside of our specifications or substandardly executed,  Fashola said.
The former President made this known on his Facebook Page on Friday, February 3, 2017 when one of his critics apologised for criticising him while he was a sitting President.

The critic, Mohammad Deedee, had written his message some years back saying Jonathan has finished the country's economy.

Today a dollar is N180 and a pound is N280. Hope you have a family This is really the transformation agenda. GEJ has finished Nigeria, Mohammad wrote.

In his respone, the soft spoken ex-President said: There is no need for forgiveness because you did not commit any sin against me, the former president said. I never felt offended or held a grudge.
According to a report by TheCable, Ibori arrived Oghara in Ethiope East local government area of Delta state in the evening of Saturday, February 4, 2017 many hours after his return to Nigeria.

Ibori reportedly left the DSS headquarters in Abuja after holding a meeting with Lawal Daura, director-general of service.

It was also reported that a mammoth crowd had earlier converged on the Osubi Airport, near Warri to receive the Delta state former governor but he landed at Benin airport in Edo state before proceeding to Oghara.

Security was very tight. In fact his arrival took us unaware. Nobody could move close to him, as he was surrounded by his security aides, a source reportedly said.
According to a report by TheCable, the former was only invited by the DSS and not arrested as perceived

An official that spoke to TheCable reportedly said: It was pre-arranged that he should have a chat with the DSS director-general, Lawal Daura, upon his arrival.

He will not be detained. His appointment was for 12:00 hrs so the operatives went to pick him up and drove him down for the meeting.

Ibori touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Saturday, February 4, 2017 and was scheduled to travel to his hometown in Oghara, Delta State.

The visit was reportedly cut short by the chat at the office of the DSS which is expected to take some time.

ALSO READ: Ex-Gov arrives Nigeria
The Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement in Kaduna, that the curfew would now take effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day.

He called on residents of the area to uphold peace to ensure a return to normalcy.

He also called on them to firmly resist those who might wish to sabotage the gains being made in restoring normalcy in the area.

The government imposed a 24-hour curfew on three Local Government Areas in the southern parts of the state on Dec. 22, 2016 following outbreak of clashes between various communities in the area which led to loss of lives and property.
Olulade gave the warning when he led other members of the committee on an oversight visit to some health facilities at Orile-Agege Local Council Development Area.

The committee began the oversight visit to the health facilities on Friday.

Olulade said that the state government would not tolerate sharp practices or unprofessional conduct in its health institutions, warning that anyone caught would be made to face the music.

He also urged health workers to eliminate delays and be prompt in attending to patients.

My major concern is to that we want an efficient healthcare service delivery like the one obtainable in developed countries. We dont want anyone to be complaining about our services, he said.

Olulade, who spoke with patients on their experiences at the facilities visited, assured them that the government would employ more doctors and carry out renovation works to make the health facilities better.

I know we have shortage of staff, space and power. We must engage more hands.

We have started renovation and there is a provision in 2017 budget to get more personnel, he told patients at the General Hospital, Orile-Agege.

Olulade also urged the local council officials in the LCDA to do more awareness on the PHCs, to attract more people to use them and reduce pressure on the general hospital.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some patients at the hospital had commended the services rendered to them, while many complained of unnecessary delays and negligence of duty by some officers.

Some patients had also urged the state government to engage more doctors.

NAN reports that Olulade also sought for waiver of hospital bills of a 10-year-old motherless girl suffering from a life threatening disease at the hospital.

The girls grandmother burst into tears when Matron Elizabeth Ogunkola briefed the committee on the health condition of the motherless girl, who could not leave the hospital after being discharged on Jan 31 because of money.

He said that the girl should be allowed to go as he could also offset the bill.
Speaking during the presentation, Lawan said the materials would stabilise the rebuilding process of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.

He said that the distribution of the third phase came at the point when the IDPs were consolidating on the peace gained and were gradually returning to their normal life.

 I am, therefore, pleased to announce the donation of the following items in the third phase.

Here is 22,600 (50kg) bags of rice; 6,465 (20litre) cans of vegetables oil; 1,833 bales of used clothes and 2,390 pairs of used shoes.

Other items are 3,000 cartoons of spaghetti and 551 cartons of macaroni; 1,099 cartoons of soap and five cartons of new shoes.

These relief materials will go a long way to alleviate the plight of the IDPs.

The improvement in their standard of living is a strong indication that Nigeria is winning the war against the insurgents.

We can only pray that peace fully returns to our land, Lawan said.

I recall that our people have benefited from the presidential directive on distribution of all seized perishable items by the customs to the IDPs in the first and second phases.

Lawan commended the state government for collaborating with the National Logistics Committee (NLC) in ensuring that the handing over was possible.

He also commended the state governments effort in paying for the transfer of the items from various Customs warehouses to Damaturu.

The Chairman of the committee, Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdulkadir Azarema, said that the materials in the third phase would help boost the ongoing efforts to return the IDPs to their homes.

As we begin this third phase of distribution under a more peaceful environment, we hope that this round of relief materials will help boost the ongoing efforts to return IDPs to their homes.

It is heart-warming to note that life is gradually returning to normal in the Northeast.

We (NLC) wish to put on record, our appreciation to all those who ensured that these donations get to the affected people,Azarema said.

Azarema commended the state and Federal Government for the opportunity given the committee to serve the people in need.

The state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, said that 300,000 IDPs had returned to their communities to live their normal lives.

According to him, five heads of communities are present at the handing over ceremony to collect their share of the materials.

He promised to effectively distribute the items to the communities and the vulnerable.

Aliyu commended efforts of Customs and the Federal Government in ensuring that the IDPs lives returned to normal.

He called on the Federal Government for more support in other areas of need such as roofing sheets to rebuild the communities.
The commission recently ceded Moon community of Kwande Local Government in Benue, to Taraba, and also ceded Chachangi in Takum Local Government of Taraba, to Benue, a development that sparked violent crisis.

We are taking this decision to promote peace and security, the governors announced, after at a joint security council meeting at the border town of Kashimbila.

The duo had toured some border communities affected by crisis that hit both states, before the security meeting.

They said they had to respect the sensibilities of the indigenes as a way of restoring peace, and jointly promised to assist herdsmen to build ranches, since current realities had made open grazing rather difficult.

Ortom, who read the decision, promised that the lingering boundary crisis would soon be over given the commitment of the two parts.

We will raise technical teams to work out the details that will be communicated to the boundary commission for necessary action.

We also want to appeal to indigenes, who may be affected by the standard demarcation exercise of the commission, to accept their new statuses.

We have resolved that after the standard boundary demarcation , if you are a Tiv man and you fall in Taraba, you become an indigene of Taraba, and if you are Jukun and you fall in Benue, you are indigene of the state, he said.

Ortom assured the Moon people, displaced by incessant crisis, that government would ensure their quick return to their ancestral homes, adding that social amenities would be provided for them.

Gov. Ishaku, who affirmed the decision, expressed optimism that the governors intervention would resolve the boundary disputes and end the violence.

With the two governors sharing several things in common including faith in God, a solution will soon be found for the crisis, he said.

Ishaku said that the two governors had also resolved to tour the northern border around Wukari and Akwana where they would meet all stakeholders toward ending the skirmishes there.

The governor promised full support to ranching, noting that it remained the best and permanent solution to the incessant farmers and herders clashes.

He said that he was working with agriculture minister Audu Ogbeh, to establish a grass farm on the Mambilla Plateau of Taraba.
Adeyeye said that the attention of PDP leadership was drawn to a publication alleging that the party was broke .

He said that it was also alleged the the party could not pay rents and meet other financial obligations of its research and training institute, the Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI).

He said that the entire allegation in the publication was an outright falsehood and only existed in the imagination of the writers and their collaborators.

The PDP is not broke and does not owe rent on the property being used by the PDI located in Wuse II, Abuja.

Let us place on record that the PDIs financial responsibilities are being met accordingly.

Just last week, the Caretaker Committee approved monthly imprest for the Institute, and its staff salaries are paid at the same time with that of the PDP staffers.

For emphasis, all members of staff of the Party and that of the Institute received their January 2017 Salary last week which the Secretary of the Staff Welfare Committee confirmed in that Publication.

He alleged that the report was part of distraction from Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, the factional chairman, and his co-travellers.

Adeyeye disclosed that Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff had sometime in 2016 proposed a visit to the Institute, but was promptly turned down by the Director-General of the Institute, Dr. Lanre Adebayo.

He added that Sheriff also in December 2016 proposed a meeting with members of the establishment staff of PDP but was turned down by the staff.

Adeyeye described as shameful and unnecessary show of desperation by Sheriff in his resort to blackmail and outright falsehood to tarnish PDP reputation and the National Caretaker Committee.
This is contained in a notification letter signed by the banks Company Secretary / General Counsel, Mr Babatunde Osibodu pasted on the NSE website on Friday.

The letter stated that the affected directors were Mr Idris Yakubu, Mrs Markie Idowu, Mrs Abimbola Izu and Mr Bayo Sanni.

It said that the directors had served in the executive management capacity for nearly two years and had been part of the new board of the bank which came into being following the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria on July 4 2016.

The letter quoted Mr Tokunbo Abiru, the banks Group Managing Director, as saying that the executive directors had contributed immensely to the successful leadership transition which commenced last year.

The bank also announced that the new development does not in any way affect the smooth running of the bank as it continues to deliver services to its customers across the country.
The court has been presented with three challenges against the emergency decree, which weakens anti-corruption laws.

New protests saw thousands demonstrate against the governments actions.

President Klaus Iohannis said on Friday on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Malta that there was no risk for foreign investors despite the crisis.

The decree, passed by cabinet, went into effect immediately.

The rule also allows for corrupt officials to escape punishment completely in some instances, for example if the crime occurs between members of the same family.

One of the cases challenging the decree was filed by the ombudsman for civil rights, Victor Ciorbea.
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
Recommendations for updating Iowa's liquor laws would level the playing field in the state's alcohol industry, according to Garrett Burchett, the owner of a LeClaire distillery and a member of the governor's task force reviewing the state's laws.

After nearly six months of study involving state agencies, public meetings and testimony from a variety of stakeholders, the working group appointed by Gov. Terry Branstad has issued a list of five recommendations:

 Create greater parity among beer, wine and spirits manufacturers.

 Streamline licensing for Iowa beer manufacturers and wholesalers.

 Allow a limited expansion of off-premises retail privileges for retailers manufacturing beer.

 Increase collaboration between the Iowa Alcohol Beverages Commission and the Iowa Wine and Beer Promotion Board.

 Endorse a further review of licensing, administrative actions and administrative appeals for reform opportunities.

"What it would do is create parity between us, the breweries and wineries, which is what we are looking for," said Burchett, an owner and manager of Mississippi River Distilling Co.

His business would be affected by three of the changes, including removing a production cap imposed on distilleries and allowing distilleries to sell drinks of what it produces as well as more bottles per customer. Under the proposed change, the distiller could sell a 12-bottle case per person, per day.

"Right now, we can do two bottles," he said.

"Now if you walk into a brewery or a winery, you assume you can have a pint of beer or a glass of wine. At a distillery, that is not the case  you can have a tasting and that's it," said Burchett, who has worked for five years to get the Iowa laws changed.

In August, Branstad ordered the review of Iowa's alcohol laws by a working group, headed by Stephen Larson, administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, and the state's Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham. The group was tasked to balance the needs of a rapidly expanding growth industry of "micro-enterprises" with state regulations and social concerns.

In issuing the group's findings, Larson and Durham wrote, "We feel that these recommendations will create greater economic opportunities for our local entrepreneurs, make it easier and more efficient for Iowans to conduct business with state government, make Iowa's alcohol laws easier to understand and enforce, and result in public policy that continues to protect the health and safety of Iowans."

Burchett said the recommendations had the support of distilleries, wineries, breweries, restaurants and the retail industry, but the Iowa Wholesale Beer Distributors Association remained opposed.

"And they're a strong lobby,'' he said. "There's still politics involved."

The group took into consideration testimony from Iowa and national alcohol manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, public health and public safety representatives, prevention advocates, law enforcement and the public.

"It's nice to have a third-party validate what we have been seeking," Burchett said. "Now, it's up to the legislators to make that change."
Concerned last year that downtown Davenport would lose one of its historic buildings, one resident went out on a whim to save it.

Davenport Fire Capt. Sean Terrell made his move last spring, not long after a section of the roof caved in on the former Emeis Automotive Service building at 218 Iowa St. At first, he inquired about purchasing only the shops classic neon sign.

Owner Ben Hopkins had other ideas, however.

The only way he would sell me the sign was if I would buy the building with it, Terrell said. I laughed at first, but then I thought about it a little harder and thought it might be a good time to invest back in the community I live and work in.

In October, the 48-year-old Terrell, who lives in Davenport's McClellan Heights neighborhood, said he paid $76,000 to take over ownership of the 8,000-square-foot building.

Since then, he has invested in the property, which is getting a ground-up facelift this season.

"Honestly, it was the furthest thing from my mind to go and purchase the building, but I just didn't want to see it demolished," said Terrell, who moved here 24 years ago from Peoria. "It's an exciting time to be part of the neighborhood."

Once he rehabs the site, he hopes to find someone interested in leasing and filling the commercial space with a restaurant, bar or other business.

Walter Emeis founded Emeis Automotive Services in 1906, and in 1924, the family built the property Terrell recently acquired. In 1987, they sold the decades-old company to Hopkins.

Although cold weather ceased mortar work on Friday, Davenport-based P.R. Masonry crews are laying specialty handmade bricks, which were shipped from South Carolina, on the front, or east side, of the building. He hopes to add more greenspace and lighting near the entrance, as well.

The work, which currently extends into the southbound lane of Iowa Street between 2nd and 3rd streets, is slowing two-way traffic along that short stretch, but delays should not last.

Hopefully, all the brick work will be done within the next month, and then the barricades will come down, Terrell said.

In the early spring, the independent developer plans to replace the glass windows, garage doors and the roof, which structurally, still stands strong. The collapse damaged only the top layer, or decking.

Then comes the interior renovation, which Terrell predicts will finish by early summer.

Eventually, he hopes to reinstall his treasured neon Emeis sign, which is being restored, to honor the building's past. Up to this point, Terrell said he has not approached the city about any financial incentives, but he did note he has been working closely with the Davenport Design Review Board.

Mike Peppers, who runs Sergeant Peppers Auto Shop next door at 323 E. 3rd St., commended Terrell on his investments.

Im thrilled, he said, using beautiful to describe his new neighbors plans. I know he wont let up on it.

Mikes brother, Bob, called Terrell a "man on the move," who operates at one speed  100 mph.

Terrell, who is married with one son, also owns a Bettendorf-based landscaping and erosion control business and works about 56 hours every week for the Davenport Fire Department.

Five years ago, Terrell said, there's no way he would have funded a project this size in downtown Davenport.

I was shaking my head wondering what they were doing spending their money on the riverfront and downtown, but now it all makes sense, he said. Their investment inspired me to spend my money in that neighborhood.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Ben Huntington spoke Tuesday in Kay Rooff-Steffens humanities class, Living with Space, Time & Technology. Huntington spoke about how and why to become involved in extracurricular activities at Muscatine Community College.

Students shared their pre-college expectations, which activities or organizations they were involved in already, the benefits of their participation, and other groups they would like to see on campus.

Students in the class are discussing Living with Community while dissecting their various live and online communities, their needs, roles and how they could make a difference in some of those communities.

The course is part of EICCs General Education humanities offerings and is required for all Information Technology majors.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  With the $3 million cut in state aid to community colleges in Iowa, Eastern Iowa Community Colleges will have to cut an estimated $275,000 cut from its budget this year.

Alan Campbell, EICCs associate director for marketing and communications, said the states initial proposal would have translated to $750,000 in cuts.

The pain isnt quite so great, he said. However, at the same time, its still a cut in this years budget, so we have five months, basically, in the remaining fiscal year to find that money.

EICCs fiscal year begins in October and ends in June, and in the coming weeks, Campbell said, officials will go through the its $43 million budget line item by line item to try to cover the deficit.

The process, he said, already began and the organization expects to reach a final decision in a couple of weeks.

We have to look at that money thats remaining in these last few months and try to pick out of that where we can make some cuts and make that happen, he said.

But with the fiscal year underway, he said, many items in the budget cannot be changed.

The challenge that we have is that many of the costs that you have in the course of the year are fixed costs, so for instance, annual contracts, we cant change those at this point in time  theyre committed for the year. We still have to pay our utilities. We still have pay salaries for our employees, Campbell said.

Campbell stressed that programs, tuition and teacher contracts will remain unchanged for the current fiscal year.

The students come first, so we will make this work, were still going to be offering great education for students, its still going to happen, he said.

But Branstads budget proposal for next year may decrease EICCs budget again, Campbell said, so tuition increases are a real possibility.

The handful of students at EICCs Muscatine campus on Friday afternoon were unaware of the EICCs budget woes. But tuition increases next year, some of them said, would be difficult to swallow.

Freshman journalism major Mika Rangal, 19, and her sister were at the student center, waiting for their ride.

Its already a little (bit of a) struggle to pay for school now, she said.

Were already paying for expensive classes and then you also have to pay for, like, $200 textbooks for, like, each class, Rangal said. If it was to go up, it would be pretty hard to pay for.

Joseph Lovell, 19, who expects to graduate in 2018, was also waiting for a ride. He said if tuition increases, he would likely have to find a part-time job and reduce his course load.

Campbell said EICC faced similar midyear budget dilemmas twice before and has overcome them each time.

Weve been here for 50 years, well be here for a long time from here, he said.
Donald Trump has signed an executive order to start planning for the border wall he promised to build during the presidential campaign.

Construction could start within months, he said after signing the order Wednesday.

The order also increased the nations deportation force.

We understand the emotional appeal of building a wall to solve difficult problems in the U.S. immigration system and national security  just build a wall to keep the bad people out, problem solved!  but we must deal in facts.

Here are a few of those facts, gleaned from the extensive, in-depth reporting done by a team of Arizona Daily Star journalists who produced Beyond the Wall, a project that was first published in July (and is available at tucson.com/beyondthewall):

The U.S.Border Patrol apprehends far fewer  by about two-thirds  undocumented crossers than it did a decade ago.

Those arrested are more likely to be prosecuted.

About half of the 1,000 miles of border Trump wants to wall off already has fencing of some kind, a mix of barbed wire, tall metallic panels, steel plating or mesh. Most of it was built in the last decade and cost $2.3 billion.

More Mexicans are leaving the U.S. than trying to enter for the first time since 2009.

Building a wall, or even more fencing, would require extremely expensive and difficult construction in hard-to-get-to mountains and canyons, and along environmentally sensitive lands.

And even if we accomplished that, it would not solve the problem of illegal immigration.

Most hard drugs come through U.S. ports of entry, not across the borderlands.

The largest group of undocumented immigrants in recent years is Central Americans, who turn themselves in at legal ports of entry, often seeking refugee status. A wall would not keep them out.

Fully half of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States came here on legal visas and stayed after those visas expired. A wall would not have kept them out.

After speaking with law enforcement, business owners, ranchers, researchers, environmentalists and about 100 residents in the U.S. and Mexico, the Stars team concluded:

Its tough to find anyone living along the borderlands  even those who agree with Trump that the international line is not secure  who thinks a wall is the solution. Instead, many border residents want fencing that makes sense for their area, agents and surveillance technology closer to the border, and a way for migrants to come here legally and work.

Coherent and realistic response to facts on the ground, not campaign slogans, should govern our nations immigration and national security policies.

Yet Trump is moving ahead with his wall, as much as he can without legislation from Congress. Another campaign promise, however, to make Mexico pay for the wall, appears to have been postponed. Trump now says American taxpayers will foot the bill initially, but that we will be reimbursed by Mexico.

Mexico, unsurprisingly, says it will do no such thing.

Trumps changing plans for how to fund the wall construction included  for a short time, at least  imposing a 20 percent tax on imported Mexican goods, according to his press secretary, Sean Spicer.

He has since said an import tax is only one idea under consideration.

Charging a 20 percent tax on imported goods wouldnt punish Mexico as much as it would American consumers of fruits, vegetables, beef and other Mexican goods. They would be charged more to compensate for the tax  money out of our pockets.

In his week-old presidency, Trump has communicated by tweets and soundbites. He has shown that he does not understand the border region. If he did, hed know that continued hostility with Mexico will do real economic damage to the United States.

Mexico is Arizonas top trading partner, with $16 billion a year in imports and exports, and it is the nations third-largest trading partner with roughly half a billion dollars in goods crossing back and forth.

Trumps border wall would have a negative effect on the entire country, but it would be in our backyard. It would be a massively expensive monument to the concept of confusing activity with achievement.

Trumps wasteful wall should not be built.
WASHINGTON -- By putting Iran "on notice" for its aggressive behavior, President Trump has taken aim at a country that's opposed by many U.S. allies. But he has begun this confrontation without much preparation or strategic planning, continuing the haphazard pattern of his first two weeks in office.

Iran is a convenient enemy for Trump. Israel and the Gulf Arab states share the administration's antipathy toward Iran, and the regime's hard-liners gave Trump a pretext with a ballistic-missile test last weekend that arguably violated a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Trump's challenge also comes at a moment when Russia, Iran's only major ally, is seeking better relations with the new administration. That may be a useful point of leverage. Some American, Israeli and Arab officials hope Russia might be persuaded to accept limits on Iranian behavior as the price of rapprochement with the U.S. But some senior intelligence officials are skeptical.

Confronting Iran carries significant dangers. The U.S. Central Command has thousands of troops in Iraq and the Gulf that could be vulnerable to Iranian reprisals. The White House, however, didn't coordinate its actions with Centcom before national security adviser Michael Flynn announced Wednesday his nonspecific but menacing "notice" about Iran's "destabilizing" behavior.

In a tweet Thursday, Trump echoed Flynn's comment that Iran should be grateful for the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by President Obama, which Trump termed a "terrible deal," rather than continuing its aggressive actions. The administration appears to be considering new sanctions, but since taking office, Trump hasn't moved to revoke the deal itself.

Iranian officials launched rhetorical counter-volleys. A Foreign Ministry spokesman described Flynn's warning as "repetitive, baseless and provocative." But the Iranians, too, avoided any suggestion that the nuclear agreement was at risk.

Trump's goal of curbing aggressive Iranian behavior in the region has wide support, including among many countries that backed the nuclear deal. Arab nations argue that Iran has destabilized regimes across the Middle East, and that its proxies now control Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Saana. Flynn's statement cited an attack last week by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a Saudi vessel off the Yemen coast.

"I don't think we are so much looking for a fight as responding to lethal provocations," argued one senior U.S. military official. He noted that in addition to attacking the Saudi ship, the Houthi rebels have been mining waters near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

But U.S. and foreign officials caution that any attempt to contain Iran needs to be carefully planned and implemented. Iran is a hardened adversary, despite its political isolation. Any confrontation has to take into account Iran's strong position in Syria and Iraq, and its ability to thwart Trump's pledge to eradicate the Islamic State there.

"They wanted to send a message, but they have no idea what it means," says a top Republican former foreign policy official.

With just two weeks in office, the new administration hasn't had time to fill some key national-security posts, let alone plan a strategy. Take Syria: Administration officials don't like Obama's strategy, but they don't yet have an alternative.

The Trump team has explored partnering with Russia, and even considered contacts with the regime of President Bashar Assad. Some Syrian opposition officials have urged the U.S. to work with Russia (and, implicitly, the Assad regime) in a joint partnership against the Islamic State. One opposition leader told me this week there's hope that Moscow will curtail the operations of the roughly 5,000 Iran-backed Syrian Shiite militiamen there.

But Iran holds some choke points. Its strongest leverage is in Iraq. With the victory over the Islamic State in Mosul probably six months away, the Iranians can mobilize thousands of Iraqi Shiite militiamen across Iraq. U.S. advisers are vulnerable to attack by these Iran-backed militias, as happened a decade ago in Iraq.

The complex order of battle in Syria was described Thursday by Ahmed al-Jarba, who leads an opposition group called the Syrian Elite Forces. He said in an interview that his roughly 3,000-man Sunni Arab group is now being trained inside Syria by U.S. Special Operations Forces, alongside Syrian Kurdish fighters, in preparation for the coming assault on Raqqah. He said his group also had "good and balanced relations" with Russia, even though it opposes Assad and Iran, Russia's partners. That's a tangled web.

Moderating the Iranian threat in the Middle East has been an American aim since the 1979 revolution. Arabs and Israelis alike will cheer Trump's hard line. But Iran is among the toughest foreign policy challenges Trump will face, and he should be careful to avoid ill-planned early actions that would make it his Bay of Pigs.
DEVILS LAKE, N.D. | An attempt to stop a pickup truck with a loud exhaust system led to a wild chase in which the driver shot at a trooper, stole a car with a baby inside, took two other people hostage and eventually shot and wounded himself, authorities said.

Only the pickup truck's driver, Daniel TwoHearts, was hurt during the ordeal, which began Thursday night with the attempted traffic stop in Grand Forks and ended Friday night with TwoHearts shooting himself in an apartment in Devils Lake, about 80 miles west, authorities said.

TwoHearts, who shot himself as officers began to negotiate with him to surrender, was hospitalized with an apparently non-fatal wound, Devils Lake police Capt. John Barnett told the Devils Lake Journal.

"People can relax. It got a little tense for a while in town," he said.

It began when a trooper tried to pull over a pickup truck with a loud exhaust on Interstate 29 in Grand Forks, which is along the state border with Minnesota, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Instead, the driver tried to get away, reaching speeds of about 100 mph before law enforcement put down tire spikes, stopping the pickup about 40 miles down the highway.

The suspect jumped out and fired three shots at a trooper, who wasn't injured and didn't return fire, said patrol Lt. Troy Hischer.

Two others in the pickup were arrested and methamphetamine was found in the truck, authorities said. Meanwhile, TwoHearts ran into a neighborhood and jumped into an idling car with an infant inside it.

"The mother had started the car to warm it up, brought out the 1-year-old, then went back to retrieve an older child" when the suspect drove off, Hischer said.

Officers spotted that car on a county road about 20 miles away, again deployed road spikes, flattening the tires and recovering the infant unharmed, but TwoHearts got away again.

After dawn Friday, another truck was reported missing, and was later found abandoned at the Wal-Mart in town.

Law enforcement agencies in North and South Dakota and Minnesota were on the lookout, but Devils Lake Police and other agencies caught up with TwoHearts Friday night, barricaded inside an apartment with two hostages, Barnett said.

"We got the female out and the other male, and he was isolated" when they heard a shot fired and then forced their way in, he said.
BILLINGS, Mont. | A deal disclosed Thursday will allow the mass slaughter of hundreds of wild bison migrating from Yellowstone National Park, while sparing 25 animals that American Indian tribes want to start new herds.

The Associated Press obtained details on the deal between Montana, the park and the U.S. Department of Agriculture prior to its public disclosure.

It resulted from two weeks of intensive negotiations and removes a political obstacle for the park after Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on Jan. 19 temporarily blocked Yellowstone's plan to kill up to 1,300 of Yellowstone's 5,500 bison this winter.

The terms are likely to dampen public outcry by averting slaughter for most of a small group of bison that had been earmarked for a conservation effort intended at establishing new herds elsewhere.

Bullock lifted the slaughter ban in a Thursday letter to Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk that outlined the agreement to spare the 25 bison.

"My intent in invoking the (ban) was to prevent the slaughter of these bison and preserve them for transport to Fort Peck (Indian Reservation)," Bullock wrote. "The parties have committed that these animals will be quarantined and safeguarded until they are ready for shipment."

Wildlife advocates fiercely oppose the periodic slaughters of Yellowstone's world-famous bison herds. Stephany Seay with the Buffalo Field Campaign said what's needed is to repeal a law that places wild bison under the authority of the Montana livestock department instead of its wildlife agency.

"Stop the slaughter, let them roam and manage them just like we do with elk, just like we do with deer, just like we do with other wildlife," Seay said.

Park officials say they have little choice under a 16-year-old program intended to curb the animals' annual migration into Montana to prevent transmitting the disease brucellosis to cattle.

Brucellosis can cause pregnant animals to abort their young. It was brought to North America by the infected livestock of early settlers and has since been eradicated nationwide except in Yellowstone-area wildlife, including bison and elk.

The 25 bull bison saved from slaughter will be kept for a year for disease monitoring at a federal quarantine facility just north of the park in Corwin Springs. They will later be relocated to Fort Peck Reservation, home of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes.

Yellowstone spokeswoman Jody Lyle said the deal with the state and Agriculture Department marked a first step toward a long-term program to use some disease-free bison for conservation instead of sending them to slaughter.

Under public pressure, Yellowstone administrators last year proposed relocating about 40 animals captured during their migration to Fort Peck, which is already home to a small herd of park bison.

When Montana livestock officials objected to the transfer because of disease concerns, park officials said they would kill the animals, prompting Bullock to invoke the ban on slaughters.

The 40 bison had tested negative for brucellosis multiple times since they were captured last winter.

But because the animals potentially were exposed to diseased bison while being held in pens along the park boundary, the 15 females from the group will be slaughtered and only the males will be spared, Montana state veterinarian Marty Zaluski said.

The fate of about 20 bison already at the small town of Corwin Springs in Montana north of Yellowstone is uncertain. The animals were captured several years ago for use in animal birth control experiments.

State officials had said earlier they would be slaughtered to make way for the 25 spared bulls. But Bullock told Wenk that federal and state officials have agreed to further discussions on relocating the animals to Fort Peck.

So far this winter, hunters have shot more than 300 bison as they left the park seeking food at lower elevations in Montana, according to state wildlife officials.

Cold, snowy conditions are expected to prompt more bison to leave Yellowstone in coming days as foraging becomes more difficult.

About 400 migrating bison have been captured near the Yellowstone boundary and are being held for shipment to slaughter. Shipments will begin as soon as the park can make arrangements, Lyle said.

Meat from slaughtered animals is distributed to American Indian tribes across the region.

No transmissions of brucellosis from wild bison to livestock have been recorded, according to researchers and livestock officials. That's in part because more than 5,000 bison were killed or captured trying to leave the park since 1985.

A state-federal agreement signed in 2000 set a population goal of 3,000 bison in the park.
COLUMBIA, S.D. | A construction project at Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge has begun in order to create more habitat for ducks, geese and other wetland wildlife.

The finished project will let refuge managers have more control over water levels in an 80-acre wetland near the Columbia Dam fishing area. The project includes building a new water-control structure, the Aberdeen News reported.

Steve Donovan, manager of conservation programs in South Dakota for Ducks Unlimited, said that draining wetlands gives plants that can't germinate underwater the ability to grow. Ducks can then eat the seeds of those plants, mainly smartweed or barnyard grass, when the wetland is flooded in late summer.

"Those are two pretty common species that grow when you draw down a wetland," Donovan said. "A lot of people asked why refuge staff let all the water out of the lake last year, but the proof was in the pudding last fall when it got flooded and saw swarms of ducks return. It's important to grow some food instead of just cattails."

Ducks Unlimited engineer Maddie Saylor said the new structure's concrete pipe was placed recently, and the concrete headwall was formed and poured Jan. 23. Saylor said the next step is to put in the canal gate that will allow staff to control water levels.

Donovan said the project is also being funded by grants from the James River Water Development District and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

According to Saylor, the project is scheduled for completion in February.
PIERRE | Hindering the repossession of a vehicle would become a criminal act of theft in South Dakota under a proposal endorsed Friday by a state House of Representatives committee.

Rep. David Lust, R-Rapid City, is prime sponsor of House Bill 1096. It now goes to the full House for consideration.

Brian Busch, manager for Anytime Auto Sales in Rapid City, testified by telephone during the hearing by the House Judiciary Committee. Busch recounted instances of people making down payments and never making another payment.

Busch said there sometimes wasnt a way to retrieve vehicles when they were taken to Native American reservations and sometimes vehicles were sold for scrap.

These customers have absolutely no repercussions for their actions, Busch said. Its just plain wrong. People need to have consequences for car theft. He said this would be similar to an Arizona law.

Myron Rau, president for the South Dakota Automobile Dealers Association, said car sellers know theyre taking a risk. Anything you could do for us would help, Rau said.

The committee voted 10-2 to recommend the bills passage. Rep. Dan Kaiser, R-Aberdeen, voted against the bill. Im concerned about adding criminal charges to what has always been a civil process, Kaiser said.
PIERRE | Funeral homes shouldnt have priority to be paid by the estates of deceased people who have little money or items of value, a panel in the South Dakota Legislature decided Friday.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 10-1 to kill House Bill 1102 even though it could have saved money for taxpayers in some cases. Funeral homes are allowed to seek payment for services from the county government if the deceased person was poor.

The small-estate affidavit process is the standard method for collecting on debts when an estate is valued at less than $50,000, said Rep. Steve Haugaard, R-Sioux Falls. His legislation sought to allow funeral homes to use it for the last expenses.

Miles Schumacher, a lawyer in Sioux Falls who represents funeral homes throughout South Dakota, testified by telephone. Schumacher said funeral homes could obtain payments for the services using the small-estate affidavit procedure, rather than seek indigent expenses from the county government.

Funeral homes are required to hold the remains for 30 days if survivors cant be found, Jason Glodt said. The lobbyist for the South Dakota Funeral Directors Association called Haugaards bill a much better option than going through court or county government.

Speaking against the change was Brett Koenecke, a Pierre lawyer representing the South Dakota Bankers Association. He said the bill was too broad and he questioned how the funeral home would know the value of an estate or other details required.

This isnt a clarification in the law. This is a sea change in policy to allow creditors to come in and ask for this ability, Koenecke said.

Haugaard countered that the family members often arent in a good position either to know the value of an estate or other details.

But several legislators asked for the bill to be set aside.

As we continue with this, it gets more and more confusing, Rep. Chuck Turbiville, R-Deadwood, said. Theres got to be a better way to do this.

Rep. Tona Rozum, R-Mitchell, said her struggle was issuing a check to a third party. She wanted a letter of authorization. I cant see banking rules truly allowing this, she said.

Haugaard made a substitute motion to recommend passage. He didnt receive a second and his motion died.
There might not be enough money in the state budget to do the land swap that has to precede creating a state park in Spearfish Canyon, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Friday.

At least, not for the time being.

Daugaard made the comments during a news conference at the Capitol in Pierre. The Journal phoned in and asked the governor whether he will push ahead with his park proposal or withdraw the plan because of the loud and organized public opposition to it.

The governor did not answer the question definitively but said he has been surprised by the opposition and added, I wonder if therell be enough money, anyway.

Daugaard then briefly reviewed the status of state sales-tax collections, which have been weaker than projected, and said Feb. 15 is the date scheduled for the Legislatures adoption of new revenue projections.

An estimated $2.5 million is needed to proceed with the state-federal land swap. Daugaard has included that amount in his proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 and has filed legislation seeking approval of the expense.

But on the issue of funding, he said Friday, That might not be there, so well see.

Daugaard has been working to create Spearfish Canyon State Park since at least January 2016, when he publicly announced the idea. The plan would include a swap of some state-owned grasslands east of the Black Hills for some national forest land in Spearfish Canyon. The state would pair its newly acquired land with some land it already owns in the Savoy area of the canyon to create the park.

Additionally, the plan includes transferring Bismarck Lake from the national forest system into Custer State Park.

Most of the land that would be swapped by the state is controlled by the Office of School and Public Lands. The state constitution says the school and public lands trust fund would have to be reimbursed for the appraised value of the swapped land, which is why Daugaard is seeking $2.5 million from the Legislature.

Senate Bill 114 would make the $2.5 million appropriation, but the bill has not been scheduled for any legislative action since it was filed Jan. 25.

Public opposition to Daugaards park plan welled up over the past year and erupted Jan. 26 in Spearfish at the first public input meeting on the proposal. About 400 people showed up and vigorously expressed their opposition, complete with dozens of signs bearing the word no.

Daugaard said Friday that he regrets the timing of a state-issued release the morning of the public meeting, in which he pledged never to charge an entrance fee if a state park is created in Spearfish Canyon.

My guess is that unless they picked it up through social media, many of those who attended the meeting were unaware of the decision not to charge fees before they even arrived, so they were pretty well charged up and ready to fight the fees, Daugaard said. "And then I think the psychology of the matter is, 'Well, I'm still opposed anyway.'"

After Fridays news conference, the Journal asked David Miller of Rapid City, a leading critic of the park plan, if the opposition would have been muted by better timing of the no-fee pledge.

I dont believe that for a moment, Miller said.

Miller pointed to previous media coverage of no-fee pledges by past state officials and said the fee issue had already been resolved in the minds of many park opponents before Daugaard formalized it with his pledge.

Opponents have also expressed concern about environmental damage to Spearfish Canyon from the added infrastructure and extra visitation that a state park would bring, and about the perceived unfairness of trading state grasslands for federal forest land.

Miller said he does not consider the park plan dead yet and is waiting for the death of Senate Bill 114  the $2.5 million appropriation  before declaring anything resembling a victory for park opponents.

Daugaard sounded resigned as he spoke of the park plan Friday, and he notably made no pledge to continue fighting for it.

I guess Im just learning as I go here as governor, Daugaard said. Sometimes ideas that I think are good, not everyone does. And thats all right.
As its name implies, everything about the Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline could be extra large, including the level of outrage aimed at the 1,073 waterways it would cross in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

A separate project, the Dakota Access pipeline, has attracted more attention in recent months while it has been blocked by protesters who call themselves water protectors. Most of the Dakota Access pipeline is already built, except for a planned crossing under the Missouri River in southern North Dakota where protesters inspired by Native American activists are encamped.

Both pipeline projects vaulted into the news last week when newly sworn-in President Donald Trump issued memorandums supporting their completion. The Dakota Access pipeline, by virtue of being nearly finished, might continue to be the more controversial of the two in the short term.

The Keystone XL pipeline route runs through the northeastern corner of Butte County north of Newell where a pipe yard already was established, along with an initial agreement with county commissioners for road maintenance in areas affected by pipeline construction traffic.

Although no man camps had been proposed in Butte County for the project, one had been proposed at Union Center in Meade County.

But in the long run, if water crossings remain the focus of anti-pipeline activism, any controversy over the proposed $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline holds the potential to make the Dakota Access fight seem like a warm-up exercise. And it could bring protests to western South Dakota, where the Keystone XL route includes 333 water crossings.

Keystone XL opponent Elizabeth Lone Eagle lives in the tiny Cheyenne River Indian Reservation community of Bridger, near a spot where the Keystone XL would cross the Cheyenne River. Lone Eagle said the Dakota Access protest camp has emboldened and unified anti-pipeline activists.

In South Dakota, in certain areas, its not going to be a protest, she said. Its going to be a shutdown.

Anti-pipeline groups such as the Indigenous Environmental Network, which has been active in the Dakota Access protest, are also promising a bigger fight.

If Trump does not pull back from implementing these orders, said a release from the network, it will only result in more massive mobilization and civil disobedience on a scale never seen of a newly seated President of the United States.

Earlier start for protests

Part of what makes the Keystone XL (the "XL" actually stands for "export limited") so ripe for large-scale protests is the head start that activists have on it. Large-scale opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline arose late in the regulatory process as construction was beginning, and now the only segment left to oppose along the 1,172-mile route from the North Dakota oilfields to an Illinois distribution center is the crossing under the Missouri River, next to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

In other words, the Dakota Access fight, while symbolizing a broader opposition to societys dependence on oil, essentially hinges on one crossing under one waterway near one Native American reservation.

Conversely, Keystone XL presents activists with an opportunity to organize before the pipeline is built. The 1,179-mile route would stretch from the Canadian oil sands in Alberta, through eastern Montana and western South Dakota, to an existing pipeline connection at Steele City, Neb., for transport to Gulf Coast refineries (an existing Keystone pipeline already stretches through eastern South Dakota to Steele City and on to Illinois).

Activists ready to pounce

Fear of a pipeline leak polluting water resources has motivated Paula Antoine, of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in south-central South Dakota, to watch Keystone XL news closely. She has spent time at the protest camp in North Dakota and was previously involved in a smaller and lesser-known protest camp near the South Dakota town of Ideal, in the potential path of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Ideal camp formed in 2014 and swelled to as many as several hundred people, Antoine said, but it disbanded in November 2015 after then-President Barack Obama announced his rejection of a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to cross into the United States from Canada. Antoine said the Ideal camp helped inspire the North Dakota camp, which was founded last spring and swelled to thousands of protesters over the summer before dwindling to several hundred this winter.

Antoine does not know whether or where another protest camp might arise in opposition to the Keystone XL; however, she said, I dont discount the fact that there probably will be a camp.

Lone Eagle, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is convinced that large-scale protests against the Keystone XL are inevitable. Her remote community of Bridger consists of a cluster of homes in the extreme southwest corner of the Cheyenne River Reservation, built into the bluffs that rise above the Cheyenne River.

The spot where the Keystone XL pipeline would cross under the river is about five miles southwest of Bridger as the crow flies. Lone Eagle worries not only about pollution if the pipeline were to leak, but also about potential disruptions to the winding rivers path from pipeline construction. Lone Eagle said there are already erosion problems in the area from natural and human-caused changes to the rivers course, and she worries about resulting changes to the floodplain.

Theyre going to kill our community, Lone Eagle said.

A spokesman for TransCanada, the company proposing the Keystone XL pipeline, declined an interview request. But the company issued a release Thursday when it re-applied for a presidential permit to bring the pipeline across the border into the United States.

The release said, among other things, that the pipeline would be built with "enhanced standards" and "the most advanced technology" to ensure its safe operation, and that construction of the pipeline would "support tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs" while contributing about $3.4 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product.

Whether the Keystone XL pipeline gets built, and whether the Dakota Access pipeline gets finished, remains to be seen. Trumps memorandum on the Dakota Access pipeline ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to quickly consider approval of the contested Missouri River crossing, but that issue is tied up in litigation and the Corps said last week that it was studying Trumps memorandum.

Trumps memorandum on the Keystone XL pipeline invited the TransCanada Corp. to resubmit its application for a presidential border-crossing permit (which the company did Thursday), and Trump also ordered federal agencies to make a decision on the application within 60 days. But environmental groups have threatened litigation seeking a comprehensive new review of the project, rather than reliance on the review conducted by the Obama administration.

At the state level, the Keystone XL project already has approval from Montana and South Dakota but lacks approval from Nebraska. In that state, a diverse and highly organized coalition concerned in part about potential pollution of the Ogallala Aquifer has rallied the staunchest opposition to the Keystone XL so far.
A man charged with attempted murder could face up to three life sentences if he is proved to be a repeat offender, a 7th Circuit judge said during the man's arraignment Friday.

Jarrad Lance Smith, 31, of Rapid City, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and commission of a felony with a firearm in a shooting at the Belle Starr Gentlemens Club in Box Elder on Dec. 6.

According to law enforcement reports, the clubs security video showed Smith shooting Kyle Haverly, 27, with a pistol while the men were fighting in the Belle Starr parking lot. Haverly, who was hit in the abdomen, was declared in stable condition after surgery, the Pennington County Sheriffs Office said several hours after the early-morning shooting.

Each of Smiths attempted murder and firearm charges is punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and the aggravated assault charges, up to 15 years.

Smiths penalty for each charge could be enhanced to life in prison should he prove to be a repeat felon, said Judge Jeff Connolly.

The county States Attorneys Office says Smith has three prior felony convictions in South Dakota: manufacture, distribution and possession of a controlled substance in 2007, as well as rioting and possession of a controlled substance in 2006.

Smith denied the repeat offender allegation.

Smiths riot conviction involved an incident in which one person died, but Smith was not responsible for the death, Deputy States Attorney Josh Hendrickson told the Journal.

Also at the hearing, defense attorney Tim Rensch asked the court to reduce Smiths $250,000 bond to $25,000. Renschs argument included Smiths having acted in self-defense, adding, We are looking forward to trial.

Connolly denied the bond reduction after Hendrickson responded that Smith is an "extreme danger to the community" and a flight risk given the potential multiple life sentences he faces.

Smith, who is detained at the county jail, is due back in court March 3.
SIOUX FALLS | In the 1950s, it wasn't unheard of for South Dakota to log a single murder a year.

In 2017, the state saw two on the first day of the year.

Few would argue the halcyon days of unlocked cars with keys in the ignition are long gone in the state. But even the days of 2005 are a distant memory in terms of violent crime.

South Dakota may well be more dangerous than it's ever been.

An alarming combination of guns, drugs and addiction is largely behind the decadelong surge in the state's violent crime rate, which came as most states saw violence drop.

The Argus Leader reports that statistics and historians suggest the level of assaults, robberies and killings is unprecedented in the state, going back all the way to the Wild West.

South Dakota's violent crime rate doubled in the past decade to 383 per 100,000 residents in 2015, according to FBI statistics.

Deadwood during the gold rush was dangerous but not as violent as its lore, historians said, and illicit alcohol sales during Prohibition did not produce the kind of violence the methamphetamine trade has.

"People have had their heads in the sand and are not talking about the serious problems we have in our state," Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said.

And Rapid City and western South Dakota have not been immune to the increase in violent crime. Whereas Rapid City had only two homicides in 2016, that followed a violent year in 2015, when there were seven.

This winter has seen a spike in violent crimes. The city has already experienced three homicides in 2017  two fatal stabbings and a beating.

Officials from the federal government have also reported a spike in killings on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation this year.

South Dakota is still a relatively safe place, but its violent crime rate has spiked more dramatically than those of its neighbors. Violent crime rates in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wyoming either fell or increased slightly over the past decade, while North Dakota's and South Dakota's numbers climbed.

State and local officials blame a wave of methamphetamine trafficking that was late to arrive in South Dakota but has now established itself as part of a network of illegal drug distribution.

Alarming numbers

Annual crime reports from the South Dakota Attorney General's Office show dramatic increases in drug and violent crime totals over the past 10 years.

Statewide, officers made nearly 7,200 drug-related arrests in 2015, nearly double the number in 2005. Aggravated assault and robbery cases also doubled over the same time.

Some of the jump in aggravated assaults stems from a change in definition  the Legislature voted to classify choking incidents as aggravated assault in 2013  but most of it is not. Even after the change spiked the numbers, the number has grown by 417.

Attorney General Marty Jackley said the factors behind violent crime vary but typically involve controlled substances.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, which handles high-volume methamphetamine cases, is prosecuting more of them. The number of federal-level meth-related prosecutions in South Dakota jumped from 24 in 2010 to 46 in 2015 after peaking at 57 in 2014.

In Rapid City, meth was involved in three of the four officer-involved shootings during police Chief Karl Jegeris' first two years in his job.

The meth increase has come without the aid of home labs. Instead, it's coming from out of state, Jackley said, alongside shipments of marijuana from Colorado, Washington and Oregon. "All three of those states have the same thing in common: They have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes," Jackley said.

'Everyone's armed'

The public's appetite for high-grade marijuana and methamphetamine has fostered a more violent drug culture in which buyers and sellers are more likely to arm themselves, Sioux Falls police Chief Matt Burns said.

"That seems to be the new trend: Everyone's armed," Burns said.

"Drug rips," in which one user or dealer robs another, motivate victims to arm themselves for future transactions out of fear of being robbed again, Burns explained. The robberies usually go unreported, below the radar of law enforcement until they become fatal.

Milstead started his law enforcement career with the Sioux Falls Police Department in the 1970s.

"We had drug arrests back then, but the drug arrests would be four kids caught in a car with a baggie of marijuana," he said.

Comparing crime

James Cullen, a research and program associate at the Brennan Center for Justice, looked at South Dakota's crime rates and saw a clear trend.

"The fact that you're seeing robberies going up 20 percent in a year .... That's something you usually don't see," he said. "It's notable that this is not just a one-year blip."

Adjunct professor and author Jon Lauck, who works by day for Sen. John Thune, compiled a list of South Dakota homicides using data from the FBI for a memo on the state's murder and violent crime rate. The memo wasn't part of any particular project but was born out of historical curiosity and informed by what the author of seven books on Midwestern history knew from his work on the state's past.

"It was really a peaceful place," Lauck said.

His memo showed some years in the 1950s with a single murder  a stark contrast to the annual figures seen today.

Prohibition, Wild West

Charles Vollan, a professor of history at South Dakota State University, is researching a book about Prohibition in the state.

Accurate figures on violent crime in South Dakota before 1930 are nearly nonexistent. Much of Vollan's research on crime in the 1920s comes from newspaper archives and annual reports from the State Sheriff, a short-lived law enforcement agency dissolved in 1933.

Comprehensive tallies of violent crime in those years don't exist, Vollan said. Not all local agencies submitted reports to the State Sheriff's office, and homicide figures are restricted to those investigated by the state agency.

The Daily Argus Leader reported on arguments that rising crime was a reason to repeal Prohibition, but it also reported police arrested about a third as many people in 1930 as they did in 1916.

"With Prohibition, crime did go down (a classic prediction by the drys), but people felt that in the Prohibition era crime increased," Vollan said.

That's not to say that Prohibition wasn't tied to violence. There were high-profile murders, including the killing of two federal agents in Spink County. Journalist Chuck Cecil's book about prohibition, "Astride the White Mule," described the 1927 ambush as "the most abhorrent occurrence during the state's long Prohibition era," one that turned the state against a continued alcohol ban.

The other historical era in South Dakota tagged as violent in the popular imagination is the "Wild West" of the late 1800s, typified by Deadwood during the gold rush in 1875-79.

"There's always a debate about how violent the Wild West was," Black Hills State University professor David Wolff said.

Based on his research from city archives and newspapers from the era, Deadwood was less violent than TV might suggest, Wolff said.

Wolff counted around 35 violent deaths  not counting attacks by Native Americans  during the 45 months between the discovery of gold in Deadwood Creek and the fire that destroyed the city in 1879. That amounts to one violent death every six months.

"In an area of 10,000 people, that's pretty high," Wolff said.

Even so, Wolff said, the rest of the state was far more harmonious. Deadwood was a destination for seekers of gold and fortune, Wolff said, most of whom were young, male and prone to heavy drinking.

Modern parallels

Wolff's point on the space between the danger to the average South Dakotan and those who sought gold is not without a current parallel.

Today, homicides usually involve drugs or alcohol and happen between people who know one another. Robberies and assaults also tend to involve acquaintances.

"Unfortunately, drug use happens all over our community. Addiction has no regard for financial circumstance," said Burns, Sioux Falls' chief. "There have been these instances in those outlying areas."

If the city hopes to reverse the trend, Milstead said, it will take more than policing.

"Unless we get our drug trafficking and our drug addiction under control," he said, "this is the kind of thing we're going to be dealing with."
Senate Bill 55 is currently making its way through the Legislature and I thought it would be good for the readers to better understand what it's all about. It's very short and reads as follows:

"No teacher may be prohibited from helping students understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information presented in courses being taught which are aligned with the content standards established pursuant to  13-3-48."

The current South Dakota Science Standards list theories such as the Big Bang and evolution and the strengths of these theories are then given in the textbooks. The problem is, however, that no weaknesses are ever given in the textbooks or the science standards concerning these ideas. How are our children ever going to learn to become critical thinkers when they're only being told what to think instead of how to think concerning the status quo?

Galileo found a weakness in a theory of his day and used it to challenge the status quo. Einstein found a weakness in a theory of his day and used it to challenge the status quo. In science, it's imperative that we not only show the strengths but also the weaknesses of theories. This is what propels us forward in the science world. As it stands right now, the South Dakota Science Standards only want our children to hear the strengths of certain theories but this walks us down the slippery slope between education and indoctrination. SB55 fixes this.

SB55 allows teachers, without fear of repercussion, to simply discuss with their students the weaknesses of theories given to them in the textbooks. As a student you can't critically analyze the pros and cons of an idea if the perception given to you is that there are no cons. This is, unfortunately, where we stand right now in our science classrooms. Those opponents that are against giving our children both sides of the argument, such as representatives from the school administrators, the Department of Education and the president of the S.D. Education Association along with others are gathering in Pierre to fight this bill.

One has to wonder why the very people that are in charge of the education system in our state would oppose our children's right to be given both sides of an argument. What's their agenda?

Opponents throughout the Education Departments have argued that if this bill is passed the teachers will abuse it and there will be lawsuits. This is a most egregious opposition to the bill. This assumes the worst of our teachers and is, quite honestly, a slap in the face to them as both educators and professionals. The teachers deserve our trust and we should always assume the best of our hard-working educators and respect them and their ability to use this law as it is intended.

Supporting this bill is a vote for allowing our students to engage in critical scientific thinking. It's a vote of trust in our teachers and allows them to teach our children how to think instead of what to think. It's a vote for educating our students and not indoctrinating them. That's why we must pass Senate Bill 55.
CONRAD, Mont.  The pea weevil is a new and very damaging pest in Montana, not to be confused with the pea leaf weevil.In fact, it is not actually a beetle, not a weevil.According to Dr. Jan Knodel, entomologist at North Dakota State University, the pea weevil has not been found in North Dakota fields yet.But it is in Montana, and Dr. Gadi V.P. Reddy, entomologist of Montana State Universitys Western Triangle Agricultural Research Center, has been working on biological ways to rid fields of the pea weevil.The pea weevil looks like the pea leaf weevil and its biology is the same, Reddy said. The beetle is small (44.5 mm long), brownish-grey in color and flecked with white.The pea weevil emerges in spring and feeds on pollen. The females lay eggs, but the larvae do not tunnel into the soil.The pea weevil not only reduces pea yields but can also reduce germination rates of seed and grain quality.The larvae cause damage to both the flowers and the seeds, so it is very damaging, he said. At flowering, the pea weevil larvae slowly feeds on flowers and then feeds inside the seed.Just before harvest, some larvae come out and pupate. Pupation occurs in the peas and adults chew and emerge through a circular hole. They will only infest green, ripening peas.Damage to the seeds makes the pea weevil a storage pest, as well.The pea weevils are inside the seeds when the peas are transferred into grain bins where they are stored. The pea weevil cannot reproduce in stored grain, but sometimes the adults can remain concealed in grain for up to two years.However, heavy infestation of pea weevils often reduces the pea seed to shells.Some pea samples sent into WTARC were crushed, and the pea weevil was found inside.There have been high infestations of the pest in the UK and Australia, but it is a new pest in Montana, Reddy said. Some growers on the highline in Montana complained about the pea weevil in their fields, so we have the samples they sent in the lab.The samples identified the pest as the pea weevil.The US Dry Pea and Lentil Council has now funded a project to survey the extent of damage and the incidence of population in different areas of Montana.If a high number of populations are found, we are planning on conducting biological controls on the insect, he said.There is a tiny biological egg parasitoid wasp called Uscana senex used in Brazil and Chile that can kill the eggs of the pea weevil. The wasp lays its eggs inside the eggs of pea weevil. After hatching, wasp larvae feed inside the eggs of the pea weevil.Our plan is to get the parasitoid wasp from Brazil and Chile to control the pea weevil as a part of biological control program, Reddy said.They are applying for USDA-APHIS permits to obtain the parasitoids now, as it requires some work to bring a wasp, even a parasitoid, into another country.
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The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission will hold a regular meeting Friday, Feb. 10, at 10:30 a.m. at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Headquarters in Helena. The commission will look at a variety of issues and make final decisions on Future Fisheries Projects, a rule allowing lighted nocks on arrows, and 2017 spring turkey license quotas.

Also on the agenda for a final decision from the commission are the approval of waters for commercial bait seining annual rule and the wildlife management area biennial public use rule.

The commission will also hear proposals on a recreation access agreement on The Nature Conservancy lands in FWP Region 2 and 2017 migratory bird regulations.

Several projects will come before the commission for its endorsement:

 Skyles Lake Fishing Access Site right-of-way realignment

 Milwaukee Fishing Access Site lease agreement with the Montana Department of Transportation.

 Gallatin Forks Fishing Access Site bridge realignment

 White Bear Fishing Access Site land disposal

 Edgar Bridge donation on the Clarks Fork River

 Mussel inspection and decontamination lease sites

 Right-of-way expansion through Ninepipe Wildlife Management Area

 Freezeout Lake Wildlife Management Area memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

 Gordon Conservation Easement addition

FWP ensures its meetings are fully accessible to those with special needs. To request arrangements, call FWP at 406-444-3186.

For the full agenda and background on the scheduled topics for the Commission meeting, go to the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov; under Quick Links click Commission Meeting & Agendas.
HELENA  Conservation groups urged lawmakers this week to reverse restrictions enacted during the last Legislature on a popular funding source for acquiring wildlife habitat and opening recreation access.

The Joint Subcommittee on Long-Range Planning heard testimony from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on House Bill 5, commonly known as the infrastructure bill which includes capital funding requests across all state agencies. While the bill includes projects for fish and state parks, conservation groups largely came out in support of Habitat Montana, and restoring authority for the agency to use the fund for purchasing land.

Enacted in 1987, Habitat Montana earmarks a portion of license fees for habitat acquisition and conservation easements. FWP has purchased about 400,000 acres and put easements on another 440,000 with the program, including leveraging it with federal dollars, Wildlife Administrator Ken MacDonald told the committee on Tuesday.

The 2015 Legislature put a restriction on Habitat Montana, removing FWPs authority to purchase land and only allowing the funding to go towards conservation easements. The restriction did not cease funding the program, which now holds a $10.1 million balance.

Opposition to Habitat Montana largely comes from concerns about state ownership of lands and past acquisitions that failed to gain local support.

Restoring purchase authority will allow state wildlife managers to buy key properties important to wildlife and to improving public access, conservation groups testified.

It has made it possible for us to do a lot of good projects, said Mark Lambrecht with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. We do a lot of these projects and I think they benefit the public greatly and respectfully request you restore spending authority to this program for FWP.

Marc Cooke with Wolves of the Rockies called the program a win-win.

I think the way the current political situation at the national level is going to be detrimental to habitat and I think this is an opportunity for us at a local level to turn that around and make best for the future, he said.

Ben Lamb with the National Wildlife Federation echoed the program's benefits to public and private landowners.

This is one program that brings landowners and sportsmen together to find common ground, he testified.

No one spoke in opposition.

Tuesdays hearing came a day after more than 1,000 public land advocates rallied at the Capitol. While opposition to federal land transfer to states highlighted the rally, several speakers also pushed reauthorizing land purchases under Habitat Montana.
BILLINGS  More than 60 alternative government Twitter accounts  including two for Yellowstone National Park and one for Glacier  have popped up across the United States in the wake of the Trump administrations mid-January order that Interior Department employees stop making posts on a National Park Service account.

This whole dimension of communication didnt exist before and hadnt been controversial because it was used as a means to amplify talking points, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which revealed a list of the new Twitter accounts in a Wednesday email. But now all the talking points are thrown out the window.

The weekend shutdown of a National Park Service Twitter account was ordered after the agency posted photos of a smaller crowd attending President Trumps inauguration in comparison to when President Obama was sworn in. The step is just one that the Trump administration has taken to control information coming from government agencies. Last week the Environmental Protection Agency was ordered by the new administration to halt all press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts, according to an Associated Press report.

Ruch said the attempt to control information shows how much the political landscape has changed because of social media in just the past few years. No one would have noticed such a move in the early years of the Obama administration, he said.

President Trumps actions have prompted a revolt unique to a new world where social media has provided the ability for people to circumvent the normal channels for releasing information to the public.

The list PEER referred to has been compiled by Alice Stollmeyer, a digital advocacy strategist from Brussels with a background in science and communications, according to her LinkedIn account. Her public list of Twitter accounts is titled Twistance: Twitter+resistance=#Twistance. US federal #science agencies going rogue. Shes also posted another public list called Twistance 2 that listed 33 other rogue alternate accounts for agencies like Homeland Security, FEMA and the Department of Education.

The alternative Yellowstone accounts include @YellerstoneNPS, which describes its site as The official Twitter feed* of Yellerstone National Park. *some facts may be alternative."

More popular, with more than 37,000 followers, is @AltYellowstoneNatPar, which says it is An unofficial group of employees, scientists and activists in and around Yellowstone national park. We will try and keep you informed, when others can't.

The @GlacierNPSAlt site simply says it is The alternative Twitter site for Glacier National Park. It has already gathered more than 20,000 followers.

The fact that in only a few days the sites have logged thousands of followers impressed Kirsten Stade, advocacy director for PEER.

These alternative accounts have tapped into a current that the rest of us dream of, she said, referring to others with Twitter accounts.

Twitter users skew younger, she said, which also means that the accounts may be reaching a new audience for scientific, climate and research issues by government agencies.

@NastyWomenofNPS, The Unofficial Resistance team of nasty lady rangers your elected officials warned you about, posted comments by former Park Service Director Jon Jarvis supporting the social media revolt.

I have been watching the Trump administration trying unsuccessfully to suppress the National Park Service with a mix of pride and amusement, Jarvis said in a statement posted on Sunday to the Association of National Park Rangers Facebook site. The NPS is the steward of Americas most important places and the narrator of our most powerful stories, told authentically, accurately, and built upon scientific and scholarly research. The park ranger is a trusted interpreter of our complex natural and cultural history and a voice that cannot not be suppressed. Edicts from on-high have directed the NPS to not talk about national policy, but permission is granted to use social media for visitor center hours and safety.

Jarvis goes on to question what such gag orders could lead to, including:  as we scientifically monitor the rapid decline of glaciers in Glacier National Park, a clear and troubling indicator of a warming planet, shall we refrain from telling this story to the public because the administration views climate change as national policy?

The alternative sites now claim to represent people from a variety of federal agencies, from NASA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The new alt movement can trace its short heritage back to a former Badlands (South Dakota) National Park employee who had access to the parks Twitter account and on Jan. 24 started posting climate change facts. The Tweets, which gained 60,000 followers in a day, were later deleted by the Park Service but an alternative account, @AltUSNatParkService popped up.

Although PEERs Stade said the current political climate has been challenging, the rise of alt Twitter accounts is a positive sign.

We may have a more active and engaged citizenry, she said.
HELENA  Big game hunters may be able to sport a new color for safety next season under a bill introduced by a state committee.

Big game hunters are required to wear 400 square inches of visible fluorescent orange, and the Senate Fish and Game Committee voted 9-2 Thursday to introduce a bill that would give them the option to wear fluorescent pink instead.

As a committee bill rather than one introduced by a lawmaker, it needed a three-quarters majority to be introduced. The bill failed by one vote on Tuesday with one committee member absent, gaining the needed support on Thursday.

(Were) trying to add an option color more attractive to the female hunters or guys who like pink, Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, said Thursday.

On Tuesday, Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, voiced support for the bill in part to appeal to younger hunters by adding color choices.

Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, voted against the bill. On Thursday he explained that he believes safety colors should be optional, and he was concerned the bill would further cement them in law.

A measure to make hunter orange optional failed during the 2015 Legislature.

The bill must still go through a yet-to-be-scheduled committee hearing to see if it advances for full Senate consideration.

A bill allowing Wisconsin hunters to wear pink became law last year. Similar measures have gained traction in other states as well, including Colorado and Michigan.
Elsie Arntzen entered the Montana House chamber Friday afternoon as the first Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction in decades, doubling down in her State of Education address on a promise to scale back advocacy some had considered political.

For 12 years, I have been honored to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with you in these chambers as well as with our esteemed colleagues in the Senate, she said, also recognizing other statewide elected officials and tribal leaders as important collaborators.

But I have to tell you, the former teacher said to chuckles. Sometimes you have reminded me of my class of 10-year-olds.

The joke, in part, referenced political disagreements that Arntzen argued in her campaign had bled into the operations of the Office of Public Instruction.

We are providing informational testimony on bills and their fiscal implications, she said, departing from the practice of previous superintendents to sometimes speak in support or opposition of legislative proposals regarding education policy. Its my sincere commitment to depoliticize this office and honor you, honor you the Legislature, as you are the lawmakers.

Arntzen repeated two slogans throughout her address that she described as priorities of her administration: Montana Proud and Montana Hope.

She emphasized the need to teach students about state history and values, highlighting Indian Education for All and a new arrangement by which the Agriculture Literacy Program will be jointly operated with the Department of Agriculture. She also said that educators and other school staff do important work providing hope for students and their future, academic or otherwise.

Being Montana proud, includes hope. Our school counselors are on the front lines protecting our students, she said, urging legislators to support strengthened mental health resources in schools to reverse the states high ranking for youth suicides.

Among her priorities, Arntzen also listed the need to support students who are gifted and talented or who have disabilities, although -- in line with her promise to let legislators make policy decisions -- did not testify in support of some legislation to bolster that work earlier this session. Other priorities included efforts to help schools recruit and retain quality teachers.

She also urged legislators to approve her budget proposal, which reinstates some funding sources the governor had suggested replacing with different monies but Arntzen argued would leave local taxpayers on the hook for more.

I am responsible for leading one of the largest agencies in our state government, she said. The budget I have offered is fiscally responsible and funds Montanas obligation to our public schools. That is why my priority this session is to make sure you do right by our students, our taxpayers and pass my budget.

In one statement, she also appeared to reference earlier criticisms of how previous superintendent Denise Juneau submitted some required data on testing scores to federal officials while also speaking to growing public concerns about over testing students.

Assessment must be purposeful and with meaning for student success. The data must be governed with integrity and with respect for student privacy, she said, later adding: I was elected gatekeeper of our Montana schools from federal overreach Local control, flexibility: These are Montana values I will be advocating for at the federal level.
Local artists are joining forces in Hamilton to create a new event they're calling the Culture Crawl.

The first opportunity for folks to experience the evening filled with local culture will be during Hamilton Tonight 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10. Local galleries joining the fun are Art City, Art Focus, Montana Bliss Artworks, MineShaft Pasty Co. and Coffeehouse, O'Hara Commons and the Gallery at Clay Works!

Kim Milstead, a ceramic artist with works for sale at Art City and Clayworks!, said the Culture Crawl used to happen regularly 20 years ago. The arts community is reviving the event.

It is a way to let community members know about the various galleries and stores that sell art downtown, Milstead said. Were trying to get people to go out of their way. The Montana Bliss gallery is outside of the downtown area so were asking people to go further than they usually do on second Fridays.

Currently, there are six venues participating but the planners hope more will join as the Culture Crawl expands.

Art City is featuring their annual Art to heART" show. The Gallery at Clay Works is featuring pottery-throwing demonstrations by Kevin Silkwood, Corvallis High School art teacher. Montana Bliss Artworks will be featuring the art of Alissa Durling as she paints one of her vividly colored abstract landscapes. MineShaft Pasty Co. and Coffeehouse will feature the artwork of Wayne Queen and present live music by Shelly Picket. Art Focus will be featuring artist Martin Grelle and Marshall Holmbergs mache sculptures, live music by Tin Cup and refreshments. OHara Commons is hosting artist Rebecca Mann of Busy Bee Metalworks and providing refreshments.

Each of the venues has something going on  painting, pottery, singing or some other kind of art, Milstead said. Were hoping to build to hands-on experiences for the community. There is food, music and lots of local art for people to see. I think theres a lot of places that people dont know about that are artsy.

The Montana Bliss gallery is owned by Barbara Liss.

I didnt know I was an artist until a year and a half ago when I started sculpturing concrete faces, Liss said. I have them all over my yard and needed another venue. Ive been donating them to non-profits for silent auctions and now theyre asking for them again.

Liss' gallery was open Saturdays in December as well as special events and by appointment.

I offer the space to schools for no charge, she said. It has high quality gallery lighting. Im offering the space for private showings. Its a new hybrid of gallery space.

Liss said the Culture Crawl came about because she thought it would be fun for the Hamilton galleries to do something together.

The second Friday seemed perfect, she said. I told my friends and they said It sounds like Culture Crawl which I had never heard about. Were not reinventing the wheel just enjoying it."

There will be other kinds of events happening each month. For example, on the second Friday in April, the ATR business on Main Street is hosting an awards night for their high school art contest.

Liss said the events and happenings will be listed on the Culture Crawl Hamilton Facebook page as a central point of reference.

During the Culture Crawl, the participating businesses are encouraging guests to visit each gallery and are taking turns providing a $50 gift certificate. To enter the drawing visit five Culture Crawl locations.

Art City is providing the gift certificate this month.

Art City is an artist run gallery featuring work by local artists and will be open Feb. 10, 11, 13 and 14 and by chance or appointment.

Liss said she expects great success with the Culture Crawl.

This is just the first one, Liss said. We have lots of snow and it gets dark early so were starting earlier because we are really spread out and people will have time to do our Culture Crawl and see all the Main Street things.

Enjoy the Culture Crawl during Hamilton Tonight, from 4 to 7 p.m., on Friday Feb. 10. For more information, contact Art City 406-363-4764.
Guwahati, February 3 : An Assam legislator on Friday was invited criticism after he broadcasted live his speech on Facebook during the ongoing budget session of Assam assembly.

Aminul Islam, an MLA of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) representing the Dhing assembly constituency of central Assam's Nagaoan district, broadcasting live his speech on Facebook by using his mobile phone in the assembly.

The Assam legislator's 'live from the assembly' act was reminiscent of Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann, who had videotaped the Parliament premises and its internal security positions in July last.

Following the Assam legislator's act, the BJP and opposition party Congress had criticized over the serious matter.

The AIUDF MLA Islam said that, there is nothing in the rule book that says anything about using social media in the assembly.

'I uploaded live my speech on Facebook only for benefit the people who needed to know about which critical issues discussed in the assembly. So I am not wrong about it,' Islam said.

Meanwhile, the Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that, mobile phone is not allow and to use in the assembly and every legislator know it better.

On the other hand, the opposition leader and Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia said that, the legislator's act is against the rule of the assembly.

Assam assembly speaker Hitendranath Goswami said that, he asked the legislators to file complain against Islam's act and it would be studied for necessary action.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
DUBAI: A Revolutionary Guards commander said Iran would use its missiles if its security is under threat, as the elite force defied new US sanctions on its missile programme by holding a military exercise on Saturday.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since a recent Iranian ballistic missile test which prompted US President Donald Trumps administration to impose sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the Revolutionary Guards.

Trumps national security adviser Michael Flynn said the Washington was putting Iran on notice over its destabilising activity, and Trump tweeted Tehran was playing with fire

We are working day and night to protect Irans security, head of Revolutionary Guards aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads, he added.

Despite the heated words, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday he was not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Irans misbehaviour, but warned that the world would not ignore Iranian activities.

Irans Revolutionary Guards is holding the military exercise in Semnan province on Saturday to test missile and radar systems and to showcase the power of Irans revolution and to dismiss the sanctions, according to the forces website.

Iranian state news agencies reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems would be tested in the drill.

Iran has one of the Middle Easts largest missile programmes

and held a similar exercise in December to showcase its defence systems, including radars, anti-missile defence units, and short and medium-range missiles.

Tehran confirmed on Wednesday that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile, but said the test did not breach the Islamic Republics nuclear agreement with world powers or a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the pact.

Iran has test-fired several ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal in 2015, but the latest test was the first since Trump entered the White House. Trump said during his election campaign that he would stop Irans missile programme.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday and recommended the missile testing be studied at committee level. The new US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called the test unacceptable.

The Security Council resolution was adopted to buttress the deal under which Iran curbed its nuclear activities to allay concerns they could be used to develop atomic bombs, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

The resolution urged Tehran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Critics say the resolutions language does not make this obligatory.

Tehran says it has not carried out any work on missiles specifically designed to carry nuclear payloads.
Guwahati, February 4 : A militant of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang was killed and another injured during an encounter with Assam Rifles in Arunachal Pradesh's Longding on Friday evening, officials said on Saturday.

A top Assam Rifles official said that, following a tip off, a troop had launched operation at Ozakho village along Arunachal Pradesh-Myanmar border about presence of a militant group.

When the troop reached at the remote area, the militants started fire and heavy rounds of bullet were exchanged,A the official said.

During the gun fight, a NSCN (K) militant was killed on spot and another injured.

The slain militant is yet to be identified.

Security personnel had recovered a rifle and five magazines from the area.

The frontier state of the north eastern region has witnessed several militant attacks on security forces in past a year.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
SEATTLE, Feb 4: A federal judge's order blocking President Donald Trump's ban on admitting travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries or any refugees left authorities and advocates wondering what to do Saturday with the people who finally got visas to come to America, only to be turned away.

The White House said it would try to get a court to reinstate the ban that prompted the State Department to cancel visas for 60,000 or more people from the affected countries, causing widespread confusion at airports when some travelers were detained and others sent back.

An internal email circulated among Homeland Security officials Friday night told employees to immediately comply with the judge's ruling. However, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said Saturday that they're still awaiting guidance on what to tell Iraqis eager to see if their visa restrictions had changed.

"We don't know what the effect will be, but we're working to get more information," the embassy told The Associated Press in a statement.

The judge's order was a victory for Washington and Minnesota, which had challenged Trump's directive. U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order, ruling the states had standing. He said they showed their case was likely to succeed.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart said.

The White House has argued that it will make the country safer. Spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying the government "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

Soon after, a revised statement was sent out that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under litigation, said Friday: "We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available."

Hours after the judge's ruling, Qatar Airways issued an advisory to passengers saying citizens of the seven Muslim-majority countries previously barred from entry who hold a valid U.S. visa or green card will be allowed to travel to the U.S. The airline cited a directive by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a handful of Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

In their arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban on entry for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination.

After the ruling, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," Ferguson said. "The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States."

The judge's ruling could be appealed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order released late Friday, Roberts said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather, to make sure that actions taken by the executive or legislative branches "comports with our country's laws."

Court challenges of the ban have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups. Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said his state's focus is the way the president's order targets Islam.

Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and the travel ban was an effort to make good on that campaign promise, Purcell told the judge.

"Do you see a distinction between campaign statements and the executive order?" Robart asked. "I think it's a bit of a reach to say the president is anti-Muslim based on what he said in New Hampshire in June."

Purcell said there is an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to show the order is unconstitutionally directed at the Muslim religion.

The judge then questioned federal government's lawyer, Michelle Bennett, about Trump's rationale.

Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush, asked if there had been any terrorist attacks since 9/11 by people from the seven counties listed in Trump's order. Bennett said she didn't know.

"The answer is none," Robart said. "You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that."

Bennett argued that the states can't sue on behalf of citizens, and the states have failed to show the order is causing irreparable harm.

Robart disagreed, and rejected a request from Bennett for an immediate stay of his order.

The State Department said Friday that Trump's order canceled visas for up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries, contradicting a Justice Department lawyer who said Friday that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order is harming residents, businesses and the state's education system. Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the challenge, saying the ban is hurting their operations as well.
KATHMANDU, Feb 4: The 17th session of senior officials' meeting of the Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) all is set to take place in Kathmandu on February 5.

The meeting will be followed by its preceding meetings (7th meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on the establishment of BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat (BIMSTEC-JWG) and second preparatory meeting to the 17th session of the BIMSTEC senior officials meeting to be held in different dates.

The BIMSTEC-JWG will discuss administrative and financial issues of the BIMSTEC Secretariat, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. The BIMSTEC-JWG will submit its report to the BIMSTEC-PrepSOM to be held on February 6.

Likewise, the BIMSTEC-PrepSOM will center on the reports of various meetings held under BIMSTEC in 2015 and 2016 and will report to the BIMSTEC-SOM, the statement added.

The session of the BIMSTEC-SOM will be chaired by Shanker Das Bairagi, Foreign Secretary and Head of Nepali Delegation.

Other members of the Nepali delegation include officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister's Office and Council of the Ministers and the Ministry of Finance. Currently Nepal is the Chair of the BIMSTEC. RSS
China has accused the US of putting the stability of the Asia-Pacific at risk after Donald Trumps defence secretary said Washington would come to Japans defence in the event of a conflict with Beijing over the disputed Senkaku islands

James Mattis, on a two-day visit to Japan , said the islands, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China , fell within the scope of the Japan-US security treaty, under which Washington is obliged to defend all areas under Japanese administrative control.

Mattis also made clear that the US opposed any unilateral action that risked undermining Japans control of the Senkakus, a group of uninhabited islets that are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potentially large natural gas deposits.

I want to make certain that Article 5 of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago  and as it will be a year, and 10 years, from now, Mattis, a retired marine general who has served in South Korea and Japan , told Japans prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on Friday evening.

On Saturday, Chinas foreign ministry called on the US to stop issuing wrong remarks about the Senkakus, which are located in the East China Sea and known as the Diaoyu in China . The ministry said in a statement that the US should avoid complicating the issue and bringing instability to the regional situation.

Mattiss vow that the US would defend the Senkakus came at the end of a four-day visit to South Korea and Japan, during which he has sought to reassure the US allies of the Trump administration s commitment to their security.

I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100% shoulder-to-shoulder with you and the Japanese people, he said.

On Saturday, he told Japans defence minister, Tomomi Inada, that their countries alliance was the cornerstone of regional stability.

Earlier in the week, Mattis issued similar reassurance to South Korea and warned North Korea that any use of nuclear weapons would be met with an effective an overwhelming response.

The United States stands by its commitments, and we stand with our allies, the South Korean people, Mattis said in Seoul.

The decision to make Japan and South Korea Mattiss first overseas destination as defence secretary is seen as an attempt to calm local nerves: last year Trump suggested that the US could significantly roll back its military presence in the region, despite growing concern over Chinese island building in the South China Sea and North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

In contrast to the rhetoric used by other senior figures in the Trump administration , Mattis said he saw no need for US military action in the South China Sea, but reiterated that freedom of navigation in the strategically and commercially important waterway was absolute.

His measured language also contrasted with that of Trump, who criticised Japan and South Koreas commitment to their alliances with the US during his run for the White House, and hinted at a possible military withdrawal unless they paid more towards the cost of hosting American troops.

The US has 28,500 troops in South Korean and 47,000 in Japan, mostly on the southern island of Okinawa , where Mattis served as a young marine officer in the early 1970s.

Japan has made noteworthy contributions to regional security and to the alliance, and the United States deeply appreciates Japans contributions, he said. But make no mistake: in my meeting with Japanese leaders, both our nations recognize that we must not be found complacent in the face of the challenges we face.

On Friday, Mattis said the US had an ironclad commitment to defending its allies in Asia, and warned North Korea that any attempt to use nuclear weapons would invite a severe response . Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming, he said in Seoul.

In addition to friction over the Senkakus and the South China Sea , Beijing has criticised an agreement to deploy a US missile defence system, known as terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad) in South Korea later this year.

China says the system could upset the balance of power in the region, despite US claims that its sole purpose is to counter the missile threat from North Korea.

We have resolute opposition to the deployment of Thaad to South Korea by the US and (South Korea), Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement. Such actions  will jeopardise security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region.
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Q&A: What is the EPA, and why is it in the hot seat?
Darkly stylish and occasionally moody, Rings mostly lies flat on the screen, daring anyone to pay attention.

Featuring not one but two different sequences before the main title appears, the filmmakers tip their hand early, in favor of the loud and obvious. It's an approach that treats the audience with kid gloves, literally: 'Let us explain this concept to you and then let us chop up these supposedly scary things into tiny little bits so it will go down easier.'

That approach, it turns out, is at odds with the resolutely gloomy atmosphere that director F. Javier Gutierrez soon establishes. His previous feature, Before the Fall (Tres dias), impressed this site's reviewer Kurt Halfyard back in 2008; he noted, in part: " It certainly does not hurt that the film is shot with the quality of visual sophistication."

That visual sophistication is apparent here, as well. Gutierrez and Sharone Meir (Whiplash, The Last House on the Left), who serves as director of photography, fashion a shadowy world that quickly envelops Julia (Matilda Lutz), the mysterious protagonist. Her story begins when she wakes up in bed on a bright, late summer morning with her boyfriend Holt (Alex Roe). The handsome Holt then packs up his belongings neatly and heads off to college. They proclaim their love and promise to stay in touch.

Rather than provide Julia with any backstory, however, the focus remains on Holt, or his absence, rather, as following a cursory Skype call, he stops answering Julia's texts, emails and phone calls. Consumed with her love for him, Julia drives to his college -- mind, without telling anyone -- and is soon caught up in the aforementioned gloomy atmosphere.

She also sees firsthand the effects of the infamous video as its seven-day curse plays out in front of her to disastrous effect. But she loves Holt very much and refuses to leave him, and that's what is supposed to power the balance of the movie.

A professor named Gabriel (Johnny Galecki, TV's The Big Bang Theory) represents mortal man's desire to understand and explain. He has constructed a giant pyramid scheme, it seems, based on his students being terribly naive and trusting, and he is, er, doing stuff to dissect the problem, mostly involving a lot of students treating a big old lab like a secret hangout joint, where they can eat burgers, play games, and watch giant analog stopwatches count down the "7 days" their fellow victims have to live before ...

... OK, that's too much analysis, obviously, and it's all part of a desperate attempt to reboot the series for the next generation of kids who never got to see The Ring in theaters back in the fall of 2002. It was much fun, trust me, especially if you'd already seen the Japanese original, which itself was a far different and superior beast, for reasons well-reasoned and explained by our contributor Allan Koay right here.

Evidently, Rings was made with the intent of appealing to a different audience in the same way that Sadako v Kayako aimed to breathe new life into two (?!) different franchises. Even in comparison to the latter, a weak-tea film that doesn't really start until the final sequence, Rings does not fare well because the story doesn't resonate or even come close to tapping into primal fears, as did Nakata Hideo's Ringu, which remains one of the most frightening, unsettling films I've ever seen.

Lutz does her best with a blank slate of a character. Vincent D'Onofrio shows up for some reason, but at least he has more screen time than Lizzie Brochere, who appears in the opening sequence for some reason. A favor for a friend? The prospect of a larger role that was cut?

Still, F. Javier Gutierrez remains a director to watch. As it stands, Rings is a swirling mess, but there's enough stylish potential to wonder what might have been if the script was stronger and/or the cast more convincing.

The film is now playing throughout Canada and the U.S.


The Norwegian intelligence agency PST is one of the targets of spear phishing attacks launched by the Russian APT 29 group.

The dreaded Russian APT 29 group is back, the Norwegian authorities accuse Russia of cyber attacks that hit the foreign ministry, intelligence and other institutions.

Nine different email accounts were targeted in an attempt at what is called spear phishing, in other words malicious emails, confirmed Arne Christian Haugstoyl, an official with Norways intelligence service PST, in an interview with the television channel TV2.

The Norway was informed of ongoing attacks by an allied state, it is currently investigating the case, but it is still unclear which was the motivation behind the attack.

Its difficult to know what the goal he added.

Despite legislative elections are scheduled for September 2017, experts believe that the attacks are not linked to the vote.

The APT 29 group is likely interested in the Norway NATO membership, especially in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.

Recently the Norwegian Government also allowed the deployment of 300 US soldiers on its soil.

The Norwegian official confirmed that the APT 29 group has links to the Russian authorities, the hackers area also accused to have interfered with the recent US Presidential Election.

At the time I was writing it is not clear if the hackers have exfiltrated sensitive information, according to the Verdens Gang (VG), the PST spokesman Martin Bernsen said there was no reason to believe that classified information had been obtained in connection with the attack.

According to the Norwegian Government, the hackers also targeted the national radiation protection agency, the parliamentary group of the Labour party and a school.

Recently Moscow refused visas to two senior Norwegian lawmakers, a decision considered by the Government of Oslo as unjustifiable.

Moscow explained the visa refusal was its response to Norways position on the EU economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs  Norway, APT 29 Group)

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 Oklahoma Governor's task force urging significant sentencing reform to deal with surging prison population | Main | Questions raised about Judge Gorsuch's law school work for Harvard Defenders and PLAP 

February 4, 2017

"The Death Penalty as Torture From the Dark Ages to Abolition"

The title of this post is the title of this new book authored by John Bessler about to be published by Carolina Academic Press. Here is the blurb from the Press webpage:

During the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, Europes monarchs often resorted to torture and executions. The pain inflicted by instruments of torture  from the thumbscrew and the rack to the Inquisitions tools of torment  was eclipsed only by horrific methods of execution, from breaking on the wheel and crucifixion to drawing and quartering and burning at the stake. The English Bloody Code made more than 200 crimes punishable by death, and judicial tortureexpressly authorized by law and used to extract confessionspermeated continental European legal systems. Judges regularly imposed death sentences and other harsh corporal punishments, from the stocks and the pillory, to branding and ear cropping, to lashes at public whipping posts. In the Enlightenment, jurists and writers questioned the efficacy of torture and capital punishment. In 1764, the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria  the father of the worlds antideath penalty movement  condemned both practices. And Montesquieu, like Beccaria and others, concluded that any punishment that goes beyond absolute necessity is tyrannical. Traditionally, torture and executions have been viewed in separate legal silos, with countries renouncing acts of torture while simultaneously using capital punishment. The UN Convention Against Torture strictly prohibits physical or psychological torture; not even war or threat of war can be invoked to justify it. But under the guise of lawful sanctions, some countries continue to carry out executions even though they bear the indicia of torture. In The Death Penalty as Torture, Prof. John Bessler argues that death sentences and executions are medieval relics. In a world in which mock or simulated executions, as well as a host of other non-lethal acts, are already considered to be torturous, he contends that death sentences and executions should be classified under the rubric of torture. Unlike in the Middle Ages, penitentiariesone of the products of the Enlightenmentnow exist throughout the globe to house violent offenders. With the rise of life without parole sentences, and with more than four of five nations no longer using executions, The Death Penalty as Torture calls for the recognition of a peremptory, international law norm against the death penaltys use.

February 4, 2017 at 06:07 PM | Permalink

Comments

Prof. John Bessler put out a volume that provides Breyer's seminal death penalty dissent along with an extended introduction. Beforehand, he also wrote "Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders' Eighth Amendment," which was a good read.

Posted by: Joe | Feb 4, 2017 7:17:58 PM

A series of ipse dixits by a lawyer, who fails to disclose the economic self interest of himself and of his profession in prolonging the lives of serial torture and kill killers. My ipse dixit is that the average person around the world, including in Europe, believes his arguments to be utter nonsense.

In the lifetime of Prof. Berman, and definitely of his children, technology will solve the debate, as has been usual in all of legal history. The lawyer has never solved any serious legal problem. CRISPR/cas9 technology will change anti-social personality people once diagnosed at age 3. In the lifetimes of Prof. Berman's children, parents will be able to get the materials needed, and do it all, on their own, at home, without a prescription. The resulting unemployment in law and in medicine will reach 50% if not more.

Here is a 4 minute MIT video reviewing the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=141&v=2pp17E4E-O8

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 5, 2017 6:29:49 AM

"The lawyer has never solved any serious legal problem."

Sorry, I have to retract that accusation. The lawyer dropped the crime rate across the board by 40% with brilliant mandatory sentencing guidelines, in the 1990's. That was the greatest lawyer achievement of the Twentieth Century.

Naturally, when it caused lawyer unemployment, these were repealed by the Supreme Court.

Now, crimes are counted in the billions a year, instead of the millions. Murders are soaring in rates in 20 large American cities.

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 5, 2017 7:11:39 AM

Getting rid of led pipes for our water supply dropped the crime rate. If that was accomplished by a lawyer, it was an environmental lawyer.

Posted by: Erik M | Feb 5, 2017 9:11:29 AM

Because I believe in facts, utility and its calculations, I will agree with you, the reduction in national blood lead level was a great lawyer achievement.

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 5, 2017 1:14:07 PM

The author also does not understand the main purpose of the death penalty, the $billion death penalty appellate business. It has a nominal number, with no effect on crime. It is very expensive, people can agree, and the money goes to the lawyer profession. The lawyer did abolish it. Immediately hundreds if not thousands people were fired. The Court immediately back pedaled, and tuned to its exquisite balance of today.

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 6, 2017 12:02:07 AM

Post a comment
A Cal professor who worked as a paid consultant on the Millennium Tower claimed to city supervisors yesterday that an additional expert would have been needed to look at the building's geotechnical complications, such as the bay mud, rather than bedrock, on which the tower rests. Jack Moehle, a structural engineering professor at UC Berkeley, emphasized the limited scope of his work appraising the designs of the $350 million building, whose unexpected sinking and leaning discovered last year have fingers pointing and lawyers filing suit. According to coverage of his testimony by CBS 5, Moehle testified that his job was just to verify that the tower's design met current building codes, not to verify whether those codes were suitable for the specific site of the tower project.

Moehle and his peer review colleague Hardip Pannuhad originally declined to speak last November before the Board of Supervisors regarding the sinking tower of San Francisco, which he had certified after being hired by DiSimone Consulting Engineers. Back in 2006, according to the Business Times, Moehle wrote that "On the basis of my review, it is my opinion that the foundation design is compliant with the principles and requirements of the building code, and that a foundation permit can be issued for this project." He was later subpoenaed to testify, as he did yesterday.

Im not saying that the foundation design has been reviewed by me and that I have determined that the foundation is going to work, etc." Moehle told Supervisors. "It doesnt say that. Im not qualified to do that, Moehle told the supervisors.

A spokesperson from Millennium Tower backed up Moehle in a statement to the Business Times."It was clear from Professor Moehles testimony that Mission Street Development met and in fact exceeded the requirements of the city." The developer continues to claim that dewatering of the ground beneath the tower led to the unexpectedly deep sinking.

Moehle's claims appeared to incense Supervisor Aaron Peskin, however, a persistent critic of the project. The role of a peer reviewer is to sound some alarm rather than, at every turn, say, yes it complies with your code, yes its gonna be fine"

In the end, Professor Moehle sounds like he sleeps easy, and according to one quote from the proceedings, his structural engineering classes at Berkeley might deserve to be cross-listed with ones in the religion department. The responsible party may be the Earth that God gave us," Moehle reportedly said during his testimony.

Those in the tower can take solace in a city report reported on Chronicle does claim the Tower is perfectly safe to live in. But the prospect of diminished property values and the multiple lawsuits in the works, as filed buy homeowners and the City Attorney, might make for sleepless nights in the Millennium Tower.

Previously: Millennium Tower Residents Complain That Building Not Only Sinks, It Stinks
The ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of three students at California universities who have been living here legally with F-1 student visas who are now barred from traveling because of President Trump's January 27 executive order, and in one case trapped outside the country. Announced via the ACLU's site, the lawsuit seeks to establish the three plaintiffs as a class, "representing all people who are nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen and who currently are, or recently have been, lawfully present in California and who would be able to travel to the United States or leave and return to the United States if it were not for the Executive Order." And the ACLU is asking the court to find the executive order unconstitutional, and have it invalidated.

Joining the suit as an institutional plaintiff is Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay (JFCS East Bay), which provides legal services and resettlement help to refugees.

The suit argues that the executive order is clearly a pretext for establishing a permanent preference based on religion when it comes to the issuing of visas or accepting of refugees. And, "As such, the governments actions violate the First Amendment, the equal-protection and due process rights granted under the Fifth Amendment, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act."

The federal government has made it clear that it intends to favor Christian immigrants over Muslims in making decisions about who to detain, interrogate, deport, or entirely refuse entry, says Julia Mass, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, in the release. We are a diverse society. American Muslims, immigrants and U.S.-born alike, are part of the fabric of this nation.

The three student plaintiffs are:

Hadil Al-Mowafak... a Stanford University freshman with an F-1 student visa who is now unable to travel to visit her husband in Yemen because of President Trumps Executive Order. Plaintiff Wasim Ghaleb is a Yemeni student at Grossmont College in San Diego, California. He travelled to Saudi Arabia on January 15 to visit his family, fully intending to fly back to California two weeks later for the Spring semester. Though he possesses an F-1 student visa, he is now barred from returning. Plaintiff John Doe is from Iran and is currently a Ph.D candidate at University of California, Berkeley. He possesses a valid F-1 student visa and recently received and accepted a job offer at a top Fortune 50 Company in Silicon Valley, which is now in jeopardy because of the Executive Order.

The suit is Al-Mowafak v. Trump, and just a day after its filing we learned via another court proceeding in Virginia related to the travel ban that the US government has revoked at least 60,000 visas as a result of the executive order, though a lawyer representing the federal government first stated that the figure was 100,000.

Previously: ACLU Joins Incubator Y Combinator To Help Manage Its New Influx Of Wealth
Covering the aftermath of protests at Berkeley that cancelled an appearance by Breitbart editor and provocative jerk Milo Yiannopoulos, Bay City News reports that $100,000 of damage was done to the campus alone, with more than a dozen downtown businesses vandalized as well. They count one arrest by university police and no arrests during the night of the protests themselves by Berkeley police, but two arrests the following morning, of two attackers targeting Berkeley College Republican organizers of the event who were being interviewed. The university tells Bay City News that those two people had no campus affiliation.

In a statement, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin called attention to way that the relatively few who had caused damage to campus and downtown were interpreted as representing the many who remained peaceful. "Unfortunately, last night, a small minority of the protesters who had assembled in opposition to a speaking engagement featuring a prominent white nationalist engaged in violence and property damage," Arreguin said. They also provided the ultra-nationalist far right exactly the images they want to use to try to discredit the vast majority of peaceful protesters in Berkeley and across America who are deeply concerned about where our country is headed."

Local news blog Berkeleyside aimed to counter that perception with an article emphasizing the peaceful demonstrators whose voices may have been subsumed by louder, brasher ones. These include "elderly protesters with signs taped to their walkers, drummers, puppeteers, and people in sparkly outfits."

Trump, responding to the more visible scenes of turmoil on campus  fireworks, trash fires, etc.  threatened first to cut Berkeley's federal funds.

If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

Although Trump may have completely forgotten about that tweet by now, having moved on to his next potshot, KRON 4 took the threat seriously, wondering what would happen if Trump did cut Berkeley's funding. The Chronicle instead took a moment to dismiss the idea as implausible.

In a second tweet, issued today, Trump repeated his frequent claim that his protesters and detractors are paid. Where they get their funding, he didn't say.

Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

Malini Ramaiyer, a student reporter at Cal, worried the violence "undermined" the protest in a piece for the New York Times. "Protests are a staple at Berkeley," she writes, "and Ive always appreciated the activism here. Wednesday night, I saw many creative posters urging people to fight Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexism and racism. One group of protesters wore red ribbons emblazoned 'Resist,' while another led a 'resistance dance party' near the venue."

But witnessing senseless aggression, like a man in black who hit a Syrian Muslim with pepper spray and a rod, Ramaiyer was deeply troubled. "Violence often has unintended consequences," she concludes. "For one thing, those who initiated the violence implicated many others in it too. Black students, Latino students, gay students and others who are already vulnerable  and were protesting peacefully  became even more vulnerable to the backlash."

During the chaos of a large protest, especially one under cover of night, everything can bleed together, from peaceful protesters to violent black bloc anarchists.Take, for example, a young woman wearing a red hat in the style of those from the Trump camp that say "Make America Great Again." She was attacked with pepper spray while on camera. But look closer, and you'll see that her hat appropriates, perhaps to mock, Trump's slogan. It says "Make Bitcoin Great Again," a reference to the cryptocurrency.

Previusly: Video: Inside The Milo Protest That Rocked Berkeley (And Annoyed Trump)
It's been a week, hasn't it!? In the food and drink realm, we said goodbye (for now?) to Lefty O'Doul's, we learned of Salt & Straw's upcoming address in Hayes Valley, we recommended some hot toddies to seek out in cold weather, we learned about James Syhabout's new brewery project in West Oakland, and we heard that The Wolf is set to open within weeks in the former Bay Wolf digs. Here's some other stuff to catch you up on.

Foreign Cinema is opening a new wine bar next door to the restaurant, as Eater tells us. It's moving into a space at 2540 Mission Street that the restaurant has leased for a while, for storage, and it will now become a high-ceilinged space with its own kitchen, and an extensive list of wines by the glass and bottle coming from a 15,000-bottle cellar.

Eater also brings word that Motze, following a fairly shitty review the other week from Michael Bauer, is going fast-casual now and changing up the menu format, though co-chef Nick Balla says it's not because of Bauer's review and this type of experimentation was in the cards all along. Balla and partner Cortney Burns recently shut down Bar Tartine, and they are at work on a new restaurant called Crescent, location TBA, while intending to operate Motze for about another year.

Among the remaining new year's closures is La Nebbia, the three-year-old pizzeria offshoot of La Ciccia in Noe Valley. Inside Scoop reports that owners Massimiliano Conti and Lorella Degan want some more time to themselves and time to focus on La Ciccia, and they've already found a taker for the space who's apparently someone well known on the local restaurant scene. La Nebbia remains open tonight and tomorrow only.

Sadly, Lower Nob Hill bakery Flour & Co. has closed, with owner Emily Day explaining in a note on the door that she wants to spend more time with her kids. As Hoodline reports, this comes six months after the bakery shuttered its Berkeley outpost, and Day is now launching an online store for those who still want to buy her granola.

Also closed is Starboard, the one-and-a-half-year-old 16th Street spot, which Capp Street Crap tells us has been shuttered for a couple weeks now. It's currently occupied by an Asian fusion pop-up called Cross Hatch Eatery.

And over in Oakland, Encuentro closed this week, as Eater reports. The place began as a wine bar in Jack London Square in 2009, and moved down the street to become a vegan and vegetarian spot in 2014. Owners Linda Braz and Lacey Sher say that the rising cost of doing business, including Oakland's new minimum wage, are to blame.

As has been expected, the temporary food hall called The Hall on Market Street is likely in its final months now, though no closing date has been announced. As Hoodline notes, the developer who owns the building has secured approvals for the high-rise residential building that will be replacing it, and demolition time is approaching.

Meanwhile up the street at The Market, the pivot continues from grocery store to food hall and there are a couple of new vendors in place. We already knew about Doughnut Dolly, but now the Chronicle brings word of the openings of The Organic Coup and Poke Bar.

And speaking of doughnuts, the aforementioned expansion of San Rafael's Johnny Doughnuts to Hayes Valley is now on track for an April or May opening, as Hoodline reports. That's coming to 388 Fulton Street, at Gough.

In the Lower Haight, 30-year-old Cafe International has just won Legacy Business status. As Hoodline notes, this is the second business in the neighborhood to get legacy status after Two Jacks Nik's Place.

In the Outer Sunset, as we warned you a couple weeks ago, Outbound is open, the new beer bar from the Woods Beer folks. As Eater reports, this is Woods' fifth location now, and it's on the same block as Outerlands and Trouble Coffee.

And if you're in the mood for Cambodian street food, former pop-up Nyum Bai now has a permanent location at the Emeryville Public Market, as Inside Scoop reports, serving several delicious sounding noodle soups.



This Week In Reviews

The Weekly's Pete Kane files his review of Flores, the new upscale Mexican spot in Cow Hollow from prolific restaurateur Adriano Paganini. He says the res con chile colorado is "genuinely outstanding" and he loves the pok chuc entree as well. He also says the cocktails are "generally excellent," and the menu "usually makes its mark, simultaneously rewarding the adventurous with novelties and reassuring more conservative patrons."

SF Mag's Josh Sens went to check out Healdsburg's Single Thread, the ambitious new fine dining spot from husband and wife team Kyle and Katina Connaughton. He writes that "An atmosphere of Zen calm radiates from the open kitchen," and he's most impressed with Kyle Connaughton's extreme attention to detail. It sounds like the experience may not be for everyone, though, with a few Portlandia-esque details. "Satire certainly wasnt far from my mind just before the meat course, when a server appeared with a wooden box. Inside were six bespoke steak knives, their blades made of recycled steel from a 1968 Volkswagen, a detail our server recited with a straight face. 'Choose one that speaks to you,' she added." All told, though, Sens isn't joking around when he bestows three and a half big stars on the place  noting that it was based only on one visit, because his expense account couldn't handle more.

Meanwhile over in Napa, Michael Bauer gives us an update on Mustard's Grill, Cindy Pawlcyn's longtime mainstay with a flair for the international, now 34 years old. He loves little touches like "the watercress dip that goes with the crisp fries, or in the Espelette aioli with the Dungeness crab cakes," and likes a dish of Hunan-spiced chicken with Asian slaw and peanut noodles, but he finds that there are some misses in the execution these days, like "inexact plating" and some overcooked pork. The verdict: two and a half stars.

And for his Sunday review Bauer sticks with Napa, giving us his take on Kenzo, a new kaiseki restaurant in downtown Napa. He's most impressed with the spot-on service and the perfect lighting, "where everyone looks as if they just had a day at the spa and a skin-smoothing facial." And he's pretty impressed with the food, though he did not see it change much over three visits and he wonders if it's worth the $225 fixed price (for either a kaiseki menu, or a kaiseki sushi menu with twice as much nigiri, minus some other dishes). All told, he gives the place three stars, but only two and a half for food, saying, "while sometimes brilliantly conceived, [it] fails to capture that subtle quality that separates the very good from the great."


Question: Just bought a 1910 house in Queen Anne. We love the house, but it's very chilly.

I thought I would start with insulating the basement because I can feel jets of cool air coming in a certain points when walking around down there. I also need to install a dryer vent, so I removed a section of the lath and plaster, removing the interior lath and plaster to expose the stud bays. There was no sheathing, just what appears to be tar paper behind the clap boards.

So now my question is, how to insulate? Everywhere I look recommends something different. I am concerned about a vapor retarder and trapping water in the wall that will lead to mold. I thought about doing rigid foam insulation surrounded by spray foam. But I hear that will leak over time when the house contracts and expands. Considered batts, but how does that seal air leaks? Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer: The tarpaper on older homes is an excellent air and moisture barrier, much like the house wraps used today. Insulating older homes presents several problems for the average homeowner. For instance, using a rigid foam insulation provides resistance to thermal transfer, but the foam board cannot be left uncovered.

An ignition barrier needs to be installed over exposed foam boards to protect the foam from igniting, which could give off poisonous fumes. Spray foam also needs to be covered when exposed to areas of the home where there are lights, electrical connections, heating systems, water heaters, dryers, etc. _ anything that can generate a flame or a spark. Kraft faced fiberglass insulation requires an ignition barrier because the infused Kraft paper is flammable.

The stud cavity in older homes can be filled with loose fill cellulose insulation or low expanding spray foam. Blown-in cellulose insulation has been extensively used, but the insulation may settle over time leaving under-insulated cavities inside the walls. Spray foam will provide a better thermal barrier with fewer, if any, voids inside the walls. The contractor will drill holes on either the inside of the home or on the exterior depending on the damage that may be done to the exterior wall covering. Foam insulation is injected into each wall cavity and then the holes are filled.

On the interior the holes can be sanded and painted to blend in with the decor. On the exterior some holes are filled with plastic or wood fillers and some are capped with air vents to allow the wall cavity to vent moisture. With cellulose or expanding foam there will not be a vapor barrier. Ask your paint dealer about certain paints that can provide a vapor barrier to prevent moisture migration from the warm side of the wall to the wall cavity. Another project to help stop airflow and loss of heat would be to insulate the gaps and voids around windows and doors.

Depending on the style of windows, the trim around the window is removed, the gaps are filled with low-expanding foam and the trim is reinstalled. Older windows that use sash cords with counter weights cannot be insulated in this way. This is a brief description of methods of insulation for an older home, but your insulation contractor should be able to advise you on the need for a vapor barrier, depending on your climate zone.

C. Dwight Barnett is a certified master inspector with the American Society of Home Inspectors. Write to him with home improvement questions at C. Dwight Barnett, Evansville Courier & Press, P.O. Box 268, Evansville, Ind. 47702 or e-mail him at d.Barnett@insightbb.com.

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SIOUX CITY | Fans in the Woodbury County Fair grandstands could get a chance to knock back some beers this summer as they watch monster trucks rev high-horsepower engines and roll around a dirt track.

The county fair, held annually the first week of August in Moville, Iowa, is officially alcohol free. But the Woodbury County Fair Association Board of Directors is considering whether to permit limited sales of beer and wine during grandstand events.

The change would require approval from the county board of supervisors because the county control the fairgrounds land. As the board, at its weekly meeting Tuesday, approved a $25,000 donation to the fair for 2017, the supervisors discussed the alcohol issue with fair manager Randy Hayworth, of Correctionville.

Hayworth said some fair board members are interested in selling alcohol for certain events, but the talks were "purely in the infancy stage."

"There are so many people that love that fair, that love the example of what we have now, of a wholesome lifestyle. They don't consider that conducive, if they put beer in there," he said.

In addition to a fee to enter the fairgrounds, the Woodbury County Fair charges admission for each grandstand events, which in past years have included monster truck races, a demolition derby, a tractor pull and a rodeo.

Hayworth noted the Jones County Fair last year generated $1 million in sales of alcohol at concerts at the eastern Iowa fairgrounds, with the fair clearly about $500,000 in profits. In Northwest Iowa, county fairs in Monona and Clay counties have some alcohol sales, and the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines has a large number of stands that sell beer and wine.

Hayworth pointed out there would be costs to selling beer and wine. He said it would cost daily about $2,000 for workers to check IDs to prevent sales to minors and another $2,000 for distributors to dispense the beer.

"I think they are gonna spend more for security than they are gonna take in in alcohol sales," supervisor Keith Radig, of Sioux City, said.

Moville Mayor Jim Fisher said he would look positively on the fair having alcohol if it was set for people to only drink in a limited, specified area.

"I don't see anything wrong with it, if it is in a controlled situation," Fisher said.

The Woodbury County Fair Association board, which meets the last week of each month, is expected to settle the alcohol sales issue by spring, in time for planning the 2017 events, Aug. 2-6.
When Dan Bawden teaches contractors and builders about aging-in-place, he has them get into a wheelchair. See what its like to try to do things from this perspective, he tells them.

Thats when previously unappreciated obstacles snap into focus.

Bathroom doorways are too narrow to get through. Hallways dont allow enough room to turn around. Light switches are too high and electrical outlets too low to reach easily. Cabinets beneath a kitchen sink prevent someone from rolling up close and doing the dishes.

Its an aha moment for most of his students, whove never actually experienced these kinds of limitations or realized so keenly how home design can interfere with  or promote  an individuals functioning.

About 2 million older adults in the U.S. use wheelchairs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau; another 7 million use canes, crutches or walkers.

That number is set to swell with the aging population: Twenty years from now, 17 million U.S. households will include at least one mobility-challenged older adult, according to a December report from Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies.

We asked several experts to describe some common issues mobility-challenged seniors encounter at home, and how they can be addressed. The list below is what they suggested may need attention and has suggested alterations, but is not comprehensive.

Getting inside. A ramp will be needed for homes with steps leading up to the front or back door when someone uses a wheelchair, either permanently or temporarily. The estimated price for a 5- to 6-foot portable nonslip version: $500 to $600.

Youll want to take out the weather strip at the bottom of the front door and replace it with an automatic door bottom. You want the threshold to be as flat as the floor is, Bawden said. Consider installing an electronic lock that prevents the need to lean in and insert a key.

Doors. Getting through doorways easily is a problem for people who use walkers or wheelchairs. They should be 34 to 36 inches wide to allow easy access, but almost never are.

Widening a doorway structurally is expensive, with an estimated cost of about $2,500. A reasonable alternative: swing-free hinges, which wrap around the door trim and add about 2 inches of clearance to a door.

Clearance. Ideally, people using wheelchairs need a 5-foot-wide path in which to move and turn around, Bawden said. Often that requires getting rid of furniture in the living room, dining room and bedroom.

Another rule of thumb: People in wheelchairs have a reach of 24 to 48 inches. That means they wont be able to reach items in cabinets above kitchen counters or bathroom sinks.

Also, light switches on walls will need to be placed no more than 48 inches from the floor and electrical outlets raised to 18 inches from their usual 14-inch height.

Lighting. Older eyes need more light and distinct contrasts to see well. A single light fixture hanging from the center of the dining room or kitchen probably wont offer enough illumination.

Youll want to distribute lighting throughout each room and consider repainting walls so their colors contrast sharply with your floor materials.

Kitchen. Mark Lichter, director of the architecture program for Paralyzed Veterans of America, recommends that seniors who use walkers or wheelchairs take time in the kitchen of a unit theyre thinking of moving into and imagine preparing a meal.

Typically, cabinets need to be taken out from under the sink, to allow someone with a wheelchair to get up close, Lichter said. The same is true for the stovetop: The area underneath needs to be opened and control panels need to be in front.

Refrigerators with side-by-side doors are preferable to those with freezer areas on the bottom or on top. Slide out full-extension drawers maximize storage space, as can lazy Susans in the corner of bottom cabinets.

Laundry. Get a side-by-side front-loading washer and drier to allow for easy access, instead of machines that are stacked on top of each other.

Bathroom. When Jon Pynoos frail father-in-law, Harry, who was in his 80s, came to live in a small cottage in back of his house, Pynoos put in a curbless shower with grab bars and a shower seat and a handheld shower head that slid up and down on a pole.

Even a relatively small lip at the edge of the shower can be a fall risk for someone whose balance or movement is compromised.

Also, Pynoos, a professor of gerontology, public policy and urban planning at the University of Southern California, installed nonslip floor tile and grab bars around a comfort height toilet.

Cabinets under the sink will need to be removed, and storage space for toiletries moved lower. A moveable toilet paper holder will be better than a wall-based unit for someone with arthritis who has trouble extending an arm sideways.
What makes a successful hookup?

As much sexual attraction as possible  and very little eye contact.

It should be limited to a few encounters, stir up no romantic or emotional connection. And its usually followed by a vague and brief depression.

Sounds awful. So why does pop culture make it seem like college students all over the country are doing it at every turn?

Theyre really not, according to Lisa Wade, author of a new book, American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus, and an assistant professor of sociology at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Fifty percent of her students were virgins when they got to college, she said. And 25 percent still were when they left. Almost all yearned to feel safe and cared for.

Wade, 42, was teaching classes about human sexuality and noticed that their class discussions were very different from the research she had studied.

My students had much more depth and diversity than the media was giving them credit for, she said. We were having conversations in class that werent reflected in the material that I was seeing and the political debates about hookup culture.

Yes, students were pushing boundaries sexually, she said, But a lot of students werent having sex at all. I respected their ability to think about it, process it and learn from it.

Their stories were all over the map: Women felt free to do what they wanted, but vexed by body issues and competition. Men had the upper hand, but felt pressured by their friends to rack up their sexual conquests.

Wade asked her students to keep diaries and submit an entry a week for a full semester. She then asked them to be part of a study.

The statistics suggested a reality that was so surprising, Wade said.

The average graduating senior reported eight hookups during college  one per semester. Half of those were someone they had hooked up with before.

They had intercourse only 40 percent of the time. And they only had one new sexual partner per year, on average.

One third of the students never hooked up at all.

The main reason most students arent hooking up at all or a little is because the opportunity to do it comes with so much displeasure, she said. Theyre not standing on some high moral ground.

The vast majority was like, Id like to do it, but the way people do it is so unpleasant.

They didnt want to do it by going to a party, getting drunk and having some guy approach them from behind, which how Wades students described some encounters.

You cant turn around and look at who it is, because that elevates the hookup, she said. Some students didnt want to follow that script. Tenderness is seen as weakness, and students dont want to be weak.

Wade looked at the data and asked her students how they were feeling. Ambivalent, they told her. Disappointed. Distressed.

They often want an emotional connection because theyre human beings, she said. So the 'rules of hookups, well, students are breaking them all the time. Youre not supposed to like the person youre hooking up with. Sometimes theyre friends, sometimes theyre more than friends.

But a lot of students feel that they should be able to not feel attached, she said. Students believe they can regulate their emotions. They feel bad when they have feelings. So they set themselves up to fail at this game.

Wade thinks some readers  namely, parents  think their kids would be better off in a monogamous, loving relationship. They want them to avoid casual sex.

But thats problematic, Wade said. Monogamy does not protect students from abuse.

There is nothing about being in that type of relationship that is protective, she said.

No matter who students are having sex with, no matter the relationship, Wade said, students should be sure they are treated with respect and care.

I want them to be safe and happy, she said. They have hearts, too. When you ask them what they want, its connection. Theyre just in a culture that is really toxic.
A Jan. 13 Journal article focused on rating of Iowa schools, with special emphasis on local schools. The article denoted the six items upon which the schools were evaluated: Attendance, graduation rate, annual expected student growth, college and career readiness and related growth, closing achievement gaps, proficiency and staff retention.

Not only were the city and SBL schools unable to have a single school that was rated as "Exceptional," but only Clark Elementary was ranked as "High Performing." One city school was ranked "Commendable," as were two of SBL's three schools (SBL Elementary School was rated "Acceptable"). Hunt Elementary, Irving Elementary and North High School were listed as "Priority," the lowest ranking possible.

These results are abysmal when one considers that three of the six evaluated criteria listed above are virtually meaningless.

In an era when students are given computers, have cell phones and have unlimited access to friends, it's not surprising that attendance problems are almost nonexistent. Grade escalation and decreased expectations for student achievement make graduation a virtual certainty - so much so that dropout rates aren't even mentioned. Staff retention is largely a function of salary and fringe benefit offerings within a district and has little to do with teacher competency.

Except for "proficiency" as measured on standardized test performance, most of these remaining evaluation elements are so subjective as to render them meaningless. How is "expected student growth" or "career readiness and related growth" measured, for example? What's an "achievement gap," exactly, and how is it "closed"?

Public schools used to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic, for which valid tests were given to report accurate proficiencies existing therein. Success was rewarded with an "A" grade and failure was actually an option. Feeling good about oneself was that which came with demonstrated accomplishment. Failure is that which could be and primarily was that to be overcome with harder work and diligence.

The good old days. Time for "Back to the Future"? - Lon Zimmerman, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | The South Sioux City Council has decided to step into a direct role in returning residents still displaced by noxious sewer odors to their homes.

Following a closed-door meeting Friday involving the council, city attorney and an attorney representing several of the displaced residents, the five council members present voted unanimously to extend the residents' stay in hotels through Feb. 14.

About a dozen families remain displaced. Big Ox Energy, whose renewable energy plant had originally been tied to the odors, had been slated to stop paying for hotel accommodations and other living costs Jan. 31, and this week extended the deadline to Feb. 7.

Mayor Rod Koch said the city will discuss the extra week's worth of hotel expenses with Big Ox, but the city will cover what it needs to.

In the meantime, city officials will begin meeting with the individual homeowners and their attorneys to address lingering problems.

"Were not admitting any liability on the city's part, but what we are saying is weve got citizens we need to take care of here, and were going to make sure we take care of them," Koch said after Friday's meeting. "Were not going to have a middle man."

Previous meetings had involved Big Ox officials. Koch said the new meetings will utilize city representatives including himself, council members and city staff.

Koch said the confidential meetings will take into account the unique problems facing each individual household and what steps the city needs to take to "get them whole again."

Families who have already moved back but still have damages can also meet with the city.

Jonathan Goodier, who has been living out of a hotel since late October, said this was the arrangement he and other residents had long been hoping for.

"I'm all for it," he said. "We've wanted to meet with the city the whole time."

He said he is cautiously optimistic about the arrangements, since the last 3 1/2 months have held multiple roadblocks to progress. He said his home, which he moved into only two months before the odors began, has since had the carpet and flooring removed, and many of his belongings are stored outside and likely damaged.

"Its getting to the point where Ive lived in a hotel longer than Ive lived in our house," he said.

In late October, South Sioux City officials had originally tied Big Ox Energy to hydrogen sulfide gas believed to be emanating from sewer lines flowing from the city's Roth Industrial Park. At their height, the odors displaced about two dozen residents.

About three of the remaining dozen displaced families are working on moving back in, while many of the others have begun working with either the Omaha-based Domina Law Firm or Sioux City attorney Brian E. Buckmeier.

Combined, the two attorneys now represent more than 20 residents total, including children. Buckmeier was the only of the two attorneys present at the closed-session meeting.

No residents entered the council chambers before or after the closed session to comment.

Kevin Bradley, Big Ox's director of business and economic development, said Friday the company is continuing to work with six households on remediation and getting them back to their homes.

Big Ox has distanced itself from the problem, releasing a report that showed spikes of hydrogen sulfide in the sewer line that occurred after it went offline. The company also shared plumbing test results that showed a majority of the affected homes had deficiencies in plumbing.

Koch after the meeting said what caused the problem remains the "million-dollar question." He said he is not worried about whether faulty plumbing caused the problem but is concentrated on fixing any odors that remain, then working to get the residents back in their homes.
DES MOINES | Unions representing tens of thousands of employees  including many across Iowas public universities  are accusing the state and the Board of Regents of acting in bad faith by ignoring collective bargaining rules and instead putting off contract negotiations to see if lawmakers overhaul the law this year.

AFSCME Iowa Council 61  which represents 40,000 public employees, including many staffers at Iowa State University  filed a prohibited practice complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board this week accusing the state of bad-faith bargaining.

United Faculty, which represents about 550 University of Northern Iowa faculty members, filed a similar complaint Friday against the Board of Regents, accusing it of stalling negotiations.

They are waiting to see if that legislation would bring them any advantages at the bargaining table, said Joe Gorton, a UNI professor and president of United Faculty. I think thats pretty obvious.

The University of Iowas graduate student union  which goes by COGS, or Campaign to Organize Graduate Students  also reports the board is refusing to meet again before Feb. 20.

The regents are waiting until the Legislature acts so they can possibly take insurance and tuition scholarships out of our contract, according to a statement from COGS, which represents 2,183 graduate students employed as teaching or research assistants.

Regents spokesman Josh Lehman, without commenting on those specific assertions, said the board is continuing to follow the prescribed process of negotiation.

The board will continue to work to address concerns regarding pay and benefits, now and in the future, Lehman said in a statement.

The Service Employees International Union Local 199, which represents 2,500 professional and scientific workers for UI Health Care, declined to comment.

But UI Graduate College Dean John Keller confirmed that strong rumors the Legislature would consider changes to collective bargaining rules  including potentially eliminating mandatory bargaining subjects  has the board on hold.

The regents have indicated to us that its their desire to wait to see what, if anything, happens with Chapter 20 before approving any contracts that might come their way  like ours with COGS or SEIU or at UNI, Keller said. That is the word that I have received. The bottom line is were sort of on suspended animation, as it were, in terms of our ability to negotiate.

Regardless of what happens at the state, Keller has vowed to fight for UI graduate students. He issued a statement arguing the UI must continue to offer a competitive employment package, including salary and benefits, in order to remain competitive for the recruitment of high-quality students.

But, Keller said, he cant make promises.

Its not within my power to do that, he said. Its like preparing the what-ifs. We dont know what direction those are going to go, and its hard to come up with plans and to promise something when you dont know what challenges might be ahead of you.

Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, disagrees with the holding pattern.

They need to work with what is in existing law right now, he said. In anything else we do, we deal with existing law. Thats the way everything works. Thats the way the legal system works. They need to move forward.

If negotiators on behalf of the regents dont, Dvorsky said, I dont view that as bargaining in good faith.

He also noted four regents are up for state Senate confirmation this spring, and they need support from 34 senators to pass. Even with recent Republican gains, the regents need five others  from Democrats or the Senates sole independent  to win approval.

UNIs Gorton justified its legal action Friday by saying: There are provisions in state law related to bad-faith bargaining, and we think their refusal to come to the bargaining table right now is based in bad faith.

Gorton said he and his colleagues are worried not just about what changes could mean for faculty contracts, benefits and pay, but to their ability to fight for bargaining rights.

We dont know what their legislation is going to be  they could come up with a bill that would make it impossible to file a prohibited practices complaint, Gorton said. This is all very troubling on an ethical level.

Landon Elkind, president of the UI graduate student union, said he and his colleagues are concerned about potential changes to their health care benefits and tuition scholarships.

Heading into talks for the next two-year contract, each side in the fall exchanged initial proposals. Elkind said the union made a counteroffer Dec. 5. It reduced the unions initial position, but the board  instead of taking the offer or bargaining more  refused negotiations or mediation.

Elkind has requested Keller clarify his position advocating for competitive salaries and benefits. He has not heard back.

Keller said the board is taking a bear with us position but he, too, is stymied.

This is very frustrating, concerning for both of us  on my side of things as well as theirs  for different reasons, he said. We want to comfort and assuage the fears of our current students and faculty  as well as were in the midst of recruitment season.
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.

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January 31, 2017

For almost a decade now, successive prime ministers have warned Jordanians that their country faced difficult economic conditions and that they should be patient as the government adopted stringent measures  such as lifting subsidies on essential goods, raising utility rates and increasing the cost of public services  in attempts to reform the economy.

Despite more than two decades of submitting to International Monetary Fund (IMF) dictates and numerous economic reform programs, the Jordanian economy continues to underperform, especially in the past five years, forcing the government to rely on local and foreign borrowing and on financial aid packages, primarily from the United States, the Gulf states and European countries. In July 2016, Jordan signed on to a 36-month IMF program providing it access to $700 million in loans.

Despite adopting unpopular economic measures, state budgets continue to produce endemic deficits  $1.2 billion, or 2.8% of gross domestic product (GDP), for 2017  while the total debt-to-GDP ratio has surpassed the 90% mark, with debt at more than $35 billion. Although on Jan. 23 the parliament's House of Deputies approved the controversial 2017 budget, which seeks to raise $643 million in additional taxes and tariffs, it is unclear how these measures will be received by Jordanians at a time when many economic sectors continue to suffer and unemployment and poverty rates continue to climb. The latest unemployment statistics show an increase in 2016 to 15.8%, from 14% the previous year, while the poverty rate stands at 14%.

While the IMF has cheered Jordans adherence to the unpopular reform plan, it has also acknowledged that economic growth has been stagnant, around 3% annually in the past four years, way below the average of 6.5% achieved between 2000 and 2009 and less than the goal of 4.5% projected for 2015-16. Making things worse is the spike in the kingdoms population, estimated at 9.5 million  of which only 6.6 million are Jordanians  according to the 2015 national census. The increase is mainly due to the influx of 1.2 million Syrian migrants, including 600,000 registered refugees, since 2011. The annual cost of hosting more than 630,000 registered refugees was estimated by the World Bank to be more than $2.5 billion for 2016.

What could make 2017 an exceptionally challenging year for Jordans economy is fear of a major decline in the flow of international aid, especially from the oil-rich Gulf states. Despite repeated pleas from Jordanian officials, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has failed to renew a five-year, $5 billion aid package to Jordan adopted during the Arab Spring, in 2011. The grant expired at the end of 2016, and there are no signs that the GCC is planning to extend it.

Furthermore, Jordanians have been waiting for implementation of a multibillion-dollar investment fund from Saudi Arabia agreed to in August 2016. No projects  supposedly in the energy, tourism and infrastructure sectors  have yet been announced.

Amid this gloomy outlook, it was a shock to Jordanians to see the kingdoms highest-ranking Islamic cleric, Ahmad Hilayel, pleading for urgently needed assistance from the Gulf states in a televised sermon Jan. 20 during Friday prayers. Things have reached a boiling point with us, Hilayel, Jordan's chief Islamic jurist, known for his close ties to the royal palace, said in addressing Gulf leaders. Your brothers in Jordan are facing danger all around them; where is your help? Where is your money and where are your riches?

Hilayel's speech was widely criticized, especially on social media, for demeaning Jordanians and for chastising the Gulf states, some of which employ hundreds of thousands of Jordanians and have huge investments in the kingdom. As the uproar over the speech percolated, it raised questions about whether Hilayel could have delivered such a strong message without the consent of state authorities. Two days after Hilayel's sermon, he was replaced. Governments spokesman Mohammad Momani was quick to underline in a Jan. 23 television interview that Hilayel had been a public servant but that his sermon had been an expression of his opinion.

A day earlier, on Jan. 22, Al-Rai had reported that Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud would meet with King Abdullah in Amman two days prior to the convening of the annual Arab summit in the Jordanian capital March 29. The meeting is to focus on, among other things, Jordans urgent financial needs and the launch of projects under the Saudi-Jordanian investment fund, the paper said.

Following the Hilayel affair, Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki appeared on state television, on Jan. 27, to assure Jordanians that the national economy was sufficiently robust and that the current crisis would be managed through continued reform, cancellation of all subsidies and tax breaks in addition to austerity measures. He also said that the government was continuing to negotiate with the GCC in an effort to renew its grant package to Jordan.

The government's economic measures have come under scrutiny by deputies and commentators for relying almost entirely on the levying of taxes on citizens. The government was also accused of failing to tackle corruption and reduce government spending. Economic columnist Khaled al-Zubaidi criticized reliance on the IMF, whose measures, he said, have deepened the current crisis and failed to deal with unemployment and poverty. He told Al-Monitor that the problem involved successive governments having been unable to address the core trouble spots in the Jordanian economy, including cutting the size of the foreign labor force, providing real incentives to economic sectors, downsizing the public sector and investing in infrastructure.

Economic expert and former banker Mifleh Akel blamed regional conditions for exacerbating the current crisis. Discussing the cause of stagnant growth rates, he told Al-Monitor, Our borders with Syria and Iraq are closed, and we had to receive hundreds of thousands of refugees, and we remain in the center of regional turmoil. Akel also noted that Jordan has been affected by the decline in oil revenues, which has reduced the flow of aid from the Gulf countries. He added, Jordan cannot carry out needed economic reforms without the help of the IMF. We need them to control our total debt burden and bring it down to acceptable limits.

Political columnist Fahd al-Khitan told Al-Monitor that Jordanians are under pressure as a result of the bad economic conditions and stated, Trust in government policy is at a low point. He also said, however, that he does not foresee a situation where Jordanians will take to the streets in protest. Jordan will not be left alone to face these conditions. It has the support of the United States, Europe and Saudi Arabia, Khitan asserted.

With the economic woes facing donor countries in the Gulf and Europe, and with a new administration in Washington that has a strident view of how the United States should spend its taxpayers' money abroad  Jordan was the fifth-largest recipient of US aid in 2016 at around $1 billion  2017 will prove to be a particularly challenging year for the kingdom. How Jordanians will react once the government begins implementing tough measures remains an unknown but obviously important issue.
Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. provides software-as-a-service core systems to the property and casualty insurance industry in the United States and internationally. The company provides Duck Creek Policy, a solution that enables insurers to develop and launch new insurance products and manage various aspects of policy administration ranging from product definition to quoting, binding, and servicing; Duck Creek Billing that provides payment and invoicing capabilities, such as billing and collections, commission processing, disbursement management, and general ledger capabilities for insurance lines and bill types; and Duck Creek Claims that supports entire claims lifecycle from first notice of loss through investigation, payments, negotiations, reporting, and closure. It also offers Duck Creek Rating that allows carriers to develop new rates and models and deliver quotes in real-time based on the complex rating algorithms; Duck Creek Insights, an insurance analytics solution that allows carriers to gather and analyze data from internal and external sources and facilitate analysis and reporting on a single system; Duck Creek Digital Engagement that offer digital interactions between property and casualty insurers and their agents, brokers, and policyholders; and Duck Creek Distribution Management that automates sales channel activities for agents and brokers, including producer onboarding, compliance, and compensation management. In addition, the company provides Duck Creek Reinsurance Management that automates financial and administrative functions; and Duck Creek Industry Content that provides pre-built content, including base business rules, product designs, rating algorithms, data capture screens, and workflows for insurance lines of business, such as commercial auto, inland marine, and workers compensation. It has a partnership with Shift Technologies, Inc. to implement AI fraud detection. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
ST. MARY'S COUNTY, Md.

CHARLES COUNTY, Md.

CHARLES COUNTY, Md.

(February 3, 2017)A 19-year-old male student has been charged after determining he was responsible for setting a fire inside Dorchester Hall located on St. Mary's College of Maryland campus in St. Mary's City.On March 24, 2016 at approximately 3:00 p.m., a fire involving clothing inside the laundry room was discovered by staff and quickly extinguished. The Office of the State Fire Marshal investigated the incident and collected evidence. Two additional incidents occurred on March 25th with a small fire on a chair cushion on the third floor and March 27th when a roll of toilet paper was found burning on a table.Investigators determined Edward Granlund, 19, of Westminster, Maryland was responsible for the fire that occurred on March 24, 2016. The additional incidents remain under investigation. Granlund was transported from Westminster to the St. Mary's County Detention Center without incident. He is currently being held on a charge of 2nd Degree Attempted Arson.(February 1, 2017)Investigators from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office took John A. Word, Jr., 28, into custody on Monday, January 30th after the Prince George's County Police Department had arrested him in an unrelated case. Word was developed as a suspect in a fire which occurred on September 16, 2016 around 12:50 am. Deputy State Fire Marshal's obtained an arrest warrant for him on January 13th, 2017 after a lengthy investigation. The fire occurred on Sourwood Avenue involving a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu, which belonged to Word. The vehicle was completely destroyed by the fire causing approximately $10,000 in damages. The Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department extinguished the fire within 5 minutes. The investigation revealed Word intentionally set the fire for insurance fraud.Word was charged with Second Degree Arson, First Degree Malicious Burning and Insurance Fraud and was taken to the Charles County Detention Center.(January 31, 2017)A Charles County Grand Jury has indicted, Eric Scott White, 40, on charges of: (3) counts Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Arson, 1st Degree Assault, and (3) counts of Reckless Endangerment. White was linked to an arson fire located at 6706 Coati Court in Waldorf which occurred on December 15, 2016 after a domestic dispute. The fire was determined to be intentionally set in his own home while his wife and children were inside the residence. The fire caused an estimated $35,000 in damage to the structure and contents. No one was injured during the incident.On, December 27, 2016 at 2:30 pm, investigators from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, along with members of the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force successfully located and apprehended White at his parents residence in Hickory, North Carolina. He was extradited to Maryland and remains at the Charles County Detention Center.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. PATRICK H. McGUIRE, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-3282 Decided: February 01, 2017

Before LUCERO, MATHESON, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.

ORDER DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY*

Patrick McGuire seeks a certificate of appealability (COA) to appeal the district court's dismissal of his 28 U.S.C.  2255 motion. We deny a COA and dismiss the appeal.

I

Following a jury trial in 1993, McGuire was convicted of aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery. He was acquitted on additional charges of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The presentence investigation report (PSR) recommended a sentence enhancement under U.S.S.G.  4B1.1(B), based on findings that McGuire was at least eighteen years old at the time of his offense, he had two prior felony convictions involving crimes of violence, and his instant offense qualified as a crime of violence under the Guidelines. The district court adopted the findings and recommendations in the PSR and sentenced McGuire to 25 years' imprisonment.

McGuire filed his  2255 motion in district court on May 31, 2016, arguing that his sentence should be vacated under Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015). The district court denied relief, holding that McGuire had erroneously asserted he was convicted of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C.  924(c). The court further concluded that even if it construed McGuire's motion as challenging his sentence enhancement under the Guidelines' career offender provisions, his bank robbery conviction constituted a crime of violence without reliance on the unconstitutional residual clause of U.S.S.G.  4B1.2(1)(ii) (1989). The court declined to issue a COA, which McGuire now seeks from this court.

II

A movant may not appeal the denial of habeas relief under 28 U.S.C.  2255 without a COA.  2253(c)(1)(B). A COA will issue only if the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.  2253(c)(2). A movant meets this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (quotations omitted).

In his application to this court, McGuire asserts that he was convicted of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence under  924(c), and that this conviction must be vacated in light of Johnson. But as the district court correctly noted, McGuire was not convicted of that charge. Accordingly, he has not stated a claim for relief.

Even construing McGuire's application liberally to assert that his sentence for the bank robbery conviction was unconstitutionally enhanced based on a finding that federal bank robbery constitutes a crime of violence under  4B1.1, we conclude he has not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. At the time of McGuire's conviction,  4B1.2 defined a crime of violence as

any offense under federal or state law punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year that (i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or (ii) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

(emphasis added). The second clause of subsection (ii) is identical to  924's residual clause, which was held unconstitutionally vague in Johnson. Accordingly, if McGuire's sentence was enhanced under that provision, he could be entitled to relief. See United States v. Madrid, 805 F.3d 1204, 1211 (10th Cir. 2015) (holding that the residual clause of  4B1.2 is unconstitutionally vague).

As the district court concluded, however, McGuire's federal bank robbery conviction qualifies as a predicate offense under the elements clause of  4B1.2(1)(i) because it contains, as an element, the use or threatened use of force. Because  2113(a) is divisible, we apply the modified categorical approach to determine which elements of the statute formed the basis of McGuire's conviction. See Descamps v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 2276, 2281 (2013) (stating that courts presented with a statute that sets out one or more elements of the offense in the alternative may look to certain types of documents, such as indictments and jury instructions, to determine which alternative formed the basis of the defendant's prior conviction). Review of the indictment and jury instructions from McGuire's criminal trial reveals that he was charged and convicted of aiding and abetting in the taking, by force and violence, and by intimidation, from the person or presence of another, approximately $68,256.00 belonging to a bank.

McGuire's crime of conviction thus has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.  4B1.2(1)(i). Although  2113(a) includes a taking by intimidation, courts have stated that intimidation involves the threat of physical force. See, e.g., McBride, 826 F.3d at 295-96; Lloyd v. United States, No. CIV 16-0513, 2016 WL 5387665, at *5 (D.N.M. Aug. 31, 2016) (unpublished) (The Courts of Appeals have uniformly ruled that federal crimes involving takings by force and violence, or by intimidation, have as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force.); cf. United States v. Harris, No. 16-1237, 2017 WL 34458, at *9 (10th Cir. Jan. 4, 2017) (to be published in F.3d) (holding that Colorado robbery, whether committed by force, or by threats or intimidation, has as an element the use or threatened use of physical force against another). Moreover, courts have consistently held that federal bank robbery qualifies as a predicate offense under the Guidelines' elements clause. See, e.g., McBride, 826 F.3d at 295-96; United States v. Jenkins, 651 F. App'x 920, 925 (11th Cir. 2016) (unpublished); United States v. Selfa, 918 F.2d 749, 751 (9th Cir. 1990). Accordingly, even construing McGuire's application liberally, no reasonable jurist would debate the district court's denial of habeas relief.

III

For the foregoing reasons, we DENY McGuire's application for a COA and DISMISS the appeal.

Entered for the Court

FOOTNOTES

. Although the PSR, judgment of conviction, indictment, and jury instructions from McGuire's criminal trial were not part of the record on appeal, we exercise our discretion to take judicial notice of these documents, which were publicly filed in prior proceedings in the district court or this court. See United States v. Ahidley, 486 F.3d 1184, 1192 n.5 (10th Cir. 2007).

. McGuire does not cite to  4B1.1 in either his initial  2255 motion or his application for a COA. However, he does argue that he was subject to a sentence enhancement under the residual clause of  924(c), and that this clause was invalidated by Johnson. Section 4B1.2(1)(ii) of the Guidelines, which defines crime of violence, contains language identical to the residual clause in  924. Compare U.S.S.G.  4B1.2(1)(ii) (1989), with 18 U.S.C.  924(e)(2)(B)(ii). In construing McGuire's pro se filings liberally, we assume he meant to challenge the sentence enhancement imposed pursuant to  4B1.1.

. That McGuire was convicted as an aider and abettor and not as a principal is irrelevant to our analysis. Under 18 U.S.C.  2, [w]hoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal.

. Section 2113(a) includes at least two sets of divisible elements: (1) taking, or attempting to take, by force, violence, or intimidation, property from a bank; and (2) entering or attempting to enter any bank, credit union, or savings and loan association with the intent to commit a felony. See United States v. McBride, 826 F.3d 293, 296 (6th Cir. 2016) (noting that  2113(a) seems to contain a divisible set of elements, only some of which constitute violent felonies).

Carlos F. Lucero Circuit Judge
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More than 60 businesses have benefitted from the program, which was extended through May 1 while a permanent program is in the works.
Susan Bruechner is now PeaceHealths new senior vice president and chief human resources officer.

Bruechner was promoted after three years as the health care agencys head of all human resource operations, according to a Thursday press release. As senior vice president, Bruechner will oversee the organizations people strategies and help promote an inclusive and welcoming culture reflective of the PeaceHealth mission and values, the release said.

I continue to be inspired by our people and how the mission is lived out every day at PeaceHealth, Bruechner said in a statement. I joined PeaceHealth because of our mission and my personal alignment with our values, as well as our deeply-held commitment to the most vulnerable members of our community.

Before joining PeaceHealth, Bruechner worked almost eight years in various management roles at the investment firm Goldman Sachs, and eventually led the human resources operations function for the firms multi-national commercial real estate division, the release said.

Bruechner also volunteers and supports local and national organizations in Vancouver, such as the Oregon Humane Society, Clark County and Oregon Food Banks, and the Human Rights Campaign, according to the release.

Susan is a shining example of living PeaceHealths Values in her strong commitment to organizational excellence and caregiver advocacy, Carol Aaron, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said in a statement. I have no doubt that her commitment to our people, culture and values will result in further strengthening our exemplary caregivers for many years ahead.
When Dean Takko hunts, elk with deformed hooves sometimes limp along in fields or lie down to ease their foot pain  not a pretty thing to watch, the state senator says.

Southwest Washington for decades has been the center of elk hoof disease, which causes deformed, injured or overgrown hooves in herds in Mount St. Helens and Willapa Hills. Sightings of the disease have skyrocketed in the past decade.

Senate Bill 5474 addresses measures to prevent the spread. It would mandate the state Department of Fish and Wildlife staff to euthanize elk seen limping and prevent transporting elk with hoof disease to other areas without the diseases presence. It would also allow hunters in Southwest Washington  and much of Western Washington  to kill elk that are seen limping and keep the meat.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, is scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources.

Takko, D-Longview, supports the bill despite his concerns about hunters taking advantage of the policy and the potential costs. He said it provides practical measures for a problem that the Legislature needs to address.

It all seems to make good sense to me, he said. Not that weve turned our back on it, but we certainly havent been doing as much as we could do.

Any authorized person, including anyone with a hunting license, would be allowed to kill elk with severe limping in the hunting off-season and without tags. Hunters typically must apply and pay for tags to legally hunt elk at a certain time of the year.

The policy would apply to any area where hoof disease is present, which stretches across 10 counties from the southern state border to the Mason area, according to WDFW.

Mark Smith, a Toutle resident who has been involved in the citizens advisory committee and public working group on hoof disease, said the bill was overly aggressive and premature. He and Takko both said they were concerned that the bill doesnt pay for the added work and expense the mandate would require of the WDFW.

For years, Smith has been advocating for a research center on hoof disease in Southwest Washington to determine the diseases transmission, contraction and potential prevention. He said more experts need access to live elk with hoof disease and that the WDFW needs to rely less on Washington State University veterinarians, who may be unfamiliar with wildlife.

We havent identified the proper steps or procedures, he said. We have not done live animal testing to evaluate what we actually are dealing with. Until we do that ... then I could not support shooting every limping animal in this area. Youre not convincing me that that is going to eradicate it.

Smith and Takko also said they are concerned it allows hunters too much freedom with little oversight and would allow some to take advantage of the policy.

That makes me a little antsy, Takko said.

About 10 years ago, the WDFW determined that triponeme bacteria is associated with the disease. However, Dr. Boone Mora  retired in Skamokawa from a career in public health  disputed the claim and urged WDFW to consider leptospirosis as a cause.

Smith said some disagreement over the studies so far shows there needs to be a program focused on researching the disease among live animals.

Its been ... no one cares, Smith said. Its just been really frustrating because that, in my mind, is what needs to happen.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife so far hasnt taken a position on the new Senate bill.

But Smith said some form of action is long overdue, adding that hoof disease should be addressed this legislative session.

You need state legislative action, and I applaud the Senate for stepping up and trying to take action, he said.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. CARLOS JAVIER LARIOS-GIRON, Petitioner v. DANA BOENTE, ACTING U. S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent No. 15-60687 Decided: January 31, 2017

Before KING, DENNIS, and COSTA, Circuit Judges.

Carlos Javier Larios-Giron, a native and citizen of Guatemala, was ordered removed in absentia after failing to appear at his removal hearing. The Immigration Judge (IJ) denied his motion to reopen and a later motion to reconsider the denial of reopening. He now petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal of the denial of his motion to reconsider. He argues that he was not served with the Notice to Appear (NTA); was never asked to provide his address; was never informed that he was in removal proceedings; and was never warned of the consequences of failing to appear at the removal hearing. He contends that this lack of notice resulted in a violation of his due process rights.

The NTA, which contained Larios-Giron's signature and fingerprint, advised him of the obligation of providing his mailing address. The NTA stated that it was served in person and that the alien was provided oral notice in Spanish that the time and date for the removal hearing would be set later and the consequences of failing to appear. Thus, the record reflects that Larios-Giron was personally served with the NTA. See 8 U.S.C.  1229(a). The NTA also reflects that Larios-Giron failed to provide his address. This was a proper basis to deny reopening the removal proceedings. See 8 U.S.C.  1229a(b)(5)(B); Gomez-Palacios v. Holder, 560 F.3d 354, 360-61 (5th Cir. 2009). Larios-Giron has shown no abuse of discretion. Singh v. Gonzales, 436 F.3d 484, 487 (5th Cir. 2006). Larios-Giron's due process argument is without merit. See Gomez-Palacios, 560 F.3d at 361 n.2.

Larios-Giron also argues that the BIA erred because he showed changed country conditions and, as a result, he was entitled to have his removal proceedings reopened. To determine whether there has been a material change in country conditions, the evidence of country conditions submitted with the motion to reopen is compared to those conditions that existed at the time of the removal hearing. See Panjwani v. Gonzales, 401 F.3d 626, 632-33 (5th Cir. 2005). Larios-Giron's fear of gangs when he left Guatemala was the same fear he had at the time the motion to reopen was filed. Although he attempts to argue that police corruption is a changed country condition, this argument is without merit. Larios-Giron previously admitted that the police did nothing in order to protect him and his family from the gang when he lived in Guatemala and the police did nothing to help his family even after he left. As a result, Larios-Giron has failed to show that the BIA's denial of the motion to reconsider regarding this issue was an abuse of discretion. See Panjwani, 401 F.3d at 632-33. Based on the foregoing, we need not reach Larios-Giron's remaining arguments regarding whether he established prima facie eligibility for relief from removal. See id.

Larios-Giron's petition for review is DENIED.

PER CURIAM:*
Its been long when Reliance Jio has launched its free services in India, but the Jio effect is still in the air. As one of the major telco BSNL has launched its new cheap data plan to its new and existing subscribers.

The state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited today revealed a new data plan for Rs. 36, which will enable subscribers to use 1GB data, which seems to be the cheapest in its history.

With the new cheapest data plan, the telco has set a new benchmark in the section, as compared to the plan of 1GB for Rs. 50, which was earlier said to be cheapest. Commenting on the initiative, BSNL Board of Director, RK Mittal stated to Economic Times, We are committed to providing affordable mobile services for all segments of the prepaid mobile customers. These offers will be valid from February 6, 2017, on Pan India basis.

In addition, BSNL has announced its cheap unlimited calling plan which allows you to make free voice calling on any number around India just for Rs. 149. The plan has a validity of 30 days.

Commenting on the tariff, Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman of BSNL said, Customers are coming forward to get our service which has helped our company to increase our market share by 1% since March 2015 even in these hyper-competitive telecom services market.

Shrivastav further added that the unlimited voice calling plan of Rs. 149 will be available from January 24 and assured that the company will launch a new plan as well, before January 26. The plan is limited to new subscribers or the one who are porting to the network.

BSNL has also launched an attractive offer of free voice calling for three months at Rs. 439. However, the outgoing calls to others network will be limited to 30 minutes per day.

Earlier with a new tariff of Rs. 144 rupees, BSNL had planned to offer unlimited local and STD calls for one month from BSNL to any other network. The plan will be valid for six months and not only that, it will also come with a 300MB data on per month basis. The plan is applicable for both prepaid and postpaid customers.

Under the same franchise, two plans were rolled out at a tariff of Rs 99 and Rs 339. Plan 99 offers unlimited call from BSNL to BSNL with 300MB data, while the latter offers unlimited calling feature from BSNL to any other network with an allowance of 1GB data. However, Rs. 144 plan seems to have a cutting edge over the previous two plans.

Shrivastava has also expressed the aim of installing 40,000 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country by the end of 2017. He told the till now success story of BSNL on installing 4,400 successfully operating Wi-Fi hotspots.

He also highlighted the presence of similar hotspot near the Mahabalipuram area of Chennai and expressed their immediate strategy to expand the existing one. With this BSNL is planning to unveil the spectrum of LTE (Long Term Evolution) across the country but in a sequential manner. Seems like, BSNL is pulling its socks up to give a cut throat completion to its rivalry Reliance Jio.
tech2 News Staff

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has shut down a number of unauthorized websites and mobile apps that were conducting Aadhaar-related services illegally by charging excessive money from the uninformed public.

A report from the Economic Times claims that the UIDAI has pulled down 12 websites and 12 mobile apps, that violate the procedures laid down by the Aadhaar Act of 2016.

The UIDAI seems to be on a manhunt and has even directed the shutdown of an additional 26 websites and mobile apps that are reportedly conducting illegal business in the guise of providing Aadhaar services.

These websites and mobile applications that are now deemed illegal by the UIDAI have been providing services such as downloading online Aadhaar card, providing status of Aadhaar generation, PVC Aadhaar Card and more and even charging excessive money for services rendered.

The UIDAI states that apart from not being authorized to render such services, the mobile apps and websites have also been illegally collecting Aadhaar and user data from the customers in the process.

The same is punishable by law under Section 38 and Chapter VII of the Aadhaar Act.

Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO, UIDAI warned the public against the use of such websites and mobile apps as they, do in more ways than one, invade a citizen's privacy.

Only 12 mobile apps have been pulled down from the Google Play store. But with so many more available it is wise to give out Aadhaar related information only on the government authorized Aadhaar-related mobile applications and websites.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee v. GEORGE WILLIAM JARMAN, Defendant - Appellant No. 16-30468 Decided: February 01, 2017

Before JOLLY, SMITH, and PRADO, Circuit Judges.

George Jarman conditionally pleaded guilty to the receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2252A(a)(2) and (b)(1). He challenges the district court's denial of both his motion to suppress evidence obtained in the search of his home and his motion for reconsideration. He contends that the district court erred because: (1) it should not have applied the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule; (2) the search-warrant affidavit for his home does not establish probable cause; and (3) the Government's delay in searching the computers seized from his home violated the Fourth Amendment and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41. Because the good faith exception applies and the Government's post-seizure delay did not violate the Fourth Amendment, we AFFIRM.

I.

The FBI began investigating Jarman when Jason Collins, the co-owner of a computer repair store, called FBI Special Agent (SA) Larry Jones in November 2007. Collins told SA Jones that he suspected one of his customers had child pornography on his hard drive. He said that the customer had purchased a new computer and asked him to transfer the data from an old computer's hard drive onto it and to wipe the old hard drive clean. Collins's part-time employee, Charlie Wilson, performed the transfer at the customer's home. During the transfer, Wilson, who could see the file names, but not the actual files being copied, noticed file names which appeared to indicate child pornography. Wilson told Collins what he had seen, and Collins asked Wilson to bring the old hard drive back to the store.

Collins inspected that hard drive, finding several file names suggestive of child pornography that he could not open and a video file in the root directory depicting a male performing anal sex on a prepubescent male child. Collins did not tell SA Jones the names of any of the alleged child pornography computer files. But he told SA Jones that he did not believe that the video file had been transferred to the new computer because it was on the hard drive's root directory. At the end of the interview, SA Jones asked Collins to keep the customer's hard drive until the FBI contacted him.

SA Jones requested that an investigation be opened into the allegations, and SA Thomas Tedder was assigned the case. Shortly thereafter, SA Tedder began collaborating with Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys on the case.

In January 2008, SA Tedder re-interviewed Collins. Collins gave SA Tedder the customer's hard drive and told him generally the same story he told SA Jones. This time, however, Collins identified the customer as Jarman. He also provided more detail about the video file he had seen. When he went through the hard drive, Collins explained, he selected one suspected file and copied it to his computer to view. That file contained a grainy image of an adult male sodomizing a pre-pubescent child whom Collins believed to be under the age of twelve. After viewing that file, Collins stopped looking at the drive and contacted the FBI. Notably, Collins now claimed that he believed that Wilson copied all of the old dataincluding the possible child pornographyto Jarman's new computer, even though he had previously stated that the video file containing possible child pornography was not transferred to the new computer. SA Tedder testified that he asked Collins about this inconsistency and that Collins stood by his new conclusion.

By March 2008, DOJ prosecutor Michael Yoon and SA Tedder had begun drafting a search-warrant affidavit for Jarman's home. While Yoon did most of the drafting, SA Tedder corrected misunderstandings of fact and revised language at least once.

As of late March 2008, SA Tedder was aware of two investigations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that implicated Jarman. In the first investigation, which concerned the child pornography site illegal.CP, ICE obtained Jarman's email address when it acquired the email addresses of those who had purchased access to the website. In the second investigation, which concerned the child pornography site Home Collection, ICE determined that Jarman purchased subscriptions to three child pornography sites in seven transactions from October 2006 to January 2007.

SA Tedder testified that he talked to ICE agents about these investigations and reviewed all of the relevant evidence to ensure that the screen captures ICE took from these websites were of prepubescent children and that Jarman was, in fact, the person identified in the investigations. Moreover, he served a subpoena on Cox Communications to confirm that the email address that ICE tied to Jarman's home was an active account belonging to Jarman. However, SA Tedder testified that he did not have any direct knowledge that Jarman actually downloaded files from these child pornography sites when drafting the search-warrant affidavit.

In December 2008, SA Tedder submitted a search-warrant affidavit for Jarman's home. A magistrate judge signed the search warrant on December 5th. Three days later, the FBI executed the warrant, seizing several hard drives and computers from Jarman's home.

Because Jarman was an attorney, the FBI used a taint process to review the seized data. In this process, a taint team, which consisted of a DOJ attorney and a FBI computer expert, initially screened the seized data for any potentially privileged material before turning it over to the prosecution team. The taint team reported the results of their review on August 6, 2009.

The prosecution team received the hard drives and computers from the taint team on September 2, 2009, and July 9, 2010, and the Computer Analysis Response Team (CART) began its forensic examination. CART completed its examination on November 5, 2010, and reported that it found sexually explicit images and videos of minors on the computer hardware.

A grand jury subsequently charged Jarman with, among other things, the receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography (Count 1).

In September 2013, Jarman moved to suppress the fruits of the search of his home and for a Franks hearing, arguing that SA Tedder's affidavit did not establish probable cause, omitted material information, and contained misrepresentations and unreliable information. The district court held a Franks hearing in April 2014. Jarman then sought, and was granted, additional discovery because, the court found, there were material inconsistencies between SA Tedder's testimony and his draft affidavits.

In October 2014, the district court denied Jarman's motion to suppress. Because of the effect of the passage of time on one's memory, the court found, SA Tedder's incorrect statements at the Franks hearing were not deliberate. Moreover, the Government's actions did not give rise to a reckless disregard for the truth. Consequently, the court held that, although the investigation may have been less than ideal, the good faith exception [to the exclusionary rule] applies.

Jarman promptly moved for reconsideration and for a second Franks hearing. The district court granted a second Franks hearing in May 2015. But, in August 2015, the court denied the motion for reconsideration on the ground that the good faith exception still applied. Although it remain[ed] uncomfortable with the [G]overnment's conduct, the court still did not believe that Jarman ha[d] established that [SA] Tedder's conduct was in bad faith.

Jarman then conditionally pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the indictment, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motions to suppress the evidence found in the search of his home.

Now on appeal, Jarman asserts that the district court erred by denying his motions to suppress and for reconsideration because: (1) the good faith exception is inapplicable; (2) SA Tedder's affidavit does not establish probable cause; and (3) the Government's delay in searching the data from his home violated the Fourth Amendment and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41.

II.

This Court reviews the [f]actual findings in a ruling on a motion to suppress  for clear error and questions of law de novo. United States v. Moore, 805 F.3d 590, 593 (5th Cir. 2015) (citation omitted). The clearly erroneous standard is particularly deferential where, as here, denial of a suppression motion is based on live oral testimony  because the judge had the opportunity to observe the demeanor of the witnesses. United States v. Robinson, 741 F.3d 588, 594 (5th Cir. 2014) (citation omitted). But the constitutionality of law enforcement action and the determination of the reasonableness of a law enforcement officer's reliance upon a warrant issued by a magistrate  for purposes of determining the applicability of the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule are questions of law that are reviewed de novo. United States v. Cherna, 184 F.3d 403, 40607 (5th Cir. 1999). Nevertheless, [t]he evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, here, the Government. Moore, 805 F.3d at 593 (citation omitted).

This Court generally review[s] the denial of a motion to reconsider for abuse of discretion. United States v. Rabhan, 540 F.3d 344, 346 (5th Cir. 2008) (citation omitted).

We hold that the district court did not err in denying suppression of the evidence the Government seized from Jarman's home because: (1) Jarman failed to carry his burden to show that the good faith exception does not apply; and (2) Jarman was not entitled to suppression based on the Government's delay in completing its search of the evidence because: (a) Jarman waived the claim that the Government violated Rule 41; and (b) the Government did not violate the Fourth Amendment because it acted reasonably under the circumstances.

A.

We begin by considering whether the district court erred by applying the good faith exception. Moore, 805 F.3d at 593 (citation omitted).

The good faith exception bars the application of the exclusionary rule to exclude evidence obtained pursuant to a warrant if law enforcement officers act under an objectively reasonable, good faith belief that the search warrant in question is valideven if it, in fact, is not. Robinson, 741 F.3d at 594 (citation omitted). But the good faith exception is not applicable if the issuing-judge was misled by information in an affidavit that the affiant knew was false or would have known was false except for his reckless disregard of the truth. United States v. Gibbs, 421 F.3d 352, 358 (5th Cir. 2005) (citation omitted). [T]he initial burden here is upon the defendant. United States v. Cavazos, 288 F.3d 706, 710 (5th Cir. 2002). Here, in attempting to impeach the warrant, the defendant must establish: (1) a knowing or reckless falsehood by omission or commission; (2) that without the falsehood there would not be sufficient matter in the affidavit to support the issuance of the warrant; and that (3) [t]he omitted material [is]  dispositive, so that if the omitted fact were included, there would not be probable cause. Robinson, 741 F.3d at 595 (citations omitted); United States v. Davis, 226 F.3d 346, 351 (5th Cir. 2000).

Jarman avers that the district court erred in holding that the good faith exception applies, challenging more than a dozen statements in and omissions from the search-warrant affidavit for his home. The Government, on the other hand, argues that the district court correctly held that the good faith exception applies because Jarman has not shown that any statements in the affidavit were knowingly or recklessly false. Moreover, the Government asserts, Jarman has not identified any material omissions from the affidavit, let alone any omissions constituting knowing or reckless falsehoods.

The district court heard all of the evidence and received extensive briefing. The court then found that Jarman failed to satisfy the requirements for attacking the good faith exception because, it determined, the Government and SA Tedder did not act in bad faith and the statements and omissions that Jarman calls material knowing or reckless falsehoods and omissions were neither deliberate nor made in reckless disregard for the truth. After hearing oral argument and studying the briefs, applicable parts of the record, and the relevant law, we can find no error in the district court's application of the good faith exception. We especially recognize that the district court had the opportunity to observe witnesses. Robinson, 741 F.3d at 594 (citation omitted). Furthermore, evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the Government. See Moore, 805 F.3d at 593 (citation omitted). We thus uphold the application of the good faith exception to any defects alleged by Jarman.

B.

We now turn to Jarman's contention that the district court erred by rejecting his argument that the duration of the Government's post-seizure review of his computer data requires the suppression of the seized evidence. The district court did not explicitly rule on this issue as it relates to the evidence that is the subject of the warrant. The court, however, necessarily rejected this claim when it denied Jarman's motions to suppress. And this court may  independently review the record to determine whether the district court's decision is supported by any reasonable review of the evidence. United States v. Santiago, 410 F.3d 193, 198 (5th Cir. 2005) (citation omitted).

The general touchstone of reasonableness which governs [the] Fourth Amendment analysis  governs the method of execution of the warrant. E.g., United States v. Ramirez, 523 U.S. 65, 71 (1998). As many circuits have recognized, the Fourth Amendment contain[s no] requirements about when the search or seizure is to occur or the duration. United States v. Cote, 72 M.J. 41, 44 (C.A.A.F. 2013) (citation omitted); United States v. Gerber, 994 F.2d 1556, 1559 (11th Cir. 1993). Courts have therefore consistently permitted some delay in the execution of search warrants involving computers because of the complexity of the search and they often restrict their analysis of the delay in executing  warrants [to] consider[ing] only whether the delay rendered the warrants stale. E.g., United States v. Brewer, 588 F.3d 1165, 1173 (8th Cir. 2009); United States v. Syphers, 426 F.3d 461, 469 (1st Cir. 2005).

Jarman contends that the district court erred by not granting suppression because the Government violated the Fourth Amendment and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41 by taking twenty-three months to finish searching the data it seized. His overarching argument is that this delay was unreasonable.

The Government counters that Jarman is not entitled to suppression on this basis. Jarman, the Government asserts, waived the claim that its actions violated Rule 41. Moreover, the Government argues, it acted reasonably under the circumstances, and the only case Jarman relies upon, United States v. Metter, 860 F. Supp. 2d 205 (E.D.N.Y. 2012), is distinguishable.

We hold that the district court did not err by not granting suppression based on the duration of the Government's post-seizure review of the data it seized from Jarman's home. First, Jarman waived the claim that the Government's actions violated Rule 41 because he merely mentions the issue in a footnote with little or no argument. See United States v. Scroggins, 599 F.3d 433, 44748 (5th Cir. 2010) (citation omitted) (summarizing this Court's appellate briefing requirements).

Second, Jarman is not entitled to suppression under the Fourth Amendment because the duration of the Government's review of the seized data was reasonable under the circumstances. The taint process here was designed to protect Jarman's clients' privileged information. Courts have recognized that, in such circumstances, it is appropriate to screen privileged information. See, e.g., Metter, 860 F. Supp. 2d at 215. Moreover, the taint team review only took eight months. And the Government completed its forensic examination less than four months after it received the last of the hard drives and computers from the taint team. These periods are within the typical periods of delay in executing warrants that courts have permitted due to the complexity involved in searching computers. See, e.g., Syphers, 426 F.3d at 469.

Moreover, Jarman has not argued that the delay caused the warrant to become stale. Even if he had, [n]umerous cases hold that a delay of several months or even years between the seizure of electronic evidence and the completion of the government's review of [it]  is reasonable and does not render the warrant stale, especially in child-pornography cases. Metter, 860 F. Supp. 2d at 215 (emphasis omitted).

Additionally, the one case Jarman relies uponan out-of-circuit district court opinionis inapposite. In Metter, the Government had not even begun to conduct[ ] its [privilege] review of the [electronic] evidence seized fifteen months after the warrant was executed and had no plans whatsoever to begin review of that data. Metter, 860 F. Supp. 2d at 211, 215. Here, by contrast, the Government completed its privilege review in eight months. Then, by the end of twenty-three months, it completed its entire review of the evidence. Further, in Metter, the court found that the Government displayed a lack of good faith because it failed to commence the review [of the evidence], despite repeated requests from defense counsel and directions from the Court to do so, and it indicate[d] that it had no intention of fulfilling its obligations to do so. Id. at 216. Here, however, Jarman does not accuse the Government of similarly acting in bad faith. Thus, Jarman is not entitled to suppression based on the duration of the Government's post-seizure review of his computer data.

III.

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. The district court suppressed the evidence found on this hard drive, holding that the government's yearlong, warrantless seizure of [it] was unreasonable, and thus, violated the Fourth Amendment. Because that ruling is not challenged on appeal, we do not discuss facts specifically relevant to that issue; we address only the court's rulings on the suppression of evidence acquired in a search of Jarman's home pursuant to a warrant, which are explained below.

. Specifically, Jarman asserts that the good faith exception does not apply because SA Tedder: (1) made false statements at the Franks hearings; (2) falsely stated in the search-warrant affidavit that members of the taint team would not be involved in the investigation when Yoon was involved with both; (3) made a false statement when he swore to the affidavit and led the magistrate to believe that he had sufficiently corroborated and verified the information in it; (4) acted in bad faith when he described child-pornography offenders' characteristics in the affidavit and asserted and relied upon the nexus between them and the assertion that Jarman likely hoarded child pornography; (5) included file names in the affidavit that he had no basis for including; (6) should not have implied in the affidavit that Collins easily selected one file and observed the grainy image of an adult male sodomizing a male child; (7) deliberately inserted in the affidavit the false statement that [p]er JARMAN's request, all data from the old computer, to include the files depicting suspected child pornography, was transferred over to the new computer at JARMAN'S residence; (8) knowingly and recklessly inserted in the affidavit the false statement that Jarman retained images of child pornography from October 2006 to November 2007 on the computer located at his residence; (9) did not mention in the affidavit that accessing or viewing child pornography was not illegal before October 2008 or that the inadvertent downloading of child pornography into temporary internet files did not necessarily constitute possession; (10) did not mention in the affidavit that: (a) there was no evidence that Jarman accessed or downloaded child pornography; (b) there was nothing showing that Jarman's home computers were linked to child pornography; and (c) the illegal.CP subscription information was not associated with Jarman's home; (11) made a false statement by swearing to the affidavit without explaining that Yoon drafted most of it; (12) showed a reckless disregard for the truth by re-interviewing Collins instead of interviewing Wilson and at least recklessly omitted any mention of SA Jones's initial interview of Collins and Collins's initial statement regarding what data was transferred; and (13) at least recklessly failed to include in the affidavit the facts that Collins only found a single, grainy image of child pornography in the root directory and that the only suggestive file names Collins saw were located in temporary internet files that were not viewable.

. Accord, e.g., United States v. Kleinkauf, 487 F. App'x 836, 83839 (5th Cir. 2012) (finding that a nine-month delay did not render information stale); United States v. Allen, 625 F.3d 830, 84243 (5th Cir. 2010) (finding that an eighteen-month delay did not render information stale); United States v. Frechette, 583 F.3d 374, 37879 (6th Cir. 2009) (finding that a sixteen-month delay did not render information stale); United States v. MoralesAldahondo, 524 F.3d 115, 119 (1st Cir. 2008) (finding that a three-year delay did not render information stale); Syphers, 426 F.3d at 469 (finding that a five-month delay was reasonable); United States v. Riccardi, 405 F.3d 852, 863 (10th Cir. 2005) (finding that a five-year delay did not render information stale); United States v. Newsom, 402 F.3d 780, 783 (7th Cir. 2005) (Information a year old is not necessarily stale as a matter of law.); United States v. Gorrell, 360 F. Supp. 2d 48, 55 n.5 (D.D.C. 2004) (finding that a ten-month delay was reasonable).

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:
What exactly is the "Myth of the Climate Change 97%" mentioned by Senator Inhofe during recent confirmation hearings Trumps cabinet post nominations?

The so-called "Myth of the Climate Change 97%" refers to the argument made by climate skeptics who dispute the notion that 97% of climate scientists have achieved consensus that global warming is occurring and is caused by human activities. Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe, a notorious climate skeptic, referred to this "myth" in recent confirmation hearings for Scott Pruitt, President Trumps choice for administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Inhofe, who is funded by the notorious Koch brothers and other big fossil fuel interests, has stated that only God can affect the climate, and is one of the most outspoken voices in Congress for turning our backs on the Obama administrations climate progress.

No one knows for sure, but the 97% number likely first cropped up in 2013 from a study by Australian researcher John Cook, who surveyed 11,000+ climate science reports published between 1991 and 2011 in search of attribution of blame regarding the cause of global warming. According to Cook, two-thirds of the reports his team at the University of Queenslands Global Change Institute surveyed made no mention of whether global warming was happening, per se. But 97.1% of the remaining 4,000 reports that did acknowledge the occurrence of climate "endorsed the consensus position that humans are causing global warming." Furthermore, Cook followed up by asking a sample of 1,200 report authors to determine whether their research confirmed that global warming is human-caused, with 97.2 of those respondents concurring.

But critics attacked Cook's findings almost as soon as they were published. Richard Tol, a Dutch economist at England's University of Sussex, first publicly articulated doubts about the 97% number in 2014 when he peeled off a team of researchers writing up a draft report for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)he claimed his colleagues were too alarmist. Tol stated that while he believes climate change to be real and likely human-caused, he also felt that Cooks research methodology was flawed and that the 97% findings were "essentially pulled from thin air [and] not based on any credible research whatsoever." Tol then orchestrated "re-analysis" of Cooks data set and concluded that really only 91% of climate scientists think global warming is human-caused.

Tol, who subsequently joined the advisory board of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a think tank that greens consider "the U.K.s most prominent source of climate change denial," isnt the only climate skeptic to pile on against the 97% claim. In a 2014 Wall Street Journal commentary piece, Heartland Institute president Joseph Bast and former NASA climatologist Roy Spencer claim that "so-called consensus comes from a handful of surveys and abstract-counting exercises that have been contradicted by more reliable research."

But despite this quibbling, its clear that the vast majority of climate scientists agree that human activity is behind our current climate woes. Whether or not 91% constitutes "consensus" is a matter of semantics, and vocal minorities on the topic (like Senator Inhofe) will always speak up to defend their point of view. What scares the American people is when such a vocal minority has the ear of the White House.
Uneasy situations in BSMMU

Reza Mahmud :

Physicians, Nurses and officials of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University are more active to serve the interests of the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro Vice-Chancellor than taking care of the thousands of patients, who go there everyday from different parts of the country.

The two top bosses of the university have taken position against each other over recruitment of nurses, sources said. The patients get no proper treatment there, and classes are not held regularly.

"There is no chain of command in the BSMMU at present. The VC Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan with outsiders on his side is showing muscle to the doctors and officials there," said Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) Professor Dr. Zakaria Swapan yesterday.

Neutral Sources accused the supporters of the VC and the Pro-VC (Education) for creation of tension centering recruitment of 200 senior staff nurses in BSMMU recently.

A large number of the doctors and the officials of the BSMMU said that few officials loyal to the VC were about to recruit a large number of nurses from Ghatail Upazila of Tangail, the home district of the VC.

They alleged that the candidates from Ghatail Upazila had the blessings of Professor Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan.

After publishing of the results of the recruitment test, anger spread among those who are loyal to Dr. Zakaria Swapan. They started altercation with the VC and Proctor Dr. Habibur Rahman Dulal in a meeting in January 19 in the BSMMU. Dr. Zakaria Swapan's supporters alleged that the VC and the Proctor have physically assaulted the Pro-VC. But the VC rejected the allegation.

The two groups of the teachers and officials organised rallies and counter- rallies on the campus.

In this circumstances, the syndicate meeting of the university on January 28 refrained from approving recruitment of 200 senior staff nurses. The meeting decided that the BSMMU will recruit 200 nurses on ad hoc basis and additional 300 later on.

"The vested quarter is trying to recruit those nurses who are from Tangail," a senior official of BSMMU said.

Dr. Zakaria Swapan said that Health Minister Mohammad Nasim recently summoned him in a meeting. They discussed on the issue and decided to recruit nurses as per the criteria.

"If any quarter tries to recruit nurses ignoring the fair process it will not be okayed," he said.

In this situation the atmosphere of the BSMMU are now explosive. Tensions prevail between the two groups.

Some officials said, "The situation is not calm. We fear fresh clash," said one of the senior officials preferring anonymity.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan said, "The university is developing during my administration. But some quarters do not want it. They are engineering conspiracy to make BSMMU instable."

Sources said, the tensions are not from the nurses recruitment issue only, there are some other reasons. Officials said, BSMMU invited a tender amounting to Tk five crore to computarise the university recently. As per the rules of the university, Pro-VC (Education) was supposed to be the chief of the purchasing committee, but it was not followed.

On the other hand, recently the university administration opposed the Pro-VC when he tried to buy a precious equipment for the cancer department of the university. The Pro-VC and his loyalists think that the VC is hindering the process.


Mattis says no need for dramatic US military moves in South China Sea

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, smiles while speaking to Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, unseen, at the start of their meeting at Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Saturday.

Reuters, Tokyo :

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Saturday played down any need for major U.S. military moves in the South China Sea to contend with China's assertive behavior, even as he sharply criticized Beijing for "shredding the trust of nations in the region."

"At this time, we do not see any need for dramatic military moves at all," Mattis told a news conference in Tokyo, stressing that the focus should be on diplomacy.

In his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. The White House also vowed to defend "international territories" in the strategic waterway. But how the United States would achieve that has been unclear, including whether it would have a military dimension.

Analysts have said Tillerson's remarks, like those from the White House, 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 prime target of Trump accusations of stealing American jobs.

Mattis suggested that major military action was not being currently considered.

"What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try to resolve this properly, maintaining open lines of communication," Mattis said, in his most complete remarks on the issue to date. "And certainly our military stance should be one that reinforces our diplomats in this regard. But there is no need right now at this time for military maneuvers or something like that, that would solve something that's best solved by the diplomats." China claims most of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claim parts of the waters that command strategic sea lanes and have rich fishing grounds along with oil and gas deposits.

Mattis criticized China's actions.

"China has shredded the trust of nations in the region, apparently trying to have a veto authority over the diplomatic and security and economic conditions of neighboring states," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday following remarks by President Donald Trump's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.
Farmer decapitates his wife with a sword and carries her severed head to a police station in India

Narayan Singh, 38, was charged with murder after finding his wife Sarita, 28, with another man before chopping off her head with a sword and carrying it to this police station.

Mail Online :

A farmer decapitated his wife with a sword and carried her severed head to a police station after he caught her with another man in one of his fields.

Narayan Singh, 38, was charged with murder after finding his wife Sarita, 28, rolling around with another man before he flew into a fit of rage, according to neighbours.

Villagers claim the farmer - who claims to have caught his wife cheating before - took a sword and beheaded his wife and picked up her head.

Terrified locals claim they called police but before they arrived he walked five miles to the nearest police station - while clutching his wife's hair.

Singh, of Ghareli village in Ingoria, India, has been charged with murder and is due in court later this month.

Local sources outside the station in Ghareli village in Ingoria, India said before he handed himself in, he told onlookers: 'My wife had broken my trust.

'This is the reason why I beheaded her.

'I had warned her twice before, but she wouldn't mend her ways.'

Residents claim Singh had caught his wife with her lover twice before but let them go with a 'warning of dire consequence' if they met up again. Singh was spying on his wife when he caught them in a farmers' hut again on January 30, according to neighbours.

Police sources said Singh was sent to judicial custody for 14 days before he us due in court.

Vijay Khatri, the investigating officer of the case, said: 'Narayan Singh had doubts on his wife's character - that she was having an extramarital affair with another man.

'According to villagers, Singh had been keeping a close tab on the activities and movements of his wife for the past few days.

'On January 30, he caught his wife in the act with her lover and, in a fit of rage, beheaded her.
Turkish forces kill 51 IS militants in northern Syria attacks

Mounds of rubble remain from what used to be high rise apartment buildings in the once rebel-held Ansari neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria.

Reuters, Ankara :

Turkey hit 59 Islamic State targets and killed 51 militants in northern Syria as part of its ongoing incursion, the Turkish military said on Saturday.

Turkish forces have surrounded the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab for weeks as part of an operation that has been going on for more than five months.

Four of those killed were so-called emirs, or local commanders, the Turkish military said, adding that its jets destroyed 56 buildings and three command control centers in the al-Bab and Bzagah regions.

Coalition forces also conducted eight airstrikes in the al-Bab region, destroying two defense positions and two armed vehicles.

Another report adds: Syria's military command announced it was expanding military operations against the Islamic State group in the country's north on Thursday, a move that draws government forces closer to potential conflict with Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition forces fighting extremists in the region.

The new push comes after the military in recent weeks took 250 square kilometers (100 square miles) from IS, the command said, bringing the government forces closer to the town of al-Bab.

But it also risks a showdown with Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters who have jointly been trying to capture the IS-held town for weeks.

Such a showdown had been avoided while government forces were tied up driving rebels out of the eastern sector of the city of Aleppo, the provincial capital. That had allowed Turkey to wage war against IS and also Syrian Kurdish groups in northern Syria.

After President Bashar Assad's victory in Aleppo in December, his military turned its focus on the rest of the province. Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed to reassert his control over the entire country.

Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish forces an extension of the Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. The Turkish-backed troops in northern Syria have repeatedly clashed with the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, who are leading the battle to retake the nearby city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de facto capital.

After the Syrian military's announcement, the opposition forces allied with Turkish troops said they had taken four more villages around the town of al-Bab.

The shifting front lines could also undermine peace talks and a rebel coalition on Thursday desisted from committing to Feb. 20 negotiations in Geneva, which are led by the United Nations.

The coalition of Free Syrian Army factions and other rebels, said it could not "take any step toward a fair political solution without a cease-fire."

It demanded that Russia, Turkey, and Iran step up to their obligation to enforce a cease-fire for Syria, something the three regional players pledged to do at talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana last month. The rebels said at the time they had presented a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire to the Russians and were expecting a response within a week.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir speaking at a rally organised by Jatiya Ganotantrik Party at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday demanding neutral Election Commission for fair election.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NAEEM MAHMOOD KOHLI, Defendant-Appellant. No. 15-3481 Decided: February 01, 2017

Before POSNER, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Dr. Naeem Kohli, an Illinois physician who specialized in pain management, was convicted on multiple counts of prescribing narcotics without a legitimate medical purpose in violation of  841(a) of the Controlled Substances Act. On appeal, he argues that the district court should have granted his motion for acquittal based on insufficient evidence. He also challenges the district court's jury instructions and several of its evidentiary rulings at trial.

We conclude that the jury's verdict is supported by sufficient evidence and that the motion for acquittal was properly denied. We further hold that the district court's jury instructions provided a fair and accurate summary of the law, and that its challenged evidentiary rulings were not an abuse of discretion. We therefore affirm Dr. Kohli's conviction.

I. BACKGROUND

Dr. Naeem Kohli was a board-certified neurologist with extensive training in the treatment of chronic pain. He operated a private medical practice called the Kohli Neurology and Sleep Center located in Effingham, Illinois. Irregularities in the practice eventually caught the attention of federal officials, and in 2014 Dr. Kohli was indicted on three counts of healthcare fraud, two counts of money laundering, and ten counts of illegal dispensation of a controlled substance. During a fifteen-day trial, the jury learned about Dr. Kohli's prescribing practices from a variety of sources, including law enforcement and healthcare professionals, several expert witnesses, and Dr. Kohli's patients and their family members. Dr. Kohli also testified in his own defense.

A. Expert Testimony of Dr. Parran

Some of the most important testimony came from the government's expert witness Dr. Theodore Parran, an addiction specialist and internal medicine physician who has previously testified for the government in similar prosecutions. See, e.g., United States v. Chube II, 538 F.3d 693, 698 (7th Cir. 2008). Before trial, Dr. Parran reviewed Dr. Kohli's patient files for each of the patients who had received the allegedly unlawful prescriptions charged in the indictment. Dr. Parran did not dispute that these patients suffered from legitimate, painful medical conditions that might ordinarily warrant treatment with narcotics. As Dr. Parran explained to the jury, however, Dr. Kohli's files reflect that he prescribed narcotics to these patients under circumstances that were far from ordinary.

The files showed, for example, that Dr. Kohli routinely prescribed addictive opioids to patients who had a history of drug addiction and who were known to be multi-sourcing, or simultaneously obtaining various prescriptions for controlled substances from multiple sources or providers. He also prescribed early refills, anywhere from a day to several weeks before the refills were due, to patients who repeatedly claimed that their narcotics medications had run out or were lost or stolen. These same patients often had irregular toxicology screens in which they tested negative for the drugs that Dr. Kohli had prescribed, but positive for other drugs (including illegal drugs and other controlled substances) that he did not prescribe. Dr. Kohli's office also received phone calls from the Veterans Administration and a certain patient's family members reporting that one of his patients was actively abusing drugs. Despite these troubling developments, Dr. Kohli continued to prescribe highly addictive Schedule II opioids, such as oxycodone and hydromorphone, on a regular basis.

According to Dr. Parran, Dr. Kohli's prescriptions under these circumstances offered no medical benefit and were in some cases simply inconceivable from a clinical standpoint. Ultimately, based on his review of the relevant patient files, Dr. Parran concluded that the prescriptions identified in the indictment were inconsistent with the usual course of professional practice and had no legitimate medical purpose.

B. Other Evidence regarding Dr. Kohli's Prescribing Practices

Dr. Kohli's patients testified that he charged $350 per office visit to obtain a prescription for a controlled substance. Patients who did not have insurance, or who had insurance but were visiting early to obtain an early refill, paid the entire fee out of pocket. Dr. Kohli also traveled from his office once a month to see additional patients at Richland Memorial Hospital. The director of physician services at that hospital testified that she noticed Dr. Kohli's prescriptions for controlled substances were already filled out before he saw his patients there. She also observed that Dr. Kohli would see about 30 patients in 90 minutes.

C. Cross-Examination and Impeachment of Dr. Kohli

For four days, Dr. Kohli testified about his medical practice and insisted that he prescribed narcotics in a good-faith effort to help manage his patients' chronic pain. At one point, on direct examination, he also testified that no patient had ever died under his care: Have you ever had a patient die under your care? No, sir. He reiterated the point the following day, again on direct examination. Faced with this unexpected claim, the government decided to investigate; it checked with the local coroner's office and found that a patient named Kenneth Kramer had died of an accidental overdose while under Dr. Kohli's care in 2006.

In light of this new information, the government proceeded to impeach Dr. Kohli on cross-examination by questioning his earlier testimony that no patient had ever died under his care. When Dr. Kohli answered as before, the government asked him if he remembered his patient Kenneth Kramer. Dr. Kohli replied that he did not. The district court then stopped the government's line of questioning and ordered it to give opposing counsel the materials it had obtained from the coroner's office before the questioning could resume.

After the defense reviewed the materials overnight, the government resumed its impeachment the next day by asking Dr. Kohli (over the defense's objection) if he remembered that a patient named Kenneth Kramer had died of an accidental overdose while under his care. Dr. Kohli responded that he did not know about Kramer's death until he received the materials from the government the day before. The government did not introduce the materials from the coroner's office into evidence, but limited its impeachment to questioning Dr. Kohli on cross-examination and was bound by Dr. Kohli's answers by order of the district court.

D. Jury Instructions and Verdict

At the close of the evidence, Dr. Kohli moved for acquittal on grounds that the government had failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction. The district court denied the motion and submitted the case to the jury. The court instructed the jury to render a conviction only if it found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Dr. Kohli intentionally prescribed controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose:

In order for you to find the Defendant guilty of a charge of causing the illegal dispensation of a Schedule II controlled substance, the Government must prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt as to the charge that you are considering:

1: That the Defendant knowingly caused to be dispensed the controlled substance alleged in the charge you are considering;

2: That the Defendant did so by intentionally prescribing the controlled substance outside the usual course of professional medical practice, and not for legitimate medical purpose; and

3: That the Defendant knew that the substance was some kind of a controlled substance.

The court further instructed the jury to consider the normative standards of professional medical care when evaluating whether Dr. Kohli's conduct deviated from the usual course of professional practice:

In determining whether Defendant's conduct was outside the usual course of professional medical practice, you should consider the testimony you have heard relating to what has been characterized during the trial as the norms of professional practice. You should consider the Defendant's actions as a whole, the circumstances surrounding them, and the extent of severity of any violations of professional norms you find the Defendant may have committed.

Finally, the court cautioned the jury not to convict Dr. Kohli if it found that he acted in good faith:

[T]he Defendant may not be convicted if he dispenses or causes to be dispensed controlled substances in good faith to patients in the usual course of professional medical practice. Only the lawful acts of a physician, however, are exempted from prosecution under the law. The Defendant may not be convicted if he merely made an honest effort to treat his patients in compliance with an accepted standard of practical practice.  Good faith in this context means good intentions and the honest exercise of good professional judgment as to the patient's medical needs.

The jury ultimately convicted Dr. Kohli on seven counts of illegally dispensing Schedule II controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C.  841(a), and acquitted him on the remaining eight counts charged in the indictment. Dr. Kohli was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.

II. DISCUSSION

Dr. Kohli's primary argument on appeal is that the district court should have granted his motion for acquittal based on insufficient evidence. He also argues that the district court erred by permitting Dr. Parran to testify to legal conclusions in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 704, and by permitting the government to impeach him on cross-examination regarding the death of his former patient Kenneth Kramer. Lastly, he contends that the district court's jury instructions conflated the standards for civil and criminal liability and thus permitted the jury to convict him based on a finding of mere civil malpractice. We address each argument in turn.

A. Motion for Acquittal

Dr. Kohli asserts that he was entitled to acquittal because the evidence did not establish that he intentionally engaged in any unlawful conduct. We review a district court's denial of a motion for acquittal de novo. United States v. Vallar, 635 F.3d 271, 286 (7th Cir. 2011).

A motion for acquittal should be granted only where the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.  United States v. Jones, 222 F.3d 349, 35152 (7th Cir. 2000) (quoting Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(a)). When considering the sufficiency of the evidence, [w]e view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and will overturn a conviction only if the record contains no evidence from which a reasonable juror could have found the defendant guilty. United States v. Longstreet, 567 F.3d 911, 918 (7th Cir. 2009); see also Jones, 222 F.3d at 352 ([A]s long as any rational jury could have returned a guilty verdict, the verdict must stand.). When challenging a conviction based on sufficiency of the evidence, a defendant bears a heavy burden that is  nearly insurmountable.  United States v. Moses, 513 F.3d 727, 733 (7th Cir. 2008).

To convict a prescribing physician under  841(a) of the Controlled Substances Act, the government must prove that the physician knowingly prescribed a controlled substance outside the usual course of professional medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. United States v. Pellmann, 668 F.3d 918, 923 (7th Cir. 2012); Chube II, 538 F.3d at 698; 21 C.F.R.  1306.04(a). In other words, the evidence must show that the physician not only intentionally distributed drugs, but that he intentionally act[ed] as a pusher rather than a medical professional. See Chube II, 538 F.3d at 698; see also United States v. Moore, 423 U.S. 122, 13843 (1975).

In this case, the government presented ample evidence establishing that Dr. Kohli intentionally abandoned his role as a medical professional and unlawfully dispensed controlled substances with no legitimate medical purpose. Indeed, Dr. Kohli's own patient files (introduced through the testimony of Dr. Parran) showed that he regularly prescribed highly addictive and potentially dangerous Schedule II opioids to patients who (1) had a known history of drug abuse; (2) repeatedly sought early refills based on dubious claims that their medications had disappeared; (3) frequently multi-sourced their prescriptions by simultaneously obtaining additional quantities of controlled substances from other providers; and (4) displayed alarmingly irregular toxicology results suggesting both obvious drug abuse and possible secondary dealing. Based on this evidence, a reasonable jury could infer that Dr. Kohli knowingly prescribed controlled substances to patients who were misusing the prescriptions, and thus that he deliberately made the prescriptions outside the ordinary scope of professional practice and with no acceptable medical justification.

To be sure, Dr. Kohli presented conflicting evidence, including his own testimony, indicating that he made the challenged prescriptions in a good-faith medically appropriate effort to manage his patients' chronic pain. But the jury was not required to believe that evidence, and we will not supplant the jury's credibility findings on appeal. See United States v. Griffin, 84 F.3d 912, 927 (7th Cir. 1996); United States v. Curry, 79 F.3d 1489, 1497 (7th Cir. 1996) ([Q]uestions of credibility are solely for the trier of fact.); United States v. Nururdin, 8 F.3d 1187, 1194 (7th Cir. 1993) (As an appellate court, we will not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses when reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence. ).

Dr. Kohli also argues that his case should not have gone to a jury because, unlike in the typical pill-mill prosecution, the evidence here convincingly established that the relevant prescriptions were given exclusively to patients who suffered from documented medical conditions associated with chronic pain. Since the evidence also showed that these same patients exhibited addictive behaviors, Dr. Kohli contends that the jury must have convicted him based on an erroneous belief that the Controlled Substances Act categorically criminalizes prescribing narcotics to patients who happen to suffer from addiction disorder in addition to chronic pain.

This argument misses the mark. The issue before the jury was not simply whether Dr. Kohli prescribed narcotics to drug addicts. That, in itself, is certainly not a violation of the Controlled Substances Act. Rather, the issue was whether he deliberately prescribed outside the bounds of medicine and without a genuine medical basis. As discussed above, the government presented substantial evidence that Dr. Kohli intentionally prescribed narcotics to patients that he knew were misusing the prescriptions rather than legitimately using them to treat pain. A rational jury could thus conclude that those prescriptions were essentially non-medical in nature and served no legitimate medical purposeregardless of whether the patients were addicted to the drugs (non-addicted patients can misuse drugs too), and regardless of whether they suffered from medical conditions that might otherwise warrant treatment with those same drugs under different circumstances.

To be clear, we agree with Dr. Kohli that physicians are not automatically liable under  841(a) whenever they prescribe narcotics to a patient who happens to be addicted; but we add that neither are they automatically immune from liability whenever a patient who is obviously misusing their prescription happens to suffer from chronic pain. The Controlled Substances Act does not give physicians carte blanche to prescribe controlled drugs for a non-medical purpose simply because the immediate recipient of the prescription has an illness that the drugs could in theory alleviate if used properly. In every case, the critical inquiry is whether the relevant prescriptions were made for a valid medical purpose and within the usual course of professional practice. Here, a jury could reasonably conclude that they were not.

In sum, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Dr. Kohli intentionally and knowingly prescribed controlled substances outside the usual course of professional medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. The conviction is supported by sufficient evidence, and the motion for acquittal was properly denied.

B. Expert Testimony of Dr. Parran

Dr. Kohli next argues that the district court erred by allowing Dr. Parran to testify about applicable legal standards and legally dispositive issues in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 704. We review the district court's decision to admit expert testimony for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Goodwin, 496 F.3d 636, 641 (7th Cir. 2007). Rule 704 permits experts to testify about an ultimate issue in a case, Fed. R. Evid. 704(a), but prohibits them from stating an opinion about whether the defendant did or did not have a mental state or condition that constitutes an element of the crime charged or of a defense, Fed. R. Evid. 704(b).

Dr. Parran's expert testimony in this case falls squarely within the parameters of Rule 704. As noted earlier, Dr. Parran testified that he believed certain of Dr. Kohli's prescriptions were inconsistent with the usual course of professional practice and lacked a legitimate medical purpose. That testimony tracks the elements necessary to sustain a conviction for illegal dispensation, see 21 C.F.R.  1306.04(a), and it therefore embodies an opinion about ultimate or dispositive issues in the case. Such opinions are expressly allowed, however, under Rule 704(a). Likewise, consistent with Rule 704(b), Dr. Parran offered no opinion about Dr. Kohli's subjective mental state when he wrote the prescriptions at issue, or about whether Dr. Kohli had the requisite intent to be convicted of the crimes charged. Dr. Parran did not rely on  some special knowledge of [Dr. Kohli's] mental processes, but clearly and properly based his expert opinion on a review of Dr. Kohli's office records in light of his own experience and training. See United States v. Winbush, 580 F.3d 503, 512 (7th Cir. 2009).

We also reject Dr. Kohli's argument that Dr. Parran exceeded his role as a medical expert witness by instructing the jury on the applicable legal standard. It is true that Dr. Parran's testimony touched on the applicable standard of care among medical professionalsa standard that is no doubt closely linked to  841(a)'s prohibition on prescribing outside the usual course of professional medical practice. But testimony on the standard of care is not converted into an impermissible jury instruction on the governing legal standard just because the two standards overlap. If that were the case, physicians could virtually never offer meaningful expert opinions in prosecutions under  841(a). See Chube II, 538 F.3d at 698 (recognizing that it is impossible sensibly to discuss the question whether a physician was acting outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose without mentioning the usual standard of care). Dr. Parran did not lecture the jury about the legal meaning or application of  841(a), but simply opined that certain of Dr. Kohli's actions were medically unjustified and contrary to standard professional medical practice. That opinion was within Dr. Parran's area of expertise and was not inappropriate under Rule 704 or otherwise.

Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Dr. Parran's expert testimony.

C. Impeachment on Cross-Examination

Dr. Kohli also maintains that the district court erred by allowing the government to impeach him about the death of his former patient Kenneth Kramer. We review the district court's ruling for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Boswell, 772 F.3d 469, 476 (7th Cir. 2014); United States v. Owens, 145 F.3d 923, 927 (7th Cir. 1998).

It is well-settled that when a criminal defendant elects to testify in his own defense, he puts his credibility in issue and exposes himself to cross-examination, including the possibility that his testimony will be impeached. Boswell, 772 F.3d at 475; see also United States v. Taylor, 728 F.2d 864, 874 (7th Cir. 1984). As mentioned earlier, Dr. Kohli unequivocally testifiednot once but twicethat no patient had ever died under his care: Have you ever had a patient die under your care? No, sir.  I never had a problem, a patient died on me. By making these affirmative statements on direct examination, Dr. Kohli put his credibility in issue and thus opened the door for the government to impeach him on cross-examination. We agree with the district court that the government had every right to question the truthfulness of what Dr. Kohli himself chose to say in his own defense in open court.

1. Collateral Evidence Rule

Dr. Kohli tries to evade this conclusion by invoking the familiar rule against impeachment by contradiction on collateral matters (commonly known as the collateral evidence rule). But that rule does not apply here for several reasons. To begin, the collateral matter at issuewhether any patients had ever died under Dr. Kohli's carewas elicited by Dr. Kohli's counsel on direct examination, not by the government on cross-examination. See Taylor, 728 F.2d at 87374 (emphasizing that the collateral evidence rule applies only when a witness is impeached by contradictions as to collateral or irrelevant matters elicited on cross-examination). Furthermore, the rule is implicated only when a party presents extrinsic evidence that a witness's testimony is incorrect. United States v. Senn, 129 F.3d 886, 89394 (7th Cir. 1997). As previously stated, however, the government offered no extrinsic evidence (e.g., documents from the coroner's office or testimony from the coroner) to impeach Dr. Kohli, but limited its impeachment to questioning him on cross-examination and accepted his answers without contradiction. See Simmons, Inc. v. Pinkerton's, Inc., 762 F.2d 591, 605 (7th Cir. 1985), abrogated on other grounds as recognized by Glickenhaus & Co. v. Household Int'l, Inc., 787 F.3d 408, 425 n.12 (7th Cir. 2015) (specifying that the collateral evidence rule does not  limit the scope of all types of impeachment by cross-examination, but merely precludes extrinsic evidence of certain facts that would impeach by contradiction).

2. Rule 16

Dr. Kohli also contends that the government failed to timely disclose its impeachment materials in violation of Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which requires the government to promptly disclose any documents that are within its possession, custody, or control, and that are material to preparing the defense. Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(E)(i), (c); see also Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(B), (F). According to Dr. Kohli, Rule 16 required the government to turn over the information from the coroner's office before using that information to initiate its impeachment on cross-examination.

We see no reversible error. As a preliminary matter, we're doubtful that Rule 16 applies here because the information from the coroner's office bears no relation to the charges in this case (Kramer died years before the earliest events giving rise to the indictment) and so doesn't appear material to preparing the defense. Rather, the information became materialfor the limited purpose of impeaching Dr. Kohlionly after Dr. Kohli voluntarily testified at trial that no patient had ever died under his care. It is difficult to see how an admittedly collateral matter that is otherwise irrelevant to the pending charges could suddenly become material to the defense simply because the defendant chooses to testify about it on direct examination. See United States v. Caro, 597 F.3d 608, 621 & n.15 (4th Cir. 2010) (collecting cases) (holding that information is material to the defense under Rule 16(a)(1)(E)(i) only if there is some indication that the pretrial disclosure of the disputed evidence would have enabled the defendant significantly to alter the quantum of proof in his favor).

In any event, even if the government violated Rule 16 by failing to disclose the coroner's report sooner than it did, any error was harmless. The materials were not introduced into evidence, and the district court granted a continuance by allowing the defense to review the materials overnight before the government could continue its cross-examination the following day. Under Rule 16, these remedial measures were clearly within the trial court's discretion and effectively cured any harm that might otherwise have resulted from the supposed violation. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(d)(2) (stating that a district court may remedy a Rule 16 violation by, among other things, granting a continuance, ordering the government to permit the inspection of the materials in its possession, or prohibiting the introduction of the materials into evidence).

On the whole, the district court's balanced approach to Dr. Kohli's impeachment was reasonable and not an abuse of discretion. Reversal is not warranted.

D. Jury Instructions

Dr. Kohli's final argument is that the district court erroneously instructed the jury that a finding of civil malpractice was sufficient to support a conviction. A district court has substantial discretion in formulating the precise wording of jury instructions  so long as the final result, read as a whole, completely and correctly states the law.  United States v. Gibson, 530 F.3d 606, 609 (7th Cir. 2008). Dr. Kohli's counsel did not object to the jury instructions he now challenges on appeal, so we review the instructions for plain error. United States v. Javell, 695 F.3d 707, 713 (7th Cir. 2012). Plain-error review is particularly light-handed in the context of jury instructions, since it is unusual that any error in an instruction to which no party objected would be so great as to affect substantial rights. United States v. DiSantis, 565 F.3d 354, 361 (7th Cir. 2009).

The district court's jury instructions in this case were not plainly erroneous. The court instructed the jury to convict Dr. Kohli of illegally dispensing controlled substances under  841(a) only if the jury found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Dr. Kohli (1) knowingly and intentionally prescribed controlled substances (2) outside the usual course of professional medical practice, and (3) for no legitimate medical purpose. That is exactly what the statute requires to support a conviction. See 21 U.S.C.  841(a); 21 C.F.R.  1306.04(a). The district court thus correctly spelled out each of the elements of the offense, and clearly articulated the appropriate burden of proof governing criminal liability. The court further instructed the jury that it should not convict Dr. Kohli if it found that he made the relevant prescriptions in good faith.

We see no support for Dr. Kohli's argument that the district court somehow conflated the standards for civil and criminal liability, or that it otherwise misled the jury into believing that it could find Dr. Kohli criminally liable for engaging in mere civil malpractice. The district court's jury instructions fairly and accurately stated the law and do not warrant reversal.

III. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. Dr. Kohli also testified, however, that the coroner's office had contacted him after Kramer's death to confirm that Kramer was his patient.

. Indeed, certain controlled narcotics are commonly used to treat narcotic addiction. See Drugs.com https://www.drugs.com/suboxone.html; https://www.drugs.com/methadone.html (last visited Feb. 1 2017). Nor are physicians prohibited from prescribing narcotics to drug-addicted patients for the purpose of pain management, so long as the prescription is made within the usual course of professional practice and is intended to confer a medical benefit.

. See also United States v. Feingold, 454 F.3d 1001, 1007 (9th Cir. 2006) ([O]nly after assessing the standards to which medical professionals generally hold themselves is it possible to evaluate whether a practitioner's conduct has deviated so far from the usual course of professional practice that his actions become criminal.).

. See also Taylor v. Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp., 920 F.2d 1372, 1375 (7th Cir. 1990) ([T]he collateral evidence rule limits the extent to which the witness' testimony about non-essential matters may be contradicted by extrinsic proof.).

. Although the government referenced the exhibit number of the coroner's report during cross-examination, the exhibit was not admitted into evidence.

. Recall that the government had not yet disclosed the coroner's report when it initially asked Dr. Kohli if he remembered a patient named Kenneth Kramer. (Of course, after Dr. Kohli answered that initial question, the government promptly disclosed the report and did not resume its inquiry until the defense had time to review it.)

. The government alternatively argues that Dr. Kohli has waived the right to appellate review by affirmatively approving the challenged instructions at trial. See United States v. Anifowoshe, 307 F.3d 643, 650 (7th Cir. 2002) (Waiver of a right at the trial level precludes a party from seeking review on appeal.). Because we conclude that the instructions were not plainly erroneous, we need not reach this alternative argument.

MANION, Circuit Judge.
Call to end prevailing disparity in society



Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, MP said "We are proud of our socialist origins. "

"It is enshrined in our Constitution and it is part of the four fundamental principles that give the basic structure to our Constitution, "he said.

The minister said this on Saturday while speaking at the 9th conference of the Bangladesh Public Employees' Coordination Council at the Public Library auditorium.

"Many of us forget to mention socialism as one of the founding principles of the state. This is regrettable", he said.

He also praised socialism for its egalitarian principles and humanism and added "We should have a more humane society."

He also called for an end to prevailing disparity in society.

Referring to the status of the public sector employees, he said the cabinet has deiced that as directed by the Constitution all employees of the state should be called as such and not as officials for the hierarchy and employees for the subalterns.

Claiming he to be an employee of the republic, too, Inu said "We are elected employees while you are permanent and non-elected employees."

About the problems of the employees the minister said that he was for a fairer deal for

public employees and that he would take up the issue with the Prime Minister.

Speaking as the chief guest Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Rashed Khan Menon, MP, also expressed solidarity with the demands of the public employees and assured them "I will be your voice in parliament and in the cabinet and I will take up the matter with the Prime Minister."

Menon also said a society where there is disparity is inherently "unstable". "That's why we have all kinds of new problems like militancy, "he added.

The conference was also attended by George Mavrico, General Secretary of World Trade Union Federation (WTUF) that represents 90 million public employees of the world.

He said in his speech that public employees all over the world -in Africa, Asia and Latin America-face the same problem: low wages and high cost of living.

Mavrico also said that his organization had consultative status in the UN, UNESCO, ILO and UNESCO and that he would use all his leverage to fight for the right of the public employees in all these institutions.

Among others, labor leaders from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka spoke at the meeting and expressed their solidarity with the public employees of Bangladesh.
Taapsee Pannu cancels an event

Actress Taapsee Pannu is on a high these days. After receiving much praise for her film Pink, she is now all set to rock the year with six films in her kitty. The actress is not only making right choices for films but is also being part of the right events. According to sources, there is news that the actress recently cancelled an event, which was scheduled to happen in March in Jaipur because a fairness cream brand organized it. Speaking about the same, Taapsee said, "I agree it was a last moment call but when I got to know that I will have to pose with the fairness brand during the event I decided to take my name out. I have actually lost a few films because of being fair so I will definitely not propagate fairness in any way."
Trump`s Muslim ban a test for unity and solidarity

Lyndal Rowlands :

Outgoing African Union Chair Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has described the United States ban on refugees and immigrants from seven countries as "one of the greatest challenges and tests to our unity and solidarity."

Speaking to African leaders on Monday Zuma asked why "the very country to whom our people were taken as slaves during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, have now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries."

On Friday 27 January United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily ceasing entry to the United States for nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The order also suspended the entire U.S. refugee program for 120 days and indefinitely blocked all refugees from Syria from entering the United States.

African leaders are not the only ones who see the ban as a test of unity and solidarity.

Others see growing anti-Muslim sentiment as a rallying point for solidarity between different religious groups, with American Jews questioning the "terrible irony" of the bill being signed on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

IPS spoke with Fadi Hallisso, a former Jesuit from Syria and Said Sabir Ibrahimi, who was born in Afghanistan and is involved in interfaith solidarity events between Jewish and Muslim people living in New York.

Hallisso, is the co-founder of Basmeh and Zeitooneh a Syrian NGO, whose five founders include three Christians.

"Our work in Turkey and Lebanon is almost 100 percent with Muslim Syrians," Hallisso told IPS. "I think working hand-in-hand with different people from different religious backgrounds is what we need right now."

"Religion is a powerful tool, but instead of using it for destruction and hatred, we are going to use it to build bridges between different communities to pave the way towards a better community for our kids," he said.

Trump's order also states that once the U.S. refugee program resumes it will prioritise claims from religious minorities - prompting some to believe that Christian refugees from these Muslim majority countries will be prioritised.

However Hallisso, himself a Syrian Christian, disagreed that in the case of Syria Christians are more persecuted than Muslims.

"We are all human beings suffering from an impossible situation that we wish to have an end to soon," he said.

Hallisso described the women's marches that occurred the day after Trump's inauguration as an important act of solidarity.

"I wish we can in the coming few months and years to expand this solidarity to become global solidarity movement," he said. "If the people of goodwill do not work together and the bad guys would have the last say."

Said Sabir Ibrahimi, who was born in Afghanistan and now lives in New York told IPS that he has seen a growing movement of people of different background in the United States bridging divides. Ibrahimi is part of a group which organises interfaith solidarity events between Jewish and Muslim people living in New York.

"We sense open Islamaphobia and subtle anti-semitism - not to mention the anti-women rhetoric and more," Ibrahimi told IPS. "The good news is that some Muslim-Jewish and other faith or non-faith groups have come together to voice their concerns about this whole chaotic policy shift and we have witnessed these groups showing up in protests in large crowds, across the country, in unprecedented ways probably since the 1960s during the Vietnam war."

Meanwhile, the White House has also been criticised for failing to mention Jewish people in its statement issued on Holocaust Memorial Day.

"I think it's so bizarre to talk about the Holocaust and not mention Jewish people," said Ibrahimi. "It was the Jewish people who had suffered the most during those horrific times of World War Two."

He said that people are drawing connections and associating significance with the marginalisation of minorities in Nazi Germany and the events unfolding in the United States.

For some American Jews, it was no coincidence that the dramatic change in US immigration policy was announced on Holocaust Remembrance Day:

Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of Liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street said that it was a "terrible irony" that Trump signed the order on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"The fact that President Trump's order appears designed to specifically limit the entry of Muslims evokes horrible memories among American Jews of the shameful period leading up to World War Two, when the United States failed to provide a safe haven for the vast majority of Jews in Europe trying to escape Nazi persecution," said Ben-Ami.

Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that she was ready to register as a Muslim in response to Trump's proposed Muslim Registry - which as yet has not been enacted:

"I was raised Catholic, became Episcopalian & found out later my family was Jewish. I stand ready to register as Muslim in #solidarity," said Albright who came to the United States from Czechoslovakia as a refugee.

Hallisso expressed dismay that the United States a country "built on immigration," and "built by immigrants escaping religious persecution in Europe" has begun "portraying all immigrants and refugees as potential terrorists."

"To see this coming from Americans now, some American leaders, is for me devastating because it is like someone ignoring all of the history of his own country," he said.

"But also it is problematic for us in the Middle East for a number of reasons, because for God's sake, how do you expect countries like Lebanon and Jordan and Turkey to continue to receive more than a million refugees if 10,000 Syrian refugees coming to the United States are a problem?"

(Lyndal Rowlands is the United Nations Bureau Chief at IPS - Inter Press Service).
Mayor Miru shot journo to death

Police helped him flee, claims AL lawmaker: Half-day hartal observed in Shahzadpur

A half-day hartal was observed by Awami Jubo League activists including local people protesting the killing of Samakal journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul in Shahzadpur on Saturday.

Staff Reporter :

Journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul was shot dead by Shahzadpur Municipality Mayor Halimul Haque Miru, said ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker of Sirajganj-6 constituency Hasibur Rahman Swapan on Saturday.

Miru is also the organising secretary AL's Sirajganj district unit.

"The municipality Mayor opened fire from his personal shotgun. The shooting spree took place in presence of police, but they took no action. Even, police helped the Mayor go into hiding after the incident," the MP claimed it while attending the Namaj-e-Janaja of the journalist.

He also demanded immediate arrest of Miru.

The Janaja was held at the playground of the Shahzadpur Pilot High School. Thousands of people from all walks of life took part in the Janaja.

Abdul Hakim Shimul, Shahzadpur Upazila Correspondent of vernacular daily the Dainik Samakal, among three others, were bullet hit during a clash between two associate bodies of AL at Shahzadpur in Sirajganj on Thursday.

He succumbed to his injuries on Friday afternoon on the way to Dhaka from Bogra Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital for better treatment.

Meanwhile, a half-day hartal in protest against the killing was observed in Shahzadpur on Saturday.

Supporters of a faction of local Awami League and its student front Chhatra League enforced the hartal. The local Press Club extended its support to the 6am-12pm shutdown.

During the hartal hours, no long-route bus left or entered the upazila headquarters, while rickshaws and auto-rickshaws went off the streets in the town. Business establishments and educational institutions remained closed during the hartal, which locals called spontaneous. Supporters of the two factions of the AL clashed on Thursday as a sequel to assault on a Chhatra League leader allegedly by the younger brother of the Mayor. The rivals then attacked the house of the Mayor.

Journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul was injured when he went there for gathering news of the incident.

Hakim's widow Nurun Nahar on Friday filed a case accusing 15 people, including the Mayor and his brother for the killing.

Meanwhile, police arrested four accused in connection with the killing of Shimul. But they are yet to arrest the Mayor as he went into hiding.

"We are conducting raids to arrest the Mayor. He will be arrested soon," Rezaul Haque, Acting Officer- in-Charge of Shahzadpur PS, told The New Nation yesterday.


CPJ, IFJ demand justice

Staff Reporter :

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday demanded vigorous investigation into the killing of journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

In the first major statement after the killing, the Washington-based rights body mentioned that violence broke out on Thursday between rival factions of the ruling Awami League, leaving 15 people injured. Shimul, Shahzadpur Correspondent of Daily Samakal, was shot in the head and face while covering the incident. He died the next day, (Friday).

"This shooting took place before many witnesses, and police have reportedly seized the weapon and identified its owner," CPJ Asia programme coordinator Steven Butler said. "There can be no excuse for failing to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice."

Also, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) strongly condemned the killing of Shimul.

The IFJ, a global federation of journalists' trade unions, demanded immediate arrest and punishment of the perpetrators.

Shimul is the first journalist to be killed in Bangladesh in 2017 and the 10th since 2011, according to IFJ's "Killed List".

"The IFJ strongly condemns violence which cost the life of colleague Abdul Hakim Shimul who was only doing his job," said IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger.
Search panel to propose ten names

Staff Reporter :

The six-member Search Committee is likely to propose ten names to the President on Tuesday for constituting the next Election Commission (EC).

The names will be finalized at the Monday's meeting of the Search Committee, sources said on Saturday.

Additional Cabinet Secretary Abdul Wadud earlier told reporters that the panel's next meeting would be held at the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge on Monday.

Sources said, the Search panel would finalise names from among the 20 shortlisted people who's name earlier proposed by political parties.

It would propose names of two former bureaucrats for the post of Chief Election Commissioner. At the same time, it would recommend eight names, including two women, having different professional backgrounds for the post of Commissioners.

The President will pick up five of them for the post of Chief Election Commissioner and commissioners. He would reconstitute the EC with inclusion of one female commissioner, according to the sources.

On January 25, President Abdul Hamid formed the Search panel, he aded by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, after holding a series of talks with 31 political parties on EC formation.
China accuses US of putting stability of Asia Pacific at risk

The Guardian :

China has accused the US of putting the stability of the Asia-Pacific at risk after Donald Trump's defence secretary said Washington would come to Japan's defence in the event of a conflict with Beijing over the disputed Senkaku islands.

James Mattis, on a two-day visit to Japan, said the islands, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, fell within the scope of the Japan-US security treaty, under which Washington is obliged to defend all areas under Japanese administrative control. Mattis also made clear that the US opposed any unilateral action that risked undermining Japan's control of the Senkakus, a group of uninhabited islets that are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potentially large natural gas deposits. "I want to make certain that Article 5 of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago - and as it will be a year, and 10 years, from now," Mattis, a retired marine general who has served in South Korea and Japan, told Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on Friday evening.

On Saturday, China's foreign ministry called on the US to stop issuing "wrong remarks" about the Senkakus, which are located in the East China Sea and known as the Diaoyu in China. The ministry said in a statement that the US should avoid complicating the issue and "bringing instability to the regional situation". Mattis's vow that the US would defend the Senkakus came at the end of a four-day visit to South Korea and Japan, during which he has sought to reassure the US allies of the Trump administration's commitment to their security.

"I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100% shoulder-to-shoulder with you and the Japanese people," he said. On Saturday, he told Japan's defence minister, Tomomi Inada, that their countries' alliance was the "cornerstone" of regional stability.

Earlier in the week, Mattis issued similar reassurance to South Korea and warned North Korea that any use of nuclear weapons would be met with an "effective an overwhelming response". "The United States stands by its commitments, and we stand with our allies, the South Korean people," Mattis said in Seoul.

The decision to make Japan and South Korea Mattis's first overseas destination as defence secretary is seen as an attempt to calm local nerves: last year Trump suggested that the US could significantly roll back its military presence in the region, despite growing concern over Chinese island building in the South China Sea and North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. In contrast to the rhetoric used by other senior figures in the Trump administration, Mattis said he saw "no need" for US military action in the South China Sea, but reiterated that freedom of navigation in the strategically and commercially important waterway was "absolute".

His measured language also contrasted with that of Trump, who criticised Japan and South Korea's commitment to their alliances with the US during his run for the White House, and hinted at a possible military withdrawal unless they paid more towards the cost of hosting American troops.

The US has 28,500 troops in South Korean and 47,000 in Japan, mostly on the southern island of Okinawa, where Mattis served as a young marine officer in the early 1970s. "Japan has made noteworthy contributions to regional security and to the alliance, and the United States deeply appreciates Japan's contributions," he said. "But make no mistake: in my meeting with Japanese leaders, both our nations recognize that we must not be found complacent in the face of the challenges we face." On Friday, Mattis said the US had an "ironclad" commitment to defending its allies in Asia, and warned North Korea that any attempt to use nuclear weapons would invite a severe response. "Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming," he said in Seoul.

In addition to friction over the Senkakus and the South China Sea, Beijing has criticised an agreement to deploy a US missile defence system, known as terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad) in South Korea later this year. China says the system could upset the balance of power in the region, despite US claims that its sole purpose is to counter the missile threat from North Korea. "We have resolute opposition to the deployment of Thaad to South Korea by the US and (South Korea)," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement. "Such actions  will jeopardise security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region."


Protests across Australia against Trump`s travel ban

People hold signs after attending Friday prayers, to show solidarity with the Muslim community, at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, US on Friday.

The Guardian :

Australia's fragile refugee resettlement deal with the US has brought thousands of people on to city streets , decrying the US president's immigration ban and demanding an end to Australia's offshore processing policy of asylum seekers. The deal, purportedly, is for the US to resettle up to 1250 refugees from Australia's offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, where refugees have been held for more than three years, and which are the subject of sustained criticism over systemic violence by

guards, sexual assaults, including of children, and deaths from murder, suicide and inadequate medical care. The refugee agreement has spent the week in furious on-again, off-again debate. Trump has spent the week railing against the "dumb deal" and the "worst deal ever", followed by his officials then quietly rowing back his comments and promising the deal, struck with the Obama administration, would be upheld. The president's fraught phone call over the issue with the Australian prime minster, Malcolm Turnbull, briefly dominated the international news agenda. But the deal does not oblige the US to actually accept a single refugee, only to allow them to "express an interest" in resettlement. All the refugees from the Australian-run camps will be subject to "extreme vetting", the US president said. Australia has legal responsibility for the refugees after they landed in its territory, but has moved them offshore and refuses to accept them for fear of encouraging more arrivals. The deal, and Australia's continued support for offshore processing, has sparked protests across cities, including Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Hobart. In Sydney on Saturday, protesters marched to the US consulate, chanting "Dump Trump". The Adelaide barrister Adam Richards and his 13-year-old son Ned, walked from Adelaide to Canberra - a distance of 1194km - over 39 days to protest against the conditions in offshore detention. They led a protest march to parliament house in Canberra that demanded the Australian government close the camps, and bring those held there to Australia. "Our goal is to put increasing pressure on the government to close our offshore detention camps on Manus and Nauru," Richards said. "Over 80% of refugees on these islands have been assessed as genuine, despite the government's new processing strategies which lean towards setting refugees up for failure. Australia is also not meeting its current international obligations." In Melbourne on Friday, a peak-hour march brought city traffic to a standstill.
Boi Mela turns festival of all

Rayhanul Islam :

A large number of people from all walks of life swarmed into the Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udayan on Saturday, the 4th day of the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela. Continuing for only four days, the month long Boi Mela has already turned itself as a crowdy one like the past. The organizers are expecting Boi Mela to flourish as one of the greatest ever book festivals in the country. While visiting Boi Mela on Saturday, it can be seen that a number of book lovers gathered to buy books. Some of them came there with their family members and some with their friends. Most of them were teen aged.

With the first two hours from 11:00am to 1:00pm being dedicated to the childrens as children's hour, their presence was remarkable in the morning. The number of other visitors of all ages also increased.

In the morning, children along with guardians gathered the stalls in the children's corner, inside Suhrawardy Udyan.

The fair authorities banned general visitors during children hour so that children can buy books without facing any hassle. A guardian can accompany a child visitor.

Most of the children bought books based on comic characters and fairy tales. Dhaka University student Sabbir Hossain was rambling with his friends. He said, habitually we met at TSC everyday. Now, Boi mela is our new destination'.

Though visitors are gathering in the festive, the real buyers are yet to come to the Boi Mela. Shihab Bahadur, publisher of 'Muktochinta' said, 'it only begins. Book lovers will gather soon to turn on to the festive'.

139 new books arrived yesterday and nine books were unvailed. Of them, Ahmed Sharif: Jibon O Karmo of Masud Rahman published by Kothaprokash, Fidel of Reza Ghotok published by Srabon publication, Tomar Bari Katodur of Saifullah Mahmud Dulal published by Annyaprokash, Chena Manush Ochena Valobasha of Khairul Islam published by Annyesha, Porobasher Rangin Manush of Moinus Sultan published by Utsho publication and Ekaturrer Ranangane of Rana Zaman published by Shirin publication.

On the day, the academy organized several discussions on different aspects of literature on different venue of Bangla academy. However, the four day long international literature festival concluded on Saturday while Bangla Academy held several discussions on different arenas of literature where laureate from different countriesparticipated.

Today the fair will begain at 3:00 pm and end at 9:00 pm. Various functions will be held on the Bangla Academy premises.


Thousands protest in London against Trump`s refugee ban

Reuters :

Several thousand people demonstrated outside the U.S. embassy in London on Saturday against President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Protesters held black banners with blood stains bearing slogans such as "No to Trump. No to War" and "Trump: Special Relationship? Just say no." at the demonstration against the ban and Trump's foreign policy.

Trump signed an order just over a week ago putting a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the U.S. and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries.

On Friday, a Seattle judge blocked the order but many in Britain are angry about the measure, which they see as discriminatory, and the time it took for Prime Minister Theresa May's government to criticize it.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Timothy Kenneth White Plume Defendant - Appellant No. 16-1340 Decided: February 02, 2017

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

A jury convicted Timothy Kenneth White Plume of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1153 and 113(a)(6), and child abuse in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1153 and South Dakota Codified Laws  26-10-01 and 26-8A-2(3) and (6). White Plume asserts: (1) insufficiency of the evidence, (2) abuse of discretion in excluding evidence of past child abuse by his wife, and (3) precluding confrontation about his wife's past child abuse. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1291, this court affirms.

I.

On the afternoon of December 8, 2012, White Plume was at home with his wife Natalie and her infant grandson, L.L. Natalie was baking in the kitchen. White Plume was watching television with L.L. in the bedroom. Later that afternoon, White Plume became angry and visibly upset after Natalie accused him of infidelity. Shortly after 4:30 p.m., White Plume came out of the bedroom holding L.L., concerned something was wrong.

L.L. suffered significant, acute head trauma and a leg fracture. The complex skull fractures were caused by force like a fall from a roof to a concrete surface. L.L.now blind, deaf, and severely cognitively impairedhas little chance of ever walking or talking.

White Plume initially denied responsibility. He suggested that a skin bump on L.L.'s head may have been responsible. Later, he said Natalie had dragged L.L. across the bed by his leg. White Plume eventually said he picked up and threw down the bed in anger, causing L.L. to fall off. White Plume, in a note for officers, apologized for what happened to L.L. At trial, he testified he never saw L.L. fall off the bed, instead claiming to black out shortly after arguing with Natalie. The next thing he remembered was standing in the bedroom with the box spring on top of his foot, with L.L. on the ground making a gurgling sound.

During a pre-trial conference editing the transcript of an audio recording of White Plume's polygraph, he objected to the removal of this exchange with officers:

Q: Did the children or have your children been taken away from you? None of Natalie's children have been taken away before.

A: Yeah, her son did.

Q: Okay. For what reason?

A: For her child abuse.

Q: What did she do?

A: Started spanking him; spanking is not legal.

White Plume pointed to evidence that Natalie spent three days in tribal jail for abuse. The district court excluded the exchange and anything about Natalie's abuse as propensity evidence barred by Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). The court precluded any cross-examination of Natalie about her prior child abuse.

II.

White Plume challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. This court, on de novo review, views the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict and accept [s] all reasonable inferences supporting the verdict. United States v. Jenkins, 792 F.3d 931, 934 (8th Cir. 2015). This court reverses only if no reasonable jury could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Gray, 700 F.3d 377, 378 (8th Cir. 2012). A verdict may be based in whole or in part on circumstantial evidence. United States v. White, 794 F.3d 913, 918 (8th Cir. 2015).

White Plume agrees the injuries were severe, acute, and non-accidental. Most of his accounts include harming L.L. White Plume's and Natalie's testimony puts White Plume alone with L.L. immediately before the injury. A drastic change in a child's condition while alone with the defendant sufficiently supports an inference of the defendant's guilt. Id. at 919-20. See United States v. Iron Hawk, 612 F.3d 1031, 1037 (8th Cir. 2010) (holding a non-accidental, acute injury during defendant's sole custody was sufficient to support conviction); United States v. Red Bird, 450 F.3d 789, 793 (8th Cir. 2006) (same).

White Plume's apology note supports his guilt, as does his statement he was not blaming Natalie for L.L.'s injuries. His inconsistent accountsdifferent roles, none explaining L.L.'s injuriessupport an inference that he was seeking to develop an explanation to cover up [his] own misconduct in causing injury to [L.L.] See id. See also White, 794 F.3d at 921.

The evidence sufficiently supports the verdicts.

II.

White Plume challenges excluding evidence of Natalie's prior child abuse. He claims it was res gestae and reverse 404(b) evidence. This court reviews a district court's evidentiary rulings for clear abuse of discretion. United States v. Webster, 797 F.3d 531, 537 (8th Cir. 2014).

White Plume wanted to introduce the exchange with officers about Natalie's prior child abuse. He offered tribal records of the abuse and a court order that Natalie take anger-management classes. The Government countered with evidence that White Plume was involved in the abuse. White Plume also sought to introduce a tribal child-welfare-agency report that neighbors had seen and heard other abuse of Natalie's son. The Government countered with a different report suggesting White Plume was involved in a yet another incident of neglect.

A.

Res gestae, or intrinsic evidence, is evidence of wrongful conduct other than the conduct at issue  offered for the purpose of providing the context in which the charged crime occurred. United States v. Campbell, 764 F.3d 880, 888 (8th Cir. 2014). It is not governed by Rule 404(b), but is admissible because it completes the story or provides a total picture of the charged crime. United States v. Brooks, 715 F.3d 1069, 1076 (8th Cir. 2013) (holding cell-phone videos and photos of defendant were intrinsic because they showed the cell phone belonged to defendant, linking him to the stolen vehicle where the cell phone was found). See United States v. Payne-Owens, No. 15-3445, 2017 WL 31425, at *2 (8th Cir. Jan. 4, 2017) (holding a hand gesture and slang words on Facebook were intrinsic, providing the total picture of unlawful possession of a firearm).

White Plume argues the prior child-abuse evidence is res gestae, giving context to the history of abuse in the household and to older injuries to L.L. (when White Plume may not have been at home).

Natalie's prior child abuse did not involve L.L. The force causing the other injuries is not consistent with the charged crime. White Plume testified he had never seen Natalie hurt L.L. The prior child-abuse evidence does not tend [ ] logically to prove any element of the crime charged, so it is not an integral part of the immediate context of the crime charged. See United States v. Cook, 842 F.3d 597, 601 (8th Cir. 2016).

B.

Evidence of prior acts may be admissible for another purpose [other than propensity], such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident. Fed. R. Evid. 404(b)(2). White Plume proffers reverse 404(b) evidence introduced by the defendant and offered to implicate [a] third party in the charged crime. United States v. Battle, 774 F.3d 504, 512 (8th Cir. 2014).

White Plume cannot establish the required non-propensity purpose. He argues that Natalie's prior acts are relevant to the question which of the two adults in the household committed that criminal acts of felony assault and child abuse against Natalie White Plume's grandson, L.L. White Plume says the prior acts show it was more likely that Natalie White Plume committed the crime. As the district court found, this evidence seeks to establish that because Natalie had abused a child before, she was more likely to abuse L.L. on December 8. This is propensity evidence barred by Rule 404(b). See id. at 513 (holding non-propensity purpose required for admissibility under Rule 404(b)).

White Plume claims the evidence shows Natalie's state of mind, specifically her intent and motive. But, Natalie's state of mind was not at issue. Whoever committed the crime intended to do it. Evidence of prior acts establishing intent is admissible when a party places his state of mind at issue, United States v. Turner, 583 F.3d 1062, 1066 (8th Cir. 2009), but not admissible when intent [is] not a serious issue. United States v. LeCompte, 99 F.3d 274, 279 (8th Cir. 1996).

White Plume asserts that the evidence shows Natalie's motive, when overwhelmed by childcare, to abuse young children in the household. There was no showing she was angry or overwhelmed on December 8. Any connection between the past acts and L.L.'s injuries is speculative. Because there were conflicting accounts whether White Plume was involved in the prior child abuse, with both parties alleging additional abuse, the district court did not abuse its discretion by focusing the trial on the offense at issue. Battle, 774 F.3d at 514 (finding no abuse of discretion due to potential for distraction in conducting mini trials on the detailed facts of offenses sought to be introduced, compared to their low probative value). See United States v. Condon, 720 F.3d 748, 755 (8th Cir. 2013) (stating a district court has considerable discretion in determining whether proffered evidence is misleading or confusing).

According to White Plume, the evidence shows the identity of the abuser. The similarity standard for identity requires a much greater degree of similarity between the charged crime and the uncharged crime  than when it is introduced to prove a state of mind. LeCompte, 99 F.3d at 278. The charged crime and the prior abuse involve different victims, different injuries, and different degrees of severity. That they are both child abuse does not show they were carried out in an unusual and distinctive manner. See id. See also Battle, 774 F.3d at 513 (running from officers when confronted and carrying a weapon is too generic for modus operandi); United States v. Carroll, 207 F.3d 465, 469 (8th Cir. 2000) (that the perpetrator wore a nylon stocking mask, carried a gun, and vaulted over the counter in two bank robberies was not sufficiently similar for an identity argument). The district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the prior-acts evidence.

III.

The court did not allow White Plume to cross-examine Natalie about her prior child abuse. He asserts a violation of the Confrontation Clause. This court reviews evidentiary rulings regarding the scope of a cross examination for abuse of discretion, but where the Confrontation Clause is implicated, we consider the matter de novo. United States v. Williams, 796 F.3d 951, 960 (8th Cir. 2015). The Confrontation Clause guarantees an opportunity for effective cross-examination, not cross-examination that is effective in whatever way, and to whatever extent, the defense might wish. United States v. Jasso, 701 F.3d 314, 316 (8th Cir. 2012) (emphasis in original), quoting Delaware v. Fensterer, 474 U.S. 15, 20 (1985) (per curiam). District courts retain wide latitude insofar as the Confrontation Clause is concerned to impose reasonable limits on such cross-examination based on concerns about  prejudice, confusion of the issues  or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant. United States v. Dale, 614 F.3d 942, 956 (8th Cir. 2010), quoting Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679 (1986).

White Plume argues that the proposed cross-examination impeaches Natalie's credibility by showing she dealt with stress by becoming violent and wanted to shift the blame for L.L.'s injuries to White Plume. As discussed, the prior child abuse has little, if any, probative value. White Plume did not show she was overwhelmed by childcare on December 8, providing only speculation to connect the incidents. See Williams, 796 F.3d at 961 (preventing cross-examination on a speculative theory of bias with no good-faith basis is not an abuse of discretion). The district court properly weighed the low probative value against the potential confusion of the issues. See Condon, 720 F.3d at 755 (Confusion of the issues warrants exclusion of relevant evidence if admission of the evidence would lead to litigation of collateral issues.).

White Plume believes he was completely precluded from impeaching Natalie for bias. See Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 679. In fact, White Plume cast doubt on her credibility many ways. He examined her about her recent conviction for making a false statement to the government. He also highlighted several inconsistencies in her testimony, including her denial to officers of any argument on December 8 and her changing story whether White Plume helped in the kitchen. See United States v. Drapeau, 414 F.3d 869, 876 (8th Cir. 2005) (holding no Confrontation Clause violation in limiting cross-examination because the witness's credibility was still challenged). The district court's limit on Natalie's cross-examination was reasonable. There was no Confrontation Clause violation.

* * * * * * *

The judgment is affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Jeffrey L. Viken, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota.

BENTON, Circuit Judge.
Biman`s profit drops

Staff Reporter :

Although the national flag carrier Bangladesh Biman has made a profit of Tk 276 crore in the 2015-2016 fiscal, the amount is Tk 48 crore less than the previous year 2014-15 showing a downtrend in its overall income.

The number of passengers of Biman, however, has increased in the meantime, said a press release issued by the Biman on Saturday.

The authorities made the disclosure at a time, when the Biman has been facing widespread criticism at home and abroad for its mismanagement.

Particularly, nine Biman engineers are now in jail in connection with the emergency landing of Prime Minister's flight in Turkmenistan in November last year.

Besides, the Biman fights are frequently used for carrying smuggled Gold and other contraband items, which is also a major concern for the government high-ups.

Meanwhile, the Biman authorities have claimed that the organization recently is showing profiting trend for the two consecutive years. In two years, it made a total profit of Tk 600 crore.

The organization for the first time saw profit for the two successive years after it was turned into a company in 2007.

After that, each and every year the organization had to face a large amount of loss. The losing trend continued for five years. At last, it managed to make a profit in 2014-15 fiscal year.

And interestingly, the Biman got Tk 48 crore less in its profit book in the following year [2015-16]. In the same year, the organization paid revenue tax of Tk 310 crore to the government.

According to press release, the Biman carried 23 lakh 18 thousand passengers in 2015-16 fiscal while the number was 20 lakh 20 thousand in the previous year. But the amount of cargo carried by the Biman is 7 percent less than the previous year.

Clarifying the reasons behind the deduction in profit amount, the authorities have said that the overall goods carrying were reduced in the said fiscal due to cargo ban imposed by the United Kingdom. Another reason was price hike of aviation jet fuel in the international market.

Apart from its own aircraft, the Biman had handled 18, 628 flights of 26 foreign airlines at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport during the said fiscal. Now, there are four brand new Boeings 777-300ER and two latest model 737-800 Boeings in the fleet of the Biman.

Besides, the Biman will also get four sophisticated Boeing Dreamliner 787 in 2018-19 fiscal year, according to officials.


President to form stronger EC, hopes BNP

UNB, Dhaka ;

Though the party has disappointment over the search committee, BNP on Saturday hoped that President Abdul Hamid will constitute a stronger Election Commission (EC) as per people's hopes and aspirations.

Common people are saying that the Election Commission will be formed as per the Prime Minister's will. We're now waiting to see whether the President can reflect

people's hopes and aspirations, said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Speaking at a discussion, he further said, We hope as a seasoned politician he (President) will take the right step to help the nation overcome the current political crisis by forming a stronger Commission.

If the President and the search panel fail to do so, Fakhrul warned that their names will be written in the black chapter of history. If you can do it, your names will be there in the golden chapter of history.

Dhaka city unit Jatiya Ganatantrik Party (Jagpa) arranged the discussion on EC formation at Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU). After discussions with 31 political parties, the President recently formed a six-member search committee, led by Supreme Court's Appellate Division judge Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, to propose names for appointing the next election commissioners as the tenure of current EC expires in the middle of this month.

The search panel is expected to propose 10 names to the President by February 8 for forming the new EC, and the President will appoint no more than five persons to the EC from the names to be proposed by the search committee. Fakhrul said only a neutral and stronger EC is not enough to hold free, fair and inclusive polls unless an election-time neutral government is formed to assist the Commission.

He hoped that good sense will prevail upon the government to take proper steps to restore people's voting rights. About the President's talks with political parties over the EC formation, the BNP leader said Abdul Hamid should have talked to all the registered political parties. You've ignored democratic practice by not inviting some other parties for discussions. We didn't expect such an attitude from you as the country's President. He said the President should maintain neutrality over every matter as he has taken oath not to do anything out of anger, revulsion and affection. You're now not a political leader of any party. You're the President of all. We hope you'll consider it with importance in the future.
Traffic policewomen set to rule city roads

A female traffic sergeant examining documents of a CNG-run auto-rickshaw. This photo was taken from city\'s Tikatuli area on Saturday.

Md Joynal Abedin Khan :

Traffic policewomen are set to rule the streets of Dhaka city, breaking the years' long tradition of maintaining traffic order by traffic policemen.

Dhaka's traffic department has already assigned 20 newly appointed female sergeants to maintain traffic discipline as well as to stop unauthorized and unlicensed vehicles playing in the city

They have already been assigned duty under the four traffic divisions of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Female traffic sergeants were seen performing their duties at the city's key intersections and streets with utmost sincerity and going tough against the drivers and motorist who violate traffic rules.

"I do my duty as per the law. I never feel any trouble and hazard while performing my job," Tanzila, a traffic sergeant who was on duty at Ittefaq intersection on Saturday told The New Nation.

She said, "I am getting full support from the city dwellers and motorists during my duty on roads". My bosses and colleagues are also extending their cooperation."

Tanzila also said, she feels proud of the job as it creates the opportunity for her to serve the people in this mega city.

She also added that the authorities are likely to recruit more female members to meet the demand of the city dwellers. Asked about the risky job, she replied that she had never faced any problem till date.

Around 6,000 police personnel (traffic) are performing their duties at different intersections and roads and streets to check illegal plying of vehicles under the DMP.

Mainly the female drivers, passengers and car owners are highly applauding the recruitment of the female traffic sergeants as they perform their duties with soft behaviour.

Dilruba Khanom, a driver of a private car, told The New Nation on Saturday, "The women traffic sergeants show good gesture to the people comparing with the male traffic members."

Afia Sultana Moni, a school teacher in the city, said with confidence, women sergeants will render better service in future. Seyed Ibrahim, a CNG-driver, said that the female sergeants generally do not necessarily harass for documents.

Shahana Akhter, a traffic sergeant, said, "The pedestrians and the vehicle drivers cooperate with the female sergeants when they perform their duties.

Shahana, who graduated in accounting from Rajshahi College, has been working at Bangla Motor, Shantinagar and Ruposhi Bangla since January 6.

Rozi Akter, a traffic sergeant, said, "Her family did not approve of it at first, but she eventually convinced them."

While Rozi was speaking, one of her male colleagues pointed out that traffic duty is challenging because there are lots of issues including intense dust and an acute shortage of public toilets.

Sergeant Panna Akter, said, "I love adventures, I love challenges.

That is why I joined the traffic police force."

She said, "People ask what our rank is. I tell them we are sergeants and we hold the same rank as our male colleagues."

Panna confidently says that women are successfully working and moving forward in every sector. They will excel in traffic duty as well.

Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, Additional Commissioner (traffic) of DMP, said, "Around 6000 force members, including 4000 regular and 2000 irregular, members do their duties to maintain the discipline of vehicles in the city."

"We are getting positive feedbacks about the female traffic sergeants. They behave politely with the people while discharging their duties,"

DMP's Deputy Commissioner (Traffic West) Liton Kumer Saha said, "I am proud of six female sergeants in the division as they are sincere in job."


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.
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The Cress Gallery of Art UTC presents Conrad Bakker at the Spring 2017 UTC Diane Marek Series Visiting Artist on Feb. 6-9.



Artist's Lecture will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 5:30 p.m. at 201 Derthick Hall, 624 Vine St.,

followed by an opening reception in the lobby of the Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.



Exhibition dates are Feb. 7 - March 22. This exhibition is supported by Range Projects and by donations of the Friends of the Cress Gallery of Art.

"Mr. Bakker makes carved and painted sculptures of everyday objects and positions them in a wide variety of contexts to reveal and critically comment upon the political economies and relational networks between persons and things. This exhibition features two ongoing bodies of work, Untitled Project: Robert Smithson Library & Book Club and Untitled Project: The Crystal Land, both based on the personal library and geologic interests of the late, conceptual artist and land art pioneer, Robert Smithson," officials said.



In Gallery II: UTC Department of Art 2016-2017 Lillian B. Feinstein Scholarship Recipients: Mirel Crumb and Emaleigh Grantz.



The Gallery and all events (see below) are open to the public; admission is free. Gallery hours are 9:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-4 p.m. weekends.



Bio on Conrad Bakker:

Currently a professor of art at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne. He received a bachelor of fine arts from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mi., and a master of fine arts from Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. Among his awards are grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. His work has been the subject of articles and reviews in publications such as Frieze, Contemporary, Flash Art, Art Forum, ArtUS, Art Papers, Sculpture, UOVO, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and the New Yorker magazine. Over the past two decades Mr. Bakkers work has been shown in numerable exhibitions, including those at the Tate Modern (London), Galerie Analix Forever (Geneva), Farbfabriken Center for Contemporary Art and Architecture (Stockholm), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York City), the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago; Art in General, Artists Space, and Apex Art (all New York City), Lora Reynolds Gallery (Austin, Tx.), the Contemporary Art Museum Houston, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, in mailboxes everywhere, and on his own front lawn.





Other events associated with Mr. Bakkers visit and open to the public:



Wednesday Feb. 8

9:30-10:30a.m. - Process and Materials / Cress Gallery

12:40-1:40 p.m. - Professionalism Session / Cress Gallery

5:30-6:30 p.m. - Process & Materials / Cress Gallery

Thursday, Feb. 9

9:30-10:30 a.m. - Professionalism Session / Cress Gallery



If you require accommodations for this event, contact the UTC Department of Art at 423-425-4178, email Patricia-Kelley@utc.edu, or contact the UTC Disability Resource Center at 423-425-4006.



Location: The Cress is located in the lobby of the UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St., corner of Vine and Palmetto Streets.



Parking: After 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends, visitors to the Cress may park free in any nearby lot not marked 24 hour reserved. Before 5 p.m. on weekdays, visitors may find limited nearby street parking or park in the 5th Street Garage near MacKenzie Arena for a $4 fee and stroll across campus to Vine Street. For more information about parking visit www.cressgallery.org.



For more information contact the director/curator at ruth-grover@utc.edu, or voice and text 423-304-9789.
Former VA Secretary David LaCerte this week filed a lawsuit in which he accused Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera and Inspector General Stephen Street of writing an inaccurate report and unfairly attacking his military record.

by The Associated Press

David LaCerte

Louisiana's former veterans affairs secretary has filed a defamation lawsuit after state investigators accused him of mismanagement and embellishing his own military service credentials.

News outlets report that former VA Secretary David LaCerte this week filed a lawsuit in which he accused Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera and Inspector General Stephen Street of writing an inaccurate report and unfairly attacking his military record, thereby ruining his career.

The report, which was released in February 2016, accused the department of misspending thousands of dollars and failing to report crimes against veterans.

LaCerte resigned in October 2015, amid the investigation into his office.

Street and Purpera have both said they stand by their report.

The case has been assigned to Judge William Morvant in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge.
UL announced 15 faculty and students from hail from countries singled out in the travel ban.

Protestors outside the Supreme Court building following the travel ban annoucnement Lorie Shaull, Wikimedia Commons

University of Louisiana officials report that none of the school's students and faculty that hail from the seven countries affected by the president's recent travel ban are currently abroad. That means they're essentially safe and sound as far as the order's restrictions are concerned, so long as they remain in the United States.

A statement from the university's Office of International Affairs, which manages the university's international exchange and enrollment program, notes that 10 students, four faculty and one administrator are subject to the travel ban's restrictions on entry.

Everyone is accounted for, and none were traveling," said director Rose Honegger in the statement. "Our priority is to make sure that they were safe and are here. And to provide support to our students and scholars. Everyone Ive spoken with seems to be doing OK.

The ban, implemented by executive order of President Donald Trump on Jan. 27, broadly bars entry into the United States for nationals from Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.

Of the 15 UL affiliates affected by the ban, 13 are from Iran. All four faculty members and the lone administrator are Iranian nationals. UL reports that it has 563 international students enrolled and 122 international faculty, staff and researches.

To be sure, the ban only affects the UL students and faculty should they leave the United States and attempt to return within the 90 day window on travelers other than refugees.

State department officials announced today that 60,000 visas were revoked. A lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice claimed the number was closer to 100,000.

A widespread public and political backlash burst at the ban's announcement, including protests at airports around the world, with many claiming the order constituted a bigoted restriction on Muslim immigrants. The Trump administration has clarified portions of order, exempting green card holders, though it remains controversial.

The president's ban has faced legal challenge since the immediate hours of its announcement. Federal judges in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York have ordered stays on the order's enforcement, particularly as it pertains to permanent residents and persons already granted lawful entry.

UL's statement notes that officials have offered legal resources and support to any school community members affected by the ban. The Office of International Affairs hosted a question and answer session with interested students earlier this week, connecting attendees with a local immigration attorney.
Waguespack Wikimedia

In this weeks episode of The LaPolitics Report podcast, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry President Stephen Waguespack hinted at a possible legislative legal battle for the regular session that convenes in April.

Waguespack said his organization believes a bill could be introduced to ease some of the limitations on contingency fee legal contracts.

The debates over contingency fee agreements inked by the state have caught fire in recent years, pulling in governors, attorneys general, lawmakers, private attorneys and lobbyists.

The arrangement, in broad strokes, usually involves a private law firm representing the state or a political body in exchange for part of a settlement presumably to be awarded later.

State law prohibits any such payout unless it is authorized by the Legislature.

We hear that there is a strong likelihood that there will be legislation filed, either overtly or covertly, to make it much easier to hire contingency fee attorneys without going through any kind of public bid or transparency, so that they can come on and sue industry in the state, Waguespack said during the interview.

We heard those bills are coming, he added. So were going to be looking out for them and will engage on them. Obviously we think thats problematic policy.
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.

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Could An Obscure Illinois Law End Abortion Rights If Roe v. Wade Gets Overturned?

By Stephen Gossett in News on Feb 3, 2017 10:59PM



Photo: Tyler LaRiviere

Roe v. Wade is suddenly facing new threats, with a choice-hostile administration in office, a possibly pro-life conservative judge just nominated to the Supreme Court, and the potential for another vacancy looming. While the likelihood of a Roe repeal in the immediate future is up for debate, a law on the state books has some advocates alarmed that such a move could spell quick trouble here: Illinois has a so-called trigger law for abortion, meaning the instant Roe were to be repealed, all abortion in which the mother's life is not endangered could potentially cease to be legal in the state.

One of only a handful of states with such a law on the book, Illinois passed its measure just two years after the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade decision. At the same time, some legal experts have argued that Illinois' trigger lacks real power. According to the Tribune, in 2006, laws like Illinois are "statements of policy, not actual bans," as noted by attorneys on either side of the debate. Illinois' law lacks specifics and the state's abortion ban that preceded Roe was repealed, the Trib notes.

Still, its a surprising statement, considering the abortion advocacy network that extends from the present moment (groups like the Midwest Access Coalition, which helps abortion seekers from more restrictive states come to Chicago) to decades back (the iconic Jane Collective helped provide the service to women in need in the early 1970s, when abortion was illegal.) And some Illinois lawmakers want a change of text regardless.

A bill in the Illinois state house, sponsored by Representative Sara Feigenholtz, would change the law and remove the trigger effect. (It would also remove provisions that outlaw insurance coverage for many women who use Medicaid or state providers.)

Given the current climate, advocates are arguing fiercely for its adoption. Theres just way too much danger to have anything on our books that creates any doubt, Lorie Chaiten, Director of the Reproductive Rights Project for ACLU Illinois, told Chicagoist. Illinois has the opportunity to say were not going back.

Some legal observers doubt that a Roe reversal is in the immediate or near-term future but still acknowledge the likelihood increasingly onerous restrictions on abortion, as Carolyn Shapiro, an associate professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and former Illinois Solicitor General, put it. As long as those restrictions arise from other states' laws, the changes in precedent would probably not trigger the Illinois law. Shapiro told Chicagoist by email. More concerning is that Congress might impose restrictions, which would make it harder for Illinois to continue to protect its citizens' right to reproductive autonomy.

Bottom line: there is a lot to be concerned about for choice advocates, and the overruling of Roe is only one of those things, she added.

Still, the removal of the trigger mechanism, however effective, is a common-sense fix, Chaiten contends. Theres just way too much risk to have anything on our books that creates any doubt. And frankly, its a great opportunity to say This is who we are, and were not going to sell women out, said Chaiten, who said the bill appears to be garnering more interest, both among the public and with legislators.

Nevertheless, pro-choice lawmakers are arguing for vigilance and urge constituents to contact their state representatives. "We're going to fight to the end on this," Feigenholtz said of the bill, via the Sun-Times.

This post has been updated.
CARBONDALE  Just before Friday prayer, Jerrica Jordan and Ellen Campbell approached the Carbondale Muslim Center with bundles of flowers and notes of solidarity.

They laid their gifts in the shadow cast by the building in the afternoon sun, near the side door of the mosque. They, along with many other Carbondale residents, gave gifts Friday to show their support of the Muslim community.

I want everyone to feel welcome, Jordan said. She and Campbell wanted the Muslim community in Carbondale to know they have an ally.

Abdul Haqq, the imam at the Carbondale Muslim Center, met Tuesday with members of his board and some of his congregants to have an open conversation about safety in the local Muslim community and how to combat Islamophobia.

Haqq said the issue of immigration as well as this past Fridays executive order from President Donald Trump barring people from seven majority-Muslim countries entrance to the U.S. for 90 days were not the primary focus of their meeting. He said they discussed how to keep members of their community safe and how to be proactive in the face of potential discrimination. Haqq said the recent mosque shooting in Quebec City and other racial- and religious-based acts of violence in the U.S. prompted the conversation.

During the meeting, Haqq said one student shared an experience of parking his car to go to class only to return to find a hate message left on his windshield. Concern was also expressed about harassment of Muslim women who cover their hair. Haqq said it is important to remember these types of attacks and discrimination are not a reflection on the victim.

  You know its not a question of who you are  its a question of who they are, Haqq said. It is important, he said, to not sit idle.

We have to work against that kind of mentality, he said.

Campbell and Jordan agree. The two said they hope to start a dialogue locally to get people from a wide spectrum of beliefs and backgrounds to understand one another.

Its really the only thing we can work on and control at this level, Campbell said.

There were action items that came from Haqqs meeting Tuesday. He said he is in the process of developing an orientation for international students in particular. He said he wants to give these newcomers the tools to know how to handle acts of discrimination. He plans to tell them who to call when something happens and how to make a report. It is also important to remember, Haqq said, that many of these students are experiencing America for the first time and to let them know, while the issue of Islamophobia may often make the news, many here are not to be feared.

So helping them to understand that this community, most of the citizenry are warm, accepting and appreciate diversity, Haqq said. He explained that despite talk of fear of discrimination at his meeting, there was also much discussion about support.

Thats one of the things that came out of our meeting was the friendships and the support that these students receive, who experience this kind of behavior, Haqq said.

Despite an escalating discussion about Islamophobia nationally, Haqq said his community has not seen an uptick in hateful actions or rhetoric locally. However, he said he still wants people, Muslim or not, to be diligent and keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

In response to last weeks executive order, Haqq said he does not question Trumps intentions if he enacted the temporary ban to improve safety. He said Muslims are concerned for the safety of all. To this end, Haqq said he hopes to see the U.S. become more reflective on its own homegrown violence. He said the number of murders each year nationally should be looked at as the same kind of carnage as violence in cities like Chicago. Haqq said just because it all doesnt happen over a short period of time does not make it less tragic. He said it is the duty of all Muslims to work to promote safety and civility.

We believe security and peace is a God-given attribute and is self-evident, Haqq said. He referred to a common saying in his faith.

If you save one innocent person, you save the whole of humanity, and if you kill one innocent person, you kill the whole of humanity, he said.
CARBONDALE  Each night, bleary-eyed travelers board the City of New Orleans at the Amtrak station on South Illinois Avenue. That historic overnight passenger train, immortalized in Steve Goodmans 1971 folk song, travels a 900-mile route up and down the countrys midsection, connecting landlocked Carbondale to the far-flung cities of Chicago and, of course, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Carbondale has long been defined by its role as a regional locomotive hub. But the citys aging Amtrak facility, built in 1981, is all but functionally obsolete  not only is it badly in need of repairs, but on days when Southern Illinois University students head home for break, lines extend out into the street.

The facility was meant to house 80 people and currently accommodates about 380 each day, according to Carbondale City Manager Gary Williams. Several other transit services  including Greyhound, Saluki Express, Jackson County Mass Transit, Rides Mass Transit in Harrisburg, South Central Transit in Centralia and Shawnee Mass Transit in Vienna  share the space as a pickup and drop-off point, leading to inevitable congestion.

Theres a lot more traffic even outside the scope of Amtrak thats using the facility every day. So to say that its undersized would really be understating it, Williams said.

Carbondale is due for a new transportation facility. The question is how to get funding.

Carbondale Station

In May 2015, community and business leaders gathered in the Carbondale Civic Center for an Illinois Department of Transportation listening session to share ideas on local transit issues.

Then-Acting Mayor Don Monty emphasized the citys need for a downtown multimodal center, saying the Amtrak station was always over capacity.

There are far more people going to that train station now than planners envisioned it could conceivably handle, Monty said.

The idea picked up steam. A city-commissioned design sketched out an expanded station at the site of the current Amtrak facility that would include a 149-space, two-story parking garage; bicycle storage with lockers and racks; and off-street capacity to accommodate buses.

Dubbed Carbondale Station, the facility would also feature space for retail services such as a cafe and market, along with office space for Amtrak, Greyhound, other transit authorities and the SIU Welcome Center.

The project serves as an anchor in the citys Downtown Master Plan, adopted in September 2015, which lists public and rail transportation as one of the six focus areas that will provide a quality experience for individuals traveling in and out of the city.

We think that in addition of being a strong transportation asset in the region that will improve quality of life, it will make it easier for residents in at least a 15-county region to get to educational facilities, health care facilities more efficiently, Williams said.

And with the Hilton Home2 Suites being constructed just across the street, the multimodal center could be a tremendous boon to the tourism economy in Southern Illinois, Williams said.

Finding funding

Last year, the city submitted an application for a $14.64 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation's competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.

The grant application process was challenging, and, following the lead of other communities, Carbondale hired an outside consultant to handle the applications required economic feasibility study. But in August, the city was denied the grant.

TIGER, a discretionary spending program for surface transportation projects, was implemented in 2009 under the Obama administration and expired in 2016.

Bill Jung, CEO of the Rides Mass Transit District, said the district submitted a letter of support on behalf of the city for the federal program, and that it will continue to rally behind the city in its quest for funding.

The expansion of the Carbondale facility would make it more usable to the public as a transferring node and regional transportation nexus, Jung said.

We think its a win-win for the city and for the region, so were big supporters of it, Jung said.

For now, the city is exploring other funding opportunities  mainly discretionary programs that would require federal elected officials to make requests for agencies to earmark funds for Carbondale.

Earlier this week, the city submitted preliminary information to IDOT to request funding through the Federal Transportation Authoritys State of Good Repair grant.

But it was just the first step, Williams said, and it will take several weeks to find out whether Carbondale is even a strong candidate to present a formal application.

President Donald Trumps proposed $1 trillion infrastructure package, which appears to have garnered bipartisan support, could be a potential avenue for funding, but its too soon to tell, Williams said.

Certainly our hope is that this would be something that would fall within the scope of that kind of a spending bill, but obviously there are not nearly enough details yet to know if thatll ever come to fruition, he said.

If the multimodal facility does get built, it will help city leaders achieve the vision for Carbondale they laid out in their Master Plan: a vibrant downtown, bustling with people and activity at all hours of the day.

The long and short of it is that the multimodal continues to be a key piece of our revitalization plans, and were going to continue to focus on it until we can find a way to get it funded, Williams said.
Rauner Will Tell Trump Not To Fully Repeal Affordable Care Act

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 3, 2017 9:27PM



Governor Bruce Rauner outside the Director's Lawn at the Illinois State Fair in August 2016. Photo by Aaron Cynic

Gov. Bruce Rauner isnt exactly supportive of President Donald Trump and other Republicans plans to immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act, which has been one of many of the Administrations top priorities.

In an interview with the Daily Heralds Editorial Board, Rauner said his office had been in close communication with the administration on the matter, and that hed leverage those connections to advocate for the more than 1 million Illinoisans who are insured through the program.

We have strongly recommended that they just don't remove the Affordable Care Act. I think we need to have something (in place)," said Rauner.

The comments arent the first tepid criticism the governor has made of Trumps edicts. At a seminar hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers last weekend, Rauner said he had concerns about the presidents executive order that bans refugees and other immigrants from several countries.

The governor has been supportive of tightening the vetting process for Syrian refugees because of ISIS attempts to infiltrate refugee flows  but he's opposed to immigration bans that target any specific religion, said a statement from the governor's office.

The governor also made remarks Thursday about the state budget impassewhich has dragged on so long its almost become the status quo for Illinois. In an interview with the Rockford Register Stars Editorial Board, Rauner praised Senate leaders for taking a step forward. I also applaud the House, which has said we should have tax reform, he added.

Despite the mild pat on the back Rauner quickly returned to familiar talking points, demanding legislators accept at least parts of his Turnaround agenda before moving forward with a budget.

"We'll never solve our fiscal problems unless we grow our economy, said the governor. "If we continue to run deficits and raise taxes, that won't cut it, adding that the budget needs "cuts, revenue and structural changes.
GREENVILLE -- A bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Civil Air Patrol for performing domestic defense missions during World War II has been presented to a former Orangeburg woman in honor of her father's wartime volunteer service.

Marbeth Abbott, daughter and sole surviving child of Richard Worrell Kapp Sr., a longtime Orangeburg resident, received the bronze replica in a surprise ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 29, at The Anglican Church of St. George the Martyr in Simpsonville.

Maj. Ronald Hardgrave, commander of the Civil Air Patrols Greenville Composite Squadron, presented the replica on behalf of the Civil Air Patrol and a grateful nation. The ceremony also included an honor guard made up of Civil Air Patrol cadets from the Greenville squadron.

Kapp flew submarine-hunting missions with the Civil Air Patrol off the coast of South Carolina from June to December 1942, logging more than 400 flight hours. He operated from C.A.P. base #8 on James Island near Charleston.

After his service with C.A.P., he became an Army-certified flight instructor and taught American and French primary flight students enrolled at the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics located in Orangeburg.

After being classified at 1-A by the local draft board, Kapp enlisted at Fort Jackson on Jan. 14, 1944. He saw action in the Pacific with the United States Marine Corps from February 1945 to June 1946.

Kapp passed away in Orangeburg on June 25, 1958. His son, Second Lieutenant Richard Worrell Kapp Jr., USMC, also of Orangeburg, was a ground casualty at Quang Tri Province, Republic of Viet Nam, in 1968. Another son, Frank Cullen Kapp, formerly of Orangeburg, died in 2011.

On Dec. 10, 2014, the Civil Air Patrol was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Capitol Hill in honor of its founding members role in protecting the homeland against deadly German U-boat attacks during World War II and carrying out other vital wartime domestic missions. Across the nation, 327 Civil Air Patrol World War II members were initially confirmed to receive this honor, a number that grows steadily as more records become available.

Coastal patrols alone accounted for 86,685 missions involving 244,600 flight hours and more than 24 million aerial miles. At least 59 C.A.P. members died in the performance of their missions, with nearly half -- 26 -- killed during the coastal patrols.

Civil Air Patrol was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, a week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The coastal patrols began within three months, after the Petroleum Industry War Council requested protection for oil tankers falling prey to German torpedoes. Over the next 15 months, members used their own planes to watch for U-boats, sometimes dropping bombs when they spotted one of the submarines.

The Senate passed legislation authorizing the Congressional Gold Medal in May 2013, with the House following suit a year later. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on May 30, 2014. In-depth information about Civil Air Patrol and its World War II missions and members can be found at www.capgoldmedal.com.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer United States Air Force Auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force. C.A.P., in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search-and-rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. C.A.P. is credited by the A.F.R.C.C. with saving an average of 78 lives annually.

Civil Air Patrols 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. C.A.P. members also play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the C.A.P. cadet program. C.A.P. also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans.

Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.
Apparent Scammer Claims To Own Crocodile Bar, Accused Of Stiffing Wicker Park Spots

By Stephen Gossett in News on Feb 4, 2017 12:21AM



Crocodile / Google Street View

An apparent shyster has left a bizarre string of alleged unpaid bills and deceptive practices at a slew of hip North Side spots.

After reports emerged of an imposter posing behind the shuttered Crocodile bar and restaurant, social media ignited with charges that the man responsible had pulled similarly shady criminal moves elsewhere in the Wicker Park area.

A man who appears to be named Christian DeBoer, 29, seems to have brazenly masqueraded behind the bar of Crocodile as its new owner. He claimed to be named Ian Baker in an interview with DNAinfo and said the bar's owner, Radek Hawryszcuk, was not available. (Hawryszcuk did not immediately return Chicagoist's request for comment.) DeBoer, who has a checkered arrest record in Florida, also allegedly walked out a bill at Floyd's Pub and didn't pay for a tattoo he got from Tatu Tattooallegations that emerged after a host of online amateur sleuths dug into the case on Facebook.

Chicago police did not confirm with Chicagoist any incidents related to the Crocodile property (1540 N Milwaukee Ave.) but DNAinfo reports that a Chicago spokesperson said officers were recently called to the bar on a report of trespassing.

Brooke Englehart said that DeBoer "flaked on paying" for a tattoo he received from the shop in January. Officer Michelle Tannehill, a Chicago police spokesperson, told Chicagoist that a complaint for "deceptive practice and theft of labor and services" was filed by a female victim working at the shop against a man fitting DeBoer's description on Jan. 19.

DeBoer was also accused of scamming Floyd's Pub with a similar ditch move.



Facebook

DeBoer did not return request for comment. If he has any sense, he's probably ditched Wicker Park by now.
ST. MATTHEWS -- A family-owned weekly newspaper in St. Matthews is changing hands and getting a new name.

The Calhoun Times, located at 1632 Bridge St., announced this week that ownership of the paper will be assumed by the Wagener-based weekly, The Aiken Leader, and become The Calhoun Times Leader.

The transition will be seamless and the newspaper does not expect to miss a publication date, Calhoun Times Publisher Edwin C. "Ed" Morris Jr. said.

Morris Jr. will remain as publisher of The Times Leader and his father, Edwin Craddock Morris Sr., 87, will serve as a freelance writer.

The exact date of the name change is still uncertain, but Morris Jr. said the newspaper will still publish on Thursdays and be located in the same building.

"I feel like I need some new blood to help me with new ideas, and we will make some major changes and modernize a little bit," Morris Jr. said. "I am happy the county will have a paper as many people were upset about and offered to help us as well."

Andrew O'Byrne Sr., owner and publisher of the Aiken Leader, will become the owner of The Calhoun Times Leader.

"A newspaper is important to the health of a community, and we are happy that we will be able to keep a paper in Calhoun County," O'Byrne said. "A local newspaper facilitates dialogue between local government and the citizens, and we are committed to bringing the community the news it has relied on for so many years from The Calhoun Times."

"I look forward to getting to know the community in the coming months," he added.

Under the new ownership, the newspaper will be printed in Wagener rather than in Lexington.

The Aiken Leader, a free weekly newspaper, is a member of the South Carolina Press Association and has a circulation of 8,000. The newspaper is distributed on Fridays.

Morris Sr. is optimistic that O'Byrne will continue the tradition of The Calhoun Times.

"Hopefully, it will continue as it has in the past," Morris Sr. said. "We have had to make changes and everything, but we will try to keep it the same as much as possible."

Although newspapers are having to adjust to changing times, he said he hopes newspapers will continue to play an important role into the future.

"They are historic," Morris Sr. said, noting newspapers provide the public with a record of events as well as photos of days gone by.

The Calhoun Times had initially announced its plans to end publication on Feb. 2 before O'Bryne expressed an interest in continuing the paper.

The Calhoun Times traces its roots to 1893 when it began as The St. Matthews Recorder.

After several ownership and name changes, John Bunyan Morris Sr. purchased the paper in October 1929. That was a month before his son, Craddock, was born. He operated the paper until his retirement in 1956.

A 1950 graduate of The Citadel, Morris Sr. served as an officer in the U.S. Army in Japan and returned to the states in 1953. He joined his father's business at the age of 23.

It was not the first time he had been exposed to the newspaper business. Morris Sr. took journalism courses at the University of South Carolina before going into the service.

"I worked with him (his father) when I was young," Morris Sr. reflected. "They called you a printer's devil. Back then you had metal line type, and I would run proofs and everything."

He said when he first started in the newspaper business, the presses were Linotype machines using a "hot metal" process which cast metal type in one-line units called slugs. Those were then compiled and mounted into a press.

"Everything was set by hand," Morris Sr. said. "You had metal forms you put on the press and you had a folding machine and you ran the paper through the folding press."

Now all that has been replaced with phototypesetting, offset lithography printing and computer typesetting, he said.

Despite the technological changes, the weekly newspaper's format has not changed significantly, Morris Sr. said.

The Calhoun Times has kept its family tradition over the years. In 1996, Morris Jr., Craddock's son, became the third generation to publish the newspaper.

Today, the paper has a circulation of about 1,400 and covers predominatly Calhoun County, although does report some Elloree area news, Morris Sr. said.

"We have tried to serve the public with good news and trying to keep the public informed on everything by trying to cover all the activities, schools, organizations and clubs," he said.

Over the years, he said he has covered countless stories and met some famous people, most notably the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond.

He said the biggest story he remembers covering was the 50th anniversary celebration of Calhoun County.

"That was a big section," he said.

Morris Sr. said the aspect he has enjoyed the most about being a journalist for 64 years is the relationships. Despite being in his late 80s, he continues to write his notes on a pad and takes his own photographs.

"I have enjoyed reporting on things in the county, but have enjoyed the people of the county," he said.

When asked if there is one thing he has not enjoyed, Morris Sr. couldn't come up with anything.

"I just enjoyed it all," he said.

While Morris Sr. will continue working in the newspaper business, an appreciation reception honoring him will be held this Sunday afternoon at the Tri-County Electric Cooperative Social Room in St. Matthews.

Beyond the newspaper business, Morris Sr. has made community involvement a big part of his life. He is the charter member of the Calhoun County Rotary Club, a member of the Calhoun County American Legion and a charter member of a St. Matthews dance club.

In fact, this past Christmas, Morris Sr. was selected to serve as the grand marshal of the St. Matthews Christmas Parade.
Do you "like"? Do you "tweet"? Do you tube? Does your business do any or all of these things and, if so, does it really ...
You Can Still Rally In Chicago Against The Dakota Access Pipeline

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Feb 3, 2017 11:14PM



(Photo by Tyler LaRiviere/Chicagoist)

The struggle to protect native land in Standing Rock from the creation of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the #NoDAPL movement that has grown up around it in the past year, is forging oneven in the face of the Trump administration's growing efforts to make the pipeline a reality.

Chicagoans can still show their solidarity with the so-called water protectors and other protesters fighting in Standing Rock, North Dakota and elsewhere this Saturday. Organizers are rallying at 1 p.m. in Daley Plaza to show their disapproval of the pipeline.

As organizers said in a press release, the group will demand that Chicago and other cities divest from banks that support the pipeline's construction:

"The indigenous resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline has called for emergency solidarity actions across the world. From the threat that the Army Corps will approve the DAPL easement, to the attack on indigenous sovereignty, to ongoing ecocide and climate crisis, we recognize this is a time of great urgency as we respond to this call. We will assemble in Power and push back against the Trump regime, the fossil fuel industry and big finance. The City of Seattle stands poised to pull $3 billion out of Wells-Fargo on Monday, as part of the larger #DivestDAPL campaign. We call on cities around the country -- including Chicago -- to divest from this pipeline, and others like it. Illinois Water Protectors reject the reckless conduct of the Trump administration, and will fight to uphold native sovereignty, self-determination and treaty rights, and to dismantle colonially-imposed borders."
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By Trend





Armenia pushes foreign citizens to visiting Azerbaijans occupied territories by fraud and other ways, and later tries to turn these people into a tool in its propagandist political games, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend Feb. 3.

He was commenting on the extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin.

Alexander Lapshin, despite special warning by the foreign ministries of countries, the citizen of which he is, visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by violating the countrys state border, Hajiyev said. Then, knowing that he is in the blacklist of Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, which barred him from visiting the country, Lapshin again entered Azerbaijan using the ID issued by another country.

He himself admitted that he had committed these actions deliberately, Hajiyev added. A criminal case was initiated under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan against Lapshin, and he was put on the Interpol international wanted list.

Hajiyev said that being a blogger or a journalist is not a reason for immunity or violation of the laws.

Therefore, the attempts to politicize this issue or treat it as violation of freedom of expression are absolutely wrong, he noted. Unreasonable fuss and discussions created around this purely legal issue are not clear. Azerbaijan has taken appropriate legal steps for the extradition of Alexander Lapshin detained in Belarus within the framework of the Kishinev Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters signed Oct. 7, 2002 by the CIS countries.

Armenias unjustified activity, which causes laughter in this issue, and the countrys attempts to politicize it, expose the dirty goals pursued by Yerevan, Hajiyev said.

Alexander Lapshin is a citizen of several countries and has had a criminal conspiracy with Armenians living in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. He also illegally visited these territories.

Lapshin is accused of violating Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012.

In order to promote the illegal regime created in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, Lapshin presented Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state on his social media account, and supporting the independence of the unrecognized regime he made public incitements aimed at violating Azerbaijans territorial integrity on April 6 and June 29, 2016.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
By Trend





The mastery of the Armenian lobby in the US in fabricating lies goes beyond the limits. The main media outlets of the Armenian diaspora in America repeatedly attack Trend Agencys authors, who, using facts, reveal details about the diasporas activities in the US.

Turning a blind eye to a recent attack against Trend Agency is possible, but Armenian nationalists have reached a new stage of ingenuity. They have distorted the main points in the article Trump puts end to Armenian lobby's influence on US  which highlights the severely bad situation of the Armenian diaspora in the US  and tried to attack the Azerbaijan-Israel friendship.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), by comparing remarks from Trends article with a quote from Adolf Hitlers book, unsuccessfully attempted to reduce the devastating effect of the article.

Once again, members of the Armenian lobby, using incorrect methods tried to distort the remarks in the Trend article, which said that the Armenian diaspora is parasitizing in the US, and compared the comments to Hitlers claims against the Jewish people.

It is quite obvious that sincere and friendly relations between Israel and Azerbaijan, especially military cooperation between the two countries, cannot but cause irritation in Armenia, which explains the information hysteria of the Armenian lobby.

Apparently, it was the successful long-term Azerbaijan-Israel military cooperation that caused Yerevans desire to start military and technical cooperation with Israels main antagonist, Iran.

Armenias new defense minister attempted to arrange such a military and technical cooperation during his recent visit to Tehran.

Moreover, Armenians cannot but be concerned about the fact that Israel highly appreciates the role of modern Azerbaijans leadership in the warm and sincere attitude towards the Jewish community of 20,000 people, while there are no Jews in the mono-ethnic Armenia.

Unfortunately, Armenian nationalists are well known for having no morality, they know no sensitive topics. But for the Azerbaijani people, the issue of fascism and the Jewish peoples terrible tragedy are not the issues that can be used for own interests.

Azerbaijan, which faced the Khojaly genocide that Armenian bandit groups committed 25 years ago, has never forgotten about the terrible page in the history of the Jewish people  the Holocaust.

Azerbaijans Trend Agency has published a number of articles where it reveals that the Armenian authorities glorify fascism, one example being the erection of a monument to fascist and anti-Semite General Garegin Nzhdeh, and participation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan in the ceremony to open the monument.

Suffice it to recall that the Armenian Legion led by General Nzhdeh was carrying out raids and exterminating the Jews and the other disliked for the Nazi Germanys army, the Wehrmacht.

Obviously the Armenian nationalists, who consider themselves heirs of the Armenian fascist and anti-Semite Nzhdeh, still juggle with historical facts and the lies of their own device, trying to undermine the relations between the Azerbaijani and Israeli people.

However, the Armenian nationalists will not be able to mislead the Israeli people who have long ago figured out who their true friend is.
By Trend





Third parties cannot spoil the Israel-Azerbaijan relations, Alex Wexler, former adviser to Israel's internal security minister, told Trend Feb. 3.

He added that the Israel-Azerbaijan relations are based on deep strategic interests.

"I can say with confidence that Israel and Azerbaijan will continue to strengthen close cooperation," the expert added.

According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Israel amounted to almost $679.74 million in January-December 2016.
By Trend





The U.S. imposed fresh sanctions on Iran as President Donald Trump seeks to punish Tehran for its ballistic missile program after warning that the Islamic Republic that it is playing with fire, Bloomberg reported.

In a statement Friday morning, the Treasury Department published a list of 13 individuals and 12 entities facing new restrictions for supporting the missile program, having links to terrorism or providing support for Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The entities include companies based in Tehran, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China.

This action reflects the United States commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and destabilizing activities in the region and is fully consistent with the United States commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the statement said in a reference to the nuclear accord Iran reached with the U.S. and five other world powers.

The Trump administration has taken a hard line on Iran, banning its citizens from entering the U.S. and accusing the nation of interfering in the affairs of U.S. allies in the Middle East. While such an approach could satisfy hawks in Washington who were never comfortable with President Barack Obamas tentative rapprochement with Iran, it could also unsettle domestic Iranian politics as President Hassan Rouhani seeks re-election in May.

"Iran is playing with fire - they dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me!," Trump tweeted early Friday.

The move was praised by Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who said it makes clear that it is a new day in U.S.-Iran relations and that we will no longer tolerate Irans destabilizing behavior.

Ahead of the announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, "Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people." He added later: "We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense."

Tensions between the two sides were already escalating before the missile tests. While they didnt contravene the nuclear accord signed in 2015, the missile tests are seen by some nations as going against a UN Security Council resolution that enshrines the agreement.

The new sanctions arent directed at Irans nuclear program and wouldnt directly affect the agreement forged under Obamas administration that eased restrictions in exchange for Irans promise not to develop nuclear weapons, two people familiar with U.S. strategy said Thursday.

For its part, Iran has urged the U.S. not to overreact to the tests. Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan insisted they were part of Irans ongoing defense program and were not illegal, according to the Tasnim news agency.
By Trend





The US has moved a Navy destroyer to off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran, two US officials said Feb. 3, amid heightened tension between Washington and Tehran, Reuters reported.

The USS Cole arrived in the vicinity of the Bab al-Mandab Strait off southwestern Yemen where it will carry out patrols including escorting vessels, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

While US military vessels have carried out routine operations in the region in the past, this movement is part of an increased presence there aimed at protecting shipping from the Iran-allied Houthis, they said.

The Houthis are allied to Iran, which is at odds with new US President Donald Trump over its recent test launch of a ballistic missiles.
By Trend





The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian Embassy in Damascus came under mortar fire on February 2 and 3. The ministry said that the embassy was attacked from the area controlled by terrorists, Sputnik reported.

The Foreign Ministry said that the first attacks on the Russian embassy since the start of the latest ceasefire regime in Syria is aimed to undermine the truce and derail the Syrian peace process.

"We strongly condemn the new terrorist attack against the Russian diplomatic mission in Damascus. Vile attacks on our [Russian] embassy are taking place amid truce and with an evident aim to disrupt the regime of the cessation of hostilities and derail efforts in the Syrian political process."

Russia and Turkey are guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire that came into force on December 30, and has been holding up in general, despite continued reports of violations. The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December supporting the effort.

"Such a crime cannot be left unpunished," the ministry said, adding that Russia will continue fighting terrorists in Syria.

Moscow called on the international community to react to the "dangerous provocation by terrorists."

Russia called for joint efforts in the fight against the "terrorist hotbed" represented by Daesh, al-Nusra Front and their accomplices in Syria and the region.

The minisitry added that the anti-terrorist resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council should be implemented so that terrorists stopped receiving arms and money.

"One of the mines exploded on the territory of the embassy complex and the other  20 meters from the main entrance to the embassy."

The attacks have resulted in no casualties.
By Trend





Iran has slammed as illegal the recent US sanctions over Tehrans defensive missile program and spiritual support for Yemen's Houthi fighters, saying that the Islamic Republic will deliver a "proportionate and reciprocal" response to the move, PressTV reported.

The Islamic Republic of Iran with the backing of the wise participation and support of the great Iranian nation, will respond proportionately and reciprocally to any move that targets the interests of the Iranian people, Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

It added that Irans missile power is only aimed at defensive purposes and meant to carry conventional weapons and would never be used other than in legitimate defense.

The foreign ministry said Irans missile program is the undeniable and inalienable right of the Iranian nation according to international law and the United Nations Charter.

The statement added that any foreign interference in this regard is a violation of international law and outside the jurisdiction of any country or organization.

The ministry said the recent US sanctions are also inconsistent with US commitments and at odds with the spirit and text of UN Security Council 2231.

Just as in reaction to the Islamophobic move of the US government and the temporary prevention of the entry of Iranians, the issuance of visas was suspended for US citizens within the framework of a special mechanism, in response to the new US measure, the Islamic Republic of Iran will move to impose legal restrictions for a number of American people and entities who are involved in founding and assisting extremist terrorist groups in the region or contributing to the murder and suppression of defenseless people in the region, the Foreign Ministry said.

It added that the names of the banned American people and entities would be announced later.

The statement reiterated that the security of the Islamic Republic is not open to any compromise or negotiations, stressing that the naive and injudicious measures of the US government would not prevent Iran from following through with its principled policy of safeguarding peace and security in the region and combating terrorism and extremism.

The ministry also stressed that the Islamic Republic would not allow the ominous realization of the dangerous plots and delusions of the Zionist warmongers and their supporters.

The statement came after the US Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday that Washington has imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities as part of bids to ratchet up pressure on Iran.

The move against Iran is the first by the US government since President Donald Trump took office on January 20.

A senior US administration said the new sanctions were an initial step in response to Iran's "provocative behavior, adding Tehran would face more measures if it does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support for Houthi militia in Yemen.

The US claims that a recent missile test by Iran violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries, including Washington.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said on Thursday that Irans successful recent ballistic missile test had neither breached the deal nor the resolution.

"Iran's missile tests are not, and have never been, in violation of the JCPOA or Resolution 2231, Dehqan added.
China's State Council on Friday pledged to press ahead with addressing wage arrears for migrant workers to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

The pledge was made at a meeting presided over by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Attendees of the meeting said that addressing the issue of wage arrears for migrant workers was an important step to increase their income and strengthen social justice, embodying the people-centered development concept.

The State Council will carry out special campaigns and inspection tours to crack down on such offenses, while making some cases public.

Provincial, municipal and county-level officials will be held accountable for wage arrears for migrant workers within their jurisdictions, according to the meeting.

Human resources and social security departments must maintain clear and open channels for people to report crimes, and a blacklist system should be created to punish enterprises which are in arrears with migrant workers' salaries.

Attendees also agreed to handle lawmakers' suggestions and political advisors' proposals to promote scientific decision making. They said handling lawmakers' suggestions and political advisors' proposals are important for addressing people's concerns and advancing administration according to law.

In 2016, departments of the State Council handled 7,873 national lawmakers' suggestions and 3,862 proposals by national political advisors, and more than 3,000 opinions and suggestions were taken into consideration when drafting relevant policies and regulations.

Attendees vowed to further address suggestions and proposals this year, strengthening communication with lawmakers and political advisors, and making public all responses to suggestions and proposals.

The 13th Five-Year Plans on food and drug safety were both approved at the meeting. According to the plans, local governments, particularly county-level governments, must be responsible for ensuring food safety. Firm crackdowns will be launched against illegal additives to prevent risks.

The authenticity of clinical test data on drugs will be put under closer watch, and production and sales of counterfeit drugs will be severely punished.

Sample tests and early warning will be boosted, and such tests must cover food, blood products, vaccines and essential medicines.

Moreover, technology such as big data must be harnessed to ensure food and drug safety, and national standards for medicines, medical equipments as well as cosmetics must be heightened.
By Trend





Fewer than 60,000 visas were provisionally revoked to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries, the State Department said on Friday, Reuters reported.

The immigration executive order signed by Trump a week ago temporarily halted the U.S. refugee program and imposed a 90-day suspension on people traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Trump said the measures would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.

"Fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order," said William Cocks, a spokesman for consular affairs at the State Department.

Earlier news reports, citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing, put the figure at more than 100,000 visas.

Under President Barack Obama, Trump's predecessor, the United States added those seven countries as "countries of concern" under its visa waiver program, effectively toughening U.S. visa procedures for individuals who visited those places during the past five years.

Trump's executive order was at least in part informed by those restrictions. The new president, who took office on Jan. 20, went further by temporarily barring passport holders from those seven countries.

Under Trump's order, people from the seven countries who hold dual citizenship would be allowed to enter the United States on the passport of a non-restricted nation.

The New America think thank says the largest majority of "jihadist terrorists" in the United States "have been American citizens or legal residents." It added none of the deadly attackers since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks emigrated or came from a family that emigrated from one of these countries.

Foreigners on the visa waiver program killed no Americans in terrorist attacks in over 40 years, according to the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington.

22:57 (GMT+4) More than 100,000 visas have been revoked in the wake of the Trump administrations recent travel ban on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, Reuters reported.

The Washington Post reported the figure, citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing in Virginia. NBC News' Washington affiliate also reported the number from the hearing.
A knife-wielding man who attempted to attack security forces outside the Louvre museum in Paris was shot and injured on Friday, highlighting Frances security and terror threat just three months before the French presidential election.



Hundreds of tourists were held in secure areas of the Louvre, one of the worlds most visited museums, after the man was shot five times by soldiers on patrol outside, reported The Guardian.



Believed to be in his 30s, he struck at around 10am on a stairway in the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping centre near the entrance to the museum. Wielding a knife, he ran at a group of soldiers on patrol shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), said the report citing witnesses.



The incident, in which one soldier was slightly injured, was described by the French prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, as terrorist in nature.



The suspect has not been formally identified but French police had established that the man was a 29-year-old Egyptian who arrived in France on January 26 after obtaining a tourist visa in Dubai, the Paris prosecutor said.



Police searched an apartment the man had rented in Paris and are now working to establish whether he acted alone, on impulse, or on orders from someone, prosecutor Francois Molins told a news conference.



The man was wearing a black T-shirt with a deaths head emblem when he attacked soldiers checking bags near the museums shopping mall with a machete in each hand, Molins was quoted as saying in the report.



He struck one soldier and knocked another one to the ground. When he continued his attacks the soldier on the ground shot him in the abdomen, Molins said.



Two rucksacks carried by the suspected attacker were checked by bomb disposal specialists at the scene and were found not to contain explosives, he added.



The incident sparked fresh warnings from politicians about the terrorist and security threat, with France still reeling from a string of terrorist attacks that have killed more than 200 people over the past two years. France remains under a state of emergency following the Paris attacks of November 2015, which killed 130 people.



The French president, Francois Hollande, praised the soldiers, saying: This operation undoubtedly prevented an attack whose terrorist nature leaves little doubt.



The economy, immigration and security are major issues for voters in the two-round French presidential election in April and May. The country has shifted politically to the right after five years of the Socialist Hollande.



Polls show that Marine Le Pen, of the anti-immigration, far-right Front National, can reach the final round runoff.
Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), the regulatory body for Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), the integrated free zone technology park, recently held key discussions with a senior Korean business delegation and explored ways of enhancing synergies between the two parties and examined emerging business opportunities in the technology and entrepreneurship fields.



The high-ranking delegation led by Dr Yanghee Choi, Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning, was received at the DSOA head quarters by its vice chairman and chief executive Dr Mohammed Alzarooni.



The meeting explored ways of enhancing synergies between the two parties and examined emerging business opportunities in the technology and entrepreneurship fields.



The visitors were later introduced to Silicon Park, the Dh1.3 billion ($354 million) smart city project at DSO spanning an area of 150,000 sq m, and Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre (DTEC), DSOAs wholly-owned technology incubation hub, which is the largest-of-its-kind in the region, along a number of other projects.



Exchanging industry insights, the participants identified possibilities of collaborating on various technology-centered projects in the region.

Welcoming the Korean group, Dr Alzarooni said the visitors have shown great interest in its technology hub. "Our talks highlighted the advantages that DSO offers to emerging technology and large companies alike when setting up their businesses in the high-tech park. We are committed to developing a smart technology infrastructure that adapts to evolving business partner and international investor needs and goes a long way in promoting DSO as a technology hub on a regional scale."



"The Republic of Korea with its advanced technology solutions can serve as a valuable partner in helping us realize this goal," he added.



Dr Choi commended DSO on its smart city initiatives and praised the futuristic vision of the Dubai government.



In addition, he expressed optimism at the possibility of IT companies in Korea leveraging the opportunities that the Dubai-based integrated park offers, such as the conglomerate Hyundai, which has established a quality and inspection center in DSO.



"We are honored to have had the chance to familiarize ourselves with DSO and its offerings, and experience first-hand the great progress the free zone has made in the implementation of smart city solutions and support of technopreneurs. We see ample potential for future collaboration and exchange of expertise."



"DTEC is a center of immense size and scope that offers vital support to the start-up community in the UAE. We were proud to learn that the incubation hub hosts more than 700 companies, of which 40 per cent are Asian," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Leading regional and international technology experts will discuss a wide range of issues linked to the information and communications technology sector at an event to be held in Bahrain on Tuesday (February 7).



The Association of Bahrain technology companies (BTech) and "Worksmart" event management will be organising the seventh session of the Conference "Meet ICT" and Bitex exhibition at the Gulf Hotel.



It will be held under the patronage of the Minister of Transport and Communications Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed.



A group of local speakers, regional and international participate in the sessions and workshops for the event to discuss a wide range of current technology topics and the latest data from the sector worldwide.



In addition, it will be reviewing a number of key issues and highlight the importance of information and communications technology industry.



The Meet ICT Bahrain has been running since 2009 and is being organized with multiple activities that will enhance the experience of the participants and enable them to exchange knowledge and ideas on different platforms.



The last edition of the Meet ICT Conference was a big success where nearly 20 speakers from Bahrain and abroad took part. It attracted about 30 IT companies from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE besides Jordan, Lebanon and India in addition to the kingdom's top players.



Imagine all the top business and ICT professionals in one venue, sharing knowledge and exchanging insights on whats up and whats new in the field. Making business connections has never been this easy, said the event organisers.



Bitex, a technology exhibition held alongside the Meet ICT Conference will bring all ICT companies under one roof to display the latest trends in their field.



It also aims to bring together the ICT community for business building as well as researching for more powerful solutions in the sector, according to the organisers.



Bitex 2017 will cater to the education, banking, insurance, health care sector with focus on information and communications systems solutions, and remote training, they added.-TraadeArabia News Service
Dubai is set to host the fifth edition of the World Government Summit (WGS 2017), the world's largest platform for shaping future governments, featuring more than 4,000 regional and global personalities within 138 international delegations, next week.



The event is being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on February 12.



The summit will host in its upcoming edition 150 speakers across 114 sessions, with more than 4,000 regional and global personalities within 138 international delegations, making it the largest participation of its kind since the event was first launched in 2013.



Sheikh Mohammed will hold a keynote session on the opening day, while Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, will announce a new future project for the emirate during the summit.



WGS 2017 will witness the participation of heads of state, thought leaders, disrupters, Nobel laurites and experts, as well as other prominent sectors of importance, said the organisers.



The high-level delegations participating in the event demonstrate its leading position as a global platform disseminating knowledge shaping the future, and as an attractive hub for international influencers, which facilitates the exchange of ideas and insights, and enhances awareness of future challenges and possible solutions.



Lt. General His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior in the UAE, will speak in a key session on the sustainability of nations through establishing an ecosystem of values.



The Japanese Prime Minister will also headline WGS 2017 in a keynote address.



The summit is also set to host in its diverse sessions many top international influencers in the technology, business, economy, futurism and education sectors, among others.



Alongside the World Government Summit, the first Arab Youth Forum will be launched under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who will launch a new project for youth throughout the Arab world.



One of the sessions on the future of humanitarian aid will feature Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, Wife of Sheikh Mohammed, who is also chairperson of the International Humanitarian City.



Meanwhile, the IMF Managing Director will shed light on the global economic landscape at present and highlight challenges and opportunities for the future in a special session.



In addition, Irina Bokova, the Unesco director general to be a focal point of the summit and will be part of a keynote address during the second day.



Other prominent sessions to look forward to include one where the director general of IAEA, Yukiya Amano, discusses the future of Nuclear Energy and another headlined by the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum on the challenges of globalism.



Also, Ubers founder, Travis Kalanick will share visions and insights, while the founder of LinkedIn will highlight the role of entrepreneurs in enhancing the concept of coexistence.



The four largest development banks in the world, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Islamic Development Bank will be present during the Summit.



Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future and chairman of the WGS Organization, noted that the UAE, under the leadership of the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the directives of Sheikh Mohammed, has successfully transformed WGS into a global platform for shaping future governments as part of its efforts to establish an international movement for the welfare of people across the globe.



"The fifth edition of WGS has attracted leading names across various fields. For the first time in the region, we will host Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX and one of the most important visionaries of the 21st century. We will also welcome Travis Kalanick, Founder and CEO of Uber, who has changed the concept of transportation globally," remarked Al Gergawi.



"The summits experience as an international platform that convenes heads of state, government leaders, ministers, officials, scientists, entrepreneurs and leaders of international organizations who help shape future governments has truly reached an advanced stage that focuses on finding balance between technological advancements and achieving the happiness and welfare of the people," he added.



Al Gergawi said the quality of participations in the summit attest to its success in transforming from a global event into a platform that takes the mandate of shaping the future as an approach to develop the work of governments and find solutions to tomorrows challenges.



The event will also study how to utilize the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution and turn them into tools that help advance the lives of more than seven billion people, he pointed out.



Successful governments are those that can innovate the tools of government work to preempt potential challenges in the near as well as the more distant future. World challenges are escalating in terms of development, sustainability, human capital, healthcare, education, infrastructure, environment, and climate change," he added.



As part of their partnership with the summit, some of the leading international organizations will hold meetings during the event in order to develop a common platform and unify efforts.



These organizations include the World Bank, IMF, WEF, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Unesco, United Nations FAO, Islamic Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Latin American Center for Development Administration.-TradeArabia News Service
Clubs

County pioneers meet Sunday

The Natrona County Pioneer Association will conduct its Winter Quarterly luncheon meeting at 12:30 p.m., on Sunday, Feb. 5, at the Senior Center, 1831 East 4th Street. The luncheon cost will be $5 for those 60 years old and older. The speaker will be author Don Merback. Anyone interested is invited to attend. Contact Vaughn Cronin at 315-4659 for more information.

Super Bowl at the Elks

Super Bowl Sunday at the Casper Elks Lodge. Bar opens at 2 p.m., beer and drinks specials, raffles and door prizes. This is going to be a potluck, so take a favorite snack to share with everyone. Members, significant other and guest accompanied by a member. For more information, call 234-4839.

Casper Charla begins

Would you like to practice conversational Spanish or help others learn? Come and join the Casper Charla! Te gustaria platicar en espanol? Ven y charla con nosotros! Todos son bienvenidos! Come and join us on the second Wednesday of each month this spring. We meet at a different restaurant each month and partake in food, drink and conversation. All levels of Spanish are welcome, from beginning to native-speakers. Nos reunimos los miercoles en varios restaurantes en Casper. Ven por una copa, un antojito o simplemente una charlita.

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 5-7 p.m.: El Toro; Wednesday, March 8, 5-7 p.m.: Guadalajara; Wednesday, April 12, 5-7 p.m.: La Costa; Wednesday, May 10, 5-7 p.m.: La Cocina.

Archaeologists hear coroner

The monthly meeting of the Casper Chapter of the Wyoming Archaeological Society will be held at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 8, on the ground floor of the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building, 2211 King Blvd. Please use the entrance on the east side of the building.

Following a brief business meeting, Connie Jacobson, RN, the current Natrona County coroner, will talk about the coroner's role in "Death on the Prairie." Visitors and potential new members are welcome. Please contact Mavis Greer, chapter president, at mavis@greerservices.com if you have any questions.

Beekeepers meet

Natrona County Beekeepers Association will meet at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Feb. 9, in the basement of the College Heights Baptist Church, 600 West 21st Street. This group is for those thinking about becoming a beekeeper or those who already have hives. A group order to purchase bees is in the works.

Coin club meets

The Casper Coin Club will meet at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in the Crawford Room of the downtown library. There will be a talk on three-cent coins. Call Al Leske at 237-1156 for more information.

Freedom Fund lunch set

During the civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hosted Freedom Fund banquets to raise money for legal aid for folks who had been arrested while attempting to register to vote and fighting for their civil rights. Following that tradition, the Casper Branch of the NAACP is hosting its annual Freedom Fund luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Sat., Feb. 11, at the Parkway Plaza, 123 East E St. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m.

Henry Allen, past president of Colorado Springs Branch NAACP, and current president, Pikes Peak Southern Christian Leadership Conference, will address the topic, America 2017 through the Eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Allen served 24 years in the U.S. Army and worked as a sheriff until his retirement.

NAACP members and the general public are invited to attend the luncheon. Tickets cost $30 (checks made to Casper NAACP) with lunch choices: salmon, strip steak au jus, or vegetarian pasta. To make reservations, call Joanne Tanner at 234-6266 by Feb. 6.

Woman as president forum topic

Why its Harder for a Woman to Become a President than a Prime Minister is the subject Dr. Stephanie Anderson will address at the next Democratic Womens Forum on Saturday, Feb. 11. Her talk will follow the noon buffet luncheon at the Ramkota Hotel dining room.

An associate professor of political science at the University of Wyoming, Dr. Anderson has wide experience in international relations, having studied in various foreign countries, as well as focusing her research on the European Union (EU) as an international actor.

Democratic Forums are open to all persons interested regardless of gender. Luncheons are $15 per person, including tax and gratuity. Reservations are requested by calling Jerre at 234-8625 by Thursday (Feb. 9) prior to the meeting.

Elks Sweetheart Ball

Sweetheart Ball Dinner and Dance in the Casper Elks Lodge Ballroom on Saturday, Feb. 11. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. in the ballroom. Menu options are prime rib, $25; crab legs, $35, or $55 for both. Price includes a $5 drink ticket. We will have a theatre production with a pirate theme. This play is not age appropriate for children. Members, significant other and guest accompanied by a member. For more information, call 234-4839 or 237-2432.

Father Daughter at Elks

The annual Father Daughter Dinner and Dance at the Casper Elks Lodge is Feb. 25. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. Music by Good Times Only. If you don't have a daughter, borrow one and come down for dinner, dancing and door prizes and get your picture taken. Ticket prices are fathers, $10; daughters ages 14 and up, $9; ages 8 to 13, $8, and ages 7 and under are free. For more information, call 234-4839.

NARFE has social

Casper Chapter #358 of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) will have a no-host Social Meeting at noon on Feb. 28, in the meeting room at the Casper Senior Center at 1831 East 4th Street.

Mardi Gras Bingo

Mardi Gras Bingo, sponsored by Reveille Rotary of Casper, is 6 to 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Casper Senior Center, 1831 E. 4th Street. Enjoy Bingo fun for the whole family. Tickets are $20 for two Bingo cards. There will be eight $25 games, nine $50 games, one $250 game and one $500 game. Concessions will be available (including homemade slices of pie). Proceeds benefit Wyoming Dementia Care. Tickets can be purchased from any Reveille Rotary member or at First Interstate Bank Downtown.

Scholarship notice

The Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration -- Central Wyoming Section offers up to four $2,500 scholarships, the Coates, Wolff, Russell, and Swank Memorial scholarships. Applicant must have graduated from a Wyoming high school, must be enrolled full-time for the 2016-2017 academic year, upperclassmen -- current college sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student, enrolled in mining/mineral extraction-related discipline, and have a 3.0 GPA minimum. Application forms are available by email request to smecasper@gmail.com

Civil Air Patrol meets

Civil Air Patrol meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at Casper National Guard Armory, 5905 CY Ave. For more information, call 259-0855.

Stammtisch at Applebee's

The Casper German Stammtisch is meeting weekly on Thursdays at Applebee's from 6:30 to 8 p.m. New this year -- on the second Thursday of each month we will focus on speaking German! All ability levels are welcome, as long as they are eager to hear German.
Kingston, Washington

October 31, 1920  January 25, 2017

A REMEMBERANCE reception will be held Feb.4th at the Elks Lodge, 7th and Center from 3PM to 6PM for long time Casper resident and businessman Harold Selby, who peacefully passed away January 25, at the age of 96, while living in Kingston, WA. He moved there in April of 2016, to be with his son, Ramon and his wife Tomi.

He was born at home in Scottsbluff, Nebraska to James and Hazel (Walker) Selby. His parents brought him to homestead near Natrona, Wyoming, later moving back to Nebraska for him to enter school. Having spent his early school years in Nebraska, at the age of 13 he became responsible for the sole support of his family. The Great Depression and other circumstances brought him, his mother, grandmother and three siblings, back to Wyoming and the family homestead, were he was better able to provide for their support.

He graduated from Natrona County High School where he met and later married the love of his life Mavis Kisor who preceded him in death after nearly 57 years of marriage. It was a marriage filled with constant love of each other, three children, music, laughter, and multitudes of friends. They are now, once again, singing in perfect harmony.

In 1956 he founded Selby Trailer Sales with his brother Jim and it flourished with family and friends at the helm until he retired in the 80s. He made a second home in Logandale, NV and added to his circle of friends.

Music was a major part of his life. He was self taught and by the age of 12 he was sitting in at dances. He played music throughout his life with family, friends and various groups. Harold was loved by all who knew him for his generous, loving spirit, his cheerful disposition, his amazing sense of humor, and his incredible musical talents.

Also preceding him in death were his siblings, Bette A. Tucker, Jim R. Selby and Patty Dice Patton.

He is survived by his son, Ramon Selby and wife, Tomi, and daughters, Rita Bale and Roxana Taylor and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his dear friend, Barbara Genest of Billings MT.

He lived a life of integrity and devotion. In lieu of flowers or donations and in keeping with the way he lived his life, do a kind deed, say a kind word or lend a helping hand to someone in need.
FAIRBANKS  The breed of dog used by most dog mushers in Alaska isnt really a breed, at least not in the way kennel clubs think of pedigree.

The Alaskan husky is an amalgamation of breeds thats changed as mushers look for different attributes in dogs.

Champion sprint musher Arleigh Reynolds describes the Alaskan husky as a purpose-based breed.

A purpose-based breed is a dog that is bred to do something. It doesnt matter what color they are. What matters is how they function, he said. A purebred dog may have a function, like retrievers, but theyre also bred for appearance.

Reynolds is the associate dean of the veterinary medicine program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He likes Alaskan huskies because the risk of genetic disorders is lower when breeding dogs that arent closely related. Its also worked well for him. Reynolds breeds his own dogs and has won both of Alaskas main sprint mushing races  the Open North American in Fairbanks and the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage.

Purpose-based breeding differentiates the Alaskan husky from the Siberian husky, a type of dog sometimes used in distance mushing and that is classified as a purebred dog by the American Kennel Club. Siberian huskies have to be bred with other Siberian huskies to retain their pedigree. There is one team of Siberians running the 2017 Yukon Quest, the team of Ontario musher Hank DeBruin.

Leonhard Seppala  a hero of the 1925 serum run to Nome  used Siberian huskies, but they were an early descendant of todays breed.

Most dogs came from the Chukchi Peninsula, and they were working dogs and they didnt all have masks (dark-colored fur over the eyes) and they didnt all have tails that came up and curled over the back, Reynolds said. His dogs look exactly like our Alaskan huskies.

Other purebred dogs that have been used for dog mushing include Alaskan malamutes and chinooks, a sled dog breed developed in New Hampshire in the early 20th century. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, an Anchorage Iditarod musher famously raced a team that included standard poodles.

The appearance of the Alaskan husky took a turn in the mid- to late-1990s when European mushers began breeding hound-type dogs with Alaskan huskies, Reynolds said. The transformation began because at the time dogs had to spend up to a year in quarantine traveling between North America and Europe. European mushers brought a few Alaskan huskies and bred them with the German shorthaired pointers that were popular dogs for pulling pulk sleds in Scandinavia.

The crossbred offspring of the Alaskan huskies and the pointers made good mushing dogs. The type of dog, sometimes known as a Eurohound, became widely used in the mushing world, Reynolds said.

They started in Scandinavia and went as far down as Italy and Spain. And then they came over here, Reynolds said. 1998 was the first year we really had very many of those dogs (in Alaska), on (Swedish sprint musher) Egil Ellis team.

European hunting dog breeds now included in the Alaskan husky gene pool include German shorthaired pointers, English pointers and, to a smaller degree, greyhounds.

Alaskan huskies often look much like their Alaska village dog ancestors, even when they have a lot of pointer blood, Reynolds said.

You can breed anything into that dog and the cool thing is the husky is so predominant a generation or two down the line you end up with a dog that looks like a husky, he said. You may have brought in a trait and some genetic diversity, but by and large you end up with huskies again.

In recent generations the transformation of the Alaskan husky has led to the bifurcation of competitive dogs into different categories. Shorter-haired Alaskan huskies tend to be sprint dogs because theyre better at shedding heat from their bodies. Distance dogs need to be stronger to pull a heavy sled and to have longer coats to endure cold temperatures on overnight trips.

Mushers used to use the same dogs regardless of whether they were going 20 miles or 1,000 miles.

Dogs that were winning the Fur Rendezvous on Roxy Wright or Charlie Champaines team, some of those dogs would go on and compete in DeeDee Jonrowes team or Martin Busers team in the Iditarod, Reynolds said.

Today, Reynolds considers dogs from Joe Redington Jr.s kennel north of Fairbanks the most versatile in the state.

He has dogs that have been in Brent Sass Yukon Quest team and have been in my and Jason Dunlaps very competitive or winning Fur Rendezvous or North American teams, Reynolds said.
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Beijing will invest 33.31 billion yuan (US$4.85 billion) this year in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development, according to the municipal finance bureau.

Beijing will invest 33.31 billion yuan (US$4.85 billion) this year in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development. [File photo]



2017 will see the city rein in administrative operation funds while focusing on major missions planned to promote Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated development.

The main expenditure policies incorporate efforts to guarantee the package policies made for "Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Joint Development Plan", speed up sub-center construction, increase support for Hebei Province, and give partner assistance to Xinjiang and Tibet, according to Han Jie, spokesman and deputy director of the bureau.

Details of the investment tell that 11.09 billion yuan will fund the new airport construction in an effort to boost the transport network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

A total of 11.81 billion yuan will be allocated to ensure trial operation of the new Tiantan Hospital and advance project II in Yizhuang branch of Tongren Hospital as well as new campus construction of Beijing Film Academy, Beijing Technology and Business University, etc.

Moreover, 4.25 billion yuan will be used for facilities establishment in administrative areas in the citys sub-center, and for upgrading of the green landscape along inner ring roads.

Beijing will use 5.7 billion yuan to assist oriented areas including Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Badong, support Hebei and advance collaboration work of the South-to-North Water Diversion project.

Another 470 million yuan will be put into ecological forests construction.
Bad news is knocking at the door and Washington is behind the curve on dealing with aquatic invasive species.

State officials say theres an urgency to get up to speed after the alarming developments in Montana last year.

Quagga and zebra mussel larvae were found in the Missouri River system of Montana last fall. In a separate incident, an invasive parasite killed thousands of fish and prompted temporary closure of 183 miles of the Yellowstone River and tributaries.

Invasive mussels discovered in the lower Colorado River system in 2007 sent chills through Northwest states. The exotic species demonstrated their potential to multiply rapidly and damage beaches, clog boat motors, irrigation systems and dams, harm fish and wildlife and foul infrastructure.

Northwest states could boast of being invasive mussel-freeuntil last year. Washington Fish and Wildlife officials are promoting legislation this year to get more money for protection. The additional $1.3 million per year would come from increased commercial boating fees and the state general fund.

An invasive species sticker program for recreational boats, similar to Idahos, is likely to be considered in another year, officials say.

This has to be a multi-state compact because the issue affects region, said Bill Tweit, of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Departments Columbia River Policy office. We shudder at the thought of invasives taking over the Columbia system.

Weve gone from being one of the first states taking action with one of the highest aquatic invasive species budgets to being one of the poorest funded programs, he said.

The departments aquatic invasive species unit has only two full-time inspectors for ballast water on large ships that arrive in Washington.

We were one of the first and thats why Puget Sound is cleaner than some other systems, he said. But while the problem has grown, our program has not. The damage mussels could do to the hydropower infrastructure and salmon recovery is not pleasant to contemplate.

We spend less that $1 million a year on ballast protection. A competent program would cost about $5 million a year. California spends $8 to $9 million a year.

Montana is stepping up and Idaho is spending twice as much as us and theyre just dealing with mussels, not other aquatic invasives were including in our program, such as African clawed frogs and keeping northern pike from expanding in the Columbia River.

We are now the weak link in the defense against aquatic invasives, Tweit said.

Washington has been relying heavily on Idaho and Montana to catch contaminated boats before they arrive at Washington borders. However, Washington provides the decontamination facility and trained staff in Spokane to deal with fouled boats cited in Idaho.

Idaho and Montana are guarding the perimeter to keep the Columbia Basin mussel free, Tweit said. But they are permeable. Theres a need for a second-level perimeter.

Washington also is vulnerable from its ocean coast. When we started finding invasives attached to tsunami debris (from Japan) we created rapid response team to decontaminate stuff that washed up on beaches, he said.

Education needs to be a higher priority, he said.

We need to get staff out to boating events, sportsmen shows, to clubs and other groups to teach the basics, he said, noting that the message to recreational boaters has been boiled down to three words: Clean, drain, dry.

The lesson already has been learned in this state with invasives such as spartina, a nonnative cordgrass introduced to Washington saltwaters nearly a century ago.

It can be a big problem for shellfish growers and salmon estuaries, Tweit said. The problem was recognized in the 70s, but we dithered and didnt control it when it might have been easy. Now, some $35 million later, its been knocked back to less than half of a percent of its former range, but well have to be forever vigilant.

The best way to control these things is to keep them out.

Northern pike that have filtered down from illegal introductions in Montana are a huge concern to salmon managers in the Columbia River system, Tweit said.

Were working to convince some sportsmen that pike are a problem, not an opportunity, he said. We would have preferred if they never had gotten here. The pike apparently were illegally introduced in Montana and came down the Flathead and Clark Fork river systems to the Pend Oreille.

While few people question the mission to keep quagga mussels out, some anglers want to make an exception for trophy northerns, which grow to trophy sizes.

Washington has an Invasive Species Council, which is separate from the Fish and Wildlife Department and works on a wider range of invaders from apple mites and weeds to feral pigs.

The office has listed a Top 50 list of species that are major concerns. They have the potential to have expensive impacts on economic sectors such as farming, ranching, recreation and timber.

The Fish and Wildlife Departments legislative funding request focuses on aquatic invasive species, a category that is in itself a huge plate of issues.

Eurasian watermilfoil, for example, is a problem that tends to be in the realm of the Department of Ecology, although Fish and Wildlife helps with enforcement, Tweit said.

The path forward is not clear on milfoil, he said. Even if more funding were to be available for controlling the plant that clogs boat launches and swimming areas, the treatment is controversial. Mechanical means of cutting away the weed may just spread the problem and chemical treatments are almost always opposed by someone.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has been supporting regional efforts to control aquatic invasive species for years.

It fits our mandate to protect a low-cost, reliable power supply and mitigate impacts of dams on fish and wildlife, said Tom Karier of Spokane, a professor of energy and natural resource economics whos been on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council since 1998. Both mandates are jeopardized by potential invasions of mussels.

He said progress is being made on putting $4 million in federal funding to work on the ground in this region to beef up inspection stations. The money has been authorized but not yet dispersed, he said.

Getting the mussels into the Columbia Basin has been described as the largest ecological disaster that hasnt happened yet, he said. We have a chance now to prevent it.
A bomb threat prompted authorities to evacuate Worland High School on Thursday, but a search failed to turn up explosives or other suspicious devices.

One high school student confessed to making the threat, authorities said. He was later released to his father's custody, and formal charges were forwarded to the Washakie County Attorney.

No one was injured in the incident, which began at about 3 p.m. Thursday when Washakie County law enforcement learned of a bomb threat at the school, authorities said in a press release posted on their Facebook page.

"I will blow up the school at 3:30 2-2-17," the threat stated.

The school was evacuated, and authorities shut down nearby streets. Two bomb techs from the Natrona County Sheriff's Office and a bomb dog from the Sublette County Sheriff's Office traveled to Worland to assist in the search.

In the meantime, local authorities and high school officials went through camera footage taken of people entering a bathroom where the threat was found. Using that footage, investigators identified and then interviewed several suspects. One was the boy who later confessed, the news release stated.

A search of the school and the suspect's home did not net any explosives, though some related evidence was seized from the house.
A proposal to increase Wyomings sales tax by 2 percent to address the schools funding shortfall was removed Friday from the education omnibus bill.

Lawmakers first adopted an amendment to reduce the tax hike to 0.5 percent while moving up the date at which the increase would expire. The legislation, an omnibus measure designated House Bill 236, would have collected the money and deposited it into the main school funding account through June 30, 2020. Under the first amendment, sponsored by Rep. Albert Sommers, the increase wouldve been scaled back and then repealed on July 1, 2018.

Later, however, another amendment removed the sales tax increase entirely, striking it from the bill.

Brian Farmer, the executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association, had previously said that the 2 percent increase may be removed from the bill.

However, there still exists in the bill the possibility for another sales tax increase. Part of the omnibus bills approach to tackling the looming $400 million annual education shortfall includes dipping into the Legislatures rainy day fund, which currently holds around $1.6 billion. Under the omnibus bill, $100 million would be taken from the legislative savings account and sent to fund schools every year.

However, should that rainy day fund fall below $500 million, a 0.5 percent sales tax increase would kick in to help fund schools while the rainy day funds levels were replenished.

HB 236 is itself a substitute for the original omnibus bill, which included similar aspects and provisions. The most notable change was the inclusion of the 2 percent sales tax increase, which has now been removed from the bills language.
A few years ago, Carter didnt use sign language. He didnt have any language. Because of his difficulties hearing (the 8-year-old has cochlear implants), he didnt have much interaction with classmates at school in Albany County.

The 8-year-old was isolated, explained his interpreter, Esther Hartsky. He was the only one using American Sign Language in his school. Much of his social interaction was with Hartsky, she said: He lived in his own little world.

He was too scared to get on the bus to take him to WYHI, an event for other deaf and hard of hearing students, adults and advocates.

But then he did go. And he saw that there were other children in the world who signed. And there were other children with hearing aids and implants. And he saw that he wasnt alone.

He was so surprised people were like him, Hartsky said. He would point (at other children) and be like, Look at that!

Hes come so far now, she added, beaming.

On Friday, he raced around the gym at Casper College as adults and kids alike danced to songs like YMCA and Gangnam Style. He jumped onto stacked mats and bounced from foot to foot as he waited in line with a dozen other children to get his face painted. He watched Kelly Walsh High School senior Gabi Reimann use a paintbrush to turn a girl with green hearing aids into a blond Spider-Man.

The festivities were all part of WYHI, which has been held for more than 25 years and is sponsored by the Wyoming Department of Education. In the past, attendees have skied and bowled, and on Friday, around 115 kids from across the state chowed down on pizza before watching deaf actor and professor Heath Goodall perform stories, including one about Batman and a stolen bra. Goodalls skits were greeted with waving hands, the sign-language equivalent of applause.

The event comes less than a year after the Department of Education announced cuts to its Outreach for Deaf and Hard of Hearing services. The office lost about $500,000 in funding, as well as as three positions. Wyoming now has two and a half outreach employees, compared with states like South Dakota, which has nearly a dozen, officials said.

WYHI serves many purposes, but helping socialize children and make them feel comfortable with themselves is chief among them, said Gail Schenfisch, an ASL and world languages teacher at Casper College.

Typically, students that learn ASL, 85 percent of their parents dont, said Schenfisch, who often signs words with her hands as she says them out loud.

In other words, many of the kids who danced and laughed together in the gym generally have few  if any  people to truly communicate with when they go home or to school, officials said.

Lacking those communication skills can have far-reaching effects.

This socialization is so important, said Kim Reimann, Gabis mother and a board member of Hands & Voices. Its OK to be deaf!

But feelings of isolation were common among the kids who attended WYHI. Melissa Doogan, a 29-year-old whos been coming to the event since she was 2, brought her young daughter, Jaydn Rohde, who, like Doogan, has difficulty hearing.

No one was really like me where I was from, Doogan said through an interpreter.

Cassidy, 15, and 12-year-old twins Katie and Maggie all drove up from Gillette for the event. Cassidy said she liked WYHI because she didnt have to hide her hearing aid; at school, she would keep her hair down or wear a headband so her classmates wouldnt poke or gawk at it.

Like they havent ever seen one before, she said, frustrated.

She added that she liked coming together to interact with people like you. Maggie and Katie agreed.

After Goodalls stories came the music. People rushed the floor to dance, with a man in a white shirt taking the stage to lead the crowd in the chicken dance. Schenfisch answered the obvious question: How do deaf and hard of hearing children interact with music?

One reason to have deaf people dance is to show them they can do it, she said.

And later, as the music stopped and the speakers went quiet, a group of parents, volunteers and kids stayed in the middle of the gym, singing and dancing the hokey pokey.
Wyoming lawmakers are considering a number of bills that, if passed, could result in a greater number of students being able to take advantage of the Hathaway scholarship.

The scholarship is a state program that awards funds to eligible Wyoming high school students for use at the University of Wyoming or one of the states community colleges.

At least three different bills moving through the Legislature deal with eligibility for the program.

One, House Bill 191, would allow two students from each of Wyomings neighboring states to apply for a Hathaway expand Wyoming scholarship.

Except for residency, applicants would need to meet the same requirements as Wyoming applicants and would need a 3.75 GPA.

Sponsored by House Speaker Steve Harshman, R-Casper, HB 191 was passed out of the House and is now in the state Senate.

Another bill, HB 255, would allow non-U.S. citizens or permanent residents to apply for the Hathaway scholarship, provided that they meet all other requirements, including Wyoming residency.

Those applicants must also be pursuing citizenship.

The bill would effectively allow undocumented students who have gone through the Wyoming school system and graduated from a Wyoming high school to apply for the Hathaway scholarship, regardless of their immigration status.

Rep. Mike Gireau, D-Jackson, sponsored the bill and said he imagines a number of students would be affected.

I dont think it is a great number, but it is a significant number, he said at a committee meeting earlier this week.

Rep. John Freeman, D-Green River, voted in favor of the bill in committee.

I know who these students are; I can put faces and names to them, he said. They were some of my best students, and there were no scholarships for them  they couldnt even get in-state tuition, even though they went through the whole K-12 system.

HB 255 was moving through the House of Representatives as of Friday afternoon, following an affirmative vote in the House Education Committee earlier this week.

A third bill, HB 277, would extend the time a high school graduate has to apply for a Hathaway scholarship from two years to four years.

Rep. Bill Henderson, R-Cheyenne, said earlier this week that he got the idea from a constituent who wanted to apply for the program but was over the two-year limit.

That bill also passed the House Education Committee and was still before the full House on Friday afternoon.

Supporters of the bills say they could help bring additional students into Wyomings higher learning institutions, some of which have suffered from low enrollment lately.

Others are worried that while expanding the Hathaway program could be beneficial, its unknown if the scholarship fund could afford the increase in students.

Were really getting kind of greedy, said Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who had concerns about overly stressing the Hathaway programs finances.

Except for HB 191, its unknown how many additional students could be gained from expanding the Hathaway program.
CHEYENNE  A 30-year-old Ethete woman has been sentenced to 2  years in prison for the death of a 50-year-old man in a drunken driving crash last summer on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Rita Mae Willow was sentenced Wednesday for involuntary manslaughter by U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl, who also ordered her to pay just over $2,100 in restitution.

Willow was charged after a July 18 crash near Ethete that killed her passenger, Allison Tyrone Trosper Sr. He suffered a skull fracture when he was thrown from Willow's truck in the rollover crash.

Prosecutors say a test after the crash indicated Willow's blood alcohol level was 0.24 percent  three times the legal limit for driving in Wyoming.
CHEYENNE  The budget bill now before the Wyoming Legislature specifies that 75 state government positions must be selected for future possible cuts. But lawmakers dont specify which jobs they want eliminated.

The work of choosing which positions must go is being forced on Gov. Matt Mead, who doesnt agree the reductions are even necessary.

Its not a new tactic from the Wyoming Legislature.

Last year, lawmakers adopted a budget with whats known as the penny plan  a 1 percent reduction from most agencies in the first year of the two-year budget cycle and an additional 1 percent decrease in the second year.

And again, it was up to the executive branch  agency heads in consultation with the governor  to find the efficiencies  either through personnel or program cuts. Mead has said hes tried to preserve as many state jobs as he can.

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, the Democratic leader of the Senate, said when the Legislature makes reductions, lawmakers need to look in the eyes of the employees and Wyomingites affected by cuts.

By just providing high-level cuts without any of the detail, the Legislature can force the governor to make those hard choices  and own those choices  where the Legislature doesnt have to do so, said Rothfuss, from Laramie.

Next week, the budget bill  which now includes a $30 million reduction from the general government operations  will be amended by lawmakers, and the requirement to cut 75 potential positions could be lifted.

Republican leaders in the Legislature disagree with the characterization that lawmakers have avoided the politically unpopular work by forcing the governor to make the difficult decisions.

House Speaker Steve Harshman said the proposed directive for Mead to find 75 jobs gives him flexibility to make decisions that work best for state agencies. The Legislature adjourns in a month.

Hes going to have 16 months now to say, OK, this position became vacant in this agency, I can pull that one. Well reorg. Well do whatever. Instead of going in and rifing people, Harshman said, referring to reductions in force. It gives him flexibility as a governor and a chief executive, managing and living this every day with his department heads, to really work that.

Over the summer, Mead had to cut $250 million in the face of declining state revenues. The fiscal crunch is the result of a downturn in the energy industry, which through taxes and other payments supplies the vast majority of money for state government to operate.

Harshman, a Republican from Casper, said the Legislature closed the 2016 session with a balanced budget that decreased government size and spending. The smaller budget wasnt small enough, he said, when revenue receipts started to arrive after lawmakers left Cheyenne.

They showed even more declines in coal production and oil and gas prices, which forced the governor to sharpen the knives.

Senate President Eli Bebout said the Legislature should be making larger cuts to programs.

Do I think we did enough? No, I thought we should have had further reductions last year, the Republican from Riverton said. But its just hard. Those are tough decisions; its all hindsight now. Looking back, we should have. But the governor stepped right up. He did what he needed to do. Hes the executive, CEO of the executive branch.

Mead, in an interview Friday, said he didnt resent the Legislature for cuts that have been left to him.

He said he never completely agrees with the decisions of the authors of the budget bill, the Joint Appropriations Committee.

And this year, he disagrees with the JACs request that he find another 75 positions for potential elimination. The state hasnt yet adjusted to all the cuts that have been made the past year, he said.

I think I have a track record of where cuts are needed I can make them, he said.
Government closest to the people governs best.

We hear this adage constantly from Wyomings Republican lawmakers for all sorts of topics: land management, gun control, reproductive justice, you name it. Its the most popular way to rail against our federal government. However, these lawmakers only apply this logic when it suits them or the industries they view as their primary constituency. This infatuation with local control is not boundless, and Republican lawmakers are once again taking aim at the autonomy of your local elected school board.

School district boards are closer to the people than most state legislators. School boards across Wyoming are made up of parents, former teachers, businesspeople and former administrators  all people who volunteer their time to improve our educational system. They are in the schools, talking with the students, the parents, and our professional educators. They understand the issues and they understand how to administer a budget. They do not need to be micromanaged. Certainly not by legislators in Cheyenne.

Reps. Allen, Miller, Salazar, Larsen and Clem and Sen. Driskill disagree. These lawmakers have proposed a bill (HB 233) that would take the decision-making authority for employee compensation away from school districts and hand it directly to the Legislature.

This is not the first time that the Legislature has grabbed control of our schools. In 2011 the Legislature decided to mandate class sizes in primary grades. They failed to listen when school boards insisted that relief from this mandate would give them greater flexibility to make efficient use of funds, and theyre failing to listen again.

We all know Wyoming is dealing with a difficult budgetary situation. We feel its effects every day. It is particularly painful and complex when it comes to funding our education system. Currently, districts receive their funding as a block grant and local school boards make decisions about how to spend those dollars based on their unique situations. Every Wyoming community is different and boards have different priorities based on the constituents they represent and the needs in their schools. Local control through a school board allows each district to represent the culture and values of their communities.

It is sad to see that, these legislators are viewing this difficult budgetary situation as an opportunity to pursue their own pet peeves about educator compensation. Why are they proposing legislation that will harm educators and school board autonomy when they could be figuring out ways to fund our school system  which is their primary job?

There is no good reason for the Legislature to further tie the hands of our locally elected school boards. School boards represent their stakeholders, understand their communities, and should be respected for their commitment to education for every child.

Is local control important, or not? It seems the answer depends on who the beneficiary may be. When its democratically elected school board members, Representatives Allen, Larsen, Miller Clem and Salazar and Senator Driskill are clear: they can do a better job acting as a school board than the school board you elected.
U.S. Sen. Mike Enzis editorial of Jan. 25 in the CST claimed that the GOP could replace the Affordable Care Act and control health care costs. The ACA accomplished much good. It covers 22 million Americans who previously could not afford health insurance, eliminates annual and lifetime caps, covers pre-existing conditions, covers preventive care and covers children under 26 years old under their parents insurance. However, costs have continued to rise, through increased premiums, greater co-pays, higher deductibles and higher drug costs.

It is not an accident that Americans have the most expensive health care system in the world. We spend about twice what other industrialized countries spend on health care, but by almost every metric our health status is lower. Its worth understanding why other countries health care systems cost less and deliver better care, because until we address the real reason we have the most expensive system in the world, our health care costs will continue to rise.

The reason: We are the only developed country that has a for-profit health care system. In a for-profit system, where profits are expected to rise quarterly, costs cannot be controlled.

Other countries use one of three models to control their health care costs. The Beveridge model uses public insurance and public providers and facilities. Health care is provided and financed by the government through taxes, like our military or public schools. Hospitals and clinics are primarily owned by the government. Most doctors are government employees, although there are private practitioners who bill the government. Costs are controlled by the government through price controls, expenditure caps and the types and location of services. Physicians, not insurance companies, determine the patients medical needs. The model guarantees everyone access to a predetermined level of care. Great Britain, Spain and most of the Scandinavian countries use this model.

In the Bismarck model, doctors and hospitals are usually private; however, the insurance system (known as sick funds) is financed jointly by employers and employees through payroll taxes. Sick funds have to cover everyone and cannot make a profit. People dont lose their insurance if they lose their jobs. The funds are tightly regulated by a quasi-governmental board that includes members of the public. Physician and hospital costs are negotiated annually and are set according to a fixed set of covered services, limited by law to services that are economically viable, sufficient, necessary and meaningful. Germany, France, Belgium, and Japan are some of the countries using this model.

The National Health Insurance model uses private providers and facilities who are paid by a single-payer, publicly funded insurance program. With few exceptions, all citizens are covered for a fixed set of covered services. Costs are controlled through lower overhead, administrative simplicity, and the ability to negotiate lower pharmaceutical and durable medical good prices. Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea use this model.

When it comes to health care, the United States is unlike other developed countries in six significant ways. First, other countries dont have a for-profit system. Second, other countries have one model for everyone, which is more efficient to administer and eliminates cost-shifting. With everyone in the same network, neither the patient nor provider is financially penalized. Third, whether the insurance premiums are paid for by taxes, by employer/employee contributions or subsidized by the government, every citizen has access to care and the same package of covered services. Because everyone has insurance, the population is healthier. Fourth, medical schooling is subsidized, resulting in more physicians and minimal medical school debt. Fifth, since care is universal, malpractice claims and medical bankruptcies are minimal. Finally, health care in these countries is organized, managed, and regulated in a manner that protects all parts of their system from the economically powerful special interest groups that play one part of our system against another.

In contrast to your claims, Sen. Enzi, these three models prove that a one-size-fits-all insurance plan does work. Comparison studies show that a universal system is the only type of system that can control costs, cover everyone and provide quality outcomes. From a cost-benefit perspective, it would be easiest to fold everyone into Medicare. On the other hand, if we want to keep private insurance, the German system works very well. Please replace Obamacare with one of these three models. Any other kind of reform will fail the American people.
People who are active in local community groups may have slightly sharper mental skills at the age of 50, a new study suggests.

British researchers said their findings build on evidence that social engagement may help slow mental decline as people age.

The findings were based on over 9,000 adults from the United Kingdom whod been part of a longterm health study since they were children. At the ages of 33 and 50, they were asked about their involvement in any civic groups  including volunteer organizations, church groups, neighborhood associations and groups involved in politics or social causes, among others.

At age 50, all the participants took standard tests of cognitive abilities, such as memory, thinking and reasoning skills.

Overall, the study found, people involved in groups scored a little higher on those tests  between 0.4 and 0.6 points higher, on average.

Several other factors, including higher education levels and better physical health, showed a stronger connection to peoples test scores. But, even after the researchers accounted for those factors, group involvement was still statistically linked to better cognitive test scores.

However, the study, published recently in the journal BMC Psychology, didnt prove cause-and-effect.

The researchers, led by Ann Bowling of the University of Southampton, acknowledged the studys limitations. The direction of causality can, of course, be questioned, they wrote.

Still, Bowling said that community engagement may help people maintain their communication and social skills, which could help protect their mental functions as they age.

So, she said, community involvement should be encouraged throughout adult life.

Dr. Ezriel Kornel, a neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, accepted some of the studys conclusions  to an extent.

If theres a community group that intellectually engages you, that can only do you good, he said.

But, Kornel said the study had significant shortcomings.

The main shortcoming, he said, is that people who join community organizations are a very select group. Theyre likely to be intellectually curious and have relatively sharp mental and social skills to begin with, he said.

So you cant really draw anything from this observation, Kornel said.

For brain benefits, he stressed the importance of a healthy lifestyle and controlling conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. Studies have found that the same factors that contribute to heart disease may increase the risk of dementia, too.
Police officers in Linyi, Shandong province, help migrant workers get payment that had been withheld by their employers last month.[Zhu Wutao/for China Daily]

The State Council, China's Cabinet, approved two important five-year plans on Friday to enhance supervision of food and medicine safety amid the government's efforts to better protect public health.

The two plans, passed at an executive conference presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, outlined the government's blueprint for ensuring food and drug safety during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

According to the plans, the government will keep a close eye on key areas such as schools and roadside vendors to ensure that the food they sell is safe. The authorities will enhance supervision guarding against excessive pesticide use and misuse of food additives.

The government will speed up the establishment procedures to make sure that all phases of medicine production and sales are retraceable, and the production and sale of counterfeit medicine will be severely punished.

Sample testing will cover all kinds of food, blood products, vaccines and essential medicines to improve risk surveillance and assessment, according to the plans.

The government will also speed up the amendment to the national standard on food safety and raise the safety standard of food, medicine and cosmetics.

The executive conference announced strict measures to protect the legal interests of migrant workers who were not paid by their employers.

Provincial governments will be held accountable for ensuring the timely payment of migrant workers. Provinces that produce large numbers of migrant workers are urged to help workers get their pay on time.

Companies that fail to pay wages promptly will be put on a blacklist that will be published at regular intervals. Their market access will be limited in the future.

"China has made impressive progress largely thanks to the effort and contribution by our migrant workers," the State Council said in a statement.

Huang Leping, director of Beijing Yilian Legal Aid and Research Center of Labor, said that Li has paid attention to the legal interests of migrant workers, showing the central government's concern over the suffering of the grassroots.

Those who refuse to pay the migrant workers should face tougher punishment in keeping with the Criminal Law, which rules that employers can face up to seven years imprisonment if they maliciously delay or refuse to pay workers, said Huang, whose NGO has helped more than 140,000 employees, mostly migrant workers, to protect their rights.

Compared with employees in many other occupations, such as teachers, migrant workers are more vulnerable to the infringement of their rights because they have little knowledge and few channels to safeguard their rights, he added.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Feb. 4 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.
James Richard Dick Anklam  a spirited man who was well known in the mining, industrial and building communities  died Monday, January 30, of complications from multiple illnesses. He was 83.

Anklam died at Northwest Medical Center where he was surrounded by family for several weeks, said his son James Anklam.

He is at peace, said Markie Anklam who was married to Dick for 61 years.

The qualities he passed on to me were that family matters, relationships matter. He put God first and he put others ahead of himself, said James Anklam, recalling that his dad, no matter how busy he was, attended sporting events when he and his brother and sister were young.

He taught us not to take anything for granted. He taught us that the time you spend with people and your family is the most important, said James Anklam.

His family reminisced about Dicks adventurous life, his Presbyterian faith, and his love for the University of Arizona where four generations of Anklams graduated.

Dick was born at the Storks Nest  Tucsons first maternity ward  on July 26, 1933. He grew up with his parents on his familys homestead that included hundreds of acres on Tucsons west side where the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa sits in the Tucson Mountains. Anklam Road is named after Dicks great uncle and great aunt.

Dick and his brother grew up free-spirited on the land and hunted for the familys meals, which included rattlesnake, deer, javelina and rabbits. Their mother, Jessie, a UA grad who was a teacher, was a tough broad who rarely was rattled, said Jeff Benedict, Dicks son-in-law, recalling stories.

He recalled two instances, however, when the boys managed to shake their mother. Once, when they killed rattlesnakes and skinned them, leaving the carcasses in the sink. When Jessie turned on the water, the snakes stood up in the sink, said Benedict. She had enough.

Another instance was when Dick and his brother captured two bats and put them in the refrigerator. When Jessie opened the fridges door, the bats came at her, recalled Benedict, roaring in laughter.

The boys experienced more adventures when they tagged along with their father, Ralph, a foreman of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The elder Anklams work included construction of shelters on Gates Pass, lights installations at Colossal Cave, and building bridges, outhouses and picnic tables in Sabino Canyon.

When Dick attended Tucson High School, he received impeccable grades, was editor of the schools newspaper and lettered in track and cross country. He was awarded the Baird Scholarship to attend the UA.

While students at the UA, Dick met his future wife, Markie Barker, a native of Cottonwood. The two, who were active in student government, met their junior year at a Sabino Canyon picnic. They soon became sweethearts  marrying in 1955, the year they graduated. He was a mining engineer and she was a teacher.

The newlyweds found jobs on the Navajo Nation and lived in Bloomfield, New Mexico in the Four Corners area.

Dick worked for Shell Oil coring oil samples and Markie taught high school students for several years before they moved to Danville, California after Dick took a job working in sales for Johns-Manville, an industrial corporation that supplied materials to manufacturers and the construction industry. He worked in California until 1985 when the Anklams returned to Tucson.

Dick worked for contractors before joining the Arizona Builders Alliance, which represents companies that service the commercial and industrial construction industry.

As a director for the alliance, he formed an education program through Pima Community College and established an electrical apprenticeship training program, said Markie Anklam.

He worked with instructors and had a series of safety classes in the construction trades, said Markie Anklam, explaining that his curriculum affected hundreds of students. He retired from the alliance in 2007.

Dick always had time for others and gave of himself, said his wife, adding that he founded a prison ministry in the late 1980s and a halfway house for inmates to help them transition into society.

In addition to his wife and son, James, Anklam is survived by two other children, 10 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and a brother.

A celebration of Anklams life will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 at Catalina Foothills Church, 2150 E. Orange Grove Road. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the church or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
An appeals court panel has upheld the drug-smuggling conviction of a man apprehended near Tucson, despite the fact that he did not have any drugs with him at the time of his arrest.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 31 upheld the conviction of Abelardo Niebla on a drug-trafficking conspiracy charge. Niebla was arrested in November 2014 on a mountainside near Ajo and accused of guiding drug smugglers in the valley below, court records show.

Law enforcement officials in Southern Arizona have long complained that scouts play a critical role in drug smuggling, but are difficult to prosecute. Nieblas March 2015 conviction in U.S. District Court in Tucson opened the door for prosecuting scouts, a Border Patrol spokesman told the Star. Since then, 72 scouts have been convicted of conspiracy charges, according to the Border Patrol.

When a Border Patrol agent arrested Niebla and an accomplice on the peak of Pozo Redondo Mountain, the agent found binoculars, radios, cellphones and solar panels. The agent believed the items indicated the two men were scouts for drug smugglers. Niebla later told an agent he was watching Border Patrol activity and reporting back to a drug-trafficking cartel.

Niebla pleaded guilty to illegal-reentry but did not plead guilty to the conspiracy charge. After a bench trial, he was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to nine months in prison. Judge Raner C. Collins based his decision on Nieblas statements, the items found in his possession and the fact that he had been arrested three years prior with similar items.

Niebla appealed his 2015 conviction on the grounds that prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence that a crime actually happened. He also argued that the court could not use his statements because he felt threatened by the agent when he gave them.

The appeals court judges reviewed a recording of the interrogation and ruled the agent did not threaten Niebla. The judges also said his case satisfied the law based on the fact that a rational person would conclude Niebla knowingly and unlawfully agreed to act as a scout.
A brazen attack on a drug ripoff crew in a Southern Arizona mountain range last year left one man shot in the knees and six men sentenced to prison terms.

Federal prosecutors said a hitman working for a Mexican drug cartel was hired to exact revenge on a rival group that stole a load of marijuana the day before, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

The May 2016 incidents resulted in the first prosecutions of a Southern Arizona rip crew shooting since at least 2011, said Francisco Burrola, deputy special agent in charge in Tucson for Homeland Security Investigations, the lead agency in the investigation.

Violence among criminals often goes unreported, but a shooting between a rip crew and hit men is not a common thing, Burrola said.

Border Patrol agents who responded May 2 to the remote area near Cyprus Mine in the Santa Rosa Mountains southwest of Casa Grande found Francisco Lizarraga Hernandez with gunshot wounds in his knees and Jose Hernandez Flores, who had called 911 asking for medical help.

The agents also found 500 pounds of marijuana, two AK-47 style rifles, ammunition magazines, a pistol, and a bullet-proof vest, according to a criminal complaint.

The incident led to the arrest of six men, two of whom were part of the rip crew that stole the marijuana and four involved in the shooting the next day. The final two defendants were sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Lizarraga Hernandez told agents he and Hernandez Flores, each armed with an AK-47, stole a marijuana load from a group of smugglers working for the Pariente drug-trafficking organization, court records show.

They were guided by a man in Mexico who knew where the drug load would be crossing the desert. When the group of backpackers arrived, Lizarraga Hernandez said he and Hernandez Flores ran toward them, shooting their firearms into the air.

After the robbery, the guide of the backpacking group, Severo Nieblas Diaz, called Pedro Ojeda Ramirez to recover the marijuana, federal prosecutor Serra Tsethlikai wrote in a sentencing memorandum, describing Ojeda Ramirez as a sicario, a hit man, an assassin.

The next day, Ojeda Ramirez, Vidal Quinones Gonzalez, and Ulises Saijas Zamorano, armed with an AK-47 style rifle, an M-1 style rifle, and a pistol, positioned themselves on a hill overlooking the stolen marijuana and started shooting at the two men guarding the load, Tsethlikai wrote.

Ojeda Ramirez was arrested about three miles from the site of the shooting. He told agents he was a scout for the Cusa drug-trafficking organization and volunteered to recover the load for an extra $2,000.

A few weeks after the shooting, then-Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu held a news conference and issued a warning to travelers for the Memorial Day weekend about rip crews stealing drug loads in shootouts.

Three days after the shooting, a Pinal County deputy stopped a white Ford F-150 on Sunland Gin Road south of Interstate 10 for a traffic violation. Inside, the deputy found 13 people who were in the country illegally.

One of the men inside the truck told authorities he and the other occupants of the truck were the backpackers shot at days earlier.

Another man in the truck was Saijas Zamorano, one of the shooters. He told agents he was a scout who had helped guide about 10 backpacking groups in the previous two weeks, including the group that was ambushed by the rip crew.

Ojeda Ramirez did not have a criminal history and was not identified as the shooter, defense lawyer Annamarie Valdivia said at the sentencing hearing. If he had not taken responsibility, he likely would have won at trial.

Youve already sentenced the people who were the real villains here, Valdivia said.

A witness to the incidents refused to testify after being threatened by co-defendant Nieblas, the guide of the backpacking group who called in Ojeda Ramirez, Tsethlikai said.

Valdivia said it was shocking that although Nieblas ordered the assault, he was offered a plea deal that resulted in a five-year sentence.

The men faced drug-trafficking and firearms charges. Ojeda and Lizarraga Hernandez were sentenced to about 12 years in prison; Hernandez Flores and Quinones Gonzalez, 10 years; Nieblas and Saijas Zamorano, 5 years.

NOTE: This story originally misstated the sentences for Francisco Lizarraga Hernandez and Jose Hernandez Flores. Their sentences have been corrected.
More than 50 cats and kittens were taken from a Tucson home Friday, in the third hoarding rescue in three weeks, authorities said.

Field services officers with the Pima County Animal Care Center removed 54 cats from the home, and members of the shelter team worked late into the night to check their weights, vaccinate and deworm them before transferring the animals to the medical team, according to a post on PACC's Facebook page.

Additional community agencies responded to the home, which was described as being in "deplorable" condition, and addressed safety concerns with the structure, said Pima County spokesman, Mark Evans.

PACC has reached out to rescue and shelter partners for help make room for the new cats, who need medical care and isolation time. Many organizations, including the Humane Society of Southern Arizona and Saving Animals From Euthanasia, have already agreed to take other PACC cats into their care to make room for the new arrivals, Evans said.

The 57 cats who were rescued from a Jan. 19 hoarding situation are ready to leave the shelter, and anyone who takes one home won't pay a fee, according to PACC's Facebook page.

Through Feb. 14, PACC is running a special on all other pets, with adoption fees priced at $14 or less. The fee includes the pet's spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, microchip and vet visit. A standard licensing fee of $17 will apply for all dogs.

For those who can't adopt, PACC is asking the public to please consider helping in another way, by making a donation or gift of medical supplies.
University of Arizona facilities need about $350 million in deferred maintenance, and without significant investment that cost could balloon to more than $1 billion in the next decade, school officials said.

A plan in Gov. Doug Duceys proposed state budget could result in the university being able to use some sales-tax revenue to put a dent in the long list of needed capital improvements.

The universitys chief financial officer, in a presentation to the Arizona Board of Regents, called the disrepair a ticking time bomb, saying its just a matter of time until the lack of timely repairs and maintenance creates an emergency situation.

It already has caused some significant problems.

The UA had to repair collapsed concrete on a road near the Student Union while students and faculty were on winter break. In another instance, an electrical fire and loss of power last July at Banner-University Medical Center forced the hospital to evacuate some patients for 24 hours while repairs were made.

UA officials analyzed all facilities and identified seven buildings on the main campus as being outdated and in need of the most repairs. They are: Forbes, Steward Observatory, Biological Sciences East and West, Harshbarger, Shantz and the College of Medicine.

Another building, Old Chemistry, built in 1936, which overlooks the UA Mall from the south, is on the list for demolition. Everything, save for its historic facade, has to go, but there arent any immediate plans to replace the building.

An anthropology professor called his classroom inside Old Chem depressing, saying he hears strange noises every now and then. Its not a great educational environment, said Matthew Rowe, the professor. But he didnt know it was so bad it had to be demolished.

The buildings and their infrastructures have lived, and are living, long past their life spans, said Chris Kopach, assistant vice president of facilities management. Most of them were built before the 1970s. For instance, the Forbes building, where the agriculture department is based, was built in 1915, though it has had upgrades over the years.

Some of the signs of disrepair include cracked concrete, deteriorated insulation, duct leakage, antiquated cold rooms and inefficient lab exhausts. The electrical, mechanical and air-handler systems are 50 to 60 years old in the seven buildings, when the recommended life span would be about 25 years, he said.

Its not that those buildings are not safe to be in, Kopach said. As far as the buildings being safe, theyre all safe. This is no different than when you have a home and you have aging infrastructure and equipment.

The disrepair that poses immediate risk of fire or to safety are addressed quickly, he said. Most of the deferred maintenance is what goes on underneath the layers the public can see, with more than half of it having to do with old heating and cooling systems.

However, there are health issues associated with the systems disrepair in buildings.

A UA presentation, as part of its strategic plan, includes a brief on indoor health issues related to deferred maintenance, which says that long-term effects of temperature, humidity, pressure, noise, vibration, particulates and airborne contaminants may have direct and indirect consequences on individual health.

Parts of the governors proposed budget may allow for additional capital funding for the states three public universities to deal with matters such as deferred maintenance and also to invest in newer buildings for research.

But until the budget makes its way through the Legislature, its business as usual for the UA: focusing on emergency repairs and preventive measures.

Underground system

Beneath the campus lies a utility tunnel system of more than 6 miles that supplies water, steam and more to buildings . The steam thats used to heat the classrooms during cold weather? That comes through those underground pipes.

Rick Lower, a facilities superintendent, is one of three employees tasked with traveling through the vast tunnel system daily to make sure everything is working, though a lot of monitoring is done remotely through electronic systems.

Late last year, Lower discovered the concrete on James E. Rogers Way, a narrow one-way road just south of Second Street that connects east and west sides of the campus, had collapsed on top of the tunnel.

Water had infiltrated the concrete over the years, rusting and stretching the rebar that separated the concrete, Lower said. Theres also heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area.

While students and faculty were away on Christmas break, the facilities management team removed the collapsed concrete, formed a new lid, installed rebar, waterproofed the structure and refilled the concrete in 2 weeks. That ended up being a costly repair  about $300,000.

There are other parts of the tunnel that need maintenance. Theres concrete falling from heavy traffic in several corridors. We handle it on an emergency basis, Kopach said. When theres more than $300 million worth of maintenance needing to be done, thats often how it works.

A UA-developed technique is actually helping the university address some of the tunnel issues. Mo Ehsani, a structural engineering professor in the civil engineering department, developed the Quake Wrap method, which uses fiber-reinforced polymer to strengthen the structures.

As far as outdated equipment, the facilities management team has done a remarkable job of keeping systems more than 50 years old running, Kopach said. Some of the electrical equipment housed underneath the Arizona State Museum might as well be in the museum because its so old, he said.

In the electrical outage at Banner-UMC last July, the problem was caused by an old electrical system owned by the UA. In fact, it was so old that parts for it had to be bought on eBay, as 1960s high-voltage fuses it needed were no longer being commercially manufactured.

Hopes raised

Gregg Goldman, the UAs CFO and senior vice president of business affairs, said he was excited to hear the governors budget included a sales-tax recapture plan to make capital funding available to the universities.

I think this is an amazing step in the right direction to solve two problems, he said. One, research infrastructure and new buildings are critical to fund, to be able to attract and retain our top faculty, which helps our contracts and grants and helps us find the next new big thing. It also helps us recognize the older buildings.

Essentially, what it does is allow universities to take back the sales tax they pay, which would then be matched by each of the three universities and gives them bonding authority. For the UA, the sales-tax recapture program could lead to more than $400 million in bonding capacity.

While no decisions have been made about what to prioritize, if the sales-tax plan is approved, Goldman said about $225 million could go toward the $350 million deferred-maintenance problem.

Renewal is cumulative, he said. If we can change the dialogue and change the equation, where now were taking $225 million and putting it toward this problem, its not going to compound up to a billion.

Goldman said the university must focus on both building new infrastructure and fixing old infrastructure. Part of that is recognizing the historical significance of some of the buildings, but also recognizing the need to grow the university enterprise.

If the sales-tax plan is not approved as part of the state budget, the need to solve the deferred-maintenance issue doesnt diminish, he said. It just means we need to find other ways to connect the dots to make it happen.
PHOENIX  A Prescott lawmaker wants to make it illegal for sober-living homes and similar day-treatment centers to pay people for referrals, a practice he calls an insurance scam.

Rep. Noel Campbell acknowledged that placing limits on referral fees runs contrary to the Republican philosophy of less regulation. In fact, his HB 2333 comes on the heels of the state House voting to remove all limits on how much apartment owners can pay for leads that bring them new tenants.

But Campbell said this is different.

This is kind of a shady industry, he said, especially outpatient-treatment programs that bill themselves as able to help people with addiction.

They have people, brokers or younger kids go out and find other kids that are in distress with drug-addiction problems and they pay them, sometimes up to $5,000, to have this kid brought to them, Campbell said.

But he said the operators of these facilities arent necessarily interested in helping all comers.

The kid whos brought to them has to have insurance and money, he said. Its just a way to get at the money on the insurance.

The measure has some real teeth.

Referrals of more than $1,000 would be a Class 3 felony, with a presumptive prison term of 3 years for a first-time offense  and a possible eight years and nine months for aggravated violations.

Even a referral of less than $100 would be a Class 6 felony, which carries a presumptive sentence of one year behind bars.

Campbell, who shepherded through legislation last year allowing cities to have some oversight of these sober-living homes and clinics, said the problem is not limited to Arizona. He said Florida already has adopted similar restrictions.

Mary Beth Hrin, who is working with Campbell on the legislation, said there is a reason to impose such restrictions on this industry that do not exist elsewhere.

These kids theyre bringing in here have no diagnosis and arent being referred by a medical professional, said Hrin, an unsuccessful candidate last year for the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.

Campbells legislation specifically says the ban on referral fees does not apply to nurse registries.

Theyre bringing these kids in based on the fact that they do have insurance, Hrin said. Theyre coming into the clinics that cant offer them the standard of care, as some of these people may need psychiatric care in addition to dealing with their addiction, she said. These kids become a commodity.

Campbell acknowledged that if sober-living homes and clinics are not qualified to provide treatment, there is another alternative: new restrictions on their operations. That, however, may be more difficult politically to get approved than a simple ban on referral fees, which Campbell said are not used by everyone in the business.

The problem with that is that the good clinics are the ones that have asked me to run this bill, with only fly-by-nights opposed, he said. This industry is stuffed with these people that are out to make a quick buck and move on.

Theresa Ulmer, who represents the Arizona Recovery Housing Association, said her organization has not yet taken a position on the measure.
PHOENIX  Good news for Arizonans waiting to prepare their tax returns. The forms they need arent quite in the mail yet, but they will be  soon.

Thats the word from the state Department of Revenue, which disclosed last week it had sent out incorrect information to about 580,000 taxpayers about how much income they needed to declare when they file their 2016 federal tax returns.

Department spokesman Ed Greenberg said Friday the corrected 1099-G forms have been prepared and printed. He said the plan is to drop them in the mail on Monday.

Just the printing is costing taxpayers $19,000.

As to the mailing costs, Greenberg said he has no idea. But if the state has to pay first-class postage on each of the new envelopes, that will add another $284,000 to the tab.

The 1099-G forms are supposed to represent what the state paid each taxpayer in refunds last year from their 2015 tax returns. But the numbers that went out to each of the 580,000 who got refunds reflected the amount from their 2014 returns.

What made the problem more serious is that the Department of Revenue sent the correct numbers to the Internal Revenue Service. And that means anyone who files a federal tax return with different figures than the IRS has is likely to get an inquiry.

So what went wrong?

The official explanation is that a data-file transfer error occurred as part of the mail-out process.

In simpler terms, Greenberg said there was a step in the process where the data going out was supposed to be checked. That didnt happen.

As a result, Weve modified it with some additional checks and balances, he said.
The normally dry Rillito River and Tanque Verde Creek have been flowing steadily in recent weeks even though Tucson has had no rain since a mere 0.01 of an inch on Jan. 24.

The shallow but persistent streams, fed by snowmelt from mountains, will help replenish much-needed groundwater, experts say.

The slower flow you get from snowmelt does help with (groundwater) recharge, said Suzanne Shields, director of the Pima County Flood Control District.

It has more chance to soak in  infiltrating as its flowing because its going slowly, as opposed to rapid runoff from heavy rains, Shields said. This has been happening over several days. Its not just a short event, ... this is very beneficial.

Professor Thomas Meixner, a University of Arizona hydrologist, also sees recharge benefits from the continuing stream flow.

Winter has been decently wet so far, and the amount of snow in the Catalinas means an extended runoff season in mountain streams, Meixner said. That should translate to above-average recharge.

Meixner said he expects the stream flows and recharge to continue in the coming days and perhaps weeks.

Essentially, infiltration and recharge on the Rillito is directly dependent on how long it flows, Meixner said. My guess is that the next two weeks will see pretty good flow.

RIVERSIDE RECREATION

A stream that flows for weeks rather than days is a relative rarity in the Tucson valley  and many people have taken the opportunity to walk along, or in, the waters of Tanque Verde Creek and the Rillito.

Some have brought their dogs for a frolic in the flow.

One popular spot is along North Craycroft Road where Tanque Verde Creek and the Pantano Wash come together to form the Rillito.


One of Ronald Reagan's great undoings as President was the fact that a gang of neocons managed to penetrate his Administration at the second and third tiers, particularly at the Defense and State Departments, and as "consultants" to the National Security Council. End result: Iran-Contra and other debacles that left a black scar on the Reagan legacy. Although an independent prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh, was appointed to fully investigate the illegal arming of the Nicaraguan Contras and the covert shipping of ballistic missiles to Iran, some via Israel, few of the culprits were actually indicted and fewer were convicted.

The reason for dredging up this bit of ancient history is the fact that one of the nastiest of the Iran-Contra criminals, Elliot Abrams, is under consideration for the powerful post of Deputy Secretary of State, according to a January 25, 2017 Washington Post column by Josh Rogin. I do not use the word "criminal" rhetorically. Abrams was one of the few Iran-Contra players to be convicted, albeit of a misdemeanor crime of misleading Congress. He actually lied to Congress, which was a felony, but he struck a plea agreement with Special Prosecutor Walsh and got the reduced penalty in return for a promise to cooperate. That October 1991 deal had been preceded in July 1991 by a similar plea deal by Alan Fiers, the CIA officer who was also a key player in the illegal arming of the Nicaraguan Contras. Abrams headed the Restricted Interagency Group, which coordinated the secret war in Central America between the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon. Other members of the RIG were Lt. Col. Oliver North and Fiers.

Abrams is neocon aristocracy. Before he joined the Reagan Administration, he worked for Senators Henry Jackson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. His father-in-law was Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine and a co-founder of the American neo-conservative movement along with Irving Kristol.

Although his misdemeanor convictions deprived Abrams of a post in the George H.W. Bush Administration, he was a co-founder of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), which produced the neocon blueprint for the George W. Bush Administration's endless regime change wars. He was appointed by Bush 43 to a top post at the National Security Council, where he was in the middle of the promotion of the disastrous Iraq invasion of March 2003.

Any appointment of Abrams to a top post in the Trump Administration, especially a post as powerful as Deputy Secretary of State, who effectively runs the day to day affairs of the U.S. diplomatic corps, would be a disaster. An even larger disaster, to be avoided, would be the flood of neocon ideologues into key State Department posts if Abrams were to get the job. Open the door a crack and the stink bugs swarm in. They never travel alone.

No doubt, Bibi Netanyahu, who is preparing his first visit to Washington since the Trump inauguration, is crossing his fingers, and perhaps even praying that Abrams gets the job.
Distraction policy [By Jiao Haiyang / China.org.cn]

On Jan. 29, the second day of China's Lunar New Year, The Times, a British national newspaper, published a report entitled "Rifkind a stooge in secret PR war on China," saying that the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a U.K. think tank, is paid a total of 15,000 pounds per month by the Japanese embassy in the U.K. to voice opposition to Chinese foreign policy. Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind was approached by HJS and served as a stooge in this disgraceful deal.

According to the report, a provisional proposal wanted the think tank to deliver a "communications strategy" for the embassy at a cost of 15,000 pounds per month. Written in early 2016, the proposal aimed to engage U.K. journalists and high-level politicians, including members of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, to focus on "the threat to western strategic interests posed by Chinese expansionism." It added that "as part of delivering the 'threat' message, we will have to counter the growing belief, particularly in the U.K. Treasury, that Chinese inward investment can provide the answer to the U.K.'s infrastructure problems."

Chinese people who were celebrating the Spring Festival might have missed the report, but the problems it revealed are deep.

Why does the Japanese embassy fund the spreading of anti-Chinese propaganda?

Generally speaking, the responsibility of an embassy is to handle political, economic, military and cultural relations with the government of its host country and to defend the lawful rights of its citizens in a foreign land on behalf of its country. What the Japanese embassy has done goes against common sense and is no better than espionage.

So, why did Japan conduct this kind of activity, which harms others without benefiting itself? As is known to all, the problems and conflicts between China and Japan are both historical and contemporary. Since the late 19th century, Japanese imperialists had wreaked havoc throughout Asia, and especially in China, for almost 50 years. However, it not only refuses to reflect on its wartime aggression, it also tries to revise history and set itself against China on territorial sovereignty as well as trade. Of course, the main reason for this fear is China's rise. In the wake of rapid economic growth during the past 40 years, especially since reform and opening up, China has leapfrogged Japan to become the world's second largest economy, and the gap is gradually widening. Along with its economic expansion, China is also growing into a military power.

China's development has caused much concern for Japanese politicians, especially those on the right. Due to fear based on the past logic of "power to hegemony" and a self-envisioned "China threat," Japan aims to contain its neighbor by all possible means.

President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.K. in 2015 sparked a China craze in the country and lifted bilateral relations to a new height. George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, also called for creating a "golden decade" of China-U.K. cooperation during his visit in Shanghai in 2015. All of this has caused a large headache for the Abe administration and led to the embassy's disgraceful decision to wage a propaganda campaign against China via a third party.

Why did a British think tank dedicate itself to working for the Japanese embassy?

Even though the transaction of the monthly stipend of 15,000 pounds paid by the Japanese embassy sounds handsome, it remains unimaginable that a prominent think tank like HJS would accept the payment. Moreover, why should the former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind act as a conduit for HJS? The reason goes far beyond business transactions. The hostility towards China's social institution and "the Chinese Road" are the true reasons behind the scenes.

In October 2015, the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) partnered with Electricite De France Group (EDF) to seal an agreement to develop a project at Hinkley Point C. It was the first time that a Chinese enterprise has ever engaged in nuclear power construction in the European market, which, therefore, attracted immeasurable attention from across the world. However, the project has sparked disturbances and doubts from think tanks and the media, hyping security concerns when Britain allows China to be involved in the construction of the local nuclear power plant.

Rifkind confirmed he had been approached by HJS to put his name to an article published in the Daily Telegraph expressing concerns about China's involvement in Britain's Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Headlined "How China could switch off Britain's lights in a crisis if we let them build Hinkely C," the article made groundless speculation that "no one knows what 'backdoor' technologies might be able to be introduced into the building of a power plant."

Because of such disturbances, the project of Hinkley Point C continued to be protracted as EDF delayed investment in the final phase and the newly elected British government postponed approval in July 2016.

Even though the Hinkley Point C project eventually moved forward after several twists and turns, we can truly feel the repercussion of "China Threat Theory," which is firmly ingrained in the minds of many western countries. The latest reports in The Times have made us truly understand the point, while the intriguing schemes of the Japanese have also been exposed.

Would Japan's little tricks work?

Japan has never lacked the ability to play tricks, especially political tricks. From the September 18 Incident, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Pearl Harbor Attack and the duo performance of the Japanese government and Tokyo authority in attempts to "purchase" China's Diaoyu islands in 2012, Japan has never failed to demonstrate that their gimmicks are always followed by bigger and more vicious schemes.

However, the world has transformed in the past century and China today is no longer the country it once was. China will step forward to the central stage of the world despite the apparent political, economic and military challenges and the schemes both on and off the tables. Without making use of invasion and looting, the development of China relies on assiduous endeavors and sweat of its 1.3 billion people. While making its own progress, China has contributed substantially to the world's economy and provided new approaches to global governance. An increasing number of countries have recognized and accepted China's efforts and devotions, which resonates with a Chinese adage that "a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds scant support." The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping has drawn the involvement of more than 100 countries and made progress in its initial stage; The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is running smoothly; multinational cooperation in projects such as the Hinkley Point C has removed hurdles and made headway; the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016 demonstrated that China would share its thoughts with the world and propose its ideas  How can independent, just and inclusive development be impeded by dirty tricks?

"The passes and paths are as impregnable as iron, but we are now transcending them from the very beginning." This is the real path to a stronger China.

The author Wang Xiaohui is editor-in-chief of China.org.cn.
Sharknados 5th instalment will film in Australia as part of a storyline that sees the world under attack from sharks falling from the sky.

Filming is underway in Bulgaria, with the UK also to serve as a location.

Ian Ziering and Tara Reid will reprise their roles as shark-fighting heroes Fin Shepard and April Wexler, whilst original cast member Cassie Scerbo returns as Nova, a bartender turned badass Sharknado fighter.

Anthony C. Ferrante, who directed the first four films, is back to helm this latest instalment, based on a script by Scotty Mullen.

Sharknado 5 (working title) sees much of North America lying in ruins, Fin Shepard and his family must put a stop to a looming disaster before Earth is completely obliterated.

Metaphors, anyone.?
Help India!

Lucknow, (IANS) : The BJP on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party government following a High Court rap on Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar for a false affidavit.

BJP state General Secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the latest indictment proved that all rules in the book have been flouted in the five years of the SP regime.

Support TwoCircles



Pathak alleged that the entire government machinery under Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was out to patronise the corrupt.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday took a grim view of the false affidavit by Bhatnagar that related to a whopping compensation paid by the SP government to Buqqal Nawab, an SP legislator.

Nawab, close to the Yadav clan was paid a compensation of Rs eight crore for a land he claimed as his, which went to the Gomti Riverfront project.

The HC bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Agarwal and Justice Rakesh Srivastava also asked the Chief Secretary to give a personal affidavit and apprise the court on the names of the guilty officials.

It also asked as to why a case of contempt may not be slapped on him for not complying to its orders.

Not only this case, in the past too the state government has been indicted by the courts for their acts of commission and omission, Pathak said while alleging that nepotism and doling out large sums from the state coffers to those close to the ruling establishment had become the thumb rule in the past five years.
Help India!

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net

Jammu: The Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir was on Friday, February, 4, flushed with hoardings put by J&K National Panthers Party asking Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees to leave the winter capital.

Support TwoCircles



The move is first of its kind to be taken by a political party. Initially, BJP had also asked government to stop settlements of refugees living in different parts of Jammu.

One of the hoardings put up by the regional party at Dogra Chowk, Jammu reads, Wake up Jammu. Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. Quit Jammu,

The hoardings calls Jammu residents to unite and save the history, culture and identity of Dogras.

Reacting to the hoardings, Muhammad Younus, a Rohingya refugee living in Narwal Jammu told TwoCircles.net, We have been living here in Jammu since last one decade. How can these parties threaten us to leave Jammu? We have tried to re build our lives here in this place and we dont have any other place to go. We are not living illegally here. We have UNHCR cards. They cant ask us to vacate overnight.

The putting up of hoardings have terrified all the refugees, he added.

There are around 1,219 Rohingya families comprising over 5,000 people living as refugee after escaping persecution back in their country. Spread across different areas in Jammu, the refugees live in dozens of slum dwellings.

Most of these slums are in abysmal conditions without proper toilets, water facilities, and electricity. The community has been having a hard time since a fire ravaged one of the slums, leaving them with little cover in the biting cold.

It is like creating an anti-refugee sentiment and diverting anger against us. We have lived peacefully all through these years. We even work for lower wages in comparison to the local labour who charge more, said Mohammad Ali, another Rohingya refugee lining in Kariana Talab told TCN.

Rohingyas, often called the worlds most persecuted minority, living in temporary Jhuggis (huts) are majorly concentrated in Karyani Talab Narwal, Bathindi, Channi Rama, Baba Peer, Near Railway, Marathi Mohallah (panama Chowk), Kargil Colony, Rajeev Nagar, Bari Brahmana, Sunjwan, Rahim Nagar, Malik Market, Gool Philli, and Bhagwati Nagar.
Help India!

New Delhi, (IANS) : Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said the increased allocation in the 2017-18 Budget for his ministry will help in the socio-economic and educational uplift of the minorities.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has been allocated Rs 4,195.48 crore, around 10 per cent more, in the 2017-18 Budget announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday. Last year, the allocation was Rs 3,827.25 crore.

Support TwoCircles



Naqvi said a major part of this amount will go towards educational empowerment and skill development of the minorities.

The Modi government believes that commitment to development of the poor, weaker sections and minorities is not only its raj dharma but also its kartavya (duty), he said.

The Minister said more than Rs 2,600 crore has been provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes such as Seekho aur Kamao, Nai Manzil, Nai Roushni, Usttad, Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre and Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship for Girls.

He said Rs 393.54 crore has been earmarked for merit-cum-means scholarship; Rs 950 crore for pre-matric scholarship; Rs 550 crore for post-matric scholarship; Rs 250 crore for Seekho aur Kamao; Rs 176 crore for Nai Manzil; Rs 113 crore for Maulana Azad Education Foundation; and Rs 170 crore as equity for National Minorities Development Financial Corporation.

Besides, Rs 1,200 crore under the Multi-sectoral Development Programme will also be utilised for various education development activities.

The programme provides basic infrastructure for minority-concentrated areas such as schools, hospitals, roads, multi-purpose community centres and sadbhav mandap etc.

Naqvi said for 2017-18, the Ministry has set a target to provide scholarships to about 35 lakh students.

Last year, the government spent about Rs 2,800 crore on scholarships, training and other educational activities, he said.
In the two weeks since President Donald Trump took office, fifty lawsuits have been filed against him, and dozens of them are about the executive order he signed banning travellers with visas from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States.

Justice Department filing motion against court ruling

The US Justice Department is filling a motion against the federal court ruling against Trumps ban that is at least temporarily lifting it. The White House called the ruling outrageous, but then retracted their use of the word. When the order was signed a week ago, it created havoc in US airports.

According to the Seattle judge that is lifting it, Trump's travel ban goes against the Constitution, which is a controversial comment that could take this case up to the Supreme Court. The second the word unconstitutional is used in American politics, everyone loses their sh*t, so watch this space.

Bob Ferguson, the Attorney General for Washington, has also described Trumps travel ban as unconstitutional. He told the BBC, Folks who had visas, folks who were allowed to travel were denied that right without any due process whatsoever. Thats un-American and unconstitutional. Ferguson elaborated by saying it violates the freedom of Religion rights allowed by the Constitution.
Throwing lives into chaos once again, The Border Protection Agency is reversing the weeks earlier cancellation of 60,000 US entry visas because yesterday District Judge James Robart (Seattle, Washington State) issued a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) blocking President Trumps Executive Order in which POTUS (President Of The US) banned travel from Syria and 6 other Muslim countries.

Unlike the earlier court orders that stopped local implementation of this ban and both holding valid visa holders in detention or deporting them, this TRO applies nationwide.

However, this TRO doesnt apply to the core of president Trump's ban - blocking the issuance of new visas. Instead, it only blocks the detention and deportation of those people holding valid visas, leaving all those overseas with concerns about what would happen if they attempt to enter the US and whether this Judges ruling can be reversed by another judge tomorrow..

Trump disrespects Federal Judge

Although Trump now denies it is a ban, let alone a Muslim ban, POTUS and VPOTUS and the WH Press Secretary all called it a ban so many in the media continue to call it a ban for short. But one Trump-speak term probably wont be copied and that is where he referred to a Bush-appointed Federal District Judge as a so-called judge.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Of course this isn't the first time Trump has made fun of and disrespected a sitting judge. During the campaign he said a US-born judge couldn't preside over a Trump University fraud case because his parents were Mexican.

DHS removes ban

The Department of Homeland Security has notified workers to comply with the Seattle judges order and cease enforcement efforts related to President Trumps Executive Order banning immigration from 7 Muslim countries, including Syria.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has moved to reinstate any visas just voided two days ago as part of the ban on travelers from those 7 countries.

Legal status

The Trump Department of Justice has announced that it will fight Judge Robarts Temporary Restraining Order but hasnt yet disclosed if it will be opposed on the grounds that it is a wrong decision, or on the grounds that the Federal District Court Judge doesnt have the jurisdiction to make this ruling apply nationwide rather than just in his Northwest US district.

In his tweet attack on the ruling, President Trump said, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!

You should know that over the previous 8 years the Republicans in Congress had repeatedly used courts to overturn or attempt to overturn, or stay (halt) President Obamas Executive Orders, so saying this essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is a complete reversal of all those Republican policies and legal strategies of the Obama Administration, just as all of President Trumps Executive Orders would seem to be in complete violation of his repeated complaints about President Obamas use of Executive Orders.

The Court Order specifics

The Judge ruled that the states have shown President Trump's Executive Order adversely affects the state's residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations, and freedom to travel and states themselves are harmed by injury to the operation of state universities, state operations, tax bases, and public funds - the last meaning the expense of incarcerating or departing people and dealing with the demonstrations.

Among other provisions, the ruling bans enforcement of Section 5(b) proceeding with any action that prioritizes refugee claims of certain religious minorities.
Scotland's Brexit minister, mike russell, has alleged that Westminster has reneged on promises made during the Brexit leave campaign that stated Scotland would gain new powers. Russell's comments were made during a head to head debate with prominent Brexiteer, Michael Gove.

'A failure to deliver on promises'

During the debate, Mike Russell brandished a leaflet given to the Scottish electorate by a prominent leave campaign member, which promised Scotland would have new powers if the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. In an attack on Westminster that echoed Nicola Sturgeon's comments throughout last week, Russell declared that the UK government had thus far failed to deliver on their promises before hinting that the issue could be integral to a second scottish independence referendum.

The leaflet said: 'Scotland will regain control over crucial industries like fishing, agriculture and important social and environmental issues subsequently if the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union, Holyrood will be given even more power to deliver for the Scottish people.' Gove responded by stating he could no longer fulfil these promises as he is no longer a cabinet minister.

There are numerous things I would love to do if I was a minister. I cannot guarantee the transfer of these powers to Scotland since I am no longer a cabinet minister. I do, however, respect the UK government's approach to Brexit,' Gove said.

Fuel for the Scottish independence fire

Russell responded by stating: 'This is a promise that was made and this is a promise that isn't being honoured.

There are very difficult discussions taking place that are making little progress.The campaign appears to me to not be as straightforward as the promises that were made during the leave campaign'.

The UK government confirmed to the Guardian that Scotland will face turf wars with Whitehall departments over who takes controls budgets. Such turf wars are reinvigorating Nicola Sturgeon's calls for a second Scottish independence referendum, with the SNP leader suggesting she could call a snap referendum as early as next month.
A federal judge in Seattle named James Robart has ordered a temporary countrywide block on President Donald Trumps travel ban on seven countries with predominantly Muslim countries.

Robarts verdict was against the lawyers Trump and his administration sent to court to say that American states dont have the authority to take action against an executive order from the President. According to Robart, they do.

The ban has led to protests worldwide

President Trumps travel ban, which was extremely divisive and controversial and led to protests against it all over the world (not just in the United States), has also caused confusion at airports.

People who work in customs told US airlines to led travellers from the banned countries onto their planes, because this court case has been underway, and now its reached a positive verdict.

The airline Qatar Airways has told news sources that they continue to allow every passenger with a valid travel document to board their planes. The Trump administration will be able to ban the Muslim-majority nations again if they are able to achieve an emergency stay from the court. The US Justice Department has vowed to appeal the Robarts verdict.

White House backs Trump in a statement

The White House have released a statement supporting Trumps Muslim travel ban and backing his decision to sign an executive order of it, describing the order as lawful and appropriate. The statement went on to say that the purpose of Trumps order is to protect the homeland, and said that Trump has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

However, no everyone agrees that he is doing that.

Hollywood starlet Angelina Jolie says that Trump is playing with fire and inviting into the country the very extremism that hes trying to keep out. There have been fiery protests all over the US as well as other countries that the ban doesnt even affect but who want their voice heard like the UK. A lot of naysayers were calling the protests pointless against Trumps order, but it seems those naysayers underestimated the power of the people and the democracy of the American Government.

Following Robarts verdict, US airports will now be going against Trumps wishes and ignoring his now-overruled executive order to instead allow travellers from the banned countries with suspended visas to enter the country.

Trumps order is anti-refugee

Trumps executive order also puts a halt to letting any refugees into the United States for 120 days, suspending what is called the US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days.

120 days is a long time for refugees in a terrifying, hostile country thats being bombed by the very country thats now forcing them to stay for at least another four months, not to mention the ISIS terrorists in their neighbourhood.

The 120-day suspension does not apply to Syrian refugees, whose ban is indefinite and could go on for four years if Trump wants. The ban also prohibits travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days, even if they have a visa, because visas from those countries are being suspended.
According to President Donald Trump, his executive order to ban travellers with visas from seven predominantly Muslim nations is to protect America from terrorism. According to a lot of protestors, including actress Angelina Jolie, it will actually make recruiting Muslim extremists into ISIS a lot easier and invite terrorism in with open arms, especially since most terrorist attacks on American soil in the past few years were committed by domestic terrorists.

But anyway, now a federal judge in Seattle has blocked the travel ban, at least temporarily, and itll be gone in no time.

President Trump said previously that the ban wasnt forever and that he would give the mostly Muslim travellers their visas back when hed had a chance to enforce the most secure policies to oppress them. He denies criticisms that this was a Muslim ban.

The ban will expire tomorrow

Courts in Massachusetts (the first state to legalise gay marriage), Michigan, New York, and Virginia are currently in the middle of cases to possibly block Trumps order. A Boston judge said no to the extension of an indefinite ban to prevent the detention or holding of foreign people who are legally allowed to enter the US and have valid travel documents. The Massachusetts-only ban will expire on 5 February.
People protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order banning entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, on Jan. 29, 2017. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

Donald Trump likes to portray himself as a great American patriot, but during his first week in office he has been running roughshod over American values.

For all the bloviating about "America First," Trump is putting his own business interests first and the interests of the American people last. The day after he was inaugurated, half a million people marched on Washington against Trump along with hundreds of thousands more in cities across the country. Trump's approval rating this early is the lowest of any president in recorded history. It took George W. Bush five years for his approval rating to drop below 45 percent. It took Trump one week. Fifty percent of respondents disapprove of his performance.

His first week included executive orders aimed at spending American money to build a barrier on the border with Mexico, keeping Guantanamo Bay open, reconsidering the use of torture and banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering America, including those who already have visas or green cards and are legal American residents. One week in and he's apparently already given up on his pledge that "Mexico will pay" for the "wall." Instead he proposed having Americans pay for the wall by levying a 20 percent tax on consumer goods imported from Mexico.

His attack on immigrants is supposedly to protect Americans from terrorism, yet many of the countries targeted were the birthplaces of exactly zero terrorists who attacked America. The risk of terrorist attacks in America overall remains extremely low: 94 Americans have been killed by Islamic-inspired terrorists in the 15 years since 9/11 according to the think tank New America, a number that pales in comparison to the more than 16,000 murders that occur in America in an ordinary year.

His ban, meanwhile, covers many people who have already waited over a year, gone through background checks and been approved for immigration or refugee status. The first day the ban was in place, two Iraqis who already had visas were detained at American airports. 500,000 legal residents with green cards have been affected, and stories abound of Americans with family members abroad who might not be able to make it to weddings or other events. International students from the countries in question have been warned not to travel outside America until things are sorted out.

The truth is that this kind of xenophobia goes against what are traditionally known and lauded as American values. Immigrants around the world have a dream of starting a new life in the U.S., and they contribute "tremendously" (one of Trump's favorite words) to the American economy. Most Americans recognize this. Fifty-nine percent of Americans in 2016, according to Gallup, support keeping the number of immigrants the same or increasing it. A majority support immigration reform to allow undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. Most oppose Trump's costly border barrier.

Banning immigrants on the basis of their religion or nationality goes against the foundational tenets of America incorporated in the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, a federal judge ruled less than 24 hours after Trump's extreme immigration ban went into effect that it was unconstitutional. Judge Ann Donnelly of New York wrote in an emergency ruling that there is a "strong likelihood" that the removal of the Iraqis and other green card-holding residents "violates their rights to Due Process and Equal Protection guaranteed by the United States Constitution." The most egregious aspect of the order is thus unenforceable until it is reviewed at a hearing set for February.

The court system puts an important check on Trump's worst tendencies. Unfortunately, while many of Trump's ideas are inherently unconstitutional, not everything that is stupid is unconstitutional. The ban on refugees not accepted yet may stand. And even those policies that are unconstitutional may take time to work their way through court, with people suffering in the meantime.

The most reassuring thing is that Americans are standing up in DC and across the nation, protesting and offering their services. At the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, lawyers offered their services for free to work on behalf of those detained. Lawyers from the ACLU reacted immediately and saved Syrians and Iraqis from being deported. Americans have donated money to groups that are fighting for the rights of those in Trump's crosshairs, including $10 million to the ACLU since Trump was elected.

Trump is a problem, but it's those Americans who stand for real American values - not Trump's twisted version - who are going to stop him.

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.
 Flash

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply concerned" about the on-going tensions and intensification of fighting in eastern Ukraine, the UN chief's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

Dujarric said at the daily news briefing that Guterres appealed to all parties in the conflict to fully observe the ceasefire and allow for immediate humanitarian access.

The UN Human Rights Office on Friday also "expressed its serious concern" over the dire humanitarian and human right situation in the country's east, according to Dujarric.

According to the office, at least seven people were killed and 41 injured in shelling between January 29 and February 3.

UN Human Rights Office teams were visiting locations and verifying reports of civilian casualties in both Donetsk city and Avdiivka, which were reportedly hit by shelling during the evening of February 2, said Dujarric.
 Flash

More than 1,300 migrants and refugees were rescued in central Mediterranean, the Italian coast guard said on Friday, a day after Italy and Libya signed a deal to curb people smuggling in the North African country.

Overall, 13 operations were carried out by Italy's navy and coast guard ships, along with other forces operating within the European Union (EU) mission EUNAVFOR, and vessels from aid groups.

On Thursday, the Italian coast guard coordinating all migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean said more than 1,750 migrants and refugees had been saved within 24 hours.

About 450 people had been rescued in five different operations on Thursday, and 1,300 the previous day.

Of this group, some 754 migrants and refugees including 131 unaccompanied minors were brought to the southern port of Reggio Calabria, and given first medical check and assistance, according to local authorities on Friday.

On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj signed an agreement aimed at tackling the flows starting from the Libyan coasts.

In latest years, the North African country has become a major origin point of departure for migrants and asylum seekers, and a crucial hub for smugglers.

Temporary camps for illegal migrants would be set up on Libya's soil, according to the draft deal provided by the Italian government. Such camps would be run by officials from the Libyan Interior Ministry, and funded by the EU, with Italy providing medical assistance.

Illegal migrants in the camps would be asked to agree to voluntary return to their own countries, or would face deportation.

Such plan will be in force for the next three years, and it was overall approved by EU leaders, who gathered for a summit on the migration crisis in Malta on Feb. 2-3.
Ever since he kicked off his campaign for president, Donald Trump has voiced his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. With just three weeks left until he is sworn in as the new president, Trump is not backing down from his criticism of President Obama's signature health care law.

Trump on Obamacare

When Obamacare was officially made law back in 2011, it quickly became one of the most controversial topics in American politics. While President Obama and Democrats championed the change in how the United States runs its healthcare system, Republicans pushed back, accusing the new law of being a "socialist government takeover." Over 20 million more Americans now have access to health insurance because of the change, mostly due to the individual mandate.

Twenty-four hours after Donald Trump made harsh comments about the law, the president-elect was back on Twitter to voice his opposition on January 5.

The Democrats, lead by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad ObamaCare is and what a mess they are in. Instead of working to fix it, they..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017

"The Democrats, lead by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad ObamaCare is and what a mess they are in. Instead of working to fix it, they do the typical political thing and BLAME," Donald Trump wrote on Twitter early Thursday morning. In a follow-up tweet, the billionaire real estate mogul didn't stop there, stating, "The fact is ObamaCare was a lie from the beginning.

'Keep you doctor, keep your plan!'

...do the typical political thing and BLAME. The fact is ObamaCare was a lie from the beginning."Keep you doctor, keep your plan!" It is....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017

In his third and final tweet on the issue, Donald Trump called for unity just moments after bashing the Democratic party and one of its leaders.

"It is time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works," Trump tweeted, while adding, "much less expensive & FAR BETTER!"

...time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works - much less expensive & FAR BETTER!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017

Moving forward

On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced that he would take the first steps to "repeal and replace" Obamacare on his first day in office.

Despite backlash from millions of Americans, Trump is going forward with his plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. The former host of "The Apprentice" will be sworn into office on January 20, and only time will tell what happens to Obamacare from that point forward.
Is it permissible for a judge to wear political paraphernalia in the courtroom? Apparently it is -- at least in Austin, Texas. On Tuesday, a social media post showing Judge Sarah eckhardt of Travis County presiding over her courtroom while wearing a "pussy hat" -- the pink, knitted headpiece resembling cat ears which became a national symbol of the feminist movement after the Women's March on Washington -- sparked outrage on Reddit, with many questioning the legality of a judge making a political statement from the bench.

KVUE investigates legality of judge's behavior

Austin's KVUE looked into the matter and concluded that Judge Eckhardt's wearing of the so-called "pussy hat" didn't violate any rules. In Travis County, notes KVUE, the county judge is an elected position. The county judge is tasked with overseeing the commissioners court, and fulfilling other duties typically associated with that of a county commissioner. Jason Puckett of KVUE's investigative team spoke with several county officials and was repeatedly told the same thing -- basically, that a sitting judge can wear whatever silly headpiece her liberal heart desires.

Eckhardt's track record of liberal activism

Judge Eckhardt, who is the daughter of the late liberal congressman Bob Eckhardt, has a lengthy history of using her position to support left-wing causes.

In October of 2015, Eckhardt met with immigration activists in an attempt to bolster Austin's position as a sanctuary city amid attempts by the U.S. Senate to defund cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration law.

In June of last year, while attending a naturalization ceremony in Texas as a guest of honor, Judge Eckhardt encouraged the 1,210 newly-naturalized citizens to vote against Donald Trump.

I have a problem with her using her title and position to make what I thought was particularly political comments to a captive audience," said Kyle Hood, husband to one of the naturalization ceremony participants, to Lana Shadwick, a former judge and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas.
Ever since Election Day, Donald Trump and his administration have amped up their attacks against what they consider "the opposition." After Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway cited a nonexistent terrorist attack to back up the need for a "Muslim ban," former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton decided to speak out.

Conway and Chelsea

The first two weeks of Donald Trump's time in the White House has presented a lot of controversy, but none more than the executive order that critics have labeled a "Muslin ban." The order restricts travel to and from seven different Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, while impacting those who are already in the United States.

This issue was a hot topic during a Wednesday night interview on MSNBC where Kellyanne Conway claimed that Islamic terrorists took part in the "bowling green massacre." Conway has since walked back her remarks, claiming she "misspoke" and that she was referring to two men from Bowling Green who engaged in terror activities in the Middle East. After Chelsea Clinton gave her thoughts, Conway fired back with a February 3 Twitter post.

Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack ...or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please don't make up attacks.  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 3, 2017

"Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack," Chelsea Clinton wrote on Twitter on Friday morning, eluding to the recent attempt of an Islamic terror attack in Paris.

Continuing, Clinton added, "or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please don't make up attacks." In response, Kellyanne Conway hit back at Clinton, while citing the infamous story embellished by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Bosnia lie a Great reminder. And 2 @ChelseaClinton & others, you can't "invent" quality candidates either. I misspoke; you lost the election https://t.co/7TwnX2b5yA  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) February 3, 2017

"Bosnia lie a Great reminder.

And 2 @ChelseaClinton & others, you can't "invent" quality candidates either. I misspoke; you lost the election," Kellyanne Conway tweeted. Conway's reference to the "Bosnia lie" was when Hillary Clinton claimed that she, along with Chelsea, were under sniper fire in 1996 during a trip to Bosnia. The story was highlighted during the 2008 election cycle, which debunked Clinton's claims, and exposed that the incident never took place.

The former Democratic presidential nominee then walked back her comments, saying she "misspoke."

Yep. Everyone should read the ABC News article. On my twitter feed. Instead of creating memes & phony outrage. It's a dangerous world. https://t.co/qdISs5yQzR  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) February 3, 2017

Chaos for Conway

In addition to her comments about Clinton, the former Donald Trump campaign manager has spent a considerable amount of time defending herself from trolls on social media. While linking to an article by ABC News claiming to back up part of her story, Conway added a message for her critics. "Yep. Everyone should read the ABC News article. On my twitter feed," she wrote, while noting, "Instead of creating memes & phony outrage. It's a dangerous world."
President Donald Trump has turned heads with his immigration ban through a series of executive orders, and now we know how many people's visas have been revoked. Over 100,000 people have lost their right to be in this country, and have been deported following the law.

The original law banned Syrian refugees for an indefinite period, while banning other refugees for 120 days. Additionally, citizens of seven countries with a Muslim majority have been banned from entering the U.S. for 90 days. What's really scary is that the percentage of people being detained is higher in some states compared to others.

What resistance looks like in certain states

The acting immigration officer has stepped down amidst the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the country in these arduous times. New York and Massachusetts have not imposed heavy prohibitive laws upon the request of the POTUS due to the liberal nature of these states. Federal judges have ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers not to detain or deport travelers with a visa that previously authorized them entrance to the U.S.

There is also some resistance in Virginia as Attorney General Mark Herring filed a motion on Jan. 31, asking the state to join the Aziz v. Trump suit. The lawsuit was filed by 60 people who are lawful residents or visa holders and were denied entry into the country soon after the ban.

The suit was originally filed by two Yemeni brothers who were "handcuffed, detained, forced to sign papers that they neither read nor understood, and then placed onto a return flight to Ethiopia just two and a half hours after their landing" at Dulles on January 28, according to the suit.

How immigrants and visa holders are being treated

There are plenty of reports surrounding CBP officers treating immigrants with disdain. Mitra Ebadolahi, Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney at the ACLU, told ABC News that the agency has been operating "with impunity and continue treating innocent travelers with callous and inhumane disregard for their basic rights."

The agency refused to comment on the matter, stating that it does not discuss pending litigation.

The Department of Homeland Security claims that it is treating these people with respect. However, the fact remains that the CBP has mistreated these immigrants and should be held accountable for their unlawful practices.
Donald, by an executive order has enforced a travel ban for 120 days on the entry of Muslims from 7 countries. There is a temporary stay order by the court but in the end, Donald may have his way. After all in 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act that debarred Chinese from coming to the USA. This law remained in effect for over 60 years until it was repealed in 1943. The ban on Muslims is, however, criticized in most western countries, but the people who matter - the Muslims and in India and China there is not much voicing of opinion against the step by Donald.

Muslim reaction

We have the case of a Muslim nation like Kuwait following in the footsteps of Donald and imposing its own ban on entry of Muslim from 5 countries. It includes one country omitted so far by the USA and that is Pakistan. the FM of the state of Abu Dhabi, a strong ally of the USA has gone on record to say that the USA is within its right to impose such a ban. The counties most vociferous are the so-called liberal nations like France and Germany. China and Russia are silent. They don't allow any Muslim immigration anyway. There is hardly a condemnation by the Press in any of the muslim countries.

Ban and US press

The condemnation of Donald's action is more in the US media than anywhere else.

There is a very little voicing of a condemnation of Donald's action from most of the Muslim countries except Iran which has denounced the American action.This does not mean the ban is right, but when seen in perspective Islamic radical thoughts are disturbing to the ruling elite in the Muslim world. Secretly they may be acquiescing with Donald's ban as a lifeline for them.

Effect in USA

Trump singled out those nations for the ban, where he had no business interests and also those countries which cannot retaliate. Thus the 7 countries; Libya, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia are impoverished nations who are involved in a civil power and have no capability to harm the USA ( except Iran).

Donald also does not have any business interests there as well. It's a clever step that shows to the electorate that he has kept his election promise. The only people who need to worry are the Muslims in the USA who may face hostility and discrimination as a fear hysteria is built up.
This week world news was dominated by President #Donald Trumps executive order to ban Moslem refugees from seven at risk countries in the Middle East. The ostensible reason for this decision was the need to fight terrorists who may be hiding amongst the refugees. Yet two other news items remind us that the War on terror is not as black and white as some depict it and that its perpetrators do not follow a set pattern.

From Quebec to London

On Sunday January 29th in Quebec in Canada a lone gunman attacked a Mosque killing six people at their prayers and injuring many others.

Despite reports circulating in certain media naming Moroccan refugees the gunman arrested was identified as 27 year old Alexandre Bissonnette from Quebec. In a follow up to the news Canadian President formally protested to FOX News Fox on Thursday continuing to identify the attacker as refugees even after the formal identification and arrest.

Yesterday at the Old Bailey in London British Marine Ciaran Maxwell pleaded guilty to offences related to the dissident republican terrorism in Northern Ireland which also included making bombs and storing stolen military weapons. This arrest was a strong reminder of the decades of Troubles concentrated in Belfast which saw many attacks in Britain, including the assassination of war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten.

The arrest confirms fears that the potential for terrorism still exists in the troubled British region.

Terror does not exist on its own

The battle against terror inspired by ISIS in the Middle East and which led to many deadly attacks in Europe has so occupied the worlds attention that many have the impression that terrorists can only be Moslem and involve religious war.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

Europe saw waves of politically inspired terrorism as a result of the 1968 revolts. Germany suffered at the hands of the Red Army Faction or Baader-Meinhof gang before the arrest of those responsible for a number of assassinations. In Italy many assassinations and bombings were carried out by both left and right wing terrorist groups which culminated in the kidnapping and murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the most famous of these groups, the Red Brigades.

Spain was also the subject of a terror campaign by ETA who were seeking the secession of the Basque Regions from Spain to form a country of their own . Without forgetting the politically inspired 2011 mass murder by Anders Breivik in Norway who killed 77 members of the local Workers Youth movement.

All continents have had terrorist activities which would fill many pages, but this small list shows that terrorism has many faces and nationalities and cannot be fought simply by pointing fingers at one particular group.

Root causes

Terrorists can only be fought effectively by eliminating the reasons that men and women take up arms to fight their leaders, or other groups. If governments around the world do not address the root causes for these activities the elimination or arrest of terrorists will only create martyrs for the rebels and not lead to the end of the terrorism.

Italy and Germany resolved their problems by addressing the base support of the terrorists and the problems that led to the armed revolts. In the end the various groups surrendered or disappeared. In each country that suffered terrorism resolutions were found that removed the need for armed conflict and deaths.

The ban on Moslems from the Middle East seeking refuge in the United States will not resolve the issues that created ISIS and which inspire foreign fighters from many countries to join it. Indeed, many moderate world leaders, including those from countries hit by terrorism protested against the ban for this very reason. It will not disappear with bans, it will only disappear when there is no cause for which to fight. This is the real challenge in fighting ISIS.
Fighting small groups of terrorists is not easy. The fighters must be identified, the leadership traced and small cells of activists are particularly difficult to combat. These are the difficulties facing America in its war on Terrorism. The large armies of the superpowers are at a particular disadvantage because their tactics and training are traditionally against enemies in open warfare and experience has shown how difficult it is to fight what is known as asymmetrical warfare.

The refugee or the fighter?

#ISIS and other such groups have made such warfare even harder because they have used groups of legitimate refugees fleeing their horrors to plant not only fighters in a number of countries, but also to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of world leaders and their citizens and thus to create fear in the populations that host them.

Sadly, President #Donald Trump s executive order to ban migrants from seven at risk countries has effectively given a temporary victory to ISIS in a war that is as much psychological as it is military.

The world wide reaction against the decision, as well as ISISs declaration that the decision is a vindication of their struggle, has only been met by obstinacy from the Oval Office. While determination is of prime importance in this war, the leadership of the United States must understand that the road to victory is not by military strength alone, but through the minds of those that have suffered at the hands of the fundamentalists.

Chess game

The waves of people fleeing Middle East countries is clear proof that ISIS is making the local populations suffer and for this reason the Western countries, beginning with the United States, must also consider these people in their plans.

While many of the refugees will remain in their new countries of residence, there will be those who desire to return to their countries of birth. These must be a part of the long term rebuilding of the devastated countries and how they are treated as refugees will affect how the host countries are considered by future governments of these countries.

This international struggle against the fundamentalist fanatics is a complicated chess game that is and must be fought as much on images and perceptions as it is on the battle field. It will be useless winning one battle if it then creates the conditions for wars that will be even worse. Tragically over the last few years in the Middle East and Northern Africa this is exactly what has happened with international interventions that withdrew before completing the assigned task.

The Mission accomplished which was once uttered prematurely by President George W Bush will not be uttered once more until the superpowers, Russia and the United States, stop treating the countries involved as their pawns, or rooks, but understand that they are made up of people who are suffering and the cause of their pain is definitively removed. At the same time these people are also the ones who can give the best contribution to solving the problems that created the terrorists.
"Days Of Our Lives" spoilers for February sweeps have been released. This week, expect to see Deimos Kiriakis (Vincent Irizarry) kidnap Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) and Gabi Hernandez (Camila Banus.) Where does he take them and what is his motivation?

Deimos Kiriakis threatens Chad and Gabi

NBC released a weekly preview clip which shows Deimos pointing a gun at Chad DiMera and Gabi Hernandez. He is angry and it is clear he has completely lost control. With Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker) already facing attempted murder charges, is Deimos Kiriakis really going to help matters by hurting others?

Despite Sonny (Freddie Smith) trying to talk some sense into his uncle, Deimos insists on doing things his way.

Where are Chad DiMera and Gabi Hernandez?

When Chad and Gabi go missing on "Days Of Our Lives," Abigail will start to panic. She and Dario Hernandez (Jordi Vilasuso) search for them. Meanwhile, Nicole's fiance has taken the former couple to a storage unit.

What does Deimos want?

At one point, Deimos manages to steal the hard drive from Dario and his father. Gabi and Abigail (Marci Miller) devise a plan to trick Myron into giving up information. The young women then come up with a plan to get the external hard drive out of the Kiriakis mansion. However, this doesn't sit too well with Deimos and he is out for revenge.

He will do anything to get the hard drive back, even if it means having blood on his hands.

Deimos has a demand on 'Days Of Our Lives'

According to the latest "DOOL" spoilers for February sweeps, Deimos threatens to kill Gabi. All Chad DiMera has to do to spare her life is to give back the external hard drive. If it were any other DiMera, money or revenge would come first.

However, this is Chad we are talking about. He isn't like the other members of his family. He is a good man and considers Gabi to be a close friend. It is likely that he will do what Deimos wants, but will the Salem villain keep his promise?

What do you think is going to happen with Deimos, Chad, and Gabi on "Days Of Our Lives"?
In the two weeks that he's been in the White House, Donald Trump has created daily controversy that has caused many of his critics to lash out. While many have decided to take to the streets and protests the new president, others are going in a different direction, including comedian Bill Maher.

"Real Time" on Trump

When Donald Trump first announced that he was running for president, his candidacy was seen as nothing more than a joke, which would likely simmer and fade away in short time. As the months went by, it appeared that Trump was a serious threat, and soon surprised many by becoming the Republican nominee.

Fast forward to present day and the billionaire real estate mogul is the current commander in chief after pulling off the monumental upset by defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. During Trump's time in office, he's signed several executive orders, including, but not limited to, the so-called "Muslim ban." These issues and more were front and center during the February 3 edition of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Host Bill Maher kicked off his show with his routine opening monologue and ripped into Donald Trump. "I'll tell you something, he made gong to the airport shi**ier than it was," Maher said, in regards to the aforementioned "Muslim ban." "He created this 'Muslim ban,' that he called a ban, and his press secretary Sean Spicer called it a ban, then there were protests, and their message is 'we have no idea what we are doing," Maher went on to say.

Not stopping there, Maher went on to mock Trump for his recent controversial phone calls with foreign leaders.

"Finally a president has shown the balls to stand up to are arch enemy Australia," Bill Maher said, trolling Donald Trump for his recent call with the Prime Minister of Australia where the new president hung up the phone after a discussion about the refugee program.

Continuing, the liberal comedian went after the former host of "The Apprentice" for his Twitter threats. "He's threatened to invade Iran, Mexico, Chicago, and today he declared war on la la land," he said.

"Only Donald Trump could take the occasion of Black History Month and make it about how HEs oppressed."  @BillMaher #RealTime pic.twitter.com/TY4lE9y2cm  Real Time (@RealTimers) February 4, 2017

In closing his monologue, Bill Maher targeted Donald Trump for his ignorance on the African-American community and their history.

"Trump gathered all the black people he knows in one room. He was like a kid showing off his Pokemon cards," Maher said of Trump's Black History Month meeting, noting, "He called it a listening session and he did all the talking." Only Trump can take Black History Month and talk about how he is oppressed," he said.

Next up

Donald Trump has made it clear that he has no intention of changing his style anytime soon, which has been evident during his first two weeks inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. While critics like Bill Maher and others continue hold his feet to the fire, the former host of "The Apprentice" is expected to keep the grudge and feud going with the media and those who he doesn't perceive to be on his side.
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The Brazilian government announced Friday that the number of confirmed deaths caused by a yellow fever outbreak has reached 60, while 87 more suspicious deaths are being investigated.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said that 53 of the deaths had come in the state of Minas Gerais, where the outbreak started before spreading to other states. Four people have died in Espirito Santo and three more in the state of Sao Paulo.

Since the start of the outbreak, 150 deaths were potentially attributed of yellow fever, 60 of which have been confirmed, 87 are still under investigation and three have been eliminated.

In total, 921 people have been suspected of being infected, 804 of which happened in Minas Gerais. 702 are being investigated, 161 have been confirmed and 58 have been ruled out.

The rise in the number of cases forced the government to dispatch over 8 million doses of vaccine to at-risk states to try and contain the crisis.

The disease is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also a vector for dengue, chikungunya and the Zika virus.
A company based in the province of Guizhou said it has invested 30 million yuan ($4.37 million) in 11 Indian projects to improve key infrastructure in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The projects include the construction of power and gas plants, information communications facilities, regional refrigeration and emergency management, said Zhang Zhao, general director of Guizhou Maritime Silk Road International Investment Corp.

The company is also building a square, a bridge, a water plant, a power station, an industrial park and residential areas in Andhra Pradesh, work on which began last year, he said.

Guizhou is constructing an inland open economic experimental zone in its capital Guiyang, approved by the State Council in August.

"There are opportunities to adopt in Guiyang infrastructure solutions developed in the slums and amid the messy electrical cable systems of the streets of Andhra Pradesh," Zhang said.

India's strengths in big data, healthcare and software industries could benefit Guizhou, he added.

On Jan 6, India's biggest IT educational company -- the National Institute of Information Technology Ltd -- opened a training center in Guiyang for big data professionals. In addition, Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma Ltd plans to build pharmaceutical factories in Guizhou with an estimated turnover of 2 billion yuan by 2025.
GUANGZHOU -- When Liu Zhaojun, a farmer-turned businessman, was told about a brick-maker in Uzbekistan looking for investors almost four years ago, he knew "absolutely nothing" about the country.

"I didn't know where it was or how far it was from China," said Liu. "I could not even pronounce its name properly."

In 2013, Liu was selling building materials in Pingxiang county, about 10 kilometers from his countryside hometown in Hebei province. He did not know that the Belt and Road would involve farmers like him. But he decided to try his luck anyway.

Towards the end of 2013, he made his first visit to Uzbekistan along with some business partners and saw immense potential. He invested in Keramik, a 28-million-yuan (about $4 million) brick-making plant covering 20 hectares in the suburbs of Tashkent the following year.

The plant, which began production in May 2016, turns out 100,000 bricks every day. Producing bricks locally has cut costs for Uzbek building companies and created more than 30 jobs.

Liu flies between his home province of Hebei and Tashkent four or five times a year, attending to businesses on both sides.

For three years, China has been Uzbekistan's second largest trade partner and the No 1 investor. According to China's Ministry of Commerce, China's non-financial direct foreign investment in Uzbekistan totaled $510 million by the end of April 2016.

"In recent years, freight train routes have linked different parts of China with central Asia and Europe," said Liu. These trains have cut transportation time and improved efficiency.

Until last summer, he had to arrange land transport to Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan province, where the freight was loaded onto trains that traveled through northwest China to Tashkent. "The trip took about 20 days. But before freight trains, shipping time was at least 40 days."

In July last year, a new freight route linked Tashkent with Xingtai, a city in Hebei province, and cut the shipping time to eight days. "It's a direct link between my home and the brick plant in Tashkent and saves time and money."

Encouraged by the fast service, Liu and his partners plan to open a second production line at the brick plant and by the end of this year, daily brick output will triple to 300,000.

Four years after he tested the waters in Uzbekistan, Liu has benefited a great deal from the Belt and Road. "It's hard to imagine a poor man like me, who had trouble making ends meet 10 years ago, is now doing business overseas."
Books to the Big Screen: The Day of the Jackal

PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
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A Malaysian maritime rescuer searches for the missing Chinese tourists on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, after a boat accident off the Sabah state on North Borneo on Saturday. [Photo: Xinhua]

An official in charge of tourism in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah has vowed to take effective measures to ensure the safety of foreign tourists, as a massive search operation continues for the missing victims of a sunken tourist boat.

Pang Yuk Ming, assistant minister of tourism, culture and environment of Sabah, told Xinhua on Friday that a joint investigation committee, comprising of multiple departments, has been set up to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident.

He said a preliminary investigation report will be released to the public next week.

A catamaran carrying over two dozen Chinese tourists and three crew members went down in turbulent waters while heading for the popular island of Mengalum on Saturday.

Till now 22 people have been rescued, and three Chinese tourists have been confirmed dead. Another five Chinese tourists and a crew member are still missing.

The accident could possibly deal a heavy blow to the tourism industry of Sabah, as a large portion of inbound international tourists to Sabah are from China.

A preliminary report from Sabah tourism board registered more than 340,000 tourists from Chinese mainland during the period of Jan-Nov in 2016, the largest source of Sabah's international tourists.

Pang said he has not yet considered the impact of the accident on tourists from China, but instead focused on investigation and problems that need to be rectified.

"We will strengthen our management of the industry, starting from Kota Kinabalu, and once we finalize the plan, we will apply it to the whole state," said Pang, adding that it is not only a measure for the safety of foreign tourists, but also for the long-term benefits of the tourism industry in Sabah.

Pang said aside from revoking the licenses of the two tour operators and holding the owner of the tourist boat criminally responsible, the authorities will also suspend travel programs in Mengalum island and forbid all tourists boats from sailing to the island until the completion of the investigation.

According to Pang, they also plan to install electronic identification devices on all boats sailing from Sabah, so that maritime and port authorities can better manage boats plying through the waters.

Pang said his department, along with maritime, city hall and other agencies, will make sure such a tragedy will not happen again.
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The skipper of the ill-fated Malaysian catamaran, which carried 28 tourists from China and capsized in waters off Sabah last week, was sentenced to six months in jail on Saturday for steering an overloaded and unsafe vessel.

A Malaysian maritime rescuer searches for the missing Chinese tourists on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, after a boat accident off the Sabah state on North Borneo on Saturday. [Photo: Xinhua]



Sharezza Sslian bin Salian, the 25-year old skipper, along with another crewmember, were the first to be rescued after the sinking accident on Jan. 28, which caused at least three deaths.

Six persons, including five Chinese citizens and one Malaysian crewmember, are still missing.

The court believed that Sharezza, by putting 28 tourists onboard, knowingly exceeded the number of passengers, which should be no more than 12, an accusation which Sharezza pleaded guilty.

While the owner of the boat, a 43-year-old man named Leong Vin Jee, was released on bail and will be on trial next week since he does not know Malay.
You are here: Home

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U.S. District Court Judge James Robart ruled Friday in favor of the state attorneys general of Washington and Minnesota on a lawsuit to overturn President Donald Trump's travel ban.

The temporary ruling appeared to be the most severe legal blow to the executive order Trump issued on Jan. 27, a week after he was inaugurated.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Judge Robart was quoted as saying by reports reaching here.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately, effective now, puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order. It puts a stop to it immediately, nationwide," Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson told a group of reporters Friday afternoon.

"What the judge announced today was nationwide; the president's executive order does not apply," Ferguson added.

Ferguson later insisted in an interview over the phone with Cable News Network (CNN) that the ruling is effective across the United States.

Judge Robart of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, based in Seattle, was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2004.

Trump's week-old executive order barred nationals from seven countries from entering the United States. The seven countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The order has been widely criticized both domestically and internationally.
Joint venture to take on Amazon will be announced next week, report Karan Choudhury and Nivedita Mookerji.

It was back in January 2016 when Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba, took the key partnership decision on entering the fast-growing online retail market, a source told Business Standard.

Ma, in India at that point, narrowed down on Vijay Shekhar Sharma's wallet-to-payments bank venture Paytm, where the Alibaba Group was already the largest investor, as a future partner for his e-commerce foray into India, it has been learnt.

It was a one-on-one deal, without any merchant bankers involvement.

A year later, the two sides are ready to announce a joint venture next week, while chalking out a road map to take on Jeff Bezos-led Amazon, which has committed $5 billion for the India market in three years.

Ma is not flying down to India this time when Alibaba Group Holdings $200-million investment in Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd, translating into a 40 per cent stake, is announced next week.

However, a team from China, led by J Michael Evans, director and president of Alibaba, is expected to be here.

The next big round of funding, perhaps in excess of $1 billion, is likely next year.

That probably would be a more appropriate time for Ma to come and flash the big dollar note like Bezos did soon after starting the India venture.

Even as there has been much speculation on Alibaba tying up with other e-commerce companies in India, a source close to the development said the partnership with Paytm E-Commerce would be exclusive.

This is it for the India foray, he said.

However, Alibaba Group has an investment in Snapdeal, a prominent e-commerce company.

At this point, the final dots are being connected for the new board of Paytm E-Commerce to take shape.

At least three sources confirmed that Sharma, founder of One97 Communications, the parent company that owns Paytm, is slated to be the chairman of the board.

There are likely to be seven members, including Evans from Alibaba.

Others would include two members from Saif Partners, an investor in Paytm, and a couple of independent directors.

While a formal meeting of the new board is likely to be scheduled around April, consumers may get to see the Alibaba touch in Paytms e-commerce arm later this year, around Diwali, sources said.

A new app, business synergies with Alibaba global, and several cross-border businesses could be on the cards.

Is Alibaba an exit route for Paytms Sharma? A source claimed with Sharma owning around 20 per cent stake in Paytm, it was unlikely.

Sharmas stake would for sure get diluted over a period of time, but he may not sell off in a hurry, the source added.

To begin with, Alibaba plans to be a passive investor in Paytms marketplace.

By around 2019, Alibaba-backed Paytm wants to take on Amazon head-on. 

Alibaba may consider becoming a visible partner in the Paytm marketplace after that, said a source.

IMAGE: Vijay Shekhar Sharma, left, with Alibaba's Jack Ma, right. Photograph: Courtesy Vijay Shekhar Sharma/Twitter.
In his first rally in Uttar Pradesh after polls were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged the corrupt he had robbed with note-ban have ganged up to bring him down and targeted the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, saying the two parties which abused each other till recently are now locked in an embrace to save themselves.

Modi asked the people in Uttar Pradesh to rid the state of SCAM -- S for Samajwadi (party), C for the Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati, saying they have to choose between development agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote bank politics and encourage land and mine mafias.

In his over-an-hour-long address, he spoke at length about corruption, law and order and nepotism allegedly prevailing in the state as he sought peoples vote for the BJP to change the states fate.

"It is UP which made me the Prime Minister, Modi said, adding that he wanted to repay its debt and that he can do it only with a government that joins hands with the Centre to develop the state unlike the current dispensation which is a hindrance in its progress.

Attacking Congress and Samajwadi Party, he said Congress ran a campaign against the Samajwadi Party government and wondered as to what happened that both have now joined hands.

"What happened, that overnight they are embracing one another. Those who could not save themselves cannot save UP, he said.

Wooing farmers, he reiterated the partys promise of waiving loans of small and marginal farmers and paying the dues of sugarcane growers within 14 days of coming to power.

Playing the pro-poor and pro-farmers card, a plank the BJP has assiduously tried to claim for some time, Modi said the recent budget was all about them besides the middle class.

Noting that the rebellion against the British rule in 1857 had started from Meerut, Modi said he has chosen this place to start the war against poverty, corrupt forces and land grabbers.

The prime minister again attacked the opposition parties over demonetisation and surgical strikes to strike a chord with the audience as he said he was determined to cleanse the system at the top and was not interested in small fights.

Those who filled rooms with currency notes collected by selling party tickets are very anguished as I forced them to deposit their money in banks with an announcement at 8 pm on November 8....

I knew they will all gang up against me. They will kick up a storm because Modi has robbed them and they will bring him down

Do you think that corruption should be ended and black money finished off? I have been doing this and will not rest nor will let these robbers rest. No matter how many of them gang up to oppose me, my fight will not stop. Modi will not stop, he said.

Targeting Congress, he said a minister in the party-run Karnataka government has been found in possession of Rs 150 crore and but it has not taken any action against him.

Targeting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he said first his concern was all about family, then about himself and now it is about the chair.

Those accused of running mine mafia, patronising criminals, rapists and land-grabbers have been given tickets by the SP, he alleged.

Uttar Pradesh has potential to be a leading state in the country but has remained mired in poverty and unemployment due to its governments, Modi said.

You made me the prime minister and I have done everything in my capacity to bring honour to the state. Still, some debt I have to repay. In the last two and a half years, I have done a lot for the poor, farmers, deprived, Dalits and some is yet to be done.

You tell me if all the good I want to do for the state will not remain unfulfilled if the state government here works as a hindrance. So long as you do not send such a government home, the development the central government wants will not happen. It is necessary to remove them, he said, seeking votes for the BJP.

Only about Rs 2,800 crore of Rs 7,000 crore the Centre had sent to UP for health care development in 2015-16 was spent and not even Rs 40 crore of the Rs 950 cr sent for Swachh campaign was used, he said and cited more figures to accuse the Akhilesh government of not being interested in the states development.

It (the SP government) believes if the money cannot be spent on those who are its vote bank, then it will let the funds rot. Tell me if assistance to those who are ill should be based on vote bank politics, he said.

The whole day the government is busy with uncle, son, papa, nephew.... If you want to change UPs fate, change the government. You demolish the rule of SCAM with your votes, he said in a dig at the Yadav clans feud.

Modis political attack was largely focused on SP-Congress alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party being mentioned only tangentially.

Referring to surgical strikes, he said the valour of our armed forces was underestimated so far and enemies would kill them in night and disappear but they could not use their guns due to atmosphere created earlier.

Now countries across the world are studying as to how Indian forces did such an operation on Pakistani soil. We made them (enemies) account for everything, the PM said.

While other politicians go to various locations to celebrate Diwali and their birthdays, he went to forces deployed on border, the PM said.

He targeted the opposition parties for questioning the strikes and alleged that some of them doubted the operation because no Indian soldier lost his life.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. Photograph: @BJP4UP/Twitter


In this week's Torah portion, Moses argues with Pharaoh about letting the people go.

It's framed as "let the people go so they may worship Adonai." Torah doesn't speak in terms of freedom for its own sake. Moshe seeks his people's freedom from servitude and oppression and hard labor -- and, it's not just about being freed from, it's also about being freed toward.

Pharaoh suggests he might let them go, but only the men, which Moses rejects: no, we're not leaving women and children behind. Then Pharaoh suggests he might let them go, but says they can't take herds or flocks with them. And Moshe says no, because:

      / "We shall not know with what we are to serve until we get there."

On the surface, he's making a practical point. The request was to let our people go so that we could worship God in the wilderness, and the way we did that back then was through animal sacrifice. In the physical world, when he says "we shall not know with what we are to serve" he's talking about goats and sheep. But in the worlds of emotion and spirit, Moshe's highlighting a fundamental truth of every new undertaking: we never know what a journey will ask of us.

Going from slavery to freedom, from servitude to Pharaoh to service to the One, from narrow straits to liberation: it's the core story of Jewish peoplehood. We retell it every year at the Passover seder. We remind ourselves of it every Shabbat when we sing Mi Chamocha, and when we make the kiddush over wine. Those of us who have the practice of daily Jewish liturgical prayer remind ourselves of it every day.

It's also a core story of our lives. We move from constriction to expansion, from unconsciousness to consciousness, from calcified habits to transformation, over and over again. As we grow up and leave a childhood home for college, or leave the Purple Valley for the wide world outside. As we outgrow old circumstances and start over. As we discover that we can be more than we have been, and then pursue that becoming.

Hold that thought, because I want to pause and look at what it means to serve. I said earlier that Moshe's request is to free the people, but not so they can be accountable to no one. He seeks to free them from Pharaoh so they can serve God instead. That may sound like trading one master for another. But I think it's not, and here's why.

Pharaoh dehumanized us. He signed an executive order to have our baby boys murdered. Pharaoh believed that we were inferior to "regular" Egyptian citizens. Pharaoh saw us as teeming masses of foreigners, people who prayed differently and dressed differently and therefore deserved a lifetime of slavery in the pyramid-industrial complex. When describing how Pharaoh saw us, Torah says "the Israelites were fruitful and they swarmed" -- swarmed, like bugs. Being enslaved to Pharaoh meant working for the betterment of someone who saw us as equivalent to cockroaches.

Service to God is the opposite of that. To Pharaoh we were indistinguishable insects, but in God's eyes each of us is infinitely precious. Torah teaches that every human being is made in the image and the likeness of the One -- regardless of race or religion, shape or skin tone. To serve God means to serve the source of love and liberation. It means to choose to align ourselves with the force that brought us out of slavery, and to seek to break the shackles of those who are still enslaved.

But maybe you don't believe in God, not even the one I just described. That's okay. We can talk another time about why I'm more interested in engaging with -- talking to, wrestling with, demanding things of -- than believing in. No matter what you "believe in," there is service that awaits you, if you're willing to hear the call. Leave the world a better place than you found it. Work toward justice and human rights for all. Feed the hungry, protect the powerless, speak up for those who are victimized by structures of power and domination. That's the calling to which Judaism summons us.

And you won't know what resources you'll need for that work until you get there. You can learn. You can study. You can prepare with all your might. But the work of making the world a better place will require all of who you are, and you'll have to reach for strength and courage and conviction that you didn't know you had. Not once, but over and over again.

Every new chapter requires us to grow and deepen what we can offer to the world. It's true of a new semester. It's true of a new relationship, or a new job, or a new Presidential administration. We won't know with what we are called to serve until we get there. We won't know what this new adventure demands of us, what internal qualities of kindness or strength, courage or resolve we're going to need -- until we get there.

And "getting there" may be a misnomer. Because every moment asks us to dig deep and draw on the best of who we are. I know what resources I needed for yesterday, but yesterday's over. I know what resources I needed an hour ago, but that's then, and this is now.       -- We won't know what this new moment asks of us until we reach it. And then there will be another new moment, and another after that.

Right now it's Shabbes, a deep dive into holy time. This is the time to soak up what nourishes us, to set aside the pressures of the week. This is the time to remember who we truly are -- not when we're defining ourselves through what we do, or what we've accomplished, or what's on our to-do list, but through who our hearts and souls yearn to be.

And when we emerge from this Shabbat, life will ask things of us. The new week will make demands on us. Our professors, or bosses, or families, will make demands on us. The world at large will make demands on us. May you be blessed with the ability to dig deep and find the reserves you need for whatever liberation, whatever new adventure, whatever challenges lie ahead. Shabbat shalom.

This is the d'var Torah I offered tonight at the Williams College Jewish Association. (I also offered a d'varling, a mini-d'var, during Kabbalat Shabbat services.)
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HA NOI  E-commerce is no longer an option that Vietnamese enterprises can ignore.

It has become an indispensable extension for businesses as a rapidly growing country with growing Internet connectivity deepens its global integration process.

The development of multi-channel businesses that combines physical stores with an online presence has become an inevitable trend.

Viet Nam has a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of more than six per cent per year. Internet connectivity is growing by 50 per cent plus every year. Online marketing revenues in the country increased from US$26 million to nearly $330 million in the 2010-2015 period.

It is not surprising that with these advantages, the nations e-commerce market has witnessed the entrance of large players in the last few years.

The Vingroup officially stepped into e-commerce in 2015 with its Adayroi trading floor. Earlier, several savvy entrepreneurs had launched online shopping websites that became popular, like sendo.vn, nguyenkim.com, tiki.vn, zalora.vn and lazada.vn.

The South Korean Lotte Group also entered e-commerce market in Viet Nam last year with its lotte.vn website. It was followed soon by Japans largest retailer Aeon, which launched aeoneshop.com at the beginning of this month.

Given their brand prominence and their large story systems, aeoneshop.com and lotte.vn are expected to offer stiff competition to sites like lazada.vn and tiki.vn that currently dominate the domestic market.

Tran Trong Tuyen, general secretary of the Viet Nam E-commerce Association, told the Hai Quan (Customs) online newspaper recently that in the past, it was important for businesses to open their stores at a good location, but the situation has changed with 40 million Internet users having the option to buy things online.

If retail companies do not invest properly in e-commerce, they will gradually lose customers, Tuyen said.

The newspaper also quoted Trinh Van Hoa, director of the Nguyen Kim E-commerce Centre, as saying that the centre studied customers shopping habits and understood that they were looking for multi-business shopping facilities.

Its focus on providing the most convenient shopping solutions for customers had seen the company grow rapidly in recent years, she said.

The growth of the company, accordingly, also increased several times compared to the previous years, she said.

Impressive figures

E-commerce revenues in Viet Nam reached $4.07 billion in 2015, a 37 per cent year-on-year increase. It also accounted for about 2.8 per cent of total retail trade and services revenue.

Last year, e-commerce revenues increased to $5 billion, accounting for about three per cent of the total retail trade and services revenue.

The popularity of Online Friday, a mega sales event held every December, has soared, with last years sales of VN664 billion, triple that of the previous year.

These figures show that the nation is well placed to meet its e-commerce targets. The 2016-2020 e-commerce master plan envisages $10 billion in business-to-consumner (B2C) turnover by 2020, accounting for five per cent of the countrys total retail sales.

Despite the rapid growth and enormous potential, the e-commerce market share of Vietnamese enterprises was still modest, Tuyen remarked.

He said that even though famous names like Tiki and Sendo had millions of users and tens of thousands of orders per day, they were limited to the national scale, and although e-commerce revenue in 2015 was five times that of 2012, the Vietnamese market had yet to match world leaders.

In the US, e-commerce transactions accounted for five per cent of total retail sales, and it was 9-10 per cent in China, and about three per cent in Viet Nam.

Shopping trends

Market research firm Nielsen recently released the results of an online survey covering 63 countries

It found more than six out of ten (64 per cent) Vietnamese consumers purchased fashion products online.

More than half the Vietnamese respondents said they purchased books, music and stationery products (51 per cent) and 47 per cent said they bought travel products or services online.

Four in 10 respondents (40 per cent) said they purchased personal-care and beauty products online.

About one-fourth (26 per cent) said they placed online orders for babies and infants; an equal number ordered meal-kits or restaurant deliveries and one-fifth ordered packaged groceries online.  VNS
HCM CITY  Tuna exports are expected to increase by 8 per cent this year to US$524 million, according to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters.

Vasep general secretary Truong inh Hoe said that after falling for three years tuna exports went up by 9 per cent last year to $500 million, with frozen tuna loin and canned tuna accounting for 47 per cent and 30 per cent.

The US, EU, ASEAN, Israel, China, and Japan were the largest buyers, he said.

Shipments to the US were worth $200 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 per cent, making Viet Nam the second biggest exporter to that market.

Faced with similar import tariffs as the other main tuna exporting countries, if Vietnamese firms maintain quality and supply, Viet Nam would remain the second largest exporter to the US or even surpass Indonesia to become the largest in a few years, Hoe said.

Exports to the EU, the second biggest buyer, reached $110 million last year, an increase of 11.5 per cent over 2015.

Frozen tuna loin was the main item (accounting for 36 per cent) followed by canned tuna (31 per cent), frozen whole tuna (20 per cent) and others.

Italy, German and Belgium were the three main markets in the EU, accounting for 57 per cent of the imports.

Italy is among the largest tuna consumption markets in the world, and Vietnamese firms exported mainly frozen yellow-fin tuna to that market and had a 28 per cent market share, Hoe said.

Export of the fish is expected to increase further, especially after the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement comes into force and Vietnamese tuna attracts lower tariffs than that of its rivals, he said.

Exports to China increased by 69.2 per cent last year, but exports to Japan went down by 6.9 per cent.

Japans tuna imports are falling every year since young people there increasingly prefer meat, reducing consumption of tuna sashimi and sushi, Hoe said.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, consumption of fresh and frozen tuna in Japan reduced by 3 per cent last year.

In the long term, its seafood imports will continue to fall.

The depreciation of the yen also affected tuna exports to Japan, Vasep said.

Viet Nam has a very small share (0.5 per cent) of the Japanese fresh/frozen tuna market, it said.

Hoe said this year Vietnamese tuna exporters would increase exports of frozen tuna loin to take full advantage of domestic supply of the fish as well as imports.  VNS
BINH THUAN - The Peoples Committee in southern Binh Thuan Province has given its approval in principle to the a Nhim-Ham Thuan-a Mi Joint Stock Company for a project on a Mi Lake.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the company is allowed to conduct a research and feasibility study to build a floating solar power project on the lake.

The plant is not on the list of power sources of the national power planning until 2030, thus the committee has asked the ministrys General Directorate of Energy to assess and add the project to the list under current regulations.

The plant will cover 57ha of lake surface on which solar panels will be installed and 67ha of land surface on which transformer stations and inverters will be constructed.

With an investment of VN1.5 trillion (US$66.7 million), the project will be able to produce an average of 69 million kWh in the first year of operation.

Located in the districts of Tanh Linh and Ham Thuan Bac, the project is expected to begin operation in 2019.VNS
On occasion of 69th National Day of Sri Lanka today (on February 4), Ambassador Hasanthi Dissanayake says the island will use all its advantages to deliver sustainable development to its citizens.

Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, gained its independence from the British on 4th February 1948. The next day, a British newspaper editorial predicted a bright future for the country, expressing confidence that it would no doubt become the Switzerland of the East. Then, it was considered a model Commonwealth country with good education standards, a civil service largely consisting of trained locals with experience in representative government.

Unfortunately, the country was not able to steer itself towards economic development at full throttle, as it was engulfed in a civil war for over 30 years. Since the war ended in 2009, the Government of Sri Lanka has ushered in an era of good governance, sustainable development and national integration, and most importantly, the creation of a new political culture devoid of divisive politics that preserves the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of its society.

Since ancient times, Sri Lanka has been a trading nation. Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean as a central hub of the maritime Silk Route, the country has for many centuries welcomed traders and entrepreneurs from lands near and far. Now in the 21stcentury, Sri Lanka is once again emerging as an economic hub in South Asia, offering many opportunities for trade and commerce for international partners.

Sri Lanka hosted the World Economic Development Forum 2016 in Colombo, highlighting the nations openness to international business and setting a path towards an improved business environment. In this connection, as a founder member of the GATT as well as WTO, Sri Lanka has been fully committed to liberal and market-oriented economic policies introduced as early as in 1978 with the objective of achieving greater integration into the world economy.

New challenge

Sri Lanka is now faced with a new challenge: to go beyond the middle income status. Under new reforms, the country will create a background for the Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to enter global value chains, facilitate Small & Medium scale producers to reach the international market, encourage foreign enterprises to invest in Sri Lanka and also facilitate digitalization of economy to improve productivity and efficiency levels towards competing in the global economy.

Sri Lanka has already operational FTAs with Pakistan and India, while negotiations are underway for FTAs with Singapore and China. As a member of SAARC, Sri Lanka also enjoys free trading facilities with other South Asian countries under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).

It is evident that through these agreements, Sri Lanka provides a stepping stone to reach out to a huge market. Given these circumstances, with its new economic reforms, country aims to emerge as the the economic hub of the region, a niche manufacturing destination to produce goods which plug into regional and global value chains.

Sri Lanka is emerging as a destination of choice for IT, BPO and KPO sectors and is ranked among the Top 25 Global Outsourcing Destinations by AT Kearney, while Colombo has been listed among the Top 20 Emerging Cities by the Global Services Magazine.

The country offers a rapidly growing niche workforce that is highly adaptable, innovative, English-speaking and loyal. Currently, over 75,000 are employed in the ICT industry. Foreign entities that have invested in Sri Lanka, like HSBC, Industrial & Financial Systems (IFS), Amba Research, RR Donnelley, Virtusa, and Millennium Information Technology (owned by London Stock Exchange). Among Globally recognized customers of Sri Lankan ICT products and services are JP Morgan, Google, Microsoft, Qatar Airways and Emirates, have already begun to tap local talent.

In this backdrop, Sri Lanka is emerging as one of the favourite investment destinations in the world. Strategically placed to benefit from a changing global marketplace, it is located equidistant between Europe and Far East on the major East-West shipping lanes and therefore has easy access to lucrative Middle Eastern and rising African markets.

It has high environmental standards in comparison with other developing countries in Asia, and investment is guaranteed by the Sri Lankan Constitution. This and the existence of many enabling laws to facilitate and protect investment are key reasons that attract foreign investment.

Sri Lanka has signed Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements with 38 countries and Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with 28 countries, including Viet Nam.

As per the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, Sri Lanka is ranked 55t h out of 138 countries for the Overall Quality of National Infrastructure. Sri Lanka has also achieved the highest ranking in South Asia for Ease of Doing Business.

Mesmerising place

With regard to tourism, Sri Lanka offers a wide array of experiences from its golden beaches bordering deep blue calm oceans to bask in sun, to its misty mountains lined with endless rows of tea bushes and adorned with beautiful waterfalls cascading down from hilltops. The country also has a rich choice of archaeological heritages and many cultural festivities and places that would mesmerise even a seasoned traveller. The island is also very rich in bio-diversity and it is committed to taking good care of its fauna and flora.

The Sri Lankan tourism industry is one of the fast-growing sectors in the Sri Lanka with an increase of 162 per cent in the number of arrivals and a 413 per cent increase in tourism revenues between 2011 and 2016. A 143 per cent growth is expected in hotel growth between 2016 and 2020.

Sri Lanka was nominated one of the top 10 destinations to visit in 2016 by the Lonely Planet magazine.

On this occasion of celebrating our 69th Independence Day, the government of Sri Lanka is poised to engage the international community and usher in a new era of economic prosperity to its citizenry through sustainable development.VNS
Priority for social housing credit will be given to low-income State employees, defence personnel and the urban poor, Nguyen Van Ly, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, tells Lao ong (Labour).

Now that the previous VN30 trillion package for social housing has ended, can you tell us how much the next one will be?

Counting some designated sources of capital and localities contributions, the credit expansion assigned and recovery of debts, the total credit package for social housing is expected to reach VN58.3 trillion ($2.6 billion), larger than in previous years, and an estimated increase of VN5.1 trillion over 2016.

For this year, VBSP is well prepared to provide social housing loans. We are just waiting for Government approval.

It is a difficult task to fully serve poor households, near-poor households and those eligible for State preferential treatment.

Thus, this year, VBSP will stay focused on utilising capital sources from commune-based transaction points to general capital for other sources, creating a new channel of capital mobilisation.

The capital mobilisation will be implemented first and foremost in areas where local people have high incomes. In mountainous and remote areas, deposits can be collected at home.

Our bank will work with local Party Committees and social organisations and unions to effectively rotate credit and recover debt for new sources of capital, facilitating the clearance of Government debt.

Priority will be given to poor households, near-poor households and families that have recently escaped from poverty; areas with high percentage of underprivileged households and areas hit hard by natural disasters.

Once the credit package is available, how can the needy access loans?

The social housing programme is a key part of national social security, which is a large-scale programme though we still do not have enough funds for it.

We have studied relevant issues and collected opinions from ministries, departments and sectors for issuing detailed guidelines.

Everybody is eligible for the social housing credit. However, Government resources are limited, so VBSP will prioritise loans for State employees whose earnings are below the minimum-level for income tax purposes, defence personnel, and the urban poor.

(The credit package is for individuals who do not own a property/house or those whose house has less than 8sq.m per person. Investors in social housing are also eligible for loans after their financial capacity is strictly assessed by the banks.)

We will co-ordinate with local administrations and socio-political organisations to implement procedures necessary to choose the right persons for granting loans. All the procedures will be conducted publicly and quickly.

What is the different between credit VBSPs credit package from those offered by other commercial banks?

VBSP only grants the credit for social housing projects which are already approved by the Ministry of Construction.

How will the public know when the credit package will be available?

As soon as the Government gives the green light, VBSP will organise a press conference to publicise the loan package on mass media and the Government information e-portal.

The information will also be made known to localities, particularly communes and townships nation-wide. Potential beneficiaries will certainly have access to the information.  VNS
HA NAM  President Tran ai Quang attended the annual Tich ien (ploughing) festival yesterday in oi Son Commune in Ha Nam province, which hopes for a bumper rice harvest in 2017  the Year of the Rooster.

On the occasion, the State leader launched an agricultural mechanisation programme by directly driving a tractor on the field to encourage localities nationwide to promote industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture and rural areas.

In his speech, President Quang highlighted the significance of the festival, saying that the annual event has become a tradition in the localitys cultural life and a recognised intangible national cultural heritage.

The Tich ien festival dignifies the importance of agriculture and the role of farmers, and it contributes to preserving and upholding cultural values of the locality, he stressed.

It is also an activity to introduce Ha Nams images and tourism potential to domestic and foreign visitors and overseas Vietnamese, thus promoting the provinces socio-economic development, he added.

He expressed his pleasure with the fact that Ha Nam and other localities nationwide have recorded more and more concentrated and machine-based goods production models with the application of high technologies, and cooperation with foreign investors to produce and process high-quality farm produce.

The President took the occasion to call on sectors and localities throughout the country to successfully implement the Partys and States guidelines and policies related to agriculture, farmers, rural development and new-style rural area building.

Ha Nam and other localities should boost hi-tech agriculture development and export high-quality agricultural products, aiming to improve the living standards of farmers and contribute to the nations development, he said.

The festival began in 987 during the Le Dynasty when King Le ai Hanh decided to plough in oi Son Commune, Duy Tien District to wish for bumper crops. The practice then became an annual tradition held through many dynasties before falling into oblivion under the reign of King Khai inh of the Nguyen Dynasty. It was restored in 2009.

Viet Nam has about 8,000 festivals each year. Of which, nearly 90 per cent are traditional festivals, 6 percent are religious ones and 4 per cent are historical ones.-VNS
HCM CITY  HCM City Party Secretary inh La Thang has asked the citys Peoples Committee for permission to use Vinamilks technology in a dairy renovation project that is expected to offer stable income for poor farmers.

Thang issued the instruction during a working visit to Vinamilks dairy factory in Ben Cat District in Binh Duong Province on February 2.

During the visit, Mai Kieu Lien, the CEO of Vinamilk, asked city authorities to allow Vinamilk to apply new husbandry technology and new dairy cow breeders in a pilot project in the first quarter.

Lien said the average capacity of dairy cows for private farmers was low, around 17-18 litres of milk per cow per day, mostly due to the low quality of dairy breeders. The number is 30 litres at Vinamilk farms.

Vinamilk had planned to import dairy cow breeders from the US and New Zealand, to feed them in the beginning in order to let them be familiar with Vietnamese weather, then transfer to farmers.

The cost for each breeder is estimated to be VN50  60 million (US$2,200  2,650) and farmers would expect to recoup investment after two to three years.

If local authorities can provide 50 per cent of the loans for farmers, Vinamilk will offer the rest without interest, Lien said.

Thang said the project would be long-term and offer stable income for poor farmers.

Thang said that in the pilot project, farmer households that can feed 50 new dairy cow breeders would receive preferential loans at low interest or zero interest.

With the number of new breeders, farmers will have favourable conditions to reform their husbandry process.

The number of dairy cows in HCM City (mostly located in Cu Chi District) is around 90,000. -- VNS
LOS ANGELES  A US federal judge on Friday ordered a temporary, nationwide halt to President Donald Trumps ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, in the most severe legal blow to the controversial measure.

The restraining order issued by Seattle US District Judge James Robart is valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

"The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said, describing the judges decision as historic. "No one is above the law -- not even the president."

"I said from the beginning it is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, its the constitution," he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W Bush.

But the White House quickly hit back, making it clear it was ready for a drawn-out battle on the issue. It initially denounced the decision as "outrageous" but later removed the word from its statement.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file (for) an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," a statement said.

"The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Limbo

Fridays ruling was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Ferguson said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

But it was unclear whether the Trump administration would succeed in challenging it, leaving travelers in limbo over their legal status.

Robarts decision came after Ferguson filed a suit to invalidate key provisions of Trumps executive order which bars Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days. Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven countries concerned had their visas canceled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The US State Department was still studying the federal judges order as of late Friday night.

"We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available," the department said in a statement.

Battle not over

Trumps executive order created chaos at airports across the United States and beyond as some travelers were detained or deported, prompting an uproar by rights groups and immigration attorneys.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee welcomed Fridays ruling as a "tremendous victory" but warned that the battle to overturn Trumps controversial order was far from over.

"There is still more to do," he said in a statement. "The fight isnt yet won. But we should feel heartened by todays victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history."

Senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the minority Democrats in the upper house of Congress, urged Trump to repeal his order "once and for all."

"This ruling is a victory for the constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," he said in a statement.

In his suit -- which the state of Minnesota joined -- Ferguson said the presidents ban violated the constitutional rights of immigrants and their families, and specifically targeted Muslims.

However federal attorneys representing the Trump administration argued that as president, he had broad powers and was within his right to issue an order that protects Americans.

The White House argues that the ban is aimed at making the country safer and at preventing terror attacks such as those in San Bernardino or Orlando.

Critics, however, say Trumps immigration freeze is arbitrary and point out it doesnt include any countries -- such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Pakistan -- whose nationals have been involved in terror attacks that have killed Americans.  AFP
PARIS  French investigators believe the man who launched a machete attack outside the Louvre in Paris, before being shot and wounded by a soldier, is a 29-year-old Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa.

The incident has thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a "terrorist" assault.

The attacker, in a black t-shirt bearing a skull design and armed with two 40-centimetre machetes, lunged at four patrolling French soldiers while shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest"), Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference.

One of the troops was struck on the head and another fell to the ground outside the famous Paris museum after the assailant attacked. The second soldier managed to open fire and hit the machete-wielder in the stomach.

"The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded. He has been taken to hospital and is fighting for his life," the prosecutor said.

A source later said that the suspects condition had stabilised. Security forces said one soldier had suffered a minor head wound.

Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the world famous attraction after the assailant was shot five times around 10:00am (0900 GMT) in a public area near one of the museums entrances.

Terrorist nature

The attacker who is thought to live in the United Arab Emirates, is believed to have entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26, a source said.

An Egyptian passport, thought to be the suspects, was found during a search of an apartment in an expensive district of Paris near the Champs-Elysees.

Investigators are examining the account of an Egyptian man named Abdallah El Hamahmy after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic between 9:27 am and 9:34 am, just minutes prior to the attack.

"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," El Hamahmy wrote, before making reference to the Islamic State group in another tweet a minute later.

The UAE government condemned the "hateful crime" and assured France of its "full solidarity".

As French authorities probed the attackers background, President Francois Hollande said that "there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act," an assessment echoed by Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

France was already reeling from a string of terror attacks over the last two years and the country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

The economy, immigration and security are major issues for voters ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections forecast to confirm the countrys shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that a "new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART US."

Witnesses described scenes of panic as people fled the Louvre complex following the incident.

"We heard gunshots. We didnt know what it was about. Then we evacuated the employees and we left," one man who works in a nearby restaurant said.

A woman colleague said: "We saw death coming for us, with everything thats happening at the moment. We were very, very scared."

The Louvre closed following the attack -- but will re-open on Saturday.  AFP
CEDAR FALLS  The fast-paced news cycle means the election of President Donald Trump feels like a lifetime ago, but it has been less than three months.

In many ways the debate over the results is still raging, Republican National Committeewoman and conservative activist Tamara Scott said a presentation Friday.

Scott spoke to the Republican Women of Black Hawk County and explained the uproar over this years vote. She defended the Electoral College system.

Why did we have such a backlash this time? Its not the process. The process has been the same for 58 elections now, since the day we were formed as a nation. The problem comes out of our education system, Scott told about 50 Republicans.

She argued students are not getting an understanding of the U.S. Constitution if they question the electoral college.

While she acknowledged some backlash was due to the fact people dont trust the system anymore, she said that was due to a lack education and efforts by the other side.

The debate arose this year after losing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton got 2.8 million more votes than Donald Trump, but Trump won more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.

Because of this discrepancy  its happened four times in the countrys history, including twice this century  there was an unprecedented effort among some to get electors to swap their vote.

Though the defections did not materialize, Scott warned there are movements afoot to change the electoral college system.

She criticized a movement called the National Popular Vote that would bypass the electoral college in favor of binding each states electors to whoever wins the popular vote nationally.

So far 11 states with a combined 165 electoral votes have adopted the provision.

If we get that, not only do we lose first-in-the-nation, but Iowa and several other states will lose all influence, Scott said.

There will be a few in control, and the rest of us will have no say.

The National Popular Vote literature argues small states are already ignored unless they are swing states.

Scott defended the status quo, saying she supports the Founding Fathers vision.

Maybe its because Im old and stodgy, but our Founding Fathers were just pretty incredible. That Constitution was pretty divine, divinely inspired, for all situations and all ages, Scott said.

These people who want to change it  I have great caution.
JOHNSTON  Although she said legislation to rebalance Iowas collective bargaining laws is nearly ready for consideration, House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, shared few details about what changes legislative majority Republicans have in mind.

Were very close to having a bill ready that we can look at, Upmeyer said during taping of Iowa Public Televisions Iowa Press Friday. Speculation around the Capitol is that Republicans, who control the House, Senate and Governors Office, will unveil their plans as soon as Monday.

Its been 40 years since Republican Gov. Robert Ray and the Legislature wrote Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code that sets out the collective bargaining process for local and state governments and public employees.

Since then, Upmeyer said, the balance has tipped in favor of between public employees.

Over the years, every time weve created a new mandate, every time a contract is reviewed, it is one more finger on the scale, she said. So what wed like to do is rebalance this a little bit.

Specifically, Republicans want to look at the arbitration process. Although both the public sector and private sector compete for the best and brightest minds, arbitrators are limited in comparing public employee wages to private sector wages when settling contracts.

That, Upmeyer said, turns taxpayers into an ATM machine. Rebalancing that a little differently would create a little more fairness.

Following the Senates lead, Upmeyer expects the House to Approve Senate File 2 to earmark about $3 million in state money to fund womens health-care clinics that do not offer abortion  a change opponents claimed would result in more unplanned pregnancies and fewer services in a political move to target Planned Parenthood.

Thats not a new position for House Republicans, Upmeyer said.

Weve passed this legislation, very similar wording, in our budget bills through the House in the past, she said. There are some new members of the GOP caucus, but she expects all of them will support SF 2 because it exactly what our supporters, the people at home, have asked us to do and that is not add dollars to abortion providers.
CEDAR FALLS  The United Faculty union at the University of Northern Iowa has filed a complaint with the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board alleging the Iowa Board of Regents has failed to negotiate in good faith.

The union alleges regents are stalling labor contract talks until a bill revamping the states collective bargaining law is drafted and passed in the Legislature.

The complaint was filed Friday afternoon by Nate Willems, a Cedar Rapids attorney representing United Faculty.

The complaint states, in part, United Faculty presented its initial collective bargaining proposal to the regents on Nov. 18. Regents then presented an initial proposal. The parties met Dec. 15, and United Faculty presented a counter-proposal.

At the close of bargaining, the only unresolved issues pertained to evaluation procedures and wages, the complaint states. Subsequent to Dec. 15, the Board failed to make any counter-offer to the outstanding issues.

Despite the efforts of United Faculty and a PERB mediator, the employer became unavailable for bargaining, the complaint continues. The Board of Regents stated its position that it would not meet for bargaining or mediation until after a date by which the employer perceived the Legislature would have taken action to change the statutory provisions of Chapter 20, the state public employee collective bargaining law.

The board has refused to bargain in good faith, the complaint states. It asks PERB to find in favor of the union and issue a cease and desist order to compel the regents to negotiate a contract.

The regents have an opportunity within a set number of days to file a formal answer to United Facultys PERB complaint.

Regents spokesman Josh Lehman said, The Board of Regents is continuing to follow the prescribed process of negotiation. He cited a previously agreed-to bargaining schedule with the regents and several other organized employee groups among the regents institutions that show a mediation session scheduled with United Faculty on Feb. 20. Talks could happen before then and binding arbitration, slated for March 2, would only happen if an agreement cant be reached.

We have negotiated in good faith. The mediation and arbitration dates were mutually agreed to, Lehman said.

United Faculty President Joe Gorton questioned whether the regents bargaining schedule, and any progress in bargaining to this point, would be made moot by a law change.

Other state public employee unions may also be filing complaints with PERB, Gorton suggested. Willems said Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest state public employee union in the Iowa, filed a similar action Wednesday.

The Iowa state code is pretty clear on collective bargaining. We believe what the regents have been doing here is not in good faith, Gorton said. They have to obey the law like everyone else.

This is the opening efforts of a legal response to their bad-faith bargaining, Gorton said. My hope is that the regents will take a step back, take a look at what theyve done here and make some decisions that are in the interests of everyone, including the taxpayers. It would be a major waste of taxpayer dollars to have this spin out of control.

He also noted the regents and state, like other public entities, are under a deadline to set a budget for the coming fiscal year and employee compensation for union and nonunion workers is a big part of that.

United Faculty represents 550 UNI faculty members.
Ive lived as a stranger.

With those words, Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic and author of the best-selling Between the World and Me, began a sweeping, thought-provoking lecture before a packed audience in Smith Auditorium.

He was responding to an Old Testament Bible verse quoted by Willamette President Steve Thorsett in his introduction: You shall love the stranger, for you were a stranger in Egypt. Seek justice, love kindness.

Coates, one of the nations most definitive voices on race relations, challenged the audience to think of race as an act  a moment-by-moment division we have created over centuries through our everyday language, the lies we tell ourselves and the efforts we make to cover up those untruths. He also indicated race is a false identifier, one shaped by early discriminatory laws that cemented wealth for whites and slavery for people of color.

Race is the child of racism, he said, not the father.

Coates talk, A Deeper Black: Race in America, was part of the universitys Atkinson Lecture Series, its annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and the beginning of its year-long 175th anniversary commemoration. Current events made Coates presentation even more timely and significant.

Just a few days previously, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order banning travel to the U.S. by citizens from seven majority-Muslim nations. Coates said the presidents factually unsupported justification  that these nations send terrorists to the U.S.  is an example of lies that create race through acts of racism.

He also mentioned the lie told by Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white woman who in 1955 accused African-American teenager Emmett Till of making sexual advances toward her. The claim led to Tills kidnapping and horrifying murder. Donham recently admitted what she said wasnt true.

It is the lies that we tell ourselves  its the lies that, at that point, we had spent over 300 years telling ourselves what race meant and what black men can do and what they will do, Coates said. And that voice was so powerful, that boy was tortured to death.

Coates lecture provided a mini-history lesson and a reminder that early legislation against people of color ensured significant economic benefit to white people. With slavery a big business in the mid-1800s, investing in slaves meant growing your wealth. Coates referred to slave-owning as a social institution no different than people today aspiring to own a home.

Homeowners are like a clique. They get together and they talk about what theyre going to do to their home, he said. Slavery was the same way.  How do you get more out of your slaves?

Murmurs of agreement from the audience, which included Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, were heard throughout the lecture. Coates peppered his talk with humor and humility, managing to create the feel of an intimate conversation in the sprawling auditorium. As all tickets for the event were snapped up within hours, Willamette set up a live-stream feed to Hudson Hall, which accommodated another 500 students, staff, faculty and alumni.

At the end of Coatess 30-minute talk, students asked several questions, including How can one stop people from denying racism exists? How can one become an established writer? Why is Malcolm X your hero more than Martin Luther King, Jr.? In answer to one question, Coates encouraged a nonviolent response to racism. He reminded the audience that revolutionaries who take up arms against the government always end up shooting each other.

To loud applause, he urged people to exercise their democratic rights. Folks have got to get into the streets, theyve got to vote, he said. Theyve got to run at the local level.

He stressed that young peoples votes matter. And he pointed out that, while he didnt fully support Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate, life doesnt always give us what we want.

Sometimes, he said, its (a choice between) civilization or complete barbarism.
The Bee Breeders calls for submissions to create eco-friendly designs for a complex in the heart of Latvia, one of Europes greenest countries. The Bee Breeders has teamed up SRED property developers, the Stone Barn Meditation camp will be built on the site of a repurposed stone barn.

Looking to act as an example for green building practice, participants are tasked with focusing on eco-friendly and cost-effective designs to create an exciting and enticing wellness complex that will further encourage ecotourism in the region.



The total prize fund for this competition is US $6,000, and the final deadline for registration is April 12, 2017. Winners will be announced on May 17, and the top designs selected will be considered for construction.

The Stone Barn Meditation Camp will serve as a guesthouse, located in a repurposed stone barn in the heart of Latvia, with the aim of further popularising eco tourism. As one of the greenest countries in Europe, Latvia already benefits from a thriving ecotourism trade.



The Stone Barn Meditation Camp will look to become a regional example for green building practice. As competition winners will be put forward for consideration for construction, designs need to place a strong emphasis on eco-friendly and cost-effective building techniques.



Designs for the building complex in this competition need to include accommodation for guests of meditation camps and other small events, permanent accommodation for the groundskeeper, and an inventive and eco-friendly use of space for guests to practice meditation and yoga.

Competition site

The competition site is situated in rural Vidzeme in the eastern region of Latvia. Known for both its cultural heritage and its natural beauty, the location is rich in forests, lakes and grasslands.

The stone barn was built in 1875 and operated as a sawmill until the late 1990s. All the equipment has since been removed, and part of the building has been demolished. Participants can download information on the existing structure, as well as the historical appearance from the competition website. Participants can decide to restore the stone barn to its original historical design or reimagine its structure in a new way. However, the existing building cannot be demolished, only added to or enhanced.

Eligibility

Competition is open to all. No professional qualification is required. Design proposals can be developed individually or by teams (4 team members maximum).

Key Dates

Closing date for registration: 12 April, 2017

Closing date for project submission: 03 May, 2017 (11.59pm GMT)

Announcement of the winners: May 17, 2017

Prizes

Total prize for construction: US $6,000

1st prize: US $3,000 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

2nd prize: US $1,500 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

3rd prize: US $ 500 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

BB Student Award: US $ 500 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

BB Green Award: US $ 500 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

The competition will select 6 Honorable Mentions. SRED Global is committed to the construction of the Stone Barn Meditation Camp during 2017-2018 with all winning and honorable mention designs to be put forward for consideration for the final design of the camp.

Jury members include Daniel Jacobs - SHoP Architects, New York City, USA, Daphne Karaiskaki - Renzo Piano Building Workshop, France, Gemawang Swaribathoro - OMA, Hong Kong, John Simons - KPF, USA, Collin Anderson - Renzo Piano Building Workshop, France and other architects. See the full list of jury members.

To download competition brief, images and see registration fees visit the competition website. World Architecture Community is Media Partner for the competition. See Bee Breeders' other competitions on World Architecture Community's Competitions page.

Top image courtesy of Bee Breeders

> via Bee Breeders Architecture Competitions
Staying out of debt is easier said than done, I know. However, its something you can do, and its something you should be practicing everyday. As Christians, we are in this world, but we are
STANLEY  Gov. Scott Walker wasnt giving away too many secrets about his state budget address, which will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

But as far as spending for local schools, Walker said: A little hint here: They will be pleased.

The Republican governor spoke for 17 minutes at the Stanley-Boyd School District building Thursday, promoting his plan to help rural kindergarten-grade 12 schools.

We want to highlight that every student matters, that every student in the state should have access to a great education, Walker told administrators, teachers and students gathered in the high school library.

He said his budget plan would have major new dollars for K-12 districts and for secondary schools.

Walker said he started with the request for sparsity aid for small districts made by the Department of Public Instruction and added on $12.3 million, bringing the increase to $20 million.

The sparsity aid would go to districts with fewer than 1,000 students and a low population density.

In rural areas in particular there are unique costs when it comes to transportation and when it comes to technology, he said.

Walkers plan would boost transportation aid by $10.4 million to $25.4 million over two years. He would also increase state funding for the Technology for Educational Achievement program by $22.5 million, and increase broadband expansion funding by $13 million.

He said that would allow for mobile wi-fi hot spots on buses so students can do homework. In some cases, students would be able to take home a mobile hot spot to do work out of their home.

The governor said his plan also would make it easier for small school districts to share services.

There will be more aid given to every school district in the school aid fund, he said.

Plus, Walker said he wants to include more funding into teacher recruitment and retention, so teacher aides can become full time teachers.

That will help rural districts so teacher aides can continue to teach locally, he said.

In speaking with reporters, Walker criticized U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) for saying she would vote against the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court after being nominated by President Donald J. Trump.

Walker said Gorsuchs qualifications were nearly identical to Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated by then-President Barack Obama. Republicans never took up Garlands nomination.

I think shes showing shes part of a radical part of her party, Walker said.

Local legislators turned out to hear Walkers speech, including state Sen. Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls, state Rep. Rob Summerfield of Bloomer and state Rep. Kathy Bernier of Lake Hallie. All are Republicans.
Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic:

In My President Was Black, The Atlantics Ta-Nehisi Coates examined Barack Obamas tenure in office, and his legacy. The story was built, in part, around a series of conversations he had with the president. This is a transcript of the first of those four encounters, which took place on September 27, 2016.

 OBAMA: You know, Bill Clinton told me an interesting story. He went back to Arkansas with a former aide of his when he was governor and when he was running, who ended up running for Congress and was about to retire from Congress. This was one of the last blue dogs. And as they were traveling around ,this former member of Congress said to Bill, You know, I dont think you could win Arkansas today. And he said, Well, why not? He says, You know, when we used to run, you and I would drive around to these small towns and communities out there, and youd meet with the publisher and editor of the little small-town paper, and youd have a conversation with them. And they were fairly knowledgeable about some of the issues, and they had their quirks and blind spots, but basically you as a Democrat could talk about civil rights and the need to invest in communities and they understood that. Except now those papers are all gone and if you go into any bar, you go into any barbershop, the only thing thats on is Fox News. And it has shaped an entire generation of voters and tapped into their deepest anxieties 

You know, the genius of Mitch McConnelland to some degree John Boehnerwas a recognition that if we were about to go into a bad recession and the president had come in on this wave of good feeling, Democrats control the House, they control the Senateif hes completely successful in yanking us out of this and cleaning up a mess a Republican president had left behind, that we might lock in Democratic majorities for a very long time. But on the other hand, if Republicans didnt cooperate, and there was not a portrait of bipartisan cooperation and a functional federal government, then the party in power would pay the price and that they could win back the Senate and/or the House. That wasnt an inaccurate political calculation. And they executed well, and we got clobbered in 2010. So the lesson I drew there was a political lesson. It was not a racial lesson.

More here. (Note: At least one post throughout February will be in honor of Black History Month)
Robert Guest in The Economist:

They make an unusual team. Amal Clooney is an Oxford-educated human-rights lawyer married to a film star. Nadia Murad was born in a poor Iraqi village and once aspired to become a teacher. Clooney is tall, dazzling and so recognisable that people walk up to her in the street and tell her they love her. Murad is small, shy and avoids eye contact. Yet among her people, the Yazidis, Murad is better known and more admired than any other woman on Earth. Murad is a symbol of survival for a minority threatened with extermination. She was once a slave of Islamic State ( IS ). And, almost alone among former prisoners of IS , she is willing to testify publicly and repeatedly about the terrible things the jihadists did to her. Clooney is Murads lawyer, and the two women are working to bring the leaders of IS before an international court for inflicting genocide on the Yazidis. The story of their campaign is an extraordinary one: a tale of pious savagery pitted against truth, law and the soft power of celebrity.

It begins in August 2014, when Murad was a 21-year-old student. That month, IS fighters arrived in her village, Kocho, on the Nineveh plain. They were a terrifying mob, all of them heavily armed and many speaking languages that no one in Kocho understood. The jihadists saw Nadia and her neighbours as the worst sort of infidels. The Yazidi faith has no holy book, but draws on a mix of Mesopotamian traditions. Yazidis revere a peacock angel that temporarily fell from Gods grace; many Muslims regard this as devil-worship. Estimates of how many Yazidis there are range widely, from 70,000 to 500,000, mostly in Iraq but also in Syria and Germany. IS set out to reduce that number to zero, by forced conversion or Kalashnikov. On August 15th the IS fighters in Kocho summoned everyone to the village school and separated the men from the women and children. Nadia watched from a second-floor window as they marched the men away. They slaughtered 312 in an hour, including six of Nadias brothers and stepbrothers. They murdered the older women, too, including Nadias mother. They forced the young women and children onto buses and took them to Mosul, IS s main stronghold in Iraq, which, as 1843 went to press, was under siege by Iraqi government forces.

Nadia was shut in a building with 1,000 other families. The women were sick with fear; they knew what was coming. The fighters were about to divide the spoils. A man came up to Nadia and said he wanted to take her. She looked up and saw that he was enormous, like a monster. I cried out that I was too young and he was huge. He kicked and beat me. A few minutes later, another man came up to meI saw that he was a little smaller. I begged for him to take me. The jihadist who took Nadia told her to convert to Islam. She refused. One day, he asked for her hand in marriage. She said she was ill. A few days later, he forced her to get dressed and put on make-up. Then, on that terrible night, he did it. From then on, she was raped daily. When she tried to flee, a guard stopped her, forced her to strip and put her in a room with several guards, who proceeded to commit their crime until I fainted. She finally escaped when her captor left a door unlocked. She could not return home, because IS still controlled her village. Eventually, she found sanctuary in Germany, where she now lives.

More here.
Getty Images

En espanol | The Department of Labor is giving financial professionals more time to comply with a federal rule requiring them to act in the best interest of their clients when giving investment advice on retirement accounts.

This fiduciary rule, sometimes called the conflict-of interest rule, went into effect last year, but financial professionals had until April 10, 2017, to comply with it. The Labor Department announced Tuesday that the compliance deadline will now be June 9.

This move by the Labor Department comes after President Donald Trump in February ordered a review of the rule, raising concerns among investor advocates that the rule could be revised or even killed.

This delay also means that workers and other investors in IRAs, 401(k)s and similar accounts may continue to pay hidden fees and other costs that erode their retirement security. Proponents of the rule estimated that these fees cost Americans $17 billion a year on IRAs alone.
Ambassador to Israel Nominee is the Right Person for the Job

Contact: Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Media@LC.org; Press Kit



WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- About 70 Christian leaders met on Tuesday with David Friedman, President Donald Trump's nominee as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. "David Friedman is the right person to represent the United States to Israel," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, President of Christians in Defense of Israel, and Founder and President of Covenant Journey.



Photo: David Friedman and Mat in Washington, D.C.



Friedman is an Orthodox Jew whose father was a rabbi. Ronald Reagan spoke at his father's synagogue. "Friedman loves Israel and he loves America," said Staver.

"We have a historic opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Israel. This opportunity to forge stronger bonds between the two nations could not come at a more critical time," said Staver.

For 50 years, the United States has attempted to force upon Israel a failed land for peace policy. Giving control over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority has resulted in the Hamas terrorist government takeover. Jews can no longer live in Gaza. Bethlehem is no longer a safe place for Christians, and signs at the entrance warn Jews not to enter. "It is time to honor Israel's right to self-determination and to stop imposing our failed solutions on the sovereign state of Israel," said Staver.

"The time has long since come to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the eternal and undivided capital of Israel," said Staver. "Jerusalem was established by King David as the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago. To not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel defies the historical record and is anti-Semitic. I urge President Trump to move the Embassy to Jerusalem. Delay or failure to move the Embassy to Jerusalem will be seen as a sign of weakness that will embolden those intent on wiping Israel off the map. As soon as possible, I urge the Senate to confirm David Friedman as the Ambassador to Israel," concluded Staver.



Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
Warner thumps Harding Co.-Bison; Patriots, Wolverines to meet for title

Hunter Cramer ran for 2 touchdowns, passed for 1 and returned a kick for 82 yards as the Monarchs won 63-20 in the Class 9A football semifinals.
AsiaReddPoet wishes to inform the general public of a new release date of February 28th, 2017 for the launch of a new biography book titled Zimbabwe Bloodline.

Southern California  February 4th, 2017  AsiaReddPoet, a self-publish Africa American mixed Cherokee poet and author of Where I Come From wishes to inform the general public of a new release date of February 28th, 2017 for the launch of AsiaReddPoet new book titled Zimbabwe Bloodline. The original release date was January 30th, 2017.

This biography book is about the legacy of the late African King Lobengula Khumalos youngest daughter called Lizzy, who was brought to America with millions of dollars in diamonds and gold by British military men associated with Cecil Rhodes according to the Princess familys journals.

Asiareddpoet, Author of Zimbabwe Bloodline, stated: The shift of date was important in other to ensure there is proper copyright protection of all written material and images contained within this book.

ABOUT ASIA REDD POET

AsiaReddPoet is a creative writer with the ability to conjure up new and exciting ideas which can convey readers in an engaging way. She is the third generation, great granddaughter of the South African King Lobengula Khumalo, as told to her by her great-grandmother.

Media Contact

Contact Person: AsiaReddPoet

Email: asiareddauthor@gmail.com

State: Southern California

Country: United States

Website: www.asiareddpoet.com
Lekki Lagos, February 1st 2019. Rilla Web Hosting, one of the top players in domain registration and web hosting has announces its full ...






Buy Photo (Photo: LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS )

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, on Thursday introduced a bill which would allow the purchase of foreign sand to replenish eroded beaches in the United States.

Locally, Rubio's bill, the SAND Act, could provide a solution for rapidly eroding Florida beaches and could help protect the Treasure Coasts sand, which has been eyed by Miami-Dade County, where sand reserves are depleted.

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, a longtime advocate for Treasure Coast beaches , is to introduce the bill in the House.

Current federal policy bars the purchase of foreign sand unless economic or environmental factors make using domestic sand impossible. The most likely sand source for southeast Florida would be the Bahamas.

In a news release Thursday, Rubio said the ability to purchase foreign sand is desperately needed.

This bipartisan bill will modernize an outdated law to give the Army Corps of Engineers greater flexibility in acquiring the sand Florida beaches so desperately need," he said. "Beach renourishment protects our infrastructure and environment, and provides a vital buffer against hurricanes and storms. Our beautiful shores also bring visitors from across the world, and these coastlines are economic drivers for the surrounding communities."

Treasure Coast elected officials  including commissioners from Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties  applauded Rubios efforts..

On behalf of St. Lucie County, we appreciate the interest of Sen. Rubio in trying to address our sand-resource concerns through the introduction of this legislation," St. Lucie County Commissioner Frannie Hutchinson, chairwoman of the St. Lucie County Erosion Control District, said in the news release. "To be provided the option to explore other offshore sand resources is greatly appreciated."
Warrior exercise integrates Air Force, Marine search and rescue mission

Exercise Coronet Warrior 17-01 was a two-day event that tested the abilities of the 4th Fighter Wing members to complete contingency operations at an overseas location in our current area of responsibility.



Members of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina and Marine Corps Air Station New River, Jacksonville, North Carolina, completed a simulated rescue mission during CW 17-01.



The scenario consisted of a simulated crash of an F-15E Strike Eagle. Capt. Steve Keck, a 336th Fighter Squadron pilot, and Capt. Cody Williams, a 336th FS pilot and weapon systems officer, acted as the downed aircrew from the simulated crash.



Their goal was to give rescue crews a precise location to conduct rescue procedures. The aircrew were able to utilize a field for cover while awaiting help. They were rescued within an hour.



Staff Sgt. Joshua Krape, a 4th Operational Support Squadron survival, evasion, resistance and escape specialist, was the lead organizer for the mission.



The objective for this exercise was to test (the aircrew members) SERE skills, Krape said. We wanted to see if the members knew what to do after a crash, and if they could get the proper rescue from the allied team. Also, we were throwing opposing forces at them and seeing if they could stay hidden while waiting for help to arrive.



Two F-15Es from Seymour Johnson AFB, a UH-1Y Venom and an AH-1W Super Cobra from MCAS New River, were tasked to find the downed aircrew. In addition, the aircraft worked together to neutralize simulated threats as part of the combat, search and rescue team.



Communication played a key part in the exercise. The team on the ground coordinated with all aircraft to ensure a successful rescue. After the members were found, it was the rescue teams job to authenticate the rescued participants identity.



Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Daniel Fitzgerald, a crew chief with the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, was one of the participants in the rescue portion of the training exercise. The scenario tested SERE capabilities of the downed aircrew and also provided an opportunity for joint training between the sister services.



The scenario involved an F-15E crew go down over enemy territory and our unit was on-call for tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel, or TRAP, Fitzgerald said. When we got the call that an aircraft went down, we started our planning process and prepared our aircraft and from there we took off and executed the mission.



According to Fitzgerald, training in a joint environment allows them to not only practice proper procedures and gain confidence and familiarization with those procedures and equipment, but it also helps work out the minor differences between the services so they can make sure everything works well if a real-world situation arises.



Its important to have training scenarios like this, especially for our young Marines who are getting to practice TRAP for the first time, Fitzgerald said. Weve been able to practice internally, but its never as effective as when we get to train with other (branches). This one went way better than any other training mission Ive done before.
Goldfein shares space focus

Space is no longer the final frontier for the joint warfighter as the Air Force will organize, train and equip those who rely on the critical domain of space.



During the Mitchell Institutes Space Power Breakfast Feb. 3 at the Capitol Hill Club, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein described space as a warfighting domain, and said the Air Force is responsible for 90 percent of the Department of Defenses space assets. The Airmen responsible for securing these assets hold tremendous responsibility.



Only when we think about and talk about space in the same way we talk about operations in the air, on land, at sea or in cyber will we move in the direction of truly integrating space across all warfighting domains, Goldfein said. Because the opposite of integration is separation which moves us in exactly the wrong direction as a joint team.



Goldfein shared anecdotes from his recent trip to California where he met with Airmen and leadership from Vandenberg and Los Angeles Air Force Bases. Overall, the general said he was in awe of the Air Forces space warrior and proud of the achievements made thus far.



I dont think anyone would trade our space capabilities with any other nation on the planet, Goldfein said. And we have achieved this with our industry partners despite eight years of continuing resolutions and single-year budgets we are forced to execute in the last half of every year.



While were doing great things in space, there is always room to get better, and we can never get complacent in this domain which remains a harsh and unforgiving environment, Goldfein continued.



The CSAF wants to focus future discussions on how to provide ready space forces to combatant commanders, how the U.S. builds and issues space policy and strategic guidance, and an acquisition strategy.



(Space) has been our business since 1954 and I hope it will be so through 2054, Goldfein said.
Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said a federal judge in Seattle has granted a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking President Trump's recent action barring nationals from seven countries from entering the United States.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said a federal judge in Seattle has granted a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking President Trump's recent action barring nationals from seven countries from entering the United States. (Reuters)

SEATTLE  A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trumps ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries after Washington state and Minnesota urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled that the states had standing to challenge Trumps order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed.

The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury, Robart said.

Trumps order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.

What Trump's immigration ban misses about terrorist attacks in the U.S. Play Video 1:23 The seven nations affected by President Trump's executive action on immigration are not actually countries where terrorists who have carried out fatal attacks the United States came from. (Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said this week that the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit two days later.

After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.

Judge Robarts decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trumps unconstitutional and unlawful executive order, Ferguson said. The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States.

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesnt comment on pending litigation.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trumps order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas canceled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2017 file photo, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, right, speaks in Seattle as Gov. Jay Inslee, left, looks on, during a news conference. Ferguson announced that he is suing President Donald Trump over an executive order that suspended immigration from seven countries with majority-Muslim populations and sparked nationwide protests. A hearing is scheduled Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (Ted S. Warren, File/Associated Press)

That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

Washington and Minnesotas lawsuit says Trump campaigned on a promise to ban Muslims from coming to the U.S. and kept up that rhetoric while defending the travel ban. Lawyers pointed to dozens of speeches and statements Trump has made.

The executive order effectively mandates that the states engage in discrimination based on national origin and/or religion, thereby rescinding the states historic protection of civil rights and religious freedom, the complaint says.

Ferguson said the order is harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system. It will reduce tax revenue and impose significant costs on state agencies, as well as make it impossible for some state employees and students to travel, he said.

Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the states efforts to stop the order. They say its hurting their operations, too.

Lawyers for Washington state said another hearing was expected in the next few weeks.
- On this look around the Air Force, three B-2 Spirit bombers return to Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, after a deployment, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, has begun construction of a next generation 9-1-1 call center, U. S. Air Force in Europe and Air Forces Africa has a new command chief, and February is American Heart Month. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Cory Kuttler.For previous episodes, click
Continuing his verbal assault on the Centre with polling underway in Goa and Punjab, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asserted that the Election Commission has surrendered before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

EC has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like CBI n RBI, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief said in a tweet.

Taking on the Prime Minister over demonetisation, Kejriwal further said that the move had not eradicated black money as he had promised, and the evidence was visible in Goa and Punjab where polling is underway.

Modi ji had said that the menace of black money will stop after demonetisation. But it has been distributed vigorously in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the benefit of demonetisation?, the tweet read.

Earlier today, Kejriwal exuded confidence of his party sweeping to power in Goa and Punjab where polling began Saturday morning.

Goa and Punjab will create history today, Kejriwal tweeted shortly after polling began.

Meanwhile, voting began in Punjab and Goa on Saturday morning for the 2017 Assembly elections.

The two states are the first of the five to go to polling ahead of Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand which are being held simultaneously in the months of February and March.

The counting of votes for all five states will begin on March 11. Voting for 40 seats in Goa began at 7.00 am and Punjab, which has 117 assembly seats, an hour later.

Till 3.00 pm, 67 per cent had cast their vote in Goa and 48 per cent in Punjab till 2.30 pm.
Director Zhang Yimous The Great Wall is an epic spectacle of warfare, action sequences and fantasy, grandly mounted with excellent cinematography and equally brilliant visual effects. But unfortunately, with a bland, formulaic story with no major inciting moments, the film is reduced to a staid kitsch.

It is a heros journey. It is the story of a man with nefarious intentions, who enters a gated community pretending to be a good man and then how he has a change of heart, forms the crux of the tale.

With no reference of it in the Chinese mythology, the script written by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro and Tony Gilroy, the story is pure fiction crafted by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herkowitz. The plot is straightforward with non-existent twists. The dialogues in between the frantic war too suffer from a familiarity tone.

The narrative begins like a cheaply made Western, with a group of mercenaries traveling the desert of ancient China in search of the black powder. The group is attacked by bandits and the few upon escaping the bandits, take refuge in a cave, only to be attacked by a monster with green blood, known as Taotei.

Only William and Tovar survive the monsters attack, after slashing off its arm. They decide to carry the monsters arm along with them on their journey. The stumble upon the Great Wall and are intercepted by the Chinese soldiers of a secretive military sect called the Nameless Order, led by General Shao and Strategist Wang. And soon they witness a massive attack by a monstrous army of predators. Through this encounter they come to learn that the great wall and its advanced reinforcements are the only thing standing between the Taotei and the rest of their world.

During the encounter William and Tovar display their combat skill and thus the military leaders of the walled forces decide to keep them as captive guests to help them protect the wall and also to preserve its secrets.

Soon, the duo stumble upon the black powder and with their eyes set on it they decide to wait for the opportune moment to snatch what they can and flee. But during the course of their stay in the walled barracks, William has a change of heart.

Matt Damon though charismatic looks ill at ease as he essays William Garin. His chemistry with his co-stars too is non-existent.

Pedro Pascal as Tovar and Willem Dafoe as Sir Ballard are passable. The Asian actors with their acrobatic skills are a treat to watch. Making a mark among them are Tiang Jing as Commander Lin Mei, Andy Lau as Strategist Wang and Zhang Hanyu as Commander Shao.

Visually with bold colour schemes, the film is artistically mounted. Each frame seems intricately crafted and the 3D effects seem flawless, but the ferocious monsters appear feather-weight and cardboard-thin. The computer generated images mesh seamlessly into the live action sequences captured by cinematographers Stuart Dryburgh and Zhao Xiaodins shots and the visual experience is elevated by Ramin Djawadis inspiring music.

Overall, the film is an affectless, effect laden extravaganza.
Many vaccine opponents have raised concerns about secondary ingredients in the shots that children receive, such as the preservative thimerosal, which skeptics say may cause autism. According to the Center for Disease Control, no vaccine ingredients, including thimerosal, have been shown to have any connection to the disability, although the ingredient has nonetheless largely been reduced or eliminated from most formulas since its safety came under review in 2001....

The Pew Research poll, conducted before the November 2016 election and released on Feb. 2, found that 82 percent of Americans believe that parents of public school students should be required to vaccinate their children for measles, mumps and rubella. While 66 percent said that there is a low risk of side effects from the popular vaccine, a full 88 percent said that the benefits still outweigh any possible risks. Meanwhile, 73 percent said that the shot offers serious preventative health benefits.

Notice these stories telling us there's nothing to look at.

There are a lot of people out there who are terrified of an investigation into our vaccine program. (Example: I recently wrote about David Amaral at MIND Institute-UC Davis who says he's worried about anyone looking into vaccine safety. Incredibly, there is absolutely no worry from Amaral about two percent of our children with autism.)

I've watched things like this for years. With the promise of a federal panel to look into how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does business, it's time to flood Google News with reports of public trust and support for the current vaccine schedule.

Second, notice the references (in almost every story I looked at) showing that "wealthier Americans with a knowledge of science" were MORE likely to support the mandate for the MMR vaccine. (This may be carefully constructed to possibly to counter the reports that parents who were highly educated in the most affluent neighborhoods were the most likely to question vaccines.)

COUPLE OF THINGS TO NOTE: The focus is on the MMR vaccine. (Could this be because of Dr. Wakefield's work?) The ordinary reader may not have concerns about mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, aborted fetal cells and a dramatically increased vaccine schedule. Let's just pretend that parents only worry about the MMR.

However, most Americans believe that vaccine policy decisions should not be made by politicians, with only 25 percent of respondents in the Pew Research poll stating that elected officials should determine vaccination requirements. A 73-percent majority said that the requirements should be left up to medical scientists, while 47 percent believed that the general public should have a say.

Feb 2, 2017, American Council on Science and Health: 82% of Americans Support Childhood Vaccines, Pew Survey Finds

Good news. Important information on vaccines is getting through to Americans  and that's a big win for science and public health in the United States.

New data released today shows that more than eight in ten "support requiring all healthy schoolchildren to be vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella." In addition, an overwhelming number of adults 88 percent  "believe that the benefits of these inoculations outweigh the risks."

Feb 2, 2017, Quartz: Most Americans on both sides of the political aisle are in favor of school-mandated vaccines

But theres one issue thats well-supported by US residents of all political affiliationsand it might be a surprise to those listening to the current rhetoric coming out of Washington, DC: mandated vaccination against mumps, measles, and rubella (MMR).

Recent survey results from the Pew Research Center show 82% of American adults think schools should force students to get the MMR vaccine. ...

Trump himself is also reportedly a vaccine skeptic. Kennedy told Science Magazine that Trumps concerns stem from anecdotal evidence of children who were given the MMR vaccine and then developed autism.

Fortunately for parents, Trumps confirmed pick secretary of health and human services, Tom Price, has said he believes the science showing that vaccines and autism are not related.

Feb 2, 2017, UPI:Most U.S. adults support routine MMR vaccine for children

As for politics, Republicans and Democrats express roughly similar attitudes about MMR benefits and side effects. But political conservatives are more inclined than moderates or liberals to believe parents should have the final say on childhood vaccination.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends two doses of MMR vaccine -- the first dose at age 12 to 15 months, and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age.

According to its website, the Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world."

Feb 2, 2017, Philadelphia Inquirer: Survey: Most Americans disagree with Trump's vaccine views

The survey, which was conducted before the November presidential election, comes at a time when medical, scientific and government experts have raised alarms about Trumps embrace of discredited claims about vaccine safety. He recently said he was considering creation of a vaccine commission, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already has a well established expert panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, that follows a scientifically rigorous and open process to evaluate all aspects of vaccine safety.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has requested a meeting with first lady Melania Trump to talk about the safety of vaccines. Carter is cofounder and president of Every Child By Two, a vaccine advocacy group. We offered to bring experts to the table to explain all the science that has already been conducted on the safety of vaccines and the safety systems that are already in place which would make the commission redundant and unnecessary, Amy Pisani, the groups executive director, said in an interview this week....

Trump has long been critical of vaccines. He met with several vaccine skeptics during his campaign and since his election, including the discredited British exphysician Andrew Wakefield  who attended one of the presidential inaugural balls. Wakefield launched the modern antivaccine movement after publishing a study, now fully discredited as fraudulent, that connected autism to the MMR vaccine. In January, Trump also met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading proponent of that debunked theory. Kennedy said afterward that he and Trump had discussed creation of a commission on vaccines, which he would chair. A White House spokeswoman said Wednesday that she had no update on the commission.

The Pew survey found that Americans 65 and older have especially strong support for a school-based requirement for the MMR vaccine. Ninety percent favor such a requirement;

Feb 2, 2017, Scientific American: Most Americans Think the Benefits of the MMR Vaccine Outweigh Risks

Among his first acts as President-elect, Donald Trump signaled his interest in establishing a presidential committee on vaccine safety and scientific integrity, headed by Robert Kennedy Jr., a lawyer known for arguing that a preservative used in some vaccines causes neurological disorders. This is a position at odds with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations which evaluate the safety of childhood vaccines.

Feb 2, 2017, US News: Most U.S. Adults Support Routine Child Vaccine

Despite some well-publicized opposition, this look at vaccination attitudes by the Pew Research Center finds that, overall, 88 percent of Americans believe that the benefits of the MMR vaccine outweigh any risks.

Nearly three-quarters of the more than 1,500 adults surveyed said they believe there are health benefits from the MMR vaccine. Two-thirds are also confident there's a low risk of side effects from the vaccine.

Feb 2, 2017, Health Day: Most U.S. Adults Support Routine Child Vaccine

Survey finds 80 percent have positive view of the shot against measles, mumps and rubella

More than eight out of 10 Americans support mandatory measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination for children attending public schools, a new survey finds.

Despite some well-publicized opposition, this look at vaccination attitudes by the Pew Research Center finds that, overall, 88 percent of Americans believe that the benefits of the MMR vaccine outweigh any risks.

By contrast, wealthier Americans with knowledge of science are very likely to support school-based MMR vaccine requirements, the researchers found.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.










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When it comes to culture, America and Canada are not that far apart. We both enjoy the same sports, have similar governments, and watch many of the same movies and television shows. An American can easily travel up to Canada and fit right in, and the same goes for Canadians traveling south. While there are many similarities between the two cultures, there is one aspect in which they are rather far apart  guns. Americans and Canadians have very different approaches to firearms, and this has been the case for many years.

The American Approach

Simply put, Americans as a whole love guns. There are more guns in America than anywhere else in the world, and there are now more guns than there are people. Gun related industries are huge in America, including the making of guns, ammo remanufacturing, and the selling of firearms. It seems that each year the number of Americans who own a gun continues to rise, and the number of guns produced climbs as well.

This fondness for guns has been apparent for several decades, but the history of it goes back to the inception of this country. When the country began, it was decided that every American had the right to own a gun in order to fight for militias and provide for the common defence. At the time, there was not a large standing army, and militias were the primary source of defence for most states. As time has gone on, the part about common defence has transformed into self-defense, allowing almost every American to own a gun in their home, with the sole purpose of keeping their family safe.

Guns are a large part of American culture  from hunting and recreation to video games and movies. If a politician proposes a law that suggests tighter restrictions on who can purchase a gun, you can be sure they will receive some phone calls from gun owners trying to defend their right to own a gun.

The Canadian Approach

Canada tends to view guns differently, and this is also rooted in their history. Canada did not rebel against England like America did, so there was never a reason for an armed rebellion. On top of that, Canada has never had a civil war, meaning there was no reason for every citizen to own a gun at any point in their history. In fact, up until the 1990s. even Canada's Border and Customs agents were unarmed.

Because of their different history, Canada does not view guns the same way as Americans. There are tight restrictions on who can purchase a gun up in Canada, but they still recognize the fact that some people will want to own one  whether for hunting, recreation or self-defense. It is harder to get a gun in Canada, but they are still available.

How The Differences Impact Each Country

The differences in gun culture have led to different outcomes. One such difference is in the number of gun-related deaths. In 2011, the United States experienced gun-related deaths for every 1 in 28,000 people, while the number for Canada was only 1 in 215,000.

However, there is debate  at least in the United States  as to whether more guns are the cause of these deaths. Some argue that in situations like mass shootings, having more firearms around would stop the threat before things escalate. While there are gun related deaths almost every day in America  including suicides, homicides, the killing of police offers and the killings by police officers  no consensus has been reached on how to deal with the issue.

What The Future Holds

Based on recent elections, the trends for each country is unlikely to change. The United States just elected Donald Trump, a man that is against more restrictions on buying guns. On the other hand, Canada recently elected Justin Trudeau, who promised more gun control laws. While there is already a large divide in how these two nations handle firearms, there are not any signs that this will change in the upcoming years.

While there are many similarities between the United States and Canada, the issue of guns is not one of them. Both countries may have access to guns, and use them for similar reasons, but they are far more common in the United States than in Canada. Based on the history of these two countries, and recent events, this divide is likely to remain in place.








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Date: 28 January, 2017.

Place: not mentioned.

Is there any possibility that alien life could exist in Earths higher atmosphere? In the opinion of a group scientists, the answer is yes.

According to an article published by writer and journalist Chuck Bednar on Redorbit.com, a group of Astronomy students from the University of Houston is planning to launch a high-altitude experiment as part of a mission to study auroras that is scheduled to lift off from Alaska in March. This experiment is intended to search for microbes in the atmosphere 11-31 miles (18-50 km) from the ground, states the article.

A lot of times, these microbes when they go up there, they shut down. They are not replicating and they are not metabolically active, affirmed Jamie Lehnen, one of the project members. Im interested in how their stress response is similar to those [microbes] back on Earth's surface, he continued.

However, concurrently, National Aeronautics and Aerospace Agency (NASA) is also developing a research on this subject. Roughly two months after the Houston teams experiment, NASA plans to conduct a study of their own: the ABoVE (Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment), which according to Seeker is set to run in May and June and will involve using a Gulfstream III jet to monitor how changing climate conditions are affecting plants, animals and the environment as a whole, wrote Mr Bednar in his article.

The NASA scientists believe that this project will allow them to find microorganisms persisting and surviving, as it is rather unlikely that they are growing or dividing due to the extremely cold and arid conditions at such a high altitude.

In recent times, microbial life forms have been found on stratosphere. These microorganisms are especially interesting, since they might have remained unaltered for thousands of years.

Finally, these projects could shed some light on extraterrestrial life. Dr Lynn Rotschild, a NASA microbiologist, affirmed that Earth and Venus were similar for a period of three billion years.

Actually, scientists have discovered an unusual entity in the atmosphere of Venus that blocks ultraviolet light, and living organisms have not been ruled out as a possibility, states the article.

Draw your own conclusions

For further information: http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113417210/microbes-high-earths-atmosphere/

Alien life could exist high in Earths atmosphere

What if alien organisms are hiding in plain sight, high above the planets surface in our own atmosphere? Its a question that researchers will attempt to solve later on this year, and it may have implications on how we search for microbial life on other planets as well.

According to Seeker, a team of students from the University of Houston plan to launch a high-altitude experiment as part of a mission to study auroras that is scheduled to lift off from Alaska in March. Their experiment, which the website said looks almost like a small laundry hamper, will search for microbes in the atmosphere 11-31 miles (18-50 km) from the ground.

Once it reaches its target altitude, the instrument will open up to collect samples, then close as the balloon-equipped experiment begins to descend. The students believe that this system will be less likely to become contaminated than more complicated systems, but since it has not yet been tested, they are not 100% certain exactly how well it will perform in high altitude conditions.

A lot of times, these microbes when they go up there, they shut down. They are not replicating and they are not metabolically active, Houston student and project team member Jamie Lehnen told Seeker on Friday. Im interested in how their stress response is similar to those [microbes] back on Earth's surface."

Research could impact search for life on other planets

Roughly two months after the Houston teams experiment, NASA plans to conduct a study of their own: the ABoVE (Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment), which according to Seeker is set to run in May and June and will involve using a Gulfstream III jet to monitor how changing climate conditions are affecting plants, animals and the environment as a whole.

David Smith, a microbial researcher at the US space agency, will fly with the ABoVE team to study the microorganisms that travel in a massive spring airstream that move along the Pacific Ocean. As he told the website, he and his colleagues hope to find out what organisms are being carried across the ocean along with the dust and aerosol particles moved by that airstream.

The research project will allow us an opportunity to test the atmospheric bridge hypothesis, which simply speaking, is continents sneezing on each other, Smith explained, telling Seeker that he and his fellow researchers plan to use an instrument called a cascade sampler to collect samples from high altitudes. The cascade sampler allows air to pass through increasingly finer impact plates designed to trap out dust and small particles, which can then be studied later.

Smith said that his team hopes to find microorganisms persisting and surviving, as it is rather unlikely that they are growing or dividing due to the extremely cold and arid conditions at such a high altitude. Scientists have never previously measured how long microbial lifeforms are able to remain alive in the stratosphere, he added, calling that work that still needs to be done.

Should they actually discover microbial life lingering, or even growing and dividing, at such high altitudes, it could have an impact on the search for life on other planets as well, including Venus. Earth and Venus similar for a period of three billion years, noted NASA astrobiologist Dr. Lynn Rothschild, a member of Smiths team. Experts have discovered an unusual entity in the atmosphere of Venus that blocks ultraviolet light, and living organisms have not been ruled out as a possibility.
I have to tell you about this, even though some of the forecasts are crazy extreme. For several forecast cycles, the models have suggested t...
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. High around 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2016 file photo, the HealthCare.gov 2017 web site home page as seen in Washington. Republicans are increasingly talking about repairing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a softening of tone that comes as their drive to fulfill a keystone campaign promise encounters disunity, drooping momentum and uneasy voters.
Devastated Northern Iraq Needs 'new Marshall Plan' for Reconstruction

The liberated Assyrian town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plains, 21km east of Mosul, is today a picture of destruction. ( Open Doors) The Archbishop of Erbil in northern Iraq, who is overseeing the care of thousands of displaced Christians who fled Islamic State jihadists, has announced ambitious plans for the Church and charities to reconstruct their towns and villages. Archbishop Bashar Warda told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that he is raising funds for the rebuilding of the villages and their social infrastructure so that the IDPs (internally displaced persons) can return to their villages "with hope and security". He made his comments as a priest involved in aid work in the area urged the international community to launch "a new Marshall Plan" there, At the same time, he urged the international community to fund a "new Marshall Plan" there, akin to the large-scale US investment and aid that helped western Europe regain economic stability after World War II. The archbishop noted that returning to villages liberated from IS had been a painful step for the Christians who were chased from their homes two and a half years earlier. "The desecration and destruction in the newly liberated villages was so personal in its hatred and anger that it dealt further deep and destabilising blows to the IDPs when witnessing their destroyed homes, livelihoods and communities," he said. He envisaged a "two-to-three-year transition period" before the IDPs might be able to return from Iraqi Kurdistan to their towns. This is to allow time for the nearby hub city of Mosul to be fully liberated and the city and surrounding areas to be cleared of mines and booby traps. He added that it was also vital that they "assess the state of mind of the Mosul people after two and a half years of being under ISIS". He said reconciliation work will be needed to address high levels of fear, and the likelihood of revenge, in the city and the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, ACN's Middle East project head, Fr. Andrzej Halemba, said that the proportion of Christians wanting to return to their villages has risen to "more than 50%" and that this number "keeps increasing". (A survey of 1,200 families conducted in November 2016 found that less than 1% of people wanted to go back.) He also said that while initially no families were expected to return before June, a few families have decided to return this winter. The priest told Zenit news agency that the challenges for people wanting to return include IS's appropriation of abandoned homes and the alleged use of chemical weapons in the destruction of Christians' properties, as well as the persistent fear of attacks by Islamic extremists. Fr. Halemba did not mention expecting funds for the rebuilding of the towns to come from the Iraqi Government, the UN or other donor agencies, but said: "ACN will support, of course, the reconstruction. However, we have to work together with other charities; alone [it] is impossible to manage this." At the same time, he said the international community must also get involved in documenting "the destruction and the violent acts of persecution, so that, in some way, a sense of justice and peace can return and help ensure this never happens again". ACN said it allots more than US$300,000 per month to support 13,200 displaced Iraqi families being cared for by the Church in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Catholic Bishops' Emergency Committee there spends on average $1.2million per month supporting displaced Iraqi families. Some charities say little or no aid reaches IDPs there from international donors, such as UK AID or its US counterpart, USAID.
Paul Wesch calculator lfs.jpg

Paul Wesch, finance director for the city of Mobile, thinks the numbers just don't add up for the state's Simplified Sellers Use Tax Program -- at least not for some cities. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com)

Here are the top stories in business on AL.com for Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. Follow all of Alabama's business news here anytime.

An Alabama program that collects a tax on online sales has brought in a bounty that could be as much as $40 million this fiscal year. But not everyone is thrilled with their slice of the pie.

The Alabama State Port Authority has announced a new memorandum of understanding with the National Port Administration of Cuba, potentially laying the groundwork for future trade deals.

A Tex-Mex restaurant founded in Austin will launch at a new project at Bob Wallace Avenue and Memorial Parkway in Huntsville. Chuy's will open a 7,100-square-foot eatery in 2018 at Merchants Square.

The coding bootcamp formerly known as Depot/U will now be known as Covalence as the Innovation Depot-born program expands outside of Alabama.

Months of hard work have paid off for Wish You Were Beer founders Damon and Laura Eubanks. The couple officially launched a 2,773-square-foot suite this week at Campus No. 805 at the old Stone Middle School campus in Huntsville.

Pizza Hut fans may get a visit from the chain's top leader this weekend when the president swaps roles with a Huntsville-area manager for Superbowl Sunday.

Canadian-based Hudson Bay is reportedly in talks to acquire U.S. department store chain Macy's. The talks come as Macy's struggles with growing demands for online shopping.

Government investigators are reportedly concerned about a defect in SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket engines that could endanger astronauts' safety.
A Vincent teen died Friday in a single-vehicle crash on Friday in St. Clair County, Alabama State Troopers said.

Gavin Kane McCutcheon, 18, was killed when the 1990 Chevrolet GMT-400, in which he was the passenger, left Logan Martin Dam Road and struck a tree at 1:40 p.m. about two miles south of Pell City. McCutcheon was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver, Christopher Allen Bentley, 19, of Cropwell, was airlifted to UAB hospital. None of the occupants were wearing seatbelts, troopers said.

Nothing further is available as troopers continue to investigate.
Robert Aderholt

Rep. Robert Aderholt

(Bob Gathany/AL.com)

Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said Friday he agrees with President Trump's vow to "destroy" the Johnson amendment, which bans churches and other nonprofits from political activity.

Trump made the comment during Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast, which Aderholt co-chaired. The amendment, named after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson, prevents churches and religious organizations from speaking out on political issues or endorsing or attacking political candidates.

Aderholt said conservative and liberal churches are treated differently by the federal government, and that right-leaning churches face harassment from liberal groups threatening to report them to the IRS.

"I think what has happened is there's been a double standard in how [the government has] gone after more conservative churches in favor of a conservative candidate or Republican candidate, while churches that are more liberal ... they turned a blind eye to it," Aderholt said in a phone interview with AL.com.

Aderholt said he believes the amendment unfairly limits the speech of churches.

"That's very disconcerting, especially when you look at freedom of speech and freedom of religion. "I think freedom of speech and freedom of religion goes hand in hand. This is something that most Americans don't really know exactly that there are those restrictions out there," he said. "I think it may be the time that's come to relook at this issue, because I think there's been a lot of abuses. For churches to be sent these threatening letters and these outside organizations sending letters to churches about sending them to the IRS ... I think it scares a lot of these churches. I think what we've seen is a double standard."

Jody Hice, a Republican congressman from Georgia and a Southern Baptist preacher, introduced legislation in the House on Thursday allowing churches and religious organizations to participate in political activity, but Aderholt said he has yet to look at the bill.

Besides his outspokenness on the Johnson amendment, Trump also stirred controversy for using the prayer breakfast to joke about Arnold Schwarzenegger's low ratings as host of the "Celebrity Apprentice," asking the breakfast's attendees to pray for Schwarzenegger, who replaced Trump as host of the reality show. Critics of the president said the prayer breakfast was not an appropriate forum for those comments. The former California governor replaced Trump as host of the reality show.

But Aderholt said the criticism of Trump was much ado about nothing.

"I think [Trump's detractors] were looking for something to criticize Donald Trump on," he said, adding that he wasn't personally offended by Trump's joking.

"I didn't think at the time, 'Oh, this is totally inappropriate,'" said Aderholt, who shared the dais at the breakfast with Trump. "For Donald Trump, he has a big personality, he has a big sense of humor, so I think that most people didn't think anything about it. That's Donald Trump, and he has his own personality and that's what makes Donald Trump his trademark."
Bentley on Feb 29.JPG

Money from Gov. Robert Bentley's election campaign was used to pay about $9,000 in legal fees for former political advisor Rebekah Mason.

(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

An attorney for Gov. Robert Bentley today wrote Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton to explain why he believes it was legal for Bentley to use campaign funds to pay legal fees that Rebekah Mason incurred in her work as senior political advisor to the governor.

Attorney William Athanas informed Albritton that he was sending the letter because reporters had asked about $8,912 payment from Bentley's campaign to the law firm Copeland, Franco, Screws and Gill, Inc., to pay legal expenses for Mason. The payment was made in January 2016 and was disclosed on the annual campaign finance report Bentley filed on Tuesday.

Athanas cited Alabama's Fair Campaign Practices Act, an Ethics Commission advisory opinion and two rulings by the Federal Election Commission to support his conclusion that the payment was legal and appropriate.

Athanas noted that the Fair Campaign Practices Act allows campaign funds to be used for legal fees "associated with any civil action, criminal prosecution, or investigation related to conduct reasonably related to performing the duties of the office held."

Athanas also cited an advisory opinion approved by the Ethics Commission on Wednesday that describes a test the commission uses to help determine whether an expenditure is appropriate.

Expenditures for obligations that would exist "irrespective of the person's status as a candidate or officeholder" are prohibited.

The opinion came in response to questions for guidance on the law, the commission said.

Athanas wrote that no Ethics Commission opinion or attorney general's opinion specifically addressed the issue of using campaign funds for legal expenses for someone other than the candidate himself.

So he cited two opinions issued by the Federal Election Commission on specific cases that found such expenditures were appropriate.

Based on the laws and opinions Athanas cited, he wrote "we believe that the expenditure was entirely appropriate and consistent with applicable law."

"In the event the Commission reaches a contrary conclusion, we are prepared to reveerse the payment and have the funds returned to the Campaign," Athanas wrote.

The letter does not say specifically why Mason incurred legal expenses, but says they were "in connection with work she performed, and the Campaign's paying for her work, as senior political advisor to the Governor."

Albritton declined comment on the letter.

William Athanas Letter to Ethics Commission by Mike Cason on Scribd
France Trump Travel Ban

A woman holds a placard reading "Ban Trump, threat to international peace and security" during a gathering to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent travel ban to the U.S. in Paris, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. People gathered to protest Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. and suspending the nation's refugee program.

(Kamil Zihnioglu/AP Photo)

President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at "this so-called judge" who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S. to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ruling set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judge's ruling late Friday, but that didn't appear to be enough for Trump, who vented his frustrations on Twitter.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said.

Trump has said the travel ban, which he enacted by executive order on Jan. 27, will keep Americans safe by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

He also said Saturday on Twitter that "when a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security -- big trouble!"

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled late Friday against government lawyers' claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Trump's order. Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said late Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the "outrageous" order "at the earliest possible time. Spicer quickly issued an amended statement that deleted "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said, calling the order both lawful and appropriate.

Trump billed the action as necessary to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to the U.S.

The order included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen, a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program, and an indefinite bar against admitting Syrian refugees.

The decision sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued an emergency order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from the seven countries who were detained at airports nationwide as the ban took effect.

Donnelly's order addressed only a portion of Trump's order, and barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from the seven countries. Robart's decision was more sweeping in scope.

Saturday was not the first instance of Trump criticizing a federal judge, a member of an independent branch of the government.

During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the federal judge who was presiding over a lawsuit brought by former students of Trump University. Trump claimed that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, had an "absolute conflict" in handling the case because he is "of Mexican heritage." Trump launched his presidential campaign with a harsh description of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.

Trump recently agreed to pay $25 million to settle the lawsuits against Trump University.
Spicy food has acquired a new meaning with chillies becoming a way of life for people in the Himalayan kingdom.

Sonam Wangyal, 32, eats her lunch on a bright, sunny afternoon in the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. On her plate is a serving of red rice, cheese chilli curry, mushroom chilli curry, fresh green chillies with salt as a salad, topped off with a chilli pickle.

When asked if thats too much chilli for one meal, Wangyal laughs.

Its a normal Bhutanese lunch, she says. We dont use chillies as a spice; we eat them like vegetables. We dont make any curry without chillies in them. A meal here is not complete without enough chillies in it.

As spice-provoked tears stream down her face, she admits her lunch is hot  but says she wouldnt prefer anything else.

A way of life

In the picturesque Himalayan country known for championing Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a measure of development, chillies are a way of life.

Like many Bhutanese, Wangyal began eating chillies when she was a toddler.

I am so used to hot food now that anything without enough spice is bland and boring, Wangyal says.

The countrys national dish, ema datshi (which translates to cheese chilli) relies heavily on the vegetable, and can be found in every restaurant across the landlocked kingdom.

Kesang Choedon, a traditional chef and expert in Bhutanese cuisine who heads the Folk Heritage Museum in Thimphu  which showcases the countrys culinary culture  explained that chillies are not indigenous to Bhutan. Chillies probably came to Bhutan through India. But much before chillies began being used in traditional cuisine, we used a herb locally known as namda. This herb gives a very hot flavour when boiled with the food.

Chillies, which originated in South America, are believed to have arrived in India in the 16th Century, before being taken to Bhutan two centuries later by pilgrims and traders.

Choedon said hot food became integral to Bhutan because it was a natural way to stay warm in the winters.

The chillies keep you energised, she explained. It makes you sweat! In the olden days, when we didnt have any proper heating systems for houses, spicy meals were a natural option.

Choedon added that chillies also hold importance in Bhutanese rituals outside the kitchen. From time to time, every house burns some chillies to keep the bad spirits or the demons away, she said. Similarly, when were brewing the local liquor aara, we add three chillies in it  not to add flavour or spice  but for good luck, so that the aara isnt affected by any negative energy it comes in contact with.

Most common commodity

The Centenary Farmers Market is a weekend market in Thimphu that runs from Thursday through Sunday. Not surprisingly, the most common commodity on sale here is chilli.

The variety of chillies is mind boggling  red, green, fleshy, slender, round, dried, blanched, powdered, and pickled. Dried red chillies are called ema kam whereas dried green chillies are called hoo kam; they hail from different parts of central and western Bhutan.

In the past, every family in Bhutan grew chillies in their farm. But with an increasingly urbanised culture in Thimphu, the practice has become increasingly difficult, and markets like this one are flourishing with chilli trade.

Ema datshi, the national dish, can be found in restaurants across the landlocked kingdom [Gayatri Parameswaran/Al Jazeera]



Tsering Dema, 42, who shops at the market every week, purchased one kilogram of green chillies. One kilo is enough for one week for my family. I will be using it to make ema datshi and aezaye [pickled chillis], she said.

She adds that though she loves the flavour, shes cautious about eating very hot food because of the health risks involved.

Her concerns are not unfounded: eating all these chillies over a lifetime is believed to cause legitimate health concerns. Some reports suggest that peptic ulcers  ulcers in the stomach  are a growing cause for death among the Bhutanese people.

Myths on the potentially harmful effects of chillies also abound. While dining at a small shack in Thimphu, local Tenzing Norbu jokes about how eating too many chillies has lowered his intelligence. These chillies, they are not good for your brain. Thats why we Bhutanese people havent made much progress! If you have a 2GB memory, youll go right down to 1GB with all these chillies.

Keeping the tradition alive

But Choedon views the claims about health risks sceptically.

I am 50 and I have been eating chillies all my life. I am fit and fine, she said. I think it really depends on the constitution of ones body. Some people may be prone to risks and others can handle it well.

Of greater concern to Choedon is the possibility of Bhutanese chillies and cuisine losing their significance in the wake of increasing globalisation.

I work to preserve recipes. Ive been researching about food recipes that have been lost already, she said. Its tragic.

Choeden attributes much of her knowledge about Bhutanese food and some of these forgotten recipes to her grandmother. I have learned so many valuable things about Bhutanese cuisine [from her]. She helped me study the culture through food. Id ask her how this and that was done and we would both sit together and write these things down.

She fears that this level of interest in Bhutanese heritage and interaction with elders is missing for todays youth.

Todays youngsters are exposed to more and more western cuisine. They like their spaghetti and pizza. I just hope that they dont forget our chillies and culinary culture while expanding their taste buds.
A look at the smuggling chain, from middlemen and passport counterfeiters to smugglers, and the refugees who use them.

Athens, Greece  Alacan* is a tailor in his mid-50s who runs a small, but busy, shop in central Athens.

But when he is not at his sewing machine, he is usually in the back streets of Victoria Square  an area of the Greek capital that is home to many refugees and migrants  running a different kind of business.

For Alacan is also a middleman who facilitates the exchange of documents, passport photos and money between human smugglers and refugees wanting to be smuggled out of Greece.

I know the ways and I know the people, he explains one afternoon in October.

Last March, Macedonia sealed its borders with Greece, effectively cutting off the most popular land-based route into central Europe and leaving more than 50,000 refugees stranded in Greece. That number has risen to 62,000 as boats continue to arrive from Turkey.

Many refugees, wanting to move on rather than apply for asylum in Greece, turn to smugglers.

Travelling over land, an arduous journey  particularly during the winter, can take weeks and is often a last resort. But to leave by air requires buying a fake passport from a smuggler.

Alacan says hundreds of refugees attempt to leave Greece each month on fake passports, often paying double what they would to travel by land. According to the Greek police, arrests of refugees carrying counterfeit passports has gone up by about 230 percent since the closure of the Balkan route.

With European countries planning to send refugees who first entered the EU through Greece back to the country from mid-March, the UNHCR has raised concerns that more refugees might turn to smugglers before that date. Smugglers might use this for marketing purposes, said Roland Schoenbauer, a senior communication and public information officer at the UNHCR.

The middleman

Alacan calls what he does favours for friends and friends of friends, and says he does not accept any money in exchange for his services.

Whenever I can, I help people, he explains, adding that he wants to assist people from his own country, Syria.

Alacan is adamant that hes not breaking the law. He would never risk doing anything that could see him end up in prison, he explains, especially as he has a wife and daughter to support.

Whenever a customer enters his shop, however, he quickly changes the subject.

READ MORE: 2016  The year the world stopped caring about refugees

The smuggling chain

Smugglers and counterfeiters usually make fake passports from stolen documents, explains Alacan, adding that the smugglers prefer Italian, Spanish, Albanian, Bulgarian and French passports as lighter-skinned Arabs and Afghans have a better chance of passing as one of these nationalities.

They used to just cut the page with the names and the photo and put another page in, Alacan says.

But now the smugglers have gotten better at altering passports. If the age of the passport and the guy that will need it is two to three years within range of each other, they will just change the photo, he says. This they refer to as photo change.

The smugglers tend to be foreigners, Alacan explains, and are often the same nationality as their clients.

[Greeks] dont know this technology, he says. They dont know how to do this type of job.

According to Nasim Lomani, a former refugee from Afghanistan, who lives legally in Greece and runs a refugee camp in central Athens, the smuggling chain is long and complicated.

The process usually begins with a refugee speaking to someone with whom they can easily communicate, he explains. Then they are passed from person to person. Who could be defined as a smuggler is not always clear cut, Lomani says.

If you go to Victoria Square, for example, looking for someone to help you go to another country, I would be 90 percent sure this person could introduce you to a smuggler, and who is himself a smuggler in the process of finding a way forward, as well, he explains.

Those at the lowest rung of the smuggling hierarchy, usually the first person with whom a refugee makes contact, take the blame if anything goes wrong, he explains.

The smuggler

Abbas is a smuggler. He prefers not to reveal his nationality, but claims to be one of the best passport counterfeiters.

When we meet in late October, Abbas has been in Athens for 45 days, but says he knows the area around Victoria Square and the adjacent neighbourhood of Omonia  where many refugees stay in cheap accommodation while they await the completion of their asylum process  better than most Greeks. This, after all, is where he conducts most of his transactions.

He drives a slick silver Audi that smells of new leather and stale cigarette smoke. Inside are the numerous chargers he needs for his many mobile phones.





Abbas makes photo change and photo similar passports. Although he will not reveal his exact procedure, he says a steady hand and CoralDRAW are indispensable to his work.

In photo change, using our tools, we put a new photo on top of the old photo and press it together, he explains. I am professional. When I make a passport with photo change nobody can see. I can see, but not many people can see.

Photo similar passports are those in which the photo of the original owner resembles the new owner sufficiently to leave the document unaltered. These passports give refugees a better chance of passing through airport security undetected.

Work here is good. I will stay here, Abbas says during a car ride through Athens.

He knows that what he is doing is illegal, he explains, but he believes hes doing a good thing by helping refugees.

And, what drives him to work illegally, he adds, is his need to pay for his bedridden wifes medical care back at home.

She has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and requires round-the-clock care.

I work to solve this problem, he explains in a text message.

If my wife goes from this life, I dont need to work, another message, ending with several expletives, elaborates.

TALK TO AL JAZEERA: The refugee crisis and the Greeks  One year on (23:44)

The camp

Many factors push already vulnerable refugees to rely on smugglers, says Schoenbauer of the UNHCR.

Lengthy relocation and asylum processing times, as well as deteriorating camp conditions, are some of the reasons behind the mounting frustration and sense of hopelessness within Greeces refugee community, he explains.

When refugees turn to smugglers theres absolutely nothing we can do but continue to pray for their safety, says Lisa Campbell, the director of Do Your Part, an American NGO based in a camp in Oinofyta, a small town on the outskirts of Athens.

Campbells organisation has provided food, shelter and medical services to hundreds of refugees for almost a year.

Unlike the closed camps run by the military, the nearly 700 residents of the Oinofyta open camp are free to come and go.

From Campbells camp alone, 150 refugees have been smuggled across the border in the past few months. Some have used fake passports to fly to their final destination, while others have gone on foot.

She says she often tries to talk refugees out of being smuggled over land by explaining the dangers and risks. Lack of food, exposure to freezing temperatures, and waiting in hideouts for weeks are among the most common experiences. Sometimes, refugees have been raped or killed by smugglers.

Weve all heard horror stories about people who have been left out in tents in the woods for weeks while they were waiting for a smuggler to call them  no food, no water, nothing, Campbell says.

In one of the groups that got smuggled out during the summer and ended up in Hungary, a 13-year-old girl watched a smuggler kill someone and in the process of running away she broke her foot.

She says refugees are not too concerned about being caught by the police. They know if they are caught they are detained and questioned about the smuggler, and then sent [away].

Once released, most simply return to the camp they came from and begin planning their next attempt.

It is difficult to take away the hope that the smugglers represent, Campbell says.

Thats what it is. Its hope of something better than being stuck in Greece.

Either they stay in these refugee camps for the next five years, because nobody can find a job and the refugee camps are feeding them, or they go with smugglers, she explains.

IN PICTURES: Refugee crisis 2016  12 countries, 12 months

The refugee family

In early October, one of the families at the makeshift camp in Oinofyta, where more than three dozen tents surround an abandoned factory, is that of 23-year-old Aziza from Afghanistan.

Aziza sits with her five-month-old son in her lap while her husband, 25-year-old Omar speaks with his parents and younger brother in their tent. They are discussing their plans to leave Greece. Omars family have tried to leave by air using fake passports three times. Each time, they have failed.

On their last attempt, police confiscated their Spanish passports and ID cards at the airport in Athens and directed them to the exit. They returned to their camp.

Alacan and several refugees who have been caught travelling on fake passports explain that the police usually focus on identifying smugglers rather than detaining refugees.

Even if they catch someone in the airport, he will just give a name, not the real name, and he will give the number of the smuggler. But phones are like nothing for these guys so they just cut it and get a new one, Alacan explains.

Aziza and her family spent the previous winter on the run. They fled Afghanistan one night in early 2016, after her husband, who had worked for the US military, was repeatedly targeted by the Taliban. A car bomb that left him in a critical state was the final straw. Aziza was six months pregnant when they fled  first to Tehran, from where they paid a smuggler to transport them into Turkey in the back of a truck.

We were without food, water and blankets for over 24 hours, Omar recalls.

Once there, the family made their way to the coastal city of Dikili, where they paid a smuggler $1,000 a person for a spot on an overcrowded inflatable rubber dinghy bound for the Greek island of Lesbos. On April 4, they arrived in Lesbos and then made their way to Athens.

Omar says they never imagined that they would have to turn to smugglers once in the EU.

His parents and brother had bought photo change passports for 3,000 euros (around $3,200) each in order to attempt a fourth air journey.

But in late December, the entire family instead attempted a land crossing with 10 others from the camp. The group was caught in Albania, along with their smuggler.

But the family escaped house arrest and managed to get themselves smuggled to Serbia, where they now live in a camp.

In Greece, there is no life for us, Aziza says over Facebook messenger from Serbia in late December. Thats why I choose to go and [take] the risk.

ALSO READ: Dear Donald Trump  A letter from a Syrian refugee

The guarantee game

Farzad is an Afghan in his mid-20s. In October, I meet him at the Oinofyta camp, where he is living with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.

He is considering buying fake passports, as his daughter and wife have fair skin and blond hair and that, he reasons, gives them a good chance of passing undetected through immigration. But his complexion is dark and he worries about being turned away and separated from his family.

If they make it onto the plane and I dont, we will become separated, he reflects. I dont want to be separated from them. Who will take care of them if not me?

He weighs up the option of buying the fake passports or trying the more difficult and dangerous overland route. But there is a third option, he says.

Refugees refer to this as the guarantee game.

Game refers to any attempt at crossing a border; guarantee to bribes paid to immigration officers.

[But] even in the guarantee game there is no guarantee, says Farzad.

And its the most expensive option.

The refugees travel on fake passports and, through a smuggler, pay bribes to people inside the airport. It can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $5,500, depending on the smuggler and the number of bribes to be paid.

The smugglers use this to deal with the cops working in the airport, says Farzad, who was told this by a smuggler he was thinking of buying passports from.

The police officers in the airport will know exactly which day and when the flight for Germany is, for example, and on that day he will call the smugglers and say to send their passengers.

Once the refugees arrive at the check-in area, the police, having already seen their photos, let them pass.

But, Farzad explains, there is always the risk of schedule changes.

The officers know that the passengers are coming, but some changes might happen inside the airport with the staff, with new police officers.

When this happens, the new officers will likely catch the refugees travelling on fake passports.

Farzad is wary about spending so much money on something so risky.

The Greek police are currently implementing new security measures. According to a statement they sent to Al Jazeera: In order to address the criminal organisations involved in facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners in Greece, but also in their exit, with a final destination of central Europe and the preparation and sale of forged documents, a series of measures have been taken by the competent prosecuting authorities.

These measures include providing equipment designed to detect false passports, such as portable counterfeit document detection devices, and fingerprint readers, as well as providing increased information to border police working in airports.

The Greek police did not respond to several requests for comment regarding the alleged involvement of some airport officers in allowing refugees to travel on counterfeit documents.

The changing smuggling business

Since the mass influx of asylum seekers began in early 2015, the smuggling business has flourished in Greece.

Greece, the EU and the international humanitarian community have struggled to stay abreast of the ever-evolving methods smugglers use to move people across borders.

In some ways, [smuggling] has also become less sophisticated, because its harder to track [that way], Campbell says, citing the example of how some smugglers have stopped using bank deposits and now get refugees to deposit cash into locked boxes located in designated spots around Athens. How do you electronically track cash in a box with a lock? she asks.

It has been observed in many places around the world that the moment you have orderly ways in dealing with migration, and orderly ways of monitoring and managing borders without closing them, this is the moment you dont have such a huge smuggling business, Schoenbauer says.

But when refugees view smugglers as both saviours and a necessity, containing the smuggling business is not so straightforward.

As Omar put it one night in his tent at the Oinofyta camp: They do not want to be known as bad people, because they will not get any business if they are bad  and most of them arent bad people, they are helping us.

Two months later, messaging via WhatsApp from Serbia, where he and his family now await the processing of their asylum cases, Omar says he still believes smugglers are good, despite the fact that his family was caught while travelling with one.

Im very happy we left Greece, because in Greece there were no doors open to us  everything was closed, he says.

*The names of Alacan, Abbas and all refugees have been changed to protect their identity.

You can follow Fahrinisa Oswald on Twitter at @ Fahrinisa
Thousands of protesters have marched in Britains capital, London, against US President Donald Trumps order to ban nationals from seven majority-Muslim states from entering the United States.

The demonstration on Saturday, which marked the second round of UK protests against Trump in a week, came as a US federal judge in the city of Seattle blocked the order pending a review.

Called for by a coalition of Muslim and anti-racist groups, the rally drew thousands of people outside the US embassy in London.

OPINION: The US Muslim ban and the story of my Iraqi father

Protesters later marched towards parliament, channelling anger at Trump and the British prime minister, Theresa May, for her cordial relations with the US leader.

Many in the UK are resentful that May extended an invitation to Trump for a formal visit to the country during a meeting between the two leaders at the White House last week.

A parliamentary petition to bar Trump from visiting the UK has picked up more than 1.8 million signatures, while one supporting his visit has just less than 300,000.

UK members of parliament will debate the issue on February 20.

As with earlier demonstrations against Trump, many protesters chose to bypass the placards produced by organisers and instead opted to make their own.

Here are some of the homemade banners that were on display during Saturdays demonstration:
Dozens of US and allied forces military installations dot the region, from Oman, UAE and Kuwait to Turkey and Israel.

Doha, Qatar  US military bases continue to form a strategic envelope around Iran, although the American withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011 may have changed the regional balance somewhat towards Irans favour. While US forces are scaling back in many parts of the globe due to budget cuts  and have begun a gradual depature from Afghanistan to be completed by 2014  their international presence remains vast.

From an active-duty force of 1.4 million soldiers, the US has deployed some 350,000 troops to at least 130 foreign countries around the world. Some are at Cold War-era installations, but many are in or near combat zones in the Middle East. At more than 750 bases internationally, private contractors and third-country nationals also form a large percentage of the staff, in addition to military reservists and civilian employees of the Pentagon.

US military installations in the Middle East serve to keep an eye on Iran, but their regional footprint was significantly expanded well before Iran became the most publicly cited foreign threat.

There were three reasons why the US sought a presence across the Middle East, says Mehran Kamrava, Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service in Qatar:

Securing oil resources, guaranteeing the security of the state of Israel and combating threats to American interests were the initial priorities of US military activity in the region prior to the first Gulf War, Kamrava says.

Subsequently, direct military presence wasnt in the form of impositions, but the [security umbrella] was a conscious policy decision on the part of the Persian Gulf states.



Click on installations for more information about facilities and troops, or view American Military Bases near Iran in a larger map

Kamrava says US forces have the ability to project force when needed, by intimidating and signalling to potential threats that the US can flex its muscles if necessary  This is a combination of showing the flag and practical, logistical issues such as the movement of troops, supplies and services.

So, these bases are not necessarily because of Iran, but certainly Iran has given the US a compelling reason to further the number of bases, Kamrava told Al Jazeera. But it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that Iran is encircled militarily.

Since tensions with Iran further escalated in early January, a map of assumed locations of bases in the vicinity of the Islamic Republic has been circulating across various social media platforms. But our map, above, reflects the latest information, either officially acknowledged by the US military, sourced in the media or described on military information sites such as Global Security.

Prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US, most of the American military abroad was stationed in Europe and East Asia. But the number of Middle East deployments climbed dramatically during subsequent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The wide range and function of the new facilities became expedient to the simultaneous fighting of two massive wars on either side of Iran.

A decade ago in 2002, Rear Admiral Craig R Quigley, senior spokesman at US Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida, said: There is great value, for instance, in continuing to build airfields in a variety of locations on the perimeter of Afghanistan that, over time, can do a variety of functions, like combat operations, medical evacuation and delivering humanitarian assistance.

And while the US largely shifted its military focus to the region, it also moved most troops out of Saudi Arabia and into other Arab states of the Gulf, where US-friendly governments ironed out new security and basing arrangements.

Massive troop presence

According to new CENTCOM figures given to Al Jazeera on April 30, there are about 125,000 US troops in close proximity to Iran: 90,000 soldiers in/around Afghanistan on Operation Enduring Freedom; some 20,000 soldiers deployed ashore elsewhere in the Near East region; and a variable 15-20,000 afloat on naval vessels.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said the US would have 40,000 troops in the Gulf following the withdrawal from Iraq. But the exact number, location and mission of these forces beyond Afghanistan is virtually impossible to determine.

We are obliged to respect the stated desires of various host countries, who have asked that we not acknowledge details of any US presence on their sovereign soil, Oscar Seara, public affairs officer at CENTCOM, told Al Jazeera in an email.

Partner-nation sensitivities limit what we are able to say about our military relationships, Seara said, when asked to confirm or deny information about the bases in the map above.

President Obama announces the nominations of Leon Panetta and David Petraeus in 2011 [AFP]

The troop tally released on December 31, 2011, by the Defense Manpower Data Center reported 57,479 undistributed troops around the world  on unknown assignment in unspecified locations. The organisations data department declined to clarify whether a significant number of these troops are stationed in the Middle East.

In the Gulf, CENTCOM spokesman Seara only confirmed that the Fifth Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain. For anything else, youll have to contact the Bahraini Ministry of Defence  We can confirm Camps Arifjan, Buehring and Patriot. For anything else, youll have to contact the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defence.

Despite such official efforts to remain inconspicuous in the post-9/11 era, US forces from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines are boldly positioned in Oman and the UAE to the south of Iran, Turkey and Israel to the west, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan to the north, and Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east.

In addition, the US has close military partnerships with Georgia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, where US troops are involved in training missions, and where local facilities are used in moving supplies across the Caspian Sea towards Afghanistan.

When Pakistan closed NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan became even more crucial for shipping non-lethal goods through the Northern Distrbution Network into the conflict zone to the south. Fears of a new Great Game emerged, as the US began more directly competing with Russia and China for regional influence.

While 2012 has clearly seen a US military buildup in the Gulf, especially an increase in the size of the standby combat force in Kuwait, the extent of troop movements is obscured by official secrecy surrounding the globe-spanning American archipelago of bases.

The Pentagon has said it is now prioritising smaller, more nimble deployments to work in partnership with local troops, rather than emphasising the sheer number of boots on the ground. And officials say an enhanced presence in the Gulf is meant to serve as a quick-reaction and contingency force, not simply a prelude to war.

Floating bases

In addition to the sites in the map above, the US Navy has announced the summer 2012 launch of a floating mothership base likely to be deployed in the Gulf. The converted USS Ponce warship is slated to be used by the Navy on anti-piracy missions and for containment of Iran. While aircraft carriers must move regularly around the Gulf, the new ship will be able to remain in the same place for weeks.

There are two aircraft carrier strike groups operating in the US Fifth Fleet AOR [Area Of Responsibility], Lt Rebecca Rebarich, US Fifth Fleet spokeswoman, told Al Jazeera in an email.

Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is operating in the Arabian Sea, conducting missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Rebarich said. Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) is conducting maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf.

There are approximately 16,000 personnel at sea aboard more than 40 US Navy, Coast Guard and fleet auxiliary ships in the US Fifth Fleet AOR.

USS Enterprise, nicknamed Big E, has been deployed in almost every conflict and crisis around the world but will be decommissioned in December 2012 [EPA]

France also has a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, which was reported to be heading to the Gulf in February.

For its part, France in 2009 established Peace Camp, a naval air station in Abu Dhabi. While the base is officially not just directed towards Iran, the dominant power on the other side of the Gulf then responded with a statement rejecting increased foreign military presence in the region.

Although US installations in Turkey, Israel, Djibouti and Diego Garcia are not in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, they could also be used in the event of any conflict with Iran.

Besides the bases shown on the map above, there are additional US micro-bases, as well as sites belonging to other countries that are used by US troops but not acknowledged as bases, and covert installations that are suspected but not confirmed.

As explained by Chalmers Johnson, the US author who coined the term empire of bases, the defence departments 2011 report omits espionage bases, as well as facilities located in warzones and other sensitive places.

US commandos are also deployed throughout the region as part of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which conducts clandestine activities with a combined force of Army Green Berets and Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Commandos and Marine Corps Special Operations teams.

Follow Ben Piven on Twitter: @BenPiven
Pierre-Louis Le Goff is a research assistant at the Latin American centre, University of Oxford, and a member of the committee for Crimes Against Humanity at the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

June 27 marks the 40th anniversary of Uruguays descent into the darkest period of its recent history. In 1973, the then constitutional president, Juan Maria Bordaberry, dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution, ushering in a civic-military dictatorship that would rule until 1985.

It is worth remembering that June 27 was but the apogee of a tragedy in three acts: on April 15, 1972, the judiciary was placed under military control; on February 9, 1973, Bordaberry performed an autogolpe (self-coup) which handed the executive branch over to the militarys Council of National Security. Finally, June 27 brought down the curtain on what had been until then one of Latin Americas most highly developed and inclusive democracies.

What followed was a period of state terrorism akin to the regions other dictatorships coming to power at the time. The campaign of repression of all social and political opposition involved mass incarceration, widespread use of torture, Orwellian-style monitoring of its citizens and forced disappearances  also enacted in cooperation with the regimes counterparts across the region through the infamous Operation Condor. Yet despite the historic significance of the anniversary of the 1973 coup, June 27 remains a day of little importance in the countrys official calendar.

Uruguay should, therefore, establish June 27 as a national day of commemoration, as called for by the human rights organisation of former political prisoners Crysol[Sp]. Not only would it represent a clear rejection of the attack on democracy and an important symbolic reparation to the dictatorships victims of human rights abuses and their families, it would furthermore provide an important space for people to voice their memories of the past.

Memory versus silence

With discussions about remembering the past, the somewhat cliched adage of he who forgets history is condemned to repeat it immediately springs to mind. While this may well be true at the individual level, at a collective and institutional level it is more appropriate to talk about selective memories, or selective forgetting. Following the assertions of scholar Elizabeth Jelin, it becomes clear that societies or institutions do not forget; rather, they tend to choose what to remember.

As such, the process of establishing a collective memory becomes a conflicting one, with different groups and institutions competing to impose their own selective memory on the collective. As Jelin posits: We should not think about debates between memory and silence, but one of opposing memories, each of them with its own silences and voids.

Following the return to democracy in 1985, the Uruguayan states selective memory was embodied in the Ley de Caducidad, or Expiry Law, which granted amnesty to military and security personnel for human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship. President Sanguinettis famous phrase, no hay que tener ojos en la nuca (you must not have eyes in the back of your head), summed up the governments emphasis on the need to focus on the future rather than the past.

In response to the states silence regarding the dictatorships crimes, the Uruguayan human rights community and civil society established various mechanisms to challenge impunity, based on demands for truth and justice, and, by doing so, championed their memories of human rights violations and state terrorism. Most emblematic is the Marcha del Silencio (March of Silence), held every May 20 since 1996, in which thousands march to commemorate disappeared detainees, symbolically repudiating impunity and state denial in a silent demonstration along Montevideos main avenue.





Other acts included holding two popular consultations in 1989 and 2009 to overturn the Expiry Law, publication of the SERPAJ Never Again report into the dictatorships atrocities in 1989, construction of a Memorial to commemorate Disappeared Detainees inaugurated in 2001, opening of a Cultural Centre and Museum of Memory in 2007 in Montevideo, as well as the tireless efforts by victims, relatives and human rights lawyers to breach impunity by denouncing past abuses to the domestic criminal justice system.

Although the states preference for denial and impunity slowly began to change under the left-wing Frente Amplio governments in power since 2005, the current government is yet to fully embrace the cause of justice.

The historic overturning of the Expiry Law in October 2011, precipitated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights decision in the Gelman versus Uruguay case and sustained civil society pressure over time, was as much a victory against state silence on the dictatorships crimes as an advancement towards greater accountability for past atrocities.

A national day of memory

Thus far, we have only spoken about two conflicting memories within Uruguayan society: that of the state and of the human rights community. However, these are not the only memories and voices competing for to be heard. Academics and journalists, like other social groups, also have selective memories.

In the build-up to the 40th anniversary of the coup, there has been a plethora of events, discussions and commemorations organised by civil society organisations, universities and trades unions, all of which are legitimate memories and explore the different impacts of the 1973 coup.

The PIT-CNT trade union, in particular, is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the longest general strike in the countrys history that began on the same day as the coup, and celebrating the example of popular resistance it represented in response to the takeover. Other activities and roundtables on issues such as exile, the role of art, literature, theatre and archives of the repression are organised by Montevideo City Hall.

Once again, the Uruguayan state is strikingly absent but not surprisingly so; in fact, it has largely left it to victims, survivors and activists to disseminate the truth about past atrocities, gather information and evidence to prosecute those responsible, and commemorate past crimes. Uruguay very much lags behind in fulfilling its positive obligations under international human rights law to provide victims with remedies for the violations suffered in terms of truth, justice and reparations.

Given the existence of a wide range of memory projects and the legitimation of the memories of human rights abuses on the collective memory, it would be reasonable to ask what difference a non-working national day of commemoration would make. If those affected have already carved out spaces  both materially and symbolically  in order to memorialise state terrorism and its victims, what would giving everyone else a day off achieve?

In practice, it seems unrealistic to think that the whole of society will automatically come together in rejection of the coup and the subsequent atrocities; indeed, for some, it will just be another day off to dedicate to private and personal endeavours. Moreover, it would be naive to think that such an event would put an end to the conflicting nature of memorialising the dictatorship, or automatically set in motion a process of self-criticism of the past.

There are several things it would achieve, however. As a gesture by the state it would carry important symbolic value. On the one hand, by providing a shared platform and marker around which to coalesce, it would recognise the wide range of memory practices within society. On the other, and perhaps more importantly, it would represent an acknowledgment of the need to remember the violence and abuses that emanated from the state itself.

While of course there is the danger that the state could monopolise commemorations, which we would not wish to see happen, nevertheless the establishment of a national day of commemoration in 2013 would be of particular importance and symbolic value owing to recent events (the transfer of Judge Mota and sentences by the Supreme Court of Justice) to prove an official commitment to truth, justice, memory and reparations for dictatorship crimes.

Furthermore, it would send a signal that June 27 is a day of national importance that all Uruguayans  not just the victims or mobilised civil society  should be remembering, offering a venue in which to discuss and debate the dictatorship and its legacies in public and social spaces for the whole of society to come to terms with Uruguays recent history.

Dr Francesca Lessa is a postdoctoral researcher at the Latin American Centre and St Annes College, University of Oxford, specialising on issues of justice and human rights in Uruguay.

Pierre-Louis LeGoff is a research assistant at the Latin American centre, University of Oxford, and a member of the committee for Crimes Against Humanity at the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Follow him on Twitter: @P_LeGoff
None of the camps housing Mosuls displaced allow for freedom of movement and some camps even ban mobile phones.

The 16-year-old boy had been following us as we made our way through Nargizlia. It is the most recent addition to the camps housing the 135,000 people who have fled the fighting as the Iraqi government tries to retake Mosul, its second-largest city, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) group.

Ghazi, who had been hiding behind tents each time we stopped to speak with someone, finally approached. He quietly told me he was living in a tent with a group of unaccompanied men and boys he didnt know. He looked at me, so full of fear at his surroundings, and asked if there was anything I could do to help him join his family, who had been sent to a different camp.

I took him to the managers office and found a staff member who said he would take Ghazi in to see the manager. We had to leave, it was late in the day, but it absolutely broke my heart to leave this boy, with no guarantee that he would be able to join his family.





The people in these camps were terrorised by ISIL and have had to leave their lives behind. Some were separated from family members in the chaos in 2014, when ISIL took over the region.

Some were separated from family members by accident as they fled recently, and others were separated from the men and older boys in their family for security checks, to make certain they arent ISIL fighters.

No freedom of movement

But none of the camps housing Mosuls displaced allow for free movement, a fundamental right, and only one is allowing family reunification at the moment, as far as I know.

At least two camps prohibit visitors and ban mobile phones, ostensibly for security reasons. Ghazis was confiscated as he arrived at the camps euphemistically named reception centre, or screening facility. This makes the displaced significantly more vulnerable  those whose loved ones were detained for alleged affiliation with ISIL have no way of reaching out to contacts to help locate them.

Since the first days of the Mosul operation in October, husbands and sons in the four Kurdish Regional Government-controlled (KRG) camps I have visited have come to me asking for help to rejoin their families. They happened to leave the city on a different bus from their families, either because they were held back in screening, or because they left Mosul at a different time.

READ MORE: Mosul battle creates competing IDP and refugee crises

Ghazis parents fled Mosul in a wave of escapees, while he stayed behind to check on an ailing uncle. They called him as they reached the Iraqi security forces checkpoint to say they were being sent to the Qaymawa camp. He then fled Mosul alone.

When he reached the security checkpoint, he asked the soldiers to send him to join his family. But they ignored him and sent him with hundreds of other displaced families to Nargizlia.

One woman in Nargizlia told me that when the 100 families from her area of Mosul escaped from the ISIL-controlled territory and reached an area under KRG military control, the women, girls and young boys were separated from the men and boys aged 15 and above in their family, and all of them were held in a school, in different rooms.

When buses arrived to take them all to the camp, this womans husband and son were missing. She asked security forces at the reception centre and later at the camp about their fate, but she said they refused to answer her.

Now she is sitting in her tent, unable to leave the camp and without even a phone to call any friends, family, or international organisations for help in locating her loved ones.

We escaped from prison, just to be put in another prison by

Another prison

Aid workers told me that they have made some, very minor, progress around advocating for freedom of movement of displaced people or to reunite them with their families, as a result of the demands on them to provide other urgent services for the people in these camps. But it has not been their priority.

One worker said to me candidly, when they speak to camp residents, free movement is not their main complaint.

But when I ask residents about their human rights concerns, the feeling that they are being held in open air prisons and the impact this has on their ability to communicate with their families is one of the first things they regularly raise.

One man at Nargizlia begged for my help to leave the camp, to meet a 2-year-old daughter he never met who is now in Kirkuk, a major city 160km away, and to mourn the death of his mother with his siblings, who escaped Mosul before ISIL took control.

He told me, We escaped from prison, just to be put in another prison, and shook his head as he walked away.

Belkis Wille is the senior Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The reality is that all successful economies grew up behind walls of protectionism.

Larry Beinhart is a novelist, best known for Wag the Dog.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist for The New York Times, whose academic specialty was free trade, wrote that, If there were an Economists Creed, it would surely contain the affirmations I understand the Principle of Comparative Advantage and I advocate Free Trade.' He puts it in that order because one rests on the other.

The concept of comparative advantage imagines everything as closed and static  nations, industries, technology, and methods of doing business  and also, as very, very simple. Then it says that a nation should determine what it can produce most efficiently, give up anything it does less efficiently, and put all its resources into the thing it does best.

This refers to opportunity cost and it implies that putting effort into anything except its most efficient product diverts capital and labour, thus losing the opportunity to invest in its most super-special product.

Then they make lots of their special commodity and trade it for the things they gave up on, which they can now buy for less than what it would have cost them to make it themselves. Theres more of everything and everything is cheaper and everyone makes out.

Why the theory cannot always work

The original example, from David Ricardo in 1817, used two countries to illustrate the principle of comparative advantage, England and Portugal, and two products, wine and cloth. He concluded that England should just make cloth and Portugal should concentrate on wine.

At first glance, that seems to make sense. As ordinary thinkers, we rather automatically put that into our more general vision of the economic universe. Wine production depends on natural resources of a special kind, sun and soil, which cant be imported. Since it was lacking those, England should have never been competitive, although the English seemed to be a more industrial sort of people.

However, as soon as we insert the example into the real history of the real world, it ceases to work. Englands textile industry  once upon a time a giant  has virtually disappeared. (It currently ranks behind Zimbabwe.) So it would have been a very bad bet indeed.

However, the Portuguese either had the wisdom to ignore classical economists, or had the luck of the less literate and failed to read Ricardo, and theyre still making money from wine today.

In Ricardos time, England did have a comparative advantage in textiles. In his illustration its simply there, in much the same way that Portugals come from geography.

But it wasnt either an accident of location or a gift from God. That advantage was manufactured by technology, domestic infrastructure, naval supremacy, and imperialism.

The reality is that all successful economies grew up behind walls of protectionism. Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln were great advocates of tariffs, government spending on infrastructure, and support of domestic industries. by

When we look at the actualities of history, theory shatters on the rocks of reality. Yes, there are moments when comparative advantage seems to exist. But if a nation throws all its resources into the best industry, it will, in the long term, be a disaster.

Also, and this is more important, comparative advantage  and absolute advantage versus other nations  can be, and is, manufactured.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, natural resources were presumed to be the key to economic dominance. The fight was on, in particular, for coal and iron, for fuel and steel. Yet Japan, which had neither, emerged as one of the great manufacturing powers in the world. Through policy, intent, and war.

Bad logic, sloppy science.

The reality

Nonetheless, free trade became dogma in economics and among the political and financial elites. It was virtually unchallenged in politics and business.

Until Donald Trump. With a nod to Bernie Sanders.

This immediately prompts two very provocative questions.

Can Donald Trump be right about anything?

Can virtually the entire economics profession be wrong about something? Not just for a few years, or a couple of decades, but for somewhere between 70 years (since the end of World War II) and 240 years (since the publication of Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations).

The reality is that all successful economies grew up behind walls of protectionism. Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln were great advocates of tariffs, government spending on infrastructure, and support of domestic industries.

OPINION: Free Trade and the death of democracy

Germany lagged behind Great Britain until Bismarck switched from free trade to protectionism. A few decades ago, when the United States was quivering and quaking over the rise of the Japanese economy, the bestseller list was littered with books about their Eastern methods of protectionism.

No underdeveloped country has ever moved from the bottom rungs to the top tier while operating under free trade rules.

Free trade can only be practised successfully by dominant economies. When Britain was dominant, when the US was dominant, free trade was great for them. And painful for countries they managed to impose it on.

But what happens to a mature economy when developing nations  working behind their protectionist walls  become developed nations, and compete? There are really only two examples  Great Britain and the US. Both experienced rapid and severe industrial declines and great increases in income inequality.

Is that the natural result of competition and globalisation?

OPINION: If TPP fails, China takes advantage

Or is it the result of policy? It happened to both nations with the rise of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, both of whom broke unions, got government out of industry, and embraced financialisation.

The US government stayed heavily involved in one business sector  the military. The result is that it remains the world leader in military hardware, software, and military operations. By huge margins.

Germany resisted financialisation and, as a matter of policy, focused on industry and on its workforce, and kept its labour unions strong. Industry and the middle class are both thriving.

Policy can create, or preserve, a sound economy. It can also help destroy one.

Free trade is the ultimate weapon in the perennial war between capital and labour.

Think of those old movies about the Great Depression. Hundreds of men gather at the factory gate. The foreman looks the crowd over and picks out four. Who will, obviously, work for whatever pittance is offered. Free trade puts the whole world of workers at the factory gates.

What lies ahead?

Is the answer to return to tariffs and trade wars?

In a modern, integrated economy, especially with the free flow of capital (no restrictions on taking money out of or into a country), probably not. America pulls out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, China suggests theyll lead an alternate version. The US raises tariffs, another nation retaliates.

Whats required are investments in areas that cant be outsourced, in the technologies of the future, and in physical and social infrastructure because that makes all business easier, more efficient, and more profitable.

Its not about manufacturing. Car-making jobs are already returning. They often pay less than the recommended minimum wage. Wages and salaries are not about manufacturing, per se, or about market value. Theyre about power. That means support of unions and government support of labour.

Income inequality is worse than self-perpetuating. Concentrated wealth buys politicians who will pass laws that hurt the 90 percent and further enrich the top 0.1 percent. The only way to halt it is with higher taxes.

As to Trump, he can be right about problems. Though all his solutions will make things worse. As to economists, they can be wrong about an idea for centuries. Which is a shame, because their intellectual ineptitude created the great vacuum in which a Trump could blossom.

Larry Beinhart is a novelist, best known for Wag the Dog. Hes also been a journalist, political consultant, a commercial producer and director.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
In the 1950s political turmoil interrupted my fathers life, just like the Muslim ban has now done to many other lives.

Huda Al-Marashi is an Iraqi-American writer specialising in Muslim women's issues and the Muslim experience in the US.

A federal court judge has temporarily lifted the ban that has been interrupting the travel plans of US-bound students, professionals, and travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. While this news comes as a welcome relief, it also leaves me contemplating a story my father used to tell.

When my father was a first-year medical student at Grant Medical College in what was then known as Bombay in India, he went on a trip to visit family in Iraq and wound up stuck.

In 1958, Iraqi General Abd al-Karim Qasim staged a coup and overthrew King Faisal II. Iraqs borders were closed for six months, and my father lost his seat at medical school. He applied for admission to the University of Baghdads Medical College where he repeated his first year of medical school and graduated four years later.

Whenever my father wanted to give us an example of perseverance, he would tell us the story of that trip, how he was staying at the home his family owned in Baghdad when he first heard Long live the Republic of Iraq on the radio; how he watched the demonstrations in the streets from the rooftop; how dismayed he was when he realised he would not be returning to school.

I grew up hearing this story from my comfortable suburban life in California, and it always struck me as so many of my fathers stories struck me as a child  fascinating but in a strictly historic sense.

I couldnt fathom anything like that happening in the US. Imagine going to school in one country, and then a revolution erupting and not being able to return. These things did not happen in our stable, first world land of law and order with rules that applied to all people equally.

A story for a new generation

Last week my father turned 82. Born in Zanzibar to Iraqi parents, he grew up speaking five languages; English, Farsi, Arabic, Swahili and Urdu. His stories traverse continents and include so many snapshots of history  life during the British protectorate in Zanzibar, the long and arduous journey his family took to travel through Africa on their way to Baghdad during World War II.

In recent years, my fathers stories have taken on a prosaic feel. They are scripted in his memory and the details rarely vary.

This US policy, specifically targeting people from seven Muslim majority countries, was the source of what is likely still a disorienting disturbance in these individuals' personal and professional lives. by

However, the executive order on January 27 calling for a 90-day travel ban on citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen has made my fathers decades-old story feel eerily contemporary.

Dr Suha Abushamma, an internal medic resident at the Cleveland Clinic and a citizen of Sudan, was on her way back home to Cleveland when she was detained at JFK airport in New York.

Samira Asgari, an Iranian genomics researcher, was travelling to a post-doctoral fellowship before being sent back to her point of origin in Switzerland.

OPINION: Trumps Muslim ban is a dangerous distraction

Iranian MIT undergraduate Niki Mossafer Rahmati was not permitted to board the connecting flight in Doha, Qatar, that would have brought her back to school.

There were countless other stories of students, workers, and travellers just like these, and each one of them felt so personal. Not only do they remind me of my fathers own educational path, but also of how he came to the US.

He, too, arrived on a similar visa to train as a neurologist in the early 1970s. He went on to earn his citizenship while serving as a physician in the US Army, taking an early retirement as a colonel before moving on to work in our local county hospital until his final retirement.

In my fathers story the US was his point of arrival, the place where he was welcomed and valued for his expertise. He spent half of his career treating and teaching US soldiers, the other half working with prison inmates and underserved communities.

He was not the one-dimensional stereotype of the immigrant draining the economy that is being tossed around in todays political discourse. He was a British national and he chose to settle in Monterey, California because he liked it there. He said the trees reminded him of his childhood in Zanzibar.

Forty years later, the US played an entirely different role in the case of the individuals detained under this ban.

OPINION: Can the Muslim American family survive Trump?

This US policy, specifically targeting people from seven Muslim-majority countries, was the source of what is likely still a disorienting disturbance in these individuals personal and professional lives.

A secular nation that prides itself on the freedom of religion was the one barring people from their work and their studies because of their presumed faith.

Despite the federal court ruling, the spectre of the ban still lingers, and with it comes a deep sense of misgiving. I cant help but wonder how long it will be before anyone from a Muslim-majority country can arrive at US borders, whether for travel or relocation, without a sense of trepidation, let alone welcome.

Huda Al-Marashi is an Iraqi American writer specialising in Muslim womens issues and the Muslim experience in the US.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
President Donald Trump vows to restore travel ban after court temporarily halts order to keep refugees out of the US.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has issued advice to airlines allowing them to board passengers from previously barred Muslim-majority countries after a US judge temporarily halted a controversial travel ban.

The decision was taken after Seattle District Judge James Robart announced a temporary suspension of President Donald Trumps week-old executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries from entering the US.

Responding to the temporary block on his immigration order, Trump on Saturday dismissed the court ruling as ridiculous.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! he wrote on Twitter.

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Trump is clearly now involved in a clash with the judiciary of the US, Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from West Palm Beach, said.

He is talking about a so-called judge but that judge was put in place by fellow Republican President George W Bush, and when he was given the job there was a unanimous vote on Capitol Hill for him.

Major challenge

Earlier on Saturday, spokesmen for Qatar Airways and US-based United Airlines confirmed to Al Jazeera that they will board all passengers with valid travel documents that are affected by the order after receiving an advisory to do so from the CBP.

As directed by the US Customs and Border Protection, nationals of the seven affected countries listed below and all refugees seeking admission presenting a valid, unexpired US visa or [green card] will be permitted to travel to the United States and will be processed accordingly upon arrival, read a travel alert posted on Qatar Airways website.





Al Jazeeras Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said all airlines flying from Tehran to the US on Saturday would board Iranian nationals with valid visas.

The judges temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trumps action, although his administration could still appeal against the ruling and have the policy upheld.

It comes on the heals of a weeks worth of spontaneous protests at airports across the country.

The US state department said it is working with the Department of Homeland Security to work out how Fridays ruling affects its operations, and will announce any changes affecting travellers as soon as information is available.

The White House said it would file an appeal as soon as possible.

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate, the White House said in a statement. A revised statement released later omitted the word outrageous.

IN PICTURES: NYC Yemenis close bodegas to protest Trump travel ban

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, the White House said.

Trumps executive order bars Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen entry into the US for 90 days. Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

The state department said on Friday that up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven countries concerned had their visas cancelled as a result of the order. A justice department lawyer, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The ban caught the airline industry off guard, with some carriers forced to re-roster flight crew in order to abide by the order.





Battle not over

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: No person  not even the president  is above the law.

There is still more to do, he said in a statement. The fight isnt yet won. But we should feel heartened by todays victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history.

The judges decision was also welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order, said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Centre.

Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good.

But the fluid legal situation was illustrated by the fact that the ruling came only hours after a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order allowing some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trumps three-month ban.

A Reuters poll earlier this week indicated that the immigration ban has popular support, with 49 percent of Americans agreeing with the order and 41 percent disagreeing. Some 53 percent of Democrats said they strongly disagree with Trumps action while 51 percent of Republicans said they strongly agree.
Terhan says the aim of the manoeuvres is to show complete preparedness to deal with US threats and sanctions.

Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps launched military drills on Saturday, in defiance of newly imposed sanctions put forward by the United States.

In a statement posted on its official website, the elite military body said the manoeuvres in the northeastern province of Semnan were aimed at demonstrating Irans complete preparedness to deal with the threats and humiliating sanctions from the White House.

We are working day and night to protect Irans security, head of Revolutionary Guards aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said to a local news agency, as reported by Reuters news agency.

If we see [the] smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads.

READ MORE: Trump  Iran playing with fire after missile test

On Friday, US President Donald Trumps administration imposed sanctions on Iran after the Islamic Republic confirmed that it had test-fired medium-range missiles last Sunday.

The White House said the move violated a Security Council resolution proscribing missiles that could carry a nuclear device.

Hours after sanctions were imposed, the US defence secretary, James Mattis called Iran the worlds biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

US officials said the sanctions would not be the last measure in an attempt to bar Tehran from testing additional missiles.

FEATURE: Iran: Trumps Muslim ban will rip our family apart

Iran said last weeks missile test did not breach the countrys 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, or a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the pact.

It also described the sanctions as illegal and vowed to counter them.

Relations between the US and Iran have deteriorated since Trump took office on January 20, promising a more aggressive line on what he views as Iranian belligerency towards US interests and allies.

Iran has one of the Middle Easts largest missile programmes, and held a similar exercise in December, but the latest test was the first to occur since Trump took office.
Ruling seen as the most severe legal blow yet to ban on immigrants and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

A federal judge has put a nationwide block on US President Donald Trumps week-old executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The temporary restraining order issued by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle on Friday will remain valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint by Washington states attorney general, Bob Ferguson.

The constitution prevailed today, Ferguson said, describing the judges decision as historic. No one is above the law, not even the president.

Not everybody may like this decision  Im certain the president will not like this decision  but it is his job, it is his responsibility, it is his obligation as president to honour it and Ill make sure he does.





Fridays ruling was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Ferguson said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The CBP has issued an advisory to airlines, instructing them to board travellers affected by the ban.

The US state department is working with the Department of Homeland Security to work out how Fridays ruling affects its operations, a spokesman told Reuters news agency, and will announce any changes affecting travellers as soon as information is available.

The justice department made no immediate decision on an appeal but said in a statement it would determine its next steps after reviewing the written order.

The White House said it would file an appeal as soon as possible.

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate, the White House said in a statement.

IN Photos: NYC Yemenis close bodegas to protest Trump travel ban

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

Al Jazeeras Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said the legal ramifications of Fridays block were still very much up in the air, as was the difference it would make for the at least 60,000 people whose visas have been revoked.

Even though the executive order has been suspended temporarily, they may still have to apply for a new visa before they can gain entry. And anyway, all of this can change legally just in a matter of days.

Robarts decision came after Ferguson filed a suit to invalidate key provisions of Trumps executive order, which bars Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days. Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

The state department said on Friday that up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven countries concerned had their visas cancelled as a result of the order. A justice department lawyer, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.





Battle not over

Washington Governor Jay Inslee welcomed the ruling as a tremendous victory but warned that the battle to overturn Trumps executive order was not over.

There is still more to do, he said in a statement. The fight isnt yet won. But we should feel heartened by todays victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history.

Ferguson said in his complaint that the presidents ban violated the constitutional rights of immigrants and their families as it specifically targets Muslims.

However, attorneys representing the Trump administration argued that as president, he had broad powers and was within his right to issue an order that protects Americans.

Trumps order has been met with an uproar by rights groups and immigration attorneys who say it specifically targets Muslims and has unfairly affected families, many of them US citizens.

The White House argues that the ban is aimed at making the country safer.
After a weeks-long political crisis, tourism officials are eager to lure foreign visitors back to the W African country.

It seemed like the entire world was coming to an end, recalls Abdoulie Hydara, director general of The Gambias tourism board, bringing to memory the countrys recent protracted political crisis.

The Gambia, a tiny, tourism-reliant country in West Africa, typically averages about 4,000 visitors a week during its peak month of January. Yet, last month almost all foreign visitors had left within days.





The crisis began when ex-President Yahya Jammeh refused to cede power after losing a December 1 election to Adama Barrow, leading to a state of emergency and political turmoil.

As the crisis deepened, a large number of tourists left The Gambia, a popular winter destination, especially for visitors from Britain, the former colonial power.

That was the beginning of the nightmare we went through, Hydara said.

READ MORE: Gambians ready to rebuild country from scratch

After weeks of pressure from regional players and the threat of arrest by West African troops, Jammeh eventually conceded defeat.

Barrow has since vowed to reform the countrys notorious intelligence agency and ensure media freedom, as well as curb the impact of the political crisis on the countrys economy, already in a fragile state.

To this day, a tourism industry that generates 20 percent of the governments revenue is still suffering.

Banjuls beaches are deserted, hotels are mostly vacant, and souvenir stores are empty.

However, the tourism board is still hopeful and plans to ask the new government for an increase in advertising money to help convince travellers why they should come back to The Gambias pristine beaches, nature reserves and wildlife tourist attractions.

There is no country on Earth that is so peaceful, Hydara said.
More than 400 people, including many women and children, intercepted by Libyas coastguard attempting to reach Europe.

Hundreds of refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe have been intercepted in recent days by Libyan authorities, according to a coastguard spokesman.

The announcement on Saturday came a day after European Union leaders agreed on a controversial new plan to help stem the flow of migrants from the North African country.

Coastguard spokesman General Ayoub Qassem said 431 people on four inflatable boats were rounded up between Thursday and Saturday at sea off the town of Sabratha, 70km west of the capital, Tripoli.

The illegal migrants are from various sub-Saharan countries and include a big number of women and children, said Qassem.

Smugglers had tried to foil the process of arrest by opening fire on our coastguards but the coastguards fired back and that forced the smugglers to withdraw, he added.

INSIDE STORY: Is Libya the answer to the refugee crisis in Europe?

According to Qassem, 700 migrants had been picked up on January 27 from three wooden vessels in the same area.





Among them were refugees from Syria, Tunisia, Libya and the Palestinian Territories.

Libya has become the main point of departure for people attempting to cross the Mediterrenean Sea by boat to various parts of Europe, ever since a route between Turkey and Greece was largely closed off in 2016.

People smugglers based in Libya have operated with impunity, sending migrants across the sea in vessels that occasionally break down or sink before they can be saved by rescue boats.

Libyas coastguard sends migrants back to detention centres that rights groups have criticised for inhumane conditions and widespread abuses.

Controversial deal

At a meeting in Malta, EU leaders agreed on a strategy to help curb the number of refugees departing from Libya in upcoming months.

Under the new plan, the bloc would provide Libyas government with funds to increase efforts to stop migrant boats from crossing territorial waters, and to break the business model of traffickers who helped 181,000 migrants enter the EU through Libya and Italy last year.

READ MORE: EU looks to fund camps in Africa to cut immigration

The announcement received a backlash from human rights groups who said such plans exposed migrants to further risks and abuses.

An estimated 230 people have died en route to Europe since the start of 2017, according to the United Nations.

More than 4,500 people died attempting the crossing last year.
Hezb-i-Islami leader removed from UN sanctions list following the signing of a peace deal with the Afghan government.

The United Nations has lifted sanctions against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami group in Afghanistan and one of the most infamous figures in the countrys civil war in the 1990s.

The decision by the UN Security Council late on Friday follows a peace deal signed by the Afghan government and Hekmatyars largely dormant group in September.

The accord gave Hekmatyar amnesty for past offences and granted him full political rights. It also allowed for the release of certain Hezb-i-Islami prisoners.

In a statement, the Security Council said it had dropped a freeze that had been put on Hekmatyars assets, as well as a travel ban and an arms embargo against him.

Hekmatyar was one of the most influential leaders in the fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s. He briefly accepted the position of prime minister in an administration following the collapse of a Soviet-backed government in 1992.

Once branded as the butcher of Kabul, Hekmatyar was accused of killing thousands of people when his fighters fired on civilian areas of the capital, Kabul, during the countrys 1992-1996 civil war.

READ MORE: Afghans must support peace deal with Hekmatyar

Hekmatyars whereabouts are unknown, but Ghairat Baheer, Hezb-i-Islamis chief negotiator, told Al Jazeera that, with the sanctions now removed, he would eventually return to the Afghan capital.

Hekmatyar is in hiding in Afghanistan, but after the UN move he will soon make an appearance in one of the provinces and will later come to Kabul, Baheer said.

The UNs decision could pave the way for other armed groups, such as the Taliban, to enter peace negotiations, according to Baheer.

He also urged the Afghan government to implement Septembers peace accord completely and honestly and called against the interference of foreign powers in Afghan affairs.

Peace is [more] difficult to achieve than war, and we have done that, we have taken steps to achieve peace in Afghanistan, he said.

NATO forces officially ended their combat mission in December 2014. Yet, in July last year, US troops were granted greater powers to launch strikes against Taliban fighters as former President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign.

The US still has about 8,400 troops in the country.

READ MORE: Ashraf Ghanis gamble with butcher of Kabul

Habiburrahman Hekmatyar, son of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, hailed the lifting of the sanctions as a very big decision that will change the entire situation of Afghanistan.

Every Afghan has suffered through decades of war and conflict, and everyone has sacrificed a lot in this war, including us, so I urge every Afghan to look forward and believe that we are working towards peace, he told Al Jazeera.

But others, including human rights groups and ordinary Afghans, criticised the peace accord and the subsequent lifting of the sanctions against Hekmatyar.

He just wants to have a political position for his family and for his party members in Afghanistan. He is the killer of the people of Afghanistan, it will be difficult to change this point of view of people about him, Sami Darayi, a Kabul resident who lost his uncle in the civil war, told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

He did not even apologise to us Afghans, he never said he committed a mistake by killing innocent people.

READ MORE: Death of a warlord will change nothing in Afghanistan

Others, like Kabul-based Khalid Amini, who lost his father by one of the Hekmatyars fighters, told Al Jazeera that as long as it brings peace in the country, I have no problem with him making a return.

I remember my fathers death, but I want to look forward, I want to look after my family and live in a peaceful environment. So, I want peace and he should bring that to the country now, he said.

Many foreign governments, including the US, praised the accord at the time as a step towards wider peace in Afghanistan.

But Human Right Watch, a New York-based watchdog, had branded Hekmatyar one of Afghanistans most notorious war crimes suspects and said his return would compound a culture of impunity that has denied justice to the many victims of his forces.

Follow @Shereenaqazi on Twitter
"...king of the hate left..."--

"As my friend Capper -- the best Wisconsin blogger ever -- says, there will be more. There's always more." - karoli

"...the psychiatrically attuned Capper..."--

"This is really great of you! I'm so proud to know someone like you"--

"Capper, a reasonable (and maybe even likeable) Lefty..."--

"capper, the Sidney Freedman of the hate left..."--

"I love capper because, well, what's not to love. But I also hate capper for alerting me to nonsense like this."---

"Capper, you really have a knack for this kind of writing. Really."--

"Crap. I agree with capper. Can Armageddon be far behind?"--

"capper is right. OMG, did I actually say that?"--
Mobile phone data suggests man who tried to attack Paris museum entered France on a tourist visa on January 26.

French investigators believe the man who launched a machete attack in Paris, before being shot and wounded by a soldier, is a 29-year-old Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa.

Francois Molins, the chief prosecutor of Paris, told a press conference on Friday that the man who carried out the attack near the entrance of the Louvre museum had no identity papers on him when he was arrested.

However, mobile phone data suggested that he had arrived in Paris on January 26 after acquiring a one-month tourist visa from the French embassy in Dubai.

READ MORE: French PM warns of new attacks

The assailant was shot five times and seriously wounded. A soldier suffered slight head injuries in the incident.

Authorities have not officially identified the suspect, Molins said, adding that the attack is being treated as an act of terror.

Investigators are working to establish whether he acted alone, on impulse, or on orders from someone.

Law enforcement conducted a search in an apartment the man had rented in the citys central 8th arrondissement, seizing an iPad, several pre-paid cards, and 900 ($970) in cash.

The attacker bought the two machetes he used in the attack from a store in Paris on January 28, Molins said.

No explosives found

Police said earlier that the man had been trying to get into the museums underground shop with a suitcase. His bag contained no explosives.

The Louvre, the huge former royal palace in the heart of the city, is home to the Mona Lisa and other famous works of art but is also a shopping complex and houses numerous exhibition spaces.

OPINION: Don\t let ISIL divide France

It is one of the top tourist attractions in Paris, which was the worlds third most visited city in 2016, according to the Mastercards Global Destination Cities Index.

France has suffered a string of attacks.

In January 2015, gunmen killed cartoonists and journalists at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine in Paris, while another attacker went on to kill shoppers in a Jewish supermarket, bringing the number of people killed to 17 in three days of bloodshed.

Ten months later, gunmen and suicide bombers attacked bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium in Paris on November 13, killing 130 people in an attack blamed on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Last July, a Tunisian man rammed a lorry through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on Frances south coast, crushing 86 people to death.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis has called Iran the worlds biggest state sponsor of terrorism, hours after the Trump administration announced fresh sanctions on the country following a recent missile test.

As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, Mattis told reporters in Tokyo on Friday, before adding that he saw no need to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

I dont see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time. Thats not in the cards right now, he said.





We always have the capability to do so. But right now I dont think its necessary.

Last Sunday, Iran test-fired a medium-range missile, which the White House says violated a UN Security Council resolution proscribing missiles that could carry a nuclear device.

Tehran has confirmed it tested a ballistic missile but has denied it was a breach of a 2015 nuclear deal.

Mattis said ignoring Irans actions  something President Donald Trump routinely accused former President Barack Obama of doing  would not work.

It does no good to ignore it, it does no good to dismiss it, Mattis said, without citing Obama or his policies.

In a post on Twitter, Trump said he would not be as kind to Iran as the government of his predecessor.

Iran is playing with fire  they don't appreciate how "kind" President Obama was to them. Not me!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

Earlier on Friday, the US Treasury said it added 13 Iranians and 12 companies, some of which are based in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and China, to its sanctions list after the recent missile test.

Among those targeted was Iranian businessman Abdollah Asgharzadeh whom the Treasury accused of acting as a procurement agent for the ballistic missile programme.

US officials added that while the latest sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before.

Trump has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and has made no secret of his contempt for that the nuclear deal that Obama approved in July 2015.

Illegitimate

Iran denounced the sanctions as illegitimate and said it would impose its own legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping regional terrorist groups, according to a foreign ministry statement quoted by state TV.

Al Jazeeras Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said the list of individuals and entities will be released by the Iranian foreign ministry after it decides who will make the cut.

In another development, Iran said it would deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise on Saturday in a show of defiance.

The Guards Sepahnews website said the manoeuvres were aimed at demonstrating their complete preparedness to deal with the threats and humiliating sanctions from Washington.
Romanian government backs down on controversial plan to relax anti-graft laws following biggest rallies in decades.

Romanias government has said it will withdraw a decree decriminalising minor corruption offences, backing down on a controversial plan to water down anti-corruption laws following five days of mass protests across the country.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told a hastily convened news conference that the government would meet on Sunday to repeal the emergency decree that had raised worries of a retreat in the fight against corruption.

I do not want to divide Romania. It cant be divided in two, Grindeanu said on Saturday.





The announcement came as tens of thousands of people protested for a fifth consecutive day against the contentious decree that decriminalises abuse of power offences in which the sums do not exceed 200,000 lei ($48,000).

Al Jazeeras David Chater, reporting from the demonstration in the capital, Bucharest, said the news about the decrees withdrawal had sparked victory celebrations.

People power on the street has succeeded in pushing the government into making these concessions, Chater said.

There is going to be a massive celebration here, instead of another heated protest.

READ MORE: Romanians ramp up protests against corruption decree

The decree, adopted on Tuesday and due to enter into force on February 10, prompted large protests throughout the country, the largest since the fall of communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

On Saturday afternoon, demonstrators launched another noisy march in central Bucharest, blowing whistles and vuvuzela horns in the national colours, heading for parliament to form a human chain there.

At some point, we didnt think it would be possible to convince the government to back down on the proposal, but fortunately not even they can be that irrational as to ignore the hundreds of thousands of people protesting, demonstrator Claudiu Craciun told Al Jazeera.

The emergency decree decriminalised criminal punishments for conflict of interest, work negligence and abuse of power cases in which the financial damage is valued at less than $48,000.

A separate bill, to go before parliament, would free some 2,500 prisoners on short sentences.

The government said it was bringing legislation into line with the constitution and reducing overcrowding in prisons.

But critics feared a setback for a year-long fight against corruption, calling the measures as a brazenly transparent effort by the government to let off some of the many corrupt officials involved in a series of scandals.

Mihai Politeanu, founder of the Initiative Romania NGO, told Al Jazeera the decriminalisation would had been a disaster for the future of Romania, taking it back to the early 1990s when corruption and oligarchs took over the country.
The SDF says it aims to completely encircle the ISIL stronghold with increasing support from the US-led coalition.

An alliance of US-backed fighters says it has begun a new phase of its campaign on the ISIL-held city of Raqqa in northern Syria, aiming to complete its encirclement and sever the road to the groups strongholds in Deir Az Zor province.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement on Saturday that the offensive was getting an increasing support from the international coalition forces through guaranteeing air cover for our forces advances or via the help provided by their special teams to our forces on the battle ground.

The multi-ethnic SDF alliance, which is dominated by the Kurdish YPG fighters, is waging a campaign to capture the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) groups stronghold in Raqqa, with support from the US-led coalition against the group. The SDF also includes Arab factions, Syrian Christian fighters and Turkmen units.





According to Kurdish media, SDF spokesperson Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said they started a new phase to liberate the villages in the east part of Raqqa, with the support of civilians from the region.

Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep along the Syrian border, said that the offensive was initially launched in November last year and was being conducted in phases.

The first phase was pushing from the north. Second one was pushing from the west. And now, in the third phase, the forces are trying to push from the east, she said.

There is also heavy fighting that has been going on north of Raqqa city, where the SDF are backed by coalition air strikes.

Also overnight, the coalition forces took out the last bridge crossing the Euphrates. There were five bridges and all of them were taken out.

Point of tension with Turkey

All the parties that participated in the first two phases of the offensive will take part in this phase, according to the SDF.

Several hundred US Special Forces soldiers have been supporting the SDF operations against ISIL in northern Syria. France said in June that its special forces were advising rebels in the same area.

OPINION: US alliance with Syrian PYD alienates Turkey

US support for the SDF has been a point of tension with NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group that has fought the Turkish state for three decades now.

The US says it is providing training and material support to Arab elements of the SDF only. It supplied them last month with armoured vehicles for the first time to help in the Raqqa campaign.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week requesting the Pentagon, joint chiefs of staff and other agencies to submit a preliminary plan in 30 days for defeating ISIL.

One key decision awaiting the Trump administration is whether to directly provide weapons to the YPG.
Rebel fighters seeking to topple president storm Um Rawaba and say they are heading to Khartoum.

Rebels from Sudans Darfur region have attacked a city in a neighbouring state, taking their fight closer to Khartoum.

Fighters stormed Um Rawaba, in North Kordofan state, about 500km south of the capital, but denied accusations of pillaging.

Al Jazeeras Harriet Martin, reporting from Khartoum, said witnesses reported seeing rebels looting a market and several banks during the attack on Saturday.

Martin said the attack comes in the wake of increased fighting in South Darfur over the past few weeks, which has displaced thousands of people.

This is a significant shift in the war in Sudan, Abdel Wahid Mohammed al-Nur, who heads a faction of Darfurs Sudan Liberation Army, told AFP.

We are heading to Khartoum, he said. This is not a joke.

The goal of this attack is to weaken the government to realise our strategic plan to topple the regime. by Gibril Adam, JEM spokesman

The move marks the biggest push yet by a rebel alliance, that includes the SLA and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and seeks to topple President Omar al-Bashir.

In 2011, JEM teamed up with the the SLM Abdul Wahid, and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North), which took up arms in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states around the time of South Sudans secession.

They formed the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF), which says it fights to topple Bashir to secure a fairer share of government in a country dominated by three Arab tribes.

Fighting had previously been limited mainly to the remote regions of Darfur and South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which border South Sudan

Martin said Saturdays attack was unusual because it was lay outside of these current areas of conflict.

Sudan started peace talks with the SPLM-North on Wednesday after a thaw in relations with South Sudan.

The government wants to broker a regional deal in South Kordofan and Blue Nile to end the conflict.

The potential deal not only poses a threat to the SRF, but could split the SPLM-N as some leaders remain loyal to the rebel alliance whereas others want to sign up to the local settlement.

Talks broke down on Saturday following disagreements over the issue of humanitarian access, but are expected to reconvene at a later date.

Martin said violence on the ground often increased when there are talks surrounding a potential ceasefire.

In a statement, the SPLM-N confirmed it had been involved in fighting in South Kordofan, but took no responsibility for clashes in the north.

Topple the regime

Sudans army told state media on Saturday that it was still fighting rebels inside Um Rawaba, the states second largest city.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said troops confronted the rebels after they reached Abu Kershola in the far north of South Kordofan.

Rebels then looted Kareem Allaha village before targeting Umm Rawaba town in North Kordofan, Saad said.

The army accused the rebels of destroying a power plant, petrol stations and a telecommunications tower.

Battles are still ongoing, army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid told state news agency SUNA.

Armed men in 20 trucks drove into Um Rawaba, an important market for the agricultural export product, gum arabic.

Our forces are controlling parts of eastern North Kordofan and Um Rawaba, JEM spokesman Gibril Adam said.

The goal of this attack is to weaken the government to realise our strategic plan to topple the regime.

Rebels have fled southwards

The government later reopened the road between Khartoum and the North Kordofan state capital El-Obeid, which had been blocked by fighting, state governor Mutassim Mirghani Zaki Uddi told the state-afflilated Sudanese Media Centre.

The rebels have fled southwards, he said. They were unable to stay in Um Rawaba.

JEM was one of two main rebel forces that took up arms against Sudans government in 2003, demanding better representation for Darfur and accusing Khartoum of neglecting its development.

Khartoum mobilised armed groups to crush the uprising, unleashing a campaign that the US and activists describe as genocide.

Sudans government denies the charge and accuses the Western media of exaggerating the conflict.
Burkina Fasos president has refused to resign in the face of violent protests that posed the greatest threat yet to his 27-year rule, saying instead he will lead a transitional government after parliament is dissolved.

Protesters stormed the parliament building in the capital city of Ougadougou on Thursday and set part of it ablaze in a day of violence around the country aimed at stopping a parliamentary vote that would have allowed President Blaise Compaore to seek a fifth term in office.

In a concession to the protesters, the government withdrew the bill from consideration. But the move did not calm protesters, and General Honore Traore, the armys joint chief of staff, later announced that the government and parliament had been dissolved and a new, inclusive government would be named.

However, the general did not spell out who would lead the transitional government.

At least one person was killed and several others wounded during the unrest, authorities said, and a curfew was put in place from 7pm to 6am.

Duping the people

After hours of confusion about whether Compaore would hold on to power, and even about where he was, the president spoke briefly on television and radio to stay he was still in charge and would not step down.

I am available to open discussions with all parties, he said in a recorded address. The transitional government will include representatives from all sides and work to hold elections within 12 months.

But an opposition leader told the AFP news agency that the armys seizure of power amounted to a coup, adding that they consider the presidents departure non-negotiable.

Compaore is again in the process of duping the people, said opposition leader Benewende Sankara. We have been saying for a long time that he must hand in his resignation. His departure is non-negotiable.

Growing unrest

In a sign of spreading discontent, crowds also attacked the homes of government ministers and looted shops in the countrys second-largest city, Bobo Dioulasso, witnesses said.

It is over for the regime! and We do not want him again! shouted demonstrators when they heard that the vote on term limits had been stopped.

It is difficult to say what happens next, but things are out of control because the demonstrators do not listen to anyone, said Ablasse Ouedraogo, an opposition lawmaker.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all parties to end the violence, and was saddened over the loss of life resulting from recent events, a statement said.

In a bid to restore calm, military leaders met on Thursday afternoon with the influential traditional chief of the countrys largest ethnic group, the Mossi, according to Jonathan Yameogo, a spokesman for the ruling party.

Burkina Faso has long been known for its relative stability in volatile West Africa, though tensions have been mounting over Compaores plans to extend his rule.

He first came to power following an October 1987 coup against then-President Thomas Sankara, Compaores longtime friend and political ally, who was shot dead.

Since then, Compaore has been elected four times but the opposition disputed the results.
When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order preventing people from seven Muslim-majority countries from crossing US borders, the global airline industry was caught by surprise.

Peter Morris, chief economist at aviation consultancy Flightglobal, forecasts what other aviation shocks could be in store under the new US administration.

Anything that pushes up costs or raises the level of inconvenience, or reduces the level of travel, and you get two effects then. One of which is the effect that you end up suppressing a certain level of travel and the other element is diversion. For example, for Iranian students thinking of studying in the US, they may consider that Germany may be a better bet now, so all that money they wouldve spent on education and on travel will be diverted from one market to another and other parts of the market will disappear because people cant travel. And the net impact on the airlines is they end up with fewer people travelling, thus their profitability will decline, says Morris.

Also on this episode of Counting the Cost:

Ultra long-haul travel: Could 2017 be the year of jet lag like youve never experienced before? On Tuesday, Qatar Airways will fly non-stop to New Zealands largest city. At 14,539km, the new Doha to Auckland link will take the prize for worlds longest flight. I think theres a challenge just in terms of the actual product thats delivered, because if you end up at the other end of the world after 17 hours and youre not fit for anything for 2-3 days. Its perhaps questionable as to how successful of a business model that is. Technically, its a big achievement, but the actual either economics or the product experience of it is really rather challenging, says Morris.

Techs Trump play: President Trumps order banning immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US began hitting the tech industry this week, with Googles CEO leading a growing list of tech executives condemning the ban. The CEOs of Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb and Tesla Motors denounced the policy, which would affect their own employees working in the US legally, as well as their competitive quest for talent.

Mike Grandinetti, corporate strategy officer for Reduxio, talks about the anxiety surrounding the ban. Theres still a tremendous amount of uncertainty over what might happen with the H1 visa, theyve hinted at changes but havent laid out specifics. The tech industry has to move forward at internet speed, weve gotta move forward with a sense of conviction and purpose and the uncertainty alone causes a lot of anxiety and it really begins to slow down the system. So, whether youre a non-US passport carrying engineer or scientist or computer programmer, and youre now thinking about your future, youre not quite sure whats gonna happen, and as a result of that, you may be more inclined to go back to your home region where you feel at least youll have a sense of certainty about what you may be able to do professionally in the long term  so theres such a level of anxiety amongst those who want to stay in the states, want to work in the valley or other tech clusters, but arent quite sure of whether theyll be able to and are starting to plan an alternative future for themselves. That just slows down everything and our ability to hire, says Grandinetti.

France and Frexit: The world has seen a shake-up in the French presidential race. Philippe Waechter, head of economic research with Paris-based Natixis Asset Management, discusses where the candidates stand on the economy and whether a Frexit is in the cards. Natacha Butler reports from Paris.

Citrus Squeeze: President Trump has been putting a squeeze on the citrus industry. Teresa Bo reports on how hes souring relations with Argentinas lemon growers.
As US borders tighten, we trace the media narratives on immigrants, refugees and Muslim Others.

On The Listening Post this week: As US borders tighten, we trace the media narratives on immigrants, refugees and Muslim others. Plus, how one of Frances richest men is colonising the media.

Much of the mainstream media have expressed outrage at US President Donald Trumps travel ban. But, look back over a decade of American reporting, and its not hard to spot the role the media played in building anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States  a fear the new White House is capitalising upon now.

Contributors: Wajahat Ali, journalist; Elisabeth Anker, author, Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Politics of Freedom; and Sydney Brownstone, journalist.

On our radar:

 When a mass shooting at a mosque in the Canadian city of Quebec left six people dead, American right-wing network Fox News was quick to play the blame game  wrongly naming a Moroccan Muslim as the suspect.

 After almost 15 years, some form of justice was finally served for murdered Colombian journalist Orlando Sierra, as one of his killers was captured at the US-Mexico border.

 Turkish exiled journalist Can Dundar has seen his new website  a news outlet aimed at Turkish and German audiences  blocked by Turkish authorities, before it started to publish any news.

The Bollore media empire:

Frances billionaire tycoon, Vincent Bollore, is buying media networks to wield influence not just in Europe, but around Africa. Talking us through the story are two journalists who have either been censored or taken to court by Bollore: Jean-Baptiste Rivoire, investigative journalist, Special Investigation and Tristan Waleckx, journalist, France 2. Also speaking to us are Julia Cage, author of Saving the Media: Capitalism, Crowdfunding, and Democracy and Patrick Eveno, media scholar, Sorbonne University.
The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers.
Dr Marc Lamont Hill is an award-winning journalist and author and is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. Hill is known for his work addressing the intersections of race, justice, politics and culture. His latest best-selling book is We Still Here: Pandemics, Policing, Protest and Possibility which follows on the success of Nobody: Casualties of Americas War on the Vulnerable from Flint to Ferguson. Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the US National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Art Exhibit: 150 Artists, 150 Artworks, 150 Years of Nebraska in Miniature deadline is February 25

The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art has extended its deadline for artist submissions for the exhibition: 150 Artists, 150 Artworks, 150 Years of Nebraska in Miniature. Applications will now be accepted until Feb. 25. Submissions can be made at www.bonecreek.org.

The project is structured to ideally exhibit one piece of agrarian art by 150 artists. Artists are invited to submit one piece of artwork. Agrarian Art is art that relates to the land. All artist mediums and skill levels are encouraged to participate. There is even a special section for high school and collegiate artists.

The original deadline was Feb. 1, 2017 but the museum had not yet reached its goal of 150 artists so the deadline has been extended with the hope to spread the word and encourage more participation.

The Nebraska Sesquicentennial Commission has endorsed this project as a Signature Event of the 2017 Sesquicentennial. The museum was looking for a way to honor the state. This project is a way to connect the museums missionto connect people to the land through artwith the larger overall theme of the states anniversary.

I know there are many artists in Nebraska. I thought this would be a way to celebrate the great artists we have in the state and bring more exposure to those artists as well as Bone Creek, said curator Amanda Mobley Guenther.

The exhibition will run at Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art from May 3 through July 30, 2017. All of the artworks will be for sale and a portion of the proceeds will support the work of the museum in the local community. An online version of the exhibition will also be made available to reach the museums national audience.

Get involved

More information about the exhibition and how to participate is available at www.bonecreek.org. Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, 575 E Street, David City, NE, 68632 (I-80 exit #379, north 33 miles on Hwy 15 to E Street, right 1.5 blocks) Wed-Sat, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thurs, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun 1 p.m.-4p.m. Appointments & tours available. Phone: (402)367-4488. www.bonecreek.org.
A Gainesville man was found on UFs campus Friday burying marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy near Rhines Hall, Gainesville Police said.

Jamard Baker, 36, was a passenger in a black Buick that was pulled over for running a stop sign at about midnight on Northwest 13th Street, according to a police report. As police were talking to the driver, Baker climbed from the back seat into the drivers seat and drove off.

Police told him to stop, and an officer followed him with lights and sirens on, according to the report. Baker fled onto UFs campus and ignored the officers command to stop.

Police searched the campus and found the car abandoned near Rhines Hall on Gale Lemerand Road, according to the report. A police dog tracked Baker 50 feet away in bushes, where he was attempting to bury about 55.2 grams of marijuana, 0.75 grams of cocaine and four ecstasy pills.

Bakers drivers license has been revoked since 2008, and he has previously been convicted of driving with a suspended license, according to the report.

Police arrested Baker on charges of marijuana possession with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, being a habitual traffic offender and fleeing and eluding officers.

Authorities took him to the Alachua County jail, where he remains as of press time in lieu of a $37,000 bond.

@merylkornfield

mkornfield@alligator.org

Jamard Nouvelious Baker

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"No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA!".

Damning. Morally righteous. A call to arms against darkness. This is how the new American left views itself and its opposition to President Donald Trump: a bulwark against a perceived tide of evil, where only leftists' pink hats and calls to #resist stand a chance to prevent a historic cataclysm from a caricature of an administration believed to embody all the elements necessary to be categorized as evil.

After all, didn't senior counselor to the president Steve Bannon openly admit that "darkness is good"?

Reaction to Bannon's quote exemplifies the emotional jockeying of Democrats and their supporters. Objectivity, reasoned analysis of source material, and primary research take a back seat when weighed against the desire to dislike someone if only to identify yourself to others as against what all normal people are against.



The former naval officer, who once served as an assistant to the chief of naval operations at the Pentagon, more fully stated:

Darkness is good. Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That's power. It only helps us when they [the media] get it wrong. When they're blind to who we are and what we're doing.

In other words, when the media and its adherents so blindly and gleefully accept you as the totality of evil, it significantly raises your moral stock when you do anything marginally ordinary. They put you in a narrative where the standards are so low that you cannot help but succeed.

This simplification and eagerness to be outraged are enjoyed and have in large part become the hallmark of the current American left. There is a scientific neurological reason behind the propensity in politics to emotionally simplify the position of your opposition  or, in President Trump's case, dehumanize him entirely as a symbol of what you fantasize about fighting.

In a study published by Neuroreport in 2010, Rajendra D. Badgaiyan from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Buffalo found evidence that "dopamine is released during processing of negative emotions." How symptomatic is the current level of discourse in American politics, and the outrage culture on the left in particular, of a dopamine addiction fueled by the experience of negative emotions such as anger and excited outrage? Further, how actively is this outrage sought when presented with a drought of cherished anger? How willing is one with such an addiction to fabricate or manipulate statements and events to generate conditions wherein that satisfaction may be found?

We see this in the left's interaction with Bannon's quote. Or Kellyanne Conway's exhausted interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press early in the morning after President Trump's inauguration. Obviously, there is no such thing as an "alternative fact," but there are alternative data and alternative sources of data. Rather than give the normally exceptionally articulate Conway the benefit of the doubt with her error, the media pounced. The left pounced. They loved it. They're still loving it.

Where is the desire for objectivity? Balanced and nuanced thought? An observation of context before a leap for emotional satisfaction?

One would think the organizers of the well attended "Women's March" would be praising Conway as a champion for women in politics, with her meteoric rise and highly praised management of Trump's presidential campaign, but here there is only silence  at least from the self-proclaimed champions of women on the left. Can this be explained in part by a desire to produce an atmosphere of outrage in an effort to generate dopamine? Praise induces less feedback, socially and emotionally, than maintaining a position of (rarely righteous) indignation.

The optics of the Women's March as a whole are also relevant here. Solidarity, a general concern for women's rights, and a belief that "women's rights are human rights" were cited by the organizers and participants as the driving force behind the march. It was portrayed as a universal experience for women, an act of solidarity for female causes, and #resistance to measures they believe are being put in place to limit them. The problem is that half of American women disagree with their core stance on abortion, yet the organizers portrayed their event as being representative of their gender as a monolith. There is a perceived moral monopoly, the disagreement with which is met not only with outrage, but with visceral anger that seems to be very much enjoyed.

President Trump's administration did not remove the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Accurate retraction of this error took a secondary role to the potential for what would have been a hateful, racist act.

USDA scientists were not gagged or put "on lockdown" by the president, as is still widely being reported, but were subject to the same conditions imposed on them by the transitional team of President Obama. Cue the outraged "March for Science"  disappointing, since it is this group whom one would expect to read primary material before forming a conclusion.

Deliberate, precise, objective, and rational approaches to the digestion of information are not nearly as rewarding as emotional reaction.

The most extreme examples of this apparent addiction is the reduction of all arguments or opposition to a position as resulting from an adherence to neo-Nazism. This is the ultimate expression of the phenomenon where a desire to experience anger is so great that one simply discards rationality and skips to utter dehumanization of an opponent to experience the chemical reward generated by manufactured anger. Ironically, this is a well understood tactic employed by the Nazi Reich minister of propaganda.

There are significant parallels between the current political environment and early Nazi Germany, but they do not run along President Donald Trump's policies. On the left, fabricated outrage has met opposition to leftist positions with violence similar to the behavior of the S.A., the forerunner of the more well-known Schutzstaffel. As people quested to find a label to gleefully hate, Google searches for "fascism" exploded in November 2016, with those doing the searching unaware that their authoritarian behavior lies more with the ideology they've made such an effort to show others they're against.

Now this recreational outrage transitions to Trump's pick for the Supreme Court of the United States, Neil Gorsuch, who until his nomination was admired by all sides. In an effort to beat them to the punch, a supporter of President Trump's pick immediately congratulated Gorsuch "on becoming a racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic white male." With an addiction to outrage well entrenched on the side of his opposition, we can only assume that such accusations are forthcoming.

Pete Vanderzwet graduated from the University of Toronto with an honors degree in history and Near and Middle Eastern civilizations. He is a husband, father, and perpetual student. Follow him on twitter: @rationalstoic.
As a member of the professional tax community, my interest in the goings on over at the Treasury Department is a bit more keen than that of most Americans. And as an American expatriate, I am impacted financially in ways which leave my stateside countrymen and -women largely unscathed (including, for most American resident citizens, the requirement to report foreign bank accounts under threat of severe penalty for noncompliance). Our financial privacy has been seriously eroded. There are severe restrictions on where and how we expats can invest our money. The laws are crippling enough to begin with, but the way they are administered by IRS and the Treasury Department is driving many Americans to renounce their citizenship.

Accordingly, the baggage carried by Steven Mnuchin, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, gives me great pause. The abuses by the IndyMac-cum-OneWest financial institution under his leadership are well-documented.

At a Connecticut General Assembly hearing, Ms. Frances Kenneally gave an account of IndyMac/OneWest's abusive tactics in the mortgage mediation process, including being told conflicting stories by IndyMac and OneWest as to the status of her mortgage.

Perhaps the most notorious practice from the recent mortgage crisis was the process called "robo-signing."

Erica Johnson-Seck gained notoriety as the poster child of robo-signers. In some Florida litigation, Ms. Johnson-Seck avered under oath that while serving as a vice-president of OneWest and its previous incarnations (plural), she simultaneously served as an officer of other entities whose interests would normally be inconsistent with those of OneWest/IndyMac

In the Drayton case, a Kings County (Brooklyn), New York foreclosure action, Justice Arthur Schack dismissed the case, but gave OneWest Bank leave to renew, provided that, within 60 days,

OneWest Bank, F.S.B., submits to the court: (1) proof of the grant of authority from the original mortgagee, Cambridge Home Capital, LLC, to its nominee, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., to assign the subject mortgage and note to IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB; and (2) an affidavit by Erica A. Johnson-Seck, vice-president of plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B., explaining: her employment history for the past three years; why a conflict of interest does not exist in how she acted as a vice-president of assignor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., a vice-president of assignee/assignor IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, and a vice-president of assignee/plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. in this action; why she was a vice-president of both assignor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. and assignee Deutsche Bank in Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v Maraj (18 Misc 3d 1123[A], 2008 NY Slip Op 50176[U] [2008]); why she was a vice-president of both assignor Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. and assignee IndyMac Bank, FSB in IndyMac Bank, FSB v Bethley (22 Misc 3d 1119[A], 2009 NY Slip Op 50186[U] [2009]); and, why she executed an affidavit of merit as a vice-president of Deutsche Bank in Deutsche Bank v Harris (Sup Ct, Kings County, Feb. 5, 2008, index No. 35549/07); and (3) counsel for plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. must comply with the new court filing requirement, announced by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman on October 20, 2010, by submitting an affirmation, using the new standard court form, pursuant to CPLR 2106 and under the penalties of perjury, that counsel for plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. has personally reviewed plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B.'s documents and records in the instant action and counsel for plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B. confirms the factual accuracy of plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B.'s court filings and the accuracy of the notarizations in plaintiff OneWest Bank, F.S.B.'s documents.

In that same judicial opinion, Justice Schack defined a robo-signer as "a person who quickly signs hundreds or thousands of foreclosure documents in a month, despite swearing that he or she has personally reviewed the mortgage documents but has not done so."

The case was not refiled by OneWest.

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) believes, apparently with good reason, that Mr. Mnuchin misled the Senate Finance Committee when he denied that robo-signing occurred while he was CEO and chairman at IndyMac/OneWest. The Columbus Dispatch reports that robo-signing did in fact occur during that period.

Some full disclosure is now in order at this juncture: I voted for Donald Trump in the past election, knowing that, like all other candidates for public office, there would be some disappointments from him if he were elected. I do support most of what our president has done thus far.

But I fear that the Mnuchin nomination may well cause the president more than a little bit of damage. The Department of the Treasury is a complex organization, and its CEO, the Secretary of the Treasury, even more than the IRS, wields profound powers over the lives of all Americans, whether individuals or business entities. As Ms. Kenneally's testimony exemplifies, taxation, financial, and economic policies can take a significant toll on the noneconomic aspects of an individual's life, thereby affecting his well-being. Mr. Mnuchin no doubt understands this dynamic on an intellectual level, but how well has he internalized it?

And what of his ability or willingness to control the behavior of his subalterns?

These are serious questions for which I, as an expatriate tax professional, would really, really like to see satisfactory answers.

Kenneth H. Ryesky, now a senior advisor in the U.S. Desk of Ernst & Young's International Tax Services in Tel Aviv, is a lawyer who has taught business law and taxation at Queens College CUNY. He formerly served as an attorney for the IRS.
An old saying about priorities captures the problem the Democrats face: "if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority." The party, with its base outraged over everything President Trump does (because they don't think he should be in office), is stuck. Anyone who puts aside one issue to focus elsewhere risks a primary opponent sponsored by whichever group feels neglected.

Andrew Malcolm, a genuinely wise longtime observer of American politics, has written a column for Hot Air that Democrats would be well advised to heed (but will ignore):

If you oppose everything, you stand for nothing. And that's the muddy path that Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and their Gang of No has taken. They didn't pick two, maybe three Trump Cabinet nominees to scrutinize closely and predictably oppose. In fact, they didn't select anybody. They opposed pretty much every single Trump nominee, even walking out on committee votes to show something.

President Trump understands this perfectly. I strongly suspect that during his long business career he has used what Fay Voshell aptly called a blitzkrieg approach to overwhelm his opponents.

 the unpredictable media magnet Trump has lit so many fires that Democrats under their elderly leaders can't decide which to fight. So, they're fighting them all, none effectively. Everybody watching the not-exactly spontaneous protests and the on-camera anger has their own tolerance level for outrage. But at some point, everybody has one.

The Democrats are, to use an Obama expression, "acting stupidly." The geographical concentration of the left in major metropolitan areas and college towns, combined with their reliance on (and faith in) left-wing mainstream media, blinds them to the practical results of their attitudes and behaviors.

Malcolm has found at least one Democrat who gets it:

"We need to be guided by a positive message about economic growth for everybody and a country that includes everybody," Connecticut's lonely Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy said sensibly. "We can't respond to everything. You have to decide what to respond to based on what your vision for the country is."

Have you seen Senator Murphy's wise message picked up by the MSM?

Me neither.
Somebody prominent on the left must call out the media and the "activists" who are getting close to actually inciting violence against President Trump and Republicans.

Trump aide Kellyanne Conway told Sean Hannity yesterday that this "lack of respect" was inciting the mob in the street to commit violent acts, despite not even knowing what they were demonstrating against.

CNN:

"The coverage never changed, it never progressed, it never matured," Conway, who serves as counselor to the President, told radio host Sean Hannity. "It never took on the aura of respect that it deserved, and if you are not showing the President and his main spokespeople respect, then you're not showing the office respect, and you are inciting mob mentality if not mob violence. You are encouraging people to go out there and unpeacefully protest and block airport entrances for people who are going to visit a sick parent and can't make their flight, or are going for a bereavement call and can't make their flight." "There's nothing peaceful and nothing Democratic about folks who are out there just trying to re-litigate the election and protesting things they know nothing about," Conway continued. "If you surveyed these protesters, I guarantee you, you'd have a very low level of literacy when it comes to 'why are you here, what does that executive order do and what does it not do?'" Earlier, the President's top adviser said she didn't see a difference between coverage of Trump during the campaign and the coverage of him as president. "I only care, Sean, if people are being disrespectful to the President of the United States. That is unacceptable. I was raised to respect the Office of the President and its current occupant no matter who it's been, and I just think you can't really show a difference in the coverage of Donald Trump among some of these outlets and some of these reporters and tweeters, between when he was running for president, when he became the nominee for the Republicans, when he was the president-elect, and now when he's President."

This is not even remotely similar to charges made by the left that putting a bulls-eye over a congressional district led to the shooting of a congressman. These are barely disguised calls by prominent Democrats and media outlets to create an explosion of violence in the streets that not only threatens the civic order, but plays to the advantage of Trump opponents who seek to terrify ordinary people into opposing the president.

Is she exaggerating? Here's the sitting senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine, encouraging street protests against Trump:

Then, people coming out in protest of these orders. So, the way we get outside the bubble is we take advantage of this tremendous public outcry against the administration. What we've got to do is fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box, and now there's the momentum to be able to do this. And we're not afraid of the popular outcry, we're energized by it and that's going to help us do our job and do it better.

Kaine knows full well that many protests across the country have turned violent, and for him to agitate for more, when a responsible lawmaker would have advised calm, shows only the heights anti-Trump hysteria has reached.

Mashable is reporting that there have been over 12,000 tweets and Facebook postings calling for the assassination of the president. Both platforms have policies against overt threats to kill the president, but the postings continue.

Trump has been in office for only 13 days. He is just getting started implementing his agenda. Unless something drastically changes, the next few months could be the most violent in America since the race riots of the 1960s. What leftists like Kaine and other prominent liberals don't seem to get is that there is a dedicated cadre of activists who see violence as a way to gain power and influence. By playing to the worst of the ideological left, they threaten to bring chaos and death to our streets.

No more irresponsible campaign against a political opponent from either party has ever been waged.
You will never believe the logic being offered in support of a bill introduced by no less than the speaker of the House of Hawaii's legislature. The scope of the legislation is breathtaking, as the Chicago Tribune reports:

Hawaii lawmakers are considering decriminalizing prostitution in the Aloha State after the speaker of the House introduced a bill that would also legalize buying sex and acting as a pimp. The proposal also would end a state law that says police officers can't have sex with prostitutes in the course of investigations. So pimps, regarded by most people as predatory scum, can have a field day. And cops can have sex with prostitutes under investigation (obviously for non-prostitution-related crimes, since the bill would decriminalize sex-for-pay itself.

But what takes my breath away is this:

Transgender activist Tracy Ryan said she's pushing the bill because transgender women are overrepresented in the sex trade and therefore disproportionately affected by criminalization laws.

The statistically insignificant number of people who claim not to be the sex their chromosomes indicate are being used by the left as a driver of far-reaching social re-ordering.

But there are a lot of feminists who won't take this move lying down, as it were:

But long-time anti-sex trafficking advocate Kathryn Xian said legalizing the selling, promoting or buying of sex would make it harder to police the industry. "If this bill passes and everything was no crime whatsoever, then abuses against women and children would just shoot through the freaking roof," Xian said. "It would be exponentially harder to prove violence in the industry. It would be almost impossible to prove any sort of labor abuse."

Neither ex-president Obama nor his close friend Bobby Titcomb was available for comment.

Need I remind anyone that Hawaii's legislature is dominated by Democrats?

Hat tip: Peter von Buol
In office for only a couple weeks, the president has already sent the opposition into hysteria. They started before the inauguration and havent quit.

Donald Trumps new cabinet and his executive orders may have given them plenty to oppose, but clumsy, poorly executed executive orders and boorish tweets are not the burning of the Reichstag. The Democrats risk exhausting their outrage. What will they do if he does something really stupid? If Trump is as evil as they think, they may want to pace themselves.

The election was not about Trump, and it should be important for the left to realize this. It is about the decay of progressive government ideology. Some may call it more of a rupture, but it is a failure of great proportion.

There have been three phases of progressivism since its appearance on the American political scene, each punctuated by exhaustion and reaction.

The first Progressive Era lasted from Theodore Roosevelt through Woodrow Wilson. It brought us the administrative and regulatory state, the income tax (Sixteenth Amendment) the Federal Reserve, and greater power in the hands of the federal government. It ended in exhaustion when a physically weakened Wilson lost his political capital trying and failing to persuade the U.S. to enter the League of Nations.

The first reactive period lasted from Harding through Hoover but was best exemplified by Coolidge, who confidently rejected the progressivism of the past.

The second phase of progressivism lasted from Franklin Roosevelt through Jimmy Carter. This period was extended by the Great Depression, World War II, and the ensuing Cold War. When the devastated countries of the world recovered, we found our limits. Expensive social programs and costly foreign engagements strained our resources and left us with the stagnation of the 1970s. This second phase ended with Reagan, whose anti-progressive posture exposed government as the problem rather than the solution. This reactive period lasted through Bill Clinton, who announced that the era of big government was over.

George W. Bush and his compassionate conservatism tried to restore government as a solution but with conservative hands on the controls. Obama went full bore, attaining the golden ring of progressivism: national health care.

But Obama overreached with his mythical mandate. After the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the Democrats political control steadily deteriorated with lossesof the House and then the Senate, but more importantly, the states governorships and legislatures. The decay is most visible on examination at the county level.

In 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton won with just over 1,500 counties, only slightly fewer counties than the GOP opposition. The Democrats controlled the areas with greater electoral votes and easily won the elections. From 2000 on, the Democrats never won 1,000 counties. Even though Obama won in 2008 with a record number of votes, he won only 873 counties against 2,238 counties for the GOP. He won again in 2012 with only 693 counties, the fewest ever to win a presidential election. This erosion made Democrats vulnerable to any change in a constituent group, which is precisely what battered them when the Midwestern union blue collars abandoned ship.

This election was the Republicans to lose, and to many of us, it seemed that the Republicans nominated the only candidate who could lose to Hillary Clinton, but the opposite proved true. The Democrats nominated possibly the only person who could lose to Donald Trump.

Trumps populist appeal may have excited the forgotten man, but the voters spoke loudest in their rejection of the progressivism that Hillary wore with pride. While Trumps outrageousness may have attracted the attention of the press and pundits, his election was more of a continuation of a trend in place than a revolutionary break.

The current mutation of progressivism included identity politics, which is just a liberal form of racism, and political correctness driven to an intolerant extreme, resembling a liberal form of sharia law or McCarthyism.

Todays progressivism is illiberal, anti-individual, and as economically stagnant as the other progressive periods eventually became. If the voices that so loudly denounce Trump fail to reject the failed progressivism that elected him, then they will only empower him.

If they continue to blame their loss on conservative pathologies, malfunctioning electoral colleges, racism, anti-intellectualism, FBI director James Comey, Russian hacking, fake news, alternate reality, and post-truth, they will fail to even acknowledge the need to change. Their hysteria and hypocrisy will drive sober skeptics farther right, preferring a deeply flawed Trump to the nonsense opposing him.

Henry Oliner blogs at www.rebelyid.com.
COLUMBUS  A 54-year-old Columbus man with two previous sexual assault convictions pleaded guilty to a third offense involving two girls, ages 4 and 2, who were dropped off at his home last fall for babysitting.

William McGuire entered his plea in Platte County District to attempted first-degree sexual assault in connection with the Sept. 24 incident at his Fourth Street home.

Judge Robert Steinke scheduled McGuire for sentencing March 1.

The charge is a Class IIA felony, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

A Columbus Police investigation began in September with a report of a sexual assault at McGuires home while the children were being babysat.

The report led to a forensic interview conducted at the Northeast Child Advocacy Center in Norfolk, where the 4-year-old girl described the assault and identified McGuire as the offender, according to Investigator Jaymee Levanders probable cause arrest statement.

During a subsequent interview of McGuire, the defendant admitted that on a number of occasions he had children at his residence to be babysat, which was a violation of his parole restrictions, the investigator wrote in her statement.

McGuire has been in custody at the Platte County Detention Facility since his Oct. 25 arrest. Hes being held on a $750,000 bond, 10 percent allowed for release.

McGuire was convicted of attempted first-degree sexual assault in 1987 and aggravated sexual assault of a child in 1998.
The media weren't very interested in civilian deaths from all of the drone attacks during President Obama's eight years. But with President Trump in office, they are interested again. Reuters:

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was looking into whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen on the weekend, in the first operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief. U.S. Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens was killed in the raid on a branch of al Qaeda, also known as AQAP, in al Bayda province, which the Pentagon said also killed 14 militants. However, medics at the scene said about 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that an investigating team had "concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed" during Sunday's raid. It said children may have been among the casualties.

Somehow Washington isn't stable yet, and Trump is at fault after two weeks, not the Democrats who block his cabinet and not Obama. Peggy Noonan clutches her pearls:

We are living through big history and no one here knows where it's going or how this period ends. Everyone, left, right and center, feels the earth is unsteady under their feet. Too much is happening.

CBS is reporting that Trump's approval rating is 40%. I wonder why it doesn't report Rasmussen's data:

54% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump's job performance. Forty-six percent (46%) disapprove. The latest figures include 41% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 38% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of +3. (see trends).

The media are in a full-fledged attack mode.
It doesn't get more absurd than Robert Reich's claims that Milo Yiannopoulos and his bawdy band of right-wingers were behind the Berkeley riots. According to Cal's Professor Reich when he was interviewed by CNN's Don Lemon, he saw, with his own eyes, that the rioters were not Berkeley students.

Reich: I was there for part of last night and I know what I saw and those people were not Berkeley students. Those were outsiders, agitators[.] ... I've never seen them before[.] ... You know there's rumors that they actually were rightwingers; they were part of a kind of a group that were organized and ready to create the kind of tumult and danger you saw that forced the police to cancel the event. So ... Donald Trump, when he says Berkeley ... doesn't respect free speech rights, that's a ... complete distortion of the truth. I mean, Berkeley opened its biggest auditorium, uh, to this right-wing Breitbart news character  this hateful, odious person  but said free speech is the most important thing we [sic] stand for and [inaudible] these outsiders who caused the police to finally come in and have to cancel it.

Of the 38,204 students Google tells us were enrolled at Cal in 2016, Robert Reich is confident that none of them was rioting.

It's apparent to anyone on the right side of the political spectrum that the rioters were anyone but right-wingers. Conservatives are generally uncomfortable with street protests and rallies  it takes every fiber of our being to march, and when we do  as we did with the Tea Party movement  we don't dress in black, we don't wear black balaclavas to hide our faces, we do not arm ourselves with Molotov cocktails, and we never smash the storefronts of banks and small businesses. We do not comport ourselves like the left because of the respect we have for private property, free enterprise, and nonviolent protest, none of which was on display in Berkeley. It's just not in our DNA.

Reich might be correct in one respect, though. Some of the rioters were undoubtedly outside agitators. If you look at their dress, manner, and behavior, it mirrors exactly the same dress, manner, and behavior of those who attended the many Occupy Oakland riots, as you can see in this video. These are the same anarchists who first appeared at Seattle's WTO riots and most recently joined forces with the BLM protests.

While these fomenters of hatred and bedlam are ubiquitous at violent protests from WTO to OWS to BLM to whatever today's riots stand for, they do not account for the thousands wreaking havoc in Berkeley. But they do work in tandem with student and local community groups, as well as unions, to organize, fund, and man these riots. While the anarchists set the tone and rile them up, the majority of participants in the riots are locals from the broader Berkeley-Oakland-San Francisco community and, yes, Cal students.

Reich is clearly weaving a tale about evil white supremacists who were generously given a forum at Berkeley to air their venal views because Berkeley is the sacred birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. As he imagines it, the outspoken and outrageous Milo  who has successfully been doing these events for the last 12 months at universities throughout the land  rashly decided to take a page from the left-wing playbook and rent a few hundred thugs to riot and close down the last speech on his tour at the one place it would have had special meaning. He decided to self-sabotage the event to bring attention to himself and frame the university for squelching the free speech rights of conservatives.

Find me thousands of young, angry, black-clad violent conservatives in the Bay Area, and I'll eat my pussy hat from the Women's March we also orchestrated.
An Islamic attacker armed with machetes attacked soldiers guarding the Louvre, shouting, "Allah akbar" before being shot. In other news, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is protesting Donald Trump's temporary ban on immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries by creating an exhibition of art from places like Iraq, Sudan, and Iran.

America's leading museums have been vocal in the past week about their opposition to Mr. Trump's executive order, which is still being enforced at some airports. Thomas P. Campbell, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggested that the blockbuster "Assyria to Iberia" might never have happened under Mr. Trump's rules. James Cuno, who leads the Getty in Los Angeles, called the order "ill advised, unnecessary and destructive."

They are calling Donald Trump destructive while an Islamist with a knife attacks someone at a museum. Who is truly destructive? These museum types are protesting a ban aimed at protecting us from Islamists at the very same time that an Islamist attacks an art museum. Is that life imitating art or art imitating life?

Now the Museum of Modern Art has reconfigured its fifth-floor permanent-collection galleries  interrupting its narrative of Western Modernism, from Cezanne through World War II  to showcase contemporary art from Iran, Iraq and Sudan, whose citizens are subject to the ban. A Picasso came down. Matisse, down. Ensor, Boccioni, Picabia, Burri: They made way for artists who, if they are alive and abroad, cannot see their work in the museum's most august galleries.

While the left-wing intelligentsia at the MOMA are enjoying looking at portraits of the Prophet Mohammed (ha-ha!) and other religious art, they can feel safe and secure in their New York location...for the moment. They can take political positions contrary to their own safety because New York does not yet have the concentration of Islamists that Paris does. They have that luxury.

But what if the MOMA were lifted off the face of the Earth and set down in Raqqa, Iraq, one of the places the MOMA is protesting the temporary ban of visitors from? What would happen then?

The men who work at the museum would be killed, of course. The museum administrators might be put in orange jumpsuits and beheaded. Or burned by a flamethrower. Or put in a cage and submerged under water until they drowned. Or packed into a car that would be detonated with a TOW antitank missile.

The women who work at the museum who are young and pretty enough would become sex slaves, given out as rewards to service the members of ISIS. The older women as well as the ones who look like men would also be killed.

And the art? Most of it would be destroyed. Any art depicting human beings would be destroyed. Any art made by non-Muslims would be destroyed. Any art depicting another religion would be destroyed. Just look at what ISIS did to the ancient ruins of Palmyra  they blew them up. And those were just pillars and the fronts of buildings.

The sad reality is that in all likelihood, even the employees of the Louvre still want more Muslim immigration. Their political ideals blind them to self-preservation. But it's especially odd to see one museum celebrating the culture that, if given the chance, would utterly destroy it and all its works.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.
'Musliim ban' injunction is a judicial coup against President Trump

Federal district Judge James Robart of Seattle ordered a complete, nationwide temporary restraining order against President Trump's temporary ban on visitors from seven Middle Eastern countries. If you read the ruling as I have, you can see this is clearly unconstitutional on its face, and constitutes a judicial coup against President Trump and the executive branch. 1) The standards for granting a temporary restraining order are quite high. The plaintiff must show that he is likely to succeed on the merits, and would suffer irreparable harm if the injunction were not granted. Here the people from the excluded countries cannot show irreparable harm, only that their entry to the United States would be delayed. And they are unlikely to succeed on the merits, because the President has no obligation to let foreigners into the country. On the contrary, there may be irreparable harm if the temporary travel ban is lifted, as terrorists may enter the country and kill people.

2) By the way, the plaintiffs here aren't even the people from the excluded countries. They are the states of Washington and Minnesota who claim their citizens would be harmed if the temporary ban were not lifted; perhaps Microsoft is being deprived of some cheap labor. It's a flimsy argument at best. This ruling has no substantial effect on states' residents, contrary to what Judge Robart has said. 3) President Trump clearly has discretion to decide who to admit to the United States and who not to, when it comes to admitting people who are not citizens. Foreigners do not enjoy the protection of our Constitution. The fact that a citizen may incidentally benefit from a foreigner coming to America doesn't mean that that citizen has standing. 4) President Trump has the right to exclude people from a certain country, or even a certain religion. The Constitution does not prevent the government from discriminating on the basis of religion when admitting people to the country because again, foreigners do not have any rights under our Constitution. President Trump could legally exclude all Muslims, or all women, or all gays, or any other group you care to think of, as long as they are not Americans. 5) In any event, it is clearly not a "Muslim ban" because so many Muslim countries are excluded from it. If anything it is a ban of Muslims from the most dangerous countries. This is not the same thing as a Muslim ban per se. 6) Presidents are traditionally given wide latitude by courts in matters of national security, and this is very much a matter of national security. 7) It is highly questionable whether federal district courts can issue nationwide injunctions. It is called a federal district court because the court's authority is limited to a district. If it weren't, there would be no need for circuit courts, and we would never see different federal circuits having slightly different laws; one district court could simply impose whatever it likes on the nation. It doesn't work that way. Judge Robart, who was appointed by George W. Bush (should we be surprised, or not?) has clearly usurped his authority. The case clearly has no plaintiffs with standing or any kind of validity. At most Judge Robart should have stayed his decision pending appeal to circuit courts. His radical injunction smacks of a judicial coup, of a single federal district judge asserting his authority over the entire executive branch. His arguments for doing so are unconstitutional, as is his manner of issuing the order. We are living in a time when judicial Ayatollahs are usurping the power of our elected officials, and it is very much like a judicial coup. Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com, an attorney by training, and was in the same law school at the same time as Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch... but never knew him (very big class sizes).
Spending offsets and questions about how effective a barrier a wall might be are causing problems for Donald Trump's proposal to build a wall along our southern border.

What's most worrisome to Trump supporters is that there appears to be a growing number of Republicans who might support the concept of a wall but are looking to offset its $12-billion cost with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.

CNN:

Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican who represents the border state of Texas, was deeply skeptical about whether a wall alone would be enough to deter immigrants from entering the country illegally. And he issued a stark warning to Trump. "I have concerns about spending un-offset money, which adds to the debt, period," Cornyn said bluntly when asked about the wall. "I don't think we're just going to be able to solve border security with a physical barrier because people can come under, around it and through it." Trump has increasingly said that Congress would fund the wall initially but would later be reimbursed completely by Mexico. But prominent Republicans say flatly that they don't think Mexico will pay the United States back -- and Mexican leadership has repeatedly said the same -- meaning that taxpayers would be left holding the bag. "No," Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain said when asked if he thought Mexico would reimburse the United States for the wall. "It's not a viable option." McCain added: "If you only build a wall, only a 'wall,' without using technology, individuals, drones, observations, etc., you're not going to secure the border." Trump still has time to convince his party to go along, especially if he provides more details on his plans, given Republicans are largely united behind calls for more robust border security. And some GOP senators, like Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, suggest they're open to paying for the wall even if it's not offset by spending cuts. Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has tried to shore up support. John Kelly, the new secretary of Homeland Security, began to discuss with lawmakers this week his border security plans, sources said, but senators reported there were few details on the specifications of the wall. The Trump administration is working on a supplemental funding package to pay for border and national security, but that work has stalled as the Senate moves slowly to confirm Trump's pick of Rep. Mick Mulvaney as his budget director.

I don't think the wall plan is in serious jeopardy. The president could propose a package of budget cuts and revenue enhancements by taxing Mexican products at the border. Or, as Speaker Ryan suggests, he can appeal to budget hawks by making the wall a national security priority.

The GOP has been talking border security for eight years. To fail to pass the first concrete measure to reduce the flow of illegals would be a political mistake of the first magnitude. The wall will get built  for better or worse  and Republicans will be virtually united behind funding it.
The great Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, argues cogently that longstanding sedition laws can be invoked to prosecute the Berkeley rioters and others. I urge everyone to read his entire argument at National Review Online, including his explanation of why sedition, not treason, is the appropriate category of law under which to bring charges.

During the Civil War, Congress enacted the first seditious-conspiracy law. Aimed at rioting and other aggression by Confederate sympathizers, it criminalizes plots to levy war against the United States, or to oppose by force the government and its execution of the laws. It has been on the books ever since, though rarely invoked. (It was used against the FALN in the late Seventies, and I used it in 1993 to prosecute terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center and conspired to bomb other New York City landmarks.) It is similarly a felony to advocate the destruction of the federal or state governments and their subdivisions. More pointedly, there is a sweeping federal anti-riot law, making it a crime to incite, organize, promote, participate in, or aid and abet a riot. In addition, the federal civil-rights laws make it a crime to conspire to "injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate" people "in the free exercise or enjoyment" of their constitutional rights  including, obviously, the right to free speech. These laws further criminalize forcible acts and threats that interfere with people's lawful enjoyment of any federally subsidized activity (note that the government provides lavish funding to universities). They outlaw interference with the conduct of commercial business during a riot or other civil disorder.

As I pointed out yesterday, the mayor of Berkeley himself had defamed Milo Yiannopoulos and may have egged on the rioters, so local law enforcement may not be in a position to act on the rioters, only one of whom was arrested.

We have not seen the end of anti-Trump/anti-conservative violence. The public, I am certain, is repulsed by the behavior of these leftists. Serious prosecutions ought to follow, for they are seeking to overthrow the legitimate conduct of politics, replacing it with mob rule.
For three days, the media have been breathlessly reporting that President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, was president of a club they called "Fascism Forever." Could this sink the jurist's nomination when it barely got started?

As it turns out, most of the media proved that they lack not only brains, but a sense of humor. The club, say numerous sources who were attending or working at the school during that time, was a joke.

New York Post:

Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, claimed that he founded a student group called Fascism Forever Club to tweak lefties at his elite high school, according to a report. The 49-year-old conservative Republican tapped to succeed the late Antonin Scalia made the claim as a freshman at the Jesuit all-boys Georgetown Preparatory School near Washington, DC, the Daily Mail reported. He served as president of the group until he graduated in 1985, according to his yearbook, the paper reported. "In political circles, our tireless President Gorsuch's 'Fascism Forever Club' happily jerked its knees against the increasingly 'left-wing' tendencies of the faculty," said the yearbook. But a Jesuit publication, America magazine, said the club never existed. It was "a total joke," said Steve Ochs, a history teacher at Georgetown Prep who was the student government advisor during Mr. Gorsuch's junior and senior years at the school, told the publication. "There was no club at a Jesuit school about young fascists," added.. "The students would create fictitious clubs; they would have fictitious activities. They were all inside jokes on their senior pages." Gorsuch  the youngest Supreme Court nominee since 43-year-old Clarence Thomas in 1991  is seen in a yearbook photo reading William F. Buckley's 1959 conservative tome "Up from Liberalism." He listed other school activities as "President of the Yard, Student Government" and president of the "Committee to reform The Beast"  and branded himself a "Lousy Spanish Student." In another photo, he leans over a railing  tie undone  as he sticks his tongue out at the camera. Among the alumni of the prestigious Georgetown Prep are Sen. Chris Dodd, several congressmen and members of the Kennedy clan. "We are proud to have a son of Georgetown Preparatory School, a Catholic, Jesuit school founded the same year the United States Supreme Court was established, nominated to the nation's highest court. All of us at Prep send our prayers and best wishes," the school's president, the Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, said on the school website.

Not only did prominent media buy into the "truth" of the story, Twitter exploded in alarm:

Hey guys! So, it's a bad idea to have SCOTUS justice who started a club called "fascism forever."



This is a non-partisan statement.  shannonwoodward (@shannonwoodward) February 2, 2017

@MtnMD @JoyToy312 @atsamee @Cheryllynn512 Better startcalling your Senators and congressman to vote No on Fascist 4ever Gorsuch for SCOTUS!  Mary Gosline (@APGsMom) February 2, 2017

Utterly oblivious to their own ignorance.

I can recall a few friends and me forming a "Richard Nixon Fan Club" when we were freshmen in college. Watergate was at its height, and although we weren't an "official" club on campus, we attracted some attention from the anti-Nixon crowd with our "recruiting posters."

How anyone could have taken the "Fascism Forever" club seriously is beyond me. Normal, rational people recognized immediately what it was: a way to tweak liberals on campus. Getting a rise out of your political opponents is always fun  especially when they make fools of themselves in the process.

We can now advise Gorsuch opponents that they can relax  they have made the world safe from fascism.
Motorolas Germany website has a strange countdown happening at the moment and there is virtually no detail whatsoever that explains what its for. The only information that can be seen is the amount of time thats left before the countdown ends, which is currently sitting at 22 days, and just over 15 hours, and this time is accompanied by the image of a golden octopus weaved into the Motorola batwing logo. The rest of the page is just a giant blue backdrop, with not other details. This leaves things open to interpretation and surely will leave some feeling slightly confused. Confused as to why there is a giant golden octopus as part of the countdown page, and perhaps confused as to what the countdown is even for.

While there isnt any information about the countdown listed in regards to specific details, the time thats left on screen does perhaps allude to what theyre counting down to. Lenovo and Motorola have already confirmed they will have a press conference during Mobile World Congress this year, and they have teased that it will include the announcements for the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus. Considering these two things, its likely that the countdown is for these new phones.

When it comes to the press conference, it happens on February 26th at 4:30 PM local time in Barcelona, and the countdown timer matches up with this, so its reasonable to assume that the countdown is really for the press conference where the phones are expected to be unveiled, and after the countdown is over its possible that the page will transition to something for the Moto G5 series of devices. There is no guarantee that this will happen and there is no confirmation from Lenovo or Motorola on this matter, but it seems like the most logical explanation. Theres also the possibility that the Motorola team simply chose the golden octopus as a random image to place with the countdown and it may have no significance at all, but one thing is certain. It wont be too long before Lenovo and Motorola reveal what they have in store for Mobile World Congress and the details behind the countdown.
COLUMBUS  Gov. Pete Ricketts' Agricultural Valuation Fairness Act looks familiar to Platte County Assessor Tom Placzek.

In the early 1980s, the U.S. was in the midst of a farming crisis that, by many metrics, was worse than the current downturn.

There was a great human cry to do something about land valuation, recalled Placzek.

So in 1985, the Legislature implemented a new system for valuing ag land based on production. But in 1991, the state switched back to the current market-based system.

Placzek said the change was too little, too late. By the time the old system was implemented, the farming industry had already started to recover and producers who were making money again didn't want their land valuations based on production.

So the state went back to valuing land based on comparable sales.

Quite honestly, no matter how we assess ground its going to be complained about, said Placzek.

The Platte County assessor isnt too thrilled with the governors plan (LB338) for a few reasons. First, the valuation would largely be handled by the Nebraska Department of Revenue, which would give assessors a range of valuations for each class group.

Second, the valuation range will include a 15 percent difference between the lowest and highest values. The current range is 6 percent.

As an example, if a quarter of ground went for $1 million we would assess that at 69 to 75 percent of that value, Placzek said. On this bill, it's 60-75 percent.

That means there could be dramatic differences in valuations from one county to the next. This gets especially sticky for school districts that collect taxes in more than one county, such as Leigh Community Schools, which levees taxes in Platte, Colfax and Stanton counties.

Another issue Placzek has with the bill is it caps valuation growth at 3.5 percent annually.

In my experience, caps dont work because you start losing your connection to what the market is doing, he said. If the market is rapidly growing, what that does is shift the burden to someone else to pay the taxes.

That means residential and commercial properties would bear a greater share of the tax burden in areas such as the Lakeview Community Schools district, where the tax base is mostly ag land, homeowners and Archer Daniels Midland.

State Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus pointed out that if valuations go down, that doesnt necessarily mean producers will pay less money in taxes.

Unless a local government is up against its levee limits or is willing to default on its obligations, it raises the tax rate, said Schumacher. As a result, theres little, if any, change in taxes that are actually paid.

He said bills like LB338 dont help small, family farms much.

The largest landowners get the biggest chunk of it, Schumacher said.

Even if the valuation change does provide relief, it would only be around 2 to 3 percent.

In a press released issued Friday, the Nebraska Farm Bureau said the bill could be helpful, but the measure wont deliver the property tax reform being sought by rural and urban Nebraskans whove seen their property taxes skyrocket over the last decade.

In order to have effective property tax relief, Schumacher said the money used to fund schools, counties and cities would need to come from either income or sales taxes. Right now, businesses and chambers of commerce across the state are pushing for an income tax reduction, arguing that if businesses pay less in taxes they can hire more employees.

Schumacher is skeptical of that argument. He cited a 2013 report from the Nebraska Department of Revenue that compared the effects of a $100 million reduction in sales taxes to a $100 million reduction in income taxes.

The study concluded the sales tax reduction would produce more jobs as more Nebraskans would have extra money to spend, which would grow the economy.

A sales tax cut leaves a little more money in the local peoples pockets and they go spend it on whatever in the local economy, said Schumacher.

It would also result in more money for the state because of the increased economic activity.

Schumacher introduced his own bill (LB373) that would have the Revenue Committee review tax provisions passed over the last 10 years to determine which ones have been effective and which can be repealed.

Anything thats caused the revenue of the state to decrease by more than $5 million is up for repeal, he said. It basically says, OK, if were going to look at this revenue shortfall, lets look at some of these special deals and see if theyre still good ideas.

But getting these tax breaks repealed won't be easy.

When you start looking at removing a special deal, the lobbyists seem to come out of the woodwork, said Schumacher, a member of the Legislature's Revenue Committee.

If Ricketts' valuation proposal passes, Placzek predicts it will be short-lived.

"I would almost bet that if this would pass well be undoing it in five or six years," he said.
COLUMBUS  When Mickey Leptak saw her neighbor tossing out an old chair, her imagination started running.

She was just 12 years old then, growing up in Muscatine, Iowa.

I was sitting on the back porch with my black cocker spaniel and the neighbor guy came out with an antique chair and set it out by the trash. I walked over there and asked him what he was doing with the chair, Leptak said.

The neighbor explained that the piece of furniture was broken.

It was shortly after the Depression, a time when Leptak said hardly anything was just thrown away.

Everybody reused, repurposed, redone and passed it on to a relative, she said.

Leptak asked if she could have the chair, thinking her father could find a way to fix it and make it usable again. Her dad, who fished commercially, was handy and the family lived by the motto make do or do without. Instead of repairing the chair himself, Leptak's father taught her how to do it.

My dad said I could scrape all the paint off and there would be beautiful wood underneath. So he gave me a piece of broken glass and showed me one Saturday how to scrape off the paint, she said.

Leptak repaired the chair, starting a lifelong love of salvaging and repurposing furniture.

Now 80, the Columbus woman is still bringing vintage pieces back to life. She said she might have gotten her creative touch from her parents, especially her father. He only had a fourth-grade education, but Leptak said he had the skills to make his own boats and handmade tools, including carving the needles he used to crochet his fishing nets.

Shes able to look at pieces of old furniture and see a new future.

I think it was probably just in me. People ask me how I think of that stuff. Its just a gift. If I walk into someplace, I immediately think of what I could do with something I see, she said.

Leptak has made a career of making the old new again.

She was a hairdresser in Columbus for a few years and would tell her customers about her hobby of refurbishing vintage items. Some of those clients started asking if she could do work for them, fixing a desk or table for a fee.

Word spread and soon she had items piling up at her home, where she had her projects and husband, George, repaired automobiles.

One day, a client dropped off a dining room table with eight chairs and a sideboard to be stripped and made to look like new. Leptak said her husband questioned whether she could handle such a large workload.

I said, Well, shes going to be paying me $200 to do it. That was the end of that, and he asked if he could help me, Leptak said with a laugh. That was a turning point because we realized you could turn your hobby into a business.

She quit her job as a hairdresser and started repurposing furniture full time with the help of her husband, who passed away in 2015. They opened their own furniture and antique restoration business out of their home.

Over the years, she has worked on thousands of pieces, including recent items that are for sale at Red Apple Farmers Market, such as her favorite project of repurposing baby beds into benches.

Items like old doors and windows, pieces of wood and vintage furniture were stored in a neighboring house Leptak once owned but has since sold. All of those items moved into her garage, which is where she operated Simply Vintage at the Front Porch and taught refurbishing classes.

The garage is so packed she cant open the store now, but Leptak hopes to restart it soon to go along with her online business, Fine Furniture Care Secrets, which sells products to take care of antiques.

My goal this summer is to have my shop, she said.
LINCOLN  Opponents of a proposal to weaken minority filibuster rights on Friday cautioned their largely Republican rural colleagues to consider the fact that rural senators are gradually becoming more of a minority in the Nebraska Legislature.

"Be careful what you wish for," Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus warned his fellow Republicans in the nonpartisan Legislature who live outside the steadily growing Omaha-Lincoln metropolitan complex.

Urban vs. rural disagreements about education funding, roads, distribution of University of Nebraska funding and competition for other resources will be some of the issues that may need strong filibuster protections to guard rural interests, Schumacher suggested.

Rural senators ought to be concerned about protecting minority interests, Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln suggested.

The filibuster is "an important tool for all of us to use," he said.

The division in the Legislature is not just between senators who are Republicans or Democrats or between conservatives and liberals or progressives, a number of senators suggested.

At issue is a proposed change in the filibuster rule authored by Sen. Tyson Larson of O'Neill that would require the vote of at least 20 of the Legislature's 49 senators to be able to continue debate on legislation once a cloture motion has been filed to end a filibuster.

The current rule requires that at least 33 of the 49 senators would need to vote for a cloture motion to end debate.

The practical impact of the proposed change would be to increase the threshold of senators required to sustain a filibuster from 17 to 20.

And that change is aimed at the minority of senators who are Democrats or who do not fit the conservative label.

The Legislature adjourned for the weekend with the Larson motion pending and a Tuesday deadline for adoption of permanent rules in effect.

A number of senators said they are prepared to debate rules for the remainder of the session if that's what will be needed to guard current filibuster protections.

Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha noted that earlier proposals to change filibuster provisions already have been rejected by the Legislature's Rules Committee.

"Let's not be like Washington," Sen. John McCollister of Omaha said in supporting the current filibuster rule.

Unfortunately, he said, "hyperpartisanship seems to be invading this body."

Larson and McCollister are Republicans; Morfeld and Harr are Democrats.
This is the third article in a series being released to discuss cash leases for farmland in 2017. Weve covered some basic communications that need to be considered in the first two articles. This week, we'll talk some specific lease considerations.

The cash lease for irrigated cropland assumes that the landlord owns all of the irrigation equipment. In many cases over the past few years, the tenant provides some of the equipment, such as the power unit to lift irrigation water. The ownership cost of providing this equipment should be discounted from the cash rent.

In most leases, the landlord may provide amendments to the soil such as lime. In some cases, lime has become a tenant expense. Know that typically, lime is a landlord expense. However, in some neighborhoods this has changed over time. In this scenario, the depreciable part of the lime expense should be paid back to the leaseholder if the tenant is vacating the lease prior to the length of the useful life of the lime.

The cost of adding phosphorus can also be quite expensive. In most places in Nebraska, a large amount of phosphorus will last more than one year. When this expense is borne, the tenants should have a lease clause that pays them their undepreciated share of the fertilizer expense if they are not farming that land during the period that the added phosphorus is readily available to the plants.

In another scenario related to landlord regarding this matter, if the tenant "mines" phosphorous and depletes the phosphorous in the soil, an appropriate compensation should be made to the landlord based on soil test benchmarks that outline a minimum phosphorous level.

Corn stalks, used either for grazing or harvesting for forage, may also be a point of concern. Unless held out of the lease, the stalks belong to the tenant and the residue can be used as the tenant desires, including subleasing them to another person.

An appropriate clause can be included in the lease as to whether the landlord wants to maintain the rights to the stalks or prevent the tenant from subleasing the stalks. The main point is to communicate about the stalks to see if harvesting for forage/bedding or subleasing is all right with the landlord.

Questions also come up about hunting rights. Because the farmland is typically leased for the entire year, the hunting rights belong to the tenant unless they are held out of the lease by the landlord. Know that hunting rights for pasture leases typically belong to the landlord. This is because a typical five-month pasture lease ends either Oct. 15 or Nov. 1, so the lease is over prior to hunting season.
Censors, babies and fools burn Milo Yiannopoulos out of Berkeley

Out of Berkeley Nazi Scum, demands a placard held high at University of California Berkeley. Intolerance will not be tolerated! So goes the protests against to deadline polemicist Milo Yiannopoulos, who having been banned from the virtual world  Twitter suspended his account  is now branded too outrageous for the Berkeley brains trust to cope with.

The screeching, fires, placards and  irony of ironies  calling out people as fascists as you smash windows and light fires by the college bookstore worked. Fascists, eh. If you want to call out a fascist, copy their methods and become one of them. The college that once championed free speech, where students campaigned for the right to hear from Communists and agitators buckled. Trump supporter and Breitbart news mainstay Milo Yiannopoulos had his appearance cancelled. The censorious, violent, angry prudes won the right to stymie and curtail free speech.

On CNN the post-truth, fact-free news mandarins got wind of the story. UC Berkeley professor and former Democratic Secretary of Labor Robert Reich suggested Trump and his fans were behind the protests.

I was there for part of last night, and I know what I saw and those people were not Berkeley students. Those people were outside agitators. I have never seen them before. Theres rumors that they actually were right-wingers. They were a part of a kind of group that was organized and ready to create the kind of tumult and danger you saw that forced the police to cancel the event. So Donald Trump, when he says Berkeley doesnt respect free speech rights, thats a complete distortion of the truth. I saw these people. They all looked very almost paramilitary. They were not from the campus. I dont want to say factually, but Ive heard there was some relationship here between these people and the right-wing movement that is affiliated with Breitbart News.

You want facts? No need when you have feelings.

If you dont think free speech is worth protecting, you are not for progress. You cannot counter ideas and foment new thinking without free speech, the sound of free thought.

Paul Sorene

Posted: 4th, February 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Rome, February 3 - Italy doesn't risk an EU budget infringement procedure, Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Friday. "I don't think there are elements pointing in this direction and in any case we are surrounded by countries that are in an infringement procedure and they don't seem to be very embarrassed," he said, answering a question on whether a possible procedure would embarrass Italy as it marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome next month. "Anyway Italy isn't running this risk," he said.

Gentiloni said he was "confident that the (budget) talks between the (European) Commission and the Treasury will conclude positively". He said "Italy is a country that has decided to respect the EU rules and it will also do so at this juncture.

"However, it will do so with a way, timeframe and tools that will not provoke depressive effects on our economy". He said "I spoke about this with Juncker again today" at an informal migrants summit in Valletta, Malta.

EU sources told ANSA that "more details are needed" to assess Italian budget moves ahead of February 13 economic forecasts and "contacts are ongoing for this reason". Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan phoned Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici today and Padoan's indications go in the right direction, the sources said.


(ANSA) - Rome, February 3 - After Grand Master Matthew Festing was removed from his position following a clash with the pope, the Knights of Malta on Thursday publicly reaffirmed their loyalty to the pontiff and gratitude for his resolving of what they called "a government crisis". Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager, who was fired by Festing and reinstated by Pope Francis, spoke before a crowded press conference and said that Grand Commander Fra' Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein, "lieutenant ad interim", would be in charge until a new Grand Master is elected in late April. "Let me reassure our members, and everybody, that the government is and will remain as a service of the Holy Father," the German baron said, stressing that their devotion to Church teaching "is irrevocable and beyond question." The crisis the Order underwent "was a government crisis brought about by an act illegal under the constitution," he said, voicing his gratitude to the Pope for offering guidance that led "to a swift solution." He added that Pope Francis's intervention had not violated the sovereignty of the Knights of Malta, which is a Rome-based institution ancient Catholic order of knights that is now a worldwide charity. It has sovereign status, is run like a small country, and its all-male leaders are not clerics but take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope. On the issue of the pontifical delegate to be nominated, the Pope has said that his role will be to concentrate on the religious aspect, Boeselager said. In response to a question about why he had been asked to resign and then abruptly removed after his refusal, Boeselager said that it was a "mystery" to him but that it had come after growing disagreement between the elected government and people who had been brought in by the Grand Master, "in violation of the constitution and in positions that had not been foreseen". No statement was made on clashes concerning the large-scale assets held by the Knights of Malta or disputed inheritances in Liechtenstein. On the issue of condom distribution by NGOs connected to the order in Myanmar and Africa when Boeselager was in charge, the matter was discovered in an internal audit by Malteser International and that he had not been aware of it. He said that all the projects were suspended as soon as he found out. He noted that a Vatican commission had found the accusations against him to be baseless and expressed "regret" that the commission has been accused of conflicts of interest. The order will now focus on its humanitarian programs in 120 countries throughout the world amid concerns that the crisis might lead to a drop in donations, he added.

Boeselager stressed that "we are alarmed and concerned by the proliferation of discriminatory positions against migrants based, among other things, on their nationality. History has given us numerous examples showing the tragic and monstrous consequences of policies based on origins and ethnicity."
Our soldiers know this feeling all too well. Perhaps you have experienced it, too. You are in a far off place with no one familiar around you, and then you see it and experience an instant feeling of connection  an American flag. At that moment, the flag is more than a piece of cloth with colored stars and stripes. It is an enduring symbol that expresses a deep unspoken narrative about who we are as a people and about the ideals that unite us as a nation.

If you ask people what America means, most would say freedom. Yet this word freedom is so overused we have forgotten its essential meaning. Most properly understood, freedom is the ability to do what one ought, to take responsibility for oneself, ones family, ones community, and, by extension, ones nation. Freedom is not a detachment from responsibility, to do whatever you want. That self-destructive idea erodes freedom, resulting in not only the loss of oneself but the degradation of community.

We often reflect on what it means to be an American when discussing immigration. America has long offered the hope of freedom for immigrants yearning to work for a better future for themselves and their families. To those tempest-tossed, to those tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, America lifted its lamp beside the golden door. Implicit in this world-wide welcome, was a basic compact that those who came here, however arduous their journey, must undertake the responsibilities of citizenship.

In fact, Americas very survival as a beacon-handed land requires those who immigrate to assimilate and adopt the values proposition that makes our country unique in the history of the world. Those values include respect for others, acceptance of law and order as a prerequisite for the orderly functioning of society, and the desire to participate constructively as a citizen. Those who refuse to assimilate or reject these time-honored values take advantage of the sacrifices and hard-fought gains of generations of Americans who have built, and often died for, what we cherish and share. This is fundamentally unfair and an abuse of freedom itself.

Individual freedom is achieved most fully in community. When the government and interest groups see freedom merely as the functional meeting of material needs, it undermines the social dimensions of freedom, which are rooted in authentic human relationship. Conversely, the proper amount of government provides protection and creates the guardrails for individuals to flourish together, generating meaning for persons and communities. The right political approach in America can restore that golden mean.

There is a story of a man talking to his young son. He said, Son, see that beautiful home on the hill there? One day, if thats your hearts desire, if you work hard enough and are patient, if you do what is right, you could have such a home. Another man in another country talking to his young son took a different approach. He said, You see that big mansion on the hill there? If you work hard enough, if you stay focused, and if you position yourself right  one day you can get that guy.

Our country is not based on envy. It is based on respect and responsibility. To make America flourish again  politically, economically and culturally  a restoration of this ideal is necessary to create the conditions for a true and lasting freedom.
Punxsutawney Phil must be stopped.

You know Phil. Every Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, he is yanked from a tree stump in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If he sees his shadow, his organizers allege, there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't, spring will be just around the corner.

Millions have enjoyed this primitive ritual for years, but now there's a problem.

Groundhog Day evolved from Candlemas Day, a Christian tradition commemorating the purification of the Virgin Mary. As this tradition evolved in Germany, it got ever more colorful.

Germans soon believed that Candlemas Day could also predict the weather. Somewhere along the line they began yanking a hedgehog out of a tree stump, and the tradition was born. When German immigrants settled in Punxsutawney in 1887, they brought the tradition with them.

Now we have a problem.

How, in this day and age, can any government body impose on our diverse society any celebration that has its roots in a Christian faith? Aren't the people of Punxsutawney providing their de facto support of one religion over the others? Isn't their outmoded event offensive to those who practice no religion?

Isn't this annual event, then, out of sync with the American tradition of separating church and state? If Santa Claus and Christmas trees are being banished in public squares, how can Groundhog Day not follow suit?

Groundhog Day is guilty of numerous other offenses. In Punxsutawney, the event is managed by a group of men known as the "Inner Circle." These are the fellows who wear top hats and tuxedos and yank Phil out of the tree stump.

As usual, it is the men who are exploiting a helpless little creature for profit and greed, and men who have kept women out of leadership positions within their Inner Circle clique.

The hypocrisy of these allegedly Christian fellows is staggering. They talk of how they pamper Phil. That he lives in a heated home and is fed delicious treats. But then they boast about one especially disgusting tidbit.

Phil has a harem.

The Inner Circle provides Phil with three nubile female companions to take the edge off his lonely bachelor existence. That's right, this band of middle-aged men is trafficking in "woodchucks of the night."

For these reasons, I cannot understand how, in these progressive times, such an offensive primitive ritual continues to be celebrated every year.

Sure, I understand that small-minded people believe such traditions enrich our lives and bring levity to the hearts of millions.

I understand that American traditions evolved from a hodgepodge of cultural influences, and that the best of them celebrate our common humanity.

But still, Groundhog Day as we know it must end -- or at least be drastically modified.

For starters, we must set Phil free. No innocent animal should be kept in captivity so that he can be exploited by greedy capitalists. We must release him back to his natural habitat immediately.

We can replace him with a less offensive living entity, such as a tree or shrub. Trees and shrubs cast shadows, too, and holding them in captivity is much more humane, since their roots keep them from roaming freely anyhow. ("Groundshrub Day?")

Most important, this event should be entirely secular. Any reference to the Christian past must be deleted from the official Web site. I was shocked to find such references on the existing Groundhog Day Web site.

I'm confident that if the men in the Inner Circle make these needed changes -- if they begin admitting women to leadership positions immediately -- the Groundshrub Day tradition will continue for many years to come.

If they don't someone is likely to take these suggestions seriously and file suit within the week.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh told Armenpress, on February 3 and overnight February 4 increase of tension has been registered in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact.

The Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime more than 50 times by firing over 250 shots from 60mm and 82mm mortars, AGS-17 grenade launcher and various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions. In the eastern and north-eastern directions of the line of contact the Azerbaijani side fired also overall 98 shots from 60mm and 82 mm mortars.

The NKR Defense Army forces confidently fulfilled their military tasks and took countermeasures in case of necessity.

At the moment the situation is relatively calm in the frontline.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The first innovative conference of the European Youth Parliament (EYP) entitled "AYSOR4Innovation" (TODAY for Innovation) was held in Yerevan on February 4 and will last until February 6, reports Armenpress.

The conference is co-financed by the EU Delegation to Armenia, the Armenian Red Cross organization and Oxfam Armenia Office.

Under this program, the conference organizers and participants aim to make Yerevan as a platform for local and foreign 120 young leaders to propose innovative ideas and solutions to social challenges.

During all days of the conference, the participants, who are included in 6 committees, will discuss innovative solutions to the public innovation and entrepreneurship. The topics will cover fight against corruption, promotion of startups activity, integration of refugees in the labor market, womens role in the fields of science and economics, Ashot Khudgaryan, Chairman of the conference, said in his welcoming speech.

He said the complex package of solutions developed by the youth will be submitted to the judgment of the EYP International Office, as well as the EU Delegation to Armenia. The developed solutions will also be submitted to a number of local and international enterprises with the expectation of their further implementation.

During the event the distinguished Armenian delegates will receive an opportunity to present Armenia in the EYP major international conference in Norway in April, 2017.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies told Armenpress that on February 4, as of 14:30, Berd-Chambarak highway is closed due to snowstorm and low visibility.

Clear ice is formed on the Vardenyats Pass and Goris-Sisian highway.

Highway supervision/construction companies are carrying out daily control on the highways.

Clearing operations are underway.

The remaining roads of Armenia are open.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told airlines about the possibility to enter the US from 7 banned Muslim countries, reports BBC.

In response to the statement, Qatar Airways informed that it immediately starts accepting passengers.

The CBP statement came after the decision of Seattle federal judge James Robart who put a nationwide block on US President Donald Trump's recent executive order. Later the White House said they will appeal the judges decision. The White House said President Trumps immigration executive order is lawful and appropriate.

On January 27 Trump signed an executive order on restricting the entry of citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen to the country for 90 days. The ban applies to the citizens of those countries regardless of whether they have a residence permit, Green Card or Visa. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has issued a statement regarding the January 27, 2017, White House Executive Order on immigration, titled, Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States. The statement said the Committee remains concerned regarding the developing situation surrounding the White Houses January 27th immigration Executive Order, both at the level of U.S. policy and in terms of this actions impact on Armenian individuals and families.The ANCA continues to engage relevant stakeholders  including Congress and the White House and recommends those Armenians whose relatives or friends have been detained at U.S. ports of entry or who have been blocked from re-entry to the U.S. to contact the Committee immediately and inform about their situation.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan on February 3 held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Armenia Richard Mills during which they discussed key issues related to the Armenian-American economic cooperation, press service of the Ministry told Armenpress.

Minister Aramyan identified certain issues stating that substantial and drastic steps are being taken towards their solutions. In particular, he talked about ensuring stable, inclusive economic growth, developing and improving the local potential, training the specialists, as well as regularly improving the existing electronic systems. The Government embarks on rapid reforms aimed at reducing the corruption risks. In order to achieve the best result it is necessary to combine the Governments steps and the wishes of the public, the Minister said.

In his turn, US Ambassador Richard Mills congratulated Minister Aramyan on his appointment and expressed hope they will continue the healthy cooperation. He expressed readiness to assist the priorities and reforms identified by the Ministry. The Embassy appreciates its long-term partnership with the Finance Ministry. We encourage the Ministry to continue efforts aimed at improving public procurement process and assist the Ministrys commitment directed towards working with the private sector on issues related to the new tax code, as well as solving issues that hinder increasing the investments, the Ambassador said.

Minister Vardan Aramyan attached importance to increasing the communication level with the public, stating that the publics opinion on the newly adopted laws must be considered through the way of cooperation.

The US plays an important role in Armenias political and economic life since it is a major donor on providing humanitarian and technical assistance and is one of Armenias key partners. The Armenian-American trade-economic cooperation is being regulated within the frames of the Armenian-American inter-governmental commission on economic affairs which is being convened once a year in Yerevan and Washington.
LINCOLN  Law enforcement officers on Friday urged a Nebraska legislative committee to support a proposal that would partially shield their home addresses from public disclosure to help protect them from retaliation.

A third-generation Lincoln Police officer, who is a gang unit investigator, told members of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee that he has been targeted at home and on the internet.

In one case, following the arrest of two brothers, dozens of dead animals began showing up on his property, he said, some of them beheaded and most badly mangled.

The officer, who asked that his name not be used, said comments were posted on the internet threatening to sexually assault family members and post video recordings of the assaults online.

Lincoln City Councilman Roy Christensen said police officers "deal with the dark underside of our culture," and legislative action is needed "so darkness will not follow them home."

Christensen said 25 percent of Lincoln's police officers do not live in the city and he is told that is because "families don't feel safe living in Lincoln (when) bad actors can find their home address."

The proposed legislation (LB624), introduced by Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln, would provide a means to withhold residential addresses of law enforcement officers from the public -- online or by phone.

The address could be requested in writing from the county assessor where it is a public record. That requirement "takes away the anonymity" of the person seeking the address, Wishart said.

Law enforcement officers "come face-to-face with danger every day," Wishart said, and her bill would provide "an added barrier of protection for officers and their families."

The committee was told that officers are increasingly targeted nationally. In Nebraska, they sometimes are stalked, and their families have been threatened. In one case, a bullet was fired into an officer's home and penetrated his 18-month-old son's bedroom.

Under the proposed legislation, officers can request that the assessors and registrars of deeds withhold their addresses, except upon written request. The bill provides that requesting officers would pay a $25 fee.
Karnataka government has welcomed Apples proposal to begin initial manufacturing operations in the state.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru added a new feather in its cap as Apple chose the city to set up its first manufacturing plant in India.

Apple has preferred Bengaluru because the city offers a very supportive ecosystem, which is a home to high-end technology, startups and many research and development centers, IT minister Priyank Kharge told this newspaper. He added that Apple has purchased an old facility in Peenya, which it has expanded according to its needs.

The state will get substantial employment opportunities. The medium and small enterprises will get an opportunity to manufacture components as Apple looks forward to procure locally, said Kharge.

Talking about the possibilities of Indians getting iPhones at much cheaper prices, Mr Kharge said, Logically speaking, the prices should go down but Im not quite sure about that because they (Apple) will end up paying high import taxes. The company is expected to start its operations by June.

According to a statement, the Karnataka government has welcomed Apples proposal to begin initial manufacturing operations in the state.

Apples intentions to manufacture in Bengaluru will foster cutting edge technology eco system and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally, it said.

The Apples representatives including Priya Balasubramaniam, VP iPhone operations, Ali Khanafer, head of government affairs, Dheeraj Chugh, director, iPhone operations, and Priyesh Povanna, country counsel held a meeting with officials and ministers of the state government to discuss about the initiatives in manufacturing and possible collaborations.
Sonam and Anand made their first public appearance amid marriage rumours.

Sonam Kapoor and her rumoured boyfriend Anand Ahuja were seen at the India Art Fair in Delhi on Friday. (Photo: Viral Bhayani)

Mumbai: There are reports circulating recently that Sonam Kapoor and her rumoured beau Anand Ahuja are set to get married soon, though there has not been any confirmation about it.

While the actress earlier refrained from sharing social media posts with him, she has started doing so recently. Moreover, the actress also finally made her first public appearance with Anand at a recent event in Delhi.

Both Sonam and Anand seemed to have a good time amidst art galore at the India Art Fair 2017 held in the capital.

Sonam recently won Critics' Award For Best Actor (Female) for her performance in 'Neerja' at the 62nd Filmfare awards show.
That worked out well for Ranveer, and its no surprise that the touch of luck has led to the cold vibes with Sushant.

If youve seen them together, the cold vibes shared between the two Yash Raj proteges, Sushant Singh Rajput and Ranveer Singh are there for all to see. Whenever theyve come face-to-face in public, the two have met each other with distant cordiality. Recently, Sushant had even lashed out at Ranveers latest release, Befikre, saying that he would never have done the movie, even if it were offered to him.

Indeed, the two actors have quite a history.

Sushant, who has been showing exceptional support to Sanjay Leela Bhansali after the distasteful attacks on him in Jaipur, had been the directors first choice for Bajirao Mastani. In fact, SLB, who is currently making Padmavati, was very keen on working with Sushant.

The young actor, at that point, was to star in Shekhar Kapoors Paani. A source reveals, Sushant was fully immersed in Paani. He sported a particular look, and was going through intense workshops with Shekhar, and Aditya Chopra, who at that point was mentoring both Sushant and Ranveer. Sushant expressed his inability to take up Bajirao Mastani, and thats where Ranveer came in. Eventually Paani never got made and Sushant lost out on both Bajirao Mastani and Paani.

Ranveer, on his part, seems to have an incredible knack of being in the right place, at the right time. He was signed on to do Anurag Kashyaps Bombay Velvet. When Ranbir Kapoor showed interest in the project, Anurag dropped Ranveer without even informing him of the change. That worked out well for Ranveer, and its no surprise that the touch of luck has led to the cold vibes with Sushant.
The 35-year-old actor is super excited for her, but hopes the madness of dating a royal passes soon.

Mumbai: Actor Patrick J Adams has given his seal of approval to Suits co-star Meghan Markle's romance with Prince Harry.

The 35-year-old actor, who plays Markle's on-screen fiance Mike Ross in the show, is super excited for her, but hopes the madness of dating a royal passes soon, reported E! online.

"I'm super excited for her. As you can imagine, it is a massive deal, obviously, if you hadn't noticed. I didn't want to get involved. I just wanted to say, 'I love you, I support you, I hope you're happy. You seem really happy'.

"...But if there's anyone in the world who is designed to be able to deal with it and deal with it professionally, it's Meghan Markle. I'm just super excited for her and I hope that all of the whatever, whatever, I don't even know what it is, but all of the madness passes at some point and they can just get down to the business of enjoying each other's company and hopefully not have to worry about this," Adams said.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
'Six sugar mills are not paying up the sugarcane farmers in Meerut and UP government is not taking any actions, why?' he asked.

Meerut: In his first rally in Uttar Pradesh after polls were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged the corrupt he had "robbed" with note-ban have ganged up to bring him down and targeted the SP-Congress alliance, saying the two parties which abused each other till recently are now locked in an embrace to save themselves.

Modi asked the people in Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati", saying they have to choose between development agenda of BJP and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote bank politics and encourage land and mine mafias.

In his over-an-hour-long address, he spoke at length about corruption, law and order and nepotism allegedly prevailing in the state as he sought people's vote for BJP to change the state's fate.

"It is UP that made me the Prime Minister," Modi said, adding that he wanted to repay its debt and that he can do it only with a government that joins hands with the Centre to develop the state unlike the current dispensation which is a "hindrance" in its progress.

Attacking Congress and Samajwadi Party, he said Congress ran a campaign against the Samajwadi Party government and wondered as to what happened that both have now joined hands.

"What happened that overnight they are embracing each. Those who could not save themselves cannot save UP," he said. Wooing farmers, he reiterated the party's promise of waiving loans of small and marginal farmers and paying the dues of sugarcane growers within 14 days of coming to power.

Playing the pro-poor and pro-farmers card, a plank BJP has assiduously tried to claim for some time, Modi said the recent budget was all about them besides the middle class.

Noting that the rebellion against the British rule in 1857 had started from Meerut, Modi said he has chosen this place to start the war against poverty, corrupt forces and land grabbers.

The Prime Minister again attacked the opposition parties over demonetisation and surgical strikes to strike a chord with the audience as he said he was determined to cleanse the system at the top and was not interested in small fights.

"Those who filled rooms with currency notes collected by selling party tickets are very anguished as I forced them to deposit their money in banks with an announcement at 8 PM on November 8....

"I knew they will all gang up against me. They will kick up a storm because Modi has robbed them and they will bring him down

"Do you think that corruption should be ended and black money finished off? I have been doing this and will not rest nor will let these robbers rest. No matter how many of them gang up to oppose me, my fight will not stop. Modi will not stop," he said.

Targeting Congress, he said a minister in the party-run Karnataka government has been found in possession of Rs 150 crore and but it has not taken any action against him.

Targeting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he said first his concern was all about family, then about himself and now it is about the chair.

Those accused of running mine mafia, patronising criminals, rapists and land-grabbers have been given tickets in SP, he alleged.

Uttar Pradesh has potential to be a leading state in the country but has remained mired in poverty and unemployment due to its governments, Modi said.

"You made me Prime Minister and I have done everything in my capacity to bring honour to the state. Still, some debt I have to repay. In the last two and a half years, I have done a lot for the poor, farmers, deprived, dalits and some is yet to to be done.

"You tell me if all the good I want to do for the state will not remain unfulfilled if the state government here works as a hindrance. So long as you do not send such a government home, the development the central government wants will not happen. It is necessary to remove them," he said, seeking votes for BJP.

Only about Rs 2,800 crore of Rs 7,000 crore the Centre had sent to UP for health care development in 2015-16 was spent and not even Rs 40 crore of the Rs 950 cr sent for 'Swachh' campaign was used, he said and cited more figures to accuse the Akhilesh government of not being interested in the state's development.

"It (SP government) believes if the money cannot be spent on those who are its vote bank, then it will let the funds rot. Tell me if assistance to those who are ill should be based on vote bank politics," he said.

"The whole day the government is busy with uncle, son, papa, nephew.... If you want to change UP's fate, change the government. You demolish the rule of SCAM with your votes," he said in a dig at the Yadav clan's feud.

Modi's political attack was largely focused on SP-Congress alliance with BSP being mentioned only tangentially.

Referring to surgical strikes, he said the valour of our armed forces was underestimated so far and enemies would kill them in night and disappear but they could not use their guns due to atmosphere created earlier.

"Now countries across the world are studying as to how Indian forces did such an operation on Pakistani soil. We made them (enemies) account for everything," the PM said.

While other politicians go to various locations to celebrate Diwali and their birthdays, he went to forces deployed on border, the PM said.

He targeted the opposition parties for questioning the strikes and alleged that some of them doubted the operation because no Indian soldier lost his life.
'With the elimination of these militants a major terrorist action was averted,' said a statement by J&K police.

Two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Saturday. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Srinagar: The security forces on Saturday shot dead two top Kashmiri militants while they were trying to enter politically sensitive Sopore town in Jammu and Kashmirs north-western Baramulla district to carry out a major terrorist act, the officials claimed. Two police officials were injured in initial response from the duo during the encounter.

Though the police has yet to identify the duo, the local sources said the slain men were two senior commanders of indigenous outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Azaharuddin alias Ghazi Umar and Sajad Ahmed alias Babar. The officials said that the police had information about the militants travelling in a car on the highway in the Sheer Amargarh area to relocate to Sopore.

Confirming it, a statement issued by the J&K police here said that the members of its counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) along with other security forces thwarted a major terrorist action by killing the militant duo in the brief encounter.

Information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. The police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore, it said.

The statement claimed that while being challenged the militants lobbed a grenade and fired upon police party in which SP (operations) Baramulla Shafqat Hussain and Sub-Inspector Mohammad Murtaza were injured.

In the retaliatory action two militants were killed whose identity is being ascertained, it said adding that two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

With the elimination of these militants a major terrorist action was averted, the statement concluded.

The Hizb has, meanwhile, confirmed that the slain militants were its senior local commander who had been affiliated with the outfit for quite some time. It said Azaharuddin alias Ghazi Umar was a lecturer by profession who had abdicated the government service to join the outfit.

The Hizb claimed that it was a fierce encounter in which many Indian troopers were seriously wounded. The Hizb admitted the killing of the militants was a big loss to it and freedom movement. But the struggle against India will continue till taken to its logical conclusion, said the outfits Deputy Chief Commander Saifullah Khalid and Field Operational Commander Mehmood Ghaznavi in a joint statement to local news agency CNS.
Two youths killed in police firing on protesters laid to rest.

Naga tribals set ablaze the Kohima Municipal Council office and the office of the district collector during their violent protest in Kohima. (Photo: PTI)

Guwahati: A day after violent protest, an uneasy calm was prevailing in trouble-torn Kohima where no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state on Friday.

Nagaland governor P.B. Acharya, who was in Itanagar, arrived in Kohima on Friday and met several tribal council leaders, including former chief minister Neiphu Rio, to resolve the crisis situation.

The home ministry also rushed Army and paramilitary forces to strengthen the protection to the chief minister T.R. Zeliang and his Cabinet ministers, who were confined to their official residence in Kohima even on Friday.

Nagaland DGP L.L. Dougel said that the police, CRPF and Assam Rifles have secured the Raj Bhavan, chief ministers official residence and the Civil Secretariat.

The state administration said that prohibitory orders were in force in areas including Raj Bhavan, chief ministers official residence and civil secretariat with no report of any untoward incident on Friday. However, curfew was lifted from some of the areas.

Earlier, the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC), representing different tribal organisations, decided to proceed with the burial of the two bodies on Friday.

People from all walks of life participated in a peaceful prayer service in the heart of the state capital for the two protesting youth, who were killed in police firing at Dimapur on Tuesday.

The prayer service was conducted by the Kohima Baptist Pastors Fellowship at the spot where the bodies have been kept since Wednesday evening.

Former chief minister Neiphiu Rio, the lone Lok Sabha MP from the state, attended the prayer service and laid wreaths on the bodies.

Mr Rio, who was instrumental in ending the impasse, told this newspaper, No elected government should go against the wishes and voice of the people. The entire incident was tragic and unfortunate.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Governor has also started consultation with various stake holders to pacify the situation as several Naga tribal bodies insisted on their demand for resignation of the chief minister, suspension of the police commissioner responsible for firing on protestors at Dimapur on January 31 and nullifying the February 1 urban local body elections.

Nagaland chief minister T R Zeliang who is in the eyes of storm however turned down the demand tribal council and refused to step down. In a related development, the BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Friday conveyed a strong message to its four legislators to back Mr Zeliang. We were told by our legislature party leader and minister P Konyak today that Mr Madhav has asked us to stand by Mr Zeliang, said senior BJP MLA who doesnt want to be quoted.

Meanwhile a total bandh was observed in Mokukchung, and Dimapur district on Friday, movement of vehicles was allowed in Kohima to enable people attend the prayer service. Mobile data service and SMS were not functioning since the last four days though there has been no official order to this effect.
Meanwhile, Ram Manohar Lohiya Hospital on Friday refuted the Oppositions claims.

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice on the issue of parlimentarian E. Ahameds death. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue and demanded that a Parliamentary committee be formed to probe the ill-treatment of Ahameds family by the central government and the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. All MPs from Kerala also joined forces with Mr Kharge in demanding a probe. Congress MP K.C. Venugopal gave an adjournment motion saying: The unethical approach from the RML hospital and the central government towards veteran parliamentarian E. Ahamed and his family members during his last hours has created anguish and concern among the people in the country. In the Rajya Sabha AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad said that he had information that his death happened much earlier than it was declared. The government wanted to keep the body there until the budget was presented and nobody was allowed to see him, he alleged.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) said there were varied allegations that were doing the rounds.I have heard some doctors say that he was declared dead when he was taken to the hospital, while some say he died later in the ICU, he said, adding, I want a proper and thorough investigation.

Meanwhile, Ram Manohar Lohiya Hospital on Friday refuted the Oppositions claims.

Ahamed collapsed in the Central Hall of Parliament during the Presidents Address on Tuesday afternoon and was rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. In the evening his family complained that the hospital authorities were not allowing the family to meet Ahamed. A late-night drama followed when Congress President Sonia Gandhi along with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the RML Hospital demanding to meet Ahamed. Finally, at 2.15 am on Wednesday morning the veteran parliamentarian was declared dead by the hospital authorities
Kejriwal termed the I-T departments move as part of Modijis dirty tricks.

New Delhi: A day before Punjab and Goa go to the polls, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a shameless dictator, and alleged that he was trying to get his Aam Aadmi Party deregistered.

The stinging attack came amid the income-tax departments claim that there were discrepancies amounting to Rs 27 crore in the audit reports prepared by the AAP regarding donations made over a two-year period.

In a report submitted to the Election Commission, the I-T department has said that the records of donations made to the AAP during 2013-14 and 2014-15 had factual discrepancies, and did not match with the actual funds it received from various donors.

Officials said the report has suggested that the violations are in contravention of tax laws that govern political donations as stipulated under the Income-Tax Act, 1961, and this could form the basis for the cancellation of tax exemptions given under the I-T Act to the AAP, and could also lead to stringent action of de-registration of the party.





Reports said that the income-tax department had on Friday asked the EC to cancel AAPs status of a political party for allegedly filing false and fabricated audit reports.

Parties prepare audit reports, in consultation with their charted accountants, and submit a copy to the I-T department as per law.

Mr Kejriwal termed the I-T departments move as part of Modijis dirty tricks. He said the government was doing it because the BJP was headed for a defeat at the hands of his party in Punjab and Goa.

Losing badly in Goa and Punjab, he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) tries to de-register the winning party 24 hours before elections. Shameless dictator, the AAP chief tweeted.

The AAP sees itself as a strong contender in Punjab, where it is locked in a triangular contest with the Congress and the incumbent SAD-BJP. In Goa, too, the AAP is hopeful of disturbing the ruling BJPs prospects.
Rajnath Singh said the Ram temple issue is not a political issue for the BJP.

New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh Friday ruled out subtle attempts by a section of the BJP to project him as the chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Singh, a member of Parliament from Lucknow, said the Bharatiya Janata Party has many credible faces for the top post in UP.

In an interview to a news channel, Mr Singh said UP needs a government whose intention is clean. He said the Ram temple issue is not a political issue for the BJP.

On demonetisation, he said the decision was taken in rashtrahit (national interest). On the alleged exodus from Kairana, he said the state government should have taken measures to prevent such an unfortunate incident.

On opinion polls predicting that the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP wont be able to register a hat-trick in Punjab this time, Mr Singh said such polls are not one-hundred per cent correct. He said the BJP will get a clear majority in Goa.
In the Rajya Sabha, TMC members staged a walkout over the illegal arrest of their Lok Sabha leader Mr Bandopadhyay.

New Delhi: Loud protests by members of the Trinamul Congress over the arrest of their senior leaders in the chit-fund scam led to disruptions in both houses of Parliament on Friday. The TMC members also protested in front of the Gandhi statue at Parliament House complex.

The CBI had arrested two MPs  Sudip Bandopadhyay and Tapas Pal  separately in January, prompting protests by the ruling party of West Bengal. The Mamata Banerjee-led party has been at the forefront of opposing note ban.

In the Rajya Sabha, TMC members staged a walkout over the illegal arrest of their Lok Sabha leader Mr Bandopadhyay.

Raising the issue, TMC Parliamentary Party leader Derek OBrien said his party has given two notices  one for the House observing a minute silence to mourn the death of over 120 deaths caused by hardships due to demonetisation, and the illegal arrest of the partys leader in Lok Sabha. He said his party does not want to disturb the House and waste time of other members by trooping into the Well but in protest of the illegal arrest, we are walking out.

In a related development, AIADMKs V. Maitreyan raised a point of order asking if matter pertaining to a member belonging to the other House can be raised in the Rajya Sabha in the context of TMC Rajya Sabha members raising the issue of the arrest of Mr Bandopadhyay, who was a member of the lower house.

Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien said a member can raise in the House, the arrest of any citizen. Any member can raise the right or plight of any citizen, he said, asking Dr Maitreyan not to interfere. In the Lok Sabha, the issue was raised by TMC member Saugata Roy.

I want to raise the issue of misuse of CBI for political purposes by the Central government. CBI is a caged parrot, he said.

Members of the treasury benches were soon up on their feet protesting Mr Roys comments leading to the adjournment of the House for the day.

The TMC members also protested outside the house. Carrying placards, the MPs marched inside the complex shouting slogans against the Centres misuse of agencies like CBI. They also protested against the arrest of a party MP and Trinamul Lok Sabha leader.
Saturdays polling was the first round in a 5-state election process that ends with the results on March 11.

Women display their election identity cards as they stand in a queue to cast their votes outside a polling station in Punjab. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: With the fate of the BJP, Congress and AAP sealed in EVMs after a high voter turnout in Goa and Punjab on Saturday evening, Punjabs deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal seemed relaxed. Standing among his miniature horses, he talked with journalists about the exotic breed and how AAP had fielded candidates with Khalistani links. He also showed off his Marwari horses, another rare breed, for the benefit of the cameras.

At a time when opinion polls and political pundits are predicting complete wipeout of SAD-BJP combine, Sukhbir Singh Badal said he was confident of returning to power for the third time.

Compared to 78.06 per cent turnout in 2012 Assembly polls in Punjab, the state on Saturday recorded 75 per cent polling. If the ground reports and electoral predictions are to be believed, the tide is against the ruling coalition. In Punjab, the fight is apparently between Congress and AAP.

Goa, on the other hand, outdid its 2012 record with an 83 per cent voter turnout. Generally, a high turnout is considered to be a vote against the incumbent. The BJP is in power in Goa.

In 2012, Goa polled 81 per cent and the BJP defeated the Congress to come to power. In Punjab, a high turnout of 78 per cent in 2012 favoured the ruling SAD-BJP combine.

Reeling under charges of corruption, drug menace and the SYL canal controversy, the ruling combo seems to be on sticky wicket this time.

Winning Punjab is crucial for the Sonia Gandhi-Rahul Gandhi led Congress which has been reduced to the role of a minor player in virtually all politically important states.

In Punjab, the Congress has the best shot. A defeat in Punjab could bury the party deeper. But AAP is the new Akali in Punjab. From raking up anti-Sikh riots, desecration of Guru Granth Sahib to allegedly mingling with former terrorists, AAP has been walking the Akali line.

Arvind Kejriwal has been accused by both, the Congress and Akali Dal, of getting support from the ISI. Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Saturday, After 30 years there was a blast in Punjab. Kejriwal having dinner and breakfast with Babbar Khalsa, it is a clear indication that ISI sponsors him.

On January 30, Mr Kejriwal allegedly stayed in the house of an acquitted Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) militant Gurinder Singh in Moga. AAPs Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh had denied the charge.

If AAP wins Punjab, Mr Kejriwal could emerge as a major player among the anti-BJP and anti-Congress forces during the 2019 general elections. A win in Punjab will also bolster his chances of making inroads in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home turf in Gujarat, where Assembly polls are slated for 2018.

In Goa if the high turnout goes against the ruling BJP, it could be advantage AAP as the Congress remains in complete disarray. The powerful environment lobby in Goa, besides the church, was also tilting in favour of AAP.

Pushed to a corner, the BJP and the Sangh have been banking heavily on defence minister Manohar Parrikar to help BJP return to power in Goa. If BJP wins Goa, it will be Parrikars victory, a BJP functionary said.

Of Goas 40 Assembly seats, AAP is contesting 39 on its own and is supporting a candidate in one. The ruling BJP has put up its nominees in 36 seats and is supporting independents in the others. In the 2012 polls, the BJP had contested 28 seats and won 21.The Congress in Goa has fielded candidates in 37 Assembly berths while the MGP-GSM-SS alliance is contesting 35 seats.
Officials said that one of the women was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 on similar charges of drugs smuggling.

New Delhi: In a major drug haul, NCB sleuths have arrested two African women with four kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 crore from a hotel near the airport here.

Officials identified the women as Zambian nationals Thelma Mkandawire (38) and Tanzanian Pamela D Kiritta (41).

They said the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), based on a tip-off, was tracking Mkandawire after she landed here from Sao Paulo (Brazil) via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). The police intercepted her when she checked in a hotel in the Mahipalpur area as Kiritta came there to allegedly obtain the consignment she was carrying.

"Four kilograms of cocaine, concealed in a suitcase cavity, was seized from the baggage of Thelma," NCB Zonal Director (Delhi) Madho Singh said.

Both the ladies, they said, have been arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) on Saturday and the consignment is worth Rs 30 crore in the international market.

Officials said they found that Mkandawire was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 on similar charges of drugs smuggling.

Kiritta was staying in an apartment in the Vasant Kunj area of south Delhi, since she came to India early this year in January, they added.

Kiritta informed she had visited India nine times since 2006 and she had been to other countries like Ecuador and Kenya. She was working for a South African man here, they said adding, that the agency was probing the women's international and Indian contacts.
Kejriwal government has not fulfilled even a single promise that it made before the Assembly polls, says Manoj Tiwari.

New Delhi: Delhi BJP on Friday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for stalling development in the national capital in the last two years. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said that in the last two years, the Arvind Kejriwal government has not fulfilled even a single promise that it made before the Assembly polls.

Mr Tiwari, along with Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and Lok Sabha member Meenakshi Lekhi, released a report on the reality check of promises and conditions in the different areas of the city.

BJP leaders said that on the one hand the development works in Delhi have stopped and there is chaos in administration and on the other hand, corruption is at its climax in the government departments. How much the government departments are corrupt can be seen from the fact that all the three accused companies in the water tanker scam of the DJB during the Sheila Dikshit government continue to work and loot public money, they said.

We have collected information about the reality in Delhi through RTI and along with my colleagues, MPs, MLAs, and party office-bearers, I have also undertaken a reality check by going amongst the people in every corner of Delhi. On the basis of these information, we are issuing a reality check report which clearly shows that the pace of development in Delhi has slowed down and the standard of the basic amenities has also fallen. On the basis of the information we can say that the Kejriwal government is a government of bluff masters, said Mr Tiwari.

Mr Gupta said that the last two years have been black years for the people of Delhi during which the government neglected the interest of the people and misused the public funds for its political future and expansion.

Mrs Lekhi said that after coming to power, Mr Kejriwal has paralysed the Delhi administration and due to chaos in the administrative system, the development works have stopped.
He used to take her to the rented accommodation on the pretext of dropping her at school and raped her.

She also informed the police that her father used to beat her and threatened to kill her when she resisted his attempts. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: A 17-year-old minor dialled 100 and lodged a complaint against her father who, on the pretext of dropping her to school, used to take her to a rented accommodation and allegedly sexually assault her. Further, when the girl informed her family members about the physical abuse meted out by her father, they allegedly hushed up the matter.

The accused, who has been identified as Dev Shankar Jha, is a self-styled astrologer and hails from Bihar.

He had come to the city many years ago for his livelihood. He was living in the C Block of Shalimar Bagh. A father of three minor girls, the accused was raping his eldest daughter for the last four years.

In order to commit the heinous crime, Shankar had rented a temporary accommodation in the area where he used to take his daughter and commit the crime, said the police.

The incident came to light on Thursday noon around 12.30 pm when the girl dialled 100 and informed the police. Thereafter a team rushed to the spot and rescued her. In her statement to the police, the survivor stated that her father has been committing the crime for the last four years.

He used to take her to the rented accommodation on the pretext of dropping her at school and raped her. Despite raising alarm at home, none gave a lending ear to the minor girls cries. She also informed the police that her father used to beat her and threatened to kill her when she resisted his attempts.

The Shalimar Bagh police arrested Dev Shankar on Thursday and has registered a case under the Pocso Act 2012 against him and remanded him to judicial custody.

The incident comes a day after the Mandir Marg police registered a case against four ex-students of Andh Mahavidyalay, a school for blind students situated at Panchkuian Road, for allegedly molesting and assaulting blind students living in the hostel, bringing further shame upon the capital.

The accused boys were allegedly carrying out illegal activities in the school premises and had converted it into a liquor den.
MSRDC to go eco-friendly, will illuminate Bandra-Worli sealink with solar panels.

Solar energy will lit up the site office, toll booths and cables at the BWSL from April.

Mumbai: Come April, the 5.6-km-long Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) will be illuminated with the help of solar panels that will be installed at both ends of the sealink. The move is aimed to bring down the expenditure on electricity consumption and also pave way for green energy. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) believes installation of solar panels will bring down their electricity bills by 60 per cent.

It also wants to push the Central governments initiative of promoting solar energy and cut down carbon footprints.

Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director, MSRDC, said, We have already floated bids for the change of operation and maintenance of contractor for the sealink. The current operator MEP infrastructures tenure will end by February. While appointing the new operator against the upfront payment of Rs 360 crore, one of our condition that the contractor will have to fulfil is installation of solar panels for generating electricity for the sea link.

Currently, the BEST and Reliance energy are supplying electricity for the sea link.

The expenditure is around Rs 1.10 crore annually. We expect to generate 355 kilovolt (KV) from solar panels and cut down expenses, said a MSRDC official.

According to the MSRDC, solar panels would be installed on the sideways near the toll collection booth at the Bandra end.

The power generated from the solar panels will help illuminate the 50 streetlights on the sealink, site office, toll booths, suspended cables and the aviation obstruction signal. The 8-lane BWSL was inaugurated in 2009 to provide an additional outlet from the island city to the western suburbs between Bandra and Worli. Further, the toll is also to be increased for using of sea link in 2018.
The 11 pm curfew is for both male and female students but the administration is lenient towards the former and strict with us.

Mumbai: A decision by Mumbai University (MU) to disallow female students residing on its Kalina campus from entering a proposed 24x7 library after 11 pm has sparked a controversy. Students have been on hunger strike for two days over the issue and are holding protests against MU vice-chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh, whom they allege is responsible for the decision.

According to protesters, MU has cited the security of female students as the reason behind the move. Students are not allowed to step outside the hostel after 11 pm, according to the universitys rules.

Rohit Chandode, the city head of the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), said, We have been protesting against Mr Deshmukh on campus for two days now. Firstly, the MU is delaying the construction of the library.

Now it is saying only male students will be allowed to use it all through the night but not female students owing to security concerns. This cannot happen. We will sit on protest until it is changed. A female student protester, who did not wish to be named, said, The demand for 24x7 library is a long-standing and we were happy that MU was keen on the same. However, it has informed us that it wont change the hostels curfew simply because we want to study in the library. The 11 pm curfew is for both male and female students but the administration is lenient towards the former and strict with us.

Commenting on the matter, a political science student said, There are times when female guests have visited the campus and have been told not to venture out of their respective accommodations after 11 pm.

Asking security issues exist only for female students, and not their male counterparts, womens rights activist and sociologist Nandini Sardesai said, Does this mean that MU is bothered about crimes against female students and not males? If the library is 24x7 in that case it should be 24x7 for both male and female. Why discriminate?

Meanwhile, several attempts to reach Mr Deshmukh did not yield any response.
Ivanka joined Trump at a policy meeting with business executives and accompanied him on a trip to Delaware's Dover Air Force Base.

President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (Photo: AP)

Washington: She may have no official White House title. But Ivanka Trump already is proving that she is an unofficial power player.

This week, the first daughter joined President Donald Trump at a policy meeting with business executives and accompanied him on a trip to Delaware's Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday to honour the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed in a raid in Yemen. She also hosted CEOs at her home to talk policy and used her influence behind the scenes at the White House.

These efforts have only underscored questions about the role Ivanka Trump, 35, expects to play after resigning executive positions with the Trump Organization and her own lifestyle brand to move to Washington. For now, though, it's her husband who is officially working in the administration.

"My father will be president, and hopefully, I can be there to support him and to support those causes I've cared about my whole professional career," Trump told ABC's "20/20" last month.

Whatever Ivanka Trump does, it will likely be unprecedented. There are no models for a member of the first family with a prominent policy role on the outside or a first daughter with this much influence on the inside.

Ivanka Trump has sought to halt speculation that she will serve as a fill-in first lady, which has only been heightened by Melania Trump's decision to continue living in New York City, where son Barron goes to school. Ivanka Trump told "20/20" that "there is one first lady." But joining the president on the somber trip to Dover was the kind of duty that would typically fall to the president's spouse.

"That's a typical scene you usually see played out with the president and the first lady, not the first daughter," said Katherine Jellison, who chairs the history department at Ohio University.

Back in Washington, Ivanka Trump has continued her efforts to gather information about workplace policies for women. She hosted a dinner at her home in the tony Kalorama neighborhood for many of the business leaders attending a White House meeting, including the top executives at Wal-Mart, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson, according to people with knowledge of the event. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a private dinner.

Trump also weighed in this week on a policy matter behind the scenes. Along with Kushner, she discouraged a possible executive order that would have impacted LGBTQ workplace rights and supported a White House statement that went out pledging to leave intact a 2014 executive order that protects workers for federal contractors from anti-LGBTQ discrimination, according to a person with knowledge of Ivanka Trump's role in the discussion, which was first reported by Politico.

Trump also hit a few bumps this week - and learned about the bigger spotlight for the first family.

She drew criticism on social media last weekend when she posted a picture of herself and husband Jared Kushner in formalwear a day after her father announced an executive order barring refugees from certain countries. A source close to Ivanka said she feels badly about what happened and regrets the post.

Her self-named lifestyle brand also took a hit when Nordstrom announced it will stop selling Ivanka Trump clothing and accessories, creating some questions about the future of the brand elsewhere. The Seattle-based department store chain said the decision was based on the sales performance.

Rosemary K. Young, senior director of marketing at Ivanka Trump, said in a statement that the brand "continues to expand across categories and distribution with increased customer support, leading us to experience significant year-over-year revenue growth in 2016."

A brand spokesperson said Nordstrom did order both shoes and clothing for spring and moved forward with the purchase of clothing.

Last month, Trump said she will take a "formal leave of absence" from her executive positions at the Trump Organization and her lifestyle brand, which offers shoes, clothes and messages of female empowerment. Her company will be run by the current president and a board of trustees. The process of unwinding those roles is complicated.

The Trump Organization has not filed paperwork yet to remove Ivanka Trump from its liquor license for a company tied to the Trump Soho hotel in Manhattan, according to New York State Liquor Authority spokesman William Crowley.

He said companies must update their licenses within 10 business days of any management changes, and that requires agency review and approval first, and that process has not even begun because the agency has not received a request yet.

Alan Garten, chief legal officer for the Trump Organization, said Friday that all paperwork had been filed to separate Ivanka Trump from the businesses. He noted that it was a lengthy process, which took several weeks. He did not immediately answer questions about that specific liquor license.
Some 1,250 asylum seekers  largely males from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan  had sought residency in Australia.

In the weeks and months to come, it is going to be extremely important to distinguish President Donald Trumps personal angularities from the popularity or appeal of his policies within the United States. This is crucial because it will offer an insight into the political and social mood in America, as different from admittedly unprepossessing aspects of Mr Trumps personality.

Take the temporary ban on immigration and even tourist or business visits from seven largely Muslim countries  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. At the simplest level, such categorisation may appear unfair and a throwback to Americas isolationist, anti-outsider past, specially in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. Yet, the fact is Mr Trumps executive order only built on directives and laws that have been around since 9/11  under the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. The new President has been brash and loud enough  perhaps crude enough  to tom-tom it for the benefit of his electoral base. Fundamentally, though, he has not invented this mood or regime.

Some numbers would be educative here. Mr Trump won 46.1 per cent of the popular vote in the presidential election, two percentage points behind his rival, Hillary Clinton. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted in all 50 American states, found 49 per cent of citizens agreed with Mr Trumps anti-immigration executive order and only 41 per cent opposed it. No doubt this was just one opinion poll and there will be more, and more authoritative, such surveys. Nevertheless it does tell us there is an anxiety in America that Mr Trump has touched, exploited and exaggerated for effect. He has not, however, created it.

This would suggest that unless economic conditions and political concerns change dramatically, the world is in for a surly American mood for the near future. Those dreaming of a Trump resignation or impeachment  both unlikely eventualities  or holding hope for a new thinking in four years, following the next election, cannot alter that reality.

Intelligent interlocutors will come to live with this framework and work within the limits it allows. Mr Trumps phone call with Australias Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is worth a comment here. There is little doubt that the leaks about the turbulent conversation didnt do Mr Trumps public relations any good. They only gave the impression of a man bent on wrecking relations between the US and one of its closest allies. Even so, what was the problem about?

Some 1,250 asylum seekers  largely males from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan  had sought residency in Australia. Canberra denied them asylum and detained them instead in controversial offshore centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. In November 2016, after the presidential election had been won by Mr Trump and while Mr Obama was a lame-duck President, the Obama administration and the Australian government finalised a deal whereby the US would take in those asylum seekers from Australian detention camps, even though Australia itself had refused them permanent homes.

Mr Trumps imminent presidency and views on refugees and visa restrictions were no secret at the time. For better or worse, he had campaigned on that theme and for better or worse he had won a majority in the Electoral College. Obviously his predecessor was laying a landmine for him. As representatives of a partner country, Australian diplomats should have been alive to the fact that the agreement would not find support from a Trump government. At the very least, some informal consultations would have been recommended. This is regular diplomatic practice in times of a domestic political transition.

For whatever reason, this was not done. The Australians presumed Mr Trump would honour his predecessors agreement and he has chosen not to. What was surprising, however, was for the Australian PM to have brought up such a combustible issue in his very first conversation with his new American counterpart. Such summit-level references are usually only made after sufficient groundwork has been done by sherpas and officials below and there is adequate assurance of success.

To have sought to surprise or ambush Mr Trump in this manner, specially in the week of his anti-immigration executive order, showed extraordinary naivete or risk-taking by the Australian PM. Of course, this is not to in any manner condone the American Presidents over-the-top response. Mr Trump may be a porcupine, but did Mr Turnbull have to provoke him?

In the process what the two men have achieved is a disturbing of the delicate balance between pro-American and pro-Chinese constituencies in Australia. It has given a handle to people like Bob Carr, former Australian foreign minister, to tell the Sydney Morning Herald: It forces us to drop romantic notions of the alliance and now be more realistic It liberates (Australian) leaders to say no to Washington if it seeks to recruit us for any reckless adventure. America has taken a nationalist direction and wont be returning to global leadership as weve understood it.

Those words would have carried greater credibility if Mr Carr had not been director of a Beijing-supported think tank in Sydney. He is one of a series of senior Australian political figures and former public officials, including former PMs, who have been co-opted by Chinese donors and commercial interests and by use of advisory positions that come with generous perquisites. The Trump-Turnbull fracas has only given such voices that much more room.

It is entirely probable the Australia episode will be replicated in other countries, specially in Asia and parts of Europe, where Chinese investments in business and academia have created a sizeable influence group that could easily intersect or even hijack anti-Trump sentiment. This is a risk America runs, but Mr Trump, at least in the near term, doesnt seem to care about.

Having said that many of the countries and societies concerned need America and the American partnership in a longer frame, even if it means adjusting to Americas domestic imperatives and contraction of interest in globalisation and multilateralism  and even if it means suffering Mr Trumps bullheadedness. For such countries, negotiating these multiple imperatives will be the key diplomatic challenge of 2017.
The deal will help Planet Labs broaden its available data and add new customers.

As part of the deal, Planet Labs will acquire the Terra Bella business including the SkySat constellation of satellites.

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Friday it would sell its satellite imaging business, Terra Bella, to Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based private satellite operator founded by former NASA scientists. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of the deal, Planet Labs will acquire the Terra Bella business including the SkySat constellation of satellites, Alphabet said. Google will enter into a multi-year contract to purchase Earth-imaging data from Planet Labs after the deal closes. Google had acquired Terra Bella, originally known as Skybox Imaging, for $500 million in 2014.

The deal will help Planet Labs broaden its available data and add new customers. Planet Labs is one of several startups aiming to harness technology allowing satellites to become smaller and less expensive, making it easier to deploy large networks of satellites at less risk and lower cost than previously.
The order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection.

Friday's ruling was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order. (Photo: AFP)

Los Angeles: A federal judge in Seattle on Friday ordered a temporary, nationwide halt to President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, in the most severe legal blow to the controversial measure.

The temporary restraining order issued by US District Judge James Robart will remain valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint by Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson.

"The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said, describing the judge's decision as historic. "No one is above the law not even the president."

"I said from the beginning it is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it's the constitution," he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush.

Friday's ruling was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Ferguson said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

It was unclear, however, whether the Trump administration would mount a legal challenge or whether federal border agents would abide by the ruling.

Robart's decision came after Ferguson filed a suit to invalidate key provisions of Trump's executive order which bars Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days. Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven countries concerned had their visas cancelled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

Battle not over

Washington Governor Jay Inslee welcomed the ruling as a "tremendous victory" but warned that the battle to overturn Trump's executive order was not over.

"There is still more to do," he said in a statement. "The fight isn't yet won. But we should feel heartened by today's victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history."

Ferguson said in his complaint that the president's ban violated the constitutional rights of immigrants and their families as it specifically targets Muslims.

However attorneys representing the Trump administration argued that as president, he had broad powers and was within his right to issue an order that protects Americans.

Trump's order has been met with an uproar by rights groups and immigration attorneys who say it specifically targets Muslims and has unfairly affected families, many of them US citizens.

The White House argues that the ban is aimed at making the country safer.
The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities were the opening salvo by Trump who has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran.

Washington: The Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran, which it said were just "initial steps" and said Washington would no longer turn a "blind eye" to Iran's hostile actions.

The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities were the opening salvo by President Donald Trump who has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and came two days after the administration had put Iran 'on notice' following a ballistic missile test.

"The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests," National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said.

"The days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," Flynn said in a White House statement.

Suggesting that more concrete action could follow if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support in regional proxy conflicts, a senior administration official said the latest sanctions were the initial steps in response to Iran's "provocative behaviour".

The administration was "undertaking a larger strategic review" of how it responds to Iran.

Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and said it would impose legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping "regional terrorist groups", state TV quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying.

Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.

Nuclear deal

The White House said that while the sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before. It added that a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear program was not in the best interest of the United States.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the missile test did not violate the nuclear agreement.

"It's not a direct violation. I think there is no question that it violates the spirit of that," Spicer said in an interview with MSNBC. He said the nuclear agreement was a "sweetheart deal" for Iran.

Citing a foreign ministry statement, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said the missile program is "the undeniable and inalienable right of our nation under international law and the UN charter. Any foreign interference in this regard is a violation of international law."

The new designations stuck to areas that remain under sanctions even with the 2015 nuclear deal sealed between Iran and world powers in place, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military body that is powerful in Iranian politics and the economy, and Iran's ballistic missile program. Zarif led Iran's delegation at the nuclear negotiations in 2015.

Among those affected by the sanctions were what it said was a Lebanon-based network run by the Revolutionary Guards.

"The list is actually so targeted and comparatively mild, it leads one to surmise that it may have been a set of targets devised by the Obama administration, and was ready to go when Trump came into office," said Adam Smith, former senior advisor to the Director of the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"As such, the real test for which way the Trump team will go on Iran may well be not this list release but the next one, whenever that occurs," Smith said.

The sanctions' impact will be more symbolic than practical, especially as they do not affect the lifting of broader U.S. and international sanctions that took place under the nuclear deal.

Also, few of the Iranian entities being targeted are likely to have U.S. assets that can be frozen, and U.S. companies, with few exceptions, are barred from doing business with Iran.

Meanwhile, the U.S. moved a Navy destroyer, the USS Cole, close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran.

Designations

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Friday expressed understanding over the sanctions, but warned against conflating Sunday's test with the nuclear deal.

Earlier on Friday, Trump tweeted: "Iran is playing with fire". U.S. Senator Mark Warner expressed support for the sanctions, adding:

"I urge the Administration to bring clarity to their overall strategy towards Iran, and to refrain from ambiguous rhetoric or provocative tweets that will exacerbate efforts to confront those challenges.

Some of the entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury are based in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China.

Among those affected were companies, individuals and brokers the U.S. Treasury said support a trade network run by Iranian businessman Abdollah Asgharzadeh.

Treasury said he supported Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which the United States has said is a subsidiary of an Iranian entity that runs Iran's ballistic missile program.

Hasan Dehghan Ebrahimi, a Beirut-based official with the Revolutionary Guard's Qods Force, which runs its operations abroad, was put under sanctions for acting on behalf of the Qods Force, Treasury said.

Three Lebanese companies involved in waste collection, pharmaceuticals, and construction were also listed under the sanctions for being owned or controlled by Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat, one of Ebrahimi's employees.

Treasury said he has facilitated millions of dollars in cash transfers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Two of his employees and a company he manages were also sanctioned. Treasury said Ebrahimi and his employees used a Lebanon-based network to transfer funds, launder money, and conduct business.
In Trump's America, racism and bigotry has become widespread. But instances of racism, can be seen from different perspectives as well.

Fatima Islam, 16, from left, Subhya Abdullatif, 17, Bisma Parekh, 16, Barira Khan, 19, Hala Thiab, 15, and Salma Zeidat, 14, all from Houston, say the Pledge of Allegiance during Muslim Day at the Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Let me tell you two stories that happened to two different people. Both concern religion in North America.

Register how you feel about each of them.

Story one: Why are you not Christian? a man asks you.

Story two: You wake up to find someone has left a Bible on your doorstep.

Which of these sounds more violent, more threatening to you? Or neither?

Now, imagine yourself a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf in a Western country and repeat the two stories to yourself again. How would you feel?

Now let me complete each story and give you some context.

Story one

Why are you not Christian? the man asked, kindly, in broken English.

We believe in Jesus and the Bible, I said, wanting to comfort him, and we have a lot of Christians in Egypt where I come from.

This happened to me in Houston, Texas around 2007 or 2008. The man was a plumber coming in to fix my sink. He found it difficult to express himself in English but seemed to care about saving my soul, however misguided that was.

It didnt occur to me to be offended or afraid. This was a time when America was on the cusp of electing either a black president, a female president or at least a female vice president. Houston, despite what all my American friends had told me before I left Egypt, was not a generally racist place to live.

Half of the surgery fellows working with my husband at the Texas Heart Institute were Muslim. Some strangers said Assalamu Alaikum (peace be upon you) to me on the streets, or stopped me and my friends to comment on the beauty of our colourful headscarves.

Story two

You wake up to find someone has left a Bible on your doorstep. This happened to a friend in North America, soon after Donald Trump was elected president. She felt it was a threat or a subtle act of violence. She wondered how her neighbours would feel if she placed a Quran on their doorsteps.

When I heard my friends story, it got me thinking about the possible intentions of the person who placed that Bible on her doorstep.

I trust that my friends feeling of being threatened was real in that context. But I wondered if the story might have been different. What if the story had included a note inside the Bible, showing who had left it, or giving an invitation to exchange holy books?

What if the Bible on the doorstep had been the beginning of a dialogue rather than a way to scare someone away? And if the person who left the Bible on my friends doorstep didnt have bad intentions, why didnt they do it in person and look her in the eye?

Context and power

There are differences between story one and two, chief among them are context and power. The political context and who the actors are make a difference to the story. An elderly, Hispanic plumber fixing my sink? Not a threat to my 20-something self in Houston, accompanying my surgeon husband doing a fellowship at a prestigious nearby hospital.

Had I been asked the same question by a white man, in an angry voice, in another context, my reaction would probably have been very different.

I am telling this story in the era where we are lamenting the rise of fake news and exploring our roles as educators to respond to it, as if a technical solution to figuring out if something is a lie will fix our problems. It wont. Because its not a technical problem.

Education and understanding

Donald Trumps executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US is not fake news. Its real news. And as a community, we have to deal with it.

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said:

Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story and to start with, secondly. Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with the arrival of the British, and you have an entirely different story. Start the story with the failure of the African state, and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story.

The media does this all the time. So do politicians  we see Donald Trump right now, talking about banning Iraqi refugees and immigrants from entering the US, without mentioning the role of his country in causing the instability that motivated the immigration in the first place.

Adichie also says:

The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.

In my view, the best way to ensure that we and our children see more than the stereotypical story about people who are different from us is to expose them and ourselves to multiple stories. The bare minimum is to expose ourselves to other cultures on their own terms.

So, for example, we dont learn about Native Americans from Pocahontas or from Western films. We learn from Native Americans themselves. If we dont have direct access to them (I live a long way away in Egypt), find them online. Read or listen or even, if youre lucky, converse.

I know what youre thinking. Im Muslim, talking about Muslims in America. What brought this on? But in the midst of my concern over Muslims in America, I also noticed Trumps presidential memo to advance approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline, I can see the injustice in this, and the irony: on the one hand, a nation of immigrants that is neither honouring immigrants, nor honouring the original residents of this land.

We will always have blind spots towards cultures that are unfamiliar to us. But the more deeply we establish understanding of the other, the more we try to empathise, with social justice as our underlying value, the more likely we are to become empathetic, critical, global citizens. As educators, we must expand and diversify the people in our in-groups, and help students do this too.

Education expert Sean Michael Morris, on the day of Trumps inauguration, urged us to change the way we teach. He wrote:

An education that convinces us of what needs to be known, what is important versus what is frivolous, is not an education. Its training at best, conscription at worst. And all it prepares us to do is to believe what were told.

This goes for parents and mentors as well as those of us in more formal teaching roles.

Building empathy

The best way not to believe what were told is not to go fact-checking each and every thing we hear. Instead, I propose we start building our ability to understand people who are different from us, in context, rather than relying on harmful stereotypes. To know them as individuals, as they would like to be known, not as some dominant power (or US president) has decided we shall know them.

This is not quick or simple. But it can allow us to form a view of the world that rises above deception and to see whats important in our humanity. And it will change the way we vote. When we empathise with others, we imagine how our decisions can impact them.

Remember those two stories I mentioned earlier? Back in 2007 and 2008, I felt comfortable and safe praying in a mosque in Houston. Now, I would not, given the latest news of Islamophobic violence in mosques coming from North America, most recently the terrorist attack on a mosque in Quebec City that left six people dead.

My friend with the Bible on her doorstep, a dual citizen, was unable to attend a conference in the US a few days ago.

But that isnt the biggest tragedy. The tragic stories are those of families torn apart by this executive order. Parents who cannot reach their children. What we need now, more than ever, is empathy.

This article has been reprinted from The Conversation Global with permission.
The White House maintained Pakistan would itself have to decide which way it wanted to go.

Islamabad: Days after JuD was put on Pakistans terror watchlist and its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest, the organisation has reemerged with a new name  Tehrik-e-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (movement for Kashmirs freedom).

The action against the JuD chief and his organisation came after US President Donald Trump reportedly issued a warning to Pakistan that Washington could slam sanctions on Pakistan if JuD continued to work freely. The US had also announced a $10 million bounty on Hafiz Saeed in 2012 for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 164 people.

Recently, Mr Trump banned visas for seven Muslim countries in a bid to stop terrorists from entering the US. The White House maintained Pakistan would itself have to decide which way it wanted to go.
Pemra in October 2016 had banned Indian content on Pakistani private televisions being operated through cable network in the country.

Lahore: A Pakistani court on Saturday served notices to the federal government and the electronic media regulator for banning Indian content on television and sought reply from them by February 9.

The Lahore High Court issued the notices to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and Federal Information Ministry on a petition by Leo Communication.

Pemra in its October 2016 order had banned Indian content on Pakistani private televisions being operated through cable network in the country. The petitioner said the order is in violation of Pemra rules and the Constitution.

Advocate Taffazul Rizvi, counsel for petitioner, said his client in 2010 had been granted a 15-year licence by Pemra to operate a cable channel, Filmazia and under the licence it was allowed to broadcast 10 per cent of foreign content including Indian.

"The channel because of running foreign (Indian) content became very popular and received highest viewership ratings across the country," he said.

Pemra, he said, without citing any legal reason on October 19, 2016 issued a circular abruptly banning all Indian content on cable channels in Pakistan.

"The government is indulging in selective patriotism as Indian movies are allowed to be exhibited in cinemas all over the country showing its double standards," he argued.

After hearing the arguments, LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed that when Indian movies are being screened in cinemas in the country what justification the government/Pemra has to ban Indian content on TV. The court adjourned the hearing till February 9.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Father Frederick D'Souza comments of the Union budget 2017-2018. It allocates more resources to infrastructure and rural areas. The director of the social arm of the Catholic Church points out some deficiencies. They need more money for agriculture, protection of women and the development of castes, tribal groups and minorities.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "Investing in human resources is a prerequisite for industrial growth" affirms Fr. Frederick D'Souza, director of Caritas India, active in social and development programs both in his country and abroad. He spoke to AsiaNews about the positive and negative aspects of the Union's budget for 2017-2018, presented recently by the Minister of Economy. In particular stresses the need to "invest more among the disadvantaged tribal groups and classes, so as to promote equitable growth."

The priest reports that the new estimates for expenditure contain a "huge allocation for industrial growth with the aim of increasing jobs." But he believes, "the creation of jobs depends very much on the development of skills among unemployed youth." This is why the focus should be on human resources. The director of the social arm of the Catholic Church believes that it, "the 5% increase granted to the agricultural sector is not enough, given the high number of suicides among farmers, drought and water scarcity." "A robust growth in agriculture - he says - supplying the industrial sector and cannot be improved in a state of isolation."

As for health care, he appreciates "the 9% increase for the National Health Mission", but notes that "the field of mental health and the tobacco control program will continue to receive the same amounts as the previous year. Instead the aim is to reach those who cannot afford the costs of medical care. "

The Union budget provides increased funding to the development of gender equality, especially for women and poor children [around 25.5 billion euro, ed.] At the same time, he notes, "there will be major cuts to programs that want to improve the conditions of women and ensure their safety such as the Nirbhaya Fund [created with the budget of 2013, named after the Delhi student raped on a bus by a group of assailants whho died after atrocious suffering in Singapore. Equal to 10miliardi rupees (138 million euro), each year, the fund is not spent - ed]. "

Regarding loans granted to the "Scheduled Castes" and "Scheduled Tribes", respectively, 2.44% and 1.49% of the total budget, Fr. D'Souza says they are not sufficient. "The disadvantaged castes and tribal groups - he concludes - as well as minorities, need more funding for education and skills development."
The country is mired in an economic crisis due to a collapse in foreign investment, a slowdown in trade with China and the low prices of raw materials. The Mongolian currency, the Turgik, this year lost nearly a quarter of its value.

Ulaan Baatar (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Mongolian citizens are donating goods such as gold, cash or cattle to the state to put together the 580 million US dollars needed to repay the government bonds maturing next month.

The cash-strapped country, is in the throes of an economic crisis due to a collapse in foreign investment, a slowdown in trade with China and the low prices of raw materials. The Mongolian currency, the Turgik, this year lost nearly a quarter of its value.

The government has held talks with China and with officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance. However, investors fear that liquidity injections into banks will fail to be negotiated by March, the month in which the payment of the bonds is expected.

Despite the Mongolian citizens facing welfare cuts, rising costs of food and fuel and the harsh winter that is threatening to kill large numbers of cattle, this week, after an awareness campaign launched by the parliament, donation forms are being distributed on a large scale.

Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulga Erdenebat said that although the government is willing to accept donations, it has already "found a solution" for the payment of bonds and would spend those funds differently. "The government - said the prime minister - may not prohibit the start of any campaign undertaken by citizens. The parliament has decided to spend voluntary donations by investing in health, education, the reduction of pollution and improvement of public infrastructure. "

Late last year, an official of the Mongolian Finance had stated that the country was trying to refinance the debt through low interest loans.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman expresses fears of mass emigration. At least 66 thousand people flock to the refugee camps. The agency operates seven camps and is building two more. Additional concerns for those fleeing from Hawija district: "They risk is of being kidnapped or blown up on mine."

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - While the government offensive against Islamic State militants in Mosul is heading towards the final phase, the UN warns that 250 thousand inhabitants in the western part could flee the city. Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the international agency and other organizations are urgently preparing "to respond to a possible significant increase in Iraqi refugees, fleeing from the last stage offensive "against fighters of the Caliphate in the west of Mosul.

The spokesman said that if the advance of coalition troops, composed of army and Kurdish Peshmerga, were to be accelerated, "at least 250 thousand people would pour into the streets", considering that about 750 thousand people live in Iraq's second largest city.

The refugees would be in addition to approximately 161 thousand people who have already left homes and properties since October 2016, when the offensive began. While many look forward to the return of the moment, as recounted to AsiaNews by Fr. Samir Youssef, pastor of the diocese of Amadiya (Kurdistan), many people are still trapped in the city. "We are very concerned for their welfare," said the UN representative.

The reconquest of the eastern part of Mosul has generated fierce fighting, which also brought to light the atrocities committed by the fundamentalists against the civilian population. According to the spokesman, the new battle in the western part will be even more "lethal."

Saltmarsh reports that most of the displaced refugees from Mosul, about 83% of the total, live in camps and emergency centers. The UNHCR operates seven camps, which is home to around 66 thousand people, and two more are under construction. By the end of March, the agency hopes to expand accommodation facilities to shelter at least 246,930 people.

Finally, the UN envoy warns that the flow of inhabitants fleeing from Hawija district to escape the Isis deportations is incessant. To date "more than 82 thousand people fled to the eastern parts of Salah al-Din and Kirkuk, but the number could soon rise to 114 thousand. Those who are abandoning Hawija run serious risks, including the risk of becoming victims of rape or blown up on mines left by the militants. "
For the longest time, two of the biggest and most aggressive car manufacturers have had the rivalry. Both Honda and Toyota claim that there are the best, but which one is saying the truth? It is one tough call as reports are varying from report to another. Factual basis considered, there seems to be one clear winner, or is there?

According to Benzinga, their historical reference back in 2013 states that financial performance wise, Honda is the clear winner. HMC is up 0.87 percent and Toyota as TM is down 0.63 percent. This doesn't seem to matter much as both brands produce the best of vehicles in the market year after year in terms of reliability, comfort, style, and fuel economy.

Reports say that both Honda and Toyota have led the way in increasing the overall market share for Japanese stocks by an average of 60 percent. This report is definitely astounding as the rest of the 40 percent are shared by all other brands.

Since 2013, Toyota and Honda continue to be major players and show no signs of stopping. Four years later, the trend has remained the same even with the efforts of other brands to topple the two have greatly increased. It remains a slim chance for other brands to remain at the top as the two have enjoyed over several years.

Both Honda and Toyota also reported 70 percent increase in its operating profit. Toyota has bene consistently selling aggressively and its efforts have paid off. Their vehicles are performing very well the world over. Honda, on the other hand, is also considered one of the top automakers on the planet and customer base see consistent expansion year after year especially that its motorcycle division is big in Thailand and Brazil.

As added by USA Today, as of July 2016, Toyota US sales fell 5.6 percent in June while Honda enjoyed increases of 13.1 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. In terms of units sold, Toyota US sells an average of 195,000 units with 198,257 sold in June 2016. Honda on the same month, sold 138,715 vehicles.

The Toyota brand posted a 6.2 percent decline. Honda, on the other hand, rose to 7.1 percent. Unfortunately, Acura, Honda's luxury brand declined to a devastating 26.9 percent.

Market trends are unpredictable. It varies literally month after month, let alone year after year. Both Honda and Toyota have remained at the top for good reasons. Determining the clear winner of the competition is impossible. In this case, it is a DRAW. Both are two of the best and champions in their own right.
The Honda Civic Type R will be the tenth-generation Type R and is scheduled to make its debut during the Geneva Auto Show in March 2017. It was recently revealed that the production cars will be ready by Autumn of this year.

The Type R is the Civic's highest-performance car. It has never before appeared in the United States except for mailing-order clones built for other markets or as virtual versions in Gran Turismo. This is important because Honda hasn't revealed a major performance model since it killed the S2000 nearly eight years ago.

There are a lot of differences for the 2018 model which has undergone a major overhaul. Most noticeable among the changes is how low it now is. In addition, the chassis now has a multi-link rear suspension which aims to combine handling precision with better comfort.

The Honda Civic Type R is expected to be released with a new i-VTEC 2.0-liter engine. It will only be available in six-speed manual transmission. It is expected to have around 300 horsepower and its torque steering will be suppressed by its new front-suspension design and adaptive dampers all around.

The new Type R will also share the same platform as the Accord. This will give it a bigger and more refined base despite its hatchback-only body style. Moreover, it will have exterior styling similar to the newer Civics but it will be sportier and edgier.

Type R Release Date. Top Gear has stated in a Facebook post linking their article that the new Civic Type R will be released in Autumn of this year. While a lot of car enthusiasts seemed generally excited by their news, a lot of their followers also posted negative remarks about the car's lack of aesthetic appeal. NSEA Voice reports that this is because the exterior design completely clashes with the bulk body kit which spoils the proportions of the vehicle.

The new Honda Civic Type R will be stronger and more powerful than ever before. Are you excited for the new model? Thoughts and comments below.
The long list for the much-hyped Tesla Model 3 might have been reduced as Tesla fans are canceling their orders for the midpriced all-electric sedan. It has been reported that this was due to Elon Musk's ties with President Donald Trump.

Although it is still unclear as to the exact numbers of those who are canceling their orders for Model 3, Tesla is required to refund them their $1000 deposit. Tesla has over 400,000 Model 3 reservations and the company has stated that their first full year of production has been relatively sold out.

The customers' decision to cancel their orders for Tesla Model 3 comes at the heels of Elon Musk commenting on President Trump's new executive order banning people from Muslim-majority countries to enter the United States. In fact, the new immigration ban has received significant backlash, both in the country and overseas.

Tesla seems to have been among the company that has been indirectly targeted by a few people who are strongly against the new executive order from President Trump. Elon Musk has become part of the Strategic and Policy Forum under President Trump's administration.

He has met with the President on a couple of occasions and also has become closer to the admin since the election, reports Electrek. It has been reported that because of this, Tesla fans and some of Elon Musk's supporters have turned against him and his company. Canceling their orders is their way of protesting Musk's ties with the Trump administration.

.@tqbf Thanks. Cancelled my early reservation and will be donating the $1k to charity instead. Kills me as a TSLA fan but need to take stand pic.twitter.com/JW7Mjc903U  Colin Niloc (@colinniloc81) January 30, 2017

However, according to CNBC, Elon Musk took to Twitter and voiced out his concerns regarding the executive order issued by President Trump. But his disapproval was still not strong enough for a few people. He soon crowd-sourced amendments that he would present to the President and council.

Tesla and CEO Elon Musk were not the only target of indirect protest from consumers. Uber subscribers have been hitting the unsubscribe button because of CEO Travis Kalanick's connection with President Trump. Like Musk, he is also in the Strategic and Policy Forum.

Tesla will begin production of the Model 3 by mid-2017 and is expected to hit volume production by the end of the year. The cancellation movement may not have made a huge dent on Tesla long reservation list but it seems that the people's message may have gotten through the CEO.
Nintendo comes up with big announcements for their Switch Campaign. Big N revealed the UK tour campaign and virtual reality possibilities. This is to advertise and encourage more gaming enthusiasts to join the Switch hype train.

The hybrid console, Nintendo Switch is coming to London, Birmingham, and Manchester for a one-time hands-on opportunity. Game titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe and other launch titles will be available to play during the said event.

Tickets are only limited to two persons only. The Nintendo Switch UK tour starts at Birmingham on February 10-12 followed by Manchester on February 17-19, and lastly London on February 24-26. Fans should secure tickets ahead of time since tickets are expected to run out fast.

In other news, Nintendo President, Tatsumi Kimishima discussed Nintendo Switch's Virtual Reality possibilities. In a report by IGN, Kimishima says that the company is studying VR implementation to Switch.

But, there are some concerns the company has to look at along the way. "If we are able to resolve the issues with playing [VR] comfortably for long hours, we will support it in one form or another," said Kimishima. Since the VR technology if proven cause number of comfort-related issues, Nintendo wants to make sure it uplift to the console's main purpose.

Virtual Reality has been a long-time discussion within Nintendo's top executives. The Switch possesses all the core aspects of the Virtual Technology. But, the company aims to release a gaming platform that can be enjoyed for a long period of hours, carries value, and affordable.

Nintendo Switch release date is on March 3, 2017. Basing on the feedback it received all over social media from the past days, the console will more likely be a success.

What are your thoughts about Nintendo Switch? Share it in the comment section below.
4 February 2017 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

Armenia pushes foreign citizens to visiting Azerbaijans occupied territories by fraud and other ways, and later tries to turn these people into a tool in its propagandist political games, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend Feb. 3.

He was commenting on the extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin.

Alexander Lapshin, despite special warning by the foreign ministries of countries, the citizen of which he is, visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by violating the countrys state border, Hajiyev said. Then, knowing that he is in the blacklist of Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, which barred him from visiting the country, Lapshin again entered Azerbaijan using the ID issued by another country.

He himself admitted that he had committed these actions deliberately, Hajiyev added. A criminal case was initiated under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan against Lapshin, and he was put on the Interpol international wanted list.

Hajiyev said that being a blogger or a journalist is not a reason for immunity or violation of the laws.

Therefore, the attempts to politicize this issue or treat it as violation of freedom of expression are absolutely wrong, he noted. Unreasonable fuss and discussions created around this purely legal issue are not clear. Azerbaijan has taken appropriate legal steps for the extradition of Alexander Lapshin detained in Belarus within the framework of the Kishinev Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters signed Oct. 7, 2002 by the CIS countries.

Armenias unjustified activity, which causes laughter in this issue, and the countrys attempts to politicize it, expose the dirty goals pursued by Yerevan, Hajiyev said.

Alexander Lapshin is a citizen of several countries and has had a criminal conspiracy with Armenians living in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. He also illegally visited these territories.

Lapshin is accused of violating Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012.

In order to promote the illegal regime created in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, Lapshin presented Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state on his social media account, and supporting the independence of the unrecognized regime he made public incitements aimed at violating Azerbaijans territorial integrity on April 6 and June 29, 2016.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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4 February 2017 14:00 (UTC+04:00)

The first edition of the childrens magazine Qaranqush (Swallow) by TEAS Press Publishing House was presented at the European Azerbaijan School (EAS) (www.qaranqush.az), Azertag reported.

Editor-in-chief of the magazine Aysel Zahidqizi said the publication, is aimed at educating and entertaining children. She noted that the magazine contains interesting stories, articles, columns on various areas, and even topics in English.

The magazine will take children on a journey to an outside world and provide them with fascinating pieces of information on a monthly basis. Azerbaijans renowned writers and illustrators have taken part in the preparation of the 44-page magazine.

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4 February 2017 12:19 (UTC+04:00)

The attacks of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), ideological and financial sponsor of the terrorist organization ASALA, on the Azerbaijani news agency Trend with fraud and false information, is an attack on freedom of speech, media and the truth in general, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend.

Hajiyev was commenting on the attempt of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) to compare a phrase about the Armenian diaspora parasitizing on the US with a quote related to Jews, from Adolf Hitlers book.



ANCA attempted to distort the phrases brought by Trend Agencys author in an article dealing with the rapidly worsening situation of the Armenian diaspora in the US ("Trump puts end to Armenian lobbys influence on US" )on its official Twitter account.

Hajiyev noted that by remaining committed to its traditions, the ANCA is trying to disguise its continuous lies, deceit and manipulate the US public opinion.

The support of the Armenian Foreign Ministry officials for this campaign shows where the origin of this provocation comes from, said the Azerbaijani official.

Hajiyev added that the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and other relevant international organizations shouldnt remain indifferent to the ANCAs false and provocative attacks on Trend agency and its journalists.

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4 February 2017 17:57 (UTC+04:00)

Chairman of the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) Umud Mirzayev has highlighted President Ilham Aliyevs order on the restoration of Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil region as he attended a council meeting of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) in Brussels, Azertag reported.

The event titled "Refugees and asylum seekers' rights and interests" brought together members of several organizations.

Addressing the event, the IEPF Chairman hailed the ECRE's decisions on migration and deportation issues in Europe. He added that the decisions made on refugees and asylum seekers should not be considered as a matter of Europe. "This is not only an internal issue of Europe. These issues should be taken into consideration in Europe in the context of the countries in which the migration takes place. Migration issues should be studied seriously and the necessary measures should be taken to prevent it." Touching upon problems of migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus, Mirzayev said that they experience difficulties in returning to their native lands.

He called on ECRE to express its attitude to the problems of people who became refugees and IDPs as a result of the Armenian aggression.

Highlighting President Ilham Aliyevs order on the restoration of Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil region, Mirzayev said that this was a great support for the villagers living in different places to return their homes. The main point is that it ended to hopelessness of people going back to their occupied regions. This is an issue related to one village. I think that ECRE should be sensitive on such issues and take serious position in large context, and should always prevail the principles of international law, peace and justice," the IEPF Chairman said.

Umud Mirzayev said that the ECRE must increase its efforts to raise awareness of the international community on refugee issues. Other speakers, including, Vollads Zahle, ECRE's General Coordinator on communications, Leonie Jegen, the organization's deputy Director General, Annemiek Bots, co-chairman of Netherlandss Refugees Council, supported the views of the IEPF Chairman. They also emphasized the role of media to highlight problems of refugees and asylum seekers.

On the sidelines of the event, Anastasia Lavrina, Assistant to IEPF Chairman, made a presentation on Eurasia Diary International Analytical Gateway, initiated by the IEPF, which is functioning in five languages. She said that one of the directions of Eurasia Diarys strategy is to deliver refugees problems to a wide range of readers.

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4 February 2017 15:13 (UTC+04:00)

Turkmenistan and Indonesia considered the opportunities of cooperation in the spheres of energy, tourism and education during an official meeting in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

The Indonesian delegation was represented by the countrys Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Turkmenistan (with a residence in Tehran) Octavino Alimudin.

Discussing the trade and economic cooperation, the sides noted the importance of organizing the meetings of the two countries businessmen. Meanwhile, the sides expressed interest in establishing inter-parliamentary and inter-party relations. Indonesia has a long-standing interest in the Turkmen market.

In the mid-1990s, Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. (INPEX) obtained shares in the gas pipeline consortium of the pipeline project from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. However, the project was suspended due to the unstable transit issues through Afghanistans territory.

In recent years, Ashgabat and Islamabad revived this project. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) financed its feasibility analysis and India joined the project as an interested buyer of the Turkmen gas that increased the chances of implementation of the transnational project. The construction of the Turkmen section of this gas pipeline started in December 2015.

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The Bond villain libertarians of Guatemala | Washington Examiner

"Francisco Marroquin -- named after the first Bishop of Guatemala, who translated several of the indigenous languages -- is one of the best universities in Latin America. Its fees are at the upper end of the range, and it sets stiff entrance criteria, including a required fluency in English. All its undergraduates, whether they are studying law, medicine or architecture, are given a basic grounding in the principles of personal liberty and limited government.

"Does that sound like indoctrination? Perhaps it is. But only in the sense that all universities indoctrinate their students. We expect our places of learning to uphold certain standards: Respect for truth, decency towards others, self-restraint.

"What makes Francisco Marroquin unusual is not that it seeks to inculcate values. Rather, it's that those values are not the leftist ones prevalent in almost every other institution of higher education. Instead of promoting anti-racism as the supreme political value, Francisco Marroquin promotes freedom. Safe spaces, micro-aggressions and trigger warnings have no place in these handsome buildings. Students are constantly exhorted to think for themselves.

"To leftists, the place must seem like a Bond villain's lair. Although it's surrounded by Guatemala City, you wouldn't think so when you're there. The campus is in a ravine, overshadowed by the viridian spray of its arboretum -- the university governors take pride in the fact that, unlike some ecologists, they are engaging in practical conservation work rather than demanding that politicians do it for them. A socialist who stumbled upon the place would surely conclude that he had uncovered some "Boys From Brazil" type plot.

"The free-market liberalism taught here has a samizdat feel. Most undergraduates are as opposed to the big-government paternalism that passes for conservatism in Latin America as they are to the Left."
The Presidents executive action on immigration and travel is causing alarm in the local Muslim community.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn visited Islamic Society of Tampa Bay

Buckhorn showed solidarity with Muslims concerned about the travel order

Friday, the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay invited Mayor Bob Buckhorn to come to a prayer service to help ease concerns.

Almost everybody in this community is scared, said Mahmoud Elkasaby, executive director of Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area or ISTBA.

It is time for us to say that is not what America is, said Mayor Buckhorn.

Buckhorn said the city stands by the Muslim community.

The community will be with you, Buckhorn said. You dont have to worry.

The show of solidarity comes after a week of protests all over the world.

The controversy stems from President Trumps executive order that keeps immigrants out of the U.S. from seven predominately Muslim nations. An order also bans Syrian refugees from the U.S. indefinitely.

It is no other way to call it, it is a Muslim ban, Elkasaby said.

Critics have called the Presidents travel ban discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Supporters said the ban is needed to protect the country.

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President Donald Trump is now in Florida on his first trip to the sunshine state since becoming Commander in Chief.

President Trump and the First Lady arrived in Palm Beach on Friday on Air Force one.

They are spending the weekend at Mar-A-Lago, now called the "Winter White House."

The first family's visit to their Florida estate will also be marked by protests.

Two thousand people have registered on Facebook to attend a protest near Mar-A-Lago Saturday, which is being held by a group called "Women's March Florida."

According to the news site Politico, the group is marching in opposition to Trump's executive order on immigrant vetting.

The organization is scrambling to help refugees that the president has temporarily banned from entering the United States, reported Politico.

On Monday, the president will visit central command and special operations command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, where he will get security briefings and address all MacDill personnel.
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Jerome Cabeen told a group of about 50 people who gathered on Friday night that he had a message for the local immigrant and refugee community.

"You are welcome here," said Cabeen, the director of the Office of Family Life for the Diocese of Beaumont.

Cabeen was one of several who spoke during a candlelight vigil outside the Event Centre in Beaumont. It was a peaceful protest of President Donald Trump's recent ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

At the same time the group was meeting, U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle released an order temporarily blocking Trump's ban.

The non-denominational prayer circle in Beaumont was organized by local activist group Golden Triangle Indivisible.

"We are saddened, concerned and heartbroken about the recent ban on refugees coming into the county," said Terry Young, a member of Spindletop Unitarian Universalist Church in Beaumont.

Shelby Smith, one of the non-partisan progressive group's organizers, said the vigil was about creating unity in Southeast Texas.

"It's important to show the community that we have a voice, and we want to make it a safe place for everyone to live and work," said Smith.

President Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 that suspended the U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days and temporarily banned immigrants from Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen for 60 days. The order requires the Department of State and Homeland Security to develop an "enhanced vetting" process.

Trump's order banned all Syrian refugees indefinitely.

Many attendees said they were uncomfortable with the ban and felt it unfairly targeted the Muslim community.

"I don't agree with (the ban)," said Beaumont resident Mark Mengerink, 45, who attended the vigil with his wife, Michelle, 43. "I don't think it's good for the country. Refugees are just trying to find a better life."

"We want to make sure that they know we're here. That they know we see them," said Orange resident Marsi Patronella, 32, who started the Facebook group "Southeast Texas Progressives."

Smith said Golden Triangle Indivisible formed after nearly 300 hundred people showed up for Golden Triangle Sisters March on Jan. 21.

"When we realized there was such a big community, it was something we wanted to keep it together," said Smith.

Winnie resident Pat Ruff said she attended for some of her Muslim colleagues and said she wanted to be close to a community that shared similar political views.

"Personally, it's nice to know there are others who feel the same way you do," said Ruff, 57.
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Sir Anthony Seldon is reflecting on his 34-year marriage to Joanna, who died last month from neuroendocrine cancer. She was 62. "However much you love your partner, it's easy to take them for granted, put them in the bank and know they are there," he says. "When Joanna became ill I realised she wouldn't always be there. That brought us much closer. Those last five years were like falling in love with her again."

Anthony (63) is a self-confessed workaholic. He's a prolific writer, penning award-winning biographies of prime ministers, and last year he became Vice-Chancellor of Buckingham University after nine years as Master of boarding school Wellington College, where Joanna taught English.

Folded on to a yellow sofa in his office at the university, prints by Klee and Matisse on the walls, Anthony is a neat figure who stands on his head every morning as part of his yoga practice.

His latest project is for Joanna. After her diagnosis she decided to write a biography of her late father, Dr Maurice Pappworth. She wanted it to be published this year to mark the 50th anniversary of his campaign to stop medical experiments on humans, and now Anthony is overseeing the final edits and publication, which is scheduled for this autumn.

"The book is very Joanna," says Anthony. "Strong and direct. It's powerful because it's about a phenomenal figure fighting against a powerful establishment. Her father was a strict Jewish man who didn't like me to begin with, which is why I converted to Judaism." Working in London in the Fifties and Sixties, Pappworth was rejected from jobs because of his religion. His campaign against medical testing did nothing to further his popularity. Joanna "revered him".

"She was without ego and wrote the book for her father," says Anthony. "I wondered if she was trying to gain acceptance for his work. She was happy that senior medics talked to her for the book. That his work is seen as having value now gave her peace." Anthony met Joanna on a production of Chekhov's Three Sisters when they were in their final year at Oxford and says: "I came across this spectacular, dark-eyed, ferociously intelligent and beautiful, unusual-looking girl."

He was going out with her best friend and she was seeing Alex Cox, now a film director. "I'd endlessly talk to Joanna about the ups and downs I had with this girl," he remembers. "I did notice that she started getting a bit cross that I was talking about that."

Two years after graduating they went on a group holiday to Tuscany. "I was still going out with Joanna's best friend and I don't quite know how it happened but Joanna and I came back together as an item," he says with a smile.

Joanna was awarded the top first in her year reading English and went on to complete a doctorate on American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, while Seldon was at LSE researching Churchill.

"I was in awe of her," says Anthony. "She helped me structure my work and could've gone on and taken any job she wanted in academia, it was all so effortless for her. She just knew what people were saying and what she wanted to say, never using jargon."

He admits they were "quite earnest". "Recently I found the birthday card she wrote me when I turned 25. She kept everything. She'd divided a circle into quarters, scrubbed one out and said 'there you are, a quarter gone'."

It was while the couple were studying for their doctorates in America that Anthony came to rely on Joanna. "It was just about the hardest time of my life. Joanna was soothing, indescribably loving and helped me find my way forward, not just with work. I started meditating, doing yoga, rebuilt my life in a more spiritual way."

On their return to the UK they moved to Archway Road in Highgate, where Joanna "would play all kinds of music all the time, we went to endless plays". Frustrated by the theory-based world of literary studies in the early Eighties, they decided to teach in the state sector, although Anthony didn't get a job there. "Joanna loved teaching, and teaching is so underrated," he says, showing me one of hundreds of emails from her former students, talking about how Joanna revealed the "magic in everyday life".

It took two proposals for her to agree to marry him. He first broached the question by Cleopatra's needle in summer 1980. "She didn't reply, and I still don't know whether she didn't want to say yes or didn't hear me. It wasn't until Christmas Eve that year, after a carol service in St Albans, that I proposed again. Two swans went past and she said that swans mate for life."

Anthony was appointed headmaster of Brighton College in 1997. By this point they had three children: Jessica, Susannah and Adam, who now work in the civil service, advertising and teaching respectively - and they all moved to live by the sea. Joanna swam all year round.

They went to Wellington in 2006 and made a home there, "bang in the middle of the school, where everyone could see into our house".

"Joanna followed me around the country," says Anthony. "My life took precedence over hers even though she was much more brilliant, sensitive and cleverer than I was. She probably would've preferred a slightly quieter life but she went along with it and was wonderful as a head's wife."

It was Anthony who told Joanna she had cancer. He returned from a dinner to a note from the school doctor saying he needed to speak to them urgently. Joanna had a rare neuroendocrine tumour, the same type that Steve Jobs had. "She was often significantly ill, suffering attacks called carcinoid crises and had to spend several weeks at a time at the Royal Marsden hospital. She had a colourful mobile above her bed."

When she was ill one of her first thoughts was that she wouldn't see her grandchildren. It was an incredible source of sadness for her, which is why she wanted to live on in her writing for them. She worried how I would cope without her."

Joanna called her funeral "my last lesson plan" and wrote an "ethical will" for her children, with advice on how to make the most of their lives.

After she was diagnosed, she became more interested in writing. "It was as if she'd put it to the back of her mind, thinking there would be time later in her life to do it." She made a website, despite not being good at technology ("few things would make her cross but lugging her heavy laptop around would"), to upload her poetry and self-published Kindle books for any future grandchildren.

Now their children are looking after Anthony, filling the fridge at Buckingham, where he's on a mission to put the students back at the centre of the university experience. He has four books out this year, including one about the special relationship with America (he thinks we will work closely with Trump), and a film script about Parliament's vote not to strike Syria. He sleeps for four hours a night when he's writing "because I can't be seen to be missing an iota at work".

Will he write about any more prime ministers? "I said I'd stop, but then I did Cameron so I can't say I won't write about May. I think about her in relation to my own children because she lost her mother at a similar age."

While not generally in favour of educational selection, he has his own version of the plan to bring back grammar schools, 100 May Schools, "targeted at the bottom 25% of socioeconomic backgrounds. That gets over the problem of grammars, which is that they are middle-class enclaves. A hundred is big enough to make an impact but small enough not to damage other schools."

Would he consider a career in politics? "I'm too much of a unifier - my heart is on the Left but my mind is often more on the Right. I'm on the side of whoever I think is doing well."

Joanna used to proof-read his work and he says: "This is my first year in my life since I was 24 without Joanna in it so I have no idea whether I'm going to be able to write at the same rate. Before she died we wrote our wish lists of what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. She said she would just love to have the book about her father published and hold it in her hand."
The Killing killed indifference in the UK to foreign-language TV drama. When the breathtaking Danish detective drama was first broadcast on BBC4 in 2011, it was a game-changer. It proved that we could be gripped by brilliant storytelling, whether in English or Danish, or any other language for that matter. The huge success of that series - which won a Bafta award in 2011 - paved the way for an influx of riveting "Nordic Noir" shows such as Borgen and The Bridge.

An enormous part of The Killing's appeal lay in the mesmeric qualities of its lead actress, Sofie Grabol. She brought a rare magnetism to the role of the ice-cold, homicide detective Sarah Lund. She reached such levels of international popularity that her trademark Faroese jumpers became a "must-have" item online. Even the Duchess of Cornwall owns a Lund sweater, given to her by Grabol in 2012 when she made a royal visit to the set. On the same visit, Prince Charles revealed that The Killing was one of the very few shows that he and his wife loved watching together.

The actress even received a glowing review from that unlikely TV critic, the then Prime Minister David Cameron, who disclosed that he and his wife Samantha enjoyed nothing more than spending an evening watching The Killing together in bed. "It's our idea of relaxation," he said. "I think it's just brilliant. We should be making more television like that in this country. Isn't Lund wonderful? Lund rather reminds me of Samantha. Lund and Samantha are very cool."

And now Grabol is grabbing the headlines in this country once again. She stars in the second series of Sky Atlantic's sweeping supernatural drama, Fortitude. In Simon Donald's chilling (in every sense) drama, the 48-year-old Danish actress plays Governor Hildur Odegard. Having in the last season led the remote Norwegian town of Fortitude through the cataclysm of a plague of prehistoric wasps released from the permafrost, Hildur is now confronting another lethal, otherworldly threat to her isolated Arctic community.

Within moments of the opening titles, some very disturbing creatures are walking the earth, the sky is illuminated by an ominous "blood aurora" and characters are darkly quoting WB Yeats: "The centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." We are left in no doubt that something wicked this way comes. Welcome to Fortitude, the most deadly town this side of Midsomer Murders.

Grabol is the polar opposite to Lund. Where the detective was detached and distracted, the actress is charming and charismatic. And rather than the perennial chunky-knit Faroe Islands sweater, she is wearing an extremely chic all-black ensemble. Unlike Lund, who didn't crack a smile in three series of The Killing, Grabol also has a delightful sense of humour. She is amusing enough in English - I can't imagine how funny she must be in her first language.

For instance, she tells a self-deprecating anecdote about her Danish accent. "It's funny because in my mind, I don't have an accent! I did a play at the National Theatre in London, where I was supposed to be Scottish. I said to the director, 'I can't speak Scottish... just speaking English is enough of a challenge!' So I spoke the best English I could and thought, 'This is brilliant!' Then Sir Ian McKellen came to see the show one night, and afterwards he asked, 'How did that actress get that amazing Danish accent?' I was doing my best, but I do obviously have a big fat Danish accent!"

In the same way, the actress jokes about the enormous amount of support The Killing has enjoyed in this country. "In Danish, the word 'killing' means 'kitten'. I think that's very appropriate because that's how we feel. You Brits have taken us in!"

Grabol, who is divorced and has two children, is equally entertaining on the subject of the "out-there", sometimes gory nature of Fortitude. She loves the fact that the production doesn't hold back. "Being Scandinavian, I really enjoy that, like a child. "We Nordic people like little stories and little expressions and don't give too much away. That makes us really good at details and credibility, but we'd never dare to go where we go in Fortitude. So for me to be in a project where wasps come out of the permafrost in a Biblical fashion is absolutely brilliant. I love it when we go that far."

Hitting her rhetorical stride now, the actress continues: "I also love it when you go into the make-up room in the morning and ask another actor, 'What are you doing today?' 'Oh, I'm eating a baby!' It's hilarious."

The second season picks up just nine weeks after the end of the last series, and it does not shy away from showing the catastrophic effect of the disaster the town has suffered. Grabol, who has been given a clean bill of health after undergoing treatment for breast cancer in 2013, says: "The first series was about surviving and about life and death. In my personal life, I recognise that in any real crisis you use all your resources, but actually it's the moment after that's really interesting. Who am I now? Why am I alive? What has happened? That atmosphere of having survived and the same time being completely lost is fascinating. The community in Fortitude is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It's carrying a lot of scars, definitely."

The catastrophe in the first series has certainly left its mark on Hildur. "She's not in a great place," the actress muses. "I think she's traumatised - or maybe I'm just projecting my own life! She is a doer, she's a solver. She's a woman of power and leadership. So the worst thing for a person like that is that she couldn't guard her town. I see her as the mother of Fortitude. We're so used to watching crime stories where the characters are very driven. I think it's really interesting that my character and others have these moments where they just fall into a void."

Fortitude, whose second series confirms the show's reputation for attracting major stars by featuring Dennis Quaid (Far From Heaven) as a troubled fisherman, Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones) as his poorly wife and Ken Stott (The Hobbit) as a martinet government official, is shot in Iceland. The icebound island doubles for Svalbard, the northernmost town in the world and a place too far-flung to allow filming.

The drama conjures up the sense of desolate isolation that pervades the town. The 2,000 inhabitants of Fortitude are outnumbered by the 3,000 polar bears, who stalk the ice just beyond the town limits. In fact, it is illegal to leave the town without a gun. Grabol thinks the drama captures that idea of utter remoteness. "It shows this community that is beyond our culture. People come to Fortitude from all over the world. But what kind of people would wind up in this place?"

She adds that the producers ensure that the cast experience first-hand the sensation of being cut off from the rest of the world. "It helps to film in Iceland where you get that feeling of real isolation. All the actors are put in a hotel far away from everyone else in a very, very isolated place. There is nothing to do there except get very close to each other. That whole feeling in Fortitude of depending on each other and being close in a very big space - we get to know that as people. There is a great group dynamic. They're such a lovely cast - although sadly a lot of their characters have died!"

Before we part, we have to touch on the subject of a possible revival for The Killing. Grabol smiles that maybe one day it will return and just keep on going: "Like The Mousetrap here in London!"

Or perhaps she could reprise Lund in 20 years' time? Grabol laughs one last time. "That's a good idea... Sarah could end up like the Danish Miss Marple!"
A man who raped a woman in an attack so severe that he caused life-threatening injuries has been told by a judge at the Crown Court in Derry to expect a significant sentence.

Aaron Hyland (22), from Katherine's Road, Ballymurphy, Belfast, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to his 25-year-old victim in her home on the night of October 3, 2014.

The court was told that the nature of the injuries inflicted by Hyland meant that her chances of ever conceiving were very low.

The prosecutor said when paramedics were called by a neighbour of the victim to her home they found her unconscious in the bedroom.

She was rushed to Altnagelvin Hospital, but because of the extent of her injuries surgeons initially thought she would not survive.

The barrister said both the defendant and his victim had earlier consumed diazepam and a large amount of alcohol, and there had been a degree of flirtation between them.

She said, thankfully, the victim remembered nothing about the serious assaults committed against her, and only became aware of what had happened when she woke up in hospital the following day.

The prosecutor said because of the nature of the injuries the victim, who was in court with members of her family, has been diagnosed with "severe adjustment reaction".

She said Hyland, who was arrested at the scene, had been assessed as not presenting a serious risk to the public. Judge Philip Babington said he considered disagreeing with that assessment, but he said he would give Hyland the benefit of the doubt.

A defence barrister said in a pre-sentence report Hyland told a probation officer "there is not a day that I don't think about it and about the lasting life-long injuries I have caused to her".

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He said it was Hyland who called for an ambulance on the night. "Thank God he did react in the way that he did on the night, otherwise the consequences could have been much more serious", the barrister said.

Judge Babington said Hyland had initially claimed it was "a consensual sexual incident which went wrong". He said because of her condition, the victim was not in a position to give her consent.

Judge Babington said Hyland maintained a "no comment" attitude during police interviews before handing detectives a prepared statement which the judge described as "another version of lies".

Hyland, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), was remanded in custody until sentencing on February 15.

"This is obviously a very serious case and a significant sentence will be handed down then", Judge Babington added.
Screening was completed five days after Communities Minister Mr Givan announced that 90 organisations had won funding

A controversial fund for community hall improvements launched by outgoing DUP minister Paul Givan was not equality tested ahead of the cash being allocated to the winning bids, it has emerged.

A report by The Detail news website says the 1.9m grant scheme - the value of which nearly quadrupled from the original 500,000 earmarked - was not subject to equality screening due to an "oversight by departmental officials".

The screening was completed five days after Communities Minister Mr Givan announced that 90 organisations had won funding.

It has also emerged that the document was only signed off by a senior official and published on Thursday of this week - three days after The Detail asked the Department for Communities (DfC) to confirm if its Community Halls Pilot Programme had equality screened.

Civil liberties campaigners first asked for the relevant documentation more than two weeks ago.

In response, a DfC spokesperson said: "Due to an oversight by departmental officials, an equality screening exercise was not carried out before the pilot community halls scheme was launched.

"An equality screening exercise has now been completed. This screening has concluded that this policy will have no adverse impact on any Section 75 category.

"Any impact is expected to be positive in that the funding will help improve access to facilities in community halls across Northern Ireland.
Relatives of IRA victims have written to the committee that shortlisted Martin McGuinness for a peace prize, pleading with them to reconsider.

Revealing how the nomination had dragged them back to the days their loved ones died, families said they struggled daily with their loss because even after all these years there are still no answers - answers they believe Mr McGuinness could provide.

The former deputy First Minister, who triggered the collapse of Stormont with his resignation last month, has made it to the final six for the prestigious Tipperary Peace Award, whose previous winners include Nelson Mandela, Ban Ki Moon and inspirational teenager Malala Yousafzai.

A number of relatives have already written to the committee in disgust.

"I'm absolutely distraught," said Margaret Veitch, whose parents William and Agnes Mullan were murdered in the Poppy Day massacre in Enniskillen on November 8, 1987.

Eleven people were killed and 63 others injured when the no-warning bomb ripped through the Co Fermanagh town. A 12th victim, school principal Ronnie Hill, spent 13 years in a coma before he died in 2000.

"I've spent this morning in tears, remembering my father and mother and the horrific way they died," said Margaret.

"Their coffins were closed and we had to follow two hearses to their funeral. It's distressing now to even think about. They were both wonderful people and still we have no justice for them."

Widow Margaret, who still lives in the town her parents died, is almost 70 herself now and is coming close to the age they were murdered, which has made her even more desperate for justice.

"I can't mince my words any longer," said the grandmother-of-two. "Martin McGuinness was a commander in chief of the IRA at one point. If he didn't know what went on at Enniskillen, did he hear about it over the years? Does he know anything?

"We still have no answers, and I believe he could give them to us. But he refuses to talk and forces us to go on with this pain for 30 years.

"And yet here he is being nominated for a peace award. Are people just feeling sympathy for him because he's not well? He had no sympathy for me or my family or all the others left heartbroken.

"It's absolutely devastating and I can only plead with the people who will ultimately pick the winner, do not pick him."

David Temple's brother William was 16 when he was killed by the IRA in the 1972 Claudy bombing. Again, without warning, three bombs went off in the sleepy Co Derry village, killing nine people - five Catholics and four Protestants. The youngest victim was just eight.

"It's a kick in the teeth," said 63-year-old David. "Once again, the victims have to lie down and take it. Every year we make the trip to Claudy to lay flowers to remember everyone who died.

"We ask over and over again for answers, but no answers ever come. Meanwhile Martin McGuinness is getting praised left, right and centre. He moves on, but we can't.

"People tell us to put it all in the past, but that's not easy when you're looking for justice and the people who could help you get it just won't.

"My mother Nettie is 91 and all she's ever wanted are answers about her son. Will she get them before she goes to her grave? The way things are going, it doesn't look like it. William's death destroyed our family and my father was so distressed by what happened to his son he died less than four years later. It never leaves you, not for a single day."

David said he found it impossible to see beyond his IRA past. "People have told me Martin McGuinness is a changed man," he added. "But as far as I can see, he's shown not an ounce of remorse. He has never tried to help us get answers. How can we believe he's a man of peace?

"Previous winners of this award touched people's hearts. But while Martin McGuinness lets us go on like this, the same can't be said for him."

Ann Travers' sister Mary was gunned down by the IRA just yards from her Belfast home in 1984 as she walked home from Mass with her parents. She was just 22. Later, the IRA said her death was "tragic and regrettable" and that her father Thomas, a Catholic magistrate, was the "legitimate target".

Yesterday Ann said news of Mr McGuinness' place on the Tipperary Peace Award shortlist was like a "sick joke".

"I've been shocked by so many things over the years," she added. "This is another thing to add to the upset. It's dragged me right back to that day.

"To have him on the shortlist shows an insensitivity towards victims and their families, who are still suffering very much.

"I've already written to the awards people, as have a number of others, to ask them to withdraw his name.

"People are still traumatised. They need physical, emotional and mental support, not to mention justice. For Martin McGuinness to be hailed as a man of peace with an international award before these issues are resolved is just too much.

"Nelson Mandela won the award before, but there can be no comparison between the two men. Mandela regretted the violence he was involved in. He truly worked for peace and justice, but Martin McGuinness has not done the same."

Martin Quinn from the Tipperary International Peace Awards said it would not be appropriate at this point to talk about Mr McGuinness's nomination.

"The shortlist was drawn up by an external group," he explained. "We were presented with a shortlist of six, as we are every year, and from here we will chooses the winner.

"We will be happy to talk about the winner once the decision is made, but at this point it not correct for me to talk about any individual in any detail."

Other names on the shortlist include human rights lawyer Amal Clooney (George Clooney's wife), Father Patrick Devine, a Roscommon-born priest based in Kenya with the Society of African Missions, and the Syrian White Helmets, a team of volunteers who risk their lives to save people in the war-torn country, regardless of their religion.
Former First Minister Arlene Foster has spoken out against US President Donald Trump's controversial ban on immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries - despite having invited him to visit Northern Ireland.

It emerged this week that the DUP leader, along with ex-Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, sent a letter to congratulate Mr Trump that included an invitation to visit.

Sinn Fein has distanced itself from that invite, with its new northern leader Michelle O'Neill stating it "would not now be appropriate".

Mrs Foster has urged Mr Trump to reflect on the temporary ban.

"I can understand why he would want to put the security of the American people first, that is something he always said he would do throughout his election campaign," she told the Impartial Reporter. But she added: "Blanket bans don't work."

"What you need is intelligence to be able to stop terrorists entering your country and that's really what he should be focusing on instead of a blanket ban which just causes alienation. There are numerous countries which don't let Israeli passport holders into their country. I think that's wrong as well. I think there should be open borders, but obviously if there is intelligence in relation to terrorism then those people should be stopped."

However, Mrs Foster says she stands by the decision to invite Mr Trump, pointing out that the US is a "hugely important market for Northern Ireland".

"Not just in terms of foreign direct investment but also in terms of trade, our exports are continuing to rise," she said.

"It is important for our companies and our businesses, and indeed the well being of Northern Ireland, that that continues.

"When the democratically elected President was put into office we believed it was the right thing to do, to welcome that fact, to wish him well and of course to invite him to Northern Ireland as well. I think a Presidential visit would bring the spotlight of the world to Northern Ireland for all of the right reasons."

Meanwhile, Mrs O'Neill said Mrs Foster should not become First Minister in a future Executive until cleared by an inquiry into the "cash for ash" scandal.

The DUP leader lost her position when Mr McGuinness quit in protest at her handling of the botched Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.

Mrs Foster has denied wrongdoing in a furore that has left Stormont facing a potential 490m overspend.

"Any right-minded person shouldn't put themselves forward for a position in an Executive which is obviously subject to an investigation," Mrs O'Neill said.

"Arlene Foster was the architect of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme."

The DUP hit back at these comments, describing them as an "outrageous attempt by Sinn Fein to dictate to unionists in general, and the DUP in particular, as to who will be our leader".

DUP MP Sammy Wilson added: "Our message to Michelle O'Neill is clear - Arlene Foster is our leader and the Sinn Fein desire to get rid of her will not succeed."

Earlier Mrs Foster expressed determination to "complete the job" she had started as First Minister and deliver a brighter economic future for Northern Ireland.

"I recognise the frustration of people across Northern Ireland that we are facing another election rather than getting on with the job.

"I recognise the wider frustration with politics here. I share those frustrations. Our politics can and should be better," she told an audience of business representatives at the Lough Erne Resort on the outskirts of Enniskillen.

"However, I believe (devolution) is the best system for Northern Ireland to allow us to work in partnership with those from across our community."

The DUP leader also predicted there would be a "very challenging round of negotiations" post-election to get power-sharing back up and running at Stormont.
Police have said the driver of a car involved in a crash in Lisburn is "lucky to have walked away unscathed" following a two vehicle crash.

The crash happened on Friday at 10.40am on the Rock Road Lisburn.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service attended to the report of a number of injuries which are not believed to be life threatening at this time.

A photograph of the white van, which was posted on PSNI Facebook page shows two large pieces of timber smashing through the front.

One had smashed through the windscreen at the driver side and the other had gone through the bonnet.

Police said they would like to remind all road users of the need to drive with due care and attention at all times.
The widow of a soldier killed during one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles said she was stunned and horrified to learn that Martin McGuinness had been nominated for a major peace prize.

Jane Hunter, whose husband Lance Corporal Stephen Burrows was one of five soldiers killed along with Patsy Gillespie in an IRA "proxy" bomb in October 1990, said she doesn't understand how anyone who held the positions McGuinness did in the IRA and Sinn Fein can be considered a peacemaker.

In what remains one of the most heinous attacks of the Troubles, Londonderry man Patsy Gillespie was forced to drive a car bomb into the checkpoint at Coshquin on the main Derry to Buncrana Road while his wife and children were held at gunpoint.

The bomb exploded as he was driving, killing him and the five soldiers.

Last night Mr Burrows' widow Jane (51) said that 26 years later the pain was still acute and the only way she has coped is by becoming a therapist so that she could help others.

She has kept in touch over the years with Mr Gillespie's widow Kathleen, who has devoted herself to working for peace since her husband's brutal murder.

Yesterday's news that McGuinness has been nominated for the 2016 Tipperary International Peace Award left Jane feeling shattered.

She said: "I'm just horrified, it's horrendous."

Jane added that. in her view, given the position McGuinness held in the IRA and Sinn Fein, he is likely to know something about the attack.

"I can't stand the man. I don't even want to look at him. I knew all of the boys; they were all good friends so it wasn't just Stephen I lost, but all of them.

"I see Martin McGuinness as part of an organisation that killed people. The IRA has got the blood of a lot of innocent people on their hands. The soldiers were there to protect people; Stephen was only doing his job.

"I don't understand how anyone who was part of an organisation which thinks it is okay to take another person's life can be considered as a peacemaker. I don't trust him."

Jane and Stephen were married for just four years when he was murdered. It was his third tour of duty in Northern Ireland, and according to Jane he was looking forward to coming here.

She said: "We were in Berlin when he got the news he was going to Northern Ireland. I wasn't happy and I remember he said it was the only place where he got to do the job he was paid to do and he was really looking forward to going. We were there just nine months when he was killed."

Left bereft by her loss, Jane was left alone to bring up their three-year-old son Mark.

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The atrocity has overshadowed both their lives ever since, and growing up Mark struggled to cope with what had happened to his father.

Jane, too, has never got over Stephen's loss and every year attends a memorial for him and his four colleagues - Kgn Paul Worrall, Kgn Stephen Beacham, Kgn Vinny Scott and Kgn David Sweeney.

In the early years after she lost Stephen she says she found a way to cope by going back to university and studying to become a therapist.

Today she works part of the week at the Drug and Alcohol Service in Chester and for the other half as a psychotherapist helping people with all sorts of mental health issues. Her work has brought her into contact with a lot of Army veterans and she has welcomed the chance to do some good for them.

"You do what you can to get by and I wanted to do something to try and make a difference which is why I retrained as a therapist," she said.

"I have helped people with all sorts of issues and many veterans through the alcohol and drugs service. I feel that it is something good to come out of a horrendous situation and that it means Stephen didn't die for nothing.

"I really struggle with all of it. I've done some work at the Warrington Peace Centre, and I really struggled when Martin McGuinness visited it a couple of years ago.

"I've kept in touch with Kathleen Gillespie and she is one of the most inspirational women I have ever met. She is absolutely phenomenal, and if anyone deserves a peace award it is her."

No one was ever caught for the atrocity, and for those like Jane who were left behind the pain continues even 26 years on.

She added: "The pain is still there, it never goes away. I immerse myself in things to help me and to help other people and that has given me some peace. If I can make someone else's journey a little easier then it means some good has come out of this horror."

The Belfast Telegraph contacted Sinn Fein for comment last night but it did not respond.
A Rottweiler called Rocky has been ordered destroyed by a judge after sinking his teeth into a man walking into a filling station and then attacking a police officer on a later date, a court has heard

A Rottweiler called Rocky has been ordered destroyed by a judge after sinking his teeth into a man walking into a filling station and then attacking a police officer on a later date, a court has heard.

The dog, owned by Stacey Barr (31), of Agherton Drive, Portstewart, attacked the man at the Larkhill forecourt in the town last March, and then leapt on a policeman in July.

Philip Kingston, a prosecuting solicitor for Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council, told Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday Barr was holding the Rottweiler by a chain in the garage forecourt and when a man walked past it jumped up and bit him on the arm and elbow.

Barr asked him if he was OK, but the man's coat was ripped and blood was coming from his arm.

In July the officer who was attacked was at Barr's home to serve a warrant.

Although the defendant had a hold of the animal, it bit the policeman on the chest and arm with such force it knocked him backwards.

Barr was not present in court but District Judge Liam McNally found him guilty on the basis of the tendered evidence.

He also granted a destruction order for the dog.

Barr was fined a total of 600 and ordered to pay compensation of 150 to each of the dog's victims.
A scrappage scheme for diesel cars is being considered to improve air quality, it has been reported.

A scrappage scheme for diesel cars is being considered to improve air quality, it has been reported.

Government officials are working on plans to offer a cash incentive for replacing an old diesel car with a low-emission vehicle, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Concern over the impact of diesel cars on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels were raised by the Volkswagen emissions scandal in September 2015.

It emerged that 11 million Volkswagen diesel vehicles around the world had been fitted with software to release fewer smog-causing pollutants during tests than in real-world driving conditions.

Analysis by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) found that NO2 is estimated to be responsible for 23,500 deaths in the UK each year.
Demonstrators gather at the US Embassy in central London, ahead of a protest and march to Downing Street, against US President Donald Trump's travel ban

Demonstrators gather at the US Embassy in central London, ahead of a protest and march to Downing Street, against US President Donald Trump's travel ban

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken part in marches across the country condemning Theresa May's state visit invitation to Donald Trump.

Demonstrators urged the Prime Minister to withdraw her controversial invite and denounced the American president's travel ban as "racist".

The Stop the War Coalition, which helped to organise the "Stop Trump's Muslim Ban - Stop May Supporting It" march, said 40,000 people had taken to the streets in London, while similar protests were organised in Belfast and Edinburgh.

Crowds brandished placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "No to Trump, No to War" as they walked. Another sign read: "Kitten heels grow some claws, stop appeasing racist laws."

Chants of "Theresa May shame on you" and "Donald Trump is not welcome here" echoed through the streets of central London as protesters marched from the US Embassy to Downing Street - lining the length of Whitehall back to Trafalgar Square.

Jeremy Corbyn told the crowds in a video message that Mr Trump's state visit invite "should be withdrawn until the executive orders are gone and every element of them repealed".

The Labour leader said: "I support the campaign of millions of people in Britain that Donald Trump should not be welcomed on a state visit to this country."

Mr Corbyn, who thanked the protesters for "standing up for what is right", added: "Theresa May and the Conservatives are on the wrong side of history."

The Prime Minister invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House. Hours later, Mr Trump signed an executive order introducing a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to America.

Activist John Rees, co-founder of Stop the War Coalition, said Mrs May had a choice to either "insult the American president, or insult a majority of people in this country who don't share that president's views on practically any issue you care to mention".

"She's got a choice: she can either insult him, or us."

Mr Rees also claimed that Theresa May had "walked into a storm wholly bigger than she could imagine" and urged her to "disinvite" the president.

Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, told the crowds that Mr Trump's policies were aimed at "stoking up fear".

He said that the "fear and division" was evident in schools and told the masses gathered: "I'm here to say that every teacher should be involved in the campaign against Trump.

"We can fight Trump's policies, we can fight that division."

Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, told the crowds that Mrs May needed to "understand the responsibility" of the UK's relationship with the US.

She added: "The answer isn't walls and the answer isn't bans".

A petition calling on the Government to prevent Mr Trump from making a state visit because it would cause "embarrassment" to the Queen has received more than 1.8 million signatures.

Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year, but MPs will debate the matter later this month.

Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including at least 2,000 protesters at New York's Kennedy International Airport, while thousands took to the streets of the UK amid anger over the ban.
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has unveiled her platform at a conference this weekend, envisioning a thriving nation "made in France".

On full display for two days will be the proud nationalism of the National Front party candidate. The timing could not be better for Ms Le Pen, a leader in early polls for the April 23 and May 7 elections.

The British decision to exit the European Union and the election of US President Donald Trump could inspire would-be voters and provide a moral boost for her backers attending the event in the south-east city of Lyon.

"The entire world, it's true for Brexit, it's true for Mr Trump, is becoming conscious of what we've been saying for years," she said in a recent television interview.

Ms Le Pen denounces what she calls the "ultra-liberal economic model", globalisation, open borders and "massive immigration", notably of Muslims.

In her view, immigrants take jobs from the French, raise the terrorism risk and are stealing away the identity of France. No more, she vows.

Measures by Mr Trump, notably his halt on arrivals of refugees and citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, could be right out of Ms Le Pen's playbook - if France was not a member of Europe's open borders group and with a refugee policy in part dependent on the EU.

Among Ms Le Pen's 144 "commitments" unveiled on Saturday are: No more membership in Nato's integrated command; no more euro currency, European Union or open borders; and no more second chances for foreigners under surveillance as suspected potential terrorists - those thousands would be expelled.

The election pits "good versus evil", National Front official Jean-Lin Lacapelle said at the start of the conference.

"The survival of France is at stake. It's the first time we've been so close to the goal."

Unlike Mr Trump, Ms Le Pen is not a new quantity in French politics - she has headed the National Front since 2011 - but they share a belief in what she calls "economic patriotism" and "intelligent protectionism". Her plan includes reserving public bids for French companies if their offers are reasonable and adding a tax for foreign workers.

This will be Ms Le Pen's second bid at the presidency after coming third in 2012. Early polls consistently show her among the two top candidates, but suggest she will lose by a wide margin in the run-off.

Parisian baker Walter Fraudin, 44, a National Front member, said Mr Trump's victory might motivate the French to undo a system in which political promises never leave the wish list.

"He does what he says," Mr Fraudin said. "If you're on a battlefield you'll follow him ... Marine Le Pen, I would follow her."

Her first move, if elected, will be working to spring France from the European Union, and her first trip will be to Brussels to try to extract her country from the euro currency, border agreements and other critical domains. It's a battle she apparently sees as lost in advance since she has a Plan B: a Brexit-style exit referendum.

"Today, the European Union decides in your place," Ms Le Pen's campaign manager, David Rachline said.

"It is the survival of industry, the survival of jobs that are at play in this (election) battle," Mr Rachline told supporters.

AP
The arson attack on St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Belfast this week is a reminder that some people here have learned nothing from the past, and want to condemn us to an acrimonious future.

As Bishop Treanor has said: "Places of worship hold deep significance for the entire community and for their congregations and they should not be targeted."

I know only too well the distress caused when my own church - Whitehouse Presbyterian - was severely damaged by arsonists several years ago.

Thankfully it was beautifully rebuilt through the work of the congregation, with the support of many, including those from Catholic churches.

This was the one silver lining during a dark time, and I sympathise with the people of St Patrick's Church.

People on both sides also have sympathy for those involved when Orange halls or GAA buildings are targeted by arsonists in the totem-pole tribalism of our society.

It is one thing to condemn it, but how do you change the minds of those who wear their disgusting sectarianism like a badge, whether it is against Protestants or Catholics, or Muslims or any group or individuals who hold different views?

There was a time when I believed that Northern Ireland was near the top of the places where people go out of their way to give and take offence.

We are still a very "offensive" society, and as a friend of mine said this week: "If you had left Northern Ireland for a year, and switched on the radio and television when you got back, you would find that nothing had changed."

We go on and on squabbling and now, with the furore over Donald Trump, a boorish and alarming Presidential bull in an international china shop, plus Brexit, the taking and giving of offence seems to be a way of life everywhere. There is not a great deal we can do directly to change Donald Trump or the sometimes bizarre way in which the American and UK political systems are played out, but what can we do in Northern Ireland to create better understanding?

Most people, except those living in a political parallel universe, are dreading the upcoming election, and so far there are no signs that our politicians have realised how unattractive they are, or how they are so ill-equipped to run our affairs.

The DUP and Sinn Fein are locked in their usual "Not An Inch" confrontation, and while the smaller parties are trying to make us think and vote differently, I suspect that a large number of people will continue to vote on Orange or Green lines. I hope that I am wrong, but the ballot box is still a great discerner of unchanging tribal loyalties, in a changing world.

If we can expect little from most of our politicians, what about our church leaders? Are they prepared to move from the past and encourage us to embrace a brighter future?

This depends on their starting point. Is it better, for example, to note the unsavoury aspects of the earlier career of Martin McGuinness but recognise the sincere efforts of a reformed man, or is it easier - and not particularly Christian - just to remember the dark background and to blast him for the bad bits?

Next week, in a system as clouded in mystery as a session in the Sistine Chapel, the Presbyterians will elect a new moderator.

A recommendation from me for any candidate would be the kiss of death, so I will merely say that most church-watchers already have a good idea of who might win the election.

In the process, however, is it too much to ask the small number of people who will elect the moderator to think of a candidate who can help contribute to the leadership and bridge-building of society at large, and not just the faithful in the Church itself?

The current moderator, the Rt Rev Dr Frank Sellar, has tried to do so, with limited success during his year of office, but at least he has tried.

The burning of a church or a secular hall on either side of our wider community is a surface reminder of the deep sickness that still lies at the heart of our society.
Not that I'm a couch-potato or anything, but I've noticed that in the first six weeks of the year there are often so many TV dramas appearing that you could stay up til midnight every night catching up on 'catch-up'. Fortunately with a little bit of jiggery-pokery with the red button on the remote control, the invaluable 'plus one' channels, iPlayer, More4 and Sky Plus it is possible to co-ordinate your recordings so that you have enough time to spread them out over the entire week and to make a cup of cocoa between episodes.

Consequently for the last few weeks I have been simultaneously following the following, which I will review in order of appearance:

Homeland (Sundays Channel4)

Oh God, cold-as-ice Carrie is back again; rubbing Saul up the wrong way and making an enemy of herself with every terrorist cell in the Western world as well as the Middle East. But with only two episodes in, very little has actually happened as yet apart from Quinn re-appearing with brain damage and getting locked in Carrie's basement like a creepy skeleton in the closet.

Apple Tree Yard (Sundays BBC1)

I was enthralled and then horrified watching episode one, as the main character Yvonne went from being seduced by a stranger to brutally raped by a friend in one of the most horrific scenes I've ever seen on TV. But episode two bored me to tears, despite the shocking intro. I'll stick with it though, in the hope of a few more twists in the plot and the hope of redemption and/or closure.

Silent Witness (Mondays and Tuesdays BBC)

In which a team of forensic pathologists always get way too involved in every investigation; often straying so far above and beyond the call of duty that they really ought to be sacked and struck-off, if not actually jailed for perverting the course of justice. I admit I used to love watching Silent Witness, but now it's starting to get so silly that it's like Scooby Doo for grown-ups.

Case (Tuesdays More4)

Set in Iceland this crime drama is about as bleak as they come, beginning with a schoolgirl found hanging dead above the stage after a school ballet production. Of course everyone who has anything to do with the wee girl is clearly up-to-no-good from the onset, with abusive alcoholic parents, control-freak foster parents, junkie best friends and a toe-rag ex-boyfriend all waiting in the wings. Add a pot-smoking hippie private investigator, an insomniac cop and a lawyer with a dark secret and you've got all the makings of a classic feel-bad scandi noir. oislegt!

Unforgotten (Thursdays ITV)

The first series was certainly unforgettable and this follow-up investigation is proving just as good. It follows the complex historic murder investigation after a suitcase containing a skeleton is discovered on the banks of a canal. Nicola Walker plays DCI Cassie Stuart who is both tough and sassy but endearingly sensitive towards all the many characters who become entangled, implicated and devastated as she digs up more and more tawdry facts of the case. It's really complicated to follow - especially if you're watching numerous other crime series simultaneously as I am - but absolutely worth it.

Taboo (Saturdays BBC1)

A moody and mystical masterpiece set in the slums and gin palaces of Georgian London. My beloved Tom Hardy, who always excels as evil anti-heroes in bodice-ripping costume dramas, plays James Delaney who has just returned from 10 years in Africa (doing what? Who knows, but there's something decidedly fishy going on in all the flash-backs) to claim his dead father's shipping company whilst enraging the king himself as well as assorted captains of industry . There are hints of incest, murder, torture, orgies, voodoo, cannibalism, drug-abuse and every vice going, so it's not unlike a night out in Belfast city centre and definitely worth staying in on a Saturday night for.
Geekery: Short Film  Being Batman

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A look behind the mask of the real life Batman.

Director Ryan Freemans profile on Stephen Lawrence aka the Brampton Batman looks at what its like to be a real life super hero on the streets of Canada. He spoke to Short of the Week about the project

Stephen (Batman) lives a unique life and people are quick to judge and write him off as strange or weird. He told me that 50% of people think hes crazy and the other half think hes awesome. Through this film, my hope is that the audience connects with Stephens story and we can all be a little more understanding of one another.

What do you think of this weeks selection?

Author: Mars Garrett Pop culture staff writer that has been on the BoLS team since 2010. Contributor on the One of Us podcast. Marvel, Vertigo, and dystopian sci-fi fan. Enjoys bad movies, amazing stunt performances, and the internet. Hates rom-coms. (she/they)

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Killings, rapes, forced disappearance and other abuses committed against Rohingya Muslims allegedly by Myanmar security forces indicate the very likely commission of crimes against humanity, the U.N. said Friday in issuing report based on interviews with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Attacks against the Rohingya population concentrated in Myanmars Rakhine state appeared to be widespread and systematic since Oct. 9, 2016, when nine border guards were killed by suspected insurgents, said the Geneva-based United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Its 43-page flash report resulted from interviews conducted by U.N. investigators, between Jan. 12 and Jan. 21, of 220 people who had fled to the southeastern Bangladesh district of Coxs Bazar from northern Rakhine State (nRS).

The forcible displacement of persons from an ethnic or religious group as a consequence of acts of violence committed against them such as killings, torture, arbitrary detention, rape and sexual violence and the destruction of houses and places of worship has been described in other contexts as ethnic cleansing, the report concluded.

An estimated 66,000 Rohingya had fled into Bangladesh from Rakhine, while another 22,000 were internally displaced by the cycle of violence following a military crackdown there dating to early October, OHCHR reported.

The information gathered by OHCHR raises serious concerns that what is occurring in nRS is the result of a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic area, it added, citing a letter from the U.N. Secretary-General to the Security Council back in May 1994, when the war in Balkans was raging.

In a statement accompanying the reports release, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein talked about the devastating cruelty to which Rohingya children had been subjected in recent months.

What kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mothers milk. And for the mother to witness this murder while she is being gang-raped by the very security forces who should be protecting her, he said.

The U.N. reached a similar conclusion regarding possible crimes against humanity in June 2016, four months before the most recent spate of violence began.

Out of the 204 people were interviewed, 26 personally reported being shot or stabbed; 91 reported that a family member had disappeared; 96 reported that a family member had been killed; 26, including two girls, reported being raped; and 33, including five girls, reported suffering other forms of sexual violence. Of the 101 women and girls interviewed by the U.N., more than half reported having been raped or sexually assaulted in other ways, OHCHR said.

Now is the worst it has ever been. We have heard from our grandparents that there were bad things happening in the past too, but never like this, an interviewee told the U.N.

Similar stories

Last month, a BenarNews correspondent visited refugee camps in Coxs Bazar and interviewed scores of Rohingya. These included 54 women, of whom 17 said they had been raped by Myanmar security forces in Rakhine.

The Rohingya who were interviewed by BenarNews included some who described abuses including beatings, seeing their homes torched and loved ones killed. They said the perpetrators were members of the military or the Nadala, a uniformed paramilitary force.

A 24-year-old refugee at the camp in Kutupalong, said security forces snatched her one night and took her to a nearby hill where she and other women were tortured by turns  meaning they raped her. She was able to flee, but two other women died.

The ongoing violence led Malaysia to host delegates from the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Jan. 19 in calling for Myanmar to stop attacks against the minority Muslim group. On Friday, a ship set sail from Malaysia to bring food, medical supplies and aid to Rohingya still in Myanmar and those in Bangladesh camps.

Myanmar responds

Before Zeid, the U.N. human rights chief, released his agencys report and called for Myanmar to immediately stop human rights violations against the Rohingya, the government in Naypyidaw denied that its forces had committed such alleged abuses.

On Friday, the government was quick to respond to news of the U.N. report.

These are extremely serious allegations, and we are deeply concerned. We will be immediately investigating these allegations through the investigation commission led by Vice-President U Myint Swe, Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Myanmars president said in Yangon, according to Reuters.

Where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, we will take all necessary action.
Turkey is holding about 100 Indonesian nationals suspected of planning to enter Syria to join the Islamic State (IS), including some highly educated individuals, Indonesian police said.

The number is in addition to 22 people deported from Turkey in mid-January who were arrested upon arrival in Indonesia but subsequently released on condition they attend government training on Indonesian national ideology and society.

Based on information from Turkish authorities, they are regular people, but there are also some intellectuals and academicians, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto said in Jakarta on Wednesday, referring to the Indonesians in Turkey.

IS has penetrated campus mosques at home and abroad to spread their ideology. So, academics with their extensive knowledge of the material world are not necessarily safe from IS recruitment, he said. He did not specifying which campuses.

One of the Indonesians deported from Turkey last month was an Australia-educated economist at Indonesias Finance Ministry who resigned in Feb. 2016, then disappeared.

In 2014, three civil servants from the Finance Ministry left for Syria. One succeeded in entering the war-torn country and two others were stopped at the border.

The IS declared a caliphate in June 2014 in territory it controlled at the time in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Romantic images

Some middle class people fall prey to IS recruiters because they are unaware that the group espouses killing non-believers and turning female captives into sex slaves.

They see IS as an Islamic caliphate. Many dont know that IS is cruel and a terrorist group, he said.

Recruiters persuade and seduce them with romantic images of an Islamic caliphate. Some of them just want to go there to live, not necessarily to join IS fighters, he added.

The 100-some Indonesians are being held in Turkey for investigation by Turkish security authorities and will be sent home in groups, he added.

Contacted by BenarNews, Turkish Ambassador to Indonesia Mehmet Kadri Sander Gurbuz declined to comment.

Seventeen Indonesians were deported from Turkey on Jan. 21, and three days later, the former Finance Ministry economist and his wife and three children arrived in Bali after being deported from Turkey.

At the time Rikwanto said the family was freed because there was not enough evidence against them even though, he acknowledged, there was evidence IS recruiters had persuaded them to go to Syria.

From 2015 through January 2017, 305 Indonesians were deported from Turkey on suspicion they wanted to enter Syria, according to Foreign Ministry Data.

The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) said 237 adults and 46 children from Indonesia were believed to be in Syria as of August 2016.

Eighty Indonesians have been killed in Syria and an equal number have returned home, it said.

Looking for a guru

Arif Darmawan, a BNPT senior official, said the phenomenon of IS recruiting intellectuals is not new.

IS has always targeted not only intellectuals, but as many recruits as possible, regardless of their background, Arif said.

The government monitors the performance, attitude and behavior of civil servants, police and soldiers while they are at work, but religious belief is largely formed outside of work hours, he noted.

Its difficult to monitor because of privacy rights, he said.

Terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail said radical ideology can spread to members of the middle class who have their material needs met yet experience spiritual emptiness.

Many of them feel unsatisfied, then meet a group that teaches and gives answers to their questions, he told BenarNews.

Taufik Andri, executive director of the Institute for International Peace Building in Jakarta, agreed.

Theyre looking for a spiritual guru, a mentor, and they join study groups on the Internet, without being aware that they have gotten involved with an IS group and that its difficult to get out of it, he said.

For IS, successful recruitment of intellectuals or members of the middle class is a boon. Among other things, they can pay their own way to Syria.

Academics and intellectuals are not seen as suspicious when they go through customs. They avoid immigration problems because its already normal for them to go abroad. Lower class people tend to get nervous, Taufik said.

He said he hoped that Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah  two mass Muslim organizations in Indonesia  would be more active in carrying out a strategy to counter radicalization, through sermons in mosques and madrassas, for example.

Muhammadiyah has performed that role, and promoted Islam as a solution for social problems,since its founding, according to General Chairman of Muhammadiyah Youth Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak.

Our approach counteracts IS recruitment efforts by educating people about the true teachings of Islam for peace and solving problems in life, he said.
The ship loaded with supplies for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Bangladesh leaves the Boustead Cruise Center, Port Klang, Feb. 3, 2017.

A Malaysian ship carrying supplies for ethnic Rohingya affected by recent violence in Myanmar set sail Friday for Yangon and Teknaf, Bangladesh.

The Nautical Aliya, carrying 2,200 tons of food and medical supplies, set sail at 4 p.m. following a ceremony in Port Klang, about 44 km (30 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.

Prime Minister Najib Razak and opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man flagged the ship as it left the port. Najib hailed the mission as a symbol of unity among the Ummah or Muslims.

The ship is scheduled to arrive in Yangon Port on Tuesday and then travel to Bangladesh. It carries food supplies valued at 3.3 million ringgit ($745,000), daily need supplies valued at 1.6 million ringgit ($361,000) and clothing items valued at 500,000 ringgit ($113,000).

Nautical Aliya is also carrying 230 volunteers, including doctors, from several local and international NGOs  from Turkey, Indonesia, China, the United States, France, Thailand and the Palestinian territories.

Bangladesh changes course

Plans for the second leg of the journey appeared dashed when Foreign Minister Anifah Aman announced Friday that Bangladesh would not allow the ship to dock in Teknaf. Hours later, the foreign ministry announced that Dhaka would welcome the ship, scheduled to arrive on Feb. 10.

The matter has now been resolved as a result of the good relations between Malaysia and Bangladesh. The Government of Malaysia expresses its appreciation to the Government of Bangladesh for its willingness to allow the food flotilla to provide humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugees around Teknaf port, the foreign ministry said in a news release.

Initially scheduled to sail on Jan. 10, the ships journey was postponed for diplomatic clearance after Myanmar Presidents office spokesman Zaw Htay warned it could be stopped or attacked by security forces.

Malaysias application to deliver aid to the Sittwe region and surrounding areas where many Rohingya have settled was rejected by the Myanmar government. Clearance was given to Yangon Port only.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is briefed on the Nautical Aliyas operating system, Feb 3, 2017. [HataWahari/BenarNews]

Spirit of humanity

Following the port ceremony, Najib condemned violence against ethnic Rohingya, who are deprived of basic rights in Myanmar and have been subjected to a military crackdown in western Rakhine state following the killing of nine police by militants in October.

On the spirit of humanity and fraternity among Muslims, Malaysia is not willing to see ethnic Rohingya brothers with the same faith continue to be mistreated, killed, burned and raped, he said.

It would not strain our ties with Myanmar. It is an assistance and contribution, it is our hope. We are doing it as a concerned government, on the basis of humanitarian spirit and principles, he said of the aid shipment.

Malaysia, Najib said, had done its utmost for ethnic Rohingya by organizing a solidarity rally, pushing the regional bloc Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discuss the crisis, and hosting an extraordinary meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers.

Since the Myanmar military launched a crackdown in Rakhine state following the Oct. 9 killing of nine Burmese border guards by suspected insurgents, security personnel have been accused of carrying out killings, rapes, acts of arson and arbitrary arrests targeting Rohingya. The government in Naypyidaw has denied those allegations.

Nearly 90 people have been killed in the violence in Rakhine, and as many as 66,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, according to U.N. figures. The new refugees join at least 300,000 Rohingya who already had taken refuge in southeastern Coxs Bazar district.

Bangladesh has refused to grant the Rohingya refugee status because it considers them citizens of Myanmar. Myanmar, meanwhile, considers those who return to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has denied them citizenship and access to basic services for decades.

Another 90,000 Rohingya refugees are in Malaysia. Of those, 56,000 have received refugee status cards from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala Lumpur.
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If Trumps wants to know how to handle Russian president Vladimir Putin on eastern Ukraine, Daniel Baer is the one to ask.

Daniel Baer (39) was US Ambassador to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) from September 2013 until January 20, 2017. The OSCE the Europe's main instrument to handle the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Therefore, he is one of the most experienced US politician when it comes to assessing and countering Russian policies in the Ukraine.

In BILD, he speaks about the reasons behind the current uptick in violence in eastern Ukraine and suggests how the Trump administration should handle Russia to ease the situation.

BILD: You were in office as the US Ambassador for the OSCE until January 20 2017. 8 days later the sharp escalation of fighting began. Did you see that coming and what do you think is behind the sudden rise in violence?

Daniel Baer: Obviously the surge in fighting over recent days is only the latest instance of a pattern that has gone on for many months: we have seen Russia using fighting in Eastern Ukraine to try to pressure Kyiv. What was interesting about this time is that the Russian delegation actually warned of possible escalation on January 26 in Vienna at the OSCE Permanent Council  and then we saw the surge in the following days.

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I think this is a good reminder of something that people can forget when observing from afar, which is that this fighting could not be happening without a very sophisticated and substantial logistics operation that is sending fighters, weapons, ammunition and other supplies to the line of contact. Russia's actions continue to have dire consequences and the humanitarian situation, particularly for 17,000 civilians around Avdiivka, but also for more than 1.5 million displaced people, is increasingly dire.

Alexander Hug told me in several interviews  and says in his regular press meetings both sides must stop the provocations and cease fire to ease the situation. From your more than 3 years in office and multiple consultations on the adherence of the Minsk agreement: Who is to blame for the non-implementation of the Minsk agreement? Both sides or one more than the other? Please explain.

Baer: Obviously it is true that for a ceasefire to work then both sides need to stop fighting  and I think that if you're the guy who is out there in the field doing the operational work with the unarmed, civilian monitors from the OSCE, your first concern is that your monitors are safe and in that respect, any fighting is dangerous. So I understand Mr. Hug's call for both sides to abstain from fighting.

But from a foreign policy perspective we can't forget the big picture  there's a victim and an aggressor here, and Ukraine is the victim and Russia the aggressor.

The OSCE SMM has had severe restrictions on its freedom of movement in the separatist-controlled areas as Russia has attempted to obstruct its view of Russia's ongoing aggression. Russian-led-separatist-forces have shot down or jammed the OSCE's UAVs. But even with these restrictions, over almost three years, the SMM's reporting has repeatedly shown Russian-separatist culpability for perpetuating the fighting. As I have said before, if you and I agree not to fight each other and then you go to strangle me, and i fight back, we are not equally culpable for violating the pact.

Lesen Sie auch

From your experience in the negotiations and interaction with the Russian delegation to the OSCE: What would you suggest the Trump administration to do to ease the situation in eastern Ukraine?

Baer: I think the most important thing for the Trump administration is that they recognize that any policy which divides us from our allies and partners in Europe, and any policy that is not consistent with the fundamental principles of international law and of the European security order, is both morally indefensible and strategically misguided.

We can't predict when Putin will walk through the open door that has been in front of him for two and a half years, implement Minsk, and deescalate his manufactured conflict in Ukraine. But we can continue to press for Russia to reverse its negative course, and keep a clear, principled, firm line with Russia that is aimed at saving lives and preserving the rules-based system.

And do you think, this new administration, which seems to be more friendly towards Russia than the Obama one, will meet ist obligations regarding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict?

Baer:

I certainly hope so. If President Trump is smart, if Secretary of State Tillerson is smart, then they won't undermine American leadership by trying to cozy up with Putin's Russia--they'll keep a clear, sober view, with clear messages to Russia about the kind of steps that we need to see before sanctions can be lifted. Obviously there's been enormous human costs to Putin's actions in Ukraine, but Putin's actions in Ukraine are also a threat to the international order--they affect European and American security more broadly.

President Trump likes to portray himself as a tough guy  he brags about it, he has already caused diplomatic incidents with some of our closest friends. There's no sense in playing tough for the sake of looking tough, but there is a virtue in standing strong behind the universal principles that America and our allies have defended together over many decades.

I should add that part of standing with Ukraine is supporting the ongoing reform process there, and helping the people of Ukraine build the European style institutions, to build the free, democratic, prosperous future that they want, that they deserve, and for which they have sacrificed so much.

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This article was published 04/02/2017 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandons lone Sears retail space is shutting down in mid-April, to be replaced the citys second Direct Liquidation centre, this one called Direct Wholesale.

Its a sign of the times, local Sears owner Ron Shaluk said, adding that while the centres sales have been going up incrementally, profit margins have been decreasing on an almost yearly basis.

Its too easy to blame online shopping, but it does affect traditional retailers who had bigger stores and things like that, he said. Online shopping doesnt help the brick and mortar stores any, but its a reality today.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Ron Shaluk, owner of the Sears store in Brandon, stands in his business on the North Hill on Friday. The local Sears outlet will be closing in April.

Its not a depressing thing, its more we changed the way we shop and the need for bigger stores is just not there anymore.

Shaluk has owned the local Sears retail outlet for the past six years, specializing in furniture and appliances, with a catalogue desk for other ordered-in items.

It has been located at its present 1828 18th St. North space for the past 20 years or so, having previously been found in the citys downtown core.

Direct Liquidation owner Darcy Willey said that their second outlet, Direct Wholesale, is expected to open at the Sears space in May in celebration of Direct Liquidations one-year anniversary at 205 16th St. North.

Their second space will carry a different name in order to differentiate between the two spaces, with Direct Liquidation specializing in clothing, food and smaller appliances and Direct Wholesale specializing in mattresses, furniture and large appliances.

In short, they signed a lease on the current Sears space because they had too much stuff, Willey explained, noting that in order to keep their prices low they purchase in bulk, with little say in what they get and when they get it.

While this business model carries its challenges, it also allows them to offer uncommonly low prices on major label brands  a concept Willey said has been quite successful in Brandon over the past several months.

With Sears shutting down, Shaluk said that hes likely to take some time off, which is something he has been unable to do as a business owner.

While his privately owned store is closing, Shaluk wanted to clarify that Sears Canada remains a viable company.

As evidenced by other recent closures, the business model for privately owned stores just doesnt work anymore, he said, adding that Sears corporate office owns the companys larger stores, such as those in Winnipeg.

Where more people used to shop via the Sears catalogue, the more popular option now is online shopping, where ordered items are delivered straight to you.

Even Sears now offers an online shopping option.

Brandons Sears location will be offering going-out-of-business sales to mid-April, or whenever theyre too low on stock to justify keeping their doors open.

Theyve already pared down their operations from a peak staffing level of 10 to their current three, including Shaluk.

 tclarke@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB
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While being transported to jail early Friday morning, a man threatened to kill a member of the police and attack his family.

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Four males from Souris have been arrested in connection with recent motor vehicle thefts in their community.

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/02/2017 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 26,000-square-foot, 24/7 fitness centre employing at least 25 full-time equivalents is tentatively set to open at Shoppers Mall by June 15.

In the ramp-up to the big event, GoodLife Fitness has put up billboards, mailed out brochures and posted job openings for the 23 positions that are still available.

One of the first two hires  general manager Josh Palaniuk  said that the June 15 opening date is barring any construction delays.

(Colin Corneau/The Brandon Sun) GoodLife Fitness club opening team leader Aaron Saint-Cyr (front) and general manager Josh Palaniuk are getting ready to welcome clients to the Shoppers Mall location, which is tentatively set to open on June 15.

When the official grand opening date is set, an open house will be advertised wherein anyone interested in the centre can pop by to see what the fuss has been about.

GoodLife Fitness will be

the first big component of the transformation that Shoppers Malls ownership group, Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust, announced last summer.

Positioned at the malls southeast area, the exterior of GoodLife Fitness is mostly complete, with the bulk of remaining work currently being completed in the buildings interior.

It joins a 62,500-square-foot Sobeys Extra store under construction at the malls north end and a few restaurants slated to open in the area, including a combination Swiss Chalet and Harveys, East Side Marios, Fionn MacCools and a Thai Express.

Its something that we just want to be a part of, Palaniuk said of the transformation going on at Shoppers Mall.

Given the foot traffic the mall enables and the areas population base, GoodLife Fitness club opening team leader Aaron Saint-Cyr said that it has proven an ideal location.

I think its going to be something that not only benefits us, but also the people who work in the mall, he said. Its something the mall doesnt have.

Theyve already signed up about 100 people at their temporary storefront, located near customer service, even though the opening date is still a few months away.

Announced in July of last year, this summers grand opening will mark one year since Brandons GoodLife Fitness was first announced.

It has been no small undertaking, with the facility to be among Brandons largest fitness centres.

Confident the Brandon marketplace can handle the facility, Palaniuk pointed to its 24/7 status, team of motivators and wealth of new equipment as key selling points.

They also plan on offering child care during the days to allow parents and guardians the freedom to work out while they have children in their care.

Easing into the community, both Palaniuk and Saint-Cyr met with more than 100 area business leaders in October to help build up excitement for the project  an effort that has joined more recent advertising efforts in drumming up interest.

As soon as Goodlife Fitness receives a confirmed completion date from contractors, it will advertise the facilitys grand opening and open house, Saint-Cyr said, adding; Itll be a party atmosphere.

 tclarke@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/02/2017 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Welcome to Manitoba, where all problems must be inconsequential. After all, if the two biggest stories about our province over the last few years were about Winnipeg being racist and Premier Brian Pallisters Costa Rican vacation home, then it must be good to be us.

Of course, that paragraph drips with sarcasm  that is entirely intended. Manitobans face a massive deficit and compounding debt and no promising way to get out of this morass. We clearly are a have-not province and face challenges on a compendium of social and economic fronts.

Brian Pallister is Canadas second-most popular premier in spite of the carnage he has inherited. Go figure.

It appears to this columnist as though Manitobans, who elected Pallister with a near-historic majority, are quite content with this government and, in fact, with the premier himself, vacations be damned.

Perhaps they are inspired by a premier who rose from a modest background, put himself through university, became a teacher, then sought a career in the financial services industry.

Successful there through hard work, he then went to Winnipeg and Ottawa in a political career that was again noteworthy for ambition and work ethic.

Macleans associate editor Nancy Macdonald recently dropped by Pallisters Costa Rican residence, uninvited and unannounced, and was welcomed by a premier working on our budget.

The home, which Pallister says he and his wife saved for decades to purchase, looked lovely. It is important to note that building costs are, historically, much cheaper in locales like Costa Rica than here at home. Macleans also noted that Pallisters neighbours think he is a super tall gringo.

Macdonald asked Pallister about the race wars remarks relating to night hunting tensions between indigenous and other Manitobans the premier uttered during a recent meeting in Virden. She sought his comments on the story and, one can assume, about his home in Costa Rica.

Macdonald, interestingly enough, neither recorded nor took notes of the conversation. This was uncovered by Winnipeg Free Press reporter Dan Lett, traditionally not a friend of the Tories. Hence, there is no evidence Pallister made the comments attributed to him.

Macdonald then doubled down on the veracity of her race wars story by stating, Rather than going out and speaking with the people who hes hurt, hes just going to deny this ever happened. Its not something I would do, but this is what hes chosen to do.

To condemn the premier for allegedly making comments a professional reporter neither recorded nor wrote down seems a tad unfair. After all, while Macdonald may strongly believe in the veracity of her comments, Pallister is entitled to equal respect.

The media obsession with Costa Rica is inexplicable. Countless Manitobans head south annually to break up our notorious winters. Others spend their entire summer in cottage country. Is this really the biggest story to fixate upon?

If warm-weather vacations are the benchmark upon which we decide suitability for office, then this columnist is completely unsuitable. If spending time at ones vacation home is another disqualifying measure, then we should be raiding every lake-side community in Manitoba and clearing them of all politicians. Or, just maybe, we should try to focus on the real issues facing Manitobans.

It appears, based on the polls, that Manitobans are ahead of the media on this count.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/02/2017 (2101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The new president of the United States and former reality show star Donald J. Trump banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

He also signed a decree ordering the construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the U.S. The decree also threatens to lash out at sanctuary cities that for years have sheltered immigrants.

In both cases, Trump is doing two of the things that empowered his election campaign and kept him in the headlines. Two things most people deemed as just rhetoric because of how radical they appeared. However, no one should be surprised.

The Associated Press Muslims and Yemenis gather with their supporters in New York during a protest on Thursday against U.S. President Donald Trumps ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country. Jamie Chinchilla writes that it is a little late to get outraged over the ban, as the U.S. military has been killing people from the same countries for decades under several adminstrations, both Republican and Democratic.

Enacting a ban on Muslim countries citizens and building a wall at the border with Mexico are just continuations of normal and already existent U.S. policies and international politics.

Why should we be surprised? Isnt the U.S. the same country that bombed Iraq under a false accusation of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction? How many lives did that cost? Americas war on Islam and Muslim people has been continuous for decades, and the enactment of a ban on citizens from the same seven countries that U.S. has been bombing during the last few years should be no surprise. Its what countries at war do.

According to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations, the United States has dropped an estimated 23,144 bombs in the Muslim-majority countries of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia between Jan. 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015. That is more than 60 bombs per day!

This took place while former president Barack Obama was in office. (That did not count Obamas bombing of the Muslim minority in the Philippines).

Military historian and former U.S. Army Col. Andrew Bacevich recently wrote an interesting opinion column for the Washington Post, in which he stated that Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded or occupied or bombed  since 1980.

The other countries include Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), and Pakistan (2004-).

It is a little late to get outraged at Trump banning people from seven countries. The U.S. military has been killing people from the same countries for decades under several administrations and under both Republican and Democratic presidents. Actually, it could be argued that those campaigns are some of the main causes of the ongoing migrant and refugee crisis.

Regarding the resounding and highly publicized wall, pompously announced by Trump as the ultimate solution for stopping illegal immigrants from entering the U.S. through its southern border, it must be said that the wall already exists along several miles of the border.

As of January 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that it had more than 580 miles (930 kilometres) of barriers in place, secured in between with a virtual fence that includes a system of sensors and cameras. The construction of the wall started in 1994 as part of three operations: Operation Gatekeeper in California, Operation Hold the Line in Texas, and Operation Safeguard in Arizona.

Bill Clinton (Democrat) was the president who approved the operations. President George W. Bush (Republican) authorized the construction of 700 miles-plus of physical barrier on the southern border. The wall continued to operate under the successive Democratic administration of Obama, forcing large numbers of people to cross the Sonoran Desert and the Baboquivari Peak in Arizona.

The wall has caused already more than 10,000 deaths along the Mexico-U.S. border, according to a document created by the Human Rights National Commission of Mexico, also signed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

It is true that every new communication and decree by President Trump and his government should irritate anyone who cares for peace, human rights, tolerance and solidarity with immigrants and refugees.

It is also true that he is a more verbal politician who says things as they are without tampering them. But naive citizens of the whole world who in the past have believed the political manoeuvres and constructed justifications of U.S. governments (and presidents) for bombing, invading and occupying other countries  or exploiting and using illegal immigrants for cheap labour while letting them die in inhumane conditions  should instead see in Trump the epitome of historical U.S. foreign policy and military and economical war.

Trump is a president who finally says the truth, as ugly as it is.

Being surprised with what Trump is doing is accepting the facade of international justice, world democracy paladin, and peacekeeper that the most bellicose country in the history of human beings publicizes for itself. Someone who acts like an emperor does so because he knows himself the leader of an empire. A decadent one, but an empire, after all.

 Jaime Chinchilla is part of Brandons Latin American community and a member of the popular Son Latino Band. His column appears monthly.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/02/2017 (2101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There has been a fair amount of buzz in the news recently over an impending visit between Prime Minister Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump. And while it looks like the meeting wont be happening this week as originally rumoured, it will happen in the imminent future.

This has led to all kinds of speculation about what issues Canada should bring to the table and how our prime minister should approach his first face-to-face encounter with the new president.

The subject of this first meeting between the two leaders is also a trending story because the PM has come under fire for not speaking out on Trumps decision to ban all citizens from Syria and six other predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. In the House of Commons this week, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair asked Trudeau to condemn the practice of banning travellers based on their religion or place of birth, and to raise the issue when he personally meets with the president.

(The Associated Press) U.S. President Donald Trump, seen speaking during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday, has railed against the North American Free Trade Agreement. But Kelly Saunders says that continued U.S. access to Canadas market is needed if Trump is to deliver on his promise to bring back and protect American jobs  something Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be prepared to use as a bargaining chip in an upcoming meeting between the leaders.

Others have recommended that the PM take a more cautious and conciliatory tone in his dealings with Trump, so as not to damage a bilateral relationship that is looking increasingly fragile.

We need to approach the new president from a position of strength and determination. We cannot simply assume that the special relationship we have historically enjoyed with the U.S. will earn us any brownie points in Washington. While we can all hope that the U.S. will continue to be our closest friend and ally, we also need to recognize that this is a new era in Canadian-American relations.

At the risk of understatement, Donald Trump is clearly a different kind of president, and the more informal, friendly approaches that may have worked in the past are no longer the sure bets they may have once been. The mere fact that Trumps first foreign guest at the White House after being sworn in as president was British Prime Minister Theresa May and not our own prime minister  which has been the longstanding tradition among American presidents  is clear evidence that things have changed.

That being said, we need to speak the language that Trump understands. I think former prime minister Stephen Harper summed it up best in a recent speech he gave at a policy research forum in India.

The U.S. under Trump will focus squarely on Americas vital interests, narrowly defined, especially its economic interests, he said. This does not mean the U.S. will be unwilling to work with friends and allies, but only when such friends and allies are ready to bring real assets to the table.

Heeding Harpers words, we need to remember that Canada is not the poor cousin in the U.S.-Canada relationship. We have much of what the United States needs right now, and we need to be prepared to use this as a bargaining chip in our dealings with the new administration. And what we have to offer is continued access to a market that Trump desperately needs if he is going to deliver on his promise of American jobs.

Trump can rail all he wants about the negatives of the North American Free Trade Agreement and free trade in general, but Trudeau would be wise to remind the president of some key facts. The U.S. exports more of its goods and services to Canada than any other country in the world  to the tune of close to $340 billion a year. And NAFTA has been good for the U.S. in terms of its trading relationship with Canada  in fact, U.S. exports to Canada have risen a whopping 179 per cent since 1993 when NAFTA came into effect.

More importantly, millions of U.S. jobs rely on trade and investment with Canada  about nine million jobs to be exact. And where are many of these jobs located? In the

so-called Rust Belt states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio that have suffered the most significant manufacturing job losses in recent years.

Much of Trumps electoral success was built in these states, based on his promise to bring back and protect American jobs. And who do these states (along with 29 others) name as their No. 1 customer of American goods? You got it, Canada. And while it is true that the U.S. currently has a trade deficit with Canada (meaning that it is importing more Canadian goods than it is selling), at $15 billion it is paltry compared to the deficit it has with other countries such as China ($367 billion) or even Mexico at $61 billion.

The bottom line? If Trump wants to be able to deliver on American jobs, he needs Canada. And this puts us in a very fine negotiating position indeed.

 Kelly Saunders is an associate professor with the Department of Political Science at Brandon University.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/02/2017 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

How to make this city safer

We need cameras to catch vehicles crossing the tracks when the lights are still flashing or arms for railroad tracks brought back. Watching vehicles cross the tracks when the train is still on them is ridiculous; or having the train wait for cars to cross after they blow the horn. We should have turning lights at all intersections. Cars are creeping up on pedestrians because drivers cant wait until a person crosses the street. Cars are parking on roads that are not cleared and are taking up the lane  i.e., McTavish Avenue. How about traffic cameras to catch all the idiots on their cellphones while driving. It is ridiculous how many I have seen lately. Why are people doing this?

Be prepared to walk to your next protest

I am so sick of the way protesters are saying that they are protecting the land and the water from pipelines. My question is: How do they get to the protests? Did they walk? Its not hard to find pictures after the protests of the mess that was left for someone else has to clean up after you leave. If you want to import all petroleum, you will then be protesting the high prices that you have to pay for everything. Its time for Canadians to stand up. Buy Canadian and produce Canadian. We should not have to depend on foreign products.

Do pipeline protesters have a solution?

I would be interested in hearing what protesters to oil pipelines would suggest be an alternative for taxes and royalty payments (estimated $2 billion to $4 billion) lost to the federal government each year. I am sure these folks still expect government to keep providing with the same services without such revenues!

Nothing but sunny days ahead

No need for any more studies. We got this totally figured out now. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ready to legalize marijuana. Keeping it out of the hands of young people? Check. Reducing organized crime? You bet! Lost time at work? Check. What about drug-impaired driving? No sweat, its covered. The Canadian Medical Association warns of arrested brain development in adolescents! Come on, docs, take a pill. Justins got that figured out. Deaths and injuries from traffic accidents? No worries there, people drive better when under the influence of marijuana. Yes folks, this is going to be transformational for Canada. And oh yeah, its got nothing to do with the money.

Cleanup needed at MPI

So Manitoba Public Insurance racked up a $3.6-million loss. Surprise, surprise! Could this be the very same MPI that not so long ago was finding places to give away the surplus profits? Those appointed to management positions by the NDP would be out on their ear if it was in my power. Over the years, the management at MPI would be laughable if it didnt cost so much taxpayer money to fund their giveaways. If the Conservatives want to stop some of the financial bleeding, start by going over to MPI with a sharp axe and cut out all the dead wood. MPI management has got away with spitting in the face of taxpayers for way too long. So how about it, Premier Brian Pallister, isnt it time to clean the NDP duds out of MPI? Oh, and when you fire them, dont contract them back as consultants for twice what they were making.
Scotland Yard is investigating claims security workers in England were paid by convicts to deliberately fit electronic ankle tags loosely.

Staff at Capita, which is contracted to run the British Government's Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS), were allegedly paid 400 a time to help at least 32 offenders beat their court-imposed curfews, The Sun reported.

The Metropolitan Police said 14 people, including three current and former EMS workers, have been arrested in connection with a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

Capita won the six-year 400 million contract for electronically tagging criminals in 2014 after security firms G4S and Serco became embroiled in an overcharging scandal.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was "urgently" investigating the claims.

Scotland Yard said a 46-year-old man, a former EMS employee, was arrested in Romford, Essex, on January 3 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and theft of tagging equipment.

A 45-year-old man from Barking, Essex, and 57-year-old woman from Romford - both current employees - were arrested on January 18 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A further 11 people were arrested in connection with the investigation in January, Metropolitan Police confirmed.

A spokesman for the EMS said: "We have a zero tolerance policy against any of our employees who act in any way to undermine the robustness of the electronic monitoring service.

"The small number of employees being investigated regarding this isolated issue were swiftly taken off duties and we are closely co-operating with the Metropolitan Police Service."

A Met spokesman said: "Detectives in Newham borough are investigating a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

"Police had become aware that offender monitoring equipment was being used inappropriately."

A spokesman for the MoJ said: "Public protection is our priority. We are urgently investigating and working closely with the police."

All 14 suspects have been bailed to dates in early April and inquiries are ongoing, police said.
Iran is to launch missiles later as part of a military exercise despite US sanctions.

The Revolutionary Guard website says it would show their "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" from Washington.
Taronga Zoo's proposal to build a four to five storey "eco resort" on its plum harbourside site has been slammed as a thinly disguised development bid pitched at wealthy visitors to Sydney.

In a submission to the NSW Department of Planning, Mosman Council says the planned $45 million resort appears incompatible with the primary aims of the zoo, which are animal display, research, breeding and raising public awareness of species conservation.

The proposal for the Australian Habitat and Taronga Wildlife Retreat. Credit:Taronga Zoo planning document

Mosman Council has previously supported the zoo's popular Roar and Snore program which allows paying visitors to camp overnight and experience the zoo's creatures after dark.

But it says the proposed resort-style accommodation on the site appears to have little to do with promoting engagement with wildlife.
Russ Nicholls has been in the sunscreen industry for a long time, but one thing still has him puzzled.

"There are a lot of players. Why? I wouldn't have a damn clue. Unless it's an easy way of making a quid," the managing director of CoverUp Sunscreen tells Fairfax Media.

All sunscreens of a given SPF must provide exactly the same sun protection.

Mr Nicholls is one of a bevy of large and small sunscreen sellers across Australia competing for a slice of the sun-care dollar in a country with one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

The industry is extremely crowded and has a confusingly wide range of products and prices.
Clive Palmer has been ordered to lay bare the bulk of his business empire as the Federal Court continues to probe the collapse of Queensland Nickel.

The mining magnate must produce financial and management accounts, asset registers and tax returns for more than half a dozen companies and his political party when questioning resumes on Thursday.

Liquidators want to look at the books for Mineralogy, the Palmer United Party and the companies behind the Palmer Coolum resort and the stalled Titanic II project.

They also want to examine Mineralogy subsidiary Fairway Coal, which is part of a bid to start a new open-cut coal mine on land Queensland Nickel creditors had tried to sell.
For gurus of good corporate governance, this is bad enough, but once you dig into the details of how this non-voting stock works, it gets much worse for shareholders. The fact that 26-year-old Spiegel, pictured with fiance Miranda Kerr, is getting total control of a new company with uncertain prospects but real growth is perhaps cause for alarm. Credit:AP Snap has set up three share classes. Class A will be offered to the public. These shares have no voting rights and no hope of ever having voting rights. Class B shares have one vote each and are convertible into Class A stock. These are shares held by prior investors and employees. Mark Zuckerberg is going to give up his ability to control Facebook if he leaves the company with the issuance of Facebook non-voting stock. Credit:AP

Then there are the Class C shares, with 10 votes each, which are convertible into Class B stock. These shares are held in equal number by the two Snap co-founders, Evan Spiegel and Robert Murphy. Specifically, each of them holds 107,943,924 Class C shares. These shares will give the two men complete voting control over Snap. The two founders have a proxy arrangement that transfers voting control to the other if one dies, but it doesn't cover whether they vote their shares together while alive, so presumably they could deadlock. Eric Schmidt at Google has talked up Evan Spiegel as a visionary. Credit:AP Snap has solved this problem by granting a performance stock award to Spiegel that will be 3 per cent of the company's post-IPO value. This award will be paid out in equal quarterly instalments over three years beginning in the third full quarter after the offering. After this, Spiegel will have total control over Snap and Murphy will simply be a close second.

The fact that 26-year-old Spiegel is getting total control of a new company with uncertain prospects but real growth is perhaps cause for alarm. Who knows what will happen years from now? Snap, which looks a lot like Twitter did at its IPO stage, could also experience bumps in the road as Twitter did. In its prospectus, Snap calls itself a camera company, but it really has just one product, Snapchat, which is beloved by the younger crowd for its disappearing photos and texts. Facebook, Google and Microsoft as well as Amazon have survived because of the ability to provide multiple successful offerings. Twitter has struggled with just one product - the platform on which people the world over, including the US President, send 140-character messages called tweets. Whether Spiegel can expand beyond Snap's disappearing photos and texts is unknown, though the media machine will certainly turn up the hype, trumpeting claims that he is the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. Indeed, a recent New York Times article on Spiegel described him being "mature", a listener and someone Eric Schmidt at Google was talking up as a visionary. This may or may not be pablum, but one has to wonder why it justifies this type of stock given the risks.

If things are going well, no one is going to question Spiegel and Murphy's control. But if things are bad, then shareholder complaints may be valid, a spur to action. Indeed, control makes sense only if shareholders and the two executives disagree about whether things are going well. But that assumes that shareholders will be irrational or wrong or not know as much as the two men at the helm. The last point may have some validity - but is it worth complete disenfranchisement, again given that Snap is a very early-stage company and Spiegel is so young? I suppose it all might be palatable for most diversified investors in exchange for the huge potential upside, except for the last two parts of this scheme. First, in October, Snap issued a dividend of one Class A share for each Class C share the two men owned. The result was to allow Spiegel and Murphy to sell half their shares without worry of losing control. The company could reload this at any point, issuing out another dividend of Class A shares if the two need more money.

Second, the founders' control goes away only if they die or when they hold only 30 per cent of the Class C shares they held at the time of the IPO. This means Spiegel or Murphy could sell 69 per cent of his Class C shares and all of his Class A and B shares and still control the company. And then, they could reload with a second dividend of Class A shares on all of the Class C shares. So, barring unforeseen circumstances, the only way the two founders are ever really going to lose control of Snap is if both die. This raises some interesting possibilities. Hypothetical scenario 1 Spiegel dies. Murphy would now have complete control of the company. Yet Spiegel is supposed to be the visionary executive who justified this voting structure. Or is Murphy, 28, equally visionary? (Or perhaps it is more likely they are just executing well on the "disappearing pictures" concept just as Mark Cuban executed well on "internet radio" before selling broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999 for billions of dollars.)

Hypothetical scenario 2 At age 30, Spiegel decides that life as a billionaire married to a supermodel (he's engaged to Miranda Kerr) is more fun spent on an island in the Pacific. He quits his job, but still holds Class C shares and wields his power to elect directors and run the company part time. Hypothetical scenario 3 Spiegel continues to hold the shares and keep his day job and at age 50 is head of a middling internet company with great potential, but he refuses to give up control, or starts behaving erratically. Potential investors, particularly the big money managers like the BlackRocks of the world, should likely be asking themselves: Is it all worth it, given the risks?

I'd note here that Google has a sunset provision on its dual class shares, while Zuckerberg is going to give up his ability to control Facebook if he leaves the company with the issuance of Facebook non-voting stock. Does Spiegel deserve better than that? And remember the other tech titans, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, all have one share, one vote. In its prospectus, Snap says its team is "kind, smart and creative", which is kind of like Whitney Houston singing "I believe that children are the future". And there's a lot of other stuff about growth and big ideas. Snap may be right, and Evan Spiegel truly is the second coming, but this just does not justify the extreme governance given the risk. Instead, it just seems silly, but not in the fun Snapchat sort of way. Loading
Tensions within the government over same-sex marriage have erupted again with conservative MPs warning Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that allowing a free vote on this issue would be a "betrayal" of the Coalition's election commitments.

Fairfax Media reported on Saturday that moderate MPs are preparing a push for the Coalition to abandon its policy that a national plebiscite should be held before any vote in the Parliament.

Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz says the Turnbull government should stick with its plebiscite policy

Same-sex marriage supporters in the Liberal Party argue for a vote to be held before the May budget and could raise the issue in the party room within the next fortnight.

Former cabinet minister Eric Abetz said: "The Prime Minister has made it crystal clear that the government's position is for a plebiscite or nothing.
The Turnbull government is set to put the breaks on federal money flowing into "over-funded" private schools in a new deal to take effect next year.

The move would free up funds to distribute to needy public and non-goverment schools.

Melbourne Grammar is one of Australia's most "overfunded" private schools. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The move comes as new Education Department data shows the glacial speed at which schools are currently moving towards their appropriate funding level  a process Education Minister Simon Birmingham wants to speed up.

Fairfax Media understands Senator Birmingham's school funding proposals have been discussed in detail during cabinet meetings over recent months, but a final position to present to state governments and the Parliament has not been approved.
I was in London recently and became hypnotised by the perfectly applied eyeliner that I saw on people everywhere: on the Tube, on the high street, in Selfridges, in the Tate Modern (yes, there was a smattering of culture thrown in amid the shopping). So I became re-inspired to try and master its application once and for all.

After hours of tutorial watching, my new obsession has become strategically placed dot eyeliner. This is certainly nothing new - Twiggy was an early adopter in the 60s. The key to getting it right is emphasising the lower lash line.

Emma Roberts has been a big fan of adopting the Twiggy technique. Credit:Getty Images

Makeup artist Pat McGrath worked her magic back in 2012 on the runway at Anna Sui with a perfectly placed cornflower blue dot under the lower lashes.

Since then the dot has been popping up everywhere: on Instagram, runways and on celebrities such as Emma Roberts and Zoe Kravitz. All of them likely realising that tiny dots under the lower lashes will make them look longer and fuller. The rule to remember is to line up the dot with your pupils, so that they always appear symmetrical.
Here's hoping the sales of Lady Remington take a dip this month thanks to Australian women who are growing their armpit and leg hair to raise awareness of domestic violence.

Get Hairy February launched this week with more than 280 women pledging to let their bodies do what nature intended while raising funds for The Full Stop Foundation, an organisation that works to prevent violence against women and provides support to those affected.

Actress Lola Kirke received death threats after showing off her armpit hair at the Golden Globes last month. Credit:Vincent Sandoval

The inaugural peer-to-peer campaign has already received $10,000 in donations.

"This is not a negative action campaign, like stopping drinking for FebFast, it's about letting your body do what it's supposed to do. It's about a positive affirmation, rather than a negative one," director Alex Andrews told PS.
A 15-year-old girl reported missing from an Upper Mount Gravatt school, has been found safe and well on Saturday morning.

The teenager was reported missing on Friday afternoon and police held concerns for her welfare due to her age and because it was out of character.

Police thanked the media and public for their assistance in finding the missing teen, less than 24 hours after she was last seen.

Police thanked the media and the public for their assistance, as the child was located as a result of feedback received from social media.

The girl was described as Caucasian with a slim build, about 165 centimetres tall with dark-brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a maroon school uniform.
The hunt is on for a stolen four-wheel-drive after a violent home invasion in Logan on Sunday morning.

Police said about 12.30am a man broke into a Claudia Street home in Kingston and confronted a woman, who was known to him.

A four-wheel-drive similar to the one pictured was stolen from a Kingston home on Sunday morning. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The man repeatedly assaulted the woman, leaving her with serious facial and neck injuries, before stealing her car.

Police are urging anyone who sees a silver 2006 Ford Territory four wheel drive with Queensland registration 662 WWJ to contact them immediately.
Asian tourists have spearheaded double-digit growth in international visitations to Queensland, with a 13 per cent increase in the year to September 2016, leading Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to urge Queenslanders to learn Chinese.

Of the 2.55 million international visitors to Queensland, 485,000 were from China - an increase of 33.5 per cent in a year - making it the state's largest international source market.

There was a 13 per cent increase in Queensland's international arrivals in the year to September 2017. Credit:Jorge Branco

Tourism and Events Queensland data showed Chinese expenditure in Queensland grew 24.1 per cent to $1.1 billion in the year ending September 2016.

Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland needed to be better equipped to welcome Chinese visitors.
A man has allegedly driven a stolen Porsche directly at police officers during a chase north of Brisbane on Saturday night.

The car was allegedly stolen three days earlier from Nerang on the Gold Coast.

The Porsche was believed to have been stolen three days earlier from Nerang on the Gold Coast.

Police on foot had cornered the man in a residential yard at Kallangur late on Saturday night when he allegedly drove at them, narrowly missing the officers and their cars.

Polair, spike strips and the dog squad were needed to arrest the driver, who was later charged with a string of offences.
Windows will be closed once the airconditioning is in. Credit:Robert Shakespeare Combine those responses with a torrent of criticism over the all-male lineup for Saturday's opening gig and juggling $100,000 worth of renovations and it was a tough few weeks for Weyand, after closing temporarily around Christmas. The venue was called out repeatedly for failing to include any women on the bill in what turned out to be a bit of a wakeup call for the 28-year-old who said it wasn't for a lack of trying. Pixie Weyand during the renovations. Credit:Robert Shakespeare "I was so taken aback by it to be honest," she said.

"I was shocked and I was upset and I was angry, (thinking) how could people even be saying this." BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 03: The Zoo club reopening in Brisbane by new Owner Pixie Weyand on February 3, 2017 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Robert Shakespeare/Fairfax Media) Credit:Robert Shakespeare It took weeks to realise that even if she tried not to be affected by sexism in the industry, it was a problem more broadly and for others. "Not that being a female in the music industry isn't an issue, I've just never let it bother me, I've never let gender define me and I've never let being a female affect how I carry out my work," she said. "I don't get offended if someone thinks I'm a PA or asks me to speak to the boss but it doesn't mean that it doesn't affect other people in a negative way or make them feel disheartened.

"A really good friend of mine who's a really amazing woman in the industry, she agreed with me but she actually said you know what, we're in a position of privilege where we have the we have the opportunity to put women in these lineups. "It wasn't that we didn't want to, they just weren't there, and we did push for it, but maybe I need to push a little harder." Weyand accepted she was a feminist by its definition of wanting male and female equality but worried it had become "misconstrued" as a "dirty word". As far as airconditioning, Weyand said it was a necessity for the bands and staff as much as the punters. "We lost a lot of music and a lot of bands because it was really, genuinely too hot and they want to play somewhere where it's a bit cooler so they could perform properly," she said, acclaimed newer venue The Triffid being the obvious elephant in the room.

"And the staff have to carry all the beers up and down the stairs and we have had a lot of safety issues with the heat. "People have genuinely had heatstroke without any level of intoxication at all." The kicker? Because of power issues at the "super old" building, the new AC was not actually ready for the re-launch. Weyand hoped it would be ready by May. The Kangaroo Point woman ran Valley cafe LostBoys, offering a free feed to touring musicians, until she sold it in December. Her first gig in Brisbane was at The Zoo, she said, remembering how she fell in love with the place at 18 after buying a ticket to see Gyroscope play.
One house was damaged, and residents in others were told it was too late to leave, as a grassfire threatened homes in Melbourne's north-west on Saturday.

The fire, which broke out about 11.20am, quickly burned through grass and scrub in Diggers Rest before being brought largely under control around 3pm.

Dragi Blazevski at his back paddock after an out of control grassfire nearly burnt through his property near Diggers Rest Credit:Chris Hopkins

Fire crews believe one house was damaged, with another property possibly damaged. No injuries were reported.

The CFA had to scramble quickly to bring the blaze under control, as the flames were fanned by strong northerly winds of 25 to 35km/h. High temperatures  up to 34 degrees  and low humidity made conditions ripe for a blaze to break out.
A man if fighting for life in hospital following a fight in Ellenbrook.

Police say they were called to a disturbance on Main Street outside The Brook Bar & Bistro around 10.30pm on Friday.

A man is fighting for life after being injured during a fight outside an Ellenbrook pub on Friday night. Credit:9 News

Officers found paramedics were already at the scene and treating a 37-year-old man who was found unconscious.

He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with life threatening injuries.
Arlington: Norway's security service says nine email accounts - including those belonging to the Labour party, the foreign ministry and defence ministry - have been targeted by hackers believed to be the same Russia-linked group blamed for breaking into Democratic National Committee computers.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg told TV 2 that the hacking was "a serious attack on our democratic institutions," although security officials say no classified material was taken.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Credit:Keystone/AP

Targets also included the Police Security Service, Norway's Radiation Protection Authority and an unidentified college, Arne Christian Haugstoyl, section chief for the PST told the station.

PST believes the attack came from a hacking group known as "Cozy Bear" that is linked to the Russian Security Service, or FSB, which US. authorities blamed for the break in of the Democratic National Committee computers last year. The hackers were accused of "spearphishing", which aims to get sensitive information like usernames, passwords or credit card information from individuals by tricking them into installing spying software by clicking on emails or opening infected documents.
Paris: The man suspected of lunging at a French soldier with machetes near the entrance to the Paris Louvre museum has been identified as a 29-year-old Egyptian who recently arrived on a tourist visa, the Paris prosecutor said.

Paris prosecutors said police inquiries had established that the man, who was hovering between life and death after being shot on Friday, arrived in France on January 26 after obtaining a visa in Dubai.

An unidentified wounded person is taken into an ambulance outside the Louvre in Paris on Friday. Credit:AP

Security sources in Cairo identified the man as Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, who was born in Dakahlia, a province northeast of Cairo.

French President Francois Hollande said the incident was a terrorist attack.
Via The Globe and Mail, Stephanie Nolen writes: Climate shift brings back an old scourge as Brazil races to contain yellow fever outbreak. Excerpt:

Brazilian health authorities are rushing to try to control an outbreak of yellow fever, a viral relic of the colonial era. But the disease is back and killing people at a rate not seen for decades, and experts say it is being driven by some of the same factors that have fuelled the outbreak of Zika virus, a new threat that has wrought havoc in Brazil over the past two years.

Fifty-two people have died of yellow fever so far, in an outbreak that began with the onset of Southern Hemisphere summer in December, and another 80 deaths are being investigated as suspected yellow fever fatalities, according to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry says that a further 667 suspected cases of the disease are under analysis.

Public health officials have inoculated five million people in the central state of Minas Gerais, where almost all the cases have been concentrated, and ordered 11.5 million more doses of the vaccine for two more areas where a handful of cases have been confirmed, including Sao Paulo, the countrys most populous state. A suspected yellow fever case has also been reported in Bahia, a coastal state that has not recorded the disease since 1985.

This morning, Xinhua in Global Times reports the number of deaths has risen to 60, with 87 more suspected yellow fever deaths under investigation.
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.
Media Advisory: UB Dental to treat or teach thousands of kids for Childrens Dental Health Month

Now in its 16th year, Give Kids a Smile Day welcomes nearly 700 schoolchildren and hundreds of volunteers. Photo: Douglas Levere

Annual Give Kids a Smile Day to welcome pirates, tykes, teens and special needs students

BUFFALO, N.Y.  Thousands of Buffalo children will have a new reason to smile this February. In celebration of National Childrens Dental Health Month, the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine will provide screenings or oral health education to thousands of local kids.

The school will provide dental care and education through its two annual programs, Give Kids a Smile Day and Smile Education Day.

Now in its 16th year, Give Kids a Smile Day welcomes nearly 700 schoolchildren  including 300 Head Start students  and hundreds of volunteers, whom include UB dental school faculty, staff and students, as well as private dentists and their staff who are donating their time to provide care.

This years event will introduce a pirate theme and expand care to nearly 300 students from Buffalo high schools. The program will also provide Special Olympic Special Smiles screenings to 35 special needs students from P.S. 42 Occupational Training Center, making UB the only university in the nation to offer the service during Give Kids a Smile Day.

Throughout the day, students will receive free dental treatment and cleanings. While they wait, kids can enjoy hands-on activities, games, dental videos and oral health instruction from Blackbeard and Mr. Tooth.

Give Kids a Smile Day, held in partnership with the American Dental Association, New York State Dental Association and the 8th District Dental Society, is part of a national effort to teach children good dental health habits while theyre young to avoid major oral health problems later in life. Since the program began in 2001, UB has treated nearly 10,000 children.

The event is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 3, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Squire Hall on the UB South Campus. Special guests include Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Erie County Health Commissioner Gale R. Burstein. Remarks and a proclamation from Brown will be delivered at 10 a.m.

For a map of the campus (Squire Hall is No. 19), visit: http://bit.ly/2jDpqkH.

Toward the middle of February, UB dental faculty and students will visit thousands of children in dozens of schools across Western New York as part of the 24th annual Smile Education Day.

Organized by the UB Smile Team and School of Dental Medicine, the event teaches children about the importance of dental hygiene, proper nutrition and the effects of sugar, and the connection between oral hygiene and overall health.

Scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and dental students from UB and local communities will visit students in grades 3 to 5 to deliver oral health presentations and offer career guidance on becoming a dentist.

For a list of schools participating in the program, contact Marcene Robinson in University Communications at 716-645-4595 or marcener@buffalo.edu.

Smile Education Day and Give Kids a Smile Day are two of more than 400 community outreach events that the UB School of Dental Medicine participates in each year.
Thanks to Ryan Wilmer for alerting me to this story. Via NOWnews.com: Kaohsiung male Guangdong dye H7N9 acute chase contacts 108 people. Edited excerpt from the Google translation:

The first case of H7N9 influenza confirmed in the Republic of China this year was reported by the CDC today (February 4). A 69-year-old man, who lives in Kaohsiung City, had been working in Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province. He had fever and chills in Guangdong before returning to Taiwan.

With sore throat and other symptoms, he is still in the intensive care unit.

I hope we'll have more details on this case over the weekend.
The governments effort towards giving special focus on the rural economy is a welcome step. The agriculture sector is expected to grow at 4.6 percent in 2017-18 over the previous year and Rs 10 lakh crores as credit to farmers will fuel this growth which is good news for the agri and allied sector players.
Information Technology (IT) major has urged its employees to stay calm and said it would hire an external agency to assess the security measures at its campuses. The announcement follows the death of an staffer in its office at the Hinjewadi IT park in Pune, who was allegedly strangulated by a security guard last Sunday.
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Over the last few years, Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro has increased focus on education and environment. The Wipro Earthian award, which was launched in 2011 and engages with nearly 50000 institutes today, recognises sustainability education across various schools and colleges in India. Premji interacted with students on Saturday to share his views. Edited excerpts:
The demerged undertaking, together with the existing EPC team of RIL, will create a focused EPC undertaking to cater to the needs of the group
Tyre have increased prices by two to five per cent on rising raw material costs and margin pressures. But retailers said this was not the right time to do so because sales were down due to demonetisation.
About three months ago, the Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) called for a bandh to protest the allegedly fake encounters by police in Chhattisgarhs restive red zone. In a small room in Jagdalpur, the divisional headquarters of Bastar, top leaders of the SAS were busy designing the strategy to ensure the success of the bandh. Then came a message: The police would ensure that the bandh failed.
The finance ministry said on Saturday the threshold for the reduced corporation tax rate of 25 per cent on companies earning up to Rs 50 crore, announced in the Budget for 2017-18, might be 2015-16. This means even if these companies grow bigger in subsequent years, the lower tax rate would continue to apply for them.
Budget 2017-18 focuses on educational empowerment and skill development of the Minorities: Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Rs 2600 crore provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes for Minorities in the Budget: Shri Naqvi Ministry of Minority Affairs organizing second edition of Hunar Haat" with the theme Craft Aur Cuisine Ka Sangam" from 11th to 26th February, 2017 in New Delhi

The Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge), Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said that the Union Budget (General) 2017-18 will be helpful in socio-economic-educational empowerment of Minorities. Shri Naqvi said that the Budget of Minority Affairs Ministry has been increased to Rs 4195.48 crore for 2017-18. This is Rs 368.23 crore more than 2016-17 Budget of Rs 3827.25 crore with an increase of about 9.6 per cent. The Central Governments focus is on educational and skill development of Minorities. Maximum part of the Budget 2017-18 would go for educational empowerment and skill development of the Minorities. It was stated by Shri Naqvi while briefing the press here, today.The Minister of Minority Affairs further stated that more than Rs 2600 crore have been provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes such as Seekho aur Kamao", Nai Manzil", Nai Roushni", Usttad", Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre" and Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship for Girls". Besides this, funds under Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) will also be utilised for various educational development activities. Rs 393.54 crore has been given for Merit-cum-Means based scholarship; Rs 950 crore for pre-matric scholarship; Rs 550 crore for post-matric scholarship; Rs 250 crore for Seekho aur Kamao (with an increase of Rs 40 crore compared to last budget); Rs 176 crore for Nai Manzil" (with an increase of Rs 56 crore compared to last budget); Rs 113 crore for Maulana Azad Education Foundation; Rs 170 crore as equity for NMDFC.Shri Naqvi informed that Rs 22 crore has been allocated for Usttad" scheme which aims to promote and provide national-international markets for traditional arts of the Minority communities. Rs 1200 crore has been allocated for Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) with an increase of Rs 141 crore compared to last years budget. MsDP scheme provides basic infrastructure for Minority concentrated areas such as schools, hospitals, roads, multi-purpose community centres Sadbhav Mandap" etc.He said that for 2017-18, Centre has set a target to provide scholarships to about 35 lakh students. Employment oriented training will be provided to more than 2 lakh youths belonging to Minority communities. Besides this, Honble Prime Ministers new 15-Point Programme has been playing a key role in socio-economic-educational empowerment of Minorities. 24 schemes of 11 Ministries/Departments are presently covered under this programme. Various Ministries spend their about 15 per cent funds for development of Minorities.
Fifty Democratic congressmen have written US President Donald Trump demanding he explain his placement of controversial chief strategist Steve Bannon on the despite lacking formal foreign policy experience.

The letter follows the introduction of two Democratic bills, one in the Senate and the other in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday aimed at keeping Bannon off the NSC's core Principals Committee and reinstating the permanent status of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence.

Trump caused an uproar last weekend when he issued a memorandum that reorganised the NSC to elevate Bannon onto the Principals Committee and to relegate the Joint Chiefs chairman and DNI to roles where they only attend when "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise" are discussed.

"National security should never fall victim to partisan politics," said the House Democrats yesterday in their letter headed by congressmen Ted Deutch and Jerrold Nadler.

"We strongly encourage you to restore the DNI and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to their rightful status as regular members of the Principals Committee," they wrote.

They also asked the administration to provide Congress "a written explanation for your decision to inject politics" into the NSC by formally elevating Bannon to the Principals Committee.

"And the deeply troubling allegations that Mr Bannon supports or is tolerant of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views take on added significance if he is to serve as a member."



The 63-year-old Bannon, former head of rightwing Breitbart News, is seen as a provocateur who rejects political convention and has an uncanny ability to steer Trump towards his own ideological agenda.

Trump's decision to give Bannon a place on the council has alarmed former officials from Democratic and Republican administrations alike.

Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, a former national security specialist at the Pentagon, introduced her bill in order to restore the permanent roles of the DNI and Joint Chiefs chairman to the council.

But it would also deny a seat to Bannon or any other individual "whose primary responsibility is political in nature," she said.

Veteran Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the judiciary committee and co-author of the Senate bill, on Thursday blasted Trump's inclusion of Bannon as "a completely unacceptable infringement of into national security.
Refugees are men, women and children caught in the fury of war, or the cross hairs of persecution. Far from being terrorists, they are often the victims of terrorism themselves.
Behnam Partopour, a student from Iran, is greeted by friends at Logan Airport after he cleared US customs and immigration. He was originally turned away from a flight to the US. Photo: Reuters
Just days before his inauguration, President-elect Donald J Trump stood beside his tax lawyer at a Midtown Manhattan news conference as she announced that he planned to place his vast business holdings in a trust, a move she said would allay fears that he might exploit the Oval Office for personal gain.
The US has cancelled 60,000 visas since President Donald Trump signed the controversial immigration order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries, according to the State Department.

The order signed by Trump last week imposes a 90-day pause on the entry into the US of nationals from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen.

"Fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order. We recognise that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the executive order," said Will Cocks, spokesperson for Bureau of Consular Affairs Department of State.

"To put that number in context, we issued over 11 million immigrant and non-immigrant visas in fiscal year 2015. As always, national security is our top priority when issuing visas," Cocks said.

The pause does not apply to Lawful Permanent Residents, dual citizens with passports from a country other than the seven listed, or those travelling on diplomatic, NATO or UN visas, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Special Immigrant Visa holders of these seven countries may board US-bound planes, and apply for and receive a national interest exception to the pause upon arrival, the Department of Homeland Security said.

"Importantly, these seven countries are the only countries to which the pause on entry applies. No other countries face such treatment. Nor have any other countries been identified as warranting future inclusion at this time, contrary to false reports," it said.

As directed by the Executive Order, the Department of Homeland Security is working with Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a country-by-country review of the information provided by countries in order for their nationals to apply for myriad visas, immigration benefits, or otherwise seek admission into the US.

"This review is needed to ensure that individuals seeking to enter the US are who they claim to be and do not pose a security or public-safety threat," a statement said, adding that the results of this review will be provided to the President within 30 days of the executive order's signing.

This review will determine which countries do not provide adequate information on their nationals seeking immigration benefits or admission into the US.

The goal is to ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward the US and its founding principles.
Get sick in Toledo, Ohio, and chances are good you'll be treated by a doctor born in another country. If you have allergies, stomach issues or neurological problems, the chances are even better. At least half of those doctors are foreign-born, Ohio Medical Board data shows 2014 some from the seven countries listed on President Trump's travel ban.
The British Government on 2 February published its plan for 'a new, positive and constructive' partnership in the mutual interest of the UK and the EU, with a White Paper presented to Parliament.

According toa press release of the British High Commission in New Delhi, the document, entitled 'The United Kingdom's Exit from, and New Partnership with, the European Union', mirrors the 12 principles set out by the Prime Minister to guide EU exit negotiations in her speech at Lancaster House on 17 January.

These include providing certainty and clarity wherever possible, ensuring free trade with European markets, controlling immigration and taking control of our own laws.

The paper highlights the mutual interest to the UK and the EU of maintaining the freest and most frictionless trade possible in goods and services following UK exit.

It notes that in 2015, the UK exported 230 billion worth of goods and services to the EU, while importing 290 billion worth of goods and services from the EU.

It will be in the interests of both sides to build a new strategic partnership, with an ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement and a new customs agreement, the document says.

The position the UK and EU will start from, with a common regulatory framework with the European Single Market, is unprecedented.

It is not about bringing 2 divergent systems together, but finding the best way for the benefits of the common systems and frameworks that currently enable UK and EU businesses to trade with and operate in each others' markets to continue when we leave the EU.

The paper also recognises the importance of delivering a smooth, mutually beneficial exit, avoiding a disruptive cliff-edge.

So a phased process of implementation of new arrangements - whether relating to immigration controls, customs systems, co-operation on criminal and civil justice matters, or future regulatory and legal frameworks for business - will be in our mutual self interest.

The White Paper notes that the time needed to phase in new arrangements in different areas may vary.

The document also confirms plans for a separate White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill, which will ensure certainty and stability by transposing EU law into UK law, wherever practical and appropriate, and separate legislation in areas likely to be affected by the outcome of the negotiation, such as customs and immigration.

Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis said: "The White Paper confirms the Prime Minister's vision of an independent, truly global UK and an ambitious future relationship with the EU."

This is based on the 12 principles that will guide the government in fulfilling the democratic will of the people of the UK.

These 12 objectives amount to 1 goal: a new, positive and constructive partnership between Britain and the European Union, that works in our mutual interest.

It is in the UK's interest for the EU to succeed politically and economically. And so we approach the negotiation to come in a spirit of goodwill and working to an outcome in our mutual benefit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
South Africa skipper AB de Villiers has confirmed that middle-order batsman Farhaan Behardien will replace injured David Miller for the third ODI against Sri Lanka to be held at the Wanderers on Saturday.

Miller was earlier ruled out of the rest of the five-match ODI series due to a finger injury.

The 27-year-old sustained a cut to his little finger of the right hand while fielding during South Africa's huge 121-run win over Lanka in the second ODI in Durban.

Reflecting on Behardien's selection, de Villiers said that the former was included in the squad based on his versatility as he could contribute with both bat and ball.

"He is one of the guys you want in your team when the chips are down and when you're going well. He can play any role and is versatile. He can bowl a few overs and is great in the field," Sport24 quoted de Villiers as saying.

"He's a good guy and it's nice to have him in the side. He is a really good replacement for Dave (Miller) and there's no better that's for sure," he added.

South Africa are currently leading 2-0 in the ongoing ODI series.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], Feb. 4 (ANI): In order to avoid embarrassment in Parliament, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued whip to its parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha when the house will debate on the Presidential address.

The party has also asked its MPs to be present in the Rajya Sabha as the Opposition has proposed 651 amendments on this years' motion of thanks for the President's address.

The whip will take effect from February 6 and will last till February 9, i.e. in the remaining days of the current session of the Parliament.

Though discussions took place on the Presidents' address in the lower House yesterday, the constant disruption from the opposition parties forced the speaker to adjourn the House.

The disruption has emerged as a matter of grave concern for the government as it does not enjoy majority in the Upper House and hence, wants all its members to be with full vigour in order to counter the opposition's moves.

The President's address to the parliament has traditionally always been passed without any amendments. In the last two years, however, the Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led government faced embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha.

Last year, the opposition added a sentence to the Motion of Thanks to the President. The sentence said that it is a duty of the government to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens to be able to contest elections at all levels of governance.

The sentence was added to the amendment while sidelining an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The amendment was presented by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. The amendment pertained to a minimum level of educational qualification for contesting elections for the Panchayat in Rajasthan and Haryana. The proposal was voted upon with 94 out of a total of 155 members voting in its favour.

In 2015, a proposal by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) leader Sitaram Yechury was approved. The proposal was related to black money and corruption.

Yechury had expressed regret over the fact that the Presidential address did not explicitly specify the governments' commitment towards eradicating corruption and black money.

The Congress has never faced such embarrassment in the Parliament.

An amendment to the Presidential address has been made thrice till now.

It first took place on January 30, 1980 when the Janata Party was in power. It later took place under V.P. Singh's tenure in 1989. And, in March 12, 2001 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Casting aside rumours over his joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Congress leader S.M. Krishna on Saturday categorically said that he has not joined any party.

"I have not joined any party and I have not taken any call. When I decide will let you know," Krishna told ANI.

The former foreign minister's comment comes hours after Karnataka BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa claimed that the former would join the party soon.

"S.M. Krishna has decided to join the BJP. We don't know when for certain, we'll fix that soon. But he is joining 100 per cent," Yeddyurappa told ANI.

On January 29, Krishna resigned from all the posts held by him in the grand old party.

The Congress repeatedly made attempts to convince the veteran leader to join back.

Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara had urged the Congress top brass to convince Krishna not to quit.

"Hopefully, the high command will be able to convince him to stay in the party," Parameshwara told ANI.

"Particularly S. M. Krishna leaving the party has in one way affected the Congress in Karnataka. But we will definitely make up for that. At the same time, we appeal to the high command to talk to him and see that he doesn't go out of the party," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Continuing his verbal assault on the Centre with polling underway in Goa and Punjab, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asserted that the Election Commission has "surrendered" before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"EC has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like CBI n RBI," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief said in a tweet.

Taking on the Prime Minister over demonetisation, Kejriwal further said that the move had not eradicated black money as he had promised, and the evidence was visible in Goa and Punjab where polling is underway.

"Modi ji had said that the menace of black money will stop after demonetisation. But it has been distributed vigorously in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the benefit of demonetisation?," the tweet read.

Earlier today, Kejriwal exuded confidence of his party sweeping to power in Goa and Punjab where polling began Saturday morning.

"Goa and Punjab will create history today," Kejriwal tweeted shortly after polling began.

Meanwhile, voting began in Punjab and Goa on Saturday morning for the 2017 Assembly elections.

The two states are the first of the five to go to polling ahead of Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand which are being held simultaneously in the months of February and March.

The counting of votes for all five states will begin on March 11. Voting for 40 seats in Goa began at 7.00 am and Punjab, which has 117 assembly seats, an hour later.

Till 3.00 pm, 67 per cent had cast their vote in Goa and 48 per cent in Punjab till 2.30 pm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As Punjab went to polls today, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing and Member of Parliament from Bathinda, launched a strong worded attack on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-supremo Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of rubbing shoulders with 'radical organisations' like Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Khalistani Commando Force.

Harsimrat also dubbed Kejriwal's political agenda as 'dangerous' and said he would bring Punjab to the same condition that Delhi is in.

"Kejriwal's political game is dangerous because not only does he mint money from the people, but also from organisations like ISI and he has partnered with the radical organisations of states like ours. He had breakfast on January 4 with Babbar Khalsa's front which is a terrorist organisation. After that, their 'drunkard' MP urged the people for violence; he asked to throw bricks, stones. And just two days after that, it was reported that the memebrs of their party threw stones at the Police Force and were arrested," she said.

"After two days, the Chief Minister was attacked by a supporter of the AAP. After the whole election process began, Kejriwal on January 27 went and stayed with the head of Khalistani Commando Force who had been boycotted from the nation. Within six days, a blast shocked Maur Mandi. Six innocent people were killed. Since the Congress has brought the AAP in Punjab, the social threadbare of the society has just gone from bad to worse," she added.

She also said the nexus that Kejriwal made with the radical organisations has destroyed the peace of the state.

"The main accused in the Guru Granth Saahib attack case joined the AAP a few days back. The nexus that Kejriwal made with the radical organisations has destroyed the peace of the state. Till date, the Congress used to do this. Now, the AAP has joined them. The target of both parties is SAD, not each other. They have been targetting only Badal, Sukhbir and Majithia. They will bring Punjab to the same condition that Delhi is in," she added.

Harsimrat continued shooting down daggers at Congress' Capt. Amarinder Singh too and said his politics has always centered around vote-bank.

"The history speaks for itself. He goes to the people only when he needs votes, make false promises, accuses others and forms a government. He belongs to the party of Indira Gandhi who made a canal in the state to give water to other states. Can he order the closing of the 'nahar'? He cannot. Because all the Congressmen are mere puppets in hands of Sonia Gandhi," she said.

Harsimrat also accused the Congress and the AAP to have worked in synchrony in order to overthrow the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.

"If Singh's politics centers around votes, Kejriwal's revolves around notes. In the Parliament House, the Congress doesn't speak as much as Bhagwant Mann. He always asks to help the Congress in one way or the other. Even in Punjab Assembly, when the cotton crop went bad, they provoked public sentiment against the government," he said.

"Their promises are fake. When Kejriwal hasn't been able to do anything in the three years of his government in Delhi, what will he be able to do in Punjab? And Capt. Amarinder Singh wasn't able to do anything substantial for the state in the government they held in the state for five years before us," he added.

The SAD leader even drew a parallel between the stormy weather and the political environment in the state.

"As you can see the weather is bad in Punjab. The weather is also bad for people who have not left even a stone unturned in destroying the peace and harmony of the state," he said.

"They tried to mislead people using false slogans. The candidates who are fighting against Sukhbir Badal were given the responsibility of other constituencies and they are sitting here. The winds in Punjab will sweep away all these liars, who indulge in petty politics and the government that has been in the state for 10 years will continue," he added.

Expressing confidence in the SAD-BJP alliance in the state, Harsimrat said the government believes in peace, development and the welfare of the people.

"I am more than 100 percent of Parkash Singh Badal's victory. Our opposing parties don't have any agenda other than falsely accusing us. Captain Amarinder Singh betrayed the people of Amritsar as its representative in the Parliament. Then he went to betray the people of Patiala. Now, he has come to backstab the people of Lambi," she said.

"We need the same government as the centre to help us in development and in issue of SYL and I am sure people will vote wisely," she added.

Punjab polled for the assembly elections today, in which the people voted for 117 legislative seats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pakistan Interior Ministry has formally raised objections on the report of the Quetta inquiry commission constituted for probing the August 8 Quetta carnage that left 73 people dead, most of them lawyers, and 104 others injured.

Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan filed a 64-page document, including the objections and replies to the recommendations and findings, in the Supreme Court, reports the Daily Times.

The inquiry commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa of had observed that the Interior Ministry was without a clear leadership and direction; consequently, it was confused about its role in combating terrorism, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar displayed little sense of ministerial responsibility.

To this, the ministry said that the commission's findings were incorrect and contrary to the record, and not based on any evidence to support the claims. The report had mentioned a meeting between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar and Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of banned organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ).

The reply explained that the minister was not scheduled to meet a delegation of the ASWJ led by Ludhianvi, as was alleged by the commission.

It said that the minister was scheduled to meet the delegation of Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), which is not a proscribed organisation and is rather an umbrella organisation of 35 religious and political parties.

According to the reply, the minister was unaware that Maulana Ludhianvi would accompany Maulana Samiul Haq since he had no prior notice of Maulana Ludhianvi's arrival.

In the objections, the ministry said that the finding of the commission that "National Counter Terrorism Authority's (NACTA) act of seeking input from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)/ Intelligence Bureau (IB) is illogical" was flawed.

The document also includes submissions on 18 recommendations that were made in the commission's report, stating that proscription of terrorist organisations was a continuous exercise conducted by the federal government, and that 64 organisations had been proscribed to date.

The Interior Ministry dubbed the damning findings of the Quetta inquiry commission on terrorism 'unnecessary, uncalled for and violative of natural justice'.

"These adverse remarks and observations are without any evidentiary basis. They not only deny the fundamental rights of those affected but also have an adverse effect on the morale of the persons involved," regretted the reply.

On January 19, the court had allowed the ministry to submit its objections to the report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Commenting over tweets posted by U.S. President Donald Trump, former Mexican president Vicente Fox Quesada asked the former 'to behave' as per his stature and quit Twitter.

"Donald, you're a president. Behave like one. These rants are child play. Quit twitter, start being presidential," tweeted the former president.

It's not the first time that Quesada has trained guns on Trump. He has been a protestor of Trump's policies and executive orders.

Quesada was very vocal about his protest over the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border which the U.S. President promised Mexico will pay for.

Some of his earlier tweets read, "America, remember who's going to pay for that #FuckingWall: it's you! American taxpayers, not Mexico."

"I've made it clear, Mexico is not paying for that #FuckingWall. US Congress don't get fooled by @realDonaldTrump. You can stop his maddness."

".@realDonaldTrump Mexico does the dirty work and therefore pays with blood. Your behavior, it's not presidential, learn about diplomacy."

"#StandUpToTrump, he's a bully and the has called his bluff. The has awoken and together we stand higher than his #FuckingWall."

"Bravo @NYGovCuomo! This is not America! Everyone regarding their beliefs ought to be able feel free and safe. NO to the #MuslimBan?"

Quesada is a Mexican businessman who was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Predicting a post-election fallout between Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance, Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Saturday asserted that the camaraderie of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is temporary which is set to doom the moment, the verdict is out in favour of BJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh(UP) assembly polls.

BJP Spokesperson Shah Nawaaz Hussain told ANI,"Akhilesh couldn't change a thing in five years. Now, Akhilesh and Rahul are acting as each other's support system, but once the result is out, and the alliance rejected, you will witness a round of blame game. Congress would say they lost because of SP, and SP would say they lost because of congress"

Hussain called out founder and patriarch of Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh as fickle-minded and his decision to campaign for both brother Shivpal or son Akhilesh as utterly futile.

"Mulayam has to decide when and whom does he want to campaign for. He changes his statement overnight, says he would campaign for Samajwadi Party once, other day he backtracks and says he would not. In any case his campaigning or not campaigning doesn't register much of a difference", he added

He said that Akhilesh, Rahul and Mulayam can take multiple rounds of the state but they can't hinder the momentum that BJP has gained over time.

Criticising the episode as a calculated political gimmick he said, "To hide Akhilesh's utter failure in his stint as a CM this family drama was scripted,but today UP calls for the evaluative summation of those five years, something that which Akhilesh cannot provide", he added.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, Mulayam earlier expressed his displeasure over the pre-poll alliance and categorically stated that he is against it, adding that he would not campaign in the state.

"I am against the alliance formed between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. I will never acknowledge this alliance. The Congress was in power for so long, but it did not do anything for the development of the country. I will not campaign in this election," he said.

Mulayam further blamed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for going against his wishes and jeopardising the chances of his own party members

He later backtracked from his statement and agreed to campaign for Samajwadi Party, stating that his preference would be tended first towards brother Shivpal then towards Akhilesh.

The Samajwadi Party and Congress, earlier on January 22, firmed up an alliance and vowed to make Akhilesh Yadav the Chief Minister.

Earlier on January 29, the duo in their maiden outing in Lucknow shared tight hugs and warm handshake besides donning same coloured jackets.

Gandhi dominated the interaction comparing the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and Congress with the confluence of the rivers of Ganga and Yamuna that join at 'sangam' to form the river Saraswati.

Akhilesh, in turn, pronounced that they were "two wheels of the cycle."

The leaders also released the joint campaign slogan 'UP ko yeh saath pasand hai' (UP relishes this alliance).

Uttar Pradesh will be voting for a new state assembly in a seven-phase election between February 11 and March 8.

Out of the 403 assembly seats, the Congress will be contesting in 105 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates in rest of the 298 seats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actress Sarah Paulson continues her golden run in Hollywood as she has landed herself a role in the upcoming serial killer drama 'Lost Girl'.

Liz Garbus, the documentary film maker is teaming up with Amazon studios for her narrative film debut, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie is based on an investigative reporter Robert Kolker's non-fiction book of the same name.

The story revolves around a mother searching for her daughter who makes a horrifying discovery in the woods where murdered bodies of four girls have been dumped.

The 42-year-old has had a tremendous year after giving award winning performance in 'The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story'. She won a SAG, Emmy and Golden Globe for the series where she plays Marcia Clark.

On a related note, the 'Mud' star will next be seen in 'Ocean's Eight' directed by Gary Ross which also stars Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs, Tariq Fatemi, in a meeting with U.S. Ambassador David Hale on Friday, finalised the likely meetings Pakistani officials will have in coming months with the Trump administration.

The two sides also undertook an early year review of the state of Pak-US bilateral relations. But the focus of their interaction was to finalise the likely meetings, reports the Express Tribune.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office confirmed that Fatemi and Ambassador Hale discussed 'prospective engagements' in the coming months with the new U.S administration. The two sides expressed the confidence that the moment built over the past years, would be taken to higher levels, the statement said.

During the meeting, Fatemi also underscored the need to further deepen engagements between Pakistan and the United States, both in the economic and security realms.

He expressed confidence that by continuing to work together, the two countries will be able to strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism, in promoting peace and security in the region and in harnessing the potential for regional connectivity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a major breakthrough, the Delhi zonal unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday arrested two drug traffickers with four kilograms of smuggled cocaine worth Rs. 28 crore in the international market.

The arrested traffickers have been identified as women of African origin - Thelma Mkandawire (38) from Zambia and Pamela Devid Kiritta (41) from Tanzania.

Madho Singh, NCB zonal director, revealed the two women were caught from a hotel in south Delhi's Mahipalpur.

During interrogation, Pamela disclosed that she had been staying in Delhi's Vasant Kunj and had been working in collaboration with one South African man.

Singh also informed that Thelma was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 allegedly on drug trafficking charges.

"This whole episode shows that drug-trafficking in the country has been on an increase. We have alerted all our zonal units and have increased surveillance," he added.

Earlier on January 21, three Vietnamese nationals were arrested from a hotel in Paharganj with 3 kg of cocaine and 450 grams of methaqualone worth over Rs. 21 crore in the international market.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Continuing his vigorous campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with six days to go for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a combined attack on the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati.

Addressing a rally here, the Prime Minister said that Uttar Pradesh will not show any progress unless it is free from corruption, which can be achieved only if the 'SCAM' is removed from power, adding that UP has the potential to be India's most prosperous state.

"The ruling Government in Uttar Pradesh is one that needs to be removed from power immediately, because they are a Government that collectively supports rogues and goons. There is no value for anybody's life in this state. One has no guarantee that he or she will return home alive after stepping out of his/her home. This state has made me what I am, and I will not rest until this government is replaced," he said.

"Candidates who have been given tickets by the Samajwadi party were those who were branded as 'mafias' by the same party even two months ago. The money given for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was Rs. 950 Cr., out of which not even Rs. 40 Cr. has been used," the Prime Minister revealed.

"Until now, the Congress was completely against the current Government. Now they have also joined hands overnight. This goes to show how honest their intentions are," he added, taking a swing at the alliance.

Speaking on the condition of farmers in UP, Prime Minister Modi alleged that the Government might have some deals with sugarcane mills in the state, because of which farmers have not been paid yet. He went on to assure the public that if BJP comes to power in UP, the farmers will be reimbursed within fourteen days.

"After BJP comes to power, we will make sure that loans for small and marginal farmers are waived off. Furthermore, we will also do everything that I needed to ensure safety of women and generate more employment opportunities for youth in the state," PM Modi added.

Uttar Pradesh will be voting for a new state assembly in a seven-phase election between February 11 and March 8. Out of the 403 assembly seats, the Congress will be contesting in 105 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates in rest of the 298 seats.
Branding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as an 'usurper', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday lashed out at the Samajwadi Party President for cheating public along with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

BJP state Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya added that the one who can't be loyal to his father cannot be relied upon.

He further said that even if the Samajwadi Party brings Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in their alliance, the people of Uttar Pradesh would vote for the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections.

"I sometimes feel pity on them (Samajwadi Party), as on CM's chair sits Mulayam's own son. In this age how can Akhilesh hurt his father like this. I want to appeal to the people of Uttar Pradesh that a son who can't be of his father's, how can he be yours?" Maurya told ANI.

He added that Akhilesh has 'usurped' the chair of Samajwadi Party and Samajwadi Party office which has left Mulayam miffed. Further adding that the former's action clearly indicates that the goons associated with the Samajwadi Party would also have full freedom to exercise his unprecedented powers.

"I advice them to go full swing in their (SP) campaign, but no matter what you do your cycle is going to puncture in the long run. They are being delusional. There is no way they can win it. They have helped feud 'Gundaraaj', encouraged crimes and have broken all record of corruption. Therefore even after this alliance, if they were to go and include BSP they still won't be able to garner 50 per cent majority," he said.

"One can't see development in Uttar Paradesh to the farthest stretch, but one can see vandalism in every village, every district," he added.

The relationship between father-son duo has been rough since last year when Mulayam expelled Akhilesh and Ram Gopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party for releasing their own list of 235 candidates and defying his announcement of 325 candidates on December 27 for the polls.

Two days later, Akhilesh inacted a coup against his father. He called an emergency convention of party workers at the Janeshwar Mishra Park and got himself elected as the new president of the Samajwadi Party replacing Mulayam, while the party patriarch was given the status of a mentor and senior most leader.

Mulayam declared the convention "unconstitutional" and called for an official national convention on January 5 at the same place. He was also quick to suspend key supporters of Akhilesh, but within hours of winning the 'cycle' symbol of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh met his father to seek his blessings on January 16.

The Samajwadi Party and Congress, earlier on January 22, firmed up an alliance and vowed to make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister.

Earlier, speaking exclusively to ANI, Mulayam expressed his displeasure over the pre-poll alliance and categorically stated that he is against it, adding that he would not campaign for the party.

"I am against the alliance formed between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. I will never acknowledge this alliance. The Congress was in power for so long, but it did not do anything for the development of the country. I will not campaign in this election," he said.

Mulayam further blamed Akhilesh for going against his wishes and jeopardising the chances of his own party members.

However he was quick to backtrack from his statement, and everything went back to being fine in the Yadav household.

The poll process in Uttar Pradesh begins on February 11. 73 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh will go polls in this phase. The filing of nominations for these constituencies will end on January 24.

Uttar Pradesh is set to enter into the 'high-voltage' seven-phase polling between February 11 and March 8.
Over a crore and a half voters turned up to chose new governments in the traditionally high-turnout states of Punjab and Goa on Saturday, in the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies after the government's move to ban high-value notes last year.

Eighty-three per cent of the over 11 lakh electorate exercised their franchise for Goa's 40 assembly constituencies while over 75 per cent of Punjab's over 1.98 crore voters cast their ballot for 117 assembly segments, election officials said.

Poll officials said the final voting percentage in both the state could go up as many people were still in the queues outside polling stations and were allowed to cast their ballot even after the voting formally ended at 5 p.m.

Brisk voting took place almost all over Punjab - a state which recorded 78.57 per cent turnout in the 2012 assembly polls - where the ruling BJP-SAD alliance, Congress and new entrant AAP are locked in a bitter triangular fight.

The border state's Malwa belt, which accounts for 69 out of the 117 assembly seats, also saw a heavy voter turnout - most districts in the belt recording turnout of 75 to 85 per cent, that could be decisive for any party's victory.

The highest turnout was in Mansa district at 85 per cent followed by Sangrur at 83 and Bathinda at 82 per cent.

Amritsar and Mohali districts recorded the lowest turnout at 67 and 69 per cent respectively, the poll officials said.

Voting at different polling stations in Punjab was disrupted or delayed due to technical snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs).

At stake was the political fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and a lone transgender in Punjab where the Akali Dal-BJP alliance has ruled for two straight terms.

Both Congress and AAP are hoping to cash in from an anti-incumbency factor as surveys point to a cliffhanger between the two parties.

Voting for the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat was also held on Saturday.

"Overall Punjab witnessed a peaceful polling without any major incidence of violence and intimidation. There was just one incident in a village in Tarn Taran where supporters of two political parties clashed and one person faced bullet injuries...an FIR has been registered," said Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena in New Delhi.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V.K. Singh thanked voters for ensuring peaceful polling. "Barring some incidents, the polling passed peacefully," he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, 89, his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal cast their votes in Badal village, which is part of Badal senior's Lambi assembly constituency.

"We will win easily. Punjab is looking forward to peace and development," the Chief Minister said.

Badal is being challenged for the Lambi seat by Punjab Congress President and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh.

Amarinder Singh, accompanied by his wife and former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, and other family members, cast his vote in Patiala city.

"I am sure that we (Congress) are winning this election comfortably," Amarinder told the media.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is the convenor of the AAP, criticised the poll panel for having "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Modi amid reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day in violation of the model code of conduct. "This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission," he tweeted.

Goa saw a high voter turnout of 83 per cent and polling remained peaceful for the 40 assembly seats, compared to 81 per cent in the 2012 polls.

The incumbent BJP is fighting the Congress and AAP in the coastal state where heavy polling was witnessed in the mining belt of Sankhalim, Bicholim and Curchorem.

None of the political parties or groups, except for the AAP, had fielded candidates from all the 40 seats.

The incumbent BJP had put up its nominees on 36 and is supporting two independents.

The assembly elections to be held in five states - Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur - in phased manners through this month till March 8 are the first big electoral test for the Modi-led government since the November 8 note ban.

The note ban move was heavily criticised by the opposition and labelled as a self-inflicted blow on the country's economy that triggered enormous hardship for the people all over.

The BJP and its allies have hailed the move as a surgical strike at tax evasion, black money and corruption that would also herald India into a cashless economy.

Votes for all five states will be counted on March 11.

--IANS

js/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over a crore and a half voters turned up to chose new governments in the traditionally high-turnout states of Punjab and Goa on Saturday, in the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies after the government's move to ban high-value notes last year.

Eighty-three per cent of the over 11 lakh electorate exercised their franchise for Goa's 40 assembly constituencies while over 72 per cent of Punjab's nearly 1.99 crore voters cast their ballot for 117 assembly segments, election officials said.

Poll officials said the final voting percentage in both the state could go up as many people were still in the queues outside polling stations and were allowed to cast their ballot even after the voting formally ended at 5 p.m.

Brisk voting took place almost all over Punjab - a state which recorded 78.3 per cent turnout in the 2012 assembly polls - where the ruling BJP-SAD alliance, Congress and new entrant AAP are locked in a bitter triangular fight.

The border state's Malwa belt, which accounts for 69 out of the 117 assembly seats, also saw a heavy voter turnout that could be decisive for any party's victory.

The highest turnout was in Sangrur and Fazilka districts at 73 per cent, followed by Mansa and Fatehgarh Sahib districts at 72 per cent. In some assembly seats, the voter turnout was even 75 to 78 per cent till 5 p.m.

Amritsar and Ropar districts recorded the lowest turnout at less than 60 per cent, the poll officials said.

Voting at different polling stations in Punjab was disrupted or delayed due to technical snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs).

At stake was the political fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and a lone transgender in Punjab where the Akali Dal-BJP alliance has ruled for two straight terms.

Both Congress and AAP are hoping to cash in from an anti-incumbency factor as surveys point to a cliffhanger between the two parties.

Voting for the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat was also held on Saturday.

"Overall Punjab witnessed a peaceful polling without any major incidence of violence and intimidation. There was just one incident in a village in Tarn Taran where supporters of two political parties clashed and one person faced bullet injuries...an FIR has been registered," Sandeep Saxena, deputy election commissioner, said.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, 89, his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal cast their votes in Badal village, which is part of Badal senior's Lambi assembly constituency.

"We will win easily. Punjab is looking forward to peace and development," the Chief Minister said.

Badal is being challenged for the Lambi seat by Punjab Congress President and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh.

Amarinder Singh, accompanied by his wife and former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, and other family members, cast his vote in Patiala city.

"I am sure that we (Congress) are winning this election comfortably," Amarinder told the media.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is the convenor of the AAP, criticised the poll panel for having "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Modi amid reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day in violation of the model code of conduct. "This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission," he tweeted.

Goa saw a high voter turnout of 83 per cent and polling remained peaceful for the 40 assembly seats, compared to 81 in the 2012 polls.

The incumbent BJP is fighting the Congress and AAP in the coastal state where heavy polling was witnessed in the mining belt of Sankhalim, Bicholim and Curchorem.

None of the political parties or groups, except for the AAP, had fielded candidates from all the 40 seats.

The incumbent BJP had put up its nominees on 36 and is supporting two independents.

The assembly elections to be held in five states - Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur - in phased manners through this month till March 8 are the first big electoral test for the Modi-led government since the November 28 note ban.

The note ban move was heavily criticised by the opposition and labelled as a self-inflicted blow on the country's economy that triggered enormous hardship for the people all over.

The BJP and its allies have hailed the move as a surgical strike at tax evasion, black money and corruption that would also herald India into a cashless economy.

Votes for all five states will be counted on March 11.

--IANS

sar/rn/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdraw his statement made in Meerut in which he apparently referred to PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) as Pakistan's territory while talking about last year's surgical strikes.

"In Meerut, the Prime Minister also talked about the surgical strikes. The DGMO reported that the surgical strikes happened on the LoC but the Prime Minister's reference was to PoK," said Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan.

"My simple question to him is when he says that this is 'Pakistan Ki Dharti', I want to know when did this exchange take place that PoK became part of Pakistan's territory. Prime Minister should make it clear when did PoK become part of Pakistan's territory?

"Is it correct for the Prime Minister to say this? If anybody else in any political party had said this, he would be immediately painted as anti-national," added Vadakkan.

The Congress demanded that the Prime Minister should withdraw the statement.

"He (Modi) talked about a surgical operation in the land of Pakistan. While we know the operation was in PoK, lies are never converted into facts and the ground reality is that you have tried to politicise the Indian Army," said Vadakkan.

The Congress also demanded an inquiry into the allegations levelled by BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav over the poor quality of food served to security personnel on the border and corruption among high-ranking officers.

He also demanded an apology from Modi on the issue.

"The government should launch an inquiry into the allegations of Constable Yadav. The family of Constable Yadav should be informed of his status and whereabouts.

"Constable Yadav should be released immediately from any unlawful confinement. PM should explain to the country why jawans are served sub-standard food. He must apologise to the nation promising such incidents do not happen again," said Vadakkan.

--IANS

sid/lok/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump is still closely tied to the empire he built despite of his announcement of putting his vast business holdings in a trust, a leading daily has said.

The New York Times on Friday reported that new records have emerged that show two people close to him are the trustees and have broad legal authority over his assets: his eldest son Donald Jr and Allen H. Weisselberg, the Trump Organisation's chief financial officer.

Trump, who will receive reports on any profit, or loss, on his company as a whole, can revoke their authority at any time despite of his claims that he has walked away from the day-to-day operations of his business, said the report. It further says that the purpose of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust is to hold assets for the "exclusive benefit" of the President.

This trust remains under Trump's Social Security number, at least as far as federal taxes are concerned.

Since his election, there have been widespread calls for Trump to sell his assets and put the proceeds in a blind trust. He has resisted those calls, stressing that the President has no legal obligation to do so.

While the trust structure, outlined in documents made public through a Freedom of Information Act request by ProPublica, may give the President the appearance of distance from his business, it drew sharp criticism from experts in government ethics.

"I don't see how this in the slightest bit avoids a conflict of interest," said Frederick J. Tansill, a trust and estates lawyer from Virginia who examined the documents.

"First it is revocable at any time, and it is his son and his chief financial officer who are running it," the New York Times quoted him as saying.

The Trump Organisation declined to comment when contacted by the newspaper.

The trust documents, which were prepared in January, argue that "all beneficial ownership in the licensee previously held by Donald J. Trump, personally, now is held derivatively and beneficially by The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust," which suggested that Trump no longer has a personal tie to the hotel lease.

A provision in the 2013 lease for the building, held by Trump and his three oldest children, appeared to prohibit a federally elected official, including the President, from benefiting from it, according to the report.

But lawyers who specialise in federal contracts said the trust arrangement simply creates an additional legal step between Trump and the hotel - meaning he will still profit from it.

Robert H. Sitkoff, a professor at Harvard Law School, said the new details in the trust documents were unlikely to resolve the apparent legal problems with the Old Post Office site.

"Formally he is no longer the owner, but functionally he still is," he said.

The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust has existed since at least 2014, according to the records cited by the newspaper.

New York City property records show that in recent weeks Trump has transferred several residential condominiums he owns into the trust.

--IANS

soni/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pundits in Washington are beginning to hope for continuity in US foreign policy under Donald Trump. For their optimism, they are falling back on hints from the new administration.

Look, they say, Israel is being warned to curb settlement construction; Russians must withdraw from Crimea; Iran is on notice: no more missile tests.

If this, indeed, were true then the skirmishes between the intelligence community and the Trump campaign which continued well into the President's inauguration would appear to have been settled in favour of the agencies, the Deep State, with the media in tow.

If the Washington Pundits are anywhere near the truth, it may please them to know they are in company. Syrian President Bashar al Assad declared a week ago that he expected "no change in US policy towards Middle East".

What then does one make of the allegation which Trump repeated at least since August 2016: "Obama and Hillary founded ISIS?" This reporter has written several stories since 2012 about US ambassador in Damascus, Robert Stephen Ford, a great favourite of Hillary Clinton, playing an overt role in the Syrian insurgency. Some of it was eyewitness account.

More recently, Trump has reiterated that he hopes for friendlier relations with Putin. He looked forward to greater cooperation with Moscow in managing the chaos in West Asia.

Is there a contradiction between this line and the new US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warning Moscow on Crimea?

These are significant signals but they will be fitted into coordinated policy only after the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, finds his feet in the State Department. Until then even National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn's tough statement on Iran must be seen as premature. It may point to some turf fights that will keep the White House abuzz for some time.

Serious games will begin when Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Tillerson hold their first meeting.

If there is to be anything resembling goodwill between Washington and Moscow, Lavrov will have to acquaint Tillerson with a great deal of what Moscow has been doing recently.

Libya, for instance. Moscow has been coordinating policy with Egypt to control a country with more than one power centre.

On December 20, Foreign Ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran met in Moscow to discuss Syria. The US was managing its transition during this period. The meeting was followed by a joint air campaign by Russia and Turkey against the Islamic State. The summit in Moscow was preceded by the dramatic killing of the Russian ambassador in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Maronite Christian leader Michael Aoun's election as President of Lebanon would not have been possible without Hezbullah's help. For this development too the credit goes to Syria, Iran and Russia.

Yemen will be a test for the Trump administration. Will he continue to support Saudi Arabia's disastrous war in the Arab world's poorest country? Who knows, in the interest of American prosperity, he may like to encourage Saudis to spend their last penny buying US arms.

An important meeting, which caught New Delhi on the wrong foot, was the Russia-China-Pakistan conclave in Moscow focused on the future of Afghanistan. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval's subsequent visit to Moscow covered this development. He must supervise a new regional strategy before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to St. Petersburg in early June.

The Moscow meeting on Afghanistan places a huge question mark on US expenditure in blood and treasure in that country over the past 12 years. Taliban, whom the US has been fighting all these years, are now to be enlisted in the war against the Islamic State and various offshoots of Al Qaeda.

Russian Caucasus and Xinjiang are menaced by this, expanding variants of Islamist militancy. Taliban are a regional force spread on two sides of the Durand line. This must be a source of worry for Islamabad. The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has cancelled military exercises with the US. He has held out a hand to Moscow and Beijing.

This is just some of the agenda Tillerson has to prepare himself for. To begin with, he will have to digest the implications of a ban on seven Muslim-dominated countries to travel to the US.

Iran being listed among Muslim countries to whom the ban applies makes no sense unless Trump or those around him are keen to pick a fight with Tehran to please Riyadh and Jerusalem. No act of terrorism in the genre of suicide bombing has yet been traced to Tehran. Nor does Hezbullah's unwavering support to the Palestinian cause make it a militant menace. In this devilry, it has Iran's total backing.

During the campaign, and since, Trump has maintained that he will seek Russian support in "bombing the shit out of Islamic terrorism". Moscow and Iran are with him on that page, indelicate language notwithstanding.

The contradiction with the Deep State will arise when, in the course of hammering Islamic terrorism, the White House does not make allowance for militants who were trained and harboured as a Western asset. That will require case-by-case bargaining.

(A senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs, Saeed Naqvi can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com. The views expressed are personal.)

--IANS

naqvi/mr/sac

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In what can be a big boost to India's chances of becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in the face of opposition from China, New Delhi is going to host the Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) from February 8 to 10, the External Affairs Ministry said on Saturday.

The meeting is in consonance with what Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington in April last year.

"Pursuant to the announcement made by Prime Minister at the Nuclear Security Summit held in 2016, Ministry of External Affairs in coordination with the Department of Atomic Energy is hosting the Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism on February8-10, 2017, at the Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"Approximately 150 delegates from various GICNT partner countries and international organisations will be participating in this event.

"This event highlights India's commitment to global nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It is a part of our overall engagement with the international community on nuclear security issues," it added.

China opposed India's membership in the NSG plenary in Seoul in June last year on the ground that for a country to become a member of the 48-nation bloc, it has to be a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Since then the two Asian giants have held two rounds of talks on the issue in Beijing and New Delhi.

Saturday's statement by the External Affairs Ministry said that India hosting this meeting would highlight the continued priority it "attached to nuclear security, our efforts to further strengthen the institutional frameworks, capacity building and enhance international cooperationa.

"The possible use of weapons of mass destruction and related material by terrorists is no longer a theoretical concern," it said.

"A breach of nuclear security may lead to unimaginable consequences. Such an event would have a global impact. It is imperative to strengthen international efforts to combat such threats. This meeting is therefore timely and important and would further enhance our vigil."

According to the statement, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will inaugurate the meeting. The meeting will conclude with an address by R.B. Grover, Member, Atomic Energy Commission of India.

GICNT was launched in 2006 jointly by Russian and the US. In the past 10 years, it has grown to include 86 partner nations and five official observer organisations and has held several multilateral activities in support of its Statement of Principles.

It comprises four working groups - Implementation and Assessment Group, Nuclear Detection Working Group, Nuclear Forensics Working Group and Response and Mitigation Working Group.

India has been an active participant at GICNT events.

--IANS

ab/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Saturday described Iran as the world's greater sponsor of terrorism, hours after the Trump administration announced fresh sanctions on the country following a recent missile test.

"As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," Mattis told reporters in Tokyo, before adding that he saw no need to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

"I do not see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time," Mattis said as he wrapped up his visits to Japan and South Korea, his first foreign trip as defence secretary.

Michael T Flynn, US President Donald Trump's national security advisor, said this week that the US was putting Iran "on notice" because of its January 29 missile test and support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom the US has accused of threatening American vessels in the Red Sea and attacking a Saudi Navy patrol boat, the New York Times reported.

The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions on Friday against 25 Iranians and companies that it said were connected with Iran's missile programme and the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Mattis defended the decision to put a spotlight on Iran's behaviour, saying that it was important to make Iran recognise that "it is getting the attention of a lot of people", according to the report.

He also said that the US did not need to deploy additional military resources to signal its concern. "Right now, I do not think that is necessary," he said.
More than 1,300 and refugees were rescued in the Mediterranean, a media report said on Saturday.

On Friday, a day after Italy and Libya signed a deal to curb people smuggling in the north African country, 13 rescue operations were carried out by Italy's navy and coast guard ships, Xinhua news agency reported.

Other forces operating within the European Union (EU) mission Eunavfor, and vessels from aid groups also joined in.

On Thursday, the Italian coast guard coordinating all migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean said more than 1,750 and refugees had been saved within 24 hours.

About 450 people had been rescued in five different operations on Thursday, and 1,300 the previous day.

Of this group, some 754 and refugees including 131 unaccompanied minors were brought to the southern port of Reggio Calabria and given first medical check and assistance.

On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and his Libyan counterpart Fayez al-Serraj signed an agreement aimed at tackling the flows starting from the Libyan coasts.

In latest years, the north African country has become a major origin point of departure for migrants and asylum seekers, and a crucial hub for smugglers.

Temporary camps for illegal migrants will be set up on Libya's soil, according to the draft deal provided by the Italian government. Such camps will be run by officials from the Libyan Interior Ministry and funded by the EU, with Italy providing medical assistance.

Illegal migrants in the camps will be asked to voluntarily return to their own countries, or face deportation.

Such plan will be in force for the next three years and was overall approved by EU leaders who gathered for a summit on the migration crisis in Malta on February 2-3.
The conciliation talks between the students of Kerala Law Academy, who have been protesting for the last 25 days, and State Education Minister C. Ravendranath failed on Saturday with the students claiming that the minister walked out from the meeting.

However, the minister denied the claim.

"Taking part in the talks was the management, various student leaders and the government. The student leaders (barring the CPI-M's student organisation SFI) were demanding that the principal should be ousted and they wanted a written assurance form the management.

"The management had made it clear that she has been moved and the vice principal has been given the charge. I also told the management that they should now appoint a new principal at the earliest. But the student leaders wanted a written assurance and I ended the meeting and came out. I never walked out," the minister said.

There are other issues with regard to the land, case against the principal under SC/ST Atrocities Act and all such issues will go forward, he added.

The student protests began 25 days ago, demanding the ouster of Principal Lakshmi Nair, who, they claim, has flouted the basic rules and regulations with respect to allotment of internal marks and attendance. They also accused her of acting ruthlessly and with vengeance.

On January 31, the Students' Federation of India (SFI) surprised everyone by pulling out of the strike stating that all demands had been accepted.

State Kerala Students Union (KSU) President (student wing of the Congress party) V.S. Joy said the minister behaved as if he was an agent of the academy management.

"Our demands are not met and our demand is that the principal should never ever be involved with the academy. Since our demands are not met, the protests would go forward more vigorously," Joy said.

A representative of the academy management told the media that regular classes will now commence from Monday onwards and the academy will seek police protection.

Meanwhile, local Congress legislator K. Muraleedharan's indefinite fast entered the third day and so also the one by BJP leader V.V. Rajesh, both of whom are supporting the ongoing student protests, terming their demands as valid.

Political parties have been claiming that nearly 12 acres of land on which the academy stands has been usurped by the management of the academy.

However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan feigned ignorance about the land issue and said his government cannot intervene in the matter.

Reacting sharply to Vijayan's statement, former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that the statement of Vijayan is wrong and the state government should intervene and take back the usurped land.

State Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekheran, a senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader, said that a probe by his department is currently on and once the report comes, appropriate action would be taken.

Barring the CPI-M, all other political parties are up in arms against the manner in which the academy is functioning and have demanded that the state government step in and take over the now controversial academy.

In a release issued here on Saturday, Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam said that he has forwarded a petition submitted by State BJP President Kummanam Rajasekharan to the Chief Minister for immediate consideration and action on the issue of the affiliation of the academy.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ishaq Ahmed, a driver from Bareilly who has denied he was at the steering wheel of an Audi Q7 that mowed down four people here last month, on Saturday alleged that police had forcibly taken his father's thumb impression on a document to acknowledge summons and were implicating him in the case.

Ahmed, 31, spoke to IANS over the phone from Assam where he said he was driving a truck and was planning to return to his village home in Bareilly on Sunday.

He said he would appear before a court in Ghaziabad on Monday to "settle the issue" after a person impersonating him "confessed" to have driven the SUV that ran over an auto-rickshaw, killing four people, on January 28 in Ghaziabad.

Police have not been able to identify who was behind the wheel of the luxury car belonging to Safdarjung Hospital neurosurgeon, Manish Rawat, when the accident occurred.

Anil Yadav, a police officer heading the probe in the case, told IANS that a person who identified himself as Ishaq of Labhera in Bareilly surrendered before the court on January 31, confessing that he was behind the wheel of the car when the accident occurred.

"We have sent separate notices to Ishaq and the owner of the SUV to appear before police to assist in the case," Yadav said.

Police said Rawat was "still on the run" but his lawyer had approached them claiming that the driver who was behind the wheel that day would surrender in a court.

Speaking to IANS, Ahmed said he was intrigued how his name even cropped up in the case when he was in Ahmedabad on the night of the accident.

He said he didn't even know the doctor and his family and had never driven any luxury car and has driven only trucks for the last seven-eight years.

"A police team reached my home (in Bareilly), with a summons in my name. They told my father to affix his thumb impression on the summons document. When my father refused, they abused him, and threatened 'Your son has accepted in court of killing four people in a road accident'," he said.

"I think police and the judicial system is trying to implicate me in the case on the basis of a statement made by a person impersonating me," he said.

According to Ahmed, he left Bareilly on January 9 and returned home around 2 a.m. on January 31 on way to Guwahati.

"On January 7, I left Sitarganj (Uttarakhand) after loading my truck with plywood for Natwada (Rajasthan). On the way, I stayed at my village on January 8 and again left from there the next day. On January 11, I reached my destination in Rajasthan.

"On January 25 I left for Ahmedabad carrying some machine loaded on my truck. On January 27, I left Ahmedabad for Guwahati with some plastic materials and took a halt at my village in the intervening night of January 30 and 31," Ahmed said.

Asked about his driving licence and statement being part of the court and police records, Ahmed said: "I am innocent. I will approach Ghaziabad court on Monday and challenge the impersonator, and ask to clear the matter. The copy of my driving licence has been misused."

"In the Audi accident, the fake driver was not arrested by police. He surrendered in court, accepted his crime, and got bail. We are probing the matter," Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad tweeted.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Just days into the Trump administration, the lefts narrative is clear. First, it was that Trump is an illegitimate president because he didnt win the popular vote, claims about voter fraud notwithstanding.

Then the left tried name-calling. Unfit. Immoral. Crude. High-handed. Fascist. His supporters stuck with him when similar tactics were tried during the campaign.

Now the narrative has gone racist, that all-purpose word the left seems ready to attach to anyone for any reason. Egged on by their media allies, Democrats called the temporary halt on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries racist and referred to it as a travel ban. It was nothing of the kind and, according to a recent USA Today report, the Department of Homeland Security, as of Sunday night, said all 109 travelers who were detained for additional screening under Trumps order had their cases resolved. DHS granted waivers to 392 legal permanent residents after they underwent additional screening and allowed to enter the country.

This action shouldnt come as a surprise. Its what Trump promised during the campaign.

It should also be noted, because the major media doesnt, that the past six presidents have limited access or banned outright immigrants from certain parts of the world deemed dangerous, as they are allowed to do by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. These include former President Obama, who couldnt help himself and spoke out against the temporary delay. Trumps action, as noted by Matt Vespa for townhall.com, is based on a bill that Obama signed into law in December 2015. At that time Obama restricted waivers from the same seven majority-Muslim countries  Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen  that President Trump did.

When I traveled internationally during the Ebola epidemic, U.S. immigration officers would routinely ask if I had been to areas infected with the virus. If I had you can bet I would have been pulled out of line for further questioning and screening, perhaps even quarantined. When I travel internationally, I must also list the countries I have visited on a U.S. Customs and Immigration form. If it shows a pattern of visiting places that foment terrorism, I would expect to be questioned about the purpose of my travels.

Now we come to the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Even before his name was announced, liberal groups pledged to oppose him and urged Senate Democrats to filibuster the nominee in retaliation for the Republicawns refusal to give an up or down vote on Obamas nominee, Merrick Garland. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked for such a vote for Garland, but he appears to be ready to try to deny an up or down vote for Judge Gorsuch. For such actions the word hypocrisy was created.

Does Judge Gorsuch have the best possible experience? Yes, but it wont matter to Democrats. A great education? Yes, doesnt matter. Good temperament? Yes, doesnt matter. The fact that he was unanimously approved by the Senate for his appeals court seat wont matter either, even though some of the Democratic senators who voted for him are still in the Senate and may vote against him this time out of party loyalty.

Remember Sen. Ted Kennedys Robert Borks America line? When the left gets through sliming Judge Gorsuch, his own family wont recognize him. Its all about the narrative, but will it work against Judge Gorsuch, as it did against Judge Bork? Social media and cable TV can help explain to the public his views on the Constitution and in the end Judge Gorsuch will likely be confirmed, especially if Republicans borrow from former Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and employ the nuclear option, which establishes the principle that a simple Senate majority can overrun any rule at any time.

Democrats have run out of ideas, even bad ones, and have nothing left but name-calling and protests. The fact that voters have rejected their agenda has not yet resonated with them. They are like people who attend oldies concerts and wave their hands in the air, eyes closed, singing The Age of Aquarius, like it is 1969 again. For them, the sun isnt shining in, its setting. That narrative hasnt changed.
A week after US President Donald Trump imposed a temporary travel ban for residents of seven Muslim-majority countries, dozens of lawyers remained at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to defend the rights of those affected, the media reported.

The Central Diner, a 24-hour eatery in Terminal 4, has become a makeshift office for lawyers, interpreters and others who are donating their time and effort to aid travellers, Efe news reported on Saturday.

Immigration attorney Tahanie Aboushi has been here all week assisting the families of some 100 people detained on arrival.

"This is a direct violation of the United States Constitution. The President's executive order discriminates on the basis of nationality and we can't stand by doing nothing in the face of something like this," she told Efe news on Friday.

Aboushi recounts the case of a father and son who spent 33 hours in custody after arriving on a flight from Iran.

"They gave them two choices: be deported to Iran with a five-year prohibition on returning to the US, or face indefinite detention," the lawyer said.

Since Trump issued the order on January 27, federal judges have issued temporary injunctions blocking the deportation of Iranians, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Sudan, Somalis, and Yemenis who arrived in the US with valid visas.

But the problem extends beyond the borders of the US, according to Aboushi, who says that in some countries, airlines are preventing people of those nationalities - some with Green Cards - from boarding flights.

"People whose entry has been blocked have valid visas and even so they have been exhaustively interrogated and reviewed," lawyer Steven DeMaio said. "We need to remember they are not illegals."

"We have been told about cases in which authorities have asked permanent residents to sign form I-407, which implies a voluntary renunciation of their legal status," DeMaio said.

The attorneys wait in the Terminal 4 arrivals hall with signs in English and Arabic reading "Have you seen someone being detained?" and "free legal aid".

Around 200 people gathered outside JFK's Terminal 4 on Friday for an interfaith prayer service organised by the New York Immigration Coalition and Majlis Al Shura: The Islamic Leadership Council of Greater New York.

"New York is home to 4.3 million immigrants and it is essential that we do everything we can to protect them against these anti-immigrant executive orders," the coalition's Muzna Ansari said.

"As a Muslim woman myself, I am heartened by the tremendous momentum achieved by diverse New York communities. We are showing the new administration that our New York is welcoming, inclusive, and will not rest until we receive justice," she added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A machete-wielding man who on Friday attacked soldiers near Louvre Museum here and was shot, was an Egyptian national, a Paris prosecutor has said at a presser.

Francois Molins told reporters on Friday evening that the attacker arrived in France from Dubai at the end of January, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The identity of the perpetrator is not formally established, but the searches allow to identify a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen," Molins said.

Molins said the attacker was not carrying an ID but a photo registered in Visabio (a European biometric database including digital photography and fingerprints of visa applicants) was the same of the machete-wielding man.

Investigation is underway to determine the motive and to establish whether the attacker acted alone or have been guided, he added.

According to initial indications, the attacker arrived on January 26 after acquiring a one-month tourist visa. Two days later, he bought two machetes at a store in French capital.

During a raid in the suspect's residence rented in Paris' eighth district, the police found $970 in cash, an iPad and several pre-paid cards.

On Friday morning, the suspect armed with two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre, shouting Allahou Akbar (God the Greatest).

He slightly injured a soldier in his scalp before he was shot and seriously wounded.

In a statement, French President Francois Hollande called the machete-wielding Louvre attack "savage".

France where terrorist alert remains high, has imposed emergency rules since the November 2015 attacks in which gunmen and suicide bombers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) killed 130 people here.

A recent attack left 86 victims when a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice on July 14, 2016.

"The incident was completely controlled but (terrorism) threat is here to stay and we must confront it," Hollande said at a meeting of EU leaders in Malta.

"We have mobilised all the necessary means and we'll continue to do so till the time it will take," he added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked the BJP's political rivals in Uttar Pradesh, saying that in the acronym SCAM 'S' stands for Samajwadi (Party), 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati. It drew a riposte from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who said the word stood for "Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi". The Congress too hit back.

Campaigning ahead of the first phase of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with a 'Vijay Shankhnaad Rally' here, Modi slammed the Samajwadi Party and Congress for forging a pre-poll alliance.

He called upon the people to give his Bharatiya Janata Party a mandate similar to the 2014 general elections when the party won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi also took digs at the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party on demonetisation and sought the people's support in making the country "corruption-free".

Uttar Pradesh will witness a seven-phased election for 403 seats from February 11 to March 8. The BJP is fighting a triangular contest with the SP-Congress combine and the BSP.

Leaders from these parties have been addressing a series of rallies in western Uttar Pradesh that goes to polling in the first phase.

In his well attended rally, Modi urged people to vote for change and remove the state government that he claimed scuttled development.

He said it was a fight against "SCAM." "Do you know what 'SCAM' stands for? It is 'S' for Samajwadi (Party), 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati."

"Uttar Pradesh has to decide whether it wants a scam or lotus (election symbol of BJP). It wants scam or development," Modi said.

Hours after Modi's remarks, Akhilesh Yadav returned fire, saying that 'A' and 'M' in the acronym stand for BJP President Amit Shah and Modi.

Addressing a rally at Auraiya, the 43-year-old Samajwadi leader said SCAM means -- "Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi".

"If we have to save the country, we have to save it from the politicians whose names start with A and M," Akhilesh said to loud cheers from his supporters.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vaddakan said: "Let us also tell them the meaning of SCAM in Hindi. "SCAM means Sattabhogi (hungry for power), Kapti dhongi (fraudster) and Amit Shah Modi."

Modi, in his speech, said till a few months back the Congress was accusing the ruling Samajwadi Party of corruption and neglecting farmers, but the two have now "embraced each other".

"What changed overnight that the two arch rivals embraced each other? This is to save themselves. Those who cannot save themselves, how will they save Uttar Pradesh?" Modi said.

The Prime Minister urged the voters to defeat parties involved in graft and leaders who promoted caste and vote-bank .

Referring to the November 8 demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Modi said he knew that people with ill-gotten wealth will become his enemies but the people are with him.

"I am not going to stop, neither will I bow to such forces. I am Modi... I will not rest and will not allow those with ill-gotten money to rest. I am not going to stop the fight," the BJP leader said as the audience cheered.

Modi took potshots at the BSP, saying people who had sold tickets and stashed money in rooms had lost it all (due to demonetisation).

Attacking the Congress, he alleged that an undisclosed income of Rs 150 crore was found from the residence of a Karnataka minister but he had not been removed from office.

"The Congress should give an answer," he said.

Modi asked the income tax officials to go only after the big fish and not cause unnecessary problems for others. "If there is any harassment, bring it to my notice," he said.

The Prime Minister, who is an MP from Varanasi, said he had tried to do whatever he could for the development of Uttar Pradesh but a lot remained to be done.

"But for the development to happen, you will have to remove the state government that scuttles development. Otherwise, howsoever hard I try to help Uttar Pradesh, the funds from Delhi will be stopped at Lucknow," Modi said.

The BJP won 47 seats in the 2012 assembly elections, finishing behind Samajwadi Party and BSP.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political satire, women's empowerment, human emotions and the struggle post the 2015 earthquake -- the Nepal Art Council's booth focuses on different aspects of the lives of people under one roof at the ongoing India Art Fair.

With six artists, the booth may have fewer photographs and paintings on display, but there is much that resonates through the works of art, each of which has a story to tell.

Take artist Sunil Sigdel's "Peace Owners" featuring three political leaders -- newly-elected US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean supremo is painted with a twist, a touch of 'Bodhisattva' influenced by the paintings on Lord Buddha.

"And here lies the political satire: These leaders are known for their hawkishness but their eyes are similar to Lord Buddha's (in the hope that peace will prevail)," Dina Bagdel, an executive board member of the Nepal Art Council, told IANS.

Sigdel is a multi-disciplinary artist who is known for works that explore socio-political issues through the juxtaposition of the local flavours.

The collection also brings the socio-economic as well as human suffering and loss that the country had to go through after the massive earthquake 2015 that jolted the nation by its roots and claimed over 9,000 lives.

"The devastation that the country faced was enormous and we have still not recovered. Things have not improved and people are left to suffer under miserable circumstances. The artists have tried to convey this through their works," Nepal Art Council Vice President Sagar Rana told IANS.

Drawing inspiration from the 'Mahabharata' epic artist Anil Shahi depicts the present state of affairs post the quake. A man is shown lying on the bed of arrows, a visual metaphor for the saga's Bhishma. His body is covered with small broken houses. Titled as "Leaving I Numb", the painting is deeply symbolic.

Kabi Raj Lama's lithographic print also echos the disastrous after-effects of the quake, which left large parts of capital Kathmandu and other cities in ruins. His art is a tribute to the courage and resilience of people in the face of the unprecedented tragedy.

The image, in monochrome, depicts broken and ruined parts of a house arranged in a transcendental geometric pattern. It also sends a message of hope of a better livelihood that the people are living with.

No less meaningful is Sandhya Silwal's cutwork made of the local 'Lokta' paper. Her pieces may appear delicate but send across a very strong message of feminism. Silwal, through her work, explores the sensitive status of women, their sacrifices, the softness and the strength.

Artist Koshal Hamal's solo presentation has drawn much appreciation from visitors. The canvas has been kept almost blank, deprived of much of the art-work. What remains is an abstract statement with multiple layers that question social and political norms.

How valuable ancestral belongings are, even if it is grain is brought alive in an emotional statement by Sanjeev Maharjan. His powerful photograph depicts the body of a man, painted all red and with a bowl-full of grain on his chest.

"We are here for the second time. Our beautiful landlocked country has more than just scenic beauty. It has art and the collection is an attempt to bring up the talent that our nation has got. It is a good platform to present our art," Rana explained.

Founded in 2008, India Art Fair is one of South Asia's leading platforms for modern and contemporary art. The fair, which is being held at the NSIC grounds, will conclude on February 5.

(Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Supermodel, TV host, cookbook author and socialite Padma Lakshmi, says in India she can move freely and that the paparazzi culture in New York is unbearable.

Asked how different is the paparazzi culture in India different from the ones internationally, Lakshmi told reporters: "I would imagine somebody like Priyanka and you are coming from this culture to that culture it could be quite a shock because she is already such a big star here (India).

"So she would be used to of a lot of attention, but it doesn't really compare. It's not on the same level at all. Here I have been able to move freely, people are very respectful, they ask if they can take a picture most of the time...in New York it is pretty unbearable," she added.

The supermodel was here to walk as the showstopper for designer Tarun Tahiliani's latest collection titled "Chashme Shahi" at the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Summer/Resort 2017.

Lakshmi says she also has had the paparazzi parked right outside her door.

"If you are somebody who is a movie star, it can be really be obnoxious and I have friends in that situation. It's not pleasant and can be dangerous," she added.

The "Top Chef" host is also promoting her two culinary books in India and says her tour here has been really wonderful.

"When I come to India I dont work here. I just find more time to spend with my family and I have always missed having a grown up life in India. So just to go around the country and travel with my two books is been quite moving," she said.

Lakshmi thinks that her book has resonated with the people here.

"It's been great to have the feedback from people, who have read it and I wanted the Indians to like it a bit more it was very important for me that it resonated it with everyday Indians. I am very happy to say that I think has," she added.

Lakshmi is looking forward to going to four more cities to promote her books. She will be travelling to Hyderabad, New Delhi and her last event will be in Chennai on Valentines Day.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rabat, Feb 4 (IANS/MAP) Osvaldo Andrade Lara, president of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, was set to arrive in Morocco on Saturday.

He will be in Morocco till February 14.

The visit, which is meant to strengthen cooperation between the Moroccan House of Advisors and the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, will be an opportunity to examine the means and mechanisms to broaden the prospects of partnership between the two parties, said a statement by the House of Advisors.

The visit also aims at promoting dialogue on issues of common interest and discussing the outcome of the last visit to Chile (January 9-13) of a Moroccan parliamentary delegation, led by Speaker of the House of Advisors, Hakim Benchamach.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Some semblance of normalcy was noticed after five days of shutdown in Nagaland even as government offices remained closed following a fresh indefinite shutdown imposed by the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) which began on Saturday.

The NTAC, an apex body of various tribal Naga communities, said the indefinite shutdown of government offices and a ban on plying of government vehicles will continue till Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang bows to their demands.

People were seen rushing to banks and ATM counters, while private vehicles were queuing up at the petrol pumps after five days of shutdown sponsored by the Joint Coordination Committee opposing Nagaland government's decision to conduct elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with 33 per cent reservation for women.

The government continued to shut down the internet and mobile data service to stop the spread of rumours through social networking sites.

"We will assess the situation. The internet and mobile data service will be restored once normalcy is restored," a government official said.

The Kohima district administration also imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC banning assembly of more than five persons and carrying of arms in certain areas including Raj Bhavan, Chief Minister's official residence and the Civil Secretariat.

"It was an incident-free Saturday but we are keeping a close watch to ensure that there is no further breakdown of law and order in the wake of the indefinite shutdown," Nagaland police chief, L.L. Doungel told IANS.

The tribal bodies are demanding the resignation of Zeliang's cabinet following the government's decision to hold local body elections in 12 towns across the state and the death of two persons in the state following clashes between the police and the public at Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland, on Tuesday night.

"We will continue with our agitation till Chief Minister T.R.Zeilang and his council of ministers resign from their respective posts," NTAC convener K.T. Velie told IANS.

However, legislators of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland coalition government, which comprises of 48 Naga People's Front (NPF), four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and eight Independents, who met on Friday night found no "ground or justification for the resignation of the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers on account of the recent developments on the issue of ULB election in Nagaland."

Of the 60 DAN legislators, only 42 of them who attended the meeting affirmed that the DAN Legislature Party "shall continue to function under the leadership of Zeliang as Chief Minister".

Interestingly, BJP legislator Mmhonlumo Kikon was not invited for the emergency DAN Legislature Party meeting. "I don't know why I was not invited for the meeting," Kikon told IANS but refused to comment further.

Former Nagaland Home Minister Imkong Imchen, who is a suspended Naga People's Front legislator, said the Chief Minister should step down owning moral responsibility for the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

"He (Zeliang) should have listened to the voice of the people when they are against the conduct of the local bodies elections. He should take the blame for the prevailing law and order situation and step down to restore normalcy," Imchen told IANS.

Naga People's Front legislator Neiphrezo Keditsu on Thursday submitted his resignation as Chairman of the Nagaland State Mineral Development Corporation (NSMDC) Limited on moral grounds as one of the persons killed in the Dimapur police firing was from his village.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 78-year-old woman died after suffering a cardiac arrest outside a polling booth in Panaji, officials said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters, District Magistrate Nila Mohanan said that the deceased, Leslie Saldanha, was rushed to a private hospital by the staff where she was pronounced dead.

Polling for the 40-member Goa legislative assembly began at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Calling it "spineless", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that the Election Commission has "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kejriwal's remarks came in response to reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and other campaigning material, and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day.

"Election Commission has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like the CBI and the RBI," Kejriwal tweeted.

"This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission."

This is a completely shameless n spineless EC. https://t.co/i1eW9h2YVX  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 4, 2017

The Aam Aadmi Party leader had earlier repeatedly targeted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for acting on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office.

"Just like Modiji destroyed the RBI, he has also destroyed the Election Commission by appointing his cronies in the Commission," Kejriwal said.

Punjab began voting for all 117 assembly constituencies in the state at 8 am, while polling for Goa's 40 assembly seats got underway at 7 am.

Kejriwal also slammed Modi for his November 8 demonetisation move and said it had failed to curb black money.

"Modiji had said that the note ban will put an end to black money. But it is being openly distributed in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the use of the note ban," Kejriwal asked.

In a sudden move, the Prime Minister had on November 8 announced that old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes would no longer be a legal tender.

The move, Modi had then said, would eliminate black money from the system apart from targeting counterfeit currency and terror funding.
US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders to start the process of undoing many of the reforms instituted by the Obama administration in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis that brought the global economy to the brink of collapse.

"Today we are signing core principles for regulating the United States financial system," Trump said during the signing on Friday, which followed a White House meeting with corporate CEOs.

The President mandated a drastic revision of parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, the main piece of reform legislation aimed at averting a repeat of the financial meltdown that led to the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, Efe news reported.

"We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they can't borrow money," Trump said in the session with his economic advisory council.

"They just can't get any money because the banks just won't let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank," the President said, offering no specifics to support the assertion.

Trump often criticized Wall Street during the presidential campaign, attacking Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for her ties to investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Since the election, however, he has named veterans of Goldman Sachs to key positions in his administration.

The second order Trump signed on Friday puts at least a temporary stop to a rule imposed by the Labor Department under Barack Obama that requires brokers to put the best interests of clients first when making retirement and investment recommendations.

Major revisions of Dodd-Frank will require approval by Congress, where Trump's Republicans control both houses.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
CET      :        ;        
Amid growing rumours that general secretary V K Sasikala will take over as chief minister from O Panneerselvam next week, a meeting of MLAs of Tamil Nadus ruling party, AIADMK, will be held on Sunday. MLA is member of legislative assembly, is All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Karnataka state president of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday said that ex-Congress leader S.M. Krishna will join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

On January 29th Krishna resigned from all the posts held by him in the grand old party.

Krishna had resigned from the Congress and Congress Working Committee as well.

The Congressman is said to have written a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi apprising her of his decision.

The 84-year-old first became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1968 from Mandya.

Krishna led the Congress to victory in Karnataka in 1999 and served as the chief minister till 2004.

He also served as the governor of Maharashtra for the period 2004-2008.

Krishna was also made the minister for external affairs in Dr. Manmohan Singh's cabinet, and resigned from it in 2012.
Presenting the Budget on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that political parties will not be allowed to accept donations of more than Rs 2,000 in cash from an individual donor. Earlier, parties could receive cash donations of up to Rs 20,000. On the face of it, the move is aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in donations received by political parties. Lawyer and political activist Prashant Bhushan speaks to Veenu Sandhu about whether this will indeed serve the purpose. Edited excerpts:



Will reducing the limit of cash donation make political funding transparent?



Nothing will come out of this because once the parties dont have to declare who has given them the cash or how many people have given them the cash, they can declare a consolidated amount. For example, earlier they would say Rs 1,000 crore received in small donations under Rs 20,000. Now they will say Rs 1,000 crore received in small donations under Rs 2,000. So, it is not going to make any difference whether the limit is Rs 20,000 or Rs 2,000 or even Rs 1,000, Rs 500 or Rs 100. The Election Commission had recommended bringing down the limit to Rs 2,000 without understanding that it is not going to make any difference.
Goans want jobs, simply put, this is at the heart of assembly elections in India's smallest state. While every political party has promised to create jobs and make Goa unemployment-free in the next five years, looking at things on the ground, it all seems uphill.
Amidst hectic electioneering in Uttar Pradesh, firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party MP Yogi Adityanath on Saturday again sought to play the religious card, saying the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana and 'love jihad' were important issues for the party.

BJP, he said, will not let Western Uttar Pradesh turn into another Kashmir, a reference to the forced migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s.

"Issues like Hindu exodus from Kairana, love jihad and women's safety will dominate the poll scene," he said at an event organised by a news channel in Lucknow.

"Yogi is not talking about today, Yogi is talking about future. Exodus is a very big issue for us," he said, adding, "BJP will not let western Uttar Pradesh turn into another Kashmir."

BJP MP Hukum Singh had in June 2016 claimed that nearly 350 Hindus had left Kairana over alleged threats and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community.

The Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur claimed that in eastern part of UP, both Hindu and Muslim population was safe.

"In eastern UP, if a Hindu is safe, so is a Muslim," he said.

The BJP's star campaigner said the issue of love jihad will certainly be a crucial point in the polls.

"Love jihad was then an issue and it is still an issue," he said.

When asked about the agenda of his "anti-Romeo squads", the controversial leader said the "force" will work towards restoring pride of women and ending discriminations.

"There are areas in western UP where girls can't go to school. The squad will work for their rights and ensure safety of women in the state," he said.
At the Bihar Global Meet at Patna in 2012, Karan Bilimoria, co-founder of Cobra beer, was trying hard to answer tough questions related to selling alcohol in the land from where Mahatma Gandhi started his political journey in India. With 65 per cent alcohol, country liquor is far worse than beer that contains only 5 per cent. Had Mahatma Gandhi been here today, I would have offered him a non-alcoholic beer, said the Indian-born British businessman.
In the autumn of her life, 106-year-old Mala Devi today sent out a message to voters by making efforts to exercise her franchise here.

Devi of ward number 12 at Guru Arjan Dev Nagar cast her vote at booth number 132, Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said.

She was provided pick and drop facility by the Ludhiana administration, he said.

Ludhiana's poll volunteers went to her residence and brought her accompanied by some family members to the polling station and dropped her home after she cast her vote, he said.

Poll officials also helped her to the booth in a wheel chair.

She was also presented a rose as a goodwill gesture.

District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said the administration through volunteers are approaching such voters at their residence to bring them to the polling booth.

"We are in process of identifying more with an aim to help all of them cast their votes till the end of the polling," said Bhagat.

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In a major drug haul, NCB sleuths have arrested two African women with 4 kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 crore from a hotel near the airport here.

Officials identified the women as Zambian national Thelma Mkandawire (38) and Tanzanian Pamela D Kiritta (41).

They said the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), based on a tip-off, was tracking Mkandawire after she landed here from Sao Paulo (Brazil) via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and intercepted her when she checked in a hotel in the Mahipalpur area even as Kiritta came there to allegedly obtain the consignment she was carrying.

"Four kilograms of cocaine, concealed in a suitcase cavity, was seized from the baggage of Thelma," NCB Zonal Director (Delhi) Madho Singh said.

Both the ladies, they said, have been arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) yesterday and the consignment is worth Rs 30 crore in the international market.

Officials said they found that Thelma was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 on similar charges of drugs smuggling. Kiritta was staying in an apartment in the Vasant Kunj area of south Selhi, since she came to India early this year in January, they added.

Kiritta informed she had visited India nine times since 2006 and she had been to other countries like Ecuador and Kenya. She was working for a South African man here, they said adding, that the agency was probing the women's international and Indian contacts.

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A special NIA court today granted the agency 11 days remand of the three ISI suspects arrested in January for their alleged role in triggering train derailments.

Judge Manoj Kumar Sinha accepted NIA's prayer for custody of the three.

The same court had yesterday sent them to judicial custody till February 17.

Motilal Paswan, Mukesh Yadav and Umashanker Patel were arrested from Bihar's East Champaran district on January 17.

During the course of investigation, Paswan admitted to playing a role in the derailment of Indore-Patna Express near Kanpur on November 20, 2016 in which around 150 passengers were killed.

After their arrest, East Champaran Superintendent of Police Jitendra Rana had claimed that the trio had confessed to have worked for a Nepali contact suspected to be connected with ISI.

The three were allegedly involved in more than a dozen criminal cases and were roped in by Nepali contacts to trigger train mishaps in India, Rana had said.

They were arrested in the course of a probe into the murder of two persons in Nepal in December last year for failing to explode bombs on railway tracks at Ghorasahan area of East Champaran district on October 1, 2016, the SP said.

NIA took over investigation in the wake of disclosures during the probe.

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Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit is set to become the country's new foreign secretary, media reports said here today.

The Nawaz Sharif government has "in principle" decided to appoint Basit as the country's new foreign secretary, replacing Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry who has been designated as Pakistan's ambassador to the US, The reported.

Prime Minister Sharif, who is also retaining the portfolio of the Foreign Affairs, has concluded consultations for appointing new administrative head of the Foreign Office, the daily said.

It is likely that the announcement pertaining to the appointment of Basit would be made next week, the report said.

58-year-old Basit is the senior most among the contenders for the top post.

Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post.

Basit, who has varied experience of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, was selected for the job three years back also but could not be appointed due to technical reasons and instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany.

Pakistan will take the decision about new High Commissioner in India after Basit's return, the daily said.

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Actor Patrick J Adams has given his seal of approval to "Suits" co-star Meghan Markle's romance with Prince Harry.

The 35-year-old actor, who plays Markle's on-screen fiance Mike Ross in the show, is "super excited" for her, but hopes the "madness" of dating a royal passes soon, reported E! online.

"I'm super excited for her. As you can imagine, it is a massive deal, obviously, if you hadn't noticed. I didn't wanna get involved. I just wanted to say, 'I love you, I support you, I hope you're happy. You seem really happy'.

"...But if there's anyone in the world who is designed to be able to deal with it and deal with it professionally, it's Meghan Markle. I'm just super excited for her and I hope that all of the whatever, whatever, I don't even know what it is, but all of the madness passes at some point and they can just get down to the business of enjoying each other's company and hopefully not have to worry about this," Adams said.

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Raking up the issue of the death of IUML leader E Ahamed at a Delhi hospital, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament K V Thomas today alleged that the government wanted to keep his body there till the budget was presented and said it was not only an "insult" to the late MP but also to the Muslim community.

Thomas also condemned the "ill-treatment" meted out to members of Ahamed's family at the hospital after he was admitted there on January 31.

Demanding a probe by a Parliamentary Committee into the incident, Thomas also sought "strong action" against those who "insulted" the family of a senior parliamentarian.

"Had Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not intervened strongly, Ahamed's children would not have got the opportunity to see his body and offer prayers as per Muslim customs," he claimed.

"...Disrespect was shown to his body..It was not only an insult to Ahamed but to the Muslim community as well," Thomas, also a senior Congress leader, said in a release here.

Thomas alleged that Ahamed had passed away while he was taken to the hospital, but the government wanted to keep the body in hospital until the budget was presented.

The 78-year-old former Union minister and IUML MP collapsed during the President's Address to the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on January 31. He was declared dead in the wee hours of next day, hours before presentation of the budget.

Congress and Left had yesterday raked up inside and outside Parliament the issue of the death of the Lok Sabha MP, alleging that he was shown alive under PMO "pressure" to allow budget presentation.

While raising the issue, they forced premature adjournment of Lok Sabha for the day as they created ruckus by alleging that "ill-treatment" was meted out to Ahamed's family members at the government hospital after he was admitted there.

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The foundation day of Bihar state legislative assembly would be celebrated on February 7, Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said today.

Members of both houses of Bihar legislature would donate blood to mark the foundation day celebration, Chaudhary told reporters.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would be present during the celebration.

Bihar and Odisha were carved away from Bengal Presidency in 1912 to form a new province. Lord Satyendra Prasad Sinha was the first Governor of Bihar and Odisha province.

On February 7, 1921 he had inaugurated the present building of Bihar legislature and on the same day the first meeting of legislators of the new province of Bihar and Odisha was held under chairmanship of Walter More.

In course of time bi-cameral legislature-- state legislative assembly and state legislative council were set up in Bihar in the light of Government of India Act 1935, he added.

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Slamming BJP president Amit Shah, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today said the upcoming electoral battles are no "friendly matches" and the BJP has lost a "staunch supporter" who backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi even after the Gujarat riots.

"The BJP President says this is a friendly match between them while the state leaders call this a 'Mahabharat' between 'Kauravas' and 'Pandavas'. I want to tell Amit Shah this is no friendly match now. You have lost one who has always backed you and has been your staunch supporter. A supporter who backed (PM Narendra) Modi after the Gujarat riots when everybody was against him," he told in his first BMC poll rally here.

Shah had last Sunday said there were no differences with the Sena and that he hoped its decision to contest the Maharashtra civic polls independently was not going to cause damage to the alliance.

Thackeray said he does not want to play the politics of alliance anymore after having seen the behaviour meted out to the Sena.

"In future Sena will be alone only on the support of the Shiv Sainiks," he said.

Quoting Shah, Thackeray said when he says there are no differences and only 'manbhed' (differences of the heart) between the estranged allies, the BJP should come clean on the issues on which there is a 'manbhed'.

"We will not leave the cause of Hindutva. If you do, there is 'manbhed'. If you do not stop the atrocities being conducted by Pakistan, there is 'manbhed'. If you give money to the family of Burhan Wani after he was killed, there is 'manbhed'. If farmers land is snatched and given to industrialists and if people are made to stand in long queues due to demonetisation, there is 'manbhed'," the Sena chief said.

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Seeking to steer clear of the "internal matter" of AIADMK, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today declined to comment on reports that there might be attempts to urge Sasikala to take over as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister at party MLAs meet tomorrow.

"That is an internal matter of the AIADMK. We don't decide who should be their secretary or general secretary. It is their internal problem, let them decide," Naidu told reporters here.

Naidu was replying to a query about reports that Sasikala might be considered for CM's post that too when the Election Commission has sought the response of AIADMK on a complaint filed by sacked leader Sasikala Pushpa against the election of V K Sasikala as party General Secretary.

"...If they have not done (it) according to rules, their own party people will take a decision (on EC notice)," Naidu said.

On reported attempts to make Sasikala the chief minister, Naidu said when Jayalalithaa was alive, she had appointed O Paneerselvam to the post.

"After her unfortunate demise, he was elected as the chief minister. The Centre had made it clear to Panneerselvam that it would work with the state government and help it. This assurance has been given by the Prime Minister to the Chief Minister. There is no change in that stand," he said.

The AIADMK sources have not committed on the agenda of the meeting at Chennai tomorrow and have declined to confirm reports that the MLAs would urge Sasikala, who was made the General Secretary following the death of Jayalalithaa, to take over as Chief Minister.

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The killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was a "turning point" for Kashmir, Pakistan's top diplomat today claimed here as he termed the ensuing violence in the Valley an "indigenous youth-led movement" triggered by India's "misguided efforts" to change the state's demography.

Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said this at an event to mark the 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' observed annually on February 5.

Aziz claimed that the violence following the killing of Wani on July 8 by Indian security forces led to the several deaths and many were blinded either completely or partially.

"This brutality, which has continued unabated in the past 7 months, has not however dampened the resolve of Kashmiri youth to secure their right of self-determination," Aziz said, according to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

Another important factor, Aziz claimed, after Wani's death was the "total rejection of the Indian narrative by the international community" that Kashmir was an integral part of India.

Following the death of Wani, Kashmir witnessed protests and chaos last year. The situation normalised towards the end of last year.

Aziz also said: "The whole world now acknowledges that this is an indigenous youth-led movement which has become stronger because of the Indian government's misguided efforts to change the demographic composition of the state and its insensitivity to the rights of minority communities in India."



He said several countries have debated this issue and human rights organisations in Europe and North America have been mobilising public support to "force" India to resume dialogue with Pakistan to find an acceptable "solution to the longstanding dispute, still on the UN agenda."



He accused India of "desperately trying to divert the attention" of the global community from the situation in Kashmir by "intensifying" cross-border firing along the Line of Control and "pretending" to be a victim of terrorism from Pakistan.

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Business enquiries worth Rs 400 crore were received by small and medium scale manufacturers at the three-day Vyapar 2017, which concluded here today, organisers said.

The meet, organised by the Department of Industries and Commerce for Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs), witnessed more than 7,400 business interactions during the three days.

"As many as 437 buyers, including 80 international delegates, participated in the meet. Also, 334 business visitors registered on the spot," the release said.

"We selected the buyers through a stringent screening process after evaluating the laxities of the last two editions of the meet.

"We also imposed a security fee, which would be reimbursed, for the buyers to identify the genuine delegates," said Director of Industries and Commerce P M Francis.

"For Vyapar 2017, we gave more emphasis to our neighbouring southern states," he said, adding: "The number of foreign buyers increased in this edition of the event. The highest number of international delegates was from Japan."



A total of 200 SMEs from across Kerala participated in the meet. Food processing sector, which had the largest representation, received the most number of enquiries.

Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP) is the nodal agency for this event.

"When compared to the last edition, we had much potential buyers on board for Vyapar 2017, ensuring good business to the sellers.

We received an immense response from the buyers and sellers during registration as this was the third consecutive year of business-to-business meet," said K-BIP CEO V Rajagopal.

Vyapar 2017 was organised in association with the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation and Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation while FICCI was as the Trade & Industry Partner.

"As the state government had been hosting Vyapar 2017 for the past two years, the participating buyers and sellers were well-informed about the meet.

The participants of the last editions had a good impression and they spread out to the community. The promotional activities held in Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad also got a good response with new buyers coming on board," said Savio Mathew, Head of FICCI Kerala.

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With the Indian IT companies feeling the heat over the H1-B visa, IT czar N R Narayana Murthy today said businesses cannot fight government and have to work within the limitations.

"We cannot fight any government. Let's remember whether it is the US, the UK or the Indian government, no business can fight any government," Infosys co-founder Murthy told reporters here.

He also said, "We have to work within the constraints of the government and there is a lot of innovation that we can bring to the table, whereby our companies are safe. Our companies can grow well again, grow profitably and then we can make the customers."



Murthy said politicians have responsibilities to ensure that unemployment level in their country is as low as possible, and hence they cannot be blamed.

Murthy also argued that India itself has done it in the past by asking the Chinese companies to give a minimum wage of 25,000 US dollars a year for construction workers and power plant builders, to protect India's interests.

"When the Chinese companies wanted to bring Chinese labour because they have very stiff competition target, the than UPA government said that you must give a minimum of wage of 25,000 dollars a year for construction workers for builders in India. So, this is nothing new to the US alone. We have done it ourselves and we all realised that it was done for a good reason by our politicians," he said.

Therefore, he would not blame the politicians and go into a tizzy on the issue, Murthy said, adding that it would the responsibility of the industry to come out with a mechanism to reduce dependence on visas.

"That is the reason why I believe that any prudent board in any of the Indian software companies would have to identity visas as an important risk and ask the management what they have done to mitigate this risk," he said.

Murthy also said it is very unlikely for President Trump to execute the H1-B order, as the Indian software industry has largely been responsible for building and maintaining the information infrastructure of the large western corporations.

"Therefore they play a very very critical role in the success of the US corporations, tampering with it is not going to be easy," he said.

He also believed the customers of Indian software companies will use their influence with the Trump administration to prevent him from executing such a order.

"Therefore, the probability of any such executive order appears somewhat remote, at least from where I see," he said.

Even if the the order is executed, Murthy said in this scenario the Indian software industry will try to renegotiate the prices with their customers so as to their profitability will not be impacted as much as the industry thinks it would.

"I believe that they will be able to sit down with their customers and renegotiate the prices. So, thereby their profitability will not be impacted as much as we think it would," he said.

Murthy also believed that the industry may move towards



visa independent global delivery model just as in the 90s Infosys did and other companies followed.

"Therefore, I personally feel there is no need for us to be unduly concerned about it and there is no need to go into panic; and knowing the smartness of the Indian industry, I believe that the industry will come out with a solution wherein things will be back perhaps to a new normal," he said.

Even if the US Congress decided to execute the order, it is likely that it will be related to new H1B visas, which will not be on a retrospective basis, Murthy said.

The third option with the industry would be to step up local hiring because the local talent will be much better in selling the services in the market to their corporations, he said.

"The local people will be able to interact with our customers much better because they speak English as mother tongue. They understand the lingo; the local jargons etc etc. I think overall, my belief is that we will convert what appears to be a huge problem at this point of time to a great opportunity for Indian software industry to grow," he said.

When asked about the Nasscom delegation's visit to the US, he said, "Nasscom and CEOs should enlighten the members of the Congress, Senators and others about the extraordinary advantages of working with Indian companies. They will also enlighten them on how Indian companies have added tremendous value to making American companies much more competitive."



Murthy also urged Boards of IT companies to take a serious effort to put the issue in the forefront. "You have to ask the Infosys board and other boards where these initiatives are. We completed about 7 or 8 pilots before I left the company. I am sure they would have taken it forward, but you may want to ask the senior management and board of Infosys on its progress," he said.
China says the US is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk following remarks by Defence Secretary James Mattis that an island group China claims falls under the US-Japan mutual defence treaty.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang today called on the US to cease "making wrong remarks" over the issue.

Lu reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

In a statement posted to the ministry's website, Lu said the US should avoid complicating the issue and "bringing instability to the regional situation."



The US Defence Department quoted Mattis as telling Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a meeting yesterday that their mutual defense treaty applied to all areas under Japanese administration, including the islands.
Sant Singh Chatwal, a prominent hotelier and convicted Indian-American Democratic Party fundraiser, secured an invitation to a State Department lunch for the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009 through top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to emails.

The New State Department emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that donors to the Clinton Foundation thought that they could receive favours from the State Department while Clinton was at the helm.

According to the emails, Abedin was asked by Chatwal, who has donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, to secure an invitation to an Obama administration State Dinner.

"As you know, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Obama are having a State Dinner. Any possibilities to include me and my wife for this dinner? If so, that would be really great!" wrote Chatwal.

Abedin said that Clinton's office was unable to secure an invitation to the State Dinner, but offered Chatwal access to the Indian Prime Minister nonetheless, 'The Washington Free Beacon' reported.

"We have no control over the white house state dinner. But, Hillary is hosting the state lunch for the prime minister with vice president Biden at the State Department and you should be receiving your invitation to that soon. Will be the same day, November 24th," Abedin replied.

Chatwal pleaded guilty to felony charges in the US for illegally funneling nearly USD 200,000 in campaign money to federal candidates in 2014. He was brought up on conspiracy and witness tampering charges in addition to the charges for illegal contributions.

In 2006, Former President Bill Clinton attended the wedding of Chatwal's son, who was later arrested in a US airport for attempting to travel with cocaine and heroin.

Other emails sent by Abedin that are contained in the recent release contain classified names of intelligence agency employees, according to the watchdog group.

Judicial Watch said that the emails show "further proof" of Clinton's wrongdoing as secretary of state.

"These new emails provide further proof that Hillary Clinton used her official office to provide special treatment for donors to the Clinton Foundation and members of the Foundation staff," said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton.

Fitton said that the newly released emails put further pressure on Republican President Donald Trump to initiate a "serious investigation" into Clinton's email issue.

"The new national security material in these emails will increase pressure on the Trump administration to authorize a serious investigation of Clinton's email practices," Fitton said.

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West County High School student Jacob Briley was recently given the opportunity to visit the state capitol building in Jefferson City to shadow Missouri Sen. Gary Romine, R-Ste. Genevieve for a day.

Im a member of FCCLA, which is Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, and they offer the program of legislative shadowing, said Briley. My first time going to a state conference, they had a presentation about the legislative shadowing, but it was only offered to juniors and seniors and I was only a freshman so I wasnt able to apply  Finally now that Im a junior I was able to apply so I filled out an application  they ask several test-type questions about FCCLA and about if youre interested in politics, why you wanted to go to Jefferson City and why you wanted to get an inside feel of our government.

Although Briley was the only FCCLA member selected from schools around the Parkland, between 50 and 60 students from FCCLA chapters around the state were selected to be a part of this years shadowing program.

In addition to shadowing a member of the Missouri General Assembly for a day, the students also got to spend an additional day touring the capitol building, the Missouri Supreme Court building and the Governors Mansion.

They were neat tours, said Briley. And then that night  Tuesday  we had our orientation for the next day and a banquet.

The shadowing portion of the trip took place the following day.

On Wednesday I got to shadow Senator Gary Romine and I followed him throughout his day, Briley said. In the morning, we went to two committee meetings. Our first was the Committee for Seniors, Family and Children and they had three bills that they were working on and they amended two of them and then one was postponed until next week because they didnt have all their information ready. Then we went back up to his office where he had several other meetings with senators, a couple lobbyists came up and then we went to another committee meeting on commerce.

Briley said he found sitting in on the committee meetings to be the most interesting part of the day he spent with Romine, partly because of the fact that he learned that anybody  not just lobbyists  can attend a committee meeting to give their input or opinion on proposed legislation.

What made the trip even more memorable for Briley was the personal interest that Romine took in him during the visit.

He was a really nice guy, he said. And at the end of our time shadowing, we had a group session (with other FCCLA members) where we could share what our best experience was from the day. A lot of the members who were chosen said they spent a lot of time with the interns and that it was the interns of their senators who took them on the tours of the different buildings.

But I actually only met my senators interns when I first got there and introduced myself. The whole other time, I was right next to him and followed him to everything he did. The only time I had to leave him was when he called his wife at lunch. He wanted some privacy for that  He took the time and was very personable and took the time to get to know me.

Despite his interest in politics and government, Briley does not intend to go into the field after high school and college, at least not right away.

I would like to get into politics but not until a later time, he said. I want to have a different career before going into politics. Id like to go into the medical field to be an emergency physician  Then when I retire, (I plan on) running for a political position, then serving on one of the committees that revises our health laws.

Briley hasnt begun the college application process yet, but has been taking dual-credit classes through Mineral Area College and has his eye on Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Iran is to deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise on Saturday in a show of defiance a day after the United States imposed sanctions over a ballistic missile test launch last weekend.

The Guards' Sepahnews website said the manoeuvres in the northeastern province of Semnan were aimed at demonstrating their "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" and "humiliating sanctions" from Washington.

"Different types of domestically produced radar and missile systems, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems will be used in this exercise," it said.

A list of the missiles to be deployed published later on the website showed they were of very short range  up to 75 kilometres (47 miles).

US President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran yesterday over its test launch of a medium-range ballistic missile and its support for Yemeni rebels, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.

Hours later, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world" but added that Washington had no plans to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

The new sanctions do not yet mean that the US has abandoned commitments it made to lift measures aimed at Iran's nuclear programme, officials said.

But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said yesterday's measures would not be the last.

Iran announced it would take "reciprocal action" against US individuals and companies.

"In response to the new move by the United States of America and as a reciprocal action, (Iran) will impose legal limitations for some American individuals and companies that have had a role in the creation and support of extreme terrorist groups in the region," the foreign ministry said.

It said it would publish a list of names later.
Sleuths of Mumbai police's cyber cell today arrested a 25-year-old man from Delhi for allegedly cheating a city-based event manager of Rs 2.49 lakh.

The event manager approached the cyber police station alleging he had been defrauded of Rs 2.49 lakh on January 18 and 19 through multiple online account transactions, police said.

Investigations revealed that the as-yet-unidentified accused had used the event manager's bank account credentials to open one more bank account in Delhi, they said.

The accused, who is said to be associated with the realty sector, carried out online purchases and mobile recharges through this account, police said.

Cyber police station sleuths raided a residence in Vasant Kunj area in Delhi and arrested the accused. A computer, hard disk and mobile phone of the accused were seized.

The accused has been booked under various provisions of the IPC along with the IT Act. He will be produced in a local court tomorrow.

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Nikki Haley, in her first week as US ambassador, has made reform of the United Nations' far-flung peacekeeping operations a top priority, diplomats said.

The missions cost nearly $8 billion a year and Haley said in her Senate confirmation hearing last month that she wants to look at all 16 to see which are succeeding in maintaining peace and which aren't.

"Do we need to shift and do things differently or do we need to pull out?" she asked.

Haley singled out the mission in war-ravaged South Sudan, the world's newest nation, calling it "terrible." She said the government isn't cooperating with the UN force, which has nearly 13,000 troops and police and a current budget of more than $1 billion.

Two diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conversations were private, said that in discussions this week Haley put a mission-by-mission review of peacekeeping operations as a top priority.

One diplomat said Haiti, where nearly 5,000 UN troops and peace are deployed at an annual cost of about $346 million, is a mission Haley talked about winding up.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced on Friday that chief Herve Ladsous is leading "a strategic assessment mission" to Haiti next week at the Security Council's request, which will identify "critical needs" in the country and make recommendations on a future UN presence.

A official said late Friday that the department is implementing reforms recommended by a high-level panel on peace operations, and is constantly reviewing and adjusting its operations "to stay relevant and cost efficient."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

According to the Department, over 100,000 troops and police are currently deployed in the 16 missions, including nine in Africa.

While some missions have been very successful Haley singled out Sierra Leone including in the Central African Republic and Congo have been criticised for sexual abuse violations and corruption, and the joint UN-African Union mission in Sudan's Darfur region has been criticised for inefficiency.

Haley stressed that countries contributing troops must hold them accountable for corruption and sexual exploitation, which she said isn't happening.
Designer Anavila Misra says women should not restrict wearing saris to just occasions like weddings or festivals and rather don them on regular basis.

On the Sustainable Fashion & Textile Day at Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort'17 Anavila presented "What is the Sari for, in 2017'.

The designer's brand has always been about 'sustainable', 'organic', 'handwoven' and 'saris'.

Anavila says her endeavor is to keep the sari relevant through time.

"Don't brand the sari particularly to occasions like festival s and weddings. We need to change that mindset. We all have to make sari more wearable," Anavila told PTI.

Anavila is known for successfully weaving new textiles with different organic yarns in natural dyes. Her efforts for reviving traditional techniques generates employment for weavers. The designer's creativity comes with consciousness, making her the ideal brand on fashion forecasts.

"I feel we can look at the sari just as other separates in our wardrobe rather than a complete ensemble by itself. Like we would mix and match other garments, the sari pairs well with different pieces and can be worn for any occasion," she says.

Anavila finds a muse in leading actor Priyanka Bose, globally known for her meaningful work in the field of cinema.

"Priyanka's approach to her craft is with a purpose and she has created her own space in Indian and international cinema. She is an artist who makes a mark for India on a multicultural platform," Anavila says.

She has curated a unique summer look for Priyanka with separates from her collection - a leaf green linen sari with an underlayer of net. It is teamed with a white shirt blouse and a polka-dotted petticoat. The look is completed with a pair of fabric shoes.

With this presentation, Anavila hopes that more and more young women will embrace the sari as their personal expression.

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A delegation from the Chinese Embassy today met Wang Qi (77), a Chinese soldier who was caught for entering the Indian territory shortly after the end of Sino-India War of 1962, and settled down in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district after he was released.

Wang has long been wanting to visit his native land.

"Three officials from Chinese Embassy in India met my father and talked to him for more than one hour. They assured him all possible help to visit China," said his son Vishnu Wan (35), speaking to PTI over phone from Balaghat.

"A Chinese TV crew of 4-5 members also came with the officials and interviewed my father...We are hopeful now that he will be able to visit his birth place," he added.

Wang, who lives with his wife and three children in Tirodi area of Balaghat district, has not been able to visit China for the last five decades for want to permission from Indian government, according to the family.

"My father joined the Chinese army in 1960 and he entered India through the eastern frontier after losing his way in the darkness one night," Vishnu said.

He landed in Assam where an Indian Red Cross team handed him over to the Indian Army on January 1, 1963. "My father spent six years in prisons in Assam, Ajmer, Delhi before the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered his release in March 1969," Vishnu said.

"The Indian government had promised to the court that it would rehabilitate my father. He was taken to Delhi, Bhopal, Jabalpur and then finally handed over to Balaghat police."



Wang started working as a watchman with a mill and soon his colleagues named him 'Raj Bahadur', apparently due to his 'Nepali' features, Vishnu said.

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The private security guard of Gujarat's Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel was today slapped with a penalty for carrying a revolver and live cartridges in his handbag instead of the luggage before boarding a flight at Udaipur airport.

Satish Kumar had declared the licensed revolver and cartridges before boarding the flight for Delhi from Dabok airport in Udaipur and he was supposed to put them in the luggage but he was carrying them with him in a handbag, DSP Vallabh Nagar (Udaipur) Ghanshyam Sharma said.

He was in possession of the revolver and 16 cartridges. CISF detected them during frisking and informed the airport authority and police.

After initial questioning, the police allowed him to go but the Airports Authority of India (AAI) imposed a fine on him, Sharma said.

He was later allowed to board the next flight.

Kumar had arrived in Udaipur by road from Ahmadabad.

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An Indian-origin couple in the UK are caught up in a divorce battle which includes a 160,000-pound ticket on the futuristic first commercial flight into space on British entrepreneur Richard Branson's famed Virgin Galactic.

Meera Manek is taking her husband, Ashish Thakkar, to the UK High Court next week to dispute his claims that his assets are worth just 445,532 pounds.

The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, 'The Daily Telegraph ' reported.

"The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court. It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth. Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Thakkar was among the first to sign up for Branson's dream project of launching the first commercial flight into space. The full amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight.

The UK High Court will now decide over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday what Thakkar's assets are worth and a further trial will then determine how much Manek should receive as part of the divorce settlement.

Thakkar is a Dubai-based businessman who runs the Mara Group and was born in the city of Leicester in the UK. His family were among the thousands of East African Indians who came to the UK after being deported by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s.

The 35-year-old married Manek in 2008 but the couple separated in 2013. His soon-to-be ex-wife claims her estranged husband is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore. But he has told the High Court that the beneficiaries of the Mara Group - an IT, banking and property group - were his mother and sister.

'The Sunday Times Rich List' had estimated Thakkar's wealth at 500 million pounds in 2015 but he was missing from the list in 2016.

Justice Moor will rule on Thakkar's real wealth next week.

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Iran has extended a deadline for bids on oil and gas projects, urging Britain's BP to join major international companies that have already applied, local media reported today.

The bidding round for exploration and production licences comes as it seeks to revive the sector, hard-hit by international sanctions that were lifted last year.

National Iranian Oil Company head Ali Kardor said the deadline for bids had been pushed back to February 15, ISNA agency reported.

He said the original late January deadline had been extended because "information from some companies was not complete".

He said British Petroleum had still not submitted a bid.

"We are interested to see more companies on the list," Kardor said.

"BP has not sent its information to us.

"Although we said this is an official process and you need to enter your information, they haven't done it," he added.

The new licensing round comes a year since a deal between Iran and world powers came into force, lifting international sanctions against Tehran in return for limits on its nuclear programme.

Iran is keen to access new technology to boost its production from fields it shares with its Gulf neighbours.

In early January, it published a list of 29 companies it would allow to bid.

It said it had received bids from Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, Italy's ENI, France's Total, Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil, and Schlumberger of the Netherlands.

Asian giants including China's CNPC and Sinopec International, the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration also put in bids along with companies from Malaysia and South Korea.

Oil-rich Iran has increased production to 3.9 million barrels per day from 2.6 million bpd before President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013.

It has also earned more than USD 2 billion (1.9 billion euros) from gas sales since sanctions were lifted, Kardor said.

The country has already signed a flurry of deals with international companies.

In November, French oil and gas giant Total signed a preliminary agreement for a USD 4.8-billion (4.3-billion-euro) project to develop an offshore gas field at South Pars, which Iran shares with Qatar.

In December, Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia's Gazprom on the development of two major oilfields.

Also in December, it signed three preliminary deals with Shell to examine developing major oil and gas fields.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ongoing Jat quota agitation in Haryana today entered its seventh day but no untoward incident was reported from anywhere, officials said here.

Amid elaborate security arrangements, the Jats held dharnas at several locations in the state which remained peaceful, they said.

The call for the fresh stir has been given by some Jat outfits, especially those owing allegiance to All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti headed by Yashpal Malik.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said earlier that government accepted the demand of the Jats to give jobs to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the agitation last year and process has been initiated for the same.

Meanwhile, Malik, joined the Jat reservation dharna near rail tracks on Hisar-Rewari line in Hisar district's Ramayan village and called for peace and harmony.

He exhorted the agitators not to disrupt rail and road traffic.

Malik, however, said the dharnas in Haryana would continue till the government accepted their demands.

"If the government fails to consider the demands by February 11, the samiti would increase the number of dharnas in each district from February 12," he threatened.

Malik accused the government of betraying the community by not keeping the promises it made with the Samiti earlier.

He said Jats were willing to wait for reservation since the matter was sub judice, but they want all other demands to be accepted immediately.

Referring to government accepting the demand of providing jobs to victims' families, Malik said the Samiti would oppose any move if government gives jobs to them on contract basis.

Notably, in the fresh round of Jat stir, paramilitary forces are out in sensitive areas in Haryana while heavy police force has been deployed to maintain strict vigil, as the stir entered its seventh day.

During a similar stir a year ago, there were 30 deaths and widespread destruction of property. This time, Haryana has been put on maximum alert, officials said.

Notably, Rohtak and some of its neighbouring districts, including Sonipat and Jhajjar had been worst-hit by the violence which broke out during last year's Jat stir.

Apart from the quota demand, the agitators are demanding release of arrested Jat youths from jails, withdrawal of cases registered during last year's agitation and grant of government jobs to the kin of youths killed and those injured during the earlier stir and action against BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini over his alleged anti-Jat rants.

(REOPENS DES 24)



Meanwhile, Haryana's main opposition party INLD today came out in open support of the agitating Jats.

Leader of Opposition and INLD's senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala, along with senior leaders of his party, went to various dharna sites in Rohtak, Sonepat and Jind districts and announced his party's support to the Jats.

Chautala demanded that the government should fulfill the demands raised by the Jats.

He said that INLD will raise the issue in the budget session of Haryana Assembly which begins from February 27 at Chandigarh.

He claimed that Jat leaders belonging to BJP and the Congress were only interested in making newspaper headlines by giving statements on the ongoing stir issue from their homes.

"If they have real concerns with the demands raised by them (the Jats), then they should come and sit with them at the dharna sites," Chautala said.

He also appealed to the agitators not to lend an ear to any kind of rumours and further told them to hold their stir in a peaceful manner and maintain peace and brotherhood.
US President Donald Trump today termed as "ridiculous," a federal court ruling that halted his controversial executive order preventing people from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country, and vowed to get it "overturned".

The order blocking the ban was issued yesterday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart and is valid across the US, jeopardizing Trump's stated plan to prevent radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said in his early morning tweet to his 23.6 million followers.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" he said in yet another tweet as he lashed out at those who are opposing his ban on people coming from these seven Muslim-majority countries.

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" Trump said.

Trump's executive order, which went into effect a week ago, blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days, while barring entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, and refugees from other countries for 120 days.

The controversial order which many Democrats have termed as "unconstitutional" and "illegal," has felled protests across US airports where many travellers with valid documents to enter the country have been detained.

The US President, who is spending his weekend at Mar-a- Lago continued to lash out at The New York Times, which has been critical of his policies.

"After being forced to apologise for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE @nytimes is still lost!" Trump said.

The New York Times had endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich in the primaries and Hillary Clinton in the general elections.

Trump, who uses tweeter as a medium of communication with his large support base, alleges that traditional media outlets like The New York Times, CNN and The Washington Post have been unfair to him in their coverage and very often indulge in inaccurate reporting.

"Make America Great Again," Trump said in another tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
DEAR HARRIETTE: I have lived with my parents while pursuing my college education. Now that I am about to graduate in May, I want to become independent as soon as possible. I have worked and paid for my share of the house during this time. My parents don't know how to manage money and would certainly come knocking if they saw my meager savings account. How much should I have saved up to move out on my own? I have never lived alone before. -- Spread My Wings, Raleigh, North Carolina

DEAR SPREAD MY WINGS: You can keep your savings information to yourself. That is your business. It is good that you contribute to your family household, as you should, until you move out. Financial experts recommend that people have at least six months' salary saved so that they are prepared for job loss for any reason. You haven't started your career yet, so you will have to use different criteria. Look for an apartment in the area where you want to live. How much is the rent? Electricity? Your cellphone? Wardrobe needs? Food? Itemize whatever you imagine you have to spend monthly in order to live independently. If possible, save up six months' worth of that before you leave home. Obviously, you want to have a job, too. When you do leave, thank your parents for their generosity and loving support. If you ever are able to help them financially, by all means do so. Remember how much they have done for you, and be generous.

DEAR HARRIETTE: This inauguration had my students very upset. I teach in an area with many immigrants, due to the abundance of dairy farms. While I keep my political views outside of the classroom, I want to somehow comfort them about the next four years. How can I boost morale during this divisive time? I hate seeing so many children influenced by their parents' political views. -- Sad Class, Dallas

DEAR SAD CLASS: Your students may be facing more than just their parents' political views. If they are Dreamers -- children of people who came to this company illegally who are themselves not American -- they run the risk of being deported, should the clemency that was being developed to protect Dreamers be eradicated. This is a tricky issue that is extremely volatile on all sides. Your students should be worried, even though their angst surely doesn't help you to train their minds and inspire them to dream about their futures.

What can you do? Tell them that you will do whatever you can to build their minds so that they are prepared to face the world with knowledge and confidence. You can also pledge to pay attention to what happens with government rulings so that their parents are informed. What you cannot do is make any promises about what the future holds for them. This is true for all of your students. All you can do is prepare them the best you can in the present moment.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have been recently hired as a copywriter. This part-time gig puts me below the level of assistant. I have been getting pestered by the assistant in and out of work hours about my progress. I am frustrated because I feel like she is concentrating her lack of power onto me because I am the only person below her. I don't want to be put out of a job, but I cannot be receiving multiple text messages and calls on days that I am not even working! -- Fed Up, Austin, Texas

DEAR FED UP: Do some sleuthing at your job to get a sense of how you can ensure that your work is properly received by the boss above this assistant. Figure out the office dynamics, and work to forge relationships with this woman as well as others in the office. Be kind to her at all times.

When you are not at work, don't be so available. If you receive texts during your off hours, do not respond immediately unless it seems to be an emergency. Also, let the assistant know that when you aren't at work, you are often unavailable to communicate with the office. You do not have to go into detail as to what you are doing. Just draw the line about how accessible you can be -- without being rude. Assure her that you will have your work in on time and that if you have any questions or concerns, you will let her know.

DEAR HARRIETTE: A couple of days ago, I attended a white-tie birthday party. On the invitation, it said that there'd be dinner and light hors d'oeuvres served. With this knowledge, I went on an empty stomach. There was no food in sight. I was famished, yet I felt like it'd be rude to ask where the food was. Could I have asked the host about the food if it said we'd be fed on the invitation? Other guests were murmuring about hunger as well. -- Hangover Management, Los Angeles

DEAR HANGOVER MANAGEMENT: One way to ask artfully about food at a party that has promised it is to ask the hostess when she plans to serve. If there is a bartender, you can also ask that person if he or she knows about the hors d'oeuvres service. Using the middle person, the bartender, to do the research could make it slightly less awkward because you then would not be asking the hostess directly.

If you ultimately discover that no food is being served, either stop or curtail drinking alcohol and leave the party when you feel it is time to eat something. You have to be responsible for yourself in all settings. When a party invitation says food will be served but it is not, or it is not enough, take steps to care for yourself by shortening your stay and finding food in a timely manner.

DEAR HARRIETTE: My father is so embarrassingly cheap, I don't want to be with him in a restaurant. I have seen him dissect every part of a bill and attempt to get a quarter off the check because he asked for no pickles. He is fairly wealthy, but he believes that he must be frugal to preserve his wealth. Is there any way to show him how embarrassing his behavior is? I've seen him order hot coffee with a cup of ice cubes because iced coffee was slightly more expensive. -- Save and Spend, Shreveport, Louisiana

DEAR SAVE AND SPEND: Your father may be living at the extreme of his thinking, but it is true that the person who saves money has money. Try a unique approach. When you are not in a compromising situation, like paying a bill at a restaurant, talk to your father about money. Ask him to teach you how he built his wealth. Listen to him tell you about his financial pursuits. Do your best to get his ear by being a good student.

Over time, change the conversation a bit. Ask him to tell you why he argues about bills all the time, and other such things. Tell him that you respect his desire to be respectful of money, but you fear that in his frugality, he is being rude to others. Give him examples of behaviors that make you uncomfortable. Ask him if there is a way that he can teach you to be mindful of money without being unkind or cheap with others. This may create space for an eye-opener for him.

Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106
Libya's coast guard said today it intercepted more than 400 African migrants attempting to reach Europe, a day after EU leaders agreed on moves to curb mass migration from the country.

General Ayoub Qassem, the coast guard spokesman, said 431 people on inflatable crafts were rounded up between Thursday and Saturday at sea off the town of Sabratha, 70 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli.

"The migrants are of different African nationalities and there are a great deal of women and children among them," he said.

Italy's coastguard said Thursday that more than 1,750 migrants had been rescued in the Mediterranean within 24 hours.

Around 230 people have died en route to Europe since the start of 2017, according to the United Nations.

European Union leaders meeting Friday in Malta approved a new strategy to "break the business model" of traffickers who helped 181,000 mainly African migrants enter the EU via Libya and Italy last year.

The plan includes funding and training Libya's coast guard to make it better able to intercept migrant boats and helping neighbouring countries to close routes into Libya, according to a draft statement seen by AFP.

Lawlessness in Libya since a 2011 uprising that ousted longtime strongman Moamer Kadhafi has allowed smuggling networks to develop a lucrative trafficking trade.

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Art lovers returned to the Louvre in Paris today, 24 hours after soldiers outside the museum shot and seriously wounded a machete-wielding attacker, whose condition stabilised overnight.

The incident yesterday thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a "terrorist" assault.

It also risked dealing another blow to Paris' lucrative tourism industry which has been badly affected by a string of attacks since 2015.

By today morning, a crowd had gathered outside the museum's main entrance as the doors re-opened to visitors at 09:30 am (local time).

"I'm quite worried about coming today, but as we weren't able to visit yesterday we decided to come back," 28-year-old Russian visitor Elena Lordugen told AFP.

As usual, soldiers with machine guns could be seen patrolling nearby with museum security staff carrying out routine bag checks.

Ali Tali, a Turkish tourist in his 40s, shrugged off their presence. "We're used these security measures in Turkey," he said.

Investigators say the attacker, who was carrying two machetes and wearing a black T-shirt with a skull design, lunged at four soldiers shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest").

One of soldiers, who was struck on the head, was slightly injured and a second soldier opened fire, hitting the assailant in the stomach and leaving him "seriously wounded," Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said late yesterday.

Held at a Paris hospital overnight, the suspect's condition stabilised and by Saturday morning it was "no longer life-threatening", a source close to the case said today.

But he was not yet well enough to communicate with investigators.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe he rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees, sources close to the case told AFP.

They are examining the Twitter account of an Egyptian named Abdallah El Hamahmy after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before to the attack.

"In the name of Allah... For our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

Speaking to AFP in Cairo, retired police general Reda El Hamahmy said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah, who was in Paris on a business trip.

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A 35-year-old man from Virar here, who posed as a Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) inspector and allegedly demanded bribe from a doctor, has been arrested, police said today.

"Accused Sanjay Shinde impersonated as FDA inspector and meet one Dr Raghavendra Tripathi at his hospital in Kalyan yesterday. He then accused Tripathi of indulging in adulteration of medicines," sub-inspector Y M Gaikar of Bazarpeth police station said.

Shinde demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Tripathi and threatened him to shell out the money if he wanted to continue his medical practise.

"Suspecting Shinde, the doctor asked him to show his identity card, which he failed to furnish. Tripathi soon alerted drug inspector Dr Anil Manickrao, attached to Thane FDA division," Gaikar said.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Shinde was a real estate agent.

Police is also probing that if he has cheated more medicos in a similar fashion and duped them.

Shinde was booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 170 (personating a public servant) of the IPC.

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Romania's premier has announced a dramatic climbdown on legislation that had been seen as a retreat on corruption, after the biggest protests since dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled and executed in 1989.

Demonstrators vowed to keep up the pressure on the government, however, after five days of protests culminating in an estimated 330,000 people taking to the streets nationwide yesterday.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said in a televised statement that the government would meet today to repeal an emergency decree that could have seen some corrupt officials escape prosecution.

"I do not want to divide Romania," Grindeanu said at government headquarters in central Bucharest, sparking celebrations among the estimated 120,000 people protesting outside for a fifth evening in a row.

Raluca, a demonstrator in her 30s, said she was delighted but that the leftwing government, which has been in office for barely a month, was still not to be trusted.

"People are going to remain very vigilant with this government," she told AFP.

The decree, passed Tuesday and due to enter into force on February 10, was to make abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei (USD 47,500).

The government also wants in a separate decree to be reviewed by parliament next week to free some 2,500 people from prison serving sentences of less than five years.

Grindeanu, from the left-wing Social Democrats (PSD), had said that the measures were to bring penal law into line with the constitution and reduce overcrowding in prisons.

Critics had said that the real aim was to let off some of the several thousand officials and politicians ensnared in a major anti-corruption drive in recent years, many of them from the PSD.

Earlier this week Brussels, which had previously praised Romania for its efforts, warned against "backtracking".

Washington also said it was "deeply concerned" about "accountability" for corruption crimes.

But most worried of all were ordinary Romanians, who poured onto the streets in numbers not seen since people power toppled Ceausescu and consigned the communist system to history in 1989.

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Mexico and Turkey have agreed to speed up negotiations for a free trade agreement in the wake of protectionist threats from US President .

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and his visiting Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday said the two governments have held seven rounds of talks and will meet again in the coming weeks.

"We have agreed to give a faster impetus to the search for an agreement," Videgaray told reporters.

"Today, more than ever, Mexico is open to the world and Mexico wants to build and strengthen its trade and investment ties with every country that we are friends with, regardless of geographic distance," he said.

Cavusoglu said Turkey wants to "intensify talks" on free trade with Mexico.

He also proposed to strengthen the MIKTA forum, a political and trade forum that includes Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia.

"Together we will invest more efforts into making this forum more politically relevant, more effective and more visible," the Turkish minister said.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are preparing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as demanded by Trump, who calls the pact a "catastrophe" for his country.

Faced with Trump's threat to leave NAFTA if necessary, Latin America's second biggest economy is speeding up negotiations with the European Union and seeking to tighten trade bonds with other nations.
One of Nigeria's most powerful men, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering and fraud in a landmark anti-corruption case, has returned home, his aides said today.

"Chief James Ibori has arrived. He landed in Abuja in the early hours," said Ighoyota Amori, a political adviser to Ibori, who was governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007.

He said Ibori, who was released in London in December after serving just over four years of a 13-year jail term, would later fly to the southern port city of Warri in Delta state.

"A chartered private plane will fly him to Warri and he will land at Osubi airfield operated by Shell," he added.

The former politician would be received at the airstrip by supporters and sympathisers who have lined up to welcome him back, he added.

"For now, it is going to be a quiet ceremony. An elaborate reception will be organised later for him at Oghara, his hometown," he said.

Ibori's media aide, Tony Eluemunor, also confirmed his arrival, saying only: "He is in town. I will keep you posted later."



Ibori was jailed in April 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly 50 million pounds (at the time USD 78.5 million/62 million euros) following a drawn-out extradition procedure and his evasion of arrest and prosecution in Nigeria.

He had fled to Dubai in 2010, from where he was extradited to Britain.

Anti-corruption campaigners say billions of pounds of ill-gotten wealth is moved each year through Britain, its overseas territories and dependencies and Ibori's conviction was a rare success against global graft.

Ibori, 57, has vowed to appeal the conviction, claiming that at least one police officer involved in the investigation against him had been compromised by taking bribes.

London's Metropolitan Police has said it has investigated the claim but no charges were brought. Transparency International yesterday called Ibori's intent to appeal "an affront to justice".

Opinions are divided in Nigeria itself about whether Ibori should face a fresh trial on his return given the strong anti-corruption stance of President Muhammadu Buhari.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Inaugurating Patna Book Fair, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today stressed that such an event should be a medium for creating public awareness.

"Book Fair should be medium for creating public awareness," Kumar said while addressing a gathering after inauguration of Patna Book Fair at Gandhi maidan.

He said Patna Book Fair has the distinction of having the highest sale of books and has gained a distinct identity for itself since it began in 1985.

The record number of sale of books at Patna Book Fair prove that people of the state has taste for reading books and journals, he added.

The successful conduct of the Book Fair would further improve perception of Bihar after grand organisation of 350th Prakash Parva to celebrate birth anniversary of tenth Sikh Guru Govind Singh.

The book fair is organised by Centre for Readership Development and over 200 publishers from across the country set up their stalls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today said "no wise Congressman or senior leader" with self-respect can continue to remain in that party.

He claimed that important Congress leaders were leaving the party across the country as they are "not getting inspiration from the leadership" and cited several recent instances in this regard.

"Any wise Congressman will not remain in Congress... Any leader with self-respect cannot continue in Congress. This has been the experience," Naidu told reporters here in the context of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna quitting the party recently.

Asked about reports that Krishna might join the BJP, he said, "I am not in the know of things."



"S M Krishna is a very senior politician. He will think and he will take a decision. I do not deal with admission and joining. I cannot speak on speculation," Naidu said.

On being told that BJP Karnataka president B S Yeddyurappa had been talking about the possibility of Krishna joining the party, he said, "I have no information or confirmation. You are giving information that has no confirmation so far."



"I cannot speak on speculation," the Union Minister said.

Taking potshots at the Congress central leadership, Krishna had quit the party unhappy over being sidelined, saying it did not need "mass leaders" but only wanted "managers".

Talking about the Union Budget, Naidu described it as a "Dasha Ashwa Medha Yaga" for building a "resurgent India."



The 10 points included doubling of farmers' income in five years, providing employment and infrastructure, social security and affordable housing for the poor, growth with stability, infrastructure and tax administration that would honour the honest tax payer, he said.

Naidu said the "biggest achievement" of demonetisation was that money which was "hiding" in "bed, bathrooms and iron safes" had come back to banks.

On Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, he said the BJP was confident of securing "comfortable" majority.

The ruling SP, which had won the last Assembly polls on its own, had now struck an alliance with Congress as it has lost self-confidence, Naidu added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Peruvian police searched the house of ex-President Alejandro Toledo for five hours today in a case involving alleged bribes from a Brazilian construction firm under investigation in a major corruption probe.

It's the latest development in a case that first started in Brazil but has since caught up dozens of politicians from around Latin America in a far-reaching probe.

Prosecutors said on social media that the evidence they gathered at Toledo's home in Lima will be evaluated by investigators.

Local television images showed investigators who are on the team looking into suspected bribes paid by the Odebrecht construction company entering Toledo's home.

Toledo, who was Peru's president from 2001-2006, was reportedly in Paris today for a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The pro-democracy activist, who rallied Peruvians in the streets to force the resignation of strongman Alberto Fujimori, denied any wronging in telephone call late yesterday with El Comercio newspaper.

"I don't have anything," Toledo said in the phone call, a recording of which was published by the website. "Look at my accounts."



Specifically, authorities are looking into whether money paid by Odebrecht to a Peruvian businessman ended up in Toledo's hands. Further stoking speculation that Toledo's arrest could be imminent, the former president's attorney abruptly resigned yesterday without providing a reason.

"Justice is for everyone," President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who served as Toledo's Prime Minister and whom authorities also want to speak to in the far-reaching probe, said on Twitter. "If someone committed corruption they should be punished."



Kuczynski has denied any wrongdoing as well and has called for a "deep investigation" of Odebrecht for illicit activities in Peru.

In January, Odebrecht agreed to provide investigators with information about its involvement in corruption in Peru. Three officials from the administration of former President Alan Garcia (2006-2011) have been arrested thus far.

The giant Brazilian construction firm acknowledged in a plea agreement in December with the US Justice Department that it gave bribes of some USD 800 million to win business in 12 countries, including about USD 29 million to officials in Peru during the administrations of Toledo, Garcia (2006-2011) and Ollanta Humala (2011-2016).

During Toledo's administration, Odebrecht began construction on a series of highways that stretched from Peru's border with Brazil to the Pacific coast.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Predicting defeat of BJP in ensuing elections to state Assemblies, NCP chief Sharad Pawar today said Mumbai is a "mini India" and results of the civic polls will send out a strong message to the entire country.

Launching NCP's campaign for the BMC poll here, Pawar said, "Political situation in the country is changing."



"Lives of working and labour classes in Mumbai have been severely affected due to demonetisation. In state Assemblies where elections have taken place and will take place, BJP's defeat is certain," he said.

The former Union Minister also took a dig at the "transparency agenda" of the BJP to corner Shiv Sena and said both parties were in power in BMC for the last two decades and were responsible for the decay in civic amenities in the megapolis.

He said change in the civic body was the only option to develop Mumbai.

Pawar further said NCP-controlled Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Navi-Mumbai civic bodies were better run than Mumbai.

The party should be given a chance in Mumbai as well, he added.

"NCP's clock will repair the country's current bad time," he said.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister also lashed out at BJP for inducting people with criminal record.

"BJP thinks those with criminal background when inducted into their fold are purified," he said.

Pawar said, "NCP wanted to protect the interests and work for welfare of Marathi people as well as those who came from different parts of the country and toiled hard to contribute to the city's prosperity."



"Demonetisation has hit hard the poor, farmers, industrial workers," said the Maratha strongman.

Pawar said his party has taken care of providing clean drinking water in Navi Mumbai and in Mumbai not even a half-heartened effort is being made in this regard.

The Sena and BJP were ruling the BMC for 25 years and they have not solved the recurring drinking water issue, claimed the NCP chief.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
** Missouri 115th District State Representative Elaine Gannon, R-De Soto, files a report every other week while the state legislature is in session.

As we head into February its hard to think that we have already been in Jefferson City for a whole month. A lot of work has already been accomplished, and we are just getting started! Below is an update to some of what the General Assembly has been working on so far this Session.

Lawmakers Reject Proposed Pay Increase (HCR 4)

After several hours of discussion Monday evening, the Senate voted to join the House in rejecting proposed pay raises for elected officials and judges. The resolution approved by both chambers will prevent the pay increase recommendations made by the Citizens Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials from going into effect. Lawmakers gave bipartisan support to the measure as they noted it is not appropriate to use taxpayer dollars to increase their own pay. Members of the General Assembly have consistently voted every two years to reject proposals that increase their own pay. Lawmakers said it was even more important to reject an increase this year because of the states difficult budget situation. The measure now moves to the governor for his approval.

House Approves Collateral Source Reform Legislation (HB 95)

This week the Missouri House continued its work to improve the states legal climate in an effort to make the court system fair to all litigants, and to attract more job creators. As part of its tort reform package, the House approved legislation commonly referred to as collateral source reform.

The bill is meant to clarify that an injured person involved in a lawsuit can recover only the actual cost incurred for medical treatment. Specifically, the legislation would modify Missouris collateral source rule that currently prevents evidence from being admitted to show when a plaintiffs losses have been compensated from other sources such as insurance or workers compensation.

Those who believe the collateral source rule needs to be reformed say the current system allows plaintiffs to make money by filing lawsuits for injuries that have already been covered by other sources. They say it allows individuals to recover damages or costs that were never incurred, while the intent of the law should be to make the plaintiff whole. Supporters also say the change would help Missouri shed its reputation as judicial hellhole and create a more business-friendly environment.

The change approved by the House clarifies that an injured person can recover the actual cost incurred for medical treatment rather than the inflated value of the treatment billed by a health care provider. Specifically, it allows evidence to be admitted in court showing the actual cost, rather than the value, of the medical care or treatment to the plaintiff.

The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration. The bill is similar to a measure approved by the General Assembly last year that was vetoed by the previous governor. Governor Greitens is expected to sign this years version of the bill into law if it receives approval from both chambers.

Expert Witness Legislation Receives House Approval (HB 153)

Continuing with its tort reform efforts, the House also gave approval this week to legislation meant to improve the reliability of expert evidence that is presented to juries in Missouri state courts. The bill would implement an established standard for determining when expert-witness testimony is admissible as evidence at trial.

The proposed standard, which is commonly referred to as the Daubert standard after a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case, is used in federal courts and in more than two-thirds of the states. Under this standard, the trial judge acts as a gatekeeper to ensure that expert testimony is based on sufficient facts or data and is the product of reliable principles and methods. Currently in Missouri, judges admit expert testimony if it is based on facts that are reasonably relied upon by experts in the field.

Supporters of the change say the bill would ensure that testimony from someone designated by lawyers as an expert can be relied upon by citizen jurors. They say the state should ensure that evidence presented in court is trustworthy and not just a product of how much a party can afford to pay a so-called expert to say whatever supports the partys case.

The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Missouri Set to Issue Assistant Physician Licenses

Members of the Missouri General Assembly passed legislation in 2014 to help address the health care needs of Missourians in medically underserved areas. Now, the state is set to take applications beginning January 31 for the newly-created assistant physician positions that are the first of their kind in the nation.

The assistant physician position is open to medical school graduates who have passed the first two rounds of licensing exams, but have not completed a residency program. As assistant physicians, they will be able to provide primary care services while under the supervision of another physician. Assistant physicians are allowed to enter a collaborative practice arrangement with a licensed physician in a medically underserved area. The arrangement will allow the assistant physician to gain knowledge and experience while giving people in rural areas additional access to care.

As the sponsor of the bill noted, many doctors can begin working instead of waiting on a residency, and several underserved areas will have access to an assistant physician.

While the legislation was approved in 2014, it took more than two years for the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts to create rules and regulations for the position. The board officially began taking applications Tuesday, January 31. Additional information is available online at http://pr.mo.gov/healingarts.asp.

Remembering and Honoring Missouri Veterans

Veterans who wish to share their stories are encouraged to make a trip to the State Capitol to participate in the Missouri Veterans History Project.

The MVHP is a not-for-profit corporation organized to interview and record the stories of Missouris veterans. The project collects first-hand recollections of their service to provide a richer and more personal context to historical accounts. The recordings are provided to the veteran free-of-charge and are archived and made available to scholars, students, veterans and the public through a partnership with the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Library of Congress and other organizations. The videotaped stories are archived by the Library of Congress and the state Historical Society of Missouri for future generations.

Videographers from the MVHP will be at the State Capitol in Room 426 on February 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Veterans interested in having their experiences recorded should contact Mr. Kirk Klinger at 660-882-1274 to schedule a date and time. Each recording is expected to take approximately one hour to complete.

Raising Awareness of Teen Dating Violence

During the 2016 legislative session, the Missouri General Assembly approved legislation (SB 921) to designate February as "Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month" in the state of Missouri.

One in three teens in the United States will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by someone with whom they are in a relationship before they become adults. Teens who experience dating violence are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, engage in unhealthy behaviors such as experimenting with tobacco, drugs and alcohol, and have thoughts about suicide, according to the CDC. The mental and physical health consequences can extend into adulthood, and unhealthy relationships in adolescence also can create a cycle of abusive relationships.

The awareness month encourages Missourians to participate in appropriate activities and events to raise awareness of abuse in teen relationships. Missouri is one of several states that have adopted teen dating violence awareness weeks or months in an effort to draw the public's attention to a national campaign that promotes prevention, healthy relationships, and offers information and resources.

As always, it is a pleasure to serve you, and please contact my office if you need anything!
Sudan today vowed to enhance its bilateral relations with Washington despite US President Donald Trump banning the African country's citizens from entering the United States.

Citizens of Sudan, along with those from six other Muslim-majority countries, have been banned from entering the United States, although a US federal judge yesterday ordered a temporary nationwide halt to Trump's ban.

The ban on Sudanese travellers came just weeks after former US president Barack Obama lifted a 20-year-old US trade embargo imposed on Sudan.

Despite the travel ban, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour vowed that Khartoum will work towards enhancing bilateral ties with Washington.

"Sudan and the United States have many common goals, including fighting terrorism jointly in the region and internationally," Ghandour said in a message to new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a foreign ministry statement said.

"Such joint efforts led to the removal of US sanctions on Sudan," Ghandour said without specifically reacting to Trump's ban, but insisting that Khartoum was "committed to enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries".

Last week Trump barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan from entering the United States for 90 days.

Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

Yesterday, Seattle US District Judge James Robart ordered a temporary nationwide halt to Trump's ban on travellers from these countries.

On January 13, Obama announced the lifting of some economic sanctions imposed on Sudan two decades ago, in an attempt to improve ties with Khartoum.

Sudan has been subject to a US trade embargo since 1997 for its alleged support for Islamist groups. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was based in Khartoum from 1992 to 1996.

The United States has also blacklisted Sudan as an alleged state sponsor of terrorism since 1993.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A meeting convened by the state government to end the 25-day-long agitation of students in the Kerala Law Academy Law College here failed to arrive at an agreement following which the students resolved to intensify their stir.

Students stuck to their main demand of resignation of the Principal Lekshmi Nair for allegedly fudging attendance and internal marks, the management maintained that she had been kept away from the post for next five years.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, State Education Minister C Raveendranath said the government wanted the Academy management to appoint a new Principal. The management agreed for it. But students wanted the resignation of the present Principal, Raveendranath said.

He also denied the charge of students that minister had walked out of the meeting.

Raveendranath said he had appealed to students to end the strike and create an atmosphere for study.

However, agitating students alleged that the meeting was a farce and management had nothing new to offer other than what they said during a meeting with representatives of pro-CPI-M outfit SFI, which called off the agitation.

Meanwhile, joining the students agitation, Congress leader K Muraleedharan, MLA, and BJP State Secretary continued their fast stir in front of the Academy at nearby Peroorkada.

In a related development, BJP State President Kummanom Rajasekharan submitted a memorandum to Governor P Sathasivam seeking cancellation of affiliation of the Academy.

BJP asked Governor to give direction to Kerala University Syndicate to recommend to government to cancel the affiliation of the Academy.

Nepotism, mismanagement, harassment to students and misuse of power were some of the charges levelled by BJP against the Management.

Meanwhile, Congress leader and Opposition Leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala said it was "very unfortunate that the Minister had walked out of the meeting."



He wanted the government to take initiative to find a solution to the problems in the college.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) veteran and former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan maintained that the government should take back the land in the possession of Academy and used for purposes other than education.

The college is in the eye of a storm over alleged irregularities in providing internal marks and harassment of students by Lekshmi Nair, daughter of college Secretary N Narayanan Nair, a close relative of a former CPI(M) MLA.

Though the students belonging to ABVP, KSU and AISF had launched the strike demanding removal of Nair.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A local court today extended the police custody of Bhaben Saikia, arrested for the murder of Infosys employee Rasila Raju OP, till February 7.

Saikia, deployed as a security guard, allegedly strangled Rasila near her workstation on the ninth floor of Infosys building in Hinjawadi here on January 29 after she had reprimanded him for staring at her.

Saikia, who hails from Assam's Lakhimpur district, was produced in the Shivajinagar sessions court today.

Demanding his further police custody, public prosecutor D More said police wanted to verify the route he had taken to flee to Mumbai after committing the crime.

Police also wanted to probe whether any other person helped him commit the crime or to escape afterwards.

Saikia's lawyer Advocate Tausif Shaikh said there was no need for further custody as police had already recovered all the relevant evidence such as Rasila's access card and the clothes and shoes which the accused was wearing at the time of the alleged crime.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) A S Barulkar extended Saikia's police custody till February 7 after hearing the arguments.

Saikia was heard speaking to his lawyer in Marathi outside the court before the proceedings began. Asked how he could speak Marathi so well, he said he had heard about Raj Thackeray-led MNS's agitation against non-Marathi speaking migrants, and therefore the first thing he did after landing here to look for a job one year ago was to join a class to learn Marathi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of Europeans enraged by US President Donald Trump's immigration ban demonstrated today in cities across the continent, calling on Americans to "dump Trump" and vowing to fight his policies.

In London, an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader.

Brandishing placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "Socialism not Trumpism", the protesters moved from the US embassy toward May's Downing Street office.

In Paris and Berlin each, around a thousand people came out to protest, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities including Manchester and Birmingham.

Rallies were also held in Sweden's capital Stockholm and the Spanish city Barcelona, where some 300 people marched outside the Spanish consulate, according to media reports.

Earlier, protests on the days following the announcement of the ban had also drawn several thousand people across the globe, including in Australia, whose prime minister reportedly clashed with Trump in a phone call last week over US commitment to a refugee deal.

"We are here to say we don't accept hate," said 20-year-old American Michael Jacobs, co-organiser of the Paris rally, surrounded by signs saying "Refugees are welcome!"



In an executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- barring their entry to the US for 90 days.

Refugees were also barred from entry for 120 days, except those from Syria who were blocked indefinitely.

However, yesterday a judge lifted the ban, a move which Trump condemned and vowed to fight.

The White House argues the ban will make the country safer and efficient at preventing terror attacks.

A Justice Department attorney has said since Trump's order, about 100,000 visas have been revoked.

Protesters in London heard a video message from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who thanked them for "standing up for what is right" and said they showed solidarity with "our friends all over the USA who share our views and our values, who are standing with minority communities under attack".

The Guardian newspaper said around 10,000 people attended, while organisers claimed 40,000.

More than 1.8 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be afforded a formal state visit because it would embarrass Queen Elizabeth II.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actress Sapna Pabbi says film industry can be an extremely challenging place especially for newcomers.

The actress, who made her big screen debut in Vishesh Film's "Khamoshiyan", says one goes through a lot of emotions during their initial days in the industry.

"When you come to the industry, specially for a female, it's quite a whirlwind. Especially when things take off, you think 'I want to be a heroine, I am getting roles, my debut film is out, so I need to do a big banner project,'" Sapna told PTI.

"The pressure has always been there. I did get carried away with it at some point but now not really. I don't feel that is restricted to this profession. In every industry, when you are new, you do face these things," she added.

The actress is currently elated with the response to her Bindass' web series "The Trip". The show is a coming of age story of four girls who go on a road trip to Thailand for bachelorette as one of them is set to tie the knot.

While Sapna has already worked in the limited series format in Anil Kapoor's "24", she says working on "The Trip" was quite an experience.

"I didn't realise what was liberating until I started this show. The characters, my co-actors, the storyline that was a liberating experience. Medium may change but the process remains the same."



Sapna says the best part about working on the project was that everybody was confident and secure with their own part.

"We all came on board quickly, within two weeks we were on air. We all did it slightly on impulse. It worked because we were all very comfortable in what we were doing. Everybody was confident about their part.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump was to hold his first talks with Ukraine's leader today as a surge in fighting killed dozens refocusing world attention on the conflict in Europe's backyard.

The phone conversation comes as the death toll hit 35 following a week of clashes between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed insurgents in a level of bloodshed unseen in the eastern war zone since 2015.

The violence erupted as Trump seeks to build a friendship with Russia's Vladimir Putin with some analysts linking the escalation to the potential thaw in ties.

The scheduled call -- which will take place in the evening -- will see Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko seeking to win assurances of Washington's continued diplomatic and non-lethal military support.

It comes a week after the new US leader spoke to Putin.

Russia and Ukraine along with the rebels on Wednesday signed up to calls for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the flashpoint town Avdiivka by Sunday.

But the demand for the shooting to stop has not halted the violence and so far there has been little sign of the big guns being pulled back around the Kiev-held industrial town of 25,000 at the centre of the fighting.

AFP correspondents on site said the night and morning passed relatively calmly compared to previous ones.

But the Ukrainian army said one of its soldiers had been killed in the area.

"Tonight, we saw shelling on the outskirts of Avdiivka but there were no major attacks on the city itself," regional police spokeswoman Nataliya Shyman told AFP.

Most residents of this blue-collar town work in a major coke plant that has been heavily damaged by the shelling.

The town remained without electricity yesterday and with only sporadic power supplies to heat homes against the freezing winter temperatures and limited supplies of water.

The giant plant provides electricity for much of the region and has been the target of previous deadly rebel attacks.

Plant spokesman Dmytro Murashko told AFP that work brigades would try again Saturday to repair broken power lines after shelling halted their earlier efforts.

Yesterday was one of the bloodiest days with nine civilians killed -- two of them inside the town.

The call to withdraw heavy weapons was made under the coordination of mediators from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: A Village Administrative Officer allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a passenger train, with his family claiming that he did so due to pressure from officials to achieve the target to remove harmful 'Seemai Karuvelam' (prosopis) trees.

Police, quoting family members, said the VAO, Venkatesan (34) of Thalayamangalam village in the district jumped in front of the Thanjavur-Tiruchirapalli passenger train at nearby Rettipalayam last night.

He had reportedly been very stressed over the past five days as the district administration had fixed a target to remove Seemai karuvelam trees in his jurisdiction.

On December 20 2016, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court had directed 11 District Collectors under its jurisdiction to remove 'Seemai Karuvelam' (prosopis) trees and other harmful weeds which harm the ecosystem and file a compliance report by January 11.

The bench had given the direction on a petition by MDMK leader Vaiko.

His family members refused to receive his body, kept at Thanjavur Medical College hospital and staged a demonstration there, demanding that the administration take responsibility for his death and act against those who had 'pressurised' him.

The VAO Union also decided to go on an agitation this evening in front of Thanjavur railway station.

The Revenue Divisional Officer, Thanjavur and the Tahsildar rushed to the hospital and are in talks with the family to persuade them give up their demonstration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Yemeni tribesmen today killed 13 Al-Qaeda fighters who had slipped back into a southern town hours after pulling out in the face of street protests, a security official said.

The jihadists had reemerged during the night and sought to take control of public buildings in the Abyan province town of Loder, the official said.

They met with fierce resistance from armed residents and withdrew after gun battles lasting two hours.

Loder was one of three towns in Abyan province that Al-Qaeda fighters entered on Thursday. They withdrew from two of them yesterday in the face of warnings of resistance from local tribes.

Yemen's powerful and heavily armed tribes play a leading role in the country's politics and frequently determine local allegiances.

Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of nearly two years of fighting between government forces and Shiite rebels who control the capital Sanaa to entrench its presence in swathes of the south.

But its freedom to operate is constrained by the need to negotiate shifting tribal loyalties.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief executives of major US companies huddled with President at the White House on Friday and some of them expressed concern about a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries travelling to the United States.

Business leaders said afterward that the group, which included Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase & Co and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo Inc , discussed bank rules, tax reform, and objections to Trump's week-old ban.

Some companies are worried that the travel restrictions will impact their employees or create uncertainty that could rattle markets. Tech companies also have broader concerns about Trump's immigration policies because of the number of foreign workers they employ in the United States.

The US business community has been divided in their approach on taxes and immigration, and some leaders are wary of working with a president who uses his platform to attack companies that vex him, such as threatening penalties for manufacturing outside the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly delivered an update to the corporate leaders on the travel restrictions, which caused chaos at major US airports and are now facing court challenges.

"There was obviously concern by different people and explanations and that issue had to be covered and was covered," Blackstone Group Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman, who leads the advisory group, said on Fox Business.

Participants including Elon Musk of Tesla Inc had said before the meeting that they would raise concerns with Trump about the travel crackdown.

The meeting, which also included Mary Barra of General Motors Co and Jim McNerney, formerly of Boeing Co , convened a business advisory panel that Trump announced in December.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit the group under pressure from activists over the order. Musk defended his own decision to participate on Friday, saying that going to the meeting did not mean he agreed with Trump's actions.

The White House said in a statement on Thursday evening that did not mention Uber that Trump "understands the importance of an open dialogue with fellow business leaders to discuss how to best make our nation's stronger."

Executives from Ford Motor Co also criticized the ban, but others, including General Motors and JPMorgan Chase have not taken a position.



SPLIT ON TAX REFORM

Trump has also met with executives from the US pharmaceutical and auto industries as part of a push to step up US job creation.

Division in the corporate world is also developing over taxes. Boeing Co and General Electric Co on Thursday joined a group in support of a congressional plan to tax all imports. But that plan, which does not have universal support among Republicans, is opposed by many US retailers, which say it could raise prices for consumers.

"If you're a big US manufacturer and exporter, you love it. And if you're a retailer bringing a lot of your stuff in, it has ramifications for you," Jack Welch, the former GE chief executive, said on Fox Business after the meeting. "It's not a simple issue."

Republican leaders say tax reform is a top priority, but they have acknowledged it could take until the end of 2017 or longer to finish legislation.

"If I were a company, I'd be worried about tax reform," said Bernie Williams, chief investment officer at USAA Investment Solutions, in San Antonio.

The White House meeting with the group is also set to cover trade, regulatory relief and infrastructure.
Robert O Work, the veteran defence official retained as deputy secretary by President Trump, calls them his AI dudes. The breezy moniker belies their serious task: The dudes have been a kitchen cabinet of sorts, and have advised Work as he has sought to reshape warfare by bringing to the battlefield.
** Missouri 117th District House Representative Mike Henderson, R-Desloge, files his Capital Report at the end of each week during the state legislative session.

This year we have already passed a lobbyist gift ban and a statewide framework for Transportation Network Companies. I hope to continue with these reforms so Missouri can be an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.

In 1997 President Bill Clinton signed into law PL-105-85. It provided for the flying of the POW/MIA flag on 6 holidays. At that time the National League of POW/MIA wrote a paper strongly recommending that states fly the POW/MIA flag daily to demonstrate continuing commitment to the goal of the fullest possible accounting of all personnel not yet returned to American soil.

This week I officially filed HB 817. My bill specifies that all state properties that currently have a flagpole that can accommodate flying a POW/MIA flag shall then fly the POW/MIA flag.

If a state building does not possess a flag, local veteran organizations will help with donating a flag. It is my belief that we can never do too much to show our appreciation for the men and women who have served our country.

Also this week tort reform was passed through The House and is being sent to The Senate. By passing expert witness (HB153) and collateral source (HB95) we are making it easier to do business in Missouri.

HB95 applies to medical damages and allows a plaintiff to recover only the amount of money actually spent to satisfy plaintiffs medical bills. HB153 improves the expert witness standard during trial. Passing these bills will create a more balanced court system for Missouri Job creators.

Another big action taken by the House Republicans was passing HR 12, which urges the United State Senate to confirm Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA.

The out of control Federal Government is imposing too many regulations on Missourians and Mr. Pruitt will bring common sense solutions back to the EPA. He is committed to clean air and clean water, but will implement balanced policies that protect our economy.

Below are the links to the bills that I have either Sponsored or Co-Sponsored and for a short description of them follow the link week to week to check their progress.

House Bill 817  Relates to the display of the POW/MIA flag.

House Bill 129- Creates a sales tax exemption for delivery charges on tangible personal property

House Bill 136- Prohibits private land-use agreements from precluding amateur service communications

House Bill 207- Prohibits two-way telecommunications devices and their component parts in correctional centers and jails

House Bill 281- Authorizes St. Francois and Taney counties to enact nuisance abatement ordinances

House Bill 622- Creates provisions relating to electrical contractor certificates
A KARACHI-BASED heir of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, who was the ruler of one of the largest and richest princely states in pre-independent India, has approached the Pakistani government to seek a share in the Rs 2,934 crore that have been lying with a Londonbased bank for almost seven decades now.

Known as the Hyderabad fund, the amount has been the cause of one of the longest legal disputes between Indian and Pakistani governments in the British high court. The initial amount deposited in the Royal Bank of Scotland, then National Westminster Bank, was 1 million pound. It was reportedly transferred for Pakistan's aid. The amount has now ballooned to 35 million pound by accruing interest.

The descendant, M Alliuddin Khan, approached the ombudsman last week and said being a legal heir of the seventh Nizam, he deserved to get a share of the Hyderabad fund under the Sharia law. Alliuddin Khan's request came months after a court in UK dismissed India's claim that Pakistan had no right over the fund. India says the amount was deposited by a delegation of officials of Hyderabad three days after the state acceded to the Indian union on September 17, 1948, and hence, the money should belong to India.

An official of the Federal Ombudsman in Pakistan confirmed to Mail Today that application has been received and decision in this regards was likely to be taken in a month. The descendants have taken a more collaborative approach now and were demanding the full amount till a few months ago. They say that the money deposited in the London bank was Nizam's personal money and hence, it belongs to his descendants as per the principles of natural justice.

After the Nizam's death in 1967, his family had also attempted to get back the money through an out-ofcourt settlement but failed. Documents reveal that the transfer was made as Indian troops began their annexation of Hyderabad immediately after the death of founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The transfer was made by then Hyderabad finance minister Moeen Ali and his representative in London Mir Ali.

The case took ugly turn after a week when the seventh Nizam, Osman Ali Khan claimed the payment had been unauthorised and Pakistan had no right to the money. This prompted bank authorities to freeze the funds arguing it would hold onto them until the rightful claimant was established. The House of Lords in London in its judgement in 1957 had suggested an out-of-court settlement between Pakistan, the Nizam and the London bank. Khan said that India was nowhere in the picture then. But in 2013, Pakistan moved the London court and India was also forced to join the legal battle subsequently.
India's oldest 141 year old stock exchange made an impressive debut on the domestic bourse with its stock price opening at a 35 per cent premium to its offer price of Rs 806 per share.

Listed on its rival exchange NSE, the stock of BSE made an intra-day high of Rs 1,200 and an intra-day low of Rs 1,065.10, before closing at 1,070, up 32 per cent than its offer price.



The reason why BSE share did well on its debut, despite its existing investors sold at a loss was:

(a) Huge oversubscription for the issue saw interest for the issue even after listing

(b) BSE performance was to determine the future of CDSL and NSE so it had to list at a premium.



(c) The issue was priced lower than global peers for attracting institutional investors.



(d) A steady free cash flow generating company whose income is diversified through rentals.




Other News

Read more Mind the Gap  Keep People Inspired Event in November Category: Hotels|Tourism, Posted:22 Oct 2022 | 08:50 am Keep People Inspired (KPI) is the second in a series of Mind the Gap Learning events. The focus of the event is on inclusiveness in hospitality, spanning Phukets hotels, tourism and service industries. Inclusiveness is a key element of businesses that rely heavily on human resources and is in effect all about people, whether they []

Read more Japanese Luxury Brand Hoshinoya Heads To Niseko Category: Hotels|Real estate, Posted:14 Oct 2022 | 17:42 pm Leading Japanese hotel operator Hoshino has inked a deal for a luxury resort in Niseko with developer Zekkei Properties. Located in a prime ski-in and ski-out location in Upper Hirafu Village, the 62-unit hotel and residence property will be named Hoshinoya Lodge Niseko. With one of Hirafus best locations, the site was formerly occupied by []
Legendary luxury hotelier Adrian Zecha has stepped down from his role as Aman Resorts Chairman and CEO according to Hotels Magazine.

Controlling ownership of Aman shifted recently from India's DLF Group who divested their interest at a substantial loss to a group under Russian investor Vladislav Doronin.

Doronin has taken the role as Aman's CEO and the new Chairman is Johan Eliasch.

It's yet to be seen what other changes will take place at Aman, though industry speculation is high that a shift to a more commercial approach to their hotel portfolio will be necessary to reach their investor's financial objectives.

Zecha continues to be active behind the scenes in Singapore based management group GHM which has recently been on an expansion drive signing new contracts in a defined shift towards a more commoditized approach.

GHM has been driving their Chedi brand on a broader basis, not unlike the current Six Senses approach back of private equity firm Pegasus who are clearly looking to increase both management fee income and in turn financial returns.

For Aman, the question remains on what is largely premised as a real estate brand whether the absence of Zecha will affect the loyal Aman junkie customer base, or will be brand's journey to an economic model be manageable by new leadership.

Stay tuned.
Overwhelming evidence  photographs, an eyewitness account and several confirming statements of diplomats and observers, among them a Chinese official familiar with the matter  leaves virtually no doubt that Chinese troops have undertaken joint patrols with their Afghan (and possibly also Tajik) counterparts on Afghan soil in the Little Pamir, a high plateau near the Afghan-Chinese border. While the Chinese source insists that such joint border patrols were based on an agreement, and therefore legal, the Afghan government steadfastly denies the existence of such patrols.

Background: China has shown and continues to show an increasing interest in Afghanistan (albeit still low compared to the West and Afghanistans other neighbors). One specific focal point of China is the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan that shares a very short (76 kilometers) and remote border with the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. This interest stems from Chinese concerns about illicit cross-border movements, in particular of alleged Uyghur extremists affiliated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement  a group that is said to want to establish Islamic rule in Xinjiang, the homeland of the Uyghurs.

Accordingly, China has increased its involvement in this specific border region. On August 4, 2016, the inauguration of the so-called Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism stipulated a closer military co-operation between Afghanistan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan; in September 2016 China signed an agreement with Tajikistan, pledging the construction of eleven outposts of different sizes and a training center for (Tajik) border guards along the Afghan-Tajik border; and during five days in late October 2016 China and Tajikistan reportedly held counterterrorism exercises in the Tajik part of the Wakhan Corridor  a narrow stretch of Afghan territory, wedged in between Tajikistan and Pakistan with the short border with China at its very end.

On the other hand, while China did announce certain examples of its deepening involvement in Afghanistan  for example, the first delivery of Chinese military aid to Afghanistan on July 3, 2016  patrols with Chinese participation on Afghan soil in the Little Pamir were not publicly known until a media report broke the news on November 3, 2016. According to a Chinese official familiar with the issue, the report, which he termed misleading, resulted in the Afghan governments suspension of the joint patrols by the end of 2016. (A media report published on November 30, 2016, implied that a spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Defense had denied that such patrols were conducted; however, this was apparently a misinterpretation as the spokesman did not actually deny the patrols, but only said that reports in foreign media of Chinese military vehicles patrolling inside Afghanistan do not accord with the facts and added that law enforcement bodies from China and Afghanistan, in accordance with a bilateral cooperation decision on strengthening border law enforcement, arranged to have joint law enforcement operations in border regions).

In any event, it should be kept in mind that  given that the border patrols in the Little Pamir indeed included Chinese vehicles (as seen on photographs and confirmed by various sources)  such patrols must have been conducted via Tajikistan. This derives from the fact that the high plateau of the Little Pamir can only be reached by vehicle from Tajikistan, as mountains without roads block the access for vehicles from the Afghan and Chinese sides.

Implications: While the initial media report on patrols with Chinese vehicles on Afghan soil in the Little Pamir suggested that such an incursion might amount to a breach of international law, this is questionable.

The Chinese official familiar with the matter openly confirmed the existence of such patrols to this author several times. Something he would hardly have done if the patrols were not based on some kind of permission from the Afghan side. In this regard, he emphasized that the patrols were jointly conducted by Afghan, Tajik and Chinese forces based on a corresponding agreement between those nations, and were therefore legal. While the source could not produce the document referred to, as it is reportedly classified, he claimed that it is an accord between the border guard forces of the involved three countries that explicitly stipulates joint patrols. Such patrols had been conducted for around a year on a monthly, sometimes even weekly basis, until Afghanistan suspended them in late 2016, the source added. This was partly corroborated by an eyewitness account, stating that the patrols in the Little Pamir were conducted by Chinese and Afghan border guards (while there was no mention of Tajiks, it is possible that the eyewitness could discern the Chinese troops, but not differentiate between Afghan and Tajik border guards). The eyewitness report furthermore indicated that the Afghan Border Police stationed in the Little Pamir cooperated with Chinese troops, meaning that they apparently did not perceive the Chinese presence on Afghan territory as illegal.

Confronted with all the evidence, Sediq Sediqi, the spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs, which is also responsible for the Afghan Border Police, nevertheless insisted that no Chinese troops had ever patrolled on Afghan soil in the Little Pamir. Sediqi conceded that there is indeed a border cooperation agreement between Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China, but staunchly asserted that such an agreement does not provide any basis for joint border patrols. Equally peculiar, a well-placed Tajik source could not confirm such joint border patrols.

Given that neither Sediqi nor other Afghan authorities gave more information on this matter, but that the overwhelming evidence leaves virtually no doubt that patrols involving Chinese vehicles and troops were indeed conducted, one can only speculate about the reasons for the Afghan denial. One possibility could be that the central government in Kabul was not aware of what happened in the very remote Little Pamir or that certain Afghan officials (local, regional or national) knew about the patrols and maybe even gave permission to the Chinese side, but did not properly notify other responsible Afghan authorities. And in case there has been an agreement on such patrols, it cannot be ruled out that such an agreement was not correctly concluded. However, this cannot be assessed due to the lack of information.

In any event, while this curious episode of Chinese troops in the Little Pamir might have some ramifications on Afghan-Sino relations, Afghanistans interest in Chinese aid as well as Chinas focus on border security in the region will most likely limit its impact.

With respect to Chinese concerns about illicit cross-border activities on the Afghan-Chinese border, it should also be kept in mind that such concerns are highly exaggerated. The Afghan-Chinese border lies in extremely remote mountains and can only be crossed through two passes. However, both passes are located on altitudes of nearly 16,500 feet (5,000 meters) above the sea level and are hardly accessible  far away from any settlement with not even footpaths leading to them. Therefore, crossing the border illegally might be possible, but hardly usable as a corridor. Indirectly corroborating this, the Chinese source confirmed that the joint border patrols were conducted on the high plateau, far away from the actual border in the mountains, as those areas were simply too difficult to access.

Moreover, despite the frequent allegations that Uyghur extremists are present in Afghanistan, the Chinese government (as well as the Chinese source) has not presented even an estimated number of such Uyghurs, whereas various knowledgeable sources indicate that their presence in Afghanistan is likely insignificantly small. In addition, the same sources indicate that the Uyghur extremists that reside in Afghanistan probably migrated to the country a long time ago (most likely during the Taliban regime in the late 1990s), casting doubt both on their actual intention to return to China and, even if they would, their prospective influence and/or capabilities in Xinjiang.

Conclusions: Given all the evidence, there is virtually no doubt that border patrols with Chinese participation were conducted on Afghan soil in the Little Pamir, but have by now most likely been suspended. Nonetheless, the Afghan government steadfastly denies that such patrols have ever existed. In the absence of any apparent explanation for the Afghan governments stance, there can be no final conclusion. However, the circumstances imply that the Afghan government either does not know exactly what happens in the Little Pamir and/or that the procedure to establish such joint patrols was deeply flawed. Both options raise worrisome questions about the performance of the Afghan government.

Authors bio: Franz J. Marty is a freelance journalist, currently based in Afghanistan. He covers a broad range of topics, but focuses on security and military issues. He can be followed @franzjmarty on twitter.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons, accessed on February 3, 2017
** Missouri 3rd District State Senator Gary Romine, R-Ste. Genevieve, files his Capital Report at the end of each week during the state legislative session.

As many of you have undoubtedly heard, this fifth week of session got off to an interesting start. On Monday evening, a somewhat bizarre series of events unfolded as state senators took up a resolution to reject a recommended pay increase for ourselves and our fellow elected officials.

Every two years, the Missouri Citizens Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials is required by the Missouri Constitution to recommend pay for legislators, statewide elected officials and judges. Unless a two-thirds majority in both chambers adopt a resolution by Feb. 1 to reject the recommendation, it will automatically take effect July 1. This week, the Senate voted 25-2 to pass House Concurrent Resolution 4; it passed in the House by a vote of 154-5.

While I will not rehash the specifics of Monday evening, I do want to address one of the outcomes. With a projected revenue shortfall of about $450 million, Missouri is currently looking at a tough upcoming fiscal year. This is part of the reason state lawmakers feel it is an inappropriate time to increase our pay. Of course, the fact that Missouri state employees pay ranks lowest in the nation is another big reason we rejected an increase.

With three correctional facilities and the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center, the 3rd Senate District is home to the second largest population of state employees. Despite the physically and mentally demanding toll that comes with these jobs, as well as their inherent risks, our corrections employees and mental health workers are consistently underpaid. We must do better for all our state employees  most especially those who perform the work many others are unwilling to do. I want my constituents to know that I shared these concerns and frustrations in a one-on-one conversation with the governor on Monday evening. I look forward to continue working with my fellow lawmakers and the executive branch as we figure out a way to more fairly compensate the hardworking men and women of Missouri.

In other legislative news, on Tuesday, I presented Senate Bill 294 in committee. As I detailed several weeks ago, I filed SB 294 to rename the Jay Nixon State Park as Proffitt Mountain State Park, with any associated costs to be paid by the DNR. The Proffitt family came to the Ozarks in the early part of the 19th Century, and by the 1930s were settled in the Arcadia Valley region. The Proffitts were known as hardworking people and good neighbors. Today, many geological formations and areas in our region are named for this pioneering family.

Senate Bill 294 comes on the heels of a decision by the former governors administration to use funds from the ASARCO settlement to purchase land in Reynolds County for the new Jay Nixon State Park. That decision marks the second time the former governors administration subverted local, county and state officials by using ASARCO funds  meant for lead remediation efforts  to purchase land without making a good-faith effort to be open and transparent about their plans. To add insult to injury, the former governor has chosen to name the new state park after himself. I believe residents of the 3rd Senate District have a legitimate reason to be upset, and it is my hope SB 294 will make this frustrating situation more palatable.

Finally, I presented Senate Bill 293 in committee Wednesday. This measure modifies the $2 per ton fee that is paid to the Division of Fire Safety for the use of explosives under the Missouri Blasting Safety Act. The fee pays for the costs of administering the law and funds two full-time inspectors, who are responsible for investigating complaints of blasting activity. These individuals help ensure blasts meet statutory requirements and blasting safety standards, and they decide if a citation is warranted.

The state fire marshals office has done an excellent job making do with the original $2 fee for nearly 10 years, but that small amount is no longer enough to cover the costs of administering the law. Senate Bill 293 seeks to raise the fee ceiling to $7.50 so that the fire marshals office does not have to keep coming back to the Legislature, should they ever need to raise the fee again; one important note  my legislation includes a provision that prohibits the fee from yielding more revenue than what is required to administer the cost of the program.

Finally, I am pleased to say we have already had quite a few visitors from the 3rd Senate District stop by the office this session. They include Karen White, CFO of Missouri Highlands Health Care, and board members Lance Mayfield, Donald Black, John Brewer, Debbie Tarvin and Heather Ray; Herb Fallert and Eileen Bauman with Citizens Electric; Mineral Area College President Dr. Steve Kurtz; Jefferson College President Dr. Ray Cummiskey; Larry Burmeister of Festus; and Dee McCormack, Mike McCormack and Thomas Heady from Big River Telephone Company.

We were also happy to have Jacob Briley job shadowing the office this week. Jacob is a junior at West St. Francois County High School. He was in Jefferson City as part of the Missouri Family Career and Community Leaders of America legislative shadowing project. Students were able to tour the Capitol and Missouri Supreme Court. It was great having Jacob in the office, and we wish him continued success.

I always appreciate hearing your comments, opinions and concerns. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-4008. You may write me at Gary Romine, Missouri Senate, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101; or email me at gary.romine@senate.mo.gov
There's one fundamental difference between the new White House and the old when it comes to immigration: Barack Obama ordered his administration not to enforce a number of immigration laws. Donald Trump has ordered his administration to enforce them.

Trump's two immigration executive orders, issued last Wednesday, are long, far-reaching, and complicated. But perhaps the most consequential passage in the two combined orders is a single sentence: "The purpose of this order is to direct executive departments and agencies to employ all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States."

That is the heart of Trump's immigration strategy. "We do not need new laws," the president said at the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday. "We will work within the existing system and framework."

Trump's proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border dominated coverage of the two executive orders. But the orders do much, much more than that -- or at least they start the process of doing much, much more. For those who follow immigration closely, the Trump orders contain several critical provisions. Among them:

1) End "catch and release." In the Obama years, as thousands of people, mostly from Central America, crossed the Mexican border illegally -- and made no effort to escape apprehension, asking for a "permiso" to stay -- the border authorities would briefly detain them, give them a date to show up in court, and let them go. The practice was known as "catch and release."

It did not take a rocket scientist to predict that most, now safely inside the U.S., would not show up for court. With family units who arrived in that fashion, immigration court statistics gathered by the Center for Immigration Studies (a group which favors tighter immigration restrictions), reveal that 84 percent do not show up in court.

Under Trump's new directive, the Department of Homeland Security will now detain those illegal crossers and handle their cases on the spot. "The Secretary (of DHS) shall immediately take all appropriate actions to ensure the detention of aliens apprehended for violations of immigration law," the order on border enforcement says, "pending the outcome of their removal proceedings or their removal from the country to the extent permitted by law."

2) Put pressure on "sanctuary cities."

"Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States," the Trump order on interior enforcement says. The order would give the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to determine "that jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply with (federal law) are not eligible to receive federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the (DHS) Secretary."

Some leaders of sanctuary cities are already promising to fight the federal government. But some will likely yield to federal pressure -- a remarkable change from the Obama years.

3) Speed deportations. Both the Obama administration and now Trump said they want to remove illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes. But Obama waited until the immigrant in question had been convicted before even beginning what could be a lengthy removal process. The Trump interior enforcement order allows removal paperwork to begin at the time an illegal immigrant is charged, on the reasonable assumption that a person who is in the United States illegally to begin with, and is then charged with at least one additional crime, does not have a right to stay in the country indefinitely.

4) Follow the law in deporting "removable" illegal immigrants. "We cannot faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States if we exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," the order on interior enforcement says, referring to illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, and in some cases deported multiple times, only to return to commit more crimes and endanger local communities. "I hereby direct agencies to employ all lawful means to ensure the faithful execution of the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens."

5) Stop automatically allowing asylum seekers to stay while their cases are considered. Thousands of people come to U.S. ports of entry along the Mexican border from places like Haiti, India, China, and elsewhere -- all claiming asylum. The Obama administration allowed them to stay in the country while their cases were adjudicated. Many simply skipped out on the process and stayed permanently. The new executive order would require those asylum seekers to apply for asylum and then wait for a decision not in the U.S., but in Mexico or Canada. Then, if they are allowed in, they're in. But if asylum is not granted, they won't have been permitted to disappear into the United States.

6) Inform the public. In the Obama years it was sometimes hard to find good statistics about illegal immigrants who were accused of crimes. Trump seeks to change that. From the interior enforcement order: "To promote the transparency and situational awareness of criminal aliens in the United States, the Secretary (of DHS) and the Attorney General are hereby directed to collect relevant data and provide quarterly reports on the following: (a) the immigration status of all aliens incarcerated under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of Prisons; (b) the immigration status of all aliens incarcerated as federal pretrial detainees under the supervision of the United States Marshals Service; and (c) the immigration status of all convicted aliens incarcerated in state prisons and local detention centers throughout the United States."

The new statistics could give researchers, and the general public, a much better idea of the extent of crimes involving suspects in the country illegally.

Trump's orders stop short of measures that would require the approval of Congress, such as resetting the numbers of immigrants allowed to enter the country each year. But they still go a long way. And the early response among Republicans on Capitol Hill was encouraging for the new administration.

Trump will undoubtedly have proposals for Congress on immigration. But his two executive orders go a long way toward undoing the practices that Barack Obama unilaterally set in place. If Trump makes sure his orders are enforced, he will have kept a major promise to those who elected him.

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.
AFU Stephen of PEATTU -Image Equinoxe Television Capture d'ecran

Four out of the Six Teachers Trade Unions have Suspended the Strike initiated by teachers teaching in English sub system of Education on November 21, 2017.

In a Communique signed Friday February 3, 2017 and made Saturday February 4, 2017 after a meeting with North West Governor , Adolphe LELE LAFRIQUE, the teachers called on school resumption Monday.

Speaking to a Douala based media, Equinoxe Radio shortly after the meeting, AFU Stephen President of the Presbyterian Education Authority Teachers Trade Union; PEATTU said it was necessary for the decision because children have been home doing nothing with some becoming thieves and smoking banned products. He added that some of the schools have suffered great loss especially confessional schools that have to pay their teachers through school fees.

HE said the suspension could force Tassang Wilfred who is in hiding to come out and join them look for a way forward.

Asked about the leaders detained, AFU Stephen said it is also their wish that they are released soonest.

The signatories are:

AFU STEPHEN , National President of Presbyterian Education Authority Teachers Trade Union, PEATTU.

SEMA VALENTINE newly designated spokesman of CATTU, Cameroon Teachers Trade Union and temporary replacing Wilfred Tassang who is in hiding.

TAME VALENTINE, National President of Teachers Association of Cameroon , TAC.

AYEAH EMMANUELA of Baptist Teachers Trade Union of Cameroon, BATTUC

Those who did not sign:

National Higher Education Teachers Trade Union, SYNES UB and UBa.

CEWOTU that is Catholic Education Workers Trade Union which has been transformed to CETTU, Catholic Education Teachers Trade Union.

This call for school resumption comes one week before celebration of 11 February which is Youth Day in Cameroon. It also comes on the wake of calls for boycott of the event.
PCC Moderator Remaining Firm On His Stance Wilson MUSA

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC, Rt. Rev. Samuel Fonki Forba has however appealed on the Government to release all Anglophone leaders of the Outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC and the possible resumption of Classes in the two English Speaking Regions of the country.

The Post Weekender reports that Rt. Rev Samuel Fonki was speaking at a Press Conference held in Bamenda, North West region after the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees Meeting of the PCC.

The Newspaper further reveals that the Moderator and 13 other Executives signed a two-page Press Statement proposing that Amnesty be given to all those who were arrested and detained in the wake of crisis rocking the two regions.

The PCC Moderator is quoted as saying, We want those arrested because of their political ideologies and those detained because of crimes committed within the period to be tried in the regions where they were arrested so that their rights to be cared for by family members and friends would be guaranteed.

The PCC Moderator and his Executives also called on the State to end all arbitrary arrest and detention of persons from the two English Speaking regions.

They also suggested that the Government should comply with the decisions arrived at with Teachers during the Bamenda meeting of January to enable resumption of classes.

On the issue of suspension of the strike, the Moderator said, I never initiated a strike action in the first place and I would not be the one to call it off. I am simply appealing on Stakeholders to do so. If Government schools are unable to resume classes, I dont see how PCC schools can do so in isolation.
| BY Lynchy |

Columbus, Dentsu Aegis Networks leading performance and experience agency, has launched in Perth and appointed Stuart Davies (pictured) as a group business director.

The launch follows significant new client wins across the group totalling $35 million including Cash Converters most recently in December, and the growing demand for Columbus services in the market.

Davies comes to Columbus with a wealth of experience in search and performance marketing, having previously worked for some of Perths top digital agencies and clients. Most recently, he was Digital Director at OMD, developing their digital, search and performance marketing capabilities across high-profile clients such as WA Government, ABN Property Group and Curtin University. Prior to this, Davies worked at Search and Web Design agency Glide, following six years with Telecommunications innovator iiNet.

Reporting to Columbus WA & VIC General Manager Graham Wilkinson, Davies will manage an established and growing team of Performance and Experience specialists, to drive the growth and reputation of Columbus in Perth. Stuart will be working closely with fellow Dentsu Aegis Network agencies Carat and Dentsu Mitchell to leverage existing relationships with clients.

Wilkinson said: We are excited to have Stuart on board leading our Columbus Perth team. Stuart has a strong background in Performance marketing and is perfectly positioned to lead our clients and future growth in what is a very important market for Columbus.

Rebecca Tos, CEO of Columbus, said: Stuart is exceptional talent to extend and lead our offering in Perth. Columbus continues to expand and grow more than double that of our peer set due to the value we consistently deliver for our clients. Were excited to have Stuart embed our brand, culture and delivery for clients in the WA market.

Speaking of his appointment, Davies said: Columbus is a pioneer of the Performance and Experience space throughout the Australian market and I am looking forward to extending its diverse, progressive product offering to meet the challenges of the WA market.
The $38.8 million proposed move would house the centre in a building at the business park with multiple levels of security clearance access, allow for public meetings in some spaces and give the agency room to grow to a workforce of about 650.
"It's clear that while a strong level of funding to schools matters, and we have that, what we do with that funding matters even more."
"The idea [for the walk] originated last year when my son asked 'what could be done about the asylum seekers' and I replied with nothing, and the look that he gave me was sobering to say the least," Mr Richards said.
"It's really quite important to understand the habitats which they're from, as well as how they're kept in different environments, like zoo environments, and bringing that experience back to the Fijians here at the National Zoo and Aquarium," she said.
When she moved from Bonner to Lyneham a year ago, she was told that although she was moving out of the coverage zone for Gungahlin Mental Health Team, an exception would be made and she could continue with her current psychiatrists.
"That cultural difference between the parents and the kids is always something that's going to happen, but I'm someone who people that are younger than me can look to and see that I have the same culture as them."
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
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
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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...
Political prisoner, activist, journalist, hymn-writer, emerging think tanker, aspiring novelist, "tribal elder", parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, Shadow Leader of the Opposition, Speedboat, proudly banned from Twitter so officially more dangerous than the Taliban, eagerly awaiting the second (or possibly third) attempt to murder me.
Seat have been weighing in on the introduction of their first EV, and it seems that theyre reached a decision.



Speaking to the companys Research and Development chief, Matthias Rabe, AutoExpress explains that the Mii is likely to be the Spanish automakers first-ever electric vehicle.

However, instead of using the Volkswagen Groups new MEB platform, the city car will actually put the same basic technology found on its German twin, the VW e-Up!. It uses an 82 PS (81 HP) and 210 Nm (154 lb-ft) of torque electric motor, fed by an 18.7 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that is integrated into the floor and allows for a total driving range of up to 160 km (100 miles), between charges.

Prices for the zero-emission e-Up! start from 25,280 GBP in the United Kingdom, so expect the similar Seat Mii to cost slightly less.

Believed to launch in 2019, the Seat Mii EV will be followed by another electric vehicle, which is expected to be underpinned by the MEB architecture. We have to take advantage of the investment the VW Group is making on the battery electric platform. Its a huge opportunity  you dont have to start from scratch, Matthias Rabe added.

Besides these two green cars, Seats officials are also looking into the possibility of launching a plug-in hybrid version of the Leon. However, recent reports talk about an EV variant of the compact car as well, so it remains to be seen what route the Leon will follow.

Note: Seat Mii by Mango pictured

PHOTO GALLERY
This shocking footage shows a car launching itself off an exit ramp just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  and ironically, landing straight in the parking lot of an auto repair shop.



Whats even more ironic (scary too) is that this wasnt the first accident of its kind to take place at that exact location. In fact, according to CBS Pittsburgh, the repair shop owner said its the eighth time this has happened in roughly nine years.

Weve had cars flip over, catch on fire. Hit the building, time and time again, said business owner Donald Snyder. You know, coming down 376 and when youre in the right hand lane to exit  thats a long run. I think people, they are not prepared to make that sharp turn. Also, I think people become distracted. This fellow, he didnt even hit his brakes, he just kept going straight without turning.

Thankfully, this driver wasnt hurt (nor was he cited by the police), despite the rough landing  so unless any airbags were deployed, his seatbelt must have done all the hard work.

Snyder also says that he has indeed spoken to PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transport) about this incident, which took place on Monday, but also about other possible crashes in the future.

You know, PennDOT in the past has put those yellow signs up with arrows to direct the traffic and the accidents that occurred knocked them all down, added the repair shop owner.

Maybe speed bumps positioned just ahead of that exit ramp could help solve this problem.

VIDEO
Toyota wants to give you a helping hand in teaching you how to make your other half happy.



Obviously targeting young male drivers, Toyotas four-step solution starts by proposing to send your girlfriend for a day at the spa. Step 2 includes taking the two-door on a tire-shredding adventure through some twisty roads, while step 3 invites you to go deeper and deeper.

Thats Toyotas way of promoting the new 86, which came last year to replace the FR-S after Scion was axed, and its the latest in a string of commercials that unite under the tagline, The 2017 Toyota 86. Its not for everyone, is it for you?

If these spots have convinced you into checking out the 86, know that it carries an MSRP of $26,255 when equipped with the 6-speed manual gearbox, while the 6-speed automatic can be had from $26,975. The 86 maintains the FR-S 2.0-liter flat-four engine, which produces 205 horsepower and 156 lb-ft (212 Nm) of torque in the manual, and 200 HP in the automatic model.

VIDEOS
Photo: Big White Ski Resort

Big White Ski Resort is trying a second time to break a wintery world record.

Saturday morning, the resort is participating in a nationwide attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most snow angels being made at one time.

At 10 a.m., participants at ski hills across Canada will join in and attempt to break the record of 15,851 snow angels. At Big White, the angel-makers will gather in Telus Park.

Canadian Ski Patrol Day is hosting the event. Be there at 9:45 a.m. to join in.

The event is free and open to everyone. For more information or to join the Facebook page visit this link.

Last year, Big White had 300 snow-loving participants give it their all.
Photo: Contributed

This is the 14th in a series recognizing businesses that took home awards from the 29th business excellence awards held by the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce.

An organization that has worked diligently to promote tourism in Penticton was recognized by the chamber of commerce in October of 2016.

Tourism Penticton was the recipient of the Excellence in Marketing Innovation Award.

The year also brought big changes for the group, with it merging with the Penticton Hospitality Association to become the new Travel Penticton Society.

They officially became one society in January.

Their goals are similar to what they have been doing previously, which is to promote Penticton and the region to visitors and attract more tourists to come to the area throughout the year.

"We are looking to expanding our seasonality and working with our accommodators and stakeholders to grow our tourism experiences," said Barb Haynes, co-chair of the society.

Travel Penticton also has a new executive director Thom Tischik.

This followed a months-long search for the top spot, following the Tourism Penticton and Penticton Hospitality Association merger

Tischik comes from the Revelstoke Accommodation Association and Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce, where he served in key positions.

He started in early January.
Photo: MTBco

A popular network of mountain bike trails in the Upper Mission has been officially legalized, after a local mountain biking club completed a long-awaited partnership with the province.

The Gillard trail network, accessed off the Gillard Forest Service Road, has been used by mountain bikers for over 20 years, but the trails, built on Crown land, have always been technically illegal.

In 2014, trespassing notices from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations appeared on the mountain bike structures on the Gillard trails.

When that happened, we were ready to go on a legalization application, Jay Darby, president of the Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan said. We filed an application in fall of 2014, and then it's a long process.

Last week, Darby, announced the club had reached a formal partnership agreement with Recreation Sites and Trails BC, a department of the provincial government.

The trail network is one of several that have been built and maintained by generations of riders around the Okanagan, but Darby says the Gillard trails are the first in Kelowna on Crown Land to be made legal.

Darby says the partnership with the government allows the club to manage the trails.

The trails have to be built to a certain standard and maintained to that standard, he said. There are safety standards, signage, trail routing and that kind of thing for the structured features on the trail. We have to bring that up to acceptable standards.

Once the club brings the trails up to that standard, they have more long-term goals in mind, like creating a track for riders to climb uphill, rather than climbing on the well-used forest service road, and building more beginner trails.

They also plan to build a proper parking lot for riders.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit says the city is willing to work with people who have difficulty paying their electricity bills this winter.

Residents have taken to Facebook en masse complaining about electricity bills mailed out this week, pointing to hardships a 50 per cent increase can create for low income families.

"The city understands that a sharp increase in your electric bill can be a hardship and we encourage you to call our utilities department at 250-490-2489 if you are having trouble paying your bill," he said.

Jakubeit reiterated Friday that the reason for the high bills is temperatures in many parts of BC have been much colder than usual since early December and this has increased electricity consumption.

Peak electricity use in Penticton for January was 40 per cent higher than the peak in November according to data from Fortisbc.

The mayor added that even with a gas furnace, electricity is needed to run the fan to push the heat through the house.

Environment Canada says January was about four degrees colder than usual, with Jakubeit pointing to the fact that residents could skate on our lakes as a reminder that this has been an unusually cold winter.

The number of days in the billing period also fluctuates and can vary by several days from one bill to the next.
Photo: Google maps

Castanet is receiving unconfirmed reports of a barn fire in Winfield on Reiswig Road in Lake Country. The barn was said to have caught fire around 6:40 p.m.

Castanet will have updates as they become available.
Photo: Contributed

UPDATE: 11:15 p.m.

DriveBC reports Highway 33 is now reopened north of Rock Creek.

ORIGINAL: 9:20 p.m.

The snow seems to be the cause for numerous accidents around the Okanagan tonight.

A major accident was reported on Highway 97 between Penticton and Trout Creek, at least a four-car crash.

One car is reported to be in the ditch. Five police cars, an ambulance and fire rescue are reported on scene.

Unconfirmed reports say a vehicle rollover occurred on Westside Road, near Fintry, just before 8 p.m. Reports say the vehicle went down the bank 60 feet, by the water.

Another report came in at 8:20 p.m. that an accident occurred at Harvey and Spall in Kelowna, by the Chevron.

DriveBC reports that Highway 33 southbound is closed 85 kilometres north of Rock Creek because of vehicle incident. No detour is available at this time. It is unclear when the route will reopen.

While closed earlier due to a vehicle incident, DriveBC is reporting that Highway 5 southbound has reopened at Exit 217, Zopkios.
Photo: Contributed

Rebels in eastern Ukraine say one of their top commanders was killed when his automobile exploded.

The rebels' Lugansk Information Center reported that Lugansk People's Militia commander Oleg Anashchenko died early Saturday. The report says a second, unidentified person in the car also was killed in the explosion in Lugansk city.

Militia spokesman Andrei Marochko accused Ukrainian special services of causing the explosion.

Lugansk is one of two Ukrainian republics where separatist rebels have been fighting government forces since April 2014 in a war that has killed more than 9800 people.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine sharply escalated this week. The Ukrainian command said Saturday that three of its soldiers were killed in the past day.
Photo: Contributed

Iran's missiles will come down on the country's enemies if they do wrong, a senior commander in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying in a Saturday report from semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the Guard's airspace division, said: "If the enemy does not walk the line, our missiles come down on them."

Hajizadeh's comments came during a Revolutionary Guard military exercise aimed at testing its missile and radar systems. The exercise was taking place in a 35,000-square-kilometre (13,515-square-mile) area in Semnan province in northern Iran.

The exercise comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Iran in response to a recent missile test. The sanctions target more than two dozen people and companies from the Persian Gulf to China.

Tasnim said all the equipment used in the war game, including all defensive systems, radars, command centres and ground-to-air missile equipment, are designed and manufactured by Iranian scientists.

Iranian English language Press TV reported that Iran Senior Vice-President Ishaq Jahangiri dismissed what he called recent anti-Iran posturing by the U.S. He said "threadbare" accusations are aimed by Washington at scaring away investors.

"The Iranian nation and authorities do not attach the least value to these remarks," he said.

Iran insists its missile test was only for defensive purposes and not a violation of the U.N. Security Council 2231 resolution or the nuclear deal with Western powers.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that his country was "unmoved by threats as we derive security for our people. We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence."
Photo: CTV

President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at "this so-called judge" who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S. to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ruling set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judge's ruling late Friday, but that didn't appear to be enough for Trump, who vented his frustrations on Twitter.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said.

Trump has said the travel ban, which he enacted by executive order on Jan. 27, will keep Americans safe by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

He also said Saturday on Twitter that "when a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!"

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled late Friday against government lawyers' claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Trump's order. Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travellers were detained.

More protests were planned for this weekend, including near Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Munther Alaskry first bonded with American Marines over a shared love of Metallica. He later cleared roads of bombs for U.S. troops and translated for them, helping the military navigate his war-torn country.

The 37-year-old Iraqi engineer spent nearly a decade working for the U.S. government in his home country and received death threats for doing so.

On Friday, a bespectacled Alaskry, his wife and children stepped onto American soil to begin new lives. His arrival ended an anxiety-filled week in which he was initially banned from the United States because of President Donald Trump's immigration order.

His life, he said, had suddenly turned into a feel-good film.

"I don't believe this is real," he said. "We always watch American movies, and this is just like my life is in one now. I'm speechless."

Alaskry waited seven years for a special visa to the United States. But the last week seemed the longest: He and his family were booted off the final leg of their U.S.-bound flight only hours after Trump's Jan. 27 executive order halted travel from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries to the United States for 90 days.

His wife was shaking as she was escorted off the plane in Turkey. Their children were crying.

When they returned to Baghdad, the ordeal kept him up at night. Alaskry thought their hopes of living free from death threats had been shattered. Then the U.S. Embassy called and told Alaskry he would be welcome.

After arriving in New York at last, the family filled out paperwork for five hours. Alaskry said he felt like emotionally he had gone between "hell and heaven."

Less than a week ago, he struggled to console his seven-year-old daughter, who had asked him through tears "Why the Americans don't want us?"

Alaskry was among nearly a dozen Iraqi interpreters who told The Associated Press they were taken off planes or were told their flights were cancelled after Trump's order, which also banned refugees from Syria indefinitely.

The ban outraged combat veterans who credited the Iraqis with saving their lives. The Pentagon recommended that Iraqis who had supported the U.S. mission be let in.
Photo: Oliver Daily News

Two South Okanagan fire departments were called out to a structure fire early Saturday morning.

Rob Graham, spokesman for the Oliver Fire Department, said they sent a water tender down to assist Osoyoos firefighters at about 5:15 a.m.

The structure in the vicinity of Road 22, between the two departments coverage area, was believed to be some sort of farm house.

Castanet will provide more details as they become available.
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.
AT THIS time of year pack ice grinds the beaches of northern Japan, but in the Ryukyu Islands in the south farmers are cutting sugar cane. The Japanese archipelago spans an immense distance: from Cape Soya in northern Hokkaido a smudge on the horizon reveals Sakhalin in Russias Far East. From the tiny island of Yonaguni, last in the Ryukyu chain, you can sometimes make out the mountains of eastern Taiwan.



Over lunar new year the Ryukyu Islands, which together make up Okinawa prefecture, were heaving with holidaymakers. Okinawa has a growing reputation as an island paradise for all tastes. Package tours poured families from mainland China into the airport at Naha, the capital, for winter sun, duty-free malls and hearty stir friesspam is a speciality. Some 400km farther south, a cruise ship nosed between coral reefs into the main port of Ishigaki island and disgorged Taiwanese tourists in search of the local black pearls. A few adventurers even made it to Yonaguni, where they dived among the hammerhead sharks or stood on the quay in Kubura to watch the fishermen bring in their daily haul of swordfish. The island lies in the middle of the life-giving Kuroshio current, the western Pacifics Gulf Stream.

Among security types, Okinawa is known as a garrison island. The roar of F-15s is certainly a feature of life in Naha, but most visitors get little hint of the military presence. The sense of peace is not a figment of tourist brochures. Pacifism is hard-baked into Okinawans sense of themselves. Masahide Ota, a former governor, once said the main features of the Ryukyu kingdom, which was independent until Japan annexed it in 1879, were a devotion to peace and an absence of weapons. Okinawans love to mention Basil Hall, a naval captain who visited in 1816 and marvelled at the kingdoms mildness, decorum and seeming lack of weapons. Hall later called on Napoleon Bonaparte in St Helena and perplexed the exiled emperor with tales of the Ryukyus. But without arms, how do they fight? Napoleon exclaimed.

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In truth, there were arms. But squeezed between bigger neighbours, China and Japan, it suited the Ryukyuans to promote a sense of Confucian virtue. And peace is a fragile thing, even today. Just as Hokkaido once lived on a cold-war tripwire, facing the Soviet Union, so the Ryukyu Islands are caught up in East Asias 21st-century geopolitics. Yonaguni is little more than 100km from Taiwan, and it is hard to imagine how conflict between China and America over that country would not draw in Japan. Yonaguni is also the closest inhabited Japanese island to the Senkaku islets, which, with growing ferocity, China claims (and calls Diaoyu). On a hill behind Kubura a chain-link fence and CCTV are going up around a new base for 160 troops from Japans Self-Defence Forces. The base is to conduct surveillance of the surrounding seas and skies. Yonaguni has become the new tripwire.

The base was controversial among the 1,500 islanders, over two-fifths of whom voted against it. Even those in favour blame Japanese right-wingers, especially a former Tokyo governor, Shintaro Ishihara, for inflaming the Senkaku dispute. In the end, strong-arming by the central government and a promise of economic benefits from the base won the day.

More bases are planned for the southern Ryukyus. A heliport is mooted for the more populous Ishigaki, from which the Senkakus are administered. All the cement and barbed wire may even help to convince the sceptical Donald Trump that Japan is pulling its weight in its alliance with America. Shinzo Abe, the hawkish prime minister, needs little encouragement.

Few people in Okinawa think open hostilities with China are imminent, or perhaps even likely. But many resent the way geopolitical tensions and a hawkish government are spreading the curse of military encampments: previously, the southern Ryukyus had but one small radar base.

That stands in contrast to the northern end of the chain. Okinawa, with 0.6% of Japans land area, plays host to three-fifths of all Americas facilities in Japan and half of the 53,000-odd American troops. Nearly a fifth of the main island is given over to American bases. For 70 years, Okinawa has been the fulcrum of Americas military presence in Asia.

The Americans first came in the 1850s, with gunboats opening the Ryukyus as well as Japan to trade. They reappeared at the end of the second world war, fighting their way towards Japan proper. The Japanese authorities, who before the war had tried to snuff out the local culture and language, mounted a furious defence in Okinawa to save the home islands. Roughly a quarter of Okinawans died, caught in the brutal fighting. The survivors emerged to find Americans their masters. America then fostered not just a taste for spam, but also a distinct local identity, hoping to dampen Okinawans desire to rejoin Japan. When Okinawa did revert in 1972, the bases stayed. The resentment feeds an Okinawan sense of separateness, and even a tiny independence movement.

Spam today, spam tomorrow

In elections, Okinawans vote overwhelmingly for candidates opposed to the American bases and to the noise, accidents and crime associated with them. This week the governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, flew to Washington to convince the Trump administration not to carry on with the construction of a hugely unpopular new base for American marines. Yet the American defence secretary, James Mattis, was also on his way to Japan, reportedly to emphasise the firmness of the alliance and the need for Japan and America to work together.

In Tokyo Mr Abes allies speak witheringly of Okinawans, but shy away from suggesting bigger bases in the heartland. Okinawa considers itself doubly colonised, by both Japan and America. Sadly, with regional tensions only likely to rise, its continued subjugation seems assured. And the curious mix of tourist paradise and bristling fortification will grow ever more jarring.
Marion County Sheriff's deputies on Thursday arrested Rohan Cordy, 28, for first-degree sodomy, first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, third-degree sexual abuse, supplying alcohol to a minor and using a child in display of sexually explicit content.

Cordy, a second-grade teacher at Holley Elementary School in Sweet Home, is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage minor at a YMCA summer camp at Silver Falls State Park between the months of June and August of 2016. Cordy had been working there as a camp counselor.

The sheriff's office has no information that there are any additional victims outside of the YMCA camp.

Cordy was hired December 2016 at Holley and has been employed a little more than two months.

The Sweet Home School District issued a statement Friday saying Cordy has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

"The alleged incident did not occur during Mr. Cordys employment in our district and did not involve any Sweet Home students," Superintendent Tom Yahraes wrote. "A retired Sweet Home elementary teacher has agreed to lead Holleys second-grade class."

The office is asking anyone with information regarding Cordy to please call Detective Matt Hagan at 503-316-6605.
LEBANON  A community resource room at Green Acres Elementary School is stocked with food, personal hygiene supplies and clothing for all ages, thanks to weeks of work by the school's student council.

A classroom in another part of the school had a few shelves available last year for clothing and canned food for anyone in need, but it didn't offer much space or a private place for families to browse, Principal Amanda Plummer said.

This year, the school district shifted an early intervention program from Green Acres to Cascades Elementary School. That left an open classroom, which is split between the school's new music program  the first in many years, Plummer said  and a full-fledged community pantry.

"We just modified it and put cabinets in and made it more organized," Plummer said.

Then came the job of making sure it was filled with items people might need. That's where the student council came in.

A group of fifth-graders spent the weeks before Christmas break visiting classrooms and urging students and teachers to donate, then making the rounds to collect those donations and organize them in the resource room.

"When we first got here, there was a bunch of food here and a bunch of clothes," Abe Souza, 11, explained.

"We organized it and put it in different piles," added Kadin Tiffee, 11.

The students used parts of their P.E. and music classes, and occasionally even recess, to get the job done, said Hailey Foss, 10.

Said Justin Gatliff, 10: "It was real hard work  lots of folding, organizing."

Now, however, neighbors and families connected with the school can come in before or after school or by appointment to browse fully-stocked shelves.

Chanise Mendoza, 11, listed some of what's available: "Sweaters, pants, shirts, baby clothes, food."

The others joined the chorus: "Stuffed animals. Shoes. Lotion. Toothpaste."

One closet shelf holds backpacks, coloring books, blankets and toys. Cubbies contain hats, gloves and even a selection of purses.

Staff members have already taken advantage of the room's offerings, bringing needed items to neighbors, Plummer said.

Donations are welcome, she said. And students said they stand ready to restock if another food and clothing drive is necessary.

Said Aqnna Shevel, 10: "It was important to do, because some kids and families need help, and some of them don't have enough money to get help."
More than 50 people braved a chilly downpour on Friday to demonstrate in support of refugees and immigrants  and to protest recent actions taken by President Donald Trump.

The hour-long event took place along the 600 block of Lyon Street S.E., and numerous motorists honked their horns in approval.

Its nice to have the solidarity and show of support in the community, said Iris Carrasco of Albany, who held up a sign that said, Build Bridges Not Walls.

I believe refugees make our country stronger, said Pearl Arck of Albany, who held up a sign that read No Ban, No Wall.

Arck is originally from England, and her friend Ashley Planalp held up a sign declaring that My Best Friend Is An Immigrant.

I think the executive orders that Donald Trump put forth are very un-American. We should welcome immigrants and especially refugees, Planalp said.

We have friends who are immigrants, people who came here in search of a better life, she added.

The demonstration was sponsored by C.A.R.E. (Community Action for Racial Equity), Albany Peace Seekers and the Linn County Democrats.
Heart patients Nettie Chaney and Thomas Gnadt discuss their experience using the NuPulseCV iVas circulatory assist device while they both wait for heart transplants at the University of Chicago Medical Center. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune) (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Rob Gentile was dead for more than three minutes. At least, that's what he was told. He doesn't remember anything about the night he had a massive heart attack.

Gentile, 57, slipped into a coma for four days after being resuscitated. He does remember waking up in the hospital last year and being told his heart was failing. After months of cardiac rehabilitation and medication, he realized that he only had two options: stay hooked up to a machine or get a new heart. He chose a transplant.

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After being placed on the transplant list, Gentile's failing heart needed help pumping blood to the rest of his body. With any other doctor, he would have undergone open-heart surgery to get a device that also could weaken his body and potentially make him unable to have a heart transplant. But his doctor had other ideas.

Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam, professor and chief of cardiac and thoracic surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine, proposed that Gentile become a test subject for a new device he was testing at the hospital called the NuPulseCV iVAS. Currently the size of a lunchbox, it would keep his heart pumping, without open-heart surgery, until he got a new one.

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The only downside was that it was in its first phase of human testing and had only been tested on pigs, cows and one human. Gentile was told to think about it and was handed a document the size of a phone book containing the risks, benefits and procedure.

"I thought I was going to die anyway," Gentile said. "I looked at it and all the risks and benefits, and I decided to do it. ... It was the best move I ever made in my life."

About 5.7 million adults in the United States have heart failure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Each year, about 100,000 people nationally are diagnosed with advanced heart failure and require some sort of mechanical support, a September news release from the University of Chicago Medicine says. The hospital did 36 heart transplants last year, Jeevanandam said.

Dr. Douglas Mann, a cardiovascular expert and the chairman and chief of the cardiovascular division at Washington University in St. Louis, said he doesn't believe the new device will replace current technologies but thinks it will be another option that will give doctors flexibility in how they support their patients.

"With the spectrum of devices, the nice thing about this technology is the patient can go home with it," Mann said. "I think this is a step forward. It will require larger-scale trials to see the durability of it, but I think it's a really innovative and encouraging technology, and it would be great if the safety profile of this is acceptable."

The device must successfully complete three phases of human testing before it goes through a Food and Drug Administration process that evaluates safety and effectiveness. Currently in phase two of testing, it could hit the market in 2019 if it passes each level.

Right now, the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, is used as a longer-term solution for patients who may stay on the device for the rest of their lives. This procedure requires the chest cavity to be opened so a mechanical pump can be installed. The LVAD is worn like a backpack, and the tubes must be kept clean to avoid infection.

"This makes it difficult to do transplants because you have to go into the chest twice," Mann said. "(The iVas) has the potential to provide temporary mechanical support to a group of people who might have no other option than an LVAD."

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In an emergency situation, the intra-aortic balloon pump is a short-term solution to stabilize the patient. It is inserted through the groin and requires the patient to stay at the hospital hooked up to a garbage can-sized helium pump console. The device is usually removed after 48 hours and serves as a bridge to recovery, transplant or an LVAD.

The new device, which goes under the collarbone and comes out the left abdomen, could help patients who need less assistance keeping their hearts pumping. The iVas is not as powerful as an LVAD but can be worn longer than a balloon pump and helps the patient's heart continue to pump until it is time for a transplant, Jeevanandam said.

Gentile and other patients who volunteered to be tested in phase one had to remain at the hospital for observation until they received their transplants.

"I thought, 'If this NuPulse thing works, then it's going to save so many lives and it's going to change the history of cardiac care forever,' and I got to tell you, that's what it's doing," Gentile said. "It saved my life, and I think that it allowed me to be mobile and continue to exercise and stay healthy for my transplant."

Now, phase two patients can go home with the iVas while they wait for a transplant.

Tom Gnadt, 52, of Elmhurst, walked through the halls of the University of Chicago Medical Center with an iVas that was installed Jan. 20. He has been at the hospital for nearly a month and is waiting for a heart and kidney transplant. Four days later, he completed three laps around the floor.

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"It's good to get up and walk around," Gnadt said. "I'm breathing a lot better. We've been watching my oxygen levels since I got it, and last night I didn't even need the oxygen mask."

Gnadt left the hospital with the iVas last week and another patient was also waiting to go home soon if all goes well.

Phase three will allow the device to be implanted in a wider population of patients with heart failure. During each phase, design and software is expected to be improved so the device can hopefully become smaller, lighter and more patient-friendly, Jeevanandam said. He hopes the device will be ready for the FDA review in a year. So far, 13 patients have received the iVas, nine of whom have had transplants.

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"It's less pain for the patient and it's less time for rehabilitation, so they can get back to life quicker," said Jeevanandam, whose team helped develop the device. "For some older patients, they can't tolerate a big operation, and this is an operation that they could tolerate."

Jeevanandam has been developing, testing and regulating circulatory support devices for about 25 years, and the iVas is the most recent improvement on the balloon pump, which has been used for 50 years. LVADs have been used for almost 20 years.

"I wanted to see if there was a better way to support patients other than continuous flow pumps," Jeevanandam said. "They work great and they're fantastic and can save lives, but because of the complications, we reserve them for very sick patients, and we at the University of Chicago tried to figure out if there is a better way to support these patients that is less invasive and has a lesser complication profile."

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Gentile, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is living in Chicago until May to complete his treatment, received his new heart last June and has not had any major incidents so far.

"It's cool to be a part of history, and they've had great success with it," Gentile said. "There's nothing else like it out there."

gwong@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GraceWong630
Candidates for Lincoln-Way District 210 looked toward the future at a public debate forum Thursday night, pledging to solve looming budget challenges faced by the district and restore its reputation after a decade of hidden deficit spending forced the controversial closure of a high school.

Only six of the 13 candidates on the ballot took part in the forum at Lincoln-Way Central High School, 1801 E. Lincoln Highway, hosted by the Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite and moderated by Chicago Tribune Editorial Board member Kristen McQueary. An opposition party of five challengers, Citizens for 210, declined to participate in the forum, claiming LWATU is biased because Robert Ripp, who recently stepped down as vice president of LWATU, is one of the candidates.

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Two other candidates, Chris Kosel and Beth Janus-Doyle, said they were unable to participate.

The election is contentious. Former Superintendent Larry Wyllie is under federal investigation for the district's past spending habits and a controversial dog training program housed in an old barn on campus, but his name seldom came up Thursday.

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Questions of corruption, deficit spending kept from the public, no-bid contracts, risky bonds, and the failed internal controls have enraged local tax payers and landed the district on the state's financial watch list in 2015. To save money, the district shuttered Lincoln-Way North High in Frankfort after only eight years. The building now stands vacant, its bond status preventing the district from selling the property to a new developer.

At the forum, candidates were wary to comment on what should happen with the North campus. Dee Molinare, who has been on the board since 2011, said she would support an open discussion with the community. Ripp said it would be "cruel and unusual" to move students again.

Joseph Kostek said re-opening the school is a possibility, but not until the district can replenish cash reserves and refinance its bonds. Until then, re-opening North is a losing proposition for all schools, which are already operating on a lean budget, he said.

Kostek, a real estate attorney, said Lincoln-Way schools are the reason he and many other residents come to the area. Maintaining the current educational standards is the board's primary responsibility. In time, the area will grow, and the district will need a fourth school, he said.

"When the growth comes, we will reopen the fourth school," he said.

Candidate Chris Lucchetti agreed that quality schools are what bring people to the community.

"We have to solve financial issues so that success can continue," he said.

Candidates focused on imminent threats to the district, like a $250 million bond debt that will double to $500 million by 2020, a number met with gasps from the audience.

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"This is a big number, and it's only going to get bigger," Kirkeeng said.

One man in the audience asked if allegations of negligence lobbed at the board were valid and, quoting a Chicago Tribune Editorial Board story, asked if a "zombie check-up was in order." After a moment of uncomfortable chuckling, all candidates agreed that the board could have done better.

"Perhaps we should have been given more information," Molinare said. "I accept the criticism."

In her opening statement, Molinare headed off criticisms of her involvement with Wyllie. She had been elected to the board shortly before his retirement, she said, and has vowed to correct past mistakes. She said the number one priority of her first term would be to get out of the tax anticipation business.

"It's not how I run my business, it's not how I run my household," she said.

One woman asked the candidates if they supported term limits for board members and superintendents. All supported a two-term limit for board members, but argued a term limit for superintendents was unnecessary.

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Another audience member asked if the district had considered cutting health care coverage for its part-time bus drivers to save money. The candidates reacted tepidly to the suggestion, but Ripp and Molinare said they would consider restructuring transportation in the district.

mmccall@tribpub.com
If there's any doubt left that we live in divisive political times, know this: Some fans of Harry Potter are burning their copies of the books to protest J.K. Rowling's political views. And she's fighting back on Twitter, insulting those very fans.

That's right, one of the most beloved books in modern history has now become a political prop. Is nothing safe?

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Critic on Twitter: "just burned all my Harry Potter books after begin a fan for 17 years. ... I'm upset it has to be that way. You embarrassed me, disgusted me, and I will never read your work again."

Guess it's true what they say: you can lead a girl to books about the rise and fall of an autocrat, but you still can't make her think. pic.twitter.com/oB7Aq6Xz8M  J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 1, 2017

Rowling's response: "Guess it's true what they say: you can lead a girl to books about the rise and fall of an autocrat, but you can't make her think."

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Critic: "glad I caught this article on yahoo. I will now burn your books and movies too."

Rowling: "Well, the fumes from the DVDs might be toxic and I've still got your money, so by all means borrow my lighter."

Well, the fumes from the DVDs might be toxic and I've still got your money, so by all means borrow my lighter. pic.twitter.com/kVoi8VGEoK  J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 31, 2017

Rowling has long been vocal about her feelings concerning President Donald Trump for some time. She's mostly used the president's favorite platform, Twitter, to share her criticisms.

"Well, there you have it," she wrote on Twitter on Oct. 19. "A highly intelligent, experienced woman just debated a giant orange Twitter egg. Your move, America."

On Oct. 9, she wrote: " 'It's your fault I didn't pay taxes, Hillary. Women let you do anything when you're a star." A day later: "When a man this ignorant & easy to manipulate gets within sniffing distance of the nuclear codes, it's everyone's business."

These tweets have generated a Facebook page's worth of headlines. But Rowling's brushes with political controversy are nothing new.

Rowling is a dedicated progressive.

She's a strong believer in welfare, which she relied on during a particularly rough period in her life. As she said during a 2008 Harvard commencement speech, "An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless . . . By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew."

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More recently, Rowling found herself in the midst of a Twitter battle surrounding Brexit, which she staunchly opposed.

Much of this now-seemingly-endless debate was absent during the height of the Harry Potter craze because she didn't publicly discuss her views until the publication of the final Harry Potter book. A year after it hit bookshelves, though, she gave 1 million pounds to Britain's Labor Party.

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That same year, speaking to El Pais, she said of the U.S. election, "I want a Democrat in the White House. It seems a pity that Clinton and Obama have to be rivals, because both are extraordinary."

Anyone who gave the text a close reading likely wouldn't have been surprised by Rowling's politics.

Most of the subplots involve the triumph of marginalized peoples, be it the mixed-heritage Hermione, a "mudbl--d," the poverty-stricken Weasleys, the stigmatized Hagrid (essentially an ex-offender reintroduced to society who can no longer practice magic as a result) or the "lower class" house elf named Dobby (the most obvious analogue to American slavery).

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Harry himself, after all, was an orphan and survivor of attempted infanticide.

In his book, "Harry Potter and the Millennials," Anthony Gierzynski wrote that, "the evidence indicates that Harry Potter fans are more open to diversity and are more politically tolerant than nonfans; fans are also less authoritarian, less likely to support the use of deadly force or torture, more politically active, and more likely to have had a negative view of the Bush administration."

Rowling invites anyone to challenge her.

Once Rowling opened up about her beliefs, it's been a steady stream ever since. And while attacking her own fans might seem like a poor marketing choice, it's important to note one of the things Rowling holds most dear: freedom of speech.

"Intolerance of alternative viewpoints is spreading to places that make me, a moderate and a liberal, most uncomfortable. Only last year, we saw an online petition to ban Donald Trump from entry to the U.K. It garnered half a million signatures," she said during the 2016 PEN America Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. "I find almost everything that Mr. Trump says objectionable. I consider him offensive and bigoted. But he has my full support to come to my country and be offensive and bigoted there. His freedom to speak protects my freedom to call him a bigot. His freedom guarantees mine."

Of course, Rowling has found herself in conflict with the right before she opened up about her political views. Notably, her Harry Potter books were maligned by many Christian groups, making it one of the most challenged books in 2000, according to the New York Times.

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"The challenges seem to be objecting to occult or supernatural content in the books and are being made largely by traditional Christians who believe the Bible is a literal document," Virginia Walter, president of the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children, told the newspaper. "Any exposure to witches or wizards shown in a positive light is anathema to them. Many of these people feel that the books are door-openers to topics that desensitize children to very real evils in the world."

The outcry didn't come only from fringe, radical sects of Christianity, either. As noted in the Christian Post, when Pope Benedict XVI was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he condemned the books for their "subtle seductions, which act unnoticed . . . deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly."

There's a certain irony to this, considering Rowling has said that Christianity was a great inspiration for the books.

"To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious," she said at a 2007 news conference. "But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going."

There were hints of this throughout the series.

When Harry visits his parents' graves, it's marked with, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" - an abridged version of 1 Corinthians 15:26. Also in the graveyard is the tomb of Dumbledore's mother and sister, which is marked by "Where your treasure is, there your heart be also," which is a direct quote in Matthew 6:19.

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"I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up - they almost epitomize the whole series," Rowling said at the news conference.

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
A Forest Park police officer shot and killed a hit-and-run suspect as he was driving a stolen car toward the officer Friday evening, authorities said.



The shooting happened around 6:15 p.m. near the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Harlem Avenue along the border with Oak Park, according to a statement released by Deputy Chief Michael Keating.



The officer spotted a car that was reported stolen in Glendale Heights and had been involved in a hit-and-run accident in Chicago, Keating said in the release.



"The vehicle turned back eastbound on Jackson in an attempt to elude the officer," Keating said. "As the Forest Park officer approached the vehicle on foot, the suspect vehicle began driving towards the officer, who was in front of the vehicle."



The officer fired into the car and hit the driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Keating.



A witness told WGN-TV that he heard five loud shots and didn't see the driver move after he was removed from the car.



The Illinois State Police said they were investigating the incident. No other details were available.



Check back for updates.
A Roselle man was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail Saturday after police said they found a pipe bomb inside the Airbnb room he was renting.

The incident early Thursday caused the evacuation of at least two buildings in the 3500 block of West Flournoy Street in the Homan Square neighborhood on the West Side.

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Michael Debrown, 25, of the 600 block of Autumn Drive in Roselle, appeared in court Saturday before Judge Donald Panarese Jr. who set the bail at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. He was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, which is a felony.

Standing before the judge, Debrown, dressed a black jacket and standing with his hands behind his back, shook his head as prosecutors laid out details of the case.

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Debrown was arrested and charged with being in possession of an explosive device, which was discovered inside a residence at about 1:15 a.m. Thursday.

Debrown rented a room in a single-family house through Airbnb, but "became agitated" when he noticed there was no lock on the door to the room he rented, Assistant State's Attorney Julian Brevard told the court.

After entering the room with his things, Debrown asked someone in the home about purchasing drugs and left the home, prosecutors said.

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At about midnight, when the Airbnb host returned to the home, he noticed that his Adderall was missing and, after learning of Debrown's questions about drugs, knocked on the door to his room, but received no answer, Brevard said.

The host opened the door to find a 10-inch long pipe bomb with a fuse sticking out of it, copper wire, tools, heat gun, dremel tool and other items, Brevard said.

The AirBnb host evacuated his building and called police. Responding officers evacuated neighboring apartments as a precaution.

Tests on the device which contained about 6.5 ounces of powder came back positive as "flash powder or other pyrotechnic mixture," prosecutors said.

Later that same morning, about 10:55 a.m., Debrown was taken into custody at the same residence after returning to the property to retrieve his belongings, police said.

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At least 20 people, including several children, waited outside in 20-degree weather until a spare CTA bus arrived to keep them warm.

Debrown is expected to return to court Thursday.
Chicago police have issued an alert after a woman said she was thrown to the ground and sexually assaulted in the Galewood neighborhood on the Northwest Side.



The woman told police she was walking in the 1600 block of North Melvina Avenue last Saturday when someone approached her from behind and attacked her, police said.



The attacker was described as black, 30 to 35 years old, 160 pounds, thin build and wearing a black knit cap, black hoodie and black jeans.



Anyone with information can call police at (312) 744-8200.
A man robbed a US Bank branch Saturday afternoon on the North Side in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Details were scarce, but about 1:15 p.m. a man robbed a bank branch at 2550 N. Clybourn Ave., the FBI said.

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The robber was described as a white man, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, who was wearing a black hat and a red jacket, the FBI said.

An earlier story identified the bank as a TCF branch, but that information was not correct.

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About 12:33 p.m., a Chase Bank branch was robbed at 635 Chicago Ave. in Evanston. One person was in police custody.

Check back for more details on the TCF Bank robbery.
Chicago Public Schools faced a shortfall in its operations budget of roughly $500 million at the close of its past fiscal year, leaving the financially troubled district with a significant bill to cover even as it struggles to balance this year's spending plan.

The budget shortfall was reported in a recently issued financial postmortem for 2016 that also repeated a long-held conclusion: CPS either needs an infusion of new money or will have to make major cuts if it is to keep operating as it has been.

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CPS has faced budget gaps for years, but has been able to cover them partly by dipping into cash reserves and tapping costly lines of short-term credit for cash to pay the bills. Those strategies are beginning to reach their limit, district officials acknowledge.

That means CPS faces a narrowing range of options, according to Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

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"Liabilities are so far in excess of assets that anything that builds the revenue side of the ledger at this point has to be considered," Martire said.

Delivering a balanced budget is just one challenge. Even if CPS manages to make up for state aid that hasn't arrived and pulls together other savings to balance a $5.5 billion operating budget, which relied on ambitious assumptions, more than $100 million from last year's shortfall remains.

"Despite the balanced budget, we have a cash problem that goes back for many years because we didn't have a balanced budget," Chicago Board of Education President Frank Clark said last month to a packed hearing room at district headquarters. "So when we balance the budget, all we do is stop bleeding."

"The problem doesn't go away, it just doesn't get any worse. What we have to do, in addition to a balanced budget, is figure out a way to address our cash problem."

CPS' cash struggles will play out again this month when the district is expected to send a debt payment of well more than $500 million to its bankers, plunging district coffers deeper into the red until a surge of property tax revenue arrives.

The district now has to borrow against those anticipated property taxes to cover its bills. A district spokeswoman said CPS has the financing needed to cover its debt payment.

But CPS CEO Forrest Claypool suggested that strategy may no longer be available to the district.

"That short-term credit card for cash is maxed out," Claypool told the school board last month. "It's maxed out in terms of the maximum collateral that can be loaned against it, it's bumping up against state law. So the criticality of continuing to balance the budget for that reason is, you know, fundamental."

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Officials have held off announcing additional cuts to help balance this year's budget waiting for the Illinois Senate to reconvene this week to consider a complex series of legislation aimed at ending the state's budget impasse.

According to part of the district's annual financial report, CPS ended the past fiscal year $487 million short in its general operating fund; a $127 million deficit remains.

"The long-term future sustainability of the District at its current operating level is dependent on new revenue sources or major reductions in costs," CPS said in the report.

CPS already has implemented four unpaid furlough days for employees to trim a fraction of the looming shortfall, prompting the Chicago Teachers Union to stage City Hall demonstrations and call for Claypool's resignation last week.

Officials have discussed cuts to other expenses, including the length of the school year. In financial disclosures, the district has said it will turn to budget cuts, unspecified legal action and borrowing to close this year's budget gaps.

Clark said the district could present plans for its third spending plan of the year later this month. There's also expectations from some observers that the city will again turn to its taxpayers for revenue.

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"Given the reality that they no longer have reserves, CPS really has to have all these options on the table at least for the next couple of years. At least until we can get some rational resolution out of the state's fiscal problems," Martire said.

"The only other rational vehicle available is statewide fiscal reform that would allow the state to enhance its funding of K-12 education significantly over current levels."

Local officials continue to point to the state.

"To have a surplus is remarkably challenging; what you need to do obviously is find new sources of revenues  primarily revenue you'd expect to get from the state of Illinois," Clark said.

Chicago Tribune's Peter Matuszak contributed.

jjperez@tribpub.com

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Twitter @PerezJr
WASHINGTON  Rep. Peter Roskam, of Wheaton, a six-term incumbent with a high profile and fundraising muscle in a reliably Republican district, would not be the target of the House Democrats' campaign arm in normal times.

But Roskam is alone among the state's seven Republican congressmen in that he won another term in November in a district that favored Hillary Clinton for the White House.

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And the day after Roskam's staff canceled a meeting last week with 16 constituents concerned about the possible repeal of Obamacare under President Donald Trump, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was ready to pounce.

"If he and his Republican colleagues continue to run scared from their constituents who want to have their voices heard, and share their stories about how the Affordable Care Act has improved their lives, the backlash is only going to grow stronger," said Tyler Law, the DCCC's national press secretary.

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Roskam's situation illustrates the fine line some Republican lawmakers find themselves walking with a divisive party flag bearer in the White House. Roskam in the 2016 campaign mostly steered clear of Trump, whom he's never met but for whom he voted.

He said he agrees with Trump on replacing the ACA and overhauling the tax code, but disagrees with the bid to impose a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports. On Trump's ban on immigrants and refugees from seven mostly Muslim nations, Roskam said the "implementation was bumpy" but he supports "the underlying theme."

Back home, he will clearly have to deal with Trump's actions. On Saturday, hundreds of protesters crowded the parking lot of the Palatine Township Republican Organization's headquarters, where Roskam appeared for the group's monthly meeting. The session had been open to the public but was closed because of high demand, said Aaron Del Mar, the group's chairman.

By Friday, 80 to 90 people had expressed interest in attending, so "preferential treatment" was given to the organization's members, whom Del Mar said were "excited" to hear Roskam discuss priorities of the new Congress.

"If it was at a public library or if it was a town hall, that would be one thing," Del Mar said. "This is a private office where we host Republican-only events. So if they're not Republicans, they're not getting in."

Protesters outside the headquarters Saturday said they were outraged that Roskam would not hold a public town hall meeting to hear from constituents concerned about his support of some of Trump's policies. The protesters stood in the bitter cold, their breath visible in the frosty air as they chanted "You work for us! You work for us!" and "Hey hey, ho ho, Peter Roskam's got to go." Their signs read "Town Hall for all!" and "Listen to your constituents, it's your job." Others signs showed images of Roskam's face transposed onto cartoons of Waldo, the character from the popular children's book series, "Where's Waldo?" The signs were a reference to Roskam's "elusive" behavior, protesters said.

"I had to see it for myself," said Gail Krahenvul, 52, of West Chicago. "That an elected official refuses to meet with his constituents."

As U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton, addressed the Palatine Township Republican Organization at a closed-door meeting at the group's headquarters, protesters rallied outside Feb. 4, 2017, to protest President Donald Trump's executive orders. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

She said she thought she'd be the only protester to show up, and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the crowd. "People care about the same issues I care about, even in this Republican district," she said.

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Police officers stationed outside the headquarters monitored the crowd as it grew larger. About an hour into the protest, tow trucks arrived at the strip mall parking lot nearby to tow cars belonging to people who weren't business customers, which led to some protesters scrambling to move their cars.

When the meeting ended, Roskam did not exit the headquarters' front doors, which faced the crowd. He instead left from the back door, and as his car pulled away from behind the strip mall, the crowd raced across the parking lot to catch the car before it drove away.

"Coward!" one woman shrieked as she ran after the car, and a group of protesters followed her, echoing her cries.

Roskam is one of 20 Republicans in the U.S. House targeted to harness backlash against Republicans, the DCCC said last week. The DCCC said it was hiring a full-time organizer in Roskam's district in an effort called "March into '18."

The group envisions house parties, phone banks and social media disrupting Roskam's prospects. It plans Twitter ads aimed at people who took part in the Jan. 21 women's marches or rallies to back the Affordable Care Act, Law said.

Roskam's 6th Congressional District is mostly in DuPage County and spills into Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties. He coasted to re-election in the fall with 59 percent of the vote, as did his GOP colleague, Rep. Randy Hultgren, of Plano.

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Hultgren, swept into Congress in 2010's tea party wave and is now in his fourth term. He also has been hearing from constituents who favor the ACA. More than 60 people lined up Tuesday at his Campton Hills office but only two were admitted, according to a published report.

A group of constituents on Jan. 31, 2017, wanting to voice their opinions about President Donald Trump, fill a hallway of the Campton Hills congressional office of U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Plano. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News)

Hultgren, like Roskam a former state representative and senator, represents a district that favored Trump in November. Hultgren turned down a Tribune request to address what happened in his Campton Hills office and did not respond to written questions.

He issued a statement Friday evening saying: "We unfortunately are living in a time when emotions are high and reactions can be unpredictable."

It will likely take more than a Democratic staffer in the district to unseat Roskam. Since defeating future U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth by less than 3 percentage points in 2006, Roskam has won re-election by a landslide five times, including under redrawn boundaries that pushed his territory to the west and northwest.

Roskam said his call volume this year was not "particularly high, but it's high," and callers have expressed views for and against Trump.

Constituents were turned away from Wednesday's planned meeting with district staffers because the group wanted to bring a reporter into the session, he said, though the constituent who scheduled the meeting also said they were willing to meet without the journalist. The residents ended up with a meeting of their own and a reporter captured their pro-ACA testimonials.

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"Shame on Peter Roskam," said Sandra Alexander, of Glen Ellyn, who set up the meeting.

Roskam said Thursday the constituent meeting would be rescheduled  without the press. He also disputed complaints that he has been inaccessible, and blamed the DCCC for "moving stories" to suggest otherwise.

In 2016, he said, he had 74 meetings in his district office; had 30 roundtable table discussions; made 21 visits to schools and 107 visits to local hospitals, businesses and nonprofits; had 113 speaking engagements; and was at 147 other meetings, events and award presentations, he said.

"The DCCC is not new to me," he said. "They were very active in my 2006 and 2008 race, so it comes with the territory."

kskiba@tribpub.com

meltagouri@tribpub.com

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Twitter @marwaeltagouri
A man cries after walking away from a child victim of an apartment fire that killed 10 people in the Westlake district in 1993. (J. Albert Diaz / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles police said Saturday that multiple people have been arrested in connection with a devastating 1993 fire that killed 10 people, including seven children and two pregnant women, in a Westlake district apartment building.

The fire, in an old apartment building packed with immigrants from Latin America, stunned the city, exposed flaws in fire inspection procedures and prompted reforms. Police have long believed the fire was arson, started by gang members possibly angry at not being allowed to deal drugs in the building.

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Officer Aareon Jefferson, an LAPD spokesman, said Saturday he did not have the names of the suspects who had been arrested. He declined further comment on the case.

But a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three arrests were made in connection with the deadly fire. LAPD homicide detectives arrested two men Friday on conspiracy to commit murder, while a female suspect already was in custody on suspicion of murder.

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A fourth male suspect remains at large.

All of the suspects are tied to the 18th Street gang, according to multiple sources. The motive for the fire apparently was part of an effort by the gang to keep control of the narcotics business in the neighborhood, officials said.

Several detectives have spent years trying to build a criminal case against those they say are responsible for one of the city's deadliest fires.

LAPD has scheduled a news conference on the case for Monday.

Prosecutors previously had accused two gang members of starting the fire but eventually dropped the charges.

About 75 men, women and children  most of them poor Latino immigrants  fled in terror from the three-story building when the blaze erupted on May 3, 1993. Some leaped from windows. Others clambered down metal fire escape ladders. Still others lowered themselves down sheets tied to wrought-iron balcony railings.

By the time firefighters arrived, neighbors had formed a human chain clinging to the side of the building, passing small children hand to hand to those below. Despite their efforts, many residents fell victim to the smoke, which filled hallways and rooms, reducing visibility to near-zero.

The fire exposed the substandard conditions of many buildings crammed with immigrant families in the Westlake-Pico Union area. A Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that the Fire Department inspected the area infrequently and haphazardly. Fire officials failed to follow procedures in ordering the building owner to address violations that officials said contributed to the 10 deaths.

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Many of the buildings had serious fire safety violations, such as missing fire extinguishers and padlocked emergency exits, The Times investigation found. The building in the 300 block of South Burlington Avenue that was the site of the fatal fire had earlier been the target of a suspected arson, and inspections had detected a series of safety violations there  but they were not corrected.

In 1998, prosecutors filed multiple murder charges against two members of the notorious 18th Street gang. They alleged that Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos started the fire to intimidate an apartment manager who had tried to drive drug dealers off her property.

But two years later, the charges against the men were dropped, with prosecutors saying there was a lack of evidence.

"It wasn't clear these were the right guys," Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Esposito, who was prosecuting the case, said at the time. "No one is thrilled with the idea [of dropping the charges], but we don't want to prosecute innocent people."

The 69-unit apartment building was one of many in the Westlake community beset by gang activity at the time. Just hours before the blaze erupted, the apartments' manager ordered two men out of the building, suspecting that they were dealing drugs. Police said at the time that dealers in the neighborhood were selling thousands of dollars' worth of drugs a day, much of it coming from the Burlington building.

cindy.chang@latimes.com

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richard.winton@latimes.com
Tracy Ryan, a transgender activist, talks about why she's pushing a bill to legalize prostitution on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, at the state Capitol in Honolulu. Ryan says transgender women are disproportionately impacted by laws criminalizing prostitution. (Cathy Bussewitz / AP)

HONOLULU  Hawaii lawmakers are considering decriminalizing prostitution in the Aloha State after the speaker of the House introduced a bill that would also legalize buying sex and acting as a pimp.

The proposal also would end a state law that says police officers can't have sex with prostitutes in the course of investigations.

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Transgender activist Tracy Ryan said she's pushing the bill because transgender women are overrepresented in the sex trade and therefore disproportionately affected by criminalization laws.

"I don't like seeing people sent to jail that don't belong there," Ryan said.

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But long-time anti-sex trafficking advocate Kathryn Xian said legalizing the selling, promoting or buying of sex would make it harder to police the industry.

"If this bill passes and everything was no crime whatsoever, then abuses against women and children would just shoot through the freaking roof," Xian said. "It would be exponentially harder to prove violence in the industry. It would be almost impossible to prove any sort of labor abuse."

House Speaker Joseph Souki told the Associated Press he takes no position on the bill, and he introduced it as a favor for Ryan.

Asked about the part of the bill that strikes language preventing police from having sex with prostitutes during investigations, Souki said: "No, again I have nothing to say about the bill. OK I'm going to be closing (the conversation) at this point."

Hawaii has an unusual history with prostitution investigations. Until 2014, it was legal for police officers to have sex with prostitutes as part of investigations, but state lawmakers changed that after The Associated Press highlighted the loophole.

The Honolulu Police Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the bill.

Ryan wants to preserve the law that police can't have sex with prostitutes to arrest them if the bill doesn't pass, but "if they can't arrest them anyway because it's no longer illegal, it's a moot point," she said.

Michael Golojuch Jr., chairman of the LGBT caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, said transgender women are overrepresented compared with other women in the sex trade because the discrimination they face leads some to feel it's the only kind of work they can get. Golojuch personally supports the idea of decriminalizing prostitution, but he said he and the caucus hadn't yet taken an official position on the bill.

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"My dream job would be union organizer for consensual sex workers," Golojuch said. "It would be great for people who want to do that work to unionize them and empower them so that they are taken care of."

Not everyone thinks legalizing prostitution would benefit sex workers.

"By normalizing sexual exploitation and recasting it as a career choice that has no harms attached, we're creating a setting and a system where we are OK with objectifying women, where we're OK with buying other human beings' bodies, and that has effects that are far-reaching in terms of how women are treated," said Khara Jabola, chapter coordinator of Af3irm Hawaii, a feminist group.

The bill and another to decriminalize marijuana may be part of a push to reduce the prison population, House Majority Leader Scott Saiki said. But any decriminalization bills are unlikely to pass before the Legislature gets a report from a working group that has been meeting on the topic, and that report isn't expected before the session ends, Saiki said.

Associated Press
The flag fluttering above the U.S. Capitol is emblazoned with a crescent and star. Chants of "Allahu Akbar" rise from inside the building.

That's the provocative opening scene of a documentary-style movie outlined 10 years ago by Steve Bannon that envisioned radical Muslims taking over the country and remaking it into the "Islamic States of America," according to a document describing the project obtained by The Washington Post.

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The outline shows how Bannon, years before he became a strategist for President Donald Trump and helped draft last week's order restricting travel from seven mostly Muslim countries, sought to issue a warning about the threat posed by radical Muslims as well as their "enablers among us." Although driven by the "best intentions," the outline says, institutions such as the media, the Jewish community and government agencies were appeasing jihadists aiming to create an Islamic republic.

The eight-page draft, written in 2007 during Bannon's stint as a Hollywood filmmaker, proposed a three-part movie that would trace "the culture of intolerance" behind sharia law, examine the "Fifth Column" made up of "Islamic front groups" and identify the American enablers paving "the road to this unique hell on earth."

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The outline, titled "Destroying the Great Satan: The Rise of Islamic Facism [sic] in America," lists Bannon as the movie's director, as well as its co-writer with his longtime writing partner Julia Jones. The title page includes the line "A Film By Stephen K. Bannon" in capital letters.

Jones, reached by The Washington Post, declined to discuss the contents of the document in detail but confirmed its authenticity. She added that it was essentially Bannon's product.

"It was all his words," Jones said.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment. Bannon did not respond to several requests for comment.

The film proposal included as possible on-air experts two analysts who went on to advise Trump, although their names are misspelled in the document: Walid Phares, a Lebanese-born Maronite Christian who has warned that jihadists are posing as civil rights advocates, and Heritage Foundation security expert James Jay Carafano, who has defended Trump's executive order.

Phares could not be reached for comment. A Heritage spokesman said Carafano was not familiar with the project.

The outline offered an early glimpse of Bannon's belief that the West and "supremacist" Islam are headed for a "fundamental clash of civilizations," as the outline said. He later expressed this view publicly as chief of Breitbart News, a site that often features articles about radical Islamists and has provided a platform for the alt-right, a small, far-right movement that seeks a whites-only state.

"We are in an outright war against jihadist Islamic fascism," he said at a 2014 talk via Skype to a group at the Vatican, according to a transcript first published by BuzzFeed. "And this war is, I think, metastasizing far quicker than governments can handle it."

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"I believe you should take a very, very, very aggressive stance against radical Islam," he added, citing battles the Roman Empire waged against the Ottomans.

Trump, who has known Bannon since 2011, has voiced similar views about the threats posed by jihadist Muslims. During the campaign, he called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on" and said that there is a "great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population."

At Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast, Trump showed sympathy for Muslim victims of terrorism, saying that "peace-loving Muslims" have been "brutalized" by the Islamic State.

One of Trump's first acts as president was to issue last week's travel limits, which temporarily bar travelers from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Administration officials have said the order is not a "Muslim ban" but is instead targeted at countries whose citizens pose the greatest terrorism risk. However, none of those countries are the birthplace of terrorists who committed recent attacks in the United States connected to extremist Islamist ideology, unlike Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan.

Trump officials are now considering designating as a foreign terrorist organization the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the oldest Islamist organizations in the Middle East, even though experts have said it does not pose a threat to the United States.

The 2007 film summary calls the Muslim Brotherhood "the foundation of modern terrorism."

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Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who reviewed the outline for The Post, called it "propaganda" that was "designed to generate hate against not just Islamists, not just extremists, but Muslims writ large."

"There's no way you can look at this and Steve Bannon's other comments and remarks and say Steve Bannon is a friend of American Muslims," said Hamid, author of "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World."

"It's remarkable that someone involved with a film like this is at the center of power at the White House," he added.

Tim Watkins, a producer involved in discussions with Bannon about the project, rejected the idea that the film was driven by anti-Muslim bias.

"This is not because Bannon had a hate or dislike for Muslims," Watkins said. "I believe that he believed that no society is without its radical fringes."

Watkins said that he and Bannon met with Steven Emerson, author of the 2002 book "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us" and founder of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, at an Italian restaurant in Washington and discussed the project. After hearing about Emerson's research, Watkins said he came up with the idea for the opening sequence featuring the reconstituted American flag flying over the Capitol dome.

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"Based on what I heard, it seemed like a documentary in the making," Watkins said.

Emerson, whose book asserted many Muslim institutions in the West provided ideological support for militants, was listed as an executive producer on the proposal. A section of the film was to be drawn from Emerson's research archives, according to the document.

"Steve Bannon and I definitely had some interaction at some point about a film, due to a mutual interest in the threat of radical Islamism," Emerson wrote in an email, describing himself as someone who deeply respects Islam.

"I believe there is a witch hunt and campaign of character assassination being waged against Steve Bannon for his comments against radical Islam like there has been waged against me for many years in order to silence critics of radical Islam," he said.

The outline used stark language to spell out the dangers posed by Islamist jihadists.

"The ideology is scary, and its ideologues will frighten small children as we bring to light an unbroken chain of 'thinkers' who epitomize the culture of hate," the outline reads.

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Part of the film would detail "the rise of a global holy war - financed by the cash flow of oil - to attach and destroy western civilization," according to the outline.

The proposal names two dozen conservative writers and terrorism experts who could serve as potential on-screen guests, including Robert Spencer, director of the Jihad Watch website, labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Muslim propagandist.

In an email, Spencer rejected that term as "a smear," adding that he is "no more anti-Muslim than critics of Nazism were anti-German."

Spencer, who has written for Breitbart and was interviewed by Bannon on its daily radio show, said he did not recall any discussions about the 2007 film proposal. But he said that he found Bannon "to be brilliant and extraordinarily well-informed about both the history and doctrines of Islam."

The outline warns about "front groups and disingenuous Muslim Americans who preach reconciliation and dialogue in the open but, behind the scenes, advocate hatred and contempt for the West."

It names the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America as examples of such "cultural jihadists."

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The proposal also lists other "enablers," including The Post, the New York Times, NPR, "Universities and the Left," the "American Jewish Community," the ACLU, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department and the White House.

"The road to the establishment of an Islamic Republic in the United States starts slowly and subtly with the loss of the will to win," the outline reads. "The road to this unique hell on earth is paved with the best intentions from our major institutions. This political/accommodation/appeasement approach is not simply a function of any one individual's actions but lies at the heart of our most important cultural and political institutions."

Bannon's work on the "Great Satan" project came after the release of his well-received 2004 Ronald Reagan biopic "In the Face of Evil." That film contained a coda that warned about the threat of "the beast" during a montage of Muslims praying, terrorist camps and people falling to their deaths from the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Bannon then produced political documentaries including "Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration"; "Generation Zero," an examination of the global economic crisis; and "Battle for America," which hammered an "out-of-touch, arrogant, and ever-expanding central government."

It's unclear why "Great Satan" was never produced. Jones, a political liberal who was Bannon's screenwriting partner for 16 years, said that after helping him type up the proposal, she did not work on it any further.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday abruptly removed inspection reports and other information from its website about the treatment of animals at thousands of research laboratories, zoos, dog breeding operations and other facilities.

In a statement, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which it said was the result of a "comprehensive review" that took place over the past year. It said the removed documents, which also included records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, would now be accessible only via Freedom of Information Act Requests. Those can take years to be approved.

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"We remain equally committed to being transparent and responsive to our stakeholders' informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals with whom we come in contact," the statement said.

The records that had been available were frequently used by animal welfare advocates to monitor government regulation of animal treatment at circuses, scientific labs and zoos. Members of the public could also use the department's online database to search for information about dog breeders, as could pet stores. Seven states currently require pet stores to source puppies from breeders with clean USDA inspection reports, according to the Humane Society of the United States - a requirement that could now be impossible to meet.

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Animal welfare organizations quickly condemned the removal of the information, which they called unexpected and said would allow animal abuse to go unchecked.

"The USDA action cloaks even the worst puppy mills in secrecy and allows abusers of Tennessee walking horses, zoo animals and lab animals to hide even the worst track records in animal welfare," said John Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society's Stop Puppy Mills Campaign.

In a statement, Kathy Guillermo, the senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, called it "a shameful attempt to keep the public from knowing when and which laws and regulations have been violated. Many federally registered and licensed facilities have long histories of violations that have caused terrible suffering."

It is unclear whether the decision to remove the animal-related records was driven by newly hired President Donald Trump administration officials. When asked questions about the change, a USDA-APHIS representative referred back to the department's statement. The Associated Press reported that a department spokeswoman declined to say whether the removal was temporary or permanent.

The change came two days after Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., introduced a bill calling for more information about and a reduction in testing on animals at government research labs. The bill is backed by an advocacy group, the White Coat Waste Project, which says such testing is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Justin Goodman, the group's vice president for advocacy and policy, said much of the information he has gathered on animal testing at hundreds of federal facilities - including inspection reports and annual reports that can include information on the species and numbers of animals used - came from the USDA-APHIS database. He said the department's reference to privacy requirements were puzzling, because many of the documents were already heavily redacted. The page where the information was located now brings up the announcement about its removal.

"There was already a troubling lack of transparency about what happens in government-funded labs," Goodman said. "This was a very important resource for us, and for every animal organization, in terms of tracking patterns of animal use and compliance, whether it's in labs or other settings."
Chicago architect Carter Manny Jr. was in the news on the day he died  a timely reminder of his searching intelligence and considerable impact on projects that ranged from O'Hare International Airport's original terminals to the FBI Building in Washington, D.C.

Manny had a remarkably varied career, serving as a partner at one of Chicago's top postwar architectural firms, C.F. Murphy Associates, and directing the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, a Chicago organization that makes research grants to architects around the world.

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He also crossed paths with leading figures of 20th century art and architecture, among them artist Alexander Calder. To honor the completion of two Calder sculptures in Chicago  the Flamingo stabile in Federal Plaza and Universe, a motorized installation in the lobby of Sears (now Willis) Tower  Manny organized a circus-style parade in 1974 in which the artist participated.

The parade, which featured more than a dozen circus wagons, clowns, unicyclists and multiple marching bands, was back in the news Wednesday  part of an online story that chronicled how Universe is not part of the planned $500 million renovation of Willis Tower and is likely to be removed from the skyscraper.

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On that same day, Manny, 98, died at his San Rafael, Calif., home. His stepson, Michael Moran, attributed his death to old age and "a compounding of various conditions."

Longtime Chicago art critic Franz Schulze, who conducted an oral history interview with Manny for the Art Institute of Chicago, called Manny's passing "the death of a giant."

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 86 Dick Orkin, an award-winning radio advertising creator for close to a half-century who was perhaps best known for his syndicated Chickenman spoof, which aired on Chicago stations, died on Dec. 24 in California. He was 84. Read more. (Handout)

Born in Michigan City, Ind., in 1918, Manny graduated from Harvard in 1941, then enrolled in Harvard's architecture school, where he became friends with Philip Johnson, a wealthy and sophisticated Clevelander who in 1979 would become the first winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

The outbreak of World War II prompted Manny to enter a 12-month industrial management program at Harvard's business school that was geared to the war effort. Following the war, he apprenticed briefly with Frank Lloyd Wright. Then, on the advice of Johnson, he didn't return to Harvard, but enrolled instead at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where German refugee Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was preaching the virtues of a lean, industrial-era architecture of steel and glass.

It was a fateful move for Manny  and for Chicago.

After graduating from IIT in 1948, Manny went to work for Naess & Murphy, later known as C.F. Murphy Associates. He rose to partner by 1957, the same year Mayor Richard J. Daley selected the Murphy firm to design O'Hare. As a partner in charge, Manny dealt with clients and worked with partners in charge of design.

O'Hare Terminals 2 and 3, as well as the airport's heating plant, all reflect Mies' influence. So do other acclaimed works of mid-20th century modernism, like the Richard J. Daley Center (originally the Chicago Civic Center), whose steely, broad-shouldered design is chiefly credited to the Murphy firm's Jacques Brownson.

C.F. Murphy Associates also worked on the First National Bank of Chicago (now Chase Tower) with Chicago architects Perkins+Will. As part of the project, Manny dealt with Russian-French artist Marc Chagall who designed The Four Seasons mosaic in the skyscraper's plaza.

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Manny "was never a designer" but "he had a critical eye and he cared about design. He just didn't care about the business," said Chicago architect Helmut Jahn, who worked under Manny at the Murphy firm, which was later called Murphy/Jahn and is now called JAHN.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 100 Actress/singer Rose Marie is gleeful as director Carl Reiner, right, and Honorary Mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant, present her with 2,184th star on the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame Oct. 3, 2001, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Marie died Dec. 28, 2017, at age 94. Read more. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

The 1975 FBI Building (now the J. Edgar Hoover Building), which covers a full block of Pennsylvania Avenue and is designed in the concrete-heavy Brutalist style, drew mixed reviews.

Assessing the building in 1978, Tribune architecture critic Paul Gapp called it "mediocre at best, although surely no worse than most of the other federal buildings constructed in Washington in the last decade or so."

Manny retired from C.F. Murphy Associates in 1983, but had already begun a second act at the Graham Foundation, serving as its acting director from 1971-1974 and as its director through 1993.

During his tenure, the foundation distributed more than 1,200 grants collectively valued at more than $10 million, according to Sarah Herda, the foundation's current director. Among them was a grant to a then-relatively unknown Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas, for the 1978 book "Delirious New York," a celebration of Manhattan's "culture of congestion." Koolhaas would win the Pritzker Prize in 2000.

Herda said that Manny was known for acutely questioning grant proposals yet remaining open to the potential impact of their ideas. "Those are things that are in the very DNA of the organization," she said.

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Late in life Manny teamed with Henry Kuehn, a former Chicago-area business executive who now lives in Louisville, Ky., to research the final resting places of more than 150 American architects, including Mies, Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. The research led to a book, authored by Kuehn, called "Their Final Place: A Guide to the Graves of Notable American Architects."

His own final resting place, his family said, will be in Michigan City, where his ashes will be spread.

"He was a one-of-a-kind," Kuehn said. "He was very strong in his opinions on things, but he had this wonderful self-deprecating quality. He never took himself too seriously."

He put the 'gentle' in gentleman," said his wife, Maya Moran Manny.

Manny's first wife, Mary Alice Kellett, died in 1994.

Before moving to California more than 10 years ago, Manny had two homes in the Chicago area  one on North Lake Shore Drive and a log cabin in Michigan City.

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Survivors also include a daughter, Elizabeth; a son, Carter III; and three other stepsons; Tom, Peter and John.

A memorial service is planned.

bkamin@chicagotribune.com Twitter @BlairKamin
Over the past several years, the Tribune has repeatedly published anti-teacher, anti-union editorials. So, it comes as no surprise that you would choose to endorse Betsy DeVos as education secretary. In the past, you have run op-eds from two anti-union North Side teachers who infer that any teacher who fights for our contracted rights does not truly care about educating Chicago's students.

I cannot tell you how many teachers spend countless hours of their free time and hundreds of dollars of their own money to provide opportunities and essentials for the students they teach. Protecting our rights to a fair wage and fair benefits does not take away from our dedication to our craft, and it is an insult for anyone, especially fellow educators, to imply that this is the case.

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DeVos has never attended public schools or been an educator. Thousands of educators around the country have expressed their opposition to her nomination. Shouldn't our voices be the ones that count? Under her reign in Michigan, charter schools abound. Michigan is now one of the lowest-performing school systems in the country. Why would we put someone in a position of power whose sole qualification is the millions of dollars her family has donated to the Republican Party?

Educators deserve someone who has the knowledge and experience to deal with the many issues that face our schools and impact our students. Betsy DeVos is not that person.

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 Marcey Berman, Chicago
Medicine is a very international profession and since I've entered this field I've had the good fortune to meet people from around the world, including several Iranians, Iraqis and Syrians. Good doctors. Good people who came here for the same reasons my immigrant ancestors came here  for freedom and a chance at better lives for their families.

Maybe if you are in certain circles or live in certain parts of the country, this is all an abstraction. But President Donald Trump's immigration ban directly affects people like the ones I know and work with every day. The United States has long been a unique beacon of hope and freedom to the world. We're surrendering that position now. This policy is un-American and it's wrong.

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 Dr. John Biemer, Oak Park
Aurora mayoral candidate Richard Irvin, right, who currently is alderman at large, jokes with his mother, Paula Irvin, left, with supporters around him at a rally. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)

With a roomful of supporters around him Friday, Aurora mayoral candidate Richard Irvin announced a bevy of endorsements from throughout the community.

"The folks you see here believe in my plan," Irvin said, pointing specifically to continued rehab of downtown, more economic development, improving education and keeping a check on crime. "My supporters believe in me because I believe in Aurora, and I'm Aurora through and through."

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Irvin, an Aurora alderman at large, is vying to become the next Aurora mayor against three opponents: state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, Ald. Michael Saville, 6th; and Rick Guzman, assistant chief of staff in the mayor's office.

They face off in the Feb. 28 primary, which will whittle the field down to a final two candidates for the April 4 general consolidated election.

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Irvin released a list of a little more than 50 people who endorse him, from the business, political, law enforcement, faith-based and military veteran communities, as well as the community at large.

Many of them also took time Friday to speak in favor of Irvin, echoing the words of Dolores Hicks, an Aurora Township trustee, who told the candidate, "It's your time now."

"He is able to take this city forward; I know he's prepared," Hicks said.

Mike Poulakidis spoke from the standpoint of working as an attorney with Irvin and now working as a businessman in Aurora. Poulakidis owns O'Malley's Restaurant on Hill Avenue on the East Side and Spartan House on Prairie Street on the West Side.

He said he also worked as a defense attorney when Irvin was a Kane County prosecutor, and they often opposed each other.

"He was tough, fair, but he always did the right thing," Poulakidis said. "He is caring, compassionate and committed."

Marshall Gauer, who spent 34 years as an Aurora police officer before retiring, said he also has known Irvin since he was a prosecutor. He said he spoke for himself and Wayne Biles, another retired police officer who served as president of the police union for about 20 years, when he said Irvin "knows what Aurora needs."

"He's not always going to say yes, but at least you know where he stands," Gauer said.

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Among those listed on Irvin's sheet of endorsers were Democrats such as Aurora Township Trustee David Moore; Aurora Township Clerk Jason Owens; Aurora Township Democratic Central Committee members Juan Thomas and Ron Ford; and Kane County Board member Angie Clay Thomas, 4th District; and Republicans such as Sal Abate and Lou De Martelli.

Ministers endorsing Irvin include Dan Haas, Pat McManus, Peggy Hicks and Ed Ruiz.

Among the business people listed were Dan Hiites, Kurt Becker and Sherman Jenkins.

Friday was the first time Irvin released any endorsements.

Chapa LaVia also has listed a long line of endorsements, which she has been releasing as the campaign goes along.

Most recently, she announced the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council. A number of labor unions have endorsed Chapa LaVia, including Aurora Firefighters Local 99, which represents Aurora firefighters, and AFSCME State Council 31, which represents a number of public employees in Aurora.

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She also has endorsements from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White; Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs; Illinois Comptroller Susanna Mendoza; former Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes; U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson; state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora; state Sen. Pamela Althoff, R-McHenry; former Kane County Board Chairman Mike Tryon; and Naperville Township Assessor Warren Dixon III.

Saville has the endorsement of Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd.

slord@tribpub.com
Kathy Olson and John Jaros, of Aurora, do their best Wayne and Garth impersonation in front of a green screen at the Santori Public Library Atrium, where short films were being made. (Sean King / The Beacon-News)

When DeKalb artist Jaime Torraco needed ideas for a poster contest, she pulled out the DVD player.

"I decided I needed to re-watch 'Wayne's World' for some inspiration," said Torraco, who goes by the name Kittens of Industry professionally. "I found a great quote in the movie and went from there."

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The contest is just one way residents in Aurora are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the film that helped put the city on the map for millions of moviegoers. The six-month "Party On! 25 Years of Wayne's World" celebration kicked off Friday night and over the next six months will include karaoke performances, air guitar contests, "Wayne's World" dress-up events and more.

For the uninitiated, "Wayne's World" is a fictional public access show featuring Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, aka actors Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, who cast a national spotlight on the City of Lights first in "Saturday Night Live" skits and then in the "Wayne's World" movie, released in 1992.

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Kris Ducharme, who works at the If These Walls Could Talk custom-framing and art gallery shop, said the store's poster contest attracted more than 15 local artists, including Torraco.

"We have everything from subtle references to the film to caricatures of actors in the movie, as artists were given pretty much free rein to do whatever they wanted," Ducharme said. "There has been a lot of talk building up to this, and I think it just represents mid-America and is a timeless comedy that's just good-natured and fun."

Store owner Jennifer Rauch, who worked with Marissa Amoni of Aurora Downtown to coordinate this year's events, said the idea for a "Wayne's World" celebration was first broached in July or August but has "really snowballed since this January."

"The most surprising thing to me is that I didn't expect this to be so appealing to people outside of Aurora and catch on, but apparently it did," she said.

"Wayne's World" events were scattered throughout the downtown area, tied in to the city's First Friday events. An air guitar contest was staged at the Ballydoyle Irish Pub, where wait staff joined customers in getting into the spirit of the evening.

Bartender and server Maggie Baturov, 32, dressed in flannels mirroring the movie characters' clothing style, offered her advice on how to nail it when it comes to playing air guitar.

"You need to knock back a couple of shots and do your hair up big and get into it," Baturov said. "I'm excited for Aurora to have this celebration, even though I'm originally from Michigan. I actually have friends from there that want to come down and be here for some of the events. I must have watched that movie 50 times and loved it as a kid."

Tim O'Malley, of Naperville, said that for him, the movie "brings back old memories" and that he was planning to "have a few beers" at Ballydoyle and watch the show.

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"I remember this was a spinoff from 'Saturday Night Live,' and I think people doing air guitar will be pretty entertaining," he said.

Gina Salamone, of Aurora, was working Friday as a supervisor at 5 E. Galena St., where organizers set up a replica of Wayne's basement. Visitors, she said, "are allowed to take selfies and goof off."

"I think everyone is excited about this," Salamone said. "For decades, whenever I'd tell people I was from Aurora, they'd say, 'Oh yeah, 'Wayne's World.' I think I've watched that movie every year since it came out."

The Santori Library began its portion of the celebration Friday with a host of activities, including the opportunity to dress in "Wayne's World" garb and have a short film clip made reciting movie lines.

Leigh Mauer, of Aurora, appeared at the library dressed as Alice Cooper, who had a cameo role in the film.

"I'm not from here, but I love 'Wayne's World,' and I think it was a good movie with a great mix of people," she said.

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Neil and Michelle Galles, of Aurora, brought their kids to the library for some doughnuts served at a replica of Stan Mikita's Donuts and said they planned to hit most of the "Wayne's World" events Friday night.

Neil Galles admitted the evening was largely focused on his love of the movie.

"My wife never saw the movie, but I loved it, and we're going to hit as many places as we can," Galles said. "I think all of this is pretty cool."

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Wendan Tan, 18, a Chinese student at Queen of Peace High School in Burbank, does a problem in AP Calculus class. The all-girls Catholic school is one three area Catholic schools that recently announced it will close. (John Smierciak / Daily Southtown)

Nearly 100 Catholic elementary and high schools have closed in Cook and Lake counties since 2000, according to data by Archdiocese of Chicago.

The coming closings of Queen of Peace High School in Burbank, St. Joseph School in Homewood and St. Louis de Montfort School in Oak Lawn, announced last month, will leave the archdiocese with 214 schools to begin next school year  or 98 fewer ones since turn of the century, data shows.

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Administrators said they continue to face economic and demographic pressures that challenge their ability to keep doors open.

"I think, basically, it comes down to money," said Dan McGrath, president of Leo High School, an all-boys school in Auburn Gresham whose enrollment has stabilized in recent years after decades of slow decline.

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Providing a Catholic education today is far more expensive than it once was, primarily because schools used to employ nuns, priests and brothers, whose living expenses were subsidized by their order and whose salaries were nominal.

"When I went to Catholic school, we had so many Irish Christian brothers that we didn't need many lay teachers, so payroll was manageable," said McGrath, who attended Leo in the mid-1960s. "Now, there aren't any Irish Christian brothers, so payroll is our highest expense."

Leo, McGrath said, hasn't employed an Irish Christian brother in more than 20 years.

It's not alone. In 2014-15, the archdiocese had just 144 full-time religious teachers and administrators who accounted for less than 3 percent of all full-time educators, according to statistics provided by the archdiocese. By contrast, the archdiocese had more than 1,500 full-time religious teachers and administrators in its system as recently as 30 years ago.

As payroll costs have increased, Catholic schools have been forced to raise tuition.

For many families, tuition hikes have made the cost of a Catholic education  which had once been manageable, even for poor immigrant families  prohibitively expensive.

Nationally, the average annual tuition cost is nearly $4,000 for Catholic elementary schools and close to $10,000 for Catholic high schools, according to the National Catholic Education Association. In the Southland, it's not uncommon to see annual high school tuition exceed $10,000, although most schools do offer some amount of tuition assistance to reduce the financial burden placed on families.

"Tuition is just way too high," said Nancy Farley Pahr, a 1982 Queen of Peace graduate who said she believes rising tuition costs have made it tough for parents to afford Catholic education. "When I went to school it was $700, and now it's $11,000. That's insane."

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As tuition rises, free public and charter schools that had not previously been a consideration for parents start looking more attractive.

"I know some of the Catholic schools have lost some students they would normally swoop up, but who are opting for Evergreen Park," McGrath said. "It's probably a comparably good school, and it's free."

Other parents, who are advocates of the strict discipline considered a hallmark of religious education, may be swayed by charter schools that stress the same sort of environment, said Carol Ann MacGregor, a sociology professor at Loyola University New Orleans who studies the causes and consequences of the closure of Catholic schools across the country.

"Everyone is kind of watching and trying to track if people who leave Catholic schools are leaving for charter schools," MacGregor said. "Because if that's the case, and charters prove themselves to be this really viable option offering a lot of the things parents like about private schools, but for free, then Catholic schools may in fact struggle even more."

While charters may end up cutting still deeper into Catholic school enrollment figures in the future, they are a relatively new phenomenon and therefore cannot explain earlier declines, which started decades ago.

The archdiocese attributes those declines to a declining school-age population in the area and a decrease in the overall Catholic population, spokeswoman Anne Maselli said.

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According to archdiocesan statistics, there are a couple hundred thousand fewer Catholics within the archdiocese's borders than there were in the 1970s, about a 10 percent decline.

McGrath, who comes from a large Irish family like many of his classmates at Leo did, said there just aren't as many Catholic kids to draw from these days. He also speculated that a decline in religiosity among Catholics might be playing a role.

"I don't know that Catholic education is as important to families as it used to be," he said. "In my generation, it wasn't even considered that we wouldn't go to Catholic school.

"I just don't know that people are as committed to their Catholic faith as they used to be, and it manifests itself in many ways."

While MacGregor said she hasn't been able to directly tie the decline in Catholic school enrollment to the greater number of "lapsed Catholics," she said she thinks there may be something to that argument. As evidence, she cites the fact that there has not been a corresponding increase in CCD participation  the religious programming Catholic kids who do not attend Catholic schools receive after school or on Sundays  as Catholic school enrollment has shrunk.

The future for Catholic schools is hard to predict, she said, but in the end it'll come down to finances.

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"I think a lot of people are still proud of the work that Catholic educators do, and feel if this was an affordable option a lot of people would take it," MacGregor said. "Most people say, 'It has a good brand, it has a good reputation,' so it's just about whether people can afford it."

Schools across the country are experimenting with different financial models to try and make Catholic education more affordable, and the Southland is no exception.

"We have to work together, and I think we do," said Kevin Burns, president of Brother Rice High School in Mount Greenwood. "We've got our own kingdoms to tend to, but I think there's an awareness at least at our level, of the big picture, that we have to work together."

Sharing services or leads on potential hires are a couple things local Catholic school administrators mentioned as ways they can assist one another.

For example, when a Brother Rice student died a few years ago, an administrator from a nearby Catholic high school contacted Burns to ask if he needed grief counselors.

In another instance, Burns was on the giving end of assistance to a fellow Catholic administrator.

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McGrath, who was having trouble finding a science teacher at Leo a couple years ago, said he contacted Burns, who had just filled a science opening, to ask for candidate suggestions.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Burns provided him the resumes of three candidates he really liked but couldn't hire, and McGrath selected one of them, who remains at the school today.

"I think there's a real appreciation on all sides that, if we don't help one another, it's going to hurt all of us," Burns said.

In spite of the myriad challenges, Burns said he's hopeful about the future of Catholic education in the Southland and said he expects a larger freshman class at Brother Rice next year.

"I still think there's a strong commitment here," Burns said. "I believe it in my heart that there's a strong commitment to Catholic education on the south side, and that's our ace in the hole."

Bob Rakow is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown

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zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter @ZakKoeske
Residents have opposed industrial warehouses that are proposed in the cornfield behind homes in Creekside Estates subdivision, near 151st and Farrell Road. Lockport city officials say it will create jpbs and spur commercial growth. (Susan DeMar Lafferty / Daily Southtown)

Lockport aldermen recently fielded dozens of residents' complains about a proposed trucking warehouse development.

California-based Prologis is proposing to build a 203-acre development in an area adjacent to the south of Creekside Estates and adjacent to the north of Deer Path Run residential subdivision. The west end of the development is bordered by Archer Avenue and 143rd Street and Interstate 355 borders the east end.

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Residents said the industrial park would be too close to their homes, causing safety hazards and increased traffic congestion.

"This is going to hurt the neighborhood," Michael Bonomo, president of the Creekside Estates Homeowner's Association, told Lockport aldermen at meeting last Wednesday.

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John Basille, owner of the adjacent Big Run Wolf Ranch, also expressed concern that diesel emissions from the trucks could harm his endangered Siberian tiger.

Jim McGill, of the developer Prologis, said he expects about 300 semi-trucks a day to use the park. He had previously said that trucks leave much less of a carbon footprint than they did 10 years ago.

McGill also said he expects about 36 trucks to use one of the development's five buildings overnight. McGill assured residents and officials that noise levels would be low.

Michael Messina, president of the Will County School District 92 Board of Education, said he was concerned about increased truck traffic on Archer Avenue because many school buses also use that route.

But McGill said most truck traffic would occur on the east end of the development on 143rd Street near I-355.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

He also said that the Illinois Department of Transportation did not warrant a traffic signal at the intersection of Archer and the road into the development.

Residents made many of the same concerns to city plan commission officials in previous meetings.

Some residents want the city council to vote against allowing the development but officials warned that would pave the way for a lawsuit from the developer because the land is zoned for industrial use.

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Mayor Steve Streit said the city would likely lose the suit.

Much of the proposed development area's west end was zoned for industrial use in 1970, which is before the homes existed there. .

The city council is expected to vote on whether it will continue to consider the plan at its Feb. 15 meeting.

Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter.
U.S Rep. Nancy Pelosi said in a public forum that "refugees have rights." What kind of rights, Pelosi? Human rights? Of course everyone has human rights, but not constitutional rights. Those are reserved for United States citizens only. What are the public schools teaching, and how did Pelosi get her position?

BJ, Frankfort

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Remember when democracy meant the representation of the people who elected you? Somehow it has evolved into doing what is best for you and the people who give you money to keep you there. Until that changes, nothing else will.

Tinley Park

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I doubt that President Donald Trump ever read "1984" because he doesn't read. Yet, he and his friends are excellent at doublespeak, first coined in that novel. Lies are now "alternative facts." Denying or violating someone's civil rights is now "religious liberty." And the real problem of voter suppression that actually helped Trump win the election has been turned into "voter fraud," which is a rarity in our electoral process. Trump doesn't propose one thing unless it brings him more profits and/or power.

Denny, Orland Park

Kellyanne Conway appeared on Sean Hannity's radio program on Friday, where she said that the media is indirectly encouraging violent protests against President Donald Trump by not giving him the proper "respect" that she feels he's owed. Now, this is the same Trump who regularly demonizes Muslims. The same Trump who mocks the disabled. The same Trump who talked about assaulting women. How much does Conway get paid to lie for Trump?

William, Oak Lawn

What's Speak Out?

Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown.
A Kenyon Woods Middle School student was hospitalized Friday after being seriously injured by another student, according to a note posted on Elgin School District U46's Facebook page.

The injured boy was taken to Presence St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin and later transferred to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Principal Lisa Olsem said in the note. The student responsible for the injuries was arrested by the South Elgin Police Department.

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Olsem described the incident as an assault that took place about noon and described the injuries as "severe," but she did not provide any specific details on what occurred other than weapons were not involved.

South Elgin police said the incident was still under investigation and provided no other information.

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"The safety of our students at school is one of our top priorities," Olsem said in her note. Staff "took immediate action to attempt to calm and control the situation," and school social workers were provided to students who requested them, she said.

Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
This bull musk ox is the centerpiece of a new exhibit at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, at 3795 Campton Hills Drive, St. Charles, opening Feb. 28. (Hickory Knolls Discovery Center / HANDOUT)

Public forum on Fox River

The League of Women Voters Central Kane County is hosting the Conservation Foundation for a public forum about the Fox River.

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Tara Neff of the Conservation Foundation will speak from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16 at the Pottawatomie Community Center, 8 North St., St. Charles. The public forum is titled "Were All in the Same Boat: Storm Water and the Fox."

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "storm water runoff is a major cause of water pollution in urban areas (because it) carries trash, bacteria, heavy metals and other pollutants from the urban landscape. Higher flows resulting from heavy rains also can cause erosion and flooding in urban streams, damaging habitat, property and infrastructure."

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The public is invited to join the forum to discover how cities in Kane County are dealing with storm water management.

For information, contact lwvckc.education@gmail.com.

Ask a Lawyer Day

The Kane County Bar Association will conduct monthly Ask a Lawyer Day.

The next "Ask a Lawyer Day" will be Saturday, Feb. 11.

On the second Saturday of each month, members of the public can call 630-762-1900 between 9 a.m. and noon for a free consultation with a volunteer attorney.

This public information service is an opportunity to ask questions and find direction for legal matters, according to a news release. Last month, callers were helped with legal problems regarding issues in real estate, landlord/tenant, criminal, estates and wills, divorce, child custody, collections, bankruptcy, and traffic.

Ice Age exhibit at Hickory Knolls Discovery Center

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An Ice Age exhibit at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center will open 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The center is located at 3795 Campton Hills Drive, St. Charles.

The new display, located at the west end of Hickory Knolls' lobby, has as its centerpiece a bull musk ox surrounded by terrain typical of the end of Illinois' last Ice Age, according to a news release. Interpretive signs tell the story of change as a constant in the region's past, and how plants and animals that are familiar today were vital then too, said Pam Otto, Manager of Nature Programs and Interpretive Services.

"A lot of people recognize extinct megafauna like mastodons and saber-toothed 'tigers', or Smilodon, but few folks realize that many other species still alive today were present in Illinois back then, she said. "Some, like black bears, still live close by. Others, like musk oxen, traveled much farther north."

The exhibit was created by Geneva-based Angrypop Exhibit Services, LLC and Acme Design Inc. in Elgin. While scenes of receding snow and mud flats simulate Ice Age Illinois, the focal point of the exhibit is the preserved musk ox, donated to the park district by St. Charles residents, Dennis and Mary Mueller.

Interpretive panels detail the history of the musk ox and showcase why it continues to be a valuable animal even in modern times, the release said. Smaller than dairy cattle, a bull such as the one on display at Hickory Knolls, can weigh up to 900 pounds, while a cow usually runs about 500 pounds.

"The species' wool, known as qiviut, is widely recognized as the finest in the world," Otto said.

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For information about the musk ox exhibit, contact Otto at 630-513-4346.

Explore Lords Park Pavilion

Lords Park Pavilion in Elgin is offering regular open hours, from 9 to 11 a.m. on the first and third Saturdays of each month, for the public to see the interior of the building.

Built in 1898, the city-owned facility is available for rentals for events such as weddings, picnics, meetings and private parties.

The pavilion is available for groups up to 300 people.

For information, contact the Elgin Parks and Recreation Department at 847-931-6123.

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Guided hike at LeRoy Oakes

LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve is offering a guided hike to look for signs of animals, from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25. The forest preserve is located at 37W700 Dean St., St. Charles.

At this free, Forest Preserve District of Kane County nature program, participants will learn about the habits and behaviors of native wildlife by the signs they leave, according to a news release.

The "Tracks and Trails" program will help participants understand that every hike  be it a backyard stroll, or an expedition through one of the forest preserves  is packed with organic activity. Animals may not always be in plain sight, but they leave behind a myriad of fascinating clues, the release said.

Advance registration is required. Call 630-444-3190 or e mail programs@kaneforest.com to register. For information, go to www.kaneforest.com.

Gail Borden offers the Oculus Rift

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Gail Borden Public Library has the Oculus Rift, the latest in virtual reality tech, available.

The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that offers stereoscopic 3D visual and utilized head tracking technology for a highly immersive experience, according to a news release. The device works by creating a 3D image using two high-resolution screens and sensors to detect the user's head and body movement.

Oculus games available at the library, 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin, include:

Body VR: Educational game with travel throughout the inner workings of the body to see things close up, as well as interesting facts about the body.

Farlands: A scientist who is discovering and documenting new alien worlds, including taking care of and playing with alien creatures.

Henry: This short video was the first virtual reality video to win an Emmy. It is a short cartoon about a porcupine on his birthday.

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Woofbert: An educational experience to inspect art in a virtual museum.

The Night Cafe: Allows users to enter and explore the paintings of Vincent van Gogh by walking inside of his masterpieces

Oculus Rift sessions are one hour long. To use the equipment, go to the library's second floor information desk at the main library. Children younger than 18 years must be accompanied by an adult while using the Oculus Rift.
A Kane County judge sentenced an Elgin man to six years in prison on a drug conviction, prosecutors said.

John G. Monteleone, 48, of the 100 block of Brookside Drive, was convicted in November of unlawful possession of more than 200 grams of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a Class X felony, unlawful possession of more than 200 grams of a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony, unlawful delivery of less than 50 grams of a controlled substance, a Class 2 felony, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor, according to a Kane County State's Attorney's press release.

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Sixteenth Circuit Associate Judge Linda Abrahamson sentenced Monteleone to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, the release stated.

Prosecutors said Monteleone and his wife, co-defendant Tracy Monteleone, 46, of the same address, were knowingly in possession of, with the intent to sell, more than 200 grams of a controlled chemical substance that is commonly known and distributed as synthetic marijuana in September 2013, according to the release. John Monteleone was in possession of between 2.5 and 10 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, it stated.

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The North Central Narcotics Task Force and the Algonquin Police Department conducted the three-month investigation and executed a search warrant at Monteleone's business, in the 1400 block of Commerce Drive, Algonquin, in McHenry County, the release stated. Investigators seized nearly 200 grams of spice, a synthetic cannabinoid, it stated.

Later, authorities searched the couple's home and found 3,200 grams of the same drug in Tracy Monteleone's car, the release stated.

Tracy Monteleone pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of more than 200 grams of a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony, and was sentenced to four years' probation in September 2014, the release stated.

John Monteleone must serve at least 75 percent of the sentence. He receives credit for 102 days served in both Kane County and McHenry County jails.

"For years we have seen the deadly consequences of synthetic drugs on our community and especially on the lives of young adults," Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said. "These consequences prompted the General Assembly to ban the synthetic drugs that this defendant was dealing. But this defendant, who already was a convicted felon, chose to run a criminal enterprise instead of a legitimate business, placing his own greed in front of the safety of our community. Prison is the appropriate place for repeat felons, and this prosecution should send a message that we aggressively pursue all drug dealers."
A Crystal Lake attorney was convicted of a child pornography charge Friday after a judge determined he secretly videotaped a teenage girl undressing.

McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer said the video appeared to have been shot by a "voyeur" and was "intended to illicit a sexual response."

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Authorities said attorney James T. Zeas, of Lake Barrington, shot the video in a family changing area at an Algonquin fitness center in 2009 as it was being used by a 14-year-old girl.

The video, in which the girl's breasts are exposed, was discovered by on Zeas' laptop by his wife in 2011, prosecutors said.

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Zeas' attorney, Barry Lewis, suggested that Zeas' now-ex-wife somehow manufactured the video herself, noting that the video was not turned over to authorities until 2015, when the couple was in the midst of a "contentious" divorce and custody battle.

But Assistant State's Attorney Kate Lenhard noted that, after the girl changed into her bathing suit, Zeas could be seen on the footage adjusting the angle of the camera he had hidden in the changing room, apparently to capture a better view of the girl when she returned later to change out of her suit. Zeas is also seen trying to hide the camera with paper towels and a red hat, the prosecutor said.

Lenhard said the girl was not posing or aware of the camera. She thought she was alone and didn't know "the peeping tom (was) watching," the prosecutor said. "He took the innocence of a child. ... He manufactured that into a voyeuristic (video) ... that he then kept."

Lewis countered that there was "nothing sexually suggestive about the way she was in the video." He also said that the girl did not appear to be underage.

After Feetterer announced his verdict Friday, Zeas' bond was immediately revoked. He is due to be sentenced March 29.

A representative from LifeTime Fitness, where the illicit video was shot, said in an email that Zeas' actions "clearly were not in line with our policies or expectations."

The company cooperated with the investigation and will remain "vigilant" in enforcing its policies, said Natalie Bushaw, director public relations. There is "no tolerance for unacceptable behaviors or actions," she wrote.

Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
A rap musician's album title calling for his brother's release from prison may have inspired a spate of vandalism in which 10 Naperville houses were defaced with graffiti, Naperville police said.

The vandal or vandals, however, might not have done their cause much good by scrawling "Free Ty" in black spray paint on each home's garage door.

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The rapper is known as Ty Dolla $ign. His younger brother, imprisoned for murder, goes by TC. The album is "Free TC," not "Free Ty."

Naperville police Cmdr. Lou Cammiso said the story of Ty Dolla $ign and TC is believed to be the "possible motive or reason for the message tagged" on the doors.

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The vandalism spree occurred sometime between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, Cammiso said. The 10 houses lie south of the North Central College campus, and include addresses on Columbia, Loomis, Sleight and Wright streets and Highland and Porter avenues, he said.

Each home's garage door is painted bright white, and all of the doors face the streets, he said.

The "Free TC" album was released in late 2015. Ty Dolla $ign, in an interview posted to the noisey.vice.com music website, said he dedicated the album to TC, who is "currently incarcerated on a life sentence for murder, wrongfully so "

A woman whose house was among those tagged said her husband was the one who discovered the graffiti.

"It was puzzling," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

"It's probably just some kids being kids," she said. "But we were disappointed to see that somebody would do that."

Another neighbor whose house was vandalized said she saw police in the area Tuesday morning before she learned of the graffiti on her door.

"I didn't know what was going on," said the woman, who also declined to be identified. "And I didn't hear anything" overnight when the vandalism was done, she said.

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"I have wonderful neighbors, and I've always felt so safe here," the woman said. "Now I'm leaving my (outside) light on."

Ty Dolla $ign records for Atlantic Records. A label spokesman did not return a call seeking comment on the matter.

Anyone who may have witnessed the vandalism or may know something about it is asked to call police at 630-420-6666 and ask for the investigations division.

wbird@tribpub.com
Two Brothers Brewing Co. soon could be headed to downtown Oak Park. (Caitlin Mullen / Pioneer Press)

With a popular Chicagoland brewery having expressed interest in the former Marion Street Market space, an attorney representing the property's owner says he expects progress on the deal in the next 10 days.

The attorney, Masaru Takiguchi, confirmed Friday that Two Brothers Brewing Company is interested in purchasing the 5,000-square-foot space to develop as a restaurant that would also serve the company's craft beer and coffee. Takiguchi represents Mary Jo Schuler, who owns the commercial condo at 100 S. Marion St. in Oak Park and was a majority owner of the former Marion Street Market.

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"Two Brothers Brewing Company recently signed a letter of intent to purchase Marion Street Cheese Market in downtown Oak Park, Ill. At this time, we cannot provide further details, as it would be premature to do so until the acquisition is complete," according to a statement from Two Brothers.

Takiguchi said it's an exciting opportunity and would be a good use for the space. Marion Street Market closed abruptly Sept. 6, 2016, after a recent renovation.

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Two Brothers, founded in 1996, has four restaurant locations: Warrenville, Naperville, Aurora and Scottsdale, Ariz. Takiguchi said he's met with the company's owners, brothers Jim and Jason Ebel, who are excited about the prospect and the ongoing development in Oak Park.

Takiguchi, who wouldn't comment on the price of the space, said they received the letter of intent from the company in late December. He said Schuler wants to be transparent with fellow Opera Club tenants and ensure a smooth transition.

"We're very optimistic things are going to move forward quickly," Takiguchi said.

He couldn't speak to how soon Two Brothers could move into the space or begin operating, because "it's dependent upon conversations that haven't happened yet." He added Two Brothers would likely make some cosmetic changes including signage but otherwise would find the space well-positioned for operation.

John Lynch, executive director of the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation, said they're thrilled with the news. He credited the increasing residential base in the downtown business districts, and said they believe the restaurant's close proximity to the train lines could attract Chicago residents looking to try something new.

Nearby, at 1111 South Blvd., Lake Barrington-based Wild Onion Brewery is building out a brewpub; it's scheduled to open mid-spring. Lynch said they think the market is big enough for both known beer names, as they're offering different concepts.

"Our feeling is that Wild Onion's tied house, Connolly's Pub and now Two Brothers here is kind of building a pub row, if you will, along South Boulevard," Lynch said.

Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
The Boy Scouts of America, according to the organization's official website, ranks as one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with more than 4 million members between ages 7 to 18.

Growing up in our rural community, I never was a member of the Boy Scouts, nor was my oldest brother Tom. But older brother David was a member of the Cub Scouts for a short time, and my older sister Pam spent time as a Brownie and Girl Scout.

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Ever since the Boy Scouts' founding in 1910, the president of the United States traditionally has served as the organization's honorary president during the term in office.

Members who complete the entire scouting program can earn the honor of an Eagle Scout. I'm told fewer than 1.5 million boys have reached Eagle status in the past 100 years. Statistics from the Boy Scouts organization reveal that only two to five of every 100 individuals who joins ever make it to the status of Eagle.

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Our family has the honor of welcoming our first Eagle Scout. My nephew, Quentin, son of my brother David and his wife, Patty, recently made it to the distinction of Eagle Scout. The family lives in Lima, Ohio

Quentin, 15, is a freshman at Lima Central Catholic High School and a member of Boy Scout Troop 103, sponsored by St. Charles Catholic Church under the leadership of Scoutmaster Joseph J. Sreenan.

Quentin began his scouting career as a Wolf Scout with Pack 103 in 2009. He has held numerous positions, including Quartermaster, Assistant Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader and Senior Patrol Leader. He also has earned 33 merit badges.

For his Eagle Scout Project, he led the refurbishment of the landscaping surrounding the community's Veterans Freedom Flag Monument, which is part of the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District. He coordinated a work crew that trimmed, weeded, mulched, planted flowers and cleaned the monument's granite blocks. This monument is on property adjacent to the large manufacturing operation once called The Lima Army Tank Plant, now called General Dynamics Land Systems. My brother, David, has worked as an industrial engineer at the Lima Army Tank Plant since his graduation from Purdue University in 1984.

Under Quentin's leadership, the scouts and adult volunteers completed the project in time for a special ceremony during the summer for the retirement of the plant commander of Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, a division of General Dynamics Land Systems.

Besides the refurbishment, Quentin also was able to raise funds to have a memorial engraved block purchased for the monument from Troop 103. The memorial block is in support for all of our brave and dedicated veterans who have served our country and for those who are serving.

"I have always had a special compassion for the Veterans Freedom Flag Monument and everything it symbolizes," Quentin said. "To be able to give back to such a worthy cause is a privilege and an honor."

Quentin's Eagle ceremony is scheduled to be held during the spring at the Freedom Flag Monument, in conjunction with the dedication of memorial granite block from his troop.

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The recipe is a Boy Scouts original, a menu highlight for any time of year. It's a favorite recipe of Quentin and his parents, whether served in the kitchen or over an open campfire.

Columnist Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. Mail your questions to From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.

pmpotempa@comhs.org

Boy Scouts Hearty Beef Stew

4 to 6 strips of bacon, cut up in pieces

1/4 pound lean beef stew cubed meat (per Scout)

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1 medium to large potato (per Scout), chopped to bite size pieces

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 chopped large onion, chopped

2 carrots (per Scout), chopped

2 ribs celery stalks (per Scout), chopped

3 tablespoons total of the blended mixture of salt, black pepper, celery salt, paprika

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1 bay leaf

Water as needed

Dutch oven pot or large cooking pot with lid

1. Heat pot or Dutch oven. Add bacon and cook until done. Leave the bacon and drippings in cooking pot and add beef to brown.

2. Add about a one-quarter of the potatoes being used and briefly brown. Add packet of onion soup mix and just enough water to cover ingredients. Cover and boil (or simmer, if possible, if using a stove rather than campfire) for 30 minutes.

3. Add remaining ingredients and 1 cup of water. Cover and boil (or simmer, if possible) for 30 more minutes.

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4. Remove cover and check consistency. If stew is too thin, leave cover off and boil for another 15 minutes or if available, add a little flour or to thicken the sauce. If you don't have any flour, add a slice of bread and stir until dissolved in stew to thicken to desired consistency.
The Chicago Auto Show is king when it comes to showing off the newest and best of future vehicles. But the organizers do more than just showmanship and very much want drivers to think before they drive.

This year's motto, "Drive Safe, Chicago," offered students an opportunity to create a script with a 30-second video message as the final product. Porter County Career and Technical Center Video Production instructor Bob Phelps saw this as a valuable opportunity for his students, and thus each member of his class had to come up with an idea for a public service announcement and develop a script. The scripts were then sent to a New York production company, which chose the three top scripts. Then, the real work began, as the company flew to Valparaiso to produce the videos teaching the students so much about quality production. It was a real plus for the class to work with a professional crew and learn to both direct, act and produce a PSA.

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The Auto Show contest involved four states and more than 100 students entered. When the videos were judged, the top three winners were all Phelps' students. Kouts juniors MacKenzie Taulbee, Boone Grove junior Hannah Christy and Wheeler High School student Payton Ball suddenly were $1,000 richer for their outstanding videos and the message they provided. Phelps' pride in his young students is obvious when he talks about their hard work and creativity. The three PSAs drive home important messages focusing on driving when sleepy, texting while driving, and arguing and losing your driving concentration. They are amazing and leave the viewer with a message, loud and clear. One of these future professionals will add another $1,000 to his/her bank account next Friday when the top vote-getter is announced at the Auto Show.

Do yourself a favor and go to www.facebook.com/ChicagoAuto Show and watch their videos, and then you can choose to vote for your favorite. I am sure you will be as amazed as I was when you view the talent of these three young people. Congratulations MacKenzie, Hannah and Payton for your super work. You are my pet persons of the week, and I wish you many blessings in your future endeavors. Give your instructor a big "thank you" too.

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It hasn't gone away. That's why the Family & Youth Service Bureau is still providing much-needed information about ongoing substance abuse problems in Porter County through four workshops in 2017. The first one will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, led by coroner Chuck Harris and called "Heroin and other Opiates." Harris notes that attendees will gain a clear understanding of the drug epidemic in Porter County. Yes, it still is epidemic. They will also learn how to protect kids from peer pressure to try it. If you have any interaction with children, you are the best anti-drug influence in students' lives. The only way to help stop the abuse is by being educated, and none of us are too old to learn. The workshops are held at the FYSB office at 253 W. Lincolnway in Valparaiso, and they are free. Space is limited so please RSVP if you want to attend at kunderwood@fysb.org, or call 464-9585. It will be an evening well spent, and they'll even have refreshments.

It's been a long time since Albert Einstein has been around, but here's a quote from him to copy and put on your refrigerator: "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction, the world will have a generation of idiots." Then, every time you read it, gather your family or friends, and sit and chat.

Then I hope you have a great day because you deserve it. Thanks for reading. Fly your flag.

Lorrie Woycik is a freelance columnist for the Post-Tribune.
Disenchantment with Northwest Indiana's elected officials who stand accused of public corruption or have admitted to breaking the law is ratcheting up.

Finally.

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Don't expect resignations from Portage Mayor James Snyder, Lake County Sheriff John Buncich or Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington anytime soon. All have come under fire recently for failing to step aside from their public service jobs. Yes, they have no legal obligation to do so, and let's not forget they likely will need deep pockets to pay off attorney bills. So those taxpayer-funded paychecks might come in handy.

Sadly, as calls for their resignations echo throughout the region, this trio seem steered by moral compasses that point toward their own self-interests, not those of the citizens and communities who elected them.

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Taxpayers should expect public officials to conduct themselves properly, follow the law and  at the very least  not put themselves in compromising positions.

Yet, here we are.

It's the right time for a strong public outcry. Loud voices and protests can lead to change.

Snyder, a second-term Republican in Porter County's largest city, is rejecting calls from his City Council to resign, or even to just stay away. According to public records, the Portage mayor earns $53,466 from the city and $30,000 annually as chairman of the Utility Service Board. He is accused in federal court of taking a $13,000 bribe in exchange for a city towing contract. He's also accused of obstructing IRS laws in connection with his personal and business taxes. He has pleaded not guilty.

"No Resigning!" was Snyder's crisp retort in an email after returning with his wife and four kids from a trip to President Donald Trump's inauguration that he billed to taxpayers. Snyder took along a security detail that included the Portage police chief and assistant police chief. The trip's total cost to taxpayers was at least $2,692. You're welcome, mayor.

Buncich, the most powerful Democrat in Lake County, who pulls in $143,926 annually, must not see much reason to walk away from that paycheck, either. The sheriff is facing a multicount indictment alleging he took bribes in the form of thousands of dollars in cash and donations to his campaign fund from a towing contractor who sought the county's business.

Buncich also isn't leaving his post as chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., a Buncich critic, and Lake GOP Chairman Dan Dernulc, a Lake councilman, issued calls for Buncich to resign.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Buncich, who remains free on bond while he oversees the county's largest law enforcement unit, is asking a federal judge to return his firearms. He contends the weapons are necessary to carry out his duties as sheriff. Buncich has pleaded not guilty and faces an April trial.

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Meanwhile, state Rep. Charlie Brown, a Gary Democrat, said last week that Washington should step down as a Lake County councilman following his December guilty plea to misdemeanor charges of battery and invasion of privacy.

Brown rightfully called for Washington to resign. "Washington's actions are distasteful to not only women but to anyone else who respects women," Brown stated.

Both of Washington's charges were bargained down from felony strangulation counts. Washington admitted to "losing his cool" in an argument with his wife and pushing her. His sentence of one year was suspended, and he's serving a year on probation.

Washington, who earns a salary of $32,681 plus health benefits, did agree to step down from his role as vice president of the County Council, a position his fellow council members incredulously entrusted him with last month. So there's that.

Snyder and Buncich have not had their day in court, but either way, the clouds that hang over them are embarrassments to themselves and the region. Their decisions to remain in their current capacities are troubling as the public trust crumbles.

Taxpayers deserve public officials who conduct themselves in a manner that's beyond reproach. We demand it.
As the nomination of Betsy DeVos to lead the U.S. Department of Education slogs its way through the legislative vetting process, it is clear that she represents all that is wrong with the charter/voucher movement. DeVos is woefully unqualified and unprepared to lead the Education Department. DeVos has no direct experience at any level of public education. Her only true experience is using her family wealth to influence legislation aimed at expanding and protecting charter and voucher schools in Michigan and across the country. She brings the flaws of the charter/voucher movement into clear focus.

First are the incessant false claims that public education is failing and ineffective. The alternative facts presented are that U.S. education does not measure up to education in other nations. Not only does the U.S. continue to improve in international measures, but while the U.S. educates its entire student population regardless of geography or poverty, the same cannot be said of many of the so-called top performing nations to whom the U.S. is compared. In fact, when poverty is taken into consideration, the U.S. leaps to the top of international comparisons.

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Even if credence is given to the idea that some other nations' students test higher, none of those countries endorse school choice. Instead, they value and ensure quality in all of their public schools.

Second, the proliferation of charter/voucher schools takes place without any requirements for accountability or transparency. New charter schools are created without adequate criteria to ensure quality. Ineffective charter schools are allowed to continue with minimal or no consequences for poor performance. Voucher schools can discriminate as to the students they teach. As documented, they can use textbooks that refute evolution, use the Bible to teach science or even diminish the effects of slavery or the KKK, not to mention what might not be taught about democracy and nondiscrimination. DeVos has steadfastly lobbied against any such accountability or oversight.

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Finally, there is the lack of any transparency with respect to how tax dollars are used in charter/voucher schools. Taxpayers deserve to know how sponsors of charter/voucher schools are taking profit or using tax dollars for nonschool church purposes versus educating kids. Here again, DeVos has financially influenced decisions to avoid such transparency.

No legislator or government official should falsely preach against the effectiveness of public education, reject responsibility for making all schools effective or endorse the use of tax dollars while avoiding accountability and transparency and visiting financial harm on existing public schools.

Tony Lux is a retired superintendent of Merrillville schools and an Indiana Coalition for Public Education board member.
What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

Send all the refugees to Canada! You bigots are so cute when you're angry.

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The number of people killed in the United States by citizens of Muslim countries banned by Trump's executive order is 0. The number of people killed in the United States each day due to gun violence is an average of 30 per day. If Trump wants to do something for the security of our citizens, he should look closer at gun violence.

I'm sick of hearing people complain about Trump. Our corrupt/incompetent/do-nothing government wasn't doing its job, listening to the voters, or solving problems... This created the circumstances for Trump to rise to power. They deserve what they got.

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How can you blame Quickly if the readers of this publication send comments bashing Trump and Pence? The readers don't like the actions they are taking and want to point out the flaws for everyone to see.

Who is Mayor Snyder of Portage kidding? He stated he needed a security detail to travel with him and his family to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. His ego is huge. Trust me, Mr. Mayor, we wouldn't recognize if you ate the Southlake Mall in Hobart. The only people who do recognize you work for the FBI. What a waste of taxpayers' money.

We have an immigration law to allow people to come to this country that is being ignored by some, but if you jump in front of those people at the grocery store all hell breaks loose. Why is that?

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

The chain of "Neurocore" brain treatment centers owned by Betsy DeVos and her husband appear to be nothing more than the same kind of fraudulent scam as Trump University. These billionaires seem to make their money from the fleece of gullible sheep. And she will probably be our next Secretary of Education. It's sickening. Is this the model we want our children to follow?

Yes, every single thing that goes wrong from now on will be President Trump's fault. Got it?

I went to my local diner and had a cheeseburger with American cheese and french fries, and topped it off with a piece of apple pie. Does that send you screaming into the hills?

According to Google, the only "national news" mention of the YMCA's cable TV ban was on Breitbart News two weeks ago. Nobody else cares.

I love getting the Post-Tribune. My husband reads the sports. I read the Quickly. I am so happy to have Trump in office. I lived through eight horrible years of Obama but I let it be. I cannot believe how his followers are acting. So entertaining except the destruction. It dues give me a chuckle though to see Trump ruffling feathers. He is awesome.

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Democrats are so mad that they lost the election, that they're not even showing up at the confirmation hearing, because doing the job the taxpayers elected them to do. That doesn't serve their interests. That's another losing strategy that will cost them their jobs in 2018.

Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly
What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

We want fair trade not free trade. We may want to be able to buy foreign-made goods but not at the cost of our American manufacturing base and jobs. Any trade agreements should be fair and responsibly crafted with tariffs and labor and environmental standards and not put our workers and companies at an unfair disadvantage. What is difficult to understand about this?

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People locally don't want alcohol at the beach, but they want to force a pipeline through someone else's land. Do you not see your hypocrisy?

Trump says he will destroy the law that keeps churches out of politics. I hope that he also makes all churches pay taxes.

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For more years than we can think of the Gary Community School Corporation has been a failure. Its declining enrollment, low graduation rate, total mismanagement of funds and the list goes on. Now, they're looking down state for help. By July, they could be in debt. Here's a thought: you have 6,480 students. Close all schools but keep two open and consolidate those students into them. Give the state total control over them and their debt. Dissolve the school board completely. They're missing the mark year after year and make too much money for continued failure. If they truly want the schools and the students to win, then do the right thing.

Trump's supporters say that more than half the American people support his bans on refugees and immigration. Well, it isn't even half, let alone more, but let's just say it is. If more than half of Americans thought slavery should be made legal, would that make it OK? Some things just aren't made right by popular vote. Too bad. If they were, Hillary Clinton would be president.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

How old is Punxsutawney Phil anyway. Is he a Sr., Jr., III, IV. Maybe he's lost his mind and vision. I know we can see his shadow, but can he?

Women get pregnant every single day, many of them have multiple births. Beyonce having twins is not earth shattering news.

If Trump wants to make America safe, he should try to stop the approximately 30 deadly shootings that happen in our country on a daily basis.

All the pro-Trump people do in Quickly is whine about how many contributors are bashing him. Stop whining and tell us what wonderful things he's doing. At least let us know what things he's doing that aren't anti-American or unconstitutional. There aren't any? Oh.

It's a shame that the construction project at Valparaiso High School included the destruction of the many beautiful, healthy old trees along Campbell Street. Was it really necessary? The school property looks like a wasteland now. But of course they can always use taxpayer dollars to plant new trees.

I don't blame the YMCA for shutting down the fake news channel CNN. Don't let the opinion of a few people in Quickly who try to make it look like a big issue. Things are changing rapidly.

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Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves to members of the news media before boarding Marine One and departing the White House Feb. 3, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

We have "right to work" in Indiana. This didn't stop Carrier or Rexnord from going to Mexico. Please stop spreading the lie that jobs have left due to unions. They are leaving due to the minimum wage of $3.80 per day in Mexico.

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At the National Prayer Breakfast, our president asked those in attendance to pray for better television ratings. Wow

President Trump has our nation's first casualty on his watch and he tries to blame President Obama. Own it, President Trump.

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This session of the Indiana General Assembly will determine who it is serving: Are they in league with the liquor store lobby or the taxpayers of Indiana?

It is not surprising that China's leader spoke out against protectionist trade tactics, given that China is one of the main practitioners of unfair trade practices/tactics and has been one of the main beneficiaries of Free Trade/unfair trade at the expense of other nations.

A British reporter stayed at the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office for $800 a night to examine all items, including sheets, curtains, lamps, TVs, furniture, to see where they had been produced. Everything except the wrapped chocolate was made in a foreign country.

If you're so impressed with a Middle Eastern meal and are so eager to do it again, then you should move to the Middle East and enjoy it daily.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

So how about we just give Trump a crown and a sash and declare him king? He's already anointed himself that anyway.

According to a commenter in Quickly, all the really smart people lost the election and the minions won. Hope I never get that smart.

If the guy in charge does whatever he wants defying our justice department, our constitution, our laws, when do we start calling this a dictatorship rather than a democracy?

Warner Todd Huston, of Breitbart News, criticized Jerry Davich for giving his opinion about the Valparaiso YMCA's banning of cable television news. Huston referred to Davich as a reporter. Davich actually is a columnist, and as such, he has every right to offer his opinion. Only reporters are not allowed to give their opinions. Columnists are expected to offer opinions. Another example of why Breitbart News is so ignorant. They are the real fake news outlet.

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I think the real minions are the people who failed to realize the strategy that Trump used to win the election. I guess the pundits on the cable news channels spent too much time on the coastal states and forgot about middle America.

Screening foreigners is a lot different than banning them. I do not agree with Trump's tactics.

Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly
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China has the largest capacity for photovoltaic (PV) energy in the world, official data showed Saturday.

China's installed PV capacity was 77.42 million kilowatts at the end of 2016, thanks to 34.54 million kilowatts of capacity added over the year, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in a statement.

China's PV capacity and its increase in 2016 were the biggest in the world, according to the NEA.

China's solar plants generated 66.2 billion kilowatt hours of power last year, accounting for one percent of the country's total power generation, the NEA said.

Over the next five-year period (2016-2020), China will continue to expand its PV capabilities and phase out outdated capacity, according to the NEA solar power development plan for the period.

China will add over 110 million kilowatts of solar power by 2020, according to the plan, and reduce the price of PV power by at least 50 percent compared with 2015.

The country is aiming to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuel generated power to 20 percent by 2030 from the present 11 percent.
Names reflect a nation's changing cultural trend. [Shanghai Daily]

New-born babies bring joy, of course, but also troubles with how to name them. Names matter, Chinese agree, and that is why parents go to great lengths to devise auspicious and fitting names for their children.

"It is better to teach your children a craft, than to give them a thousand pieces of gold; it is better to give them a good name than to teach them a craft," said an advertisement for 99qumingzi.com, a popular website providing naming services for new parents.

Decades ago, Chinese parents cared less about names.

"Probably because their parents did not go to school, some used numeral or 'dog' as given names," says Hu Weining, head of household registration in the Honggutan New District of Nanchang, capital of eastern China's Jiangxi Province. Her team, part of the city police, deals with registration documents for new babies, and she has worked there for 20 years.

She says that in the last two decades better-educated parents have started to care about names and even pay for names for their children.

According to Chinese custom, names that have been used by elder people in the family cannot be used for babies. Young parent do not like their children to share their names with others.

"Uniqueness is the new standard. Many people use complex Chinese characters to differentiate from others," Hu says.

Trying to avoid repeating someone else's name is a difficult task. Since January 1, 2016, China relaxed its one-child policy to allow all married couples to have two children.

Last year, millions of babies were born, and how to name them became a sweet headache.

"It can't be tacky, or strange. It should sound nice, but first and foremost it must be different from others," says Wang Chunhua, a 30-year-old mother who gave birth to a boy in November last year. Her older daughter is seven.

Wang spent weeks going through Chinese dictionaries, looking for a proper and nice enough name for her son. She consulted with her husband and her relatives, and asked them to vote. Finally, she said: "Let's name him Yuxuan (having an imposing appearance), nice meaning, and not common around me."

As it turns out, according to a December report by Qimingtong, a naming service company, in cooperation with Tsinghua University, Yuxuan is a common name. It ranked fourth as the most common names for boys in 2015, according to the report based on the data of 5.4 million babies born that year.

New trend

"Names reflect a nation's changing cultural trend," Hu says.

Thirty years ago, babies were given names like Wei (greatness), Aiguo (patriotism) or Xiuli (gently beautiful), now Chenxi (sun rays) and Haoran (righteousness) are more popular.

In 2015, 4,034 new babies were born in Honggutan, where Hu works. From January to November 2016, there were 4,695 newborns, up 16.38 percent year on year.

Some police districts in China have developed computer systems for registrants to search whether a name has been used and by how many people. Hu's department does not offer such services, but she gives her advice.

"I have repeatedly told parents not to use extremely uncommon characters. Such names are unscannable in banking or social security systems," she says.

Zhang Ruxin, who led the report on names, says people used to have only one Chinese character as a given name, but two-character names were now preferred, mainly to avoid duplicates.

According to the report, 299,025 people, about the population of Iceland, are called Zhang (surname) Wei (given name), the most-used name. The second-ranking Wang Wei is shared by 290,619 people.

Younger parents are more influenced by pop culture, including romance novels and popular TV series. Zixuan, a name which probably has roots in heroines and heroes of TV series, is remarkably overused. It comes in different Chinese characters.

"My boy Zixuan was admitted to the hospital, and there happened to be four Zixuans in the same ward," a mother said.

In Tibet Autonomous Region, repetition of names is also being shunned. Doje Drolma, a college student from Tibet, said several of her friends had longer names, like Tenzingendenlesh.

In Tibet, babies are often named by high monks, living-Buddhas or the elderly in their families.

Good business

With the second-child boom, business has been good for naming services companies. Duan Lingang, 58, a self-professed name expert based in Jiangxi, founded his business five years ago.

"Back then, there were no orders for months," he says.

Duan improved his proficiency after learning from a master in "I Ching," or "Book of Changes," in Beijing. He charges 600 yuan (US$92) for a name, and writes up to 24 options for parents to select from.

"My reputation spreads through word of mouth. Now I get two to three orders every week," he says.

Duan calculates the baby's five elements  metal, wood, water, fire and earth  from the date and time of birth, before giving names accordingly.

"A baby's name can make up for the element he or she lacks from birth, bringing good fortune," he says.

Names matter so much that Chinese parents are not settled with buying only Chinese names; they are also buying English names.

Beau Rose Jessup, from Britain, established the website Specialname.cn to give new Chinese babies English names. The website claims it has given names to 295,379 babies.

"The English name you give your children will change their future," the website proclaims.
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Seven people were killed when a car crashed into a wall in a county road in north China's Hebei Province, local authorities said Saturday.

The accident occurred at about 10:36 p.m. Friday in Anzhou town, Hebei.

Six people died at the scene and one died in hospital.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.
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Border police in a prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province seized 1.6 tonnes of narcotics in 2016, the police announced Saturday.

Police in Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture completed investigations into 668 drug-related crimes and arrested 662 suspects in 2016.

The prefecture is near the opium-growing Golden Triangle.
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Leaders of EU and European countries pose for a family photo outside the presidential palace after the first round table discussion of the EU informal summit in Valletta, Malta, Feb. 3, 2017. [Xinhua/Mark Zammit Cordina]

The European Union (EU) hailed the measures of more cooperation with Libya adopted Friday at its Malta informal summit as "sensible ways" to address migration.

In the meantime, EU leaders stayed cautious when commenting on the transatlantic relations, which was rattled by openly hostile pronouncements by the new U.S. administration.

"This is the first time all member states have managed to achieve important progress and unity," said Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat whose country hosts the current EU presidency.

"Management of migration is not about black and white, doing nothing or resorting to extreme measures, but sensible ways in which we can move ahead," he said.

After a work session on external dimension of migration, European leaders agreed on an action plan to stem the migration flow into Europe along the Central Mediterranean route.

Among the top priorities were training, equipment and support to the Libyan national coast guard, further efforts to disrupt smuggling business, and supporting the development of local communities in Libya.

To cover the most urgent funding needs now and throughout 2017, the European Commission has decided to mobilize as a first step an additional 200 million euros (216 million U.S. dollars) for the North Africa window of the Fund and to give priority to migration-related projects concerning Libya.

Apart from hailing the "immediate operational measures that should help reduce migrants and save lives", EU President Donald Tusk welcomed the memorandum of understanding signed Thursday between Italy with Libya.

In the memorandum Rome has pledged money, training and equipment to help the UN-backed Libyan government to manage its vast desert borders and boost its limited coast guard fleet.

"Libya is in a particular situation and the Libyan government faces challenges but that is not an excuse not to engage," said Muscat.

The agreement now provides for assistance to the Libyan government in the management of camps where potential refugees are held. They are now in a dire situation, not properly managed, he said.

On the Transatlantic ties, Tusk said the cooperation between the EU and the United States remains an "absolute priority" for the bloc because it has until now been "a key pillar of the free world".

During the Malta summit, EU leaders were prudent from voicing harsh comments. Instead, they stressed the importance that the EU must stay confident and stick to its principles whilst maintaining dialogue with Washington.

"We know that today we have no other option than to regain confidence in our own strength," Tusk told a press conference ahead of the second session which will focus on the future global role of the EU.

"The only real threat is not being enlightened enough towards challenges. If you are not united and positive enough, that could be a real threat," he added.

In his letter to EU 27 leaders, Tusk also pointed out as internal threats "the rise in anti-EU, nationalist, increasingly xenophobic sentiment in the EU itself".

"Europe has its fate in its own hands. The more we are clear about how we define our role in the world, the better we can also take care of our transatlantic relations," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said: "Today we have pretty mixed feelings, to be honest, because the tangible aspects of Mr. Trump's policy raise some concerns. It could be a catalyst for a stronger, more united Europe."

Muscat said there were concerns among the EU's member states about some decisions taken and attitudes adopted by the Trump administration.

"However there was no sense of anti-Americanism," Muscat said.

"There was a sense we need to engage with the USA just the same, but we cannot stay silent where there are principles involved," he said.

"Now we are living in different historic times and we need to get our act together. Unity for unity's sake is not enough. We need a significant debate on the future of the EU," said the Maltese Prime Minister.
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Malaysian navy searches for missing people in a boat accident in waters off the Malaysian state of Sabah on Feb. 1, 2017. The search and rescue operation expanded to 3,900 square nautical miles on Wednesday, up from Tuesday's 3,000 square nautical miles, involving 350 personnel and 22 assets from the Malaysian navy, maritime authorities and the police as well neighboring Brunei.[Photo: Xinhua]

Malaysian authorities said on Saturday that a female body has been found in waters off Mengalum island, where the ill-fated tourist boat carrying 31 people set out for and capsized afterwards on Jan. 28.

Adama Aziz, a regional official of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, told reporters on Saturday that the body, which was in red shirt and black trousers, was found by a fisherman 13 nautical miles from the sinking boat's last known position.

Aziz said further verification is needed to confirm whether the body belong to the six missing persons, which include five Chinese citizens and a Malaysian crewmember.

The police will take over the verification process, possibly through post-mortem work, said Aziz.

Noting that the search and rescue operation continues for the missing persons, which covers an area of 1,900 square nautical miles, Aziz said search focus will be on the area where the body was discovered.
By Lena Ge, China Aviation Daily | Feb. 04, 2017

Airbus (Tianjin) Final Assembly Co., Ltd. will start assembly of its first A320neo aircraft in July and plan to deliver it to an Asian customer in September 2017.

The Chinese plant, a joint venture between Airbus and Chinese partners in Tianjin, has delivered more than 300 A320 aircraft since it went into operation in 2008.

Starting from 2017, Airbus Tianjin plant plans to assemble four A320neo aircraft each month.

Airbus delivered 153 aircraft to Chinese operators in 2016, its seventh consecutive year of more than 100 deliveries.

The deliveries included 141 aircraft in its single-aisle A320 family and 12 of its A330 family.

According to Airbus China, there are 1,383 Airbus aircraft in service in Chinese mainland, about half of the total civil aircraft with more than 100 seats on the Chinese mainland.

The A320 Family is the world's best-selling single aisle product line with more than 11,000 orders to date and over 6,200 aircraft delivered. The A320neo is the newest member of A320 family. Compared with the other A320, the A320neo burns 15 percent to 20 percent less fuel.

Related News:

Airbus Delivers 153 Aircraft to China in 2016

Airshow - Airbus China Plant to Deliver First A330 in Next September
Workers cut steel plates at an offshore oil-drilling platform near Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]

The US Commerce Department on Thursday stepped closer to placing duties on imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China, issuing a final determination that the products were being subsidized and dumped in the US market at below fair value.

The department said it affirmed anti-dumping duties ranging from 63.86 percent to 76.64 percent on the imports, and an anti-subsidy rate of 75.60 percent for mandatory respondent Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co Ltd.

The duties will go into effect for five years if the US International Trade Commission subsequently affirms its earlier finding that US producers were being harmed.

AK Steel Corp, Allegheny Ludlum IPO, North American Stainless and Outokumpu Stainless USA had brought the case seeking relief. Imports of the products from China were valued at an estimated $302 million in 2015, according to the department.

The US International Trade Commission is scheduled to make its final determination of injury to US producers on or about Mar 20.

In December, China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization arguing against the refusal by the EU and the US to treat China as a market economy.

"The EU has continued to use the unfair and unreasonable surrogate country method and seriously harm the interests of Chinese enterprises," trade remedy and investigation bureau chief of the Ministry of Commerce Wang Hejun said in a statement.

Chen Xin, director of the business department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of European Studies, said that China has been actively cutting back steel capacity in recent years to ease the global overcapacity.

"China's steel exports are competitive in quality and price because of the scale of economy," Chen said.

Meanwhile, the government has been making efforts to shut down outdated furnaces throughout the country to upgrade the steel industry.

The short-term goal of China's capacity reduction is to cut crude steel capacity by 15 percent, or 27 million tons, within three years starting from 2016, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The capacity reduction goal of 45 million tons for 2016 was reached in October.
BEIJING -- China urged the United States to correct its unfair decision to impose high anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of Chinese stainless steel sheet and strip, according to a statement released Saturday by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

The US Department of Commerce said Thursday that it had determined that imports of Chinese stainless steel sheet and strip should be subject to anti-dumping duties from 63.86 percent to 76.64 percent and anti-subsidy duties from 75.6 percent to 190.71 percent.

China is disappointed by a series of decisions by the US related to high anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese steel products and questions its unfair investigation methods, said Wang Hejun, head of the MOC trade remedy and investigation bureau.

The United States has violated World Trade Organization rules by neglecting the abundant proof offered by Chinese companies and has treated them unfairly simply because of their state-owned-enterprise status, Wang said.

The root cause for current challenges facing the steel sector is the sluggish world economy and shrinking demand, which calls for global cooperation instead of protectionism, according to Wang.

The US should abide by WTO rules and correct their unfair practices and China will take the necessary steps to protect due rights of Chinese enterprises, Wang added.
A WeChat logo is displayed on a mobile phone as a woman walks past as she talks on her mobile phone at a taxi rank in this picture illustration taken July 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

After the past three years of growth, instant messenger WeChat's red packetsor hongbao in Chinesehave become one of the most prevalent and popular aspects of the Spring Festival.

According to statistics provided by Tencent Holdings Ltd, the provider of the WeChat services, on Thursday, 46 billion red packets were sent and received during the six days from lunar New Year's Eve to the fifth day of the first lunar month (Jan 27 to Feb 1), up 43.3 percent year-on-year.

The Lunar New Year's Eve was the peak for the red packets, when a total of 14.2 billion red packets were sent and received on that day, up 75.7 percent year-on-year. A man in Shenzhen sent a record high 2,125 red packets on the day, while another man in Binzhou in eastern China's Shandong province got the most red packets, receiving 10,069 red envelopes.

People in Guangdong were the most generous, sending and receiving 5.84 billion red packets during the surveyed six days. Jiangsu ranked the second on the list, with 2.93 billion red packets, followed by Shandong, Hebei and Zhejiang.

WeChat found that the younger generations, those born in the 1980s and the 1990s, make up the majority of hongbao senders.

Tencent did not launch any advance marketing campaign for this year's red packets activity.

WeChat President Zhang Xiaolong said it should not directly be involved in too many festive occasions because it is essentially a tool.

Zhang also said that the mission of promoting WeChat Spring Festival red packets had already been completed in the past few years, including working with the Spring Festival gala show of the China Central Television.

Apart from the red packets, WeChat stickers especially designed for the Spring Festival and video calls, have also become the two major ways to express people's wishes to their friends and relatives. During the six surveyed days, a total of 16 billion WeChat stickers were sent with blessings.
Tim Cook talks with talents at the new Mac Lab at GNITS women's college on May 19, 2016 during his first visit to the nation. [Photo/Cook's Twitter]

NEW DELHI -- Apple Inc would start making iPhones in India's southwestern state of Karnataka, local government said Friday.

The assembling of iPhones, according to officials, will start from April in the state's capital city, Bengaluru, Indian tech hub.

Karnataka's information technology minister Priyank Kharge told media that they have reached an agreement with Apple regarding the matter.

"Apple's intentions to manufacture in Bengaluru will foster cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally," a statement issued by Karnataka government said.

The US company will be operated by Wistron Corp.

Last month, Kharge and senior officials met Apple executives to discuss the matter. Prior to that, a series of meetings were held between representatives of Apple and India's federal government officials.

Apple Inc is yet to confirm the deal.

The US tech giant has no showrooms in India but sells its products through local distributors. In Indian market, Apple lags behind South Korean rival Samsung and China's Xiaomi, Oppo and Lenovo.

Officials in Karnataka believe that Apple's manufacturing in the state would enhance the technology hub image of Bengaluru.

Though Apple products are expensive, however, in India, buying iPhones and Apple laptops is perceived as a status symbol.
More empty nesters seeking canine companionship

Han Zijing, 60, has become a renowned dog lover in her neighborhood in Chongqing. Every evening, she walks a brown toy poodle, a golden retriever and a mixed breed in a nearby park.

"I don't like dog owners who have to walk their dogs by leash. My dogs are quiet and listen to my orders. When I walk, they walk; when I stop, they stop. And they don't bark," she said. "From this perspective, they are more 'filial' than my daughter."

Like many Chinese mothers, Han placed all her attention on her only child. Her daughter has been a source of pride by "completing many tasks", including getting into one of China's most prestigious universities and finding a good job in Beijing.

But in recent years, Han has felt distanced from her daughter, who seems in no hurry to get married and have a child. Luckily, she has a dog to fill the void.

More empty nesters now have pet dogs to cope with loneliness caused partly by the family planning policy and urbanization, boosting the pet industry's development.

Han said having a dog brought her more friends. This made her realize that she is not the only one tackling the loneliness after children grow up and leave the nest.

"When I walk my dogs, I meet many other elderly residents with dogs," she said.

"I feel a little sad. Our children have settled in big cities and only visit us during holidays. Some get married and don't want to live with us."

According to the China National Committee on Aging, the country will have 118 million empty nesters in 2020. The physical and mental health of this demographic has become an issue of concern.

Once banned as a bourgeois pastime, owning a pet dog in Beijing became legal only in 1993. In the past 20 years, China has turned into the third-largest country for dog ownership, with 27.4 million pet dogs, after the United States and Brazil, according to a report by Forbes.com, citing data from China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Yu Lianhai, founder of 51buydog, a pet store in Beijing, said strong demand for companionship brought by the family planning policy and urbanization has been driving the boom.

"Those born to a one-child family were placed under great expectations by the whole family when they were young," he said. "Many left their hometown to seek better careers in first-tier cities.

"Most parents of the one-child generation are from rural areas. They are used to living with family and have close relations with neighbors. Naturally, they'd feel lonely after their children leave them. One solution is to raise a dog."

Yu has been in the pet business for more than two decades. He said the most frequent phrase he heard from buyers is "raising a dog is more rewarding than raising a child".

Zheng Richang, a psychology professor at Beijing Normal University, has done research that shows empty nesters with a companion animal are less likely to have depression and anxiety.

He said companion animals offer a sense of security that can help to mitigate the negative impact brought by living alone.

Jiang Qiaoyun, a retired nurse in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, got a pet dog last year.

"When I was little and lived in a village, we had dogs. But we used them mostly to act as guard dogs," she said. "Having a pet dog is like a typical behavior of people living in cities. My son was born in the city. He naturally thinks of a dog as a pet."

Yu said he expected that the pet dog market will develop quickly in the next 10 years.

"Besides economic reasons, the change of social status is another reason why many Chinese want to have a pet dog. In addition to a middle class eager to have fancy dogs, many immigrants moving from rural areas to cities, or from small cities to big ones, would also want a dog to show they are modern citizens."
"Regional outsiders" should respect the will and interests of countries in the region to maintain peace and stability, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Friday when asked to comment on the prediction by the White House chief strategist of a US-China war over the South China Sea.

Lu reaffirmed China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters, saying that China will safeguard its territorial sovereignty as well as maritime rights and interests.

"Maintaining the peace, stability and security of the region will benefit all parties," he said at a daily news conference in Beijing.

Steve Bannon, former head of far-right news website Breitbart and now the chief strategist of US President Donald Trump's administration, said on a radio show in March that "the US and China will fight a war within the next 10 years over islands in the South China Sea, and "there's no doubt about that".

Similarly, new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at his confirmation hearing last month that China should be barred from the islands it has built in the South China Sea.

However, Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana said on Thursday that fears over a US-China war were overblown.

"I don't think it will happen. Trump is a businessman and he knows that if war breaks out, businesses will suffer," Lorenzana told Bloomberg News in an interview in Manila.

While pledging to stay neutral if tensions between the US and China continued to escalate in the South China Sea, Lorenzana also said the Philippines will not wage war over the South China Sea islands.

China and the Philippines agreed to peacefully solve disputes through direct talks during Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to China in October.

In July, China and ASEAN reaffirmed in a joint statement their support for South China Sea disputes to be resolved by parties directly involved and agreed to work toward an early adoption of a more detailed code of conduct.
Only two of nine people survived the collapse of four residential houses in Wencheng county in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, on Thursday morning.

The buildings, four to five stories tall, collapsed at 8 am.

Those caught in the collapse were from two families, including a family of six - an old couple, their son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons.

Hu Qinghua, 63, called her son and daughter for help in the afternoon, which helped the rescue team locate her.

She was pulled from the debris about 10:40 pm on Thursday, and another survivor was rescued at about 7 am on Friday. The final person was found dead around 10 am on Friday, which ended the search.

The two survivors were rushed to hospitals for further treatment and remain stable.

With the help of eight cranes and excavators, more than 400 paramilitary officers, firefighters, township officials and medical workers carried out the rescue operation.

Fifty-eight people living nearby were evacuated.

Local authorities have launched an investigation into the collapse of the buildings, which were built by local farmers in 2002.

"We will deepen the investigation of other residential houses ... especially self-built ones. The further reconstruction of urban villages and dilapidated buildings will be carried out to ensure the safety of local residents," Zhang Shouyu, acting county chief of Wencheng, said at a news conference on Friday.
A man checks in with a pile of pancake and pickles made by his mother at Lukou international airport in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, on Feb 2, 2017. It was too big to fit in his bags . [Photo/mp.weixin.qq.com]

Like most Chinese festivals, food plays a big part in Chinese New Year celebrations. What isn't eaten during the seven-day Spring Festival, often ends up in the luggage of Chinese people traveling back from their hometown to the cities where they work or study.

Photos of parents squeezing as much homemade food into their children's suitcases or car boots as they can have been widely posted online as users reflected on the nature of parental love.

One user, named Jianghaibunixiaoliu, said: "Your suitcase is always filled up with food that your mother forced you to take. There is a kind of love that fear for you being hungry."

Another Internet user, named Wang Xiaoxi, said: "I carry more things with me when leaving than what I bring to my parents' home. My mother told me to take away whatever I want to take from home."

Many were moved by the generosity of their own parents.

One, named Xiaohan, said: "As a woman who marry far away from home, my parents came to my home to spend the Spring Festival with me this year. They brought to me a lot of hometown specialties and made many food in my home, stuffing the refrigerator to full. I told my mother that eating up all food, I will put on fat. My mother said that I can lose weight after she leaves. She will feel bad if she sees me losing flesh."

Viewing the photos posted online, Shuangyu commented: "I laughed when I see the photos and then cried."

Another, named Brother Qu, said: "I don't have a mother or father. I really envy you. Please cherish that love, even if it is a simple action of covering you up with a coat when you are sleeping. I will never experience that kind of warmth again!"
Photo taken on Feb 4, 2017 shows the accident site of bus crash in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A bus carrying tourists from the Chinese mainland crashed in Kaohsiung Saturday, with a number of people injured. [Photo/Xinhua]

TAIPEI -- About 21 tourists from the Chinese mainland were injured Saturday in a bus accident in Kaohsiung city, south Taiwan.

Eighteen people, including seven children, were slightly injured, and another three were "observed with apparent wounds," according to the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.

All the injured have been taken to hospital.

The bus carrying 28 passengers hit a railway bridge tunnel across the highway at about 10:04 am. The 28 passengers include 25 tourists and a tour guide from East China's Zhejiang province, and a tour guide and a bus driver both from Taiwan.

The accident was possibly caused as the driver underestimated the height of the bus, the Kaohsiung authorities said, adding further investigation is underway.

The Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital said that it had received eight people injured in the accident, adding that all eight walked into the hospital themselves for treatment.

The Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital received three injured passengers. The hospital's emergency doctor told reporters that the three could leave the hospital as early as tomorrow.
The State Council has approved a development plan for the city cluster around Beibu Gulf in Guangdong and Hainan provinces and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The plan, released on Friday, is designed to further open up the areas to Southeast Asian countries.

According to the notice, efforts should be made to boost development in livable cities in the Beibu Gulf city cluster to advance the regions role as a portal in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The plan will also bolster efforts to further open up the countrys coastal regions and integrate the eastern, central and western regions.

The notice also suggested implementing a new development concept, driving supply-side structural reform, generating new momentum for development, focusing on opening-up to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while protecting the clean gulf and constructing an environmentally-friendly industrial system.

It urges local governments in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan to streamline administration and responsibility, strengthen cooperation, work out plans and report major issues, policies and projects involved in the plan to ensure a smooth implementation of the blueprint.

The cluster takes in Guangxi's capital Nanning, Zhanjiang, an industrial hub in Guangdong, and Hainans provincial capital Haikou. The cluster, which also includes surrounding cities such as Chongzuo in Guangxi, covers land of more than 40,000 square kilometers. The gulf has 1,600 km of coastline and is the only place in China that possesses on-land and maritime connections with ASEAN countries.
Israeli doctor Moris Topaz's ties with China have grown since a massive earthquake struck Sichuan in 2008, Liu Xiangrui reports.

Moris Topaz sees medicine as a unique link between China and his home country, Israel.

"This is the beauty about cooperation in medicine. It's never a one-time project, because we need to improve all the time," says Topaz, 66, who has maintained his relations with Chinese doctors with whom he has cooperated in the past. "We are a bridge between the two countries."

Topaz, who heads plastic surgery at Hadera's Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, a prestigious Israeli hospital, has dedicated decades to research. He has also served on the International Committee for Quality Assurance and Medical Technologies and Devices in Plastic Surgery, of which he was secretary-general.

In 2015, Topaz visited China on invitation from the government, and traveled to Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, which has since become a "base" for him in the country. His local colleagues at a hospital helped him to know more about China, even though he cannot speak Mandarin.

"We speak the same professional language of medicine and surgery. This way we can bridge a lot of verbal gaps and make friends everywhere," he says.

In 2008, Topaz had volunteered to help those injured in a massive earthquake that hit Southwest China's Sichuan province after learning about the natural disaster in the news back home. He soon arrived in Deyang, among the worst-affected areas, and worked for days along with an army unit overseeing rescue and relief work there.

He also donated medical devices and medicines worth 100,000 yuan to a local hospital. He revisited the area during the later stages of relief work to train local medical professionals with advanced wound-healing methods. He was impressed by how the government was able to rebuild the whole area with hospitals and other facilities just a year later.

"That was a very difficult situation at the time. I think the entire world can learn from China about how to deal with this kind of crisis," he says of the aftermath of the 8-magnitude quake.

His involvement also allowed Topaz to establish close ties with the People's Hospital in Deyang.

Topaz has visited Deyang many times to teach and help doctors there in the past years. Chinese doctors from the hospital were also invited to his medical center to study with Israeli experts.

Thanks to his help, the hospital has expanded its burns and plastic surgery department. It now has dozens of doctors and nurses, from an original count of two doctors.

Topaz has also brought in the latest in medical technology from Israel, including TopCloser, a groundbreaking method for closing large wounds. The method can reduce the complexity of such injuries and shorten the duration of a surgery. It also allows a wound to heal faster and reduces the aftereffects.

Since the method was first used during the earthquake relief in 2008, it has been adopted by more than 150 hospitals in Sichuan, helping many injured people recover relatively quickly.

"I see it as a mission (to promote the method), because it would substantially change medicine globally," he says.

Topaz now returns to China on a monthly basis as his organization has expanded its collaboration with more medical institutions in the country. He usually stays for about one week during each visit. Modern technology has made communication between him and his Chinese colleagues easier, he says.

When he is in Israel, he uses WeChat, a popular Chinese phone app, to exchange ideas with Chinese doctors. His colleagues from here also frequently consult with him by sending him photos of patients' wounds, and he guides them on surgeries by making illustrations.

Topaz's dedication has been recognized by authorities here.

In 2009, he was given the Friendship Award, the highest honor given by the Chinese government to foreigners who have made significant contributions to the country's social and economic development.

Besides his own activities in China, Topaz has tried to bring in more support. For example, he introduced his colleague Meir Oren, a former CEO of Hillel Yaffe, to China so that their organization could establish deeper collaborations with Chinese hospitals and expand them to fields like emergency preparedness.

In the past years, many Chinese doctors from quite a few partner hospitals have received training at their center in Israel and delegations of Israeli doctors have also visited China.

In the eyes of Topaz, the cooperation with China is both a process of sharing and learning. "This is for the benefit of both countries," he says. "We can use this as a tool to improve Sino-Israeli relations. If I now look back, I can say we have achieved a lot."

Contact the writer at liuxiangrui@chinadaily.com.cn
Romania's political crisis deepened on Friday after a key government ally said an emergency decree that would dilute the government's anti-corruption fight was not constitutional.

Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea, who previously backed the government's ordinance, reversed his position on Friday and said he would tell the Constitutional Court that the decree passed overnight on Wednesday to decriminalize official misconduct was "not justified," and the measure risked "taking out of the reach of criminal law almost all the public administration".

Earlier, Justice Minister Florin Iordache said he stood by the law, defying strong criticism from home and abroad and days of massive protests.
People take part in a drum contest for "Lichun", the first of the 24 solar terms in Chinese lunar calendar, in Tancheng county of Linyi city, East China's Shandong province, Feb 3, 2017. People in China held various celebrations on the day of "Lichun", meaning the beginning of spring in Chinese. [Photo/Xinhua]
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Relocated villagers celebrate new life By Yang Fan Updated: 2017-01-24

A resident pastes the character fu, meaning good fortune, on her new front door. [Photo/gog.cn]

Hundreds of residents at Mingtian Migration New Area in Qiannan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture celebrated their first Spring Festival at the new living area on Jan 22.

The residents, who used to live in conditions of poverty, moved to the new area from more than 30 villages in Huishui countys mountainous regions.

To celebrate the beginning of their new life and the upcoming Spring Festival, the newcomers gathered at the areas cultural square in the morning and performed dances and songs. Some games were also arranged with neighbors getting the chance to interact with each other. Several craftspeople also showed their embroidery and sewing skills at a contest held on the day.

As day drew to a close, rows of tables were laid out at the square dressed with a range of homemade dishes. People sat together, enjoying the gathering time and looking forward the new life.

Xiong Shimei, moved to Mingtian from Yanxia village. She was impressed with her new living environment, fitted with street lamps, parks and public play areas. I never thought I would live in such a good house, said Xiong.

Providing new houses for impoverished populations are just one step in the governments poverty alleviation plan. Assistance is also provided to help people find jobs. Xiong now works as an embroiderer for a local cooperative, which can earn her 1,000 yuan ($148.9) per month and allow her to look after her children and parents by not having to work so far away from home.

The Mingtian Migration New Area has 1,095 apartments with 3,750 residents occupying 893 of them.
Winter swimming in North Chinas Hulunbuir

By Zhao Xiao (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2017-02-03

A winter swimming event gathered hundreds of participants from China and Russia to compete in freezing-cold water in Hulunbuir, North Chinas Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

A participant swims in a freezing-cold river below 16 degrees Celsius during a winter swimming contest held in Hulunbuir. [Photo/Xinhua]
LI MIN/CHINA DAILY

On Sunday, the second day of Spring Festival, a man was killed after he fell into the tiger enclosure while trying to get into the zoo in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, without paying for a ticket.

The tragedy cost two lives, as the tiger was shot dead when zoo employees tried to rescue the man.

Video posted online shows a tiger mauling the man as visitors scream in horror at the Youngor Wildlife Park. Two other tigers stand nearby watching. Later reports say police shot the tiger that attacked the man while staff at the wildlife park drove the other tigers away using firecrackers and water cannon.

As news of the incident spread, the majority of voices online blamed the dead man for the animal's death. On Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, there even emerged hashtags such as #Condolences to the innocent tiger or #Sympathy with the victim tiger.

Some said this was a sign that people are becoming more cold-hearted. But they are wrong. People have been displaying increasingly more enthusiasm for helping those in need and participating in charity work. In 2016, the China Charity Federation received donations of 18.8 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) in total, 46 percent more than the donations received in 2015, and they sent helping hands to one tragedy after another.

People are just tired of forgiving those in the wrong. While the sentiment is right, it has been abused too much. When somebody commits a crime, no matter how cruel the crime is, media outlets depict the culprit's miserable childhood and there are calls for forgiveness. When someone smokes in public, there are always people calling for tolerance.

People are fed up and angry with lawbreakers escaping their due punishments in the name of forgiveness and tolerance.

But going back to the tragedy at the wildlife park in Ningbo, the tiger's death shows the park was not well prepared for such emergencies. They did not have any tranquilizer guns that could sedate the tiger immediately and save the lives of both the man and the endangered animal.

When a young bear escaped from a zoo in Ohio last year, posing a threat to tourists' safety, the authorities responded immediately and used a tranquilizer gun to capture it. Such tranquilizer guns should become standard equipment in China at all zoos and safari parks that are home to wild animals.

And, on another level, perhaps it is time to reflect on whether zoos and wildlife parks have had their day. As Jason Baker, vice-president of international campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, noted in a statement after the incident in Ningbo: "Attacks by captive big cats on peoplewhich occur with staggering regularityillustrate the profound level of stress, anxiety and agitation these animals experience every day of their lives."

In the meantime, it is necessary to raise people's awareness that the animals in zoos and wildlife parks are not domesticated pets, and of the need for visitors to observe rules for their own safety.

The incident in Ningbo came only six months after one woman was killed and another was mauled by tigers after they got out of their car while visiting Badaling Wildlife World in Beijing.

And just hours after the tragedy in Ningbo, some other tourists still tried to avoid paying for tickets by climbing over the wall. A camera even recorded how they quarreled with the zoo staff who tried to stop them.

It seems the sense that the rules might be there for their benefit is still illusive among some people. Although the odds of being attacked by a tiger are rather slim, they increase remarkably if one ignores the rules protecting one from the threat.

The man in the Ningbo incident paid for his fault with his life, but the tiger was killed for his fault, too.

The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn
Ten thousand pounds per monththat's the money the Japanese embassy in London has been paying to a British think tank to hype up China threat and propagate against China-UK relations, according to a Sunday Times report.

If true, the act of the Japanese embassy, as an official representative of the country, is both surprising and despicable.

The report says the embassy has hired the Henry Jackson Society, a right-wing think tank, to encourage high-level British politicians and journalists to "voice opposition to Chinese foreign policy".

A recent example is an article published in August 2016 questioning China's involvement in Britain's Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind has confirmed that he had been approached by the HJS to put his name to the article.

Japan's fears about China's rapid development and its sound relations with Britain are seen as being the major motives for why Japan might feel the need to conduct such an indecent campaign.

But such a trick will neither help Japan, whose economy is struggling, nor deter China's growing ties with Western countries. It only reveals a serious deficiency in Tokyo's self-confidence and a moral depravity of its diplomats.

Meanwhile, one cannot help wondering if and how many other Japanese embassies are working on similar projects to tarnish the image of China.

The Japanese government and media as well as the embassy in London have chosen to remain silent after the report was published on Sunday. But silence is by no means golden, and simply gives credence to the report.

Since the UK government has given the green light to the Hinkley Point C project, a sign of the country's confidence in and commitment to a "golden era" of relations with China, HSJ eventually failed in its subversive mission.

For the HJS, its involvement in such a money-driven trick would belie its claim to be "fighting for the principles of a free society".

The authors are writers with Xinhua News Agency.
Tourists visit the Ruins of St. Paul's in Macao, South China, on Feb 1, 2017, during China's Lunar New Year holiday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Many people in China regard the vogue for celebrations at Christmas and Thanksgiving Day as an invasion by Western culture.

Yet, these same people acclaim the popularity of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in recent years as evidence Spring Festival is now a world festival and hail it as a sign of the rise of China and its increased national power.

To some extent, people worried about the celebration of Western festivals in China are overreacting, likewise with their promoting of Spring Festival as a symbol of China's power.

Certainly the Chinese diaspora means there are Chinese communities in many countries around the world that celebrate the festival.

According to statistics of the government's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, the number of overseas Chinese has risen from about 5 million in the early 20th century, when more than 90 percent were settled in Southeast Asia, to more than 60 million in 198 countries and regions now.

And the wide distribution of Chinese overseas constitutes a solid foundation for the transformation of Spring Festival from a community celebration into a worldwide festival. Especially as celebrating the 4,000-year-old festival provides foreigners with a chance to gain an insight into Chinese culture and traditions, which many foreigners are curious to learn more about now that the country has taken a more prominent role on the world stage.

Foreign media outlets have catered to this curiosity by reporting on topics related to the festival, not only its background and characteristics but also how it brings into sharp relief the changing nature of the festival and Chinese society.

Although its growth rate is obviously lower than its peak just several years ago, China's economy is still growing at the fastest rate among all major economies, and its remarkable performance means that in recent years more Chinese families have been traveling overseas during Spring Festival, Japan being just one of the countries whose economy has benefited from the trend.

However, the festival also highlights some of the problems confronting the country today as a result of its phenomenal growth over the past 30-plus years. For instance, the famous Spring Rush of migrant workers heading back to their hometowns to celebrate the Lunar New Year with their parents, and often their children that have been left behind, brings home the need for the government to press ahead with the reforms it has set out and the urbanization drive.

Indeed the celebrating of the Chinese Lunar New Year spread around the world without war or commercialism, along with waves of Chinese migrants. They were not invaders and colonists, but merchants and coolies at first, who then improved their life through generations of hard work and education. In many countries, the Chinese communities are role models, and the values they represent, for instance, harmony and cooperation, are particularly pertinent to people's needs today.

In fact, the increasing popularity of the Chinese Lunar New Year overseas is only a by-product of the contribution of Chinese to the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visits to other countries and his speeches on key occasions, such as the one he made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, have raised China's profile as a modern country, confident in its own development path and culture.

Against this backdrop, Spring Festival, as the most important traditional Chinese festival, can be regarded as having taken a ride on China's raised profile.

The author is a writer with China Daily. liyang@chinadaily.com.cn
Democracy, as Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying, is the worst form of government except for all the others.

Even if he did not say precisely that, this is how his pithy aphorism is best remembered. It is a handy phrase for democrats to fall back on when democracy appears to be under pressure.

China's People's Daily reflected recently that Western-style democracy used to be recognized as a historical driver of social development, but it has reached its limits. In an analysis that will find an echo among many disgruntled voters in the West, it suggested democracy had been hijacked as a weapon for capitalists to boost their profits.

The widespread sentiment within Western electorates that they have been ignored and left behind by self-perpetuating elites is seen as a key factor in recent election and referendum results in the United States and United Kingdom and may play a role in future outcomes in 2017.

On the face of it, the Brexit referendum vote in the UK and Donald Trump's victory in the US should be regarded as a vindication of the democratic systempeople were given a choice and they have made their decision.

Both results, however, have spurred soul-searching about what these outcomes mean for the future of a political system that is intended to safeguard the interests of all its citizens, not just those who picked the winner.

A worrying trend that has emerged is a "winner-takes-all" attitude among the victors.

Among some who voted for Brexit, on the ostensible grounds that it would allow the UK to regain its democratic rights from an undemocratic European Union, a discomfiting tendency has emerged to delegitimize the views of those who continue to warn about the negative consequences of that decision.

For example, the UK's pro-Brexit Daily Mail newspaper described a legal challenge to launching Brexit without the assent of Parliament as an unpatriotic attempt to subvert the will of the people. It is an attitude of "We won, you lost, shut up".

Similarly, in the US, there are fears that the new administration has little tolerance for the kind of dissent displayed by demonstrators on the streets of Washington the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Those fears may be misplaced and, to be fair to Trump, he conceded that "peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy" but only after earlier castigating the demonstrators for overlooking the results of the election.

A prevailing view among liberal analysts, however, and more than a few conservative commentators, is that Trump's brand of populism poses a threat to American democratic values.

A Washington Post article by veteran conservative commentator George Will referred to Trump's "feral cunning in manipulating the masses and the media" and implicitly criticized the hostile tone the new president has adopted toward China and others.

Others have decried the authoritarian tendencies Trump displayed during his campaign and his alleged anti-democratic behavior since the election. "Donald J. Trump's election has raised a question that few Americans ever imagined asking: Is our democracy in danger?" academics Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt told readers of the New York Times back in December.

Little over a quarter-century ago, the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama was arguing that the spread of liberal democracy and free market capitalism might be the endpoint of humanity's social evolution.

It has been something of a rocky road since then. But it is perhaps a little premature to write off democracy as a system that has brought no positive benefits to those societies where it has evolved.

Recent events should, however, generate some humility within the democratic camp and recognition that other societies with other histories and cultures demonstrate the values and benefits of different choices.

Within the international context, what is important is to reinforce the partnerships that have evolved since World War II among societies at various stages of social, political and economic development to tackle the daunting challenges that we all face.

The author is a senior media consultant to China Daily. harvey.morris@gmail.com
Distraction policy [By Jiao Haiyang / China.org.cn]

On Jan. 29, the second day of China's Lunar New Year, The Times, a British national newspaper, published a report entitled "Rifkind a stooge in secret PR war on China," saying that the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a U.K. think tank, is paid a total of 15,000 pounds per month by the Japanese embassy in the U.K. to voice opposition to Chinese foreign policy. Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind was approached by HJS and served as a stooge in this disgraceful deal.

According to the report, a provisional proposal wanted the think tank to deliver a "communications strategy" for the embassy at a cost of 15,000 pounds per month. Written in early 2016, the proposal aimed to engage U.K. journalists and high-level politicians, including members of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, to focus on "the threat to western strategic interests posed by Chinese expansionism." It added that "as part of delivering the 'threat' message, we will have to counter the growing belief, particularly in the U.K. Treasury, that Chinese inward investment can provide the answer to the U.K.'s infrastructure problems."

Chinese people who were celebrating the Spring Festival might have missed the report, but the problems it revealed are deep.

Why does the Japanese embassy fund the spreading of anti-Chinese propaganda?

Generally speaking, the responsibility of an embassy is to handle political, economic, military and cultural relations with the government of its host country and to defend the lawful rights of its citizens in a foreign land on behalf of its country. What the Japanese embassy has done goes against common sense and is no better than espionage.

So, why did Japan conduct this kind of activity, which harms others without benefiting itself? As is known to all, the problems and conflicts between China and Japan are both historical and contemporary. Since the late 19th century, Japanese imperialists had wreaked havoc throughout Asia, and especially in China, for almost 50 years. However, it not only refuses to reflect on its wartime aggression, it also tries to revise history and set itself against China on territorial sovereignty as well as trade. Of course, the main reason for this fear is China's rise. In the wake of rapid economic growth during the past 40 years, especially since reform and opening up, China has leapfrogged Japan to become the world's second largest economy, and the gap is gradually widening. Along with its economic expansion, China is also growing into a military power.
Foreign tourists pose for photos on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, September 24, 2009. [Photo/IC]

After three years of excitement, fun and mind blowing experiences I finally decided that I cannot stay and study in China anymore. It was nice and all. But when it comes to building your future, staying in China to do a Doctoral Study is not a good option. I have finished my masters degree in China, and before moving to China my main objective was to become an expert on East Asian politics with a focus on China. I still have the same objective. But ironically, I don't think China is the best place to learn about China unless you want to take everything given to you as absolute truth.

I think here I will criticise the policies regarding education and, partially, the culture that has been growing among the Chinese scholars and students. My intention is not to blame anyone but put forward a number of points that will lead to a more solid and analytical method regarding higher education in China. Yet, of course it is just my opinion.

I have faced a number of difficulties in China. When I first came to China and tried to understand the education system  by the way I have done my masters degree at one of the "so-called" most prestigious universities in the country. I have failed to comprehend how the classes were assigned, how the grading system worked, what were the mandatory courses, which classes can be chosen, how many classes etc. No! There is a package program and you need to take it. There are some elective courses and you'll be assigned to them if your supervisor sees fit. I didn't have a say here, because apparently I didn't understand Chinese culture and China as I was told every time I tried to intervene. This is the first point. Higher education is much like kindergarten. They will tell you what to do and it is very certain you are the student; hence you have to obey, you don't qualify to have a say in what you want to be educated about.

My second point is about my major. After all, politics is a very complicated and very sensitive issue. I have never seen politics as a subject that can be studied like science, but analysis is at the very heart of a political science major. In that regard, when you study Chinese foreign policy and Chinese politics you cannot just accept the texts written in newspapers. You need to ask: "why did they write about this? Is that what really happened or is it a subjective understanding?" and much more complicated questions but I suppose you get the main idea. So, whenever you try to make a criticism you are faced with a comment like "Let's focus on positive sides". Well... I am saying institutions of higher education in China, regarding social sciences, do not necessarily function as factories of knowledge, but more like the consolidator of mainstream understanding. I believe that is not only because there is institutional censorship but also because some professors do not know how to react to your questions and comments. Likewise, they might be refraining from finding themselves in trouble. But that I don't know.

Another point is the education method. When you look at the course descriptions and functionality, you'll see it is just fine. Different texts, discussion sessions, assignments. But in the classroom it is just that the lecturer lectures and students listen. It cannot really be called listening as most of students are on their phones or sleep to be honest. Also, you cannot find a single student who has read the texts for the lecture or who has an opinion on what is being taught. I would like to criticize Chinese students here especially. They attend every single class, every single lecture, discussion session, but they only sleep, watch a movie or just look at their phones like a zombie. To be fair, they really comfort the professors by constantly filling their water bottles, lighting their cigarettes yes in the classroom  or agreeing with every single word that comes out of their mouth. I don't remember a single Chinese classmate who has asked a question during the lecture or joined the discussions among foreign students.

Finally, I would like to point out the understanding of "academically" qualified education and work. While I was writing my thesis  it is worth noting that my original thesis topic was ruled out by my professor and another research question was later assigned by him - I have used dozens of resources. It took me a year to do research and six months to write. But my brilliant classmates did all this work in Spring Festival, I think in two week to be exact. They were very surprised when I told them I wrote my thesis myself because what they did was to find two or three main sources and combine them which as a result created an "original" work in their understanding. They have also imported the bibliography from those "resources" too. But this is their business, not mine. What happened in dissertation is what really bugs me. I have mentioned earlier that my thesis topic was changed by my supervisor. So during the defense another professor mentioned a few drawbacks of studying on this topic. What followed was my supervisor's approval of him and he got even further by telling me that before choosing a topic I should have research more broadly. Okay... whatever, I have passed the defense. But, I and another foreigner classmate got the lowest scores, whereas my Chinese classmates that even used high school textbooks as a "resource" got grades from 95 to 100 out of 100.

Yeah, you may say "if you don't like it go back to your country", "you don't understand China", "you foreigners..." But no, I really love China. What I am saying is, if you guys continue like that you'll never have the soft power you have been yearning for so long. From the ordinary eyes, even the lowest ranked university in the United States is more prestigious than the highest ranked Chinese University. If you want to develop, you need to work on human development. Human development is not about buying nice clothes, going on a vacation to Europe or driving expensive cars but it is about developing yourself  having an understanding of the world and yourself. To do that, you need to ask questions. But with a generation that is raised by a military man who is ready for orders, there is a limit to your growth. Knowledge is power. And till you produce it you will always be subject to someone else's rule.

As a result, I see staying in China to do a doctorate program, actually doing a doctorate program in a Chinese university  a step towards bombing your own ideas. From the first day of the PhD, you would know how you will finish your PhD dissertation.

Opinions of the writer in this blog don't represent those of China Daily.
People from the Dong ethnic group gather together to sing traditional songs to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Congjiang county, Guizhou province on Feb 2. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

People from the Dong ethnic group gathered in Guizhous Congjiang county to take part in the Dong Chorus, a traditional singing performance, on Feb 2, the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

More than 1,000 Dong people in traditional dress attended the performance and sang together to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

An indispensable part of Dong culture, the Dong Chorus has a history of more than 1,000 years. It features a cappella style of singing in which performers sing without a conductor or instrumental accompaniment.

Conjiang county, located in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, is home to 19 ethnic groups, including the Miao, Dong, Zhuang and Sui.

Children from the Dong ethnic group in traditional dress take part in the Dong Chorus in Congjiang county, Guizhou province on Feb 2. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Edited by Dominic Morgan
Fujian province's Houhuang village has become a rural getaway for urbanites, with its proximity to the city, green fields, clean river and ancient buildings.[Photo by Yang Feiyue/China Daily]

A decade ago, this backwater was a mess. But, thanks to smart planning, it now draws urban folk looking for a rural getaway

Houhuang village is picture of green fields, clean rivers, and ancient buildings with redbrick walls and red-tile roofs. Some are nearly a century old and used to serve as lookout towers for the Chinese Red Army.

Seen from on high, the buildings all resemble giant gems embedded on a green landscape.

The village, in Fujian province's Putian, is filled with tourists when we visit in early December. Some are enjoying barbecues, while others relax near a river. Everything seems peaceful under a blue sky.

"Beautiful mountains, fresh air, organic fruit and vegetables are among the highlights of Houhuang," says Xu Cong, the Party secretary of the village.

"It's a good place for urban folk to blow off steam, since it's close to the city."

The village is only a 20-minute drive from downtown Putian.

Houhuang, which covers an area of 1.5 square kilometers, has a population of roughly 1,000.

In the old days, many of its residents migrated to Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Young Chinese play a first-person-shooting virtual reality game at an experience center in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

The goggle-based technology got off to a hot start in China last year, and creators are now chasing The Next Big Thing in content to continue the momentum, Xing Yi reports

I'm locked in a deserted workshop. Dead silence, except for the sound of mice running across the dust-covered floor. I've been groping among the rusted tools and cases for almost half an hour now, cracking one code after another, but the door still doesn't open.

I have to get out, before my nerves get the better of me.

I turn around to look into the mirror on the wall and spot something unusual - the reflection is indeed the room I'm standing in, only what it was like 15 years ago when everything was shiny and new. There is a string of numbers written on the wall. Could this be the last code I'm looking for? Heart pumping in my chest, I dial the combination on the door lock ... and it clicks.

The door opens, to my surprise, to a train compartment. I look outside the window only to be more surprised - the train is running on the surface of the sea.

But in reality, I didn't go anywhere. I take off the goggles, and I am in a small office of Oz Technology, a startup in the southeastern suburb of Beijing.

For the past half-hour, I've been playing a virtual reality game of the room-escape genre created by the company.
Pizza-baozzi.[Photo provided to China Daily]

For Alex Cree, the idea for a pizza-baozzi fusion brand was born on a trip to Guangdong.

In the summer of 2015, when Alex Cree was on a trip to Guangdong and having a conversation with clients and colleagues, he had no idea that he would soon be changing his career.

The American came from an investment banking and consulting background, and was a successful consultant focused on the Chinese food and beverage industry.

During the conversation, an American client praised Chinese baozi (steamed buns) for their taste and price, but complained that the fillings were not high quality and sometimes upset his stomach.

Then the whole group - comprising Chinese and Americans - started joking about putting Western fillings into Chinese baozi, and Cree said they should be called "Bao-zza".

The idea for a pizza-baozzi fusion stuck in his mind, and a year later, after developing recipes and business plans with partner Loren Heinold and other friends in Los Angeles, where he was living, Cree quit his job and returned to China to work full time on the project in mid-2016.

The idea was to take two common staple foods from the East and the West, and reinvent them, to create a new product that was unique, modern and delicious, according to Cree.

Their brainchild Baozza tastes like pizza but feels like baozi, except that the dough, which draws inspiration from both Western and Chinese cuisines, is a tasty, fragrant hybrid that includes baozi dough ingredients for texture and form, and a distinct blend of Italian herbs and cheese for flavor.

The product comes in four variants - - Margherita, Meat Lovers, BBQ Chicken and Spicy Hawaiian Jalape?o.

It took the team over a year of hard work to come up with the ingredients and the cooking methods, and to decide on the final recipes with help from both Western and Chinese chefs.

In July 2016, Cree and his team held their first pop-up event at UrWork, a co-working office space in Beijing, and sold almost 200 baozza in an hour and a half, even though people had never heard of anything like this before.
Officially declared a religion in Benin in 1996, Voodoo and the Voodoo festival attracts thousands of devotees and tourists for a day filled with ritual dances and gin drinking. [Photo/Agencies]

Every January, thousands of voodoo worshippers joined by crowds of tourists and descendants of slaves trudge down the long sand track leading to the beach at Ouidah in Benin.

The cars, motorbikes and women in wrap skirts with tribal scars on their cheeks head to the Gate of No Return monument overlooking the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean beach.

Erected in 1992 in memory of those packed on ships bound for the New World, it is a living reminder that the small Beninese coastal town of Ouidah once was the muster point for the black slave trade on the southern coast of West Africa.

Over the centuries, five million, possibly 10 million slaves took this route. No one knows the exact numbers.

Though Ouidah is not the source of voodoowhich originated in the old kingdom of Dahomey, modern-day Togo and Beninit was from here that the cult of the invisible and of natural spirits was exported to Louisiana, Brazil and Haiti.

After the fall of the communist regime in Benin, President Nicephore Soglo launched the first voodoo festival in 1993, making Ouidah voodoo's most famous place of pilgrimage for its 50 million followers worldwide.
A man holds a sign during a protest held in response to President Donald Trump's travel ban, in Seattle, Washington, U.S. January 29, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

SEATTLE/BOSTON - A federal judge in Seattle on Friday put a nationwide block on US President Donald Trump's week-old executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries from entering the United States.

The judge's temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump's action, although his administration could still appeal the ruling and have the policy upheld.

Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, made his ruling effective immediately on Friday, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted straight away. He is expected to issue a full written ruling over the weekend.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "no person - not even the president - is above the law."

The state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: "This decision shuts down the executive order right now." He said he expected the federal government to honor the ruling.

The Justice Department made no immediate decision on an appeal. "The Department looks forward to reviewing the court's written order and will determine next steps," it said in a statement.

The new Republican president's order signed on Jan. 27 triggered chaos at US airports last weekend. Some travelers abroad were turned back from flights into the United States, crowds of hundreds of people packed into arrival areas to protest and legal objections were filed across the country.

The challenge in Seattle court was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on US soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

"This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order," said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: "Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good."

FOUR STATES IN COURT

The decision came on a day that attorneys from four states were in courts challenging Trump's executive order. The Trump administration justified the action on national security grounds, but opponents labeled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

US District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed skepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Trump's order represented religious discrimination.

The State Department said on Friday that fewer than 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had been invalidated as a result of the order. That disclosure followed media reports that government lawyers were citing a figure of 100,000.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.

Trump's directive also temporarily stopped the entry of all refugees into the country and indefinitely halted the settlement of Syrian refugees.

On Friday the Department of Homeland Security issued additional clarification of the order, stating that there were no plans to extend it beyond the seven countries. The DHS also reiterated that the ban did not apply to permanent residents, or green card holders, and some others, such as those who have helped the US military.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends the European Union leaders summit in Malta, February 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

VALLETTA - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of other founding states of the European Union spoke on Friday of some countries moving ahead faster than others with further integration.

After a summit in Malta at which all national leaders discussed plans for a formal declaration in March on the future of the bloc following Britain's departure, Merkel and others offered endorsements of a so-called "multispeed Europe", which some governments fear could damage EU unity in the wake of Brexit.

Though they disagree on details, Berlin, Paris and many of the 17 other states which use the euro currency are keen to bind the euro zone closer together after years of crisis in which investors have doubted the currency's survival. But some countries around the periphery of the bloc fear creating a system in which a hard core of states pushes the EU into policies they do not want.

The last few years, Merkel told reporters, showed "that there will be an EU with different speeds, that not everyone will take part in the same levels of integration".

One area in which governments are divided over the degree of integration is defence. With the departure of long-time sceptic Britain, France and Germany are keen to develop closer EU ties.

The 27 leaders are due to meet without British Prime Minister Theresa May on March 25 in the Italian capital to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding Treaty of Rome.

French President Francois Hollande said he thought that the Rome statement could mention "several speeds" as a possible way forward, though he stressed: "European unity is essential."

In a reminder of divisions in the bloc, Hollande, who will step down in May, took a dig at East European states which Paris complains fail to honor commitments -- such as taking in asylum-seekers -- while accepting big subsidies from Brussels:

"Europe isn't a cash-box, not a self-service restaurant, a Europe where you come and take what you need, where you take your structural funds or get access to the internal market and then show no solidarity at all in return," he told reporters.

"Europe was built to be stronger together and it's that rule, that principle, which should be driven home in March."

In a paper offering proposals for the Rome declaration, the three Benelux neighbours said "different paths of integration and enhanced cooperation could provide for effective responses to challenges that affect member states in different ways".
Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Karunasena Kodituwakku speaks at the Sri Lankan National Day Celebration in Beijing on Feb 4, 2017. [Photo by Chen Liubing/chinadaily.com.cn]

China's Belt and Road initiative has boosted trade, tourism, and cultural exchange and cooperation between China and his country, said Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku, Sri Lankan ambassador to China, during the Sri Lankan National Day Celebration on Saturday.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will attend the Belt and Road Initiative Forum on May 14-15 in Beijing and propose further cooperation, the ambassador added.

Saturday marks the 69th Anniversary of Independence of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. and the ambassador offered a retrospect on bilateral diplomatic ties with China. The year 2017 is very important as it is the 60th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries and is the 65th anniversary of the Rubber-Rice Pact between China and Sri Lanka.

As the first South Asian country to recognize the People's Republic of China, Sri Lanka has worked closely with China in various aspects. Thanks to the Belt and Road initiative of China, Sri Lanka is receiving more and more investment from Chinese companies in trade and economic zones, which will be of significant assistance in building its capital, Colombo, into an international financial city in South Asia and the world, the ambassador said.

More than 2,000 Sri Lankan students are studying in China and the number is expected to grow year by year. Besides the Chinese language, many Sri Lankan students are learning Chinese medicine and business courses in China, as Chinese medicine is emerging in South Asia.

As a traditional tourist resort, the scenery and religious attractions in Sri Lanka have attracted millions of Chinese each year, thanks to mouth-to-mouth publicity among tourists. The country aims at attracting more than 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020, the ambassador said.
US President Donald Trump speaks while signing executive orders at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

NEW YORK  President Donald Trump's heated rush to launch what he said would be a "major investigation" into voter fraud has cooled, leaving White House staff uncertain when it will come to pass or what shape it will take.

An executive action commissioning the probe is still planned but could be several weeks away, two senior administration officials said Friday. Although Trump instructed staff to jump on the project last week, he has not discussed the issue in recent days, according to two other people in close touch with the president. All demanded anonymity to discuss private conservations.

Asked about the status of the effort, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said: "I do not have an update at this time."The indefinite delay comes as some of Trump's advisers counseled him to abandon the idea, arguing it was a distraction from more pressing issues. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in last November's election. Trump won the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The episode is a striking example of the new president's mercurial streak and his willingness to impulsively seize on ideas with little planning and sometimes later reverse course when encountering obstacles or criticism.

A senior official said the investigation, which Trump never publicly discussed in detail, has become less of a priority because it has been drowned out by other White House efforts, including attempts to manage the chaotic aftermath of Trump's executive order restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations. The investigation likely would not considered until well after the confirmation of Trump's pick for attorney general, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the official said.

That would be a marked change from the breakneck pace by which the order was first introduced.

In his earliest days in office, Trump appeared to be fixated on the election results and frustrated by political opponents who questioned the legitimacy of his victory.

At his first meeting with bipartisan lawmakers, he declared believed that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in November, a widely debunked assertion that sent the White House scrambling to craft an order that met the president's wishes.

Two days later, Trump announced in a pair of tweets that a "major investigation" will look at those registered to vote in more than one state, "those who are illegal and ... even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time)." Depending on results, the Republican tweeted on his sixth day in office, "we will strengthen up voting procedures!"Several congressional Republicans decried the claim as a distraction, other executive orders were rescheduled and an administration set to roll out an ambitious first-week agenda found itself suddenly sidetracked.
DUBAI - Iran is holding a military exercise on Saturday to test its missile and radar systems, a day after US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Tehran for a recent ballistic missile test.

The United States sanctioned 13 individuals and 12 entities related to Iran's missile programme and Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn said the United States was putting Iran on notice over its "destabilising activity".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards website said that the aim of the military exercise in Semnan province was to "showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions."

Iranian state news agencies reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems would be tested in the drill.

Although tensions between Washington and Iran have risen, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday he was not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Iran's "misbehavior" at this time, but warned that the world would not ignore Iranian activities.

Iran has one of the Middle East's largest missile programmes and held a similar exercise in December to showcase its defence systems, including radars, anti-missile defence units, and short and medium-range missiles.

Tehran confirmed on Wednesday that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile, but said the test did not breach the Islamic Republic's nuclear agreement with world powers or a U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing the pact.

Iran has test-fired several ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal in 2015, but the latest test was the first since Trump entered the White House. Trump said during his election campaign that he would stop Iran's missile programme.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday and recommended the missile testing be studied at committee level. The new US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called the test "unacceptable".

The Security Council resolution was adopted to buttress the deal under which Iran curbed its nuclear activities to allay concerns they could be used to develop atomic bombs, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

The resolution urged Tehran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Critics say the resolution's language does not make this obligatory.

Tehran says it has not carried out any work on missiles specifically designed to carry nuclear payloads.
Behnam Partopour, a Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) student from Iran, is greeted by friends at Logan Airport after he cleared U.S. customs and immigration on an F1 student visa in Boston, Massachusetts, US February 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON -- The White House is plunged into chaos on Friday after a US judge ruled against President Donald Trump's executive order of temporarily banning global refugees and nationals of seven Muslim countries from entering the United States.

US District Judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington, ruled Friday that Trump's order would be suspended nationwide, effective immediately.

In response, the Trump administration vowed to overturn the court ruling "at the earliest possible time" to rescue the controversial executive order, which has sparked nationwide protests and criticism since it was issued on Jan. 27.

It's unclear how the judge's ruling will affect the operations of the federal government in the coming days.

"The Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," the White House said late Friday in a statement.

Yet within 10 minutes, it sent out a new edition removing the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," said the statement.

Robart ruled that the two states of Washington and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's order, which government lawyers disputed.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," said Washington State Attorney General Bot Ferguson after the ruling.

"The law is a powerful thing -- it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States, " he was quoted by USA Today as saying.

Washington is the first US state to sue over Trump's executive order. The state's efforts gained support from Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft, all based in the state, said the report.

However, the judge's ruling could be appealed at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Up to 60,000 visas had ben revoked under Trump's order barring entry to global refugees for 120 days and to people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen for 90 days, said the US State Department earlier Friday.

Since inauguration, Trump has been named in 52 federal lawsuits in 17 US states, many of the cases filed over his executive order on refugees and immigration, said an NBC News report on Friday, citing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts as the source.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters rallied before the White House, at more than 30 US airports, and in downtown areas of big cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.

A new wave of protests are expected on the way over the upcoming weekend in Washington D.C. and some other big cities across the United States.
Banah Alhanfy is greeted by her uncle (R) at Logan Airport after she cleared U.S. customs and immigration on special immigrant visa in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 3. Alhanfy's father was an interpreter for the United States in Iraq and she arrived in the US following US President Donald Trump's executive order travel ban. [Photo/Agencies]

The US government on Saturday suspended enforcement of President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban and scurried to appeal a judge's order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trump's authority  and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. One week ago, Trump had acted on his own to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries that the US says raise terrorism concerns.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked US District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned."Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to a series of court challenges.

The State Department on Friday said as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled. The department reversed course Saturday, saying they could travel to the US if they had a valid visa.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding US-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order, which the White House argued was "intended to protect the homeland."The Justice Department was expected to ask the 9th Circuit to set side Robert's ruling so the ban could go back into effect.

Trump already made clear what he thought of Robart's action.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned," Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!"That rhetoric could put government lawyers defending Trump's order in a tough spot if a federal appeals court were to ask them about it.

"Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a 'so-called judge,' which you can't do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said US-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the US Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trump's executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its US destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts since it was announced a week ago. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. Hearings were held Friday in separate court challenges across the country.

In their arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the US refugee program significantly harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order released late Friday, Robart said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the executive or legislative branches "comports with our country's laws."
Authorities say a Wyoming, Illinois, mother who died in a house fire is being called a hero because she managed to save her newborn daughter's life. [Photo/Agencies]

A young mother who died in a house fire is being called a hero because she managed to save her newborn daughter's life, authorities said Friday.

Shelby Carter, 21, apparently strapped her baby into a car seat, broke a second-floor window and dropped the child to the ground below, said Ed Foglesonger, chief of the volunteer fire department in Wyoming, Illinois.

"I guess it's the motherly instinct to take care of their young," he told CNN. "We're all wondering why she didn't go out after the baby."

Firefighters found Carter's body in a room on the second floor. An autopsy showed she died of smoke inhalation, the Peoria Journal Star reported.

"The house was engulfed in flames," Stark County Sheriff Steve Sloan said in a statement. Carter "was a hero as she put her baby into a car seat and dropped the baby to the ground."

A woman called 911 on Monday morning and said she was inside a burning house and having trouble breathing, Foglesonger said. She didn't mention a baby, he said.

When firefighters arrived, they moved a pile of discarded carpet on the ground so they could climb a ladder to a second-floor window, he said. That caused a car seat to roll toward the house. They looked inside the car seat and found Keana Davis.

Firefighters rushed the baby to a nearby hospital. She was released and is now being cared for by relatives, Foglesonger said.

Carter and the baby lived in the house with her mother and fiance, Foglesonger said, but only Carter and the baby were home when the fire broke out in the living room downstairs. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

The death was a gut punch for the town of about 1,500 people southwest of Chicago, where everybody seems to know each other.

For instance, Foglesonger said Carter's father "works with me every day" at a company that makes boilers and water heaters.

"Words can not express the way we truly feel," the fire department said in a Facebook post.

Carter celebrated her birthday the day before her death. She graduated from the local high school in 2014, worked as a nail technician and was studying to become a pharmacy technician, her obituary said.

"She was making her mark in town," Mayor Pat Maher said. "She was very upbeat, always smiling."

A GoFundMe page had raised more than $23,000 as of Friday evening to help the family.
Demonstrators gather outside of the Trump Hotel International in Washington last month. [Photo/Agencies]

New documents confirm that Donald Trump retains a direct tie to his business interests through a revocable trust overseen by one of his adult sons and a longtime executive of the Trump Organization.

The president is the sole beneficiary of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which is tied to his social security number as the taxpayer identification number, according to documents published online by the investigative nonprofit ProPublica.

Trump can revoke the trust, which was amended three days before his inauguration, at any time.

The details about the trust were included in a 27 January letter to the Washington liquor board that notes Donald Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, and Allen Weisselberg, the company official, are its new trustees. The Trump trust holds a liquor license for the hotel that opened last fall in the federally owned Old Post Office building. A provision in the lease, signed in 2013, for that building prohibits an elected official from benefiting from the property.

The trust contains a mix of cash from Trump's sales of stock investments over the summer and his physical and intellectual properties, such as Trump Tower in New York, Mar-a-Lago in Florida  the so-called "winter White House" where the president is spending this weekend  and branding rights.

The details align with what Trump and attorney Sheri Dillon outlined at an 11 January news conference about Trump's plan for what would become of his global business empire while he is president.

Previous ethics advisers to Barack Obama and George W Bush and the leader of the Office of Government Ethics have said Trump has not gone nearly far enough to absolve himself of potential conflicts of interest. They have also raised concerns about his appointment of his son-in-law to a White House post, and filed suit alleging that Trump has violated the constitutions ban on profiting from foreign governments.

Trump's two adult sons and Weisselberg are running the company while Trump is president, but Trump himself still financially benefits from it, the documents suggest. Precedent has been for presidents to sell off their holdings and place the cash into a truly blind trust  not one overseen by a family member  before taking office, even though there is no legal requirement to do so.

The president's sons have already returned to the White House since Trump's inauguration, attending an announcement by their father a nominee to the supreme court. Before his inauguration, Eric Trump traveled to Uruguay for a business trip whose costs reportedly totaled $97,830 to taxpayers.

Far stricter ethics rules govern top administration officials and cabinet members than the president himself. For example, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the long-time chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, left the energy company, sold off his millions of shares and put the cash into a trust to be overseen by a third party.

On Friday, Vincent Viola, a billionaire Wall Street trader and Trump's nominee for army secretary, withdrew from consideration, saying untangling himself from his business would prove too difficult.

Representative Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, said in a statement that the president had failed to address fears that he is profiting from the influence of the White House, for instance by trying to sell hotel rooms to diplomats at his Washington property.

"This legal concoction from President Trump's lawyers does nothing to address his conflicts of interest or the breach of the lease for his hotel," Cummings said in a statement.
Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, and candidate for the 2017 presidential election, attends a campaign rally in Lyon, France, February 4. [Photo/Agencies]

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called on US scientists, academics and entrepreneurs at odds with Donald Trump's administration to move to France.

The former economy minister, one of the frontrunners in the upcoming presidential election, urged US-based scientists working on climate change, renewable energy or health issues who were wary of the new political situation to seek refuge across the Atlantic.

"I want all those who today embody innovation and excellence in the United States to hear what we say: from now on, from next May, you will have a new homeland, France," he said.

Rogue Twitter feeds voicing employee concerns at more than a dozen US government agencies have been launched in defiance of what they say are Trump's attempts to muzzle federal climate change research and other science.

Representing scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus, either directly or through friends and supporters, the accounts protest restrictions they view as censorship since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Without naming Trump in his campaign speech in the southeastern city of Lyon, Macron, a former investment banker, said his "solemn call" was meant to all "researchers, academics and companies in the United States fighting obscurantism and who are afraid today", to join the land of innovation he wants France to be.

Macron's campaign for the Elysee palace has been given a fillip by a scandal over fake pay embroiling his main rival, conservative Francois Fillon, and the nomination of a hard-left candidate to represent the ruling Socialist party.

The 39-year old is now seen reaching the election's crucial second round runoff in May and beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin, according to a number of opinion polls published this past week.

Macron also had a thinly veiled dig at Trump's intention to build a wall along the Mexico border, comparing it to France's Maginot Line, which in 1940 failed to keep Nazi invaders out of France.

"I don't want to build a wall. I can assure you there's no wall in my program," he told about 8,000 cheering supporters. "Can you remember the Maginot Line?"
The China legal world was abuzz this last weekend about a Chinese court in Wuhan enforcing a California judgment against a couple of Chinese citizens. On one level this is indeed a huge deal, but on a practical level, this really does not change anything with respect to what you as an American company should put in your China contracts in terms of where your disputes should be resolved.

At least not yet, and likely not for a very long time.

Since this blogs inception, we have preached how terrible it is to draft a contract with a Chinese entity that calls for disputes between the parties to be resolved in the United States. That has not changed.

About a year ago, in Enforcing US Judgments in China. Not Yet, I wrote of how China had never enforced a United States court judgment.

At least once a month, one of our international litigation lawyers will get a call or an email from a U.S. lawyer seeking our help in taking a U.S. judgment (usually a default judgment) to China to enforce. The thinking of the U.S. lawyer is that all we need do is go to a China court and ask it to convert the U.S. judgment into a Chinese judgment and then send out the Chinese equivalent of a sheriff to the Chinese company and start seizing its assets until it pays.

As we have consistently written, nope, nope, nope. See Chinese Companies Can Say, So Sue Me.

I then went on to discuss how my firms international litigators are often called on to conduct research on this very issue (usually for lawyers or companies wanting to prove to their insurance company or to a court that it would be futile for them to pursue enforcement of their United States judgment in China) and I pulled a large section from a recent memorandum on that topic:

Article 282 of the PRC Civil Procedure Law, requires all of the following conditions be met for enforcement of a foreign judgment to be recognized in China:

The foreign judgment has taken legal effect in the jurisdiction in which it was rendered.

The country where the deciding court is located has a treaty with China or is a signatory to an international treaty to which China is also a signatory or there is reciprocity between the countries.

The foreign judgment does not violate any basic principles of Chinese law, national sovereignty, security, or social public interest.

Though China is a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, it is not a signatory to any international treaty on the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments. There is no bilateral treaty between China and the U.S. on recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments. There also is no bilateral treaty between the two countries on civil or commercial judicial assistance.

Even judgments from countries that have an enforcement treaty with China, are oftentimes not enforced in China. For example, China and Australia entered into an agreement on reciprocal encouragement and protection of investments in 1988 that mandates both countries promulgate laws recognizing and enforcing each others judgments. But in response to a 2007 request by the Guangdong Province High Peoples Court for instructions regarding an application by an Australian plaintiff for recognition and enforcement of an Australian court judgment, the Supreme Peoples Court of China (the SPC) rejected enforcement since there was no international treaty to which China was a signatory nor any treaty between China and Australia on mutual recognition and enforcement of court judgments, nor any reciprocity between the two countries, the application should be rejected.

Since China is not a signatory to any international treaty on recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments nor is there any treaty between China and the U.S. regarding judgment enforcement, the only possible way to get a U.S. judgment enforced in China would be if there were reciprocity between the two countries, but there isnt.

In considering the question of reciprocity, a Chinese court will consider whether there is any precedent indicating reciprocity. In other words, the court will seek to determine whether there are any prior cases where a U.S. court recognized or enforced a Chinese courts decision. If there are no examples of a U.S. court having enforced a Chinese judgment, the Chinese court will almost certainly rule against enforcing the U.S. judgment because the reciprocity requirement will not have been met.

In 1994, the Dalian Intermediate Peoples Court considered a Japanese partys application to recognize and enforce a Japanese judgment and two rulings. The application was eventually referred to the SPC for guidance and the SPC held that given that there was no multilateral or bilateral treaty governing such matters between China and Japan and given that the two countries had not established reciprocity, the Japanese judgment would not be recognized or enforced by a Chinese court. This case confirms China requires factual reciprocity, not presumed reciprocity.

But are there any examples of a U.S. court enforcing a Chinese Judgment? On August 12, 2009, the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a judgment enforcing a $6.5 million dollar Chinese judgment against an American corporate defendant under Californias version of the Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act and in 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district courts decision. The plaintiffs in that case were Hubei Gezhouba Sanlian Industrial Co. Ltd. and Hubei Pinghu Cruise Co. Ltd., two PRC companies located in Hubei Province. The plaintiffs won a judgment against Robinson Helicopter Company Inc., a California corporation, at the Higher Peoples Court of Hubei Province. The United States District Court for the Central District of California held that the PRC judgment was final, conclusive and enforceable under PRC laws and the plaintiffs were therefore entitled to an issuance of a domestic judgment in the amount of the PRC judgment.

This was the first time a U.S. Court recognized and enforced a PRC judgment, but it does not necessarily mean a Chinese court will automatically invoke the principle of reciprocity and recognize and enforce a U.S. court judgment. First, the enforcing court in that case is in California (though it was federal court), and the laws usually differ from state to state in the U.S., so its uncertain whether a Chinese court will deem the U.S., as a country, to have established a reciprocal relationship with China. Second, since the enforcing court was a federal court, its also not clear whether a Chinese court will deem a state courts judgment enforceable in China. Third, the enforcing court is not the U.S. Supreme Court, thus, a Chinese court may not deem it to amount to reciprocity at the highest judicial level between the two countries. Finally, that case involved a U.S. defendant who had previously argued that only China had jurisdiction over the case, so it hardly could be deemed unfair for a U.S. court to rule on enforcing the Chinese judgment.

Chinese courts tend to be more willing to recognize and enforce foreign divorce judgments involving Chinese citizens so they dont have to initiate a separate divorce proceeding. However, since this is not a divorce case, it almost certainly is not relevant.

We have not been able to find a single instance where a Chinese court enforced a U.S. non-divorce judgment.

This memorandum does not address the possibility of your suing the Chinese company directly in China and there are times where doing so makes sense.

In conclusion, a U.S. court judgment against ______________ will almost certainly not be recognized or enforced in China. Unless ___________ has assets in the U.S. or in some country other than China that enforces US judgments, a US judgment will probably not be collectable against this company in any way.

Earlier this year, in I pondered whether China might be ready to start enforcing U.S. judgments and of how I would love to see someone take such a judgment to a Chinese court to test this out:

I find it hard to believe this decision regarding the Singapore judgment did not receive a thorough vetting from on high and maybe it does signal a change in enforcement of foreign judgments in China. I for one would love to test it out, but I would want to do it with the perfect case, or something close to it. The perfect case would be a Chinese defendant company that is a real bad hombre (sorry to use a Trump line, but I just cannot help it) who cheated someone in a commercial dispute and then got sued in a U.S. federal court and fought and lost on the merits. Ideally the judgment is for millions of dollars and the Chinese company has the wherewithal to pay it. I know it is asking too much but if the Chinese defendant appealed the lower courts ruling and lost on appeal also, well that would be the icing on the cake.

I will now discuss the Wuhan (Liu Li v. Tao Li and Tong Wu) case and explain why it has not changed the risk equation for enforceability such that it should in any way impact how you should be writing your contracts with Chinese companies.

This Wuhan case was before the Intermediate Peoples Court of Wuhan City. The case arose from a commercial dispute involving a plaintiff (a Chinese citizen) who paid USD$125,000 to two Chinese citizen defendants for shares in a California company and then got nothing, not even a return phone call. Plaintiff then sued defendants for fraud in Los Angeles Superior Court. Defendants were served with the complaint and summons in this case but they ignored it and the Los Angeles court granted plaintiff a default judgment.

In other words, this was a dispute between Chinese Nationals on both sides and the dispute involved a United States sale of stock. The fact it involved a United States sale of stock means it was wholly appropriate for a US court to reach a decision in the case and the fact the dispute was entirely between Chinese Nationals gives a Chinese court every incentive to enforce the judgment. The additional fact the defendants appear to be bad actors is all the more reason to expect enforcement.

Plaintiff then took that default judgment to the Wuhan court to have it enforced there. The Wuhan court ruled it had jurisdiction because the defendants live and have assets there. The court ruled defendants had notice of the Los Angeles action and it also held the Los Angeles judgment did not violate any basic principles of Chinese law, national sovereignty, security, or social public interest.

Most importantly, the court found reciprocity between China and the United States (California?) and it also held that it should not consider the merits of the Los Angeles courts ruling, beyond determining that it did not violate any China basic principle. The court found reciprocity based on the Robinson Helicopter case I discuss above.

This all sounds good right? But for the following reasons I am of the view this changes little.

1. This is just one case and it comes from an intermediate court in Wuhan. Are you willing to risk a $30 million contract by making it subject to U.S. court jurisdiction based on this one case out of Wuhan?

2. Did this decision depend on reciprocity with California as opposed to the United States as a whole? If you are a Texas company are you going to be willing to risk a $30 million contract by making it subject to Texas court jurisdiction?

3. The underlying case involved a dispute between two groups of Chinese nationals. The case only makes sense if the defendants have property in Wuhan. So the Wuhan court just takes this as a dispute between two Chinese that should properly be settled in China. There is always a chance a Chinese court will enforce an arbitration award or a foreign judgment when the parties on both sides are Chinese. It is not at all clear this case can or will be extended to enforce a judgment in a dispute between a foreign party and a Chinese national and the Chinese side appears in China and strongly opposes enforcement.

4. The bad act in the underlying lawsuit occurred in the U.S. It is normal for there to be jurisdiction in the place where the bad act occurs. So this case is perfectly normal. Why would you sue someone in China for a stock transaction violation that takes place in the U.S.? It is just a strange accident of fate that the seller/defendant also had a presence and assets in China. In fact, it is probable the entire transaction was illegal under Chinese law because Chinese citizens are supposed to have government approval before investing overseas and it is doubtful these defendants had that approval. This likely illegality also probably colored the Wuhan courts decision.

5. The Wuhan court found reciprocity based on the Robinson Helicopter case in which a California federal court enforced a Hubei province court judgment. Wuhan is in Hubei province and the judgment it enforced here was from California. Would the Wuhan court have ruled the same way if Robinson Helicopter had enforced a Beijing judgment? Would the Wuhan court have ruled the same way had Robinson Helicopter been a decision out of Kansas? No way to know. Would a Chinese court outside Hubei have ruled the same way? No way to know.

6. Even if you get past the various hurdles above, there is a final hurdle which essentially neuters ones ability to sue a Chinese company in the United States and then use that judgment to collect in China: service of process. Chinas Central Authority and its courts have over the last few years been dragging their feet so much when it comes to Hague Service of Process that those lawyers who do it (and one of the China lawyers in my firm does these all the time) have been discussing among themselves whether it is even possible. It seems China is taking years to effect Hague service of process on Chinese defendants in U.S. cases and it is quite possible it is no longer effecting such service at all. Without proper service (or at best, with service that takes two to three years), how valuable is suing a Chinese company in the United States?

This Wuhan case arose from a highly unusual and unique situation. When our China attorneys insist on China-centric contracts, we are focusing exclusively on business activity taking place entirely or primarily in China. For example, take this same lawsuit. What if the stock were stock in a Chinese entity and the transfer was supposed to take place in China? Would it make sense to bring that law suit in Los Angeles? And if it were brought in Los Angeles, would a Chinese court be likely to enforce the judgment that results from it? Same for failure to deliver product manufactured in China. Same for violations of IP agreements or for violations of reseller agreements and for violations of JV agreements and so on and so on. If you are going to enter into a contract with a Chinese company and some or all of the goods and services covered by the contract are going to be made or provided in China, your situation is going to be very different from the factual situation that gave rise to this Wuhan case.

What is the best way to resolve a dispute in China? Even if we were living in a fantasy world where service of process in an American dispute can be made quickly and easily (or even at all) against a Chinese defendant and the Chinese courts promptly enforce those monetary awards from U.S. courts, you must consider the cost and expense of a U.S. lawsuit. Consider the problem of evidence and proof if your contract is mostly or all about China. Consider all of these things and then ask yourself whether drafting your contract to require litigation in a U.S. court and then enforcement of any eventual judgment in a Chinese court would make sense for you on any particular contract, or even ever? In what circumstances would having to go to two courts be a good contracting strategy?

In the case where a tort has occurred in the U.S., the situation is more complex. The product was made in China but the damage occurred in the U.S. In that setting, a law suit in the U.S. makes legal sense. However, the question is then whether the U.S. is the best place to sue? Is it likely a U.S. style products liability award will be enforced in China against an unwilling defendant? These are important issues and far more likely to be situation specific than the issue of what to put in your contract. So in this respect, this Wuhan case does make it more difficult to figure out the proper way to proceed in China for certain kinds of legal disputes.

But it should not change your commercial contracts regarding matters that will mostly or exclusively take place in China. China is not a colony of the United States or of any other country. We are no longer in the early 20th century where China was carved up into foreign spheres of interest and where foreign law was applied against the Chinese people. China is a modern country with an increasingly developed legal system. China is not what it was in the 1980s, where there was virtually no legal system that could be used to resolve disputes. The Chinese know this and its courts fervently believe this and they are offended by foreign parties that insist on applying foreign law and foreign dispute resolution to matters 100% conducted in China. For this reason, it will almost certainly never be the case that Chinas courts will enforce foreign judgments for what is truly a China-centered business dispute. For example, if you enter into a Joint Venture arrangement with a Chinese company and you think you can resolve your intra-company joint venture disputes in the United States and have a Chinese court enforce that resolution, you will almost certainly be sadly mistaken. If foreign companies are going to do business in China, they need to be prepared to accept having their disputes resolved in China.

At this point, it would be a mistake for anyone to draft a contract with a Chinese company with a jurisdiction provision calling for disputes to be resolved in U.S. courts. Unless and until there is certainty of enforcement in China, or unless your Chinese counter-party truly has assets in the United States (See Suing Chinese Companies and Citizens in the United States and Canada), it would behoove you to draft your contracts with Chinese companies with disputes resolved in a Chinese court or, in some cases, before a China-qualified arbitral body. See Is Your China Contract Worthless?

But, if you already have a contract that calls for U.S. court jurisdiction, it would absolutely make sense for you to consider moving forward with litigating it in a U.S. court and trying to effect Hague service of process on the Chinese defendant(s). And then if you succeed in effecting Hague service and in securing a U.S. court judgment, you take that judgment to a Chinese court to have it enforced and perhaps you even do the same if you get the U.S. court judgment without having effected Hague service.

But to count on this one decision on which to base future US-China contracts? No, that would not be smart.
Transcription

1 IN REVIEW BRITISH WEST AFRICA MAIL PACKETS TO 1900: RATES, ROUTES AND SHIPS, OUT AND HOME, BY COLIN TABEART REVIEWED BY RICHARD F. WINTER This long-awaited book covering the British mail packets to the West Coast of Africa has finally become available, but only in a very limited print edition of 100 copies. This is unfortunate because the book is a very important one and most likely will sell out quickly, making the valuable packet sailing data unavailable to many. Since its formation in 1950, The West Africa Study Circle, an international specialist society for the study of stamps, postal stationery and postal history of West Africa, has wanted a detailed record of the 19th century mail service between the United Kingdom and West Africa, where the British had important colonial interests. The principal regions were the Gambia Colony and Protectorate (Gambia today), Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (Ghana today), and the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (Nigeria today). British West Africa does not include the British colonial interests in southern or eastern Africa. Various attempts to provide this record have started during the past 30 years, but failed to reach satisfactory conclusions. In 2011, based on his award-winning books of the British packets services to the Australian/New Zealand region, Colin Tabeart was approached and asked if he would undertake the project. When I first met Tabeart in 1985, he was a British naval officer working in London. He showed me preliminary work he had done to document the African Steam Ship Company mail voyages to West Africa up to It was clear that he had an interest in this area. The Royal Navy had established the West Africa Squadron in 1808 to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa, an effort that continued until Even as early as 1820, the Americans assisted in that effort, first with a few ships and later with a permanent squadron of their own. The need to communicate with these squadrons as well as economic interests ashore begged for regular postal communications. Tabeart always has had a deep interest in Royal Navy history, which soon blossomed into maritime postal history. These interests combined with his successful publications made him an obvious choice to undertake this work, but would he agree to help? The answer was yes, but only if the Study Circle would accept his carefully laid scheme to accomplish the work. They did, and he started on what he thought might be a two-year project. I think he reluctantly agreed to do the project, not because he collected West Africa postal history, which he did not, but because there was a very obvious hole in existing published information that needed to be filled and he knew how to do it. Well, it took four more years, but he finally completed the work, which is a massive tome and one which the postal history community should be very pleased to have. Those who know Tabeart s earlier books that provide sailing data for mail steamships will immediately recognize the style in which he presents the West African steamship voyage data in this book. It is organized chronologically by voyage, identifying all the Chronicle 249 / February 2016 / Vol. 68, No. 1 97

2 stops along the way that he can. The trips are in order by year, first the outbound voyages from England followed by the homeward voyages for that year. Since covers often have markings identifying the place of origin as well as the place of entry into the British Isles, it usually will be easy, using the tabular information, to find the mail voyage on which these covers were carried. The key date often is the arrival or departure of the steamer at its home port. Since there were no newspaper sources identifying calls at the many small African ports along the steamship routes, those calls have to be identified by arrival information provided when the ships returned to England. Tabeart s careful study of each of the mail contracts negotiated between the government and the shipping companies also helps to identify the expected itineraries. Even so, there are many data pieces that don t exist from the voyages. Where there is additional source information related to a particular voyage, he notes that information as it appeared in the sources that he used. This additional information is provided immediately following the voyage listing and not listed as a note at the end of a chapter. This extra information can be quite useful. As the author has stated to me, at one time or another, these ships seem to have visited just about every mud hut on the West African coast. My evaluation is that each Tabeart book profits from the author s experience with previous books and each is stronger than its predecessor. It is as if Tabeart places himself in the user s shoes, understands just what information is important to the reader, and then arranges that information in an easy-to-use form in just the right place. This is demonstrated by his use of the powerful tools available today for this type of research. He has extensive experience using the documents held at the Post Office Heritage, the new name for the Post Office Archives at Freeling House, London. He is equally comfortable with the Colonial Office and Admiralty records held at the National Archives, formerly the Public Records Office at Kew, London. But most importantly, he has benefited from the rapid growth of contemporary newspaper sources available on-line. Unfortunately, digitized newspaper information was not available 30 years ago when I collected sailing data for the pioneer book of the mail steamers operating on the North Atlantic. The growth of digitized newspaper information available on-line has been staggering. Websites such as that of the British Library now provide 19th century newspapers that were absolutely critical for this work. With experience Tabeart has learned which sources are the most reliable and how to maneuver around the available newspaper data, which, by the way, requires considerable learning experience. In his words, Without these superb facilities, 19th century postal history would be infinitely more difficult to research and the results correspondingly the poorer. Tabeart s first chapter, An Overview of the 19th Century, is essential to understanding how his book is organized. Here he provides a summary of the information that will be found in each of the subsequent chapters. His chapters cover the mail sailings of a particular period, mostly influenced by the mail contracts negotiated first with one company and later with two competing companies. One of my favorite parts of Tabeart s books that cover the Australia/New Zealand mails and this new book on the West Africa mails is that early in each book he devotes a complete chapter to the postal rates for the mails carried by the packets whose voyages he is about to reveal. The rate information in this case is for mail sent directly between the United Kingdom and British West Africa (Chapter 2). It includes packet letter rates as well as ship letter rates, the progression of rates, postcard and registration rates when known, as well the complex privilege rates for the armed forces. His comprehensive knowledge of postal rates goes back to his very first book, published in 1990, United Kingdom Letter Rates Inland and Overseas, in which he published a very detailed account of British postal rates worldwide. In his subsequent books he con- 98 Chronicle 249 / February 2016 / Vol. 68, No. 1

3 British West African Mail Packets to 1900, Rates, Routes and Ships Out and Home, by Colin Tabeart. Published 2015 by The West Africa Study Circle. ISBN A4 format (8.3 x 11.7 inches). 560 pages including a bibliography, two indexes, 104 illustrations (covers, documents and ships) and eight maps. Hardbound $108 including surface postage, inquiries to Ian Anderson at Also available from Leonard Hartmann, P.O. Box 36006, Louisville, KY 40233, at $120 delivered to a U.S. address. tinued to include rate information appropriate to the mail carried by the packets whose voyages he detailed, exactly where it would be immediately useful to the reader. In the current book he provides an excellent summary of the British West Africa rates. At the end of this chapter he provides a very helpful, short section explaining the accountancy markings often seen on British mail to and from West Africa. These red and black numerical makings, sometimes made with handstamps but often in manuscript, have puzzled many collectors and require explanation, which he now provides. This is just one more example of information important to collectors that Tabeart has thoughtfully included. Before 1848, there were no contract mail sailings to West Africa. The Admiralty sent mail by ships of opportunity, including naval vessels to and from the West Africa Squadron. In mid-1847 the Admiralty informed the Postmaster General that it intended to operate a monthly packet service by naval vessels out to the West Coast of Africa, commencing on the first of each month (Chapter 3). This service began in 1848 and lasted until the first mail contract for this area in Thereafter, HM ships still were used on occasion to convey mails. While naval vessels carried mail out, there was no regular return mail service, that being done again only by ships of opportunity. In this chapter he identifies the Royal Navy vessels that conducted this service. In 1850, the first contract mail service was initiated with the General Screw Steam Ship Company, a service from England to the Cape Colony, with a stop on the West African Coast (Chapter 4). Since the service to the Cape Colony was more important than any stop on the West Coast en route, this stop was soon eliminated, and it was determined that a separate service just to the West Coast region was needed. Starting in 1851 the first of three contracts with the African Steam Ship Company went into effect with special service just to the West Coast and calls at the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands en route (Chapters 5, 6, and 7 for each contract). In January 1869 the British & African Steam Navigation Company began operations from Glasgow, Scotland, to the West African ports via Liverpool. A serious trade war ensued between the two companies for the West African mail service. A compromise was reached during the period from 1870 to 1872, establishing standard passenger rates, freight fees, and coordinated schedules. The African Steam Ship Company still had a contract until 1872 and the British & African Steam Navigation Company had some agreement with the government to carry mail also. During the period between 1872 and 1873, there were no contracts and both lines Chronicle 249 / February 2016 / Vol. 68, No. 1 99

4 Figure 1. Cover from Funchal, Madeira, carried to London by the Niger of the African Steam Ship Company, thence to America in the summer of carried mail, not as packet letters but as non-contract ship letters (Chapter 8). The rates charged on the letters and the appropriate accountancy marking were different than when the mail was treated as contract or packet mail. From 1873 to the end of the century, shared mail service existed between the lines (Chapter 11) with postal agreements for both lines to carry contract mail on a bulk-weight payment scheme. In 1879 the steamship services provided by the two lines branched out to many new and different locations (Chapter 12). While maintaining the regular service to British West Africa, their ships would sometimes leave Liverpool bound for Hamburg, then via Le Havre and Plymouth to pick up mail and passengers for West Africa. Calls at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and even South American ports were included in some voyages. The voyages began to get very complicated as the ships branched out to more unusual places besides the normal West African ports. As the chapter was getting much too long, Tabeart broke up the period between 1879 and 1900 into multiple sections (Chapters 12 though 15). I can t image how difficult it must have been, even using the modern tools available for data collection, to assemble information for the last 11 years of this book. This period resulted in 65 percent of the 500 pages of voyage data in the book! As a transatlantic mail student I was anxious to see this work. As expected, it filled a hole that had existed for contract mail sailing data. Mail to and from the West African coast from the United States normally was sent via the United Kingdom and their mail services beyond. Having this data now would enable a much better understanding how the mail was carried to this part of the world. In 2011, a portion of a very large and exciting correspondence came on the market. It was from the George Willing Clymer archive. Dr. Clymer, a graduate of Princeton in 1823, studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and in Paris, then served in the United States Navy for 37 years. For many of those years he was a naval surgeon attached to various vessels in American naval squadrons operating around the world. During he served as fleet surgeon of the African Squadron, sailing on the USS Jamestown, flagship of the squadron operating from Funchal, the capitol town of the Island of Madeira. He had regular correspondence with his family in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. The covers that came onto the market usually included lengthy letters inside. In those letters as well as in docketing notations on the envelopes, Clymer wrote very detailed comments 100 Chronicle 249 / February 2016 / Vol. 68, No. 1

5 Figure 2. Reverse of the Figure 1 cover, showing Madeira origin marking, Plymouth Packet mark ( JY ) and Boston exchange-office marking. about when and on which vessels the letters arrived or left from his location. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the front and reverse of one of the Clymer covers. This envelope, noted in the upper left corner as No. 32, was written at Funchal on 23 July 1856, addressed to Clymer s wife in Washington, D.C. Their home was there as a result of his previous tour of duty ( ) at the Naval Observatory. Clymer noted at the top of the Figure 1 envelope that the letter was to leave on 24 July and travel to Plymouth on the steamship Niger. This was a contract packet of the African Steam Ship Company, which called at the Madeira Islands on the way home from West Africa. Tabeart documents this voyage of Niger on page 69 of his book. The ship called at the Madeira Islands on 23 July and arrived at Plymouth on 29 July Two post office datestamps on the reverse of the envelope (Figure 2) confirm this voyage, a faint, black datestamp of Madeira dated 23 July 1856 and a black rimless circular datestamp of Plymouth, dated 30 July 1856, showing arrival on a mail packet. From Plymouth the letter was sent to London to be prepared for the transatlantic mail service to the United States. It arrived at London on 31 July 1856, shown by the red circular datestamp on the reverse. Here the letter was placed in the mail bag to be sent to Liverpool for the 2 August sailing of the Cunard steamship Canada, which reached Boston on 13 August A Boston exchange-office datestamp on the reverse confirms the arrival of the letter at Boston. Presumably the letter reached Mrs. Clymer in Washington a day or two later. At London this unpaid letter was marked in the upper right corner for a debit to the United States of $1.20. A single-rate letter from the United States to Madeira at the time cost 65 per half ounce. Of this amount the United Kingdom was entitled to 60 cents if the letter was carried across the Atlantic by a British contract steamship. Since this letter weighed between one half and one ounce it required two rates, making the debit to the United States $1.20. At Boston the letter was marked for $1.40 postage due, apparently in error as the United States was entitled only to 10 to be added to the British debit. I consider this West Africa mail book, the ninth book to be published by Colin Tabeart and by far the largest, to be an essential element of the library of any postal history student interested in maritime mail. Tabeart is to be congratulated for completing a very difficult task. As with each of his previous books, he has provided quality reference information. My hope is there will be sufficient copies for all those interested. Chronicle 249 / February 2016 / Vol. 68, No
Transcription

1 Common Trees Mississippi is covered by many forested areas, including the hardwood forests of the northern part of the state, the Magnolia-Beech forests and Longleaf Pine Ecosystem in the south, and swamps and rivers of the Delta in the western part of the state. Trees are dominant members of these ecosystems and provide the structure, shelter, and food for other species to live in these habitats. Some of the most common trees you ll find in Mississippi are: Pine Bald Cypress Red Cedar Magnolia Beech Oak Maple Sweetgum Hickory Tulip Poplar Flowering Dogwood Sugarberry Bald cypress swamps, such as this one, are common throughout Mississippi

2 Key to Symbols HABIT Herb Small Large Tree/Shrub Tree LEAVES Simple Simple <5 cm long >5 cm long Compound Compound <5 cm long >5 cm long FLOWERS <1 cm 1-5 cm >5 cm Distribution maps for species are based on the PLANTS Database, USDA, NRCS ( National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC. Photo Credits: M. Alford, M. Huneycutt, H. Sullivan, L. Wallace

3 Pines Pinus spp. Identifying Features Flaking brown bark Needle-like leaves in bundles, varying in length Leaves evergreen Seed cones woody 7 species in Mississippi A B C D A: Pinus taeda; B: Longleaf Pine savannah C: bark; D: woody cones with seeds Present Absent

4 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What is a forest? 2. How are the needles on a pine tree similar to the leaves on a magnolia tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Is a pine tree evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. Do all of the cones on a pine tree look the same? Which ones have seeds in them? Grades 6-8: 1. What areas of Mississippi are pine trees most commonly found? 2. What kinds of animals use pine trees and how do they use them? Grades 9-12: 1. Why are pine trees dominant members of forests? 2. What other species live in the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem? 3. Why are conifers in colder climates more diverse than in Mississippi?

5 Bald Cypress Taxodium distichum Identifying Features Grows in wet habitats Thin, gray-brown rough bark Soft, needle-like leaves ca. 1 cm long Leaves deciduous Knees often grow out of the water Seed cones woody and circular A B C A: Bald cypress trees grow in water; B: leaves; C: seed cones Present Absent

6 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What is a swamp? 2. How are the needles on a bald cypress similar to the leaves on a pine tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Is bald cypress evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. Do all of the cones on a bald cypress tree look the same? Which ones have seeds in them? Grades 6-8: 1. Why do bald cypress trees grow knees? 2. What animals or other organisms would you expect to find living in a bald cypress swamp? 3. How could other organisms use bald cypress trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What adaptations must a bald cypress tree have for living in water? 2. Why are species of Taxodium limited to subtropical climates? 3. How is a female cone of a bald cypress tree similar to a flower?

7 Red Cedar Juniperus virginiana Identifying Features Brown, flaky bark Leaves scale-like or needle-like; short Leaves evergreen Female trees with blue berry-like cones A B A: Habit; B: seed cones; C: pollen cones C Present Absent

8 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What makes a red cedar a gymnosperm? 2. How are the needles on a red cedar similar to the leaves on a pine tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Is red cedar evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. Do all of the cones on a red cedar tree look the same? Which ones have seeds? Grades 6-8: 1. What is in the wood of a red cedar tree? 2. How could other organisms use red cedar trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What adaptations must red cedar have for exploiting disturbed areas? 2. Compare seed cones of pine, bald cypress and red cedar. How are they similar? 3. Many more species of cedar occur in the western United States. How might have red cedar evolved to be an eastern U.S. species?

9 Magnolia Magnolia spp. Identifying Features Smooth, gray bark Leaves elliptic in shape, length varies by species, alternate on branches Species evergreen or deciduous Large white fragrant flowers 6 species in Mississippi A B C A: Southern Magnolia; B: Sweetbay; C: Bigleaf Magnolia flower without petals; D: Southern Magnolia leaves Present Absent

10 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What makes a magnolia an angiosperm? 2. What are the leaves of a magnolia tree used for? Grades 3-5: 1. Are magnolia species evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. What structures in the magnolia flower make pollen? 3. What is the purpose of the white petals on a magnolia flower? Grades 6-8: 1. How is the wood of a magnolia tree formed? 2. How could other organisms use magnolia trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. How do the different species of magnolia differ in their form and distribution across Mississippi? 2. Magnolias are considered to be primitive plants because of their flower structure. How do their flowers differ from those of other trees in this series?

11 Beech Fagus grandifolia Identifying Features Smooth, gray bark, often carved into Leaves elliptic in shape, 6-12 cm long, alternate on branches Leaves die in winter but stay on trees Flowers small, green, clustered A B A: smooth bark of beech trees; B: flowers and fruits Present Absent

12 Questions Grades K-2: 1. Where are the flowers of a beech tree? 2. What are the leaves of a beech tree used for? Grades 3-5: 1. Is beech evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. What structures in the beech flower make seeds? Grades 6-8: 1. Why does a beech tree have smooth bark? 2. How could other organisms use beech trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. Beech and magnolia trees commonly grow together? What habitats would you find these species? Why do you think they grow together? 2. What do you think would pollinate beech trees? How would they disperse their seeds? 3. People often carve into the bark of beech trees. How could this affect diseases getting into the trees?

13 Oak Quercus spp. Identifying Features Bark brown-gray, varying by species Leaves often with lobes or bristles, varying length, alternate on branches Species deciduous or evergreen Female flowers small, becoming acorns 36 species in Mississippi A Present Absent B A: acorns and leaves on Post Oak; B: linear leaves and acorns of Willow Oak

14 Questions Grades K-2: 1. Where are the flowers of an oak tree? 2. What is inside of an acorn on an oak tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Are oaks evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. Oaks have two kinds of flowers. Why is this? What does each kind of flower do? Grades 6-8: 1. Why do oak trees have many different shaped leaves? 2. How could other organisms use oak trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What habitats would you find oak species growing in Mississippi? 2. What do you think would pollinate oak trees? How would they disperse their seeds? 3. Many oak species have sun leaves and shade leaves that have different shapes. How could this growth form be adaptive?

15 Maple Acer spp. Identifying Features Bark green to brown Simple or compound leaves with pointed lobes; opposite on branches Leaves deciduous Female flowers red or green, developing into winged fruits 6 species in Mississippi A B C A: Sugar maple; B: Boxelder; C: fruits with wings each side has a seed Present Absent

16 Questions Grades K-2: 1. Where are the flowers of a maple tree? 2. What are the different kinds of leaf shapes on maple trees? Grades 3-5: 1. Are maples evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. Why do maple seeds have wings? Grades 6-8: 1. What is the structure of the wood in a maple tree? 2. How could other organisms use maple trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What habitats would you find maple species growing in Mississippi? 2. What do you think would pollinate maple trees? 3. How are the leaf shapes in maple species adaptive?

17 Sweetgum Liquidambar styraciflua Identifying Features Reaching heights up to 80 feet Rough bark Star-shaped leaves alternate on branches; deciduous Flowers in spiky balls that become woody fruit clusters often called sweetgum balls A B C A: habit; B: starshaped leaves; C: sweetgum ball Present Absent

18 Questions Grades K-2: 1. Where are the flowers of a sweetgum tree? 2. What makes sweetgum a tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Is sweetgum evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. The leaves of sweetgum are star-shaped. Do you think this makes them better at photosynthesis than long, skinny leaves? Why? Grades 6-8: 1. What is the structure of the wood in a sweetgum tree? 2. How could other organisms use sweetgum trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What habitats would you find sweetgum growing in Mississippi? 2. How are sweetgum trees pollinated? Are the flowers bisexual or unisexual? 3. What advantage do woody plants, such as sweetgum, have over non-woody plants?

19 Hickory Carya spp. Identifying Features Rough brown bark with diamond shaped ridges Compound leaves with 5-21 leaflets; alternate on branches Leaves deciduous Female flowers small, clustered; developing into hickory nuts 12 species in Mississippi A B C A: Mockernut hickory; B: compound leaves characteristic of all hickories; C: shaggy bark of Shagbark Hickory Present Absent

20 Questions Grades K-2: 1. How does a hickory tree make nuts? 2. If hickory trees are so tall, do you think they need a little or a lot of sunlight? Grades 3-5: 1. Are hickories evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. Hickory leaves are compound. What does this mean? Grades 6-8: 1. What kind of vascular structure is found in the wood of a hickory tree? 2. How do other organisms use hickories for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What habitats would you find hickory trees growing in Mississippi? 2. What are the different kinds of hickories that occur in Mississippi? How do they maintain their distinctiveness if they occur in the same habitats? 3. What advantage do woody plants, such as hickories, have over non-woody plants in forests?

21 Tulip Poplar Liriodendron tulipifera Identifying Features Brown bark Leaves with 4-6 lobes, 6-20 cm long, alternate on branches Leaves deciduous Flowers large, green and orange A B C A: flower; B: fruits; C: leaf Present Absent

22 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What do the flowers of tulip poplar look like? 2. What part of tulip popular trees are used in getting water for the tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Is tulip poplar evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. What are the seeds of tulip poplar like? How are they dispersed? Grades 6-8: 1. What kind of vascular structure is found in the wood of a tulip poplar tree? 2. How do other organisms use tulip poplar trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What is the northern limit of the distribution of tulip poplar in the U.S.? What limits the distribution of this species? 2. What pollinates tulip poplar flowers? 3. Tulip poplars and magnolias are evolutionarily close. How are their flowers similar?

23 Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida Identifying Features Reddish brown gray bark with a checkered pattern Leaves elliptic in shape, 6-10 cm long, opposite on branches Leaves deciduous Flowers small greenish-yellow and clustered; surrounded by several large white petal-like bracts A B C D Present Absent A: Inflorescence of flowers; B: bark; C: fruits; D: leaves

24 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What do the flowers of dogwood look like? 2. What part of dogwood trees are used in getting water for the tree? Grades 3-5: 1. Are dogwoods evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. How do dogwoods disperse their seeds? Grades 6-8: 1. What kind of vascular structure is found in the wood of a dogwood tree? 2. How do other organisms use dogwoods for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. Do dogwoods occur in the canopy or understory of forests? What advantage does this provide relative to other species also found in forests? 2. What pollinates dogwood flowers? 3. What other species of dogwood occur in Mississippi and around the world?

25 Sugarberry Celtis laevigata Identifying Features Rough, bumpy gray bark Leaves elliptic with small teeth at the edges and asymmetrical base, 4-13 cm long, alternate on branches Leaves deciduous Flowers small, green, becoming a hard dark colored fruit A B C A: new leaves and flowers in the spring; B: mature leaves and fruits in the summer; C: trunk with bumpy bark Present Absent

26 Questions Grades K-2: 1. What do the flowers of sugarberry look like? 2. How would the bark of this tree be good for insects that crawl up it? Grades 3-5: 1. Is sugarberry evergreen or deciduous? How do you know? 2. What are the seeds of sugarberry like? 3. Why do you think this species has the name of sugarberry? Grades 6-8: 1. What kind of vascular structure is found in the wood of a sugarberry tree? 2. How do other organisms use sugarberry trees for food? Shelter? Grades 9-12: 1. What other species of Celtis occur in the U.S.? Compare their distributions to that of sugarberry. Do they overlap? 2. What kinds of habitats in Mississippi would you find sugarberry growing? What adaptations does this species have for these habitats? 3. What pollinates sugarberry flowers?
(Photo : US Navy) USS Cole.

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USS Cole (DDG-67), a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis-equipped guided missile destroyer, is now patrolling the same waters in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen where she was struck by a suicide boat on Oct. 12, 2000. The attack, which blew an enormous hole in the destroyer's port side, killed 17 sailors and injured 39 others.



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Cole is part of a three-ship squadron that also consists of the USS Makin Island (LHD-8), a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, and the USS Comstock (LSD-45), a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship.



The Makin Island's air group consists of Boeing AV-8B Harrier II single-engine ground-attack, jump jet aircraft; Bell AH-1 Cobra single engine attack helicopters; Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey multi-mission, tiltrotor aircraft and Bell UH-1Y Venom twin-engine, medium-sized utility helicopters.



All three warships are part of the Makin Island amphibious ready group.



The group's mission is to monitor the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait off southwestern Yemen that connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Iran in the past has threatened to deny access to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the event of a flare-up of tensions with the United States, a situation that seems possible today on account of new U.S. sanctions on Iran.



The Pentagon said on Feb. 2 the United States is prepared to defend access to waters off the coast of Yemen where a frigate of the Royal Saudi Navy (RSN) was damaged by a suicide boat attack on Jan. 30. RSN said its frigate destroyed two of the suicide boats, but the third hit the frigate, killing two crewmen.



Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who control Yemen's west coast, however, claim they hit the frigate with a missile, most probably a C-802 anti-ship missile made in China but supplied by Iran.



It said the Makin Island amphibious ready group is now at the southern end of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, "for no other reason than to respond to Bab el-Mandeb incidents."



"The Red Sea and ... the Bab el Mandeb is a vital waterway that the world relies on for the free flow of commerce," according to the Pentagon. "We will ensure that maritime traffic continues to get through that critical strategic waterway."



On Oct. 12, 2000, Cole was targeted in an attack carried out by al-Qaeda in the Yemeni port of Aden. Two suicide bombers in a small boat packed with explosives got close enough to the destroyer to inflict serious damage and kill 17 sailors. The commander of the Cole at the time was denied promotion to Captain because of this incident.



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TagsUSS Cole, yemen, Gulf of Aden, USS Makin Island, USS Comstock, Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Royal Saudi Navy
(Photo : US Navy) USS Enterprise in 2004.

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The storied nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65), probably the most beloved warship in the U.S. Navy, was decommissioned on Jan. 3 ending 51 years of honorable service to the United States.



The only ship in her class, the legendary Enterprise or the "Big E," was the stuff of action movies, books, videos and, of course, the namesake of that famous starship that keeps on going to where no man has gone before, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).



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The Big E was also the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier when she was commissioned into the Navy on Nov. 25, 1961. She remains the longest serving U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.



During the decommissioning ceremony at a Newport News shipyard in Virginia, the Enterprise was described as a "legendary" warship that helped shape history. In her 51 years of service, she played a role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.



She was taken out of service on Dec. 1, 2012. When this occurred, the Enterprise was third-oldest commissioned vessel in the Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), a Banner-class environmental research ship attached to Navy intelligence as a spy ship.



The Pueblo was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on Jan. 23, 1968 in what is known today as the "Pueblo Crisis."



The Navy has spent the last few years defueling the Enterprise's nuclear reactors. The ship will eventually be broken-up and its metal recycled.



The decommissioning of CVN-65 isn't the end of the line for the Enterprise, however.



A new and more powerful aircraft carrier with her name is expected to join the Navy in 2027.



The new USS Enterprise (CVN-80) will be the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier after the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).



CVN-80 will replace the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), lead ship of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, of which the Navy has 11 in operation.



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TagsUSS Enterprise (CVN-65), U.S. Navy, decommissioned, Big E, USS Constitution, USS Pueblo (AGER-2), Pueblo Crisis, USS Enterprise (CVN-80)
(Photo : Getty Images) Sir Michael Fallon.

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Russia's state sponsored deception media -- RT international television network and the Sputnik "news" agency -- continue to practice Soviet-era "active measures" as part of a global campaign to weaponize misinformation so as to destabilize the West, particularly the United States.



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United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defense Sir Michael Fallon has raised the warning against both of these tools for untruth.



"Today we see a country (Russia) that in weaponizing misinformation has created what we might now see as the post-truth age," he told the audience at St. Andrews University in Scotland.



"Russia is clearly testing NATO and the West. It is seeking to expand its sphere of influence, destabilize countries and weaken the alliance.



"It is undermining national security for many allies and the international rules-based system.



"Therefore it is in our interest and Europe's to keep NATO strong and to deter and dissuade Russia from this course."



Sir Michael said more should be done to "call out" lackeys such as the RT television network and Sputnik news agency spreading "Soviet-style misinformation."



He said NATO and the West have been forced to "do more to tackle the false reality promoted through Soviet-style misinformation." He urged the West "must counter Putin's Pravda with a faster truth."



He recalled that in 2015, the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) sanctioned RT for broadcasting content materially misleading or not duly impartial news about Syria and Ukraine.



The tactics being used by both RT and Sputnik are classic "active measures" used by spy agencies of the unlamented Soviet Union in their efforts to discredit NATO and the U.S. during the Cold War.



Active measures are what the Soviets describe as "actions of political warfare" conducted by the Soviet security services (such as the defunct KGB) to influence the course of world events.



Active measures involve media manipulations and include disinformation, propaganda, counterfeiting official documents, assassinations and political repression, which also means the persecution of political dissidents.



Active measures are now being used against Russia's enemies by Russian state-owned media and Russia's spy services.



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TagsRussia, RT international television network, Sputnik news agency, Secretary of State for Defense Sir Michael Fallon, weaponizing misinformation, Active measures, post-truth age
(Photo : Ministry of Defense) The Senkaku Islands.

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China expects the United States to put a lid on it and do nothing even as it restated its illegal claim to own the Senkaku Islands belonging to Japan.



China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the minuscule Japanese-controlled and uninhabited islands located southwest of Okinawa in the East China Sea. It also blasted the United States for putting regional stability in East Asia at risk by supporting Japan's claim to the Senkakus, which Japan has declared part of the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa.



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China's vitriol was directed at U.S. Secretary of State James Mattis who reaffirmed that America's commitment to defend Japanese territory also applied to the Senkakus. China demanded the U.S. avoid discussion of the issue.



It also raged against the "Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America" signed in 1960, blasting it as "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights."



"We urge the US side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands' sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," according to a statement read by the foreign ministry spokesman.



China cites historical records for its claim to the Senkakus. Japan, however, had ownership of the Senkakus from 1895 until its surrender in World War II.



The U.S. administered the Senkakus as part of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands from 1945 until 1972, when the islands returned to Japanese control under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement between the United States and Japan.



Taiwan, however, also claims ownership of the Senkakus.



China also criticized Mattis for reaffirming U.S. support for the deployment of the first of two Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems to South Korea in May.



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Tagschina, United States, Senkaku Islands, Japan, Secretary of State James Mattis
Transcription

1 author(s) Daniela N. Prina research fellow FRS-FNRS, University of Liege Blucher Design Proceedings Dezembro de 2014, Numero 5, Volume 1 From centralisation to local policies: design reform dynamics in Belgium and the creation of Antwerp s Higher Institute ( ) abstract From the country s unity until World War I, the Belgian Government launched several initiatives resulting in the longed-for project of creating national unity and consciousness through artistic instruction. The aim was to heal the rift between fine arts and applied arts, directing the latter to industrial production. Antwerp s Academy, thanks to its strategic role as one of Belgium s most important educational institutions, was consequently involved in this project, with its goal of bringing good taste to all social classes and aiding in the economic, politic and cultural progression of the country. keywords design education, Belgian design reform, Introduction Design reform in Belgium in the period between independence and World War I was the result of an interaction between public and private initiatives. The Belgian case-study is particularly relevant to illustrate these dynamics on its liberal political culture. A culture which at many levels deeply embraced the problems of education and their social impact, as both private entrepreneurs and public power used arts and culture to support their political and industrial ambitions. Art, education and national consciousness Nineteenth-century Belgium was a state with increasing industrialisation and a solid economy. Its large industrial production, compared to those of neighbouring countries, especially France and England, suffered from a lack of artistic quality which limited Belgian competitiveness on international markets. To remedy this situation, in the aftermath of London s Great Exhibition the Belgian government launched a reform of art education to instil good taste in the masses. However, it lacked impetus and proceeded slowly, remaining entangled in classicism trammels 1. Nevertheless, at the same time, a number of private initiatives aimed at promoting design reforms, strengthened the government s awareness to engage with a theme: the relationship between art and industry something which remained central for the economy of the young nation-state. The growing attention to the art-industry debate and the importance of its repercussions, is revealed through 1 Prina, D. N. (2010), Design in Belgium before Art Nouveau: art, industry, and the reform of artistic education in the second half of the nineteenth century Journal of Design History, vol. 23(4), pp Exposition des Academies et des ecoles de dessin et Congres de l enseignement des arts du dessin (1869) Bruxelles: Lelong. Prina, Daniela N.; "From centralisation to local policies: design reform dynamics in Belgium and the creation of Antwerp s Higher Institute ( )", p In: Tradition, Transition, Tragectories: major or minor influences? [=ICDHS th Conference of the International Committee for Design History and Design Studies]. Sao Paulo: Blucher, ISSN , DOI /despro-icdhs

2 Figure 1. The Jubilee Exhibition building (1880). several significant events: from the feeble attempts at launching educational reforms to the organisation, in 1868, of a major conference on the teaching of drawing (the first in Europe) 2, which led to the creation of measures such as the establishment of new study programs for art academies - approved in The crucial role of applied and industrial arts was also reflected in the numerous Belgian exhibitions, mirroring the country s industrial, political, and artistic ambitions. Brussels 1874 Industrial Arts Exhibition, organised entirely by private entrepreneurs, affirmed the nation s dynamism through the presentation of artefacts linked to two major domains: industrial arts and architecture 4. The exhibition aimed to promote industrial arts and their development, using decorative domestic objects. It also used the presentation of urban projects, to illustrate different aspects of the dynamism of the nation and of its capital. The exhibition encouraged the creation of a museum of industrial arts, a powerful instrument that would have implemented the development of Belgian design, thus completing the coveted reform project. The development of a museum launched by Charles Buls, a pioneer in the development and promotion of Belgian decorative arts, was well-received, but did not find an immediate realisation 5. It was however connected to another event, the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the country s independence. This gave the government the opportunity of supporting the industrial arts, using them to foment a national consciousness and encourage a feeling of national belonging. While the Industrial Arts Exhibition was organised in the new iron-and-glass Halles in Brussels, a highlysymbolic building marking the progresses made by Belgian industry, the government chose an edifice specially built for the 1880 Jubilee Exhibition. This was a two-winged architecture, covered with a modern glass and iron structure centrally-interlocked with a classical triumphal arch. It reflected its ambivalent artistic intent, divided between the support for industrial arts and the need for self-representation through didactic and easily recognisable architectural models 6 (Fig. 1). The State, therefore, sought to strengthen a progressive vision of the youthful but already powerful nation and to renew the thread of history engaging with its great artistic tradition. Available funds were mainly destined for the fete industrielle, which included two exhibitions one focused on contemporary industrial arts, the other on Conseil de perfectionnement de l enseignement des arts du dessin. Session de 1874 (1874) Bruxelles: Gobbaerts. 4 Exposition des arts industriels. Bruxelles Catalogue officiel (1874) Bruxelles: Vanderauwera. 5 Prina, D. N. (2012), Belgian decorative arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. Needs for a national museum and debates surrounding didactic collections in Brussels, Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 24(2), pp Ranieri, L. (1973), Leopold II urbaniste, Bruxelles: Hayez, pp

3 theme 5 ancient decorative arts both, accompanied by exhaustive catalogues 7. Industrial arts were therefore presented at the Jubilee Exhibition as the past, present and future of the nation, helping to valorise and renovate the great Belgian artistic tradition. The connection between artistic research and its practical outcomes had already been promoted by the government in Belgium s early days through the creation of institutions such as the Commission royale des monuments and the Academie royale de Belgique, which encouraged studies on national artistic heritage 8. The historiographical research published for this occasion stressed the importance of the relationship between tradition and modernity, emphasising those elements that interpreted it: art, industry, architecture, and the nation. Moreover, the 1880 Jubilee Exhibition alluded to an eventual allocation of a portion of the buildings as premises for a new museum of industrial arts (opened in 1889), completing the mission of infusing good taste in the population. It bridged the gap between major and minor arts, directing the latter to the industrial production accomplishing the sought-for economic, political and cultural undertakings (fig. 2). In order to implement this project, and involve all social classes, the government needed to impose its central role in the design reform dynamics. It used two main initiatives. The first was the creation of a Decorative Arts School in Brussels, where new design schools created nearby in the 1860s had already enhanced Belgian design. This was thanks to the perseverance of the new burgomaster (between 1881 and 1899) Buls. The second was the creation of a Higher Institute in Antwerp, under the full control of the government. Both projects were planned in 1879 and completed in 1886, following years of debates and negotiations. Figure 2. Ancient Decorative Arts at the Jubilee Exhibition (1880). The ambitious project of a Higher Institute In this context, the creation of Antwerp s Higher Institute is particularly relevant. It highlights the government s artistic policies and its attempts to restore the centrality of Fine Arts, through which the state mostly expressed itself, by encouraging at the same time an educational system focused on decorative arts, opened-up to all social classes. The government also aimed to create both a political and cultural balance between Belgium s administrative capital, Brussels, and its artistic capital, Antwerp, seat of the country s most prestigious Academy of Fine Arts (whose teaching was completely reformed to create the Higher Institute). (Fig. 3) 7 Fumiere, T. (1880) Les arts decoratifs a l exposition du Cinquantenaire belge, Brussels : Guyot ; Exposition Nationale, IV section, Industries d Art en Belgique anterieures au XIXe siecle. Catalogue Officiel (1880) Brussels: Vanderauwera. 8 Van Impe, E. (2008) The rise of architectural history in Belgium, Architectural History, vol. 51, pp

4 Artistic education in Antwerp was indeed split in two different establishments. The Academy followed the principles of the 1874 study programme and comprised the first two degrees of theoretical, practical and decorative art education relying on local administration and under the artistic supervision of a director. The Higher Institute, a sort of university of the arts dedicated to higher artistic studies, was managed by the state only. In addition to ordinary courses, seven free workshops including one for architecture were opened under the direction of a renowned master, for high-level education. The two establishments thus had different directions and only shared an administrative manager, as the government still financially supported the Academy following a royal decree of 10 July The extensive theoretical instruction offered by the reformed Academy was focused on artistic practices and its languages: it drew at various levels on art history and history of styles, touching all fields of artistic knowledge 9. Using an artistic expression of strong Figure 3. Cover of one of the Higher Institute commemorative books (1911). moral value and built on a renovated system of education created by the institutions, art could thus encompass all classes strengthening the government s project of legitimising the country s unity through the creation of a national identity. Such artistic University, offered a broader and more articulated education when compared to the previous organisation. It specifically targeted,welcomed and trained not only artists and architects but all craftsmen and workers. As a result, the national cohesion project was strengthened by giving all social classes the opportunity to be educated in the first artistic institution of the country. These artists, architects, craftsmen, would have worked in Belgian manufacturers and building yards, following practices and tastes imparted at Antwerp s Academy, whose study plan was aligned with the artistic policies supported by the government. Moreover, the new organisation fulfilled the idea of a more rational and useful educational system. The creation of specific training for design education at lower levels was administrated locally, thus defining the area of education for craftsmen, and connecting it, where possible, to local manufactures and building yards. The reform was also motivated by a strong desire to rebuild a national artistic identity using an unsurpassed artistic local model, the Flemish Renaissance 10. The highpoint of applied arts during Leerplan 1886, Archief van de Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten (hereafter AKASKA), MA Willis A. (1984), Flemish Renaissance Revival in Belgian Architecture ( ), PhD thesis, New York: Columbia University.

5 theme 5 this golden artistic age, where all the artistic forces were combined in a meaningful and valuable bundle, was thought thanks to the presence of great masters. It was therefore obvious for art institutions to take charge of their fervent mission of reunifying the arts 11. The reorganisation also sought to position the Academy of Antwerp at a higher level than that of other national establishments, with the creation of a new atelier of Decorative and Monumental Art, and in particular, perfecting architectural education. The new atelier reflected the ambivalent ambitions of the government which wanted to improve industrial art, but primarily financed public works of art (historical paintings, commemorative monuments, erection and restoration of public buildings). This twofold attitude, oscillating between conservative drifts and the desire to renew, explains why even if the architecttraining was perfected and widened in its historical and technological aspects, in Antwerp architectural training remained largely rooted in the academic tradition. The reform, however, did not bring the much longed-for results, for several reasons. It frustrated local ambitions: during the pre-reform debates, the municipal administration had already feared the Academy would be diminished after the reorganisation compared to other Belgian academies, as some of the mid-level courses were relocated to the Higher Institute 12. As a result, some courses taught at the Academy, such as architectural planning, received a broader extension with the aim of raising the educational level of the Academy, inevitably overlapping with teaching imparted at the Higher Institute 13. This fact prevented many students from enrolling at the Higher Institute, as many of them had already received a broad education allowing them to start a career. Moreover, towards the end of the century, the administration reduced elementary courses in order to admit skilled students only 14. Craftsmen and decorators, which still represented the majority of students, were thus obliged to train in industrial schools, with a subsequent collapse in the number of enrolments 15. Continuity of education, which had been at the core of the reform, was consequently broken. An analogous problem afflicted the students passage from the Academy to the Higher Institute, for the two institutions lacked educational coordination. As a result, the Academy and the Institute were led into the new century without consistent oversight 16. Conclusion Despite the political ambitions to establish a close relationship between art and industry realised through continuous organisational renewal and updating educational curricula the design reforms promoted in Antwerp by the government remained disconnected from innovative contemporary artistic and architectural trends, developed mostly in Brussels avant-garde milieux. Moreover, the highly centralised plan that identified Antwerp as the heart of the cultural life of the country failed to find appreciation in Belgium s vital and well-defined local cultural model, as it conflicted with local interests and the need 11 Conseil Communal. Reorganisation de l Academie royale des Beaux-arts d Anvers (1880), Antwerp: De Backer, AKASKA, p Bulletin Communal (1880) no.11, Anvers, pp Rosier J., De Taeye E.L. ( ), Architecture, AKASKA, MA Rapport sur la situation et les travaux de l Academie royale d Anvers pendant l annee scolaire , AKASKA, MA 235, Palmares. 15 Rosier J., De Taeye E.L. ( ), Annexe E Danger de la suppression des classes elementaires, AKASKA, dossier MA Rosier J., De Taeye E.L. ( ), (1905), ( ), Rapports, AKASKA, MA

6 to prioritise national art. The political project to unify the country through art therefore failed as well, due to the complexity of the problematic management of Belgian schools, affecting both private and public issues. Antwerp s case study thus announces the future directions followed by Belgium in the artistic and political domains. The didactic institutions of major regional towns were indeed institutionalised and strengthened, becoming active centres for the development of their own local productions: reorganisations of academies were launched in Liege in 1905 and in Gent in , while, after World War I, the creation in Brussels of the Higher Institute of Decorative Arts (ISAD La Cambre) in 1926 reinforced the capital s educational offer 17. The gradual dissolution of the unifying project begun in the second half of the nineteenth century became effective towards the 1970s, when cultural autonomy was attributed to the Flemish and Walloon communities, thus initiating Belgium s regionalisation process later achieved in References Archief van de Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen. Exposition des Academies et des ecoles de dessin et Congres de l enseignement des arts du dessin (1869) Bruxelles: Lelong. Conseil de perfectionnement de l enseignement des arts du dessin. Session de 1874 (1874) Bruxelles: Gobbaerts. Exposition des arts industriels. Bruxelles Catalogue officiel (1874) Bruxelles: Vanderauwera. Fumiere, T. (1880) Les arts decoratifs a l exposition du Cinquantenaire belge, Bruxelles. Prina, D. N. (2010), Design in Belgium before Art Nouveau: art, industry, and the reform of artistic education in the second half of the nineteenth century, Journal of Design History, vol. 23(4), pp Delevoy R., Culot M. (1979), La Cambre , Bruxelles, AAM. 562
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway voted on Monday to allow same-sex couples to be married in church weddings.

The denomination  of which over 70 percent of Norways population affiliated themselves with in 2015  has already allowed individual pastors to conduct same-sex weddings, but this was a vote to allow for a new liturgy, or service, during which same-sex weddings can take place.

The new decision also changes wording in the denominations text regarding marriage to take out words such as bride and groom to allow same-sex weddings.

However, pastors and church employees are allowed to not participate in the liturgy.

The decision was made with an 83 to 29 synod vote.

I hope that all Churches in the world can be inspired by this new liturgy, Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church within the Lutheran Church, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The decision also had its opponents. Rolf Magne Haukalid was quoted by the Christian Post as saying that the disappointment, sorrow and uncertainty is great.

Disappointment and sadness because today we are introducing a doctrine that a unified diocese called heresy in 1997, he went on. This goes against the Bible and Jesuss word on marriage.
home World Discrimination against Christians on the rise in Turkey, new report reveals

A new report from the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey has revealed that the attacks and hate speech against Christians are increasing in the country.

The 2016 Rights Violations Report noted the rise in hate speech against Christians in social and conventional media, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The report highlighted the billboard ads, posters, and pamphlets that warned against the celebration of Christmas and New Year.

One incident that occurred on Dec. 28 in the Nazilli district of the western province of AydAn involved an amateur theatrical act, in which a group of costumed men put a gun to the head of a man portraying Santa Claus.

The report also noted that Protestant religious officials have been regarded by the government as a "threat against national security" and some have been deported, the news website Asbarez revealed.

Last August, Anteb church leader Patric Jansen was barred from entering Turkey, as Turkish officials considered him to be a "threat to national security."

Andrew Craig Brunson, the leader of Izmir Resurrection Church, was supposed to be deported, but he was arrested on Dec. 9 for allegedly being involved in a failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ryan Keating, who is affiliated with the Ankara Salvation Church, was told on Oct. 8, 2016 that his residence permit was canceled as he was leaving Turkey to attend a conference abroad. He was also designated as a "threat against national security" and was told that he would not be able to return to the country.

Another issue highlighted in the report was the classification of Bibles that were found in shelters used by terrorist group members as "terrorist material."

The report also cited cases in which Christian and Jewish students were required to provide documents from their religious centers before they could be exempted from religion classes in Turkish schools.

"In one school a baptism document was verbally demanded. The use of the exemption right [from religion classes] is becoming more difficult day by day," the report noted.

Christian students, who had to leave religion classes, were put in the position of declaring their faith, which results in harassment from their classmates and invitations to convert to Islam.
home US Texas education board votes to keep curriculum that questions theory of evolution

The Texas Board of Education has voted in favor of keeping the language that challenges the theory of evolution in its high school biology textbooks.

The board, which is composed of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, voted on Wednesday to remove the requirement that "all sides" be presented, but some parts of the curriculum questioning evolution were kept.

Last month, a committee appointed by the board members recommended the removal of four standards that require students to learn about the complexity of cells, the origin of life, and the abrupt appearance and stasis in fossil records. But on Wednesday, the board members voted to reinstate most of the language that the committee wanted to remove.

Some Democratic board members have expressed concern that the move could lead to teachings of intelligent design or creationism in the classroom.

Kathy Miller, president of education advocacy group Texas Freedom Network, stated that teachers have been complaining about the science standards in the curriculum.

"Teachers are practically begging the board to stop forcing them to waste classroom time on junk science standards that are based mostly on the personal agendas of board members themselves, not sound science," Miller said in a news release. "But these politicians just can't seem to stop themselves from making teachers' jobs harder," she added.

Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, who proposed the amendments to reinstate the language, said that she based her proposals on feedback from teachers and industry leaders, who stated in a survey and informal public comment that they want critical thinking to be taught in classrooms.

"Why is it that when I talk to biology teachers...why is it that they look at me with a strange look when I say, 'Do you feel like this standard is opening the door to creation?'" said Cargill, according to My Statesman. "They're just not thinking this way. It's ridiculous. There's been no lawsuits, no huge outcry that creation is being taught in the classroom," she continued.

The four curriculum standards that the committee wanted to be removed was approved by the State Board of Education in 2009. The committee members argued that the requirements in the standards were vague, redundant, or that they would take too much time to teach.

The approved curriculum is only a preliminary version, and the board would vote again before a final decision can be made in April. Once the board adopts the curriculum standards, it would go into effect in the 2017a18 school year.
Family Says Christian Schoolgirl Drugged, Raped, Murdered  But Pakistan Police Claim She Killed Herself

Her family says there was probable evidence to prove she was kidnapped. There were also signs that she was raped before she was murdered.

And yet the police in Pakistan insisted that Tania, 12-year Christian schoolgirl, committed suicide by jumping into a canal, the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) reported.

The sudden death of their beloved daughter on Jan. 23 stunned Tania's parents, and now they're demanding justice.

The family said there was CCTV footage that showed Tania getting into a vehicle just outside her school, a possible indication that she was lured by a kidnap gang.

When the police found her body on the banks of the canal, the family noticed that her was full of froth, which is a recognised indication that a person has taken a date rape drug. Moreover, Tania's trousers were badly ripped, another possible indication that she was raped before she was killed and dumped in the canal.

The family is now calling for an independent autopsy of their daughter's body.

To justify its claim that Tania committed suicide, the police said in its report that the victim suffered "deep depression" in school.

But Tania's classmates and friends said this was an "unfounded allegation."

Nadeem Gill, the girl's father, said Tania "was young, happy and full of energy. There is absolutely no way she would take her own life!"

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the BPCA, is urging Christians to sign a petition calling for justice for Tania.

"Tania's case fits the profile of many other similar rape incidents, sadly in her case it led to murder," Chowdhry said.

Christians continue to be subjected to indiscriminate attacks in Muslim-majority Pakistan with the persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA ranking the country at No. 4 on its latest World Watch List of nations where Christians face the most severe persecution for their faith.

In its report, Open Doors states that hundreds of Christian girls and women have been kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriages in Pakistan.

In December 2016, Amnesty International also deplored the plight of Christians in the country. It says religious minorities are often the target of false blasphemy accusations in Pakistan, which embolden vigilantes to threaten or even kill those accused of blasphemy.

Amnesty notes that authorities exert little effort to check the evidence of blasphemy allegations as they yield to public pressure. Trials are often "unfair," the human rights group says.
Catholic Theologian Slams Trump's Border Wall, Says 'Significant Spiritual Issues Are At Stake'

A leading Catholic theologian has criticised Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico, calling it a challenge to America's moral values.

The Rev Daniel G. Groody, an associate professor of theology at Notre Dame University in Indiana told RNS: "If more has been given to America, then even more is expected of us, and unless we attend to human insecurity outside our borders we will not have national security inside our borders."

"What Trump fails to see is that state sovereignty is not an absolute privilege but a moral responsibility," he added. Groody said that the wall would hurt the poor the most, and would lead to loss of life as migrants attempt other ways to leave their country and escape their poverty.

"Significant spiritual issues are at stake," he said. "To further close our doors not only deprives the stranger in need but also diminishes who we are as human beings."

Groody has years of experience working with migrants in California and on the Mexican border.

He said of the experience: "I was very inspired by the life of the people, the generosity of the people, but they were also suffering. They were not only poor, they were also dying in the deserts. Many were struggling for a dignified life."

Groody called the proposed wall "political bravado." If a complete border wall is ever completed, he says "people are just going to come in boats. The wall solves nothing."

Trump's border wall with Mexico was a standout promise of his election campaign. Pope Francis had previously said of Trump and his proposal: "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel". He later said that he would "wait and see" how Trump acts as President before judging him.

In his prayer welcoming the President to his new role, Francis said: "Under your leadership, may America's stature continue to be measured above all by its concern for the poor, the outcast and those in need who, like Lazarus, stand before our door."

Groody said that Trump "understands neither the lessons of history, the challenges of immigration, nor the founding spirit of American democracy."
Church Regret After Gay Slang Service That Called The Holy Spirit 'The Fantabulosa Fairy'

A Church of England theological college has apologised after trainee priests held a service that referred to Jesus as as "the Homie Chavvie" and the Holy Spirit as "the Fantabulosa Fairy".

The liturgy was compiled using the gay slang language known as Polari.

The service was held at the chapel of Westcott House, Cambridge, to commemorate LGBT history month, BBC News reports.

The alternative liturgy included rending of Christ as "the Homie Chavvie" and the Holy Spirit as "the Fantabulosa Fairy".

Polari is a type of slang which was used particularly in the gay subculture at a time when homosexual activity was still illegal. Its usage became less common when homosexuality was decriminalised in the 1960s.

The congregation was told that the use of Polari was intended to "queer the liturgy of evening prayer". A service commemorating LGBT history month had been permitted, but the new liturgy had not. College officials have now expressed regret at the occasion.

The service featured an Old Testament reading from the book of Joel, where the words "rend your heart and not your garments, return to the Lord your God" were printed in Polari as "rend your thumping chest and not your frocks - and turn unto the Duchess your Gloria: for she is bona and merciful".

The traditional prayer of "Glory be to the father, and to the son, and the Holy Spirit" was translated to: "Fabeness be to the Auntie, and to the Homie Chavvie, and to the Fantabulosa Fairy".

The translation was based on the Polari Bible, a scripture translation work compiled in 2003 by a group known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The introduction to the Polari Bible comments that "good taste has never limited the Sisters' activities." A Polari Koran is also in the works.

The service was not led by a licensed minister, but by a trainee priest. The principal of Westcott House, Canon Chris Chivers, said the liturgy had not been authorised for church use.

He said: "I fully recognise that the contents of the service are at variance with the doctrine and teaching of the Church of England and that is hugely regrettable.

"Inevitably for some members of the house this caused considerable upset and disquiet and I have spoken at length to those involved in organising the service.

"I will be reviewing and tightening the internal mechanisms of the house to ensure this never happens again."
Cracking The Christian Code: A Guide For Newbies

Becoming a Christian is like crossing a border into a new country under a different identity. It takes time to work out who you are now, and it also takes time to learn the nuances of the way your fellow citizens think and behave. Some of it is pretty mysterious, some frankly a bit odd, some well-meaning but misguided. Every culture has its quirks. The trick is not to let it put you off when you first arrive, because if you stay the course it will stop seeming so strange and it might even become your new normal. In the meantime, here is a brief guide to help you integrate in the early days:

How and when do Christians touch each other? The key here is to become self-conscious and slightly awkward. Christians do touch each other, but never in a carefree manner. Some ways you may be touched, particular to Christians, include the prolonged hand shake, the side hug (usually from young-ish men who consider themselves attractive), the heavy hand on shoulder during prayer, the clasp to large bosom if you seem a bit sad, and the encouraging back pat from the mature gentlemen.

How do you know when a prayer session is over? There are clues to watch out for if the person in charge hasn't said at the start that they will "close in prayer", but the best thing to do is to listen out for shuffling and throat clearing. Have a peep and if the majority are sitting up straight with their eyes open, you are heading to the end. It won't actually be over until everyone is in this posture, so don't talk yet.

When and how much do Christians drink? This varies according to Christian sub-tribe, but safe to assume most Christians don't openly admit to binge drinking or deliberately getting drunk. Among British Christians, as opposed to American for example, moderate drinking is not taboo, and you may well find yourself on a post-church pub trip, where it would be perfectly acceptable to have a pint (of beer, not spirits).

Are there any words I need to know? There is a whole lexicon associated with your new culture. Some words you will be familiar with but you'll find used in a different way or with far more frequency, such as 'grace', 'blessing' or 'worship'. Other words, like 'atonement', 'redemption' or 'sacrament' are more outlandish and have complex meanings, so wise to steer clear of these at first.

How do Christians do conflict? Christians struggle with conflict, partly due to a mistaken belief we must be nice at all times, partly because we try not to judge each other but we are still human so we do, and partly because we are a bit afraid of anger and the damage it might inflict. You might at first think there is no conflict but you'll soon notice signs. Look out for a lack of eye contact, a tight-lipped smile or a pointed reference in a prayer. Do your best not to adopt bad Christian conflict habits.

Will I be expected to have my Bible with me at all times? No, few Christians take their Bible to church let alone to work or the gym. If you are part of a church small group, you will look good if you take it to that though. And lots of people have some kind of Bible app on their phone.

There are few things more exciting for Christians than welcoming new believers into the community of faith. If you try and hide your newness you will take away our fun, so take your time to settle in and feel free to laugh (kindly) at the oddness you encounter. Your perspective is a gift.

Jo Swinney is an author, speaker and editor of Preach Magazine. She has a Masters in Theology from Regent College, Vancouver, and lives in South West London with her vicar husband and their two little girls. Follow her on Twitter @joswinney
How Should Christians Deal With Disappointment?

Sometimes Christians experience really trying times. But then God chooses to remain silent on their prayer requests. It can be really disappointing not to hear even a peep from God, and for the challenging issues to persist.

But world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham said Christians should not be surprised when disappointments come their way, because they'll experience them sooner or later.

"When Jesus was crucified, His disciples were not only disappointed, but they gave in to fear and confusion and despair. Often that's our reaction to disappointment also," he wrote on his website.

Jesus' disciples forgot two important truths when they gave in to their despair, even though Jesus already taught them repeatedly about it. First, Jesus told them that death could never hold Him, and He would conquer it by coming back to life by the power of God.

Next, Jesus told His disciples that God will never abandon them; in fact, His Holy Spirit never left their sides. In the same vein, Graham said Christians should never forget about God's promises no matter how difficult things might get for them.

"He loves you, and He wants to guide you in the future. In other words, don't focus on the past; seek instead what God has for you in the future. If you have never done so, by faith open your heart and life to Jesus Christ. Then put your future into His hands," said Graham.

Graham also said Christians should never forget God's presence. Whatever battle they need to face, it would be easier to conquer with God on their side.

Earlier, Graham said that faith in Jesus and His resurrection enables people to transform their fears and disappointments to joy. "Disappointment and failure are not signs that God has forsaken you or stopped loving you. The devil wants you to believe God no longer loves you, but it isn't true. God's love for us never fails," he said.
ISIS Chops Off Hands Of 2 Kids In Front Of Their Families For Refusing Order To Kill Captives

They knew they would be severely punished for refusing to obey orders. Despite this, two child soldiers of the Islamic State (ISIS) bravely dared to refuse a direct order from their superiors for them to carry out the execution of two civilian captives.

The punishment for disobedience could be considered "lenient" in ISIS termsthe two loss only their hands, not their heads.

In a sketchy report with an accompanying photo released on Thursday, Iraqi News said "members of the Islamic State terrorist group amputated the hands of two children, for refusing to carry out the execution sentence on two civilians in front of their families."

Citing a local source, the Iraqi online news outlet said the two children who were meted the hand amputation punishment were aged 10 and 12 years old.

They were part of a group of children based in ISIS camps in Nineveh, Iraq, the report said.

These "Cubs of the Caliphate" have been featured in ISIS propaganda videos carrying out executions of the jihadist group's captives.

In December 2016, an apprehended would-be suicide bomber described how the ISIS leadership is training children to fill the group's depleted ranks as their fighters come under relentless attacks from Iraqi and other coalition forces.

The 15-year-old Iraqi boy named Mahmoud Ahmed had second thoughts in carrying out a suicide mission in Kirkuk, Iraq in August last year. He was subsequently arrested by Kurdish forces.

Ahmed confessed that he was one of dozens of other children who were being indoctrinated in jihadist doctrine and trained as young warriors.

Kurdish intelligence officials said there are thousands of other children across Iraq and Syria who are being trained by ISIS to fight and carry out suicide attacks. Some of the children are as young as nine years old, the officials added.

One of the officials said ISIS is using child soldiers because they are harder to detect by enemy forces and because they are also easily duped.

In November 2016, ISIS released a video showing children and pensioners being forced to carry out executions of prisoners.

The video also showed ISIS leaders crucifying alleged traitors in a bid to terrorise the remaining population under their control.
Paul Ryan and his House Republicans gave the American public a huge middle finger Thursday-- and a big wet kiss to the NRA. Polling has consistently shown, the vast majority of Americans approve of measures to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill . 91% of Americans favor preventing certain people, such as convicted felons or people with mental illness, from owning guns. The NRA doesn't agree and the Republican Party does whatever the gun lobbyists tell them to do. So a House resolution by Texas crackpot Sam Johnson that would make it easier for the mentally impaired to buy guns passed the House with all but 2 Republicans voting for it





The vote was to overturn an Obama-era rule that bars gun ownership by some people who have been deemed too mentally impaired to manage their own financial affairs by the Social Security Administration, including, for example, schizophrenics. It only applies to those who are severely impaired over a long period of time not, for example, for people suffering from depression or anxiety. The NRA and the Republican Party argued that the rule unfairly stigmatizes "people with disabilities" and strips them of their Second Amendment rights. Have you ever heard of the GOP being concerned about people with disabilities before? House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the rumored child molester who spends all his time trying to abolish the Office of Congressional Ethics: "This is a slap in the face for those in the disabled community because it paints all those who suffer from mental disorders with the same broad brush. It assumes that simply because an individual suffers from a mental condition, that individual is unfit to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights."





Unfortunately 6 right-wing Democrats joined the Republicans in passing Johnson's resolution:

 Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)

 Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)

 Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)

 Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)

 Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)

 Tim Walz (MN)

Minnesota Blue Dog Collin Peterson was away from Congress or he would have voted for it as well.





Since 1990, gun groups have given $36,374,608 to congressional candidates, $31,445,831 to Republicans and $4,248,840 to Democrats (primarily from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party). Among the Democrats on the gun lobbyist payroll include:

 Sanford Bishop- $53,815

 Henry Cuellar- $38,549

 Ron Kind- $36,982

 Tim Walz- $27,950

As my friend Daisy-Mae mentioned on the phone earlier today "now someone dressed as Napoleon can walk into a gun shop and buy a semi-automatic assault rifle and run down the street and shoot up a nursery school." And another friend, Harry, quipped, "How else could Trump qualify to get a gun for himself?"

You'd think the Republicans would have the common sense to send someone better than slow Wyoming Senator John Barrasso out to the national media to make excuses for the Republicans' insane decision to let severely mentally handicapped individuals buy all the guns they want. Barrasso just couldn't answer the question. He's clearly a moron; just watch this sad video from CNN yesterday:

Breaking News Tonight: Trump's Army Secretary Designate Wants Out




ISIS Sex Slave Survivor Recalls Horrific Captivity, Says 12 Brutes Raped Her: 'I Suffered Unspeakable Crimes'

She was a victim of crimes so malevolent that there are no words to describe them.

Revisiting her traumatic past once again, Islamic State (ISIS) sex slave survivor Nadia Murad bared more details of her harrowing captivity and escape from the clutches of her captors in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2014.

The young Yazidi woman revealed that she was raped by 12 ISIS brutes but could not talk much about the details of her captivity because they're so painful.

"We were subjected to crimes to their hands that nobody can mention what they did for us," she told STV News.

Murad said the ISIS grabbed thousands of women and girls, some as young as 10 years old, turning them into sex slaves and forcing them to change their religion.

"I was subjected to many bad things. In total 12 men raped me," she revealed.

Murad said she finally found the chance to escape when her last captor left the house unguarded.

With the help of human rights workers, she was able to find refuge in Germany, where she is now starting a new life.

Her courage in speaking out about her ordeal earned her the prestigious Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize in Strasbourg.

Murad further captured the world's attention with her stinging comments on what's going on in the Middle East.

She blasted world leaders for not doing much to help the victims of genocide in the Middle East, saying what the ISIS is doing to women is "more difficult than death."

"We die every day because we see the world silent in the face of our plight," she said last year.

Last November, she said 3,400 Yazidi women and girls remain enslaved for ISIS sex use and that only very few of the girls have been rescued since the operation to free Mosul began in October.

Such is the fear of ISIS captivity that other Yazidi girls have resorted to drastic measures to prevent them from being abducted and turned into sex slaves.

Yasmin, a 17-year-old Yazidi girl, was one of them. In August last year, she was reportedly gripped with fear when she thought that ISIS militants had entered the refugee camp in Iraq where she was staying to take her away along with other girls.

To stop ISIS from abducting her and turning her into a sex slave, she thought of severely disfiguring herself so that she would look undesirable to the jihadists.

She then doused her face and body with petrol and lit a match, enduring the terrible pain as the flames burned her skin, including her face and hair, disfiguring her and damaging her nose, lips and earsover 80 percent of her body.
'Love-Struck' 62-Year-Old Pastor Leaves Church Only To Die, Allegedly Killed By 'Devil In Disguise'

A "love-struck" pastor thought she had found her "second chance at love" after her husband died over a year ago.

What did not cross the mind of 62-year-old Pastor Ruthene Tukes was that her new-found lover, 32-year-old David Chavell Monroe, would push her into a "living hell," leading to her death.

Shameka Tukes, the pastor's daughter, told The Christian Post that her mother was "blinded" by Monroe, who she described as a "devil in disguise" who was "bad news from the jump" the first time she saw him.

Shameka said her mother had been the pastor of End Times Revival Center Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida, for about four years until she fell in love with Monroe in June 2016 following the death of her father, who was married to her mother for 42 years.

She said when her widowed mother became smitten with Monroe, she decided to leave her congregation.

"My mom was very vulnerable. She was lonely. And she wanted that companionship," Shameka said. "When she made that decision, we all respected it."

Ruthene's body was found lying on the floor of a hotel in Kingsland, Georgia, on Jan. 31. The police said she appeared to have died from head trauma, Tribune & Georgian reported.

A blood trail led the police to Monroe who was immediately arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder.

Shameka said before she was killed, her mother was trying desperately to get back to her church in Florida but Monroe prevented her from going back.

"He's the devil in disguise," she said.

Shameka said Monroe must have killed her mother because her mother "had been trying to get rid of him."

She said the man was begging her mother to come see him. When her mom did meet him in the hotel, "I believe that she told him that this would be the last time you're gonna see me and he killed my mom out of hate for that," Shameka said.

She believes her mother is in heaven even though she left the church to be with a man she mistakenly thought would make her happy.

"I say this, love is blind. My mom believed in Jesus. She believed in heaven. She took a chance at love and in the end it cost her her life," she said.
Philippine Catholic Church to slam 'reign of terror' behind war on drugs

The Philippines' Catholic Church will assail President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs for creating a "reign of terror" among the poor, in sermons to be read at services across the country this weekend, three church sources told Reuters on Saturday.

In its most strongly worded attack so far on the crackdown on drug pushers and users, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines will say that killing people is not the answer to trafficking of illegal drugs and will voice concern about the indifference of many to the bloodshed.

"An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account," they say in a pastoral letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

More than 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte launched his anti-drugs campaign seven months ago, more than 2,500 in what police say were shootouts during raids and sting operations.

Both the government and police have strenuously denied that extrajudicial killings have taken place during the campaigns.

The president's office had no immediate comment on the bishops' letter.

Beginning with Mass services this evening, priests will read out the letter signed by the bishops of Asia's biggest Catholic nation.

Their address will not mention Duterte by name, but will urge "elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests" and call for steps to tackle "rogue policemen and corrupt judges".

Nearly 80 pe rcent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholic and, unlike in many other countries where the faith has waned, the majority still practise with enthusiasm.

While that support historically has given the Church significant political and social clout, it has been hesitant to criticise the blunt-spoken president's current war on drugs.

In interviews with Reuters last year, more than a dozen clergymen said they were uncertain how to take a stand against the killings given the popular support Duterte's campaign enjoyed.

Some said challenging him could be fraught with danger.

Duterte has routinely attacked the Church. He cursed the Pope for causing traffic snarl-ups during his 2015 visit, and as recently as this week called for a "showdown" with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, misusing state funds and molesting children.

In an apparent reference to accusations that many drug pushers and users have been victims of extra-judicial killings, the bishops said in their pastoral letter "every person has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty" and the law should be followed.

"We must also give priority to reforming rogue policemen and corrupt judges," the letter said. "We also call upon elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests."

The bishops' letter comes less than a week after Duterte suspended all police operations in the drug crackdown due to what he said was deep-rooted corruption. He has put an anti-drugs agency in charge of the campaign and says he wants the armed forces to play a supportive role.

Amnesty International said in a report this week that police prosecuting the war on drugs had behaved like the criminal underworld they were supposed to be suppressing, taking payments for killings and the delivery of bodies to funeral homes. It said the wave of drugs-related killings appeared to be "systematic, planned and organised" by authorities and could constitute crimes against humanity.

In a series of reports last year, Reuters showed that the police had a 97-percent kill rate in their drug operations, the strongest proof yet that police were summarily shooting drug suspects.

The Reuters reports also found that low-level officials in poor neighbourhoods helped police assemble "watch lists" of alleged drug users and pushers that were effectively hit lists, with many of the people named ending up dead. Duterte used exaggerated and flawed data, including the number of drug users in the Philippines, to justify his anti-narcotics crackdown, according to a Reuters investigation.
US Judge Overturns Donald Trump's Controversial Travel Ban

US President Donald Trump has hit back at the judge who has overturned his travel ban, describing him as a "so-called judge".

As thousands of people in the UK marched in London to protest President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK and his travel ban, a judge in Seattle has succeeded in suspending the ban.

Judge James Robart ruled that the ban on visitors from seven Muslim countries entering the United States is unconstitutional.

Seattle attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: "This decision shuts down the executive order right now. No one is above the law, not even the President." He was quoting Lord Denning in his confrontation with Attorney General Sam Silkin in 1977. Denning himself was himself quoting English churchman Thomas Fuller from three centuries earlier.

Trump tweeted: "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The White House immediately condemned the ruling as airlines around the world and airports in the US ceased implementing it. Trump's administration has already launched an "emergency stay" against Robart's ruling.

Qatar Airways, Air France, Iberia and Lufthansa were among the first airlines to start allowing the banned passengers to board again.

Air France spokesman Herve Erschler said: "Nationals from the countries concerned are being authorised to fly once again to the United States, providing their papers and visas are in order."

There is uncertainty still over how many banned travellers will reinstate their plans to visit the US

Marwa al-Naal, a US citizen working in Syria and married to a Syrian man eligible for residency in the US said they were still afraid to return.

"A lot of people did advise me to go travel yesterday back to Boston. I did not take that flight because there was still the risk of facing detention," she told the BBC.

Tariq Laham, 32, and his Polish fiancee Natalia, of Dubai, who had scrapped plans to travel to the United States after they get married in July in Poland, will alsonot reverse their decision.

"It is just too risky," said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. "Every day you wake up and there is a new decision," he told Reuters.

The challenge in Seattle was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas. Amazon.com and Expedia both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

In a statement, the White House insisted the ban was lawful: "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Amid the bustling crowds of Super Bowl weekend, more than 300 cheering, chanting protesters flooded the streets of Houston Saturday, shouting in opposition to the administration of President Donald Trump.

Proudly hoisting signs comparing Vice President Mike Pence to a jar of mayonnaise and imploring passersby to "Resist Trump," the rambunctious crowd started at City Hall and made its way toward Minute Maid Park, stopping for a tense standoff with police before trekking back toward the Super Bowl Live event at Discovery Green.

The march in Houston comes amid a wave of similar protests nationwide, including in New York City and Washington D.C. on Saturday.

"We are coming together today to demonstrate against the divisive policies of Donald Trump," said Brian Harrison, a local lawyer and regular organizer with the Houston Socialist Alternative. "People are really concerned about Trump's policies and it's mobilizing and energizing people in a way I've never seen."

The marchers passed by thick crowds gathered downtown for Super Bowl festivities, and onlookers met the marchers with a combination of cheers and jeers. Some raised fists in solidarity and others raised middle fingers, while demonstrators reveled in the attention.

"I feel like we have a lot of eyes on us because of the Super Bowl," said Melanie Villela, who last Saturday created the most widely shared Facebook event page for the protest. "It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Rozella White, another organizer, described the gathering as a coalescence of left-leaning groups that have gained mass in recent years, including Black Lives Matter, environmentalists, feminists and advocates of rights for immigrants, indigenous and LGBT people. She and others handed out a list of 13 local organizations that she said collaborated in assembling the march.

But many demonstrators, she said, weren't affiliated with any group and turned out based on the Facebook page. Saturday's protest follows two days of similar gatherings in Houston last weekend in response to a steady volley of White House executive orders.

The march began in close coordination with Houston police. One officer addressed the crowd as it grew, asking those gathered to "take care of members who get too emotional."

"You lose the message when you get too emotional," the officer told the crowd.

Although the event started off orderly and calm, by the time the mass neared Super Bowl crowds, dozens of officers worked to keep the protesters corralled and maintain free passage on sidewalks for the Super Bowl fans.

Anti-Trump chants turned to "Mayor Turner, let us march" cries as police penned the crowd in the "Free Speech Zone" - a large, empty lot they shared with a group of anti-circumcision activists known as The Bloodstained Men.

Some protest leaders advocated for ignoring police and spilling out into the crowded streets, but eventually the demonstrators decided to head back up Rusk toward the Super Bowl Live events, where they chanted and shouted toward the sports-loving revelers across the street.

One little girl gleefully toted a "Trump eats farts" sign scrawled out at the start of the day's demonstrations.

Bob Klenk, 55, arrived in Houston Friday from Jacksonville, Fla. to catch the Super Bowl, and watched unhappily as the march passed through downtown, shouting his support for Trump.

"It's a waste of time. Trump is the president," Klenk said. "Move on. Right now they're disrupting America."

Saturday's action was just the latest in a busy week of protests, which has also included actions at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, near the Galleria and at the Mexican consulate. For Sunday's big game, crowds are slated to gather at Hermann Park around noon before marching toward NRG Stadium where the Super Bowl will be played.
A woman was attacked and stabbed six times by her estranged ex-husband early Saturday at her home in north Houston, according to police.

The woman returned round 4:30 a.m. to her home on Turner Drive and McGallion Road to find her ex-husband hiding in the yard. When she got out of her car, they exchanged words and he pulled out a knife, stabbing her six times.
Houston police and private partners swiftly set up a cutting-edge surveillance system in and around the area of Super Bowl Live, with software that can automatically detect signs of terrorism or trouble.

Thirty-six new cameras now cover Discovery Green, from atop surrounding buildings or posted within, and feed footage live to three main command centers. At a smaller station inside Super Bowl Live on Friday, sixteen wide screens showed videos, statistics and web activity from the area. Green boxes honed in on every face that passed through one feed, and another showed thermal footage of an entry area.

Administrators of the system said it could send a notification if a backpack is left behind, screams erupt, or if someone stands in one place too long. Motion sensing thermal cameras and analytics can zero in on and track a nighttime intruder, or identify the source point of gunshots.

"The upside is we have all this capability," said Jack Hanagriff, an officer with the Mayor's Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security, who estimated that the job was the most advanced temporary surveillance effort ever organized in Houston. "The downside is we had four days to build it."

The mayor's office, Houston police and five private companies jointly designed the system as the structures at Super Bowl Live went up to achieve wide views and identify areas where threats could most likely arise.

City costs for Super Bowl security will be reimbursed by the event's local host committee, which draws its funds from public and private sponsors.

Swedish company Axis Communications provided the cameras at Discovery Green. PrefTech, a Houston-based company that installs security systems, helped lay out, mount and wire the cameras. Super high-frequency radio transmissions from Israeli company Siklu can bulldoze through the interference of thousands of smart phones on W-Fi. Virginia-based VidSys brought the myriad of devices together with analytics and software onto an integrated command center display.

Verizon runs the display through fiber optic cable and two onsite servers to a web address where agencies like the city police, Texas Department of Public Safety, state Department of Transportation, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office can access it live. The security command centers for the Super Bowl are in the George R. Brown Convention Center, NRG Stadium and the City of Houston Emergency Operations Center.

The surveillance system is part of a massive effort by federal, state and local law enforcement to enforce rules and ensure safety as Houston hosts the world's largest annual sporting event.
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More than 100 protesters on Friday evening chanted, drummed and danced out their vehement opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies during a loud but peaceful protest stationed outside the Galleria.

Toting "Resist Trump" and "Black Lives Matter" signs, the growing crowd chanted "hands too small, can't build a wall" and rapped out anti-Trump chants inspired by the rapper Ludacris, even as a strong police presence monitored the pre-Super Bowl protest from nearby.

The diverse protest coalition included members of the Houston Socialist Movement, #FightFor15 supporters, a handful of anarchists, representatives from Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en the Lucha and a slew of other activist groups speaking out against Trump's plans to build a southern border wall and his controversial move to ban immigrants from seven majority Muslim countries.

"We're the ones who contributed to America. We're the ones who built America," said Isaias Sapon," a Guatemalan immigrant who moved stateside in 1990.

Between speakers, the enthusiastic crowd broke out into chants, shouting, "From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go," and the ever-popular, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA."

Cesar Espinosa, a self-identified undocumented immigrant, revved up the crowd with a talk about solidarity laden with references to historically significant activism of decades past.

"During the Cesar Chavez movement, during the farm workers' movement, the Filipinos would stand with the Mexicans and they would say, 'If they come for one of us, they come for all of us,'" he told the crowd.

"So today we stand here in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from all over the world and we say if they come for one of ya'll, they will come for all of us because we are here and we are here to resist."

Toward the end of the Houston rally, the protesters got part of what they wanted when a federal judge in Seattle put a nationwide halt to the divisive travel ban.

A Muslim son of Middle Eastern immigrants, Sayed Jamal Hamideh, helped organized the gathering at the intersection of Westheimer and Post Oak.

The 23-year-old University of Houston graduate said his father initially moved to the U.S. on a student visa. He started out cleaning Pizza Hut parking lots and worked his way into owning IHOP restaurants that employ more than 500 workers.

"He's my version of the American Dream," Hamideh said. "Immigrants are the best of us."

Although the raucous rally stayed peaceful, some advocated for more forceful actions in the future.

"We're becoming basically a Nazi, white, fascist America," said protest regular Erik McClaskey, who covered his face with a black bandanna in response to what he described as "police profiling."

"It'd be awesome if we could have a peaceful revolution but how many peaceful revolutions have you seen in history?"

The small Friday action was just the first in what's expected to be a busy weekend of protests.

On Saturday, a crowd is set gather at City Hall for a 3 p.m. protest, while the following day a march from Hermann Park will kick off around noon and an #OccupyTheSuperBowl rally will start at NRG Park at 2 p.m.
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Handwritten notes and photos found in a Washington state grocery store tell of lives, birthdays, trips and travels.

But, they don't say who is actually in the photos.

About 1,000 photographic slides in three metal boxes turned up in a Safeway/Albertson's store in Seattle during a year-end sweep. Store employees say the boxes were turned in sometime during the last four to six months.

FOUND: Man located in Houston six weeks after being reported missing

The pictures, which date from 1967 to 1979, show what appears to be a family of four and are complete with vacation shots, holidays and other memory-making occasions.

Tairsa Worman, who found the boxes, told KING-TV she's had no luck in reuniting the pictures with the people photographed.

"I feel like this could've been my life, like these could be my grandparents pictures. My mom and dads pictures," Worman said.

LOST OPPORTUNITIES: This stuff could get really pricey with a border tariff

And, while there are hints as to who the photos might belong to, records searches have been fruitless.

So, for now at least, Worman has a mystery on her hands and she's hoping someone recognizes the photos.

>>>Click through the above gallery to see some of the photos found at the store.
Carol Shea-Porter and friend



Yesterday we looked at opportunities Democrats have in congressional districts where Hillary did better than Democrats normally do. But not every district is about opportunities. Some are about defense. There were a dozen districts that Democrats now hold where Trump beat Hillary. Most of them-- 75%-- are held by worthless Blue Dogs and New Dems (the Republican wing of the Democratic Party) who tend vote with the GOP on most key roll calls and even more so in committee. Democrats would be better off without them since the only function they serve is giving Ryan and McCarthy the opportunity to call their toxic, destructive agenda "bipartisan."





Importantly, though, there are 4 genuine and worthy Democrats whose districts went for Trump and who have to worry about what could happen to them in 2018, these 4:

 NH-01- Carol Shea-Porter was elected by around 5,000 votes (44.2% to 42.9%) against a very well-funded incumbent, while Trump beat Hillary in her district, 48.2% to 46.6%. Carol Shea Porter and her GOP opponent, Frank Guinta, each spent around $1.5 million but while the NRCC spent $1,294,212 helping Guinta, the DCCC spent nothing at all on Shea-Porter. Blue America spent $12,500 helping Shea-Porter and Carol is someone deserving of grassroots help.

 PA-17- Matt Cartwright was reelected with a more than 20,000 vote margin (53.8% to 46.2%) against an under-funded, little-known Republican, while Trump over-performed Romney (43.3%), beating Clinton 53.4% to 43.3%. Cartwright spent $859,029 on the race and his GOP opponent only managed to raise $30,578.

 MN-08- Rick Nolan was reelected after one of the toughest election battles in the country. Nolan spent $2,874,695 and his wealthy opponent, Stewart Mills, spent $3,577,291, while Democrats spent over $7.4 million assisting Nolan and the Republican spent $6.2 million helping Mills. Nolan won a very close victory, 179,106 (50.3%) to 177,095 (49.7%), while Trump won massively-- 54.2% to 38.6%, a big turn-around from Obama's 2012 victory in the district when he beat Romney 51.7% to 46.2%.

 IA-02- Dave Loebsack was reelected by about 25,000 votes (53.7% to 46.3% against Chris Peters. Loebsack raised $1,608,466 and Peters raised $216,593. Neither the DCCC nor the NRCC was involved in the race. Trump did much better than Romney had. Obama won the district, 55.8% to 42.7%, but in November Trump won it 49.1% to Hillary's 45.0%.

And these are the districts with Democrats who think they key to winning is to pretend to be a Republican and vote for the Trump-Ryan agenda. If you clicked on the thermometer above, you probably noticed none of their names are on the fundraising list-- nor are the names of the red state Senate Democrats who have been voting the Trump line, like McCaskill, Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly. Instead you found Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, each of whom knows the way to win is by bolstering the legitimate aspirations of working families in their states, states that voted Trump in November.





 AZ-01- Tom O'Halleran is an "ex"-Republican, now a Blue Dog. He probably won the open R+4 red seat because the Republicans ran a gay sheriff with a very shady background, Paul Babeu, and the party didn't give him any support. O'Halleran took 117,048 votes (50.8%) to Babeu's 100,236 votes (43.5%). O'Halleran spent $1,579,377 and Babeu spent almost as much, $1,272,374. But where the DCCC spent $2.6 for O'Halleran, the NRCC wasn't interested and spent just $96,000 on Babeu's behalf. In 2018, they'll probably have a candidate more to their liking and will spend plenty to defeat O'Halleran. And why not? Trump won the district, 47.7% to 46.6%. Romney, who won the district in 2012, and Obama both did better than Trump and Hillary.





 IL-17- Cheri Bustos is a Rahm Emanuel protegee and a reactionary Blue Dog. The GOP didn't bother to oppose her in November. She raised $3,504,463, while the poor schnook of a Republican who ran, Patrick Harlan, didn't even raise the $5,000 that would have triggered an FEC report. The NRCC didn't help at all. Obama had won this gerrymandered district-- gerrymandered by Democrats to help Bustos-- 57.6% to 40.6%. But Trump took the district against Clinton-- 47.4% to 46.7%. It's likely that the NRCC will look more closely at IL-17 in 2018. It would be helpful for the Democratic brand to be rid of Bustos who is on the DCCC recruiting committee and keeps blackballing progressives and wasting Democratic efforts on Blue Dog garbage like herself.





 MN-01- Tim Walz was barely reelected, 169,076 (50.4%) to 166,527 (49.6%), spending $1,585,118 to Republican Jim Hagedorn's $356,277, with no spending by outside groups at all. Obama had won the district, narrowly, in 2012-- 49.6% to 48.2%. Hillary didn't. She lost badly, 53.3% to 38.4%. Walz is an NRA hack with a pretty bad voting record, not on a level of horribleness like Bustos, but not good enough to contribute to his campaign either.





 MN-07- Collin Peterson didn't have a credible opponent this last cycle. Peterson raised $1,201,913 to Dave Hughes' $19,511 and won 173,571 (52.5%) to 156,950 (47.5%). The district is lost to Democrats. Romney won 53.9-44.1%. Trump did way better, beating Hillary 61.8% to 31.0%. Peterson deserves to be defeated. His record is a nightmare and on core issues he votes far more frequently with the Republicans than with the Democrats.





 NJ-05- Josh Gottheimer is the worst of the Democratic freshmen, a completely worthless Wall Street whore who couldn't wait to join the Blue Dogs and New Dems. He's already got a worse lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial vote score than several Republicans. Gottheimer managed to beat detested Republican incumbent Scott Garrett, a bizarre extremist who the GOP was glad say good-bye to. Gottheimer spent $4,703,377 and Garrett spent $4,303,125 but where the difference really came into play was when the DCCC and Pelosi's PAC spent $3.7 million on behalf of Gottheimer while the NRCC and Ryan's PAC spent... ZERO on Garrett. Trump beat Clinton in the district 48.8% to 47.7%. So far, it doesn't look like Gottheimer deserves a second term. He does deserve a primary though.





 NV-03- Jacky Rosen is a pretty worthless waste of a seat. She's already amassed a revolting, cowardly voting record that indicates she's someone who will likely not have a long or distinguished congressional career. She managed to win an open seat in southern Clark County against a much-disliked Republican politician and insider, Danny Tarkanian. She beat him by around 4,000 votes, 47.2% to 46.0%, while Trump won the district 47.5% to 46.5%. Here's another one who's earning a primary challenge.





 NY-18- Sean Patrick Maloney is New York's worst congressional Democrat, a corporate New Dem who does his slimy call time from a hedge fund office. Obama won his upstate district 51.4- 47.1% in 2012 but in November, Trump edged out Hillary 49.0 to 47.1%. Maloney beat Republican Phil Oliva by almost 30,000 votes, 55.2-44.8%, after outraisng him $3,568,008 to $224,658. There was no party money spent on the race on either side. Maloney generally has one of the half dozen worst voting records of any Democrat; he deserves a primary.





 WI-03- Ron Kind was the head of the New Dems until this year when Jim Himes took over. He's an affable enough guy but he votes with the GOP against the working families of western Wisconsin. They deserve better. The Republicans figure they're not going to find anyone more supportive of their agenda than Kind so they didn't bother to even find an opponent for him. He raised $2,105,216 from his sleazy campaign contributors, most of which he's stockpiling for 2018. Obama beat Romney in the district, 54.8 to 43.8% but voters felt Trump was more appealing than Clinton and gave him a 49.3% to 44.8% win.





Atlantic piece on the Let me go back to Ron Brownstein'spiece on the new contours of the partisan divide . He started off writing about dedicated progressive Matt Cartwright and pointed out that the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania legislature drew Matt a safe blue district in order to get rid of Democrats in the surrounding districts to elect extra Republicans to Congress. "Obama easily carried the district twice," he wrote, "winning about 56 percent of the vote each time. But last November, Cartwrights district lurched sharply toward Donald Trump, who beat Hillary Clinton there by about 10 percentage points. The shift in Cartwrights district from Mitt Romneys deficit against Obama to Trumps advantage over Clinton was larger than the change in all but one other seat in the entire country. Cartwright still won comfortably against a lightly funded opponent, but his vote dipped from 57 percent in 2014 to slightly below 54 percent. Now, Republicans are eyeing Cartwright as a potential target in the 2018 midterm election more seriously than ever before."

Bracing for potentially tougher challenges in 2018 and beyond, many of the House Democrats in Trump districts are adopting a common playbook. The two pillars are emphasizing constituent services and focusing as much as possible on bread-and-butter economic issues. The main point is that the economy outweighs everything else, so these registered Democrats came out and voted for Donald Trump because theyre hurting, Cartwright said in a recent interview. Heres the lesson I take from that: These are my people. Theyre hurting. Forget about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. My people are hurting. That means I have to redouble my efforts to take care of them. To make sure we do everything we can think of to promote manufacturing jobs in this area, to protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare, and to stimulate the economy so that it works for people around here.



Likewise, Loebsack, the Iowa Democrat, said in an interview that he considers his accessibility a key to his survival. For me its always been engaging people where they live, work, and play, he said. I get around to my counties, every one of my counties, on a very regular basis.



The other key, Loebsack said, was to stay focused on core economic issues, including local concerns like rural access to broadband or protecting the renewable fuel standard that promotes biofuels. When people want to talk to me about LGBT issues I talk about them, and Im for equality, he said. When they want to talk about voting rights, Im for that. But at the same time I think we need to have first and foremost the focus on the economy and jobs.



...Tom Davis... is dubious Republicans will ultimately benefit from this rolling class realignment: It didnt surprise me that Trump saw this [resorting] and put an exclamation point on it, Davis said, but its still a loser for Republicans long-term. ... Whats clear is that, in the near term, congressional Republicans are more bound than many might prefer to Trumps path. If Trumps popularity sinks by 2018, he would endanger House Republicans in all kinds of districts. But if Trump maintains a base of support similar to his profile today, he could solidify or even extend the commanding Republican advantage in predominantly blue-collar seats. If that happens, the Democrats hopes of regaining a House majority anytime soon will depend on them convincing ordinarily Republican-leaning white-collar suburbanites to express their continuing unease about Trumpby electing more Democratic representatives to resist him.

Washington Post, Thursday, Mike DeBonis, writing for the reported that the DCCC is already hiring organizers to work in traditionally Republican districts where Hillary excelled. They are seeking to "harness the wave of grass-roots protests that have greeted President Trump in his first weeks in office to reclaim the House majority in next years midterm elections." They targeted 20 districts so far. Being the DCCC-- one of the least competent organization on the planet-- it's unlikely to help much. In fact, the clueless Lujan bragged that the new field operatives will be hired in most cases from within the targeted districts and who have previously worked on House campaigns there. That means they already have losing pounded into their consciousnesses and probably don't know how to do anything but lose. Having worked for the DCCC should disqualify people, not recommend them. This is frightening:

We were able to quickly reach out to people we have trained as organizers, that have already been on campaigns, that know the communities and leaders, that know many of these districts, he said. Were bringing them right back into the fold.



A person familiar with the committees plans said the operatives will develop relationships and coordinate with local grass-roots leaders who are already taking part in protests and work with them to build capacity-- teaching them, for instance, how to set up phone banks, write letters to newspapers, organize rallies and meetups, and use social media to promote events and share photos and video.

The DCCC has a history of hiring the worst of the worst. Districts included in this program include the suburban belt Philly districts that the DCCC has proven year after year after year to be 100% incompetent to work in, as well as suburban districts in California, Minnesota and Colorado that they keep losing by doing the same stupid things over and over. New districts include Culberson's in Houston, Roskam's in Chicagoland, Royce's in Orange County and Sessions' in the Dallas suburbs, all obvious districts where Clinton won but where the DCCC has never fought.

Looking toward 2018, Democrats are hoping to avoid the dip in voter engagement they saw in the past two midterms under President Barack Obama, through which Republicans were able to build their strongest House majority since 1930. Major elements of the traditional Democratic coalition-- younger, poorer and minority voters-- simply did not turn out as strongly as they did in presidential election years.



Lujan acknowledged that will have to change if Democrats can expect to retake the majority in two years: A big part of this initiative is to help educate voters and create more awareness of the importance of midterm elections, and to stay just as active in a midterm election as you would in a presidential election.

Lujan should tackle the enthusiasm problem by recruiting candidates Democratic voters can actually be enthusiastic about,not the garbage Blue Dogs and New Dems Cheri Bustos keeps bringing to the table. If Lujan keeps running crap candidates in the Rahm Emanuel-Steve Israel mold, the DCCC will just keep losing into eternity... unless Trump starts a nuclear war or sparks a Depression.
A male was found dead slumped over on his bike in southwest Houston early Saturday morning, according to Houston police.

A person called police around 8 a.m. after finding the body in a field on 12801 Hiram Clarke Road. The male victim, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency officials.
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A Houston judge issued a Friday order forbidding the Galleria-area ClubAtlanta from serving alcohol, even with the big-business Super Bowl weekend just ahead.

After police accused the club of blatantly advertising all-night hours in violation of state law, Judge Patricia Kerrigan slapped the troubled watering hole with an order "necessary to prevent the threatened or ongoing violation of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code," according to court documents.

In preparation for the big game, the night club launched an online campaign boasting of midnight to 9 a.m. hours over Super Bowl weekend. But those overnight hours would make the hotspot an unlicensed after-hours club in violation Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code.

CELEBRITY SHADE: Donnie Wahlberg co-hosts Leather & Laces party before Super Bowl

In response, the judge banned the club from serving alcohol, operating after 2:15 a.m. and allowing patrons to consume alcohol after 2:15 a.m. - actions that would already be against the law under ClubAtlanta's current permits anyway.

The freshly released restraining order is just the latest development in an ongoing series of legal actions launched against the problematic west Houston hotspot.

Before the Richmond Avenue joint was called ClubAtlanta, the property owner rented it to an unlicensed strip club known as V Live.

STILL FAMOUS: Johnny Manziel sells autographs, selfies with fans

The Harris County Attorney's Office launched a suit against the erstwhile club in September, alleging it constituted a public nuisance given its failure to abide by state beverage codes and its history of crime on scene.

Two months later, the state shut down the club due to $200,000 in unpaid taxes.

But after the property owners re-leased the spot to ClubAtlanta, prosecutors continued pursuing legal action, arguing in court filings that "ClubAtlanta will have the same business model as V Live and continue to operate as a nuisance."

CELEBRITY FUNDRAISER: Snoop Dogg, DJ Khaled hit Houston court

With the new restraining order, the club is on notice for Super Bowl weekend. Houston police have been notified of the order and will be monitoring the business closely, according to the Harris County Attorney's Office.

A hearing on a temporary injunction has been set for Feb. 10.

>>>Click through the above gallery to see the best places to avoid in Houston over Super Bowl weekend.
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Police in West Texas arrested the 25-year-old boyfriend of Sul Ross State University student Zuzu Verk in connection with the 22-year-old woman's disappearance in October, police said Saturday.

RELATED: Human remains found in West Texas where 22-year-old college student went missing

Alpine police officers arrested Robert Fabian at around 9 a.m. Saturday and charged him with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse, a second-degree felony punishable by a maximum 20 year sentence upon conviction, the Alpine Police Department said in a news release Saturday.

Police were investigating human remains found Friday during a routine border patrol operation northwest of Alpine in Sunny Glen.

According to police, information in the arrest affidavit for Fabian showed evidence at the scene, including human remains, had features consistent with Verk, a separate news release reported Saturday.

Investigators believe the remains found Friday are that of Verk, but won't be certain until positive identification is made by forensic examiners. The complete arrest affidavit will be available Monday, police said.

Verk was last seen Oct. 11 with Fabian, who reported her missing three days later, according to police. Authorities named Fabian a suspect in October, but he was being uncooperative with authorities.

According to police, Fabian made two phone calls to Christopher Estrada after she disappeared. Police arrested Estrada in January and charged him with driving while intoxicated and evading arrest.

At the time of his arrest, Estrada was driving the same white Ford Mustang that Fabian borrowed on Oct. 12, the day after Verk was last seen. Estrada cleaned the vehicle three times in the days following Verk's disappearance, police said.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports
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.
Are most Trump voters mentally incapacitated by drug addiction?



Washington Post the most so. 52% of respondents said the Post has more credibility than Trumpanzee and 41%-- presumably the low-IQ, prescription-drug abusing neanderthals who voted for him-- said Trumpanzee has more credibility. It's hard to imagine that anyone could be so unaware of the world around them to believe a word that comes out of Trump's mouth-- or the mouth's of any of his spokespersons. But then I remembered overwhelmingly for Trump-- not 60-40... they're almost all in the 75% range. The county with the A few days ago, PPP asked a cross-section of Americans , whose credibility they trust most, various media outlets or Senor Trumpanzee. Every media outlet was rated as significantly more trustworthy than Senor and thethe most so. 52% of respondents said thehas more credibility than Trumpanzee and 41%-- presumably the low-IQ, prescription-drug abusing neanderthals who voted for him-- said Trumpanzee has more credibility. It's hard to imagine that anyone could be so unaware of the world around them to believe a word that comes out of Trump's mouth-- or the mouth's of any of his spokespersons. But then I remembered a study showing the counties with the worst prescription drug abuse problems in America-- counties where people are overdosing and dying from opioids like oxycodone, hydromorphone, codeine and fentanyl. You can see 'em on the map up top. Tragically, these counties have something else in common besides severe drug abuse; this is the Trumpist heartland. These are the counties that elected Trump president of the rest of us. (There is one outlier, Rio Arriba County in northern New Mexico, which voted for Clinton-- one out of 30.) This is the list of the 30 counties with the worst prescription drug problems and as you can see, 29 of them votedfor Trump-- not 60-40... they're almost all in the 75% range. The county with the worst drug problem in America, Wyoming Co., West Virginia gave Trump 83.6% of its votes. Some Kentucky counties were even worse-- Leslie Co., for example, gave Trump 89.4% of its votes. These are the desperate and delusional people who listen to the rapacious monkey and believe every crazy, self-serving word that comes out of his filthy, unspeakably profane mouth.

1- Wyoming, WV- 83.6%

2- McDowell, WV- 74.7%

3- Boone, WV- 74.9%

4- Mingo, WV- 83.2%

5- Bell, KY- 79.9%

6- Dickenson, VA- 77.0%

7- Logan, WV- 80.1%

8- Floyd, KY- 72.5%

9- Carbon, UT- 66.3%

10- Mercer, WV- 75.8%

11- Powell, KY- 70.9%

12- Rio Arriba, NM- 24.2%

13- Russell, VA- 78.0%

14- Raleigh, WV- 74.5%

15- Cherokee, NC- 77.3%

16- Summers, WV- 71.1%

17- Johnson, KY- 84.0%

18- Tazewell, VA- 82.0%

19- Leslie, KY- 89.4%

20- Buchanan, VA- 79.1%

21- Martin, KY- 88.6%

22- Jackson, TN- 72.6%

23- Russell, KY- 84.0%

24- Wise, VA- 79.9%

25- Clay, KY- 86.6%

26- Clay, TN- 73.3%

27- Lincoln, WV- 75.2%

28- Webster, WV- 77.3%

29- Harlan, KY- 84.9%

30- Clinton, KY- 85.4%

NY Times highlighted the tragedy of the opioid epidemic in Yesterday'shighlighted the tragedy of the opioid epidemic in another Trump state: Ohio

The bodies just keep arriving. On Thursday, only two days into February, the coroners office in Dayton, Ohio, had already handled 25 deaths-- 18 caused by drug overdoses. In January, the office processed 145 cases in which the victims bodies had been destroyed by opioids.



Now, the Montgomery County Coroners Office is so crammed with corpses that it has asked a local funeral parlor to take in four bodies for temporary storage, the first time it has had to make such a request, Kenneth M. Betz, director of the coroners office, said on Thursday.



...In Ohio, fatal overdoses more than quadrupled in the past decade and by 2007 had surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death, according to the Department of Health. In 2015, 3,310 deaths were recorded in the state from unintentional drug overdoses, a 21.5 percent increase from the previous year, according to the C.D.C.



Addiction is so entrenched and widespread that police officials say there are now third and fourth generations of prescription drug abusers.

And yes, Trump won Montgomery County (Dayton) too.





Washington Post. I sure hope more than 52% think that what Bernie had to say about the pharmaceutical industry is more credible than how Trump is treating that industry. I wish PPP would have tested Trump's credibility against progressive spokespersons like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie. This week, though, folks who can, may read an important OpEd by Bernie in the. I sure hope more than 52% think that what Bernie had to say about the pharmaceutical industry is more credible than how Trump is treating that industry.





"President Trump and other Republicans," he wrote, "have talked about the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. Recently, Trump said (rightly) that Big Pharma is ' getting away with murder .' But talk is cheap. The question is: Will Republicans really have the guts to join me and many of my colleagues in standing up to the drug companies to fight for American consumers and end the disgrace of having our country pay by far the highest prescription drug prices in the world? If Trump believes what he has said about the industry, he will rally his party to help save American lives. Heres why."
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In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump repeated his promise to defeat Islamic terrorism:

We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate from the face of the Earth.

In a presidential memorandum signed January 28, President Trump called ISIS among the most vicious and aggressive threats from radical Islamic terrorism faced by the United States.

He recalled the beheadings of American citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Abdul-Rahman Kassig, as well as the death of Kayla Mueller. He pointed to the ISIS-inspired attacks in the United States; the complicity of ISIS in the terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, and Berlin; ISIS systematic campaign of persecution and extermination in those territories it enters or controls.

President Trump directed the Secretary of Defense to deliver in 30 days a preliminary draft of a comprehensive plan to defeat the terrorist group. The plan would be developed with the participation of the secretaries of State, Treasury and Homeland Security, as well as the director of national intelligence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the assistant to the president for national security affairs and the assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism.

At a press briefing, White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer said the plan must include recommended changes to any United States rules of engagement and other U.S. policy restrictions that exceed the requirements of international law regarding the use of force against ISIS, as well as other measures:

Public diplomacy, information operations and cyber strategies to isolate and delegitimize ISIS and its radical Islamist ideology; identification of new coalition partners in the fight against ISIS and policies to empower coalition partners to fight ISIS and its affiliates; mechanisms to cut off ISIS financial support, including financial transfers, money laundering, oil revenue, human trafficking, the sales of looted art, historical artifacts, and other revenue sources, and a detailed strategy to fund the plan.

The Presidents clear objective is to defeat and destroy ISIL, andto do it systematically. This is not only a necessary step for Americas national security, Mr. Spicer said, it is also a humanitarian imperativeThe United States must take decisive action, and the President is taking the necessary steps.
One week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump welcomed his first foreign leader to the White House  Britains Prime Minister Theresa May.

At a press briefing, both leaders emphasized the two countries special relationship.

President Trump called it a deep bond with military, financial, cultural and political dimensions. He said, Together America and the United Kingdom are a beacon for prosperity and the rule of lawOur relationship has never been stronger. Both America and Britain understand that governments must be responsive to everyday working people, that governments must represent their own citizens.

Prime Minister May sounded a similar note, saying she and President Trump share the approach of putting the interests of ordinary working people up there, center stage. She also invoked the special relationship, noting that both leaders are ambitious to build on this relationship in order to grow our respective economies. She said Britain and the United States are discussing how to lay the groundwork for a U.K.-U.S. trade agreement and identify the practical steps we can take now in order to enable companies in both countries to trade and do business with one another more easily.

Such a trade deal in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, Prime Minister May said, will cement the crucial relationship that exists between us, particularly as the U.K. leaves the European Union and reaches out to the world.

Prime Minister May spoke of other areas of agreement: the need to redouble efforts to defeat ISIS and the ideology of Islamist extremism; the importance of NATO and the necessity of seeing that NATO is equipped to fight terrorism and cyber warfare, as well as conventional forms of war. She promised to continue her efforts to encourage fellow European leaders to deliver on their commitments to spend two percent of the GDP on defense, so that the burden is more fairly shared[and] we are properly equipped to face our shared challenges together.

President Trump said to Prime Minister May, We look forward to working closely with you as we strengthen our mutual ties in commerce, business and foreign affairs. Great days lie ahead for our two peoples and our two countries.
The story of Donald Trumps political rise is incomplete without mention of a balkanized information environment. But the flurry of news emanating from the White House over the past week reveals a particularly clear view of two parallel media universes: mainstream and right-wing. A side-by-side comparison of their relative portrayals of the Trump administration illustrates the gaping divide between these divergent narrativesand the difficulty ahead for news organizations to regain broad-based public trust. The problem is not one of just alternative facts, it turns out, but alternative realities.

The view from the Fox News-Breitbart axisan admittedly vague and not necessarily conservative ecosystem that includes blogs, Facebook pages, and conspiracy sitesis rosy. From that lens, Trump is fulfilling his campaign promises to shore up our borders and target radical Islamic terrorism. Violent leftists, backed by a George Soros-funded conspiracy, are responding with a crusade for political correctness. The crooked, drive-by media is the opposition. Questions of implementation, process, and communication are sideshows. For now, Trump is winning again, Breitbarts Matthew Boyle wrote in a Monday analysis casting Trump as a Reaganesque figure. And hes in charge.

Contrast that with prevailing mainstream narratives of executive incompetence, administrative chaos, and public outrage, all framed within nods to creeping authoritarianism and philosophical questions about American ideals. Nearly every new president has a learning curve, The New York Times wrote in its own analysis of the transition. But the curve seems especially steep for Mr. Trump. The mainstream view of the world exhibits far more reporting and critical thinking, and the presidents low approval ratings suggests this aggressive journalism is having an impact.

At the same time, mainstream journalists are actively diminishing their own credibility by hyperventilating about every unconfirmed Trump rumor that pops on Twitter. He photoshopped his hands! Hes allowing companies to do business with Russian security agencies! Hes on an unannounced helicopter flight! The group freakout only confuses audiences and alienates Trump-wary Republicans to the point that legitimate stories dont get traction.

The extent to which many otherwise smart Trump defenders won't believe ANYTHING from mainstream press is remarkable. Poisonous to democracy.  Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 2, 2017

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How to bridge that gap is perhaps the central question facing the press in our era of alternative realities. Snapshots from a head-spinning week in national politics provide glimpses of the challenge ahead:

Muslim ban

Mainstream media framed Trumps refugee order in the context of religion from the outset. After all, candidate Trump did propose a Muslim ban on the campaign trail. He added in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network last week that Christians would get priority in his vetting process. Still, despite many protesters reading between those lines, journalists largely described the action as targeting Muslim-majority countries or the like.

Conservative media has pushed back ferociously on the idea that religion is part of the equation, from the august National Review to far-less-august Daily Caller. Breitbart has run multiple pieces arguing the same, describing the list of countries as eminently sensible.

Fox Newss lead Trump acolyte, Sean Hannity, lobbed a characteristic softball question to Vice President Mike Pence with the following windup on Thursday: Its been misreported as a Muslim ban. Yet the news media continues to say its a Muslim ban. Is that fake news? Hannity reports; you decide.

The spirit of protest

The Sunday morning talk shows led with the chaos and outrage that came in the wake of Trumps hastily implemented order. CNN and MSNBC covered the ensuing protests copiously on cable and online. And Monday morning newspapers across the countrybig and smallled with the fallout. They were filled with tales of travelers in limbo, families separated, and peaceful demonstrations:

Right-wing outlets gave shorter shrift to both the human stories of stranded travelers and the protests that followed. Breitbart reported on how the demonstrations snarled traffic, seething on Facebook, People who actually work for a living are growing frustrated with the protestors showcasing their selective outrage that was nowhere to be found when Obama banned refugees.

Hugely popular radio host Rush Limbaugh, meanwhile, drove home the conspiratorial Soros theme when discussing lawsuits filed on behalf of those affected: The protests at the airports bought and paid for by George Soros, prearranged. People have been sitting and waiting for the moment to be cued to action.They have been poised and waiting for marching orders, and the executive order was issued and the marching orders went out. The protests are typical of the way the media does things.

Who is bankrolling the protests taking place at airports across the country? More with @newtgingrich right after the break #Hannity  Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) January 31, 2017

Selective outrage

When an unrelated and comparatively small protest of right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos shut down the University of California, Berkeley campus, The New York Times devoted just a short news item to it online. Mainstream media had largely moved on to a bungled special forces raid in Yemen, second-day analysis of Trumps Supreme Court pick, and Americas increasingly tenuous relationship with its allies, among other news.

Right-wing media, on the other hand, portrayed Berkeley as the frontline of the culture war. Gateway Pundit, a popular blog veering toward conspiracy theory, ran seven pieces on the news between Wednesday and Thursday. Breitbart similarly went hard on the storyline, particularly after Trumpthat is, Sheriff Trumpfloated the idea of withdrawing federal funds from the university. On Fox News, Tucker Carlson interviewed Yiannopoulous in a widely shared conversation about political correctness run amok.

Milo Yiannopoulos on @UCBerkeley riot: "That is the price you pay for being a libertarian or conservative on American college campuses." pic.twitter.com/XiSSjSj1KH  Fox News (@FoxNews) February 3, 2017

Crushing dissent

Mainstream journalists immediately reverted to Nixonian analogies when Trump fired his acting attorney general, Sally Yates, for refusing to enforce his refugee order. The Times and Post both plastered the news on their front pages dueling six-column headlines. Much attention was also given to the text of Trumps announcement, which said that Yates betrayed the Department of Justice.

Right-wing media focused on Trumps right to fire Yates for insubordination, rather than what read like an unhinged response to dissent. The narratives diverged even further when news broke soon after that a dissent cable had been widely circulated throughout the State Department. Fox & Friends transmitted the message with Trumps signature catchphrase, Youre fired. Breitbart Senior Editor Joel B. Pollak took the hardline stance in his analysis of the administrative pushback, arguing that the bureaucracy must surrender.

There is a place for criticizing the president  namely, outside of the government. There are places for challenging Trumps authority  namely, the opposition benches, the courts, and ultimately the ballot box. Those who abuse the power of the bureaucracy to defy the electorate, and the Constitution, may think themselves heroes, but they are destroying the foundations of liberal democracy. They must go.

American symbols

There was even disagreement over the metaphorical power conveyed by the Statue of Liberty. On Monday, Lester Holt hosted NBC Nightly News, the highest-rated evening news program, with Lady Liberty standing over his shoulder. Behind me, he opened the show, the Statue of Liberty, which for nearly 130 years has symbolized the welcome arms of a country of immigrants. But tonight she also stands as a symbolic flashpoint in a country in the midst of soul searching over the limits of its generosity in an age of international terrorism.

It was a fairly down-the-middle, seemingly uncontroversial report. But Limbaugh fired back on his radio show the following day, alerting listeners that Emma Lazaruss famous poem on the statues base was added years after it was erected. The Statue of Liberty does not say, You want in? This is the way! Limbaugh said. Now, I imagine some of you are saying, Rush, did you get a little overboard on this? No, folks. It may sound like Im going a little overboard, but Im a stickler for truth and fact here, and this is all being used to work up what is already deranged lunacy on the left.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

David Uberti is a writer in New York. He was previously a media reporter for Gizmodo Media Group and a staff writer for CJR. Follow him on Twitter @DavidUberti.
EUCLID, Ohio -- A man was killed Friday evening during a hit-skip in Euclid, police say. The man was standing in the roadway near 19600 block of Euclid Avenue around 6:15 p.m. when he was struck by a royal blue Porsche Cayenne, according to a news release from the Euclid Police Department.

The vehicle, which left the scene, is model year 2002 to 2007 with dark-tinted windows, the news release said. The car should have damage in the front and the driver's side with the driver's side mirror missing, police say.

The Porsche Cayenne was traveling westbound when it struck the man who was possibly walking across the street, the news release said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Euclid Police Department patrol division at 216-731-1234.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
Screen Shot 2017-02-03 at 10.40.57 AM.png

Parma police officer Michael Yonek is accused of lying to gaming agents on identity of girlfriend.

(File photo)

PARMA, Ohio -- Gaming investigators at Jack Casino said that a couple, including a Parma police officer, gave false information to casino officials while trying to cash in their winnings.

The incident led to criminal charges against Michael Yonek, 42, and Sandra Niermeyer, 31.

Yonek, who works for the Parma Police Department, was indicted Thursday after Ohio Casino Control Commission officials said he lied to gaming agents. He faces charges of obstructing official business and identity fraud.

Niermeyer was indicted Dec. 20, 2016 on charges of identity fraud, forgery, forging identification cards and tampering with records, according to court records.

Yonek and Niermeyer gambled at Jack Casino the night of Nov. 18, 2016. Gaming agents saw what they described in reports as "suspicious behavior" by Niermeyer after she won a jackpot, the report says.

She asked a casino employee if she could cash in her earnings in Yonek's name, but the employee denied her request, the report says. Investigators said that there were several discrepancies between Niermeyer and the driver's license she gave.

She also gave an incorrect Social Security number, the report indicated.

When the agents were speaking with her they noticed Yonek also referred to her as Danielle. Another woman approached the group and called her "Sandy."

Niermeyer got verbally abusive when agents said they needed to hold her until they confirmed her identity, the report says.

When Cleveland police asked what her name was, she said Danielle Dobeck, but refused to give her Social Security number. She eventually gave her correct name.

Yonek is set for arraignment Feb. 16 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Parma police Capt. Kevin Riley confirmed Yonek is an officer with the department. He has been placed on unpaid administrative suspension, Riley said.

Yonek has been with the department since Aug. 28, 1997. He is assigned to the patrol division. Cleveland.com has requested a copy of Yonek's personnel file from Parma police.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- A 50-year-old man, who was found stabbed Friday and later died, has been identified as Dean Vastartis, of Strongsville, Strongsville police say.

No arrests have been made as of Saturday morning, police say.

The stabbing happened shortly before 1 p.m. in the 13500 block of Sprague Road just next to Barbara Drive.

Police were called to the scene after a report of a domestic violence incident, according to a news release from the Strongsville Police Department.

Police discovered the man with stab wounds, the news release said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hundreds of protesters gathered Friday in Ohio City to protest President Donald Trump's order that temporarily banned refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries from coming to the United States.

The demonstration began about 4 p.m. in Market Square and are marching West 25th Street.

The march was organized via a Facebook post. It's not tied to a specific organization.

Several refugees who live in Northeast Ohio have already been affected by the president's order, including a Cleveland Clinic doctor who was forced to leave the country.
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Regardless of what people may think about President Trump's recent meeting with some of the country's biggest CEOs, Jim Cramer says he believes that a majority of them may have some worthy advice.

"Love him or hate him, if you believe that business people know how to create jobsnot a huge leapthen having them sit down with the president and give him ideas will help the cause," the "Mad Money" host said. "The meeting also helps create a level of stability to offset the recent volatility that's had many investors fretting over their portfolios."

The Trump administration's frenzied pace combined with the final week of heavy earnings season, has investors all watching. With this in mind, Cramer outlined the stocks on his radar scheduled for next week:

Monday: Hasbro, National Oilwell Varco

Hasbro : Mattel , one of Hasbro's biggest competitors, lost its Disney doll business and its stock has significantly declined as a result. Hasbro snagged the Disney franchise instead and Cramer thinks it should be smooth sailing for the toy company.

National Oilwell Varco : Cramer believes the leading worldwide provider of oil-drilling equipment will eventually be acquired by General Electric-Baker Hughes. With that information in mind, Cramer advises buying stocks after the quarter ends.

Tuesday: General Motors, Disney

General Motors : The company's CEO, Mary Barra, was one of the many business leaders meeting with Trump earlier Friday, and arguably has had the most interaction with the President, compared with most CEOs.

The term "peak autos" keeps getting tossed around, which means auto sales have plateaued and January numbers have softened. However, Cramer believes GM is "making fortunes" and could be good for a trade.

Disney : Even though CEO Bob Iger called the bottom on the last quarterly earnings call, the stock has rallied significantly since then. And even if Disney fails to meet analyst expectations for earnings, Cramer says Disney's movie-production schedule and theme parks alone make the stock worth owning.

Wednesday: Allergan, Time Warner

Allergan : The generics pharmaceutical company has struggled since CEO Brent Saunders lowered earnings expectations. Cramer says numbers have to come in indicating that Allergan can raise its stock to $16 a share or release news about blockbuster products in development, or the company could see its stock slip even more.

Time Warner : Investors will be keeping their eyes out for any comments on management's confidence on the AT&T deal going through, especially since President Trump has said he's opposed to it.

"We have a process in the country where the antitrust division of the Justice Department decides these things and I can't think of an economic reason in the world why they'd block this one," Cramer said. "But this administration is a whole new world and my instincts are to take the money and run."
Aleksej Gubarev, the CEO of XBT Holding, a Luxembourg-based web hosting company, sued BuzzFeed and Ben Smith, its editor-in-chief, for publishing the document.

It's the first sign that BuzzFeed has encountered serious repercussions for publishing a 35-page dossier of unverified accusations about alleged ties between Donald Trump and Russian intelligence.

After being sued for defamation, BuzzFeed has apologized to a Russian tech executive whose name appeared in the Trump dossier the website published last month.

Gubarev is named at the end of the document, which said he was "recruited under duress" to help Russian intelligence services and became a "significant player" in Russian hacking operations.

Gubarev's company sued BuzzFeed and Smith in Florida, where XBT's Webzilla subsidiary is based. It also filed a suit in London against former British spy Christopher Steele, who allegedly created the dossier.





"The dossier included libelous, unverified and untrue allegations regarding XBT, Webzilla and Gubarev. The lawsuits seek yet undetermined compensation for the damages suffered by XBT, Webzilla and Gubarev as the result of the publication of the dossier," the company said in a statement published by McClatchy newspapers.

More from Recode:

This virtual reality startup is training NFL quarterbacks to be the next Tom Brady

Amazon has at least 66 million Prime members but subscriber growth may be slowing

A New York taxi union is riding the #deleteUber wave to fight for better wages



BuzzFeed has now blocked out Gubarev's name from the dossier, which is still on the publisher's site.

"We have redacted Mr. Gubarev's name from the published dossier, and apologize for including it," BuzzFeed PR rep Matt Mittenthal said in a statement.

UPDATE: Val Gurvits, an attorney with Boston Law Group who filed the defamation complaint on behalf of Gubarev and his companies, said said BuzzFeed's apology and redaction wouldn't affect his clients' suit. "The financial damages my clients have suffered are extensive", he wrote in an e-maill

In a January press conference, prior to his inauguration, Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence and spokesman Sean Spicer all laid into BuzzFeed for publishing the dossier.

"As far as BuzzFeed, which is a failing pile of garbage, writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences. They already are," Trump said.

Last month Gubarev's companies published a statement denying any connection to Russian hacking: "There has been absolutely no involvement by Webzilla, XBT or any of its other subsidiaries with the people or alleged activities in this unsubstantiated report. In fact, Webzilla and XBT companies provide online server capacity for their customers and wouldn't be involved in the kind of activity alleged in the account published by BuzzFeed." The statement said XBT "offered to fully cooperate with law enforcement officials investigating this matter."

CNBC's parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Recode's parent Vox, and the companies have a content-sharing arrangement.



Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is a minority investor in BuzzFeed.
People demonstrate during a protest at Downing Street in central London against US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on refugees and people from seven mainly-Muslim countries. Victoria Jones | PA Images | Getty Images

Amin Shokrollahi was supposed to be in Silicon Valley last week to accept an award at a prominent semiconductor conference called DesignCon. He never made it. President Donald Trump's travel ban targeting citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries forced Shokrollahi, a native Iranian who left for Germany when he was 16, to stay behind in Switzerland, home to his tech start-up Kandou Bus. A federal judge in Seattle on Friday granted a nationwide temporary restraining order against Trump's action, which would be welcome news for Shokrollahi and others if made permanent. An appeals court upheld the restraining order on Thursday. However, Trump has vowed to overturn the judge's stay, meaning the rules could change on short notice. Regardless of the outcome, Shokrollahi is now rethinking his entire business plan, which had included hiring 80 to 100 engineers and designers in the U.S. Instead, that expansion is now likely to occur in Europe or Asia, places where Shokrollahi can easily travel and where the environment is more welcoming. On top of that, Shokrollahi's visa just expired and he's been waiting six weeks for a new one. That's clearly not a priority for the new administration. "I have to be pragmatic about my business and see where to grow it," said Shokrollahi, in a telephone interview this week from Lausanne, Switzerland. "I feel that the U.S. is just not a stable country. I can't really make long-term plans there."

I feel that the U.S. is just not a stable country. I can't really make long-term plans there. Amin Shokrollahi Kandou Bus CEO

Shokrollahi is a 52-year-old scientist and mathematician who speaks five languages, worked in high-tech in the U.S. for 10 years and has a PhD from the University of Bonn in Germany. His company raised $15 million last year from prominent Silicon Valley investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners to speed development of energy efficient technology used in semiconductors. He's been traveling to the U.S. five to seven times a year since moving to Switzerland in 2003. He is surely not the kind of person Trump was targeting when he placed a 90-day travel ban on citizens from seven countries, including Iran, out of fear of terrorism. A lawyer for the Justice Department said in a Virginia courtroom on Friday that at least 100,000 visas have been revoked in the week since Trump announced his executive order. Shokrollahi has the tech industry squarely on his side. Companies including Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have denounced the order and, in the words of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, are exploring "legislative options." Iran, in particular, is in Trump's crosshairs. On Friday, his administration imposed new sanctions on the country after the test-firing of a medium-range ballistic missile that the White House said defied a U.N. resolution.

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Shokrollahi hasn't lived in Iran since departing shortly after the 1979 revolution to finish his studies in Germany. He visits annually to see his parents in Tehran. Since leaving, he's worked at the famed Bell Labs in New Jersey, was the chief scientist at a company acquired by Qualcomm and spent the past 14 years as a math and computer science professor in Lausanne. His travel to the U.S. was initially curtailed a year ago, when lawmakers implemented changes to the Visa Waiver Program, which previously allowed Shokrollahi, as a German citizen, to enter the U.S. without a visa. Now dual citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan would need one. While losing the waiver was a significant inconvenience for Shokrollahi, as documented in a story from the Intercept, he never imagined that he'd be forbidden from entering the U.S. altogether. "It's not for me to decide how the U.S. government will protect itself against threats," he said. "I'm just surprised. I myself have gone through so many background checks in U.S. The work I've been doing in previous companies and the kinds of customers I worked for required very extensive background checks on me."

(L-R) Amazon's chief Jeff Bezos, Larry Page of Alphabet, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President-elect Mike Pence and President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower December 14, 2016. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. In running a fast-paced start-up, Shokrollahi doesn't have time to wait around and see how the travel ban plays out, especially given the anti-Muslim rhetoric that Trump displayed throughout the campaign. Shokrollahi's main investor, Bessemer, understands the challenge the order could pose to its portfolio companies. "We at Bessemer Venture Partners are deeply concerned by how President Trump's executive order on immigration will impact high-tech and life-sciences companies and the well-being of employees and their families." The letter went on to say, "we encourage his administration and Congress to find solutions that do not unfairly penalize foreign-born workers, treat refugees inhumanely, or compel the next generation of the world's top thinkers and innovators to apply their skills in other countries." An open letter from Bessemer to portfolio companies Shayan Zadeh, an Iranian-born tech entrepreneur in San Francisco, expects the administration to impose long-term restrictions against Iranians, beyond just the 90 days. Zadeh, 38, is in decent shape. He attained U.S. citizenship in 2013 while running Zoosk, an online dating site that reached $200 million in annual revenue. But his 28-year-old brother is in limbo. He's a medical doctor who's been doing research at Cornell University and is now waiting for a visa so he can work at Harvard. He's also applied for a green card.

A missile is displayed next to a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a war exhibition south of Tehran on September 26, 2016. Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump poses for photographs after signing an Executive Order related to the review of the Dodd-Frank Act in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C. Aude Guerrucci | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The policy halo effect that provided ballast to the stock market and fueled investor optimism is already being dimmed by political realities, according to Goldman Sachs, which may have negative implications for economic growth. In a note to clients on Friday, the investment bank noted President Donald Trump's agenda was already running into bipartisan political resistance, with doubts growing about potential tax reform and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, among other marquee Trump administration initiatives. Just two weeks into his tenure, "risks are less positively tilted than they appeared shortly after the election ," Goldman wrote. Growing resistance to Trump's executive orders on immigration and financial reform has galvanized opposition while dividing members of the president's own Republican Party.

President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order rolling back regulations from the 2010 Dodd-Frank law on Wall Street reform at the White House in Washington February 3, 2017. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

It has also curbed the enthusiasm of investors, who sent stocks on a roller-coaster ride this week as they struggled to reconcile the new restrictions on immigration with Trump's professed pro-business bent. "While bipartisan cooperation looked possible on some issues following the election, the political environment appears to be as polarized as ever, suggesting that issues that require bipartisan support may be difficult to address," the bank added. The balance of risks "are less positively tilted than they appeared shortly after the election," Goldman said, which may blunt the force of future growth.

Some of the recent administrative actions by the Trump Administration serve as a reminder that the president is likely to follow through on campaign promises on trade and immigration, some of which could be disruptive for financial markets and the real economy Goldman Sachs

Amid reports that top GOP members are reportedly becoming nervous about the impact of a full-fleged repeal of health care, that political pushback "does not bode well for reaching a quick agreement on tax reform or infrastructure funding, and reinforces our view that a fiscal boost, if it happens, is mostly a 2018 story."

Indeed, Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said that he was "not very enthused" by the prospect of broad tax reform, The Associated Press quoted Hatch as saying. A politically thorny proposal for a "border adjustment tax" seen by some as a linchpin to force Mexico to foot the bill of building a border wall is also dividing members of the GOP. "Some of the recent administrative actions by the Trump Administration serve as a reminder that the president is likely to follow through on campaign promises on trade and immigration, some of which could be disruptive for financial markets and the real economy," according to Goldman, saying that the president's agenda "present risks in both directions."

Goldman still expects a modest fiscal policy boost of about 1 percent of gross domestic product via tax cuts next year, but doesn't believe a border adjustment tax will make it into tax reform. The bank also expects a boost on import tariffs, and lower levels of immigration. Trump's polarizing travel restrictions on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries linked to terrorism have already had negative effects on the tech sector, as well as other visa holders. Silicon Valley has largely denounced the travel ban, which now threatens to become ensnared in a protracted battle between the executive and legislative branches, and increasing generalized uncertainty. "Immigration restrictions could lead to an overly tight labor market and a slowing in final demand, and trade restrictions could pose risks to corporate profits and ultimately to growth if trading partners retaliate," Goldman wrote.

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France celebrates the artistic legacy and life of sculptor Auguste Rodin with a 2017 circulating commemorative 2 coin.

The Monnaie de Paris is issuing a circulating commemorative 2 coin in 2017 to mark the centennial of the death of famed sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Rodin, best known for The Thinker, appears on the obverse of the new coin with his famous work. Born in 1840, he is one of the major icons of the realistic style. The style of the design is inspired by the sculpture and the shaping of the material, which was metal in this case.

According to the Monnaie de Paris, With a zooming effect, the design shows the famous pose with the hand under the chin of this man in meditation.

The dual dates 19172017 on the obverse indicate the centennial of Rodins death.

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The reverse carries the common European map design.

The 12 stars of the European flag appear in the outer ring of both sides of the ringed bimetallic 2 coin.

In total, 10 million examples are due to begin circulating Feb. 21, with an additional 20,000 examples dedicated for collector sales in Proof and in Brilliant Uncirculated versions, each with a mintage limit of 10,000 pieces.

The Proof coin will retail for 20 and the BU coin retails for 10.

The 2 coin weighs 8.5 grams and measures 25.75 millimeters in diameter.

Each nation is allowed to issue up to two different circulating commemorative designs annually, with designs of their choosing, though few nations have issued the maximum number of designs.

Joint euro programs like the 2015 coins honoring the 30th anniversary of flag of the European Union do not count toward this limit.
What to know about daylight saving time 2022 in Missouri
On Thursday, in the House Local Government Elections, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee, legislators heard HB 119  Prohibition Period for Candidate Contributions sponsored by Rep. Matthew McQueen. And it passed unanimously!

Currently candidates can accept but not solicit contributions during the legislative session. This bill would change the language to no longer allow candidates to accept any contribution during a legislative session. Now on to House Judiciary  let them know to support!

And on Friday, the National Popular Vote passed its first committee! SB 42 is Agreement to Elect President by Popular Vote sponsored by Sen. Mimi Stewart. Now this bill heads to Senate Judiciary  call and ask for their support.

States currently have the power to award their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, although this would be disadvantageous to the state that did this unless it was joined simultaneously by other states that represent a majority of electoral votes. Hence the National Popular Vote plan is an interstate compacta type of state law authorized by the U.S. Constitution that enables states to enter into a legally enforceable contractual obligation to undertake agreed joint actions, which may be delayed in implementation until a requisite number of states join in. There are more than a thousand interstate compacts, and each state in the United States belongs to dozens of them. The U.S. Supreme Court has authorized electoral compacts in dicta and several other electoral compacts have been proposed in the past.

Also heard on Friday in the House Judiciary Committee was HB 73 Public Officials as Lobbyists sponsored by Rep. Jim Dines, Rep. Joanne Ferrary and Rep. Nathan Small. The committee had a great discussion about some technical amendments and they will be prepared this weekend so the sponsors can have another hearing on Monday.

This bill requires legislators to wait two years before become lobbyists in New Mexico, and it passed its first committee unanimously! Common Cause New Mexico testified that Revolving Door legislation is important for our legislature to pass so that citizens access to legislators doesnt feel negated by the power of recently retired legislators who are also lobbying for issues, but treated as colleagues and thus given far more access than the average citizen.

We will update you again tomorrow as more items are added to the agenda! Check in then for the next Democracy Wire update from the Common Cause New Mexico team!

Follow us on Twitter @commoncausenm & like us on Facebook for mid-day updates and remember to CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS!
The nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States, so soon after our own handed down its judgement on the Article 50 case, offered a clear contrast of our two countries very different judicial systems.

Most British observers are pleased that we dont have Americas hyper-partisan approach for making judicial appointments. But it does have things to teach us, not least the perils of trying to shift debates and decision-making from the political arena to the courtroom.

The US system was not designed to operate as it does now: partisan fighting over judicial appointments has followed the expansion of the Courts role in public life by a combination of activist justices and litigious campaigners.

Political brawls over judges might be off-putting to watch at times, but its difficult to see them as irrational or unjust. Due to the operation of the codified US Constitution, the Supreme Court has final say on a huge amount of the proper work of the legislative and executive branches.

Moreover, precedent doesnt protect historical rulings from being overturned by a new set of justices, so each side has little option but constant vigilance over who gets to make those decisions. This column gives an excellent insight into the thinking that motivates the bitter political battle weve seen waged over the latest Supreme Court vacancy. Its a perfectly rational way to engage with a less-than-rational system.

Britain doesnt have the American system, but we ought not to be complacent. That problematic order evolved over a long period of time, and it would be foolish to assume our own couldnt follow suit.

Many of the ingredients are already present: we have Supreme Court justices talking up their expanded role in our constitution; an activist class of legal professionals taking political battles to the courts; and legislation like the Human Rights Act which introduce many of the dynamics of a codified constitution.

Withdrawal from the EU, and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, should only be the first step in a much more extensive programme aimed at rolling back the judicial capture of political accountability. Members of Parliament no longer farming out their role to the judiciary, and commentators being more careful in their assessment of politicised cases, would also help.

Yet there is a big positive to the American system: it recognises that there are such things as different judicial philosophies, which affect how judges interpret the law, and subjects these to public scrutiny.

Just as political over-dependence on experts forgets that people with different values can draw different policy conclusions from the same facts, those advocating an uncritical approach to the judiciary seem to forget that different judges can reach very different conclusions from the same evidence and law.

If you doubt it, just look at the Article 50 judgement. For all the bold talk in some quarters about how straightforwardly wrong the Government was, three of the justices were persuaded of its casr (despite, by all accounts, the Government failing to make the best case for its own position).

The majority ruling and the dissent each present perfectly viable interpretations of the law; the former is the law because a handful of people were more persuaded by it, not because it is in any sense objectively true. Set aside cute legal language about judges making discoveries: complex cases are settled by human beings making decisions.

Much of the public outcry over the judgement was distateful, to say the least  and demands that the justices respect the referendum result were straightforwardly unconstitutional  but it illustrates how the expansion of judicial power in the political sphere will result in an expansion of political scrutiny and pressure upon judges, whether they like it or not.

Denouncing judges as enemies of the people is an unhealthy form of scrutiny. But it would be no bad thing if we took more of an interest in how individual judges understand their own role, and the attitudes and philosophies which underpin their approach to interpreting legislation. It may even help our legal professionals too: according to this QC, they dont think enough about this stuff either.
CORNWALL, Ontario  In hopes of providing a better tomorrow for one refugee family, the North Stormont Refugees Coalition continues to raise funds for the familys resettlement process. With paperwork now in order, another $15,000 is needed to complete the proceedings.

The Almunif family were bombed out of their village of Diraa, Syria and fled to the Lebanese village of Aroon in 2011. The family have since been living in a garage just below the Bekaa Valley on the Syrian border.

Finch resident, Daad Elsaadi played a critical role in targeting the Almunif family for resettlement. While Elsaadi was finishing her studies in Lebanon, she approached one of her professors about families who would be well-suited for sponsorship. The father, who worked as a custodian at the college, and his family came highly recommended by the institution.

Because we had that contact, we could get the lines of communication open right away and move forward with the forms much more quickly, said group chair, Janice Wright. The most difficult part of the entire process is the government forms. Identifying the family is the easy part  the Canadian government really puts the onus the group to choose a family.

North Stormont hopes to welcome the Almunif family in the fall of 2017, but Wright says she expects a lengthier process.

Its a long, slow process, said Wright. From what weve been told, once the paperwork is submitted, the absolute minimum, best-case-scenario is eight months.

Wright says whats most frustrating about the paperwork is that it is not geared toward rural communities. Sponsors are required to submit a settlement plan, outlining budgetary needs like rent, hydro, and public transportation.

What becomes problematic is that rural areas dont have public transportation, said Wright. So, we have to factor in things like purchasing a car, getting drivers licences, paying for insurance, and gas. Those things dont fit in a form that assumes that everyones going to be settled in a city that has public transportation.

Transportation is likely to be the biggest hurdle that the group will face once the family arrives, and Wright says although the community has been extremely supportive in offering to assist with driving in the first months, they are conscious that the commitment to the family is one year.

In continuing with the groups effort to raise funds, they will be hosting a traditional Lebanese 7-course-dinner, which Elsaadi and her family will be catering, already expected to draw two hundred guests.

Two hundred people is a lot, said Elsaadi. But if we can help a family in need, why wouldnt we?
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Mental health problems are a widespread scenario in South Africa. But despite that, the country lacks necessary policies and resources for an effective mental health services. Recently, a major tragedy occurred in South Africa that is connected to this issue.

According to The Guardian, at least 94 patients with mental health problems died in South Africa. This devastating event happened when South African authorities transferred these patients from hospitals to unlicensed medical facilities.

A total of 1,900 patients were transferred from Life Esidimeni health institution to 27 unlicensed healthcare facilities by the Gauteng health department in an attempt to save money.

Some witnesses said that those facilities were like concentration camps. They also failed to provide those mental health patients with enough food and water, which resulted in malnourishment. And in worst cases, some patients died of dehydration.

The deaths occurred between February and December 2016. Out of those 94 deaths, only one died from mental illness. The other 93 have died from other health problems such as dehydration, pneumonia and diarrhea.

When the scandal broke, provincial health minister Qedani Mahlangu resigned from her position, as per BBC. Gauteng government premier David Makhura said that he had accepted the resignation of Mahlangu.

This South African healthcare scandal was one of the biggest since the African National Congress (ANC) took power in 1994. The opposition Democratic Alliance party expressed their fury and accusing the government of lying about the number of deaths when the scandal was discovered.

Families of the victims were hoping for a closure in this health scandal. They are also hoping that the government will give them some financial assistance. But the question here is if the government will agree with the demands of the victims' families.

Makhura vowed that he will hold accountable all the officials that are involved in the scandal. He also said that the death toll might rise as the investigation continues.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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President Donald Trump's doctor has revealed the secret to his hair. Dr. Harold N. Bornstein said the president takes medication for three ailments that include a prostate-related drug that promotes hair growth.

Other drugs are antibiotics to help the president control rosacea, which is a common skin problem. The third drug is rosuvastatin for elevated blood cholesterol and lipids.

According to New York Times, Dr. Bornstein, 69, said Mr. Trump also takes a daily low-dose aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack. Trump's medical care is exactly up to date and he has been pronounced to be healthy.

Trump, 70, is the oldest person to become president. The White House declined to comment on Wednesday night about the information provided by Bornstein. They did not confirm or deny whether he was still Trump's physician. But according to CNN, a senior White House official said Bornstein did not have Trump's permission to speak about his health.

Bornstein was scrutinized by other doctors after he wrote a letter about Trump's health that concluded, "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." He told CNN in September that he was in a hurry and had patients to see at that time.

The president takes a small dose of finasteride, which lowers prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, which is a marker for prostate cancer. It is marketed by Propecia to treat male-pattern baldness.

Bornstein has been Trump's personal physician since 1980 but claimed to have no contact with him since he became president. He has a private practice on the Upper East Side of New York where Trump had gone to for annual checkups, colonoscopies, and other routine tests every year since 1980.

He said if he were to become the White House doctor he would not include psychometric tests as a base line for potential dementia. Trump's father, Fred, suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his eighties. Experts have urged that older political leaders undergo such tests.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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Popular Canadian adult website, Pornhub, wants to talk about the importance of sexual health. The Montreal-based company has recently announced the launch of their new Pornhub site called Pornhub Sexual Wellnes Center. It is an effort to go beyond just being a regular adult website to a powerful resource capable of promoting wellness.

The new site's wellness section is a new source of sex research information. The archive share useful information about sexual health. Subjects like sexually transmitted infections, sexually transmitted disease, human reproductive anatomy, and how to build long-lasting and healthy relationships.

According to World Report Now, in collaboration with Dr. Laurie Betito, a sex therapist will go over sexual health topics. She will answer all kinds of questions, even sensitive ones. All useful information and tips about sexual health is free and will be provided by a panel of experts headed by Dr. Betito.

Corey Price, the company's vice president said "Our goal is to provide our visitors with a site that has credible and insightful information, rather than have them scouring the internet."

According to International Business Times, aside from educating people on sexual matters, the site will also include topics on the latest developments in sexual research and sex tech. trends. The website has two major categories, Get Healthy and Sexuality.

The Get Healthy section covers health-related issues. It provides detailed explanation on both male and female anatomy and also includes an article on transsexuality. It also covers STD and reproductive health.

The Sexuality section has three categories, relationships, real talk and FAQs. One important topic it covered is about consent. This explains how to determine whether a person is giving his/her consent for sex.

The site aims to educate the many people who are unaware of the basics of sexual health. This will teach them about STDs and how to prevent it. Information on how to build relationship based on trust and mutual respect will also help guide young individuals.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
A divided Kansas Supreme Court said Friday that it will uphold the death sentence of a man it previously overturned, according to a news release.



The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Kansas Supreme Court to take a second look at Sidney Gleason's case early last year after hearing oral arguments in it and the cases of killers Jonathan and Reginald Carr in October 2015. A Barton County jury gave Gleason a death sentence for killing Mikiala "Miki" Martinez and her boyfriend, Darren Wornkey, in 2004 to keep her from telling authorities about an armed robbery.



"The decision today affirms the conviction and death sentence based on a Barton County jury's findings and moves this case along one step further. The wheels of justice are turning," Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in an e-mailed statement after the ruling was announced.



A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed decisions of the Kansas Supreme Court overturning death sentences in two cases, the infamous Carr brother and Sidney Gleason. The decision is here . CJLF's press release is here . CJLF's brief is here Today, Amy Renee Leiker reports for the Wichita Eagle:The decision is here
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Ciber To Sell German, Danish Businesses for $8.8M As The Company Struggles To Repay Wells Fargo

Michael Novinson

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Ciber has agreed to sell its German and Danish businesses to German IT company Allgeier, advancing Ciber's efforts to repay Wells Fargo $39.7 million for an outstanding loan.

The Greenwood Village, Colo.-based company, No. 43 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, said it plans to use up to half of the sale proceeds to reimburse Wells Fargo, with the remaining money needed to fund existing working capital needs.

Ciber will receive proceeds from the deal in three separate installments: at closing, in March 2018, and in March 2019. Part of the purchase price is contingent on the Ciber business unit hitting operation performance targets in 2017 and 2018.

[RELATED: Ciber Gets Default Waived by Wells Fargo, Will Take Action Yielding $25M In Proceeds By End Of Year]

"The sales of Ciber Germany and Ciber Denmark is consistent with our announced strategy to divest non-core assets," Michael Boustridge, Ciber's president and CEO, said in a statement. Ciber did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

Under Ciber's previous agreement with Wells Fargo, the company had until Jan. 31 to close a transaction yielding proceeds of at least $25 million. But on Wednesday morning, Ciber filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) laying out alternate ways for the company to fulfill its obligation to Wells Fargo.

As part of the new agreement, Ciber must do the following: deliver two letters of intent to Wells Fargo by Feb. 11 with other parties interested in transactions with net proceeds sufficient to repay the company's outstanding balance (Ciber has done this); have Wells Fargo be satisfied that the parties remain in good faith negotiations; and close the deals and permanently repay Wells Fargo the $39.7 million by Feb. 28.

Ciber said it expects to close the sale of its German and Danish businesses this month following the receipt of regulatory approvals. Ciber's German business accounts for nearly half of the company's international revenue and has suffered from high levels of attrition, Boustridge said in November, forcing the company to hire subcontractors to fulfill its contractual duties in the country.

Wells Fargo's line of credit was supposed to mature May 7, but the bank accelerated the maturation date to the end of this month as part of Wednesday's renegotiated deal. The renegotiated agreement also limits Ciber's ability to borrow money for items not listed in the company's cash forecast provided weekly to Wells Fargo.

Ciber shares fell $0.13 (-31%) to $0.29 since the renegotiated agreement with Wells Fargo was announced, but have rebounded $0.03 (10.3%) to $0.32 in after-hours trading on Friday once the asset sale to Allgeier was revealed. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) told Ciber in November that it is at risk of being delisted due to its average closing price being below $1 per share for 30 days in a row.

Allgeier plans to combine the acquired Ciber entities with its own existing SAP business under the umbrella of Allgeier Enterprise Services AG. The company said it could further expand Ciber's business thanks to relationships with enterprise domestic and international companies, as well as upper mid-market firms in Germany, France and Denmark.

"These acquisitions reflects our strong commitment to the future of SAP and the value for our customers by bringing Enterprise IT Services and new SAP technologies together," Hubert Rohrer, a member of Allgeier's executive board, said in a statement. "Our interests are completely aligned with Ciber."

Ciber was required by Wells Fargo to bring a strategic advisor to help the company refinance, merge or sell assets, and announced in November that global investment bank Houlihan Lokey had been retained for that purpose. The company's board also established an M&A committee to ensure that it's competitive in all markets, Boustridge disclosed in November.

Ciber's international revenue plummeted in the company's most recent quarter to $46.7 million, down 44 percent from $82.8 million the year prior. The company began unloading European business units in the summer, selling its 400-employee Dutch business and 130-employee Norway business to ManpowerGroup in June and August for $25 million and $7 million, respectively.

The company also sold its Swedish business in September to Bouvet Stockholm of Oslo, Norway. However, the company's agreement to sell its $10 million Australian business to local management fell through in August.

Ciber's divestitures began just a month after the company announced that Mark Floyd would become its chairman, replacing company founder and former Chairman Bobby Stevenson. Floyd was one of three new independent directors added to Ciber's board in 2015 as part of an agreement between the company and activist investor Lone Star Value.
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TRUMBULL  St. Joseph in Shelton and St. Jude in Monroe are the latest victims of declining Catholic school attendance and growing deficits.

Bishop Frank Caggiano, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, told more than 300 parents and staffers meeting at St. Joseph High School on Friday night that the two schools would close and their students would be merged into an new academy to be named later at what is now St. Lawrence School in Shelton.

The change will be effective for the 2017-18 school year.

Caggiano said the goal is to allow a parent who enrolls a 4-year-old in pre-kindergarten at the academy to reasonably expect that child to graduate eighth-grade from the same school.

He believes the academy with about 240 students paying tuition beginning at $6,000 for one child, but encompassing decreased family rates, will reap a $24,120 surplus that will be used by that school. That is opposed to the combined deficit of more than $500,00 the three schools are running.

Still to be determined is which administrators and teachers will staff the academy at St. Lawrence in the fall. The process of sorting that out will start in the coming weeks.

What impressed me most was the way the bishop handled this, said Vincent Averaimo, of Milford. If the announcement had been handled the way was at St. Gabriels (in Milford) last year, I would have taken my children out of Catholic education.

More Information The schools involved ST. JOSEPH Address: 430 Coram Avenue, Shelton Opened: 1928 Students: 127 Tuition: about $6,000 for one student. ST. JUDE Address: 707 Monroe Turnpike, Monroe Opened: 1962 Students: 80 Tuition: $5,590 for one student ST. LAWRENCE Address: 530 Shelton Avenue, Shelton Opened: 1965 Students: 170 Tuition: $6,365 for one student See More Collapse

His two children were at St. Gabriels, which closed at the end of the last school year. They are currently at St. Lawrence. Its difficult to relive something that was very traumatic for my children and my family.

The consolidation is the latest in a whirlwind week of announcements made by Caggiano on the fate of Catholic schools in Fairfield County. He is scheduled to meet with parents and staff at St. Joseph School in Brookfield at 9 a.m. Saturday, to discuss challenges that school is facing.

Falling enrollment

The diocese has seen Catholic elementary school enrollment continual decline in Fairfield County, dropping from 7,700 in 2009 to 6,400 now. Most of the schools are running deficits.

Over the past 15 years, the diocese has picked up about $24 million in debts to keep our Fairfield County schools up and running, said Brian D. Wallace, a diocese spokesman. He explained that once a school closes, its debt is discharged.

On Monday, the bishop told a cheering crowd of about 150 people at St. Peter Church in downtown Danbury that none of that citys three Catholic schools  St. Peter, St. Gregory and St. Joseph  would close. The bishops decision to keep St. Peter School open came as a surprise to some, since it is running a $200,000 deficit. It may have been saved by an anonymous donor who offered $150,000 in scholarships over the next five years.

The situation was different Wednesday night in Stamford, when Caggiano unveiled a three-year plan that ends with all three Catholic elementary schools in that city being closed.

For at least next year, St. Cecilia on Stamfords Newfield Avenue will remain open, and house students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. In 2018, Trinity Middle School students are to move into the lower level of Trinity High School while renovations are made to the middle school. In 2020 the Middle School takes in elementary school students.

The three latest affected schools  St. Joseph, St. Jude and St. Lawrence  are running a combined $526,788 deficit, according to the diocese. St. Jude had the largest deficit, at $250,650, followed by St. Joseph, at $177,418.

Money troubles

One factor that led Caggiano to keep the school in Shelton is that Shelton residents made up 85 percent of St. Lawrences enrollment, 61 percent of St. Josephs and 31 percent of St. Judes. Only 40 percent of St. Judes enrollment comes from Monroe.

Additionally, St. Lawrence on Shelton Avenue in Shelton, is the newest of the three, has the most students at 170 and the lowest deficit, at $98,720.

St. Joseph, built in 1928, is the oldest and has 127 students while St. Jude has only 80 students.

Neither the Bridgeport Diocese or the Hartford Archdiocese, which includes the Valley municipalities and Milford, have been hesitant in closing or combining underperforming schools or churches.
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With expanded clout in the Legislature for Republicans, who earned a split in the Senate and picked up seats in the House last November, a disconnect between the partys social conservative and moderate wings over anti-abortion legislation is creating an awkward tension.

A number of GOP lawmakers have distanced themselves from a pair of bills revived by their colleagues  one is a parental notification requirement for minors and the other would force women to have an ultrasound before terminating a pregnancy.

Their mindset is that anything that diverts attention from the GOPs fiscal agenda, from deficit-reduction to state employee pension reform, could stymie the momentum of Republicans in a blue state such as Connecticut. That contradicts the socially conservative slant of the national GOP and President Donald Trump, who last month signed an executive order withholding federal funds from international groups that perform abortions.

So now this becomes a whole big discussion about these issues instead of talking about the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which is the states financial condition, said state Rep. Brenda Kupchick, R-Fairfield.

During a League of Women Voters legislative forum last week in Fairfield, GOP lawmakers were pressed about the two anti-abortion measures, which were reintroduced after unsuccessful attempts in previous sessions. But there was more of an appetite to discuss the states $1.4 billion budget deficit and sluggish economic recovery.

Thats what we campaigned on throughout the entire spring, summer and fall, Kupchick said.

House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, downplayed the divisions within her caucus over anti-abortion legislation, but acknowledged that pocket-book isssues are the calling card of the GOP.

We have always been and will continue to be very proud of the fact that we are a big tent party, Klarides said. Having said that, as important as those issues are, our first and foremost priority is getting the state back on fiscal track. Thats why none of the other stuff matters if people cannot afford to live here and businesses cannot afford to stay here.

Emblematic of the struggle for Republicans over the partys identity is state Rep. Alfred Camillo, R-Greenwich, who was an intial sponsor of the parental notification and ultrasound bills, but then removed his name from both proposals.

Camillo said that while he supports a parental notification requirement, the bill does not make an exception for minors to notify a third-party in cases of incest or abuse by a parent. The language of the ultrasound bill differed from how the proposal was initially characterized and left out a reference to its support by the Knights of Columbus, he said.

Most of our time at the Capitol is spent working on turning the fiscal ship of the state around, Camillo said of Republicans. But many of us are focused on many other issues like public safety, public health and commerce.

Camillos reversal on both pieces of legislation  introduced in the Senate by Danbury Republican Michael McLachlan  followed a lobbying push by Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. The group said it met with Camillo, who is co-chairman of the Legislatures Catholic Roundtable, and gave him a tour of one of its health centers.

Its usually really an eye-opener for them especially if they have misonceptions about who we are and what we do, said Susan Yolen, the groups vice president for policy and advocacy. I think he heard loud and clear from his consitutuents that they were concerned about these bills.

Yolen said the number of abortions performed on women under the age of 18 in Connecticut has plummeted from 684 in 2011 to 360 in 2015. Ultrasounds are always administered when an abortion is done, she said.

Its the standard of care because physicians have decided it, not because politicians have decided to make it so, Yolen said.

McLachlan was not available for comment and said he was tied up in bill-screening meetings.

Four states require expectant mothers to view an ultrasound before terminating a pregnancy, while nine other states must give a woman the opportunity to see the ultrasound, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health policy.

When women view the ultrasound, they often change their mind, said Chris OBrien, vice president of Connecticut Right to Life. It might be too soon for something like this in Connecticut. (But) I think Sen. McLachlans heart is in the right place.

Planned Parenthood also opposes the parental notification bill, citing a 1990 state law that requires minors under 16 to be counseled by a doctor, nurse practitioner, physicians assistant, clergy member or licensed social worker before having an abortion.

Family communication is hard to legislate, Yolen said. Sometimes a family is a source of the abuse and pregnancy.

OBrien said pro-life groups are open to creating exemptions for extenuating cases and that another pending bill would give minors the option to bypass their parents with a judges approval.

Both Klarides and Kupchick said they are torn over the parental notification bill, but are opposed to the ultrasound measure.

Klarides, the first woman to lead the House GOP caucus, said she is sensitive to pregnancy cases involving victims of abuse or incest. At the same time, she said, parental consent is required for far less.

On the other hand, you need your parents permission to take an aspirin in school, Klarides said.

nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
A Bridgeport man has been arrested in connection with an elaborate identity-theft scheme, apparently for the third time, according to a statement from the Westport Police Department.

Police say that Leeroy Maragh, 26, of Fairview Avenue in Bridgeport, approached a UPS driver in Westport last October and convinced him to hand over packages after presenting a fake Connecticut drivers license.
In an early test of President Donald Trump's so-called "Muslim ban," a federal judge in Seattle on Friday halted the enforcement of the fastest-acting parts of the controversial week-old executive order.

U.S. District Judge James Robart ruled on a motion by the state of Washington, issuing a temporary, nationwide restraining order stopping the parts of Trump's order that block entry to the U.S. by refugees and immigrants from some predominantly Muslim countries.

Robart's ruling means refugees worldwide and certain immigrants from the seven countries Trump targeted will be allowed to enter the U.S. immediately. All have already been vetted by immigration officials.

"Judge Robart's decision puts a halt to Trump's unconstitutional executive order nationwide," Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said after the ruling.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate." Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

Reuters, citing an airline official, reported that "U.S. Customs & Border Protection has informed U.S. airlines that they can once again board travelers who had been barred by an executive order last week."

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation. The judge's ruling could be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

From the bench, Robart acknowledged the sweeping impact of his ruling.

"There is a very narrow question before the court today," Robart said. "Although that question is narrow, the court is aware of the considerable impact that will have on the parties here" and across the nation.

Fridays was the first hearing in Washington states lawsuit filed Monday against Trump; Ferguson argued the order was discriminatory and illegal. Seattle-area companies Amazon and Expedia filed declarations in support of Washingtons case, and the state of Minnesota moved to join the case Wednesday.

Following the ruling, Ferguson said Robart's decision will provide immediate relief to those targeted by Trump's order.

"I'm certain the president will not like this decision," the Seattle Democrat said. "But it is his job, it is his obligation to honor it, and I'll make sure he does."

The ruling comes after a week of confusion, protest and defiance against Trumps executive order.

Washingtons lawsuit, filed by Ferguson's office, was the first suit brought by a state against the Trump administration over the order, but Massachusetts, Virginia, New York and the city of San Francisco have all filed or joined other suits against Trump over the order. Several individuals have filed suit as well.

Earlier Friday in Boston, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton sided with the administration and refused to extend a restraining order similar to the one Ferguson won. At the same time, a federal judge in Virginia, in a win for Trump's opponents, allowed the state to join a lawsuit against the immigration restriction.

Ferguson argued that Trumps order violates some clauses of the U.S. Constitution: The equal protection and due process clauses of the Fifth Amendment and the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Ferguson also argued the order violates several federal laws around immigration and religious protection.

Defending Trump's order in Seattle, Department of Justice attorney Michelle Bennett argued that Trump's motivations could not be reviewed by a court because they dealt with matters of national security.

Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell, who argued the motion for the state Friday, took particular issue with that argument.

"Frankly, the federal government's position about standard of review here is frightening," Purcell said. "They're saying that you can't review anything the president says" if he says it's a matter of national security.

Purcell focused largely on the negative impacts the state argued Trump's order has and will continue to have on state universities, as well as broad and potential economic impacts to tourism.

Robart, a longtime attorney in private practice appointed to the federal bench in 2003 by President Bush, filed the formal ruling Friday evening.

The judge's written order, released late Friday, said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches" of government.

The court's job "is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our country's laws."

Robart ordered federal defendants "and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from" enforcing the executive order.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.
As the economy continues to strengthen in Connecticut, we should not merely ask how many jobs are we creating, but are we creating jobs that provide wages that can sustain a family.

A recent article in the Connecticut Post gives us hope that the answer is yes, when it was reported that union membership continues to rise in our state.

Its clear why so many workers choose to join together in unions. In 2016, among full-time workers, union members had median weekly earnings of $1,004, while those who were not union members had median weekly earnings of $802. Thats a difference of over $10,000 every year.

It is not a mystery why union workers do better. Undoubtedly, there is power when workers speak together for better wages and working conditions. Even in the worst of times, union workers can negotiate for the necessary protections when faced with setbacks and adjustments that cannot be avoided. When faced with like situations the non-union worker is on his own with no collective voice.

In Connecticut, the labor movement had modest growth from 2015 to 2016. In 2015, Connecticut had 269,000 union members or 17 percent of the workforce. In 2016, the state had 275,000 union members or 17.5 percent of the workforce. That is a net gain of 6,000 union members. This is good for all of us.

These gains are in large part because Connecticut has made strategic investments in the states major manufacturers  Pratt & Whitney, Electric Boat, and Sikorsky  where all three are hiring more employees and will continue to do so for years to come. It is also due to more workers deciding to speak up together and forming unions in their workplaces. Last year, more than 900 workers at Danbury and New Milford Hospitals voted to unionize. Additionally, workers in the states public defenders office and the assistant attorney generals also voted to join together in a union. In Orange, 150 workers of Aurora Products now have their first union contract.

Nationally, relentless and continuing attacks, though not the only reason, have led to a decrease in union membership  from 11.1 percent to to 10.7 percent. With these decreases in union membership, it is now harder for working people to fight for fair wages, benefits and protections.

Labor agreements between fair-minded employers and union workers lead to higher wages, better benefits, safer workplaces and a more robust economy. So it is no wonder that as union density has declined over the last several decades, wages have stagnated and pensions have been decreased or even eliminated. The results are grave financial insecurities and worries that can completely overwhelm families and put at risk what should be a golden age of retirement.

When working people are able to bargain for a better life, wages and standards rise across the board  even in nonunion workplaces. Communities become more secure. And our economy is enhanced with new consumer spending.

Millions of Americans want and need a union and it can be done. But instead of penalizing bad employers who continually thwart gutsy workers attempts to organize, our outdated labor laws have made union avoidance nothing more than the cost of doing business, nothing we should be proud of.

There is simply no substitute for working people sticking together for the betterment of each other. The fact is, union members receive better wages than non-union. And where there is union presence, non-union workers also see their wages rise. When union membership declines, the American Dream slips further away. Statistics and facts have proven this.

We are fortunate to live and work in Connecticut, a state that has championed dignity and respect for workers and their union. While some states are severely limiting workers right to join the union and weakening their strength to collectively negotiate, many legislators in our state work hard to ensure that workers are allowed to join a union if they so choose. These legislators deserve credit and our thanks

As a reminder, on April 23, 1987 the labor movement in Connecticut lost 28 members. On that day, union construction workers working at the site of the LAmbiance Plaza development in Bridgeport were crushed to death because of faulty lift slab construction. Every year since organized labor, family members and friends have gathered to remember and to pay tribute to their families, the rescue workers, city officials, especially then-Mayor Tom Bucci, Dave The Mole Wheeler and all those who assisted in any way during and after the collapse. This years ceremony will mark the 30th Anniversary.

Thomas Wilkinson is President of the Fairfield County Labor Chapter, AFL-CIO and President, Local 371 United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
Doctors that left Cuba can return to their former jobs

The Ministry of Public Health of Cuba issued a release stating the decision to reinstate to their positions those doctors that left their collaboration missions in other countries and wish to return to Cuba.

The release, published in Granma newspaper, reads that the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program created under the George W Bush administration and repealed last January 12th by the then US President Barack Obama was aimed at hurting Cuba and had a negative impact in other countries, especially those of the so-called Third World.

The MINSAP announced that, like it has happened since the implementation of the new migratory regulations in Cuba in 2014, those health professionals that return to the country will be allowed to resume their work in the national Health System.

The medical collaboration Cuba gives to other countries has as principles its voluntary nature and the comprehensive attention to the needs of the collaborators both in Cuba and abroad, who received a salary in the places they are working as well as health care, food, places to stay and air and land transportation while in Cuba they keep their positions and full salaries as well as all the social security benefits for him/her and their families.

There are in this moment over 50 thousand health Cuban professionals working in 60 countries.

The services they pay come in three modalities: one in which Cuba assumes all the expenses, a second where it shares them with the government of the country that receives the aid and a third one where the receptor country pays for the services.

The latter one, though it represents an economic contribution to the sustainability and development of the Cuban health system, doesnt attempt against its solidarity character since the Cuban doctors work in in regions where even their native counterparts refuse to go; besides, those monies are also used to pay for the aid given to countries with severe economic limitations, contribute to the training of tens of thousands health professionals in the Latin-American Medical School and provide funds for the multiple missions undertaken by the Henry Reeve Contingent , like the one to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The release concludes by reiterating that health professionals are the main strength of the Cuban public health system and the mainstay of the dreams of justice for Cuba and other nations.




More references of aboriginal life found in eastern Cuba

Submitted by: Juana

Culture and Traditions

History

Holguin

02 / 04 / 2017



A research project developed by specialists from Holguin province, increases references on the aboriginal objects made from animal bones found in areas near Banes, an area known as the Cuban archaeological capital.

Lourdes Perez, an assistant researcher at the Eastern Central Archeology Department, told ACN that the inquiries, which were completed in 2016, provide a more detailed view on the use of this material in the production of ceremonial, utilitarian and ornamental pieces.

She pointed out that the research takes as reference the collections of the Bani Indo Cuban Museum, the Montane Anthropological Museum of the University of Havana and the Peabody Museum of Yale University, in the American state of Connecticut found during excavations in the northeastern territory of Holguin early last century.

As part of the investigation, more than 90 pieces of bone were analyzed, such as necklace beads, earrings, ladles and mystical instruments such as vomit spatulas, used to purify the soul of the Behique (wizard) during the cohoba rite, one of the most important ceremonies of that ancestral culture.

This study, said Perez, highlights as fundamental materials for the manufacture of these objects the bones of marine mammals that have not yet been identified and the ribs of the manatee, material predominant in the samples studied.

Banes area has 50 major archaeological sites such as El Potrero del Mango and El Chorro de Maita, the latter is considered the largest aboriginal cemetery in the Caribbean area. (acn)
We must rethink the U.S. response to infectious disease. Here's why.
For many years, Prince Charles has unburdened himself of his views on architecture, homeopathy, organic farming, climate change and a dozen other subjects that engage his lively and fertile mind.

The heir to the throne has famously pestered government ministers with his black spider memos  so described because of the spidery, hand-written notes which he attaches to these typed letters  exhorting them to action on mostly minor matters.

His public interventions can be infuriating, or somewhat cheering. Indeed, it is possible at times to find oneself in complete agreement with him, but at others to think that he is spewing out the most arrant nonsense.

Sometimes Prince Charles comes out with the most arrant nonsense

But whether or not one concurs with his homilies  many of them slightly batty, others incalculably worthy  I invariably find myself wondering whether it is wise for our future King to expatiate so freely in a way liable to cause divisions among his future subjects.

And as he has drawn ever nearer to the inevitable placing of the crown on his head, I cant have been the only supporter of the monarchy who has looked forward to the time when, to put it bluntly, he would finally put a sock in it.

That the Queen has been heroic in observing the convention that royals do not express their views on any area of public life is indisputable. Would it be too much to ask that her outspoken eldest son should at last follow her example and wisely keep his own counsel? Might he seek to be a unifying force for his people rather than risk setting them against one another  and also against the monarchy?

The answer to these questions, I am afraid to say, is an absolutely emphatic No. It is as though, as he comes closer to the sacred responsibilities which await him, his urge to lecture us on all manner of matters is actually growing, whereas prudence dictates that it should be diminishing.

What is so worrying is that hes no longer restricting himself to his somewhat eccentric views on homeopathy or organic farming, but is now blundering into the political arena with terrifying abandon.

Even more alarming, he seems determined to have his views heard about explosive issues such as immigration (egregiously evoking memories of the horrors of the Nazis) and, most disturbing of all, he appears to be gunning for President Donald Trump.

It is perfectly reasonable to have reservations about the thin-skinned and indisputably vulgar narcissist who is now leader of the Free World. I share a good number of them myself.

But when the British Government is rightly trying to court this combustible man  who this week reportedly hung up during a fraught phone conversation with the Australian Prime Minister  it is not sensible for the Prince to rile him by airing such reservations in public.

A few days ago, Charles mounted what looked like a coded attack on Trumps controversial immigration policy. He spoke of the need to help communities in trouble. The Prince warned that the horrific lessons of the war seem to be in increasing danger of being forgotten  widely interpreted as a reference to Hitler.

It was no coincidence that he was speaking at a fund-raiser for World Jewish Relief, a doubtless admirable charity which was set up in 1933 to support those escaping Nazi persecution, and which is now working with those fleeing Syria and seeking new lives in Europe.

I suppose its just possible he wasnt intentionally having a dig at Trumps executive order suspending entry for people from seven Muslim countries into the United States, but the timing of his poorly-judged remarks could not have been more ill-chosen if he had tried.

It was extremely foolish of the Prince to talk in such terms and awaken memories of the Nazis. And thats without putting it in the context of a previous unabashed diatribe  seemingly against Trump and Britains Brexiteers  on Radio 4s Thought For The Day slot two days before Christmas.

On that occasion, Charles spoke of the plight of refugees, quoting United Nations figures which suggest that in 2015 a staggering 65.3 million people had abandoned their homes. In what seemed a critical reference to Trumps plans for America, he added: Their suffering doesnt end when they arrive seeking refuge in a foreign land.

He also mentioned the rise of many populist groups, which may have been a furtive dig at those who were rash enough to vote for Brexit.

Surely, the sophisticated Prince realises that the word populist has become a nasty slur used in Leftist circles to deride the views of the majority of decent people.

There can be little doubt that he was also getting at Donald Trump by referring to many populist groups who, Charles said, are increasingly aggressive to those who adhere to a minority faith  an apparent allusion to Islam.

He claimed to have been reminded of the dark days of the Thirties  another reference to the Nazis. Wasnt this veiled lunge at Trump way over the top? In fact  not to beat about the bush  verging on the lunatic?

Whatever one thinks of the new U.S. President, it is surely incontestable that at the very moment Theresa May seems to have found an indispensable ally in him for a post-Brexit world, our next Head of State should not be going out of his way to insult him.

There is, alas, a possible looming clash between the two men which may eclipse previous differences. I am speaking about climate change, on which subject the President and the Prince hold diametrically opposing views.

It doesnt really matter whether or not one is in sympathy with Trumps scepticism about man-made climate change. My own suspicion is that he underestimates the dangers. He undoubtedly sometimes talks a good deal of rubbish.

In one of his madder Tweets, Trump suggested last November that the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

Trump has appointed several climate-change sceptics to his Cabinet, including energy secretary Rick Perry, who declared in 2011 that global warming was an unproven scientific theory.

The new Presidents views on the subject are almost certainly not fully considered. But it would still be madness  and potentially highly damaging to Anglo-American relations  to let Charles loose on him.

For Charles is a zealot on this subject. In fact, I would go so far as to say he is rather unbalanced on climate change.

In December 2009, he flew to Copenhagen to attend a climate change summit, where he warned the audience that the world has only seven years before we lose the levers of control.

The Prince, by the way, was able to overcome his scruples, so that instead of taking a boat or train to Copenhagen, he commandeered a jet belonging to the Queens Flight, generating an estimated 6.4 tons of carbon dioxide (which is believed to contribute to global warming)  5.2 tons more than if he had used a commercial flight.

But then, he is a man who, while proselytising the virtues of austerity for others, has always continued to live in a plutocratic way.

Pampered and privileged as he is, I dont suppose he has the faintest idea of the extent to which green levies (imposed by governments on sources of pollution or carbon emissions) increase the energy bills of ordinary, hard-pressed people.

Since delivering his apocalyptic warning in Copenhagen, Charles has declared that mankind was committing suicide on a grand scale if urgent action was not taken on green issues. In 2015, he also eccentrically suggested that one of the main reasons for the war in Syria was a drought attributable to climate change.

We have now passed the Princes seven-year Doomsday deadline, yet, somehow, life goes on. Charles himself seems to have decided there may still be time to avoid Armageddon after all.

Dont we have the ingredients here for a most undiplomatic, titanic clash of egos? Members of Trumps administration have reportedly privately warned that the President has no desire to be lectured by Charles when he pays an official State visit to Britain later this year.

But in view of his strong opinions, and his eagerness to communicate them at every opportunity, it seems unlikely that the impassioned Prince will heed this admonition. There must be a strong possibility that he will upset the President at the very time the British Government is trying to woo him.

In an ideal world, the Queen would despatch the Prince on a lengthy round-the-world cruise during Trumps visit. Yet I doubt that a man who believes he has the right to bombard ministers with his black spider memos would be so easily fobbed off and give up what he must regard as the opportunity of a lifetime to badger Trump with his views.

It seems to me scarcely credible that we should be contemplating the prospect of Charles  who is supposed to have no political role  interfering in a way that might damage a delicately wrought trans-atlantic relationship. I am afraid he is in danger of straying far outside his proper constitutional duties.

Let me say that in many ways I admire him greatly. No one could doubt that he fervently wants the world to be a better place. The Princes Trust, which he set up in 1976, has done an enormous amount of good for many thousands of disadvantaged children.

There is something engaging about his inquiring and original mind, even if he sometimes topples over into barminess.

And though Im concerned that he may rub up President Trump the wrong way, I am even more worried about the damage he may do to the monarchy. It has many dormant enemies, however popular the Queen may be.

There is a particularly moving scene in the TV series The Crown, produced by Netflix. The young Queen Elizabeth is given a lesson about her exalted position by her grandmother, Queen Mary, widow of George V.

Elizabeth says it doesnt feel right as head of state to say and do nothing. Queen Mary replies: It is exactly right. To do nothing is the hardest job of all. It will take all your energy.

To be impartial is not natural, not human. People always want you to smile, agree or frown, but the minute you do, you will have declared a position  a point of view. That is the one thing as sovereign you are not entitled to do.

It is a hard lesson for any intelligent person to learn, but Queen Elizabeth adopted it at any early age. It has been an act of extraordinary sacrifice to hold her peace while all around her are giving vent to their opinions  to watch speechlessly, in the public sphere, as the world around her changed.

At the age of 68, Prince Charles still thinks he has the right to speak his mind. In fact, he is growing more forthright. Im afraid he does not  when it comes to keeping his mouth shut  begin to understand what sacrifice entails.

I dont know who can save the Prince from himself. His mother? Father? Wife?

It is very late in the day. The truth is that he is a gifted man. But he is also a self-indulgent one with a diminishing sense of danger.

At the eleventh hour, the Prince of Wales could still follow the noble example of his mother, and unite rather than divide the country. But I fear that he has no intention of doing so  which is why I really do tremble for the future of our great monarchy.
This week has seen worldwide outrage against President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on people entering the United States from seven mostly Muslim countries.

There have been demonstrations across the globe and a petition here trying to stop the Presidents State visit to the UK has been signed more than 1.8 million times.

As an observer of international politics for many decades, I believe that Trumps move to ban certain Muslims from travelling to the U.S. is inept, morally wrong and, above all, a propaganda gift to violent Islamic organisations such as Isis and Al Qaeda.

Tensions: Anti-immigration demonstrators, some wearing masks, on the streets in Slovakia

That said, I am utterly appalled by the behaviour of many of those who are condemning Trump.

Most egregious is the hypocrisy of the leaders of many EU countries, including Angela Merkel and her cheerleaders among the British liberal elite. Their hypocrisy turns my stomach.

For the truth is that their anger over the new Presidents ban is outrageously two-faced.

Let me spell out the facts. Many European politicians treat migrants  and, in particular, Muslims  more disgracefully than they are being dealt with by Trump.

For example, Hungarys Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, wants to build a massive fence to stop refugees crossing into his country from the East. He calls migrants a poison that Hungary wont swallow.

Why hasnt he been subjected to the kind of chorus of opprobrium from those European liberals who greeted Trumps move to tighten Americas borders? Why have fellow EU leaders not shunned Orban as a racist and a xenophobe?

Instead, he is seen as a valued colleague and friend. His Fidesz party is in the same political grouping in the European Parliament as Mrs Merkels Christian Democrats. They work together at European summits, planning a common strategy.

Yet this man is much more bigoted than Trump. But do we ever hear talk of banning Orban from travelling to Brussels?

Was there a whisper of dissent when he visited London in November to see Theresa May? Does Nick Clegg make strident Commons speeches about the pernicious Hungarian?

Of course not.

The objectionable Orban is not alone. The Prime Minister of neighbouring Slovakia, Robert Fico, said last year that Islam had no place in his country. He speaks of the need to monitor every Muslim and wont let a single Muslim refugee enter his country.

With other chilling views  such as describing journalists as dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes  he almost makes Trump sound like an Islington Leftie.

Again, where are the denunciations of this man (who has the gall to call himself a Social Democrat) from Mrs Merkel, Labours Yvette Cooper, who this week urged the Government to have the guts to speak out over Trumps immigration ban, the liberal Left or the Guardian newspaper?

I have searched hard and I cant find evidence that European leaders have ever criticised Prime Minister Fico, whose country took its turn last year to assume the EU Presidency.

As for Jeremy Corbyn, despite saying he is not concerned about numbers of migrants, he (along with his fellow Socialist, President Francois Hollande of France) is a member of the same European political group as the virulently anti-immigration Slovakian prime minister.

Incidentally, Hollandes criticism of Trump has been ferocious, while Corbyn has joined the clamour for Trumps State visit to Britain to be cancelled.

Yesterday, I scoured the internet for any condemnation by either Hollande or Corbyn of their bigoted fellow European Socialist party leader. I couldnt find even a veiled criticism of an inflammatory man who has vowed to stop Muslims destroying the cultural identity of Europe. It is very plain that a double standard is operating.

Whereas bigotry from European leaders is tolerated, Trump is demonised for fulfilling his campaign promises.

True, like many, I worry deeply that Trump may make the world a much less tolerant place. But the intolerance which motivates him is at work in the European Union. And not just on the fringes. The truth is that it has contaminated countries which have had proud histories of liberalism.

For example, it seems that the anti-Islam Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders  an overt and dangerous racist  will win most seats in the election in Holland next month. Although unlikely to take power, his party will become king-maker.

And in April, Marine Le Pen, leader of the ferociously anti-migrant Front National and whose father was convicted over racial hatred, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, has an increasingly strong chance of becoming president of France.

True, like many, I worry deeply that Trump may make the world a much less tolerant place. But the intolerance which motivates him is at work in the European Union

This widespread and odious hostility to migrants in mainland Europe is one of the main reasons (along with the EUs economic failure) why I voted Leave in last years referendum.

That decision has been vindicated by the shameless double standards of many European leaders. They endeavour to make themselves look good by expressing anger about Trump. But they are hypocrites.

Meanwhile, theres been a great deal of idle talk in some sections of the British media about the rise of fascism in the U.S. That may be a genuine worry. But the truth is that the rise of fascism is a far bigger threat across todays continental Europe than in America  in large part because, sadly, it is in the DNA of so many European countries.

A nasty revenge against Ukip

Several salacious stories have emerged about alleged expenses fiddling by Ukip members of the European Parliament.

Im suspicious of the motives behind these claims, considering its well-known that numerous MEPs fiddle their expenses.

Indeed, Frank Antoine-Poirel, head of the EUs hopeless Parliamentary Assistance and Members General Expenditure Unit, admitted as much last year when he conceded that MEPs can claim 120,000 a year in expenses without providing real proof of how the money is spent.

Shockingly, Mr Antoine-Poirel presides over an enormous taxpayer-funded slush fund which is wide open to abuse.

So why the sudden focus on Ukip MEPs?

Theres something fishy going on. It looks as if the Brussels establishment, which loathes Ukip, is on a revenge mission.

Security headache for the Queen

Royal sources have expressed concerns to me that Donald Trumps proposed State visit to Britain will cause serious security problems. We are trying to avoid him appearing in public places, Im told. This means hell be restricted to castles  and other places  with big walls.

Certainly, Trump will visit Edinburgh Castle and Windsor. Even Arundel Castle, in a West Sussex market town with a population of just 3,000, is under consideration.

But in a major break with tradition, the President, I gather, will not be making a speech to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall.
It is a grave concern to any country when police, magistrates and other authorities collectively lose their marbles.

But if two court cases in this weeks news are any guide, this is what is happening in modern Britain.

In the first, a woman was hauled before a judge for nothing more serious than calling a man a pussy.

Aga Czachowska, (pictured left), feared she would lose her home and her children after calling a man a 'pussy' on the phone. But Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins (right) said prosecutors wasted public money by bringing her to court

To all appearances, Aga Czachowska, 31, didnt even use the word in its obscene, Trumpian sense. Rather, she employed it in its time-honoured meaning as a mild insult, suggesting timidity.

Yet extraordinarily, the justice system cranked into action against her. And after she admitted sending a communication of an indecent or offensive nature, a judge had no choice but to sentence her  albeit to a conditional discharge.

In the second case, revealed by the Mail today, entrepreneur Vernon Mussington was convicted of a hate crime by Luton magistrates after saying all right geezer to a transgender Afghanistan veteran who identifies as a woman.

Though he swore he was unaware former RAF reservist Joanne Gullon regarded herself as female, he was made to pay 360 and sentenced to 150 hours community service. Only when he appealed, after nearly a year of anxiety, was his conviction quashed.

With genuine crime on the increase, havent police and courts better things to do with their time  and our money  than pursuing these piffling cases?

Mr Mussingtons case is only the latest example of The Powers That Be abandoning reason in their obsession with protecting transgender feelings.

In universities, sex-specific toilet signs have been changed to avoid giving offence. Schools are allowing boys who think of themselves as girls to wear skirts. Only last weekend, the BMA even told doctors to stop calling pregnant women expectant mothers, for fear of upsetting any who might see themselves as fathers-to-be.

This paper has great sympathy with people who are unhappy about their sex.

But whatever happened to common sense? Is everyone in authority going stark, staring bonkers?

Taming of Trump?

Although this paper has profound reservations about Donald Trump, is it just possible his bark is worse than his bite?

When the new President was elected, the Left fell into paroxysms of hysteria, predicting the end of civilisation.

But look at his actions in office. Not only has he assembled a team of serious-minded heavyweights, but on a wide range of issues he has toned down his rhetoric and shown himself open to reason.

No longer does he speak of banning all Muslims from entering the US. Instead, he put temporary curbs on travel from seven countries identified by the Obama regime as breeding-grounds of terrorism.

On torture, which he had advocated, he has bowed to advice that it doesnt work. After prompting from Theresa May, he has also thrown his weight behind Nato, which he had condemned during his campaign.

As for fears he would suck up to Vladimir Putin, his new UN ambassadors first act has been to condemn Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, wasnt he right to tell the Australian Prime Minister, before slamming the phone down on him, that Barack Obamas agreement to take refugees from Australias offshore detention centres was a dumb deal?

On the Middle East, too, the man who so recently said Palestinians should be shipped to Puerto Rico now tells Israel to stop building provocative settlements on land claimed by Palestine.

It is too early to draw any conclusions. But even Mr Trumps most hysterical critics must admit that tweeting like a madman, but acting reasonably, is much preferable to the other way around.
A young Ukrainian model who is paralysed from the waist down has fulfilled her dreams after starring in a groundbreaking fashion show.

Model Alexandra Kutas, 23, says she has faced discrimination in the past, but became the first professional model in a wheelchair to headline a runway event in her country last night.

Alexandra, who lives in Dnipro, Ukraine, told Femail ahead of the show her catwalk appearance was a fashion industry 'game changer'.

Scroll down for video

Alexandra, seen at the show, was carried in a chair on the runway in the Ukraine

Model Alexandra Kutas, 23, who is paralysed from the waist down, is set to star in a groundbreaking fashion show

Alexandra at a rehearsal in the chair specially created for her runway appearance

'I think this could be a real game-changer in the fashion world,' she said ahead of the event.

'I want children who may have disabilities to know that even though it's not easy, you can achieve anything if you have enough passion for it.'

Alexandra, who suffered a spinal cord injury at birth, has never been able to walk - but that hasn't stopped her from chasing her dreams.

With the help of New York-based friend, Blake Wind, who is also in a wheelchair, she was put into contact with acclaimed Ukrainian fashion designer Fedor Vozianov, who offered to make her the face of his upcoming collection in two runway shows.

Alexandra, who also volunteers as an advisor to the mayor of her city on issues of disability and universal access, said: 'Because of a birth injury I could never walk and have always been in a wheelchair.

Alexandra, who lives in Dnipro, Ukraine, told Femail: 'I think this could be a real game-changer in the fashion world'

Speaking ahead of the show, she said: 'It's going to be quite challenging and it's a great responsibility so I'm a little nervous.

'But of course it's also very exciting. It's been my my dream since I was a teenager.

'I wanted to work with a designer who had the courage to see into the future and who had a vision of what fashion could be without limits on anyone.

Alexandra, who suffered a spinal cord injury at birth, has never been able to walk - but that hasn't stopped her from chasing her dreams

'For the runway I'll have a special chair which will be carried by male models. Of course in my regular life I have my normal wheelchair, but for the show I wanted the chair to be something beautiful so it's become a piece of art.'

The young fashion hopeful says she has faced discrimination in her career - especially when it came to contacting modelling agencies.

She said: 'There aren't many examples of disabled fashion models in the world.

With the help of New York-based friend Blake Wind, who is also in a wheelchair, she was put into contact with acclaimed Ukrainian fashion designer Fedor Vozianov

'I've had modelling agents tell me directly to my face that they don't want me because I'm in a wheelchair. They say: "You're very beautiful but the market isn't ready for you."

'But with this fashion show I want to prove that the world is totally ready for a model in a wheelchair.

'I want to be judged by whether I'm a professional or not - not by something like disability or skin colour or anything like that.

'And I think this can be a great example of diversity in Ukraine.'

Vozianov offered to make her the face of his upcoming collection in a pair of runway shows scheduled for February 3

Alexandra, who had her first photoshoot at 18 and started modelling professionally two years ago, added: 'My biggest ambition would be to make the cover of Vogue - I think that's every model's dream.

'I love modelling because I feel more alive when I'm working.

'When I younger I was inspired by Alexander McQueen, who used a model with a disability in his runway show in 1999. It was amazing to see this beautiful lady and in that show her disability didn't matter at all.'

Alexandra had her first photoshoot at 18 and started modelling professionally two years ago

The disability advocate added: 'Ukraine, unfortunately, is not really an accessible country for people with disabilities especially in terms of public transport, generally getting around and being independent.

'But since my story has become known I've had lots and lots of very touching letters from parents of kids with disabilities who say they now know they can believe in themselves.

'It's an incredible feeling knowing you have the freedom to be who you want to be.'
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, many happily taken people will be considering their futures.

And for those considering getting down on one knee, Australian proposal professional Claire Whelpton has shared some of her more elaborate schemes to give you a hit of inspiration.

As the founder of Buy The Cow, which helps partners set up their proposals, Ms Whelpton has played a part in more than 500 proposals nationwide, with a 100 per cent success rate.

She says one of her most memorable events was the night she had to pretend to be calling from the headquarters of a spy agency.

Proposal professional: Claire Whelpton, founder of Buy The Cow, has shared her most memorable engagements and her top ten tips for a successful proposal of your own

The idea came from an inside joke between the pair, as the groom-to-be was a notoriously private person.

Ms Whelpton explained the level of detail that went into the proposal was incredible - to the point she was genuinely concerned his girlfriend would be afraid.

While the couple sat down to dinner, a man in a suit, wearing an earpiece, came up to the man and informed him he needed to leave immediately.

He ushered the pair into a waiting car and sped off, looking around as though to spot anyone following them.

Little details: A proposal planner for more than three years, Ms Whelpton says a successful proposal is all in the little details

Ms Whelpton explained her involvement in the plan was her greatest acting role to date.

'He wanted me to be on loudspeaker talking in code,' she explained.

'He had given me a script of this code he had written and I had to pretend to be from headquarters and give him information of what was going on.

'The plan was we would help get him to safety, help get him onto a boat we had code for all of this but I was struggling so hard not to laugh.

'It was a moment Ill never forget, thats for sure.'

Happy customers! The proposal professional has a 100 per cent success rate, with about 520 couples around Australia using her service

When the couple had finally made it on to the boat, the man admitted he wasn't really a spy and, to the woman's delight, got down on one knee.

Ms Whelpton said hiring a someone to plan and execute your proposal was often seen as cold, or the lazy way out. But she claims it couldn't be further from the truth.

'The men who come to me are so romantic,' she gushed.

Romance: She says the men who employ her services are not lazy - they are generally extremely romantic

'I get them to fill out this questionnaire and its got questions like "why do you love her", "why do you want to be with her"  and you expect men to come back with very blunt, yes/no answers.

'But they come back with the most wonderful explanations about their love for their girlfriends. Its just unbelievable. I had no clue.'

She admitted at first even she thought it would only be men who were time poor and needed a hand.

'But that's just not the case. They want to keep it a secret, so they cant ask family or friends to help them, they want it to be really special, and its just so romantic,' she said.

Essays: Each customer needs to fill out a questionnaire about their loved one to help Ms Whelpton work out the best way for them to pop the question

The self-proclaimed Director of Romance says she works with the grooms to personalise popping the question to match each relationship.

For one hopeful groom, this meant factoring his girlfriend's love of penguins into the event.

The couple took off to Phillip Island for a quick getaway, where visitors can watch the Little Penguin - the world's smallest penguin - return home from a day's worth of fishing in parade formation.

While the couple were out exploring, Ms Whelpton was hard at work setting up.

'I had all of these penguins sent to their hotel room, stuffed penguins. Each of the penguins was holding a love note, so she could go around reading the notes,' she said.

Using interests: The mother-of-two helped a man pull off a penguin-themed proposal for his girlfriend who listed the bird as her favourite animal

Fluffy: While the couple explored Phillip Island, known for its large penguin population, the proposal professional was hard at work setting up stuffed penguins holding love notes

On top of the fluffy decorations, Ms Whelpton helped her client devise the perfect way to pop the question.

'In real life, penguins find their mate and offer them a pebble, and that signifies they will be together for the rest of their life,' she explained.

'So I said to him, "why dont you put a pebble in a box with the story about the actual penguins and how they do that?" obviously he had a real ring too.

'She was just blown away, she was so thrilled.'

Finishing touches: She encouraged the man to gift his girlfriend a pebble, the way penguins do when they find a life long mate

After organising more than 500 proposals in just over three years, it's hard for Ms Whelpton to choose a favourite - but there's one which has stuck in her mind.

When she read his answers to her mandatory questionnaire, the mother-of-two knew this proposal would be special.

'One of my absolute favourites was this guy  he filled out the questionnaire, but he answered each question with an essay  just pages and pages of what he loved about his girlfriend,' she said.

'They were a beautiful couple. I got a huge sheet, and I wrote everything he said in the questionnaire on a sheet that was about eight feet tall and set it up at their proposal.'

In love: When one man gave Ms Whelpton essay after essay on why he loved his girlfriend, she used them to set up his proposal
Dear Bel,

I have been in a close and loving relationship for more than five years. My partner and I met at work, had an affair and subsequently left our respective spouses for each other.

We live together and until recently have been very happy.

I maintained a decent relationship with my now former wife, but my partner has a poor relationship with her ex, who is often obstructive and argumentative.

Lately my partner has begun to act strangely  moody and withdrawn and seeking silly disagreements to turn into big arguments.

Our once fabulous sex life became all but nonexistent and she would often pretend to be asleep the instant we got into bed. Speaking to her about it just created further problems.

I was using our shared tablet when to my horror I found several internet searches obviously completed by my partner, looking for advice. One of the searches asked: Should I tell the father of my children that I still love him? Another said: I had an affair five years ago, but I think I still love my husband.

Yet another entry read: Should I stay with my current partner just because he has nowhere to go?

I confronted her and after she broke down she claimed that she had looked online for advice because she felt confused and wondered whether her moods were down to the fact that she was still in love with him. She also said she loved me and wanted to stay with me.

Although I want to believe this, I am obviously concerned and wondered what advice you could give me. I havent spoken to any of my friends, as I know that they will just say I am a mug and should leave her.

I love her enormously, but I dont want to be second best. Please give me some advice.

ROBERT

Bel: Do you and your partner realise, I wonder, that its quite possible to love two people at once?

This is one of lifes most complicated truths, leading to all kinds of problems. Love isnt a cake to be divided and consumed, but a plant to water  a plant with many branches.

None of that will be understood by those who like a simple, moralistic answer to issues of the heart  but its vital you work at this, Robert, before you destroy your fragile happiness.

The unimaginative, punitive one-strike-and-youre-out brigade (who might call you a mug) know nothing of remorse and forgiveness  but that also means they dont understand the glorious, multi-layered human spirit, either. Their loss.

Why am I saying all this? Because I can see why your wife suffered terrible guilt after your love affair ended two marriages. As Lady Macbeth discovered, it takes a long time to erase the stain of blood, especially when children are involved.

Incidentally, I was frustrated you gave no information about her children, since theyre so important. Who has custody? If her husband does (and he might well), it would explain her on-going anguish.

I maintained a decent relationship with my now former wife, but my partner has a poor relationship with her ex, who is often obstructive and argumentative (stock)

Also, since they are now five years older, their attitude to having estranged parents might have hardened and become more upsetting, thus intensifying her guilt. You must reflect on all these things.

I also make the opening points because I know what its like to love two people at the same time. Because there were many times when I mourned my broken first marriage, but gave thanks that my current husband accepted those confused feelings, understanding the reasons.

And because, when the passion of a love affair dwindles into the everyday reality of a live-in relationship, its perfectly normal to hanker over what you threw away.

Human beings are like that. Even though it continues to beat, the heart can bear wounds that never heal. I know mine does.

You dont tell me your partners age, but Im wondering if her moods and lack of interest in sex could be to do with the menopause. Thats for you to consider  and to find out more, if you think it relevant.

Then, perhaps she feels envious of the fact that you have an OK relationship with your ex-wife and is transferring a slight sense of threat to a resentment of you.

Its easy to see why you were shocked to discover she had been seeking answers to her perceived problem online, but Im sorry that (reading between the lines) you had a show-down. Gentle questioning, hugs, conversation and reassurance would have been more useful.

What should you do now? Start with all of the above. Reject that term second best and send it packing. You are not even equal best  you are the man your lady has chosen to share her life with.

She loves you, but feels sad and weary that the present is always sullied by past wrongs. After such a sacrifice (two marriages), you need to face the current problems together and not allow this blip (her low mood) to drive you apart.

It would do you good to go to couple counselling and lay out some of the issues in front of a third party who has the experience to draw you both out.

Guilt can be corrosive and destructive; your partner really needs to be aware of whats going on  and she wont find answers on the internet. Tell her how much you love her and that the pain you both endured (and inflicted) in order to be together must now give you the strength to face problems together.

Tell her you understand her confusion, but she needs to accept that we carry all our old loves with us, making our souls grow large, even as they suffer.

How do I help my frail, stubborn dad?

Dear Bel,

I am writing to you about my father, as I am becoming increasingly concerned about him. He is now 89 years old, almost totally deaf and lives on his own.

I live over 250 miles away and visit about twice a year when on holiday from work.

The last time I went he asked me to stay in a hotel as I think the home is too much for him to manage on his own and has become a dirty mess, which he didnt want me to see. The outside of the house looks derelict.

Although I phone him regularly, it always goes to his voicemail.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK 'But February made me shiver, With every paper Id deliver, Bad news on the doorstep, I couldnt take one more step ' From American Pie (1971) by Don McLean Advertisement

When I did manage to speak with him recently, he told me that he had been in hospital with a high temperature and chest infection, but had signed himself out as he was concerned about leaving his dog at home on its own. So when I was then unable to contact him for over a week, I feared the worst and debated whether I should call the police.

However, I managed to get hold of his neighbour, who assured me that he was in fact OK. I have offered him help and support, but this is belligerently refused.

If I went behind his back and contacted social services, he wouldnt let them in and would be furious with me.

This refusal of help and the lack of communication (phone messages and emails go unanswered) is causing a lot of stress and worry.

I am really at a loss at what to do and wondered if you could offer any advice in this situation.

MARIE

Bel: How strange that I should catch up with your email in the week the Mail drew attention to Health minister David Mowats warning that the social care crisis is so great families can no longer rely on the state to look after their elderly relatives.

He told the Commons communities committee: We need to start thinking as a society how we deal with the care of our own parents.

Obviously, there is some truth in this (and much truth also in the assertion this newspaper makes all the time that this society has its priorities all wrong), but your letter indicates some of the complexities families have to deal with  in terms of proximity and personality.

Your father lives a long way away and is not easy to help. What would the minister suggest here, I wonder?

It worries me that your father is living alone at his age and with his degree of infirmity.

You give me no information about your own family commitments (eg, children); nevertheless I cant help suggesting to you that 250 miles isnt that far and that in these circumstances I would want to sacrifice the odd weekend to visit more than twice a year.

But as I said, I dont know your other obligations and so I am not making a judgment, I assure you. There are so many questions to ask. Does he have any good friends in his neighbourhood? Would he ever consider moving nearer to you?

I am writing to you about my father, as I am becoming increasingly concerned about him (stock image)

Would he refuse to move to a smaller place there? Do you have siblings? And  very important  is his belligerence the result of pride mixed with unhappiness and shame? You really do need to get to the bottom of it in order to be able to help him. I know elderly folk can be difficult; nevertheless you have to do this.

I certainly dont think you should go behind his back, but I do believe you should visit him soon and work out a plan for the future.

You need gently to explore his feelings, tell him how worried you are, ask him to work out with you what help he would like. Your own mind needs to be set at rest, by making sure (say) that somebody goes in to clean for him once a week. Perhaps that neighbour you spoke to could be enrolled to keep an eye on him, and so on.

You should look up the website of The Cinnamon Trust (cinnamon.org.uk) with a view to setting his mind at rest and getting help with his dog. I would also contact charities in his area (if this is possible) which help the elderly.

Of course, this is worrying you, but the situation isnt going to get any easier  therefore its vital that you dont put off your next visit, that you talk to him properly, look at old photographs together, be gentle, and consider all the options. Which might involve selling the house and you finding a super care home for him, in time.

But nothing will be achieved if you forget (understandably  and I do know how hard it can be) that the person most tormented by the worst frustration and worry is this venerable gentleman, your dad, himself.

And finally. Why are families so intensive?

Last week, I gave thanks for the messages in Christmas cards; today Im enraged by an email from a widower in his late 70s, writing to ask whether I think he should re-write his will.

He has two children, ten grandchildren (all over 18) and seven great-grandchildren. At Christmas, he sent cards to them all, with presents for the great-grandchildren but I failed to receive cards from one of my children and five of my grandchildren, not even a text on Christmas Day.

Stan asks: Please tell me if you think my expectations are too high for nowadays? ... I do think they could have wished me Merry Christmas by text.

He explains that his will divides everything equally, but wonders if thats fair to those who are in touch all the time and appear to care very much, when others never bother.

Its a good question, isnt it? This email made me feel indignant, wondering why those people couldnt splash out on a card and stamp, scribble Happy Christmas, Grandpa  and make an old man happy. Not much, is it? I mean, how much must they spend on DVDs, coffee and phone apps?

Would it be so hard to think of him at Christmas? I feel like advising Stan to make a new will in favour of a charity he supports and just leave nominal sums to those who pay him attention. There would be nothing wrong with that. So many good charities are transformed by legacies and I dont see why the undeserving should be rewarded.

This issue has been raised here before and I always proclaim the job of parents to make sure their children are raised with a sense of duty, family affection and good manners. Where else will it come from?

But one of Stans two children failed to send him a card. What can be done about such thoughtlessness? If I were Stan, Id find a way to let them all know hes thinking of the charity option  then see what happens. Grrrr!

Bel answers readers questions on emotional and relationship problems each week.

Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or e-mail bel.mooney@dailymail. co.uk.

A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.
Taking common painkillers while suffering a cold or flu can dramatically increase your risk of a heart attack, scientists warned yesterday.

Taiwanese researchers found popping tablets that include ibuprofen while battling a respiratory infection tripled the chance of an attack.

Why?

'Having an acute respiratory illness  such as flu - in itself stresses the heart,' explains Dr Sarah Brewer, a GP and Medical Director of Healthspan.

'And the combination of the illness plus a non-steroidal anti-inflammatories drug  such as ibuprofen - appears to be especially deadly.'

And while paracetamol is often touted as a a possible 'safer' alternative, its effects were not assessed during these trials, she adds.

Last week, research showed ibuprofen and paracetamol carry severe risks. Using painkillers during a respiratory infection saw a 3.4-fold heart attack risk. Here are some alternatives...

'In fact, a recent review of all the evidence suggests paracetamol may also increase the risk of a heart attack.

'More research is now urgently needed to see if these commonly used medicines are really as safe as we once believed.'

However, many conditions  including pain, digestive issue, low mood and colds and flu - can be treated with natural alternatives, she says.

'Indeed, many people prefer to treat common conditions themselves  especially if they're struggling to get a GP appointment.

Here, Dr Brewer reveals her top suggestions for tackling health issues yourself without relying on prescription drugs.

Obviously if symptoms persist or become worse, seek advice from your own GP or a pharmacist.

1. COLDS, SINUSITIS AND BRONCHITIS

There's little a doctor can do to treat these winter ailments when they are caused by the many viruses that do the rounds at this time of year. Ensure your vitamin D levels are topped up with a supplement during winter months, which can help to boost immunity.

WHAT CAN YOU DO:

If symptoms strike then try Pelargonium, a traditional herbal medicine derived from the roots of a South African geranium. It is, in my experience, more effective than anything I can prescribe as a doctor  and its effects are often seen within 12 hours. I swear by it.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Pelargonium works in several ways. It has antiviral and antibacterial activity, boosts the activity of immune cells that neutralise infections, and stops bacteria from sticking to cell walls so they are dislodged more easily. It also speeds the rate at which mucus is cleared from the respiratory tract, making it an effective treatment for sore throat, sinusitis, laryngitis and uncomplicated bronchitis.

WHEN SHOULD YOU TAKE IT?

If taken as soon as symptoms start, Pelargonium can stop a cold in its tracks. Continue to take it for three days after symptoms have resolved to ensure the infection does not resurge.

Try Healthspan's Pelargonium THR Cold Relief, 14.95

2. PAIN

Most aches and pains are a minor  or temporary  nuisance, but millions of people around the world experience pain on a daily basis.

While paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine are useful for short-term pain relief, their long-term use is limited by their potential for side effects such as liver damage, stomach ulcers and dependency and heart problems.

Turmeric (pictured) provides curcumin  a substance with natural anti-inflammatory effects

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Several natural painkillers - which are not associated with serious side effects  are available.

And while some people shun natural medicines, it's worth remembering that an estimated 40 per cent of prescription drugs are in fact derived from plant origins.

In most cases, herbal supplements contain a blend of constituents that have evolved together over thousands of years to achieve a synergistic balance.

This tends to produce a more gentle effect than pharmaceutical extracts which contain only one, isolated active ingredient. The risk of significant side effects with traditional herbal remedies is therefore relatively low, although it is not non-existent.

For joint pain, the best options include Devil's Claw, a traditional herbal medicine that is licensed to relieve backache, rheumatic and muscular pain, and general aches and pains in muscles and joints.

Other popular options are turmeric which provides curcumin  a substance that has natural anti-inflammatory effects - rosehip extracts and, of course, glucosamine and chondroitin which are often taken together to promote joint health.

I take glucosamine, chondroitin and turmeric and was relieved to discover after a recent X-ray following a fall I had no signs of osteoarthritis!

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Be aware researchers have found there is considerable variation in the way different people respond to different painkillers.

Only around 60 per cent people obtain pain relief from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. ibuprofen, aspirin) for example, due to the metabolic pathways they have inherited.

The same is probably true for some supplements used for joint health, so if one doesn't provide significant relief within six weeks, try switching to another form.

It's also important to select supplements designed for maximum absorption  if turmeric powder hasn't worked for you in the past, for example, a liquid formulation that is 185 times better absorbed and which is 7-times faster acting than turmeric tablets may produce better results.

If you experience migraine headaches, then Feverfew is a traditional herbal medicine licenced for migraine relief.

Try Healthspan's Opti-Tumeric, 60 capsules 14.95

3. INDIGESTION

Indigestion and heartburn are often triggered by eating too much rich food.

Indigestion is a general term used to describe any discomfort, felt centrally in the upper abdomen, as a result of eating.

Heartburn is a more specific term referring to hot, burning sensations due to acid reflux. This is where the stomach contents reflux (splash back) up into the oesophagus - the tube connecting the mouth and stomach.

This brings stomach acids and enzymes into contact with the sensitive lining of the oesophagus, and can also trigger painful spasm of muscles lining this area.

Artichoke (pictured in a salad) stimulates bile production in the liver to aid fat digestion. Extract of artichoke can be taken before or after a big dinner or party

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

If indigestion is triggered after eating fatty food such as pastries, you may benefit from artichoke extract which, in my experience, is one of the best supplements to ease feeling bloated.

Milk thistle is another option  this traditional herbal medicine is licensed to treat over-indulgence, indigestion and upset stomach, making it a popular first aid essential.

HOW DO THESE WORK?

Artichoke stimulates bile production in the liver to aid fat digestion; it can be taken before or after a big dinner or party.

Milk thistle also acts on the liver and, as well as providing antioxidant protection from the toxic effects of alcohol, also stimulates bile production.

Silicolgel is a natural oral gel that forms a soothing coating over the lining of the stomach and intestines, offering relief from acid. However it also binds gases and reduces excess acidity  so can help a wind problem at either end.

WHEN SHOULD YOU TAKE THEM? ASAP?

Milk thistle, as a medicine, is used to treat symptoms; artichoke is often used for prevention. It's best to take Silicolgel as a preventative measure before you start eating.

Try an antacid or other OTC stomach calming products such as Silicolgel from Boots, 200ml 8.29

4. LOW MOOD

Anxiety and moods swings can result from the anti-climax of the festive season lack of sunshine, financial worries, and the cold, miserable weather this time of year.

There are several things you can do to help life your mood. Yes, they sound simple, but they really can make a big difference: avoid alcohol, try to do things you enjoy and don't isolate yourself.

Traditional herbal medicines such as St John's Wort may help to boost your mood

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

An amino acid called 5-HTP can help to lift mood, or there are traditional herbal medicines such as St John's Wort that may also help. This is a popular traditional herbal medicine which contains several active ingredients/natural antidepressants, including hypericin and hyperforin, to help relieve low mood and treat mild anxiety - and is sometimes referred to as nature's 'sunshine' herb.

Please note: While herbal medicines can sometimes be taken alongside conventional medicines, you must NOT combine natural antidepressants with prescribed antidepressants.

Also do check with your GP first as St John's Wort in particular does have a number of known interactions (e.g. with the contraceptive pill).

HOW DOES IT WORK?

5-HTP stimulates the production of brain chemicals such as serotonin, melatonin and endorphins which are involved in regulating mood. Most prescribed antidepressant drugs also work by raising levels of serotonin in the brain but, rather than increasing the amount of serotonin you make, they block its reabsorption once it is released into the communication gaps (synapses) between brain cells.

If you are not making or releasing much serotonin, however, these prescribed antidepressants are not that effective.

In contrast, 5-HTP provides the building blocks needed to boost serotonin production and therefore tends to work more quickly and effectively  even in people who have not previously responded to medication.

Try Healthspan's 5-HTP 100mg with zinc and B vitamins 60 tablets 7.48

St John's Wort is thought to work in a similar way to antidepressant medicines, by affecting levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin in the brain (however, the exact mechanism of action is not known).

Try A. Vogel's Hyperiforce St John's Wort tablets 60 tabs 10.49 (1 tablet 3 times a day)

5. INSOMNIA

While we apparently spend a third of our lives asleep, research suggests around 40 per cent of us regularly don't get a good night's rest. Whether it's alcohol or stress, the effects on your life can be devastating.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Dr Meg Arroll, a psychologist says: 'Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in the treatment of insomnia. So it may be worth exploring talking therapies if you experience regular and prolonged poor sleep.'

A 5-HTP supplement can also aid sleep, as well as lift a low mood, but one of the most effective natural remedies is valerian  a traditional herbal medicine that is licensed to aid sleep and relieve sleep disturbances.

Valerian contains a number of unique substances that reduce stress and anxiety

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Valerian contains a number of unique substances that reduce stress and anxiety. They do this by increasing levels of a calming brain chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

In fact, the herb has been used to ease insomnia, anxiety, and nervous restlessness since the second century A.D.

Some supplements even combine valerian with hops for an additional sedative action.

Another option is pharmaceutical-grade lavender oil, which is a traditional herbal medicine licensed to relieve symptoms of mild anxiety such as stress and nervousness. This effect can aid sleep disturbances that are related to undue worry.

Try Healthspan's Valerian SleepAid, 60 tablets at 15.95 or A. Vogel's Dormeasan Valerian and Hobs Tincture 15ml 4.15
A former BBC war correspondent has been forced to spend 62,000 of her own money after being refused NHS treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Caroline Wyatt, 49, flew to Mexico for groundbreaking therapy for her crippling neurological condition.

The illness, which affects the brain and the spinal cord, makes it hard for victims to balance, gives them double vision and even affects their ability to swallow and to think.

Scroll down for video

Former BBC war correspondent Caroline Wyatt flew to Mexico to have 62,000 surgery to treat her multiple sclerosis after she was refused by the NHS. She has suffered from the crippling neurological condition for decades but was only diagnosed in 2015

Miss Wyatt  who spent seven years as the BBCs defence correspondent, risking her life as she reported from war zones  suffered from MS for decades but was misdiagnosed until 2015.

By that point, she was BBC religious affairs correspondent, but she was forced to give the post up last summer when her symptoms became too severe. Her vision was blurred in one eye and she had such difficulty walking, she sometimes fell over and found it impossible to travel.

The only glimmer of hope was the possibility that she could benefit from a haematopoietic stem cell transplantation  a potentially life-changing treatment which is offered to some sufferers on the NHS.

Miss Wyatt travelled to a private hospital in Puebla, two hours south of Mexico City, and started treatment in January. In the gruelling operation, MS doctors use the patients healthy stem cells to 're-grow' their immune system. Pictured right, Miss Wyatt receiving treatment

The treatment was trialled in Chicago in the mid-1990s, and is now offered in London, Sheffield, Russia and Mexico. Doctors say it is the biggest breakthrough in the treatment of MS for years, helping around three quarters of those who try it.

Miss Wyatt said HSCT was her best hope of stopping the disease in its tracks, and potentially even reversing the symptoms, as there have been some remarkable stories of recovery.

In a moving blog, she spoke of her desperation for the treatment. MS may not be immediately lethal, but it does kill us and the very essence of who we are: very slowly, day by day, nerve by nerve, and cell by cell, she wrote.

There has to be a way to halt the progress of this disease, and make sure it doesnt get any worse while I am still able to work, walk, talk, laugh and love. Miss Wyatt underwent months of tests to see if she could receive the treatment in London or Sheffield.

Miss Wyatt returned to London last week and she won't know if the treatment was successful for the best part of a year

But she was told in November that she was not eligible for the treatment because scans of her brain did not show any inflammation. At that point, she was crushed  and so afraid of what MS might do to her that she decided to entrust [her] innards to Mexican doctors and pay for it herself.

She contacted a private hospital in Puebla  two hours south of Mexico City  and started treatment in January. It is costing her 62,000 including flights and follow-up drugs.

The gruelling process involves removing the harmful immune cells that attack the brain and spinal cord in MS. Doctors then use the patients own stem cells  harvested from their bone-marrow or blood  effectively to re-grow the immune system.

The process robbed Miss Wyatt of her hair, and left her feeling exhausted, nauseous, and as vulnerable as a newborn. She returned to London last week, and may not find out whether the treatment was effective for the best part of a year.

She is still a member of the BBC staff, and is working on a Radio 4 documentary about stem cell treatments.
Pregnant women are now able to buy Britains first DIY test for a potentially fatal but symptomless infection that kills one newborn a week.

Campaigners and doctors have welcomed the introduction of the screening kit, which is now at selected high street pharmacies for 39.99, as well as online.

The availability of the kit means that for the first time expectant mothers will be able to check whether they are carriers of Group B Strep (GBS) bacterium  which lives harmlessly inside adults but can be passed to babies during childbirth and trigger deadly illnesses.

Tested positive: Rebecca Hathaway-White, from Fleet, Hampshire, bought a kit, tested positive, so had antibiotics and gave birth to healthy baby Phoebe

The UK is one of the few developed countries not to offer routine testing. Jane Plumb, chief executive of charity Group B Strep Support, said: Women are not even routinely told about it.

And Dr Bryan Beattie, a senior NHS consultant in foetal medicine, said: Its a ridiculous situation where, if we find that a mum has GBS we treat it but were not going to look for it.

He believes the 40 kits will save lives. They will be on the shelves next to pregnancy-test kits so mums will realise its something else they need to think about. Its going to have a huge impact on awareness.

One in four pregnant women carries the GBS bacteria. Carriers are not at risk but it can be transmitted to the baby during labour.

In newborns, GBS can cause meningitis, sepsis or pneumonia.

There are more than 500 cases a year and one a week dies from the infection. A woman can find out whether she is a carrier via a swab done at about 36 weeks.

A positive result means antibiotics are given during labour, reducing the risk of transmission by 80 per cent.

The UK is one of the only countries not to offer routine testing but this 40 at home kit will give mothers to be the ability to check if they are carriers. File image

The Strepelle test is designed to detect GBS with an accuracy rate of 99 per cent.

The pregnant woman sends her completed test to a laboratory and the results are sent back via text message within three working days.

If the result is positive, a letter is also sent.

Hampshire mother-of-three Rebecca Hathaway-White, 35, took the test during her third pregnancy and it came back positive. She received antibiotics intravenously during labour and gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Phoebe, four months ago.

I heard about Group B Strep from a friend who lost one of her twins just after birth to it, so I decided to take the test.

It couldnt be easier to do, says Rebecca, who also has two older children Archie, four, and Esme, two.

The UK National Screening Committee rejected pleas to make screening standard in 2012, but it is currently reviewing that decision and is expected to report back next month.
Technology used by slimmers to firm up flabby waistlines could provide relief for thousands of Britons blighted by poor leg circulation.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation  or NMES  systems feature a small battery box attached by wires to electrodes mounted on adhesive pads. These transmit pulses of electricity that trigger the contraction of muscles.

A slight tickling sensation is felt on the skin, along with rapid twitching of the targeted muscles.

Going with the flow: How the device can help improve circulation

Devices that promise to help tone the stomach and other body areas  such as the Slendertone range  use the same principle.

Now new research has shown that electrical stimulation may also be more effective than compression stockings and other methods aimed at boosting blood circulation in the legs.

Trials on patients with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) resulted in a reduction in swelling and pain symptoms.

CVI occurs when veins in the legs stop pumping blood to the heart effectively. Normally, when the leg muscles contract, they squeeze the deep veins of the legs, helping blood to circulate.

As they have to work against gravity, veins contain one-way valves that keep the blood from flowing backwards towards the foot. These valves can wear out over time, leading to blood leaking backwards and pooling in the veins of the leg.

Devices that promise to help tone the stomach and other body areas  such as the Slendertone range  use the same principle as the new research for circulation

Swelling in the legs and ankles is often the first sign. Other symptoms include varicose veins, discoloured skin, tight- feeling calves or itchy, painful legs, and pain during walking that stops with rest. Brown-coloured skin, particularly near the ankles, is another indicator.

Left untreated, CVI can lead to itching, bleeding, mobility problems and non-healing ulcers.

It is estimated that about 40 per cent of adults have some degree of varicose veins or venous insufficiency, and that one in 12 has a severe form of the condition, which becomes more common with age.

Treatments include exercises that help pump blood through the legs and build muscle, to compression stockings that squeeze the leg veins to prevent blood flowing backwards, to laser therapy and surgery to take out the damaged veins.

However, a team at Imperial College and Charing Cross Hospital have been using a non-invasive NMES device to treat CVI, with encouraging results.

The mild electrical pulses are known to activate muscle and nerve fibres, mimicking the electrical messages that come from the central nervous system to make the muscles contract.

Research shows that placing the pad of electrodes over the common peroneal nerve behind the knee, which provides sensation and triggers muscle movement to parts of the lower leg, increases blood flow.

Imperial College tested healthy volunteers to demonstrate that NMES is highly effective at boosting blood flow when compared to intermittent pneumatic compression, a therapy where an air pump and sleeve wrapped around the leg are used to increase circulation. Results show that while compression therapy increased peak blood flow in the veins by 51 per cent, NMES improved it by 101 per cent.

The researchers then looked at its effects on patients with venous insufficiency. Patients wore the device over the peroneal nerve for four to six hours a day for six weeks and blood flow was measured on different occasions.

Results indicated that peak blood flow in the femoral vein in the leg increased by 57.7 per cent after 20 minutes.

Katherine Williams, clinical research fellow at Imperial, said: We have shown that NMES improves blood supply to the leg and the foot and can have significant benefits to people with circulation problems.

These small electrical impulses activate the legs natural blood-pumping systems, mimicking the beneficial effects of walking.

This may be especially beneficial for those who have limited exercise tolerance.
Deadly brain tumours in teenagers are going undiagnosed for months because the symptoms are sometimes mistaken for adolescent angst and exam stress.

In Britain, 500 under-18s suffer from a brain tumour every year and in a quarter of cases the disease is fatal, killing one child every three days. Survivors are often left with lifelong disabilities.

While children under 12 with brain tumours are diagnosed within seven weeks, diagnosis time for teenagers is ten weeks, according to The Brain Tumour Charity.

Told she needed glasses: Emma Sim, left, with her mother Heather. Emma died aged 17 of a brain tumour in 2015

This is because symptoms such as headaches, tiredness and mood swings are often blamed on hormone fluctuations or being under pressure at school, the charity says.

In 2011, the charity launched HeadSmart, a campaign to educate parents and medical professionals about brain-tumour symptoms.

As a result, the symptom interval  the length of time between symptoms first appearing and diagnosis  for children under 12 has halved, from 13 to six-and-a-half weeks. But the charity has been struggling to replicate this success in over-12s.

A brain tumour will often cause frequent vomiting, blurred vision or vision loss, seizures and balance problems.

However, early symptoms such as severe migraine-like headaches and mood swings are difficult to differentiate from more benign causes.

David Walker, Professor of Paediatric Oncology and co-director of the Childrens Brain Tumour Research Centre at Nottingham University, said: Mood swings, tiredness or headaches are not the norm in under-12s  which is why they are red flags that can cause a GP to order a brain scan.

DANGER SIGNS TO WATCH FOR While rare, about 500 children and young people under 18 are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year. Common symptoms include:  Persistent or recurring vomiting.  Persistent or recurring headaches.  Changes in behaviour/mood swings.  Balance or co-ordination problems when standing or walking.  Abnormal eye movements.  Abnormal head position.  Fits or seizures. Specific symptoms in younger children include:  Increased head circumference in infants.  Delayed puberty in teenagers. Advertisement

But the vast majority of adolescents with these symptoms might not cause their parents much concern. Even if they do see their GP, its unlikely theyd be sent for a brain scan in the first instance.

Its important that teenagers and parents are vigilant of changing or worsening symptoms, and go back to their doctor again and again if necessary.

He added: Its not GPs being negligent. In fact, the health community as a whole is unaware of diagnosis of brain tumours at any age.

Hayley Epps, campaign manager for The Brain Tumour Charity, said it was imperative to tackle the problem, and added that there did need to be greater awareness among GPs.

She said: Brain tumours kill more teenagers and adults under 40 in the UK than any other form of cancer. A delay in diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death.

Symptoms can easily be mistaken for other problems that typically affect teenagers, and many teens also tend to be reluctant to talk to their parents about health issues. By the time it becomes obvious that something is very wrong, the tumour may be more difficult to treat than it would have been a few weeks earlier.

Heather Sim, 47, from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, lost her 17-year-old daughter Emma to a brain tumour in November 2015.

Deadly brain tumours in teenagers are going undiagnosed for months because the symptoms are sometimes mistaken for adolescent angst

Despite several visits to doctors about problems with her sight and searing headaches, the family kept being turned away  her symptoms blamed on exam stress and surfing the internet.

When the tumour was finally diagnosed, despite surgery and treatment, it was too late.

The problems had started when Emma was 15, and she complained about suffering from headaches and not being able to see the board properly at school.

Heather, who lives with husband Graeme, 49, and daughter Ellie, 15, said: We took her to the optician who said she needed glasses.

Then she started waking up with headaches and sickness and we took her to the GP three times. We were told they were migraines.

Eventually, an MRI scan revealed a brain tumour.

Surgeons removed most of it but, after chemotherapy and radiotherapy, another scan showed it had grown into her brain stem and was inoperable.

Emma died at home in her parents arms.

Heather said: We know how easy it is for teenagers brain-tumour symptoms such as headaches to be mistaken for exam stress.

Theres not a day goes by that we dont miss Emma.
The Halle Elgar: For The Fallen Halle, out now

Rating:

The Spirit Of England is Elgars lost masterpiece, a choral work of eloquence and power that yields little or nothing in quality to the much more celebrated Dream Of Gerontius.

Its a setting for soprano, chorus and orchestra of three poems by Lawrence Binyon that are themselves as compelling as the music.

The third of them, For The Fallen, contains lines we have all known since childhood: They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old

The Spirit Of England is Elgars (above) lost masterpiece, a choral work of eloquence and power that yields little or nothing in quality to the much more celebrated Dream Of Gerontius

Poignant words, all the more remarkable for having been written in 1914, when the huge suffering and sacrifice of the First World War lay ahead.

Binyon wasnt a jingoist, nor was Elgar. This work was only premiered in 1917, because Elgar, whose inspiration was rooted in Austro-German music, and whose own music was well received in Germany, wouldnt set some lines in the first poem, The Fourth Of August, that he thought too hard on the Germans.

Elgars powers by this time were in decline, but he roused himself to write music of such eloquence that even the Left-wing pacifist Benjamin Britten, also a great British composer, was so moved by them that he wanted to record the piece. Sadly he was by then too ill to do so.

His advocacy would have increased the chances of wider acceptance for a piece that undoubtedly influenced Brittens own War Requiem.

Conductor Sir Mark Elder supplies real power and momentum in a live performance from November 2014, where he receives stalwart support from his choir and orchestra

So why is The Spirit Of England so neglected? I suspect because of the title, which sounds like a tub-thumping, patriotic piece, though it isnt.

If Elgar had also called this music a War Requiem, it would surely have done better. Whats in a name? A lot.

A successful performance needs a dramatic soprano able to do justice to what, ironically, is a very Wagnerian solo part. And in Rachel Nicholls, an Isolde of renown, we get one.

Conductor Sir Mark Elder supplies real power and momentum in a live performance from November 2014, where he receives stalwart support from his choir and orchestra.

The albums fill-ups are rewarding, notably Elgars A Voice In The Wilderness, another wartime piece, popular at the time, which has subsequently sunk without trace.

Plus some of his incidental music from George Moores play Diarmuid And Grania from 1902, including a strikingly memorable Funeral March.

Amy Dickson Glass Sony, out now

Rating:

Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson provides attractive reworkings of Philip Glass's music

Philip Glass, 80 last Tuesday, isnt short of female admirers. Just before Christmas, Sony issued a two-CD set from the young Dutch/Korean harpist Lavinia Meijer.

Now Sony has released another all-Glass album, featuring the Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson.

Glass is a minimalist, which I can best describe as musical Groundhog Day, with endless repetitions of melodic material.

Sounds dull, but in the hands of a master like Glass, or our own Michael Nyman, it isnt, such is the quality of their melodic invention.

Dickson fell in love with Glasss Violin Concerto a decade ago and arranged it for saxophone.

This excellent recording was made in 2008, but I was not aware of it before its inclusion on this release.

Also here, recorded last spring, is Dicksons equally attractive reworking of Glasss Violin Sonata, as well as two pieces from his score for the movie The Hours.

A really good listen.

Arturo Toscanini RCA/Sony (20 CDs), out now The Essential Recordings

Rating:

Sonys essential collection covers recordings made between 1929 and 1952, when Toscanini was 85.

It includes several of his legendary Beethoven performances, notably a magnetic Seventh from 1936.

There are also riveting performances of music by Debussy, Ravel and Richard Strauss, all Toscanini contemporaries, and historically significant recordings of operas by Wagner, Verdi (Otello and Falstaff) and Puccini (La Boheme).

Sonys essential collection covers Toscanini - the greatest musician of the first half of the 20th century - recordings between 1929 and 1952. They are unique, historical documents

Toscanini was second cello at the 1887 world premiere of Otello, and conducted the premiere of Boheme in 1896.

Sadly, Toscanini paid little attention to recorded sound, and Sony has not remastered this set.

Yet these are unique, historical documents. Toscanini was the greatest musician of the first half of the 20th century.

He was also a great man, whose stand against fascism contrasted with that of some other musicians such as Furtwangler and Strauss.

A must-hear experience for anyone seriously interested in classical music.
Karachi based heir of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, who was the ruler of one of the largest and richest princely states in pre-independent India, has approached the Pakistani government to seek a share in the 35 million (Rs 2,934 crore) that have been lying with a London based bank for almost seven decades now.

Known as the Hyderabad fund, the amount has been the cause of one of the longest legal disputes between Indian and Pakistani governments in the British High Court.

The initial amount deposited in the Royal Bank of Scotland, then National Westminster Bank, was 1 million.

The Nizam's descendant argues the money belongs to him as per principles of natural justice

It was reportedly transferred for Pakistan's aid. The amount has now ballooned to 35 million by accruing interest.

The descendant, M Alliuddin Khan, approached the ombudsman last week and said being a legal heir of the seventh Nizam, he deserved to get a share of the Hyderabad fund under the Sharia law.

Alliuddin Khan's request came months after a court in UK dismissed India's claim that Pakistan had no right over the fund.

India says the amount was deposited by a delegation of officials of Hyderabad three days after the state acceded to the Indian union on September 17, 1948, and hence, the money should belong to India.

An official of the Federal Ombudsman in Pakistan confirmed to Mail Today that application has been received and decision in this regards was likely to be taken in a month.

The descendants have taken a more collaborative approach now and were demanding the full amount till a few months ago.

They say that the money deposited in the London bank was Nizam's personal money and hence, it belongs to his descendants as per the principles of natural justice.

Alliuddin Khan's request came months after a court in UK dismissed India's claim that Pakistan had no right over the fund

After the Nizam's death in 1967, his family had also attempted to get back the money through an out-of-court settlement, but their attempts have failed.

Documents reveal that the transfer was made as Indian troops began their annexation of Hyderabad immediately after the death of founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The transfer was made by then Hyderabad finance minister Moeen Ali and his representative in London Mir Ali.

The case took ugly turn after a week when the seventh Nizam, Osman Ali Khan claimed the payment had been unauthorised and Pakistan had no right to the money.

This prompted bank authorities to freeze the funds arguing it would hold onto them until the rightful claimant was established.

The House of Lords in London in its judgement in 1957 had suggested an out-of-court settlement between Pakistan, the Nizam and the London bank.

Khan said that India was nowhere in the picture then. But in 2013, Pakistan moved the London court and India was also forced to join the legal battle subsequently.
It was Indore-based lawyer Ajaykumar Waghmare, who had petitioned the court against the movie

Akshay Kumar-starrer Jolly LLB 2, which is ready for release, has a scene where a lawyer is jumping on the judge's dais and arguing his case.

Another clip from the movie shows the judge hiding below the dais and passing some order by banging the gavel on the table.

While these may tickle the funny bone for most of us, two judges of Bombay High Court - justices VM Kanade and Sangitrao Patil - did not find them funny but 'prima-facie' an attempt to portray the Indian legal profession and judicial system as a laughing stock to the society at large.

It was Indore-based lawyer Ajaykumar Waghmare, who had petitioned the court against the movie.

'Prima facie, though the photographs do indicate total disrespect or disregard to the high office of this court, we cannot jump to that conclusion unless the contexts in which these scenes are shown, are examined in their proper perspective,' the bench said.

Following which it appointed a three-member lawyers' panel to watch the movie and submit a report before giving it clearance for release.

A still from Akshay Kumar's upcoming movie Jolly LLB 2

Crying foul, producers Fox Star Studios rushed to the Supreme Court on Friday.

Their lawyers Kapil Sibal and Sidharth Luthra pleaded with the bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi to allow the release of the movie and set aside the High Court order on the ground that the censor board has already cleared it.

But Justice Gogoi refused to interfere with the High Court order and said: 'Mr. Sibal, why don't you also fly to Mumbai?'

'Watch the movie and put up your defence before the High Court say all this there if you are unable to convince them, then come back.'

Courtroom scene from Jolly LLB which released in 2013

'Anyway the hearing is there on February 6 we shall hear it on February 7. The scheduled release date is February 10, so don't worry.'

The first edition of the film, Jolly LLB, released in 2013, had also faced similar objections from lawyers in Meerut.

Waghmare had told the High Court that the characters in Jolly LLB 2 are playing cards and dancing in the premises of the court of law, which clearly shows disrespect towards judicial discipline, proceedings and ethics.

The characters 'jumping on the judge's dais and fighting in court makes mockery of the court', he had said.
Investment house Schroders has topped an annual list of the worst performing funds in the investment industry.

The 'Spot the Dog' report - which measures underperformance over the past three years - is topped by the firm's UK mid-cap fund, managed by Andy Brough, after it lagged the FTSE 100 by 13 per cent over three years.

Although Schroders had just one fund on the 41-strong list, it is ranked by asset size, meaning the 1.1billion fund tops the table.

Dog days: Four Aberdeen offerings made the latest list of poorly performing funds

Bestinvest said of the fund: 'Veteran manager Andy Brough struggled to keep the fund on a tight leash and wasn't able to keep up with the broader market. Investors are likely hoping that the fund's tilt to stocks that the market considers undervalued is partly to blame  growth stocks have performed better over the last few years.'

However, it acknowledged that the fact only one Schroders fund featured suggested its products were in general 'a superior breed'.

Elsewhere, Aberdeen Asset Management dominates the list, with four dog funds - Aberdeen UK Equity, Aberdeen UK Equity Income, Aberdeen North American Equity and Aberdeen European Smaller Companies Equity.

Bestinvest says: 'In recent years, acquisitive fund group Aberdeen has been one of the worst culprits in the doghouse, both in terms of number of funds featured and assets under management.

'This is partially a result of it gobbling up rival Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), which had a number of poor funds. But we have seen a steady decline in their number of qualifying funds and their respective assets under management over the last 12 months.'

Aberdeen is swiftly followed by Neptune and BNY Mellon/Newton who have three funds apiece in the doghouse. Fidelity, Columbia Threadneedle, Investec, Henderson and Jupiter all feature twice on the list.

Who's in the doghouse? Fund group Number of dog funds Funds value (M) Previous ranking Schroders 1 1,168.89 N/A Fidelity 2 1,059.55 12 Columbia Threadneedle 2 744.17 5 Aberdeen 4 682.11 2 Neptune 3 482.66 19 Investec 2 479.04 N/A BNY Mellon/Newton 3 472.31 N/A Henderson 2 445.28 13 Jupiter 2 374.46 6 Halifax 1 367.35 N/A Data source: Lipper for Investment Management as at December 31 2016

A spokesperson from Schroders said: 'It is important to note that over a five year period the Schroder UK Mid Cap 250 fund is up 110.4 per cent and ahead of its benchmark and the sector average which returned 70.1 per cent.

Underperformance over the last 12 months was due to a large exposure to domestic stocks, which suffered due to a result of the EU referendum, these are now recovering quickly as earnings and dividends come through as expected.'

Aberdeen said in a statement: '2013-2015 was tough period for value-oriented managers, like Aberdeen, QE drove most asset prices indiscriminately higher.

'Last year the environment started to change, Brexit and Trump among other factors, led to increased market volatility which was beneficial to our fundamental approach to investing....our fund performance improved across the board and many outperformed last year.

'With market volatility set to continue, we believe our portfolios are well placed to deliver over the long term.'

One notable omission from Spot the Dog is fundhouse M&G, which has seen a remarkable turnaround in the performance since the last edition, in which it made up 60 per cent of the assets.

To earn the dubious honour of being featured, funds have to have under performed their relevant benchmark by at least 5 per cent over three consecutive 12 month periods.

And it seems performance has generally improved over the past 12 months. This time around, there are 41 funds on the list, compared to 54 a year ago. Accordingly the number of assets 'in the doghouse' has also shrunk, from 18billion to 8.4billion.

Regionally, global equity funds were the most common underperformers, with 16 funds across the combined IA Global and IA Global Equity Income sectors making the list. However, many of these are small funds so altogether they only represent 4 per cent of the sector.

By contrast, nine North American equity funds have been identified as 'dogs' - but they represent 17 per cent of the investment universe.

Funds investing in the UK had a strong showing. Not a single UK Smaller Companies fund made it into this year's list, while across the UK All Companies and UK Equity Income sectors just six funds - representing 1 per cent of the combined assets in the sector - were identified from a large universe of 224 funds.

Bestinvest is part of investment and financial planning company Tilney Group.




The future of one of Britain's biggest nuclear power stations has been thrown into doubt after Toshiba looked set to pull the plug on the 10billion project.

The Japanese giant, which has a 60 per cent stake in the planned NuGen nuclear project in Moorside, Cumbria, plans to withdraw from its lead role in the venture, according to sources.

The company is embroiled in an accounting scandal that has left it wrestling with a multi-billion dollar write-down of its US-based nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric.

Shame: Toshiba president Masashi Muromachi bows his head as he announces new management following the billion dollar accounting scandal

It is claimed the firm overpaid by several billion dollars for another nuclear construction and services business.

The scale of the write-down, the details of which will be revealed on February 14, could be around 4.8billion, according to sources.

Toshiba and its partner in the Cumbria project are looking for new investment with fears the Japanese firm is ready to pull out altogether.

If it does, it throws in to doubt the future of a key plank in Britain's plans to replace ageing nuclear reactors.

The NuGen project, which aims to supply power to about 6m homes from 2025, costs more than 10billion to build.

Westinghouse UK, Toshiba's British subsidiary, is providing the reactors for the planned project, the rest of which is owned by French company Engie.

Once built, it would be one of Europe's largest nuclear power plants.

The Government is being urged to guarantee funding for the power station. Justin Bowden, the GMB union's national secretary for energy, said: 'The Government should step in now to fill any gaps in funding and ensure the project continues to move forward as quickly as possible.

It is bonkers that we should rely on foreign investors to ensure facilities which would guarantee our energy needs for the future are built.'

Engie, which is working on the project alongside Toshiba, said it is currently seeking investment and is continuing to evaluate the site and design of the Moorside plant.

An Engie spokesman said: 'The NuGen partners are working with the British government and regulator to obtain the necessary permits and determine contract conditions.

'In order to secure the project's investment needs, NuGen and its current shareholders, Toshiba and Engie, are actively reviewing debt and equity financing alternatives.

That means, in particular, seeking new investors to join Toshiba and Engie as equity participants in NuGen for the project's development.'

Toshiba became one of the nuclear sector's biggest players with the purchase of Westinghouse in 2006, the height of a short-lived boom.

But the industry was left battered by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, which was caused by the tsunami that followed the Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan.

A Toshiba spokesman said it was reviewing all its nuclear power businesses outside Japan but said 'Nothing has been decided at this time, including the impact on our Moorside nuclear project.'

NuGen declined to comment.
Amanda Staveley represented a group of Abu Dhabi investors

Barclays has been ordered to hand over a dossier of potentially explosive emails in its battle with financier Amanda Staveley.

The bank is accused of fraudulent practice in a 7billion fund-raising drive which saved it from collapse eight years ago.

Bosses allegedly loaned 3billion to Qatari backers which they then used to buy shares in the struggling bank, keeping it out of Government hands.

There are also questions over 322million in advisory fees the bank paid to the investors around the same time.

Staveley, 43, represented a group of Abu Dhabi investors who separately took part in the same rescue package.

She claims her business and clients were unfairly treated because their terms were different and is suing the lender for more than 700million, plus interest and costs.

Her battle took a major step forward last night when the High Court ordered the bank to hand over a cache of documents relating to ex-financial services chairman Richard Boath.

Boath was willing to hand over the documents and has been helping the Serious Fraud Office in a criminal investigation. But Barclays had been fighting the claim.
Up to 12 Britons 'dead or injured' in oil plant hostage crisis: David Cameron sends special forces and hostage negotiators to Algiers but Saharan state STILL refuses help

PM says in Commons statement the crisis is still 'ongoing' and the giant BP compound is not secure



He also admits he was 'disappointed' Algeria ignored his request to inform them in advance of the assault

North African nation is refusing help from British hostage negotiators and the SAS to end crisis



At least 31 hostages of 15 nationalities are dead, including two Britons, with 11 Al Qaeda terrorists also killed

55 foreign nationals, including UK citizens, are still unaccounted for but some may have fled into the desert



Two Scottish people said to be among four hostages freed following the military raid

One escapee claims that a terrorist spoke with a 'perfect English accent' raising fears the radicals had links to the UK

Militants want to swap two Americans for jailed terror figures, a Mauritanian website says

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Up to 12 British citizens are feared dead or injured after a botched rescue attempt at a BP compound in Algeria where they were being held by Al Qaeda terrorists.

David Cameron said 'less than 30' British workers are unaccounted for as he gave terrifying details of the 'ongoing' hostage crisis in the Saharan desert. It is now understood that 12 Britons are among the casualties.

In an extraordinary development, Algeria today refused repeated offers of help to bring its worst terror attack on Westerners under control. But the Prime Minister has now sent specialist Met Police negotiators and SAS forces to the capital city Algiers in the hope Britain can step in.

Norway, which also has citizens caught up in the crisis, will be sending its own special forces to the BP plant, regardless of whether the Algerians agree to it, as the situation could continue for days, sources say.



In a statement to MPs the Prime Minister blasted the Algerian government for staging the secret 'all guns blazing' rescue mission despite offers of SAS help and his demands to be told of any operation that could put British lives at risk.

'We were disappointed not to be informed of this in advance... this is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages in other areas of the site,' he said.

I offered UK technical and intelligence support  including from experts in hostage negotiation and rescue - to help find a successful resolution. And I urged that we and other countries affected should be consulted before any action was taken.

'We will continue to do everything we can to hunt the people down who are responsible for this and for other such terrorist outrages'.

In the worst terror attack on Britons since 7/7, the UK has been plunged into a diplomatic crisis when at least 30 hostages were killed in the Sahara Desert, with at least two Britons among the dead after Algerian troops attacked their captors.



Algerian sources said this afternoon 573 of the 650 hostages are now free, including 77 of 132 foreign nationals, meaning the whereabouts of 55 foreigners are still unknown.



The Foreign Office said a chartered plane carrying specialist staff trained to deal with people caught up in such "extreme circumstances" had landed in Algeria - around 280 miles from the gas facility.



Scroll down for video

Anger: Prime Minister David Cameron gives his statement to the House of Commons on the hostage crisis in Algeria today, and revealed that 'less than 30' Britons are still at risk from the terrorists



Siege: Algerian forces struck after the al-Qaeda gunmen reinforced their position around a liquid gas installation (file picture)

Some of the Britons still missing may have fled into the Sahara in the chaos and could still be hiding in the desert fearing they are still being hunted.



Lifting the lid in British anger at being left in the dark by the Algerian government, Mr Cameron told MPs: 'I won't hide, of course I was... we were disappointed not to be informed of the assault in advance.



'Those who believe that somehow there is a terrorist extremist problem in parts of North Africa and it is a problem for them and we can back off and ignore are profoundly wrong. It is a problem for them and a problem for us.'

Mr Cameron condemned the 'brutal and savage' attack at the In Amenas site. It is understood that special forces will be used to advise on the hunt for terror ringleader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, known as The Uncatchable, rather than as troops ready to fight.



The families of those involved has spoken of their desperation for news from the Sahara.

Oil worker Mark Grant, 29, contacted loved ones after an agonising 36-hour wait with a text saying simply: ' Im safe. Got me out this afternoon. With the Algerian army.'



Only yesterday the married father-of-ones wife Emma, 31, had made a tearful appeal for his safe return at their home in Grangemouth, central Scotland, saying: 'Please, I just want him to come home safe. Weve got a little girl to think about.'



Mrs Grant had not heard anything from her husband since speaking to him shortly after militants stormed the In Amenas gas plant on Wednesday morning where he was working for BP as a project services administrator.



But last night Mr Grant brought relief and joy to those closest to him when he apparently made contact by text message.



While Dylan, the 13-year-old son of electrician Stephen McFaul, 36, from west Belfast, who texted from the camp: 'Al Qaeda have got me' before getting away, has choked back tears as he declared he would his dad a 'big hug' as soon as he sees him - and will never let him go overseas again. Mr McFaul is on a flight to London.

Brian McFaul also described how his brother told him he survived because he was on the only one of five jeeps not hit by Algerian bombs.



'They were moving five jeep-loads of hostages from one part of the compound. At that stage they were intercepted by the Algerian army. The army bombed four out of five of the trucks and four of them were destroyed.



'The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom," he said. "He presumed everyone else in the other trucks was killed.'

The Prime Minister said: 'I'm sure the whole House will share my disgust and condemnation at this brutal and savage terrorist attack that has been unfolding in Algeria.

'Our thoughts and prayers this morning are with those still caught up in this incident, with their families who are waiting anxiously for news, and with those who have already lost loved ones.'

Safe: Mark Grant and his wife Emma, who only yesterday begged him to get in touch after he went missing in Algeria, and last night sent his loved ones a text message to tell them he was safe and had been rescued

In safe hands: Algiers hostage Stephen McFaul with his his wife Angela (left on their wedding day in 2005 and (right) with one of his sons, Jake



Crisis: David Cameron leaves Downing Street for the Commons in a blizzard, where he admitted that several dozen Britons could still be at risk from terrorists in Algeria

WORLDWIDE ANGER AS ALGERIA KEEPS LEADERS IN THE DARK AND REFUSES HELP FROM THE WEST

World leaders are furious at being kept in the dark about the Algerian governments attempt to rescue the hostages and the refusal to accept the help of Britains elite special forces.

David Cameron has been forced to call the Algerian PM Abdelmalek Sellal four times to find out what was going on, but every offer of help has been rebuffed.

I offered UK technical and intelligence support  including from experts in hostage negotiation and rescue - to help find a successful resolution.

And I urged that we and other countries affected should be consulted before any action was taken.

Amid reports that the Norwegian government was preparing to send in its own special forces, Mr Cameron made clear the growing diplomatic row over the Prime Minister Sellals insistence on going it alone.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe, Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg, French President Hollande and US President Obama have all backed Mr Cameron in demanding Algeria accept outside help.

However, Mr Cameron suggested that the international deadlock was in part the result of countries including

Britain failing to recognise the scale of the threat posed by terror groups in countries in north and West Africa.

We need in our strategic thinking and our strategic defence reviews to make sure we give proper priority to this area of the world, he said.

This Government is now doing that but I'm sure there is more work we need to do.

There remains a stand-off between the British Government and Algiers as Foreign Office staff are still not allowed anywhere near the gas plant.

But local sources say that a U.S. plane has landed in the area to evacuate Americans. The aircraft is said to be at Amenas airport, about 30 miles from the compound. Militants in Algeria want to swap two Americans for jailed terror figures, a Mauritanian website says.

One man from Texas is missing but two other Americans escaped unharmed after the raid. Two others who ran off before the terrorists took control are also en route to London, it is being reported. The Prime Minister said a terrorist group believed to be operating under Mokhtar Belmokhtar launched a ' 'well calculated heavily armed' assault on buses en route to the airfield at In Amenas before attacking the residential compound and gas facility.

Two of those travelling in the convoy to the airfield were killed, including a Briton. 'According to the information we have from the Algerian authorities, the terrorists first attacked two buses en route to the In Amenas airfield before attacking the residential compound and the gas facility at the installation,' he said.

'It appears to have been a large, well-co-ordinated and heavily armed assault and it is probable that it had been pre-planned.

'Two of those travelling in the convoy to the airfield were, very sadly, killed, including one British national and his family were informed on Wednesday.

'A number of other workers were taken hostage by the terrorists in separate locations, both at the residential compound and the gas facility.

'The precise numbers involved remain unclear at this stage but the hostages included British nationals, along with nationals of at least seven other countries and, of course, many Algerians.' BP, the joint operator of the gas plant, has also begun evacuating staff from Algeria, with 11 being flown back to London yesterday.

But it appears that BP may not know just how many staff he had at the plant, making it difficult to know how many are missing, Mr Cameron revealed.

'There is perhaps more we need to do to make sure the companies have a really good up-to-date list of not only the people who work for them but also of subcontractors,' he said.

'On this occasion there were some issues and difficulties with that.' Labour leader Ed Miliband said those behind the 'appalling and tragic events' should know Britain and the international community 'stand united in condemnation'.

US defence secretary Leon Panetta said in London today that here was 'no justification for the kidnapping and murder of innocent people' in Algeria, and vowed the US government was 'working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens'.

The situation is so grave the Prime Minister abandoned a trip to the Netherlands today to give his long-awaited speech on relations with Europe, while the Foreign Office said this morning that the 'terrorist incident was ongoing' and the site was not yet secure. It is likely that the current crisis is the worst hostage situation Britain has ever faced in its history. But there was some relief after it emerged two Scottish people were among four hostages reported to have been freed following the military raid. In another worrying development it has emerged one of the terrorists spoke with a 'perfect English accent', according to one of the people who escaped. It raises the possibility that Islamists radicals with links with the UK were involved in the crisis at a BP oil field in the south of the North African country. An Algerian hostage who escaped told French newspaper Le Monde that one of the heavily armed militants spoke English perfectly, and was among a multi-national group who seemed to know the facility well.

'They searched the living quarters for foreigners and told Muslims that they were in no danger,' said the man, explaining that 'Christians and Infidels' were the main targets,' he added. State news agency the Algerian Press Service (APS) said two other hostages, from France and Kenya, were also released during the raid. But despite APS's that the crisis had ended last night, civil servants in London denied it in a statement this morning. David Cameron chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee this morning as efforts continue to establish the full scale of the bloodshed. He then gave a statement to the Commons at 11am. Cobra will meet again this afternoon.



Horror: Thirty foreign hostages are dead after a helicopter air strike by Algerian forces on the BP gas plant seized by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists led by veteran jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar (above) A road sign indicating In Amenas, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Algerian and Libyan border Google Earth: This satellite image of the BP site shows how Britain's worst hostage crisis has unfolded at the heart of the Sahara Desert. In the bottom right is the residential area while the top section is the gas plant Foreign Secretary William Hague has cut short a visit to Australia to return to the UK and there is expected to be a ministerial statement to the Commons. Speaking in Australia, Mr Hague said this morning: 'This remains a fluid and evolving situation and many details are still unclear, but the responsibility for the tragic events of the last two days squarely rests with terrorists who chose to attack innocent workers, murdering some and holding others hostage.

'Our priority remains at the moment to identify exactly what has happened to each British national caught up in this incident and, indeed, to help other countries determine what has happened to their nationals.' A Foreign Office spokesman added: 'The terrorist incident in Algeria remains ongoing. The Prime Minister spoke twice to his Algerian counterpart, prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal, on Thursday.

'He chaired Cobra twice on Thursday, and will chair another meeting on Friday morning; Cobra will continue to meet as long as the crisis lasts.

'We are not in a position to give further information at this time. But the Prime Minister has advised we should be prepared for bad news.' 'Our priority will remain the safety of British nationals and their co-workers. We cannot provide any details that might endanger their lives. But we are working round-the-clock to resolve this crisis.' Spark: Nigerian soldiers prepare to load weapons stored in boxes into a military plane before leaving for Mali today - a conflict that terrorists in Algeria blame for their hostage taking Movement: French troops arrive at Bamako's airport in Mali, part of a 600-strong group on the seventh day of the French-led military intervention to wrest back Mali's north from al Qaeda-linked groups Communications team: French troops take part in operation Serval to assist Malian troops to push back an islamist rebel advance north of Bamako Battle: Members of the Algerian special forces (pictured), also known as the kouksoul, attacked the Al Qaeda terrorists - but Britain had asked to know before any attack took place Botched: An Algerian soldier runs on a training exercise, but the operation it ran led to the death of at least 30 hostages and 11 terrorists in a crisis that is still ongoing



VIDEO David Cameron's statement on the Algeria hostage crisis

VIDEO PM warns of bad news coming out of the situation in Algeria



Terrorists who seized hostages at the Algerian gas plant said the assault was in revenge for France's attacks on Islamists rebels in neighbouring Mali (see here patrolling the streets of Gao last year) TERRORIST AT HEART OF CRISIS HAD 'PERFECT ENGLISH ACCENT'

A terrorist 'with a perfect English accent' was among those involved in the Algerian hostage crisis in which up to 34 civilians including 'multiple' Britons died, it emerged today.

It raises the possibility that Islamists radicals with links with the UK were involved in the crisis at a BP oil field in the south of the North African country.

As the Foreign Office confirmed fighting was still 'on going', western leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron demanded to know why it had turned into a bloodbath so quickly.

Up to 10 British nationals were today still unaccounted for, as skirmishes continued around the compound.

An Algerian hostage who escaped told French newspaper Le Monde that one of the heavily armed militants spoke English perfectly, and was among a multi-national group who seemed to know the facility well.

'They searched the living quarters for foreigners and told Muslims that they were in no danger,' said the man, explaining that 'Christians and Infidels' were the main targets. In launching its assault, Algeria also ignored offers of help from the SAS and American special forces. 'We asked them not to go in with all guns blazing and they just did it anyway,' said one London official. 'They insisted this was their sovereign territory and it was their operation.' French sources said the decision to go in was taken because the terrorists were executing hostages. Last night, after a fierce day of fighting, Algerian officials said the rescue operation was over. They said at least 11 Islamist militants, including Tahar Ben Cheneb, a prominent commander in the region, were among the dead, along with three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a French citizen. A source said 30 hostages were killed, of whom the nationalities of 15 had been established. Of these, eight were Algerian and seven were foreigners, including two British, two Japanese and a French national. One Briton was killed when the terrorists seized the gas compound on Wednesday. Fierce gun battles erupted as troops moved in on the Islamists and there were claims that hostages had been used as human shields. An eyewitness described a scene of carnage, saying: 'There were bodies all over the ground.' Another spoke of Algerian forces firing at 'anything that moved'. A worker at the gas facility told the French newspaper Le Monde that one of the terrorists spoke English with a perfect accent. He said the militants knew the complex well. When the assault was launched other hostages and people hiding out at the compound fled to safety. Foreign Office officials are investigating claims that two Scots were among the four known to have been rescued yesterday. Emma Grant, 31, whose husband Mark, also 31, from Scotland, was at the site but is now missing pleaded: 'Please, I just want him to come home safe. We've got a little girl to think about.' Speaking on the doorstep of the couple's 250,000 detached home in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, explained that she had spoken to her husband on Wednesday but has heard nothing since. She said: 'I haven't heard from him since yesterday. I just want him to come home safe.' Mr Grant is employed by BP as a project services contracts administrator, having taken up the role more than two and a half years ago. He had previously worked as a site quantity surveyor with Shell for more than a year and a half before his switch to the In Amenas project. Stephen McFaul, 36, from west Belfast, who had been held captive made contact with his wife Angela around 3pm to say he was safe and well. Just hours earlier, he had made what he thought might be his last phone call, telling his relatives: 'Al Qaeda have got me.' Mr McFaul, 36, had also secretly texted his wife to tell her how his captors had herded him and others into a room and that he could hear bullets 'flying about outside'. Fresh clashes erupted overnight between the Malian army, backed by French troops, and Islamic insurgents encircling the central town of Konna, military sources said today Bloodshed: A picture taken on January 12 reportedly shows the body of a fighter of Islamist insurgent group Ansar Dine allegedly killed during an air strike by the French army in Mali

Last night the oil company manager's family spoke of their elation and relief at the news that the father of five had managed to escape.

His brother Brian, speaking at their parents' home in west Belfast 15 minutes after they had received news of his safety, told the Daily Mail: 'He phoned Angela and she phoned us.



'He told her, "I'm free, love, I'm free". Right now they're getting him and other survivors to a safe camp. He is due to phone her later and then he'll phone here to speak to mummy because she won't be happy until she hears his voice.'

A hostage who escaped unharmed from Islamist militants in Algeria on Thursday said the Algerian army bombed four jeeps carrying fellow captives and probably killed many of them, his brother told Reuters.

His 13-year-old son Dylan choked back tears as he declared he would give the electrician a 'big hug' as soon as he sees him and never let him go overseas again.



'I am very happy, I just cannot wait for him to come home,' he said.



Mr McFauls sister Donna McBride said: 'We are absolutely delighted that he is free and is unharmed.



'I feel so sorry for the rest of the families who have lost loved ones and others who are missing.'



She said her brother was currently with officials in Algeria in a debriefing exercise.



The Belfast man made contact with his family at around 3pm yesterday, Irelands Department of Foreign Affairs said.



The married man said he was 'safe and well' and was no longer a hostage.



Mr McFauls father Christopher said his son was an easy-going, happy-go-lucky person who took everything in his stride, but that he was worried for him and delighted that he had come through the ordeal at the gasfield complex in Amenas.



'I never doubted it but it is hard to say in those situations,' he said.



Diplomats privately described the fiasco as the most serious hostage crisis since Iran seized 52 American officials in 1979. Mr Cameron said last night he faced 'a very bad situation'.

'We should be prepared for the possibility of further bad news, very difficult news, in this extremely difficult situation,' he added.

He said officials in the Government's Cobra emergency committee, which he chaired twice yesterday, were 'working around the clock to do everything we can to keep in contact with the families, to build the fullest possible picture of the information and the intelligence we have'.

The PM made the decision to abandon his Europe speech after speaking to Mr Sellal yesterday afternoon.

In the wake of the bloodbath in Algeria, the Prime Minister abandoned a planned trip to the Netherlands, where he had been due to deliver the landmark address on Britains future in Europe.

Mr Cameron had initially been expected to make the speech at last autumns Conservative Party conference, but it has been repeatedly delayed. It is now not clear when it will happen.

He and British officials had repeatedly offered the Algerians intelligence and military assistance, including the services of the SAS, but were told the Algerians wanted to go it alone. When Mr Cameron called Mr Sellal yesterday morning he was told 'a military operation is under way'.

'The Algerian prime minister explained that the situation was extremely fast moving that in the Algeria government's judgment they needed to act immediately,' Mr Cameron's official spokesman said.

A No 10 spokesman said: 'We were very clear that we would have preferred to be consulted.' Mr Cameron was 'very businesslike' with Mr Sellal when informed of the attack, diplomatic speak for curt with anger.

In March last year Mr Cameron authorised a Special Boat Service raid to rescue a British and Italian hostage in Nigeria without informing Italian officials.

Both hostages were executed before the special forces were able to locate them.

French soldiers leave Mali's capital Bamako: The gas plant terrorists claimed they launched the assault in revenge for France's attacks on al-Qaeda rebels in the west African country

Support: Nigerian army soldiers load bags of food as part of preparations for deployment in Mali at the Nigerian Army peacekeeping centre in Jaji, near Kaduna

Mobilising: French army helicopters arrive at the military airbase in Bamako before their deployment in Northern Mali, where France has launched attacks on Al Qaeda rebels

Weapons: French soldiers from 2nd RIMA 'Marsouins' unit gather on the tarmac of the military airbase in Bamako, the capital of Mali

Yesterday the Prime Minister discussed the crisis with US president Barack Obama and French president Francois Hollande whose countrymen were also held hostage at In Amenas.

Neither they nor BP officials were informed about the assault.



Norway's prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, summed up the anger and frustration felt by Western governments and said too he had been in constant contact with Mr Sellal.

'My message was that concern for the lives and health of the hostages had to go first,' he said. 'That was also the attitude of David Cameron. Our desire was that they showed restraint.

'We all feel deep anxiety of not knowing what has happened to our citizens and the other hostages. I feel for the families. What has happened is abominable.'

The militant group believed to be holding the hostages has claimed that it carried out the attack in retaliation for the French military intervention against Al Qaeda-backed rebels in neighbouring Mali.

But Downing Street cast doubt on those claims, saying the 'nature and extent of the attack' by militants 'suggested a considerable degree of pre-planning', suggesting it had been organised before France stepped up its military attack on Mali last week.

City speculators exploited the terror attacks in Algeria to drive up oil prices. The cost of a barrel rose by $1 to $95.29 in New York  a move that is likely to lead quickly to higher prices at the pumps.

Blood Battalion gunmen had one aim: Kill infidels and Christians

By David Williams

From the very start of the dawn raid, they were interested only in killing 'Christians and infidels'.

When the Islamist gunmen of the 'Battalion of Blood' stormed the gas plant in the Sahara desert, they used the chilling language of radical Islam, telling terrified staff they would not harm Muslims but would kill Western hostages.

Last night, as the military operation to rescue those captured ended, a local worker revealed how the militants appeared to have a clear strategy for their prisoners  some of whom even ended up having explosives strapped to their chest.

'The terrorists told us at the very start that they would not hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians and infidels,' Abdelkader, 53, said from his home in the nearby town of In Amenas. '"We will kill them," they said.'

Scene: The plant is located in In Amenas, around 60 miles from the Libyan border and 800 miles from the capital in Algeria's vast desert south

He feared many of his foreign colleagues may have died, saying: 'I'm a lucky man. I am still choked, and stressed.' And he added: 'The terrorists seemed to know the base very well, moving around, showing that they knew where they were going.'

The kidnappers said they were retaliating for last week's French offensive in neighbouring Mali, and demanded that Paris call off the operation and that Algeria withdraw co-operation.

Security experts, however, said the raid appeared to have been planned well in advance  although the decision to launch it now may well have been influenced by events in Mali.

Remote: The In Salah gas project is located in the Sahara desert in Algeria

Bloodbath: Helicopters began strafing the plant in In Amenas (above) this morning, hours after the rebels had threatened to blow up the hostages if they intervened

BP, whose headquarters are based in London (above) confirmed there had been a 'security incident' at their In Amenas gas field in east central Algeria

Last night confusion surrounded the exact number killed when two Algerian helicopters opened fire on vehicles within the compound where more than 40 international workers were being held.

Fierce gun battles followed as troops moved on the Islamists and there were claims that hostages had been used as human shields.

Reports of the number killed ranged from six to 34, but an eyewitness described a scene of carnage, saying: 'There were bodies all over the ground.'

Another spoke of Algerian forces firing at 'anything that moved'.

' Please, I just want him to come home safe. We've got a little girl to think about ... I haven't heard from him since yesterday. I just want him to come home safe.' Mark Grant's wife Emma, 31



Late last night there were reports of continued fighting at two sites  one in the refinery and one in the living quarters  where hostages were still being held, before a local news agency said the operation had finished.

Up to a dozen Britons were at the BP site in In Amenas in eastern Algeria when armed insurgents seized control on Wednesday with rocket launchers and automatic weapons, killing a Briton and an Algerian security guard.

Using four 4x4 vehicles, the militants first fired on a bus carrying workers to a local airport to fly back to Britain before attacking the gas plant and a nearby accommodation block.

Several of the hostages were said to have been made to wear explosive belts which the militants threatened to trigger if they were attacked. The stark terror of those trapped inside the compound was spelled out in a brief phone call from one British hostage.

The married 49-year-old father of two, from the north of England, managed to contact his wife in the hours after being taken and told her: 'I'm sat here at my desk with Semtex (high explosive) strapped to my chest.



'The local army have already tried and failed to storm the plant and they've said that if that happens again they are going to kill us all.'



The Tigantourine gas facility is about 25 miles south-west of In Amenas, which is close to the Libyan border and about 800 miles south-east of the capital Algiers.

BP operates the gas field jointly with Algerian state oil company Sonatrach and Norwegian firm Statoil.

According to the militants, Algerian forces in helicopters opened fire yesterday morning while groups of hostages and terrorists were being moved in vehicles between two sites on the compound.

VIDEO Algerian television showed armoured troops in position around gas plant

Q&A: WHY HAVE EXTREMISTS CHOSEN ALGERIA GAS PLANT FOR REVENGE? British workers are among at least eight foreigners abducted today by al-Qaeda militants from the BP-operated Amenas natural gas field (above) field in Algeria Why did militants seize the BP gas plant, right?

The group, named the Masked Brigade, claim the assault was in revenge for France's attacks on al-Qaeda rebels who have taken control of areas in neighbouring Mali, a former French colony

Why target Algeria? Algeria has been an ally of the U.S. and France in fighting terrorism for years.

A spokesman said it was in retaliation for Algeria allowing France to use its airspace to carry out raids on northern Mali. A statement from the group said: 'We hold the Algerian government and the French government and the countries of the hostages fully responsible if our demands are not met and it is up to them to stop the brutal aggression against our people in Mali.'

Algeria had long warned against military intervention against the rebels in northern Mali, fearing the violence could spill over its own long and porous border.

Do extremists have a stronghold in Algeria?

Algeria's strong security forces have struggled for years against Islamist extremists and have in recent years managed to nearly snuff out violence by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb around its home base in northern Algeria. In the meantime, AQIM moved its focus southward. AQIM has made tens of millions of dollars off kidnapping in the region, abducting Algerian businessmen or political figures for ransom and sometimes foreigners. But the In Amenas attack was the first of its kind in Algeria since 32 European tourists were kidhapped by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, later renamed Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), in February 2003. What's the current situation in Mali?

Fighting has raged in one town, airstrikes have hit another and army troops raced to protect a third on the seventh day of the French-led military intervention.

Banamba, a town located only 90 miles (144 kilometers) from Mali's capital was put on alert overnight and a contingent of roughly 100 Malian soldiers sped there on Thursday after a reported sighting of jihadists in the vicinity, marking the closest that the extremists have come to Mali's largest city and seat of government

Malian soldiers listen to President Dioncounda Traore. The UK is offering logistical support to French forces operating in Mali

LATEST HOSTAGE NUMBERS AND NATIONALITIES Islamic militants say they have captured 41 foreign hostages at the natural gas complex in the Algerian desert, but there are conflicting reports about their numbers and nationalities.

Here's a summary of the latest information on the hostages: ALGERIA: Hundreds of Algerians worked at the gas plant, but the Algerian media says most have been released. The Norwegian energy company Statoil says three of its Algerian employees are being held. NORWAY: Nine Norwegians employees of Statoil are hostages, the company says. AMERICA: Seven Americans have been captured, according to the militants. The U.S. says its citizens are involved but has given no numbers. BRITAIN: 'Several' British nationals are among the hostages, the UK government says.

JAPAN: At least three of the hostages are Japanese, according to the Japanese media.

MALAYSIA: Two Malaysians being held, the government says.

IRELAND: A 36-year-old Irish man is among the hostages, according to Ireland's government.



Two of the Britons were among four international hostages and hundreds of Algerian workers rescued by forces, who are said to have killed up to 14 of the members of the so-called 'Blood Battalion'. Up to 25 foreign workers are believed to have escaped during the chaos and confusion, including Americans, Belgians, French and Japanese.

It was unclear whether the leader of the kidnappers, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran Islamist guerrilla who set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local Al Qaeda leaders, was among those killed.

A holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed 'The Uncatchable' by French intelligence and 'Mr Marlboro' by some locals for his illicit cigarette-running business, Belmokhtar's links to those who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear.

The hostage-takers earlier allowed some prisoners to speak to the media, apparently to put pressure on Algerian forces not to storm the compound.

An unidentified hostage who spoke to France 24 television said prisoners were forced to wear explosive belts and captors had threatened to blow up the plant.

Two hostages, identified as British and Irish, spoke to Al Jazeera television and called on the Algerian army to withdraw to avoid casualties.

'We are receiving care and good treatment from the kidnappers. The (Algerian) army did not withdraw and they are firing at the camp,' the British man said. 'There are around 150 Algerian hostages. We say to everybody that negotiation is a sign of strength and will spare many any loss of life.'



But within an hour of those calls, Algerian forces, who steadfastly refuse to negotiate with kidnappers, had moved in after surrounding the complex.

The insurgents had vowed revenge for the French military operation in Mali  Britain has lent transport planes and promised help with training Malian forces  and there are fears France's actions could prompt further attacks on Western targets in Africa.

The attack could have implications for security across all of Algeria's energy sector, which supplies about a quarter of Europe's natural gas imports and exports millions of barrels of crude oil each year.

British, Spanish and Norwegian oil companies were evacuating workers from other Algerian energy facilities last night.
Marshall Scott, pictured with his mother Imogen, on his way to making his dreams of serving Queen and Country a reality

He wowed the internet after being filmed saluting alongside a soldier at the Changing of the Guard on his fourth birthday.

And Britain's cutest royalist Marshall Scott is well on his way to making his dreams of serving Queen and Country a reality.

The boy was visiting his favourite landmark, Windsor Castle, with his proud mother Imogen when he was treated to a priceless experience - saluting alongside a real soldier at the Changing of the Guard.

The little drummer boy has learned military beats from his grandfather and loves to dress up in his special outfit and parade around the house - just like his heroes.

An experience which has thrilled children for decades - so much so that Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne wrote a poem from a child's perspective about the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace - came alive for Marshall when Lance Corporal Paul Edden allowed him to join in with the ceremony.

Single mother Miss Scott gave birth to Marshall when she was just 17 years old but the dedicated parent discovered her son had a passion for all things military when he was less than two years old.

Miss Scott gave birth to Marshall when she was just 17 years old but the dedicated parent discovered her son had a passion for all things military when he was less than two years old

The little drummer boy has learned military beats from his grandfather and loves to dress up in his special outfit and parade around the house - just like his heroes

With his angelic blond hair and blue eyes, Marshall turned heads at Windsor Castle when he visited it wearing a gleaming Guard's outfit including a furry tall bearskin hat

Marshall fell in love with the pomp and circumstance of Windsor Castle - and set his heart on joining the ranks when he is old enough

When she first took him to Windsor Castle, only a stone's throw from the home they share in nearby Slough, Marshall was captivated by the spectacle and quickly developed an interest in the Guards - which Miss Scott encouraged by buying him pyjama sets designed to look like the traditional uniforms.

Miss Scott told MailOnline: 'I try to take him to watch the Changing of the Guard quite often but he also watches videos of it. He even has a set of bagpipes and a trumpet and saxophone.

Marshall was captivated by Windsor Castle and developed an interest in the Guards

'My dad is a drummer so he has taught Marshall the marching beat. Another beat on the drum he learned is 'mama, dada.'

'I took him to see the Changing of the Guard once and that was it - he was only about a year-and-a-half when I first took him to Windsor Castle.'

With his angelic blond hair and blue eyes, Marshall turned heads at the landmark, once home to Queen Victoria, when he visited dressed in his favourite Christmas present - a gleaming Guard's outfit including a furry tall bearskin hat, which he wore in the viral video.

Miss Scott said: 'Initially we saw the outfit in the shop in Windsor Castle - they were pyjama sets and then I found this one in TK Maxx with medals hanging off.

'It was one size too big but Marshall wears it around the house all the time. We have to hide it from him sometimes.'

Marshall and his mother have been talking about their unusual experience at Windsor Castle

Marshall's mother tries to take him to watch the Changing of the Guard 'quite often'

The 21-year-old mother soon discovered that her only child had a fascination for the Queen - and took him to see a display of Her Majesty's dresses at the castle.

Little Marshall has a fascination for the Queen

'He loves walking around the castle and looking at all the pictures and the ceilings,' Miss Scott said. 'Marshall loves the Queen - he watches documentaries about her.'

With no military background in her family, the insurance advisor was stunned when her young son fell in love with the pomp and circumstance of Windsor Castle - and set his heart on joining the ranks when he is old enough.

She added: 'It is all him - my family is not really into the Royals. We don't have pictures of the Queen on the walls or anything like that. Marshall is really keen on being a soldier.'

On the magical day when he got the chance to make his dream come true, Marshall had been running up to people and telling them 'it's my birthday, I'm four today' - and to her surprise, his mother later discovered that his moment in the limelight sparked an internet sensation.

Joke: Kay Burley pretended to offer Marshall Scott a handshake before pulling away her arm

Smiles: Burley eventually shook Marshall's hand and laughed as they finished an interview

Marshall made his first TV appearance as he performed a salute with Burley on Sky News

The young family even featured on Sky News, where presenter Kay Burley dampened the mood when she offered her hand to Marshall, who went to shake it - only to discover the veteran TV anchor quickly withdrew her hand and thumbed her nose at the surprised tot.

Miss Scott said: 'Marshall likes to shake people's hands, he always has done. My mum taught him to say 'how do you do?'

'He went to shake her hand and he was quite shocked when she didn't. She probably wasn't expecting him to do it.'

When asked how he felt about it, Marshall said: 'It was OK because I learned a new trick.'

Reunited: Marshall performed a march with Lance Corporal Paul Edden across the studio

Signal: Marshall used his fingers to tell Burley during an interview that he is four years old

Some viewers took to Twitter to say they were not impressed by Burley's joke handshake

The delighted four-year-old was able to meet Lance Corporal Edden for the first time, through an introduction made on TV.

The guardsman, who is due to welcome his own baby soon, even taught the aspiring youngster how to march and gave him a teddy dressed in matching uniform.

Marshall said: 'I was excited because Paul is a real soldier.'

The two families plan to meet again away from the TV cameras and Marshall has been promised a trip around Windsor Castle when the professional Guard is next based there.

The British Army tweeted this picture of Marshall being reunited with LCpl Edden at Sky News

Marshall was celebrating his birthday earlier this month when LCpl Edden posed for a photo

Fourth birthday: Marshall, pictured with his mother Miss Scott, visited Windsor Castle

Popular: Marshall was a hit with tourists at Windsor Castle, as dozens lined up to have a photo

Miss Scott said: 'It will be nice to meet again away from the cameras. We want to show how appreciative we are of all this stuff even without any publicity.'

Marshall's grandmother had been due to join in his birthday jaunt as she shares the same date, but the whole family was astonished at how well the day went.

She was with her daughter when they spotted the special outfit in TK Maxx for 13 and they both knew who it would be perfect for.

Miss Scott said: 'It was a really lucky find - as soon as I saw it I thought "I have got to get that." We saved it for his last present.'
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shed tears and preached national unity during Friday's funerals for three of the six victims who were gunned down at a Quebec mosque by a far-right gunman late Sunday night.

The premier joined thousands of dignitaries, community leaders, and citizens at the Quebec City convention center for the memorial service.

He said that the shooting should give public figures pause as to what words and statements they make through the press, according to The Toronto Star.

'It's high time those behind these messages - whether they are politicians, radio or TV hosts or other public personalities - realize the harm their words can cause,' Trudeau said.

'Confronted with these words that hurt and exclude, it falls on us to defend the values that are important to us.'

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (above) wipes a tear during funeral services in Quebec City for three of the victims of the deadly shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Center

The memorial service was held in honor of Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Ibrahima Barry, 39; and Azzedine Soufiane, 57.

The Barry men were from the African nation of Guinea. Soufiane immigrated to Canada from Morocco, according to The Star.

'Every one of us is responsible for leading the fight against injustice and discrimination in daily life, for acting in a way that represents who we are, that represents Canada, that represents the country that Azzedine Soufiane, Mamadou Tanou Barry and Ibrahima Barry loved so much,' Trudeau said.

The funerals came one day after memorial services were held in Montreal for the other three fatalities in the mosque shooting.

Thousands packed the convention center in Quebec City on Friday for the memorial service, including dignitaries, relatives, friends, and community leaders

Worshipers pray during memorial services for the three victims. Trudeau vowed that Canada stood in solidarity with its Muslim community

A young girl places a flower next to one of the caskets during a ceremony for three of the six victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting

A young mourner is seen above laying her head on a casket during the funeral ceremony. Trudeau said that the shooting should give public figures pause as to what words and statements they make through the press

Iles Soufiane (right) is comforted by people during the funeral ceremony. One of the those laid to rest on Friday was identified as Azzedine Soufiane, 57, a Moroccan immigrant to Canada

Family members gather around the casket of one of the victims during the ceremony and place roses on the coffin

People from the Holy Blossom Temple Synagogue and the Fairlawn United Church form a 'Ring of Peace' outside The Imdadul Islamic Center during prayers to show solidarity in condemning the deadly shooting

'Every one of us is responsible for leading the fight against injustice and discrimination in daily life, for acting in a way that represents who we are, that represents Canada, that represents the country that Azzedine Soufiane, Mamadou Tanou Barry and Ibrahima Barry loved so much,' Trudeau said

Trudeau told the thousands who attended the services at Quebec's Maurice-Richard Arena on Thursday that the massacre had strengthened Canada's solidarity with its Muslim community.

Trudeau addressed the crowd in Arabic, saying, 'As-Salaam-alaikum,' which means 'peace be unto you,' drawing rounds of applause.

The Liberal Party leader stood before the caskets of Abdelkrim Hassane, Khaled Belkacemi and Aboubaker Thabti, which were draped in flags of their homelands.

A man weeps next to the caskets of three of the six victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting during funeral services at the Maurice-Richard Arena on Thursday in Montreal

'It is with a heavy heart that we come together this afternoon to grieve the loss of these innocent lives. But as a community and as a country, together we will rise from this darkness stronger and more unified than ever before. That is who we are,' Trudeau told the solemn crowd.

Thabti, 44, was a pharmacist of Tunisian origin who had three children.

Belkacemi, a 60-year-old father of two, was from Algeria and was a professor at Universite Laval.

University student Alexandre Bissonnette (above), 27, has been charged with murder and attempted murder. He was arrested Sunday night following the attack. Bissonnette was a fan of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and President Donald Trump, and acquaintances said he took extreme nationalist, pro-Le Pen positions at Laval University and on social media

Hassane, a 41-year-old also from Algeria, was a father of three and worked in information technology for the Quebec provincial government.

Trudeau called them devoted fathers who worked hard to ensure their families had a bright future - a dream, he said, that Canadians have known and shared for generations.

Those men, along with three others, were killed when a gunman entered the mosque and opened fire during evening prayers. Nineteen more were wounded.

The mosque's concierge Ibrahima Barry (left), 39, and his cousin Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, (right) both of Guinea, were among those killed

Azzedine Soufiane (left) and Khaled Belkacemi (right) were killed as they attended evening prayers at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center on Sunday night

Abdelkrim Hassane (left), a married father-of-three, and Boubaker Thabti also died in the horrific shooting

University student Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

He was arrested Sunday night following the attack. Bissonnette was a fan of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and President Donald Trump, and acquaintances said he took extreme nationalist, pro-Le Pen positions at Laval University and on social media.

Quebec Mayor Denis Coderre, who was among the dignitaries at the funeral, said the attack was a blow to everyone.

'I think that we are all suffering from' the shooting, he said. 'Not just the Muslim community, it's not just the people of Quebec. Everyone is suffering from this.'

Philippe Couillard, premier of Quebec province, noted all six dead were fathers like him.

Trudeau (right), Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre pay their respects to three of the six victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting in Montreal on Thursday

Mourners attend the funeral for Abdelkrim Hassane, Khaled Belkacemi and Aboubaker Thabti, three of the six victims of Sunday's Quebec City mosque shooting, in Montreal on Thursday

'They were sons and brothers and uncles, like me, like us. Friends, co-workers, like us. They were us. They were loved, appreciated, respected, and they always will be. We won't forget them.'
The terror threat from ISIS is reaching new highs and cutting police budgets could cost lives, Sadiq Khan has warned.

The London Mayor said the danger of attacks in the capital had risen since he entered city hall last May and keeping people safe was becoming 'increasingly difficult'.

Describing an 'evolving' threat focusing on radicalising young Muslims over the internet, Mr Khan raised fears that Donald Trump's travel ban will hand ISIS a powerful propaganda tool.

The terror threat from ISIS is reaching new highs and cutting police budgets could cost lives, warns Sadiq Khan (pictured in December)

Yesterday's attack in Paris where a man stormed the Louvre with a machete underlined the continuing threat from terrorism in major cities across Europe

The grim message, delivered in an interview with MailOnline, comes after the latest apparent terror incident at the Louvre in Paris yesterday.

Mr Khan, who has been embroiled in a growing row with the government over Scotland Yard's budgets, said ministers had effectively stripped hundreds of millions out over recent years.

And he voiced alarm at plans to shake up how police funding is distributed across the country.

'The reality is that if you look at other global cities, Berlin, Istanbul most recently, but Paris and other parts of the world. Our global cities are targets for terrorists,' he said.

'If the government changes the police funding formula and if they fail to fund London as a capital city I think keeping London safe is becoming increasingly difficult.'

Twelve people were killed and 50 more were injured when a terrorist drove a heavy truck into a packed Christmas market in Berlin at 40mph.

And last July, 86 people were killed and another 434 were hurt when a jihadi drove a 19-ton lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice.

Islamic State is already thought to have terror cells in the UK. The jihadis are believed to be plotting a massacre on the scale of the atrocities in Berlin and Nice.

Our global cities are targets for terrorists, the London Mayor told MailOnline in an interview. Pictured: Paris after an attack yesterday

Scenes in Paris after a man was shot by a soldier while trying to storm the Louvre art gallery armed with a machete

The London Mayor (pictured unveiling a major development of Greenwich Peninsula) said the danger of attacks in the capital had risen since he entered city hall last May

Mr Khan pointed to the view of counter-terror chiefs that an attack on Britain is a question of 'when not if'.

The threat level is currently 'severe' - meaning an incident is considered 'highly likely'.

He said maintaining officers numbers in the capital at around 32,000 was crucial because they are the 'eyes and ears' of security services.

Insisting the threat from ISIS had 'without doubt' risen since last May, Mr Khan said: 'The bad guys want to harm us. They hate the fact that we live together, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, those members of an organised faith and those who aren't, peacefully,' he said.

'Because of the hard work of our police and security services a number of terror attacks have been foiled.'

The mayor said the tactics of extremists were constantly 'evolving'. Whereas previously the danger was 'upstream' from terrorists coming into the country, there was now more of an issue with young Muslims being radicalised 'in their bedrooms' over the internet.

'The police and security services work incredibly hard. We can't escape the fact that ISIS and Daesh are now using the internet to radicalise Brits,' he said.

'We saw in the last year-and-a-half, Londoners born and raised in our city radicalised in their bedrooms to the extent where they jump on a plane and go to Syria.'

He added: 'The best way it has been explained to me is that the bad guys are evolving.'

Donald Trump's decision to impose a temporary ban on nationals from seven mainly-Muslim countries coming to the US has sparked a backlash. Pictured, the President with an executive order in the Oval Office

US President Donald Trump described the Paris attacker yesterday as a 'radical Islamic terrorist' and said France was 'on edge again'

Renewing his criticism of President Trump over his temporary ban on nationals from seven mainly-Muslim countries coming to the US, Mr Khan said: 'What is the thesis or the narrative of so-called ISIS or Daesh?

'Their narrative is that Western liberal values are incompatible with Islam. Their narrative is that the so-called West 'hates us'.

'We know that is rubbish. We know it is possible to be a westerner and a Muslim. We know it is possible to be a Brit and a Muslim and proud of both.

'Inadvertently President Trump is playing into the hands of ISIS and Daesh by giving the impression that being a Muslim is incompatible with being a friend of America and visiting America.'

Mr Khan offered to 'educate' Mr Trump, accusing him of having a 'blind spot' over relations with the Muslim community.

'I am all for people who have a blind spot or need illuminating or educating being educated,' he said.

'So I am in favour of explaining to President Trump why it is important for us to build bridges not walls.'
A former suburban Milwaukee police officer pleaded guilty Friday to killing a woman in Minnesota and ditching her body in a suitcase along a rural Wisconsin highway.

After pleading guilty to second-degree murder, Steven Zelich was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2013 death of 37-year-old Laura Simonson, of Farmington, KTTC-TV reported.

Zelich previously was sentenced to 35 years in prison in Wisconsin after pleading guilty to the 2012 death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez, of Cottage Grove, Oregon.

Authorities say Zelich, 55, of West Allis, Wisconsin, met both women online, choked them at hotels during sexual encounters, hid their bodies in suitcases and dumped them along the same highway.

Zelich told investigators the deaths of both women were accidental.

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Steven Zelich (seen in the above August 5, 2014, file photo) appears in court in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He pleaded guilty Friday to killing a Minnesota woman and stuffing her body in a suitcase

Judge Pamela King choked back tears as she addressed Zelich, the Post-Bulletin reported.

'Mr. Zelich, a human life is not something to be played with,' King told the former police officer.

'Laura Simonson was loved and valued by those who called her mom, sister, daughter and friend.'

While the 25-year prison term will never bring Simonson back or replace her, the judge told Zelich 'you're going to remain in prison long enough that no other woman will be harmed at your hands.'

Laura Simonson is pictured here with six of her seven children. Authorities say Zelich met her online, choked her at a hotel during a sexual encounter, hid her body in a suitcase, and then dumped it along a Wisconsin highway

Some of Simonson's family members were unhappy that he did not receive the maximum of 40 years.

Daughter Sarah Simonson, 18, called Zelich 'a monster.'

'While he rots in a cell, maybe he'll realize what kind of pain and suffering he's brought to so many people,' she said.

Public defender William Wright told the court that Zelich is 'very deeply remorseful' and that he pleaded guilty to avoid further traumatizing Simonson's family.

Above is the Microtel Inn and Suites in northwest Rochester, Minnesota. This is the hotel in which Zelich and Simonson had their sexual encounter

After killing Simonson, Zelich stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped it alongside a road in Wisconsin (above)

'He takes responsibility and has cooperated throughout the process,' Wright said.

Zelich declined comment to the judge, saying his attorney 'has expressed my feelings.'

He will serve the Minnesota sentence after completing his Wisconsin sentence.

Zelich's attorney said his client was devoted to a 'bondage, dominance and submission, sadomasochism,' or BDSM, lifestyle in which he sought relationships with women he could dominate in a 'master-slave' relationship.

Online, he went by the name Mr. Handcuffs.

Zelich previously was sentenced to 35 years in prison in Wisconsin after pleading guilty to the 2012 death of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez (above), of Cottage Grove, Oregon

According to prosecutors, Zelich first met Gamez online when she was 16 years old, contacting her through a bondage website.

At the time the teen was living in the foster care system in Oregon.

Zelich and Gamez messaged online for six months, then reconnected again through the website when she was 18.

The teen agreed to visit Wisconsin in August 2012 and live with Zelich, who had encouraged her to cut off contact with people she knew and to delete her social media accounts.

Zelich is seen in the above photos in court on March 30, 2016, when he was sentenced for killing Gamez

She bought a one-way plane ticket to Milwaukee. Zelich picked her up and brought her to a Kenosha hotel.

Zelich told investigators that Gamez was bound and gagged, her hands bound behind her back while he choked her with a rope. He contends the 'play' was consensual and her death accidental.

He told investigators that after he choked her, he put her body in a suitcase and took it to his apartment and then put the body in his refrigerator.
Photo provided by the Denver Police Department shows Richard Kirk, 50 who claimed that eating marijuana-infused candy led him to kill his wife

A Denver man pleaded guilty of shooting his wife dead after saying that he did it because he was under the influence of a marijuana-infused candy.

Richard Kirk, 50, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the April 2014 shooting death of Kristine Kirk under a plea deal with prosecutors, who dropped a first-degree murder charge against him.

Kirk faces between 25 to 30 years in prison and five years of parole when he's sentenced April 7.

Had prosecutors not dropped a first-degree murder charge, he had faced the possibility of life in prison.

Kirk initially pleaded not guilty, but in 2015 he changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense said he was intoxicated with THC, marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, which led to delirium.

Before she was shot, Kristine Kirk told a 911 dispatcher her husband was hallucinating and was getting a gun after eating pot candy.

Before she was shot, Kristine Kirk (pictured) told a 911 dispatcher her husband was hallucinating and was getting a gun after eating pot candy

Authorities said low levels of THC were found in his blood, and a partially eaten piece of marijuana candy was found in the house.

According to investigators, the couple had escalating marital and financial problems, and Kristine Kirk had told a friend she was afraid of her husband because they had been fighting so much.

District Attorney Beth McCann declined to say what role marijuana may have played in the killing, but she said the judge would hear testimony about any 'mitigation or aggravation' at sentencing.

'The family did not want the case to go to trial given the personal and emotional toll family members have already suffered,' she said.

She also described the case as 'complicated and tragic', saying: 'Everyone involved in this case felt this was a fair and just resolution of a tragic case. The family did not want to take this to trial given there are three young boys,' reported Denver CBS local.

Authorities said low levels of THC were found in his blood, and a partially eaten piece of marijuana candy was found in the house (pictured)

Defense lawyers declined comment.

Under the plea deal, Kirk allowed his wife's parents, Marti and Wayne Kohnke, to adopt the couple's three children.

Last year, the Kohnkes sued two marijuana businesses that sold candy to Richard Kirk, saying they failed to warn him about its potency and possible side effects.
Iris Herndanez Rivas kicked her four-year-old daughter in the stomach for not brushing her teeth, police say

A Maryland woman fatally kicked her four-year-old daughter in the stomach for not brushing her teeth, police say.

Iris Herndanez Rivas, 20, is accused of the crime which allegedly took place on January 26.

Her young daughter Nohely Alexandra Martinez Hernandez died on Wednesday, according to Montgomery County police.

They said in a release that on January 26, Hernandez Rivas called 911 around 12.30pm and 'requested medical assistance for her unresponsive four-year-old daughter'.

According to police, 'Hernandez Rivas told responding officers that her daughter, now identified as Nohely Alexandra Martinez Hernandez, had entered the bathroom at approximately 11:15 a.m. and started the shower.

'After approximately 15 to 20 minutes had passed, Hernandez Rivas heard a noise from the bathroom which prompted her to check on her child.

'When Hernandez Rivas entered the bathroom, she stated that she observed her daughter face down in the bathtub. Hernandez Rivas said she waited approximately one hour before calling 9-1-1.'

Montgomery County police say the girl was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Video courtesy of WJLA

The young girl was flown to Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (pictured), and succumbed to her injuries there on Wednesday, according to police

Medical staff, the release said, told detectives 'that the victim had multiple bruises on her body and was suffering from head trauma that may have been from the result of physical abuse'.

The young girl was flown to a Washington, D.C., hospital, and succumbed to her injuries there on Wednesday, according to police.

Hernandez Rivas spoke to investigators on January 27, one day after making the 911 call.

Police revealed: 'She stated that at approximately 10:30 a.m. on the previous morning, she had kicked the victim in the abdomen after becoming angry at the victim for not brushing her teeth.

'Hernandez Rivas stated that as a result of being kicked, the victim fell backwards and struck her head on the living room wall. Hernandez Rivas reported that her daughter fell to the ground and appeared lethargic.

'The daughter then went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Hernandez Rivas said that she went to check on the victim and found her face down in the bath tub.

'Hernandez Rivas also told detectives that the bruises on multiple areas of the victim's body were due to Hernandez Rivas striking her daughter with a belt several days prior.'

The mother, of Gaithersburg, was arrested on Saturday, January 28.

Authorities have charged Hernandez-Rivas with first-degree child abuse and first-degree assault.

Montgomery County Police say she's being held without bond, and the results of her daughter's autopsy are pending.

Authorities are waiting on an official cause of death before figuring out if there should be upgraded charges, Fox 5 DC reports.
Think about how hard it would be to explain to your boss that you are late to work because a koala held up traffic.

But that is exactly the dilemma motorists in Adelaide faced on Friday morning.

The cheeky marsupial was caught on camera running down Goodwood Road at Daw Park about 7.15am.

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A koala has been caught on camera running along a busy street in Adelaide

Footage captured by osteopath Dr David Gardner shows the koala, in a possible bid to beat peak hour traffic, running down the centre of the road.

'It was going for a trundle down the road - it was going pretty fast,' Dr Gardner told The Advertiser.

The koala is said to have travelled down the road for about 100 metres.

Luckily no cars and a police officer in an unmarked car ushered the koala off the road and into a nearby tree before anybody was hurt.

The cheeky marsupial was caught on camera running down Goodwood Rd, at Daw Park at about 7.15am
The White House is investigating how the details of President Donald Trump's recent tense phone conversations with Australia and Mexico were leaked, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

'The president takes these leaks very seriously,' Spicer said in an interview with Fox News Channel, which on Friday provided a transcript of a segment set to air on Saturday.

Trump cut short a phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after an acrimonious discussion about a refugee swap deal, a conversation that threatened ties between the two allies after details appeared in The Washington Post.

Donald Trump slammed Malcolm Turnbull over the proposed asylum seeker deal during their first official telephone conversation (Pictured: Speaking to Malcolm Turnbull)

Press secretary Sean Spicer said the White House is investigating how embarrassing details of President Donald Trump's recent tense phone conversations with Australia and Mexico

The president spoke with five world leaders over the phone last week, but said his conversation with Turnbull was 'the worst call by far' that day.

Sources said Trump was reportedly 'boasting' about his pleasant call with Putin when he told Turnbull the refugee agreement he struck with the Obama administration was the 'worst deal ever'.

In an earlier call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto about paying for a wall on the southern U.S. border, Trump said he might send the US military to Mexico to stop drug cartels.

A transcript was obtained by a Mexican news organization Aristegui Noticias and the Associated Press.

Trump reportedly told Pena-Nieto to stop sending 'bad hombres,' a phrase he has used before to reference Mexicans.

'You have a bunch of bad hombres down there,' Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the excerpt seen by the AP. 'You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it.'

The White House later said the comments were meant to be lighthearted.

President Trump told Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto that he would send troops if his South-of-the-border counterpart didn't take care of the 'bad hombres down there'

'That's troubling and I think the president has asked the team to look into this because those are very serious implications,' Spicer said.

Spicer described the conversations as 'candid' but respectful, and has noted that both the Australian and Mexican governments have disputed some of the details.

White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the investigation into the leaks.

Trump told politicians and faith leaders at the National Prayer Breakfast that he was having difficult conversations with world leaders as he worked to overhaul immigration rules.

'Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls I'm having - don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it,' Trump told the leaders.
Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's former high school classmates say the yearbook description of him as founding a 'Fascism Forever' club was a joke.

Friends tell DailyMail.com that the description was poking fun at the liberal faculty at his elite all-boys school.

But their claim that 'Fascism Forever' was a joke has earned them a rebuke from anti-racism campaigners, who say that a political movement which led to war and genocide is not a laughing matter.

Several of Gorsuch's former schoolmates at Georgetown Preparatory reached out to Dailymail.com after we revealed on Wednesday that he was listed as president of the 'Forever Fascism Club' in his senior yearbook in 1985.

They said the 'club' was a joke, which never really existed in practice.

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Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch in his time as a student at Georgetown Prep, the elite all-boys school in Washington

First reference: This was what appeared alongside the would-be Supreme Court Justice's yearbook photo

Second reference: While some friends claimed it was Gorsuch's own joke, others said it was made by yearbook editors. It did however appear in another section of the yearbook - with no suggestion it was in any way a joke

One yearbook photo showed the high school senior kicking back in a chair in a button-down shirt and tie while reading William F. Buckley's 1959 book 'Up from Liberalism', a key text of the conservative movement

But there are conflicting versions of how the label 'president of the Fascism Forever Club' ended up under Gorsuch's yearbook photo.

Some who knew Gorsuch say he wrote the caption himself. Others claimed it was added in by friends of Gorsuch, or by editors on the yearbook staff.

'The students would create fictitious clubs; they would have fictitious activities. They were all inside jokes on their senior pages,' one Georgetown Preparatory professor told American Magazine.

'There was never a club that existed by name or any facsimile of "Fascism Forever" and Neil Gorsuch has never founded or been a part of any organization or group like that, in fiction or otherwise,' said one friend to Dailymail.com, who described the name as a 'self-deprecating joke.'

Gorsuch included 'Fascism Forever Club (Founder and President)' on his list of student activities in his yearbook during his senior year at the elite all-boys school near Washington, D.C.

But adding to the lack of clarity on the background to the joke is that fact that his yearbook picture is not the only reference to the club.

Elsewhere in the yearbook, the 'club' was described as pushing back against the liberal views of the professors at the Jesuit-run school.

It is in a section which is clearly an account of the year in review - including references to 'games after-parties'.

'In political circles, our tireless President Gorsuch's "Fascism Forever" forum happily jerked its knees against the increasingly "left-wing" tendencies of the faculty,' said the yearbook.

Although Gorsuch has stayed silent about his own views, many supporters have jumped to his defense, noting that the club's name was likely tongue-in-cheek and did not literally advocate for fascism.

During his career, the 49-year-old appellate court judge has never outwardly expressed support for the political movement led by Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator.

Georgetown Preparatory is one of the top all-boys prep schools in the United States. This archive shot shows Gorsuch (bottom row on the right) as part of a six-boy pyramid

The new Supreme Court pick (seen with Trump after his nomination was announced on Monday) served as president until he graduated in 1985, according to his senior yearbook

Justice in the making: Another photo shows Gorsuch leaning over a railing with his tie undone while sticking his tongue out at the camera

At 49 years old, Gorsuch (pictured left in an archive shot) would be the youngest nominee to the Supreme Court in 25 years. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife

Still, some anti-discrimination activists argued that joking about fascism is never funny  particularly for a Supreme Court nominee.

'Apparently, the young Mr. Gorsuch felt that celebrating fascism was some sort of politically incorrect joke,' said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a comment to Alternet.

'Fascism is not a joke,' he added. 'There is nothing amusing about it. It has been responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, the destruction of much of Europe, and the attempted genocide of the Jews. The idea that a potential Supreme Court justice may still harbor such notions is chilling, indeed.'

Gorsuch's yearbook photos show he has been a conservative since an early age.

Gorsuch was the editor and founder of The Federalist Paper at Columbia University, where he chose a quote from Henry Kissinger to go next to his photo

The nominee listed his other student activities as 'President of the Yard, Student Government' and 'Lousy Spanish Student.' He said he was also president of a group called the 'Committee to reform The Beast'. If Fascism Forever or other lcubs are fake, they are listed among real activities

Gorsuch's conservative credentials are well-established and he was included on a list of potential Supreme Court picks approved by the Heritage Foundation

But the Supreme Court nominee (pictured front, left as a little boy with his grandmother) has also drawn criticism from top Democrats who vowed to oppose his nomination

Gorsuch (pictured left and right) is not the first Republican presidential appointment in his family. His mother, Anne Gorsuch, was appointed as Environmental Protection Agency administrators by President Ronald Reagan in 1981

One picture showed the high school senior kicking back in a chair in a button-down shirt and tie while reading William F. Buckley's classic 1959 book 'Up from Liberalism.'

In another, Gorsuch is pictured with his tie undone while sticking his tongue out at the camera.

His other student activities included 'President of the Yard, Student Government,' 'Lousy Spanish Student,' and president of a group called the 'Committee to reform The Beast.'

He mentions prizes won and pictures show him accepting them - meaning that if the 'Fascism Forever' club was a joke, it was put in among other true achievements and activities.

His senior quote was: 'I am not an alkie; I never wrote a debate case!'

Gorsuch is shown in another senior photo waving his hand mid-speech outside one of the campus buildings while wearing a blue and black tie. In another, he is pictured at the bottom of a six-boy pyramid while balancing another student on his shoulders.

Georgetown Preparatory is one of the top all-boys prep schools in the United States. Former students include Sen. Chris Dodd, a handful of U.S. congressmen, and multiple members of the Kennedy family. Current tuition is $30,000 a year for day students and $50,000 a year for boarding students.

At 49 years old, Gorsuch would be the youngest nominee to the Supreme Court in 25 years. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Louise.

He would also be the only Protestant on the bench, which is majority Catholic and minority Jewish, and its only Westerner - although he was largely brought up in Washington D.C., educated at Columbia in New York, Harvard and Oxford in England, and practiced law in Washington D.C.

Gorsuch's conservative credentials are well-established and he was included on a list of potential Supreme Court picks approved by the Heritage Foundation. His nomination to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump has been praised by prominent right-leaning groups, from the Faith and Freedom Coalition to the National Rifle Association.
Australian surfer Sabre Norris has been filmed on EllenTube sampling buffets in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood and Bacchanal Buffet.

The twelve-year-old surfer was presented with the tickets to Las Vegas, tickets to see Justin Bieber and $500 spending money when she appeared on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show in December.

Dressed in a sparkly purple dress and white cardigan Sabre is seen outside Planet Hollywood exclaiming to the camera 'I'm just about to try the buffet here and I can't wait.'

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Australian surfer Sabre Norris has appeared on EllenTube sampling buffets in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood (pictured) and Bacchanal Buffet

As Sabre goes down the escalator at the first buffet she gets more and more excited.

She reaches the food and exclaims: 'This is the biggest buffet I've ever seen!'

She then sits down at a table with her mother Brooke and runs through her rules of going to a buffet.

'First rule, wear loose fitting clothes and stretchy elastic dresses. Eat as much as you possibly can because otherwise the buffet is going to be a waste of money. Try something you've never tried before - get out of your comfort zone.'

As Sabre goes down the escalator (left) at the first buffet she gets more and more excited. She reaches the food and exclaims: 'This is the biggest buffet I've ever seen!'

She visits a few different buffet bars - Italian, seafood and American - before sitting down and saying: 'Everything on my plate is just amazing. I'm definitely going to go back for seconds!'

Sabre then proceeds to visit the different buffet bars - Italian, seafood and American before sitting down and saying: 'Everything on my plate is just amazing. I'm definitely going to go back for seconds!'

After her main meal she piles her plate high with dessert and gets wildly excited when she spots one of her favourite treats - doughnuts.

Her mother Brooke then says: 'I think I'm done, I don't know how you can eat so much.'

The pair then go shopping and sightseeing around Las Vegas before Sabre attempts buffet number two.

She is overwhelmed by all the choices and grabs a basket of seafood with a crab claim, exclaiming that she has only even seen them on YouTube.

She also runs through a list of buffet rules (pictured) with her mother including wearing loose clothing and eating as much as you can

At the second buffet Sabre grabs a crab claw from the seafood section (pictured), exclaiming that she's only ever seen them on YouTube before

Sabre rose to fame after she was interviewed on the beach in Cronulla in November 2016 by The Today Show after a surfing event.

She was given a wildcard to enter the Sydney International Pro by Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbon, and became the second youngest surfer ever to compete in a World Surf League event.

Her interview left viewers in stitches after she gave hilarious answers to Karl Stefanovic's questions, including calling her dad and former Olympic swimmer Justin Norris 'fat' because he ate so much ice-cream.

Sabre's father is Newcastle swimmer Norris who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and now runs a swimming academy in the NSW city.

Sabre is continually amazing by the selection of food, and after her first buffet says she is going back for seconds, before deciding to have a buffet for dinner as well
President Donald Trump will make his first visit to the United States' military headquarters that oversee operations in the Middle East on Monday during a swing through Florida that follows a week of heated back and forth between the United States and Iran.

Trump will receive command briefings at MacDill AirForce Base in Tampa from United States Central Command, CENTCOM, and United States Special Operations Command, USSOCOM, officers, the White House says, and have lunch with enlisted troops.

The commander-in-chief will also deliver an address to service personnel at MacDill during the trip that he's being accompanied on by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford and the White House's National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.

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President Donald Trump will make his first visit to the United States' military headquarters that oversee operations in the Middle East on Monday during a swing through Florida that follows a week of heated back and forth between the United States and Iran

Trump is spending the weekend with his wife at his Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago. MacDill is a short hop to the north by plane.

CENTCOM oversees the United States' military actions throughout the Arabian Gulf and Central Asia, including the operations against ISIS. It was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The visit comes just as the United States slapped new sanctions on Iran and refused to rule out additional military and economic punishments.

Trump's White House put the country 'on notice' this week after it illicitly tested ballistic missiles, in violation of a United Nations agreement and followed through on Friday.

After arguing that Iran felt emboldened to test ballistic missiles because the country was used to working with the all too 'kind' Obama administration, his administration sanctioned 25 entities associated with Tehran.

'Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how "kind" President Obama was to them. Not me!' he said in a Friday morning tweet. He told reporters later that the country was 'not behaving.'

Irans foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said early Friday, in response to the coming sanctions, 'Iran is unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people.

'We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement,' he said over Twitter.

Iran had previously said it would ignore the United States' 'useless' threats, belittling Trump as 'an inexperienced person.'

ISIS will also be on Trump's agenda as he speak to the troops at MacDill on Monday. CENTCOM handles the United States' strikes against the Islamic State, as well.

Trump signed an executive order last week demanding that the Pentagon come up with a new plan to defeat ISIS, a slam on his predecessor's military operations.

He has not committed to a troop strategy in Iraq, saying at times during the campaign that he could send in more American forces or leave combat fighting to Russia, and is awaiting a recommendation now from his top general, James Mattis, the Department of Defense head.

In the order he signed last week, Trump did commit to 'safe zone' in Syria for refugees in return for an end to resettlement policies in the United States. It's not clear when the United States might begin such a military action.

Trump is spending the weekend with his wife at his Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago. MacDill is a short hop to the north by plane

Trump has also authorized a separate directive that placed temporary travel restrictions on citizens of Iraq and Syria and five other nations that are terror prone that he's said will last until the U.S. gets a handle on the chaos overseas.

The order is being disparaged by Trump's opponents, and even some party members, as a 'Muslim' ban because of the religious orientation of most people from those countries, even though the Republican president's administration says it's not.

Republican Senators John McCain, the chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, and Lindsey Graham, warned Trump that the measure could 'become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.'

'This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,' the told him as soon as he signed it. 'That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security.'

Trump is likely to address critics of his travel ban, which he says will keep America safe, in his remarks Monday before the troops.

MacDill is getting its second visit from its commander in chief in two months with Trump's visit. Barack Obama met with service members at the base and delivered remarks there near the end of his tenure, offering a lengthy defense of his counterterrorism policies in December.

Obama directed the bulk of his address to criticisms leveled at him by Trump on the campaign trail. Trump is likely to respond in kind, laying out Obama for perceived failures in the fight against ISIS and in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

At McDill Obama insisted that the conflict in Iraq and homegrown terrorist attacks in the United States could not have been prevented by his administration.

And he pointedly said in his remarks that the United States is not a country that 'imposes religious tests,' unabashedly going after the Muslim ban that Trump proposed and then backed off of in the Republican primary.
A widowed parent of a 19-year-old whose body was thrown off bridge by two male classmates - including one who took her to prom - faced his child's accused killer and accomplice through tears in court.

Sarah Stern, of Neptune City, New Jersey, was allegedly strangled by former high school classmate Liam McAtasney, 19, when he was robbing her of a large amount of money she had recently withdrawn from a bank in early December.

McAtasney then enlisted the help Preston Taylor, who had taken Stern to prom, to dispose of her body by dumping it off a 50 foot bridge in Belmar, New Jersey.

Both teenagers were charged in connection to the case in front of Stern's grieving, widowed father, Michael Stern, in Monmouth County court on Thursday.

Liam McAtasney (left) is charged with robbing and killing Sarah Stern, 19. He then allegedly enlisted his friend, Preston Taylor, 19, (right), to throw her body of a bridge in Belmar, New Jersey on or around December 2, 2016

Stern, of Neptune City, New Jersey, was allegedly strangled by former high school classmate McAtasney when he was robbing her of a large amount of money she had recently withdrawn from a bank. Her body was swept to sea by ocean currents and never found

Stern's father, Michael Stern (left), sat in court with a companion (left) and wept as he faced his only child's accused killer on Thursday. He had only learned of her murder on Wednesday and had hoped she was still alive

The father-of-one and widow of three years, sat in the back of the courtroom weeping as he watched his daughter's accused killer in court.

He had only learned of his child's murder on Wednesday and 'always had hope' of finding her before he received the devastating news.

Stern's remains were never recovered because the ocean currents swept her body away.

Stern's lawyer Charles P. Stone said to Asbury Park Press: 'He's overwhelmed, as any parent would be.

'This is the worst nightmare you could imagine as a parent.'

McAtasney was charged with murder, felony murder, conspiracy, hindering apprehension and disturbing human remains, according to NJ.com.

Taylor was charged with conspiracy, hindering apprehension and disturbing human remains.

McAtasney (left) and Taylor (right) were classmates of Stern's in high school in New Jersey. Prosecutors say that they have obtained a recorded conversation between McAtasney and another individual that implicates him in the crime

Taylor and Stern are seen in this undated photo from 2014. Taylor is charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution

The murder is believed to have happened on or around December 2, 2016.

Prosecutors allege that Stern was robbed by McCartney, of Neptune City, New Jersey, after Stern had withdrawn large amounts of cash from the bank.

The two were said to have known each other because their families were close friends, according to Asbury Park Press.

During the course of the robbery, he strangled her to death, prosecutors allege.

McAtasney then allegedly called his friend, Preston Taylor, who helped him move Stern's body from her home.

Authorities say that McAtasney and Taylor drove to the Route 35 bridge in Belmar, New Jersey, and threw Stern's body into the water.

The Route 35 bridge, which crosses over the Shark River, has a fixed vertical clearance of 50 feet.

Stern's abandoned car was found near the bridge on December 3. Initially, authorities suspected that the driver of the car had jumped off the bridge, according to NJ Advance Media.

Stern's body has never been found. Authorities believe that the currents swept the corpse out to sea.

Belmar, a borough of Monmouth County, is located on the New Jersey Shore.

Prosecutors say that they have obtained a recorded conversation between McAtasney and another individual that implicates him in the crime.

Prosecutors say that they have obtained a recorded conversation between McAtasney (right) and another individual that implicates him in the crime. Taylor is seen on the left

Stern graduated from Neptune High School in 2015. She played softball and was on the swim team with McAtasney

At their hearing in Monmouth County court, the two men were ordered to remain in detention until further proceedings.

Charles Stone, the attorney representing Michael Stern, the victim's father, said that his client is in the midst of deep grief.

'He's overwhelmed, as any parent would be,' Stone said. 'This is the worst nightmare you could imagine as a parent.'

Neither McAtasney or Taylor appeared to show any emotion during their court appearance on Thursday, according to Asbury Park Press.

McAtasney's attorney, Chuck Moriarty, said the fact that no body has been found is problematic in proving his client's guilt.

'It does create a problem, if they don't have a body, if she shows up in three weeks and says this is all part of a joke,' Moriarty said.

Initially, Stern's disappearance was treated as a missing persons case. But tips from the community led authorities to launch a criminal investigation that resulted in the arrest of McAtasney and Taylor

He said that his client's family and the Sterns were friends. That is how McAtasney and Stern knew each other.

'I know the families were close,' Moriarty said. 'The families were friends. If she is dead, it's a tragedy.'

The Monmouth County prosecutor trying the case, Christopher Gramiccioni, said that all three 19-year-olds knew each other and that the two suspects were close friends.

'We know they had a pre-existing relationship with Sarah Stern, growing up in the same area,' he said.

Initially, Stern's disappearance was treated as a missing persons case.

But tips from the community led authorities to launch a criminal investigation that resulted in the arrest of McAtasney and Taylor.
Her countless fans already hail her as the sexiest woman on the planet.

And now we know that Kylie Minogue  who has abruptly ended her relationship with the man she was set to marry, after reports that she suspected he had cheated on her  is one of the classiest, too.

Taking to Instagram yesterday, she posted a picture of a beautiful sunrise with the words: 'Thank you for your love and understanding with the news that Josh and I have decided to go our separate ways. We wish only the best for each other as we venture towards new horizons.'

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Kylie Minogue with Joshua Sasse in London at a party last year for the world premiere Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

These noble words are testimony to Kylie's great self-control. Not for nothing is this 5ft pop survivor known as a Tinkerbell with a core of titanium.

Privately, though, she is said to be 'inconsolable and utterly heartbroken' over the apparent betrayal by the man she adored, Joshua Sasse.

For despite their considerable age gap (she is nearly 50 while he is not quite 30), Kylie believed that after an 18-month romance they were on the brink of marriage  her first  and a happy ever after.

On her part at least, she left no one in any doubt that it felt like the real thing.

'I go all gooey at the mention of him,' she said last year.

Only three weeks ago she was talking about changing her name from Minogue to Sasse when they were married. 'Kylie Sasse is a great name!' she said. 'I'll definitely change to Sasse.'

Indeed, there seemed to be little Kylie wouldn't do for her handsome British beau.

Keen to help him break into the big time, last year she paid for Sasse  whose luxuriant beard masks the fact he is thinning on top  to have a 5,000 hair transplant. All the better, surely, to help launch him into Hollywood and, in particular, the role of the young Han Solo in the as yet untitled new Star Wars prequel for which he auditioned.

Kylie pictured during a conversation with a friend in a Sydney hotel last November

Sasse did not get the part  but Kylie's devotion did not wane.

She picked a recording of Joshua reading a poem as one of her Desert Island Discs in 2015 and marked his birthday on December 9 last year by getting 5,000 of her fans to sing him Happy Birthday while performing at the Royal Albert Hall.

She fell for him completely. It was very intense,' said one source who discussed the romance with Kylie, 48. 'Some of us were unsure about him, but she loved him with her whole heart.'

However, she has now kicked him out of her house in Chelsea amid reports that he had became close to Spanish actress Marta Milans, his co-star in a TV series.

They got to know each other while making the show No Tomorrow in Vancouver. Filming started in August and ended in December. A source who worked on the show said that it was 'well known' on set that he and Miss Milans had been close for a couple of months.

Miss Milans, 34, who is from a wealthy Spanish family, has yet to comment. Her brother Alfonso said yesterday that he had: 'No idea at all,' about any liaison.

Meanwhile, a friend of Kylie's said that trouble was certainly on the horizon as she and Sasse 'hardly saw each other' for a long period last year. In an interview a few weeks ago, Kylie said that she had spent months making a film, Flammable Children, in Australia while Sasse was in Canada.

She said: 'Joshua is old-school and a romantic. He would write letters on paper with beautiful ink. He puts wax on the back of the envelopes and seals the letters. He also has an old typewriter that he uses, which I love.

'I wrote letters back to him. It felt like a very beautiful way to communicate.'

Perhaps so, but there were signs that the appeal of the separation had been wearing thin. Kylie is said to have had a series of rows with Sasse, 29, and was pictured looking distraught and tearful in a hotel in Sydney in November last year.

Kylie kicked him out of her house in Chelsea amid reports that he had became close to Spanish actress Marta Milans (pictured), his co-star in a TV series.

Some said that the romance was 'tempestuous' from the beginning, and friends of Kylie were yesterday using words like 'moody' to describe him.

It was even said that he was a 'controlling' presence in her life  an assertion which is given some weight by her comments in an interview last month in which she called him 'very passionate and opinionated'.

She added: 'He has a different view on things to me, and I love that because he makes me look at life in a different way. Sometimes I think he's right, sometimes I think he's wrong.'

Rumours are rife that more allegations about his behaviour in the relationship are about to come to light.

A source said: 'I don't think she knows a lot of the things about him which are going to come out. I think she is going to be shocked.'

Kylie's suspicions about handsome Sasse, a former public school boy of the 33,750-a-year Shrewsbury School, only came to a head after she returned from a trip to Paris Fashion week a fortnight ago.

Feeling that she could 'no longer trust him', she asked him to leave her home.

The source explained: 'It was in Paris that Kylie became suspicious and returned to London to confront Joshua. She immediately asked him to leave her home, which he had moved into at the start of the relationship.'

The news of their parting has sparked a global wave of abuse aimed at Sasse, the son of a poet.

'She is clearly better than you and that god-awful beard,' one enraged Kylie fan wrote on his Instagram account. Others called him a 'moron' and worse.

Holed up at his mother's house in Herefordshire yesterday, Sasse kept his own counsel, looking thunderous as he made a trip out in a Range Rover. His sister Lydia, a yoga instructor in Dublin, declined to comment.

Handsome, bearded and oh-so-ambitious, Joshua Sasse swept Kylie off her dainty feet when they met in the summer of 2015.

Kylie Minogue and Joshua Sasse attend one of her shows at The Ivy in December last year

Kylie whilst in London last year. Serial monogamist Kylie had been single for some time after exiting a five-year romance with Spanish model Andres Velencoso in September 2013

After a heady 18-month romance, the couple became officially engaged in February 2016, placing an announcement in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

There were rumours that they had married in secret last summer, but in October they announced that they would not do so until gay marriage was made legal in Australia.

Born in London, Sasse's maternal great-grandfather was the 1st Viscount Camrose and his maternal uncles were the 2nd Viscount Camrose and Baron Hartwell, former owner of the Daily Telegraph. His father was the poet Dominic Sasse, who married Mary Macauley  Viscount Camrose's granddaughter  in 1978.

Daughter Lydia came first, followed five years later by Joshua, and for a time the family lived in Nepal. When he was five his father was tragically killed in the PIA air crash at Kathmandu in 1992. The family moved back to Ludlow, Shropshire.

Joshua said in an interview: 'It was pretty weird. We went back to our house in England which I hadn't been in before and I said to my mum: 'I don't like this hotel.'

'I'd been barefoot for five years and went to get my first pair of shoes at five years [old]. So there was a bit of a transition.'

Joshua was sent to Shrewsbury School and later went to Hurtwood House in Surrey, a sixth form for performing arts. He then studied at a theatre training school in Exeter  no prestigious RADA or LAMDA for him.

Even in these early years he had a bit of a reputation as one of the most popular and handsome of his peers.

'I'm always off travelling and doing something fairly dangerous,' he has said. 'Which is probably why I get into so much trouble, because I am the naughty one.'

Fittingly, perhaps, his first role was in a British gangster film called The Big I Am in 2010. He then took the role of Sky in a West End production of Mamma Mia!.

A fellow cast member said: 'He was in his element  great voice, great moves, great actor and a great body.

'At the time he had a reputation as a bit of a lothario, but he was always the perfect gentleman. He's always had this supreme self-confidence which you can't help admire.' Another source, whose friend dated Sasse at around this time, described him as 'a complete egomaniac'.

A romance with Italian actress and model Francesca Cini resulted in the birth of a son, Sebastian, in the spring of 2013. However there is no evidence that the pair were married, and free-spirited Sasse seems to have exited the romance early on.

He said: 'I've had so many conversations with [the baby's] mother about how we're going to raise him, and really the only thing I care about is his happiness.'

This was his last public comment about the child.

In 2015 he was cast in the fairy tale-themed musical comedy Galavant, which won him fans in America where it was screened. Kylie, who was cast in a cameo role, met him in July 2015 and there was instant chemistry.

Kylie Minogue at a party during the 60th International Cannes Film Festival in 2007

Serial monogamist Kylie had been single for some time after exiting a five-year romance with Spanish model Andres Velencoso in September 2013.

She and Sasse were first pictured strolling arm-in-arm in July 2015, and were an item by September that year. While preparing for Christmas  when Sasse met her family  she astonished her fans by declaring herself 'completely in love.'

Kylie is generally extremely guarded in interviews, but where Joshua was concerned there was no holding back. She swore that the age gap between them was 'absolutely not an issue', adding: 'In some ways he seems older than me, and in other ways we just feel very balanced.

We haven't actually known each other for very long, but I think that both of us feel as though we have. We just completely fit together. He gets me, I get him. We like being together.'

She went on: 'I hate 'toy boy'. It just sounds awful, degrading and a bit old-fashioned, to be honest. It doesn't make any sense to me. Everyone who's met him so far just says he's not that age, he just isn't. It doesn't affect us. It just doesn't come into play.'

Joshua claimed ignorance of Kylie and her music  surely a sign that he was struggling with the idea of being put in her diminutive shadow.

He claimed: 'I only knew Can't Get You Out Of My Head. That was the only thing I'd heard because pop music is not my demographic.'

He went on to say that there was a 'struggle' involved with carrying the baggage of being Kylie's consort.

'You don't choose who you fall in love with. It comes with a very specific struggle, and that is the baggage she has, and I have it in equal parts. So you just have to focus on the good things. And luckily I am not the kind of guy who reads the gossip magazines, so I don't have to hear about it anyway.' However, in an interview in August, as he prepared to move to Canada to film No Tomorrow, he seemed to make up for this churlishness. He said: 'I know I'm in love when I don't want to be anywhere else but with her.

'As anyone who has met her will attest, she is just the most unbelievable bundle of joy. It's magic, it's excitement and joy and sex.

'It's feeling like you are alive with someone else, and for me, it's someone else who really makes me feel like I am alive every day.' In a Desert Island Discs interview in December 2015 Kylie even spoke about the possibility of having children.

'Who knows if a family is on any one of my horizons? If that were to happen, it would be incredible,' she said.

She reportedly had some eggs frozen before having chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2005.

She added in an interview later: 'I guess you have those visions of, God, what would my child look like, be it a boy or a girl? What would I see of myself in them?

'That's saddening, but I've thought about it for a long time and I've had to face that for a long time.'

In truth, as those words suggest, Kylie is far more robust than her image as a diminutive sparkly diva would have you believe.

Having survived the colossal fame which came with her role in Neighbours (and which pretty much destroyed fellow cast member Jason Donovan for a decade), she has gone on to produce 13 studio albums and 70 million sales over a 30-year career in the music business.

On Tuesday this week she announced that she had signed to the label BMG and is planning a 'pure pop' album later this year.

She has been the object of pity for her unlucky-in-love private life, but again she is annoyed by suggestions that she is some sort of Bridget Jones figure.

She dumped her Neighbours co-star Donovan to dally with tragic INXS rocker Michael Hutchence.

After that romance ended she dated male model James Gooding for three years, followed by a four-year period with French actor Olivier Martinez and then Spanish male model Andres Velencoso.

She said: 'I've been lucky to know a lot of amazing men. I've had a lot of wonderful times and I also love my freedom.'

How bittersweet for Kylie that she will now have more of that than ever.
Harriet Harman's autobiography, A Woman's Work (pictured)

Night-time in the House of Commons. Harriet Harman MP is carrying her newborn son along a corridor when she sees Mrs Thatcher heading towards her.

At once Harman becomes anxious, as if a mere look from the then prime minister has some kind of malignant supernatural power  like that of the Gorgon Medusa in Greek mythology, whose stare turned the living to stone.

'I was gripped by the sense that I couldn't bear her eyes to fall on my perfect baby,' she recalls of that moment, months after she had been elected as MP for Peckham in 1982. 'I pulled the blanket over his face to shield him from her gaze.'

This hysterical, frankly puerile, reaction to an encounter with arguably the greatest prime minister of our age is recalled by Harman in her autobiography, A Woman's Work, which is published this week. It is hardly fitting for a supposedly serious political figure who sat on the front bench for almost three decades and temporarily led the Labour party twice.

Her conduct could not be described as sisterly or even rational. She writes of her visceral loathing for Margaret Thatcher, even though the prime minister's example did more for female emancipation than all of Ms Harman's equality edicts about women's advancement in public life.

The book has already stoked controversy for the historic allegations of serious sexual harassment she makes in it against a number of men.

The Labour politician (second right) appeared on the Graham Norton show which was aired on BBC One on Friday

In one case, she claimed that when she was a politics student at York University, her tutor Professor T. V. Sathyamurthy promised to bump up her degree from a 2:2 grade to a 2:1 if she agreed to have sex with him. She was outraged and refused, she writes. Harman still received a 2:1.

The former wife of the professor retorted that the accusation was not only fanciful, but also unfair, since Sathyamurthy, who died in 1998, could not respond. There was further anger over another of Harman's claims, involving a lawyer at a firm where she worked as an articled clerk in the Seventies.

According to her book, this man 'crept up behind' her and groped her while she was on the phone to a client, causing her to 'scream'. In her narrative, instead of feeling any shame, the assailant criticised her for shrieking when she was dealing with a client.

Again, friends of the retired lawyer  named in her book and now 87  are appalled and said that, given the integrity of his personality, the incident 'could not' be possible.

Even when she reached the front rank of politics, Ms Harman was not free from predatory attention, she claims. She records that in 1991, at a function in the Welsh constituency of her Labour colleague Peter Hain, she was 'groped horribly' on the dance floor by a senior member of the local Labour party.

The 66-year-old Labour politician was on the show (left) to discuss her new book, A Woman's Work

What is striking about the three incidents is that Harman took no action at the time. She didn't make an official complaint or go to the police.

She may, of course, have had her reasons for doing nothing. In the first two cases, she claims to have felt too young and feared that complaining 'might make things worse for me'.

In the case of the Welsh incident, she says she did want to embarrass her hosts. But inaction hardly squares with her self-appointed position as a champion of women's rights and scourge of the male patriarchy.

The publication of her autobiography coincides with Labour's descent into apparently terminal chaos, with a fifth of Labour MPs defying Jeremy Corbyn's three-line whip and instead voting against legislation to trigger leaving the EU.

Harman professes despair at Labour's predicament, but there is no doubt she has played her part in it.

As the high priestess of the metropolitan elite, her obsession with reverse discrimination and identity politics has alienated Labour's traditional working-class supporters.

The further she rose in Labour's ranks, the steeper became the party's decline.

Her notorious Labour women's pink bus, which travelled round the country at the last General Election, often driving away the female voters it was meant to woo, was a telling symbol of her patronising outlook.

Ms Harman (right, next to Gordon Brown) became the MP for Peckham in south London in 1982

I saw Harriet Harman's character first hand when I spent three years working as her aide from 1989 to 1992. Before I took the job, I had been warned that she could be a difficult boss, though I found her decent and generous.

But she was a strange mix of vaulting ambition and chronic insecurity, of resilience and vulnerability.

Harman was self-assured in front of a camera or a microphone, yet her ignorance of current affairs meant she required ferocious and often nerve-racking briefings.

She was a shrewd political operator, but was sometimes prone to grisly errors of judgment, as on the occasion when she decided  much to my misgiving  to hire an agent to negotiate fees for media appearances that other people thought were part of her routine duties. All too predictably, she ended up embroiled in a Press row over accusations of having a mercenary attitude.

What is striking about the book is what Harman has missed out. There is no mention of her well-documented connection to an appalling and deeply sinister organisation that defended child abusers.

Nor of the fact that, astonishingly, she once tried to water down child pornography laws.

Before she became an MP, Harman worked as the high-profile legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), a radical pressure group that later became known as Liberty.

Her husband Jack Dromey also served on the NCCL's executive for almost a decade.

So fixated was the NCCL with minority rights and sexual liberation at this time that it happily accepted the affiliation of the infamous Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), an appalling organisation that lobbied on behalf of child abusers and campaigned for the age of consent to be lowered to four.

Such was the blind tyranny of the 'liberal' Left that many who spoke out against PIE feared being called a 'homophobe'. A PIE 'information' leaflet at the time shows how the organisation used this to ally its cause to the gay rights movement.

In her book, she claimed her tutor promised to bump up her degree from a 2:2 grade to a 2:1 if she agreed to have sex with him

'Homosexuals are now widely regarded as ordinary, healthy people  a minority, but no more 'ill' than the minority who are left-handed,' it read. 'There is no reason why paedophilia should not win similar acceptance.'

The NCCL appears to have bought this argument hook, line and sinker. None of this is recorded in Harman's autobiography.

When the row over PIE's link to the NCCL was exposed three years ago, thanks to an investigation by this newspaper, Harman was dismissive, arguing that affiliation was a minor administrative matter over which the NCCL had little control.

But the connections ran much deeper. The chairman of PIE sat on the NCCL's gay rights sub-committee, while it was the NCCL's gay and lesbian officer, Nettie Pollard, who wrote to PIE in 1975 inviting them to affiliate, and even attended some of PIE's meetings.

The NCCL publication, Guide To Your Rights, even featured an address for the Paedophile Information Exchange in West London. Harman said at the height of the furore in 2014 that she 'regretted' the involvement of PIE with the NCCL 'before she joined' as legal officer in 1978.

She has always opposed child pornography and declared: 'I'm not going to apologise because I've nothing to apologise for,' arguing that the organisation was 'immaterial' to her work.

Yet, in 1978 in her capacity as the NCCL's legal officer, Harman wrote a briefing paper trying to water down the Protection of Children Bill, which sought to ban child pornography. She argued that the bill would 'increase censorship', and that a pornographic picture of a naked child should not be considered indecent unless it could be proved the subject had suffered.

She said NCCL's approach was to argue for clear definitions to make sure the law was precise, so it was about child protection, not censorship.

But then, where contentious subjects are concerned, it seems Harriet Harman is inclined to omit certain details  and nowhere more so than in this autobiography.

She downplays her privileged background, with a private education at St Paul's Girls' School in London, presenting herself as the product of an ordinary middle-class household  her father was a doctor and her mother a qualified lawyer.

What she neglects to say is that her father was a distinguished Harley Street physician and pillar of the medical establishment.

More egregiously, she makes no mention of the fact she is connected to the aristocracy: she is the niece of Elizabeth Longford, the distinguished historian and wife of Frank Pakenham, the 7th Earl of Longford. According to Tatler, the house journal of the upper classes, the Pakenhams were 'pulsatingly patrician'.

As with so many socialists, hypocrisy has always been a central element of Harman's career, typified by her decision  which she rather skates over in her book  to send her eldest child to a selective secondary school, even though Labour was ferociously opposed to selection.

Family considerations also clashed with her flagship feminist policy of all-women shortlists in Labour-held and marginal constituencies.

The policy always had a ring of Orwellian doublethink about it, promoting institutionalised gender discrimination in the name of equality, but Harman vigorously clung to it as a means of boosting the number of female MPs.

So there was considerable surprise that she did not insist on an all-women shortlist when the plum Labour seat of Erdington in Birmingham became vacant in 2010. Her husband Jack Dromey, a long-serving trades union official, won selection as the Labour candidate.

As one of Harman's Cabinet colleagues ruefully commented at the time: 'Harriet is usually such an effective champion for all-women shortlists. It's strange that she should have gone missing when the National Executive Committee decided to allow her husband a run at this seat.'

The same double standards can be seen in her support, as Blair's Solicitor-General, for the invasion of Iraq, a policy of which any progressive politician should be ashamed, though Harman tries to minimise her role by saying she was not involved in any of the legal discussions.

Just as shameful was her failing, as Minister for Women, in the long- running Rotherham abuse scandal, when around 1,400 vulnerable girls were ruthlessly exploited by predatory Pakistani gangs.

If ever there was a case for official intervention by a feminist crusader it was Rotherham, but politically correct Harman seems to have shown no obvious interest.

The scandal does not even merit a mention in her book.

What she does do throughout the book, however, is catalogue her grievances  though, in contrast to her self-proclaimed image as a strong feminist, she meekly fails to do anything about them.

The book has already stoked controversy for the historic allegations of serious sexual harassment she makes in it against a number of men

She is particularly scathing about the regular slights inflicted on her by Gordon Brown, but, supposedly for the sake of party unity, she usually let him get away with them.

On one astonishing occasion in 1996, he actually re-wrote parts of her speech to Labour Conference without her knowledge as it was being fed into the Autocue.

She had wanted to argue that pension increases should be targeted at the poorest, but Brown disagreed and changed her words. She didn't cause a scene.

Harman was angered that, after she was elected Labour's deputy leader in 2007, Brown did not make her deputy prime minister in his new Cabinet. Again, she let it pass.

She was appalled when, by chance, she overheard Brown's henchman, the notorious political fixer Damian McBride, on his mobile phone, spreading lies to the Press about her. But she did not insist on his immediate sacking.

Having been rejected for the deputy premiership, she was outraged when she learned in 2009 that Brown was planning to give the position to Peter Mandelson.

'Over my dead body,' she told Brown during a series of fraught confrontations. Yet the Labour prime minister went ahead and effectively made Mandelson his deputy by handing him the title of First Secretary of State.

As Harman notes bitterly, Brown then openly told the Press that Mandelson was 'deputy prime minister in all but name'.

Yet again, she did not resign. There are, to be fair, touches of honesty about her own weaknesses in this book.

After a number of disastrous performances as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the early Nineties, which expose her inadequate grasp of economic policy, she admits that she 'looked vacuous and evasive, even to my own eyes'.

Similarly, her spell as Social Security Secretary in the first Blair government ended in calamity as she clashed badly with her cerebral deputy Frank Field  the pair were known to critical insiders as 'handbag and brains'  and failed to display any real authority.

'I hadn't a clue how to lead a department,' she writes.

But what comes across above all is a rewriting of history that exposes Harman's smugness and blithe disregard for reality.

She describes, for instance, how some of the housing estates in her Peckham constituency had become such places of fear in the Eighties that milkmen and postmen refused to make deliveries.

Predictably, she blames 'Tory cuts' under Mrs Thatcher, but fails to recognise the impact of welfare dependency, family breakdown and the loss of personal responsibility  social problems that she and her ilk created through their policies.

Nor does she touch on the devastating impact on our national identity of Labour's policies of mass immigration and multiculturalism, of which she was a core supporter  a subject which is now at the forefront of our political debate.

Instead, all we have is the usual Left-wing determination to celebrate diversity, such as when she expresses her delight at the beat of African drums on the steps of Southwark Town Hall summoning her Nigerian constituents to a meeting.

The sanctimonious, morally superior values of so-called social justice warriors such as Harman have been central to Labour's collapse. Her condescending, politically-correct triumphalism has helped to drag her party ever deeper into the mire of unpopularity.

Typically, she ends her book on a final resounding note of hypocrisy: 'I've always denounced political memoirs as male vanity projects and vowed never to write one.'

Well, she has. And it is all the more revealing for what it omits, as well as for those men she's accused  and whose reputations she's destroyed.
A conservative commentator who mocked Waleed Aly over his anti-Donald Trump editorial was pepper sprayed as students protested a speech in New York.

Gavin McInnes was due to address the New York University College Republicans on Thursday night when fights broke out between demonstrators and his supporters.

McInnes in October called Aly an 'East Indian hot-Canada virgin' and a 'retard' with a 'micro-penis' after The Project host slammed Mr Trump for his infamous leaked 'grab them by the p***y' comments.

Conservative commentator Gavin McInnes, who mocked Waleed Aly over his anti-Donald Trump editorial, was pepper sprayed as students protested a speech in New York

The Vice Media co-founder was sprayed during the chaos that erupted when he arrived at the university, but it was not clear whether it was by police or protesters.

Police arrested 11 people as dozens brawled on the street outside the building, and then scuffled with officers who tried to break it up.

Video captured the unruly scenes, and also part of McInnes' speech inside that was also disrupted by placard-carrying demonstrators who heckled him.

He discussed the unpleasant experience of being pepper sprayed during his speech, just before the protesters began shouting him down.

He was due to address the New York University College Republicans on Thursday night when fights broke out between demonstrators and his supporters

He in October called Aly an 'East Indian hot-Canada virgin' and a 'retard' with a 'micro-penis' after The Project host slammed Trump for his leaked 'grab them by the p***y' comments

Protesters inside the university building during McInnes' speech

'I've never been pepper sprayed before and that is a wild ride, woah. It's like getting kicked in the balls,' he said.

'And then you get this sense of panic, where you're like 'How do I know this isn't acid?' And then oh yeah, this isn't Islam.'

The remark was soon met with both cheers and jeers, with students chanting 'whose campus? Our campus!'

McInnes said in his response to Aly that Mr Trump's lewd comments made in a leaked tape was just how 'guys talk' and the backlash was a 'war on masculinity'.

McInnes discussed the unpleasant experience of being pepper sprayed during his speech, just before the protesters began shouting him down

He was met with both cheers and jeers, with students chanting 'whose campus? Our campus!'

McInnes tweeted the above message on Thursday

He played a clip from Aly's editorial and which called the then-U.S. presidential hopeful is a 'sexual predator'.

'When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything,' Mr Trump said.

'Let's see what you got, micro penis,' McInnes said in the video for Rebel Media, disagreeing that Mr Trump's comments amounted to sexual assault.

'Yeah, he's condoning sexual assault,' he mocked. 'That's the extrapolation, you virgin? No it's not, you retard. 'They let you'.'

Jason Miller tweeted this photograph, writing 'They are definitely people getting arrested'

Protesters are seen holding signs with various slogans on Thursday evening

McInnes went on to call Aly an 'East Indian hot-Canada virgin'. He had been referring to Australia as 'hot-Canada'.

'Look at this guy, by the way, you just know his penis would be this big,' he said, putting his thumb and pointer finger about an inch apart.

McInnes then said Aly and other critics of Mr Trump had been waging a 'war on masculinity'.

'This is how guys talk, ladies,' he said of Mr Trump's comments, before going on to say 'women hurl themselves at rich and successful men'.

McInnes was pepper-sprayed ahead of going inside the building he was supposed to speak at, and received medical care

He later doubled down on his comments and accused Aly of of 'blowing up' and 'dramatising' what Mr Trump said.

'I would think Australians would understand 'guy talk' better than most. Definitely better than Brits. But maybe that country lost its balls long ago,' he told News Corp.

McInnes again claimed Mr Trump was just commenting on how women interact with famous men and wasn't advocating sexual assault.

'I think Waleed Aly knew it. I think he just saw this as an opportunity to go on one of those ridiculous rants and he thought, 'I'm going to run with this',' he said.

The New York protest was organised last minute with an event page on Facebook from the NYU Anti-Fascists called 'Disrupt Gavin McInnes at NYU'.

The New York protest was organised last minute with an event page on Facebook from the NYU Anti-Fascists called 'Disrupt Gavin McInnes at NYU'

A Trump hat being burned during the protest outside NYU

The page said: 'Come to Kimmel, Rosenthal Pavilion to let NYU know that we will not stand for bigotry, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny on our campus.'

'Gavin McInnes has a long track record of using incendiary language to attract media attention and frenzy,' it was quoted as saying.

'Most recently, in December 2016, Gavin McInnes launched an informal group called the Proud Boys, an 'anti racial guilt,' anti-feminist organization.'

NYU Local said in a tweet: 'Arrests happening outside of Kimmel,' and posted photos of police officers in uniforms.

Jason Miller tweeted: 'Just saw 4 vans of cops unload outside of the NYU Anti-Fa protest of Gavin McInnes' talk.'

In another tweet, he said: 'They are threatening to arrest everyone in the herd now, each cop with roughly 8-10 zip ties in tow.'

Police are seen outside in New York City on Thursday in this Instagram photograph

Gizmodo reporter Anna Merlan tweeted: 'Now crowd is chanting 'Nazi scum your time has come.' One mocking a cop for protecting him, adds 'and your favorite rapper is Flo Rida!''

Merlan also tweeted: 'Looked like someone might've been trying to spray something at McInnes? Hopefully Nair.'

Vice President of Student Affairs Marc Wais attempted to gain control of the crowd inside but wasn't able to do so, the Washington Square News reported.

McInnes was filmed telling Wais: 'You're ridiculous, sir. You're a dumb, liberal a******.'

McInnes said: 'You don't want to lose your job, so you say 'Sit down, try to be civil.' That's a myth. You know this whole thing's a f****** charade.'

McInnes left the Rosenthal Pavilion 20 minutes after taking the podium, Washington Square News reported. There were five arrests at the event, police told the website.

Members of the New York Police Department are pictured outside in this image

A man is pictured being arrested by police, as onlookers stand nearby

In a statement to the website, the College Republicans said: 'Our intention was not to advocate for McInnes's views, in fact many of us differ with him when it comes to certain ideas.

'The purpose of this event was to promote free speech and not to promote certain ideas.

The purpose of our club is to give students the opportunity to meet and listen to conservative speakers from all across the political spectrum, especially since we are the largest conservative organization on campus.'
A predatory bishop who had links to Prince Charles has been freed from prison halfway through his sentence for sex offences.

Peter Ball, described as a monster by his victims, served only 16 months for grooming and molesting aspiring novice monks. One victim committed suicide while others have suffered long-lasting trauma.

The 'monster' Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester said he thought of Charles as a 'loyal friend'

Survivors condemned the early release of the 84-year-old former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester.

He was jailed for 32 months in 2015 for offences against 18 teenagers and young men between 1977 and 1992, but was allowed out on licence at the halfway point of his sentence.

Richard Scorer, an abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represented some of Balls victims, said his early release after a gross and systematic abuse of trust spanning decades was an affront to justice.

Ball was first investigated in 1992 but escaped with a caution. It emerged later that an unnamed royal was among Establishment figures who had written in support of Ball at the time.

Ball was first investigated for sexual offences in 1992 but was only cautioned. Victims had to wait until 2015 when the former Bishop was convicted for 32 months for sexual offences

After his caution, Ball was provided with a Duchy of Cornwall home by Prince Charles. Ball counted Charles as a loyal friend.

In 2012 police reopened their investigation after new allegations against Ball.

After his jailing, a spokesman for Charles denied that the prince had intervened in the judicial process on his behalf in 1992 but failed to deny there had been a letter in support of Ball.

Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, most prisoners can be released at the halfway point of their sentence.
Train passengers are paying five times more per mile than travellers on similar journeys because of a postcode lottery on the railways, an investigation reveals.

Major price discrepancies mean some passengers are forced to pay up to 86p per mile while those in other areas pay as little as 16p.

Rail companies have promised to reform the baffling ticketing policies on our trains making it easier to buy the cheapest possible ticket. But an investigation comparing the cost of train journeys on different routes reveals the shocking difference in prices across the network.

Great Western Railway is the country's most expensive operator per mile with its service between Bristol and London costing 86p per mile for the 236-mile round trip

Train companies have been accused of punishing passengers for travelling on certain busy routes, where fares can average as much as 177 per 200-mile return journey.

Some quieter routes of the same distance cost just 30 for an anytime return.

A comparison of 200-mile journeys, calculated by Barry Doe, for Rail magazine, revealed Great Western Railway to be the countrys most expensive operator, closely followed by Virgin Trains West Coast and East Midlands Trains.

Passengers travelling into London from cities including Bristol, Leicester and Manchester are regularly charged exorbitant fares because the routes are so popular.

Major price discrepancies mean some passengers are forced to pay up to 86p per mile while those in other areas pay as little as 16p

Research by the Daily Mail found that one of the countrys most expensive routes, the Great Western Railway service between Bristol and London, charges passengers 86p per mile for the 236-mile round trip.

But a 190-mile round trip between Leeds and Appleby in Cumbria, works out at only 16p per mile.

James MacColl, of the Campaign for Better Transport, said the system required urgent attention. Passengers often find it difficult to know that theyre getting the best deal as differences between ticket prices are confusing, he said. We need the whole process of buying a ticket to be made simpler, fairer and cheaper.

Passengers travelling to the capital from Leeds and Manchester using Virgin Trains find themselves paying vastly different fares despite the cities being only 45 miles apart. The West Coast service, from Manchester, charges passengers 81p per mile, but the East Coast service from Leeds  despite being further from the destination  is 61p.

Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, a group that campaigns for the railways to return to public ownership, said: Its just a postcode lottery on how outrageous the fare is going to be. The difference in prices for similar journeys is incredible.

Fares expert Mr Doe said: The operators can charge more expensive rates between cities and London because the trains will be busy regardless. Fares are astronomically high at the moment.

In October, the Commons transport select committee published a damning report stating that unfairness, complexity and a lack of transparency in rail ticketing have been apparent for at least a decade.

East Midlands Trains is another expensive operator due to the Leicester to London route being one of the most popular ones

CrossCountry, Virgin Trains East and West Coast services and East Midlands Trains are taking part in the ticketing scheme, which will aim to make ticket vending machines more user-friendly.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies, said the price discrepancies were a result of competition.

Its a sign of operators competing for passengers, and there are different types of passengers in different parts of the country, he said.

Pricing per mile was scrapped by British Rail in the 1960s so that fares could be set according to demand, a commercial approach that todays train companies have built upon, doubling the number of passengers and helping to cut the cost of the railway for taxpayers.

A spokesman for Great Western Railway said: Our single walk-up fares compare well with similar distance journeys on other train operators.
It was bought for a few hundred guilders in the small Dutch city of Breda at the onset of the Second World War.

Featuring a well-thumbed open bible and a clay pipe, and with a Vincent signature in the bottom right corner, it could have been a shrewd investment by the local trader who made the purchase.

Nearly 80 years later, however, his Surrey-based granddaughter is embroiled in a long-running row over whether the still life she inherited is an early work by Vincent van Gogh.

Catherina Head and her family staunchly believe that the canvas was painted in the mangle room at the parsonage in Nuenen of Theodorus van Gogh, Vincents father

His pieces from a similar period have recently sold for anywhere between 1.3million and 2.3million at auction.

Backed by some art critics, Catherina Head and her family staunchly believe that the canvas was painted in the mangle room at the parsonage in Nuenen of Theodorus van Gogh, Vincents father, where the artist lived between 1883 and 1885.

Mrs Head and her husband Malcolm, from Guildford, have spent at least 4,000 trying to authenticate the work, with analysis of the pigment in the oil paint dating it to this period.

But the couple are no nearer to convincing the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the leading authority on his work. It has dismissed the painting, citing stylistic differences and disputing its provenance.

The debate centres on the period prior to the family acquiring it and focuses on the origins and contents of what are known as The Breda crates, a collection of what is said to be early work by van Gogh that had been abandoned by his mother in 1886.

The painting was among the items in this collection.

The museum, however, disputes that the collection is of van Gogh works and claims it is more likely that Mrs Heads painting was by the relatively unknown female Dutch artist Willemina Vincent.

The work was purchased by Breda-born Mrs Heads grandfather Lambertus Macheil Rombout. It was one of two paintings he bought from artist and art dealer Johannes De Graaf, who also sold a number to a local tax inspector who tried and failed on several occasions to authenticate the works.

Mrs Head and her husband Malcolm, from Guildford, have spent at least 4,000 trying to authenticate the work, with analysis of the pigment in the oil paint dating it to this period

French art critic Benoit Landais  who caused a storm when he claimed van Goghs The Man With The Pipe was an appalling forgery  supports the notion that Mrs Heads painting could be a genuine Vincent, based on the paintings subject, use of colours, the technique and pigment analysis.

To me, the still life is a genuine Vincent painted around 1884 in Nuenen when Vincent had been back with his parents, he told the Daily Mail, adding: He was 31, a full-time artist for four years.

Age tests involving firing ion beams at the canvas  a process used to detect forgeries  has supported the suggestion that it was painted between 1883 and 1885.

Further studies in the London laboratory of private art investigator Dr Nicholas Eastaugh also confirmed that all the components on the still life were available to, and were used by, Vincent van Gogh.

Art restorer Robert Mitchell, who has conserved more than 60,000 oil paintings, carried out a series of studies on the painting and said further research, such as DNA testing or even the finding of a fingerprint, could yield the truth.

It could well be a genuine painting by Vincent Van Gogh but everyone in the art world will say no before they say yes, he said.

The Van Gogh Museum dismissed the research by Dr Eastaugh, saying that the pigments identified were common around 1900, meaning anybody could have made it.

A spokesman said: The case of the Heads still life painting has been known to us since 1997 and we think to have made it quite clear to them, on several occasions, that their still life painting in our view cannot be attributed to Vincent van Gogh due to great stylistic differences.

The story about the provenance of this work before 1939 is, as we have minutely pointed out to them, highly debatable, to say the least.

Given Mrs Willemina Vincents death in 1922 she also has to be taken into account.
A 21-year-old plane passenger has spoken out against airline employees who she says booted her off a flight for showing too much cleavage.

Brenda, who declined to give her last name, told Inside Edition Friday that she was flying from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale when flight attendants first accused her of being drunk and belligerent.

The waitress says she was sober at the time and told the employees she wasn't intoxicated. She told the network a flight attendant then told her to cover up her cleavage.

'They mentioned that my body was too exposed and it was obvious that it was my breasts,' Brenda said. The airline has denied the allegation.

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Plane passenger Brenda (pictured), 21, said Friday that she was booted off a Spirit Airlines flight for showing too much cleavage, leaving her feeling 'awful'

Video courtesy of WPLG:

Brenda asked a fellow passenger to take a photo of her outfit to show that it wasn't inappropriate.

'I feel awful,' she told Inside Edition. 'I can't sleep. It's really affecting me.' She said the incident left her so embarrassed she put on her coat.

The 21-year-old believes her body type caused her to be unfairly targeted.

'I just feel like if I was smaller, or somebody with a smaller breast size, that there would be no attention brought,' she said.

Brenda asked a fellow passenger to take a photo of her outfit (pictured) to show that it wasn't inappropriate. She believes she was targeted because of her body type

Brenda said staff members were trying to find any excuse to remove her from the plane so as to make room for another airline employee.

'What I'm hearing from other witnesses is that they brought on a crew member to take one of the empty seats,' she said.

Spirit Airlines has denied Brenda's claims that her outfit caused her to be removed from the flight, and that staff members wanted to make room for an employee.

'The woman's cleavage played absolutely no role in her removal,' the airline said. 'The woman was removed because she was intoxicated and other passengers complained about her behavior.'
Drones packed with blood and medical supplies are to be flown into disaster zones.

Civilians will be able to order the life-saving unmanned aerial vehicles  named Stork drones  on mobile phones under a Government scheme paid for out of the foreign aid budget.

Doctors and nurses will also be able to request the stocks using a mobile phone app. Pilots stationed at blood banks across devastated regions will then guide drones by remote control from as far as 45 miles away.

Doctors and nurses will be able to guide drones packed with medical supplies to people stuck in remote areas as far as 45 miles away. The unmanned aerial vehicles can fly as high as 500ft and carry just over 2lb of medical supplies (file photo)

They can fly as high as 500ft and carry just over 2lb of medical supplies.

It is hoped the scheme  trialled in Nepal and Tanzania  can save tens of thousands of lives in places which are impossible to reach, and also save taxpayers cash as it is cheaper than sending vehicles.

The trial has successfully trained 42 future pilots and imagery analysts to operate drones, produce 3D maps and teach others in communities the skills to fly them.

The drones are being trialled in Nepal and Tanzania and, if the trial is successful, the vehicles could save tens of thousands of lives. 42 future pilots have already been trained on the cutting-edge machines (file photo)

If they are successful, the innovative technology could be used across the world.

Aid Secretary Priti Patel, who promised a major overhaul of the 12billion budget when she took over the job, said the drones would save lives.

She said: The UK has a proud tradition of leading the way when it comes to responding to humanitarian disasters and this is just the latest example.

Our commitment to innovation and truly helping those in need means this cutting-edge technology will reach people with lifesaving supplies even more quickly next time a natural disaster or medical emergency strikes.

Flights are planned to start in early 2017, after which health facilities will be able to order emergency supplies on mobile phone for immediate delivery.

Excessive blood loss is the largest cause of maternal deaths in Tanzania.

The countrys roads are impassible due to flooding at some points of the year.

This can make it impossible to get emergency blood stocks to rural health clinics in time to save a new mothers life.

Aid Secretary Priti Patel has championed the drones and said they could save lives in disaster zones. She said: 'The UK has a proud tradition of leading the way when it comes to responding to humanitarian disasters and this is just the latest example'

As part of the Dfid trial, life-saving medications will be delivered from the central blood bank in Dodoma, Tanzanias capital.

It is estimated that the drones could support over 50,000 births a year.

They could cut down the time mothers and new-borns would have to wait for life-saving medicine to 19minutes - reduced from the 110 minutes currently.

Transporting blood in this way also has the potential to save 46,000 a year compared to shipping it via a Land Cruiser or motorcycle.

In Nepal, Dfid has been trialling the use of the drones to map areas prone to damage from extreme weather conditions.

This is so that if another disaster such as an earthquake strikes again, emergency supplies can quickly reach the most vulnerable people.

British taxpayers money is also supporting a new piece of software which will allow emergency agencies and first responders to process the images from drones.
Tory MP Nicky Morgan is threatening to rebel in next weeks crucial Brexit showdown  despite previously vowing to stay loyal

Tory MP Nicky Morgan is threatening to rebel in next weeks crucial Brexit showdown  despite previously vowing to stay loyal.

The pro-Remain former Cabinet minister, dubbed Ms U-Turn, has pledged to members of her constituency association that she would support the Government in the Commons.

This week she stayed true to her word and voted for the Article 50 Bill that will kick start the process of leaving the EU.

But Mrs Morgan has told fellow MPs she could back one of the amendments expected from Labour or SNP politicians in crunch votes on the legislation next week.

Opposition MPs have tabled dozens of amendments that now run to 142 pages  dwarfing the size of the original Bill of just 137 words.

Fearing a plan to thwart Brexit, Tory whips have ordered all ministers not to leave London as they prepare for guerrilla warfare.

They want all Conservative MPs in position to vote if pro-Remain MPs use parliamentary tricks to force votes on key amendments at short notice. A Tory source said we cannot afford to take any chances.

Loughborough MP Mrs Morgan was dubbed Ms U-turn for her frequent changes of mind when she was education secretary under David Cameron.

The pro-Remain former Cabinet minister, dubbed Ms U-Turn, has pledged to members of her constituency association that she would support the Government in the Commons

Adam Stares, the deputy chairman of the Loughborough Conservative Association, told the Daily Mail: Nicky said to us she would vote for Article 50 and she has done. She also said that she was not going to be voting for any amendments.

'A lot of members I have spoken to are very happy with what Nicky has done.

This week Mrs Morgan told Newsnight that Parliament needed to respect the democratic results from June 23.

But she hinted she could vote for amendments related to Parliamentary scrutiny and the vote at the end. Ministers warn it could amount to a veto over Brexit.

ONE FLIP-FLOP AFTER ANOTHER As education secretary, Mrs Morgan was fully behind plans to turn all schools into academies. But she shelved the policy on the day of local elections. She also ditched her predecessor Michael Goves popular policy of making errant pupils run laps on school grounds. In 2013, the minister was an outspoken critic of gay marriage, saying unions should be between a man and a woman and citing her religious belief as justification. A year later, she backed it. Mrs Morgan initially suggested she could run for the Tory leadership, saying it was time for a woman to lead. But after she failed to get enough support, she switched her allegiance to Michael Gove, snubbing the two other women in the running, Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom. She last year took a swipe at Mrs Mays 995 leather trousers, saying she could not explain the PMs extravagant choice to her constituents. It then emerged that Mrs Morgan carried a 1,000 handbag. She has opposed grammar schools  despite herself benefiting from a private education. Advertisement

Asked about her intentions last night, Mrs Morgan did not rule out voting against the Government.

Other Tory Remainers are expected to join the rebellion, including former business minister Anna Soubry and former attorney general Dominic Grieve.

Tory veteran Sir Bill Cash last night accused MPs behind the amendments of trying anything to stop the legislation, adding: This is pure obstructionism. Mrs Mays spokesman said MPs and peers must acknowledge the need to deliver the referendum result.

A fresh legal challenge to Brexit was blocked by the High Court yesterday. Judges rejected calls by campaigners for Parliament to approve the UKs exit from the single market.
Hospital doctors are earning up to almost 600,000 a year under extraordinary deals to clear NHS waiting lists, an investigation shows.

One consultant received 456,000 in overtime, a 35,700 lifetime bonus and 2,900 for being on-call last year  on top of a 84,000 basic salary.

He works at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in Preston and agreed to do extra clinics at the evenings and weekends to clear a backlog of patients needing treatment.

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One consultant in Preston (pictured) received 456,000 in overtime, a 35,700 lifetime bonus and 2,900 for being on-call last year  on top of a 84,000 basic salary.

But he was able to negotiate an extortionate hourly rate due to a loophole in the consultant contract that allows them to refuse out-of-hours work.

A second doctor, at East Kent Hospitals in Canterbury, was paid 276,000 overtime and a 35,700 bonus on top of an 84,000 salary.

In total 20 consultants in England were paid overtime and bonuses of more than 200,000 last year on top of their basic salaries. MPs said the payments were unacceptable and accused doctors of profiteering from the NHS.

Hospital waiting lists are now at their highest in nine years and consultants are increasingly being asked to do overtime to clear the backlog.

A doctor at East Kent Hospitals in Canterbury, was paid 276,000 overtime and a 35,700 bonus on top of an 84,000 salary

Some 3.9million patients are awaiting routine operations, scans and treatments, including 1,200 who have been waiting more than a year. Hospital managers are under pressure to bring numbers down as they are fined if patients wait longer than the target 18 weeks.

The consultants are benefiting from a flawed contract drawn up under Labour in 2003 that enables them to refuse out-of-hours work. They must do ten sessions of work a week, usually about 40 hours.

But if they do additional work, usually evenings and weekends, those who have opted out can negotiate very high hourly rates when the hospital asks them to do extra clinics and surgery.

Hospitals feel obliged to pay high rates  sometimes over 200 an hour  as otherwise consultants can refuse to work extra. This is particularly true in areas where there is a shortage of specialists, such as complex cancer treatment, plastic surgery or orthopaedics.

Some consultants opt in to do out-of-hours work but earn much lower rates for doing so.

On top of their overtime, consultants are also entitled to lifetime bonuses for research or work carried out earlier in their career. These are known as clinical excellence awards and range from 3,000 to 76,000. They are paid each year until the doctor retires.

Norman Lamb MP (pictured) said: 'I really struggle to see how anyone can morally justify taking so much money from a system that we all know is under impossible pressure'

Liberal Democrat MP and former health minister Norman Lamb said of the overtime payments: This is completely unacceptable practice which the Government should urgently address. It is profiteering at the expense of the NHS and patients.

I really struggle to see how anyone can morally justify taking so much money from a system that we all know is under impossible pressure.

Tory MP Anne Main said: This looks like yet another example of specialists sucking away valuable NHS resources.

The top of the tree has become far too heavy. Trusts are run by extremely well-paid chief executives, who then pay eye-watering sums for consultants. Worryingly, there is precious little to go to the front line where nurses and other staff struggle on modest salaries. It is no wonder the NHS is under severe strain.

Labour MP Meg Hillier, who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said it was a perfect storm  a shortage of consultants combined with soaring demand.

The NHS is going through the tightest financial squeeze in its history. Trusts across England are rationing routine operations and scans as they struggle to cope with a growing and ageing population.

The Daily Mail obtained figures on consultants pay from NHS Digital. Officials would not specify which hospitals they worked at, so we obtained further details from Freedom of Information requests.

These revealed that the consultant at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals was paid an extra 494,544 on top of a basic salary of around 84,000  at a time when NHS managers in the county are considering imposing tighter restrictions on non-emergency caesareans, hip and knee surgery and varicose vein treatment.

The trusts medical director Professor Mark Pugh agreed the huge payments were not sustainable and blamed a shortage of specialists.

We reviewed our policy and processes in July to restrict the number of hours our staff work, he said. These changes have been fully implemented since November. We are also undertaking national and international recruitment.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has promised to reform consultants contracts to remove the opt-out for evening and weekend work.

But progress has stalled partly because ministers have been busy finalising the controversial junior doctors contract, which triggered a wave of strikes last year.
Brussels club: Talking to president Jean-Claude Junker

Francois Hollande yesterday attacked Theresa May for acting as a go-between with Donald Trump.

Questioning her triumphant visit to the White House last month, the French leader rejected the idea of the UK being delegated to talk to Washington.

EU leaders also joined in the backlash, telling Mrs May she had no right to speak on their behalf and snubbed her offer to act as a bridge with the US President.

The Prime Minister also appeared to have been snubbed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel when a crucial face-to-face meeting was mysteriously cancelled at short notice.

The row developed after days of increasing animosity between Brussels and Mr Trump, who has suggested the future of the EU is doubt.

At a tense meeting of EU leaders in Malta yesterday, designed to be primarily about refugees from Libya, Mrs May insisted that the US President understood the historic relationship between Europe and the US.

But over lunch, the PM also conveyed concerns from Washington that EU countries are not contributing enough towards Nato.

She urged fellow leaders to hit Natos target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence, suggesting this could help mend transatlantic relations. However, she was caught in the crossfire as EU member states face turmoil over their relationship with Donald Trump. EU leaders warned that Mr Trump could trample on the continent if they did not agree an appropriate response to the supposed threat posed by him.

Striking a more conciliatory tone, European Council president Donald Tusk said Britain could help secure a peaceful relationship between the US and Europe even after Brexit.

Entente cordiale: With French President Francois Hollande

He said: We need as strong a transatlantic relationship as possible and the UK can, inside the EU or outside... be very helpful.

But his comments were undermined by Mr Hollande, who said Mr Trumps criticism of the EU was unacceptable.

He said: When Donald Trump said it was wonderful for a European country to leave the European Union, he should not get involved in this. We are partners. There should therefore be some respect.

Referring to Mrs Mays attempt to act as a peacemaker, he said: Of course it is not about asking one particular country, be it the UK or any other, to represent Europe in its relationship with the US.

In step: Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Malta yesterday

Mr Hollande also bragged France would soon be Europes biggest military power.

Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite said the EU did not need Mrs May to act as a bridge because member states can communicate with the Americans on Twitter.

Miss Merkel also fired a warning to the Prime Minister about proposals to lower corporation tax in the UK and America, saying she saw no reason for the plans.

Last night Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson further cemented ties with the Trump administration with a ten-minute phone call with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

They discussed Nato and the value of the PMs visit to Washington last week and sources said they called each other by their first names.

What a difference 6 weeks makes! Now they all want to be her friend

As Britain chooses to go it alone, it had looked as though Theresa May would be forced to follow suit when meeting up with the other European heads of state.

At a Brussels summit in December, she seemed to be left out as other leaders chatted around her.

But yesterday the picture could not have been more different, as the Prime Minister shared jokes with her European counterparts at the summit in Malta.

All by herself: Theresa May in Brussels in December at an EU summit

She was seen laughing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande, as well as the European Unions president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mrs May smiled and chatted to the other attendees as she strolled along the route between the Grand Masters Palace and St Johns Co-cathedral in the Maltese capital Valletta.

She also shared lunch with the other European heads, sitting down to a meal of stewed beef olive, fillet of lampuki fish and sweet fritters.

It was a vast improvement on the December summit, when Mrs May was seen stood awkwardly fidgeting as Europes leaders gave her a wide berth during introductions ahead of key discussions.
The parents of a 13-year-old girl have been found guilty of bringing her to the United States from Canada to marry the infamous polygamous leader Warren Jeffs.

A Canadian court has found former husband and wife Brandon J Blackmore and Gail Blackmore guilty of taking their daughter Millie Blackmore to the United States for a sexual purpose when they arranged for her marriage to Jeffs in 2004.

Their son, Brandon S Blackmore, revealed that Millie married Jeffs, and he told Vice that his other sister, Annie Mae Blackmore was also married to the leader at an unknown date.

A Canadian court has found former husband and wife Brandon J Blackmore (pictured) and Gail Blackmore (not pictured) guilty of taking their daughter Millie Blackmore to the United States for a sexual purpose when they arranged for her marriage to Jeffs in 2004

Millie Blackmore is not the only sister of Brandon S Blackmore who is married to Jeffs (above)- Annie Mae Blackmore was married to the FLDS leader at an unknown date. Her whereabouts are unknown

Gail Blackmore (right) is pictured coming into the courthouse in Cranbook, British Columbia with James Oler (left). Blackmore and her ex-husband (not pictured) were found guilty of bringing her to the United States from Canada to marry the infamous polygamous leader Warren Jeffs

Millie Blackmore was one of three young girls were taken to the United states to be married off to the polygamist leader 13 years ago.

The three members, Brandon J Blackmore, his wife, Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore and FLDS Bishop James Oler, were charged by authorities with alleged child trafficking offences that originate from 2004 and 2005 when they reportedly sent three under age girls - Millie Blackmore, Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Collen Blackmore - across the Canadian border to marry the now imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.

The couple will be sentenced on April 13.

Justice Paul Pearlman found James Oler not guilty of the same charge, saying that he couldn't prove the man crossed the border with a 15-year-old girl who was later married to a member of the polygamous church.

He was accused of bringing the 15-year-old girl across the border to marry James Leroy Johnson, who was 24 at the time.

The parents of Millie Blackmore, has been found guilty of bringing her across the border so she could marry Warren Jeffs. Another of the polygamist leaders, Winston Blackmore is pictured - he is the uncle of Millie

Millie Blackmore (above) was transported by her parents from Canada to the US to marry Warren Jeffs in 2004 when she was aged 13. Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators are now searching for her

Pictured: students at the Bountiful Elementary- Secondary School near Creston, British Columbia

Justice Paul Pearlman found James Oler (pictured) not guilty of the same charge, saying that he couldn't prove the man crossed the border with a 15-year-old girl who was later married to a member of the polygamous church

Officials say much of the evidence for the cases against Winston Blackmore and the other three members stems from the investigation into Jeffs.

Canada's biggest polygamist, Winston Blackmore, 59, is still being prosecuted by the Canadian government for polygamy, as the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community in Bountiful, British Columbia that has a total of 27 wives and 145 children.

The charges against FLDS Bishop Winston Blackmore came after Special Prosecutor Peter Wilson approved three 'unlawful removal of a child from Canada' charges against three members of the same polygamous community of Bountiful.

The charges against the Blackmores centered on their 13-year-old daughter who is still missing, though records show was married to Warren Jeffs, the 60-year-old church prophet now serving a life sentence in Texas. They will be sentenced on April 13

Officials say much of the evidence for the cases against Winston Blackmore and the other three members stem from the investigation into Jeffs

According to Vice, Jeffs sent word the girls' father in Canada that he also wanted to take on Millie Blackmore as a bride.





A March 1, 2004 journal entry dictated by Jeffs to one of his wives and was later confiscated by US authorities in Texas apparently reveals what happened.

'I sat down with Brandon (J) Blackmore and his wife and his daughter, gave a training on the redemption of Zion in brief, in summary, and this girl was called on a mission, and they received it joyfully,' the entry reads.

'And there Mildred Marlene Blackmore, age 13, was sealed to Warren Steed Jeffs for time and all eternity.'

Alyshia Rae Blackmore (above) was also taken from the community in Bountiful to marry Jeffs when she was aged 12. Authorities are searching for her as well

It also notes that her father witnessed the ceremony to Jeffs, as her brother, Brandon S Blackmore, had no idea she had got married the same day or even that she was in Colorado City at the time.

He explained to VICE that he didn't see Millie Blackmore for years around the Bountiful community, as people claimed that she was 'on a mission for the church.'

In 2013, investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) asked Brandon S. Blackmore to listen to a recording of Jeffs having sex, as they wanted to know if the person on the tape was his teenage half-sister.

Canada's biggest polygamist, Winston Blackmore (center), 59, is still being prosecuted by the Canadian government for polygamy. He has 27 wives and 145 children

Even though her name was not said aloud on the tape, he could tell that it was his half-sister's voice and told RCMP investigators.

'He was asking her how it felt and a bunch of weird things,' Brandon S. Blackmore told VICE in an interview.

Brandon S. Blackmore shared that RCMP investigators told him the tape with Jeffs and his half-sister was recorded sometime around 2004 or 2005 at a motel in New Mexico.

As the sect leader in Bountiful, British Columbia, Winston Blackmore had a large amount of children (above) and is accused of helping to arrange the cross border wedding ceremonies for child brides

Rachel Jeffs, the 32-year-old daughter from the FLDS leaders' second marriage confirmed that a series of teenage girls, including Millie Blackmore, had arrived to their household.

Rachel, who left the sect in 2015, told VICE that when she inquired about who the girls were, she was told they would be new wives for her father.

She explained that she never asked her father about why he married girls who were underage.

'If you do, then you lose your place in the church,' Rachel explained.

'I wasn't so worried about losing my place in the church. I just would never get to see my family again.'

She shared that she remembered the teenage Millie Blackmore crying a lot.

Now, Mounties with the RCMP are searching for Millie Blackmore along with two other Canadian women, Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Collen Blackmore.

The other two women were also married to Jeffs when they were aged 12, as authorities believe all three of the women are now in their early to mid 20s.

It is believed that the three missing women are loyal to Jeffs, as many women apart of the sect are taught to be loyal to their husbands.

It's thought that Millie Blackmore, Alyshia Rae Blackmore and Nolita Collen Blackmore are all living on one of the many FLDS compounds in the US, or are being housed at secret locations that are known as 'Houses of Hiding' among members who are waiting for Jeffs to be released from prison (even though he is serving a life sentence).

Officials say much of the evidence for the cases against Winston Blackmore (above) and the other three members stem from the investigation into Jeffs

All of the marriages within the FLDS have been reportedly stopped since Jeffs arrest, but it's unclear if members of the religion have continued to transport child brides across the border.

Authorities in both the US and Canada have been searching for signs of human trafficking and other crimes that could possibly be happening by members of the FLDS.
Social media was abuzz on Friday after the influential German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel released its cover of the upcoming edition featuring a cartoon illustration of President Donald Trump holding the decapitated head of Lady Liberty.

'America First,' reads the front page headline as blood drips down from Liberty's head while Trump triumphantly holds a bloody knife.

The image conjures up comparisons to Islamic State henchmen in Iraq and Syria who have videotaped beheadings of prisoners in recent years.

The illustrator of the cartoon, Edel Rodriguez, says that he drew the image to convey the message that Trump was beheading American democracy,' according to The Washington Post.

The influential German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel released its cover of the upcoming edition featuring a cartoon illustration of President Donald Trump holding the decapitated head of Lady Liberty (above)

Rodriguez said he felt compelled to draw the cover given that he came to the United States as a refugee from Cuba in 1980.

Trump has faced widespread condemnation from world governments and domestic critics over his decision to issue an executive order banning the admittance of refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.

'Oh my god,' tweeted Brad Jaffy.

Joe Scarborough, the co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, tweeted: 'And I always thought Germans were known for their light touch.'

In its first post-election issue, the cover of Der Spiegel showed a cartoon image of Trump's head heading toward earth as if it were a meteor. The headline read: 'It's the end of the world (as we know it)'

'Oh my god,' tweeted Brad Jaffy. Most of Twitter was stunned at the cover, with many anti-Trump voices applauding the message

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock tweeted: 'In case anyone was confused, this is how the world sees the new presidency.'

'If America wants to know how the international community views recent events, the new Der Spiegel cover is a good place to start,' tweeted Sara Firth.

Another Twitter user says that the cover is a 'warning' and an indicator that 'Germans know fascism.'

'This Der Spiegel Trump cover is stunning,' tweeted Chris Cillizza.

'The new Der Spiegel cover isn't pulling any punches,' tweeted Andrew Stroehlein.

There seemed to be a few lone voices on Twitter denouncing the cover.

'I don't recall Der Spiegel depicting Muslim terrorists this way, when they actually do behead people,' tweeted Ezra Levant.

Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro said the cover of Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty is 'idiotic'.

'The Germans have always been a subtle people,' tweeted journalist Julia Ioffe.

A number of Twitter users compared the cover to the one put out by The New Yorker.

The bi-weekly publication's cover is far more gentler, showing Lady Liberty's extinguished torch.

'This Der Spiegel Trump cover is stunning,' tweeted Chris Cillizza

There seemed to be a few lone voices on Twitter denouncing the cover. 'I don't recall Der Spiegel depicting Muslim terrorists this way, when they actually do behead people,' tweeted Ezra Levant

This Twitter user decided to edit the cover by pasting an image of former President Barack Obama onto Trump's head with the headline: 'America lost'

This Twitter user blasted Der Spiegel for 'dissing Trump for putting US first unlike [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel's good pal Muslim [Obama]'

Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro said the cover of Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty is 'idiotic'

This Trump supporter thinks Der Spiegel should emphasize the president's pledge to put 'Americans first'

This Twitter user says Der Spiegel is resorting to the same propaganda that the Nazis once employed

'Der Spiegel sees Trump as the enemy of the West, not Radical Islam,' writes this Twitter user. 'They're projecting'

Another Twitter user says that the cover is a 'warning' and an indicator that 'Germans know fascism'

'The new Der Spiegel cover isn't pulling any punches,' tweeted Andrew Stroehlein

'If America wants to know how the international community views recent events, the new Der Spiegel cover is a good place to start,' tweeted Sara Firth

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock tweeted: 'In case anyone was confused, this is how the world sees the new presidency'

Joe Scarborough, the co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, tweeted: 'And I always thought Germans were known for their light touch'

'The Germans have always been a subtle people,' tweeted journalist Julia Ioffe

'National image improving bigly,' tweeted Brendan Nyah, using a word made popular during the campaign by Trump

The illustrator of the cartoon, Edel Rodriguez, says that he drew the image to convey the message that Trump was beheading American democracy'

It seems that the more vocal anti-Trump partisans on social media preferred Der Spiegel's interpretation.

'Interesting to contrast the timidity of the New Yorker with Der Spiegel's cover,' tweeted Ben Harris-Roxas.

'Der Spiegel wins this round,' tweeted another user as he juxtaposed the two covers and placed an '>' sign between them to indicate which he thought was better.

'The New Yorker, all somber. Der Spiegel, not f***ing around (and nailing it),' tweeted Dan Savage.

A number of Twitter users compared the cover to the one put out by The New Yorker for its latest issue (above). The bi-weekly publication's cover is far more gentler, showing Lady Liberty's extinguished torch.

'Der Spiegel wins this round,' tweeted another user as he juxtaposed the two covers and placed an '>' sign between them to indicate which he thought was better

'The New Yorker, all somber. Der Spiegel, not f***ing around (and nailing it),' tweeted Dan Savage

'Interesting to contrast the timidity of the New Yorker with Der Spiegel's cover,' tweeted Ben Harris-Roxas

This is not the first time that the German publication has made waves with its Trump-related cover.

In its first post-election issue, the cover of Der Spiegel showed a cartoon image of Trump's head heading toward earth as if it were a meteor.

The headline read in German 'Das ende der welt (wie wir sie kennen)' which translates into the title of the REM song 'It's the end of the world (as we know it).'

That cover was also drawn by Rodriguez.

Another influential magazine, The Economist, also features Trump on the cover.

The Economist (left), also features Trump on the cover, showing him wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat just as he is about to throw a Molotov cocktail. More controversially, an Irish publication, Village (right), put a photo of Trump with sniper cross-hairs superimposed

Twitter user Ben Dreyfuss praised Der Spiegel and The New Yorker, but he wouldn't go near the cover of Village

It shows the president wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat just as he is about to throw a Molotov cocktail.

'An insurgent in the White House,' reads the front headline.

More controversially, an Irish political publication put a photograph of Trump on its front page with a cross-hairs superimposed.

'WHY NOT,' reads the cover headline.

The magazine, Village, writes in its story on why it would not recommend assassinating the president.
Britain's highest-paid academy boss now earns three times the salary of the Prime Minister following a bumper annual pay rise of around 20,000.

Sir Daniel Moynihan, chief executive of the Harris Federation, saw his pay packet surge by at least five per cent to around 425,000, the latest accounts show.

The schools chief, whose chain of schools is based in Croydon, South London, was awarded 420-425,000 in 2015-16  up by 20-30,000 on the figure for 2014-15. On top of this, he received employers pension contributions of 50-55,000.

Sir Daniel, who was knighted for services to education in 2012, is among the highest-paid state school leaders in the world STOCK PHOTO

The figures are likely to make Sir Daniel, knighted for services to education in 2012, among the highest-paid state school leaders in the world.

Teachers had to make do with a one per cent pay rise in 2015-16. It means Sir Daniels pay package has almost doubled since 2009, according to analysis by the Times Educational Supplement.

Sir Daniel gets paid three times more than Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured)

Theresa May receives 150,402, while David Camerons package for 2015-16 was 149,440.

Sir Daniels package also dwarfs that earned by the headmaster of Eton College, Simon Henderson, who receives around 240,000.

It comes amid mounting questions over the use of taxpayer money in academies, which are independent from council control and are free to set their own staff pay. Most of the Harris Federations funding comes from government grants.

It operates 41 schools, most of which have been rated outstanding by Ofsted inspectors. A trust spokesman said: Our Board recognises leadership is among the key drivers of our success, so leaders throughout our federation are rewarded for their contribution.
A Florida dive team found the submerged body of Rob Stewart, a Canadian filmmaker and environmental activist who went missing after a deepwater dive off the southern Florida coast.

The U.S. Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account posted Friday: 'Body of diver Mr Stewart reportedly found @ depth of 220 ft by ROV assist to Key Largo Vol Fire Dept.'

A Key Largo volunteer fire and rescue dive team found the body at a depth of 220 feet (67 meters) near where Stewart went missing off the Florida Keys.

Final identification by the local medical examiner was pending, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric Woodall, a spokesman.

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Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Rob Stewart, 37, disappeared on Tuesday after a deep water dive to retrieve an anchor

Stewart was scuba diving on the Queen of Nassau wreck, six miles off shore of Islamorada Florida, when he disappeared after surfacing

Stewart went missing on Tuesday after a deepwater dive to retrieve an anchor. His dive partner collapsed after returning to the boat, while Stewart, who signaled he was OK when he surfaced, later disappeared, Stewart's parents said.

'If anybody can survive in the water, it is him,' Brian Stewart, his father had said in a telephone interview, adding his son was 'super fit' and a highly skilled scuba diver.

'A bunch of the people in the boat gave their attention to a guy who collapsed and a minute later they turned, and Rob was gone,' he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account posted this photo showing search efforts on Thursday

Capt. Jeffrey Janszen (at podium) said on Friday the search was going to be suspended

The announcement of the body being found came about an hour after the Coast Guard said it was suspending its search for Stewart.

At the time of the incident, Stewart was filming a documentary called 'Sharkwater: Extinction,' which he was aiming to show at the Toronto International Film Festival later this year, his parents said.

The U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, Florida wildlife officials, a county sheriff's office and civilian volunteers had joined the Coast Guard in the search, which covered an area about the size of Connecticut.

Ships, helicopters, airplanes, dive teams and sonar equipment were deployed in the effort, the Coast Guard said.

This helicopter was used Thursday in the search for Stewart, the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account said

The U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, Florida wildlife officials, a county sheriff's office and civilian volunteers had joined the Coast Guard in the search

Mom, Sandy Stewart and husband Brian are pictured in these images

Rob Stewart's 2006 documentary Sharkwater was aimed at exposing the shark hunting industry that was feeding demand for fins, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.

The hunting has ravaged shark populations and the film was part of a campaign that helped persuade some governments to crack down on 'finning'.

With finning, typically the fins are cut off and the live shark is tossed back into the sea. Unable to swim properly, the shark suffocates or is killed by predators.

Stewart said his new film was looking at other ways that as many as 80 million sharks were being harvested each year for items ranging from cosmetics to pet food.

'Sharks are sophisticated, intelligent and often shy creatures that aren't interested in eating humans,' he said in a video seeking funding for his new movie.

A GoFundMe account had raised more than $188,000 towards the search effort.

A message on the Sharkwater website said: ' Rob has been found, peacefully in the ocean. There are no words.

'We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved.

'We are working on how best to honour his incredible work. The Stewart family kindly asks that they are given some private time to grieve.

'Thank you everyone.'

The U.S. Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account shared this photo Thursday, writing: 'Coast Guard divers prepare side scan sonar at Station Islamorada to support search for Rob Stewart off FL Keys'
A 30-year-old woman was locked inside a padlocked box, 'chained up like a dog' for two months when she was discovered and released in November.

At the time of her rescue, Kala Brown and her boyfriend Charlie Carver had been missing for two months from their home in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Now, in her first public interview since her dramatic rescue, Brown plans to say later this month on 'Dr Phil' that her captor did not break her.

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At the time of her rescue, Kala Brown (left) and her boyfriend Charlie Carver (right) had been missing for two months

A 30-year-old woman was locked inside a padlocked box, 'chained up like a dog' for two months when she was discovered and released in November

She said in a statement on the shows website, 'No matter what he did to me, he did not break me. He cannot destroy me, and I won'.

Authorities found her when they were searching the 95-acre property owned by Todd Kohlhepp, and heard knocking coming from inside a metal shipping container, reported the Post and Courier.

Following the knocking, they heard screams.

Authorities found her when they were searching the 95-acre property owned by Todd Kohlhepp (pictured), and heard knocking coming from inside a metal shipping container, reported the Post and Courier

In the two-part Dr Phil episode, to air February 13 and 14, Brown is expected to share details of the two months being held captive and witnessing her boyfriend's brutal murder.

'The main thing was we found her alive' Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told the Post and Courier.

For two months Brown lived inside the shipping container, held prisoner by Kohlhepp, a man who was at one time Brown's boss.

The former real estate agent killed four people at a Spartanburg County motorcycle shop in 2003, and three others at his home in 2015, one of those Charlie Carver. Brown has also filed a personal injury lawsuit against Kohlhepp (pictured in his mug shot and being transported into court by police), and Carver's estate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, according to the Post and Courier

He is being charged with killing seven people, according to authorities.

The former real estate agent killed four people at a Spartanburg County motorcycle shop in 2003, and three others at his home in 2015, one of those Charlie Carver.

Brown has also filed a personal injury lawsuit against Kohlhepp, and Carver's estate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, according to the Post and Courier.

Now, in her first public interview since her dramatic rescue, Brown plans to say later this month on 'Dr Phil' that her captor did not break her
U.S. officials were on Nauru doing 'extreme vetting' on detainees for a week before the heated phone call between Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull.

Staff from the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department's Resettlement Support Centre arrived January 22 and began interviews the next day.

It was the second team to visit the small Pacific island since the agreement to send 1,250 refugees to the U.S. was announced in November, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told The Australian.

U.S. officials have been on Nauru doing 'extreme vetting' on detainees for two weeks

They arrived on January 22, a week before the heated phone call between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump (R)

Before they arrived, 1,555 of the 2,077 asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island were ruled to be genuine refugees after ASIO, Immigration and health checks.

The rest were not deemed refugees and will presumably be denied entry to both Australia and the U.S.

Detainees represented 21 countries and most of the refugees are from Iran plus some from Iraq, both countries listed on President Trump's immigration ban.

His executive order included a last-minute clause exempting pre-existing agreements after lobbying by Australia.

It was the second team to visit the small Pacific island since the agreement to send 1,250 refugees to the U.S. was announced in November

Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, which ended a bloody 26-year ethnic civil war in 2009, were the next two most common nationalities.

But Mr Dutton said though vetting was progressing, getting refugees out of the camps was a 'difficult juggling act' and it would take time to relocate them.

'We are keen to get people off there as quickly as possible... we've got unfinished business. There's a long way to go before we can get people off,' he told 2GB radio.

He was convinced Mr Trump would honour the deal, despite calling it 'dumb' and the 'worst deal ever' in public and private.

'I take the president at his word. He has given a commitment to our prime minister,' he said.

On Thursday afternoon the newly-elected president took to Twitter to slam the Obama administration for making the 'dumb deal' to take on 'thousands of illegal immigrants'

Close analysis of the President's body-language during the call shows there were signs of bad news to come, as he appears to throw a middle-finger at the camera

Mr Trump and Prime Minister Turnbull clashed over the deal in their first telephone call on Sunday, described as the president's worst call of the day 'by far'.

He complained he was 'going to get killed' politically and said Australia was trying to ship the U.S the 'next Boston bombers'.

Mr Trump later abruptly ended the call, which was supposed to last an hour, after just 25 minutes.

Hours before the explosive report of the conversation broke on Thursday, he again vented his frustration with the deal on Twitter.

'Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!' he wrote.

He also reportedly fumed about the agreement to advisers soon after signing the executive order, saying 'I don't want these people'.

Australian and U.S. leaders have spent the days since the call was made public trying to solidify the deal and patch up frayed relations between the staunch allies.

Mr Turnbull said he wanted to keep the conversation private and described the call as 'frank' and 'forthright' but claimed it 'ended courteously'.

Mr Trump admitted the call was 'tough' and he repeatedly grilled his opposite number on why the deal was struck and the U.S. had to take Australian refugees.

Mr Trump said he was 'unbelievably disappointed' and 'extremely, extremely upset' by the deal, but slammed reports of the heated phone call

'I love Australia as a country, but we had a problem,' Trump said, explaining how President Obama agreed to resettle '1,000 illegal immigrants who were in prisons.'

He also said he was 'unbelievably disappointed' and 'extremely, extremely upset' by the deal, but slammed reports of the heated phone call.

'Thank you to the Prime Minister of Australia for telling the truth about our very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about,' Trump wrote in an early-morning tweet. 'Very nice.'

Dozens of U.S. and Australian politicians and experts have since weighed in to say while the report was embarrassing, the exchange wouldn't harm relations long term.
Theresa May will seek to avoid a revolt in the Tory shires by promising the green belt will not be built upon unless all other options have been exhausted.

The Prime Minister will next week unveil a radical housing blueprint designed to build more than 200,000 homes every year.

The Government will lift height restrictions on new buildings and usher in a wave of prefab houses, which can be erected far more quickly but finished to look no different from brick buildings.

Mrs May will aim to reassure Tory shires when she launches her housing blueprint next week

Ministers are also expected to open up more inner-city sites, such as railway station car parks, for development, and take controversial steps to stop land banking.

It means developers who are failing to build on sites with planning permission could face compulsory purchase orders.

Helping people on low or middle incomes to buy their own home is a key plank of Mrs Mays commitment to create a country that works for the many not the few.

But she will back away from a confrontation with traditional Tory voters in the countryside by restating the 2015 manifesto commitment that green-belt land must be protected.

There had been fevered speculation that more building on the green belt would be permitted.

One idea would have seen a swap scheme under which the green belt was built on and a brownfield site of the same size would then have been redesignated as green-belt land.

However, Whitehall officials insisted there was no threat to the green belt. They said it would only be built on in exceptional circumstances when all other options are exhausted.

Crucially, any council which wants to grant planning permission on the green belt would first have to show there were no brownfield sites available for the build.

At least 220,000 homes a year must be built in the next decade to keep up with Britains population growth. On Tuesday, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is expected to ramp up the pressure on local authorities that are failing to make provision for housing sites.

Councils that fail to show their commitment to easing the nations housing crisis could be hit with five-year quotas setting a minimum number of homes that must be constructed.

At least 200,000 new homes a year must be built to keep up with Britain's population growth

Height restrictions on buildings to prevent them blocking the light will be relaxed, allowing houses as high as the existing tallest property on their block to be built without requiring special planning permission.

The National House Building Council said 151,687 homes were registered to be built in 2016, a 2 per cent decrease compared with 2015.

Developers and think-tanks are putting pressure on the Government to allow building on the green belt. Legal and General, one of the countrys biggest housebuilders, has called for a critical reassessment of the protected land.

Its chief executive, Nigel Wilson, said the green belt had doubled in size in the past 20 years to four million acres.

He added that while nobody wants to build on the Chilterns, or the Malverns or the beautiful parts of Britain, many areas of the green belt were actually made up of brownfield sites.

Voters have identified housing as one of the top five issues facing the country. Opposition to new housing developments is also on the wane.

A survey for the National Housing Federation found support for building homes has increased from 29 per cent in 2010 to 57 per cent today.

And three in four said they would back new homes if they were affordable for people on average local incomes.
A boy happened upon a bag of cash that had been taken in a bank robbery in an amazing find.

Griffin Steele and his father made a stop on Saturday at a gas station on Coventry Road in Horry County, South Carolina, while headed to Toys 'R Us, WBTW reported.

The seven-year-old told the station in an interview: 'I got thirsty so we went into the store. But before we went in I found this $20 bill and it had this red dye on it.'

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Griffin Steele, pictured, happened upon a bag of cash that had been taken in a bank robbery in an amazing find

Griffin and his father made a stop on Saturday at a gas station on Coventry Road in Horry County, South Carolina. On their way into the store, he noticed a $20 bill with dye on it

Video courtesy of WBTW:

The boy's father Shane explained to the TV station: 'I asked the lady at the register, "Can you use your pen and mark this and see if it's real?" And she said it's real.'

Griffin said: 'I had some wrapping from my Gatorade bottle so I went to the trash can so I threw it in and there was tons of money with red dye on it.'

Shane Steele made a call to 911 and learned there earlier had been a bank robbery, WBTW reported.

Suspect Brian Wilson Humphreys, Jr. allegedly robbed a TD Bank in Murrells Inlet on Saturday afternoon

Pictured is the TD Bank in Murrells Inlet that Humphreys, 35, is accused of robbing

The boy didn't consider hanging onto the cash, according to the TV station.

'There was a lot of it that didn't have the red on it but I wanted to do the right thing,' Griffin said.

Suspect Brian Wilson Humphreys, Jr. had allegedly robbed a TD Bank in Murrells Inlet on Saturday afternoon, WBTW reported.

He's accused of robbing a Conway National Bank back on January 23.

Humphreys is accused of robbing a Conway National Bank on January 23. Police released this photograph on Twitter on the day of the crime

Conway National Bank, the scene of the January 23 robbery, is pictured here

Horry County police tweeted on Thursday: 'Officers investigating a suspicious vehicle off Hwy 90 have located wanted bank robber Brian Wilson Humphreys Jr. He is in custody.'

Humphreys was found in a tent not far away, according to WBTW.

The suspect, 35, was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Thursday morning, online records show.
A group of Bigfoot hunters have made it their mission to travel across America and protect residents against the creature.

The Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization, which will appear Saturday in Destination America's new show 'Killing Bigfoot', responds to reported Sasquatch sightings, hunting down each specimen.

Members of the GCBRO have no doubts about the existence of the creature. The group says on its website that several of its hunters have witnessed it with their own eyes, and describes the southern Bigfoot as a fast animal that can be 'white, brown, black, reddish brown, brownish black, tan, gray, khaki' or 'black with gray streaks'.

The show's first season sees the team traveling around the country to protect families who believe they are being tormented by Bigfoot, and aiming to kill one of the animals so as to prove its existence.

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The Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization (pictured) is a team of Bigfoot hunters who have made it their mission to travel across America and protect residents against the creature

GCBRO members, which include former cops, National Guard and military veterans, a medical technician and a coroner's employee, use night-vision equipment, microphones and thermal imaging to try to capture traces of the animal.

During the first episode of 'Killing Bigfoot', three members of the group attend the Honobia Bigfoot Conference in Oklahoma and are confronted to those who believe the creature shouldn't be hunted, but left alone.

The next episode features a neuro-psychologist and no-kill advocate, who would like the GCBRO to forsake guns and insteadattract a Sasquatch by playing the flute playing and offering it food.

'We have the no-kill side that want to string us up and tell us (they) hope we shoot each other,' GCBRO investigator Don McDonald, of Brandon, Mississippi, told the Clarion-Ledger. 'They don't understand that some of these things are just plain mean.'

GCBRO members (some of which are picture) use night-vision equipment, microphones and thermal imaging to try to capture traces of the animal

The group will appear Saturday in Destination America's new show 'Killing Bigfoot', which will chronicle its efforts to kill a Sasquatch so as to prove the creature's existence

GCBRO members include former cops, National Guard and military veterans, a medical technician and a coroner's employee. Some of them are pictured during an investigation

McDonald recounted his encounter with a Sasquatch in Jasper County.

'It was 50 feet from us, just standing there with a full moon behind it. It was a nice, peaceful encounter and there is no way in the world I would shoot that animal,' he told the newspaper.

The show follows the GCBRO to Louisiana, where residents report seeing a small creature comparable to an orangutan and hearing monkey sounds near the woods.

GCBRO investigator Don McDonald (pictured) said some Bigfoots were 'mean'

GCBRO members will also go to east Texas, where a woman named Anna claims she shot a Sasquatch in her backyard. Another episode will focus on the Mississippi area.

'We don't go to an area unless we know the creatures are there, because we get a lot of false reports,' McDonald told the Clarion-Ledger.

'We look for tree limbs that have been tipped instead of cracked.

'If you're walking through the woods and try to be quiet, you are going to tip that branch so you will be stealthy next time through.'

Bigfoot, however, is hard to catch on camera according to McDonald, who offered an explanation.

'We believe they see in an infrared spectrum, which most of your trail cameras use to set off their trigger mechanism,' he said.

'Killing Bigfoot' will premiere Saturday on Destination America, with the six-episode season lasting until March 11.

During the first episode of the show, members of the group are confronted to those who believe the creature shouldn't be hunted, but left alone
The White House responded to a federal judge issuing a nationwide ban on Trump's controversial executive order, not once, but twice - just moments apart.

The Press Office released a furious statement condemning the ban as 'outrageous' around 10:05pm, then just 12 minutes later toned down the rhetoric and released a new statement that removed the word.

The two statements were issued three hours after the temporary nationwide ban was put into place by a federal judge in Seattle, with the time delay presumably to allow the president's team to formulate their response.

The White House Press Office released a furious statement condemning the ban as 'outrageous' around 10:05pm

The second statement, released 12 minutes after the first (which was deleted) with the same message though removing the word 'outrageous'

The original statement, released by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer reads: 'At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate.

'The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

'As the law states, "Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."'

The President is currently taking the weekend to spend time with his wife at their home in Mar-a-Lago.

The temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump's controversial action and the Customs and Border Protection has already alerted major US airlines that it will begin to reinstate visas

The original statement was released by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on the White House facebook page

Early Friday evening a federal judge put a nationwide block on US President Donald Trump's week-old immigration ban.

The ban, instated by an executive order, put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, and a 90-day ban on citizens from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

It caused major confusion at customs desks nationwide as well as protests at major airports around the country.

The temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump's controversial action and the Customs and Border Protection has already alerted major US airlines that it will begin to reinstate visas.
Homes have been damaged and many more are still under threat as a bushfire continues to tear through grasslands in Melbourne's north-west.

The fire, which started at 11.30am on a private property near Diggers Rest, spread quickly and by 2.30pm the Country Fire Authority had declared an emergency.

The fire has already ripped through 110 hectares of bush land and is moving in a southerly direction toward the Calder highway, the CFA said.

The fire, which started at 11.30am on a private property near Diggers Rest, spread quickly and by 2.30pm the Country Fire Authority had declared an emergency (pictured)

Homes damaged, others are under threat of bushfire in Melbourne on Saturday

Other advice includes bringing pets inside and turning off cooling systems

The CFA warning suggest people in homes nearby evacuate in case the fire picks up speed again

Homes have been damaged and many more are still under threat as a bushfire continues to tear through grasslands in Melbourne's north-west

The fire started on Saturday morning - and has ripped through 110 acres of bush

The emergency warning has now been downgraded to watch and act by authorities

The emergency warning which was issued for people in Calder Park, Bulla and Diggers Rest at 2.30pm has now been downgraded to watch and act but authorities are still urging people to be careful.

'The running edge of the fire has been contained however there are still some internal flare ups,' the CFA said.

The CFA warning suggest people in homes nearby evacuate in case the fire picks up speed again.

The emergency warning which was issued for people in Calder Park, Bulla and Diggers Rest

At 6pm Country Fire Authority confirmed the blaze was under control

The hot edge of the fire pictured her tearing through grassland

More than 110 hectares have already been burnt at least one property has been damaged

'Don't wait, leaving now is the safest option - conditions may change and get worse very quickly. Emergency Services may not be able to help you if you decide to stay,' the CFA said.

The authority has also released advice for people prepared to leave their properties.

'Shelter in a room that has a door and or a window to the outside so you can keep an eye on what is happening with the fire,' the advice states.

Other advice includes bringing pets inside and turning off cooling systems.

Authorities called in 30 firefighting vehicles to help contain the fast-moving blaze as well as two water bombing helicopters.

A waterbomb helicopter working to control the blaze as it threatened properties

The fire was upgraded to emergency status by 2.30pm but has since been downgraded

At 6pm Country Fire Authority confirmed the blaze was under control.

'Great work by everyone involved in bringing today's fire at Diggers Rest under control,' the authority wrote on Facebook.

'There is currently no threat to communities, but you should continue to stay informed and monitor conditions.

'Whilst the immediate threat has passed, you should plan for what you will do if the situation changes.'
Jetstar is offering flights from Australia to Japan for under $400 with a return flight for free.

The budget airline is offering one-way flights to Tokyo from Sydney for just $361.

Passengers can also travel to Osaka from Sydney for as little as $423.

Budget airline Jetstar is offering one-way flights to Tokyo from Sydney for just $361 and they are throwing selected return legs in for free.

Travel for all return flights must be booked for between March 23 and 30 November 2017.

Checked baggage isn't included in the price but it can be added for a fee.

Availability is limited on school and public holiday weekends but unlike some deal is available during these times.

The sale ends at 11.59pm on February 7 so those wanting to cash in better be quick.

Jetstar launched a similar deal in September last year.

Alternatively passengers can travel to Osaka from Sydney for as little as $423
A Brooklyn man admitted to raping and mock-crucifying his girlfriend's nine-year-old daughter, police said.

Phillip Payne, 29, was arrested and is held on $200,000 bail for abusing the girl and her five-year-old sister.

He was arrested on Thursday.

A view of Knickerbocker Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, where 29-year-old Phillip Payne lived. He admitted to raping and beating his girlfriends nine-year-old daughter

The older girl said Payne had raped her multiple times over the past two years, the New York Daily News reported.

She also said he would punish her by mock-crucifying her - he would stand her against a wall and push nails into her palms, beating her if she moved her arms.

Payne made a full confession and was charged with rape, sexual misconduct, child welfare endangerment, menacing and assault.

He had been arrested dozens of times - including a 2004 drug charge and 2009 robbery charge.
Jennifer Berry, whose daughter is biracial, was upset about a sign at St. Bernard-Elmwood Place High School

An Ohio schoolgirl told her mother she wanted to go home after seeing a 'White Entrance' and a 'Colored Entrance' poster on a school door.

Jennifer Berry, the mother of a biracial daughter, was upset about the sign at St. Bernard-Elmwood Place High School which made her daughter feel unwelcome.

The sign was designed by students and was approved by the school for Black History Month.

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School superintendent Mimi Webb told WCPO Cincinnati that the design was supposed to show 'how far we have come in society while acknowledging that we need to do more as a society' as part of a 'Breaking the Chains' theme.

Berry told the station: 'I feel like that door made her ashamed of who she is.'

Berry said, in reference to her daughter,: 'I feel like that door made her ashamed of who she is.' The school said the poster, which was not yet finished, was supposed to reflect a 'Breaking the Chains' theme

Student Cheran Sherman had helped design the door and told WCPO it was about overcoming 'the hatred and all the bad things that happened during the Jim Crow Era.'

The poster was put on the door in a non-finished form, the school said.

The 'White Entrance' and 'Colored Entrance' signs were removed from the finished product.

Student Cheran Sherman had helped design the door and told WCPO it was about overcoming 'the hatred and all the bad things that happened during the Jim Crow Era.' Pictured: A section of the finished product

Sherman added that the school has always celebrated Black History Month well.

Berry told WCPO that she does not blame the student but added that not all students knew what the door meant.

The school said it was all a misunderstanding.
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Sheltered away from the society that marginalises them, these are the waria of Indonesia.

Transexual and transgender people are often shunned in the largely conservative country, and many choose to move to a community on the island of Java.

Here they could, until last year, attend an Islamic boarding school for transgender learners, thought to be the only one in the world.

Now the waria - a term which combines the Indonesian words 'wanita' and 'pria', which mean woman and man - often gather in the building to pray, but the school shut after a public outcry last year.

Shintra Ratri, who founded the Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah religious school in 2008, before it was forced to close

The building acts as a haven for Indonesia's waria community, who face increasing discrimination

Transexual and transgender people are often shunned in the largely conservative country, and many choose to move to a community on the island of Java

Nevertheless, defiant teachers continue to hold occasional classes for those of the 42 students who continue their learning.

A series of photographs taken in the community of Yogyakarta, where around 300 waria live, give a fascinating insight into the lives of the marginalised group.

Last year Shinta Ratri, a waria activist who founded the Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah religious school, told Human Rights Watch: 'It was a place to pray together, to learn about Islam together.

The series of photographs taken in the community of Yogyakarta, where around 300 waria live, give a fascinating insight into the lives of the marginalised group

In the past 12 months, the community has come under fire. The Indonesian higher education minister led calls to ban LGBT groups from campuses because they were not 'in accordance with the values and morals of Indonesia'

The building now serves as a community centre for the waria, who can be victims of ridicule, violence and poverty

'Waria were uncomfortable praying in public mosques, so I thought it would be better for us to be together than sitting alone in our homes with our spiritual questions only in our hearts.'

The building now serves as a community centre for the waria, who can be victims of ridicule, violence and poverty.

A large proportion have no families or legal identities, and few can afford gender reassignment surgery, so often retain their male genitalia.

A large proportion have no families or legal identities, and face an increasing wave of discrimination across Indonesia

Around 300 members of the waria community live in Yogyakarta on the island of Java

In the past 12 months, right-wing politicians have called for homosexuality to be criminalised, but president Joko Widodo has called on authorities to defend LGBT people from violence

Many have silicon inserted straight beneath their skin in order to create their breasts, and only some have stable relationships with men.

In the past 12 months, the community has come under fire. The Indonesian higher education minister led calls to ban LGBT groups from campuses because they were not 'in accordance with the values and morals of Indonesia'.

With the surge in public condemnation, Shinta found herself under attack and conservative politicians called for the LGBT society to be criminalised and advocated 'cures'.

The school was closed last year after opposition from the Islamic Jihad Front, but classes continue to be held by defiant teachers

Shinta said: 'We want to prove that Islam accepts transgenders, that Islam is a blessing for all mankind'

In October last year, after months of silence on the issue, Indonesias President Joko Widodo said homosexuality should not be criminalised and called on the police to defend LGBT people from violence

The building now serves as a community centre for the waria, who can be victims of ridicule, violence and poverty

Last year fundamentalist Indonesian group the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI) called for the school to be closed.

Shinta told Human Rights Watch: 'I told them about how Islam accommodates diversity: people with disabilities, waria, all kinds of people deserve Allahs love.

'I recited passages of the Quran, and explained how we teach waria how to face death as Muslims, how to pray as Muslims. I told them about how I was a boy when I was born, but my soul is that of a woman.'

Shinta Ratri, a waria activist who founded the Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah religious school, said: 'It was a place to pray together, to learn about Islam together'

She said: 'I told them about how Islam accommodates diversity: people with disabilities, waria, all kinds of people deserve Allahs love'

After the school shut in February last year, Shinta told AFP: 'We want to prove that Islam accepts transgenders, that Islam is a blessing for all mankind.'

But a leader from the Islamic Jihad Front said: 'We can't be tolerant towards something that is bad.'

In October last year, after months of silence on the issue, Indonesias President Joko Widodo said homosexuality should not be criminalised and called on the police to defend LGBT people from violence.

But a new report by campaign group OutRight International has warned of a new wave of discrimination sweeping Indonesia, and called for the government to take stronger action to protect the community.
Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade and climate change secretary, has received 180,000 from a firm with links to the Chinese state

One of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow ministers has received 180,000 from a firm with links to the Chinese state.

Barry Gardiner, who served as a Northern Ireland and Trade minister under the Labour government, got the cash to pay for staff costs.

Mr Gardiner, the shadow international trade and climate change secretary, has also been employing the son of the firm's founder in his Westminster office.

The payments from law firm Christine Lee & Co are partly going towards this son's salary, parliamentary records show.

The veteran MP, who came into Westminster in the 1997 election, has been supportive of China's attempts to get more involved in Britain's nuclear industry, including the Hinkley Point power plant.

The donations from Christine Lee & Co, which acts as the main legal adviser to the Chinese embassy, were properly declared in the register of interests.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.

But one Labour source told the Times, which highlighted the payments, 'When you are in that kind of [shadow cabinet] role, it is problematic.

'Basically this woman is paying for her son to have a parliamentary pass.'

Mr Gardiner told the Times that Christine Lee's son, Daniel Wilkes, had volunteered in his office before securing employment through an 'open appointment process'.

He said he had never been 'improperly requested by, or influenced by' the firm in his political work.

He later added in a statement: 'Christine Lee & Co have generously supported my work as a Member of Parliament over many years.

The donations are from Christine Lee & Co, which acts as the main legal adviser to the Chinese embassy. Pictured is the founder of the firm Christine Lee

'The firm has enabled me to appoint a strong research support team to hold the government to account.

'This has always been transparently and appropriately recorded in the register of members interests.'

A spokesperson for the law firm said: 'Christine Lee & Co is proud of its record of public service and the support it has provided to the democratic process.

'We have never sought to influence any politician improperly or to seek any favours in return for the support that we have provided.'

Mr Gardiner was born in Glasgow and studied philosophy at Harvard before doing research at Cambridge. He won the seat of Brent North in North West London in the 1997 election.

He has lectured at the Academy of National Economy in Moscow and is a former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel. The 60 year old has also worked as a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office and as a minister in the Department for Trade and Industry and DEFRA.

He called for Gordon Brown to resign as prime minister in 2008.
Claims of child sex offences committed by other children have almost doubled in four years, according to new reports.

The number of alleged offences reported to police in England and Wales rose from 5,215 in 2013 to 9,290 in 2016, children's charity Barnardo's has discovered.

In total, there were 32,452 reports to police of alleged sexual offences by children on under 18 victims over the four year period  an average of more than 22 every day.

The alarming figures, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request, strengthen calls by the UK's leading children's charity for action to tackle the growing problem of children sexually harming each other.

The number of alleged child sex abuse offences comiitted by other children has increased to more than 9,000 in 2016 (stock image)

But the charity said the number could be higher as seven of the 43 forces in England and Wales either did not respond or provided only a partial response.

The forces with the highest number of reported offences were the Metropolitan Police (5,470); West Yorkshire (3,192); Greater Manchester (3,024); West Midlands (2,876) and Kent (1,678).

In Warwickshire there was a rise of 521 per cent. Norfolk saw an increase of 371 per cent and the rise in Lincolnshire was 345 per cent.

Last summer Barnardo's warned that child on child sexual abuse threatened to become the next major child protection issue. It backed calls for a national inquiry to examine the issue and urged government to develop a national strategy to tackle it.

Barnardo's also believes that age-appropriate compulsory sex and relationship education (SRE) would better protect children and help them understand consent, respect and what a healthy relationship should look like.

Barnardo's chief executive, Javed Khan said: 'Barnardo's warned last year that unless child on child sexual abuse is dealt with head on, it may become the next scandal in our society. These results are another wake up call to the extent of the problem.

'We're deeply concerned more children may be sexually harming other children. We know this can be because they've been abused themselves and may not have received the right support to help them recover.

'An estimated third of sexual abuse is carried out by children. Rehabilitating children so they don't go on to harm others is vital to preventing further sexual abuse. High quality age appropriate mandatory SRE lessons would help children recognise what a healthy relationship should look like.'

National Police Chiefs' Council lead for child protection and chief constable of Norfolk police, Simon Bailey said: 'We believe we can attribute these increases to more awareness and greater victim confidence. We also have to look at the possibility that more abuse is being perpetrated and if technology is facilitating this.

In total, there were 32,452 reports to police of alleged sexual offences by children on other children over a four year period  an average of more than 22 every day (stock image)

'These figures highlight the importance of building resilience in young people and educating them about sexual relationships. This can't be left to chance.

'I know from my own force that we are engaging with schools more than ever to educate and raise awareness of both the different forms of abuse and how to get support. It is clear from the increase in the number of reports we are receiving how vital this work is.'

Nusrat Ghani, the Conservative MP who chaired last summer's cross-party inquiry on Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) said: 'This latest research shows what a problem child on child abuse is, and why we need to tackle it. But it hopefully also shows that awareness of this issue is rising and that people are more likely to report instances of it to the police.

'Our report was right to put this issue front and centre, because for too long it has gone unreported and not been understood. The Government must work with schools, local authorities, police and voluntary organisations to tackle it.

'In this smartphone age, parents must also play a vigilant role in protecting their children from harmful sexual behaviour and from harmful sexual images that cause damage they are too young to understand.'
A girl who was allegedly raped by a man she was forced to marry was just 14 years old at the time, a court has heard.

Melbourne man Mohammad Shakir, 34, is accused of having sex with the girl between September 30 and October 1, 2016, following their wedding.

The ceremony was conducted by ex-Imam Ibrahim Omerdic, 61, who also faces charges relating to the illegal marriage.

The girl is in a 'fragile state' and has 'ongoing health issues', prosecutor Ranjani Padmanabhan told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.

A girl who was allegedly raped by a man she was forced to marry was just 14 years old at the time, Melbourne Magistrates Court (pictured) has heard

The ceremony was conducted by ex-Imam Ibrahim Omerdic (pictured), who also faces charges relating to the illegal marriage

Shakir appeared at court via video link and was told through an interpreter that the child's mother, stepfather, police and a Department of Health and Human Services representative would give evidence at his committal hearing.

Omerdic, former imam of the Bosnian Islamic Society and Noble Park Mosque, was stood down after his November arrest and later sacked.

'A new Imam has been appointed. Omerdic is no longer the Imam of the Noble Park Mosque and has no role with the Society,' a Noble Park Mosque statement read at the time.

They said Omerdics marriage celebrant license had also been revoked.

When he appeared via videolink in Melbourne Magistrates Court last month, he broke down in tears throughout the hearing, the Herald Sun reported.

Omerdics sacking came after the Victorian Board of Imams condemned marriages that were illegal in Australia.

The girl is in a 'fragile state' and has 'ongoing health issues', prosecutor Ranjani Padmanabhan said (stock image)

When Omerdic appeared via videolink in Melbourne Magistrates Court last month, he broke down in tears throughout the hearing

'As Australian Muslims we are required to observe and respect the laws of Australia,' it said in a statement in January.

The Islamic Council of Victoria also condemned underage marriages, despite saying it was acceptable in some cultures.

'It is true that marriage at a younger age is permitted in other countries and cultures, but this is not a justification for marriage below the legal age or child marriages here in Australia,' it said.

Omerdic is on bail while Shakir remains in custody.

The committal hearing is scheduled for April 18.
Irene Clennel faces deportation from the UK despite being married to a Briton for close to 30 years

A woman who has been married to a British man for almost 30 years is being held in a Scottish detention centre and is set to be deported back to her home country.

Irene Clennel, who lives in Ouston, near Chester-le-Street, in County Durham, was detained at a routine appointment at an immigration reporting centre in Middlesbrough last month.

She has been told she will be removed from the UK and sent back to Singapore.

But Mrs Clennel, who first came to the UK in 1988, has built a life in England and has a husband, two sons and a baby granddaughter.

In 2016, Mrs Clennel was told by Home Office officials to prepare to fly almost 7,000 miles away from her family and friends as she did not have a flight booked to go home.

Speaking to reporters last year Mrs Clennel said the prospect of being sent back to her country of her birth is 'frightening.'

She said: 'It happened so quickly. I was driven (here) feeling like some kind of criminal.'

'I have got no family in Singapore and I have no property in Singapore. My parents are dead. My only family is a sister, and she is working in India. My husband is British. I do not see why I cannot stay.

'I understand not everyone can come into the UK and stay, but surely I should be treated differently. I hope common sense will win, but I'm frightened.'

Mrs Clennell, who does not claim state benefits and is not allowed to work, is supported by her husband, John, 50, who is a gas engineer but is in poor health.

Irene and John Clennel. Irene has to care for John as he suffered from a blockage in his arteries and had a hernia

Irene and John Clennel, on their wedding day (left) and John (right). He is currently in poor health and unable to work

He has had a bypass operation following a blockage in his arteries, as well as treatment for a hernia, and relies on his wife of 27 years for support while he recovers.

The pair have two grown up children and have spent almost 25 years living between the UK and Singapore.

They returned to Singapore for several periods in that times as both her parents were diagnosed with cancer and work commitments.

Mrs Clennel says she has spent over 2,000 on applications to remain in the country as a resident and was granted the right to stay in 2008 however renewal applications have since been refused.

The Clennel's have two grown up children, born in the UK, and a granddaughter

Speaking in November after Mrs Clennel's latest application was refused, her husband said: 'It is mental torture, because of the stress. Both of her kids were born here. They are British citizens and she is the biological mother.

'I cannot see any reason why she cannot stay. I have paid more than enough taxes. She has a lot of friends here.'

A Home Office spokesman said: 'All applications for leave to remain in the UK are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules.'
Ex-security worker Martin Crean is understood to have been arrested on suspicion of taking bribes

Dozens of convicts are suspected of bribing security staff to fit their electronic ankle bracelets loosely so they could take them off and go out at night.

It is feared convicts were able to pull off their tags and put them back on in the morning to trick the authorities that they had been in bed all night.

Three security workers at Capita, which is contracted to run the Government's Electronic Monitoring Service, have been arrested.

They are suspected of taking bribes of 400 a time to help at least 32 offenders beat their court-imposed curfews.

The Metropolitan Police said 14 people, including the three current and former EMS workers, have been arrested.

One of those is understood to be 46-year-old Martin Crean from Romford, East London, who is said to have been sacked by the firm.

His home was reportedly raided after a convict was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder when he was meant to be under curfew.

Scotland Yard said a 46-year-old man, a former EMS employee, was arrested in Romford, Essex, on January 3 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and theft of tagging equipment.

Crean's mother told The Sun's Tom Wells: 'I had better give Martin a call. I am going to close the door now thank you.'

It is feared convicts were able to pull off their tags and put them back on in the morning to trick the authorities that they had been in bed all night

Capita won the six-year 400 million contract for electronically tagging criminals in 2014 after security firms G4S and Serco became embroiled in an overcharging scandal.

The Ministry of Justice said it was 'urgently' investigating the claims.

A 45-year-old man from Barking, Essex, and 57-year-old woman from Romford - both current employees - were arrested on January 18 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A further 11 people were arrested in connection with the investigation in January, Metropolitan Police confirmed.

A spokesman for the EMS said: 'We have a zero tolerance policy against any of our employees who act in any way to undermine the robustness of the electronic monitoring service.

'The small number of employees being investigated regarding this isolated issue were swiftly taken off duties and we are closely co-operating with the Metropolitan Police Service.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Detectives in Newham borough are investigating a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

A spokesman for the MoJ said: 'Public protection is our priority. We are urgently investigating and working closely with the police.' (stock image)

'Police had become aware that offender monitoring equipment was being used inappropriately.'

A spokesman for the MoJ said: 'Public protection is our priority. We are urgently investigating and working closely with the police.'

All 14 suspects have been bailed to dates in early April and inquiries are ongoing, police said.
The businessman once described as Africa's youngest billionaire could be forced to sell his 160,000 ticket to space to pay off his wife in their High Court divorce battle.

Computer parts seller Ashish Thakkar, 35, and travel journalist Meera Manek, 33, who separated in 2013 after four years of marriage, are due in court next week.

Mr Thakkar claims he only has 445,532 to his name but Miss Manek says he is a billionaire and is hiding the assets offshore to stop her getting her hands on them.

Ashish Thakkar (pictured bottom), once described as Africa's youngest billionaire, could be forced to sell his 160,000 ticket to space to pay off his wife in their High Court divorce battle

Mr Thakkar, who was born in Leicester but grew up in east Africa, was one of the first people to buy a ticket for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space flight.

But the first flight has not yet taken off after testing delays meaning Mr Thakkar is eligible for a full refund.

A source told The Daily Telegraph: 'The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court.'

'It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth.

'Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in.'

The Sunday Times Rich List estimated Mr Thakkar's wealth at 500 million in 2015 but did not list him in 2016.

The High Court will decide how much Mr Thakkar is worth over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday.

A further trial will then decide how much Miss Manek should receive.

Meera Manek, 33, who separated from Mr Thakkar in 2013 after four years of marriage, says he is hiding money from her

Mr Thakkar lost an opening skirmish in July when Mr Justice Moor ruled that the pair should not finalise a divorce until decisions had been made on how much Miss Manek should get.

The businessman has said the divorce should be finalised but Miss Manek said it should not be finalised until decisions on the division of money had been made.

In the Family Division of the High Court in London Mr Justice Moor ruled in her favour. The judge said Miss Manek might be at a disadvantage if she was fighting as an ex-wife rather than a wife.

Mr Thakkar's parents had been forced to leave Uganda in the early 1970s to escape Idi Amin's exile of the 'non-African community'.

They had lost everything and 'started again' in the UK, working in factories then starting their own business, lawyers said.

Mr Thakkar was born in Leicester in 1981.

His family had returned to Africa in 1993 and settled in Rwanda - shortly before hundreds of thousands were killed in a genocide.

Mr Thakkar lost an opening skirmish in July when Mr Justice Moor ruled that the pair should not finalise a divorce until decisions had been made on how much Miss Manek should get

The judge was told that Mr Thakkar had left school at 15 with no qualifications and started to trade in computer hardware after his parents lent him about 3,500.

Mr Francis said Mr Thakkar had 'joined forces' with his parents and other family members to create a collection of companies known as the Mara Group.

But Mr Francis said Mr Thakkar did not own shares in the Mara Group holding company.

He said shares were owned by Mr Thakkar's mother and sister.

The judge heard that the 'beneficial ownership' of the holding company was 'hotly disputed'.

Mr Francis said Mr Thakkar was a 'driving force' for social and economic change in Africa and had set up a 'social enterprise' to support entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Neither Mr Thakkar's nor Ms Manek's lawyers have commented.

Mr Thakkar is chairman of the United Nations Foundation global entrepreneurs council and founded the Mara Foundation in 2009, which serves as an online mentorship portal for young African entrepreneurs.

Three years ago he was appointed to the advisory board of technology company Dell.

In 2013, he became the first African to be named in Fortune magazine's annual 40 under 40 list, with total assets said to be in excess of $1bn and employees across 21 African countries.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe is set to retire this month after more than five years in post

Britain's most senior police officer has warned that public spending cuts mean the next person who takes his job will have to do their job with 'less cops'.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, who is set to retire this month after more than five years in the post, said policing large events will be a 'real challenge'.

In an interview with LBC radio, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner said: 'You need cops. You can't throw laptops at crowds.

'You've got to deal with the situations you face so that's going to be a real challenge.'

Describing budget squeezes facing Scotland Yard, he said: 'It's getting difficult.'

He continued: 'The bottom line is there will be less cops. I can't see any other way that it will be.

'There is only so much you can cut and make efficiencies and then you've got to have less police and I'm not sure that's wise in this city.

'It's getting bigger and we have some big events.'

He said his successor will have challenges policing events such as Notting Hill Carnival (pictured) with 'less cops'

Describing budget squeezes facing Scotland Yard, Sir Bernard said: 'It's getting difficult'

He cited deployments of thousands of officers to police the Notting Hill Carnival and New Year's Eve celebrations.

Sir Bernard has previously warned that 'the warning lights are flashing' over funding and resources after figures showed a large jump in violent offences, as well as fraud and cyber crime.

He also highlighted the Met's role in leading the counter-terrorist network throughout the UK.

He said: 'We've got officers based in embassies right around the world here.

'These are big things that whoever is going to take that job on has got to deal with and got to make sure they understand the complexity of it and give a clear leadership.'

Asked if he had any advice for his successor, Sir Bernard said: 'Have a holiday before they start. Think through carefully what they want to achieve over the next three to five years. Always look after your staff.'

He continued: 'People have views whether I've been good or bad. That's up to them.

'I don't mind but I know that nobody will work any harder. They're going to have to work really hard.

'On average, I think my hours have been about 72-75 hours per week. I've loved it but it is hard work.'

The next Commissioner is expected to be announced later this month.

The full interview will be broadcast next week on LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
Muhamed Avais's mugshot. He had been living in Abu Dhabi since January 2016

A child rapist who fled the UK before his trial was caught by police who tracked him down to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates after he posted pictures of himself in the city on social media.

Muhamed Avais, 50, fled the UK a day before he was due to stand trial in August 2015 for a string of vile sex attacks against a schoolgirl.

He was convicted of 19 offences of rape and sexual assault in his absence.

Avais fled to Pakistan on the eve of his trial at Stoke-on-Trent before spending 18 months on the run.

He was finally arrested after Staffordshire Police tracked him down to an address in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

Detectives found him the Middle Eastern nation's capital after he posted pictures of himself on social media-giving away his location.

He was flown back to the UK and on Friday he was jailed for a total of 20 years.

Judge David Fletcher said: 'These were horrific allegations against a very young girl.'

Avais, formerly of Etruria, Staffordshire, was also ordered to remain on the sex offenders' register for life.

A handcuffed Muhamed Avais after his arrest on Thursday. He was convicted of 19 offences of rape while in hiding in Abu Dhabi

The shiny cityscape of the UAE's capital Abu Dhabi

Avais had been charged with 13 offences of raping a child under 13, three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and three charges of a serious sexual offence against a child.

The sex offences were committed between March 2004 and March 2012.

But he skipped bail just one day before his trial.

Staffordshire Police's fugitive unit traced Avais to the United Arab Emirates where border checks confirmed he had been since January 2016.

Photographs were then found on Avais social media taken of him in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Tim Faux said: 'I welcome the long sentence given.

'It sends out a very strong message that this type of horrific offending will not be tolerated and should serve as a stark warning to all criminals who attempt to avoid jail. You will be caught eventually.

'Avais may have evaded going to prison initially but our determination to locate him and bring him back was steadfast.

'He was not going to escape punishment.

'I am full of praise for the victim, who has shown incredible bravery to report this is very difficult circumstances and has remained courageous throughout the entire process.

'Without the victim's bravery and commitment Muhamed Avais would not be behind bars and would be free to continue to abuse children.'
Soon-to-be wed couple Pippa Middleton and fiance James Matthews were all smiles as they prepared for married life - by visiting a flooring shop.

The pair, set to wed in what has been branded the Wedding of the Year, were pictured leaving the high-end Siberian Flooring store in Fulham Road, London yesterday.

Pippa styled herself in a maroon coat with fur collar and beanie whilst James was left to push her vintage bicycle.

Pippa styled herself in a maroon coat and beanie whilst James was left to push her vintage bicycle

The pair were all smiles as they left the flooring store in Fulham Road yesterday

They were seen leaving the store at around 8pm last night, with James looking casual in a black sweater, matching trousers and a white shirt.

The couple looked to be enjoying themselves, laughing and joking with Pippa smiling broadly.

Pippa, 33, will marry her hedge-fund beau, 41, on May 20 at St Marks Church in Englefield, near the Middleton's 4.7million mansion in Berkshire.

Prince George, Pippa's nephew, is tipped to be a page boy and her niece Princess Charlotte, who will have just turned two, a flower girl.

The Duchess of Cambridge's little sister shot to public attention when she wore a bottom-hugging bridesmaid's dress at the royal wedding in 2011.

James was seen pushing Pippa's bike as the couple walked along the street

Pippa, 33, will marry her hedge-fund beau, 41, on May 20 St Marks Church in Englefield, near the Middleton's 4.7million mansion in Berkshire

Pippa was smiling as they left the store, three months ahead of the couple's wedding

Best man: James's brother - Made in Chelsea star Spencer, is set to have a prime job at the couple's wedding

James, older brother of Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, is the CEO of Eden Rock capital management which he co-founded with his friend and business partner Edward Horner.

Before entering the world of finance, he was educated at Uppingham and was a racing driver.

Recently, he has helped set up Eden Being with Oetker hotels; they aim to sell luxury products inspired by grand hotels.

Spencer is set to be best man at the lavish ceremony.

The couple share a joke as they walk away from the shop at around 8pm yesterday

Bobble: Pippa wrapped up against the January cold in a warm hat

A bicycle made for two! The couple have many hobbies in common and enjoy similar pursuits

Although smaller than sister Kates 1,900-strong service at Westminster Abbey in 2011, it will undoubtedly be a large affair, with between 350 and 400 guests.

Those who make the cut, according to one family acquaintance, will be 'her Edinburgh Castle crew meets Made In Chelsea'.

Pippa popped some luxurious Save the Date cards inside her Christmas cards.

Her engagement ring  a whopping four-carat, Asscher-cut diamond in an octagonal halo, estimated to cost 250,000  came from the discreet Chelsea jewellers Robinson Pelham.

Pippa's engagement ring  a whopping four-carat, Asscher-cut diamond in an octagonal halo, cost an estimated 250,000

Pippa shot to fame after she was a bridesmaid at her sister's wedding in 2011 (left), and recently ran the GE Blenheim Triathlon at Blenheim Palace (right)

Designer Giles Deacon is expected to design the dress after he was spotted visiting Pippa and mum Carole at home before Christmas.

After the ceremony, guests will head to a large marquee in the Middleton family home.

The Duchess is not set to be a bridesmaid at Pippa's wedding.
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Almost a week's worth of rain is set to fall in Britain on Monday with Wales, the west of England and Scotland worst affected.

Up to 20mm of rain and 60mph winds will batter the UK thanks to weather moving in from the Atlantic.

Today there is rain in the north, east and west of Britain but the rest of the country is enjoying sunny spells.

Sunday will be mostly overcast before a week's worth of rain will fall on Monday.

The calm before the storm: The south of England enjoyed calm and sunny spells on Saturday. Pictured: Swanage Beach in Dorset

Splish splash: Two children paddle on Swanage beach in Dorset as the south of England avoids rain which troubles the north

Blown away: Porthleven in Cornwall suffered storm damage from Friday with wooden baulks, which protect the harbour and its fishing boats from the force of the waves, snapped in half

Today there is rain in the north and the east and west of Britain. Sunday will be mostly overcast before a week's worth of rain will fall in a day on Monday

Met Office forecaster Emma Sillitoe said: 'Heavy rainfall on Monday will affect most of the country as the rain will be moving slowly eastwards.'

She said 15 to 20mm of rainfall is expected on Monday where the long term local average is about 100mm for February.

'It is about a fifth of rainfall for the month in one day,' she said.

Wales could get gusts of 45mph to 50mph while the Scottish coast could see winds of 55mph to 60mph.

It can be traced back to weather moving in from the Atlantic that will be a 'quite a slow moving' system.

The rain is set to move away by Tuesday but it will linger around the east coast and the winds will not be as strong.

Forecaster Mark Wilson described the weekend's weather as a 'north-south split'.

Up to 20mm of rain and 60mph winds will batter the UK thanks to weather moving in from the Atlantic. Pictured: Swanage Beach

Sunday will be mostly overcast before a week's worth of rain will fall on Monday. Pictured: A man plays with his dog on Swanage Beach

'The north of the UK will be blustery with some further heavy rain and some hill snow,' he said.

'In the south of the UK, apart from a few showers, it will be a much drier day to come with lighter winds and some sunny spells.'

He said as Saturday and Sunday progress, 'temperatures are going to start to fall'.

'In the last couple of days, they have been quite mild, but by Sunday daytime, highs will range between 5C (41F) and 8C (46.4F),' said Mr Wilson. 'It will be noticeably colder.'

Friday: Waves crashed into the sea front at Porthleven in Cornwall at high tide as Britain was battered by a ferocious storm

Friday: Giant waves crashed into a train at Dawlish in Devon, as the UK was battered by rain and winds set to return on Monday

Yesterday Hurricane-force winds sent 20ft waves crashing against a coastal railway line.

Dramatic footage from the front of a CrossCountry train in Dawlish, Devon, shows the sea waves battering against a moving train.

The high tide mixed with the strong winds made the line impassable and services were cancelled or rerouted.

Passengers on routes such as Dundee-Penzance and Manchester Piccadilly-Paignton were able to switch to other operators at Exeter or Plymouth.
A British man and a woman have been arrested in London after Washington DC's CCTV cameras were hacked just days before Donald Trump's inauguration.

Police stormed a house in south London after the cyber attack was launched on the network - crippling 123 out of 187 cameras.

The day before President Trump was sworn into the Oval Office on January 20, the National Crime Agency raided a property in Streatham and arrested a British man and a Swedish woman, both 50 years old.

Natal Road in Streatham where the raid and arrest took place

Washington officials said the hack last week saw ransomware left on the camera system between January 12 and January 15 in a bid to extort cash from the authorities.

City officials were left unable to record, forcing major citywide reinstallation efforts, according to the police and the city's technology office.

And US authorities believe the cyber attack may have been a test run with another computer assault potentially planned for the day of the ceremony.

A spokeswoman for the NCA would not confirm what was found at the address, but added: 'We can confirm that officers executed a search warrant at an address in Natal Road, SW16 on the evening of 19 January.

Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to attendees of his inauguration on January 20. The hack was made between January 12 and January 15

'Enquiries are ongoing and we are unable to provide further information at this time.'

No ransom was paid to the hackers and the issue was resolved internally by reinstalling software and restarting each infected system individually.

The arrested pair have been bailed until April 2017.
Trump's administration launched an appeal against the Seattle court ruling that suspended his controversial immigration ban, as the president predicts he would win 'for the safety of the country'.

The legal move comes almost 24-hours after a federal district judge in Washington suspended the so-called 'Muslim ban' causing Trump to fire off a day's worth of furious attacks, warning that 'many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country'.

The frantic appeal filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday evening does not immediately lift Friday's temporary halt on Trump's executive order barring certain foreign travelers.

Department of Justice lawyers must wait for the court to make their ruling either to pause the temporary halt or to cancel it outright. However, it was not clear if this would happen Saturday night or take several days.

Until a ruling on the appeal is delivered, airlines have been allowing previously barred foreigners to board U.S bound flights and the State Department has reinstated visas.

Trump said Judge James Robart's ruling was a 'terrible decision' and the country was opened up again to 'terrorists' in a tweet posted hours after Homeland Security announced it would no longer enforce his executive order.

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Donald Trump's administration and the Department of Justice have launched an appeal against the Seattle court ruling that suspended Trump's controversial immigration ban. Federal judge James Robart (right) issued a ruling that temporarily halted Trump's order barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries on Friday

Pictured: The White House and Department of Justice have launched an appeal of Judge Robart's Friday ruling that freezed Trump's immigration ban. The appeal was filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday evening

As his administration is rushing to have their boss's policy put back in place, Trump attended a gala in Florida.

When asked about the status of the current legal battle, he said: 'We'll win. For the safety of our country, we'll win.'

The Justice Department submitted a notice of appeal to the court and is expected to file its brief outlining its legal argument later on Saturday night.

Although the basis of the legal argument for requesting the 'emergency stay' the White House is seeking is still unknown, Department of Justice lawyers previously argued Washington and Minnesota didn't have the right to sue because they haven't been harmed.

WHAT DOES THE APPEAL PROCESS LOOK LIKE The Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal against Judge James Robart's ruling that halted Trump's travel ban. The notice was submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday evening. The circuit court hears appeals from several Western states, including Hawaii and Alaska. Lawyers will now ask the court to put the temporary restraining order on hold or to cancel it altogether. The Justice Department is expected to file its brief outlining its appeal argument later on Saturday night. Advertisement

The Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who brought the lawsuit said he was not surprised by the move and would keep fighting.

He said in a statement: 'President Trumps decision to appeal comes as no surprise, and we will continue to hold him accountable to the Constitution.

'We are confident the Court of Appeals will uphold Judge Robarts well-reasoned decision halting  immediately and nationwide  the Presidents unconstitutional Executive Order.'

The Friday ruling by the veteran Washington jurist, who was nominated by George W. Bush in 2004, temporarily halted Trump's order banning travelers and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

On Saturday afternoon, after playing a round at the Trump International Golf Club near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump tweeted: 'Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision.'

His post followed on from a tirade of tweets he posted that morning, warning that re-opening borders to the countries affected by the ban could lead to 'death and destruction'.

'When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!' Trump tweeted on Saturday.

'Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!'

Shortly after the Department of Justice had filed the appeal Trump tweeted that Judge Robart's ruling opened up the United States again to 'terrorists'

Anger: Donald Trump then asked why lawyers were ignoring the decision taken in a Boston federal court

On Saturday afternoon, after playing a round at the Trump International Golf Club near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump tweeted, that the ban was a 'terrible decision'

His post followed on from a tirade of tweets he posted in the morning, warning that re-opening borders to the countries could have severe consequences

'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!'

Hours earlier, major airlines started allowing passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to fly to U.S. cities if they had valid visa documents.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR TRAVELERS While the temporary restraining order on the immigration ban is being appealed, previously blocked travelers can still enter the country. It is unknown how soon the appeals court will reach a decision and grant or deny the Department of Justice its emergency stay. Until then, Customs and Border Protection has reinstated visas from formerly barred countries. Several airlines have boarded people from the seven countries formerly barred from entering. Foreign travelers have a small window of opportunity to legally enter the United States before any decision is made. Advertisement

Judge Robart, who has been on the federal bench for 10 years, is known in legal circles for his community service fighting on behalf of refugees.

But he made headlines once before when he used the phrase 'black lives matter' in a federal case concerning police brutality by the Seattle Police Department.

According to CNN, he told a court in August 2016: 'Police shootings resulting in deaths involved 41% black people, despite being only 20% of the population living in those cities.

'Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20% people of the population -- black lives matter.'

On Saturday morning, hours after Robart's controversial decision, the State Department announced it would be reversing visa cancellations for foreigners to comply with the judge's ruling on Saturday.

At the same time, Department of Homeland Security also said it was suspending any action from the executive order.

Major airlines, including Qatar Airways, Air France, Etihad Airlines, Emirates, Spain's Iberia and German airline Lufthansa said they would allow previously banner passengers to fly to U.S. cities following the judge's ruling.

While judges have ruled against previous presidents in the past, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, they were not known to have personally criticized judges for their decisions.

AIRLINES ALLOWING PASSENGERS TO FLY: United Airlines

American Airlines

Delta

Qatar Airways

Etihad Airways

Emirates

Air France

Spanish airline Iberia

Germany's Lufthansa Advertisement

The White House slammed the judge's ruling as 'outrageous' and vowed to appeal as soon as possible on Friday night. The temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump's ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Judge Robart made his ruling effective immediately on Friday, and Customs and Border Protection immediately alerted major US airlines that it will begin to reinstate visas.

The state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: 'This decision shuts down the executive order right now. No one is above the law - not even the President'.

With the Department of Justice seeking to file an emergency stay to reverse the decision as soon as Saturday, it opens a narrow window for previously barred travelers to enter the country.

However, it was unclear how the change in status was being received on the ground. No U.S. airports reported they were releasing travelers still held in limbo on Friday night and there were no reports of any passengers exploiting the gap.

Going into the weekend, further chaos is undoubtedly expected as the two branches of government begin a tug of war battle over the law - with customs offices attempting to interpret directions at the center.

Executive orders are subject to legal review by a federal court when brought before a US judge. The government's bid to have the temporary restraining order reversed will now play out in court.

Ammar Alnajjar, left, shakes hands with his cousin Fahd Alfakih after coming into New York's JFK International Airport on a flight from Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday when the immigration ban was temporarily suspended

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement late Friday night that the Department of Justice intends to halt the 'outrageous order' at the earliest possible time

HOW ONE FEDERAL JUDGE'S RULING CAN HALT AN EXECUTIVE ORDER How can a federal district judge seemingly over rule the president? The temporary restraining order issued by Judge James Robart on Friday has the power to implement new procedures like dictating how the Customs and Border Protection agency should operate. Executive orders are subject to legal review by a federal court when it is brought before a US judge. In this case, the challenge was brought by the state of Washington and Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue and issued a nationwide temporary restraining order on the executive order while the court considers the lawsuit filed by the two states. It means government agencies have to comply with the ruling. Robart's move is not unprecedented. In the past nationwide injunctions blocking executive orders have been imposed by district courts and the federal government must obey, even when other district courts have ruled otherwise. The Washington state judge used a case from Obama's presidency as precedent for his ruling. A Texas federal district court blocked Obama's plan to shield some undocumented immigrants from deportation. What happens next? The Department of Justice said it will file an emergency stay appealing the decision, which is a request to stop it. US Customs and Border Protection have alerted airlines that refugees in possession of valid US visas will now be allowed into the country. The government will have to fight the judge's decision in court in a bid to have it overturned. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson told CNN on Friday night he expects the case to move quickly through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because of the magnitude of the executive order. Ferguson said he was prepared for case to go all the way to Supreme Court depending on which way the court of appeals ruled.

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The first statement from Spicer used the word 'outrageous' to describe Judge Robart's ruling (pictured)

However, a quick 12 minutes later, the White House issued another release with the same wording but removed 'outrageous' from the statement (pictured)

It took Trump's administration three hours to grasp how to address the Seattle judge's order.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement that the Department of Justice intends to halt the 'outrageous order' at the earliest possible time but not as soon as Friday night.

Immediately after releasing the first statement the White House issued another release with the same wording but removed 'outrageous', reported CNN.

The State Department is working with the Department of Homeland Security to determine how it affects its operations, a State Department official said.

Until the Department of Justice wins its emergency stay, previously denied travelers could have a small window of opportunity to enter the country.

Robart, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, made his decision after Washington state and Minnesota urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

He repeatedly questioned the federal government's lawyer, Michelle Bennett, about the rationale behind the order.

Robart asked if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties listed in Trump's order since 9/11. Bennett said she didn't know.

'The answer is none,' Robart said. 'You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that.'

The judge recently became emotional in a hearing over Seattle police reform and closed with a declaration of 'black lives matter', reported The Seattle Times.

Protesters were gathering in Washington DC and outside the White House on Saturday

Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when his executive order was dismantled on Friday. The president waited until Saturday to respond to the matter through his Twitter

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said: 'No one is above the law - not even the President'. Upon the news of the appeal, he said he would continue to fight the ban

Pictured: The seven countries that were previously banned in Trump's executive order. These travelers can now enter the United States again

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

AMAZON CEO BACKS LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP'S TRAVEL BAN Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said his company supported Washington's lawsuit against President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration and refugees. Pictured: Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos Bezos wrote in an internal email to Amazon employees Monday that company lawyers have prepared a 'declaration of support' for the suit. He continued that employees affected by the order have 'the full extent of Amazon's resources behind' them. Amazon has a market cap of $292billion. He announced that the company would put support behind Washington's lawsuit against the ban, which saw success on Friday. Amazon's headquarters are located in Seattle, Washington. Following Trump winning the presidency, Forbes reported that Amazon's stock plummeted for a week straight. The giant online retailer was one of several tech companies to stand against Trump. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Netflix voiced disapproval of the action. Advertisement

Judge Robart's decision was an echo of many citizen's beliefs that America has and will always welcome immigrants, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who was one of the biggest advocates for lifting the ban.

Bezos supported the lawsuit against the government that was filed in Washington, the same state as Amazon's headquarters.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

Washington became the first state to sue, with Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson saying the order was causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit this week.

Ferguson was elected to his position in November 2012 and took office in 2013. He won his re-election the following term.

He has plans to introduce legislation banning semi-automatic assault-style weapons later this year, the Seattle Times reports.

After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.

Washington and Minnesota won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which says key sections of Trump's order are illegal and unconstitutional.

In court, Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said the focus of the state's legal challenge was the way the president's order targeted Islam.

Purcell said: 'We only challenged the parts that are actually affecting people immediately, which are the parts about refugees and the parts about targeting these seven countries.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer

'The parts that have getting so much attention and have been causing such immediate harm to people, stranding them oversees and such, are enjoined right away.'

He told the judge that Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and the travel ban was an effort to make good on that campaign promise.

'Do you see a distinction between campaign statements and the executive order,' Robart asked. 'I think it's a bit of a reach to say the president is anti-Muslim based on what he said in New Hampshire in June.'

Purcell said there was an 'overwhelming amount of evidence' to show that the order was directed at the Muslim religion, which is unconstitutional.

When the Robart questioned the federal government's lawyer Bennett on the matter, she argued that the states can't sue on behalf of citizens and the states have failed to show the order is causing irreparable harm.

Robart disagreed.

Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas canceled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.

That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and admitting immigrants.

The lawsuit says Trump campaigned on a promise to ban Muslims from coming to the U.S. and kept up that rhetoric while defending the travel ban.

Lawyers pointed to dozens of exhibits of speeches and statements Trump has made.

'The executive order effectively mandates that the states engage in discrimination based on national origin and/or religion, thereby rescinding the states' historic protection of civil rights and religious freedom,' the complaint said, calling it a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Muslim men pray at a prayer and demonstration at JFK airport to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order on Friday

The lawsuit ultimately seeks to permanently block parts of the executive order that suspend immigration from the seven Muslim-majority countries, put the U.S. refugee admissions program on hold and halt entry of Syrian refugees.

Ferguson said the order is causing significant harm to Washington residents, businesses and its education system.

It will reduce tax revenue and impose significant costs on state agencies, as well as make it impossible for some state employees and students to travel, he said.

Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the state's efforts to stop the order. They say it's hurting their operations, too.
Australian men were described by the US military during World War II as incoherent, beer-drinking tough guys who would gamble on raindrops falling on a window.

In 1942, the US Army handed a 54-page booklet to its soldiers who were sent to Australia during the war to help them deal with culture shock.

Titled 'Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia', the handbook's overriding theme was that the two countries shared a robust military and cultural alliance.

But 75 years later, it gives a compelling insight into America's perception of Australians and reveals what the US Army told its men about Australian soldiers.

Australian men were described by the US military during World War II as incoherent, beer-drinking tough guys who would gamble on raindrops falling on a window

The handbook was titled 'Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia'

US servicemen were given a list of common colloquialisms in Australia in 1942. 'Australian slang is so colorful, and confusing,' the handbook read

American soldiers are pictured catching up on the news at the American Red Cross in Townsville, Queensland, in 1942

According to the booklet, US servicemen stood little chance of interpreting the abundance of quips and colloquialisms Down Under.

'Thanks to our movies, the average Australian has some working knowledge of our slang, but it'll take you a while to get on to theirs.

'To them a ''light guy'' is a ''fair dinkum''; a hard worker is a ''grafter'' and ''to feel crook'' means to feel lousy; while ''beaut'' means swell,' the booklet read.

'Australian slang is so colorful, and confusing.'

One American soldier, who was stationed in Brisbane, gave a first hand account of his struggles to comprehend the Australian dialect.

One American soldier stationed in Brisbane said: 'Instead of dollars and cents they had pounds, shillings, pence and things. They talk about quids and bobs'

The pamphlet attempted to explain cultural and historical differences between the two countries

The handbook's overriding theme was that the US and Australia shared a robust military and cultural alliance. Pictured, US troops try out their automatic cannon during a flight over Australia

Two American soldiers teach American nurses how to shoot in Brisbane in 1943

'The Aussies were hard to understand and we had to ask them two or three times what they said.

'They either ran their words together, slurred them, or cut each short,' he said.

'Instead of dollars and cents they had pounds, shillings, pence and things. They talk about quids and bobs,' he said.

'Nobody could figure it out. What we used to do was to buy something and then put our hand in our pocket and bring out the change and say ''take what ya want''.'

The handbook also described Australia's love of eating meat, drinking beer and gambling on absolutely anything.

'It's been said of the Australians that if a couple of them in a bar haven't anything else to bet on, they'll lay odds on which of two flies will rise first from the bar, or which raindrop will get to the bottom of the window first,' the booklet reads.

'If an American happened to be there, he'd probably be making book.'

The handbook also described Australia's love of eating meat, drinking beer and gambling on absolutely anything. Above, African-American American soldiers, a Jazz orchestra and women at an officers dance and the Carver Service Club in Brisbane during the war

As for drinking, US soldiers headed for Australia were told there would be a shortage of American rye whiskey. Above, a group of soldiers and a woman celebrate Thanksgiving at Brisbane's Dr Carver Service Club in 1943

As for drinking, US soldiers headed for Australia were told there would be a shortage of American rye whiskey.

'The main drink is beer - stronger than ours and not as cold. Hard liquor is fairly expensive and much less commonly drunk than in America.'

The handbook's section on Australia's way of warfare described Aussie soldiers on the battlefield as 'tough guys' with an unfounded reputation for ill-discipline.

'All Americans who've had anything to do with them say they're among the friendliest guys in the world - and fine physical specimens of fighting men,' the pamphlet read.

The booklet described Australians as 'meat eating potato guys' who weren't too keen on fruit, green veges and salad

The book read: 'The Aussies don't fight out of a textbook. They're resourceful, inventive soldiers, with plenty of initiative.' Here an Allied United Nations in New Guinea with a group of American, Australian and Dutch soldiers are pictured together

'The Aussies don't fight out of a textbook. They're resourceful, inventive soldiers, with plenty of initiative.

'Americans and British have the idea they are an undisciplined bunch - they aren't much on saluting or parading, and they often do call their C.O (commanding officer) by his first name.

'But when the fighting begins, there isn't any lack of discipline or leadership, either.'

The booklet also described Australians as 'meat eating potato guys' who weren't too keen on fruit, green veges and salad.

In 1942, the US Army handed the 54-page booklet to its soldiers who were sent to Australia during the war to help them deal with culture shock. Above, Australian soldiers rest aboard an American hospital ship in 1943

Anglo-American Allied soldiers rejoice, waving their flags in Australia in 1944

Australian soldiers disembark an American LST after securing beachheads at Lae on the drive to oust occupying Japanese from the area

'Australians are great meat eaters... They don't go in for green vegetables and salads and fruits as much as Americans.

'Some of the best fruits in the world are grown along the tropical coasts of Queensland, but the Australian, nevertheless, is strictly a ''meat and potatoes guy''.'

'Meat pies are the Australian version of the hot dog, and in Melbourne, the substitute for a hamburger is a 'dim sin', chopped meat rolled in cabbage leaves which you order 'to take out' in Chinese restaurants.'

The booklet concluded with a full list of common slang to help soldiers understand everyday speech Down Under.
A top university's science department was evacuated after a student accidentally concocted a deadly explosive - the same as that used in the 7/7 bombings.

The explosive substance TATP, or acetone peroxide, was created in the University of Bristol's chemistry lab, according to a staff member.

It's the same chemical that was used in the London 7/7 bombings as well as terror attacks in Paris and Brussels.

Staff and students from the School of Chemistry were evacuated after the dangerous mixture was discovered

Police, ambulances and five fire engines attended as a precaution and a bomb disposal team attended to help dispose of the chemical

Staff and students from the School of Chemistry were evacuated after the dangerous mixture was discovered in a lab at 2.30pm on Friday.

Police, ambulances and five fire engines attended as a precaution and a bomb disposal team attended to help dispose of the chemical.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary said it could not comment on the substance but confirmed the incident was not being treated suspicious.

Twitter user Hannah Gamlin, who is based in the West Country, tweeted: 'If you just heard a loud bang in Bristol it was an unsafe substance from Bristol Uni chemistry lab being disposed of in Royal Fort Gardens.'

The fire brigade and ambulance service was called to the scene as a precaution

A member of staff who was working in the building at the time of the evacuation said the TATP was created as a by-product of an experiment.

The staff member added: 'There are two levels and both floors were filled with first and second year students, and probably around 150 just in one lab alone.

'As you can imagine, everyone didn't stay calm and got out very quickly. I was told by those working closely to the lab it was TATP.'

TATP is a homemade explosive substance, and has been used in improvised explosive devices (IED).

Traces of it was found after the 7/7 bombings, the November 2015 Paris attacks and last year's Brussels bombing.

The University of Bristol's science department had to be evacuated after a student accidentally concocted a substance used in bombs

A spokesman for Bristol University would not confirm the nature of the substance, saying a review was set to start next week.

But he confirmed the 'unstable substance' was made accidentally.

He said: 'Our chemistry building and those buildings in the near vicinity were evacuated earlier this afternoon as a precaution, due to an unstable substance being manufactured by mistake.

'The substance has been disposed of safely and no one was injured.

'We will be looking into what happened and seeing what lessons can be learned.'
A shoplifter dressed a cuddly dog toy in a baby grow and drew a face on a bra in a bizarre effort to fool security staff.

Saffron Curtiss-McGinty used the elaborate ploy in an attempt to hide stolen goods at a B&M Bargains store in Solihull, West Midlands, under a child's buggy.

But the 18-year-old lacked a baby to justify the pram, and security guards were not fooled.

A police chief who saw the funny side said she would not win any awards for her artwork, and described it as 'abstract'.

The 'abstract' get-up was designed to fool security guards into thinking she was wheeling a baby around

After being stopped, she slapped a store manager in the face.

The soft toy was dressed in a baby grow and scratch mitts, with a crude face scrawled on half a bra.

She was stopped at the store's exit on January 27, and staff found scented candles, sweets and an electric toothbrush hidden in the buggy.

She was arrested and charged with theft and assault.

Curtiss-McGinty, of Highgate, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to assault by beating and two counts of shoplifting, having been identified on CCTV stealing from the same store on the previous day.

In reality it was a soft toy dog with half a bra over its face. Security guards were not fooled

She was handed a 12-month community order and told to attend a rehabilitation course by Birmingham Magistrates Court on Friday.

Curtiss-McGinty must also pay compensation and court costs.

Solihull Police Chief Inspector Jack Hadley, said: 'She won't win any awards for her artwork that's for sure. I guess her baby portrait could politely be described as "abstract".

'We have known thieves try to use a child's buggy before to conceal stolen items - it's a tactic police and retailers are aware of - but I've never come across a case of anyone making their own child!

'Shoplifting is a serious matter though, and figures show that West Midlands Police investigates some 16,000 shop thefts a year. It costs the tax-payer more than 1-million.'
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Crumbling and overgrown, this Scottish castle turned Second World War hospital now lies abandoned.

Buchanan Castle in Stirlingshire became a military hospital which treated Rudolf Hess, a leading Nazi who helped write Hitler's book Mein Kampf.

It lies to the west of the village of Drymen and the overgrown remains stand within formerly landscaped grounds.

Frightening: Crumbling and overgrown, this Scottish castle turned Second World War hospital now lies abandoned

Eerie: The castle lies to the west of the village of Drymen and the overgrown remains stand within formerly landscaped grounds

On May 10 1941, Deputy Fuhrer Hess flew to Britain on a secret mission to negotiate peace with the Duke of Hamilton behind Hitler's back.

But his plane ran out of fuel and he injured his ankle while parachuting to the ground. He was arrested and taken to Buchanan Castle for treatment.

The stunning pictures show moss and ivy taking over the former castle, which was partially demolished in 1954 and no longer has a roof.

The wooden insulation has been left exposed and rotting and vines have taken root on them.

From a distance, you can even make out the towers which are missing turrets and have fallen into disrepair.

The haunting images were taken by an urban explorer and photographer known only as The Forgotten Scotland.

Spooky: Buchanan Castle in Stirlingshire, Scotland became a military hospital which treated Rudolf Hess, a leading Nazi who helped write Hitler's book Mein Kampf

Betrayal: On May 10 1941, Deputy Fuhrer Hess flew to Britain on a secret mission to negotiate peace behind Hitler's back

For this impressive shoot, the explorer used the lightweight Olympus Em5 DSLR Camera, which was easy to carry whilst exploring the castle's ruins.

The Forgotten Scotland explorer said: 'I had, unknowingly, driven past Buchanan Castle for many years on my way to the eastern shores of Loch Lomond.

'I first heard about it online and from then on I was intrigued by its beauty, but also its surprising history.

'During WW2 it had an unexpected use, keeping Adolf Hitler's right-hand man, Rudolph Hess as a prisoner of war in 1941.

Beautiful: The stunning pictures show moss and ivy taking over the former castle, which was partially demolished in 1954 and no longer has a roof

Creepy: The haunting images were taken by an urban explorer and photographer known only as The Forgotten Scotland

Explorer: For this impressive shoot, the explorer used the lightweight Olympus Em5 DSLR Camera, which was easy to carry whilst exploring the castle's ruins

'The main problem with shooting in a location like this is trying not to die.

'You have to watch your every step, for holes in the floors, sharp objects sticking out from the overgrowth, and precarious beams or loose masonry hanging overhead.

'I just want people to look at the photos and for them to use their imagination  what was it like decades ago, the sounds, the smells, the mood.

'Hopefully then people can appreciate the history that is often hidden on their doorstep.'

He added: 'You have to watch your every step, for holes in the floors, sharp objects sticking out from the overgrowth, and precarious beams or loose masonry hanging overhead'
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Thousands of protesters today to took to the streets of London to call on the Prime Minister to end her 'collusion' with US President Donald Trump.

The demonstration was organised by groups including the Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism and the Muslim Association of Britain.

One man, apparently from the US, was filmed burning his passport in protest at the President's controversial measures.

Marchers called on Theresa May to withdraw her controversial invitation of a state visit to Mr Trump and denounced his travel ban as 'racist'.

Similar protests were held in cities across the UK, and thousands rallied against the US President in Paris and Berlin.

Organisers say 40,000 protesters are marching in central London to protest President Trump's travel ban and planned state visit to the UK

One sign branded the US President a 'fat c**t' at the protest today, which attracted 40,000 into central London

The American president's travel ban has angered protesters, and thousands marched through the streets of London today

Marchers have accused US President Donald Trump of scapegoating Muslims after he announced a 90 day travel ban on seven countries with a predominantly Muslim population

The march saw thousands descend on Downing Street after a protest outside the US Embassy in central London

In a video message played to the thousands gathered on Whitehall, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Trump's state visit invite 'should be withdrawn until the executive orders are gone and every element of them repealed'.

He said: 'I support the campaign of millions of people in Britain that Donald Trump should not be welcomed on a state visit to this country.'

He said the crowds stood in 'solidarity' with 'our friends all over the USA who share our views and our values, who are standing with minority communities under attack'.

Mr Corbyn, who thanked the protesters for 'standing up for what is right', added: 'Theresa May and the Conservatives are on the wrong side of history.'

A huge banner bears the words 'Dump Trump' as thousands of people took to the streets to protest

Marchers have called on the government to withdraw the offer of a state visit to the new US President

Protesters displayed their disquiet at Theresa May for holding the President's hand on her recent visit to Washington

This afternoon's march set off from the US embassy toward Downing Street.

Protesters brandished placards declaring 'No to scapegoating Muslims' and 'No to Trump, No to War', while they chanted 'Theresa May shame on you'.

Mrs May invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House.

The US President was accused of sexism and racism by marchers through central London this afternoon

Large groups of protesters have demonstrated against the US President's 90 day travel ban

Hours later, Mr Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - to stop 'radical Islamic terrorists' from coming to America.

But the move has been heavily criticised, and a petition calling on the government to stop Trump making a state visit because it would cause 'embarrassment' to the Queen has received more than 1.8 million signatures.

Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation, and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year.

Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including at least 2,000 protesters at New York's Kennedy International Airport, while thousands took to the streets of the UK amid anger over the ban.

Thousands gathered outside the US Embassy in London this afternoon protesting about the President's travel ban and plans to visit the UK

An anti-Trump protester in front of the Eiffel Tower as thousands joined a rally in the heart of Paris today

A large protest was held in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin this afternoon as Germans took to the streets to show their opposition

John Rees, co-founder of Stop the War Coalition, said there were almost 40,000 people at the demonstration which showed that 'the government has got a very, very big problem with the state visit'.

He said Mrs May had a choice to either 'insult the American president, or insult a majority of people in this country who don't share that president's views on practically any issue you care to mention'.

Mr Rees added: 'He (Mr Trump) thinks one way about women, most people in this country don't share that view. He thinks one way about Muslims, most people don't share that view.

"She's got a choice: she can either insult him, or us.'

One Simpsons-inspired sign on display at the rally declared Trump to be the 'worst President ever'

Angry protesters accused the US President of scapegoating Muslims, and branded Theresa May an 'appeaser'

John Rees, co-founder of Stop the War Coalition, said Theresa May had 'walked into a storm wholly bigger than she could imagine' and urged her to 'disinvite' the president

Mr Rees also claimed that Theresa May had 'walked into a storm wholly bigger than she could imagine' and urged her to 'disinvite' the president.

Azad Ali, director of engagement at Muslim Engagement and Development, said the march aimed to let 'anyone that is peddling hate know that it is not going to be tolerated and that as a society and a community we will all live together, side by side, peacefully'.

Weyman Bennett, joint convener for Stand Up to Racism, added that if the state visit went ahead, people, rather than a red carpet, would be 'rolled out in our millions to say you're not welcome and your policies are not welcome'.

Protesters held up placards calling for the US President to be denied a state visit to the UK

A demonstration outside the US Embassy saw crowds call for Donald Trump to be 'sunk'

Kevin Courtney, National Union of Teachers (NUT) general secretary, told the crowds that Mr Trump's policies were aimed at 'stoking up fear'.

He said that the 'fear and division' was evident in schools and told the masses gathered: 'I'm here to say that every teacher should be involved in the campaign against Trump.'

Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central, told the crowds that Mrs May needed to 'understand the responsibility' of the UK's relationship with the US.

She added: 'The answer isn't walls and the answer isn't bans'.

The crowds marched down Park Lane - filling the length of the famous London street - and along Piccadilly towards Downing Street.

The crowds marched down Park Lane - filling the length of the famous London street - and along Piccadilly towards Downing Street

Organisers said 40,000 people braved the rain to show their disgust at Trump's travel ban, and his invitation for a state visit
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau may seem like she has it all, with a beloved prime minister for a husband, three young children, a successful journalism career and style to top it all off.

But Gregoire Trudeau struggled with bulimia as a young woman, and counts the outpouring of support she's received as the most important gift in her life.

The 41-year-old recounted her struggle and eventual advocacy at an event on Thursday in Ottawa, Canada, during the country's Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

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Sophie Gregoire Trudeau opened up about her struggle with bulimia at an event on Thursday in Ottawa, Canada, during the country's Eating Disorder Awareness Week

She said opening up about her struggle and having people share their experiences in return has been the 'most beautiful gift' in her life

Gregoire Trudeau, who had a happy childhood growing up in Montreal, revealed she started struggling with the eating disorder when she was 17.

'I remember feeling ashamed, thinking, "Why am I suffering from this?" On the surface I had it all,' she told the crowd on Thursday.

'I kept reading about what it was to be a bulimic and saying, "This is the last time Im doing this to myself."

'I started to tremble because of too much binging and purging and thinking, "What is this?"'

Eating was a way for her to feel like she had some control of her life, even though the opposite was true, Gregoire Trudeau revealed in a 2011 interview.

She said: 'Addictions are biochemical imbalances of the brain, and binging and purging is a sign of a greater emotional wound.

'Eating was my only way of controlling my life, or so I thought. When you are addicted or suffering from a mental illness, you think youre in complete control.

'But the opposite is true. You are, in fact, completely out of control.'

It wasn't until she was 21 that she broke down, reached out to her parents for help, and started on the long road to recovery.

Gregoire Trudeau started binging and purging starting from when she was 17 years old. She said she would often feel ashamed as well as weak and shaky

It wasn't until she was 21 that she broke down, reached out to her parents for help, and started on the long road to recovery

She opened up about her struggle in 2006 when she was still a television presenter - and has become a staunch advocate by sharing her own experiences.

On Thursday, she said she was once asked by a journalist whether she was ashamed of sharing her story, Global News reported.

She said: 'Ashamed? The moment I started sharing my story, obviously I had begun on my road to recovery.

'The response and the people who were opening up towards their own struggles to me and to other people around them was the most beautiful gift Ive ever received.'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau right) has previously expressed his support of his wife, saying he was 'moved by her dedication' to causes like self esteem and mental health

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously expressed his support of his wife, saying he was 'moved by her dedication' to both women's issues and causes like self esteem and mental health.

The two grew up together in the affluent Mont Royal neighborhood of Montreal, where Gregoire Trudeau attended school with her future husband's younger brother.

She recalled seeing him in the newspapers years later, and described having a 'weird feeling' that they were meant to be together - a notion that her mother laughed off at the time.

The two met again as adults when they co-hosted a charity ball together and soon began dating before tying the knot in 2005.
ELKO  The public is invited to Business Before Hours, which is a networking opportunity that the Elko Area Chamber offers every other month.

Its a great way to get your community connections, information, and networking in during the morning hours. Join us for breakfast snacks, coffee, and a raffle! This event is free and open to the public.

Our next Business Before Hours will be hosted by The Childrens Cabinet, and will be from 8-9 a.m. Feb. 9 at The Sherman Station, 1405 Idaho Street.

The Childrens Cabinet is a national non-profit company that focuses to ensure that every child and family has the services and resources to meet fundamental development, care, and learning needs. They offer resources, classes, and case management for families. So please join us on February 9th and learn more about this amazing resource and business that is in our community.
Former President George H.W. Bush has a smile back on his face after a 16-day hospital stint in January.

The 92-year-old was pictured for the first time after he was treated for pneumonia in early January at Houston Methodist Hospital.

NFL senior vice president of communication Greg Aiello, tweeted the photo of the smiling 41st president and his nephew, Denver Broncos president Joe Ellis, ahead of Bush's coin toss at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The first picture of George H.W. Bush since he was discharged from the hospital was tweeted on Friday. Bush, 92, is pictured with his nephew Denver Broncos President Joe Ellis

The former president and his wife Barbara pose for a photo at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston. Bush was admitted for pneumonia and was released on Monday

'Broncos President Joe Ellis with his Uncle George from Houston who will toss the coin Sunday prior to #SuperBowl,' Aiello tweeted.

Bush is set to make an appearance at the big game in his hometown in Houston for the toss between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.

The native Texan seemed to be in good spirits since his release as he tweeted his excitement about being asked to perform the toss alongside his wife Barbara.

'Getting fired up for Sunday', the former President wrote alongside a GIF animation of a coin spinning around on his presidential desk.

Bush was also present for the 2002 Super Bowl coin toss ahead of the New England Patriots taking on the St. Louis Rams.

President George H.W. Bush has confirmed that he will be throwing the coin toss at this Sunday's Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons

Former President George H.W. Bush will carry out the Super Bowl coin flip on Sunday. Bush (right) was also present for the 2002 Super Bowl coin toss ahead of the New England Patriots taking on the St. Louis Rams

Bush 41 was taken to the hospital on January 14 for shortness of breath and was then treated for pneumonia. Former First Lady Barbara Bush spent five days at the same hospital for treatment of bronchitis. Mrs Bush was released a week earlier.

Their son, 43rd President George W. Bush told DailyMail.com through a spokesman on Monday that he was glad to see both of his parents released from the hospital.

'43 is just thrilled that 41 is home and well,' the younger Bush's spokesman Freddy Ford said, referring to the two George Bushes by their numbers in the order of U.S. presidents.
Melbourne City's Dean Bouzanis has appeared to racially abuse Melbourne Victory's Besart Berisha by calling him a 'gypsy' during a tense derby at Etihad Stadium.

Moments after Manny Muscat scored an 87th minute own goal to give Melbourne Victory a 2-1 win, Bouzanis could be heard pointing and calling Berisha a 'f****** gypsy.'

In manic scenes, Tim Cahill was sent off for dissent without making it onto the pitch as Victory jumped off the canvas with six minutes remaining.

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Moments after Manny Muscat scored an 87th minute own goal to give Melbourne Victory a 2-1 win, Bouzanis (pink) could be heard pointing and calling Berisha a 'f****** gypsy.'

Melbourne City's Dean Bouzanis (pink) has appeared to racially abuse Melbourne Victory's Besart Berisha (blue) by calling him a 'gypsy' during a tense derby at Etihad Stadium

His comments spared outrage online, with fans labelling them 'racist' and 'disgusting'

City were heading for a win to open up the race for second place when Neil Kilkenny scored his first goal in Australia to put them ahead after 70 minutes.

But Berisha - who was previously the night's villain after blowing golden chances either side of half-time - put Victory on terms from Marco Rojas' cut-back.

Two minutes later, Victory had a controversial winner when Jason Geria's fizzed cross deflected off Manny Muscat's foot into the City net.

The result cuts the gap from leaders Sydney FC to nine points with nine matches remaining.

The three points will also prevent Berisha from a sleepless night after his earlier blunders.

The Albanian should have put Victory ahead in the first half's dying minutes, only to take an air swing from Alan Baro's cross from three metres out.

Dean Bouzanis was equal to his effort, and let the Victory striker know all about it, calling him a 'gypsy' in comments picked up by on-ground microphones

Besart Berisha of Victory has his goal chance spoilt by Dean Bouzanis of City

He then missed a penalty on 62 minutes after Luke Brattan tugged down Rojas inside the box.

Dean Bouzanis was equal to his effort, and let the Victory striker know all about it, calling him a 'gypsy' in comments picked up by on-ground microphones.

His comments sparked outrage online, with fans labelling them 'racist' and 'disgustng.'

'Dean Bouzanis deserves a lengthy ban for calling Besart Berisha a gypsy, there is no place for racism in sport. Disgusting,' wrote Tim Roberts on Twitter.

Berisha was in the thick of the action for Victory's match-winner, requiring the referee and linesman to consult given his close attention to Bouzanis.

Safe hands: Dean Bouzanis (GK) of Melbourne City FC saves the ball

Full stretch: Besart Berisha of the Victory misses a penalty as Dean Bouzanis of City dives

The goal eventually stood, much to City's chagrin.

Worse for Michael Valkanis' side, Cahill was denied the chance to find an equaliser.

After starting on the bench, Cahill was set for a late injection into the match but saw red when referee Chris Beath took umbridge at a comment made on the touch-line.

For all the late drama, for an hour this was a turgid affair.

City's best chance fell to Bruno Fornaroli, who headed home a 45th minute cross from Kilkenny but was flagged as offside in a tight decision.

'I thought it was a good goal,' Valkanis said.

Valkanis said he had been given no explanation for Cahill's send off.
Actor Tom Conti has said the prospect of a Tesco opening near his 17.5million north London home is horrifying'

Veteran actor Tom Conti has said the prospect of a Tesco opening a mile away from his 17.5millionLondon home is horrifying.

The television and film star - famous for his portrayal of Costas Caldes in hit 1989 movie Shirley Valentine - said he was fuming that his favourite Budgens store in Belsize Park in north London could be turned into a Tesco.

He said he loves his local Budgens, because of its selection of fruit and vegetables and because much of its stock is sourced from local suppliers.

The movie star, along with 2,000 other locals - including Emma Thompson and Janet Suzman - successfully fought a bid to open a Tesco in the area in 2015.

Speaking out this week, after bosses at Tesco announced its 3.7bn takeover of Booker - which owns Budgens stores across the UK - he said he was horrified the store could become a Tesco store.

The actor, who lives in a six-bed mansion in nearby Hampstead - about a mile from the store - said: It is horrifying news. Its terrible pay back after our campaign.

The fear is that Tesco will reduce the quality of the food and raise the prices. Budgens in Belsize Park is known for its high quality and great range of food.

Andrew Thornton, the owner of the Budgens store in Belsize Park, said he was shocked at the deal between Tesco and Booker, adding: I am shocked to find this out as historically Tesco have hardly been a friend to independent retailers and communities, and indeed we all fought hard to stop them coming to Belsize Park.

Whatever happens, be assured that I will fight for what we stand for, for retaining our independence and for continuing to support our amazing community here in Belsize Park.

Actor Tom Conti with Andrew Thornton of Thornton's Budgens supporting campaign to stop supermarket Tesco opening an express store in Belsize Park

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said the deal with Booker would create the UKs leading food business.

He said: Tesco has made significant progress in turning around our UK retail business.

This merger with Booker will further enhance Tescos growth prospects by creating the UKs leading food business with combined expertise in retail, wholesale, supply chain and digital.

A street view of the Budgens in Belsize Park that Conti fears could be turned into a Tesco

Despite Conti's fears Budgens CEO Charles Wilson last week said it would be unlikely that Budgens-branded stores would become Tescos.

Wilson said: 'I would be really surprised (if Budgens stores became Tescos). The Londis, Premier, Family Shopper and Budgens customer are very passionate about their brands and their businesses and theyre looking for more support.

'We serve the retailers; we dont go in their businesses, and that is why were fully expecting to be helping them strengthen Premier, Londis, Budgens, etc., rather than switching the format.'
Aleksej Gubarev is suing Buzzfeed for defamation after they published the unverified dossier that mentions his name

A Russian tech executive is suing BuzzFeed and editor Ben Smith after they named him in the unverified Trump dossier that alleges his company helped hack the DNC.

Aleksej Gubarev is the CEO of XBT which hosts websites and also owns Webzilla. He also named former spy Christopher Steele and his company Orbis Business Intelligence in London as defendants in the lawsuit.

The suit claims Gubarev was falsely accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee. It does not specifically say what damages Gubarev is seeking, but it says it has hurt him personally and professionally.

Gubarev also told CNN Money his wife is harassed online because of the documents and he fears for his three children's safety.

After Gubarev filed the defamation suit in Broward County, Florida, on Friday Buzzfeed redacted any mention of his name on the dossier on the website.

It says neither Smith or anyone from Buzzfeed reached out to Gubarev to verify if any of the information about him was true.

A spokesperson for Buzzfeed told the station: 'We have redacted Mr Gubarev's name from the published dossier, and apologize for including it.'

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Aleksej Gubarev is suing Buzzfeed and editor Ben Smith (left) for publishing his name in the dossier. The suit claims the documents caused him personal and professional damage

This does not change Gubarev's choice to move forward with the lawsuit.

In a statement, Gubarev told McClatchy DC: 'The dossier included libelous, unverified and untrue allegations regarding XBT, Webzilla and Gubarev.'

'The lawsuits seek yet undetermined compensation for the damages suffered by XBT, Webzilla and Gubarev as the result of the publication of the dossier.'

Buzzfeed was the only news organization to publish the 35 documents in full. He was named on the last page,

In regards to Gubarev's company, the dossier states XBT: 'had been using botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct altering operations against the Democratic Party leadership.'

Gubarev's lawsuit claims Buzzfeed never contacted him to verify what they published

President Trump branded the dossier compiled by former British secret agent Christopher Steele as 'fake news' and even accused CIA director John Brennan of leaking the document.

In a press conference in January, Trump said: 'That information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public.'

'As far as BuzzFeed, which is a failing pile of garbage, writing it, I think they're going to suffer the consequences.'

Ben Smith has defended at length the website's editorial choice to publish the documents.

In an op ed for the New York Times, Smith writes: 'News organizations should instead consider this reality: Our audience inhabits a complex, polluted information environment; our role is to help them navigate it  not to pretend it doesnt exist.'
Robert Fabian, 25, was arrested on Saturday in connection with the disappearance of his 22-year-old girlfriend, Zuzu Renee Verk, who disappeared near Alpine, Texas, in October

A 25-year-old man has been arrested after police found human remains in a shallow grave that are believed to belong to his college student girlfriend.

Robert Fabian was taken into custody on Saturday morning in Alpine, Texas, in connection with the disappearance of his 22-year-old Renee Verk.

The Sul Ross State University student went missing in October after going on a date to the movies.

Fabian has been charged with tampering or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

He was named a primary suspect by police two weeks after Verk's disappearance.

A US Border Patrol agent found unidentified human remains Friday morning in a shallow grave off Wagon Road in the Sunny Glen area northwest of Alpine, the town where Verk was last seen in October, The Dallas Morning-News reports.

The skeletal remains are being sent to the medical examiner's office for identification.

Verk's family has been notified, although police are not sure if the remains belong to her.

The Brewster County Sheriff's Office said the results may come back next week.

No arrests have been made, but police said Verk's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Robert Fabian, is their primary suspect.

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Human remains found in a shallow grave in West Texas on Friday morning may be 22-year-old Sul Ross State University student Zuzu Renee Verk (above) who disappeared in October

The remains were found during a routine border patrol operation northwest of Alpine, Texas

Police have not yet identified the remains and are continuing to investigate

Verk was reported missing by Fabian on October 14, who told police he had last seen her leaving his home at 3am two days prior.

He has since refused to answer questions about the last time Verk was seen, and he and a friend, Chris Estrada, were acting strange in the days following her disappearance.

'Unfortunately we have one individual who has refused to come in and talk to us, he has retained an attorney,' said a police spokesman at an October press conference.

'This individual happens to know her better than anyone else. Investigators are waiting to talk to him.'

John Franco, who lives in the apartment directly below Fabian, told The Dallas Morning-News that the couple made dinner around 9pm on October 11.

'You could smell their food, and you can hear their conversation and then laugh a little bit.

'Then, it got quiet like after 11pm', Franco said.

Franco and his girlfriend heard 'shut the 'f' up' and then nothing else.

The couple often fought, but Franco said that night Fabian kept pacing across his apartment.

Then, Franco's girlfriend heard a loud thump around 3am.

'She wanted me to go check, so I went to go check, and it was just Robert', Franco said.

He saw Fabian get into his car alone, with Verk's car still parked outside until October 14.

Search warrants found that Fabian called Estrada twice during the early morning of October 12 and later borrowed a Ford F-150 pickup for an unknown reason.

Verk, a student at Sul Ross State University (file above) in Alpine, was last heard from during the early morning hours of October 12, Alpine Police say

Estrada tried to get his Ford Mustang cleaned three times at a local auto shop in the days following Verk's disappearance.

Both men testified in front of a grand jury in January but no indictments have been handed down.

Verk, who is originally from the Fort Worth area, studied conservation biology at Sul Ross State University in Alpine.

Her father, Glenn Verk, said she was absent from school, where she is studying conservation biology, and also missed work later that day.

The Alpine Police Department is looking for two vehicles possibly related to her disappearance: a grey 2006 Jeep Liberty (left) and a 2004 Mazda Miata (right) convertible with a beige colored top

'We're all special but there's something exceptional about this young woman. She's vibrant and she's full of excitement and life,' Glenn Verk told CBS11.

'I'm just very proud of her and I want to see her again,' her father said while choking back tears.

Zuzu Verk left her parents' home in Keller to go on a date to the movies back in Alpine with Fabian on the night of October 11, Fox News reported.

In addition, Verk had planned to go on a camping trip with friends that Friday.

Verk's family is still hoping for her safe return and is asking anyone who may have information to call police.

'The community has reached out to an amazing degree putting together huge search parties,' her father said.

Verk's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Robert Fabian, is the primary suspect in her disappearance. He has refused to answer questions about the last time he saw her

Fabian and his friend, Chris Estrada (above), were acting strange in the days following Verk's disappearance. Both men testified in front of a grand jury in January but no indictments have been handed down

'If they have any connection to anything that might've happened her in Alpine, the smallest inclining of a suspicion. Nothing is being overlooked.'

The Alpine Police Department is looking for two vehicles possibly related to her disappearance: a grey 2006 Jeep Liberty and a 2004 Mazda Miata convertible with a beige colored top.

Both of those vehicles were spotted in the area between 12am and 10am on October 12, police said.

Verk is described as 5 feet tall, weighing 110 pounds with blonde hair and hazel eyes.

The reward for her return reached $200,000 in October as authorities continued to search nearby counties and the US-Mexico border near the Big Bend state and national parks.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Alpine Police Department at 432-837-3486.
Drug dealer Stuart Walsh was given a 36 months prison sentence for the attempted blackmail

A drug dealer who led a plot to blackmail the landlord of an award-winning pub has been jailed for three years, on top of a previous offence.

The Community Pub of the Year, the Firbank Pub and Kitchen in Wythenshawe, was repeatedly firebombed in July, August and September 2015.

In desperation, landlord Simon Delaney posted on Facebook offering a 3000 reward for information on those responsible and the next day received an anonymous call.

The caller rang the pub and said: 'I'm nothing to do with what's going on - but I can make it stop for 5,000..'

Mr Delaney was left in fear by the call, which he took as a threat, and contacted police.

Officers traced the phone back to 36-year-old drug dealer Stuart Walsh, who had conspired with three associates in the extortion bid.

Walsh, of Penrith Avenue, Ashton-under-Lyne later admitted conspiracy to blackmail and perverting the course of justice, after getting his co-conspirator, Lee Vesey, to offer a bogus account to police of how he had come by the incriminating phone.

Landlord Simon Delaney and his wife Rachel stand outside their award winning Firbank Pub and Kitchen

Walsh's Manchester Crown Court sentencing heard there was nothing to link the arson to the blackmailers, who had decided to take advantage of Mr Delaney's situation.

Michael Maher, defending Walsh, said: 'This wasn't one of those long term conspiracies where a campaign of violence is followed by a campaign of blackmail over many days or months.

'The agreement was made and executed within a very short time. It was unkind, it was shabby, it was criminal, but when one looks at the actual duration, it was minutes.'

Mr Maher said Walsh knew he 'wasn't getting any younger' and hoped to change his ways for his young family.

At the time of the extortion bid - September 2015 - Walsh was under surveillance by police investigating his drug dealing activities. Officers even saw Lee Vesey buying the phone credit used to make the call.

Walsh was jailed for eight years last year for conspiracy to supply amphetamines , and has now been ordered to serve another 36 months on top by Judge Suzanne Goddard QC.

The pub was firebombed sporadically in 2015. Windows were smashed in the numerous attacks

The Community Pub of the Year, the Firbank Pub and Kitchen in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester

In a statement taken at the time of the blackmail and arson, Mr Delaney told police his life had been turned upside down and his business had been 'destroyed' by the criminals targeting it.

But since then the pub has made its award-winning comeback, after the landlord, his family and his staff vowed to keep fighting on behalf of their community.

In December last year Walsh partners in crime were jailed. Kurt Taylor, 28, of Somerton Avenue, Wythenshawe, was jailed for 36 months, alongside Lee Vesey, 33, of Nearbrook Road, Benchill, who was jailed for five-and-a-half years, and Lee Taylor, 36, of Maine Road, Fallowfield, for 36 months.

Speaking after the case, Mr Delaney said: 'We have moved on now. I'm concentrating on running a great community pub for the people of Wythenshawe.'

Last year the Firbank Pub and Kitchen was heralded as 'Community Pub of the Year' by the 'Great British Pub Awards' and was crowned Pride of Manchester in the council's 'Be Proud Awards.'

During the firebombing periods Mr, Delaney considered walking away from the trade after the Newall Green pub was repeatedly firebombed.


A Massachusetts high school teacher has been suspended after she rescinded a college recommendation letter for a student caught making a swastika.

The teacher, who is an army veteran, was suspended from Stoughton High School for 20 days after she reached out to the college to explain her decision following the anti-Semitic incident.

The student had fashioned a swastika from tape and displayed it while decorating the halls after school before Thanksgiving.

A female teacher, who is an army veteran, was suspended from Stoughton High School (pictured) in Massachusetts after she contacted a college to withdraw her recommendation

When another student told him to throw it out because it was offensive, the male student made an offensive comment about Adolf Hitler killing Jews during the Holocaust.

The student, who was studying the Holocaust at the time, was suspended but students continued to talk about the incident, the Enterprise reports.

Several teachers were then disciplined for speaking about the incident among themselves and with students after a parent of the boy filed complaints.

Superintendent of Schools Marguerite Rizzi had sent out a school-wide letter explaining the parent's complaint.

Superintendent of Schools Marguerite Rizzi (left) would not comment on the incident when it was raised by the teacher's union at the school's board meeting last week

'The student believed that he was being targeted, creating a hostile environment for him by members of the faculty because of his actions, despite having already been disciplined by the administration,' Rizzi wrote.

Two teachers were given disciplinary letters for talking about the swastika incident.

The other teacher was suspended by talking about it and contacting the college to say she could no longer support the student's letter of recommendation because of what he did.

The incident and disciplinary action was made public last week by the Stoughton Teacher's Association during the school's board meeting.

Another student created a GoFundMe page this week in support of the suspended teacher. The Massachusetts Teachers Association also started a petition for the teachers who stood up to 'hate speech in their school'.
After a night of dancing at a star-studded after party for HBO series Girls, former first daughter Malia Obama was straight back to work.

The 18-year-old was spotted heading to her film production internship in New York City on Friday morning.

She has been keeping herself busy pitching scripts to high level movie executives, but decided to dress down to the office.

The teenager wore high top converse sneakers, light wash jeans and a blue cowl neck sweater.

Malia is taking a gap year before starting at Harvard in the fall. She has already traveled to South America, and been seen hiking in the Andes.

But she stayed at home while her parents vacationed with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands last week.

In the summer of 2015, she was an intern while Girls was being shot in the Big Apple, and it seems her friendships with the company have been long-lasting

After a night of hitting a star-studded after party for HBO series Girls, former first daughter Malia Obama was spotted heading back to her film production internship in New York City on Friday morning

Malia plans to take a gap year before attending Harvard University in the fall, though she's staying busy at the independent film company

On Thursday she partied the night away with the likes of Lena Dunham and the rest of the cast.

Malia was seen mingling with the cast of the HBO series and a number of celebrities at the star-studded bash in New York on Thursday night.

While the aspiring filmmaker didn't walk the red carpet at the Lincoln Center, she was spotted making her surprise appearance at the HBO-hosted after party at New York's famed Cipriani.

Party guests were said to have been fawning over the former first daughter.

Having interned on the set, Malia would have been acquainted with show's cast and crew.

Those partying alongside Malia included Rita Wilson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann and the entire Girls' cast.

It comes after the former president's eldest daughter was spotted starting her internship with producer Harvey Weinstein's company in New York on Monday.

Malia Obama was spotted rubbing shoulders with the cast of Girls and a host of other celebrities at the HBO show's final season premiere after party in New York on Thursday night

Cast Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet and Jemima Kirke were among those partying at New York's famed Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday night

The Girls cast Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke posed at the final season premiere at New York's Lincoln Center earlier on Thursday night

Malia worked as an intern on Girls in the summer of 2015 and would have been acquainted with show's cast and crew, including Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke

Those partying alongside Malia included Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard (pictured, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann Rita Wilson, and the entire Girls' cast

Malia is working in the production and development department at the Weinstein Company, reading scripts and deciding which are worth pitching to executives. The internship will run through the spring and pays around $9 an hour.

Her parents have moved from the White House into another home in Washington, DC so that younger sister Sasha can finish high school.

They planned to lease a $4.3 million home in the elegant neighborhood of Kalaroma, complete with nine bedrooms and eight-and-a-half baths.
Several airlines could ditch flights from Heathrow over fears of a rise in landing charges to fund a third runway, an industry boss has warned.

Major airlines could opt to fly from rival airports such as Amsterdam's Schiphol instead, over concerns that they could be forced to fork out towards Heathrow's expansion.

Rafael Schvartzman, European vice-president of the International Air Transport Association, said that airlines would only back the third runway if fees remained at current levels, the Times reports.

His comments came as it was revealed Heathrow was already putting plans in place to pass its expansion costs on to airlines.

An artist's impression showing how Heathrow Airport could look with a third runway. Last year the government finally gave its support to the idea of a third runway at Heathrow rather than a second runway at Gatwick

A third runway at Heathrow Airport was given the go-ahead by the Government in October after proposals to expand its existing runway, or build a second runway at Gatwick, were rejected.

The airport has already been given the go-ahead by the Civil Aviation Authority to incorporate 10 million of early planning costs into its day-to-day running expenses.

This means that airlines could be forced to foot the bill if they want use the airport - meaning prices could rise and passengers may end up paying more for their flights.

It was not immediately clear which airlines had suggested they may stop running flights into Heathrow.

Earlier this week, amid fresh fears that more households will be blighted by noise from aircraft, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling argued that the airport's expansion is essential to post-Brexit Britain as the country attempts to boost trade links around the world.

He said: 'Aviation expansion is important for the UK both in boosting our economy and jobs and promoting us on the world stage. Leaving the EU is a new chapter for Britain and provides us with a great opportunity to forge a new role in the world.

'We are determined to seize that opportunity and having the right infrastructure. By backing the Northwest runway at Heathrow airport and publishing our proposals, we are sending out a clear signal that when we leave the EU, we are open for business.'

The proposed expansion of Heathrow would see the M25, at great expense, buried in a tunnel underneath the third runway at Heathrow, as seen in this artist's impression

Opponents of the third runway, including local councils, MPs and environmental campaigners, have vowed to continue their resistance.

Opponents of Heathrow expansion have also raised concerns that the government is not revealing where the new flightpaths around the airport will be.

John Stewart, chair of anti heathrow expansion group HACAN said: 'Chris Grayling has emphasised the post-Brexit benefits of a third runway by increasing connectivity to far-flung destinations in Asia and Africa but what about the price that will need to be paid in terms of worse noise and pollution for British citizens living under the new flight paths. He has said much less about that.'

Last week an attempt by campaigners to bring a High Court challenge against a third runway at Heathrow Airport failed.

A coalition of local councils, including Hillingdon, Richmond, Wandsworth and Windsor and Maidenhead, together with Greenpeace UK and a Hillingdon resident, claims that the Government's October 2016 decision to back plans for the runway is unlawful.

A coalition of local councils, including Hillingdon, Richmond, Wandsworth and Windsor and Maidenhead, together with Greenpeace UK and a Hillingdon resident, claims that the Government's October 2016 decision to back plans for the runway is unlawful

It alleges there was a failure to consult before resiling from unequivocal promises that it would never be built and that the Government has failed to recognise the project's unlawful air quality impacts.

But lawyers for the Transport Secretary argued that the judicial review could not proceed - saying it should not be heard until after the consultation on the National Policy Statement (NPS) on aviation is published in 2017/18.

The case was thrown out as the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter because of the provision in the Planning Act 2008 which said that proceedings may only be brought in a six-week period that followed once the NPS was adopted, or if later, published.

Earlier this week Mr Grayling said he will push ahead with efforts to build the third runway, with the publication of the long-awaited National Policy Statement.

The transport secretary will also publish proposals for the first major change British air traffic control for 50 years, using sat nav technology to enable more planes to fly in and out of all major UK airports along the same flight paths - a technical revolution that is expected to allow hundreds of thousands of more flights every year.
Iceland workers who wear body cameras to protect themselves at work have been told not to share pictures of shoplifters to protect the criminals' privacy.

The frozen food giant uses WhatsApp groups to share information about thieves and thugs with other retailers.

But the Government's data protection unit have called the message threads illegal.

Iceland workers have been told not to share pictures of thugs and shoplifters with other retailers on WhatsApp groups in a bid to protect the assailants' privacy

Iceland's chief executive Malcolm Walker, 70, has called the warning 'political correctness gone wrong'.

He told the Sun: 'The thugs  or as our security manager prefers to call them, 'toe rags'  are apparently entitled to their privacy.'

Iceland's security guards have been wearing body cameras in a bid to keep them safe at work.

Iceland's chief executive Malcolm Walker, 70, has branded the move 'political correctness gone mad'. According to Mr Walker, 208 employees have been injured in a workplace assault over the last ten months

In 2013, almost 200 Iceland branches used body cameras supplied by security company Pinnacle Response.

The wireless PR5 model was originally trialled in two Iceland branches and proved a huge success.

According to head of security Duncan Miles, the CCTV devices have helped to prevent employees from being assaulted.

He told Security Newsdesk: 'The deterrent value has been amazing; many incidents that would have escalated into abuse and violence have been avoided  offenders just don't seem to want to kick off when they are told they are being recorded.'

In 2013, almost 200 branches used body cameras provided by security company Pinnacle Response. Head of Security Duncan Miles said the cameras have helped to deter workplace assaults

In the last ten months, there have been 490 assaults on Iceland workers and 100 involved a weapon, according to Mr Walker.

These attacks have injured 208 employees.

According to Mr Miles, most offences against Iceland workers start out because of

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office told MailOnline: 'An organisation processing any personal information will have to recognise their obligations under the Data Protection Act. It is for them to make that assessment.

'If the ICO are called in, we will look in detail but until then it is for the organisation to be aware.'
RENO  Realtors from throughout Nevada are helping others while helping themselves improve their leadership skills as part of the LeadershipNVAR program run by the statewide Nevada Association of Realtors.

LeadershipNVARs Class of 2017 kicked off its year-long program by meeting Jan. 24-26 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The 15-member class of NVAR members from all parts of Nevada devoted three days to a range of activities designed to promote leadership and growth.

While attending courses and networking, the Realtors volunteered at a local shelter for families who are homeless and in need. They also started planning their year-long community service project to support Boys & Girls Clubs throughout Nevada.

The 2017 LeadershipNVAR class includes Nevada Realtors from all parts of the state, from Elko to Minden and from Reno to Las Vegas. The class includes: Tom Blanchard, Lisa Cobb, Tamra Coulter, Stephanie Dibbs, Jerome Johnson, Tim Kelly Kiernan, Alex Malenkina, Rebecca McKenna-Inman, and Merri Perry, all of Las Vegas; Cheryl Henning and Angela Lage, of Elko; Kendra Murray, of Incline Village; Naomi Pettit, of Carson City and Incline Village; Whitney Richburg, of Reno; and Kaycee Summers, of Minden and Gardnerville.

This is an energetic, engaging leadership group, said Tiffany Banks, NVARs legal counsel and its staff liaison to the program. Everyone was quick to jump in and immerse themselves in the program. Its always rewarding to work with the future leaders of our association and our profession, and to be able to help others at the same time.

Banks added that the goal of the program NVAR established several years ago is to train the next generation of leaders in the association and in the state while helping participants learn about themselves so they can become better leaders in all facets of their lives. She said the program emphasizes teamwork, community and self-awareness. Participants meet quarterly for intensive leadership training, with sessions continuing in June, September and December.
Cava has long been seen as a cheap alternative to champagne and is often snubbed in favour of its trendy Italian rival, prosecco.

But that could be about to change, as Spain introduces a new high-end category of the sparkling wine.

With bottles selling for up to 86, Cava de Paraje Calificado (single vineyard or single estate cava), is expected to give its French and Italian cousins a run for their money.

The category was established by the Cava Regulatory Council and will go on sale soon following approval by Spain's agriculture ministry.

Cava has long been seen as a cheap alternative to champagne but this could change with the introduction of a new high-end category of the Spanish sparkling wine

To qualify, the wine must have spent three years ageing in the bottle and come from vines that are at least 10 years old. It must also meet climate and soil standards.

It is hoped that the new classification will rescue the Spanish drink's image.

Why does champagne have such a fantastic image when so much of it is sold cheaply? Pedro Bonet, president of the Cava Regulatory Council told the Guardian.

A vineyard in the Pinell de Brai village in Catalonia. Many vineyards in the region have been producing ultra-premium single estate cavas for decades

About 180 million bottles of cheap champagne are sold each year but when people see champagne, all they see is champagne."

He added: "Cava, on the other hand, has established itself through the mid-range and through modern distribution, which is why its image isnt premium.

He expects the drink to appeal to middle-aged cosmopolitan drinkers.

Around 1.5 million bottles of qualified single-estate cava will be produced in two to four years - 1.2% of the total.

If ultra-premium cava reaches 2% of total export sales of 7.5 million, well consider it an absolute success, he told The Drinks Business.

According to Mr Bonet, many vineyards have been producing ultra-premium single-estate cavas for decades - but until now they have not been widely marketed.

Producers include Gramona, Juve & Camps, Cavas Recaredo and Casa Sala.
Romania's Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said the government will repeal the decree

Romania's prime minister has announced that the government will repeal a contentious decree to decriminalise corruption after the policy sparked the biggest protests in the country since the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

'Tomorrow (Sunday) we will hold a government meeting to repeal this decree,' Sorin Grindeanu told a news conference. 'I do not want to divide Romania. It can't be divided in two.'

The decree, passed on Tuesday and due to enter into force on February 10, makes abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceed 200,000 lei (44,200).

The leftwing government, which has been in office barely a month, also wants in a separate decree to free some 2,500 people from prison serving sentences of less than five years.

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A demonstrator waves a Romanian national flag during a protest in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Saturday in a fifth consecutive day of protest

An estimated 100,000 people protested in the capital Bucharest, with hundreds of thousands more taking to the streets across the country

The new legislation prompted five straight days of protests, with an estimated 300,000 turning out across the country on Wednesday night - with 100,000 in the capital of Bucharest alone.

The demonstrations were the biggest the country has seen since the ousting of Ceausescu and the communist system in 1989.

Florin Jianu, Romania's minister of business, trade and entrepreneurship, had also announced on Facebook that he was resigning over the decree.

'It is the 'ethical to do,' he wrote, 'not for my professional honesty, my conscience is clean on that front, but for my child.'

People throw snow toward jandarmes protecting government headquarters as they demonstrate in front of Romanian government offices

People march trough downtown during a protest rally in Bucharest earlier on Saturday, before the announcement was made

'How am I going to look him in the eye and what am I going to tell him over the years?' he wrote. 'Am I going to tell him his father was a coward and supported actions he does not believe in, or that he chose to walk away from a story that isn't his?'

Grindeanu said the measures were put forward in order to bring penal law into line with the constitution and reduce overcrowding in prisons.

But critics of the government claimed that the real aim was to let off some of the several thousand officials and politicians ensnared in a major anti-corruption drive in recent years, many of them from Grindeanu's Social Democrats (PSD).

Leaders of the centre-left Social Democratic Party and the junior Alliance of Democratic Liberals are currently facing corruption charges that bar them serving as ministers.

Social Democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea was unable to become prime minister because in April 2016 he received a two-year suspended jail sentence for vote rigging.

On Tuesday, he went on trial for abuse of power while he was president of the Teleorman local council from 2006 to 2012. He denies any wrongdoing.

Earlier this week Brussels, which had previously praised European Union member Romania for its efforts on graft, warned against 'backtracking'.

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest in Bucharest on Saturday before the government made its u-turn

A man holds a cross that reads: 'God is with us' during a protest against the government decree in Bucharest on Saturday

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday said he was watching developments with 'great concern', warning that the fight against corruption in Romania 'needs to be advanced, not undone.'

The US State Department also said it was 'deeply concerned' that the new measures 'undermine rule of law and weaken accountability for financial and corruption-related crimes'.

Grindeanu said that the penal code still had to be brought into line with the constitution.

'We will probably eliminate the 200,000-lei ceiling and send a bill to parliament as soon as possible,' he said.

'There has been a lot of confusion and distortion created. Things have not been well explained,' he added.
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A fire ripped through an unfinished New Jersey apartment complex early Saturday morning.

The construction site of the Avalon Bay Apartments in Maplewood caught fire around 1.30am, destroying two-thirds of the community which was near completion.

The frigid temperatures made it difficult to put out the blaze and one firefighter was injured after he slipped on ice, reports said.

As firefighters tried to put out the blaze, the complex froze over and ended up covered in icicles.

Icicles formed on the apartments as firefighters douse over an area at a large apartment complex in Maplewood, New Jersey

Real-life inferno: The six-alarm blaze started around 1.30 Saturday morning and took more than 120 firefighters to put it out

Hell froze over: Photos of the now-scorched apartment site show icicles formed over area where firefighters doused water

A total of 235 units were planned for the Boyden Ave complex overall, but 30 units were set to open in six weeks, CBS New York reported.The fire is under investigation and the cause is still unknown.

The fire chief said the site was especially hazardous because the unfinished building could have collapsed.

'Buildings, when theyre done with construction, get a certificate of occupancy that say theyre okay to be occupied,' Walt Nugent told CBS New York.

'This didnt have that, but were still going to go in obviously and the building is under construction, so there are certain hazards. But they were able to handle it accordingly.'

More than 120 from two counties were called to put out the fire.

Avalon Bay released a statement to PIX 11 addressing the incident.

Burnt to the ground: The complex had been under construction and 30 units were set to open to the public in about six weeks

Six-alarm blaze: More than 120 firefighters from Essex and Union counties were called to put out the flames

The cause of the fire is still unknown and is under investigation

'AvalonBay is working with authorities to investigate an overnight fire at our upcoming development in Maplewood, New Jersey. The Company greatly appreciates the quick actions of local emergency responders in extinguishing the fire, and we are thankful that there are no reports of serious injury.

'The 235-apartment development is still under construction and unoccupied, and was scheduled to open in March.

Early this morning, the on-site fire-watch personnel discovered the fire and called local responders. The fire involved a portion of the community under construction. We are working closely with local authorities to determine the cause of the fire, as well as the potential impacts on the development.'

In early 2015, Avalon Bay apartments in Edgewater, New Jersey were burned to the ground during a five-alarm fire.

The active construction site and the frigid temperatures made it difficult to put out the blaze and one firefighter was injured after he slipped on ice

In 2015, Avalon Bay Apartments in Edgewater, New Jersey, caught fire and displaced 1,000 residents




Brian Faustina, of North Bergen County, is being investigated after he shared a video in support of a protester being punched in the face, saying: 'Grow up b****es and get a job'

A 22-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department is being investigated after praising a video online in which two anti-Trump protesters were violently assaulted.

Brian Faustina, of North Bergen County, shared a video of the protester being punched in the face, and posted above: 'Grow up b*****es and get a job.'

Two retired NYPD officers also commented in support of the attack, one saying: 'This should happen more often!' and another saying that the protesters all needed 'an a** kicking'.

In the video, an aggressive altercation takes place between pro and anti-Trump supporters and at one point, a man is punched squarely in the face.

In the video, an aggressive altercation takes place between pro and anti-Trump supporters and at one point, a man is punched squarely in the face

Brian Faustina, pictured with wife Lidia, is a 22-year veteran of Port Authority police department, and has been the subject of two previous 'minor' investigations

An 'ongoing' investigation is currently being conducted by the Office of the Inspector General, a spokesperson for the Port Authority police told NJ.com.

The video was originally shared on January 22nd to a pro-Trump Facebook page called 'Deplorables Inc' with the caption: 'Anti-Trump, domestic terrorists in DC meet a Trump supporter that likes to hit back.'

Faustina shared it to his own page the following day with the offensive caption.

No one appears to be arrested during the video.

Faustina was also the subject of two 'minor' investigations dating back to 2010, after a major overhaul of the department was subject to suspicion and 100 officers were brought up on internal charges, the NY Post reported.

He reportedly made $240,676 in 2015 his salary of $93,461 and overtime of $104,318.
Former Lords Speaker Baroness Frances D'Souza claimed one peer arrived by taxi, then left in the same vehicle ten minutes later

Politicians are facing a new expenses scandal over reports that cheating peers claim 300 a day for turning up to the Lords for a few minutes while keeping a taxi running outside.

A row erupted last night over comments by former Lords Speaker Baroness DSouza in a new fly-on-the-wall documentary.

She reportedly said many peers did no work and that one arrived by taxi, then left in the same vehicle ten minutes later. She did not identify the culprit.

Lady DSouzas intervention is all the more remarkable given that she came under fire last year for charging 230 expenses for keeping her chauffeur-driven car waiting four hours while she went to the opera on official duty.

Her comments in the BBC programme follow persistent rumours of widespread abuse of the way peers can claim a 300 tax-free daily allowance simply by turning up and clocking in.

They do not have to speak in the chamber or, say critics, prove they have done any work to get paid.

There were gasps of shock when Lady DSouza  nicknamed the Baroness of Excess  appeared to confirm it at a private screening to peers of the first episode of the three-part series called Meet The Lords, which is due to be broadcast later this month.

One peer said: She said there is a core of peers who work incredibly hard but many who do not do anything.

The House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. Baroness D'Souza's comments follow persistent rumours of widespread abuse of the way peers can claim a 300 tax-free daily allowance simply by turning up and clocking in

She said she was leaving one day and saw a peer  who she would not name  who got out of a taxi, told the cabbie to keep the engine running, went into the Lords, came back in ten minutes, got back in the taxi and left.

The clear implication was that the peer was on the fiddle and wasnt the only one. People couldnt believe she said it. It was blatant double standards.

Until a few months ago, Lady DSouza, 72, was Lords Speaker, responsible for presiding over debates in the Upper House.

In 2015, it emerged she had run up a 30,000 bill for entertaining dignitaries over five years, including 1,120 for taking Russian delegates to the ballet.

She also claimed 230 for a chauffeur-driven car which waited outside for four hours while she watched an opera.

Lady DSouza, who was paid 101,000 a year as Speaker, with allowances of up to 36,000, defended her spending record.

She said it was her job to promote parliamentary democracy and insisted that it was not an excessive amount of money. She also said taxpayers did not begrudge her spending 4,000 on flowers to brighten up her office.

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit criticised the documentary for its 'sneering' tone and for trivialising the Lords

Peers get 300 a day plus subsidised restaurants and travel expenses for those who live outside London. In 2015, it was claimed 20 silent peers had claimed 1.6 million in expenses despite having made virtually no speeches in five years.

It was also alleged that 117 peers  one in seven  did not speak in the chamber in 2015.

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit said: The BBC film adopts a typically sneering tone and has trivialised the Lords.

Yes, some peers sit around reading the paper in the library and prop up the bar. But there are brilliant men and women on all sides who work harder than MPs and get paid less for it.

Lady DSouza declined to comment last night. A BBC spokesman said: Baroness DSouza is a highly respected peer whose opinion on the proper functioning of the Lords is clearly a matter of some public interest.

A House of Lords spokesman insisted the documentary showed how it was doing its work as an active and effective revising chamber.
Mary Ellis (pictured during her time as an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot in WW2) has celebrated her 100th birthday

Tearing through the skies above the South Coast, two Spitfires evoke powerful memories of Britain's wartime resilience.

But this stirring image holds a further poignancy  for in the cockpit of the lead aircraft sits Mary Ellis, celebrating her 100th birthday by recreating her time as one of the 'Ata-girls', the select gang of female pilots who flew Britain's fighters during the war.

And over her shoulder is one of the actual Spitfires she flew during her 1,000 flights as a First Officer with the Air Transport Auxiliary.

'Wizard, this is wizard!' yelled the delighted centenarian through her intercom.

Mary was handed the controls of the 275mph twin-seater as it swooped over West Sussex. After about 15 minutes, she turned for home, and told her co-pilot Matt Jones: 'Goodwood on the nose, you have control'. Then she settled back to enjoy the ride back to base.

Earlier, Mary watched in delight as Spitfire MV154 took its place beside her in an extraordinary airborne tribute. It was a plane she had delivered to RAF Brize Norton from Southampton on September 15, 1944, and it hides a sentimental secret. For at the end of the 25-minute wartime flight, she signed the cockpit, scrawling her maiden name Wilkins and the initials ATA.

Mary Ellis (circled) was handed the controls of the 275mph twin-seater as it swooped over West Sussex

She hoped her tag might be spotted by a handsome pilot and lead to a wartime romance  although the impulsive act, a career one-off, didn't bag her a boyfriend.

Mary, originally from Oxfordshire, had her first flying lesson in 1938, and flew for pleasure until 1941 when she heard a BBC radio appeal for women pilots to join the auxiliary service and so release male pilots for combat duty.

Speaking at a surprise birthday party on Thursday, Mary said: 'The war was a challenge and one had to do something about it. I went on and on until I flew everything. I love the Spitfire  it's my favourite aircraft, it's everyone's favourite, it's the symbol of freedom.'

For four years she ferried warplanes from factories to frontline squadrons. The 166 women of the ATA  about one in eight of the total  have been dubbed 'The Female Few', echoing Winston Churchill's description of the RAF airmen who fought in the Battle of Britain.

Mrs Ellis looked back over her left shoulder and glanced at the aircraft she once flew

Mary was usually found at the joystick of a Spitfire or a Hurricane but ultimately flew more than 50 types of aircraft, logging 1,100 hours of flight, much to the astonishment of some colleagues.

As she sat on the airfield ready to deliver her first Spitfire, the mechanic standing on the wing asked how many of them she'd flown. When she said it was her first, he was so startled he fell right off. The largest aircraft she flew solo was the Wellington bomber. After landing at an East Anglian airfield, Mary was greeted by the ground crew who asked where the pilot was. 'I'm the pilot,' she said. They insisted on searching the aircraft before they believed her.

It was dangerous work. Mary was sometimes ordered to move combat-damaged planes that were not officially fit to fly, but had to be taken for repairs. She crash-landed twice and was shot at once.

Mrs Ellis toasted a glass of champagne with co-pilot Matt Jones, managing director of Boultbee Flight Academy

Fourteen of her fellow ATA female flyers lost their lives, including aviation pioneer Amy Johnson.

Mary  who to this day needs no spectacles, nor a walking stick  was one of the last six women serving in the ATA when it disbanded after the war. She remained a private pilot and then became managing director of Sandown Airport on the Isle of Wight. She married Don Ellis, a fellow pilot, in 1961, but was widowed in 2009. Matt Jones, who flies Spitfires for Goodwood-based Boultbee Flight Academy, reunited Mary with MV154 after first meeting her in 2015. He conspired with the plane's current owner, pilot Maxi Gainza, to bring it to the UK from its base in Bremgarten, Germany.

He said: 'I gave Mary control of our Spitfire. I wasn't sure where we were but Mary was very clear. She pointed us towards Thorney Island, up through the Witterings, flew on to Selsey Bill and then Bognor Regis, never losing a foot of altitude.

'She showed me precisely how she was able to deliver all those aircraft with just a map, a compass and a stopwatch. I was utterly humbled by a superior aviator who also happens to be 60 years my senior!'
Former Getaway host Kelly Landry has reportedly told friends she is worried her millionaire accountant husband Anthony Bell will leave her penniless after their contentious divorce is finalised.

Friends have advised Ms Landry to hire a forensic accountancy firm to determine Mr Bell's wealth amid concerns he will cut her off, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The former model would be following in the footsteps of the yachtsman's first wife  a Sydney woman named Tara who does not move in the same celebrity circles.

Friends have advised Kelly Landry to hire a to hire a forensic accountancy firm amid concerns her millionaire husband Anthony Bell, from Sydney, will leave her with nothing (pictured together)

The former golden couple are in the middle of a contentious divorce after the police (pictured in court last month) took out an AVO against the yachtsman in November on her behalf

Tara, whose last name has not been revealed, was married to Mr Bell until 2000  the same year he took over his father's company Bell Partners  when he allegedly asked for a divorce after telling her she did not fit into his business plan, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

Tara, who has since remarried and had children, felt neglected after the marriage ended and walked away with a small sum, friends said.

'Tara walked away with less than she was entitled to but was just happy to get out without being rubbished too horrendously by Mr Bell's backers and cronies,' a mutual friend said.

Ms Landry believes she will not be as lucky.

The former model has reportedly told friends she is concerned Mr Bell will leave her penniless after their divorce is finalized

Mr Bell celebrates his 2016 Sydney to Hobart win with Ms Landry last year

Ms Landry would be following in the footsteps of his first wife, Tara, who allegedly walked away in 2000 with less than she deserved from the marriage

The pair's tumultuous relationship was revealed after Daily Mail Australia broke the news of police filing an AVO against Mr Bell on Ms Landry's behalf.

Mr Bell has reportedly told friends that on November 18, the day of an incident that lead to an AVO being taken out against him, Ms Landry accidentally bumped the head of their youngest daughter Thea, 2, into a door frame, while trying to leave the house with the two children.

He claims she had been drinking all afternoon.

When news broke of the AVO being taken out against Mr Bell, he issued a letter to his 7,000-strong client base denying allegations he pushed Ms Landry.

'There is an allegation I pushed her in November... I did not push her,' Mr Bell said in the letter.

Ms Landry returned to their $20 million Watsons Bay home in east Sydney after she had been drinking with friends, Mr Bell has reportedly told friends.

The pair's tumultuous relationship was revealed after Daily Mail Australia broke the news of police filing an AVO against Mr Bell on her behalf

Mr Bell has reportedly told friends that on November 18, Ms Landry accidentally bumped the head of their youngest daughter Thea, 2, into a door frame

Mr Bell claims Ms Landry (pictured) had been drinking all afternoon when the alleged incident occured

ANTHONY BELL V KELLY LANDRY: A TIMELINE November 18: Kelly Landry is allegedly pushed by Mr Bell December 27: Ms Landry rushes to Hobart to be at the finish line December 28, 2.31am: Anthony Bells yacht Perpetual Loyal crosses the line December 28, later: Ms Landry is allegedly left embarrassed by Mr Bell January 5: Police file interim AVO at Waverley Court January 9: Daily Mail Australia breaks the story of the AVO application January 9, later: Anthony Bell denies pushing or being left embarrassed January 12: The interim AVO is agreed to and extended, with no admissions Advertisement

The pair argued and Landry said she would take their two daughters and leave, the source claims is Mr Bell's version of events.

Landry attempted to walk past Mr Bell and out the front door, when she accidentally bumped two-year-old Thea's head on the frame, the source alleged.

Mr Bell then took the toddler from her and Landry considered it an attack.

'I abhor all violence and I am faithful to my family. It is unimaginable to me that I could ever touch a woman in anger,' he wrote in the letter.

When news broke of the AVO being taken out against Mr Bell, he issued a letter to his 7,000-strong client base denying allegations he pushed Ms Landry

At Waverley Court last month, Mr Bell's lawyer said the celebrity accountant planned to divorce Landry and didn't want to see her again

'I lead a quiet family life and try to be the best parent and husband that circumstances permit.'

At Waverley Court last month, Mr Bell's lawyer said the celebrity accountant planned to divorce Landry and didn't want to see her again.

An interim AVO was put in place with consent but with no admissions.

Mr Bell was not present in court. Ms Landry had arrived in court without a wedding ring on.

The matter was adjourned until February 7.
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Protests followed Donald Trump to Florida on Saturday, as he visited the state for a glamorous weekend at his Mar-A-Lago resort.

Demonstrators marched in Palm Beach, holding signs with messages such as 'No Muslim ban, no wall', 'We are all migrants' and 'No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here'. Pro-Trump supporters gathered in the Florida city as well, with 'Make America Great Again' flags and Trump / Pence '16 T-shirts.

The protesters' slogans echoed that of demonstrators across the country, who continued to rally on Saturday as the backlash against President Trump's travel ban grew.

Demonstrations have been going for the eight days since he signed the travel ban barring immigrants from seven countries from migrating to the US.

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Demonstrators marched in West Palm Beach, Florida, holding signs with messages such as 'No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here', as Donald Trump visited the state for a glamorous weekend at his Mar-A-Lago resort

Protesters in Palm Beach joined a chorus of demonstrators who rallied against the country, mainly against Trump's executive orders affecting immigrants

Saturday marked the eighth day of protest against Trump's immigration ban. Demonstrators are pictured Saturday gathering in Palm Beach to walk towards the Mar-A-Lago resort

Pro-Trump supporters gathered on Saturday too. Some of them are pictured waving flags on Bingham Island in Palm Beach

One rode his bike with a 'Make America Great Again' flag past Trump protesters gathered in downtown West Palm Beach

Protesters pushed a casket they said represented the 'death of democracy' down West Palm Beach's Flagler Drive Saturday

'No alt facts': One protester made a reference to Kellyanne Conway's 'alternative facts' statement during Saturday's protest

One demonstrator made a call for impeachment among protesters who marched down the streets of West Palm Beach

Two demonstrators held a sign urging others to speak out as a crowd of protesters kept marching down the streets

Pro-Trump supporters with Trump / Pence shirts stood across the street from anti-Trump demonstrators in West Palm Beach

Others held a sign reading 'Hillary for prison' on Bingham Island Saturday, hitting out at Trump's former opponent

Pro-Trump supporters lined up on Bingham Island in Palm Beach the same day anti-Trump demonstrators marched

Crowds of demonstrators (pictured in West Palm Beach) have rallied across the country against Trump's executive actions

A group holding 'women for Trump' signs and waving an American flag gathered as well during Saturday's rallies

Protesters in West Palm Beach (pictured) rallied as demonstrators around the country gathered for the eighth day

Protesters rallied at LAX airport to demonstrate against the travel ban that targets seven Muslim majority countries

People marched to voice their disapproval of President Trump in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday

Protesters rallied against President Trump and his cabinet members in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday

In New York City demonstrators united at an LGBT Solidarity Rally at Stonewall Inn. President Trump and Vice President Pence have threatened to roll back LGBTQ rights

Thousands of people seemed to turn out to the LGBT Solidarity Rally at Stonewall Inn on Saturday

People protested against President Trump and his cabinet and the threat that they will take away LGBTQ rights

Demonstrators stood outside of Stonewall Inn in New York City to protest the president

Senator Charles Schumer spoke at a rally in front of the Stonewall Inn in solidarity with immigrants

Federal judge James Robart issued a ruling on Friday that temporarily halted Trump's order banning travelers and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Though the US state department has reversed the cancellations of visas for foreigners, there were still many protests against the ban Saturday.

Trump has given no indication that he will ease up on the restrictions for many residents and had criticized the judge.

Thousands turned out to protests in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Boulder, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Owensboro, Kentucky.

Los Angeles International Airport is expecting hundreds of protesters later today and many have started to trickle in.

In New York City, there is a LGBT Solidarity Rally at Stonewall Inn to protest the commander and chief. The protest started at 2pm and #WeResist was trending in New York City by 2.30pm.

Protesters also turned out in Chicago to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Trump signed an executive order to continue construction on the pipeline that was previously halted because of protesters.

Two demonstrators held pro-refugee signs in Owensboro, Kentucky at a rally

A protester held a 'no ban no wall' sign at an anti-Trump protest in Philadelphia. Thousands of protesters gathered last weeks when Republicans had a retreat in the city

Demonstrators marched through Philadelphia in protest of President Trump's executive actions

Protesters were gathering in Washington DC and outside the White House on Saturday

Protesters wrote 'messages of resistance' to President Trump on a wall near the Washington Monument

People marched near the White House to protest Trump's executive orders in Washington, DC

Protesters marched along Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump International Hotel during a rally on Saturday

Shaureece Park chanted with other pipeline protesters gather outside Earle Cabell Federal Building in Dallas

A man held a sign at O'Hare airport in Chicago in response to the travel ban (left) and a woman held a poster for people travelling thought JFK in New York City (right)

Next Sunday there is a Facebook event to 'moon' Trump Tower with more than two thousand people saying they will attend.

Last night protesters took to a wall near the Washington Monument to write messages of resistance to Trump. This morning, people in Washington, D.C. gathered outside of the White House.

It isn't just the coastal cities that are continuing to resist. Today there were marches in Boulder, Kentucky and Philadelphia.

On Twitter, Trump is resisting against those resisting. Yesterday he tweeted: 'Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'

Protesters held 'no ban no wall' protests in Berlin on Saturday in response to the travel ban and Mexican border wall

Demonstrators in Paris protested President Trump and other far-right leaning European politicians

People showed signs of resistance on Saturday in Manchester (left) and Paris (right)

Security officers watched through binoculars from the roof of the US consulate in Toronto as demonstrators marched to protest the immigration ban

Hundreds of people marched through Bristol City in England to protest President Trump on Saturday

Protesters walked down the streets of London in response to President Trump's travel ban

Whoever Trump thinks is paying these protesters must be rich because there are even hoards of resistance movements across the pond.

Just within the past 24 hours, there have been protests in London, Paris, Manchester, Bristol, Canada and Berlin to name a few. Most of these are specifically in regards to the travel ban.

A furious Trump fired off a series of tweets on Saturday morning as major airlines started allowing passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to fly to U.S. cities if they had valid visa documents.

'When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!' Trump tweeted.

'Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!'

'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!'

'What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?'

'Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision.'

The U.S. State Department announced it would be reversing visa cancellations for foreigners to comply with the judge's ruling. The Department of Homeland Security also said it was suspending any action from the executive order.
Terrorists can follow every movement of the Prime Ministers official aircraft live by using a mobile phone app, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The astonishing security lapse made Theresa May a flying target as she arrived in the terror hotspot of Turkey from Washington last week, experts warned.

The exact location of the aircraft, dubbed May Force One  along with its height, direction and speed  was broadcast online as it came into land in Ankara, the site of repeated terrorist attacks.

Security experts said the lapse made Theresa May's RAF Voyager 'a flying target' as she flew from Washington to Turkey last week

Last night, experts called for the transponder  the on-board device that broadcasts its location  to be switched off, as is the case with the US Presidents Air Force One jet.

Chris Phillips, the former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said: This is perfect information for a would-be terrorist. They should have turned off the tracker on the plane. It is ridiculous and irresponsible that this information is publicly available.

Calls have been made for the transponder - the on-board device that broadcasts a plane's location - to be switched off on 'May Force One'

Planes are in the most danger when they are taking off and landing. If you know the next incoming plane has the Prime Minister on board, you can lie in wait and fire something at it.

The long-range RAF Voyager aircraft was commandeered by Downing Street last year after being converted at a cost of 10 million for use by senior Ministers and members of the Royal Family.

The primary function of a planes transponder is to communicate with air traffic control during its flight. Civil aircraft have a second transponder which is not visible to enthusiasts websites, meaning that in exceptional circumstances the other can be turned off safely.

Military and diplomatic flights do not normally appear on tracking sites, but every detail of Mrs Mays international flights last week was available to anyone who logged on to the Flightradar24 website, or who had bought its 2.49 mobile app.

Flight enthusiasts were able to find out the height, direction and speed of 'May Force One', information security experts labelled 'perfect information for the would-be terrorist'

The Prime Minister first flew from London to Philadelphia, before jetting to Washington to meet Donald Trump. She then departed from Andrews Air Force Base and flew to Ankara for talks.

Following a series of recent terror atrocities in Turkey, the Foreign Office has warned of a heightened risk of terrorist attack against the aviation industry in Turkey.

Yet at the airport in Ankara, every moment of the planes landing and take-off was broadcast live on an interactive map.

Professor Anthony Glees, head of the University of Buckinghams Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, said: This is beyond absurd  it is extremely dangerous. Theresa May is one of the most important and high-profile people in the world right now, having just met President Trump. She is at a real and obvious risk from terrorists. She has flown into a dangerous area and her plane is completely visible online. She is a flying target. The mind boggles frankly. What are they up to?

Anyone who was logged on to the Flightradar24 website were able to watch the PM's RAF Voyager leaving Washington D.C. last week

Last week, a smaller RAF jet, a BA146, could be seen on a separate website called RadarBox24, which described it as a UK Royal/VIP plane. It left London and could be seen landing at Valletta airport, Malta, on Thursday night and taking off again on Friday after an EU summit. One enthusiast tweeted its progress over France on Thursday night, along with the hashtag #MayForceOne.

This newspaper previously revealed in 2015 how the East Anglian Air Ambulance helicopter flown by Prince William could be tracked on Flightradar24. The aircraft was later removed from the website and app.

Flightradar24 uses information from more than 7,000 receivers worldwide which pick up aircraft transponder signals. Users can enter an aircrafts registration number  usually painted on its tail  to follow its movements on the website and app. They can also set up email and text alerts to signal whenever the plane is in use.

No 10 declined to comment.
An investigation into rogue claims companies has been launched after The Mail on Sunday revealed how holidaymakers are being urged to lie about being ill to pocket thousands in compensation.

Our probe found that dubious firms acting for ambulance-chasing lawyers have been encouraging tourists to concoct stories of food poisoning at all-inclusive resorts with the promise of 5,000 payouts.

Claims management companies have moved into the lucrative holiday sickness market after the Government acted to curb bogus compensation cases for whiplash injuries caused by car accidents.

Experts warned that the cynical practice was costing the industry millions of pounds  and would ultimately force up the cost of package holidays.

An ambulance with the words claims clinic on the side was seen operating at resorts in Tenerife last September

The Ministry of Justices Claims Management Services Regulator announced it will examine the relationship between the cowboy firms and solicitors after a surge in holiday sickness claims.

In one shocking example last September, we found a firm using an ambulance with the words claims clinic on the side operating at resorts in Tenerife. Another company told an undercover reporter posing as a holidaymaker to pretend his entire family had been taken ill to boost his compensation claim.

We also revealed how one of Britains biggest travel operators hired private detectives to catch claims companies operating at their resorts. The investigators  posing as a family of four on holiday in Benidorm  were approached by a British firm which was caught on camera encouraging them to lie about falling ill at the resort.

Some travel operators have seen a staggering 400 per cent increase in holiday sickness claims, many of which they fear are fraudulent.

The controversial firms are paid a monthly retainer to bring clients to lawyers, who in turn take their cut from any compensation paid.

Tour operators generally settle cases quickly to avoid expensive court battles, despite suspecting that many of the claims are fake or exaggerated.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of trade association ABTA, said: Last year our members informed us that they were seeing dramatic increases in the number of gastric illness claims. The level of claims far exceeded the reported sickness levels in resorts.

The dubious firms were found to be acting in many popular holiday resorts including Benidorm in Spain, pictured

Spanish hoteliers have also reported significant increases in sickness claims made by British holidaymakers but not by their German or French counterparts, leading them to suspect that some claims are fraudulent, particularly where the customers involved have not reported any illness or sought medical attention while at the destination.

He added: This trend is a serious concern for our members, for the industry as a whole, and for consumers with genuine claims.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said last night: Tackling fraud in the claims management industry is a key priority and the Claims Management Services Regulator has taken significant steps to clean up this area.

We have tough sanctions for firms that break the rules, and if any wrongdoing is discovered, we will take the necessary action.
Everyone loves a treasure hunt. The treasure I am talking about in this article is the elusive mountain howitzer abandoned during a snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1844 by John C. Fremont. Otherwise known as the Fremont Cannon, this priceless artifact has been sought by treasure hunters, archaeologists, Forest Service employees and others for 170 years. By Nevada Day (October 31st) of 2013, we were finally able to see the remains of the lost Fremont Cannon at the Nevada State Museum.

A special Exhibit of artifacts from the Fremont expedition of 18431844 was opened and remained on display for over a year. Being a tour guide at the Museum, I spent many days taking visitors to see the displays. Archaeologists have determined that the bronze cannon barrel that has been on display at the Museum for many years was the same barrel abandoned by the Fremont Expedition in 1844. The barrel was mounted on a replica carriage built for the display, similar to the original. Also included were many other artifacts, including three of the iron carriage wheels and parts of the original carriage that were found in Deep Creek near the West Walker River where Fremont said he had abandoned the cannon.

According to Col. Paul Rosewitz and Nevada State Museum Archaeologist, Eugene Hattori, the metal parts and iron tires recovered from Deep Creek could have come only from one of the 13 original model M1835 Cyrus Alger mountain Howitzers. These were the carriage parts from the Fremont Mountain Howitzer.

The following is the St. Louis Arsenal Requisition for ordinance stores, by John C. Fremont for his expedition into Oregon Territory:

Required May 8, l843, mountain howitzer, 1; (gun) carriage complete with harness, 1; pistols, 4; pairs holsters, etc., 2; carbines, 33; kegs of rifle powder, 5; pounds of artillery ammunition, 500; tubes, filled, 200, Signed by: J.C. Fremont, 2d Lieut., Topographical Engineers.

John C. Fremont had political backing for the things he wanted to accomplish on his expeditions, (Senator Benton of Missouri). He also had definite ideas of the things and personnel, including his guide and friend, Kit Carson, who he wanted to take along with him. Fremont knew he would be traveling through largely unexplored and uncharted territory. Being a military man, Fremont wanted to be sufficiently armed to defend his expedition from any hostile activity they might encounter. Fremont followed the Oregon Trail and originally had planned to return to Missouri by the same route he had traveled.

After arriving in Oregon, however, Fremont made the decision to return by a different route that would take him south into the Great Basin of Nevada in search of the legendary Buenaventura River believed by many to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. He was thus the first person to prove that no such river existed and coined the term Great Basin to describe the area.

In addition to plenty of small arms and ammunition, he wanted to take along a mountain howitzer similar to those of French design familiar to him. The reasons for this choice included the ability to impress native people he encountered with the superior military capabilities of his group as a deterrent against hostile activity. Another reason was to show that a wheel mounted vehicle could be taken through the mountain and desert trails where none had ever traveled before.

The mountain howitzer delivered to Fremont to fill his requisition was known as a model M1835 bronze cannon (mountain howitzer), cast by the Cyrus Alger Iron Company in South Boston, Massachusetts. This became the largest foundry in the country and produced many of the munitions later used for the Civil War. Only thirteen of the model M1835 mountain howitzer barrels were cast and of these, it is believed only one still exists today.

The mountain howitzer used by Fremont during the 1843-1844 expedition was known as a 12 pounder. This means that the maximum charge to be loaded should not weigh more than 12 pounds. This could be either a cannon ball, or more likely, a shell such as a hollow projectile containing either an explosive bursting charge with a fuse or canister tubes filled with musket balls.

The 223 pound barrel of the cannon measured 37.2 in length with an inside bore diameter of 4.62 inches. The wooden carriage for the cannon was made to be towed by a horse or mule. It had iron rimmed 12-spoke wooden wheels approximately 36 inches in diameter. The cannon barrel was attached to the carriage with iron straps that were forged to fit snugly around the trunions (round bronze extensions protruding from the sides of the barrel). The barrel or tube rotated on the trunions when firing to achieve the desired elevation. Ammunition for the howitzer was carried separately on pack frames loaded on pack animals.

There is no doubt the howitzer was used during the expedition according to the following written accounts:

Theodore Talbot, June 15, 1843: Our cannonier was very successful in practice with the Howitzer, striking a post 4 feet high at nearly a quarter of a mile with a bomb shell.

Charles Preuss, August 10, 1843: Shooting buffalo with a howitzer is a cruel but amusing sport.

Fremont, December 10, 1843: I directed the howitzer to be fired. It was the first time our guides (Walla Walla Indians) had seen it discharged; and the bursting of the shell at a distance, which was something like the second fire of the gun, amazed and bewildered them with delight.
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Princess Beatrice attended a lavish wedding ceremony along with other royals from around the world as socialites Filippos Lemos and Marianna Goulandris got married in London.

The 28-year-old looked happy wearing a black and white dress as she spent the day celebrating the stylish wedding in the capital.

She was at the ceremony which took place at the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia near Hyde Park, west London.

Princess Beatrice (left) wore a black and white dress as she attended the socialite wedding in west London on Saturday. Queen Maxima of Netherlands wore a pink dress and stood next to her husband, Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands - the King of the Netherlands (right)

Filippos Lemos and Marianna Goulandris (pictured) got married at the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia near Hyde Park, west London

King Constantine II of Greece (left) also attended the lavish ceremony with his wife (right) at the cathedral in west London

The adorable flower girls whore white dresses trimmed with green ribbons and kept warm under heavy velvet capes

Princess Beatrice wore a hand embroidered Burberry coat (left) which she first sported at a service for the Queen's 90th birthday back in June 2016 (right)

The bride wore a traditional white wedding dress and looked glamorous as she walked up the steps inside the cathedral.

Other royals who attended the wedding included Queen Maxima of Netherlands, her husband The King of the Netherlands and King Constantine II of Greece.

Princess Beatrice had her name on the black bag she was holding when she walked to the cathedral in London.

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and Crown Princess Marie Chantal of Greece also attended the ceremony.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds got into a silver Mercedes-Benz - which had gull-wing doors - and drove off together.

The delighted newlyweds were glowing with happiness as they emerged from the church after the ceremony

Princess Beatrice had her name 'Bea' on her black bag which she carried with her right hand as she attended the wedding (left) while the bride made an impression in silver stilettos (right)

The newlyweds kissed each other after getting married inside the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia near Hyde Park

After the ceremony, Mr Lemos got into a silver Mercedes-Benz - which had gull-wing doors - and the pair drove off together

Princess Marie Chantal of Greece ushers her youngest son Aristidis-Stavros into the church

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece wore a white shirt and blue and white tie as he spoke to other guests who attended the wedding

The groom got into the passenger seat of the Mercedes-Benz before her husband joined her in the vehicle in west London

Marianna, who launched her first jewellery line 2015, is a Greek designer and has more than 20,000 followers on Instagram.

Her husband is a shipping heir and the couple made the decision to get married last January.

They celebrated their engagement with a party in the Maldives and a celebration in Ibiza, Spain.

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and Crown Princess Marie Chantal of Greece (pictured together) also attended the ceremony

The excited flower girls couldn't contain their joy as they giggled and huddled together on the pavement in their green velvet capes

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece is greeted by a cleric ahead of the high society wedding attended by European royalty

Ready for duty: The cute flower girls grinned for the camera before walking the bride down the aisle

The wedding took place at the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia (pictured) near Hyde Park, west London, on Saturday

As she arrived at the chapel the bride's dress was lifted to reveal a pair of bejeweled Christian Louboutin platforms

The handsome groom arrives to celebrate his big day on a rainy afternoon in London

They newlyweds steal a kiss outside the church, much to the delight of onlookers

A Mercedes-Benz with gull-wing doors was waiting for the couple after they got married inside the cathedral in west London

Designer Marianna Goulandris wore a white dress (left) and the couple looked overjoyed after they left the cathedral (right)

Marianna's troupe of bridesmaids wore matching indigo dresses complete with a midnight blue velvet cape to accompany her down the aisle

Beatrice shared a friendly kiss with her colourfully dressed companion who carried an Olympia Le Tan clutch bag

Princess Beatrice (left) recycled a 2,995 Burberry coat she wore to a service of thanksgiving for the Queen's 90th birthday at St Paul's Cathedral in June 2016. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands brought her daughter Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange (right)

A cheeky pageboy grins as he prepares to scatter confetti over the happy couple as they leave the chapel

King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima were accompanied by their teenage daughter Crown Princess Amalia

King Willem Alexander looked smart in his grey morning suit (left) while another guest was perfectly co-ordinated in shades of pastel blue (right)
A famed Anaheim restaurant was burned to the ground during a two-alarm blaze early Saturday morning.

About 40 firefighters were called to the 800 block of Anaheim Blvd at 4am when the iconic White House restaurant went up in flames.

The family-owned Italian eatery was critically acclaimed and was known to have served more than 1million meals to the needy, the Orange County Register reported.

Burned to the ground: The iconic White House restaurant was set on fire early Saturday morning in Anaheim, California

Before: The family-owned Italian restaurant was crtically acclaimed and had served more than 1M meals to the needy

Chef Bruno Serato, who has been running the place since 1987, addressed the incident in a heartbreaking post.

'I am so sad to post this photo. [Can't] stop crying. We lost the Anaheim white house restaurant from a fire during the night..[No one] was hurt..I am devastated..for who made reservations the next 6 months. [We] need to cancelled it..for any groups or [banquets]. You still can call our off site catering that is still operating. I am so sad.'

He told the Register: 'This is the saddest day of my life. Its just like the death of my mom. Im heartbroken.'

The blaze took 30 minutes to put out, but fire crews remained at the scene to monitor hot spots for three hours. No one was hurt in the fire and investigators are now looking into the cause.

Aftermath: The fire took 30 minutes to put out, but fire crews remained at the scene to monitor hot spots for three hours

Chef Bruno Serato, who has been running the place since 1987, has won awards for his work with the restaurant and said he could not 'stop crying' after the disaster

About 40 firefighters from Orange County were called to battle the blaze

Serato believes the disaster could have been from an electrical fire that started while the second floor was being remodeled. Workers had been putting in new carpeting an hour before the restaurant went up in flames.

The White House was set to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year. The Italian chef had earned a spot in CNN's Top 10 Heroes in 2011 for his charity work with the restaurant.

The popular white home that resembles the US federal office, was built in 1909 but was transformed into an eating establishment in 1981. It has hosted celebrities such as Danny De Vito, Andrea Bocelli and former president Jimmy Carter, according to its website.

Serato believes the disaster could have been from an electrical fire that started while the second floor was being remodeled
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is set to call for British police to be allowed to investigate the Black Widow murder in Ukraine after an appeal from the victims family.

An inquest into the death of wealthy IT consultant Barry Pring, 47, in a road accident in 2008 has raised fresh questions over the role of his internet bride  former stripper Anna Ziuzina, 38. A coroner has ruled that he was unlawfully killed.

After years of stalled investigations, Mr Johnson has met the familys MP and will now seek permission from the Ukrainian authorities for UK police to conduct a review.

An inquest into the death of wealthy IT consultant Barry Pring, 47, in a road accident in 2008 has raised fresh questions over the role of his internet bride  former stripper Anna Ziuzina, 38

Mr Prings MP Neil Parish met Mr Johnson last week as he seeks to put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities.

Mr Parish said: I would like a British police force to take over the inquiry but this is obviously difficult when the incident occurred in another state.

Boris Johnson has agreed to raise our request through the Foreign Office and his counterpart in Ukraine.

Mr Prings brother Shaughan, of Cullompton, Devon, said: If this could be agreed it would be a big step forward. No one has taken ownership of my brothers case.

British police have no jurisdiction, our Foreign Office has achieved little, and after nine years the Ukrainian police are no further forward.

The Pring family are also considering the possibility of a private prosecution against Miss Ziuzina, who now lives in Marbella with another wealthy Briton, Ivan Lister, and their three-year-old daughter.

She has not spoken publicly, but last week The Mail on Sunday unearthed a blog in which she denied having anything to do with Mr Prings death.

An inquest found Ms Ziuzina led him to the edge of a dual carriageway after dinner to hail a taxi and then went back inside the restaurant to 'collect her glove'.

Moments later, Mr Pring was killed when he was hit by a lorry believed to have been stolen from near Ms Zuizina's home. It was travelling at 80mph with no headlights.

After hearing the couple had ordered 20 measures of vodka during their meal, the coroner ruled: '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.'

Mr Clifford said that during the wedding, Anna's friend, Tatiana Pereklita, (pictured) told him Anna would get what she wanted

He added: 'I have no idea why she made that comment.' Pictured: Tatiana Pereklita in front of a Ferrari

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.'

He said Ms Ziuzina - who has always denied involvement - 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.

Barry's best friend, lawyer Peter Clifford, told the court that he was sure Anna was involved in his death.

He said: 'There is no reasonable doubt in my mind that Barry was murdered. Nor is there any doubt that [Ghanna] arranged for, or was complicit in his murder.'

Mr Clifford described his friend as 'hopelessly under her control' and 'infatuated' but said that the wedding celebrations were 'unnatural and false'.

When out for dinner on another occasion with the couple, Mr Clifford said Anna had told him: 'Local police are corrupt and if one pays them, one can get away with anything.'

He added: 'I have no idea why she made that comment.'

Mr Clifford also said that during the wedding, Anna's friend, Tatiana Pereklita, told him she would get what she wanted.

Irene and Shaughan Pring, the mother and brother of Barry Pring, outside Devon County Hall

The 47-year-old celebrating his wedding anniversary with ex-lapdancer Anna Ziuzina

He said: 'For the dinner, I was placed next to one of her friends, Tatiana...

'During this time she said to me, 'Barry has got what he wanted, now it's time for [Anna] to get what she wants'.'

He had also been told by Barry that Anna was a 'gold digger'.

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 Zuizina, 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 Zuizina was working as a lap dancer or stripper.

Mrs Pring said her son frequently flew to Kiev and started supporting Ms Zuizina financially after she stopped working as a stripper.

Mr Pring's funeral was held at St Disen's Church, Bradninch, Devon in 2011

The court heard that Anna phoned Barry's brother, Shaughan, to tell him about the incident after his death.

Shaughan told the court that he was instantly left 'confused and suspicious'.

He said: 'I received a call saying, "there has been a terrible accident, prepare yourself - Barry is dead". Anna went on to tell me that she had been stood right next to him when he was hit by a car.

'What I had been told and the way it had been delivered left me confused and a little suspicious.'

The court heard that when Anna later spoke to Barry's mother, she changed her statement.

In one she said she was 'one centimetre' from him when he was struck by a car, in another she said she was a metre away and returning to fetch a glove from the restaurant where they had just eaten and drunk a litre of vodka between them.

She added: 'Our investigator has told us that the car was on false plates, stolen from a car park near his [Barry's] apartment.'

The tragic incident happened in Ukrainian capital Kiev (pictured in file photo) in 2008

The court heard Anna - now known as Julianne Moore - did not attend Barry's funeral. She was called to give evidence during the hearing but was not present.

Coroner Dr Earland said that 'strenuous' - but ultimately unsuccessful - attempts had been made to try to get Ms Zuizina to attend the hearing.

She read out a statement given by Ms Zuizina who said she had given three separate statements to police in Ukraine and did not 'believe I can add anything further'.

DC Watts said he had been in London looking for Ms Ziuzina last week and added that it was likely she was abroad.

A pathologist gave the cause of death as multiple injuries - and added: 'The degree of trauma could be explained if it was a heavy truck and fitted with snow chains.'

Ms Zuizina and her family have always denied any involvement in Mr Pring's death.
Asteroids that could wipe out humanity are on path to hit Earth - but we should be safe for another 1.35 million years.

There are around 2,000 known asteroids that could strike our planet in the next billion years, according to experts.

However, the chance of Earth actually being hit by one of these in the near future is close to zero.

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Asteroids from the outer reaches of the solar system could be sent towards Earth by the star Gliese 710 - but only in 1.35million years

EARTH'S THREE 'CLOSE SHAVES' THIS YEAR January 8th - Asteriod 2017 AG1 flew by Earth at a distance of 126,461 miles (203,520km) January 24th - Asteroid 2017 BX flew by Earth at a distance of 162,252 miles (261,120km) January 30th - Asteroid 2017 BH30 flew by Earth at a distance of 40,563 miles (65,280 km) Advertisement

Nasa revealed earlier this month that two space rocks were heading towards Earth, although neither pose a threat to our planet.

Of all the asteroids that have been discovered, more than 1,650 are considered to be 'potentially hazardous' by Nasa - with only 157 larger than 3,000ft in diameter.

An asteroid measuring 500ft in diameter is the most likely to hit Earth, with a one in 625 chance of striking, the experts at Real Life Lore explain in a YouTube video.

But it would be more than 160 years before the asteroid hit the planet.

Another asteroid measuring 1,600ft wide has a 1 in 2,700 chance of hitting earth.

And a larger asteroid, measuring 4,200ft in diameter, is the third most likely to hit - but only has a one in 8,333 chance of striking in the year 2880.

Meanwhile, the star Gliese 710 - which will pass 77 light days from the Earth in 1.35million years - is set to send asteroids from the outer reaches of the solar system towards Earth, having a potentially catastrophic impact.

Of all the asteroids that have been discovered, more than 1,650 are considered to be 'potentially hazardous' by NASA - with only 157 larger than a kilometre in diameter

Titanic asteroids over 6.2 miles in size are capable of wiping out life on earth - but the last one known to hit was 66 million years ago.

The asteroid destroyed 75 per cent of life on earth, including the dinosaurs.

The Earth is hit on average once a year by asteroids measuring around 13ft in diameter - the size of an elephant.

Titanic asteroids over 10km in size are capable of wiping out life on earth - but the last one known to hit was 66 million years ago

Meanwhile, asteroids around 25ft in diameter - which can cause an explosion the size of Hiroshima - strike the Earth once every four years on average.

However, it is rare for these to be witnessed by humans, as 70 per cent of the Earth is water - and many of these objects explode in the upper atmosphere.

Asteroids about 66ft in diameter - or the size of a six-storey building - hit the earth on average twice every 100 years.

Titanic asteroids over 6.2 miles in size are capable of wiping out life on earth - but the last one known to hit was 66 million years ago (stock image)

REDIRECT MISSION COULD SAVE EARTH FROM AN ASTEROID Various techniques for deflecting a potentially hazardous asteroid could be tested to enable planetary defense capabilities. These techniques include Ion Beam Deflection, Enhanced Gravity Tractor, and kinetic impactors. In Ion Beam Deflection, the plumes from the thrusters would be directed towards the asteroid to gently push on its surface over a wide area. A thruster firing in the opposite direction would be needed to keep the spacecraft at a constant distance from the asteroid. The Ion Beam Deflection approach is independent of the size of the asteroid, and it could be demonstrated on either mission option. In the Enhanced Gravity Tractor approach, the spacecraft would first pick up a boulder from the asteroid's surface as in mission Option B. The spacecraft with the collected boulder would then orbit in a circular halo around the asteroid's velocity vector. The mass of the boulder coupled with the mass of the spacecraft would increase the gravitational attraction between the spacecraft and the asteroid. By flying the spacecraft in close formation with the asteroid for several months the very small gravitational forces would produce a measurable change in the asteroid's trajectory. A kinetic impactor could also be launched as a secondary payload with the spacecraft or on a separate launch vehicle, and it would collide with the target asteroid at high velocity while the spacecraft observed the impact. Advertisement

They can cause an explosion of 500 kilotons, or about 30 times the size of Hiroshima.

The last time an asteroid of this size hit was in 2013, over Chelyabinsk, Russia.

It exploded 18 miles above the ground and damaged over 7,000 buildings across six cities.

The Earth is hit on average once a year by asteroids measuring around 13ft in diameter - the size of an elephant. Meanwhile, asteroids around 25ft in diameter - which can cause an explosion the size of Hiroshima - strike the Earth once every four years on average
A section of sea cliff above a massive 'firehose' lava flow on Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano has collapsed and splashed into the ocean as tourists and geologists watched.

A large crack in the section of cliff above the gushing molten lava stream gave way Thursday afternoon as scientists stood just yards away.

Geologists with Hawaii Volcano Observatory were at the site to monitor the crack when it collapsed, and managed to capture the scene on video.

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KILAUEA VOLCANO It's thought that the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii formed anywhere from 300,000-600,000 years ago. And, it has been active ever since, according to the US Geological Survey. It erupts from three main areas, the summit and two rift zones, and most of these events are 'relatively gentle.' But, not always. 'Every few decades to centuries, however, powerful explosions spread ejecta across the landscape,' according to the USGS's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 'Such explosions can be lethal, as the one in 1790 that killed scores of people in a war party near the summit of Kilauea.' Advertisement

Later in the day, a tour boat was cruising by when another section of the cliff collapsed.

Video shows guests gasping and screaming as the huge piece of land splashes down in front of them, sending debris high into the air.

The collapse stopped the heavy stream of lava that had been arching out from near the top of the cliffs for weeks.

The lava stream, dubbed a 'firehose' flow because it shoots lava outward from the source like water from a hose, had recently increased in intensity.

The massive Kilauea flow came from a lava tube at the Kamokuna ocean entry on the southeast side of the Big Island.

The lava was gushing from a tube that was exposed when a huge, 26-acre lava rock delta collapsed into the ocean at the site on New Year's Eve.

That collapse triggered massive explosions and giant waves in the area.

The USGS warned that a portion of unstable cliff may still be attached and could break off at any time.

'This collapse yesterday did not diminish the hazards,' said USGS geologist Janet Babb on Friday.

'As long as lava continues to flow into the ocean, that area is still quite hazardous... there's still potential for collapses of the sea cliff there.'

In this combination of Feb. 2, 2017 images provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, a section of sea cliff, top, falls into the ocean above a 'firehose' lava stream in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Another portion of cracked, unstable land is shown after the collapse, bottom.

When the molten lava hits the cool seawater, it reacts and causes explosions that can throw large chunks of hot rock and debris inland, where tourists hike in to see the lava, and seaward, where tour boats cruise the shoreline.

The gasses released from the reaction are also dangerous to breathe, and shards of volcanic glass can be thrown into the air when the hot lava meets the cool seawater.

A large crack in the section of cliff above the gushing molten lava stream gave way Thursday afternoon as scientists stood just yards away.

In this thermal image, the lava flow can clearly be seen

The National Park Service has set up a designated viewing area far from the flow where visitors can safely view the lava.

But some people cross lines and venture into closed, dangerous areas, officials said.

The Kilauea volcano is spewing molten lava into the Pacific Ocean, spurring explosions that launch debris to twice the height of the sea cliff.

Researchers have been tracking the giant tracks in the volcanic area for weeks, and saw cracks getting wider this week

Footage captured by the USGS's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reveals the remarkable volcanic 'firehose' in action as it produces dangerous blasts, creating 'hazardous conditions on land and at sea.'

Upon a careful examination of the 'unstable sea cliff' this past weekend, researchers discovered a hot crack just above the site where the lava is flowing out, with temperatures as high as 428 degrees Fahrenheit.

The massive lava stream is roughly 1-2 meters wide and has been continuously pouring molten lava directly into the water at the Kamokuna ocean entry, according to the US Geological Survey.

It's recently begin to flow from the lava tube as a 'single large spout,' causing pulsating blasts of molten fragments.

'At Kilauea's ocean entry on Jan 28 and 29, the interaction of molten lava flowing into cool seawater caused pulsating littoral explosions that threw spatter (fragments of molten lava) high into the air,' the USGS HVO explains.

Footage captured by the USGS's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reveals the remarkable volcanic 'firehose' in action as it produces dangerous blasts, creating 'hazardous conditions on land and at sea'

In this photo provided by Shane Turpin, a 'firehose' lava stream from Kilauea Volcano shoots out from a sea cliff on Hawaii's Big Island as seen from a tour boat off the coast

'Some of these incandescent clasts fell on top of the sea cliff behind the ocean entry, forming a small spatter cone. During one exceptionally large burst, spatter as thrown about twice the height of the sea cliff.

'These ocean entry littoral explosions, both large and small create hazardous conditions on land and at sea.'

The massive lava stream is roughly 1-2 meters wide and has been continuously pouring molten lava directly into the water at the Kamokuna ocean entry, according to the US Geological Survey

With the discovery of a hot ground crack in the sea cliff overhead, the site is considered to be extremely unstable.

But, geologists set out for a closer investigation on foot January 28 wearing protective gear.

The team found that the eastern end of the crack is roughly 11.8 inches (30 cm) wide, and 'deeply cut into recent lava atop the older sea cliff.'

They were unable to access the western end as a result of numerous safety concerns, including poor air quality and the unstable ground.

'At Kilauea's ocean entry on Jan 28 and 29, the interaction of molten lava flowing into cool seawater caused pulsating littoral explosions that threw spatter (fragments of molten lava) high into the air,' the USGS HVO explains

Upon a careful examination of the 'unstable sea cliff' this past weekend, researchers discovered a hot crack just above the site where the lava is flowing out, with temperatures as high as 428 degrees Fahrenheit

'This crack could be a precursor to collapse of an unstable section fo the sea cliff, making the site extremely dangerous for anyone who ventures too closely to the ocean entry by land or by sea,' the USGS explains.

Thermal imaging has revealed that the hot crack reaches 428 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) in the eastern end.

The lava flow streaming below continued on at a somewhat steady rate across last week, occasionally appearing wider and with holes in the sheet.

'Some of these incandescent clasts fell on top of the sea cliff behind the ocean entry, forming a small spatter cone,' the USGS wrote. 'During one exceptionally large burst, spatter as thrown about twice the height of the sea cliff.'
A company that recently released the first ever jet-turbine backpack is now working on a new sci-fi-esque project: A personal flying car.

While the flying vehicle is still at the concept stage, the developers plan to start building the first prototype in six months.

The plan is for it to be a single-seat helicopter-like vehicle that can fit in a single car garage.

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The vehicle would be low and thin enough to fit inside a one-space garage. The design has six arms that come out from the top of the chassis, with two at the front, two at the middle and two at the back - with the middle ones able to fold in

The company designing the flying car, Jetpack Aviation (JPA), made headlines in 2015 when they released their first jet turbine backpack - JB-9.

Now, the Van Nuys, California based company has its eyes on making use of the space above us to transport people.

Uber is also trying to take on this space with plans to launch a flying taxi service in the future called Uber Elevate.

The company is run by David Mayman, the CEO, and Nelson Tyler, the chief designer, who have been demonstrating their jetpack in test flights across the the US and Europe - and they've also recently announced that their jetpacks are available to buy now.

The company is run by CEO David Mayman (pictured left) and chief designer Nelson Tyler (pictured right) who have been demonstrating their jetpack in test flights across the the US and Europe - and they've also recently announced that their jetpacks are available to buy now.

UBER ELEVATE'S PLAN Uber has a plan to launch a fleet of electric aircraft for on-demand aviation. The plan, called Uber Elevate, is set to design these 'cars' to take off and land vertically, travel 100 miles on a single charge and has set 2021 as the ready date. The vehicles will be a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) plane with the ability to fly 100 miles on a single charge at 150 mph max. They will have fixed wings with tilt prop-rotors, which also makes for a much quieter ride. Uber says its design will be 15 decibels quieter than traditional helicopters. And the firm sees using preexisting urban heliports and skyscrapers as launch and landing pads. The cars will also have enough room for a pilot and multiple passengers. Advertisement

But the company is now working on a new project to build the first viable flying car.

Mr Mayman, the CEO, told New Atlas that while some other companies, such as Joby and Airbus, are working on high-speed winged aircraft that can travel at 2-300 miles an hour (320-480 km/h), JPA is working on a different concept.

'We're on the other side.

'We're taking the manned multirotor approach.

'More than anything else, because some of the technology's already proven enough.

'The speeds are lower  you might be talking about 90 miles an hour (145 km/h), but the size factor is so much smaller because you don't have a wing to deal with.'

JPA's flying car design has six arms that come out from the top of the chassis, with two at the front, two at the middle and two at the back - with the middle ones able to fold in.

Mr Mayman also said that the vehicle would be low and thin enough to fit inside a one-space garage.

Instead of traditional landing skids, the design has little balls at the bottom.

While the design currently only has one seat, it could be upgraded for more if it weren't for the problem of limited battery power capacity

The team plans to fit the aircraft with 12 customized wooden propellers instead of carbon propellers because wooden props are very light and more resistant to damage

The team plans to fit the aircraft with 12 customized wooden propellers instead of carbon propellers, as wooden props are very light and more resistant to damage.

Mr Mayman says that the type of aircraft JPA is designing could fly close to the ground, at about 2 meters (6.5 feet).

While the design currently only has one seat, it could be upgraded for more if it weren't for the ultimate problem of limited battery power capacity.

But Mr Mayman estimates that in about four years, it might double.

But to get around that, the team is looking to design an type of electric car system with a power generator on board.

Aside from the problem of limited batter power, CEO Mr Mayman said drone technology has advanced autopilot and stabilization technologies, so much so that there's very little R&D to do

They're looking to build in a very small turbine motor the size of a coke can, which they've had experience with when developing their jetpacks.

This kind of a motor could produce a lot of power as a generator.

Aside from the battery power problem, Mr Mayman said drone technology has advanced autopilot and stabilization technologies, so much so that there's very little R&D to do.

CEO Mr Mayman said that it would take about six months to develop the first prototype of the flying car if the company has the right cashflows

In terms of how safe the device is, the team is working on the basis that you could lose half your motors and still fall at a safe rate, but they're also looking into an undercarriage system that can collapse in a certain way, a ballistic parachute to slow a crash down, and airbag cushion system.

Mr Mayman said that it would take about six months to develop the first prototype of the flying car if the company has the right cashflows.

'We're working as if it's a two dimensional world, traveling in serial, car after car after car,' he said.

'All this airspace above us is completely unutilized between 100 and 1,000 feet.

'One day, that space will be used.

'We've got plans on being a part of that.'
Wasting time searching for items and queuing at the tills can push up stress levels at the supermarket.

But a new mobile phone app can take care of all that to make the chore up to three times quicker.

Ubamarket is on trial and could soon be expanded to thousands of stores. Invented by entrepreneur Will Broome, it works by having the layout of participating stores.

Wasting time searching for items and queuing at the tills can push up stress levels at the supermarket

Customers enter a shopping list on their phone and, like a sat nav, the app locates the items and arranges them in the order they can be found.

Shoppers head straight to the correct shelves, scanning the bar codes as they go. When they have finished, the app takes care of payments, avoiding queues or glitches at self-service tills.

HOW DOES THE APP WORK? Users create their shopping list within the app and select a participating store they wish to shop at. The app then re-arranges the items in the order they appear in the aisles - meaning an end to the frustration of criss-crossing the shop searching for products. Once they reach the checkouts, users scan the app at a payment point and pay without having to load all their purchases onto the conveyor belt. Loyalty points can also be accrued within the app and future editions will enable automatic payment via a pre-stored credit card. Advertisement

Mr Broome, 42, said: 'In tests involving a 20-item list, people using the app were up to three times quicker than walking around in the old-fashioned way and queuing to pay. It has worked flawlessly so far and could revolutionise shopping habits.'

He said that his 93-year-old grandmother had tried the system and found it simple to use.

Ubamarket, which is free to download, can only be used with iPhones in Budgens at Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds.

But Mr Broome said it has been used more than 1,000 times since being launched in October.

He is in talks with HTEC, which provides till systems for 8,000 Budgens and other chains, about expanding Ubamarket.

Mr Broome, now in partnership with technology firm DMI, started working on the app six years ago after struggling to find items on lists his wife Judy texted to him.

He added: 'Four years ago something dawned on me - I wasn't the only person in the supermarket with my head buried in my phone, staring at a shopping list that had been texted to me and wondering where to start!

'Of course, when I did eventually get started, I embarked upon a journey that would have made an expedition across Middle Earth seem less complicated.

'I thought to myself - wouldn't it be cool if you walked in and your list was magically in the right order? And Ubamarket was conceived. Right there on aisle nine.'

Shoppers follow a logical route to pick up their goods which are 'ticked off' by scanning their barcode - meaning no queues at the till to pay

The app allows users to make a shopping list on their phone which is automatically converted into the order items appear in a store

Guy Warner, managing director of Warner's Budgens Supermarkets, said: 'I'm delighted to be the first store in the world to offer Ubamarket to our Taste Club members and customers.

'I feel that this revolutionary new app will effectively bridge the gap between online convenience and the in-store experience that Warner's Budgens shoppers enjoy.'

Sainsbury's introduced a very similar app last year, which lets users gradually build up a list of items they need over the course of a week or fortnight, for example.

And when that shopper enters a local store, a map appears on the phone showing the customer where their groceries are to save them time trawling the aisles.

Ubamarket is now available to download on iOS from the App Store and will shortly be available on Android.

Users can scan the items through the app as they shop, saving them time taking everything out of the trolley and the till

The app is the brainchild of British entrepreneur, Will Broome, who hit on the idea four years ago as he aimlessly wandered around a shop searching for products

Once they reach the checkouts, users simply scan the app at a payment point and pay without having to load all their purchases onto the conveyor belt
The Independent Press Standards Organisation has upheld a complaint against this article. IPSO's adjudication is as follows:

Following an article published on 5 February 2017 in the Mail on Sunday, headlined 'EXPOSED How world leaders were duped over global warming', Bob Ward complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the newspaper had breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors' Code of Practice. IPSO upheld the complaint and has required the Mail on Sunday to publish this decision as a remedy to the breach.

The article reported on claims made by Dr John Bates, a climate scientist formerly employed at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), about a paper published in the journal Science that suggested that there had been no 'pause' in global warming in the 2000s. Dr Bates had published a blog criticising the way the data used for the paper had been analysed and archived. The article detailed at length the complainant's concerns with the data; it then characterised them as demonstrating 'irrefutable evidence' that the paper had been based upon 'misleading, unverified data'.

The article was illustrated with a graph. It plotted a red line, described as 'the 'adjusted' and unreliable sea data cited in the flawed 'Pausebuster' paper', and a blue line, described as 'the UK Met Office's independently verified record', which it said 'showed lower monthly readings and a shallower recent warming trend'. A note at the base of the graph stated that '0 represents 14C'.

The complainant said that the significance of Dr Bates' concerns about the archiving procedures had been misrepresented in the article, and the newspaper had taken no steps to establish the veracity of Dr Bates' claims. World leaders had not been 'duped', as the headline said, and there was no 'irrefutable evidence' that the paper was based on 'misleading, unverified data', as the article had claimed.

The newspaper said that Dr Bates had shown it examples of both fully archived climate data and the less detailed version used for the paper; putting raw data on a website is not the same thing as full data archiving; therefore the evidence that the paper's data was unverified and misleading, was 'irrefutable'.

The Committee emphasised that its central concern was whether the article had accurately reported Dr Bates' concerns. It decided that the newspaper's claims that Dr Bates' testimony had provided 'irrefutable evidence' that the paper had been based on 'misleading, 'unverified' data', leading  as the headline claimed  to world leaders being 'duped' over global warming, and 'convinced' to invest billions in climate change, went much further than the concerns which Dr Bates had detailed in his blog or in the interview; they did not represent criticisms of the data collection process, but rather, were assertions of fact that the data had been demonstrated conclusively to be wrong and had a significant impact on the decision making of world leaders, with an additional implication this had been part of a wilful attempt to deceive.

The article claimed that because of the NOAA's 'failure to 'archive' the data, 'its results can never be verified'. The Committee did not consider that the article had made sufficiently clear that the failure to archive, had been a failure to archive the data through a particular method, and that the data had been made publicly available. In characterising Dr Bates' claims in this way the newspaper had failed to take care over the accuracy of the article, in breach of Clause 1 (i) and had then failed to correct these significantly misleading statements, in breach of Clause 1 (ii).

The graph which accompanied the article had provided a visual illustration of the newspaper's contention regarding the difference between the 'flawed' NOAA data and other, 'verified', data. The newspaper's failure to plot the lines correctly represented a breach of Clause 1 (i), and there had been a further failure to correct the significantly misleading impression created as a result. There was a further breach of Clause 1 on this point.

Data Science,Climate and satellites Consultant John J Bates, who blew the whistle to the Mail on Sunday

The Mail on Sunday today reveals astonishing evidence that the organisation that is the world's leading source of climate data rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.

A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015.

The report claimed that the 'pause' or 'slowdown' in global warming in the period since 1998  revealed by UN scientists in 2013  never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the world's media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers.

But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, 'unverified' data.

It was never subjected to NOAA's rigorous internal evaluation process  which Dr Bates devised.

His vehement objections to the publication of the faulty data were overridden by his NOAA superiors in what he describes as a 'blatant attempt to intensify the impact' of what became known as the Pausebuster paper.

His disclosures are likely to stiffen President Trump's determination to enact his pledges to reverse his predecessor's 'green' policies, and to withdraw from the Paris deal  so triggering an intense political row.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the world climate change conference

The PM, the Prince and 'the pause': David Cameron and Prince Charles attended the historic 2015 Paris climate change conference with 150 world leaders. Cameron committed Britain to an EU-Wide emission cut as a result. And Charles, writing in this paper last month, stated there was no pause in global warming, influenced by the flawed NOAA paper that made this claim

In an exclusive interview, Dr Bates accused the lead author of the paper, Thomas Karl, who was until last year director of the NOAA section that produces climate data  the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)  of 'insisting on decisions and scientific choices that maximised warming and minimised documentation in an effort to discredit the notion of a global warming pause, rushed so that he could time publication to influence national and international deliberations on climate policy'.

Dr Bates was one of two Principal Scientists at NCEI, based in Asheville, North Carolina.

A blatant attempt to intensify paper's impact

Official delegations from America, Britain and the EU were strongly influenced by the flawed NOAA study as they hammered out the Paris Agreement  and committed advanced nations to sweeping reductions in their use of fossil fuel and to spending 80 billion every year on new, climate-related aid projects.

The scandal has disturbing echoes of the 'Climategate' affair which broke shortly before the UN climate summit in 2009, when the leak of thousands of emails between climate scientists suggested they had manipulated and hidden data. Some were British experts at the influential Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.

LED TO THESE GREEN COMMITMENTS Data published by NOAA, the world's top climate data agency, claimed global warming was worse than previously thought. The information was published to coincide with the Paris climate change conference in 2015, where world leaders agreed that... $100bn be given every year in extra 'climate-related' aid to the developing world by rich nations 2 degrees C be set as the limit for maximum temperature rise above pre-industrial times 40% of CO2 emissions would be cut across the EU by 2030 320bn what the UK's pledges will cost our economy by 2030 Advertisement

NOAA's 2015 'Pausebuster' paper was based on two new temperature sets of data  one containing measurements of temperatures at the planet's surface on land, the other at the surface of the seas.

Both datasets were flawed. This newspaper has learnt that NOAA has now decided that the sea dataset will have to be replaced and substantially revised just 18 months after it was issued, because it used unreliable methods which overstated the speed of warming. The revised data will show both lower temperatures and a slower rate in the recent warming trend.

The land temperature dataset used by the study was afflicted by devastating bugs in its software that rendered its findings 'unstable'.

The paper relied on a preliminary, 'alpha' version of the data which was never approved or verified.

A final, approved version has still not been issued. None of the data on which the paper was based was properly 'archived'  a mandatory requirement meant to ensure that raw data and the software used to process it is accessible to other scientists, so they can verify NOAA results.

Dr Bates retired from NOAA at the end of last year after a 40-year career in meteorology and climate science. As recently as 2014, the Obama administration awarded him a special gold medal for his work in setting new, supposedly binding standards 'to produce and preserve climate data records'.

Yet when it came to the paper timed to influence the Paris conference, Dr Bates said, these standards were flagrantly ignored.

The paper was published in June 2015 by the journal Science. Entitled 'Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus', the document said the widely reported 'pause' or 'slowdown' was a myth.

Less than two years earlier, a blockbuster report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which drew on the work of hundreds of scientists around the world, had found 'a much smaller increasing trend over the past 15 years 1998-2012 than over the past 30 to 60 years'. Explaining the pause became a key issue for climate science. It was seized on by global warming sceptics, because the level of CO2 in the atmosphere had continued to rise.

WHY OBAMA'S GREEN GURU WILL MAKE TRUMP SEE RED NOAA's climate boss Thomas Karl, below left, had a hotline to the White House, through his long association with President Obama's science adviser, John Holdren. Karl's 'Pausebuster' paper was hugely influential in dictating the world agreement in Paris and sweeping US emissions cuts. President Trump, above right, has pledged to scrap both policies  triggering furious claims by Democrats he is a climate 'denier' and 'anti-science'. Thanks to today's MoS story, NOAA is set to face an inquiry by the Republican-led House science committee. Advertisement

Some scientists argued that the existence of the pause meant the world's climate is less sensitive to greenhouse gases than previously thought, so that future warming would be slower. One of them, Professor Judith Curry, then head of climate science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said it suggested that computer models used to project future warming were 'running too hot'.

However, the Pausebuster paper said while the rate of global warming from 1950 to 1999 was 0.113C per decade, the rate from 2000 to 2014 was actually higher, at 0.116C per decade. The IPCC's claim about the pause, it concluded, 'was no longer valid'.

The impact was huge and lasting. On publication day, the BBC said the pause in global warming was 'an illusion caused by inaccurate data'.

One American magazine described the paper as a 'science bomb' dropped on sceptics.

Its impact could be seen in this newspaper last month when, writing to launch his Ladybird book about climate change, Prince Charles stated baldly: 'There isn't a pause it is hard to reject the facts on the basis of the evidence.'

Data changed to make the sea appear warmer

The sea dataset used by Thomas Karl and his colleagues  known as Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperatures version 4, or ERSSTv4, tripled the warming trend over the sea during the years 2000 to 2014 from just 0.036C per decade  as stated in version 3  to 0.099C per decade. Individual measurements in some parts of the globe had increased by about 0.1C and this resulted in the dramatic increase of the overall global trend published by the Pausebuster paper. But Dr Bates said this increase in temperatures was achieved by dubious means. Its key error was an upwards 'adjustment' of readings from fixed and floating buoys, which are generally reliable, to bring them into line with readings from a much more doubtful source  water taken in by ships. This, Dr Bates explained, has long been known to be questionable: ships are themselves sources of heat, readings will vary from ship to ship, and the depth of water intake will vary according to how heavily a ship is laden  so affecting temperature readings.

Dr Bates said: 'They had good data from buoys. And they threw it out and 'corrected' it by using the bad data from ships. You never change good data to agree with bad, but that's what they did  so as to make it look as if the sea was warmer.'

ERSSTv4 'adjusted' buoy readings up by 0.12C. It also ignored data from satellites that measure the temperature of the lower atmosphere, which are also considered reliable. Dr Bates said he gave the paper's co-authors 'a hard time' about this, 'and they never really justified what they were doing.'

Now, some of those same authors have produced the pending, revised new version of the sea dataset  ERSSTv5. A draft of a document that explains the methods used to generate version 5, and which has been seen by this newspaper, indicates the new version will reverse the flaws in version 4, changing the buoy adjustments and including some satellite data and measurements from a special high-tech floating buoy network known as Argo. As a result, it is certain to show reductions in both absolute temperatures and recent global warming.

The second dataset used by the Pausebuster paper was a new version of NOAA's land records, known as the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN), an analysis over time of temperature readings from about 4,000 weather stations spread across the globe.

The unstable land readings: Scientists at NOAA used land temperature data from 4,000 weather stations (pictured, one in Montana, USA). But the software used to process the figures was bug-ridden and unstable. NOAA also used 'unverified' data that was not tested or approved. This data as merged with unreliable sea surface temperatures

The 'adjusted' sea readings: Average sea surface temperatures are calculated using data from weather buoys (pictured). But NOAA 'adjusted' these figures upwards to fit with data taken from ships  which is notoriously unreliable. This exaggerated the warming rate, allowing NOAA to claim in the paper dubbed the 'Pausebuster' that there was no 'pause'

This new version found past temperatures had been cooler than previously thought, and recent ones higher  so that the warming trend looked steeper. For the period 2000 to 2014, the paper increased the rate of warming on land from 0.15C to 0.164C per decade.

In the weeks after the Pausebuster paper was published, Dr Bates conducted a one-man investigation into this. His findings were extraordinary. Not only had Mr Karl and his colleagues failed to follow any of the formal procedures required to approve and archive their data, they had used a 'highly experimental early run' of a programme that tried to combine two previously separate sets of records.

This had undergone the critical process known as 'pairwise homogeneity adjustment', a method of spotting 'rogue' readings from individual weather stations by comparing them with others nearby.

However, this process requires extensive, careful checking which was only just beginning, so that the data was not ready for operational use. Now, more than two years after the Pausebuster paper was submitted to Science, the new version of GHCN is still undergoing testing.

Moreover, the GHCN software was afflicted by serious bugs. They caused it to become so 'unstable' that every time the raw temperature readings were run through the computer, it gave different results. The new, bug-free version of GHCN has still not been approved and issued. It is, Dr Bates said, 'significantly different' from that used by Mr Karl and his co-authors.

Dr Bates revealed that the failure to archive and make available fully documented data not only violated NOAA rules, but also those set down by Science. Before he retired last year, he continued to raise the issue internally. Then came the final bombshell. Dr Bates said: 'I learned that the computer used to process the software had suffered a complete failure.'

The reason for the failure is unknown, but it means the Pausebuster paper can never be replicated or verified by other scientists.

The flawed conclusions of the Pausebuster paper were widely discussed by delegates at the Paris climate change conference. Mr Karl had a longstanding relationship with President Obama's chief science adviser, John Holdren, giving him a hotline to the White House.

They were forced to correct it: 18 months after the 'Pausebuster' paper was published in time for the 2015 Paris climate change conference, NOAA's flawed sea temperature dataset is to be replaced. The new version will remedy its failings, and use data from both buoys and satellites (pictured)  which some say is the best data of all. The new version will show both lower temperatures and a lower warming trend since 2000

Mr Holdren was also a strong advocate of robust measures to curb emissions. Britain's then Prime Minister David Cameron claimed at the conference that '97 per cent of scientists say climate change is urgent and man-made and must be addressed' and called for 'a binding legal mechanism' to ensure the world got no more than 2C warmer than in pre-industrial times.

President Obama stressed his Clean Power Plan at the conference, which mandates American power stations to make big emissions cuts.

President Trump has since pledged he will scrap it, and to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

Whatever takes its place, said Dr Bates, 'there needs to be a fundamental change to the way NOAA deals with data so that people can check and validate scientific results. I'm hoping that this will be a wake-up call to the climate science community  a signal that we have to put in place processes to make sure this kind of crap doesn't happen again.

'I want to address the systemic problems. I don't care whether modifications to the datasets make temperatures go up or down. But I want the observations to speak for themselves, and for that, there needs to be a new emphasis that ethical standards must be maintained.'

He said he decided to speak out after seeing reports in papers including the Washington Post and Forbes magazine claiming that scientists feared the Trump administration would fail to maintain and preserve NOAA's climate records.

Dr Bates said: 'How ironic it is that there is now this idea that Trump is going to trash climate data, when key decisions were earlier taken by someone whose responsibility it was to maintain its integrity  and failed.'

NOAA not only failed, but it effectively mounted a cover-up when challenged over its data. After the paper was published, the US House of Representatives Science Committee launched an inquiry into its Pausebuster claims. NOAA refused to comply with subpoenas demanding internal emails from the committee chairman, the Texas Republican Lamar Smith, and falsely claimed that no one had raised concerns about the paper internally.

Last night Mr Smith thanked Dr Bates 'for courageously stepping forward to tell the truth about NOAA's senior officials playing fast and loose with the data in order to meet a politically predetermined conclusion'. He added: 'The Karl study used flawed data, was rushed to publication in an effort to support the President's climate change agenda, and ignored NOAA's own standards for scientific study.'

Professor Curry, now the president of the Climate Forecast Applications Network, said last night: 'Large adjustments to the raw data, and substantial changes in successive dataset versions, imply substantial uncertainties.'

It was time, she said, that politicians and policymakers took these uncertainties on board.

Last night Mr Karl admitted the data had not been archived when the paper was published. Asked why he had not waited, he said: 'John Bates is talking about a formal process that takes a long time.' He denied he was rushing to get the paper out in time for Paris, saying: 'There was no discussion about Paris.'

They played fast and loose with the figures

He also admitted that the final, approved and 'operational' edition of the GHCN land data would be 'different' from that used in the paper'.

As for the ERSSTv4 sea dataset, he claimed it was other records  such as the UK Met Office's  which were wrong, because they understated global warming and were 'biased too low'. Jeremy Berg, Science's editor-in-chief, said: 'Dr Bates raises some serious concerns. After the results of any appropriate investigations we will consider our options.' He said that 'could include retracting that paper'.NOAA declined to comment.

It's not the first time we've exposed dodgy climate data, which is why we've dubbed it: Climate Gate 2

Helena Christensen addresses demonstrators in the center of Copenhagen on climate change

Dr John Bates's disclosures about the manipulation of data behind the 'Pausebuster' paper is the biggest scientific scandal since 'Climategate' in 2009 when, as this paper reported, thousands of leaked emails revealed scientists were trying to block access to data, and using a 'trick' to conceal embarrassing flaws in their claims about global warming.

Both scandals suggest a lack of transparency and, according to Dr Bates, a failure to observe proper ethical standards.

Because of NOAA 's failure to 'archive' data used in the paper, its results can never be verified.

Like Climategate, this scandal is likely to reverberate around the world, and reignite some of science's most hotly contested debates.

Left, blowing up the graph show is disappears in 1961 artfully hidden behind the other colours. Right, the reason? Because this is what it shows after 1961, a dramatic decline in global temperatures

Has there been an unexpected pause in global warming? If so, is the world less sensitive to carbon dioxide than climate computer models suggest?

And does this mean that truly dangerous global warming is less imminent, and that politicians' repeated calls for immediate 'urgent action' to curb emissions are exaggerated?
The magic of Madagascar! Discovering an untouched corner of a wildlife-packed island



Hoosh! Crash! As the boat lurches over another huge wave, a whale slaps its massive tail against the water.



These mammals make Olympic gymnasts look like amateurs as they acrobatically contort their enormous bodies in gravity-defying displays.



I'm travelling across Antongil Bay to the far-flung Forest Lodge on the Masoala Peninsula, a vast national park on Madagascar's north-east coast, and the island's last remaining untouched rainforest.



Go east: Sainte Marie Island is the perfect place for relaxing away from it all

Between July and September, thousands of humpback whales also journey to this spot to mate. An hour later we arrive at our destination. What a spot. Thick rainforest swarms down the mountains to deserted honey gold beaches. It has escaped the deforestation that has ravaged the rest of this Indian Ocean island.



Our lodge is hidden in the forest, on a never-ending stretch of beach, with not another building in sight. 'I chose here for the wilderness,' says Pierre, the South African owner, who has also run lodges in isolated parts of Mozambique and Malawi. Pierre's beautiful German wife Maria, is there to greets us.

Later I hear the romantic story of how they met, at the end of her trip crossing Africa in an old ice cream van.



The lodge combines rustic and luxury, with a dining hall resembling a long house, where hammocks swing and the menu is chalked daily on a blackboard.



There are six palm-thatched bungalows on stilts and safari tents on mahogany platforms lit only by candles and oil lanterns. The next morning, dolphins swim by as we eat our breakfast. A lot of Masoala's wildlife is unique: strange aye-aye, helmet vanga birds and Madagascar serpent eagles among them.



Rustic retreat: The palm-thatched bungalows blend in with their natural surroundings but still offer plenty of comfort

The forest is a mass of giant buttress roots and towering rosewoods, ramy and Madagascar dragon trees. Vines and lianas twist everywhere, headstrong streams rush over rocks and epiphytes - air plants - glow in the sun.



Red-ruffed lemurs are what we are looking for, and almost immediately there is a group of them, leaping through the trees, looking like dramatic fireballs with their magnificent crimson fur. Back on the beach, we snorkel among shockingly bright fish.

'Often we hear whales singing,' says Seraphin, our guide. 'Female humpback whales choose their mate by their singing prowess. Their song is one of the animal kingdom's most complex.'



Friendly face: Red-ruffed lemurs dart through the trees

The next day we travel by boat to a magnificent arc of beach hemmed in by rainforest, where hidden coves stretch into the distance. From here we travel by traditional pirogue boat up the Antalavia River to a giant pool of cascades in a natural rainforest amphitheatre. We splash about while pygmy kingfishers and parrots swoop past.



The coastal path back skirts the forest. We have the whole place to ourselves, except for a man wandering across the sand with his cows and a family returning from the hillside, with home-made shrimp traps and baskets of cassava leaves.



There are kayaks available to explore the sculpted granite monoliths that seem to have been flung across the sea. 'Lichen eats the rocks, eroding them into dramatic shapes that rear from the water,' says Pierre. Orchids are abundant - there are more than 900 types on the island - and enormous clumps elegantly shroud the trees.



The most famous orchid is vanilla. Indeed, much of the world's vanilla is cultivated around Masoala. However, it doesn't grow naturally there - it's native to Mexico. 'The French brought it over,' says Seraphin.



'The bees that pollinate the flowers do not live in Madagascar, so each f lower has to be handpollinated, making it extremely labour intensive.'



Our final week is spent on Ile Sainte Marie, a small island - just 36 miles by 2.5 miles - off the north-east coast with thatched houses on stilts. Most restaurant names are the owner's family name preceded by Chez (French for 'at home') - because they are just that.



You sit on someone's terrace eating a home-cooked meal of zebu steak or chicken in a creamy vanilla sauce. We stay at Princesse Bora, a small chic hotel in the middle of a lush palm grove with a long infinity pool by the sea.



Island idyll: One of the white sand beaches at the Ile aux Nates

The owner, Fifou Mayer, is involved in Cetamada, an association for the protection of Madagascar's marine life, and guests are even allowed to go out in its research boats.



One day, a quad bike trek takes us off to the wild east coast, along dirt tracks and past remote little villages. We continue our exploration by pirogue through mangroves and a wander along the beaches, where palm trees lean so far over they appear to be doing press-ups in the sea. We swim in the lagoon, and visit Ile aux Nattes, a tiny neighbouring island.



Back at the hotel, Fifou tells me that Malagasy people keep the north-east corner of their homes as a special place for their ancestors.



As I wander the beach gazing at the turquoise, tranquil lagoon early one morning, it seems entirely appropriate we have spent all the time in the North-East, surely Madagascar's most special place.



Travel Facts



Kenya Airways (0203 371 0654, www.kenya-airways.com ) flies to Antananarivo, via Nairobi, from Heathrow, from 698 return. Double tents at Forest Lodge ( www.masoalaforestlodge.com ) cost from 200 pp full board including guided forest walks and boat transfers. Princesse Bora costs from 115 per night half-board in a villa (00261 20 570 4003, www.princessebora.com ).




I was on the hunt for buried treasure  not for gold ingots, I hasten to add, but for some 26 letterboxes hidden on Lundy, one of the only inhabited islands in the Bristol Channel.

It was a novel way to explore this isolated backwater, best known for its mention in the shipping forecast.

The so-called letterboxes are plastic containers where you can post a card which is collected and sent off by the next treasure-hunter. At each site you stamp your notebook as proof youve found it.

Cattle country: Highland cows waded into the ponds to cool down in the searing heat of an Indian summer

Armed with a compass, map and some cryptic clues, I trawled the island from end to end in my quest. In one day I clocked up 15 miles even though Lundy is only three miles long and half a mile wide.

I found myself scrambling down rocky crags and clambering up headlands purple with heather as I tried to pinpoint the exact locations.

It may be only 12 miles off the mainland, but this tiny windswept island feels remote.

After a two-hour crossing from Ilfracombe you hike up a steep track from the jetty to the only village  which has one pub and a shop.

There are about 20 self-catering properties scattered nearby, ranging from a large Georgian villa to the Radio Room, little bigger than a shed, for one person.

You can choose from castles or lighthouses and those looking for solitude can stay in Tibbetts, a couple of miles hike to the north of the island, which has bunk beds and a pumped water supply for the bathroom but no electricity.

Lundy wont appeal to everyone. There is no TV or radio. Wi-fi is virtually non-existent and mobile reception intermittent.

The only way to get around is on foot. But climbers come to scale the precipitous sea cliffs, some of the best rock faces in Britain, and birders and wildlife enthusiasts return time and again as the whole island is a nature reserve.

Come in spring and you will be outnumbered by colonies of puffins and seabirds nesting on rocky outcrops.

In September they were long gone, but as I hacked my way through the waist-high bracken on the leeward coast I stopped to listen to the haunting sound of seals singing in the cove below.

The only way to get around Lundy is on foot. But climbers come to scale the precipitous sea cliffs, some of the best rock faces in Britain, and birders and wildlife enthusiasts return time and again as the whole island is a nature reserve

Trekking across the heathland past neolithic stone circles, I came across Soay sheep and timid sika deer which fled the moment they caught sight of me.

Highland cattle waded into the ponds to cool down in the searing heat of an Indian summer.

There is only one pebbly beach where I swam at sunrise surrounded by inquisitive seals who popped their heads above the waves to watch. When the sea is calm, Conor, the chief ranger, will take you snorkelling with them.

For the best views of the dramatic coastline take a boat trip on the Jessica Hettie.

With just four of us aboard, we scanned the sea for dolphins as we passed sea stacks and jagged bluffs. Meanwhile, our captain, Clive, pointed out the site of shipwrecks and the remains of a Second World War German aircraft embedded in the cliffs.

I still had one letterbox to find on the final morning, and I had left the most difficult to last.

It was buried on Rat Island, a massive slab of granite only accessible at low tide. I scrambled over a jumble of slippery rocks skirting round pools of seaweed and anemones until I came up against a sheer wall towering over me.

It had me floored. With the tide on the turn I have to admit I bottled out. But it will be a good excuse to come back another time and try again.
ELKO  While the Cowboy Poetry Gathering hosts professional and widely-known poets, novices take to the stage and try their luck at reading and reciting before a supportive, yet small crowds.

Anything Goes, held multiple times over the Gathering, gives new poets a forum to hone their craft.

Amateur poets young and old sign up to perform in the hour-long presentation. The material can either be the poets own work or written by someone else.

Never knowing what is going to be said is part of the excitement of Anything Goes, said Nan McEntire, who hosts most sessions, but also scary as not many people are willing to host the open mic time.

Its well named because you really dont know who has signed up, she said. You have no idea of the talent or, in some cases, lack of talent.

However, its the reason that the poets attend Anything Goes. Some testing their own work, some trying to improve public-speaking techniques, while others are making the first step to stardom.

The audience is very supportive, added McEntire, who has hosted regularly since 2002.

It had been established before then, she said.

For one poet, the session was therapeutic, as he suffered a brain injury years before and wanted to recite.

Another poet, McEntire recalled, signed up to read his poem written on a slip of paper and bought a new shirt for the occasion, yet didnt have enough money for a room and slept in his truck.

At an Anything Goes earlier in the week, a brother/sister duo, ages 13 and 10, performed a poem together, bringing a youthful energy to the session, McEntire remembered.

If I feel like theres a real talent, Ill write to the program director, said McEntire.

Stu Carlson has spent his entire life in the service of others. He was a Maine Corps helicopter pilot, range conservationist and spent 17 years as a volunteer at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Salt Lake City. He came to Elko this week to help with the second, annual Veterans Writers Project.

During a Friday session of Anything Goes, Carlson performed and recited his work. His tale of waking up in a depressed mood and then returning home in the evening after hours spent with amputees, the blind and other wounded warriors and his realization that, in comparison, his problems were minor touched the entire audience.

Stu, your problems are minor, he said. Most are all in your head.

War torn vets are my heroes. Some endure crippling pain. My ailments are token, thanks to rehab Ive gained, he said. And, when the weather is good, I can sit by a lake, enjoy great scenery from a lawn chair I take. I can untangle fish lines and I can put worms on kids hooks. Grandchildren cluster round me, Im convinced with fine looks. And, when my scorecard is tallied at the end of lifes race tear-stained notes will reflect the blessings gained with Gods grace.

Another poem expressed the sorrow of watching a neighbor boy grow, go off to war in Vietnam and then being asked to escort his body to final rest. Carlson illustrated the poem with a picture of the farm that the boy grew up on, and toward the end with an image of his final resting place in El Paso.

He picked up the remains at Treasure Island, California and flew them back to El Paso.

And years later Kents mom and his dad would rest there, tucked mid taut tears of tombstones under Fort Bliss, thou care. For both were Army vets proud but from World War II times thus entitled for space on hallowed landscapes sublime, said Carlson to the attentive audience.

Anything Goes continues Saturday with three more sessions held in the Silver Room at the Elko Convention Center at 12:45 p.m., 1:45 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Somewhere in the deepest countryside of Rajasthan, between the cities of Udaipur and Jodhpur, a table is laid out under an awning.

Nearby, beneath a tree, four men in white turbans cook a feast in an array of bubbling cauldrons and bury their cannonball-shaped rolls of bread to cook underground in ashes from the fire.

A boy shepherd tries to keep his curious water buffalo away as we laze on a line of charpoys  Indian daybeds  while the meal is prepared.

During his trip, Simon stayed here at the breathtaking Chhatra Sagar camp in Rajasthan, built by Rajput aristocrats

When we finally sit down at the table and start to eat, the water buffalo and gentle cows can no longer resist their temptation to see what is happening and amble towards us.

It is a scene that could be taking place a hundred years ago when India was dominated by British viceroys, or 400 years ago when the Mughal emperors reigned.

The bread is cooked in ashes the same way, and our host is a member of the royal family of Udaipur that has ruled this area since the 7th Century.

The popular way to see India today is to visit the Taj Mahal, see the gorgeous cities of Rajasthan, and stay in gloomy palaces with intermittent wi-fi, watery coffee, appalling lighting and shambolic bathrooms.

But I wanted something different, both more authentic yet also more modern.

I wanted to see rural India, get out of the cities, taste the food and see the wildlife, villages and farms. I wanted good wi-fi (because I had to read the last draft of my TV series), proper espresso, a power-shower, a swimming pool and well-lit bedroom so that I could read.

Simon also stayed here at Dev Shree, a stunning hotel in the village of Deogarh between Udaipur and Jodhpur

Thanks to a new generation of highly creative, hospitable Rajput princes, this is all now possible, and I went with a party of 14 friends and family, varying in age from 13 to 75. We relished every moment.

From Delhi, we drove to Jaipur to see Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, rode up to the Amber Fort on elephants, and enjoyed the reckless mayhem of tuk-tuk drives through the old city.

We stayed at The Royal Heritage Haveli, a converted 18th Century shooting lodge, technically owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur.

It is run by three members of his wider family: Pradip Singh, tall, powerful and always in a wide-brimmed hat; his wife Angelique; and his elegant and charming daughter Shyam Bhavi, who joined us for dinner.

The hotel has a modern pool, wi-fi and espresso, while my room was gorgeously turquoise and bijou, had a power shower and proper reading lights.

After two nights, we drove five hours to Chhatra Sagar, a tented camp on a dam. The camp has been created by Harsh Vardhan and his brother Nandi in the most beautiful location I have ever visited. They, too, are Rajput aristocrats and live in a house on the dam.

Simon says that his mission was to get out of the Indian cities, taste the food and see the wildlife, villages and farms. Pictured, preparations are made for dinner

Tented camp doesnt quite capture the combination of glamour and simplicity of this heavenly place, and it is meticulously run. Harsh designed the tents that are astonishingly luxurious, with granite bathrooms, and doors that open on to the lake. His taste is exquisite.

There are only 11 tents and they are always booked. Harsh rises at dawn to supervise the arrival of fresh vegetables. The food is breathtaking  old family recipes, cooked by the brothers beautiful wives.

Later Nandi took us on a walk through the forest, accompanied by a red-turbaned assistant who bore his telescope/camera and a birdwatching book, in which he pointed out the species we saw  babblers, bulbuls, and rockers, and antelope. Until recently, a leopard lived on the hill above.

It is a scene that could be taking place a hundred years ago when India was dominated by British viceroys

Young and old in our group equally adored this camp, but after two nights we drove three hours to Dev Shree, in the village of Deogarh in countryside near Udaipur.

Like Chhatra Sagar, this is another example of royal creativity that fuses majestic tradition with modernity.

Our exuberant host, Shatrunjai Singh, a member of the royal house of Udaipur, and his wife Bhavna, have built a new palace combining a family home with seven guest rooms. Shatrunjais ancestors built fortresses and the big Mahal above the village but for centuries none of the Deogarh family has built anything new.

Now Shatrunjai and Bhavna have created a traditional, magnificent, luxurious home, built in the Rajasthani style, combining heritage beauty with all the comforts demanded by modern travellers  a pale yellow palace, designed around an open courtyard.

The wide veranda overlooks the lawn where mongooses play in the morning, and there are beautiful views of a lake embellished with the silhouettes of the family cenotaphs and fort.

At Dev Shree, meals enjoyed included Bombay street food  crisp dumplings with masala dunked in tamarind water, aloo and pav bhajis, and potato sabzi with aubergine

The swimming pool stands within a palm grove surrounded by charpoys on which to siesta. The food, served by staff whose service is flawless, is again delicious.

One day for lunch they served a meal of Bombay street food  crisp dumplings with masala dunked in tamarind water, aloo and pav bhajis, potato sabzi with aubergine and tomato paste in buns, and cold beetroot soup for the less adventurous among our group.

Deogarh is an unspoilt village, friendly and safe  the girls haggled and shopped happily.

In the evenings, Shatrunjai and Bhavna each piloted a jeep for thrilling, surprising safari drives into the countryside, bumping down dirt lanes and through small villages of waving children and bewildered cows.

One day we visited a temple where we fed sacred fish, and on another occasion we drank cocktails at sunset over a flamingo-filled lake.

But the best was yet to come. Their cousin, a village elder known as Bapu (full name  Thakur Gordhan Singhji Vilanki), who limps following a nocturnal collision between his motorbike and a water buffalo, invited us to a village feast he cooked with his three brothers.

The food was very different and Shatrunjai demonstrated how to crumble bread (cooked underground) to form the base for the laal maas.

Simon, pictured left at the Chhatra Sagar camp, and right, an assistant with his telescope camera during a birdwatching expedition

Three helpings later the water buffalo decided to investigate, but the shepherd boy redirected them so they passed us lazily. Not as lazy as us, though.

We lay on the charpoys out of the sun, just as the Indian farmboys do, and dozed away the afternoon, before our exciting drive home. This is the perfect way to see the real India.

Afterwards we drove to Udaipur with its Lake Palace, then flew to Delhi for a last night in the Imperial Hotel, one of the best in the world.

But nothing can beat the splendour of those three extraordinary hotels, run by the families who live in them  and nothing could beat Bapus feast.

The Romanovs: 1613-1918, by Simon Sebag Montefiore, is out now in paperback.
If you are looking to visit somewhere a little different this year, there are a host of new flight routes starting up from UK airports.

Some are well worth investigating, as they make certain countries or cities more easily accessible or cheaper to reach.

The fares quoted below are for return economy flights. Optional charges such as for checking in luggage are not included.

All that jazz

British Airways starts non-stop flights from London Heathrow to New Orleans, home of jazz, pictured, on March 27

New Orleans is one of the most beguiling of cities, yet getting to the home of jazz is a faff, requiring a connecting flight from another US airport. But British Airways starts non-stop flights from Heathrow on March 27 (from 544).

Portland in Oregon, a hip and arty city known for micro-breweries and coffee shops, is also getting non-stop flights from the UK. Delta starts flying there on May 27 from Heathrow, with the service operating until October (from 704).

Virgin is offering direct flights from Manchester to San Francisco from March 28 (from 409). Thomas Cook begins its flights from Manchester to San Francisco on May 14 (from 450).

BA is starting Gatwick-Oakland flights on March 28 (from 379), competing directly with low-cost airline Norwegian, which already operates the route.

BA is also launching flights to Fort Lauderdale on July 6 from Gatwick (from 380). Again, these will give Norwegian head-to-head competition on the route.

Non-stop to Chili

The first direct flights between Britain and the Chilean capital of Santiago, pictured, still takes a buttock-numbing 14 hours 40 minutes

The first non-stop flights between Britain and the Chilean capital Santiago started on British Airways last month (from 682).

The journey still takes a buttock-numbing 14 hours 40 minutes  but reduces the indirect route time by several hours.

Charming Croatia

New services to Pula in Croatia, pictured, with Jet2.com from Stansted start on April 30

Airlines are laying on more routes to Croatia this summer, offering holidaymakers alternatives to Turkey.

New services to Pula with Jet2.com from Stansted start on April 30 (from 70), and with BA from Heathrow from July 4 (from 74).

Great Granada

Super cheap new fares to Alhambra, Granada, pictured, means you can there for just 47 return with easyJet

Granada is the home of the Alhambra, and easyJet started Gatwick-Granada flights yesterday, with fares costing from 47 return  much cheaper than with BA from London City, the only other direct operator.

European Delights

Ryanair has new flights from Stansted to locations including Copenhagen, pictured, and Grenoble starting in April and July

Ryanair has new flights from Stansted to Copenhagen, Naples and Cagliari in Italy, and Beziers, Clermont, Grenoble, Nice, Nimes and Strasbourg in France; some services start in April, others will follow in July.

As these flights have only recently gone on sale and air fares rise as seats fill up, prices can be much lower than with other airlines flying to these destinations from London.
She found love after being booted by Sam Wood on The Bachelor in 2015.

And Bec Chin's romance with amateur boxer Dean Vee shows no signs of waning, with the two cuddling up to each other at a Bondi Sands event in Sydney on Friday.

The couple shared a number of intimate glances and were seen dancing closely together during the soiree on travelling bar The Island.

Scroll down for video

The look of love: The Bachelor's Bec Chin and amateur boxer beau Dean Vee cuddle up at Bondi Sands event

The brunette beauty flaunted her golden tan at the event, wearing a white jumpsuit which featured daring thigh-high splits showing off her toned legs.

Bec paired the summer outfit with strappy lace-up black heels and a gold bangle and ring.

She wore her dark locks sleekly swept to one side, pairing the chic hairdo with a strong red lip.

Stunning: The brunette beauty flaunted her golden tan at the event, wearing a white jumpsuit which featured daring thigh-high splits showing off her toned legs

Dressed to impress! Her boyfriend looked equally dashing, wearing a fitted blue button down shirt and chinos with loafers

Her boyfriend looked equally dashing, wearing a fitted blue button down shirt and chinos with loafers.

The couple posed happily for photos as they arrived at the event, with Dean putting an arm around his lady love and staring deeply into her eyes.

As the night continued, Bec and Dean took a spin on the boat's deck as they danced to the music.

Loved up: The couple posed happily for photos as they arrived at the event, with Dean putting an arm around his lady love

Shall we dance? As the night continued, Bec and Dean took a spin on the boat's deck as they danced to the music

Holding on: The former bachelorette's boxer beau put his hand on her waist as she clutched his shoulder for the sweet moment

The former bachelorette's boxer beau put his hand on her waist as she clutched his shoulder for the sweet musical moment.

Bec went public with her romance with Dean in October 2015, a few months after she was booted from The Bachelor by Sam Wood.

Also at Friday's event was fellow Bachelor alum Lana Jeavons-Fellows, with the two women spotted chatting to each other animatedly during the party.

What a view! The former reality TV stars looked radiant in white outfits at the event
Katherine Heigl posted an adorable Instagram photo in which she cradled her newborn son Joshua Jr, pressing her grinning lips to his temple.

Having a wrapped herself in a white robe and her baby in a white and yellow onesie, she made sure to support his head with both her hands.

In her caption, the 38-year-old cooed that her husband Josh Kelley had 'caught me soaking up some morning baby love...'

Aww: Katherine Heigl posted an adorable Instagram photo in which she cradled her newborn son Joshua Jr, pressing her grinning lips to his temple

Born December 20, Joshua Jr is the first baby Heigl's had biologically by Kelley, with whom she'll celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary this year.

They've also got two adopted daughters: Nancy Leigh, who goes by 'Naleigh' and is eight years old, and Adalaide, who's four years old.

Yet when the Knocked Up star covered People this week - only five weeks after giving birth - she dished inside the magazine that 'I still want more children.'

Building a family: Born December 20, Joshua Jr is the first baby Heigl's had biologically by Josh Kelley, with whom she'll celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary this year

As for which avenue she'd take, 'Id get pregnant again, and I still am very inspired by adoption. I also have been thinking a lot about fostering.'

On top of all her children, she's also got her niece Madison living with her at her Utah ranch because 'This kid is a horsewoman, and thats what she wants to do.'

Heigl and Kelly are 'part of the village thats helping raise her,' and 'Shes such a good example for my girls. Shes passionate and committed to what she loves.'

'The Kelley girls': They've also got two adopted daughters: Nancy Leigh, who goes by 'Naleigh' and is eight years old, and Adalaide, who's four years old

Of her eldest, the Grey's Anatomy star's said that 'Nancy Leigh is my very, very smart, very compassionate, very big-hearted little gal. She's totally Mommy's little helper and loves being the big sister.'

Meanwhile, of her middle child, 'Adalaide has so much just inherent self-esteem, which I am so proud of and so grateful for,' Heigl averred.

'When you're raising girls, you want them to be confident and you want them to love who they are. With Adalaide, Im not gonna have any problems with that.'
Tim Dormer and hunky boyfriend Ash Toweel appear to be some of the only guys snapped at the launch of a men's tanning product Friday.

And it looks like the former Big Brother winner, 32, and his longtime partner took it upon themselves to flaunt their masculinity.

The adorable pair both rocked open shirts to the Bondi Sands for Men event, leaving several buttons undone to expose their bare chests.

Button-down: Former Big Brother winner Tim Dormer (L) and longtime boyfriend Ash Toweel (R) both flaunted their bare chests in open shirts and the Bondi Sands for Men launch in Sydney on Friday

Tim's trademark blonde locks were especially full-bodied in the images from the event, flowing onto his faded blue button-up.

Several undone buttons exposed his hairless chest, as the personality completed the outfit with washed-out black skinny jeans and white shoes.

Boyfriend Ash looked to go a couple buttons further, flaunting his tattooed torso in the open white patterned top.

With his arms around his beau, the dark-haired beauty completed his outfit with ripped blue jeans and tan boots.

Odd pair out: 32-year-old Tim and his partner looked adorable as they held each-other, Tim wearing his trademark blonde locks out as the pair appeared to be some of the only men snapped at the event

Elsewhere, all eyes were on the bevvy of toned and tanned female beauties that arrived at launch.

Stephanie Claire Smith lead the celebrity arrivals at the party, held on The Island, and showed off her long, lean legs in a thigh-skimming dress.

The blush coloured velvet number hugged her slender frame and nicely complemented her seemingly freshly tanned skin.

Bonzed beauties! Stephanie Claire Smith lead the female-focused celebrity arrivals at the launch, showing off her toned and tanned legs in a thigh-skimming dress

It was business at the front and a party at the back as the high neck, short-sleeve dress featured a low back with cut-out detailing.

Stephanie matched her accessories to the outfit, carrying an oversized pale pink clutch in one hand and sporting suede strappy heels in a similar hue.

The blonde beauty wore her hair out in a slightly off-centre part and straightened, falling over her shoulders.

Business at the front, party at the back: The high neck, short-sleeve dress featured a low back with cut-out detailing which added a flirty element to the look

Natural beauty: The blonde beauty wore her hair out straight and opted for minimal soft make-up, showcasing her naturally flawless complexion

Friendly photos: Steph (left) happily posed with fellow model and Instagram star Pia Muehlenbeck (right) with the city skyline and the sunset behind them

The 23-year-old added minimal bronzed make up and completed the look with turquoise nail polish, which jumped out against the muted tones of her outfit.

At the event Steph happily posed with fellow model and Instagram star Pia Muehlenbeck with the city skyline and the sunset behind them.

Pia stunned in a white skirt and top combo, which featured mesh in parts to help show off her bronzed skin.

Keeping it underwraps: The bikini babe's ample assets were just contained by the lining of her strappy top she flashed a glimpse of her torso between the top and high-waisted skirt

White on the mark! Pia stunned in a white skirt and top combo, which featured mesh in parts to help show off her bronzed skin

The beauty's ample assets were just contained by the lining of her strappy top but the bikini babe flashes a glimpse of her torso between the top and high-waisted skirt.

Adding strappy gold heels and a large cuff, Pia kept her look sleek and simple.

The brunette beauty left her long locks out in loose curls but went for a decidedly glam look for her make-up.

Glam! The brunette beauty left her long locks out in loose curls but went for a decidedly glam look for her make-up

Work it! Posing for the cameras against the media wall, Pia stood alongside model Brooke Nash

Having a giggle: the duo shared a laugh as they got into position to pose

Posing for the cameras against the media wall, Pia stood alongside model Brooke Nash.

Ensuring she matched the golden theme of the evening, the blonde beauty put her toned pins on display in a strapless frilly playsuit.

Brooke added black heels to elongate her already long legs and kept the colour combination up with her thick choker and clutch.

Fun frills: Ensuring she matched the golden theme of the evening, the blonde beauty put her toned pins on display in a strapless frilly playsuit

Beauty! Zilda Williams stunned at the event, where she revealed to Daily Mail Australia her plans to relocate to the Gold Coast this year

Busty beauty Zilda Williams - who shot to fame on the third season of The Bachelor - was also one of the stars seen posing and partying at the event.

The star sizzled in a busty playsuit, with the dove grey garment featuring cutaway sleeves and a plunging neckline that revealed a hint of her ample assets.

Zilda put her trim pins on display in the thigh-skimming number, accentuating her height with a pair of clear heels.

All smiles: Zilda said she was excited about her likely move, revealing the news to Daily Mail Australia

Old friends: Zilda caught up with her The Bachelor co-star Bec Chin at the event

The stunner gave a series of sultry poses as she smiled for the camera against the media wall.

Whilst at the event, the 33-year-old Bondi-based blonde revealed that she is 'pretty much 90%' moving back to the Gold Coast.

The single star started that she 'just can't seem to find nice guys in Sydney', but she looked more than happy to catch up with her fellow Bachelor competitor, Bec Chin.

Bec looked stunning in a chic linen jumpsuit with slits on the outer side of each leg, showing off her toned legs, which were emphasised with black lace up block heels.

Loved-up: Bec attended with her long-time boyfriend Dean Vee and the pair still looked very much in love, as they gazed at each other at the event

Having a Chin wag: The brunette beauty showed off her toned legs with the slit leg jumpsuit as she mingled around the party with a glass of sparkling wine in hand

Reality TV reunion: The nutritionist and reality TV star also caught up with fellow Bachelor season three alum, Lana Jeavons-Fellows (left)

Bec attended with her long-time boyfriend Dean Vee and the pair still looked very much in love, as they gazed at each other at the event.

The nutritionist and reality TV star also caught up with fellow Bachelor season three alum, Lana Jeavons-Fellows.

Lana wowed in a plunging white dress with chain detailing, which required her to go braless for the event.

Fun and flirty: Lana wowed in a plunging white dress with chain detailing, which required her to go braless for the event

Luscious locks: The starlet's famous luscious chocolate locks were styled in large curls but were later pulled back off her face for the outdoor event

Playing with the skirt of the short number in front of the media wall, the brunette beauty showed off her fun and flirty side.

The starlet's famous luscious chocolate locks were styled in large curls but were later pulled back off her face for the outdoor event.

Also attending were Caroline Groth, who beamed in a black mini dress and lace up heels.
She's been busy working on her ABC hit series Modern Family.

So Ariel Winter took a bit of well-deserved time for herself on Friday and stepped out to pick up some gift wrapping paper in West Hollywood on Friday.

The 19-year-old actress appeared downcast during the rainy afternoon outing and opted for a laid-back look in sweats and brown cozy boots.

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Stormy star: Ariel Winter appeared downcast as she stepped out to run errands during a rainy afternoon in West Hollywood on Friday

The sitcom star - who plays Alex Dunphy on the comedy show - cut a lonely figure while running errands in the stormy weather.

She donned a black hooded sweatshirt with relaxed-fitting grey sweatpants that tucked neatly into her fuzzy footwear.

Ariel upgraded her low-key look with a pricey black leather Celine handbag for a chic twist.

Wrapped up! The 19-year-old actress stepped out to pick up some gift paper at a local CVS pharmacy

Her silky raven tresses were styled straight and parted down the center and she went with minimal make-up.

A chocolate brown smokey eye with black liner, rosy blush and coral lip gloss rounded out the young starlet's look.

Meanwhile, the young beauty - who celebrated her 19th birthday last week - took to Instagram later in the day and shared a video from the celebratory evening.

Laid-back look: The Modern Family star opted for comfort in a black hoodie and grey sweatpants with brown cozy boots

'19 and attempting to blow out a sparkler,' she captioned the short clip while a server held her birthday cake as she leaned in to blow out her candles.

She wore a plunging black sequinned number which showcased her svelte figure.

Ariel oozed old Hollywood glamour as her shoulder-length hair was styled in bouncy curls.

Friends and loved ones could be heard cheering off camera as she flashed a smile for the lens.

'Attempting to blow out a sparkler': The sitcom star - who turned 19 last week - took to Instagram later in the day and shared a video from the celebratory evening as she blew out her candles
She's one of the most successful comedic actresses in Hollywood.

But Isla Fisher has revealed there was a time when she didn't consider trying out for funny roles, instead auditioning for serious parts in dramas.

In an interview with The Herald Sun, the redhead confessed it was only after a suggestion from her husband Sacha Baron Cohen that she began trying out for comedy roles.

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'It was my husband': Isla Fisher went into comedy after suggestion from Sacha Baron Cohen

Isla, who began dating Sacha in 2002, told the publication she had never imagined she was funny enough to work as a comedy actress.

Growing up, she had been the class joker and had gone on to study at a prestigious French clown school for two years.

But the 41-year-old didn't think it could translate into acting because she didn't write jokes.

Funny bone: Growing up, she had been the class joker and had gone on to study at a prestigious French clown school for two years

'I never realised you could improvise your own silly jokes and people would tap into your inner idiot and (you could) make a living,' Isla said.

'It was my husband who kept saying it so then finally I had the courage to say to my agent, "Do you think I could do a funny role?"'

Today, the Australian is an acclaimed comedic actress, starring in movies such as Wedding Crashers, Definitely, Maybe and Confessions Of A Shopaholic.

Made her mark: Today, the Australian is an acclaimed comedic actress, starring in movies such as Wedding Crashers, Definitely, Maybe and Confessions Of A Shopaholic

Last year however she took a darker turn with a role in dramatic thriller Nocturnal Animals alongside Amy Adams.

But the mother of three has scaled back her working commitments since becoming a mum, limiting herself on the number of projects she signs up for.

'I do one job a year, which doesnt sound like much  Its not that I dont love to act, Im crazy about it, but there are just so many other human beings I need to ensure are happy,' Isla said.

'I do one job a year': The mother of three has scaled back her working commitments since becoming a mum, limiting herself on the number of projects she signs up for.

Instead, Isla has tried her hand at writing penning two children's books, Marge In Charge and Marge And The Pirate Baby, after landing a three book deal with publisher Allen And Unwin.

The redheaded beauty revealed to News Corp Australia that the book's protagonist Marge is a combination of her two childhood best friends.

Isla is based with her family in Los Angeles, but recently had a three week holiday in Australia.

While down under Isla received the AACTA Trailblazer Award for her achievements on the silver screen.
They enjoyed a topless late night swim on Thursday after shaking off rumours their relationship was a scam.

Now, The Bachelor's surprise lesbian couple Megan Marx, 27, and Tiffany Scanlon, 30 have taken solace in a former cast mate, reuniting with Noni Janur in Bali.

The trio shared a beaming, summery snap as they enjoyed lunch in a luxurious tent.

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Reunited! The first Bachelor lesbian couple Megan Marx (Middle) and Tiffany Scanlon (L) reunited with fellow cast mate Noni Janur (R) in Bali on Friday

Megan sat in the middle of the trio as they huddled together for the photo, resting her hand on girlfriend Tiffany's exposed leg.

She wore a plunging hot pink dress, allowing her luscious blonde locks to spill onto her chest and partially exposed bust.

Her stunning partner exposed even more cleavage and midriff in a red floral dress with a large cut-out section.

The beauty tied her hair back into a very messy up-do, although her tresses still escaped onto her chest.

Ally? After other fellow cast mates questioned the lovers same-sex relationship earlier this week, Noni's lunch meet-up appears to confirm she does not count herself among non-believers

Noni, 26, completed the trio, exposing the most skin of all in a tiny coloured bikini and white see-through top.

Her ample assets were on clear display as the bronzed beauty pushed her two-tone hair to the side.

'The Bachelor relocation has begun! Then there were three!' Megan wrote in her Instagram post.

The unique lunch setting was back-dropped by a typical Balinese tent, where Megan and Tiffany have reportedly moved.

Off her chest: Megan took a topless dip on Thursday, looking to quite literally get the stress of being told her relationship was fake off her chest

Megan took a topless dip on Thursday, looking to quite literally get the stress of being told her relationship was fake off her chest.

In the photo, the flash from the camera lights up the pool to reveal Megan wearing nothing more than a pair of grey bikini bottoms.

The star has her mouth open and her tongue sticking out, as if she is tasting drops of tropical rain falling from the sky.

A new ritual: Megan took a cheeky skinny dip on Wednesday with her beau Tiffany

Although Megan's hands are placed on her chest, they fail to cover her ample assets, with a photo-shopped cross blocking her nipples so as not to violate Instagram's decency rules.

Proving she's more than just a pretty face, Megan captioned her photo with a quote from the late American poet, E. E. Cummings.

'Unbeing dead isn't being alive,' the philosophical quotation read.

Moved in together: Megan and Tiffany have relocated to the Balinese town of Canggu, and have been seen putting on loved-up displays at surrounding beaches and bars

Earlier in the week, the authenticity of their same-sex relationship had been questioned by other Bachelor cast-mates, Friday's lunch image indicating Noni does not count herself among the non-believers.

Megan and Tiffany are the first lesbian Bachelor couple anywhere in the world, but on Wednesday, Keria Macguire stated that 'they are faking their relationship', before claiming that the pair's union was nothing more than a 'publicity stunt'.

And on Friday, the Bachelor's third runner-up, Rachael Gouvignon, questioned the couple's claims that they fell in love during their first trip to Bali last June.

'When I caught up with Tiffany when we went skydiving [in October] she told me about a guy she was seeing,' Rachael stated, before adding, 'Megan has also spoken to me about a guy she was seeing ... Maybe their status should be along the lines of an open relationship or bisexual!'

Speaking out: Former cast-mate Keira Macguire called the pair's relationship a 'publicity stunt'

In response to Rachael's claims, Tiffany told Daily Mail Australia that 'for now we are keeping it under wraps' how the relationship turned romantic.

The blonde beauty, originally from Western Australia, met Tiffany whilst filming the reality show in 2016.

It is unclear whether Noni's Bali stay is permanent.

Adding her voice to the chorus: On Friday, Rachael Gouvignon revealed both Megan and Tiffany had previously spoken to her about men they were seeing




She sparked speculation last month that she had secretly wed while on holiday.

But there was no ring on Sonia Kruger's wedding finger while visiting a Mosman skincare clinic on Friday.

Last month, the 51-year-old sported a band on her wedding finger as she arrived at Sydney airport, prompting rumours she had become engaged or secretly wed her long term partner Craig McPherson.

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Vanishing act! Sonia Kruger spotted with no ring on wedding finger ... After being photographed last month with a ring

The mother of one looked radiant as she visited a skincare clinic in the exclusive Sydney suburb.

Sonia wore a loose-fitting maxi dress which sported a palm tree print and splits which showed off her toned legs.

The Today Extra host carried a chic nude leather tote, accessorising with cat eye sunglasses.

Stunning: The mother of one looked radiant as she made her way to a skincare clinic in the exclusive Sydney suburb

Summer look: Sonia wore a loose-fitting maxi dress which sported a palm tree print and splits which showed off her toned legs

She also donned a pair of black embellished sandals which finished off the breezy summer look.

Wearing her golden locks in natural waves over her shoulders, Sonia wore little to no makeup as she flaunted her youthful complexion.

After rummaging through her tote, the bubbly television personality pulled out a set of keys, which featured a cute fur keyring.

Au natural: Wearing her golden locks in natural waves over her shoulders, Sonia wore little to no makeup as she flaunted her youthful complexion

It's gone! Holding up her keys, Sonia appeared to look for where she had parked her car - showing a bare hand with no wedding or engagement rings in the process

Holding up her keys, Sonia appeared to look for where she had parked her car - showing a bare hand with no wedding or engagement rings in the process.

Sonia has been with her Channel Seven news boss beau Craig for close to a decade, however, the couple are yet to marry.

They share a two-year-old daughter Maggie together, conceiving her through in-vitro fertilisation in 2014 when Sonia was 48.

'I just dont see marriage as necessary to having a great relationship': Sonia has been with her Channel Seven news boss beau Craig for close to a decade, however, the couple are yet to marry

It's not the first time the couple have faced speculation of marriage, with a trip to Las Vegas in 2012 attracting a flurry of rumours they were eloping.

But Sonia later denied they had wed in an interview with Woman's Day, explaining: 'I just dont see marriage as necessary to having a great relationship.'

'Its just not that important to me,' she said.

'That said, we are very much in love and plan to spend the rest of our lives together.
They're the mature fitness couple who met on the set of The Biggest Loser.

And Steve 'Commando' Willis and Michelle Bridges not only share son Axel, they evidently also share an understanding bond when it comes to his other kids.

The personal trainers were spotted separately in trendy Darlinghurst on Friday, with Michelle leaving Commando and his eldest daughter Brianna to enjoy quality time.

Space: Steve 'Commando' Willis and Michelle Bridges were spotted separately in Darlinghurst on Friday, with Michelle leaving him and his eldest daughter Brianna to enjoy quality time

Good-natured: Commando and Michelle not only share son Axel, they evidently also share an understanding bond when it comes to his other kids

The fit pair, who started their relationship in May 2013, looked casual in matching black singlet tops and caps.

Michelle, who was seen looking a little downcast as she hailed a taxi, paired hers with workout shorts and sneakers, while Commando donned denim shorts and thongs.

Seventeen-year-old Brianna dressed in a low-key outfit of denim skirt, green singlet top and white thongs, with her blonde hair in a low ponytail and prescription glasses.

Looking for a ride? The fit pair, who started their relationship in May 2013, looked casual in matching black singlet tops and caps

Casual: Brianna, 17, dressed in a low-key outfit of denim skirt, green singlet top and white thongs, with her blonde hair in a low ponytail and prescription glasses

Frustrated: Michelle, who was seen not looking too happy as she hailed a taxi, paired her outfit with workout shorts and sneakers, while Commando donned denim shorts and thongs

She is Commando's first child from a previous relationship, and he reportedly spends a lot of time with her now to make up for being an absent dad in her younger years.

He also has Ella, 8, and Jack, 5, from his long-term relationship with former partner Froso.

Michelle, 46, told ABC's Australian Story last year her romance with her fellow fitness advocate was unexpected.

'We came together at a time when we were both kind of raw and thinking "Wow, what is happening with our relationships?"' she said.

Bonding: Brianna is Commando's first child from a previous relationship, and he reportedly spends a lot of time with her now to make up for being an absent dad in her younger years

'We came together at a time when we were both kind of raw and thinking "Wow, what is happening with our relationships?"' she said.

'For a long time, making season after season of The Biggest Loser, we were just friends,' Steve described on the program.

'The thing about Michelle that got my attention was her willingness to listen and you could sit for minutes, hours, and just talk and she would be like a sounding board.'
Back in the old days if some out-of-state shyster rolled into Vegas and got caught trying to cheat the house, theres a good chance youd find him black-and-blue and unconscious inside a trash dumpster in some dark alley  or worse. And after learning of the scam Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis tried to pull on us this week, I found myself missing those old days.

Make no mistake: The ONLY reason many of us supported the proposed Las Vegas Dome stadium project was because Sheldon Adelson was involved.

From his wildly successful Comdex convention to the Sands Convention Center to the Venetian and Palazzo resorts, Adelson has long and impressive record of business success in Nevada and has been a valuable job-creating/revenue-generating member of our community.

If Sheldon was willing to invest $650 million of his own personal money in this project, the odds were it would be a success. And with Sheldon involved, it was far more likely that the public portion of the funding for the project would be protected and, ultimately, profitable.

Davis, on the other hand, was an interloper. No one here really knew him. At best, we knew and respected his fathers business savvy and success. Alas, its now become painfully obvious that the acorn fell about a mile from the tree.

Without Sheldons support, this project would never have gotten off the drawing board.

Indeed, the only reason anyone took this proposed project seriously was because Sheldon was involved. The only reason many gaming competitors on the Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center gang ended up supporting the project was because of the Adelson organizations involvement. The only reason the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee green-lighted the project was because of Team Adelson.

And the only reason many members of Nevada Legislature ultimately OKed the room tax hike to fund the $750 million public portion of the project  at significant political perilwas faith in Sheldons ability to make the whole thing work and get a substantial return on investment for taxpayers.

And to be perfectly honest, if Nevadans had their druthers theyd have preferred to lure ANY team other than the Raiders to our state  even the Buffalo Bills! But because of Sheldon Adelson we were willing to suck it up and accept the Raider Nation as our own.

But after all that, the greedy Son of an Al went behind Adelsons back and tried to cash in 100 percent for himself. The level of hubris and ingratitude involved in this betrayal is of galactic proportions.

In return, theres only one appropriate response: The Nevada Legislature should now pull the red carpet right out from under this hucksters feet by immediately repealing the entire public funding package that was approved in last Octobers special session. No Sheldon? No deal.

And be grateful we didnt send Rocko and his Brass Knuckle Gang out for a more appropriate remedy.
She the quiet Australian actress who doesn't have her own public Instagram account.

But for Rose Byrne, 37, the extent of her disinterest in talking about her family is yet to be fully realised.

In an interview with Marie Claire, the Bridesmaids actress shied away from further questions about her personal life, but opened up about being a new mum.

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Rattled: Rose Byrne stopped an interviewer from asking further questions about her personal life recently, but opened up about being a new mum

The brunette beauty lavished praise and love upon her one-year-old son Rocco, but not before deflecting a few questions it appears she was not expecting to have to answer.

When asked to describe herself - just as an actor would with a character they play - Rose avoided the question.

'Oh my God, don't ask me that... you've got to ask someone else,' she replied.

She also avoided revealing how her Boardwalk Empire star husband Bobby Cannavale would describe her.

'Oh my God': When asked to describe herself, the 37-year-old nervously batted the question away, saying: 'Oh my God, don't ask me that... you've got to ask someone else'

'I'll have to get him to email you. I'm so self-conscious,' Rose admitted.

She was then asked what it felt like to be called the love of someone's life, referring to Bobby's Emmy acceptance speech.

In response, the actress was honest with her feelings about answering such questions.

'I get really shy, so I'm probably going to opt out of a lot of these questions,' she firmly stated.

Pressing on: Interestingly, the interviewer pressed on, asking how her Boardwalk Empire star husband Bobby Cannavale would describe her. The Bridesmaids actress replied: 'I'll have to get him to email you. I'm so self-conscious,'

Opting out: The interview appeared to go a step too far, asking Rose what it felt like to be called the love of Bobby's life. The brunette beauty told the publication she'd have to 'opt out' of some of the questions

Still, the publication asked again, telling her it must be 'every girl's dream' to have that happen.

Rose responded with an uncharacteristically upbeat response, saying: 'Oh my goodness, wow. That's so sweet. I was really surprised. I was like wow'.

Speaking about her adorable son Rocco, the actress had a lot more specifics to share, mentioning her child sleeps through the night, implying the child's growth had helped ease the pressure from the overwhelming early days.

'But that tiny stage is kind of amazing too because it's so intense and precious and personal. It's life-changing'.
They were one of the biggest pop bands in the 90s and early 2000s, that are currently part of a 90s nostalgia tour of New Zealand and Australia.

But Jo O'Meara, of S Club 3 (formerly 7), has suffered a health scare which has stopped her from being able to complete the Auckland leg of their concerts.

The 37-year-old lead vocalist, was rushed to Auckland Hospital with what was thought to be food poisoning on Friday morning.

Front woman: Jo O'Meara struck with serious stomach condition forcing out of the New Zealand leg of a 90s throwback tour

Her bandmates, Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh, cancelled their performance that evening at the ASB centre.

Venue organisers later confirmed that Jo was diagnosed as 'strangulated bowel' and required 'immediate medical attention which could result in a fairly major operation', according to a report by Stuff.co.au.

After treatment and observation she was later discharged from hospital, but told and unable to finish the last Auckland show on Saturday night.

Reunited: Her bandmates, Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh, to cancel their performance that evening at the ASB centre

Early days: S Club 3 are performing alongside other 90s bands Liberty X, Atomic Kitten and B*Witched across New Zealand and Australia

A statement on from the ABS Theatre said: 'Jo would sincerely like to apologise to all the fans she feels she let down for being unable to perform yesterday's opening night of the tour.

It went on to read that Jo would be 'keeping her fingers crossed that all goes well and she can be back out on stage with the other guys in Australia.'

The start of the Australian leg tour will begin on February 7 in Perth.

The organisers statement added that her bandmates Tina and Bradley: 'Promise a great show even though Jo might be absent.'

Hit makers: Jo was given the ok to rejoin the band for the rest of the tour, but only for the start of the Australia tour on February 7 in Perth

S Club 3 are performing alongside other 90s bands Liberty X, Atomic Kitten and B*Witched.

The band was created by Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller in 1998 and was made of members Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens, Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearritt, Bradley McIntosh and Jon Lee.

They also had on screen success with their own BBC TV series Miami 7.
Tori Spelling on Friday announced on her Instagram page that her family has obtained a baby pig.

The 43-year-old wrote to her 728,000-plus followers: 'We have a new member of the family...Nutmeg! Thanks to @oinkoinkminipigs for making this happen! Get all of the details on ToriSpelling.com.'

The daughter of late TV producer Aaron Spelling, who's expecting her fifth child with husband Dean McDermott, 50, added a beautiful family shot in which she's patting the baby pig while surrounded by her four children: Liam, nine; Stella, eight; Hattie, five; and Finn, four.

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Happy family: Tori Spelling, 43, announced her family has a new mini pig named Nutmeg, obtained from a Florida farm

Oink oink: Tori said the new pet is 'so sweet and such a great addition to our family'

Busy time: Tori said that the pig's arrival comes at a bit of inconvenient time - as she's due to give birth to her fifth child soon - but well worth the hassle

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star opened up on her website about the path she took to acquire the four-pound oinker, a female. She had been working with Oink Oink Mini Pigs, a Florida-based breeding farm for the piglets.

'They have such an amazing reputation for connecting mini piggies with families and forever homes!' the Stori Telling author said, noting she 'squealed with excitement' when company officials told her that the pig had been born and would be headed to her Southern California home in the coming months.

The Mystery Girls star conceded that while the arrival of the pig does not make for 'ideal timing' as she prepares to give birth to a baby boy, she welcomes her into the family with open arms all the same.

Holiday cheer: Tori and Dean posed with their kids (left to right) Hattie, Liam, Finn and Stella in December at a holiday event in Los Angeles

'All babies are blessings whenever they come into your life!' Spelling said, singing the praises of her beloved new pet.

'Nutmeg is so sweet and such a great addition to our family!' said the Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? actress, noting that her children 'absolutely love' the pig.

Spelling - whose home menagerie already includes chickens, a dog, a goat and guinea pig - added, 'Welcome to the family Nutmeg!'

Bumpy beauty: The TV star showed off her pregnancy progress in this recent Instagram pic

Spelling told People in October that her fifth child with McDermott came as 'a total surprise,' but a pleasant one, as they 'always wanted a big family.'

She added, 'Dean was saying, "We just got Finn out of diapers; I thought we were in the clear!" For the first time this year, theyre all in school. So its like, wow. Were basically starting over.'
She's an AFL WAG who is a favourite on the red carpet.

But this time Nadia Bartel has flaunted her bikini body while on holiday with her family in Noosa.

The 31-year-old, who is married to AFL star Jimmy Bartel, took to Instagram to flaunt her taut figure in a tiny black bikini.

Bikini bod: AFL WAG Nadia Bartel has flaunted her bikini body while on holiday with her family in Noosa in a tiny black bikini

In the photo the brunette beauty can be seen carrying one-year-old Aston on a sunny balcony overlooking the beach.

Her caption read: Loving our home away from home @seahavennoosa with my big boy. Wearing @frankieswimwear (their seamless swimwear is the bomb)'.

Nadia the uploaded another photo of herself, this time walking into a shallow pool with her back turned away from the camera.

Kiddy pool: The brunette beauty flaunted her trim physique as she walked into the shallow pool in a different bikini set trimmed with white detailing

Loved up: The 31-year-old, who is married to AFL star Jimmy Bartel, to took Instagram to share pictures from her family holiday in Noosa

This time she appears to wear different bikini set trimmed with white detailing.

She captioned it: 'Kiddy pool all day today @seahavennoosa I have loved being away with my whole Coppolino clan.'

'We haven't been away together since we were little. Noosa is the best place for family time,' she added with a love heart emoji,' she added.

Fashion favourite: Nadia received plenty of like and comments for her bikini posts from followers on social media

The style blogger and entrepreneur received thousands of like and comments on her Noosa bikini shoots from her followers.

One wrote: 'Such a babe Nadia! The best body even after post kids! Truly a massive inspo.'

Another said: 'Omg such a babe and especially after a kid! Future Mum goals.'

Someone commented: 'That hair! Always looking so glam. Enjoy your break up north!'
She's in love with her husband of over one year, Joe Manganiello.

But Sofia Vergara made time for a girls night on Friday.

The actress, 44, was dressed to the nines in a tiny black mini dress paired with heels as she arrived to Serafina restaurant in West Hollywood with several gal pals by her side.

Girls night! Sofia Vergara was dressed to the nines in a tiny black mini dress paired with heels as she arrived to Serafina restaurant in West Hollywood with several gal pals by her side on Friday

Smile on her face, the night was clearly a much-needed one for the busy actress, who looked ready to let her hair down.

Sofia was at her radiant best, thanks to a bit of bronze eye shadow and lipstick.

She had a gorgeous Chanel purse slung across her chest and had a thick black windbreaker on her arm for later use.

The Modern Family actress wore her long, glossy brunette locks down with a slight loose wave.

Time to unwind! Smile on her face, the night was clearly a much-needed one for the busy actress, who looked ready to let her hair down

Sofia has been married to Joe for over a year now, after a whirlwind romance.

The couple became engaged after just six months of dating.

Sofia has been married before, to her high school sweetheart Joe Gonzalez, from 1992 to 1993.

Legs eleven! Vergara's tiny dress showed off her long legs to full effect

They have a son, Manolo, who is now 24 years old.

On Thursday, Sofia shared a throwback photo of herself bottle feeding her son when he was just a baby.

The future super star rested in bed as she tenderly cradled her bouncing baby.
Tallulah Willis turned 23 on Friday, and spent the day in the Los Angeles area with her mother Demi Moore, and sisters Rumer and Scout Willis.

The comely quartet was photographed in Studio City, California, heading to a Vons grocery store and a nearby restaurant on the special day, as Tallulah, the youngest of Demi's children with Bruce Willis, was born on February 3, 1994.

On the outing - which took place on a drizzly, cold day in the Los Angeles area - all of the lovely ladies were well bunched-up and fashionable.

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Hollywood family: Demi Moore was surrounded by daughters (left to right) Scout, Rumer and Tallulah in Studio City on Friday, along with Tallulah's beau Morgan MacDonald. The group presumably got together in celebration of Tallulah turning 23

Out and about: Demi and Rumer chatted after an outing to a grocery store, while the younger sisters caught up while strolling

Family time: Scout seemed to be in the middle of an an amusing anecdote while Rumer listened intently, puffing away on a cigarette

Charmed: Everyone smiled at a small pet Scout held in her arms at one point on the outing

Demi, 54, wore a long grey plaid dress with a form-fitting long-sleeved black turtleneck shirt. The G.I. Jane actress accessorized with stylish silver shoes, black socks and a pricey black purse. The Ghost star wore her long black mane down and parted in the middle.

Tallulah kept warm in an garnet red sweatshirt with leggings with checkerboard patterns, white socks and black shoes. She wore her shoulder-length auburn locks down and black sunglasses.

The birthday girl was accompanied by her beau Morgan MacDonald, who she referred to as her 'husband' in an Instagram post last fall. MacDonald kept warm in a black sweatshirt with navy blue slacks and white Adidas sneakers

Spitting image: Rumer (far right) recently recreated one of her mom's ads for a Gap campaign she's modeling for

Shopping day: Demi held onto a tablet while her daughters lugged the paper grocery bags

Breezy: The stunning Hollywood veteran's hair was kicked up by the wind at one point

Rumer, 28, was a doppelganger of her mother, wearing her jet black mane down under a grey beanie. The one-time Dancing with the Stars champ wore a leather motorcycle jacket over a black top with loose black slacks and black and gold shoes. She was seen taking puffs of a cigarette on the outing.

Scout, 25, didn't quite match the dark motif her mom and older sister embraced under the overcast Southern California skies, but certainly looked to be the warmest of the bunch.

The Ivy League-educated artist wore a large patterned coat with grey squares, a spruce blue top, denim blue jeans and black shoes. She was seen holding a small brown dog at one point.

Sister sister: The trio of siblings remain some of young Hollywood's most interesting ones to watch as they pursue their respective dreams

The family looked like they had a bonding experience on the daytime outing, laughing and catching up on the day of celebration.

The ladies, with the exception of Rumer, were snapped looking amazing in Los Angeles last week while attending Harper's BAZAAR's 150 Most Fashionable Women at the Sunset Tower Hotel.
She's the Sunrise host who prides herself on being a country girl at heart.

And Samantha Armytage took to Instagram on Saturday to express her outrage at smokers who she claims caused a blazing bushfire in rural New South Wales.

The TV journalist, 40, related personally to the out-of-control fire, claiming her father was one of the volunteers working tirelessly to keep the danger at bay.

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'Do not throw your bloody butts out the window!': Sam Armytage gets heated in an Instagram post on Saturday after a bushfire started by smokers had her father battling the flames in rural New South Wales overnight

'My dad (& many others!) have just spent ALL night fighting a bush fire out past Currawarna,' she wrote alongside a bushfire photo.

'It started beside the main road. If you smoke cigarettes, DO NOT THROW YOUR BLOODY BUTTS OUT THE WINDOW.'

Sam ended the public service announcement with a cheeky sign off: 'FFS. Think about it people. (Written, spoken & authorised by Samantha Armytage.) x'

'FFS. Think about it people': The journalist urged people to think about their actions, as the fire soon engulfed more than 10 hectares of state forest in less than 24 hours

Her father, Mac Armytage, has been with the Rural Fire Service for more than 43 years and has received a medal for his service.

He was among many volunteers and six RFS trucks that managed to safely control the blaze, reported The Daily Advertiser.

It's reported to have burnt through more than 10 hectares of state forest, narrowly avoiding property loss.

'My dad (& many others!) have just spent ALL night fighting a bushfire out past Currawarna': The journalist, 40, related personally to the out-of-control fire, claiming her father was one of the many volunteers working tirelessly to keep the danger at bay

Sam's plea for smokers to think twice before discarding of their butts was something her followers also felt passionately about.

'If only they knew the consequences! RFS volunteers are THE most underrated workforce in the state of NSW! Go Dad! Stay safe!' one user wrote.

While others simply started their comments with 'well said' and 'so true', and wished everyone was safe after the incident.
They dominated the dance floor and partied hard on Friday.

And Tim Dormer and his unknown busty blonde gal pal were back in one another's company on Saturday, pictured enjoying a day out at Bondi Beach.

The 32-year-old and his friend were dressed for a relaxing outing, as they attempted to recover from their wild partying from the night before.

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Beach day: Tim Dormer and an unknown blonde friend have been pictured enjoying a day out at Sydney's world famous Bondi beach

Tim, who made a name for himself on Big Brother 2013, rocked a casual outfit for his day at the world famous beach.

Wearing a maroon singlet, board shorts and thongs, he also shaded his eyes from the light with a pair of sunglasses.

While his unmissable curly locks flowed in the seaside breeze, his beach buddy's hair was tied up into a side braid.

Living it up on the weekend: Dormer, 32, and his gorgeous friend were dressed to either take to the waves or enjoy a bite to eat

Wardrobe malfunction! Their relaxed day out was a far cry from the wild antics the pair put on display the night before, getting down and dirty on the dance floor at a Bondi Sands party

Opting for a pair of white denim shorts, the beauty showed off her incredible body in a green bikini top.

Deep in conversation, their relaxed demeanour was a far cry from the wild antics on display the night before.

Getting down and dirty on the dance floor, their dance moves were so loose that at one stage Dormer's scantily-clad friend's assets spilled out of her dress.

In earlier images, it was the former reality TV star who appeared to be more likely to expose a nipple.

Dressing smartly: While Dormer's curly locks flowed in the seaside breeze, his beach buddy's hair was tied up into a plait

Chilling out: Dormer, who made a name for himself on Big Brother, rocked a casual outfit for his day at the world famous beach

With his shirt unbuttoned, Dormer's open top exposed his hairless chest.

Tim's boyfriend Ash Toweel - with who he arrived at the event at Sydney's The Island - was nowhere to be seen in the snaps.

Straddling the beauty from behind, the media personality nuzzled his frizzy blonde locks into her head, as cameras snapped her wardrobe malfunction.

In another image, a front-on picture showed Tim lying on the floor beneath his friend, whose cleavage appeared to have escaped from the silky dress.

Stunning: His beautiful friend opted for a pair of white denim shorts and showed off her toned physique in a green bikini top

Bending down to pick up her friend, the unknown acquaintance looked to have finally sorted out her escapist bust.

Tim was joined at the Bondi Sands launch by his longtime boyfriend Ash.

Happy couple: Tim was joined at the Bondi Sands launch by his longtime boyfriend Ash




He's the Channel Nine presenter, who's used to interviewing Hollywood stars.

But Richard Wilkins found himself on the other side of the red carpet, while attending The Book of Mormon opening night in Melbourne on Saturday.

The 62-year-old media personality posed alongside son Nicholas at the star-studded event, with the pair looking equally dapper.

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Like father, like son: Richard Wilkins and son Nicholas looked dapper on the red carpet at the premiere of The Book of Mormon

New Zealand-born Richard shot to fame as the frontman of his hit 1980s rock band Wilde and Reckless.

But on a balmy Melbourne night he enjoyed some quality father-son time with his 28-year-old son.

Wearing a black suit and matching tie, the TV host looked stylish as he smiled for the cameras.

Feels like home: The 62-year-old Channel Nine entertainment guru is no stranger to red carpets, but is used to being on the other side of the fence

Nicholas showed he definitely shares his father's sense of style, opting for a sleek blue suit.

Richard's oungest son Christian has also become renowned for his taste in fashion in recent years.

A staple on Sydney's social scene, Christian wowed when he attended the ARIA awards alongside his father in 2016.

The Instagram star, who calls himself Prince Christian on social media, was no wallflower as he walked down the red carpet.

Celebrity pals: Wilkins shot to fame as the frontman of his hit 1980s rock band 'Wilde and Reckless' before taking up the role as the Entertainment Editor for the Today Show

Fashion statement: Both Richard and Nicholas' outfits on Saturday night were whole lot less adventurous than those youngest son Christian (pictured) has become renowned for

Loving it: A key figure on the Sydney social scene, Christian - who calls himself Prince Christian on social media - wowed when at the ARIA awards alongside his father in 2016

Great genetics: Just like his father, Christian has been blessed with sensational blonde locks

He upped the style stakes in skin tight silver-sequined skinny pants which dazzled on the rain-soaked red carpet.

The 21-year-old social media sensation kept the rest of his look demure with black boots, long smoking jacket and matching shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest.

His long blonde tousled blonde locks hung loosely below his shoulders as he accessorised with gold bracelets.

Wilkins has three other children - son Adam, 43, Rebecca, 30 and Estella, nine.
She's the glamorous actress whose been non-stop filming for her latest movie I, Tonya in Georgia.

But Margot Robbie, 26, enjoyed a well-earned break from work, with husband Tom Ackerley in Los Angeles on Friday.

The Hollywood beauty cut a low-key figure in sweat pants and a beanie as she arrived at LAX with British assistant director Tom, 26.

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Low-key: Margot Robbie, 26, was seen enjoying a well-earned break with husband Tom Ackerley in Los Angeles on Friday

She completed the look with a navy pinstriped winter coat and comfortable footwear as the couple strolled through airport terminals.

Margot's blonde locks were worn loosely and mostly covered with a thick beanie.

She appeared makeup-free to reveal her flawless complexion and wore dark shades to add an element of mystery.

Settling into married life: The smitten couple first met in 2013 on set of Suite Francaise and have been together ever since. They tied the knot in December last year

The Suicide Squad star's husband also kept his look casual in fitted blue jeans and a warm coat.

He added loosely-tied brown boots and a backpack as he guided his wife to a waiting limo.

Also this week, Queensland-born Margot was pictured getting into character on set in Mariela - with the actress set to portray former figure skater Tonya Harding in the Craig Gillespie-directed drama.

Smitten: Margot and Tom wed in an intimate ceremony in Byron Bay

Over the moon: She shared some intimate snaps on social media

Busy: The Critics Choice award-winner has completely thrown herself into work since marrying boyfriend of two years

The Critics Choice award-winner has completely thrown herself into work since marrying boyfriend of two years Tom in Byron Bay late last year.

The smitten couple first met in 2013 on set of Suite Francaise and have been together ever since.

She previously shared her plans to relocate back Down Under when the couple have children.

'He loves Australia ... he says, 'I don't know why anyone leaves Australia,'' she told The project last year.
She welcomed her second child three months ago.

And Blac Chyna highlighted her post-baby body as she bared a sliver of her midriff on an outing in Beverly Hills on Friday.

Swinging a black and gold Moschino handbag from the crook of her right arm, she wore high-waisted trousers for her outing.

Showing what she's got: Blac Chyna stepped out in Beverly Hills on Friday in a black turtlenecked crop top that showcased her enviably trim midriff

It was back in November that the 28-year-old gave birth to her second child and first daughter Dream, whose father is Chyna's fiance Rob Kardashian.

In addition to Dream she's also got a four-year-old son called King Cairo by Tyga, who's now dating Chyna's sister-in-law-to-be Kylie Jenner.

The Washington, D.C. native's previously said she plans to whittle her post-baby weight down to 130 lbs, and told E! News last month about her progress.

Smile and wave: Swinging a black and gold Moschino handbag from the crook of her right arm, she let her wavy platinum blonde hairdo tumble free over her shoulders

'Its super hard,' she admitted, 'because, you now, I had actually had a C-section.'

Her routine included 'breastfeeding and drinking water and my teas and my little other little remedies that Im not gonna tell you, but its been, like, working out for me really good.'

When asked about fielding her chockablock schedule, 'I feel like, you now, it, like, comes natural, and Ive kinda been doing it all this time, and I feel like being pregnant obviously prepares you to, obviously, be able to, like, juggle everything.'

Welcome to the world: It's been less than three months since the 28-year-old gave birth to her second child and first daughter Dream, whose father is Chyna's fiance Rob Kardashian

In a stroke of luck for the mother of two: 'Dream is, like, a really good, easy baby, so its been really easy for me.'

The aspirant Kardashian and the man who'll make her one star on a reality show called Rob & Chyna, which'll return for an eight-episode second season this year.
She stars as Mrs Who in the live-action adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time.

And on Saturday, Mindy Kaling was spotted in character and heading to the set of the Disney film in Los Angeles.

The 37-year-old actress wore an elaborate headpiece and a robe with dramatic eye makeup.

In character: On Saturday, Mindy Kaling was spotted and heading to the set of the Disney film A Wrinkle In Time in Los Angeles

The Mindy Project star appeared to be looking at the script while dressed in a velvet cover up and black lace-up boots.

Her dark hair was curled and pulled back with a black netted bonnet-style head piece.

Mindy wore purple eye makeup with matching lip color.

She was later seen without the robe - rocking a colorful ankle-length dress.

Eye-catching: The 37-year-old actress wore an elaborate headpiece and a colorful dress

Her co-star Chris Pine, 36, was also on set.

The handsome actor stars as Dr Alexander 'Alex' Murry in A Wrinkle In Time.

Chris, who was wearing black trousers with a white shirt and blue waist coat, was spotted throwing a ball with his dog during a break in filming.

Man's best friend: Her co-star Chris Pine was also seen on set; the 36-year-old was throwing a ball for his dog during a break in filming

Good arm: Chris was wearing black trousers with a white shirt and blue waist coat

A Wrinkle In Time, which is set to be released on April 6, 2018, also stars Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Zach Galifianakis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

The fantasy adventure film is based on the 1962 book by author Madeleine L'Engle.

The film will be directed by Ava DuVernay and produced by James Whitaker and Catherine Hand.
They fell for one another while filming the biblical epic Mary Magdalene.

And Joaquin Phoenix, 42, and Rooney Mara, 31, were pictured together for the first time since their romance emerged on Friday.

Looking happy and relaxed in one another's company, Joaquin - who plays the role of Jesus - and Rooney - who features as the titular character in the upcoming movie - stepped out to run a quick errand in Los Angeles.

New couple! Joaquin Phoenix, 42, and Rooney Mara, 31, were spotted with smiles as they stepped out for a quick errand in Los Angeles on Friday

Rooney was simply beaming as she walked closely beside her co-star and new beau.

Even the famously reclusive Joaquin wore a smile underneath his shaggy grey beard.

Rooney and Joaquin made a super casual couple as they stepped out over the weekend.

The brunette beauty wore a black beanie on her head and went sans make-up.

Look of love? Rooney was simply beaming as she walked closely beside her Mary Magdalene co-star and reported beau

Happy pair: Even the famously reclusive Joaquin wore a smile underneath his shaggy grey beard

She covered up her lithe physique with a large faded blue jean jacket and a pair of black tapered sweatpants which she teamed with coordinating Converse sneakers.

Joaquin was also dressed down and didn't seem to bother to brush his long, shaggy hair.

The actor layered a colorful sweater beneath a black jacket and finished off the laid-back look with a printed scarf, jeans, and black trainers.

Dressed down: The Hollywood stars made a super casual couple as they stepped out over the weekend

This sighting comes soon after a source close to the situation has told the New York Post newspaper that they skipped the recent Golden Globes ceremony in order to spend time 'together in the desert'.

The insider also revealed Rooney and Joaquin have been spending an increasing amount of time together after 'they found love on the set' late last year.

However, a representative for Joaquin has insisted the duo are merely good friends, having previously worked together on the Spike Jonze-directed Her.

The much-anticipated new movie was shot in Italy and during filming breaks, Joaquin and Rooney were spotted hanging out together, including one time when they were seen smoking on the balcony of their hotel room.

Love on set? The actors, who are alleged to have found love while filming in Italy, have also been reported to be just friends. Neither have commented on their relationship status

Rooney has been in a six-year relationship with director Charlie McDowell, but the duo have not been seen together in months and her representative declined to comment on her relationship status.

MailOnline contacted representatives for both stars for comment.

Meanwhile, Joaquin previously claimed he's never experienced heartbreak from any of his past relationships.

While promoting Her, the critically acclaimed actor explained to The Guardian: 'I've never had [a relationship] which ended that I felt heartbroken and consumed by.

'I've had unrequited love. I've definitely been like, 'I love you,' and they don't feel the same.

'But I've never been in a relationship and been heartbroken.'
Larry Emdur and his wife Sylvie walked the red carpet in matching black outfits at The Book Of Mormon opening night in Melbourne on Saturday.

The youthful 52-year-old TV host paired a trendy V-neck shirt with a formal jacket and slim fitting trousers, and accessorised with pointed dress shoes.

His gorgeous wife Sylvie was also looking stunning in a pleated dress with peek-a-boo lacy inserts that showed off glimpses of tanned skin.

Cool couple: Larry Emdur and his wife Sylvie walked the red carpet in matching black outfits at The Book Of Mormon opening night in Melbourne on Saturday

Posing outside the Princess Theatre, the mother-of-two flaunted her bronzed pins in a pair of sexy, strappy leather stilettos that gave her a punky edge.

A leather clutch purse with a heavy silver chain strap added to the rock 'n' roll vibe while her perfectly straight bob neatly pulled the look together.

Sylvie kept her make up chic and simple, with a lick of eyeliner, a nude lip, a wash of peachy blush and chic pale nail polish.

Larry enjoyed the musical, writing on Instagram, 'OFFENSIVE! DISGUSTING! APPALLING! EVIL! RUDE! But enough about me... The Book of Mormon is so so so wrong and so so so twisted. And one of the funniest things I've ever seen'.

Looking good! Posing outside the Princess Theatre, the mother-of-two flaunted her bronzed pins in a pair of sexy, strappy leather stilettos that gave her a punky edge

Meanwhile, the proud parents celebrated their daughter Tia's 18th birthday over the weekend - and Larry even got a tattoo dedicated to her.

The Morning Show host revealed on Wednesday he now has the Aquarius astrological symbol inked on his chest.

Just a few years ago, the TV personality had the words 'If not now, when?' tattooed as tribute to his son Jye.

Tatt's sweet! The parents celebrated their daughter Tia's 18th birthday over the weekend - and Larry even got a chest tattoo dedicated to her

For Tia: The Morning Show host revealed on Wednesday he now has the Aquarius astrological symbol inked on his chest as a tribute to his teenage daughter

Larry wrote in Instagram 'FOR TIA: A few years ago I had "If not now, when?" tattooed on my chest. 'It's something Jye and I always say to each other.

'Today I had Tia's zodiac sign added to it. For Tia and I the sign also represents life's peaks and troughs, and shows there will always be another wave to pick you up and push you through life,' he added.

'Now Tia and Jye are always and forever both IN my heart and ON my heart,' Larry concluded.

Happy family: Larry married his wife Sylvie in 1995 and the couple share two children together

Larry married his wife Sylvie in 1995 and the couple share two children together.

In the accompanying photo, Larry pulls down his T-shirt to reveal the Aquarius star sign around the text: 'If not now, when?'

Despite his busy media career, Larry is a hands-on father and makes family a priority.

Just last week, he posted a series of Instagram snaps from his father-son road trip in Las Vegas with Jye.
Bella Hadid rocked a biker chic look, complete with a tiny leather miniskirt with metallic star and triangle patterns, in New York City on Saturday.

She'd thrown on a black leather jacket with a pair of made-up lips baring teeth pictured on one side.

The brunette looked like she'd strutted straight off the catwalk in a pageboy cap and black stiletto boots that went up nearly to the knee.

Biker chic: Bella Hadid showed off her legs in a tiny skirt as she headed out in New York on Saturday

The outing came two days after Bella said she would 'cherish forever' her memories of working with fashion designer Riccardo Tisci.

The 20-year-old model has taken to social media to gush about the 42-year-old creative director of Givenchy, who announced his departure from the French luxury brand after 12 years, on Thursday.

She effused that it has been 'a pleasure' to collaborate with the entrepreneur over the past two years because every campaign or show has made her 'heart stop from excitement.'

The sidewalk's a runway: The brunette looked like she'd strutted straight off the catwalk in a pageboy cap and black stiletto boots that went up nearly to the knee

Bella shared a sweet picture on her Instagram account of her clutching on to the creative mastermind's arm as the pair walk side by side, which has been edited with a black and white filter.

She captioned the upload: 'Riccy It has been more than a pleasure for me and I writing this because the past 2 years of working for you & with you have been memories that I will!'

She went on: 'Any Givenchy campaign or show I would get booked for by you would still make my heart stop from excitement...I have never seen someone work the way you do with a genuine love for the art, design and fashion... (sic).'

And the catwalk icon has praised the fashion mogul as being a 'genius of our generation' and she is 'proud' she can count Riccardo as a 'friend.'

Pop of red: She'd thrown on a black leather jacket with a pair of made-up lips baring teeth pictured on one side

She continued: 'You are a genius of our generation and I am so proud to call you a friend. A new chapter has started for you amore and I am so excited to see what you will do next.

'I love YOU Brother !! You are an inspiration to me and so many others.. I wish only success for you and @givenchyofficial in the future #riccardoForever @riccardotisci17 (sic).'

Meanwhile, Givenchy has also taken to social media to "warmly thank" Riccardo for his 'outstanding contribution' to the brand.

The brand posted a head-shot of Riccardo on their photo-sharing site, which read: 'The House of Givenchy applauds Riccardo Tiscis vision that led to a very successful twelve-year partnership. We warmly thank him for his outstanding contribution to our beautiful ongoing story (sic).'

'I love YOU Brother !!': The 20-year-old model has taken to social media to gush about Riccardo Tisci, the 42-year-old creative director of Givenchy, who announced his departure from the French luxury brand after 12 years, on Thursday

Shop 'till you drop: The second-generation model paid a visit to the Saint Laurent store in NYC as the day wore on

Score! The fashionista looked like she struck gold in discovering a handbag she was partial to

Sale! Bella looked like she got what she wanted as she headed out of the well-heeled establishment with bag in tow
He has repeatedly denied that he is suffering from throat cancer.

And Val Kilmer was indeed looking healthier as he made a rare public appearance on Saturday.

The actor, 57, was seen smiling for the cameras as he joined a friend at a fancy cocktail party in Italy.

Looking healthy: Val Kilmer, 57, was seen smiling for the cameras as he joined publicist friend Tiziana Rocca at a fancy cocktail party in Italy

Val was pictured as he mixed with industry pros at the annual Filming In Italy Initiative festival, which aims to persuade filmmakers, producers and studios to consider shooting their next project in Italy.

Tanned, with his thick hair brushed back off his face, it was clear the veteran actor was in a much better place than a year ago.

In December 2015 a thin and frail-looking Val cut a very different picture when he was spotted out, following neck surgery.

Val has denied numerous times over the past couple of years that he was suffering from throat cancer.

As he was: In December 2015 a thin and frail-looking Val cut a very different picture when he was spotted out following neck surgery

Most recently his denial was in response to a claim by his friend Michael Douglas.

In a Facebook post, Val wrote: 'I love Michael Douglas but he is misinformed. The last time I spoke to him was almost two years ago, when I asked him for a referral for a specialist to get a diagnosis for a lump in my throat.

'I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever. I still have a swollen tongue and am rehabbing steadily.

'I've made 3 films in the last year, one of which I directed.'

As he was: Val as Iceman in Top Gun in 1986

And the Batman Forever star insisted: 'Some fans have mistakenly thought my silence about my personal issues meant that somehow I wasn't being responsible to my health, because of my reliance on prayer and Love.

'Nothing could be further from the truth. Altho I am very grateful for all the support from around the world, when people found out I had a physical challenge.'

Val previously denied he had cancer in January 2015 after he started bleeding from the throat and was admitted to hospital.

Writing on his Facebook page, he said: 'I am perfectly well folks. Thank you for all your love and support. I am having a grand time. And I should mention I do not have cancer or a tumor.'
Five Cameroon v Egypt facts

Five facts for the Africa Cup of Nations final between Cameroon and Egypt at Stade de l'Amitie in Libreville Sunday (1900 GMT):

-- The countries have played each other seven times at the Cup of Nations with Egypt winning three matches and Cameroon two with two drawn.

-- Two of the previous meetings have been in finals with Egypt victorious on both occasions -- 5-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in 1986 and 1-0 in 2008.

Cameroon national football team players attend a training session at Agondje Stadium in Libreville ahead of the final of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Steve JORDAN (AFP)

-- The most recent match between the nations was in a 2010 quarter-final with Ahmed Hassan scoring twice as Egypt came from behind to triumph 3-1 after extra time.

-- Egypt have won six of seven finals with the lone loss coming in 1962 when they fell 4-2 after extra time to hosts Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.
Six killed, three missing in Indonesia boat accident

At least six people have been killed and three are missing after a fishing boat capsized in eastern Indonesia, an official said.

The wooden boat was carrying 29 people when it capsized Friday afternoon after departing from Takalar Lama river to Tanah Keke island in the province of South Sulawesi.

Twenty people have been found alive but rescue teams are still searching for the missing passengers.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport but safety standards are poor and accidents occur regularly BAY ISMOYO (AFP/File)

The cause of the accident is still not known, transport ministry spokesman Lollan Panjaitan told AFP.

"Since the wooden fishing boat departed from an unofficial location, not from an official harbour, we don't have much control over it," he said, adding that the boat didn't have a legal permit to make the trip.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport but safety standards are poor and accidents occur regularly.

In January a passenger boat ferrying around 200 people from the capital Jakarta to nearby Tidung island left more than 20 people dead after it caught fire.
Trump slaps sanctions on Iran as tension mounts

US President Donald Trump slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's weapons procurement network Friday, provoking an angry response from Tehran in what is an increasingly tense stand-off.

Officials said the new measures were in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test and its support for the Huthi rebels in Yemen, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.

The new sanctions do not yet mean that the US has abandoned commitments it made under the deal to lift measures aimed at Iran's nuclear program, officials said.

In a tweet US President Donald Trump said "Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" NICHOLAS KAMM (AFP/File)

But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Friday's measures would not be the last.

"Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump tweeted.

During a visit to Tokyo on Saturday, US Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

"It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it," he said, but added that there are no plans to increase US troops in the Middle East.

Hardline US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn also drew a stark line in the sand.

"The days of turning a blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," he said.

"This behavior seems continuous despite the very favorable deal given to Iran by the Obama Administration. These sanctions target these behaviors."

Iran on Saturday was set to stage a show of defiance by deploying missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise.

The Guards' Sepahnews website said the maneuvers were aimed at demonstrating their "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" and "humiliating sanctions" from Washington.

A list of missiles to be deployed, published on the site, showed they were of very short range -- up to 47 miles (75 kilometers).

- 'Strategic review' -

US intelligence and Treasury officials are constantly scrutinizing Iran's networks, looking for evidence of extremist funding and advanced weapons procurement.

The immediate trigger for the sanctions was Iran's test, last Sunday, of a ballistic missile that US officials judge to have been capable of one day carrying a nuclear warhead.

But the latest detailed list of designations has clearly been in preparation for some time, and the White House says "nothing is off the table" -- even military action.

"We are undertaking a larger strategic review," a senior US administration official told reporters. "The launch of the missile was the triggering event."

Washington is also concerned about attacks by Huthi rebels, a powerful faction in Yemen's civil war which US intelligence believes is armed and supported by Iran.

This week Huthi forces attacked a Saudi warship operating off Yemen.

The senior official said Iran was "not necessarily responsible for every tactical decision" made by Huthi forces, but that it will be made to bear responsibility for its "proxies."

- Angry taunts -

But Russia, which is allied with Iranian forces in its defense of Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, is unlikely to allow new international sanctions to target Tehran.

US Treasury officials hope that preventing Iran's networks in Lebanon and China from buying US goods or using the US financial system will curtail their activity.

Nevertheless, Trump's pronouncements on the 2015 nuclear deal, and Iran's angry response that his taunts are "baseless" and "provocative," have raised fears of an imminent showdown.

The nuclear deal obliged Iran to curtail its nuclear program and halt any nuclear weapons research in exchange for relief from US and international sanctions targeting the sector.

It was agreed between Tehran and six powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US -- and Obama's White House hailed it as a blow against nuclear proliferation.

Trump, Israel and many US foreign policy hawks argue that the deal was too soft and that the windfall Iran won with sanctions relief will be funneled to terror networks.

If the deal collapses, however, some observers fear a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. US officials insist the new sanctions have no bearing on the deal -- for now.

"Iran has to determine its response to our actions," a senior administration official said.

"We are going to continue to respond to their behavior in an ongoing way and at an appropriate level to continue to pressure them to change their behavior."

Hawks in Congress have been calling for broad measures to target entire sectors of Iran's fragile economy.

- Severe price -

"Unless the Iranian regime pays a severe price for its malign activities, they are unlikely to stop," said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Think tank the Eurasia Group said the fate of the nuclear deal itself is in US hands and will be decided by "the harshness of the sanctions Trump puts in place."

If he sticks to designating new individuals for existing sanctions, the deal will probably hold -- "but it is a close call" -- the group said in a briefing note.

If he aims for broader sanctions designed to hobble the Iranian economy, it may fall apart.

At a press conference in Tokyo US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world" Toru YAMANAKA (AFP)

Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa on January 17, 2017 Mohammed HUWAIS (AFP/File)

The Iranian nuclear agreement Paz PIZZARO (AFP/File)
Nigeria politician returns home after 4 years in UK jail

One of Nigeria's most powerful men, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering and fraud in a landmark anti-corruption case, has returned home, his aides told AFP on Saturday.

"Chief James Ibori has arrived. He landed in Abuja in the early hours," said Ighoyota Amori, a political adviser to Ibori, who was governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007.

He said Ibori, who was released in London in December after serving just over four years of a 13-year jail term, would later fly to the southern port city of Warri in Delta state.

James Ibori, seen here in 2009 wearing white and raising his hand, served as governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007 PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP/File)

"A chartered private plane will fly him to Warri and he will land at Osubi airfield operated by Shell," he added.

The former politician would be received at the airstrip by supporters and sympathisers who have lined up to welcome him back, he added.

"For now, it is going to be a quiet ceremony. An elaborate reception will be organised later for him at Oghara, his hometown," he said.

Ibori's media aide, Tony Eluemunor, also confirmed his arrival, saying only: "He is in town. I will keep you posted later."

Ibori was jailed in April 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly 50 million pounds (at the time $78.5 million/62 million euros) following a drawn-out extradition procedure and his evasion of arrest and prosecution in Nigeria.

He had fled to Dubai in 2010, from where he was extradited to Britain.

- Rare blow against graft -

Anti-corruption campaigners say billions of pounds of ill-gotten wealth is moved each year through Britain, its overseas territories and dependencies and Ibori's conviction was a rare success against global graft.

Ibori, 57, has vowed to appeal the conviction, claiming that at least one police officer involved in the investigation against him had been compromised by taking bribes.

London's Metropolitan Police has said it has investigated the claim but no charges were brought.

Transparency International on Friday called Ibori's intent to appeal "an affront to justice".

"Ibori claims that the police who investigated him were themselves corrupt.

"All allegations of corruption against the police force must be taken with the utmost seriousness and independently investigated, and those found guilty should be held accountable," it said.

"But this should have no bearing on the guilt of an individual who amassed an astonishing personal fortune, whilst his notional official salary as a state governor would typically have been no more than $25,000 annually," it said.

"Attempts to mask his own corrupt dealings by highlighting corruption elsewhere must not be allowed to prevail."

Opinions are divided in Nigeria itself about whether Ibori should face a fresh trial on his return given the strong anti-corruption stance of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ibori is said to have partially funded the election of Umaru Yar'Adua in his successful bid to become president in 2007.
Trump to speak to Poroshenko as Ukraine unrest surges

US President Donald Trump was to hold his first talks with Ukraine's leader on Saturday as a surge in fighting killed dozens and refocused global attention on bloodshed in the EU's backyard.

The phone conversation comes with the death toll at 35 following a week of clashes between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed insurgents in a level of violence unseen in the eastern Ukraine war zone since 2015.

The battles erupted as Trump seeks to build a friendship with Russia's Vladimir Putin. Some analysts linked the escalation of the violence to this potential thaw in relations while others attributed it to more local issues.

Ukrainian security forces load humanitarian aid for Avdiivka inhabitants, during a collection in Kiev, on February 3, 2017 GENYA SAVILOV (AFP)

During the scheduled call Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will seek to win assurances of Washington's continued diplomatic and non-lethal military support which came under former president Barack Obama's administration.

It also follows Trump's phone conversation with Putin on January 28 that both sides described as constructive.

The rebels along with Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday signed up to calls for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the flashpoint town of Avdiivka by Sunday.

But the demand for the shooting to stop has not halted the violence and so far there is little sign of the big guns being pulled back around the Kiev-held industrial town of 25,000 at the centre of the fighting.

- Power plant out -

Overnight and early Saturday in Avdiivka passed with relative calm compared with previous days.

But the Ukrainian army said one of its soldiers had been killed in the area.

Kiev military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said the separatists "had pulled their tanks up to" Avdiivka on Saturday afternoon in apparent preparation for another battle.

A rebel military commander was also killed in a car bombing in what appeared to have been an internal dispute over power and unrelated to the ongoing violence.

Most residents of this blue-collar town work in a major coke plant that has been heavily damaged by the shelling.

- Broken peace deal -

Avdiivka remained without electricity on Saturday and with only sporadic power supplies to heat homes against freezing temperatures and limited supplies of water.

The giant plant provides electricity for much of the region and has been the target of previous deadly rebel attacks.

Plant spokesman Dmytro Murashko told AFP that work brigades were trying again to repair broken power lines after shelling halted their earlier efforts.

Friday was one of the bloodiest days with nine civilians killed -- two of them inside the town.

The call to withdraw heavy weapons was made under the coordination of mediators from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

It provides for the "withdrawal by 5 February 2017 into permanent storage sites of all weapons regulated by Minsk agreements to the distances defined in them and beyond the respective lines."

The Minsk deal was signed in February 2015 and defined a step-by-step solution to one of Europe's bloodiest conflicts since the 1990s Balkans wars.

It has since been repeatedly broken -- prompting Wednesday's meeting of negotiators to call for the warring sides to ensure "strict adherence to (a) full and comprehensive cessation of fire".

The 33-month conflict began shortly after Ukraine ousted its Russian-backed leader in February 2014.

Moscow responded by annexing Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March 2014 before allegedly plotting the eastern insurgency to keep Ukraine under its thumb after Kiev tilted toward the West.

The Kremlin sees most of the former Soviet Union as part of its geopolitical sphere of influence.

That stance has been strongly disputed by Washington and European leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in Ukraine -- a surprising attack given Trump's supportive stance towards Putin.

Russia denies any responsibility for the conflict and blames the United States for igniting the protests that turned Ukraine toward the West.

Ukraine fighting flares S.Ramis/J.Jacobsen (AFP)

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko wants to seek assurances of Washington's continued diplomatic and non-lethal military support EMMANUEL DUNAND (AFP)

Elderly residents of the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, just north of the de facto rebel capital of Donetsk, sit by tents set-up for those who lost heat in their homes on February 2, 2017 Aleksey FILIPPOV (AFP)

A Ukrainian tank is stationed outside a building in the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, on February 2, 2017 Aleksey FILIPPOV (AFP)
Tributes to Tunisian killed in Quebec mosque attack

Mourners held a ceremony at Tunisia's main airport on Saturday to receive the body of a Tunisian-born victim of the January 29 attack on a Quebec mosque.

Boubaker Thabti was among six men killed when a far right-wing student stormed into a mosque in Quebec City during evening prayers and unleashed a barrage of bullets from a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle.

The attack also wounded eight people.

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed (C-L) consoles the wife (C) and son (C-R) of Boubaker Thabti, a Tunisian who was killed in an attack on a mosque in Quebec City, upon the arrival of his body at the Tunis-Carthage airport on February 4, 2017 FETHI BELAID (AFP)

Thabti's body arrived at Tunis-Carthage International Airport in a coffin wrapped in the flags of both Tunisia and Canada.

His widow and their young son attended the ceremony along with Prime Minister Youssef Chahed ahead of Thabti's burial in the town of his birth, Tataouine, in southeastern Tunisia.

The 44-year-old food company employee had two children, aged 11 and three.

The foreign ministry said two Tunisians were also among the wounded, including one in a "serious condition".

Two Algerian dual nationals, agricultural science lecturer Khaled Belkacemi, 60, and 41-year-old computer programmer Abdelkrim Hassane, also died in the attack.

Their bodies arrived at Algiers airport early on Saturday, the APS agency reported.
Israel Arabs and Jews protest house demolitions

Israeli Arabs and Jews marched arm-in-arm through central Tel Aviv on Saturday night, calling for the government to stop demolishing Arab homes built without permits that it rarely grants.

An AFP journalist said that around 1,000 protesters took part, many carrying banners in Hebrew and Arabic, reading "Jews and Arabs together".

Leading the march were opposition lawmakers from the left-wing Meretz party and from the Joint List, a coalition of mainly Arab parties.

Arabs and Israelis participate in a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and against the home demolition policy, in Tel Aviv on February 4, 2017 AHMAD GHARABLI (AFP)

Israeli Arabs say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government has cracked down on unlicensed Arab construction to try to placate Jewish settlers angry at a demolition order against the Amona wildcat outpost in the occupied West Bank.

Tensions flared last month when police flooded the Arab village of Umm al-Heiran in southern Israel to supervise demolitions, and a policeman and his Arab alleged attacker were killed in disputed circumstances.

Police said that villager Yacoub Abu al-Qiyan, 50, was shot dead after he rammed officers with his vehicle, killing one of them.

They alleged he was active in the Israeli Islamic Movement and may have been influenced by the Islamic State group -- a claim residents strongly denied, calling him a respected teacher.

"Members of our government are proud to establish alternative facts," Meretz MP Michal Rozin told the demonstrators on Saturday.

"They do this not from ignorance," she added. "They are building a narrative of fear, racism and hatred of the other in a deliberate and sinister fashion which serves their political ends."

In a December video address, Netanyahu linked the order to dismantle the Amona outpost with a fresh offensive on unapproved Arab construction in Israel.

"The law must be equitable; the same law which obliges vacating Amona also obliges removing illegal construction in other parts of our country," he said.

"Therefore I have given orders to speed up demolition of illegal construction... in all parts of the country and we shall do that in the coming days."

Amona residents and their supporters were cleared from their West Bank hilltop on Thursday, and their homes are expected to be taken down during the coming week.

Israeli Arabs are descendants of Palestinians who remained after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

They now make up around 17.5 percent of the population, and say the state systematically discriminates against them.

They say the Jewish state makes it impossible for them to obtain planning permission to expand their communities.

The result is that many resort to building homes without permits, leaving them liable to demolition.

Arabs and Israelis participate in a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and against the home demolition policy, in Tel Aviv on February 4, 2017 AHMAD GHARABLI (AFP)
Pence warns Democrats not to block vote on Supreme Court pick

US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday warned Democrats not to block a vote on the president's Supreme Court pick, saying such a move would be "unwise" and pledging the Senate would get its say "one way or the other."

President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch, faces a fierce confirmation battle. He needs at least 60 votes from the country's 100 senators to prevent opponents from launching a filibuster -- a procedure that essentially prevents a vote through endless debate.

"Make no mistake about it. This would be an unwise and unprecedented act," Pence said of the Democrats' filibuster threat, during a speech in Philadelphia to a local chapter of the Federalist Society, an influential organization that promotes a conservative view of US law.

US Vice President Mike Pence, seen with President Donald Trump and February 2, 2017, said "the Supreme Court belongs to the American people, and the American people deserve a vote on the floor of the United States Senate" NICHOLAS KAMM (AFP/File)

"President Trump and I have full confidence that Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed," he said.

"We will work with the Senate leadership to ensure that Judge Gorsuch gets an up or down vote on the Senate floor -- one way or the other."

"This seat does not belong to any party or ideology," Pence said, adding that "the Supreme Court belongs to the American people, and the American people deserve a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

Many Democrats deeply resent last year's refusal by Senate Republican leaders to even consider former president Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, to fill the vacancy.

The seat has remained empty since the death, nearly a year ago, of conservative justice Antonin Scalia.

Supporters of Gorsuch cast the 49-year-old federal judge as an ardent defender of the conservative values championed by the late Republican justice.

Trump's nominee "will pick up where Justice Scalia left off," Pence said.

With only a 52-seat majority in the Senate, Republicans will have to convince at least eight Democrats to cross party lines to vote for Gorsuch, who supports the death penalty and other core right-wing positions.

If support falls short, Trump has urged Senate Republicans to change longstanding rules -- using what is referred to as the "nuclear option" -- to allow Gorsuch's confirmation by a simple majority of 51 votes, a highly controversial approach.

Pence's campaign for Gorsuch came as Trump attacked another federal judge who blocked the president's controversial immigration ban targeting nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted early Saturday from his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.

US District Judge James Robart of Washington state -- an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush -- issued a nationwide order blocking Trump's ban late Friday.
2nd Mexican human rights activist killed in same township

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Authorities say a second human rights activist has been killed in the same township in northern Mexico where the first one died two weeks ago.

The statement from Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said the body of Juan Ontiveros, a member of the Tarahumara indigenous group, was found Wednesday in Guadalupe y Calvo.

The statement released Thursday said Ontiveros' brother escaped the attack and later told authorities it arose from a conflict between members of two families. They have identified a suspect and are searching for him.

Amnesty International and the European Union lamented the killing in statements.
The Latest: Seattle port CEO secretly gave himself pay raise

SEATTLE (AP)  The Latest on the resignation of the Port of Seattle's chief executive (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

Documents released by the Port of Seattle show that CEO Ted Fick, who resigned Wednesday, secretly gave himself a $24,500 raise, inappropriately accepted gifts for travel and sporting events and potentially directed port business to his father's company.

The Port of Seattle released the information found in Ted Fick's most recent performance review Friday afternoon. Fick had been port CEO for less than three years.

Documents say Fick gave himself the raise, on top of his $350,000 salary, as part of a one-time payment of about $4.7 million to port workers after commission approval. That action is now under scrutiny after an audit determined the port had illegally given that payment.

Commission President Tom Albro told The Associated Press Friday the commission approved the payment as part of a plan to retain employees and believed it to be legal.

___

1:45 p.m.

The Port of Seattle's chief executive has resigned amid an investigation that determined the port had illegally given more than 600 workers some $4.7 million in extra pay.

Kathleen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Auditor's Office, says the extra payments were discovered during a routine, annual audit of the port. Preliminary findings determined that the payments were an unlawful gift of public money under the state Constitution.

The findings were first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Ted Fick, who had been placed on administrative leave last week, resigned Thursday after less than three years on the job. In a letter of resignation he said he realized he was better suited to the private sector.
Idaho governor says Christian refugees deserve priority

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter says he agrees with President Donald Trump that persecuted Christians should be treated as priority in the U.S. refugee program despite acknowledging that such preference is discriminatory.

"It is," Otter said during an interview on Idaho Public Television's Idaho Reports. "(But) we want a safe country."

Otter made his remarks during an interview with Idaho Public Television's Idaho Reports, which aired Friday. The 30-minute interview touched on the governor's thoughts on immigration, transportation and trade, but it also highlighted specifically President Donald Trump's latest actions regarding immigration and refugees.

The executive order signed by Trump suspends immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and all refugee resettlement for 120 days. It provides exceptions for refugees who practice a religion that makes them a minority in their home country. On Friday, however, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's ban after Washington state and Minnesota urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country. The White House said Friday night it will seek an emergency stay of the federal judge's order.

"The reason I think he did was because they were being more persecuted than others," Otter said.

When asked if Muslims were also persecuted, Otter said "Probably. I don't know that, but I do know that the Christians are."

Otter has been growing critic of the refugee program, often expressing frustration that governors do not have authority to halt block refugees from settling in their communities as under the Refugee Act of 1980.

In 2015, in the aftermath of the coordinated attacks in Paris, Otter called for the immediate halt of resettling new refugees until vetting rules can be reviewed and state concerns about the program can be addressed.

During Friday's interview, Otter said he hoped Trump's new vetting guidelines would allow for input from governors. Otter then urged Congress to allow states to opt out of the refugee placement program.

Trump's other orders on immigration have prompted legislation in Idaho.

Earlier this week, a Republican state lawmaker introduced legislation that would punish cities and counties for passing immigrant-protecting "sanctuary city" policies  even though the state has none. A separate Republican backed piece of legislation is designed to prevent state courts or government agencies from making decisions based on Islamic religious law or other foreign legal codes. While no such ruling as ever occurred in Idaho, its sponsor acknowledges that the measure stems from concerns over Shariah law.

Boise, the capital, is one of a handful of smaller U.S. cities that has accepted Syrian refugees, at 108. Most refugees in the state settle there or in Twin Falls.

___
Indonesians, Filipinos protest Trump's immigration policy

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesian and Filipino students on Saturday protested President Donald Trump's immigration policy outside the U.S. embassies in their capitals.

In Jakarta, dozens of students and activists from several rights groups called on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. They do not include Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and the Philippines, a key U.S. ally.

However, Indonesia is home to nearly 14,000 refugees seeking resettlement in third countries, and Trump's ban will significantly impact their chances of going to the U.S., said rights activist Veronica Koman, who organized the protest.

Protesters burn a portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump in front of riot police during a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. The protesters scored Trump on his anti-immigration stance. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

A U.S. judge on Friday imposed a nationwide hold on Trump's ban on travelers and immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, siding with two states that had challenged the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

"We are here to protest Trump's xenophobic and Islamophobia policies," Koman said.

Protesters waved banners such as "I'm angry with Trump" and "No ban, no wall."

"Actually this is not only for Muslims but this is war against humanity because the immigrants or refugees around the world, not only from Muslim countries, don't have to be treated like this," said activist Filza Inanuma. "Everybody should have rights to go everywhere they want for their protection, for their life."

A similar rally was held outside the seaside U.S. Embassy in the Philippine capital, Manila, where protesters burned a portrait of Trump. No violence was reported.

An activist holds a poster denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Dozens of students and activists from several rights groups staged the protest calling on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Activists burn a poster denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Dozens of students and activists from several rights groups staged the protest calling on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Activists shout slogans during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Dozens of students and activists from several rights groups staged the protest calling on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Muslim activists hold posters depicting U.S. President Donald Trump during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Dozens of students and activists from several rights groups staged the protest calling on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

An activist burns a poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Dozens of students and activists from several rights groups staged the protest calling on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

A Filipino-Muslim protester displays a placard in front of riot police during a rally at the U.S. Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. The protest also marked the Feb. 4, 1899 Filipino-American War. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Protesters display placards in front of riot police during a rally at the U.S. Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. The protest also marked the Feb. 4, 1899 Filipino-American War. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Protesters display placards in front of riot police during a rally at the U.S. Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. The protest also marked the Feb. 4, 1899 Filipino-American War. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Protesters display placards in front of riot police during a rally at the U.S. Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. The protest also marked the Feb. 4, 1899 Filipino-American War. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Prtoesters march with placards in front of the U.S. Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. The protest also marked the Feb. 4, 1899 Filipino-American War. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

A protester displays placards in front of riot police during a rally at the U.S. Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. The protest also marked the Feb. 4, 1899 Filipino-American War. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Protesters burn a portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump during a rally at the U.S. Embassy to mark the Feb. 4, 1899, Filipino-American War, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. The protesters scored Trump on his anti-immigration stance. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Sweden wants to ban gender segregated school classes

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  Sweden's education minister wants to ban gender-segregated classes after last year's public outcry after a Muslim school was allowed to separate boys and girls for gym classes.

Gustav Fridolin says "if there are problems by having boys and girls together, you should take care of the problem, not avoid it simply by separating the sexes."

Fridolin, a member of Sweden's center-left minority government, told Swedish Radio Saturday that too many schools "have been given temporary permission to have boys and girls apart for several years."
Romania govt vows to repeal law that goes easy on corruption

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  After mass protests that have rocked the country for days, Romania's government announced Saturday that it will repeal a highly controversial emergency decree that decriminalizes official misconduct.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said the government would hold an emergency meeting Sunday to withdraw the decree, which has sparked the biggest protests in Romania since the end of communism in 1989.

"I don't want to divide Romania ... Romania in this moment seems broken in two," Grindeanu told reporters.

Demonstrator waves Romanian national flag during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight. The latest outpouring of public anger resolved in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Protesters were angry that the measure would water down the country's fight against corrupt officials. Tens of thousands took to the streets for the fifth consecutive day Saturday, marching through Bucharest and forming a human chain around the Palace of the Parliament built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu.

There were also large-scale protests Saturday evening in the cities of Cluj, Timisoara, Sibiu, Constanta and Brasov and more planned for Sunday.

The Social Democrat-led coalition government has come under huge pressure at home and abroad to repeal the emergency decree it passed Wednesday without Parliament input, which critics say will drastically weaken an anti-corruption fight widely praised by Romania's Western allies.

Grindeanu said the proposal would be sent to Parliament for debate, a move that is not likely to appease all protesters.

One protester, Florin Dutu of Bucharest, said he wasn't totally satisfied with the development but said it was important government understood the determination of the people.

"Romania is a strong democracy. People are on the streets and you cannot avoid doing the right thing," he said.

Presidential spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi called the development "a step toward normality."

The Constitutional Court was expected to rule next week on whether the measure violates the constitution.

The ordinance decriminalizes official misconduct if the funds involved are less than 200,000 lei ($47,800), which critics said would just encourage officials to steal on the job up to that point. Grindeanu said he would consult with other parties about scrapping the monetary threshold.

Liviu Dragnea, head of Social Democrats, is one of those who would have benefited from the new decree. He is banned by law from serving as prime minister because he was handed a two-year prison sentence in April 2016 for vote-rigging.

Adults came to the protest Saturday in Bucharest with their children or dogs, stressing the peaceful nature of the rally to fight corruption. Cristian Busuioc came with his 11-year-old son.

"I want to explain to him ... what democracy means, and the way the ones who govern must create laws for the people and not against them or in their own interest," he said.

Demonstrators gather in front of the government building during a protest against a government decree that dilutes what qualifies as corruption in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, the latest outpouring of public anger that in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

A girl waves a Romanian flag during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. Romania's political crisis is deepening over a government decree that may benefit rich and powerful people convicted of corruption. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Protesters shout slogans during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. Romania's political crisis is deepening over a government decree that may benefit rich and powerful people convicted of corruption. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016 file photo, head of the Social Democrat Party Liviu Dragnea speaks to the media after exit polls were announced in the parliamentary elections in Bucharest, Romania. Liviu Dragnea, is the 54-year-old leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party who keeps a tight grip on Romanias biggest party that easily won Dec. parliamentary elections. Critics say the ordinance was dedicated to Dragnea who legally cant be prime minister as party supporters want, because of a two-year suspended sentence in April 2016 for vote rigging in connection with a referendum to impeach former President Traian Basescu which failed due to low voter turnout. Dragnea says the law that bans him is unjust. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, file)

Demonstrators march during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight. The latest outpouring of public anger resolved in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Protesters march during a protest against a government decree that dilutes what qualifies as corruption in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, the latest outpouring of public anger that in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A man waves a Romanian flag in front of the government building during a protest against a government decree that dilutes what qualifies as corruption in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, the latest outpouring of public anger that in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

A man holds a cross that reads: "God is with us" during a protest against a government decree that dilutes what qualifies as corruption in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, the latest outpouring of public anger that in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Demonstrators march in front of the government building during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight. The latest outpouring of public anger resolved in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Demonstrators march in front of the government building during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight. The latest outpouring of public anger resolved in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Demonstrators march in front of the government building during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight. The latest outpouring of public anger resolved in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Demonstrators march in front of the government building during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree, that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight. The latest outpouring of public anger resolved in the largest demonstrations since communism ended. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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

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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

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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
Bees and bowlers upset Sri Lanka as South Africa wins series

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Allrounder Dwaine Pretorius claimed career-best figures as South Africa beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the third one-day international at the Wanderers on Saturday.

Pretorius came into the South African team in place of Wayne Parnell and recorded figures of 3-19 from seven overs as Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 163 in 39.2 overs.

South Africa had no trouble chasing the small target, with AB de Villiers top-scoring with 60 not out to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. South Africa scored 164-3 in only 32 overs.

Buthuel Buthelezi, head groundsman, sprays bees with a fire extinguishers after they swarmed onto the pitch delaying play during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

With Sri Lanka once again failing to produce a significant score, the drama came from another source as a swarm of bees held up play for more than an hour.

Sri Lanka made a promising start, with openers Niroshan Dickwella and Upul Tharanga putting on 60 for the first wicket as South Africa had a rare bad spell in the field, dropping two catches.

But Kagiso Rabada made the breakthrough when he had Tharanga (31) caught at fine leg, and wickets fell regularly after that.

The bees arrived in the 25th over after Sri Lanka had sunk to 115-4 and soon forced the players from the field.

Ground staff attempted to remove the swarm using a fire extinguisher before a beekeeper was called in to do a more effective job.

When play resumed, it did not take long for Rabada to grab a second wicket, before Pretorius claimed two wickets in two overs as Sri Lanka collapsed once more.

Legspinner Imran Tahir picked up the final dismissal to finish with 2-21 as Sri Lanka was bowled out inside 40 overs.

Although Quinton de Kock played on during a feisty opening spell from teenage fast bowler Lahiru Kumara on his ODI debut, South Africa controlled the remainder of its chase with ease.

Hashim Amla scored 34 and Faf du Plessis contributed 24, before De Villiers and JP Duminy (28 not out) saw South Africa to victory with 18 overs to spare, giving it a record 12th straight win on home soil.

The fourth ODI takes place at Newlands on Tuesday, before the series finishes at Centurion on Friday.

Buthuel Buthelezi, head groundsman, sprays the bees with a fire extinguishers after they swarmed onto the pitch during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Sri Lanka's batsman Niroshan Dickwella, left, and other players lay down to avoid a swarm of bees during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's bowler Imran Tahir, runs away from a swarm of bees during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's batsman Hashim Amla, left, is run out by Sri Lanka's bowler Sachith Pathirana, for 34 runs during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Sri Lanka's bowler Lahiru Madushanka, right, celebrates after dismissing South Africa's batsman Faf du Plessis, for 24 runs during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's bowler Imran Tahir, left, celebrates with captain AB de Villiers after bowling Sri Lanka's batsman Sachith Pathirana out for 18 runs during the third One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Sri Lanka's batsman Lahiru Madushanka leaves the field after being dismissed for a duck during the third One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Sri Lanka's batsman Niroshan Dickwella, right, plays a shot as South Africa's wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, looks on during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Sri Lanka's batsman Niroshan Dickwella, right, plays a shot as South Africa's wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, looks on during the 3rd One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Guyana temporarily lifts ban on scrap metal exports

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP)  The Guyanese government says it has lifted a 19-month ban on scrap metal exports while it drafts new operating regulations after complaints about buyers raiding everything from tombs to security grill work and manhole covers.

Business Minister Dominic Gaskin said Saturday the ease will last three months while rules for the trade are drawn up and a monitoring unit is created.

A black market in scrap metal has emerged since the trade was banned in June 2015.

Hundreds of tons of scrap piled up in junkyards or was stored in containers awaiting clearance to international markets. Markets for Guyana's scrap metal include China, Vietnam, the United States and Europe.
AP FACT CHECK: A week's supply of baloney

Reality took a beating from the Washington blame game this past week. Americans heard about a Kentucky massacre that never happened, a travel ban that was a ban despite it being called something else, and a dark plot to help Russian intelligence that was nothing of the sort. A look at some of the ways political figures strayed into fiction:

___

SEAN SPICER, White House press secretary: "Well, first of all, it's not a travel ban."  On President Donald Trump's executive order halting travel to the U.S. for people from seven majority-Muslim countries.

In this Feb. 3, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Reality took a beating from the Washington blame game this past week. Americans heard about a Kentucky massacre that never happened, a travel ban that was a ban despite it being called something else, and a dark plot to help Russian intelligence that was nothing of the sort. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

JOHN KELLY, secretary of homeland security: "This is not a travel ban; this is a temporary pause that allows us to better review the existing refugee and visa-vetting system."

THE FACTS: That's not what their boss said the day before. President Donald Trump defended the order and its immediate implementation in a tweet: "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!"

Spicer himself also had called it a ban Monday at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, saying "the ban deals with seven countries that the Obama administration had previously identified as needing further travel restrictions."

___

TRUMP, in a White House statement Sunday: "My policy is similar to what President (Barack) Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months."

THE FACTS: That's not what happened. According to State Department data, 9,388 Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States during the 2011 budget year. The data also show that Iraqi refugees were admitted every month during the 2011 calendar year.

The Obama administration did slow processing for Iraqi nationals seeking refuge in the U.S. under the government's Special Immigrant Visa program for translators and interpreters who worked with American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. That happened after two Iraqi nationals were arrested on terrorism-related charges. But that year, 618 Iraqis were allowed to enter the U.S. with that special visa.

As well, government data show that during the 2011 budget year, more than 7,800 Iraqis were allowed into the United States on non-immigrant visas, including tourists.

___

TRUMP, in the same statement: "The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror."

THE FACTS: That's misleading. There were no special U.S. travel restrictions on citizens of those seven countries. The Republican-led Congress in 2015 voted to require visas and additional security checks for foreign citizens who normally wouldn't need visas  such as those from Britain  if they had visited the seven countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. This was included in a large spending bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed by Obama.

As the law was enacted, the Obama administration announced that journalists, aid workers and others who traveled to the listed countries for official work could apply for exemptions.

___

TRUMP, also in Sunday's statement: "To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion  this is about terror and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order."

THE FACTS: Trump is right that there are many majority-Muslim countries that have not been included in the travel ban. But he's also being misleading. The executive order signed Jan. 27 does not specifically say Muslims can't visit the U.S., but it does create a temporary total travel ban for citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries. It also indefinitely bans Syrians.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani recently told Fox News that Trump had asked him to create a plan for a Muslim ban that would meet legal tests. Giuliani said he ultimately made recommendations that focused on security and what countries posed security threats.

___

NANCY PELOSI, a California Democrat and House minority leader, on Thursday: "Less than two weeks after walking into the White House, President Trump lifts sanctions on the Russian Security Service. Vladimir Putin's thugs meddle with an American election, and President Trump gives them a thank you present. "

THE FACTS: Pelosi's complaint about Trump's revision of sanctions on the Russian intelligence service FSB doesn't hold water. If the revision is a gift to anyone, it's to U.S. sellers of consumer electronics.

The Dec. 29 sanctions imposed by the Obama administration were not intended to ban the U.S. sale of cellphones, tablets and other consumer electronics to Russia. But they had that effect, by barring U.S. firms from getting the permits needed from the FSB to sell in Russia. The FSB has regulatory as well as intelligence responsibilities.

Trump's change does not materially benefit the FSB, except in a minuscule way. It allows U.S. firms to pay the FSB a required fee of up to $5,000 per year to export encryption-capable consumer electronics to that country. It's of more benefit to the U.S. sellers and Russian buyers of those devices. It's not unusual to fine-tune sanctions to permit certain transactions.

Democrats incensed at alleged Russian hacking of their party's campaign communications have been watching for a sign that Trump would ease Obama's Russian sanctions in a consequential way. But this wasn't it.

___

KELLYANNE CONWAY, senior Trump adviser, in an MSNBC interview Thursday: "President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre." She went on: "Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

THE FACTS: There was no massacre. Conway tweeted the next day that she'd misspoken, and meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists." But she didn't address another mischaracterization  that Obama had instituted a similar ban.

Obama never banned Iraqi refugees or other Iraqi travelers from coming to the United States. His administration did slow down the processing for Iraqis seeking Special Immigrant Visas, which are given to translators and interpreters who worked with the U.S. in that country.

The slowdown was prompted by the May 2011 arrest of two men in Kentucky charged with plotting to send weapons and money to al-Qaida operatives abroad. Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi had been mistakenly admitted to the U.S. as Iraqi refugees in 2009 and resettled in Bowling Green.
140 Somali refugees set to leave for US sent back to camp

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  About 140 Somali refugees whose resettlement in the United States this week was stopped by President Donald Trump's executive order have been sent back to their refugee camp instead, one of the refugees said Saturday.

It was not clear why they were returned a day after a U.S. court order blocked Trump's ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Somalia. Officials with the International Organization for Migration, which runs the transit center in Nairobi where the refugees had been waiting for their flights to the U.S., could not be reached for comment.

"How would you feel? One day you are telling friends bye, wishing them well, and the next you are back where you started," 28-year-old Nadir Hassan told The Associated Press by phone from the camp. "My home for 27 years was a refugee camp. I was hoping to start a new life in the U.S., get an education, a job, a life. We feel bad."

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 file photo, refugees walk amongst huts at a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. About 140 Somali refugees whose resettlement in the United States this week was stopped by President Donald Trump's executive order have been sent back to Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, one of the refugees said Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)

He had been on a waiting list to leave for about a decade, he said.

The fate of the Somali refugees is especially uncertain because Kenya's government has vowed to close their Dadaab camp, the world's largest, by the end of May, citing security concerns. Kenyan officials say the refugees will be returned to neighboring Somalia, where the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group continues to carry out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere.

The Kenyan government says al-Shabab uses Dadaab as a recruiting and training ground for extremists who attack Kenya, but it has not presented any proof.

Human rights groups have protested Kenya's plans to close Dadaab, saying some of the more than 250,000 refugees there have reported being pressured to leave the camp and that Somalia remains too unstable for people to return home. Refugees who have heeded Kenya's call to voluntarily leave have said they felt betrayed because assurances of safety and support went unfulfilled in Somalia.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, Yvonne Ndege, said Saturday the agency was looking at other ways of settling the refugees, including moving them to another camp in Kenya, Kakuma, which houses mostly people from South Sudan.
The Seattle judge derided by President Donald Trump on Twitter Saturday after blocking Trump's executive order on immigration is known for his conservative legal views.

However, he is also known for a record of helping disadvantaged children that includes fostering six of them, and for dramatically declaring 'black lives matter' during a hearing on police reform in 2015.

Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice that included his selection to the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor bestowed on less than 1 percent of lawyers.

Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice

The judge made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated Trump's ban on travel to the US from seven primarily Muslim nations.

Washington state sued to block the order - with support from Minnesota and major corporations including Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia - arguing that it's unconstitutional and would harm its residents, and Robart held that the state was likely correct.

The ruling did not sit well with the president.

'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned,' Trump tweeted.

The judge (left) made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated President Donald Trump's (right) ban on travel to the US from seven primarily Muslim nations

That decision led Trump to tweet on Saturday: 'The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!'

It's a comment unlikely to sway Robart, said those who know him.

'Jim will give a wry smile, maybe adjust his bowtie a little bit and go back to doing his business,' said former Seattle US attorney John McKay, who worked with Robart for a decade at the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky.

'He's a very careful judge, and he's conservative in the sense he looks at the law and tries to determine what that is, not what he wants,' McKay said.

'He's conservative in his review of the law, but courageous in his application of it.'

Another former Seattle US attorney, Jenny Durkan, called Robart exacting: 'We won some in front of him and we lost some in front of him, but we knew anytime we walked into his courtroom we'd better be prepared.'

That was evident Friday when Robart grilled a Justice Department lawyer, asking if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties since 9/11. Michelle Bennett said she didn't know.

Protesters in New York attend an LGBT solidarity rally in New York to demonstrate against Trump on Saturday

'The answer is none,' Robart said.

'You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that.'

Robart, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, is an expert in patent and intellectual property law, and he issued a landmark decision - later upheld by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals - in a lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola that provided guidance in how to calculate reasonable rates for use of another company's patents.

He's considered a tough sentencing judge in criminal matters, especially in cases involving white-collar defendants, and he has overseen reforms at the Seattle Police Department since 2012, when it agreed to make changes in response to Justice Department findings that its officers were too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

Robart was holding a hearing in that case in summer 2015 - a time fraught with tension over violence by and against police officers around the country - when he surprised the courtroom by adopting the mantra of protesters.

'The importance of this issue to me is best demonstrated by the news,' he said, shaking his head and sighing heavily.

'According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in death involve 41 percent black people, despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population: Black lives matter.'

Watch federal judge James Robart's #BlackLivesMatter declaration, plus his challenge to Seattle's police union. pic.twitter.com/UDgQl2XCiu  Ansel Herz (@Ansel) August 23, 2016

Robart donated to the state Republican party and to GOP candidates before becoming a judge, but was picked for the bench with the help of a bipartisan selection panel.

He helped lead his law firm's efforts to provide free legal services to those who couldn't afford them, and he served as president of Seattle Children's Home, which offers mental health services and special education for at-risk children.

And as US Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted during his confirmation hearing, he and his wife had fostered six children themselves.

Robart drew high praise from Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who cited his 'exceptional qualifications' and his work representing southeast Asian refugees.

'Working with people who have an immediate need and an immediate problem that you are able to help with is the most satisfying aspect of the practice of law,' Robart said then.
A ferry worker who won 4.3 million on the Lottery spurned a champagne celebration and instead went home to sit in a dark room with a cup of tea.

James Couper, a 46-year-old grandfather from Greenock, Inverclyde, is still in shock and trying to come to terms with the money he won with a lucky dip Lotto ticket last weekend.

He found out he had matched six numbers while at work on Sunday.

James Couper from Greenock with his daughter Rachel Hoyle at Mar Hall, Bishopton after he won 4,369,877 in last Saturday's natioal Lottery draw (Christian Cooksey/Camelot/PA)

He said: We were just casually sitting chatting on our lunch break when my workmate came across the Lotto results in the newspaper.

I got my ticket out as he read them aloud and was so confused that they were all my numbers.

I thought that hed gotten a hold of my ticket somehow and knew my numbers, meaning it was all a joke, so I grabbed the newspaper to check it for myself.

James Couper, ferry worker from Greenock, celebrates 4.3m @TNLUK win with daughter Rachel pic.twitter.com/qaumFrgsqF  Paul Ward (@paulward21) February 3, 2017

When I saw them there in black and white and as clear as day, I just couldnt get my head around it. I was so confused and in utter disbelief.

I was so stunned that I just went home and sat in a dark room with a cup of tea.

I just sat there shaking. I think more tea ended up on the floor than in my mouth.

James Couper with his daughter Rachel Hoyle (Christian Cooksey/Camelot/PA)

Mr Couper told his daughter Rachel about the win and said he looked after the ticket like it was a newborn until all the details were confirmed.

He celebrated the 4,369,877 win  which was half the weekend jackpot as another player also matched the numbers  with his daughter at the Mar Hall hotel near Glasgow on Friday.

He said he will take time to decide how to spend the money, but is looking for a new house and a motorbike.

He has also promised a family trip to Disney World.
The US state department has reversed the cancellations of visas for foreigners after a federal judge blocked US president Donald Trumps executive order on immigration.

The department initially said up to 60,000 foreigners from seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas provisionally revoked to comply with Mr Trumps order blocking them from travelling to the United States.

The department said it acted to reinstate the visas after receiving word from the US justice department about the judges ruling in Washington state.

A woman protests in a demonstration against the travel ban (Tony Dejak/AP)

For now, the department said people covered by the order and holding a valid visa may now travel to the United States.

Earlier, Mr Trump had lashed out at this so-called judge who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the US to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The ruling, by US district judge James Robart, set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judges ruling, but this did not appear to be enough for Mr Trump.

Judge Robart ruled in Seattle against government lawyers claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Mr Trumps order.

Judge Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

Statement on WA court ruling: "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of the order (1/5)  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 4, 2017

(2/5)and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate. The presidents order is intended to  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 4, 2017

(3/6) protect the country and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

As the law states,  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 4, 2017

(4/6) "Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 4, 2017

(5/6)to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 4, 2017

(6/6)aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on entry of aliens any restrictions may deem 2 b appropriate."  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 4, 2017

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the justice department would appeal the outrageous order at the earliest possible time. Mr Spicer quickly issued an amended statement that deleted the word outrageous.

Mr Trump billed the action as necessary to stop radical Islamic terrorists from coming to the US.

The order included a 90-day ban on travel to the US by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen, a 120-day suspension of the US refugee programme, and an indefinite bar against admitting Syrian refugees.

The decision sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travellers were detained. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Mr Trumps estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Last week, US district judge Ann Donnelly issued an emergency order in New York after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from the seven countries who were detained at airports nationwide as the ban took effect.

Judge Donnellys order addressed only a portion of Mr Trumps order, and barred US border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the US with a valid visa from the seven countries. Judge Robarts decision was more sweeping in scope.

The Homeland Security Department later said it is no longer directing airlines to prevent affected visa-holders from boarding US-bound flights.
Chris Froome emerged unscathed after being held up behind a late crash during the third stage of the Herald Sun Tour.

Team Skys Froome and race leader Damien Howson (Orica-Scott) were among those caught behind a big pile up inside the last two kilometres, but the three-time Tour de France winner retained sixth place in the general classification standings, one minute and 12 seconds behind Howson.

A quick video of the finish confirms fourth place for @LukeRowe1990 on the line #SunTour pic.twitter.com/ZAnnE1seFe  INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) February 4, 2017

Froomes team-mate Luke Rowe finished fourth in the reduced sprint following the crash, after Skys Danny van Poppel was among the riders to hit the ground in Australia.

Chris Froome (PA)

Welshman Rowe was beaten by stage winner Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) and Australian duo Mitchell Docker (Orica-Scott) and Leigh Howard (Aqua Blue Sport) to the line at Mitchelton Winery.

Rowe, who had hoped to lead out Van Poppel in the sprint, told Team Skys website: It was a big workload for the boys. Youve got a three-time Tour de France winner riding on the front to bring it back for a bunch sprint which was impressive to see.

I was perfectly positioned with Danny with a kilometre-and-a-half to go but unfortunately he went down in the crash.

Sundays finale sees the riders complete four laps of a 31km circuit in Kinglake, with Froome needing to overhaul a 72-second gap to retain his title.
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has branded reports that Russia is responsible for the escalating violence in Ukraine as fake news.

The American film-maker said claims Russia was aggravating the situation in the warzone were untrue and insisted the United States had a huge responsibility for the continuing conflict.

Stone, who interviewed Russian president Vladimir Putin for his new documentary, Ukraine On Fire, also backed President Donald Trumps bid to improve US-Russian relations.

Oliver Stone

Speaking at a screening of the film in Los Angeles, Stone claimed America had used the Ukrainian conflict to blackball Russia and keep the concept of Nato alive.

He told the Press Association: (America) has a huge role, a huge responsibility and has denied it. Its completely denied the whole truth of the situation.

Why are liberals so intent on going to war with Russia? Intel community not telling truth on election interference.  Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 30, 2017

Its a very painful situation for the people who live in that area but at the same time its used by the United States to blackball Russia as much as possible and keep the concept of Nato alive. Its a very important film and a very important subject that has been swept under the rug by our country.

Frankly today Im shocked they published fake news that the Russians are aggravating the situation when all the casualties are in (rebel-held) Donetsk. Its a horrible situation and totally fake.

Speaking at the Italian Institute of Culture in Los Angeles, Stone said he hoped Mr Trump could improve Americas relationship with Russia: Certainly the US and Russia should be allies. As Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy said very well, we have a stake in humanity together.

The Platoon director also said he did not believe Russia intervened in the US election, despite the findings of the CIA and FBI.

It doesnt make sense for them to get involved, Stone said. Theyd get into trouble. Hillary Clinton was supposed to win. Everyone favoured her.

It would be a huge mistake on his part to do it. Also thats their policy, in general, never to get involved in a domestic (election). The United States is the one that gets involved in most domestic elections and interferes.

Stone, who won best director Oscars for Platoon and Born On The Fourth Of July, produced the documentary Ukraine On Fire which looks at the countrys revolution in 2014. The film also features an interview with ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and argues he was the victim of a US-inspired coup with the intent of pushing back against Russia.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to call on Theresa May to end her "collusion" with Donald Trump.

Demonstrators urged the prime minister to withdraw her controversial invitation of a state visit to Mr Trump and denounced his travel ban as "racist".

The march, organised by the Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism and the Muslim Association of Britain, amongst others, set off from the US embassy in central London towards Downing Street on Saturday afternoon.

(David Mirzoeff/PA)

Demonstrators outside the US Embassy in London (David Mirzoeff/PA)

Demonstrators outside the US Embassy in London (David Mirzoeff/PA)

Protesters brandished placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "No to Trump, No to War", while they chanted "Theresa May shame on you".

The prime minister invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House. Hours later, Mr Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries  Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen  to stop radical Islamic terrorists from coming to America, sparking fury.

(David Mirzoeff/PA)

Demonstrators outside the US Embassy in London (David Mirzoeff/PA)

Demonstrators outside the US Embassy in London (David Mirzoeff/PA)

A petition calling on the government to prevent Mr Trump from making a state visit because it would cause "embarrassment" to the Queen has received more than 1.8 million signatures.

Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year, but MPs will debate the matter later this month.

Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including at least 2,000 protesters at New Yorks Kennedy International Airport, while thousands took to the streets of the UK amid anger over the ban.
Dom Inglot emerged from the Davis Cup shadows to inspire Great Britain to the brink of victory over Canada in Ottawa.

Inglot and Jamie Murray defeated Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (7/1) 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 to put the visitors 2-1 up ahead of Sundays reverse singles.

This was a fourth appearance in the competition for the Londoner, who has spent much of his Davis Cup career sitting on the sidelines cheering on the Murray brothers.

Dom Inglot

When he has been given a chance, he has often looked very nervous, and he and Murray were not altogether convincing in their only previous victory together in Serbia last summer.

But here he was the best player on the court, staying calm at the big moments and putting pressure on the Canadians with a series of fine backhands.

Inglots excellence was perhaps all the more surprising given in his last match, at the Australian Open, he spurned three match points against top seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, serving into his partner Florin Mergea on one of them.

The 30-year-old revealed he reassessed his game after the loss and the hard work he has put in on the practice court with coach Louis Cayer and British captain Leon Smith paid dividends.

Inglot said: The way I look at it is theres guys who would die to be in my situation and be part of the team and not play but support. When I get my chance I want to use it as best I can.

If Andy comes back in the next tie and wants to play then thats fine. Im out here doing what I can and Im proud of myself for that.

Inglot also overcame a painful blow to the midriff from a Nestor volley early in the second set.

An expert touch from @DanielNestor9 puts Canada up a break in the second set of #DavisCup doubles. #GoCanada pic.twitter.com/96wZvTJnuy  Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) February 4, 2017

Its a bit sore, he said. I think he wanted to intimidate me a little bit.

The tie was delicately poised after the first day following victories for Dan Evans and Pospisil, making what is so often a decisive match arguably even more important.

It was a very even battle on paper, too, with all four experienced doubles players.

Congratulations Daniel Nestor for the incredible achievement of playing 50 ties for @TennisCanada! #Legend pic.twitter.com/oYO2nd5Idy  LTA (@the_LTA) February 4, 2017

Very experienced in the case of 44-year-old Nestor, who received a huge ovation from the enthusiastic crowd at the TD Place Arena as he lined up at his 50th tie.

It was no surprise that opportunities for breaks were few and far between, with the unusually-fast court favouring the server.

Inglot saved a set point in the 12th game of the first set before Britain went on to take the tie-break, but it was winning the third-set tie-break that really put them on their way to victory.

Murray said: We knew it was going to be a really tough match; I dont think there was really a favourite and, with the way the surface was, there werent going to be a whole load of chances out there because everyone was serving well.

The third-set tie-break was huge for us. We both felt they dropped off energy wise after that. Dom played a great game to break serve. We fought really hard from start to finish, we stayed strong in the important moments.
Finnish PM cleared in nickel mine conflict of interest review

HELSINKI, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Juha Sipila was cleared by Finland's parliamentary watchdog on Wednesday of any conflict of interest over the government's funding decisions for a state-owned nickel mine, following a public outcry.

The watchdog reviewed the case after public broadcaster YLE reported in November that Katera Steel, an engineering company owned by Sipila's relatives, received a half-million-euro order from state-owned miner Terrafame, around the time when Terrafame received a cash injection from the state.

The parliamentary ombudsman said that Katera Steel was not dependent on its business with Terrafame, and found no connection between the government funding and the order.

"There is no reason to suspect that prime minister Sipila would have acted partially to benefit Katera Steel," the watchdog said in a statement.

The decision to provide more money for Terrafame marked a U-turn for the austerity-minded government, which had earlier said it would start closing the mine if no private investors were found by the end of the 2016.

"The review matches with my own judgment of the situation and is unambiguous and clear, I have nothing more to add," Sipila told Finnish news agency STT.
U.S. telecommunications regulator closes 'sponsored data' probe

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. telecommunications regulator said on Friday it was closing inquiries into sponsored data programs and TV services offered by AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc, Comcast Corp, T-Mobile USA Inc without taking any action.

Under the Obama administration, the Federal Communications Commission had sent letters raising concerns about whether some data practices by AT&T and Verizon violated net neutrality rules. The FCC had also sent letters to Comcast about its "Stream TV" service and to T-Mobile about its "Binge On" service in 2015.

Millions of mobile phone users benefit from free data video services but critics warn that the practice may prod users into avoiding competitors' services. Net neutrality rules imposed by the FCC in 2015 require broadband providers to treat all data equally and bar service providers from slowing consumer access to web content.

Tom Wheeler, who was FCC chairman until Jan. 20, told Reuters last month that its investigation found some free data practices were abusive and anticompetitive.

But in an about-face on Friday, the regulator now under Republican control said it was closing its investigation.

"These free-data plans have proven to be popular among consumers, particularly low-income Americans, and have enhanced competition in the wireless marketplace," new FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

Sponsored or zero-rated free data programs allow mobile phone users free data if they use certain video services. AT&T phone subscribers can watch DirecTV, which is owned by the company, on their phones without incurring data charges. Verizon also offers mobile phone subscribers some sponsored "go90" video content that does not count against data caps.

In a Jan. 11 report, the FCC's wireless bureau said Binge On did not violate net neutrality rules, but it found concerns with AT&T and Verizon's data programs.

Pai voted against the net neutrality rules and said last month he thought the regulation's "days are numbered."

"It is clear that net neutrality is public enemy number one for Chairman Pai," Democratic U.S. Senator Edward Markey said on Friday. "He is starting his campaign by protecting harmful zero-rating plans."

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company has always believed its free data programs benefit customers.

Joan Marsh, an AT&T's senior vice president said the decision was a "win for the millions of consumers who are reaping the benefits of services made available through free data programs."
Lacking voting rights, Snap IPO to test fund governance talk

By Ross Kerber and Liana B. Baker

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Shares sold in a $3 billion initial public offering by the parent of Snapchat will lack voting power, testing the commitment of big asset managers in their recent fight for investor rights.

In a registration document on Thursday that it will use to pitch shares to investors, Snap Inc outlined an aggressive expansion plan for its social media network in what would be the biggest U.S. tech IPO since Facebook.

But the document shows the shares will not have voting rights - an unprecedented feature for an IPO despite years of rising concerns about corporate governance from fund managers looking to gain influence over executives.

Indeed, just earlier this week top fund managers including BlackRock Inc, Vanguard Group Inc and T Rowe Price launched an initiative to improve governance, among other things, calling for companies to give shareholders voting rights "in proportion to their economic interest."

Technically, the framework outlined by the group does not go into effect until the start of 2018, to give companies time to adjust.

But Charles Elson, a professor at the University of Delaware who follows corporate governance, said that to reinforce their message, the big fund managers should not buy into the IPO of Snap or others that might follow.

"They should not buy common stock without a vote," Elson said. That should even include index funds, which ordinarily buy shares to reflect the sector or group of stocks they track, he said.

For investors who do buy Snap shares without voting rights, Elson said, "You're completely hostage to the actions of management."

A Snap representative declined to comment. Snap's filing states it will have a unique stock structure with three share classes, which will concentrate voting power with its co-founders Evan Spiegel and Robert Murphy.

Each of their shares is entitled to 10 votes on governance matters. Current investors such as venture capital firms will have shares entitled to one vote, and shares being sold to the public will have no voting rights. The filing acknowledges the concentrated control could impact Snap's share price. Other technology giants have also been adding to founders' voting power including Facebook and Google.

To be sure, Snap's filing contains a provision to eventually grant all shares an equal vote, but only if both founders die or their ownership falls below a threshold.

In a note on Friday, Edison Investment Research analyst Richard Windsor wrote that while tight control may be justified in a company's private early stages, it is not in large, public companies whose problems can be worsened because founders "tend to be emotionally attached to their companies."

Ordinarily his firm would discount its valuation of a company by 30 percent, when founders keep control to offset the extra risk to investors, Windsor wrote.

A spokesman for T. Rowe Price Group said the company would not comment. Representatives of BlackRock and Vanguard did not comment.

Another backer of the new governance principles is the California State Teachers' Retirement System, with roughly $200 billion under management.

Aeisha Mastagni, a portfolio manager for the system, said while it does not normally buy shares during IPOs, it usually buys companies like Snap once their stocks wind up in stock indexes like the Russell 3000. Avoiding Snap would only shift the risk to other parts of the portfolio, she said.

The thinking could be different for actively-managed funds, she said, especially in a case like Snap where investors would lack votes needed to change management in a crisis.

"With companies like this, you think they're always fine, until they're not," Mastagni said.

CalSTRS was among a group of 18 co-signers of a letter the Council of Institutional Investors sent to Snap on Friday, urging it to adopt a single-class structure.

Other signatories came from representatives of public pension managers like the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the Florida State Board of Administration.

As of Friday afternoon the large U.S. fund firms including BlackRock, Vanguard and T. Rowe Price had not signed the letter.
Mattis reaffirms U.S. alliance with Japan "for years to come"

By Phil Stewart and Nobuhiro Kubo

TOKYO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrapped up a visit to Japan on Saturday reaffirming Washington's commitment to its defense treaty with Tokyo amid concerns about President Donald Trump's approach to the region and the alliance.

Mattis reiterated that provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs, as well as China's growing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas, left no room for doubt about U.S. commitment to Japan's defense.

That was similar to the message that Mattis - making his first overseas trip since taking office - delivered in South Korea, Washington's other key Asian ally, earlier in the week.

He appeared eager to reassure Japan of U.S. resolve, after a 2016 election campaign in which Trump suggested both South Korea and Japan were benefiting from a U.S. security umbrella without sharing enough of the costs.

"The U.S.-Japan alliance is critical to ensuring that this region remains safe and secure - not just now, but for years to come," Mattis told a joint news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada.

But in what could been seen as a subtle prod to Japan to do more, he added: "But make no mistake: in my meetings with Japanese leaders, both our nations recognize that we must not be found complacent in the face of the emerging challenges we face.

"As our alliance grows, it will be important for both our nations to continue investing in our defense personnel and capabilities."

Mattis said Tokyo's financial support for U.S. troops in Japan had been a "model of cost-sharing" while Inada told the same news conference there had been no discussion of whether Japan should increase that funding.

Mattis also noted that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has increased defense spending since taking office in December 2012, a move he said was "on the right track."

Japan's defense spending is around 1 percent of gross domestic product, compared to around 2 percent for China and over 3 percent for the United States.

DEEPER THREE-WAY TIES

Mattis also repeated that Trump's administration would adhere to Washington's commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China, an assurance that Tokyo has been keen to hear.

Inada said she told Mattis that Japan would play a proactive security role, in line with legal changes enacted under Abe that eased the limits of its pacifist constitution on its military's operations overseas.

At the start of her talks with Mattis, Inada said she hoped his visit to Seoul and Tokyo would deepen three-way security ties. Japan's relations with South Korea have frayed recently due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation vital.

"South Korea is an important neighbor," Inada said.

"I want to link Secretary Mattis' visit to Japan and South Korea to the further deepening of defense cooperation among the three countries."

Japan's relations with South Korea have frayed recently due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation between the two allies vital.

Japan last month temporarily recalled its ambassador to South Korea over a statue near the Japanese consulate in Busan city commemorating Korean "comfort women".

The term "comfort women" is a euphemism for women forced to work in Japanese military brothels.

Tokyo says the statue, put in place late last year, and another near the Japanese embassy in Seoul, violate a December 2015 agreement stating the issue - which has long plagued ties - would be "irreversibly resolved" if all conditions were met.
Some airlines board barred passengers after blow to Trump travel ban

By Alexander Cornwell

DUBAI, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries banned from the United States by President Donald Trump can resume boarding U.S.-bound flights, several major airlines said on Saturday, after a Seattle judge blocked the executive order.

Qatar Airways was the first to say it would allow passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to fly to U.S. cities if they had valid documents.

Air France, Spain's Iberia and Germany's Lufthansa all followed suit after the federal judge's ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.

But the websites of two other major Gulf airlines, Etihad and Emirates, still carried notices informing passengers of Trump's original Jan. 27 order.

The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who said it was racist and discriminatory.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could board travelers affected within hours of Friday's ruling, but budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights including from London and Oslo, said many uncertainties remained about the legal position.

"It's still very unclear," spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson said. "We advise passengers to contact the U.S. embassy ... We have to follow the U.S. rules."

In Cairo, aviation sources said Egypt Air and other airlines had told their sales offices of Friday's ruling and would allow people previously affected by the ban to book flights.

But for some who had changed their travel plans following the ban, the order was not enough reassurance.

In Dubai, Tariq Laham, 32, and his Polish fiancee Natalia had scrapped plans to travel to the United States after they get married in July in Poland. Laham said the couple would not reverse their decision.

"It is just too risky," said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. "Every day you wake up and there is a new decision."

VISA SUSPENSIONS

Trump's order caused chaos at airports across the United States last week. Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the U.S.

The State Department said on Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended following Trump's order. It was not clear whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what reception travelers with such visas might get at U.S. airports.

The Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's executive order. Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges in similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.

The challenge in Seattle was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas. Amazon.com and Expedia, both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

"OUTRAGEOUS ORDER"

The White House said in a statement: "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

It added: "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "No person - not even the president - is above the law."

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

"This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order," said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

But the fluid legal situation was illustrated by the fact that Robart's ruling came just hours after a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order allowing some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

A Reuters poll earlier this week indicated that the immigration ban has popular support, with 49 percent of Americans agreeing with the order and 41 percent disagreeing. Some 53 percent of Democrats said they "strongly disagree" with Trump's action while 51 percent of Republicans said they "strongly agree."

At least one company, the ride-hailing giant Uber, was moving quickly Friday night to take advantage of the ruling.
Turkey says kills 51 Islamic State militants in northern Syria

ANKARA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Turkey hit 59 Islamic State targets and killed 51 militants in northern Syria as part of its ongoing incursion, the Turkish military said on Saturday.

Turkish forces have surrounded the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab for weeks as part of an operation that has been going on for more than five months.

Four of those killed were so-called emirs, or local commanders, the Turkish military said, adding that its jets destroyed 56 buildings and three command control centres in the al-Bab and Bzagah regions.
Beijing resident crashes car near Tiananmen Square

BEIJING, Feb 4 (Reuters) - A car crashed and overturned near Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing on Friday which police blamed on the driver losing control on a slippery road, cautioning against the spreading of rumours.

Police said on their official microblog on Friday that the 26-year-old driver had taken responsibility for the accident.

In 2013, a vehicle crashed on the edge of Tiananmen Square, killing five people and injuring dozens in what China said was a planned attack by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Muslim Uighur separatist group.

Police said the driver, surnamed Zhang, in Friday's accident was a Beijing resident.

Beijing police detained a woman originally from Hebei province and a man from Jilin province suspected of fabricating and spreading false rumours about terrorism on the internet following the car accident, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Tiananmen Square is at the political and cultural heart of Beijing and security is always tight in the wake of the government's bloody crackdown on student-led protests there in 1989.
Philippine Catholic Church slams 'reign of terror' behind war on drugs

By Clare Baldwin and Manuel Mogato

MANILA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The Philippines' Catholic Church assailed President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs for creating a "reign of terror" among the poor, in sermons read out at Saturday services that will be repeated to congregations across the country on Sunday.

In its most strongly worded attack on the crackdown on drug pushers and users, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said killing people was not the answer to trafficking of illegal drugs, and it was disturbing that many didn't care about the bloodshed, or even approved of it.

"An even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong. It is considered as normal, and, even worse, something that (according to them) needs to be done," the bishops said in a pastoral letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

"An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account," they said.

More than 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte launched his anti-drugs campaign seven months ago, more than 2,500 in what police say were shootouts during raids and sting operations.

Both the government and police have strenuously denied that extrajudicial killings have taken place. The president's office had no immediate comment on the bishops' letter.

Beginning with Mass services on Saturday evening, priests read out the letter signed by the bishops of Asia's biggest Catholic nation. Their address did not mention Duterte by name, but urged "elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests" and called for steps to tackle "rogue policemen and corrupt judges".

Nearly 80 percent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholic and, unlike in many other countries where the faith has waned, the majority still practice with enthusiasm. While that support has historically given the Church significant political and social clout, it has been hesitant to criticise the blunt-spoken president's war on drugs.

In interviews with Reuters last year, more than a dozen clergymen said they were uncertain how to take a stand against the killings given the popular support for Duterte's campaign. Some said challenging him could be fraught with danger.

Duterte has routinely attacked the Church. He cursed the Pope for causing traffic snarl-ups during his 2015 visit, and as recently as this week called for a "showdown" with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, misusing state funds and molesting children.

"ROGUE POLICEMEN"

In apparent reference to accusations that many drug pushers and users have been victims of extra-judicial killings, the bishops said "every person has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty", and the law should be followed.

"We must also give priority to reforming rogue policemen and corrupt judges," they said.

The pastoral letter was read out during Mass on Saturday evening to a congregation of about 50 - mostly women - at the domed Church of St. Joseph inside the sprawling grounds of Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Manila.

Father Jojo Borja, a chaplain at Camp Crame, said the situation was difficult for clergymen, particularly those employed by the government.

"We have to be in the middle always," he told Reuters. "When we talk against the government we will be kicked out from the service. Sometimes we will be called for questioning, to ask about our loyalty."

The bishops' letter comes less than a week after Duterte suspended all police operations in the drug crackdown due to what he said was deep-rooted corruption in the force. He has put an anti-drugs agency in charge of the campaign and says he wants the military to play a supportive role.

In a series of reports last year, Reuters showed that the police had a 97-percent kill rate in their drug operations, the strongest proof yet that police were summarily shooting drug suspects. (reut.rs/2jPSgSn)

The Reuters reports also found that low-level officials in poor neighbourhoods helped police assemble "watch lists" of alleged drug users and pushers that were effectively hit-lists, with many of the people named ending up dead.

Duterte used exaggerated and flawed data, including the number of drug users in the Philippines, to justify his anti-narcotics crackdown, according to a Reuters investigation.

In a report this week, Amnesty International said police prosecuting the war on drugs behaved like the criminal underworld they were supposed to be suppressing, taking payments for killings and the delivery of bodies to funeral homes.
German magazine sparks furore with image of Trump beheading Statue of Liberty

BERLIN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.

It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First".

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."

The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as "tasteless".

The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner".

Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.
Party without Chairman joins Tsarukyan alliance (video)

Arakelutyun (Mission), which was established in 2013, will participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections together with Tsarukyan alliance. In the third conference of the party the political board unequivocally made such a decision. In the interview with journalists Manuk Sukiasyan, member of the political board of Arakelutyun party, said that the party doesnt have a Chairman, there are no membership cards, lists, That is more binding and obliging, as in our country people perceive the formal status of being a partisan with reservations. There isnt another such institution in Armenia. It isnt based on our personality, it is based on ideology, he noted, adding that as of now the party has more than 2000 members. In reply to our question by which program they will participate in the elections, Sukiasyan answered, It is a priority for us to have an electoral system in Armenia which will show the will and the vote of the people, to establish a precedent of changing the authorities with peoples vote. As long as there is no such precedent, any ideology becomes very vulnerable. According to Sukiasyan, they have seen this precedent on the basis of the alliance formed around Gagik Tsarukyan. Watch video for more details!
Romania's ruling party head seeks solution to defuse graft decree conflict

BUCHAREST, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Romania's ruling Social Democrats (PSD) are seeking a solution to defuse a conflict created by the government's approval of a decree decriminalising some corruption offences, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said on Saturday.
Middle East travellers rush to take advantage of Trump setback

By Issam Abdullah, Kinda Makieh and Julia Edwards Ainsley

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS/WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries who were banned from the United States by President Donald Trump can resume boarding U.S.-bound flights, the U.S. government said on Saturday, after a Seattle judge blocked his executive order.

The ruling gave hope to many travellers and sent some scrambling for tickets, worried that the newly opened window might not last long. Trump denounced the judge on Twitter and said the decision would be quashed.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" the president said.

The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, has sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who have called it racist and discriminatory.

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!"

In the wake of Friday's ruling, Qatar Airways was the first to say it would allow passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to resume flying to U.S. cities if they had valid documents.

Fellow Gulf carriers Etihad and Emirates said they would do the same, as did others including British Airways, Air France, Spain's Iberia and Germany's Lufthansa.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented along with his family from boarding a flight to New York a week ago.

"We were right, we are legal. Even at that time, I was optimistic. I was sure that we were going to go. I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," he told Reuters.

The family was due to fly on Turkish Airlines later on Saturday from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Officials in Lebanon and Jordan, however, said they had received no new instructions regarding the Jan. 27 travel ban.

A spokeswoman for budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights including from London and Oslo, said the situation was "still very unclear".

"RACE AGAINST TIME"

Some travellers interviewed in Middle Eastern capitals were cautious about the news of Friday's ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.

Ibrahim Ghaith, a Syrian barber who fled Damascus in 2013, told Reuters in Jordan: "Today we heard that the measures may have been abolished but we are not sure if this is just talk. If they go back on the decision, people will be overjoyed."

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."

The 52-year-old said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was cancelled two days before that, and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "It's in God's hands," he said.

Two Sudanese travellers told Reuters they were trying to travel as soon as possible, fearing the ban might be reinstated. They declined to be named, for fear of possible consequences.

"I'm in a race against time," said a 31-year-old female academic who said international airlines were still refusing to sell her a ticket. "Now I am going from one airline company to another to convince them about the court's decision."

In Cairo, aviation sources said Egypt Air and other airlines had told their sales offices of Friday's ruling and would allow people previously affected by the ban to book flights.

But for some who had changed their travel plans following the ban, the order was not enough reassurance.

Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States last week with five members of her family, was hesitant to express any hope in the court ruling as she awaited word from her lawyers.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch, and then I build my hopes. We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been cancelled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family only learnt of Trump's order after landing at Philadelphia International Airport with U.S. visas that were granted in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications.

VISA SUSPENSIONS

Trump's order caused chaos at airports across the United States last week. Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the U.S.

The State Department said on Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended following Trump's order. It was not clear whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what reception travelers with such visas might get at U.S. airports.

The Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's executive order. Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges in similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "No person - not even the president - is above the law."

The case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas. Amazon.com and Expedia, both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

Judge Robart questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban, saying no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven affected countries since then.

For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

The White House said in a statement: "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."
Rebel taxes and seizures drive hungry children out of pre-famine Somalia

By Katy Migiro

NAIROBI, Feb 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thousands of malnourished Somali women and children are fleeing into Ethiopia to escape Islamist militants who are taxing them and seizing their food, animals and land, the United Nations said on Friday, amid fears of renewed famine.

Arrivals into Ethiopia's Dollo Ado camp from Somalia surged in January to more than 100 a day, said the U.N.'s refugee agency, UNHCR, the highest number seen in four years.

"They report being taxed heavily by al Shabaab," said Clementine Awu Nkweta-Salami, UNHCR's country representative in Ethiopia, referring to the Somali militant group.

"In some cases they also report they have had their land confiscated as well as crops and livestock."

The United Nations issued a pre-famine alert on Thursday, with 6.2 million of Somalia's 10 million people needing emergency aid due to conflict and drought.

Al Shabaab, which has been fighting Somalia's Western-backed government for a decade, partially controls Bay and Bakool regions where most of the new arrivals come from.

"No one from the areas under the control of the Mujahideen has gone to Ethiopia," an al Shabaab spokesman said.

"That is a complete fabrication and a political manoeuvre by the UNHCR in order to solicit for donations and secure funds from unsuspecting donors by appealing to their emotions."

Few international agencies work in al Shabaab controlled areas, relying on local charities to deliver aid for them.

"The real question is going to be whether (humanitarians) are going to be able to get enough food and water into those communities in time to prevent a mass exodus," said Charlie Mason, Save the Children's humanitarian director.

A lack of access to food aid was one of the main reasons 260,000 people died in Somalia's 2011 famine.

The United Nations hopes it will have better access than in 2011 as African Union forces have pushed al Shabaab out of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and other southern strongholds.

"We (now) have the ability to mount operations that can help stabilise rural areas before they fall into famine conditions," Justin Brady, head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told a news conference on Thursday.

MALNUTRITION

Three-quarters of new arrivals in Ethiopia are children, who travel up to 10 days on foot or donkey cart, Nkweta-Salami said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is screening all children under five on arrival in Ethiopia.

Kate Nolan, head of mission in Ethiopia for MSF, said in the first three weeks of January, 77 percent had global acute malnutrition - five times higher than the WHO's emergency threshold of 15 percent.

The United Nations is revising its projections for new arrivals in Ethiopia, which it predicted last year would be 10,000 refugees in the first four months of 2017.

"If the current arrival pattern continues and we get on average 3,000 a month, then we will reach that 10,000 mark very quickly," said Nkweta-Salami.

More than 200,000 Somali refugees live in Dollo Ado, 70 km (45 miles) from the Somali border, which hosts the second largest Somali refugee population in the region after Kenya.
SAITM Medical Faculty Parents Forum Convener Gemunu Wijeratne today said that he would file a defamation case against Minister Dilan Perera demanding Rs. 500 million for allegedly making defamatory remarks on him in Badulla recently.

Speaking to Daily Mirror Mr. Wijerathna said that the minister had criticized him in public over the SAITM issue.

Minister Perera made a serious statement against me addressing a rally in Badulla and tarnished my image, he said.

He said that he was a reputed businessman in Nugegoda rather than a mere bus owner and the president of the Private Bus Owners Association.

We took a leading role to bring this Unity government into power. I wouldnt be upset if this statement was made by a Joint opposition member. Even former president Mahinda Rajapaksa didnt make such statements on me even though I condemned his political activities. Having recently joined the Unity Government, Mr. Perera has no right to accuse me who played a key role in bringing this government into power. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)
UPFA General Secretary and Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday a mini cabinet reshuffle was in the offing because the people and government members thought that a change in certain cabinet portfolios was necessary.

He told a media briefing that it was up to President Maithripala Sirisena to decide when it would take place.

When asked whether it was before the national New Year, the minister neither denied or confirmed it.

When asked about the remarks made by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa that the unity government would be toppled before the end of this year, the minister said it was wishful thinking by a defeated politician fighting for his survival.

The UNP remained in the opposition for 21 years and kept saying the UPFA government will be toppled but it happened only in 2015. The unity government will remain in power until 2020 and no one can prevent it, he said.

Commenting on the statement made by Mr. Rajapaksa that he would give the leadership to the joint opposition to contest the local government polls separately, the minister said it would be the biggest betrayal if Mr. Rajapaksa did that as the ultimate beneficiary in a SLFP split would be the UNP.

He said he hoped that Subject Minister Faizer Musthapha will gazette the wards based on the delimitation report.

I have spoken to two warring factions and other members of the UPFA to unite at least till the elections but it did not work out. We must realize that if the SLFP splits into two and contested the polls against each other we do not stand a chance to win. The UNP will be the absolute winner. Therefore, on behalf of all SLFP supporters I ask that the decision to contest the LG polls poll separately and contest under the SLFP flag and symbol, the minister said.I have one thing to tell the joint opposition. If it contests any election separately, it will suffer a humiliating defeat and that defeat will be their political hara-kiri. But sadly, it will also affect the SLFP badly." (Sandun A Jayasekera)
The 69th Independence Day celebration was held today at the Galle Face Green under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, ministers, parliamentarians and diplomats attended the ceremony which also included military parades. Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi
Only a path that unites all can pave the way for a stronger Sri Lanka, a path that calls for what each of us can give of ourselves to our nation, to our common future and to a better tomorrow, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in his Independence Day message yesterday.

The full text of his message follows:

"As Sri Lanka celebrates the 69th Independence Day, I believe that we are also celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the election of Good Governance Government.

To make the spirit of freedom more meaningful to us all, the Government must take steps that reaffirm the liberties of the people with regard to their economic, social and spiritual well being.

During the past two years, we have been able to achieve many steps in the right direction; restore democratic values, rebuild relationships with friendly nations and affirm mutual trust while focusing on revitalizing the economy towards laying the foundation for a nation that has overcome various differences and is firmly anchored on principles of freedom and human values.

Only a path that unites all can pave the way for a stronger Sri Lanka, a path that calls for what each of us can give of ourselves to our nation, to our common future and to a better tomorrow.

May we as Sri Lankans possess the courage and the determination to choose that path this Independence Day."
President Maithripala Sirisena said in his Independence Day message that the realization of the true meaning of freedom and independence lies in the countrys potential to free itself from the shackles of all kinds and forms of poverty and ill-health.

The realization of the true meaning of freedom and independence lies in our potential to free ourselves from the shackles of all kinds and forms of poverty, ill-health, and confines of divisive identities of race, religion and caste, and enrich ourselves, as a society that values equity and rights of all, he said.

The Full message:

Many freedom struggles of the humankind have aggrandized the story of human progress. We, Sri Lankans, too have inherited a long history of such struggles that brings forth memories of grief and glory, from the times of our Kings to that of modern democracy. The nation is indebted to our forebears, whose selfless sacrifices of sweat and blood have brought about the freedom, in which we breathe today.

It is at a challenging and decisive moment, that we celebrate the 69th Independence anniversary this year. The responsibility of strengthening the recently secured democratic freedom as well as ensuring that, enriched by indigenous wisdom, all communities could live with dignity, lies on our shoulders. We have been able to overcome a dark era and reillumine our unsurmountable aspirations for democracy, freedom, and human dignity. However, the realization of the true meaning of freedom and independence lies in our potential to free ourselves from the shackles of all kinds and forms of poverty, ill-health, and confines of divisive identities of race, religion and caste, and enrich ourselves, as a society that values equity and rights of all.

We are a nation that deserves to live a prosperous life in a country where peace and justice and equality prevail.

It is my sincere wish that we continue to prosper by vanquishing ignorance by knowledge, untruth by truth, hatred by compassion and violence by nonviolence and become a compassionate nation.
Jaffna, February 4; The Chief Minister of Sri Lankas Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, boycotted the 69 th. Sri Lankan Independence Day function in Jaffna on Saturday, and instead attended protest meetings held at Keppapilavu and Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district.

The Governor of the Northern Province, Reginold Cooray, hoisted the national flag, but the Chief Minister chose not to be present.

A small section of radical Tamil nationalists led by Northern Provincial Council members M.K.Shivajilingam and Ananthy Sasitharan, observed the day as a Black Day for the Tamils. Wearing black bands and scarves and covering their mouths with black cloth, they held a demonstration in front of the District Secretariat putting forth five demands.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran drove to Keppapilavu to join the protest against the militarys refusal to give back 530 acres of land seized from the local people during the war which ended in 2009. After addressing the protesters he went to Puthukudiyiruppu were there was an agitation to recover 19 acres pf private land from the military.

Shivajilingam told Express that the Tamils want the government to release political prisoners (who are classified by the Sri Lankan state as terrorists or terrorist collaborators); find out the whereabouts of about 20,000 missing persons who had been abducted and might even have been disposed off; return private lands seized during and after the war; institute a war crimes judicial mechanism with foreign judges; and get foreign mediators to find a solution to the Tamil problem with the collaboration of India, the Western Powers, and the UN.

According to Chief Minister Wigneswaran, the government has returned less than six percent of the lands the military had seized during the war. And according to the British Tamil Forum, by 2016, government had given back only 2565 acres of the 69,990 acres it was holding in 2015.

Shivajilingam said that the people are opposed to the further expansion of the Palaly airport runway because it will mean they will not get some of the seized lands back.

The existing runway can very well take A320 aircraft which are big enough to meet Jaffnas demand for flights to cities in South India, he said.

There is also frustration in Tamil circles after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe nullified the importance of the to-be-set-up Office of Missing Persons (OMP). He told parliament that it will be difficult to trace the missing because they might fled the country.(The New Indian Express)
China frequently rails at the West for its double standards on terrorism, when it comes under pressure from Western countries and human rights groups over its crackdowns in its western Xinjiang region.

But Beijing has perhaps done more to undermine its own arguments than any Western country. Driven by the calculus of its all weather relations with Pakistan - and more recently, by its deepening economic investments in that country - China has risked its largely improving relations with India by batting to shield Pakistani terrorists against sanctions, even in the face of clear evidence.

That strategy has now come under increasing doubts, most surprisingly even in China, with some questioning  rightly even if overdue  why China was jeopardising ties with its most important neighbour over a terrorist. The UN Security Council 1267 committee, which has already proscribed the Jaish-e-Mohammed, last year refused to sanction its leader, Masood Azhar, because China, as one of the committees 15 members, repeatedly placed a technical hold seeking more information - a puzzling request when the same committee proscribed Azhars own organization.

Few in China publicly criticize the government on foreign policy. Which was what made a recent article by one of its most respected former diplomats all the more striking. Writing last month on his blog, Mao Siwei, a prominent strategic expert and former diplomat, wrote: First, is Azhar a terrorist? Second, was the Pathankot attack perpetrated by the Jaish-e-Mohammed group? To the first question, the answer should be yes.

Photo: Indiatoday.in

He added: I deeply feel that now is the time China should take India's complaint as an opportunity to seriously study and adjust the position, get rid of the passive diplomatic situation on the listing of the JeM chief at the UN 1267 committee.

That issue, perhaps even more so than Chinas reservations on Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group where it was, in truth, not alone in voicing concerns about changing the groups rules to admit India, severely eroded relations last year, at a time when many in both Delhi and Beijing would much rather focus on issues such as deepening investments and taking forward trade ties.

Will China rethink its position on terror? It is hard to say so definitely but there are certainly hints of at least some unease at its current stand. Pakistani media reported late last year that Beijing had even questioned Islamabad about the logic of repeatedly blocking holds on a character that most even in China see as extremely disagreeable, to say the least.

There is also growing discomfort in China, at a time when both the number of its investments and personnel in Pakistan is growing, about the security situation there. One of the first acts of the recently appointed new ISI chief was to travel quietly to Beijing, according to sources here, to assure the Chinese.

In recent days, there have been suggestions that Chinese prodding may have had something to do with the recent move by Pakistani authorities to once again put the Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed under so-called house arrest.

On February 3, Beijing didnt outright deny that it had any role in doing so, only saying somewhat ambiguously that it supports Pakistan in independently formulating and implementing counter-terrorism measures.

Interestingly, Beijing announced the same day that in coming days, Chinas State Commissioner for Counter-terrorism Cheng Guoping will travel to Pakistan.
After six days of waiting, the oil spill caused by the collision of two ships  one oil and the other an LPG tanker  near the Kamarajar Port in Chennai's Ennore has found a space in the national discourse.

While most of us journalists in the state have been talking about how we have been cursed to spend our working hours off the coast of Bay of Bengal since December 6, 2016 (first after the demise of former CM J Jayalalithaa and then the pro-Jallikattu protests), this time around there is no certainty as to when can we end our beach hopping from Ennore to Marina to Besant Nagar to Tiruvanmiyur beach and back to the starting point.

The oil slick is being removed manually using buckets. (Credit: PTI Photo)

January 28, when the news of the collision spread, Kamarajar Port was quick in sending out a statement that read, "no damage to the environment like oil pollution".

On January 29, fishermen and morning visitors to beaches were shocked to find thick dark patches of oil marks all over the place, and slowly again the news of the oil leak started to spread. But again the intensity of the leak was downplayed when Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan visited the location and reiterated the statement by Kamarajar Port.

When large patches of oil started to hit the rocky shores close to Bharathiyar Nagar (approximately 13 km from the Kamarajar Port by road) and the cleaning process started, the intensity of the disaster became apparent. Lack of proper action plan by the government was evident when fishermen and volunteers in the nearby areas started helping the coast guards in the manual cleaning process.

Two pumps that were deployed to clean up the spill did not serve the purpose. "Even if it is a minor spill, we have been completely out-majored by it. If we are out of our depth even to tackle a minor spill, I don't know what will happen if there is something major," said environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman.

Screengrab: India Today TV

In 1993, the government of India had made the Indian Coast Guard as the Central Coordinating Authority and approved the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) and in 2015, the plan was revised to meet international standards.

But the situation in Ennore is reflective of how this plan has not been successful in practical terms, but only on papers.

The lack of necessary technology to assess the situation or to contain the spill also shows the lack of preparedness and a quick response system.

Initially, the Kamarajar Port sent out a statement claiming "no damage" and later Union minister Radhakrishnan repeated the same.

On Tuesday (January 31), Tamil Nadu fisheries minister D Jayakumar had estimated the oil spill to be around 1 tonne. But by February 2, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) said that 40 tonne of oil sludge and 27 tonne of oil mixture and water have been removed.

The actual figure of the leak has still not been announced by the government. (Credit: AP photo)

As of today, the real figure of the leak has not been announced by the government. Now it's estimated that around 70 tonne of oil have been spilled.

"We need to be worried about the lack of transparency and the refusal of the authorities involved in this to act responsibly. I think that should worry us more because these are the people who downplay a nuclear disaster or a gas leak disaster (Union Carbide). If the oil spill is major or minor is immaterial to me, the fact that there is no contingency plan, action or clarity is worrisome," adds Nityanand.

So, how did the accident happen?

While we have been talking about the spill and the impact it has on the ecosystem and livelihood of the fishing community, one question that not many seem to be asking is how did it happen? According to rules, only one ship can enter or exit the port at one point in time. Then how did both the ships get a green signal to move? Or was one of the ships violating instructions?

The port authorities have been downplaying the incident from day one. Though both the ships have been asked to be stationed at the port till the completion of the investigation by the Madras High Court, what action will be taken against the owners of these ships?
Experience matters, but not as much if it is infected with the "I-know-all" syndrome.

My recent trip to Punjab for stories around the state's election campaign came after the seismic rise of Donald Trump in the United States.

You may find the juxtaposition of voting in a small region of a developing country in Asia and the most powerful office of the world's most powerful nation awkward.

If you do, my blog has precisely reached the audience it is meant for.

We now know what sells in American markets can sell very well - and is selling very well - in Indian and elsewhere.

Localised pricing, advertising and packaging is what it takes to universalise merchandise.

Post Trump's presidency, I sensed messaging services have now in fact ruralised the globe. Photo: PTI

It, therefore, shows how a common human psychology binds the human race across hemispheres.

So, if humans can turn to certain products en masse, irrespective of their diverse nationalities, they can be very well drawn towards a new political school of thought wherever they live.

Technology, especially the internet, has long been credited with transforming the world into an interdependent global village.

Post Trump's presidency, I sensed messaging services have now in fact ruralised the globe.

Ordinary people - both in the developed and the developing world - have municipal and household-level expectations from their national leaders.

What really turn these communities into a unified command on new-age media platforms are not diplomacy, fiscal deficit, their nations' weaponry, jingoism and so forth.

They are, rather, connected by their kitchen budgets, utility bills, employment, health, the future of their children, the red tape and the condition of streets right outside their homes and workplace.

So, both the ascension of Trump in the world's most-advanced democracy and the apparent surge of a baby Aam Aadmi Party in a province of a country as far as India have come on the back of a strong, common resurgence.

And not many consumers and producers of English journalism could absorb this subtle but powerful wave.

I didn't, therefore, travel to Punjab with my baggage of experience in mainstream national and international media.

I went there light, my gut being my sole guide.

I tried not to cloud my judgment with psephology.

And I then was able to see a new Punjab - or rather a new world.

This world of ordinary folk is least hooked to English newspapers, to fancy Twitter or to talking heads on national airwaves.

More than even Facebook, it's WhatsApp that I found was bringing Majha, Doaba, Malwa and the Punjabi diaspora together.

In Amritsar's vibrant, old bazaars, instant messaging is now a driver of businesses.

NRI men click images of dazzling, embroidered traditional dresses, WhatsApp them to their wives thousands of miles away and make quick purchases as soon as the women send back their okays.

In this busy Punjab - and world - people hardly read up newspaper editorials or watch sit-down interviews back to back.

Still, in this mobile Punjab - and the world - every time is primetime.

So, if for example, Navjot Singh Sidhu had shot his mouth off in a rally somewhere remote before noon, crisp clips of his faux pas would sweep across the state like wildfire by lunch.

In this new Punjab - and the world - people know what they have suffered.

So, if any messenger of change is able to motivate - organically and honestly - his or her campaign in sharp video and audio clips, he or she has then probably won half the battle.
It seems likely.

While Apple, as a brand, has always been one to maintain a steep price, Indians who buy Apple products in the country have always had to pay more than others for their purchases. According to a 2016 report by NDTV, Apple products in India have had some of the highest prices in the world because of high import duties. Well, perhaps we wont have to import iPhones anymore now.

According to various media reports, Apples Taiwanese manufacturing partner Wistron is setting up a plant at Peenya in Bangalore to manufacture, or assemble iPhones for the Cupertino based tech giant. The company on February 2 received permission from the Karnataka government to have phones assembled in the state. Industry sources say production at the plant will start as early as April 2017.

As of now, import duties on phones in India is 12.5 per cent, so phones manufactured and sold in India are now likely to be that much cheaper.

Priyank Kharge, Karnatakas information and technology minister, welcomed Apples move to start production in Bangalore.

Apples intentions to manufacture in Bangalore will foster cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally, Kharge said according to the Wall Street Journal.

Photo: Indiatoday.in

While the manufacturing of iPhones is something that fits right into Prime Minister Modis Make in India campaign, Apple has maintained, according to a Financial Times report, that it will begin work only if they are offered concessions. This will allow them to avoid import duty on components and exempt them on requiring to source one-third of the parts from Indian suppliers.

In 2016, Apple shipped 2.5 million iPhones into India and even though it is a huge number on its own, the figure only ranked 10th among vendors in the December quarter. In reality, Apple accounts for less than two per cent of shipments in India as of now.

The reasons for Apples comparatively lower sales in the subcontinent (where cheap phones still reign large) can, of course, be attributed to its steep mark-up; it is a problem that can very well be avoided if production is shifted to India.
Allergan plc, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical, and regenerative medicine products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: US Specialized Therapeutics, US General Medicine, and International. It offers a portfolio of products in various therapeutic areas, including medical aesthetics and dermatology, eye care, neuroscience, urology, gastrointestinal, women's health, and anti-infective therapeutic products. The company also offers breast implants and tissue expanders; and RM-131 (relamorelin), a peptide ghrelin agonist for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis. In addition, it develops medical and cosmetic treatments; therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and other liver diseases; inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders; atopic dermatitis drug candidate; peri-ocular rings for extended drug delivery and reducing elevated intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients; and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Further, the company develops RST-001, a novel gene therapy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa; small molecule therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases; topical medicines for fat reduction; and delivery system and botulinum toxin-based prescription products. It has collaboration, option, and license agreement with Lyndra, Inc.; and strategic alliance and option agreement with Editas Medicine, Inc. Allergan plc also has licensing agreements with Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; MedImmune; and Heptares Therapeutics, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Actavis plc and changed its name to Allergan plc in June 2015. Allergan plc was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its advice centers, RBC insurance stores, and mobile advisors; digital, mobile, and social platforms; independent brokers; and travel partners. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset servicing, custody, payments, and treasury services to financial and other investors; and fund and investment administration, shareholder, private capital, performance measurement and compliance monitoring, distribution, transaction banking, cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, and global securities finance services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, advisory services, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
CRH plc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes building materials. It operates in three segments: Americas Materials, Europe Materials, and Building Products. The company manufactures and supplies cement, lime, aggregates, precast, ready mixed concrete, and asphalt products; concrete masonry and hardscape products comprising pavers, blocks and kerbs, retaining walls, and related patio products; and glass and glazing products, including architectural glass, custom-engineered curtain and window walls, architectural windows, storefront systems, doors, skylights, and architectural hardware. It also offers precast concrete and polymer-based products, such as underground vaults, drainage pipes and structures, utility enclosures, and modular precast structures to the water, energy, communication, transportation, and building structures markets; and construction accessories, such as anchoring, fixing, and connection solutions, as well as lifting systems, formwork accessories, and other accessories used in construction applications. In addition, the company offers network access products, which include composite access chambers, covers, passive safety systems, retention sockets, sealants, and meter boxes; and paving and construction services. Further, it provides building and civil engineering contracting, contract surfacing, operates logistics and owned railway infrastructure; sells and distributes cement; and supplies access chambers and ducting products. It serves governments, contractors, homebuilders, homeowners, and sub-contractors. The company operates primarily in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. CRH plc was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
United Parcel Service, Inc. provides letter and package delivery, transportation, logistics, and related services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States. The International Package segment provides guaranteed day and time-definite international shipping services in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, and Africa. This segment offers guaranteed time-definite express options. The company also provides international air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, distribution and post-sales, and mail and consulting services in approximately 200 countries and territories. In addition, it offers truckload brokerage services; supply chain solutions to the healthcare and life sciences industry; shipping, visibility, and billing technologies; and financial and insurance services. The company operates a fleet of approximately 121,000 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; and owns 59,000 containers that are used to transport cargo in its aircraft. United Parcel Service, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
PVH Corp. operates as an apparel company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Tommy Hilfiger North America, Tommy Hilfiger International, Calvin Klein North America, Calvin Klein International, Heritage Brands Wholesale, and Heritage Brands Retail. It designs, markets, and retails men's, women's, and children's apparel and accessories, including branded dress shirts, neckwear, sportswear, jeans wear, performance apparel, intimate apparel, underwear, swimwear, swim-related products, handbags, accessories, footwear, outerwear, home furnishings, luggage products, sleepwear, loungewear, hats, scarves, gloves, socks, watches and jewelry, eyeglasses and non-ophthalmic sunglasses, fragrance, home bed and bath furnishings, small leather goods, and other products. The company offers its products under its own brands, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, IZOD, ARROW, Warner's, Olga, Geoffrey Beene, and True&Co., as well as various other owned, licensed, and private label brands. It also licenses its own brands over various products. The company distributes its products at wholesale in department, chain, and specialty stores, as well as through warehouse clubs, mass market, and off-price and independent retailers; and through company-operated full-price, outlet stores, and concession locations, as well as through digital commerce sites. It markets its products to approximately 40 countries. PVH Corp. was founded in 1881 and is based in New York, New York.
Aetna Inc. operates as a health care benefits company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Health Care, Group Insurance, and Large Case Pensions. The Health Care segment offers medical, pharmacy benefit management service, dental, behavioral health, and vision plans on an insured and employer-funded basis. It also provides point-of-service, preferred provider organization, health maintenance organization, and indemnity benefit plans, as well as health savings accounts and consumer-directed health plans. In addition, this segment offers Medicare and Medicaid products and services, as well as other medical products, such as medical management and data analytics services, medical stop loss insurance, workers' compensation administrative services, and products that provide access to its provider networks in select geographies. The Group Insurance segment offers life insurance products, including group term life insurance, voluntary spouse and dependent term life insurance, group universal life insurance, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; disability insurance products; and long-term care insurance products, which provide the benefits to cover the cost of care in private home settings, adult day care, assisted living, or nursing facilities. The Large Case Pensions segment manages various retirement products comprising pension and annuity products primarily for tax-qualified pension plans. The company provides its products and services to employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. Aetna Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut.
Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. is a mortgage-focused REIT externally managed by Invesco Advisors Ltd. Invesco Advisors LTD is a subsidiary of Invesco which is a leading wealth manager and investment company for individuals, high net-worth clients, institutions, public entities, corporations, and governments. The firm created Invesco Mortgage Capital, Inc to focus its decades of experience in the mortgage markets to generate a steady stream of cash for its investors.

The company was incorporated in 2008 in order to acquire, finance, and manage a portfolio of mortgage-backed securities and mortgages. Invesco believes that achieving the full potential of the mortgage market requires a blend of discipline, structure, and creativity because of long-term structural changes in the way real estate transactions and ownership are handled. The units of Invesco Mortgage Capital tend to yield high-double-digits and have paid more than $26 per unit on a split-adjusted basis since the dividend was initiated.

The objective is to provide risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation using the combined strengths of three key Invesco groups; the in-house real estate team, the Worldwide Fixed Income team, and subsidiary WL Ross & Co. Invesco Mortgage Capital is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. As of Q3 2022, Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc held $4.9 billion in assets, $4.7 billion of which were listed as agency RMBS.

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. elected to be taxed as a REIT and so distributes at least 90% of its income to shareholders each year. The fund seeks to generate a high level of income while maintaining a stable portfolio and book value within a dynamic market. The investment strategy is opportunistic and not limited to a single type of mortgage security and so provides greater diversification than most other REITs as well.

Invesco invests in a blend of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) that are and are not guaranteed by a U.S. government agency or federally chartered corporation. The fund also invests in credit risk transfer securities, residential and commercial mortgage loans, and assorted real estate-related financing. Among the opportunities, the fund is pursuing are commercial real estate loan origination, securitizing residential mortgages, and risk-sharing arrangements with federal housing authorities.
The White House administration is preparing to battle in court for the immigration order of President Donald Trump after a Seattle federal judge halted it nationwide on Friday.

The decision on Friday set up the U.S. for a second consecutive weekend of uncertainty across the country over the ban, but this time with the new White House administration on the defense.

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A federal judge, who was appointed by George W. Bush, and who presides in the state of Washington, temporarily stopped the executive order.

At that time, airlines were altered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the government would quickly start reinstating visas previously canceled and that the CBP advised its airlines that refugees in possession of visas to enter the U.S. would be admitted as well, said an executive with an airline.

However, the White House countered quickly by calling the judges order outrageous and dropping the word again in its second statement.

The Justice Department will file an emergency stay at the earliest time possible in defense of the Presidents executive order, which the administration believes is appropriate and lawful, said Sean Spicer the Press Secretary at the White House.

The order by Trump that he signed a week ago suspended the immigration from 7 countries that are Muslim-majority for a 90-day period, suspended the refugee program for 120 days and halted for an indefinite period the entering of Syrian refugees into the U.S.

The judges ruling might have stung the Trump administration even more due to it coming on the heels of victory in a legal battle over the travel ban.

Just hours earlier, a Boston federal judge issued a ruling that was more limited that declined to renew a restraining order in the state, which would have made it prohibitive to detain or remove foreign travelers who had been authorized legally to come to Boston.

However, the sweeping ruling in Seattle had the White House scrambling.

This is what we want said an attorney representing families that have been detained in the U.S. the past few days.

The attorney added that he would take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court if need be.

It is expected that an appeal would be filed early Saturday morning of the judges ruling.

Democrats gave their praise of the order by the Seattle judge, calling it a victory for the U.S. Constitution.
MADISON  It must be the cherry wood that adds the distinct smoky, fruit flavor to Rodney Lillards popular pork barbecue.

To achieve that savory essence, Lillard cooks the pork between four and six hours.

The 53-year-old Madison County native said its a recipe that he and his late brother Ryan Lillard developed over the years.

We just started doing different things the way that we liked, trying a bunch of marinades and sauces. And we settled on what we like, said Lillard, who agreed with his brother that if they ever opened a restaurant theyd name it after their father, Randall Scootie Lillard.

Lillard has had more than 30 years to perfect the technique. It all began as a hobby while studying animal science at Virginia Tech, organizing pig roasts for various events and students clubs during the 1980s.

When I graduated, people knew I was in a cooking club in school and they kept asking for me to cook for their functions. It started out just cooking for people and it constantly built from there, Lillard said. My brother and I built a cooker and bought a few pieces of equipment and a van and started catering.

When the 20-seat Scooties opened its doors recently, it was standing room only during lunch. Asked if he was surprised by the overwhelming patronage, Lillard said, not really.

People have being asking me, where can I get your barbecue, said Lillard.

Scooties is inside the former small-animal clinic of Dr. Francis Madison Matt Graves Jr. at 622 S. Main St. in Madison.

After college, Lillard briefly worked as an agriculture teacher at William Monroe High School in Greene for about a year and a half while operating his beef and hog farm in Madison County.

Meanwhile, Lillard continued to cater pig roasts for various organizations and fire department banquets and worked as an agricultural sales consultant at the Culpeper Farmers Co-op during the 1990s.

Before opening Scooties, Lillard rented space in the country store in Hood, where he operated his catering business on a full-time basis.

I had my own commissary so I could make my own stuff as a caterer, he said. I worked out of there and grew my business over the years.

We will try to continue to do as much catering as we can  thats the plan, he said.

Lillard is all about keeping it local.

The family ranch, Mill Valley Farm, produces the hamburger for the Fredburger thats on the menu. Lillard uses Orange-based Papa Weavers pork sausage, and he cuts all the ribeye steaks.

For Lillard, the process of opening Scooties was out of the ordinary.

Most people start a restaurant and then cater, but I did it backwards. I started catering first and then opened my restaurant.

Lillard is also paying homage to Graves, naming the restaurants Docs Dog after the retired veterinarian. Graves, who stopped by Scooties during the grand opening, practiced in Madison from 1955 until 2014.

Scooties menu also features baked chicken breast, fried catfish, a veggie burger, fried chicken strips, cheesy potatoes, green beans, cole slaw, salads and desserts.
WASHINGTON  Heres how area members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending Feb. 3:

House

Mountaintop-removal coal mining. Voting 228 for and 194 against, the House on Feb. 1 passed a GOP-sponsored measure (HJ Res 38) that would nullify a new federal rule aimed at protecting streams and drinking water in Appalachian states from pollution caused by mountaintop-removal coal mining. The rule addresses the practice of companies blasting mountaintops and then dumping fractured rocks and other debris into nearby streams and valleys. Critics denounced the rule as a part of a war on coal.

According to the Department of the Interior, the rule would outlaw mining practices that permanently pollute streams, destroy drinking water sources, increase flood risk and threaten forests, and would require coal companies to restore streams and mined areas. The rule is designed to protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests over two decades while allowing coal companies to continue meeting U.S. energy needs, the department said. The rule has not yet been put into operation.

A yes vote was to send the measure (HJ Res 38) to the Senate, where it was passed and sent to President Donald Trump for his expected signature.

Voting yes: Tom Garrett, R-5th; Dave Brat, R-7th.

Disclosure of payments to foreign governments. The House on Feb. 1 voted, 235 for and 187 against, to nullify a Securities and Exchange Commission rule under which publicly traded companies must disclose their payments to foreign governments for access to oil, natural gas, coal and other mineral resources. Part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, the rule is opposed by energy firms such as ExxonMobil and business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on grounds it puts American companies at a competitive disadvantage. But supporters said it would provide essential information about these companies to investors while spotlighting possible corruption by foreign leaders. Nullification of the rule would occur under terms of the Congressional Review Act.

A yes vote was to send the measure (HJ Res 41) to the Senate, where it was passed and sent to President Trump for his expected signature.

Voting yes: Garrett, Brat.

President Trumps immigration order. Voting 231 for and 191 against, the House on Feb. 1 killed a parliamentary move by Democrats that sought to force debate on a bill now in committee that would rescind President Trumps newly issued order on immigrants and refugees. Democrats took this procedural step during debate on H Res 71 after the Republican majority denied them a chance to offer amendments to an underlying bill. Trumps order suspends immigration from seven mainly Muslim countries for 90 days, indefinitely bars Syrian refugees from the U.S. and suspends for at least 120 days the entry of refugees from all other countries.

A yes vote was to quash a Democratic attempt to rescind Trumps order on immigrants and refugees.

Voting yes: Garrett, Brat.

Mental issues, gun background checks. The House on Feb. 2 voted, 235 for and 180 against, to nullify an Obama administration rule designed to keep the mentally ill from passing federal background checks on gun purchases. Under the rule, the Social Security Administration is required to notify the FBIs National Instant Criminal Background Check System of individuals receiving disability benefits on the basis of mental impairment. Foes said the rule cuts against both disability and Second Amendment rights, while backers said it is only common sense to keep guns away from the deranged.

A yes vote was to send HJ Res 40 to the Senate, where it was adopted and sent to President Trump for his expected signature.

Voting yes: Garrett, Brat.

Repeal of workplace rule for contractors. The House on Feb. 2 voted, 236 for and 187 against, to nullify a federal regulation aimed at keeping federal contractors in compliance with workplace laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, Americans With Disabilities Act, Civil Rights Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act and Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Under the rule, when companies bid for contracts worth at least $500,000, they must report any actual or alleged violations of 14 major workplace laws in the previous three years to government procurement officials, who would factor this information into decisions on whether to award contracts. A federal court ruling has temporarily kept the rule from taking effect.

The rule is designed to ensure that employees of federal contractors are not deprived of overtime pay, exposed to undue physical and health dangers, subjected to hiring or paycheck discrimination or denied other workplace protections guaranteed by law. But critics say that because the rule treats non-adjudicated claims against employers the same as it does proven wrongdoing, it denies blacklisted contractors their due-process rights.

A yes vote was to send HJ Res 37 to the Senate, where it was adopted and sent to President Trump for his expected signature.

Voting yes: Garrett, Brat.

Waste of natural gas on federal land. Voting 221 for and 191 against, the House on Feb. 3 adopted a measure that would nullify a new regulation aimed at reducing losses of natural gas  due to flaring, venting and equipment leaks  in oil and gas drilling operations on Bureau of Land Management and tribal lands in the West. This would be the first update of the BLMs gas-wastage rule in 30 years, a period in which energy extraction technology has been greatly improved, as evidenced by todays fracking boom. The BLM says gas wastage significantly reduces American energy production, deprives taxpayers and tribes of royalty payments and discharges high levels of the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. But repeal backers say the rule places undue burdens on energy companies in a regulatory area best left to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A yes vote was to send HJ Res 36 to the Senate, where it was adopted and sent to President Trump for his expected signature.

Voting yes: Garrett, Brat.

Senate

Rex Tillerson, secretary of state. Voting 56 for and 43 against, the Senate on Feb. 1 confirmed Rex W. Tillerson, 64, as the 69th U.S. secretary of state. Tillerson was employed by ExxonMobil for 41 years, serving as chairman between 2006- 2016. Supporter said Tillersons international business experience will serve him well in Americas top diplomatic post. But critics questioned whether he would stand up to Vladimir Putin, given his close personal and business ties to the Russian president.

A yes vote was to confirm Tillerson as secretary of state.

Voting yes: Mark R. Warner (D).

Voting no: Tim Kaine (D).

Mountaintop-removal coal mining. Voting 54 for and 45 against, the Senate on Feb. 2 joined the House in adopting a measure (HJ Res 38) that would nullify a federal rule designed to protect streams, forests and drinking water in Appalachian states from pollution caused by debris when mountaintops are strip-mined for coal. Critics called this part of a war on coal. The rule has not yet taken effect. The nullification would occur under terms of the Congressional Review Act.

A yes vote was to send the resolution to President Trump for his expected signature.

Voting no: Warner, Kaine.

Disclosure of payments to foreign governments. Voting 52 for and 47 against, the Senate on Feb. 3 joined the House (above) in adopting a measure (HJ Res 41) that would nullify a Securities and Exchange Commission requirement that companies traded on U.S. stock exchanges publicly report payments to foreign governments for access to oil, natural gas, coal and other mineral resources. A byproduct of the Dodd-Frank law, the rule is designed to provide transparency to investors and serve as a hedge against corrupt actions by foreign leaders. But U.S. energy companies argue the rule gives an advantage to overseas competitors unburdened by such disclosures. The rule, which has not yet taken effect, would be killed under terms of the Congressional Review Act.

A yes vote was to send the measure to President Trump for his expected signature.

Voting no: Warner, Kaine.

Elaine Chao, secretary of transportation. Voting 93 for and six against, the Senate on Jan. 31 confirmed Elaine Chao as the 18th U.S. secretary of transportation. Chao, 63, served in previous Republican administrations as secretary of labor, Peace Corps director and chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission.

A yes vote was to confirm Chao as transportation secretary.

Voting yes: Warner, Kaine.
Oh, no, we cant confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions, Republican from Alabama and President Donald Trumps nominee for the Department of Justice! This is the hue and cry of Sen. Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democrats as they hold up his nomination based on false claims of suppressing black voters rights in 1985. Yes, 1985!

Because this man fought for the rule of law and that this rule should never be hijacked by special interest groups or any political party, Sen. Sessions has been accused, disparaged and harassed by childish, vengeful Democratic senators in his hearings.

Now, lets get the history of this out in the open.

In Perry County, Ala., about 10,000 citizens live. The population here is 68.7 percent black, and the people vote almost exclusively for the Democrats. Obama won 73 percent of Perry Countys votes in 2008.

For years, this county has been suspected of voter fraud, even being called the most aggressive contemporary voter suppression in the African American community by former Alabama Democratic Congressman Artur Davis. In 1983, a grand jury found reason for prosecution about issues concerning the ballot process in this county. The grand jury had a majority of black voters as well as a black foreman.

The basis of the prosecution was that absentee voter ballots were sent to folks who did not request them, and these people only found out when they went to vote at the polls. They were told they had voted already. This specific election was between two black Democrat candidates. It was eventually exposed that one of the candidates illegally obtained these absentee ballots and filled them out, voting for himself. The grand jury called for a vigorous prosecution of all violations of the voting laws.

Of course, the defending lawyers tried to say that the candidate was only trying to help people fill out their ballots, and they were arrested because they were just aiding them. None of the people involved were charged for improperly assisting voters, but liberal Democrats still use this narrative to accuse Sen. Sessions, the prosecutor of this case, of voter suppression now!

You can see how convoluted liberal shenanigans, as well as continued use of misinformed propaganda, is being used full tilt by the Democrats to thwart the confirmation of Senator Sessions. These people have no conscience whatsoever when it comes to vengeful and vindictive actions in order to attempt to throw a monkey wrench into President Trumps nomination hearings.

At the beginning of this week, four nominations have been confirmed whereas three times that many were confirmed for President Obamas nominations in the same time frame.

There are other reasons for obstructing Sessions nomination. The Department of Justice has an incredible amount of influence on the FBI and ATF, and Democrats are scared of his presence as Attorney General.

Sen. Sessions is a man dedicated to a justice system for all Americans.

Unfortunately, Obamas pick of Eric Holder as Attorney General was not so much so. Holder was an avowed opponent of the Second Amendment. Holder abused his position with Fast and Furious and Operation Choke Point, and tried to improperly deny Second Amendment rights to our veterans. Loretta Lynch did not fare much better.

Jeff Sessions has a long history of upholding the Second Amendment as well as tirelessly defending all Americans and protecting us from violent criminals. Just look at his record. I can guarantee you, many Democrats, slowing his process to confirmation, have not. He is against illegal immigration and a proponent for E-Verify.

Unfortunately, I do not have more room in this column to list all of Sen. Sessions qualifications, but I can tell you that his presence in the DOJ will be a strong and deterrent force that will keep America safe. It is time Democrats benefit America and stop their petulant ways.
Financially independent women are the biggest spenders of beauty products in Vietnam. (Photo: tuoitre.vn)

About 20 million women aged 15 to 39, or 40 percent of the female population, are potential consumers, according to a recent Kantar Worldpanel report on the national cosmetics sector.

The report said that 80 percent of consumers in affluent cities bought at least one product last year, with one-quarter of personal care revenue from the beauty sector.

Women from southern provinces had more purchase intentions than those from the North, with the bestselling items facial cleansing products, sunscreens and lip balms.

Consumers below 20 years old tend to buy cleansers on their first beauty shopping trip.

Vietnamese spend less than Thai consumers on beauty products, but the figure is expected to increase as people are becoming more educated about skincare.

Consumers no longer have to rely on traditional marketing channels, including TV and newspapers, to get information. They can keep abreast of the latest beauty trends via the internet, celebrities, beauty bloggers and others.

Im pleasantly surprised to see more people, even young girls and teenagers, get interested in beauty-related information provided in my videos. Some even texted me privately to ask for skincare advice, Chloe Nguyen, a beauty blogger, told Vietnam News.

In addition, financially independent women are the biggest spenders, according to the report. The more successful they are, the more effort they put into perfecting their appearance.

Higher-income women buy more products. Hence, despite peoples tendency to buy cheap or discounted products, high-end makeup and skincare products continue to attract more consumers.

Fabrice Carrasco, director of Kantar Wordpanel in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, said that beauty products accounted for half of the goods that consumers in four major cities in Vietnam had purchased online./.
Photo: VNA

In its message, the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party Central Committee congratulated the CPV and the Vietnamese people on their great achievements over the past years, considering them a source of inspiration to Laos's national development and protection.

It reiterates that the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and people of Laos and Vietnam are the invaluable assets and the rule of existence and development of both nations as well as one of the factors decisive to the success of each country.

"The Lao Party, State and people will do their utmost, together with the fratenal Vietnamese Party, State and people, to preserve, safeguard and foster the Laos-Vietnam ties for the benefit of the two countries as well as for peace, friendship and cooperation in the region and the world," the message reads.

The Lao Party, State and people expressed their deep and sincere gratitude to their Vietnamese counterparts for providing valuable, continuous and effective support for the Lao revolutionary cause over the past time.

The Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), meanwhile, highly valued the growth of the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, Governments and people, affirming that it will continue consolidating the relationship between the two nations under the motto Good Neighbours, Traditional Friendship, and Sustainable Long-term Comprehensive Cooperation".

The CPP expressed its strong belief that under the sound leadership of the CPV headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the Vietnamese people will gain ever greater achievements in line with the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress./.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
Ratan Tata has been credited with steering Tata Group out of turbulent times.

Mumbai: Tata Group has lost its place in 100 global brands list for 2017, Business Standard cited Brand Finance 2017 report. The $103 billion salt-to-steel conglomerate was the only Indian corporate house to have had made a room for itself in the list in 2016.

Tata-Mistry dispute that culminated in a legal fight at National Company Law Tribunal dented companys global image. Shares of some of Tata Group companies also took a hit on bourses. Subsequently, the Group lost large amounts in value.

iPhone maker Apple Inc was another big loser, according to Brand Finance 500 report quoted by Business Standard.

It said Google swapped ranks with Apple Inc to become worlds most valuable company. The search engine behemoth added 24 per cent more wealth to its portfolio in 2016 that took its total value from $88.2 billion to $109.4 billion.

In contrast, Apples value slipped from $145.9 billion to $107.1 billion, according to the report.
HDFC Bank has decided to steeply raise the charges on certain transactions, capping cash component in others and also introducing charges on certain transactions from March 1.

Mumbai: In a bid to discourage cash transactions, country's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank has decided to steeply increase the fees for savings account holders on a slew of activities involving cash.

The move assumes significance as the government post demonetisation has been encouraging people to shift to a cash-less or less-cash regime and use digital mode for transactions.

HDFC Bank has decided to steeply raise the charges on certain transactions, capping cash component in others and also introducing charges on certain transactions from March 1, a bank official told PTI today.

The city-headquartered bank has capped the third-party transactions at Rs 25,000 a day, reduced the number of free cash transactions at branches to four from five earlier and also raised the fee for non-free transactions by a steep 50 per cent to Rs 150, it said on its website.

Earlier, it used to allow Rs 50,000 cash transactions, both withdrawals and deposits per day, the official said, adding the review is only for salary and savings accounts. The bank has also capped the free cash transactions at home branches, including deposits and withdrawals at branches at Rs 2 lakh, above which customers will have to pay a minimum of Rs 150 or Rs 5 per thousand.

For non-home branches, the free transactions is only Rs 25,000 after which fees set in at the same level, he said. It can be noted that a slower-than-expected fee income growth was one of the reasons which led the bank report its slowest quarterly profit growth in the past 18 years in the just concluded December quarter, when its bottomline growth slipped to 15 per cent, as a slew of charges were discontinued during the note ban.

The bank official said the review has been done to discourage usage of cash and push digital transactions, which have grown at a higher pace. The official claimed that the hiked charges are at par with the industry trend.

Its larger peer ICICI Bank's website shows a minimum charge of Rs 150 for more than four cash transactions (deposits and withdrawals) at home branches for savings accounts, similar to what HDFC Bank is proposing. Axis Bank, the third largest private lender, charges Rs 150, or Rs 5 per thousand, for cash deposits of over Rs 1 lakh per month or from the fifth withdrawal at branches, its website said.

It can be noted that a high-level panel led by former Finance Secretary Ratan Watal had called for imposing "nominal charges after a certain limit" for cash transactions. Working towards a less-cash economy, the Budget 2017- 2018 has placed blanket ban on cash transactions above Rs 3 lakh, following the report by the SIT on black money.
New Delhi: Jet Airways today reported an early 70 per cent plunge in net profit at Rs 142.38 crore in the three months ended December 2016 as higher fuel expenses and other costs adversely impacted the full service carrier.

The airline had a net profit of Rs 467.11 crore in the year-ago period.

In the 2016 December quarter, the airline carried more number of passengers at 6.79 million compared to 6.52 million in the same period a year ago. Jet Airways' total income from operations stood at Rs 5,478.07 crore in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal, according to a filing to the BSE.

The same was at Rs 5,443.97 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

In the latest quarter under review, the airline saw its fuel costs climb to Rs 1,428.89 crore which also pushed the total expenses higher. The expenses went up to Rs 5,405.32 crore in the December quarter, as per the filing.

The airline in a release said the group reported seventh successive profitable quarter with a profit of Rs 156.3 crore in the three months ended December 2016, "supported by rising traffic and improved business efficiencies".

Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said that in spite of the continuing downward pressure on yields caused by aggressive capacity addition in the industry as well as weaker international aviation markets, the airline achieved positive results.

"We have deepened our codeshare relationships with our strategic partner, Etihad Airways, and also with other airlines in the Far East, Asia Pacific and Africa.

"Our choice of Amsterdam as our European gateway, coupled with our comprehensive codeshare partnerships with Air France, KLM and Delta Air Lines out of Amsterdam, Paris and London Heathrow are also beginning to show promising results," Goyal said.

Traffic from codeshare partners rose 7 per cent to 0.56 million passengers from 0.52 million passengers in Q3 FY16, the release said. In the latest December quarter, the group reduced its net debt by Rs 1,001 crore, it added.

Goyal said various initiatives undertaken by the company in relation to cost synergies, revenue management opportunities and ancillary revenues have resulted in significant improvement in operating cash flow.

"Further, our continued thrust to improve operational efficiency and initiatives to raise funds are expected to result in sustainable cash flows.

"Accordingly, the statement of financial results continue to be prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates realisation of assets and settlement of liabilities in the normal course of business," he noted.
Mumbai: Recently 'Raees' team was present at a press conference to talk about the success of their Shah Rukh Khan starrer film along with actress Mahira Khan, who was physically not present at the event, but interacted with the media through a video conference.

Mahira didn't seem too pleased with the box-office collections of her first Bollywood film alongside SRK.

The Pakistani actress was questioned about her views on 'Raees' reaching the 100 crore club to which she replied, "I am not really aware of the numbers. I thought the movie will earn 100 crores on first Friday itself. Nothing is impossible for Shah Rukh Khan."

Well, we didnt see that coming.
Mumbai: Mahira Khan finally jumped on to the 'Raees' promotions bandwagon with Shah Rukh Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the team recently addressed a press conference to celebrate the film's global success.

The Pakistani starlet, who joined in via video call, was asked if she had any fears before 'Raees' released.

"A big fear was that people will come and root for him and not me. This is what happened when my family watched the film. They were screaming at his intro and not mine. I was like come on, make it louder. The claps were much louder for him. But we have to accept that."

SRK interrupted and joked he was shirtless and beating himself in his introduction and added, "Of course your mom would like me!" to which she blushingly replied, "He has a point!"

During the conference, Mahira also expressed her excitement as the flick is now releasing in Pakistan.

"Believe me, just like all over the world, people, here too, are eagerly waiting for it to release. I am sure it will do amazingly well."
Priyanka Chopra on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'

Mumbai: After making her appearance on several American talk shows, Priyanka Chopra has finally made her debut on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'.

The makers of the show teased their audience by sharing a Boomerang video of the 'Quantico' star, from the back stage, draped in a class black dress. Their post read, "YES! The amazing @PriyankaChopra from #Quantico joins us tonight for some big laughs with @StephenColbert on #LSSC."

YES! The amazing @PriyankaChopra from #Quantico joins us tonight for some big laughs with @StephenColbert on #LSSC. A video posted by Late Show with Stephen Colbert (@colbertlateshow) on Feb 3, 2017 at 9:51am PST

The makers also shared a still picture of the beautiful actress posing under the spotlight.

Priyanka has once again managed to amuse her fans with her outspoken persona by stressing on a current affair. The makers of the show have shared a funny GIF image where the lady seems to be indirectly hinting at Trump's immigration ban by talking about her visa.

Ive got to watch what I say, Im here on a Visa. - @priyankachopra  #LSSC pic.twitter.com/QMEWYLR9qd  The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) February 4, 2017

The makers also shared another GIF image where the actress is exhibiting a western move with a caption that reads, "Priyanka Chopra went back to India with a NY accent. #LSSC."

Priyanka Chopra went back to India with a NY accent. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/rfPm2Wyper  The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) February 4, 2017

Priyanka will be next seen in her first Hollywood film, 'Baywatch' alongside Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
The two have earlier worked together on two films.

Mumbai: Mohanlal is at the top of his game, delivering one hit after the other. His most latest, the sweet family entertainer, Munthirivallikal Thalirkumbol, has been shattering box-office records, with numbers second only to his own mammoth hit from 2016, Pulimurugan.

And now, as per latest rumours, in one of his upcoming films, Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan could be seen playing his father. The two have earlier worked on Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag, and the Malayalam film Khandahar, in which Big B had a cameo.

The big-budget film titled Odiyan, noted ad filmmaker Sreekumar, whos also reportedly set to direct Mohanlals Randamoozham, touted to be Indias costliest film yet, with a rolling budget of around 600 crore rupees.

Apart from the two legends, actors Prakash Raj and Manju Warrier would also be seen alongside them.

Though an official announcement is still awaited, the film is supposed to be of the fantasy genre, to be shot in 3D.
Though music speaks a universal language, music is an art that is influenced by the ethnicity of the geography one hails from. Over a 100 performers comprising of artists from the West End, London, famed soloists who have sung with the likes of Elton John, Dan Seals, Demi Lovato, Gaither Vocal Band and local talent will take centre stage this month. Toccata is back with Resonance 2017 with its gift for music lovers of Bengaluru and Mysuru, with a choir comprising professional and semi-professional vocalists.

The concert celebrates music and cultures from India, UK, Ireland and Kenya. They will be accompanied by a big team of children from Bangalore Childrens Chorus and the Kenyan Boys Choir.

Founded on the backdrop of the Tsunami in 2005, Toccata Musical Productions UK is the brainchild of Dr Sunil Paulraj. The 100 musicians from the countries of UK, Ireland, India and Kenya will celebrate cultural integration through their rich musicality in line with Toccatas core vision. Binding the performers and the audience in a single fabric of music, Resonance 2017 will epitomise the essence of coming together as global citizens. The arrangements from Ian Tipping and Loreto, will add to the magic of the feted musical talent from Londons West End, famed soloists from UK, Ireland and Kenya, the vibrant chorus and the professional orchestra supported by the Bangalore Childrens chorus and the Bangalore Seniors Chorus. They will render a foot tapping extravaganza celebrating all-time musical greats like George Michael, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Vince Gill Andrea Bocelli, Michael Jackson, Don Williams and many more. The team has been rehearsing for the past eight months under the direction of Colin Scott in UK and the Childrens Choir under the baton of Maya Mascarenhas in Bengaluru. The Kenyan Boys have been preparing under the guidance of Joseph Muyale in Kenya, shares Dr Sunil.

What can the audience expect from the stellar shows, Sunil reveals, Every song will be worthy of a headline act. With a beautiful array of arrangements being integrated, every song will bring out Toccatas mystical touch. Theres also a dance troupe that will augment the magic we weave on stage. In Toccatas 12 year history, we have traversed to different ends of the globe and worked with some of the greatest musicians.

Maya Mascarenhas who has been rehearsing tirelessly with the group states, Bangalore Childrens Chorus (BCC) is a 75 strong childrens choir and we are thrilled to be invited by Toccata Musical Productions, UK to sing with them. They are going to rock the city with their talent, enthusiasm and energy. This time they are joined by a new group  the Bangalore Senior Chorus.

Toccata is based on three main tenets of cultural fellowship through music, touching lives of the disadvantaged and recognising musical progenies, training and performing with them. The two hour concert will also be staged in Mysuru.

Were performing in Mysuru for the first time. Keeping in mind the audience will be different from that of Bengaluru, to choose the right mix of music takes preparation. Delivering a show that the audience feels justified to spend time is the greatest challenge. Helping our beneficiary, the 110-year-old Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysuru to raise sufficient funds is the most daunting task.

Adrenaline-charged is the befitting way to describe the last eight months! It has been a roller-coaster ride of varied emotions. When the tiniest bits of the jig-saw start falling into place, seeing the whole picture the way you envisioned it is a conquest in itself. There are way too many elements in an international production. The seamless congruence of these elements is what has etched Toccatas existence, adds Sunil.

Resonance 2017 will be staged on February 12 at 3:30 pm and 7:00 pm at Ambedkar Bhavan, Bengaluru and in Mysuru on February18 at 6 pm at Manas Gangotri open air auditorium.
In cases of off-shore drowning, lifeguards should start CPR immediately and continue along the time required to reach the shore. (Credit: YouTube)

Lifeguards who oversee open waters, such as oceans and lakes, may be able to deliver CPR effectively in a moving inflatable boat, according to a small study in Spain.

Surf-lifeguards provided the best cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on land but also delivered good-quality CPR on a small rescue boat, supporting the idea of starting CPR as soon as possible in real-life scenarios, researchers say.

In cases of off-shore drowning, lifeguards should start CPR immediately and continue along the time required to reach the shore, said study author Cristian Abelairas-Gomez of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

More research is focusing on out-of-hospital CPR in recent years, particularly lifeguards performance, he told Reuters Health by email. The European Resuscitation Council Guidelines put emphasis on open-water resuscitation in 2015, and experts are now investigating how different rescue scenarios affect CPR, he said.

The research team created an experimental simulation with 10 lifeguards on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The lifeguards were asked to perform two-minute CPR on training mannequins in four scenarios: onshore, on a floating boat, on a boat traveling at 5 knots and on a boat traveling at 10 knots. Each lifeguard had at least five years of experience, but none had on-boat CPR experience.

In all scenarios, the quality of CPR was measured by the number and depth of compressions and the degree of chest rise when breaths were administered to the mannequin. In all cases, the lifeguards scores surpassed the CPR success threshold of 70 percent. However, the quality of CPR did decrease as boat speed increased. In particular, the boats movement affected chest compression depth during CPR.

Until more research is conducted, there may be a trade-off between quality of resuscitation during transport versus rapidly getting a victim to dry land, said Stephen Langendorfer of Bowling Green State University in Ohio who wasnt involved in the study.

Since even highly-skilled professional lifeguards performed worse as speed increased, one could expect less well-skilled lifeguards to perhaps perform below the (CPR success) threshold, he told Reuters Health by email.

Worldwide, more than 370,000 deaths are due to drowning each year, representing 0.7 percent of all unintentional injury deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Drowning is such a big problem and not publicized. The numbers are often underestimated, said David Szpilman, medical director of SOBRASA, a drowning prevention group in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who also wasnt involved in the study.

There are so many variables in drowning scenarios that we dont have a recipe to say exactly what to do next, he told Reuters Health. This study shows that as soon as you can ventilate, the better.

The variables posed the biggest limitation in the study, the authors write in the Emergency Medicine Journal. Sea conditions, such as waves, wind speed, water temperature and distance to shore could result in different rescue scenarios.

During the tests in September 2015, conditions at Los Gigantes beach on the islands west coast, where the testing was done, were cloudy, with calm winds, calm waves and water temperatures in the high 60s.

In real life, sea conditions may be harder and CPR quality could be affected, Abelairas-Gomez said. For one of the first studies of CPR on a boat, we thought it was necessary to begin with calm conditions.

Future studies will focus on harsher sea conditions and chest compressions on a moving boat, he added. In the current study, compared to onshore quality, chest compression depth dropped 20 percent at 10 knots and CPR quality decreased by 13 percent. There was also a 7 percent drop from CPR quality on an adrift boat versus a boat traveling at 10 knots.

Drowning can happen to anyone, including those who know how to swim and think they cant drown, Szpilman said. People underestimate the danger, especially when theyre used to calm swimming conditions in a pool.
The full amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight. (Photo: Pixabay)

London: An Indian-origin couple in the UK are caught up in a divorce battle which includes a 160,000-pound ticket on the futuristic first commercial flight into space on British entrepreneur Richard Branson's famed Virgin Galactic.

Meera Manek is taking her husband, Ashish Thakkar, to the UK High Court next week to dispute his claims that his assets are worth just 445,532 pounds. The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, 'The Daily Telegraph ' reported. "The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court. It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth. Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Thakkar was among the first to sign up for Branson's dream project of launching the first commercial flight into space. The full amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight. The UK High Court will now decide over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday what Thakkar's assets are worth and a further trial will then determine how much Manek should receive as part of the divorce settlement.

Thakkar is a Dubai-based businessman who runs the Mara Group and was born in the city of Leicester in the UK. His family were among the thousands of East African Indians who came to the UK after being deported by Ugandan dictator Idi

Amin in the 1970s. The 35-year-old married Manek in 2008 but the couple separated in 2013. His soon-to-be ex-wife claims her estranged husband is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore.

But he has told the High Court that the beneficiaries of the Mara Group an IT, banking and property group were his mother and sister. 'The Sunday Times Rich List' had estimated Thakkar's wealth at 500 million pounds in 2015 but he was missing from the list in 2016. Justice Moor will rule on Thakkar's real wealth next week.
The deadline for the essay competition to own the organic farm is June 1 and the winners will be declared on June 30. (Representational Photo: Pixabay)

A woman in North Carolina, United States, is ready to give away the sprawling organic farm that she cared for 18 long years. But architect-turned-farmer Norma Burns will only hand over the fruit of her labour to a couple who submits a convincing 200-word essay about why they want to own a farm.

Burns, who owns Bluebird Hill Farm in Bennett, reveals that she will shift to Raleigh to lead a more urban lifestyle. To me, there's no better calling in life than raising organic food, Burns said. Im looking for a like-minded couple who have experience and training in organic farming and are willing and able to put in the long days and hard work that farming requires, she told the Daily Mail. She took care of the farm along with her husband, Bob Burns, until his death in 2005.

The Bluebird Hill Farm is said to be worth $450,000. The deadline for the essay competition is June 1 and the winners will be declared on June 30.
New Delhi: In a major drug haul, NCB sleuths have arrested two African women with four kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 crore from a hotel near the airport here.

Officials identified the women as Zambian nationals Thelma Mkandawire (38) and Tanzanian Pamela D Kiritta (41).

They said the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), based on a tip-off, was tracking Mkandawire after she landed here from Sao Paulo (Brazil) via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). The police intercepted her when she checked in a hotel in the Mahipalpur area as Kiritta came there to allegedly obtain the consignment she was carrying.

"Four kilograms of cocaine, concealed in a suitcase cavity, was seized from the baggage of Thelma," NCB Zonal Director (Delhi) Madho Singh said.

Both the ladies, they said, have been arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) on Saturday and the consignment is worth Rs 30 crore in the international market.

Officials said they found that Mkandawire was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 on similar charges of drugs smuggling.

Kiritta was staying in an apartment in the Vasant Kunj area of south Delhi, since she came to India early this year in January, they added.

Kiritta informed she had visited India nine times since 2006 and she had been to other countries like Ecuador and Kenya. She was working for a South African man here, they said adding, that the agency was probing the women's international and Indian contacts.
Bhopal: A man who was arrested for allegedly killing his live-in partner and entombing her body has told police that he murdered his parents six years ago and buried them in their house in Raipur.

Police on Saturday said they are verifying the shocking claim made by Udyan Das (32) who was arrested for allegedly strangulating his live-in partner Akanksha Sharma (28) in December last year and entombing her body at his residence here.

"During interrogation, he has told police that he had strangulated his mother and father in 2010-11 and buried them in the compound of their house in Raipur," South Bhopal Superintendent of Police (SP) Sidharath Bahuguna told PTI on Saturday.

"We are sending a police party to Raipur. We cannot rely on his statement as he is changing them frequently," he added.

Read: Missing woman's body found buried inside boyfriend's house in Bhopal

Earlier, in his statement to police, the accused had said his father P K Das, a retired officer of Bhopal based BHEL who ran a factory after superannuation, had died of heart attack in 2010 at a Raipur hospital.

Das has given contradictory statements about his mother Indrani too, saying she was staying in the US and Delhi, he added.

"The accused has a very sharp mind. He speaks fluent English and lies with confidence," the CSP added.

The investigations have revealed that Das was a Class XII pass out from a school here and not an IITian as he had claimed earlier, police said, adding, he led a lavish life.

His parents own a flat in Defence Colony in Delhi which fetched a monthly rent of Rs 10,000, a flat in Raipur that is rented out for Rs 7,000 per month and a ground floor flat at Sakat Nagar here that brings Rs 5,000 as rent to him, they said.

Besides, he gets interest on his joint bank fixed deposit with his father of Rs 8.5 lakh, they said. Police suspect that he was withdrawing his parents' pension as well.

Udyan told investigators that he was influenced by an English series 'Walking Dead' which he loved to watch and enact, police said.

The accused lived a luxurious life and drove an expensive car. He had LCDs in all the three rooms of his first floor flat at Sakat Nagar, they added.

He didn't hire anybody for cleaning and the entire house was littered with cigarette butts and liquor bottles that were found all over the house, they said.

The leftover of his meals which he brought from hotels and markets were stinking when police went to his house to arrest him on February 2, said police.

The accused instead of water drank liquor and beer since last three months. He had not taken a bath as well for the same period and to fight odour used costly perfumes, claimed police.

The accused used to go out on date with girls, who usually sported hijabs or scarves to conceal their identities, sources close to investigators said.

Das had befriended Sharma on social media. Sharma was living with the accused after telling her parents that she was living in the US. But, they became suspicious after they lost contact with her in December.

The body of the woman, who hailed from Bankura in West Bengal, was exhumed in the early hours of February 3.

The accused strangled the woman, stuffed the body in an iron box, then put it in a larger box before constructing a marble platform over it to hide the crime.

West Bengal police have arrested Udyan here on charges of murdering his live-in partner Akanksha alias Shweta.

The accused told police that he killed her on July 14, last year. Earlier he had said that he allegedly murdered her in December, said police.

The accused was very possessive about Sharma and he killed her as he found her talking with some person on her mobile phone, police said.

Meanwhile, body of Sharma was on Saturday consigned to flames at Subhash Nagar crematorium here after police advised the family members of the deceased that it wasn't wise to take the body to West Bengal due to its state.
Lucknow: In a shocking revelation, it has been reported that mobile phone numbers of young women are being sold in Uttar Pradesh by recharge outlets depending on their age and looks.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the incident came to light after the womens helpline set up by the chief minister was flooded with complaints regarding harassment over phone.

The report revealed that of around 6 lakh complaints received by the helpline in the last four years, 90 per cent of the cases pertained to harassment of women over mobile phone.

The numbers are sold starting from Rs 50 for ordinary looking girl, and ranges till Rs 500 for girls who are considered beautiful.

The calls, which inadvertently come late at night, start with I want to have friendship with you.

The recharge shop owner passes on the contact of the women who come in to recharge their mobile phones, and also provides fake SIM cards to the miscreants with fake ID cards proofs of other customers, that they have stacked up.

There are no requirements or pre-screening processes involved in becoming a registered mobile recharge agent. One merely has to fill a form and deposit a security sum.

The police strategy on the matter however, is to catch hold of the erring recharge agents, as they believe jails would over flow if those paying for the numbers were to be arrested. Instead, they are given strict warning not to repeat the offence.

Speaking on the matter, Navneet Sekera, Inspector General of police, said, "No crime can be made out (against those who make the phone calls). We have booked three recharge guys so far under Section 467 for dealing in false documents."
Kharad: A minor girl was allegedly drugged, kidnapped and gangraped for 25 days by two men at Kharad in Punjab last month.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the girl was drugged on January 5 at a kiln in Rohtaks Hassangarh village, her workplace for the past three months.

The victims water was mixed with intoxicants by a woman named Rani, whose relationship with the victim is not known yet. Ranis brother then abducted the minor victim to Kharad, where she was raped by two men for 25 days.

The victim somehow managed to seek the help of a labourer in the village who told her parents about her location, following which she was rescued.

The girls family claimed that the police did not respond when they went to register a missing person complaint. However, a case now has been filed against Rani and the two men.

This is the second such incident in the past one month. Earlier this year, a girl from Sampla town in Rohtak was also taken to Punjab and was gangraped there.
Pune: A local court on Saturday extended the police custody of Bhaben Saikia, arrested for the murder of Infosys employee Rasila Raju OP, till February 7.

Saikia, deployed as a security guard, allegedly strangled Rasila near her work station on the ninth floor of Infosys building in Hinjawadi in Pune on January 29 after she had reprimanded him for staring at her.

Saikia, who hails from Assam's Lakhimpur district, was produced in the Shivajinagar sessions court on Saturday.

Demanding his further police custody, public prosecutor D More said police wanted to verify the route he had taken to flee to Mumbai after committing the crime.

Police also wanted to probe whether any other person helped him commit the crime or to escape afterwards.

Saikia's lawyer Advocate Tausif Shaikh said there was no need for further custody as police had already recovered all the relevant evidence such as Rasila's access card and the clothes and shoes which the accused was wearing at the time of the alleged crime.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) A S Barulkar extended Saikia's police custody till February 7 after hearing the arguments.

Saikia was heard speaking to his lawyer in Marathi outside the court before the proceedings began. Asked how he could speak Marathi so well, he said he had heard about Raj Thackeray-led MNS's agitation against non-Marathi speaking migrants, and therefore the first thing he did after landing here to look for a job one year ago was to join a class to learn Marathi.
Noida: Police have busted an internet scam in which nearly 7 lakh people were duped to the tune of Rs 3,700 crore after sending money to a company that promised they would earn cash by clicking on web links, police said on Friday.

Police, who described the pyramid-style scheme as one of India's biggest ever, said they had arrested three ringleaders  company owner Anubhav Mittal, its CEO Sridhar and the technical head Mahesh - on the outskirts of New Delhi and seized more than 5 billion rupees from bank accounts.

"They learned that if you give some money back to members, the investments would go up exponentially," Amit Pathak, head of a UP police cyber crime unit said.

The men ran a series of websites that promised would-be subscribers a chance to earn five rupees each time they clicked or liked web links sent to their mobile phones, police said.

The unsuspecting investors each paid thousands of rupees into the company's bank accounts to join the scheme, but the web links they received were fake.

The company running the alleged scam had operated for years, but earned almost all the money over a few months from last August, after it began to distribute some of the proceeds, using the beneficiaries to draw in more investors.

Police said the ringleaders had not yet appointed lawyers as the chargesheet was still being prepared.

When police raided the company's head office in Noida they found 250 passports of employees and members who had been rewarded with a holiday to Australia.

The scammers planned to film the holiday and then post it online as promotional material to lure more subscribers.

The alleged mastermind spent some of the proceeds on houses, cars and celebrity parties. Pathak said it would take time to trace most of the money, and several bank employees were believed to be involved.

"It's a very big task for us. We have brought in the income-tax department, and other government agencies, to trace the money," Pathak said.

Cyber crime in India, home to the world's second largest number of internet users, jumped 350 percent in the three years to 2014 as criminals exploited booming smartphone use, a study by auditing services firm PwC and industry lobby group Assocham showed last year.
Two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Saturday. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Srinagar: The security forces on Saturday shot dead two top Kashmiri militants while they were trying to enter politically sensitive Sopore town in Jammu and Kashmirs north-western Baramulla district to carry out a major terrorist act, the officials claimed. Two police officials were injured in initial response from the duo during the encounter.

Though the police has yet to identify the duo, the local sources said the slain men were two senior commanders of indigenous outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Azaharuddin alias Ghazi Umar and Sajad Ahmed alias Babar. The officials said that the police had information about the militants travelling in a car on the highway in the Sheer Amargarh area to relocate to Sopore.

Confirming it, a statement issued by the J&K police here said that the members of its counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) along with other security forces thwarted a major terrorist action by killing the militant duo in the brief encounter.

Information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. The police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore, it said.

The statement claimed that while being challenged the militants lobbed a grenade and fired upon police party in which SP (operations) Baramulla Shafqat Hussain and Sub-Inspector Mohammad Murtaza were injured.

In the retaliatory action two militants were killed whose identity is being ascertained, it said adding that two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

With the elimination of these militants a major terrorist action was averted, the statement concluded.

The Hizb has, meanwhile, confirmed that the slain militants were its senior local commander who had been affiliated with the outfit for quite some time. It said Azaharuddin alias Ghazi Umar was a lecturer by profession who had abdicated the government service to join the outfit.

The Hizb claimed that it was a fierce encounter in which many Indian troopers were seriously wounded. The Hizb admitted the killing of the militants was a big loss to it and freedom movement. But the struggle against India will continue till taken to its logical conclusion, said the outfits Deputy Chief Commander Saifullah Khalid and Field Operational Commander Mehmood Ghaznavi in a joint statement to local news agency CNS.
Coast Guard, State revenue personnel, local volunteers, and fishermen removing black oil washed ashore as a thick oily tide from the sea lapped at the coast. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai: With the oil spill off the coast here raising concerns, the Centre on Saturday said a total of 65 tonnes of sludge has been removed so far and over 90 per cent of the work completed.

It also expressed confidence that the cleaning operation will be finished in a couple of days.

Among others, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was providing special bio-remediation material for treatment of the collected oil sludge for safe disposal. "The total quantity of sludge which was removed till February 2 was 65 tonnes. It is observed that there is a vast difference between quantity of oil spilt and sludge recovered due to the fact that the oil gets coagulated and becomes puffy when it is recovered with water and sand," an official release said.

"More than 90 percent of the work has been completed and most of the residual work is expected to be completed in a couple of days," it said.

Further, 'Super Suckers' had removed 54 tonnes which contained 70 per cent water, it added. "The Indian Oil Corporation has provided special bio-remediation material for treatment of the collected oil sludge for its safe disposal.

"HPCL has arranged for trailers and manpower for transporting collected sludge to Ennore port area for bio remediation treatment under the expert guidance of IOC R&D experts where 2000 Sq.M. pit has been created for the purpose," the release said.

Chennai Port and Tamil Nadu government have organised medical camps today at Ernavoor and Kasimedu fisheries harbour.

On January 28, two shipping vessels had collided outside the Kamarajar Port at Ennore, resulting in rupture for one of them which led to an oil spill.

The release stated that as soon as the oil leak was tracked, the Coast Guard started mobilising equipment and manpower for clean-up at various locations and coordinated the operations.

A massive clean-up operation was launched in Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram districts by engaging more than 2000 persons at various sites including Ernavur, Chennai Fishing Harbour, Marina Beach, Besant Nagar, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai and Injambakkam beaches.

The coast guard has been coordinating the operations jointly with personnel from the Chennai Port, Kamarajar Port, state government and its agencies, IOCL, NGOs, Cadet Trainees from maritime educational institutions and fishermen.

Top officials from Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Shipping have been deputed to conduct spot inspection of the affected areas and coordinate and review the oil spillage cleaning work, it said.

They also met the state Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan to discuss the matter, the release said, adding, Chennai Port and Kamarajar Port have set up control rooms to deal with the situation.

"Kamarajar Port has Tier-I Oil Spill Response Equipment, which was deployed by the Port.National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, an autonomous centre of Ministry of Environment has been engaged by Kamarajar Port to study the impact on the environment," it added.

At Ernavur, which had the maximum drift of sludge, booms have been deployed along the shore line to contain the oil. Further, Coast Guard ship and helicopters were carrying out regular sorties for continuous monitoring of oil slick. If oil spillage accumulation was spotted anywhere, manpower and material under the overall supervision of Coast Guard will be deployed, it said.

The Directorate General of Shipping has instituted a statutory inquiry under the Merchant Shipping Act to ascertain the causes and contributory factors that led to the accident and both the ships have been restrained from leaving the Port.

DG Shipping was also holding discussions with the owners of the two ships regarding the payment of claims, the statement said.

"Government is taking all the measures to manage the situation. Authorities involved in the operations are confident that the situation is under control and the entire cleaning up operation will be completed in a couple of days," it added.
The Centre has formed a six-member committee to give a report on ways to improve India's Haj policy. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

New Delhi: The Centre has formed a six-member committee to give a report on ways to improve India's Haj policy and also look into issue of subsidy to the pilgrimage in light of 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing it by 2022.

Former Consulate General of India (CGI), Jeddah, Afzal Amanullah has been appointed as convener of the high-level panel, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday.

Bombay High Court judge (retd) SS Parkar, ex-Haj Committee of India chairman Qaiser Shamim, former Air India CMD Michael Mascarenhas and Muslim scholar-chartered accountant Kamal Faruqui are also part of the panel, which will have the Ministry Joint Secretary J Alam as member secretary.

Among other, the committee will figure out whether the pilgrims can travel to Saudi Arabia paying less in the absence of the subsidy.

"The experts committee has been formed and it will give us report in a month or two on how India's Haj policy can be improved, how the pilgrims can get maximum concessions and how Haj can be managed better," Naqvi said.

He said that the panel will speak to all the stakeholders concerned before finalising and submitting its report.

"There are several issues relating to Haj subsidy. Some people are of the view that it should go, some say it should be there. Some have suggested the system at AIR India should be changed. The SC has given its verdict.

"Hence, the experts committee has been formed to look into these aspects. It will speak to all the stakeholders and soon, we will figure out some way," he said on asked about the issue of floating global tender for air travel to Haj.

According to sources, the panel will examine implications of various directions of the apex court with regard to the existing Haj policy, and suitable amendments in it.

The committee will also review the effectiveness of Haj Committee of India's management of pilgrims' accommodation and air travel.

It will also assess the aspects of transparency, consumer satisfaction and disclosure requirements for private tour operators to protect interest of the pilgrims with a view to make the policy of greater assistance to the pilgrims, the sources said.

Last month, in the biggest hike in nearly three decades, Saudi Arabia had increased India's annual Haj quota by 34,500, increasing it from 1,36,020 to 1,70,520 pilgrims.

The Supreme Court had in 2012 directed the Union government to gradually reduce and abolish Haj subsidy by 2022.

It had asked the government to invest the subsidy amount of approximately Rs 650 crore a year then on educational and social development of the community.
New Delhi: Initial probe into the allegations of BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav, who posted a video shaming the forces bad food culture, has revealed that lack of onions and cumin in his dal prompted the jawan to put up the video on Facebook.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the court of inquiry constituted by the BSF looked into essential supplies such as garlic, onion, cumin, and ginger, in the border base in J&K where Yadav was posted.

It was found that cumin was made available by the time Yadav put up the video on Facebook, but other essentials such as ginger and garlic, were not available in the base. Dehydrated onions, which is usually used in high-altitude bases, was also not available then.

Yadav had posted the controversial video on Facebook on January 7, showing burnt chapattis and watery dal, and had accused senior officials of misappropriation of supplies.

Following the incident, officials revoked Yadavs voluntary retirement, which was accepted just days before, as the court of inquiry was pending. The inquiry report is expected in next few days.

The report also cited sources claiming that the allegations of misappropriation of supplies was unsubstantiated, adding that other jawans posted in the base did not support the accusation.
Chennai: AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala, DMK working president M.K. Stalin, DMDK leader Vijayakanth and MDMK general secretary Vaiko paid homage to former Chief Minister and DMK founder C.N. Annadurai on his 48th death anniversary on Friday.

Sasikala, who placed wreath on Anna memorial also placed floral tributes on the memorials of former Chief Ministers MGR and J. Jayalalithaa. She was accompanied by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Lok Sabha deputy speaker M. Thambidurai and other leaders.

Stalin, who paid homage to Anna was accompanied by DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan, former Union Ministers T.R. Baalu and other senior leaders. Stalin who commented on the occasion, said the DMK would follow the path of Anna who insisted on love for the Tamil language, race, besides the struggle for states rights and social justice. Vijayakanth too paid floral tributes to Anna memorial. MDMK general secretary Vaiko led a silent procession in the evening and placed wreath on Anna memorial.
Srinagar: Two militants were today killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir's Baramulla district while two police personnel were hurt in the operation.

Security forces launched an operation in Amargarh area of Baramulla district this morning following information about presence of militants in the area, a police official said.

He said the encounter broke out during the cordon and search operations, resulting in the killing of two militants, whose identity and group affiliation was not yet ascertained.

A Sub Inspector of police was injured while another officer was hurt during the operation, the official said.

He said an AK rifle and a pistol were among the weapons and other stores recovered from the scene of the gunbattle.
BENGALURU: More than three years after a woman bank manager was attacked inside an ATM kiosk at N.R. Square, the Andhra Pradesh police have arrested the 35-year-old attacker.

The accused, Madhukar Reddy, is from Thambalapalle in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is learnt that the traffic police in Madanpalle noticed Reddy and picked him up on suspicion that he could be the man behind the ATM attack. After a thorough grilling, Reddy confessed to the crime.

Soon, the Andhra Pradesh police alerted the Bengaluru city police and a police team from the city was rushed to Chittoor for investigation. City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said that Reddy has indicated his involvement in the ATM attack case. A city police team has been dispatched to interrogate him and we will take his custody for further investigation, he said.

It is learnt that apart from the Bengaluru incident, Reddy is involved in more than 10 cases, including four murders in Andhra Pradesh and that he was sentenced to life imprisonment in one of the cases. But, he had managed to escape from police custody.

Sources said, Just a few days before the incident on Nov 19, 2013, his parents had scolded him for spending all their money. He had left home and had come to Bengaluru just a day before the incident. He had no money and was wandering in Cubbon Park, where he slept the previous night. As he had no money to eat, he decided to commit a theft or robbery. He planned to rob people coming to the ATM kiosk.

On Nov. 19, he went to the Corporation Bank ATM at N. R. Square. He checked whether the shutter for the kiosk could be pulled down. At 7.15 am, Jyothi Uday, then manager of Corporation Bank, entered the kiosk. As soon as she went in, he followed her and rolled down the shutters. He threatened her with a gun-like weapon and attacked her with a machete. He robbed her cash and ATM card, he said.

As the footage was broadcast repeatedly on TV channels, he was scared that he would be easily identified. He shaved his head to conceal his identity and went to Ernakulam in Kerala, where he did odd jobs to survive. He stayed there for almost a year before returning to Andhra Pradesh," the officer said.

Now, Bengaluru police are planning to obtain the body warrant from the court concerned to get his custody. Sources said that the city police will take a few days to complete all legal formalities and get his custody.

One of the biggest op.

The state police force had spent several lakhs of rupees on the investigation and close to 500 policemen had worked on the case. Over one lakh phone call details were analysed to get clues. This is the only case in the state in which a large number of policemen were deputed to hunt down the assailant.

Also, policemen from neighbouring states - Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - were roped in to track the assailant. Earlier, it was only to nab the slain forest brigand Veerappan that the state had formed a Special Task Force, which had several hundreds of policemen.

The anonymity of the attacker was the biggest hurdle in tracking him down. The police submitted a 'C' report to the court about a year ago. The 'C' report is filed when the police cannot solve the case and the accused is still at large.
Hyderabad: Malaysia has been deporting at least three Hyderabadis a day who went to Kuala Lumpur either on tourist or employment visa. Immigration authorities at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport said deportations from Malaysia have increased in the past two months. An official from the Bureau of Immigration said, On an average, we receive at least three cases of deportations to Hyderabad airport from Mala-ysia. These people go on tourist visa and seek work in Malaysia. Agents here a-re getting employment pass with fabricated job offers.

An agent in SR Nagar said, We will get you an employment pass for Rs 2.3 lakh. You have to go to Malaysia and look for a job. The company thats giving a created job offer will assist you. We mostly provide this facility to IT, MBA marketing and white collar professionals. Meanwhile the New Zealand government said Hyderabadi students are not only victims of job fraud but also involved in visa fraud.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will not confine his Delhi visit to merely pressing for categorisation of Scheduled Castes quota; he will also concentrate on pending issues like division of the High Court and delimitation of Assembly constituencies. Mr Rao will be leading an all-party team to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

But sources close to the CM said that over half of the TS Cabinet, and almost all secretaries to the various government departments have been asked to be present in Delhi during Mr Raos visit so that they can take up the pending issues with the Union ministers concerned and also press for more funds and projects with the Centre.

Mr Rao has also sought a few minutes extra with the PM on Monday to bring to his notice all the pending issues, including directions to the Union ministers to attend the issues highlighted by the TS government.

Senior TRS MP B. Vinod Kumar told DC on Saturday: KCR will meet the PM and home minister to bring to their notice that nothing has moved on delimitation of Assembly constituencies that was promised in the AP Reorganisation Act as well as establishment of separate High Courts.

According to sources close to the CM, the TS contingent, including Mr Rao, will stay put in Delhi for at least three days and meet the various ministers.

We will utilise the time by meeting the ministers on all pending issues, Mr Kumar said.

Sources said that Mr wishes to propose a temporary High Court premises for AP before a permanent High Court building comes up in the Amaravati capital region.
The Chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Sebastian Kurz on Friday attended a meeting of Tbilisi and Tskhinval representatives held in the Georgian village of Ergneti (on the border with South Ossetia) in the framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM).

The meeting was held behind closed doors, with Kurz leaving after 15 minutes.

It is not easy to achieve progress and the main goal is to help people, improve their living conditions, and this is where OSCE representatives are helping them, Kurz told journalists after the meeting.

He noted that it was important for him to become familiar with the situation, and refrained from further comment, citing lack of time.

Kurz was present at the meeting as a special guest, the Georgian State Security Service told journalists.

The meeting focused on the incidents recorded since the last meeting, the Service said. Georgia renewed its demand regarding the release of the arrested Georgian citizen Giorgi Giunashvili. The attendees also considered problems facing the local population because of the border fences and other barriers erected on the South Ossetian side, the Security Service said.

For his part, David Sanakoyev, head of the South Ossetian delegation and state advisor to the president of South Ossetia, said that Kurz' attendance at today's IPRM meeting "goes to show that both the OSCE and other international organizations, with which we normally cooperate, are attaching huge importance to the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms."

The attendees discussed the issue relating to delimitation and demarcation of the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia, Sanakoyev said. "We designate this issue from the viewpoint of addressing the humanitarian issues faced by Georgian and South Ossetian citizens living in the border areas," he said.

For their part, the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia told Interfax that the 74th IPRM meeting attendees described the situation as generally quiet and noted a drop in arrests on the administrative border.

The parties also discussed current issues relating to the forthcoming spring agricultural season, according to the EUMM.

The next IPRM meeting is due to be held on March 2, 2017.
KARIMNAGAR: IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Saturday said he would lead a delegation of representatives of the IT sector in the state and related organisations to the Centre, seeking measures to protect the interests of the industry in the wake of US President Donald Trumps statements on H1B visa and proposed legislation in the US Congress.

Speaking to mediapersons in Karimnagar, Mr Rama Rao said the TS government would ask Indian business leaders and IT companies in the US, who were well-wishers of the state, to protect the industry which was Indias second biggest exporter of IT goods.

He said there was nothing much to worry about Mr Trumps statements as there was an established system in the US, and all policies would get through only after serious discussions in Congress.

40 per cent fall in inquiries for U.S. varsities

The Trump administration is primarily focusing on tightening norms for H-1B visas but the tremors are being felt among F-1 applicants. Students from Telugu states, of whom engineering graduates are a large majority, prefer to travel to the US for Masters.

Students who pass out in June 2017 target the September admissions in prestigious US institutions. The groundwork like applying for colleges to get I-20 (admission approval) begins in December and gains momentum after February.

There has been a dip of up to 40 per cent in inquiries for US admissions for the last few weeks in many city consultancies. The trend started after the victory of Mr Donald Trump in the US Presidential election in in November.

There is not much activity in formalities for applying US visa now. According to overseas consultants, students after getting I-20 leave for the US mostly in July and August for the classes in September. Students apply for their visa a month ahead and the activity will begin from May, sources said.
Students are not allowed to step outside the hostel after 11 pm, according to the universitys rules. (Representational Image)

MUMBAI: A decision by Mumbai University (MU) to disallow female students residing on its Kalina campus from entering a proposed 24x7 library after 11 pm has sparked a controversy.

Students have been on hunger strike for two days over the issue and are holding protests against MU vice-chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh, whom they allege is responsible for the decision.

According to protesters, MU has cited the security of female students as the reason behind the move. Students are not allowed to step outside the hostel after 11 pm, according to the universitys rules.

Rohit Chandode, the city head of the Bharatiya Janata Partys student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, said, We have been protesting against Mr Deshmukh on campus for two days now. Firstly, the MU is delaying the construction of library. Now it is saying only male students will be allowed to use it all through the night but not female students owing to security concerns. This cannot happen. We will sit on protest until it is changed.

A female student protester, who did not wish to be named, said, The demand for 24x7 library is a long-standing and we were happy that MU was keen on the same. However, it has informed us that it wont change the hostels curfew simply because we want to study in the library. The 11 pm curfew is for both male and female students but the administration is lenient towards the former and strict with us.

Commenting on the matter, a political science student said, There are times when female guests have visited the campus and have been told not to venture out of their respective accommodations after 11 pm. Meanwhile, several attempts to reach Mr Deshmukh did not yield any response.
New Delhi: The NDA government wants the new Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar to remove the logjam in judicial appointments for over a year. The CJI has responded immediately by recommending five names for appointment as Judges to the apex court.

With the former CJI T.S. Thakur squarely blaming the Centre for the stalemate, no fresh appointments were made to the apex court and various High Courts resulting in piling up of vacancies and accumulation of arrears. Justice Thakur used two public interest petitions to voice his grievance against the government.

There are eight vacancies in the apex court, of which five are to be filled within few days. There are more than 430 vacancies in the High Courts, which has a sanctioned strength of 1,079. So most High Courts are working at 50 per cent strength.

During Justice Thakurs period since there was an inordinate delay in finalising the Memorandum of Procedure relating to judicial appointments, the process of filling the vacancies is being delayed. The collegium headed by the new CJI Khehar has almost finalized the MoP and it is likely to be sent back to the Union law ministry in the next few days.

The Supreme Court has a pendency of over 60,000 cases, various High Courts have 45 lakh cases and trial courts around 2.75 crore cases making it a total of around 3.25 crore cases, which may even cross four crore in a year.

Soon after the new CJI Khehar took over, the Centre has drawn the attention of Justice Khehar to the fact that after the verdict quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission, the MoP has to be put in place.
Bhubaneswar: An Odisha historian has unraveled the sorry tale of the states first known Siamese twins (conjoined twins) who were taken abroad in 1893, inducted into a circus troupe, underwent separation surgery in France and finally died in the foreign land.

Worse still, the twins  named Radhika and Doodica  were given secret burials. According to renowned historian and researcher Anil Dhir, the twins were born in 1888 to Khestra Nayak of Haopara village in Dhenkanal district. For the poor parents, the deformed kids were a liability. Moreover the birth of these conjoined twins was seen by the superstitious villagers as a symbol of divine wrath.

There are various newspaper accounts of these twins  famously known as Orissa Twins  having toured the Americas, Europe and England. The sisters had a decade long stint, exhibiting themselves as freaks in different exhibitions.

The twins family was ostracised by the community and in sheer desperation the father tried to forcefully separate them. However some local officials prevented him and the local Mahima cult sadhus took them under their protection. It was those sadhus (seers) who named the girls.

Word of the freaks got around and was reported in the English press in 1892. London showman Captain Colman sent his agent to Odisha, who convinced the monks to hand over the twins for their better treatment. There is even proof that an Odia lady, probably an aunt, accompanied the twins. They sailed for America to take part in the Chicago Fair of 1893, after stopping for a week in London.

The British Medical Journal carried a report on the twins in its on June 1893 issue, citing the two little girls, nearly four years old, are apparently perfect in every respect, except that from the ensiform cartilage to the umbilicus they are united together.

They were a big draw at the Chicago Fair and this drew the attention of P.T.Barnum of the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus. They twins were soon a part of the The Greatest Show on Earth, mentions Mr Dhir in his latest article  The Famous Orissa Twins. The sisters were shown on colourful posters and postcards as the Orissa Twins or Hindu twins, and were big crowd pullers wherever the shows went, says the historian.
The clearances had been pending for 10 months following a stay order issued by the National Green Tribunal (Representational image)

Hyderabad: In a significant decision, the Union ministry for environment and forests has accorded environmental clearances to the Bhadradri Thermal Power plant.

The clearances had been pending for 10 months following a stay order issued by the National Green Tribunal on the plant being constructed by Telangana State Power Generation Corporation.

TSGenco chairman and managing director Devulapally Prabhakara Rao on Saturday said that in view of the clearances, Genco was hopeful of completing the project by March 2018.

The Rs 7,290 crore project with four 260 MW units, totalling 1,080 MW, is being constructed at Manuguru near Bhadrachalam of Kottagudem district. The NGT had ordered a stay on the work on a petition challenging the government's decision to take up the project with subcritical technology instead of supercritical technology that is the policy of the Union government.

However, after the TS government filed a review petition, the NGT lifted the stay and asked the MoEF to look into the TS governments representation and take a decision. On Saturday, TSGenco received information that the ministry had cleared the project and necessary orders will be issued in the next few days.

Since we have completed land acquisition process and the machinery has been moved to the site at Manuguru, we will have no problem in completing the project by March 2018, despite the stay ordered by the NGT for 10 months, Mr Prabhakara Rao said.

Earlier, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had written to the Union power and environmental ministers and sought exemption from the condition that only supercritical technology thermal power projects would be allowed for the project in the 13th Five-Year plan period. The government said work on the plant had begun as part of the 12th Five Year plan.

Mr Chandrasekhar Rao also mentioned that nearly 98 per cent of the existing thermal power plants with an installed capacity 1.55 lakh MW were built with the subcritical technology.

The CM had pointed out that another 36 thermal power projects were under construction, including a 600 MW unit of the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station in AP, using subcritical technology.

Mr Chandrasekhar Rao also conveyed to the Centre that `1,020 crore had already been spent on the project and government had commission BHEL, a Central public sector unit, as the contractor for the Bhadradri project.
They claim that suggestions and objections from a group of secretaries were not considered.

NEW DELHI: The proposed setting up of two new branches of New Delhis famed All India Institute Of Medical Science in Gujarat and Jharkhand, which was announced by the government in the union budget on February 1, could remain a distant dream.

Top government sources have claimed that the government went ahead with the announcement merely to score political points. They claim that suggestions and objections from a group of secretaries were not considered.

The group of secretaries had said that there should be no more announcements of AIIMS since the newly-established six AIIMS (at Rishikesh, Jodhpur, Patna, Bhuwaneshwar, Bhopal and Raipur) were struggling to get requisite faculty. The group of secretaries had instead asked the government to focus on getting these siz AIIMS up and running, it has been revealed.

Sources within the health ministry revealed that out of the 1,300 faculty positions advertised for the new AIIMS at Rishikesh, Jodhpur, Patna, Bhuwaneshwar, Bhopal and Raipur, only 300 suitable individuals had been found for the posts.
Chennai: As AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala prepares to meet party MLAs on Sunday, there are strong indications to suggest that a resolution to elect her as Chief Minister will be moved by the ruling party legislators.

Party sources said a draft resolution had been prepared to bring Sasikala as the Chief Minister in place of O. Panneerselvam, who took over on December 5, after the demise of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

A top functionary said, We know a resolution to elect Chinnamma as CM has been prepared, following pleas from ministers, MLAs and functionaries at the state and district level. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hope Chinnamma will accept the CM post.

Panneerselvams ministerial colleagues were the first to make the demand, within a week of his taking over as CM, that Sasikala should assume the CM post and later on it was followed by other MLAs, besides party leaders at the state and district level.

Despite the disproportionate wealth case hanging like a Damocles sword over Sasikala, there were speculations that she would become the CM before Pongal or immediately after the festival, but the month of January had passed and there was a brief lull in such speculations and demands for Sasikala assuming CM post.

However, political analysts see no pressing reasons for changing the Chief Minister now, as Panneerselvam is carrying on the administration in an effective manner, winning the appreciation of everyone for his handling of the situation after cyclone Vardah hit the coast. He also functioned dynamically to bring the ordinance to hold jallikattu, even though police action on the last day of the protests overshadowed his good work and denied him the laurels.

One of the AIADMK functionaries said, Panneerselvam personally visited the areas affected by Vardah and listened to peoples grievances which got a good name for the government. Besides, he worked very well to ensure that the damages caused by the cyclone were repaired, removing the thousands of fallen trees in three districts and restoring electricity within a week.

Besides, Panneerselvam seems to have struck a good chord with the Centre and got into the good books of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His cordial relations with the centre could be useful to get the required support and assistance from the Union government, which is a necessity for TN, facing problems from neighbouring states, besides the financial crunch and huge debt burden threatening the state government, said the functionary, requesting anonymity.
Chennai: Apollo Hospitals Chairman Prathap C. Reddy on Friday debunked reports as rumours devoid of any truth reports that the legs of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa were amputated due to diabetic related complications before her death on December 5 last year.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Mr Reddy said the treatment given to Jayalalithaa at his hospital is an open book and maintained that world-class medical attention was rendered to her through her 75-day admission in the facility.

As far as enquiry is concerned, our book is open. We regret whatever happened and wish we could have saved her in that one second, when her heart stopped. The doctors did everything possible, he said, adding that he was ready to hand over documents related to Jayalalithaas treatment to any investigative agency.

He dismissed rumours that her legs were amputated. News about the removal of her legs is nothing but a rumour. She looked much better, more wonderful, and there is nothing to do with her legs or hands. All were absolutely normal, he added.

Jayalalithaa, admitted to Apollo Hospitals on September 22 2016, passed away on December 5 after she suffered a cardiac arrest the previous day. Many questions were raised against the hospital management for not being transparent on the treatment given to the late chief minister. However, the hospital has been denying allegations saying it had released periodical health bulletins.
Jodhpur: Jai Narain Vyas University on Friday lodged a complaint with police against Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Nivedita Menon for allegedly making "anti-national" remarks during a seminar.

The Jodhpur-based varsity has also ordered an internal inquiry into the matter.

Menon, a Political Science professor at JNU, was invited to the seminar organised by the Department of English of Jai Narain Vyas University on Thursday.

"We have filed a complaint with police against Menon and the organising secretary of the seminar, Assistant Professor Raj Shree Ranawat. We have also set up an inquiry team which will look into the entire episode," said Jai Narain Vyas University vice chancellor R P Singh.

The action followed protests by students and ABVP activists.

It is alleged that Menon showed disrespect to the national flag and national anthem.
THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: The Tourism Department claims that the states Responsible Tourism initiative is the toast of the world but the reality is the state is yet to impress the world as a responsible tourism destination. For the tenth year in a row, the state has been overlooked for the prestigious Tourism for Tomorrow (ToT) awards, instituted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). In 2006, Kovalam had been shortlisted for the Destination Stewardship award but lost out to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Ever since, it had not featured in any of the ToT award categories. Sierra Gorda, after the 2006 win, has grown as a destination and has now been voted one of the most popular sustainable tourism destinations by Conde Nast Travellor and the New York Times travel guide.

ToT Awards are given in four categories: destination stewardship, community benefit, conservation and tourism innovation. Besides destination stewardship, community benefit is the only other category where Kumarakom was expected to be nominated. Kumarakom, or for that matter none of the responsible tourism destinations in the state, has never ever been nominated for the Community Benefit award. The awards carry immense weight with global travellors. Winning or at least getting nominated could boost the tourism potential of destination, a top Tourism Department source said. The responsible tourism initiative in Kovalam though five years old on paper, is only beginning to prosper, he said.

This years destination stewardship award was won by Botswana Tourism Organisation. The areas under BTO comprise Ramsar sites Chobe, Makgadikgadi and Okavango Delta. By focusing on high end, low impact ecotourism, BTO has created around 60,000 jobs have been created and has contributed US$650 million to Botswanas GDP. Cinnamon, a hotel chain in Sri Lanka, the states big competitor, has won the community benefit award for devising a unique strategy to prevent man-animal conflict in Yala, one of the best wildlife parks to spot leopards in the world. However the border of the park is home to hundreds of dairy farmers, who sometimes kill the leopards to protect their cattle. Cinnamon manufactured and donated more than 70 steel cages, which enabled the farmers to protect their cattle at night. The conflict was avoided, and farmer incomes increased by over 20 percent.
The Ukrainian delegation led by the first deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleh Hladkovsky visited Turkey to hold talks to establish bilateral cooperation in the field of aerospace and defense industry.

"The sides have discussed the implementation of joint projects in the armor vehicles engineering, space and aircraft sectors, as well as UAV and engine production," the NSDC press center reported on Friday adding the Ukrainian delegation also included heads of defense enterprises and CEO of Ukroboronprom state concern Roman Romanov.

During the visit, the Ukrainian delegates held talks with Head of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) of Turkey Ismail Demir and managers of Turkish companies producing military equipment and weapons.

"I am pleased to state that the Ukrainian-Turkish military and technical cooperation has recently activated. Turkey is our strategic partner and only together we can face global challenges. I believe that if we preserve the current intensity of contacts between our countries, we will be able to manufacture joint defense industry products," Hladkovsky said.

In addition, the NSDC deputy secretary met with the leadership of the Turkish companies Aselsan, Roketsan, Havelsan, and also visited the TAI aviation company, where he saw the production facilities and discussed the possibilities of development of the Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation in the field of aircraft engineering.
The woman refused to give the man's car keys despite his pregnant wife being in labour. (Photo: YouTube)

Ghaziabad: In a disconcerting video that has surfaced online, a woman was seen refusing to let a man take his pregnant wife, who was in labour, to the hospital.

The incident happened on the NH8 between Ghaziabad and Modi Nagar.

According to a report on The Indian Express, the woman took the mans car keys from him after he allegedly scraped her Audi and refused to let him go, even as his wife was in labour in the car. The couple were on their way to the hospital.

The woman did not budge even after a policeman tried to dissuade her, apart from the husband. However, after a crowd gathered and started to agitate, the woman threw the keys away and left in her car.

The worrying incident is the latest in a list of cases of apathy. Earlier this week, a teen had died of bleeding post a road accident in Karnataka, as onlookers were photographing him instead of helping him.
Mumbai: Actor Gautami Tadimalla has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not responding to her questions on the mysterious death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5 last year.

Gautami, who had written an open letter to Modi on December 8 last year, wrote a blog on Friday, questioning the Prime Ministers silence over her concerns related to Jayalalithaas demise.

What will it take for our governments to listen to us? For them to respond to us? Another massive uprising of every citizen on the streets of this state before they will pay attention? And do the right thing only when faced with protests of gargantuan proportions? At what human cost? she wrote.

If we are to be told today that a letter that was addressed directly to our Prime Minister, the contents of which raged across our nation, both on NATIONAL MEDIA/PRESS and SOCIAL MEDIA, has escaped the notice of his office and therefore himself, it is an extremely devastating reality for us to face, she wrote further.

Gautami said she has faith in Modi but fails to understand why he and the Centre has been maintaining silence on her queries on Jayallaithaas death. She seeks the details of the circumstances under which she died.

As citizens of this state and this nation, we are entitled to have complete knowledge of these details. It is a fundamental confidence and security that a democratic nation owes her people. Our anguish and our grief must be respected and honoured with answers. With the truth, she wrote.
Badaun: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday attacked Samajwadi Party and BSP, saying 'achche din' will come in Uttar Pradesh only after the two parties are wiped out in the upcoming Assembly elections.

"There have been wrongdoings in the liquor business at the level of the state government which will be exposed in time to come...Achche din have come in the families of those who are asking where are the achche din," he alleged.

He was speaking at a public meeting seeking support for BJP candidate from Bisauli seat Kushagra Sagar.

The Home Minister was referring to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP president Mayawati who frequently question when 'achche din', promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in campaigning for 2014 elections, will come.

Making an appeal to the electorate, he said, "Achche din will come in Uttar Pradesh only after SP and BSP are uprooted in the upcoming polls."

Attacking Pakistan, Singh termed the Uri attack as a cowardly act for which a befitting reply was given by India.

"I had gone to Pakistan where slogans were raised but I exposed them on their land," he said.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi over his remarks that there will be earthquake once he speaks, Rajnath said said there had not even been a wind and asked the Congress Vice-President to speak if he has any 'masala' as per his claims.

The Union Minister said UP has been giving direction and creating history. It had created history in 2014 by ensuring full majority non-Congress government at the Centre, he added.

Claiming that there had been not a single corruption charge against any BJP leader in almost three years at the Centre, Singh said, "SP, BSP and Congress point fingers at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has held the head of the country high at the global level.

On the rift in Samajwadi Party, he claimed party

patriarch Mulayam Singh, who established SP after hard work, was against an alliance with Congress but his son Akhilesh Yadav joined hands with the party as he was sitting on a punctured bicycle.

He claimed that there wasan increase in the number of crimes in the state and said if BJP is elected power, hooligans would not be allowed to roam the streets.

Rajnath also claimed that no progress was made under BSP in the state.

On the rift in Samajwadi Party, he claimed party patriarch Mulayam Singh, who established SP after hard work, was against an alliance with Congress but his son Akhilesh Yadav joined hands with the party as he was sitting on a punctured bicycle.

He claimed that there was an increase in the number of crimes in the state and said if BJP is elected power, hooligans would not be allowed to roam the streets. Rajnath also claimed that no progress was made under BSP in the state.
Patiala: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Saturday termed the Assembly polls as a "vote for stability versus communalism and radicalism" and exuded confidence of a clean sweep in the state.

The chief ministerial candidate of Congress who exercised his franchise at Government College for Women here, promised to usher in the "much-needed new dawn (navan savera)" in the state.

Terming the elections as a vote for peace, communal harmony and stability, he claimed, "The people have voted for stability versus communal and radical politics."

The people of Punjab want the experience and expertise of Congress to get the state back on the rails of progress and development, Amarinder claimed.

He dismissed any threat from either SAD, which had "ripped apart the state's social, religious and economic fabric" in the last 10 years, or AAP, whose "popularity graph has declined drastically" in the last two to three years with the "exposure of their misdeeds and failures".

People have not forgotten Badals' attempts to "polarize them on communal lines" through sacrilege incidents, Amarinder claimed, and also ruled out competition from AAP claiming that the purported popularity of Arvind Kejriwal's party is nothing more than a "creation of the media".

"AAP's euphoric entry" in Punjab during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was the result of the hype over its agitation in Delhi, which had found resonance in Punjab's frustrated youth. The hype has since faded and the party had lost its appeal completely," he claimed.

"Even voters in the Malwa belt, which some analysts had optimistically started describing as AAP's platform to success in the state polls, were disillusioned by Kejriwal and his cronies, whose nefarious designs have been completely exposed," Amarinder said.

The Punjab Congress chief, who besides contesting Patiala seat, is also pitted against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from the latter's stronghold of Lambi, claimed reports received by him indicate a "wave for Congress" across the state, with Malwa being no exception.

"People don't want SAD's mafia and communal ideology, nor do they want AAP's radical extremism," Amarinder said, adding,

"People have voted for securing the future of their children. Punjab stands at the brink of a positive change, and Congress is all set to provide it."
Chandigarh/Panaji: Voting for Goa and Punjab legislative Assembly elections began on Saturday where arch-rivals BJP and Congress battle it out in the electoral arena, with Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, debuting in Assembly elections in the two states seeking to play a spoilsport for the two major contenders to power.

BJP is in government in Punjab in alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for two successive terms, while it also helms Goa, despite ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party having drifted away just after the announcement of elections to form a three-party combine.

The elections to Punjab and Goa, which will be followed by those in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur, beginning later this month and spilling over to March, are being billed as a major test of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity post-demonetisation.

Punjab

Brisk polling was going on as around 66 per cent of the total 1.98 crore electors exercised their franchise till 4 pm in the high-stakes Punjab Assembly elections, wherein 1,145 candidates are in the fray.

"Polling is going peacefully," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP-elections) V K Bhawra said. Meanwhile, a technical snag was reported in voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines in Majitha and Sangrur, the spokesman said, adding that the matter had been referred to the Election Commission.

"8 to 10 per cent polling has taken place till 10 AM," an election office spokesman said here, adding that the polling was peaceful.

The polling started around 45 minutes late at two polling booths in Jalandhar and Amritsar due to technical glitch in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The early voters included General J J Singh (Red) of SAD, Pargat Singh of Congress, Sucha Singh Chhotepur of Apna Punjab Party (APP), and Bhagwant Mann, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi and Sukhpal SIngh Kahiara of AAP.

Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu said AAP supreme Arvind Kejriwal had joined hands with fundamentalists to fight the state polls. General (Retd) J J Singh said SAD-BJP will perform a hat trick and form the government.

The polling for 117 Punjab assembly seats is taking place amid tight security.

Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest between ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, opposition Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has fielded candidates in 94 seats, while its ally BJP has nominated candidates in the remaining 23 seats. Congress is contesting alone on all seats.

AAP, which is contesting the state polls for the first time, has fielded candidates in 112 seats, while its ally Lok Insaf Party, led by Ludhiana-based Bains brothers, has fielded nominees in five seats.

Other political outfits in the fray include BSP, former AAP leader Sucha Singh Chhotepur-led Apna Punjab Party, the Left comprising CPI and CPI-M, and SAD-Amritsar.

Over 200 companies of paramilitary forces have been deputed for the fair conduct of polls. Voting for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat by-poll is also being held amid tight security arrangements.

The total number of electors in the state is 1,98,79,069, including 93,75,546 females. There are 415 transgender voters. The total number of candidates in the fray include 81 women and a transgender. The polling commenced at 22,615 polling stations in the entire state. While 84 Assembly seats are of general category, 34 are reserved.

Key contestants who are in the fray include Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh (Patiala and Lambi seats), Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal (Lambi) and his son Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal (Jalalabad).

The other prominent candidates are Congress veteran and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Lehragagga), Indian Youth Congress chief Raja Amarinder Singh Warring (Gidderbaha), Badal's estranged nephew Manpreet Singh Badal, who is fighting on a Congress ticket from Bathinda Urban, and AAP MP Bhagwant Mann (Jalalabad).

Amritsar Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the resignation of Amarinder Singh to protest the apex court verdict on Punjab's river waters. The voter strength in Amritsar Lok Sabha is over 14 lakhs.

Prominent among the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha seat are BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, who is up against Congress' Gurjit Singh Aujla and Aam Aadmi Party's Upkar Singh Sandhu.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal cast his vote at around 10:50 AM in his home constituency Lambi. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal also cast their votes in the Assembly polls before 11 AM.

The counting of votes for the state polls will take place on March 11.

Goa

A high voter turnout of over 83 percent was on Saturday recorded in the Assembly polls in Goa, where the ruling BJP is engaged in a fierce fight with the Opposition Congress, AAP and an alliance of MGP, Shiv Sena and GSM for the 40-member House.

As of 11:30 am, South Goa's polling percentage was recorded 32 percent and North Goa's polling percentage was recorded 35 percent.

Long queues were seen outside almost all the polling stations in the state with estimates of more than 40 per cent voters going to vote before lunch.

Except for minor incidents of EVM failures which was rectified later on, polling has remained peaceful across the state.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar were amongst the early voters who turned up at their respective polling booths.

More than eleven lakh voters are eligible to exercise their right in this election which has 250 candidates in fray. Voting is being held across 1,642 polling booths in the state with para-military forces and State police guarding the venues.

The election is being closely fought by major political forces - BJP, Congress, AAP and MGP-led alliance, who have been campaigning in the coastal state for last two months.

BJPs campaign was star-studded with several national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah addressing the public meeting to rally support for the candidates.

While large number of new faces are contesting this time, the polls will decide political future of Goas five former chief ministers - Churchill Alemao, Pratapsinh Rane, Ravi Naik, Digambar Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro along with present CM Laxmikant Parsekar.

Though 2012 Goa Assembly elections witnessed satisfactory 83 per cent voting, the election commission officials in Goa ran an awareness campaign for voters in order to increase the bar. Various icons from different fields were engaged to spread message about ethical voting by the commission which had strict vigilance on casinos, matka gambling, unorganized vendors and other activities to avoid money and muscle power from influencing the voters.

For the polls underway, AAP is contesting on 39 seats, Congress on 37 and BJP on 36 seats.

BJP which had pre-poll alliance in 2012 elections is going alone this time but is supporting independents in four constituencies.
Panaji: Amid speculation that he would return to Goa politics, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today kept everyone guessing by describing himself as a "party man" who will work as per the directions of party leaders. However, he went on to add that he was missing "Goan food in Delhi" and people can derive any meaning out of his remarks.

"Iske bareme apko Aamitji ne kaha hai, jo kaha hai utna hi mai wapas repeat karoonga (I will repeat what Amitji (Amit Shah) has said on this issue). I am a partyman, let party decide," he told reporters when asked if he would be the next Goa CM, if his party is voted to power.

When pointed out to his remarks that he likes Goan food, Parrikar responded, "I have lost four kg in Delhi, the main reason is food."

"I have not said anything I only said I like Goan food. You can derive any meaning out of it," he commented.

Parrikar, who was amongst the early voters at the polling booth in Panaji constituency, expected the polling to cross 85 per cent mark this time. "Initial reports indicates beginning of a very good turnout. I expect good voting this time like last time when there was 83 per cent voting. It may even exceed 85 per cent this time," Parrikar said.

"Goa votes very heavy and this is a speciality that BJP has inducted in the politics of Goa to increase the voting. Initial indications are good," he said.

Parrikar said BJP expects the mandate with two third majority. Pollsters are saying that it would be a BJP majority. Everyone is predicting 22-25 seats, I will get better than that," he added.

Noting that it is a four-corner fight in the state, Parrikar quipped "Out of four corners, three are very weak."

"Except for four-five seats, MGP led combine does not pose any threat. This election will have 85 per cent voting. BJP has contacted each voter four to five times. People are very enthusiastic to give certificate to the good government.

He said that this time BJP will be main focal point around which other parties are revolving.

Responding to a question about his camping in Goa for the campaign, Parrikar shot back, "Is it wrong to campaign? In democracy if you fall all the laws and guidelines, you can campaign."

"I will be also campaigning in Uttarakhand, UP and even civic polls of Mumbai. Goa is my home. I am not criticising anyone for going to his home and campaigning there," he said.

To a question on recent Election Commission of India notice to him over his statement on bribery, Parrikar said he had asked voters not to take bribe.

"Have you heard my statement? I have put a question mark. In Konkani 'marap' is a question mark and 'mara' means do," he said quoting his speech in St Cruz constituency.

"I had put up a question to the voters, will you vote for money. If you listen to the CD carefully and ask some person who knows Konkani, he will tell you I have posed question asking will you accept the money," he said.

"By changing one word you change the meaning of the sentence," Parrikar added.

On the EC notice, the minister said "I have told them the order which you have given to me does not even have authentication. First they had put it on the website and in the evening they gave me an order when I asked for it."

The election is being closely fought by major political forces - BJP, Congress, AAP and MGP-led alliance, who have been campaigning in the coastal state for last two months.

BJP's campaign was star-studded with several national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah addressing the public meeting to rally support for the candidates.

While large number of new faces are contesting this time, the polls will decide political future of Goas five former chief ministers - Churchill Alemao, Pratapsinh Rane, Ravi Naik, Digambar Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro along with present CM Laxmikant Parsekar.
Meerut: In his first rally in Uttar Pradesh after polls were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged the corrupt he had "robbed" with note-ban have ganged up to bring him down and targeted the SP-Congress alliance, saying the two parties which abused each other till recently are now locked in an embrace to save themselves.

Modi asked the people in Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati", saying they have to choose between development agenda of BJP and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote bank politics and encourage land and mine mafias.

In his over-an-hour-long address, he spoke at length about corruption, law and order and nepotism allegedly prevailing in the state as he sought people's vote for BJP to change the state's fate.

"It is UP that made me the Prime Minister," Modi said, adding that he wanted to repay its debt and that he can do it only with a government that joins hands with the Centre to develop the state unlike the current dispensation which is a "hindrance" in its progress.

Attacking Congress and Samajwadi Party, he said Congress ran a campaign against the Samajwadi Party government and wondered as to what happened that both have now joined hands.

"What happened that overnight they are embracing each. Those who could not save themselves cannot save UP," he said. Wooing farmers, he reiterated the party's promise of waiving loans of small and marginal farmers and paying the dues of sugarcane growers within 14 days of coming to power.

Playing the pro-poor and pro-farmers card, a plank BJP has assiduously tried to claim for some time, Modi said the recent budget was all about them besides the middle class.

Noting that the rebellion against the British rule in 1857 had started from Meerut, Modi said he has chosen this place to start the war against poverty, corrupt forces and land grabbers.

The Prime Minister again attacked the opposition parties over demonetisation and surgical strikes to strike a chord with the audience as he said he was determined to cleanse the system at the top and was not interested in small fights.

"Those who filled rooms with currency notes collected by selling party tickets are very anguished as I forced them to deposit their money in banks with an announcement at 8 PM on November 8....

"I knew they will all gang up against me. They will kick up a storm because Modi has robbed them and they will bring him down

"Do you think that corruption should be ended and black money finished off? I have been doing this and will not rest nor will let these robbers rest. No matter how many of them gang up to oppose me, my fight will not stop. Modi will not stop," he said.

Targeting Congress, he said a minister in the party-run Karnataka government has been found in possession of Rs 150 crore and but it has not taken any action against him.

Targeting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he said first his concern was all about family, then about himself and now it is about the chair.

Those accused of running mine mafia, patronising criminals, rapists and land-grabbers have been given tickets in SP, he alleged.

Uttar Pradesh has potential to be a leading state in the country but has remained mired in poverty and unemployment due to its governments, Modi said.

"You made me Prime Minister and I have done everything in my capacity to bring honour to the state. Still, some debt I have to repay. In the last two and a half years, I have done a lot for the poor, farmers, deprived, dalits and some is yet to to be done.

"You tell me if all the good I want to do for the state will not remain unfulfilled if the state government here works as a hindrance. So long as you do not send such a government home, the development the central government wants will not happen. It is necessary to remove them," he said, seeking votes for BJP.

Only about Rs 2,800 crore of Rs 7,000 crore the Centre had sent to UP for health care development in 2015-16 was spent and not even Rs 40 crore of the Rs 950 cr sent for 'Swachh' campaign was used, he said and cited more figures to accuse the Akhilesh government of not being interested in the state's development.

"It (SP government) believes if the money cannot be spent on those who are its vote bank, then it will let the funds rot. Tell me if assistance to those who are ill should be based on vote bank politics," he said.

"The whole day the government is busy with uncle, son, papa, nephew.... If you want to change UP's fate, change the government. You demolish the rule of SCAM with your votes," he said in a dig at the Yadav clan's feud.

Modi's political attack was largely focused on SP-Congress alliance with BSP being mentioned only tangentially.

Referring to surgical strikes, he said the valour of our armed forces was underestimated so far and enemies would kill them in night and disappear but they could not use their guns due to atmosphere created earlier.

"Now countries across the world are studying as to how Indian forces did such an operation on Pakistani soil. We made them (enemies) account for everything," the PM said.

While other politicians go to various locations to celebrate Diwali and their birthdays, he went to forces deployed on border, the PM said.

He targeted the opposition parties for questioning the strikes and alleged that some of them doubted the operation because no Indian soldier lost his life.
Lucknow: Amidst hectic electioneering in UP, firebrand BJP MP Yogi Adityanath on Saturday again sought to play the religious card, saying the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana and 'love jihad' were important issues for the party.

BJP, he said, will not let Western Uttar Pradesh turn into another Kashmir, a reference to the forced migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s.

"Issues like Hindu exodus from Kairana, love jihad and women's safety will dominate the poll scene," he said at an event organised by a news channel here.

"Yogi is not talking about today, Yogi is talking about future. Exodus is a very big issue for us," he said, adding, "BJP will not let western Uttar Pradesh turn into another Kashmir."

BJP MP Hukum Singh had in June last year claimed that close to 350 Hindus had left Kairana over alleged threats and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community.

The Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur claimed that in eastern part of UP, both Hindu and Muslim population was safe.

"In eastern UP, if a Hindu is safe, so is a Muslim," he said.

The BJP's star campaigner said the issue of love jihad will certainly be a crucial point in the polls.

"Love jihad was then an issue and it is still an issue," he said.

When asked about the agenda of his "anti-Romeo squads", the controversial leader said the "force" will work towards restoring pride of women and ending discriminations.

"There are areas in western UP where girls can't go to school. The squad will work for their rights and ensure safety of women in the state," he said.

The BJP leader also lashed out at the Akhilesh Yadav government and others for wooing minorities in a Hindu majority society by announcing sops for them.

"Political leaders in this country speak against majority community in the name of secularism. Governments in UP give land for kabristan (graveyard) but not for shamshanghat (cremation ground)," he said.

"If voted to power, BJP's development schemes will be above caste and religion," he promised, adding, "It will be 'sabka sath, sabka vikaas' in true spirit."

To a question as to who will hold the reins of the state if BJP comes to power, he evaded a direct reply saying, "Face is not important, my wish is that BJP forms government in Uttar Pradesh."

When asked if he saw himself occupying the top chair, the five-time MP said, "There are leaders more senior to me in BJP, I can't push them and seize power. We have Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and some other leaders who can become CM face."

"Every BJP worker is capable of becoming UP CM," he remarked.

"I am not hungry for ministerial post, I just want to see development in UP," he added.
Bengaluru: With each passing day, details are emerging on the reasons for Mr Krishna's anger against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah which was a major trigger for his exit from the Congress.

Sources said the final straw was Siddaramaiah's strategy to sideline Mr Krishna at the AICC headquarters using the influence of a party national general secretary and deliberately sidelining him during the Cauvery crisis. These made the veteran leader conclude that "enough was enough".

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader observed that Mr Krishna was miffed with Siddaramaiah for constantly ignoring him over several matters since May 2013 when the party came to power. "Mr Krisha is regarded the modern architect of Bengaluru. Be it flyovers or underpasses, Namma Metro, Outer Ring Road, six-lane roads and many such projects, they were either conceived or launched during his tenure," the source explained. Mr Krishna was perhaps expecting his protege - Siddaramaiah - whom he had helped set anchor in the Congress since 2006 after his exit from JD(S), to look up to him and seek advice frequently. "Instead, Siddaramaiah took the help of an AICC general secretary to snub Mr Krishna at the highest level in the party," the source added.

Apart from this, the CM left no stone unturned to hurt Mr Krishna's ego time and again. "Mr Krishna was the first to tour Mandya where farmers had committed suicide and it was he who offered monetary assistance to deceased farmers' families from his own resources. He even wrote to the state government highlighting the distress of farmers in the Cauvery basin. But Siddaramaiah instead of seeking his advice on these issues, approached Krishnas arch rival, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda seeking his advice on Cauvery related issues, which is now seen as the primary reason for Mr Krishnas exit from the party," the source contended.
People showing their voter ID cards as they stand in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station in a village, about 25 km from Amritsar, on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)

Chandigarh/Panaji: Voting for Goa and Punjab legislative Assembly elections ended on Saturday with the former recording a high voter turnout. Polling in Punjab, which witnessed a total turnout of 70 per cent, was marred with glitches and skirmishes at some places.

In the two states, arch-rivals BJP and Congress battle it out in the electoral arena, with Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, debuting in Assembly elections seeking to play a spoilsport for the two major contenders to power.

BJP is in government in Punjab in alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for two successive terms, while it also helms Goa, despite ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party having drifted away just after the announcement of elections to form a three-party combine.

The elections to Punjab and Goa, which will be followed by those in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur, beginning later this month and spilling over to March, are being billed as a major test of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity post-demonetisation.

Punjab

Punjab on Saturday recorded an estimated 70 per cent polling during which technical glitches and stray incidents of violence were reported in the state that is seeing a high-stake contest among Congress, new entrant AAP and ruling SAD-BJP combine.

"Nearly 70 per cent polling has taken place," an election office spokesman said here giving the preliminary figures of poll percentage.

"Barring stray incidents of violence the polling in single-phase remained peaceful," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP- elections) V K Bhawra said.

Two persons were injured in a clash which took place between AAP and Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district, police said.

In Tarn Taran district, a Congress worker identified as Jagjit Singh was injured when an Akali supporter allegedly opened fire at him outside a polling booth in Lalu Ghuman village, they said.

A large number of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, installed for the first time in the ongoing Punjab Assembly polls, developed snags during the polling process in the state.

A technical snag was reported in VVPAT machines in Majitha and Sangrur, an election office spokesman said, adding that the matter had been referred to the ECI.

Due to a snag in the machines, polling had to be called off a number of times, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V K Singh said, adding that these machines were replaced by others.

Over 79 per cent electors had cast their votes in the 2012 assembly polls. The final figure of today's voting is still awaited as all those who were inside the polling booths will be allowed to vote, an election official spokesman said in Chandigarh.

Shortly before the polling was to end, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal "thanked Punjabis for peaceful polling and reposing faith in SAD-BJP alliance."

A statement issued by Badal's spokesman quoted him as saying, "Moved by people's love despite negative agenda."

However, this time around 70 per cent out of the total 1.98 crore electors exercised their franchise to seal the fate of 1,145 candidates including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and Deputy, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Punjab Congress President and the party's chief ministerial candidate, Capt Amarinder Singh.

The total number of electors in the state is 1,98,79,069, including 93,75,546 females. There are 415 transgender voters. The total number of candidates in the fray include 81 women and a transgender.

Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest between ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, opposition Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party.

Other political outfits in the fray include BSP, former AAP leader Sucha Singh Chhotepur-led Apna Punjab Party, the Left comprising CPI and CPI-M, and SAD-Amritsar.

Voting for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat by-poll was also being held amid tight security arrangements. For the first time webcasting from over 4,000 polling booths was done, which was monitored from Chandigarh control room.

The election commission had installed VVPAT machines in 33 of the 117 constituencies for the assembly polls and two assembly segments as part of the Amritsar by-polls.

Among those who cast their vote early included Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, CM's daughter-in-law and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress veteran Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

Capt Amarinder Singh and his wife Preneet Kaur cast their votes in the afternoon.

"Seeking my mother's blessings before casting my vote. Let this be a new dawn for Punjab!, Amarinder tweeted shortly before exercising his franchise.

Former Army chief General J J Singh (retd) of SAD, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh, contesting as Congress candidates, Sucha Singh Chhotepur of Apna Punjab Party (APP), and Bhagwant Mann, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi and Sukhpal Singh Khaira of AAP, also cast their votes early on.

Besides development issues, other issues which remained at the centre stage in the run up to the polls were unemployment, drugs and mafia and incidents of sacrilege.

The polling started around 45 minutes late at two polling booths in Jalandhar, Mohali and Amritsar due to technical glitches in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Polling was brisk in Malwa region of the state comprising 69 Assembly seats as an estimated 75 per cent electors exercised their franchise.

Punjab Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was unable to cast his vote in the morning due to technical snag in EVM at polling station number 35, Ward number 5 in Majitha constituency in Amritsar district. He cast his vote later.

The polling for 117 Punjab Assembly seats took place amid tight security.

Over 200 companies of paramilitary forces were deputed for the fair conduct of polls.

Braving overcast conditions and winter chill, thousands of voters turned out since early morning to cast their votes.

Long queues were seen at most polling stations as voting began in all the assembly constituencies at 8 AM.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has fielded candidates in 94 seats, while its ally BJP has nominated candidates in the remaining 23 seats. Congress is contesting alone on all seats.

AAP, which is contesting the state polls for the first time, has fielded candidates in 112 seats, while its ally Lok Insaf Party, led by Ludhiana-based Bains brothers, has fielded nominees in five seats.

Key contestants who are in the fray include Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh (Patiala and Lambi seats), Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal (Lambi) and his son Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal (Jalalabad).

The other prominent candidates are Congress veteran and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Lehragagga), Indian Youth Congress chief Raja Amarinder Singh Warring (Gidderbaha), Badal's estranged nephew Manpreet Singh Badal, who is fighting on a Congress ticket from Bathinda Urban, and AAP MP Bhagwant Mann (Jalalabad). For the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll, an estimated 57 per cent polling took place, an election office spokesman said here.

Amritsar Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the resignation of Amarinder Singh to protest against the apex court verdict on Punjab's river waters. The voter strength in Amritsar Lok Sabha is over 14 lakh.

Prominent among the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha seat are BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, who is up against Congress' Gurjit Singh Aujla and Aam Aadmi Party's Upkar Singh Sandhu.

The counting of votes for the state polls and Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll will take place on March 11.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote at Lambi, the 89-year-old chief minister said, "I have 70 years of experience and have fought for Punjab and India, this is a small battle."

Sukhbir Badal claimed that "We will have a bigger win than last time."

"AAP will finish at third number spot," he said in reply to a question.

"People will vote for development, peace and communal harmony. AAP is a pack of criminals," he said.

Amarinder Singh said that his party was leading in the entire state and was set to form the government.

He claimed that he would also win from Lambi, defeating the chief minister.

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh and his mother Avtar Kaur also exercised their franchise.

"This time, three parties in the fray are fighting it out, I wish that whosoever wins should keep Punjab's interests above all," he told reporters.

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who along with his wife Navjot Kaur cast his vote in Amritsar, said "People of Punjab will give a gift to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi by ensuring party's victory here and its revival in the country."

"Truth will prevail in Punjab... from this place Congress flag will start floating," he said.

Goa

Panaji: A high voter turnout of over 83 percent was on Saturday recorded in the Assembly polls in Goa, where the ruling BJP is engaged in a fierce fight with the Opposition Congress, AAP and an alliance of MGP, Shiv Sena and GSM for the 40-member House.

According to EC sources, the poll percentage could go up as there are long queues of voters at many booths across the state even after 5 PM.

Heavy polling was witnessed in the mining belt of Sankhalim, Bicholim and Curchorem.

The election passed off peacefully with no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the coastal state expect some cases of EVM glitches and cancellation of voting in one booth.

A 78-year-old man died outside a polling booth in Panaji city. Leslie Saldanha, who was waiting to cast his vote, collapsed and died, officials said.

ECI's data from various polling booth showed that over 83 per cent of 11.10 lakh voters turned up to exercise franchise.

An impressive 83 per cent voting was recorded in the state in 2012 assembly polls, which saw the BJP wresting power from the Congress.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, widely seen as the chief ministerial face of the BJP, Union Minister Shripad Naik and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar were among the early voters who cast their ballots.

People in large numbers turned up at the polling stations right from the morning amid pleasant weather.

A total of 250 contestants are in the fray, which include many independents.

The election is being closely fought by major political forces  BJP, Congress, AAP and the MGP-led alliance.

The polls will decide future of Goa's five former Chief Ministers  Churchill Alemao, Pratapsinh Rane, Ravi Naik, Digambar Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro and the incumbent Parsekar.

BJP has put up 36 aspirants, Congress 37 and AAP is contesting on 39 seats and each of them backing independents in a few seats.

BJP, which had a pre-poll alliance in 2012, is going it alone this time after the MGP snapped the partnership and forged a front with Goa Suraksha Manch floated by RSS rebel Subhas Velingkar and Shiv Sena.

Counting of votes will be taken up on March 11.
Three houses and car damaged by shellings in Avdiyivka

Militants shelled the old part of the town of Avdiyivka, Donetsk region, damaging three houses and a car.

"So far we have no information about casualties," the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's website reported.

The report says the police opened two additional stations in the old part of the town: residents can turn there with any question and to get help.
Its appropriate that Kashmirs last Dogra ruler, Hari Singh, should be restored to favour by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Her record would have endeared her to him. On January 27, the PDP-BJP coalition adopted a resolution to declare his birthday a state holiday  even as July 13 is commemorated annually as Martyrs Day in remembrance of those killed by his troops. The National Conference and the Congress staged a walk out. Of his rule, Prem Nath Bazaz wrote that Kashmiris faced unprecedented suppression, more so than under any of his predecessors. On the night of October 25, 1947, he loaded about 100 trucks with precious goods and left Kashmir for Jammu, his native town. Once there, he took his revenge on Muslims  as Sheikh Abdullah said to his face the following year. Hari Singh penned, Sheikh Sahib switched on to the so-called massacre of Muslims in Jammu and started hinting that I had a hand in that and said that even C.R. Chopra (then governor) and Brig. Udey Chand (then IGP) had admitted that I must have had a hand in this. I said, It has taken them several months to say this. Anyway, it is no use discussing the matter here and if you really believe in what they say why not have an impartial inquiry? Sheikh Sahib heatedly said, What is the good of saying that? I started an enquiry (but) it was stopped from Delhi.

Abdullah took up the matter with Singhs mentor, Vallabhbhai Patel, in 1948, writing, I regret that in spite of my repeated attempts in this behalf, the sentiments of the people of (Kashmir) with regard to the unmistakable part which the Maharaja and his satellites took in the general massacre of Muslims at Jammu are but insufficiently appreciated I have made no secret of it so far and I repeat it that the Maharaja has generally lost the confidence of the people (who) entertain bitterness against him There was enacted in every village and town through which he passed an orgy of arson and loot and murder of Muslims. A widespread belief was that the killing was in pursuance of an organised plan under which Hindu officials distributed arms and ammunition to communalist groups like the RSS. In Jammu, thousands of besieged Muslims were made to march to their deaths, under the escort of state forces who themselves actively participated in the bloodshed  an event that took place only a few miles from the Maharajas palace. Jammu was then a Muslim majority province. It ceased to be one.

Singh was complicit with the RSS. In December 1947, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru complained to Patel that I have received very disturbing news... about the way the arms that we have sent for him have been kept back and distributed to RSS people. I am inclined to think that Mahajan sympathises with these activities and perhaps helps them. The reason for the diversion then was to facilitate ethnic cleansing. Interestingly, it was not Sheikh Abdullah but Hari Singh who first threatened secession. Sometimes I feel that I should withdraw the accession that I have made to the Indian Union. The Union only provisionally accepted the accession, he reminded Patel in January 1948. Hari Singh was banished from Kashmir on Sheikh Abdullahs demand. On June 20, 1949, he signed a proclamation in New Delhi devolving all his powers to his son, Karan Singh, and then left for Bombay. His subsequent complaints were silenced by a withering letter from Nehru in 1952. Mehbooba Mufti could have opposed the resolution. She did not. Having forfeited the trust of her people, she has no option but to keep the BJP happy.

By arrangement with Dawn
In the weeks and months to come, it is going to be extremely important to distinguish President Donald Trumps personal angularities from the popularity or appeal of his policies within the United States. This is crucial because it will offer an insight into the political and social mood in America, as different from admittedly unprepossessing aspects of Mr Trumps personality. Take the temporary ban on immigration and even tourist or business visits from seven largely Muslim countries  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. At the simplest level, such categorisation may appear unfair and a throwback to Americas isolationist, anti-outsider past, specially in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. Yet, the fact is Mr Trumps executive order only built on directives and laws that have been around since 9/11  under the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. The new President has been brash and loud enough  perhaps crude enough  to tom-tom it for the benefit of his electoral base. Fundamentally, though, he has not invented this mood or regime.

Some numbers would be educative here. Mr Trump won 46.1 per cent of the popular vote in the presidential election, two percentage points behind his rival, Hillary Clinton. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted in all 50 American states, found 49 per cent of citizens agreed with Mr Trumps anti-immigration executive order and only 41 per cent opposed it. No doubt this was just one opinion poll and there will be more, and more authoritative, such surveys. Nevertheless it does tell us there is an anxiety in America that Mr Trump has touched, exploited and exaggerated for effect. He has not, however, created it. This would suggest that unless economic conditions and political concerns change dramatically, the world is in for a surly American mood for the near future. Those dreaming of a Trump resignation or impeachment  both unlikely eventualities  or holding hope for a new thinking in four years, following the next election, cannot alter that reality.

Intelligent interlocutors will come to live with this framework and work within the limits it allows. Mr Trumps phone call with Australias Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is worth a comment here. There is little doubt that the leaks about the turbulent conversation didnt do Mr Trumps public relations any good. They only gave the impression of a man bent on wrecking relations between the US and one of its closest allies. Even so, what was the problem about? Some 1,250 asylum seekers  largely males from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan  had sought residency in Australia. Canberra denied them asylum and detained them instead in controversial offshore centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. In November 2016, after the presidential election had been won by Mr Trump and while Mr Obama was a lame-duck President, the Obama administration and the Australian government finalised a deal whereby the US would take in those asylum seekers from Australian detention camps, even though Australia itself had refused them permanent homes.

Mr Trumps imminent presidency and views on refugees and visa restrictions were no secret at the time. For better or worse, he had campaigned on that theme and for better or worse he had won a majority in the Electoral College. Obviously his predecessor was laying a landmine for him. As representatives of a partner country, Australian diplomats should have been alive to the fact that the agreement would not find support from a Trump government. At the very least, some informal consultations would have been recommended. This is regular diplomatic practice in times of a domestic political transition. For whatever reason, this was not done. The Australians presumed Mr Trump would honour his predecessors agreement and he has chosen not to. What was surprising, however, was for the Australian PM to have brought up such a combustible issue in his very first conversation with his new American counterpart. Such summit-level references are usually only made after sufficient groundwork has been done by sherpas and officials below and there is adequate assurance of success.

To have sought to surprise or ambush Mr Trump in this manner, specially in the week of his anti-immigration executive order, showed extraordinary naivete or risk-taking by the Australian PM. Of course, this is not to in any manner condone the American Presidents over-the-top response. Mr Trump may be a porcupine, but did Mr Turnbull have to provoke him? In the process what the two men have achieved is a disturbing of the delicate balance between pro-American and pro-Chinese constituencies in Australia. It has given a handle to people like Bob Carr, former Australian foreign minister, to tell the Sydney Morning Herald: It forces us to drop romantic notions of the alliance and now be more realistic It liberates (Australian) leaders to say no to Washington if it seeks to recruit us for any reckless adventure. America has taken a nationalist direction and wont be returning to global leadership as weve understood it.

Those words would have carried greater credibility if Mr Carr had not been director of a Beijing-supported think tank in Sydney. He is one of a series of senior Australian political figures and former public officials, including former PMs, who have been co-opted by Chinese donors and commercial interests and by use of advisory positions that come with generous perquisites. The Trump-Turnbull fracas has only given such voices that much more room. It is entirely probable the Australia episode will be replicated in other countries, specially in Asia and parts of Europe, where Chinese investments in business and academia have created a sizeable influence group that could easily intersect or even hijack anti-Trump sentiment. This is a risk America runs, but Mr Trump, at least in the near term, doesnt seem to care about. Having said that many of the countries and societies concerned need America and the American partnership in a longer frame, even if it means adjusting to Americas domestic imperatives and contraction of interest in globalisation and multilateralism  and even if it means suffering Mr Trumps bullheadedness. For such countries, negotiating these multiple imperatives will be the key diplomatic challenge of 2017.
Many Americans felt offended by an order of their new President banning immigrants from seven nations. Donald Trump had made a campaign promise to end terrorism by stopping the entry of Muslims coming into the United States. He said this ban would remain till he could figure out whats going on. On taking office, Mr Trump put in force this ban on nations, which included Iran, a country whose population has relationships with lakhs of Iranian-Americans, and Iraq, many of whose citizens took Americas side in a war against their own countrymen. The list also included Syria, where violence is forcing millions to flee. The Trump order did not seem to have been properly vetted by experts and initially covered those individuals who were citizens of those seven nations but held permanent residency rights in the US (what is called a green card).

And the ban also extended to all those citizens from these nations who held valid tourist and business visas for America, causing chaos at airports. It was noticed that the ban did not cover nations with which Mr Trump had business interests, like Saudi Arabia (whose citizens had actually participated in the 9/11 attacks). But more than the hypocrisy and the casual manner of the ban, offence was taken by many Americans at the fact that civil liberties and human rights were being violated. Many Americans take seriously the idea of their country as being a nation of laws, and one that is free and equal.

These individuals felt they should act, and they did so by supporting the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan, legal and advocacy organisation devoted to protecting the rights of everyone in America. On its website it gives the rationale for its action since the Trump order with these simple words: He discriminated. We sued. A judge put a stay on the Trump order and several other lawsuits will make it difficult for him to enforce it. Already some of the things, for example the ban on green card holders, have been rolled back because of spirited opposition. It is, at times, like this that America benefits from having robust NGO institutions that have wide public backing in terms of media support and volunteer and financial support.

Within a few days of their lawsuit against the Trump order, ACLU raised over Rs 150 crores. This money came mostly in the form of small contributions. Like the organisation that I work for, ACLU raises most of its money from monthly contributions from members. Because of anger at the so-called Muslim ban, many celebrities offered to match donations made to ACLU by other people. If 200 people donated a total of `10 lakhs, then the celebrity would add their own Rs 10 lakhs so that ACLU got Rs 20 lakhs. Other people decided to help increase the number of people following ACLU on Twitter and raise their following to 10 lakhs. Two lakh followers were added in a week and by the time you read this it is likely the number will cross 10 lakhs. Many Americans felt that

Mr Trumps ban was similar to an event in the 1940s. During the Second World War, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, an American naval base in Hawaii. Following this, thousands of American citizens of Japanese origin were rounded up and jailed in internment camps, suspected of being traitors. This became a matter of national shame later.

It is the memory of such historic wrongs, and the acknowledgment that their governments are not perfect and must always be challenged when they violate individual rights, that keeps America great. Perhaps Mr Trump, who says he wants to Make America Great Again, does not really understand the source of its greatness. America is fortunate that it has ACLU and groups like it that will defend the rights of everyone in America. In India we need such groups and need support for such groups from all sections, including the political and the judicial, so that we can also be a nation of laws that respects the rights of the individual. Many Indians will not know this but during the China war of 1962, Nehru jailed thousands of Indian citizens who were ethnic Chinese. That war lasted only a few weeks but for almost two years these Indians were kept in incarceration in Rajasthan after being forcibly taken out of their homes in Kolkata. It is a matter of shame that we have not properly acknowledged this act by Nehru. And of course we continue to visit barbarism on the weakest Indians, dalits and Muslims and adivasis. It will be a fine day when we can claim to have institutions in civil society as influential and as popular as ACLU, which is a strong body only because millions of Americans support its values. When Indians take offence at how other Indians are treated, when we take injustice to others personally, we will begin to make India great.
Pankaj Patel, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and chairman and managing director of Zydus Cadila, in an interview to Pawan Bali talks about the Union Budget and growing protectionist tendencies around the world.

How is the industry seeing the Budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley?

Budgets main focus is to stimulate growth. There will be an increase in demand because the government is investing in infrastructure. Simultaneously, cut in corporate tax rate to 25 per cent from 30 per cent for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will help in promoting employment. Rural income will increase as the Budget has a series of relevant investment schemes. Increase in funding for the health ministry will attract a lot of investment in healthcare. So overall the government is proposing to spend a lot of money across different industries, which will enhance demand and higher demand will help industries to sell more and fuel growth.

Are you disappointed that corporate tax was not cut for larger firms with revenue over Rs 50 crores?

Finance minister said that corporate rate tax cut for SMEs covers 96 per cent of the industry paying taxes. We are hopeful that the government will address the issue relating to large firms. The government intends to reduce corporate taxes to 25 per cent by 2019-20, a promise that Mr Jaitley has given in his first Budget speech, and we are confident that this promise will also be kept.

Mr Jaitley has set a target of fiscal deficit of 3.2 per cent of GDP for 2017-18. It is down from 3.5 per cent in 2016-17 but higher than three per cent which was the target. Your thoughts?

It is good as overall fiscal deficit will fall (from last years figure) significantly, and we are near our long-term goal of three per cent deficit. I am sure we will be looking at three per cent fiscal deficit target next year.

Do you think that Mr Jaitley should have used escape clause given by N.K. Singh Committee and set fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent for 2017-18 also and used the additional headroom to boost growth?

It is prudent not to take full benefit of the proposed escape clause; 3.2 per cent is a very thoughtful target. They have not stuck to three per cent and have taken extra money whatever they required, and not extended too much. This will ultimately help our economy. Lower the fiscal deficit, stronger the economy.

The current Economic Survey estimates demonetisation to impact GDP in 2016-17 by 0.25 percentage points to 0.50 percentage. Do you see its impact spill over in 2017-18?

I dont think so. It is a one-time impact. As the money is going to be available in the system, businesses will grow, people will earn money and spend money and thus the overall demand will increase. People hoarded cash and cut spending when sufficient cash was temporarily unavailable. But people have resumed spending. For April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 we will no longer feel any impact of demonetisation. We will see the growth usual in the next quarter. We are already seeing that the demand is becoming normal in many formal sectors of the economy.

After demonetisation is there any fear of tax terrorism? The government has already said that it will be sending 18 lakh notices to people who have made huge cash deposits during demonetisation.

Mr Jaitley clearly stated in his Budget speech that the government is going to ensure that there is no tax terrorism. In a meeting recently, he further clarified to us that these are not notices but letters. They are giving opportunities to people. It is a positive step. Until now we only got notices from the tax department. As an industry association we will support people who comply with tax rules. We are not here to worry about people who are not tax compliant.

Private investment is down, when we will see its revival?

Private investment depends on whether or not production capacity is full. Usually a company will sets up a new manufacturing plant when existing plant capacity utilisation reaches 70-80 per cent. Once the demand picks up the capacity will be utilised and you will see private investment coming in. We expect significant increase in demand this year and that would propel new investment from the private sector.

There is fear of growing protectionist polices around the world specially after President Donald Trump and Brexit?

This is an area of concern but the situation is fluid. These are uncertain times. We have suggested to the Government of India that they should form a high powered committee representing senior government officials and a few leading industrialists to discuss, debate and be prepared for the impending challenges. I believe that our diplomatic relationships globally are unique and the impact of any protectionist policies should be minimal for India.

There are concerns in Indian IT and pharma sectors on Mr Trumps policies. You are from pharma industry how do you see these developments unfolding?

From pharma industry perspective I can say that we mostly export generic drugs to the United States and we believe the impact of what Mr Trump is talking regarding this sector would be minimum.
The Roman Empires fall did not happen overnight: its citizens were unaware of a long-term decline, ascribing problems on the borders to the normal incursions from barbarian tribes. But over time, these attacks sapped the strength of the mighty empire, until the Romans moved their capitol to Byzantium, far from the fierce tribes that assailed their Western boundaries. Finally, they swarmed victoriously into Rome. More recently, the British Empire went into gradual meltdown following the First World War in which it lost the flower of its youth in murderous land battles in France. It also expended much treasure in that futile and costly war. Its status as a global power was destroyed by the Second World War that emptied its treasury and weakened its hold over its far-flung colonies. While the First World War was the first indication of Americas rise as a world power, the next global conflict cemented this position. It was widely recognised that the 20th century was Americas time in the sun. And now? Is the Trump era a harbinger of an empire in decline?

On the face of it, America is easily the most powerful nation on earth, with the biggest economy and mightiest military force ever seen. Its infrastructure is creaking, and increasingly its citizens are being pushed into poverty. The question arises as to how long America can retain its position. Its decline has been long forecast but, thus far, these predictions have been off the mark. The reason is that power is not absolute, but relative to other states. Thus, the Soviet Unions collapse over a quarter century ago enabled the US to rule the world unchallenged, except by non-state actors. In a piercing analysis of the nature and durability of power, Paul Kennedy examines the reasons behind the decline of superpowers. In his bestselling book, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, first published in 1987, Kennedy discusses the rise and fall of great powers between 1500 and 2000 in the most recent edition. His basic premise is that a states strength can be measured only relative to other states. Second, ascendancy over the long term correlates strongly to available resources and economic resilience.

Finally, military overstretch and corresponding relative decline is the fate of powers whose ambitions and security needs are greater than their resources. All this seems obvious, but when taken together, these ideas provide powerful tools for analysing how and why a great power declines. If we apply them to America, it becomes clear that there is what Kennedy calls an overhang under which a state can continue to project power for a while even when its resources are constrained. Trump has promised to raise military spending, even when the US is outspending all its adversaries put together. How long can this be sustained while it carries a $20tr debt? One factor Kennedy does not address is the role of leadership. A thoughtful leader will look at his resources and gauge the political will of his people before deciding on spending more money on his military, specially when theres no immediate threat. This is what Obama attempted, but was forced by circumstances to commit more military assets to Iraq and Syria than he would have liked to.

Meanwhile, Trump is bent on creating enemies, losing friends and expanding the military. At the same time, he wants to increase expenditure on the crumbling infrastructure. Clearly, he will have to cut back on some items, and this will probably be on money spent on the poor. Whether all this leads to Americas decline remains to be seen. China and Russia, the only possible challengers to America, remain regional powers compared to the worlds only superpower. But as Russia has shown in Syria, it is capable of challenging American hegemony in regions it deems crucial to its own security. In relative terms, however, American power remains supreme. Its technological edge is unmatched, and its level of training far in advance of most countries. And yet, its expenditure on the military now exceeds its resources, and we have yet to see how long this imbalance can be sustained.

By arrangement with Dawn
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Apple in California this week, which claims Apple has forced users to upgrade to the new iOS 7 operating system, intentionally. The lawsuit claims that Apple broke FaceTime on iOS 6 in order to avoid paying a high data fee to Akamai. iOS 6 users, in order to use FaceTime, were forced to upgrade their operating system or older hardware. This forced iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S users to dump their smartphones.

According to AppleInsider, Seemingly spawned from internal Apple documents disclosed during the VirnetX patent infringement lawsuit, which found Apple on the hook for $302.4 million in damages, the California action claims Apple intentionally broke FaceTime for devices running iOS 6 and earlier to avoid high monthly data relay charges from Akamai.

Apple releases iOS 7 last year, which was best suited for newer hardware that makes up the iPhone 7. Though the OS is compatible with older smartphones, they are erratic and not bug-free. Additionally, iOS 7 is not compatible with iPhone 5 and below, forcing users to upgrade their hardware too.

FaceTime, launched in 2010, includes connecting two iPhone users by voice and video over a direct connection, but the second relay method used third-party servers run by Akamai to shuttle the data back and forth. Earlier in 2012, Apple was found guilty of violating patents owned by VirnetX with its peer-to-peer technology, forcing the company to switch to the relay method for all FaceTime calls. This routed calls through the Akamai servers was costing Apple heavily. Apple was fined $50 million between April 2013 and September 2013, forcing the internal team to work on a cost saving alternative.

Apple then fixed this issue with Facetime on iOS 7 that uses a peer-to-peer standard, to avoid infringing on VirnetX patents. However, many users were still using iOS 6, which was forcing Apple to continue paying hefty data charges to Akamai.

The lawsuit thus claims that Apple, in order to save on its costs, allegedly broke FaceTime on iOS 6 by causing the digital certificate to expire earlier than dated. Apple then released a statement that claims FaceTime on iOS 6 had a bug.

If you started to have issues making or receiving FaceTime calls after April 16, 2014, your device or your friends device may have encountered a bug resulting from a device certificate that expired on that date. Updating both devices to the latest software will resolve this issue, claims the security post on Apples support website.

However, Apples engineers internal email conversation leaked out, revealing sensitive information that added more fuel to the fire. The leaked email conversation between the Apple engineers revealed the words that they intentionally broke iOS 6, which was the only way to force users to upgrade to iOS 7.

The email conversation is as below:

Engineer 1: Hey, guys. Im looking at the Akamai contract for next year. I understand we did something in April around iOS 6 to reduce relay utilization, an Apple engineer manager stated.

Engineer 2: It was a big user of relay bandwidth. We broke iOS 6, and the only way to get FaceTime working again is to upgrade to iOS 7.

This worst move by Apple has rendered older devices such as iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s useless. Though older iPhones on older operating systems are still functioning well, they would buckle under the weight of the new iOS 7 operating system.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple violated the California unfair competition law and is responsible for interfering with anothers possession.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
The men ran a series of websites that promised would-be subscribers a chance to earn five rupees ($0.07) each time they clicked or liked web links sent to their mobile phones, police said. (Photo: Representational Image)

Indian police have busted an internet scam in which around 650,000 people lost a combined 37 billion rupees ($549 million) after sending money to a company that promised they would earn cash by clicking on web links, police said on Friday. Police, who described the pyramid-style scheme as one of India's biggest ever, said they had arrested three ringleaders on the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital, and seized more than 5 billion rupees ($74 million) from bank accounts.

"They learned that if you give some money back to members, the investments would go up exponentially," Amit Pathak, head of a police cyber crime unit in India's populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters. The men ran a series of websites that promised would-be subscribers a chance to earn five rupees ($0.07) each time they clicked or liked web links sent to their mobile phones, police said.

The unsuspecting investors each paid thousands of rupees into the company's bank accounts to join the scheme, but the web links they received were fake. The company running the alleged scam had operated for years, but earned almost all the money over a few months from last August, after it began to distribute some of the proceeds, using the beneficiaries to draw in more investors.

Police said the ringleaders had not yet appointed lawyers as the chargesheet was still being prepared. When police raided the company's head office in the city of Noida they found 250 passports of employees and members who had been rewarded with a holiday to Australia.

The scammers planned to film the holiday and then post it online as promotional material to lure more subscribers. The alleged mastermind spent some of the proceeds on houses, cars and celebrity parties. Pathak said it would take time to trace most of the money, and several bank employees were believed to be involved.

"It's a very big task for us. We have brought in the income-tax department, and other government agencies, to trace the money," Pathak said. Cyber crime in India, home to the world's second largest number of internet users, jumped 350 per cent in the three years to 2014 as criminals exploited booming smartphone use, a study by auditing services firm PwC and industry lobby group Assocham showed last year.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Feeling lonely? Want some fun? Visit Girls Of Paradise escort site with its wide selection of scantily clad women and pay them for sex. Click on Marielle, Lucy, Sybille or Monica. Chat online and meet up. Prices are reasonable. Girls are local.

This, however, is where the charade stops and hopes of a "good time" end. It may look like any other escort website on the internet, but most of the Girls of Paradise are dead. Start chatting with 19-year-old Ines, a pretty, smiling brunette in a pale blue negligee and pictures of her battered and bruised face appear. A chilling message fills the screen: "Ines was thrown from a bridge by her pimp. She is seriously disabled and will never be able to walk again."

Click on Julia, 28, a blonde with cherry-red lipstick, and a series of images show her face swollen and bruised, her mouth bleeding. Her message reads: "The body of Julia, burnt, slashed and heavily battered with brass knuckles, was found in the Bois Du Boulogne (park in Paris). Killed by a client." Chats with other girls turn equally horrific, detailing brutal attacks and grisly deaths. Each chat ends: "When you are a client of prostitution, you are an accomplice to the violence they face."

The fake escort website is the brainchild of French charity Mouvement du Nid and advertising agency McCann Paris, part of a campaign to raise awareness about the reality of prostitution. The charity discussed the innovative project at a conference in Delhi earlier this week, where 250 representatives of civil society groups, activists and survivors from 30 countries shared strategies on how to curb the sexual exploitation of women.

"TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL"

The site - which uses the images of real women who were murdered by their clients, pimps or traffickers - is automated, but was live for two days last year with staff from Mouvement du Nid posing as prostitutes and interacting with clients. From a make-shift call centre, they chatted with clients online and by phone -- but instead of offering sex, they said they were unavailable as they had been beaten by their pimp, or explained how the girl requested had been stabbed to death by a customer.

In the ten hours that the site was live, more than 600 phone calls and thousands of online chats were recorded. The footage was used to produce a campaign video which showed how men visiting prostitutes were encouraging the global trade of women, so were accomplices to their abuse and exploitation. Claire Quidet, spokeswoman for Mouvement du Nid, said the ad aimed to help shape public opinion as France debated criminalising prostitution.

"At first we weren't too excited as a frontline NGO working with victims of prostitution to chat with clients," Quidet told the conference. "We see how pimps and traffickers are using new technologies such as the internet as a tool to exploit women, so we thought we can also try it to combat the problem of prostitution."

"IS ANOTHER GIRL AVAILABLE?"

Sex work is illegal in most countries across the world, yet exists everywhere. There are an estimated 40 million sex workers globally, according to French charity Fondation Scelles. Activists say most have been lured, duped or forced into sexual slavery by pimps and traffickers, largely due to poverty, a lack of opportunities and a marginalised status in society.

Once forced to work in brothels, on street corners, in massage parlours, strip clubs or private homes, it is difficult for sex workers to leave, activists say. For many it is the threat of physical abuse from their pimp that keeps them in prostitution, but some stay because they have been ostracised by their families and have nowhere to go.

Quidet said what was interesting about the experiment was the reaction of clients on discovering the woman they had wanted for sex had been beaten to a pulp or stabbed to death. "We thought they would hang up or insult us after we said 'No, you can't see her because she is dead or she has been stabbed, or she is a wheelchair because she was beaten by her pimp. But it never happened. Not once," she said.

While clients were compassionate at first and wanted to know what had happened to the victim, expressing shock at the violence, it quickly changed to denial -- all they wanted was a girl for the night, she said. "Oh, this is horrible' or 'I feel so sorry for her' would be the first reaction. But very quickly the client would then say 'Can I see you instead?' or 'Is someone else available?"

"Once I said 'It's not going to be possible to meet as I am in a wheelchair because I was beaten up by my pimp, and one client replied 'I don't mind the wheelchair ... it's okay."

(Photo credit: McCann Paris - screengrabs from YouTube video)

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A major update is touted to arrive soon for Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X smartphones, bringing Google Assistant, which is based on Google Now with expanded Ok Google features.

The launch of the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones with the Google Assistant AI on board had left many wondering if the virtual assistant will make its way to Nexus smartphones. Few months later, there are rumors that the Google Assistant might arrive to some Nexus phones soon.

The Pixel and Pixel XL are the only smartphones that have Google Assistant integration while the virtual assistant powers Googles Home device and can be found in a slightly different version in the Googles Allo app.

Google Assistant is the search giants competitor to various other AI assistants available on the market, including Windows Cortana, Apples Siri and Amazons Alexa, which is seeing integration on Huaweis smartphones and various other applications.

A major update is touted to arrive soon for Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X smartphones, bringing Google Assistant, which is based on Google Now with expanded Ok Google features. Stephen Hall, Senior Editor at 9to5Google stated on Twitter that Google would bring Assistant in the next major update.

This means the virtual AI might not arrive in the beta Android 7.1.2 release for Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X, which recently rolled out to the Pixel device, but not these two phones, Google Assistant could possibly arrive with Android 8 later this year which is certainly a long wait then.

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Users will have to download the app and simply upload the picture of the wrongly parked car and its number plate.

A private car park company is offering 10 pounds to users who take photos of illegally parked cars on private property through a new app.

UK Car Park Management, which runs car parks for Tesco and McDonalds, has launched an app that automatically produces parking tickets of up to 100 pounds.

Users will have to download the app and simply upload the picture of the wrongly parked car and its number plate if it has been parked on private property.

The app is designed for businesses that cannot pay to patrol their own car parks, and want to ward freeloaders off their property around town centres or other busy locations.

The company describes the services as completely confidential and states it offers complete privacy. However, it has raised concerns about private companies finding it even easier to issue large fines for minor offences.

Parking enforcement has increasingly embraced technology in recent years by using devices such as automatic license plate readers.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and United States President Donald Trump will hold a telephone conversation on Saturday evening, the Ukrainian presidential press service said.

"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will hold a telephone conversation with the U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday evening," the press service said.

The time of the conversation was not specified.

Earlier, the White House announced the upcoming conversation of two leaders. The White House said that the conversation will take place at 4:45 p.m., U.S. time.
The clients impacted by the decision are on Windows and Mac, and Microsoft states that updating to the latest versions is the only way to continue using the service without interruption.

Microsoft has announced March 1 as the deadline for users to migrate to the latest version of Skype clients on the desktop, explaining that older releases would no longer log in beyond this date.

The termination of the old Skype versions comes as a part of the companys shift to a more modern architecture for the VoIP platform, which enables more advanced features, such as video message saving, cloud file sharing, and mobile group calling.

The clients impacted by the decision are on Windows and Mac, and Microsoft states that updating to the latest versions is the only way to continue using the service without interruption.

Because we want to provide our users with the best possible Skype experience, necessary changes must be made along the way. So beginning March, users running older versions of Skype for Windows desktop (7.16 and below) or Skype for Mac (7.0 to 7.18) will no longer be able to sign in. if youre one of those users, all you will need to do is download the new update, Microsoft explains.

As far as Windows 10 users are concerned, Microsofts decision to kill off old versions of the Skype client should not impact them in a substantial manner because the operating system already comes with a built-in Skype preview universal app.

Overall, Microsoft cannot be blamed for rendering the old versions of Skype obsolete, reason being the firm is moving to a modern infrastructure that allows for so many new features.

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The government of the Indian state of Karnataka said on Thursday it welcomed Apple's proposal to begin initial manufacturing operations in tech hub Bengaluru, its state capital, hinting it is moving forward with plans to assemble iPhones in India.

An assembly plant that Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing partner Wistron Corp is setting up in Bengaluru will focus solely on assembling iPhones, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. The source, who asked not to be named because he was not cleared to discuss matters publicly, said Apple and the Indian government were, however, still discussing "the repatriation of long-term profits from local sales and exports."

The government of the Indian state of Karnataka said on Thursday it welcomed Apple's proposal to begin initial manufacturing operations in tech hub Bengaluru, its state capital, hinting it is moving forward with plans to assemble iPhones in India. "Apple's intentions to manufacture in Bengaluru will foster a cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally," the Karnataka government said in a statement.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge told Reuters on Friday he believes Apple will "tentatively begin manufacturing iPhones in the state by the end of April, or beginning of May." A second source familiar with matters told Reuters, however, that no agreement, or memorandum of understanding has so far been finalised with the Karnataka government.

The person, who also asked not to be named, said if Apple did go ahead with plans to begin assembling the iPhone, it was likely to do so initially at the plant being set up by Wistron at Peenya on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Apple was not immediately reachable for comment.

Joyce Chou, a spokeswoman for Wistron, said its Bengaluru plant is expected to begin producing smartphones sometime in the first half of 2017. She declined to comment on whether it would be a captive iPhone assembly site. Cupertino, California-based Apple, is keen to assemble its phones in India, one of the world's fastest growing smartphone markets.

Apple representatives met federal and state government officials in India last week, as it is lobbies hard for tax and sourcing concessions before it begins to assemble iPhones there. Apple described its discussions with Indian officials as open and constructive.

Any final decision on manufacturing in India is, however, likely to depend on the government's willingness to concede ground on the concessions Apple seeks. Last month, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said India would consider Apple's request for incentives with an "open mind."

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New York: The New York Police Department, on Thursday, arrested 29-year-old Phillip Payne on charges of raping his girlfriend's 9-year-old daughter.

He was arrested after admitting to raping the elder daughter and abusing her 5-year-old sister, in their Bushwick home, New York Daily News reported.

Payne lived with his girlfriend and her two daughters. He would reportedly ask the older girl to stand against the wall and pushed nails into her palm, as if trying to crucify her, the police said. If she moved, he would pinch or beat her with a belt.

Payne has been charged with multiple counts of rape, sexual misconduct, endangering the welfare of a child, menacing and assault, after he made a full confession. He had previously been arrested multiple times on charges of selling drugs in 2004 and robbery in 2009, among others.
Washington: The Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran, which it said were just "initial steps" and said Washington would no longer turn a "blind eye" to Iran's hostile actions.

The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities were the opening salvo by President Donald Trump who has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and came two days after the administration had put Iran 'on notice' following a ballistic missile test.

"The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests," National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said.

"The days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," Flynn said in a White House statement.

Suggesting that more concrete action could follow if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support in regional proxy conflicts, a senior administration official said the latest sanctions were the initial steps in response to Iran's "provocative behaviour".

The administration was "undertaking a larger strategic review" of how it responds to Iran.

Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and said it would impose legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping "regional terrorist groups", state TV quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying.

Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.

Nuclear deal

The White House said that while the sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before. It added that a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear program was not in the best interest of the United States.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the missile test did not violate the nuclear agreement.

"It's not a direct violation. I think there is no question that it violates the spirit of that," Spicer said in an interview with MSNBC. He said the nuclear agreement was a "sweetheart deal" for Iran.

Citing a foreign ministry statement, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said the missile program is "the undeniable and inalienable right of our nation under international law and the UN charter. Any foreign interference in this regard is a violation of international law."

The new designations stuck to areas that remain under sanctions even with the 2015 nuclear deal sealed between Iran and world powers in place, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military body that is powerful in Iranian politics and the economy, and Iran's ballistic missile program. Zarif led Iran's delegation at the nuclear negotiations in 2015.

Among those affected by the sanctions were what it said was a Lebanon-based network run by the Revolutionary Guards.

"The list is actually so targeted and comparatively mild, it leads one to surmise that it may have been a set of targets devised by the Obama administration, and was ready to go when Trump came into office," said Adam Smith, former senior advisor to the Director of the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"As such, the real test for which way the Trump team will go on Iran may well be not this list release but the next one, whenever that occurs," Smith said.

The sanctions' impact will be more symbolic than practical, especially as they do not affect the lifting of broader U.S. and international sanctions that took place under the nuclear deal.

Also, few of the Iranian entities being targeted are likely to have U.S. assets that can be frozen, and U.S. companies, with few exceptions, are barred from doing business with Iran.

Meanwhile, the U.S. moved a Navy destroyer, the USS Cole, close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran.

Designations

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Friday expressed understanding over the sanctions, but warned against conflating Sunday's test with the nuclear deal.

Earlier on Friday, Trump tweeted: "Iran is playing with fire". U.S. Senator Mark Warner expressed support for the sanctions, adding:

"I urge the Administration to bring clarity to their overall strategy towards Iran, and to refrain from ambiguous rhetoric or provocative tweets that will exacerbate efforts to confront those challenges.

Some of the entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury are based in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China.

Among those affected were companies, individuals and brokers the U.S. Treasury said support a trade network run by Iranian businessman Abdollah Asgharzadeh.

Treasury said he supported Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which the United States has said is a subsidiary of an Iranian entity that runs Iran's ballistic missile program.

Hasan Dehghan Ebrahimi, a Beirut-based official with the Revolutionary Guard's Qods Force, which runs its operations abroad, was put under sanctions for acting on behalf of the Qods Force, Treasury said.

Three Lebanese companies involved in waste collection, pharmaceuticals, and construction were also listed under the sanctions for being owned or controlled by Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat, one of Ebrahimi's employees.

Treasury said he has facilitated millions of dollars in cash transfers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Two of his employees and a company he manages were also sanctioned. Treasury said Ebrahimi and his employees used a Lebanon-based network to transfer funds, launder money, and conduct business.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by his daughter Ivanka, waves as they walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House. (Photo: AP)

Washington: She may have no official White House title. But Ivanka Trump is already proving she's an unofficial power player.

The first daughter has made clear that she wants to work on policy and support her father, President Donald Trump.

She joined him for a policy meeting with business executives and for a trip to Delaware's Dover Air Force Base to honor a fallen Navy SEAL. She hosted CEOs at her home to talk policy and used her influence behind the scenes at the White House.

These efforts have only underscored questions about the role Ivanka Trump expects to play after resigning from the Trump Organization and her own lifestyle brand to move to Washington. But for now it's her husband who is officially working for the Trump administration.
Washington: For all the White House's early bravado, President Donald Trump has taken office with few concrete plans for how to make good on his pledge to unravel President Barack Obama's foreign policy and tackle some of the biggest national security challenges facing his administration.

In phone calls with key European leaders, Trump is said to have described his plans for confronting the Islamic State group with the same hard-charging but vague rhetoric he used in the campaign, promising strong, but unspecified action.

Pressed privately by allies about how he plans to pursue a better relationship with Russia, Trump sticks with his public assertion that a better relationship with Moscow would be beneficial for the West. But he hasn't said how he plans to get there. He's indicated in some of those same conversations that while he believes the Iranian nuclear accord is a bad deal, he will not move quickly to withdraw, according to US officials and others with knowledge of Trump's discussions with world leaders.

Ambiguity was a hallmark of Trump's campaign: He has said he believes the US should not tip its hand on national security matters. But the fact that Trump is using vague language in private discussions has left both allies and his own administration officials uncertain whether he has policies in mind to back up his rhetoric.

A town hall for National Security Council staff on Tuesday also offered few clues on the administration's approach. One official in attendance said that when Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser, and his deputy KT McFarland were asked to describe specifically what the president's "America First" mantra would mean for policy, they largely reiterated Trump's campaign assurances that he could put US interests ahead of those of other countries.

Three US officials and three others with knowledge of the White House's foreign policy dealings insisted on anonymity because they were restricted from discussing the president's private conversations and other internal matters publicly.

To be sure, Trump has moved swiftly on the immigration-related national security issues that were the centerpiece of his campaign. He ordered the government to start work on his proposed wall along the US-Mexico border. He also signed a sweeping refugee and immigration executive order, though the decision-making was tightly held in the West Wing and the initial implementation chaotic.

"The team that we've seen in action over the last few weeks is the White House team," said Nicholas Burns, a longtime US diplomat and professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. "That team is breaking a lot of china."

Trump, who spent his career in business before running for president, has shown keen interest in trade and America's economic standing with other countries in his discussions with foreign leaders. But his direction on many other foreign policy issues remains hazy.

He has vowed to destroy the Islamic State group, but hasn't said whether he will commit US combat troops to do so. He's asked for a 30 day review of the policy. He said he would stop North Korea from building a long-range nuclear missile, but hasn't said how. And he's made little mention of Afghanistan, where about 8,400 US troops are still fighting America's longest war.

White House officials note that Trump is just getting Senate confirmation for his national security Cabinet secretaries, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was approved on Wednesday. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer has blamed Democrats for stalling on the president's nominees, saying lawmakers from the opposing party are "holding up the confirmation of these highly qualified people."

Some of Trump officials' early moves have given hints about their priorities - and raised concerns within the administration.

Senior officials have been soliciting guidance from national security agencies on how to improve relations with Russia, asking what Washington could offer Moscow and what Trump should seek from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tillerson requested a briefing on moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, one of Trump's campaign promises.

According to one US official, senior national security aides have sought information about Polish incursions in Belarus, an eyebrow-raising request because little evidence of such activities appears to exist. Poland is among the Eastern European nations worried about Trump's friendlier tone on Russia.

At the National Security Council, a policymaking body within the White House, officials were startled when drafts began circulating of an executive order that would have opened the door to resuming torture and CIA "black site" prisons. NSC officials were asked to submit comments on the order, according to two US officials, but the directive was ultimately scrapped, in part because Defense Secretary Jim Mattis opposed the measure.

Spicer insisted the order did not originate in the White House.

NSC officials did voice substantial concerns with the executive order halting the US refugee program and temporarily banning all entries to the US from seven Muslim-majority nations. But officials said lengthy comments appeared to have been largely ignored by the Trump political advisers who oversaw the order, namely chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller.

While Flynn is involved in Trump's foreign leader calls and other national security discussions, officials say he so far does not appear to have the same level of influence as Bannon. Flynn is also said to have been more attuned to some of the troubles with the execution of the refugee and immigration ban than others in the White House.

But some officials fear the White House is taking the wrong lessons from the flawed rollout of the refugee ban. Amid a flurry of leaks about that process - as well as leaked draft executive orders and details of the president's calls with foreign leaders - career officials and policy experts are being looked at with more suspicion and getting cut out of additional discussions, according to people with knowledge of the processes.

Those longtime policy hands fear their influence could be further marginalized by an in-house think tank Bannon is said to be working on. The project, dubbed the Strategic Initiatives Group, could focus on both foreign and domestic policy issues, potentially giving the president's chief strategist even broader sway in the administration.
Republican efforts to repeal the healthcare law have stumbled over an inability so far to come up with a comprehensive replacement plan. (Photo: AP)

Washington: More than 9.2 million U.S. consumers signed up for health insurance using the Healthcare.gov website during the open enrolment period between November and Jan. 31, the U.S. government said on Friday.

Enrolment was down from 9.7 million a year ago but the decline was smaller than some had predicted amid President Donald Trump's push to overturn former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform under which the plans are sold.

With several insurers pulling out over rising costs, and Republican congressional efforts to scuttle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, the enrolment period was seen as a test of the program's popularity. HealthCare.gov sells health insurance under the ACA for 39 states. The remaining states run their own exchanges. The total number of plan selections across all states for the entire open enrolment period will be released in March.

Average premiums for the second-lowest cost silver plan rose 25 percent compared with the previous year. At the same time the number of insurance providers choosing to participate in the exchanges fell by 28 percent.

Of the 9.2 million, about 3 million were new consumers while 6.2 million were returning consumers. The figures include any cancellations that occurred during the period.

Trump's surprise victory in early November as the enrolment period got underway created serious doubts about whether people would sign up for the insurance program.

A move by the Trump administration to pull television ads reminding consumers that the enrolment deadline was approaching likely contributed to the dropoff.

"This may have cost about 500,000 additional enrolments," said Ron Pollack, executive director of healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA, in a statement, calling the move an "attempt to sabotage enrolment."

"And despite all that, millions of consumers still got their insurance through the ACA," Pollack said.

Meanwhile, Republican efforts to repeal the healthcare law have stumbled over an inability so far to come up with a comprehensive replacement plan.

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee this week said changes to the law would be made in "chunks" and would be better labelled a "repair."
Protesters on the street against President Donald Trump's travel restriction from seven Muslim-majority countries. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries banned from the United States by President Donald Trump can resume boarding US-bound flights, several major airlines said on Saturday, after a Seattle judge blocked the executive order.

Qatar Airways was the first to say it would allow passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to fly to US cities if they had valid documents.

Air France, Spain's Iberia and Germany's Lufthansa all followed suit after the federal judge's ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.

But the websites of two other major Gulf airlines, Etihad and Emirates, still carried notices informing passengers of Trump's original Jan. 27 order.

The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who said it was racist and discriminatory.

US Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could board travelers affected within hours of Friday's ruling, but budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights including from London and Oslo, said many uncertainties remained about the legal position.

"It's still very unclear," spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson said. "We advise passengers to contact the US embassy ... We have to follow the US rules."

In Cairo, aviation sources said Egypt Air and other airlines had told their sales offices of Friday's ruling and would allow people previously affected by the ban to book flights.

But for some who had changed their travel plans following the ban, the order was not enough reassurance.

In Dubai, Tariq Laham, 32, and his Polish fiancee Natalia had scrapped plans to travel to the United States after they get married in July in Poland. Laham said the couple would not reverse their decision.

"It is just too risky," said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. "Every day you wake up and there is a new decision."

Visa Suspensions

Trump's order caused chaos at airports across the United States last week. Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the US.

The State Department said on Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended following Trump's order. It was not clear whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what reception travelers with such visas might get at US airports.

The Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's executive order. Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges in similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.

The challenge in Seattle was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas. Amazon.com and Expedia, both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms suffered by Washington states universities, and also questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trumps order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be based in fact, as opposed to fiction.

"Outrageous order"

The White House said in a statement: At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

It added: "The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "No person - not even the president - is above the law."

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order, said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

But the fluid legal situation was illustrated by the fact that Robart's ruling came just hours after a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order allowing some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

A Reuters poll earlier this week indicated that the immigration ban has popular support, with 49 percent of Americans agreeing with the order and 41 percent disagreeing. Some 53 percent of Democrats said they "strongly disagree" with Trump's action while 51 percent of Republicans said they "strongly agree."

At least one company, the ride-hailing giant Uber, was moving quickly Friday night to take advantage of the ruling.

CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump's business advisory council this week in the face of a fierce backlash from Uber customers and the company's many immigrant drivers, said on Twitter: "I just chatted with our head of litigation Angela, whos buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!! #homecoming #fingerscrossed"
Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, talks with reporters as she leaves Brooklyn federal court following her husband's court appearance. (Photo: AP)

New York: Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, accused of running one of the world's biggest drug empires, saw his wife in court on Friday after being denied marital visits behind bars.

Guzman, one of the world's most notorious criminals who escaped twice from prison in Mexico, has been held in solitary confinement in New York since being extradited to the United States on January 19.

Emma Coronel, a 27-year-old former beauty queen and mother of Guzman's twins, attended his second court hearing in Brooklyn on Friday, dressed in black with a yellow scarf knotted around her neck.

Guzman's public defenders asked Judge Brian Cogan permission for Coronel to visit her husband at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, but Cogan declined to intervene, saying it was up to the jail which has already denied it.

"It's an unusual case," Cogan noted. "Obviously they are taking extra security measures. We know the reasons for that," he added.

US authorities are determined that Guzman will have no opportunity to stage another daring escape after twice fleeing Mexican prisons, once in a laundry cart and most recently through a tunnel under his shower.

The 59-year-old defendant, dressed in navy short-sleeved prison scrubs, was calm and expressionless for the 40-minute hearing, which he followed through a Spanish language interpreter sitting next to him.

He pleaded not guilty to a raft of firearms, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges at an initial court hearing on January 20.

Friday's hearing was conducted under stringent security measures, with armed guards dressed in bullet-proof vests at the court door and attendees required to pass through two security checkpoints before entering the room.

His lawyers say he has been unable to make telephone calls or communicate directly with his family or lawyers in Mexico, locked in a cell 23 hours a day with only one hour of solitary exercise at the MCC in downtown Manhattan.

His personal appearance was a small victory after prosecutors recommended that he appear by video link to keep down costs and minimize disruption caused by transporting him on the two-mile (three-kilometer) trip. The judge set the next hearing in May.

If he stands trial and is convicted, Guzman could spend the rest of his life in a maximum security US prison. Prosecutors are also seeking to obtain a $14 billion criminal forfeiture order against him.
Protesters display placards in front of riot police during a rally at the US Embassy to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's recent anti-immigration policies in Manila. (Photo: AP)

Jakarta: Indonesian and Filipino students have protested President Donald Trump's immigration policy outside the US embassies in their capitals.

In Jakarta, dozens of students and activists from several rights groups called on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

They waved banners such as "I'm angry with Trump" and "No ban, no wall" during Saturday's peaceful protest.

Rights activist Veronica Koman, who organized the protest, said that Trump's "xenophobic" policy will impact significantly people fleeing war-torn countries who are currently in Indonesia.

Nearly 14,000 refugees are in Indonesia seeking resettlement in third countries. A similar rally was held outside the U.S. Embassy in the Philippine capital, Manila.
Turkish citizen on Interpol's wanted lists for involvement in terrorism funding detained in Ukraine

The border guards of the Lviv detachment have detained a Turkish citizen, who is possibly involved in financing of terrorism, on Friday, the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said on Saturday.

The Turkish citizen was detained during the processing of papers of passengers of an incoming flight en route from Istanbul to Lviv. Information about him was in the Interpol database.

"It was found out later that the Turkish citizen, aged 43, is on the wanted lists of the French law enforcement agencies for financing of terrorism in 2006-2006," the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said.

At present, the detained Turkish citizen was handed over to officials of the Ukrainian National Police.
Tokyo: US Defence Secretary James Mattis said on Saturday that Iran was the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, as President Donald Trump slapped fresh sanctions on the country's weapons procurement network.

"As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," Mattis said at a press conference in Tokyo, but added that the US had no plans to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

"It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it and at the same time I don't see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time," he said.

"We always have the capability to do so but right now I don't think it's necessary," Mattis said.

US officials said that the new sanctions, announced on Friday, were in response to Iran's ballistic missile test this week and its support for Huthi rebels in Yemen, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.

The new sanctions do not yet mean that the US has abandoned commitments it made under an earlier deal to lift measures aimed at Iran's nuclear programme, officials said.

But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Friday's measures would not be the last against the country.
Armed police officers patrol in the courtyard of the Louvre museum near where a soldier opened fire after he was attacked in Paris. (Photo: AP)

Paris: The Louvre was to reopen in Paris Saturday, 24 hours after a soldier patrolling the museum shot a machete-wielding attacker, believed to be an Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa a week ago.

The incident on Friday has thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a "terrorist" assault.

The attacker, in a black t-shirt bearing a skull design and armed with two 40-centimetre (16-inch) machetes, lunged at four patrolling French soldiers while shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest"), Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference.

One of the troops was struck on the head and another fell to the ground outside the famous Paris museum after the assailant attacked. The second soldier managed to open fire and hit the machete-wielder in the stomach.

"The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded. He has been taken to hospital and is fighting for his life," the prosecutor said.

A source later said that the suspect's condition had stabilised. Security forces said one soldier had suffered a minor head wound.

Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the world famous attraction after the assailant was shot five times around 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in a public area near one of the museum's entrances.

Terrorist nature

The attacker, who is thought to be aged 29 and living in the United Arab Emirates, is believed to have entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26, a source said.

An Egyptian passport, thought to be the suspect's, was found during a search of an apartment in an expensive district of Paris near the Champs-Elysees.

Investigators are examining the Twitter account of an Egyptian man named Abdallah El Hamahmy after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic between 9:27 am and 9:34 am, just minutes prior to the attack.

"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," El Hamahmy wrote, before making reference to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

The UAE government condemned the "hateful crime" and assured France of its "full solidarity".

As French authorities probed the attacker's background, President Francois Hollande said that "there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act," an assessment echoed by Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

France was already reeling from a string of terror attacks over the last two years and the country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

The economy, immigration and security are major issues for voters ahead of this year's presidential and parliamentary elections forecast to confirm the country's shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that a "new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART US."

Witnesses described scenes of panic as people fled the Louvre complex following the incident.

"We heard gunshots. We didn't know what it was about. Then we evacuated the employees and we left," one man who works in a nearby restaurant told AFP.

A female colleague said: "We saw death coming for us, with everything that's happening at the moment. We were very, very scared."

String of attacks

The Louvre closed following the attack but will re-open on Saturday at 10:00 am.

Paris' lucrative tourism industry has been a major casualty of the terror attacks, with visitors cancelling or shortening their stays.

The Louvre, a former palace in the heart of the city, has seen annual visitor numbers fall by some two million since 2015 to 7.3 million after the spate of attacks across France hit its claim to be the world's most visited museum.

The series of terror attacks in France began in January 2015 when jihadist gunmen rampaged through the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, leaving 17 people dead in three days of bloodshed.

Ten months later, gunmen and suicide bombers from the Islamic State jihadist group attacked bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium in Paris, killing 130 people.

And last July, a Tunisian extremist rammed a lorry through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on France's south coast, crushing 86 people to death.
London: Several thousand people demonstrated outside the US embassy in London on Saturday against President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Protesters held black banners with blood stains bearing slogans such as "No to Trump. No to War" and "Trump: Special Relationship? Just say no." at the demonstration against the ban and Trump's foreign policy.

Trump signed an order just over a week ago putting a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the US and temporarily barred travellers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries.

On Friday, a Seattle judge blocked the order but many in Britain are angry about the measure, which they see as discriminatory, and the time it took for Prime Minister Theresa May's government to criticise it.
Local residents line up for help at the humanitarian aid center in Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine. (Photo: AP)

AVDIIVKA: US President Donald Trump was to hold his first talks with Ukraine's leader on Saturday as a surge in fighting killed dozens refocusing world attention on the conflict in Europe's backyard.

The phone conversation comes as the death toll hit 35 following a week of clashes between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed insurgents in a level of bloodshed unseen in the eastern war zone since 2015.

The violence erupted as Trump seeks to build a friendship with Russia's Vladimir Putin with some analysts linking the escalation to the potential thaw in ties.

The scheduled call -- which will take place in the evening -- will see Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko seeking to win assurances of Washington's continued diplomatic and non-lethal military support.

It comes a week after the new US leader spoke to Putin.

Russia and Ukraine along with the rebels on Wednesday signed up to calls for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the flashpoint town Avdiivka by Sunday.

But the demand for the shooting to stop has not halted the violence and so far there has been little sign of the big guns being pulled back around the Kiev-held industrial town of 25,000 at the centre of the fighting.

Power plant silenced

Correspondents on site said the night and morning passed relatively calmly compared to previous ones.

But the Ukrainian army said one of its soldiers had been killed in the area.

"Tonight, we saw shelling on the outskirts of Avdiivka but there were no major attacks on the city itself," regional police spokeswoman Nataliya Shyman said.

Most residents of this blue-collar town work in a major coke plant that has been heavily damaged by the shelling.

The town remained without electricity on Saturday and with only sporadic power supplies to heat homes against the freezing winter temperatures and limited supplies of water.

The giant plant provides electricity for much of the region and has been the target of previous deadly rebel attacks.

Plant spokesman Dmytro Murashko said that work brigades would try again Saturday to repair broken power lines after shelling halted their earlier efforts.

Friday was one of the bloodiest days with nine civilians killed - two of them inside the town.

The call to withdraw heavy weapons was made under the coordination of mediators from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

It provides for the "withdrawal by 5 February 2017 into permanent storage sites of all weapons regulated by Minsk agreements to the distances defined in them and beyond the respective lines."

Sudden assault

The Minsk deal was signed in February 2015 and defined a step-by-step solution to one of Europe's bloodiest conflicts since the 1990s Balkans wars.

It has since been repeatedly broken - prompting Wednesday's meeting of negotiators to call for the warring sides to ensure "strict adherence to (a) full and comprehensive cessation of fire".

The separatists' sudden assault came after a month-long spell of relative calm in the 33-month war in an escalation that has sharpened the world's focus on the bloodshed in the European Union's back yard.

The conflict began shortly after Ukraine ousted its Russian-back leader in February 2014.

Moscow responded by annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March 2014 before allegedly plotting the eastern insurgency to keep Ukraine under its thumb after its tilt toward the West.

The Kremlin sees most of the former Soviet Union as part of its geopolitical sphere of influence.

That stance has been strongly disputed by Washington and European leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in Ukraine - a surprising attack given Trump's supportive stance towards Putin.

Russia denies any responsibility for the conflict and blames the United States for igniting the protests that tilted Ukraine toward the West.
Iran's medium-range missiles can reach 2,000 kilometres, sufficient to strike Israel or US bases in the Gulf. (Photo: Representational Image/AP)

Tehran: Iran is to deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise Saturday in a show of defiance a day after the United States imposed sanctions over a ballistic missile test launch last weekend.

Relations between Washington and Tehran have deteriorated sharply since Donald Trump took office last month promising a tough line on what he sees as Iranian belligerency towards US interests and allies.

Hours after the new US sanctions were announced, Pentagon chief James Mattis charged that Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

The new sanctions are the first of Trump's presidency and target what US officials say is Iran's weapons procurement network in Lebanon and China.

They are a response to Iran's test launch of a medium-range ballistic missile last Sunday as well as its support for Yemeni rebels who attacked a Saudi frigate earlier this week, the officials said.

Iran's medium-range missiles can reach 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), sufficient to strike Israel or US bases in the Gulf.

But the Revolutionary Guards said that the missiles deployed for Saturday's exercise would only be of very short range up to 75 kilometres (47 miles).

They said the manoeuvres in the northeastern province of Semnan were aimed at demonstrating their "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" and "humiliating sanctions" from Washington.

"Different types of domestically produced radar and missile systems, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems will be used in this exercise," the Guards' website said.

The new sanctions do not yet mean that Washington has abandoned commitments it made to lift measures aimed at Iran's nuclear programme, US officials said.

But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Friday's measures would not be the last.

Tit-for-tat

Iran reacted angrily, vowing to impose "legal limitations" on Americans it says are involved in creating and supporting "extreme terrorist groups."

"In response to the new move by the United States of America and as a reciprocal action, (Iran) will impose legal limitations for some American individuals and companies that have had a role in the creation and support of extreme terrorist groups in the region," the foreign ministry said.

It said it would publish a list of names later.

US intelligence and Treasury officials are constantly scrutinising Iran's networks, looking for evidence of extremist funding and advanced weapons procurement.

But Mattis said Washington had no immediate plans to increase troop numbers in the Middle East.

A defence official said the US Navy had sent a destroyer to waters off Yemen in response to the attack on the Saudi frigate.

The USS Cole, which had been conducting operations in the Gulf, is now stationed in the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Tehran says its missiles do not breach UN resolutions because they are for defence purposes only and are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that Iran would "never initiate a war", despite facing threats, "but we can only rely on our own means of defence."

The missile row is just one of a raft of issues souring relations between Tehran and the Trump White House.

Iran is one of seven mainly Muslim countries targeted by the visa ban he ordered last week and its government has reacted angrily.

The order, which caused mayhem worldwide, was suspended by a federal judge on Friday but only after Tehran ordered tit-for-tat action against a US wrestling team due to take part in an international tournament in Iran later this month.
Tehran: Foreign airlines have instructed Iranian travel agencies not to sell US-bound flight tickets to Iranians holding US visas after President Donald Trump's executive order banning visas for seven Muslim countries, including Iran.

The move comes even though a US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the ban, siding with two states that urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country. The directive does not include US airlines.

In Tehran, the Kowsar travel agency said, they had been instructed by all foreign airlines not to sell tickets to Iranians with visas to enter the US.

The agency said there was no problem for those who have a permanent resident card or a US passport.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has said the U.S. is "putting Iran on notice" after it test-fired a ballistic missile earlier this week. (Photo: AP)

Tehran: Iran is to deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise on Saturday in a show of defiance a day after the United States imposed sanctions over a ballistic missile test launch last weekend.

The Guards' Sepah News website said the manoeuvres in the northeastern province of Semnan were aimed at demonstrating their "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" and "humiliating sanctions" from Washington.

"Different types of domestically produced radar and missile systems, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems will be used in this exercise," it said.

A list of the missiles to be deployed published later on the website showed they were of very short range - up to 75 kilometers (47 miles).

US President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran on Friday over its test launch of a medium-range ballistic missile and its support for Yemeni rebels, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.

Hours later, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world" but added that Washington had no plans to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

The new sanctions do not yet mean that the US has abandoned commitments it made to lift measures aimed at Iran's nuclear programme, officials said.

But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Friday's measures would not be the last.

Iran announced it would take "reciprocal action" against US individuals and companies.

"In response to the new move by the United States of America and as a reciprocal action, (Iran) will impose legal limitations for some American individuals and companies that have had a role in the creation and support of extreme terrorist groups in the region," the foreign ministry said.

It said it would publish a list of names later.
A travel alert posted on the Doha-based airline's website said the carrier would comply with the new orders as long as passengers had a valid visa. (Photo: Representational Image)

Doha: Qatar Airways said Saturday it would fly passengers to the United States from seven previously barred Muslim-majority countries after a US judge temporarily halted a controversial travel ban.

A travel alert posted on the Doha-based airline's website said the carrier would comply with the new orders as long as passengers had a valid visa.

"As directed by the US Customs and Border Protection, nationals of the seven affected countries listed below and all refugees seeking admission presenting a valid, unexpired US visa or (Green Card) will be permitted to travel to the United States and will be processed accordingly upon arrival," read the statement.

The decision was taken after Seattle US District Judge James Robart announced a temporary suspension of President Donald Trump's travel ban.

The White House said the ban introduced via executive order last week was placed upon nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen as a security measure.

Qatar Airways had complied with the ban, which also suspended refugee arrivals. The Gulf carrier flies to at least 15 American cities including New York, Atlanta and Chicago.
Beijing: China warned the United States on Saturday not to destabilise East Asia after Donald Trump's new defence secretary said an island chain claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing was covered by a US-Japan military accord.

The Senkaku islands, known in China as the Diaoyus, sit in rich fishing grounds and are at the centre of a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing, which claims they have been part of Chinese territory for centuries.

"The Diaoyu Island and its adjacent islets have been an inherent part of Chinese territory since ancient times, which is a unchangeable historical fact," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

"We urge the US side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks... and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation".

Speaking in Tokyo at the tail end of a visit to East Asia, new US Defence Secretary James Mattis said the islands were subject to a long-standing treaty between Washington and Tokyo.

"I made clear that our long-standing policy on the Senkaku Islands stands, the US will continue to recognise Japanese administration of the islands," Mattis said.

"And as such Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty applies."

Article 5 commits the United States to defend Japan or territories it administers against any attack.

Lu said the US-Japan treaty was a product of the Cold War, and should not affect China's territorial sovereignty, Xinhua reported.
Islamabad: Jamaat-ud-Dawa has rebranded under the new name of 'Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir', just days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest and a crackdown launched on the organisation's activities.

The Mumbai attack mastermind had indicated about a week before his arrest that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir".

It shows that Saeed had got a wind of the official plans and already had worked out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his ostensible network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events on February 5, which is observed a 'Kashmir Day' in Pakistan. The TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns.

The group is also planning to hold a big Kashmir conference tomorrow in Lahore after evening prayers. The TAJK has reactivated its donations centres and ambulance services in different districts of Punjab, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities.

Local media reported that even after the crackdown on their activities, the volunteers of Saeed's network yesterday actively participated in the rescue operation after a boat carrying about 100 passengers capsized in the Ravi river near Nankana Sahib town in Punjab.

A police official said law enforcement agencies were keeping a close eye on the activities of Saeed's network and appropriate action would be taken. "It is a sensitive issue and a measured response is needed to fulfill the international obligations of the country and deal with any possible fallout due to protest by followers of Saeed," he said.

Various offices of both JuD and FIF were closed on Monday following the house arrest of Saeed. Both organisations were also put on observation under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The government on Monday had placed Saeed and his four accomplices -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- under house arrest in Lahore.

The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country.
Three servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killen on Friday in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone, eight were wounded, the Defense Ministry's spokesman for ATO matters, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, said.

"Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed, eight injured in the fighting in the past day," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday.

Motuzianyk said one soldier was killed near Troitske, and two in the area of the village of Halytsynivka as the result of shelling from Grads, one soldier was wounded there. In addition, two were wounded on the Svitlodarsk bulge, one in the area of the Butivka coal mine and Pisky, not far from Chermalyk, in Hnutove and Shyrokyne.

The ATO headquarters press center on Saturday morning reported Ukrainian military losses for Friday: three dead, seven wounded.
Shakeel Afridi is in jail and his name has been put on the exit control list. (Photo: AFP)

Peshawar: Pakistan has denied identity cards to the family of Shakeel Afridi, the jailed doctor believed to have helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden in 2011, blocking college enrolment for his children, their lawyer said on Friday.

Afridi was accused of treason after word spread that he had helped the CIA collect DNA samples of the bin Laden family, paving the way for a secret U.S. Navy Seal raid that killed the al Qaeda leader in the town of Abbottabad.

He was arrested days after the U.S. operation which Pakistan protested as a violation of sovereignty and charged with aiding militants.

Now his 19-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son have been denied national identity cards, essential documents for Pakistanis, said Qamar Nadeem, the family's lawyer in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Nadeem said Afridi's children required identity cards for college enrolment, but authorities refused to issue them because their father had been barred from leaving the country.

"Afridi is in jail and his name has been put on the exit control list," Nadeem said. "I don't understand how he can escape from jail and leave the country."

The lawyer said he had received no response to his letters to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which issues the cards, and the interior ministry.

"Getting an identity card is a fundamental right of every citizen and if NADRA or the interior ministry refuse to issue them, we will approach the Peshawar High Court for justice."

An interior ministry spokesman told Reuters it had not blocked the application. Reuters was unable to reach a representative of the database authority for comment.

Last May, Pakistan's foreign ministry angrily criticised U.S. President Donald Trump for a comment during his election campaign that he could get Pakistan to free Afridi "within two minutes".

After Trump was inaugurated last month, Pakistan's law minister vowed not to release Afridi despite any U.S. pressure.

Afridi's wife Imrana Ghafoor has been living at a secret location with her two sons and a daughter, for security reasons.

Afridi's lawyers have also received threats from militant groups. One of his lawyers, Samiullah Afridi, was gunned down by unknown men in Peshawar in March 2015. Nadeem is now the sole lawyer willing to represent Afridi.

Afridi, initially charged with having links to militant groups, was sentenced to a 33-year jail term, but his conviction was overturned in 2013. Pakistan then charged the doctor with the death of a patient dating from eight years earlier.
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday said his government was "determined" to achieve national reconciliation, even as hundreds of Tamils held a protest in Jaffna demanding an international probe into alleged war crimes during the civil war in the country.

Addressing the 69th anniversary of independence celebrations in Colombo, Sirisena said the country must strive to achieve economic independence.

"We are determined and dedicated in our commitment despite the work of some opportunists. The government would work towards a knowledge and innovation based economy," Sirisena said blaming them for their aiming of narrow political gains.

Succeeding former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sirisena unity government had set in a series of reconciliation measures.

The government has promised a new constitution to address the Tamil political aspirations. Tamils say the progress had been painfully slow and questions the government's commitment despite making some symbolic gestures to win over them.

Sirisena's work to hand back Tamils the land held for military purposes and release some of the former terrorist suspects have raised criticism from Rajapaksa's joint opposition who claim that Sirisena was appeasing the Tamils and putting the country's national security at risk.

While the national ceremony was happening here, a section of the hardline Tamils held a demonstration in the northern capital of Jaffna.

"The independence day is our black day. The Tamil community is in grief," said MK Shivajilingam a northern provincial councillor who led a protest of several hundreds.

"Our land issues, detention of our people and disappearances have not been addressed. We want an international investigations on crimes against Tamils," Shivajilingam said.

According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to nearly three-decades long civil war in Sri Lanka with the defeat of LTTE in 2009.


When asked about laxity, Devakumar, Deputy Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bengaluru, said that the matter had been brought to the notice of the KVS head office. We are awaiting response from the head office on enquiries to be conducted. I do not have the power act against the principal he said. Soon after obtaining bail, Thakur visited the school on Thursday (February 2). Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Chandragupta, said that the investigating officer ensured that Thakur left the school premises immediately. Congress MLC V S Ugrappa, chairperson expert committee on prevention of sexual violence against women and children, said that objections were not filed to Thakurs bail application.



I came to know that the public prosecutor was not present in the court when the bail application came up for hearing. Now, we will ask the public prosecutor to move an application for cancellation of the bail, he said. The Kendriya Vidyalaya at Hebbal, which has 1,200 girl students and 50 women staff, has no committee to look into cases of sexual harassment at workplace, he said.



Ugrappa, who visited the school on Friday said that the school was conducting 10-day camp for 24 students who lagged in studies. Such students were asked to stay in the school still 7.30 pm. We have questioned the school authorities who authorised them to make students stay back beyond school hours Ugrappa said. Besides the specific complaint that led to the arrest of Thakur, there were several individual incidents of teachers and students expressing displeasure about his behaviour. However, deputy commissioner claimed that he was not informed about the same.



Child rights activists have sought the Sanghatan to swing into action at the earliest. Why didnt the Sanghatan warn the suspect against visiting the school? It is a sign of sheer carelessness on behalf of the school management, an activist said.



The matter came to light only after only after Child Line, an organisation working for children, took the lead and lodged the complaint. According to sources, staff and children of the school informed the helpline on condition of anonymity. Vasudeva Sharma, a member, lodged the complaint with the police. Sharma sought that the bail granted to the principal be cancelled in the interest of children.



Chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Kripa Alva who visited the spot said that the commission had asked for immediate suspension of the principal. His house is located on the school premises. We have asked the authorities to relocate him elsewhere so that he has no access to the school, Kripa said.



Four days after a complaint of sexual harassment is registered against Kumar Thakur, principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya Hebbal, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan (KVS) is yet to act against him. Top sources in the school state that Thakur was only forced to go on leave, despite such serious allegations. The Sanghatan has not even suspended the principal.
An American judge has imposed a temporary, nationwide hold on Donald Trump's ban on travellers and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, in a major blow to the US President's controversial order.



US District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued the temporary restraining order that will remain valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint by Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson.



"The Constitution prevailed today. No one is above the law -- not even the President," Ferguson said after the federal judge granted his request to immediately halt implementation of Trump's executive order on immigration nationwide.



Robart, who was nominated to the court by President George W Bush in 2003, ruled that Ferguson had met the high standards necessary to block the executive order until the court reaches the merits of the lawsuit.



The temporary restraining order immediately stops federal officials from enforcing parts of the ban that target immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and stops them from enforcing parts of the ban that grant exemptions based on religion.



Reacting to the development, the White House said it will file for an emergency order against the federal judge's ruling.



"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.



"The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said.



The White House defended President's executive order. "As the law states, 'Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate'," Spicer said.



Hailing the court ruling, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said, "This is fantastic and critically important news. These orders are inhumane and unconstitutional."



"This ruling came from a courthouse in Seattle and it makes me so proud of my city and my state for leading the way in defence of human rights and the rule of law. Washington leads the way," Jayapal said.



Trump last week signed the sweeping executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough new controls on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen as part of new measures to "keep radical Islamic terrorists" out of America.



Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate Minority leader, said, "This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer. President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all."



Major Washington state institutions supported the attorney general's lawsuit through declarations filed alongside the complaint. In their declarations, for example, Amazon and Expedia set forth the detrimental ways the executive order impacts their operations and their employees.
With the Indian IT companies feeling the heat over the H1-B visa, IT czar N R Narayana Murthy today said businesses cannot fight government and have to work within the limitations.





"We cannot fight any government. Let's remember whether it is the US, the UK or the Indian government, no business can fight any government," Infosys co-founder Murthy told reporters here.



He also said, "We have to work within the constraints of the government and there is a lot of innovation that we can bring to the table, whereby our companies are safe. Our companies can grow well again, grow profitably and then we can make the customers."

Murthy said politicians have responsibilities to ensure that unemployment level in their country is as low as possible, and hence they cannot be blamed.



Murthy also argued that India itself has done it in the past by asking the Chinese companies to give a minimum wage of 25,000 US dollars a year for construction workers and power plant builders, to protect India's interests.

"When the Chinese companies wanted to bring Chinese labour because they have very stiff competition target, the than UPA government said that you must give a minimum of wage of 25,000 dollars a year for construction workers for builders in India. So, this is nothing new to the US alone. We have done it ourselves and we all realised that it was done for a good reason by our politicians," he said.



Therefore, he would not blame the politicians and go into a tizzy on the issue, Murthy said, adding that it would the responsibility of the industry to come out with a mechanism to reduce dependence on visas.



"That is the reason why I believe that any prudent board in any of the Indian software companies would have to identity visas as an important risk and ask the management what they have done to mitigate this risk," he said.



Murthy also said it is very unlikely for President Trump to execute the H1-B order, as the Indian software industry has largely been responsible for building and maintaining the information infrastructure of the large western corporations.



"Therefore they play a very very critical role in the success of the US corporations, tampering with it is not going to be easy," he said.



He also believed the customers of Indian software companies will use their influence with the Trump administration to prevent him from executing such a order.

"Therefore, the probability of any such executive order appears somewhat remote, at least from where I see," he said.



Even if the the order is executed, Murthy said in this scenario the Indian software industry will try to renegotiate the prices with their customers so as to their profitability will not be impacted as much as the industry thinks it would.



"I believe that they will be able to sit down with their customers and renegotiate the prices. So, thereby their profitability will not be impacted as much as we think it would," he said.


Several airlines today gave the green light to passengers wanting to fly to the United States who come from countries hit by President Donald Trump's travel ban after a US court suspended his order.





Seattle US District Judge James Robart yesterday blocked Trump's controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries, prompting a furious president to condemn it as a "ridiculous" move which he would overturn.



Although some airlines said they were waiting to see how the situation develops, carriers including Air France, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss Airways said they would carry nationals of the countries concerned if they have a valid visa.



Following the court ruling, US authorities today suspended the travel ban.

"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a State Department spokesman told AFP.



"Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid," the official said, while a complaint against Trump's decree by Washington state's attorney general Bob Ferguson is officially reviewed.



Ferguson said yesterday the court's suspension of Trump's order meant "the constitution prevailed" as "no one is above the law -- not even the president."



Trump responded angrily, tweeting that "the opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"



Among airlines confirming the greenlighting of passengers with valid visas, Air France told AFP that "since this morning we are applying with immediate effect the (US) judicial decision taken overnight. All passengers presenting themselves will embark once their papers are in order to travel to the United States."



Several other airlines confirmed on their websites they would carry visa-holding passengers even before news emerged of the State Department statement.



An official at Cairo airport indicated on condition of anonymity that carriers had received notice from JFK airport in New York it was dropping application of Trump's order for US-bound passengers with valid documentation following the court ruling suspending the presidential ban.



Trump last week issued a shock executive order banning for 90 days entry into the US by nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- and all refugees for 120 days.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in his greetings to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations said that ensuring peace in the Black Sea region is a shared responsibility of Ukraine and Turkey.

In his message to the Turkish president, Poroshenko stressed over the past 25 years the friendly bilateral relations between the two nations have deepened and created a solid foundation for the Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation, the Ukrainian president's press service reported on Friday.

Poroshenko said the expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries will promote the signing of a free trade area agreement.

He also recalled the two countries have moved to the implementation of projects in the defense industry.

For his part, Erdogan in his greetings to Poroshenko noted that the challenges, which the two countries face at the regional and international levels proved once again that the Turkish-Ukrainian friendship rests on a solid foundation, and our cooperation has deepened more in every area.

"No doubt, our excellent relations with friendly Ukraine will continue to develop in the near future. Turkey will undoubtedly support the settlement in the region based on the preservation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our strategic partner of Ukraine," the Turkish president said and expressed the hope that his visit to Ukraine, which is scheduled in the coming months, will give a new impetus to relations.
The Ministry of Shipping has prepared a plan to set up 27 industrial clusters at ports in different parts of the country aimed at attracting global automobile parts manufacturers.





A total of Rs 8 lakh crore will be invested for these industrial corridors in the next five to eight years, and the government expects that it will generate 40 lakh direct and another 60 lakh indirect jobs, Union Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said here.



The government will spend another Rs 5 lakh crore to provide the road and railway connectivity to these clusters, the minister said.



Old vehicles can be transported to automobile manufacturing hubs set up in ports and they can be recycled into finished products. Besides, these hubs can also import old vehicles from other countries for scrapping and manufacturing new products. It will help us in Make in India, and a global leader in automobile parts manufacturing, he said.



Besides, there industrial clusters will also have units related to petrochemicals, cement, furniture-based industries, electronics, apparel, and other sectors.



The projects have been formulated as part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the Sagarmala programme, which is an ambitious project for port-led development of Indias coastal cities.



Gadkari also said that the government will identify the cities to create multi-modal transport hubs.



These transportation hubs will bring together all modes of public transport  rail, air, roads and waterways. With airports and railway stations situated at different parts in most of the cities, the government wanted to integrate with each other to help commuters and ease the traffic congestion in urban areas.



The Ministry of Road Transport has launched pilots for multi-modal in Varanasi and Nagpur, and once they are completely operational, the government will expand this to other cities too. This integrated travel approach will help in reducing traffic congestion, and also bring down logistics costs.

DH News Service
A five-year-old Pakistani boy, who was taken to India on the sly by his father a year ago, was today reunited with his mother in Pakistan at the Wagah border after the Indian authorities handed him over.



The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours.



"I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani told reporters at Wagah.



"I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's not a less than a miracle for me," she said.

In March 2016, Iftikhar was taken to India by his father, who is from Jammu. The boy's mother alleged that her former husband had lied to her that he was taking the child to a wedding along with him as he took him to Dubai and from there to Kashmir.



Rohina with the help of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi filed a case in an Indian court that ruled in May 2016 in her favour.



After the case was taken up by the Pakistani high commission and proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani by nationality, the verdict was given that he be returned to his mother in Pakistan.



Due to border tensions, it took eight months for the mother to get the good news of seeing her son.



Meanwhile, as per intelligence sources, the boy was brought to India through Nepal route. The father-son duo had also spent some time in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir before that, they said.



The boy, who was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah, where he reunited with his mother, was issued an Emergency Travel Certificate by the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.



5-year-old Iftikhar Ahmed was accompanied by Fozia Mansoor, counsellor at the Pakistan High Commission.



According to official posted at Attari border, the boy had been taken "forcibly" to India by his father, who belongs to Jammu and Kashmir, a year ago.



Since Gulzar Ahmed, the father of the boy was involved in terrorist activities and wanted by J&K police, he had to cross over to Pakistan in 2011, they said.



On reaching Pakistan six years back, he married a Pakistani Girl Rohina Kiyani and had a son with her.



The officials further said that Gulzar left Pakistan in 2016 with his son Iftikhar, while lying to his wife that they were going to India to attend a wedding.



Actually, he had already planned to surrender before police in J&K since he wanted to return to the national mainstream and lead a normal life with his son, an official said on condition of anonymity.
Lubricants major GP Petroleums (GPPL) has envisaged a novel Make in India approach in a bid to increase market share in the countrys automotive lube space, and is planning a JV with Spanish lubricants giant Repsol.





The company, a subsidiary of UAE-based $3-billion Gulf Petrochemicals, began retailing Repsols products in India in April last year, and has a royalty agreement to use the latters brand name and technology in selling its products.



Talking to DH, GPPL CEO Hari Prakash M said, Our flagship brand Ipol has a big name in the industrial lubricants space, even as it is a mass market automotive brand. In terms of volume, our portfolio consists of 90% industrial lubricants, with the remaining 10% being automotive lubricants. Also, where auto lubricants are concerned, our market share is barely 1%.



Accordingly, GPPL aims to increase its market share in the automotive space to 5% over 10 years, along with a sizeable mix of automotive lubricants at 40% of its total portfolio, along with a growing industrial share of 60%.



Instead of pumping in more resources and technology into our own brand, we decided to connect with the best brands in the world. Thats where Repsol came into the picture, Hari said.



Wanting to tap the growing auto market, Repsol tied up with GPPL last year. We insisted that well not buy and sell, but will Make in India. Repsols team audited our plant (in terms of R&D, equipment, and safety), and allowed us to produce its products, adhering to its high-quality formulations.



GPPLs plants at Vasai (near Mumbai) and Daman have a total capacity of 80,000 kl per year. Repsols range, which will be made at Vasai, may be produced to the tune of 1,000 litres in the first year, doubling in production based on demand in future.



Since six months, the company has doubled Repsols monthly sales run-rate at 150 kl. Last year, we started with motorcycle oil in April, launching oils for (petrol and diesel) passenger cars in November, and diesel engine oils for commercial vehicles in December. This year, we have a complete package, Hari said.



Tying up with a global brand has opened mammoth prospects of growth for GPPL. It was last year that Repsol said that its eyeing a JV with GPPL. We also signed an agreement permitting us to sell their wares in neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. Through the JV, they will put their full muscle power behind us in terms of technology, production, portfolio, and also getting in OEMs to work with us, he said, not divulging further details.


Japanese companies are looking at skilled workforce in Bengaluru as a driving factor to increase investments, Japanese Counsel General in Bengaluru, Jun-ichi Kawaue said.





If Karnataka would provide us more and more talented IT engineers, we would be more than glad to invest here, Kawaue told DH. His tenure in Bengaluru will end on February 11.



Japan has set a target for doubling the foriegn direct investment (FDI) and the number of Japanese companies in India by 2019. During 2015-16, FDI inflow from Japan to India stood at Rs 17,275 crore. Hitachi, Toshiba and a few other companies already have their offshore R&D centres in Bengaluru, he added.



Calling Toyota and Honda as poineers of Japanese investments in the state, Kawaue said that there are many Japanese automobile companies that are attracted towards Bengaluru as their preferred investment destination, adding that there are more than 100 Japanese firms in Bengaluru, including MSMEs and SMEs.



But the scenario has changed recently. We are seeing a lot of electronic and motor companies that are flocking Bengaluru. Recently, Mitsubishi Electric opened its facility in Bidadi. It produces traction inverters, motors and other electrical equipment for rolling stock in metro systems across the country, he said.



Recently, Indo-Japan Skill Development Council was also launched in Bengaluru with focus on the agriculture sector.
She has not been canonised by the Vatican, but is a saint nevertheless... in Georgia, at least. The church in this East European country has a few bones, and, literally so, to pick with its counterpart in Goa. They want the relics of Queen Ketevan of Kakheti (Eastern Georgia), who was martyred for love and whose bones were later smuggled into Goa.





Roll back. Queen Ketevan was drop-dead gorgeous and her beauty filled a Persian kings heart with lust. He wanted her at any cost, but she was already married. That did not deter the king, who kidnapped her and whisked her away to his domain. But the queen was a faithful wife and staunch Christian, and rebuffed all his advances. She paid the ultimate price: death. The story does not end there.



Friars of the St Augustine Portuguese order smuggled her remains out of Persia and brought them to Goa, and gave her a fitting burial there.



Found here...

Fast forward to the year 2014. After years of searching for the relics of the queen, they were finally found in the ruins of the 16th century St Augustine Monastery on Holy Hill to the west of Old Goa. Georgia wants the saints relics. Goa claims her as her daughter, too. In fact, the smallest state in the Indian Union has started to celebrate her memory by holding the Ketevan Music Festival each year.



The Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival is held amidst the atmospheric red laterite ruins of St Augustine Monastery, where one can imagine that the ghosts of the past strut and sashay in the light of a full moon.



The now-ruined monastery (a 17th century traveller had said that from a distance, it resembled a noble palace) consisted of a church, cloisters, galleries, halls and cells for the friars as well as expansive lawns, and a library. It was abandoned by the Augustinians in 1835, and just an empty shell remains today; broken walls, niches and a crumbling 46-metre tower of the church pointing an accusing finger at the heavens above.



We walked amidst the weeds and creepers that cloak what was one of the grandest churches of Old Goa and felt the thrum of magic. The Ketavan World Sacred Music Festival is held there in February each year in the altar of the ruined church and brings together an eclectic blend of musical streams. Carnatic, Christian, Sufi, Hindustani, Jewish, Native and many other musical traditions meld to create a goosebump-worthy affair. Stirring melodies and symphonies soar into a soft February sky, blurring the lines between the past and present. The sacred nature of the site enhances the ethereal experience.



As we ambled around Holy Hill, we stumbled on the convent and church of Santa Monica. There in a lonely chapel stands a remarkable cross. Nuns attending a service on February 8, 1636 suddenly realised that they were a blessed lot as a miracle started to unravel right before their eyes. Christ, nailed to the beams of the crucifix, suddenly opened his eyes and started to weep tears of blood. Four days later, Christ started to weep blood once more in the presence of the Portuguese viceroy and the local inquisitors.



Then there is the miracle of Dona Maria de Crom, daughter of a German nobleman who died in the convent on January 2, 1683. What made her death remarkable was that stigmata (wounds that resembled the lacerations that Christ suffered during his crucifixion) appeared on her hands and feet.



There are no miracles in the adjoining Museum of Christian Art except for the fact that religion and art come together seamlessly, with strands that are unique to India woven in. Gasp-inducing ceremonial robes embossed with ivory figurines; silver challises; an ornate crucifix; a relief of the Holy Trinity on a marble slab...



Enshrined in a side altar of Se Cathedral, in the touristy heart of Old Goa, is the Growing Cross. Some two centuries ago, on February 23, a congregation praying in front of the cross saw an image of Christ nailed to the cross. It is believed that, ever since, on the anniversary of the miracle, Christ relives the agony and glory of his crucifixion by ascending once more on the cross, which old-timers swear is larger than when they saw it in their youth.



All things sacred

Across the cathedral, which is the largest church in Asia, rises the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Within this grand red laterite building, we seemed to swim in a sea of devotion for it houses the mortal remains of Old Goas most celebrated resident: St Francis Xavier. Uncorrupted even in death, the body of the saint is on display in a glass-panelled silver casket perched on top of a late-17th century memorial sculpted by Giovanni Battista Foggini of Florence, Italy.



Devotees filed up to the memorial, bowed in reverence, muttered silent prayers and left behind pleas for divine favours even as cameras clicked and captured the moments in their memory banks. Meanwhile, we heard a guide tell his flock of how, centuries after his death, blood started to gush out of one of the saints toe when a lady bit it off in a fit of devotional passion.



The image of Christ on the Inquisition Cross in the museum behind the main altar had graphic streaks of blood running across it. The crucifix was used to accuse Jews and other non-believers of being responsible for His continued suffering.



Interestingly, the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) leaned on the clergy to dig this rather disturbing exhibit out of its vaults and put it on display. On our last evening, we headed for the Church of Our Lady of the Mount, located on a wooded hillock. The charming whitewashed church looks down at Old Goa, its spires peering over a sea of palms, like a benevolent mother. Each year in February, the grounds around the church resonate with the magical sounds of the Monte Music Festival.



Jazz, classic Western music and Indian ragas... musical notes float down from the hillock and embrace the once-living city below.



Yes, Old Goa was once the capital of Portuguese India. However, when a wave of epidemics  small pox, cholera, the plague  swept over the bustling city, residents abandoned their homes and fled. The Portuguese shifted their capital to Panaji. At dusk, tourists start to drain out of the once-mighty city. It is time for the restless wraiths, saints and icons in the many churches to come to life and fill the vacuum.



That is when Old Goa is draped in an eerie, other-worldly beauty. We hurried back to Champakali, our boutique homestay, 15 minutes away, and felt the warmth of its hospitality wrap us in its comforting embrace.
United States President Donald Trumps immigration ban evoked a strong response from the screenwriters of Mumbai, who said discrimination on the basis of nationality, religion or region amounts to violation of freedom of movement and human rights.





Shocked and outraged by the recent executive policy announcement of the new president of America, imposing barriers on the entry of people from other countries, which is clearly a thinly disguised anti-Muslim ban, Screenwriters Association (SWA) president Preeti Mamgain said.



She said SWA stands in solidarity with brother unions, the Writers Guilds of America West, Writers Guilds of America West East and their screenwriting members, who have publicly taken an unequivocal position protesting and opposing the ban policies.



She shared the contents of a letter from them which said: We are especially troubled by reports that Asghar Farhadi, director of The Salesman, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes and is now nominated for an Oscar, may together with his cast and crew be prevented from entering our country.


The persisting impasse over the 19th summit of the Saarc may render the secretariat of the bloc in Kathmandu headless after February 28 next.





A meeting of the senior diplomats of the Saarc's eight member nations in Kathmandu this week failed to make any headway to end the impasse over the 19th summit of the bloc. The impasse may now block appointment of the new Secretary-General of the regional organisation once the term of incumbent Arjun Bahadur Thapa ends on February 28 next.



Thapa took over as Saarc Secretary General on March 1, 2014, after Kathmandu nominated the Nepalese career diplomat for a three-year term at the helm of the bloc's secretariat. He is to be succeeded by a nominee of Pakistan.



Though Pakistan nominated its diplomat Amjad Hussain B. Sial to be the next Secretary-General of the Saarc, India argued that his appointment should be confirmed by the Council of Ministers  a body comprising the foreign ministers of all the eight member nations  as stipulated by the Article V of the Memorandum of Agreement on establishment of the Saarc Secretariat, sources told the DH.



A meeting of the Council of Ministers was scheduled to take place just before the 19th Saarc summit, which was to be held in Islamabad in November.



It, however, could not take place as the blocs proposed 19th summit itself was postponed after India pulled out of it to protest continued export of terrorism from Pakistan. New Delhi decided against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Islamabad for the summit after terrorists from territories under control of Pakistan crossed the Line of Control and attacked a camp of Indian Army at Uri in northern Kashmir on September 18, killing 19 soldiers and injuring several others.
Caren Chawa, a devout Muslim from Lebanon in West Asia, travelled more than 5,000 km to visit Bodh Gaya in Bihar and attend the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama-led Kalchakra Puja.





The 30-year-old architect from battle-scarred Beirut argued that listening to the spiritual discourse of the Dalai Lama helped satiate her quest for knowledge and peace. I experience a strange kind of relaxation at Bodh Gaya, she said. Chawa was one of the lakhs of pilgrims who had descended on Bodh Gaya from across the globe.



According to the district administration, around two lakh people from over 80 countries travelled to this pilgrim town in January to attend the 12-day Buddhist festival Kalchakra Puja, which concluded on January 14. Of the two lakh devotees, 23,000 were monks, lamas and nuns. Around 9,000 monks and other devotees were from Bhutan and Nepal alone, said Karma Gelek, spokesperson of the Tibetans in India and chairman of the organising committee.



Devotees like Chawa proved that you dont have to convert to Buddhism to be part of the Kalchakra Puja. I am a devout Muslim, who offers namaz five times a day and also read aayats (verses) of Quran everyday, said the Beirut-based architect. She added: I dont have any plan to convert to Buddhism. I am a staunch believer in Islam and Prophet Mohammad who has given us Quran. My hunger for knowledge and love for peace brought me to Bodh Gaya., she said.



But then Chawa was not the only devout from a different religion. Hollywood yesteryears superstar Richard Gere was there with his girl-friend. A great admirer of the Dalai Lama, Gere termed the 14th Dalai Lama as Bhagwan and those from Tibetans as his brothers and sisters.



Expressing his whole-hearted sympathy with the Tibetans, Richard Gere said, Despite the restrictions and pressure tactics put up by the Chinese government, most of my brethren have managed to come to Bodh Gaya. I am pleasantly surprised at the doughty spirit of the Tibetans who challenged the Chinese government and made it a point to visit here despite the hardships they would face once they return to their home land. May His Holiness give them enough strength and courage to cope with the situation ahead.



Showering encomiums on the Dalai Lama, Gere said he was lucky to be in Bodh Gaya to listen to His Holiness during the spiritual initiations and preaching. The wonderful experience at Kalchakra Puja is beyond explanation. I am overwhelmed as I find myself a bit improved in terms of learning compassion, love and kindness. His Holiness not only taught us love, compassion, commitment and virtues but urged his disciples to imbibe the teachings of Lord Buddha, which, in turn, can change the world and establish a peaceful society, he said. The Pretty Womansactor, while addressing Tibetans, argued that it was high time to recognise the Tibetans and Tibet.



This was followed by an exhibition organised by the Tibetans which depicted the agonies, forced exile of the Dalai Lama and his followers, picture of monks and nuns being disrobed by Chinese troops, besides monastries being overtaken. The exhibition was crafted to draw the attention of around three lakh Buddhists here about the pain and trauma of the Tibetans in exile, said Sherab Tse Dor, the Information Secretary of the Tibetan Peoples Movement for Middle Path, an organisation trying to garner support worldwide to realise the dream of Tibetan Independence.



Kalchakra Puja brings together people from 80 countries and provides us the platform to share our anguish and pain with the world and unite it with our cause. Over 80,000 pilgrims, mostly from Europe and the United States, have signed a petition this year and the campaign is spreading, Dor added.



The Dalai Lama, who concluded the 34th Kalchakra puja, worshipped the Kalchakra Mandala and offered prayers to the deities. Addressing his followers, the Dalai Lama urged them to shun the evil within and exert spiritual efforts to reach perfection to attain Bodhisattva, the ultimate truth of life.



When the Dalai Lama was apprised of the Chinese devotees, who defied the diktat of their government to be present there via different countries to avoid official wrath, the spiritual leader said: One who steps out in pursuit of truth has to face many a challenge in the world. We Buddhist monks have faced lot of troubles in our initial days. Later the Indian government and the world community extended their helping hands.



Laying stress on the principles of karma, the Dalai Lama said: There should be mutual relation between thought and action. So think twice before you act, as your actions would decide your future and ultimately your future life  the life after death. The rituals came to an end on the 12th day of the Kalchakra Puja  the first nine days being dedicated to the Mandala creation and its worship. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar attended the closing ceremony.


The government may ban withdrawals from the savings bank accounts of 18 lakh taxpayers if they do not provide their PAN numbers by the end of February.





The Centre suspects that the account holders made cash deposits that do not match their incomes after demonetisation.



According to official sources, the finance ministry is discussing the feasibility of taking such a step with the Reserve Bank of India .



The Income Tax Department had identified 18 lakh people with suspicious cash deposits post-demonetisation and is on its way to send them emails seeking explanation on the source of their income.



Earlier, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had said that only 10 days time would be given to people to reply to the emails.



Operation Clean Money



The CBDT had also launched Operation Clean Money as part of this project.

So far, the tax department has identified one crore accounts in which cash deposits after demonetisation exceeded Rs 2 lakh.



The tax department is currently scrutinising cash deposits above Rs 5 lakh and suspicious deposits between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.



According to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, the government has also received information on multiple deposits between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh against a single PAN number.



The 18 lakh suspicious deposits were identified in the first phase of the operation. He said that Operation Clean Money would continue for the next two years. According to other officials, around 2.25 lakh accounts linked to post offices are also being scrutinised.




Vilnius has condemned the escalation of the conflict in Donbas and will continue to provide political support to Kyiv, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius has said.

"The situation is, in fact, back to the level of 2014, according to our opinion," the Lithuanian foreign minister said at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian parliament on Friday, February 3.

Linkevicius also stressed the international attention to Ukraine and said Lithuania needs to make greater efforts to support Kyiv politically.

As reported, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said the hostilities in Avdiyivka are posing a threat of humanitarian and environmental catastrophe in the region.

According to the Ukrainian National Police, since January 29, three local residents were killed and two others were wounded as a result of attacks perpetrated by pro-Russian separatists.
A fortnight after stitching an electoral alliance in Uttar Pradesh, nominees of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress face each other in about 12 Assembly constituencies.





In many cases, candidates of both the Congress and the SP have been allotted symbols by their respective parties and are in the fray even after the last date for withdrawal of nominations has ended.

Some refuse to comply



Though the two parties had asked their candidates to withdraw in favour of the other as per the seat-sharing pact, many nominees have simply refused to back out.



The SP expelled its nominee from Gangoh Assembly seat in Saharanpur district, Chaudhary Indrasen, from the party after he refused to withdraw from the contest in favour of the Congress candidate.

The seats where the two parties face each other include Jaidpur, Lucknow Central, Maharajpur, Kole, Bhognipur, Chandpur, Hargaon, Arya Nagar, Kanpur Cantonment, Purkaji and Baldev.



Congress leader P L Punias son, Tanuj, has filed his nomination papers from Jaidpur. SPs Ram Gopal Rawat is also in the fray from the seat.






Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the BJPs poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, putting at stake his own image to seek the peoples mandate by urging voters to oust SCAM for the states development.





Modi asked the gathering, You made me Prime Minister. Have I done anything in the last two-and-a-half years of rule that might shame the country? He then went on to use the SCAM word.



By SCAM I mean, S for Samajwadi (Party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh and M for Mayawati, the prime minister told the cheering crowds at a ground in Shatabdi Nagar, where he addressed people three years ago in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.



This election is against SCAM which the BJP is fighting. Uttar Pradesh will have to decide whether it wants SCAM or Lotus? SCAM or debacle of the state? SCAM or employment? Till the time you dont vote SCAM out, peace and prosperity wont return to Uttar Pradesh, Modi, who is also an MP from Varanasi, said at the Vijay Shankhnad rally.



Modi remains the poll mascot of the BJP in four out of five poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.



While polling for Punjab and Goa took place on Saturday, the first phase in western Uttar Pradesh, for which he addressed a rally here, will vote on February 11.



The prime minister attempted to demystify Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs persona and his five-year stint, given that the latter is the face of the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress alliance that is posing a challenge to the BJP in a triangular contest with the BSP.



Spares Mulayam



Modi, interestingly, spared Akhileshs father Mulayam Singh Yadav, despite the ugly public spat in the first family of the SP. Taking on Akhilesh for doing politics 24 hours, the prime minister said, Such people think first about their family, then about themselves and now how to save their chair. Uttar Pradeshs fate cannot change with such people around.



In his hour-long speech, Modi also wondered what were the constraints that forced Akhilesh to give tickets to the mining mafia (perhaps hinting at former minister Gayatri Prajapati) after taking a moral high ground against tainted leaders.



Modi accused the SP regime of personifying politician-mafia nexus. Hitting out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for forging a never-before alliance, the prime minister said till a few months ago, the Congress was holding rallies across Uttar Pradesh and would accuse the ruling SP of corruption, neglecting farmers and destroying the state. Now, both have embraced each other.



Modi also expressed his helplessness at Akhileshs governments failure to utilise the central funds allocated to the state.
To resolve the controversy that has erupted over dress code at Sahyadri Arts & Commerce College and Sahyadri Science College, constituent colleges of Kuvempu University, the varsity has decided not to impose restrictions on wearing burqa and saffron shawls in classroom.





A decision was taken after holding separate meetings with students and teachers of both the colleges here on Saturday.



Vice-chancellor Jogan Shankar told DH that officially there is no dress code for students pursuing degree and postgraduate courses in the state. So, dress code cant be made mandatory. It is left to students to wear clothes of their choice.



He said he would hold talks with the state government to introduce a rule in this regard. A decision on dress code has to be taken at the government level, he added.



Registrar Bhojya Naik, Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare, Additional Deputy Commissioner K Channabasappa, Sahyadri Arts & Commerce college principal Gowdar Shivannavar, Sahyadri Science College principal G Shakuntala and senior faculty attended the meeting.



Meanwhile, Muslim students under the aegis of Campus Front of India staged a protest on the premises of the deputy commissioners office, urging the university authorities not to make dress code mandatory as it would be in violation of the Constitution.



A section of students of the colleges had staged a protest on the campus on February 2 opposing Muslim girls wearing burqa in classrooms. They had stated that it was a violation of the dress code imposed by the university.



Following this, the university clarified that dress code was not mandatory. This irked Hindu students, who staged a demonstration on the campus on Thursday. But, Muslim students appealed to the college authorities to allow them to wear burqa in classrooms as it is their tradition.



Classes were suspended on Thursday as tension prevailed on the campus. According to Sahyadri Arts & Commerce College authorities, classes will not be held even on February 6 as the situation is still grim. Classes are likely to resume on February 7.
BJP leader S Suresh Kumar has taken exception to a circular issued by the High Court of Karnataka that bars ministers and legislators from functions organised at courts in the state.





In a statement on Saturday, he said the circular stated that ministers and legislators should not be allowed to share dais with judges in any function. Its an insult to the state legislature, and the government should take it seriously and send an appropriate message to the high court, he added.



Kumar, a former law minister, said all legislators were not bad and all members of the judiciary were not good. Society has realised this reality. It is not appropriate to be so intolerant towards the legislature, he said and urged Law Minister T B Jayachandra to advocate the cause of elected representatives.



Kumar also shared what he called was his bitter experience during the inauguration of a court building at Holalkere in Chitradurga district some years ago. Though he was the law minister, a police officer approached him and sought information on criminal cases against him. The officer was doing his duty as the then chief justice of the high court wanted information on all guests invited to the function.

DH News Service
A 28-year-old junior sailor drowned off Sea Bird naval base here on Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Sujit Kumar of Mumbai.





According to the Karwar Rural police, Kumar was a junior sailor in the warship INS Ganga, which arrived at the naval base from Mumbai for a joint military exercise. Kumar went missing from the warship around 11.15 pm on Friday. His body was found in the waters near the warship on Saturday morning. The police have registered a case.



More than 12 warships are taking part in the week-long joint military exercise at the naval base, which began on Saturday. The joint military exercise is being held at a distance of 200 nautical miles from the naval base. Warships from eastern and western commands of the Indian Navy are taking part in the exercise.
With the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu all set to hold its crucial meeting of MLAs on Sunday, political circles were rife with rumours and speculation of party general secretary V K Sasikala being elevated to the post of chief minister.





AIADMK sources did not rule out the possibility. Some party members were also of the view that the meeting, to be chaired by Sasikala, was to ascertain the problems MLAs face in their respective constituencies.



Though there was no official announcement of the meeting and its agenda, it was billed as a show of unity, in the wake of the discontentment expressed by certain sections of the party.



Sasikalas call for a meeting closely follows the party leaderships decision to appoint several senior leaders and former ministers to key party posts. There has been a clamour that Sasikala should follow the earlier practice of both the party general secretary and the chief ministers post being vested in the same person.
The Commissioner for Rail Safety will conduct inspection on the new rail route between Bengaluru and Mangaluru via Kunigal and Hassan, from Monday.





The movement of trains on this route will begin once the commissioner issues a safety certificate. The 166-km project secured the green signal during the tenure of H D Deve Gowda as prime minister in 1996-97. The cost of the project was estimated at Rs 412.91 crore, which later escalated to Rs 1,300 crore - almost thrice the estimated cost. The state government has contributed Rs 450 crore.



South Western Railways public relations officer E Vijaya said that at present the trains between Bengaluru and Mangaluru ply via Mysuru and Arsikere.



With the operationalisation of the new route, the trains from Bengaluru would now run via Nelamangala, Kunigal and Shravanabelagola.



This will bring down the journey time at least by two hours, she said. The movement of the trains between Hassan and Shravanabelagola began in 2006. The rail safety commissioner will now inspect the track between Shravanabelagola and Nelamangala till February 10.



Route undecided

An officer of the SWR said that it was yet to be decided whether the trains to Mangaluru via Mysuru and Arsikere would continue to operate on the same route or would be diverted on the new route.



There are plans to continue to them on the old route and introduce more trains via Kunigal. However, goods trains will operate via Kunigal. This will save time and money, the officer said.

DH News Service
After clearing five names for appointment as Supreme Court judges, the Chief Justice of India-led collegium is learnt to have received a protest note from a brother judge and member of the five-judge body for not considering Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph for elevation.



Justice J Chelameswar, who had earlier dissented in the National Judicial Appointments Commission judgement, sent a note even though he agreed to the five names.



Earlier, during the time of CJI T S Thakur, he had refused to participate in the collegium meetings over their lack of transparency. Notably, Uttarakhand Chief Justice Joseph had dismissed rebel Congress MLAs plea against their disqualification for switching over to the BJP.



A request for his transfer to Andhra Pradesh High Court remained pending. Sources said a recent collegium meeting headed by CJI J S Khehar cleared elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Rajasthan Chief Justice Naveen Sinha, Kerala Chief Justice Mohan M Shantanagouder, Chhattisgarh Chief Justice Dipak Gupta and Karnataka HC judge Justice S Abdul Nazeer.



But now it is learnt that Justice Chelameswar, who is part of the collegium along with the CJI, Justices Dipak Misra, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur, has sent a note questioning the exclusion of Justice Joseph.

The latest development could come as a shot in the arm for the government which had been pushing for an effective role in the selection of judges.



Though a five-judge bench had earlier quashed the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act, three judges had seen a major role by the government in judges appointment.



The bench subsequently asked the government to finalise a fresh memorandum of procedure (MoP) for appointment of judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.






Home Minister G Parameshwara on Saturday said the Centre would have to permit Karnataka to deport overstaying foreign nationals.



Reacting to media questions on overstaying foreign students, Parameshwara said there is a standing instruction to the police to take action against overstaying foreigners. However, we do face certain constraints. Deportation may not be appreciated by foreign embassies. Hence, I am looking at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deal with this issue. We want the Centres permission.



Asked how many foreign students are overstaying in Bengaluru, he said they could be between 1,500 and 2,000. We are very clear about foreign nationals overstaying in the state. They should either get their visas renewed or get out of the state, the minister said.



Dasarahalli MLA S Muniraju on Saturday raised concerns over peace and harmony in his constituency due to trouble created by a section of the Africans living here.

While addressing the public during the inauguration of the the new Bagalgunte police station, he said: The state government should end the menace created by a section of Africans.



According to the MLA, there are over 20,000 non-Karnataka and foreign students living in the Dasarahalli constituency alone. Students from foreign countries, especially the African countries, are creating problems for local residents. Two Nigerians nationals mowed down a woman by recklessly driving a car, which became an international issue a few months ago. When local residents object to their behaviour, foreign students raise questions about their safety and security in the city. Considering the reputation of Bengaluru and interests of the local residents, tough action should be taken against such people, he said.

DH News Service

He has failed to ensure law & order: BJP

BJP state general secretary and MLA C T Ravi on Saturday said Home Minister G Parameshwara had failed to ensure law and order in the state. The state has witnessed more than 80 political murders ever since the Congress came to power in the state.



Attack on a local leader in Yelahanka in Bengaluru on Friday is the latest one. The home minister has not been able to control the situation. For, he has been burdened with dual responsibility of state Congress president and the home minister, he told journalists here. Nearly 80% of the total political murders has remained unsolved. Parameshwara should either remain as the home minister or the State Congress president in the wake of deteriorating law and order, Ravi demanded.
The delegation headed by First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Ivan Rusnak has taken part in the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defense Reform (JWGDF), Ukraine's mission to the alliance said.

"During the meeting held under the chairmanship of NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defense Policy and Planning Jonathan Parish, a range of issues related to the reform of the security and defense sector of our country was discussed. Special attention was paid to the efforts of Ukraine in the context of reforming of Ministry of Defense, State Border Guard and the National Guard of Ukraine according to NATO standards," the report reads.

The meeting participants also considered the reforming of the Ukrainian system of military education, including implementation the NATO program on improvement of military education (DEEP) in Ukraine.

According to the mission, the Ukrainian delegation spoke about the escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine. It provided the information on casualties among Ukrainian servicemen caused by attacks of pro-Russian separatists.

In their turn, representatives of the Allies stressed that NATO will continue to provide Ukraine with political and practical support.
A convict on the run was on Saturday arrested for the brutal attack on a woman at an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru in 2013.



Madhukar Reddy, 35, a native of Nimmanapalli, had roamed around in Cubbon Park on November 19, 2013, before following bank employee Jyothi Uday into a kiosk and attacking her.



Police in Madanapalle finally caught him, ending a massive manhunt that had left investigators baffled and frustrated.



Information had reached the police that a man matching the description of Jyothis assailant had been frequenting Madanapalle, a town in Chittoor district. Police suspect Reddy has committed at least four murders. He had been given a life term for the murder of Reddyvari Anandareddy of Thamballapalle in 2005. He escaped from captivity in 2011.



During interrogation on Saturday, police realised they had on their hands a dangerous man with a record of violent crimes.



Bengaluru case



On November 19, 2013, Jyothi entered an ATM near the BBMP head office in Bengaluru to withdraw money. She was planning to use the cash to buy a birthday gift for her child. A man pulled down the shutter, and attacked her with a machete. She spent many months in hospital.



Presenting Reddy before the media in Chittoor, G Srinivas, superintendent of police, said Madhukar Reddy, a native of Diguvapalli, had brutally attacked hospital attendant Narayana at an arrack shop in Jadcherla in 2013.



He had also robbed and murdered an elderly woman in Dharmavaram. He used her debit card to withdraw Rs 3,500 from an ATM in Kadiri. Chittoor police matched CCTV footage from that crime with footage from Bengaluru, police said. Reddy then shifted his base to Bengaluru. He told us he had spent two days without food, wandering about in Cubbon Park. When he saw Jyothi going to the ATM, he attacked her, Srinivas said.



When the video of his crime hit national television, he tonsured his head and escaped to Ernakulum, Kerala.



After a year, he returned to Andhra Pradesh, and spent time moving between Peeleru, Madanapalle and Proddutur in the Chittoor region. We have to ascertain whether he has committed more crimes in the past three years, Srinivas said. Police suspect Reddy murdered another elderly woman in Peeleru in 2014.



Reddy is likely to be shifted to Kadapa jail. He is married, with no children. He was staying with his grandmother in his native village.



Painful ailment did him in



Reddy, who had evaded the Andhra Pradesh police for six years, was finally caught because of his painful ailment.



He was undergoing treatment for varicose veins, and was planning to rob jewellery shops in Madanapalle to meet the expenses of his treatment, police said.



After his escape in 2011, police had formed a team and were keeping an eye out for him. Reddy was arrested and put in jail in Kadapa after he was convicted of murder of a fellow-villager in 2005.



He had fought with the victim over irrigation water. Reddy had been admitted to hospital in Kadapa in December 2013; he escaped from there.



Police said Reddy needed money to repay his loans, and believed he was an expert at robbing elderly women.

DH News Service





Team sent to AP: Sood



Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said, The Andhra Pradesh police have arrested a person named Madhukar Reddy who is believed to be involved in the ATM attack case in November 2013. The Bengaluru police will take him into custody to investigate further. We have sent a team to Andhra Pradesh.



Punish him severely: Jyothi



Expressing happiness over the arrest of her assailant Madhukar Reddy, Jyothi Uday said even three years after the incident, she was still traumatised.



Talking to reporters on Saturday night, Jyothi said no one should undergo the trauma she had undergone. She extended her gratitude to the police for arresting Reddy. She said such people should never be let out and should be punished severely.



JyothiUday, Corporation Bankemployee, was Bengaluru victim



2013



7 am, Nov 19: Jyothi Uday goes to Corporation Bank ATM near N R Square

Machete wielding man enters ATM, downs shutter, attacks her

Attacker, Madhukar Reddy, makes way with cash

Grievous injuries leaves Jyothi unconscious

Passersby see blood coming out of ATM and alert police

Case registered at Silver Jubilee Park police station

Nov 20: Special team led by then Joint Commissioner Pranob Mohanty formed

Nov 28: Teams dispatched to AP, TN and Kerala drew blank

Dec 20: Jyothi discharged from hospital

Feb 14: Jyothi, a manager at Corporation Bank branch on Mission road, attends office



2014



Nov 29: Police announce reward of Rs 10 lakh for info on Reddy

Advts issued in several local TV channels

Over 40,000 pamphlets distributed with assailants video grab

Rs 3,20,000 spent on tracking Reddy



2016



Nov 19: Police file C report - undetected case
Bengaluru topped Karnataka in terms of death of mothers below the age of 18 years in 2016, according to the statistics provided by the department of Health and Family

Welfare.



According to the data, of the 6,807 mothers under 18 who died in the state during 2016, as many as 972 breathed their last in Bengaluru followed by Belagavi, with 700 deaths. Udupi district has reported the least number of deaths at 44. These numbers were obtained from the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) of the department.



Anaemia, pregnancy induced hypertension, malnutrition and excessive bleeding at the time of delivery are among the major causes for these deaths, according to top sources in the department.



Out of the 6,807 maternal deaths, 205 are at government hospitals and 125 at private. While 95 women died on the way to the hospitals 39 died in their homes.



Many families from north Karnataka migrate to Bengaluru in search of jobs. Child marriage is prevalent among them. Since these women get admitted to hospitals in Bengaluru, the numbers are high here, said an official.




Kids in Bengaluru may have a reason to cheer as the chairman of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy has expressed interest in organising a festival for childrens films later this year.





I would like to organise a childrens film festival in May or June by inviting films and delegates from around the world. I will talk to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in this regard, S V Rajendra Singh Babu said at a media conference here on Saturday.



Subsidy for films

Babu said he would also request the chief minister to increase the number of childrens films that could receive subsidy from two to four. In Kannada, there are very good childrens films such as Nagarahole and Simhada Mari Sainya, he said.



Shravan Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Childrens Film Society India (CFSI), said there was a misconception that Return on Investment (ROI) was low for childrens films. In Europe, the ROI is actually more. So, this should not be a reason for filmmakers to shy away from making movies for children.



Rural schools

H B Dinesh, the registrar of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Aacademy, suggested to Kumar that he show some movies from his library in rural schools of Karnataka. He and the chairman said they would present the idea to the education minister and the department.

DH News Service
If all goes well, movies will be screened in prominent localities of the city in the coming days as part of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes) for the benefit of film aficionados.





Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy (KCA) chairperson S V Rajendra Singh Babu on Saturday told DH, We will send a proposal to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah soon to screen films in Koramangala and Jayanagar to begin with, by roping in suitable theatres. This way, people will have more choices and we will get more viewers. Since 2016, we have been holding the Biffes only at Orion Mall in Rajajinagar. Babu said that since last two years, the response to the film festival organised by KCA with the support of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce had been overwhelming mainly due to the ambience of the venue and good public transport and parking facilities.



The movies were earlier being screened at Badami House at Hudson Circle, Information Department on Infantry Road among other venues. The sound quality and venues were not up to mark, he added.



KCA also plans to propose to the chief minister to hold film festivals every two months in Bengaluru and at Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Belagavi and Mangaluru from next year onwards. Popular Kannada movies such as U Turn and Dodmane Hudga were screened on Saturday. Long queues were seen outside screening venues to watch the Kannada films. Vijay Kumar, an IT professional, said he skipped work just to watch the critically acclaimed flick U Turn. I had heard rave reviews of this movie from my friends and in media. When I learnt that this movie would be screened here, I was eager to watch it, he said.



A stall displaying and selling DVDs of old and new Kannada films, audio CDs of Kannada film songs and biographies of popular Kannada actors was one of the major attractions at the film festival. Nagaraju K N, manager of Total Kannada that had set up the stall said, DVDs of Ghatashraddha and Samskara directed by Pattabhirama Reddy and books on the late Dr Rajkumar are in great demand.

DH News Service



The Road to Mandalay: 9.50 am

Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu: 2.20 pm

Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu: 5.30 pm

Children of the Mountain: 6.15 pm

Paos Story: 8.30 pm

(For the complete schedule, visit http://biffes.in/schedule-2017/ )


The attack on Jyothi Uday inside the Corporation Bank ATM centre at NR Square on JC Road opened up a debate on security measures at ATM centres in the city.





In fact, the incident forced the city police to seriously think of some measures to prevent crimes inside the centres.



Soon after the incident, the then police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar issued safety guidelines on November 28, 2013, directing the banks to deploy guards, instal burglar alarms and CCTV cameras outside the kiosks.



The police decided to strictly implement the order after Mohammad Munavvar, 28, a native of Assam, threatened nursing student Nayana and her friend Aishwarya at knifepoint as they stepped out of the Punjab National Bank ATM near Ambedkar Bhavan in Vasanthnagar on December 5, 2013.



The police held a series of meetings with heads of banks and wanted them to deploy guards, instal burglar alarms and CCTV cameras outside the kiosks. The police had also set a deadline to comply with the guidelines. The bank heads expressed helplessness in following the guidelines considering additional financial burden.



The police ordered closures of hundreds of ATM centres across the city as they failed to comply with the guidelines. However, heads of the banks fell in place and implemented the safety guidelines.



Surveys



The police conducted random surveys to ascertain if guidelines were in place for some time. Due to staff shortage and various others issues, the police stopped the survey.



There are about 8,500 ATM kiosks in the city and its outskirts. A recent survey indicated that about 25% of the ATMs in and around the city still have no guards, burglar alarms and CCTV cameras outside the kiosks.



The police have been maintaining that security at the kiosks is banks responsibility and the police come into picture if there is any crime.



Rs 10 lakh prize likely for cop



The constable who detained Madhukar Reddy, the man who had attacked Jyothi Uday inside an ATM centre on NR Square on November 19, 2013, at Madanapalli seems to have won jackpot. The constable may get a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh for catching Reddy.



The city police had announced a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh to a person catching the assailant or giving any information leading to his arrest. The constable had caught Reddy in connection with a different case. However, it led to the cracking of the ATM attack case. Hence, he is eligible for the prize as per norms, a senior officer, who headed the investigation team in the past told DH.


Russia Warns South Korea Of Consequences If THAAD Deployed

Russia's ambassador to South Korea, Alexander Timonin, has warned the South Korean government that it will have to take steps to ensure the security of its interests if South Korea finally deploys, jointly with the U.S, the High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), an advanced anti-missile defense system that seeks to counter North Korea's increasingly exacerbated threats.

During the press conference at the Russian Embassy in Seoul, Timonin said that the deployment of THAAD could have a dangerous impact on efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region. "We will have no choice but to draw up a conclusion once the installation of the THAAD has been completed," according to the South Korea news agency, Yonhap. "We will have to take certain types of counter-measures to ensure our own safety."

Earlier this Friday, the U.S Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned North Korea that if it decides to use nuclear weapons, it will respond effectively and overwhelmingly. Last July, South Korea, and the U.S agreed to deploy this powerful system with the aim of strengthening the country's defense against the threats posed by North Korea.

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The decision was taken five months after negotiations were initiated between the two sides for the deployment of this short, intermediate and mid-range ballistic missile demolition system through direct impact.

Negotiations began after North Korea launched a long-range missile in early February. This was a new test of ballistic missile technology, which added to the four nuclear tests carried out by Pyongyang the previous month, a figure that after the last test in September has risen to five.

The punitive measures imposed by the Security Council against North Korea expressly prohibit the Asian nation from conducting nuclear tests and launching missiles as well as continuing to develop both industries, although Pyongyang has continued to do so.

North Korea justifies its nuclear and military escalation by the need to defend itself against what it considers provocative movements of South Korea and the United States. The two Koreas are still technically at war because they only signed an armistice to stop hostilities indefinitely after confronting between 1950 and 1953.

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File photo of the stolen Buddha. [Photo: chinanews.com]

A Dutch court will hold a first hearing on July 14th for the case of villagers from China's Fujian Province seeking to reclaim a mummified Buddha statue from its Dutch owner, architect Oscar van Overeem, Chinanews reported.

The Buddha statue contains the remains of a mummified monk, and was enshrined and worshipped by both Yangchong village and neighbouring Dongpu village for thousands of years starting from the Song Dinasty (9601279 AD).

In December 1995, the Buddha disappeared from its seat. 20 years later, the Buddha reappeared in public at an exhibition in Hungary. The Dutch collector then decided to withdraw the statue from the exhibition. After that, the Chinese villagers took legal action, striving to retrieve the long-lost Buddha.

The Buddha statue on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest in March, 2015.[Photo: Xinhua]

In June last year, the case for retrieving the Buddha was taken to court in the Netherlands by a group of volunteer lawyers, including a Dutch lawyer, after van Overeem refused to return the Buddha to the villagers. The court later announced it will hold a hearing for the case but did not say when it will be held.

According to Dutch law, the hearing will be open to the public and the judge will hear statements from both sides, but a ruling will not be issued immediately on the spot.

The villagers' lawyers said the defendant and his lawyer have the right not to attend the court hearing, but if so, the defendant will lose the opportunity to orally elaborate his appeal and refute the information provided by the plaintiff. Therefore, Van Overeem should be attending the hearing but currently it is still unknown if he will actually do so.

Zheng Guozhen, vice-chairman of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics, said if the results of the hearing meet the expectation of the villagers, it will establish a good foundation for the return of overseas Chinese cultural relics.

(Global Times contributed to the story)
People of Miao ethnic group take part in folk events welcoming the spring in Yangwu Township of Danzhai County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Feb. 3, 2017. (Xinhua/Huang Xiaohai)




12 Bollywood Actors Who Didn't Promote Their Own Films
Donegal's Nora Stapleton was central to the Ireland Women taking a dramatic late victory over Scotland in the opening match of the Women's Six Nations on Friday night.

Scotland 15

Ireland 22

With the sides level at 15-15, outhalf Stapleton provided the final pass for Jenny Murphy to power over close to the posts.

Stapleton added the conversion and Ireland had also secured a bonus point victory, having scored four tries.

Centre Jenny Murphy marked her return to the 15-a-side international arena with the decisive score at rain-hit Broadwood Stadium, preventing the superior Scots from ending an 11-year losing run against their Celtic rivals.

This Cumbernauld venue was the scene of Ireland's 2015 Six Nations title success, but tonight's pock-marked performance was a world away from that 73-3 demolition job.

Player of the match Jade Konkel's two-try salvo inspired Scotland to a deserved 15-10 half-time lead, with Ireland mustering two unconverted efforts from Sene Naoupu (11 minutes) and Alison Miller (23) on the artificial pitch.

Tom Tierney's side made too many mistakes, both in defence and attack, and failed to turn their set piece dominance into scores. Sarah Law's 37th-minute penalty put five points between the teams at the interval.

Ireland were much more clinical when prop Lindsay Peat reached over from a 52nd minute maul - just after Scottish tighthead Lindsey Smith had been sin-binned - but they still struggled to build phases and really stretch the Scots who were hunting for their first international victory since 2011.

In the showery conditions, Law and her half-back partner Helen Nelson both missed kickable penalties and it was left to Ireland to conjure up a match winner, their forwards threatening from a late lineout maul before Nora Stapleton fed Murphy to crash in under the posts.

Shade Munro's ever-improving hosts had hit the front after just four minutes, pressing from an initial lineout maul before Louise McMillan took a great line and a bout of forward pressure ended with number 8 Konkel rumbling over for Law to convert.

Handling errors blighted Ireland's play in the early stages but they pounced on a loose ruck ball in the Scottish 22, using the turnover to feed Miller. Although the winger was hauled down short of the left corner, centre Naoupu did really well to support her and ground the ball under a pile of bodies.

Stapleton's conversion attempt dropped short of the target but Ireland now had the bit between their teeth, captain Paula Fitzpatrick being held up from one attack and then knocking on at the back of an advancing five-metre scrum.

A lapse in concentration let Scotland off the hook amid a prolonged bout of strong scrummaging from the Irish pack. However, the set piece platform, combined with a direct run from Naoupu, wore down the defence and simple hands put Miller over by the left corner flag.

Ireland's own defence was poor, though, as Scotland gained reward via their maul again. On the half hour mark, the home forwards ground their way up to the try-line and Konkel - her country's first full-time female player - got in under the defending Leah Lyons to complete her brace. Law was unable to convert on this occasion.

The visitors' sloppiness at the breakdown led to a turnover and then a central penalty which scrum half Law stuck over, three minutes before the break, as Ireland ended a frustrating first half with a five-point deficit.

Tierney introduced Elaine Anthony and new cap Eimear Considine for the start of the second period, Scotland resuming on the attack before a terrific break from number 8 Fitzpatrick got Ireland back on the front foot.

The Scots were pinned back inside their 22 and lost prop Smith to the bin for taking out Fitzpatrick as a lifter at the lineout. Smith's scrum opponent Peat plunged over from the very next maul, TMO Jon Mason confirming the grounding. However, Stapleton was short again with her conversion attempt at 15-all and the rain.

Law slid a kickable penalty just wide as Ireland's indiscipline continued to give Scotland chances amid a heavier rain shower. The hosts' back-line ignited early in the final quarter, centre Lisa Thomson zooming past Stapleton in midfield and then full-back Chloe Rollie dancing free up the left touchline.

Crucially, Ireland managed to hold out under intense pressure and they watched Nelson drift a 66th minute penalty effort to the right and wide. Scotland had more territory amid a scrappy spell which was broken up by good play from Claire Molloy and Stapleton's clearing kick.

There were three more debuts in a tense finale as Jennie Finlay, Ilse van Staden and Ciara O'Connor formed a new-look front row. A ruck offence was Scottish flanker McMillan allowed Stapleton to kick towards the left corner with the 80 minutes almost up. Scotland infringed again just a few metres out and Ireland stole the verdict thanks to hard-running Murphy's heroics, with the double whammy of the last-gasp triumph and Ireland's first ever Six Nations bonus point at any level.

Ireland Women: Mairead Coyne (Galwegians/Connacht); Niamh Kavanagh (UL Bohemians/Munster), Jenny Murphy (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Sene Naoupu (Aylesford Bulls), Alison Miller (Old Belvedere/Connacht); Nora Stapleton (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Ailsa Hughes (Railway Union/Leinster); Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/Leinster), Leah Lyons (Highfield/Munster), Ailis Egan (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Orla Fitzsimons (St. Mary's/Leinster), Marie Louise Reilly (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Ciara Griffin (UL Bohemians/Munster), Claire Molloy (Bristol/Connacht), Paula Fitzpatrick (St. Mary's/Leinster) (capt).

Replacements used: Elaine Anthony (Highfield/Munster) for Fitzsimons, Eimear Considine (UL Bohemians/Munster) for Kavanagh (both half-time), Mary Healy (Galwegians/Connacht) for Hughes (69 mins), Ilse van Staden (Cooke/Ulster) for Peat, Ciara O'Connor (Galwegians/Connacht) for Egan, Jennie Finlay (Old Belvedere/Leinster) for Lyons (all 71). Not used: Nichola Fryday (Tullamore/Connacht), Claire McLaughlin (Cooke/Ulster).
PARIS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- A French soldier on Friday shot and wounded a man armed with a machete after he tried to enter the Louvre Museum in central Paris, Paris prefect Michel Cadot said.

machete attacker carrying two backpacks attacked soldiers while trying to get into the museum underground shop before being shot and seriously wounded, Cadot said.

The "aggressive" man yelling Allahou Akbar (God the Greatest) menaced soldiers who were securing the capital's landmark museum in a context of high terrorist risk, he added.

The attacker whose identity remains unknown, slightly injured one serviceman before the other soldiers fired five bullets at him, according to Paris prefect.

"There was also a second individual who was behaving suspiciously, who has also been detained, but for now there does not appear to be a link between that individual and the attack," he said.

Cadot added that no explosives have been found in the man's bags with operation underway to ensure security in the area.

In a statement, the public prosecutor opened an anti-terrorism inquiry into the attack which Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said it "obviously of a terrorist nature."

Police cordoned off the area where circulation is suspended. Louvre official held 250 visitors in safe place and will be evacuated in small groups.

France has been the target of terrorist groups in response to its military operation in Syria, Iraq and Sahel region.

A recent attack, claimed by the Islamic State, claimed 86 victims when a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice last summer.
Concerns over the future of the regional veterinary laboratory in Sligo were raised at a recent meeting of of Donegal IFA members.

The matter was raised by Letterkenny IFA member Frank McClean who said there were concerns the service was under threat. and if it closed would leave the north west of the country with no such laboratory service.

He said they would be calling for the retaining and upgrading of the service and may even plan protest action to highlight the matter.

Chairman of the Donegal branch, Michael Chance said the closure of the Sligo lab was mooted two years ago and now the issue is back again.

In a statement from Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association president Patrick Kent, said he was calling on the Department of Agriculture to clarify its position on the possible closure of regional veterinary laboratories (RVLs).

Mr Kent stated: These laboratories are a vital resource in assisting farmers and their veterinary practitioners with determining the cause of livestock death and disease. The regional spread of these facilities is also critical; even the closure of one lab would create a big geographical gap in services. It is a resource that must be protected.

He added: The focus should be on improving services for farmers not removing them. Over recent years farmers have been endeavouring to improve their stock, particularly through schemes such as BDGP and Knowledge Transfer, so when an on farm death occurs they need to be able to receive a prompt diagnosis. 
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) cleared the most significant hurdle to his nomination as U.S. Attorney General when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 in approval of Sessions nomination.

The vote fell strictly along party lines with the 11 Republicans on the committee voting for and the 9 Democrats voting against Sessions as U.S. Attorney General.

The vote now moves to the full Senate. In order to be confirmed, Sessions must garner 51 votes from the Senate. Despite the recent turmoil created in the Justice Department and harsh criticism from Democratic committee members, Sessions is expected to clear the full Senate vote easily as Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate.

On Monday, President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she refused to enforce President Trumps travel ban, causing Democrats on Sessions committee to question whether he would be able to stand up to President Trump as Attorney General.

Though Democrats tried to delay a vote on Sessions in the committee, he was approved Wednesday.

However, it is unknown how long his confirmation could be delayed. As of press deadline, the vote on Sessions had not been placed on the Senates agenda.

U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R-Ala) released a statement Wednesday praising the committees decision to move Sessions forward to the full Senate vote.

Jeff Sessions is an outstanding American who for many years has fought tirelessly to advance conservative principles, Roby said. He is a man of the highest character and integrity who has a deep understanding of the rule of law. There is no one more qualified to lead our country as Attorney General, and Im confident that he will serve the American people admirably.

She went on to say, Our country needs Jeff Sessions leadership as Attorney General, and I urge the full Senate to confirm his nomination without delay.
Home Four wheelers Hyundai Motor Company To Assemble Cars In Pakistan oi-Sukesh

Hyundai Motor Company is planning to set up a car assembly plant in Pakistan in a joint venture with local textile company Nishat Mills.

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Check out the photos of the Suzuki's third-generation Swift. The 2017 Swift will be launched in India by this year's festive season.
Home Four wheelers Hyundais New Compact SUV To Be Named Kona oi-Sreejith

South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai is developing a new entry-level SUV to rival Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and soon-to-launch Tata Nexon. The new compact SUV is expected to hit the Indian market in 2018. Now, a report has emerged revealing that Hyundai will name the model 'Kona'.

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Home Two wheelers Hyderabad Police Soon To Get Raptor Regal Motorcycles oi-Sreejith

Hyderabad Police is ready to take the deliveries of Regal Raptor motorcycles. The company is set to supply Fab Regal Raptor Police Legacy models to the police force. So, speed freaks in Hyderabad, watch out!

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MACAO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Macao will suspend all its live poultry trade for at least three days immediately after chicken sample tested positive for H7 strain of bird flu on Friday, the special administrative region's civil affairs and health authorities said on Friday.

Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau chief Jose Maria da Fonseca Tavares told the press that the flu-positive sample were imported from Chinese mainland and all poultry markets in Macao will receive strict sterilization procedure.

He said all markets in Macao will suspend live poultry trade for at least three days.

The bureau added that they have closed the market where the positive sample was found, and no infected birds has entered retail markets. Some 8,200 chicken and 2,100 pigeons in that market will be culled soon.

Macao's Health Bureau said two drivers and two loading workers from Chinese mainland have been recognized as close contacts. They had return to Chinese mainland and the bureau already reported the situation to mainland authorities.

This is the second time in 2017 that Macao suspends its live poultry trade because of bird flu report. On Jan. 26, Macao had suspended the live poultry trade for three days for the same reason.
Iran says to counteract fresh U.S. sanctions

TEHRAN, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran will counteract the fresh U.S. sanctions imposed against some Iranian and non-Iranian entities under the pretext of being linked with Iran's missile program, Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The fresh sanctions are "inconsistent with the U.S. commitments and in contradiction with the spirit of the UN Resolution 2231," the statement said.

"The Islamic republic will counteract any measure which targets the national interests of the Iranians," it added.

The U.S. on Friday announced sanctions on multiple entities and individuals involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and providing support to a military force in Iran.

The move came days after Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington.
On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired on students, killing four of them and wounding nine, one of whom was paralyzed for life. The crime for which they were murdered was, for some of them, peacefully protesting the invasion of Cambodia. For others it was simply being near the protest. 29 of the 77 guardsmen present confessed to firing on the unarmed students they were trying to disperse. This tragedy is a inarguable stain on our nations history and a Presidents Commission on Campus Unrest called the shooting deaths unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.

Yesterday, Marquette County Republican Party secretary and former Chair Dan Adamini thought it would be hilarious to call for another Kent state to quell a protest that occurred on the campus of UC Berkeley where Breitbart writer and senior editor Milo Yiannopoulous was scheduled to speak.

On Facebook, Adamini wrote, The violent protests at our universities certainly indicates Portage acacian at the lower level. Im thinking another Kent State might be the only solution protest stopped after only one death. They do it because they know there are no consequences yet.

Im completely baffled as to what Portage acacian references. If you know what this means, please let me know. Turns out Portage acacian means poor education according to Adamini.

He also tweeted under his handle @DanAdamini, Violent protesters who shut down free speech?Time for another Kent State perhaps. One bullet stops a lot of thuggery.

Adamini, who runs a radio show called In the Right Mind and has since deleted the Facebook post and the tweet, claims it was all just a poorly worded attempt at calling for an end to the campus protests. This is a blatant lie, of course. Theres no way you can misinterpret what he was saying. It wasnt subtle. If he was calling to end to protests before someone gets hurt, he could simply have said that. Instead he believes another Kent State might be the only solution and that its time for another Kent State perhaps.

Brandon Dillon, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, agrees:

The statements made yesterday on social media by Dan Adamini are sickening, inhuman, and indefensible. There is no ambiguity or alternative interpretation. To call for another Kent State and declare that one bullet stops a lot of thuggery is to clearly and openly advocate for the murder of unarmed college students, simply because they dont share his beliefs or point of view. Mr. Adamini should immediately apologize and then resign from any public or political party positions he holds. His words should be condemned and any association with him disavowed. The right to free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy, and when someone threatens another individual or group with harm for exercising it, that one person is a threat to all of us, as Americans.

Adamini is the same guy, by the way, who recently tweeted that Congressman John Lewiss statement that he doesnt see Donald Trump as a legitimate president is due to too many blows to the Head during protests:

John Lewis: 'I don't see Trump as a legitimate president': https://t.co/h5I1BNitWK via @AOL. Too many blows to the Head during protests?  Dan Adamini (@DanAdamini) January 13, 2017

This man is disgusting. He thinks because hes in rural Northern Michigan he can get away for calling for shooting protesting students and smearing a civil rights hero and icon. He probably also feels that he doesnt have to be politically correct anymore with Donald Trump as president. The fact is that he is NOT getting away with it and hes getting exactly the sort of grief for it that he deserves.

Itll be interesting to see how the Marquette County Republican Party responds to this call for the murder of protesting students. Given that County Party Chair Brendan Biolo thinks Facebook should be outlawed, I cant begin to imagine what he will do.

If I were in charge of the Michigan Republican Party, I would relieve Adamini of his leadership position and revoke his membership in the MRP. But, then again, I have strong American values and a firm moral compass.

Well be watching the MRP to see if they do, as well.

UPDATE: Shortly after posting this, I received the following statement from the Chair of the Marquette County Democratic Party:

Official Statement: In response to Mr. Dan Adamini, Secretary of the Marquette County Republican Party: The statements made by Mr. Dan Adamini are highly irresponsible as a leader in the community, current officer, and former chair of the Marquette County Republican Party. To insinuate another Kent State Massacre needs to take place in this country to quell protests is disgusting and inhumane. I remind all of you that the Kent State Massacre took the lives of 4 people, injured 9 others, and resulted in 1 person suffering paralysis. No person has ever been brought to justice for these murders. The statements made by Mr. Dan Adamini were clear after checking both of his social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter). Its with profound sorrow that I believe he meant what he said. The Marquette County Democratic Party encourages and participates in PEACEFUL protests across the region and believes that it is our 1st Amendment right. I do not believe violence is ever the answer and should never be a solution to any peaceful protest or problem. I hope that with some deep introspection and prayer that Mr. Dan Adamini will realize the faults in his words and thoughts and accept LOVE into his heart. Jason Chapman Chair, Marquette County Democratic Party

Also, the Marquette County Republican Party posted this on their Facebook page, basically holding themselves harmless for the hideous comments of their Secretary, a person like myself who is an officer in their party:

What the hell, lets get this asshole fired:
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China on Friday reiterated its opposition to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea, after the U.S. defense secretary reaffirmed the deployment in Seoul.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated China's opposition on Friday, which he said would never change.

"We do not believe this move will be conducive to resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue or to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula," Lu told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo said the allies will push forward the deployment plan "within this year," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Mattis' first trip abroad as defense secretary showed that Trump's security policy toward the Asia-Pacific region is consistent with that of the Obama Administration," Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

"The policy is likely to be even tougher, considering that the new South Korean government, which will be elected this year, might object to the deployment," Li said.

Echoing Li, Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the visit is intended to send a clear signal to the future South Korean president.

North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and its main ally, the U.S., conducted more than 20 missile tests last year, as well as two nuclear tests, in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions.

Once fully developed, a DPRK's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) could threaten the continental U.S., which is about 9,000 kilometers from DPRK. ICBMs have a minimum range of about 5,500 kilometers, but some are designed to travel 10,000 kilometers or more.

DPRK also appears to have restarted operation of a reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear facility that produces plutonium that can be used for its nuclear weapons program, according to the U.S. think tank 38 North.

"Any attack on the U.S., or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming," Mattis said while reassuring South Korea of steadfast U.S. support, Reuters reported on Friday.

"His reaffirmation of the alliance also delivered a message to China and DPRK that there is no opportunity to take advantage of [the discord between former President Barack Obama and Trump]," Liu told the Global Times.

No room for doubt

During a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Friday, Mattis appeared eager to reassure Japan of U.S. resolve, after an election campaign that saw Trump question the value of U.S. alliances, Reuters reported.

Mattis said provocations by DPRK, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs, left no room for doubt about U.S. commitment. It was a similar message he delivered over the past two days in South Korea.

"Previously the Pentagon was more impacted by the White House, but Mattis has confirmed his role in leading the White House in terms of defense policies," Liu noted.

Trump singled out both South Korea and Japan on the campaign trail, suggesting they were benefiting from the U.S. security umbrella without sharing enough of the costs.

Japan has been keenly awaiting assurances that Trump's administration would honor Washington's previous commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China.

Kyodo news agency, citing an unidentified Japanese government source, said Mattis had confirmed that the U.S. defense commitment extended to the Diaoyu Islands.

Abe said he was convinced that, with Trump and Mattis, the U.S. and Japan could demonstrate to the world their "unwavering alliance."

"It also reflected U.S.' attempt to further disrupt the Asia-Pacific region under the Trump administration," Li said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida echoed that message to Mattis in a meeting later on Friday, saying it was important to further strengthen the alliance in the face of an "increasingly severe" security environment in the region.

Mattis is due to hold talks on Saturday with Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, who has repeatedly said Japan is bearing its fair share of the costs for U.S. troops stationed there and has stressed that the alliance is good for both countries.




WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans face opposition to their plan to overhaul the way corporations pay federal taxes from a powerful group of lawmakers - other Republicans.



"I'm not very enthused about it," said Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the chairman of the Finance Committee and the Senate's top tax writer.
(Xinhua) 15:02, February 04, 2017

Chinese tourist Mr. Liu was at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Friday when he witnessed the attack that was thwarted by security forces.

"Around 9:50 am (0850 GMT), when I arrived below the glass pyramid, I saw many tourists running inward. There was tension in the air," he said.

On Friday morning, an attacker with a machete wounded a soldier patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre, crying religious slogans. He was seriously wounded in the belly after being shot by another soldier, according to French officials.

"My friends and I were walking around when suddenly I saw a man go to a soldier to attack him. The second soldier could not stop him and then the third soldier shot him," Wu Long, staff member of the Louvre museum, told Xinhua.

French President Francois Hollande said the terrorist character of this attack "is in no doubt."

Details on the assailant remains unknown, and no explosives were found in the suitcases he carried, French media reported.

Dozens of soldiers and policemen gathered near the Louvre museum, with police cars and ambulances parked in front of the Carrousel du Louvre.

"During the incident, we were kept inside the museum, where we left safe," Liu said.

"Whatever happens, I will continue my trip in France and Europe," he added.

French officials later hailed national security forces for effectively dealing with the threat.
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Sudan launched its first Upper Atbara and Setait Dam electricity project on Thursday, Xinhua News Agency reported. The project was jointly built by China Three Gorges Corporation and China International Water and Electric Corporation.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir spoke highly of the Chinese companies performance during the construction of the project at the inaugural ceremony.

The project will cover 5,000 square kilometers of irrigated area, and provide 7 million people with irrigation water. In addition, it can provide 3 million people with drinking water and more than 1 million people with electricity, benefitting about one third of the country's population.
One of Poland's most wanted arrested after leaving IoM



Lancashire Police released an image of Marian Dorobek following his arrest.

One of Poland's most wanted men is in custody in England after arriving in Heysham on the Ben-my-Chree.

Marian Dorobek was met by police at the Lancashire port on Wednesday lunchtime after officers received information that he would be on the vessel, which left Douglas earlier that morning.

The 68-year-old is facing accusations of rape and child sex offences in his home country.

Manx police had appealed for information on his whereabouts last weekend, but later confirmed he had been found safe and well.

Dorobek was remanded to HMP Wandsworth while police prepare to apply to extradite him back to Poland.
Earlier reports about a Chinese Sino-Indian war veteran who looks forward to return to China after being stuck in India for half a century has garnered wide attention in China.

As reported by BBC Hindi's journalist Vineet Khare on Jan. 31, 2017, a Chinese army surveyor named Wang Qi was taken prisoner in India just weeks after the Sino-Indian war broke out in 1963. Since then, he has been unable to leave India, but he remains eager to reunite with his family in China.

On Jan. 10, Mr. Wangs older brother Wang Zhiyuan contacted his brother via video. According to Wang Zhiyuan, his brother still has his accent and is eager to return home as soon as possible.

On Feb.1, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi announced that they are aware of the case and said the embassy is in close contact with Mr. Wang, his relatives, and Indian authorities. The embassy said that they are sympathetic about his suffering and continue to offer him help, adding that with the joint efforts of China and India, the case will surely be resolved in an ideal manner and with respect to the individual concerned.

On Feb. 3, embassy staff told a local newspaper in Shaanxi that they are currently coordinating some issues concerning his case.

On the same day, the Special Care Pension for Wartime Veterans Office of Shaanxi's Civil Affairs Department announced that a deal was reached and the office will offer as much help as it can to Mr. Wang. Later that day, the Civil Affairs Department of Xianyang in Wangs hometown made a similar pledge.

A charity organization in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said they will cover the expenses of bringing Mr. Wang back home this spring.

Officials from the village where Mr. Wang was born said they will allocate residential land to him so that he can spend his remaining years in comfort.
Russia will take corresponding measures to ensure its national security if South Korea deploys the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Alexander Timonin, Russian Ambassador to South Korea, said at a press conference on Friday in Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Timonin said that the deployment of THAAD in South Korea would pose a threat to security on the Korean Peninsula and would contribute nothing to regional peace. He said the deployment indicates that South Korea would be incorporated into the U.S. missile defense system, which would challenge Russias strategic security.

Timonin pointed out that Russia still hopes for South Korea to decide against the deployment.

South Koreas Ministry of National Defense said on Friday that South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-goo and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis have reached consensus on making sure that THAAD is deployed in South Korea this year.
Angelina Jolie just expressed her dismay and anger on Donald Trump's latest immigration policies which led to limiting travellers to enter America. The actress, despite her divorce drama with Brad Pitt, criticized the US President for the strict order regarding the immigration.

Jolie penned an op-ed which was later published in New York Times and it was evident how she feels so disappointed with the travel ban. The actress has been a special envoy of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and she has in fact visited many times Syrian refugees.

According to E! News, Angelina mentioned in her article that the sudden decision to stop resettlement of refuges in the United States and the deny of entry to the major Muslim countries is not right. The suspension, according to her was met with shock around the world because of what will it imply later.

Angelina Jolie is a mother of six kids who were born from different countries. She also wrote something as an added concern for their future following the travel ban. She has this desire to have this country safe for the children and those refugee children who qualify for asylum would also be given the right to plead their case to the US.

Even if her father, John Voight expressed his support for President Trump, the actress did not waste any time to make a stance on the president. With this, she added that the government should know how to balance its international responsibilities without compromising on the needs of its citizens as per The Guardian.

Moreover, what is more remarkable on her opinion editorial is when she mentioned that the response for this issue should be based on facts and not on fear. For the record, Angelina Jolie has been the latest star to have spoken out against Trump's immigration policies.

Angelina Jolie might be undergoing gruelling divorce case right now but that did not stop her from fulfilling her duties as special envoy of the UN for the refugees. Her article that expressed her dismay over Donald Trump's immigration policies is just a proof.
Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe are on war of words over who will win the Six Nations rugby clash in Edinburgh. The "Outlander" stars are betting on the showdown at Murrayfield of Scotland versus Ireland.

Sam Heughan started the war of words in Twitter by asking Caitriona Balfe if she wants to make a bet this Saturday. The Irish beauty responded to bring it on and telling the Scottish actor to enjoy the optimism now because, perhaps, his team is going down. The "Outlander" actor also told Caitriona that the loser will have to wear the other team's shirt.

So... @caitrionambalfe

Want to make a bet who wins this Saturday??@SixNationsRugby @Scotlandteam @IrishRugby

Could cause trouble on set..  Sam Heughan (@SamHeughan) February 2, 2017

The war of words between Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe comes after the news that the two stars were caught up in true to life drama. While on location for filming the "Outlander" Season 3 in Ayrshire, a woman fell and hurt herself.

According to a report by Daily Record, a 29 year old woman fell close to Dunure Castle. The "Outlander" film crew was reported to have offered to transport the ambulance staff in their 4x4 to get to the patient faster. Sam Heughan thanked the crew for his quick thinking and aiding the woman.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife that the Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe romance might be over as soon as "Outlander" Season 3 is over. There have been reports that some big bosses are eyeing the Scot hunk to be the next James Bond. Some fans believe that he might just dump the 37 year old actress once the historical time travel drama series ends.

"Outlander" first aired on television in August 2014, and rumors of Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe's romance began. Viewers have noticed right away the strong chemistry between the two stars who played Jamie and Claire. However, neither Sam Heughan nor Caitriona Balfe has admitted to a real life romance.
(Xinhua) 19:36, February 04, 2017

A postmortem will be carried out to determine the identity of a female body, which was found on Saturday morning in waters near the Mengalum island, as the search for the missing from the Sabah sunken boat have been refocused on the area where the body was found.

The result of the postmortem is expected to come out on Sunday as the body was already in decomposed state, said Adam Aziz, Kota Kinabalu Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director at a daily briefing on Saturday.

"We are not denying possibility of the body being one of the missing .. The identity can be ascertained through family members or DNA results," he said.

The ill-fated boat, carrying 28 tourists from China, capsized en route from Kota Kinabalu to Mengalum island, which is about 50 kilometers west of Kota Kinablau. Three of the tourists have been confirmed dead while another five and a crewmember are still missing.

Aziz said they have deployed assets to focus on the area where the body was found, about 200 square nautical miles, bringing the total search area on Saturday to 2,100 square nautical miles, covering waters off Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.

The skipper of the boat was sentenced to six months in jail on Saturday for steering an overloaded and unsafe vessel, for the first time shedding light on what caused the tragedy. A preliminary investigation is expected to be released next week.
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A growing number of South Texas mineral owners are suing Chesapeake Energy, accusing the company of underpayment of royalties and seeking what attorneys describe as potentially tens of millions of dollars.

Since the first handful of lawsuits were filed last year in the western edge of the Eagle Ford Shale, a 400-mile oil field that swoops across South Texas, at least 118 people have joined in to sue Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake.

The South Texas lawsuits, many filed by longtime ranchers in the region, are the latest in a wave of litigation against the company. The legal wrangling could overwhelm small courthouses in far-flung areas of the Eagle Ford. Judges there rotate among the smaller counties, and some towns are so sparsely populated that jury pools can be difficult to muster.

The number of South Texas plaintiffs has more than doubled since September. The unhappy mineral owners in Dimmit, La Salle and McMullen counties signed leases with Chesapeake starting around 2009, the early days of the Eagle Ford boom. At the time, companies were racing to get a foothold into the new oil and gas field, where horizontal drilling was being combined with hydraulic fracturing, a process of using massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals pumped at high pressure to crack open tight rocks. Chesapeake was one of the first companies in the Eagle Ford and at one time had more acreage than anyone else  leasing 785,000 acres in the region at the peak, according to company investor presentations.

Royalty owners in North Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania also have sued Chesapeake in recent years.

The South Texas lawsuits do not seeks specific amounts in damages or fees, but with tens of thousands of acres and hundreds of oil wells, tens of millions of dollars is at stake, plaintiffs attorneys George Parker Young said. Chesapeake did not respond to a request for comment.

McMullen County landowner Jeff Sibley said Chesapeake started drilling in 2010 on the ranch his grandparents purchased during the Depression. He said he does not think the company ever paid royalties correctly and did things specifically prohibited by his 80-something-page lease, including deducting expenses and pooling his minerals with others, done when a company drills across different lease lines and places the owners into a common pool.

Its ridiculous to have to go to a lawsuit, Sibley said. If you cant write a contract and say exactly what you want, whats the point of a contract?

The trials will happen in Dimmit, La Salle and McMullen counties, but the nitty-gritty legal fights are happening in San Antonio, where state District Judge Cathleen Stryker is managing the pretrial details. Attorneys for both sides are wrangling over how to bundle the plaintiffs together and handle a discovery process that will take most of this year. A particular issue is how many hours Chesapeake corporate representatives will be available for depositions.

There are practical hurdles, too.

Rural South Texas counties cannot handle hundreds of individual mineral lawsuits  Chesapeake cases would overwhelm the court system if they were tried individually. State district judges in the region often work on a circuit, traveling among several counties.

The jury pool is especially limited in McMullen County. Its a corner of thorny brush country known for vast cattle ranches, trophy deer hunting and a tough history. In the 1840s, both the Republic of Texas and Mexico struggled to control the county, which was a haven for outlaws.

Today, it has a full-time population estimated at just 820. Jury trials happen only in March, July and November.

Stryker asked attorneys at a hearing Friday if anyone had called the clerk in McMullen County to see how likely it would be to pick a jury there.

No one had called.

I could foresee us having a problem finding people who arent related or who dont know something, Stryker said.

They will have to find at least one or two juries, though. Most of the McMullen County leases have mandatory-venue clauses that require a jury trial on home turf.

Sibleys is one of them.

Its one of the smallest counties in America, Sibley said. They cant hold a lot of these trials.

There are 124 plaintiffs suing Chesapeake separately in Zapata County, which isnt part of the Eagle Ford Shale. The Zapata County wells are vertical wells drilled into sandstone for dry natural gas  different from the horizontal wells in the Eagle Ford that produce mostly liquids. Chesapeake sold its Zapata County acreage in 2014, and the company that purchased it is not being sued.

There are several allegations in the Chesapeake Eagle Ford lawsuits. Some of the key ones are that Chesapeake underpaid by basing the royalties on improper volumes and prices for oil, gas and natural gas liquids and that the company charged post-production costs for things such as moving products to market, which was not allowed under the terms of the lease.

So-called post-production costs are often a point of contention between mineral owners and energy producers, though the details of what can and cant be charged to royalty owners are listed in mineral leases that can vary widely across the region.

Of all of the shale fields in the U.S., the Eagle Ford has the reputation among attorneys as having the most complex lease language. South Texas is a place where oil booms have come and mostly gone, giving longtime mineral owners a chance to add detail to new leases that cover everything from accounting and expense requirements to what times of day an oil company can operate during deer hunting season.

The lawsuits also name the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corp., which invested in Chesapeakes Eagle Ford acreage in 2010 as a drilling partner. CNOOC paid $1.08 billion for a third of Chesapeakes investment.

South Texas has always seen a steady stream of mineral litigation, but there is renewed reason for people to file suit.

Oil prices have been halved, from a high of $107 per barrel in June 2014 to around $54 now, which has caused landowners to scrutinize their royalty statements.

And the clock is ticking for mineral owners.

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.

While mineral owners often assume that their royalty payments are correct, Texas courts have made clear that they have the burden of discovering any problems and taking legal action. The Texas Supreme Court also has made clear that it does not like stale claims  people have four years to make a contract complaint, or that opportunity is gone for good.

Some savvy mineral owners have lease provisions that set aside the time limit, but that is not common  except for the largest landowners who can make extra demands during lease negotiations.

The accounting of how mineral owners are paid is not always a simple question. Not all companies are willing to share that information, and not all leases have an audit provision that allows royalty owners to see the companys books. Some mineral owners have to file lawsuits to look at the accounting information.

Sibley said he felt there was no choice but to sue. Ranching and farming has become a break-even business, making oil the only thing of true value to pass down to heirs.

This is your gift. Take care of it, Sibley said. Youre going to hand this down, and your children will be dealing with this forever.

Chesapeake has been involved in royalty lawsuits in other oil and gas fields, including the Barnett Shale around Fort Worth, a natural gas field where shale drilling was first successful. That litigation involved more than 400 lawsuits and 13,000 plaintiffs. Most of the Barnett Shale cases, though, involve neighborhoods, small tracts of land and simple lease language.

The Texas Supreme Court last year ruled in Chesapeake vs. Hyder, a Barnett Shale case, that Chesapeake could not deduct post-production costs from a lease that had language that shifted those costs to the company. The Hyder family won nearly $1 million.

In 2015, Chesapeake settled a lawsuit involving gas royalties in Oklahoma. It paid $119 million to royalty owners there. Royalty owners in Pennsylvania, where the Marcellus Shale is located, have also sued Chesapeake.

Chesapeake now holds around 500,000 acres in the Eagle Ford. Though the company has sold some South Texas acreage and let other mineral leases expire, it remains one of the largest companies operating in South Texas. Most of its acreage is in La Salle, Dimmit and McMullen counties, though it also holds acreage in Webb, Zavala and Atascosa counties, according to its investor presentations.

jhiller@express-news.net

Twitter: @Jennifer_Hiller
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 24 times violated the ceasefire in various directions along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Feb. 4.

The Armenian army was using 82-millimeter mortars and large-caliber machine guns.

The Azerbaijani army positions located on nameless heights and in the Kamarli, Gizilhajili villages of the Gazakh district, Alibayli and Munjuglu villages of the Tovuz district, as well as in the Garavalilar village of the Gadabay village underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in the Dovekh village of the Noyemberyan district, Berkaber village of the Ijevan district, Aygepar village and on nameless heights of the Berd district, on nameless heights of the Krasnoselsk district of Armenia.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions were shelled from the Armenian army positions located near the Armenian-occupied Chilaburt village of the Tartar district, Shuraabad, Sarijali, Chiragli villages of the Aghdam district, Mehdili village of the Jabrayil district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy and Fuzuli districts of Azerbaijan.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
courtesy / courtesy

The investment bank headed by former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros closed on a record $195 billion in client deals last year, requiring more staff and space at its offices on Wall Street, the company announced Friday.

Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co., based in New York City and Oakland, California, has spent $1.1 million on a 7,000-square-foot renovation for its New York offices at 100 Wall St.  doubling the firms presence at the center for deal-makers, the company said in a press release announcing the changes.
H-E-B will nix a pilot program that allows customers to pay using a mobile application at certain stores.

The San Antonio-based supermarket chains Mobile Wallet pilot program will end Tuesday, the company told customers in a Jan. 31 email.

The Mobile Wallet program, available through the companys mobile app, allows customers to load debit or credit card information to the H-E-B app for whats intended to be a speedier and more secure checkout process.

Customers pick the Mobile Wallet option at checkout and scan a bar code using their phone, according to H-E-Bs website. The program also tracks shoppers payment history.

H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said Mobile Wallet had a small, concentrated pilot period of a few months. The service is available at 12 H-E-B stores, according to the companys website: seven in San Antonio, three in Austin and two in College Station.

Campos said H-E-B could enact another version of the service in the future. She wouldnt say how many people were using the app or whether the program had technical difficulties.

It was an innovative thing that we were testing and well continue to test multiple initiatives in technology in our stores and interfacing with our customers, Campos said. Its just something that will continue to evolve, and we plan to do more testing around that in the future.

Retailers have increasingly adopted in-store mobile payment options such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, along with payment methods available through their individual applications, which allow companies to keep consumers transaction information and target them more directly with information about sales and rewards programs.

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.

Walmart established its Pay option via its mobile application in December 2015. Sams Club rolled out its Scan and Go app in September, which allows members to scan items with their Android or iPhone and show a digital receipt to an employee before walking out of the store. Department store chain Kohls launched Kohls Pay in October, where customers can use their mobile device to pay for clothes and jewelry with their Kohls Charge card.

Target also announced plans in January to launch its own in-app, in-store payment option later this year.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports
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A San Antonio man who was freed from life in prison by President Barack Obama is back behind bars, accused of crashing his car into another vehicle while fleeing from officers after a drug deal Thursday.

Robert M. Gill, 68, whose life sentence for cocaine and heroin distribution conspiracy was commuted by Obama in 2015, was profiled last year in the San Antonio Express-News about his readjustment to life on the outside.

Jailed from the time of his arrest in 1990, Gill earned a legal education inside prison libraries and successfully petitioned the then-president for a second chance after his court appeals were exhausted.

He was taken to federal court Friday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad ordered him held without bail pending a hearing Feb. 16. Gill is charged with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. Five hundred grams is a little more than 1 pound.

He again faces a potential sentence with a mandatory minimum, five years, and he could get up to 40.

RELATED: Read past coverage about Robert Gill here.

Gill became one of about 1,700 federal inmates whose sentences Obama commuted as part of a broader campaign to give relief to nonviolent offenders serving long prison terms that dated to a frenzied period in the nations war on drugs. In the 1980s and 1990s, tens of thousands of offenders were punished under mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for federal drug crimes that now carry shorter sentences.

Obama wrote in a signed notification that he granted Gills application because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around.  Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity.

In interviews last year, Gill said he sustained hope even as his three co-defendants died behind bars.

I believed there were people in government with rational minds who sooner or later would realize that the sentence wasnt fair, Gill said then. Yes, you have the thought that youre going to die in prison  thats a human reaction. But theres always the possibility that theyll acknowledge the injustice.

After his release in 2015, he began working as a paralegal for local criminal defense law firm LaHood & Calfas, and he appeared to make the most of it. A Vietnam veteran who succumbed to the world of drugs, he said he sought to reform himself. He brought several clients to the practice through contacts he made while living at Crosspoint, a halfway house, attorney Neil Calfas, who hired him, told the paper last year.

One of the things Bobby has is street credibility, Calfas said at the time. If someone is charged with a crime, they know hes spent 25 years in prison. That allows him to be a buffer between the lawyers and the clients.

But unknown to his employer, and hours after meeting with a federal probation officer this week, Gill reportedly bought 1 kilogram of cocaine, or a little more than 2 pounds, while being watched Thursday by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, and he was arrested after a pursuit also involving Bexar County sheriffs deputies, according to federal court records.

According to a criminal complaint affidavit, HSI agents received information about Gills renewed involvement in drugs in mid-January. On Thursday, he contacted an unidentified person, via phone, to arrange a deal to buy a kilo of cocaine, according to the affidavit.

About 5:30 p.m., Gill met with that person in the parking lot of Fiesta Food Mart at 6050 Ingram Road and received a black backpack that he put in the car he was driving, the affidavit said. As he left the parking lot on Ingram Road, a sheriffs deputy in a marked patrol car tried to pull him over.

Gill, the affidavit said, fled at high speed, and the car he was in collided with another vehicle at Callaghan and Bandera roads.

He again tried to flee, but his vehicle was disabled by cars of other law enforcement officers, according to the affidavit. Agents found the backpack in the car, which contained a kilo of cocaine, the affidavit said.

He related that he was going to sell the cocaine to make money and would be paying a female $26,000 for the cocaine, the affidavit said.

Im so disappointed to hear that he got arrested again, said Ronald Schmidt, a lawyer who helped Gill appeal his life sentence in the courts.

I know the mandatory minimums were really stacked against Bobby, Schmidt said. We all have free will, and apparently, he made a bad decision again and hes going to have to suffer the consequences again. Thats unfortunate.

We are very shocked and extremely saddened by these allegations, Calfas said Friday. At some point, as a civilized society we need to rethink our drug policy. If the allegations against Bobby Gill are true, this is clear proof that extreme prison sentences and mandatory minimums under the federal sentencing guidelines dont work.

gcontreras@express-news.net
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KERRVILLE  A justice of the peace this week concluded that Councilman Gary Stork, who was found shot to death with his wife at their home in September, took his own life.

No determination on the manner of Peggy Storks death was made by Kerr County Justice of the Peace Mitzi French, who said Friday it would remain listed as undetermined on the death certificate unless more information is developed.
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A South Texas jury on Friday acquitted Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre Jr. of bribery and abuse of official capacity charges.

After two days of deliberations, the jury in Nueces County found Yzaguirre not guilty on eight counts of bribery, six counts of abuse of official capacity and one count of official oppression.

A day before, the jury had been unable to reach a decision on the official oppression charge. Senior State District Judge Manuel Banales released the jurors, advising them to be prepared to deliver a verdict on Friday.

Yzaguirre and three tax office employees were arrested in January 2016 on allegations they had issued fake vehicle registrations in exchange for cash.

RELATED: Texas public officials in trouble with the law

Texas Rangers began investigating Yzaguirre after a confidential informant alleged that he had met with the tax-assessor collector to register three vehicles to three different people and addresses.

The informant allegedly paid to register the vehicles, then placed $300 in an envelope for Yzaguirre, according to court documents. The informant told the Texas Rangers that when there was a problem with a vehicle registration the informant could arrange to meet with Yzaguirre for a fee of $100 per vehicle, an affidavit shows.

During an undercover investigation dubbed Operation Dirty Deeds, another confidential informant paid Yzaguirre to register two vehicles without identification documents because the persons seeking to register the vehicles do not exist, an affidavit alleged.

But an investigator with the District Attorneys Office in Cameron County could not trace any ill-gotten proceeds to Yzaguirres bank accounts.

RELATED: Wild wrong-way police chase ends in S.A. neighborhood

Yzaguirre was reelected in November, prevailing over two write-in candidates with 75 percent of the vote. After staying away from the office while the criminal case was pending, Yzaguirre said he was eager to return to work.

anelsen@express-news.net

Twitter: @amnelsen
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijan urges Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, promote not the religious and cultural division in Europe but the inter-civilizational and interreligious dialogue and multiculturalism in the conditions of the modern world, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend.

This is what Europe and the world need more today, Hajiyev said.

On Feb. 4, Bildt posted a religious map of Europe on his Twitter account. The territory of Nagorno-Karabakh on the map was indicated as a territory with Christian population.

Posting a map, where the territory of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenia, marked with a different color, is a denial of the millennial cultural and religious heritage of indigenous Azerbaijanis who were exiled from these territories as a result of bloody ethnic cleansing and Armenian occupation, said Hajiyev.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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The author gives Menzies most of the credit for using the post World War II boom to turn Canberra from a large country town into a major city, moving most of the civil service departments to Canberra in the 1950s, although the High Court did not move there until 1980.
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.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4

Trend:

Holding of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijan will become another successful step in terms of promoting the country, said Siyavush Novruzov, deputy executive secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), in an interview posted on NAPs website.

Considering the fact that Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev declared 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in the country, this event becomes even more significant, he added.

Currently, some are advocating unfair treatment of Islam and attempting to associate Islam with terror, according to him.

By making this decision, President Ilham Aliyev sent a message to the world, said Novruzov.

"The whole world needs to realize and accept what high values the Islamic religion carries. Declaring 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in Azerbaijan and holding the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games mean that Islam is a religion of unity, solidarity, and this solidarity must be sustainable," he said.

Such an opinion is now being voiced in the world that interreligious relations cannot be normalized, according to him.

"This approach is based on the policy pursued by aggressor countries and serves their interests. Invader countries pursue such policy to worsen the interreligious situation and implement their goals. The recent decision made by the US contradicts fundamental state policy of this country  the policy pursued by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln. Any racial, religious barriers are unacceptable, people are equal, regardless of skin color and religion, and it is wrong to discriminate between them," Novruzov said.
During a visit to the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) office, deputy head of the Denmark embassy Jakob Rogild Jakobsen said Pakistan offers very good opportunities to Danish businessmen in various sectors, particularly in the textile industry. He also said that trade volume between the two countries was less and can be expanded further.According to Jakobsen, there must be efforts from both sides to strengthen relations through exchange of trade delegations, holding B2B meetings and various other initiatives. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Fijian Government has called on all Fijians to submit design ideas for the logo that will represent the Fijian Presidency at COP 23  the United Nations negotiations on climate change. The winning submission will be used as a basis for designing the logo that will Fiji will carry to the upcoming negotiations, which will be held in Bonn, Germany in November 2017.The national competition will run from 4  24 February. All Fijians are encouraged to submit their best ideas and help Fiji develop a logo that encapsulates not only Fijis place in the world, but the values and the things that the Fijian people hold dear.The winning entry will be awarded a paid trip for two anywhere on the Fiji Airways network.Fiji needs the creativity and ingenuity of the Fijian people to make sure our Presidency of COP 23 is as successful as possible. So we are asking every Fijian, including our students, our young people and our professional artists, to submit design ideas so that we can produce a logo that truly symbolises who we are as a country and what we stand for as a people, said Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.All submissions must comply with specific guidelines that will be advertised in the Fiji Sun as of 4 February 2017. Information on how to submit design proposals will also be advertised in the Fiji Sun. Click here to view the advert.
critic's rating: 2.5/5



Rating: 2.5 stars



Quick take: Jackie Chans great Indian misadventures



Twenty years ago, Jackie Chan in a Hindi / Indian film would have been a break the internet moment. But back then, the internet hadnt yet gained the momentum it does today, nor had the Chinese movie producers found such keen interest in the Indian market. So it took a directive from Chinese President Xi Jinping to have Chinese film companies carve out an action adventure where Jackie Chan hops across India to look for a mythical treasure. The result is a Chinese adventure film looking like an Indian magnus opus. Sadly, even with Jackie Chans presence, Kung-Fu Yoga doesnt seem all that fabulous. Its great to see Chan in a song and dance routine like regular Hindi film superstars. But the crazy fun that Jackie Chan versus Sonu Sood couldve been just doesnt materialise at all.



The story deals with a Chinese archeology expert named Jack being summoned in India to look for a lost treasure. If that sounds like a left over Indiana Jones premise, youre a certified Harrison Ford fan. What differentiates Kung-fu Yoga from Indys awesome adventure sagas is the Chinese mythology. In a similar way to his 2005 film The Myth, Chan is also depicted as an ancient Chinese General in Kung-fu Yoga. But thats just to establish the history of a lost Indian treasure during a Chinese conquest. Its the makers way of making the story relevant to both China and India. With that quick history lesson taken care of, Kung-fu Yoga concentrates on the adventures of Indiana Chan aka Jack and the lovely brains and beauty combination of Disha Patani (Ashmita) and Amyra Dastur. Their country hopping quests are foiled by Sonu Sood, who is curiously named Randall. He plays the greedy villain whos got ill-trained soldiers and animals as part of his private army. Also, hes technically the rightful heir to the lost treasure. Jet setting between China, India and Dubai Kung-Fu Yoga serves up really exotic fare.



Director Stanley Tongs action adventure movie can best be described like a cross between a Rohit Shetty film and Jackie Chans Armour Of God movies. Its an action comedy with flying cars, outrageous stunts and ailly humour. The only problem is theres a lot of bad CGI at work in Kung-Fu Yoga. Some of it does make you laugh in a The Hangover movies sort of way. But most of it just looks like it was created at an Indian animation studio in a tearing hurry. You have Jackie Chan fending off CGI animals with the help of some cable enhanced stunts. At the age of 62, Chan is sprightly, but hes a shadow of his former glorious self. He still pulls off some great stunts but this is not the same legendary stuff millennial grew up on.



Disha Patani and Sonu Sood have major roles, but theyre not too well fleshed out. At all times both stars look like glorified sidekicks, but Sonu Sood does have some nice punchlines. The Indian cast does more than a capable job at holding Kung-Fu Yoga together. But apart from the usual Jackie Chan quick fire stunts and the novelty of seeing him in exotic Indian locations, this movie doesnt offer a lot more. It doesnt help that India is mostly depicted through palaces, elephants and snakes. Even though it does get the point across that this is a film about Jackie Chan in India.



With a generous runtime of almost 2.5 hours, Kung-fu Yoga does outstay its welcome. If youre an absolutely blind fan of Jackie Chan and his recent brand of humour infused action movies in Hong Kong, youll find this Indo-China movie a bit of a drag. If you have no starry hangovers of Jackie Chan Kung-Fu Yoga is not the film for you.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Total volume of capital of Azerbaijans banking sector amounted to about 1.91 billion manats (1.9111 AZN/USD on Feb. 4) in 2016, according to the banking sectors report disseminated by the countrys Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA).

In December 2016, the level of the banks capitalization decreased by 17 percent as compared to late November 2016, according to the report.

Total assets of the sector amounted to about 31.44 billion manats in late December, as compared to 31.87 billion manats in late November.

The banks available funds totaled 1.08 billion manats (1.17 billion manats in November) in late December, and investments in securities amounted to 414.6 million manats, as compared to 409.9 million manats in November.

The loan portfolio of banks reached 15.94 billion manats in late 2016, as compared to 15.77 billion manats in November. The volume of reserves, created for redemption of possible losses on issued loans, increased by 9.7 percent during a month and totaled 1.69 billion manats.

Deposit portfolio of the banking sector during the period totaled 16.41 billion manats (16.89 billion manats in late November), including 7.43 billion manats  deposits of individuals, 8.98 billion manats  deposits of legal entities.

The banks liabilities to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan amounted to almost 1.7 billion manats in late 2016.

During the period, the banking sectors losses totaled 1.68 billion manats.

Thirty-two banks operate in Azerbaijan, including two state owned ones.
LOS ANGELES, CA and LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - February 03, 2017) - Electro Rent Corporation announced today it has completed the acquisition of Microlease from Lloyds Development Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Electro Rent is a portfolio company of Platinum Equity, which acquired the business in August 2016.

Microlease CEO Nigel Brown said the transaction creates a premier platform with a global footprint.

"This is exciting news for our customers, our employees and all of our partners. Both companies are leaders in testing and measurement equipment rental, sales, and asset management services," said Mr. Brown. "We will better serve our markets through an expanded equipment fleet and broader geographical coverage, ensuring better availability levels and a higher level of technical service."

Mr. Brown said he expects a seamless transition. The North American operation will remain headquartered in Van Nuys, California and EMEA operations will be headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

About Electro Rent

Electro Rent Corporation (http://www.ElectroRent.com) is one of the largest global organizations devoted to the rental, leasing and sales of general purpose electronic test equipment, personal computers and servers. It has almost 50 years of experience in advising customers on their best acquisition approach, including rent, purchase and leasing options and combinations. The company is headquartered in Van Nuys, California, USA.

About Microlease

Microlease (https://www.microlease.com) is a leading equipment services and distribution provider to the test and measurement industry across Europe, Asia, and the US. It helps clients deploy equipment when and where needed in the most cost-effective manner via services including rental, leasing, and asset management. The company was founded in 1979, and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

About Platinum Equity

Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with a portfolio of approximately 30 operating companies that serve customers around the world. Platinum Equity specializes in mergers, acquisitions and operations -- a trademarked strategy it calls M&A&O -- acquiring and operating companies in a broad range of business markets, including manufacturing, distribution, transportation and logistics. Over the past 20 years, Platinum Equity has completed more than 185 acquisitions.

Media contacts:



Allen Sciarillo

CFO

Electro Rent

818-374-6383

Email contact





George Acris

Marketing Director

Microlease

+44 (0) 20 84 200 200

Email contact





Dan Whelan

Principal

Platinum Equity

+1 310 282 9202

Email contact


AHF Ukraine presented an extravagant Safe Sex Installation dedicated to the International Condom Day.The installation together with other activities including HIV express testing, master classes on proper condom use, safe sex lectures and condoms distribution took place at the AHF Creative Space in the framework of the Ukrainian Fashion Week (UFW). "Always in Fashion" is the slogan chosen by AIDS Healthcare Foundation for the International Condom Day-2017 which is conducted by the organization in 39 countries of the world.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170203005765/en/

AHF's 2017 International Condom Day logo says condoms are "Always in Fashion!" (Graphic: Business Wire)

"Condoms are the most effective means to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. We are confident that condoms are an unalterable attribute of a trendy person because nowadays sexual way of HIV transmission is prevalent in Ukraine. We would like to make sure that condoms are fashionable and accessible," emphasized Serhiy Fedorov, Country Director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, AHF Ukraine

International Condom Day is a traditional social event conducted in many countries of the world and aimed at overcoming HIV/AIDS epidemic and promoting condoms as the main tool of protection from HIV contraction. Within a 5-day period of the Creative Space functioning the organizers are planning to distribute more than 20,000 condoms. Despite the low manufacturing cost of condoms, prices for condoms in Ukraine are rather high. In order to prevent HIV many governments have started to procure and distribute condoms among particular groups of population such as female sex workers, drug users or LGBT community. At present in Ukraine only international organizations distribute condoms free of charge. Current price of condoms in Ukraine ranges from 30 cents to 1 USD per condom. Therefore condoms are becoming unaffordable for many Ukrainians.

"Every year we are making condoms more and more accessible for people and we are distributing them for free. During last 4 years we distributed almost 2 millioncondoms in Ukraine," said Zoya Shabarova, AHF European Bureau Chief. "However today we call on Ukrainian government to start procuring and distributing condoms for free at the expense of the state budget in order to prevent HIV transmission. These condoms should be widely available for free to those who cannot afford to pay and in all health care facilities, providing care to vulnerable groups."

This social event was supported by a well-known fashion designer Oleksiy Zalevskiy. He was the design creator of the unique and provocative installation which drew attention of all the UFW visitors and guests.

During his runway show on February 7th Oleksiy Zalevskiy will also present several unique pieces of conceptual fashion design. In such an unusual manner the designer shares the slogan of the International Condom Day and proclaims by means of his creativity that "Condoms are always in fashion."

"UFW is an event that sets trends and directions for fashion development in the country. I want condoms to become a fashion trend in Ukraine that's why I'm eagerly joining the International Condom Day and as a result with the purpose to stop HIV/AIDS epidemic," emphasized Oleksiy Zalevskiy.

Reference:

International Condom Day has been celebrated in Ukraine for 6 years in a row. On this day public awareness events aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention during sexual contacts are conducted in 39 countries of the world.

297,422 new HIV-infection cases have been registered in Ukraine since 1987, including 41,706 deaths of AIDS. Currently 132,714 people are in care.

The highest HIV prevalence rate has been registered in Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv regions and in the city of Kyiv. Unprotected sexual contacts currently are the main way of HIV transmission in Ukraine. Nowadays most of new HIV cases in Ukraine are registered among young people aged from 25 to 49 years.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation was established in 1987 in Los Angeles, as a small community association, whose members were trying to alleviate the suffering of people who were doomed to die of AIDS. At present, as part of comprehensive health programs, AHF in partnerships with other organizations provides care, treatment and services to almost 680,000 patients living with HIV in 39 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin and North America.

Testing and treatment are basic components of AHF strategy in fighting AIDS epidemic worldwide. In 2015 HIV testing services were received by 3,826,649 people in the framework of the AHF global testing program. 113,947 positive test results were identified. Most of the people whose HIV test was positive were linked to healthcare services. It means that within a 30-day term a client addresses a healthcare facility where he receives treatment for HIV.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170203005765/en/

Contacts:

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Denis Godlevskiy, +79111101310

Advocacy manager Russia and Ukraine

Denis.godlevskiy@aidshealth.org

or

Sergiy Fedorov, +380503849090

Country Director in Ukraine

Sergiy.Fedorov@aidshealth.org
NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwired - February 03, 2017) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., reminds investors that they have until March 27, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against BT Group plc (NYSE: BT), if they purchased the Company's American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between the expended period of May 10, 2013 and January 23, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The action is pending in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

What You May Do

If you purchased ADRs of BT Group and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by March 27, 2017.

About the Lawsuit

BT Group and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) BT Group's Italian division had for years engaged in improper accounting practices; (ii) BT Group significantly overstated its earnings throughout the Class Period; (iii) when the foregoing became known, would foreseeably cause BT Group to cut its revenue, earnings, and free cash flow forecasts; and (iv) as a result, BT Group's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com

1-877-515-1850

206 Covington St.

Madisonville, LA 70447
Mumbai: Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar has denied signing actor Ranbir Kapoor for his upcoming biopic on revolutionary Udham Singh.

The film is based on Singh, who shot dead Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India in 1940, to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He was later hanged by the British Government.

There were reports that Ranbir will play the martyr in the film. Asked about the same, Shoojit told reporters, "I don't know about this news, where has this come from."

Shoojit had previously said of why he wanted to make the Udham Singh film: He was one of the prominent faces of the freedom movement but youngsters dont know much about this martyr. He is a forgotten hero. Through my film, I want the youngsters to know him."

Shoojit was speaking at the launch of the song "Mannerless Majnu" from his upcoming production Runningshaadi.com. The filmmaker said when director Amit Roy approached him with the romantic-comedy he instantly related with it.

"I've helped a lot of friends elope. I can't tell you how much fun it is. But one has to be prepared to hear lots of abuses too. You have to co-ordinate everything. What time to reach, where to meet...."

The filmmaker says though the movie is light and comic, the issue they are dealing with is serious.

"When I was reading it (the script) I thought these are the problems we have faced. It may be a light film but it's a serious issue in small towns. There have been instances where people who have gotten married and have been separated..."

Runningshaadi.com, starring Taapsee Pannu and Amit Sadh in the lead, is scheduled to release on 17 February.
By Libby George and David Gaffen

| LONDON/NEW YORK

LONDON/NEW YORK Oil prices jumped on Friday after the United States on Friday imposed sanctions on some Iranian individuals and entities, days after the White House put Tehran "on notice" over a ballistic missile test. Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 climbed 24 cents to $53.78, after closing 34 cents down on Thursday, as of 12:22 p.m. ET (1722 GMT). The contract is up nearly 1 percent on the week. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 30 cents at $56.86 a barrel; it was on track for a more than 2 percent gain since Monday, its first significant weekly rise this year.Volume in U.S. crude futures was relatively low on Friday, with about 335,000 contracts changing hands by 12:15 p.m., on track to fall short of the 200-day moving average for 528,000 contracts.

This is the first move by the administration of President Donald Trump against Iran. It follows his vows during the 2016 campaign to get tough on Tehran.Under the sanctions, announced by the U.S. Treasury, 13 individuals and 12 entities cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies. They are also subject to "secondary sanctions," which means foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them, or risk being blacklisted by the United States.A senior U.S. administration said Friday's sanctions were an "initial step" in response to Iran's "provocative behaviour," suggesting more could follow if Tehran does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support for Houthi militia in Yemen.

The news added to volatility in what had already been a day of choppy trading. Analysts said the market is torn between promised cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and fears over rising U.S. shale oil production."While the market is taking these actions in stride so far as unlikely to result in a larger military conflict that would put Persian Gulf crude oil supplies at risk, the odds of that scenario are certainly higher than a week ago," wrote Timothy Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures in New York.

Trump had warned on Twitter that "Iran is playing with fire" after its missile test. "The 'trumperament' of the new U.S. president is being tested by Iran and soon maybe also by Russia and China," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of consultancy PetroMatrix. "And that is adding some geopolitical support to crude oil." (Reporting by Libby George in London and David Gaffen in New York Editing by W Simon)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Delhi governments flagship healthcare project, the mohalla clinic, has failed to meet the expected results of health profiling in the capital, as there is no systematised flow of data from these dispensaries to the highest echelons of the health department.

A visit to the unit that looks after issues related to the mohalla clinics in the health directorate of the Delhi government shows that it receives no data from the 105 clinics established under the health department.

When Firstpost visited the directorate, officials present there said that they they possessed no data on the health scenario of the city, as they do not receive any such inputs from the clinics.

The patient data collected from mohalla clinics is stored in the offices of the 11 Chief District Medical Officers (CDMO) of the city, an official in the unit said.

Since there is no system of analysing health trends from the data generated in the mohalla clinics, no data on this regard from the CDMO offices is collected, said the official.

It is worth noting here that the CDMO is a district level health official, with a limited role in wide-scale policy making.

Ashok Agarwal, a health activist, told Firstpost that health profiling is a crucial aspect of effective health-policy making.

If the health department has a system of recording health data in the mohalla clinics, then that data has to be fed into a centralised system for analysis, he said.

Without knowing the latest trend of diseases that have been showing up in the city, how can one formulate an effective health policy? How can one even know if epidemics like dengue are cropping up in the city again? Agarwal asked.

The mohalla clinics opened by the Delhi government had earned much accolades across the world, not only because of the free healthcare they provide or the diagnostic tests offered by them, but also because of the state of the art technology employed by the clinics to record health data.

The clinics introduced the much publicised Swasthya Slate technology, which provides more than 45 instant diagnostic tests along with the ability to record the health data of a patient.

On the introduction of this new technology in the said clinics, it was expected that the knowledge gap that cripples the policy makers in formulating health policy would be bridged.

Kenneth E Thorpe, chair of department of health policy at the Rollins School of Public Health, USA, who has conducted an extensive study on Indias health sector, told Firstpost that India lacks data on the growing menace of non-communicable diseases. He had also expected that the data generated in the clinics would help in fighting the menace.

Indias disease burden has shifted to non-communicable diseases. But no detailed data is available about the growing menace. Mohalla clinic is a model that can provide us with data related to the growth of this menace, if emulated in all over the country, Thorpe said.

He also said that more than 60 percent of deaths in the country are caused by non-communicable diseases.

Thorpe added that every mohalla clinic records patient data electronically, which can be used in formulating a policy to prevent non-communicable diseases; which are not only preventable but also curable, if detected early.

According to a study conducted by the World Economic Forum, India needs to create a data sharing mechanism to fight the challenge thrown by non-communicable diseases.

The mohalla clinic project was declared by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the year 2015. The project was considered revolutionary as it challenged the disparity in healthcare received by the rich and the poor.

Even as the Delhi government stumbles in its way to make the vision of opening 1,000 such clinics a reality, the health department fails to make optimum use of the existing clinics in formulating a preventive and effective health policy  by creating a data sharing mechanism as advised by the World Economic Forum.

When informed about this malady to Abhishek Kumar, an official in the Public Grievance Management Cell of the Delhi government, he said to Firstpost that he will certainly apprise the health minister.

I think a circular can be issued to instruct that the health data reaches the directorate for analysis, he said.
Hinting at another major policy change to rein in black money in politics, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Saturday said that the government has no objection in mandating digital payments for donations made to political parties.

Speaking to CNBC Awaaz in an exclusive interview, Jaitley said that if the Election Commission suggests, the centre is open to introducing a law, which will completely abolish donations made in cash to all political parties.

Jaitley's statement comes in the backdrop of Union Budget's proposal that restricts anonymous cash donations to a political party to Rs 2,000 as opposed  a sharp drop from the Rs 20,000 limit earlier.

On 1 February, presenting the Union Budget for 2017-18, Jaitley had said that any anonymous cash donation to a political party will now be limited to Rs 2,000 and that political parties would now have to take all donations above Rs 2,000 through cheque and digital payments.

Further, the Union Budget also provisioned for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue bearer bonds that a donor may buy through cheques and digital payments. The donor can then give the bond to a political party which must deposit it within a month in a pre-determined account.

According to CHRI, the RBI Act is sought to be amended to allow for the issuance of electoral bonds that individuals and companies can buy through commercial banks.

"The import of the amendments proposed to the RP Act, 1951 is that political parties will not be required to disclose the identity of individuals and companies who make donations through electoral bonds bought from the commercial banks," said Venkatesh Nayak, programme coordinator, CHRI.

According to CHRI, if approved by Parliament, the combined effect of the amendments to the RBI Act, the IT Act and the Representation of the People Act would be:

"Many political parties are likely to strive to receive cash donations below Rs 2,000 only. According to Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, which applies to donations of Rs. 20,000 or above only, these will not be required to be reported to the IT Department or to the Election Commission of India," said Nayak.

However, many had taken the government's apparent move to curtail black money in elections, with a pinch of salt.

The Association for Democratic Reforms had said that the Union Budget failed to address the issues of transparency, disclosure and penalties of political parties, claiming that the proposals on political funding reforms fell short of the recommendations by the Election Commission and the Law Commission.

Commenting on the budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the ADR also found flaws in the proposal of lowering the limit for anonymous cash donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000.

"The budget does not propose that the details of all donors who donate above Rs 2,000 be made available to the Income Tax department and/or an external body auditing the accounts of political parties," it said.

"Unless complete information is available for audit scrutiny, the sources of donations below Rs 20,000 to political parties will continue to stay hidden," it contended.

However, the finance minister's fresh statement could ease such qualms about the provisions of the Budget.

Speaking on the issue of GST, Jaitley expressed hope that the GST bill could be passed in the Budget session. He also added that boosting the private sector, which is reeling under the effect of demonetisation is another major challenge in front of the government.

Jaitley also hinted that the government could be mulling to introduce a universal basic income scheme for the poor to ensure income surety and empowerment of the poor.

Jaitley justified his decision to rollback tax rebates on buying of second property, stating that those who can afford two homes can certainly afford to pay taxes. He said the country's budget should be made keeping in view the poor and the needy, rather than the affluent class.
Chennai: With the oil spill off the coast here raising concerns, the Centre on Saturday said a total of 65 tonnes of sludge has been removed so far and over 90 percent of the work completed. It also expressed confidence that the cleaning operation will be finished in a couple of days.

While the blamegame continues between Centre and state, Kamarajar Port chairman-cum-managing director MA Bhaskarachar said that they have started interrogating the crew of both the ship after an FIR was lodged against them. The Times of India reported that the ship and their staff have been asked not to leave the city until the investigation is over.

The Directorate General of Shipping has instituted a statutory inquiry under the Merchant Shipping Act to ascertain the causes and contributory factors that led to the accident and both the ships have been restrained from leaving the Port. The directorate-general of Shipping was also holding discussions with the owners of the two ships regarding the payment of claims, an official statement of the Centre said.

The Indian Express said the Environment Ministry has issued a notice to the Kamarajar port authorities, asking whether they had installed the necessary infrastructure which was the call of the hour in such a situation.

"More than 90 percent of the work has been completed and most of the residual work is expected to be completed in a couple of days," it said. Further, 'super suckers' had removed 54 tonnes which contained 70 percent water, it added. Among others, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was providing special bio-remediation material for treatment of the collected oil sludge for safe disposal.

Contrary to what they say completing work in 2-3days not possible even for developed country, takes weeks: DMK MP Kanimozhi #ChennaiOilSpill pic.twitter.com/2u4zlwFgKf

 ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

However, according to Hindustan Times, the actual amount of spill was almost 10 times more than what was officially reported. A source quoted by Hindustan Times also said the work was barely half-complete as the amount of sludge was somewhere around 116 tonnes.

Experts say the spill had spread from Ennore Beach to the coast beyond Thiruvanmiyur reaching the Marina lighthouse, covering a distance of over 30 kilometres.

The fishermen community have been worst hit in the oil spill disaster. Chief of the South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, while speaking to The News Minute said that apart from those fishermen who go for deep-sea fishing, most in Chennai and Tiruvallur go for shallow fishing and they have incurred huge losses. There is also a concern about the disposal of all the waste.

Chennai Port and Tamil Nadu government have organised medical camps on Saturday at Ernavoor and Kasimedu fisheries harbour. Environmentalists have also been very concerned about the impact of the oil spill on the marine ecology.

On 28 January, two shipping vessels had collided outside the Kamarajar Port at Ennore, resulting in rupture for one of them which led to an oil spill.

A massive clean-up operation was launched in Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram districts by engaging more than 2,000 persons at various sites including Ernavur, Chennai Fishing Harbour, Marina Beach, Besant Nagar, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai and Injambakkam beaches.

With inputs from the PTI
On 26 January, 2017 students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) were all set to celebrate Republic day. Like every year, they were looking forward to watching the flag hoisting followed by a march-past and a screening of a patriotic movie like Gandhi or Sarfarosh. Instead, they were greeting at the entrance by a statue of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and a life-size replica of Andamans Cellular Jail, showing punishment meted out to prisoners lodged in the jail pre-Independence.

Students say the atmosphere on campus turned noxious after they went on strike in June 2015 to protest the appointment of TV actor turned politician and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan.

The appointment of Chauhan, students say, was what triggered the strike, however students had already been protesting the lack of clarity in their syllabus, which was delaying the completion of their studies.

The strike last 139 days before being called off in October 2015. But students, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say a year-and-a-half later, the administration is acting as if they have a vendetta against them.

When the students enquired as to whom came up with the life-sized replica of the jail and the statue of Savarkar, they received no answers. "We have no problem with Savarkar or the administration expressing their opinion. But we have a system in place. Students come up with ideas  the best ones are approved  the administration says this project was executed by the students of the art department. But none of the art students are willing to speak of this. Clearly, this was a political statement by the administration," said a student who had participated in the strike.

Although the top students are offered scholarships and an opportunity to participate in foreign exchange programmes every year, this time things are different the administration has denied both to students involved in the protests and have "displinary action" pending against them. "They refused to give us a valid reason. We only discovered the reason after we came across comments made in our personal files," said one student, who had previously qualified for the foreign exchange programme. "It's not just limited to government scholarships. We aren't even allowed to apply for private scholarships. The students who have topped the last two years are suffering."

Rahul Solapurkar, an actor and member of the FTII society, justified the administration's decision by citing the example of students who refused to attend classes during the strike. He said, "Scholarships are meant for those interested in studies. Why should we pay for those who aren't even interested in attending classes? We will consider their case if they submit a written apology."

The alumni are suffering too. Ajayan Adat, a student of the 2008 batch that went on strike, completed his diploma film and, after consulting with his batchmates, submitted it to the International Film Festival Rotterdam. But then the FTII management sent the festival organisers a letter stating that they were the film's producers and warned them against screening the film without their permission. We had to persuade the administration. Renowned filmmakers had to intervene. The film was then resubmitted as an official entry by the FTII," Adat said. "After the film won the best movie award, the administration began issuing press releases taking credit for the movie," he added wryly.

A year-and-a-half after Gajendra Chauhan's appointment as FTII chief, a proposal to turn the institute into a Digital Media University which allowed short-term courses to be conducted was approved by the governing council. The proposal is now awaiting government approval. Students say they had opposed this move and even voted against it during the meeting, but their opinions were disregarded. "They didn't even consider our protests. The council members simply bulldozed over our opinions," said a student who was part of the meeting.

The governing council has now passed a resolution banning the students from these meetings. Solarpurkar said, Students do not have a registered union. It was the previous academic council that considered their case and allowed them to be a part of the meetings. What is the point of inviting them? They are represented in the council by their heads of department and almuni."

The campus has a new, foreboding look  there are lots of new security personnel around, along with armed guards in camouflage  and new restrictions. "Now, if we want to enter the girls' hostel we have to sign a register. Our presence will be monitored. This was never the case earlier," a student said. "We have nothing against security. But the presence of guards in such large numbers has a chilling impact," he added.

"This is a political fight. It was a political stance. Fair enough. Political fights happen all over the country. But if we are a democracy, why are we being persecuted?" a student asked. This question is in the hearts and minds of FTII students across the campus.
New Delhi: The Centre has formed a six-member committee to give a report on ways to improve India's Haj policy and also look into issue of subsidy to the pilgrimage in light of 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing it by 2022.

Former Consulate General of India (CGI), Jeddah, Afzal Amanullah has been appointed as convener of the high-level panel, Union minister of state for minority affairs (Independent Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here on Saturday.

Bombay High Court judge (retd) SS Parkar, ex-Haj Committee of India chairman Qaiser Shamim, former Air India CMD Michael Mascarenhas and Muslim scholar-chartered accountant Kamal Faruqui are also part of the panel, which will have the Ministry Joint Secretary J Alam as member secretary. Among other, the committee will figure out whether the pilgrims can travel to Saudi Arabia paying less in the absence of the subsidy.

"The experts committee has been formed and it will give us report in a month or two on how India's Haj policy can be improved, how the pilgrims can get maximum concessions and how Haj can be managed better," Naqvi said. He said that the panel will speak to all the stakeholders concerned before finalising and submitting its report.

"There are several issues relating to Haj subsidy. Some people are of the view that it should go, some say it should be there. Some have suggested the system at AIR India should be changed. The SC has given its verdict.

"Hence, the experts committee has been formed to look into these aspects. It will speak to all the stakeholders and soon, we will figure out some way," he said on asked about the issue of floating global tender for air travel to Haj. According to sources, the panel will examine implications of various directions of the apex court with regard to the existing Haj policy, and suitable amendments in it.

The committee will also review the effectiveness of Haj Committee of India's management of pilgrims' accommodation and air travel. It will also assess the aspects of transparency, consumer satisfaction and disclosure requirements for private tour operators to protect interest of the pilgrims with a view to

make the policy of greater assistance to the pilgrims, the sources said.

Last month, in the biggest hike in nearly three decades, Saudi Arabia had increased India's annual Haj quota by 34,500, increasing it from 1,36,020 to 1,70,520 pilgrims. The Supreme Court had in 2012 directed the Union government to gradually reduce and abolish Haj subsidy by 2022.

It had asked the government to invest the subsidy amount of approximately Rs 650 crore a year then on educational and social development of the community.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 26

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is interested to finance projects in the fields of transport, energy and environment in Azerbaijan, a source in the countrys government told Trend.

"Currently, we hold initial discussions with the EIB on a number of directions," the source said. "However, it is worth noting that the bank has its own specifics of work. For example, when we work with the World Bank (WB), we usually repay the cost of taxes, and the bank itself provides the remaining funds."

"In contrast to the WB, the EIB doesnt fully finance projects, but it is involved in joint lending," the source noted. "While negotiating with the bank, we need to consider a number of factors concerning the amount of money the Azerbaijani government itself will give, the involvement of a third party and other issues."

As for the estimated cost of the projects, which are being discussed with the bank, the source noted that the volume of these projects hasnt been defined yet.

"When working with any bank, in the first place, it is necessary to determine the direction of the project and prepare a feasibility study," the source in the Azerbaijani government added. "The volume of investments is determined after these two stages. At the moment, we are discussing the direction of projects and the preparation of the feasibility study with the EIB."
The recent eruption of violence to subvert the implementation of a 33 percent quota for women in Nagalands urban civic bodies has put paid to the often-circulated myth about the states gender sensitive credentials.

United under the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), a host of Naga tribal bodies have unleashed a violent agitation  leading to two deaths  to oppose this months elections to the states urban local bodies.

Last April, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of Nagalands Naga Mothers Association, which had petitioned the court five years ago, urging it to direct the state government to ensure 33 percent reservation for women in the local government. The gender-based quota is already in operation in several states across the country.

Falling in line with the Supreme Court directive, Nagalands cabinet had given the go-ahead for holding elections, which have been pending for the last 16 years. In 2006, under pressure from powerful tribal bodies and unhappy with the reservation quotas allotted to them, the State Assembly had passed a resolution that kept the polls in abeyance. The cabinets decision to sanction womens reservations for the present electoral cycle on 1 February, has now acted as a fresh catalyst to the already existing tribal discontent.

According to tribal groups, the womens quota stands in breach of Article 371A of the constitution, which grants special status to Nagaland and safeguards the states traditional laws. Even today, tribal laws continue to bar women from occupying administrative positions. Its important to note that since Nagaland attained statehood in 1963, the state has not had a single woman legislator.

The exclusion of Nagalands women from formal political and electoral spheres is all the more conspicuous given that women, through the decades, have played an active and invaluable role in the states non-electoral political and social life. Traditionally, Naga women have played peacemakers in inter-tribal and inter-village feuds. The absence of women in public life, beginning at the micro level of villages, has held women back from exercising their influence and raising their concerns in important formal fora.

Nagalands present anti women's quota agitation validates what many womens organisations as well as independent, professional women have been complaining of for many decades. The sharp contradiction between the low political and relatively higher social status of women in Nagaland has been a bone of contention in the state  not just now, but for many decades.

That incidents of female foeticide or dowry are rare in Nagaland suggests that women occupy a higher social status than in rest of India. Some would even argue that the levels of violence against women are far lower in Nagaland as compared to the ever-rising graph in the rest of the country.

On the other hand, consider the fact that women in all other parts of India, despite their low social status, regularly contest elections at every level of public life. Women panchayat leaders play an active role in prioritising important concerns like access to education, health and Clean drinking water in their villages.

Public life in Nagaland begins with the village councils which decide important economic, social and political matters. The invisibility of women in such an important public sphere prevents women from exercising their rights and influence. The retrogressive and exclusionary policy is a telling comment on the continued dominance of patriarchy in Nagaland. Many womens organisations have contended that the absence of women in village councils reflects the real status of women in the state.

Naga men seem to have no quarrel with women leading social and political movements. Yet they continue to staunchly oppose womens entry into decision-making elected bodies. This, despite the fact that organisations like the Naga Mothers Association have been the backbone of the Naga society through the highs and lows of political struggle  whether in the period of siege by the Indian army, or in the movement to create a Naga identity. In fact, in Nagalands long history of political conflict, women have suffered more than men. As in every war unleashed by the state or militant groups, women in Nagaland too, have been the most vulnerable targets.

Representing Naga women as victims rather than as agents of change, has therefore been easy. The women, however, do not wish to be seen as passive victims. They want to claim their rightful place in the sun  to become active participants in Nagalands public life. They have been denied this important right for far too long.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's comments on China and Pakistan should raise alarm in India. Unless one of the most senior ministers in Narendra Modi's Cabinet was bluffing on record, his answers to pointed questions raised by Network 18 group CEO Rahul Joshi were tepid at best and smacked of bureaucratic stasis on issues where India can ill-afford to be complacent.

This isn't to say that Rajnath should have launched an invective rhetoric on Sino-Pakistan axis and risk jeopardising statecraft, but the worry is that no statecraft seems to be visible when it comes to India's China and Pakistan policies. All we have is hopeful optimism, a tactic that is futile and even dangerous today.

Rajnath called Pakistan's house arrest of Hafiz Saeed dikhawa (eyewash), but when asked what would be India's next step to ensure that the 26/11 mastermind is brought to justice and put behind bars, the home minister said, "We are continuously trying to ensure that action is taken against such terrorists, terror organisations and their bosses. Our prime minister has tried to get the international community on board on the question of terror, and in a lot of ways he has been successful."

And what could be these "continuous" steps that Rajnath was speaking of? What measure does he have of the success that India has apparently achieved on Hafiz Saeed? A report in CNN News 18 has shown that despite the so-called "house arrest", Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa office in Lahore's Model Town was "buzzing with activity".

But India's response to this sham of an arrest was equally telling. On Pakistan's statement that India needs to provide more "concrete evidence" to nail the chief planner of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that left 166 civilians killed and over 300 injured, the External Affairs Ministry said that "the so-called concrete evidence that the Pakistani establishment is looking for is already available in Pakistan. All they need is to find the requisite political will".

Beyond appealing to Pakistan's conscience, there seems to be little meat in India's plan. Right now, there is no incentive for Islamabad to take real credible action against Saeed, except as the minister rightly pointed out, indulging in a game of smoke and mirrors.

Already, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Saeed's front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiyaba, has been re-branded under a new name  Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir.

This 'hopeful optimism' again came through when Rajnath was asked about India's plan to get Dawood Ibrahim back, though CNN News-18 came up with evidence that he is being sheltered by Pakistan.

But Rajnath offered little beyond "sooner or later". "I am confident that sooner or later we will be successful in getting Dawood Ibrahim back to India. Our efforts are on. There is no two ways about the fact that Dawood is in Pakistan. We have repeatedly told the government of Pakistan that Dawood is nowhere else but in Pakistan. Where exactly he is in Pakistan, that too we have told the Pakistani government," he said during the interview.

If India's policy on Pakistan seems clueless enough, the relationship with China appears to be a mystery wrapped in an enigma. To a question on why India has not been able to persuade Beijing on NSG membership or on Masood Azhar, the home minister said, "I believe he should be jailed and his organisation should be banned. In this we need the support of everybody. Perhaps China didn't support us because of its own internal issues, but in the future they will. That is my hope. They will support us to ban Masood Azhar."

Is "hope" the only thing the home minister has to offer? When it comes to protecting a nation's sovereign interests or extending geostrategic influence, New Delhi can take a lesson or two from Beijing. The prime minister's Act East policy, which involved discussion over providing the Akash surface-to-air missile system to Vietnam, triggered a furious response from Beijing. Its state-run newspaper Global Times ran an editorial issued a bare-knuckle warning.

"If the Indian government genuinely treats its enhancement of military relations with Vietnam as a strategic arrangement or even revenge against Beijing, it will only create disturbances in the region and China will hardly sit with its arms crossed," it had written.

It also reacted with similar belligerence to US President Donald Trump's tough talk on One-China policy. Shortly after the then US President elect had stirred up a hornet's nest by receiving a congratulatory phone call from the Taiwan President, China's foreign ministry spokesperson minced no words. "The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. Any US administration has the responsibility to honour the bipartisan commitment of successive US governments to continue to uphold the one-China principle," Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing, according to news agency PTI.

The point being made is that there is no place for stasis and inaction in a post Cold War era where the global geopolitical order is changing rapidly. Instead of issuing 'cautious optimism', India should work seriously with the new US administration and tap Asian neighbours like Japan, Australia or Vietnam to hedge against China's revisionist tactics. While Beijing is ready to undercut India's rise by using Pakistan as an effective tool, our leaders seems heavy and leaden-footed in developing counter-strategies.

Firstpost's Ajay Singh wrote recently on how a top government official in Cambodia told him that while Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian businessmen are busy taking advantage of the nation's relaxed rules on tax-breaks and full foreign ownership of business projects, Indians are lagging far behind. "Why you guys are not open to us? You probably look to Europe and the US, and tend to ignore the eastern part of Asia," he asked.

There is no place for complacency in foreign policy. India needs to be more proactive in building a credible deterrent to Sino-Pakistan axis. Negligence would result in a heavy price.
Dalits in India are merely seen as a political group; but when we use the word Dalit, we get an image of a social warrior. On a closer look, we find that in addition to being a socio-political group, Dalits are also quite cultural. Yet, a few western scholars are of the opinion that Dalits do not possess any culture of their own.

Two-three years back, with the help of a research team from GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, I had conducted a study of popular Dalit religious and cultural sects of four states  Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. These sects included the Kabir panth, Satnaami panth and the Mahima dharma. It was quite astonishing to see during the research that the daily lives of Dalits  their behaviour, intelligence and folk knowledge  developed mostly under the influence of these sects.

While interviewing Dalit groups residing in various villages across the four states, it was observed, quite surprisingly, that Kabir, Ravidas, Guru Ghasidas and Mahima Swami featured prominently in many of their songs and stories. The influence of Swami Achhutanand of the Aadi Hindu Panth is visible on the consciousness of these Dalits. Their rituals, from birth to death, their spiritual thoughts, are all inspired by the ideologies of these saints and traditional sects.

Though it is said that saints do not belong to any particular caste, it is also seen that numerous saints of the Dalit and backward castes  like Ravidas, Dhana and Peepa  were born during the Bhakti period. The Bhakti saints spread feelings of self-respect and humanity, which largely influenced the Dalit culture.

At the same time, Dr BR Ambedkar played a great role in arousing a democratic culture among Dalits. Ambedkar taught them lessons of democracy and encouraged them to become a democratic social group, by adhering to constitutional norms. He taught them how to become responsible citizens and how to develop amicable relations with the state.

This way, it becomes clear that the development of social and cultural consciousness among the Dalits was inspired by reformist sects and by Ambedkar. We can say that they were the decisive elements of their consciousness and that the entire Dalit consciousness is made by the association of these two elements. Thus, political parties who try and understand the Dalit consciousness only through the eyes of Ambedkar might be a drawback.

In the absence of any of the two, it is not possible to understand the Dalit consciousness and the structure of their inner self in a wholesome manner. Many organisations, like the Republican Party of India, who wish to understand Dalits only through the Ambedkarvaadi lens or want to engage in polarisation around Ambedkar, may show little signs of success.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder in Uttar Pradesh, Shri Kanshi Ram, understood this fact. For this reason, he attended and delivered his speech at the Ramnavmi fair in Chattisgarh, where Dalits thronged in huge numbers. He also worked with the Satnamis and developed the Bahujan leadership.

Simultaneously, he also associated himself with Ambedkars symbol and actively visited Ambedkar fairs. He gave importance to Ambedkars ideology, albeit in a selective manner. Though his opinions on various issues were in contrast to that of Ambedkar's, he still developed his own brand of pragmatic politics.

A point came in Kanshi Rams life when, due to huge pressure of Ambedkarite intellectuals and groups, he even thought of embracing Buddhism. Though he was in favour of doing so, he never managed to do this in his lifetime. Kanshi Ram knew very well that in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and also in other parts of India, the maximum share of the Dalit population were Kabirpanthi or Ravidasi. He understood that if he embraced Buddhism, it might have a bad effect on the party's politics as they would lose their symbolic power of getting associated with these sects.

Current BSP supremo Mayawati, who politically grew under Kanshi Ram's guidance, has always revered the saints and gurus of Dalit society and this has been one of the biggest reasons behind the accomplishments of her party. But of late, there has been a decrease in the use of names of Dalit saints and gurus in the party's discussions. It needs to be understood why this has happened.

Not only do popular sects like Kabirpanth and Ravidas panth arouse cultural consciousness among the Dalits, they also play a crucial role in the making of their political consciousness. Today, Dalits are rapidly being transformed into a democratic group and the ground for this has been prepared through the intervention of these popular reformist sects.

The seeds of democratic desire were sown by Ambedkar on this ground. The Dalits' democratic aspirations for self-respect, humanity, equality and freedom from the bondage of the caste shackles took birth under the influence of these very sects.

During the research in the aforementioned states, it was seen that the Dalits always want to become democratic citizens by walking hand in hand with the state and constitution. They do not want to get involved in any violence or conflict. They want to become democratic citizens, who have their own political voice.

Kanshi Ram was also aware of this fact. On being asked about the expansion of his politics in Bihar, he replied that their politics cannot survive in a place where there is an influence of arms and ammunition. He somewhere knew that the Dalit mind is a democratic one and can be polarised only in a democratic manner.

It was observed many times during the research that the followers and devotees residing in the Kabir panth and Ravidas ashrams, and those participating in the Ravidas fairs, took part in political discussions after offering their evening prayers and after completing their religious rites and rituals. In a Kabir panth ashram in Rewa, one can see Ambedkars poster on the wall adjacent to a poster of Kabir.

These sects not only develop religious, spiritual consciousness among the Dalits, but also arouse positive social consciousness among them. Hence, it becomes clear that people who place Ambedkar against these sects or vice versa do not fully understand Dalit aspirations, dreams and their consciousness.
In a first-of- its-kind initiative Yogendra Yadav led new political party Swaraj India has appealed Delhi citizens to contest Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) polls through an open application process.

Swaraj India  formed out of Swaraj Abhiyan, which is a socio-political movement  on Saturday announced its plans and candidate selection process for the upcoming MCD polls in in New Delhi.

The party which has introduced several innovative measures within the party and in its campaigning strategy, has moved a step ahead by appealing Delhi citizens to apply for candidature to contest Delhis civic polls. The aim is to bring greater transparency and democracy both in candidate selection process and contesting the election.

Our objective is to strengthen our party and organisation at every level and make it truly democratic, so as to avoid the high command culture that exists in other mainstream political parties, Yogendra Yadav, president of Swaraj India told Firstpost.

Swaraj Indias plan

 Any Delhi citizen can pitch for Swaraj India's candidature. A prior membership is not required for applying for a ticket.

 Special emphasis to be given on women and youth assuming political responsibility

 Swaraj India will contest all 272 seats in three MCDs.

 All prospective candidates will go through a three-stage screening, selection and integrity process.

 A 5 to 7 member committee will first screen all applications and shortlist names based on the local input. Then, the selection committee will choose the candidate among the shortlisted applicants.

 Swaraj India has constituted a six-member independent integrity committee for the transparent selection process of candidates. It will be headed by noted RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, who is not related to the party.

According to the party sources, Swaraj Indias candidate selection procedure includes several parameters in addition to the feedback of its own workers and ground level volunteers. The party will focus on cleanliness in terms of character, crime, corruption and a non-communal past of a candidate. These are essential prerequisites, said Prof Anand Kumar, senior leader of Swaraj India.

There will be a special emphasis on passing greater political responsibility to women and the youth, and not just a mere symbolic presence, he added.

The party has made it clear that complaints against proposed candidates will be investigated and dealt with by the integrity committee, whose decision will be final and non-negotiable.

This robust procedure will ensure that clean and able candidates are chosen to represent the people of Delhi and Swaraj India. Contesting an election is not a beginning or end objective of Swaraj India. We see it as a part of our Swaraj Abhiyans movement. So, better is the goal, the path to achieve it will be better, emphasised Yadav.

Swaraj India like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took birth on 2 October 2016 out of anti-corruption movement of 2011  India Against Corruption. In fact the key leaders and a large number of members of Swaraj India were a part of AAP.

But with growing ideological differences within the parent party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a faction broke away to form Swaraj Abhiyan movement.

Prior to forming a political outfit, Swaraj Abhiyan took up several social issues like illegal liquor vends in the residential areas in Delhi, garbage problems in localities due to apathy of MCDs, and so on.

After contemplating for more than a year, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan-led Swaraj Abhiyan officially announced the new all-India political party, with the mission of ushering probity, transparency and accountability in electoral politics.

A big chunk of these other crusaders who were a part of IAC joined hands with the AAP splinter group Swaraj Abhiyans new party Swaraj India.

The party has also announced that declaration of candidates will be done in several phases after a rally at Ramlila Maidan on 12 February.

Were committed to infuse a fresh energy into the political system. Keeping this in mind, our sole objective is to give more opportunity to youths, so that India can have a new and clean politics, added Yadav.
Goa goes to polls on 4 February. The 40-seat Assembly will see interesting electoral contests this year with a four-pronged battle between the Congress, ruling BJP, the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party-led (MGP) front.

Here are the key personalities who matter the most in the forthcoming election:

Laxmikant Parsekar: The three-term MLA from Mandrem will be leading the ruling BJP's charge. The chief minister has various challenges to face. Ally MGP broke ties with the party in December 2016 after Parsekar sacked the Dhavlikar brothers from his Cabinet over repeated criticism of his government. Senior RSS leader Subhash Velingkar fueled a rebellion last year over the BJP government refusal to stop funding private English medium educational institutions, in favour of Konkani or Marathi language institutions. Parsekar also has to deal with the discontent within the party over ticket distribution. The biggest issue perhaps which might bother Parsekar is the perception that Manohar Parrikar, his predecessor and the country's defence minister, runs the state from the South Block in New Delhi. This election will be a test for Parsekar to come out of Parrikar's shadow and become a leader in his own right.

Subhash Velingkar: The Goa state RSS chief until August 2016, Velingkar was sacked over his opposition to BJP's stance over regional language issue. The issue has divided the state, with a section supporting English as a medium of instruction in schools while the Velingkar-backed Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) and many others want the government to help Marathi and Konkani language schools with public funds. However, the BJP government has continued with its funding for English language schools. Velingkar also charged Manohar Parrikar of cheating the electorate. After splitting from the RSS, he formed the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) to fight his former party. The GSM has tied up with the MGP, Shiv Sena and Goa Praja Party to form a mahayuti (grand alliance) to defeat the BJP. With the Shiv Sena calling him the "Lord Krishna" of the alliance, he is being seen as the central figure of the non-BJP, non-Congress alliance.

Elvis Gomes: The former civil servant-turned-politician joined the AAP after taking voluntary retirement in July 2016. The 53-year-old Gomes was named the party's chief minsiterial candidate by supremo Arvind Kejriwal and is set to fight from South Goa's Cuncolim seat. However, the party's fortune seems to be highly proportionate to the Delhi chief minister's visits to the tourist state. According to reports, Gomes' campaign has been lacking in spark, therefore putting the burden solely on Kejriwal. While Gomes and his campaign has focused on the misgovernance of the BJP government, the ex-bureaucrat himself is embroiled in an alleged corruption case relating to a land deal, when he was the director of the department of tourism. According to Ajay Jha, Gomes has to fight against odds like lack of funds and workers, ignite dreams of corruption-free administration and deliver Goa on a platter to Kejriwal and ensuring his own victory.

Luizinho Faleiro: While the BJP has Manohar Parrikar, the Congress has his match in state unit president and two time chief minister Luizinho Faleiro. In the last few weeks, Falerio, through clever selection of candidates and out-maneuvering aggressive alliance-seeking parties, has helped gain lost ground for the party, which was in tatters since its battering in 2012. Reduced to an unprecedented nine MLAs and with BJP poaching two of its "winnable", but tainted, MLAs  Mauvin Godinho and Pandurang Madkaikar  the late revival engineered by the former Congress working committee member could see the outfit gain a few more seats. The party's gumption and confidence can be gauged by its rejection of a formal alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and Goa Forward, and its decision to allot a big chunk of seats to fresh candidates. "We may have made mistakes in the past, but we've apologised for it. We are here now to win people's hearts, not just the elections," Faleiro maintained.

Digambar Kamat: Chief minister between 2007 and 2012, Digambar Kamat is currently facing several cases of corruption, including the Luois Berger bribery scandal where he is under the scanner of taking bribes from the US-based consultancy. The Shah Commission on illegal sand mafia had also indicted Kamat for his role in letting the large-scale illegal mining mafia operate in the state. The heavyweight politician filed his nomination to contest from the Margao constituency. While Falerio is said to be close to Sonia Gandhi, Kamat, on the other hand, is considered to be enjoying the confidence of the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, Vishwajit Rane. Reports suggested that the idea to go for a grand alliance with like-minded parties was mooted by Kamat. But with factionalism in the party and the scam-taint behind him, the post-poll scenario for Kamat looks uncertain.
Indias tiniest state, Goa has something to inspire other states with, as it recorded heavy voter turnout, which emphasised that Goans realise their responsibility in a democracy.

According to initial estimates of the Election Commission 83 percent of Goas registered 11.09 lakh voters opted to exercise their right to franchise in Saturday's state elections.

North Goa participated in elections in a big way with record 84 percent voters turning out, as compared to 81.5 percent in South Goa. Election authorities expect the voting percentage to go up further after final calculations, which will include counting of electronically transmitted 800-odd votes by those entitled for postal voting.

But another thing that put Goa a notch higher was that apart from higher voters turnout, the state maintained its record of holding peaceful elections. No untoward incident was reported from any of the 40 constituencies.

Though malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) were reported from several polling booths, the poll panel said that they were replaced instantly and voting resumed in the affected booths.

That said, however, the peaceful conduct of polling does not reflect the intense fight various political parties put up to ensure victory. Goa will face a nail-biting competition amid the key contenders.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the main Opposition party, Congress are the main contenders for power in the state, though many regional and smaller parties are also in the fray. Among them, BJPs erstwhile ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which went to polls in partnership with Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) and Shiv Sena, is also fancying its chances of ruling Goa yet again after a gap of 40 years.

Voters started visiting various polling booths from the time voting started at 7 am. By 5 pm, when the polling ended, most of them had registered their participation. The good weather was also one of the factors for higher voters turnout as the mercury, which was hovering around 36 degrees for the entire week, dipped to early 30s encouraging voters to visit the polling booths.

However, the record turnout of voters is bound to fox political parties and pollsters. Normally, higher voter turnout is attributed to anti-incumbency; it is believed that voters usually come out in huge numbers to vent their anger against the ruling dispensation. However, the BJP which was initially wary of its prospects of a second term, has reasons to feel that it was pro-incumbency factor that led to the record voting in the state.

The Election Commission, on its part, attributed the high voting percentage to its intense awareness campaigns and appeals to voters through various mediums, including social media.

Enthusiasm among voters was visible wherever this correspondent visited. Women voters outnumbered their male counterparts in many constituencies as they stood in queues patiently for their turn to vote. About 50,000 central police personnel deployed had a relatively peaceful time as workers of all political parties stuck to the poll panel's instructions, which direct them to stay at least 200 meters away from polling booths and to refrain from last minute coaxing and cajoling of voters. Voters on their parts made lives of security forces further easier by voluntarily displaying their voter identity cards, while marching in neat lines towards the polling booths.

However, Goa will have to endure a long agonising wait untill 11 March to know the outcome of the polls. They would not even have the benefit of knowing trends and speculations, in view of the Election Commission's blanket ban on showing results of exit polls till the end of polling process in all five states.

The polls in all states will only end on 8 March when Uttar Pradesh will vote in the seventh and last phase, while the counting for all five states will be conducted on 11 March.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his successor as Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar were among the early voters. Both of them have reasons to be nervous as they have been marked out by the Opposition. MGP, after breaking up ties with BJP, is gunning for both.

Parsekar is seeking re-election from his home constituency Mandrem, while Parrikars close aide Siddharth Kuncolinkar, who replaced him as Panaji MLA after Parrikar resigned from his seat after being appointed the Union Defence Minister, will not find it easy to defend Parrikar's bastion from his opponents.

Since Parrikar is touted to take over as the new Goa chief minister if BJP emerges victorious, all his opponents want to block his smooth passage by ensuring BJPs defeat in Parrikars pocket borough, Panaji.

Parrikar and others in the BJP, while waiting eagerly for the final outcome in entire Goa, may heave a temporary sigh of relief with sentiments among voters matching with pollsters that BJP may be enjoying an edge over its rival.
A sidelight of a journey across Goa during the just-concluded election campaign is the discovery that Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar does not retain his earlier status as a larger-than-life leader of contemporary Goa.

Nobody speaks of him as the one who inspires them  not one in a series of conversations with voters during a journey that has taken one through more than half of Goas 40 constituencies over the past fortnight, from Mandrem in the far north to Carmona in the south, and from east of Ponda to Vasco Da Gama at the western end of Mormagao.

Even die-hard BJP supporters speak of their support for their party, or for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not to the current or former chief minister of their state. In fact, whatever anti-incumbency sentiment there is on the ground (much less than in 2012, to be sure) focuses on disappointment with Parrikar rather than his successor, Laxmikant Parsekar. The fact is that hopes were pegged extremely high in 2012, when Parrikar led his party to a resounding victory. There was a huge wave of anti-incumbency anger in Goa at that time, over the perception that the venality, corruption and contempt for legal norms had hit a nadir under the Congress.

Inclusive Parrikar compact

In that context, Parrikars image as a clean, efficient leader (from his earlier stint as chief minister about a decade before) made him a focus of great hope. A large proportion of Christians, who had traditionally been very uneasy about the BJP, voted for the Parrikar-led BJP in 2012. Many observers held that even the Catholic Church hierarchy seemed to have signalled its backing for Parrikar at that time.

The fact that Parrikar has sought to keep a tight leash on the state unit even after he was persuaded  apparently against his preference  to shift to New Delhi in the last quarter of 2014 may have been a bad move. He made the move on a day when powerful figures in the state BJP were not in Goa. Deputy Chief Minister Francis DSouza, for example, was in London when he received the news that Parrikar was being replaced by Parsekar.

DSouza revolted briefly but then fell in line. However, the image that seniority  and a Christian leader  had been overlooked has had an effect. Elvis Gomes, the Aam Aadmi Partys nominee for chief ministership, says the BJPs 'hate' for 'certain communities' became unambiguously obvious the day the deputy chief minister was ignored.

Unkept promises

The main reason for Parrikars loss of popularity is the widespread perception that he did not keep many of the promises he made during the 2012 poll campaign. Ironically, those were unnecessary promises; the strong anti-incumbency sentiment would probably have swept him to power even without all those promises. Be that as it may, Parrikar promised with emphatic rhetoric to shut down Goas casinos. Not only has that not happened, the industry has expanded. This has upset many conservative Christian and other Goans.

If issues such as these put paid to the support Parrikar had from Christian Goans in the 2012 elections, other issues have hurt him within his partys strongest traditional support base. For instance, followers of the states longtime RSS strongman, Subhash Velingkar, turned against him for not stopping aid to schools that use English as the medium of instruction.

The unspoken target of their demand is diocesan schools run by the Catholic Church. They demand that only those private schools that use Marathi or Konkani as the medium of instruction should get government aid. For them, it is a vital issue of nurturing and safeguarding identity.

Double-edged sword of honour

The open assertion by BJP national president Amit Shah at a press conference in Panjim on 23 January that Parrikar would control the state unit, whether he remained in Delhi or in Panjim, has been widely interpreted as an indication that Parrikar might return as chief minister if the BJP wins the state elections. The national leaderships strong projection of Parrikar as the Goa BJPs overarching leader has certainly ensured that Parrikar will be able to take credit in case the BJP wins these elections. He might take the opportunity to try and replace Parsekar  either taking the job himself, or installing a yes-man; a new chief minister would not be able to claim independent elbow room based on having won a mandate.

There is of course also the outside chance that the partys central leadership might use this projection to push Parrikar to return and lead the state unit of the party in case the party were to lose. The argument that he would be in the best position to reinvigorate the party could be strongly pushed, in light of the way he has been projected during the elections.
Washington: Pakistan hopes that there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India after the state Assembly elections in the neighbouring country, a senior minister has said.

"We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed," Pakistani minister of planning and development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering here.

Responding to a question at the US Institute of Peace, a top American think-tank, Iqbal rued that Pakistan is an election issue in the state assembly elections in India. "This is a bit unfortunate that they're taking, you know, strong positions along the electoral cycle. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that was India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now, think in terms of peace," Iqbal said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, is a strong advocate of peace in the region. "We have very actively pursued peace with Afghanistan and India and continue to do so because we think that our development depends upon peace in the region," he said. "But I think, there is a little issue that, in Pakistan, since 93' I don't remember any election where any leadership has shown any sensitivity towards doing India bashing in order to get some extra votes in the elections.

I mean, in our elections India is not affected, nobody speaks about India, nobody does any India bashing," he said. "But somehow, we feel that the electoral dynamics in India are still quite sensitive to Pakistan bashing. So whenever you have, a electoral process in India, the government takes a certain hawkish position towards Pakistan," Iqbal said, adding that after these election there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India.

Responding to a question, Iqbal alleged that India's reaction to USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is "a knee jerk" reaction. India, he said, needs to look at opportunities with CPEC as increasing regional cooperation. "So instead of opposing CPEC, it should now join CPEC and look at different opportunities," he said, adding CPEC would provide India shortest land route to do trade with most of

China.

"What you also have to see, that in China, they have now developed extensive road and rail links with West China," he added. "If you are even doing trade through CPEC you can reach out to any destination in China from this area. So we are very hopeful and we continue to work to normalize our relations

with India," Iqbal said.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced 27 more party candidates for Manipur Assembly polls to be held in two phases on 4 and 8 March. It had earlier in its first list declared the names of 31 candidates while two names are yet to be announced. The declaration comes a day after Congress released the list of candidates for all 60 seats in the Imphal state Assembly.

The Free Press Journal said the BJP and the ruling Congress are the only ones which have come out with the names of the candidates.One of the important names on the list is that of Lallukham Fimate, the former director of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences who also heads the Department of forensic science at J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal.

The list created a lot of disappointments among heavyweights in Manipur. One of them being retired Director General of Police Yumnam Joykumar.

Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh has headed a Congress government for the last 15 years and the saffron party has been making concerted bid to capture power in the state for the first time.

Two-time winner, Okram Landhoni, chief minister Singh's wife, is not contesting the elections this time. A few weeks back she had announced her retirement to make room for her son Surjakumar. He was given the party ticket from the Khangabok constituency from where his mother won for two consecutive terms.

(with inputs from Agencies)
The number five is inseparable from Punjab. It is the land of five rivers, panj pyaras and the five Ks  kangha, kada, kirpan, kesh and kachcha  of Sikhism.

In characteristic fashion, this election, after voting is completed on 4 February, Punjabis will answer five questions that may redefine the politics of North India.

And those are as follows:

One, will the Congress make a comeback?

What looked inevitable once is now an uncertainty. Such is Punjab's politics that the Congress and the Akali Dal have taken turns to rule the state a=every five years. The only exception was 2012 when the Akali-BJP combine bucked anti-incumbency and retained power. But, this was primarily because the anti-government vote got bifurcated because of Manpreet Badal's fledgling party.

This year the Badals are facing a severe backlash because of charges of corruption, incidents of desecration of the holy book and a rampant drug culture. But, to the misfortune of the Congress, the AAP has made most of this anger and pitted itself as the principal Opposition.

The Congress could still win the election because it has a set of committed voters across Punjab and a popular chief ministerial face in Captain Amarinder Singh. But, the AAP has caught the voter's fancy, especially the youth, Dalits and radical Sikhs making life difficult for the Congress.

A victory for the Congress, the first in two years, would boost the morale of the cadre, help Rahul Gandhi took over as party president on a high note and position it as the principal Opposition to the BJP in North India. A loss could be set it back by a few more years.

Two, will AAP grow out of Delhi?

Jhadoo is all over Punjab. In Malwa, it is likely to sweep polls. Across the state, the catchy tune of 'Hogi Congress di chhutti, Akaliyan ne khoob Punjab nu luti, Janata jaag gayee ab sooti" is setting the tone of the election not being an ordinary poll but the revenge of the people. The key question is, can the AAP convert this into victory?

It is evident that the underclass, youth and radical Sikh voters want to vote for the AAP. The popular refrain is that everyone has multiple chances to rule Punjab. So, there is no harm in giving an opportunity to Arvind Kejriwal and his band of mavericks.

The AAPs problem is that while it is strong in Malwa  14 districts with 69 seats, it is almost absent in Majha and an also-ran in Doaba, the other two regions with a combined 48 seats. To win Punjab, AAP needs to sweep Malwa and then add a few more seats to its kitty from the other two regions. Mathematically, this looks viable. But, with the Congress giving a tough fight, this election won't be over till the last vote is counted.

Three, will the Punjabis accept an outsider as chief minister?

There is no doubt in anybody's mind that Kejriwal is extremely popular in Punjab. Voters see him as a disruptive force, even a necessary evil, to clean up the mess in the state. But, will they accept him as their chief minister?

Opinion is divided. Some experts believe that the AAP would have done better by being brave enough to name Kejriwal as the chief ministerial candidate. Others argue it would have been disastrous. Many voters to whom Firstpost spoke said it wasn't really an issue; the only thing they want is a clean, honest government that puts Punjab back on the track.

If the AAP wins, the consensus is that either Kejriwal will become the chief minister for six months and, if everything goes well, contest a by-election. But, if he senses opposition to the move, Kejriwal may ask a Sikh leader to take up the responsibility. In that case, lawyer and human rights activist HS Phoolka might just be the dark horse.

Four, has demonetisation succeeded?

The defining image of this election is that of Anil Joshi, the BJP candidate from Amritsar and an incumbent minister, pleading with voters to not punish him for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to outlaw currency notes of higher denominations. That image gives clear insights into the minds of Punjabi voters.

The BJP has, surprisingly, not played up the ''surgical strikes" and demonetisation at all during the campaign. The reason is that feedback from the ground indicated a severe backlash, especially among traders who are now rooting for the Congress. Instead, the BJP attacked outsiders for "maligning the image of the state" and showing disrespect to a senior leader like Parkash Singh Badal.

As a junior coalition partner of the ruling alliance, the BJP is contesting 23 seats in Punjab, most of them in urban areas. Its performance would be a key indicator of the prime minister's popularity and popular reaction to notebandi.

Five, who will challenge Modi in North India?

Punjab has always been a gateway to North India. Historically, invaders who managed to win key battles in Punjab went on to challenge the throne in Delhi. This year isn't different.

A victory for the AAP will position it as a key player in North Indian politics. Kejriwal and his team are already busy challenging the Gujarat government. A victory in Punjab may help it make inroads in Rajasthan, which has several constituencies with a large number of Punjabi voters in the north. Haryana may also feel the impact of the results and may be forced to look at AAP with renewed interest.

If the Congress wins, it will get renewed strength to stave off Kejriwal's challenge in these states and position itself as the main contender to Modi's throne in 2019.

Over to the land of five questions then.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 4

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistans Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov held meetings with Ambassador of Israel to Turkmenistan Yitzhak Carmel Kagan and Muhannad Hammouri, charge d'affaires ad interim of Palestine, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

The sides discussed further development of the bilateral relations, according to the message.

Meredov and Yitzhak Carmel Kagan mulled the issues related to the organization and holding of joint events aimed at expanding economic, cultural and humanitarian ties.

During the meeting, Meredov and Hammouri also noted the necessity to implement bilateral documents.

It was earlier reported that Israel, which has vast experience in agriculture and irrigation, is ready to provide Turkmenistan with the experience in purification, desalination and rational use of water resources.

In November 2016, Turkmenistan and Palestine signed an agreement on economic cooperation and memorandums of understanding on cooperation in higher education and tourism.
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Modi will campaign in Jalandhar where he will address a rally at 1 pm in support of the Akali-BJP candidates. Rahul and Punjab CM cadidate Captain Amarinder Singh will address a rally in Amritsar and Majitha and are expected to take on the Badals.

With polls in Punjab right around the corner, the Aam Aadmi Party, which is making its debut in the state Assembly election is all set to take to the streets literally with Arvind Kejriwal taking part in a roadshow in Patiala on Friday. The AAP convener is in Patiala to campaign for Dr Balbir Singh, an eye doctor, who is contesting the election for the party from Patiala Urban constituency.

Delhi deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia recently had said that someone from Punjab will be the state chief minister if AAP wins the elections, a disclaimer prompted by speculation that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal could shift to that state.

Mann, who made headlines for live-streaming his arrival at Parliament and earned the ire of his colleagues in 2016, fits the bill, NDTV reports. Mann is also taking on Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Akali Dal for the Jalalabad assembly seat, in what is pegged as the biggest battle in Punjab.

AAP, which is campaigning hard in Punjab, hopes to woo and unify the Dalit vote in its favour. Two out of the four seats won by AAP in 2014 had come from reserved constituencies: Fatehgarh Sahib and Faridkot.

In November 2016, releasing an 18 point Dalit Manifesto in Phillaur Assembly constituency, Kejriwal sprang a surprise by announcing that a Dalit will be the deputy chief minister of Punjab if his party comes to power in the state.

However, in a clear violation of the Supreme Court ruling on the Hindutva case, which prohibits any political party from seeking votes on the basis of religion, caste or creed, party convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has promised the post of the deputy chief minister to a Dalit, if AAP wins the Punjab Election. The Supreme Court on 2 January ruled that seeking votes in the name of religion during polls is illegal. PTI had reported that the Supreme Court in a majority verdict, held that any appeal for votes on the ground of religion amounts to corrupt practices under electoral laws.

Addressing the media on Friday, AAP leaders from Punjab released their manifesto and promised modern amenities across the state if the party won the state assembly election.

"For eight years, the Congress government at the Centre in Delhi tried to put as many obstacles in Parkash Singh Badal's way as possible. But Badal sahab did not stop. The government at Delhi today wants to work with the government," said the prime minister.

"If there is someone who understands the needs of the farmers, it is Parkash Singh Badal. He is not only the politician of the farmers of the state but also the farmers of the country," Modi said.

Giving details on this, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, VK Singh said the guidelines have been issued in accordance with the provisions enacted in the Section 126 Representation of Peoples' Act 1951.

The Election Commission on Wednesday issued extensive guidelines to the District Election Officers to ensure prohibition during the period of 48 hours starting from 5 pm on 2 February till 5 pm on 4 February for conclusion of polls in Punjab to be held on 4 February.

"If the environment goes bad, violence begins...I want Punjab to have speedy progress," Rahul said.

"These days, wheat goes out of Punjab, but so does cancer," Rahul Gandhi said. "We want a hospital to be built in Punjab so that the entire world recognises that cancer is treated there."

Speaking at the rally, Rahul said, "Congress is the only party who can take along everyone. All the forces who tore Punjab are back. They are trying to rise up again."

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is addressing a rally in Lambi, the consituency where Captain Amarinder Singh is going to contest against Parkash Singh Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal and Jarnal Singh of Aam Aadmi party.

According to Election Commission, at the moment voting in Kapurthala, Mansa, Moga and Bhatinda has been interrupted due to faulty EVM.

As per Election Commission, faulty EVMs have interrupted polling in five seats  Sultanpur Lodhi, Kharar, Nihal Singh Wala, Budhlada and Patiala Rural. Technical glitches have been an issue since morning.

Long queues were seen outside many of the 22,614 polling stations across the state between 8 a.m. and 12 noon. The Fatehgarh Sahib district led in the voting percentage with over 36 per cent votes being polled till noon. This was followed by Fazilka (35 per cent), Moga (30), Muktsar (28) and Mansa (27).

Chandigarh: Over 23 per cent of Punjab's 1.98 crore voters on Saturday cast their votes in the first four hours in the polls for the 117 assembly seats, election officials said here.

Only 23 percent polling recorded in the first four hours, low voter turnout should have the ruling combine in Punjab interested. As pre-poll surveys would tell us the voters are sore with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) rule and the results would be a toss-up between the Indian National Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. The latter is likely to score heavily in the Malwa region, which accounts for around 70 seats, while the Congress has an advantage in Doaba and Majha regions. If the pattern of lower voting continues then chances are that the Akalis are not doing too badly. They have a loyal core voter base in rural areas which would turn up for voting no matter what.

Is the control of Dera chiefs over their followers total? To put it another way, when a Dera chief, such as Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim of Dera Sacha Sauda, asks his followers to vote for a particular party, do they necessarily take it as a command? In elections in the last couple of years, parties in northern India have gone all out to woo Dera heads. The BJP's stunning Lok Sabha victory in 2014, followed by a win in Haryana, were both believed to have come about because of support from such denominations. Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim has extended his support to the Akali-BJP combine this time. Results will prove whether his followers keep politics and faith apart.

Win or loss, Kejriwal has to be careful. He is capitalising on the huge public grievance against the Badals. This is the same grievance radical elements use for their own designs.

Shunned by the Congress and the Akalis to a large extent, they now have found a new platform in Arvind Kejriwal's party, he said.

"Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is promoting terror in Punjab," Sukhbir Singh Badal said once again just now. Sukhbir, however, is not the only one. Former top cop KPS Gill has already expressed apprehension that the involvement of some NRIs in the election might prove to be an encouragement to radical elements among Sikhs in the state.

"I was assured by poll officials that polling time will be extended," he said.

Mann also said polling was delayed by 45 minutes due to a technical snag in Mohali, where he cast his vote.

"I will win by a heavy margin... by more than 50,000 votes," he claimed after casting his vote, adding, "People are fed up of the gundagardi and mafia raj and they will wipe them out completely."

AAP leader Bhagwant Mann said he expected to win by a "heavy" margin the Jalalabad seat where he is pitted against Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Congress's Ravneet Bittu.

In Moga, the police booked Independent candidate Manjit Singh Mann under the provisions of the Representation of the People's Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), for allegedly campaigning even after the deadline for the same had ended, Moga's Returning Officer told PTI.

Talking to reporters later, the women said they had arranged for ambulances themselves. They urged the Election Commission to make separate and priority arrangements for the ailing voters.

Two ailing women voters, Raj Rani (78) and Bimla Devi (80), came in an ambulance to exercise their right of vote in Phagwara. While one was taken on a stretcher, the other was taken on wheelchair to Booth No 158 near old Dana mandi in Phagwara.

In Amritsar, 85-year-old Mukhtar Singh is being helped by his relatives to reach to a polling station to cast his vote in a village, about 25 km from Amritsar, on Saturday.

For the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll, 35 per cent polling has taken place so far, an election office spokesman said.

Prominent among the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha seat are BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, who is up against Congress' Gurjit Singh Aujla and Aam Aadmi Party's Upkar Singh Sandhu.

The Amritsar Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the resignation of Amarinder Singh to protest the apex court verdict on Punjab's river waters. The voter strength in this seat is over 14 lakhs.

The new entrant AAP has nominated Himmat Singh Shergill from the seat. The high-stakes Punjab Assembly elections to 117 seats began on Saturday.

Bikram Majithia, brother-in-law of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, is seeking re-election for the third time from Majitha seat on development plank.

Majithia hit back by saying, "You will come to know now who is losing."

An agitated Lalli also took a jibe at the Akali candidate. "Do not cry when you are losing (elections)," he said.

The Congress candidate retorted, "Do not try to vitiate the atmosphere." He then asked his driver to take the vehicles out.

"Take the vehicles out. Nobody will break the law here. You (Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli) are a candidate. You do not know the rules. How could you do that (bring the vehicles inside)? How could you influence (voters)? Take these vehicles out," he asked Lalli.

The state Revenue Minister apparently asked the Congress candidate to take his vehicles out of the polling booth. "Do not break the rules," a visibly charged Majithia told his opponent.

Majitha: Punjab minister and Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Bikram Singh Majithia and Congress nominee Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli Majithia today had heated exchange of words after the former raised objection over allegedly bringing vehicles inside the polling station.

Manoranjan Kalia, the industry minister between 2007 and 2012, who had also served as the Punjab BJP chief, too met with a similar fate. Kalia won his Jalandhar Central constituency by just 1,065 votes.

And Kairon was not the only minister who had to face a narrow victory. Janmeja Singh, the PWD minister in the outgoing cabinet won the Maur seat by 1,387 votes, while BJP's Surjit Kumar Jyani, who is the present health minister, defeated Independent candidate Jaswinder Singh aka "Rocky" by a margin of 1,692 votes.Janmeja Singh, the PWD minister in the outgoing cabinet won the Maur seat by 1,387 votes, while BJP's Surjit Kumar Jyani, who is the present health minister, defeated Independent candidate Jaswinder Singh aka "Rocky" by a margin of 1,692 votes.

Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, a member of the Khairon political family and a minister in the SAD-BJP government, won his Patti seat by a whisker of a margin of 59 votes.

Apart from these reserved constituencies, 21 other constituencies witnessed a close electoral battle. They were won by less than 4,000 votes which makes for less than three percent of the total votes polled.

In the 2012 polls, 12 out of the 34 SC reserved constituencies saw narrow margins of victories. In fact, the narrowest of the victories was witnessed in the reserved constituency of Phillaur, where Avinash Chander of the SAD won by a mere 31 votes!

The repolling was ordered at 12 polling stations of Majitha Assembly seat, nine each of Muktsar and Sangrur, one each of Moga and Sardulgarh and 16 polling stations of Amritsar Parliamentary constituency.

It was ordered on 7 February in the wake of the malfunctioning of Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail (VVPAT) and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in these stations during the polling.

Repolling in at 48 polling stations of Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency and the five assembly segments, including a seat from which SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia is contesting began on Thursday, while the Aam Aadmi Party called for tighter security to prevent any untoward accidents in the constituencies.

The Punjab government has announced a holiday in the five districts which are undergoing repolling on Thursday. A 'paid holiday' in factories, shops and commercial establishments situated in the area of Amritsar parliamentary constituency and the assembly constituencies has also been declared.

Repolling in 48 stations in Punjab is going smoothly with nearly 30 per cent electorate turnout. Kaurewala village in Sardulgarh constituency saw 33 per cent voting, Majitha saw 43 percent polling and Muktsar reported 47.29 voting, a report published in the Hindustan Times said.

He dismissed any threat from either SAD, which had "ripped apart the state's social, religious and economic fabric" in the last 10 years, or AAP, whose "popularity graph has declined drastically" in the last two to three years with the "exposure of their misdeeds and failures".

Terming the elections as a vote for peace, communal harmony and stability, he claimed, "The people have voted for stability versus communal and radical politics." The people of Punjab want the experience and expertise of Congress to get the state back on the rails of progress and development, Amarinder claimed.

The chief ministerial candidate of Congress who exercised his franchise at Government College for Women in Patiala, promised to usher in the "much-needed new dawn (navan savera)" in the state.

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Saturday termed the Assembly polls as a "vote for stability versus communalism and radicalism" and exuded confidence of a clean sweep in the state, including the Malwa region, which poll pundits had been terming as an AAP stronghold.

Polling in Punjab ends, people reporting to the booth up to 5pm will be voting (Visuals from Sohian Kalan near Majitha) #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/f0YONKXN3f

The repolling was ordered at 12 polling stations of Majitha Assembly seat, nine each of Muktsar and Sangrur, one each of Moga and Sardulgarh and 16 polling stations of Amritsar Parliamentary constituency.

It was ordered on 7 February in the wake of the malfunctioning of Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail (VVPAT) and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in these stations during the polling.

Repolling in at 48 polling stations of Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency and the five assembly segments, including a seat from which SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia is contesting began on Thursday, while the Aam Aadmi Party called for tighter security to prevent any untoward accidents in the constituencies.

Majitha is among the five assembly constituencies where repoll at few polling stations was announced on 7 February. Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) demanded immediate disqualification of Congress Majitha candidate Sukhjinder Singh Lalli Majithia over the issue.

In case you missed, on Wednesday, three people were arrested for allegedly trying to lure voters through liquor and bribing in Majitha assembly constituency. The police named Balwinder Singh with cartons of liquor by an Election Commission observer while Mohan Singh alias Mohni and Om Prakash Gabbar were caught by the people while allegedly bribing voters. Balwinder was Senior Vice President of the Majitha Congress. Mohni was Vice President of while Gabbar was a district level senior party leader (also remained deputy mayor).

The Punjab government has announced a holiday in the five districts which are undergoing repolling on Thursday. A 'paid holiday' in factories, shops and commercial establishments situated in the area of Amritsar parliamentary constituency and the assembly constituencies has also been declared.

Repolling in 48 stations in Punjab is going smoothly with nearly 30 per cent electorate turnout. Kaurewala village in Sardulgarh constituency saw 33 per cent voting, Majitha saw 43 percent polling and Muktsar reported 47.29 voting, a report published in the Hindustan Times said.

Around 1.98 crore voters in Punjab will make their final choices on Saturday, away from the noise of speeches, rallies and over-committed party workers as the state goes to poll in what has turned into a three-cornered contest.

Of the total electorate of 1,98,79,069 in the state, 93,75,546 are women and 415 are transgenders. In total 22,615 polling stations have been set up across the state. While 83 Assembly seats are of general category, 34 have been demarcated as reserved.

And the decision that the voters will take on 4 February in the northwestern state is likely to impact not just the power structure in the state but the entire country as well as whether or not demonetisation has changed the state's electorates' mind towards the BJP.

The main contest, however, is among the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance, Congress and the newest entrant in Punjab's political space  the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

That the AAP has become the main target for both the traditional parties, the Congress and SAD-BJP combine, in the past one year speaks about the deep inroads that AAP has made among electors, particularly the youth and rural voters, in Punjab, writes an IANS report.

Whereas, SAD, whose president and incumbent deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has been saying that the party will rule for 25 years, is facing anti-incumbency since it has been in power, along with the BJP, for a decade (2007-2012 and 2012-2017). The SADs are contesting 94 seats while ally BJP is fighting it out on 23 seats.

Meanwhile, a resurgent Congress, which is hoping for a pan-India revival if it is able to come back to power in Punjab, has fallen back on old warhorse, former chief minister Amarinder Singh, as its chief ministerial face, but he is the party's best bet in the given crop of its leaders in Punjab and circumstances.

The Akali Dal, BJP and Congress  the traditional parties on Punjab's political scene, are not only holding on to their existing political space but also fighting hard to ward off the challenge from AAP.

In recent weeks, the Akali-BJP combine and Congress have launched full-fledged attacks on AAP, and its leadership, with the "outsider" tag. They allege that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP leader, wishes to be the Punjab Chief Minister.

While the Akali Dal-BJP combine is harping on Punjab's development, the Congress and AAP have been attacking the ruling alliance by highlighting major problems like drugs, massive corruption, unemployment, lack of infrastructure, police excesses among others. And this is what makes the Punjab Assembly Election 2017 even more important. Each party has been campaigning hard to win over the voters in the state, but will they vote for the old established players or for change? We will find out on 11 March.

With inputs from agencies
For a leader who never fails to describe the Bharatiya Janata Partys Hindutva philosophy as divisive, it is indeed shocking, and perturbing, that Rahul Gandhi should have given a communal twist to Punjab politics 48 hours before it began to vote. This he did by raising the spectre of terrorism returning to haunt Punjab should the Congress not be voted to power.

Worse, in a display of arrant irresponsibility that has hitherto been the hallmark of BJP MLAs and MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Rahul linked the bomb blast on 31 January in Maur constituency in Bathinda district to the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party as a contender for power in Punjab.

No evidence has yet surfaced to even speculate on the identity of those responsible for the blast. Was it the handiwork of a shadowy Khalistani militant group seeking to spread terror for subverting the democratic process? Or did the blast fall in that typical category called 'election violence'? Or was it a form of retribution, for whatever reasons, directed against the Congress candidate?

Such questions could have deterred a responsible politician from hurling wild charges or making sweeping statements. But not so Rahul, who declared on 2 February in Lambi, where Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal appears hard-pressed to notch up yet another electoral victory, The blast in Bathinda killed six people and many got injured. It is sad that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is helping the forces behind this blast. Such ideology will never do Punjab any good.

For good measure, Rahul went on to warn, If these forces raise their heads again, the entire agenda will be hijacked and Punjab will look in some other direction. He did not spell out what that direction could be, but it was clear to his listeners, as media analyses bear out, that he was alluding to the possibility of Punjab returning to the darkled days of militancy and mayhem.

His allegation, levelled with tremendous certitude, is of the same order that BJP legislators have been voicing over the last year  that Hindus from Kairana and other towns in Uttar Pradesh have been compelled to migrate under pressure from Muslim goons. It is no less dangerous than the rumour which was deliberately fanned that Mohammed Akhlaq of Dadri had consumed and stocked beef before he was lynched.

No doubt, over the past year, there have been concerted efforts at triggering a religious polarisation. For one, it still remains a mystery as to who tore the pages from Guru Granth Sahib and strewed these around at several places in Punjab. But what wasnt mysterious was the motive behind the sacrilegious action: It was aimed at diverting the attention of a people from the rampant drug and liquor abuse, declining agricultural productivity, and rising unemployment.

Against this backdrop, Rahuls allusion to terrorism was aimed at scaring the Hindus, who constitute nearly 43 percent of Punjabs population, of what might lie ahead should they not vote the Congress. Although armed militancy in Punjab during the 1980s claimed both Sikh and Hindu victims, the fear among the latter was of a greater magnitude because they happened to be a religious minority. After all, it was assumed, not unreasonably, that Hindus couldnt possibly endorse the idea of Khalistan as an independent homeland of Sikhs.

It is this past memory of Hindus that Rahul sought to revive through a forging of link between terrorism and AAP. It is a memory in which fear and insecurity are paramount.

As such, in the bipolar nature of Punjabs politics, the Congress could have swept the Akali Dal out of power, facing as it does double incumbency and discontent among the masses. But AAPs concerted attempts to consolidate its astonishing performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have palpably turned the Congress nervous over its prospects in Punjab.

From this perspective, Rahuls Lambi speech is a classic example of inducing fear among the Hindus for communal consolidation. The Congress assumes Sikh votes will be split between the Akali Dal, AAP, and itself. However, the Congress hopes the terror bogey can dissuade Hindus from switching to AAP from the Akali Dal-BJP alliance, which is unlikely to return to power.

This is indeed the import of Rahuls statement in Lambi. It is one thing to claim that AAP lacks in administrative experience, even that its central leaders are not steeped in Punjabs Sikh tradition (nor is Rahul, it can be said). It is undeniably communal to claim that Kejriwal is helping forces behind the blast in Bathinda, implying that violence will once again tear apart Punjab should AAP ride to power.

Perhaps Rahul would have refrained from making such a sweeping statement had he been well versed in history. Other than die-hard Congress activists, few can deny that then prime minister Indira Gandhi imparted a communal colour to Punjabs disquiet over issues such as language, sharing of river waters, and making Chandigarh as the exclusive state capital etc. Worse, to counter the Akali Dal, the Congress mollycoddled Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, turning against him only after he veered out of its control to leave behind a trail of blood.

Perhaps Rahuls love for his family blinds him to the role his grandmother played in the rise of religious extremism in Punjab. Forget Sikh militancy, which has many overlapping layers of complexity. Rahul has even obstinately refused to accept that Congressmen were involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Nor is he willing to believe that the government of his father, Rajiv Gandhi, deliberately allowed mobs to hunt and kill Sikhs, of all places, in Delhi.

For instance, in an interview to Times Now in 2014, Rahul said, I remember, I was a child then, I remember the government was doing everything it could to stop the riots. In Gujarat, the opposite was the case. (It was a reference to the allegation that Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister did not try to control the 2002 riots against Muslims.) There cant be a better example of what is called willing suspension of disbelief.

Rahul has perhaps accused Kejriwal of supporting the Khalistani forces on the evidence of the Punjabi Diaspora coming out overwhelmingly in support of AAP. It is possible the Diaspora consists of those who may have been sympathisers of the idea of Khalistan once.

But it is moot whether their political beliefs of 30 years ago should be invoked to treat them as pariah. Peoples political ideas change over time. If anything, their engagement with Punjabs democracy, their fervent participation in the election campaign, should be welcomed. After all, the Indian State repeatedly allows ultra Left radicals as well as secessionists of all hues to engage in the battle of ballot to influence politics and policies.

For all these reasons, Rahul's remark in Lambi is at best a thoughtless but dangerous remark. At worst, it is akin to playing the Hindu card.

The author is a journalist in Delhi. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, has as its backdrop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It is available in bookstores.
New Delhi: Calling it "spineless", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that the Election Commission has "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kejriwal's remarks came in response to reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and other campaigning material, and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day.

"Election Commission has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like the CBI and the RBI," Kejriwal tweeted. "This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission." The Aam Aadmi Party leader had earlier repeatedly targeted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for acting on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office.

"Just like Modi ji destroyed the RBI, he has also destroyed the Election Commission by appointing his cronies in the Commission," Kejriwal said. Punjab began voting for all 117 assembly constituencies in the state at 8 am, while polling for Goa's 40 assembly seats got underway at 7 am.

Kejriwal also slammed Modi for his 8 November, 2016 demonetisation move and said it had failed to curb black money. "Modi ji had said that the note ban will put an end to black money. But it is being openly distributed in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the use of the note ban," Kejriwal asked.

In a sudden move, the Prime Minister had on 8 November announced that 500 and 1,000 rupee notes would no longer be legal tender. The move, Modi had then said, would eliminate black money from the system apart from targeting counterfeit currency and terror funding.
Hubris has consistently been a fatal flaw of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its top leadership. After the 2014 Lok Sabha victory, the party's winning streak in Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections subsequently convinced the party leadership of a rather infallible formula of electoral success: Sell Narendra Modi's image and ignore local leadership.

In Delhi and Bihar, the party leadership met its nemesis. But these electoral setbacks have not changed the party's conduct in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh. There are even indications that BJP's cadre has been getting increasingly alienated from the party leadership, just as the first phase of polling in crucial western Uttar Pradesh is around the corner.

Reasons are not far to seek. The party made the cardinal mistake of ignoring its core constituency, the upper caste  Brahmin, Rajput, Bania and Kayastha. Unlike in Bihar, where the upper caste base is smaller, Uttar Pradesh has a sizeable chunk of upper castes, which comprise nearly 25 percent of the electorate. But in order to win over the non-Yadav backward castes, the party wrested traditional upper caste seats and handed them over to backward caste leaders.

What appears to have irked the party cadre is the fact that nearly 140-odd candidates put up by the party belong to turncoat politicians  those who joined the party in the last five years. Similarly, in eastern UP, upper caste leaders were randomly replaced by backward class candidates without factoring in the caste calculus.

That the caste equations have gone haywire is evident by the fact that upper caste central ministers and MPs were not even coaxed to camp in their constituencies, to exercise their influence on social groups and persuade them to vote for the BJP.

However, that is easier said than done. For instance, central ministers like Mahendra Pandey or Manoj Sinha would be too overstretched to persuade people to vote on caste lines. Similarly, it would be next to impossible to expect Rajnath Singh to exercise his influence over Rajputs at a time when he appears to be substantially marginalised within the BJP in his home state. Another union minister Kalraj Mishra is also quite subdued by the new style of campaign devised by a new set of leadership, which in its well-conceited wisdom, refuses to listen to patriarchs.

Apparently for BJP, Uttar Pradesh appears to be a classic case where the party has persistently refused to learn the right lessons. Take for instance 1991, when BJP came to power for the first and last time on its own in the state and Kalyan Singh became chief minister. In the post Mandal-Mandir phase, the party offered an alternative political discourse, one rooted in religious symbolism (Ayodhya), yet promised clean politics. The party was backed by powerful upper castes and non-Yadav OBCs in large numbers. But the upper caste leadership within the RSS-BJP combine ran down the Kalyan Singh government and subsequently alienated the backward classes from the Hindutva fold.

Post the demolition of Babri Masjid, BJP's growing marginalisation proved it beyond doubt that the party had lost not only its core upper caste constituency but also estranged backward classes lock stock and barrel.

There is no doubt that the 2014 Lok Sabha election was an exception. Rising on a high tide of expectation, Narendra Modi's image transcended caste boundaries and the BJP swept polls on the promise of ushering in development and clean government. Modi's credentials as a backward leader also gravitated backward classes to the BJP. Of course, ground realities do indicate that the prime minister still retains his charm among a large section of upper castes and backward classes. But it would be a grave political error to assume that his charm would automatically be transferred to the expansion of the BJP's base.

However, party strategists still refuse to see the writing on the wall. They have resorted to tokenism by appointing no-so-clean Phulpur Lok Sabha MP, Keshav Prasad Maurva as state unit president in order to attract non-Yadav OBC voters to its fold. In their fit of hubris, they seemed to have grossly ignored the ground realities which are increasingly turning again the BJP.
Muzaffarnagar: In 2016, nearly two and a half years after the Muzaffarnagar riots, when bypoll was held in this constituency following the death of the then sitting SP MLA Chitranjan Swaroop, the BJP won the seat battling a sympathy wave in favour of the leader's son. Many analysts had then said the saffron party was able to exploit the communal faultlines through its campaign which was led by riot-accused BJP leaders.

The BJP had deployed local MP and minister of state for agriculture in Modi government, Sanjeev Balyan, MP Hukum Singh and MLA Suresh Rana for campaigning in February-2016 bypoll, the first after the communal riots. They were all named as accused in cases related to the 2013 riots which left at least 60 dead and thousands displaced.

However, for the upcoming elections, the party seems to have adopted the much-publicised narrative of development. Western UP, where tension had prevailed during the 2014 Lok Sabha election too in the wake of riots, is calm and elections would be held peacefully with development being the major issue, Balyan told PTI.

He talked of how despite facing difficulties people have supported demonetisation in national interest. The BJP leader targeted the Akhilesh Yadav Government over alleged corruption and mining mafia.

He also said it was his party's strategy not to declare its chief ministerial face. "In the UPA government, it was said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is honest but the government is corrupt. Now Akhilesh Yadavji is also saying 'I am honest and removed one minister over allegations of corruption' but he reinstated him again after 15 days," Balyan said.

"Now who is accountable? If there is corruption by the state government, it's the chief minister who is accountable," he said. He alleged mining mafia "continues to operate" in the state "as it did" during the previous BSP dispensation. "If there is no corruption how can mafia continue to operate?" he asked. Balyan also claimed that the state government waived Rs 2000 crore that sugar mills owed to farmers. "It was money of the farmers and the government had no right to waive it. If there was no corruption, then what was the reason to waive the money the sugar mills owed?" Balyan asked attacking the rival Samajwadi Party.The BJP is locked in a three-corned electoral fight in the state with SP-Congress combine and BSP.

Balyan also refuted rival parties' attack on the decision to demonetise the high-value notes. While people faced difficulties they had faith that the step had been in national interest, he said. "And because of the feeling that the step was taken in the larger interest of the country, people stayed calm," he added. He attacked BSP leader Mayawati for allegedly appealing for votes in the name of caste and religion despite a Supreme Court declaring the practise as illegal. "I wonder why there is no action against her as she is seeking votes in the name of caste and religion," he said. Asked if the reservation demand by the jats in Haryana would have any impact on the community in Western Uttar Pradesh, where they are in sizeable number, he said, "BJP had given reservation to Jats in UP, Delhi and Rajasthan."

"If other governments wanted to give them reservation, then why was it not given in Haryana? Last time the quota the Centre gave to Jats was without the recommendation of National Commission of Backward Castes. Everybody knew that it would be quashed by the court but it was done only to gain political mileage," he said. On RSS leader Manmohan Vaidya's remark advocating a rethink over reservation, he said BJP has already clarified it is not against the policy of reservation. Asked if not declaring the chief ministerial candidate could cost his party as SP-Congress and BSP have declared theirs, Balyan said the party has won several elections in the past without declaring a CM candidate but lost in Delhi when it had declared one. He said not declaring a chief ministerial candidate in UP is party strategy.
Meerut: In his first rally in Uttar Pradesh after polls were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged the corrupt he had "robbed" with note-ban have ganged up to bring him down and targeted the SP-Congress alliance, saying the two parties which abused each other till recently

are now locked in an embrace to save themselves.

Modi asked the people in Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati", saying they have to choose between development agenda of BJP and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote bank politics and encourage land and mine mafias.

In his over-an-hour-long address, he spoke at length about corruption, law and order and nepotism allegedly prevailing in the state as he sought people's vote for BJP to change the state's fate.

"It is UP which made me the Prime Minister," Modi said, adding that he wanted to repay its debt and that he can do it only with a government that joins hands with the Centre to develop the state unlike the current dispensation which is a "hindrance" in its progress.

Attacking Congress and Samajwadi Party, he said Congress ran a campaign against the Samajwadi Party government and wondered as to what happened that both have now joined hands. "What happened that overnight they are embracing each.

Those who could not save themselves cannot save UP," he said. Wooing farmers, he reiterated the party's promise of waiving loans of small and marginal farmers and paying the dues of sugarcane growers within 14 days of coming to power. Playing the pro-poor and pro-farmers card, a plank BJP has assiduously tried to claim for some time, Modi said the recent budget was all about them besides the middle class.

Noting that the rebellion against the British rule in 1857 had started from Meerut, Modi said he has chosen this place to start the war against poverty, corrupt forces and land grabbers. The Prime Minister again attacked the opposition parties over demonetisation and surgical strikes to strike a chord with the audience as he said he was determined to cleanse the system at the top and was not interested in small fights.

"Those who filled rooms with currency notes collected by selling party tickets are very anguished as I forced them to deposit their money in banks with an announcement at 8 pm on November 8....

"I knew they will all gang up against me. They will kick up a storm because Modi has robbed them and they will bring him down. Do you think that corruption should be ended and black money finished off? I have been doing this and will not rest nor will let these robbers rest. No matter how many of them

gang up to oppose me, my fight will not stop. Modi will not stop," he said.

Targeting Congress, he said a minister in the party-run Karnataka government has been found in possession of Rs 150 crore and but it has not taken any action against him. Targeting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he said first his concern was all about family, then about himself and now it is about the chair.

Those accused of running mine mafia, patronising criminals, rapists and land-grabbers have been given tickets in SP, he alleged. Uttar Pradesh has potential to be a leading state in the country but has remained mired in poverty and unemployment due to its governments, Modi said.

"You made me Prime Minister and I have done everything in my capacity to bring honour to the state. Still, some debt I have to repay. In the last two and a half years, I have done a lot for the poor, farmers, deprived, dalits and some is yet to to be done.

"You tell me if all the good I want to do for the state will not remain unfulfilled if the state government here works as a hindrance. So long as you do not send such a government home, the development the central government wants will not happen. It is necessary to remove them," he said, seeking votes for BJP.

Only about Rs 2,800 crore of Rs 7,000 crore the Centre had sent to UP for health care development in 2015-16 was spent and not even Rs 40 crore of the Rs 950 cr sent for 'Swachh' campaign was used, he said and cited more figures to accuse the Akhilesh government of not being interested in the state's development.

"It (SP government) believes if the money cannot be spent on those who are its vote bank, then it will let the funds rot. Tell me if assistance to those who are ill should be based on vote bank politics," he said. "The whole day the government is busy with uncle, son, papa, nephew.... If you want to change UP's fate, change the government. You demolish the rule of SCAM with your votes," he said in a dig at the Yadav clan's feud.

Modi's political attack was largely focused on SP-Congress alliance with BSP being mentioned only

tangentially. Referring to surgical strikes, he said the valour of our armed forces was underestimated so far and enemies would kill them in night and disappear but they could not use their guns due to atmosphere created earlier.

"Now countries across the world are studying as to how Indian forces did such an operation on Pakistani soil. We made them (enemies) account for everything," the PM said. While other politicians go to various locations to celebrate Diwali and their birthdays, he went to forces deployed on border, the PM said.

He targeted the opposition parties for questioning the strikes and alleged that some of them doubted the operation because no Indian soldier lost his life.
New Delhi: A total of 302 crorepati candidates are in the fray for the upcoming first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly election to be held on February 11 while 168 have declared that they have criminal cases against them, says a latest report.

"Out of the 836 candidates, 302 are crorepatis. 66 out of 73 candidates from BSP, 61 of 73 from BJP, 40 of 51 candidates from SP, 18 of 24 candidates from INC, 41 of 57 candidates from RLD and 43 of 293 independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore," a report by think-tank

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Saturday.

The average asset per candidate contesting in the first phase of the UP poll is Rs 2.81 crore, it said. "Out of 836 candidates analysed, 168 have declared criminal cases against themselves," the report by ADR added. One hundred forty-three candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including ones related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women and the like.

As per the report, a total of 186 candidates have not declared their PAN details. The Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 836 out of 839 candidates from 98

political parties, including 5 national, 8 state, 85 unrecognised parties and 293 independent candidates, who are contesting in the first phase of the poll.

On education details, the report said 402 candidates have declared their qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 336 have declared having a qualification of graduate or above. A total of 64 have declared themselves to be just literate and 15 to be illiterate.

It further said 581 candidates have declared their age to be 25-50 years while 239 put it at 51-80 years. Seventy female candidates are contesting in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election this year, the report noted.
By Scott Malone and Dan Levine

| BOSTON/SEATTLE

BOSTON/SEATTLE A federal judge in Boston on Friday declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from certain countries despite being barred by U.S. President Donald Trump's recent executive order.The ruling was a victory for the Trump administration and a setback for state authorities and advocacy groups that are aiming to overturn last week's executive order, which temporarily bars nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The decision came on a day that attorneys from four states were in courts challenging the executive order. Trump's administration justified the action on national security grounds, but opponents labelled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.Earlier on Friday in Virginia, a federal judge ordered the White House to provide a list of all people stopped from entering the United States by the travel ban.The State Department said on Friday that fewer than 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had been invalidated as a result of the order. That disclosure followed media reports that government lawyers were citing a figure of 100,000.U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."At Boston's Logan International Airport, at least four college students from Iran and Iraq who had previously been blocked from entering the United States by the order, arrived with new visas on Friday, according to a Reuters witness.

The new Republican president's order signed on Jan. 27 triggered chaos at U.S. airports last weekend. Some travellers abroad were turned back from flights into the United States, crowds of hundreds of people packed into arrival areas to protest and legal objections were filed across the country.The order also temporarily stopped the entry of all refugees into the country and indefinitely halted the settlement of Syrian refugees.The state of Hawaii on Friday joined the challenge to the order, with officials saying they were suing to block enforcement of the travel ban. Federal judges in Boston and Seattle also were weighing arguments.

SKEPTICISM IN BOSTON

In the Boston case, U.S. District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed skepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Trump's order represented religious discrimination.Civil-rights advocates called to extend a restraining order issued early on Sunday that for seven days blocks the detention or removal of approved refugees, visa holders, and legal permanent U.S. residents who entered from the seven countries. The judge ultimately denied the request."Where does it say Muslim countries?" Gorton asked Matthew Segal, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU.

Segal responded, "If your honour's question is, 'Does the word 'Muslim' make a profound presence in this executive order?,' my answer is that it doesn't. But the president described what he was going to do as a Muslim ban and then he proceeded to carry it out."Gorton shot back, "Am I to take the words of an executive at any point before or after election as a part of that executive order?" Trump has told a Christian broadcaster that Syrian Christians would be given priority in applying for refugee status.In Seattle, the states of Washington and Minnesota were together asking a judge to suspend the entire policy nationwide, which would represent the broadest ruling to date against Trump's directive.Should the Seattle judge rule that Washington state and Minnesota have legal standing to sue, it could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration. (Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York, Brian Snyder in Boston and Lawrence Hurley, Lesley Wroughton and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Rigby)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that an Iranian infant banned from entering the United States for life-saving heart surgery under President Donald Trump's order will now be allowed to travel to New York for the emergency procedure.

Cuomo said on Friday that Manhattan's Mount Sinai Medical Center will perform the surgery at no cost.

The baby girl's family tried to enter the country last weekend with a tourist visa through Portland, Oregon. But they were abruptly turned back as natives of one of seven predominantly Muslim countries targeted under the president's executive order.

Private funds will cover travel costs for the infant and her family, as well as their New York stay.

Cuomo worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project to secure a waiver of Trump's order.

Earlier, a 70-year-old Iranian widow with an immigrant visa had been released after being detained for more than 30 hours at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is defending his sweeping order on immigration and said that he will find other ways to help those suffering from Syria's bloody civil war.

Trump said in a statement on Sunday amid widespread protests that "America is a proud nation of immigrants." And added that the country "will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression," but "while protecting our own citizens and border."
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 4

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistan's gas and gas condensate reserves can be substantially increased due to further geological, geophysical and drilling studies to be carried out on the countrys plain lands as well as within the West-Turkmen cavity, said Taganguly Ilamanov, candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, deputy director of the Natural Gas Research Institute of the Turkmengas state concern.

The strategy of development of the countrys oil and gas industry requires accelerated exploration and development of new prospective areas and fields, says an article published in the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper.

Complex analysis and detailed processing of geological and geophysical information on the gas fields of central and southeast Turkmenistan are now being conducted. They scientifically defined the exploration in the prospective regions through 2D and 3D seismic surveys and drilling.

As for the worlds second biggest gas field, Galkynysh, located in the eastern part of Turkmenistan, it is stated that this filed is unique for its geological conditions.

After additional seismic and well surveys, estimation of gas reserves of the Galkynysh field may be revised upward and the obtained results will be used for the rational exploitation of this gas-bearing territory.

According to the audit held by the UKs Gaffney, Cline & Associates, reserves of the Galkynysh, together with reserves of the Yashlar field, are estimated at 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and reaches 27.4 trillion cubic meters  together with reserves of the reopened Garakel field.

Currently, Turkmenistan delivers gas to Iran and China. The country also continues the construction of the Turkmen part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
When US President Donald Trump signed the executive order to ban the entry of immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries, Indonesia  the worlds largest Muslim population, which is fortunately not among the banned countries  vehemently opposed the move.

In a similar tone and tenor, Iran  the Shia-majority Muslim country, which is among the banned countries  lambasted the move which imposes tough new controls on travellers from the seven countries. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated: It was no time to build walls between nations, without naming Trump.

Similar responses came from several other Muslim and non-Muslim countries, which claim to speak for the religious minority rights. They avowed a bid to tackle only the radical Islamism, and not the mainstream Muslims, while at the same time promoting moderate Muslim voices in their societies.

But it is quite staggering to note that Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey  the fountains of jihadist radicalism today  are not yet included in the list of banned countries. Inevitably, the three countries are seeking to maintain a deafening silence over Trumps move. This is the first glimmer of doubt. One wonders if the executive order of the Muslim immigration ban is genuinely aimed at countering Islamist extremism or is it just a ploy by Trump to please his core constituency that includes racists, white supremacists and evangelists.

A Firstpost article eloquently articulates this: Trump's decisions or 'threats' for further drastic action have given rise to the emergence of one segment of miscreants who are essentially anti-Islam and racist.

Its an open secret that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other Pakistani terror networks have been playing out in the terror plots against the United States. Therefore, Obamas administration often sought to press the Pakistani government to take effective action against all the terror outfits that sabotage American interests.

Only recently, US has expanded its terrorism designation against Lashkar-e-Taiba to include two additional LeT leaders and LeTs student wing, as former US ambassador to India, Richard R Verma, said at the Vivekananda International Foundation Conference.

But the question is that why the new US President is so soft on Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in his call for ban on the seven Muslim countries immigrants? An editorial in Firstpost also questioned why Trumps immigration ban curiously excludes Pakistan and Saudi Arabia: Without going into the merits of such an order, it is interesting to note that it excludes Pakistan and Saudi Arabia  the two countries that are the fountainhead of international jihadi terrorism. If the former provides the terrorist safe havens, the latter provides the fuel in the form of propaganda and finances.

Another Muslim country that a remains silent onlooker is Turkey. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan maintains a dubious silence over the global grudges against Trump and his self-styled Muslim ban. Mustafa Akyol, a veteran Turkish journalist has wondered as to why all this persistent sympathy for Trump exists in Turkeys pro-Erdogan universe. In his latest article for Al-Monitor, Akyol noted:

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ultimate authority, has so far said nothing about the Muslim ban. Moreover, his propaganda machine, consisting of at least 10 national newspapers, several TV channels and thousands of social media trolls, has also been unusually silent about the issue.

So what went wrong in the seven Muslim countries that Trump included in his ban, which did not happen in these other pro-Islamist countries  Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey?

Not only is the silence of Saudi king Salman, who loudly claims the leadership of the Muslim world as the custodian of the two Holy Mosques, surprising, but the most powerful Islamist President Erdogan's short-sighted policy is also appalling, as David Hearst notes in his article for the Middle East Eye.

As for Pakistan, interestingly, to avoid the perceived wrath of Trump, it put Hafiz Saeed on house arrest shortly after Trump indicated that Pakistan could also be included in the list of the Muslim-majority countries from where immigration has been banned. On 22 November, 2016, Pakistans leading English daily, The Nation, rightly pointed out: "Things can, however, take an ugly turn in Pakistan-US relations if Washington under Trump comes to the conclusion that Pakistan is not cooperating wholeheartedly in combating terrorists.

However, several Muslim analysts give good reasons behind the signing of the executive order. One of the substantial evidences, they offer to buttress their point, is that of Tashfeen Malik, who was admitted by the American immigration authorities. That it resulted in the tragic incident of San Bernardino attack leaving 14 dead and 22 injured is used to back their argument.

It was exposed only after this terror atrocity had been perpetrated that a secret American policy prevented the immigration officials from checking the social media accounts of foreigners applying for visas for America. Had the immigration officials been able to look at the radical postings in Maliks social accounts, the innocent lives might not have been lost in San Bernardino.

Those taking cognisance of the ground realities cannot rule out that terror threats are looming larger in the US after Trump was sworn into the White House. Lets not forget that Islamic State (IS) recruiters were rooting for Trump to win the US elections for a dangerous reason. They believed Trump would lead the United States on a path of self-destruction and that his presidency would be an easy recruiting tool for the terrorists.

As several media reports informed, not only the American Republicans, even the IS jihadists were cheering for Trump with a belief that they would use his Islamophobic rhetoric to recruit the gullible Muslim youth. Shortly after Trump won the US presidential election, the Islamic State ideologues unravelled their obnoxious plans. They proclaimed their preparedness to slaughter the American voters in general and particularly the Muslim Americans who took part in the voting for US presidential election 2016.

Al Hayat Media Centre, which is an official media outlet of the IS, released a document entitled, "The Vote of Murtadds". Murtadds in Arabic means "the apostates". In this seven-page document, IS threatened all American voters, especially the Muslim voters in the US. We have come to slaughter you and smash your ballot boxes. The blood of Crusader voters is even more deserving of being spilled than the blood of Crusader combatants."

Now when Trump is loudly claiming to take the bad ones out in his attempt to "rebuild America, he will have to fill his presidential promise to "bomb the hell out of the IS as well. However, it is too gigantic a task to achieve, given the admitted lack of proper vetting procedures by the American officials.

More staggering is the clearly stated aim of the IS to implant its poisonous tentacles into groups of refugees. Keeping this danger in view, the US temporary ban on the seven Muslim countries immigrants cannot be simply trashed as an irrational political gimmick.

In his election campaign, Trump was banked on a strongly-worded promise to "totally annihilate the IS". During the past few months, he has issued stronger statements like: "I would bomb them [IS]" and "I have to knock the hell out of them".

Of late, he has announced decisive steps to "defeat and destroy the IS. Terming the destruction of the dreaded terror group's capabilities a "humanitarian imperative", White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday: "The United States must take decisive action, and the President is taking the necessary steps."

But brushing aside all these strongly worded pledges, Trumps immigration ban is being castigated as a racist ban on Muslims. It might please only the white supremacists and evangelists who spread Islamophobia and the semi-skilled workers who consider the immigrants as the ones who have taken away their best jobs. But an angry crowd is surging ahead in various parts of America and Europe. Trump's inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric has fuelled their anger and their numbers.

Let alone the worldwide Muslim reactions, even the Christian pastors and priests are coming out demanding the lifting of the immigration ban in the US. A critical and considerably avowed reaction came from the religious left. William T Barber, a Protestant minister and political leader in North America, reacted to Trumps move banning refugees from Syria and other Muslim countries:

These acts smell of racism and reek of xenophobia. They are the antithesis of the Bible, which declares, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)

Even the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) called the refugee order distressing. Tellingly, the current president of NAE, Leith Anderson stated: Thousands of US evangelicals and their churches have welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past 40 years through World Relief and other federally approved resettlement agencies. We dont want to stop now.

Trumps administration, however, is reiterating that the immigration ban is just a temporary plan which is being implemented in order to protect Americans. The executive order reads: We must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward our country and its founding principles.

Some media outlets, like USA Today, have quoted Trump to have said that, his crackdown on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim countries would not be a Muslim ban. Trump clarified it shortly after signing the documents in the Oval Office. Furthermore, Trump also appears to favour setting up a safe zone in Syria, so people of the country are not forced to flee their homeland. This is seen as a small compensation for the heavy price of immigration ban.

Given the mixed and obscure responses from the Muslim countries, only time will unravel if Trumps Muslim ban will augur well for the melting pot of America. But the worries among the mainstream Muslims are exponentially growing. Even the Indian Muslims who are on the lookout for their future prospects in America are distressed. Most terribly, Indian students of Muslim family backgrounds are left in the lurch. Their aspiration of higher studies and career opportunities in the US will clearly face a sudden decline.

The author is a scholar of Classical Arabic and Islamic Sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies. He can be reached at grdehlavi@gmail.com
LYON, France France's far-right National Front will combine the proposed euro exit at the heart of its economic platform with unorthodox policies including money printing, which party leader Marine Le Pen will unveil at a rally this weekend.Here are some of the key parts of the anti-immigration, anti-EU party's manifesto for the April and May presidential election, based on comments by National Front (FN) officials ahead of its publication at the weekend.6 MONTHS TO RENEGOTIATE THE EU OR GO FOR "FREXIT"

* Election to be immediately followed by six months of talks with European Union partners with the aim to radically change France's membership of the bloc and turn it into a loose cooperative of countries: no more euro, border-free area, EU budget rules or pre-eminence of EU law.* Referendum on EU membership at the end of the 6 months. Le Pen to recommend leaving the EU if does not manage to radically change the bloc. Most likely scenario is therefore "Frexit."LEAVE THE EURO

* Plan A is a negotiated exit, plan B a unilateral one.* Would go together with re-denominating the debt stock in the new currency, having the central bank defend that new currency and giving the government the right to order the central bank to buy up its bonds.* Would be accompanied by some form of loose monetary cooperation which could be a basket of European currencies to manage exchange rate fluctuations, the exact form of which to be determined in talks with euro zone partners.

TAX IMPORTS

* To rebuild France's industrial base, sellers of imported goods would not be allowed to pass on all of the value-added sales tax to consumers as they do now, creating a levy resembling an import tax.* The FN also wants to force retailers to hold a certain percentage of French goods on their shelves depending on how much of any given product can realistically be made locally.

"NATIONAL PREFERENCE"

* Employers who hire foreigners to pay a tax worth 10 percent of the salary paid to those people, Le Pen's deputy Philippot told RTL radio.* Reserving certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens only, which would be put to voters via referendum. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Simon Carraud; Editing by Dominic Evans)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BERLIN German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First".The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as "tasteless".

The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner".

Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the U.S. embassy in Berlin.

(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Alexander Smith)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of US President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.

It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First".

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."

The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice-president of the European Parliament, describing it as "tasteless".

The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former US president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner".

Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.

No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the US embassy in Berlin.
Yangon: A second suspect has been arrested over the brazen murder of a prominent Muslim lawyer in Myanmar, state media reported today, as questions build over a killing that stunned the Buddhist-majority country. Ko Ni, a 63-year-old legal advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy, was shot in the head outside Yangon's airport last Sunday while he was holding his grandson and waiting for a taxi.

A cab driver who tried to intervene was also killed, and the gunman  identified as 53-year-old Kyi Lin  was arrested at the scene. Police have not offered a motive for the murder of Ko Ni, who spoke out against rising anti-Islamic sentiment and also criticised the army's lingering grip on power.

But the NLD, whose electoral victory ended decades of military rule, has called the murder a political assassination and "terrorist act" against their policies. After a series of police leaks and conflicting comments about the investigation, state media confirmed today that a second suspect had been arrested 12 hours after the murder. Aung Win Zaw, 46, was detained in Kayin State on 30 January, 2017, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported, describing him as "an alleged conspirator of the crime".

"A combined team from the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) and Myanmar Police Force is continuing to work to get more information," said a statement from the president's office. Political murders are rare in Yangon and Ko Ni's killing has rippled fear across Myanmar's minority Muslim community and the young NLD-led government.

The veteran party member was an outspoken critic of a charter drafted by the former junta that enshrines the military's control over key government bodies and a quarter of parliament seats. He was also a voice for religious pluralism in Myanmar, which has been hit by bouts of sectarian violence. His funeral on Monday drew thousands of mourners and a rare show of solidarity between religious leaders and politicians from across the spectrum.

Today hundreds more attended a prayer ceremony jointly led by imams and Buddhist monks honouring both Ko Ni and the taxi driver Ne Win. Among those in the crowd was NLD member Wai Wai Thein, who told AFP that she feared for the safety of other leading politicians.
Washington: Pakistan hopes that there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India after the state assembly elections in the neighbouring country, a senior minister has said. "We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed," Pakistani Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering.

Responding to a question at the US Institute of Peace, a top American think-tank, Iqbal rued that Pakistan is an election issue in the state assembly elections in India. "This is a bit unfortunate that they're taking, you know, strong positions along the electoral cycle. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that was India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now, think in terms of peace," Iqbal said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, is a strong advocate of peace in the region. "We have very actively pursued peace with Afghanistan and India and continue to do so because we think that our development depends upon peace in the region," he said.

"But I think, there is a little issue that, in Pakistan, since 93' I don't remember any election where any leadership has shown any sensitivity towards doing India bashing in order to get some extra votes in the elections. I mean, in our elections India is not affected, nobody speaks about India, nobody does any India bashing," he said.

"But somehow we feel that the electoral dynamics in India are still quite sensitive to Pakistan bashing. So whenever you have, a electoral process in India, the government takes a certain hawkish position towards Pakistan," Iqbal said, adding that after these election there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India.

Responding to a question, Iqbal alleged that India's reaction to USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is "a knee jerk" reaction. India, he said, needs to look at opportunities with CPEC as increasing regional cooperation.

"So instead of opposing CPEC, it should now join CPEC and look at different opportunities," he said, adding CPEC would provide India shortest land route to do trade with most of China. "What you also have to see, that in China, they have now developed extensive road and rail links with West China," he added.

"If you are even doing trade through CPEC you can reach out to any destination in China from this area. So we are very hopeful and we continue to work to normalize our relations with India," Iqbal said.
The Louvre is set to reopen in Paris on Saturday, just 24 hours after a soldier patrolling the museum shot a machete-wielding attacker, believed to be an Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa a week ago.

The incident on Friday has thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a "terrorist" assault.

The attacker, in a black t-shirt bearing a skull design and armed with two 40-centimetre (16-inch) machetes, lunged at four patrolling French soldiers while shouting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)", Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference.

One of the troops was struck on the head and another fell to the ground outside the famous Paris museum after the assailant attacked. The second soldier managed to open fire and hit the machete-wielder in the stomach.

"The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded. He has been taken to hospital and is fighting for his life," the prosecutor said.

A source later said that the suspect's condition had stabilised. Security forces said one soldier had suffered a minor head wound.

Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the world famous attraction after the assailant was shot five times around 10:00 am local time in a public area near one of the museum's entrances.

'Terrorist nature'

The attacker, who is thought to be aged 29 and living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is believed to have entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on 26 January, a source said.

An Egyptian passport, thought to be the suspect's, was found during a search of an apartment in an expensive district of Paris near the Champs-Elysees.

Investigators are examining the Twitter account of an Egyptian man named Abdallah El Hamahmy after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic between 9:27 am and 9:34 am, just minutes prior to the attack.

"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," El Hamahmy wrote, before making reference to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

The UAE government condemned the "hateful crime" and assured France of its "full solidarity".

As French authorities probed the attacker's background, President Francois Hollande said that "there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act," an assessment echoed by Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

France was already reeling from a string of terror attacks over the last two years and the country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

The economy, immigration and security are major issues for voters ahead of this year's presidential and parliamentary elections forecast to confirm the country's shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

Following the attack, US President Donald Trump tweeted:

A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

Witnesses described scenes of panic as people fled the Louvre complex following the incident.

"We heard gunshots. We didn't know what it was about. Then we evacuated the employees and we left," one man who works in a nearby restaurant said.

A female colleague said: "We saw death coming for us, with everything that's happening at the moment. We were very, very scared."

String of attacks

Paris' lucrative tourism industry has been a major casualty of the terror attacks, with visitors cancelling or shortening their stays.

The Louvre, a former palace in the heart of the city, has seen annual visitor numbers fall by some two million since 2015 to 7.3 million after the spate of attacks across France hit its claim to be the world's most visited museum.

The series of terror attacks in France began in January 2015 when jihadist gunmen rampaged through the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, leaving 17 people dead in three days of bloodshed.

Ten months later, gunmen and suicide bombers from the Islamic State jihadist group attacked bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium in Paris, killing 130 people.

And last July, a Tunisian extremist rammed a lorry through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on France's south coast, crushing 86 people to death.
Colombo: Lashing out at critics, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday said his government was "determined and dedicated" to achieve national reconciliation with the minority Tamils despite the work of some opportunists.

Sirisena made the remarks while addressing the 69th anniversary of Lanka's independence celebrations here. "We are determined and dedicated in our commitment despite the work of some opportunists. The government would work towards a knowledge and innovation based economy," he said, blaming them for their aiming of narrow political gains.

Succeeding Mahinda Rajapaksa, President Sirisena's unity government had set in a series of reconciliation measures. The government has promised a new constitution to address the Tamil political aspirations. Tamils say the progress had been painfully slow and questions the government's commitment despite making some symbolic gestures to win over them.

Sirisena's work to hand back Tamils the land held for military purposes and release some of the former terrorist suspects have raised criticism from Rajapaksa's joint opposition who claim that Sirisena was appeasing the Tamils and putting the country's national security at risk.

While the national ceremony was happening here, a section of the hardline Tamils held a demonstration in the Northern capital of Jaffna. "The independence day is our black day. The Tamil community is in grief," said MK Shivajilingam a Northern provincial councilor who led a protest of several hundreds.

"Our land issues, detention of our people and disappearances have not been addressed. We want an

international investigations on crimes against Tamils," Shivajilingam said. According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to nearly three-decades long civil war in Sri Lanka with the defeat of LTTE in 2009.
WASHINGTON Tens of thousands of visas were revoked under U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries, the State Department said on Friday."Fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order," said William Cocks, a spokesman for consular affairs at the State Department.Earlier news reports, citing a government attorney at a federal court hearing, put the figure at more than 100,000 visas.Cocks said the visas had been voided for now but may be restored without travellers needing to apply again once the ban is lifted."A provisional revocation means the Department of State has invalidated a visa for use to travel to the United States and apply for entry, but may restore the visas validity at a subsequent time without requiring the traveller to submit a new visa application," he said.

"We will communicate updates to affected travellers following the 90-day review," Cocks added. The immigration executive order signed by Trump a week ago temporarily halted the U.S. refugee program and imposed a 90-day suspension on people travelling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Trump said the measures would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.Under President Barack Obama, Trump's predecessor, the United States added those seven countries as "countries of concern" under its visa waiver program, effectively toughening U.S. visa procedures for individuals who visited those places during the past five years.

Trump's executive order was at least in part informed by those restrictions. The new president, who took office on Jan. 20, went further by temporarily barring passport holders from those seven countries. Under Trump's order, people from the seven countries who hold dual citizenship would be allowed to enter the United States on the passport of a non-restricted nation.

The New America think thank says the largest majority of "jihadist terrorists" in the United States "have been American citizens or legal residents." It added none of the deadly attackers since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks emigrated or came from a family that emigrated from one of these countries.Foreigners on the visa waiver program killed no Americans in terrorist attacks in over 40 years, according to the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Julia Edwards Ainsley and Kinda Makieh

| WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS

WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted a travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, vowing that his government would reinstate it as affected travelers scrambled for tickets to try to quickly enter the United States.The federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked Trump's week-old order to stop people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the United States as his administration develops stricter vetting rules for immigrants and travelers that Trump says are needed to prevent attacks.The Washington state lawsuit is the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's travel ban, which has been condemned by rights groups that consider it discriminatory."The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which is an independent arm of the U.S. government."When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted.Because of the temporary restraining order, the U.S. government said travelers with valid visas would be allowed to enter the country. The State Department said almost 60,000 visas had been suspended because of Trump's ban.The order had set off chaos and moved thousands of people to protest at airports across the United States last week."I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented from boarding a flight to New York last week."I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," Sharef told Reuters as he and his family prepared to fly from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Virtually all refugees also were barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the United States.On Saturday, a small group of immigration lawyers, some holding signs in English and Arabic, gathered at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, offering services to passengers arriving from overseas destinations."This is an instance where people could really slip through the cracks and get detained and nobody would know," said John Biancamano, 35, an attorney volunteering his services.At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, volunteer lawyers also were in place to help travelers and monitor how visa holders and permanent residents were being treated as they arrived.

REFUGEES ENSNARED

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Trump administration would fight to overturn Friday's ruling."At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the president's executive order, which is lawful and appropriate," DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said a statement.Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. Overnight, some international airlines were uncertain about whether they could sell tickets to travelers from the countries in Trump's ban.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family were granted U.S. visas in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications."We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.Trump's order also put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee admission program and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely. With Friday night's restraining order on the ban, refugees who have been cleared can now board planes.Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."He said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "It's in God's hands," he said. (Additional reporting by Issam Abdullah in Beirut, Dan Levine in Seattle, Alana Wise in New York and Yegenah Torbati in Washington; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Louise Heavens and Bill Trott)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4



By Fatih Karimov  Trend:



Irans crude oil export to Japan increased by 40.7 percent in December 2016 and reached 7.634 million barrels.



The figure indicates a rise by 7 percent compared to the preceding month, Japans ministry of economy, trade and industry said in a message.



On a daily basis, Irans crude oil export to the Asian country stood at 246,000 barrels per day in Dec. 2016 compared to 175,000 barrels per day in Dec. 2015.



Tehran was Japans fourth crude oil supplier after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar with a share of 6.8 percent in Dec. 2016.



Saudi Arabia exported 44.24 million barrels of crude oil to Japan in Dec. 2016, or 39.5 percent share of the countrys total crude oil imports.



According to the latest statistics, during the first full year since the sanctions were lifted (Jan 2016), Iran has boosted exports to its biggest Asian customers by nearly 60 percent to 1.63 million barrels per day.



Under the sanctions, Iran could sell maximum one million barrels a day to its customers, but now it allocated more than 2.5 million bpd crude oil for export and the Asian countries are still Islamic Republic's major customers.
By Rodi Said and Tom Perry

| RAQQA PROVINCE, Syria/BEIRUT

RAQQA PROVINCE, Syria/BEIRUT An alliance of U.S.-backed militias started a new phase of its campaign against the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa on Saturday, aiming to complete its encirclement and sever the road to militant strongholds in Deir al-Zor province. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement the action was being undertaken with "increasing support from the (U.S.-led) international coalition forces" through both air strikes and backing from coalition special forces on the ground.The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, launched its multi-phased campaign aimed at encircling and ultimately capturing Raqqa in November. It is the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.Fighting also raged between Islamic State and Syrian government forces northeast of Aleppo, where the Syrian army is nearing the IS-held city of al-Bab, risking a confrontation with Turkish forces that are fighting the group in the same area. Islamic State is being fought in separate campaigns in Syria by the U.S.-backed SDF, the Turkish army and the Syrian rebel groups it backs, and the Syrian army with help from the Russian air force and Iranian-backed militia.A SDF commander told Reuters the forces had so far advanced a few kilometres (miles) in the latest phase, which aims to capture areas to the east of the city, including the highway linking it to Deir al-Zor province.Deir al-Zor, which is almost entirely in Islamic State hands, stretches all the way to the Iraqi border. A Kurdish military source told Reuters on Tuesday that the goals of this phase included capturing the main highway.

Several hundred U.S. special forces soldiers have been supporting SDF operations against Islamic State in northern Syria. France said in June that its special forces were advising rebels in the same area.Representatives of the U.S.-led coalition looked on as the statement declaring the start of the new phase was read out in a village in northern Raqqa province.PHASE THREE

This is the third phase of the Raqqa operation. The first phase targeted areas north of Raqqa city. The second, targeting areas to the west of the city, is ongoing, with SDF forces yet to capture the Islamic State-held Euphrates dam.Air strikes on Friday in Raqqa hit two bridges over the Euphrates river, hindering movement from the city southwards and killing six IS militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. U.S. support for the SDF has been a point of tension with NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group that has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey. The United States says it is providing training and material support only to Arab elements of the SDF. It supplied them last month with armoured vehicles for the first time to help in the Raqqa campaign.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week requesting the Pentagon, joint chiefs of staff and other agencies to submit a preliminary plan in 30 days for defeating Islamic State.One key decision awaiting the Trump administration is whether to directly provide weapons to the YPG. The U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State in Syria has focused mostly on northern parts of the country. Turkey launched its own offensive against the group along the border in August, deploying its army in support of Free Syrian Army rebel groups.The Turkish campaign, which also aims to prevent further expansion of YPG control, has been encountering fierce Islamic State resistance in al-Bab since December.Syrian government forces have staged a rapid advance of their own towards al-Bab in the last two weeks. (Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut; Editing by Alexander Smith)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON A high-profile conference on Libya planned for mid-February in Washington has been postponed, the organizers said on Friday, citing U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Libya, from entering the United States.The Feb. 16 conference titled "Libya-U.S. Relations 2017: New Vision, Hope and Opportunities," and co-hosted by the National Council on U.S.-Libya Relations, had listed Libyan speakers, including two former prime ministers and the head of the National Oil Corporation (NOC).As a result of the executive order, "banning Libyan citizens from entrance to the USA, it will not be feasible for the full complement of speakers, sponsors and guests to be in Washington, D.C., as originally planned," a statement from the conference organizers said. A new date for the conference would be announced soon.The executive order by Trump comes at a time of uncertainty over U.S. policy in Libya, which remains mired in the chaos that followed the NATO-backed 2011 uprising against long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"This administration recognises the role of the oil industry in economic stability and recognises the importance of economic stability for political stability," Rihab El Haj, a member of the National Council on U.S.-Libya relations, told Reuters."We have been working for visa waivers for speakers and key sponsors and based on our conversations with the various institutions involved in making the decision, there was consensus this was an important event and there is political will to facilitate the conference but it's just a question of timing and we understand that humanitarian exceptions are a priority," she said.

The United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) was strongly supported by the administration of former President Barack Obama, but has struggled to assert its authority in Tripoli and beyond.Factions in eastern Libya aligned with a rival government and Khalifa Haftar, an influential military commander, welcomed Trump's election, hoping for more support for their anti-Islamist stance. Several speakers who had been slated to attend the conference are connected with or loyal to eastern-based factions.

"Generally speaking, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State may on a case-by-case basis, and when in the national interest, issue visas or other immigration benefits to nationals of countries for which visas and benefits are otherwise blocked under this executive order," said William Cocks, spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs."As visa records are confidential under U.S. law, I'm unable to discuss any individual cases." (Writing by Yara Bayoumy, editing by G Crosse)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United Nations: Nikki Haley, in her first week as US ambassador, has made reform of the United Nations' far-flung peacekeeping operations a top priority, diplomats said. The missions cost nearly USD 8 billion a year and Haley said in her Senate confirmation hearing last month that she wants to look at all 16 to see which are succeeding in maintaining peace and which aren't.

"Do we need to shift and do things differently or do we need to pull out?" she asked. Haley singled out the mission in war-ravaged South Sudan, the world's newest nation, calling it "terrible." She said the government isn't cooperating with the UN force, which has nearly 13,000 troops and police and a current budget of more than USD 1 billion.

Two diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conversations were private, said that in discussions this week Haley put a mission-by-mission review of peacekeeping operations as a top priority.

One diplomat said Haiti, where nearly 5,000 UN troops and peace are deployed at an annual cost of about USD 346 million, is a mission Haley talked about winding up.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced yesterday that UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is leading "a strategic assessment mission" to Haiti next week at the Security Council's request, which will identify "critical needs" in the country and make recommendations on a future UN presence.

A UN peacekeeping official said late yesterday that the department is implementing reforms recommended by a high-level panel on peace operations, and is constantly reviewing and adjusting its operations "to stay relevant and cost efficient." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly. According to the UN Peacekeeping Department, over 100,000 troops and police are currently deployed in the 16 missions, including nine in Africa.

While some missions have been very successful Hailey singled out Sierra Leone others including in the Central African Republic and Congo have been criticized for sexual abuse violations and corruption, and the joint UN-African Union mission in Sudan's Darfur region has been criticised for inefficiency. Haley stressed that countries contributing troops must hold them accountable for corruption and sexual exploitation, which she said isn't happening.
Washington: A US judge in Seattle has issued a temporary nationwide block on President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations, media reports said.

US District Court senior Judge James L. Robart on Friday granted the injunction at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office said that the order applies nationwide, Efe news reported.

"The Constitution prevailed today. No one is above the law - not even the President," Ferguson said. The lawsuit against Trump's ban was initially filed by Washington state, with Minnesota joining later.

Ferguson has described the ban as illegal and unconstitutionDonald Trump's immigration policy: Judge blocks 'illegal' travel banal, because it discriminates against people on the ground of their religion. The ruling is a major challenge to the Trump administration, and means that nationals from the seven countries are now able in theory  to apply for US visas, the BBC said in its report.

The administration can appeal against the verdict.

Last week's move by Trump triggered mass protests and has resulted in confusion at US airports.

The State department says 60,000 visas have since been revoked.

Trump's executive order brought in a suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days.

There is also an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. Anyone arriving from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen faces a 90-day visa suspension.
The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside has described the death of serving Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Francis Odesanya as shocking and coming at a time when the state and Nigeria needed his professional competence and managerial capability.

Dr. Peterside stated that the demise of CP Odesanya has robbed the nation of a fine officer and gentleman, who rose through the ranks before being posted to Rivers State to help curtail the activities of criminal elements.



Indeed, our state and the entire nation have lost a fine officer and gentleman who weathered it through the ranks to the position he held before his death. His loss becomes more painful considering his efforts at checkmating the dangerous activities of criminals in Rivers State, Peterside bemoaned.

The NIMASA DG sympathized with the Inspector-General of Police and Police Service Commission over the unfortunate loss, saying it was indeed a big loss to the Nigeria Police.

This is indeed a sad one to the Police, Rivers State and Nigeria. He has contributed to the corporate existence of Nigeria and fought several criminal elements in the society to ensure that we are able to move around freely and go about our normal duties.

For the few months he has been in Rivers State, he showed the attributes of a good leader, who is ready to lead from the front and provide direction for the rank and file, Peterside stressed.

The NIMASA boss prayed for the repose of the soul of the departed, just as he wished his family Gods guidance and grace as they mourn the demise of their illustrious son.

Source: DAP Media Team
Residents of Sapele on Monday decried the incessant power outage by the authorities of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

They also condemned the attendant crazy bills by BEDC.

The Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Monday Igbuya, Chairman of Sapele Local Government Area, Hon Ejaife Odebala, elders and leaders of various political and non political groups in Sapele voiced their dissatisfaction, insisting on electricity for up to 18 hours daily.



At a stakeholders meeting in Asaba, the speaker urged BEDC to stop bringing estimated bills.

Dont take people for granted. Your actions show great disrespect for all of us. Sapele residents are paying bills. BEDC must provide meters to consumers. The officials must respond to fault reported by consumers. They must communicate. The irregularity in power supply has disrupted daily life he said.

Episcopal Vicar and Dean, St. Patricks Catholic Church, Sapele, Very Rev Father Christopher Ekabo suggested ways towards a lasting solution to the crisis.

At least 12 hours to 18 hours electricity should be given to Sapele. Anything less will not be good for the people. No more estimated bills. Prepaid meters should be made available to curb further collection of money by staffers of BEDC. The load shading should be done in a proper manner. The excuse of none payment of bills should be looked into the priest said.

He urged BEDC to make a formal and public apology for it actions.

After a heated argument, the stakeholders agreed on eight hours of power for a start, subject to further improvement within the shortest possible time.

Sent in by: Ebireri Henry Ovie
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:



Iran has exported worth of $453,005 of vehicles and car spare parts to Azerbaijan in a 10-month period between March, 20, 2016 and January, 20, 2017.



According to the latest statistics by Iran Customs Administration, the value of the countrys exports of spare parts to Azerbaijan in the mentioned period stood at $355,205 while cars valued at $97,800.

This is while Iran imported $1.162 billion of cars and $666 million worth of car parts in the mentioned period of time.



Iranian automotive industry is projected to form at least 4 percent of the countrys economic growth by 2025. The countrys carmakers accounted for 2.2 percent of Irans economic growth over the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2016) with a contribution of about $9.1 billion (294 trillion rials).

## 2677695##
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4



By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:



Federal officials have granted a waiver for Fatemeh Reshad, a four-month Iranian baby with a heart defect, to arrive in the US with her parents for surgery.



"This evening we were pleased to learn that the federal government has now granted Fatemeh Reshad and her family boarding documents to come to the United States," CNN quoted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as saying on Friday.



"We will continue to work with the International Refugee Assistance Project and their partners to ensure this baby receives the treatment she needs, and fight for those being unfairly shut out of America's gates by this policy," the official added.



According to media reports, the Iranian baby girl suffers from structural abnormalities and two holes in her heart.



Fatemeh Reshads parents were scheduled to meet with doctors in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, but were barred from traveling from Tehran to Portland, Fatemehs uncle, Samad Teghizadeh, told CNN Thursday.



The delay comes after Trump's executive order put an abrupt stop on travel to the US for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran.
Avon, Mary Kay and Estee Lauder say they have not resumed testing on animals, despite the claims of a story shared widely on social media. The companies say they ended testing on animals years ago but that products sold in China continue to undergo testing by that country's government that might include the use of animals.

The story posted by thedogfiles.com cites People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' move in 2012 to remove the companies from its cruelty-free list after PETA said it discovered the companies had resumed animal testing in order to market their products in China.

When contacted individually about the claim, representatives for Avon, Mary Kay and Estee Lauder said PETA's claim was untrue. Each company said it has not tested on animals for years.

Products sold in China, however, are required to undergo government testing, and that nation's regulators use animals in their review of some products.

PETA said the companies are responsible for animal tests using their products, since the firms are choosing to sell in China.

Mary Kay said in a statement, "We are obliged to follow the law, as we do in every country where we operate."

All three companies say they have worked without outside groups to push alternatives to animal testing.

The original story was posted in 2012, but it has continued to circulate in social media.

___

This story is part of an ongoing Associated Press effort to fact-check claims in suspected false news stories.
What's Barney Frank's take on President Donald Trump's first action to scale back the landmark financial overhaul law that bears his name?

Don't bank on it succeeding, he says.

Frank, the formidable former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, headed the House Financial Services Committee when the Dodd-Frank law passed in 2010. He was co-architect with then-Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., of the law enacted to rein in Wall Street and expand the government's oversight in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Democratic lawmakers passed the law and President Barack Obama signed it.

Any scaling back of Dodd-Frank would have a difficult time getting through Congress, because many Republican lawmakers' constituents favor policing Wall Street, Frank told The Associated Press in an interview.

He spoke Friday after Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury secretary to review the Dodd-Frank law. Trump has called the law a "disaster," pledging to dismantle it. He said this week, "We're going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank."

Frank said Trump's move contradicted his campaign promises.

"There could not be a greater contrast between the messages Donald Trump was saying to the average people about standing up to Wall Street ... and an acknowledgement that he's now going to give them their best wishes," he said. "There is this great inconsistency in what he promised and what he's doing. That's the fundamental problem."

Frank said he doesn't believe there are enough votes in Congress to repeal Dodd-Frank. "Since 2011, the House voted 30 times to repeal ("Obamacare"), but they never voted to repeal financial reform. The reason is it's popular with their constituents."

He's worried that Trump appointees won't use their authority to enforce financial rules, noting that several of Trump's choices for high-level government positions are from Wall Street.

Since Dodd-Frank took effect, the stock market has hit record highs, Frank noted, something he sees undermining Republican claims that the law is bad for business.

"They have not pointed to anything specific that they have documented that has caused any harm," he said.
United Launch Alliance -- the Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) joint venture responsible for launching most U.S. government space missions -- has a big plan for space. Over the next 30 years, says ULA, America will put dozens, scores, even hundreds of explorers into the region bounded by Earth and its Moon, to live and work there long-term. ULA calls the project its "Cislunar 1000 Vision" to put 1,000 astronauts in orbit.

And now we know what they'll wear when they get there.

Rotate your phone 90 degrees to see Boeing's Starliner spacesuit right-side-up. Image source: Boeing.

Have spacesuit, will travel

Last week, NASA announced that Boeing had designed a new spacesuit for astronauts traveling aboard its new CST-100 "Starliner" spacecraft, which is due to begin flying to the International Space Station in late 2018. Described as "light," "flexible and comfortable," and "tailored for each astronaut," Boeing's new Starliner suit "meets NASA requirements for safety and functionality." It features touchscreen-sensitive gloves to facilitate operating touchscreen controls. And it's a unibody suit, with the helmet and visor -- and even the shoes -- all part of one integrated garment that weighs about 20 pounds total, a 33% reduction in weight from NASA's current spacesuits.

Boeing's new Starliner suit is not designed for extravehicular work in a vacuum, but it "can be pressurized in an emergency."

What it means for investors

Fixing a price on a high tech spacesuit is not the easiest thing in the world (or off it), which makes valuing the revenue opportunity that the Starliner suit affords to Boeing a bit tricky.

We know that in June 2008 NASA awarded Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII) a $745 million contract to design a new spacesuit, beating out incumbent supplier Hamilton Sundstrand, which is still a unit of United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). That contract, however, dealt with extravehicular spacesuits, which, because they are designed to operate in a vacuum, are essentially man-sized spacecraft themselves -- priced at anywhere from $2 million to $15 million per unit. In contrast, the kind of intra-vehicular suits Boeing has designed for Starliner astronauts might cost $200,000 or less.

Even times 1,000 spacesuits, that still works out to less than $200 million in potential revenue for Boeing -- and remember, right now NASA is still sending astronauts into orbit only three at a time. NASA won't need to order 1,000 suits for another 30 years, even if the Cislunar 1000 Vision does become reality.

What it really means for investors

So why do we care about NASA approving Boeing's spacesuits? Because they're a sine qua non for Boeing making more money on other things in space, and because the easier Boeing makes it for people to live and work in space, the more likely people will want to go there.

The 33% decrease in weight and increased functionality offered by the Starliner suits make space just that much easier to access. It makes it that much more likely that Boeing and Lockheed will in fact be able to help put 1,000 or more astronauts in orbit over the next 30 years -- and will get a chance to build (and sell) the rockets and spaceships to get them there, and the space habitats, space taxis, and space gas trucks needed to support them when they arrive.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but if Boeing wants to "travel" very far in space, first it must "have spacesuit."

And now it does.

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Phishing is the attempt to impersonate a trustworthy source to fraudulently obtain sensitive information such as your username, password, Social Security number, credit card information, and account numbers. Email phishing schemes involve a phony email that's cleverly disguised to look exactly like a message from a trusted source -- be it a friend, associate, or even your financial institution -- in order to obtain sensitive data from you.

Image source: Getty images.

This scam has traditionally targeted individuals, but in a new twist on an old scheme, fraudsters are now targeting financial institutions. One of the most popular targets of this new scam is brokerages.

How the scheme works

Criminals are now hacking into people's personal email accounts and going through their archives to gather intelligence on the account's owner. If the victim has a brokerage account, they will email the broker a message such as:

The thief will address your broker by name and keep it as short as possible in order to minimize their opportunities to give themselves away. While a medical emergency is not always given as a reason for the transfer, the excuse will sound urgent, giving the targeted broker the sense that time is of the essence.

Because the crooks gather intelligence through your email account, they will often incorporate a real-life event into the email to make the reason for the money transfer sound even more plausible. For instance, if your niece really is sick, then the above example is something they would likely use. On the other hand, if the email account's owner is a business owner or landlord, then the scammer might claim to need the money fast because of a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity.

Why the scheme works

Unfortunately, once the broker receives this phony request, the system can break down. Brokerages are regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA has recognized this potential weakness in the system for a long time and, as early as 2012, sent out a regulatory notice requiring brokerages to review their specific procedures for wire transfer requests received via email. This alert stated:

FINRA advised that it is imperative brokerages do two things to ensure they do not play an unwitting role in this scheme: 1) verify that the email was sent by the customer and 2) identify and respond to red flags, including unusual requests and unfamiliar third-party accounts that the money is being sent to. The alert specifically says that requests that indicate a sense of urgency should be flagged as potentially fraudulent because, by their very nature, they tend to "deter verification of the transfer instructions."

Unfortunately, this scheme is still far too successful and has only become more widespread since this alert, and subsequent ones, have been issued. That's because, all too often, the brokerage does not follow the rules and wires the money with no verification from the account holder.

Why aren't the rules followed? At the end of the day, brokers are still human and are subject to the same emotional tendencies as the rest of us. In my experience working these cases as an economic crimes detective, most brokers simply said they skirted the rules for the convenience of their client.

What you can do

While FINRA has the authority to fine and suspend brokers for not following regulations, very few consumer protection laws are in place for this type of fraud. In my experience, most brokerages will refund a victim's money because they don't want to lose face in the industry. But that doesn't mean that they're required to repay customers or that it will be easy to get it back. Therefore you must take proactive steps for your own protection.

Ensure that all your personal information on file with your broker is up to date and correct. If your old cellphone number is still on file, then your broker can't reach you to verify that you sent an email requesting a money transfer. If you have a personal relationship with your brokerage, call them and let them know you want to be personally contacted before money is ever wired out of your account. Call your brokerage and ask what their policies are for acting on a money transfer request. Make them be specific. Don't let them get away by brushing off your concerns and saying something like, "That could never happen here." Ask them for their specific policies that safeguard your money. If you're not satisfied, consider another brokerage.

At the end of the day, this is your money. You need to be satisfied with how well it is being protected. Don't give thieves the chance to steal the fruit of your life's labor just because you didn't take a few minutes out of your day to talk to your brokerage about how safe your money is.

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You may or may not know this, but JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is the biggest bank in America. But even if you did know that, you probably don't know how it achieved such an incredible feat. As you'll see, the story behind JPMorgan Chase's ascent is just as important today as at any time in history.

America's most venerated bank

By all accounts, JPMorgan Chase is our most venerated bank. It's not the oldest -- that distinction goes to The Bank of New York Mellon, which was founded by a group of investors that included Alexander Hamilton. But if you think about the evolution of American finance, no bank looms larger than JPMorgan Chase.

The New York-based bank climbed to the top of the financial industry at a critical time. Founded in the wake of the Civil War, and tied to a respected bank based in the United Kingdom, JPMorgan took the lead in financing the growth of the American industrial revolution throughout the Gilded Age.The British had money. The Americans had manpower and resources. JPMorgan connected the two, neither of which could have maximized its value without the other.

John Pierpont Morgan, the founder of JPMorgan Chase.

Just as importantly, JPMorgan Chase played the role of a central bank in the roughly eight-decade stretch when America was without one. Like Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson during the financial crisis of 2008, John Pierpont Morgan worked tirelessly during the Panic of 1907 to stop it from evolving into a full-blown depression. It was in no small part the fear of his impending absence that led policymakers to establish the Federal Reserve in 1914.

Morgan only succeeded at stopping the crisis after literally locking the other leading bankers of the day in his library until they agreed to work together to stem the bank runs erupting up and down Wall Street. Indeed, the popular notion that he was a fat cat banker who was out only to enrich himself simply isn't true. "And to think he wasn't even a rich man," John D. Rockefeller was reported to have said after Morgan's death in 1913.

Either way, it wasn't long after the Morgan family relinquished control of the bank a few decades later that it began to slip from the apex of American finance. It had a number of outstanding bankers at the helm throughout the early 1900s -- notably, Henry Davison and Thomas Lamont -- but a new king was crowned after World War II.

The new kings of finance

It was in the 1960s that Citigroup (NYSE: C)began its climb to the top of the bank industry, powered by its strategy of looking abroad for growth and investing heavily in technology. Fast forward another few decades and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) joined it at the summit, riding the wave of deregulation to construct the nation's first coast-to-coast branch network.

Going into the financial crisis of 2008, JPMorgan Chase was far from the biggest bank in the country. It oversaw $1.6 trillion worth of assets at the end of 2007 compared to Citigroup's $2.2 trillion and Bank of America's $1.7 trillion. But while Citigroup and Bank of America had a leg up on JPMorgan Chase going into the crisis, this relationship soon inverted.

Data source: YChart.com. Chart by author.

Tens of billions of dollars' worth of losses at Citigroup and Bank of America forced the two banks to rethink their decades' long strategies of growing for the sake of growth. In a single quarter during the crisis, Citigroup lost $21 billion before taxes. And in the eight years following the crisis, Bank of America incurred just under $200 billion worth of crisis-related expenses stemming from credit losses and legal fines and settlements.

Jamie Dimon to the rescue

JPMorgan Chase avoided the same fate thanks to the prescience of its chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, who had only recently joined the bank by way of its 2004 merger with Bank One. Dimon recognized early that the subprime mortgage market was on the verge of imploding and instructed his subordinates in late 2006 to unload the bank's subprime mortgage exposure and stop underwriting the riskiest types of mortgage-backed derivatives.

The moves were unpopular at the time, as analysts and commentators accused Dimon of being overly cautious while his counterparts at Citigroup and Bank of America doubled down in the same markets that JPMorgan Chase had just abandoned. But it wasn't long before it became clear just how prescient Dimon had been.

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. Image source: JPMorgan Chase.

By fleeing the most toxic corners of the subprime and derivative markets before the crisis struck, JPMorgan positioned itself to not only survive the crisis, but to thrive through it. It was so strong that the government asked it in March 2008 to rescue the then-floundering Bear Stearns, the first largest stand-alone investment bank at the time. Six months later, it did the same with Washington Mutual.

These acquisitions, made at bargain-basement prices, fueled JPMorgan Chase's rise once again to the pinnacle of American finance. While Dimon's counterparts at Citigroup and Bank of America were busy offloading assets to raise capital and rationalize their operations JPMorgan Chase climbed steadily higher. Today, it boasts $2.5 trillion worth of assets compared to Bank of America's $2.2 trillion and Citgroup's $1.8 trillion.

Why this matters today

It's not just JPMorgan Chase's size that vindicates its prudent strategy going into the crisis. In the final quarter of last year, it passed Wells Fargo to become the most profitable multitrillion dollar bank in America as well.

As investors look forward to the tumultuous times ahead, churned by a White House with no evident preference for stability, they'd be wise to keep this history in mind. Things could turn out great over the next few years. Things could also come crashing down, as they did during Andrew Jackson's presidency in the 1830s, which unapologetically ignited a multiyear depression.

In the best-case scenario, all bank stocks will benefit. But in the worst-cast scenario, only those motivated by extreme prudence and foresight will emerge unscathed. With Jamie Dimon at the helm, there's little doubt in my mind that JPMorgan Chase falls into the latter category. This is why I believe it's the best bank stock for investors to own right now.

10 stocks we like better than JPMorgan Chase When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

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John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
A federal judge in Seattle on Friday put a nationwide block on U.S. President Donald Trump's week-old executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries from entering the United States.

The judge's temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump's action, although his administration could still appeal the ruling and have the policy upheld.

Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, made his ruling effective immediately on Friday, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted straight away. He is expected to issue a full written ruling over the weekend.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "no person - not even the president - is above the law."

The state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: "This decision shuts down the executive order right now." He said he expected the federal government to honor the ruling.

The Justice Department made no immediate decision on an appeal. "The Department looks forward to reviewing the court's written order and will determine next steps," it said in a statement.

The new Republican president's order signed on Jan. 27 triggered chaos at U.S. airports last weekend. Some travelers abroad were turned back from flights into the United States, crowds of hundreds of people packed into arrival areas to protest and legal objections were filed across the country.

The challenge in Seattle court was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for theban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel bansince that assault. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting theban.

"This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order," said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: "Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good."

FOUR STATES IN COURT

The decision came on a day that attorneys from four states were in courts challenging Trump's executive order. The Trump administration justified the action on national security grounds, but opponents labeled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

U.S. District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed skepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Trump's order represented religious discrimination.

The State Department said on Friday that fewer than 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had been invalidated as a result of the order. That disclosure followed media reports that government lawyers were citing a figure of 100,000.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.

Trump's directive also temporarily stopped the entry of all refugees into the country and indefinitely halted the settlement of Syrian refugees.

On Friday the Department of Homeland Security issued additional clarification of the order, stating that there were no plans to extend it beyond the seven countries. The DHS also reiterated that the ban did not apply to permanent residents, or green card holders, and some others, such as those who have helped the U.S. military.
WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted the travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, taking an unusual jab at an independent branch of the U.S. government as he vowed to bring back the restrictions.

Trump's personal attack on U.S. District Judge James Robart went too far for some who said he was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.

As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump's executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The Justice Department is expected to quickly argue in court to reverse a restraining order made by Robart in Seattle late on Friday. The judge appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush questioned the constitutionality of Trump's order.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said "extreme vetting" of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks.

Eight hours later, Trump showed no signs of backing down when he tweeted "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?"

SEPARATION OF POWERS

It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress.

Reached by email, Robart declined comment on Trump's tweets.

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland said Trump went too far by attacking the judge and the integrity of the judicial branch.

"He is undermining the entire system of government, not only the decisions with which he disagrees," Cardin said in a statement.

"Read the 'so-called' Constitution," tweeted Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee.

In an interview with ABC scheduled to air on Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump's criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers.

"I think the American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them," Pence said, according to an excerpt of the interview.

The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump's push to clamp down on immigration. His order set off chaos last week at airports across the United States where travelers were stranded and thousands of people gathered to protest.

Americans are divided over Trump's order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49 percent favored it while 41 percent did not.

Wes Parker, a retiree from Long Beach, California, held a sign saying "Trump is love" at the Los Angeles International Airport, and said he supported the tighter measures.

"We just have to support the travel pause," said Parker, 62. "If you were a new president coming in, wouldn't you want what you feel safe with?"

Rights groups, Democrats and U.S. allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests against the immigrant curb in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities.

At the White House, hundreds of protesters chanted "Donald, Donald can't you see? You're not welcome in D.C."

TRAVELERS MOVE WITH HASTE

The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open.

In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Sharef, who was stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight last week.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Justice Department would file for an emergency stay of the order "at the earliest possible time."

Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, 60, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

"We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump's order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

Friday night's court decision sent refugee advocacy and resettlement agencies scrambling to help people in the pipeline.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon that his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case.

"It's in God's hands," he said.
At fifteen minutes to midnight on New Years Eve, early fireworks went off in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These werent to celebrate another new year, but rather the signing of an agreement that, if implemented, paves the way for the countrys first ever peaceful, democratic transition of power.

Many months in the making, the deal was an important achievement. The agreement has many variables: President Joseph Kabila committed to not hold a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run again; the opposition agreed to not hold up the deal because of the pending legal case of one of its main leaders, Moise Katumbi; all agreed to hold elections in 2017; and the government agreed to drop charges against several, though not all, political prisoners.

Before looking forward to the difficult process of implementation, its important to look back for a moment to understand what allowed this deal to come together.

Congos Catholic bishops provided highly competent mediation, but the negotiations also needed to be ripened, as the parties did not always see it in their interest to come to agreement. This leverage came in local and international forms: determined activism by Congolese pro-democracy movements LUCHA, FILIMBI, and others, who continued demonstrations in the face of protest bans and arrests of their leaders; carefully escalated international pressure and elevated policy attention from the U.S. and Europe, in particular by coordinated targeted sanctions spearheaded by U.S. envoy Tom Perriello and Belgian envoy Renier Nijskens; regional diplomacy and pressure, in particular by Angola; compromises by the opposition and the government; and, in the U.S., a significantly larger bipartisan Congressional, activist, and NGO constituency for democratic change than had ever before been seen for Congo.

Senators Markey, Durbin, Flake, and Coons, and Representatives Chris Smith, Bass, Royce, and Engel deserve praise for keeping up the pressure.

This Congolese-U.S.-European coordination  along with the threat of even more biting financial pressure from the Obama administration, Europe, and Trump team advisors  gave Kabila little wiggle room to maneuver, and just before the midnight deadline on December 31st, produced a signed agreement.

Every indication, however, is that Kabila will obstruct implementation of the deal, and the reality is that the Congolese government has a long history of reneging on agreements by sowing confusion in the implementation phase. The accord effectively ends Kabilas political future, and it leaves his powerful family, business allies, and military top brass, many of whom have profited personally from lucrative illicit natural resource deals, in a state of limbo. Insiders to the talks say that Kabilas team was thrown off by Katumbis last-minute gambit to not hold up the signing. Kabila is reportedly now unhappy with his negotiators for caving on his top issue: holding a referendum to change the constitution.

Excuses by the Congolese government as to why the accord cannot be implemented will likely include that it wasn't inclusive enough, that it violates the constitution in some way, and that an "implementation agreement" still needs to be negotiated. Congolese officials have already begun to issue statements along these lines. Kabila could also declare a state of emergency, arguing that conflict in eastern Congo is escalating and preventing democratic reform from taking place.

Going forward, it is critically important that the United States, Europe, and Congolese civil society hold the Congolese government and opposition to the main benchmarks they agreed to, and escalate financial and legal pressure against those who do not stick to them.

Five benchmarks are worth noting. First, the parties need to agree on an election day, and then adopt a realistic timetable for organizing the process.

They need to quickly decide on which elections will be held in 2017 (presidential, legislative, and/or local) and start the voter roll update.

Presidential elections are the priority, and experts have said the voter roll could be updated in 2017, but the presidency will likely try to delay these decisions and make excuses that there is not enough time to complete either task. They should also increase the transparency of the electoral process.

Second, the parties should soon set up an oversight committee for the accord. Members need to be chosen, and the parties need to lay out its precise authority.

Third, they should select a date for the change in prime ministers and transitional government. The opposition has chosen its candidate, and the government should now set a date in the near future for the handover.

Fourth, the legal cases of political prisoners/activists in exile must be resolved. The government must clear the charges of four key persons it agreed to, the bishops should continue their mediation on the other three cases, and the magistrate committee to deal with the other cases must be set up. Other LUCHA and FILIMBI activists should also be released. Fifth, the media that was shuttered must be re-opened. The government should now unblock the six Congolese media outlets and the signal of Radio France International that were shut down in 2016.

The international community breathed a sigh of relief that a deal was signed in Congo, but many in Congolese civil society express strong skepticism that the terms of the deal will not be fulfilled.

The U.S. and Europe played a critical role in the lead-up, and they must now stand ready to continue leveraging the process when needed, through anti-money laundering measures that would increase financial pressure, higher-level sanctions, and legal pressure.

Congo has been run as a violent kleptocracy for over a century, and that corrupt system ultimately must be dismantled for Congo to have a chance for long-term peace and stability. Implementing this agreement would be a good first step in that direction.
A federal judge in Seattle issued a ruling Friday that temporarily halts President Trumps controversial executive order barring travelers and immigrants from seven predominately Muslim countries.

U.S. District Judge James Robart ruled that Washington state and Minnesota could challenge Trump's order to freeze the entire U.S. refugee program for four months and ban Syrians from entering as refugees indefinitely.

What the judge announced today is nationwidethe presidents executive order does not apply, Bob Ferguson, the attorney general from Washington state, said. It was his state that filed the suit.

Qatar Airlines said online that is was directed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that "all refugees seeking admission presenting a valid, unexpired U.S. visa or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) card (Green Card) will be permitted to travel to the United States and will be processed accordingly upon arrival."

The New York Times reported Friday night that airlines have been told by the government to begin allowing these travelers on planes to the U.S. The Trump administration could block these travelers if it wins an emergency stay, but Reuters reported that the U.S. Justice Department will not be filing a stay tonight.

The State Department said it has been informed about the ruling barring the U.S. government from enforcing provisions of Executive Order 13769.

We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations, a spokesman from the department said to Fox News. We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available.

Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. The state's legal challenge was the way the president's order targeted Islam.

The judges ruling, as The Wall Street Journal reported, adds a fresh round of confusion to several challenges to Trumps order.

The judge ordered federal defendants "and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from" enforcing the executive order.

Robart wrote that he granted the restraining order partly because the plaintiffs were likely to win on a constitutional claim, and that halting the executive order would cause the plaintiffs irreparable injury.

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said in an interview that he believes the state may have an uphill climb because the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that the Constitution does not protect non-citizens.

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, said in a statement that the Justice Department intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate.

The judge's ruling could be appealed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Journal reported that district judges seldom issue nationwide injunctions, but cited a few in recent years, including a 2010 ruling against dont ask, dont tell and, a similar ruling in 2015, where a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Obama administrations implementation granting some protection to children of illegal immigrants.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4



By Fatih Karimov  Trend:



A passenger plane belonging to Turkeys national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, has been forced to make an emergency landing in Iran's south eastern city of Zahedan on Feb. 4.



The Airbus jet heading from Istanbul to Vietnam changed the destination due to critical health conditions of a passenger on board, said Hamid Reza Parsa, an official with the Zahedan Airport, IRNA news agency reported.



The Turkish jet landed at 7:35 local time (GMT +3:30 hours), Parsa said, adding that the sick passenger was transferred to one of the hospitals in Zahedan city to receive medical treatment.



He said that the Turkish Airbus A330-300 aircraft will leave Zahedan to Vietnam after receiving the needed permissions once the patient gets well.
Kellyanne Conway admits she made a mistake in talking about a Kentucky massacre that never took place. But thats not all she has to say about it.

In an interview airing Sunday on Media Buzz, President Trumps counselor called some of her critics haters and said she corrected her error as soon as she learned about it. The misstatement has drawn substantial media attention, given Conways high profile.

(The wide-ranging interview also covered the presidents leaked phone calls to foreign leaders, the Supreme Court nomination, the firing of the acting attorney general and plenty of questions about the coverage of the new administration.)

On MSNBCs Hardball, Conway was defending the presidents temporary ban on refugees and on any travel to the United States from seven countries, including Iraq. She said that after former President Obama greatly restricted the flow of refugees from that country, two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre -- which, she said, didnt get covered.

Theyre masterminds, I had said that before, Conway told me. I should have said plot or I should have just called them terrorists.  I clarified immediately. I should have said terrorists and not massacre. Still, she said, Im sure it will live on for a week.

She encouraged people to read a 2013 ABC News article on how the two Iraqis in Bowling Green were later convicted of sending weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq to kill American soldiers. She also said MSNBC and host Chris Matthews did not catch the error.

Conway added: I misspoke one word. The corrections in the newspapers that are attacking me are three paragraphs long every day.

When I asked whether the White House should be equally forgiving of mistakes by journalists, she said: That is not what the president means when he says fake news on his Twitter. He is talking about things that are invented and just inaccurate.

Chelsea Clinton jumped into the fray, tweeting about the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre and saying, please dont make up attacks.

Conway responded: She should leave me out of it. She and her network should have called me. Conway was referring to Clintons previous employment by NBC News, which she said breathlessly apologized for running a story on her mistake without asking her for comment.

Conway also had quite an acerbic line about womens magazines weighing in on such matters. You can see that on Sunday.
Theyre not supposed to. But fraternities and sororities still haze their pledges when they sign up. They submit the newbies to humiliating stunts, plying them with alcohol and requiring them to endure bizarre physical and psychological challenges.

Those who work in the theatre community put in grueling hours during the week leading to opening night. They trudge through technical and lighting cues, musical issues, lightning-fast costume changes and re-run scenes after actors bollix stage directions.

During their training, Navy SEALs endure days on end slogging through cold and wet conditions, often on just minutes of sleep. They endure pain and physical trials -- swimming and diving through the surf. And yet mental tests often dwarf the other obstacles.

Those who toil on Capitol Hill this week also braved their own mental and physical trials. There were fracases with the other party. Fights about rules. Name-calling. Standoffs with the administration. Republicans scrapping with other Republicans. Awful schedules. It was brutal.

Whether youre a member of the Greek system getting hazed, prepping a show on Broadway, training to become a SEAL, or work in Congress, everyone has a common name for these types of weeks.

Hell week, declared House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley, D-N.Y.

Dumpster fire, chimed in Vice Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Linda Sanchez, of California.

Democratic lawmakers flocked to airports last Sunday to stand alongside protesters and help lawyers bail out refugees and green card holders ensnared in the immigration executive order cul-de-sac. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and administration officials raced to douse the firestorm stoked by the executive order.

This order is too broad, protested Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. If we send a signal to the Middle East that the U.S. sees all Muslims as jihadist, the terrorist recruiters win by telling kids that America is banning Muslims and this is America versus one religion.

Republican Sens. John McCain, Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, S.C., said in a joint statement: We fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism. This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country.

President Trump promptly incinerated McCain and Graham on Twitter, accusing the GOP duo of always looking to start World War III.

Its not clear when a president last used the term World War III. But Democrats and Republicans alike were agog at even Trumps use of the term. They argued that the president of the United States shouldnt use the phrase unless the country is actually involved in World War III.

Hell week may not have ushered the United States into World War III. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asserted that Democrats always revert to eschatology when a Republican president is about to announce a Supreme Court nomination.

We can expect to hear a lot of end-times rhetoric today from the left, predicted McConnell, a day before Mr. Trump selected Neil Gorsuch for the high court. Democrats will paint the nominee in apocalyptic terms.

Trumps nomination of Gorsuch may very well bring Capitol Hill to the nexus of World War III and the end times. Thats because Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, declared hed require the Gorsuch nomination to garner 60 votes to break a filibuster before confirmation.

That sort of chatter immediately sparked talk about the thermonuclear option. Thats a potential parliamentary gambit that Republicans could enlist to unilaterally lower the procedural bar to advance a Supreme Court nomination from 60 to just 51 votes  should Democrats filibuster.

A maneuver like the thermonuclear option could prompt nuclear winter in the Senate -- if not Armageddon.

That is  if the Senates not already there both parliamentarily and theologically.

Senate standards require senators provide consent on the floor for committees to continue to meet two hours after the Senate itself gavels in for the day. Such a request is usually a formality. But not in this climate -- and especially when Democrats are protracting the confirmations of numerous cabinet officials.

On Monday, the Senate started at 4 p.m. The Senate Finance Committee scheduled a 6 pm meeting to send to the floor the nomination of Steven Mnuchin to become Treasury secretary. Naturally, Democrats enforced the two-hour rule and objected to the 6 p.m. session.

Then on Tuesday morning, Democrats didnt show up in an effort to prevent the committee from voting out Mnuchins nomination -- as well as the nomination of Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to become Health and Human Services secretary.

I think we call it an old-fashioned hissy fit, said an exasperated Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said of the Democrats efforts.

The Senate convened at noon on Tuesday. And come 2 p.m., Democrats again blocked all committees from conducting business for the remainder of the day.

Wednesday was a different story as Democrats ghosted their committee assignments.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called a quick meeting that morning without the Democrats present, changed the rules and rammed through the Mnuchin and Price nominations.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said he didnt even know what the GOP was doing. Wyden was at a separate huddle on rural health care.

This is a rump group, he said of Republican meeting sans Democrats. They broke the rules.

Few people had ever heard of acting Attorney General Sally Yates until early Monday evening. By 10:30 that night, Yates was no longer acting Attorney General.

But everyone knew her name. Trump fired Yates after his administration asked her to stay on from the Obama administration until the Senate confirmed Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general.

Yates declared she wasnt convinced the executive order is lawful and wouldnt enforce it. Democrats and many media outlets christened the sacking The Monday Night Massacre. Thats an allusion to Watergates Saturday Night Massacre.

This president is going to test, from an authoritarian standpoint, whether or not we are committed to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. In the days ahead, were going to separate the patriots from the politicians.

If you want to understand how bad things are on Capitol Hill, consider the vote to confirm McConnells wife, Elaine Chao, as Transportation secretary. The Senate voted to confirm Chao, 93-6. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the noes.

In other words, the Senate minority leader wouldnt even vote to confirm the wife of the Senate majority leader.

When Schumer was asked whether his vote was sending McConnell a message, he replied with an emphatic no.

Even members of the same party found their colleagues blocking them this week.

At the Senate GOPs weekly press conference just outside the chamber, McConnell nearly forgot to recognize Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., to speak. Gardner quickly muscled his way to the front.

I was standing in the back, Gardner said.

Then someone jokingly asked the Colorado Republican: Who are you?

Im Cory Booker, deadpanned Gardner, referring to Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. It happens a lot.

Schumer didnt just encounter tangles with Republicans and the Trump administration this week. He had to compete with tourists just to get out the Democratic message.

Reporters strained to hear Schumer during a press conference in the acoustically-challenged Ohio Clock Corridor as a noisy tour group walked nearby.

Schumer halted his remarks and turned to the group.

Hey folks, shhhhhh! hushed Schumer. That was tourist obstructionism.

The SEALs and frat bothers know all about sleep deprivation during their respective hell weeks. And hell week on Capitol Hill wouldnt be complete without a similar test.

Thanks to the Democrats dilatory tactics on nominations, McConnell ordered the Senate to meet at 6:30 a.m. Friday for votes. One roll call would repeal a mining regulatory rule.

The second tally was a procedural vote to break a filibuster on the nomination of Betsy DeVos to become Education secretary.

Bleary-eyed senators stumbled into the Capitol for the pre-dawn meeting. This marked the earliest the Senate had come to order since the legendary dawn patrol roll call vote to approve the first version of ObamaCare on Christmas Eve Day in 2009.

But even then, the Senate didnt convene until the practically leisurely hour of 6:45 a.m.

One might have thought hell week was over when lawmakers skipped town Friday. But on Saturday, Trump launched another digital fusillade via Twitter. Federal Judge James Robart blocked his immigration executive order. So Trump quickly taunted Robart, deriding him as a so-called judge.

That sparked another protest at the White House and a cacophony of condemnations from congressional Democrats.

Such was hell week in Washington.

Which is why everyone is now dreading next week.
Facing higher premiums, less choice and a last-minute advertising pullback, fewer people signed up for coverage this year through HealthCare.gov, according to data from a preliminary government report Friday.

About 9.2 million people signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states, said the Health and Human Services department. That's about 500,000 fewer customers than had enrolled last year in those same 39 states, or slippage of around 5 percent.

Trump administration spokesman Matt Lloyd said Friday that "Obamacare has failed" and the new president looks forward to providing relief through "patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people."

VIDEO: CONGRESSMAN SAYS OBAMACARE CANNOT BE 'REPAIRED'

Ron Pollack, executive director of the advocacy group Families USA, said Trump had tried to "sabotage" enrollment.

"Millions of consumers still got their insurance through the ACA," said Pollack. "The Republican rush to repeal the ACA without a replacement will do real harm to real people."

The report doesn't include figures from 11 states that run their own health insurance markets  including California and New York  so the final national number will be higher. But the preliminary report is being closely watched, because President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress have vowed to repeal the Obama-era health law and replace it with a plan yet to emerge.

Enrollment numbers are down and costs are up. These cost hikes are exactly the reason why Republicans are committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare, Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement

Insurance markets created by former President Obama's law provide subsidized private coverage for people who don't have access to health care through their jobs. Along with a Medicaid expansion aimed at low-income adults, the Affordable Care Act has helped millions get coverage, reducing the nation's uninsured rate to a historic low of about 9 percent.

But even before Trump's election victory, the ACA's markets were facing double-digit premium increases and a sharp drop in insurer participation. Although most customers receive taxpayer subsidies for their premiums, the increases averaged more than 20 percent nationally and much higher in several states.

The night he was inaugurated, Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to provide relief from Obamacare. That was interpreted as a signal that officials would waive the law's tax penalties meant to nudge uninsured people to sign up. Then last week the administration pulled back about $5 million in ads that were part of a closing bid to woo the uninsured. Former Obama administration officials cried foul.

But independent analysts said the report also highlights the challenges that Trump and the GOP Congress will face trying to deliver on their promises without disrupting coverage for millions. That includes many people in states that Trump won in November, among them Florida (1.8 million); Texas (1.2 million); North Carolina (549,000); Georgia (494,000), and Pennsylvania (426,000).

"While enrollment is down, this does not exactly paint a picture of a program collapsing," said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Enrollment had been tracking on pace with last year, but sign-ups slowed down in the final weeks of open enrollment," said Caroline Pearson of the consulting firm Avalere Health. The controversy over unwinding the health care law may have contributed, she said.

Nonetheless, Pearson said the demand for coverage "remains strong." She added, "Policymakers will need to consider how forthcoming changes will impact those currently purchasing coverage."

Supporters of the health care law, trying to beat back or blunt efforts to repeal it, blamed the Trump administration for the lackluster number.

Facing higher premiums, less choice and a last-minute advertising pullback, fewer people signed up for coverage this year through HealthCare.gov, according to data from a preliminary government report Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Vice President Mike Pence tried Saturday to rally public support for President Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch -- lauding his legal career and vowing he would pick up where former conservative Justice Antonin Scalia left off, while warning about Gorsuchs tough, partisan Senate confirmation battle ahead.

They are cut from the same cloth, Pence said at a Federalist Society gathering in Philadelphia. Its clear that the country will be stronger with him, but were not there yet.

Within minutes of Trump announcing Tuesday that Gorsuch would be his pick to replace Scalia, Senate Democrats were insisting that he would need 60 votes in the chamber to win confirmation.

Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch's fitness to be a Supreme Court justice, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic firebrand, was more straightforward, saying she would oppose Gorsuchs nomination based on his "long and well established record.

Republicans have 52 senators and Democrats have 48. So under the chambers 60-vote rule, Gorsuch would need votes from at least eight Democrats to be confirmed.

However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can lower the threshold to a simple majority of 51 votes.

Trump has suggested that McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, can resort, if needed, to the so-called nuclear option, to end filibusters and call for a vote.

Gorsuch, an appeals judge in the Denver-based 10th Circuit, would fill the seat left open by Scalias death in 2016 and restore the high courts 5-4 conservative tilt.

The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute, Trump said in announcing his nominee.

Pence suggested Saturday that he supports Trumps position, saying Gorsuch will get a full Senate vote one way or another.

Judge Gorsuch is a worthy successor to Antonin Scalia, Pence also said. He has established himself as a fair and impartial judge who has been faithful to the Constitution.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has said the start of the confirmation hearings are still several weeks away.
President Trump made clear Saturday that the White House will fight a recent judges ruling that effectively stops his immigration ban.

A federal judge in Seattle late Friday imposed a nationwide hold on Trump's temporary ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The Constitution prevailed today, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a press release. No one is above the law  not even the President.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!, Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

U.S. District Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush apointee, ruled that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's executive order on immigration. So he issued the temporary, nationwide restraining order based on his opinion that the states showed their case is likely to succeed.

Trump issued the temporary ban following his winning campaign promise to further protect Americans from radical Islamic terrorism.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security -- big trouble! Trump said in two other tweets Saturday. Interesting that certain Middle Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction!

The State Department confirmed Saturday that it has reversed the executive orders provisional revoking of visas, saying, Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid.

The agency said it also is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and their legal teams and will provide further updates as soon as information is available.

A purported 60,000 people from the affected countries have had their visas cancelled since the ban took effect last weekend.

The New York Times first reported Friday night that airlines have been told by the government to begin allowing these travelers on planes to the United States.

And Qatar Airways announced on its website Saturday that it has been directed by the U.S. government to permit formerly banned passengers to board U.S.-bound flights, as a result of the judges ruling.

Trumps tweet about the ruling being overturned follows White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer releasing a statement late Friday saying the administration "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.

Ferguson, a Democrat, said the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trump's order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

Justice Department lawyers say about 100,000 visas -- not 60,000 -- had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Justice Department filed an appeal of a judges order temporarily stopping President Donald Trumps travel ban on Saturday night, saying its the sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens.

On Friday a federal judge in Seattle issued the halt to Trump's executive order that temporarily bans travelers, immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. By early afternoon, the departments of State and Homeland Security effectively said that they had responded accordingly.

The appeal states that the district courts ruling conflicts with the basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."

The Justice Department is asking that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal.

It calls the ban necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Airlines, federal agencies, foreign travelers and others scrambled throughout Saturday in response to the weekend court order.

Trump took to Twitter Saturday night to express his feelings about the judge's ruling. Trump said, "Bad people are very happy."

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says. The order also imposes harm on U.S. citizens "by thwarting the legal effect of the public's chosen representative," it says.

President Trump, at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend with the first lady to attend the Red Cross Ball, had this to say when a pool reporter asked if has confident he would prevail in court: "We'll win," he replied. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The State Department said it had reversed cancelling visas for related foreigners, after provisionally revoking as many as 60,000 of them to comply with Trump's Jan. 27 order.

Then Homeland Security announced that it would no longer be directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by the order from boarding U.S.-bound planes.

The agency also said that it had suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place the terms of the order.

However, by late Saturday afternoon, the response from international airlines still appeared in flux. Several were honoring the temporary halt, while some immigrants were still having trouble boarding planes to America.

Royal Jordanian, for example, had resumed flights from six of the seven countries -- Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia -- as long as people presented valid visas or green cards.

But African immigration lawyer Julie Goldberg was struggling Saturday to arrange flights at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport for stranded Yemeni citizens with visas.

And Goldberg said she was told by Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines that immigrants from the seven countries are still not being allowed to fly.

Trumps executive order also halted a refugee program from the seventh country, war-torn Syria. He issued the temporary ban following his winning campaign promise to further protect Americans from what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism."

Like last weekend, when thousands of air travelers were detained at U.S. airports because the executive order was issued with no clear warning, widespread, peaceful demonstrations broke out Saturday.

They occurred again in New York and Washington, D.C., and in such places as Philadelphia, London and Paris.

Later in the day Saturday, Trump said on Twitter: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?" He added that "very bad and dangerous" people may now come into the U.S. because of the judge's "terrible" ruling.

Earlier, Trump called the judge who issued the temporary restraining order a so-called judge and vowed that the order would be overturned!

Trumps tweet about Robart also resulted in criticism from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The president's attack  shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesn't always bend to his wishes and a continued lack of respect for the Constitution, the New York Democrat said.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," a White House statement said.

The halt late Friday was issued by Robart, who was an appointee of George W. Bush. He said that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's executive order on immigration. So he issued the temporary, nationwide restraining order based on his opinion that the states showed their case is likely to succeed.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order, and Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trump's order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

Justice Department lawyers say about 100,000 visas -- not 60,000 -- had been revoked.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday following remarks by President Donald Trump's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

The 1960 U.S.-Japan treaty is "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights," Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

"We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands' sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," Lu said.

On his first trip to Asia as secretary of defense, Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous U.S. stance that the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to defending Japan's continued administration of the Senkaku islands.

The islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa were under U.S. administration from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim, and Japan's move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese riots in China and prompted the government to dispatch ships and planes to the area around them as a challenge to Japanese control.

China also registered its displeasure with Mattis' remarks Friday in South Korea that Trump's administration is committed to carrying through on a deal the Obama administration reached with the Seoul government last year to deploy a high-end U.S. missile defense system to South Korea this year.

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is meant to improve protection of South Korea and Japan  as well as U.S. troops stationed in both countries  against a North Korean missile attack.

Beijing objects to the system because its powerful radar would allow it to peer deep into northeastern China, possibly allowing it to observe Chinese military movements.

At a Friday news conference, Lu said China's "resolute opposition to the deployment ... remains unchanged and will not change."

The deployment "will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region," Lu said.

Chinese officials and scholars say they anticipate further turbulence in relations with the U.S. under Trump. The president sparked anger among Chinese following his election when he broke with decades by talking on the phone with the president of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory.

Trump has also raised concerns with criticism of China's military buildup in the South China Sea, accusations of currency manipulation and unfair trade policies and allegations that Beijing was doing too little to pressure its communist neighbor North Korea.

In a lighter moment, however, Chinese media and internet users praised an appearance by Trump's daughter Ivanka and granddaughter Arabella Kushner's visit to the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday to attend Lunar New Year festivities. A video clip of Arabella singing a song of holiday greetings also set alight China's internet.
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A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries after Washington state and Minnesota urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled against government lawyers' claims that the states did not have the standing to challenge Trump's order and said they showed their case was likely to succeed.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart said.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue, with Attorney General Bob Ferguson saying the order was causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit this week.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which says key sections of Trump's order are illegal and unconstitutional. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups, with some other hearings also held Friday.

"Washington has a profound interest in protecting its residents from the harms caused by the irrational discrimination embodied in the order," Ferguson said in a brief.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and admitting immigrants.

The lawsuit says Trump campaigned on a promise to ban Muslims from coming to the U.S. and kept up that rhetoric while defending the travel ban. Lawyers pointed to dozens of exhibits of speeches and statements Trump has made.

"The executive order effectively mandates that the states engage in discrimination based on national origin and/or religion, thereby rescinding the states' historic protection of civil rights and religious freedom," the complaint said, calling it a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit ultimately seeks to permanently block parts of the executive order that suspend immigration from the seven Muslim-majority countries, put the U.S. refugee admissions program on hold and halt entry of Syrian refugees.

Ferguson said the order is causing significant harm to Washington residents, businesses and its education system. It will reduce tax revenue and impose significant costs on state agencies, as well as make it impossible for some state employees and students to travel, he said.

Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the state's efforts to stop the order. They say it's hurting their operations, too.

___

Follow Martha Bellisle https://twitter.com/marthabellisle
A dive team found a body Friday evening in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida Keys shortly after the U.S. Coast Guard officially suspended its search for a Canadian filmmaker who went missing while scuba diving, officials said.

Divers with the Key Largo Fire Department found the body about 300 feet from 37-year-old Rob Stewart's last known location, Coast Guard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said. The body was found at a depth of 220 feet, and the identity still needs to be confirmed by a medical examiner.

Stewart's sister, Alexandra, said on her Facebook page that her family was working on how best to honor his life.

"Rob has been found, peacefully in the ocean. There are no words," Alexandra Stewart wrote. "We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved."

The crew of the Pisces reported Rob Stewart missing Tuesday evening near Alligator Reef, which is off Lower Matecumbe Key. Stewart is from Toronto, Canada.

Stewart is a wildlife photographer, filmmaker and conservationist. His films include "Sharkwater" and "Revolution." He's also written two books, "Sharkwater: An Odyssey to Save the Planet" and "Save the Humans."

By the time the Coast Guard had ended its search, The agency said in a news release that its Key West command center had coordinated 27 searches, totaling more than 95 aircraft and surface hours and covering approximately 5,987 square miles  an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to Mr. Stewart's family and friends, especially his parents Brian and Sandy, and the Canadian community during this very difficult time," said Capt. Jeffrey Janszen, Sector Key West commander.
The boyfriend of a young woman who vanished in West Texas in October was arrested Saturday, a day after remains were found in a shallow grave that the mother of the missing woman believes are her daughters.

Robert Fabian was arrested on a warrant accusing him of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse, the Alpine Police Department said.

Zuzu Verk, a 22-year-old Sul Ross State University student, was last seen Oct. 12 in Alpine on a date with Fabian.

Police said they arrested Fabian in Alpine.

Friday morning a border patrol agent found human remains in a shallow grave six miles west of Alpine.

Lori Verk told KOSA-TV she is sure the remains are her daughters.

Authorities said it may take several days for a positive identification.

My baby girl, Verk told the station. This is what theyve done.

Its not over yet, not by a long stretch she told the station in an interview Friday. Im going to find out exactly what, when, why, how, and who.

Alpine police identified Fabian as a suspect shortly after Zuzu Verk disappeared. They also named his sister, mother and friend as persons of interest, FoxNews.com reported in October, citing a Fox 4 Dallas report.

A substantial reward was being offered for information leading to the missing woman's whereabouts.

Police and Verks family had accused Fabian of refusing to cooperate with authorities -- a claim his lawyer denied.

"I drove all night as soon as I heard Zuzu was missing, and when I got there, a search was already in progress," Verks father, Glenn, told FoxNews.com in October. "Everyone wanted to help, but he [Verk's boyfriend] wasn't there."

The remains were found in an area near the U.S.-Mexico border where police, using drones and horses, had been searching for Zuzu Verk. Texas Rangers, FBI and Homeland Security had also joined the search. Alpine is 210 miles southeast of El Paso.

Sul Ross State has about 2,100 students. After Zuzu Verk vanished, President Bill Kibler said the womans disappearance had deeply affected the entire campus community, plus the surrounding area.
The US Department of Defense has reached a deal on the purchase of the next 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft at almost 8 percent discount from the jets price, resulting in savings of more than $700 million, manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced in a statement on Friday, Sputnik reported.

Lockheed Martin explained the increase in the number of aircraft in the agreement has enabled it to "reduce costs by taking advantage of economies of scale and production efficiencies."

"Were pleased to have reached an agreement with the US Department of Defense for the next 90 F-35 aircraft," the statement said. "The agreement represents $728 million in savings and a nearly 8 percent reduction in price over our last contract for the air vehicle delivered by Lockheed Martin and our industry partners."

The defense contractor emphasized that US President Donald Trumps involvement in the F-35 program speeded up the talks and enhanced focus on reducing the jets price.

Lockheed Martin noted that the deal was reached within weeks, and will create 1,800 new jobs at its Fort Worth factory in Texas as well as support thousands jobs in the supply chain.
She may have no official White House title. But Ivanka Trump is already proving she's an unofficial power player.

The first daughter has made clear that she wants to work on policy and support her father, President Donald Trump. She joined him for a policy meeting with business executives and for a trip to Delaware's Dover Air Force Base to honor a fallen Navy SEAL. She hosted CEOs at her home to talk policy and used her influence behind the scenes at the White House.

These efforts have only underscored questions about the role Ivanka Trump expects to play after resigning from the Trump Organization and her own lifestyle brand to move to Washington. But for now it's her husband who is officially working for the Trump administration.
Police have arrested several people for a 1993 apartment building fire that killed 10 people, including seven children, it was announced Saturday.

Those arrested remained jailed, Officer Aareon Jefferson said. He had no other details. Police planned to hold a news conference on Monday.

The three-story building in the Westlake district caught fire on May 3, 1993. At the time, police said they believed the blaze was set by gang members kicked off the property for selling drugs.

The building, packed with mainly poor immigrants from Central America, had inoperable smoke alarms. Investigators found fire doors had been propped or nailed open for ventilation, allowing smoke to surge through the apartments.

Tenants tried to escape by jumping from windows, scrambling down fire escapes and climbing down bedsheets tied to balconies. At one point, neighbors formed a human chain to pass along children from upper floors.

Other children were dropped from balconies into waiting hands.

The dead included three women, two of whom were pregnant, and children as young as 4. One woman's baby was delivered by Caesarean section before she died.

Most of the bodies were found in a corridor on the third floor.

Investigators believe the fire was set by gang members who had been ordered off the property because the manager suspected they were dealing drugs. The apartment complex was known for cocaine dealing by a local gang, and the manager had begun reporting the activity to police.

"The local thugs in the area decided that she had to leave, and the fire was set," Detective Steven Spear said in 1998, after two gang members were arrested and charged with murder.

However, the case against the men was dropped two years later for lack of evidence.

"It wasn't clear these were the right guys," Deputy District Attorney Joseph Esposito said at the time.
A crime spree by a man who fired at a state trooper and then stole a car with a baby inside it is over. The baby was recovered, but the man later took two people hostage before finally shooting himself rather than surrender, police said.

Police Capt. John Barnett told the Devils Lake Journal (http://bit.ly/2k6lU3F) late Friday that Daniel TwoHearts shot himself as officers began to negotiate with him. He was hospitalized with an apparently non-fatal bullet wound, Barnett said.

No one else was hurt during the entire ordeal, and the public can rest easy now that the suspect is no longer a threat, Barnett told the paper.

"People can relax. It got a little tense for a while in town," he said.

It began Thursday night when a trooper tried to pull over a pickup truck with a loud exhaust on Interstate 29 at Grand Forks, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

Instead, the driver tried to get away, reaching speeds of about 100 mph, before law enforcement put down tire spikes, stopping the pickup about 40 miles down the highway.

The suspect jumped out and fired three shots at a trooper, who was not injured and did not return fire, said patrol Lt. Troy Hischer.

Two others in the pickup were arrested and methamphetamine was found in the truck, authorities said. Meanwhile, TwoHearts ran into a neighborhood and jumped into an idling car with an infant inside it.

"The mother had started the car to warm it up, brought out the 1-year-old, then went back to retrieve an older child" when the suspect drove off, Hischer said.

Officers spotted that car on a county road about 20 miles away, again deployed road spikes, flattening the tires and recovering the infant unharmed, but TwoHearts got away again.

After dawn Friday, another truck was reported missing, and was later found abandoned at the Wal-Mart in town.

Law enforcement agencies in North and South Dakota and Minnesota were on the lookout, but Devils Lake Police and other agencies caught up with TwoHearts Friday night, barricaded inside an apartment with two hostages, Barnett said.

"We got the female out and the other male, and he was isolated" when they heard a shot fired and then forced their way in, he said.
Police are saying a 4-year-old Maryland girl died after her mother kicked her in the stomach for not brushing her teeth.

Iris Hernandez-Rivas, 20, had called police Wednesday to report finding her daughter Nohely Alexandra Martinez Hernandez unresponsive in their home in Gaithersburg near Washington, FOX 5 DC reported.

Hernandez-Rivas told police that her daughter had gone to the bathroom around 11 a.m. to take a shower. She said that about 15 minutes later she found the girl lying face down in the bathtub, but waited an hour to call 911.

The little girl was transported to the hospital in serious condition. Once there doctors discovered Nohely had multiple bruises on her body and was suffering from head trauma.

She was then taken to the Childrens National Medical Center in D.C. in critical condition. Cops told Fox 5 Friday she had died.

Police said that in an interview Thursday Hernandez-Rivas admitted kicking her daughter in the abdomen after becoming angry because Nohely had not brushed her teeth, the station reported.

The woman told cops that Nohely hit her head when she fell backwards into a wall after being kicked.

Hernandez-Rivas told police the girl suffered the bruises when she hit her with a belt several days earlier.

FOX 5 DC reported that Hernandez-Rivas is currently charged with first-degree child abuse and first-degree assault. Police are waiting on a ruling by the medical examiner on the childs official cause of death before determining if she will also face more serious charges.

Read more at FOX 5 DC.
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Supporters of a high-profile jailed Venezuelan opposition leader have clashed with government loyalists outside a Caracas courthouse.

Members of Leopoldo Lopez's party arrived early Thursday morning to protest and pray, as they have dozens of times since Lopez's imprisonment 19 months ago. Lopez is accused of fomenting violence during a 2014 protest movement. A verdict is thought to be near.

Around midday, red-shirted government supporters showed up and began chanting that Lopez was a murderer and a terrorist. Some burned the orange flag of Lopez's political party and threw bottles and sticks at Lopez's wife as she passed a police barricade to enter the court.

A line of police in riot gear separated the two sides, but were unable to prevent direct confrontations. At least two women were hurt.
Tens of thousands of protesters again took to the streets of Bucharest and other Romanian cities on Friday, blowing whistles, waving giant national flags and booing at giant puppets of politicians they hold responsible for a decree to dilute the country's anti-corruption fight.

People of all ages, some carrying children, took part in protests around the country for the fourth consecutive evening. The atmosphere was one of anger against the government, but also of solidarity and hope for change. Some carried banners saying, "I came for my future."

The demonstration came amid a deepening political crisis after two key government allies said Friday that the emergency government decree passed early Wednesday without input from parliament was not constitutional. Even the influential Romanian Orthodox Church criticized the measure, which critics say will allow corrupt politicians to escape punishment.

Late Friday, the general prosecutor Augustin Lazar asked the Bucharest Court of Appeal to suspend and cancel the government decree "in an emergency regime" before it formally becomes law on Feb. 9.

Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea, who previously backed the government's ordinance, reversed his position Friday, and said he would tell the Constitutional Court that the decree to decriminalize official misconduct under a certain dollar amount was "not justified." He said the measure risked "taking out of the reach of criminal law almost all the public administration."

A parliamentary party that formally supports the government, the Union of Democratic Hungarians, also criticized the government Friday, saying criminal law should not be modified through emergency decrees but through parliamentary debate.

In another setback for the government, the Orthodox Church, to which more than 85 percent of Romanians belong, said that the anti-corruption fight should continue and those found guilty should be sanctioned.

"Robbery and theft degrade society morally and materially," the church said.

Earlier, Justice Minister Florin Iordache said he stood by the law, defying strong criticism from home and abroad and days of massive protests.

The ruling center-left Social Democratic Party has defended the decree, which has sparked some of the biggest protests since the 1989 fall of communism. Its leader, Liviu Dragnea, who has been blocked from becoming prime minister because of a vote-rigging conviction, is among those expected to benefit from the decree.

Romania's Constitutional Court will rule on the legality of the law on Tuesday, the last legal resort to stop it.

Speaking Friday at a European Union summit in Malta, President Klaus Iohannis said he trusted the protesters more than the government.

"We have hundreds of thousands of my Romanians out on the streets, and I trust them," Iohannis said. "I believe in Romania ... European values have to prevail and this is what I believe will happen."

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was "deeply concerned" about recent government decree that "that undermine rule of law and weaken accountability for financial and corruption-related crimes."

___

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker who's never held elected office, is holding a major rally in Lyon with his eyes set on winning France's presidential election this spring.

Macron, a 39-year-old telegenic former finance minister under President Francois Hollande, distanced himself from the Socialist Party to create a party called En Marche! ("On The Move!") from which he has launched an anti-establishment bid for the Elysee Palace.

Macron  now polling high in the presidential race  thanked the crowds Saturday in Lyon for their "enthusiasm," claiming they totaled 16,000 people.

Conservative lawmakers, meanwhile, were visiting their constituencies this weekend to stem the damage surrounding their selected presidential candidate, Francois Fillon, after his family became the object of an embezzlement probe into fake political jobs.
The magazine Der Spiegel has ignited controversy in Germany and elsewhere with a cover illustration that depicts President Trump as an ISIS executioner, brandishing a bloody knife in one hand and the head of Lady Liberty in the other, Reuters reports.

The outlandish cover for the Feb. 4 edition, which includes the caption America First, generated debate on Twitter and in German and international media with Alexander Graf Lamsdorff, a member of Germans Free Democrats and vice president of the European Parliament labeling it tasteless, according to Reuters.

The artist behind the illustration is Cuban-born Edel Rodriguez who came to the U.S. as a political refugee in 1980, The Washington Post reported.

It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol, Rodriguez told the paper in defending the illustration. And clearly, lately, what's associated with beheadings is ISIS, so there's a comparison between the ISIS extremist group and Trump.

Both sides are extremists, so I'm just making a comparison between them, he said.

The cover accompanies a story on the Trump administration and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, according to the Washington Times.

Reuters reported that the cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States.

Last month, Trump said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, staunch ally of President Obama, had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy. This week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners, according to Reuters.

The newswire reported that no one at the U.S. embassy in Berlin was available for comment about the Der Spiegel cover.
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Dozens of people are protesting in a small Lithuanian village against the slaying of a dog that police say an elderly couple adopted, tortured and then killed.

Protesters with banners and a painted portrait of the dog named Moby shouted "Murderers!" as they gathered outside the suspects' house, where the 3-year-old male of mixed breed reportedly was killed last week.

The couple, who was not named, was charged with animal cruelty. Their lawyer was not available Saturday for comment.

Ilma Germaniene, head of the shelter where Moby was placed Dec. 4 after his owner died, said Saturday's rally was "to make sure no more dogs will be slaughtered."

Moby was adopted in mid-January from the shelter in Sventupe, a village 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Vilnius, the capital.
In apparent defiance of the new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, Iran held a military exercise Saturday to test missile and radar systems.

The aim of the exercise, held in Semnan province, was to showcase the power of Irans revolution and to dismiss the sanctions, Irans elite Revolutionary Guards website said, according to Reuters.

During the exercise, a senior commander of Irans Revolution Guard said the countrys missiles will come down on the countrys enemies if they do wrong.

If the enemy does not walk the line, our missiles come down on them, Gen. Amir Ali Haijazadeh said.

Iranian state news agencies reported the military excercise would test home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centers and cyber warfare systems.

The drill comes a day after the White House imposed sanctions on Tehran for a recent ballistic missile test.

AIRLINES IN IRAN: NO TICKETS FOR IRANIANS HOLDING US VISAS

Those targeted by the Treasury Department sanctions include Iranian, Lebanese, Emirati and Chinese individuals and firms involved in procuring ballistic missile technology for Iran. They are now prohibited from doing any business in the United States or with American citizens.

"The days of turning a blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," White House national security adviser Michael Flynn said.

Iran has one of the Middle Easts largest missile programs and held a similar exercise in December.

Iran confirmed Wednesday that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile on Sunday.

IRANIAN BABY WILL BE ALLOWED INTO US FOR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE

Gen. Hossein Dehghan was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying "the recent missile test is in line with our plans and we will not let any foreigner meddle with our defense issues." He did not say when the test was carried out or specify the type of missile, but said the test was not in violation of U.N. resolutions or the 2015 nuclear accord.

It was the first ballistic missile test since Trump entered the White House. On Tuesday, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called the test unacceptable.

In a tweet Friday morning, Trump wrote, "Iran is playing with fire  they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me."

Despite the tough talk, the new sanctions represent a continuation of the Obama administration's limited punishment for Iran's ballistic missile activity and avoid a direct showdown with Tehran over the nuclear deal itself.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Watches are not rocket science Watches are not rocket science

Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well, thats a shame, because with some watches, youll need one to understand how to tell the time.

Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well,...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says an Iranian infant in need of a life-saving heart surgery who was banned from entering the United States after President Donald Trump's executive order will now be allowed to travel for the emergency procedure.

Cuomo said Friday that Manhattan's Mount Sinai Medical Center has offered to perform the surgery. But the family reportedly chose to do it in Portland, Oregon, where they have a relative.

Cuomo told the New York Daily News that the four-month-old Fatemeh Reshad and her family had received a waiver on Friday allowing their travel to the U.S.

Cuomo says he worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project in order to help secure the waiver.

The babys family planned to enter the country earlier this week after picking up a tourist visa in Dubai.

The babys uncle, Samad Taghizadeh said Iranian doctors told the family that the infant needed at least one urgent surgery, maybe several, to correct the serious heart defects.



The right thing happened tonight: the federal gov granted Fatemeh Reshad & her family documents to come to the US. https://t.co/RqXRoooCTe  Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) February 4, 2017

Cuomo said in a statement that he plans on continuing to work with the group to ensure this baby receives the treatment she needs, and fight for those being unfairly shut out of Americas gates by this policy.

Cuomo said a law firm has agreed to cover the familys travel expenses. While Cuomo announced that the Mount Sinai Hospitals pediatric cardiac surgical team has generously offered to provide the surgery and medical care at no cost to the family.

"She's in an emergency situation and if it takes a long time, they're going to lose her," Taghizadeh told the Associated Press.

The waiver comes on the same day that a federal judge in Seattle issued a ruling that temporarily halts Trumps controversial ban.

Washington is the first state to sue over the order which temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.



Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and Alyssa Madruga contributed to this report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Kosovo government says it's reached a deal with the country's ethnic Serb minority to resolve the issue of a concrete wall erected in the northern city of Mitrovica that has provoked tensions between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia.

A statement Saturday said the "solution will lower the tensions in northern Kosovo" but did not specify what it was or how it would ease tensions. It said the resolution was facilitated by the European Union and the United States embassy.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia has not recognized it as a separate country, seeking to maintain influence in northern Kosovo where most of the Serb minority lives. Tensions between the two Balkan nations started with the wall in December and have escalated with later incidents.
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Thousands of protesters have marched on Parliament in London to demand that the British government withdraw its invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump for a state visit.

Criticism of Conservative British Prime Minister Theresa May has swelled since her Washington visit to meet Trump last month, when she confirmed plans for a return visit by Trump to Britain expected in the summer.

Saturday's demonstration in the British capital involved a two-mile (3-kilometer) march of several thousand people from the U.S. embassy to the Houses of Parliament. Protesters chanted "Theresa May, shame on you!"

Lawmakers are expected to debate British plans to invite Trump later this month. An online petition calling for May to rescind the invite has attracted strong support, but May insists a Trump visit is welcome.
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In his debut abroad as the first retired general to lead the Pentagon in more than half a century, Jim Mattis found that in Japan and South Korea his experience in uniform is seen as an asset.

Not everyone who knows Mattis well in the U.S. shares that view, but he clearly was an instant hit in northeast Asia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was effusive in his endorsement, and also noted that Mattis's military career included a stint on Okinawa in 1972.

In Seoul, where civilian control of the military has a mixed history, Mattis's counterpart, Han Min Koo, portrayed him as a kindred spirit. Han said they were able to forge a bond in their first meeting because both had been active-duty servicemen for more than 40 years.
Palestinian police broke up a rally by an Islamic party protesting against the Palestinian government handing land over to the Russian Church.

Police said officers used tear gas on Saturday to disperse hundreds of protesters and arrested 25 of them in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Bahir Saleh, the spokesman of the Islamic Liberation Party, said "this is Islamic land and shouldn't be given to anyone, particularly Russia who is killing Muslims everywhere." Saleh said protesters were sending a strong message to President Mahmoud Abbas against the move.

He said a Russian church was built on land rented for a century from a local Arab tribe 150 years ago. The land should be returned to the family, he said.

Abbas has good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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The chairman of Romania's governing party has suggested that the government could back down in the face of massive protests against an ordinance which would decriminalize official misconduct.

In the first concession floated by the center-left government since the crisis broke out last month, party chairman Liviu Dragnea said Saturday in an interview with DC News he would meet Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu to "propose a solution."

Dragnea says, "we can possibly talking about repealing the decree if the prime minister agrees." Dragnea controls the government, and his comments suggest the matter has already been decided.

On Saturday, thousands of Romanians took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day to protest the decree that waters down the country's anti-corruption fight, sparking condemnation at home and abroad
The United Arab Emirates has condemned an attack in Paris' Louvre museum where a machete-wielding assailant shouting "Allahu Akbar!" was shot by soldiers, but offered no comment about his possible connection to the UAE.

French authorities say that Friday's attacker is believed to be a 29-year-old Egyptian who had been living in the UAE, though his identity is not confirmed.

The UAE's foreign ministry on Saturday called the attack a "hideous crime" and pledged its solidarity and support "for whatever measures France may take to preserve its security."

France is working with the Emirates to build a branch of the Louvre in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi.

The Louvre was closed Friday but will reopen Saturday.
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Rebels in eastern Ukraine say one of their top commanders was killed when his automobile exploded.

The rebels' Lugansk Information Center reported that Lugansk People's Militia commander Oleg Anashchenko died early Saturday. The report says a second, unidentified person in the car also was killed in the explosion in Lugansk city.

Militia spokesman Andrei Marochko accused Ukrainian special services of causing the explosion.

Lugansk is one of two Ukrainian republics where separatist rebels have been fighting government forces since April 2014 in a war that has killed more than 9800 people.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine sharply escalated this week. The Ukrainian command said Saturday that three of its soldiers were killed in the past day.
Lost continent Atlantis found under Indian Ocean of Mauritius (Photo : GeoBeats News/Youtube)

Recently, scientists have revealed evidence of an ancient "lost continent" Atlantis, under the Indian Ocean of Mauritius. The new study unearthed mineral zircon in the continent formed part of present-day Madagascar and India. The new research unveiled that the rest of the continent probably sank beneath the sea 84 million years ago.



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Scientists studied the rocks emitted up by lava during volcanic eruptions in the land of "Mauritia." Lewis Ashwal of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa discovered remnants of the mineral zircon, which were dated about 3 billion years ago. It would have been a dangerous place, which is covered in volcanoes and there would have been regular earthquakes.



The crystals were uncovered when volcanic lava helped bring them to the surface. Crystals covered in the three-billion-year-old stones submerged in the ocean prove that the continent sunk an incredible number of years ago. The supercontinent was wrecked out to become the largest continent.



These continents are Antarctica, Africa, Australia and South America. The hint to the discovery was finding an ancient mineral on Mauritius that shouldn't have been there, as noted on Daily Star.



"We are studying the break-up process of the continents, in order to understand the geological history of the planet," Ashwal said. He added that the continent was likely part of the enormous supercontinent Gondwana.



Professor Ashwal thinks Mauritia might be the confirmation of concealed mainlands which sank beneath the surface which is yet to be found. The research showed up in the British journal Nature Communications.



Mauritius is a volcanic island, which shaped by the eruption of volcanoes beginning at about nine million years ago. The island forms part of a series of islands, which is framed by a stationary hotspot volcano, presently located at Reunion Island. Beginning from profound inside the earth, the hotspot remains stationary while the sea's tectonic plates move crosswise over it, making a string of volcanic islands.






Actor Finn Jones attending the 'Iron Fist' panel during the New York Comic-Con 2016. (Photo : Getty Images/ Craig Barritt)

Brace yourself as there is only less than two months left for the premiere of Marvel's "Iron Fist." The Netflix Defenders universe will be introducing to its viewers yet another character in the name of Danny Rand.



While there have been a lot of photos circulating around the social media sites about the show, none of these photos shows Danny Rand in the actual Iron Fist costume.



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Photos of actor Finn Jones, who is portraying the role of Danny Rand, is only seen on an open shirt that shows off the dragon tattoo on Iron Fist's chest. According to Cinema Blend, Jones says to fans that they will just have to wait and see whether or not there will be even a costume.



"I mean, who says there's going to be a costume? This is a modern - I can't say any more. Marvel is going to kill me. There may be a costume, there may not be. We're looking at a suit that, you know," Jones said.



Recently, Jones took part in an Extra Facebook Q&A session and the actor has been pretty much coy about whether or not his version of Danny Rand will pull on the classic Iron Fist suit.



According to the same publication, there has been some considerations as to the different versions of the memorable Iron Fist outfit; however, the decision to decide whether or not they will implement them into the show remains to be a unknown.



According to Comic Book, the concern whether fans will get to see Danny Rand wearing the Iron Fist costume is still hard to predict. The three Marvel series which have been released by Netflix so far, there has been a show of patterns of downplaying the importance of a superhero persona for these street level heroes.



In the entire Netflix Defenders line-up, Iron Fist has the one that has the most bizarre and exotic costumes amongst the entire Defenders roster. Hence, the outcome of how Iron Fist's suit would turn up would spike interest amongst its viewers.



"Iron Fist" will be debuting on Netflix on March 17.






The mother of a 4-year-old Spotsylvania County boy who died in May with a large amount of THC in his system was arrested Wednesday evening.
ON JAN. 27, President Donald Trump signed an exceptionally important executive order initiating both the beginning of the rebuilding of the U.S. armed forces and the fulfillment of a campaign promise.

Because he signed this order on the same day he signed an order on immigration, it hasnt gotten the attention it deserves. Thats a shame.

The order directs Secretary of Defense James Mattis to conduct a 30-day review of the readiness of the armed forces to assess their ability to conduct the fight against the Islamic State, and other forms of radical Islamic terrorism, including near-peer competitors and regional adversaries.

This review is critically needed. The Heritage Foundations 2017 Index of U.S. Military Strength assessed our overall military capability as marginal, trending towards weak because of many years of budget cuts brought on by sequestration in the dysfunctional Congress, and overuse.

Our assessment found that the U.S. Army today is the smallest it has been since the start of World War II; the Navy is the smallest it has been since World War I; and the Air Force suffers from crippling shortages of pilots and maintenance personnel. For example, the average age of Air Force planes is 27 years old.

For too long, Congress and the president have neglected the state of military readiness in favor of other priorities.

This 30-day review will allow the defense secretary and the president to establish the facts and determine the necessary priorities for the rebuilding of the military.

The order also calls for a review to reduce commitments not directly related to the highest priority operations to make resources available for training and maintenance. This is also overdue.

The Department of Defense spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on programs not directly related to military readiness such as non-military-related medical research, sustainable energy programs, and junior ROTC programs. Although there wont be enough resources identified just through cuts and efficiencies to fix the Pentagons readiness problems, every little bit helps.

Perhaps most significantly, the order directs Mattis and the director of the Office of Budget and Management to develop both a new request for emergency funding for fiscal 2017 and to revise the still-to-be-released budget request for 2018 to provide the increased funding needed to begin the rebuilding of the military.

That direction aligns with recommendations from both Sen. John McCain, RAriz., and Rep. Mac Thornberry, RTexas. McCain and Thornberry, the chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services committees, respectively, both have a clear-eyed view of the critical state of the U.S. military and have written persuasively on the need for additional defense funding.

Obtaining additional funding for defense will require some difficult negotiations within Congress and with the White House, but the need is so critical that failure to succeed is not a viable option.

Congress and the administration will need to establish concrete and measurable objectives for the rebuilding of our military so that the American taxpayer can be assured that every dollar applied to defense results in an improvement.

Finally, the executive order calls for a new nuclear posture and missile defense reviews, two critical defense areas that both suffered considerably under the Obama administration. Heritage has been consistent in pointing out the need for new reviews of and increased investment in our nations nuclear and missile defense domains.

Could all of these actions been undertaken without a presidential executive order? Certainly. But by signing this order, Trump has sent an unambiguous signal across his administration that the rebuilding of our military is one of his top priorities.

Given the threats our nation faces today to its national interests, this sends exactly the right signal to both our allies and potential adversaries.

Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Spoehr, a U.S. Army retiree, is a director for the Center for National Defense at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.
A POLL conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University says most Virginians would be willing to pay more in taxes if the revenues go toward public education.

Whether polling accurately reflects what people really think has proved debatable lately, considering the presidential election polling that turned out to be less than accurate. And asking people if theyd be willing to fork over more in taxes is not the same as asking them to actually pay up.

But its safe to say, based on the poll, that public schools are a priority for taxpayers and that in their view the schools are deserving not only of the funding they currently receive, but of additional support.

Sixty-nine percent of those polled said they would pay more if it meant funding for schools would be maintained at existing levels, according to an article published in the Richmond TimesDispatch. More than half, 54 percent, said theyd pay more if it meant the schools would get increased funding.

If they could be assured the money would go to low-performing schools in high-poverty areas, 67 percent said they would be amenable to paying more in taxes. A solid 44 percent of those respondents would be agreeable if the additional revenues translated into raises for teachers in those schools.

Broken down by political affiliation, the numbers reflect a bipartisan willingness to pay taxes in support of public schools. There are majorities, in fact, across the board. If those taxes would help maintain the funding status quo: 85 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans are willing to pay up.

So as the General Assembly wrangles with the state budget in an election year, its worth lawmakers while to consider that most of their constituents dont want to see current public education funding levels drop, and theyre ready to invest their tax dollars where the futures of Virginians children arein education.
Legal action against president unnecessary

Attorney General Mark Herring and Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that Virginia is bringing legal action against President Trumps executive order on immigration. This effort is wrong and misguided.

The executive order, states, in part: In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles. The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law.

The order is designed to preserve our way of life, and prevent Islamic supremacy. Islamic State is a theocracy, and it follows an interpretation of Islam that promotes religious violence. Islamic supremacists struck the commonwealth before, they will do it again.

That said, all Virginians, including our governor and attorney general, should be reminded of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which states, in part in Section 3: That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people  Section 16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence 

The attorney general and governor should prepare to call up the Virginia militia, including the unorganized militia, when the Islamic supremacists strike again.

Do we have a nation? Do we have a commonwealth? Are we Virginians? Are we Americans? Or do we risk becoming infidels or apostates, subject to sharia law? I choose to be a Virginian, an American, and to be free.

Lou Spencer

Stafford
Nina Dobrev (Photo : Getty Images/Victor Chavez)

"The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 may have just vowed to reunite the entire Gilbert family. Following Nina Dobrev's confirmed return as Elena Gilbert, her onscreen brother, Steven R McQueen, is next.



On his Instagram account, the actor shared a selfie in front of a medical transport in Mystic Fall. McQueen, 28, also said that he is saying to some old friends. So why else would he be on the set of the hit The CW series if not to reunite with Dobrev and the rest of the cast members?



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McQueen's Jeremy was last seen in "The Vampire Diaries" at that time when he said goodbye to Elena in Season 6, episode 14. After the episode aired, executive producer Julie Plec told Variety that the actor will no longer return as a series regular.



In 2015, Plec said that she got emotional filming McQueen's goodbye scene because it made her feel that with every actor leaving, the closer they are to wrapping up "The Vampire Diaries" for good. "Every goodbye actually hurts a little bit. I have become so close to these people. You do not spend much time with people and not fall in love with them," she said.



Meanwhile, Dobrev also tweeted a photo of herself with "The Vampire Diaries" alums David Anders and Kayla Ewell. In the series, Anders played the role of Elena and Jeremy's dad, John. Ewell played the role of Vicki Donovan or Matt's (Zach Roerig) sister. Anders also announced his return to Atlanta via his Twitter account. Atlanta is where the set of "The Vampire Diaries" is located.



Even though Anders and Ewell never deliberately announced their return to "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8, it is very possible because Plec wants to bring back all the old characters for the finale.



"The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 airs Fridays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.



Saying hi to some old friends

A photo posted by @steven_r_mcqueen on Feb 3, 2017 at 3:10pm PST







I'm just as confused by this photo as you guys are pic.twitter.com/44EEs9sea4  Nina Dobrev (@ninadobrev) February 2, 2017









I'm headed to ATL on the morrow.

Do the math.

 David Anders (@QuestionAnders) January 30, 2017






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Russian President Vladimir Putin appears on Russian television during a live broadcast in Moscow. (Photo : Reuters)

As rumors of WW3 continue to swirl, it appears too that the great powers are waging war using the internet. The latest alleged cyberwarfare incident involves Russia, China and Norway, and the latter has issued accusations that Moscow might be attempting to influence the outcome of its upcoming elections like the Kremlin supposedly did with the recent U.S. presidential polls.



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Norway has accused the Russian intelligence service of hacking into key components of Oslo's state agencies, the Associated Press reported. Targeted through "spear-phishing" attacks were the country's "security service, Norway's Labor Party, the military and government agencies," the report said.



AP said that spear-phishing is mainly the deployment of emails that appear to originate from familiar contacts or established businesses in order to convince recipients on the legitimacy of the messages. "Once opened, hackers can launch malicious software onto a recipient's computer network," the report said.



At least nine such emails were fired off targeting specific Norwegian government services but the same report has indicated that "no classified information has been taken."



It appears that the cyber-attacks were first detected when Norway's spy agency, PST, was tipped by a foreign intelligence service. Oslo, however, did not divulge the source of its information. "PST spokesman Martin Berntsen ... declined to name the foreign partner," AP reported.



But PST seems fairly sure that Russia has a direct hand on the attacks. "The attacks had a signature that indicates those behind the hacking can be identified as APT29," Berntsen told AP.



APT29, according to PST, is also known as Cozy Bear or the group of hackers that is believed to be Russian-sponsored. The U.S. government has pinpointed the same team as responsible for cyber intrusions last year that targeted the U.S. Democratic Party, the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military in an apparent attempt to influence the outcome of last year's election contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that the former won.



For its part, Norway is set to hold legislative elections in the second half of 2017.



Russia has yet to comment on the matter but in a related report, it is Moscow that seems to be at the receiving end of cyber espionage. According to WCCFTech, China has been identified as behind the group of advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks that tried to breach state-operated computer networks in Russia, Belarus and members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).



Internet and network security experts have warned that similar APT activities are likely to ramp up in the next few years as state actors acknowledge the importance of cyberwarfare in advancing their respective political and business interests, the report added.


Scream Malfunction (Photo : Twitter/milenio 2052)

Park rides could be fun but also fatal. On Friday, a 14-year-old female ride was thrown in the air and killed when the swing she rode at the Zhaohua Park in Fengdu County, Chongqing City malfunctioned.



Other park visitors witnessed the horror story unfolding before them when the victim rode the A Journey in Space machine. Footage showed that while the teen was still attached to the metal bar, she spun in the air with the ride for five seconds. Then she hit the rides sign board, was thrown out and hit the ground, Daily Mail reports.



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Dead on Arrival



She was rushed to a hospital after resuscitation attempts by onlookers failed. But she was declared dead upon arrival at the Peoples Hospital of Fengdu County.



Park visitors were screaming as they saw the teen spinning in the air and being thrown to the ground. Footage of the incident showed some of the visitors, including children, running away from A Journey in Space out of fear they would be hit. Other onlookers cried.



Following the accident, Chongqing authorities are investigating the incident. Other attraction in the Zhaohua Park, besides A Journey in Space are Flying Moon Car and Flying Space Car.



Similar Tragedy in Longshan Amusement Park



Around two years ago, a similar horrific accident claimed the lives of two people at the Longshan Amusement Park in Pingyang, Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province. The two victims were tourists who did not have time to buckle their safety belts before Scream was switched on.



The victims plummeted more than 20 metres from the ride. It was a new ride that was opened to the public for the first time on May 1, 2015, the day of the accident. The Scream is one of the 17 mechanical rides in the amusement park. The Scream has two gondolas on both ends of a long arms which spins around a central pivot point to give the riders a high g-force ride, Daily Mail reported.






The Benton County Sheriffs Office is readying an armored vehicle to add to its fleet, the result of a federal program that provides surplus military gear at no cost to law enforcement agencies.

The armored vehicle, known as a Cadillac Gage Ranger or Peacekeeper, arrived at the Sheriffs Office in November through the so-called 1033 program. The program, which began in 1990, permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer excess Department of Defense supplies and equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies. The Sheriffs Office has not yet used the Peacekeeper as the vehicle is in need of several repairs and modifications.

Sheriff Scott Jackson said he had no interest in obtaining a military vehicle, but the Peacekeeper caught his eye because of its potential use as a transport vehicle or as a response to active shooter situations.

I hope we never use it, he said. This is something that we would use only in a worst-case-scenario. So unless we have a major incident, youre never going to see it.

The Sheriffs Office is the first agency in Benton County to obtain a military vehicle through the program, as agencies have previously relied on Oregon State Police and Linn County for incidents that require a SWAT team. Lt. Dan Duncan of the Corvallis Police Department said Friday that the department owns no military vehicles and has no plans to purchase any vehicles or equipment.

Steve Smith, state coordinator for federal surplus programs, told the Albany Democrat-Herald in 2014 that Oregon law enforcement departments have received $10.75 million in surplus military gear since 1996.

The 1033 program gained increased notoriety in 2014 following the police response to protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, when officers dressed in riot gear and drove armored vehicles, according to the Associated Press.

Jackson said the Sheriffs Office plans to use the Peacekeeper strictly for defensive purposes and that it would never be used to respond to a protest or civil disobedience event.

If this means we get to talk someone down without using force, or if we can keep our deputies safe, then its definitely worth it, Jackson said. Im talking specifically about when our deputies have to respond to incidents of someone involving a gun or in natural disasters and rescue situations.

Jackson acknowledged that public perception of armored vehicles has changed following the police response in Ferguson.

No one wants to see their local law enforcement militarized, but Id argue that its not what law enforcement wears or what they drive that makes the military, its their attitudes and their behavior, Jackson said. We have a good relationship with the community and good deputies. I encourage Benton County residents to think about the staff we have on duty and I encourage people not to borrow trouble from other agencies that dont have this strong relationship.

The Peacekeeper, originally used by the U.S. Air Force, is believed to be a 1979 model designed as a four-wheeled armored personnel carrier. The vehicle, built over a Dodge chassis, has bulletproof glass windows, several firing ports, and originally came equipped with a mounted armored gun shield on the top of the vehicle.

But Jackson said the Sheriffs Office will not be using any mounted weaponry and recently dismantled the armored gun shield. Other planned repairs include closing the top port permanently. He added that deputies would never shoot out of the firing ports.

That will never happen, he said. If we use them it will be to communicate with a suspect.

The Sheriffs Office inquired about the vehicle following a November incident in which a Monroe man reportedly fired a shotgun into his wifes unoccupied vehicle in a garage. After a brief standoff, the man was arrested and no one was injured. While Jackson is thankful that incident was resolved peacefully, he wanted to find a way to offer his deputies additional safety for similar incidents in the future.

Weve had three or four incidents like that in the last year or two, and for something like that this vehicle would be perfect, Jackson said. If we had this, deputies couldve driven right up and talked to the man with a PA. It would make sure our deputies arent put at risk so they can go home, and its also making sure there isnt a confrontation with a man with a gun.

Further modifications are also needed, Jackson said, as the vehicle is equipped with guard rails and other superfluous pieces of equipment.

Its also pretty ugly, Jackson said, referring to the black paint exterior and worn interior. Its definitely going to need a new paint job.

The vehicle could be operational within two weeks, but Jackson anticipates that repairs, modifications and deputy training will likely lead to the vehicle not being operational for another month.

Its got some bad blind spots so were going to want to train our deputies on it first, he said. So its probably going to be a month or two before well be ready to use it.
The Corvallis City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the downtown fire station, 400 N.W. Harrison Blvd.

Councilors will hear a presentation from the Citizen Involvement and Diversity Advisory Board on its neighborhood empowerment grants and hold a 7:30 p.m. limited public hearing on the Kings Boulevard extension proposal.

The Kings application has twice been remanded or returned to the council by the state Land Use Board of Appeals, which has called for the city to select a route for the proposed extension.

The council session will include a community comments segment in which members of the public can testify on any subject except the Kings project. Testimony on the Kings issue will be taken during the public hearing. Residents also can submit testimony on any topic in advance at www.corvallisoregon.gov/publicinput.

The regular council session will be preceded by a 5:30 p.m. executive session on the status of labor negotiations with the union representing police officers.

In other public meetings:

Saturday

 Ward 7 Councilor Bill Glassmire will team up with newcomer Hyatt Lytle of Ward 3 for the 10 a.m. to noon government comment corner at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave.

 The League of Women Voters of Corvallis will host a legislative town hall from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the library. State Sen. Sara Gelser and Reps. Dan Rayfield, Andy Olson and Mike Nearman have been invited to participate in a discussion of the 2017 legislative session.

 U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, will hold a town hall at 11 a.m. in the activity center/gymnasium at the Linn-Benton Community Colleges Albany campus, 6500 Pacific Blvd. S.W.

Tuesday

 The Corvallis Airport Advisory Board meets at 7 a.m. at the Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 S.W. Madison Ave.

 The Benton County Board of Commissioners will hold a work session at 9 a.m. in the county boardrooms, 205 N.W. Fifth St. The board will hear an update on the Marys River Watershed Council and discuss funding for special transportation programs.

 The Benton County Board of Commissioners will meet at noon in the county boardrooms, 205 N.W. Fifth St. The board will hold a public hearing on a proposed zone change to allow commercial marijuana growing at the Airport Industrial Park. It will also discuss a pay-for-performance plan and the landfill surcharge excess revenue policy.

 The Philomath Park Advisory Board meets at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 980 Applegate St.

 The Adair Village City Council meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 6030 William R. Carr Ave. Councilors will hold second readings on ordinances on the nuisance code and emergency preparedness.

 The Housing Opportunities Action Council will hold its monthly meeting updating the community on homeless issues at 6:30 p.m. at the library.

Wednesday

 The Corvallis Chamber of Commerce will host its annual economic forecast lunch forum at noon at the Corvallis Country Club, 1850 Whiteside Drive. Speakers include regional economist Patrick OConnor of the Oregon Employment Department and Tom Nelson, manager of the Corvallis-Benton County Economic Development Office. The talk is free, but lunch costs $15 for chamber members and $20 for nonmembers. RSVP at corvallischamber.com or by calling 541-757-1505.

 The Corvallis Downtown Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at the Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 S.S. Madison Ave.

Thursday

 The City Council holds a work session at 4 p.m. at the Madison Avenue room. On the agenda is an overview of the Downtown Corvallis Association Economic Improvement District and a review of council work priorities. Please note that the council has moved work sessions from their previous Tuesday slot to Thursday.

The meeting includes a community comments section. Residents wishing to offer comments in advance can do so at www.corvallisoregon.gov/publicinput.

Friday

 The latest Coffee With a Cop meeting with Corvallis Police Department officers and staff is from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Tried & True Coffee, 121 S.W. Cummings Ave.

 The City Legislative Committee meets at 10 a.m. at City Hall, 501 S.W. Madison Ave.
Aisling Daly doing an interview to promote her fight against Ericka Almeida back in UFC Fight Night 76. (Photo : YouTube/SportsJOE.ie)

Aisling Daly was a contestant on the twentieth installment of "The Ultimate Fighter" series wherein she vied for a chance to become the inaugural UFC women's strawweight champion. She was eliminated in the quarterfinal stage, but was still offered a contract in the UFC. After three fights in the promotion between 2014 and 2015, she has now announced her retirement from mixed martial arts at the age of just 29 years old.



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Although Daly may not be as well known of a female fighter compared to the likes of Ronda Rousey or Holly Holm, she still had a storied career including stints in MMA promotions such as Bellator, Invicta, and as previously mentioned, the UFC. She has also been crowned champion of the 125-pound women's division of the North American Allied Fight Series. In total she participated in 22 professional bouts, amassing 16 wins and 6 losses.



Daly was considered to be one of the best female fighters to come out of Europe. However, she decided to close the book on her decade-long MMA career after medical tests reveled that she had an abnormality in her brain as a result of a previous hemorrhage in the area, according to MMA Fighting. In spite of the fact that she is devastated to end her career in this manner, she considers herself lucky that the discovery was made as early as possible.



"I got a brain scan that showed a small abnormality, and we can't exactly pinpoint when the incident actually happened or anything like that, it was just in between scans," Daly told the MMA Hour in an exclusive interview. She added that there was a possibility for her to continue competing, but chose not to do so because it might do her more harm than good in the long run.



Furthermore, Daly stated in the interview that she knew that early retirement was a large possibility in her line of work, so it reduced the sting of having to hang up her gloves at 29. She went on to say that she is proud that ended her career with a win in front of a home crowd in Dublin, Ireland back in UFC Fight Night 76.



Watch some of Daly's MMA highlights in the video below:






International Profiles : British woman teaches German to refugees

Sarah Paeffgen with her students who are learning the German language. Foto: privat

Bonn When Sarah Paeffgen came to Bonn from her native England several years back, she didnt speak a word of German. Now, she is teaching the language to refugees in the Bonn area, using her years of experience and learning to benefit others.

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A few years back Sarah Paeffgen earned a qualification to teach English as a second language. She used this only sporadically, mainly teaching business people who needed English for their work. But then in 2016, Ms. Paeffgen, who is British and lives in Bonn, was asked by a consultancy firm if she would be interested in teaching German to refugees. The firm had received a contract for teaching refugees and they had been seeking teachers. I wasnt sure that I would be capable of this challenge, she says, but there is only one way to find out and that is to try. Now she goes to work every morning for several hours, teaching not English - but German to refugees, most of them who never learned to read or write. She says the challenges she faces now are certainly different than when she was teaching English, but not necessarily more difficult.

Like many expats in Bonn, she didnt come here initially because of a big job opportunity. Ms. Paeffgen, from the county of Surrey in England, moved to Bonn in 1994, married a German national, stayed on and raised a family. Bringing up four children in two languages (English and German) has been a job in itself. Never mind the dog part. Now two of the children are at university and only two left at home. Its one thing to find yourself in the position of wanting to go back to work in your home country at that stage of life, but its even more challenging as an expat.

In her newly found mission, she makes her way each morning to a renovated army barracks in Bad Neuenahr. There is a large room which is used as a classroom. They have to share with another group, which can be a little loud at times. The group that she teaches is around 12 to 15 students, male and female, and they mainly come from Syria, although there are students from Afghanistan and Pakistan as well. Age differences are pronounced; the students range from 17-years-old to well over 60. But Sarah Paeffgen isnt easily phased, The enormous age difference between the students isnt a problem in itself but generally the younger ones tend to learn more easily.

Being an expat means a lot of learning on the fly - and this put her in good stead. Ms. Paeffgen didnt receive specific training in teaching the German alphabet phonetically. Its really quite self-explanatory, she believes. In the first weeks of a class when she is teaching the German alphabet, she has observed that vowels are the main problem for the students. They also have difficulties distinguishing a p from a d because they sound so similar. She starts with one letter, then builds to two letters and more, teaching them how to put the letters and sounds together. The whiteboard is her main tool in the classroom. To write their own name is a big achievement, she says. Recently, they were able to complete the sentence, Der Hund ist braun (The dog is brown).

Unique to Ms. Paeffgens group is that 90 percent of the students have never visited a school in their home countries. She has the distinction of being their very first teacher: They are very enthusiastic about learning the language but of course there are enormous differences in their learning abilities. What does she get out of it? To see these people actually being able to read and write in a foreign language is hugely satisfying for me let alone for themselves, she says.
Russia Again Tries to Frighten South Korea into not Deploying THAAD

THAAD's X-band AN/TPY-2 radar system. (Photo : Raytheon)

Russia has again threatened to retaliate against South Korea for the latter's unyielding decision to deploy the U.S. Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system to its shores beginning in May.



Russia first threatened South Korea with dire consequences after Seoul decided to deploy THAAD in July 2016 to counter the imminent threat from North Korean ballistic missiles. From 2006 to 2016, North Korea conducted five nuclear tests and more than 20 ballistic missile tests in 2016 alone.



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China and Russia oppose the deployment of THAAD, claiming the system's long-range X-band radar will allow the U.S. to better intercept any intercontinental ballistic missile they fire against the U.S. mainland.



On Feb. 3, Russian ambassador to South Korea Alexander Timonin said Moscow will take measures if Seoul chooses to go ahead and deploy THAAD, which it's already done.



Timonin said if THAAD is placed in position, Russia has no choice but to take steps to ensure its security.



"A THAAD deployment may have a dangerous impact on the situation on the peninsula...We regard it as part of the U.S. global missile defense program, which is stationed along the Russian borders and therefore poses a threat to our security," said Timonin.



Timonin did not specify what type of retaliation Russia had in mind, however. Like China, Russia might choose economic and cultural sanctions such as boycotts against South Korea.



In July 2016, however, Russia said it might deploy more missile systems to Asian Russia, including the Kuril Islands off northeast Japan, said a source close to Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.



"The possible responsive measures to a THAAD system in South Korea may include deployment of new striking forces in Russia's Far East. For example, warships of the Pacific Fleet could be equipped with Kalibr missiles," said Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems.



The Kalibr missile system is a cruise missile used for land attack, anti-ship and anti-submarine missions. It was famously used in October 2015 when Russian warships on the Caspian Sea fired 26 Kalibr-NK missiles at targets (mostly U.S.-allied resistance groups) in Syria.



One THAAD battery will be deployed in South Korea by May. It will be under the operational control of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), the joint headquarters through which U.S. combat forces are deployed to the U.S.' and South Korea's combined ground, air, naval, marine and special operations forces component commands.



A THAAD battery consists of six mobile launchers, 48 missiles, airborne radar and fire control system. Its X-band radar can detect missiles 2,000 kilometers away on a forward-based mode and 600 kilometers on a terminal mode.


Russia Unnerved by Chinas Decision not to Buy any more Russian Combat Aircraft

Su-35S of the Russian Air Force. (Photo : Russian Aerospace Forces)

Russia is hoping against hope that China will change its mind about not buying any more Russian-made combat aircraft after 2018 as it starts delivering 10 Sukhoi Su-35S supermaneuverable air superiority fighters this year.



In November 2015, Russia and China signed a contract worth $2 billion for the delivery of 24 Su-35S fighters, including a provision for providing ground equipment and backup engines. Russia delivered the first four Su-35S fighters in December 2016 and will deliver the final 10 jets in 2018.



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Russia, however, has a big problem. China announced last month it will order no more Russian-made fighters and other combat aircraft after 2018, ending a six decade-old relationship that saw Russia, then the Soviet Union, deliver the first supersonic fighters of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).



The PLAAF was founded with Soviet assistance on Nov. 11, 1949. It fought against the Americans in the Korean War flying the J-2, the Chinese version of the Soviet-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15.



"The first batch of four fighter jets were supplied late last year. The second batch of 10 jets will be delivered to China this year, and the last 10 jets will be delivered in 2018," according to Russian state propaganda media.



In deciding to buy no more Russian combat aircraft, China said the advent of its own Chengdu J-20 low observable fighter makes is unnecessary to acquire any more Russian-made warplanes.



China claims Russia agreed with its opinion the Su-35S "will lose its value on the Chinese market in the near future" because of the much superior J-20.



The Su-35S will help the PLAAF mitigate its qualitative and quantitative inferiority in air-to-air combat against the Americans, who have larger numbers of more capable Generation 4.5 jets and two stealth or fifth generation fighters.



The Su-35 is Russia's most advanced operational fighter. It's billed by the Kremlin as a match for the U.S. Northrop Grumman F-35 stealth fighter, which it clearly is not.



The People's Liberation Army earlier said it takes pride in that it also no longer needs to buy Russian-made surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and heavy military transport aircraft because it now has indigenous equivalents: the HQ-9B SAM and the Xian Y-20 strategic transport aircraft.


xspraise at 4-02-2017 08:57 AM (5 years ago) (m)



The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), says it has mobilised about 15,000 youths to welcome President Buhari at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, from vacation. President Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria on February 6, following a 10-day vacation in London. Malam Gambo Jagindi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of NYCN, Murtala Gamji, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Abuja. Jagindi call on Nigerian youths, who are the future leaders of the country to show love, solidarity and support for the President.

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), says it has mobilised about 15,000 youths to welcome President Buhari at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, from vacation. President Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria on February 6, following a 10-day vacation in London. Malam Gambo Jagindi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of NYCN, Murtala Gamji, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Abuja. Jagindi call on Nigerian youths, who are the future leaders of the country to show love, solidarity and support for the President.

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has concluded arrangements to mobilise not less than 15,000 of its members to be at Abuja airport on Feb. 6, to welcome President Buhari from vacation.



It is on record that integrity, discipline and honesty are gradually returning to our public life unlike in the past when impunity was the order of the day. We all know that they do not have the interest of our country at heart and are only wishing to carry on with the looting of our treasury in the absence of our president."



While commending the presidents efforts to rid the country of undesirable elements who did not mean well for Nigeria and Nigerians, Jagindi urged Buhari to continue with the good work as the youths of Nigeria were solidly behind him. He noted that in spite of the corrupt mafias working to undermine the anti-corruption war, Nigerian youths under NYCN would continue to support Buharis laudable programmes.



The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has concluded arrangements to mobilise not less than 15,000 of its members to be at Abuja airport on Feb. 6, to welcome President Buhari from vacation.It is on record that integrity, discipline and honesty are gradually returning to our public life unlike in the past when impunity was the order of the day. We all know that they do not have the interest of our country at heart and are only wishing to carry on with the looting of our treasury in the absence of our president."While commending the presidents efforts to rid the country of undesirable elements who did not mean well for Nigeria and Nigerians, Jagindi urged Buhari to continue with the good work as the youths of Nigeria were solidly behind him. He noted that in spite of the corrupt mafias working to undermine the anti-corruption war, Nigerian youths under NYCN would continue to support Buharis laudable programmes.

Post Reply I am Victor, I write reportage on sport news and latest metro happenings in Nigeria. Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:57 AM (5 years ago) | Hero
The bus was carrying pharmacy students from Alexandria University, heading to spend their mid-year vacation in a resort in Nuweiba, a coastal city in South Sinai

The death toll from Fridays bus accident on the Nuweiba International Road in Sinai climbed Saturday to 10, state news agency MENA reported.

Some 41 others are currently receiving treatment at a number of hospitals in Sinai.

The bus was carrying pharmacy students from Alexandria University, heading to spend their mid-year vacation in a resort in Nuweiba, a coastal city in South Sinai.

Initial investigation of the accident showed that the bus driver was driving at a high speed on a winding road surrounded by mountains and cliffs in the area of Saeda when he lost control and the bus careened off the road down a hillside.

Deadly road accidents take place on a near daily basis in Egypt, which is notorious for poor road-safety conditions, badly maintained infrastructure and loosely enforced traffic regulations.

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Ex Delta Governor James Ibori Finally Arrives In Nigeria With A Warm Welcome (Photos)

kacylee at 4-02-2017 10:42 AM (5 years ago) (f)



The former Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori who was released last month from prison in the United Kingdom (UK) has arrived in Nigeria. Ibori has been away in the United Kingdom where he served jail term for corruption and money laundering.

The former Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori who was released last month from prison in the United Kingdom (UK) has arrived in Nigeria. Ibori has been away in the United Kingdom where he served jail term for corruption and money laundering.

Ibori who was the governor of Delta state was released in December after serving half of a 13-year jail term slammed on him by a British Court.



Also, shortly after his release, the former governor had promised he would return to Nigeria to continue his political career in Delta his home state and Nigeria at large.











Ibori who was the governor of Delta state was released in December after serving half of a 13-year jail term slammed on him by a British Court.Also, shortly after his release, the former governor had promised he would return to Nigeria to continue his political career in Delta his home state and Nigeria at large.

Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 4-02-2017 10:42 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero

beneno at 4-02-2017 10:46 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Thief welcome Posted: at 4-02-2017 10:46 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Thief welcome Reply

angesco at 4-02-2017 10:54 AM (5 years ago)

(f) Wow.

Returned to a "heros" welcome.



People FORGET that he confessed to PURCHASING SIX FORIEGN PROPERTIES and a FLEET OF CARS with STOLEN FUNDS and which run up to 200 million pounds!



A former governor who was on 4000 a month is now WORTH 250 MILLION.



Will he be attending his CONFISCATION TRIAL in the UK? Posted: at 4-02-2017 10:54 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Wow.Returned to a "heros" welcome.People FORGET that he confessed to PURCHASING SIX FORIEGN PROPERTIES and a FLEET OF CARS with STOLEN FUNDS and which run up to 200 million pounds!A former governor who was on 4000 a month is now WORTH 250 MILLION.Will he be attending his CONFISCATION TRIAL in the UK? Reply

ficull at 4-02-2017 11:06 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Chieftaincy titles loading....

My people are plainly disappointing. Am not gonna be surprised on the level of defense he will get, even from the people he stole from. What a shame. Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:06 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Chieftaincy titles loading....My people are plainly disappointing. Am not gonna be surprised on the level of defense he will get, even from the people he stole from. What a shame. Reply

ignis99 at 4-02-2017 11:10 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Behold the face of the brightest thief Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:10 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Behold the face of the brightest thief Reply

dleg at 4-02-2017 11:32 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Celebrating FOOLISHNESS Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:32 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Celebrating FOOLISHNESS Reply

OLOWOBABA10 at 4-02-2017 11:35 AM (5 years ago)

(m)



NA WAOOH Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:35 AM (5 years ago) | Upcoming NA WAOOH Reply

akinmanchy at 4-02-2017 11:48 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Ok na, u don do the crime and u don do the time, me nor get anything against u again Life na jeje so just try to take am softly Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:48 AM (5 years ago) | Hero Ok na, u don do the crime and u don do the time, me nor get anything against u again Reply

BournIdentity at 4-02-2017 11:59 AM (5 years ago)

(m) Tify monkey welcome back

Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:59 AM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Tify monkey welcome back Reply

angesco at 4-02-2017 12:02 PM (5 years ago)

(f) He has OILED Delta State AND he's back for MORE!! Posted: at 4-02-2017 12:02 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac He has OILED Delta State AND he's back for MORE!! Reply

james987 at 4-02-2017 12:33 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Buhari dey come back on the 10th abi? OK na Posted: at 4-02-2017 12:33 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Buhari dey come back on the 10th abi? OK na Reply

Larry28 at 4-02-2017 12:55 PM (5 years ago)

(f) Welcome back for another money lootng... Posted: at 4-02-2017 12:55 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Welcome back for another money lootng... Reply

Nottingham at 4-02-2017 01:07 PM (5 years ago)

(m) The question is why one out of thousands? Many are stealing and supporting Boko Haram,double homicide guided by police and protected by the government. Iboris case looks like witch hunt Posted: at 4-02-2017 01:07 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming The question is why one out of thousands? Many are stealing and supporting Boko Haram,double homicide guided by police and protected by the government. Iboris case looks like witch hunt Reply

ostaino at 4-02-2017 01:55 PM (5 years ago)

(m) It is witch hunt. Carry on my man. Posted: at 4-02-2017 01:55 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming It is witch hunt. Carry on my man. Reply

Linconblack at 4-02-2017 02:16 PM (5 years ago)

(m) This are part of the reason oyinbo people say Nigerians are fools. Posted: at 4-02-2017 02:16 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming This are part of the reason oyinbo people say Nigerians are fools. Reply

chizzyG at 4-02-2017 02:48 PM (5 years ago)

(m) That's why Corruption and stealing of public Funds can never stop in Nigeria,a big problem that has no end. Nigerians celebrate their failed government officials.....A warm Welcome to the Thief Posted: at 4-02-2017 02:48 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming That's why Corruption and stealing of public Funds can never stop in Nigeria,a big problem that has no end. Nigerians celebrate their failed government officials.....A warm Welcome to the Thief Reply

Troublemenot at 4-02-2017 02:55 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Sure they will welcome with open arms

Delta and Edo ppl do celebrate crime/.......... that we know Posted: at 4-02-2017 02:55 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Sure they will welcome with open armsDelta and Edo ppl do celebrate crime/.......... that we know Reply

ray4real25 at 4-02-2017 03:48 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Thief welcome thief Posted: at 4-02-2017 03:48 PM (5 years ago) | Newbie Thief welcome thief Reply

jeroba1 at 4-02-2017 08:53 PM (5 years ago)

(m) na when masses go get sense for this country. Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:53 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac na when masses go get sense for this country. Reply
KONGI THINGS! How 2 Female Teachers Forced A Male Student To Have Sx With Them - VID/PICS

kacylee at 4-02-2017 06:00 PM (5 years ago) (f)



Two segxwally starved female staff have landed in trouble after forcing a pupil to have sex with them in Zambia. The teachers are said to have called the young boy to their house and forced him to have segxwal inter-course with them. The secondary school student told a news crew that rushed to the scene that the teachers gave him money before begging him to have unprotected sex with them.

Two segxwally starved female staff have landed in trouble after forcing a pupil to have sex with them in Zambia. The teachers are said to have called the young boy to their house and forced him to have segxwal inter-course with them. The secondary school student told a news crew that rushed to the scene that the teachers gave him money before begging him to have unprotected sex with them.





















http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQzAOE2d1rU





Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 4-02-2017 06:00 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero

favourita at 4-02-2017 06:12 PM (5 years ago)

(f) IDIOT FELLOW Posted: at 4-02-2017 06:12 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac IDIOT FELLOW Reply

angesco at 4-02-2017 06:26 PM (5 years ago)

(f) So he WAS NOT forced.



He took the MONEY?



Don't understand the language in the video. So STILL confused

Posted: at 4-02-2017 06:26 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac So he WAS NOT forced.He took the MONEY?Don't understand the language in the video. So STILL confused Reply

zeigbo at 4-02-2017 06:32 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Uncompleted news They can close the door against me but can't stop me frm coming in Posted: at 4-02-2017 06:32 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Uncompleted news Reply

schmit at 4-02-2017 06:59 PM (5 years ago)

(f) Demons Posted: at 4-02-2017 06:59 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Demons Reply

Mykie010 at 4-02-2017 07:19 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Wahala Posted: at 4-02-2017 07:19 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Wahala Reply

akinmanchy at 4-02-2017 07:41 PM (5 years ago)

(m) This news get as e be Life na jeje so just try to take am softly Posted: at 4-02-2017 07:41 PM (5 years ago) | Hero This news get as e be Reply

james987 at 4-02-2017 08:09 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Na wa oooooo Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:09 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Na wa oooooo Reply

ficull at 4-02-2017 08:17 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: angesco on 4-02-2017 06:26 PM So he WAS NOT forced.



He took the MONEY?



Don't understand the language in the video. So STILL confused



Funny how you sound. I wonder if you can say the same if the tables were turn and its a little girl with 2 teachers.

Condemn bad thing. He idolized the teachers and looked forward to learning morals from them. And not being abused. Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:17 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Funny how you sound. I wonder if you can say the same if the tables were turn and its a little girl with 2 teachers.Condemn bad thing. He idolized the teachers and looked forward to learning morals from them. And not being abused. Reply

jeroba1 at 4-02-2017 08:20 PM (5 years ago)

(m) OK oooooooooo. Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:20 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac OK oooooooooo. Reply

tommy70 at 4-02-2017 08:28 PM (5 years ago)

(m) TIRED OF ALL DIS GOOD NEWS Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:28 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac TIRED OF ALL DIS GOOD NEWS Reply

beneno at 4-02-2017 08:50 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Thank God say ni black women do am,no be Oyibo women ,some racist people for don dey comment nonsense here since Posted: at 4-02-2017 08:50 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Thank God say ni black women do am,no be Oyibo women ,some racist people for don dey comment nonsense here since Reply

BournIdentity at 4-02-2017 11:31 PM (5 years ago)

(m) I saw..,, next

Posted: at 4-02-2017 11:31 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero I saw..,, next Reply

Kroffor at 5-02-2017 05:52 AM (5 years ago)

(m) :DI was born in a wrong country Posted: at 5-02-2017 05:52 AM (5 years ago) | Upcoming :DI was born in a wrong country Reply

LegendaryU at 5-02-2017 12:31 PM (5 years ago)

(m) This boys really enjoy their teachers honeypot, unprotected sex you said, how come you know protected sex and unprotected? You also collect the money, gush! Posted: at 5-02-2017 12:31 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming This boys really enjoy their teachers honeypot, unprotected sex you said, how come you know protected sex and unprotected? You also collect the money, gush! Reply

chukkychukky at 5-02-2017 06:16 PM (5 years ago)

(m) nawaoo Joramentity aka chukkychukky Posted: at 5-02-2017 06:16 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac nawaoo Reply

Larry28 at 6-02-2017 11:09 AM (5 years ago)

(f) Hmmmm Posted: at 6-02-2017 11:09 AM (5 years ago) | Hero Hmmmm Reply

Otikadinje at 26-03-2017 08:22 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Meat for the run away elders is what you ate and even get paid for it what a lucky boy you are Oscardeejay Posted: at 26-03-2017 08:22 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Meat for the run away elders is what you ate and even get paid for it what a lucky boy you are Reply
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Vs. Oppo A57 Vs. ZTE Blade A2 Plus: Which one should you choose? Features oi -Prajith Which one would you choose?

The battle of budget smartphones is getting way fiercer with each passing day. Every week, one or the other Chinese vendor introduces a new budget phone, and for the most part, all of them pack competitive hardware. Whats even worse is the fact that most of these phones are priced so closely that users get quite confused deciding which one to choose let alone buying one.

Wondering where this is going towards? Well, allow us to explain. In the past couple of weeks, okay forget about the last two weeks, today itself, there were a couple of smartphone launches  the ZTE Blade A2 Plus (review) and the Oppo A57. Again, both of them have similar specs and are priced very closely.

Also Read: ZTE Blade A2 Plus launched in India at Rs. 11,999, sale debuts on February 6

In the similar price range, you have the ever-reliable Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (review). And theres Huaweis Honor 6X and a bunch of other phones. Now, thats so-many-options and its only obvious to be puzzled.

But, fret not! We got you covered. Heres a comparison between the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, ZTE Blade A2 Plus, and the Oppo A57.

Design

Aesthetically speaking, all the three smartphones look nothing short of a premium handset for the asking price. However, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (especially the Black color variant) and the ZTE Blade A2 Plus are slightly ahead in the race. Also, both these phones feel sturdy in hand and should last long if used carefully.

Display

While the Redmi Note 4 and ZTE Blade A2 Plus use a 5.5-inch display, the Oppo A57 uses a 5.2-inch display. Again, Xiaomis and ZTEs offerings come with a Full HD resolution display. On the other hand, the A57 offers only a HD display. All the three phones have a 2.5D curved glass atop.

On-the-whole we found the display on Redmi Note 4 to be the best among the three. In fact, it is one of the best display you can find in the category. And that itself is a huge compliment for the device.

Hardware

Among all the three smartphones, the Redmi Note 4 offers the best specifications for the asking price. In case you are unaware, click on this link to get a clear idea of the specifications of the device and how they stack against each other.

Performance

Let's get this straight out of the way, we have reached a point where most of the phones these days offer pretty decent performance for what they are worth. And thats a good thing. It is all about your preferences now. Choose whichever the brand you are the most comfortable with.

Having said that, there are a few things you should be aware of. For example, the camera performance on the ZTE Blade A2 Plus is not great while on the other hand, the Redmi Note 4s camera is pretty decent. For a detailed information, you can read the individual reviews of both the smartphones linked above.

Verdict

So, as mentioned earlier, it entirely depends on your preferences. If you need a good selfie camera and dont mind spending a little more, the Oppo A57 is what you should be looking at.

If premium looks, durable body, stellar battery life, and a decent camera are exactly the things you are looking for the ZTE Blade A2 Plus should be a good bargain.

Having said that, on a whole the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 outperforms both of the above phones in almost all the aspects and we wouldnt hesitate to recommend it whatsoever.

Best Mobiles in India

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Honor 6X to get Nougat-based EMUI 5.0 update starting this March News oi -Prajith Thats definitely a good news.

Just after the first flash sale of the Honor 6X in the country, the company has confirmed that the smartphone will receive the Nougat-based EMUI 5.0 update starting this March.

Keeping its promise to out the Nougat update in Q1 2017, the company has confirmed to Android Police that the smartphone will receive the update this March In an email.

Also Read: Honor 6X flash sale debuts at 2PM today via Amazon

The companys email to Android Police read, "The new EMUI for Honor 6X will be arriving next month, and its been updated based on consumer feedback.

It remains to be seen if the EMUI 5 on Honor 6X will look similar to what it does on the Mate 9 since the update is based on consumer feedback.

For those who are not in the know, the Honor 6X was launched in India a couple of weeks ago and, the first flash was held around 2 PM yesterday. The phone, by default, ships with EMUI 4.1 which is based on Marshmallow. However, the new update should bump the OS to Nougat.

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
Nokia recorded a net loss of $82 million in 2016 News oi -Sneha Nokia working towards regaining its market position in 2017.

Looking back at 2016, it has been a year of transition for the smartphone pioneer, Nokia. Although the past few years weren't quite great for the Finland-based firm, Nokia is all geared up to set a benchmark in 2017.

Recalling last year, Nokia chief Rajeev Sur stated that the company has recorded a net loss of 766 million euros, which is roughly around $82 million. The number seems to be really really huge, isn't it?

The Nokia chief further asserted that he's disappointed with last year's result. Well, the reason behind the massive loss is because Nokia has been going through a radical transformation over the past several years.

However, Suri sketching their goal ahead added that he expects 2017 to be a better financial year and the company seems to be all heated up to works towards attaining the goal.

SEE ALSO: Nokia sends out MWC 2017 media invites for February 26; Here's what to expect

Looking some 6 years back, Nokia was among the world's topmost smartphone manufacturers between the year 1999 and 2011. But, was counter-attacked and overtaken by the crazy of advanced smartphones.

Well, to regain back its market position, Nokia is now prepping up to fight the existing smartphone vendors. In the wake to do so, Nokia is going to launch a wide range of devices at the MWC 2017 press meet on February 27.

Like Nokia 6, launched last month gained wide popularity, the smartphones pioneer has high hopes on the upcoming devices as well. The company believes that the upcoming Nokia phones will help Nokia regain their market shares and stir the smartphone space.

Nokia 8, Nokia P1, Nokia D1C, Nokia Heart, Nokia Edge, Nokia Z2 Plus: rumor round-up

As reported earlier, Nokia has already sent out media invites for an event on February 27, where the firm clearly mentioned that they are going to unveil a range of Android devices. As per our assumption, Nokia P1 can be one of the several devices that the Finland-based firm is planning to announce.

Well, as of now, other than sending out the press invites, Nokia hasn't confirmed on what they are planning for the upcoming MWC event.

Best Mobiles in India
Treasury Sanctions Supporters of Irans Ballistic Missile Program and Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps  Qods Force

2/3/2017

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned multiple entities and individuals involved in procuring technology and/or materials to support Iran's ballistic missile program, as well as for acting for or on behalf of, or providing support to, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

This action reflects the United States' commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and destabilizing activities in the region and is fully consistent with the United States' commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). More specifically:

OFAC designated several networks and supporters of Iran's ballistic missile procurement, including a critical Iranian procurement agent and eight individuals and entities in his Iran- and China-based network, an Iranian procurement company and its Gulf-based network, and five individuals and entities that are part of an Iran-based procurement network connected to Mabrooka Trading, which was designated on January 17, 2016. This action was taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery and supporters of such activity.

OFAC designated a key IRGC-QF-run support network working with Hizballah, including IRGC-QF official Hasan Deghan Ebrahimi, his associates Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat and Yahya al-Hajj, and several affiliated companies in Lebanon. This action was taken pursuant to E.O. 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. The IRGC-QF was designated under E.O. 13224 on October 25, 2007 for its support to numerous terrorist groups.

OFAC designated Ali Sharifi, an individual providing procurement and other services on behalf of the IRGC-QF. This action was taken pursuant to E.O. 13224.

"Iran's continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide, and to the United States. Today's action is part of Treasury's ongoing efforts to counter Iranian malign activity abroad that is outside the scope of the JCPOA," said Acting OFAC Director John E. Smith. "We will continue to actively apply all available tools, including financial sanctions, to address this behavior."

As a result of this action, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

Abdollah Asgharzadeh Network

Abdollah Asgharzadeh is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG). Asgharzadeh is an Iranian businessman who has been procuring controlled and dual-use technology and materials for over a decade to support Iran's ballistic missile programs, primarily for SHIG. He has previously worked to procure items on behalf of Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO). AIO is the Iranian organization responsible for ballistic missile research, development, and production activities and organization, including SHIG and the Shahid Bakeri Industries Group (SBIG). AIO, SHIG, and SBIG were identified in the Annex of E.O. 13382 in June 2005.

Tenny Darian is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, support for, or services in support of, Asgharzadeh, and for acting, or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Asgharzadeh. As an example of their procurement activities, Asgharzadeh and his associate Darian have sought to purchase and ship foreign-produced ball bearings, which are among the items required by SHIG to produce the Shahab-2 short range ballistic missile and Shahab-3 medium range ballistic missile.

Asgharzadeh and Darian have coordinated the procurement of dual-use and other goods for SHIG through intermediary companies that obfuscate that the goods are for SHIG and will support Iran's ballistic missile program.

East Star Company and Ofog Sabze Darya Company are two such Iran-based companies used for shipments of dual-use and missile-related items to Iran. East Star Company is being designated for being owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Asgharzadeh. Ofog Sabze Darya Company is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Asgharzadeh and Darian.

Since 2013, Asgharzadeh has relied on a network of trusted China-based brokers and their companies to assist his procurement of dual-use and other goods for SHIG. Asgharzadeh and Darian work with three China-based brokers  Richard Yue, a sales associate of Cosailing Business Trade Company; Jack Qin, an employee of Ningbo New Century Import and Export; and Carol Zhou  to import dual-use and other components and goods.

Yue is being designated for providing or attempting to provide financial or material support for Asgharzadeh. Cosailing Business Trading Company Limited is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Asgharzadeh.

Yue and Cosailing Business Trading Company purchase goods from other China-based suppliers on behalf of Asgharzadeh. Yue and Cosailing Business Trading Company have both accepted financial compensation from Asgharzadeh and Darian in exchange for dual-use goods destined for Iran, including U.S.-origin goods.

Qin is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Asgharzadeh and Darian.

He is another China-based intermediary for Asgharzadeh and arranges transport to Iran of goods destined for Asgharzadeh's customers, including SHIG, and accepts payment in return. Qin uses Ningbo New Century Import and Export Company, Ltd. to facilitate shipments for Asgharzadeh to Iran. Ningbo New Century Import and Export Company, Ltd. is being designated for providing or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Qin.

Zhou is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Asgharzadeh and Darian.

Gulf-Based Rostamian Network

MKS International is being designated for providing financial, material, technological, or other support to AIO and SBIG. Since 2011, MKS International has been involved in procuring controlled and other technology and materials to support Iran's ballistic missile programs, primarily for AIO and SBIG. MKS International utilized multiple front companies in order to circumvent export laws and sanctions.

Kambiz Rostamian is MKS International's CEO and is being designated for acting for or on behalf of MKS International and Royal Pearl General Trading. He has dealt directly with and received payments from AIO for the procurement of goods. Rostamian has also acted as a direct intermediary to purchase parts through MKS.

Rostamian is also CEO of Royal Pearl General Trading, which is being designated for acting for or on behalf of MKS International. Royal Pearl General Trading is a front company for MKS International that has worked with SBIG and AIO to procure components for Iran's ballistic missile program.

Iran-based Network Working with Navid Composite and Mabrooka Trading

Ervin Danesh Aryan Company and Mostafa Zahedi

Ervin Danesh Aryan Company is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Navid Composite. Navid Composite was designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 in December 2013 as an Iran-based subsidiary of U.S.- and UN-designated Sanam Industrial Group, an entity designated in July 2006 pursuant to E.O. 13382 for its involvement in Iran's ballistic missile program. Ervin Danesh Aryan Company created previously-designated Mabrooka Trading to import sanctioned goods into Iran. Mabrooka Trading was designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 in January 2016 for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support to Navid Composite.

Ervin Danesh Aryan Company has contracted with Navid Composite since at least 2015 for the procurement of laboratory equipment. Ervin Danesh Aryan Company facilitated the financial transactions, transportation and shipping costs, and post-sale servicing for these goods on behalf of Navid Composite.

Mostafa Zahedi is being designated for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Ervin Danesh Aryan Company and Mabrooka Trading. Zahedi, as an employee of Ervin Danesh Aryan Company, sought to acquire carbon fiber production equipment from foreign suppliers.

Zahedi also procured or attempted to procure via Mabrooka Trading carbon fiber-related production equipment from outside Iran on behalf of Navid Composite.

Zahedi and E.O. 13382-designated Hossein Pournaghshband, the Director of Mabrooka Trading, have procured for Mohammad Magham, the Managing Director of Navid Composite, and Navid Composite's PAN-based carbon fiber production line since at least 2014. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers are the chemical precursor of high-quality carbon fiber. Carbon fiber, found in high-tech and common daily applications, is used in missiles and solid propellant rocket motors. Zahedi used Pournaghshband to procure goods from foreign suppliers ultimately destined for Magham.

Since as early as mid-2014, Zahedi, occasionally acting as an employee of Mabrooka Trading, procured PAN and carbon fiber equipment from foreign suppliers for Ervin Danesh Aryan Company, on behalf of Navid Composite. He also coordinated financial transactions between suppliers and Navid Composite for these goods. Zahedi's procurement on behalf of Navid Composite was also in coordination with E.O. 13382-designated Chen Mingfu.

Mohammad Magham

Mohammad Magham is being designated for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Navid Composite.

Since late 2014, Magham, Navid Composite's Managing Director, worked with Zahedi and Mabrooka Trading to procure goods from foreign suppliers for use in Navid Composite's carbon fiber production operations.

Navid Composite and Magham also contracted with other Iran-based companies in mid-2015 to supply PAN fiber. The PAN fiber was for Navid Composite's production facility in Rasht, Iran. Magham also worked directly with E.O. 13382-designated AIO Director Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabachi to manage the financials of Navid Composite. Ketabachi was designated in January 2016 pursuant to E.O. 13382 for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of AIO.

Ghodrat Zargari and Zist Tajhiz Pooyesh Company

Ghodrat Zargari is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, and for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Mabrooka Trading. Zist Tajhiz Pooyesh Company is being designated for providing, or attempting to provide, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Mabrooka Trading.

Ghodrat Zargari has served as the Iran-based technical sales advisor for Mabrooka Trading and senior technical and marketing manager of Iran-based Zist Tajhiz Pooyesh Company. In this capacity, Zargari worked with Pournaghshband and Mabrooka Trading, as well as China-based broker and Mabrooka Trading associate Mingfu, to ship goods through China to Tehran, Iran.

Lebanon-Based IRGC-QF Network

Hasan Dehghan Ebrahimi, an IRGC-QF official based in Beirut, Lebanon who maintains direct ties to senior IRGC-QF officials in Tehran, is being designated for acting for or on behalf of the IRGC-QF. Ebrahimi has facilitated cash transfers to Hizballah worth millions of dollars, including through U.S.-designated Hizballah construction firm Wa'ad Company.

Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat and Yahya al-Hajj are employees of Ebrahimi and are being designated today for acting for or on his behalf.

Ebrahimi and his employees use a network of Lebanon-based companies with ties to the broader Middle East to transfer funds, launder money, and conduct business. Ebrahimi is the manager of Maher Trading and Construction Company, which has been used to launder funds and smuggle goods to Hizballah and is co-located with Wa'ad Company in Beirut. Maher is being designated today for being owned or controlled by Ebrahimi.

Reem Pharmaceutical, Mirage for Engineering and Trading, and Mirage for Waste Management and Environmental Services are being designated today for being owned or controlled by Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat. Since 2011, Farhat has been the Chairman of the Board of Reem, a Lebanese pharmaceutical company that also does business in Iraq and Kuwait. In addition, he is the general manager of Mirage for Engineering and Trading, a Lebanon-based construction company that also manages projects in Iraq worth millions of dollars. Since 1999, Farhat has also been the general manager of Mirage for Waste Management and Environmental Services, a Lebanese environmental services company specializing in the cleaning, collection, recovery, disposal, and treatment of waste.

Ali Sharifi

Ali Sharifi is being designated for acting for or on behalf of the IRGC-QF. As of 2015, Sharifi worked to procure aviation spare parts on behalf of the IRGC-QF. Sharifi has also worked to procure other sensitive items from sources in the Middle East and China on behalf of the IRGC-QF.

For identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today, click here .

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Iran Missile Program

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom accused Iran of developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, alleging the move went against UN Security Council resolutions. Ambassadors from the three European nations urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a letter circulated on 05 December 2019, to inform the council in his next report that Iran's ballistic missile activity is "inconsistent" with the 2015 nuclear deal.

The letter cited footage released on social media on April 22 of a previously unseen flight test of a new Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile variant "equipped with a manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle". "The Shahab-3 booster used in the test is a Missile Technology Control Regime category-1 system and as such is technically capable of delivering a nuclear weapon," it said. The Europeans noted that a 2015 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear programme concluded "that extensive evidence indicated detailed Iranian research in 2002-2003 on arming the Shahab-3 with a nuclear warhead".

France, Germany, and the UK gave four examples of "Iranian activity inconsistent" with the July 20, 2015, Security Council resolution endorsing the nuclear agreement, which was signed six days earlier. In addition to the April 23 flight test of the new Shahab-3 missile variant, it cited:

The launch of the Borkan-3, "a new liquid-propelled medium-range ballistic missile" travelling about 1,300km (800 miles), which was announced by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen on August 2 and is an advancement of Iran's Qiam-1 missile. The July 24 launch of a ballistic missile that flew more than 1,000km (620 miles), which media reports indicated was a test launch of a Shahab-3 medium-range missile. The August 29 attempted launch, reported by Iranian media, of a Safir satellite launch vehicle, which was unsuccessful. UN experts have said such launch vehicles share "a great deal of similar materials and technology" with ballistic missiles.

The European letter said these activities "are the latest in a long series of advances in Iranian ballistic missile technology", and "furthermore, Iran continues its proliferation of ballistic missile technology in the region" in violation of Security Council resolutions.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired six mid-range surface to surface missiles from western Iran into Syria's Deir al Zour province on 18 June 2017, to punish perpetrators of recent terror attacks in Tehran. After the Takfiri terrorists' June 7 attacks in Tehran which left 17 killed and dozens more wounded, the IRGC had announced that the spilling of innocent blood will not go unanswered.

This was the first attack of its kind carried out by the Islamic Republic in years. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered weekend missile strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, the Guards said, contradicting a previous report that they were authorized by the country's security council.

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said on 19 June 2017 that due to the efforts of the Iranian scientists, Islamic Republic is now among top countries in terms of missile power. General Baqeri noted that Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution inspired several freedom-seeking movements in the world. The dominant powers and the Zionists are manipulating Takfiri ideology against the Islamic Revolution to prevent its spread in the world, he said.

Iran claimed 23 May 2017 to have built a third underground ballistic missile production facility and said it will continue developing its missile program, a move that will surely increase tensions between the country and the United States. Speaking with the semi-official Fars news agency, General Amir-Ali Hadjizadeh, the head of Irans aerospace program, said the facility had been completed in recent years. "We are going to develop our ballistic power. It's normal that our enemies, that is to say the United States and Israel, are angry when we show off our underground missile bases because they want the Iranian people to be in a position of weakness," he said.

The US Treasury Department announced 03 February 2017 new sanctions on Iran in response to the country's recent missile test launch. Thirteen individuals and 12 entities were sanctioned. Some are based in China, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran remained undeterred by U.S. threats. "Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people," Zarif wrote.

Iran confirmed 01 February 2017 that it carried out a missile launch 29 January 2017, but said this did not violate the nuclear agreement by six world powers and Tehran in 2015. UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted after the nuclear deal was reached, called on Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles, but it did not specifically ban such activity.

Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, condemned the missile launch 01 February 2017, declaring it "just the latest in a series of incidents" in which Iran has threatened the U.S. and its regional allies over the past six months. He said leaders in Tehran had been emboldened to take such action now because the nuclear agreement was "weak and ineffective," and because the other nations involved in the agreement failed to rein in Iran's military ambitions.

The Obama administration failed to respond adequately to Tehrans malign actions  including weapons transfers, support for terrorism and other violations of international norms, Flynn said. The Trump administration condemns such actions by Iran that undermine security, prosperity and stability throughout and beyond the Middle East and place American lives at risk.

Flynn added, "As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice." He did not explain his comment further or threaten any specific action against Tehran.

Donald Trump said 02 February 2017 that "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!... Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion."

Later, at a White house meeting with Harley-Davidson executives and union members, Trump said "nothing is off the table" in response to a reporter who asked whether military action against Iran was an option.

Progress on indigenous missile production was often reported by one source or another in Teheran, perhaps falsely, to demonstrate that Iran was a growing power against Israel and to intimidate its other enemies in the region. However, Iran continued to rely primarily on limited North Korean missile production capacity. North Korea's perilous economic condition and the consequent possibility that it would have to moderate its "rogue state" character in order to survive, could leave Iran without an adequate and reliable supplier of missiles in a war.

After the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the US exerted great pressure on Russia, China, India, and other countries to withhold nuclear reactor technology from Iran. Despite occasional reports that Iran had acquired weapon-grade fissile materials from external sources or had produced such material from its own reactors, into the mid-1990s there was no hard evidence that Iran had been hiding a nuclear weapons development program. Ambiguous statements from various Iranian officials about progress in acquiring nuclear weapons could have, like reports of indigenous missile production, reflected a deliberate policy of magnifying Iran's power by exaggerating its capabilities. The statements could also have reflected an indecision by Iranian authorities about the need for such weapons.

Indeed, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities in 1992 and 1993 did not reveal any activities inconsistent with peaceful power development and Iran's obligations as a signatory to the NPT. Still, it was felt that the relentless US opposition to Iran's (legal) nuclear power development and pressure on potential suppliers of nuclear technology significantly impeded any program Iran could have had underway at the time to acquire nuclear weapons, substantiating US and Israeli estimates that acquisition of nuclear weapons could take Iran as long as 7 to 15 years (from 1995).

Iran had developed a chemical warfare capability as a response to Iraqi chemical attacks on Iranian troops during the Gulf War. By the end of the war, Iran was said to have been producing nerve agents and other offensive chemicals for delivery by artillery shells and aerial bombs. Jane's estimated Iran's stockpile of various agents in the 1990s at between several hundred and 2,000 tons. Syria and North Korea, both having missiles with chemical warheads, could also have assisted Iran in developing such warheads for its missiles. Reports that Iran had been sponsoring work on biological weapons were unconfirmed.

Iran was still recovering economically and militarily from the destruction of the Gulf War with Iraq by the end of the 20th century, and according to various sources the process was still ongoing after 2000. Although suspected by the US (and other countries) of sponsoring terrorist acts against American personnel and facilities, Iran did not possess a direct ballistic missile or other military threat to the continental US, Hawaii, or possessions. Moreover, Iran was not seen as likely in the near-term to develop an indigenous capacity to produce nuclear payloads for any of its missiles or strike aircraft. Iran could have been building a capacity for weaponizing chemical and biological agents, but whether producing these "poor man's atomic bombs" were for offensive or deterrence purposes was not readily evident.

Most of the Iranian missile development industry was located in Karaj, outside Tehran. Iran's missile infrastructure also included a Chinese-built missile plant near Semnan, larger North Korean-built plants at Isfahan and Sirjan (which could produce liquid fuels and some structural components), and missile test facilities at Shahroud and the Shahid Hemat Industrial Group research facility just south of Tehran. Historically Iranian missile "production" largely consisted of the assembly of kits of imported parts. However, the Scud B system was said to be produced using a significant proportion of locally manufactured components.

Iranian missile inventories, as with much of their arsenal, were historically highly uncertain, though lower estimates were perhaps somewhat more credible than the upper range of the higher estimates. Iran was estimated to have at least 50 and as many as 300 Scud Bs, with a range of about 200 miles, and at least 50 and as many as 450 Scud Cs, with a range of some 300 miles. In 1995 the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated in their annual publication The Military Balance , that Iran had approximately 210 Scud B/C type missiles, and another 200 Chinese M-7 (DF-7/CSS-8) missiles, reportedly imported in 1989. These estimates remained static through 2000, but by 2005 their estimates of Scud types had gone to 300, and their estimates of M-7s to 175 (though they did report unknown numbers of the Nazeat series, also known as the Mushak series, which were copies of the Chinese missile). These subsequent estimates remained static through 2008.

Also in development in the late 1990s were derivatives of North Korea's No-Dong missile, which entered service in 2002. Called Shahab-3 (meteor or shooting star in Farsi) the missiles gave Iran a capability with twice the range of the existing Scud-C/Shahab-2 missiles it had in service, with a range of 1,300 kilometers. Iran was estimated of have anywhere from 25 to 100 of the missiles in service. In development were Shahab-4/5/6, successors to the Shahab-3 and also based on North Korean designs (No-Dong and Taepo-Dong designs).

Iran had been eager to acquire China's M-9 (600 km/500 kg) and M-11 (300 km/500 kg) single-stage, solid-fuel, road-mobile missiles, but US pressure on China had prevented transfers. The Tondar-68 (1,000 km/500 kg) and the Iran-700 (700 km/500kg) were other reported development programs that depended on continuing Chinese assistance, according to Jane's. China was also believed to be assisting Iran in extending the range of the operational HY-1 (85 km/400 kg) and the HY-2 (110 km/500 kg) cruise missiles, which posed a greater threat to shipping in the Persian Gulf.

The inauguration of the Permanent Exhibition of Strategic Capabilities of the IRGC Air Force called "National Aerospace Park" was held on 27 Septembe 2020. Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, the Chief Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, and other high-ranking government and military officials attended the ceremony. In this exhibition, the various achievements of the IRGC Air Force from the beginning of its formation until now in missiles, air defense, UAVs, air operations, and space are displayed in a vast area.

On the sideline of the 'National Aerospace Park' expo inauguration ceremony on 27 September 2020, Major General Hossein Salami said the strategic achievements in the field of the aerospace industry is a clear symbol of Iran's self-confidence, a major part of which has been attained during the sanction era. General Salami noted that the achievements indicate that Iran has managed to turn the sanctions to accelerating opportunities in defense areas. Noting that the exposition shows the comprehensive model of Iran's deterrent power, he said today's war is a war of wills, and the Iranian nation, knowing its clear path, continues it with strong determination.

In this exhibition, IRGC missile achievements including Nazeat, Simorgh, Khorramshahr, Shahab III, Fatih F, Fatih A, Safir Fajr, Sejjil, Zolfaghar, Ta'er II, Taer III, Sam VI, Dezfool missiles as well as 3rd Khordad, Tabas, HQ2, Ghadir, Kasshef, Matla' Fajr I and II, Kavosh air defense systems and some other defense systems are showcased. Iran's Space Launch System (first mobile satellite launcher platform), kheibar missile system, Zolfaghar twin-arm launcher, and satellite carriers of Safir, Simorgh and Fajr have also been showcased. Also, Ghiam, Eskad, Ghadr, Nazeat, Hormoz, Persian Gulf, Dezfool, and Zohair missiles besides Mohajer II, Talash, Saegheh, Ababil II, Karrar, Sayeh, Shahid 125, Shahed 121, Shahed 191, Shahed 161, Shahed 171, and Shahed 129 drones have been exhibited.







North Korean/ Iranian Unha-2, Taep'o-dong-2B /Simorgh-3 Evolutionary Development Family.

North Korean/ Iranian Launch Vehicle Families Evolutionary Development.

Solid motor propulsion family developments

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Egypt denounced Fridays terror attack near the Louvre Museum in Paris, affirming that the Egyptian government and people stand with French authorities and citizens in the face of terrorism, a foreign affairs ministry statement Saturday read.

A French soldier shot and seriously wounded the reported attacker in a shopping mall beneath the Louvre Museum after he tried to stage an attack and shouted "Allahu akbar," AP reported a French official as saying.

The man was carrying two backpacks and had two machetes, the French official said.

When soldiers and police officers on patrol told the man that he could not come into the mall with his bags, he attacked, the official added.

The statement called on the international community to intensify its efforts to combat terrorism.

French police said investigators have indications that the attacker might be an Egyptian, AP reported.

Egypt is yet to comment on that report.

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This week, Danville police announced major steps toward stopping gangs with the formation of a task force and the seizure of guns, ammunition and cash from search warrants for criminal street gang participation.

If it sends any kind of message, its were doing our jobs, Danville Police Lt. Mike Wallace said Friday morning, showing off the seized items.

There are representatives from a lot of gangs in the city, Wallace said, but he would not talk about the specifics.

The gang task forces job is to collaborate and discuss strategies on how to most effectively prevent and respond to criminal activity, Danville City Manager Ken Larking stated in a news release.

When people get back to knowing God and we learn how to love one another, thats when Senior Pastor Dwane Massenburg of Trinity Baptist Church said a change will come.

Since Nov. 4, Danville police have executed 16 search warrants for criminal street gang participation, with 10 people having been arrested.

The identity of those arrested has not been released. Police are not naming the suspects because they do not want to give them notoriety, according to Wallace.

College Park Drive has been a location where some violence and gang-related criminal activities have happened.

The Register & Bee obtained search warrants for residences on the 200 and 300 block of College Park Drive.

On Sept. 1, a search warrant was served at a residence on the 300 block of College Park Drive, where several known and documented gang members have been frequenting a particular house  called by a witness as the Mansion.

The warrant specified police to search for graffiti drawings, documents and other gang-related personal property.

Photos on social media have been found with known gang members posing in front of the Mansion and throwing up gang signs, the warrant continued.

The warrant goes into some detail about a party on College Park Drive where an individual was shot twice.

The shooting happened at 3:27 a.m. on Aug 7, where Danville police found a 22-year-old male with gunshot wounds in the 300 block of College Park Drive.

At 10:55 a.m. on Oct. 8, police responded to the 200 block of College Park Drive for a reported shooting.

Harland Frank Luck, 31, was found dead from gunshot wounds, according to a Danville police news release.

Numerous shots were heard in the 200 block of College Park Drive on the afternoon of Oct. 14, according to a Danville Circuit Court search warrant for malicious wounding.

Danville police issued a news release stating an 18-year-old man was found shot outside.

The teenager went to an apartment for help, but the occupants told police they did not let the victim in.

However, the warrant states a detective [who] was speaking with the occupants inside [the] apartment  noticed that there was blood on the floor of apartment as well as on the couch.

Witnesses told police three men ran from the direction where the shots were heard to that apartment.

Another warrant for prohibited criminal street gang participation shows documents, writings, letters and two red bandanas were found inside that same College Park Drive residence.

A jacket with blood stains also was found inside the apartment.

Were dealing with teenagers, primarily, Wallace said. Most of those really in charge are in the prison system.

There are lots of things that qualify as gang clothing and paraphernalia, but Wallace did not say that by wearing specific clothing items, one is affiliated with a gang.

Identifying someone as a gang member because of their clothing has to be done in context with the investigation, not just as an item of clothing alone, Wallace said.

Wearing particular clothing items does not mean one is a gang member. Those clothes with thrown up gang signs in pictures and tattoos tell

Various charges are being sought for the 10 people arrested.
To the editor:

After seeing Madonnas idiotic remarks during the Womens March on Washington in which she said I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House, I had to comment.

Shes really showed what shes made of. Madonna should be investigated and arrested for her actions, as any other of us regular people in the United States would be. Why not her? Especially in the times we live in. They certainly should place her on the watch list at the least.

Shes not any special privileged person as she obviously thinks she is  shes simply acting like a crazed idiot. Shes always been an outspoken nut, but this goes way overboard. She sounds just like an ISIS terrorist, not an American who supports our great country, regardless of who is president.

Shes disgusting. A disgrace to this country. Just because she thinks shes a famous celebrity, and thats debatable. Shes just another left-wing liberal crybaby showing her true colors. They despise Donald Trump and cannot get over the fact that hes been elected as our 45th president. Well, Madonna, get over it and go and record an album or something, just shut your big fat pie hole! Is she considered untouchable? I think not. This type of behavior is not freedom of speech, as most of the other idiotic liberal cupcakes may claim whove been marching, pouting and acting ridiculous during the past couple of weeks.

This should be interpreted as an actual threat to the White House and President Trump the way I see it. She needs to answer for her public comments and be treated as any other person would be who may have said the same! Enough with this ludicrous behavior. Its got to stop. We should make an example out of Madonna and rightfully prosecute her for her threatening and treacherous comments. After all this being said, if she truly doesnt like the way things have turned out with President Trump, there are airline flights leaving every day out of the United States!

DARYL RIGNEY

Danville
The defendants' lawyers argued that they could not be accused of spreading false news because the High Administrative Court ruled the islands in question are indeed Egyptian

A Qalyoubiya misdemeanour court acquitted on Saturday 12 lawyers who were accused of spreading false news by organising a stand last April against a government deal to transfer two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

The court also acquitted the defendants of charges of illegal gathering and disturbing the peace.

Head of the Lawyers Syndicate, Sameh Ashour, who was one of the defendants' lawyers, argued that his clients could not be convicted for spreading false news -- that the islands belonged to Egypt -- because the High Administrative Court already confirmed that they do belong to Egypt.

On 16 January, Egypts High Administrative Court rejected a government appeal against a June decision by an administrative court that affirmed Egyptian sovereignty over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

Ashour argued photos of the lawyers at the stand, which took place outside a court building in the city of Shebin El-Qanater, show that they were protesting on the side of the road, and did not block traffic or cause any disturbance as stated in the police report.

He also argued that one of the 12 defendants was traveling in Saudi Arabia at the time of the protest, proving that police investigations were inaccurate.

The deal sparked widespread public outcry and a number of street protests after it was initially announced in April 2016.

Most of those arrested in protests were tried on charges of breaking the Protest Law but were eventually acquitted after paying hefty fines

The government has appealed the administrative courts June decision in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which is yet to decide on hearing the case.

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Cairo International Airport will allow travelers who had been blocked from entry to the US by the temporary ban ordered by Donald Trump last week to board flights bound to the US, after the ban was temporarily suspended on Friday by a US federal court, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

A source at Cairo airport told an Al-Ahram reporter on Saturday that the airports authorities and airliners received a notification from the USs Customs and Borders Protection (CBP) of a suspension of the executive order by Trump which temporarily banned citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US.

The seven countries are Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.

Citizens of those seven countries who hold a valid US visa or green card will be allowed to travel to the US on direct or transit flights.

The source said that the notification was implemented directly by airline carriers operating in the airport, including Egypts flagship carrier EgyptAir, who informed their sales offices of the news instructions to allow citizens, initially affected by the Trump ban, to book flights on its trips.

On Friday, a Seattle federal judge put a temporary block on US President Donald Trump's week-old executive order that had temporarily barred refugees and nationals from seven countries from entering the United States.

Hours after the ruling, the USs CBP told airlines they could board travelers who had been affected by the ban.

On Saturday, several airliners announced they will allow passengers affected by the Trump move to resume boarding of their US flights.

Gulf-based Qatar Airways said on Saturday it will allow passengers barred from the United States by the Trump order to resume boarding on US-bound flights.

Air France also announced on Saturday it had reopened flights to the initially affected passengers.

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Vociferous MP Anwar El-Sadat faces accusations that he had leaked copies of a government-drafted NGO law to foreign embassies in Cairo

Sources indicated Saturday that Anwar El-Sadat, independent MP and head of the liberal Reform and Development Party, is expected to be questioned by Egypt parliament's ethics committee on Sunday.

The sources claim that Sadat faces two accusations: the leaking of copies of a government-drafted NGOs law to a number of foreign embassies in Cairo without receiving parliament's prior approval, and faking the signatures of some of his MP colleagues.

Sources indicated that the referral of Sadat to the ethics committee came after parliament's internal bureau (composed of the speaker and his two deputies) investigated him last November.

"At the end of the investigation, the bureau decided that Sadat would be referred to the ethics committee to decide whether disciplinary measures should be invoked against him," said a source.

The investigation of Sadat was based on a memo that was submitted by Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali to parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal last November.

Wali asserted that some foreign EU ambassadors in Cairo had told her that they were able to obtain copies of the government-drafted NGOs law from MP Sadat and that they believe that this law is highly restrictive and does not serve the business of NGOs in Egypt.

Wali sent a complaint to parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal, requesting that Sadat be investigated for leaking "a national security matter."

Some MPs also submitted a complaint against Sadat, alleging that he faked their signatures in support of a law he had drafted last year.

Sadat has repeatedly denied the accusations, insisting that draft government laws are not a national security matter.

Sadat opened fire on the parliament speaker last week, accusing him of squandering as much as EGP 18 million on buying "three armoured cars."

Sadat said "while Egypt is facing a severe economic crisis and while the president of the country  Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi  is calling for austerity measures all the time, we see that parliament's 2015-2016 budget allocated EGP 18 million to buying armoured cars to be used by the speaker and his two deputies."

In response, Abdel-Aal told MPs in a plenary session last Thursday that he would not hesitate in taking all the necessary legal measures "against those who want to tarnish the image of the House of Representatives."

Abdel-Aal said "the leaking of a parliament budget document to the media represents a national security crime in accordance with the constitution."

Abdel-Aal added that, "I will never accept receiving illegal money in any way."

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Al-Agati told MPs that ahead of the parliament being elected in January 2016, he asked the Ministry of Planning to approve buying an armoured car for the speaker of the upcoming parliament for security considerations."

Alaa Abed, head of parliament's human rights committee, told MPs that "he is surprised that in a time of high security and terrorist threats, Sadat rejects that an armoured car be allocated to the second man in this country  or parliament speaker," said Abed.

Abdel-Aal said "some media figures who pursue foreign agendas are doing their best to recruit some MPs who also share these agendas to disrupt parliament and the country as a whole.

"I want to tell this group that my patience has become thin and that I will lift the veil on this clan who is ready to spend a lot of hot money for disrupting this democratically elected parliament," said Abdel-Aal.

Head of parliament's budget committee Hussein Eissa said the committee would issue a detailed statement on "the cost of the three armoured cars and how and why they were bought."

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Demyana Amir, a 14 year-old died, from wounds she sustained during the December bombing

The death toll in Cairo's St. Peter and St. Paul Church December's bombing climbed to 29 on Saturday as Demyana Amir, a 14-year-old girl, died from her wounds, Coptic Orthodox Church official Bassem Salah told Ahram Online.

Salah said that Amir was admitted to the hospital following the attack with liver laceration but her condition continued to deteriorate.

On 11 December, a suicide bomber, identified as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohamed Mostafa, set off explosives in the womens section of the St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Cairo instantly killing 23 people, mostly women and children, and wounding over 40 others.

Five more of those injured succumbed to their wounds in the weeks since.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, whereas the Egyptian Ministry of Interior accused members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation residing in Qatar of plotting the bombing.

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The two countries agreed on the importance of reaching political solutions to the regional crises in Yemen, Syria and Libya

Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan agreed on Saturday to establish a bilateral political consultation mechanism with meetings to be held every six months.

In an official statement, Egypts foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said the decision comes following an Abu Dhabi meeting that witnessed talks about ongoing regional developments and international conflicts of common interest.

The two officials spoke over bilateral relations in different fields between both countries, and methods of developing it, to be extended to aspects that serve the interests of the countries.

The meeting also saw both sides agree on their visions regarding the importance of reaching political solutions for crises in several countries in the region, including Yemen, Syria, and Libya.

They agreed on the importance of undergoing fast procedures to face dangers that threaten Arab national security, which call for joint efforts to bolster Arab unity to face it, especially in issues related to combating terrorism and extremism.

UAE continues its support

The UAE official told Shoukry that his country reiterates its support to Egypt economically and politically.

The minister said that the UAE continues to support the Egyptian peoples right to development, stability and growth, explaining that Egypt is considered a pillar of stability in the Middle East due to its strategic and security impact, which doubles the importance of supporting it in this distinguishing period.

The minister added that the UAE is keen to strengthen its ties with Egypt in different fields, pointing out what Egypt possesses in terms of economic potential as well as executing and attracting investment strategies to help its economy.

Shoukry praised relations between the two countries, affirming Egypts deep appreciation for the UAEs supportive stance, and also pointed out that Egyptian-UAE relations are a model for inter-Arab world relations.

The UAE, a key ally of Egypt, has supported Cairo economically and politically since the ousting of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

In 2016, the Crown prince of the UAE Mohamed bin Zayed , pledged $4 billion to Egypt, half as a deposit in the central bank and the other half in investments in developmental projects.

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The reconciliation deal will see Rashid give over EGP 500 million to the Egyptian government

A Cairo Criminal Court quashed Saturday criminal proceedings against Mubarak era Trade Minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid following reconciliation with the government.

The Saturday decision comes at the request of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice Asset Recovery Committee, which approved in November a settlement deal with Rashid.

According to the reconciliation deal, all criminal charges against Rashid, who left the country since the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, would be dropped. He would be required to give up nearly EGP 500 million to the government, a judicial source told Ahram Online in November.

The Steel Licenses case, in which criminal proceedings have now been terminated against Rashid, led to the sentencing of the former minister to 15 years in absentia and a fine of EGP 1.4 billion for squandering nearly EGP 600 million in public funds after issuing questionable licenses to steel business tycoon and former leading figure in the now-dissolved National Democratic Party Ahmed Ezz.

However, last December, Egypts Court of Cassation overturned a criminal court ruling against ex-minister Rashid, business mogul Ezz and Amr Assal, the former chairman of the Industrial Development Authority, ordering a retrial for the defendants in front of a new court circuit.

Both Ezz and Assal, earlier sentenced to 10 years in prison, had their trial postponed to 7 March during Saturdays court hearing.

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The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Belgiums Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie/Centre dEtude de lEnergie Nucleaire (SCKCEN) (also known as the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning cooperation in nuclear energy research and development.

This MOU will enable collaboration on future irradiations and post-irradiation examinations (PIE), including planned SCKCEN activities to take place in the Belgium Reactor2 (BR-2) and associated Laboratory for High and Medium Activity (LHMA) hot cells, as well as planned DOE activities to take place in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility, and High Temperature Test Laboratory (HTTL) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and other facilities that are part of DOEs Office of Nuclear Energy Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF).

Initial collaboration is being performed under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) under Annex 1 of the MOU, between SCKCEN and INL that was negotiated and signed on 14 November 2016 to conduct irradiation tests and perform PIE activities with silicon carbide, uranium alloys and uranium ceramic materials, as well as develop sensors and instrumentation. The outcomes of this collaboration will support and enhance future NSUF opportunities and capabilities for nuclear energy researchers.

The nuclear industry may access some of these capabilities through the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative to help achieve faster and cost-effective development of innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercial readiness.
Black carbon, or soot, increases snow and ice melt by dulling the reflective surface and increasing the absorption of sunlight. Researchers say this is one reason that Arctic regions have warmed faster than any other area on the planet, with average temperatures there today over 4 C higher than the 1968-1996 average, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). Black carbon may also be contributing to the steep decline in summer Arctic sea ice coverage in recent decades.

According to a new international study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 38% of black carbon in the Russian Arctic originates from transport and 35% from residential heating sources, while open fires, power plants, and gas flaring are responsible for only 12%, 9%, and 6% respectively. These estimates confirm previous work for some areas of the European Arctic, but for Siberia, the findings differ from previous research, which had suggested that contribution from gas flaring were much higher.

Reducing black carbon pollution holds some potential for climate change mitigation, especially in the Arctic, but in order to take effective action, we have to know where it is coming from. This study provides better data, but also shows that we need more information about source structure and spatial distribution of pollution in the Arctic. Zbigniew Klimont, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

The location of black carbon emissions matters, explains Klimont, because black carbon emitted from the sources closer to the Arctic leads to greater warming (per unit of emitted black carbon) compared to sources further from the region.

High-latitude sources are especially important. Even though China, for example, releases much more black carbon than Arctic regions, reductions there have less impact per kilogram than reductions in the Arctic. Zbigniew Klimont

This research drew on IIASA research that was part of a European-Union funded project, Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-lived Pollutants (ECLIPSE). Researchers used the ECLIPSE emissions and an atmospheric transport model and compared the predictions with measurements and carbon isotope analysis of samples at Arctic research stations.

While the study found good agreement between model estimates of black carbon concentrations and measurements for the European Arctic site, they found a mismatch between the modeled and measured results for the Russian Arctic site. The researchers developed a better method to attribute pollution to its sources by incorporating new data from Tiksi, a research station in the far eastern region of Siberia into the model. This improved attribution highlights the more important role of residential heating and transport sources while lesser relevance of gas flaring at this far-East Siberian site.

There is widespread gas flaring in the Russian Arctic. Yet, the magnitude of gas flaring related black carbon and other combustion related emissions and the specific carbon-isotopic fingerprint are not very well understood. In order to better assess the role of black carbon pollution in the Arctic and to target its sources for mitigation, we need to measure the isotopic fingerprint of the gas flaring sources. Patrik Winiger, a researcher at Stockholm University in Sweden who led the study

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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.
Public Prosecuter orders the freezing of the bank accounts of former Minister of Trade and Industry, Rashid Mohamed Rashid, and bans him from leaaving the country

Public Prosecuter ordered Friday the freezing of the bank accounts of former Minister of Trade and Industry, Rashid Mohamed Rashid, and banned him from leaaving the country.

Yesterday, similar actions were taken on former NDP Organization Secretary Ahmed Ezz, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, former Housing Minister Ahmed al-Maghraby and former Minister of Tourism Zuhair Garrana.

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The Piedmont Triad has a goodly number of legislative leaders in the North Carolina General Assemblys new session, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle.

Of course, GOP state Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, remains arguably the most powerful politician in state government as Senate president pro-tem.

But third-term state Rep. Jon Hardister, a Greensboro Republican, also is climbing the ranks in state House leadership. Hes the majority whip, whose job includes such duties as keeping tabs on GOP member attendance and tracking their votes.

Other Republican legislative leaders from the area include state Sen. Jerry Tillman of Archdale, one of the Senates two majority whips, and state Rep. Pat Hurley of Asheboro, who serves as joint caucus liaison.

On the other side of the partisan divide, state Rep. Amos Quick of Greensboro recently was named vice chairman of the Freshman Democratic Caucus in the House.

I think its not only a personal honor, but I think its a great opportunity for Guilford County, Quick said of playing a leadership role in the legislative hierarchy.

Plum assignment

Speaking of big jobs in Raleigh, state Rep. John Faircloth, a High Point Republican, recently was named to help lead the House Appropriations Committee that oversees the budget process in that chamber.

The former police chief and High Point city councilman was named one of six chairmen of the massive committee, whose leaders supervise various subcommittees involved in preparing North Carolinas budget for the next two years. They then participate in negotiations with the state Senate on the final spending plan.

Faircloth was tapped for the post by House Speaker Tim Moore, who called the Guilford County legislator a catalyst for change in the justice and public safety sector, overseeing the consolidation of several agencies and the streamlining of services ...

Former aide hired

Gov. Roy Cooper tapped former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagans deputy press secretary Friday to run his press and communications office.

The governor appointed Sadie Weiner, 29, to the post that involves supervising the Raleigh offices public relations and media outreach.

The Texas native is married to Zachary Wineburg, son of Bob and Catherine Wineburg of Greensboro. Bob Wineburg is a professor in UNC-Greensboros department of social work, and Catherine is a personal and professional development consultant.

Weiner worked in Greensboro on Hagans successful senatorial campaign in 2008 and then labored in the senators Washington office throughout her ensuing six-year term.

After Hagans 2014 re-election bid fell short, Weiner was communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, also in Washington. Hagan is recovering from encephalitis at a rehab center in Atlanta.

Freeing up docs

Hardister introduced a bill this week aimed at making it a bit easier for people with disabilities to receive handicapped parking privileges.

The bipartisan measure would end the limitation that handicapped parking approvals can only be issued by licensed physicians, ophthalmologists and optometrists. Instead, the measure would add physician assistants, nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives to that list.

Hardister said the ability to accurately assess who needs special parking privileges isnt limited to the current laws three professions.

It just streamlines the process for the patient, Hardister said. It also frees up doctors to do other things by eliminating what I believe is an unnecessary requirement.

Hardister is primary sponsor of the bill with fellow Republican legislator Josh Dobson of Nebo, and Democratic Reps. Gale Adcock of Cary and Carla Cunningham of Charlotte.

Adcock and Cunningham know particularly whereof they speak: Adcock has been a nurse practitioner for more than 25 years and Cunningham has been a licensed nurse for 35 years.

The bill would apply to people seeking a distinguishing license plate or a removable windshield placard because of a temporary or permanent disability.

Forming a shield

Two Triad legislators are among the bipartisan cast of state House members wanting to protect law enforcement officers who blow the whistle on unlawful government activity by their fellow officers or other officials.

State Reps. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, and Bert Jones, a Reidsville Republican, have signed on in support of a bill to shield police officers from retaliation by their peers or superiors if they report such wrongdoing.

It is the policy of this state that municipal law enforcement officers shall be encouraged to report internal misconduct, the measure reads.

Targeted misdeeds include any violation of law or governmental regulation, fraud, misappropriation, endangerment of public health or safety, and gross mismanagement or abuse of authority.

The proposal introduced Thursday would allow wronged officers to file suit in Superior Court to stop any job-related harassment and to recover lost wages, benefits and seniority.

New whirlybirds

Under the category of high-flying expenditures, several legislators from other parts of the state introduced a bill Wednesday to equip the Highway Patrol with a pair of helicopters for a lofty $18.2 million.

The money would buy two rescue helicopters, one of which shall be stationed in the western part of the state and the other of which shall be stationed in the eastern part ...

The initiative by Republican state House members George Cleveland of Jacksonville, John R. Bell IV of Goldsboro, Chuck McGrady of Hendersonville, and Michael Speciale of New Bern also includes $3.3 million for operations, and $355,000 to train pilots and maintenance personnel on the new copters.
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Gov. Roy Cooper is boxed in. He wants to defy a new law subjecting his Cabinet chiefs to Senate confirmation but has no legal way out of it yet.

The requirement was enacted in December. The Republican-controlled legislature convened a special session for one purpose: to hamstring the incoming Democratic governor. The confirmation measure was just one piece of a larger package. The legislation was duly signed by outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, whom Cooper defeated in November  a parting shot from an embittered loser.

Previous governors had not been made to submit their top executives for legislative approval. However, the N.C. Constitution may authorize such a process. It says, The Governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of a majority of the Senators appoint all officers whose appointments are not otherwise provided for.

Why invoke this privilege now? Given the overt disdain that legislative leaders have shown for Cooper, one suspects the intent is to hinder the governor from running his own administration. Cooper sued, claiming the constitutional language only applies to constitutional offices, not executive agency heads.

That argument will be heard in court. In the meantime, Cooper has a problem. He can let his nominees go through the confirmation process that the Senate is just now setting up, or he can withhold them. He takes a risk either way, but he is safer to follow the law as it stands now.

Unless a court stays or strikes down the law, it reads just as it was enacted: A majority of senators must confirm the governors nominees. It wont do so if Cooper refuses to submit them to the confirmation process, which will include public examinations by Senate committees.

The governor says the Senate should back off until the courts rule, which could be as soon as next month. Hes right. It should. But it has not done so yet.

So far, the governor has authorized his choices to speak informally with senators, but that wont suffice. He should yield to the process, at least for now.

For its part, the Senate should make sure its a fair process. If the Republican majority rejects Coopers nominees for partisan reasons, that will be seen as obvious obstructionism. It would introduce Washington-style gridlock to North Carolina politics and would warrant repudiation by the people. Cabinet candidates should be evaluated on the basis of their experience and qualifications. That should be no problem for those named by Cooper so far.

Yet, one who could encounter trouble is Michael Regan, picked to head the Department of Environmental Quality. Regan was an official in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and worked for the Environmental Defense Fund. Hes an environmentalist, which makes him a good choice to lead an agency charged with protecting the environment. But thats exactly why Senate Republicans might oppose him. Their deregulatory agenda runs counter to environmental protection.

If Regans confirmation triggers a partisan battle, it will expose an obstructionist attitude by Republicans. They should be smarter than that and act responsibly. The people elected Cooper so he can carry out his policies as governor. They expect him to appoint his own agency heads, without unreasonable interference by the opposition.
The White House said Thursday that building new Israeli settlements or expanding existing ones "may not be helpful" in securing Middle East peace.

"While we don't believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful," said spokesman Sean Spicer.

The statement is a break from Trump's previously full-throated defense of Israeli settlement building.

Since Trump came to office Israel has approved a slew of new construction in existing settlements, the type of act that critics say risks making a two-state solution impossible.

Israel recently unveiled plans for 3,000 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, the fourth such announcement in the less than two weeks since Trump took office.

"The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month," Spicer said.

Trump is scheduled to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on February 15.

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.

While former president Barack Obama grew frustrated with Israeli settlement building and declined to veto a December 23 UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements, Trump had called for the resolution to be vetoed.

The Republican president has moved quickly to befriend Israel's prime minister, and the pair spoke by telephone on Sunday.

"As the president has expressed many times, he hopes to achieve peace throughout the Middle East region," Spicer said.

Trump has previously stated that his son-in-law Jared Kushner would play a role in trying to negotiate peace.

The idea of an Israeli and a Palestinian state coexisting has underpinned peace efforts for decades.

The president has also said he plans to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- a measure that the Palestinians have fiercely condemned.

If the US embassy is moved to Jerusalem, it would break decades of US policy and be at odds with the overwhelming majority of other nations, which believe the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiation.

Trump has also come under fire for failing to specifically mention in his Holocaust remembrance statement on Friday the six million Jews killed in the Nazi genocide.

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KENT  After climbing to the pulpit in St. Josephs Chapel at the private Kent School two months ago, Emelia Worth said she had to speak frankly to faculty members and her fellow students.

For once, Ive actually chosen my words very carefully. ... Let me explain myself to you, not as Carl, the experienced senior giving a chapel talk. But as Carl, the really scared child who is worried that they may have waited too long to get real.

She was battling depression, she said, and then announced: I am transgender. I puzzle every day why I came out a boy.

Worth took her life last Saturday. She was 18.

She had told close friends about her gender identity in the fall, and school officials and students who knew had embraced her, friends said. It was her peer and school support that gave her the courage to tell a crowd, said Elsa Worth, her mother.

She wanted to speak because she was sure others were hurting, too.

I dont think Im unique in being transgender, being depressed, or being at a loss for the meaning of my own life. Maybe hearing about my still-ongoing exploration may help somebody in here, Emelia said.

After her 11-minute Dec. 8 speech, Emelia went to a special place on campus that was a source of calm for her.

Thats where she was found on Saturday. On Sunday, the bell at St. Josephs rang 18 times for her.

Forty percent of transgender people report they have attempted suicide in their lifetime, according to a recent survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality.

But Emelia wasnt just a number, said a friend and fellow senior at the 570-student boarding school.

She was just a role model for everybody. She was everybodys friend, she said. Ive never met someone like that in my life, and I dont think I will. Someone that could talk to so many people. She was the most amazing, genuine person. She stood up for everybody.

It wasnt a lack of support from family, friends or school officials that led to Emelias death, her mother said. It was suicidal depression, she said.

She was the sunshine of our home, Elsa Worth said. There are some things that well never understand about depression  at least I wont.

Emelia Worth was a kind, remarkably bright, family-oriented person, Elsa Worth said. She picked Emelia for a name because Elsa told her it would have been her name had she been born a girl.

She was born Dec. 27, 1998, and lived in several Connecticut towns before her family moved to Keene, N.H., in August. Before she began her time at the Kent School  on a near-full scholarship  she had been a lifetime camper at Camp Washington in Lakeside. She was proud member of St. Pauls Church in Norwalk and was on the churchs choir and a member of its music ministry for eight years.

At the school, she was a class representitive each of her four years and served as a senior prefect this year after being voted in as a student leader by faculty and students. She played bass in the orchestra  a Kent School first  and the jazz band. She was also a percussionist in the concert band.

Before her death, she was applying to colleges. She had been accepted to the University of New Hampshire and University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She planned to study linguistics and become a professor, her mother said.

Emelia planned to start correcting what she described as an astrological coin flip come March with hormone treatments, her classmate said.

Hormone treatment or not, her school and friends had tried to make her more comfortable. The school was planning to allow her to live in the girls dormitory rooms, her classmate said. And no one knew of bullying or harsh words for Emelia.

If anyone was to say anything to her, they knew everyone would have risen up and protected her, she said.

Emelia Worth is survived by her mother, Elsa, her father, Steven Worth, and two brothers, Bo and Orion. A memorial service will take place at St. James Church in Keene, N.H., on Feb. 10. Another will take place at Kent School on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks donations be made to The Emelia Carl 17 Scholarship at the school.
Another man overboard

One of the original members of the Harbor Management Commission has jumped ship, saying the group has mismanaged its mission since first getting its charter from the Board of Selectmen in 2013.

Peter Quigley, a former RTM member from central Greenwich, told the selectmen by email this week that he had grown tired of the continuous petty bickering and backroom intrigue within the harbor commission, and that he would not serve past April 1, the day his three-year term expires.

A member of Indian Harbor Yacht Club and a lifelong sailor, Quigley was at first an enthusiastic member of the HMC, but grew disillusioned by the autocratic style of its first chairman, Frank Mazza, and its current chairman, Bruce Angiolillo, and the slow pace of the commissions work.

He (Angiolillo) uses what I call gavel direction to run the commission meetings. As soon as I would start to say something he disagreed with, hed slam down the gavel and rule me out of order, Quigley said. There was continual obfuscation. The commission officers just did what they wanted to do, and there was no transparency, no discussion.

Quigley acknowledged that he had little chance of being reappointed to the commission, given how First Selectman Peter Tesei, with support from the other selectmen, has not reappointed members who questioned commission procedures or direction.

There were probably nine chances out of 10 that I would not be reappointed anyway, Quigley said Friday afternoon. But I wanted to be proactive in order to get some of the issues in front of the public that I think are important.

In his email to the selectmen and in a later conversation, Quigley criticized the entire scope of the HMCs work. As examples of the HMCs failures, he cited flaws in the proposed harbor management plan, the commissions amateur bookkeeping and accounting protocols, and its inability after three years to maintain a simple inventory of boats registered and housed in Greenwich.

The Harbor Management Commission is the third group appointed by Tesei to bring some semblance of order to the governance of the towns waters in Long Island Sound. In his first term, Tesei appointed the First Selectmans Coastal Resources Advisory Council, with the apt acronym CRAC. The ineffective CRAC group morphed into the Harbor Management Advisory Committee and was charged by Tesei in 2012 with creating a harbor management plan.

The HMAC fell apart shortly after it was revealed that its chairman had not paid sales tax on a $70,000 powerboat, nor had he properly registered it in Connecticut. Also, other HMAC members had failed to pay the towns annual mooring application fee. Creation and collection of that fee is about the only thing any of the three commissions has accomplished in eight years. The town has collected between $350,000 and $500,000 since it first instituted mooring fees, with no plan yet on how that money will be spent to improve the waterfront.

In late 2013, Tesei and the selectmen created a formal commission, the Harbor Management Commission, whose members were vetted and approved by the Representative Town Meeting. And what was its charge? Thats right, create a harbor management plan that would address some pretty basic issues, such as how the town would spend money raised by the mooring application fees.

The HMC is about to enter its fourth year as a town commission and it has yet to produce a state-approved harbor management plan, making Greenwich the largest coastal Connecticut town without such a governing document.

The proposed harbor management plan is too vague to be of any real value, Quigley said.

Importantly, there is a need, after the plan is approved, for more detailed, written by-laws and regulations for the plan to be effective and for other town departments to accept HMC authority over the waterfront. Quigley is being optimistic in his assumption that the state will approve the harbor management plan as submitted by the HMC. Early indications from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection are that the plan needs more specifics about mooring regulations and how it will fulfill its other responsibilities, such as maintaining water quality in the harbor.

Both Tesei and Angiolillo were asked via email for their reactions to Quigleys comments. I will include them in part two of this column next week.

Bob Horton can be reached at bobhorton@yahoo.com.
President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to withdraw federal funds from UC Berkeley after violent campus protests forced the cancellation of a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, a firebrand editor of right-wing news site Breitbart.

The disturbances were a fiery reminder of the university's history as a cradle of the 1960s anti-war movement -- and a sign of the sharp tensions pitting the country's mostly left-wing student body against a far-right minority.

Hundreds of students and other protesters chanting "shut him down" marched at the University of California campus.

Masked protesters, said to be outsiders, smashed windows, set wooden pallets ablaze and threw fireworks and rocks as police in full riot gear responded with tear gas.

The university was placed on lockdown as the sold-out appearance by Yiannopoulos, a conservative provocateur and self-proclaimed internet troll who styles himself on Facebook as "Dangerous Faggot," was canceled late Wednesday.

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?" Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday.

About half of research at Berkeley is funded by the federal government, according to the university website. Berkeley however has been struggling in the past years with budget shortfalls and spending deficits.

Trump's top political adviser Stephen Bannon is the former chairman of Breitbart News. Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said that the peaceful student protest "was invaded by more than 100 armed individuals clad all in black who utilized paramilitary tactics to engage in violent, destructive behavior designed to shut the event down".

Because of the violence campus police "concluded that the speaker had to be evacuated from campus for his own safety," thus ending the event.

Yiannopoulos, Breitbart's technology editor, is a flamboyant firebrand reviled by his critics as racist and misogynistic but who casts himself as a gay crusader against "political correctness".

He is often portrayed as a leader of the so-called alt-right -- a white nationalist extremist fringe that has found a home on Breitbart's pages -- although he has sought to distance himself from the movement.

He is however a vocal supporter of Trump -- nicknaming the billionaire "Daddy" during his election campaign.

The 32-year-old Briton is probably best known for inciting a campaign of online abuse against the African-American "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones. Twitter banned him in July.

The Berkeley event was to be the last stop of a college speaking tour that has drawn big crowds and also sparked fistfights, a shooting and at least one other cancellation.

According to an article on Breitbart News, Yiannopoulos was planning to use the event to launch a campaign against so-called sanctuary campuses, which have declared their opposition to Trump's tough stance toward undocumented immigrants.

Yiannopoulos said on Facebook he was evacuated "after violent left-wing protestors tore down barricades, lit fires, threw rocks and Roman candles at the windows and breached the ground floor of the building".

"One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down."

UC Berkeley, one of the top public universities in the United States, is the home of the 1960s "Free Speech Movement" that helped launch the era's student protests against the Vietnam War.

The mayor of Berkeley, one of America's most liberal cities, deplored the violence by a "small minority" of protesters.

They "provided the ultra-nationalist far right exactly the images they want to use to discredit the vast majority of peaceful protesters in Berkeley and across America who are deeply concerned about where the country is heading," said Jesse Arreguin, the mayor.

Similar protests at the University of California at Davis last month also forced the cancellation of speeches by Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli, a former pharmaceuticals boss who became a hate figure after jacking up the price of a life-saving drug.

The events at Davis and Berkeley were organized by conservative student groups.

A similar invitation to speak at UCLA was rescinded. Officials at the three University of California campuses stressed that they did not invite Yiannopoulos or endorse his ideas but were committed to free speech.

More than 100 UC Berkeley faculty members had signed two letters sent last month to the school's chancellor, urging him to cancel the event.

"Although we object strenuously to Yiannopoulos's views -- he advocates white supremacy, transphobia and misogyny -- it is rather his harmful conduct to which we call attention in asking for the cancellation of this event," read one of the letters.

They cited as one example an incident in December at the University of Milwaukee where Yiannopoulos openly mocked a transgender student, displaying her name and photo on screen.

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He recently closed Colicchio & Sons. Photo: John Lamparski/WireImage

Prepare to say good-bye to another classic New York restaurant: On April 30, after 15 years in business, Tom Colicchio will close Craftbar. This news comes just a few months after he closed Colicchio & Sons. While he offered no explanation for the latter, Colicchio is explicit about the cause of this decision  his landlord raised his rent by 50 percent, to $60,000 per month.

Its also likely, though, that Craftbar  a sister restaurant to the more upscale Craft  couldnt keep up with the times, and the constant influx of competition in New York. The menu is comprised of comforting dishes that have become ubiquitous, and arguably dated: whipped-ricotta toast, a kale-and-squash salad, veal-ricotta meatballs, and buttermilk-fried chicken.

Craftbar moved to a bigger space in 2007, but when it first opened, in 2002, Colicchio pioneered this model of a restaurant  one thats equally casual and refined. New Yorks restaurant critic, Adam Platt, explains:

The original Craftbar, in many ways, was quietly even more influential than Craft. Many chefs cooked there, including David Chang, and it was the template for the modern Brooklyn hipster restaurant: bar dining, diner-style booths, comfort food, done in an elevated way. Gourmet bread-sticks lined the bar; it was casual food done in an exceptionally sophisticated way. Everyone from Chang to Torrisi to the whole daisy-chain of tattooed super-chefs owe a debt to that restaurant. It was a great restaurant and much imitated  the ultimate two-star dining bar, and now there are a million of those all over the world.

Fortunately, Colicchio can focus his attention on Fowler & Wells  and since its inside a hotel, he wont have to stress over the rent. Even for chefs with more financial stability (Top Chef made Colicchio a food-TV megastar), opening a hotel restaurant has become an increasingly attractive option, offering much-needed security.
Its official! The move has been long in the making, but an official statement from the government of Karnataka has now sealed the deal. To quote local IT minister Priyank Kharge:

Apples iPhones will be made in Bangalore and all devices will be targeted at the domestic market

Cupertino is yet to officialize things, or give any time frame for production kick-off, but excitement is already in the air. iPhones will be assembled in a plant in the outskirts of Bangalore by Wistron Corp. This falls in line with Apple's traditional outsourcing approach and this time the lucrative contract will land in the hands of Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron. Apple is apparently foregoing some of its more traditional partners for this deal, namely Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., also know as Foxconn. Still, others might be drafted later, as production expands.

This might be somehow related to India's legal requirement that single-brand retailers in the country need to source at least 30 percent of their parts locally. And besides the manufacturing effort, it does appear Apple's long-term intention is to expand on the local market, more than anything else. As part of the ongoing negotiations, the US giant has also sought approval for running its own network of stores and retailers across the country.

In the longer term, its a great move  We are in discussions on a number of things, including retail stores, and fully intend to invest significantly in the country.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has made it abundantly clear that India "is the place to be". An over-saturated Chinese market, along with overflowing production make a strong case for such a statement. Still, expanding in developing markets is incredibly tough, especially in value-conscious India. In 2016, iPhone shipments into the country only add up to 2.5 million units- just enough to earn Apple the honorable tenth spot in the most sold brand list, losing badly to budget offers by the likes of Samsung.

Still, the US titan has high hopes for an ever-increasing living standard in India and thus a wider market for its premium devices. Apple's entry into the local production scene might just kick the process into high gear, as India will essentially only be the third country to ever take on iPhone production. Plus, changes to the company's vast supplier chain of around 766 companies is imminent as well, with many new partnerships likely to come from within the country and cover that 30% parts and materials sourcing quota. That all adds up to new jobs and opportunities for the local workforce.

Cupertino has also, allegedly, managed to negotiate some great starting conditions with the local government, including a 15-year tax holiday for importing components and equipment. Still, all things considered, it is a win-win situation for both parties, since the expansion does tie in great with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Made in India" initiative.

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Citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries banned from the United States by President Donald Trump can resume boarding U.S.-bound flights, several major airlines said on Saturday, after a Seattle judge blocked the executive order.

Qatar Airways was the first to say it would allow passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to fly to U.S. cities if they had valid documents.

Air France, Spain's Iberia and Germany's Lufthansa all followed suit after the federal judge's ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.

But the websites of two other major Gulf airlines, Etihad and Emirates, still carried notices informing passengers of Trump's original Jan. 27 order.

The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who said it was racist and discriminatory.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could board travelers affected within hours of Friday's ruling, but budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights including from London and Oslo, said many uncertainties remained about the legal position.

"It's still very unclear," spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson said. "We advise passengers to contact the U.S. embassy ... We have to follow the U.S. rules."

In Cairo, aviation sources said Egypt Air and other airlines had told their sales offices of Friday's ruling and would allow people previously affected by the ban to book flights.

But for some who had changed their travel plans following the ban, the order was not enough reassurance.

In Dubai, Tariq Laham, 32, and his Polish fiancee Natalia had scrapped plans to travel to the United States after they get married in July in Poland. Laham said the couple would not reverse their decision.

"It is just too risky," said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. "Every day you wake up and there is a new decision."

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Haiti - Politics : Canada will be officially present at the inauguration of Jovenel Moise





Friday, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and Francophonie, confirmed that she will travel to Haiti from 6 to 8 February 2017 to represent Canada at the inauguration of elected President Jovenel Moise.



On February 7, the Minister will attend the inauguration of Jovenel Moise as the 58th president of the Republic of Haiti, to congratulate him officially, on behalf of the Government of Canada, following his election to office. The Minister will also take the opportunity of her stay to discuss local development priorities.



During her visit, the Minister will visit development projects supported by Canada and meet with stakeholders working in areas such as the promotion of womens rights and the safety and health of the most vulnerable Haitians, including women and children.



"I am looking forward to meeting the President of Haiti and discuss our priorities in dealing with the many challenges that country is facing. Canada will continue to support the efforts of the Haitian government by playing a leading role in the countrys development," said Minister Bibeau.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted a travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, vowing that his government would reinstate it as affected travelers scrambled for tickets to try to quickly enter the United States.

The federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked Trump's week-old order to stop people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the United States as his administration develops stricter vetting rules for immigrants and travelers that Trump says are needed to prevent attacks.

The Washington state lawsuit is the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's travel ban, which has been condemned by rights groups that consider it discriminatory.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which is an independent arm of the U.S. government.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted.

Because of the temporary restraining order, the U.S. government said travelers with valid visas would be allowed to enter the country. The State Department said almost 60,000 visas had been suspended because of Trump's ban.

The order had set off chaos and moved thousands of people to protest at airports across the United States last week.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented from boarding a flight to New York last week.

"I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," Sharef told Reuters as he and his family prepared to fly from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Virtually all refugees also were barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

On Saturday, a small group of immigration lawyers, some holding signs in English and Arabic, gathered at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, offering services to passengers arriving from overseas destinations.

"This is an instance where people could really slip through the cracks and get detained and nobody would know," said John Biancamano, 35, an attorney volunteering his services.

At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, volunteer lawyers also were in place to help travelers and monitor how visa holders and permanent residents were being treated as they arrived.

REFUGEES ENSNARED

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Trump administration would fight to overturn Friday's ruling.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the president's executive order, which is lawful and appropriate," DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said a statement.

Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. Overnight, some international airlines were uncertain about whether they could sell tickets to travelers from the countries in Trump's ban.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family were granted U.S. visas in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications.

"We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Trump's order also put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee admission program and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely. With Friday night's restraining order on the ban, refugees who have been cleared can now board planes.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."

He said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case.

"It's in God's hands," he said.

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Scripture

[Jesus told his disciples,] "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going" (John 14:1-4).

Reflection :

Quite a few years ago, a group of teenagers and college students shared a mission trip to Thailand. They experienced many things together  sharing worship and communion with people from 12 different languages in Bangkok, ministering in a leprosy colony, experiencing an earthquake, working alongside Christian street vendors, and witnessing to Thai university students. The food requirement, however, had a profound impact on their trip: they could not eat American food for the first 12 days. They mostly ate Thai food from street vendors. This guideline kept them from having a cultural escape hatch at meal time and anchored them in Thai culture.

On day 12, they went to downtown Chiang Mai and ate at the Burger King. While everyone loved their Thailand experience, most grew homesick. The taste of hamburgers and French fries in a place that felt familiar made them feel a little more culturally stabilized while on the opposite side of the planet. They enjoyed a taste of home and felt ready to face the rest of their trip.

We easily forget how important meals, food, and friendship are to our sense of home. However, the Lord who made us also anchored our time together as disciples with a simple meal we call Holy Communion, The Supper, the Eucharist, and The Lord's Supper. We share The Supper to remember what Jesus did for us. We share this time with each other as Jesus' body, the church, made up of connected and gifted people who belong to one another. At the same time, this simple meal is our taste of home. It is an "anticipatory reminder" of the great celebration that lies ahead when we go home to the Father.

This simple meal of bread and fruit of the vine goes far beyond bread and wine. It is our reminder of the future Jesus purchased for us with his death, burial, and resurrection. Like the student's trip to Burger King in Thailand, Communion is our taste of home. It is a way to satisfy our longing for home while intensifying our expectation of being with those we love at God's eternal table of joy. There's an old song ("Home of the Soul" by James Rowe) that captures our longing and expectation:

Oft' in the storm,

Lonely are we.

Longing for home,

Sighing for Thee.

If we are open about our longing, the Lord makes this bread and wine our taste of home. We can leave The Table satisfied with grace, yet hungry for our future with Jesus. As Paul says:

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8).

We can leave The Table satisfied with grace, yet hungry for our future!

As we share this bread and drink this cup, let's be reminded of our home on the horizon and the joy we will share when we arrive!

Prayer for the Bread :

O Father of grace and giver of every good gift, thank you for this bread. Holy Spirit, use this bread to temporarily satisfy our hungry souls with a taste of home. Thank you, Jesus, for your gift that marked your body with scars proclaiming your love and grace. We receive this bread to remember your sacrifice and anticipate our coming home with you. Amen.

Prayer for the Cup :

Almighty God, thank you for your sacrificial love that triumphed over sin, death, and hell for us in Jesus! This cup is a reminder of our future with you that was so lovingly won through Jesus' great sacrifice. We thank you in his name. Amen.
Apple is to start making iPhones in India this year, a local government official said Friday, as the firm looks to tap a booming middle class as sales in China slow.

The US giant has not confirmed the move, but chief executive Tim Cook said this week the company intended to "invest significantly" in India, where a pick-up in the economy provides ample opportunity for growth.

"We have an understanding with Apple and we expect them to start manufacturing in Karnataka by the end of April," Priyank Kharge, minister of information technology and biotechnology in southern Karnataka state, told AFP.

He said the new operation would likely assemble iPhones for the domestic market. Apple has only a two-percent share of the Indian market, well behind rival Samsung on 23 percent, according to research firm Canalys.

However, last year it had 48 percent of the premium sector in which phones sell for $450 and above.

Experts said manufacturing locally would reduce the company's costs and enable it to lower prices.

"They're eager to be here because they've identified India as a strategic focus market," said Jaideep Mehta of research firm IDC.

"They had a fantastic 2016 in India and shipped more two million devices to India, and now they're looking to ultimately manufacture here as that gives them more flexibility to respond to market changes."

Apple currently sells its phones in India through third-party retailers.

It is eager to open its own stores but Indian law would require it to procure 30 percent of the components of its products locally.

It is not clear whether the Karnataka plans would help it clear that hurdle. Reports in Indian media said Wistron Corp., a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, was lined up to assemble iPhones at a plant on the outskirts of tech hub Bangalore.

Apple outsources all its manufacturing globally. Analysts said that if confirmed the move would be a coup for India's government, which has been trying to persuade foreign companies to manufacture in the country.

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Licensed hunter Richard Hanna was unaware that the birds he shot were protected species

An experienced hunter was caught with the carcasses of two protected birds in his freezer after he boasted about shooting them by posting photos on Facebook.

Richard Hanna (38), who is a registered gun holder but not a licensed wildlife dealer, said he genuinely did not believe the brent goose and shelduck were protected species.

He claimed he was out hunting and acknowledged he discharged two shots in an area where he saw "about 600 geese".

"I thought all my birthdays had come at once as I killed six birds with two shots," Hanna told Balbriggan District Court.

Broadcast

"I put photos up on Facebook as I was only out hunting for half-an-hour and thought I had my best day hunting. If I knew I did something illegal I wouldn't have broadcast it to the world."

He said he now accepts two of the six birds he shot were protected species, but that he "genuinely made a mistake that day".

The court heard the National Parks & Wildlife Service was notified of the Facebook photos and three conservation officers searched Hanna's premises.

They located the brent goose and shelduck in a freezer in the back shed and seized and preserved the birds.

Hanna subsequently rang the department and told them he believed they were Canada geese, which is not a protected species.

The court heard Hanna has a deer hunting licence and is a registered gun holder.

Hanna, of Ringsford Close, Balrothery, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to being in possession of the protected wild birds while not being a licensed wildlife dealer.

Defence solicitor Morgan Redmond told the court the defendant acknowledged shooting the birds and putting the photos up on Facebook.

Similar

"He was unaware they were protected species and it is accepted by the prosecution that he thought the birds were Canada geese," said Mr Redmond.

"He fired off two shots and the birds were killed in the process."

Judge Dempsey was shown pictures of the brent goose and a Canada goose and accepted they appeared similar as both are black and white.

A conservation ranger told Judge Dempsey that the brent goose and Canada goose are "closely related" and are about the size of an adult duck.

"But the brent goose is hard to confuse with a Canada goose," the ranger added.

Judge Dempsey convicted and fined Hanna 100 for each offence.

When he granted a destruction order for the birds, Hanna asked if he could have one of them to have it stuffed.

The state solicitor informed him he could not as he would require special permission to get it stuffed and Judge Dempsey said the destruction order stands.
Eight university students were killed and 43 were injured Friday in a bus accident on the Nuweiba international road in Egypt's South Sinai governorate, Ahram Arabic website reported.

SIx of the killed students were identified, while two bodies remain unidentified.

The bus was carrying pharmacy students from Alexandria University, heading to spend their mid-year vacation in a resort in Nuweiba, a coastal city in South Sinai.

Injured students were transferred to the central hospital of Nuweiba and Dahab hospital. Twenty-three of them are in severe condition, while the other 20 sustained minor injuries.

Initial inspection of the accident showed that the bus driver was driving at a high speed, on a winding road surrounded by mountains and cliffs in the area of Saeda, when he lost control and the bus careened off the road down a hillside.

The identities of all injured and killed students are currently being checked at both hospitals.

The general persecution was notified to investigate the accident.

Deadly road accidents take place on a near-daily basis in Egypt, which is notorious for poor road-safety conditions, badly maintained infrastructure and loosely enforced traffic regulations.

According to a study published by the state's official statistics body CAPMAS in August 2016, Egypt saw 25,500 road fatalities in the previous year, while the total number of car accidents was 14,500.

According to a global status report on road safety in 2015 published by the World Health Organisation, Egypt ranked 16th for road fatalities among Arab countries and 109th globally out of 180 countries.

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An elderly farmer spent the last years of his life in a state of fear after a burglar ransacked his home.

Richard Lowndes, whose property was raided in 2012 by thief Matthew Fahey, died on Thursday at the age of 82.

On the day of the burglary, Fahey (37) knocked on Mr Lowndes' door and told him his van had broken down and asked to use the phone to call a taxi.

Raided

Mr Lowndes made him tea while they waited for the cab. Later that day, Fahey returned and raided the house.

Mr Lowndes' son Graham (52) arrived at the scene and chased Fahey and shot him.

Mr Lowndes had previously spoken out in defence of his son's actions, saying he was "trying to do the right thing".

Fahey received a gunshot wound to the arm and was later convicted of the burglary at the property in rural Kilsallaghan.

Graham Lowndes was given the benefit of the Probation Act at Dublin Circuit Court last July when he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of having a shotgun without a certificate on the day he shot Fahey.

A charge of reckless discharge of a shotgun was dropped.

Fahey, who has more than 60 convictions, later initiated a civil case for his injuries caused by 17 shotgun pellets.

Mr Lowndes, who lived in the farmhouse for 55 years, had been living alone since his wife Dorothy died in 2003.

He passed away at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Local people said last night that he was "a country gentleman" who was much respected by the community.

"My father spent the last few years of his life living in a home he turned into a fortress because he was worried about another burglary," said his son.

"This was a man who used to leave a key in the door of the house before all the burglaries happened in the locality.

"When I was charged after what happened, I know he worried a lot about what would happen to me.

"It was sad he had to spend years worrying about what the outcome of my case would be.

"His legacy to his four children is that he taught us about respect, love, hard work and family values."
President Higgins with the newly-weds at Aras an Uachtarain

A meeting between President Michael D Higgins and a couple of gay newly-weds has been described as "very moving and very emotional".

Catholic priest Fr Bernard Lynch and Billy Desmond met Mr Higgins at Aras an Uachtarain.

Afterwards, Fr Lynch said: "President Higgins could not have been more welcoming. He put his arms around us when we first met."

Fr Lynch, from Co Clare, and long-term partner Mr Desmond, from Co Cork, were married last week at the Armada Hotel in west Clare, the county's first wedding between two gay men.

In response to a personal invitation from the President, they travelled to Dublin and had a private hour-long meeting with Mr Higgins.

Ennobling

"For us, the meeting with President Higgins was extraordinarily ennobling in what is a very dark world at the moment," said Fr Lynch (69).

He said the three shared "lots of tea, coffee, cake and biscuits" and spoke about social justice and current affairs.

The couple split their time between London and Lahinch.

"It was the most powerful homecoming Billy and I have ever had in our lives. President Higgins couldn't have been more gracious and hospitable," said Fr Lynch.

He added that he was part of the first LGBT delegation to the Aras to meet with then-president Mary Robinson in the early 1990s.

"That was mind-blowing, but this topped it off," he said.

"We have been brought in from the cold into the hearth of the nation by a man of such heart."
A soldier shot and wounded a man who tried to attack him with a machete at the Louvre in Paris, in what French president Francois Hollande described as an incident of a "terrorist nature".

Police said the man, who was carrying two backpacks and had two machetes, reacted when soldiers told him he could not enter a shopping area below the museum with his bags.

The man tried to attack the soldiers after yelling "Allahu akbar", the Arabic phrase for "God is great".

Explosives

The man was hit five times, including once in the stomach, Paris police chief Michel Cadot said.

The backpacks did not contain any explosives, he added. One of the soldiers was slightly wounded on the scalp.

Mr Hollande told reporters at an EU summit in Malta that there was "no doubt" the attack was of a "terrorist nature".

He said the situation around the Paris landmark was "totally under control" but the overall threat to France remains.

Mr Hollande said he expects the assailant to be questioned "when it is possible to do so".

US president Donald Trump claimed a "new radical Islamic terrorist" was behind the attack. He tweeted early yesterday that the US needs to "ge t smart" in light of the incident.

The Louvre will reopen today, culture minister Audrey Azoulay said as she visited soldiers guarding the museum as part of heightened security measures.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said a second person was also arrested but it is unclear if they were linked to the attack.

He added that about 1,000 people were inside the museum and were held in safe areas.
Washington County football: Wildcats, Warriors open playoffs with victories

Williamsport and Boonsboro will play in the second round of the Class 2A-1A West playoffs after victories Friday night.
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Ahead of the crucial 2017 Punjab assembly polls, Hindustan Times talked to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh, Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal, and Punjab Congress chief and chief ministerial nominee Captain Amarinder Singh.

While Sanjay Singh clarified on AAP supremo Kejriwals position, saying when we form the government, the CM will be a Punjabi. Kejriwal will continue to be the New Delhi CM.

Read Sanjay Singhs full interview here

On the other hand, Captain Amarinder, seemingly bolstered by the anti-incumbency sentiment against the ruling Akalis, said, My astrologers are I-PAC (party strategist Prashant Kishors team) and they tell me we are winning 68 seats, AAP will be second at 34 and SAD-BJP will get 15 seats. People in Punjab dont give a split verdict. They will give us a clear mandate.

Read Capt Amarinders full interview here

The Punjab CM remained hopeful, claiming SAD will be back and much stronger than in 2012.

Last time, the Congress had written us off. This time, both AAP and Congress are making the same mistake. They will be in for a rude shock. The battle is still on, and we are poised for a forceful mandate, he said .

Read Parkash Singh Badals full interview here

Dont miss | Assembly elections Live: EVM glitches cause delay in parts of Punjab
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav hit back at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday evening for the latters SCAM jibe, saying the acronym actually stands for Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi.

Modi had earlier played with the word to say it stands for Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. The BJP will fight against the SCAM in the state, the Prime Minister had said at an election rally in Meerut.

The CM, who hopped from one meeting to another in Kanpur region throughout the day, coined his own term for the word at Akbarpur, in Kanpur Dehat, launching a scathing attack on the Prime Minister and the BJP president.

Everyone has suffered badly in their quest for achche din; they had to stand in queues from morning to night to take out their own hard- earned money from banks, he said in another meeting at Auraiya. He also addressed meeting in Phapoond, Bidhuna and Rasoolabad.

The CM said they (the PM and the BJP) once again selling the dream of ache din in these elections.

The budget has just been passed, what did the poor and women got from it, he said, adding the PM has an obligation to tell the people how much black money he had brought back.

Mocking the central government for introducing Rs 2,000 note, he said had the Centre taken advice from him a better note would have been in circulation.

Yadav, highlighting his achievements before the impressive crowd, said his government would put in place a mechanism that would prevent policemen from taking bribes.

He also promised to recruit 1 lakh police constables from among class 10 or 12 pass youths if voted back to power.

On the alliance with the Congress he said The cycle has got a hand, it will run much faster now.

The CM appealed to the people to put behind the SP feud for the next two months.

My relation with Netaji is unbreakable; sometimes the circumstances compel us to take certain decisions; fighting the conspiracies within the party had become my compulsion.
The electoral results of 157 assembly constituencies in Punjab and Goa will decide the political fortunes of two prominent opposition forces  the grand old party, the Congress and the aggressive newcomer Aam Aadmi Party.

But AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal is confident of his party sweeping to power in Goa and Punjab where polling began Saturday morning.

Goa and Punjab will create history today, Kejriwal tweeted shortly after polling began.

The national ambition of the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal rests on the outcome the elections in Punjab and Goa in the first phase of a five-state election process that will end with the results on March 11. And these two are the only states where the AAP is seen as a serious contender.

Urging people of Punjab & Goa to turnout in record numbers & vote in the Assembly elections. I particularly urge my young friends to vote.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 4, 2017

A rejection by the voters here will be a severe setback to the political startup which nurtures an expansion plan beyond the half-state of Delhi. A win in either state will also give AAP access to powers that a state government enjoys, including control over the state police for maintaining law and order  something that AAP has been fighting for in Delhi. It will also make AAP the only other party apart from the BJP and the Congress to rule more than one state.

The party finished with an impressive tally of four out of 13 seats in Punjab in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, even as it drew a blank in the rest of the country.

The AAPs advent in Punjabs political scene in 2014 also ended the bipolarity of the states politics which was shuffling between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine that has now ruled for 10 years.

Months ago, around September 2016, the AAPs political affairs committee took the decision to focus on Punjab and Goa among the five states. It has also been focusing on capturing the political space ceded by the Congress.

A good show will mean the AAPs expansion out of Delhi, where it won 67 out of 70 seats in February 2015. A failure could dent the partys hopes including its chances in the Gujarat polls later this year, where it will fight the ruling BJP and the challenger Congress.

Our aim is not to become a national party but that elections are fought on the issue of anti-corruption, education and health, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who campaigned in Punjab and Goa to pitch the Delhi model of governance, told HT on the eve of polling.

We will take this agenda to other states after Punjab and Goa where we are going to form the government.

In Punjab, the AAP is up against a resurgent Congress led by former chief minister Amarinder Singh and the well-oiled election machinery of the SAD-BJP. However, many polls have shown the Congress, and not AAP, in the lead. The Punjab election will provide the necessary impetus to the winner and decide who will be the main challenger to the BJP. For the Congress, a win in Punjab will give out the message that its slide has been arrested and the time for revival has come, well ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, five years after it was reduced to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress now rules in seven states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Puducherry. Since December 2013, it has lost Rajasthan, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh (and Telangana), Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the last due to defections, besides Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir as an alliance partner. In UP, the Congress is a junior alliance partner of the Samajwadi Party but a win in Punjab would be on its own steam.

In Goa, the AAP is fighting the BJP which hopes to return to power based on a split of the opposition vote. The Congress is in coalition with the Goa Forward and the United Goa Party. A fourth coalition of an RSS-splinter group, Shiv Sena and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party has thrown up an unpredictable set of possibilities.

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Voting for the single-phase polls in two states  Goa and Punjab - is well underway, in the first round of the staggered legislative assembly elections that will go on for over a month.

Punjab is all set for a three-cornered tussle for the 117 assembly seats, as the Congress and the AAP are vying to dethrone the incumbent Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) combine that has been in power since March 2007.

In Goa, as many as 251 candidates  from the BJP, Congress and new entrant, Aam Aadmi Party, along with the recently-formed alliance of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the Goa Suraksha Manch and the Shiv Sena  will battle it out in the 40 constituencies.

Results will be declared on March 11.

Below are live updates:

8.15pm: Election Commission says 75% voter turnout in Punjab.

8pm: Re-polling has been recommended at Margao constituency (South Goa) due to faulty procedure, EC to take final decision.

7pm: Voter turnout of 70% (tentative) recorded in Punjab till 5pm says Election Commission

6.45pm: Record voter turnout of 83% in Goa, says Umesh Sinha, deputy election commissioner.

100% webcasting was done in Goa on all the polling stations: Election Commission.

6pm: Nearly 70% polling has taken place in Punjab, an election office spokesperson told PTI giving the preliminary figures of poll percentage.

5:20pm: Entry of voters to polling station closed at 5pm in Punjab, only those inside can vote now.

5:10pm: Polling ends in Goa, reports ANI.

4:55pm: Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 66% till 4 pm, reports ANI.

4:25pm: AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal questions polling time in Punjab, asks why it is one hour less in Punjab.

As per EC notification, polling time in Goa from 7 am to 5 pm but in Punjab, it is from 8 am to 5 pm (one hr less). Why?  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 4, 2017

4:10pm: Punjab records 52% voting till 4pm.

3.40pm: Reports of shots fired outside a polling station in Guru Har Sahai in Punjab.

BREAKING | #PunjabPolls2017 | In Guru Har Sahai, 4 gunshots fired in air by two bike-borne men outside polling station at school @htTweets  HT Punjab (@HTPunjab) February 4, 2017

3.05pm: Punjab records 50% turnout across the state at 3 pm. Goas tally rises to 67%.

While election day in the two states has been largely peaceful so far, one mild altercation unfolded outside a polling station in Majitha, involving SADs Bikram Majithia and Congress Lali Majithia. Watch:

VIDEO | In Majitha, SAD's Bikram Majithia and Cong's Lali Majithia in a verbal spat over latter's car inside poll station @htTweets pic.twitter.com/kOoEojjYy7  HT Punjab (@HTPunjab) February 4, 2017

2:20pm: Polling rates pick up rapidly in the state with turnout reaching nearly 44%. Ludhiana alone records 50% at 2 pm.

2:00pm: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Captain Amarinder Singh along with his wife MLA Preneet Kaur and family members comes out his residence to cast his vote at Government College for Women in Patiala.

1:40pm: Congress Capt Amarinder Singh casts his vote:

1:35pm: Turnout rises to 35% in Punjab as of 1 pm. Additional director general of police VK Bhawra said that no untoward incidents were reported. An EC spokesperson told PTI that the technical snag reported in voter-verified paper audit trail machines in Majitha and Sangrur was reported to the Commission.

The voting started around 45 minutes late at two polling booths in Jalandhar and Amritsar due to technical glitches in their Electronic Voting Machines.

Read | Paper-trail voting machines a nightmare, says Punjab chief electoral officer after glitches

1:15pm: Goa crosses the halfway mark, registering 53% voter turnout at 1 pm. The representation of women is so far higher at 28% while the percentage of men who voted is 25%.

1:00pm: By noon, 32% voters in Punjab had cast their votes across over 22,000 polling stations. Long lines reported across the state, including Mohali, Jal North, Khanna, Jalandhar.

By noon, appreciation letters that were being distributed to first-time voters ran out in Khanna constituency.

In Goa, Anil Jholapure of the NCP was detained and released after four hours by police for unruly behaviour near TB Cunha booth in Aquem.

12:50pm: A 78-year-old senior citizen collapsed while waiting to vote at a polling station in Panjim. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital where he died. Identified as Leslie Saldanha, he is reported to have suffered a heart attack.

Gallery | Pink teddies and EVM glitches: Voting underway in Goa and Punjab

12:00pm: Machine breaks down in a polling booth in TB Cunha in Margao assembly constituency. People sent away from polling booth. Election Commission to look into the matter.

11:50am: Will give Rahul Gandhi a great gift with Congress revival, says Navjot Singh Sidhu as he arrives to vote in Amritsar, with wife Navjot Kaur.

(Sameer Sehgal/Hindustan Times)

11:50am: Punjab records an overall voter turnout of 14% till 11.30 am.

11:35am: Goa registers an impressive 34% turnout till 11am. 35% of voters participated so far in North Goa and 32% in south. Overall, the percentage of both men and women voting is the same at 17 each.

11:25am: Despite the cold wave across the Majha region, voter turnout was high from the start of the day. The region comprising four districts, from Pathankot to Tarn Taran and in between Gurdaspur and Amritsar, has 25 assembly seats and there are 252 candidates in the fray.

Read | Punjab elections: The cycle of debts and farmer suicides blight Indias grain bowl

Majha will matter the most for the SAD that is saddled with 10 years of anti-incumbency, coupled with uprising of sorts in its citadel, the Malwa.

11:20am: SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal casts her vote, says that Punjab needs a government that works with the Centre and not one adversarial to it and certainly not the one that ruined Delhi.

She also levels a serious allegation against AAP, saying they have direct links with the ISI and that recent incidents prove it.

11:15am: Cricketer Harbhajan Singh, along with his mother Avtar Kaur, cast their votes at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar.

(HT Photo)

He tells ANI that whoever wins in Punjab, he hopes that they put the states welfare ahead of party affiliations.

11:00am: Voter turnout rises to 13% in Punjab.

#PunjabPolls2017 State turnout now 13%, Nawanhsahr (SBS Nagar) and Moga districts lead with 17% || @htTweets pic.twitter.com/mNzx4V6Zoi  HT Punjab (@HTPunjab) February 4, 2017

10:55am: Well have a bigger win than last year. Amarinder Singh is only drama and AAP is in 3rd position, Shiromani Akali Dals Sukhbir Singh Badal tells ANI before casting his vote. Chief minister Prakash Singh Badal votes at a polling booth in Lambi.

Amarinder Singh is dal-badlu (turncoat) .I have 70 years of experience and Ive fought for Punjab and India, this is a small battle, says the CM.

#PunjabPolls2017 CM Parkash Singh Badal casts vote, says, 'I am the youngest politician in Punjab'. He is 89. @htTweets pic.twitter.com/KI6TSDma9m  HT Punjab (@HTPunjab) February 4, 2017

10:50am: Punjab records an overall voter turnout of 12% till 10.30 am.

10:15am: Goa and Punjab will create history today, Kejriwal tweeted shortly after polling began. All people must go out and vote. Also take along people from your pind (village) for voting. And vote for honest politics, he said in another tweet.

A rejection by the voters here will be a severe setback to the political startup which nurtures an expansion plan beyond Delhi. Read more here.

10:00am: Punjab has recorded overall polling percentage of 10% of the total 1.98 crore voters till 10 am, PTI reports. The early voters in the state includes General JJ Singh (Red) of SAD, Pargat Singh of Congress, Sucha Singh Chhotepur of Apna Punjab Party (APP), and Bhagwant Mann, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi and Sukhpal SIngh Kahiara of AAP.

Slow start: 6% voting till 9 am in Ludhiana. Some upset over not being allowed to take phones inside booths. #PunjabPolls2017@aneeshasareen pic.twitter.com/0zZDj4etXy  HT Punjab (@HTPunjab) February 4, 2017

9:50am: First-time voters given teddy bears in Goa. 40 all-women managed polling stations have been set up by the Election Commission. 11.10 lakh voters will decide the fate of 251 candidates, including 19 women in Goa. A total of 32,354 first-time voters are registered to cast ballot in Saturdays state assembly polls, reports IANS.

(Nida Khan/Hindustan Times) (Nida Khan/Hindustan Times)

And roses were given to the first ten voters by Fazilka police.

9:40am: The environment is charged and very positive, we are confident of a win, says Captain Amarinder Singhs wife, Preneet Kaur.

AAPs Gurpreet Ghuggi casts his vote at a polling station in Bathinda, says voting is our right and must be exercised.

Read | Missing Goan food in Delhi: Parrikar dodges questions on returning to state as CM

9:30am: North Goa has recorded a voting percentage of 16%, while South Goa recorded 14% with an overall turnout of 15%, as of 9 am, reports ANI.

9:15am: Meanwhile, polling gets well underway in Goa. Over 11 lakh Goans are eligible to vote across 1,642 polling booths for the 40 seats in the coastal state. Read more here.

The technical snag in voting machines has been fixed in one of the booths under Jalandhar Central constituency in Punjab. There was a delay of half an hour.

8:40am: ANI reports that polling at booth no.124-125 in Amritsar began 40 minutes late due to a glitch in EVM machine. In Mohali, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Bhagwant Mann argues with polling officials over the malfunctioning machines.

8:30am: Technical issues with Electronic Voting Machines in Mohali keep voters waiting. Polling delayed at Jalandhar too.

8:25am: Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar casts his vote at a polling booth in North Goas Arambol. We will win with complete and comfortable majority, will continue development work and most importantly job creation, he tells ANI.

Former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar also cast his ballot in Panaji. Velingkar said that the alliance between the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa Suraksha Manch and Shiv Sena would win 22 seats.

Read | BJP in Goa has become completely corrupt: RSS rebel leader in Q&A with HT

The BJP government has to go and will go. The RSS cadre in Goa will not vote for them. The Goa BJP and Parrikar are responsible for the maladies the state is suffering, Velingkar said, IANS reports.

Rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar was the first voter in his booth to case vote in Panaji constituency on Saturday. (PTI)

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes also cast his ballot.

8:05am: Gen JJ Singh (Retd), the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate standing against Congresss Amarinder Singh in Patiala Urban constituency, casts his vote.

He loves challenges. In Arunachal Pradesh also he wanted a challenging area, says wife of Gen JJ Singh (retd) on him contesting against Congress Amarinder Singh.

Read | Punjab election: Drugs, despair and decline fuel demand for change in state

8:00am: Voting begins in 117 constituencies in Punjab, 1145 candidates to contest. The Election Commission has put in place elaborate security arrangements across 22,600 polling stations where voting will end at 5pm.

It is for the first time that Punjabs politics is witnessing a three-horse race that officially began on January 4 after the EC announced a single-phase election for the 117 assembly seats in this border state. Read more here.

7:40 am: Candidates seek blessings at Amritsars Golden Temple, as voters wait for polling to begin at 8am.

At polling booth no.123-124 at SD College in Pathankot (Twitter/@ANI_News)

7:30am: Initial reports suggest good turnout, Goa might cross last years turnout of 84% and BJP will win with two-thirds majority, Parrikar tells ANI after casting his vote in Panaji. The 2012 state assembly polls in Goa recorded a highest-ever voting percentage in the state with 82.2%, IANS reports.

BJPs campaign involved several national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP party president Amit Shah addressing public meetings to rally support for the candidates.

Read | Goa election: A lot at stake for BJP, AAP in this multi-cornered fight

7:15am: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar stands in line at a polling booth in Panaji to cast his vote.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar in a queue outside a polling booth to cast his vote in Goa on Saturday. (PTI)

7:05am: Urging people of Punjab and Goa to turnout in record numbers and vote in the assembly elections. I particularly urge my young friends to vote, tweets PM Narendra Modi.

Young voters hold special significance, according to the Election Commission, with 27% of Punjabs total voters and 23% in Goa fall in the age group of 18-30, PTI reports.

Read | Assembly election 2017: AAP to deploy 15,000 volunteers with spy cameras in Punjab

7:00am: Security deployed outside polling station in Goas Panaji; voters queue up at polling station to cast their vote.

Security deployed outside polling station in Goa's Panaji; voters queue up at polling station to cast their vote #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/uM1Elm98uD  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

Over 8,000 additional paramilitary personnel, in addition to the state police, have been despatched to the 1,642 polling stations across the state and other locations to maintain law and order, IANS reports.

Read | Assembly elections: Make-or-break for Kejriwal, Modis test in Punjab and Goa

(With agency inputs)
Amid speculation that he would return to Goa politics, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday kept everyone guessing by describing himself as a party man who will work as per the directions of party leaders.

However, he went on to add that he was missing Goan food in Delhi and people can derive any meaning out of his remarks.

Iske bareme apko Aamitji ne kaha hai, jo kaha hai utna hi mai wapas repeat karoonga (I will repeat what Amitji (Amit Shah) has said on this issue). I am a partyman, let party decide, he told reporters when asked if he would be the next Goa CM if his party is voted to power.

When prodded over his remarks on missing Goan food, Parrikar said, I have lost four kg in Delhi, the main reason is food.

I have not said anything I only said I like Goan food. You can derive any meaning out of it, he said.

Parrikar, who was among the early voters at the polling booth in Panaji constituency, expected the polling to cross 85% mark this time.

Initial reports indicate the beginning of a very good turnout. I expect good voting this time like last time when there was 83% voting. It may even exceed 85% this time, Parrikar said.

Goa votes very heavy and this is a speciality that BJP has inducted in the politics of Goa. Initial indications are good, he said.

Parrikar said the BJP expects the mandate with two-thirds majority. Pollsters are saying that it would be a BJP majority. Everyone is predicting 22-25 seats, I will get better than that, he added.

Noting that it is a four-corner fight in the state, Parrikar quipped Out of four corners, three are very weak.

Except for four-five seats, MGP led combine does not pose any threat. This election will have 85% voting. BJP has contacted each voter four to five times. People are very enthusiastic to give certificate to the good government. He said that this time BJP will be main focal point around which other parties are revolving.

Responding to a question about his camping in Goa for the campaign, Parrikar shot back, Is it wrong to campaign? In democracy if you follow all the laws and guidelines, you can campaign.

I will be also campaigning in Uttarakhand, UP and even civic polls of Mumbai. Goa is my home. I am not criticising anyone for going to his home and campaigning there, he said.

For live updates on voting in Goa assembly elections, click here
In the autumn of her life, 106-year-old Mali Devi sent out a message to voters by exercising her franchise here on Saturday. Devi of ward number 12 at Guru Arjan Dev Nagar cast her vote at booth number 132, Ludhiana deputy commissioner Ravi Bhagat said.

She was provided a pick-and-drop facility by the Ludhiana administration, he said. Ludhianas poll volunteers went to her residence and brought her accompanied by some family members to the polling station and dropped her home after she cast her vote, he said.

Poll officials also helped her to the booth in a wheelchair. She was also presented a rose as a goodwill gesture.

District election officer-cum-DC Ravi Bhagat said the administration through volunteers are approaching such voters at their residence to bring them to the polling booth.

We are in process of identifying more with an aim to help all of them cast their votes till the end of the polling, said Bhagat.
A Congress supporter was injured after Akali workers led by sarpanch Desa Singh allegedly opened fire outside a polling station at Lalu Ghuman village in Tarn Taran on Saturday.

Victim Jagjit Singh received a bullet injury in his right leg and was rushed to the local civil hospital, from where he was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar, after being administered first aid. His condition is stated to be stable.

Sources said the SAD sarpanch had brought some people in his vehicle to ensure they voted for his party. When he was collecting their voter slips around 3.45pm, Congress workers reportedly stopped him, accusing him of luring voters with money. This led to a heated argument.

Desa Singh, who was accompanied by former sarpach Sarbjit Singh, allegedly called his aides, who were carrying firearms. As the spat turned violent, the Akalis allegedly opened fire, injuring Jagjit.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harjit Singh, who rushed to the spot, said around 20 persons involved in the incident, including Desa Singh and Sarbjit Singh, have been booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder, 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Arms Act.

Other accused named in the first-information report (FIR) are Gurpreet Singh, Malkit Singh, Balram Singh and Bagga Singh, while the remaining are unidentified, he said. All of them are absconding

MISCREANTS FIRE GUNSHOTS IN AIR

Polling at Government Senior Secondary School in Guru Har Sahai town of Ferozepur district was disturbed for some time as two motorcycle-borne miscreants fired four gunshots into the air. Deputy inspector general of police, Ferozepur range, Sukhchain Singh Gill, and SSP Gaurav Garg visited the spot. A case has been registered. The assembly segment also witnessed a clash between Akali and Congress supporters at Mohan Ke Heder village on the night before polling. Eight people were hospitalised with injuries.

FIVE HURT IN CLASHES IN SANGRUR, PATIALA

Two AAP workers were injured after Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy and his supporters allegedly manhandled them at a booth in Sultanpur village of the Dhuri segment in Sangrur segment. Rubbishing the allegation, Goldy said: I was not present at the spot. AAP created a false video but failed to prove its claim.

Meanwhile, a day after clashing at Khanauri village, Congress and Akali workers again had a scuffle near a government school at Lehra. The incident took place after the polling end around 5.30pm. Workers of both parties threw stones at each other, injuring two people: Amrik Singh of the Akali Dal and Harish Chand, a Congress supporter. Police are probing both the cases.

A Congress worker, Manu Sharma, was rushed to hospital after clash with Akali workers at Samana in Patiala district. Congress leader Gursharan Kaur Randhawa alleged local Akali leader Navjot Singh attacked Manu with sharp-edged weapons. She alleged Navjot and his supporters were regularly threatening Congress supporters. A complaint has been lodged with the Samana police.

CONGRESSMEN INJURED IN ATTACK

In another incident, three Congressmen were injured after allegedly being attacked with sharp-edged weapons at a polling booth in Paddey village under Dera Baba Nanak segment. The injured  Shemsher Singh, Kulwant Singh and Dilbag Singh  alleged they were attacked by Akali supporters led by sarpanch Ranjeet Singh Rana for not joining the SAD.

Meanwhile, voting remained suspended for half an hour at Roopawali and Bolley Ke villages falling under the Fatehgarh Churrian segment after a clash between Congressmen and Akali workers.

Also Read | Supporters of Akali candidate Gabria booked for attacking Simarjeet Bains in Ludhiana

Also Read | AAP candidate booked after clash with Congress workers at Dera Baba Nanak
Hours after polling ended in Punjab, the Congress party broke into a celebration at its election war room at a quiet corner in Mohali.

Here a motley bunch of young IITians and graduates from foreign universities spent the day glued to their laptops, a huge LCD screen and mobile phones to track the pulse of the elections minute-by-minute, both on the ground and on social media.

The war room set up by party strategist Prashant Kishor was the nerve centre of Congresss campaign in the state.

Relishing a bite of the sweet dish Gulab Jamun, Rishi Raj Singh, one of I-PAC co-founders and directors, claimed angry tweets from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal served as an early indication that it was advantage Congress.

The Delhi CM had taken to Twitter to express his anger over malfunctioning of EVMs, differences in voting time in Goa (7 am to 5 pm) and Punjab (8 am to 5 pm) and accused the Election Commission of surrendering completely to the Narendra Modi government.

The social media-savvy party had put just two posts on its official Facebook page.

Have you seen the Twitter handle of Kejriwal and AAP since morning? is how Rishi started the conversation, adding that be it a snag in EVMs or differences in voting time, it was same for all parties.

But it was only Kejriwal and his party leaders who were venting their anger. It shows which way the winds were blowing, he added.

But are tweets a barometer for early celebrations? Rishi said social media only confirmed the reports they were getting from the ground.

We had nearly 1200 volunteers and Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) team members reporting straight from the booths of the states 117 assembly constituencies, he said.

Another 500 were positioned at district headquarters feeding us live updates. We have done better than our initial calculations. We are sweeping Majha, winning Doaba and getting more than half the seats in Malwa, he added.

As per partys post-poll calculations, it is winning 38 of Malwas 69 seats, 18 in Majha and around 12 in Doaba.

The I-PAC, whom Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh dubs as his astrologers, may have gauged public mood much like exit polls, but Rishi claims stalls of parties outside polling booths reveal the trend.

We had more people coming to Congress stalls in most of the booths. That itself indicates a lot, he said.

The ground work at the war room had started at least 11 months ago. Like Rishi, an alumnus of IIT-Kanpur, who has been in Punjab since last 11 months, his well-oiled poll machine has been working in each assembly seat, with local Congress leaders and workers.

They were meeting those who influence public opinion such as school principals, teachers, doctors, media personnel, college professors and government officials for feedbacks.

It was also doing some social listening by joining conversations in paan shops, tea shops and eateries to know the public mood.

Unlike the Bihar war room, they had set up in 2015, which had huge posters of Nitish Kumar, the centre in Mohali depicted Punjabs poll scene through cartoons.

Formerly part of Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) that did campaigning for BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Kishor and his group floated I-PAC before Bihar assembly elections and scripted Nitish Kumars victory.

Kishor is now hoping for a hat-trick in Punjab.

If he fails to deliver, it will be a hat-trick of different kind-- Congress and its state chief Captain Amarinder Singh losing Punjab in three back-to-back polls.

For more stories on the Punjab assembly elections, click here.

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The pattern of voting in nine districts of Malwa where over 80% votes were polled on Saturday clearly indicates a fiercely fought three-cornered battle.

But this trend was missing in Majha and Doaba where the voting percentage hovered between 70% and 75%, pointing towards a two-horse race.

This conflicting signal from the voters of Punjab could be a cause of confusion  and worry also  for spin masters of major political parties.

Saturdays overall 75% polling (as per EC till 10pm) is lower than 78.57% of 2012 when Punjab voters scripted history in the electoral politics of the state by recording highest ever polling.

The hardened Malwa voters came out in numbers enough to cause political upheavals in the frontier state and build or shatter the hopes of the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) combine.

Analysts point out that heavy polling in Malwa, which accounts for 69 seats, not only shows that the Congress, AAP and the SAD-BJP are locked in a triangular contest but also indicates that voters can cause tremors in Punjabs politics.

Residents stand in a queue to cast their vote at Lambi in Muksar on Saturday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT Photo)

Another factor behind the higher turnout in Malwa was heavy mobilisation, with three players in the reckoning instead of two.

The assembly segments, including some in Malwa, with turnout lower than 2012 point towards a two-horse race, a Punjab-based political observer says.

The pro-AAP wave in Malwa districts was pronounced. And this led to over 80% turnout in over 30 constituencies in at least 11 districts of the region.

In Jalalabad where SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is locked in a tough contest with Bhagwant Mann (AAP) and Ravneet Singh Bittu (Congress), over 86% voters (86.97 % in 2012) cast their votes.

Certainly, open support of Premis of the Dera Sacha Sauda lifted the sagging spirit of the SAD rank and file where the mood was upbeat.

The polling percentage in Lambi seat of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal was 78%, down from 87.29% in the last assembly elections.

Voters standing in queues, waiting for their turn to cast vote in Jalandhar on Saturday. (Pardeep Pandit/HT Photo)

The low turnout in Majha and Doaba has sent spin masters of political parties, especially the AAP, into a tizzy as its wave appeared to have failed to cross the Sutlej.

The contest in majority of seats in Majha and Doaba was between the Congress and SAD-BJP combine and the dera factor had no impact in this part of the state.

In Majitha, 68 % voters cast their votes in sharp contrast to 81.84 polling percentage during the 2012 polls.

In Doaba, 74.77 per cent polling took place this time while it was 76.69 in 2012.

Until 2007, Punjab had the tradition of voting out the incumbent government on the pattern of wheat-paddy cycle. In 2012, voters gave a stunning verdict bringing the SAD-BJP combine to power for a second time in a row.

Now, all eyes are on March 11. Is Punjab heading for another stunner? The jury is still out.

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It is arguably the biggest scam Uttar Pradesh has seen this poll season. And it all started with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJPs poll star kicked off a major political row on Saturday after he described his political rivals as a SCAM -- an acronym he used to refer to the Samajwadi Party, Congress, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati.

Do you know what scam stands for? It is S for Samajwadi Party, C for Congress, A for Akhilesh and M for Mayawati, Modi said at a rally in Meerut.

He attacked the opposition over several issues but what riled them most was the word scam, a common word in India which has seen many of them over the years.

Uttar Pradesh, the countrys most populous and politically crucial state, will vote in seven phases starting February 11 and the stakes are high for all.

The BJP is attempting to capture power after 19 years. The ruling Samajwadi Party is trying to overcome a bitter and bruising family battle in the Yadav family which has divided the party into two distinct camps.

The Congress, almost pushed to the periphery of the states politics, is hoping to regain lost ground, or some of it, by striking an alliance with the SP.

And for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati  a five-time chief minister  now is the time to rouse the Dalits and backward classes to teach the big parties a bigger lesson.

Akhilesh Yadav was quick to hit back at Modi as he gave his own interpretation of scam.

It means Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi, Yadav said at a campaign rally in Auraiya.

Everyone has suffered badly in their quest for achche din; they had stood in queues from morning to night to take their own hard earned from the banks, he added, referring to the Modis governments shock recall of high-value banknotes.

The Congress was angry too at Modis barb. And the party found its own choice of words.

The Prime Minister is very keen to use English abbreviations and he used SCAM to attack his political rivals. We will tell you what SCAM means in Hindi -- it is Satta bhogi, captee dhongi Amit Shah Modi, Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told reporters in Delhi.

It means power-hungry, deceitful and pretender

Vadakkan had more to offer, as he dubbed the BJP a Bhagoda Jugadu Party, Bhai Bhateejawad Party, Bhaichara Jalao Party, Bhrashtachar Jagao Party and Bhramjaal Jagao Party.

Vadakkan also alleged that the Prime Minister talks of scams and scamsters as all such people are in BJP and demonetisation is the biggest scam that he has given to the country due to which all sections of society suffered.

In Lucknow, Mayawati said Modis scam comment was indicative of his partys petty casteist mentality.

It is unbecoming of a person sitting on the post of Prime Minister to take names of individuals for his political fightit shows his petty casteist mentality, she said in a statement.

Twitter had a field day as users came up with their own versions of the word:

SCAM toh hamne kiye hai par yeh Modi dekhta hi nahi

S-School ka

C-College ka

A-Aspatal ka

M-Maggi ka  Arwind Kejriwal (@TrollKejriwall) February 4, 2017

Amit Shah- What's your prediction for UP elections?



Modi- CHUP MC



Amit Shah- What?



Modi- Congress Haaregi Uttar Pradesh, My Calculation  Sagar (@sagarcasm) February 4, 2017

UP election SCAM - like choosing which brand of shoes to select to kick your backside. #SaveUPFromCongressAkhileshMayawati #indianidol  All India Bakchod (@AllIndiaBakch0d) February 4, 2017

NAMO = New Acronym Manufacturing Obsession #SCAM  BitterSweet (@melwynm) February 4, 2017

And those were not drawn into the scam found their own metaphors to remain in currency.

Muslim leader Asaduddin Owaisi said Uttar Pradesh will give triple talaq to the Samajwadi Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party as he picked on a contentious issue which is caught in a nationwide debate.

There is no difference between Modi and Akhilesh... Both make a fool of people in the name of development... Uttar Pradesh will give triple talaq... to SP, Congress and BSP, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)?said at an event organised by a news channel in Lucknow.

(With agency inputs)
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have brought in their top guns and star campaigners to woo voters in Noida, Sunil Chaudhary, the Samajwadi party (SP)-Congress alliance candidate, is going it alone.

Raghwendra Dube, district secretary and spokesperson of SPs Gautam Budh Nagar unit, said Chaudhary is not getting the required backing from the leaders of his party nor from those in the Congress.

He demanded that senior leaders, including UP chief minister Alhilesh Yadav, Mata Prasad Pandey, Akhileshs wife and MP Dimple Yadav, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav (leader of Rashtriya Janta Dal, which supports SP) and Congress leaders, should address rallies in Noida to win voters. Dube has written to his party seeking time from its star campaigners.

The party leaders have not as yet given time for any rally in Noida by a senior leader. Now, we have only 5-6 days left till polling day. We do not think it is possible for anyone to address a rally without preprations in advance, Dube said .

Sunil Chaudhary, meanwhile, is busy campaigning with his supporters in villages and urban areas.

I had requested for rallies by the chief minister and other leaders, but they have not given any time. I am not bothered, because my God  Salasar Balaji (Lord Hanumans childhood name)  and my supporters are with me. I will win because locals are supporting me, said Chaudhary, who who had fought the 2012 assembly elections for SP from the same seat.

In that election, he had secured the third position with 42,071 votes of a total of 2,09,705 votes polled. The seat was won by BJPs Dr Mahesh Sharma with 77,319 votes, while the BSP came second with 49,643 votes.

This time, Chaudhary is competing against BJPs Pankaj Singh, son of home minister Rajnath Singh, and BSPs Ravikant Mishra, a first-timer from this segment.

The Gautam Budh Nagar district has three assembly constituencies  Noida, Dadri and Jewar  and the district will go to polls on February 11. The results will be out on March 11.

Chaudharys rival from the BJP has already invited senior leader Keshav Prasad Maurya, partys Dalit face MP Udit Raj, and home minister Rajnath Singh. MP Satish Gautam has already sought votes for Pankaj Singh. BJP president Amit Shah is also slated to address a rally on Sunday in Noida.

For BSP candidate Mishra, the partys national general secretary Nasimuddin Siddiqui has already addressed a gathering in the city. Other senior leaders of the party are also campaigning for him.

Surendra Nagar, Rajyasabha MP from SP, is the only top brass who came to campaign briefly for Chaudhary.

SP workers said they had invited Lalu Prasad Yadav for a rally to canvas the votes of many eastern UP and people from Bihar living in Noida.

It seems our top leadership is deliberately avoiding Noida. In other districts, the CM and other top leaders are campaigning.The party does not seem to be serious about the Noida seat, said a SP worker, requesting anonymity.

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Criticising the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, BJP leader and Union textiles minister Smriti Irani on Saturday referred to the front page story published in Hindustan Times in its February 3 edition titled Girls mobile numbers up for sale in UP.

The story was about mobile numbers of girls being sold from recharge outlets across the states for prices based on their looks and being used by men to harass them over the phone.

Referring to the story, Irani said, Such is the state of affairs in UP. Instead of putting such persons behind bars, cops are saying that if action against such persons is taken, then prisons all across the state will be flooded.

The minister accused the Samajwadi Party government of differentiating between Hindu and Muslim women when it comes to expressing views on issues such as triple talaq.

Irani, who was in Lucknow on Saturday, challenged chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, SP MP Dimple Yadav, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi to clear their stand on the contentious issue.

When asked to comment on senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyars recent statement that BJP had prettier campaigners than Priyanka, Irani said, Brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi (Robert Vadra) had made a very filthy remark against me which could not even be read out in the press conference. Did Priyanka Gandhi apologise for it?

She also said that joint campaigns by Dimple and Priyanka would have no impact among voters in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party government has failed to check incidents of crime against women. During the SP governments tenure, there has been 60% increase in cases of crime against women, Irani told newsmen at BJP office.

The BJP leader also briefed about partys plans to make Uttar Pradesh a safe place for women.

Highlighting the promises made by BJP in its manifesto for women, Irani said: Every district will have three Mahila police stations to address cases related with women.

Irani also pointed out that the party had proposed 100 fast track courts in the state for speedy disposal of cases related with women. It also plans a special investigation cell comprising 1,000 women.
Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad in a public rally in Ghaziabad on Saturday justified the alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi.

He said a Bihar-like alliance was planned but other parties  the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal  did not opt for it.

The Congress and the SP decided to sort out differences and thought if we contest separately, the BJP will get the benefit. Mayawati had the option to join the alliance but she did not. The RLD did not wait for two days even though our meetings with them were fixed. The party was in a hurry. In politics, we should have patience, Azad said.

He was speaking in the Kaila Bhatta locality, which is a Muslim dominated area. Earlier, BSP general secretary Nasimuddin Siddiqui also held a rally there. Azad tried to convince cardes of both parties to work together.

The country faces a bigger danger from powers who want to divide the country on the basis of religion, caste and area. The BJP claim they are about development, poor, minorities, etc. But they keep scheming...They tell different things to different people from different religions for their gains, he said.

He said that Congress and SP do what they say.

In case there is threat from any outside country, all our parties stand together. Likewise, if there is any threat from inside, the alliance is to join people together. The parties, which want to divide votes and bring up their candidates, are in fact trying to benefit the BJP. We brought up this alliance with a proper understanding, Azad said.

We have a danger from other parties as they want to divide votes. I appeal to Hindu brothers that they should not divide their vote. I will also appeal to Muslim brothers that earlier your vote got divided between BSP, SP and Congress... but we are not at fault since BSP did not join a Bihar-like alliance, he added.

He told the gathering that workers from both parties had to sacrifice due to the alliance.

It is a small sacrifice and it is not an alliance between Delhi and Lucknow. The alliance should be between people and in every household. If candidates of both parties dont win, we will not be able to form the government. So I request all Congress and SP workers to work together so that our candidates win, he said.

In 2012, in Ghaziabad district, both the Congress and the SP failed to secure a win in any of the five seats.

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Police said a resident of Bhopal  who made headlines earlier this week for allegedly killing his live-in partner and constructing a marble structure at his home to conceal her body  may have also murdered his parents seven years ago.

Sub-inspector Ramesh Rai said Udyan Das confessed during an interrogation session that he had murdered his parents and buried their bodies at a house in Shanti Nagar, Raipur, in 2010. He reportedly felt disturbed by the parental interference in his life.

We have been informed that Das killed his parents here in Shanti Nagar. We will exhume their remains tomorrow in the presence of the Bhopal police and a forensic team, said Raipur inspector general (IG) Pradeep Gupta.

Das was arrested on Thursday for killing his live-in partner  Akanksha Sharma  on December 27, and constructing a marbled platform at his Saket Nagar residence to conceal her body. Police have since broken the structure and exhumed the victims remains.

The IG said no missing person report was filed regarding the disappearance of the accuseds parents.

Bhopals Udyan Das confessed to killing his live-in partner and parents, police said. (HT Photo)

Udyan, an only child, was living with his parents in Raipur. After killing his parents, he even managed to take out a death certificate in his fathers name. We are probing how he did that. Das mother has a sister, but she did not make any queries because they hadnt been in touch for the last 18 years, Gupta added.

Police sources said that Das father was a foreman with BHEL while his mother worked as a data analyst at Vindhyachal in Bhopal. They had three houses at Raipur, Delhi and Bhopal, and the combined rent of these properties came up to Rs 80,000 per month. Udyans mother also received a monthly pension of Rs 30,000, which would be deposited in a joint account of the Federal Bank, Bhopal.

The accused used to live on this money, police added.

Akankshas murder came to light when a West Bengal Police team arrived at Bhopal in search of her. Her parents had lodged a missing complaint in December.
Looks like things are getting serious between actor Sonam Kapoor and Delhi-based entrepreneur Anand Ahuja. After their vacation in Amsterdam, pictures of them partying at Sonams dad, Anil Kapoors birthday bash, and the many mushy Instagram posts, the couple made a low-key appearance at the India Art Fair on Friday. The two walked in at about 10:45am, when the venue was not crowded. Still, the shutterbugs managed to capture the couple checking out the creations, and chatting with organisers. It was a surprise visit. Sonam and Anand were there for just about an hour. They both took keen interest in the artworks, said a source.

Later, the actor shared a video message, in which she said, I think the fair is something thats very inspiring because its an amazing space, where a lot of artists, connoisseurs of art and even people who are interested in art can meet. The fact that theres not just Indian but even South Asian art around is overwhelming. Im happy that it happens every year and I hope that it gets new artists and more buyers and more connoisseurs.

"It's not only Indian art but art from all of South Asia" @sonamakapoor on her experience of #IndiaArtFair2017 . pic.twitter.com/z7SO6mJHfb  India Art Fair (@India_ArtFair) February 3, 2017

Anand and Sonam are yet to confirm their relationship. I have nothing to hide. I just dont believe in discussing it. I have never spoken about my personal life but I never hide either. The people, who should know, already know. Who I am dating is not a big deal. I dont understand why it should be. Id rather not be in the news for my personal life, she recently told us.

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Judwaa 2, directed by David Dhawan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, will commence its shoot this week, marking two decades since the original Judwaa was completed. The film will feature Varun Dhawan playing two characters along with leading ladies Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu.

The original film released on February 7, 1997.

Announcing the schedule, David said, We wanted to start the journey again around the same time, its the right time.

David, who had directed the original film, worked for the first time with Sajid and Salman and now will be seen directing Judwaa 2 again with Sajid Nadiadwala and son Varun Dhawan.

Talking about the sequel, producer Sajid said,For me it feels like Judwaa just happened recently as the film holds strongly in my memory. We are very excited to embark on this new journey. Working with David and Varun in the same film, makes it even more special.

Judwaa 2 has retained two of Anu Maliks hit songs, Chalti Hai Kya Nau Se Barah and Oonchi Hai Building, both tracks still loved by the audience. and with its come back with Judwaa 2 will be a major treat for the fans.

Talking about his film, Varun Dhawan said, Judwaa is the biggest film I have done. Im a die-hard fan of the original movie so this day is special anyway. Now, I just want to put my head down and be a part of the vision Sajid sir and dad have for the sequel.

Judwaa 2, which will start its shoot in Mumbai will next travel to London in April and continue till May, will hit theatres on the September 29th.

Salman Khan is also said to be making a guest appearance is Judwaa 2 has still kept people guessing...

Follow @htshowbiz for more
As regular readers of this column will know, I try to go to the Maldives once a year. The reasons for going are simple enough. It is the worlds greatest island destination, way ahead of previous favourites such as French Polynesia and the Caribbean. It has some of the finest resort hotels on earth, and such is the trendiness of the destination that every luxury chain in the world wants to be in the Maldives, so newer and better resorts open each season.

The point of the Maldives is that it is not a single large island but is, instead, a collection of thousands of tiny coral islands. A few are large enough to support an international airport (on one island) or a small town called Male (on another island) that serves as the capital of the Maldives. But most are tiny. A small clump of trees on a coral reef could constitute a single island. Most resorts are on islands that are a little larger, but all are self-contained: one island is one resort.

Each island is surrounded by a lagoon of shallow water (though the Indian Ocean, with its deep blue water, lies beyond). It is the clearest water you will ever see. You can look down and see every pebble at the bottom of the sea.

The dolphin cruise has become a standard feature at the Soneva Fushi resort (Dan Kullberg)

Many people go only for the water; the Maldives is a paradise for snorkelling, diving and the like. Others go for the sense of isolation. There are few places in the world where your hotel takes over an entire island. And some, of course, go for the luxury, because resorts in the Maldives are at the cutting edge of modern luxury.

I started going to the Maldives long before it become luxurious. In those days, it was a package tour destination and the hotels were cheap. Hardly anybody from India went because there was only one flight to the Maldives. It was Indian Airlines from Trivandrum and was packed out with cooks, houseboys and other resort staff.

But I loved the Maldives and fortunately enough, I discovered two resorts run by the Taj Group. Both were fairly downmarket (we would call them three-star now) but even by the standards of the early 1990s, they offered astonishingly good value: $50 for two, including all meals! (It was another matter that the food  served buffet-style  was so disgusting that I always ate dal chawal at the staff canteen.)

Soneva Jani has been touted as the coolest resort in the Maldives (Stevie Mann)

But the quality of the hotel didnt matter. As long as you had air-conditioning indoors and access to the lagoon, that was more than enough. The Taj resorts had water villas, built on stilts in the lagoon, so you could spend all day splashing about or swimming in the clear, warm water.

Then, Sonu Shivdasani (full disclosure: I have been friends with the Shivdasani family for over three decades now and am a trustee of their Inlaks Scholarship Foundation) discovered the Maldives. Along with his Swedish wife Eva, he believed that it had the potential to become a luxury destination because of the beauty of the islands.

Sonu and Eva decided to follow a Robinson Crusoe theme. They would emphasise the single-island identity of the resort, build it on eco-friendly principles and encourage guests to switch off from their busy, city-centric lives. Their island was further away from Male airport than the existing hotels and you needed to take a seaplane to get there. Once you landed, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a boat would appear and a staff member (called Mr. Friday after Crusoes man Friday) would encourage you to take your shoes off for the rest of your trip.

At a stroke, Sonu invented two concepts. The first was the idea of the Maldives as a luxury destination and the second was the creation of Barefoot Luxury, an idea that has been widely copied all over the world.

Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva believed in Maldives potential to become a luxury destination (Getty Images)

Sonus first resort was called Soneva Fushi (I did a long piece on Sonu and Eva a few years ago; youll find it in the archives) and it quickly became a celebrity haunt. Then, the big hotel chains came to the Maldives to open luxury resorts and even the Taj upgraded, opening the Crystal (now a Vivanta) and the wonderful Taj Exotica. (I shot an episode of Custom Made at the Exotica in 2012 for NDTV Good Times.)

The problem, from an Indian perspective, is that the Maldives are not easy to get to. The Trivandrum flight still exists, but I prefer the newer Air India flight from Bengaluru. Until recently, there was no other connectivity.

When the Air India flight is late, you can be in trouble. Male is one of Air Indias best-managed small stations, but there is not much they can do if you arrive after the last seaplane has left. I was due to go to Sonus new Soneva Jani (the coolest resort in the Maldives according to Londons Sunday Times and the subject of much breathless coverage in the international media) and missed my seaplane.

But all those years of going to the Maldives helped. I knew that the Taj Exotica was only a 20-minute boat ride from the airport (no seaplanes needed) so I phoned my friend, chef Sheroy, who has been there for the last six years. Could he book me in for the night?

Luckily, the Taj had room and so I spent my first night eating Sheroys amazing food and enjoying the luxury and warmth that characterises the Taj Group when it is at its best.

Maldives is a paradise for snorkelling (Getty Images)

The next day I took the seaplane to Soneva Jani and was startled by how different it was. Because all water villas in the Maldives are built with the same intention  to make the most of the lagoon  they end up looking vaguely similar, no matter which resort you stay at.

One of Sonu and Evas most staggering achievements is to design huge villas (the smallest is 411 square metres) which are like houses (pantries, sit-outs, studies etc.) and resemble nothing I have ever seen in the Maldives. There are just 24 water villas so far (eventually there will be 60) and they are stunning.

But as wonderful as all of Sonus properties are, what he really excels at are the experiences. Some of these have now become a standard feature of the Maldives resorts (the dolphin cruise, for instance), but each time you stay at one of the three Sonevas (two in the Maldives, one in Thailand), you always leave with memories of something special.

One night, we had dinner (with some truly extraordinary wines) under the stars in the observatory. Just as the first course was served, Mike, the resorts resident astronomer, appeared. He pressed a button and a powerful telescope rose magically out of the floor. All through dinner, we used the telescope to see the stars. The sight of Venus (so huge in the telescopes lens that it looked like the moon) in the night sky will stay with me for a long time.

Cinema Paradiso theatre

On another night, we wandered off to a beach at the end of the island (Soneva Jani is an unusually large island going by Maldives standards), while waiters served cocktails and champagne as dancers performed. Then, we shifted to a Cinema Paradiso. All of Sonus hotels have cinemas, but this one was easily the most glamorous cinema theatre I have ever seen. The seating was restaurant-style so, while chefs made popcorn, sushi rolls, prawn skewers and heavier main courses, the movie played on a giant screen in the water. We were all given state-of-the-art wireless headphones and watched an Alfred Hitchcock classic as the sea breeze wafted gently around the room.

The observatory at the Soneva Jani resort

At lunch one day, we went to another of the resorts beaches where the chefs dug up fish they had first marinated and then buried under the sand along with hot coals. The fish was delicious, but the experience was the real magic.

And then, when it was time to go, I disappointed my friends at the Air India station at Male by discovering that an airline called Mega Maldives had just launched a direct flight to Delhi. No Bengaluru/Trivandrum connections were needed. I took a seaplane from Soneva Jani, landed at the airport and climbed into a very comfortable Mega Maldives seat.

And four hours later, I was back in the cold Delhi evening!

From HT Brunch, February 5, 2017

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch

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Indias first social network-based ponzi scheme gets unravelled in Noida, a planned township on Eastern Delhi border.

Not that ponzi schemes are not common -- Sahara, Saradha and Rose Valley made page one news in leading dailies -- but in this one, which lured people to hit Facebook and Twitter likes for a certain amount of money could have had much wider impact.

Compared to Saradha, where 1.74 million people lost more than Rs 20,000 crore; or Rose Valley, Indias largest chit-fund scam worth Rs 60,000 crore, or Sahara that duped people for Rs 36,000 crore -- the Social Trade scam is just worth Rs 3,726 crore from six lakh people.

The company, run by a 26-years old engineering graduate, Anubhav Mittal, along with his sides Shridhar Prasad and Mahesh Dayal lured take up members of a certain amount, and for then ask them to like Facebook and Twitter links.

Buying social media likes is a common practice in the corporate world. Mittal scam was wrapped this popular practice. It would not have been a crime if it was just taking money from companies to buy likes.

For experts, Social Trade throws up larger challenges. You can reach to a large number of people in a very limited time, and online is so sophisticated that you can go untraceable... Online schemes are more dangerous, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research.

But Mittal wanted quick money, and a lot of it.

To enroll, he would ask people to pay up Rs 5,750 (Social Trade offered other tariffs as well), and then a member would have to like pages -- for 125 likes every day, he would pay Rs 625, which would be credited to the members account, explained special task force (STF) officials, who are handling the matter.

This will be your daily income and will be accumulated monthly. If you add more people to the network, you will be moved up in the hierarchy, and you will get some commission on that, the STF official said.

Ponzi schemes usual peak when fraudsters make most of the prosperous times, by giving outsized returns on small investments. As long as the good times remain, the returns flows in -- usually funded by large amounts of membership money. Once the membership money stops coming in the Ponzi schemes go bust.

Between 2008 and 2009, about 160 Ponzi schemes worth $40 billion collapsed, globally.

People fall prey as Ponzi schemes promise very high returns for small amounts of deposit money. UK Sinha, chairman of SEBI, said do not fall for schemes that assure unbelievably high returns in a speech in July 2015. There are many companies in India that have siphoned off thousands of crores of rupees of investors through such Ponzi schemes, he added.

As far as Social Trade is concerned, it has opened doors for a whole world of Ponzi schemes. Its difficult to track the social network. This is online terrorism of sorts, there should be an active cells to track these digital issues... They abused the loopholes in the system... Online attacks are easier to mirror, Gogia said.

Mittal and his aides took cuts from the membership money. The STF calls the company completely fraudulent. This is completely fraudulent because the subscription fees is the revenue, and they distribute that within the other subscribers. And the owners take a fat commission out of this. They make fake accounts and channelise the money back to themselves, the STF official said.

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A US judge ordered Google to comply with search warrants seeking customer emails stored outside the United States, diverging from a federal appeals court that reached the opposite conclusion in a similar case involving Microsoft Corporation.

US magistrate judge Thomas Rueter in Philadelphia ruled on Friday that transferring emails from a foreign server so FBI agents could review them locally as part of a domestic fraud probe did not qualify as a seizure.

The judge said this was because there was no meaningful interference with the account holders possessory interest in the data sought.

Though the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centres abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States, Rueter wrote.

Google, a unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc, said in a statement on Saturday: The magistrate in this case departed from precedent, and we plan to appeal the decision. We will continue to push back on overbroad warrants.

The ruling came less than seven months after the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said Microsoft could not be forced to turn over emails stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland that US investigators sought in a narcotics case.

That decision last July 14 was welcomed by dozens of technology and media companies, privacy advocates, and both the American Civil Liberties Union and US Chamber of Commerce.

On January 24, the same appeals court voted not to revisit the decision. The four dissenting judges called on the US Supreme Court or Congress to reverse it, saying the decision hurt law enforcement and raised national security concerns.

Both cases involved warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 federal law that many technology companies and privacy advocates consider outdated.

In court papers, Google said it sometimes breaks up emails into pieces to improve its networks performance, and did not necessarily know where particular emails might be stored.

Relying on the Microsoft decision, Google said it believed it had complied with the warrants it received, by turning over data it knew were stored in the United States.

Google receives more than 25,000 requests annually from US authorities for disclosures of user data in criminal matters, according to Rueters ruling.
Nobel laureate and musician Bob Dylan may never have heard of Uttar Pradesh or the Samajwadi Party but these sentences from his iconic song `The times they are a-changing could be good advice for people like Mulayam Singh Yadav -- Dont criticise what you cant understand/ your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. It could also apply to a younger generation, which is increasingly shaping politics in the country, if not by active participation in politics but at least through their vote. The power and appeal of the young should never be underestimated as Mulayam Singh has discovered to his discomfiture. When it came to the crunch, a substantial number of people did not listen to his command. They wanted fresh faces, fresh thinking, and fresh ideas. We have seen this in these assembly elections, particularly in UP, the crucible of Indian politics.

Read: Full coverage of assembly polls

The BJP tried to downplay the old temple issue in its manifesto but old habits die hard and it could not refrain from bringing up its tried-and-tested Hindutva card. But a new generation cares little for a temple, which may or may not be built. It cares little for a mosque which was cruelly pulled down by screaming Hindutva hordes. If anything, most Indians are embarrassed by the image of India that this demolition conveyed to the world and mindful of the deep psychological scars it left on the Indian mindset.

The BJP realised this last time around and went in for a development plank, keeping Hindutva firmly at bay. But since its development plank has now been hijacked by a young Akhilesh along with the Congress, it thought that it would fall back on the old formula. Well, the bad news is that it is not working but it is too late to change horses midstream now.

In the past, certain political formations took their vote bank for granted. I refer to that other wily player in UP Mayawati. Remember the time when she would appear in a cloud of pink, dripping with diamonds to be garlanded by the faithful with python-like currency garlands. The Dalits will feel proud, we were told, that their leader is holding her own among the beautiful people.

No longer, Mayawati has toned down her over the top appearances, no one is any longer enamoured of her forced arriviste displays of power. The Dalits today are not quite as willing as before to be trapped forever into the underdog matrix. Sections among them are becoming upwardly mobile and they will choose the party that will give them a better quality of life not a notional feeling of equality.

Read: Mission UP 2017: How parties are paving their way to the top

This inability of any party to lay claim over any single vote bank has had a positive disruptive influence on politics. You can no longer go to the electorate and say I am a Yadav therefore you should vote for me, or I am the guardian of secularism, so you must throw your lot in with me. Sure, the Muslims are wary of parties like the BJP with its Hindutva ideology but this does not mean that they are migrating en masse to another formation which claims to have more sympathy for them.

This is the age of individualism and the majority of people want to know what is in it for them. The party which promises a better quality of life has the advantage over the one that hopes to cash in on caste and religion. Which probably explains why Akhilesh Yadav does not speak of these issues, rather he talks about laptops and education, jobs and safety. This also explains why after being the lord of all he surveyed, Mulayam was so rapidly pushed to the sidelines and left to mouth angry oaths and imprecations about the alliance his son cobbled together.

Read: Inside the BJP machine: The UP design

And not too many in UP are shedding tears for the ageing leader.

The fact that caste and religious groupings can no longer be taken for granted is the main reason why these elections are very difficult to predict. For example, the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab is not appealing to any caste or religion just the promise of accessibility and a better quality of life.

It is clear as these elections show that the voter has moved on, his concerns are far more about bread and butter issues but the politicians are not able to shake off the old shibboleths.

Read: Looking beyond UP and Punjab: BJP eyes Manipur as part of its Cong-mukt Bharat

The Dalits both in Punjab and UP are not looking to a community messiah, they are looking to cast off the stereotypes which have kept them down. Such a splintering can only improve our politics, it will mean that people are forcing politicians to address real issue and not esoteric caste-class ones which at one time gave people a psychological feeling of well being but which they now realise doesnt amount to a hill of beans.

I am not saying that caste, religion and class have vanished, no they are around. But it is that much more difficult for the politician to use them and fool all of the people all of the time. It has become that much more difficult for politicians to issue edicts and hope people will fall in line. Since I began with Dylan let me end with some words from the same song. It contains sage advice for the politician stuck in a time warp. `Come senators, congressmen/Please heed the call/Dont stand in the doorway/Dont block up the hall/For he that gets hurt/Will be he who has stalled.

Chanakya@hindustantimes.com

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After showing solidarity with Congress in Punjab, an organisation of retired armed personnel on Saturday extended its support to the Harish Rawat-led ruling party in Uttarakhand.

Disappointed with discrepancies in One Rank, One Pension (OROP), the United Front of Ex-Servicemen of India, which also has widows of defence personnel among its members, extended its support to the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand too.

In the presence of Congress chief and party candidate from Sahaspur Kishore Upadhyay, the front declared to support the party which has promised better pensions for retired personnel and their families.

At a conference here, Maj Gen (retd) Satbeer Singh claimed how ex-servicemen were protesting at Jantar Mantar for last 601 days for their demand. There are four main points showing discrepancies in the OROP notification issued by the Centre. The pensions arent provided as per recommendations of the Koshyari Committee. Revision of pensions will be done in five years and not after every two years. Low pensions to widows, no extension of the facility to reservists, discrepancies in disability pension and others, Singh said.

In Uttarakhand, Congress has promised various sops, including a separate ministry and a minister for the retired defence personnel, hike in pensions to widows, filling up vacant posts and to effectively work for the welfare of personnel and their families.

Nayak Uday Singh Rawat, who hails from Chamoli, claimed BJP got 100 additional seats and formed the government in 2014 in Delhi after it garnered support of defence fraternity. But, the OROP lollipop given to us will prove disastrous for BJP in the poll-bound states. The front has already extended support to Congress in Punjab. It will be supporting Congress in all five poll-bound states, Rawat said.

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Often referred to as mini Kashmir, Pithoragarh, an important city of the Kumaon Hills, is plagued by perennial drinking water supply and healthcare problems.

Once famous for Basmati rice, the scenic Pithoragarh landscape is fast changing with new constructions coming up in and around the city, leading to groundwater depletion.

Rice fields that once dotted the rural landscape have almost disappeared due to lack of proper irrigation facilities and quality seeds.

With less than a lakh voters, the main poll issue in the February 15 state polls in the assembly seat will focused on the lack of supply of drinking water and healthcare, says local residents.

In the 2012 assembly polls, Mayukh Mahar of the Congress defeated Prakash Pant of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by margin of 13,177 votes.

Residents say that this time too, it will be a straight fight between the Congress and the BJP.

The Ghat Drinking water supply project was set up 42 years back and no improvements or additions have been made since then. The problem is that the residents get water supply for just 15 minutes a day.

The total water need of the city is at 12 MLD a day while only around 4 MLD is available, compounding the problem.

The other issue is healthcare as the city is an important medical centre for Pithoragarh, Champawat, Bageshwar and also neighbouring Nepal.

The only womans hospital in the city has a single doctor who treats 50 to 60 patients every day. There is no anaesthesticist there and has to be called from the district hospital. Residents are also sore about the lack of parking space with the proposed parking lot at Dev Singh field yet to see the light of the day.

Jyoti Prakash Joshi, a shopkeeper says that unemployment, migration and drinking water supply will be the main poll issues in the constituency.

We vote on both local as well as national issues and prefer to judge a candidate on the basis of his or her personality and not the party, he says.

Sanjay Bisht, a contractor says the assembly segment will witness a straight fight between the Congress and BJP.

Rohit Sah, a businessman, agrees and says that the election will be fought on the local issues of water and healthcare and people will vote for a person who can solve the issues in the future.

Prakash Pant, the BJP candidate says the projects were approved during his tenure between 2007 and 2012, which has solved the drinking water problem to a big extent.

The Ghat pumping project, Thuligad project and Ghanot project are under construction. New pump and transformers have been installed at Ghat project at cost of Rs 6 crore, solving the problem to some extent, he says.

The 14 villages adjoining Pithoragarh has a requirement of 32 million litres per day (MLD) while only 6 MLD is being supplied for which the previous BJP government approved and sanctioned new projects, he says.

The Anwlaghat drinking water project estimated to cost Rs 71.45 crore for which the Centre has provided Rs 40 crore but the state government has not released its share, he lamented.

Mayukh Mahar, the Congress candidate says that the drinking water supply problem has been reduced by the Congress government and new projects sanctioned, will solve the problem in the entire region.
Delhi police constable Sandeep Kumar was aged only five when he learnt how to swim. It became his favourite game as he spent his childhood swimming with friends in Munak canal that flows close to his native home in Haryanas Rohat village near Sonepat.

Though his swimming skills played no role in getting him the constables post, it did bring commendations to him from his seniors for displaying exemplary bravery, when he saved a 25-year-old man from drowning in the canal in outer Delhi.

On Wednesday night, Sandeep Kumar, currently posted in the police control room, was driving a patrol van near Khera Khurd village with the van in-charge assistant sub-inspector Ashok Kumar when they received a call at 8.24 pm. The caller claimed that a man had jumped into the canal.

Read: Death floats in Delhi lifeline Munak canal

We were 2 kilometers away from the spot, but rushed and reached there within five minutes. Some locals who had seen the man jumping into the canal were screaming for help. As it was dark, the headlights of some cars parked near the canal were turned towards the spot where the man had jumped, said the constable.

The two policemen immediately took out the emergency commando torch they carried in their van and located the point in the canal where the man was drowning. Without caring for his life, the constable jumped into the freezing water with his uniform and shoes on, the moment he saw the man submerging into the water.

Sandeep had to swim over 20 feet in the bone-chilling cold water to reach the victim and rescue him. Ashok and some locals pulled the two out of the canal. The victim was badly injured and unconscious when he was brought back to the dry surface, said Sanjay Baniwal, special commissioner of police (operations).

The man was rushed to Maharishi Valmiki hospital that was around four kilometres from the spot. During the brief journey, the ASI kept the man on his knees and in such a way that it allowed the victim drain water from his lungs.

Read: Delhi shocker: Tempo kills 8-yr-old watching Saraswati immersion, driver held

Doctors told us that they could not have saved the man, had there been a delay of a minute or two, said a senior officer in the department, adding that the victim was identified as Vikas, a resident of Nithari village in Aman Vihar. Vikass family members were informed about the incident, and they thanked the two policemen for saving his life. Vikas was reportedly under depression and had attempted suicide by jumping into the canal. His Skoda car was found parked near the canal, said police.

Impressed with Constable Sandeeps bravery, the special commissioner praised him on twitter. My HERO. Constable Sandeep jumped in freezing waters of canal and saved Vikas 28yrs from drowning in outer delhi yesterday night. (Sic), tweeted Baniwal. The water was so cold that Constable Sandeep suffered cough and cold.

Coincidentally, another constable named Sandeep from east district police was rewarded with R50,000 by Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik for recovering stolen gold jewellery worth R40 lakh. Recovery of stolen jewellery worth R40 Lakh by Ct. Sandeep of East District--an exemplary act of integrity & dutifulness. Rewarded R50 K. (Sic), Patnaik tweeted.

Read: Pollution control authority bans registration of all vehicles with Bharat III engines

Though the other constable Sandeep saved a mans life that is certainly precious than a metal or gold he is yet to receive a similar reward or appreciation from the police chief.
Members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) continued with their indefinite hunger strike on Saturday, a day after the varsitys steering committee said it was going back to its old rules for admission for MPhil and PhD programmes.

Members of JNUSU, on the fifth day of their hunger strike on Saturday, claimed that the change in admission rules was released as a press note without proper deliberation and approval by members, as per protocol.

They added that they will continue to fight the UGC gazette notification that proposed seat cuts and gave 100% weightage to viva voce under a new set of admission rules.

On Saturday, the JNUSU president Mohit K Pandey and general secretary Satarupa Chakraborty said that the students body also concerned about the fact that the new admission guidelines do not mention anything about the relaxation of 50% in entrance exams for people who are eligible for reserved quotas.

Read: Missing JNU student Najeebs kin cry foul over raid at maternal uncles house, cops deny claim

We will hold a referendum on February 7, Tuesday, to see if majority of the students also oppose the UGC gazette notifications. Based on the results on the referendum, we may call for the resignation of the vice chancellor, who has been apathetic to students demands, Pandey said.

The students also alleged that they had been misinterpreted and misrepresented. For one they claim that it was not just students who had opposed the seat cuts, as mentioned in the earlier press release, but also several faculty members.

Seats were increased based on constitutional mandates and Supreme Court directives. Any seat cuts will then be a violation of the top courts ruling, said Pandey, adding that these were just veiled attempts at cutting inclusive provisions of the JNU admission policy.

The agitators claimed that they never agreed to a three tier entrance exam, which states that students would need to score 50% marks in the initial written test to qualify, without any mention of the relaxations for reserved categories.

The major problem with the current admission recommendations is that they are trying to implement a one size fits all criteria. This is a big threat to the universitys autonomy and the diversity on campus, the students claimed.
The narrow lanes of the old Kishanganj Mohalla in Pilkhuwa town of Hapur is abuzz with chatter, as neighbours and acquaintances from a close-knit social circle thronged outside the ancestral home of Anubhav Mittal, the director of Ablaze Info Solution Private Limited, who was arrested by Uttar Pradesh special task force on Thursday on allegations of cheating.

DECODING MITTALS PONZI SCHEME Anubhav Mittal, the suave start-up entrepreneur, allegedly swindled off over ~3,700 crore from around 7 lakh people through his firms  Ablaze Info Solutions Private Limited, 3W Digital Private Limited and his online platform socialtrade.biz TO SIGN UP FOR THE SCHEME Rs 3,726 crore was collected by the company from 7 lakh investors. The scheme offered packages ranging from Rs 5,750 to Rs 57,500 for investors to become members who get daily assignments. HOW IT WORKED Rs 1,000 could be earned by an investor who deposited Rs 57,500. The company sends the investor social media page links to like. The number of pages depends on the amount invested. For every like, the investor earned Rs 5. WHAT HAPPENED TO INVESTORS Those who had joined the scheme around its launch in 2015 have got their investment back and also made a profit. Those who joined the scheme later have only recovered a fraction of the investment. After demonetisation, the company stopped making payments. Investors lodged a police complaint. The company had opened multiple bank accounts to avoid detection. WHAT WAS FRAUDULENT

There were no clients for the company who paid for its services. The owners just kept circulating the investors money. Anubhav Mittal, the suave start-up entrepreneur, allegedly swindled off over ~3,700 crore from around 7 lakh people through his firms  Ablaze Info Solutions Private Limited, 3W Digital Private Limited and his online platform socialtrade.bizcrore was collected by the company from 7 lakh investors. The scheme offered packages ranging from Rs 5,750 to Rs 57,500 for investors to become members who get daily assignments.could be earned by an investor who deposited Rs 57,500. The company sends the investor social media page links to like. The number of pages depends on the amount invested. For every like, the investor earned Rs 5.Those who had joined the scheme around its launch in 2015 have got their investment back and also made a profit. Those who joined the scheme later have only recovered a fraction of the investment. After demonetisation, the company stopped making payments. Investors lodged a police complaint. The company had opened multiple bank accounts to avoid detection.

The local market here, reminiscent of those in the walled city of old Delhi, houses two shops run by Anubhavs father Sunil Mittal and grand father Ved Prakash Mittal, who hails from nearby Dehpa village.

Anubhav has been living in Noida along with his wife. He got married in December 2015 and has never been involved in any acts of crime. In fact, he has been one of the top students in Class 10 and 12, who braved a road accident and severe injuries, and still sat for examination, Ved Prakash said.

Mittals father operates a small electrical goods shop, while his grandfather runs a grocery shop selling daily household items.

We came to know from news that my grandson is fond of luxury cars and is even trying to flee the country. All this is false. In fact, if he cheated people and made so much money, would he have left us eke out a living with these small shops here? I believe that he will come out clean, Ved Prakash said.

Mittals grandfather narrates that in 1990s, his family suffered a major dacoity in Dehpa village and they shifted to their old house in Pilkhuwa, where he started the grocery shop and Sunil eventually set up an electrical goods store.

Read: ED, Serious Fraud Investigation Office begins Noidas online trading case probe

There was a raid last night (by Income Tax department) at our house and we told them to search everything and even assisted them. They handed over a seizure slip to us and left at around 9.30pm, he said.

However, the traders and neighbours in the locality seemed to have more information about Anubhav than his grandparents. The neighbours said that Anubhav was about to launch a social media app like Facebook and also an e-wallet system. They revealed that the I-T team found Rs 3.11 lakh-worth jewelry and Rs 2800 in cash in the raid.

The team also got sealed a bank locker at a nearby branch. There were hardly any substantial items found as they claimed against Anubhav. In fact, we are shocked about the Rs 3,700 crore alleged fraud even though the tax was paid. We feel that he is targeted as his business flourished in short time. The officials are disclosing the total amount involved, but not revealing the amount that was paid to the clients, said Sushil Goel, a neighbour.

Anubhavs grandmother said his parents have left to an undisclosed location as they couldnt face the news surfacing about their son.

His name is being associated with hosting of lavish parties and they claim he was about to leave the country. In fact, his passport was prepared only one month ago, as he was supposed to visit Australia on account of some event, where 150 people were to jump in sea with the help of parachutes, said a neighbour, who did not wish to be named.

However, according to STF officials, Anubhav and his two colleagues were booked in two cases at Gautam Budh Nagar, while a third and a fourth were lodged at Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr, respectively.

We have come to know that some FIRs have also been registered in Hyderabad. A special investigation team is constituted and an investigating officer will take over the probe. We are still analysing the data and documents recovered. A major breakthrough in the case can be expected within a month, said a senior STF official.

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A 15-year-old mentally challenged girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by two persons, including an alleged eunuch, in northwest Delhis Ashok Vihar area on Friday night.

The two accused  Nisha, the alleged eunuch, and Tara Chand, both neighbours of the girl, were arrested within a few hours of the alleged crime, police said.

According to the police, the teenager was sitting outside her house when she was allegedly abducted by Nisha. Police said Nisha allegedly took the girl to a room, barely 50 metres from her house whereTara Chand joined them later. Both of them then allegedly sexually abused the girl before fleeing the spot.

Read: Mind of a serial rapist: Fear excites child sex offenders

On Friday, Nisha took the girl to a room on the pretext of giving her sweets and goodies. Later on, Tara Chand also came to the room and the two locked the room from the inside. Both Nisha and Tara Chand were aware that the girl was mentally challenged and would not resist their attempt, a police officer said.

Meanwhile, the girls mother found her missing and launched a search for her. When she could not find her, she inquired about her whereabouts from the neighbours.

The girls mother panicked when she could not find her and went around looking for her in the colony. While she was searching for her, she spotted her daughters slippers outside Nishas room, which was locked from the outside. She then peeped inside the house through a window and found the 15-year-old in a semi-conscious state, a police officer said.

Read: Did Delhi serial rapist abuse 500 girls? Doubts remain over the number

Some local residents then helped rescue the girl and take her to a hospital. A PCR call was also made. Following this, her mother lodged a complaint against Tara Chand and Nisha.

A case of gangrape was registered in the matter and sections under POCSO (protection of children from sexual offences) were also added in the FIR. A police team was immediately sent to trace the accused. Raids were conducted and the accused were arrested. DCP (northwest) Milind Dumbre said.

Further investigation is on. The girls condition is stable, he added.
Swaraj India on Saturday began the process for identifying candidates for the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Delhi.

Yogendra Yadav, partys national president, said they have invited applications from those interested, provided they are active members of the party.

According to Yadav, emphasis will be given to the participation of women and youth in the party and their selection as candidates. But it will be ensured that they steer clear of the 4 Cs - bad character, criminal record, corruption and communal, he added.

The form to be filled by applicants , is already uploaded on the website of Sawraj Abhiyan, the parent body of Swaraj India.

Afterwards, the applicants will go through a three-tier screening system before being selected as final contestants in 272 wards of three municipal corporations- North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. Elections are likely to take place in April 2017.

To begin with, a screening committee will verify the applicants on the basis of the 4Cs. Then, a list of shortlisted candidates will sent to the selection committee, headed by party general secretary Ajit Jha. The committee will verify the records of these contestants in consultation with party workers.

And then the names of finalised candidates for each ward will be made public. However, if any complaint is received against these contestants then it would be sent to the Integrity Committee which will do final verification and give decision. The committees decision will be applicable on party, said Yadav.

The six members integrity committee will be headed by noted RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj. The committee will work independently and none of its members are associated with Swaraj India.

The names of the candidates will be announced in phases, after the partys rally at Ramlila Maidan on February 12.

On February 12, Swaraj India will have its Jawab Do Hisab Do rally to question the amount of work done by the Delhi government and the BJP-ruled civic bodies.

In 2015, Yadav along with lawyer Prashant Bhushan, broke away from Aam Aadmi Party. Afterwards in 2016, they launched a new political party, Swaraj India, and declared that they would fight the 2017 municipal elections in Delhi.
Civic agencies in east Delhi have begun a crack down on illegal encroachments in Anand Vihar, following a Delhi High Court directive to decongest roads and bring down the alarming levels of pollution in the area.

On February 2, the HC issued notices to senior officials of civic bodies and government departments asking them to appear before it on February 16 explaining the reasons for failure to comply with its order to remove debris, controlling encroachments and traffic jams.

An EDMC official said the presence of hawkers in the area causes traffic jams, leading to congestion and higher concentration of pollutants.

Air quality levels in Anand Vihar have been the worst compared to other areas like Civil Lines, Punjabi Bagh, Mandir Marg and RK Puram. This is primarily because the area has a toxic combination of industries located in the neighbouring Sahibabad area in Ghaziabad, a busy bus terminal and the Ghazipur landfill site.

Hundreds of diesel-belching interstate buses that enter the terminal make the air in the area worse than the rest of Delhi. As a result, traffic snarls are common in the area and vehicular emissions add to the already polluted air. There have been a number of plans to decongest Anand Vihar. While some remained on paper, others were shoddily implemented.

Check the air quality of your city here

Other areas like Mayur Vihar Phase 1, 2 and 3, New Ashok Nagar and Akshardham also suffer due to their close proximity with Anand Vihar.

On February 3, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, along with other concerned departments, carried out an intensive drive and removed over 130 temporary shops. It also confiscated their items.

The corporation announced the continuation of this drive every day (except on weekends), till February 28.

A senior EDMC official from Shahdara South zone said, On Friday a team of officials from health, sanitation and civil department visited the place and removed all the encroachment on both side of road no. 56 (approach road to Anand Vihar ISBT).

There are no markets allowed on this stretch, still people put up stalls to sell items, which led to massive traffic jams.

However, we didnt take coercive action against 114 temporary shopkeepers who were part of the Mahila Hawkers Association and filed a writ petition in count in May 2016 for allowing them to put up their stalls for earning a livelihood, the official added.

EDMC officials said that although the anti-encroachment drive was carried out on January 28, 29 and 31, the defaulters reappeared within two days.

To overcome this situation, we have written to the Delhi Police to keep a watch on them through beat officers and inform us in case of their re-occurrence. We are also in touch with the Public Works Department and the traffic police and have requested them to remove the debris and challan vehicles parked on road sides, an EDMC official said.

Besides, the corporation is on a drive to confiscate old and abandoned vehicles in both Shahdara South and Shahdara North Zone, on the directive of the National Green Tribunal.

We have confiscated over 85 vehicles in last one month. Most of them were old, parked on roads for years and obstructing cleaning work. But we dont have space to keep them in our stores so we have written to the transport department to find out a solution for dealing with such vehicles, the official added.

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The Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) has under its scanner more private agencies that are duping investors in Noida on the lines of Ablaze Info Solutions Private Limited, 3W Digital Private Limited, socialtrade.biz  all owned by fraud-accused Anubhav Mittal.

We have received complaints about many such private agencies working on Mittals methodology. Out of all the agencies against which we have received complaints, two are seemingly duping investors on similar lines. Our teams are tracking the functioning of these two agencies. Once we solidify evidence on their wrongdoing, we will crack the cases, said Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police with UP STF.

Read: Noida scam: We still operate local shops, he will come out clean, says masterminds granddad

Anubhav Mittal had been working on a fraudulent model of seeking deposits from investors, promising returns for liking pages of some business websites. Mittal had packages ranging from 5,750 to 57,500 for investors who wanted to become members of his platform socialtrade.biz. He promised 5 per click to an investor and R1 would go to Mittals company in commission. Investors including farmers, software engineers, bankers, traders and real estate agents started joining his platform as initially, all started getting money daily in their bank accounts.

Read: Noida Ponzi scheme: Cop in-charge simplifies case

The fraud in this whole business module is that socialtrade.biz has no client who seeks their services and pays a fee. What the accused persons were doing was just circulating the collected investment among its members. As new members were joining rapidly, the agency kept accumulating money and started buying property without making any profit, said Pathak.

Police said the two Noida-based agencies under their scanner were also working on the same module.

On Saturday morning, STF team had a meeting and chalked out a detailed plan as to how to gather more evidence against these two firms following Ablaze modus oprandi.

Read: Rs 3,700-cr ponzi scheme: Investors in Noida firm could get back their money

I have today briefed my team on these two agencies. We will soon crack the case of two more agencies as our officers are gathering evidences, said Pathak.

.

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The Delhi zonal unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested two women of African origin with four kilograms of smuggled cocaine worth 30 crore in the international market, on Saturday.

The arrested women have been identified as Thelma Mkandawire, 38, from Zambia and Pamela Devid Kiritta, 41, from Tanzania.

Bureau officials alleged that the arrested women were members of a gang led by a South African national based in India.

Read| Three Vietnamese nabbed with drugs worth Rs 21 crore from Paharganj

With the arrest of these foreign women, the NCB claimed to have busted an international drug trafficking gang involved in smuggling of drugs into India from Latin American countries such as Brazil and Peru, via Ethiopias capital Addis Ababa.

This syndicate roped in women from African countries to transport drugs and deceive enforcement agencies.

Rajendra Pal Singh, deputy director general (DDG) of NCBs Delhi unit, said Thelma and Pamela were caught from a hotel in south Delhis Mahipalpur following inputs received by their officials that they would allegedly deliver a consignment of cocaine to somebody.

Read: Delhi: Rs 180 crore worth of party drugs seized

Our team had information that the Zambian woman was coming to India on a European Airline flight from Addis Ababa and that she would land at the IGI Airport with a consignment of drugs, the DDG said, adding that their raiding team mounted surveillance on the woman as soon as her flight landed.

After getting security clearance at the airport, the Zambian woman boarded a taxi and left. The raiding team followed her to the hotel in Mahipalpur where her partner Pamela was waiting for her. The two were caught before they could leave the hotel, and Thelmas trolley bag was seized.

Read|Two foreign nationals held at Delhi airport for smuggling party drugs in their stomach

The baggage was thoroughly scanned and four kilograms of cocaine stuffed in the base of the bag were seized. The consignment was tightly wrapped in black plastic in such a way that it went undetected through the baggage scanner machine at the airport, said Madho Singh, NCBs zonal director.

Pamelas interrogation revealed that she was staying in a rented flat in Vasant Kunj since January 20. Pamela has revealed that she was working for a South African man. She has visited India nine times since 2006. She also visited other countries such as Ecuador, South Africa and Kenya. We suspect she trafficked drugs in all her visits, the zonal director said.

Thelma, on the other hand, was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 allegedly on drug trafficking charges. She also visited China and Hong Kong in the past allegedly for the same purpose, NCB officials said.

This is the second such drug smuggling racket busted by the NCB in the last fortnight. On January 21, three Vietnamese nationals, including a 36-year-old woman, were arrested from a hotel in Paharganj with three kilograms of cocaine and 450 grams of methaqualone worth over 21 crore in the international market.

Read: Delhi: Daredevil cop dives into bone-chilling Munak Canal to save man

Read: President Pranab to bloom at Delhis Mughal Gardens by March first week
China introduced a four-tier warning system for severe weather including smog in 2013 with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

A red alert is issued under two different circumstances - if a citys Air Quality Index (AQI) reaches 500 and if there are four consecutive days of heavy air pollution with AQI over 200. Two days of severe air pollution (AQI over 300), can also call for a red alert, official news agency Xinhua reported.

During a red alert, even-odd road rationing formula is to be implemented. Government increases the frequency of modes of public transport likes buses and subway trains.

Li Kunsheng from the city environmental protection department told the official news agency, Xinhua in December that Beijing had about 5.7 million registered vehicles, which emit 500,000 tonnes of pollutants every year, contributing over 30 per cent of the hazardous PM2.5 accumulated locally.

In the case of an alert, schools and factories are to be suspended or closed based on more detailed and flexible standards.

Besides, as part of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration effort, the air pollution alert system in the three adjacent municipalities and province has to be synchronised.

After experiencing frequent bouts of smog, the Chinese public has become increasingly sensitive to the health hazard. To address public concerns, the government aims to cut the density of respirable particulate matter by at least 10 per cent in major cities by 2017, state media reported in November.

Despite the measures, authorities often have to depend on favourable weather conditions for the smog to disperse. In winter, for example, a cold front is often awaited for the pollution to clear.

In January, the Beijing government announced that more than $2.6 billion (18.2 billion Yuan) will be pumped into Beijings budget in 2017 to fight air pollution.

The city has also unveiled a smog police to carry out checks and implement anti-pollution rules.

The 150-strong environment, food, drug and tourism safety police force has been established and will be officially inaugurated soon, a Beijing public security bureau officer was quoted as saying in January.

The environment police squad has been empowered to detain suspects in serious environment-related cases.

Beijings air quality has improved. In 2016, Beijing had 198 days with good air quality, an increase of 12 days from 2015.
The police will work with police teams from neighbouring states as well as adjoining districts to improve the security in border areas and track interstate and interdistrict criminals, who take advantage of lax border checking and manage to escape after committing heinous crimes.

The move comes after the police failed to identify and arrest the men accused of raping two women and looting their houses on January 29.

A a gang of eight men had robbed valuables, including cash, of the workers and raped two women living on the premises of a factory in Mandpura village of Pataudi.

The women, in their mid twenties, are from Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Their husbands complained to police that about eight armed men entered the factory premises and took them hostage at gunpoint.

Pataudi gangrape: Police examine phone data, similar incidents to get leads

As per the complaint, the accused ransacked their residences, and made away with silver jewellery and more than 40,000 cash. They allegedly took turns to rape the women while holding their husbands and two other residents hostage at gunpoint.

Sumit Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (crime), on saturday held a meeting in Manesar with the crime units of Delhi, Rajasthan, and from Haryana and also with teams from Palwal, Mewat, Rewari, Jhajjar and Faridabad.

In the meeting, it was decided that security in border areas, patrolling, intelligence and information sharing will be improved to prevent such crimes in future.

The police teams also agreed to interact on a regular basis on these issues from now on and exchange the crime data. The meeting also took stock of developments in crime, law and order and other issues.

DCP(crime) Sumit Kumar said meeting discussed cases related to robberies, dacoity, theft and other crimes in the region.

Pataudi gangrape: Womens body wants speedier probe

The focus is to build upon information and familiarity among the crime teams so that operational knowledge and actions becomes more effective, Kumar said.

The meeting also planned strategies to nab robbers and criminals active on the national highways. Information about interstate and professional gangs, most wanted criminals, those on parole, proclaimed offenders and parole jumpers will be shared among police teams from different districts and those from neighbouring states, the police said.

The data on criminals was discussed and the Gurgaon police has demanded the records of all criminals involved in rape, dacoity, robbery and in cases under the Pocso Act.

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With the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway witnessing major construction work to ease the east-west movement of vehicles across Gurgaon, the city could be in for some struggle over the next two years as far as traffic situation is concerned. Major civil work has started at Rajiv Chowk where three underpasses are being built as part of the project.

At Signature tower crossing, the work on two underpasses on the expressway and a flyover at Maharana Pratap chowk started simultaneously and is currently underway.

The NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) will construct three underpasses at Rajiv Chowktwo for the movement of traffic from Sohna road to Old Gurgaon and another from Bakhtawar Singh road in front of Tau Devi Lal stadium to ease congestion on this road and route a part of the traffic towards Delhi.

Gawar Constructions, which has been assigned the project, said that they are following a three-phased plan to build the underpasses at Rajiv Chowk. The objective is to ensure smooth vehicle movement at the crossing, which witnesses heavy traffic from Sohna side and Old Gurgaon, apart from Delhi and Jaipur.

Read I Spotted a traffic violation in Gurgaon? Send proof to police on WhatsApp

In the first phase of the project, the stretches branching out from Sohna Road and Bakhtawar Singh Road will be expanded. Thereafter the digging for the ramp will begin. The contractor has already started excavation for the box at Rajiv Chowk, while the box work for the Bakhtawar Chowk underpass is nearing completion. The expansion of side roads will be completed in a month after which excavation for ramps for both the underpasses will begin. Once this is done, we will able to divert traffic from the main to side roads, an official said.

At the Signature tower crossing, the two underpasses being constructed are 780 metres long, with the box length at 165 metres and the ramp length at 350 metres on both sides.

At Signature Tower, the construction will be taking place in phases at Rajiv Chowk. The expansion of side roads has begun on HUDA gymkhana side, opposite the Japanese hostel.

However, the work is slow as the shifting of utility is still in progress. The ongoing transfer of plots in front of MDI and another on the Jaipur side near the Signature Tower and the private property near Hero Traffic centre has also slackened the pace of work.

NHAI officials, however, said that the process of land acquisition is nearly complete and it would not take more than a week to transfer them.

Along with the underpasses, a flyover is being built at Rana Pratap Chowk to ensure that vehicles on MG Road move smoothly and do not choke traffic on this section. This four-lane flyover is expected to reduce traffic congestion on this crucial intersection, which connects old Gurgaon with Iffco Chowk, Signature Tower crossing and Atul Kataria Chowk.

The work on laying the foundation for this flyover is almost complete, a Gawar Constructions official said.

While the project is underway, the biggest concern for Gurgaon residents is about measures or the lack of them being taken by the contractor, NHAI and the traffic police to ensure smooth movement of vehicles on these bottlenecks.

Dinesh Agarwal, president, sector 14, RWA, alleged that the none of the stakeholders approached them before launching such a huge construction close to their sector. Now, there are daily jams during peak hours and residents of sector 14 are suffering badly. We could have suggested measures to get around this problem, he said.

Suhsma Gehlaut, president of sector 17 A, RWA, just opposite sector 14, had a more generous take and said traffic jams are a perennial problem and the flyovers could put an end to the woes of commuters. Problems will remain but I think the authorities have managed to keep the hassles at minimum, Gehlaut said.

Gawar Constructions said that they have deployed 15 marshals to help in traffic management and more are in line to be posted. For the safety of workers and commuters, the firm has also deployed 4 safety engineers at these spots.

This, Gurgaon police, however, claims the number is not adequate and much more needs to be done in terms of resources and manpower to keep the traffic situation normal.

Sandeep Khirwar, Gurgaon police commissioner, told HT that regular meetings are being held with the contractor, and NHAI to ensure things are in control. We have asked the contractor to deploy 150 traffic marshals to ensure there are no traffic bottlenecks. More signage are being put up and checks being done to ensure traffic rolls smoothly, Khirwar said.

Sibash Kaviraj, joint commissioner of police, traffic, who is also the in charge of armed police, said that 300 more policemen will be deployed on the highway and for traffic duty by the end of February. We are going to ensure strict enforcement of traffic rules as this will solve the problem to a large extent, he said.

Critics, however, said that expansion of roads was not the answer to traffic problems being faced by the city. Across the world, it is seen that benefits of road expansion is neutralised within 4 to 5 years by the addition of vehicles. Instead of widening and expanding roads, Gurgaon should have a good bus and Metro service for hassle-free commuting, Amit Bhatt, a member of Embarq, a thinktank, said.

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The Environment Pollution Control and Prevention Authority (EPCA) move to implement a uniform structure on commercial vehicles in the entire country has been welcomed by environment experts on Saturday. They claimed that the directive, when implemented, will reduce air pollution in the region.

On Friday, EPCA directed the transport departments of Delhi-NCR to register only BS-IV vehicles, including commercial trucks, from April 1.

This came with an aim to tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR which has been marked poor since the last three months.

At present, commercial vehicles having all-India permits run on Bharat Stage (BS)-III engines, which are a major contributor to pollution.

The shift from BS-III to BS-IV will reduce air pollution considerably as the BS-IV engines emit 80% less pollutants than BS-III.

In Delhi-NCR, the respective governments had implemented BS-IV emission norms in 2010. This new directive is different from the earlier one as it now enforces BS-IV in the entire country, said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director , research and advocacy and head of the air pollution and clean transportation programme, Centre for Science and Environment.

When asked about the benefit to Gurgaon, she said, Long distance commercial vehicles, which enter Gurgaon are one of the major sources of air pollution. After this directive, Gurgaon will be rid of them as they will not be allowed to ply on Delhi-NCR roads after April 1.

The regional transport authority officials said they will take necessary steps in the city to follow the directive.

We will follow the directives of the Supreme Court. We have not received any order as of now; however, we will take the required steps for compliance of the order, Trilok Chand Secretary, regional transport authority (RTA), said.

Earlier, the RTA has indentified 5,000 commercial vehicles, which are unfit to ply on roads. This came after the Supreme Court had asked to ban all 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in Delhi-NCR.

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The Central Board of Secondary Educations (CBSEs) decision to scrap its international curriculum has evoked concerns among parents across the city. More than 700 students across the city were following CBSE-I (International curriculum) and with this sudden decision the parents are left with no other option but shift them to the normal CBSE board.

The CBSE-I course was introduced in the academic year 2010-11 and had gained popularity among schools in the city, but the sudden decision to do away with it has hit the students hard.

Parents said the course was a less expensive as compared to other international curricula. The International Baccalaureate (IB) and International General Certificate of Secondary Education courses offered in other schools are quite expensive and are designed mainly for students from elite backgrounds.

School principals only got to know of the scrapping on Thursday and said though are upset over the decision taken by the board, they have no option but to fall in line. The high points of the international curriculum were that it was more activity-based, offered more global exposure to students through internet study and there was less stress on book-based learning.

The parents voiced shock, dismay and alarm over the decision. This is unfair. They are toying with the education system and risking the future of our children. Our children had grown familiar with the curriculum and we were happy with it. Now, either we have to shift our children to other schools that offer international curricula or return to the old CBSE curriculum, Mamta Singh, a parent, said.

With the launch of CBSE-I in three Gurgaon schools in March 2013, the Board made a modern learning programme on the lines of the course offered by the Geneva-based International Education Foundation accessible to the students.

And the response was very positive. In the year 2013, nearly 40% students in DAV Public School, and Salwan Public School, along with another private school opted for CBSE-I.

Launched as a pilot project in 2010-13, schools across Delhi-NCR were invited by the CBSE to adopt the new curriculum . According to the CBSE, the international curriculum was to be launched in all affiliated schools till Class 12 in a phased manner, but before it could extend to the sixth standard, it was scrapped.

We are unhappy with the decision and the children are upset with having to revert to the old curriculum, Namrata Baweja, a parent, said.

Electronic boards at some classrooms are of little use now and so are learning tools employed under the international curriculum. Even the teachers had undergone special training and had spent years on honing the new teaching methods.

The thought behind adapting to this curriculum, schools say, was the need for provide global exposure to Indian students.

I am not happy it has been removed. We learned new technique of teaching and will use it in imparting lessons to children. In the age of globalisation, the need of the hour is dynamism in education, Aparna Erry, principal, DAV public school, Sector 14, said.

These schools were part of curriculum designing since the projects inception. It involved intensive counselling for both students and parents. Schools often conducted a briefing for parents of kindergarten and primary classes.

The schools had also held counselling sessions to motivate parents to have their children join this curriculum. They are now a worried lot.

I understand that there will be a comprehensive review of the pilot project on account of reasons mentioned like availability of quality reading material of global standard etc. The decision makes sense to me. I support the Board in this endeavour. As far as Salwan, Gurgaon, is concerned, we will ensure that the best teaching practices are made available to our students, Sandhya Awasthi, principal, Salwan Public school, Sector 15, said.

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Workers with well-honed soft skills  time and stress management, problem-solving, communication and good teamwork  tend to work at better firms and fetch higher wages, a new study conducted in India suggests.

Employer surveys suggest that this set of skills is just as highly demanded as technical know-how, researchers said.

Achyuta Adhvaryu, assistant professor at the University of Michigan in the US, analysed whether providing soft skills training to female garment workers in India could improve their workplace outcomes.

We found that despite a high overall turnover rate in the industry, more treated workers are retained, Adhvaryu said. And treated workers are 12% more productive than those who did not receive the training in soft skills, said Adhvaryu.

Employer surveys suggest that soft skills such as time management, problem solving are just as highly demanded as technical know-how. (Shutterstock)

The programme Adhvaryu and colleagues evaluated aimed to empower female garment workers with training in a broad variety of soft skills, including communication, time management, financial literacy, problem-solving, decision-making and legal literacy.

To assess the programmes impacts, the researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial in five garment factories in Bengaluru. Workers enrolled in a lottery for the chance to participate, and then were chosen at random to take part in the programme. Those who were not randomly selected served as controls.

Nine months after the programme ended, productivity gains, along with an increase in person-days due to retention changes, helped generate a whopping 256 % net return on investment.

Wages rose very little - about 0.5%  after the programme period, indicating that the firm keeps most of the gains from the increased productivity of labour, said Adhvaryu, who collaborated with Namrata Kala of Harvard University and Anant Nyshadham of Boston College in the US for the study.

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Things are getting ugly between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Pitt has reportedly refused to pay his estranged wife Jolie $100,000 in child support. According to a source, Pitt has no issue taking care of their six children - Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox - but he will not pay her money to take care of their children, reports aceshowbiz.com.

By the Sea star Angelina Jolie and her six kids, who she shares with Brad Pitt, celebrated New Years Eve in Colorado without the actor.(AP)

The source said $250,000 will be put in each childs trust fund every year, which will be capped off at $5 million.

This will pay for all of the kids expenses as well as set up a trust fund for each child, the source told InTouch magazine.

Jolie is said to be hoping to get the divorce finalised in the next 90 days.

Angie wants the divorce finalised within the next 90 days, including custody and property settlements. But with everything shes asking for, its unlikely that will happen. Shes making ridiculous financial demands, the source added.

Jolie and Pitt broke hearts the world over when Jolie filed for divorce on September 19, 2016, asking for sole custody of their six kids.

#angelinajolie #viviennejoliepitt A photo posted by Jolie-Pitt kids (@jolie.pitt.kids) on Jan 2, 2017 at 3:19pm PST

Recently, she and her six kids, who she shares with Pitt, celebrated New Years Eve in Colorado without the actor.

The 41-year-old star brought her children to Colorado after they met Pitt over Christmas, amid his divorce custody battle with the actor.
Do you know what nemesis means? asks Brick Top, a rather colourful elderly gentleman in the cult gangster movie Snatch. A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an orrible c***... me, he clarifies.

Matthew McConaugheys recent comments about embracing Donald Trump were extraordinary. He was practically the first major Hollywood celebrity to not join his contemporaries in launching an attack on the new US president.

But ever since the run up to the 2016 Presidential election, the announcement of the results on December 16, and his inauguration in January, Donald Trumps every move has been scrutinised, studied and vocally protested by the largely liberal Hollywood - his nemesis.

Mere days before the election, Avengers director Joss Whedon brought together another team, but this time, their mission was to get people into polling booths - and to convince the undecided voters to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democrat candidate.

How important is your VOTE this Election Day? Well, we'll let them tell you. pic.twitter.com/RlzfwUHrW6  Save The Day Vote (@SaveTheDayVote) September 21, 2016

While the campaign, which counted among its members Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle and Mark Ruffalo, may have failed, Whedon continues to bash Trump, on Twitter and on the streets.

Disappointed in LAX protesters not taking up my chant:



NO WALL

NO BAN

EVERYONE HELP FIND JOSS'S CAR



But otherwise, proud & grateful pic.twitter.com/48fgeoSS3U  Joss Whedon (@joss) January 30, 2017

We have a dictator. Wow. We're THAT country now.  Joss Whedon (@joss) January 25, 2017

Celebrated actor Robert De Niro also tried his best to sway the undecided voter in a video that was remarkable for its forthright anger. Id like to punch him (Trump) in the face, he said in the clip.

Again, it didnt work. On the day the election results were announced, several celebrities tweeted in anger. One of the most compassionate messages of dissent was from the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin. He wrote a letter to his teenage daughter, warning her of the difficult world in which she will grow up and how she must be strong.

This is not a dream.  Zach Braff (@zachbraff) November 9, 2016

Dear Muslim, Mexican, immigrant, refugee, handicapped, black, gay, female humans beings, & also dear Earth...you are not forgotten. Promise  Connie Britton (@conniebritton) November 9, 2016

today I learned that activism & taking care of each other must be an everyday thing, not just an election thing



I promise to do better  Jay Duplass (@jayduplass) November 9, 2016

This is like a sketch.  Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) November 9, 2016

"The next wave of fascism will come not with cattle cars and camps. It will come with a friendly face." - Bertram Gross, "Friendly Fascism"  Michael Moore (@MMFlint) November 9, 2016

Stop it w: the moving to Canada shit. Double down on the country we love. If Trump becomes president, we have to get MORE involved not less  Kal Penn (@kalpenn) November 9, 2016

This is an embarrassing night for America. We've let a hatemonger lead our great nation. We've let a bully set our course. I'm devastated.  Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) November 9, 2016

This is not a dream.  Zach Braff (@zachbraff) November 9, 2016

It has only been two weeks since Trumps inauguration, but almost on a daily basis, an influential Hollywood figure makes a stern statement against him, and his policies, the most controversial of which has been the ban on refugees from several Muslim nations.

Robert De Niro speaks at a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump outside Trump International Hotel in New York City. (REUTERS)

Everyone from Jennifer Lawrence, JK Rowling, Eminem, Angelina Jolie, and her ex-husband Brad Pitt have voiced disapproval of Donald Trumps methods. Shia LaBeouf even got himself arrested for allegedly assaulting a Trump supporter during one of his live performance art pieces in which he spent the first few days of Trumps presidency swaying, dancing and repeating the phrase He will not divide us in front of a live camera.

You can read (and listen to) some of them here:

More recently, the artists have made good use of the awards season to publicly express their opinions. From the Golden Globes, in which Meryl Streep made a now-iconic 6 minute speech, to the SAG awards, which almost resembled a Donald Trump roast towards the end, the anger was only increasing. Even Winona Ryder couldnt distract from the message.

Never one to miss an opportunity to get the last word in, Trump responded, as usual on Twitter.

Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

But the popular sentiment only became more vocal, the voices became angrier. David Harbours speech at the SAG awards became the most talked-about topic after the show. Accepting the award for Stranger Things, Harbour, who admitted to being unwell before the show, made a furious speech, promising that we will hunt monsters.

Every day, protests are organised on the streets, messages of dissent are shared online, the stories of those who have been turned away, or in any way mistreated by the new president have been used to rally troops against him.

No one is going to embrace Donald Trump. Everything is not alright, alright, alright and Matthew McConaughey has painted a very large bullseye on his back.

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Lion features a cast of high-profile actors like Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Dev Patel, Deepti Naval, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tannishthha Chatterjee, but all of them came on board without their baggage of stardom, says director Garth Davis.

The movie is based on India-born Australian businessman Saroo Brierleys non-fiction work A Long Way Home -- a memoir in which he relates how he found his birth mother over two decades after he was accidentally separated from her and his family.

Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel play Saroo in the movie, which has been nominated for multiple categories at the Oscars and BAFTAs.

Australian film Director Garth Davis in Mumbai to attend the Indian premiere his drama Lion. (PTI)

Asked about how it was to direct an icon like Kidman and an amateur like Sunny in the same scene, Davis said all actors were treated equally.

Nobody acted like a Hollywood star in my film. In fact, the atmosphere on set was also very normal, and there was no hero-worshipping. But yes, for Sunny, because he was so young and faced the camera for the first time, we had an extensive preparation for him, Davis told IANS in an interview during his visit to India.

To create a comfort zone and give a clear idea of the story, the production team created a childrens version of the story in the form of a pictorial book for Sunny. It helped Sunny to not only understand his part but also contributed to his performance in the film, which will release in India on February 24.

After a successful career as an Australian television and commercial director, receiving Emmy nominations for the Top of the Lake in 2013, making a feature film was an obvious next step for Davis. But what kept him away for so long?

I do not have a definite answer for that, really. I should have been doing it (feature film) a lot earlier. I have a family, which is my responsibility. And filmmaking is a massive commitment.

So, I wanted to make sure that the film is very special. You know, filmmaking is not a job but a social responsibility for me. Therefore, the story has to be meaningful and move people from within, he added.

He found the story of Lion so heart-warming that he made a trip to India as soon as he read it -- even before it was published as a book in 2014.

There was something magical about the story. So, I immediately came to India when Saroo met his birth mother after 25 years. You see, experiencing that moment was important for me to understand the reactions of these characters that one cannot get from the book, Davis said.

As he started his research work, travelling and finding real-life inspiration based on the truth of the story, it was as if the story had begun a new journey -- from book to script, and then transformed into a film.

Im a very observant director by nature; so I observed the finest of details. I noticed how little boys in villages, walking down the street in a group, put their arms on each others shoulders. You know, that is their way to express emotional bonding, friendship, comforting each other, he said with a smile.

A lot of filmmakers say movies are often a reflection of the culture in the region they come from, and many foreigners attempt to know India through its films dance-and-music culture. But it was not so for Davis.

You see, most of the available Indian films in Australia are Bollywood. I did not watch them. In my early days, I watched Satyajit Rays Apu trilogy, which was a beautiful take on social realism. Nevertheless, for Lion, I did not watch a lot of Indian films. I went through some photographs of 1980s (Lion starts from that period). And you know what? Nothing much has changed here (in Kolkata), except the energy of the city, he said.

The film was shot in Kolkata and Bhopal.

I just love walking down the street in these places, observing people and after a hard day, treat me with chilli garlic naan, along with a slice of raw onion, and chilled beer... I will be the happiest man, he signed off.

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Andhra police on Saturday said they had nabbed the culprit who attacked a woman with a machete in a Bengaluru ATM, more that three years after the incident made national headlines.

Superintendent of police, G Srinivas, on Saturday identified Madhukara Reddy, a local criminal from Chittoor district, as the accused who attacked 45-year-old Jyothi Uday in an ATM booth in November 2013.

Police had been conducting searches in the area and had zeroed in on Reddys name. They got suspicious when Reddy went missing.

We got information that Reddy visits Madanapalli (a small city in Chittoor) as he is a native of the town, Srinivas said. When he visited this time, we nabbed him and he confessed to having committed the crime in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru Police commissioner Praveen Sood also confirmed the development, saying, One Madhukar Reddy has been arrested and we have dispatched a team to interrogate the accused.

Reddy had shifted to Kerala after committing the crime, moving to Hyderabad a year later where his parents were, and worked menial jobs. Eventually, he began visiting Madanapalli, Srinivas said.

Read | Bengaluru ATM attack: Police trace victims cellphone; detain one

A video of the ATM attack, captured by a security camera inside the ATM kiosk, showed an unmasked man go into the ATM, pull down the shutter, and threaten Jyothi to withdraw money and hand it over.

The assailant, who was armed with a country pistol and a machete, began attacking Jyothi when she attempted to escape. The video shows the man ruthlessly hit the Jyothi in the face and on her head with the machete.

Jyothi, an employee of Corporation Bank, was found unconscious in the blood-stained kiosk nearly three hours after the assailant escaped with her money (Rs. 2,500) and a mobile handset. She had sustained grievous injuries, leading to partial paralysis.

Then Bengaluru police commissioner, Raghavendra Auradhar, had formed several investigative teams that were deployed to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to track down and arrest the offender. A reward of Rs 5 lakhs was also declared to help efforts, but police didnt catch a break.

(With inputs from Srinivasa Rao Apparasu, Hyderabad)

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Sporadic incidents of violence and widespread snags in voting machines marred a brisk day of polling across Punjab and Goa as a month-long assembly election cycle in five states kicked off on Saturday.

In Punjab, 75% of nearly 20 million voters cast their vote by 5pm with heavy polling in the Malwa region that elects 69 of Punjabs 117 legislators. The poll percentage might rise further.

The state is witnessing an unprecedented three-cornered contest between the Akali Dal-BJP combine, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The polling percentage in the 2012 assembly elections was 78.5%.

Barring stray incidents of violence, the polling in single-phase remained peaceful, additional director general of police (ADGP- elections) VK Bhawra said.

Follow assembly elections live updates

The Election Commission (EC) said more than 80% voters exercised their franchise in districts such as Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot and Sangrur. Experts said this clearly indicated a fiercely fought three-cornered battle in Malwa.

But, this trend was missing in Doaba and Majha where voting percentage dipped, pointing towards a two-horse race between the Congress and Akalis.

In Goa, the voter turnout stood at a record 83%, compared to 81.7% in the last assembly election. The incumbent BJP is fighting against the Congress, the AAP and a local alliance between the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the Goa Suraksha Manch and the Shiv Sena.

A 78-year-old man also lost his life after suffering a heart attack while standing in a queue at a polling station in Panaji constituency in north Goa.

Punjab and Goa will be followed by assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Manipur and the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which will see seven-phase polls. The results of all states will be announced on March 11.

In Punjab, officials seized Rs 58 crore in cash, liquor worth Rs 13.35 crore, drugs worth Rs 18.26 crore and reported 59 cases of paid news. In Goa, officials seized Rs 2.24 crore in cash, liquor worth Rs 1 crore and drugs worth Rs 34 lakh. In Punjab, two people were injured in clashes between AAP and Congress workers in Sangrur district, police said. In Tarn Taran district, a Congress worker identified as Jagjit Singh was injured when an Akali supporter allegedly opened fire, they said.

Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines installed for the first time as a pilot in 33 assembly constituencies and two assembly segments of the Amritsar parliament seat that went to the bypolls simultaneously, turned out to be a flop show and cause of embarrassment for the poll officials.

In total, 538 trial machines developed snags during the mock polls and 187 were changed by halting the voting. Most reports of faulty trail machines came from Majitha, Muktsar, Sangrur, Barnala and Bathinda constituencies.

Its a logistic nightmare, we have fewer engineers and more complaints, said chief electoral officer of Punjab, VK Singh.

For instance, polling began at 11.30am instead of 8am in booth number 33 of Majitha in Amritsar district due to technical problems in the voting machine.

The sitting MLA and minister Bikram Singh Majithia could not cast his vote in his first attempt.

In Lambi, where chief minister Parkash Singh Badal is squaring off against Congress CM candidate Amarinder Singh, 78% voters pressed the EVM button.

In Singhs Patiala seat, the poll percentage stood at 67% and was likely to rise.

In Goa, the VVPAT system faced less glitches.

We were expecting some technical glitches as it is the first time that the VVPAT system is being used. We had instructed our staff to ensure that we have a speedy action plan if any such case surfaces, said Kunal, chief electoral officer.

Though by and large, officers were able to solve the issue, the EC recommended re-polling at a booth in Margao in south Goa. Around 800 voters were unable to cast their vote due to the machine recording mock votes as well.

We spotted that the mock votes were also being counted by the machine and were not getting erased. It is for this reason that we decided to send the voters back and not continue with polling, he said.

The idea of the Election Commission to make 40 pink booths in all the 40 assembly constituencies was a hit, as young first-time female voters could be seen enjoying the attention. The CEO had decided to give a pink teddy bear and a pen to first-time female voters coming to these stations.

I am casting my vote for the first time and it feels great to receive a token of appreciation from a government body. Also it will encourage several youngsters to come out and cast their mandate, said Alina Edward, an 18-year-old student.

Kunal said these booths recorded a higher percentage of 2% to 5%.

In Punjab, the hitch-ridden polling appeared to upset the AAP, which questioned why voting started an hour late in Punjab, 8am, than Goa, where booths opened at 7am.

Party chief Arvind Kejriwal called the poll panel spineless and blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its biased functioning. Later in the day, all three major parties thanked the people for peaceful polls.

The EC said re-polling in Majithia was expected on Sunday. A polling station in Moga constituency might go for a re-poll, as staff failed to delete mock votes before the start of actual voting.

(with agency inputs)
Eight days after an Audi Q7 hit an autorickshaw in Ghaziabad killing four people, it appears that the man who surrendered before a court claiming to be the driver of the killer car might have been an impostor.

Four people, including a woman techie, were killed when the Audi rammed an autorickshaw on Hindon Canal Road in Indirapuram.

An HT team has found that the tall, moustachioed man who identified himself as Ishaq Ahmad and surrendered before a court on January 31 may have been a different person than what he had claimed in his surrender application.

The role of the Indirapuram police, who forwarded a report in the case to the court without verifying Ahmads credentials, has come under the scanner. The families of victims have alleged conspiracy and demanded a high level inquiry in the alleged goof-up.

An HT team visited the address mentioned in the surrender application and report filed by the Indirapuram police, and found the man called Ishaq Ahmad, 32, may be different from the man who surrendered himself in court.

Read: Audi crash: Ghaziabad cops deny laxity, relatives of victims gun for guilty officials

I have never been the driver of any Manish Rawat and I certainly have never driven an Audi. I drive canter trucks. On the night of January 30, I had returned to my village in Bareilly after a Gujarat trip, he said over the phone from Guwahati, where he has gone on a trucking assignment.

The man was shocked after hearing that he was the prime accused in the Ghaziabad accident. He, however, said he knew the impostor who had surrendered before a court and submitted his driving licence (with number UP25 20110028xxxx) as identification.

I think that man can be my previous co-tenant, who lived at the house of my landlord. Around one-and-a-half-months ago, he had sought a photocopy of my driving licence for getting a mobile SIM card. Later on, I shifted out of that house and came to stay in Labhera, Bareilly, he said.

I do not know how my name got mired in this. I will get to the bottom of this after returning. There are many Ishaqs in my village, but none of them have fathers who go by the name Jameel, he added.

A photo of Ishaq Ahmad, a truck driver from Labhera village in Bareilly, accused in the case. (HT Photo)

The man also claimed that his previous co-tenant had told him that he hailed from Mumbai and knew how to drive trucks and cars.

I was in Ahmedabad at the time of the accident. After spending over 20 days loading goods there, I set off from there on January 27 and reached Bareilly around 2am on January 30, he added.

Ahmad said that he had set off on another trip to Guwahati from Bareilly on the night of January 31. On the same day, somebody impersonating him had appeared before a Ghaziabad court  around 250km from Bareilly  and claimed responsibility for the Audi accident, he said.

Investigating officer Sanat Kumar Mishra denied any irresponsibility on the part of the Indirapuram police.

The police report was forwarded on the basis of what the court sought. The individuals who submitted the surety on behalf of Ishaq Ahmad will be held responsible if the person who appeared before court and obtained bail is an impostor. We have sent a notice to Ishaq Ahmad at his address, asking him to submit his statement, he said.

Nazakat Chaudhary, the lawyer who represented the allegedly fake Ishaq Ahmad in court, said his client was innocent.

The individual was referred to me by a previous client. He told me his name and address, and showed me his driving licence after which we put up his surrender application, he added.

The lawyer showed a copy of the driving licence which was handed over to him by his client. The licence number and photograph bear the credentials and photograph of the truck driver.

Police are yet to locate car owner Manish Rawat, a medical professional with Safdarjung hospital.

It is a conspiracy to save Rawat, who we believe was driving the car, said Narendra Singh Sengar, uncle of Vishal and Yajuvendra, two of the victims.

Read | Ghaziabad Audi crash ends lives, dreams to marry, work in a big city
The crew of the two tankers which collided last week and caused the massive oil spill off the coast of Ennore port are currently being interrogated by police. Both the crew and the ships will also not be allowed to leave Kamarajar port until the investigation into the accident is concluded.

While Chennai Port Trust chairman P Raveendran released a statement saying that action would be taken along the polluter pays principle, there is still a great deal of confusion over the events of last Saturday when the two oil tankers collided.

The environment ministry has issued a notice to the port, seeking to know whether it contained the necessary infrastructure required to deal with a situation like this. Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday also announced that a probe has been launched to determine who was responsible for the oil spill.

The two tankers in question - the MT BW Maple and the MT Dawn Kanchipuram - collided with one another on January 28 near Ennore Port. Petroleum oil lubricant subsequently leaked from the Dawn, which, according to a statement by Union minister for shipping Pon Radhakrishnan, had more than 32,000 tonnes of oil on board.

The oil spill has been cleaned. From the tank, it did not leak. Oil was leaked from the engine. There is no leakage from the ship," said Radhakrishnan.

The several tonnes of crude oil that spilled into the sea had spread in a matter of days, blackening some of Chennais iconic beaches, and raising concerns about the ecological impact of the disaster.

Indian Coast Guard East region inspector general Rajan Bargotra said the oil spill was around 34,000 square metres in area, and that the oil patches near the shore have to be removed manually.

The Kamarajar Port had initially issued a statement denying that any oil had been leaked, which led to a mishandling of the situation according to experts.

The ports handling of the matter is dangerous, says environmental activists Nityanand Jayaraman. If they issued the statement without knowing what happened that is a concern: But if they were complacent after finding out that oil had spilled that is an even greater concern for us.

More than 2,000 workers are at the worst affected areas, such as Bharatiyar Nagar in Ennore, manually removing oil sludge and oil sand from the coastline. Many are volunteers, ranging from students from nearby schools to local fishermen whose livelihoods have been damaged by the oil spill.

According to the Coast Guard, the oil spill may take up to 10 more days to be fully cleared.

But while the port authorities and the tanker crews squabble over who is culpable for the accident, the real ecological damage that the spill has caused will only be apparent in a few months time, according to experts.

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The Election Commission has sought the response of AIADMK on a complaint filed by sacked leader Sasikala Pushpa against the election of Sasikala Natarajan as party general secretary.

Sasikala Pushpa had filed a complaint that the election was not as per procedure, official sources in the poll panel said here.

Without sharing much details, the sources said the party has been asked to respond to the complaint but there is no timeline as it is not a notice.

Pushpa had told the Commission that the elevation of Sasikala as the general secretary of the party was carried out in an undemocratic manner.

Sasikala Natarajan had been Jayalalithaas closest aide since the 1980s. She has been taking care of party affairs, although she never held any formal position in the AIADMK before Jayalalithaas death.
The Centre has formed a six-member committee to give a report on ways to improve Indias Haj policy and also look into issue of subsidy to the pilgrimage in light of 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing it by 2022.

Former Consul General of India (CGI), Jeddah, Afzal Amanullah has been appointed as convener of the high-level panel, Union minister of state for minority affairs (Independent charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in the Capital on Saturday.

Bombay high court judge (retd) SS Parkar, ex-Haj Committee of India chairperson Qaiser Shamim, former Air India CMD Michael Mascarenhas and Muslim scholar-chartered accountant Kamal Faruqui are also part of the panel, which will have the ministry joint secretary J Alam as member secretary.

Among other, the committee will figure out whether the pilgrims can travel to Saudi Arabia paying less in the absence of the subsidy.

The experts committee has been formed and it will give us report in a month or two on how Indias Haj policy can be improved, how the pilgrims can get maximum concessions and how Haj can be managed better, Naqvi said.

He said that the panel will speak to all the stakeholders concerned before finalising and submitting its report.

There are several issues relating to Haj subsidy. Some people are of the view that it should go, some say it should be there. Some have suggested the system at AIR India should be changed. The SC has given its verdict.

Hence, the experts committee has been formed to look into these aspects. It will speak to all the stakeholders and soon, we will figure out some way, he said on asked about the issue of floating global tender for air travel to Haj.

According to sources, the panel will examine implications of various directions of the apex court with regard to the existing Haj policy, and suitable amendments in it.

The committee will also review the effectiveness of Haj Committee of Indias management of pilgrims accommodation and air travel.

It will also assess the aspects of transparency, consumer satisfaction and disclosure requirements for private tour operators to protect interest of the pilgrims with a view to make the policy of greater assistance to the pilgrims, the sources said.

Last month, in the biggest hike in nearly three decades, Saudi Arabia had increased Indias annual Haj quota by 34,500, increasing it from 1,36,020 to 1,70,520 pilgrims.

The Supreme Court had in 2012 directed the Union government to gradually reduce and abolish Haj subsidy by 2022.

It had asked the government to invest the subsidy amount of approximately Rs 650 crore a year then on educational and social development of the community.
The Bar Council of India  the apex body of lawyers that regulates the legal profession  and a top confederation of law firms have both lodged protests with the ministry of law and justice over a recent move of the government to revoke a ban on foreign law firms in special economic zones.

What has irked lawyers is an amendment in the Special Economic Rules governing SEZs notified by the ministry of commerce and industries on January 3, 2017 that will allow multi-national law firms and possibly legal process outsourcers (LPOs) to set up shop inside SEZs. Earlier, legal services and accounting firms were excluded from the list of companies that could set up shop in SEZs.

The BCI will lodge a formal protest with the government next week while the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has already met law and justice minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and objected to the development. We will pass a formal resolution and lodge a protest. There are repeated attempts by the government to undermine the Bar Council, BCI president Manan K Mishra told HT.

SILF has demanded withdrawal of the notification. The ministry of law and justice has been working on evolving a formula to allow foreign firms into the country and opening up the legal sector but without irking Indian lawyers.

It should not pave the way for unregulated and backdoor entry of foreign law firms. We are for a rational and phased opening up of the sector and the first phase should be to liberalise the sector internally, SILF President Dr Lalit Bhasin said. Currently, rules do not allow law firms to advertise or have a website.

After already strained relations with the judiciary, over the scrapping of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in 2015 and the alleged slow pace of filling vacancies in the high courts and the Supreme court, the government does not want to upset lawyers.

Sources said the law ministry has asked the lawyers bodies to give a representation listing their concerns that it can take up with the ministry of commerce and industry. The governments declared policy is that it wants to liberalise the sector but in face of the opposition from local lawyers, it is not being able to commit to a time frame drawing criticism internationally.

Sarosh Zaiwala, founder of London based law firm Zaiwala and Company who had met law ministry officials as part of a British delegation seeking opening up of the sector blamed the delay on a few high ups in the legal profession trying to monopolise it. Indian lawyers should shed this village mentalitythe delay is denting Indias image internationally.

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A minor rape survivor tried to abandon her new-born baby in Jaipur after pleading with people for hours at the railway station to adopt the girl, police said on Saturday.

Officials said the mother and baby were rescued by the Rajasthan child rights panel on Friday night after a journalist tipped off the police.

The 14-year-old girl had delivered the baby on January 29 at a government hospital in Jaipur and both were discharged on Friday.

After the girls father lodged a complaint, police arrested a 23-year-old man, identified as Ajay Singh, on Friday for allegedly raping the girl.

Family members of the rape survivor refused to speak to the media.

Manan Chaturvedi, chairperson of the Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said the girl and her parents are unwilling to keep the baby fearing social ostracisation.

When the mother and baby were discharged (from hospital), the mother and her family were reluctant to take the child home, said Bhagwan Sahay, Nahargarh police station house officer.

Chaturvedi told HT that she brought the girl and the baby to her home with police permission as the mothers physical and mental condition was not good.

Now the condition of mother is better after medical aid, she added.

She said the brother of the survivor, who drives an e-rickshaw, took his sister, his mother and the newborn from the hospital to the railway station, where they pleaded with passers-by to take the baby.

A reporter of a media house informed the police commissioner and Chaturvedi about this, she added.

I have spoken to the child welfare committee to take the baby so that the newborn can be given for adoption after legal formalities.

Chaturvedi said though there is a facility at the hospital where families can anonymously leave newborn babies they dont want, the rape survivor victims family did not know about this.

Under a health department scheme, 65 state-run hospitals across the state have cradles where unwanted babies are left.

In 2015, Rajasthan recorded more than 3,500 cases of rape, the third highest in the country. The state also reported the fourth highest number of crime against women in the country in 2015, according to latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show.

Activists attribute the high incidents of crime against women to a highly patriarchal society and rampant misogyny.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election was the BJPs fight against SCAM, an acronym that he used to refer to the Samajwadi Party, Congress, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati.

Do you know what Scam stands for? It is S for Samajwadi Party, C for Congress, A for Akhilesh and M for Mayawati, Modi thundered at a rally in Meerut.

He tore into the pre-poll alliance between the ruling SP and its erstwhile rival Congress, asking what prompted the two parties to join hands ahead of the polls.

The Congress used to criticise the UP government...The people who could not save themselves, how could they save UP? Modi asked.

The Congress is looking to turn the tide in its favour after a string of election losses since the 2014 election. The SP, which is hit by a factional feud, is hoping to cash in on the perceived popularity of Akhilesh.

Expressing his resolve to weed out corruption, Modi attacked the his political rivals and urged people to boot out parties involved in graft and leaders who promoted caste and vote bank politics.

He also made a strong pitch for his governments demonetisation exercise, asking voters to back his party so that corruption and black money could be eliminated.

When I took the decision to demonetise high-value currency notes (of Rs 500 and Rs 1000), I knew that people who have stashed black money will gang up and bay for my blood. But I knew the people of this country are behind me, he said, as the audience cheered.

Modi also criticised Akhileshs government over unemployment, saying the states youth did not have employment opportunities.

The PM said even if he wanted to help UP, his efforts will be thwarted. If the state government has no intention, the money will go somewhere else.

News agency ANI quoted Modi as saying that the BJP allocated Rs 4,000 crore to the Uttar Pradesh government for healthcare services but they couldnt even spend Rs 250 crore.

In the seven-phase UP election, the Bharatiya Janata Party is up against the SP-Congress alliance and a resurgent Bahujan Samaj Party led by Dalit icon Mayawati.

(With agency inputs)
The National Security Guard (NSG) didnt pay heed to pleas for rescuing defence guards under fire from gunmen during last years Pathankot airbase attack, an air force officers statement to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed.

I heard an RT (radio transmission on a wireless set) in which some DSC (defence security corps) personnel was yelling one is dead and two are wounded, please somebody come (to) evacuate us, else we would die.

I then asked Brigadier (Gautam) Ganguly (the NSG officer leading the commando team) to get one team prepared for rescue to which he didnt paid (sic) heed to, said the officer, wing commander Abhijit Sarin, who was asked to guide the NSG team sent to neutralise the attackers.

DSC is under the administrative control of the defence ministry and guards installations under it.

The NIA charge sheet, filed in a special court in Mohali recently, didnt delve into what appeared to betray differences between the NSG and the Indian Air Force personnel in their operational strategies.

The charge sheet contained statements by Sarin and many other IAF officers who were witness to the January 2 attack that left six IAF personnel and one NSG officer dead.

Four attackers crossed over from Pakistan on December 30, 2015, and waited at the border for a day before entering the airbase early morning of January 1.

They remained hidden in the airbase for the next 24 hours and launched the attack around 2.45am on January 2. The army reached the airbase around 4.15am.

The NSG unit was moved to Pathankot following alerts by superintendent of Punjab Police Salvinder Singh, who was kidnapped on December 31 and released some distance away from the air base.

The attackers sped away with his vehicle after dumping the SP.

When contacted by HT, wing commander Sarin refused to comment on his statement. Brigadier Ganguly said he would speak only after getting permission from his superiors.

NSG sources, however, denied Sarins claims. There was a chance of friendly fire. The air force personnel were firing and running helter-skelter. And it was the

NSG that rescued people. The statement gives one-sided view of situation. Besides, there were foreign students as well as families residing in the airbase area. The NSG had to secure everyone, said an NSG source who was involved in the operations at Pathankot.

Indian army vehicle passes by a checkpost following firing and alleged bomb explosion inside the airbase in Pathankot on January 03, 2016.

In his statement to the NIA, brigadier Ganguly said that firing (at the airbase) was continuously shifting and moved towards the DSC line area. Later an army team headed by brigadier Anupinder Bevli reached the air base and surrounded the area with the NSG team. By the first light (January 2), NSG and Army had cordoned off all DSC line area including open bushy area but we were not sure where the terrorists are (sic) actually hiding. It is to mention here that by this time one of the terrorists had got killed in a scuffle with DSC sepoy Jagdish Ram near DSC lawn area, he said.

It was not clear from brigadier Gangulys statement whether the NSG team waited for the army team to secure the area or a rescue team was sent to evacuate DSC personnel before the army reached.

But brigadier Bevlis statement to the NIA seemed to offer some clarity. One column (around 90 to 100 soldiers) with mine protected vehicle was used to evacuate the

DSC personnel on the request of the IAF officer, he said in his statement. He didnt name the officer.

Wing commander Sarin stated that when the army team reached the Pathankot airbase, he was withdrawn and asked by air officer commanding JS Dhamoon to reach the VIP cottage area and get the AOC-in-C secure.

Then I left my team and went to the cottage to guard our AOC-in-C. Then after completing it I went to my quarters. Later I heard that three (more) terrorists were gunned down by the NSG in the open area near DSC lawns.

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Pakistan hopes that there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India after the state assembly elections in the neighbouring country, a senior minister has said.

We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed, Pakistani minister of planning and development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering in Washington.

Responding to a question at the US Institute of Peace, a top American think-tank, Iqbal rued that Pakistan is an election issue in the state assembly elections in India.

This is a bit unfortunate that theyre taking, you know, strong positions along the electoral cycle. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that was India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now, think in terms of peace, Iqbal said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, is a strong advocate of peace in the region.

We have very actively pursued peace with Afghanistan and India and continue to do so because we think that our development depends upon peace in the region, he said.

But I think, there is a little issue that, in Pakistan, since 93 I dont remember any election where any leadership has shown any sensitivity towards doing India bashing in order to get some extra votes in the elections. I mean, in our elections India is not affected, nobody speaks about India, nobody does any India bashing, he said.

But somehow we feel that the electoral dynamics in India are still quite sensitive to Pakistan bashing. So whenever you have, a electoral process in India, the government takes a certain hawkish position towards Pakistan, Iqbal said, adding that after these election there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India.

Responding to a question, Iqbal alleged that Indias reaction to USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a knee jerk reaction.

India, he said, needs to look at opportunities with CPEC as increasing regional cooperation.

So instead of opposing CPEC, it should now join CPEC and look at different opportunities, he said, adding CPEC would provide India shortest land route to do trade with most of China.

What you also have to see, that in China, they have now developed extensive road and rail links with West China, he added.

If you are even doing trade through CPEC you can reach out to any destination in China from this area. So we are very hopeful and we continue to work to normalize our relations with India, Iqbal said.
A five-year-old Pakistani boy was reunited with his mother on Saturday at the Wagah-Attari border crossing, with some help from Indian authorities.

The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, had been taken forcibly to India by his father, who belongs to Jammu and Kashmir, a year ago.

Pakistan thanked India for the help in helping with the boys return.

The Pakistan high commission in New Delhi said that the five-year-old boy was lodged for some time in a hotel in Amritsar with a senior diplomat and later taken to Wagah.

Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit appreciated the cooperative role of Indian government in the return of Iftikhar Ahmed, the statement said.

In March 2016, Iftikhars father Gulzar Ahmed took him to Ganderbal district in Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, the boys mother Rohina Kiyani who belongs to Pakistan-administered Kashmir, filed a case in an Indian court for his custody.

The verdict on the case was given in May 2016, but due to the growing border tensions it took eight months for the mother to get her sons custody.

Gulzar had allegedly lied to his wife that he was taking Iftikhar to a wedding with him. He took the boy to Dubai and then to Ganderbal.

However, after the case was taken up by the Pakistan high commission and it was proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani national, the verdict was given that he be repatriated to Pakistan.
A local court on Saturday extended the police custody of Bhaben Saikia, arrested for the murder of Infosys employee Rasila Raju OP, till February 7.

Saikia, deployed as a security guard, allegedly strangled Rasila near her workstation on the ninth floor of Infosys building in Punes Hinjawadi on January 29 after she had reprimanded him for staring at her.

Saikia, who hails from Assams Lakhimpur district, was produced in the Shivajinagar sessions court on Saturday.

Demanding further police custody, public prosecutor D More said police wanted to verify the route he had taken to flee to Mumbai after committing the crime.

Police also wanted to probe whether any other person helped him commit the crime or escape afterwards.

Saikias lawyer Tausif Shaikh said there was no need for further custody as police had already recovered all the relevant evidence such as Rasilas access card and the clothes and shoes which the accused was wearing at the time of the alleged crime.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) AS Barulkar extended Saikias police custody till February 7 after hearing the arguments.

Saikia was heard speaking to his lawyer in Marathi outside the court before the proceedings began. Asked how he could speak Marathi so well, he said he had heard about Raj Thackeray-led MNSs agitation against non-Marathi speaking migrants, and therefore the first thing he did after landing in Pune to look for a job one year ago was to join a class to learn Marathi.
BJP MP Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the hurdles on the path of construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya will be gradually removed and its construction will start soon.

Chhattisgarh was Lord Rams nanihal (his mother Kaushlyas maternal home). According to jyotishi manyata (astrology), when the Lord will settle at his nanihal, it would automatically pave the way for the construction of a (Ram) temple (in Ayodhya).

The Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of inaugural ceremony of a Ram temple constructed on the VIP Road in the outskirts of state capital Raipur.

The 44-year-old MPs comments on Ram temple in Ayodhya came ahead of the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath said taking lessons from the life of Lord Ram, every section of society should march together for nation-building.

Maryada Purushottam Ram (one who epitomes righteousness) spent his life establishing social harmony and equality. Likewise for nation-building, there is a need to take every section of society, including Dalits, vanvasis (tribals) and other backward castes, together.

Our biggest responsibility is to embrace our brothers (people from socially oppressed sections) and establish harmony in society, he said.

Chhattisgarh governor Balramji Das Tandon and chief minister Raman Singh, among others, were present on the occasion.
The removal of Rajiv Gandhis name from his birth anniversary celebrations on Sadbhavna Diwas on August 20 raised the hackles of the Congress on Friday, with party leaders saying that the governments arbitrary and authoritarian decision amounted to insult to the memory of a great Prime Minister and a martyr.

Raising the issue during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha, Congress member Chhaya Verma seriously objected to the deletion of Gandhis name from the Sadbhavna Diwas functions since 2015, even as Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asserted that official schemes would not carry the name of one family under the Narendra Modi dispensation.

Verma said if Gandhis name had been deliberately removed, it amounted to a conspiracy.

Senior Congress member Anand Sharma stood up in support, saying that the government was obliterating names of former prime ministers, which amounted to insulting them. He demanded an explanation from the government in the matter.

Sharma alleged that the NDA government was naming schemes and programs after those people who had done nothing for the country.

Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad got up to say that in the two and a half years of NDA rule, government schemes and programmes were being named after those people directly or indirectly associated with the ruling party.

Naqvi retorted saying that only one party and one family could not have a right over the countrys resources, government schemes and programmes. During Modis term, it is not possible to carry out all schemes and programmes under the name of one family. Thousands of people have sacrificed their lives for the country and their contribution cannot be forgotten, he said.
The legislators of Tamil Nadus ruling AIADMK will attend a crucial meeting on Sunday afternoon amid speculations that party general secretary VK Sasikala may replace O Panneerselvam as the chief minister of the state.

Party sources indicated that a leadership change could not be ruled out, but refrained from making any official statement.

AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi too refused to answer any question. I would be in a position to make a definitive statement only after the MLAs meeting at 1.30pm, she told HT.

The buzz over Sasikalas appointment as CM came against the backdrop of the party politically rehabilitating several leaders who were shunned by Jayalalithaa, the charismatic Tamil Nadu chief minister who died in December after complications following a cardiac arrest.

The move is also seen as a ploy to thwart Jayalalithaas niece, Deepa Jayakaumar, who is said to be in touch with some leaders before announcing her political plan on the late CMs birthday on February 24 amid talks of a possible succession war.

But Saraswathi did not make much of the role changes, saying it was a routine affair ahead of local body polls that could be held later this year.

Also, at least three bureaucrats believed to be close to the late chief minister have been sidelined -- one of them quit and two others were shifted from the CMs office. Sources said a rejig in the bureaucracy was also expected.

Read| Why Sasikala as Tamil Nadu CM could backfire on many fronts

Political analyst and advocate C Rajashekharan, considered close to the AIADMK dispensation, said: In all probability, Sasikala will be chosen as the legislative party leader tomorrow and she could be sworn in as the chief minister on Monday itself.

The process will be smooth, he said, though a small section of the party is believed to be against Sasikalas rise.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa as well as AIADMK leader KC Palaniswamy had complained to the Election Commission that the elevation of Sasikala as the interim general secretary of the party was carried out in an undemocratic manner.

Sources said the poll panel had sent a notice to the party and Sasikala, seeking clarifications.

The election of the interim general secretary will be declared valid only after the panel is satisfied with the process, sources said.

Sasikala had been Jayalalithaas closest aide since the 1980s. She has been taking care of party affairs, although she never held any formal position in the AIADMK before Jayalalithaas death.

She is called Chinnamma, meaning aunt, after Jayalalithaa who was known to her legions of devotees as Amma, or mother.

Sasikala, PRO-husband V Natarajan, and their extended family have been called by rivals as the Mannargudi Mafia, allegedly for their stranglehold over Jayalalithaa and the party.

Read| Shadow, sister, secretary: The rise of AIADMKs new interim chief Sasikala

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Two suspected militants were killed in an encounter with security forces on a highway in the Sopore area of north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Saturday, security officials said.

Local reports said one of the militants was a local commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit and the other was a foreigner.

Police officials said they were trying to confirm the identities. Police also did not confirm the reports of injuries to at least two cops in the shoot-out.

Two terrorists were killed. One AK-47 rifle and a pistol along with war-like stores were recovered...Sanitisation operation continues, said an army spokesperson.

Officials said the army and police had information about militants travelling in a vehicle on the highway in the Sheer Amargarh area.

During the search, militants travelling in a car abruptly started to open fire on the security forces. In retaliation, the two militants were killed, said the police control room in Sopore.

The PCR informed officials were trying to confirm reports that one of the militants killed was Parvez Ahmad, a resident of Handwara in Kupwara district.

We are yet to receive report from the ground that two cops have been injured, the PCR informed.

Sopore superintendent of police did not pick up the phone.
Several close associates of former chief minister SM Krishna on Saturday evening nixed the claim of Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party chief BS Yeddyurappa that the estranged Congress leader will soon join the saffron party.

Yeddyurappa had earlier in the day claimed that he was negotiating the entry of the former external affairs minister into the BJP.

Rejecting the claim, sources in Krishna camp said their leader would hold any such discussions only with top two BJP leadersPrime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

Krishna and Modi have known each other for over 15 years, and both share a good working relationship, the sources added.

Triggering speculation over Krishna joining the BJP, Yeddyurappa at Gulbarga said it was imminent.

Adding to the aura of suspense, another senior BJP leader and information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu neither denied nor confirmed the development.

No senior leader can continue in the Congress, he said.

But a member of the BJPs communication cell, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Yeddyurappa and Krishna did not even meet.

Krishna, 84, had snapped his 46-year-long association with the Congress on January 29, accusing the party leadership of ignoring senior leaders like him.

A party that does not respect its seniors has no future, an emotional Krishna had said, announcing his resignation.

Congress sources, meanwhile, claim efforts were on to pacify the sulking leader into rejoining the party. As of now there is a 40% chance of him returning to the party, a Congress source said.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who was incidentally brought into the Congress fold from the Janata Dal (Secular) by Krishna, said the party high command was still speaking to Krishna and that he was hopeful that an amicable solution could be found.

When asked about Yeddyurappas comment, he said: Ask Yeddyurappa about it, I do not wish to comment.
BS Yeddyurappa, the Karnataka president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Saturday that ex-Congress leader SM Krishna was expected to join the saffron party soon.

On January 29 Krishna resigned from all the posts held by him in the Congress. He resigned from the grand old party and Congress Working Committee as well.

The Congressman is said to have written a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, apprising her of his decision.

He (SM Krishna) has decided to join BJP, when we dont know, will fix it soon. He is joining 100%, ANI quoted Yeddyurappa as saying.

The 84-year-old first became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1968 from Mandya. Krishna led the Congress to victory in Karnataka in 1999 and served as the chief minister till 2004.

He also served as the governor of Maharashtra for the period 2004-2008. Krishna was also made the minister for external affairs in Manmohan Singhs cabinet, and resigned from it in 2012.

It is not clear what prompted Krishna to take such a decision. However, he has called a press conference on Sunday, where he is expected to speak about his decision.

Congress sources said Krishna was feeling suffocated in the party for a long time. Though inducted into the CWC, he was not given any important organisational role either at the national level or in the state. He hardly attended meetings of the partys highest decision making body.
After the budget day, VK Sasikala, general secretary of the AIADMK, reportedly complained that the Union Budget did not give any special allocation to Tamil Nadu for its extreme drought. Sasikalas response came soon after chief minister O Panneerselvam said on February 01 that the central team to assess the states drought situation had now completed its study, and that he expected the Centre to provide assistance.

On January 10, Panneerselvam had already declared Tamil Nadu drought-hit based on an assessment undertaken by the state. This came after around 40 farmers protested outside the Trichy collectors office, holding dead rats in their mouths, stating that over 47 farmers had committed suicide in the state in the last two months.

Panneerselvam declared all 32 districts drought-affected in his memorandum to the Prime Minister  13,305 villages out of 16,682 revenue villages in the state were identified as drought-affected, and all 32 districts as receiving deficit rainfall, with the deficit ranging from 35% to 81%. He also pointed to how their drought has worsened due to Karnatakas non-release of Cauvery water. Fifteen irrigation reservoirs in the state were at 13% levels at the end of 2016.

The Tamil Nadu government urged the Centre to sanction Rs 39,565 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for relief. Soon after Panneerselvams demand, an inter-ministerial central team was constituted to assess the situation in Tamil Nadu. Between January 23-25, the central team studied the damage caused to agricultural crops and took stock of the scarcity in drinking water.

The monsoon in Tamil Nadu has been deficient by close to 70%, according to the regional meteorological department. Ground water has been exploited by up to 85% across the state, according to statistics by the agriculture department.

Kerala has also never been spurned by rain gods in over a century as in the past six months. With both the southwest and northeast monsoons not making an appearance except for a few occasional showers, Gods own country is all set for its hardest drought in 115 years, and the worst since the states formation in 1956.

Meanwhile, the rains stopped in August in Karnataka. Estimates and surveys carried out by agriculture and revenue departments, 136 of the 175 taluks in the state are drought-hit and experiencing severe drinking water crisis. This is the third consecutive year of drought in the state.

There was 33.7% deficiency in the southwest monsoon between July and September. (File Photo)

The numbers in the three states have raised alarm bells everywhere, and what is even more worrying is what they indisputably portend -- the coming water wars that will stem from Tamil Nadus dependence on its neighbours.

A historic emergency in Kerala

The regional meteorological department has recorded sobering numbers. There was 33.7% deficiency in the southwest monsoon between July and September. But the real villain was the northeast monsoon between October and December that fell short by 61%.

Both the monsoon systems failing is very rare, and a lot is due to the cyclonic systems that developed in the Bay of Bengal like Vardah, which hit Chennai and the Andhra coast. While last year, we got 20% more rains than normal from the northeast monsoon, this time its running on a negative scale, said S Sudevan, director, State Meteorological Department.

The worst affected districts are Thrissur and Palakkad, both normally drought-prone, where dryness and crop-wilting are common. But this time, the farmers here were in for a shock.

KV Santosh is a farmer from Chooliserry panchayat in Thrissur who grows paddy every year on five acres of land. He is also a leader in the local farming community. This year, the father of two had tilled his land and sowed seeds in mid-August like other years. In December when the harvest season arrived, more then 3.5 acres of his land had been rendered completely useless. With the northeast monsoon not bringing precious rain, the crops had died. A dejected Santosh says he will be lucky if the yield is even close to a dismal 30% of the usual produce.

Throughout Kerala, the groundwater situation is also getting dire. Reports coming from reservoirs and dams across the state have also been discouraging. Almost all reservoirs have been recording steep falls in water level continuously.

Droughts have led to depletion of water levels in dams and river basins. (File Photo)

The situation is certainly going from bad to worse. At this rate, the water will last for only the next 90 days in most places. We are taking all possible measures, but irrigation is perhaps the last thing on our minds now as we need to save water for all other purposes, said A Shainamol, managing director, Kerala Water Authority (KWA).

In Palakkad, the hottest district in the state, farmers have actually given up on the idea of cultivation. P Sivadasan, 65, comes from a family of farmers. At his panchayat in Kannadi in Palakkad, the farmer claims that this time only 10% crops were cultivated.

My son and I are both farmers, and our family is completely dependent on the cultivation. I have never seen such a situation in my whole life. Now the problem is how I will sow the seeds next April with no cash in my hand. My family will starve, said Sivadasan.

The latest figures as of December 21, 2016 from the directorate of agriculture show that 17,128 hectares of cultivable land across the state have been affected by the drought. Crop loss stands at more than Rs 90 crore.

The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) has called upon the government to take proactive steps to preserve whatever water is available for the next few months. On October 28, at a high-level meeting chaired by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the government decided to, for the first time ever, impose a water rationing system across households and industries as recommended by KSDMA.

A 26-point agenda has been chalked out with the motto of three Rs -- Reduce, Reuse and Recycle water. An order of preference has also been decided for use of water till May 2017, with drinking water at the top followed by use of water for household purposes and then for industrial use.

For the first time ever, water kiosks are being set up in every grama panchayat and tankers, the usual mode of supplying drinking water, are catering only to high water-scarcity areas. Industries that tap ground water have been issued notices to stop productivity by 75% until summer showers arrive in May.

A round-the-clock control room has also been activated at the State Emergency Operations Centre of KSDMA in Thiruvananthapuram, which reviews the different stages of the drought across the state. In fact, by October the state had already declared itself drought-hit and asked for the Centres help, but even that anticipation had failed to see the severity of the oncoming drought.

What makes this drought worse than the one of 2012 is that rainfall was only 24% deficient that year, compared to this years 33.7%. In 2012, the northeast monsoon showers had compensated, unlike the dry spell this year.

While in Karnataka

If one had seen Karnatakas farmers in June, they were a happy, beaming lot. It was pouring rain and they were looking forward to a bumper harvest. Till the rains stopped in August.

This is the first time in 42 years that the Mysuru region has received scanty rains, forcing farmers to abandon agriculture activities. The worst story of the drought is that even parts of the Western Ghats, such as Kodagu and Hassan districts, failed to record normal rainfall, drying up dams in Cauvery basin of water, an agriculture department official claimed, pointing out how farmers in Mandya district, part of the Krishnaraja Sagar dam ayacut area, have failed to harvest even a single paddy crop this year.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah recently said the state had suffered a crop loss of Rs 25,000 crore. The Karnataka government has asked the Centre for a Rs 4,702.54 crore package to help tide over the drought. It has also constituted four teams to tour and assess the droughts severity in the four revenue divisions -- Bengaluru, Kalaburagi, Belagavi and Mysuru. The teams, comprising junior ministers and headed by a senior minister, toured villages, taluks and district headquarters until December 20 to submit a report recommending measures to tackle the drought.

The drought has also led to depletion of water levels in dams across the state, particularly in the old Mysuru region, which has led to a severe drinking water crisis. With water level in the Krishnaraja Sagar dam touching a 15-year low, the worst-affected are likely to be Bengaluru and Mysuru, which depend on the Cauvery delta dams to meet their drinking water needs.

As per estimates from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), the prospect of a severe drinking water problem in the summer months will be a reality in the state. Water rationing is the only plausible option if the body has to ensure sustained water supply to Bengalurus residents until June 2017, said a senior official from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

Preparing for water wars

Dam levels across Tamil Nadu have plunged to 4-6% of capacity, except for a few in the western districts. In the southern parts, farmers have not even sown their crops. In the northern and Cauvery delta districts, thousands of acres of crops have dried up. While the state government is assessing the damage and crop losses, farmers associations say that 50 lakh acres in the Cauvery basin alone have been destroyed.

In October and November 2016, tensions flared up between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the issue of sharing Cauvery river water. Tamil establishments in Karnataka were attacked and vandalised as a decade-old legal battle over sharing of Cauvery river water swung in favour of Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court. In retaliation, Kannadiga establishments in Chennai were attacked, and Karnataka state buses burnt in Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka activists set alight trucks coming from Tamil Nadu at Hosa Guddada Halli during their protest against Tamil Nadu Govt and Supreme Court verdict on Cauvery river water. (Kashif Masood/HT File Photo)

As the Supreme Court ordered the release of 2,000 cusecs of water for a specific period to Tamil Nadu, the Karnataka government, initially refusing to obey the order, later reluctantly complied.

Tensions have simmered down now but as the drought deepens in Tamil Nadu, fresh water wars are on the horizon.

Both Karnataka and Kerala are upper riparian states with rain-fed rivers originating and flowing mainly from the Western Ghats, and so these two states are not dependent on water from other states to a large extent. However, these rivers cross over into Tamil Nadu and bring water to the farmers there.

Tamil Nadus continuing battles with Karnataka and Kerala over water sharing, from the Cauvery and Mullaperiyar respectively, usually intensify during drought situations when these states curtail their sharing of river water with Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka has not released Cauvery water this year. We are going to have problems with the release of Mullaperiyar water from Kerala too. The state government has to take a strict stand, said PR Pandian, president of the All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu Coordination Committee.

Read | Farmer deaths in Tamil Nadu: NHRC seeks govt response on steps taken

Tamil Nadu has requested Andhra Pradesh as well for more water from the Krishna river in order to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai and its surroundings. The Andhra government has taken it under consideration and is yet to respond.

With the current water levels in dams, a power crisis also looms large over the states, threatening to make it a terrible summer. We are in for a severe, hot and angry summer, with many battles over water, sighed a senior official in the Tamil Nadu government. What we need to do is focus on water management in the long term.

(Published in arrangement with GRIST Media)
A bonanza awaits competitors in the Feb 10 Jallikattu in Alanganallur, where the organisers on Saturday announced attractive prizes, including car, for the winner of the bull-taming sport.

Besides the car, the winner of the event would also get gold coins, steel cupboard, cot and mega vessels, the organisers said.

Hosting the event after a gap of three years, Alanganallur in Madurai district is famous for Jallikattu and used to attract a large number of spectators, including foreign tourists.

Jallikattu, usually held during the harvest festival of Pongal in mid-January, could not be organised in the past three years in view of the ban on the sport.

With the Tamil Nadu government promulgating an ordinance and subsequently getting a Bill passed in the state assembly allowing Jallikattu, the event is being held in several parts of the state in the past few days.

The government intervention came after a week-long protest largely by youths, including students, in the Marina Beach in Chennai, and elsewhere in the state, including here last month.

Organisers here said registration for the bulls and sportsmen would begin on Feb 6 and 7 respectively.

Meanwhile, a total of 400 bulls and 500 sportsmen participated in the Jallikattu organised at Ulagampatti in the district. The winners were given prizes ranging from silver coin to currency notes to furniture.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the BJP has lost a staunch supporter and warned that the upcoming electoral battles are no friendly matches.

The BJP President says this is a friendly match between them while the state leaders call this a Mahabharat between Kauravas and Pandavas. I want to tell Amit Shah this is no friendly match now. You have lost one who has always backed you and has been your staunch supporter. A supporter who backed (PM Narendra) Modi after the Gujarat riots when everybody was against him, he told in his first BMC poll rally in Mumbai.

Shah had last Sunday said there were no differences with the Sena and that he hoped its decision to contest the Maharashtra civic polls independently was not going to cause damage to the alliance. Thackeray said he does not want to play the politics of alliance anymore after having seen the behaviour meted out to the Sena.

In future Sena will be alone only on the support of the Shiv Sainiks, he said.

Thackeray said if Amit Shah says that there are no differences and only man-bhed (differences of the heart) between the estranged allies, the BJP should come clean on the issues on which there is a man-bhed.

We will not leave the cause of Hindutva. If you do, there is man-bhed. If you do not stop the atrocities being conducted by Pakistan, there is man-bhed. If you give money to the family of Burhan Wani after he was killed, there is man-bhed. If farmers land is snatched and given to industrialists and if people are made to stand in long queues due to demonetisation, there is man-bhed, the Sena chief said.

Thackeray said the mask of transparency the state BJP leaders had been wearing all along has been removed by its own government at the Centre as the economic survey tabled in Parliament has ranked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as the most transparency body in the country.

Chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) said he will show the Sena its place on the day of results. I thank him for saying so as he has sealed our win with these comments. Even during the previous polls, the then chief minister had said Sena will nowhere be seen but today that chief minister is nowhere to be seen. We are here, he said.

Recently when I had met the chief minister (Fadnavis) during a BMC programme, I had told him we are ready to give him credit even though no work has been done by them. But one should have the capacity to take free credit as well, Thackeray said.

He said historically, the Prime Minister and the chief minister do not go for campaign for local polls, but the current PM and the CM have no time to administer as they are busy campaigning for as small as society polls.

How and when will they administer then? he questioned.

What kind of administration is this? Make big promises before polls and forget all of them later. This culture was never seen before and will never be seen in future as well, he said.

Referring to the foundation stone laying ceremony of a memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji, Thackeray said it has been over a year since the foundation stone for Babasaheb Ambedkars memorial was laid by the PM at Indu mills, but not a single brick has been laid as yet.

Referring to the BJPs call for suggestions for its manifesto, Thackeray said they have not understood Mumbai and wants to understand it from the citizens and are thus asking for suggestions.
A woman was assaulted by a mob after she protested against loud music in East Kolkatas Kasba area, police said on Saturday.

Police have arrested one person in connection with the assault.

According to the victim, a group of Saraswati Puja organisers, who were celebrating by playing loud music even after 8pm on Friday, attacked her when she asked them to lower the volume.

The puja organisers assaulted me and pushed me to the ground. The mob also abused me in a filthy language and hurled bricks at our house. One of our gates was broken, the woman said.

The locals were playing music well beyond the permissible limit even after two days of the puja. I only requested them to lower the volume as it was already late at night, she said.

We have arrested one person on the charge of assaulting the woman, an officer from Kasba police station said.

In another incident, two people were injured in a minor clash between two groups in West Bengals Malda district on Saturday, police said.

A minor clash broke out between the two groups of people hailing from the same community in Maldas English Bazar area over playing music at a high level. The fingers of two persons were chopped during the clash and they had to be hospitalised, said Purnendu Kundu, officer in charge of English Bazar police station.

No one has been arrested so far, he added.
Four days after being shamed on social media for allegedly misbehaving with a woman during a feminist campaign, an MPhil student of Jadavpur University was found missing from the hostel on Friday.

Sushil Mandi, who hails from Dhaniakhali in Hooghly district, had taken part in the campaign organised on campus by two Left-wing outfits in the run up to the student council elections. On the morning of February 2, Mandi moved out of the hostel early in the morning, leaving all his belongings, including his mobile phone, in his room. His family members lodged a missing complaint at Jadavpur police station on Friday.

Copies of the social media posts which accused him of molestation were filed with the police complaint. The alleged victim, however, has yet to lodge a complaint with either the police or the university authorities.

University authorities, though, have informed the police.

However, a section of the students also pointed out that Mandi was politically active and was arrested, It is unlikely that his disappearance had anything to do with public shaming on social media, they said.

According to Mandis friends, he is associated with a student outfit named Radical, which went into an alliance with another outfit United Students Democratic Front (USDF)  both Marxist-leaning, according to the police  ahead of the JU students council election held on January 25.

Radical and USDF called for a joint movement on January 14 to break all the locks of ladies toilets on the campus. It was perceived as a feminist move because the JU authorities used to keep the ladies toilets on the campus locked after 6pm, while the gents toilets were kept open, simply to discourage girls from staying on the campus after sundown. The woman, who is member of neither organisation, joined the programme but later told some of those who took part in the campaign that Mandi touched her inappropriately during the lock-breaking campaign, said a student of film studies department. The woman is a student of this department.

Following heated arguments between the two outfits over the charges against Mandi, the woman made a social media post on January 20 naming the two outfits. USDF later posted a statement on social media on January 28, naming Mandi, and claiming that they were in favour of proper inquiry over the charges.

HT could not speak to the woman who took to social media to lodge her protest. Her post was deleted. USDF sided with the woman and circulated a statement claiming that the attempt to link Mandis disappearance to their social media post was an attempt to silence the victim.

Mandis friends in Radical have alleged that he was targeted because of his tribal background.

Mandi passed from JU as an engineering graduate in 2009 and got a job, but enrolled for MPhil in linguistics at the university in 2014. He has been closely associated with Left student politics for more than a decade.

He was a regular participant in various agitation programmes including feminist campaigns.

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Despite steps to keep the politics clean, all is not well in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Or what else could explain the emergence of contract killers, weapon suppliers and liquor/narcotic smugglers during the last 2 months.

Sample this: On January 12 when the security guards posted on the gate of Naini central jail in Allahabad were preparing for the shift in the duty a youth riding on a motorcycle stopped there.

While the guards remained busy in conversation, the youth went into the office of the jail superintendent and handed him a letter. Without verifying his identity the officer took him to the cell in which the dreaded gangster of West UP Udham Singh was lodged.

Singh scribbled a few names on a slip and handed it back to the youth with the instruction that the work should be done before first phase polling.

The visitor was told to collect the money from a toll plaza contractor in Noida after accomplishing the task. Unaware that his movement from Ghaziabad to Allahabad was under electronic surveillance of UP Special Task Force (STF), the youth drove to the railway station but was nabbed him near CMP Degree College Bridge in Allahabad.

The arrested person was Praveen Kumar Pal, a contract killer wanted by the police in several cases of murders and extortions.

Pal told cops that he had been told to collect Rs 40 lakh from two traders in Meerut who are close to a politician. He was also given contract to kill an influential Muslim trader in Ghaziabad during election campaign. He has also supplied pistol and revolvers to politicians in Sultanpur and Jaunpur districts in East UP. The STF is investigating into the case.

Political killings and gangster in fray

During 2014 Lok Sabha election BJP leader Vijay Pandit was killed in the Dadri area of Gautam Buddha Nagar district leading to tension in West UP.

In February last year, killing of VHP leader Arun Kumar Mahaur in Agra had led to communal tension.

The investigation showed that contract killers belonging to Sundar Bhati and Ravindra Bhura were roped in to execute the murders, said a policeman.

Similarly, the role of members of Anil Dujana gang active in west UP came to light in the killing of Pandit. A police officer said Dujana lodged in Banda district jail contested the local body election from behind the bar and secured victory from a ward in NOIDA last year.

On January 10, the STF arrested a contract killer Ashok Pehalwan on Muzzafarnagar- Meerut highway. Ashok was serving life term in jail but managed to escape from police custody in 2011. He was given supari (contract) to kill an influential gram pradhans in Shamli during the election campaign, said a police officer.

Notorious gangster of East UP, Chandan Singh who escaped from police custody on June 1 was on extortion spree in Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Lucknow and Sultanpur districts threatening the businessman and builders considered close to politicians. He had made a safe hideout in Gujarat while members of his gang were on move collecting money and arms. STF arrested him in the last week of December in Ahmedabad.

Talking to HT, SSP, STF, Amit Pathak said, to check the activities of contract killers, gun suppliers and liquor smugglers during assembly election the STF has increased its vigil across the state. The information about the activities of criminal gangs was being collected through electronic surveillance and informers. The STF has worked out 46 cases in January, busted gangs involved in extortion, murder, arms and liquor supply, he said.

Some dreaded gangsters such Mukhtar Ansari, Munna Bajrangi, Brajesh Singh, Sundar Bhati, Anil Dujana, Dharmendra Kirthal, Amit Kasna, Yogesh Bhadaura, Sushil Moonch Mukeem Kala, Babloo Srivastava and Khan Mubarak are running their crime machine from prison.

While Mukhtar is contesting election on BSP ticket, the kin of Bajrangi, Brajesh and Bhati are also in fray. The members of their gang who might use muscle power to intimidate the rivals or voters are on the radar of the police.

Jails under scanner

To keep a check on the activities of jailed criminals the election commission has directed the state government to strictly implement the ban on use of mobile phones by undertrials.

While the district administration officers have been directed to conduct surprise raids on jails, the prison department has been told to install jammers there, said ADG (law and order) Daljit Singh Chaudhary.

Besides, the prison officers have been told to maintain vigil on the activities of notorious undertrials and visitors meeting them.

Keeping in tune with the order, a police team led by Allahabad DM Sanjay Kumar and SP Salabh Mathur raided Naini central jail on Tuesday last.

They were surprised to find that jammers were closed and gangster-turned-politician Kapilmuni Karvaria, his brother Udaybhan Karvaria and Surajbhan Karvaria were enjoying all the facilities including that of mobile phone.

A family member from Karvariya family, Neelam is contesting election from Meja seat in Allahabad district. The trio had been shifted to Mirzapur district jail.

Weapon/liquor smugglers make noise

The cops are also worried over the sudden surge in illegal weapon market during election. SSP STF Amit Pathak said the teams have been directed to track down the weapon and liquor smugglers.

While a week is left for the first phase polling the police has already seized 10,98,882 bulk litre liquor worth Rs 29 crore.

During investigation it was detected that liquor was smuggled from neighbouring states for distribution before poll in various constituencies.

On Wednesday, the STF nabbed a gun smuggler Mohar Singh in Bareilly and seized 30 country made pistols. Singh told the police officers that demand of illegal weapon has increased in the poll and to make fast buck he smuggled the weapon from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The election commission has directed the licenced firearms owners to deposit their weapons in the police station before poll. Already 8,13,903 weapons have been deposited in various districts and 810 licenses have been cancelled.

On January 6, the STF busted an interstate arms smuggler gang and recovered 21 weapons. On January 10, two arms smugglers were arrested in Auraiya district and 13 pistols were seized.

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Uprooted by the British from their ancestral settlement for participating in the 1857 mutiny, descendants of Mewatis, a Muslim community, continue to live a life of apathy in old city areas of Allahabad.

Mewatis were massacred by the British for joining mutineer British sepoys and other freedom fighters in the uprising of 1857. They had to flee eight of their ancestral villages including Samdabad, Rasulpur and Saidabad, now Chandra Shekhar Azad Park or the erstwhile Company Bagh and the adjoining posh Civil Lines, in the aftermath.

An elder community member Mohammad Salman Khan who runs a small clinic in Rasulpur area said the community was not honoured for the sacrifice of its ancestors.

Although Mewatis were listed under OBC (other backward caste) category, reportedly very few have secured government jobs.

Around 20000 voters in City South and West constituencies are Mewatis, but they have no representation in politics. Many Mewati youths migrated to Gulf seeking employment and thus improved their economic conditions. However, others are languishing in deprivation and working menial jobs as mechanics, drivers, etc., Khan said.

Other community elders Haji Akhlaq, Chand Khan, Shakeel Master and Akram Khan lamented that governments neglected the community post Independence. Instead of working for their development, governments provided minimum compensation to the community for acquiring their agricultural land for development projects.

Candidates used the community as a vote bank, but after victory reneged on their promises to provide medical facilities, roads, electricity and educational facilities, said the elders.

Most youths in the community are school dropouts and seldom complete their education. However, in recent years girls of the community are focused on acquiring higher education and are even applying for government jobs, Akram Khan informed.

Recalling the massacre of Mewatis, a senior Allahabad Univerity professor and historian Yogeshwar Tiwari said Mewatis were a brave community who strongly resisted the British during the uprising.

Thousands of them including women and children were either shot or hanged in Chowk area when British forces under Colonel Neil recaptured the city. Their properties were seized and they were pushed towards the outskirts of Allahabad which they later renamed Rasulpur and Samdabad after their villages were razed to the ground by invading British forces. An old Mosque and some graves at the park still stand witness to the Mewati settlement in the area, he shared.

Later they were also listed among criminal tribes of India when British introduced the Criminal Tribe Act in 1871, Tiwari added.

The act was repealed after Independence but Mewatis remained a marginalized section. Although some Mewati families owned agricultural lands most of them had to resort to odd jobs to eke out a living.

Read more: Seven decades on, Sewapuri Gandhi ashram struggles to mend broken yarn
Political parties have logged on to information technology with gusto in a bid to post net gains during the UP assembly election, the first phase of which is scheduled on February 11.

With hoardings going off the road after an Election Commission (EC) order, the social media route is being taken by all major political parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party, to raise issues.

Apart from the traditional style of canvassing, the BSP this time has joined the social media platform. The party recently started using its twitter account (@BSPUP2017) and is banking on Mayawatis positive image on the law and order front.

The Samajwadi Party is focusing on its Kaam Bolta Hai theme and regularly updating its social media accounts with videos and images of various schemes and development projects of Akhilesh Yadav government.

On the other hand, the BJP is trying to regain the momentum the party had gathered in 2014 general elections. Uttar Dega Uttar Pradesh page on Twitter and Facebook is being used by the party to highlight the achievements of the Modi government.

The social media team of BSP is the primarily using the new media platform to attack their opponents whereas the various accounts of BJP and SP are being used to highlight their policies. The SPs social media team is using the new media to build a Brand Akhilesh while the BJP is regularly taking jibes on QED-BSP merger, SP-Congress alliance and is trying the woo the youth with Central governments pro poor-pro development schemes.

Attacking the Kaam bolta hai slogan of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the BSP recently posted, Kaam ka toh pata nahin sahib, lekin zulm bolta hai (Dont know about work, but crime speaks here). While taking on UP ko ye saath pasand hai of SP, the BJP recently posted, UP ko ye saath nahi pasand hai, UP ko sirf vikaas pasand hai (UP doesnt like the SP-Congress alliance, UP only likes development).

The Akhilesh Yadav government has regularly taken the social media route in the last five years. The government was active in using the CMofficeUP account on the social media to tell the people about different decisions. The Kaam Bolta Hai account uses the image built by different government accounts and tries to capture the pulse of young voters in the state by regularly posting animated videos, graphics and pictures. Taking a step ahead of other parties in the state, the SP has also started broadcasting rallies live on Facebook.

The BJP, on the other hand, is regularly posting videos of rallies and different leaders. The party also ran a series of posts on Union Budget 2017 on Facebook and Twitter. The party recently a theme song focused on youth and farmers, UP ke Mann Ki Baat, on the social media.

The BSP account has also come up with graphic posts, some of which read, Vote for BSP to fulfil the dreams of the youth, Vote for BSP as Mayawati insures development, secularism and law and order to name a few. Whereas the graphic posts of BJP focuses on their traditional slogan, Parivartan laayenge, kamal khilayenge.

Read more: Parties set up war rooms, get ready for battle of ballots
A staggering Rs 65 lakh has already been spent on a hawan for infusing patriotism among people and now the man behind this mission Acharya Swami Dineshanandji has taken a bank loan of Rs 8 lakh to complete the process. The yajna, which was initially planned for 10 days, is being held at the biggest hawan kund (fire altar) measuring 27X27 feet  at the camp of Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Magh Mela. The hawan began at January 18 and would conclude on February 7.

Elaborating about the reason for taking a loan, Swami Dineshanandji told Hindustan Times, Post demonetisation many of my disciples, who had earlier pledged to donate money for organising the hawan in this huge hawan kund, backed out due to which we faced shortage of fund. Left with no choice I decided to take loan from Allahabad Bank in Lucknow. I also exhausted all my savings to perform this yajna.

According to him over 20 lakh ahutis (offerings) have already been made in the hawan kund by hundreds of people. My only objective is to prove the scientific basis of Vedas through its practical application. And I dont regret that I had to take a loan to perform this hawan, said Swami Dineshanandji, who also cleared CPMT exam, but opted to become a saint to spread the knowledge of Vedas in the world. Incidentally, Dineshanandji is also the founder of Vedic Prayog Praman Vyas and an expert in Vedic maths.

Speaking about the reason behind holding such a big hawan, he said the purpose of constructing a hawan kund with 27 metre depth was that temperature rapidly rose from 1300 degree Celsius to 1800 degree Celsius in the deep base and when herbs were put in the hawans fire, it rapidly changes into gas which cleanses the environment. My next target is to construct a hawan kund measuring 54X54 feet for performing a yajna in Magh Mela. This will be the worlds largest hawan kund. Around Rs 2.5 crores would be spent on it due to which the target for constructing the hawan kund has been kept for 2021, he explained.
A senior Air India pilot accused of evading pre-flight breath checks over the past 15 days will face a four-member panel set up by the airlines flight safety department. The committee was set up hours after an AI pilots union told Indias air safety regulator that an executive-rank pilot was skipping the check, which is mandatory before operating a flight. The Hindustan Times reported this on January 31.

We have received intimation that a senior executive pilot has evaded the pre-flight medical tests in the past 15 days at the Delhi airport. This information has already been submitted to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and therefore it is required that this is investigated at the earliest, read a note put out by the AI flight safety department. The AI spokesperson did not respond to HTs calls. HT has a copy of the note.

It added that the four-member team comprised managers from the airlines flight safety and service departments.

Earlier, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the airlines 800-member strong pilots union had told the DGCA that closed-circuit television camera footage from AIs facility for pre-flight checks in the capital and the airline medical records could prove the safety lapse.

Such checks were introduced so that drunk pilots are grounded before entering the cockpit.

Last year, HT had reported that at least one pilot tested positive for alcohol every two days between January and June in 2016.

The DGCA data stated that such safety lapses almost tripled from 69 cases in 2011 to 186 in 2015. The AI spokesperson did not answer HTs calls.

While first-time offenders are benched for three months, those testing positive for alcohol for a subsequent time would not be allowed to fly for three years, according to the DGCA rule on this issue. The tenure for such offenders was reduced from five years after the regulator discovered that India has a chronic shortage of commanders. Third- time offenders are grounded for good.

A senior AI pilot evading breath checks before flights, union tells DGCA

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From 1985 to 1987, the Shiv Sena was solely in charge of the Hindu wave in the country. My problem was that if I am not with the Shiv Sena, it would slowly kill me and capture my entire constituency. So, it stands to reason that if you cannot beat them, you join them

This is how the late Pramod Mahajan, BJP leader and one of the architects of the saffron alliance in Maharashtra, explained the political expediency of his partys tie-up with Shiv Sena in a candid interview with author Thomas Blom Hansen in 1992.

Twenty-five years down the line, aided by the BJPs sweeping win in the 2014 elections, the need for such an alliance seems to have died.

After having played second fiddle to the Sena for over two decades, which often meant toeing the line of the mercurial Bal Thackeray, next-generation BJP leaders in the state think the time has come for a role reversal.

They want to beat their ally and, if possible, kill it. And, if the Sena has to be beaten, their first strike should be at its seat of power for over two decades  Mumbai. Last week, a majority of the BJP leaders in Maharashtra looked on with glee as Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray announced the partys break-up with BJP in the upcoming Mumbai civic polls. For over a year, the BJP has been systematically preparing to contest these polls on its own. An extended goal was to put the Sena on the mat over corruption in the Rs 30,000-crore Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the last 20-odd years.

Thackeray said he was pulling the rug from under the proposed alliance for the upcoming polls because the BJP wanted to encroach on my home.

For 25 years, the Sena has rotted in this alliance. Now, we will tread a new path. The Sena will hoist the saffron flag by itself. I will never go with a begging bowl for an alliance, he had declared on January 26.

The Shiv Sena, however, clarified that the break-up will not impact the state government  which it supports with 63 legislators. The BJP, which has 122 legislators, needs 22 more to achieve a simple majority .

There are also talks that despite the tussle, the parties may come together to rule the BMC in a post-poll alliance.

Nevertheless, those in the states political circles see the second break-up between the saffron allies (the first came ahead of the 2014 assembly polls) as the beginning of the end.

They say its clear that the allies will turn opponents by 2019. For Sena, this is a battle for survival. If his party loses its position in Mumbai to the BJP, Thackeray will find it hard to keep his flock together. In any case, it is very likely that he will walk out of the government ahead of the 2019 elections, said political analyst Prakash Bal. The battle between the partners has only become uglier since the break-up.

The BJP termed Sena as a party of extortionists, and compared Thackeray to Duryodhana  the antagonist from the Mahabharata. The Sena, for its part, referred to the BJP as a party of goons.

A senior BJP minister claimed his party has nothing to lose in the upcoming polls. In Mumbai, we will double our seat share from 31 to at least 65. The Sena, however, will have to concede its position as a minor partner and start toeing the line... he said.

Unless we face a crushing defeat in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and other states, we are sure that any future alliance here will happen on our terms. We were bullied for 30 years, but the power dynamics have changed now. The Sena has been too vituperative with our central leadership. If they do not toe the line, we will break the party in the next two years. We need just 22 legislators to achieve a simple majority, and the Nationalist Congress Party is willing to support us, the minister added.

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The Bombay high court said on Friday that the Rs3 lakh cap on compensation for rape survivors was unreasonably low. The court was hearing a petition filed by a 14-year-old rape survivor from Borivli, which states that though she was entitled to financial assistance, medical aid and counselling under the states Manodharya scheme, she had received no help.

At Rs3 lakh, the maximum amount payable as compensation to rape survivors is unreasonably low, said the division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni.

The judges were also irked to note that after the court took note of the girls plight, the district criminal injuries relief and rehabilitation board sanctioned her just Rs2 lakh in compensation at a meeting on December 27, 2016.

What angered the judges was the fact that the board did not give any reason for granting her less than the maximum sum payable under the scheme. A 14-year-old girl has been sexually assaulted and there are absolutely no reasons as to why the board has sanctioned a meagre sum of Rs2 lakh only, said the bench.

It then directed assistant government pleader Rebecca Gonsalves to explain the reason why just Rs2 lakh was sanctioned. We want a better explanation from the board as to why Rs2 lakh was sanctioned even though the survivor is a minor, the court said.

According to her petition, the 14-year-old was kidnapped by a man and taken to his brothers house on May 2016, where she was sexually assaulted. On the basis of a complaint lodged by her mother, the Borivli police on May 5, 2016 booked the suspect for kidnapping and raping a minor under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Her petition stated that under the governments Manodharya scheme, she was entitled to 50% of the compensation on registration of the first information report and the rest on the filing of the charge sheet. Though the police filed a charge sheet last July, she had not received any compensation despite appealing to the police. Not only did she not receive any money, no medical aid or counselling was provided to her, the petition stated. The hearing will continue in two weeks.

Also read: 11 years on, Bombay high court acquits 4 of rape, murder of 3-year-old girl
Addressing his first rally after the state election commission announced the dates for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray trained his guns on former ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with whom he had broken ties last month.

Uddhav said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis only agenda was to finish off the Shiv Sena.

The chief minister has no time for governing as he is only bothered with trying to destroy the Sena. Generations will come and go, but the Sena will remain strong as before, Uddhav said at the rally at Girgaum.

History has shown that those who intended to finish the Sena or the family of Bal Thackeray have been vanquished, he added.

He also taunted BJP national president Amit Shah, who called the electoral fight between the two allies a friendly match. This is not a friendly match and for the Sena, it is a fight for existence, said Uddhav.

Uddhav called the economic survey report released by the central government, where it rated the BMC the most transparent civic body in India, a slap on the face of the BJP. The BJP-led central government endorses us for running the BMC in a transparent manner. Now, what will you accuse us of? questioned Uddhav. He also taunted the BJP for not being able to release its manifesto for the February 21 elections. They are still asking for suggestions from the citizens. This only shows they are hardly aware of the problems facing the city. All they do is to praise the state and central government schemes, he added.

Last week, stung by Uddhavs decision to break the alliance, Fadnavis reacted by calling Sena a party of extortionists, whose dominance across Mumbai for the past 25 years was a huge loss to the megapolis. He blamed the Sena for not coming on board as the BJP wanted it to adopt a transparency agenda and promise to change corrupt practices. He also drew a parallel to the epic Mahabharat, equating the battle for the countrys richest civic body to the Dharmayudh, and Uddhav to Duryodhana, whose many advisors, like the wily Shakuni mama, had jinxed the alliance for the upcoming polls.



Sena and BJP were partners in corruption: Pawar

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday held the Shiv Sena and BJP responsible for corruption in the Mumbai civic body. Pawar said both are guilty for rampant corruption in BMC and do not deserve another chance to rule the civic body.

Fadnavis is nowadays pointing out towards rampant corruption in the BMC, but you (BJP) were also sharing power with them since the past 25 years. Both (Sena-BJP) were partners in crime. We need to teach them a lesson by not electing them back to the BMC, Pawar said, at his first rally, at Mankhurd, after the dates were announced.

The former union minister attacked BJP for allegedly allowing criminals into its fold. The BJP has installed a machine through which people having criminal records comes out clean, Pawar taunted the ruling party and Fadnavis who had recently been in a spot of bother after his photograph with a Pune gangster went viral. Pawar urged people to vote for NCP and assured them of best services by citing the example of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, which is ruled by the NCP.

Read

BJP-Senas 25-yr-old alliance might not survive the upcoming Mumbai civic polls
The Bandra police are investigating a case of murder after a body of an unidentified man was found in Bandra (West) early on Saturday.

According to officials at the Bandra police station, the victim appears to be between 25 and 30 years of age.

The police learnt about the body after the police control room received a call from a person who spotted it around 7.10 am on Saturday. Officials said the body was found along Link Road near the bridge that leads to the Bandra railway station.

There are severe head injuries on the deceased persons head. It appears to be a case of murder based on the injuries inflicted on the body, said an officer from Bandra police who is a part of the investigating team.

The police suspect that the assailant used a blunt object to smash the deceased on the head, a preliminary investigation revealed. Officials are investigating if the murder took place late on Friday.

The deceased has not been identified yet but investigation is underway, said Satyanarayan Chaudhari, deputy commissioner of police, zone IX.

The police said they are checking for the CCTV footage of the nearby locality to identify suspects. They are rummaging through the footage to sketch together a sequence of events based on the people moving around the area before the body was discovered.

Officers are also checking with the other local police stations to ascertain whether any missing persons complaint was filed within the last few days. Meanwhile, the body was sent for an autopsy at the Bhabha Hospital, the reports of which are awaited.

The Bandra police have registered a case under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code against unknown people.

Also read: Physio rape and murder in Mumbai: Change in suspects behaviour helped police zero-in on him
There are very few festivals that support artistes on such a large scale, said actor Shahid Kapoor, inaugurating the Hindustan Times Kala Ghoda Arts Festival at Cross Maidan on Saturday.

Its a beautiful and eclectic mix of everything art, right here in the citys art district.

The actor, along with members of the KGAF committee, lit the lamp and all spoke about what the festival means to them.

Every year brings with it something new  spirit, excitement, artistes and an audience. I am happy to receive support from everyone  the sponsors and the law  whenever weve wanted to undertake new experiments, said Maneck Davar, honorary chairman of the Kala Ghoda Association.

Anant Bajaj, joint managing director of Bajaj Electricals, said it was important for everyone to come out not only to have fun but to make Mumbai well-known.

As a first-timer, Kapoor said it was good to see people far and wide engaging with the arts, on a platform that was massive, free, and open to all.

The best thing about the festival is that it covers various aspects  music, literature, installations. It gives everybody an opportunity to express themselves and participate. Its important to encourage young artistes. You never know which one of them will make it big and represent our country around the world, Kapoor added.

A few fans and he then broke into a jig to Dhating naach, a song from his 2013 movie Phata Poster Nikla Hero.

Read

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Anupam Kher waxes eloquent on love at HTKGAF

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Rejecting the prosecutions argument that safety of witnesses in the Sheen Bora murder case would be compromised if their names were revealed, a special court on Saturday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to share the names with the defence lawyers by February 17.

The trial may start from February 23 with deposition of the first witness.

The court on January 17 charged former media tycoons Indrani and Peter Mukerjea and her first husband Sanjeev Khanna with murdering her daughter Sheena.

The CBI had in the previous hearing submitted more than 200 documents which it will use as evidence but refused to share the list of witnesses in advance.

Defending withholding of the names, the CBI counsel argued that the witnesses may be harassed by the media for interviews. "This will compromise the security of witnesses. We will only give the names of a couple of witnesses only a day before the hearing," said Bharat Badami, the special public prosecutor

The defence lawyers, however, argued they needed to prepare their strategy for cross-examination of witnesses.

Meanwhile, the defence lawyers refused to admit any of the documents brought by the prosecution.

The court adjourned the hearing until February 17 when the central agency may reveal the name of the witnesses.

According to the prosecution, Sheena, 24, was allegedly murdered in 2012, but the case came to light in 2015 after Indranis driver Shyamwar Rai was arrested. Sheena was killed on April 23, 2012 allegedly by Indrani, Khanna and Rai.

After burning Sheenas body, the accused allegedly disposed it in a forest in Maharashtras Raigad district, around 110 km from Mumbai.

READ

Sheena Bora case: Indrani Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea charged with murder

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A senior citizen from Girgaum whose home has been broken into twice in the past three months claimed on Saturday that the VP Road police were not doing everything in their power to find and arrest the thieves. The police, however, said they were investigating the two cases thoroughly and would make arrests soon.

Ateeth Hemant Sukhtankar, 60, is a resident of Ram building at Dr Bhalerao Marg in Girgaum. He registered two complaints of house-break and trespass with the VP road police, one in October and one in December, saying that thieves had broken into his house and stolen cash and valuables worth Rs 2.5 lakh each time.

He said, Some thief or thieves have been sneaking into my flat and stealing cash and valuables while we are asleep. In both cases, we believe the thief entered through a window.

He also alleged that a resident of the society may have helped the thief in exchange for a cut for the loot. I have checked the CCTV footage and no-one apart from the buildings residents can be seen entering through the lobby. So the thief is either climbing the pipes to break in or getting help from someone living here, he added.

Senior inspector Sanjay Kamble from VP road police station said, We have been investigating the case thoroughly and will make arrests soon.

Also read: Rs13 lakh gold stolen from customers on Amazon, 2 held

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Anubhav Mittal is a social media hero, with a Facebook page filled with inspirational video-messages and countless likes. For his fellow-students at a private engineering college, he was Phunsukh Wangdu, a genius fictional character played by Aamir Khans in 3 Idiots. Mittal is also the suave, modern-day start-up entrepreneur who loves flashy cars and flashier parties  among guests to his birthday bash last year were pornstar-turned-Bollywood actor Sunny Leone and actor Amisha Patel.

Anubhav Mittal, 26, is now behind bars, accused of swindling Rs 3,700 crores from 7 lakh-odd people through one of the biggest internet scams in recent times.

Investigators retracing online footprints and shifting through sheaves of documents of his company, Ablaze Info solutions Private Limited, are stumbling upon story after story of a man who wanted to create his own social media platform where investors can do business.

HT has photographs of Mittal and his wife with Sunny Leone and Amisha Patel during his birthday party on November 29 in Delhi.

Anubhav Mittal with Bollywood stars Sunny Leone and Amisha Patel. (Handout)

During initial questioning, Mittal has revealed that he owns many cars and flats in many realty firms. But our investigation is underway to verify how many (more) flats or villas Mittal or his partners has in Noida, Greater Noida or any other city, said an IT department official.

Mittal registered his company on September 7, 2010 in Delhi but did not his business. At the time of his arrest, he had 100 employees working for him at his office in Noida.

Investigators said it took Mittal more than five years to become what he is today -- a conman for officials and a Robinhood for his investors.

Back in 2010, Mittal, a resident of Ghaziabad, was just another BTech computer science student, about to graduate from his institute in Greater Noida, when he floated his company.

Read | Noida online trading scam: How a company duped nearly 7 lakh people of Rs 3,700 crore

His first office was his hostel room in Knowledge Park area where he worked as a software developer. However, in the first three years, Mittal, had a mediocre performance as an entrepreneur with a total income of Rs 4 lakh.

But in 2015, he hit gold when he came up with the idea of online barter system and a web address, socialtrade.biz.

To cover-up his ponzi scheme, Mittal brought the idea of trade in likes to the investors.

His company claimed that they promoted social media penetration and internet popularity for small-time businesses and local ventures by likes on Facebook. He lured investors with weekly returns and promise of bonus on bringing potential investors to the table.

Investigators said it took Mittal more than five years to become what he is today -- a conman for officials and a Robinhood for his investors. (Handout)

All we had to do was to invest a one-time amount and click likes on Facebook, and we started receiving weekly payments. We also received bonus for bringing other investors, said Manohar Yadav, a resident of nearby Noida village.

On social media, Mittal is a star among his followers and investors.

He has a Facebook fan page and his team has posted several inspirational videos on YouTube. There are pictures of him throwing a party for his investors in Jaipur, offering many potential investors a glimpse of glamour and easy money.

Mittal knew the power of social media and he used it well, investigators said.

And not all are willing to buy police claims that he was a fraud.

On Friday morning, dozens of agitated investors assembled outside his office, saying they have come out in support of Mittal.

Read | Noida online trading scam: Few investors come out in support of firm accused of fraud

My uncle had met Mittal last year and in next five minutes, the guy managed to woo him. Next day, my uncle was ready with the cash and three months later, he even convinced me to invest in the scheme, said Gaurav Khurana, a native of Shamli, Uttar Pradesh.

Police personnel stationed outside the Ablaze Info Solutions Limited building in Sector 63, Noida. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Like Khurana, several other investors said that Mittal had a charming personality who never broke their trust.

He had a touch of gold as whoever invested his money, got double in due time. He never gave any false promises and he has been framed wrongly, said Abhishek Kumar, another investor.

(With inputs from Vaibhav Jha)

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Ghaziabad Police came under intense scrutiny on Saturday after reports surfaced that a man who claimed to be the driver of a speeding Audi that killed four people in Indirapuram on January 27 might have been a fraudster.

The family members of the victims have demanded immediate suspension of all officers involved in the case.

On January 31, a man claiming to be Ishaq Ahmad, surrendered in court after claiming to have been at the wheels of the speeding Audi. An HT team later traced the real Ishaq Ahmad to Bareilly, who claimed not knowing anything about the accident or Manish Rawat, the alleged owner of the luxury car.

We feel that the police is acting under pressure. If the doctors phone is switched off then why are they not doing more to trace him? A man cannot impersonate the killer driver and manage to get bail from court without the involvement of the police. An FIR should be lodged against the impersonator, said Narendra Singh Sengar, uncle of victims Vishal and Yajuvendra.

Uttar Pradesh top cop Javeed Ahmad denied laxity on part of the force and claimed that the fake driver was not arrested by police. #Gzb Audi accident d fake driver not arrested by police. He surrendered in court, accepted crime, got bail. We are probing the matter (sic), Ahmad wrote on Twitter from his official handle @javeeddgpup.

Read: BMW accident: Five other infamous luxury car mishaps on Delhi roads

Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police Deepak Kumar said he was considering the transfer of case to the crime branch.

We will also lodge a case of cheating and forgery against the man who surrendered before the court and obtained bail by fraudulent means. All those who are involved in the entire faux pas will be booked, he added.

He too denied any laxity in probe and said the police had served a notice to the doctor to join the probe. The doctor, he said, is not an accused in the FIR but a suspect. The doctor in his written reply to the notice said his driver Ishaq was at the wheels of the car at the time of the accident. Next day, the driver surrenders and obtains bail from court. Ideally, we do not arrest a person if charge against him carries a punishment of below seven years. The doctor is a suspect, SSP added.

Family members of the accused claimed that the police had failed to collect forensic evidence from the car and left it in front of Indirapuram police station, where anybody could enter the vehicle.

Read: Ghaziabad Audi crash ends lives, dreams to marry, work in a big city
While parking lots bring images of a dark, dull and shady place, residents of a Vasundhara highrise have turned their lot into an art gallery. Pillars of the basement in Olive County apartments have been used as canvasses and over 80 children have painted on the walls.

The initiative, called Art Gali, was started by a 44-year-old resident of the society, Hemant Passi, in June 2016. Today, over 100 pillars are marked with brilliant paintings by children aged from four-and-a-half years to eighteen years.

It (the initiative) was during the childrens summer vacation. The idea was not to produce beautiful artwork but to get the children out of their homes and to harness their creativity, KV Tyagi, the president of Olive County apartment owners association (AOA), said.

With an area of more than 80,000 sq ft and almost 2,000 pillars, the children had a lot of space to bring life to their imagination.

We first plaster the pillars and then use acrylic paints and water colours to paint. Residents, who earlier used to exit the basement as soon as possible, now stop by and admire the artwork. I have also made few paintings on the pillars, Passi, who is an international tour operator but pursues art as a hobby, said.

For 16-year-old Vidhi Bindal, the initiative has brought out her passion for art. I have always been interested in art but never got an opportunity to showcase it. Projects and artwork submitted in school usually end up in the storerooms. However, after displaying my paintings on the pillars in the parking, I have gained confidence as many people have appreciated it, Vidhi, a student of class 11, said.

Her father, Rajeev Bindal said that he has supported his daughters decision to choose arts as her main stream in school, though she received a perfect 10 CGPA in class 10. He said that he dreams of seeing his daughters own art gallery in the future.

Residents plan to take forward the initiative and also involve adults in it. It is commendable that all residents have shown unity and not one person has come forward saying that AOA funds should not be used for the art gallery. We have invited adults also to take out time in the weekend and get in touch with their artistic side, Tyagi said.

The society has over 800 flats and more than 3,000 residents.

People come and take selfies with the artwork. The concept was initially hard to understand but, once they saw the results, more people came forward to participate. We aim to bring to life all 2,000 pillars in the lot, said Passi.

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A four member team of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, has discovered huge manganese ore deposits at Nagpur after years of research. The team has advised government to start drilling and exploration for manganese ore.

The achievement came to light from a tweet by Union human resource and development (HRD) minister, Prakash Javadekar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, informing him about the discovery on February 1. Javadekar said, Kudos to IIT Dhanbad team for discovering largest manganese-ore deposit30 million ton near Nagpur worth `36000 crore.

Professor S Mohanty, dean (academics), who led the team said, the research was done at Mansar and Beldongri mines in Nagpur district (Maharashtra) over three decades.

We had suspected possibility of abundant manganese ore at Mansar and Beldongri mines, which was discussed with director, Dr DC Panigrahi, who formed a four member team to initiate further action, said Mohanty, adding that apart from him, the team comprised Professor GS Rao, Professor PR Mohanty and Professor Shaliwahan.

Mohanty said, the team could pinpoint the huge manganese ore within 12 days of camping and research and report has been submitted to the government.

We reached Nagpur on December 31, 2016 for a microscopic study of the selected area. On January 12, it was confirmed that, manganese ore worth Rs 36000 crore at present market value could be mined , said Mohanty. About 30 million ton manganese ore is available at Mansar and Beldongri mines spread in a radius of 3.5 kilometers.

Col (Retd) MK Singh, Registrar IIT (ISM) Dhanbad while expressing happiness said, discovery of manganese ore by our faculty members is one of the greatest achievements of the institution. I hope after getting IIT tag, our skilled faculty members and research scholars will prove themselves globally.
While presenting the budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley spoke about the need for digital and cashless transactions, and said that it will help fight corruption, but the incentives were largely for BHIM, the government-aided mobile wallet, and Aadhaar Pay, the unique identification enabled payment mechanism for merchants that will soon be launched.

In the process Jaitley has created a situation were the wallets and digital payment mechanisms supported by the government are pitted against private players, such as Paytm, MobiKwik and Freecharge.

Read| Budget 2017: Govt pushes for digital economy but no substantial tax breaks

Jaitley said that BHIM, which has 1.25 million users, would help in financial inclusion. Two schemes  a referral bonus scheme for individuals, and cashback scheme for merchants  will attract users to adopt BHIM, he said. Also, necessary steps will be taken to possibly mandate petrol pumps, fertiliser depots, municipalities, block offices, road transport offices, universities, colleges, hospitals and other institutions to have facilities for digital payments like the BHIM app, he said. A proposal to mandate all government receipts through digital means beyond a prescribed limit is also under consideration, Jaitley added.

No such dole outs were mentioned for any other mobile wallet companies, such as Paytm or MobiKwik. One of the mobile wallet firms founder also told HT that the government could have taken some decisions to reduce service charge on transactions, like it did for e-tickets being booked through IRCTC.

Also, the Aadhaar Pay, especially to be launched for merchants who do not have debit card or use mobile wallets for transactions will not be pitted against private companies.

Jaitely said that the mission is to target 2,500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through UPI, USSD, Aadhar Pay, IMPS, and debit cards.

Meanwhile, the government is considering integrating Aadhar and BHIM, which will also mean integration of Aadhar Pay and BHIM.

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Turkey hit 59 Islamic State targets and killed 51 militants in northern Syria as part of its ongoing incursion, the Turkish military said on Saturday.

Turkish forces have surrounded the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab for weeks as part of an operation that has been going on for more than five months.

Four of those killed were so-called emirs, or local commanders, the Turkish military said, adding that its jets destroyed 56 buildings and three command control centres in the al-Bab and Bzagah regions.

Coalition forces also conducted eight airstrikes in the al-Bab region, destroying two defence positions and two armed vehicles.
The Pakistan government has in principle decided to appoint Abdul Basit as the new foreign secretary in place of Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary who will become the countrys envoy to the United States, a local news channel and newspaper reported on Saturday. Basit is currently Pakistans envoy to India.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who will also retain the foreign affairs portfolio, has concluded consultations for appointing the new administrative boss of the Foreign Office. It is likely that the announcement of Basits appointment will be made next week, reported Saleh Zafir, a special correspondent for The News and Geo News.

Quoting unnamed sources, reports said that Abdul Basit is the seniormost among the contenders for the slot. He was selected for the job three years ago but couldnt be appointed due to technical reasons and was instead posted as high commissioner in New Delhi.

Pakistans permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, former chief of protocol and ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and high commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post.

The same newspaper and correspondent had predicted in August 2016 that Janjua would be the next foreign secretary. Janjua, who has served as Pakistans ambassador to Italy and in various important foreign positions, had also worked as a spokesperson of the Foreign Office for about two years.

Ambassador to the US Syed Jalil Abbas Jailani has relinquished charge as ambassador in Washington after his term ended. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh will be acting as charge daffaires till Chaudhary arrives in the US capital.

It is likely that the formal agreement or consent for his appointment by the US administration will be received soon, the paper said, but unnamed sources said the Donald Trump administration has stalled the issuance of all pending agreements from several countries, including Pakistan.

The Pakistan Foreign Office did not comment on the reports.
Avalanches and freezing weather have killed more than 20 people in Afghanistan, officials said Saturday, as rescuers worked to save scores still trapped under the snow.

The avalanches, which followed three days of heavy snow, destroyed homes and blocked roads in central and northeastern provinces.

In northeastern Badakhshan province at least 18 people, including three women and two children, were killed when avalanches hit their houses overnight, provincial spokesman Naweed Frotan said.

Several dozens are still trapped, we are trying to rescue them, he said, adding that many roads remained blocked.

Five people were killed by avalanches in the Balkhab district of Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan and at least 70 people trapped under the snow were being rescued, Zabiullah Amani, the provincial spokesman told AFP.

The roads to Balkhab are still blocked and we are trying to open them, he said.

Freezing weather also killed at least two people and over 100 animals in western Badghis province.

Deadly avalanches are common in Afghanistans mountainous areas in winter and rescue efforts are frequently hampered by lack of equipment.

Despite billions of dollars in aid after the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains among the worlds poorest nations after decades of conflict.

Last month, heavy snowfall and freezing weather killed 27 children, all under the age of five, in Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan.
The United States should stop using the Dalai Lama to create trouble for China, a senior Chinese official in charge of Tibet affairs told an influential state-run newspaper.

It would bring no benefit to the US but damage Sino-US ties instead, the Global Times reported late Friday, citing Zhu Weiqun, head of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to Chinas parliament.

The Global Times, a tabloid known for writing strongly-worded, hawkish and nationalist editorials, is published by the ruling Communist Partys flagship paper.

China says the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is a violent separatist. The Dalai Lama denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.

In response to recent written questions from the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the newly appointed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave an affirmative answer when asked if he would commit to receiving and meeting the Dalai Lama.

Tillerson also said he would continue to encourage dialogue between Beijing and representatives of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama, India-based news service thetibetpost.com reported on Thursday.

It is impossible for the Chinese government to have a dialogue with the illegal group that is aiming to split China, and Tillersons remarks show he is a complete amateur on Tibet-related questions, Zhu told the Global Times.

China will not change its policy to support the development of the Tibetan society, nor will it stop protecting its sovereignty over the region, he said.

Beijing does not recognise the Tibetan government-in-exile, which is based in Dharamsala in India.
China warned the US Saturday it was risking instability in Asia after President Donald Trumps new defence secretary vowed to back Japan in any military clash with Beijing over a disputed island chain.

The Senkaku Islands, known in China as the Diaoyus, are at the centre of a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing, which claims they have been part of Chinese territory for centuries.

Wrapping up a visit to the region Saturday, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said in Tokyo the islands were subject to a decades-old treaty between Washington and Tokyo.

I made clear that our long-standing policy on the Senkaku Islands stands -- the US will continue to recognise Japanese administration of the islands, Mattis told a press conference.

And as such Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty applies.

Article 5 commits the United States to defend Japan or territories it administers against any attack.

China, which is also involved in a widening dispute with several Southeast Asian countries over islands in the South China Sea, accused Washington of stirring up trouble.

We urge the US side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks... and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, according to official news agency Xinhua.

Lu added the US-Japan treaty was a product of the Cold War, and should not affect Chinas territorial sovereignty, Xinhua reported.

Mattis arrived in Japan on Friday from South Korea. His visit to the region, the first overseas trip by a senior official from the Trump administration, was aimed at reassuring Washingtons key East Asian allies about Americas commitment to their security.

Concerns arose during the presidential campaign when Trump accused Tokyo and Seoul of not paying their fair share for US troops stationed in their countries, sparking concerns about the future of their security alliances with Washington.

Military moves

But Mattis, during his meetings in both capitals, made clear that Washington was ready to answer any threats the US allies may face. In response to a question, Mattis called the defence cost sharing arrangement with Japan a model.

It is quite remarkable that Mattis was bold enough to say in his opening remarks that the Senkakus should be protected under the Japan-US security treaty, Hideshi Takesada, professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo and expert on Asian security.

Mattis also had strong words over the South China Sea, saying Beijing has shredded the trust of the nations in this region, though tempered that message with a call for disputes to be settled through arbitration and diplomacy.

At this time we do not see any need for dramatic military moves at all, he said.

The call for military restraint stands in contrast to hawkish comments by Rex Tillerson, Trumps newly approved Secretary of State, who said before confirmation that Chinas access to South China Sea islands it has been fortifying might be blocked -- raising the prospect of a military confrontation.

China lays claim to a vast swathe of the South China Sea within a so-called nine dash line, including waters claimed by several of its Southeast Asian neighbours.

The artificial islands, some with the potential for military use, are considered a potential flashpoint, though Beijing has been adamant in saying it will not back down over the claims.

A former US Marine general who has served in both Japan and South Korea, Mattis told Japans hawkish Defence Minister Tomomi Inada Saturday that their alliance remained a cornerstone of regional stability.

Speaking in Seoul on Friday, he warned North Korea against any violence.

Any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming, he told reporters.
Sri Lanka will not allow China to set up a military facility at any port in the country, the Sri Lankan ambassador to Beijing said on Saturday, adding that Chinese investors have been informed that no civilian facility will be allowed to be used militarily.

We have to consider the concerns of the neighbours. We do not want to create any situation, which... may become (a source of) suspicion. We know the Indian Ocean is a very important ocean in international trade, Sri Lankan ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku said.

We can have friendly joint exercises with India, US, Pakistan and with China. In case of Hambantota port, there will be a base for the Sri Lankan navy, he said.

The terms of handing over the Hambantota port to the Chinese company, China Merchants Port Holding (CMPH) company have been broadly decided, Kodituwakku indicated.

I do not know about other countries, but Sri Lanka has very categorically informed the investor that it (Hambantota port) will not be allowed to be used for any military purposes, he said. Not only the Hambantota port , any port in Sri Lanka will not be allowed to be used by any military.

Kodituwakku said that the Hambantota port hasnt been a viable project so far.

Very small numbers (of ships). Even the incoming they have received is not even enough to maintain the port maintenance, forget the salaries about the people who are working, he said.

With officials from both countries working to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA) this year, marking the 65th year of trade ties, unease over Chinas financial influence could see a spike in the coming months.

The FTA and several facets of Chinese investment in Sri Lanka will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visits Beijing in May to attend an international seminar on President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In January, clashes between government supporters and protesters had erupted during a rally against the port deal in Hambantota, about 240 km southeast of Colombo.
Iran announced it will take reciprocal action against US individuals and companies after President Donald Trumps administration on Friday imposed new sanctions on Tehran over its weapons procurement network.

The country will deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise in a show of defiance after the sanctions.

The Guards Sepahnews website said the manoeuvres were aimed at demonstrating their complete preparedness to deal with the threats and humiliating sanctions from Washington.

In response to the new move by the United States of America and as a reciprocal action, (Iran) will impose legal limitations for some American individuals and companies that have had a role in the creation and support of extreme terrorist groups in the region, the foreign ministry said.

The names of these individuals and companies will be announced later, it said in a statement.

Missile development and capabilities of the country, which is merely designed for defensive objectives and carrying conventional weapons and that will never be used except for legitimate defence, is the right of the people of Iran based on international law and the UN charter, the ministry said.

The fresh US measures were in response to Irans latest ballistic missile test and its support for Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen who in the past week targeted a Saudi warship, US officials said.

The additional US sanctions list three trading networks and individuals allegedly involved in supplying Irans missile programme.

Iran last Sunday test-fired a medium range missile, which the White House contends violated a UN Security Council resolution proscribing missiles that could carry a nuclear device.

The Islamic republic has confirmed it tested a ballistic missile but denied it was a breach of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers or UN resolutions.

The action was in line with boosting Irans defence power and is not in contradiction with the JCPOA (the nuclear deal) or (Security Council) Resolution 2231, said defence minister Hossein Dehghan.

Tehran says its missiles do not breach UN resolutions because they are for defence purposes only and are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Iran, which accuses Washington and Arab allies in the Gulf of supporting radical Sunni Islamists in the Syrian conflict, has missiles with a range of up to 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), enough to reach Israel and US bases in the region.
German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of US President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.

It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statues head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: America First.

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: Its a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol.

The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germanys Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as tasteless.

The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlins policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former US president Barack Obama, who praised her as an outstanding partner.

Read | German chancellor Merkel says Trump govt ban on refugees in US not justified

Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a catastrophic mistake with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a grossly undervalued euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.

No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the US embassy in Berlin.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a Pakistani charity linked to the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, has been renamed as a movement for Kashmirs freedom, a media report said on Saturday, barely a few days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Saaed Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FiF), another organisation floated by Saeed, were rechristened as Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) a few days ago, the daily Express Tribune said in a special report.

The US and UN Security Council had named JuD as a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group blamed for the Mumbai attack that left more than 160 people. Saeed had founded LeT in the 1990s but later distanced himself from it.

There were indications in the days leading to his arrest that Saaed was planning to rename the JuD.

FiF and JuD centres were closed down on January 30 after the detention of Saeed and four of his aides on charges of disturbing peace and security, though reports said the action followed a nudge from the US government. The Pakistani government has not officially commented on why it acted now.

The report said the JuD and FiF centres in Islamabad reopened on Friday, two days before the groups plan to hold rallies on Kashmir in major cities. TAJK banners related to Kashmir have also been put along major roads in the capital.

TAJK deputy general Khalid Waleed, a close relative of Saeed, admitted that JuD representatives were members of TAJK but said its leaders were Kashmiris. He, however denied that the organisation was a new avatar of the JuD or FiF.

The developments are likely to rile India which accuses Pakistan of doing little to bring Saeed to book along with LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Saeed, who carries a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest, was placed under house arrest just after the Mumbai attacks but was released six months later when a court ruled there was insufficient evidence against him.

Saeed regularly addresses public rallies and news conferences to pledge his support for Kashmirs independence.

Relations between the neighbours have soured over the past few months following a string of attacks on Indian military posts in Kashmir, allegedly by militants from Pakistan. Several Indian soldiers have been killed in the attacks.

In October, India announced its military had crossed the Line of Control (LoC)  the de-facto border and carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and destroyed several terrorist launch pads. Islamabad refuted the claim.

On Friday, Indias home minister Rajnath Singh said it cannot guarantee that surgical strikes wont happen in future as any such action will depend on the situation prevailing at that time.

Pakistan is our neighbouring country. If they correct themselves it will be good, but if some terror attack takes place, we cannot guarantee that there wont be (more) surgical strikes in future. We dont want, but if situation demands, there is no second way, Singh said in Delhi.

(With inputs from agencies)
US President Donald Trump has justified his controversial executive order on immigration, saying it will help keep terrorists out of the country and it was his responsibility to keep Americans safe and free.

I will never forget that my responsibility is to keep you -- the American people -- safe and free, Trump said in his weekly address to the nation that also made its debut on Facebook and YouTube.

Thats why last week I signed an executive order to help keep terrorists out of our country. The executive order establishes a process to develop new vetting and mechanisms to ensure those coming into America love and support our people. That they have good intentions, Trump said.

Trump last week signed the executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough new controls on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

On every single front, Trump said his administration is working to deliver for American workers and American families.

You, the law-abiding citizens of this country, are my total priority. Your safety, your jobs and your wages guide our decisions, he said.

Noting that this week he nominated Neil Gorsuch for the United States Supreme Court, Trump said his nominee is a man of principle.

He has an impeccable resume. He is widely respected by everyone. And, Judge Gorsuchs proven track record upholding the Constitution makes him the ideal person to fill the vacancy left by the late, great Antonin Scalia, a truly fabulous justice, he said.

This week his administration also took significant action to roll back the massive regulation that is devastating the economy and crippling American companies and jobs, the President said.

Thats why I have issued a new executive order to create a permanent structure of regulatory reduction. This order requires that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must -- and I mean must -- be eliminated. Its out of control, he said.
A Revolutionary Guards commander said Iran would use its missiles if its security is under threat, as the elite force defied new US sanctions on its missile programme by holding a military exercise on Saturday.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since a recent Iranian ballistic missile test which prompted US President Donald Trumps administration to impose sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the Revolutionary Guards.

Trumps national security adviser Michael Flynn said the Washington was putting Iran on notice over its destabilising activity, and Trump tweeted Tehran was playing with fire

We are working day and night to protect Irans security, head of Revolutionary Guards aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads, he added.

Despite the heated words, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday he was not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Irans misbehaviour, but warned that the world would not ignore Iranian activities.

Irans Revolutionary Guards is holding the military exercise in Semnan province on Saturday to test missile and radar systems and to showcase the power of Irans revolution and to dismiss the sanctions, according to the forces website.

Iranian state news agencies reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems would be tested in the drill.

Iran has one of the Middle Easts largest missile programmes and held a similar exercise in December to showcase its defence systems, including radars, anti-missile defence units, and short and medium-range missiles.

Tehran confirmed on Wednesday that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile, but said the test did not breach the Islamic Republics nuclear agreement with world powers or a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the pact.

Iran has test-fired several ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal in 2015, but the latest test was the first since Trump entered the White House. Trump said during his election campaign that he would stop Irans missile programme.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday and recommended the missile testing be studied at committee level. The new US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called the test unacceptable.

The Security Council resolution was adopted to buttress the deal under which Iran curbed its nuclear activities to allay concerns they could be used to develop atomic bombs, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

The resolution urged Tehran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Critics say the resolutions language does not make this obligatory.

Tehran says it has not carried out any work on missiles specifically designed to carry nuclear payloads.
The man who launched a machete attack outside the Louvre in Paris Friday is believed to have tweeted about the Islamic State group minutes before the assault, a source close to the investigation has said.

The tweets came from a Twitter account whose owner could be the attacker, the source said, adding that investigators were unable to formally confirm this at the moment.

The messages were posted in Arabic Friday on the account of Abdallah El-Hamahmy. In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world, he wrote at 9:31 am (0831 GMT).

One minute later he posted another tweet, making reference to the Islamic State group.

At least ten tweets were posted between 9:27 am and 9:34 am, shortly before the attack began at the Louvre at 9:50 am.

El-Hamahmy, whose account was still publicly accessible early Saturday, tweeted on January 26 about travelling from Dubai to Paris, a journey which corresponds to the movements of the attacker.

Investigators are also examining an iPhone 7 and iPad belonging to the assailant, whose identity had yet to be confirmed late Friday.

However French investigators believe the man, who was shot and wounded by a soldier following the attack, is a 29-year-old Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa a week ago.

Prosecutor Francois Molins reported Friday night that his condition was stable.

The incident has thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a terrorist assault.
Refugee resettlement organisations are bracing for significant funding cuts and possible layoffs over the coming months during President Donald Trumps temporary refugee ban.

The agencies receive a certain amount of federal dollars per refugee they help resettle, which means they would lose a key source of funding unless the Trump administration provides funds in the interim during the 120-day temporary halt to refugees entering the US.

Catholic Charities USA says the executive order will cost the organization millions of dollars and put at risk about 7,000 jobs out of the 54,000 jobs at their agencies around the country, according to spokeswoman Patricia Cole.

The group launched an $8 million fundraising campaign this week to help replace the funding it expects to lose during the four-month moratorium.

Catholic Charities agencies resettled roughly 23,000 of the nearly 85,000 refugees that entered the U.S. last year, Cole said. Most of them were women and children.

It is one of nine agencies that handle refugee resettlement. Another agency, International Rescue Committee is asking its donors to help raise $5 million to ensure its 29 offices around the country can continue to support refugees already here.

Making matters worse for agencies is that President Barack Obamas administration told resettlement organizations to staff up in anticipation of an increase in refugees this year, said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

The organization resettled nearly 4,200 refugees last year and was expecting nearly 4,800 this year, he said. Hetfield said agencies receive a set amount of $2,075 per refugee for initial reception and placement. The amounts organizations get after depends on many different factors.

Were not going to be able to keep staff on over several months if the funding disappears, Hetfield said. If they really are serious about this continuing, theyll have to provide some kind of infrastructure support so our staff can survive the pause.

Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, which includes Detroit and suburbs, said it laid off four people in January from the refugee program, leaving a staff of 10. The agency said those jobs would be at risk if theres an extended interruption in the flow of refugees.

One World Relief agency outside Chicago estimates it will lose about $500,000 in funding due to the executive order, equivalent to about 20 percent of its funding, shows an email sent to supporters. The organization is asking for help to raise $250,000 to keep core services going.

At the offices of Catholic Community Services in Salt Lake City, pictures of the 70 employees in the refugee resettlement program are pinned on a tac board. Many of them are refugees who used their own experience and specialized training from the agency to become valuable staffers, said Aden Batar, director of immigration and refugee resettlement.

Batar, a refugee himself who worked his way up into his current role since joining the agency two decades ago, worries about how these employees will support their families if he has to lay off some or cut back hours. Most of the programs funding comes from the federal government, he said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the government provided interim funding during a pause on the refugee program, Batar said. But he sees no indication that will happen this time. Thats why his organization is asking community partners to donate.

We can rely on our community more than the federal government, Batar said.
US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a review of banking regulations introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, including a review of a rule on retirement advice.

Trump pledged during his campaign to replace the Dodd-Frank law introduced under the Obama administration which raised capital requirements for banks, restricted their trading by means of the Volcker Rule, and also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

A presidential order also imposed a 180-day delay on the implementation of a fiduciary rule for brokers offering retirement advice, according to a draft memo seen by Reuters.

During that time the US Labor Department is to conduct an economic and legal analysis of the regulation and rescind the rule if it is inconsistent with Trump administration priorities, according to the memo, which is not final.

Originally slated to take effect in April, the rule requires brokers to act as fiduciaries, or in their clients best interests, when advising them about retirement plans.

The US Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups are seeking to have the fiduciary rule overturned in court and a federal judge reviewing the case signalled in a court filing on Thursday that she plans to issue a decision no later than Feb. 10.

Democrats and consumer rights groups say the rule is necessary to protect individuals against potential conflicts of interest that brokers may have when guiding them to invest for the future.

US Republicans on Friday also repealed a rule aimed at curbing corruption at oil, gas and mining companies and voted to axe emissions limits on drilling operations, part of a push to remove Obama-era regulations on the energy industry.

Dodd-Frank move largely symbolic

Trumps order on reviewing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform regulations may be largely symbolic though because only Congress can rewrite the legislation, but Wall Street embraced the possibility of simpler bank regulations by pushing financial stocks up in morning trade.

The first thing that we are going to attack is regulation, over-regulation. Its not just in the financial markets, its in all markets, said White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn on Fox Business Network on Friday.

So today youre going to start seeing the beginning of some of our executive actions to roll back regulation in the financial services market, he said.

Dodd-Frank, the biggest Wall Street regulatory overhaul in decades, set out a long list of rules intended to keep the financial system from a repeat of the 2007-2009 crisis.

The rules included strict new capital standards on banks, called for annual stress tests for banks considered too big to fail, provided more oversight of derivatives trading, and restricted trading on their own account by means of the so-called Volcker rule.

The legislation also created new consumer protection watchdog to guard against predatory lending.

Analysts said Trump could make many changes without involving lawmakers, such as by appointing new personnel or simply choosing not to enforce rules already enacted.

A lot of the regulations of Dodd-Frank required a bit of a cop-on-the-beat if you will, to ensure enforcement and if you have a different cop-on-the-beat, they enforce different rules, or they enforce the rules differently, said FBR & CO financial policy analyst Edward Mills.

Trump cannot fire heads of independent agencies, including the three top bank regulators: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Martin Gruenberg.

In addition, the terms of Melvin Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Richard Cordray, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, extend beyond the end of this year.

Republican lawmakers are pushing Trump to fire Cordray, but a federal courts decision giving him power to do so has been stayed pending appeal.

Many prominent US financial leaders support the Dodd-Frank law. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said on Friday Dodd-Frank has largely been helpful and the stress tests have led to a banking system with more and better capital.

Republican Congressman Sean Duffy said earlier this week that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling is expected to advance his CHOICE Act legislation to weaken Dodd-Frank later this month.

One Dodd-Frank provision ripe for Republican action is the Volcker rule that greatly restricts how banks can make bets with their own money.
Several airlines on Saturday gave the green light to passengers wanting to fly to the United States who come from countries hit by President Donald Trumps travel ban after a US court suspended his order.

Seattle US district judge James Robart on Friday blocked Trumps controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, prompting a furious president to condemn it as a ridiculous move which he would overturn.

Although some airlines said they were waiting to see how the situation develops, carriers including Air France, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss Airways said they would carry nationals of the countries concerned if they have a valid visa.

Following the court ruling, US authorities Saturday suspended the travel ban.

We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas, a State Department spokesperson told AFP.

Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid, the official said, while a complaint against Trumps decree by Washington states attorney general Bob Ferguson is officially reviewed.

Ferguson said Friday the courts suspension of Trumps order meant the constitution prevailed as no one is above the law -- not even the President.

No one is above the law, not even the President

-- Bob Ferguson

Trump responded angrily, tweeting that the opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!

Among airlines confirming the green-lighting of passengers with valid visas, Air France told AFP that since this morning we are applying with immediate effect the (US) judicial decision taken overnight. All passengers presenting themselves will embark once their papers are in order to travel to the United States.

Several other airlines confirmed on their websites they would carry visa-holding passengers even before news emerged of the State Department statement.

An official at Cairo airport indicated on condition of anonymity that carriers had received notice from JFK airport in New York it was dropping application of Trumps order for US-bound passengers with valid documentation following the court ruling suspending the presidential ban.

Trump last week issued a shock executive order banning for 90 days entry into the US by nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- and all refugees for 120 days.

Big trouble

Trumps move, which he justifies on security grounds, wrought havoc at airports across America, sparked protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble! Trump tweeted less than 12 hours after the court ruling was issued in Seattle.

He added that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction!

After the US court ruling, Swiss airline told AFP that at the present time all passengers with valid travel documents can travel on any Swiss flights bound for the United States.

The carrier said it was in touch with US Customs and Border Protection and we shall respect strictly conditions of entry into US territory.

Germanys Lufthansa stated: The United States federal court has blocked the travel ban to the USA with immediate effect. Visitors ... holding a valid immigrant or non-immigrant visa for the US are again allowed to travel to the USA.

Temporary move?

In Tehran, one travel agent advised Iranians wishing to fly to the USA to take a place to any city this evening, warning the repeal of the ban may not stand.

Some carriers, including Finnair, were waiting for official confirmation on where they stand, a spokesperson told AFP.

Low cost carrier Norwegian pointed to uncertainties about US entry regulations and advised passengers with questions to contact the US embassy for more information as we have to follow the rules on who may enter.

The State Department said Friday up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas cancelled in light of a ban which has caused international outrage.

A Justice Department attorney told a court hearing in Virginia as many as 100,000 visas had been revoked.
An Indian-origin couple in the UK are caught up in a divorce battle that includes a 160,000-pound ticket on the futuristic first commercial flight into space on British entrepreneur Richard Bransons famed Virgin Galactic.

Meera Manek is taking her husband Ashish Thakkar to the UK high court next week to dispute his claim that his assets are worth just 445,532 pounds.

The 33-year-old food writer and blogger insists that Thakkar is in fact a billionaire, The Daily Telegraph  reported.

The Virgin Galactic flight will be discussed in court. It is an asset Ashish still holds and will be considered as part of the investigation into his total wealth. Meera will demand the cost of the ticket be counted in his assets. She could demand he cashes it in, the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Thakkar was among the first to sign up for Bransons dream project of launching the first commercial flight into space. The full amount of the tickets are paid up front but the tickets on Virgin Galactic are fully refundable up until the date of the flight.

The UK high court will now decide over the course of a five-day hearing beginning on Monday what Thakkars assets are worth and a further trial will then determine how much Manek should receive as part of the divorce settlement.

Thakkar is a Dubai-based businessman who runs the Mara Group and was born in the city of Leicester in the UK. His family were among the thousands of East African Indians who came to the UK after being deported by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s.

The 35-year-old married Manek in 2008 but the couple separated in 2013. His wife claims her estranged husband is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore. But he has told the court that the beneficiaries of the Mara Group -- an IT, banking and property group -- were his mother and sister.

The Sunday Times Rich List had estimated Thakkars wealth at 500 million pounds in 2015 but he was missing from the list in 2016.

Justice Moor will rule on Thakkars real wealth next week.
The United Nations Security Council has dropped sanctions against Afghan strongman Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, potentially paving the way for the notorious warlord to return openly to Afghanistan.

The Afghan government requested the move as part of a peace deal with Hekmatyar and his militant group, Hezb-i-Islami, in September.

The deal was criticised by some Afghans and human rights groups for the pardon it granted to Hekmatyar and many of his fighters.

While playing only a small role in the current insurgent conflict in Afghanistan, Hekmatyar was a major figure during the bloody civil war of the 1990s, when he was accused of indiscriminately firing rockets into Kabul, as well as other human rights abuses.

The Afghan government welcomed the UNs decision made on Friday as a a major step toward peace and stability in Afghanistan, said Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, a political advisor for President Ashraf Ghani.

This was a demand of the people and government of Afghanistan, he told Reuters on Saturday. It is a major step for the peace process between Hezb-i-Islami and the government of Afghanistan.

In removing Hekmatyar from the list of people sanctioned for their ties to al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and other militant groups, the UN unfroze his assets, and dropped a travel ban and arms embargo against him.

Hekmatyars whereabouts have been unknown since he signed the peace deal with Ghani in September via a prerecorded video from an undisclosed location.

With the UN sanctions now removed, government officials expect Hekmatyar to eventually return to the Afghan capital, despite the continued controversy.

Many foreign governments, including the United States, praised the accord at the time as a step toward wider peace in Afghanistan.
The United Nations has removed the name of a former Afghan warlord from its Islamic State group and al Qaida sanctions list.

According to a statement posted Friday by the Security Council, a UN committee removed Gulbuddin Hekmatyars name from the sanctions list. The statement said Hekmatyar, leader of Islamist organization Hezb-i-Islami, would no longer have his assets frozen, be subject to a travel ban or to an arms embargo.

Amin Karim, the groups chief negotiator told reporters on Saturday, The removal of sanctions proved that the solution is Afghan-owned negotiations inside the country and coming to a national consensus. If Afghans come to such a conclusion the international community is supportive of the peace process and it is good news for peace and the Afghan nation.

Hekmatyar, a former warlord who battled US forces after the 2001 invasion and nursed bitter rivalries with other Afghan factions, agreed to lay down arms last year. Karim had earlier told The Associated Press that he would return to the capital in a matter of weeks, not months.

Hekmatyar is seen as a potential rival to President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who have governed the country through a shaky, US-brokered power-sharing agreement since the disputed elections of 2014. His return could stir up new political uncertainty as the government struggles to confront a reinvigorated Taliban that has been advancing on several fronts.

In September, Ghani signed a peace treaty with Hekmatyar in which Ghani pledged to lobby the US and the United Nations to remove him and his party from terrorist blacklists. Hekmatyar signed the agreement via a video link to Kabuls presidential palace. The ceremony was broadcast live on television at the time.

The 25-point peace agreement gives Hekmatyar and his followers immunity for past actions and grants them full political rights.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has taken all the necessary measures for a respectable, safe, and honorable welcoming and we have taken all security measures according to the protocol. We are waiting for his (Hekmatyar) return and we dont have any problem in this regard, said Akram Khpolwak, a political affairs adviser to the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Khpolwak added that joint commission work is underway for the implementation of the other articles of the main agreement between the government and the Hezb-i-Islami such as releasing Hezb-i-Islami prisoners whose files have been finalized and accepting the return of the refugees who couldnt return to their homeland earlier from different provinces.

Hekmatyar battled the Soviets in the 1980s and then took part in the civil war that erupted after their withdrawal, clashing with the so-called Northern Alliance. He was driven out when the Taliban seized power in 1996, but returned after the American invasion, vowing to resist what he termed the foreign occupation.

His forces were largely confined to just two provinces, however, and have carried out few attacks in recent years. He is believed to be in hiding somewhere in the eastern Kunar province, where he enjoys popular support, and makes occasional trips into Pakistan through the nearby border.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday he was not considering hiking the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Irans misbehavior at this time, but warned that the world would not ignore Iranian activities.

President Donald Trump has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and his administration is warning of concrete action if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support in regional proxy conflicts.

The United States announced new sanctions on Friday, just two days after the Trump administration put Iran on notice following a ballistic missile test.

Mattis said putting Iran on notice was worthwhile, given its behaviour.

As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world and I think it is wise to make certain that Iran recognizes that what it is doing is getting the attention of a lot of people, Mattis told a news conference in Tokyo in his most detailed remarks on Iran since taking over the Pentagon.

Still, he firmly played down the idea of any military buildup.

I dont see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time. Thats not in the cards right now, he said. We always have the capability to do so. But right now I dont think its necessary.

The United States has already sent a Navy destroyer to patrol off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran.

But there are other actions Washington could take, including giving greater priority to rotating aircraft carriers through the Gulf. There is currently no US aircraft carrier in the Gulf, for example.

The US Navy believes having a robust presence helps deter any moves by Iran to block that strategic waterway.

In 2008 and 2010, in moves that prompted critics to accuse Iran of destabilising the region, the Islamic Republic threatened to disrupt oil shipping in the Gulf by shutting the Strait of Hormuz if there were any attack on its nuclear sites.

Mattis said ignoring Iranian behavior - something former President Barack Obamas critics routinely accused him of doing - wouldnt work.

It does no good to ignore it, it does no good to dismiss it, Mattis said, without citing Obama or his policies.

The White House has said that while the latest sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before. It added that a landmark 2015 deal to curb Irans nuclear program was not in the best interest of the United States.

Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and said it would impose legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping regional terrorist groups, state TV quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying.

Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with US companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.
Senior Pakistani and US officials, while reviewing bilateral ties here, have expressed confidence that the momentum built over the past years would be taken to higher levels under the Donald Trump administration, the media reported on Saturday.

Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi and United States Ambassador David Hale reviewed Pakistan-US relations during a meeting here on Friday, Dawn said.

Fatemi and Hale discussed prospective engagements in the coming months as the new US administration settles down in Washington, with the two leaders expressing confidence that the momentum built over the past years would be taken to higher levels, it said.

They pledged to deepen engagement between the two countries in the economic and security realms, the report said quoting the Pakistan Foreign Office.

In their first meeting after Pakistan detained Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan Foreign Office said: By continuing to work together, the two countries would be able to strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism and promoting peace and security in the region.

Hafiz Saeed was detained by the Pakistan police apparently under diplomatic pressure from the US.

They noted that the bilateral strategic dialogue mechanism provided the requisite framework for constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation, the report said.

The two officials said the framework of engagement would comprise of six working groups on law enforcement and counterterrorism; economy and finance; education, science and technology; energy, security and strategic stability; non-proliferation; and a defence consultative group.

Pakistan has been trying to build stronger ties with the US after Donald Trump took over as the 45th President on January 20.
US President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at a court ruling suspending his controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as ridiculous and vowing to get it overturned.

The order blocking the ban, issued late Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington states attorney general.

The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at airports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble! Trump wrote, less than 12 hours after the ruling was issued in Seattle.

Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction! said Trump, who was in Florida for the weekend.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The White House said in a statement late Friday that the Department of Justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban, which we believe is lawful and appropriate.

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, said the statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

Trumps executive order blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days.

Syrian refugees are barred indefinitely, and refugees from other countries are barred from entry for 120 days.

Read | I signed immigration order to keep terrorists out of the country: Donald Trump

Fridays ruling by the federal court in Seattle was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Washington states attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The constitution prevailed today, Ferguson said, describing the judges decision as historic. No one is above the law -- not even the president.

It is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, its the constitution, he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush.

The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas cancelled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.
Starting in World War I, military hospitals moved closer and closer to bullets-flying combat, culminating in the legendary Korean War MASH units.

Two years before the United States declared war on Germany, in 1915, a few American physicians were already in Europe, caring for the gassed and wounded soldiers streaming into Paris from the trenches of France. The physicians were volunteers in the Ambulance) Hospital, and many were Ambulance Americaine (American distinguished surgeons on three-month rotations from the faculties of American medical schools. Among them were Dr.George Washington Crile, who, as a professor of surgery at Western Reserve School of Medicine, had pioneered the use of person-to-person blood transfusions during surgery; and Dr. Harvey Williams Cushing of Harvard Medical School, a world-famous neurosurgeon whose specialty was saving soldiers by opening their skulls and plucking out shrapnel without harming their brains.

Crile and Cushing, convinced that the United States would soon be at war, came home with a bold idea: transform American medical schools and leading civilian hospitals into wartime military hospitals. Major General William C. Gorgas, the army surgeon general, enthusiastically welcomed the idea, and by the time the United States entered the war, it had been implemented. Over several decades and several wars, Crile and Cushings original concept mutated into something far differentMobile Army Surgical Hospitals. In the Korean conflict, these MASH units were close to the front and staffed by civilian doctors who broke the rulesone Army Medical Corps historian described them as professional doctors but amateur soldiers. They were later portrayed as irreverent surgeons Hawkeye and Trapper John in the highly popular M*A*S*H* television series (19721983). The shows grimly hilarious scenarios reflected what could happen when cool civilian surgeons were plunged into the cauldron of war.

The long trail from Ambulance Americaine to MASH begins with Surgeon General Gorgas, who immediately saw the advantage of injecting civilians into the Army Medical Corps. Gorgas had become famous in 1905 for leading a controversial crusade to wipe out disease-carrying mosquitoes that were debilitating the workers building the Panama Canal. His renown helped him as he led the campus-to-combat idea through the barricades of longstanding army doctrine. Gorgas reached out to physicians and nurses at medical schools and hospitals. Under his plan, the civilians, already accustomed to working together, would form the staffs of what the army called Red Cross hospitals, after the institution that raised the funds to equip them. As Gorgas envisioned the conversion and mobilization, each hospital would be militarized with an army commanding officer and staff, along with a sergeant major and a cadre of enlisted men who would serve as orderlies and perform nonmedical duties. The physicians would be given commissions, but the nurses would serve without rank as Red Cross nurses. It was a deft way to handle, among other things, Red Cross involvement. If war came, the civilians would be given basic trainingfrom saluting to setting up tentsat U.S. bases and then sent overseas as needed.

Universities enthusiastically mustered staffs drawn from the faculties, students, and alumni of their medical schools, while the Red Cross recruited physicians from major civilian hospitals. Each of these staffs would serve in what the army designated as a base or field hospital beyond the sound of guns. By the time the United States declared war on April 6, 1917, there were 33 Red Cross hospital staffs ready for war, including Dr. Criles Base Hospital No. 4 from Western Reserve and Dr. Cushings Base Hospital No. 5 from Harvard. Criles No. 4, the first U.S. army unit to arrive in France, reached there ahead of General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. The Red Crosss swift deployment of its hospitals displeased army general staff officers, who had heard little about these civilian-type hospitals and did not know how they would fit in with the AEF.

Criles No. 4 hospital and other early arrivals were sent to British Army hospitals, replacing physicians who had been killed or wounded. Some American physicians, particularly surgeons, went to British casualty stations at the front. No. 4 stayed with the British Expeditionary Force throughout the war, ultimately caring for 82,179 wounded.

The Red Cross base hospitals took over schools, hotels, villas, and government buildings scattered across France. Base Hospital No. 20, from the University of Pennsylvania, for instance, was sent to Chatel-Guyon, a health resort in the Auvergne Mountains of central France. Eventually, No. 20 became a 2,500-bed hospital spread across 33 buildings. More than 9,000 wounded or gassed soldiers were cared for in the hospital and all but 65 survived. Cushings Base Hospital No. 5 was sent to Camiers, site of a major British Army base. No. 5 was bombed during a German night air raid in September 1917, killing an officer and several enlisted men, believed to be the first AEF men killed by enemy action.

As the AEF grew to nearly two million men, the U.S. Army Medical Corps created a complex network that included hospital trains, horse-drawn wagons, fleets of ambulances, battalion aid stations, and hospitals. Many doctors and enlisted men were rotated between base hospitals and a new type of unitmobile hospitals that brought surgeons close to the front.

The Medical Corps had entered World War I with doctrines formed in the Civil War, and it was proud of the successful adaptations made in France. Of the 224,089 servicemen wounded in that war, 13,691 died of their wounds. More than a million were treated for nonbattle injuries and diseases, especially influenza. The 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people or more worldwide, struck down at least 675,000 Americans, including as many as 46,000 servicemen. Despite the diseases devastating effects, American troops in the Great War experienced the lowest mortality rates of any previous war.

In September 1939 the eruption of war in Europe led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare a state of limited emergency, and the armys new surgeon general, Major General James C. Magee, began preparing for war by turning to civilian physicians and nurses. Magee had served with Base Hospital No. 12 in World War I as part of the Northwestern University Medical School team, and now he revived No. 12 and the base hospital idea in general for a new war.

Magee faced problems Gorgas had not known in World War I. Between the wars the armys medical system had been reorganized, reducing the surgeon generals power. And the Red Cross would not be raising funds this time for army hospitals, as it had in the previous war. To complicate matters further, old and new doctrines were clashing: While some researchers were developing medical equipment and supplies that could be delivered by parachute, elsewhere in the bureaucracy the purchase of 36 horse-drawn ambulances was being approved. Warehouses were full of obsolete medical equipment and ragged hospital tents, but budget cuts hampered the modernization of the army medical service. To prepare for war, said one army history, the Medical Department had to start almost from scratch.

Its preparation plan called for the formation of 62 affiliated units, again raised by leading hospitals and medical schools but without Red Cross fund-raising. In the spring of 1940, as France was about to fall, Magee began sending out letters, hoping to recruit these affiliated units; many of his letters went to places that had received similar ones two decades before. But this time not all the affiliated units came from medical schools. In October 1940 General George C. Marshall, army chief of staff, was attending a lawn party in Charlotte, North Carolina, when a local surgeon told him that area doctors wanted to organize an affiliated hospital. Marshall explained that medical schools normally sponsored such units, but the doctor persisted. Marshall eventually approved the creation of the 38th Evacuation Hospital, staffed by local physicians and nurses, most from Charlotte Memorial Hospital. Another unit of special origin was General Hospital No. 9, formed in October 1940 by New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical College, formed at the urging of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.

Although the staffs of affiliated units completed their army training promptly after being called up, Magee inexplicably kept them at army posts in the United States rather than treating them as the promised rapid-response teams. Twenty affiliated units spent more than a year waiting to go overseas.

Early in the war Magee also changed course, turning against the concept of affiliated unit hospitals and deciding not to create any more, because, he said, the army needed doctors as individuals, available for assignment when and where they were required. The doctors, in turn, accustomed to getting their way, appealed to influential alumni and powerful hometown friends. But Magee continued to drain doctors from affiliated unit hospitals by allowing them to volunteer for all-army hospitals.

A former president of the American Medical Association, who was serving as an adviser on army surgery, endorsed Magees approach of raiding affiliated units. We have just got to learn to do the job with what we have, he said, and we havent enough men to give every hospital a university surgical faculty. Even No. 9, Secretary of War Stimsons creation, lost five doctors as Magee volunteers. Each one was rewarded with promotion in rank and appointment as chief of a surgical team in an all-army hospital in a combat zone.

While career army medical officers muttered about the affiliates political and professional cliques and old school ties, they nonetheless wanted such experienced physicians in their hospitals overseas.

Most journeys of the wounded to those lifesaving hospitals began the same way: Medics, unarmed and protected only by red crosses on their helmets, went into the field with a litter or jeep and collected the wounded, carrying them to an aid station 300 yards or so from the front. After what was known as patch-up work there, the next stop for most men with serious wounds was a larger hospital, where there were surgeons and new medical miracles: penicillin, sulfa, and blood plasma. Of every 100 wounded men who lived to reach a hospital, 96 survived.

One vocal dissenter to such humanitarian care in combat was Lieutenant General George S. Patton, who had this advice: If you have two wounded soldiers, one with a gunshot wound of the lung, and another with an arm or leg blown off, you save the son-of-the-bitch with the lung wound and let the goddamn son-of-the-bitch with an amputee arm or leg go to hell. He is no goddamn use to us anymore.

In order to ensure the best care for the wounded, high-ranking army medical officers joined in combat-logistics planning. The placement of hospitals became a key element in the deployment of troopsand increased the likelihood that wounded men would return to battle. One such hospital, the 70th General, formed by the medical school of St. Louis University, occupied an abandoned Italian army barracks west of Florence. The 70th saved the lives of thousands of soldiersGerman, American, and Italianwho were wounded during the long and bloody slog up the Italian peninsula. Among them was Second Lieutenant Robert Dole of the 10th Mountain Division, who arrived in mid-April 1945 as the war in Europe was nearing its end. He had been wounded trying to rescue an American radioman hit by enemy fire when their unit tried to take out a German machine gun nest. Doles right shoulder was shattered, neck and spine vertebrae were fractured, and he had shrapnel wounds throughout his body. A week later Second Lieutenant Daniel Inouye of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, arrived. He had been shot in the stomach and most of his right arm ripped away by a German grenade; the remnants of his arm were amputated. Both men survived and were sent to the same army hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, where they became acquainted with each other and another wounded soldier, Philip Hart. The three talked about going into politics after the warand they did, each of them becoming a U.S. senator. (In 2003 the hospital where they met became the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center.)

In Europe 375,000 wounded men left hospitals after treatment and fought again. Overall, death from wounds among U.S. troops in World War II was 3.3 percent, compared to 8.5 percent in World War I. Most medical historians attribute the dramatic drop to the speedy transport of wounded soldiers from frontline patch-up to surgery in the nearest hospital. And eventually the nearest hospital would have the initials MASH.

Early in 1942 Allied strategists had feared that Japan would follow its attack on Pearl Harbor with an invasion of Australia, so medical units were dis- patched there. The first sent was General Hospital No. 4, replaying the fast-moving role of its World War I predecessor. As in Dr. Criles Base Hospital No. 4 of that earlier war, most of the doctors in World War IIs No. 4 came from the medical school of Western Reserve University and most of the nurses from the Cleveland area.

Awaiting them was Colonel Percy J. Carroll, chief surgeon of the growing American forces in Australia. As Manila was about to fall to Japanese troops, Carroll had evacuated 224 wounded American and Filipino soldiers and an army nurse, loading them aboard a ship for a perilous voyage to Sydney. Carroll knew that Allied strategists were expecting a long, amphibious Pacific campaign that would be fought across great distances between and on islands of trackless jungles and malarial swamps. And he realized that No. 4 and the three other multi-bed hospitals then on their way to Australia were the wrong kind of hospitals for that kind of war.

He first split the hospitals, designed for 400 to 750 beds, into smaller units. But that was not enough. As he later recalled, he went to his superiorBrigadier General Richard J. Marshall,General Douglas MacArthurs deputy chief of staffand said,I want surgery in the front lines. I want surgery where its needed. Asked what he had in mind, Carroll said, a portable, surgical hospital. His idea was rapidly approved, and he headed for General Hospital No. 4, which had taken over a1,000-bed hospital in Melbourne.

After talking about his vision with members of the surgical staff there, he asked them to go over their instruments and pick out the fewest and most critical for major operations in the front lines. Continuing his research, he envisioned a25-bed portable hospital weighing 1,250 pounds that could be transported along jungle trails in packs and wheeled litters by four officers and 25 or 33 enlisted men, depending on how much other gear they had to carry.

Carroll formed 25 portables, as the units were called, by recruiting surgeons and medical technicians from big hospitals who were arriving from the United States. Carroll specified that all potential recruits had to be in shape. Because he felt that nurses would not be strong enough to carry the portable parts, he trained enlisted men to be surgical nurses. He eventually developed another version of the portablelarger and carried on trucksthat did include nurses. In their combat debut during the New Guinea campaign, the portables proved their worth. During their first week of combat in the fall of1942, surgeons in one portable performed 67 major operations.

MacArthur endorsed the portables, which were assigned to every infantry division in his command and were soon in use by Allied forces in India, Burma, and China. In Burma, a medical report said, surgeons normally worked by flashlight at night, since litter bearers usually brought in patients after dark to evade Japanese snipers.

Shortly before the war ended, the Army Medical Department decreed that, although the portables had saved thousands of lives, no future was envisioned for them. Instead, the army turned to Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, a Tulane Medical School professor and pioneer in cardiac surgery who would later pave the way to open-heart surgery. DeBakey offered his skills to the army, rose to the rank of colonel, and became an adviser to the surgeon general. He and other highly skilled ex-civilians, often challenged official dogma, as they developed surgical teams that traveled by truck from large combat-zone hospitals to the front. Out of that came the idea for Mobile Army Surgical HospitalsMASH.

Approved by the Medical Corps too late for World War II, MASH became its salvation when the Korean War ignited in June 1950. Stripped of doctors by a rapid postwar demobilization, the corps was unprepared for this new war. But it did have a small number of MASH units, and three of them were rushed to South Korea to accompany combat forces.

Each was a 60-bed mobile hospital whose staff ideally included six surgeons, 10 other officers with medical specialties, a dozen nurses, and 95 enlisted men. In that war of sudden battles, there were days and nights when the number of wounded soldiers surged, and the official table of MASH organization collapsed. As one historian noted, it was not uncommon for dentists to give anesthesia, psychiatric residents to perform surgery, or radiologists to set fractures.

In order to provide the Medical Corps with more physicians quickly, Congress passed the Doctors Draft Act. It exempted experienced physicians who had served in World War II while drafting young, inexperienced physicians. For some of them, the first patients of their medical careers were wounded soldiers lying on a folding operating table in a MASH tent. The career army officers in a MASH had to learn to cope with those temporary officers, who saw themselves as physicians aiding the wounded rather than officers serving in the army. That was succinctly immortalized in dialogue from the movie MASH, between an army captain and two MASH doctors. The captain asks, What are you two hoodlums doing here? and one of the doctors answers, Maam, we are surgeons, and we are here to operate.

Describing the real-life doctors who served in Korea with him, Captain H. Richard Hornberger, a Maine surgeon called to war, wrote, A few flipped their lids, but most just raised hell. Hornberger, in collaboration with a ghostwriter, wrote MASH: A Novel about Three Army Doctors, published in 1968 under the pen name Richard Hooker. The movie MASH came out two years later, followed in another two years by the television series M*A*S*H*. Its final episode in 1983 attracted the largest audience to that point in television history.

The last actual MASH in Korea was deactivated in 1997. During the Vietnam War, the MASH concept evolved into medics in helicopter ambulances. In a war with no trenches and no front line, helicopters brought wounded soldiers directly from battle to large stationary hospitals within the sprawling bases throughout South Vietnam. Still, the concept of MASH continued into the 21st century. The final MASH, the 212th, traced its origin to the 12th Evacuation Hospital founded in World War I. The 212th ended its service helping injured civilians, survivors of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. The unit was absorbed into a larger combat support hospital in October 2006, and its equipment was donated to the Pakistani army. After the 212ths colors were wrapped, an echo of the fictional MASH came with the announcement that there would be a cake-cutting ceremony in the triage section.

Thomas B. Allen is the author of Tories: Fighting for the King in Americas First Civil War and co-author, with Norman Polmar, of World War II: America at War 1941-1945.

[hr]

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2015 issue (Vol. 27, No. 3) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: Surgery in the Front Lines

Want to have the lavishly illustrated, premium-quality print edition of MHQ delivered directly to you four times a year? Subscribe now at special savings!
If you havent heard by now, Nicki Minaj is beyond upset with famous shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti. This morning the artist took to Twitter and Instagram to blast the company for the 23 pairs of shoes they have named after her that she has received no compensation for. Additionally, Nicki claims that the designers public relations company informed her PR firm that they would not speak with her nor discuss any deals.

As a result, Nicki has declared war on the brand and her legions of fans, dubbed barbies, are on the battlefronts as well, blasting the company on social media and helping the feud become a trending topic on the internet. Now, it appears that another high profile name is chiming in on the situation as Hollywoodlife.com reports that Jennifer Lopez thinks the feud Nicki started is petty. Apparently, J Lo is responding to comments Nicki made about her recent collaboration with the designer claiming that he only wants to work with artists like herself.

Check out an excerpt of the story below and get the full details here.

Jennifer Lopez, 47, has zero interest in being dragged into social media feuds. However, she had to face the facts when Nicki Minaj, 34, unleashed rants against famed shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti via Twitter and Instagram on Feb. 3. The rapper shockingly accused him of racism and addressed how hes only willing to collaborate with artists like JLo. Jennifers out here minding her business and doesnt have time to be petty with these girls who maybe taking jabs at her, a source tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. Shes a proven diva and her body of work speaks for itself which is why producers, writers and designers want to work with her too.

Jennifer Lopez
Photo by Kahlil Hackett

Filmmaker, photographer and rapper Sean Leon premiered his audio-visual trip, Life When Youre the Movie in Toronto last week. The short film takes viewers through Seans journey from the suburbs of Toronto to the downtown core, introducing his family and struggles as an artist along the way, which served as inspiration for the upcoming Black Sheep Nirvana album trilogy.

We sat down with Sean, director Noel and his film crew to talk about fostering creativity, prioritizing friends over funds, and defining success as an independent artist.

This interview has been condensed and edited. Pictured throughout are the friends who helped Sean and Noel make this film a reality.

HNHH: How was the premiere, everything went smoothly?

Sean: It was definitely a movie, pun intended. We had to start editing the film from scratch like two weeks ago, because the editing session got corrupted. We ended up adding a scene the morning of the show. I wasnt ever worried, though.

We were up until like five in the morning the day before trying to get the film to be compatible with the big screen.

Why is this film called an audio-visual trip?

Sean: Cause a movie is a movie, theyve been done to death. I wanted to make an experience, something that people connected to, something that stimulated them, and something that sparked a conversation. Freedom is whats most important to me in everything I do. I dropped out of school because I didnt feel free.

Noel: That whole shoot outside Bad Boy and Honest Eds was after another shoot with a band from the deep end, Native Other. We picked that location because of the practical lighting. It was really beautiful, the songs called Vintage, Honest Eds is a vintage store, Toronto landmark; that part of the film served to show where I am now in my life, the transition to showing you where I came from. To do that, we had to go from downtown to back home in the deep end. Back to when coming downtown was a train trip.

How do you know when youve finished something? Cause it seems like youre always working on music.

Sean: Im never done. I just found that out. Im not completely done with my album, but at the same time, Ill never be done. For my own sanity its time to move on. Ive got music that Im very excited about, that I cant release until I get this origin story out first. The film isnt done. Im gonna continue to work on it as I travel. Every audience will see something slightly different. When I come back home I want to throw a homecoming screening.

Photo by Sean Leon

Any plans to release LWYTM online?

Sean: The whole idea of putting something on the internet right away seems really farfetched to me. Once somethings on the internet for a while, its dead. Right now its an asset. I can bring it anywhere and bring together creatives in any city at any moment just by announcing a date. That power is priceless. Artists should focus on that power, rather than going viral. Theres no point putting all that effort and passion into something just to put it out for people to give it a thumbs up and move on.

Isnt that counterproductive? Thats not how trending artists approach releases.

Sean: I dont surround myself with trendy people. I want to be a trailblazer; thats why I wore Nike Blazers throughout the entire film. Cudi had that Cleveland hat, Rocky brought back the high top Air Force Ones, and that was super fresh.

Looking around in the crowd before the show, it would be easy to mistake this premiere as a sort of meeting of the minds for Torontos artistic underground.

Sean: Theres a lot of love in this city. That whole Screwface thing doesnt really exist, I dont get that feeling from the new school. I dont know if its because they think Im an old man.

Its probably because a lot of them look up to you. A lot of the upcoming rappers Ive spoken with have said as much.

Sean: Thats incredible. I want to be as important to somebody as Pharrell and Kanye West was to me. As they still are to me. Thats surreal. Those are the people I dont want to disappoint with this new material; the film, the new album, those are the ones I consider the most. The ones that have been rockin with me. Its kinda like protesting yknow, supporting Sean Leon the black sheep.

Photo by Keavan

What does the turnout say about your fans?

Sean: My fans are the most resilient in the entire world. I put them through so much last year, because I was going through a lot myself. Its weird; until I was in the theatre seat watching the film, everything still seemed up in the air. I used to work at the movies, hanging posters on Thursdays. I remember thinking that one day Id have a poster in a theatre, and it was trippy putting up posters of myself for a premiere about my life, and people were paying to come see it. No album out, no cosign, no record label, no industry help. Me, Scott Brownhill and Ricardo Ransom just made it happen.

Noel  A lot of the audio snippets and pictures taken were impromptu. Why was that important in making this film?

Noel: It was my family that I was putting in the music. I didnt want it to feel staged or rehearsed, because people can see through that. Im in love with my family; theyre stars, theyre magic. I wish the camera caught their brilliance every day.

Photo by Sean Leon

All I could think about after the premiere was the second one.

A few weeks ago you were tweeting back and forth with music journalists saying you dont have ownership of your art when publications premiere your work.

Sean: Artists should empower themselves. Its anti-establishment, every single move I make is a protest. [Art is] being mistreated, disrespected and overlooked for political reasons. These politics are getting in the way of good art being put on major platforms.

Theres a reason why you go to a major theatre where theres one decent one and the rest are trash. Theres an opportunity to play ten movies to millions and they pick these ones. Radio has an opportunity to heal people and help them with their mental health by playing good music and they dont.

The disparity between radio music and aux cords has never been larger. The people that are force-feeding content to the masses are doing it for economic reasons, political reasons. They dont actually give a fuck about whats best.

How is your film a protest?

Noel: Anybody making something out of nothing is making a statement. Theres no way that anybody who saw that film for the first time was able to catch every message in it. Whats beautiful about it is the fact that interpretation is 95% of art.

Sean: You and the person sat beside you could both leave with completely different interpretations of that film, but chances are youre both leaving inspired. That was the most important thing for me.

Do you think by releasing this movie, people get a better chance to understand you?

Sean: For sure. Its my life on the screen, but that wasnt necessarily my intention, it was to express myself. The Dave Chappelle skit I included was my point of view on mental illness, and how your environment can affect you. It circles back to that helpless feeling and the urgent need to be impactful. Its a recipe for chronic depression. Its not something you can see from the outside, so it doesnt get addressed. Those suffering are actually the strongest people; their ability to empathize is a very noble characteristic. But things like virility get in the way.

Photo by Joshua Din

Theres a scene of you on a train platform. The doors open but you stay on the platform. Your intention in that shot was to invite viewers to come along on a journey with you downtown. I didnt get that.

Sean: How did you interpret that?

I thought you felt stuck in place, because you werent getting on.

Sean: Thats a sentiment Ive definitely felt back at home. Suburbia: is it heaven or is it hell? I know Im not cemented to the ground, but at times I felt I couldnt leave. Matthew in the Middle isnt just me as the middle child in the middle of nowhere, its coming from that middle class. Being a millennial, being impatient, wanting to have an impact, thats whats afflicting kids my age. Thats what;s depressing us, feeling like well never make an impact.

This is the product of a tight-knit group of friends. Were there any disagreements in making this short film?

Sean: It wasnt finished, but I played it for Lila Hackett, my post-production editor. I remember her saying that it lacked character. I got really sensitive, but I took that feedback and took the film to another place. Im super grateful for that challenge. I think for two days straight Id always say to her oh, but the film lacks character, no matter what the conversation was. It was brutally honest, it really hurt my feelings but it took the film to another place.

The film isnt funded by the Canadian government, or private arts incubation funds. A lot of Canadian musicians lean heavily on that money to get their videos made. Why didnt you use that money for this project?

Sean: A lot of externally-funded videos dont take the risks we took on this. Theyd never allow it, thats the issue with these funds. Nobodys gonna know your brand better than you. Id much rather bring in my own team, [rather than work with a crew I dont know]. But you gotta compromise, sometimes. I have a MuchFACT video coming out in about a week.

What dont you like about working with outsiders?

Noel: Its not like the crews offered are bad in anyway, its that they dont respect individual artists. Theyre treating each artist like a bank job, its like session work. Theyre not as passionate about the message, the story, its to pay the bills.

Sean: Why would I want that person in charge when I can work with someone that knows me, has been in my moms basement with me, comes from where I do, went to highschool with me, understands me, and can get this vision out into the world exactly as I see it in my head?

Im very hands on. If I want something done a certain way, Ill learn to do it myself. Just like Kanye said, Ill just wait till I can figure it out. Anything else would be unnatural, dont you think? Living candidly, and its life when youre the movie, with somebody you dont know directing? This reel is my real, and vice versa.

Photo by Sean Leon

Youve put a lot of time and energy into this film, to the point that we dont hear or see much of you. Do you feel like your art consumes you at times, to the point that you miss out on experiences in life?

Sean: Somebody had to make where we come from look as awesome as it actually is. Im in love with where I grew up because it made me this weirdo kid who would just work on stuff in my room, and not talk to people and go to parties.

I dont suffer from a fear of missing out. I use FOMO as a way to market the film to my fans, because we dont have a huge marketing campaign. As soon as I announce a premiere in their city theyre going to buy a ticket.

Fans in Los Angeles are gonna buy LA merch because its rare, its one of one. Were on course to make history and they know at some point this shit is gonna be worth a lot of money. It just makes sense to fuck with what were doing. At some point people are gonna realize that this is some really fresh shit. Im super confident its gonna happen. Im just gonna keep creating until then, showing artists that they dont need to sell their masters for 10 years to succeed.

One of your strengths is collaboration. Looking around in the theatre, I thought to myself that this is like Torontos new-school creative community winning together for once.

Sean: For once, right? My album is full of so much Canadian talent, its insane. I think every person on there should be a mega-star. I decided to start taking pictures because my friends were also movies. Whos shooting the shooters?

Toronto doesnt even know how fire it is. Theres way too much talent out here. They make something really great, and its highest point is whether or not it gets a double-tap on Instagram, or plays on SoundCloud. We measure success all wrong. Theres no other place with this much refined, experienced talent going unnoticed in the world. Its tragic.

Whats the end goal for your career?

Sean: There really is no end goal. I never really understood that question. Its not like making $100m would make me feel happier than I am now. Im not gonna get a Grammy and not question whether Im a good rapper or a musician, Ill still have those nights. I just like making things. Ill die, and maybe my creations will live on, maybe they wont.

I have an idea to built a creative hub with studios for photography, recording, dance, and people just go there to get nice at what you do. I would like to make creative kids arent bullied. I wasnt that art kid in the back getting bullied so the kid. But Id like to create a safe space so kids like that dont have to feel so disenfranchised.

This film was funded by my friends pitching money to rent a camera. Wed have it for maybe a weekend at a time to shoot four or five scenes. Not having resources is a blessing, because it forces you to think outside of the box. You can make anything dope, anything resonate.

It was recording in closets, living rooms, cold cellars, bedrooms where the door was open and people were smoking blunts in the next room. But this is high-quality work.

Parts of your answer to that last question is why I was surprised you agreed to this interview.

Sean: This is like a big fuck you though, right? HotNewHipHop is covering my film. So you guys cant write this like Sean Leon, rapper its Sean Leon, multi-faceted artist had an amazing screening in Toronto. This is perfect. This is exactly how it should be. Its not a single release; everybody else did that. I think this sets good precedent. I think its really fresh that this interview is about a movie I made with my guys from back home.

My album is coming out in a week and we havent even talked about that, because my films so exciting. Were in the business of converting minds.

You thanked so many people after the film, but you didnt thank Noel. And Noel is Leon backwards. It took me a while to clue into that. [Editors Note: Sean and Noel are actually the same person, just to be clear]

Sean: I did that on purpose, because if I said it was by me, people would hate on it from the jump. Noel is different enough that people dont realize right away. I saw my name backwards in the mirror one time. Noel is also the day my daughter was born. It just seemed like divine intervention, dont you think?

Part 1 of the Black Sheep Nirvana trilogy, I Think Youve Gone Mad, drops Feb. 5.

SEanLeon
North Texans for Natural Gas, which advocates for oil and gas development, is expanding its focus statewide and changing its name to Texans for Natural Gas.

The group has opposed activists protesting pipelines and other energy projects development in Texas. Started in Dallas in 2014 and backed by the industry, it has added 220,000 members, including "significant membership" in the Permian Basin, South Texas and along the Gulf Coast, the group said.
WASHINGTON - A seven-year effort to make public what U.S. oil and gas companies pay out to foreign governments in exchange for lucrative drilling and mining rights was blocked Friday by Senate Republicans.

The Senate, on a party line vote, followed the Republican-controlled House by passing legislation that repeals a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule aimed at reducing corruption endemic to many developing countries rich with fossil fuels and minerals - a historical phenomenon commonly referred to as the "resource curse." President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.

Democrats, including Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, expressed outrage, noting the legislation passed only two days after former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson was sworn in as secretary of state. Exxon Mobil lobbied against the anti-corruption rule throughout 2011 and 2012, getting meetings with three SEC commissioners, according to agency records.

"It should be lost on no one that in less than 48 hours the Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed the former head of Exxon Mobil to serve as our secretary of state, and repealed a key anti-corruption rule that Exxon Mobil and the American Petroleum Institute have erroneously fought for years," Cardin said in a statement. "Big Oil might have won the battle today, but I'm not done fighting the war."

Stemming from the Dodd-Frank financial reform package Congress passed in 2010, the rule would have required oil, gas and coal companies to file annual reports with the SEC disclosing the money they paid to foreign governments, creating a paper trail that activists hoped would bring transparency to countries where public funds can be difficult, if not impossible to track.

But the oil and gas industry, led by the American Petroleum Institute, has long fought to block the measure, arguing it would be too costly to compile and report payments and U.S. companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron would be disadvantaged against foreign companies that do not have to play by the same rules.

"The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has a long history of supporting transparency efforts in the countries where we operate," API President Jack Gerard wrote in a letter to House leaders this week. "We have found that direct engagement between the host country governments, our companies, and the local populations can help curtail the misuse of government resources."

Authoritarian regimes

Oil and gas companies pour money into Third World countries through lease sales and royalty payments, but the extent to which that money helps fund corruption and authoritarian regimes has drawn scrutiny. Under the 1977 Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, U.S. companies operating abroad are prohibited from making bribes to local officials. And while legal cases are infrequent, they are not unknown.

A Nigerian court has ordered Royal Dutch Shell, of the Netherlands, and Eni, an Italian oil company, to give up control of an offshore oil field there, while investigators look into where their $1.3 billion lease payment to the government ended up, multiple news organizations reported last week. Both companies have denied any wrongdoing.

"We have a whole host of scandals we've investigated over the years in places like Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea," said Zorka Milin, an attorney with the watchdog group Global Witness. "Sometimes it leads to legal action in the U.S. and Europe, but not always. When you're talking about criminal cases, it's really difficult to investigate and prove beyond a reasonable doubt."

Before adopting the rule last summer, the SEC had to navigate lawsuits from API and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, arguing the first draft was illegal, followed by a suit from the human rights group Oxfam, saying the agency was not moving fast enough.

Finally, in 2015, a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered the agency to wrap up the rule-making. When the SEC did just that and no lawsuit came from API, it appeared the industry might be conceding.

Obama's era

But then Trump won the election, promising to roll back regulations put in place by former President Barack Obama. Republicans turned to a little-used law that allows Congress to overturn any executive order issued within the last 60 days Congress has been in session, called the Congressional Review Act. The SEC rule was issued in July, but with all the days Congress was out of session while members campaigned ahead of the November election, the rule just slid in under the deadline.

"Passing this CRA will right the ship and put U.S. companies back on a level playing field with their private and foreign competitors," Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said this week. "It will also protect them from a dramatic increase in regulatory compliance costs."

In a party line vote, the Senate voted 52-47 Friday to overturn the SEC's rule on reporting payments to foreign governments, joining with the House, which passed the legislation 235-187 on Wednesday.

In the seven years since the SEC began its work, international standards have changed. Last year, the European Union enacted rules requiring oil and gas companies listed on their stock exchanges to report their payments to foreign governments. In addition to Shell and Eni, those rules affect the British company BP and the French company Total.

Also filing reports are the Russian firms Rosneft, Gazprom and Lukoil, which are all listed on London's stock exchange. Rosneft, with whom Exxon Mobil partnered on an Arctic drilling deal in 2012, listed payments of more than $30 billion last year, primarily in the form of taxes and royalty payments to Russia.

It's unclear how the United Kingdom's planned departure from the European Union will affect these reporting requirements.
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Dow Chemical Co.'s $6 billion Gulf Coast expansion - mostly in Freeport and Lake Jackson - is getting environmentally friendlier, thanks to a neighboring plant completed last week by the Connecticut company Praxair.

Praxair, a leading producer of industrial gases such as acetylene, helium and neon, said its plant will capture emissions from Dow's huge Freeport campus and convert the by-product into high-purity hydrogen used to make chemicals and plastics.

Dow is expected to complete the bulk of its expansion later this year as it brings new chemical and plastics production online and creates about 500 permanent jobs. The site is Dow's largest complex in the world; the Michigan company designed and built Lake Jackson 73 years ago to house workers when it chose rural Freeport as an operations site.

Praxair CEO Steve Angel said the company launched operations at the $400 million hydrogen recovery and processing plant, which could link up as early as June with Dow's nearly completed plant to manufacture 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene, the primary building block of most plastics. The plant can independently produce hydrogen before it links with the cracker.

More Information Growth mode Dow Chemical's more than $6 billion expansion in the Gulf Coast, mostly in Freeport and Lake Jackson, largely will be completed by the end of 2017, except for one remaining plastics plant. The two biggest elements are propylene and ethylene plants. The propylene plant opened at the end of 2015. The remaining projects are: $2 billion ethane cracker to produce ethylene - opening mid-2017. Two performance plastics plants - opening 2017 and 2018. Two Lake Jackson research and development facilities - one opened January 2017 and the other by the end of 2017. Source: Dow Chemical Co. See More Collapse

The Praxair plant would prevent the escape of 300,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide from the $2 billion eythylene plant. That's less than half the Dow plant's carbon emissions.

"You can do things good for the society as you grow," Dow president Jim Fitterling said while visiting the plant last week. "We take our footprint down and make our impact on the communities less."

The Dow expansion will add more ethylene, polyethylene, propylene and plastics manufacturing in Freeport. Praxair, meanwhile, is investing about $1 billion along the Texas Gulf Coast through 2019, including new hydrogen and nitrogen pipelines connecting Freeport to Texas City, where existing pipelines connect to other chemical plants in Texas and Louisiana, Angel said.

"Texas could easily end up being our second-biggest revenue region globally," Angel said.

The hydrogen produced by Praxair will feed Dow operations, as well as an ammonia plant developed by Germany-based BASF and Norway-based Yara International that's scheduled to open in 2017. Dow is the world's second-largest chemical maker after BASF.

Dow is merging with DuPont of Wilmington, Del., but the combined entity will eventually splinter into three separate companies, including one still named Dow that would continue to own and run the Freeport complex. The materials science business would operate under the Dow name, the agribusiness under DuPont and specialty products under a yet-to-be determined brand.

The $130 billion merger could close as soon as this spring, but the three-way split will take longer.

Praxair, meanwhile, said in December that it would combine in so-called merger of equals, valued at $35 billion, with Germany's Linde to create the world's largest industrial gas company. Angel will remain CEO of the combined company that will maintain the Linde name.

Praxair has a handful of other plants in the Houston area. Linde recently moved into the Energy Corridor in Linde Plaza - previously Jacobs Plaza.
The number of participants in what could be the final enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act dipped from the previous year, especially during the final days as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans waged an orchestrated attack on the law.

About 9.2 million people made plan selections for 2017 through the exchange between Nov. 1 and Tuesday's 11:59 p.m. deadline, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported. That compares with 9.6 million, according to plan selection figures released almost exactly a year ago on Feb. 4, 2016.

In Texas, about 1.2 million people selected plans during the enrollment period, compared with just more than 1.3 million a year ago. In Houston, enrollment rose to 359,932 from 346,822.

The year's enrollment period has been closely watched by both supporters of the law known as Obamacare and those who want it repealed.

Critics of the law, including those within the new administration, heralded the decline as proof the law was doomed and people do not want it.

"Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another," Health and Human Services spokesman Matt Lloyd said in a statement Friday afternoon. He cited a Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services report that over the past year ACA premiums increased 25 percent and the number of insurers declined 28 percent.

"We look forward to providing relief to those who are being harmed by the status quo and pursuing patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people," the statement said.

Not everyone read the numbers the same way.

"I do not see that as a collapse of the market," said Ken Janda, president and CEO of Community Health Choice, a nonprofit insurer offering health maintenance organization plans on the exchange in Houston.

He added, "1.2 million people in Texas have individual health insurance, many of those who would not have it without the subsidies that are part of the ACA. That's a very good thing."

He said he sees enrollment as "roughly the same" as the previous year.

President Donald Trump, elected one week after enrollment began and inaugurated 11 days before the final day of sign-ups, ran on the promise to dismantle the law he called "a disaster." Just hours after Trump was sworn in, he signed a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to lift or ignore regulations attached to it.

The Republican-led Congress showed similar zeal by setting up the framework for repeal in the opening days of its session with a promise of eventual replacement with a still-undetermined substitute.

That momentum seems to have slowed as Republicans disagree on the best course forward, with some wanting to delay repeal until they have a replacement in place and others arguing to begin unspooling it quickly and coming up with and implementing replacement over time.

A leaked audio recording from a Republican retreat late last month that was reported by the Washington Post revealed wide disagreement and some trepidation within the party.

Friday's numbers show that confusion sown by the upheaval may have had an impact. Enrollment had been running slightly ahead of 2015 as 2016 came to a close, but it dropped in the final weeks and days, a time when traditionally there has been a surge of sign-ups.

Plan selection this year between Jan. 15 and Jan. 31 was 376,260. By comparison, last year 686,708 peopled signed up in the final week alone.

Former HHS officials have alleged "sabotage" by the Trump administration to suppress enrollment. Last week the agency acknowledged it had canceled radio and television ads to remind people to sign up before the deadline.

"We know that more young people enroll during the final days of open enrollment, but they need to be reminded of the Jan. 31 deadline," Kevin Counihan, ex-CEO of healthcare.gov, said in a blistering statement last week.

But Ryan Murphy, a senior communications adviser to HHS under Trump, was unapologetic.

"We aren't going to continue spending millions of taxpayers' dollars promoting a failed government program," he said in a statement to the Chronicle earlier this week.

In Houston, those involved in enrollment reported the final surge from previous years was not as robust and that people seemed confused about signing up. Some thought the ACA had already been repealed.

One of the biggest criticisms of the existing law has been rising prices for premiums and a lack of choices, both from insurers exiting the market and from narrowed networks, which reduces the number of providers covered. The average national rate increase for 2016 was 25 percent, more than three times higher than the average increase in 2015.

Insurers have left the exchanges after complaining of losses in ACA plans because those covered were sicker and used more expensive medical care than anticipated.

Still, the uninsured rate in the nation has dropped to historic lows, and there is concern that if repeal comes without swift and comparable replacement, as many as 20 million people could lose coverage through a dismantling of provisions in the law.

Janda acknowledges problems with the current law that need to be addressed. He remains hopeful that as Republicans find out how difficult it could be to continue covering the same number of people, it will open discussions on ways to repair it.
Numerous protests have been staged across the country since Trump was inaugurated on January 20, including a Women's March that attracted an estimated 500,000 people in Washington the following day. Most have been peaceful but a few have been marred by small groups of violent protesters, including self-declared anarchists dressed in black. The California speaking event was organized by the Berkeley College Republicans group and approved by the university, but was canceled before it began because of the violent incidents.

"Agitators also attacked some members of the crowd who were rescued by police. UCPD reported no major injuries and about a half-dozen minor injuries," the UC Berkeley public affairs office said in a statement.

That group of agitators proceeded to shoot commercial-grade fireworks at police, smash windows of campus buildings and use a Molotov cocktail to set a generator on fire, university police said.

Things quickly turned violent Wednesday night when a group of about 150 masked agitators gathered on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley to protest a speech scheduled to be given by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos, the university said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned what he called "professional anarchists" after two consecutive nights of violent protests on college campuses forced a pair of Trump supporters to cancel speaking engagements this week. Trump made the comment in a tweet posted Friday.

Yiannopoulos is a vocal supporter of President Trump. He is also a self-proclaimed internet troll and was banned last year from Twitter after leading a harassment campaign against Ghostbusters movie actress Leslie Jones, who is African-American.

Since late 2015, he has been touring college campuses across the United States and has had several of his speeches shut down by protesters. Speaking in an interview Thursday night with Fox News Network's Tucker Carlson, Yiannopoulos called the incident "political violence" aimed at discrediting his views, which he described as "perfectly mainstream."

"I don't have opinions that millions of Americans don't share, I just happen to say them in a slightly more provocative and interesting way and on a slightly larger platform," he said.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks condemned the violent agitators. He said the school brought in additional police officers to deal with the crowds of protesters, but they "could not plan for the unprecedented."

"The Berkeley campus was invaded by more than 100 armed individuals clad in Ninja-like uniforms who utilized paramilitary tactics to engage in violent destructive behavior designed to shut the event down," he said in a Thursday statement.

In response to the incident, Trump threatened to pull federal funding from the school if it continues to allow violent protesters to shut down speakers with divergent opinions.

Trump's threat received a quick response from California's lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, who referred to Yiannopoulos as a "white supremacist" and said "hatred has no home" at California public universities.

"That's why the President and his extremist acolytes like Yiannopoulos need to hear from the resistance, loudly and repeatedly. We must continue to step in and stand up to resist reckless rhetoric and actions in a peaceful and forceful manner," he said in a statement.

A similar event took place at New York University Thursday night when right wing internet personality Gavin McInnes attempted to hold a talk on the school's campus.

Police say 11 people were arrested after fighting with officers outside the building where McInnes was scheduled to speak. The disturbance was organized by the self-described NYU Anti-Fascists group, which, in a Facebook post, encouraged protesters to stand up against "bigotry, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny on our campus."

"Gavin McInnes has a long track record of using incendiary language to attract media attention and frenzy," the posting said.

McInness, a conservative comedian and co-founder of Vice Media, was invited to speak at NYU by the school's College Republican group, but was prevented from doing so by protesters who stormed the building and began shouting over him.

According to police, eight men and three women were arrested on charges including criminal mischief and drug possession after a skirmish with police outside NYU's Kimmel Center, where McInnes was attempting to speak.

Videos posted on social media show protesters cursing at and shoving McInness as he was escorted by police into the building.

In a statement following the event, the College Republicans group said it was disappointed about what happened, and called it a "shame" protesters couldn't "be respectful of McInnes."
NEW YORK - Next on the immigration chopping block? U.S. tech companies fear the Trump administration will target a visa program they cherish for bringing in programmers and other specialized workers from other countries.

Although these visas, known as H-1B, aren't supposed to displace American workers, critics say safeguards are weak. Critics also say the program mostly benefits consulting firms that let tech companies contract out their jobs to save money. The administration is considering a broad review of such programs, though there weren't many specifics in a draft executive order obtained by The Associated Press.

This comes amid President Donald Trump's temporary ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S., including those who are employed by Google and other tech companies but were out of the country when the surprise order was issued last month.

Here's a look at how the H-1B visa program works and why tech companies are worried.

Is this a tech visa program?

The H-1B program is open to a broad range of occupations, including architects, professors and even fashion models. Companies must affirm that the job requires a specialty skill that cannot be filled by a U.S. worker.

Many of these skills happen to be in tech. According to the Labor Department, the top three H-1B occupations are computer systems analysts, application software developers and computer programmers. The Labor Department says about half of its H-1B certifications are for those three occupations.

By the numbers

The U.S. government allows up to 85,000 new H-1B visas each year, and recipients can stay up to six years. Demand is usually higher, so the government holds an annual lottery. Advocates say that's a sign the cap needs to be raised.

What about American jobs?

By law, companies are required to pay at least the prevailing wage for that occupation. In some cases, they also must make a good faith effort to hire a U.S. worker before turning to an H-1B worker.

The Labor Department must certify that these conditions have been met. After that, Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts a lottery and the State Department issues visas to the lucky winners.

Venky Ganesan, a managing director at venture capitalist firm Menlo Ventures, says that rather than displace low-wage workers, the program encourages students to stay in the U.S. after getting their degrees in high-tech specialties. He said many of them go on to start companies and hire U.S. workers.

Sounds good, but ...

A 2011 study from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the Labor Department's review is "cursory and limited by law to only looking for missing information and obvious inaccuracies." An Associated Press review of Labor Department data showed that less than 2 percent of applications were denied in fiscal 2016.

Critics say the program has turned into a mechanism for companies to contract out jobs to consulting firms. Indeed, the data show that top companies certified for H-1B visas are large consulting firms. Apple ranked eighth, and no other traditional tech firm made the top 15 in the AP review.

Consulting firms targeted

Last month, Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, whose district includes Silicon Valley, proposed raising the minimum annual salary for certain exemptions to $130,000, from $60,000. The change could require more companies to try to hire U.S. workers first.

As news of the proposal circulated in India, shares of many Indian technology companies sank.

As a Democratic bill, it has virtually no chance of passage in the Republican Congress, although the idea could be incorporated into other measures from the GOP.

What else?

The draft order from the White House had few specifics, other than to review existing regulations, find ways to allocate visas more efficiently and ensure that beneficiaries are "the best and the brightest."

This suggests that the Trump isn't looking to kill the program entirely.

The order didn't propose anything specific about allocating visas, though one option is to scrap the lottery in favor of offering visas to the highest-paying jobs. Lofgren's bill would prioritize visas for higher-paying jobs and set aside 20 percent of slots for smaller businesses and startups.

Tech companies have been clamoring for the government to increase the number of annual visas allotted, but there's no indication that's on the agenda. In fact, the number of visas could go down. Although the cap itself is set by law, there's no legal requirement for the administration to issue that many visas.
The Pasadena election system that a judge ruled violated the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Hispanics cannot be used in the upcoming May council elections, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by a lower court judge ordering the city to revert to a 2011 system using all single-member districts for the May 6 elections, when the entire city council and the mayor's seat are on the ballot.

The expedited ruling - which came just two weeks before the deadline for candidates to file for office - is a blow to the city and its longtime mayor in a case being closely watched by voting rights advocates nationwide.

The decision Friday by a three-judge panel addresses only an attempt by Pasadena to temporarily halt the order for the May elections; the merits of the case and the judge's ruling will be taken up later in full.

"This means all Pasadena voters will have a fair election on May 6," said Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed the suit on behalf of a group of Hispanic voters. "All voters of all races will have a fair opportunity to elect their preferred candidates."

Attorney C. Robert Heath, who represents Pasadena and Mayor Johnny Isbell, said Friday he wasn't sure if the city would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Such an appeal would have to happen quickly or could jeopardize the city elections.

Pat Gonzalez, one of the voters who filed the suit, praised the appeals court decision.

"I am very happy about the outcome of the ruling in our favor," she said. "Now the Hispanic voting strength won't be diluted. We now have a chance to vote for a person of our choice."

Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in Houston issued a pointed 113-page opinion in January, saying Pasadena's election system of six single-member and two at-large seats deliberately discriminated against Hispanics.

Rosenthal scrapped the system in favor of the 2011 format, which used eight single-member districts for the city council. She also ordered the city to obtain "preclearance" from the Department of Justice before making any future changes to the election system.

The Pasadena lawsuit is one of the first legal challenges since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2014 lifted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act requiring preclearance of any changes to election systems in Texas and other states with a history of discrimination.

Rosenthal ruled in the case, without a jury, after a seven-day trial in which witnesses testified that the mostly Hispanic north side of town lacked basic necessities such as good drainage and pothole repair while the mostly white south side received neighborhood funding for many improvements.

Witnesses said the mayor pushed behind the scenes to change the election system shortly after the Supreme Court ruling.

Heath asked the appeals court to issue a temporary stay to Rosenthal's order to preserve the 6-2 scheme for the rapidly approaching May elections. But the three-judge panel ruled unanimously Friday that the stay was not warranted, allowing the elections under the 2011 system.

Four-term Councilman Ornaldo Ybarra said the appellate ruling was great news for all voters.

"What you're going to get is more diversity on council, but not only that," he said. "People are going to have a better, closer relationship with their council member. The districts tend to be smaller, workable, and walkable. You build a relationship."

He said it will also open the city's doors to additional candidates, since a run for an at-large seat requires more money than a race for a single-member district.

"The most important thing about the ruling is an ordinary person that's not wealthy can finance their campaign and can run for office," he said.

As of Friday, 14 candidates had submitted their names for the eight single-member positions. The mayor's seat is also up for grabs - Isbell is facing term limits and cannot run for re-election. The filing deadline is Feb. 17.
Professor Marjorie Corcoran was the kind of scientist who probed for answers to the big questions like, "Why there is so much more matter in the universe than anti-matter."

Corcoran, a professor at Rice University since 1980, was a nationally-recognized leader in the field of particle physics.

"These are the people who try to probe the basic building blocks of the universe," said Professor Doug Natelson, chairman of the physics and astronomy department at Rice. "She was a major player."

Now it will be up to other scientists to carry on her work.

Corcoran, 66, died Friday after she was struck by a Metro light rail train while riding her bicycle near Hermann Park. She was heading toward the campus about 8:15 a.m. when she crossed over the southbound tracks along the 6300 block of Fannin near Sunset. Corcoran was pronounced dead at the scene. Metro officials said the investigation is continuing but that the train had the right-of-way. They did not know if Corcoran was wearing earphones at the time of the accident.

Corcoran - then a graduate student at Indiana University - had begun important research work at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, better known as Fermilab, near Chicago. She earned her doctorate in 1977 and joined the Rice faculty three years later.

"Marjorie was a much-admired longtime professor of physics and astronomy, who worked tirelessly on behalf of her students, Rice and STEM education," Rice University president David W. Leebron and university provost Marie Lynn Miranda said in a joint statement.

One of her passions was working with high school science teachers during the summers to help them create programs for their students.

"Having teachers that are excited and engaged is really, really important. They learn things that they can bring back to the classroom," Natelson said.

She also worked to increase the number of women in the field of science and technology. Last month, Corcoran and a colleague hosted a conference for undergraduate women in physics.

"She was very concerned about what was best for the students - both our undergraduate students and our graduate students," Natelson said. "She always had an open door - both for her students and her colleagues."

In 2012, Corcoran received a grant that helped her introduce students to medical physics through a collaboration with the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

"The grant supported a summer internship program that allowed Rice students to gain hands-on experience in the rapidly growing field of medical physics, particularly in proton therapy for cancer patients," Leebron and Miranda stated in their letter.

Corcoran was the first speaker of the school's faculty senate when it was composed in 2005 and had earlier done a tour as head of the university's astronomy and physics department.

"She was just a tremendous participant at the university," Natelson said. "She always went the extra mile."

Corcoran received her undergraduate degree in 1972 from the University of Dayton. She was married and had three children, including a son who received his degree at Rice.

"The most important thing is that our friend and longtime colleague is suddenly gone. That's terrible," Natelson said. "Our hearts go out to her family. It's just a shame."

Natelson said he expects there will be a campus memorial for Corcoran at some point in the near future.

In July 2013, the campus community mourned a student hit while crossing Metro tracks on her bicycle. Vivian Ziwei Guan, 20, a Rice University architectural student, was killed in downtown Houston when she was struck by a southbound Metro train at Main and Walker.
There are loads of free events going on around town in celebration of Houston hosting the Super Bowl, but traveling to those said events proves to be difficult if you're getting there by car.

Yes, you could take an Uber, but there are likely surge prices, plus some of you have deleted your account after this weekend's debacle with Donald Trump's immigration ban.

FIND THE ANSWER: This is why some of your friends are publically deleting Uber

But there are so many more options provided by the city of Houston and its Super Bowl partners, namely those in the biking industry.

These are the traveling freebies that locals and visitors can take advantage of throughout the week during Super Bowl festivities:

Houston B-Cycle

Throughout the city, there are dozens of Houston B-Cycle kiosks that residents and visitors are welcome to utilize free of charge. The bike-share program also provides an app for users to view the location of all bike stations and the number of bikes and docks open at each station.

BikeHouston Bike Valet

Houstonians and visitors that already have bikes at their disposal, can ride into downtown and park their bike for free at the bike valet provided by BikeHouston. Riders are able to use the service one-hour prior through one-hour after posted Super Bowl Live times.

Pedicabs

If pedaling really isn't your thing in any way, there will be registered pedicabs on the north side of Discovery Green and will travel anywhere in the Central Business District.

EVENTS OUT OF DOWNTOWN: SoberBowl debuts in Houston as 'fresh alternative'

Though, if biking isn't your thing, there are special points to note about the way Uber and taxis are going to be working in the Super Bowl Live/downtown area.

Uber only has one designated drop-off and pickup location on Crawford between Rusk and Capitol (behind the Marriott Marquis). When requesting an Uber downtown, the geolocation will pin you at that spot and you'll have to walk to meet your Uber at pick up.

Taxis are approved to provide rides at various locations downtown and have a special called "Six in the City" where $6 taxicab rides are provided to riders anywhere downtown by any taxi company in Houston. This is exclusively for traveling within downtown. To find a taxi in Houston, use the Arro app to locate a close ride.
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WASHINGTON - Betsy DeVos moved closer toward confirmation as education secretary Friday after clearing a major hurdle in the Senate, even as Democrats and labor unions fervently sought another Republican vote against her.

Tensions flew on the Senate floor Friday, with a senior Republican saying DeVos will make an "excellent" secretary and a top Democrat calling her "one of the worst nominees." Republicans overpowered Democrats, voting 52-48 to cut off debate on the nomination, setting the stage for a final vote on Tuesday.
A federal judge in Washington state declared Friday that he would temporarily block enforcement of President Donald Trump's controversial ban on entry to the United States - a ruling that appears to be broader than others before it, though the details have yet to be revealed.

Judge James Robart granted a request from lawyers for the state of Washington who had asked him to stop the government from acting on critical sections of Trump's executive order. The order bars from entering the United States citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries as well as refugees and others. Meanwhile, Justice and State department officials revealed Friday that about 60,000 - and possibly as many as 100,000 - visas already have been revoked as a result of Trump's order.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as "the first of its kind" and declared that it "shuts down the executive order immediately."

The judge, a George W. Bush appointee, indicated in a docket entry that he would issue a written ruling later. The Justice Department said in a statement that it "looks forward to reviewing the court's written order and will determine next steps."

Another complicating factor is that the State Department has revoked the visas of all immigrants and nonimmigrants from the seven listed countries - Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Without proper documents, those who are prohibited from entering the country may still not be able to board planes.

Plan is evolving

Immigration lawyers said Friday night they were still assessing the Washington case, though they were heartened by it.

"The order makes it clear that all of the main provisions of the executive order cannot be enforced at this time," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project. "That means that a lot will have to change immediately, and the government will have to make clear how they intend to follow the order with respect to all of the ways in which immigrants here and abroad are being affected at the moment."

Since it was first rolled out a week ago, Trump's travel ban has been evolving - both because of legal challenges and as a result of decisions by the administration to walk back aspects of it. Green-card holders from the affected countries, for example, no longer need waivers to get into the United States, as they did when the order took effect. And the Department of Homeland Security asserted Friday that the order does not apply to dual citizens with passports from countries other than the seven listed.

Feds to appeal

The numbers of visas revoked, too, demonstrated just how far-reaching the impact of the order would be. Families will remain split, students unable to pursue their education, those in the United States unable to leave for fear of not being able to return - and not by the handful, but by the tens of thousands.

Federal judges in New York, California, Massachusetts and Virginia have already issued rulings temporarily blocking aspects of the Trump order - though the orders all seemed to be limited to people who had made their way to U.S. airports, or, in Virginia's case, to certain people.

The New York and Massachusetts rulings both blocked the government from detaining or deporting anyone from the seven affected countries who could legally enter the U.S., and the Massachusetts ruling added the critical phrase "absent the executive order."

Washington and Minnesota had filed a broad legal challenge to the order, alleging it was "separating families, harming thousands of the States' residents, damaging the States' economies, hurting State-based companies, and undermining both States' sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees."

With its suit ongoing, Washington state asked a federal judge there to block the order immediately, on a temporary basis.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they will file an emergency stay of the ruling and "defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."
AUSTIN - State Sen. Bob Hall is playing the long game on abortion.

To date, more than two dozen bills relating to abortion have been filed in the Texas Legislature, most aimed at restricting the controversial procedure. Hall, however, has gone a step further and authored a bill to create a constitutional amendment to prohibit abortion "to the fullest extent authorized under federal constitutional law as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court."

The Republican senator from Edgewood is looking forward to a conservative U.S. Supreme Court he hopes will overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortion legal in the United States.

Other states have attempted similar approaches by passing "trigger laws," that would go into effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, 19 states have laws that could be used to restrict the legal status of abortion. Four states - Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota - have laws intended to ban abortion automatically if Roe is overturned; eight others still have pre-1973 abortion bans on the books but do not enforce them. Eight states have laws that mirror Hall's bill.

"I think there might be a real possibility that a Supreme Court in the near future just might overturn Roe v. Wade," Hall said. "If they were to do that, then this would put in place in Texas that abortions would be illegal."

The proposed constitutional amendment, SJR 9, would require a two-thirds super-majority vote in both chambers, and if approved, voters would have the final say on the change.

Similar bills were introduced in 2011 and 2015 but went nowhere.

'Wishful thinking'

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it was unlikely such a law ever would implemented even if Hall's resolution is approved by lawmakers and voters, calling it "wishful thinking."

He pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last June in Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt, the lawsuit that successfully challenged provisions of Texas' 2011 strict abortion law. Without Justice Scalia, the court reaffirmed Roe v. Wade, and struck down the Texas law's strictest provisions by a 5-3 majority. Even had Scalia been alive, the result would have been the same, Tobias said.

"(Trump's pick for justice) would just substitute for Justice Scalia, and that still doesn't give you enough votes," he said.

Among other anti-abortion bills filed in Austin this year are measures that would prohibit health insurance from covering the procedure and ban "dismemberment abortions." One that has garnered the most attention would enable authorities to charge a woman who gets an abortion and the abortion provider with murder.

That bill's author, Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, has been placed under Department of Public Safety protection after receiving death threats in reaction to the bill, according to his spokesman.

A spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, which advocates for abortion rights, said the group is more worried about legislation that would reduce access or interfere with a doctor's ability to make professional decisions about abortion than it is about Tinderholt and Hall's bills to criminalize or outlaw the procedure.

"This constitutional amendment is a pretty unserious idea," said Blake Rocap, the group's legislative counsel. "It would basically have no effect because, guess what? The Supreme Court already said you can't make abortion illegal."

Many of the anti-abortion bills filed in the Texas Legislature are similar to legislation being drafted in states across the country, reflecting a national push by abortion foes and lawmakers to challenge Roe v. Wade or at least chip away at it in hopes that a fully-staffed conservative Supreme Court will uphold them.

Anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, for example, has made its top priority a bill by state Sen. Charles Perry that would ban abortions in which a fetus is dismembered and removed "one piece at a time."

According to National Right to Life, seven states have passed dismemberment laws. All have been challenged or have yet to take effect.

'Challenge the logic'

John Seago, legislative director for Texas Right to Life, said the group had help from national groups to find the best bill to challenge Roe v. Wade.

Seago said the intent is not to overturn Roe v. Wade directly, but "challenge the logic" of the Supreme Court decision.

"This is the type of case we'd like to get into court," he said. "We're constantly having that conversation with our national partners."

Joe Pojman, executive director for Texas Alliance for Life, said his group is backing away from pushing legislation that is likely to end up in court.

"We're not recommending that the Legislature pass any bill that would not withstand a federal court challenge," Pojman said. "This is not a good time to challenge Roe v. Wade. The outcome is predictable."

He said the group often "looks at sample legislation" from Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group that develops model legislation for state and national lawmakers. The organization has worked with Texas lawmakers, including former Gov. Rick Perry, for years to craft abortion regulations that have become law.

The most notable of those was House Bill 2 - the subject of last year's ruling in Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt - which required Texas abortion facilities to meet hospital-like standards and forced more than half of the state's 41 abortion clinics to close its doors.

Americans United for Life acknowledged its role in H.B. 2 in 2015, saying the ambulatory surgical center standards became part of the bill "with the help of AUL experts." That provision was one of the two struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer. The other was a requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

While Hall fights to push his constitutional amendment through the Capitol, he said he is less worried about the national anti-abortion movement.

"I really don't belong to any of the national organizations," Hall said. "My focus is on Texas and protecting the rights and liberties of the people in Texas."
Leave "Urban Cowboy" or "Any Given Sunday" on the shelf. If you're looking for a Super Bowl-themed movie specific to Houston, try one of those teen comedies where the whole school is shocked to learn that, surprise, surprise, the blue-collar girl with paint on her overalls has transformed into a prom queen. National publications like Vogue, Bloomberg and the Chicago Tribune just can't get over Houston's arts, culinary scene and energy - both cultural and economic.

Not that we need their words, but who doesn't like an ego boost or good PR?

The Houston-style twist on the movie plot, if we wrote the script, would have that prom queen turn out to be the child of refugees.

After all, one quarter of the 4 million souls who call Houston home were born in another country. The lives and struggles of our foreign-born neighbors were documented in a year-long series, The Million, which can be read at HoustonChronicle.com/TheMillion.

Count them down as you drive around the city: One, two, three, refugee. One, two, three, permanent resident. One, two, three, undocumented.

Roll the die, and there's one-in-four odds that you'll land on Houstonians who call themselves Americans not by birth, but by choice. That's the tetral pattern of our city, the design of our civic fabric.

No sole cause underpins our international makeup - except perhaps for the Texas state motto of "Friendship." Some of the million arrived fleeing wars in Vietnam or Iraq. Others came here in search of liberty and opportunity. Plenty booked Houston-bound flights for less romantic reasons: The oil and gas industry relies on a highly skilled international workforce. Our hospitals and universities also draw from the global elite. No wonder that Houston now ranks as one of our nation's knowledge capitals and sits in the Top 5 for business creation after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. By the way, one-third of Houston's business owners are foreign-born.

That diversified cityscape - alongside a strong national economy and petrochemical construction - helped our city weather the recent oil bust. Memories of the 1980s were thankfully left in the history books, and Super Bowl crowds found a bustling downtown rather than the hollowed out see-through city created by the last major energy downturn.

Will we be so lucky under the crosshairs of new federal policy on immigration and trade?

There is powerful symbolism in the fact that the first lawyers at Bush Intercontinental Airport weren't with the ACLU or another nonprofit - they were corporate attorneys, Texas Monthly writer Michael Hardy told the editorial board. Energy companies put forward a stiff upper lip in the wake of the U.S. travel ban on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations, but they're freaking out behind the scenes as they try to understand how the executive order affects their global workforce. Even legal travelers who aren't citizens of those seven countries have been caught up in Homeland Security bureaucracy.

Our hospitals and institutions of higher learning rely on students and faculty from around the globe - the University of Houston alone has more than 200 students from the seven restricted nations. What happens when our schools have trouble recruiting the best and brightest?

Houston's culinary scene also relies on the creative infusion of chefs who came here from abroad. Diners who booked a reservation at Hugo Ortega's new restaurant downtown, Xochi, might be surprised to learn that Ortega originally came to Houston as an illegal immigrant.

The Greater Houston Partnership and other Houston boosters are hoping that visitors will be impressed enough by Super Bowl weekend to think about moving their businesses or holding conventions here, and maybe booking a vacation or two.

We hope visitors will be inspired in a different way. Houston's diverse demographics model what the rest of the nation will look like in 50 years. The excitement, energy and, yes, food, of our city's Super Bowl weekend presents an optimistic image of these decades to come. Instead of crafting policy that yearns for the past, our lawmakers should be working to make this future great. It starts with standing up for the city of Houston and everyone who lives here, even if they were born somewhere else.
The executive order by President Trump imposing restrictions on certain international entry to the U.S. affects immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Libya. Immigration from these countries will be suspended for 90 days, the refugee program for 120 days, and admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely. Despite federal assurances that citizens and green card holders will not be affected, immigration attorneys on the ground at Bush Intercontinental Airport are reporting that U.S. citizens and legal U.S. residents continue to be delayed and detained for vetting. Most refugees and visa holders (from the listed countries) returning to the U.S. from travel abroad have not been allowed to board their planes, leaving many displaced and vulnerable. Even travelers from Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan, are being questioned.

I asked a Syrian colleague and friend from neurology residency how he and his family were coping. This certainly was not his first hardship.

Physicians for Human Rights reports that in the past five years the Syrian government has tactically assassinated almost 800 medical personnel. The United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights states that government forces deliberately target hospitals and humanitarian convoys and deny health care to civilians as part of a coordinated campaign of terror. Thousands of Syrian physicians have immigrated to the United States in the last decade.

I trained as a resident in neurology at Baylor College of Medicine with two of them. Our neurology department had a national reputation for having a high number of foreign medical graduates. They consistently were the most talented of each cohort. My colleague's response poignantly captures how I think many immigrants felt before 2017 and reflects their concern today.

"There are more than 5,000 Syrian physicians in the U.S. You may not find any medical training program in the U.S. without at least one Syrian resident or attending," he told me in an exchange we had over Facebook. "Most of us, as Syrian physicians, came to this country because we believe it is the greatest in the world.

"It is just sad to see this happening," he added. "We, Syrians, are in a big prison now. We cannot leave the country. I have not seen my family since 2009. I was planning to visit them this summer. We were waiting to receive green cards any time soonI do believe in this country. It will get better. I have been here for the past nine years. My best friend and I (he is also a physician), both left Syria in 2009. He went to Germany, and I came here. He got German citizenship two years ago. I am still not yet on a green card. Even so. You may have German, British or Australian citizenship, but you will still be a stranger and not welcomed by the people. Here, from the first few weeks in the USA, you do not need to have a green card or American citizenship to feel American. It is about how respectfully Americans look at other people."

It is not just federal regulations that will deter immigrants from coming to Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott this week announced a state of emergency regarding sanctuary cities and voiced robust support of Senate Bill 4, legislation that would ban sanctuary cities. The "emergency" designation means the bill will be fast-tracked. With it, state lawmakers aim to deputize local police to execute federal immigration policy and to punish local governments that resist executing anti-immigrant policy. This kind of legislation in Texas, which echoes the anti-immigrant and fundamentally un-American rhetoric from Washington, speaks loudly against who we are as citizens of this vast, open and welcoming republic.

It's important to remember the richness of our community is made possible only through the diversity that comprises our great state. Since 2005, Texas has outpaced any other state in population growth. Half of our growth is attributed to immigration, largely from Latin America and Asia. Some come from the most trying of circumstances in search of a dream that they continue to see possible only in this country, as my friend has expressed so generously above. Let us not fail them. Fundamentally, both this presidency and the resistance that it has ignited are about accountability of our elected officials. Texans are gathering en masse multiple times a week all across the state to fight the good fight in the name of our immigrant communities. We are watching.

Murphey, MD PhD, (@dunkindona) is a first-generation Korean-American whose answer to the perennial question of where she is from, is always, "Texas."
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OTTAWA  Liberal insiders say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pulled the plug on electoral reform because he didnt want to plunge the country into a divisive referendum and feared that proportional representation would lead to white nationalists acquiring seats in the House of Commons  concerns dismissed by critics Friday.

Several government sources, speaking to The Huffington Post Canada on condition of anonymity, said a decision to abandon the Liberals election promise of making the 2015 election the last held under a first-past-the-post system was reached after a two-hour discussion at the January cabinet retreat in Calgary. Only one cabinet minister was opposed.

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The government concluded that the only way to keep its promise would be to hold a referendum  possibly coincident with the 2019 election  and present a proposal for a more proportional system.

That wasnt what the Liberals wanted to do. Trudeau was always in favour of a preferential ballot, in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. The candidates with the worst first-choice support drop from the ballot, with their votes redistributed according to the second choice on each until a winning candidate obtains 50 per cent support. But the experts that testified at the special parliamentary committee on electoral reform didnt support it, and neither did the Canadians who came to voice their opinions.

Tabling legislation to ram through a preferential ballot without parliamentary support would have been seen as transparently self-serving, a senior Liberal said.

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Trudeau never liked proportional representation. While these types of voting systems tend to prevent a political party from obtaining the majority of the seats with a minority of votes  something Trudeaus Liberals and former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper have recently enjoyed  proportional representation also tends to create conditions for more political parties and coalition governments. The prime minister and those around him believed it could cause a total mess in Canada, give an alt-right party representation, and create more regional parties that would further split the country apart.

The so-called alternative right movement originated in the U.S. and is an offshoot of conservatism that combines elements of racism, white nationalism and populism.

Quite frankly, a divisive referendum at this time [would lead to] an augmentation of extremist voices in the House is not what is in the best interest of Canada, Trudeau told the Commons this week.

Putting any system  let alone one the prime minister was opposed to  to Canadians via a referendum wasnt what the Grits wanted, but it is what the opposition-members of the special committee on electoral reform recommended. The Conservatives, the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois and the Green member all came to agreement late in the fall that a proportional system should be presented to the people for their approval. (The Liberal members on the committee dissented from the majority, instead recommending taking more time to study the issue.)

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Newly minted Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould strongly opposed a referendum, and her arguments persuaded some skeptics. The team around Trudeau had always feared that a referendum on a new voting system could easily and uncontrollably turn into a debate over other issues. But now, they and others believe it would open a whole can of worms on regional vetoes, the threshold for necessary support, and create important federal precedents with national-unity implications.

We didnt want to reopen the Clarity Act issues, one source explained.

Would 50 per cent plus one vote be enough?

"We didnt want to reopen the Clarity Act issues."

If two-thirds of the country favoured electoral reform but one region or province did not, should the government press ahead regardless and force them to change the way they elect their MPs?

If the Liberals chose to use super-majorities, such as 60 per cent and two-thirds of the ridings with at least 50 per cent support as was used in Ontario and British Columbia during their plebiscites, would the government be accused of fixing the vote to guarantee it to fail?

Was it worth the risk? Was it worth the time and effort and political capital wasted on something the governing party didnt want?

The answer became no.

Gov't: little public interest on electoral reform

Although a vocal citizens group was strongly calling for proportional representation, the government contended that the general public had shown little interest in the topic.

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The town halls, committee hearings, and a much maligned mydemocracy.ca survey had failed to garner much attention, sources close to the file suggested. The mydemocracy.ca survey had more than 380,000 unique visitors fill out the questionnaire  a large number, perhaps, but only a small percentage of the Canadian population, another government source noted.

Why put Parliament and the country through a remarkably potentially divisive referendum that would suck up all the political oxygen in Parliament for something that Canadians maybe dont necessarily even want? Thats the problem.

The government knew there was no consensus in Parliament for sweeping electoral change. The NDP and the Greens favoured a proportional system that would benefit their smaller parties. The Conservatives favoured the status quo and believed Canadians could be convinced in a referendum to stick with first-past-the-post. And the Liberals wanted preferential voting.

"I have long preferred a preferential ballot. The members opposite wanted a proportional representation. The official Opposition wanted a referendum. There is no consensus."

Elections Canada Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand had warned the government in his fall report that it should not change to the way Canadians elect their MPs without widespread parliamentary support.

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I urge parliamentarians as much as possible to collaborate and seek a broad consensus when it comes to changes to the Act; our democratic system will be best strengthened when amendments reflect the views of a large number of political participants, Mayrand wrote. New Zealand, he pointed out, requires a special majority of parliamentarians to enact big legislative change to their electoral framework. I believe this is something that parliamentarians should consider.

If agreement couldnt be found, Trudeau was ready to abandon his promise.

I have long preferred a preferential ballot. The members opposite wanted a proportional representation. The official Opposition wanted a referendum. There is no consensus, Trudeau said in the House this week.

It would be irresponsible for us to do something that harm's Canada's stability when, in fact, what we need is moving forward on growth for the middle class, he added.

Key election pledge

The Liberals had promised electoral reform when they were in third place and the NDP, according to public opinion surveys, looked like the preferred option to replace the decade-old Conservative government.

The partys platform was silent on what system the Liberals would propose  mentioning only that a committee would study proportional representation and preferential ballots.

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Many Liberals believed a preferential system was really what was on the table.

"Yes, the prime minister made that commitment [to end first-past-the-post], but a lot of people thought he was talking about ranked ballots," Montreal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, the chair of the electoral committee, told reporters back in December.

"...Nobody wants ranked ballots. So, where does that leave us?"

Trudeau spoke on the topic in 2012

While one senior source insisted the prime minister was open to other voting systems, Trudeau had championed a preferential system since at least 2012, successfully urging delegates at the Liberal partys convention that year to call for preferential ballots in all future federal elections.

A ranked ballot was simple to understand, easy to incorporate, and would encourage more candidates to seek out second and third ballot support, the then-backbench MP said.

The advantage is that it removes polarization, Trudeau explained.

Will this help us? Me, Im a fairly polarizing figure. It might actually harm me in my own riding. But I think its a good thing for Canada that we move towards, he said.

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Perhaps the Liberals were outmanoeuvred by the opposition parties on the election file, several sources acknowledged.

The governments initial attempt to stack the electoral committee with a majority of Liberal MPs created a large public backlash. Just days before the government publicly agreed to an NDP motion of handing over the majority of the seats on the committee to opposition parties, Maryam Monsef, the minister of democratic institutions at the time, began talking about the need for broad support from Canadians before moving forward with any reform.

Despite favouring a preferential system, the Liberals didnt campaign for it. Trudeau wasted no political capital making the case for it. Instead, the government took a very hands-off approach with the committees work. One source suggested the Liberals were really sensitive to opposition fears that they would force a preferential ballot through despite their objections.

By the fall, however, it was clear the experts were advocating proportional representation. Citizens who were engaged were demanding PR and a large part of the citizenry was indifferent. So Trudeau  and his cabinet  decided that keeping the Liberals promise was less important than possibly forcing fundamental change they didn't want, especially for a change the prime minister believed might be detrimental to the country.

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In the Commons on Friday, the NDP accused the Liberals of reaching for any excuse to justify their broken promise.

In their desperate attempt to justify their betrayal on electoral reform, Liberals are reaching for any excuse, however ridiculous or absurd. Liberals say that proportional representation will herald the rise of the alt-right forces in Canada, said Nathan Cullen, the partys democratic institutions critic. Well, Donald Trump was elected on first-past-the-post with no problem, and yet, a fair voting system is the actual antidote to such campaigns like his or maybe Kevin O'Learys.

Proportional representation helps elect more women, creates more diverse parliaments, and forces parties to work together to help bring a country like Canada together, Cullen added.

Will the Liberals finally admit they broke their promise to fix the voting system not because it was a threat to Canadian unity, but because it was a threat to the Liberal Party? he said.

Liberals made a 'hasty decision': prof

Queens University associate political studies professor Jonathan Rose believes the government is overreaching and made a hasty decision.

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I knew the prime minister was in favour preferential ballots, but I didnt know he was completely antithetical to PR, Rose told HuffPost Friday. People who have a knee-jerk reaction to any kind of systems often dont know the intricacies of it.

PR systems can be created so they are stable and they can be created so that it doesnt affect representation of parties really, he added.

If voters in a referendum approved PR, Rose noted, the government would still be the one designing the system, controlling how seats are allocated, and could ensure that a minimum threshold is needed so that bad parties are kept out.

They are absolutely exaggerating the effects of PR by saying that, Rose added.

Also on HuffPost
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When I was diagnosed with cancer, one of my greatest fears was losing my friends because of it. Being at university when I was diagnosed, meant that my friends were some of the first people to know about my illness and as I was living with them, their support was essential.

This World Cancer Day, Macmillan has reported that around one in 10 people with cancer (9%) in the UK - an estimated 230,000 people - have no close friends they could talk to about their cancer. Thankfully, some of my Uni friends really came through and ended up being some of the most supportive through treatment and in the years afterwards - but I also found some friends struggled with how to react.

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When I contracted an infection whilst at university in Manchester, my friends were there to drive me to hospital, staying with me until my parents could get there. I downplayed the situation at the time, but they have since said they realised how serious it was and that they just wanted to make sure I was in the best place possible.

Others really went out of their way to show me that I was still part of the group, despite my illness. Some of my closest mates took a four hour round trip from Manchester to my home in Hull, just to take me out for tea one evening. It may not seem like a massive deal to everyone, but to me it was everything.

Other friends who I had lost touch with over the years came back in to my life, and made sure that I got out of the house. They would take me to dinner or the cinema and treat me as if nothing was happening when I needed distracting; or sit and talk to me about the cancer when I needed to bend someone's ear.

But not all of my friends were so supportive, even if they may not have seen it that way at the time. After telling them about my diagnosis, a couple of friends wished me well but then I didn't hear from them again until after I was in remission. I found some people refused to acknowledge my illness and others just repeated cliches like 'be positive' or 'you're so brave'.

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Some people could also be really insensitive. One friend complained about having had 'the worst year ever' while I was still in the middle of my treatment, while others would laugh at me for how early I went to bed or for spending all day watching TV, rather than going on a night out.

Despite all of this, I do think it's easy to dismiss friends as unsupportive in this sort of situation, especially when you might be feeling depressed and emotional about the diagnosis and the process of treatment that you're going through. I had to keep reminding myself that it's hard for my friends as well, at 19 they had probably never experienced a close friend their own age having cancer.

This also rings true in Macmillan's research, which revealed that almost half of Brits who have had a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer (47%), find it difficult to support them and 61% of those surveyed said this is because they don't know what to say.

One piece of advice that I will always stand by is that the best thing you can do for a friend with cancer is listen to them - and understand that sometimes, even they may not know what they want; be it talking about their illness or not talking about it at all. The support my friends gave me is something that I won't be able to repay, and as cheesy as it sounds, they'll never know how much it meant and still means to me.
As the world continues to gyrate from the political paradigm shift under way with the rise of 'alternative' political movements, many countries will struggle to adjust to the 'new normal'. For developing nations and emerging markets, the stakes are particularly high as, in many cases, their ability to continue to grow economically and maintain social order will depend on the continuation of a delicate balance between the rights of individuals, protection of domestic industries, minimizing income disparity, and maintaining security. Doing so becomes more difficult when the status quo elsewhere is in the process of being disrupted. Those governments that fail to anticipate the pace and depth of change may in the end fall.

Several pivotal countries hold the key to how political change manifests itself in Asia in 2017 and beyond. Apart from the obvious influence of China, India, and Indonesia, some of the smaller and hitherto less influential nations may hold the key to just how dynamic political change in the region becomes. The Philippines has already proven that it can punch well above its weight by dramatically altering its political, security and military status quo. Its embrace of China has already succeeded in upending decades of bilateral and multilateral norms.

Another country that has the potential to alter the landscape is Malaysia, which has also extended its hand to China. Under Prime Minister Najib Razak, the government's simultaneous embrace of the country's Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party raises question about whether it may ultimately adopt some elements of Islamic Law, which Indonesia is also in the process of doing. Will other countries that have had an historical orientation toward the U.S. change that, as the Philippines has done, and shift toward China? Will the embrace of some aspects of Islamic law in Malaysia and Indonesia result in an inexorable move toward Islamic law more broadly with time?

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Asia faces a number of key risks in 2017. If China were to overstep its bounds while flexing its muscles, widespread condemnation in Asia and beyond could result in heightened tension throughout the region. If the U.S. were to overcompensate for missing the mark in implementing its Asia Pivot and ramp up its military presence in the South China Sea - which the Trump administration threatens to do -- that would also naturally heighten regional tension. Should North Korea successfully launch long-range ICBMs, a stern response from the U.S. is likely to result, and the threat of war could spiral out of control. If the Indonesian government fails to successfully manage its Muslim extremist groups, regional terrorism could rise. And if Myanmar's 'experiment' with democracy proves to be a failure, all the progress that has been made could be lost, with the military reassuming control of the government and other democratic movements in the region losing impetus as a result.

The continuing rise of economic nationalism is perhaps the biggest threat to cross-border trade, investment and lending in Asia. Since so many Asian nations depend on international trade to maintain economic growth, a deterioration in the global trade regime will have a potentially severe impact throughout the region. A gradual rise in oil prices will place economic pressure on consuming nations. The continuing slow decline in China's economic growth will surely be felt around the region. And as multilateralism continues to erode, and the U.S. either threatens to withdraw or actually withdraws its membership from many of the world's most important trade and investment agreements, as it has with the TPP, a variety of Asian countries will undoubtedly wish to do the same thing, which could lead to a vicious circle of de-multilateralization.

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Depending on how the U.S. addresses the ongoing disruption of the status quo in Asia in the coming four years, it will either choose to yield to China's rise or exist in tandem with it. The U.S. knows it cannot supplant China's rise, even as Beijing's growth rates continue to decline in the longer term. The limited success of America's Asia Pivot demonstrates the challenge any nation has in projecting its power long distances in the 21st century. The same will be true of China, as it develops its blue water navy.

That said, the U.S. is not in danger of becoming irrelevant; It has too much history and too many significant allies in the region. It is, however, in danger of becoming less relevant over time. As China, India and Indonesia continue their rise, and as Asia's tiger economies continue to grow and mature, America's political, economic and security role in the region will become less significant, and less meaningful. China is the logical country to pick up the slack, but when and how will this be done?

What seems clear is that 2017 presents a degree of rising political risk to Asia that has not been seen in quite some time. Asia is much better prepared to address the idea of radical political change than it has been in the past, with democracy firmly entrenched in most of the region, but history has shown that a single event can upset the proverbial apple cart, and quickly. It will be incumbent upon Asian governments, and its people, to resist the urge to over-react to the shockwaves emanating from the U.S. and Europe. If it is able to do so, Asia will find that it richly deserves the high expectations the rest of the world is placing up on it, and may serve to show the rest of the world how a diverse range of countries can weather political change while maintaining stability.

*Daniel Wagner is Managing Director of Risk Cooperative and co-author of the new book "Global Risk Agility and Decision Making".
An exotic land of leaping lemurs, neon chameleons, carnivorous plants, tropical rainforests, and beyond perfect beaches -- few people know Madagascar as well as Kensington's Explorer in Residence, Travis Steffens. The island is a world completely its own, far from the typical African safari. Having worked, lived, and studied primates in Madagascar, Travis has an in-depth knowledge of not only the wildlife, but also the country's culture and traditions. Led by Travis, a journey into this exotic land unveils all the bizarrely beautiful creatures lurking in its landscapes.

Known as the "Eighth Continent," the "Red Island," and "Land of the Lemurs," Madagascar is one of the most unusual and amazing destinations to explore. Nearly everything found in Madagascar can only found there and nowhere else in the world. Per square kilometer, there is more genetic diversity than anywhere else on the planet. On top of that, Madagascar is huge! It is the fourth largest island in the world and is comparable in size to France or Texas. With that kind of size, the possibilities are endless, and incredible wildlife is waiting round every corner. From invisible geckos and colorful chameleons to strange primates and otherworldly insects, here are a few amazing creatures that you may see while visiting what is arguably the most unique country in the world.

Indri

Lemurs were named after roman "spirits of the dead" because of their haunting calls. The indri is arguably the most spectacular lemur. With a call that sounds like a piping trumpet, Indris are the loudest of all lemurs and the second loudest primate in the world. Although their habitat is decreasing, Indris are one of the easiest lemurs to observe in the wild. A visit to Madagascar isn't complete until you have heard one of these amazing animals.

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Giraffe Necked Weevil

Long necks and spectacular red and black bodies make this unusual insect quite a sight to see. They are found on only one plant species in the eastern wet forests of Madagascar. With their impossibly long necks, males battle other males for access to females. Females, in turn, select the strongest male, as evidenced by its long neck. Here is a situation where size does matter.

Leaf Flatid Bug

Starting life under a leaf looking like miniature popcorn, leaf flatid bugs later grow into outrageous Martian-like bugs that clump together on a tree. The clumps look like strange flowers or fungus. However, after living virtually in the same spot for weeks, the insects molt into their adult form, a beautiful leaf bug. Their bright colors can be green, yellow, or red and they are another oddity who call the island home.

Leaf-Tailed Gecko

Some animals astonish with their bright colors, strange sounds, or unusual shape. Leaf-tailed geckos, on the other hand, are incredible because of their insane ability not to be seen. They are one of the most cryptic animals in the world. Some species have developed textured bodies that help them blend seamlessly onto the bark of a tree. Other species contort their bodies and form shapes reminiscent of dead leaves. Leaf-tailed geckos are masters of camouflage. To see one requires a keen eye and knowledge of their habits. Fortunately, Madagascar has some amazing guides that know just where to look.

Chameleons

Strictly speaking you can find chameleons in many countries throughout the world, but Madagascar has over half of the world's species in one place! Although masters of camouflage chameleons come in a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes. The world's largest and smallest can be found in Madagascar. The smallest -- the micro chameleon -- is actually the smallest lizard in the world.

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About Travis

A primatologist with a passion for conservation, Travis Steffens has dedicated his life and research to community development efforts, environmental education, eco-tourism projects, and international awareness in Madagascar. Considered an expert in the field, his current research is on the impact of habitat loss and threat of extinction posed to lemurs, a primate with 100 different species (many of which are endangered) endemic to the isolated African country. Travis holds a BSc and MA in Primatology, is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, the founder of Planet Madagascar, and is a current Kensington Tours Explorer in Residence.
Hoping that the Iranian government would suddenly become a constructive, responsible, and rational member of the international community on its own is unrealistic.

Fundamental changes from within the Iranian government, that would alter the revolutionary principles, are inconceivable. This is because the ruling clerics' theocratic constitution has confined Iran with such unbending legal and social restrictions that change is made impossible, and the political establishment of the ruling clerics is becoming more and more incompatible with the standards, rules and international laws of the international community.

In addition, according to the Islamic Republic's constitution, people do not have the right to change the fundamentals of the constitution; only the Supreme Leader has such a right.Many politicians, policy analysts, and scholars have been arguing for a long time, since 1979, that the Islamic Republic of Iran will change for the better honoring its own citizens and the rules of the international community. However, history has forcefully shown that their arguments have repeatedly failed.

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There exist ample reasons why moderating the Iranian government and a change in the Iranian government from a Shiite theocracy toward a democratic system of governance would be conducive and beneficial not only to the Iranian people, but also for the regional and global stability, peace and security.Instead of delving into these reasons, which are evident and explicit, the major question to address would be: what are some effective and non-violent approaches to channel such democratic reform in Iran?

Some critical approaches include standing with the Iranian youth, pressure from international community, focusing on Iran's human rights, violations of international laws and suppression of religious and ethnic minorities as well as human rights groups, providing Iran's opposition with social media and technologic assistances, and supporting oppositional groups.

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For more details and nuances, you can read full version on Here.

You can sign up for Dr. Rafizadeh's newsletter for the latest news and analyses on Here.

Harvard-educated, Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an American political scientist, president of the International American Council on the Middle East, business advisor, and best-selling author. He serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review. Dr. Rafizadeh is frequently invited to brief governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as speak, as a featured speaker, at security, business, diplomatic, and social events. He has been recipient of several fellowships and scholarships including from Oxford University, Annenberg, University of California Santa Barbara, Fulbright program, to name few He is regularly quoted and invited to speak on national and international outlets including CNN, BBC World TV and Radio, ABC, Aljazeera English, Fox News, CTV, RT, CCTV America, Skynews, CTV, and France 24 International, to name a few. . He analyses have appeared on academic and non-academic publications including New York Times International, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Farred zakaria GPS, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The Nation, The National. Aljazeera, The Daily Beast, The Nation, Jerusalem Post, The Economic Times, USA Today Yale Journal of International Affairs, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and Harvard International Review. He is a board member of several significant and influential international and governmental institutions, and he is native speaker of couple of languages including Persian, English, and Arabic. He also speaks Dari, and can converse in French, Hebrew. More at Harvard.

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You can also order his books on HERE.

You can learn more about Dr. Rafizadeh on HERE.


The Spanish Colonial City of Granada

I remember traveling to Costa Rica in the early ninties. This was when travelers were just starting to take notice of this lush land of jungle and beaches. As an owner of a travel agency, I heard stories of clients of mine buying pieces of beach front property for $8,000.00 on Costa Rica's endless Pacific beaches. When I finally visited Costa Rica, I recall driving from the Pacific side, east to the Caribbean and seeing few tourists. I was in awe of the landscape and eco-system. Like all undiscovered travel destinations, Costa Rica became very much on the radar of adventurers and backpackers alike. Costa Rica became touted as the "Switzerland of Central America," known for the fact that one is always safe, no noticeable crime, and no need for an army.

In the first century of the new millennium, Panama became the new "in" nation in Central America. Panama also boasted a relatively safe nation with a thriving eco-tourism sector. Panama City with its high rises, markets and American lifestyle became a convenient destination for many American and Canadian retirees.

Fast forward to present day and there is a new Central American travel destination ready to take the crown of next "hot destination" to visit before it also gets discovered and makes the travelers circuit: Nicaragua. Many travelers have not yet heard much about this country, or if they have, one might associate the peaceful nation to a bygone era of civil war and strife. This is far from reality. Even in the hustle and bustle of the fast paced and often crowded capital, Managua, crime is almost non-existent.

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What more can you ask for in a nation ripe for tourism? A bio diverse ecosystem, including Lake Nicaragua, with over 300 islands -- which is almost the size of Lake Titicaca in South America. Endless coastline, complete with sleepy surfer havens; noisy Howler Monkeys and Macaws elevated in the miles of rain forest; close to 200 species of orchids; volcanic peaks with majestic views; your own personal StairMaster and few crowded areas.



Miles Of Surf On Beautiful Pacific Beaches

Everything that one can find in Costa Rica is abundant in Nicaragua. But unlike its neighbor to the south, Nicaragua is blessed with a rich, Spanish colonial culture dating back centuries and well preserved in Nicaragua's colonial city of Grenada.

For your next vacation, consider the less traveled version of Costa Rica. Visit Nicaragua before the word gets out that this exotic land is well worth a visit.
By now, most of you have probably seen the video that went viral this week of me on Fox News being accused of not actually being from within Chicago's city limits. While most of the attention on social media and in the press was focused on the question of who can and cannot claim Chicago as their home, the segment itself was centered around a more pressing issue: the violence and dysfunction occurring on Chicago's West Side and South Side.

Even though I am from Evanston--steps away from Chicago's city limits--I too am very concerned about the problems plaguing black and brown folks in the city of Chicago. Like Gianno Caldwell (the other gentleman in the segment) and many others, I have family members and friends who live in the city. And for the past couple months, I have had the privilege to work with educators and community members in Chicago. Rather than attacking each other about who is and isn't from Chicago, we should all be focusing on pressuring our new president to begin making changes that will help the city.

As it seems like President Trump could use some help with this, here are a few steps that he can take to get started.

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1. Visit Chicago!

First and foremost, the president must visit the city of Chicago and have actual conversations with the people. There is no hope for change in the city if President Trump does not make an effort to connect with and hear out the people of Chicago. Not only would this hopefully open his eyes to the severity and nuances of the issues facing the city, but also it would show the people that the president is at least trying to help them. You can't fix a problem without truly understanding how the problem started, what factors contributed to it, and what some possible remedies are. Based on his statements, Trump seems more concerned about treating the symptoms and not the larger disease: Increasing the presence of law enforcement won't solve the problems of joblessness, mass incarceration or Mayor Rahm Emanuel's school closings--and the gripping pain these cause.

2. Fund Schools

For almost anyone who has spent time in Chicago, it is clear that the public schools are seriously struggling. If Trump was truly concerned about Chicago, he would have campaigned on improving public education instead of destroying it. In all, Chicago schools have seen their budgets slashed by approximately $170 million since September 2015, according to data released by the district. This past August, Chicago Public Schools laid off nearly 1,000 teachers and members of the district's support staff. How can we expect the children of Chicago to learn, grow and thrive without well-resourced classrooms, well-prepared teachers and the wraparound services necessary to meet the social and emotional needs of every student? That is what the people of Chicago have been asking for, and yet their cries have fallen on deaf ears. It took a 34-day hunger strike by parents and community members in Bronzeville--the Dyett hunger strike of 2015--to finally get a high-quality public high school for the students and families of that neighborhood. If Trump and his allies want the "carnage" to stop in Chicago, he should focus his attention on improving the public school system and use his bully pulpit to force Springfield lawmakers to properly fund public education. Education is not only a right for all Americans, but it is also a necessity for the future of this country. The residents of Chicago can only do so much to improve their schools; equitable funding starts at the top!

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3. Work with Law Enforcement

Whether or not you hate the police, they are not going anywhere anytime soon. President Trump needs to work with lawmakers and law enforcement officials to begin changing the police culture in the city of Chicago. Tension between the police and the citizens of the inner city is at an all-time high, and the only way to turn this around is to re-work police culture and create conversations between the conflicting groups. While this is something that can, in theory, be handled at the state and local levels, we have still not seen any real change in the problem. President Trump and his GOP allies need to understand that black folks aren't against police, we are against police brutality and the over-utilization of force. This past summer, Americans were forced to watch the brutal killing of Laquan McDonald, an unarmed black man who was shot 16 times at the hands of Chicago police. Why would anyone trust a system that has shot their friends, arrested their father and brutalized their mother? Why would anyone trust law enforcement to help them, if law enforcement is part of the problem?

4. Crack Down on Illegal Gun Purchasing

Chicago has an illegal gun problem that the GOP has been completely blind to. Guns on the streets of Chicago didn't get there by accident; they were brought there by weak gun laws in surrounding states and throughout the country. While criminals don't generally get their guns from a store, all but a small fraction of guns in circulation in the United States are first purchased at a retail store--including the guns that end up in the hands of criminals. Many of the guns catalogued in Chicago's evidence lockup were made available via an illegal straw purchase. This means, if we want to get to the root of Chicago's murder problem, we must find a way to limit the supply of guns on the streets. And that starts by cracking down on straw purchases and tightening national gun safety regulations to keep guns from getting into the hands of criminals. Sadly, Trump and his Republican colleagues are bought and paid for by the National Rifle Association--an organization that has been the catalyst for loosened gun safety laws and the proliferation of weapons in America's inner cities.

Let's be real, it is refreshing to hear a president talk about improving America's inner cities. But let's not be fooled by Trump's lip service. He doesn't care about the people of Chicago--if he did, he wouldn't make blank statements or misguided tweets about bringing in the National Guard. You don't have to be from Chicago to know that placing troops in an American city is a bad idea. For almost 18 months, Donald J. Trump ran a campaign that was steeped in racism, bigotry and hatred for those Americans he chose not to understand. So now that he's in the White House, we are supposed to believe he actually cares about black and brown people? Give me a break!

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Richard Fowler is the youngest syndicated progressive and/or African-American radio host in the United States. Fowler is also a Senior Fellow at the New Leaders Council.

Subscribe to The Richard Fowler Show on YouTube: youtube.com/fowlershow

Join #FowlerNation on Facebook: facebook.com/RichardFowlerShow
The American people have faced stagnant wages and rising inequality for decades. Many Americans voted for Donald Trump or decided not to vote at all because Democrats failed to communicate effectively with working people and turn out the vote - end of story. The fact is that shouldn't have happened. The Democratic Party has long been the Party of working people, and needs to do a better job of making that case. No one knows this better than Keith Ellison, and we are proud to endorse him as the next Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

These are extremely challenging times. President Trump has put forward a nominee for Labor Secretary who openly disdains workers. Congressional Republicans are readying plans to roll back worker protections, repeal the Affordable Care Act and end Medicare as we know it. And in state capitals across the country, the assault on workers and unions has been fierce and swift. Now more than ever, working people need public servants who will stand up and fight for better jobs, higher wages, good benefits and a voice at work.

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Keith knows how to win elections, and has a track record of defeating anti-worker forces wherever they are. When Keith was first elected to Congress in 2006, his district had the lowest turnout in Minnesota. Voters just didn't feel engaged. They didn't feel like they mattered. Keith decided to do something about it: he organized. He knocked on as many doors as possible. With labor at his side, he talked about the issues that mattered to people. It worked. Since Keith began his grassroots voter turnout campaign, his district is the highest performing in the state. And on top of all this, he's been getting pro-worker candidates elected from the school board to the U.S. Senate, traveling to nearly 30 states just last cycle.



When nurses went on strike to keep their health insurance, Keith was there. When communications workers went on strike to protest pension cuts, Keith was there. When hotel workers went on strike for a decent wage, Keith was there.





He hasn't done this alone. Keith has always organized alongside working people. He's marched on our picket lines and offered support to our members. When nurses went on strike to keep their health insurance, Keith was there. When communications workers went on strike to protest outsourcing and pension cuts, Keith was there. When hotel workers went on strike to stand up for a decent wage, Keith was there.

Each and every time, he's pounded the pavement, not for some sort of political benefit, but to stand in solidarity with those who want a better life for ourselves and our families.

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That's who Keith is, and that's precisely why he's long been a friend of labor - especially in the halls of Congress. He's voted to increase the minimum wage, advocated for better working conditions and proposed a bill to make union organizing a civil right. As Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus, he's used his microphone over and over again to speak up when unions or working people have come under attack. Simply put, labor has the strongest possible ally in Keith-someone whose primary focus is to create opportunity for all and grow the middle class, regardless of what you look like, where you were born, or who you are.

And now that he's running for DNC Chair, he's not wavering in his commitment to us--not one bit. He understands that many working people voted for Donald Trump because the Democratic Party didn't make a compelling enough case. He understands we are hungry for political leaders that listen to us and work with us, and that labor's agenda will always lead our politics, not the other way around. With Keith at the helm of one of America's two major political parties, working people will be in a much better position to have our issues advanced and our concerns heard.

Both of us have been a part of the labor movement for decades, and we wouldn't have it any other way. But we're not in the business of mincing words. Tough days lie ahead for working people. And so, it is more important than ever that we have a leader who will stand up, fight, organize and win.

There is no doubt in our minds: Keith Ellison is the person for the job. He has our strong support. We encourage you to give him yours, as well.

Richard Trumka is president of the 12.5 million member AFL-CIO, America's labor federation.. Maria Elena Durazo is a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and a General Vice President of UNITE HERE.
A century ago, on Nov. 28, 1912, the people of Albania proclaimed their freedom from the Ottoman Empire. The declaration of Albanian independence, and adoption of the ancient Albanian banner, with a black double-headed eagle on a red field, were announced in the eastern Adriatic port of Vlora.



The document of separation from Turkish domination was signed, and the flag raised, under the leadership of an Ottoman diplomat of Albanian ethnicity, Ismail Qemali (1844-1919), a member of the Bektashi order of spiritual Sufi Muslims. He was supported by a prominent Albanian fighter from Kosovo and Sunni Muslim, Isa Boletini (1864-1916), a visionary Catholic intellectual, Luigj Gurakuqi (1879-1925), and 80 other patriots.



Albania and Albanians everywhere have celebrated the centennial of their self-determination in recent weeks. The Albanian flag appears ubiquitously and in gigantic form in the capital, Tirana, along with shops and kiosks selling every variety of collectibles in the red-and-black national colors, from cowboy hats to ballpoint pens.



Portraits of Ismail Qemali are seen most frequently, as he is considered the father of the country's sovereignty.



While most of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence were Sunni Muslims, the activism of the Bektashi Sufis and Catholics in the national cause was noteworthy. Representatives of Albanian Orthodox Christian believers were also involved in the 1912 Vlora events.



The Vlora declaration's list of signatories thus reflected the variety of religious identities present in the historic Albanian-majority lands, including Albania proper, Kosovo, western Macedonia, northern and eastern Montenegro, south Serbia and northern Greece. Albanians have traditionally counted about 35 percent Sunnis, 35 percent Bektashis, 20 percent Albanian Orthodox and 10 percent Catholics.



An Albanian Jewish community of some 700 people emigrated mostly to Israel after the fall of communist rule in 1991, but the Jewish presence has revived, and a new synagogue has been established in Tirana. Albanians evince substantial and justified pride in having saved several thousand Jews, both local residents and Jews who fled other countries in Europe, from extermination during World War II, protecting them after Albania was occupied by the Germans in 1943.



Yad Vashem, the aptly titled Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel, recognizes 69 Albanians as "Righteous Among Nations." Documentary research and interviews in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia by me and others, nevertheless, suggests that the number of rescuers of Jews included many more, drawn from Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic and Orthodox clergy and families. The small Albanian nation could not prevent the Holocaust elsewhere in Europe, but they did so on their own territory.



Ismail Qemali, late in the 19th century, had anticipated this noble action of the Albanians. As an Ottoman official in Romania, then formally a Turkish possession, he acted to shield the Jews there against gross discrimination, establishing a refuge for persecuted Jews in the town of Braila. He wrote of "the respect all [Muslims] owe to the race from which sprang the truth of all religions and all the intelligence possessed by humanity through revelation, which urged us to try to remedy the misfortunes of the [Romanian] Jewish population."



Today the Albanian religious panorama has expanded to include Baha'is, Evangelical Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, among others.



Albanian interfaith harmony represents a unique example for the rest of the world. Speaking a language of Indo-European origin but directly related to no other, Albanians were compelled always to put their national identity ahead of religious affiliation. Even as functionaries of the Ottoman state, in which Albanians became grand viziers of the Sultans, they never forgot their origins.



The 100th anniversary of Albanian independence, on Nov. 28, was preceded on Nov. 24 by an Ashura commemoration, at the Bektashi Sufi world headquarters in Tirana. Ashura memorializes the murder of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at Kerbala in 680 C.E. Bektashi Sufis, with 2 million followers in Albanian communities, are the only indigenous Shiite Muslims in Europe (except for some Turkish Shiites in the small part of Turkey adjoining Bulgaria and Greece, and elsewhere among Turkish minorities in the Balkans). The Albanian Bektashis have long equated the fate of their nation with that of the virtuous victim, Imam Hussein. They enjoy legal recognition as a distinct entity from Sunni Muslims in Albania and Kosovo.



Ashura is central, understandably, to Bektashi devotions, and like the Albanian Declaration of Independence, the Ashura ceremony this year, in which I participated, revealed the nature of Albanian interreligious unity.



The "head grandfather" of the Bektashis, Baba Edmond Brahimaj, read from a text naming the Bektashi luminaries who preceded him, punctuated with repetition of the formula, "Ya Hussein!" (O Hussein!), recited on Ashura by millions of Shiites around the world. Ashura in Tirana was attended by a Sunni imam, a Catholic priest, an Albanian Orthodox cleric and a Protestant minister, as well as government representatives and diplomats from Turkey, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, Poland, the Czech Republic and Brazil.



It has been said often that small nations may produce great ideas. Albania and Kosovo suffer economically, and Albanians in neighboring countries are objects of discrimination, but they maintain their dignity. For their example of cooperation between believers in different faiths, and people of no religious affiliation, they deserve the congratulations of the world in the 100th year of their independence.


Terminal 3 in Jose Marti International Airport in Havana (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 4 February 2017 - The wifi signal barely crosses the glass. The wireless network at Jose Marti International Airport only covers the boarding area. But a woman presses her whole body against the opaque window that separates the travelers' area to communicate with human traffickers who are holding her daughter in Mexico.

For half any hour the lady reveals her despair. "I don't have that much money, if I had it I would send it right now," she prays through IMO. The videochat is cut several times by the poor quality of the connection On the other side, the voice of a man repeats, without backing off, "Three hundred dollars so she can return on Tuesday."

The woman wipes her tears and unsuccessfully asks for a reduction. Nearby, a maid who cleans the bathroom passes by, idly dragging a cart with cleaning supplies. A customs official walks by, absorbed, and pretends he is not listening to the disturbing request projected from the screen of the phone, "Don't kill her, don't kill her."

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The scene happens in a place crowded with people, most of whom are passengers about to board a transatlantic flight, or a new commercial route to the United States, and there are also the family members and friends who have come to see them off. No one shows any sign of hearing the drama developing a few feet away.

A tourist tosses back a beer just as the woman is asking the man for half an hour to "collect the money." She starts the race against the clock. She calls several contacts from her IMO address book, but the first four, at least, don't answer. On the fifth try, a shrill voice on the other end says, "Hello."

"I need a huge favor, you can't say no," the lady stammers. But the head that can be seen on the screen shakes from side to side. "Are you crazy? And if after you pay this money they don't let her go?" asks the voice. The tension makes the hand holding the phone start to tremble and her granddaughter, who has accompanied her, helps her hold on to it.

Several more calls and the money is not forthcoming. Finally a serious voice says yes, he can lend the money if the woman will pay it back "in two installments" to his sister in Havana. The mother agrees, promises she can "repay every cent," although it sounds like a formula to get out of a bind. The man believes her.

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Now they must arrange the details. The victim doesn't have a bank account but the mother will send information about "how to send the money." This is how the kidnappers get paid. Only then will they allow her to fly from Cancun to Havana, or at least that is what they promise.

In the middle of last year the Mexican authorities shut down a network trafficking in undocumented people from Cuba that operated in this tourist area in the Mexican state of Qunitana Roo. The end of the "wet foot/dry foot" policy this January has left many migrants in the hands of the coyotes, who don't hesitate to turn to extortion to make up for the reduction in the flow of Cubans and, as a result, their loss of earnings.

The wifi signal is lost altogether, but the mother is feeling relieved. "She was in a large group, about 20 people," she tells her granddaughter. A simple calculation allows us to know how much the captors will earn on "freeing" all those they are holding.
Early morning fire heavily damages southeast Hutchinson home

Hutchinson resident and his four dogs escaped the home without injury. The cause remains under investigation, fire officials reported.
Bandcamp Fundraiser Nets More Than $120K For ACLU As Indie Music Fans Spend $1M+ [UPDATE]

[UPDATE 2] On Friday, Bandcamp held a fundraiser donating a share of sales to support the pro-immigrant and pro-refugee work of the American Civil Liberties. 400 independent labels and artists joined in, and indie music fans responded, spending more than $1 million on music on the platform.

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Bandcamp, along with 400 indie labels and artists donated a share of Friday's sales to the American Civil Liberties Union as a protest against the Trump administration's recent anti-immigration actions. Bandcamp will donate all of their 12% share of the proceeds of every sale, and 400 artists and labels will add a share of their sales.

Sales passed the $1 million mark with several hours still remaining on Friday. That represented a 550% increase over an average Friday on the indie music sales platform. Friday is "already our biggest sales day of the week," the company said late in the day. "All of our share of that (~12%) goes directly to the ACLU." That would net at least $120,000 for the ACLU, prior to any donations from labels and artists. Funds from artists and labels along with the final sale hours could push the total donation to $200,000 or more.

Indie labels and artists participating yesterday included Anti-, ATO, Barsuk, City Slang, Epitaph, Father/Daughter, Fat Wreck, Kill Rock Stars, Merge Records, Mexican Summer, Miracle of Sound, Rhymesayers, RVNG, Sub Pop, Four Tet, Neil Gaiman, Lushlife, P.O.S., Speedy Ortiz and hundreds more.

The bands you like and the books you read and companies whose products you enjoy are all run by people who hold opinions on how the world should work and how other people should be treated," wrote Bandcamp supporter Richard Rutherford on Facebook. "Some of them are going to make those views more specific than others, but everyones got their line-in-the-sand where theyre not going to be able to keep it to themselves any longer Its not as if Bandcamp ever even pretended to be apolitical. Their entire business model is a reflection of their social and ethical convictions, which they happily explain every year when they publish their accounts.

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Marty Packer, right, lines up protesters for a photo at the beginning of the rally at City Hall. Some 100 people turned out to protest a recent ban on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. Protesters line the sidewalk in front of City Hall. There were fewer supporters for the ban but they stood out with flags across the street. A pro-Trump rally began on the corner of Main and Marshall before moving closer to City Hall. PreviousNext

North Adams Rallies Protest, Support Trump's Travel Ban



A Trump supporter joined the rally to express his opinion, which was that no Muslims should be allowed into the country as a safety measure.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Some 100 protesters gathered at City Hall on Saturday afternoon to express their objections to a recent executive order that banned travel into the United States from seven majority Muslim countries.



Across the street, a much smaller group that was no less passionate waved American flags in support of President Trump's travel ban.



It was dueling chants and songs for about two hours until the frigid cold cut the rallies short.



Resident Marty Packer had organized the City Hall standout through a Facebook event with the help of his daughter. He'd been there last weekend with a few others and thought more people would like to be involved.



"Trump's actions against refugees finally upset me more than I could stand," he said as motorists blaired horns in support. "I was tired of just sitting down and grumbling to myself and my friends."



An executive order signed on Friday, Jan. 27, had prohibited the entry into the United States of most people with passports or travel from seven nations  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  for 90 days. Refugees were banned for 120 days. The seven nations had been identified for terrorism by the Congress and the past administration and limitations were placed on visa waivers related to those countries in 2015.



The restrictions put in place on Jan. 27, however, seemed to cover a wide swath of travelers, including green card holders (legal American residents) and refugees who had cleared the hurdles to receive visas, particularly Syrian refugees who were barred indefinitely.



Protests and confusion erupted in airports across the nation as travelers were held up by security and legal immigrants placed on planes and sent back. The order is said to have affected between 60,000 and 100,000 visas, including for people who are studying, working, attending events, or just visiting in the United States. Exceptions began to be carved out at the beginning of the week and Homeland Security lifted the ban after a federal judge put a temporary halt on the order.



There have been several protests in the Berkshires over Trump's statements or actions, including one on Wednesday in Williamstown. More than 300 people indicated interest in Packer's rally and at least 100 showed up over the two hours beginning at noontime.



"I'm standing up for the people who can't stand up for themselves for the most part," said Andrew Baillargeon, a student at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. "People like the LGBTQ community, women in general, and minorities."



The handful of Trump supporters who also showed up with signs and flags backed the president's actions.



"Do we sit here and pick and choose between which one is good out of 500? What if one's bad?" asked one man, holding a sign that said, "No more Muslim refugees/No more sharia law." A fellow protester had one that recalled the terror attacks on 9/11.

The Trump supporter didn't know any Muslims but he didn't believe they could adapt to American culture.
Girls, Id love to treat you to dinner to celebrate the end of Emilys radiation treatments. Does next Thursday night work?

The text came late October during the craziness of another morning that started in the dark pit of the radiation treatment room, and the words brought tears to my eyes. Yes! A dinner out with my best girlfriends sounded wonderful.

That next Thursday night, the three of us, dear kindred friends, sat closely in the loud restaurant, leaning in to talk and laugh. We caught up on life and shared hearts but eventually moved to the real reason for our night out: celebrating the completion of many dark hard months of my treatment for breast cancer.

We shared many stories and memories of these past months  moments of joy and triumph during tribulation  and also the times where I had difficulty finding joy and clung desperately to their love and help.

I sat there, tears filling my eyes as I marveled at the beauty and inexpressible comfort of being truly seen and loved, deeply and sacrificially, for so many months:

The spontaneous visit one evening early in the chemo process, after receiving a text from one of these friends saying she missed me and had made a chocolate treat especially with ingredients I could eat, and then we sat long on my couch as she gave me the gift of a safe listening and encouraging space.

The many times I wasnt well enough to go to our Thursday morning Bible study that my boys also loved, so one came and gave my boys a ride, out of her way and a burden on her already overflowing plate; but nothing but grace and assurance was given in response to my protests.

The day I had to go to the ER and came home so sick, overwhelmed and heavy-spirited and one insisted on coming to pick up my boys and keep them for the entire afternoon and evening and feed them dinner. She texted pictures of their fun adventures while insisting that I rest and reminding me that this season shall pass and soon I would be feeling up for doing all the things I love to do with my people.

So many meals were brought and late night texts sent sharing deepest fears and concerns and always encouragement and boundless love.

Sitting next to me during chemo treatments and scary doctor appointments with laughter and a steady sisterhood of comfort. Organizing communications and meals delivered amongst a large group of friends and family. And always, always, simply being there. To walk the hard road, to carry burdens, and carry me in prayer to our Father, to listen and laugh and step in with a million large and small practical helps.

I never felt alone.

Youve crossed the Jordan River, one of these friends told me as we sat at dinner. And now we look back over the river, over the hard crossing, and we celebrate the faithfulness of our God. And to commemorate, she shared that she was painting a rock  an Ebenezer  for me to keep and remember.

He is faithful.

One of His richest blessings is that of true, faithful, tender friends to walk through the river with and join hands in walking to the dry shore of a new abundant future.
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Following Deadpools record-breaking success, fans are very excited to see the next instalment in the superhero franchise.

Ryan Reynolds and his motley crew have been discussing Deadpool 2 with journalists around the world, being asked numerous times whether Hugh Jackman has been asked to reprise his X-Men role as Wolverine.

Jackman previously said that Reynolds has basically been trolling him with regards coming back to the series as Jackman is retiring the role after Logan.

Writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese have since commented on whether we can realistically expect the Australian actor to appear in a sequel. And theyre particularly optimistic.

"We've come a long way from 2009, when we couldn't get the movie off the ground 'til now," Wernick told The Playlist.

33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 Show all 34 1 /34 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 1. Captain America: Civil War Release date: 6 May 2016. Iron Man and Captain America are set to face off in this superhero blockbuster that will feature nearly all the Avengers but wont be an Avengers film. It will also mark the first time Spider-Man will feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Sony having made a deal with Marvel Studios. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 2. X-Men: Apocalypse Release date: 27 May 2016. Following the success of Days of Future Past, Apocalypse will follow the young X-Men team as the battle against Oscar Isaacs titular villain as he gathers his four horsemen; Magneto (Fassbender), Angel (Hardy), Storm (Shipp), and Psylocke (Munn). Expect carnage and no Wolverine. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 3. Suicide Squad Release date: 5 August 2016. The first supervillain film, Suicide Squad is also based in the DCEU (DC Extended Universe, where Batman and Superman live) and will introduce the world to Margot Robbies Harley Quinn and Jared Letos Joker. One of the more exciting upcoming DC films thats for sure. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 4. Doctor Strange Release date: 4 November 2016. Benedict Cumberbatch will debut in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Captain America and Iron Man live) as the Sorcerer Supreme. The film already has an incredible cast, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachael McAdams and Tilda Swinton. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 5. Untitled Lego Batman film Release date: 20 February 2017. Kicking off 2017 is the Lego version of Batman, who will lead his own spin-off, having already featured in the amazing Lego Movie. Will Arnett voices the titular character, while Zach Garfianakis - from the Hangover - will voice The Joker. But will he better than Leto? 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 6. Untitled Wolverine film Release date: 3 March 2017. Having not starred in X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine will return to the big screen in a solo film which was recently made R-Rated following the success of Deadpool. It is expected to be Hugh Jackmans last outing as the titular character. Fox 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Release date: 5 May 2017. Chris Pratt and the crew are returning to space in the sequel to the surprisingly successful Guardians of the Galaxy. According to director James Gunn, the film will not feature Thanos, even though he will to play a major role in phase MCU Phase 3. Cast includes newcomers Kurt Russell and Pom Klementieff, as well as, rumour has it, Sylvester Stallone. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 8. Wonder Woman Release date: 23 June 2017. Gal Gadot is returning to the DCEU in her very own film, marking the first female-led superhero film on this list. Chris Pine is on board to play Wonder Womans love interest. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 9. Untitled Spider-Man reboot Release date: 7 July 2017. Yes, it is another Spider-Man reboot, having previously been redone with Andrew Garfield as the lead. However, this time it is part of the MCU, with Tom Holland as the titular character, and a heavily rumoured cameo by Iron Man could be in the pipeline. We can dream. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 10. Untitled Fox film Release date: 6 October 2017. In a strange announcement, Fox decided to withhold the release of Gambit until a future, as-yet unannounced date, which could be here, or this could be a completely separate project. Many suspect Deadpool 2 could nicely fit here, Fox capitalising on the success of the first film. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 11. Thor: Ragnarok Release date: 3 November 2017. Chris Hemsworth will be returning as the Norse God in his third solo MCU film. Flight of the Conchords Taika Waititi is on board to direct, and promises a fun adventure that will likely lead into Marvels next project, Infinity War. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 12. Justice League Part One Release date: 17 November 2017. Hot on the heals of Thor comes Justice League Part One, the first DCEU team-up flick which will see Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg work together to fight bad guys. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 13: Untitled Fox film Release date: 12 January 2018. Kicking off 2018 will likely be the second Deadpool film, but then again, this could very well be another X-Men team-up. Theres also talk of an X-Force film, with Deadpool and other mutants teaming up to fight evil. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 14. Black Panther Release date: 16 February 2018. The first non-white male-led superhero film in the MCU comes in the form of Black Panther, with Chadwick Boseman reprising the titular role, having also starred as the Panther in Civil War. Creeds Ryan Coogler is on to direct what could be a very exciting film. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 15. The Flash Release date: 16 March 2018. The Flash will be the first DCEU film since Justice League, and sees Ezra Miller take the lead. Phil Lord and Chris Miller were supposed to pen the film before Disney snapped them up for the Han Solo-film, leaving Seth Grahame-Smith to take charge. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 16. Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 Release date: 4 May 2018. And so, we finally get to the point of all these Infinity Stones! Thanos will be the big bad, with the Avengers needing to team up to defeat their biggest foe yet. It has previously been described as the end of the Avengers as we know it. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 17. Ant-Man and The Wasp Release date: 6 July 2018. Peyton Reed will be back to direct this surprise sequel to one of the better received MCU films. While the name is ridiculous, at least Marvel are finally having a leading female superhero. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 18. Untitled Fox film Release date: 13 July 2018. Again, not much word on this one except it is thought to be X-Men spin-off New Mutants, something Josh Boone has been hit up to write. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 19. Animated Spider-Man Film Release date: 20 July 2018. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal - the team behind the live-action Spider-Man films - are producing this unrelated animated adaptation of the hero. Because you can never have too much Spider-Man, right? 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 20. Aquaman Release date: 27 July 2018. Another Justice League spin-off, Jason Momoa plays the leading man. Furious 7s James Wan is on to direct, but little else is known about the film. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 21. Captain Marvel Release date: 8 March 2019. Weve hit 2019, and the first confirmed superhero film will be the first proper female-led MCU film. No-one is confirmed to be in the titular role of Carol Danvers just yet. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 22. Shazam Release date: 5 April 2019. Dwayne Johnson stars as the villain in this DCEU film which will be somewhat separate to the other DC films. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 23. Avengers: Infinity War Part 2. Release date: 3 May 2019. The conclusion to the long drawn MCU saga. Expect a big finish with at least a few planets being destroyed. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 24. Justice League Part Two Release date: 14 June 2019. Soon after the Infinity War story reaches its conclusion, so will the Justice Leagues. Not much is known, except Darkseid will likely be the villain for at least one of the parts. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 25. Inhumans Release date: 12 July 2019. The concept of Inhumans (or Marvels mutants) has already been introduced in TV, through Marvels Agents of Shield, yet the film is expected to introduce the Royal Family who have yet to be seen in the show. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 26. Cyborg Release date: 3 April 2020. Having debuted in Justice League Part One three years previously, Cyborg will finally be making his own outing, with Ray Fisher as the titular character. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 27. Untitled MCU film Release date: 1 May 2020. The first of three untitled Marvel films. There are a couple of contenders, the first is a likely sequel to Spider-Man with Sony, or a third Guardians of the Galaxy film, thus finishing the trilogy. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 28. Green Lantern Corps. Release date: 19 June 2020. Before you start to worry, this has nothing to do with the Ryan Reynolds-starring flick that hit cinemas a little while ago. Instead, this will be another DCEU film that will likely spin-off from Justice League after the Green Lantern Corps cameo in one of the parts. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 29. Untitled MCU film Release date: 10 July 2020. As well as Spider-Man or Guardians of the Galaxy sequels, a Doctor Strange or Black Panther one could fit in nicely here. Or perhaps Black Widow may finally get the solo-film she deserves. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 30. Untitled MCU film Release date: 6 November 2020. Some speculators also think a Blade film could fit in here, marking over 20 years since the first Blade. But many believe the character may be better suited to a Netflix series, as with Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Theres also talk of a Runaways film reaching cinemas at some stage. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 31. Untitled Ben Affleck Batman film Release date: TBA. Now were onto the TBA release dates, the first of which is a Batman solo film, written and directed by Ben Affleck. When this is due, no one is quite sure but expect it sooner rather than later if Batman v Superman is a success. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 32. Suicide Squad 2 Release date: TBA (rumoured 2017). A sequel to Suicide Squad is expected to come in 2017 according to recent reports, but nothing has been confirmed. If the first is successful, it should come as no surprise for Warner Bros to rearrange their schedule to fit in this surefire hit. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 33. Venom Release date: TBA. This is an odd one, as it has been confirmed Sony are wanting to release a Venom film completely unrelated to the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. Venom, as you may know, is a Spider-Man villain, intrinsically linked to Spider-Man, so it seems odd they would release a film unrelated to the rebooted project and not linked to the MCU. 33 Superhero films set for release between 2016 and 2020 Anything else? Well, now you mention it, theres also that sequel to Fantastic Four that has seemingly been dropped by Fox. Plus, theres the Gambit film which has been put on hold (but will likely fill an untitled Fox slot so we havent added it extra). Then again, it could be shoehorned in somehow Marvel

"And to have [this team-up]? It would be amazing to have Hugh resurrect Wolverine in the Deadpool universe, and again, Ryan's making a hard push to make that happen, and hopefully the public gets behind it and we can all convince Hugh to put the claws on one more time.

Talking about whether Wolverine would fit into their current plans for the franchise, Wernick said not to expect anything in the near future: If you're looking at Deadpool 2, if you're looking at X-Force, if you're looking at Deadpool 3, there's not necessarily room for [another] team-up movie.

"I think it does create real scheduling and universe issues and something that could be ironed out, but it would need to be ironed out.

"I don't think any of us operated under the assumption that it would be even possible to do a Deadpool/Wolverine thing, so we just haven't planned for it, it's still not in the plan, but if it were to happen, it would require a hard look at the overall architecture of our storylines.

Jackman can be seen one last time as Wolverine in the upcoming film Logan, out 1 March.
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Brunching out..

A decadent breakfast can rarely leave one feeling both healthy and full away from a dreary winter porridge, but Filmore and Union in York does just that without any of the clean eating pretentiousness.

Founded by a former wellness clinic owner and strong advocate of the real food movement, the independent chain now boasts 10 sites providing an abundance of healthy alternative meals that wont leave the diner feeling empty, guilty or break the bank.

The sites are also 100 per cent gluten free  ideal for coeliacs but a void that will go happily unnoticed by the typical bread and pancake lover.

Sitting facing the York Minster, Filmore and Union at Petergate is the perfect stop-off point for shoppers and visitors seeking out the city sights  or indeed Saturday morning refuseniks who were admittedly suffering after testing out too many of Yorks supposed 365 pubs.

The restaurant is petite and personal, situated in one of the citys oldest buildings, while tall ceilings and traditional tea-shop decor vibes add towards a bright, airy and calm atmosphere.

Humous eggs, raw energy juice and tumeric and ginger infusion

Breakfast is served here every day between 8 and 11.30am, and an all-day brunch menu staves off cravings on Sundays.

Its very possible to go full-on yoga-bunny juice junkie here  a specials board explains their Juice of the Month while a regular list of lean, green and mean concoctions can be tailored to suit the drinker, with various supplement shots available to be added.

Under the advice of breezy, helpful staff I went for the Raw Energy (4) blend with a shot of wheatgrass  which sounds taxing but was of course delicious.

Food and drink news Show all 35 1 /35 Food and drink news Food and drink news Healthy living makes us more inclined to binge, research suggests Gluten-free breads, dairy-free milks and other plant-based products have been some of the most favoured foods in British supermarkets this year. However, while were busy filling our shopping trolleys with gluten-free goodness, were also jamming it with junk food and alcohol, new research suggests Getty/iStock Food and drink news Growing list of Vegan celebs Making the switch to veganism is a major lifestyle choice, one that many claim can improve energy levels, lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and clear up any skin issues. Beyonce, Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain are among the growing list of Hollywood stars who have eschewed animal products from their diets in recent years. Theres also been an increasing number of professional athletes who have gone vegan, such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and David Haye, thus debunking the myth that following a plant-based diet will leave you feeling weak and malnourished. AFP/Getty/NARAS/iHeartMedia Food and drink news McDonald's has announced the launch of a new vegan burger on its menu in Germany This will mark the first time the German franchise of the fast food chain has offered a vegan burger to its customers. The Big Vegan TS burger consists of a patty made from soy and wheat. It is served in a classic sesame seed bun, and contains salad, tomato, pickles and red onion. McDonald's Germany Food and drink news Drinking too many protein shakes could lead to an increased risk of obesity and a reduced lifespan, a new study has claimed Researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre carried out an investigation to determine the impact excessive consumption of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) has on the body. BCAA supplements are often consumed in the form of powder, which is then added to water to make a shake. Published in journal Nature Metabolism, the study found that while BCAAs help to build muscle, they can also negatively impact an individual's temperament, cause weight gain and lead to a shortened lifespan Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Britain consumes more chocolate than any other country Most people love chocolate but it turns out no one does more than the Brits  with the average Brit found to have consumed 8.4 kg of chocolate in 2017, according to new data. Chocolate consumption around the world is on the rise, according to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), which found that in the past year alone, Easter chocolate production has risen by 23 per cent Food and drink news 'Easter eggs should be banned for children under four' Dr Becky Spelman, chief psychologist at Harley Streets Private Therapy Clinic, is calling for Easter eggs to be banned for consumption for children under the age of four, claiming that giving them the opportunity to binge on chocolate so young will give them an unhealthy relationship with food later on. "This is a nightmare situation for parents of this generation as they have no idea how to teach their children to delay their response to cravings, she said, explaining that too many young kids binge on these chocolates because their parents dont know how to stop them. "Once a child starts overeating behaviour at a young age its very hard to turn things around for them in terms of food and their eating habits moving forward, leading to obesity from at very young age," she added PA Food and drink news Pineapple overtakes avocado as the UK's fastest-selling fruit According to Tesco, pineapple has overtaken avocado as the UKs fastest-selling fruit, with sales increasing by 15 per cent in 2017. In comparison, avocado sales rose by just under 10 per cent last year. The popular supermarket says the surge in popularity comes as shoppers buying the versatile fruit are beginning to use it as a main ingredient in everything from curries and barbecues, to juices and cocktails Getty Food and drink news Marks & Spencers launches stoneless avocados Rather than the result of genetic modification, the avocados are formed by an unpollinated avocado blossom. The fruit develops without a seed which in turns stops the growth, creating a small, seedless fruit. Whats more, the skin is actually edible, unlike a regular avocado. The flesh is much like that of a normal avocado - smooth and creamy, pale in colour and rich in flavour M&S Food and drink news Office teabags contain 17 times more germs than a toilet seat, reveals study The average bacterial reading of an office teabag was 3,785, in comparison to only 220 for a toilet seat. Other pieces of kitchen equipment also stacked up highly in their findings, with the bacterial readings averaging at 2,483 on kettle handles, 1,746 on the rim of a used mug and 1,592 on a fridge door handle Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New study shows drinking more coffee leads to a longer life There is good news and a final hope for coffee addicts and lovers. You will now be able to drink coffee for longer as new study shows its can lead to a prolonged life. Scientists showed that those who drank between two and four cups of coffee a day had 18% lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers. PA Food and drink news Coke Zero is replaced with Coke Zero Sugar Coca-Cola is pulling the plug on its Coke Zero. The much loved drink will be replaced with a new improved taste. The move, backed with a 10 million campaign, is said to come from Coca-Cola supporting people to reduce their sugar intake. Coca-Cola want people make this move while not sacrificing sugary taste of Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola Food and drink news Starbucks introduce new avocado spread The avocado craze has grown from hipster brunch restaurants to Starbucks. Starbucks have introduced their new avocado spread earlier this year and it has the internet in debate. Some argue that it not a spread but guacamole while others question if there is any avocado in there at all. When buying the new spread you can also buy an optional toasted bagel. It is a must try for all avocado connoisseurs. Starbucks Food and drink news New Mars chocolate bar The iconic British chocolate bar is about to get its partner in crime. The new bar, named Goodness Knows, will replace the gooey caramel goodness of the mars bar with oats. It is said to be more like a Florentine biscuit with a thin dark chocolate bottom. While being moderately healthy Mars says that is has good intentions. One pack has 154 calories and will sell for about 90p. Mars Food and drink news Wine prices could increase because of Brexit Wine lovers across the UK might soon have to shell out close to a quarter more for their favourite tipple after Brexit, as a weaker pound and sluggish economy takes its toll, a new study shows Rex Food and drink news Chocolate may be good for the heart A new study, published in the British Medical Journal: Heart, found that moderate chocolate intake can be positively associated with lessening the risk of the heart arrhythmia condition Atrial Fibrillation Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Brits throw away 1.4 million bananas each year British families are throwing away 1.4 million bananas that are perfectly good to eat every day at cost of 80m a year, new figures have shown PA/Armin Weigel Food and drink news Rosemary sales spike over exam time There has been a surge a surge in sales of the herb rosemary after a recent study found it helps improve memory. According to high street health food chain Holland & Barrett, sales of the herb have increased by 187 per cent compared to the same time last year Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Gluten-free diets 'not recommended' for people without coeliac disease Avoiding wheat, barley and rye in the belief that a gluten-free diet brings health benefits may do more harm than good, according to a team of US nutrition and medicine experts Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Starbucks launches two new coffee-based drinks Starbucks is launching two new coffee-based drinks in the UK, as it strives to tap into consumers growing appetite for healthy beverages. The Cold Brew Vanilla sweet cream and the Cappuccino Freddo, will both be available in stores throughout the UK from the start of May Twitter/@SbuxCountyHall Food and drink news Cadburys Dairy Milk Tiffin is making a permanent comeback after 80 years The Cadbury Dairy Milk Tiffin, first produced in 1937, is making a permanent comeback to the UK. The raisin and biscuit-filled chocolate bar is being launched after a successful trial last summer saw 3 million chocolate treats  at the cost of 1.49 for each 95g bar- purchased by nostalgic customers Cadburys Food and drink news Pizza restaurant makes worlds cheesiest 'Scottie's Pizza Parlor' in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Facebook/Scottie's Pizza Parlor Food and drink news A pizza joint in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Why not eating before a workout could be better for your health A study published in the American Journal of Physiology by researchers at the University of Bath found you might be likely to burn more fat if you have not eaten first Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New York restaurant named best in the world A New York restaurant where an average meal for two will cost $700 has been named the best in the world. Eleven Madison Park won the accolade for the first time after debuting on the list at number 50 in 2010. The restaurant was praised for a fun sense of fine-dining, blurring the line between the kitchen and the dining room Getty Images Food and drink news Why you crave bad food when youre tired Researchers at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago recently presented their results of a study looking into the effects of sleep deprivation upon high-calorific food consumption. Researchers found that those who were sleep-deprived had specifically enhanced brain activity to the food smells compared to when they had a good nights sleep Shutterstock Food and drink news Drinking wine engages more of your brain than solving maths problems Drinking wine is the ideal workout for your brain, engaging more parts of our grey matter than any other human behaviour, according to a leading neuroscientist. Dr Gordon Shepherd, from the Yale School of Medicine, said sniffing and analysing a wine before drinking it requires exquisite control of one of the biggest muscles in the body Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news British dessert eating surges after people ditch healthy eating in February : In heartening news for anyone feeling guilty about quitting their New Year diet, it seems lots of us have given in to our sweet tooths once again. New data from nationwide food-delivery service Deliveroo reveals there was a surge in Brits ordering desserts in February compared to the first month of 2017 Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news US congress debates definition of milk alternatives A new bill has been created that seeks to ban dairy alternatives from using the term milk. Titled the DAIRY PRIDE Act, the name is a tenuous acronym for defending against imitations and replacements of yogurt, milk, and cheese to promote regular intake of dairy every day. It argues that the dairy industry is struggling as a result of all the dairy-free alternatives on the market and the public are being duped too Getty Images Food and drink news Cadburys launches two new chocolate bars UK confectionary giant Cadbury has launched two new chocolate bars, hoping to lure those with a sweet tooth and perhaps help combat some of the challenges it faces from rising commodity prices and a post-Brexit slump in the value of the pound.The companys new products will be peanut butter and mint flavoured. They will be available in most major super markets as 120g bars, priced at 1.49, according to the company Cadburys Food and drink news You can now get a job as a professional chocolate eater The company responsible for some of your favourite chocolate brands  think Cadbury, Milks, Prince and Oreo  have officially announced an opening to join their team as a professional chocolate taster. The successful candidate will help them to test, perfect and launch new products all over the world. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news MSG additive used in Chinese food is actually good for you, scientist claims For years, weve been told MSG (the sodium salt of glutamic acid) - often associated with cheap Chinese takeaways - is awful for our health and to be avoided at all costs. But one scientist argues it should be used as a supersalt and encourages adding it to food. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Lettuce prices are rising Not only are lettuces becoming an increasingly rare commodity in supermarkets, but prices for the leafy vegetables seem to be rising too. According to the weekly report from the Governments Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a pair of Little Gem lettuces had an average market price of 0.86 in the week that ended on Friday, up from an average of 0.56 in the previous week  thats an almost 54 per cent increase. Getty Images Food and drink news Do-It-Yourself restaurant To encourage more people to cook and eat together, IKEA has launched The Dining Club in Shoreditch  a fully immersive Do-It-Yourself restaurant . Members of the public can book to host a brunch, lunch or dinner party for up to 20 friends and family. Supported by their very own sous chef and maitre de, the host and their guests will orchestrate an intimate dining experience where cooking together is celebrated and eating together is inspirational Mikael Buck / IKEA Food and drink news Ping Pong menu with a twist Gatwick Airport has teamed up with London dim sum restaurant Ping Pong to create a limited edition menu with a distinctly British twist; including a Full English Bao and Beef Wellington Puff, to celebrate the launch of the airports new route to Hong Kong Food and drink news Zizzi unveil the Maamgharita Unique pizza art has been created by Zizzi in celebration of the Queens 90th birthday. The pizza features the queen in an iconic pose illustrated with fresh and tasty Italian ingredients on a backdrop of the Union Jack Food and drink news Blue potatoes make a comeback Blue potatoes, once a staple part of British potato crops, are back on the menu thanks to a Cambridge scientist turned-organic farmer and Farmdrop, an online marketplace that lets people buy direct from local farms. Cambridge PhD graduate-turned farmer, Adrian Izzard has used traditional growing techniques at Wild Country Organics to produce the colourful spuds, packed with healthy cell-protecting anthocyanin, which had previously disappeared from UK plates when post-war farmers were pushed towards higher-yielding varieties

Poached eggs on toasted sourdough with a bed of humous, portobello mushrooms, spinach and pesto felt like an instant cure for 9, while a seasonal tagine (11.50) looked colourful and delicious  a popular choice for an alternative meal at any time of day.

The Hot Jacks bagel (8) was a hit, featuring paprika-roasted chicken, guacamole and cheerful salads.

But the take-home winner was fresh infusion tea with ginger, turmeric, lemon and honey (2.50)  wellbeing in a cup that I will never quite be able to replicate at home.

Go to Filmore and Union for instant nourishment but stay for the view, read the papers and pet one of the welcome dogs. Youll be ready to return to the pubs in no time.

Filmore and Union York, 62a Low Petergate, York YO1 7HZ; 01904 654 123; Filmoreandunion.com

Brunching in...

Oeufs en cocotte

This classic French recipe is a simple dish of baked eggs. The name en cocotte refers to the dishes in which the eggs are cooked. The following recipe is the basic method for baking the eggs in ramekins. There are several variations. For example, you could sprinkle a dessert spoon of grated cheddar cheese on top of the cream. Other ingredients you could include under the egg are lightly cooked asparagus tips, or wilted leeks. You could also use chopped smoked salmon or lightly cooked flakes of smoked haddock.

Serves 2

75g creme fraiche

Freshly grated nutmeg

2tbsp snipped fresh chives

2 large free-range eggs

Sea salt and ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4. Season the creme fraiche with a pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Place a heaped tablespoon of creme fraiche in the bottom of a ramekin, followed by a sprinkling of chives, reserving a few for serving.

Crack an egg on top, then add a second tablespoon of creme fraiche and sprinkle with a pinch each of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Repeat with the other ramekin. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and pour enough lukewarm water into the dish to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the egg yolks are set to your liking.

The Dorset Cereal Breakfast Book published by Pavilion Books. Photography credit to James Bowden
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The number of cancer patients raising money for treatment not available on the NHS has risen by seven times in the last year, data has shown.

Doctors have expressed concern that patients may be spending huge sums on inappropriate drugs, but Mo Haque, who raised 200,000 for a new and potentially life-saving treatment, told The Independent he saw no other alternative.

For me it was a last resort, said the 34-year-old from north London, who was diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer in December 2014. I had a year of NHS treatment, 18 cycles of chemotherapy, but the disease progressed into the lymph nodes.

When Mr Haque was told there were no more treatment options available to him on the NHS, his oncologist submitted a request to the health service to try immunotherapy, a new type of treatment that boosts the bodys immune system to fight the cancer.

Immunotherapy drugs are at varying stages of research. They are already used on the NHS to treat advanced skin cancer and some cases of lung cancer.

But Mr Haques request was refused and he was encouraged by a friend to set up a crowdfunding page to raise money to pay for the drug, which costs around 6,500 every three weeks, privately.

 Writer AA Gill dies after short battle with cancer

Cancer patients or their friends and relatives set up 2,348 appeals on crowdfunding site JustGiving in 2016, raising more than 4.5m in total  up from 530,000 in 2015, reported the BBC.

Immunotherapy was the most popular treatment crowdfunded on JustGiving last year.

Consultant oncologist Dr Clive Peedell told the broadcaster it was very worrying to see the rise in patients raising money for their own treatment, as the vast majority of proven, effective cancer drugs were available on the NHS.

It would be interesting to review all the cases to find out how many are genuinely appropriate. I worry that some patients may be trying to access treatment that may not be beneficial, he said.

Worse still, there may be significant extra costs involved, especially if patients pay privately or travel abroad.

Mr Haque said since starting the treatment, which he has had as a self-funded patient at the Macmillan Cancer Centre at Londons University College Hospital, his tumours had shrunk by an average of 50 per cent.

He said he feels really good and without the treatment, I wouldnt have been able to go out for evenings I would have been too weak, a lot of dizzy spells, the fatigue, and the pain. Untreated, I may not have been here, is the harsh truth.

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

Where there are no NHS options, its like what can you do? Theres no other alternative, there is no choice  you either get no treatment and have the eventuality of dying, or you at least try something, said Mr Haque, who has begun campaigning with health management firm Alivia for a greater range of cancer treatment options.

An NHS England spokesperson told the BBC it was providing 200m of funding to improve local cancer services.

They said the NHS has launched a new-look cancer drugs fund, meaning patients will be able to access promising, new and innovative treatments much quicker with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

More people than ever before are surviving cancer thanks to improved NHS care, they added.

The first immunotherapy treatment for metastatic bladder cancer has been fast-tracked under the Early Access for Medicines Scheme, it was announced last week.

Atezolizumab will now be available to patients with advanced bladder cancer that develops from the cells of the bladder lining, but only if they have already had chemotherapy.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland, majority owned by the taxpayer, is reportedly set pay its staff 340m in bonuses.

The bank, 72 per cent owned by the government, is also expected to announce a ninth consecutive year of losses for 2016.

The bonus figures were reported by Sky News, who cited insider sources. The outlet also cited analysts who estimated RBS had lost 2.5bn by September 2016 and could have lost over 5bn across the whole year.

 Pound surges after Theresa May's Brexit speech

A spokesperson for RBS told The Independent the bank was making no comment, but said no decision had yet been taken and that bonuses had decreased since their peak in 2008.

Corresponding with the banks losses  over 50bn since 2008, according to the Financial Times - RBSs bonuses have shrunk every year since then.

RBS lost 24bn in 2008 but its employees were awarded 1.4bn. By 2015, bonuses had dropped to around 400m and reached 370m in 2016.

The bank has reportedly put forward the 2017 bonus suggestion to UK Financial Investments (UKFI), a government body which manages public shareholdings in banks.

Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. A Swiss criminal investigation into the pair is ongoing. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Libor fraudster City trader Tom Hayes, 35, has become the first person to be convicted of rigging Libor rates following a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. Hayes worked as a trader in yen derivatives at UBS before joining the American bank Citigroup in Tokyo. He was fired from Citigroup following an investigation into his trading methods. He returned to the UK in December 2012 and was arrested following a two-and-a-half year criminal investigation by the SFO. Getty

The government must approve the bonuses but the UKFI may seek a 2,000 cash limit per RBS employee.

Any approval of the bonuses would likely provoke controversy, particularly as Prime Minister Theresa May has threatened to clamp down on excesses in the business world, and to help hard up families.
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An urgent investigation is underway into allegations criminals paid thousands to Government-contracted staff to fit their electronic tags loosely enough to be removed at will.

Scotland Yard confirmed it had launched a probe following allegations Capita, the company chosen by the government to run its Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS), accepted bribes from convicts.

It is claimed workers were paid to fit the ankle trackers loosely, allowing offenders to circumvent their court-imposed curfews by slipping off their tags.

Staff were allegedly paid up to 400 a time to help at least 32 criminals. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was urgently investigating the claims.

According to The Sun, scam was rumbled when an offender was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder when he was supposed to be at home under curfew.

In the wake of the claims the Metropolitan Police arrested 14 people in connection with the investigation.

Among them are thought to be 11 convicts and former and current staff members of the EMS.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images 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. 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The Met said the investigation was focused on the London borough of Newham.

Police had become aware that offender monitoring equipment was being used inappropriately," a spokesperson said.

A 45-year-old man from Barking and a 57-year-old woman from Romford, both EMS employees, were arrested last month on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

And a 45-year-old man from Romford, a former EMS staff member, was also arrested on the same charge as well as theft of tagging equipment.

A spokesman for the EMS said: We have a zero tolerance policy against any of our employees who act in any way to undermine the robustness of the electronic monitoring service.

The small number of employees being investigated regarding this isolated issue were swiftly taken off duties and we are closely co-operating with the Metropolitan Police Service.

Capita was awarded the 400 million contract to fit the tags in 2014, after fellow security firms G4S and Serco become embroiled in an overcharging scandal which led them to repay the Government nearly 180 million.
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Britons could be offered associate citizenship of the European Union after Brexit even if Theresa May blocks the plan, the MEP who drafted the proposal has said.

Associate citizenship remains a realistic ambition and Brussels should make it available to UK nationals even if the British Government vetoes the plan during negotiations, Charles Goerens said.

Commenting in the wake of the Governments Brexit White Paper, he said he was increasingly hopeful that his proposal would be offered to the UK once it quits the bloc.

In November, The Independent revealed that a plan for associate citizenship, proposed by Mr Goerens, was being considered by the European Parliament.

 Will you be able to remain an EU citizen after Brexit?

It would allow UK nationals who applied for EU citizenship to work anywhere inside the union as well as giving them a vote in European Parliament elections  while retaining their British passport.

The Luxembourg MEP said there was no real opposition to the policy from his fellow lawmakers in Brussels and Strasbourg, who will be given the final say on the Brexit deal in a vote at the European parliament.

And he said the EUs negotiators should make it a red line in future discussions, adding that eventual treaty change was in the interests of those on both sides of the Channel.

The proposal has offered hope to many who fear Britain is closing itself off from Europe and the opportunities it provides.

Ms May outlined the Governments negotiating position in a speech at Lancaster House in January, followed last week by a Government White Paper.

 Guy Verhofstadt says he's received thousands of letters from Brits wanting to remain EU citizens

Mr Goerens said the Prime Ministers remarks were very positive and showed she understood there was a real problem for Britons living both in the UK and Europe.

Theresa Mays proposal is a step in the right direction, he told The Independent in a phone interview from Brussels.

The White paper was a clear signal that I was not totally unrealistic by launching the idea of European associate citizenship.

It is for technical reasons that she wasn't more outspoken on this issue.

She sent a clear signal that she has understood that there is a real problem. Lets not be too pessimistic about that."

Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Show all 12 1 /12 Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Brexit protest: Thousands march in London A woman poses with a home-made European Union flag as Remain supporters gather on Park Lane in London to show their support for the EU in the wake of Brexit PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Remain supporters demonstrate in Parliament Square PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Tens of thousands of people gathered to protest the result of the EU referendum PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London A majority of people in the capital voted to remain in the European Union Reuters Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Protesters chanted: What do we want to do? Stay in the EU PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London The march follows a similar rally in Trafalgar Square that was cancelled due to heavy rain  but which tens of thousands of people turned up to anyway Reuters Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum by 52 per cent to 48 per cent Reuters Brexit protest: Thousands march in London But support for the Leave campaign in urban areas and among young people was significantly lower Rex features Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Marchers gathered at Park Lane at 11am and marched towards Parliament Square PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Some protesters held up baguettes in a display of affection for our continental neighbours PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London The disparity between different parts of the country has promoted a four million signature petition calling for a second referendum and even a renewed push for Scotland to cede from the UK PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London The events organiser, Kings College graduate Kieran MacDermott, wrote: We can prevent Brexit by refusing to accept the referendum as the final say and take our finger off the self-destruct button" Reuters

European associate citizenship is still on the agenda of the European Parliament, he continued.

You can say on the one hand that it is not a solution that would be in line with today's legislation, with European law, but on the other hand if there is a political will we can overcome the obstacles to it.

We can have treaty change, we can have political process on the conviction that European citizenship, or associate citizenship, is in everybodys interest.

If the proposal is included in the final Brexit deal that MEPs will vote on at the end of the two year negotiating period, Mr Goerens said he was confident it would be passed.

As far as I see, there is no real opposition unless you talk to the right-wing parties represented in the European parliament, and some fanatic Brexiteers, he said.

The Governments Brexit White Paper lays out the plan for Brexit (Reuters)

It is up to politicians to react and to take initiative. It is up to us to move the lines, we are not only the observers, we are the actors.

The European Parliament will have the last say on the arrangement between the European Commission and the UK, we have a good opportunity to make clear our views on what should be the outcome of this process, and one of the outcomes is the status of people most negatively affected by Brexit.

Opposition to the plan may come in the form of hard-line Eurosceptics, who claim associate membership of the EU would dilute Brexit and create a two-tier system that would undermine British citizenship.

Those concerns may be enough to convince Ms May to veto the proposal from Mr Goerens and his colleagues in the European Parliament.

But the MEP said 'associate citizenship' should be offered to Britons regardless of any reciprocal offer or concession made by the UK.

He said: Even if there were no move made in this direction by the United Kingdom, in my view we should even unilaterally offer the European associate citizenship to UK citizens because it would be in everybodys interest to act in this way.

It is still achievable because once Brexit is concluded people will be stripped of all their rights linked to European citizenship. We must launch this process in a pragmatic way, but why should it not be practical?
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Protesters have vowed Donald Trump will not succeed in spreading anger and hate while joining a 40,000-strong march through London against the Presidents travel ban.

His controversial executive order, which has been suspended by a judge's ruling in the US, has been dubbed a Muslim ban by critics.

Protesters gathered outside the US Embassy in the capital before marching to 10 Downing Street. Members of the crowd bore placards and shouted slogans in support of refugees and criticising Islamophobia, amid growing concerns extreme-right politics are becoming normalised in the US.

Organisers estimate 40,000 people took part in the march (Jack Taylor/Getty) (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The march mirrored scores of others both in the US and around the world, reflecting international outcry at Mr Trumps executive order. The order, issued last week, stopped refugees from entering the US and also prohibits legal immigration from seven countries, all of which have Muslim-majority populations.

The policy has been criticised as unfairly targeting Muslims. However, President Trump has insisted it is a necessary step to protest US citizens from terrorism.

Arej, a 31-year-old refugee from Libya who was granted asylum in the UK, told The Independent she was attending the rally in solidarity with other refugees who face being affected by the ban. She said: I have been in the UK for six years now. Im here to tell Trump that no matter what youve decided to do in banning us from the US but you will not succeed in building anger. You can stop us entering the country, but you will not silence us.

Another protester, Eman, an 18-year-old attending with a group of friends, told The Independent: I myself am a Sudanese migrant so I know what its like when youre in the country and people arent accepting of you. I grew up in a predominantly white area and at school I did get bullied because I wore a hijab from a young age and was a different colour.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Arriving outside the Prime Ministers official residence in Downing Street, protesters congregated to hear speeches from leading figures in the Muslim community, as well as politicians and activists who roundly condemned the ban and called on Theresa May to oppose it.

Shouts of No hate, no fear, Donald Trump not welcome here and Theresa May, dont appease a fascist rippled through the crowd.

Organisers estimate that more than 40,000 people attended the rally. It follows a number of previous rallies against the recently inaugurated President. On Monday, thousands gathered outside Downing Street to protest the Prime Minister's invite to Mr Trump to make a journey to the UK as an official state visit. A petition calling for MPs to block the state visit has amassed more than a million signatures.

Ms May has insisted the visit will go ahead and has stated that the US is entitled to set its own immigration policy, without UK approval or interference.

The evening before the protest, a judge ordered a temporary halt on the US denying visas to people who are seeking to enter the country legally from affected countries. Mr Trump has hit back at the judge, arguing he will fight the ruling and intends to implement the travel ban regardless.
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Thousands of protestors have marched on London for the second time in a week, to oppose US President Donald Trumps ban on travellers from seven mainly-Muslim nations entering the US.

The protest comes at the end of a week where demonstrations in cities across the world called on President Trump to end the controversial policy.

As thousands were detained at US airports, and 60,000 US visas were revoked, protesters picketed American embassies from Jakarta to Rome.

An estimated 30,000 people marched on Downing Street earlier this week, and Sabby Dhalu, from Stand Up To Racism, told The Independent he expected another "massive show of opposition today.

Campaigners, including Muslim organisations, are coming to central London to send a clear message to Theresa May that Trumps not welcome here,

The organisation has called the US Presidents travel ban as an appalling attack on human rights and said that it is unacceptable that Theresa May has not come out and condemned this.

Izzie Dobney, who is protesting today, told The Independent: "I just don't think any of us can stand by anymore. An important message I took from the speakers today was that years from now, when people ask us what we did during this time, we'd better have a good answer. It doesn't take a lot to show solidarity."

Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told The Guardian that anti-immigrant sentiment was on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic: We are already getting reports of an atmosphere of fear among some children in schools, Courtney said.

If you are a Muslim kid in a school in the UK, its a worrying time, with Muslims banned from a country with a president who is so unpredictable.

It seems to me that Trump not an ordinary bad politician with bad policies on immigration. It seems to me that his policies are not essentially foolish, instead they are aimed at encouraging division.

Protesters have gathered in at least 12 UK cities, including Brighton, Birmingham, and Sheffield, where Natalie Bennett addressed a rally.

 Protest outside Downing Street sees tens of thousands demonstrate against Trump's immigration ban

President Trump's executive order suspended refugee resettlement in the US for 120 days and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely. It also barred travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia.

However, the Trump administration suffered an embarrassing setback on Friday, after a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the executive order regarding the travel ban.

In Australia, thousands rallied on Friday after it emerged that Trump had described a planned refugee resettlement deal, which would relocate 1,250 refugees from the controversial Nauru and Manus Island detention camps to the US, as dumb.

Around 1,000 people marched on the US embassy in Sydney, while hundreds more gathered in Melbourne.

Australian Senator Richard di Natale said in a post on his Facebook page:

Last night Melbourne said "No" to the politics of Donald Trump and the far-right in Australia.

This is the start of a collective resistance movement as people from all walks of life come together and say no to hatred.

Earlier in the week, protestors in the Philippines and Indonesia burned American flags outside their countries US embassies.

Neither country is in the list of banned countries, but Trumps immigration policies could have a tangible effect on both nations.

Veronica Koman, who organised the protest in Jakarta, told The Associated Press:

Indonesia is home to nearly 14,000 refugees seeking resettlement in third countries, and Trumps ban will significantly impact their chances of going to the US.

Filipino activists also demonstrated outside the US Embassy in Manila. Just hours after the protest ended, the governments special envoy to the US revealed that more than 300,000 Filipinos living in America are at risk of deportation.

3,000 people are expected to gather in Paris on Saturday for a #NoBanNoWall protest, while in the US, demonstrations have been organised in Miami, Washington, LA and New York.
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People who voted Brexit with the aim of reducing immigration could be in for a rude awakening, according to Conservative MP Stephen Crabb.

The former party leadership contender said Brexit will not mean a cut in immigration after all.

Immigration was one of the most significant issues in the EU referendum and many voters opted for Leave on the premise that the number of people coming to the UK would be reduced.

Recommended Merkel warns May over slashing taxes to undercut the EU after Brexit

Writing in the Guardian, Mr Crabb said serious cuts to immigration were impossible and called for EU nationals to be protected.

There is nothing on the horizon to suggest that achieving any significant reduction in immigration is achievable or even desirable, he said.

Mr Crabb pointed out that countries Britain intends to conducts trade negotiations with, such as India, are likely to want easy access for their workers as part of the deal.

He also said ministers were quick to give assurances that Brexit would not reduce the flow of cheap labour to businesses. In fact, he added, no minister has yet been able to point to any group of foreign workers currently here who should not, or would not, be here in post-Brexit Britain.

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. 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Mr Crabb also admitted that past Conservative party policy to be tough on immigration had been potentially misleading.

He said: For years the Conservatives fought elections pledging to be tough on immigration without letting on that EU free movement rules meant we had little chance of controlling actual levels. The EU referendum was the first time that voters truly understood the emptiness of our position.

Under David Cameron, and with Theresa May as Home Secretary, the Conservative government failed in its pledge to reduce immigration to the tens of thousands. There were 335,000 net migrants to Britain in June 2016.

However, the governments White Paper on Brexit announced there would be new immigration laws developed after the UK has fully left the EU, to be gradually be phased into the current system.

Mr Crabb also called for the status of the three million EU migrants in the UK  whose futures are now uncertain - to be protected quickly.

He wrote: By recognising their value to our economy and society, and the sheer inhumanity and impracticality of ever thinking that these families and individuals could be required to leave the place they call home, we can take the issue off the table altogether. Now, that would be a powerful and positive statement of our Brexit values.
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John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, has vowed that a Labour government would deliver a Crossrail for the North with a plan to end the North-South divide in Government spending.

Speaking at the first of Labours regional economic conference  aimed at addressing an imbalance between investment in the North and South  he said the new High Speed 3 rail link would transform the economy of northern England, creating 850,000 additional jobs by 2050.

During his speech in Liverpool, the Shadow Chancellor insisted Labour would reverse the under-investment, delays and a lack of real commitment from Whitehall which had blighted the economic prospects for the North under the Tories.

Labour is absolutely committed to delivering HS3, a Crossrail for the North, starting right here in Liverpool and connecting the great cities of the north of England, he said.

Its at least a 10bn commitment from Labour to invest in the North.

It means the journey from Manchester to Leeds will take just 25 minutes, instead of close to an hour. Or you could get from Liverpool to Manchester in 25 minutes.

Crossrail for the North will become the foundations for a transformed northern economy.

Mr McDonnell, one of Jeremy Corbyns closest allies, said the pledge was part of his plan to close the investment gap between the South and North of England. But the Conservatives warned Labours borrowing plans would crash the economy, threatening jobs and infrastructure investment.

Under current Conservative plans, he said, London was set to receive twice the level of public investment per head than the North, an imbalance they would redress through a Barnett Formula for the North  a reference to the mechanism for distributing government support for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Labour, he said, would legislate to require ministers to audit their regional capital spend against economic need, and report to Parliament when the investment imbalances are excessive.

A Conservative spokesman said: Labours policy to borrow half a trillion pounds would crash our economy and threaten jobs and infrastructure.
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China has accused the US of compromising the stability of the Asia-Pacific region after Donald Trumps Defence Secretary confirmed Washington would back Japan if a conflict arose with Beijing over a number of disputed islands.

James Mad-Dog Mattis, Mr Trumps controversial pick for the sensitive post, caused a stir with his comments during a two-day visit to Japan where he held talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, surrounded by potentially lucrative natural gas deposits and abundant fishing grounds, are controlled by Japan but contested by China.

During his trip Mr Mattis claimed the Senkakus falls within the remit of the Japan-US security treaty, under which Washington is obliged to defend all areas under Tokyos administrative control.

The retired marine general, who served in Korea and Japan, said: I want to make certain that Article 5 of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago  and as it will be a year, and 10 years, from now.

He stated that the US opposed any unilateral action which would undermine Japanese control of the islets, which China refers to as the Diaoyu islands.

Mr Mattis also reiterated the importance of free navigation in the strategic waterway.

But his comments angered Beijing, who released a statement calling on Washington to stop issuing wrong information and risk further complicating the delicate issue, bringing instability to the regional situation.

In a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Tomoni Inada, Mr Mattis declared the two countries alliance was the cornerstone of regional stability.

He said: I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100% shoulder-to-shoulder with you and the Japanese people.

The comments echoed his own statement made earlier in the week in Seoul, following a four-day visit to Japan and South Korea where, referencing North Korea, he said: Right now we have to address the reality of the threat that your country and my country faces and we intend to be shoulder-to-shoulder with you as we face this together.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Mr Mattis visited the region in his first trip abroad in his new role, widely viewed by many as offering reassurances to the US allies in the region.

He praised his host country, saying: Japan has made noteworthy contributions to regional security and to the alliance, and the United States deeply appreciates Japans contributions.

The Commander-in-Chief ruffled feathers during his presidential campaign, where he criticised Japan and South Koreas commitment to their US alliance.

He hinted at withdrawing military backing unless more funds were pumped into the costs of housing American soldiers, of which there are roughly 28,500 in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan.

Mr Mattis trip appeared to allay fears, stating he saw no need for US military intervention in the South China Sea.

But Mr Trump has signalled a fresh direction in foreign policy towards China, who he has accused of inventing climate change and manipulating its currency to profit its own interests.

In his earlier visit to South Korea Mr Mattis announced a missile defence system, known as terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad), would be deployed in the country later this year in a bid to combat the growing threat from Pyongyang.

This was heavily criticised by China, who accused it of altering the power balance in the region.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said: We have resolute opposition to the deployment of Thaad to South Korea by the US and ROK [South Korea].

Such actions  will jeopardise security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region.
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Donald Trumps executive order to temporarily ban nearly all travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries more than a week ago caused massive protests and multiple lawsuits, outrage from civil rights groups and tens of thousands of people had their visas revoked.

It was also the only executive order on the White House website whose title was written in capital letters.

"PROTECTING THE NATIONAL FROM FOREIGN TERRORIST ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES" generated plenty of headlines.

But a smaller section of the order may have been missed, and it could be of critical importance.

Under Section four, it reads there will be "development of a uniform screening standard and procedure" and suggests but does not mandate interviews, and thorough back-ground checks.

Legal experts argue this phrase could affect every foreign visitor to the US, including diplomats, corporate transfers, foreign employees and even tourists who are trying to visit Disney World.

"It would basically shut down tourism," Stephen Legomsky, the former chief counsel for US Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Obama administration, told Politico.

As stated in the order, the "mechanism" to determine if the visitor has "malicious intent" is not specified.

The section also requires that all visitors and immigrants would be a "positively contributing member of society", but again, this is left vague.

Anastasia Tonello, first vice president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said those two specifications struck her as odd.

"There are no criteria under the existing statute that you would have to be a positive contributing member to society, but they [the government] do have broad discretion and they can deny people without giving a reason," she told The Independent.

She added that she had been very worried about the lack of clarity around dual nationality, and that was only clarified this week that the ban would not apply there.

The US already heavily vets immigrants.

Syrian refugees, of which Mr Obama took in around 12,500 last year, underwent a process that lasted at least two years. No Syrian immigrant has been charged with the intent to, or has carried out, a terrorist attack on US soil in the last four decades, a report from the Cato Institute found.

The executive order has already come under fire for being rolled out hastily and poorly, with no guidance to airports and airlines who had to deal with incoming visitors and immigrants from the seven countries who were in the air when Mr Trump banned them from the US.

Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Show all 20 1 /20 Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-1 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-2 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-3 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 28: Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against a ban on Muslim immigration at San Francisco International Airport on January 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days, indefinitely suspends the entries of all Syrian refugees, as well as barring entries from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering for 90 days. Stephen Lam/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-5 A crowd of protesters gathers outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse as a judge hears a challenge against President Donald Trump's executive ban on immigration from several Muslim countries, on January 28, 2017 in Brooklyn. The judge issued an emergency stay on part of Trump's executive order, ruling that sending refugees stopped at U.S. airports back to their countries would be harmful. Yana Paskova/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-6 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-7 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-8 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-9 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-10 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-11 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-12 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-13 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-14 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-15 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-16 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-17 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-18 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-19 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-20 Passengers wait in line to check in at the American Airlines terminal at JFK International Airport August 10, 2006 in the Queens borough of New York City. British authorities arrested 21 people and halted a anallegedly terrorist plot to use liquid explosives concealed in carry-on luggage to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said that the plot appeared to be directed at U.S. carriers flying out of Heathrow. such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines. Stephen Chernin/Getty

Students, families and even officials were caught in the ban - an Iraqi translator who had worked for the US for years and whose family lived in the US was one of dozens who were placed in handcuffs when their flight landed.

In 2015, more than 10 million people travelled to the US on a visa, while tens of millions more came without one. Section four of the order calls for the secretary of state, secretary of homeland security, director of national intelligence and the director of the FBI to develop a "uniform procedure" for all of them.

A State Department official said: "Working closely with the Department of Homeland Security, we are implementing the Executive Order. We will announce any changes affecting travellers to the United States as soon as that information is available."

The government agencies are currently trying to navigate the ruling as to how it applies to the seven countries in the order - Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen.

They will now also have to deal with a lawsuit from Washingtons Attorney General Bob Ferguson, which judge James Robart ruled in favour of, which essentially blocks the Muslim ban nationwide.

"No one is above the law," Mr Ferguson said. "Not even the President."

The Justice Department quickly responded to say it would implement an emergency stay of the order, and Mr Trump said the ruling was "ridiculous".

Section four of the original order has not laid out a timeline for the new uniform procedure, but has asked the secretary of homeland security to submit three reports, within 60 days, 100 and 200 days, on the departments progress.

The executive order was also applied to visa and green card holders from the seven countries - an issue that Mr Trumps adviser Steve Bannon reportedly pushed for.

It could be an early indication of blanket procedures the new government wishes to adopt.
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Donald Trump has reacted angrily to the legal block of his ban on refugees and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries entering the US.

The President said the temporary suspension of his executive order, enacted by a federal judge in Seattle, could lead to "big trouble".

He branded James Robart, who issued the restraining order against the immigration restrictions, a "so-called judge" and promised the ruling would be overturned, claiming it "takes law enforcement away from our country".

Hours later, Mr Trump claimed the ruling would mean people with bad intentions could enter the US.

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US? he tweeted.

Critics swiftly replied that checks and balances on presidential power were part of America's constitution, and that extensive vetting procedures were already in place for visitors, immigrants and refugees.

Exactly an hour later, the President tweeted: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

Mr Trump's order, signed last week, suspended the US refugee programme for 120 days and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely.

 London protests against US President Donald Trump's travel ban

It also barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority "countries of concern" - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - from entering the US for 90 days.

The President the measures would keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the US but the excluded countries did not include Saudi Arabia and other nations from which attackers in the US have hailed.

It has sparked widespread chaos at airports and mass protests. The states of Washington and Minnesota sued the federal government over the travel ban, which Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said significantly harms residents and mandates discrimination.

Judge Robart ruled yesterday to immediately stop the ban nationwide after he found "no support" for government lawyers' claims the ban protects the US.

Within hours, government officials had told airlines to begin allowing previously barred passengers to fly, although confusion still reigned among many authorities, embassies and airlines.

Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately...puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order, said Mr Ferguson. "No one is above the law  not even the President."

The Justice Department said it would ask for an emergency stay to honour the President's executive order, initially describing the ruling as "outrageous" before omitting the word from a later statement.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in and out, especially for reasons of safety and security  big trouble!" Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

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He then added: "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

Former President George W Bush appointed Judge Robart in 2004 and he was confirmed to the Senate with 99 votes to none.

An internal email circulated among Homeland Security officials told employees to immediately comply with the judge's ruling. However, the US embassy in Baghdad said it was still awaiting guidance on what to tell Iraqis eager to see if their visa restrictions had changed.

We don't know what the effect will be, but we're working to get more information, the embassy told Associated Press.

Judge Robart's ruling could be appealed the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the President authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order, Judge Robart said it's not the court's job to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches, but rather, to make sure that actions taken by the executive or legislative branches "comports with our country's laws".

Court challenges of the ban have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups. Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said his state's focus is the way the President's order targets Islam.
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The White House has hit back after a judge temporarily blocked Donald Trump's controversial immigration ban, initially describing the ruling as outrageous before omitting the word from a later statement.

The Justice Department said it would ask for an emergency stay to honour Donald Trumps executive order to ban people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US, after District Judge James Robart ruled there was a strong chance that a legal challenge against the ban would succeed.

Judge Robart issued a temporary restraining order on a nationwide basis at a hearing in Seattle and ruled against government lawyers who claimed states did not have the standing to challenge Mr Trumps order.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are said to have told airlines they are allowed to board passengers who had been barred from entering the country, with the Justice Department not filing a motion immediately. Gulf carrier Qatar Airways said this morning that it would carry passengers from the seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees who had been banned under the order, according to a statement on the airline's website.

In his ruling Judge Robart said that federal defendants "and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from" enforcing the executive order.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer released a statement following the ruling saying the government "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

Soon after, a revised statement was released that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

Mr Trumps order bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the US refugee programme globally.

Washington and Minnesota were the first two states to sue over the order and Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and mandates discrimination.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," Mr Ferguson said.

"The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States."

The Trump administration has justified its actions on national security grounds, but opponents have labelled the order as unconstitutional as they belive it targets people based on religious beliefs.Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said there was an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to show Mr Trumps executive order was directed at the religion of Islam.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

The Judge asked the federal government lawyer, Michelle Bennett, if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties listed in Mr Trump's order since 9/11. Ms Bennet said she did not know.

"The answer is none. You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that," Judge Robart said.

For President Trump's order to be constitutional, Judge Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

In Dubai, Tariq Laham, 32, and his fiancee Natalia had scrapped plans to travel to the U.S. after their July wedding in Poland, where Natalia is from.

Mr Laham told Reuters the couple would not reverse their decision.

"It is just too risky," said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. "Everyday you wake up and there is a new decision."

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under litigation, said: "We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travellers to the United States as soon as that information is available."

The State Department said the order had cancelled up to 60,000 visas. That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer who during a court hearing in Virginia said 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The decision in Washington state came at the end of a day of furious legal activity around the country over the immigration ban. In Boston, US District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed scepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Mr Trump's order represented religious discrimination, before declining to extend the restraining order.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.
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The Department of Homeland Security has suspended all enforcement of the immigration ban signed into effect by President Donald Trump.

Immigrants will be once more be allowed into the US from the seven countries affected by the executive order last month: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia.

The move follows a nationwide locking of the executive order from federal judge James Robart in Washington  a move that has plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Mr Trumps authority, and ability to fulfil his promises.

The 60,000 or so visas that had been revoked will be handed back to their holders, the State Department announced.

A caveat applies to those whose visas had been physically stamped or taken away  they will have to reapply.

The dramatic move to suspend the enforcement of the ban comes just eight days after the executive order was signed by the President, which immediately instructed agencies and airports across the US to no longer allow nearly all travellers from the seven countries into the US.

The order prompted confusion for those travelling, massive protests around the country and at least four states and three large civil rights organisations filed lawsuits.

In Michigan, for example, a judge clarified the order to make sure the ban did not affect law-abiding, permanent residents of the US.

But it was in Seattle, Washington, that a lawsuit filed by state attorney general Bob Ferguson brought about a nationwide suspension of the ban.

 Seattle judge blocks Trumps immigration ban nationwide

Judge Robart ruled in favour of Mr Ferguson. No one is above the law, said Mr Ferguson. Not even the President.

It is not a done deal, however  the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court before a final decision is made. The White House is working to reinstate the ban and the Justice Department is expected to ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside Judge Roberts ruling so the ban could go back into effect.

Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Show all 20 1 /20 Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-1 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-2 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-3 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 28: Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against a ban on Muslim immigration at San Francisco International Airport on January 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days, indefinitely suspends the entries of all Syrian refugees, as well as barring entries from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering for 90 days. Stephen Lam/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-5 A crowd of protesters gathers outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse as a judge hears a challenge against President Donald Trump's executive ban on immigration from several Muslim countries, on January 28, 2017 in Brooklyn. The judge issued an emergency stay on part of Trump's executive order, ruling that sending refugees stopped at U.S. airports back to their countries would be harmful. Yana Paskova/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-6 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-7 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-8 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-9 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-10 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-11 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-12 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-13 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-14 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-15 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-16 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-17 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-18 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-19 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-20 Passengers wait in line to check in at the American Airlines terminal at JFK International Airport August 10, 2006 in the Queens borough of New York City. British authorities arrested 21 people and halted a anallegedly terrorist plot to use liquid explosives concealed in carry-on luggage to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said that the plot appeared to be directed at U.S. carriers flying out of Heathrow. such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines. Stephen Chernin/Getty

But Mr Trump made clear his thoughts on the ruling, calling the order from the so-called judge ridiculous.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned, Mr Trump tweeted. When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!

Mr Robart was sworn in with almost unanimous consent from the Senate under George W Bush.

That rhetoric could put government lawyers defending Mr Trumps order in a difficult position if a federal appeals court were to ask them about it.

Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a so-called judge, which you cant do, or they have to distance themselves from the President, who is their boss, University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman told the Associated Press.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said US-bound travellers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the US Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trumps executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Middle East airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its US destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quickly released a statement on Friday evening to say the Justice Department would enforce the emergency stay of the executive order at the earliest time possible.

He called the judge ruling outrageous but then, minutes later, edited out the word from the statement and said the government would adhere to the courts ruling until the Justice Department intervenes.

 Donald Trump fights back after judge blocks his travel ban

Mr Ferguson has in the past also filed lawsuits against former President Barack Obama, and insisted his lawsuit was not a partisan issue.

We are a nation of laws, he told CNN on Friday evening.

The executive order had sought to indefinitely suspend Syrian refugees, ban all travellers from the seven countries for 90 days and refugees for 120 days.

It also wanted to develop a uniform screening procedure for all immigrants from around the world, prompting legal experts to threaten this wording, if interpreted literally, could shut down all immigration and tourism.

Clarity on dual nationals was only given on Friday  the ban did not apply to them  and the ban caused chaos and confusion in Mexico and Canada.
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Donald Trump maintains direct ties to his corporate empire whilst he is President, according to new documents which show he is the sole beneficiary of a revocable trust run by his children and a longtime executive.

The Donald J Trump Revocable Trust is tied to the Presidents social security number as the taxpayer identification number, according to documents published by investigative nonprofit ProPublica. The trust is run by his two eldest sons and the Trump Organisation chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

The trust was last amended a few days before his Inauguration, and provisions can be changed or deleted by the trustees whenever they wish.

Recommended Ethics lawyers raise conflict of interest fears about Trump golf club

The trust holds an alcohol licence for the Trump Organisation's new hotel in the old Post Office in Washington DC. Yet a provision in that lease, signed in 2013, prohibits an elected official from benefiting from the federally owned building.

The White House could not be reached for comment.

The revocable trust contains cash from his diluted stock investments as well as physical real estate like his "winter White House", the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and branding rights.

The trust confirms what Mr Trump himself and his lawyer, Sheri Dillon, outlined at a press conference before his Inauguration on 11 January.

He said then that he was fully divesting from his businesses even though he could run the country and his businesses "perfectly" as President. At the press conference, he pointed to a large pile of papers to prove he was stepping away from his empire.

The papers were later discovered to be blank and were used as a prop for the speech.

 Trump's lawyer says he is 'completely isolating' himself from his business

He has already come under fire for using his new hotel in the capital to host and entertain a group of foreign diplomats, who could arguably be paying for a hotel room in order to get access to the President.

Previous ethics lawyers for Barack Obama and George W Bush filed a lawsuit alleging that the President had violated a constitutional ban on the White House leader profiting from foreign governments.

They argued he should have liquidated all his businesses and put the assets in a blind trust, and expressed concern that he had hired his son in law, Jared Kushner, as an adviser.

 Donald Trump points to business papers that appear to be blank

His sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, have appeared at the White House after the Inauguration. They were put in charge of managing the Trump Organisation while their father was in office.

Eric Trump also cost taxpayers close to $100,000 for security costs when he travelled to Uruguay for a business trip.

The Presidents cabinet picks adhere to stricter rules about their finances. His secretary of state Rex Tillerson was required to sell off his company shares and have a third party manage the cash.

Vincent Viola, the billionaire Wall Street trader and Mr Trumps pick for army secretary, pulled out of the running as he said it would be too difficult to divest from his business.

The top ranking Democrat in the bipartisan Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has repeatedly questioned the Presidents potential conflicts of interests and has pushed for an investigation. The chairman of the committee, Republican Jason Chaffetz, has instead been pushing to investigate Hillary Clinton's emails.

"This legal concoction from President Trumps lawyers does nothing to address his conflicts of interest or the breach of the lease for his hotel," said Mr Cummings in a statement.
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Legal battles are playing out across the US as opponents of President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations take their fight to the courtroom.

Hearings were held this week in a few of the cases.

The following looks at some of the court challenges:

VIRGINIA

A judge is allowing Virginia to join a lawsuit challenging the travel ban.

Friday's ruling by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema greatly expands the scope of the lawsuit, which was initially focused only on legal permanent residents, commonly called green-card holders. Judge Brinkema indicated a willingness to consider cases involving anyone who had been issued a visa and had it revoked.

A government lawyer in the case said more than 100,000 people have had visas revoked since the ban went into effect, but the State Department later said the number was close to 60,000. The higher figure included visas that were actually exempted by the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

MASSACHUSETTS

A federal judge in Boston has declined to extend a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump's travel ban.

US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton refused to renew an order prohibiting the detention or removal of persons as part of Trump's executive order on refugees and immigrants.

That means the seven-day, temporary injunction granted 29 January will expire as scheduled Sunday.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

HAWAII

Hawaii is suing the federal government to stop President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from seven majority Muslim countries.

Attorney General Doug Chin says Mr Trump's executive order keeps Hawaii families apart and keeps residents from travelling. He says it degrades values Hawaii has worked hard to protect.

Mr Chin says the order also will make foreign travellers feel unwelcome, which is a problem for Hawaii's tourism-powered economy.

Hawaii filed the lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu on Friday.

WASHINGTON

A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trumps executive order banning entry into the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries.

US District Judge James Robert, who was appointed by President George Bush in 2003, issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's restrictions, ruling that the ban would be immediately stopped nationwide.

Minnesota has joined Washington state in seeking a temporary restraining order.

NEW YORK

A Brooklyn judge on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order to 21 February, but the Justice Department said it will ask for the case to be thrown out.

US District Judge Carol Amon's ruling extended a stay that had been issued Saturday by a different judge and would have expired on 11 February. Judge Amon extended the order to give more time the government and civil liberties organisations to file paperwork.

 Donald Trump fights back after judge blocks his travel ban

MICHIGAN

A federal judge in Detroit says US green-card holders shouldn't be affected by the order.

The Arab-American Civil Rights League argued in a suit filed this week in Detroit's US District Court that the executive action is unconstitutional and targets immigrant communities.

A restraining order released Friday from US District Judge Victoria Roberts covers legal permanent residents, not some others that also are part of the lawsuit. She says lawyers for the government clarified to her that the ban doesn't apply to "lawful" permanent residents.

CALIFORNIA

Three California university students are challenging the ban. Their federal suit, filed Thursday in San Francisco, says the ban is unconstitutional and has created hardships for the students.

It alleges that a freshman at Stanford University now can't visit her husband in Yemen; another Yemeni at San Diego's Grossmont College can't resume studies there; and an unidentified University of California Berkeley doctoral candidate from Iran fears losing a job opportunity.

Associated Press
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Donald Trump has rolled-back Wall Street reforms because his friends are not able to borrow money.

The President has removed Dodd-Frank, the regulatory framework introduced by Barack Obama in 2010 to avoid another financial crisis.

Dodd-Frank requires banks to comply with rules that protect investors and consumers from excessive risk and abusive practices.

I have so many people, friends of mine, that have nice businesses, they cant borrow money, Mr Trump said.

They just cant get any money because the banks just wont let them borrow because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.

Mr Trump has also scrapped the fiduciary rule , which protects retirees by forcing advisers and brokers to work in the best interests of their clients.

We think it is a bad rule. It is a bad rule for consumers. This is like putting only healthy food on the menu, because unhealthy food tastes good but you still shouldnt eat it because you might die younger, Gary Cohn, the White House National Economic Council Director said about the fiduciary rule, Vanity Fair reported.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Before taking his role at the White House, Mr Cohn was the president and chief operating officer at Goldman Sachs.

In a 2015 speech at the Jack Welch College of Business, he said it felt like he was in Congress every other week, trying to convince them to repeal regulations.
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The US has called Iran the "worlds biggest sponsor of terrorism" amid heightening tensions between the two countries.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis made the comment the day after Donald Trumps government imposed new sanctions on Iran in response to it testing a ballistic missile.

Irans state media said the Revolutionary Guards were testing out their missile systems, radars, command centres and cyber warfare systems in a show of defiance.

"We are working day and night for the security of the Iranian nation," said Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' air force.

Mr Mattis did not say he thought there should be more US troops in the Middle East to deal with Iran, however.

He was speaking after the US imposed new sanctions on the country, comprising of restrictions on 13 individuals and 12 companies, the first time since former President Barack Obama lifted crippling economic sanctions from the country in 2015.

 Michael Flynn: We're officially putting Iran on notice

In Japan at the time, Mr Mattis signalled that the US would take a tough stance on Iran compared to Mr Trumps predecessor.

"As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," he said.

"We have seen their [Iran's] misconduct, their misbehaviour, from Lebanon and Syria to Bahrain and to Yemen and it's got to be addressed at some point," he added.

Iran denied that its missile test had violated the 2015 deal with Mr Obama, underpinned by a UN Security Council resolution, and instead accused the US of violating the agreement with a fresh round of sanctions.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded that Iran was "unmoved" by the US threats.

"We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence," Mr Zarif wrote on twitter.

Iran then imposed its own sanctions against the US, targeting people and companies who were "involved in creating and supporting extremist terrorist groups or are helping in the killing and oppression of defenseless people".

It also announced it had banned the US wrestling team from entering the country to compete.

Mr Trump has consistently called Mr Obamas nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 as a disaster and vowed to rip it up when he got into office.

He tweeted that Mr Obama had been "kind" to Iran and they were not appreciative of that.

Iran was one of the seven nations affected by an executive order, signed by Mr Trump, to ban almost all travellers from the country and six other Muslim-majority nations.

The order has been thrown into jeopardy after a Washington federal judge ordered a nationwide ban on the order, which he said was unconstitutional.

Agencies contributed to this report.
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A four-month-old girl with a serious heart condition was granted an emergency waiver late Friday after she was denied a flight to the United States thanks to Donald Trumps travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries.

This evening we were pleased to learn that the federal government has now granted Fatemeh Reshad and her family boarding documents to come to the United States, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Friday, adding that a law firm would fund the family's travel to the states and that doctors at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital had offered to perform the surgery pro-bono.

Bizarrely, the federal ban would prevent this child from receiving medical care and literally endanger her life, he continued. It is repugnant to all we believe as Americans and as members of the human family.

Prior to the announcement, Fatemehs parents were scheduled to meet with paramedics in Portland, Oregon but were prohibited from entering the country from Tehran.

For getting the visa, they ask for a lot of the paperwork, the infants uncle, Samad Teghizadeh, told told KPTV news. You have to do many things, you know. For three weeks we [were] working for every single thing they wanted.

Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Show all 20 1 /20 Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-1 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-2 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-3 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 28: Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against a ban on Muslim immigration at San Francisco International Airport on January 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days, indefinitely suspends the entries of all Syrian refugees, as well as barring entries from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering for 90 days. Stephen Lam/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-5 A crowd of protesters gathers outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse as a judge hears a challenge against President Donald Trump's executive ban on immigration from several Muslim countries, on January 28, 2017 in Brooklyn. The judge issued an emergency stay on part of Trump's executive order, ruling that sending refugees stopped at U.S. airports back to their countries would be harmful. Yana Paskova/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-6 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-7 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-8 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-9 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-10 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-11 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-12 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-13 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-14 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-15 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-16 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-17 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-18 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-19 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-20 Passengers wait in line to check in at the American Airlines terminal at JFK International Airport August 10, 2006 in the Queens borough of New York City. British authorities arrested 21 people and halted a anallegedly terrorist plot to use liquid explosives concealed in carry-on luggage to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said that the plot appeared to be directed at U.S. carriers flying out of Heathrow. such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines. Stephen Chernin/Getty

Its like a nightmare, he continued. All the paper, everything was ready, and just in the last minute they canceled everything.

In response to her story, congressional Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson requesting the waiter for the infant and her parents.

The four-month-old has two holes in her heart and a twisted artery which requires immediate surgery. The familys attorney told the Guardian that theres a 20-30 percent chance of success with surgery in Iran and theres a 97 percent chance of success in the states.
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Donald Trump has failed to give a statement in one week about the white man who burst into a mosque in Quebec and shot dead six Muslims.

The man charged with carrying out the attack is French-Canadian Alexandre Bissonnette, a 27-year-old white student who supported Mr Trump and far-right French politician Marine Le Pen.

Mr Trump has not tweeted about or provided a statement on the shooting which rocked Canada and the world.

The President instead tweeted that the US needs to "get smart" following reports that a man armed with a two knives and a suitcase lunged at a French solider in the underground shopping area of the Louvre Museum in Paris, shouting "God is great" in Arabic.

The attacker is 29 years old and believed to be an Egyptian who arrived in France last month from Dubai on a visa he obtained last November, according to the Paris prosecutor. Another soldier received a minor injury but no one was seriously injured or killed during the incident.

None of these three aforementioned countries were included in Mr Trump's travel ban.

In Quebec, Bissonnette was charged with six counts of murder. He was also accused of injuring at least 17 others, five critically.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly denounced the attack, calling it an "attack on Muslims".

"We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge," Mr Trudeau said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Fox News was forced to delete a "false and misleading" tweet that claimed the suspect in the attack was of Moroccan origin, following a call from the Mr Trudeaus office for the network to remove the post.

Mr Trumps so-called Muslim ban, which barred nearly all travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, was temporarily overturned by Washington federal judge James Robart, who said the executive order was unconstitutional.

 Donald Trump fights back after judge blocks his travel ban

Following the nationwide ban imposed by the federal court, airports were advised to act as if Mr Trump's executive order "had never existed" and operations were back to "business as usual".

Around 60,000 revoked visas would be re-instated, according to the state department.

Mr Trump tweeted that the "so-called" judges ruling was "ridiculous" and vowed for it to be overturned.

He also sent out several tweets saying the US needed to keep "evil" out of the country, and the ban was to prevent "bad people" from coming in.

The targeted countries in the executive order had not produced terrorists that had carried out attacks on US soil for years, and Syria had not produced any immigrant to the US who had been charged with the intent to carry out such an attack in more than four decades, according to a report from the Cato Institute.

In justifying the ban to protect national security, Mr Trumps former campaign manager and current counsel to the President, Kellyanne Conway, was criticised for mentioning the Bowling Green "massacre" in Kentucky which did not happen.

She alter clarified she had meant to say the Bowling Green "terrorists". Two Iraqi citizens were arrested in 2011 and sentenced to federal prison for trying to send money and weapons to al-Qaeda to kill US soldiers.

As a result the Obama administration implemented more thorough background checks on Iraqi refugees, which meant a big slowdown in the number of people from Iraq entering the country. Mr Obama did not carry out a "ban" on Iraq immigration in 2011, as has been previously reported.

The American Civil Liberties Union created a website called the "Bowling Green Massacre Victims Fund", which re-directed to their own donations page.

Mr Trump vowed that the Justice Department would enforce an emergency stay on the executive order which was signed last Friday, two days before the Quebec shooting.
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A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trumps executive order banning entry into the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries.

US District Judge James Robart, who was appointed by President George Bush in 2003, issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's restrictions, ruling that the ban would be immediately stopped nationwide.

Within hours of the ruling, US Customs and Border Protection officials told major American airlines on a conference call to begin allowing previously barred passengers on US-bound flights. However, the White House issued a statement late Friday announcing that the Department of Justice would file an emergency halt of judge's order. Before sending a second, revised statement to the media, the White House called the judge's ruling "outrageous."

While the federal government argues that the ban protects the country from these countries, Judge Robart said he found no support for those claims.

This ruling is another stinging rejection of President Trumps unconstitutional Muslim ban," Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project, said in a statement. "We will keep fighting to permanently dismantle this un-American executive order.

In Attorney Fergusons 90-page lawsuit, he claims the Trump administration is violating the Constitutions protections for religious freedom. The state of Minnesota has also joined the state of Washingtons lawsuit which is backed by major companies including Amazon, Expedia, and several institutions of higher-education.

New York and Virginia have also taken legal action against the president.

Reacting to the complaint, White House attorneys issued a response brief, claiming that Washington state is unable to challenge the President and his intentions.

Every President over the last 30 years has invoked this authority to suspend or impose restrictions on the entry of certain aliens or classes of aliens, in some instances including classifications based on nationality, the brief reads, according to the Seattle Times. The brief also claims that foreign nationals do not have the constitutional right to enter the country.

Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Show all 20 1 /20 Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-1 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-2 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-3 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 28: Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against a ban on Muslim immigration at San Francisco International Airport on January 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days, indefinitely suspends the entries of all Syrian refugees, as well as barring entries from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering for 90 days. Stephen Lam/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-5 A crowd of protesters gathers outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse as a judge hears a challenge against President Donald Trump's executive ban on immigration from several Muslim countries, on January 28, 2017 in Brooklyn. The judge issued an emergency stay on part of Trump's executive order, ruling that sending refugees stopped at U.S. airports back to their countries would be harmful. Yana Paskova/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-6 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-7 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-8 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-9 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-10 Getty Images Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-11 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-12 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-13 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-14 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-15 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-16 Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump signed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-17 NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-18 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-19 Protestors rally during a protest against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. President Trump singed the controversial executive order that halted refugees and residents from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Stephanie Keith/Getty Protestors rally at JFK Airport against Muslim immigration ban jfk-protest-muslim-ban-20 Passengers wait in line to check in at the American Airlines terminal at JFK International Airport August 10, 2006 in the Queens borough of New York City. British authorities arrested 21 people and halted a anallegedly terrorist plot to use liquid explosives concealed in carry-on luggage to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said that the plot appeared to be directed at U.S. carriers flying out of Heathrow. such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines. Stephen Chernin/Getty

Attorney Ferguson filed his lawsuit on Monday, promising to continue his fight against the ban.

I want to be very clear, what the judge announced today was nationwide the presidents executive order does not apply, he told reporters on Friday.

President Trumps order banned immigration for 90 days from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also halted the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely along with all other refugees for 120 days, sparking confusion and outrage resulting in mass protests across the states.

"We only challenged the parts that are actually affecting people immediately, which are the parts about refugees and the parts about targeting these seven countries, Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell told reporters, the parts that have getting so much attention and have been causing such immediate harm to people, stranding them oversees and such, are enjoined right away."

Earlier in the day, State Department officials announced that fewer than 60,000 visas had been revoked under the travel ban. The officials revealed the number after a government lawyer in a Virginia courthouse claimed that 100,000 visas had been rescinded.
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After a turbulent start to Donald Trumps presidency, which has seen millions of Americans take to the streets, Republican states are introducing a number of anti-protest laws.

Some of the bills were registered before Mr Trumps inauguration, as a response to mass protests organised by Black Lives Matter and at Standing Rock.

However, the laws have come under fresh scrutiny after mass protests against the Mr Trump administration, including the Women's March, which may have been the largest demonstration in US history.

At least 10 new bills which aim to curb the right to protest have been filed by state legislatures in recent months.

In North Dakota, where a protest camp has been established for months on the proposed site of the North Dakota Access pipeline, legislators recently introduced a bill which would allow motorists to run over and kill a protester, so long as the driver did not intend to kill them.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

If you stay off the roadway, this would never be an issue, State Representative Keith Kempenich told local media. Those motorists are going about the lawful, legal exercise of their right to drive down the road.

Minnesota and Iowa have also introduced laws targeted at protesters who hold up traffic.

 Anti-Trump protesters gather in downtown Washington

Iowa is officially looking to criminalise the act of stopping traffic during protests, introducing a maximum penalty of five years in prison, plus a fine of up to $7,500.

In Minnesota, a Republican-led House committee passed a measure last week that would allow local governments to sue convicted protestors for the costs of law enforcement and security associated with demonstrations.

Next week, a North Carolina state senator will propose a bill which would make it a criminal offence to threaten, intimidate, or retaliate against a present or former North Carolina official in the course of, or on account of, the performance of his or her duties.

The bill comes after former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory was followed and shouted at by protesters while attending President Trumps inauguration celebrations.

Civil liberties organisations across America have expressed concern that these laws violate the First Amendment, which guarantees American citizens freedom of speech, as well as the right to peacably assemble.

A senior member of the American Civil Liberties Union told Bloomberg: Ive been monitoring free speech legislation for about a dozen years now, and Ive never seen anti-protest legislation in the states anywhere near as large as were seeing this year,

President Trumps position on the right to protest is not clear. However, Mr Trump has previously described protests in DC on his inauguration day unfair, and more recently tweeted his anger after far-right commentator Milo Yanopolous was forced to cancel his talk at UC Berkeley when protests turned violent.
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Sermons at Catholic churches across the Philippines this weekend will denounce President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs for creating a reign of terror among the poor.

Priests will read out a letter signed by the countrys bishops that says killing people is not the answer to trafficking of illegal drugs, voicing concern about the indifference shown by many to the bloodshed.

More than 7,600 deaths have been linked to Mr Dutertes extreme crackdown on drug dealers and users since he became President last June. Around 2,500 of these took place in shootouts during raids and sting operations, police said.

The letter from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said: An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor, according to Reuters.

Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account.

Both the government and police have strenuously denied that extrajudicial killings have taken place during the campaigns. The Presidents office offered no immediate comment on the bishops letter.

 Rodrigo Duterte says he 'doesn't give a s*** about human rights' as 3,500 killed in war on drugs

The address, which will begin to be made at Mass services this evening, will not mention Mr Duterte by name, but will urge elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests and call for steps to tackle rogue policemen and corrupt judges.

Nearly 80 per cent of the Philippines 100 million people are Catholic and the majority still practise their faith with enthusiasm.

While that support has historically given the Church significant political and social clout, it has been hesitant to criticise the outspoken Presidents current war on drugs.

In interviews last year, more than a dozen clergymen said they were uncertain how to take a stand against the killings given the popular support Mr Dutertes campaign enjoyed. Some said challenging him could be fraught with danger.

But in a recent speech, Broderick Pabillo, the Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, urged Catholics to speak out against the bloodshed.

Can we now keep our mouths shut when more than 6,000 of our poor people are being killed on the mere pretext of drug trafficking? he said, reported Rappler.

Mr Duterte has routinely attacked the Church. He cursed the Pope for causing traffic snarl-ups during his 2015 visit, and as recently as this week called for a showdown with priests whom he has accused of having wives, engaging in homosexual acts, misusing state funds and molesting children.

In an apparent reference to accusations that many drug pushers and users have been victims of extra-judicial killings, the bishops said in their pastoral letter every person has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and the law should be followed.

The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Show all 9 1 /9 The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On killing drug addicts These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Message to China I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, Kill me  AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Christmas message to law-breakers If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On sex life I was separated from my wife. Im not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On the drugs trade None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, kill him'" AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting the Pope We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Joke about rape I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first AFP/Getty The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting Barack Obama "Mr Obama should be respectful and refrain from throwing questions at me about the killings, or son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum" REUTERS The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants "If I have to face them, you know I can eat humans. I will really open up your body. Just give me vinegar and salt, and I will eat you. If you annoy me to the fullest... I will eat you alive. Raw" EPA

We must also give priority to reforming rogue policemen and corrupt judges, the letter said. We also call upon elected politicians to serve the common good of the people and not their own interests.

The bishops letter comes less than a week after Duterte suspended all police operations in the drug crackdown due to what he said was deep-rooted corruption.

He has put an anti-drugs agency in charge of the campaign and says he wants the armed forces to play a supportive role.

Additional reporting from Reuters
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The EU should offer Britain a reasonable Brexit deal because financial services offered by the City of London benefit Europe as a whole, Germanys Finance Minister has said.

Wolfgang Schaeuble told German newspaper Tagesspiegel Londons financial centre serves the whole European economy, so it was preferable to keep Britain close to us.

We don't want to punish the British for their decision, he said, in comments released before the interview is published in full tomorrow.

London offers a quality of financial services that are not to be found on the continent. That would change a bit after a separation, but we have to find reasonable rules here with Britain.

Theresa May is due to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, after Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing the Prime Minister to launch formal divorce talks with the EU.

Currently, banks, insurers, asset managers use an EU passport allowing them to operate across the 28-nation bloc from a base in Britain.

Wolfgang Schaeuble (Getty)

EU leaders say access to the single market can only be granted in return for accepting the free movement of EU citizens and complying with rulings from the bloc's top court, both of which are unacceptable to many of those who voted for Brexit.

Alternatives to passporting mainly include third-country regimes, whereby the EU allows British financial firms to serve continental customers on condition they abide by rules similar to those inside the Union.

Mr Schaeuble, 74, has been Finance Minister of Angela Merkels leading Christian Democratic Union party since 2009.

How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Show all 8 1 /8 How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Weetabix Chief executive of Weetabix Giles Turrell has warned that the price of one of the nations favourite breakfast are likely to go up this year by low-single digits in percentage terms. Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Nescafe The cost of a 100g jar of Nescafe Original at Sainsburys has gone up 40p from 2.75 to 3.15  a 14 per cent risesince the Brexit vote. PA How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Freddo When contacted by The Independent this month, a Mondelez spokesperson declined to discuss specific brands but confirmed that there would be "selective" price increases across its range despite the American multi-national confectionery giant reporting profits of $548m (450m) in its last three-month financial period. Mondelez, which bought Cadbury in 2010, said rising commodity costs combined with the slump in the value of the pound had made its products more expensive to make. Cadbury How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Mr Kipling cakes Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling and Bisto gravy, said that it was considering price rises on a case-by-case basis Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Walkers Crisps Walkers, owned by US giant PepsiCo, said "the weakened value of the pound" is affecting the import cost of some of its materials. A Walkers spokesman told the Press Association that a 32g standard bag was set to increase from 50p to 55p, and the larger grab bag from 75p to 80p. Getty How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Marmite Tesco removed Marmite and other Unilever household brand from its website last October, after the manufacturer tried to raise its prices by about 10 per cent owing to sterlings slump. Tesco and Unilever resolved their argument, but the price of Marmite has increased in UK supermarkets with the grocer reporting a 250g jar of Marmite will now cost Morrisons customers 2.64 - an increase of 12.5 per cent. Rex How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Toblerone Toblerone came under fire in November after it increased the space between the distinctive triangles of its bars. Mondelez International, the company which makes the product, said the change was made due to price rises in recent months. Pixabay How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Maltesers Maltesers, billed as the lighter way to enjoy chocolate, have also shrunk in size. Mars, which owns the brand, has reduced its pouch weight by 15 per cent. Mars said rising costs mean it had to make the unenviable decision between increasing its prices or reducing the weight of its Malteser packs. iStockphoto

The UK is home to 80 per cent of the highest-paid financiers in the EU, according to the European Banking Authority.

More than 4,000 EU bankers, fund managers and compliance experts in the UK earned over 1m (864,000) in 2015  nearly a third more people than the previous year.
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The father of the man accused of attempting to carry out a terror attack on the Louvre museum in Paris has denied he belonged to any Islamist groups.

Abdallah el-Hamahmy, 29, was shot four times by soldiers after attacking one of them with a machete when he was denied entrance to the shopping centre next to the famed gallery on Friday morning.

The Egyptian national, who arrived in Paris last week on a tourist visa issued in Dubai, is currently in hospital but his condition is no longer being described as life-threatening.

 Soldier shoots 'attacker' outside Louvre museum in Paris

One soldier suffered minor injuries to his scalp.

Francois Hollande, the French President, said there was no doubt al-Hamahmy intended to carry out a terror attack.

Parisian police said he had been carrying a bag with a second machete and spray cans filled with paint but no explosives.

His father said el-Hamahmy, who had no criminal record or known links to extremist organisations, was a very normal young man.

Reda el-Hamahmy said he was shocked to learn of his sons involvement in the attack and found out the news from Facebook.

He told Reuters: "Is he alive? Is he dead? Was it really him?.

"For them to say in the end that he is a terrorist is nonsense... this is a cover up so they don't have to apologise or justify the acts of this soldier who used brute force with a poor young man of 29.

The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism Show all 10 1 /10 The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 10: Greece AP The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 9: Denmark Shutterstock The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 8: Austalia Getty Images The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 7: Sweden Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 6: Mexico Reuters The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 5: Germany Anthony Faiola/The Washington Post The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 4: Israel AP The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 3: US Getty The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 2: France Getty The 10 developed countries suffering the most deaths from terrorism 1: Turkey AP

"I find it incomprehensible that a young man on his way to commit a terrorist act only has a knife with him. If you tell me he had a gun, a rifle, then yes, I'd believe you, but I don't know... all we want is the truth,"

According to his father, el-Hamahmy, who is married with a seven month-old child, had been visiting Paris on a business trip from his home in the United Arab Emirates and had told his family that he planned to take in the sights before his return to Dubai.

He had sent his father a photo of himself standing in front of the Eiffel Tower shortly before the attempted attack on the Louvre.

Following the attack his brother Ahmed, who works at the health ministry in Dubai, was interrogated for several hours by UAE security officials.

Meanwhile in Egypt, several domestic security agency officers visited the family home in the Nile Delta on Friday night to question family members.

According to police el-Hamahmy had paid 1,700 (1,462) for a one-week stay at a Paris apartment in the upmarket eighth arrondissement near the Champs-Elysees. While in the capital he bought the two military machetes at a gun store.

On the Twitter account of an "Abdallah el-Hamahmy," a tweet was posted about a trip from Dubai to Paris on 26 January. In the profile photo, al-Hamahmy is seen smiling and leaning against a wall in a blue-and-white jacket.

In another tweet in Arabic written shortly before the Louvre attack, the account posted: "No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war."

Additional reporting by agencies
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From the centre of this beleaguered eastern Ukrainian town, air bursts from exploding shells could be seen just a few hundred yards away, and the sound of intense outgoing and incoming rounds echoed from several directions.

This is the worst fighting we've seen in Ukraine since 2014 and early 2015, said a visibly upset Alexander Hug, head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europes monitoring mission in Ukraine, who was standing near a makeshift humanitarian aid station where shrapnel had collapsed a tent overnight. The town has been bombarded relentlessly every night this week in the latest flare-up of hostilities between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces.

According to Hug, both sides are making use of heavy weapons such as the multiple-launch Grad missile system, and they are doing so in plain sight of OSCE observers. Grads, along with 152mm and 122mm artillery, were banned under the Minsk II agreement, which was signed two years ago after the catastrophic battle of Debaltseve.

In the town of Avdiivka, whose pre-war population of 35,000 has been reduced to an estimated 15,000 to 20,000, residents who have elected to stay voiced utter dismay on Friday.

I have to sleep in my bathroom. They're going to kill me in my bathroom, shouted 72-year-old Liliana Nikolaina, who had gathered with other women near another makeshift aid station, set up in a low-rise building next to a set of apartment blocks a few minutes walk from where Hug spoke. I can't believe it's happening again.

This is the fourth year of war, said Vera, 56, who declined to give her last name. Were all Ukrainians, were for a united Ukraine, and we just want this war to finally stop. Tell Poroshenko to find a way to end this, she said  referring to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko  before bursting into tears.

While the fighting has been largely kept to the outskirts of Avdiivka during the day, the nighttime has been hellish for residents. Shells have landed indiscriminately throughout the town, and civilian casualties are racking up. Some residents are still without power or heat lost during the fighting, and most are relying on humanitarian aid boxes for food, bedding, candles and other supplies.

Overnight, a shell landed outside the aid station where the women had gathered on Friday. A 25-year-old rescue worker was killed in the blast when shrapnel riddled the ambulance he was sitting in. Hours later, blood and matter were still visible in the front seat of the vehicle.

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

Authorities reported that another woman was killed overnight, and the Ukrainian military reported that three of their soldiers were killed as well.

An apartment block on the edge of town was also shelled, and the fourth-floor apartment of 70-year-old Anatoliy Nikolaevich and his wife, Elena, took a direct hit from a 122mm shell.

Everything is destroyed, Anatoliy said as he stood amid the remnants of his home. It was so beautiful, and now look at this, its all gone.

He and his wife had been sleeping in their daughters first-floor apartment when the shell landed.

Several hundred feet away, another mid-rise apartment building was also struck overnight. The top-floor apartment was destroyed, and shrapnel from the blast ripped through the one below it, where British photographer Christopher Nunn was conducting an interview. The woman Nunn was interviewing died in the blast, and he suffered shrapnel wounds to his face and eyes.

Tetiana Gruba, a Dnipropetrovsk regional war adviser, said doctors in the city of Dnipro, where Nunn was evacuated, had saved his eyesight but were unsure how well he will be able to see.

A Ukrainian commander, Yevhen Deydey, 25, said he expects the escalation of hostilities to continue.

He said his troops had received text messages as part of a psychological warfare effort mounted by the separatists. Among them were messages that read: Theyll find your body when the snow melts; You're just meat to your commanders; and Youre like Germans at Stalingrad.

Although residents in town say theyre hopeful that a ceasefire can be negotiated, they are bracing for the worst. Most are once again spending their nights in basements.

 Washington Post
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A commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said the country would use missiles to defend itself from its "enemies".

It followed hostile rhetoric from US President Donald Trump, after he said on Twitter that Iran was "playing with fire" and announced fresh sanctions on the country.

Head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told Tasnim news agency: "We are working day and night to protect Iran's security.

 Michael Flynn: We're officially putting Iran on notice

"If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads."

Iran responded to the new US sanctions - imposed because of the test firing of a ballistic missile - by announcing another military exercise using its missile and radar systems.

The Revolutionary Guards Sepahnews website said that the aim of the military exercise in Semnan province, central Iran, was to "showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions."

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

Iranian state news agencies reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems will be tested in the drill.

The country also announced sanctions of its own against the US.

Although tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said he was not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Iran's "misbehaviour", but warned that the world would not ignore the country's activities.

As for Mr Trump's comments that "nothing is off the table" in dealing with Tehran, the commander of Iran's ground forces said that the country has been hearing such threats since its 1979 revolution.

"The defence capability and the offensive prowess of Iran's armed forces would make America or any other enemy regretful of any incursion," Ahmad Reza Pourdastan was quoted as saying by ISNA.
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A scientist who worked for a Belgian university has been sentenced to death in Iran on suspicion of espionage.

Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian national and professor of disaster medicine at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), was arrested in April 2016 while visiting family in the country.

He is due to be executed in two weeks, according to VUB.

Dr Djalalis family and colleagues kept news of the arrest quiet in an attempt to avoid worsening the situation but have spoken out following the issuance of the death penalty.

 Women arrested for riding motorbikes in Iran

The VUB announced the news on their website, claiming Dr Djalali had not had a trial or seen a lawyer.

The universitys rector, Caroline Pauwels, said: A scientist performing important humanitarian work, gets sentenced without public trial and is looking at the death penalty.

This is an outrageous violation of universal human rights, against which we should react decisively.

Head of the VUB's Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Ives Hubloue, told Science: "He's not interested in politics. We don't believe he would do anything at all (against the Iranian government).

"We don't believe he did anything wrong. Let him go. Let him do his work. We need him."

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

Mr Hubloue told the publication he believed Dr Djalalis arrest was related to his international contacts at the university, some of whom are from countries hostile to Iran, such as Israel. But he maintained the contacts were solely scientific.

A petition was launched urging clemency for Dr Djalali and has been signed by more than 40,000 people. It claims Dr Djalali had previously travelled to Iran without any issues.

In custody, Dr Djalali conducted three hunger strikes, according to the petition, which have cost him his health and 20kg in bodyweight.

He was forced to sign a confession to an unknown offence, the petition said.

The Iranian embassy in London was unable to be contacted for comment by The Independent.
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The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US, have declared a new offensive to capture Raqqa from Isis, according to Reuters.

The city has become the de-facto capital of the extremist group.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement the action was being undertaken with increasing support from the (US-led) international coalition forces through guaranteeing air cover for our forces advances, or via the help provided by their special teams to our forces on the battle ground.

The SDF are attempting to encircle the city and cut off supply lines to Isis.

US President Donald Trump reportedly scrapped existing plans for recapturing Raqqa, drawn up by the Obama administration, earlier this week.

It is unknown if the offensive has been influenced by the change in White House policy.

The city was captured by Isis in 2014 and is their last major urban stronghold in Syria.

In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Isis' weapons factories In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A mortar round fin manufactured by Isis in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis rocket components discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, Iraq in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortars discovered near Karamlais, Iraq, in November 2016 CAR In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis rocket launch frame in Qaraqosh, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A memo from Isis' COSQC on quality control at a manufacturing facility in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Electrically-operated initiators manufactured by Isis in forces Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortar tubes at a manufacturing facility in Karamlais, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis mortar production facility discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis weapons manufacturing facilities near Mosul in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Stocks of French-manufactured Sorbitol, Latvian potassium nitrate and Lebanese sugar at an Isis weapons factory in Iraq Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A destroyed Isis weapons facility in Qaraqosh, Iraq, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research

A confrontation has been drawing closer in recent weeks, with nearby fighting becoming more frequent as the SDF have been closing in.

In addition, US-led coalition aircraft destroyed the main water pipeline supplying the city, as well as two bridges, though the water supply was later repaired by Isis.

The SDF offensive began in November 2016, and a month later the US announced it would be sending 200 additional troops to support the fight.
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Indian Ocean sunrises, turquoise waters, a 2,500km coastline and a fascinating cultural scene: all this and more awaits in Mozambique, one of southern Africa's least visited destinations. Here, in this long land running from South Africa in the south up to Tanzania in the north, the African bush fuses with Mediterranean flair (this was once Portuguese East Africa), humpback whales migrate up the coast while lions and buffalos roam the interior.

Despite all that Mozambique has to offer, its vibrant present is often overshadowed by its darker past. From Vasco da Gama's first foray in 1498 to independence in 1975, much of the country was under the loose control of the Portuguese, who left their mark on its language, cuisine and culture.

Following a hard-fought independence war and a brief and economically disastrous flirtation with socialism, Mozambique almost immediately fell into a protracted guerrilla war fuelled largely by external sources. Only since the 1993 peace accords have Mozambicans had the stability, peace and massive influxes of foreign aid needed to rebuild their country.

Over the past decade, things have really taken off. New developments are most noticeable in the national capital, Maputo, which is in Mozambique's far south and is economically welded to neighbouring South Africa. Mozambique's north is in many ways a different land, with vast tracts of dense bush in the interior, and idyllic islands scattered along the coast.

Because of Mozambique's size  almost four times that of the UK  it is best to focus on either the south or the north. Southern Mozambique's climate is ideal almost year round, apart from January, which can get very hot, and March to May, when there is usually lots of rain. In the north, the main rains fall from about February through April, and temperatures are somewhat higher than in the south.

For most visitors, the first port of call is Maputo, a striking and unexpectedly pleasant capital city. Long, wide avenues lined by flame and jacaranda trees flow down into the lively low-lying Baixa commercial area. Swanky villas overlook the blue expanses of Maputo Bay and Portuguese-style pavement cafes offer respite from the streetside bustle. Meanwhile an ever-growing array of restaurants serve seafood platters, spicy samosas and sizzling steaks. Painted "laranjinha" tuk-tuks wait outside the landmark Hotel Cardoso (00 258 21 491071; hotelcardoso.co.mz), on the edge of the busy central area, to take you from sight to sight (from about US$6/4 for a short trip). The hotel has doubles from US$280 (187).

Exploring on foot is also feasible. But whatever your mode of transport, don't miss Maputo's elegant early 20th-century train station on Praca dos Trabalhadores. Waiting for the badly dilapidated train isn't worth your time (there are just a handful of mostly local runs), but the building  with its wrought-iron lattice work and a dome that was designed by an associate of Gustave Eiffel  is an architectural masterpiece. Nearby is an imposing fortress, known locally as the Fortaleza, that harks back to the Portuguese colonial era.

Another highlight is the National Museum of Art (00 258 21 320264; admission 1) at 1233 Avenida Ho Chi Minh, with an eclectic collection of works by contemporary Mozambican artists. The chaotic Mercado Municipal on Avenida 25 de Setembro, open from about 8am until 6pm daily, makes an enjoyable detour, overflowing with piles of tropical fruits and spices. For respite from the market's noise and crowds, duck into one of the small, dark shops opposite, with their colourful batiks and capulanas (cloth wraps worn by many Mozambican women). Finish exploring with a leisurely drive along the breezy seaside Avenida Marginal. En route are several restaurants where you can savour a heaping plate of grilled prawns and beachside views.

Maputo's nightlife, permeated by a satisfying fusion of Latin rhythms and African beats, is renowned, although things don't get started until close to midnight. The Franco-Mocambicano Cultural Centre (00 258 21 314590; ccfmoz.com) at 468 Avenida Samora Machel is a good venue for an earlier start, with performances of traditional and modern Mozambican music.

When bedtime calls, Polana Serena Hotel (00 258 21 491001; serena hotels.com/serenapolana), which has graced the city's skyline since the 1920s, has doubles from US$250 (167), including breakfast.

After all this activity, it's time to head out of Maputo to the Bazaruto archipelago  a national marine park reached via a 45-minute flight up the coast  for some relaxation.

The turquoise waters surrounding the archipelago abound with marine life. The largest island, 35km-long Bazaruto, and the somewhat smaller Benguerra are home to a handful of comfortable lodges where you can spend your days listening to the rustling of palm trees or swimming and snorkelling amid well-preserved coral formations.

As you explore, you'll see flamingos, fish eagles and many other bird species. Dolphins cavort in the clear waters, while manta rays glide into the shadows and whale sharks swim through the depths. They are joined by many other types of fish, plus loggerhead, leatherback and green turtles. With great luck, you may even spot one of Bazaruto's rare dugong, who spend their days foraging among the sea-grass meadows. Azura (00 27 76 705 0599; azura-retreats.com) on Benguerra Island has double villas from US$1,250 (833), all inclusive. Pestana Bazaruto Lodge (00 258 2130 5000; pestana.com), on Bazaruto Island, has doubles from US$474 (316), full board.

Expert Africa (020-8232 9777; expertafrica.com) offers nine-day Bazaruto packages from the UK from 2,613 per person, including international flights and domestic connections, transfers and meals. The Maputo-based Dana Tours (00 258 21 495514; tourmozambique. travel) can also help with in-country travel arrangements.

Lonely Planet's Mozambique guide (third edition) is out now, priced 14.99. See shop.lonelyplanet.com

Beyond the beach, into the bush

While Mozambique's coast gets most of the attention, there are several inland gems. Gorongosa National Park (gorongosa.net), pictured, in the centre of the country is a success story in the making.

Once one of southern Africa's premier wildlife parks, Gorongosa was renowned for its large prides of lions, elephants, hippos, buffalos and rhinos. This abundance was affectedly badly during the fighting of the 1980s. In recent years, an international effort has set Gorongosa's restoration in motion.

While wildlife still cannot compare with that in other southern African destinations, there is plenty to be seen, with elephants, lions and many antelopes among the highlights. Birding is rewarding, and the landscapes are stunning, thanks to the park's mix of jade-green floodplains, open savannah, woodlands, forests of fever trees and stands of palm.

Explore Gorongosa (00 258 82 912 3637; exploregorongosa.com) runs a seasonal tented camp and walking safaris in the park.

Tour operator Toescapeto (020-7060 6747; toescapeto.com) can arrange a five-night safari to Gorongosa National Park with two nights at Chitengo Camp and three nights at Explore Gorongosa from 2,200 per person, including all flights and transfers.

In northwestern Mozambique, on the shores of Lake Niassa (Lake Malawi), is the sublimely beautiful Nkwichi Lodge (mandawilderness.org), another conservation and community development success story. It offers full-board packages from US$640 (426) for a double room.

The lake here is crystal clear, with days spent swimming and canoeing. At night, sitting around a campfire on the beach and looking up at the sky or at the tiny lights of the fishing boats lining the horizon, it's easy to see how the "lake of stars" got its name.

By day, with luck, you might see sable antelope, elephants and even a leopard or two in the surrounding Manda Wilderness Reserve.

The Quirimbas archipelago

Dawn comes early in the Quirimbas, a chain of about two dozen islands and islets strewn along the 300km of coastline between Pemba in the south and the Tanzanian border in the north. By 5am, the day has begun. On tiny, crescent-shaped Vamizi, one of the most northerly in the archipelago, women in brightly coloured wraps walk along the beach balancing baskets on their heads. Water birds wade in the shallows and crabs scuttle across the soft, white sands. A small luxury lodge (01285 762218; vamizi.com; villas for two guests from US$810/ 540 full board), pictured, has brought visitors and employment, but daily rhythms still follow those of the tides and seasons.

About 150km south of Vamizi is Ibo, the historical heart of the archipelago. It is an enchanting place, with sleepy, sandy lanes lined with dilapidated villas and crumbling, moss-covered buildings. The late-18th century star-shaped Sao Joao fort dominates the island's northern end, serving today as a centre where Ibo's silver artisans practise their craft.

Unlike Vamizi and some of the more northerly islands, where patches of white sand shimmer amid turquoise-hued waters, Ibo is mostly surrounded by mangrove forests. During the colonial era, channels were cut through these dense forests, and a boat trip exploring them makes for a relaxing afternoon.

Because the Quirimbas islands are so spread out, choose one or two to use as a base. Recommended lodges include Ibo Island Lodge (00 258 269 60549; iboisland.com) with doubles from US$670 (447), all inclusive; the backpacker-oriented Miti Miwiri (00 258 269 605 30; mitimiwiri.com), also on Ibo, with simple doubles from US$50 (34), room only; and Guludo (00 258 26 96 05 69; guludo.com), on the mainland, with suites from US$490 (326) all-inclusive, and dhow access to nearby islands.

Steppes Travel (01285 880 980; steppestravel.co.uk) can arrange tours of Mozambique, including stays at Ibo Island Lodge.

Mozambique Island

Just off the northern mainland, Mozambique Island is just 3km long and 500m at its widest. But this Unesco World Heritage site is a highlight of any visit. In its 17th- and 18th-century heyday, the island was capital of Portuguese East Africa and a hub for Indian Ocean trade. Today, its legacy as a trade crossroads is reflected in its diversity. Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities rub shoulders, while immigrants from East Africa, Goa, Macau and elsewhere mix with local Makua culture.

In the island's northern half or "Stone Town", graceful Portuguese-style pracas (squares) are rimmed by once-grand churches, pictured, while stately colonial-era buildings keep watch over quiet streets. Makuti Town is the island's younger, livelier southern section: thatched huts tumble into each other; narrow alleyways echo with the sounds of children playing and fishermen repair their nets on the sand.

Don't miss the restored Palace and Chapel of Sao Paulo, the former governor's residence; or the massive Sao Sebastiao fort, begun in 1558 and the oldest complete fort still standing in sub-Saharan Africa. Accommodation on the island mostly involves simple guesthouses, although it's easy enough to base yourself on the mainland and visit for the day. Mooxeleliya (00 258 26 61 0076), in the "Stone Town", offers simple B&B from US$37 (25).

On the mainland opposite, Coral Lodge 15.41 (00 258 829 023 612; corallodge1541.com) has doubles from US$850 (566), all inclusive.

Getting there and getting around

There are no direct flights between the UK and Mozambique. The main point of entry is the capital, Maputo, but you can also fly from Johannesburg to Vilankulo, the mainland gateway to the Bazaruto archipelago. If your itinerary focuses exclusively on northern Mozambique, it can make sense to fly British Airways (0844 493 0787; ba.com) from Heathrow to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and from there to Pemba, Mozambique with Linhas Aereas de Mocambique (LAM; 00 351 21 780 3910; lam.co.mz).

South African Airways (SAA; 0844 375 9680; flysaa.com) flies from Heathrow to Maputo via Johannesburg. TAP Air Portugal (0845 601 0932; flytap.com) flies from Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester via Lisbon. Kenya Airways (020 8283 1818; kenya-airways.com) flies between Heathrow and Maputo via Nairobi.

For the Bazaruto archipelago you can fly on Federal Air (00 27 11 395 9000; fedair.com) from Johannesburg and Nelspruit in South Africa to Vilankulo (130), or from Maputo to Vilankulo on LAM (from about 87 one-way). Once in Vilankulo, island lodges are reached by short charter flight, helicopter or boat transfer organised by your lodge.

For the Quirimbas archipelago, head for Pemba. South African Airways flies there from Johannesburg, and LAM flies from Maputo (from about 120 one way). Transfers to the islands (via charter flight or road and boat) can be arranged directly with the lodges. Vamizi Lodge also offers direct charters from Dar es Salaam, at additional cost to the full-board package.

Mozambique Island is accessed from Nampula, reached by LAM flights from Maputo (from about 110 one way) and Pemba (from 55 one way). From Nampula, travel three hours via local bus or rental car to Mozambique Island, which is linked by a 3.5km causeway to the mainland.

Gorongosa National Park can be reached with CFA Charters (00 258 84 390 16030; cfa.co.za) from Maputo or the Bazaruto archipelago. Fares are about 370/180 one way from Maputo/Bazaruto to Gorongosa. Alternatively, fly LAM from Maputo to Beira (from about 65 one way), from where it is a 200km (three-hour) drive into the park.

Click here to view African Tours and Holidays, with Independent Holidays.
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British Airways has announced that planned flights from London City airport to one of the most beautiful regions of France will not operate due to air traffic control restrictions.

Angers is on the Maine river just north of its confluence with the Loire, and the city acts as the western gateway to the Loire valley. It has an impressive location and boasts a formidable chateau and large cathedral.

But this summer it will fall off the flight map from Britain. BA was planning to continue its summer-only flight from London City airport. But at the end of 2016, the French aviation authority decided to stop providing air traffic control services as a cost-saving measure.

While in some instances passenger flights are still permitted without a staffed control tower, it appears BA was not prepared to operate under such circumstances.

The airport director, Jean-Pierre Stagnaro, called the move: A simple reason with a dramatic result.

But he was optimistic that the link would be restored, with a different airline: We are working towards another solution, he told The Independent.

The OAG Pocket Flight Guide shows just one destination currently available from Angers: Paris, with five departures a day. But on closer inspection they turn out to be high-speed rail services.

Angers-Loire faces stiff competition from nearby airports. Nantes, Rennes, Tours and Poitiers are all under 100 miles away.

In addition, Ryanair has just announced a new route from Stansted to Lorient, 150 miles west. Flights will operate from 4 July to 28 October. The link will compete with British Airways, which has a summer flight programme from London City to nearby Quimper.

BA is withdrawing its London City-Hamburg link because of intense competition. But it has announced a new summer route from the Docklands airport to the Greek island of Skiathos. Flights begin on 26 June. In addition, BA services from London City to Mykonos have been stepped up.

The London City-Manchester link is restored in May, when British Airways introduces a Thursday evening flight northbound, returning on Sunday evening. These 155-mile hops are, in reality, positioning flights to get an aircraft in place at Manchester airport to operate a series of holiday flights over the weekend.
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The Algerian army, we were told by the usual suspects this afternoon  on French television as well as in America  are not soft on terrorists and had expertise in fighting terrorism. Too true  but only half the truth. Because they are not soft on hostages either. They are as ruthless with captives as they are with captors.

The slaughter of the good and the bad at the In Amenas gas plant yesterday was thus utterly predictable, because the Algerian military  the real rulers of the nation  were blooded in a civil war which taught them to care as little about the innocent as they did about the guilty.

It was the Algerian military which sent intelligence officers to Damascus in 1993 to learn how Hafez al-Assad destroyed the Islamists of Hama 11 years earlier  and then used the same tactics to liquidate Algeria's own Islamist insurgency.

Word has it that Algerian officers visited Syria last year to return the compliment: by teaching the Syrian military  now fighting a far more dangerous uprising  how the Algerians won their dirty war against the Armed Islamic Group and its al-Qa'ida affiliates.

The Algerians lent their expertise to Tunisia's Ben Ali just before his overthrow and offered the same to Mubarak's goons in Egypt.

Opaque as Algeria's military may appear to foreigners, its foundational myths  of utter brutality towards its enemies, whatever the cost  have appealed to the Pentagon and to the French, who both maintained their co-operation with the army's elite at Cherchell outside Algiers in the 1990s  when they knew full well that the country's soldiers and paramilitary forces were indulging in an orgy of torture against insurgents and civilians.

Three things were certain last night about the Algerian bloodbath; that the Algerians will put the entire blame for the killing of the hostages upon the al-Qa'ida-inspired kidnappers, that the Western governments whose citizens died will go along with this  and not utter a word of condemnation of the Algerian military  and that by midday today, the entire story will change out of all recognition. Prime ministers, foreign ministers and newsdesks beware.

David Cameron's total ignorance of the Algerian government's inherent cruelty led Downing Street to mutter some truly stupid remarks today. The Algerians, they said, seemed determined to lead the way.

You bet they did. Talking to hostage-takers is anathema to them, at best a means to wear down kidnappers before annihilating them. The country's Prime Minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, is a bright, intelligent man who appeals to folk like Cameron and Francois Hollande; laid-back, well-educated, a doyen of the Algerian civil service. It's thus easy to forget that Sellal was Minister of Interior from 1998-99 when the Islamist rising was supposedly destroyed.

One of his predecessors, Abderrahmane Meziane-Cherif, once told me of his principles in dealing with terrorists. A farmer can be an eradicator when he pulls weeds from the fields, he said. And sometimes a man has to purify water and cleanse things of insects and bugs... Meziane-Cherif was called the eradicateur.

And yes, of course, the Islamists who took so many hostages in Algeria were ultimately to blame for the massacre. Neither side offers any quarter; thus hostages, bystanders, civilians are collateral damage  yes, that hateful phrase again  to both sides. Nor is that surprising.

For the real marriage of both al-Qa'ida and the Algerian military started after the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.

It is a largely secret story which even today has never been fully revealed. Desperate to stem their losses, the Soviet government asked their socialist Algerian allies for intelligence help; and the Algerian intelligence services dispatched their own men to Afghanistan to pose as mujahedin alongside real Algerian Islamists fighting for Osama bin Laden.

Information from these Algerian military spies allowed Soviet forces to fight back.

But when the Russians left and the Algerians came home, the army ordered their own men to remain undercover with the Islamist groups. So when the terrible civil war began, individual officers to keep their cover participated in the massacre of civilians. And thus became contaminated by atrocities. This is not a tale which the Algerian government admits to. Nor will the West examine this grim history.

But the reality is that the real Cobras of the intelligence world live within the Algerian military pouvoir.

By comparison, the Cobra in Downing Street  David Cameron's famous security committee  is a humble and very sleepy grass snake.
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It is fair to say that when I argued at the London Press Club recently that journalists shouldnt call Donald Trump a liar, it met with some customer resistance. Thats what he is! Why ever not? Call him out! You get the gist.

So perhaps I ought to explain further. I am not saying that the President tells the truth. On the day of his inauguration he made statements about the size of the audience that were demonstrably false. A few days later, he said that the only reason Hillary Clinton seemed to have more votes than him was because of the millions of people who voted illegally. This is about as certainly untrue as it is possible to be, and when Sean Spicer, the Presidents spokesman, repeated it, it prompted The New York Times to run an unusual headline: Press Secretary Affirms that Trump Believes Lie of Millions of Illegal Voters.

I thought this was a mistake. I happen to think that any use of the L-word is a mistake, but I thought this was a specific error. I thought it undermined the NYTs reputation as a news organisation. The trouble with the word lie is that it means, as the Oxford Dictionary puts it, an intentionally false statement. In the NYT headline it looks like a factual assertion, but it isnt. It is not just saying the millions of illegal voters is a falsehood. By using the word lie, the NYT is calling Trump a liar. Which means it is saying, in a front-page news headline, that it has a window into Trumps heart.

And yet the headline itself contradicts this interpretation. It says Trump believes the lie. In other words, he thinks it is true. So he was not lying: he believes someone elses intentionally false statement. See the kind of trouble you get into?

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The bigger trouble, though, is for the NYTs reputation. Of course, it is a liberal newspaper. It endorsed Clinton. Its commentary is overwhelmingly hostile to Trump. But it is not a Political Action Committee or an anti-Trump clicktivist website. It is a giant of American journalism and a model for accurate, fact-checked reporting. Claiming to know the contents of Trumps soul is not factual reporting.

But dont we know that Trump knows that what hes saying is untrue? We may not be able to see into his mind, but we do have the testimony of Tony Schwartz, ghost-writer of Trumps memoir, The Art of the Deal: He lied strategically. He had a complete lack of conscience about it. If Schwartz can call him a liar, surely the rest of us can? I still think it is better not to.

Schwartzs opinion is well founded. He got to know Trump, followed him around, wrote the book and then fell out with him. He now says that, as ghost-writer, he put lipstick on a pig. But it is still an opinion.

So thats all right: we can call Trump a liar in comment articles? Of course we can, but I still think it is a bad idea. This is different from the point about news reporting. Accusing people of lying is poor journalism, but it is also poor politics. It is a bad way to make your case.

Remember Bob Dole in 1988. He told George HW Bush: Stop lying about my record. He came across as bitter and went on to lose. Remember Michael Howard in 2005. He unveiled a poster attacking Tony Blair: If hes prepared to lie to take us to war, hes prepared to lie to win an election. Howard then had to explain that he would have voted for military action in Iraq even if he had known there were no weapons of mass destruction, before going on to lose the election.

 London protests against US President Donald Trump's travel ban

Blair himself took a different approach. With each successive Tory leader, I would develop a line of attack, but I only did so after a lot of thought  The aim was to get the non-politician nodding  So I defined Major as weak; Hague as better at jokes than judgement; Howard as an opportunist; Cameron as a flip-flop. (He didnt bother with Duncan Smith: The Tories did my work for me.) He wrote in A Journey: Its not like calling your opponent a liar, or a fraud, or a villain or a hypocrite, but the middle-ground floating voter kind of shrugs their shoulders at those claims  they represent an insult, not an argument.

If you want to make yourself feel better, call Trump  or Boris Johnson or Michael Gove  a liar. Other people who already agree with you might feel better, knowing that they belong to a like-minded tribe. But you will do nothing to persuade people who dont like Trump much but who want America to be great again. Or people who have their doubts about Brexit but think the referendum result must stand. And there is a price to be paid in raising the emotional temperature of divisive politics.

So I think it is a good rule for life, and for social media, which is like life but shouting, never to use the L-word. It is bad manners, bad journalism and bad politics.
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Hi, Im the new guy, said the newly installed American official who will be the countrys face to the outside world, as he greeted his new staff one morning last week. What he didnt add was that he also may well be taking on the toughest job in town.

Even the Senate confirmation of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State was messy. Personally I found Tillerson one of the more reassuring Trump appointments. Sure, he had no conventional diplomatic experience. But for the last 10 years he has run ExxonMobil, the Wests largest oil company, often described as a state within the state that operated on six continents, and dealt on a daily basis with government and business leaders around the world. As a qualification for high level diplomacy, that isnt bad.

Yes, his past cosiness with the Putin regime in Russia was worrying. But another business leader, George Shultz under Ronald Reagan, had been a pretty competent Secretary of State. Tillerson had the stuff to do the same. And I know these things shouldnt matter, but he looks like a Secretary of State too.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline 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, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Nonetheless the Senate only approved him by 56 votes to 43, virtually along party lines. It was the narrowest passage of any Secretary of State in modern times  even Condoleezza Rice won 85 Yes votes in 2005, at the height of the unpopularity of the Iraq war of which she had been one of the architects.

But that vote may only be the start of it. Tillerson is taking charge of a department in turmoil, whose morale is on the floor. The Trump era began with a rash of high level forced resignations, a haemorrhage of institutional wisdom. That was quickly followed by the debacle of the edict banning refugees from various Muslim countries, on which the State Department was not consulted, even thought it would perforce be closely involved in its implementation.

That in turn prompted an unprecedented 1,000 State employees to register their disagreement through the departments established dissent channel, arguing the order was not only against core American values but likely to be counterproductive as well. And the response? A sneering White House spokesman who described the signatories  the countrys eyes and ears to the outside world  as career bureaucrats, and told them either to get with the programme or be gone.

Restoring the departments morale and sense of purpose is Tillersons first task. However, a second and far more important one is to ensure his own and States clout within the administration, at a moment when conventional diplomacy seems anathema to the new president.

 Donald Trump fights back after judge blocks his travel ban

Up to a point, the problem is not new. In recent times, the White House, whether in Democrat or Republican hands, has gathered the reins of foreign policy making ever more tightly. Colin Powell was greeted like a rock star at the State Department when he became Secretary in 2001. But he lost out in one turf battle after another with the Pentagon and the White House.

Hillary Clinton was another highly popular Secretary of State, with a profile if anything higher than Powells. But on the big issues  Iraq, Afghanistan and, above all, Syria  boss Barack Obama called the shots. But the Trump White House is another beast entirely.

It is run by a president who is an instinctive authoritarian, who finds himself in the perfect position to indulge his bullying habit, happy to upset allies as readily as foes. Egging him on (some would say calling the shots) is his top adviser Steve Bannon, alt-right iconoclast and scourge of the status quo, and current runaway leader in the whos the power behind the throne in the White House guessing game that unfolds at the start of every new administration.

The hit list of these last few days is pretty impressive. A telephone row with the prime minister of Australia, loyal friend of the US for generations. A stormy conversation with the prime minister of Mexico, Americas key hemispheric partner, in which Trump threatened to send US troops to Mexico to get rid of the bad hombres (only joking, the White House said later).

Germany and Japan, both vital allies, have been flatly accused of currency manipulation. The EU meanwhile describes Trump as a dangerous challenge to the bloc, right up there with Russia, China and radical Islam. The notion is incredible. But its true. We may be witnessing an assault on an entire world order in place for more than half a century.

So where will Tillerson fit into all this? Will he emerge as a policy shaper and a Trump-tamer, or merely act as pooper-scooper for the diplomatic messes the 45th president leaves blithely in his wake, reassuring slighted or nervous allies that Trump doesnt really mean it (even though every sign is that he does)?

And although Tillerson is a businessman, will he and the State Department accept this White Houses concept of foreign policy as purely transactional, as if international relations were a zero sum game, in which one sides gain is automatically the others loss?

A couple of litmus tests are already at hand. Wearing his ExxonMobil hat, Tillerson opposed sanctions on Russia. But at his confirmation hearings he took a tougher line on the Kremlins behaviour in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Now, in his first weekend in office, he must confront what look like deliberate tests by Vladimir Putin of what he can get away with, now the US has a president whose admiration for him seemingly knows no bounds: the renewed Russian-inspired fighting near Donetsk, and the apparent repeat poisoning of the opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza.

On neither matter has there been a squeak so far from the White House. Will Tillerson, one hopes in alliance with James Mattis at the Pentagon, beg to differ? Or will he merely prove a house-trained version of Trump himself? The stakes, for all of us, could not be higher. Which is why Rex Tillerson may have started the toughest job in town.
Poultry flock owners should remain vigilant for any signs of disease in their flocks Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

A sixth 'bird flu' case has been confirmed by the Department of Agriculture in Nenagh, Tipperary.

The H5N8 virus was again confirmed in a wild whooper swan. Following a review of the HPAI H5N8 situation, by the Department it has been decided that the requirement to keep poultry and captive birds confined in Ireland will be remain in place.
The only place in Dr Michael Harty's house which has a half-decent mobile phone signal is the upstairs bathroom. On this day last year the Independent TD for Clare was only on his second day of his election canvass.

He ran a short, sharp, shock campaign which succeeded. In short order he had decided on January 10 to stand for election; on January 19 he launched his campaign; on January 30 he went canvassing for the first time; and on February 26 he was elected to the second of Clare's four Dail seats. The "No Doctor - No Village" message resonated with voters.

At Leinster House he sits with six other like-minded Independent TDs, the Healy-Rae brothers, Mattie McGrath, Michael Collins, Michael Lowry and Noel Grealish, all of whom have a rural focus. They have finally chosen the name Rural Alliance to distinguish them from other Independent groupings.

"We thought of 'Rural Independent Group'. But then Danny Healy-Rae pointed out that we could be called 'RIGs' and that is also a term for a bull that does not work in that department," he jokes.

Accessible medical care is among challenges facing rural Ireland. One third of rural GPs are over 55, and many rural people must travel to multi-doctor practices in the larger towns because the single-doctor rural model is deemed out-dated.

But the loss of the local doctor goes along with the loss of the post office, garda station, pharmacy, school and other facilities. "It undermines village life and unravels the fabric of rural society," he argues.

Since his election, he has handed over the medical work in Kilmihil, west Clare, to a locum doctor. His wife, Geraldine, continues as the practice nurse. He decided "you either do one or the other".

On May 6 last he voted for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach because he believed government was required and nobody wanted another election. He insists his support is largely "case by case" but he will, for the foreseeable future, support the minority coalition on votes of confidence and money matters to allow it continue.

But he is not happy with the failure to deliver a promised full minister for regional and rural development and believes the unbalanced development is largely unchanged.

He cites the poor mobile phone coverage, the lack of broadband for up to half the nation's population, and the poor state of roads. These are all hindering development and sending job creation to the big cities.

"I accept the bulk of high-tech jobs will go to cities. But the bigger towns, like Ennis or Kilrush, could take a lot of them if we had properly-planned development and resources like broadband," he argues.

The case of Shannon Airport, with many large empty sites in its adjoining industrial area, really wrankles. Dublin Airport is to get another runway which could boost yearly passenger numbers from almost 30 million to some 50 million.

"Shannon Airport currently carries 1.4 million passengers per year. Surely it could do far more than that," he insists.

For now he is going to continue arguing the case for Clare and the western seaboard generally. He is reassured by the recent appointment of a liaison officer to improve communications with government.

Finally, he is keen to dispel one myth. Last summer there was recurring speculation that he was being "groomed" for a government post if battling Waterford Independent TD, John Halligan, was to quit. "That was just speculation in the media. There were no approaches - it never happened," he says.

He also notes that in politics Clare likes dissidents generally and doctors specifically.

John Downing is an Irish Independent political correspondent
Speaking following a meeting of the Direct Payments Advisory Group Meeting, the Deputy President of ICMSA, Pat McCormack, said that the Minister for Agriculture cannot expect farmers to sign a blank cheque in order to establish a National Reserve

He said his organisation will insist that a maximum funding limit is put in place.

Farmers have already lost 5% of their BPS/Greening payment to establish a National Reserve and Young Farmers Scheme and in the context where many farmers see their payment declining annually due to convergence and where Brexit could lead to another 5% to 10% cut in payments," McCormack said.

He said ICMSA will insist that the Minister cap the National Reserve at the current level.

"We note, by the way, that the Young Farmers Scheme has an underspend of 5m - and that the Department accepts that farmers cannot be expected to add to these funds if the scheme is oversubscribed.

"For very many farm families the BPS/Greening payment represents 100% of their income and any cuts in these payments is a direct hit on family income and the proposal currently in place represents a 0.4% cut in each farmers BPS/Greening payment.

"This is difficult enough but farmers will certainly not accept further additions to this, approximately 52m of farmers direct payments have been allocated to the National Reserve and Young Farmers Scheme to date and this is the limit that farmers are prepared to accept, said McCormack.

The ICMSA Deputy President said that in common with all schemes operated by the Department, in the event of the scheme being oversubscribed, decisions will have to be taken to bring the number of applicants into line with the funding available through the use of selection criteria.

ICMSA, he said, will not accept a situation where farmers are expected to sign a blank cheque for whatever amount of money the Department wishes to allocate to these funds.

National Reserve Criteria

ICMSA is also clearly saying that only deserving applicants should qualify for payments under the National Reserve and the terms and conditions must ensure that this is the case.

"In particular, the 90ha limit - which is nearly three times the national average - is way too high and needs to be reduced, while successful applicants should operate on a use-it-or-lose-it basis for at least five years.

"Farmers are giving up a piece of their payment for the National Reserve and they have a right to expect that it is going to deserving applicants, he said.

McCormack concluded by noting that both the EU and Department have consistently cut farmers payments over the years irrespective of whether a farmer has a small or large payment.

Its essential that in the next review of CAP brings forward an alternative model of funding that ensures that farmers who are dependent on these payments do not suffer further ongoing cuts to a payment that is already declining annually in real terms.
New Year Wishes 2017 from Peru

Source:english.eastday.com Date:2017-01-23

Hand-written New Year Wishes from Zosimo Morillo, Peruvian Consul General in Shanghai

"Our main event this year will be the celebration of the National Day of Peru on July 28th, an occasion not only to commemorate Peruvian political independence, but also our friendship with the people and government of China.

Other events include our intention to promote, at the cultural level, Peruvian films as well as Peruvian cuisine."

Mr. Zosimo Morillo attended the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai, 2016.
Nualight, the Cork-based firm in which Dragons Den star Eamonn Quinn is a director and investor, has finalised a restructuring designed to place it on a firmer financial footing.

Newly-filed accounts for the business, which designs LED lighting used by supermarkets, show its turnover slumped 42pc to 14.2m in the 12 months to last March as it exited sales sectors.

It made a 6.2m loss compared to a 969,000 loss a year earlier.

The pre-exceptional loss in the last financial year was 4.6m compared to 3.1m in the 2015 financial year.

The company has accumulated losses of 39.3m.

While turnover has decreased, the directors note that this is in line with expectations while the business is reorganised, with sales into some sectors discontinued, the accounts note.

During the 2016 financial year, shareholders in Nualight advanced the company 3m, which was rolled into a 5.9m convertible loan note last summer. The company has raised about 25m from investors since it was founded in 2004.

Its backers include London-based Climate Change Capital, the ESB Novusmodus cleantech fund, as well as Eamonn Quinns father, Superquinn founder Feargal Quinn.

Nualight reached an agreement last summer to sell certain assets from Lumotech, its driver and motion detector business, to a California company, Fulham. That sale generated sufficient cash to enable Nualight to fully repay external borrowing facilities in its Netherlands business. The sale also left over additional cash that was reinvested in the groups core business.

The directors consider the performance of the Nualight Group to be unsatisfactory, although in line with expectations, the recently-filed accounts note.

A number of the key steps have been taken to reorganise the business during the year and some final steps were taken post year-end, including the sale of the Driver business, they add. This has created a simplified business which is focused on its key refrigeration lighting sector and a limited industrial lighting sector.

Nualights customers include supermarket chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury and Co-Op. Its lighting helps the retailers to display their refrigerated goods more effectively.

Subject to unforeseen difficulties, the directors consider the group to be in a much better position to take advantage of the many opportunities in the respective markets, the directors added in the accounts.

The company said that it expects to make a modest profit in the current financial year, and to be profitable thereafter.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner successfully persuaded Donald Trump to scrap executive orders that would overturn LGBT rights - but the couple's calming influence on the president is starting to wane, it has been reported.

A "brewing power struggle" has emerged between Mr Kushner, the son-in-law who can keep the president "on message", and Steve Bannon, the ultra-conservative former businessman, described as the power behind the throne.

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A draft executive order on LGBT rights, aimed at rolling back Barack Obama's progressive reforms, was circulated last week. It outlined a weakening of protections designed to shield LGBT individuals from discrimination.

However, the First Daughter and her husband, both keen supporters of gay rights, persuaded Mr Trump to shelve the order, sources said.

Instead, the White House released a statement reassuring the LGBT community that their rights would be protected.

President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election, it said.

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It was unclear whether the president was seriously considering signing the draft executive order into law, but the reports of Ms Trump and Mr Kushner's intervention could have wider implications.

There are some in Trumps family that have some views on these things, the source told Politico. Thats where the decision is ultimately being made.

Such a stance would pit Ms Trump and Mr Kushner against several key far-right White House figures, including vice-president Mike Pence, who is firmly against expanding LGBT rights and has a strong distaste for marriage equality, key aide Stephen Miller and Mr Bannon.

Mr Kushner, a property developer, was said to have been the voice Mr Trump listened to above all others on the campaign trail and drafted his speeches.

He apparently arranged several meetings for Trump before November's election, including one with Rupert Murdoch.

I have a feeling that Jareds going to do a great job. Hes going to do a great job. Youll work with him, Mr Trump declared during his inauguration celebrations.

However, Mr Kushner was "f------ furious" that a meeting he had apparently brokered between Mr Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto, the Mexican president, was cancelled, a source told Vanity Fair last week.

Mr Trump had tweeted that if Mexico was unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting. The Mexican president cancelled the meeting.

Id never once heard him say he (Mr Kushner) was angry throughout the entire campaign. But he was furious, the source said.

There are also suggestions that Ms Trump and Mr Kushner's orthodox Jewish faith is being exploited within the White House.

It was "no coincidence" that Mr Trump's anti-Muslim travel ban was announced last Friday evening after Mr Kushner had left work and was observing Shabbat, sources told the New York Daily News.

Everyone is working 24/7, but Jared, because of his religious views, not only cant be in the White House, but cant be on his phone, cant drive his car, cant listen to the radio - he cant be reached, the source said.

The day after the immigration order was announced, Ms Trump posted a glamorous photograph of the couple preparing to go out, while protests raged at airports across America.

Ms Trump was apparently unaware of the announcement and the furore it sparked and was reportedly shocked by the backlash against her for posting such a photograph, which has been described as her "Marie Antoinette moment".

The "power struggle" within the White House centres on Mr Bannon, who is thought to have been the architect of the scheme to ban travel from seven Muslim countries.

Aides to the former Breitbart News Network editor have labelled Mr Kushner green and soft and worry he is attempting to make the president more moderate, the Daily News reported.

Mr Kushner had apparently reassured business executives before the election that Mr Trump would be "rational" on immigration.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Mourners follow the coffin of Michael McCoy into St. Maelruain's Church of Ireland in Tallaght. Photo: Tony Gavin

Garda at the scene of the search operation in a wooded area on Ballinascorney Hill. Photo: Colin Keegan

Gardai search a wooded area on Ballinascorney Hill where the body of Michael McCoy was found last September Picture: Collins

He was a one-man environmental watchdog, loved by his family and friends, and admired by fellow campaigners who wanted to preserve the green spaces of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains.

But Michael McCoy also incurred the wrath of local people, angered by his regular objections to planning applications and the sort of vigilance that could put a stop to development.

It is now four months since Mr McCoy, a 63-year-old builder, was beaten to death early in the morning on a forest path at Ballinascorney Wood near Brittas, Co Dublin, as he walked his Boxer dogs, Fia and Sophie.

It was one of his regular routines. Mr McCoy liked nothing better than walking in the hills, and he would take members of his family on regular hikes in Dublin, Wicklow and in mountainous areas elsewhere in the country.

His home, hidden away near the woods at Ballinascorney, was ideally located for a man who loved the great outdoors. His wife Caitriona came from the area, and they had three daughters - Rachel, Suzanne and Sarah.

Nobody has yet been charged with the murder of Mr McCoy, but investigating officers are satisfied that his death was linked to one of his environmental campaigns.

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He was the founder of the Dublin Mountain Conservation Group.

Ian Lumley, heritage officer of An Taisce, worked with Mr McCoy in a number of his campaigns.

He told the Irish Independent: "He was concerned about forestry, landscape and issues of rights of way and maintenance of walking routes.

"He also tried to tackle illegal dumping. There are also problems with one-off housing in the Dublin Mountains and Wicklow uplands - the effect of this is to suburbanise the area."

Mr Lumley said that in other countries, these mountainous area would be protected as national parks.

"I always found him very measured, calm and reasonable," said Mr Lumley. "All the concerns he had were well justified."

Mr McCoy may have felt justified in his environmental work, but it led to a lot of disagreements.

In Brittas village, a woman who did not wish to be named, said: "He got a lot of people's backs up in the community.

"I would say he had a lot of enemies.

"Because he didn't want anything built in the locality, there were a few residents from around the area who had issues with that."

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In 2011, a large group of residents held a protest outside his remote home at Ballinascorney, claiming that he was a "serial objector".

These demonstrators formed the opinion that Mr McCoy's objections had played a crucial part in their planning applications being turned down.

The 2011 protest was organised by the Sinn Fein councillor for Baltinglass, Gerry O'Neill.

He told local paper the 'Tallaght Echo' soon after Mr McCoy's death that it was "dreadful to see anyone killed" but he described the planning process as "crazy".

"Over a certain 18-month period, Mr McCoy objected to 30 out of 32 applications. I think a lot of people felt they were cornered or trapped. I know of one man from Wicklow who was stopped twice on planning. He then had pre-planning landscaping done for 47,000, with the knowledge that it would get permission, but Mr McCoy brought it to the board's attention, and it was refused. The poor man had to move back in with his father."

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Mr O'Neill felt that Mr McCoy was obsessed with these planning applications, and the councillor claimed that it brought a lot of hardship and destroyed people's lives and even their marriages.

Mr Lumley gave a much more positive assessment of Mr McCoy's role in raising planning objections.

"He was someone who was following environmental concerns legitimately and reasonably in that area."

Mr Lumley believes that campaigners such as Mr McCoy play an important role as "watchdogs", adding: "environmental protection is part of good citizenship".

Along the gravel forest paths of Ballinascorney wood, where Mr McCoy liked to amble, there were signs this week of the intrusions that he fought. Motorists had thrown rubbish bags into the ditch near the entrance to the wood.

After Mr McCoy was beaten to death early in the morning of September 29, his boxer dog Sophie stayed with him until he was found. The family raised the alarm when Mr McCoy failed to return home, and the body was found early the next morning by mountain rescue services.

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The family put out an appeal for their other dog, Fia, on social media. Its remains were found a month after the killing.

Four months after Mr McCoy's death, the local Church of Ireland clergyman in Tallaght, Canon William Deverell, said he still felt shocked that a killing like this could happen.

Mr McCoy used to do building work for the church and many of his parishioners.

Canon Deverell said: "We felt heartbroken and it is frightening that it happened. They are a gorgeous family, and he was a lovely guy."

At the age of 59, Mr McCoy had enrolled as a mature student at Trinity College. He was due to receive his degree in Irish Studies in November.

As well as his environmental interests, he loved music and played guitar.

At his funeral service in St Maelruain's church in Tallaght, his brother-in-law Daniel Kelly described him as a man of many talents who enjoyed an argument and never minded being in a minority of one.

Although he worked on a smaller canvas, he likened Mr McCoy to environmentalists in South America such as Chico Mendes and Barbara Caceres, who were killed for their activism.

He said: "These were people who, like Mike, went against the grain. They went against low standards, crookedness and corruption.

"A former colleague of mine said the Irish have no sense of outrage. If this doesn't outrage us, what will? If this doesn't jolt our community and our country out of its stupor in relation to environmental issues especially, what will?"
Bus Eireann faces the threat of insolvency within 11 months, after losses of 9m last year. (Stock image)

The threat of an all-out Bus Eireann strike has deepened after unions accused its boss of "stoking up a raging fire" by asking them to draw up an alternative plan for 12m cuts.

They have called on Bus Eireann's acting chief executive Ray Hernan to withdraw his plan to impose cuts in just over two weeks, which will trigger an all-out strike.

But the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu said he added fuel to the fire by failing to do this, and by suggesting they come up with their own proposals to achieve the savings. Although he has indicated he is prepared to attend talks without pre-conditions, Mr Hernan's spokesperson said he had not yet withdrawn his letter outlining the cuts or invited unions to discussions.

The deadline for the cuts is February 20, and Mr Hernan recently told an Oireachtas committee that he must present a final plan to achieve 30m savings to the board in March.

Bus Eireann faces the threat of insolvency within 11 months, after losses of 9m last year.

General secretary of the Nbru Dermot O'Leary said it was "akin to throwing an incendiary device at an already volatile situation" for Mr Hernan to suggest unions come up with alternative proposals.

"Mr Hernan's suggestion that he would on the one hand seek to protect 'core pay', whilst at the same time slashing upwards of 8,000 plus, through cuts to shift and overtime rates, from a bus driver on a salary of 42,000, is insulting," he said.

Siptu transport organiser Willie Noone described Mr Hernan's position as "obstinate" and said he has had ample time to withdraw the plan for cuts.

"It is becoming clearer to this union that he wants to remain a puppet of the Government and implement its policy of putting all routes out to tender and to destroy a very good public transport company, and the conditions of the workers employed in the transport sector as well," he said.

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Earlier, there appeared to be signs that Bus Eireann was offering an olive branch to unions. When asked if it would withdraw the letter outlining the cuts, spokeswoman Nicola Cooke responded: "If the unions come to us and agree to engage with us, that's something that we can consider."

Fianna Fail has vowed to keep up pressure on the Government after a motion it tabled calling on it to intervene in the dispute was passed this week. Transport spokesperson Robert Troy said "motions cannot be passed in the Dail without implementation", although the party cannot table motions of no confidence under its 'confidence and supply' arrangement.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said it was up to management and unions to resolve the issue.
A business partnership involving broadcaster Gay Byrne is locked in a bitter legal battle to prevent an aggressive fund selling the partnership's 13.5m investment property in central Dublin.

Rossa Fanning SC, for the Firstwood Partnership, told the Commercial Court on Friday the Launceston fund had "contrived" a default last year on a fully-performing 20-year loan made to the partnership in 2000 to buy a block of offices , retail units and car park at St Andrews Lane.

His clients, including the best-known broadcaster in the country, are not professional investors, counsel said.

They are professional people aged between 60 and 80 who got involved in this investment in 2000, funded via a loan from Anglo Irish Bank due to expire in 2020.

The partnership comprises Gay Byrne, senior counsel Anthony Kidney, two solicitors - Eric Brunker, now retired, and Stephen Hamilton  and Dermot Murphy of Clonskeagh Motors.

This fund, having bought bundles of loans at a discount, tries to make a quick profit by either identifying default or enforcing security, Mr Fanning said. That might make good business for them but the court should not permit it at the expense of his clients entitlements.

The fund acquired the partnerships loan from State-owned IBRC in 2014 for an undisclosed sum and about 6.7m is outstanding on the loan, due to expire in 2020, counsel said.

The fund was not at risk of not getting its money as the annual rental income is some 920,000 and the high-quality property was valued at 13.5m in 2014, with no suggestion of a cataclysmic fall in commercial property values in Dublin since.

There was no default here because his clients had not fallen behind on payments agreed under an amortisation schedule with Anglo and the fund contrived the alleged default, he said.

Firstwoods proceedings are against Launceston Property Finance and a receiver appointed by it over the property, Stephen Tennant of Grant Thornton. Interim orders were granted in October 2016 and later efforts to settle the dispute in mediation failed.

On Friday, Mr Fanning asked Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy for injunctions , pending a full hearing later, restraining the receiver dealing with the property.

His clients want to continue to receive rent from the property to meet tax and other liabilities and make loan repayments as agreed with Anglo.

Opposing the application, Declan McGrath SC, for the fund, said this property was essentially bought as a pension investment and this case appeared to be about the investors not wishing to be forced to sell it three years earlier than they wished.

The reality was rent paid to the receiver would merely be used to reduce the borrowings of the partnership, he said.

The court was effectively being asked to rewrite the loan documents and to find the sophisticated commercial agreements made by the borrowers and lenders do not mean what they say, he said.

Asked by the judge what about the course of dealings between Anglo and the borrowers before the fund bought this loan, counsel said that did not advance the plaintiffs case.

He said the loan agreements clearly provided all rent monies must be paid to the bank to meet interest and principal payments.

While the fund could not dispute Anglo knew, following the financial crash, not all the rental income was going towards interest and principal repayments, such knowledge did not amount to a formal agreement to vary the original agreements, counsel said.

The issue was not whether Anglo considered the loan in default but whether it was legally in default, he said. It is in default.

After the hearing concluded on Friday, the judge said she hopes to rule next week.
The late Richard Lowndes, from Kilsallagh, Co Dublin, and his son Graham, who shot a burglar during a robbery in 2012 Picture: Steve Humphreys

Elderly farmer Richard Lowndes, who spoke out in defence of his son Graham who shot a burglar at the family home, has died.

Richard (84) spent the last few years of his life in his home he turned into a "fortress" as he feared another burglary, his son said.

Thief Mathew Fahey (37) received a gunshot wound in the arm and was later convicted of the burglary at the elderly farmer's home in Kilsallagh, Co Dublin. His son (52) received the probation act last July when he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of having a shotgun without a certificate on the day he shot Fahey.

Fahey, who had more than 60 convictions for theft and burglary, later initiated a civil case for injury caused by 17 shotgun pellets.

Richard Lowndes, who lived in the farmhouse for 55 years, had been living alone after his wife Dorothy died in 2003. He passed away at the Mater Hospital on Thursday.

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"My father spent the last few years of his life living in a home he turned into a fortress because he was worried about another burglary," Graham told the Irish Independent. "This was a man who used to leave a key in the door of the house.

"When I was charged after what happened, I know he worried a lot about what would happen to me.

"His legacy to his four children is that he taught us about respect, love, hard work and family values."

On the day of the burglary in 2012, Fahey and his accomplices ransacked the house, stealing cash and property. Graham Lowndes arrived in a lorry and they fled. He grabbed a shotgun from the house and chased one of the fleeing vehicles into the fields. Fahey received shotgun injuries to his arm.
The trolley crisis continued for several hospitals yesterday with 43 patients needing a bed in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin (Stock picture)

A significant rise in deaths among the elderly in recent weeks has been reported, with flu taking a particular toll.

The "excess deaths" are calculated by comparing figures during the period from the end of December and early January with preceding weeks.

It comes as four more deaths from flu have been reported, reaching a total of 40 so far this winter.

But the virus is a contributory factor in hundreds of other deaths, mostly among pensioners who have other underlying illnesses.

The average age of patients who died from flu is 79, and it follows ongoing concerns about the negative impact of ongoing gridlock in hospital emergency departments.

Emergency consultants have warned that the trolley crisis causes up to 350 needless deaths here annually.

"If such a large number of preventable deaths occurred in any other environment those responsible for or with oversight responsibility for the problem would be held to account and removed from their roles," said a spokesman for the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine.

The excess all-cause deaths among people aged 65 and over, in and out of hospital, has been reported over six weeks by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

"These excess deaths were most likely associated with flu," it said. And the same pattern is also seen in Europe.

Although the winter has been relatively mild, cold temperatures endanger the elderly by increasing the risk and severity of flu, chest infections and other respiratory problems.

Cold can lead to a rise in blood pressure and also trigger heart attacks and strokes.

The trolley crisis continued for several hospitals yesterday with 43 patients needing a bed in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. Patients also had to endure cramped conditions in Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Limerick and Tullamore Hospital.

Health Minister Simon Harris has admitted that over 100 beds are closed because of a lack of staff to cater them.

Meanwhile, the Saolta Group, which covers hospitals in the west and north-west, said around 50 cancer patients who would normally be given chemotherapy in Letterkenny Hospital have to travel to Galway instead because of a lack of staff.

Vacant

A spokeswoman said one of the posts of consultant oncologist in Letterkenny Hospital, which was filled by a locum doctor, is vacant after their resignation.

"In this context it is not clinically appropriate to start new patients on chemotherapy regimes at Letterkenny when we would not have the consultant medical cover to ensure it could be provided without interruption to the regime," she said.

It means the patients face a journey of up to six hours for treatment.

A new locum consultant medical oncologist is due to take up their post on March 6.

The spokeswoman said the oncology clinical team and hospital management are very aware of the additional stress associated with cancer patients having to travel for chemotherapy treatment. However the service must be safe.
New Year Wishes 2017 from Norway

Source:english.eastday.com Date:2017-01-23

Hand-written New Year Wishes from yvind Stokke, Consul General of Norway in Shanghai

Mr.yvind Stokke

"Now is a good time for Chinese and Norwegian companies to work together on future projects.

There are at least five priority areas in 2017:

We will promote Norway as an adventurous tourist destination, based on the very promising figures of a 30% increase in Chinese travelers in 2016.

We will assist Norwegian companies within high tech, innovation, smart cities development and creative industries to do business in Shanghai.

We will maintain a primary focus on areas where Norway already has a strong presence in Shanghai  the maritime and marine industries.

We will continue our scheme of support of Chinese Arctic scholars and journalists interested in Polar issues going to the many high quality events in Norway in 2017.

We will support Chinese art and music curators and producers from Shanghai who want to travel to exhibitions and festivals in Norway in 2017. Let them go and see and listen  so they can invite good music bands and artists to come to Shanghai."
Chair of the Citizens Assembly, Justice Mary Laffoy, speaks at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, Dublin Photo: Tony Gavin

The Citizens' Assembly will today meet to discuss the availability abroad of legal terminations and the legal aspects of caring for female rape victims in Ireland.

This is the assembly's third weekend-long sitting on the Constitution's restrictions on abortion.

Members will discuss the submissions they have received from the public and a number of medical, legal and ethical experts will give presentations on the Eighth Amendment.

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The UN-associated World Health Organization has recommended an American academic to outline the availability of legal terminations abroad.

More than 13,500 submissions have been made to the assembly by members of the public.

The 99 members will meet at a hotel in Malahide, Co Dublin and this weekend will mark the mid-point in the process.

In late April the assembly will vote on what to recommend to legislators regarding the future of constitutional restrictions on abortion in Ireland.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the Grandmasters Palace in Valletta, Malta, during an informal summit. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has insisted he is not concerned about a potential backlash that could result from a decision to invite Donald Trump to Ireland.

Describing the US president as a "different personality", Mr Kenny said he will consider whether to extend an invite ahead of his own visit to the White House next month.

The Fine Gael leader told reporters that the Trump presidency was discussed in detail at an informal summit of the European heads of state in Malta yesterday.

He insisted that the majority of the contributions were not "anti-American" or personalised towards the billionaire businessman. However, other EU leaders who attended the summit were not as conciliatory.

French President Francois Hollande said there can be no future for EU-US relations if "this future isn't defined in common".

And the Austrian chancellor Christian Kern described Mr Trump's ban on Muslims from some countries travelling to the US as "highly problematic".

After describing Mr Trump's Twitter activity as "unusual to put it mildly", Mr Kenny said he is looking forward to some "direct speaking" with him during his visit to the White House to mark St Patrick's Day.

"I've already made my peace in not agreeing with the policy of the Trump administration.

"I actually look forward to having direct engagement with the president and indeed the vice president and the speaker of the House, we have lots of things to talk about," the Taoiseach said.

But pressed on the prospect of a return visit, Mr Kenny said it will something he will consider.

"Well I'll consider that when I go to Washington.

Read more:

"As I said, I wouldn't be afraid of any outfall from it. I'll consider the question when I get there," he added.

Mr Kenny described yesterday's meeting in the capital Valletta as "optimistic".

In discussions with the other heads of state, the Taoiseach cited 'The Second Coming' by William Butler Yeats and the line: "The falcon cannot hear, the centre cannot hold."

The first session was attended by British Prime Minister Theresa May.

However, Mrs May was not permitted to attend a further meeting, which discussed Europe's response to Brexit.

At a press conference with Irish reporters, Mr Kenny said that there is an acceptance among most EU leaders that Ireland is a "special" case.

He made strong remarks once again on the Border, insisting that the issue is top priority.

Mr Kenny, however, ruled out the prospect of a referendum being held following the agreement of a final deal between the EU and the UK.

Mr Kenny indicated that there is significant interest among global companies in relocating to Ireland in light of Brexit. "We have had quite a deal of interests and people have been meeting with the Central Bank, the department of finance and ourselves. What we have said is that we will compete hard and fair," the Taoiseach said.
Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said she has received no "evidence" to suggest that members of the Kinahan faction have informers within An Garda Siochana.

Ms Fitzgerald said that she would want to know if such a link did exist - but insisted that she did not believe it to be the case.

Detectives are understood to have examined whether criminals involved in the Kinahan-Hutch feud have gained information from a former officer. But Ms Fitzgerald insisted that such a link had not been communicated to her by Garda management.

"I don't believe that to be the case. It can be reported, I don't believe it to be the case," the Dublin Mid-West TD said.

"If there was any issue in relation to that, I would want to know about it. I have no evidence coming to me from the Garda Commissioner or anyone else that stands up to that suggestion."

Ms Fitzgerald made the remarks ahead of the anniversary of the Regency Hotel shooting.

As part of the crackdown on organised crime, Ms Fitzgerald will next week bring forward a bill that aims to toughen the country's bail laws.

She also confirmed that the second Special Court was now in operation and that her department was working to ensure it could be made easier for judges to alternate between the two courts,

Speaking yesterday, Ms Fitzgerald warned the criminals involved in the Kinahan-Hutch feud "you will not win".

She said there was "heightened security" in Dublin this weekend amid fears the gangs may use the anniversary of the Regency Hotel murder to carry out fresh attacks.

It will be a year ago on Sunday since David Byrne was gunned down by men posing as gardai in the well-known hotel on the outskirts of the capital.

The feud has already claimed 11 lives.

"There is heightened security all of that time. That's reality of the way we responded to what happened in the Regency Hotel.

"It was an outrage against the local community, an outrage against every citizen. That's why we reacted very quickly with resources, with legislation, with a new Armed Response Unit for Dublin, with saturation policing, with a huge amount of overtime," Ms Fitzgerald said.

Asked if she had a message for the gangsters involved, she replied: "We dealt with a similar situation in Limerick. We dealt with it in Crumlin. It took time. It took resources. These people think they are above the law, but they are not above the law.

"That's what's become clear in recent weeks and I hope they get that message. That's the message from me as Minister for Justice, it's the message from the Government and the message from An Garda Siochana."

She said the court decision this week to seize the properties of former gang boss John Gilligan proved that nobody was above the law.

"It may take time but you will not win," she said, before paying tribute to the work of gardai.

But Ms Fitzgerald acknowledged that the gangs were unlikely to stop what she called a "cycle of retaliation and revenge", meaning the Government must also be "relentless".
There will be performances from Roisin O, Kila and a host of special guests at the Convention Centre, Dublin, on Saturday, March 11 (Stock picture)

Riverdance and Mario Rosenstock are among the star performers at a Gala Concert in aid of Haven.

John McColgan is presenting the unique fundraising concert Haven for Haiti - with performances from Roisin O, Kila and a host of special guests at the Convention Centre, Dublin, on Saturday, March 11. All proceeds raised will go directly to Haven's emergency recovery work on the ground in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, which hit in October 2016.

Miriam O'Callaghan and Brendan O'Connor will MC the Gala Concert as it aims to support the people of Haiti, which remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Haven's team is leading the recovery process on the remote island of Ile a Vache, which was in the eye of the most powerful hurricane to hit Haiti in over 50 years.

The Haven team is now supporting local people to rebuild their damaged homes and farms. Tickets starting from 25 are available from Ticketmaster.
If Trump White House officials have been running the foreign policy ship for the first two weeks, well, man, they stink at it. A botched process leading to a botched raid in Yemen. A foreign head of state cancelling a US visit. A stupid executive order on immigration that will weaken national security. Pulling out of a trade deal in a move that will only benefit China. Counterproductive phone calls with close allies in Australia and Mexico. Sean Spicer saying things that are consistent with his tenure as press secretary, by which I mean they are inflammatory and untrue. A veritable geyser of leaks about all of these screw-ups. And then there are the loud tweets putting countries "ON NOTICE".

It's not surprising that the GOP foreign policy establishment is tearing its hair out at the array of stumbles, bumbles and tantrums that the White House has committed in its first fortnight.

But maybe foreign leaders have adjusted to the fact that Donald Trump's words don't mean all that much on the global stage. The 'Washington Post's' A Odysseus Patrick noted this from an opposition leader in Australia: "Even figures in the opposition Labour Party conceded that [Australian PM Malcolm] Turnbull was in a difficult position trying to persuade the new president to uphold a promise made by the Obama administration. 'I don't believe Mr Turnbull did the wrong thing,' Graham Richardson, a senior cabinet minister in a previous Labour government, told Sky News. 'I think we are just facing a normal Trump tantrum.'"

Online magazine Vox's Yochi Dreazen highlighted that quote, following on by noting: "What's striking about Mr Richardson's words is that an experienced foreign politician is basically comparing Mr Trump to an angry toddler. ... Even more striking, Mr Richardson is explicitly saying what many foreign leaders are beginning to grasp about Mr Trump: that his unpredictable tirades at close allies (on Wednesday, Mr Trump also kinda sorta maybe threatened to invade Mexico) are the rule, not the exception.

"It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: That's not a good thing."

Is Dreazen right? Well, there is one undeniable upside to foreigners updating their expectations of a "Trump tantrum" - it means that when Mr Trump loses his cool to a foreign leader, that in and of itself won't be a triggering incident for a deeper conflict. It will just be "Trump's gotta Trump!" Much like Republicans at home, maybe foreigners will learn to ignore the president and focus on key interlocutors.

Even GOP foreign policy folks think that Mr Trump's tantrums are bad but not necessarily meaningful. "I suspect our allies will probably try to smooth it over and just accommodate the fact that the president is somewhat mercurial, because they have a long-term vested interest in the relationship with the US," said Tom Nichols, a former Republican Capitol Hill staffer and a professor at the Naval War College (who stressed he was speaking only for himself).

One veteran Republican operative with close ties to the GOP foreign policy apparatus put it more bluntly: "It's absurd, but it is what it is. The good news is, we're still America, everyone has to shut up and take it, but it's absurd."

So maybe Mr Trump's words will be undiplomatic but also unimportant.

Maybe. But probably not.

There are two massive downsides to how Mr Trump's rhetoric affects the rest of the world. The first problem is that most non-Americans are pretty annoyed by it, particularly in democratic allied states. And that leads to a decline in American standing abroad.

If Mr Trump is unpopular, then elected leaders abroad will have a domestic political incentive to stand up to Mr Trump. An unpopular Gerhard Schroder clawed his way to re-election in Germany by making the autumn 2002 campaign all about George W Bush. This dynamic will make it much more difficult for the United States to cut deals with these states. Mr Trump, by raising the audience costs of others, undercuts his own bargaining position.

The second problem is that if Mr Trump's fits of temper are seen as an exercise in hot air, then no one will believe it when Mr Trump actually tries to issue a real threat. I wrote in November: "When foreign policy leaders get angry as a theatrical tactic, the idea is to get more in negotiations. What happens the first time the president loses his cool - and then just plain loses? Then the anger will be seen as a bluff. Credible commitment is far more important in international negotiations than the ability to engage in truthful hyperbole. As political scientist Anne Sartori argued in 'Deterrence by Diplomacy', leaders don't bluff much in world politics because they want their promises to be believed by other countries. That is the nature of deterrence...The more the Trump administration makes threats it doesn't carry out, the more other countries will not take subsequent promises seriously.

'It is possible that Mr Trump doesn't know yet that his words will matter. Or it is possible that he does know and is trying to use his words to achieve a tactical advantage. As with most improvisers, however, the president-elect doesn't seem to have thought about what will happen after other countries adjust to his bluffing and dissembling. If he finds himself cornered on a foreign policy issue, he will no doubt try to talk his way out of it. Whether he can so is another question entirely."

So there are two problems with the rest of the world learning to shrug off Mr Trump's tantrums. The first is that allied leaders will have an incentive to ignore him and play to their domestic base. The second is that adversaries will conclude that Mr Trump is a paper tiger.

Foreign policy relies a lot more on credible commitment than the element of surprise.

Mr Trump, by acting the way he does, seems headed for the worst of both worlds. He's becoming less credible and more predictable by the day.

That's not good for America.

Daniel W Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
Peace Proms 2017 kicked off to a great response at the Echo Arena, Liverpool last Saturday before returning to Irish shores for concerts at the RDS, Dublin this weekend, Saturday and Sunday February 4 and 5, the SSE Arena Belfast on February 26 and Limerick University in March.

'Preparations for the Liverpool concert began over a year ago as efforts were made to establish the Liverpool Children's Peace Choir,' says director Sharon Tracy Dunne. 'With so many Irish connections in Liverpool, the response was fantastic!'

Almost 3,000 Primary School children from over 100 schools came together to form the Liverpool Children's Peace Choir, and sang with the Dundalk based Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland in the Echo Arena last weekend.

But you don't' need to go to Liverpool to see Peace Proms as the concerts also take place at the RDS, Dublin this weekend, the SSE Arena Belfast on February 26 and Limerick University on March 4 and 5. A huge number of local schools are participating in the Dublin and Belfast Proms and excitement is building as they practice their songs for the concert day. All of the choirs recently attended choral workshops in Dublin and Belfast where they worked with acclaimed conductor and music educator Greg Beardsell.

The Peace Proms concerts are totally entertaining and full of energy and the programme has something for everyone from 'Star Wars' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean', to a 90's House Dance Club Mix.

The sensational line up also includes a spectacular array of champion dancers from the Michelle Johnston School of Highland Dance in Belfast and the Rooney, O'Malley, Maguire School of Irish Dance in Newry as well as champion solo Bagpiper Grahame Harris and the World Champion Colmcille Pipe and Drum Corps from Derry/Londonderry. Along with all-Ireland champion Uilleann Piper Cormac Keegan, prepare to be blown away by power-house vocalists Zena Donnelly and Lauren Murphy; dazzled by local virtuoso rock-violinist Patricia Treacy, and captivated by tenor Eoin Hynes.

Tickets for the RDS Dublin are on sale at www.peaceproms.com while the Belfast tickets are at www.ssearenabelfast.com
Catherine White representing Dundalk Tidy Towns Committee with Tara Litchfield, Jennifer McManus, Leah Watters and Rachel Winters who took part in the Louth Tidy Towns Together 'Trashion Fashion' show held in the Carrickdale Hotel. Picture: Ken Finegan

Aisling Sheridan and Barry Eaton, LCC Environment Section with Larry Magnier, Louth Tidy Towns Together with the winners who took part in the Louth Tidy Towns Together 'Trashion Fashion' show held in the Carrickdale Hotel. Included are Emma Duffy, Rachel Winters, Eve Morrissey, Leah Condon, Emma Campbell, Emma Cheshire, Aislinn Connor, Leah Watters, Uche Ibeh and Lauren Matthews-McGuinness. Picture: Ken Finegan

Wearing outfits which wouldn't have been out of place on the catwalks of Paris or Milan, students from post-primary schools throughout Louth turned heads at the Louth Tidy Towns' Trashion Fashion contest in The Carrickdale Hotel last Tuesday night.

The fifty-five models who wore the eye catching outfits displayed great professional poise as they showed the stunning garments which were all created using recycled materials.

Schools from throughout the county were teamed up with local Tidy Towns groups to learn how to promote sustainable resources.

Working in teams of three, they designed and created the costumes using a wide variety of recycled materials, showing great flair and ingenuity to transform trash into fashion. The task of modelling their creations also fell on one member of each team.

Such was the high standard on the night that the adjudicators recommended all contestants, and not just the ten winners, to enter into the national Junk Kouture competition.
When the Sean O'Mahony's GAA club were searching for a gift for association president Aogan O Fearghail, they found something truly unique from artist Caoimhe McCarthy.

The Drogheda-born, Dunleer-based member of Creative Spark had been creating specialist 'ginger jars' that featured hand-drawn images from places like her home town but she was approached by O'Mahony's chairman Eamonn Doyle to design something different for Mr O Fearghail that the club could present to him at their dinner dance on Friday night.

And Caoimhe, who runs Little Twit Designs, didn't disappoint. She created a beautiful pen and ink drawing that uses the president's county Cavan as an outline and filled in the space with symbols of importance from his life.

Caoimhe said: 'When Eamonn asked me to create something for Mr O Fearghail, I was able to do some research about him on the internet and discovered that he is a former school principal who likes teaching in the Donegal Gaeltacht and his parents owned a shop and post office in his native town and I was able to incorporate his own club's logo into the piece'.

Eamonn said the GAA president seemed genuinely thrilled with the gift and was delighted with Caoimhe's design. Mr O Fearghail also presented club members Joe Carroll and Paddy Cheshire with Hall of Fame awards. Full coverage on pages 86-87. Follow Little Twit Designs on Facebook.
Dundalk Lions Club are getting ready to celebrate their 40th anniversary with a Charter Dance taking place in the Ballymascanlon Hotel on February 24.

Club President Kerri Malone said: 'this is a proud night for Dundalk Lions Club and gives us the opportunity to celebrate this milestone and to meet up with past members and friends of the club, It will be a great night of celebrations and of course will be nostalgic for old friends to meet up and share their experiences of serving with the Lions Club.'

It's been a busy six months for the club since Kerri took office last August with the club taking 150 Senior Citizens for a weekend away in Galway in October for three nights, running a Poker Classic in November, and putting together and delivering 250 Christmas parcels for the less well off in Dundalk and surrounding areas in December. And there's also the weekly bingo, news for the blind, Meals on Wheels and phone collection,

Tickets for the 40th anniversary dance are available from any member of the club and it's a Black Tie and Ruby night.
Dominic McKevitt presenting a copy of his script to Commander Ronan McLaughlin at the centenary celebrations marking the sinking of two ships in Lough Swilly

Dundalk man Dominic McKevitt travelled to Buncrana, Co Donegal at the weekend for ceremonies marking the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of both 'Laurentic' and 'The Haverford' ships at the mouth of Lough Swilly during the First World War.

Dominic joined the families of those lost in these tragedies as wreaths were placed at the graves and also at the wreck site in Lough Swilly.

His interest in the story of these marine tragedies was kindled by when he began searching his family history.

He discovered that his maternal uncle, John Boyle, had gone to sea at a very young age, worked as fireman on transatlantic liners for The White Star Co and was killed at just 22 years in 1917.

'My mother and the entire family went to their rest thinking he was drowned and lay in a watery grave,' he says. 'However when doing the family tree about 7 years ago, I discovered that he has a land grave in Buncrana Co Donegal. He was working on a ship 'The Haverford' and she was torpedoed off the Donegal coast killing all in the engine room but the ship survived and thus his body and those of his comrades were taken ashore to be interred.'

This story inspired him to write a screenplay 'Laurentic' which he presented to Lieutenant Commander Ronan McLaughlin of the LE Samuel Becket which attended the weekend's ceremonies.

Dominic also says he is delighted learn that the Dundalk born Hollywood director John Moore intends reading a copy of the screenplay.
Over 150 business delegates attended a Cross Border Business Support Expo hosted by Newry and Dundalk Chambers of Commerce and supported by InterTradeIreland and Local Enterprise Office Louth last Wednesday in the Carrickdale Hotel.

President Michael Gaynor of Dundalk Chamber commented, 'As joint organisers of this annual event, Dundalk Chamber was delighted with its success in terms of networking opportunities created and the range of business support services available on the day.

He commented 'During this difficult economic period of uncertainty, local businesses need to take advantage of all appropriate support opportunities open to them. This event provided a unique forum for business owners and managers to speak directly to all the local Business Support Providers on a one-to-one basis'.

Over 25 Business Support Agencies catering for the needs of businesses located within the Newry Dundalk region exhibited at this Expo; exhibitors included, InterTradeIreland, Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Office Louth, Invest NI, Newry Mourne & Down District Council, Regional Development Centre, and many of the main lending institutions.

Mr Paddy Savage, Operations Manager at InterTradeIreland said, 'We are delighted to support this important cross border business event again this year. We would also like to take this opportunity to remind local companies that we currently Whave a broad range of support packages for businesses interested in doing cross border business or looking for networking/ partnering opportunities across the island. Details are on our website www.intertradeireland.com'.'
The family of murdered Dundalk man Seamus Ludlow will argue before the High Court in Dublin this week that the State was wrong in not implementing the recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee investigation into the 41-year-old case.

The Ludlows' solicitor, Gavin Booth from KRW Law, said: 'The Oireachtas Committee reports only answered some of the family's questions and stated that further commissions of investigation were 'essential' and 'required' in the interests of justice to answer the remaining questions, particularly in relation to the role of Gardai.

'No family should have to use the courts to get to the truth of what happened to their loved one. We call on the government to implement these recommendations without further delay and suffering to the Ludlow family'.

Mr Ludlow's nephew, Jimmy Sharkey, said the legal action was 'a positive development' but the family 'had been let down so many times by the organs of the State, we will have to wait and see how it goes'.

The family has been supported by a number of politicians, including Louth TD Gerry Adams, who commended the family for their 'courage and perseverance'.

Mr Adams said 'I would urge the Minister for Justice not to force the family to endure a High Court case but to resolve this matter by setting up the commissions of investigation recommended by the 2006 Barron Report'.
Greenore Coastguard members at the scene of the incident on Gyles Quay pier

A local fisherman had a lucky escape when he was rescued by Greenore Coastguard after his boat became submerged at Gyles Quay on Saturday morning.

The man had taken his boat out to do some fishing when the heavy swell began to swamp it. As the boat took on water, he called 999 and spoke to the coastguard, telling them that his boat was sinking.

As the coastguard helicopter was not available, Greenore Coastguard were tasked with going to the rescue,

'We got the call at 10.10am and the boat launched from Greenore within twelve minutes,' reported a spokesperson.

'Our land crew also travelled to Gyles Quay and when we got there, the casualty was in the water,' he continued.

They managed to get the fisherman to dry land and he was attended to by paramedics at the scene before being taken to hospital by ambulance where he was treated for hypothermia and later discharged.

'He was extremely lucky but the was wearing a life jacket and did everything right by phoning 999 when he realised he was getting in trouble.'

'There were a number of other fishing boats in the bay and they also responded to the Mayday call and were en route to support him when we arrived,' said the spokesperson.

This was the third call for Greenore Coastguard so far this year. Last year was a particularly busy one for them as they were tasked to 30 incidents, assisting 52 people in distress.
As teens and young people come under ever increasing scrutiny and pressure not only through their friendships, school and home life but also through the relatively new medium of social media, the service provided by Childline is proving more essential than ever.

The local north east office, based on Dyer Street in Drogheda, answered over 21,000 calls in 2015 and more than 1,240 text and online contacts.

With such a demand on these essential services, the office is looking for more volunteers to help man the phones and offer a listening ear to those who contact Childline.

We have a great team of volunteers here but I need more,' said Danielle. 'We have 33 people here at the moment and a few more who are finishing training but we need about 50.'

With this in mind, Childline is holding two information evenings on February 6th and 8th starting at 6.30pm each evening for anyone interested in finding out more about what is involved in becoming a volunteer.

'The information evenings are a key part of our recruitment process and people can find out everything they need to know at these events,' said Danielle.

Joanne O'Hannigan was one of those who attended an information evening four years ago after spotting an ad for it in the local paper.

'I just came along to see what it was about,' she explained. 'I'd never volunteered for anything before but I was at home with the kids at the time and I wanted to do something so I sent an email to see what was involved, then I came along to the information meeting to see what it was all about and then that was it really.'

Joanne now volunteers on a Friday night and said she gets so much from the job and the support and camraderie of the other volunteers on duty.

'The calls we get cover a huge range of things from the very serious, distressing calls to the funny - uplifting almost sometimes. They're great craic the kids. We would have some ringing to ask for the number of another service or telling us 'this is what's happening'. We don't tell them what to do but if they ask for a specific number we would have numbers of approved services that are suitable for children.

'All the volunteers are very supportive and if you do have a bad call they'll all be there for you and they'll pull a chair over or make a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit. The camraderie here really is amazing.'

Both Joanne and Danielle say there is a huge range of issues which come up in the calls received locally, from fights with friends to self-esteem issues, bullying and abuse but school often comes out as a recurring theme.

'There's nothing overly shocking in that it is mainly about the things that they do everyday so school is a big one because they spend most of their time at school,' explained Danielle.

'The way I would always describe it is it's very normal for kids to talk about what's going on in their everyday life so you can get that huge spectrum of what kids do everyday. The big stuff would be school, friends, family, hobbies and if all of those are going perfectly and they're great and they're delighted with things you get that and if there's a problem with one of those you get that too.

'I think people assume that it's the distressing stuff all the time. Sometimes they just need a chat and a sounding board and that's the big thing we always try to drive home through the training. That's what we are, we're a sounding board we're here to be a safe place for them to say whatever they want and they won't get into trouble, we won't judge them.'

She said the internet has added a new dimension to the calls received.

'As a service we would say absolutely cyber bullying is an issue but it hasn't replaced traditional bullying, that's still very much there,' said Danielle. 'You just have this added bit on now so it doesn't just finish in school anymore, it follows them home and I suppose we've always been able to say generally that boys are more physical whereas girls it is more that alienation and exclusion.'

Joanne added: 'In the last few years you do notice a difference with the stuff online, especially with the girls and a lot of stuff coming through from the girls would be this feeling of alienation or people putting stuff up about them online.

'Then they'd say things like my life isn't worth living or my life is over because of this or they feel worthless, you get a lot of that. It has a huge impact and a very wide ranging one.

'There are a lot of regular callers so you could be talking to one person or their might be a gang of them and a totally different thing will come through when the friends leave or they'll call back later.

'Some calls do stay with you, I won't lie it can be emotional but I would say to anyone thinking of doing it just come along and see what it's all about.'

The training to become a volunteer is quite intensive with 15 sessions spread over seven weeks of two sessions a week.

'Once you're finished your training course you shadow the service so you sit with a trained volunteer to listen in to calls then once you do that the volunteer supports you as you start to take calls. There is a lot to the trianing because it is a big thing you're undertaking,' said Danielle who revealed volunteers in the north east office come from all over the region.

'One of our volunteers comes from Carlingford and we have one teacher who lives here during term time and during holidays she drives up for her shift every week in Wicklow. So yeah we're a big catchment area.

We have a very broad age range of volunteeres, people just out of school or college to people who have their own grandkids. It's a nice mix and people are very dedicated.'

Danielle said Childline is the only phone service in Europe where the calls are predominantly from boys who make up 70% of the calls received.

'Our online presence would be the total opposite, 70% of the contact there would be from girls but I think the number of calls from boys is testament tto the volunteers and the childcentredness and the patience they display.

Anyone interested in attending the information evening is asked to register their interest by February 3rd at dlambe@ispcc.ie or phone 041-9809964.
The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD, met with Louth Chief Executive of Louth County Council Joan Martin last week to discuss the roll out of Creative Ireland Programme / Clar Eire Ildanach in Louth.

Creative Ireland is the Government's Legacy Programme for Ireland 2016 Centenary.

It is a five-year all-of-government initiative, from 2017 to 2022, which at its core is a wellbeing strategy which aims to improve access to cultural and creative activity in every county across the country.

In preparation, Minister Humphreys met with all local authority CEOs last week.

Creative Ireland will prioritise children's access to art, music, drama and coding; enhance the provision of culture and creativity in every community; further develop Ireland as a global hub for film and TV production; empower and support our artists and drive investment in our cultural institutions; further enhance our global reputation abroad. From 2018, an annual County of Culture will also be held each year.

A major pillar of the Creative Ireland programme is called 'Enabling Creativity in Every Community'. Local Authorities are the primary instrument for delivery of the programme objectives throughout the country over the next five years, and they are central to the success of Creative Ireland.

As part of Creative Ireland, a culture team will be established in every county, which will be tasked with developing a culture plan for that county. Each Local Authority will appoint a co-ordinator for the programme, and a public workshop will be held to share the Creative Ireland plans and invite input from the public.

Speaking after the meeting Minister Humphreys said: 'Creative Ireland is the Irish Government's ambitious five year programme to place culture and creativity at the heart of public policy. I have met with Joan Martin to discuss how we will maximise the programme in Louth.

'I have asked Joan Martin to establish a Culture Team bringing together relevant personnel to develop a Culture & Creativity Plan for Louth to drive public participation in creative cultural activity in Louth.'

She said she has also asked the national Creative Ireland team to conduct workshops around the country this spring.

'I view these workshops as a two-way learning process from which best practice can emerge,' she said.

The date for the Louth workshop will be announced in the coming weeks.

I have made a specific allocation of 1million to the Local Authorities towards the implementation of the 2017 Creative Ireland Plans.

'I want to send a very strong message about Ireland's ambitions for our creative sectors and our vision to help children and communities to fulfil their creative potential. Ireland has an opportunity to lead by example as we roll out the Creative Ireland programme.'

'I am very pleased that my Department is providing 1 million in funding for the Local Authority network to enable the roll out of Creative Ireland in every county.'
Dundalk has scored its first Brexit bonus with the news that the Armagh based global pharmaceutical development and manufacturing organisation, Almac Group, is to create 100 jobs in a new facility at the IDA Business Park.

The company's CEO Alan Ammstrong said: 'This latest investment in Dundalk is a further example of Almac's ambitious global expansion plans and will deliver up to an additional 100 new jobs within the first two years.'

Almac's multimillion investment in the new 32,000 sq ft facility at IDA Business Park is being supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland.

This news comes just weeks after Almac confirmed ambitious plans to expand its operations at its global Headquarters in Craigavon, where it employs almost 3,000 people, with the construction of a new laboratory and additional office facilities. It also has a plant in Athlone following its acquisition of the Arran Chemical Company facility in 2015. The company, which has its origins in Galen Ltd, founded by the late Sir Allen McClay, also has facilities in England and the United States. It specialises in the development of specialist drugs and diagnostics, including innovative approaches to the treatment of cancer.

It's anticipated that the company's global workforce will grow to 5,000 by the end of 2017.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O'Connor said: 'This is a very exciting project for Dundalk and builds on the strong cluster of multinational companies who have very successfully located in that town in recent years and who have found it a great base from which to promote their sales into other EU Member States. Ireland's expertise in the Pharma sector is unrivalled, with virtually all the major international players having operations here, thus generating synergies and opportunities for new companies investing with us. These additional 100 jobs to be provided are very welcome and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial engagement with Almac into the future".

Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said: 'Almac's decision to expand into Dundalk provides the company with certainty of access to the European Union in the long term- this certainty of access is an increasingly important selling point for Ireland as we look to win business for Ireland. IDA Ireland will continue to promote Ireland as an ideal location for companies from a range of sectors including pharmaceuticals, IT and financial services that are looking to ensure that they have a presence in the European single market.'

Hopes that town will benefit as more firms relocate after Brexit

The decision by one of Northern Ireland's leading pharmaceutical companies to set up a facility in Dundalk has been welcomed as a sign that the town stands to reap benefits as more firms seek to establish a presence in the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit in order to keep a foot in the EU.

And as the IDA has long targeted the growing pharmaceutical industry for Dundalk, the hope is that the town can become a hub for those firms which wish to avail of access to the European markets.

Martin Shanahan, chief executive of IDA Ireland, pledged: 'IDA Ireland will continue to promote Ireland as an ideal location for companies from a range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, IT and financial services that are looking to ensure that they have a presence in the European single market.'

Mairead McGuinness MEP and first Vice-President of the European Parliament said the new Almac Group facility bringing 100 jobs to Dundalk over the next two years was a very positive signal.

'This is very welcome news for the town and for the region and adds to its strong and growing reputation in the pharmaceutical sector.'

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick said described the announcement as 'great news for the people of Dundalk.'

'This will add to the growing number of multinational companies located in the town. Dundalk has the potential to become a major hub in the post-Brexit era. This is testament to the quality of our workforce and our infrastructure. I hope that this will send out the message to all potential investors - Louth is open for business.'

Deputy Declan Breathnach commented: 'We are very well placed in Dundalk and already have expertise in the Pharma sector. We are a great base for promoting trade with our proximity to both Dublin and the North of Ireland. This is one of the positive side effects of Brexit where companies wish to retain their access to the EU and the single market. We must keep promoting the North East region to win more business for the area as we have so much to offer.'

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd believes that Almac's decision 'shows multinational companies are continuing to invest heavily in the M1 corridor and it is very welcome news for the constituents of Louth. The IDA are to be applauded for their efforts along with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.'

He added that Louth got more site visits organised by IDA over the last few years than neighbouring counties.
An Ardee farmer who was told by a 71-year-old to move his tractor so he could get past him on a narrow country lane has been given a suspended sentence at Dundalk Circuit Court.

Peter McEneaney, (40), Edmondstown, Ardee, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the now 73-year-old following an incident on June 5 2014 at Arthurstown, Ardee.

The victim was driving a tractor with silage and his son in law was driving a tractor behind him when he saw an oncoming John Deere tractor pull over at the top of the hill to let them by.

There was a sprayer on the back of McEneaney's tractor and when he saw the victim in his tractor, the defendant pulled out and moved 20 yards down the road, blocking the road. There was deadlock and the three men sat in their tractors for a few minutes before the victim got out to speak to McEneaney to get him to move.

McEneaney got out at the same time, waving his arms and the pair met in front of the tractor. The victim was punched in the face by the defendant before he was hit punched and kicked on the ground before the son in law intervened and grabbed McEneaney in a headlock.

The victim was unconscious on the ground for some minutes and McEneaney told Gardai who arrived at the scene that he had hit the 71-year-old. The farmer, who has 19 grandchildren, was treated for injuries to his eye, which continues to water and he has ongoing tinnitus as a result of the assault.

The victim, who was in court last week for the sentencing, said in an impact statement, the assault was 'unprovoked and vicious'.

Judge Michael O'Shea was told there was background to the incident, as the victim had sometimes driven his tractor on the grass verge outside McEneaney's elderly parents' house to let traffic past and they had reported a number of these infringements to Gardai.

Stones, as well as a jeep, had been parked on the verge to stop this happening, but since the assault, these had been removed.

His parents 'wrongly and mistakenly' believed at the time of the assault that the victim driving on the verge was a slight against them and the defendant was 'very protective of his mum and dad'.

McEneaney, who has no previous convictions and is involved in the IFA and GAA in his area, had paid 20,000 to the victim as compensation in a civil case.

Barrister Lily Buckley said her client, a farmer and father of five, feels deeply ashamed and remorseful for what he did and he knows he shouldn't have taken any feud to the level that he did.

Judge O'Shea said that no matter what the background, 'no-one should take the law into their own hands'. If McEneaney had pulled over on the day to let the victim past, there would have been no confrontation, no assault and no injuries to the victim, the judge said.

References from a priest, an IFA official and a GAA were handed into court which stated this one-off incident was 'completely out of character' for McEneaney. The feud ended following the assault and there have been no further incidents.

Judge O'Shea said the 'multiple injuries' had affected the victim's life and McEneaney had taken 'positive steps' with the compensation and the removal of the jeep and stones from the grass verge.

The judge imposed a two year sentence, suspended for two years.
Warm tributes have been paid to Judge William Hamill who is retiring from the bench after more than 30 years.

Judge Hamill sat in Dundalk and Drogheda courts when Judge Flann Brennan, who was elevated to the bench a short time before him, was on leave and he spent three decades hearing cases in the county. Judge Hamill was regularly in Dundalk in August for the 'vacation sittings'.

On his last day in court on Friday, there were tributes paid to him by the County Louth Solicitors' Bar Association, the Probation Service, the Gardai and the Courts Service.

Solicitor Conor MacGuill said Judge Hamill had presided in Louth many times and had 'challenged and cajoled us and we have learned something from this'.

Mr MacGuill said: 'Throughout the August sittings, you did great things for the travel industry but not necessarily for tourism in the this area. The August sittings of the court could take on a peculiar dimension, given the variety of the matters that came before it.

'Over the years, however, as Dermot Lavery pointed out, you may have learned something from us as well'. And Mr MacGuill paid tribute to Judge Hamill's famed impartiality. 'We can say that we never found a decision was made based on the competing personalities of the parties who appeared before you but always upon your analysis of the facts as presented and for this we would like to thank you'.

Inspector Brendan Cadden said Judge Hamill was someone who kept Gardai on their toes, particularly in relation to the judge's bugbear, warrants. He said he wanted to wish the judge well for a long and happy retirement, and said he was leaving Louth Gardai 'much sharper' on the warrants issue.

Representatives of the Courts Service and the Probation Service also paid tribute with a probation officer saying that he showed 'fairness and expertise'.

The Courts Service praised the judge's recognised expertise in the law and said he was always polite and accommodating to staff, who enjoyed 'good banter and rapport' with him.

Judge Hamill thanked the speakers for their kind words. He said he had found solicitors in Louth, and in other 'country courts' around the country 'more civilised than in the capital city'. He said: 'I would like to thank them for their approach to matters and I would like to thank the Gardai for their response over the years . . . I don't think the work is finished yet, but I won't be around to see it through'. He added he had always appreciated the work and the expertise of the Probation Service and the Courts Service staff in Dundalk 'have always been helpful no matter how outrageous the requests'.

The judge joked: 'I do wonder about my activities on retirement. My (white) beard is getting longer and older so perhaps there is an opportunity for me around Christmas'.
Wicklow Rowing Club was formed 60 years ago, but the organisation draws on an even longer standing tradition of coastal rowing.

The club headquarters at the New Pier in the port town is largely quiet at the moment as the members take their winter break. Chairman Robert Dunne remains on duty, however, carrying out off-season maintenance on the boats, which will be in constant action during the summer months.

He traces the origins of the club back to the 19th century when many citizens of the town earned their livelihood fishing or working as dockers. In the days dominated by sail, the port handled large quantities of copper ore coming from the Avoca mines as well as imports mainly from Britain.

As a ship carrying maybe coal or timber moved into sight on the way to land its cargo, the watching men would be ready.

It was the custom of the time that the job of unloading the visiting vessel fell to the first team of dockers out to make contact.

So those who wanted the work would hop into their skiffs and haul their way out to the schooner at top speed to stake their claim for employment.

Nowadays, crews compete for trophies where their forebears of tougher times raced to put food on the family table.

'That's how the racing started - through necessity,' muses Robert, sitting amid the impressive array of modern equipment in the club's gymnasium.

'It was not just the five people in the boat who depended on the outcome but their whole team too.'

The business of putting a more leisurely spin on the skills born of such desperation began in 1878 when the first Wicklow regatta was staged.

The substantial prize money ensured that competition was keen at the annual event, which will be held for the 139th time later this year.

In 2017, of course, the participants will be happy to compete for silverware, though the hungry origins of their sport are not forgotten.

The wooden boats which the modern oarsman (and more recently oarswoman) propels through the waves would be readily recognised by the Victorian dockers.

These sturdy craft are still powered by four rowers, just as they always were, facing backwards and working to the orders of a cox in the stern.

The heritage is shared by eight other clubs along the coast, including Arklow, Greystones and Bray along with the Dublin outposts in Dalkey, Dun Laoghaire, Ringsend (two) and newcomers Skerries. Together the clubs promote a programme of nine annual regattas, which promote a spirit of friendly rivalry along their stretch of the east coast.

Robert Dunne stresses that the boats have not changed since the practice of using a simple sail was abandoned more than a century ago.

The east coast skiff is a flexible craft which was designed to be used fishing for herring as well as serving around the docks.

The standard length is 25 feet, with a beam (width) of 5 feet and six inches at the widest point - and the club chairman makes no apology for not using metric measurements.

His current fleet is four strong, two of the boats dating back to the 1950s, when Wicklow Rowing Club first established. The oldest was constructed in 1956 by Smith's of Ringsend while the second made in Wicklow by William Warren in Bath Street a year or two later.

If timber could talk, then they would surely have great tales to tell and they both remain in great shape though now used principally in training rather than in competition.

The third element of this fine fleet is a product of the Kavanagh Brothers yard in Arklow and it was launched in 1999. The fourth is an import made by an English skiff builder called Maurice Hunkin in 2006 at his yard in Cornwall.

Hunkin was approved by the East Coast Rowing Council as they attempted to bring in a common standard for all craft taking part in the events under their control.

The Cornish man threw himself and all his expertise into the exercise, visiting all the clubs to carry out detailed research.

He selected Wicklow's old workhorse 'Saint Manntan 1' as his model: 'He chose ours as his template. He liked the build of it, an old boat and the best maintained,' as Robert recalls.

The Wicklow measurements have since been faithfully re-created many times since Hunkin took his measurements and made his moulds.

He remains the principal supplier to the various clubs, though Kavanagh's remains open for business in Arklow and a yard in Donegal is also available.

Robert reveals that his grandfather Sid Dunne also used to build rowing skiffs in the 1970s, sometimes in association with Peter Earls.

Examples included the 'The Star' and 'Colleen Bawn' (made for the now disbanded Leitrim club) which eventually proved popular with sea scouts once their racing days were done.

All the skiffs are clinker built. The term means that the hull comprises overlapping planks of best Oregon pine or silver spruce, held in place with copper nails.

Wicklow Rowing Club was formed on the initiative of parish priest Father Hans, who was keen to promote a healthy pastime at a time when the Irish economy was in the doldrums.

He helped to arrange for a disused public toilet to be made available as premises close to the stony beach at the start of the Murrough.

The site remains the same though the lavatorial origins of the greatly extended building are now impossible to recognise.

'They cleaned it up and put a door on it and we have been here ever since,' says the chairman.

Many of the original rowers were fishermen and dockers, while the current members mostly take to the sea strictly for recreation and fitness.

The club began with an all-male line-up but has been catering for women too since the 1960s, and they bring home their full share of titles.

There are at least 100 members on the books, including 40 youngsters in the fast expanding youth section for children who take up their oars from the age of 12.

It is not unknown for rowers to keep their places in competition into their fifties and veteran events allow the over-60s to take part.

The pier provides a fine viewing point for races in which crews are tested not only for their ability to generate speed in a straight line but also to turn smartly around marker buoys.

'One of the biggest thrills is turning in front of a packed pier,' observes Robert, who has seen many a race decided at the buoys, by fair means and foul.

'We say we have the best venue here in Wicklow for spectators. It is great exercise and very intense in short bursts.'

A skiff with an expert team on board expects to complete a four kilometre event in under a quarter of an hour. The club regularly takes part in longer charity events, hauling up to Kilcoole or even Greystones and back.

In 1982 a crew even made it across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man and it is one of Robert's enduring regrets that he was deemed too young to take part in that epic round trip.

The club nourished by such longstanding traditions intends to keep the oldest skiff in its fleet on the water for some time yet: 'If properly maintained, we can keep it going indefinitely,' says the chairman of 'Saint Manntan 1', though the 61-year-old is gradually becoming waterlogged despite all the care devoted to her beautifully crafted hull. 'There comes a point where we have to say we cannot continue using her for training and we might just keep her for special occasions.'

The fact is that newness matters and 'Saint Manntan 4' is the one everyone really wants to take out on to the water, and there are demands to order 'Saint Manntan 5'.

'Saint Manntan 3' is also used in races and, at 18 years old, she remains a good bet for a heavy crew and capable of turning with commendable agility.

Each club on the regatta circuit has its own style, with Wicklow's pull on the 14 or 15 feet timber oars typically long and heavy, ideal for dealing with heavy seas.

Contrast that with the short and snappy rowing which is the norm in Ringsend, where the Liffey estuary is a more sheltered environment. Dun Laoghaire is the club with the biggest membership but Wicklow and the other outfits from the county are all competitive.

The clubhouse in Wicklow (shared with the sub-aqua club) is open six days a week during the rowing season - they usually take Saturdays off. Though numbers participating have grown, fresh recruits are always welcome - just come along to the pier or visit wicklowrowingclub.ie.
Bray entrepreneur Onagh O'Driscoll is making waves in Ireland's multi-million hair extensions industry.

Onagh O'Driscoll (24) is on a mission to overhaul the reputation of the industry. In less than a decade, Ireland's hair extensions business has gone from zero to become a multi-million euro industry. It's an industry, however, with a relatively poor reputation, as a result of poor-quality hair, garish WAG-esque looks and a barrage of unsightly glue bonds.

Determined to raise the bar and give hair extensions the recognition they truly deserve, Platinum MD Onagh O'Driscoll is making huge waves in Ireland's hair extension industry by challenging the status quo, to offer an unsurpassed quality of hair combined with accessible pricing.

She said: Ireland's hair extensions industry has seen explosive growth. Offering instant length and volume, extensions allow women to have the long, thick hair they yearn for but weren't naturally blessed with.

'Hair really is our crowning glory and I love seeing how much a new look can improve someone's confidence! They offer a solution for fine, thinning or damaged looking hair or for women looking for a quick fix for an occasion such as a wedding or black tie event.

'However, unethical sources, hair damage and poor quality hair has marked out the sector for a lot of criticism and rightly so, putting the industry in the spotlight for the wrong reasons!'

Since launching in 2011 Onagh has transformed Platinum Hair Extensions from a one-product wonder to a thriving ethically driven hair extensions company operating landmark salons in Dublin and Galway, a booming wholesale business and an own brand care range.

'Irish women of all ages are seeking a more natural, fuller look,' said Onagh, who has worked on the famous tresses of many of Ireland's A-list celebrities and social media influencers. For more information go to platinhumhumanhair.com. There are also salons on Grafton Street and Eyre Square in Galway.
Karen Hennessy hands over an award to Asta Gauronskyte of Old Court Linens in Blessington.

Two County Wicklow design companies have won prestigious awards at Showcase - Ireland's Creative Expo.

Bray textile designer Aoife Mullane of A Mullane Design was the winner of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland Craftsmanship and Innovation Award, while Blessington's Old Court Linens was highly commended in the Showcase Best Product - Home category for their 'bread bag.'

Showcase 2017 was officially opened on Sunday, January 22, by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O'Connor and awards were presented by Karen Hennessy, chief executive of the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland.

The annual show has established itself as a must-see trade event, attracting buyers from Ireland and more than 20 other countries, including UK, US, mainland Europe and the Far East, all keen to see the latest designs from Ireland's top brands and craft producers.

The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland's Craftsmanship Award, which promotes creative development in craft, was won by A. Mullane Design for the innovation and craftsmanship of its overall product offering.

A Mullane Design is a Bray-based printed textile design brand.

Old Court Linens is a family owed business run by Asta Gauronskyte, based in the village of Manor Kilbride.

Asta comes from Lithuania, a Country famous for its centuries of linen growing and weaving traditions.

She grew up in a family where textiles and sewing was part of the daily routine. As a result, Asta's heritage connected her with the textile business.

Showcase is an international launch pad for the 450 Irish designers, manufacturers and craftspeople who will be unveiling their new season collections across fashion, jewellery, home and gift-ware over the four-day event.

A particular emphasis is placed on new products to market, providing retailers with opportunities to discover and stock up on the latest design-led products.
Ireland's first ever nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) housing scheme, which was designed by a Wicklow architectural firm, will feature on an upcoming episode of RTE's 'Eco Eye'.

Maderia Oaks in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, was designed by MosArt Ltd in Rathnew for Wexford County Council. 'Eco Eye' and its presenter Duncan Stewart will turn their attention to the housing scheme in the Tuesday, February 14, episode.

'Eco Eye' specialises in highlighting environmental issues and Stewart recently spent a number of days on the site in Enniscorthy filming sequences for the half-hour programme.

News of the national broadcaster's interest in the housing scheme came just one week after it was announced at Government Buildings that nZEBRA, a subsidary company of MosArt Ltd, is organising Ireland's first ever nZEB housing conference in Enniscorthy in March.

Ireland will introduce nZEB (nearly zero energy buildings) building compliance as mandatory from 2018 for all public buildings and from 2020 for all other buildings and the conference will examine every aspect involved in the construction of an nZEB buildings. Attendees will be given a step by step, 'behind the scenes' introduction to what is involved in the process. The conference will be of particular interest to architects, house planners, local authority housing officers and building contractors.

The three Directors of Nzebra will be among a panel of national and international speakers to address delegates. Nzebra's MD Tomas O'Leary, Art McCormack and Andy Lundberg have over 50 years experience in high performance building design and detailing and have a proven track record in low energy, comfortable and healthy buildings.

They will be joined by, among others, Sean Armstrong from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and Wexford County Council's Chief Executive, Tom Enright, who will discuss the local authority's decision to build an nZeb housing scheme.

Dr. Shane Colclough from the University of Ulster; Andree Dargan, County Architect of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council; Dragomir Tzanew from Bulgaria; Tom Parlon, Director General of the Construction Industry Federation; and Pat Cox, Former President of the European Parliament, will also give presentations on the day.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney T.D. will open the conference and with the housing crisis the number #1 priority for the Government, will outline the Government's future plans for the construction industry.

The conference will take place at the Riverside Park Hotel, Enniscorthy, on March 2. For more details, visit http://www.nzebra.ie/events/nzebra-conference
Residents of Fairfield Park in Greystones have been interviewed by Wicklow County Council, according to the council, and a priority list has been devised.

At least one resident has been told that they will qualify for neither housing nor rent allowance upon leaving Fairfield.

Deputy Stephen Donnelly said that he welcomes further action by the council to secure accommodation for the residents.

'The Dublin Simon Community is now working closely with Wicklow County Council to address the housing needs of residents,' said Deputy Donnelly.

'I would also like to acknowledge the work of the owner of Fairfield Park who have worked closely with Wicklow County Council to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for residents.

'It is my hope that this action will ensure that none of the residents are faced with homelessness. I will continue to monitor the situation closely.'

A transition team was put in place in recent months to support the residents as they prepare to move from Fairfield Park.

The council's objective is to prevent any of the residents of the estate facing homelessness.

'The council has undertaken to assess every household individually, contact landlords to advocate further units coming online, provide information and support for tenants as they apply for alternative payments and provide post-tenancy support,' said Deputy Donnelly.

The council has opened a clinic at 45 Fairfield Park for those seeking further information.

Last August, residents of the 52-unit site of chalets and mobile homes were told that they would have to vacate in a year.

Landlord Bill Fenelon of Haven Homes wrote to the residents last summer.

He said that he made the decision to close the park 'with great sadness' and due to changes in legislation governing landlords' obligations to tenants.

Some of the tenants of Fairfield Park have been over 30 years in the estate, others received notice to quit shortly after moving in.

The company Haven Homes was established on August 30, 1973, and tenants have been told that they can no longer live there from August 31, 2017.
Odile Evans owes a lot to Macra na Feirme. At the age of just 23, she says it has given her many important life skills which have brought her to where she is today.

On Friday night, Odile formally launched her election campaign and over the next two months or so, will be contesting the upcoming election for national president of Macra na Feirme.

Having joined the organisation for young farmers straight out of school, Odile soon found herself given a job on the committee and she was hooked.

'I grew up on a dairy farm South of Arklow and from a very young age I was interesting in the farm and the workings of it. At 17 I joined Macra and became club secretary within a month,' Odile explains.

That year, Odile's guild, Johnstown-Coolgreany, was named national Club of the Year, which was a great achievement for a young club just established in 2006.

'It was great for the club and for the members, as all of the officers were quite young as well, maybe 17 and. My neighbour Sarah Merrigan encouraged me to join at the start and was on the committee then and is not the County Chairperson for Macra.'

Odile, a journalist with the Irish Farmers Journal by day, explains that she was 'always an ambitious person' and puts all her energy in when she has a goal in sight.

'I studied agriculture in UCD and graduated with first-class honours and did my semester abroad. From there I went into my current job as a journalist. I always knew my life was going to be in agriculture but I didn't know exactly what area,' Odile says.

She credits Macra with giving her the chance to grow as a person and acquire many important life skills.

'Taking on club role meant that I got a lot of training in different areas. I entered a lot of competitions, from sports, farm skills and debating. They put you outside you comfort zone and help to improve your confidence. You can have a role listed on your CV but when you get into any interview, it will show, that you have that experience. Macra members are that little bit more personally developed and able for the stresses and strains that might be thrown at them.'

The place of Macra in small communities, cannot be overstated, either.

'It is a really good rural organisation, which is open to men and women aged 17 to 35. There is a lot of community involvement and Macra groups join in various events, for example entering a float in the St Patrick's Day parade, which Johnstown Coolgreany does every year. Just getting out and meeting up with others once a week can do wonders for your mental health and it can help relieve the demanding nature of farming work.'

For Odile, improving conditions and agreements for Irish farmers is a priority and running for national president is a step towards this.

If elected, she will be the second woman ever to hold the two year term and she says that she believes the time if right for that now.

'I don't see youth as a barrier and already, in Macra half of our national council is female. However, the time is right for a bit of colour in the organisation and I feel it would be a positive thing for young women to see a woman as national president. I'm here and I'm ready now, so why hang around for the sake of it?'

The role is full time, and if elected, Odile would have to take a break from journalism.

'There are many issues that are of concern to farmers today, and particularly young farmers and that is what I will be focusing on. Farm incomes are quite low at the moment and many young farmers have difficulty with access to land and credit. These are two key issues and without these, it is very hard for a young person starting out to see a very stable future. I would be seeking to push that agenda if elected,' Odile says.

'The president is also tasked with building new relationships and maintaining old ones. I am in the unique position that I know a lot of the government ministers through my job so that is an asset.'

Since her launch, Odile says that she has been stunned by the support she has received.

'I really have been blown away and I am delighted to see the momentum behind the campaign. I am bowled over by all the support and I am very grateful to those who are supporting me and to my family.'

Odile will on the hustings throughout February and March where she will hope to cover a lot of ground as club to club canvassing is not permitted.

'It is one vote per club so they will have to decide which candidate they prefer and then the ballot is on April 4,' Odile says.

Until then, she will be doing her utmost to reach as many members as possible in the hope of getting elected, a challenge it seems she is more than ready for.
Cast members on the atmospheric set of 'Murder at Shandy Hall - The Musical'

It was described as one of the most exciting theatrical events ever to be staged in Macroom - and it did not disappoint.

Last October the Briery Gap broke new ground when hosted the world premiere of Murder at Shandy Hall, starring Hollywood leading man Patrick Bergin.

The critically acclaimed show, which played to sell-out audiences at the Riverside Park Hotel and the Cork Opera House, is now set to make a dramatic return to the stage of the iconic Cork City venue later on this month.

Proceeds from the two performances on February 21 and 22, will go towards the Macroom Senior Citizens Sullane Haven Project - an initiative that provides an essential range of services to older people living in the area. These include providing daily lunch, meals on wheel, chiropody, care and repair and a laundry service.

Billed as Irelands first ever musical mystery murder Shandy Hall takes audiences back in time to the year 1887, retelling the story of a scandal that rocked the quiet tranquillity of a Cork village and made headlines across the world.

Bergin plays the lead role of retired Cork-born British army surgeon Dr Philip Cross in the dark and dangerous tale of love, lust betrayal and death in rural Victorian Ireland based on actual events.

The cast of characters would not be out of place in a modern day CSI episode, with a cruel killer cloaked in a veneer of respectability, a beautiful and naive governess and a blameless wife.

Add to these a brilliant young pathologist, a clever murder detective, two accomplished courtroom adversaries, a caring judge and a notorious hangman and you have the perfect recipe for a tale of scandal and intrigue that will have audiences on the edge of their seats.

After his retirement from the army, Cross, his wife Mary and their children moved back to his ancestral Shandy Hall home in Dripsey.

Following the hiring of Scottish governess Effie Skinner to teach their youngest daughter, Mrs Cross became suspicious that her husband may be harbouring feelings for the 21-year-old and dismissed her.

Rumours begin to surface about the suspicious death of Mary Cross in June 1887, fuelled in no small measure by Dr Cross second marriage to Effie Skinner just weeks after Marys burial and her return of Shandy Hall as the new governess.

Local RIC inspector Henry Tyacke began in investigation and following an exhumation and post-mortem it emerged that Mary had in fact been poisoned and had not died of typhoid fever as had been initially reported.

The courtroom drama that followed captivated Victorian society and ultimately ended in a date with the hangman for Dr Cross.

Adapted from Michael Sheridans best selling book of the same title, with words and lyrics by Alan Kiely and Kevin Connolly and strong cast of actors the musical entertains, engages and horrifies in equal measure.

Tickets from the Cork Opera House on 021 427 0022 priced at 22/25.
Director Mel Gibson returns, all guns blazing, with a riveting wartime drama based on the true story of Desmond Doss, who served with valour during the Second World War without having to fire a single bullet.

He became the first conscientious objector to receive America's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, which is bestowed on the precious few who have distinguished themselves with incredible gallantry beyond the call of duty.

In Doss' extraordinary case, he ran into a hail of Japanese bullets in May 1945 at the Battle of Okinawa, without a weapon to return fire, and risked his life to rescue injured soldiers from the blood-soaked battleground.

In an era of questionable morality, when principles are repeatedly compromised for the sake of selfish gain, one man's inspirational journey of righteous self-sacrifice is an invigorating tonic.

Gibson directs with verve, orchestrating hellish battle scenes.

Aerial bombardments scythe through flesh, ripping limbs from torsos or exploding craniums as a well-targeted bullet careens through an eye socket.

The senseless slaughter of young men in the prime of their lives is heartbreaking.

Desmond (Andrew Garfield) is born and raised with his brother Hal (Nathaniel Buzolic) in Lynchburg, Virginia against the picturesque backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His father Tom (Hugo Weaving) is an emotionally scarred veteran of the First World War and mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths) educates her brood using the Bible.

At an early age, Desmond almost kills Hal and he is haunted by the episode.

'To take another man's life is the most egregious sin,' counsels Bertha.

Her words have a profound effect on Desmond, who takes up a vow of pacifism, even when he enrols in the US Army.

He intends to follow the lead of his nurse girlfriend, Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer), and serve as a medic.

However, Desmond is ushered into combat training under no-nonsense Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and instantly makes enemies of the rest of the squad, especially bullying ringleader Smitty Ryker (Luke Bracey), by refusing to carry arms.

Desmond's defiance leads to his arrest for insubordination and he faces a trial behind closed doors overseen by Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) and Captain Stelzer (Richard Roxburgh).

Hacksaw Ridge pulls no punches in its depiction of the horrors of conflict.

Garfield delivers a mesmerising lead performance, as a gentle and caring man who yearns to serve the country he loves, but isn't willing to abandon his moral compass in the name of patriotism.

Gibson's bravura direction marries moments of silent, agonising regret with explosions of deafening pyrotechnic spectacle.

It's a brutal, uncompromising assault on the senses that tunes into Doss' religious beliefs and clings onto them when tearful capitulation seems like the only option.
Local TD Michael Moynihan (FF) has said that the decision by Cork County Council to apply for planning permission for a new link road and a new fire station for Kanturk is fantastic news for the town, and the local community.

"The construction of the link road is a vital cog in allowing for increased vibrancy within Kanturk town. Fianna Fail has been pushing this development for many years and this is the first step in bringing it to fruition," said Deputy Moynihan.

"The link road will ensure ease of access to the promised new national school for parents and school buses, and will also help ease traffic moving through the town during peak times in the morning and evening."

He said Kanturk has desperately needed a new fire station for some time, due to the confined and cramped location of the current station at St. Theresa's Place.

"It has been in the pipeline for some time and I am delighted that progress has been made by bringing it to this stage. The total catchment area for the Kanturk Fire Station is 15,000, and it's great to see that a new station will be developed."

The Cork NW deputy said he is now looking to the government's Capital Development Plan mid-term review, which will be announced later in the year.

"Along with the projects in Kanturk town, and to enhance the vibrancy of the entire region, I will continue to push for additional spending on local capital projects such as such as the M20 motorway which will help with increased connectivity into the wider cork region," concluded Moynihan.
On the strength of last year's Property Expo in New York, a North Cork estate agency is joining an Irish contingent travelling to Boston in March, pitching to US buyers.

Almost 20% of overseas enquiries about Irish property are now coming from the United States, from a negligible base two years ago, according to a Real Estate Alliance nationwide survey. Now, REA O'Keeffe, based in Charleville, is seeking to capitalise on this surge in interest.

"Property buyers from the US are increasingly securing homes and investment properties in Ireland, buoyed by a strong dollar and the lure of a resurgent economy for emigrants," said Sarah O'Keeffe of REA O'Keeffe.

"Real Estate Alliance are offering Irish property vendors the chance to take advantage of this mini-boom by registering for our upcoming Irish Property Exhibition in Boston.

"The average house price in the US in November 2016 was $365,200 (341,739), compared to our average house price survey national value of $216,856 (202,926), so there is obvious value for American buyers in Ireland."

She said enquiries from the UK have dipped by a third since the Brexit vote, and the attendant fall in the value of Sterling against the Euro. But while the UK still forms 37% of our overseas business, 19.6% is coming from the US, 18% from Australia, 15% from mainland Europe and 11% from other locations - especially Canada.

"The biggest rises were seen in calls from Irish emigrants planning to return from Australia, which increased from 11% in 2015 to 18% in 2016," said Sarah.

"The resurgent economy is having a positive effect on the market with the number of overseas buyers enquiring about moving to live and work in Ireland rising by 9% over the past year."

Overseas calls now make up 18% of all enquiries across the REA group.

REA is planning to bring thousands of properties to Boston, including giving a host of US buyers the chance to browse in comfort and talk to the experts on the ground.

Sarah O'Keeffe said they will be showcasing a full range of properties available across North Cork - from farm houses to cottages and everything in between. "We were at this showcase in New York last year and there was a lot of interest from local [North Cork] people who have emigrated to the US," said Sarah, and there were a lot of follow-up calls throughout the year, afterwards.

"Often, it's a case of someone interested in buying a property that will be an investment for a number of year - with a view to returning home to live in it later."

The exhibition takes place in the Lenox Hotel, Boston from 5-8pm on March 23; see also www.realestatealliance.ie/Boston or call 063 23997.
With the 2017 St Patrick's Day celebrations looming large on the horizon, the by now annual search to find the person who will be the face of the Macroom celebrations has begun.

The Lee Valley Enterprise Board has announced that entries are now being accepted for the third annual Flower of Macroom - with the lucky winner having the honour of leading the St Patrick's Day parade as its Grand Marshall. An Enterprise Board spokesperson said the popular initiative had gone from strength-to-strength since it was established in 2015.

"Once again we are issuing a rallying cry to businesses, club's and societies from across the Lee Valley region get involved," said the spokesperson.

Each body can enter one candidate to represent them at a special function to be held at the Riverside Park Hotel on Saturday, March 11 at which the 2017 Flower of Macroom will be crowned.

"There are numerous benefits to entering this event, including the promotion of your business, club or society throughout the Lee Valley region and farther afield," said the spokesperson.

"Of course, there are also generous prizes for the winner including a cheque for 500 and the chance to be the Grand Marshall for the Macroom St Patrick's Day parade."

The 2016 Flower of Macroom, Meghan Buckley, who represented the Macroom E Park, urged people to put their names forward for this year's competition.

"It was an honour to have won the Flower of Macroom in 2016. It was a very proud moment and a privilege to hold the title for the year," said Meghan. "I would encourage anyone who is thinking of it to definitely take part," she added.

For information on how to enter contact Joe by email at Iveboard@eircom.net or by phone on 026 20544.
Women in the Mallow area who want to stop smoking are invited to join the We Can Quit programme which is an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society in partnership with Le Cheile Family Resource Centre, HSE, Mallow Primary Health Centre, Cork ETB, Travellers Of North Cork and Mulcahy's Pharmacy.

The programme is free of charge and begins at 7pm on Monday, February 13 and offers the opportunity for women to join forces with other women and to support each other in giving up smoking.

Participants will attend weekly group sessions and will receive one-to-one support and will be offered 12 weeks of free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). Research has shown that smokers who use a combination of group support and two NRT products for a 12 week period are four times more likely to stop smoking and stay smoke-free for good.
The Old Drogheda Society is hosting an "Introduction to Community and Genealogy/Family Research,' presented by Community Historian Brendan Matthews and Emmett Doran.

The course starts on Saturday February 4th and will run every Saturday morning from 10.30am - 12.30pm for six weeks finishing Saturday March 11th.

The course is aimed at those with an interest in finding out more about Community History and carrying out Family History Research; where their family came from and how, where and when they lived in the past.

The course will be held each Saturday morning in the Governors House at the Drogheda Museum at Millmount.

Course fee is 70 with reductions of 10 for Senior Citizens, Old Drogheda Society Members,CE Scheme participants and unemployed. There are limited places, advance booking is essential.

Further enquiries and bookings to the Drogheda Museum Millmount. Tel. 041-9833097. E mail info@droghedamuseum.ie

Blues host dinner

The Annual Newtown Blues Dinner Dance will take place in The Westcourt Hotel on Saturday 18th February. Tickets cost 25 and can be purchased from Gillian (087 795 1477) or Orlaith (086 8140876). The Blues Strictly is on Saturday April 22.

Mattock Rangers couch to 5k

Mattock Rangers 'Couch to 5k' is starting on 1st February on the new pitch. Training will be on Wednesday nights from 8.30p.m. until 9p.m. and on Saturdays from 4p.m. until 4.30p.m. All levels and ages welcome. Get fit and healthy for 2017. Registration takes place on the 1st February from 8p.m.

Jack's run

Tullyallen Macra na Feirme will hold a "Jack Matthews Memorial Run" on Sunday February 12th. Jack Matthews from Cartown was a former Tullyallen Macra member who sadly lost his life tragically in September 2016.

The "Jack Matthews Memorial Run" will be in aid of SOUND and Crumlin Hospital. Registration will begin at 12 pm in Drummonds Agri Merchants, Termonfeckin. It costs 20 per vehicle to participate and the Run will end in Dolly Mitchell's on the Drogheda to Slane road. All are welcome to participate and join in on the day. All forms of transport are welcome.

Erin's run day

THE annual run in memory of Erin Curran takes place at An Grianan on February 11th next at noon.

The run recalls Erin Curran (6) who passed away in 2014 and it's to raise funds for the charities involved in helping her and her family during her short life.

This year they've chosen Temple St Children's Hospital and specifically the ICU and Neurology Departments to benefit from the proceeds.
St Mary's Parish are holding a charity concert in St Mary's Church James' Street on Thursday February 2nd at 7.30pm.

Proceeds will go to Fr Eamon Sheridan from Old Hill as he takes up his appointment to Burma later in February and the concert will feature the Drogheda Male Voice Choir, Mornington Gospel Choir, St Mary's Youth Choir, Amie Dyer among others, under the guidance of Mr David Leddy.
A total of 152 new fathers in Louth are already benefitting from the Government's new paid paternity benefit scheme, it has been revealed.

Paid Paternity Benefit became available at the beginning of September last year and is paid at a rate of 230 a week for two weeks, to both employees and the self-employed.

'Fine Gael TD for Louth, Fergus O'Dowd, has said that 152 Louth Dads are already benefitting from the Government's new paid paternity benefit scheme, and is encouraging prospective fathers to apply.

He said the paternity leave will afford new Dads the opportunity to be more involved at the earliest stages of a child's development, which is important for the whole family. 'It's great to hear that there has been good take up of the scheme so far, with over 5,500 paternity benefits being awarded since the scheme came in on the 1st September 2016,' he said.

Deputy O'Dowd said he is encouraging prospective fathers to sign up for this benefit as doing so is easy with a clear and simple application process.

Anyone wishing to avail of this service will require a Public Service Card and if they are in employment they will need to give four weeks' notice to their employer to qualify for the accompanying Leave. Fathers who fulfil the PRSI requirements are eligible for Paternity Benefit when they take two weeks of Paternity Leave at any time within the first 26 weeks of their child's life, or following adoption. For more info see www.welfare.ie/paternitybenefit.
The Drogheda Fleadh committee are keeping their fingers crossed this will be Drogheda's year to bring the huge music event to the town, giving a much needed 40m boost to the local economy.

This is Drogheda' fifth year to bid for the event and the town is competing against Cork for the honour of staging the Fleadh, a two week long celebration of Irish music, language, song and dance that takes place every August.

Lolo Robinson, Cathaoirleach of Drogheda Comhaltas urged the local community to get behind the bid and help Drogheda bring the Fleadh home to Drogheda and the Boyne Valley: 'Over the last five years we have seen a huge increase in the interest in Irish culture in the Drogheda area, particularly with young people, and the numbers learning traditional Irish music have soared,' she said.

'We have enjoyed great co-operation from all sections of the community, from Louth County Council to commercial and voluntary organisations and it is vitally important the Ardchomhairle of Comhaltas can see that the entire community of Drogheda is fully behind our bid.'

You can support the campaign by liking Fleadh Drogheda on Facebook, following @FleadhDrogheda on Twitter and Instagram and using the hashtag #FleadhDrogheda when you Tweet.
The MV Botnia, which was in Drogheda Port recently.

There was a new record set at Drogheda Port recently when the MV Botnia visited the area.

The boat is the largest ever vessel ever to visit Drogheda Port and the ship berthed at Tom Roes Point on January 20th.

The MV Botnia arrived from Klaipeda in Lithuania after a seven day sea voyage with a cargo of 5,500 tonnes of animal feed for Cefetra Limited.

Drogheda has been building considerable trading links with Klaipeda over the past few years with regular calls increasing each year. It is one of the few ice-free ports in northernmost Europe and has a throughput volume larger than any port in Ireland.

The MV Botnia is registered in Antigua and Barbuda and has a deadweight carrying capacity of 8,300 tonnes. The previous largest vessel was the MV 'Arklow Bridge' in 2012 with a deadweight carrying capacity 7,175 tonnes.

The vessel was tug assisted by the Mourne Pride and the Boyne Protector.
A Dublin man was sentenced to seven years in prison after gardai discovered a large haul of cocaine hidden in his van during an operation at a Drogheda car park.

Kevin Gibson (41) with an address at 162 Cooley Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dundalk Circuit Court last week to possession of cocaine with an estimated street value of 281,148 with the intent of sale or supply.

The court was told that the gardai had received confidential information that on November 24th, 2015 a drugs exchange would be made at the location of the McDonald's car park in Drogheda.

A garda unit were on a surveillance operation at the car park when they saw two vehicles arrive and what they believed to be a drugs transaction take place.

They intercepted the vehicles as they went to leave the car park, stopping the van driven by Kevin Gibson.

Searching the vehicle, they found a piece of carpet hanging over a hole in the back of the van.

Stuffed inside it were four plastic wrapped packages which they believed were a contraband substance.

The driver of the van - Gibson - was arrested at the scene.

When interviewed, he took full responsibility for the drugs, saying 'It's mine, I have it. The buck stops with me.'

He refused to tell gardai where he got the drugs, but said they were his.

Gibson's barrister told the court that he co-operated with gardai from the outset, and admitted the offence

He said that his client was facing personal debts, including debts from an addiction to gambling.

He also had a cocaine problem which he accepted he had to address.

The accused had left school at 16, but worked until he was 27 as a carpet fitter.

In sentencing, Judge Michael O'Shea outlined the case, saying that the accused had been observed by gardai taking part in the drugs transaction.

He accepted that Gibson had admitted the offence, and co-operated with the investigation.

But he said this was a 'substantial street value' of cocaine, and that the accused knew he was 'taking a risk' when he took possession of the drugs.

Judge O'Shea added that the accused 'played an important link, and was a 'conduit' playing an essential part in the movement of drugs, for sale or supply.

He said that the illegal drugs trade had a 'devastating and destructive' impact on society.

He accepted that the accused had accepted responsibility 'fairly and squarely' for his role in the offence.

He sentenced Kevin Gibson to seven years in prison, with the final two years suspended, on the condition that he enters into a bond to be of good behaviour for two years after his release.
A 22 year old Drogheda man was jailed for his role in an attack on St. Oliver's Community College which resulted in hundreds of windows broken and over 3,000 books damaged.

Dean McKenna, who was residing at 25 Beechwood Drive at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty to charges relating to an incident in the early hours of June 14th 2015, when there was extensive damage caused to the school.

Witnesses from a neighbouring estate alerted gardai to two men going along the outside of the school building 'casually breaking one window after another' at around 5am.

The court was told that 211 windows had to be replaced as a result of the damage caused. The incident had also happened during Leaving Cert and other examinations, and caused great distress to students and staff, as they attempted to sit exams that week.

The accused had been arrested shortly after the incident as he attempted to flee across the green in the nearby estate.

The court heard that he was intoxicated when arrested, and when questioned said it was 'not that many windows' which had been broken.

However, when he was informed of the extensive damage he was very remorseful, and indeed took the stand at the court to make a personal apology.

'I genuinely am very sorry. I don't know what came over me. I had a rough few years.'

Dean's half-brother, who is a community youth worker, also gave evidence that the 20 year old had moved in with him, and was taking positive steps to move in the right direction with his life.

In sentencing, Judge Michael O'Shea said the 'extensive damage' had been the result of 'senseless vandalism.'

He said the loss to the school ,was 'substantial' and included the stress of dealing with such damage and repairs when state examinations were being held.

He imposed a two and a half year prison terms, but suspended the last 12 months.

Dean McKenna was also before the court for charges relating to an assault at Storm niteclub, Drogheda on October 6th, 2013.

The court heard that when saw a man hug his ex girlfriend, he reacted 'outrageously' by lunging towards the man.

In his attempt to strike the other male, he inadvertently struck his ex-girlfriend on the mouth, and she was thrown against a wall.

His actions resulted in his former girlfriend falling on broken glass, and sustaining a number of cuts to her calf and foot.

Her injuries required a series of stitches to her lower leg and affected foot.

When questioned by gardai, he apologised for his actions, and said he had 'over-reacted' and 'misjudged' the contact made.

Judge O'Shea said it was a 'complete over-reaction' by the accused, and added that the young woman had every right to enjoy a night out without fear of being injured.

He imposed an 18 month sentence for this offence.
The Chairman of Louth County Council Paul Bell has welcomed the council's physical rollout of the 30 kilometre per hour residential speed limit in Drogheda which was agreed last Autumn.

New signage has been erected in the estates taking part in the programme.

However, Councillor Bell said motorists need to be educated on these new laws as many are oblvious to the new signs erected in the participating estates.

'The work of the council in very quickly rolling out the policy in areas confirmed for the new speed zones is absolutely excellent and without fault. However motorists seem unaware of the new Bye Laws and in many cases oblivious to the new signs erected in communities throughout the Drogheda and District,' he said.

'On two separate occasions I have personally pointed out the new signs to motorists driving in excess of 30km/h in both Marian Park and Cedarfield. The areas initially identified by council for the application of the Bye Law are those identified by council as having serious issues with motorists driving at speeds in excess of 30km but slightly under 50km. Speeds which are obviously unacceptable, especially in communities where children are at play or Senior or Disabled citizens are also road users.'

Cllr Bell has requested the council to initiate a public information campaign on the reasons why the Bye Law and Policy was adopted by the elected members of LCC and also to engage with an Garda Siochanna to enforce speed limits on motorists.
Dermot O'Shea from Enniscorthy, co-founder and president of Taoglas, pictured here in the company's remote frequency chamber

An Enniscorthy company is flying high after being awarded a major contract by the European Space Agency.

Taoglas which is located in the Kilcannon Business Centre on the Old Dublin Road will lead a cutting edge European Research Project worth 633,000 which was awarded under ESA Satellite Communications Programme (ARTES)

The contract was announced last Friday by Minister of State John Halligan during a tour of the company's headquarters in Enniscorthy.

The funding has contributed towards a complex research, development and commercialisation of their ZRM project, which combines the antenna elements, data router and Wi-Fi transceiver into a technology platform to provide an 'Always Online' solution for fixed and mobile applications.

Congratulating the company on its success, Minister Halligan said: 'I am delighted to see a company in the South East winning such a high value contract from the European Space Agency. It points to the excellence in product development achieved by Taoglas, and is a superb example of how a growing number of Irish companies are benefitting from Irish Government investment in ESA.'

Taoglas is a fully owned Irish company founded by two Irish entrepreneurs, Ronan Quinlan and Dermot O'Shea, Joint Managing Directors. It is an innovative technology group delivering antenna products and radio frequency (RF) solutions to global brands.

They are fully committed to a long relationship with both Enterprise Ireland and ESA to enable Taoglas to expand their antenna and RF research and development centre of excellence in Ireland.

Joint Managing Director Ronan Quinlan said: 'As a customer-focused Group, Taoglas specialise in understanding and responding to the real needs of customers. We provide an entire antenna design and supply chain solution for wireless products to reduce our end customer's product development time and component costs. Current solutions for complete connectivity utilise separate routers, antennas and multiple cables. They are complex and costly to install and may not be 100% reliable due to the cable insertion losses. We identified and addressed a need from our customers for a technology platform that is versatile and scalable with the back-haul capabilities to provide sufficient bandwidth for mobile applications, such as, rail, buses and marine.'

With the securing of this funding from ESA, Taoglas have been able to employ six highly skilled engineers to develop the technology platform, capable of covering Cellular LTE MIMO, GNSS, dual band Wi-Fi MIMO and Iridium communications in a compact form factor at a highly competitive price. They believe the technology platform to be a disruptive technology in the IoT marketplace and have received significant interest from major multinational router companies to fully commercialise the design.

Taoglas is currently working on the next evolution of the platform and the Enterprise Ireland-backed company plan to recruit more engineers over the next year to expand its workforce at its Wexford facility, bringing further employment to its headquarters and benefiting the local community.
At the launch of the Slaney Olympic 10K were Aidan O'Leary, Skoda sales; Jane Porter, race director; Conor Arrigan, Creane & Creane, and Austin Codd, sales manager, Skoda

The Enniscorthy 10K race will take place on February 19 at 12 p.m. with hundreds expected to take part.

This is the 12th year of the race and is well supported by some of the top athletes in the country as well as runners from all the Wexford clubs. Walkers and keep fit enthusiasts are welcome to take part.

This could be the last year that the race will be held over the current course as the M11 Enniscorthy bypass will be crossing over the Oulart road and likely affect it, at least during construction.

The event is being sponsored jointly by Creane & Creane and Donohoe Skoda, with any profits from the race going to the Slaney Olympic AC development fund.

Pre-entry is 15 online at ruinireland.com and through My Sport Enniscorthy, or enter on the day for 20. Race registration will take place at Shamrocks GAA club in Clonhaston.
De ce aviatia civila rusa nu mai poate fi salvata / O mie de piloti concediati de la aplicarea sanctiunilor
Kodaline are being lined up to headline one of three concerts being planned for Malahide Castle this year

The Fingal Independent understands that Swords band Kodaline are being lined up to headline one of three concerts being planned for Malahide Castle this year, providing the local band with an opportunity to play before a huge and adoring Fingal crowd.

Only one concert at the venue has been officially confirmed with news that tickets for 'The 1975' on June 17 at Malahide Castle are going on sale on Friday but the Fingal Independent understands that two further dates are under negotiation and that Canadian band, Arcade Fire and Swords heroes, Kodaline are favourites to headline those dates.

If confirmed, the Kodaline gig will mark a triumphant return for the Swords band to their native Fingal to play in front of a huge and adoring home crowd.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Darragh Butler, a huge music fan and a campaigner for the return of concerts to Fingal said he was 'delighted' to see big gigs back at Malahide Castle after a six-year gap and said the 2011 performance by the late, great Prince in Malahide was 'spectacular'. The council sees the return of major concerts to the county as an important part of its tourism strategy.
Mary McCormack who received a WMC Social Responsibility Award from the World Malayalee Council charity, with Babu Joseph, secretary of the World Malayalee Council Ireland.

Mary McCormack, of Tara Winthrop Private Clinic in Swords, has been honoured with the Social Responsibility Award 2016 from the World Malayalee Council (WMC) for her charitable work with the Assisi Charitable Foundation in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

This is the first the prestigious Social Responsibility Award has been introduced by the WMC to recognise those people who work for the community and show their sincere commitment for the people of Kerala.

Mary, along with Catherine Dunleavy, founded the Assisi Foundation following a visit to communities in Southern India in 2005 which were affected by Tsunamis.

And since then, the Assisi Foundation has raised money for the affected areas, provided water facilities, built new roads, constructed over 60 houses, started a new school, provided employment through various small scale cottage industries, orphanages and more to a place where these where only a dream for many.

Throughout the following years, The Queen of Kary, a house boat enterprise, which was commissioned by Mary, was built and put into service to bring tourism to the Kary area and employ more locals.

Sewing machines were donated to a new tailoring unit in Chottanikkara, creating more employment in the area. The machines were donated by the family of the late Mrs Monica Hill, who was a resident for six years in Tara Winthrop Private Clinic.

And the work by Mary and the Assisi Foundation continues presently to help the people in Kerala.

The World Malayelee Council Inc is a charity which aims to provide a networking platform for emigrant Malayalee Indians living across the globe. It has played a very active role in solving the various problems faced by the emigrant Malayalee community and has facilitated social, economic and political growth and empowerment of its people residing in distant lands.

It has a three-Tier Organisational structure namely Global, Regional and Provincial Councils and has emerged as a global organisation spreading its wings to all the continents. WMC Ireland is the provincial council working under WMC's Europe Regional Council.
The fitting of a new street light on a pole adjacent to the new outdoor exercise equipment at Portrane Green is to be considered by the council, this year.

Cllr Paul Mulville (NP) recommended the move 'as users of the equipment suggested that the provision of a light on this pole would improve safety and visibility during the Winter months'.

The council responded: 'The fitting of a street light to the pole adjacent to the new outdoor exercise equipment at Portrane Green, will be considered for inclusion in the 2017 Programme of Works.'
A Fingal family have been once again hit the streets to raise money for a local nursing home that provides wonderful care to their mother.

Organised by Sile Seery and Dora Fitzpatrick, whose mother is a resident of Lusk Community Unit, the wonderful sum of 650 was raised outside C&T's in Skerries before Christmas .

They recently handed over the moment to Friends of Lusk Community Unit for Older People.

Skerries woman Sheila explained: 'Over the last few years we have been very impressed with the home from home feel and the lovely relaxed atmosphere there.

'For the last few years we have been fundraising for Lusk Friends of the Elderly in order to enhance the experience of the residents. Lusk Community Unit is a great asset for the local community and much appreciated by families.

'Tom the owner of C&T's in Skerries gave us permission to collect outside his Skerries supermarket. Both customers and the many people passing by were very generous with their contributions: 650 in total.

'They showed appreciation for the care and kindness that eminates from the unit. Also the sincere effort made by all to entertain and enhance the lives of the residents.

Both Sheila and Dora extended their thanks to all the people who have supported this fundraising with the last few years.

They would especially like to thank Marion Kinsella from Lusk who collects with us every year, hail or shine.

For the first time the Skerries Ukele group performed in Lusk and it was wonderful. Other local groups perform there before Christmas included Skerries Choir and Lusk school choirs.
The 22.2 million upgrade of Swords Wastewater Treatment Plant will be completed by the end of this year, according to Irish Water as a new phase of the project commences, upgrading the outfall from the plant.

Irish Water is progressing the Swords Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall Upgrade which is part of the upgrade works to the Swords Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Swords Wastewater Treatment Works project is a 22.2 million investment which will increase the capacity of the treatment works to 90,000 population equivalent (PE) and is due for completion later this year.

According to an Irish Water spokesperson: 'The newly upgraded treatment plant will be capable of handling the area's fast growing population and will also protect the Broadmeadow Estuary, a valuable local amenity, from wastewater pollution.'

This new phase of the project requires an upgrade to the Swords Wastewater Treatment Plant outfall pipe at Broadmeadow Estuary. Irish Water says this much needed upgrade is required to support the increased treatment capacity following the investment at the Swords Wastewater Treatment Plant.

To progress the upgrade of the outfall pipe, Irish Water is submitting a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to An Bord Pleanala on Tuesday, 31 January 2017 to acquire the necessary lands off Estuary Road in Seatown West and adjacent to Lissenhall Park and Gartan Drive in Seatown West in Swords. If the CPO is approved Irish Water intends to open a tender competition for a contractor to complete the works which are expected to last for up to a maximum of six months.

Senator James Reilly welcomed that the project, seen as crucial for the development of Swords, is progressing.

Senator Reilly said: 'This is a key enabler of further investment in Swords which will facilitate the creation of more Jobs in Swords, more homes and more community facilities and schools in this rapidly growing area. This investment due for completion in 2017 will provide further protection for Broadmeadow Estuary.'
The biggest fishing show in Ireland, The Ireland Angling Show, will be back in action at the National Show Centre in Swords shortly.

Once again the show is shaping up to be an amazing gathering of angling experts with over 100 exhibitors including tackle retailers, boat builders and fishing holiday providers.

It is taking place on February 18 and 19 and promises to be a great event for all the family

Fishing in Norway, Alaska, Italy and other exotic locations around the globe will be represented.

Charter skippers from all around the Irish Coast line and providers on our inland waters, rivers and lakes will be showcasing what we have on offer. Experts will be on hand to help you plan the perfect fishing trip at home or abroad.

At the heart of the show is the family Zone, bring the family, the kids are the future anglers, passing on the knowledge and love for fishing is all important.

The Family Zone will be sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland and promises to be fun and interactive with workshops , entomology, tuition, and a host of attractions that will encourage the kids to pick up a rod and go fishing.

Tackle dealers from across the country will have the latest innovation in tackle and bargains galore to suit every style of fishing.

Mara Media extend a warm welcome back to Scuola Italiana Di Pesca A Mosca - SIM, the Italian Fly Fishing school, who will be travelling to Dublin to participate at the show with Italian style casting demonstration and a variety of talks on Fishing in Italy.

The Italian team will also be promoting the wonderful Fly festival in the historic town of Castel Di Sangro.

The international flavour of the show continues with the return of the sleek and sophisticated Marcraft fishing boats, hand crafted in the Netherlands www.marcraftvisboten.nl Joining our Boat exhibitors, Warrior Boats are back with their latest model for Irish Waters, Viking Marine, Erne Boats, MCA Boats and Arrow Boats will all be showcasing their new designs and innovation. Fishing on the Sea or lake, the show has something for everyone.

Talk to the experts, advice is available all over the weekend, perfecting your techniques with instruction from renowned Anglers Scott Mackenzie, Hywel Morgan, Jim Clohessy, Tommy Pickering, Adam Wakelin, Dan Esox, Andrew Allsop and many more....Sea, Game, Coarse, Predator...the show has it all.

The Irish specimen fish committee will for the 5th year host the Awards Day at the Clayton Hotel [formerly Bewleys Airport Hotel ] on Sat 18th at 2.30 pm.

Buses will run to and from the show for those of you who wish to attend both events. Further details at www.irelandanglingexpo.ie.
A request to reinstate the Rush Community Liaison Committee that met regularly with council officials on issues that arose in the town but has been defunct since 2012, will be referred to the council's Corporate Services Department.

Cllr Brian Dennehy asked the council's Operations Department to 'outline any plans to reinstate a Liaison Committee for the town of Rush'.

But the Operations Department explained the decision to reinstate the committee was not its to make.

It explained: 'The original Rush Liaison Committee was administered by staff from the Community, Culture and Arts Department (Fingal Development Board staff) and last met March 2012.

'As the Operations Department only attended meetings of the Committee when there were operational issues to be discussed, it has no plans or role to play in any re-instatement or re-establishment of the Committee. It would be a matter for the Corporate Services Department to initiate any process to re-establish it.'

Liaison committees already operate in a number of other Fingal towns.
The Government and the Dublin Airport Authority must carry out a full security review of immigration procedures in light of the alleged smuggling of illegal immigrants through Dublin Airport, according to a local TD.

His comments were made following reports that Gardai arrested three men as part of an investigation into international people smuggling last week.

Deputy O'Brien commended the on-going work of the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

'I hope that the Gardai are given full assistance to complete their investigation and that authorities assure the local community in particular, that our border controls are safe and secure. '

The Tanaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald made a statement on the issue in the Dail, last week.

She said: 'Security at our airports and ports is always kept under review and rates very well by international standards but a breach of this nature is clearly unacceptable and in this instance is of very serious public concern.

'As the Deputies will be aware, there is an ongoing Garda investigation targeted at illegal immigration and people smuggling through Dublin Airport. A number of people are before the courts in relation to this matter.

'It would not be appropriate in those circumstances to comment in detail on the particular case. However, I do wish to commend An Garda Siochana and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) for their work.'

She added: 'My Department has kept in close contact with the Department of Transport and both Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority are co-operating fully with the Garda investigation.

'The national civil aviation security committee, chaired by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, and comprising representatives from other Departments, An Garda Siochana, airports and airlines, reviews and recommends effective security measures with a view to advising Government on aviation security policy. The national civil aviation security committee is reviewing all issues relevant to aviation security at Dublin Airport, particularly any issue relating to the access arrangements at the airport.

'We need to know how this happened and why. Therefore, in light of the seriousness of the issue, I will work with my colleague, the Minister for Transport, to review the procedures in place so the public can have full confidence in the security of our borders.'

'I will put a couple of facts on the record. Immigration officers at Dublin Airport process approximately 15 million passengers per annum and approximately 3,300 were refused leave to land last year, with over 4,000 being refused across all ports of entry

The Tanaiste said: 'Significant resources are put into policing our borders, including increased use of technology and data sharing with other jurisdictions.

'Since becoming Minister I have put much emphasis on the interoperability of data systems so our security can be maintained and the Government has put in increased funding this year into that issue.

Also speaking in the Dail, Dublin West TD Joan Burton said: 'We cannot underestimate just how many jobs are dependent on Dublin Airport, which is a key engine of the Irish economy. To have any doubt cast on the airport's security status is deeply worrying.

'With the clock ticking until the UK leaves the EU, it is really vital that our borders are secure and any security issues at our airports or ports should be swiftly dealt with.'

She demanded a high-level review of current security systems at the airport.
A man who posed for tourists taking photographs in a town park as his accomplices robbed the group of their belongings has been jailed for three years.

Brian Clarke (31) was later identified by gardai from the photographs on the camera.

American tourist Ryan Dillon pursued the robbers but was surrounded by a group of youths who punched and kicked him. His partner tried to intervene and was punched in the gut.

Mr Dillon's partner's 81-year-old grandmother witnessed the events and fled for her own safety.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Clarke acted as a 'distraction' and there was no evidence he used direct violence.

Clarke, of St Cronans Avenue, Swords, pleaded guilty to robbery of American tourist Ryan Dillon at Swords Town Park on May 2, 2015. He has 55 previous convictions.

Judge Melanie Greally said the victim had hoped the trip to Ireland would be the holiday of a lifetime and the mugging was 'a very regrettable blight on their experience in this country'.

She said she had intended to consider a fully suspended sentence on the basis of a favourable probation report when she adjourned the case last October, having heard the evidence.

She said the report before the court was not positive and that Clarke had not co-operated with the Probation Service before she imposed sentence. She suspended the final year of a four year prison sentence.

Garda Mairead Murray told Caroline Cummings BL, prosecuting, that Mr Dillon had been out for dinner with his partner and her 81-year-old grandmother on the first day of their holiday and afterwards the group went for a walk in the park in the area behind Swords Castle.

They noticed that there was a group of young people also in the park.

Mr Dillon was taking photographs when Clarke approached and offered to be in the pictures. As Clarke posed, a second person stole the camera bag on the ground. Mr Dillon ran after this person and they ended up on the ground as he caught up with him.

Gda Murray said four to five youths, male and female, came over and began kicking and punching Mr Dillon. His partner attempted to intervene and she was punched to the gut.

Mr Dillon then saw one person had a knife and told the group to just take his wallet. The items taken included cash, a camera bag, wallet, camera and mobile phone.

Mr Dillon suffered a broken scapula and was accompanied to hospital by his partner. Her grandmother had to spend the night alone in her hotel room.

Victim impact reports were handed to the judge but not read in open court.

Gda Murray said she managed to secure the camera and identified Clarke as a person who had been posing in the initial photographs. He was arrested but denied anything untoward had happened.

Gda Murray agreed with David Staunton BL, defending, that Clarke acted as a distraction while the others took items.

Mr Staunton said that there was no evidence Clarke produced a knife or used direct violence.

He said the offence was .mean spirited' and that the tourists had been confronted by this 'appalling situation'on their first day in Ireland. He said he was cognisant of the severe impact on the victims.

He said Clarke, who had suffered 'varying degrees' of drug addiction during his life, had been coming before the courts for a significant number of years and served a cycle of moderately severe prison sentences in the past but had been released each time without any structures in place.

Counsel asked Judge Greally to take into account what was in store for Clarke on release if the cycle of coming before the courts was to be stopped.
A man whose 57 previous convictions for road traffic offences include multiple driving bans has been given a three and a half year sentence for recklessly colliding with another car.

Jonathan Coyle (33) drove his Honda Civic car into the side of another car, hitting the car three times.

The men in the Honda car had previously being involved in a violent row with the men in the other car.

The force of the collisions caused both cars to conk out.

The driver of the second car, Philip Woodcock, ran over to the Honda Civic and began punching Coyle around the head.

While this was taking place an unidentified man stabbed another man who had been with the Woodcock group. Former solider Warren O'Connor (24) died from his injuries.

The O'Connor family were present in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for the sentence hearing. Detective Garda Donal O'Connell told the court that Coyle had no part in the unlawful killing and that nobody else has been charged in connection with these events.

The court heard that three knives were found in the Honda Civic.

Coyle of Colecut Cottages, Ballough, Lusk, pleaded guilty to endangerment at the Hole in the Wall Road, Donaghmeade on January 16, 2010.

Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, told the court that the plea was entered on the basis of recklessness on Coyle's part.

He was subject to a ten year driving disqualification at the time and was on bail for a road traffic offence.

Judge Cormac Quinn imposed a three and a half year sentence and suspended the final 18 months.

He also ordered 18 months probation supervision from the date of release and disqualified him from driving for 10 years.

The court heard Coyle went to Northern Ireland shortly after the incident where he was arrested for an offence of money laundering and spent 18 months in custody.

In 2003 he received a five year driving ban. He was further banned from driving in 2009. He also has previous convictions for robbery, assault and burglary.

Roisin Lacey SC, defending, said that Coyle had been severely beaten earlier by Mr Woodcock and this affected his ability to drive.

She said his driving was certainly erratic and there was a lack of reasoning involved in his decision to overtake.

Judge Quinn pointed out that Coyle had decided to follow the other car and proceeded to overtake it.

Det Gda O'Connell said that Mr Woodcock was a resident of the Bracken Wood apartment complex in Donaghmeade and became upset about a party in the neighbouring flat.

He and four other men went around to the flat to stop the party.

They were banging on the door and shouting at the occupants to open up and Woodcock tried to force the door open.

When the door was opened Coyle and two other men were standing there armed with knives.

They were disarmed by the women inside the flat but the row quickly became violent.

Mr Woodcock and another man grabbed Coyle and began punching him around the head and ribs. When Coyle fell to the ground the men stopped the attack and left.

The two groups then left the flat complex in separate cars and the collision happened shortly afterwards.
2017 is shaping up to be a big year for local special needs club, Remember Us who are busy organising a packed schedule of events in the year ahead and making the last push for funding for the fit out of their new headquarters in Balbriggan.

Reflecting on the year just past, when the charity secured that new home and looking ahead to fitting it out to cater for the special needs of its club members, Remember Us are asking the community in Fingal to rally around and make one more push on the fundraising front to get this dream project across the finish line.

Remember Us founder, Nora Roban said: 'Remember us would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and thank all for their very generous support in 2016.

'We have been busy in the office over the last few weeks organising our activity programme for the coming weeks and our 1st family respite of 2017. You can view our activities schedule on our website www.rememberus.ie.

'Our Family respite break is to the Ferrycarricg Hotel in Wexford in February over 130 people will access that break.'

Looking forward to what will be a landmark year for the charity, Nora said: '2017 is a very exciting year for our members and their families as we anticipate moving into our new base later in the year.'

To make that happen, the charity needs your help and Nora said: 'We still continue to look to the community in general, companies and businesses to support us in raising the final funds for the fit out.

'No matter how big or small the donations are we really appreciate them. This new base will create more opportunities to develop more activities for our special members.'

To illustrate the community's generosity to the project so far, Nora supplied the Fingal Independent with pictures of a number of cheque presentations to the charity in 2016 and said: 'Look how the local community have supported us over the past few years thus enabling us to buy the base.'

She concluded: 'So, come on now and be a part of this vital service by hitting the donate button on our website or by contacting Nora/Anne on 0860457003 or e-mailing them on hello@rememberus.ie to help us get over the line!

'OUr members say a big 'thank you' for all your support over the years.'
Greek philosopher Plato said young people were rude, they had little respect for authority and they showed disrespect for their elders. Plato was approximately 80 when he died in 347 BC/BCE.

So when older people give out about the generation coming up behind them they are simply repeating an age-old sentiment. There are those who will always look on the glass half empty but there are those who see it as half full. On some occasions it can be full to the brim.

I can't really say what sort of a teacher I was or am. There were the good days and the not-so-good days but looking back on it now, I can honestly hold my hands up and say I really enjoyed teaching. My main subjects were German and English. I also taught religion, a subject that could be difficult to teach because it was not an exam subject.

In recent weeks I have met up with two past pupils I taught in a Kerry school. They were in the first class I taught in that school. It was a German Junior Cert class. And then in Leaving Cert I was back teaching them German again. I had gone back teaching, having worked at The Kerryman newspaper for a number of years. I was substituting for a woman, who was out on maternity leave, and then stayed on for some years afterwards. They were good years. It was a small school in a West Kerry village with a dedicated staff. There was a lovely and easy relationship between teachers and pupils.

The two young women I met are now in their mid-20s. One is a nurse and the other woman works for a food company. The nurse started out doing science but changed disciplines after her first year at college and now thoroughly enjoys the nursing job that she has just begun. The other young woman had been teaching but she also has changed her career and is now working in the food industry. She too loves her job.

It was Ryan Tubridy who introduced me to the word 'millennials'. A millennial is someone who reached young adulthood in the early years of this century. So, I suppose you could say these young women are millennials. But it's a funny one. Because when we attempt to class or codify people in groupings we can so easily get it all so wrong. Labels are always dangerous things. Name calling is never a good idea. Prejudice is deadly. I met both women at different times and different venues. But they both had one thing in common. I was profoundly taken by their genuine goodness and attitude. They both could not be more content in their jobs.

In all my years teaching I could count on one hand the number of young people who might have been nasty. Or maybe it was that we simply did not get on; they did not like me and/or I did not like them. That happens. I am well aware there are other stories out there, people do get into trouble, not everyone is happy at work, indeed, there are many who have no job at all. There are those for whom school doesn't work. But all I am saying here is that I was impressed to meet two young people I taught, who are now so happy in the early years of their working lives.

Great to meet former pupils who are now thriving. And good people too. I wonder what Plato might say to me? What would he think of the two young women?
The Irish Specimen Fish Committee has ratified a new Irish record fish caught by Wexford angler Dean Quigley, a member of Kilmore Shore Angling Club.

Dean has broken the Smooth Hound record which was established as recently as 2015, with his record 11.27kg fish which was caught in June off Kilmore Quay.

The record announcement was made in the newly-released Irish Specimen Fish Committee report 2016.

The Irish Specimen Fish Committee, which is supported by Inland Fisheries Ireland, is an independent voluntary body which verifies and records the capture of large fish caught on rod by anglers in freshwater and marine waters.

As well as the new record fish, detailed information on 485 specimen fish (large fish) taken by anglers from venues throughout Ireland in 2016, comprising 41 different species, is presented in the report. The main species were Smooth hound (17%), spurdog (15%) and Carp (10% of total). In total, 28 different marine species were taken by sea anglers.
President Michael D Higgins was delighted to receive a commissioned piece by Gorey artist Katie Maeve Williamson. It was presented by Shay Walsh, MD of BT Ireland

Works by two Gorey artists were presented as gifts to distinguished guests at the recent BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition in the RDS.

A piece by Katie Maeve Williamson was presented to President Michael D Higgins, while a watercolour by Kate Cos was presented to the US Ambassador Kevin O'Malley.

The pieces were sourced through The Gaslamp Gallery in Gorey. Proprietor Claire O'Connell explained that the head of BTYSTE, Mari Cahalane, is from Gorey, and organises this mammoth event each year.

'Mari is a customer of the Gaslamp Gallery and approached us for a piece to be presented to President Michael D Higgins at the opening ceremony,' said Claire. 'Gorey artist Katie Maeve Williamson was commissioned to produce a work entitled "What BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition means to me".'

'The illustration perfectly portrayed what BTYSTE means to the thousands of students who take part in the exhibition,' she continued. 'Our President seemed rather delighted with his presentation.' It was presented to President Higgins by Shay Walsh - managing director of BT in Ireland.

Then, at a gala dinner in the RDS at the end of the event, a watercolour of Glendalough by Gorey artist Kate Kos was presented to the outgoing US Ambassador Kevin F. O'Malley.

'The painting was given in recognition of Ambassador O'Malley's contribution to Ireland in his tenure as Ambassador,' said Claire. 'I am immensely proud to represent both these artists and it is certainly a very positive start to 2017 for both Katie Maeve and Kate and for ourselves.'
Gorey Credit Union presents 1,250 as a sponsor of the Gorey Night Run in aid of North Wexford Hospice, which take place on Thursday, March 2. Pictured at the launch in The Amber Springs Hotel, Tom Brennan, (centre), of GCU, presents the cheque to Noelene Furlong, treasurer, and Marian Deering, chairperson, of North Wexford Hospice

After last year's outstanding inaugural event, the Gorey Night Run in aid of North Wexford Hospice returns on Thursday, March 2, setting off at 8 p.m. from Gorey Civic Square.

The 5km timed run around Gorey attracted over 500 participants last year, and 9,500 was raised for the Hospice service.

One of the organisers, Cllr John Hegarty, said that the event will be bigger and better than last year. 'It was great last year,' he said. 'It had never been done before in Gorey and we weren't sure how it would go. A lot of people have said they are looking forward to it again.'

Traffic disruption will be kept to a minimum. The route will be stewarded. Participants can run, jog, or walk. The event is timed but not chipped.

Register on gorun.ie or on the night. Entry is 15, or 5 for children. T-shirts will be given to those who register online. All proceeds go to North Wexford Hospice Homecare, as Gorey Credit Union, Innovate, and Redmond Hotels are sponsoring the event. Refreshments and music afterwards.
A Gorey mum of two is alive today thanks to a life saving smear test.

The routine test showed that 36-year-old Esther Hope had high-grade-three pre-cancerous cells with doctors telling her that she would have developed cervical cancer within six months had she not had the smear test.

Esther said that she had delayed going for her routine smear test after the birth of her second child.

'I had just welcomed my second baby in 2012 and I was so busy juggling the two kids', Esther said.

'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.'

However about six weeks later she was told she needed a biopsy after some abnormalities were noticed in her test.

'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 I'd have had cancer, when I had two small kids at home relying on me.'

Esther said that on hearing the news she feared her children would be left without a mother.

Following the diagnosis, stay-at-home mum Esther, who was 31 years old at the time, 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 all 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.'

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 I've become this strange person who is always telling women to just go and get it done. It's two minutes of slight discomfort, but it could save your life.'

After her treatment Esther had regular check-ups to ensure that the cells hadn't returned.

For more information visit cervicalcheck.ie.
Amber Park manager Paul Gorby from The Amber Springs hotel presents 600 to sponsor one of the twelve kennels at the Seal Rescue Ireland centre in Courtown. He is pictured with centre manager Ivan Kelly

The Seal Rescue centre in Courtown last week welcomed on board its first kennel sponsor. Paul Gorby, manager of Amber Park at The Amber Springs Hotel in Gorey paid a visit to the centre to hand over a cheque for 600, and the company's name is now displayed over one of the twelve kennels at the facility.

Seal Rescue Ireland manager Ivan Kelly said they approached various businesses seeking sponsorship of 500 per kennel, and Amber Park was the first to reply and went one step better and donated 600. He said the sponsorship will help them buy the equipment needed in the kennel, such as mats and heat lamps.

'It's very welcome and a huge boost to help keep us going,' said Ivan, sincerely thanking The Amber Springs Hotel. Other sponsors are welcome to donate. Ivan said that there's currently huge pressure on their resources as 61 seals are in residence.

There has been a delay in returning several of them to the wild, as they have been in isolation due to an outbreak of seal pox, a seal version of chicken pox. Ivan said that the majority of the 19 seals affected are ready to be released when the condition clears. They are being kept apart from the other seals in one of the pools at the facility.

'It's been a busy winter, but we can feel it easing off now,' he said. 'The common seal pups will start coming in around May.

Injured seals continue to arrive at the centre. Last week, a two-month old seal, now named Hades, was brought in from Clogherhead Beach in Co Louth.

It had been stuck on the beach for several days, and was being attacked by seagulls. It had several wounds on its head and nearly lost an eye.

The centre always needs donations of cash to help with food and medical bills and other costs. Equipment such as towels, bushes, and hose pipe taps and connections are also needed.

See www.sealrescueireland.org for more information.

Volunteers are also needed, especially people who can visit schools on behalf of the centre. A maintenance person with plumbing skills is also needed. The centre is open to visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Just a handful of tickets remain for the big black-tie ball in aid of the Aras Mhuire Nursing Home in Listowel.

It takes place in the Listowel Arms on Saturday, February 11, in a fundraiser for the vital facility which now includes a cutting-edge spinal injury unit. Organiser Brian Scanlan urged people to move fast on remaining ticekts. Get them at Aras Mhuire or John B Keane's Bar.
The weather always gives us something to talk about, but never so much as during the Dingle Peninsula Storm Festival which runs from this Friday to Sunday with a very varied programme of walks, talks, trips and songs - all with a blustery theme.

The festival, now in its second year, gets underway on Friday evening with simultaneous choral recitals from 7.30pm - 9pm in St James's Church, Dingle and in the Club Rooms in Castlegregory. On Saturday the great outdoors dominates activities with Diarmuid Begley and geologist Mary Lynch giving a guided 'whirlwind' tour of some of the stormiest locations on the peninsula, including the storm beach at Minard. This starts from the Dingle Marina car park at 10am and ends in Ballyferriter at 1.30pm (cost 25). After lunch, another trip leaves the Comharchumann centre in Ballyferriter with Seamus Kelliher giving a guided tour of Ceann Sibeal and the Three Sisters while Mary Lynch will outline the effects of storms on the geology of the area.

A big attraction on Saturday will be the wind machine used in the filming of Star Wars, which will be set up in the car park of Louis Mulcahy's pottery in Graig. This is a participative event and organisers promise 'it will blow your socks off'.

Also on Saturday afternoon there are car treasure hunts over three separate routes: the Ventry to Ballydavid area; Conor Pass and 'Below the Hill'; and the Sliabh Mish area from Boolteens to Camp. The clues can be picked up at Dingle Oceanworld, Siopa an Bhuailtin in Ballyferriter, the Club Rooms in Castlegregory, Siopa an Phobail in Cloghane and the South Pole Inn in Annascaul. and participants can start anytime between noon and 1.30pm. These treasure hunts are repeated on Sunday at the same times.

At 7.30pm on Saturday in the Castlegregory Club Rooms Sandra Fitzgibbon will give a visual presentation on what's under the water in Brandon/Tralee Bay while in nearby Cloghane at 8.30pm there's a concert with Sean Keane. Tickets cost 20 and they're nearly sold out (contact: 71 38137 for bookings).

On Sunday at 10.30am Annascaul Walking Club is hosting a choice of a 16.5km walk on the 'Tom Crean Trail' or a shorter family walk talking in Crean's family home and his grave. At 3pm in the South Pole Inn, Aileen Crean-O'Brien will give a talk on her recent trip to South Georgia, where she broke her leg while walking in the footsteps of her grandfather, Tom Crean.

Also on Sunday, local woman Nuala Moore will give a talk in Dingle Oceanworld at 11am on her ice swimming exploits is some of the world's most extreme locations.

These are just some of the highlights. For full details and updates on festival events see facebook.com/dingle.official
Tralee Toastmasters are set to host a Blind Date - esque themed night in the Kerins O' Rahillys GAA clubhouse this coming Monday, February 6 at 8pm.

The night, which will follow almost the same format as the classic television show hosted by Cilla Black, will see members of the audience being chosen at random.

They will be asked a series of light hearted questions to see which of the Toastmasters that they would be best suited to, and all of this while wearing a blindfold; participants will have to have their listening skills down to a tee on the night. it seems.
'You have to look outside the box'. That's veteran press photographer Domnick Walsh's guiding ethos when tasked with capturing the essence of the stories that make the news in pics.

And it's an ethos that clearly works a treat for the Tralee man and Kerryman-contributing snapper, who fairly cleaned up at the PPAI Awards in Dublin on Saturday.

Domnick's memorable shot of a Danny Healy Rae sticker on a shoe heal at the county centre in Killarney during last February's general election saw the photographer taking his first PPAI title in the politics category - in second place. 'Heely-Rae' as Domnick called it, really caught the judges' eyes.

Ryan Tubridy showed the nation the winning pics on The Late Late Show on Friday, with the audience laughing hard at Domnick's shortlisted pic 'Well Holy Mother of God' - showing Michael Healy Rae canvassing the Blessed Virgin herself.

Meanwhile Domnick's 'Side-by-Side' of President Higgins and wife Sabina in Ardfert Cathedral was also shortlisted in a suitably presidential portrait of the nation's first couple.
Shannon O'Rourke, Sarah Griffin, Catherine Quirke, Emma Quirke, Murty Quirke, Aisling Murphy and Grace Stack pictured at the official opening of Emma Quirke Hair in Tralee on Tuesday evening. Photo by Fergus Dennehy

An exclusive champagne reception held before a packed premises is how Tralee stylist, Emma Quirke celebrated the official opening of her new business at Main Street, Tralee. The special VIP event was the perfect complement to 'Emma Quirke Hair' where the 27-year-old will now fulfil her childhood dream of running her own salon.

Initially, Emma opened her doors to the public back in November and she has already established a consistent customer base. However, Tuesday's official opening is the icing on the cake.

Emma has extensive training under her belt and she has worked with some of the biggest names in the county including Sean Taaffe, to name but a few. In 2014 Emma finally decided to take the plunge knowing it was time to start working for herself and that's exactly what she has done.

The official opening was extremely well-attended by Emma's new customers, her friends and family with no shortage of champagne corks popping in celebration of her new journey.
The upcoming Ian O'Riordan Remembrance Walk in Gneeveguilla will raise funds for a charity that was there for Eileen O'Riordan, her family members, and students of Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra Rathmore on their toughest days.

On January 14, 2013, life changed drastically for Eileen when her 16-year-old son Ian died by suicide. Speaking to The Kerryman, Eileen described Ian as 'a gentle, popular teenager' and she hopes to mark what would have been his 21st birthday in a fitting manner.

A remembrance walk carrying Ian's name will depart from outside Petro's bar in Gneeveguilla at 3pm on Saturday, February 11, and will take its participants on a five kilometre ring around the Gneeveguilla area.

"It was the most devastating time for me and my family, as well as Ian's school friends; they were all only children at the time," Eileen said.

"It was with the support and help of Southwest Counselling that we got through that horrible time - they were there for my family, and they're still there today."

Eileen added that the service was fantastic to Ian's friends as well.

"At any time, short notice or not, Southwest Counselling would arrange to see these youths, and they guided them through it all."

The February 11 walk serves as an opportunity to remember Ian, who loved rugby, rowing, horseback riding and spending time with friends.

"We hope to get as many people as possible to come out on February 11 to mark his birthday and to raise funds for a service that proved a tremendous support during a very difficult time," Eileen continued.

"The public's participation would mean a lot to friends and family, and hopefully the funds we raise will help more youths in the years ahead."

Registration will be one hour beforehand and the participation fee is 10.
There are growing calls for one of the most dangerous junctions on the entire Ring of Kerry route to be moved to prevent a serious accident.

Residents living near Reen Cross on the N70 - just a few miles from Caherdaniel village - say the junction poses a huge danger to motorists, especially in the summer months when the Ring of Kerry becomes the busiest tourist route in the country.

The near 90 degree junction is located on one of the busiest and fastest stretches of the N70 and is almost invisible to drivers approaching it from the direction of Sneem and Kenmare.

The fact that many drivers on the Ring during the tourist season have never driven the road before makes this even more dangerous.

At present drivers exiting Reen must wind down their windows, listen for oncoming traffic and hope for the best as they pull out onto the main road.

While a mirror was installed some years ago during the summer it is typically covered in foliage, rendering it almost completely useless.

The problem is most severe in the summer months when all the houses in Reen - many of which are holiday homes - are fully occupied, making the small boreen much busier.

Residents and landowners who use the cross regularly want to see the junction moved slightly westward to improve sight lines and generally make it safer. Land has been made available to move the junction and all that is required is funding.

On Saturday Fianna Fail TD John Brassil and Cllr Norma Moriarty visited the area and met residents to hear their concerns. Previously Fine Gael's Deputy Brendan Griffin and Cllr Patrick Conor Scarteen had also met residents.

Cllr Moriarty said Kerry County Council is currently preparing designs to widen and realign the N70 near Reen Cross and, as such, this would be an ideal time to alter the junction.

One resident - whose car was written off in a crash at the cross several years ago - called for urgent action.

"It's lethal. It's one of the absolute worst junctions on the whole ring and it's a wonder there hasn't been a massive accident here in summer," he said.

"It's only safe after dark when you can see an oncoming car's headlights. I honestly haven't turned right leaving Reen in years. You're taking your life in your hands," he said.

Michael O`Connor the Chairman or Caherdaniel Rowing Club, which is based in Reen, said every time the club boat is taken to a regatta it is extremely difficult to navigate the junction and help is often needed to stop traffic.

"The speed limit on the N70 at the Reen junction is 100 km per hour, and the traffic on it can be moving very fast. Visitors to the area wouldn't be familiar with the junction, and as they don`t know it is there, they don`t slow down," he said.

"Residents must lower their car window at the junction, and listen for oncoming traffic, and there is concern locally that there could be a serious accident at the junction," Michael said.

Gerry O'Malley - who organised the meeting - told Cllr Moriarty and Deputy Brassil that there are 29 houses in Reen and five other landowners who aren't resident but use the junction daily to access their land.
Doctors in general practice in North Kerry are warning of the unprecedented strain they are now under, amid fears for their ability to continue providing the out-of-hours Southdoc service.

Their grave concerns were voiced at a meeting in Listowel last week attended by representatives of the 12 GP services in the North Kerry area.

Looming retirements - at a time when rural practice has never been less attractive to newcomer GPs due to cuts and escalating costs - are placing the work under unprecedented strain, Listowel-based Dr Billy O'Connor warned. He emphasised that there is no imminent threat to Southdoc in North Kerry and said the service would have to continue into the future, but queried: "How long can doctors keep working 70 to 80 hour weeks?"

Dr O'Connor, who is to retire next year, said that GPs are urgently calling on the HSE to recognise the difficulty of cover in rural areas at present. "We're paid a flat fee now for our patients, which doesn't take into account the cost of long distances travelling to homes in isolated areas.

"They have to actively try to attract manpower into rural areas now, as the loss of GPs is a massive problem. Our priority is the offering of a safe service to patients...but you have doctors working weekends after single-handedly running clinics all week. There has to be a Southdoc continuing, so we have to explore all options with a view to prioritising patient safety."
If awards and the publicity that comes with them are anything to go by, West Kerry is facing into another bumper tourism season.

In the past month Dingle has been showered with accolades, ranging from the title of Ireland's top home holiday destination in the Irish Independent Reader Travel Awards to Dingle accommodation providers achieving national and international honours in Trip Advisor's World and European awards.

Castlewood House was selected Best in Ireland in three categories - Best Small Hotel, Best for Romance and Best Bargain Hotel as well as ranking 10th in Europe in the Bargain Hotel category and 13th in Europe in Small Hotels. In world rankings, Brian and Helen Heaton's Castlewood House was rated as 12th Best Bargain Hotel, and it also took second place in Ireland in the Service Category. Meanwhile, Pax Guest House in Dingle topped Ireland's B&B list, as well as achieving 15th place in Europe

At a time when Brexit, the decline in the value of Sterling, and the tremors emanating from Trump's election as US President are seen as potentially damaging to Irish tourism, this very positive publicity for West Kerry will be welcomed by local tourism operators for whom reputation is everything.

Dingle Peninsula Tourism Consultant Caroline Boland said that ,"when tourists get more selective, they're more inclined to go to places where they are confident of having a good experience."

In relation to the prize winning accommodation providers Caroline said: "They are setting national industry standards and it's sending out the message that the Dingle Peninsula is doing tourism well. It's all about visitor experience and if visitors are saying they've had a great experience it's doing a huge amount to promote the peninsula."

"This is priceless promotion that we just couldn't afford and it's much better to have real visitors saying they've had a great experience here than for us to tell people that we have great facilities."

She added that West Kerry will also benefit from being seen as a very safe place, which could be a significant factor for American tourists in the Trump era.
In the nine months since he took office Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross has never once visited his department's offices in Killarney.

Built at a cost of 19.5 million the Killarney complex - which houses around 130 civil servants - deals with almost all of the department's work relating to tourism and sport . The department's Dublin offices largely focus on transport policy.

Since taking office the Minister Ross - an Independent Dublin South TD - has been regularly accused of failing to take responsibility for the tourism and sport aspects of his portfolio.

He has also been criticised for focusing too much attention on the capital to the detriment of regional issues.

Recently Labour TD and former Environment Minister Alan Kelly asked Minister Ross for details on how many times he had visited his departmental offices in Kerry.

In reply Ross said that he had "not yet had the opportunity to visit my department's offices in Killarney but I am planning to do so in 2017".

Minister Ross added that Minister of State Patrick O'Donovan who has "responsibility for tourism and sport functions" had visited Killarney during 2016, though he did not specify how often.

While Minister O'Donovan is nominally in charge of tourism and sport as a junior minister he has extremely limited legislative powers.

He does not attend cabinet and it is Shane Ross's responsibility - as the senior minister in the department - to sign off on all major sport and tourism policies and recommendations.

Details of when Minister Ross plans to visit Killarney remain unclear.
All's well that ends well.

The transition year students at Causeway Comprehensive School are excitedly working towards the premiere of their 2017 film project later this year, but while their preparation has been exhaustive, they hadn't prepared for last Wednesday's drama.

Gardai stationed in Tralee, Listowel and Ardfert raced to Causeway at around 9pm on Wednesday night in response to a reported burglary at a shop.

As it turned out, a passer-by had genuinely mistaken the transition year's staged robbery scene for the real thing.

"We'd notified almost everyone prior to filming - except, unfortunately, the Guards," Causeway Comprehensive Deputy Principal Anne Marie Hassett told The Kerryman.

"It was an unfortunate oversight, and we apologise unreservedly for any inconvenience caused to the Gardai.

"I apologise as well to the passer-by - though they should be praised for having their heart in the right place!

"We've an excellent Community Alert system here, and it's nice to see people are vigilant - as the Guards themselves acknowledged!"

With all that drama out of the way, the project rolls on to its conclusion.

All 25 fourth-year students are involved in the first such project of its kind at Causeway Comprehensive.

"The short film - as yet untitled - focuses on a young man who has a difficult time growing up, and has run into more problems in the early stages of adulthood," Anne Marie explained.

"It's an exciting project, and after a bit of local training the students have taken to it well.

"It involves acting, filming and editing, so the whole year is involved in some way."

The end result will be premiered in the school after Easter.

"We've no date picked yet, but the excitement is building!"
River Laune anglers frankly admitted this week that the 2007 buy-out of the salmon drift netting industry they campaigned for has not resulted in any noticeable rise in the numbers of the fish on the river.

Instead they find themselves now calling for the same measure once sought by the drift-net fishermen: a cull of seals.

Anglers secured the support of local county councillors for the cull in what they now see as a last-ditch effort to save the river salmon fishery which they warn is now in 'terminal decline'.

Laune Salmon and Trout Anglers' Association chairman Billy Cotter and secretary Billy Downes laid out a stark picture of the current state of the fishery in a report to councillors at a meeting in Killorglin on Friday.

Plummeting salmon stocks on the Laune are now turning a once lucrative angling tourism business away from mid-Kerry as visitors opt for better fishing in other places, they warned.

Seals are a 'huge problem', Mr Downes told councillors on Friday. But he emphasised the anglers are not looking for a general cull - but a control of what he described as 'specialist' seals - ones that have learned to push further and further up the river on the hunt for food.

And while seals are currently protected, anglers do not believe the protection extends into freshwater.

Councillors heard that these seals are now venturing as far as the lakes of Killarney. But anglers also urged the council to investigate the possibility of buying out commercial interests at the mouth of the river in Castlemaine Bay.

"The Laune salmon are in terminal decline...The chance of catching a fish on the Laune has diminished significantly...There are little or no tourist anglers coming to the Laune as their chance of catching a fish is nil," Mr Downes warned.

The total allowable angling catch on the Laune is 4,560 for 2017 - down from 4,743 from 2014. Meanwhile the Maine salmon has collapsed almost entirely. Just 272 may be caught this year; down from 1,639 two years ago.

The numbers clearly point to zero benefit from the drift-net buy-out, as Mr Downes frankly admitted: "In 2007, we had the buy-out of the drift nets but we have seen no benefit of this."

They believe that a buy-out of the draft nets would boost spawning salmon numbers dramatically, pointing to a three-year buy-out at the turn of the millenium that 'proved very successful'.

But the increasingly canny seals are driving salmon numbers to the point of collapse.

Already, angling tourism is being hammered by the lack of fish in a major threat to the general economy of mid-Kerry.

The men presented numerous anecdotal cases of tourists who couldn't even catch a single fish.

"Seven French anglers came for a whole week, buying permits, licences and so on. They must have left about 2,000 in the local economy. Are they going to come back? Well, if you went to France and didn't catch a fish would you come again? I don't think you would," Mr Downes said.

"One angler who came in May stated on a fishing forum that 'I have just been fishing in Johnston's [part of the Laune]...we have not seen a fish. We met local anglers who told us there are nets in the mouth of the river. It's a pity this wasn't mentioned'," Mr Downes added.

He and Mr Cotter pointed to Ballina where a buy-out of draft netters at the mouth of the Moy led to the point where angling is now worth 12.5million per annum on a river considered the best in Europe for salmon.

Councillors give their support to Laune anglers frantic calls for cull to avert total salmon collapse

South and west Kerry Municipal District councillors voiced their support for the Laune Anglers' Association call to cull seals.

There were no dissenting voices among the elected representatives on the issue as they listened to Laune Anglers' Association chairman and secretary, Billy Cotter and Billy Downes, grim warning on the state of the fishery's health.

Municipal District Chairperson Fianna Fail Cllr John Francis Flynn, who facilitated Friday's angling deputation said: "We're trying to promote tourism and this is a massive problem. The amount of people who contacted me to say they are catching nothing is unreal. I would call today for a cull on the seals...I have seen 30 or 40 seals sitting up on the bank near Ballykissane Pier." He said the angling tourism business was vital for restaurants, B&Bs, pubs, etc.

Fianna Fail councillor Norma Moriarty urged caution in the use of language surrounding the cull, prefering the phrase 'managing seal numbers'. Fianna Fail's Mike Cahill also supported the call, going so far as to call for the reintroduction of a bounty 'for shooting seals'. Fine Gael's Patrick Connor Scarteen and Seamus Cosai MacGearailt warned colleagues of the likely backlash from people utterly opposed to what would be seen as a cruel attack on animals. Cllr Connor Scarteen said he heard of one person seeking a cull on politicians in response to a proposal to cull seals. In the end councillors agreed to comunicate the urgency of the situation to the relevant Minister in the hope of getting the green light for a cull subject to licence and to tease out the possibility of a buy-out of draft-netters in the bay.
More than 11 million in funding for regional and local roads has been announced for County Wexford.

The local projects which are being allocated funding include rehabilitation works to bridges across the county, and vital improvements to local and regional roads.

Following is a breakdown of the funding where it has been allocated:

Restoration Improvement, 5,935,608; Restoration Maintenance, 1,498,609, Discretionary Grant, 2,578,548, Bridge Rehabilitation, 236,000, Safety Improvement Works 163,000; Speed Limits 13,500; Training Grant 68,000; Severe Weather 1,148,886; Total Allocation 11,642,151

The 2017 Bridge Rehabilitation Works on Regional and Local Roads are: Road Number L5081-2 - Boleany Bridge, Boleany, Gorey, 25,000; L5020-2, Bridge at Parkbaun/Tinnock Lower, Gorey, 12,000; R738-5 Furlongstown Bridge, Taghmon, 69,000; L70361-2 Aughermon Bridge, Wellingtonbrige, 35,000; L6102-2 Kilcarbry Bridge, Kilcarbry, Enniscorthy, 50,000; L5139-1 Curraduff Bridge, Curraduff, Enniscorthy 25,000; R739-15 Rickardstown 20,000. Wexford County Council Total 236,000.

2017 Safety Improvement Works on regional and local roads: R742 4 crossroads complex junction - Crosslaghroe Crossroads Blackwater 15,000; R733-5 Ballinteskin Junction on R733 29,000; R742 Kilmuckridge Village 25,000; L2030 and L6116 4 crossroads junction in Caim Village 10,000; L-8057-3 Cushinstown bend on L8057 near N25 19,000; L7031-1/L30371-1 Junction in Clongeen in Clongeen Village 20,000; L7009 Junction at Crory, Crossabeg 15,000; R739 Bend at Silversprings, Kilmore Road 15,000; R742 Ballyvaldon Crossroads 15,000. Wexford County Council Total, 163,000
Wexford County Council, Wexford Arts Centre and the Arts Council have announced artist Katie Watchorn as the recipient of the 10th annual Emerging Visual Artist Award.

The aim of the award is to recognise and support the development of promising visual artists in Ireland. The winner receives 5,000 to assist in the production of new work for a solo exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre.

As the recipient of the award, Watchorn will create a new body of work during the coming year, to be exhibited in January 2018.

The artist works with a wide range of agrarian materials such as animal fibre blankets,fatty products and milk to create tactile pieces illuminating the nuances and materiality of Irish rural farming.

Drawing on her own experiences and upbringing in this community, Watchorn is interested in the care and feeling of protection which envelops a farm's livestock and the constant attempts to prevent sickness within the herd.

Her ongoing research involves visiting and recording farming environments in County Carlow, and recording her father's experience on animal husbandry and contemporary Irish farming which stretches back to the early 1970s.

For her exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre, she will combine organic substances with rough agricultural materials like cast iron, rubber and galvanise to create work concerned with the placement of these rural materials within the formal setting of a public gallery.

Watchorn received a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting from the National College of Art and Design in 2014. She has exhibited in Ireland and the Netherlands.
Wexford deputies James Browne and Paul Kehoe have crossed swords over the government's new action plan for rural Ireland.

Minister Kehoe described the plan as 'the first whole-of-government strategy to drive positive changes in rural Ireland' and said it offered a significant opportunity for County Wexford which had suffered badly during the Recession.

However, Fianna Fail Deputy Browne said it was too little, too late and a rehash of previous press releases and announcements.

'Fine Gael has not learned that spin doesn't bring jobs to rural towns, spin doesn't keep post offices, schools and GP surgeries open, and spin certainly doesn't entice young people to stay in rural regions to work, raise a family, and energise their communities,' said Deputy Browne.

'Rural Ireland is facing major challenges. Communities up and down the country are seriously asking themselves - have we a future?

'This is the fourth 'rural plan' launched by Fine Gael while in government.. all failed to deliver for rural Ireland.

Minister Kehoe said the opposite was the case and the plan would respond to challenges and opportunities as they arose.

'The government is committed to supporting recovery and growth across the country, and this Action Plan sets out the framework to achieving that ambition.'
Niamh McGloin, from Grange in Sligo, is one of the competitors who will be taking to the stage in the final for the Sean O Riada Gold Medal on the 3 February in Cork which will be broadcast live on RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta.

Niamh, a harpist, is currently studying English and Music in Maynooth. She is a member of the Fred Finn Comhaltas group, and teaches harp there.

A talented multi-instrumentalist, she also plays accordion with The Michael Coleman show every Wednesday in Ceolaras Coleman in Gurteen during the summer.

Niamh played for Prince Charles and Mary McAleese on their visits to Sligo, and has toured with the National Folk Orchestra performing 'Macalla 1916'.

Niamh will be competing with 13 other musicians in the final, which is for pipes and harp this year.

One musician in each category will win the Sean O Riada Gold Medal, and they will share a cash prize of a massive 2500.

The event will be broadcast live on RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta, presented by Peadar O Riada on his Cuireadh chun Ceoil show from 7 pm on Friday 3 February.

Listeners can tune in live or see www.rte.ie/rnag to listen live or listen back.

Talented Niamh is looking forward to the event and hoping to do Sligo proud on the night.

She is preparing her performance at the moment and says she is delighted to have reached the finals of this prestigious competition.
Known as 'The Voice of Ireland' Tommy Fleming has been 25 years in the music business, receiving world-wide recognition with sell out concerts at home and abroad.

His natural singing ability was evident from an early age and he has turned his passion of singing and song writing into a thriving career.

Rounding up 2016 with the sold-out musical production of 'Paddy', Tommy is now taking his place centre stage kicking off his 2017 solo-tour in January playing in Ireland, England and Australia over the next five months.

"I have to pinch myself at times when I see I have sold out places like Australia, it is a proud moment," says Tommy.

2016 saw him tackle the world of acting, threading the boards as the lead character in the hit musical 'Paddy' set in 1960's Ireland.

It follows the journey of one Irishman - Patrick Murphy (Tommy Fleming) as he leaves his friends, girlfriend and family behind to make his fortune in London.

Rave reviews of Fleming's performance have been widespread; with sell out shows across the county the future looks bright for Tommy in the acting industry.

While he admits balancing the work load between acting and singing was hard, he won't close the door on acting just yet: "Taking the step into acting was huge for me, having to leave me behind and be someone else on stage. It was a brilliant experience and really enjoyable. However having a solo singing career and acting in the same year was quiet a task.

"I have three scripts on my desk at the minute, but I have to look at them and see time wise, what suits me and what would be worth doing. One of them is for the West End."

He adds: "Spending two hours on stage five nights a week and learning over 140 pages of script was very draining. It was a little under two years in the making and we spent a lot of time getting the script together as we had to get the story right.

"We then started rehearsals in early 2016 so we had months of preparation leading up to the opening night. We had brilliant training and working with the cast was amazing."

Proving popular among audiences the play was originally planned to run for a few weeks in Castlebar but took on a life of its own, selling out five nights in The Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin and the West End in London.

Fleming believes its popularity was down to how relatable the story of emigration was and still remains: "The first few shows were emotional, it was amazing to see it strike a chord with the audience and to look out and see grown men crying in the crowd.

"My character was from 1964 and emigration was very different 40-50 years ago. In those days it took as long to go from Mayo to London as it does to get from Dublin to Sydney today. The world has become a much smaller place with the likes of Skype and the internet," adds Fleming.

After 'Paddy' Fleming went to America for his own solo-singing tour playing 27 sell out shows around the States from Boston to San Francisco.

So after 25 years, how does he keep his passion for music alive?

"I love my job, simple as. It does get hard with all the tours, flights and long nights. But I love doing what I do, the creative process of bringing back old songs and doing something different with them. The band is like a second family so it makes a big difference. I have a fantastic team behind me, from production, to management and a full orchestra and band. I love it."

While he has travelled extensively around the world Japan, America and Australia to name but a few, home is where the heart is and his Sligo show is a night not to be missed.

Tommy will play the Raddison Blu Hotel Sligo on the Saturday the 11th of February at 8.00pm.Tickets are 30 and are available on: 071-9140008 or from www.tommyfleming.net
L-R: PhD researcher Patrick Broderick, Director Clinical Health and Nutrition Centre Dr Ken Monaghan and PhD researchers Monika Ehrensberger and Daniel Simpson in their lab at IT Sligo

A quiet miracle has been happening in homes around Sligo since 2015. A team of researchers at IT Sligo are helping stroke patients to move again - by using mirrors to trick their brains.

"If you train one side of your body in the gym for six weeks, that side of your body will get stronger, but amazingly the other untrained side gets stronger as well, by maybe 40-50 per cent," he tells The Sligo Champion in his lab.

The Rathcormac native first came into contact with mirror therapy while working as a clinical specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist in rehab centres in Ireland and the US.

Then, when treating a friend who had a stroke, he had a light bulb moment.

"I saw some great improvements in treating him and saw the potential in it. That was my spark to wanting to do this," he says.

Now the Director of the Recognised Research Group at the IT, Ken has a team of three PhD researchers dedicated to stroke rehabilitation as he saw the room for bringing on new treatments.

The common perception of strokes are that once you hit six months post-stroke rehabilitation, that's it. You're sent on your merry way to live with whatever restrictions you're left with.

Dr Ken Monaghan and his team are changing all that, however.

Ordinarily, your brain sees that your affected limb isn't working and so effectively, 'ignores' that part of the body.

If however, you watch a reflection of your mobile limb in a mirror, something happens in your brain, as researcher and neuro-psychologist Patrick Broderick explains:

"It appears as if I'm moving my good hand, so I'm getting a positive visual feedback telling my brain that I have two fully functioning and moving hands.

"It effectively tricks the brain into believing that your hand is working again. Or it's tricking the brain into believing that I'm walking in a proper pattern again and that my weak leg is now working properly," he says.

The result is that it stimulates the motor function areas of the brain, prompting it to send energy and to activate that damaged hemisphere.

"It creates new pathways in your brain. It can re-ignite old pathways or establish new ones that help your limb function," he says.

The mirrors work for arms and legs and it's surprising how quickly - after just 30 seconds - that the brain can be fooled into thinking both limbs are functioning again.

Patrick is another Sligo native who is qualified in the assessment of head injuries or a stroke and designs interventions for them.

He was working with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland when he first became interested in the area.

"The first time I saw mirror therapy I saw instantly the effects that it had, bringing movement to limbs which had no movement whatsoever for years. For me that was startling. And the fact that very little research was being done on it," he says.

"We're seeing a lot of increases in people's overall ability to walk on a day to day basis, increases in walking speed, in their endurance and big increases in their overall motor function.

"When people have increased mobility then they can do all the other activities in their lives a lot easier. It creates a lot of independence. It's giving chronic stroke patients a second lease of life. A patient told me yesterday that for the first time since she had her stroke she felt like a normal person. She felt like she didn't have a stroke anymore, she could get on with her life. We're seeing this in all our patients. It's transforming," he says.

What this form of therapy is offering is a new approach to rehabilitation. Traditional phsyiotherapy gets people to a point. Mirror therapy comes in afterwards and brings people a step further.

"The beauty of mirror therapy is that it cuts down on expense. You don't need a therapist, you can use it yourself at home. You can put this device onto your treadmill at home and you can start walking and do it. You lead the way. That's the beauty of it," adds Patrick.

Sports Science specialist Monika Ehrensberger and Health Promotion Officer Daniel Simpson are the other two phD researchers working with Ken.

They are working on strength training in chronic stroke patients but their first obstacle turned out to be their most opportune.

"We initially tried to get all the stroke patients to come here but it's very difficult to get stroke patients to come here because they need someone to bring them and it's a big commitment to come here for four weeks of the exercises," says Ken.

As the proverb goes, "If the mountain won't come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain", Ken and his team had to devise a way of bringing the therapy out to patients.

Monica and Daniel devised a portable medical device that allows them to go out to patients houses and allows them to do exercises and use the mirrors.

They've had such good results, they're now in talks with Enterprise Ireland to see about developing it as an official medical device.

"We think there's great potential in it and they're very interested in it. It's kind of like an offspring of what's happened. It's very good for your soul," says Ken.

"They do all the training on their good side so that the other side will benefit," says Monika.

"The strength increases and stiffness decreases, it relaxes in nearly every patient we've seen," she says, adding that "significant improvements" have been seen, with patients able to open a jar of coffee or button up a coat.

Industrial Designer David Roberts from the IT's Creative Design Department is tasked with developing the new devices and is currently building a portable treadmill for Patrick's patients.

"It's always exciting to work in a new area, particularly with people who are enthusiastic about what they are doing," he says.

"I'm really excited by this because it could have a huge benefit to people."

Ken and his team are in touch with the five or six people in the world that see potential in this kind of therapy. It's the only research of its kind going on in Ireland at the moment.

They have high hopes for the future of both the therapy and the device.

"When a person sees a little bit of an improvement, that's a great motivator. It encourages people to do more. In the early stages it was difficult to get people involved in trials.

"What's lovely now is for the first time the word is out there and people are starting to contact us now looking to be involved in the trials.

"You don't need much supervision. It's completely safe. Imagine somebody using it every day for a week? Surely there's benefit for acute patients in hospitals," he says.

"My hopes are that we could inject some virtual reality into this. That would be the next stage," says Ken.

"In ten years time that device will be used in hospitals worldwide - that would be the hope."

A stroke destroys two million brain cells every minute. If you suspect that someone is having a stroke call 999 immediately.

When stroke strikes, act F.A.S.T.

F.A.S.T. stands for:

F - Face - has their face fallen on one side? Can they smile?

A - Arms - Can they raise both arms and keep them there?

S - Speech - is their speech slurred?

T -Time to call 999 if you spot any single one of these signs.

Helen Cassells was four years post-stroke when she heard about Dr Monaghan and the work he was doing with his team at IT Sligo.

She'd had a stroke in 2011 and while she wasn't confined to a wheelchair or a stick, she felt much slower than normal in walking.

"I felt I needed a little bit extra so I joined the IT team and found the mirror therapy very good," she said. "I had a weakness on the right side but I was mobile."

Helen completed a four week trial of the mirror therapy in 2015, for half an hour three days a week. The results were surprising: "For the first time I could actually run again without thinking. I wouldn't run a four minute mile but I can go much faster than I could before," she said.

Helen also credits the therapy on Daniel and Monika's device for restoring movement back to her arm. "All of a sudden I was turning on the tap with my right arm and I didn't realise I was doing it. It's the simple things. It's definitely another way of treating people with strokes," she said.
A Commemorative Weekend is being held in Boyle to mark 100 years since the election of Count George Noble Plunkett as MP for North Roscommon in a historic by-election that paved the way for Sinn Fein's electoral breakthrough in the 1918 General Election, breaking the grip that the Irish Parliamentary Party had on nationalist politics across the island.

Sinn Fein has published a programme of events for Friday 4th - Sunday 5th February in Boyle centring on the Boyle Courthouse which has recently been refurbished for the event.

It will include a re-enactment of the 1917 Count, a talk given by Honor O'Brolchain - Count Plunkett's Great-Grandaughter and grand-niece of 1916 Easter Rising leader Joseph Plunkett - songs sung by the great Bernadine Casserly of Frenchpark, a key-note address from Sinn Fein Vice-President Mary Lou McDonald and re-enactment of Count Plunkett's acceptance speech at the steps of the Courthouse followed by a torchlit procession through the town.
A child with cerebral palsy who sued the HSE over alleged negligence in the circumstances of his birth at Sligo General Hospital has settled his action on terms including an interim payment of 740,000.

At the High Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Kevin Cross approved the settlement for Evan Dean, aged six. The judge also commended the HSE for its attitude to the case after hearing senior personnel had sincerely apologised to the child's parents and given them an explanation during mediation settlement talks.Evan Dean, from Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, now lives in Canada.

Through his mother, Tara McGrath, he sued the HSE as a result of the circumstances of his birth at the Sligo hospital in May 2010. It was claimed the boy should have been delivered by 17.50pm on May 2nd, 2010, but was not delivered until 95 minutes later. That, it was alleged, caused him to suffer 90 additional minutes of asphyxia. It was also alleged there was failure to have regard to the CTG trace from 17.30pm when, it was alleged, the trace was grossly pathological and there was a failure to deliver the baby at the earliest possible opportunity. The court heard liability was not an issue in the case and the parents were happy with the settlement.

Michael Cush SC, for the family, said senior HSE personnel had sat down with Evan's parents, sincerely apologised and explained what had happened and that was a significant part of the settlement mediation talks. Mr Cush said this was one of the best outcomes in a case of cerebral palsy and that Evan attends school in Canada. While the boy has a right-sided deficit, he is a sociable and happy child, counsel added. Approving the settlement Mr Justice Cross said he was delighted at the progress Evan has made and wished him well. "I am sure he will have a great future," he said.

The judge commended the attitude of the HSE and said an apology and an explanation of what happened as part of mediation settlement talks was "absolutely something to be encouraged". Thankfully, it was becoming more and more common that explanations are given, he said. The case will return to court in five years' time when Evan's future care needs will be assessed.
A protest has been planned in Sharm el-Sheikh, the venue of the summit.
Locals in Geevagh are demanding speed indicator signs in the village in a bid to slow traffic.

A petition of some 500 signatures has been gathered in recent weeks as concerns mount about the problem.

Geevagh resident, John Duignan said: "Speed Indicators are those signs you see that tell you what speed you are traveling at and to slow down. These are a great aid to road safety and do work.

He continued: "People living in the Geevagh area are frustrated with cars speeding through the village on the R284, putting people, especially youngsters at risk.

"If cars don't slow down some one is going to injured or maybe killed.

"We feel that installing Speed Indicators on the R284 is a cost-effective way of dramatically improving road safety in the area and are organising a petition to ask Sligo County Council to do so.

"So far over five hundred local people have shown their support.

"As well as calling to households we have distributed the petition to several outlets in the region. We are asking residents to continue to show their support," said John, who is a member of Sinn Fein locally.
The High Court has ordered the extradition of a father of seven to the UK on alleged charges including blackmail.

High Court judge Ms Aileen Donnelly last Tuesday delivered her judgment granting the State's application for the extradition of Hughie Patrick McGinley.

The 31-year-old who resides at Connaughton Road Car Park in Sligo is wanted by the English authorities on foot of a European Arrest Warrant dated February 26, 2016.

Mr Leo Mulrooney BL for the Minister for Justice and Equality told the court that the warrant seeking Mr McGinley's surrender states that he is wanted to face trial on charges of blackmail, conspiracy to commit blackmail and possession of criminal property.

Mr McGinley was arrested at Ballyfree Halting Site in Sligo on August 1, 2016 and admitted to bail on August 27, 2016.

Mr Mulrooney told the court that the warrant was issued at Harrogate Magistrates Court and that each of the three offences carry maximum sentences of 14 years in prison and the offences involved a number of others who have been before the British Courts.

The court heard that the complainant is named Gerald Richardson and is the owner of a farm in North Yorkshire.

On August 24, 2015 Mr Richardson was visited at his farm by a man later identified by the complainant and his wife as Dennis McGinley. Dennis McGinley is a brother of Hughie Patrick McGinley.

Dennis McGinley offered to recover money lost by the complainant in a blackmail incident in 2003, in return for a percentage. The complainant was asked to pay some of that money up front.

The court head that over the next 12 days the complainant met with Dennis McGinley on nine occasions in various locations throughout England and handed Dennis McGinley a total of 196,000.

The complainant was told that he and his family would be subjected to violence if the money was not paid.

The court heard that Dennis McGinley, Bianca McGinley, Christy Stokes and Bernard McGinley were later charged with conspiracy to commit blackmail and possessing criminal property.

At a hearing in Teeside Crown Court on December 2, 2015 Dennis McGinley and Bernard McGinley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit blackmail and possessing criminal property. Christy Stokes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit blackmail. Bianca McGinley initially entered not guilty pleas but on January 22, 2016 pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property.

A number of the defendants received custodial sentences of between 54 months and 88 months. Another person suspected of involvement has not been arrested as he left the UK.

Last Tuesday, the court heard that the respondent was allegedly linked to the incident by CCTV and phone evidence but also the complainant was told that he and his family would be subjected to violence if the money was not paid.

Defence counsel, Mr Pat O'Sullivan BL, told the court that his client is married and has seven children.

Delivering her judgment today, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly said that the central issue in this case is that the respondent's right and his family's right would be violated should he be surrendered.

The court heard that the offences alleged against the respondent are "serious" and of "considerable gravity."

"While the court may have sympathy for his wife and family, sympathy is not the basis for these decisions. The sentences imposed on a variety of the offenders show that the court in the UK has also viewed this as particularly serious in light of the sentences imposed despite guilty pleas," she said.

Ms Justice Donnelly then made an order directing that Mr McGinley be surrendered to the UK.
The Sligo Field Club Journal second volume was launched by author Brian Leyden at Liber bookshop last Wednesday and was well attended by members and contributors. Also present were President of IT Sligo Brendan McCormack, Councillors Rosaleen O'Grady, Declan Bree and Thomas Healy.

President Wendy Lyons thanked the editor Jim Foran and Martin Timoney for his assistance with the project which she said was a tremendous undertaking. She also thanked the contributors for their articles.

Brian Leyden suggested that it should be read right through as each article was interesting and revealed facts about Sligo that he was unaware. There are articles covering the archeology and natural history of damson flies and seagulls as well articles on the coming of the railway and the manufacture of salt.

It is the second in the series and it hoped that we will produce a journal annually.The Sligo Field Club holds lectures every month during the winter on a variety of subjects, during the summer months field outings have been arranged the full program can all be seen on our website www.sligofieldclub.com and our face book page
A 47-year-old man who spat in the face of a ice cream parlour owner in Strandhill after being refused service has been told by Judge Kevin Kilrane that he is filled with anger which was destroying his life.

Before the court was Jimmy McMorrow of Abbey Street who admitted assaulting Neil Byrne manager at Mammy Johnston's on April 20th last year.

Judge Kilrane told the defendant that he was angry on an ongoing basis.

"A word is enough to set you off into a violent and angry mood," the Judge said.

He added that he could see from observing the defendant in court that he was filled with hate and spewed anger left, right and centre.

Judge Kilrane told McMorrow that he didn't appear to have any remorse at all while his solicitor, Mr Gerard McGovern said he thought the defendant should be attending anger management.

The Judge, noting the contents of a probation report, said that from an early age the defendant had displayed signs of serious disruption and had been expelled from school at age 11 or 12 and that was sad and very difficult and maybe should not have happened and things might have been differnt he had been kept in the education system.

Thereafter he had embarked on a life of crime and seemed to blame everyone but himself said the Judge who added that the defendant had deliberately and gratuitously named retired Gardai in court who couldn't defend themselves and which only emphasised his anger at this stage in his life.

" You're 47 now and as one famous actor once said, you're nearer the end than at the beginning. The reality is that life is short. That type of anger is only demeaning yourself. You let yourself down badly that day. Anyone who spits lets themselves down badly," said the Judge.

Earlier, Mr Byrne said Mammy Johnston's was full of families and children that day and he noticed McMorrow coming in and he told him politely that he wouldn't be serving him. McMorrow then verbally abused him and demanded that he come out from behind the counter. Mr Byrne said he refused and McMorrow then spat in his face. The witness said that if he had gone out from behind the counter McMorrow would have assaulted him. The defendant continued to verbally abuse him before walking out the door.

Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor (defending) asked the witness how did he know the defendant and he replied that there were previous incidents with him down through the years and he felt intimidated.

These incidents hadn't been reported to the Gardai. The witness said while there was another person with the defendant he wasn't aware that it was his son at the time.

Mr McGovern said all the defendant wanted was an ice cream. "He regrets what he did and apologises for that but he felt he was the victim here and that because of his past life he was being discriminated against," he said.

McMorrow said he was very sorry. At the time he got very heated. "I will not go into the premises again," he said. He wanted to get an ice cream for himself and his son and go for a walk on the beach. He didn't know Mr Byrne who had asked him to leave when he got to he counter.

McMorrow said he was calm and asked Mr Byrne why. Mr Byrne also told his son:"You're not getting one either and there's the door."

Recalled on this issue, Mr Byrne said he only dealt with the defendant and didn't speak with his son. The defendant said he "went off my head." His son was only after turning 17 at the time. "I freaked out," said McMorrow adding that he screamed and shouted.

"He (Mr Byrne) knew of my past. He knew me, I didn't know him," he said, claiming that he had been discriminated against because of his past. I'm trying to put my past behind me and I'd wish others would do the same. I felt like a black person in 1940's Alabama," said McMorrow. "I was treated like dirt," he said.

Inspector Paul Kilcoyne said the defendant's behaviour was not all in the past and that he was before the court on other serious, unrelated charges.

"It was just an ice-cream I was looking for. I'm sorry for spitting on him. If you felt like I felt being discriminated against because of my past and this discrimination being past on to my son," said McMorrow.

He told the Judge that he was a kindhearted man and that his family and son loved him.

Judge Kilrane said the probation report outlined how he was expelled from school at 12 and spent two years in Trinity House for offending behaviour and was then in and out of various institutions countrywide. In 2009 he last received a sentence, being released in 2012 and was described as being of high risk of re-offending.

"And you are still offending"- Judge.

McMorrow agreed to pay 500 to Sligo Cancer Support Centre on the suggestion of Mr Byrne who didn't want the sum in compensation. The case was adjourned to February 16th when there would be a fine of 200 as well said the Judge. The Probation Act was applied in respect of his breaking a window of his partner's apartment.

"I don't want to see you again. Now, get over your anger and enjoy your life with your son" - Judge.
Almost 10 million overseas visitors landed on Irish shores last year, making it the busiest ever for tourism.

Official figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show showed an increase of 10.9% in overseas visits to Ireland for 2016 compared to 2015. There was a record breaking total of 9,584,400 visits here in 2016.

Iconic experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way have helped to get the word out globally that Ireland is the place to see.

Sligo has benefitted hugely from the international marketing drive to promote the Wild Atlantic Way and just last Friday Failte Ireland installed a number of new discovery points across the North West for tourists.

Wild Atlantic Way Head, Fiona Monaghan explained: "Sligo Now has a Wild Atlantic Way to tell its Stories. We have installed new story panels at existing discovery points along the coastal route to bring added local layers to Visitor Experience.

"There are seven new engaging interpretation panels in Sligo. The rationale for the panels is to provide visitors with local stories.

"A key part of this phase of our development of the Wild Atlantic Way project has been a close and productive partnership with local experts and historians as well as with the individual local authorities along the route."

Last year, Failte Ireland had developed Photo Points at each of the Discovery Points and Embarkation Points along the route. The Photo Points were designed to literally 'frame' photographs taken by visitors at the beauty spots and scenic views along the route.

The new interpretation panels are being installed next to each Photo Points

Local Wild Atlantic Way Champion Eithne O'Sullivan, from Eithna's By The Sea restaurant, Mullaghmore said: "The development of the Wild Atlantic Way has created an iconic brand experience, which continues to recognise the West of Ireland on an international scale. The effective marketing and organised innovation of the Wild Atlantic Way, with the collaboration of business and locals has succeeded in building, growing and enhancing sustainable visitor experiences.

"The interpretative panels give a sense of identity to each destination point and encapsulates the Wild Atlantic Way and WOW factor of the region.

"It also heightens awareness and will create in its own way a legacy of individual interaction and interpretation all of which will contribute to the uniqueness of the experience and the future optimism and growth."
Tinahely Variety Group invites you to escape to Neverland this weekend as they present their new pantomime 'Captain Hook's Revenge'.

Peter Pan fed Captain Hook's hand to the crocodile, and Hook wants revenge.

The pirates ponder perilous plots while the Squamish Daughters and Lost boys send Peter Pan to London hunting for a mother.

Join sweet Wendy, nervous Michael and Dotty the Dame as they land in Neverland where chaos begins as Tinahely Variety Group brings the usual pantomime twists to this classic tale.

Peter Puns, silly songs, and epic battles will abound, so cheer the the good guys and boo the villains and set sail for a night of swashbuckling, slapstick fun.

Padraig O'Shea leads the cast as Peter Pan and Beibhinn Byrne twinkles as Tinkerbell. Evil Captain Hook is played by Jimmy Spellacy and is joined by a superb cast of more than 20 variety group members to bring this show to life.

Captain Hook's Revenge takes place at Tinahely Community Hall on Friday, February 3 and Saturday 4 at 8 p.m.

Admission at the door costs 10 for adults and 5 for children. A family ticket for two adults and two children costs 25.
Dolphins aren't exactly a common sight off the Wicklow shoreline so one walker had something of a surprise after finding one of the mammals washed up along the Murrough.

Murt O'Brien was enjoying a leisurely Sunday stroll along the Murrough in Wicklow town with his dog when he noticed a large object near the shoreline being overlapped by tidal waters.

Upon closer inspection he realised it was a dolphin, or possibly a porpoise.

'I was hoping it was still alive. Maybe it just got beached and was trying to get back out to the water again. But when I touched the dolphin it was pretty clear he was dead. The water was turning him over and back again. It was so sad to see such a lovely creature dead in the water.'

The body was located around a mile from the Murrough playground and skate-park. When Murt passed by the same spot on his way back twenty minutes later, the carcass had already been washed out to sea.
Laragh Post Office has received a reprieve as An Post agreed to reopen the consultation process after a community effort to keep the service active.

Over 200 people attended a public protest on Saturday, January 21, calling for the post office to remain open.

Protesters were also dismissive of claims that a public consultation period had already taken place prior to the announcement that the post office was to close on Tuesday, January 31.

'What we were calling for was a proper consultation period and that is what we got,' said Deputy Pat Casey.

'Now it is up to the local community to prove to An Post why Laragh needs a post office. This is where the real work starts. Every member of the community now needs to put pen to paper and write a letter to an Post detailing why the post office is so important to the community.'

It had been hoped that someone could run the post office in the interim but An Post weren't in a position to issue a new contract.

However, efforts are being examined to keep the doors to the post office open for the next two weeks to coincide with the duration of the consultation process.

'Subject to the agreement of the landlord we would like to use the post office was a location where someone from the community can offer people advice on what sort of submission people should write up. The post office could also act as a collection point,' added Deputy Casey.

Another public meeting was held on Monday night, attended by around 180 people, as the campaign to keep the post office continues to gather pace.

Deputy Casey was heartened that An Post agreed to the consultation period, pointing out that Laragh has had a post office for over 150 years.

'There is no public transport in Laragh to bring people to the nearest post offices in Roundwood and Rathdrum. The return cost in a taxi is between 20 and 30. You can't expect people to have to fork that amount out each time to go to collect their pension.

'There were also some services in the post office that some people might not have been aware about, including AIB and Ulster Ban facilities.

'There are plans to go to local businesses and try and get them to come back to using the post office services at an increased level. Considering the number of tourists who come to the area, it might be worth considering establishing a postcard campaign as well.'

Minister of State, Andrew Doyle, has said he will continue to engage with An Post during the consultation process.

'We need to ensure that every possible avenue was assessed before any decision was made.

'Laragh Post Office may be of interest to businesses in the area to co-locate and operate within an existing business.'
Scientific breakthroughs in treatment are making the difference for Irish breast cancer patients.

Developments in the treatment of breast cancer and increased awareness have resulted in a 2% drop in breast cancer mortality rates year on year since 1994.

While breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer, these scientific advancements have meant that survival rates are improving, currently at 82% for five-year survival.

To mark World Cancer Day on February 4, Breast Cancer Ireland want to share some of the exciting new positive advances being made in breast cancer research and treatment:

Oncotype DX

Through testing a small amount of breast cancer tissue from recently diagnosed patients, Oncotype DX can examine the activity of a group of 21 genes in the tumour and can provide more information about the patients cancer.

This test can help patients and their doctors to determine if patients will benefit from chemotherapy as part of their treatment. It tests chances of recurrence and helps determine if a patient will or will not benefit from chemotherapy as treatment therapy.

INTRABeam System

The INTRABeam System cuts radiation treatment time for certain breast cancer patients from daily doses for five consecutive weeks to a single 30 minute treatment. This not only hugely improves the quality of life for breast cancer patients but also speeds up patient recovery time.

The system is a mobile electron beam-driven X-ray generator and using different sized applicators placed within the breast cavity once the tumour has been removed, it provides a point source of low energy X-rays delivered in a precise and accurate way to the relevant area.

Breast Cancer Ireland has donated an INTRABeam system to Beaumont Hospital and it is the first of its kind in Ireland.

Dual therapy programme

An international ongoing clinical trial which included patients from Ireland has observed a positive response from combined therapy of Herceptin and Lapatnib with 50% of patient tumours being eradicated following this treatment.

Breast Cancer Ireland was established to raise significant funding to support pioneering research nationally. As well as funding the intraoperative radiation therapy machine at Beaumont Hospital, the charity also supports ongoing investment in clinical trials.

The charity also funds the recruitment of specialist Breast Cancer Research Nurses, whose role is to collect and collate patient tissue and serum samples into one large centralised resource which can now be accessed by clinicians and scientists nationwide, thereby helping to speed up discovery times and ultimately affect more positive treatment outcomes for patients.

Leading breast cancer surgeon and Chairman of Breast Cancer Ireland, Professor Arnie Hill said: Discovery times in our labs have greatly improved as a direct result of increased investment in research, and we are coming ever closer to our aim of transforming breast cancer from often being a fatal disease to making it a treatable condition that can be managed long-term.

Click here for more information on Breast Cancer Ireland funded research and to donate to the charity.

Sponsored by:
Matt LeBlanc driving an Aston Martin DB11 being pursued by police in Montenegro, during the the latest series of Top Gear (BBC/PA)

Matt LeBlanc helping a naked rambler into the Avtoros Shaman during the latest series of Top Gear

The first trailer for the latest series of Top Gear features an array of supercars and extraordinary vehicles - from the Aston Martin DB11 to the Ferrari FXX K, to the Russian eight-wheeled Avtoros Shaman.

The 90-second teaser sees Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid endure an awkward BBC car insurance interview interwoven with clips from the new series.

In one shot, a tuxedoed LeBlanc is cornered by police in Montenegro while another shows the former Friends star inside the mammoth Avtoros Shaman rescuing a group of naked ramblers on the Isle of Man.

Meanwhile, Reid is seen crashing his taxi in Kazakhstan and Harris drifts the Ferrari FXX K in Daytona, Florida.

The trio are quizzed by a strict risk assessor on prior motoring convictions, whether they will participate in competitive driving, and if they require fire cover.

Responding to the final question, LeBlanc tells the interviewer "no fire" before The Stig makes a timely entrance with a small flame burning his sleeve.

The trailer will premiere on BBC One on Saturday night ahead of Let It Shine.

Returning to BBC Two this spring, Top Gear has experienced a second line-up change in as many years with Chris Evans quitting the show after one series, saying he gave it his best shot but it was "not enough".

Following his resignation, Evans said LeBlanc is the "captain" that the show needs going forward and should remain on the show, dismissing reports that the pair's relationship had broken down amid flagging audience numbers.
Jarlath Regan flew to the US to donate a kidney to his brother Adrian

Irish comedian Jarlath Regan has said he is "over the moon" after successfully donating a kidney to his older brother Adrian in the US.

The London-based comedian (36) flew over to Minnesota to undergo surgery, which could extend his brother's life expectancy by more than 25 years.

Expand Close Jarlath Regan Photo: Twitter / Facebook

Twitter

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Whatsapp Jarlath Regan Photo: Twitter

"We're both over the moon with the results. So far so good," Jarlath tweeted.

"Operation was a huge success on both sides."

Thanks for all the messages guys. We're both over the moon with the results. So far so good. #KidneyDonation #BeastMode #IrishBrothersAbroad pic.twitter.com/xqKaBu8qc8  Jarlath Regan (@Jarlath) February 3, 2017

The Kildare comedian, who presents podcast An Irishman Abroad, learned he was a near perfect match to donate an organ to his older brother, who has suffered from a rare condition for most of his life.

Speaking on the Eoghan McDermott Show on RTE 2fm last month, Jarlath (36) said the decision to donate a kidney to his brother was made "in a heart beat".

Jarlath, who has a six-year-old son, said that while it was an easy decision to make, the stress of the upcoming surgery has fallen on the shoulders of his wife Tina.

"He had the option of dialysis but that would be so difficult. I knew that I wanted to be it. If my brother said to me 'My left foot is ruined and I need you to amputate yours', I probably would think about it.

Expand Close Comedian Jarlath Regan is set to donate a kidney to his brother Photo: Steve Ullathorne / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Comedian Jarlath Regan is set to donate a kidney to his brother Photo: Steve Ullathorne

"My wife is an amazing woman. She is an incredible human being. I asked the doctors was it normal for people to be so blase about it, as I was, and they said it was. Whats also known is that the person closest to the donor can take on the stress. I really feel that Tina has had to endure a lot of the stress that I havent because hes my brother. She does get that if it was her sister or brother, shed do it in a heartbeat," said Jarlath.

The comedian said Irish people need to be more open about organ donation, which is an potion often skirted around.

Video of the Day

"If the organ fails, he won't be stuck. In the States there is an organ donor network over there. Even though his wife isn't a proper match for him, her plan should this not work, her plan is to donate her kidney to someone on the network who needs it, and in exchange find someone who suits him. There are people walking in off the streets in the States who are saying 'I am a healthy human being, I hear you need kidneys, have mine'. Those people have the true hearts of gold.

"Its a discussion that needs to be had in Ireland. I know that people are dying as a result of the shortage of organs available."

The comedian will be exploring his experience with organ donation on his podcast The Irishman Abroad in coming weeks. For more information visit www.jigser.com
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) speaks with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo (R) before their meeting at the headquarters of the defense ministry in Seoul

US President Donald Trump's defence secretary warned North Korea yesterday of an "effective and overwhelming" response if Pyongyang chose to use nuclear weapons, as he reassured Seoul of steadfast US support at the end of a two-day visit.

Defence secretaries have long offered assurances to South Korea and Japan that its nuclear "umbrella" will protect them, but James Mattis's statement was perhaps more pointed than most. He made the remarks during an appearance with his South Korean counterpart, Defence Minister Han Min-Koo.

"North Korea continues to launch missiles, develop its nuclear weapons programme, and engage in threatening rhetoric and behaviour," Mr Mattis said.

"We stand with our peace-loving Republic of Korea ally to maintain stability on the peninsula and in the region.

"America's commitments to defending our allies and to upholding our extended deterrence guarantees remain ironclad: any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming."

Mr Mattis's two-day visit comes amid concern that North Korea may be readying to test a new ballistic missile, in what could be an early challenge for Mr Trump's administration.

North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and its main ally, the United States, conducted more than 20 missile tests last year, as well as two nuclear tests, in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions.

It appears to have also restarted operation of a reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear facility that produces plutonium that can be used for its nuclear weapons programme, according to a US think-tank, 38 North.

Mr Han echoed his counterpart's concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

He said yesterday they "blatantly threaten" the international community and have created a "severe security situation" on the Korean peninsula.

He described Mr Mattis's visit so early in his tenure as a warning to North Korea.

In his New Year's speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his nation was close to test launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Mr Trump, on January 2, tweeted, "It won't happen!" about North Korea's pursuit of a nuclear-tipped ICBM, although his precise meaning was unclear.

The Pentagon has said it would not necessarily strike a test-launched ICBM if it did not pose a threat.

Mr Mattis's trip to the region, which will include a stop in Japan, is the first foreign trip by any of President Trump's cabinet secretaries.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
The worst wildfires in Chile's history are finally dying down after consuming forests and entire towns and being blamed for at least 11 deaths.

Now the thousands of people who have lost most of their belongings and their livelihoods and looking to the future, with some complaining that state aid is not enough given the extent of the devastation.

President Michelle Bachelet said on Friday the flames are no longer threatening residential areas for now and that her government is beginning to hand out money and food to the Chilean who have been worst-hit by the fires.

"The emergency situation is still ongoing, so it's important to not drop our guard," she said.

However the flames from more than 100 wildfires sometimes spread anew when winds whip up smouldering ash.

The ferocity of the blazes led Ms Bachelet to issue a state of emergency, deploy troops and seek international aid.

Supertanker planes from the US and Russia have dumped thousands of gallons of water to assist local crews.

In all, more than 20,000 people, including firefighters and experts from more than a dozen countries, have fought the wildfires that Ms Bachelet has called the worst forest disaster in Chile's history.

Besides farmers and ranchers, hundreds of small-scale winemakers, beekeepers and artisans have also lost everything.

But many continue to show the same stoicism that has helped Chileans to recover from other natural disasters, including large earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

So far, the government has spent about 257 million to control the emergency and is helping small-scale farmers rebuild their homes and lands, said finance minister Rodrigo Valdes.

The full extent of the damage has yet to be quantified.

An estimated 80 families that made a living from beekeeping lost their livelihoods in the area near the city of Cauquenes, about 220 miles south of Chile's capital Santiago.

About 63 million bees died in the area and some 240 million bees are at high risk, said forestry engineer and beekeeper consultant Carlos Correa.

Beekeeper Jorge Andrade complained that the 1,170 government aid that he will get for losing it all "is nothing" and will only help him recover a small fraction of his hundreds of beehives.

AP
Two men were punched and kicked in what is believed to have been a homophobic attack as they travelled home on a tram.

Police in Manchester said both men, who are in their 40s, needed hospital treatment after they were attacked on a tram into the city centre on the night of Sunday January 22.

Violence broke out after a man and two women became involved in a row with the victims just before the tram stopped at a station on the route at about 10.30pm.

The victims were punched and kicked and subjected to gay-hate abuse, Greater Manchester Police said.

Detective Constable Claire Phythian, from GMP's Trafford borough, described it as "a disturbing attack on two innocent men as they made their way home".

She said: "We take all reports of hate crimes extremely seriously and the message is clear - they will not and never will be tolerated in Greater Manchester."

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

GMP said one of the women is described as a white, with long brown hair in a ponytail and was wearing a dark cap. She was also wearing a black hoody with a white square and white lettering on the front of it.

Police have also issued a photograph of a white man and a white woman with long dark hair who they want to identify.
An investigation is underway amid claims security workers were paid by convicts to deliberately fit electronic ankle tags loosely.

Staff at a major security company, which is contracted to run the Government's Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS) in the UK, were allegedly paid hundreds at a time to help at least 32 offenders beat their court-imposed curfews.

Police said 14 people, including three current and former workers, have been arrested in connection with a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

Capita won the six-year 400 million contract for electronically tagging criminals in 2014 after security firms G4S and Serco became embroiled in an overcharging scandal.

The Ministry of Justice said it was "urgently" investigating the claims.

Scotland Yard said a 46-year-old man, a former EMS employee, was arrested in Romford, Essex, on January 3 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and theft of tagging equipment.

A 45-year-old man from Barking, Essex, and 57-year-old woman from Romford - both current employees - were arrested on January 18 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A further 11 people were arrested in connection with the investigation in January, Metropolitan Police confirmed.

A spokesman for the EMS said: "We have a zero tolerance policy against any of our employees who act in any way to undermine the robustness of the electronic monitoring service.

"The small number of employees being investigated regarding this isolated issue were swiftly taken off duties and we are closely co-operating with the Metropolitan Police Service."

A police spokesman said: "Detectives in Newham borough are investigating a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

"Police had become aware that offender monitoring equipment was being used inappropriately."

All 14 suspects have been bailed to dates in early April and inquiries are ongoing, police said.
Local residents are seen in a building which was damaged during fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists in the government-held industrial town of Avdiyivka, Ukraine

International monitors yesterday strongly urged the warring sides in eastern Ukraine to silence their guns as heavy artillery and rocket barrages continued to pummel residential areas.

At least 33 people, including civilians, have been killed in recent fighting and several dozens injured in the worst violence since 2015.

"Unacceptable! Sides have to stop fighting!" the monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation In Europe said on its Facebook page.

The death toll in fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels that began in April 2014 has exceeded 9,800, according to United Nations' figures. While the warring sides have regularly exchanged gunfire despite a February 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany, this week has seen a sharp spike in hostilities.
A pregnant woman's husband will have the power to stop her from having an abortion, even in cases of spousal rape, under a new law introduced in the US state of Arkansas.

Most second trimester abortions will also be banned by the Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act - which will make it possible for husbands to sue doctors who carry out abortions for civil damages, or get an injunction to block the termination.

The pro-life law, which was pushed through in just two months by the state's Republican government, prohibits all dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedures, in which the physician removes the foetus from the womb with surgical tools.

D&E procedures are the safest way for women to end their pregnancies after 14 weeks of gestation, according to the American Medical Association.

But the medical procedure will now become a felony in the southern state, punishable by a hefty fine or six years in prison.

This is despite 683 of Arkansas's 3,771 abortions being D&E in 2015, according to the state's health department.

A clause in the legislation also states the husband of a woman seeking an abortion, if he is presumed to be the baby's father, can file a civil lawsuit against the physician for monetary damages or "injunctive relief"  a court order that would prevent the doctor from going ahead with the procedure.

The womans parents or legal guardians can also sue to stop the abortion, if she is a minor.

Although a husband cannot win money in cases of criminal conduct against his wife  namely, spousal rape  he could still sue to block her from having the abortion.

State Representative Andy Mayberry, who co-sponsored the bill, called D&E a gruesome, barbaric procedure, adding that the routine procedure is one that no civilised society should embrace.

Mr Mayberry is also the president of Arkansas Right to Life, a subsidiary of America's largest pro-life organisation, the National Right to Life Committee.

Karen Musick, co-founder of Arkansas Abortion Support Network, told The Daily Beast she could not fathom how the bill had become law.

There is zero part of me that understands why a rapist or someone who got someone pregnant against their will, maybe incest, would have any right in that decision, she said. I cannot wrap my brain around the fact that there would be anyone who thinks otherwise.

Holly Dickson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, told the Huffington Post the bill might not be constitutional.

They created a whole new right  the right of a husband or family member to sue a doctor on behalf of an adult patient, she said. I cannot begin to tell you what the intent was, but we have raised concerns about that provision and the entire rest of the bill, which is unconstitutional.

The ACLU of Arkansas has said it plans to challenge the abortion law in court before it goes into effect later this year.

Six other states have passed nearly identical laws, and in all four states where the law was challenged  Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia  it was struck down by the courts.

The Supreme Courts 1973 decision in Roe versus Wade protects a womans right to have an abortion up until the foetus would be viable outside the womb, around 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Demonstrators march in front of the government building during a protest in Bucharest (AP)

Romania's government has said it will repeal an emergency decree which decriminalises official misconduct, following days of mass protests.

Prime minister Sorin Grindeanu said the government would hold an emergency meeting to repeal the decree, which has sparked the biggest protests in Romania since the end of communism in 1989.

Protesters are angry that the measure will water down the country's anti-corruption battle against officials.

Mr Grindeanu, however, said the proposal would be sent to parliament for debate, a move that is not likely to appease protesters who want it to be cancelled.

Mr Grindeanu said: "I don't want to divide Romania ... Romania in this moment seems broken in two."

The constitutional court is expected to rule next week on whether the measure was legal.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar will no longer be subject to a travel ban or to an arms embargo (AP/Kamran Jebreili)

The United Nations has removed a former Afghan warlord from a list of names on its Islamic State and al Qaida sanctions list.

A statement posted by the Security Council said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar , leader of Islamist organisation Hezb-i-Islami, would no longer have his assets frozen, be subject to a travel ban or to an arms embargo.

Hekmatyar, who battled US forces after the 2001 invasion and nursed bitter rivalries with other Afghan factions, agreed to lay down arms last year.

Amin Karim, his chief negotiator, said that he would return to the capital in "a matter of weeks, not months".

Hekmatyar is seen as a potential rival to President Ashraf Ghani and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, who have governed the country through a frail, US-brokered power-sharing agreement since the disputed elections of 2014.

His return could inject new political uncertainty as the government struggles to confront a reinvigorated Taliban that has been advancing on several fronts.

In September, Mr Ghani signed a peace treaty with Hekmatyar in which Mr Ghani pledged to lobby the US and the UN to remove him and his party from terrorist blacklists.

Hekmatyar signed the agreement via a video link into Kabul's presidential palace. The ceremony was broadcast live on television at the time.

The 25-point peace agreement gives Hekmatyar and his followers immunity for past actions and grants them full political rights.

Hekmatyar battled the Soviets in the 1980s and then took part in the civil war that erupted after their withdrawal, clashing with the so-called Northern Alliance.

He was driven out when the Taliban seized power in 1996, but returned after the American invasion, vowing to resist the foreign "occupation".

His forces were largely confined to just two provinces, however, and have carried out few attacks in recent years. He is believed to be in hiding somewhere in the eastern Kunar province, where he enjoys popular support, and to make occasional trips into Pakistan across the nearby border.

AP
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There were fewer chances of the starving Nigerian kid to survive, let alone attending school. Thanks to Anja Ringgren Loven who with great TLC transformed the life of the kid. Anja aptly called the kid Hope who was abandoned by his own parents who were accused of witchcraft.

After being rescued by Anja, he was immediately taken to the hospital and was treated for malnutrition and stomach worms. After 8 months, hope started recovering and became completely unrecognisable.

Hope also attended the first day of school, and was very happy to do so. Look how happy he looks. With his story, there is still hope in humanity!
Across the world, wherever there are laws to protect consumer privacy, they are usually based on a few commonly-accepted privacy principles. The principles are not uniform, they vary by country. From the perspective of a consumer interested in a high degree of privacy, the principles in the European Union are stricter and more comprehensive than those in the United States.

Four years ago, an experts group chaired by Justice Ajit Prakash Shah proposed an Indian iteration of the privacy principles. The Shah principles are both numerous and rigid. They seek to recreate Europes model of intensive regulation supported by a strict privacy watchdog. That was a mistake. Many of the Shah principles are incompatible with todays technology landscape. As Indias Big Data projects come to fruition, the Shah principles will be obsolete.

Big Data and the Internet of Things

anonymous-internet-privacy

What is Big Data? Information began to be stored in electronic form ever since computers were invented. Over the years, these databases have grown. As daily life is increasingly computerised, the amount of personal information in these databases has multiplied. Today, there are information sensors everywhere  in our homes, on roads, in buildings, even in what we wear. Information about you is being collected all the time, everywhere. Datasets have become very large and are still growing. This is Big Data.

So far these sensors have stood alone, individually collecting information for distinct purposes. Now they are being connected. They are also being freed from human control which means that information will be collected and shared automatically. Large datasets are being aggregated to become massive. Soon, a body area network will connect wearable devices, a local area network will connect physical spaces such as homes, a wide area network will connect remote objects such as cars, and a very wide area network will connect entire cities. This is the Internet of Things (IoT).

Notice and choice

AP

How do the Shah principles measure against Big Data and the IoT? A foundational principle that is widely accepted across the world is that every consumer has a right to be told before her personal information is collected  this is known as the principle of notice. After being told of how it will be used, every consumer must expressly consent to their information being collected  this is known as the principle of choice. Together, these two principles create the notice and choice model of consumer privacy.

Think of the last time you downloaded a smartphone app or signed up for an Internet-based service. The privacy statement with legal and technical jargon was in pursuance of the notice principle. The I Agree button that you clicked on was in pursuance of the choice principle. That, in a snapshot, was the notice and choice model in action. It powered the post-2000 digital revolution and enabled the rise of social networking.

But the notice and choice model has broken down. It is practically impossible to describe how information will be used. This results in complex privacy statements which nobody reads, but even if they do, nobody understands. In fact, if you were to read every privacy statement, you would lose 201 hours a year. Because IoT sensors collect information all the time, there is no way for each individual act of collection to be preceded by a privacy statement. Moreover, most IoT sensors will not have user interfaces, so they cannot communicate with humans.

Although most consumers do not know it, the market for raw personal information is large and sophisticated. It has well-established, universal commercial practices. What this means is that consumers do not have any privacy alternatives, they do not have actual choice. Consumers who say they care about privacy almost always sacrifice it for the convenience that a new technology or app offers  such as Venmo which is currently undergoing a US federal privacy investigation. In the IoTs continuous information collection scenario, consumers will literally have no choice, not in the way that Shah principles imagine.

Access and security

spying censor

In the US, besides notice and choice, there are only two other principles regarding consumer privacy. The principle of access gives consumers the right to view and correct information that pertains to them after it has been collected. And the principle of security requires companies to ensure the safety of the consumer information they hold.

If you have ever downloaded a copy of your Facebook data or signed up for account activity emails from Google, you have, in small measure, exercised your access rights. Earlier this year, personal information of around 3.2 million credit card users was stolen from banks  Indias largest data heist  in contravention of the security principle. The four principles of notice, choice, access, and security are the bedrock of US consumer privacy law.

As Big Data gets bigger the access principle will become unworkable. Big data is characterised by at least four Vs  volume (large datasets), velocity (high speed of data flows), variety (millions of different forms of data), and veracity (uncertainty about the data itself). Simply put, there is too much data, it moves too fast, there are too many types, and even the companies that hold it are not sure of what exactly it is. In this background, telling individual consumers what information of theirs is being held is difficult because the companies themselves do not know.

The more devices there are in a network, the greater the chance of a hack. Since there are billions of IoT devices, the prospects of the security principle succeeding are dim. A single device, once hacked, can gain access to the entire network. The security guru Bruce Schneier has warned of an imminent IoT security disaster since it runs on routers which are fundamentally unsafe.

Collection and purpose limitations

There are nine Shah principles, five more than in the US. The principle of collection limitation restricts the amount of personal information that a company may take from a consumer. Only what is necessary to perform the tasks specified in the privacy statement can be collected. The principle of purpose limitation adds to that by prohibiting companies from using information already collected for new purposes which were not specified in the privacy statement.

The collection limitation principle is what keeps Amazon from asking about your income although it could be useful for them to know. But it only applies when your information is collected, not afterwards. The related concept of data minimisation, which is popular in Europe, covers the entire lifecycle of data. It calls for companies to periodically review their stored consumer information and remove whatever is unnecessary.

In 2010, a Spaniard sued Google for showing search results related to the repossession of his home, even though Google did not generate the content itself. The court ruled that since the mans financial difficulties were in the past, the information was no longer necessary to store. This right to be forgotten arises from a joint reading of the data minimisation concept and the purpose limitation principle.

The principles of collection limitation and data minimisation fundamentally clash with the IoT and Big Data. The IoT is designed to collect, share, and preserve data, not to limit or minimise it. It is like telling a cow not to eat grass. The principle is doomed to fail because the law cannot hold back the advance of technology. The purpose limitation principle is no different. The point of Big Data is to find new purposes for information. The information collected by a health app today may result in a vaccine tomorrow. Anonymising information may be a solution  removing all data points that may result in a person being identified; but since there is so much information, complete anonymisation is not always possible.

Disclosure, Openness, and Accountability

The remaining three Shah principles fare only marginally better. The disclosure principle forbids companies from passing on the personal information of their consumers to third parties. But in the IoT where everything is connected, information is bound to be shared with third parties. The principle of openness requires companies which handle personal information to be as transparent as possible about how they collect, store, and use that information. But if the companies themselves are not certain about the information, the only thing that they can be open about is that they are not certain. Remember that Big Data is constantly changing as more information is collection (velocity). The principle of accountability calls for consequences if any of the preceding eight principles are violated. We can be absolutely certain that they will all be violated, repeatedly.

There is hope for privacy

times

This does not mean that we face a future without privacy. It means that we need intelligent regulation. The notice and choice model focuses on regulating information collection. Moving to a use-focused model, which allows large-scale collection but regulates how the information can be used, is more useful. We could make a list of the most harmful uses of information, such as discrimination or stalking, ban them, and allow all other unlisted uses accompanied by simple harm warnings. As soon as it is collected, each bit of information can be electronically tagged with permissible and banned uses, and the IoT network can be retro-programmed to obey those tags. Harm can also be minimised by mandatory anonymisation.

Ambitious projects such as the Smart Cities mission depend on Big Data and IoT. Instead of obstructing them, as the Shah principles would, it makes more sense to intelligently regulate them, as long as they are inclusive and fair to all Indians. Today, only a quarter of our population is online. As this number grows, pushed by economic growth and pro-connectivity projects such as Digital India, the need to revise the Shah principles will grow too.
The Indian IT industry has more than just the H-1B visa Bill to worry about.Two more legislations have been introduced in the United States Congress over the past two weeks that can hit the domestic tech sector's prospects.

Reuters/representational image

While the H-1B visa Bill seeks to more than double the minimum wage for an H-1B visa holder to $130,000, the `End Outsourcing Act' asks for a ban on outsourcing by states.

Also Read: 'What Will Trump Do To My H-1B Visa?' Anxious Indians Turn To Astrologers

Another is a 2007 Bill that has been reintroduced by Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin  long time proponents of work visa reform.This Bill to seeks to revamp of the H-1B visa programme.

This comes even as buzz about US President Donald Trump signing an executive order that reforms the H-1B programme is still alive.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley and Assistant Democratic Leader Durbin announced on the former's website that they will introduce the legislation to prioritise American workers and restore fairness in visa programmes.

Congress created these programmes to complement America's high-skilled workforce, not replace it, Grassley said.

Reuters/representational image

He added that some companies are trying to exploit the programmes by cutting American workers for cheaper labour. The Bill, introduced on January 20, aims to give preference for talented foreign students educated in the US for H-1B visas.

Also Read: Here Is Everything You Need To Know About The H1-B Visa And How The New Regulation Could Devastate The Indian IT Sector

Meanwhile, three Senate democrats -Joe Donnelly along with Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand -on January 30 introduced the `End Outsourcing Act'.

The legislation seeks that companies that outsource jobs should not be subsidised by US taxpayers and also be disallowed to do business with the US government.

Reuters/representational image

We should encourage businesses to invest here and make sure tax-payer funded contracts are awarded to companies that employ American workers, Brown said in a statement.

Also Read: Sign Of Things To Come? IT Companies Should Stop Sending Indians On H-1B Visa, Start Hiring Americans: Narayana Murthy

We need programmes dedicated to putting American workers first. When skilled foreign workers are needed to meet the demands of our labour market, we must also ensure that visa applicants who honed their skills at American colleges and universities are a priority over the importation of more foreign workers.

While on Monday when Democrat Zoe Lofgren -who represents a Congressional district in California that includes Silicon Valley -introduced `The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017', which proposes a skill and wage-based system for allocation of H-1B visas and doubling the H-1B wage to $130,000, stocks of major

Indian software exporters such as Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services nose-dived, with five IT stocks losing about Rs 33,000 crore in market value. Meanwhile, the ministry of external affairs has downplayed the impact.

Reuters/representational image

Asserting that no executive order has been passed by the Trump Administration for overhauling of H-1B visas so far, a government spokesperson said the country will not prejudge the outcome of the three private Bills raised in this regard when they go through the full Congressional process.

Also Read: Indian Tech CEOs Will Go To US And Lobby Against Possible Changes In H1-B Visa Rules

No executive order has been signed so far...Three private Bills have been introduced in the US House of Representatives. Such Bills have been introduced in the past also and such Bills have to go through the full Congressional process, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
An IT professional committed suicide by hanging himself on Thursday at his home in Pune. Before going through with the deed, though, he clicked a selfie with the bedroom sheet tied around his neck and sent it to his friend.

World News/representational image

Abhishek Kumar, 23, worked at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and was originally from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Glassdoor

Police Officer, Rangnath Unde, of Hinjewadi police station told Mirror, "Abhishek lived in a rented flat with friends. He hanged himself in one of the rooms from a ceiling fan with a bedsheet. The reason for his suicide is yet to be ascertained."

Also Read: Female Employee From Kerala Found Dead Inside Infosys' Hinjewadi Office In Pune

Three of his flatmates were at home in their rooms when Abhishek hanged himself.

pune mirror

One of the flatmates got a call from a friend who sounded panicked. Abhishek had sent the friend the selfie he clicked before hanging himself. Moments after, the flatmates rushed to his room, broke the lock and found him hanging.

He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared him as dead.
In what could be a serious concern for air travellers, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday said it detected 422 air safety violations in 2016.

The data shows a rise of nearly 50 per cent from 2015 when the number of such incidents was 275.

BCCL/representational image

The crackdown has resulted in de-rostering of 42 pilots besides suspension of 272 crew members while 108 pilots got a warning. SpiceJet reported the highest number of suspensions in 2016, followed by Jet Airways, 53 and 41 IndiGo pilots and crew members facing suspensions for air safety violations.

AFP/representational image

The DGCA called Indigo airlines off-duty pilot and two DIAL electricians for questioning. Earlier, an Indigo flight had overshot in front of SpiceJet. A mishap was turned away at the Indira Gandhi International airport after an Indigo flight and Spicejet flight had come face to face.

AFP/representational image

The incident took place on December 27, 2016. The IndiGo flight had just arrived from Lucknow with 160 passengers and Spicejet flight with 187 on board was about to take off for Hyderabad when the two aircraft came close.

Significantly, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN aviation monitoring body, is scheduled to carry out a comprehensive audit of Indias aviation safety audit. Last time ICAO had conducted such an audit in 2015.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) the Pakistani charity organisation, which the United Nations has recognised as an alias of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) now has a new name - Tehreek Azadi Jammu And Kashmir (TAJK).

TAJK popped up just days after Pakistan government, to the surprise of many, began a crackdown on JuD and placed Hafiz Saeed under house arrest. Read more

1. After H-1B Visa, Two More US Bills Putting 'Americans First' Leaves Indian IT Industry Worried

The Indian IT industry has more than just the H-1B visa Bill to worry about.Two more legislations have been introduced in the United States Congress over the past two weeks that can hit the domestic tech sector's prospects.

Another is a 2007 Bill that has been reintroduced by Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin  long time proponents of work visa reform.This Bill to seeks to revamp of the H-1B visa programme. Read more

2. Two Hizbul Mujahideen Terrorist Planning Attack In J&K Gunned Down By Security Forces

The joint action of police and security forces have killed two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in Sopore area of North Kashmir on Saturday.

Acting upon information on their movement, Police and security forces immediately swung into action. The militants were said to be planning some terrorist action in Sopore area when they were intercepted by the forces. Read more

3. RBI To Issue New Rs 100 Notes Soon, Old Notes Will Also Remain Legal Tender

After new Rs 500 and 2000 notes, your wallets will soon have new Rs 100 notes. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hinted that it will soon bring new Rs 100 banknotes which will be similar to the design of the ones in Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005.

"The Reserve Bank will shortly issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, with the inset letter R in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India," RBI said in a notification. Read more

4. There Were 422 Air Safety Violations In 2016, Nearly 50% More Than Last Year

In what could be a serious concern for air travellers, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday said it detected 422 air safety violations in 2016. The data shows a rise of nearly 50 per cent from 2015 when the number of such incidents was 275.

The crackdown has resulted in de-rostering of 42 pilots besides suspension of 272 crew members while 108 pilots got a warning. SpiceJet reported the highest number of suspensions in 2016, followed by Jet Airways, 53 and 41 IndiGo pilots and crew members facing suspensions for air safety violations. Read more

5. Audi Driver Accused Of Killing Four Says He Hasn't Even Seen The Interiors Of A Luxury Car

On January 27 night, an Audi Q7 registered in the name of Dr Manish Rawat, who works as a neurosurgeon at the Safdarjung Hospital rammed into an auto rickshaw in Indirapuram, killing four people.

While Rawat has been untraceable since then, three days into the accident a man named Ishaq Ahmed from Labheda in Bareilly landed up in front of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court claiming that he was driving the SUV when it met the accident. Read more
There may be a lot of protest aginst the Visa ban imposed by US president Donald Trump, but this 4-month old Iranian baby has his own luck to fight all the odds. He has been allowed to travel to the US and undergo a life-saving surgery, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo informed. Iran is one of the seven Muslim-majority countries whose citizens were banned temporarily by the Trump administration.

WGFL

Cuomo announced Friday evening that Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital will perform the surgery at no cost.

Also Read: 'This Is Not A Muslim Ban,' Donald Trump Claims After Controversial Immigration Move

Last weekend, the baby girl's family tried to enter the country with a tourist visa through Portland, Oregon. But they were abruptly turned back as natives of one of seven Muslim-majority countries whose citizens are banned under the president's executive order.

AP

Private funds will cover travel costs for the infant and her family, as well as their New York stay.

digitaljournal

Cuomo worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project to secure the waiver of Trump's order.
The friendship between David Morley and Jack Ma dates back to 1980 when Newcastle boy David Morley met a Chinese teenager on his trip overseas. They played Frisbee in the park and became pen pals. Ma wanted to practise English and Morley was helping him. Morleys father Ken then invited Ma to their Newcastle home, and thereon began a great friendship.

Image Credit: scmp.com

Morleys have helped Ma during his struggling days, they contributed $22,000 to the purchase of newlywed Jacks first home. They also helped subsidise Jacks living costs at Hangzhou Teachers College. So, to honour this friendship, he formalised one of the biggest philanthropic handouts to an Australian university, a $US20 million (AUS $26m) commitment to fund the Ma & Morley Scholarship Program at the University of Newcastle.

I am very thankful for Australia and the time I spent there in my youth, Mr Ma said in a statement before the ceremony. The culture, the landscape and most importantly its people had a profound positive impact on my view of the world at that time. To honour the experience and the special relationship I formed with the Morley family, the Jack Ma Foundation is delighted to announce The Ma & Morley Scholarship Program that will inspire, educate and cultivate tomorrows leaders, he said.

Image Credit: scmp.com

The program, which would be advertised from the middle of this year, would support 90 students a year and would include students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and indigenous scholars.
Just days after high-profile diplomat defected North Korea has dismissed its minister of state security, a key aide to the reclusive state's young leader, Kim Jong Un South Korean officials have said.

Reuters

Kim Won Hong was removed from office as head of the feared "bowibu", or secret police, in mid-January apparently on charges of corruption, abuse of power and human rights abuses, Jeong Joon-hee, South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman, said, confirming media reports.

Jeong did not say how the South knew of Kim's ouster. But he said there could have been further dismissals in the North where the ruling Workers' Party's powerful Organisation and Guidance Department was investigating the ministry of state security.

"There is always a possibility that purges continue as part of constantly strengthening power," he told a briefing, adding punishment for Kim could be more severe depending on the outcome of the investigation, but he had been dismissed and demoted from the rank of general to major general.

Kim Jong Un became the leader in 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, and his consolidation of power has included purges and executions of top officials, South Korean officials have said.

Reuters

Last year, North Korea's vice premier for education was executed for not keeping his posture upright at a public event, South Korea said.

Thae Yong Ho, North Koreas former deputy ambassador to London who has defected to the South, told Reuters he was not surprised by the news.

Reuters

"I cannot confirm if the reports are true or not, but this kind of power struggle is quite normal in North Korean history. Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un's style of control is always one of collective surveillance that checks the power of each organization.

"Kim Jong Un has killed too many high officials and there are a lot of complaints and dissent amongst the high elite because of it. If the demotion of Kim Won Hong is really true, then that's another sign of a crack in the North Korean elite group."

It is difficult to independently verify news about top officials in the North, which has angered the West with a series of missile and nuclear weapons tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions and sanctions.
The United Nations in its first official account of a four-month government crackdown on ethnic Rohingya in Myanmar, has said that hundreds of the Muslim minority community members could have been killed during the period.

Reuters

The 'area clearance operations' have likely resulted in several hundred deaths, said the report from the United Nations human rights office, referring to the military crackdown launched on October 10.

The report based on interviews with 204 Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh said it was very likely that crimes against humanity had been committed in Myanmar, echoing similar accusations made by UN officials.

Reuters

Victims recounted gruesome violations allegedly perpetrated by members of Myanmar's security services or civilian fighters working alongside the military and police.

The UN also said it had reports of three children aged six or younger being slaughtered with knives.

A full 47 percent of those interviewed by the UN said they had a family member who had been killed in the operation, while 43 percent reported being raped.

The Rohingya are loathed by many among Myanmar's Buddhist majority.

Yangon refuses to recognise the Rohingya as one of the country's ethnic minorities, instead describing them as Bengalis or illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Reuters

The military crackdown in Rakhine, home to more than one million Rohingya, was triggered by a series of October 9 attacks on border guard posts. Yangon's own probe into the unrest denied that the security forces had carried out a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya.

Myanmar's government, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has said the allegations are invented and has resisted mounting international pressure to protect the minority.

Reuters

But Zeid, who has previously urged Yangon to act, hit back again on Friday demanding that impunity for such serious crimes had to stop.

The Government of Myanmar must immediately halt these grave human rights violations against its own people, instead of continuing to deny they have occurred, he said.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) the Pakistani charity organization which the United Nations has recognised as an aliases of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) now has a new name - Tehreek Azadi Jammu And Kashmir (TAJK).

AFP

TAJK popped up just days after Pakistan government, to the surprise of many, began a crackdown on JuD and placed Hafiz Saeed under house arrest.

The development came just two day before a previously announced 'Kashmiri independence' event by JuD on February 5, which is observed as 'Kashmir Day' in Pakistan.

According to Pakistani media, TAJK is planning to hold a big Kashmir conference on Sunday in Lahore after evening prayers.

AFP

There are also reports that the organization under its new banner has reactivated its donations centres and ambulance services in different districts of Punjab, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities.

This is even while police continue to claim that they have sealed the offices of JuD and closed its collection centres and ambulance service.

This is not the first time Saeed has taken the rebranding route to escape the law.

After Lashkar-e-Taiba was banned in 2002, Saeed it appeared as Jamaat-ud-Dawa which was said to be a charity organization.

Reuters

Meanwhile, China has rejected reports that the country had put pressure on Pakistan, which led to the house arrest of Saeed.

Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang indicated that Beijing supported international cooperation on counter-terrorism with Pakistan, provided it is conducted with Islamabads consent.

China supports the Pakistani government in independently making decisions on counter-terrorism and international cooperation on counter-terrorism.

Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack is one of India's most wanted terrorists.

On November 26, 2008, Lashkar terrorists went on a rampage in Mumbai killing 166 people, one of the deadliest terror attacks the country has ever witnessed.

Following his house arrest last week Pakistan government has hinted at filing an FIR against Saeed, but hasn't clarified on which case will he be facing the law.
New Sanctions on Iran Announced by Trump Regime

By Rebecca Shabad

February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions against multiple entities and people involved in procuring materials and technology to support Irans ballistic missile program and the Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The move comes after Iran conducted a ballistic missile test Sunday.

Irans continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide, and to the United States. Todays action is part of Treasurys ongoing efforts to counter Iranian malign activity abroad that is outside the scope of the JCPOA, said John E. Smith, director of the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control. We will continue to actively apply all available tools, including financial sanctions, to address this behavior.

The Treasury Department said that the sanctions are consistent with the Iranian nuclear deals guidelines and as a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The sanctions target a longtime procurement agent for the ballistic missile program as well as eight people and entities in his Iranian-based and China-based network. They also target an Iranian procurement company and its network based in the Persian Gulf and five people and entities that are part of an Iranian-based procurement network.

Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets also designated a group supporting the revolutionary guard that works with Hezbollah based in Lebanon.

Just a few hours before the sanctions were released, the president tweeted about Iran.

Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how "kind" President Obama was to them. Not me!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

This comes just a two days after Mr. Trumps nationals security adviser, Michael Flynn, said that the administration was putting Iran on notice after it tested a ballistic missile.

Iran continues to threaten U.S. friends and allies in the region, Flynn said at the daily White House press briefing, adding that the U.S. is putting Iran on notice because Iran is now feeling emboldened, and the Obama administration failed to respond adequately to Irans actions.
REVEALED: Steve Bannons Apocalyptic Worldview About Civilizations Coming Trial By Fire

By Sarah K. Burris

February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Raw Story " - According to a TIME magazine profile on Donald Trumps right-hand man, Steve Bannon has an obsession with the book The Fourth Turning: What Cycles of History Tell Us About Americas Next Rendezvous with Destiny.

Business Insider called the fascination concerning. It outlines that every 80 to 100 years, the world cycles through a cataclysmic event that upsets the old ways of doing things and brings in a new one in a trial of fire.

The book claims that the last two Americans experienced were during the Civil War and the Reconstruction, and then the Great Depression and World War II. It could easily be argued that 9/11 upset the old way the United States did things, not merely in government but in travel and the way Americans live their daily lives. However, Bannon, like authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, believe were in another Fourth Turning currently.

Each major event was marred by famine, poverty and death and forced the country to rebuild a new country. Its sparked by a destabilizing event and the rebuilding only comes after a war.

Senior finance correspondent Linette Lopez argues that is the source of the concern. Bannon believes the only way to usher in a new world order with a massive reckoning that results in conflict. Hes already shown hes willing and eager to enact policies that disrupt the existing laws of the land. Lopez fears hes attempting to bring about his own Fourth Turning using Trumps White House to do it.

According to a Vanity Fair interview, Bannon described Trump as a blunt instrument for us  I dont know whether he really gets it or not.

Bannon has reportedly attempted to bring other historians to declare that there will be a battle between the western world and the east, Business Insider explained.

The TIME profile cites MITs David Kaiser pushing his ideology.

I remember him saying, Well, look, you have the American revolution, and then you have the Civil War, which was bigger than the revolution. And you have the Second World War, which was bigger than the Civil War,' Kaiser recalled. He even wanted me to say that on camera, and I was not willing.

TIME claims that Howe was also struck by Bannons rather severe look toward Americas future.
Trump Press Secretary Falsely Accuses Iran of Attacking U.S. Navy Vessel, an Act of War By Zaid Jilani, Alex Emmons February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " The The Intercept " - White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserted at Thursdays press briefing that Iran had attacked a U.S. naval vessel, as part of his argument defending the administrations bellicose announcement that Iran is on notice. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday said he was officially putting Iran on notice following the countrys ballistic missile test and an attack on a Saudi naval vessel by Houthi rebels in Yemen (the Houthis are tenuously aligned with Irans government but are distinct from it). The White House press corps wanted to know what being put on notice entailed, and Spicer responded by claiming that Irans government took actions against a U.S. naval vessel, which would be an act of war. I think General Flynn was really clear yesterday that Iran has violated the Joint Resolution, that Irans additional hostile actions that it took against our Navy vessel are ones that we are very clear are not going to sit by and take, he said. I think that we will have further updates for you on those additional actions. Major Garrett of CBS News quietly corrected him, saying a Saudi vessel, and Spicer then responded almost inaudibly: Sorry, thank you, yes a Saudi vessel. Yes, thats right. He did not in any way address his false claim that it was an Iranian attack, however. Watch Spicers remarks: Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood confirmed to The Intercept that the attack was in fact conducted against a Saudi warship, and that the Pentagon suspects Houthi rebels. It was a Saudi ship  it was actually a frigate said Sherwood. It was [conducted by] suspected Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen. Fox News initially misreported that a U.S. ship was somehow the target  which is perhaps where some of the confusion in the White House originated This is the huge banner on @FoxNews right now. I have some important context to follow, from a US official. #Yemen https://t.co/QcfRzD71QL pic.twitter.com/coBrDwAujO  Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) January 31, 2017 This, of course, is how American wars start. In the infamous 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, as it is often referred to, the White House and the Pentagon accused North Vietnamese forces of attacking two Navy destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam on August 4. President Lyndon Johnson used the attacks to coax Congress into approving a resolution, known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, that authorized military action in Vietnam. As the New York Times noted a few years ago, the attack never happened. And way back in February 1898, a U.S. warship, the Maine, was moored in Havanas harbor when a huge explosion blew it apart, killing most of its crew. The explosion was blamed on Spain, and led to a rallying cry particularly in U.S. newspapers of Remember the Maine! In April of that year, the United States declared war on Spain, even though there was no proof of Spanish responsibility for the explosion, and much reason to doubt it. As the Washington Post reported, an official Navy inquiry concluded in the 1970s that a mine or torpedo could not have been responsible for the blast. The likely cause was a coal bunker fire that ignited the ships magazine. The U.S. and Iran both have ships in the Gulf area. The U.S. dispatched ships to the Bab-el Mandeb strait off the coast of Yemen in October to reinforce a Saudi-led naval blockade that has devastated the country and left 14 million people going hungry. At the time, an anonymous government official told Fox News that this is a show of force. Later that month, after rockets fired from Houthi-controlled territory appeared to target a U.S. warship, the Obama administration authorized strikes on three radar sites in Western Yemen. In early January, a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots at Iranian vessels the Pentagon said were approaching it in the Strait of Hormuz, on the opposite side of the Arabian peninsula. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Shocked by Donald Trump's 'Travel Ban'? Israel Has Had a Similar Policy for Decades



An Israeli official admitted in 2010 that the Separation Wall was 'built for political and demographic reasons', while the man who designed it revealed how 'the main thing the government told me in giving me the job was to include as many Israelis inside the fence and leave as many Palestinians outside'



By Ben White February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " The Independent " - In US President Donald Trumps first week in office, three policy issues dominated the headlines: his plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, the Presidents support for torture, and his executive order targeting refugees, residents and visitors from seven Muslim majority countries. All three have prompted widespread outrage, in particular, the ban on refugees and blanket immigration restrictions being applied on the basis of national origin and religion. British Prime Minister Theresa May, however, only issued a reluctant and mealy mouthed criticism of Trumps scorched-earth approach to his first few days in the White House. May is one of only a handful of world leaders seemingly eager to position themselves at Trumps right hand side. One other leader, however, has gone even further than the British PM in seeking to praise Trump, both before and since his inauguration  and thats Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu. There are a few reasons for this, including the tacit approval a Trump administration is expected to give to the settlement expansion bonanza already underway. But theres another element at play here, which goes deeper than Netanyahus political agenda. For what many do not realise, is that the policies  and their undergirding ideology  that Trump is unleashing on the US have been pursued by the state of Israel for decades. First, lets take the wall. Israel began the construction of its Separation Wall in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) almost fifteen years ago. Justified in the name of security, some 85 percent of the walls route is built inside the OPT, to incorporate illegal West Bank settlements. It was on that basis that, in 2004, judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague deemed the wall illegal, and called for its immediate dismantling. Israels Wall is not even the security miracle that its defenders claim. None other than Israels own security services attributed a sharp decrease in terror attacks in 2005 to the truce unilaterally adopted by Hamas. Tens of thousands of Palestinian workers without permits enter Israel every day, with some 200 miles of gaps in the Walls route remaining. The real link to Trumps ideas comes in the justification of Israels Wall on demographic grounds; in other words, keeping Palestinians out because they are Palestinians  and note that the idea of a wall aimed at separation actually pre-dates the Second Intifada. An Israeli official admitted in 2010 that the Wall was built for political and demographic reasons, while the man who designed it revealed how the main thing the government told me in giving me the job was to include as many Israelis inside the fence and leave as many Palestinians outside. Then theres torture. Trumps unabashed endorsement of torture has horrified politicians, human rights activists and former prisoners alike. In Israel, however, the torture of prisoners is routine  and rubber-stamped by not just the state, but also by Israels Supreme Court. Just last week, Israeli interrogators confirmed in Haaretz some of the methods used on detainees  including physical and psychological abuse. The revelations came as no surprise to Palestinians, nor those Israelis who have documented practices such as sexual torture. This grim reality is also well-known to international human rights groups  Amnestys most recent annual report described how Israeli military and police forces, as well as Israel Security Agency (ISA) personnel, tortured and otherwise ill-treated Palestinian detainees, including children. Methods included beating with batons, slapping, throttling, prolonged shackling, stress positions, sleep deprivation and threats, Amnesty added, further noting how despite almost 1,000 complaints since 2001, the authorities have not opened a single criminal investigation. And finally, what about immigration? As horrendous as Trumps orders have been, thus far they pale in comparison in scale and duration to what Israel has been implementing for some seven decades. Since 1948 Israel has enforced a Palestinian Ban (Muslims and Christians), designed to ensure that no refugees can return to the lands and homes from which they were expelled. In parallel, the states borders are open for any Jewish person, from anywhere in the world. Not only that, but in more recent times, Israel has also passed legislation  backed again by the Supreme Court  that prevents Palestinians with Israeli citizenship from family reunification  purely on the basis of the ethnicity or national belonging of their spouse. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said of the law: There is no need to hide behind security arguments. There is a need for the existence of a Jewish state. Trump  and the likes of Steve Bannon  would approve. Just as they would, no doubt, of the fact that Israel approved just eight requests for asylum, out of 7,218 requests filed by Eritreans from 2009 to 2016. Writing in +972 Magazine, Edo Konrad noted the double standards of those who condemn Trump, but who back institutionalised racism in Israel. Here in Britain too, Trumps critics include those who justify, or ignore, Israels own toxic mix of walls, discriminatory immigration system and torture. This dissonance is only likely to become more publicly uncomfortable for Israels friends in the West. For Netanyahus embrace of a Trump White House is not just political manoeuvrings  it is reflective of a disturbing reality with which the Palestinians are only too familiar. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Trump is the Less Effective Evil



Trump simply continues a U.S. policy that makes countries unlivable and then tells fleeing victims that the door is shut. Anti-Trumpism is grossly inadequate. The whole system is evil -- Democrats included.



By Margaret Kimberley It is good to fight for humane treatment of Syrians but their rights should be respected whether they are at an American airport or in Damascus. February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " BAR " - The trope of supporting the Democratic Party as the lesser of two evils has proven to be a huge failure. Barack Obama epitomized the foolishness of this political choice. As Black Agenda Report pointed out he was not less evil than Republican presidents. He was just the more effective evil. As the first black president and with the Democrats undeserved reputation as the party of justice and peace, he was able to get away with more evil doing than any other president in recent memory. Donald Trump is just the opposite. He is openly evil and successfully appealed to 60 million voters in spite of, or in some cases, because of that fact. In little more than one week Trump has moved forward on his pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border, repeal the Affordable Care Act without replacing it, build the DAPL and Keystone XL pipelines, and ban immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations. His executive order banning citizens of Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, and Iraq from entering the United States generated immediate outrage and a swell of popular action. What went unnoticed is that citizens of these seven nations were first chosen for scrutiny and travel restrictions by Barack Obama. All seven of these countries have at various times been subjected to American aggression. Trumps executive order only mentions Syria by name and includes other countries of concern, a term that is an Obama administration contrivance. Visa waivers no longer applied to people who visited any of these countries. Even persons with dual citizenships were subjected to these restrictions which amounted to nothing more than war by other means. All seven of these countries have at various times been subjected to American aggression. They have all been attacked with military action, proxy wars and sanctions. America makes countries unlivable and then tells fleeing victims that the door is shut. The Trump teams amateurishness turned the immigration ban into a public relations problem. They did not anticipate popular outcry, demonstrators converging on airports and lawsuits filed to protect people who just 24 hours earlier were legally able to enter the country. Some were freed in the ensuing chaos but others were detained or stranded and unable to enter the country. Federal judges ruled against it in a variety of ways and the acting attorney general finally declared that the Justice Department would not defend the executive order. Trump responded by firing her. But these temporary setbacks should not be seen as a complete victory nor should they result in support for the Democrats. The ham fisted Donald Trump did what others have done before him. He benefited from policies enacted by predecessors and gave himself wider latitude to carry out human rights abuses. Bush claimed a right to indefinitely detain anyone he considered a terror suspect. Obama took this doctrine one step further. He claimed and acted upon a right to kill anyone he deemed a terror suspect. The NSEERS policy which subjected men from 25 countries to travel restrictions and extra scrutiny began with Bush but was continued under Obama for two years. Obama did not dismantle the program completely until he was on the verge of leaving office. Trump benefited from policies enacted by predecessors and gave himself wider latitude to carry out human rights abuses. The response to this crisis must include an honest assessment of the Democratic Party and its role in creating it. The Democrats treachery and ineptitude which brought Trump to power has still not been discussed thoroughly and should be on the agenda for any and all discussions. Right wing Democrats like Cory Booker should not be let off the hook because they showed up at an airport making an obvious case for following immigration law. This same man turned his back on the wishes of his supporters and instead followed the dictates of his corporate backers when he thwarted a plan to bring cheaper drugs into the country. The politicians who put their thumbs on the scale for the unethical and incompetent Hillary Clinton also must explain themselves. This needed conversation cannot be lost in the effort to fight Trump. No one should think that the Democratic Party will be able to capitalize on this situation or anything else Trump presents to them. One can also assume that his 60 million voters are quite happy with this decision and will applaud him for making it. There isnt necessarily a downside for Trump in getting bad press when his would-be opponents are hapless and wont admit that their implosion handed him the presidency. It is a good thing that so many people rose up against presidential law breaking. But that presents yet another contradiction. This resistance will be valuable only if it results in mass action against the larger political system. Selective amnesia for Hillary Clinton or other Democrats will not do. Appeals to the phony clarion call for lesser evilism should not be the response to Trump administration policies. There isnt necessarily a downside for Trump in getting bad press when his would-be opponents are hapless and wont admit that their implosion handed him the presidency. It is good to fight for humane treatment of Syrians but their rights should be respected whether they are at an American airport or in Damascus. They leave their homeland because Obama administration policy destroyed their country in the frenzy for regime change and that must not be forgotten. The silence of Obama supporters during the commission of this war crime should not be forgotten either. The ruling classes prefer Obamaesque evil over Trumps for obvious reasons. They need a president who can commit wrongdoing with a smile, not with a sneer. We the people shouldnt be fooled by either one. The story of the immigration executive order is a test case for progressives. Will they fight by returning to a discredited party or will they fight to create something new? Democratic senators ought to reject every Trump appointee still awaiting confirmation. They must act like the Republicans do when they are out of power. Until the immigration executive order some Democrats, like progressive heroine Elizabeth Warren, were supporting some Trump nominees. The going along to get along must end. But so should support for the Democrats. People who raced to the airport to try to help their fellow human beings should look elsewhere and kill off the incompetent lesser evil for good. Democrats owe their members more than just speaking up when Trump commits an illegal act. That is just a starting point. The Trump presidency is proof of the Democratic Partys irrelevance. Its failure is proof that new politics are needed. Claims of lesser/greater evil must not rule the day. All of the evil must be excised no matter where it comes from. Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Outside World According to the Western Progressive Liberals



By Andre Vltchek Most likely you have already heard that tune, ten times, or maybe one hundred, depending where you live and the circle of friends you have. But let me remind you how it goes: Ill never set foot in Singapore, because it is all business there. Or: Let others go to Gulf countries, Id never do something like that. They have no culture and it is all showing off and glitz there, purchased with oil money... not to mention all those terrible conflicts they are fueling in the region. Then, there is that big ugly I name: Me going there? Over my dead body! It is illegitimate; it is sitting on other peoples land.



So it goes...



While genuine criticism is always healthy, it is important to realize that many of those who get ignited by even hearing the names of places like Dubai or Singapore are actually living in the cities like New York, Paris or London. Some are even practicing law, or other mainstream professions that have to be defined as the true mainstays of Western regimes.



Most of those opinionated individuals regurgitating a variety of cliches are actually extremely selective in choosing the targets of their rage. They like playing it safe. Some admit that they are actually cowards, and would never openly rock the boat, never identify with any radical (according to them, even being Marxist or revolutionary is radical or extreme) labels, as theyd never march publicly under any (especially if the color is red) flag.



We are talking about progressive liberals, or moderate leftists or those who sympathize with the left, but go by particular issues: well, liberals in short.



Some are Westerners, locally produced (or should we say mass-produced), but others actually live in the West but even come from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya, places thoroughly shattered by Western imperialism.



Only a few of my friends (and I respect those few very much for their proud and decisive stand) would ever say: Ill never go to London, because Brits murdered directly or indirectly few hundred millions of human beings, and in a way they are doing it until now.



If you boycott Dubai or Singapore, shouldnt New York or London actually be on the top of your list? Unless you actually live there, enjoying countless benefits financed by imperialist plunder. And if you are not so pure yourself, then dont be too fussy about others, and about the secondary centers of evil.



*



There is plenty of shouting originating from millions of comfy couches in the living rooms of the US, UK, France or Germany, but too little appetite or cojones to organize, show discipline and hard work, or to join some good old-fashioned revolution or a revolutionary movement, the only actions that could still actually make some real change in those depressing, paralyzed societies that are always living at someone elses expense, from someone elses sweat and blood, while continuously reserving rights to moralize and to pass lofty judgments against others.



While mainstream left-leaning liberals are constantly ridiculing Western pop and the mainstream (including, of course, Western media), most of their references actually come from exactly those sources! Take them to Asia, Latin America or Africa, and their ignorance would shine like that famous Cape of Good Hope lighthouse.



Outside of the realm of West-centered stereotypes, they know very little, or close to nothing, but they have always their own opinion, about everything and about every place.



Their assessments of places like Ecuador, Philippines, China, Russia or Syria are based on thoroughly mainstream logic. Or sorry, they are actually based on the liberal or moderately progressively mainstream logic.



If a traditional Latin American or Asian revolutionary were to be locked, as a cruel punishment, with such person or group of people in the same room for two or three months, he or she would go insane, in the end perhaps murdering them, or committing suicide. Soft Western (or Westernized) left/mainstream left-leaning liberals and people of true revolutionary left are two opposites with absolute zero tolerance for each other (but plenty of genuine allergy).



Once I spent a long evening in a pub in Manila with my Chinese revolutionary Marxist friend, a musician, and a British human rights lawyer. The encounter was truly Kafkaesque. Although they debated in English (my friends English was perfect), it often appeared that they both needed an interpreter.



I recently watched with great delight a television debate (in fact a duel) between my Argentinian friend and comrade, left-wing historian Nestor Gorojovsky, and some Spanish progressive self appointed judge of the Presidents Assad and Putin. Their relatively polite exchange lasted for approximately 2 minutes. What followed were naked insults. It was truly delightful to watch! It just so rarely happens in the West and especially when English language is used, that such great thinker like Nestor would explode live on TV and suddenly employ fitting gutter language (the only one that he actually really wants to use on such an occasion) attacking and defining his archenemy  a moderate, mainstream, cowardly and submissive leftist. Of course the language that was used on the program was Spanish.



Oh, how scared are liberals of such explosions! How much they hate it when first Chavez and then Duterte unleashed it in front of television cameras, even at the United Nations! They hate is simply because theyd never dare to confront the establishment, the global regime, at least not publicly, not outside their pub. It is too impolite, too vulgar, isnt it? Or is it actually just too impractical?



In London and New York, they dance like animals, like maniacs, drunk or stoned in their clubs, wagging buttocks to the most absurd and primitive rhythms, but to shout insults at the mass murderers is vulgar.



Yes, there is nothing more pathetic than moderate movements and individuals, than moderately progressive masses. They kill the very essence of human existence, which is, of course, rebellion. No progress could ever come from intellectual or political moderation. Genius is always extreme. Courage is extreme! Only a coward could call for upholding the law or for some static, boring, despotic harmony (like that promoted by Confucius or now by Western liberalism).



In 1911, the great Czech novelist Jaroslav Hasek, launched his political party - Strana mirneho pokroku v mezich zakona. Loosely translated into English it means Party of Measured Progress, Within the Parameters of Law. It was a joke, of course, a typical Czech intellectual piss take. Hasek knew perfectly well, that no progress could be measured, and no true change could ever be legal.



*



The problem is that Western mainstream liberals, and even their layers (Ay, que horror!) actually do travel abroad. Many go far away, as far as Asia, Latin America, even Africa. And they bring with them their little, scared, conformist, indecisive and essentially cowardly world.



Their guilt from overindulging and doing nothing and challenging nothing at home, converts into a species of violently distasteful political correctness. Abroad they feel like overcompensating. They become excessively polite to hotel and airline staff, to porters and waitresses. Some even begin making their own beds in five-star hotels. They are constantly looking for real people, for traditional places and for real life. It is pointless to show or to explain anything to them: they trust exclusively and arrogantly, their own instinct only, which was (of course theyd passionately deny it), formed by the mainstream back in the US, UK, France, or elsewhere in the West.



Tell them the truth that a real Thai or Vietnamese family would rather eat out in a Japanese or Korean restaurant than in traditional local eatery, and theyd spit in your face. You would trigger the same reaction, if you tried to deconstruct their preconceptions about Zimbabwe, Soviet Union, Syria, or present day Philippines.



Intellectually, their good intentions often do more harm than Western spy agencies. The best would be to prevent them (somehow) from interacting with local intelligentsias (to avert contamination), as all they bring with them are boorish cliches, passivity, spinelessness, and yes, embarrassing ignorance!



In a way (but dont tell them, please), they are like Obama or the Clintons. They know how to talk, but there is no substance, no true passion, no poetry, and no fire behind their perfect pronunciation. Their gutlessness morally corrupts.



They have no ideology, and no beliefs. Their passions are shallow and short-lived. Their world is surreal. It kills; their world murders all higher aspirations, it chokes dreams, it gags revolutionary shouts and blocks any courageous action!



*



The World according to the Western liberals is an extremely orderly place. Paradoxically, most of them dont trust any government, and some even call themselves anarchists (my goodness, I cannot imagine any of them breaking even the speed limit, let alone a window! What anarchy, bordel!?).



If you leave it up to them, nothing would ever change. When Fidel died, many of them were heartbroken, but the closest they ever got to him was Hotel Tropicana in Havana, or that tourist trap La Bodegita de Medio. As steamy Buena Vista Social Club (brought to the limelight in the West by a German film director Wim Wenders) is their symbol of Cuban music, Fidel and Che personify their secret dark dreams, periodically reminding them what they lost or betrayed, what is truly human, and what they will never manage to become, anymore!



They admire science, partially because they absolutely dont understand it, but mainly because it symbolizes some sort of opposite to the most beautiful and most powerful human instincts (which they lost many years ago): passionate and irrational belief in much better world, an unconditional and single-minded loyalty to the cause (exactly what made both Fidel and Che defeat oppressive and reactionary forces), as well as emotions and instincts that are always much more precious and human than any logic or reason!



*



If youd get locked in the same room with them, youll soon lose all your ability to create, to think imaginatively, and to struggle. If you were in the middle of writing a novel, youd lose your plot. If you were charging, metaphorically running towards the enemy lines, youd stumble and fall.



If youd spend too much time in that room, you would betray. Even longer, and youd die, at least as an independent, free thinker, and a dreamer. Your flags and your beloved labels would be dragged through dirt. Your essence would be questioned and challenged. Nothing would remain pure, nothing sacred.



The world of the Western (or Westernized) mainstream liberals is like a swamp. You should never come close to it. There is no need to be close. There is nothing there for you. One wrong step and you will die, for nothing, for absolutely nothing. Of course that nothing is nor really nothing; it consists of passivity, of lazy cowardice (intellectual, artistic, simply human), and it could even be, to some extent, and in a perverse way, attractive. Youd be sucked in, then reshaped and reconditioned, and finally end up like the others, sharing a bed with oblivion.



Most of the world has been already sucked into this, conditioned, lobotomized and pacified.



You know it. You sense it. You saw others being destroyed. Still you and those like you, periodically make those fatal errors and follow the honey-coated voices of the moderately-left-leaning-liberal mermaids, then ending up in a gutter, stripped of all your powers, self-respect and courage.



Three most beautiful Russian names, three symbols of existence, are exactly what that swamp is not: Love, Belief and Hope. Add to them Courage, add Loyalty, and you get Life. The essence of it is what you get. Something great and worth living and fighting for, something that has been, temporarily, wiped out from the surface of Earth, by reason which is not real reason at all, by illogical logic, by kitschy and cheap feelings, by unsavory surrogates of love, by inability to trust, to believe, and to stand tall and proud, against all odds, against the entire world, if that is what the moment is calling for.



Only with Love, Belief and Hope, big battles for the benefit of humanity can be won. If all three were present, then two beautiful sisters - Courage and Loyalty  would definitely come and stay. Rationality and logic can make life more comfortable, sometimes, but only if there actually still is some life left.



The outside world is in turmoil, once again. Rebellion against the Western regime, against the Empire is brewing. These are good days; this is the era that will be remembered by future generations.



Let us keep Western mainstream liberals at bay. Lets not allow their nihilism, their neurotic selfishness, ignorance, emotional laziness and passivity influence that great reawakening that is taking place on all continents of the world.



Let them remain on their couches and in their pubs.



And let us get to work: first constructing the barricades under our beloved and now undusted labels and flags, and then (after the victory) rebuilding the world! 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. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo. 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.
The Berkeley Incident





By Mike Whitney

February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Counterpunch " - Why did President Donald Trump fire off an angry and threatening tweet early Thursday morning following the violent protests that had broken out the night before on UC Berkeley campus? Heres a copy of Trumps tweet:

If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view  NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

Maybe the impulsive President was just angry that a controversial, rightwing speaker like Milo Yiannopoulos was unable to deliver his presentation because masked agitators began to rampage across the campus breaking windows, burning signs and wreaking havoc. Thats certainly one possibility, but there are other more intriguing explanations that seem equally likely.

Consider this: Like most Americans, Trump knows that these anarchist groups show up routinely at peaceful demonstrations with the intention of raising hell and discrediting the groups that peacefully assemble to express their opinion on one issue or another. In this case, the protestors had gathered in opposition to a man who seemingly advocates religious intolerance and Islamophobia. Trump was well aware of this.

He also knew that the UC Berkeley Chancellor and his staff did everything in their power to provide security to both the speaker and the groups that had gathered for the event. Check out this excerpt from an article at Bloomberg:

Some advocates for universities and education said they were surprised by Trumps tweet I have never seen anything like this, said John Walda, president of the National Association of College and Business Officers. Why would you infer that you want to punish a university when it was only trying to protect people. The university did exactly the right thing, he said The university said Chancellor Nicholas Dirks had made clear that Yiannopoulos views, tactics and rhetoric are profoundly contrary to those of the campus, but that the university is committed to enabling of free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective and condemned the violence. Berkeley seems to have done everything it can to protect students First Amendment rights, Cohn said. (Trump Threatens U.C. Berkeley Funding Over Violent Protests, Bloomberg)

So if the Chancellor had already gone the extra mile to protect free speech, then why did Trump decide to lower the boom on him? Was he genuinely angry with the Chancellors performance or did he interject himself for political reasons? In other words, how did Trump stand to benefit from getting involved in this mess?

Isnt his tweet crafted to win support from his red state base who identify Berkeley with the erratic behavior of the loony left that burn flags, spit on veterans, and hate America? Isnt it designed to discredit the millions of liberal and progressive protestors who have peacefully participated in pro-immigration demonstrations or anti-Trump marches across the country? Isnt Trumps interference intended to make him look like a strong, decisive leader willing to defend free speech against hypocritical leftists thugs who violently oppose anyone who doesnt share their narrow librul point of view. Isnt the action part of a broader plan to reinforce a stereotypical view of liberals as sandal clad, fist pumping, Marxist firebrands who want to burn down the country so they can create their own Soviet Utopia?

Isnt this really why Trump decided to parachute into the event, to enlarge and polish his own image while exacerbating existing political divisions within the country?

Trumps reaction to the incident in Berkeley is worth paying attention to if only to grasp that what we are seeing is not the random act of an impulsive man, but a governing style that requires an identifiable threat to domestic security, the left. A divisive president only prevails when the country is divided, when Americans are at each others throats and split between Sunni and Shia. Thats the goal, driving a wedge between people of differing views, exacerbating historic animosities in order to enhance the authority of the executive and usurp greater control over the levers of state power.

Once again, were not excluding the possibility that Trumps tweet may have been a one off by an impulsive man but, by the same token, it might be an indication of something more serious altogether.

Keep in mind, that Trumps chief political strategist, Steve Bannon, is a man who produced documentary movies on Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, and Occupy (Wall Street). According to Salon:

Bannon does not hide his affinity for propaganda. He has cited as an inspiration Nazi propagandist and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. She famously directed Triumph of the Will, a film commissioned by Adolf Hitler in 1933 that portrays Germany as a country returning to world power. (Three lessons we learned about Steve Bannon from this weekends New York Times and Boston Globe profiles , Salon)

So at best Steve Bannon is a public relations magician and at worst an unapologetic propagandist. But what is so telling about Bannon is his position in the administration. Bannon occupies the seat closest to the throne which shows how much emphasis Trump places on image, public perception and narrative. Bannon is Trumps most trusted ally, the spinmeister whose job it is to create the Great Leader who is admired and loved by his loyal base but feared and despised by his enemies. All of this fits seamlessly with Trumps Berkeley tweet.

And it also fits with Trumps governing style which is geared to deepen divisions, increase social unrest, and create enemies, real or imagined. In this view, Berkeley was just a dry run, an experiment in perception management orchestrated to sharpen Trumps image as the hair-trigger Biblical father who will intercede whenever necessary and who is always ready to impose justice with an iron fist.

So the masked rioters actually did Trump a favor, didnt they? They created a justification for presidential intervention backed by the prospect of direct involvement. One can only wonder how many similar experiments will transpire before Trump puts his foot down and bans demonstrations altogether?

Of course, that may very well be the objective.
This Is How Russia and the United States are Cooperating in Syria By Federico Pieraccini February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " SCF " - Since Donald Trump became President of the United States, we have been witnessing some interesting developments in Syria. We have only fragmentary and seemingly unconnected information at this time, but, as one puts the pieces of the puzzle together, it appears likely that some kind of deeper level of coordination between the US and Russia exists. While it cannot be said with certainty, Trump and Putin have probably agreed to cooperate in the fight against Daesh in Syria without making it publicly known. These represent only intentions, especially after the misunderstanding in recent days about joint strikes between Moscow and Washington against Daesh in Syria. The following list is intended to facilitate an understanding of a tentative hypothesis that posits secret coordination between the US and Russia. Let us start with some points concerning recent months. 1. Russia has fought terrorism in Syria for nearly two years, repeatedly requesting the US to cooperate in this effort, at least in terms of sharing sensitive information on intelligence. 2. Trump, during the election campaign, always said he would be willing to work with Moscow to fight terrorism in Syria, focusing on Daesh as the number one priority. 3. Once becoming president, Trump reiterated this position without backtracking, as many had anticipated. 4. Over the past ten days (21st, 23rd and 31st January 2017) the Russian Federation has conducted at least two aviation missions involving as many as six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers over the village of Deir ez-Zor, representing an important display of firepower. 5. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) reported that they targeted structures and facilities used for making weapons in addition to the command centers and arms depots of Daesh. 6. The areas around Deir ez-Zor have been under Daesh control for a very long time. Now let us look at some recent but rather obscure events that have never been fully clarified. 7. The most cryptic news coming out of Syria usually involves areas around Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra, which has included the cowardly bombing by the international coalition of the Syrian Army on September 17, 2016, and also in recent weeks, as well as the extraordinary crossing of hundreds of Daesh members from Mosul to Deir ez-Zor that did not provoke any air intervention from the international coalition. 8. Given the above, it is likely that the American deep state (CIA and State Department) is in contact with Daesh, coordinating the repeated attacks on the Syrian state. Some considerations on the Russian operations in Syria, in addition to the earlier observations. 9. From experience, thanks to the story of the heroic sacrifice of Alexander Prokhorenko, we know that Russian aviation relies on Russian special forces (acting as spotters) for bombings in such locations as Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor, relying on such soldiers to identify and confirm targets on the ground that are often disguised as civilian structures (e.g., weapons-manufacturing plants and arms depots). But we also know how dangerous and difficult it is for spotters to infiltrate such areas. 10. Russian strategic bombers have employed dumb bombs that do not require laser-guided targeting systems. Evidently Russians have been confident in their ordnance hitting their targets. 11. Given points (1), (6), (9), (10) and the repeated attacks in recent days of strategic bombers, it is evident that the Russian ministry of defence has acquired new, previously unknown intelligence information regarding ground targets in the area of Deir ez-Zor that was. Moscow has been requesting from Washington the sharing of intelligence information for years now. The Obama administration has consistently refused to cooperate. Trump has always offered the opposite. In addition, a note on recent news of joint efforts between the American and the Russian air forces in Syria. 12. The episode involving the joint bombing conducted by the Russians and Americans (but denied by sources in the international coalition) has taken on a particular significance when Trump's spokesman, Sean Spicer, declined to comment on the story, perhaps indicating possible differences of opinion between the Trump administration and members of the US-led international coalition. Finally, two logical deductions, consistent with those reported previously. 13. It is very likely that Moscow received from American sources, thanks to the points (7) and (8), the coordinates of Daesh in Deir ez-Zor. This would also explain the issues covered (4), (9) and (10). 14. The Russian MOD has not released information on how they acquired the information that led to the bombing of the past days. Conclusions. In summary, we can draw a picture of events in recent days in Syria, assuming a hidden coordination between Moscow and Washington. We know, for example, that Trump does not intend to overthrow the Assad government. With no need for ground troops (AKA terrorists), the newly established administration does not intend to finance or arm moderate rebels, as was repeatedly stated by the new president in the election campaign. Equally likely is that as a result of the US-Russian joint mission in Syria against Daesh, confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defence and repeated by RT and not denied by Spicer (12), the US deep state (especially the Republican Party, the mainstream media and intelligence communities at high levels) has strongly protested against this, maintaining the traditional hostility towards Moscow. It is therefore likely that the Trump administration has gone from active support (joint missions) to hidden coordination with Moscow to avoid further friction with some of the components of the so-called deep state'. To confirm this hypothesis, strategic bombers have struck with unguided bombs targets that were previously unknown, probably thanks to newly acquired intelligence (otherwise it is not clear why these targets would have not been previously engaged in such missions given the critical situation in Deir ez-Zor for the Syrian Arab Army). Regarding paragraphs (6), (7) and (8), it is easy to understand why it is likely that this kind of information is in the possession of Washington. This is also one of the reasons why the previous administration has consistently refused to cooperate with Moscow. The American deep state has deep, hidden links with terrorism in Syria, and the US intelligence community has every intention of maintaining these secrets. In conclusion, the call scheduled between Trump and Putin on Saturday, January 28 is another indication of an agreement that is currently developing without much publicity to combat terrorism in Syria. Keeping an eye on the situation in Syria and the talks between the US and Russia over the coming days, it will become easier to evaluate the accuracy of this tentative hypothesis. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
No, Trump Did Not Make a Mistake in Yemen

By David Swanson

February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Lets Try Democracy " - I gather these are the features people have concerns about in the recent U.S. raid in Yemen.

1. It was fought on the ground rather than from the air.

2. An American died.

3. The American was a Navy SEAL Team 6 member, more valuable than other Americans.

4. Trump approved it instead of Obama.

5. Trump didn't have "proper" "intelligence."

6. Trump had the wrong accomplices in the room.

7. Trump wasn't in the room.

8. The U.S. hasn't declared war against Yemen.

9. Trump, who is legally responsible for this crime, sounds like an intoxicated idiot.

10. Last and certainly least, a bit too many children and women were killed.

May I respectfully request everyone pushing these ideas to stick a "Make America Great Again" hat in their mouth and eat it?

What in the hell is the matter with you people?

War is a crime. War is murder. Murder is a crime. What if Trump were articulate? What if he had the right damn intelligence, as Obama supposedly did during the past 8 years of murdering men, women, and children? If you bomb them from on high are they less murdered than if you do it from the ground? How many dead foreigners are worth one American? or one member of the criminal enterprise called Navy SEAL Team 6? The United States hasn't declared war since 1941. Every war is criminal under Kellogg-Briand and under the United Nations Charter. Every murder of every human being in a war, regardless of age or gender, is an immoral and criminal murder.

Are you the same people who are starting to care about refugees from U.S. wars? Are you utterly incapable of caring about ending the wars that create the refugees by killing their loved ones?
The Coming Clash With Iran By Pat Buchanan February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - When Gen. Michael Flynn marched into the White House Briefing Room to declare that we are officially putting Iran on notice, he drew a red line for President Trump. In tweeting the threat, Trump agreed. His credibility is now on the line. And what triggered this virtual ultimatum? Iran-backed Houthi rebels, said Flynn, attacked a Saudi warship, and Tehran tested a missile, undermining security, prosperity and stability throughout the Middle East, placing American lives at risk. But how so? The Saudis have been bombing the Houthi rebels and ravaging their country, Yemen, for two years. Are the Saudis entitled to immunity from retaliation in wars they start? Where is the evidence Iran had a role in the Red Sea attack on the Saudi ship? And why would President Trump make this war his war? As for the Iranian missile test, a 2015 U.N. resolution called upon Iran not to test nuclear-capable missiles. It did not forbid Iran from testing conventional missiles, which Tehran insists this was. Is the United States making new demands on Iran not written into the nuclear treaty or international law  to provoke a confrontation? Did Flynn coordinate with our allies about this warning of possible military action against Iran? Is NATO obligated to join any action we might take? Or are we going to carry out any retaliation alone, as our NATO allies observe, while the Israelis, Gulf Arabs, Saudis and the Beltway War Party, which wishes to be rid of Trump, cheer him on? Bibi Netanyahu hailed Flynns statement, calling Irans missile test a flagrant violation of the U.N. resolution and declaring, Iranian aggression must not go unanswered. By whom, besides us? The Saudi king spoke with Trump Sunday. Did he persuade the president to get America more engaged against Iran? Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker is among those delighted with the White House warning: No longer will Iran be given a pass for its repeated ballistic missile violations, continued support of terrorism, human rights abuses and other hostile activities that threaten international peace and security. The problem with making a threat public  Iran is on notice  is that it makes it almost impossible for Iran, or Trump, to back away. Tehran seems almost obliged to defy it, especially the demand that it cease testing conventional missiles for its own defense. This U.S. threat will surely strengthen those Iranians opposed to the nuclear deal and who wish to see its architects, President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, thrown out in this years elections. If Rex Tillerson is not to become a wartime secretary of state like Colin Powell or Dean Rusk, he is going to have to speak to the Iranians, not with defiant declarations, but in a diplomatic dialogue. Tillerson, of course, is on record as saying the Chinese should be blocked from visiting the half-dozen fortified islets they have built on rocks and reefs in the South China Sea. A prediction: The Chinese will not be departing from their islands, and the Iranians will defy the U.S. threat against testing their missiles. Wednesdays White House statement makes a collision with Iran almost unavoidable, and a war with Iran quite possible. Why did Trump and Flynn feel the need to do this now? There is an awful lot already on the foreign-policy plate of the new president after only two weeks, as pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine are firing artillery again, and North Koreas nuclear missile threat, which, unlike Irans, is real, has yet to be addressed. High among the reasons that many supported Trump was his understanding that George W. Bush blundered horribly in launching an unprovoked and unnecessary war on Iraq. Along with the 15-year war in Afghanistan and our wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen, our 21st-century U.S. Mideast wars have cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of dead. And they have produced a harvest of hatred of America that was exploited by al-Qaida and ISIS to recruit jihadists to murder and massacre Westerners. Osamas bin Ladens greatest achievement was not to bring down the twin towers and kill 3,000 Americans, but to goad America into plunging headlong into the Middle East, a reckless and ruinous adventure that ended her post-Cold War global primacy. Unlike the other candidates, Trump seemed to recognize this. It was thought he would disengage us from these wars, not rattle a saber at an Iran that is three times the size of Iraq and has as its primary weapons supplier and partner Vladimir Putins Russia. When Barack Obama drew his red line against Bashar Assads use of chemical weapons in Syrias civil war, and Assad appeared to cross it, Obama discovered that his countrymen wanted no part of the war that his military action might bring on. President Obama backed down  in humiliation. Neither the Ayatollah Khamenei nor Trump appears to be in a mood to back away, especially now that the president has made the threat public. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book "The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority." To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com . The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
The CIAs New Deputy Director Ran a Black Site for Torture

By Glenn Greenwald

February 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " The The Intercept " - In May, 2013, the Washington Posts Greg Miller reported that the head of the CIAs clandestine service was being shifted out of that position as a result of a management shake-up by then-Director John Brennan. As Miller documented, this official  whom the paper did not name because she was a covert agent at the time  was centrally involved in the worst abuses of the CIAs Bush-era torture regime.

As Miller put it, she was directly involved in its controversial interrogation program and had an extensive role in torturing detainees. Even more troubling, she had run a secret prison in Thailand  part of the CIAs network of black sites  where two detainees were subjected to waterboarding and other harsh techniques. The Senate Intelligence Committees report on torture also detailed the central role she played in the particularly gruesome torture of detainee Abu Zubaydah.

Beyond all that, she played a vital role in the destruction of interrogation videotapes that showed the torture of detainees both at the black site she ran and other secret agency locations. The concealment of those interrogation tapes, which violated both multiple court orders as well the demands of the 9/11 Commission and the advice of White House lawyers, was condemned as obstruction by Commission Chairs Lee Hamilton and Thomas Keane. A special prosecutor and Grand Jury investigated those actions but ultimately chose not to prosecute.

That CIA officials name whose torture activities the Post described is Gina Haspel. Today, as BuzzFeeds Jason Leopold noted, CIA Director Mike Pompeo announced that Haspel was selected by Trump to be Deputy Director of the CIA.

This should not come as much of a surprise given that Pompeo himself has said he is open to resurrecting Bush-era torture techniques (indeed, Obamas CIA Director, John Brennan, was forced to withdraw from the running in late 2008 because of his support for some of those tactics only to be confirmed in 2013). Thats part of why it was so controversial that 14 Democrats  including their Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Sheldon Whitehouse and Tim Kaine  voted to confirm Pompeo.

That Haspel was the actual subject of the 2013 Post story was an open secret. As Leopold said after I named her on Twitter as the subject of that story: all of us who covered CIA knew. She was undercover and agency asked us not to print her name. Gina Haspel is now slated to become the second-most powerful official at the CIA despite  or because of  the central, aggressive, sustained role she played in many of the most grotesque and shameful abuses of the War on Terror.
An alleged hitman who is said to have killed scores of people has been arrested by the Police and is going to face prosecution and possible time in prison

Police in Colombia have caught a drugs cartel hitman said to be behind at least 30 murders aged just 17.

The suspect is known only by his nickname Frijolito or Little Bean and carried out his first contract killing aged 12. An elite squad of cops have been trying to track him for four months in Cali, a city famous for its links to drug-trafficking.

Proudly announcing his capture, a picture of Little Bean was posted on Twitter showing officers beside a scrawny teenager in handcuffs with his head bowed. But a large, white skull emblazoned on his baggy hoodie gave a chilling indication of the suspects deadly profession.

His nickname Little Bean is believed to have been taken from a novel about Columbian hitmen. According to authorities, he is the leader of a drugs gang called Los del Ave.

His most recent crime is said to be a double murder in a Cali shopping centre last September.

CCTV footage showed a young man in a black hoodie brazenly shooting a man in front of a jewellery counter. The suspect also shot dead a security guard who tried to stop him fleeing.

Hugo Casas, chief of police, said that with the boys arrest the city of Cali is now free from a dangero

Source: Tori
A brewing company in Virginia, USA has released a craft beer fermented in hundreds of pounds of Oreo cookies.

The Veil Brewing Co., based in Richmond, took their Hornswoggler milk stout and conditioned it using the Oreo cookies to create the Hornswoggler with Oreos.

Thats right. You heard right. We took our 7 percent robust chocolate milk stout Hornswoggler and conditioned it on hundreds of pounds of Oreo cookies, the brewery said in an Instagram post. If you like Oreo cookies, this is a must try.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPljGEQDIH6/?taken-by=theveilbrewing

The cookie-infused beer was released in limited quantities of 16 ounce cans on Jan. 24 and quickly sold out, although small amounts are available on draft at the brewery.

Those who were able to secure one of the 60 to 80 cases that the brewery released were encouraged to keep the beer cold and drink it fresh due to the amounts of fermentable sugars left over in the final product.
Audu Makori, owner of the music label, Chocolate City, and former member of the defunct SURE-P scheme, has formally apologized to Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai of Kaduna State for falsely tweeting that five students of Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, were killed by Fulani herdsmen.

The story was also filed by Mr. Luka Biniyat, the Kaduna State correspondent of Vanguard Newspapers, but was found to be untrue.

Maikoris apology was contained in a statement issued in Lagos.

In the statement, the music entrepreneur said the statements issued by the College of Education, Gidan-Waya, and the Kaduna State government refuting the story that five students of the institution were killed by Fulani herdsmen 27 January compelled him to investigate the story to ensure that all the facts of the case and evidence were presented to the authorities. Makori stated that he was fed wrong information by his former driver, who is currently in police detention assisting with the investigations.

My driver Simon Joseph had travelled to the village to attend his younger brothers burial and on his return on Monday, the 30th of January 2017, I asked him for pictures from the burial, the ID card of his brother and also pictures of the casket so I could submit to the authorities and he told me that he had phone issues so he could not store pictures on his phone. He told me, however, that his sister had the pictures on her phone and I proceeded to give him money to go to Ikeja to get the pictures from his sister, so I could present these to clear my name. He didnt return till evening, and when he did, it was without the said pictures.

At this point, I began to strongly suspect foul play. I again questioned him about the veracity of his story to which he swore on the bible that his brother was dead and even began to shed tears, said Mr.Makori.

On February 2, added the Chocolate City boss, he took the driver and his relative to Lekki Police Station in Lagos for questioning. This, he said, was done because the driver supplied no concrete evidence of the death of his brother and those of fellow students. When we got to the station, he maintained his story about the deaths being real and how he was being blackmailed until the police officers at the station explained to him that he could be arrested. He then confessed and said he was just trying to collect money from me; that he knew that I was involved in the advocacy on the Southern Kaduna crisis and he wanted to ride on that to obtain money from me under the pretext of burial, Mr.Makori stated.

After realizing he had been misled, Mr. Makori said he believed the appropriate thing to do was to issue a statement retracting the tweet, which reported the murder of the students. I naively assumed that no one in his right mind would lie about the death of a human being, especially if that person was/is his younger brother.

Consequently, I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere apology to the management of College of Education, Gidan Waya, the Governor of Kaduna State, the Kaduna State government, and also to the people of Southern Kaduna and the Fulani community for the false statement by my driver which I also publicized believing same to be true.

I make this statement with all sense of responsibility realizing that by openly admitting what transpired, people may begin to doubt my credibility and that of my statements in future this is a risk I am willing to take, but I would rather tell the truth about the situation that suppresses it, Mr. Makori added contritely.

He added the apology is hugely significant because he is a leader in his community he is one of those that younger people look up to.

He also pleaded with the warring parties in the state to sheathe their swords, saying the unfortunate situation is now being used by politicians, religious leaders, and opportunists for their personal agendas.

However, Makori said his apology is strictly limited to the alleged incident at the Collge of Education. He added that he was glad when, on 2 February, he read the report of the arrest of 17 suspects, connected with the Southern Kaduna killings, with arms and ammunition. He commended the security agencies and government for the arrests.

Source: SaharaReporters
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has sealed up seven filling stations in Gusau, Zamfara for hoarding and selling petrol above the official pump price of N145 per litre, Vanguard reports.

The acting Operation Controller in charge of Kaduna Zonal Office of DPR, Alhaji Abdullahi Abawa, made this known to newsmen in Gusau on Friday after he inspected some filling stations.

The controller directed the sealed filling stations owners to report at the DPR zonal office in Kaduna for more explanation on their actions. He urged marketers in the state to shun sharp practices and to follow the rules and regulations guiding their businesses.

Source: EnergyMix
The convicted former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, who arrived Nigeria Saturday morning after serving jail term in the UK have been reportedly picked up by operatives of the Department of State Services,DSS.

According to a report by TheCable, his visitation to the DSS office should not be interpreted as an arrest

It was pre-arranged that he should have a chat with the DSS director-general, Lawal Daura, upon his arrival.

He will not be detained. His appointment was for 12:00 hrs so the operatives went to pick him up and drove him down for the meeting, an operative who spoke with TheCable said.

Meanwhile, Ibori has left the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja after holding a brief meeting with Lawal Daura, the director-general.

He is eagerly awaited in Oghara, his home town in Delta state, where he is expected to receive a warm welcome.
The hitherto peaceful Oganenigu community, Dekina LGA of Kogi State was thrown into pandemonium last week, when masked men armed with various dangerous weapons swooped on the traditional ruler of the community, His Highness Imaji Omojayi.

The assailants numbered about three and dressed in overall black, sneaked into the palace through the alternative gate and made straight for the chiefs living room where he usually receives quests at about 9:00PM.

On citing the chief, the assailants fired many shot at him but seeing that bullet was not having effect on him, two of the assailant descended on him with machetes while the third was pounding him with a rounded-headed object.

This inflicted very heavy injury on the aged traditional chief. Not even the plea by the chiefs wife could pacify the attackers. When they notice that the chief was motionless, one of the attackers beckons others to leave the chief alone, that he is already dead.

The assailants quickly jumped on the motor cycles on which they rode to the palace. Before those attracted by the shout for help by the chiefs wife could arrive the palace, the hoodlum had escaped, leaving the second class chief in the pools of his own blood.

The chief was quickly rushed to the community clinic where first aid treatment was administered on him before he was transferred to Anyigba referral hospital for comprehensive treatment.

The chiefs wife later told sympathisers that the assailants may have rolled their motorcycles to the palace as they did not hear the sound of an engine before the attack.

Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP Weekend on the incidence, the secretary of the communitys traditional council, Isaac Hayes Shuaibu said, the incidence is already been investigated by the police. He assured news men that further details will be released when investigation is concluded.

According to sources who plead anonymity, the grouse of the attackers might not be unconnected with the complications arising from the brouhahas over the Fulani settlement in the community.

The community has suffered intermittent crises since it first attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen in late 2015.

As at press time, the traditional ruler is said to be recuperating fast. His Highness Imaji Omojayi was chosen as the 5th Egena of Oganenigu community by the Igala Traditional Council in 1991.

Source: Leadership
Tightening its screw on the multi-crore ponzi scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Indias premier law enforcement agency for the investigation of corruption cases, on Friday, February 3, arrested Mir Sahiruddin, managing director of Green Ray International Limited (GRIL) who was on the run for nearly three years.

A native of Balasore district, Sahiruddin was hiding with his family in Nigeria. He had entered India on Bangladesh passport by impersonating him as Ahmed Hussain and was arrested from Kolkata.

Confirming his arrest, a CBI official from New Delhi said Sahiruddin of Sasanbad village under Jaleswar police limits had returned from Nigeria a few days back.

Earlier a look out circular was issued against him and other directors of the company. He will be brought to Bhubaneswar on Saturday, he said.

GRIL is accused of duping nearly Rs 2,000 crore from poor and unsuspecting investors of Odisha and 13 other states on the pretext of providing them astronomical returns in a short span of time.

On September 28, 2015, CBI sleuths had raided different branch offices of the ponzi firm.

The raids were conducted at 13 places in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Khurda and Nayagarh districts. Corporate office and houses of the company officials at Jaleswar and relatives house at Tarpur in Jajpur were also raided simultaneously.

The national probing agency had seized documents related to the chit-fund scam and schemes floated by the company, which has foreign connections and alleged links with anti-national forces.

Sources said, Bhubaneswar CBI SP Rajiv Ranjan had been tracking Sahiruddin since long. Altogether 13 cases were registered against the company authorities under various sections of IPC and Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Sonepur and Khurda districts in 2013. Chhattisgarh police also had registered five cases and arrested one director Ayub Saha and one branch manager. Sources said GRIL which dealt in gold and silver trading possessed nearly 20.68 acres of land in Balasore district that had been confiscated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch.

The company had a deposit of Rs 57,41,541 in 46 accounts, which was frozen while the EOW had seized Rs 9,55,745 in cash, 246 gram gold coins worth Rs 4,15,751 and 9.5 kg silver coins worth Rs 6,66,200.

Apart from the 41 branches in the State, GRIL had 67 more branches in Maharashtra, Goa, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat besides its international branch in Bar Dubai. Earlier, Sahiruddin was arrested by State Security Service (SSS), the primary domestic intelligence agency of Nigeria on July 15, 2015 on the grounds of suspected money laundering. Later, he managed to obtain bail.

The accused was hiding at Abuja, Nigerias capital, with family to hoodwink the CBI. He was also allegedly involved in gold trading. Investigations revealed that his company had transferred crores of rupees from India to Dubai and then Nigeria through hawala brokers.

Source: Times of India


Melania Trump is holed up in New York City until at least the end of son Barrons school year, already redefining the role of first lady. The New York Times reports on that upended role, and whether Melania will even play much of one at all, noting it was Trumps daughter Ivanka, not his wife, who accompanied him to Dover Air Force Base to honor a US Navy SEAL killed during last weekends Yemen raid. A first-lady historian tells the Times that Melania is far behind the curve in terms of conventional duties, including organizing the tour requests that are already stacking up. People said to be close to Mrs. Trump, though, say shell eventually increase her presence but is in no rush to do so. Other ruminations about the first lady from around the web:

AFP expands on the low-profile first lady, with a Connecticut College professor observing that the first ladys agenda has traditionally emerged in March or April of inauguration years.

Melania has made one major move: She hired Lindsay Reynolds, a private fundraising organizer, as her chief of staff, per Politico, which calls the first ladys office the loneliest place in the White House.

Despite an Us Weekly report earlier this week that Melania and 10-year-old Barron may never leave New York, an aide to the first lady tells ABC News that Melania (and presumably Barron) will indeed relocate to DC at the beginning of the summer. The rep adds Mrs. Trump takes the role and responsibilities of the First Lady very seriously.

Melanias defamation lawsuit against the Daily Mail was tossed by a Maryland judge because the state court did not have jurisdiction to take on a foreign entity, BuzzFeed reports. Her suit against a blogger continues.

newser.com
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved and released $155 million to assist Nigeria to improve its power sector.

The loan is for Economic and Power Sector Reform Programme (EPSERP).

The approval became effective from Oct. 19, 2012 and the amount was fully disbursed in two tranches on March 1, 2013, and Dec. 21, 2015.

Mrs Fatimah Alkali, the Senior Communications Officer, AfDB Nigeria Country Office, said on Friday in Abuja that the bank had provided the interim chief executive to serve the programme for 12 months.

Alkali said that the bank approved this request to support the Nigerian government in its power sector reforms and that the chief executive, a staff member, had been granted a special leave without pay for 12 months.

AfDB is committed in assisting Nigeria achieve the objectives of its reforms in the power sector in accordance with the priorities already approved by the authorities.

It is to be noted here, that the appointment of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) management is a prerogative of the national authorities.

The support was aimed at improving power systems and the business environment.

And the loan is meant in sustaining growth through sound macroeconomic policies and budget priorities, Alkali said.

She said that the programme would benefit the entire population of Nigeria in terms of extended access to a more reliable supply of electricity at improved quality and reduced cost.

According to her, the EPSERP would have a major positive impact on the private sector through the substantial reduction in the cost of doing business for all economic sectors.

Particularly in the formal and informal manufacturing and service activities which are seriously constrained by the power supply gaps, she added.

Source: NAN
Nigerian newspaper headlines February 4, 2017.

Punch

Barring any last minute change in plan, President Muhammadu Buhari is expected back in Nigeria on Sunday after his 10-day vacation in London, United Kingdom.

Guardian

Disappointed by what he saw on ground, Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has decried the rate at which contractors handling federal government roads in the Southeast abandon jobs awarded to them.

Vanguard

The National Assembly yesterday invited the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola over the sudden change of leadership of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, just as it asked that status quo ante in respect of the management.

The Nation

Residents and community leaders in Pavilion Estate in Ota area of Ogun State have cried out following alleged attacks by a strange Islamic sect led by one Alfa Yisa aka Allahu Kamoli.

Thisday

The United States House of Representatives says Nigeria has been cited as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world and that impunity for those responsible for the killing of Christians in the country seems to be widespread.

Premium Times

The Nigeria Police Force on Friday called on Innocent TuFace Idibia and others planning an anti-government protest for February 6 to immediately shelve the plan.

The Sun

A Chief Magistrates Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has refused the bail application for the 45 supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) charged with public disturbance during a pro-Donald Trump rally in the city last month.
Police in Florida, USA are searching for a man seen stealing hundreds of dollars worth of hygiene products from a pharmacy store.

The St. Petersburg Police Department shared security camera images of the hygiene heister who stole nearly $400 worth of deodorant and body wash from a CVS Pharmacy.

Authorities said the man entered the store and filled a duffel bag with the products before leaving without paying for them.
Last summer at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, the DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge pitted automated systems against one another, trying to find weaknesses in the others code and exploit them.

This is a great example of how easily machines can find and exploit new vulnerabilities, something well likely see increase and become more sophisticated over time, said David Gibson, vice president of strategy and market development at Varonis Systems.

[ Expand your security career horizons with these essential certifications for smart security pros. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security Report newsletter. ]

His company hasnt seen any examples of hackers leveraging artificial intelligence technology or machine learning, but nobody adopts new technologies faster than the sin and hacking industries, he said.

So its safe to assume that hackers are already using AI for their evil purposes, he said.

The genie is out of the bottle

It has never been easier for white hats and black hats to obtain and learn the tools of the machine learning trade, said Don Maclean, chief cybersecurity technologist at DLT Solutions. Software is readily available at little or no cost, and machine learning tutorials are just as easy to obtain.

Take, for example, image recognition.

It was once considered a key focus of artificial intelligence research. Today, tools such as optical character recognition are so widely available and commonly used that theyre not even considered to be artificial intelligence anymore, said Shuman Ghosemajumder, CTO at Shape Security.

People dont see them as having the same type of magic as it has before, he said. Artificial intelligence is always whats coming in the future, as opposed to what we have right now.

Today, for example, computer vision is good enough to allow self-driving cars to navigate busy streets.

And image recognition is also good enough to solve the puzzles routinely presented to website users to prove that they are human, he added.

For example, last spring, Vinay Shet, the product manager for Googles Captcha team, told Google I/O conference attendees that in 2014, they had a distorted text Captcha that only 33 percent of humans could solve. By comparison, the state-of-the-art OCR systems at the time could already solve it with 99.8 percent accuracy.

The criminals are already using image recognition technology, in combination with Captcha farms, to bypass this security measure, said Ghosemajumder. The popular Sentry MBA credential stuffing tool has it built right in, he added.

So far, he said, he hasnt seen any publicly available tool kits based on machine learning that are designed to bypass other security mechanisms.

But there are indirect indicators that criminals are starting to use this technology, he added.

For example, companies already know that if theres an unnaturally large amount of traffic from one IP address, that theres a high chance its malicious, so criminals use botnets to bypass those filters, and the defenders look for more subtle indications that the traffic is automated and not human, he said.

They cant just add in more randomness since human behavior is not actually random, he said. Spotting subtle patterns in large amount of data is exactly what machine learning is good atand what the criminals need to do in order to effectively mimic human behavior.

Smarter email scams

According to the McAfee Labs 2017 Threats Predictions report, cyber-criminals are already using machine learning to target victims for Business Email Compromise scams, which have been escalating since early 2015.

What artificial intelligence does is it lets them automate the tailoring of content to the victim, said Steve Grobman, Intel Security CTO at Intel, which produced the report. Another key area where bad actors are able to use AI is in classification problems. AI is very good at classifying things into categories.

For example, the hackers can automate the process of finding the most likely victims.

The technology can also be used to help attackers stay hidden inside corporate networks, and to find vulnerable assets.

Identifying specific cases where AI or machine learning is used can be tricky, however.

The criminals arent too open about explaining exactly what their methodology is, he said. And he isnt aware of hard evidence, such as computers running machine learning models that were confiscated by law authorities.

But weve seen indicators that this sort of work is happening, he said. There are clear indications that bad actors are starting to move in this direction.

Sneaker malware and fake domains

Security providers are increasingly using machine learning to tell good software from bad, and good domains from bad.

Now, there are signs that the bad guys are using machine learning themselves to figure out what patterns the defending systems are looking for, said Evan Wright, principal data scientist at Anomali.

Theyll test a lot of good software and bad software through anti-virus, and see the patterns in what the [antivirus] engines spot, he said.

Similarly, security systems look for patterns in domain generation algorithms, so that they can better spot malicious domains.

They try to model what the good guys are doing, and have their machine learning model generate exceptions to those rules, he said.

Again, theres little hard evidence that this is actually happening.

Weve seen intentional design in the domain generation algorithms to make it harder to detect it, he said. But they could have done that in a few different ways. It could be experiential. They tried a few different ways, and this worked.

Or they could have been particularly intuitive, he said, or hired people who previously worked for the security firms.

One indicator that an attack is coming from a machine, and not a clever  or corrupt  human being, is the scale of the attack. Take, for example, a common scam in which fake dating accounts are created in order to lure victims to prostitution services.

The clever part isnt so much the automated conversation that the bot has with the victim, but the way that the profiles are created in the first place.

It needs to create a profile dynamically, with a very attractive picture from Facebook and an attractive occupation, like flight attendant or school teacher, said Omri Iluz, CEO and co-founder at PerimeterX.

Each profile is unique, yet appealing, he said.

We know that its not just automation because its really hard, he said. We ruled out manual processes just by sheer volume. And we also dont think theyre rolling out millions of profiles and doing natural selection because it would be identified by the dating platform. These are very smart pieces of software.

Scalpers do something similar when they automatically buy tickets to resell at a profit.

They need to pick the item that they know will get them a high value on the secondary market, he said. And they cant do it manually because theres no time. And it cant be a numbers game because they cant simply buy all the inventories because then theyll be losing money. Theres intelligence behind it.

The profits from these activities more than pay for the research and development, he said.

When we look at the revenues these fraudsters generated, its bigger than many real companies, he said. And they dont need to kill anyone, or do something risky like deal drugs.

Getting ready for the Turing Test

In limited, specific applications, computers are already passing the Turing Test  the classic thought experiment in which humans try to decide whether theyre talking to another human, or to a machine.

The best defense against these kinds of attacks, said Intels Grobman, is a focus on fundamentals.

Most companies are still struggling with even moderate attack scenarios, he said. Right now, the most important thing that companies can do is ensure they have a strong technical infrastructure and continue practicing simulations and red team attacks.

This story, "AI isn't for the good guys alone anymore" was originally published by CSO .
If youve been following our development and zoning coverage, you may have noticed a recent pattern of skittishness from some municipalities, even as self-storage projects continue to emerge at a feverish pace. Some cities have taken notice of the number of facilities either proposed or under development in their region and become leery of the buildout. In reaction, some have created new barriers for developers to clear.

From the Northeast to the South to the Midwest and even Canada, some municipalities have either considered action to curb self-storage development or passed measures to ban or restrict projects from specific zoning districts or areas of business. Self-storage projects have frequently trudged uphill battling negative stereotypes, but even with a proliferation of beautiful modern facilities to combat old notions, this current backlash should serve as a warning to new investors and developers to perform thorough due-diligence on any area under consideration.

Among the most high-profile cases is New York City where Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed a self-storage ban from the citys 20 industrial business zones (IBZs) as part of a 10-point Industrial Action Plan. Self-storage facilities could still be approved with a special permit, but new restrictions will only make the development path in IBZs more difficult. The city council is reportedly favorable toward the proposal, which also affects hotels.

In South Florida, where storage development has been particularly active for several months, officials in Miami and Collier County are also looking for ways to curb new projects. At issue in Miami is a measure passed in 2010 that removed a stipulation requiring 2,500 feet between self-storage facilities. Since its removal, the city has reportedly received 20 storage-project applications. Four of those have been built, and 10 are under construction. Officials are looking to change the zoning ordinance to curtail new projects.

Money quote: Nothing takes away from the city more and adds so little as these buildings, Adam Gersten, a member of the planning, zoning and appeals board, said during a November meeting.

Meanwhile, commissioners in Collier County have placed a year-long ban on self-storage and several other land uses along a 7-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 41, near the Naples, Fla., city limit. The development moratorium also includes car washes, gas stations and pawn shops, while the county works on a plan to lure hotels, restaurants and retail to the area. The latter is preferable for obvious money reasons, which is where the rub against storage development really lies.

Part of the pushback against the industry is a lack of permanent job creation and sales-tax revenue. Last summer, officials in Lincolnwood, Ill., enacted a one-year, temporary ban on self-storage development in the villages commercial areas to preserve space for businesses that generate more tax revenue. In December, the village board voted unanimously to remove self-storage as an allowable use within areas zoned for manufacturing and office uses, preferring to preserve those areas for businesses that generate more sales tax, according to the Chicago Tribune. The kicker here is Lincolnwood spent five months studying how eight neighboring communities handle their self-storage zoning.

The tax issue, in particular, is likely the reason some cities are beginning to require self-storage be part of mixed-use developments. On the one hand, such self-storage facilities benefit from having businesses and residences in the same development, but they may also be more limited in scope and subject to impractical demands from officials who view storage as the least sexy or agreeable component to these projects.

The next 12 to 24 months should be very interesting for the industry. Its imperative you understand the local regulatory climate youre jumping into before investing a lot of time, money and effort. Do your due-diligence. Understand critical factors that go into site selection and city approval. Whether youre new to the business or a veteran looking to expand, gain perspective on what makes the industry tick and gather insight on market trends and how their likely to affect the value of your investment in the short and long term.

The barriers to entry in some cities may be a bit muddied, but a strategic, knowledgeable approach will help you keep your eyes wide open and give you the confidence to push forward. Please let us know of any development challenges or tricky successes youve recently experienced in the comment section below.
Every year in the self-storage industry we talk about getting our facilities ready for winter and cold weather. Is the snowplow company contracted? Do we have enough snowmelt? Are the water lines turned off? Perhaps the most important question we should ask ourselves, however, is Are we ready to market the facility during the winter months? Is your facility prepared the handle the influx of move-outs in the fall of tenants who only store during the summer months? Or the tenants who are now moving into their new home before winter and moving out of their storage unit?

Seasonal drop-offs during the wintertime are an issue that almost every storage operator faces. To get your year off to a strong start, here are a few ideas to help you drum up new business this winter.

Target Niche Businesses

There are likely a lot of small, locally-owned businesses near your facility that could use a little extra space during the winter. For example, landscapers need to store their lawnmowers and equipment until late spring, others may need a place to keep summer inventory, or may need extra storage for Christmas inventory. Businesses such as locally-owned restaurants or franchises likely need space to store their patio furniture while its not being used.

When it comes to targeting local businesses, the closer the proximity the better. The more convenient it is for businesses to store at your facility, the more likely they are to become your tenant.

Reach out to Apartment Residents

The winter months can feel especially cramped for apartment residents, which is why theyre a great market to target during this season. In the cold and inclement weather, they can no longer store their bikes, outdoor equipment or grills on the deck. They may need extra space with new Christmas gifts recently purchased/acquired, holiday decoration storage, etc. If you have any large apartment complexes near your facility, theyre a great place to start. Consider working with the apartment management to distribute fliers, posters in public areas or offer a complex-wide special for new tenants.

Find Snowbirds

If your facility is somewhere that experiences cold winters, its likely theres a demographic of potential tenants who are snowbirds. These are residents who leave town for warmer climates until summer comes around again. Theyre usually middle- to senior-aged, so keep in mind that more traditional marketing tacticsnewspapers, mailers, etc.may be the best way to reach them.

Become a Holiday-Storage Headquarters

With the holidays now behind us, many people are looking for room to store their Christmas and holiday decorations that they just dont have space for any longer with all their new presents, toys, clothes, etc. With your social media posts, website banners and other advertising, make it clear your facility is the local holiday off-season storage location of choice!

The tenant drop-off in the winter months is inevitable, but following these few tips will ensure your facility maintains a higher occupancy level than in seasons past.

Matt Casady is the marketing manager at Stor-N-Lock Self Storage, which operates more than 22 locations in four states. The companys slogan has always been, "Storage Made Easy!" For more helpful storage tips and resources, visit https://www.stor-n-lock.com/blog.
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A carer who became the first person in Ireland prosecuted for assisting suicide has talked about her relationship with her deceased friend and the times she faced questioning from gardai.

Tallaght woman Gail ORorke was charged over the booking of flights to Switzerland between March 10 and April 20, 2011 for MS sufferer Bernadette Forde, 51, to travel to the Dignitas clinic.

Ms Forde, a former employee with Guinness in Dublin, died at her home in Morehampton Mews, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 on June 6, 2011.

Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on tonight's Late Late Show, Ms ORorke spoke about the close personal bond she developed with Ms Forde.

"We just kind of had a spark. She was a quirky lady, she wasn't very tolerant of people in her home sometimes," she said.

"We just hit it off. Gradually over time it just became a very strong friendship."

As her illness developed however, Ms Forde's talk turned to thoughts of ending her life and travelling to assisted suicide clinic Dignitas in Switzerland, said Ms ORorke.

"The terminology she used was "put me down and post me home," said Ms ORorke.

"She wanted no fuss."

She added: "She was really unwell, the indignities of MS had kicked in more than she ever wanted to. She was incontinent."

After beginning to make arrangements for the flight, Ms ORorke described the scene in a Rathgar travel agency before "panic" set in as she realised she was to be questioned by gardai.

Later in the show, she described how she unwittingly posted an order for the substance her friend used to take her own life.

Ms ORorke also revealed that once the substance was received, Bernadette waited some time before deciding to use it.

"When she had it on her table, that was like a security blanket, and funnily enough it gave her a reason to live."

She described Bernadette's final days, which included watching the British Queen's and US President Barack Obama's visits to Ireland, and recording the final of Britain's Got Talent so that her niece could watch it.

Ms ORorke later described the moment where the Garda Detective in charge of the investigation - "a lovely man" - told her she was to be charged.

"He said: 'Hiya, Gayle - they charged ya'."

In her 2015 trial, Ms ORorke was also found not guilty of two charges in connection with the suicide on the direction of Judge Patrick McCartan.

Ms O'Rorke was initially cleared of aiding and abetting Ms Forde's suicide between April 20 and June 6 in 2011 by helping her to procure and administer a toxic substance.

Ms ORorke was also found not guilty of procuring the suicide by making funeral arrangements from June 4-6 2011 in advance of the death.

She described her emotions leaving the court.

"It was like the torture had ended," she said.

"I never felt alone in the dock - I honestly, genuinely felt that she was there. "
The Citizens' Assembly has heard that 3,451 women from the Republic of Ireland travelled to England or Wales for an abortion in 2015.

A consultant in foetal medicine from Birmingham's Women and Children Hospital says that 135 of these women travelled to have a termination due to a foetal anomaly.

The assembly is meeting to consider the issue of abortion and the eighth amendment and will make recommendations to the Oireachtas on whether or not a referendum on abortion should be held.

[

Dr Patricia Lohr from the Medical Director of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service presented to the assembly this afternoon and says Irish women who travel to their clinics are afraid of the stigma associated with having an abortion.

Women who travel from Ireland often come alone, unsupported, its a secret, they feel ashamed, and that means that theyre often in a heightened emotional state, she said.

So doctors and nurses and other clinic staff have an incredible amount of compassion for women who travel.

Separately from the Assembly, spokesperson for the Pro Life Campaign, Cora Sherlock, said that the forum has so far not discussed the benefits of the Eighth Amendment.

The real story that is being lost in the Citizens' Assembly is the personal experiences of families who can show and can explain to the Assembly members why the Eighth Amendment is the lifesaving beacon that it is.

That they can say: My child is alive, and I credit the Eighth Amendment with that, My child has Down Syndrome and he or she is valued in an Ireland because of the Eighth Amendment.
Iran says it will deploy missiles for a military drill today, after President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions targeting Tehran's ballistic missile programme.

Washington put Iran "on notice" after it carried out a test last weekend.
Masses gathered across Canada around mosques to form protective fencing termed by organisers as human shields and rings of peace the reason being Muslims in the country were doing their first Friday prayers since a gunman shot dead six men who were praying at a Quebec mosque.

No Canadian should be afraid to go to their house of worship to pray, said Yael Splansky, the person behind the effort to set up rings of peace around Toronto mosques. Its a terrifying scene. Imagine people of faith going to pray for peace, to pray for peace, and to be at risk. Houses of worship are sacred and must be protected.

Muslim Association head, Syed said, Although this tragedy has taken an irreparable toll on Muslims across the country, the kindness and generosity of fellow Canadians has been a great source of comfort. Canada has spoken: no to hate, no to bigotry, no to religious violence, no to intolerance.

Also Read:

Japanese cured Tengu's injury by putting 'Bandaid' on its nose

Sandal rain occurs at this place of Madhya Pradesh

Corrupt leaders, politicians, and officers are not allowed in this temple!
Update 10.09pm: The man who attacked soldiers in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris is believed to be an Egyptian, French authorities have said.

The 29-year-old, who was living in the United Arab Emirates, is in a life-threatening condition in hospital after being shot, prosecutor Francois Molins said.

He said the man's identity has not been formally confirmed but the French soldiers' quick reactions put an end to "a terror attack" at one of Paris' most iconic tourist attractions.

He said "everything shows that the assailant was very determined".

Update 11am: The French Prime Minister says this morning's attack in Paris was 'terrorist in nature'.

Update 10am: Head of Paris police has confirmed that no explosives were found in the man's bag when searched.

The Louvre attacker was carrying two backpacks, but neither had explosives, police in Paris said.

The police chief of Paris said that the attacker wielded a machete and shouted "Allahu akhbar".

The soldier fired five shots and the attacker was seriously injured, including in the stomach, he said.

The soldier was also injured in the incident.

The Rue de Rivoli running alongside the museum was closed to traffic while trains were being pushed through the Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre metro station without stopping.

France was put under a state of emergency following terror attacks that claimed hundreds of lives in Paris and Nice.

Evenement grave de #securite publique en cours a #Paris quartier du #Louvre, priorite a l'intervention des forces de securite et de secours pic.twitter.com/PxTLacJk7a  Ministere de l'Interieur et des Outre-mer (@Interieur_Gouv) February 3, 2017

The incident comes months before France elects a new president with incumbent Francois Hollande deciding not to seek a second term after his opinion poll ratings tanked during the state of emergency.

Earlier: A soldier has opened fire outside the Louvre in Paris, French police said.

The suspect was shot in the legs at the Louvre Museum.

He was carrying a suitcase, and bomb disposal experts have been called in.

The Guardian reports that the wounded man was wielding a knife and trying to enter the Louvre museum.

A police source has said that the man was attempting to enter the museum's underground shop with a suitcase.

The area has been evacuated.
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is unveiling her platform at a conference this weekend, envisioning a thriving nation "made in France".

On full display for two days will be the proud nationalism of the National Front party candidate. The timing could not be better for Ms Le Pen, a leader in early polls for the April 23 and May 7 elections.

The British decision to exit the European Union and the election of US President Donald Trump could inspire would-be voters and provide a moral boost for her backers attending the event in the south-east city of Lyon.

"The entire world, it's true for Brexit, it's true for Mr Trump, is becoming conscious of what we've been saying for years," she said in a recent television interview.

Ms Le Pen denounces what she calls the "ultra-liberal economic model", globalisation, open borders and "massive immigration", notably of Muslims.

In her view, immigrants take jobs from the French, raise the terrorism risk and are stealing away the identity of France. No more, she vows.

Measures by Mr Trump, notably his halt on arrivals of refugees and citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, could be right out of Ms Le Pen's playbook - if France was not a member of Europe's open borders group and with a refugee policy in part dependent on the EU.

Unlike Mr Trump, Ms Le Pen is not a new quantity in French politics - she has headed the National Front since 2011 - but they share a belief in what she calls "economic patriotism" and "intelligent protectionism". That may include tariffs on some imports and punishment for French companies that move factories abroad.

This will be Ms Le Pen's second bid at the presidency after coming third in 2012. Early polls consistently show her among the two top candidates, but suggest she will lose by a wide margin in the run-off.

Parisian baker Walter Fraudin, 44, a National Front member, said Mr Trump's victory might motivate the French to undo a system in which political promises never leave the wish list.

"He does what he says," Mr Fraudin said. "If you're on a battlefield you'll follow him ... Marine Le Pen, I would follow her."

Her first move, if elected, will be working to spring France from the European Union, and her first trip will be to Brussels to try to extract her country from the euro currency, border agreements and other critical domains. It's a battle she apparently sees as lost in advance since she has a Plan B: a Brexit-style exit referendum.

"Today, the European Union decides in your place," Ms Le Pen's campaign manager, David Rachline said.

"It is the survival of industry, the survival of jobs that are at play in this (election) battle," Mr Rachline told supporters.

AP
Indonesian and Filipino students have protested against President Donald Trump's immigration policy outside the US embassies in their capitals.

In Jakarta, dozens of students and activists called on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Mr Trump's order that temporarily banned travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
The US company has tapped Taiwans Wistron Corp to put together its phones in the tech capital of Bangalore in Karnataka, said Priyank Kharge, the states information technology minister.

Apple executives met him in January and confirmed the timeline, he said in an interview. The start of iPhone assembly in India comes after months of speculation on Apples plan for the market, which is led by rival Samsung Electronics.

It signals a renewed focus on the country, where it just scrapes into the top 10, as growth begins to slow in China and other more mature markets.

Apple is said to have put forward a long list of demands in negotiations with Indias federal government, including a 15-year tax holiday to import components and equipment.

Apples iPhones will be made in Bangalore and all devices will be targeted at the domestic market, said Mr Kharge, IT minister for Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the capital.

Mr Kharge said the state will help Apple if it decides to turn to other contract manufacturers in the region.

We did not discuss any other incentives, he said.

Apple didnt respond to an emailed request for comment. Chief executive Tim Cook said on an earnings call this week that India is the place to be.

He visited the country for the first time last May as he sought government approval for Apple to open its own stores  a step the company deems critical to developing the iPhone user base across the country.

Over the long run however, Apple needs to meet requirements that single-brand retailers source 30% of components from within India. Manufacturing locally will help with that.

Making iPhones locally could also score brownie points with the national government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants companies to make products in the country as part of his Make in India policy, aimed at reaping the benefits that come from manufacturing facilities and jobs.

The company shipped 2.5 million iPhones into the country in 2016. While that was its best year ever in terms of revenues and sales, it only ranked 10th among vendors in the December quarter according to Counterpoint Research.

Apple accounts for under 2% of shipments in India, where an estimated 750 million smartphones will be sold by 2020.

Bloomberg
With lenders in Italy and other weaker economies struggling to find buyers for their bad credit, Vitor Constancio called for an EU blueprint for creating asset-management companies compliant with EU rules against bailouts.

Less than a week ago, Germany shot down a proposal by the European Banking Authority to create an EU-wide bad bank on the grounds that bad loans are concentrated in just a few countries, such as Italy, Cyprus and Portugal.
The volley came from a small detachment of county councillors in Cork who are taking on the might of the British military establishment.

They want the remains of Napoleons famous white charger repatriated to Ireland after hearing that the British have put the skeleton of the horse on display at the National Army Museum in London.

The attack is being led by Fianna Fail councillor Bernard Moynihan, chairman of the Kanturk/Mallow municipal district council, which represents the Buttevant area.

Folklore has it that Marengo was sold at the famous Cahirmee horse fair in Buttevant.

Mr Moynihan said he had spoken to local historians who are convinced that it is actually true, although that is disputed by people living in another North Cork village, Bartlemy.

Mr Moynihan managed to get councillors from different parties to rally to his war cry.

He said Marengos skeleton could form the centrepiece of a museum display, which would attract tourists to Buttevant.

Cllr Moynihan pointed out that Buttevant was oozing history and efforts should be made through rural regeneration projects to set up a museum in the town and display artifacts in it.

A 16-strong team of archaeologists spent nearly two years excavating the towns main street during a 5m makeover of what was dubbed the worst main street in Ireland, Towards the end of last year archaeologists announced that they had unearthed an astonishing 2,788 artifacts.

These included a gold posy ring inscribed with the year 1713, animal bones, pottery, tiles, bone combs, numerous coins, buttons, buckles, pins and clay wig curlers.

Cllr Moynihan said some of these discoveries should also be put on display in the museum along with Marengos skeleton.

Cllr John Paul OShea (Ind) thoroughly agreed with him, saying it would provide a much-needed economic boost for the town.

So too did Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG), and Cllr Melissa Mullane (SF) who said shed support any move to get Marengo back.

Cllr Mullane then suggested the council might need reinforcements for the Battle for Marengo.

She maintained that the people of Buttevant should be enlisted and get them to sign an online petition supporting the return of Marengo.

If the horse is returned to Cork it will be a famous victory for the small group of councillors.

But they could then face civil war with their colleagues in the Fermoy/Charleville municipal district council. They represent Bartlemy and are full sure to support calls from people in that village that theyre entitled to the skeleton.

Famous painting of Napoleon riding his horse Marengo. Up to recently a mural of this painting adorned the side of Barrys pub in Buttevant.

For many years people in Bartlemy have maintained that the horse was sold at a fair there, and not in Buttevant. They were so adamant a local publican had a giant mural of Napoleon riding on a reared-up Marengo painted on a gable wall of his premises. Sadly the mural has since been painted over.

However, the Bartlemy claim on the horse has been bolstered by singer/songwriter John Spillane.

He has just composed a ballad about Marengo and the Bartlemy connection, although he has taken some artistic licence by referring to the famous stallion as a mare. Mr Crowley has said he will revise the lyrics to include the battle to have Marengo returned to Ireland.

While there are also claims that Marengo was acquired by Napoleon during his campaign in Egypt and Syria (17981801), the people of North Cork are united in one thing  hes Irish.

Marengo carried Napoleon around many of the bloody battlefields of his European campaigns, was wounded eight times but lived to the ripe old age of 38, 10 years after the death of his master. Marengos skeleton was displayed at the now defunct Royal United Services Institute Museum but has been on display at the National Army Museum since the 1960s.

Bartlemy claim bolstered by ballad

Cahirmee Horse Fair, Buttevent, Co Cork, on July 11, 1939.

The Ballad of Marengo by John Spillane

Napoleon went a riding on his lovely white mare

That was bought for five shillings at Bartlemy Fair

Broken-hearted Ill wander, Broken-hearted Ill remain

Since my bonny light horseman

In the wars he was slain.

Since Boney went riding

His Arabian mare,

That was bought for five shillings

At Bartlemy Fair

Napoleon commanded his army to stand

He raised up his banners, so gayly and grand

He leveled his cannons all over the plain

And my bonny light horseman

In the wars he was slain

Marengo, Marengo

The Arabian mare,

That was sold for five shillings

At Bartlemy Fair.

Marengo was but a foaleen she pranced and then she danced

From Ballyreidy to Ballinterry then she set sail for France

In the forge down in Bluebell, she received her first shoe

Her hames and her traces, all shining and new.

Marengo, Marengo

You shining white mare

That was sold for five shillings

At Bartlemy Fair
Irish Second Level Students Union president Jane Hayes Nally said students are increasingly concerned that a deal will not be formed despite compromises being made.

Under the new curriculum, Junior Cert students have to complete two classroom-based creative writing tasks and a subsequent assessment. However, in ASTI schools these havent taken place and look unlikely in the short term due to the ASTIs refusal to carry out the new course because of its ongoing demand for equal pay for recently-hired teachers.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday said that heightened policing would continue this weekend and told the feuding gangs: No one is above the law. It may take time, but you will not win.

Garda intelligence has assessed that the threat level has jumped two stages since Decembers murder of Noel Kirwan, a long-time friend of Gerry The Monk Hutch, at the hands of the Kinahan cartel.

The ratcheting up of threat levels, from moderate to very high or acute, includes intelligence that retaliation from the Hutch grouping was at an advanced stage.

The Kinahan cartel is linked to the murders of up to eight people since the killing of Byrne, from Crumlin, south Dublin, on February 5, 2016.

The eight victims, seven in Ireland and one in Spain, include friends and associates of the Hutch family and two innocent bystanders.

There has been no successful Hutch attack on the cartel since the Regency, but gardai have received intelligence that one was being planned.

Stories that the Hutches are in tatters because of the onslaught from the Kinahans are not true, said one source. They have the money to get people to do it. They will plan their attack and want to get a group of [the cartel] together.

Gardai expect up to 10 members of the top layers of the cartel could attend tomorrows events, but do not know whether or not Daniel Kinahan, or perhaps his father, Christy, will risk flying in from abroad.

They could come in from Spain on Saturday night, avoid the airport and come in over the border, said one source.

As reported in the Irish Examiner earlier in the week, gardai are set to operate a low-key policing presence for the anniversary.

Sources said that they had had the difficult job of striking a balance of not having a repeat of the massive security operation for the funeral of Byrne and, at the same time, preventing and disrupting any possible spectacular from the Hutch grouping.

As it stands, gardai are not aware of any special Mass or mention being arranged either in Byrnes local church, St Agnes in Crumlin, or St Nicholas of Myra Church on Francis St, in the south inner city, where Byrnes funeral Mass was held.

However, sources said that something could be arranged today. The family are expected to travel to Mount Jerome Cemetery in Harolds Cross sometime on Sunday to visit the grave.

Gardai will monitor their movements and their homes discreetly from a distance. The highly-visible Armed Support Unit will patrol an outer cordon.

No social events are known as of yet but are expected to take place.

Gardai are also concerned of an attack on associates of the Hutch grouping, reflected in the haul of 15 cartel guns, some loaded, in west Dublin last week.

Yesterday, Ms Fitzgerald described the Regency attack as an outrage and said the government reacted very quickly, with resources, legislation, the new armed response unit for Dublin and with saturation policing.

She said this heightened security would continue this weekend and every weekend, as long as it is necessary. Ms Fitzgerald said the feuding gangs were in a cycle of revenge and retaliation, but said the Government was relentless in pursuing them.

The message from me and the Government is no one is above the law, she said. It may take time, but you will not win.
Michael Dunn, aged 67, who pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault, intends to appeal the sentence, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday.

Dunn knew the boy and his family as the child served as an altar boy. The victim was bullied at school and Dunn became his trusted confidant, the court heard.

The victim told the court Dunn groomed him to comply and that said he felt helpless to escape.

I was imprisoned in what was supposed to be a holiday and 100 miles from home, he said.

The now 53-year-old said in his Garda statement he felt he loved Dunn as he was a father figure and friend. He was the only person who showed him physical affection and he later felt bad for letting it happen.

Dunn, with an address in Lawrence St, York, England, pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault in August 1975 when he was 26 years old. He was jailed for 18 months in England in March 2005 after he was convicted of sexual assaulting another young boy in the 1970s.

Judge Melanie Greally noted Dunn entered the priesthood at a very young age, when he was ill-prepared for the challenges of priesthood, both sexually and socially.

The judge took into account mitigating factors including his guilty plea and the fact he had lived an irreproachable life ever since.

Bernard Condon, defending, indicated Dunn would be appealing the sentence and asked that he be granted bail pending the outcome. Judge Greally denied the bail application.

In a victim impact statement, the man

said he had been at an early stage of his sexual and emotional development.

I cannot say the abuse made me gay but it normalised in my psyche an attraction to men.

He said that, as a married man and father, he led a secret life of alcohol and infidelity with other men.

He said his greatest sadness was the pain this process had caused his wife and children. He described life with him as intolerable, two of his older children left home and his marriage had broken down.

He said he had completed 60 hours of therapy and had finally started a process of coming to terms with what happened to him. I hope to live a normal, honest and fulfilled life from now, he said.

Mr Condon said his client apologised and regretted his behaviour. He said he recognised the impact the abuse had on the man and is full of remorse, horror, and shame.
Burma Second Suspect Arrested in Connection to Lawyers Assassination

Supporters put a flag on the coffin of U Ko Ni, a prominent member of Burmas Muslim minority, during his funeral in Rangoon, Jan. 30, 2017. / Reuters

RANGOON  A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the high-profile assassination of Ko Ni, a top legal advisor for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the Presidents Office announced Friday night.

The man, named Aung Win Zaw, 46, is accused of being an accomplice of arrested assassin Kyi Lin, who shot Ko Ni dead at a close range with a pistol in the compound of Rangoon International Airport on Sunday evening.

Police apprehended Aung Win Zaw on a bridge over the Thanlwin River in Karen State at 4:20 p.m. on Monday, but his arrest had not been announced until now. Police arrested Kyi Lin, 53, outside the airport compound within minutes after the killing.

Police officers and a former fellow prisoner have told Myanmar Now that two suspects had committed crimes together in the past and served lengthy prison sentences in Obo Prison in Mandalay for smuggling Buddha statues to neighboring countries. They were released in a presidential amnesty in 2014, the sources said. Kyi Lin also served an earlier sentence for the same crime in the late 1980s.

Aung Soe, 51, a former fellow inmate at Obo Prison, had told a Myanmar Now reporter on Monday evening  a day after the killing  that he recognized Kyi Lin from pictures of the murder scene.

Aung Soe also told Myanmar Now on Monday that Aung Win Zaw was likely the man who assigned the killing, adding that he was approached by the second suspect in June last year for an assassination assignment.

Aung Soe claimed he was told to kill a diplomat of a foreign religion in broad daylight in downtown Rangoonand if successful, this would be good for the country, our race and religion. He said he declined an offer of around US$100,000, weapons training, and an arrangement for a hiding place on the Thai-Burma border.

An uncle of Aung Win Zaw in Rangoon confirmed with Myanmar Now that the second arrested man was his nephew, based on a photo that was released by authorities on Friday night. He declined to comment on the case.

The former cellmate said he knew Aung Win Zaw from Obo Prison, adding that he was a former military lieutenant who had first been jailed in the 1990s for disciplinary charges.

Aung Win Zaw allegedly told his former cellmate last year that he was able to offer such money and means for the assignment as a group of powerful people had supported him after his prison release so he could carry out clandestine activities for them.

Both Aung Win Zaw and Kyi Lin are the kind of individuals who would do anything for money and the two are very close, Aung Soe said, adding that the assassin had shown a calm and reserved demeanour in prison, while the second suspect was more outgoing and boastful.

Police have so far not announced a motive for assassination, although it is widely regarded as a political assassination given the fact that Ko Ni, 65, was a prominent legal advisor on constitutional issues for the NLD partys leadership including Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counselor and de facto leader.

The Presidents Office announced in a statement on January 30 that the murder of Ko Ni was intended to destabilize the country. Ko Ni was also a Muslim and Myanmar has seen inter-religious tension in recent years.

On Thursday, Rangoon Region Police Chief Brigadier-General Win Naing told Myanmar Now that national police headquarters had taken control of the investigation. Win Naing did not reveal that police had already arrested a second suspect at the time.

Asked about Aung Win Zaw and Kyi Lins involvement and motivation, he said, They probably did this just for money, without elaborating who might have masterminded the killing.

The police have come under growing public pressure for the lack of information on the investigations progress, sparking lively debates on social media on possible conspiracies behind the killing. The police remain under direct command of Burmas military and have little trust among the public.

On Tuesday, a police document reportedly leaked via a messaging app appeared to be part of the accused murders interrogation transcript, in which he said he was offered a car for the murder.

This story originally appeared on Myanmar Now.
Commentary Daw Aung San Suu Kyis Trend of Silence

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at peace talks with youth in Naypyidaw on Jan. 1, 2017. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has remained noticeably silent regarding the death of National League for Democracy (NLD) legal advisor U Ko Ni, who was assassinated earlier this week outside the Rangoon International Airport.

She was not in attendance at his funeral, nor has she sent a public condolence to the victims family.

Her silence has raised questions as to her fear of the Burma Army or extremist Buddhist monks.

Critics have asked why she attended former USDP lawmaker Aung Thaungs funeral, but not U Ko Nis.

The day after his death, state-run media kept the story off of the front page. Follow-up coverage regarding the investigation has been sparse in state-run media.

The assassination of U Ko Ni rattled the country. He was a prominent member of Burmas Muslim minority and moderate figure who spoke in favor of amending the Constitution and religious tolerance.

Some people worry that this incident will quickly fade from the public consciousness and that the government will not thoroughly investigate the crime because of its possible link to the military. U Ko Nis biggest crime may have been that he was a constitutional expert who suggested reforms to the charter imposed in 2008 granting the military great power.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was for years the countrys pro-democracy icon. After a year as the countrys de facto leader, one wonders where she stands on human rights and democracy issues today.

On top of her silence regarding U Ko Nis death, she has also remained silent on Burma Army offensives in Kachin State and the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State.

She remained silent when the army launched ground and airstrikes in Kachin State, when refugees fled to China but were turned away, when tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled Burma Army security clearance operations to Bangladesh, and when the army restricted humanitarian aid.

People have stated their frustration with her failure to deliver on her campaign promise to provide equal rights for ethnic groups and disappointment at placing their trust and safety in her hands.

Her NLD party won a majority in Kachin State, and people there had high expectations for reform, so far to no avail.

The State Counselors Office donated 300 million kyats (US$220,000) to Kachin refugees through the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement this week but activists say the money is not enough.

It seems like she just wants to buy our votes, said Kachin rights activist Khon Ja.

By-elections will be held in April to fill vacant seats. Kachin constituents have asked why she came out with this money now and not during Burma Army offensives last year.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyis silence leaves many to wonder whether she stands for the army or for her people.
Although it seems as a perfect moment for South Korean giant Samsung when it beat Apple as the smartphone market leader in the U.S. last year, things went downhill just a few months later, after it was known that the company decided to recall the Galaxy Note 7, because of a series of explosions that put its customers lives in danger.

Since that moment, its position has been seriously threatened, and this year is expected to be worse considering that the Chinese smartphones are finally making the leap into the global market. If Samsung wants to keep ahead of these brands in the next years, there are some things that are needed to be done.

Samsung Must Keep Innovating Its Mobile Devices

Being the biggest smartphone maker in the world is not precisely an easy position, considering that to maintain this power there are a lot of things that needs to be done. Naturally, providing the highest quality in the products are the most important thing, but considering that Samsungs only real competitor has always been Apple, the South Korean giant always tries to excel in every product that they create.

Of course, this isnt something easy considering that were talking about one of the most important tech companies in the history, but what Samsung is facing right now will be much more difficult, given the fact that several Chinese smartphones like Huawei, OnePlus or Lenovo will represent a huge threat.

Considering that these devices will always be cheaper than the Samsungs, the South Korean giant needs to keep innovating in its smartphones in order keep customers' interest in the brand, and decide to keep buying these products, even when it will be more expensive. Apparently, the Galaxy S8 will be a great example of this kind of move.

Samsung Must Focus On The Budget Smartphones Market

As everyone knows, the most incredible thing about Chinese smartphones is that these products are characterized for offering almost the same specs and features of every other mobile device, but in a much more affordable price. Naturally, this is something that makes it the most ferocious competitor, to the point in which it would be a surprise if these mobile devices don't end up conquering the global market.

Considering that this is precisely its main virtue, one of the most important moves that Samsung could make is to focus more than ever on budget smartphones, since these kinds of mobile devices would represent a huge threat for the Chinese brands, as long as Samsung manage to equip these products with better specs and features. This way, the greater detail about Chinese smartphones wont be that relevant, and the South Korean company could achieve a major position in this field.

Samsung Must Avoid Major Mistakes

Although this is not exactly something surprising, this is actually one of the main things that Samsung needs o be aware of in order to maintain its reign, considering that in the last months, the South Korean giant has made some incredible mistakes that could have been worse than it actually was.

Of course, were talking about what happened with the Galaxy Note 7, a situation in which Samsung was extremely lucky considering how this terrible event didn't harm its reputation as everyone expected, and how its main competitors Apple failed miserably to take advantage of this situation with its iPhone 7.

Naturally, if this happens one more time, the Chinese smartphones will definitely gain more power and customers will have it easier to end up choosing these brands instead of Samsung. Without any kind of doubt, this will be actually the hardest thing for the South Korean giant, considering that in its position it would be difficult to not commit any kind of mistakes, whether in a delayed release date or in a single spec of any of its future mobile devices.
The new tool of Facebook will let users make much more targeted image searches. For example, when you search your old photos, you will be able to look for the images where you're wearing a green shirt or back dress, or where the people in the background are dancing. It is considered as one of the big advancements in Facebook's computer vision technology and artificial intelligence.

Facebooks New Tool Makes It Easy To Classify Photos

On Thursday, Facebook announced the update regarding its new tool in a blog post. Facebook's director, Joaquin Candela, wrote in a post that the new AI-based image tool of the firm would recognize photos at the pixel level. As reported by Mashable, Facebook users would be able to get results of photos based on the content of it, even when they are not tagged.

Until recently, online search has always been a text-driven technology, even when searching through images, quoted from Candela's post. Whether an image was discoverable was dependent on whether it was sufficiently tagged or had the right caption  until now. The new search tool of Facebook will also help not just the users but also the network to better identify inappropriate, spam and unreliable contents.

Pulling content from Facebook photos and videos provides an original vector on targeting correctly. Eventually, it would be nice to see a whole integrated system where a user could pull information and relate it to its searches. The new features could also help raise the ceiling on Facebooks potential ad revenue from News Feed through pictures.

Candela also said on the post that the "image understanding" of Facebook will be applied automatic to its alternative text. This new feature developed to describe the content of photos to all the visually impaired people. "Today we're announcing that we've added a set of 12 actions, so image descriptions will now include things like 'people walking,' 'people dancing,' 'people riding horses,' 'people playing instruments,' and more."

Lumos: Facebook's Automatic Alternative Text Tool

Together with todays new feature for image content search feature, Facebook is also updating its original Automatic Alternative Text tool. According to TechCrunch, Facebook released Lumos, the new alternative text tool last April. All Facebook users that are visually impaired could support existing text-to-speech tools in order to understand the contents of photos. The new tool could tell a user that a Facebook photo involved an object such as stage and lights.

One of the things that the new tool cannot determine is relating actions to objects seen in the pictures. But a specific team of Facebook fixed that problem already by painstakingly labeling 130,000 photos pulled from the platform itself. The firm was able to train a computer vision model to recognize and classify actions happening in photos.

On the other hand, Google open sourced its own image captioning model last fall that can easily identify objects and classify actions with accuracy over 90 percent of a photo. While Facebook is focused on making the tool learning easy for the team integrates into their projects. This simply means improving the use of the companys general purpose FBLearner Flow compared to Google's TensorFlow.
The company behind the famous social media app Snapchat called Snap Inc., intends to hand out a whopping $2 billion to Google over the next five years. A sum agreed so the company can use the Google cloud computing services. Snap unveiled the news this Thursday during a public offering filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Snap and Google signed an agreement on Jan. 30 that obliges Snap to shell out at least $400 million from its pockets every year on Google cloud services for a good five years until 2022. During the first four years of the deal, the company can be pardoned when it delays a portion of its payments.

Snap can roll 15 percent of the amount to the following year although it will have to pay the difference if the minimum purchase agreement is unmet. In exchange, Snap will be able to enjoy discounts from Google. "Any disruption of or interference with our use of the Google Cloud operation would negatively affect our operations and seriously harm our business," wrote Snap in the filing.

According to Snap, it depends on Google for a "vast majority" of its "computing, bandwidth and other services." There is still potential risk as Google can always discontinue the platform, change the terms of services or just go horribly wrong. However, Google is still religiously investing in the cloud platform as it aims to launch new cloud data centers.

With this deal, Snap proves that it is not afraid to take big risks. The company previously acquired an Israeli startup named Cimagine, which centered on augmented reality tech. The tech allows users to virtually place objects according to their liking on their mobile devicesand that's just one of the many recent acquisitions of the company. In 2016, Snap got hold of Vurb, Flite, Seen and Bitstrips.
Google is warning its business partners that it will discontinue its Google Now Launcher, its time in the Play Store running out by the end of this month.

Google Now Launcher To Be Discontinued

The Google Now Launcher opened long ago access to Google smart system of cards that allow smartphones owners to experience what it's like to use stock Android. An email forwarded to Android Police gives a detailed view of Google's future plans for the launcher. Unfortunately, the time of the app is running out.

According to Green Bot, starting sometime this quarter, most likely by the end of the current month, users would not find the Google Now Launcher anymore in the Play Store. However, while new users won't be able to download the application, Google notes that, by updating the Google Search app, it will continue to support existing users. Without the prime placement to the left of the home screen, the Google Search is offering similar information and customization, being essentially a standalone Google Now app.

The Google Now Launcher will be removed on Mar. 1 from the Google Mobile Services suite. While new devices utilizing Google Now Launcher will no longer be approved, Google isn't leaving existing devices without support. Manufacturers will be able to insert Google Now into their own custom launchers by using a new Search Launcher Services library. This means that, in fact, the adoption of Google Now Launcher could actually become more widespread.

Only a few mobile devices used the Google Now Launcher previously out of the box. These devices, as well as any others, approved before the March cutoff date can continue shipping with it, according to Google. However, Android users who use the Google Now Launcher in order to experience some of the stock Android on their phones will mostly be affected by this change.

Consequences Of Discontinuing Google Now Launcher

The Now launcher is very popular among Android users, even if it was never quite the same as buying a Nexus. It is estimated that there have been over 50 million downloads and the app got a solid 4.3-star rating. But now, when Google has presented a clear plan for smartphone maker companies who rely on the Google Now Launcher, it's not so clear what are the high-tech giant's intentions for regular users.

Tech experts estimate that Google's decision will mostly affect users who just installed Google Now Launcher on their devices from the store. Users can choose to keep using the application, but they cannot expect any further major improvements. Even if it's unlikely that the application will stop working, aside from the promise of updates to the Google app, it won't be any other updates going forward.

At best, in the near future, the support for Google Now Launcher will be spotty. However, aside from providing the Google Now Launcher app in the Play Store, Google currently also has the Pixel Launcher. Since soon there will only be one app left, it is also speculated that Google will open the Pixel Launcher to all phones. But this is less likely because it's hard to believe that the company would take away one of the main reasons to buy its flagship Android phone.
Recently, an Illinois bill was introduced to allow 16- and 17-year-olds register as organ donors when they register to drive. The legislation gives the option for teens to donate their organs and tissues when they also register for a state identification card.. Those under 18 can also do so but only after their parents or guardians have been contacted and given their consent.

Secretary of State Jesse White is backing the legislation. The legislation was introduced by state Sen. Mattie Hunter of Chicago and state Rep. Deb Conroy of Villa Park who are both Democrats. State Rep. Deb Conroy's husband is one of the 4,700 people in Illinois waiting to receive an organ donation.

The measure would let 16- and 17-year-olds become part of the organ and tissue registry when they register for a driver's license or for a state identification card. This new Illinois bill amends the Illinois Anatomical Gift Act, which requires donors to be at least age 18, The Rock River Times reports.

Secretary of State Jesse White's office stated that 47 states now have similar legislation. Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin have all signed up to be part of the bill. White's office explained that each year, around 300 people in Illinois die while waiting for an organ donor.

"Our goal is to save lives. Thousands of Illinoisans are on the waiting list for organs and we want to make sure that we do all we can to give them an opportunity to get a second chance," White said during news conference on Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reports

Conroy also added that organ donation is an interesting thing in that you have no idea about its importance until it affects your life. She explained that it definitely has affected her life and her four sons as her husband waits for someone to donate the organ he badly needs. She also added that the waiting part is a very difficult road for families, and that the new Illinois bill can save more lives.
Women and reproductive rights activists are calling for mass protests and crying foul after Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill which legally prohibits second-trimester abortions into law in the state. The bill was signed was signed into law on January 26 and it could become effective by early spring.

The controversial anti-abortion law is known as Arkansas Act 45 or the 'Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act' and several women's rights activists have interpreted the law to extract two clauses that were seen as targeting women's rights and health.

Husbands and family and even rapists could sue women for abortions

The new anti-abortion law empowers husbands and family and even rapists to block a woman from committing abortions and also sue the woman or the abortion provider for providing such medical services when a woman's pregnancy is above 14 weeks, ATTN reports. To this extent, even rape and incest victims are not even allowed to have abortions in the second-trimester of their pregnancies.

But several abortion supporters and women's groups have sworn to fight the new law before and after it goes into effect in early spring, with many posts on social media garnering huge responses from followers who swear to oppose the new law and hold protests in Arkansas.

Several people are not cool with the fact that rapists could now have the legal rights to prevent their victims from having abortions, and that women could now be sued for seeking abortions in incest cases. Many online activists call the law 'un-American' and others touted its 'unconstitutionality' while a particular respondent advised women to go for needed abortions in neighboring states if the law goes into effect.

Dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortions are now banned after 14 weeks

Mostly done via outpatient surgeries, dilation and evacuation procedure is the process whereby osmotic dilators or other pharmacologic agents are used to dilate the cervix so that forceps could be easily inserted into the uterus to evacuate fetuses. This procedure is proven to be quicker than abortions done through labor inductions and is usually performed on pregnant women who have been placed into deep anesthesia.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 95% of abortions carried out during the second-trimester of pregnancies are done via the dilation and evacuation method.

Vox writes that six US states have passed laws banning D&E abortions with respective law courts ruling in four of these states that the bans are unconstitutional. With the ban on D&E procedures, other abortion techniques are less safe for both woman and fetus and doctors would be compelled to explore unethical or riskier methods to carry out abortions.
Researchers have issued a health warning on those who skip breakfast as doing so increases your risk of getting a heart disease. They have also taken a closer look at our eating patterns and have concluded that snacking late at night and a lack of meal planning adds another cause for cardiovascular disease and other medical problems.This scientific findings were published this week in the journal Circulation by the American Heart association (AHA).

The rule of eating three meals a day has been abandoned by many due to a variety of modern day reasons. However, the AHA stresses that skipping breakfast and late night snack times are significantly causing heart diseases even in young people. Steps should be taken to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity caused by improper meal timing.

Researchers at New York's Columbia University gave a health warning that our eating habits can have an effect on blood pressure, weight, and insulin resistance. They demonstrated in the study that the timing and frequency of meals are as important as the food we put in our bodies. The scientists particularly focused in breakfast which has been most affected by our changing lifestyles, the CTV News reports.

Researchers noted that people who had breakfast daily have lower high blood pressure and more controlled cholesterol levels, in comparison to those who skipped the first meal of the day. Those who skipped breakfast and snacked throughout the day run the risk of weight gain, obesity, diabetes and heart problems. As many as 30 percent of U.S. adults routinely skip breakfast, and are projected to manifest symptoms of the diseases, the Thomson Reuters Zawya reports.

"Meal timing may affect health due to its impact on the body's internal clock. However, more research would need to be done in humans before that can be stated as a fact," Marie-Pierre St-Onge, the lead author, stated. The researchers recommend meal planning, and intentional eating to combat emotional bingeing. The health warning reiterates that breakfast must be regularly taken and late night snacks be fiercely avoided to prevent the development of chronic diseases.


The Philippine Department on Education has turned down plans of the local health department to distribute condoms among schools. The rejection was announced Feb. 3 by education authorities. The condom distribution would have been a strategy intended to eradicate the spread of HIV in the country, feared to be one of the fastest spreading epidemics in the Asian region.

Earlier in December, the local health department said that it will distribute contraceptives in academic institutions as part of their intensive campaign to prevent HIV. However, it caused an uproar from legislators and religious sects. Rights activists express grievances against the government for allegedly neglecting the implementation of programs that educate gay or bisexual men about safe sex. In a recent study, it has been discovered that the spread of HIV in the country victimizes gay or bisexual men. The Philippines is also a religious nation, with more than 80 % of its population being devout Catholics.

ABS-CBN reported that the local department of education forbade the health department to carry out the condom distribution because the agency is only bound by laws to provide sexuality education. Education assistant secretary Tonisito Umali also said in an interview that the education department is doing its best to be more sensitive to the perspective of parents. Furthermore, the education department also said that they obtained several feedbacks which proves that parents strongly oppose the move planned by DOH.

Meanwhile, Inquirer.net reported the countrys senate majority leader vowed to do everything in his capacity as a lawmaker to stop the local health department in its initial plan to distribute condoms in schools. Sen. Vicente Sotto said that the distribution of condoms will seem a signal for minors to have sex. He also cited that under Philippine laws, sex with and among minors is strongly punishable by law.

Aside from HIV, the country is also facing a major health issue with the rise of Zika virus. It has been reported that the newly-feared disease can also be transmitted through sexual intercourse. The United Kingdom recently reported its first case of sexually-transmitted Zika virus
Microsoft Corp. and Bedrock LLC has just announced to the public that it will relocate and move its headquarters, the Michigan Technology Center. The tech giant says that it would transfer to downtown Detroit and vacate its current location in Southfield. This will happen in early 2018.

Microsoft Goes To Detroit

Reports suggest that Microsoft will use the 40,000 square feet in the One Campus Martius building. It is worth knowing that Dan Gilbert owns this property. With this, there will be 165 Microsoft employees that will also be working in the One Campus Martius by next year.

According to Crains Detroit, Tracy Galloway, who is a Microsoft general manager, says that the mega-company had already spent 30 years in Southfield. And here comes Rodrick Miller, CEO, and president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp that says that $1.03 million of 10 years worth of tax abatement was singled out in the deal.

This is also one of the main reasons why Microsoft would soon relocate its head office. The Southfield office of Cushman & Wakefield was the one that served as the representative of Microsoft in the dealing of the property's lease.

Meanwhile, Neumann/Smith Architecture will be the one in charge of the design of the new office. Bedrock would then act as the construction manager on the soon-to-rise headquarters.

Microsoft Transfer Is For The Greater Good

According to Freep, this transfer will also lead to the displacement of some of the Gilbert employees into different locations. For now, Gilbert says that they are still searching for more space.

Meanwhile, Kenson Siver, the mayor of Southfield says that he feels sorry to know that Microsoft will be leaving. But on the brighter side, he also says that this would be good for both cities.

Statistics show that ever since 2012, the city's occupants and tenants have increased.
On Feb. 6, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy will declare a new standard controlling the response time of the smartphone manufacturer in case of product issues. The new safety regulations are presented in the wake of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 battery explosion, which orders the manufacturer to report incident automatically.

The regulation will be implemented within a year. The industry experts and smartphone producers will have ministerial hearings. It was revealed that with the latest Galaxy Note 7 accident, the company took ten days to report the first case to the government.

The security controls will purportedly be accompanied by the results of a South Korean government investigation concerning the Galaxy Note 7 cases. It was led together with the state-run Korea Test Laboratory and it is expected that the finding will agree with those of Samsung's own investigation.

The new regulations will require phone makers to immediately conduct an investigation right after the submission of the explosion report. It should be automatically being investigated to point out the real cause of the explosion, which could be due to flawed parts or external force.

The safety standards of smartphones have additionally gone under investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is working with Samsung and different companies to upgrade the intentional standards utilized as a part of lithium-ion battery production.

Samsung confirmed that the result of the investigation reveals a definitive cost for the Galaxy Note 7 battery recall, which is expected to surpass $5 billion. However, this did not prevent the company from seeing an increase in operating profits, as reported by CNN.

Samsung has officially reported its new quality assurance measures. It also announced an eight-stage battery safety check, which will ideally prevent similar accidents in the future. It is great to know that Korean regulators have decided to actualize extra security of smartphone safety regulations, which might eventually be followed in other countries around the world as well.
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.
There will be singing, dancing, music, and artists appearing from 7pm including Wight Harmony, The Elderberries, Nikki Cross School of Dance, Wight Notes, The Ryde Ukulele Group and Helen Mansfield.Jayne's Vintage & Retro monthly fayre will return tomorrow (Sunday) to Whippingham Community Hall for 2017. Admission is free, and there will also be a pop-up tea parlour.The Ventnor Guitar Club continues to hold its open mic nights on the first Sunday (tomorrow) of the month at the Spyglass Inn, from 8pm  amateurs and professionals are welcome.

For more on what's happening this weekend please see our online events guide, and pick up a copy of the Isle of Wight County Press Weekender for even more goings-on in the Island arts scene.
They played at Ziggys in 2015 and Merschel Plaza in 2016, but long before that, starting in the late 1980s, they played in more than 25 countries, including a five-city tour of Iraq.

Now, Gin Blossoms, the post-grunge, jangle-pop band, famous for happy-sounding sad songs like Hey, Jealousy, is making a new album at Fidelitorium Recordings. The studio in Kernersville is owned by Mitch Easter, best known for producing R.E.M.s album Murmur and Reckoning with Don Dixon.

Gin Blossoms formed in 1987 in Tempe, Ariz., and had their first hit in 1992 with Hey Jealousy from the album, New Miserable Experience. Their next album, Congratulations Im Sorry (1996) reflected the aftermath of the firing and suicide of the bands co-founder Doug Hopkins.

The band broke up in 1997 but reunited in 2002, releasing Major Lodge Victory in 2006 and No Chocolate Cake in 2010.

They got their name came from a caption on a W.C. Fields photo that referred to the slang for broken blood vessels on the noses of people who drink too much. In the early days, the band drank a lot and sang a lot about drinking. Out-of-control drinking and missed jobs and recording sessions were what got Hopkins fired.

Scott Scotty Johnson said that the band members still have a good time, but they now take better care of themselves. Otherwise, they wouldnt have lasted 25 years in the spotlight.

We were a bar band for a long time, Johnson said, during a break from recording on Friday. When you play in a bar, you have a few drinks and nobody cares. Now, the jobs matter more, the stakes are higher, and you dont want to blow a gig.

The band is currently comprised of Johnson, who initially replaced Hopkins and now plays lead and rhythm guitar and sings backing vocals; Robin Wilson, lead vocals, percussion, harmonica, acoustic guitar; Scott Hessell, drums; Bill Leen, bass; and Jesse Valenzuela, rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals.

They keep up a heavy touring schedule even though they all live in different cities: Johnson lives in Phoenix; Leen lives outside of Phoenix in Apache Junction; Hessell lives in Goodyear, Ariz.; Wilson in Long Island; and Valenzuela in Los Angeles.

They had shows in New Orleans and Minnesota last week, landed in Winston-Salem last Sunday and will head out for another show in St. Louis on Friday. Their East Coast tour begins in earnest starting Feb. 22 in New York and includes Massachusetts, Connecticut and Florida.

They had planned to record the album they are working on now in October, but found they wanted more writing and rehearsal time.

We were doing rehearsals until Jan. 29, Johnson said. Robin and Jesse are the two main songwriters, but they are nice enough to give the rest of us a chance to write, too. Everybody contributed. Thats the nice part of being in a band is that everybody contributes. Bill (Leen) and I wrote a song together.

The Gins longtime producer, John Hampton, died in 2014, and they had been looking for a new producer when they ran into Dixon at a gig in Ohio, where he now lives. Dixon lived in North Carolina for many years and has spent time in Winston-Salem.

He agreed to produce this record and said we should do it at this studio, Johnson said. We always loved the early R.E.M. and Smithereens stuff that Don produced.

The Gin Blossoms are releasing the record themselves, so they have full creative control over what goes on the record. It doesnt have a name or a release date yet.

Youve got to record it first and then figure that out, Johnson said. Well sit and talk when everything is done.

But for now, its into the studio as early as 10 a.m. and out as late as 9 p.m.

We did drums and bass earlier this week, Johnson said. Were doing guitars now. Then Robin will come in and add vocals.

Theyve been playing some of their songs since 1987, but a new album means more work for the band.

Before we play them live, Johnson said, we have to do a little rehearsal.
With decades of teaching experience in several capacities in Texas and over the past three years with The Flowertown Blossoms in Summerville, Anicia D. Brown is dead set on handing youngsters the tools to master stage acting and production, while also imparting impactful life lessons along t Read moreFlowertown Blossoms preaching the value of teamwork
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By Tom Brocket | (The Conversation) |  

Life goes on for the parents who drop off their children at homework club, or those rushing in late for embroidery class. As usual, the community centre where Im doing my fieldwork in northern New Jersey is filled with the piercing screams of toddlers trying to keep up with the older kids. But something in the atmosphere is different.

At the front desk, a pile of letters from an immigrant rights group explain the terms of the executive order in English and Arabic, brutally stating in capital letters that those affected SHOULD NOT TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES for any reason.

Standing by the community centres front desk is Zainab, a Syrian refugee. Her husbands aunt, a green card-holder born in Iraq, is currently flying from Dubai to Newark Airport; her fate is unknown. The air of uncertainty and confusion surrounding the executive order and its practical implementation by federal agencies obscures any clear prediction of what will happen to her. Will she meet the same fate as two Yemenis who arrived in the US on January 28, who were reportedly talked into signing away their green cards and put on the next flight back?

Yet, Zainab exudes an air of resigned optimism. As her relative hurtles towards the US, she says there is little to do other than wait and hope.

Unlike Zainab and her aunt, the majority of the community centres patrons are Muslim Palestinian-Americans. As most are American citizens, and have ties to Palestine and Jordan  not included in the ban  the executive order doesnt directly affect them. But for those I speak to, this is the most shocking and scary moment since Trump entered the presidential race, perhaps aside from his election victory. The letters piled at the entrance remind those who enter that this is no longer a time of primaries and debates, of rhetoric and promises.

Just by signing the order, Abdullah tells me incredulously, Trump immediately turned more than 100 airplane passengers from valid visa and green card holders into illegal travellers, welcomed not by friends and family but by detention and coercion. Have you ever seen political bureaucracy work so fast?, he asks me. In the words of Palestinian-American poet and activist Remi Kanazi, with a pen stroke, a wedding is missed, a eulogy isnt spoken, a job is not taken, a family is left broken, safety isnt found.

For members of the community, the ban is unprecedented  not because it targets Muslims and Arabs, and (green card-holding) Muslim- and Arab-Americans, but because of its open and unabashed intention to do so.

Flying while Muslim

The Arab-American community has endured decades of government infringements on their civil liberties: as far back as 1972, President Nixon launched Operation Boulder, a clandestine FBI operation that spied on thousands of Arab-Americans. But the sharpest uptick, of course, came in the aftermath of 9/11.

Almost immediately after the events of that day, Arab-Americans quickly found themselves collectively punished with detention, deportation and surveillance  in spite of the fact that none of their number were involved in the attacks. (One Palestinian-American tells me, half-joking, that in the months after 9/11, there were more FBI agents than real customers in the Arab restaurants in this New Jersey town.)

In terms of international travel, many have experienced first hand the humiliating difficulties of what they call flying while Arab and flying while Muslim, and the enhanced security attention this entails. In past years, several airplane passengers simply speaking, reading or writing in Arabic have been pulled off flights in the US and Europe.

Yet this order is not secret or unofficial: it is meant to be seen. Photos and videos of Trump sternly signing the necessary papers in the Oval Office, then holding them up for cameras, have been endlessly circulated (and mocked) over the past week. The spectacle of Trumps executive orders is part and parcel of his performative politics.

Its not lost on the young children who come to homework club. As their attention span expires, they rush to the lectern standing empty at the front of the room and begin to imitate their president. I am Donald Trump, and I hate Muslim people, says one child in Arabic. Between fits of self-conscious giggles, another declares: I will not let Muslim people into this country. A final Trump impressionist takes his homework up to the podium and signs it with great concentration  and then holds his giant signature up for the audience: Here is my signature for not letting people in!

Older members of the centre find comfort in sharing stories of small acts of kindness from other Americans. A fellow tutor relates an encounter over the weekend: walking alone in the street wearing a hijab, a large man approached her. She expected the worst  but instead, he offered words of support and protection.

During a meeting that evening, several participants discussed how a neighbour, a colleague or a boss had knocked on their door, phoned them, or sent them an email of support and friendship. One tells me that they are fortunate to live in northern New Jersey, a diverse urban area with few Trump supporters and in a state with one of the largest Muslim populations in the US. Muslim- and Arab-Americans elsewhere in the country might not be so fortunate.

Tom Brocket, PhD Candidate in Geography, UCL

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Aljazeera English: Arab-Americans in crisis mode over Trumps travel ban
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TeleSur |  

The tone was more measured than previous pro-Israel announcements, but did not go so far as to condemn settlement activity.

The Trump administration said on Thursday that Israels building of new settlements or expansion of existing ones in occupied territories may not be helpful in achieving peace with Palestinians, adopting a more measured tone than its previous pro-Israel announcements.

h/t Maan News Images

In a statement issued two weeks before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit U.S. President Donald Trump, the White House said the administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity.

Trump, a Republican, has signaled he could be more accommodating toward settlement projects than his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. The latest statement reflects slightly more nuanced language on how the new administration views settlement activity.

While we dont believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal, the White House said in a statement.

The statement could disappoint Israels far-right, which had hoped Trump would give an unqualified green light on rapid settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem  areas Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Thursday, the State Department said. It did not say whether they discussed the White House statement.

Obama routinely criticized settlement construction plans and his administration often described settlement activity as lacking legitimacy and impeding peace.

Via TeleSur
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

When Trump issued his executive order halting immigration from seven countries, suspending the refugee program, and banning Syrian refugees indefinitely, I wrote that he might well get away with it, since the judiciary tends to defer to the executive on issues of national security and on foreign affairs. This one is both.

But I was too pessimistic. US District Judge James Robart of Seattle, a Bush appointee, issued a judgment suspending the Executive Order on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and places an undue burden on the state of Washington and on its 25,000 residents from the 7 countries that Trump singled out.

This is an incredible, tremendous ruling. First of all, the Republicans had argued that Washington states attorney general did not have standing to sue, since the EO was nothing to do with him. But Judge Robarts decided otherwise, given that the EO affects so many people who are residents of the state.

Being recognized as having standing to bring a legal action is absolutely crucial. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is to be congratulated for passing this hurdle.

Robart wrote, according to the Seattle Times:

The executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel, Robart wrote, adding that the order also harmed the states public universities and tax base. These harms are significant and ongoing.

Robart stood up for the residents of Washington state who were unconstitutionally deprived of basic rights by the EO. He also stood up for the economy of Washington state and its tax base, playing turnabout with Trump by arguing that what he did is bad for the economy!

He even mentioned the harm to the states great universities, a point I have made in the past.

Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, the Neofascists who wrote the EO, were hoping that immigrants would be treated by the US courts as foreigners with no rights or standing.

Robart is saying that residents of a state in the US have rights that the president cannot simply erase by fiat. He is further saying that institutions of the state itself, including universities, have a right to pursue their work unmolested by discriminatory policies.

Robart noted that to get a temporary restraining order (TRO), a plaintiff must show (1) that he is likely to succeed on the merits, (2) that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, (3) that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and (4) that an injunction is in the public interest.

These criteria are crucial because they demonstrate that Robart did not stay the EO in a neutral way. He did so because he believes that the suit will likely succeed on the merits. He has made a prediction of success in the higher courts for the plaintiffs (the state of Minnesota joined in the suit).

The state of Washington was recognized in the ruling as a legal protector for residents who might not be able to defend themselves. In the Batman stories, Dick Grayson (Robin) is the ward of Bruce Wayne (Batman). The court is saying that where you have that kind of relationship, you cannot harm Robin without harming Batman.

The court also accepted the states argument that the EO has inflicted upon the operations and missions of their public universities and other institutions of higher learning, as well as injury to the States operations, tax bases, and public funds. These harms are significant and ongoing.

Robart also found that his Temporary Restraining Order couldnt be restricted to Washington, since the Constitution requires a uniform Rule of Naturalization and Congress itself had instructed that immigration laws be enforced uniformly. The order therefore must obtain in the whole country.

If states have standing, if residents from the 7 banned countries have standing, and if a relatively conservative judge believes that they will likely succeed in their suit against Trump, then we have a fighting chance of defeating this thing.

-

Related video:

CBS: Wash. Gov. on Seattle federal judges ruling
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By Edward Hunt | (Foreign Policy in Focus | Originally published in Lobelog.

Trump wants Iraqs oil, and hes not interested in sharing.

The leaders of the United States have provided many reasons for their numerous interventions in Iraq. President Donald Trump has focused on one thing: the United States should take the countrys oil.

During late 2015, when he first began campaigning to become the Republican nominee for president, Trump made his point when he described his plans for the Islamic State (ISIS or IS). I would knock out the source of their wealth, the primary sources of their wealth, which is oil, Trump told MSNBC in August 2015. After that, Id take the oil for our country, he added.

In November 2015, Trump made a similar point in a campaign speech, saying that he would bomb the shit out of IS refineries and then have U.S. oil companies reconstruct them for the United States. The oil companies will rebuild that sucker brand new, Trump said. It will be beautiful, and Ill take the oil. And I said Ill take the oil.

Of course, Trumps predecessors in the Bush and Obama administrations shared similar objectives. Although they did not speak about their goals in the same terms, officials in both the Bush and Obama administrations made great efforts to gain control of Iraqs oil industry.

When the Bush administration was preparing in early 2003 to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power, planners at the State Department placed oil at the center of the mission, calling for a radical restructuring of the Iraqi oil industry. A primary goal of the war, they advised, must be to open the countrys oil industry to international oil companies.

In fact, State Department officials came close to achieving their goal in mid-2008 when they helped to negotiate a series of deals to bring some of the most powerful oil companies into Iraq. The deals with the Iraqi government will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations, The New York Times reported.

Soon thereafter, Iraqi officials backed away from the deals, primarily because they created so much controversy, but officials in Washington didnt abandon their efforts. After the Obama administration entered office in January 2009, U.S. officials continued pursuing deals that would open the countrys oil industry to U.S. oil companies.

U.S. diplomats in Iraq, who participated in the efforts, were quite optimistic about the possibilities. In June 2009, when the Iraqi government began a new bidding process for international oil companies to gain access to the countrys oil industry, U.S. diplomats could barely contain their excitement. First Oil Bid Round: The Greatest Show On Earth, the diplomats titled one of their internal reports to the State Department.

In the following months, the diplomats grew more excited. As the Iraqi government began making a series of deals with international oil companies, allowing them to begin operating in the country, the diplomats reported that a black gold-rush had begun. The bidding started as a rush and quickly became a stampede as a broad range of international oil companies bid unheard of low prices for seven of the ten oil fields (or oil field groups) being offered, the diplomats reported.

In the process, a number of the most powerful U.S.-based oil companies acquired contracts with the Iraqi government. As the diplomats noted in another report, ExxonMobil and Occidental will participate in the development of approximately one-third of Iraqs new, future oil production. This is a significant win for the U.S. economy, they added.

Much has changed since U.S. officials began making their first real progress in opening the countrys oil industry. The rise of IS, and its rapid capture of large parts of Iraq and Syria, has made it far more difficult for oil companies to operate in various parts of the country.

At the same time, Trumps plans to intervene in Iraq and take the oil should be recognized as just another variant of longstanding U.S. policy. In keeping with his America First motto, he has abandoned all pretense of ensuring multilateral access to the oil in favor of U.S. corporations alone. He may often frame his plan as a way of weakening IS, but he has made it clear that he has long felt that the United States should take the oil. Even before the rise of IS, I always used to say, keep the oil, Trump acknowledged in his post-inaugural speech at C.I.A. Headquarters. And I said it for economic reasons, he noted.

Indeed, Trump shares the same basic ambitions as his predecessors. By saying that he wants to take the oil, he is revealing what U.S. officials have been trying to do for years. They want to take Iraqs oil, use it for the benefit of the United States, and let nothing stand in the way.

So we should have kept the oil, Trump insisted once again in his speech to his audience at the C.I.A. Maybe youll have another chance, he added.

Via FPIF



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Reuters: Iraq will not retaliate against Trumps visa ban  PM
JURIST Guest Columnist Doris Toyou of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law discusses treaty translation issues in the nation of Cameroon The 2016 unrest in the Republic of Cameroon (Cameroon) started when a group of Anglophone lawyers demanded an official English translation of a treaty ratified since 1996. While Cameroon has over two hundred fifty national languages, the colonialization past imported French and English. Under the Cameroon Constitution [PDF], French and English are the official languages, both having the same status.

This commentary looks at three international treaties enacted by Cameroon in the 1990s to note how the non-respect of language equality granted by the Constitution favors social uprising.

The colonial past set the tone for two Cameroons

Under French and English administrations, Cameroon was divided into two unequal territories: French Cameroon, called Republic of Cameroon, in the East part of the territory occupied the largest portion. The English Cameroon, called Southern Cameroons, was a smaller portion composed of two federated states in West Cameroon. After the 1961 reunification, the Republic of Cameroon and the Southern Cameroons became the Federal Republic of Cameroon. A 1972 referendum abandoned federalism for a unitary state known as the United Republic of Cameroon. In 1984, United Republic of Cameroon became the Republic of Cameroon.

To this date, Cameroon Constitution maintains both French and English as official languages together with a bi-jural legal system inherited from colonialism, that is French civil law and English common law.

Ratified treaties preempt the Constitution

Laws channeled through the legislative and executive process are published simultaneously in both languages. The Constitution guarantees Cameroon is bilingual, and the government is responsible to promote and protect bilingualism. The benefit of equal treatment granted by the Constitution protects the English spoken minority. Thus, a treaty ratified in French without its English version contradicts Cameroon Constitution.

Under Cameroon Constitution, the President negotiates and ratifies treaties and international agreements. Ratified treaty and international agreements override national laws, once the treaty is approved, ratified and published. During the early 1990s, Cameroon ratified a series of business treaties containing French as the sole working language. An illustration is seen with the following three treaties:

The inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (CIMA, is a French acronym for Conference Interafricaine des Marches dAssurances). CIMA is the regional body for insurance companies with objective to establish an integrated organization of insurance industry. The organization regroups fourteen countries and was signed on July 10, 1992 in Yaounde, Cameroon.

The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC, is a French acronym for Communaute Economique et Monetaire de lAfrique Centrale). CEMAC is the regional organization regrouping central African nations to promote cooperation and exchange between members; they also share the same currency. The countries signed the treaty on March 16, 1994 in NDjamena, Chad.

The Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA, is a French acronym for Organisation pour lHarmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires). OHADA treaty promotes business law by providing legal and judicial security for both domestic and foreign investors. There are currently seventeen member states composing OHADA. OHADA treaty was signed in October 17, 1993 in Port-Louis, Mauritius and revised in October 17, 2008 in Quebec, Canada.

These treaties have in common to promote business integration in Africa and establish French as the sole authoritative language. The preeminence of the French language is not surprising since most signatories are French speaking countries and former French colonies. Thus, French is the only working language with CIMA. CEMAC and OHADA had the same approach until subsequent modifications incorporated the working languages of member states. Both CEMAC and OHADA mention documents already published in French shall have their full effect, even if the translation into the other languages is pending. In case of conflicts, French is the authentic version.

The French dominance is obvious, for French laws can be published independent the publication of other working languages. It also means French remains the only language until another language is officially translated. As a practical matter, an English-speaking Cameroonian wishing to establish an insurance brokerage business should be proficient enough to understand the voluminous CIMA treaty and accompanying texts. This insurer is faced with unofficial translations and the possibility of inaccuracies or contradictions. Evidence of translation incoherence are seen with OHADA, the treaty that sparked unrest in Cameroon.

The 2008 revisions of OHADA added English, Spanish and Portuguese as working languages. An unofficial English version found on OHDA website implemented the languages addition but fail to acknowledge other changes, such as the archaization process. It was rectified when the official version was made available on OHADA website . On November 2016, twenty years after Cameroon ratified the OHADA treaty, an official English translation was finally available!

To this date, there are still no available official English translation for CIMA or CEMAC treaties. It is unsettling for English-speaking Cameroonians forced to work with unofficial translations of legal texts. This creates judicial insecurity and favors discrimination among Cameroonians based on languages. Cameroon can only benefit if its national or international laws such as CIMA, OHADA or CEMAC are drawn simultaneously in conformity with the Constitution. The prevalence of one language over the other violates the spirit of the Constitution and frustrates the purpose of unity among Cameroonians.

Doris Toyou received her masters degree in international economic law from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in France in 1999, and her LLM from Boston Uni- versity in 2003. She has worked as a legal analyst with JPMorgan Chase in New York City, and has also worked in legal, due diligence and compliance positions with Sullivan & Cromwell, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and others.

Suggested citation: Doris Toyou,International Treaty and Constitution: Contradictions of Cameroon, JURIST  Student Commentary, February 3, 2017, http://jurist.org/dateline/2017/02/Doris-Toyou-contradictions-of-cameroon.php

This article was prepared for publication by Dave Rodkey, an Editor for JURIST Commentary service. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org
JURIST Guest Columnist David M. Crane of the Syracuse University College of Law discusses some alarming similarities between the early days of the Trump administration and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler

How did a great country with a strong and respected place in the world, a center for culture and tolerance, elect a man who would plunge the world into what a commentator called a place of anguish and fear? This is a question many historians and policy makers asked themselves about Germany in the 1930s.

The manner in which Adolf Hitler came to power initially was legitimate and within the constitutional bounds of German law. An obscure former corporal in the German army, he ran for the highest political office in his country on a platform of nationalism, essentially declaring it time to make Germany great again. Stung by the humiliating terms of the Versailles Treaty, Germany retreated inward burdened by reparations and eventual economic depression; this liberal democracy struggled to redefine itself in a post-WWI world. Hitlers speeches declared that Germany could be a great country again, with a strong people, who could move forward to reclaim their historic place in Europe. All this rang true to a defeated people.

Hitlers rhetoric in those days formed the murky beginnings of a far darker political dynamic, but the German people  Dem Deuctshevolk  shop workers, shopkeepers and farmers, looked beyond this darker theme and focused on a more promising future in a proud and assertive Germany. As he ran for Chancellor, Hitler focused on the economic issues of the time, promising to restore the German economy and bring back jobs. German business first was what a German citizen liked to hear.

Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, barely more than eight years after he was released from a Bavarian prison for the Beer Hall Putsch. The first year of his rise to power was a heady time where money poured into infrastructure and rebuilding the German army, in blatant violation of the Versailles Treaty. The concept of a peoples car, a Volkswagen, became a reality to be driven on the worlds first interstate road system, called the autobahn. German citizens saw jobs, better pay, and a brighter future.

Then the nibbling at Germanys democratic principles began, subtle at first, but picked up over the next few years, and by the time of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, led to a state policy to shift power from the people to one person, a Fuehrer. Backed by the Reichstag, new laws were passed shifting the power to a single executive. Additionally, as this happened, Adolf Hitler began to raise the stakes against perceived enemies of the state by using fear to cause the German people to give away their freedoms one at a time to fight the threat  Bolsheviks, Slavs, and Jews. Claiming a conspiracy to keep Germany weak, various minorities were singled out as a threat to the country and its people. It was this existential threat from within and outside the country that Hitler built upon a fear so much so that the citizens of Germany turned to their leader, their Fuehrer, to protect them.

The intellectual elite of Germany and much of the middle class at first stood back, amused, embarrassed, disbelieving that this proud nation of culture, of tolerance, of openness would elect this small little man who ranted and raved about a great German nation, a Reich that would last a thousand years. They could not believe that he would last long politically and stood aside in the early years thinking that the political system in place would cause his demise. By the time they realized the shift of almost complete power to one man had actually happened, it was too late. They had only one choice: swear allegiance or leave. Some left when they still could, but most stayed and accepted their national fate.

I have faced down dictators most of my professional life. To understand my adversary I have studied the twentieth centurys dictators, how they came to power, their psyche, and their methods of destroying their own citizens. There are patterns, similarities, regarding despots, dictators, and thugs who rise to and hold power in their countries. Their track record is horrific with the destruction of over 95 million human beings at the hands of these dictators in the last century.

Understanding the similar conduct of largely ordinary men rising to absolute power can help us in many ways: from investigating and prosecuting them for violations of domestic and international crimes, identifying those politicians or political movements trending toward despotism, to prevention and counter measures to blunt their move to power. Liberal democracies today need to understand the past, the present trends, to protect our futures. The consideration of these traits are instructive today in the United States and elsewhere.

So what are those similarities among despots and dictators? First in a country where a dictator comes to power, there is an anger towards the establishment, a long term disappointment and lack of trust in their government.They use this loss of faith in the centralized government to start building a political base to gain power. Dictators want to drain the swamp, to clean house, to start over.

Second, the rising dictator uses fear to shift that frustration away from their policies to what is called a boogey man. Dictators for a century all used a boogey man to focus their citizenry away from their absolute power to a threat outside the country. The Three Pashas in Turkey blamed the Christian Armenians for the loss of the Ottoman Empire; Adolf Hitler blamed the Jews for weakening Germany; Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung focused on Western capitalism; and the Ayatollah of Iran blamed the Great Satan of America for their economic problems. Outsiders who were different, who had a different religion became an internal and external threat and were either accounted for and interned or deported. Those who sought admission to their country were banned for who or what they were.

Third, dictators view the press as their enemy and initially seek to limit press access to their regimes, then ban or control the press entirely. They consider the press an enemy of the state and take appropriate action. The liberal press is blamed for factual distortions. The dictator declares they are not using real facts and fashion their own truths, what you would call today alternative facts. Joseph Goebbels stated that if you lie to the people long enough, they will believe it as the truth. In a dictatorship the truth is the first casualty.

Fourth, a dictator surrounds himself (yes, they are all men) with only those people who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear. The truth becomes dangerous to the government and to those who know it. The dictator does not want to know the truth, they fear the truth and those who work with and for the dictator fear knowing and telling them the truth. They could lose their influence, power, jobs, even their lives, as well as their familys lives if they are truthful. Its a downward paranoid spiral.

Fifth, the dictators of the twentieth century also suffered from some type of psychological disease or defect. From paranoia, schizophrenia, depression, and narcissism these men slipped farther and farther away from reality the longer they stayed in power. A perfect illustration is when Joseph Stalin fell dying on the floor in his bedroom and laid there for fourteen hours, the doctors and handlers were too afraid to declare him dead in fear of the repercussions of even saying, let alone knowing that he had died.

Sixth, dictators over time consider the law only as a guide, to be broken, modified, or ignored. The longer in power the more they feel they are above the law and take action according to their own whims. A political cult develops around them. They become above all men. Society is what the dictator says it is. The national identity becomes the dictator. Where once government workers or members of the armed forces swore allegiance to the law, they now must swear allegiance to the dictator himself without question. The refusal to do so is expulsion or death.

In the United States we now have a President who fits several of these traits and has acted accordingly  all within two short weeks as President. The surprising thing is how easily he has been able to do this without any institutional resistance. America is not used to someone of this caliber. We sit back stunned, cowed, or in quiet glee as this new President begins to make America great again. Is he becoming Americas first dictator? This remains to be seen.

Our only counter to this new type of President is the Constitution of the United States. The founders of this nation contemplated a Trump and put in the necessary checks and balances to ensure that America did not create a king or dictator. The power was reserved to the people, us; and all those elected answer to that people, not the other way around. The other two branches of government will be critical to our republic with this power grabbing new President. They must do their constitutional duty and pay heed to the law and to the people to counter his seeking absolute power.

Another point, the recent singling out of Muslims seeking entry into our country from several countries appears to be, and is touted to be, a national security issue protecting our country. Beware when our federal government tells you the reason they are doing something in the name of national security. The results were: The Red Scare, Japanese internment camps, McCarthyism, unauthorized medical testing, the electronic surveillance program, torture, secret camps, and Guantanamo, to name a few. It is easier to govern a people when they are afraid. Fear is the life blood of a dictator. Singling out a people to blame because they are different and can possibly cause us harm, hoping to play upon our fears is just a first step to despotism.

In times of real or perceived crisis we must hold tight to our Constitution, not push it away as a hindrance to making our country safe. Thomas Jefferson throughout his life looked to the people to keep the United States on track, our leaders honest, and our focus on the rule of law. Even in the Declaration of Independence he hinted that it is the people who shape that government and have the right and the obligation to change that government should it challenge our constitutional rights.

It is heartening to see people in the United States and around the world who are standing up to the new Presidents policies. Make no mistake, we have a man in power who manifests the traits of a dictator. A citizenry who raise the banner of the rule of law holding our elected officials accountable to our Constitution, and not to a man, will eventually cause the Trump administration to reign in their policies or face legal consequences. If we do not, I fear for America. Remember Germany

David M. Crane is a Professor of Law at the Syracuse University College of Law. He is the former Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone, 2002-2005. He is also the founder of Impunity Watch, the Syrian Accountability Project and the IamSyria Campaign.

Suggest citation: David M. Crane, First Its the Muslims: An Evolution to a Dictatorship, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Feb. 3, 2017, http://jurist.org/forum/2017/02/David-Crane-evolution-to-dictatorship.php

This article was prepared for publication by Sean Merritt, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org
JURIST Contributing Editor, Professor Emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and author Marjorie Cohn discusses the constitutional violations resulting from the executive order banning nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries 

On January 27, 2017, President Trump made good on his campaign promise to institute a ban on Muslims entering the US. Trumps executive order (EO) is titled Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.

The EO bars nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from the US for at least 90 days. They include Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan. The EO also indefinitely prevents Syrian refugees, even those granted visas, from entering the US. And it suspends the resettlement of all refugees for 120 days.

None of the 9/11 hijackers came from the seven countries covered by the EO; 15 of the 19 men hailed from Saudi Arabia, which is not on the list. No one from the seven listed countries has mounted a fatal terrorist attack in the United States.

Countries exempted from the EO include Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates  countries where Trump apparently has business ties.

Trumps EO violates the Establishment Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution. It also violates the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); both are treaties the United States has ratified, making them part of US law under the Constitutions Supremacy Clause. The EO violates the Immigration and Nationality Act as well.

Six Federal Courts Stay Trumps EO



In the face of legal challenges, six federal courts have temporarily stayed implementation of parts of the EO, indicating that petitioners have a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits.

On January 28, US District Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York concluded that the petitioners have a strong likelihood of success in establishing that the removal of the petitioner and others similarly situated violates Due Process and Equal Protection. She also found imminent danger . . . [of] substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders, and other individuals from nations subject to the [EO].

Donnelly thus enjoined respondents Trump, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), et al from removing anyone with refugee applications approved by US Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the US Refugee Admissions Program. Holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas, and other individuals from the seven listed countries who are legally authorized to enter the US, are also protected from removal by Donnellys order.

In spite of Donnellys order, CBP agents continued to detain immigrants at airports across the country and send them back, even though some could face persecution in their countries of origin.

On January 28, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia forbade respondents Trump et al from removing the three Yemeni petitioners, who were lawful permanent residents being held at Dulles International Airport, for seven days from the issuance of her order. Brinkema further ordered CBP agents to permit attorneys access to all lawful permanent residents (green card holders) detained pursuant to the EO at Dulles International Airport pursuant.

Nevertheless, CBP agents refused to allow detained lawful permanent residents to consult with lawyers. On February 1, the Commonwealth of Virginia asked a federal judge to force Trump, CBP and other high government officials to show cause why they should not be held in contempt for refusing to obey a lawful court order.

On January 28, US District Judge Thomas Zilly of the Western District of Washington granted a stay of removal and enjoined respondents Trump et al from removing John Does I and I from the US pending a hearing on February 3.

On January 29, US District Judge Allison Burroughs and US Magistrate Judge Judith Gail Dein of the District of Massachusetts found that Iranian petitioners, a married couple, both of whom are engineering professors at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, had a strong likelihood of success in establishing the detention/and or removal of them and others similarly situated would violate Due Process and Equal Protection.

The two judges also concluded petitioners were likely to suffer irreparable harm. They issued a temporary restraining order, preventing respondents Trump et al from detaining or removing for seven days individuals with refugee applications approved by US Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the US Refugee Admissions Program. Holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas, lawful permanent residents,] and others from the seven listed countries who, absent the EO, would be legally authorized to enter the US, were also protected from exclusion.

On January 31, US District Judge Andre Birotte in Los Angeles ruled that the government must permit immigrants from the seven listed nations who have initial preclearance for legal residency to enter the US. Birotte ordered US officials to refrain from removing, detaining or blocking the entry of [anyone] . . . with a valid immigrant visa arriving from one of the seven countries.

Attorney Julie Ann Goldberg had filed the Los Angeles case on behalf of more than 24 plaintiffs of Yemeni descent, including US citizens. Over 200 people holding immigrant visas who had left Yemen, and are either related to US citizens or lawful permanent residents, were stranded in Djibouti and prevented from flying to the US.

Meanwhile, on February 1, a counsel to the president informed government agencies that the EO does not apply to some categories of immigrants. They include lawful permanent residents, Iraqis who worked for the US government in jobs such as interpreters and people with dual nationality when entering the US with a passport from a country other than one of the forbidden seven.

On February 3, US District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a temporary nationwide restraining order halting the EOs ban on citizens of the seven countries from entering the US, and the limitations on accepting refugees, including any action that purports to prioritize the refugee claims of certain religious minorities. He found that the states met their burden of showing they face immediate and irreparable injury. The judge concluded, The executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel. These harms are significant and ongoing. Judge Robart ruled the EO would be stopped nationwide, effective immediately.

The EO Violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment



The strongest constitutional argument for overturning the EO is that it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court has held the clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another. The EO imposes a selective ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as establishes preferential treatment for refugees seeking asylum who are identified with minority religions in their country of origin, ACLU National Legal Director David Cole wrote in Just Security. Cole cited Trumps statement on Christian Broadcast News that the intent of his EO was to prioritize Christians seeking asylum over Muslims.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Irvine School of Law, observed in the Los Angeles Times, Although Trumps order does not expressly exclude Muslims, that is its purpose and effect as it bars entry to individuals from predominantly Muslim countries.

When Trump signed the EO, Cole noted, he pledged to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the US. Not terrorists; not radical terrorists. But only radical Islamic terrorists.' Cole concluded that Trump has violated the Establishments Clauses clearest command' as [T]here is no legitimate reason to favor Christians over all others who are persecuted for their beliefs.

The EO Violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment



Procedural due process forbids the government from depriving an individual of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The US government is obligated to hear the asylum claims of noncitizens who arrive at US borders and ports of entry. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides, Any alien who is physically present in the US or who arrives in the US . . . irrespective of such aliens status, may apply for asylum . . . They must be afforded an opportunity to apply for asylum or other forms of humanitarian protection and be promptly received and processed by US authorities. The Trump administrations denial of an opportunity to apply for asylum violates procedural due process.

The EO Violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment



The Equal Protection Clause prohibits the government from deny[ing] to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws. An executive order that has the purpose and effect of disapproval of a class recognized and protected by state law violates the Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court held in US v. Windsor .

Muslim immigrants and non-Muslim immigrants from the seven listed countries are two separate classes of people for Equal Protection purposes. Unequal treatment of different groups based on religion, which is a suspect class, are subjected to strict scrutiny and thus there must be a compelling state interest to justify the disparate treatment. None of the 9/11 hijackers came from any of the seven countries. There have been no fatal terrorist attacks on US soil by anyone from those countries. Therefore, there is no compelling state interest for treating the two classes differently. This is particularly true in light of Trumps statements that his order would prioritize Christians seeking asylum over Muslims.

As Corey Brettschneider wrote for Politico, the Court drew a clear connection between the protection of religious liberty and the Equal Protection Clauses prohibition of invidious discrimination in Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah .

The EO Violates the Take Care Clause, Art. II, Sec. 3



Trumps EO violates the Take Care Clause of the Constitution, according to Jeanne Mirer, president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. This provision requires the President to take care that the laws of the country are faithfully executed, Mirer wrote on Facebook. The EO on immigration violates this clause because it requires government officials to violate various laws as well as human rights treaties we have ratified. He is also violating it by appointing people who openly oppose the laws they are being asked to enforce. Impeachable offense, she added.

The EO Violates the Convention Against Torture



Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) establishes the principle of nonrefoulement. It forbids states parties from expelling, returning or extraditing a person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. Refugees often flee repressive regimes to escape persecution. Sending people back to a country where they may well suffer torture violates the CAT.

The EO Violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights



Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) forbids states parties from making distinctions in the provision of civil and political rights based on race, colour [sic], sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. By giving fewer rights to Muslims than non-Muslims, Trump is violating the ICCPR.

The EO Violates the Immigration and Nationality Act



According to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, no person can be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the persons race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence. By singling out people from majority-Muslim countries, Trump has violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Legal and political fallout



Attorneys general from 15 states and the District of Columbia issued a joint statement condemning the EO. One thousand State Department employees likewise opposed the EO.

After federal courts stayed the ban, acting Attorney General Sally Yates ordered the Justice Department not to defend the EO, saying she wasnt convinced it was lawful. Trump responded by firing Yates, stating she had betrayed the Department of Justice.

Ironically, Senator Jeff Sessions, who will become Attorney General once the Senate confirms his nomination, asked Yates at her confirmation hearing whether she thought the Attorney General had the responsibility to say no the President if he asks for something thats improper.

Sessions fingerprints are all over the Muslim ban. The Daily Beast reported that Sessions, Steve Bannon and senior policy advisor Steven Miller (a Sessions confidant) drafted the EO.

Hundreds of people were kept in limbo after Trump issued his order. A five-year-old boy was separated from his mother for four hours. Erez Reuveni, an attorney with the Justice Departments Office of Immigration Litigation, said more than 100,000 visas have been revoked. He could not say, however, how many people who had visas were sent back to their home countries. But, William Cocks from the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs wrote in an email to NBC News, Fewer than 60,000 individuals visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the Executive Order.

Although thousands protested the Muslim ban at airports around the country, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told CBS News that the ban could be extended.

After Judge Robart issued the nationwide stay on February, the White House vowed to appeal the ruling. Trump tweeted, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! In another tweet, Trump wrote, When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security  big trouble!

But the Department of Homeland Security announced it would comply with Robarts order. In accordance with the judges ruling, DHS acting press secretary Gillian Christensen said, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the Executive Order entitled, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States. This includes actions to suspend passenger system rules that flag travelers for operational action subject to the Executive Order.

The US State Department also reversed the cancellation of the 60,000  100,000 visas revoked after the EO was issued.

The rubber will meet the road when federal appellate judges, and probably the Supreme Court, rule on the merits of these petitions. If the petitioners ultimately prevail, we will see whether the Trump administration fulfills its legal duty to act in accordance with those judicial decisions.

Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. Her most recent book is Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues . Visit her website at http://marjoriecohn.com/ and follow her on Twitter @MarjorieCohn.

Suggested citation: Marjorie Cohn, Trumps Unconstitutional Muslim Ban, JURIST  Professional Commentary, February 3, 2017, http://jurist.org/hotline/2017/02/Marjorie-Cohn-trump-unconstitutional-muslim-ban.php
JURIST Guest Columnist William G. Ross of Samford Universitys Cumberland School of Law discusses the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch

Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trumps US Supreme Court nominee, deserves full and fair consideration by Senate Democrats, even though those who are embittered by the refusal of Senate Republican leaders last year to conduct hearings on President Obamas nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. Although Jeffrey A. Merkley of Oregon is the only senator who has announced that he will oppose any Trump nominee other than Garland, many opponents of Gorsuchs nomination who are not senators allege that it is illegitimate because they contend that Republicans cheated Garland out of his seat and that Democrats therefore ought to oppose Gorsuch as a matter of priniciple. Such per se opposition to a nominee carries the increasing politicization of the Supreme Court appointments process to a dangerously new level. Opposition to a nomination on purely partisan grounds without consideration of the merits of the nominee himself feeds the growing perception that the court is an entirely political institution, which could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Republican refusal even to schedule hearings on Garland was without precedent. Although this obstruction was not necessarily unconstitutional, it did frustrate the operation of the constitutional process by which the Senate is required to provide Advice and Consent to judicial nominees. Since Obama had eleven months left in office when he nominated Garland, he was not the lame duck that Republicans claimed and he had a mandate to nominate, just as Senate Republicans had a mandate to oppose the nomination if it had proceeded through the normal confirmation process. Two wrongs, however, do not make a right and Democrats have even less justification than Republicans for denying Gorsuch a fair hearing insofar as Trump has virtually a full term ahead of him.

Unless Republicans exercise the nuclear option to break a filibuster against Trump, his nomination will need the votes of sixty senators to reach a vote, eight more than the 52 Republicans who serve in the Senate. Many Democrats are likely to oppose Gorsuch because they strongly object to many of his rulings on politically controversial issues during his decade as a judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is their prerogative, for ideology is a legitimate factor for senators to consider. At least three senators  Charles E. Schumer of New York, Ronald L. Wyden of Oregon and Elizabeth A.Warren of Massachusetts  already have announced that they will oppose Gorsuch on this ground. Since, however, Gorsuch has such stellar professional credentials and by all accounts has a model judicial temperament, I would hope that more moderate Democrats would be willing to withhold judgment until they have had an opportunity to study his judicial record, examine him during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and speak with him personally during the private meetings that are a little-known (and arguably dubious) part of the confirmation process. Democratic senators should evaluate Gorsuch on his own merits and not use his nomination as an occasion to vent their frustrations over Trumps election or to retaliate against the new president.

Since ideology has become an increasingly important factor in Supreme Court nominations during the past half century and since Trump repeatedly vowed during his presidential campaign to nominate a conservative justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia, Trumps nomination of a conservative judge like Gorsuch should come as no surprise, even though Trump in many ways is quite liberal by Republican standards. Unless Democrats want to cripple the court by leaving it without a full complement of members for at least four years, they should not oppose Gorsuch unless they are convinced that rejection of Gorsuch will somehow result in the nomination of someone they regard as more moderate, a possibility that seems very remote.

The reflexive partisan opposition toward Garlands nomination last year and Gorsuchs nomination this year has escalated the already high level of politicization of the Supreme Court appointment process. Although Supreme Court nominations naturally are subject to political scrutiny because the ideological predilections of justices profoundly influence the shaping of American law, opponents of Gorsuch should not allow raw partisanship to blind them to Gorsuchs professional credentials and temperament or to prevent them from carefully studying his ideology before concluding that it is so extreme that they must in good conscience vote against him. Even then, they should allow the nomination to come to a final vote before the Senate rather than killing it by filibuster.

William G. Ross is the Lucille Stewart Beeson Professor of Law at Samford Universitys Cumberland School of Law. He has been writing about the Supreme Court appointment process for more than thirty years.

Suggested citation: William G. Ross, Judge Gorsuch Deserves Non-Partisan Consideration by Senate, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Feb. 3, 2017, http://jurist.org/forum/2017/02/William-Ross-gorsuch-senate-consideration.php
Fifty American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [acvocacy website] affiliates filed [press release] 18 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text, PDF] requests on Thursday with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) [official website] to find out how administration officials are interpreting and executing the US immigration executive order. Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney with ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties Mitra Ebadolahi says, It is imperative that the public learn if federal immigration officials are blatantly defying nationwide federal court orders that block President Trumps unconstitutional Muslim ban. According to various news reports, CBP officials are detaining and deporting individuals although federal courts have ordered them to stop enforcing [press release] the executive order [text]. The immigration order signed by President Donald Trump administration is reportedly being executed at more than 55 international airports across the country.

This order, which many claim to be unconstitutional [JURIST report] and in conflict with federal statutes, is one of several orders signed by the president since his inauguration on January 20. Last week the president signed an executive order to withdraw the US [JURIST report] from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim Nations signed a year ago. Also last week Trump signed [JURIST report] another order preventing foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving US funding if they provide abortions or promote policies that may lead to abortions. Trump has also addressed the immigration area before in his orders. Last week he signed two orders [JURIST report] withholding federal funding to cities that provide safe haven to illegal immigrants, directing the construction of a wall along the US and Mexican border and an increase in the number of enforcement officials to remove undocumented immigrants. On Monday Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson [official website] sued [JURIST report] President Donald Trump over the executive order. The same day, the Council on American-Islamic Relations [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the constitutionality of the same order.
[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Thursday accusing the Trump administration of violating the religious freedom of nationals from the seven nations named in President Donald Trumps immigration executive order [text]. The suit [ACLU backgrounder], filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website], alleges the executive order violates due process and the rights to freedom of speech and religious freedom of all those effected by the order. The complaint states:

The federal government has made it clear that it intends to favor Christian immigrants over Muslims in making decisions about who to refuse entry, detain, interrogate, and/or deport. As such, the Executive Order violates the First Amendment, the equal-protection and due process rights granted under the Fifth Amendment, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

The ACLU is seeking to have the court order the administration not to enforce the travel ban.

Many different groups and individuals have filed lawsuits in the wake of newly-elected president Trumps swift and numerous executive actions. Earlier this week the City of San Francisco filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Northern District of California against the Trump administration over the executive order to withhold federal funding from designated sanctuary cities. In January the Council on American-Islamic Relations [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the Trump administrations executive order restricting immigration from several Muslim-majority nations. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson also sued [JURIST report] President Donald Trump over the temporary immigration ban, and several other states have since followed suit. A journalist and a graduate student at MIT filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] last month against eight federal agencies for records on attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions [official profile]. Also in January the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York claiming President Donald Trumps continued business dealings violate the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution.
Egyptian authorities on Wednesday extended [Al Jazeera report] the detention of Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein by four days. Hussein was arrested on December 20. His detention was originally supposed to expire on January 4 and January 19, but his arrest was extended 15 days each time. Egypts interior minister has accused him of incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos. Hussein has been employed by Al Jazeera since 2011. His defense team has stated that Hussein has so far been denied his right to contact his lawyers. Al Jazeera has rejected all of the accusations against Hussein and has asked that he be immediately released. At the end of this four-day extension, he will be held for a total of 48 days since his initial arrest. Hussein has been video tapped discrediting an Al Jazeera documentary on the Egyptian army. Al Jazeera states that this video was completed under duress. Seven Al Jazeera employees have been arrested since 2013, and 25 journalists are currently being detained in Egypt.

Egypt [BBC timeline] has been internationally scrutinized in recent months over its many human rights infringements and free speech violations. Of particular concern with Egypts constitutional and human rights is the prosecution and imprisonment of journalists by the Egyptian government, which has garnered widespread criticism from governments and rights groups worldwide. In April UN human rights experts raised [JURIST report] concerns over the Egyptian crackdown on human rights defenders. In March Egyptian Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zind was relieved of his position after he stated that he would even imprison the Prophet Mohammed in response a question regarding the imprisonment of journalists. In January 2016 non-governmental organizations issued a joint statement [JURIST report] to the Egyptian parliament giving recommendations to ensure the enforcement of constitutional and human rights. In December 2015 Egyptian lawyer Nasser Aminchallenged a law [JURIST report] that allows writers to be jailed for writings that violate Egyptian morals.
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] issued an order [text, PDF] on Thursday that enjoins two subsections of President Donald Trumps executive order restricting immigration [text] from seven Muslim-majority countries. The lawsuit was filed [complaint] on Tuesday by the Arab-American Civil Rights League [advocacy website], and [a]ll Plaintiffs have either been denied ability to return to the United States or face a real and immediate threat of not being permitted to travel to Detroit, their place of residence, according to the complaint. The order, issued by Judge Victoria Roberts [official profile], permanently enjoins sections 3(c) and 3(e) of Trumps executive order, thereby removing legal citizens from those affected by the travel restrictions.

Many different groups and individuals have filed lawsuits in the wake of newly-elected president Trumps swift and numerous executive actions. On the same day this lawsuit was filed, a Federal Judge in California ordered [JURIST report] the permission of entry for immigrant visa holders. Earlier this week the City of San Francisco filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Northern District of California against the Trump administration over the executive order to withhold federal funding from designated sanctuary cities. In January the Council on American-Islamic Relations [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the Trump administrations executive order restricting immigration from several Muslim-majority nations. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson also sued [JURIST report] President Donald Trump over the temporary immigration ban, and several other states have since followed suit. A journalist and a graduate student at MIT filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] last month against eight federal agencies for records on attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions [official profile]. Also in January the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York claiming President Donald Trumps continued business dealings violate the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution.
On November 5, 2006, the former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity during his time in office. The execution took place on the following December 30.





Learn more about the trial of Saddam Hussein from the U.S. Library of Congress.
[JURIST] South Dakota lawmakers on Thursday repealed an anti-corruption measure [IM 22 text] that was approved by voter referendum in November. According to Yes22 [advocacy website], the organization which helped mobilize voter support for the referendum, IM 22 aimed to improve transparency and accountability rules for lobbyists and big money interests. Shortly after repealing IM 22 by signing House Bill 1069 [text], Governor Dennis Daugaard [official website] stated [CNN report] that the emergency repeal was necessary because the public was hoodwinked into voting for the referendums passage.

The IM 22 repeal measure was passed [Huffington Post report] by a 54-13 margin in the state House of Representatives and 27-8 in the state Senate with only two Republicans voting alongside the six Democratic state senators. Before House Bill 1069 was approved, the law was already enjoined from taking effect because voter-initiated laws are barred from appropriating money. The law was scheduled to go before the Supreme Court before it was repealed. Many Republicans criticized the need for an emergency repeal, stating that the law was already enjoined and the Supreme Court should have had a chance to rule on it.
[JURIST] The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] said Friday that Myanmar security forces treatment of the Rohingya Muslims likely constitutes crimes against humanity [UN NewsCentre report]. Interviews with Rohingya refugees reveal that security forces murdered children, pushed people into burning buildings and raped women, among other crimes [report, PDF]. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] called on the international community to persuade the Myanmar government to end these military operations. The gravity and scale of these allegations begs the robust reaction of the international community, he said [press release].

Reports of human rights violations in Myanmar have prompted international concern. In November a spokesperson for Zeid expressed concern [JURIST report] about possible crimes against humanity committed against Myanmars Rohingya Muslim minority. The Myanmar militarys campaign of violence against Rohingya people constitutes crimes against humanity [JURIST report], according to an Amnesty International report in December. Earlier this week the Myanmar police arrested [JURIST] suspects in connection with the murder of a Muslim human rights lawyer.
UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk [official profile] recommended [press release] on Friday that the UN Security Council and the General Assembly act to ensure Israel complies with Security Council resolution 2234 [text, PDF], which confirms that Israeli settlements in already occupied Palestinian territory violate international law. According to Lynk, The settlement announcements by the Israeli government, only a month after the clear direction of the international community, are a defiant and troubling repudiation of resolution 2334. Lynk said that the lack of enforcement of the resolution has encouraged Israel to continue with construction of settlements. He stressed that mere paper will not preserve the viable two-state solution and action must be taken to change state behvaiour in these circumstances. Lynks recommendation follows the Israeli governments approval of construction of new settlements [JURIST report] in the occupied West Bank. According to Lynk, the settlements, which currently create problematic barriers in West Bank, undermine the right of Palestinians to work, access health care and education, and have family life.

Recent conflicts between Israel and Palestine [HRW backgrounder] over settlements in the occupied West Bank have raised concerns over possible human rights violations. Last month the Israel High Court of Justice (HCJ) [official website] ruled that the controversial Amona settlement in the West Bank must be dismantled [JURIST report] by December 25. Earlier the same month Israels Ministerial Committee for Legislation unanimously approved [JURIST report] the Formalization Bill to legalize the West Bank outposts, which was intended in part to stop the evacuation of Amona outpost. In March the spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] expressed concern [JURIST report] over the apparent extra-judicial execution of a Palestinian man in the West Bank. In January Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] businesses to cease operations in Israel settlements. In August 2015 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged both sides of the conflict [JURIST report] to reconcile and move towards peace after an attack occurred in the West Bank village of Duma, where Jewish extremists allegedly set fire to a Palestinian home while a family slept inside. In April 2015 HRW alleged [HRW report] that Israeli settlement farmers in the occupied West Bank were using Palestinian child laborers in dangerous conditions in violation of international laws.
North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) toward the Yellow Sea Saturday, the South Korean military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected th...

The South Korean football governing body confirmed on Saturday the men's national team captain Son Heung-min had undergone successful surgery on fractures around his left eye, thou...

In a crucial South Korean baseball championship game with his club's title hopes hanging in the balance, Kiwoom Heroes left-hander Lee Seung-ho delivered the best postseason outing...

"The Astronaut," the first official single by Jin of the K-pop supergroup BTS, has landed at No. 61 on the British Official Singles Chart Top 100. According to the latest chart ...
LINCOLN  After four days of debate, lawmakers on Friday took a step to close a nearly $900 million budget gap.

The Nebraska Legislature voted 46-1 to give first-round approval to Legislative Bill 22, a budget proposal largely modeled after a plan recommended by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha was the lone opponent.

Sen. John Stinner of Gering, chair of the budget-crafting Appropriations Committee, and others argued that passing the proposal to address the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, is a necessary move in working to address the states overall fiscal situation.

They also warned that tougher decisions are ahead when lawmakers debate the 2017-19 biennial budget.

The fact of the matter is the governor and his staff reacted in a logical, common sense way to a revenue shortfall and budget problem that we have to confront, Stinner said, noting that his committee treated Ricketts proposal as a template and made changes reflected in an accompanying committee amendment.

Under the proposal that advanced, budget cuts total about $157 million. They are partly offset by $20 million in proposed spending increases.

Ricketts had proposed budget cuts totaling $171 million, also offset by $20 million in proposed spending increases.

While the plan makes across-the-board cuts to most state agencies, it spares K-12 education, corrections and some Health and Human Services programs.

Under the advanced proposal, about $5.2 million in unspent 2015-16 Nebraska Research Initiative money would go back to the University of Nebraska to pay off research equipment. Ricketts had recommended that money be cut.

The committee also restored $4 million that Ricketts proposed be cut from the Supreme Court to preserve funding that covers treatments meant to keep low-level offenders out of overcrowded prisons. And it brought back $3.5 million to providers of developmental disability services to help make up a $7 million shortfall.

Fridays vote came after debate on the proposal spanned four days. During debate, senators raised concerns about the governors approach to closing the gap between projected spending and tax receipts.

Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha and others objected to Ricketts withholding money from all state agencies, not just those under the governors control, in an effort to control their spending.

The Governors Office has argued state law gives it authority to manage the state budget through its state budget director.

This is Ricketts circus that you all are participating in, Chambers said this week.

Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango said Friday that it was clear there was a division within the body and the attempt to take a lot of time on something, in my opinion, that should be relatively easy for this body to move forward with.

Ricketts had requested that lawmakers work swiftly on the budget plan and that it reach the floor by early February.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus defended the days-long discussion as genuine debate.

We are in the midst of a good debate, laying a good foundation for some hellish decisions we will make this session and beyond, he said.

Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha said Friday that while he supports the underlying proposal, hes still disappointed about the governors decision to unilaterally make decisions without talking to state lawmakers.

I think were going to continue to have a conversation about how we cut our budget, and I think it will evolve into the biennial budget, he said.
Regarding Curt Schmidts Feb. 1 letter to the editor, there is a difference between a scandal and controversy. Simply strongly disagreeing with an action or viewpoint can make it controversial. A scandal, however, is an action or event that rises to the level of being regarded as morally or legally wrong.

We all have personal perspectives that may result in controversies. A more objective measure, however, of what constitutes a scandal is whether the moral turpitude or legal transgression rises to the level of a conviction in a court of law. Only two such instances occurred during the Obama administration where legal charges resulted in convictions or where an individual pleaded guilty in court.

CIA Director David Petraeus resigned and later pleaded guilty to unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. James E. Hoss Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also pleaded guilty to falsely denying that he was the source of classified information for two reporters. Former President Obama pardoned Cartwright on Jan. 17.

Schmidt mentioned the payment of $400 million to Iran. Certainly the payment is controversial, but no court ruled it illegal. In contrast, to further illustrate the difference between a controversy and a scandal, we can look at another Iran-related concern in another administration: the Iran-Contra scandal of the Ronald Reagan administration.

Among several senior figures in the Reagan administration either convicted in court or pardoned because of their involvement include: Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger (pardoned); National Security Adviser Robert McFarland (pleaded guilty); Chief of the CIAs Central American Task Force Alan Fiers (pleaded guilty); and, Reagans second National Security Adviser John Poindexter (pleaded guilty).

The list can go on, both for this scandal and in other Reagan Administration scandals. For example, Secretary of Interior James Watt and 15 others were convicted in the HUD grant rigging affair.

According to one Pulitzer Prize-winning chronicler of the Reagan years, Haynes Johnson, there were investigations, indictments or convictions of more than 138 administrative officials in the Reagan administration, the largest number of any U.S. president. Even if we use the more stringent criteria of court convictions, the numbers run into the dozens for the Reagan administration.

This demonstrates the difference between the controversial but virtually scandal-free (not withstanding the two cases mentioned) Obama administration and the scandal-ridden Reagan administration.

The Hub should stand by its original editorial.

Larry Hardesty, Kearney
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FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2015, file photo, Danica Patrick poses by her new race car during a news conference to announce a new sponsorship for her NASCAR auto racing team at Stewart-Haas Racing's headquarters in Kannapolis, N.C. Stewart-Haas Racing has filed a breach of contract suit against NatureAos Bakery because the company has refused to pay millions of dollars it owes the team to sponsor Patrick this season. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
Kilkenny should not send any official or local representative to New York for the St Patrick's Day celebrations because of Donald Trump.

Cllr. David Kennedy of Sinn Fein has tabled a motion to that effect for the next meeting of the council.

I am doing it as a mark of solidarity and message of support with people of all faiths and races among the diverse society in Kilkenny as a mark of solidarity and as a message of support against Trump.

This should be our reply to the disgraceful policies and antics of Trump, Cllr Kennedy said.

"I am well aware of the position nationally, where the Taoiseach traditionally meets the U.S. President. This Motion is not about whether he should or should not go.

He may feel compelled to do this for national and diplomatic reasons and to make a case for the 50,000 undocumented Irish immigrants now living and working in the U.S.

However, these impediments would not surround the non-attendance of a Kilkenny delegation or individual. This is also an issue which should cross party lines. It is simply giving priority to the feelings and concerns of our fellow Kilkenny residents, he pleaded.

He also feels the money could be better spent elsewhere.

The subject is close to David's heart as he has three nephews who are Muslims and he sees the isolation and hurt this inflicts on not only them but the wider community.

Cllr Kennedy also feels that Ireland's needs to examine its own conscience as a country as to how it treats immigrants and the undocumented.

The motion that Cllr Kennedy will bring before the next meeting of Kilkenny County Council on February 20 reads: Kilkenny County Council in solidarity with all faiths and races refuse to send anyone from this council to the USA for the St Patrick's day celebrations,
The Herald reports:

A scheme funded by New Zealand taxpayers netted billionaire Peter Thiel tens of millions of dollars while his publicly funded investment partner barely broke even.

The partnering of Thiels Valar Ventures and the Government-owned New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF) was launched by minister Steven Joyce in March 2012, nine months after Thiel took his oath of citizenship at the New Zealand consulate in Santa Monica.

Joyce said at the time the venture was part of the Governments comprehensive business growth agenda, but a Herald investigation has discovered the arrangement was quietly ended in October when Thiel activated a generous buyback option allowing him and his private partners to claim all profits from the venture by cheaply buying out his public co-investor.

A Wall St analyst told the Weekend Herald the clause left the Government facing a horrendous risk-return proposition that had no place in agreements between commercial parties.

If a professional investor signed this deal, they would be the butt of their colleagues jokes all the way out the door, the analyst said.

This is a clear heads I double win, tails I lose, heads the taxpayer loses, and tails the taxpayer loses proposition, and a very savvy deal for Thiel.

This assessment is echoed by Auckland-based Castlepoint Funds partner Stephen Bennie, who said he would leap at the chance to sign up to a deal if a partner offered such a clause.

Youd take it. And obviously a fairly smart guy did. Thiel didnt need to be asked twice, Bennie said.

The play appears to have left Thiel with an investment worth least $30 million after contributing just under $7m. The NZVIF, by contrast, confirmed in a statement to the Weekend Herald that it received just $10.2m following the October move after having earlier contributed $9m.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High around 55F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 39F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Despite a valiant effort in the first half, Ireland lost to a superior Scotland in the opening match of the RBS Six Nations.

Today's match marks the second time Scotland has won the opening round of a Six Nations tournament, recording a victory of 27-22 over Ireland. The boys in green held a lead for a short period, thanks to tries from Iain Henderson and Paddy Jackson, but it simply wasn't enough to maintain against a revitalised Scottish assault.

Meanwhile, Twitter was awash with emotions - ranging from vaguely optimistic to downright disgusted.

Here's a quick selection of some of the best tweets from the match.
WB economist presents impact of global integration reforms



LAHORE: Dr Gonzalo Varela, senior economist in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice of the World Bank, presented his work (joint with Dr Stefania Lovo, Lecturer in Economics at the University of Reading) on the impact of global integration reforms on firm productivity in Pakistan.



These views were expressed by him in the fourth online Applied Development Economics (ADE) seminar hosted by the Lahore School of Economics recently.



His talk was centred around understanding the extent to which integration in the global marketplace explains productivity patterns amongst Pakistani firms. In their work, the authors focus on distortions upstream in terms of both merchandise and services inputs: tariffs (goods) and FDI (goods and services) and import duty exemptions.



Dr Varela showed that productivity has been stagnant and aggregate gains have been mostly driven by reallocation of resources between firms i.e. through more productive firms gaining market share, while within-firm productivity has not grown since 2015. Duty/tariff exemptions mainly benefit large exporters; their survey revealed that 75% of exemptions were claimed by the largest 100 exporters. This is because the process of claiming an exemption is long (60% of the surveyed firms reported that the claim procedure takes between 60 days to a year) and tedious (the procedure requires anywhere between 12 to 20 documents) with a large fixed cost component, making average cost of claiming decline in firm size.



He went on to show that internationally linked (i.e. foreign-owned and exporting) firms perform better than domestic-owned or domestic-oriented firms.



This suggests that foreign investors cherry pick most productive firms, potentially explaining why foreign firms perform better over time and that exporting firms learn by exporting which helps them improve their performance.



Lastly, Dr Varela discussed findings on the following questions: what do tariffs do with imports of intermediates? Who gains with input tariff reductions? What underlies the positive effect of upstream services FDI on downstream TFP?



On the first, Dr Varela showed that lower tariffs are associated with an increase in the volume of imported intermediate inputs as well as an increase in the number of imported varieties.



On the second and third, Dr Verala showed that integration with the global marketplace of upstream sectors  both for goods and services  has led to increased productivity in downstream sectors mainly for non-exporters, and relatively smaller exporters and upstream FDI in services encourages investments in intangible assets.PR




Protesters gathered at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul rally on Saturday to demand President Park Geun-hye's immediate resignation over a corruption scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-sil. The candlelit demonstration marks the 14th vigil since the scandal broke out in late October 2016. / Yonhap



People in Korea took to the streets in central Seoul on Saturday calling for President Park Geun-hye's immediate resignation over an influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime friend.

This massive rally marked the 14th candlelight vigil that has been held almost every weekend since the scandal broke out. The gathering resumed after a break for the Lunar New Year holiday last week.

With over 2,100 civic groups claiming to join the rally, demonstrators took to the central streets of Seoul. They called for the president's immediate resignation and demanded the Constitutional Court speed up the impeachment trial.

The number of people gathered cannot be confirmed but the square near the presidential office was crowded.







The rally came a day after the special council team investigating the corruption scandal tried in vain to enter Cheong Wa Dae in a raid and secure necessary documents and evidence that could help back up charges against the president.

The investigation team sent a formal document to Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, asking him to authorize a search of Cheong Wa Dae, but it was known that he agreed with the presidential office's stance.

In a statement, the protest organizers called the presidential office a "crime scene" full of evidence, adding that it is an "abuse of power" to block the move to execute the court-approved raid.

The corruption scandal has engulfed the nation since late November, leading parliament on Dec. 9 to vote for impeaching Park. Close aides to the president, including her chief of staff, were arrested in connection with the scandal.

Park is suspected of being an accomplice in the scandal in which her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil allegedly meddled in state affairs and pressured conglomerates into making donations to two foundations controlled by her by using her close ties to the president.







The Constitutional Court is currently reviewing whether to unseat or reinstate her, and should make a decision within 180 days of the day Park was impeached. South Korea is expected to have a presidential election this year, earlier than expected, if the court approves the impeachment.

A rally was also held in southern Seoul, with people gathering in front of a court that rejected last month a request for an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-yong, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung Group's de facto leader.

They demanded his immediate arrest to face a probe into his alleged involvement in the scandal. He is suspected of giving or promising to offer some 43 billion won ($37.5 million) worth of bribes to Park's jailed friend Choi in return for business favors.







Meanwhile, conservative civic groups supporting the president also gathered in central Seoul.

They argued that the scandal was politically motivated and based on fabricated evidence presented by the media, while demanding the impeachment be overruled and the special investigation team be disbanded.

The organizers claimed that around 1.3 million people gathered but it cannot be independently verified.

Police said that they deployed around 14,000 officers to maintain order and prevent clashes. No major incidents between pro- and anti-Park demonstrators have been reported. (Yonhap)
By Jhoo Dong-chan



POSCO faces uncertainties on U.S. anti-subsidy tariffs on its products next month, the first major trade-related decision under the Donald Trump administration.



A U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) official told The Korea Times that it "will issue its final anti-dumping and countervailing duties determinations on steel cut-to-length plate from Korea on March 30."



Observers worry that the U.S. will slap high countervailing duties, which are used when an exporter gets unfair government support, in line with the anti-trade rhetoric of Trump who is feared to bring about trade protectionism.



Korea's leading steelmaker is suffering from bad luck because the final determination was initially planned during the waning days of former President Barack Obama's term in mid-January but was delayed to March for unknown reasons.



"Last September, the DOC calculated a preliminary subsidy rate of merely 0.62 percent for POSCO plates. But the rate may skyrocket in a final determination next month, which was the case twice for hot-rolled and cold-rolled products from POSCO last year," said an industry source.



"In particular, many are concerned that the DOC might become stricter now Trump has been sworn in."



Last year, the DOC initially levied negligible countervailing duties on POSCO cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel products but the eventual figures surged to 58.4 percent and 57.04 percent respectively in separate cases.



The DOC attributed the differences between preliminary and final decisions to a lack of cooperation from POSCO, saying that the steelmaker "did not act to the best of its ability comply with requests for information."



POSCO expects that things will be different this time.



"We provided all the information in line with the requests of the DOC. Hence, we hope that the DOC's final determinations will reflect that," said a POSCO official.



"POSCO is now doing its utmost in reviewing related risks over the final determinations."



If POSCO face anti-subsidy duties of around 60 percent for its cut-to-length plates, it would deal a serious blow to the Pohang-based company because it means back-to-back high tariffs in less than a year.



Worse, the shipments of made-by-POSCO plates are substantial. In 2015, the U.S. imported up to 300,000 metric tons of plates from Korean manufacturers worth $210 million. Some five sixths of them were provided by POSCO.



Steel plates are used for many purposes including structural and construction applications, pressure vessels and marine equipment to name but a few.



Plus, high tariffs on POSCO plates would aggravate Korean's woes in future protectionism of the Trump administration.



The Korea Economic Research Institute held a roundtable meeting last month in Chicago in order to discuss the impact of the Trump government's economic policies on East Asian countries.



Protectionism was on the lips of most participants, who noted that economies like Korea, which depend heavily on exports, would face big challenges if a trade war takes place.




Sat., Nov. 5, 7-8:30 p.m.

Mason City Limits Comedy Club 114 E. Chestnut St., Mason City Central Illinois

Theater & Comedy

He Has The Right to Remain Silly. Mike Armstrong was the type of cop most people wouldn't mind seeing in their rearview mirror. He liked to stop drivers to warn them of the speed traps ahead, just to see their reaction. "I really wasn't into writing tickets or anything like that," he said. "I think that when I quit the police department three other cops lost their jobs. They simply didn't need that many internal affairs officers anymore!" Mike has appeared on Comedy Central, TNN and NBC and was featured on The Friends of Bob and Tom tour 217-482-5233
A woman from Springfield is charged with killing her husband in central Springfield. Police believe Jeanette Riddle, 46, hit Micheal Butts, 44, in the head several times with a crow bar, and then tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists and taking prescription pills.

Just before noon Thursday, Springfield police officers went to 811 S. New Ave., after Butts' mother called 9-1-1 and said her son was injured there. Officers forced their way into the home and found Butts' bloody body. He'd suffered head injuries. The Greene County Medical Examiners Office will do an autopsy to verify the cause of death.

Officers also found Riddle in the home with slashed wrists. They said she was incoherent and began vomiting when officers approached her. She was in a hospital in stable condition on Friday, according to the probable cause statement used as the basis of the charges.

Butts' mother said Riddle called her at 11:51 a.m. and said her husband, whom she called Chad, was dead. The mother asked what happened and Riddle said she went to sleep and he was dead when she woke up. The mother said she thought she heard a gurgling noise, and Riddle then hung up, according to the detective's probable cause statement.

The mother then called Riddle's daughter. The daughter called her mother and asked what happened. Riddle told her daughter that she and Butts "had been arguing and she hit him in the head with a crowbar and took pills to kill herself," the detective wrote.

The detective learned from family members that the couple's "relationship was physically abusive and they both abused drugs and alcohol." One relative described the relationship as "toxic."

The detective interviewed Riddle on Thursday.

"Riddle admitted to striking (Butts) numerous times with a crowbar. Riddle stated she and (Butts) had been arguing during the morning and the argument escalated to the point when she struck him with the crowbar. . . . Riddle stated she went into the other room, slit her wrist and took prescription pills an attempt to kill herself," the detective wrote.

Neighbors told reporters on Thursday that the couple had only lived in the rental house on New Avenue for about a month.

Riddle's bond is set at $250,000. She's charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Detectives continue to investigate and ask anyone who has information about this death to call the Springfield Police Department at (417) 864-1810 or to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at (417) 869-8477.
A man from Harrisonville is accused of robbing and binding up a 70-year-old woman in her home southeast of Marshfield. Law enforcement officers caught up with Dustin Kellogg, 33, after he turned in himself to a jail in Liberty on charges unrelated to his crimes in Webster County.

The victim of this crime came home from a shopping trip at mid-afternoon on Jan. 22. As she walked in through her garage, she noticed a gun in her car in the garage. A man with a knife then ran out of her home, forced her inside, held her hostage at gunpoint and knife-point, and bound her hands and ankles with clear packing tape. The woman said the man stole the jewelry from her hands.

Before the robber left, the man disconnected the phones in the house. He then stole the womans truck. The woman called for help after she was able to free herself about 45 minutes later.

The thief got into the womans home by shattering the back door. He ransacked her bedroom and bathroom and stole jewelry, medicine and cash. Detectives also found he apparently tried to hot-wire the car in the garage; its ignition had been ripped out so the car was no longer drivable.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab checked the packing tape for fingerprints and matched five prints to Kelloggs prints, which were in a law enforcement data bank after previous arrests, according to the probable cause statement used as the basis of the charges against Kellogg. Kellogg was out of prison on probation after serving time for a conviction in 2012 for first-degree property damage in Cass County. He also served prison time and probation for a conviction in Vernon County in 2004 for possession of a controlled substance.

Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole says Kellogg believed he got away with his crimes near Marshfield, which is why he voluntarily surrendered at the Clay County jail. He says Webster County detectives interviewed Kellogg in Liberty this week and found him fairly cooperative. The sheriff says it appears they may be able to recover the stolen jewelry belonging to the woman from Webster County. He also said she picked Kelloggs photo out of a photo lineup.

The probable cause statement doesn't say why a man from Harrisonville, 30 minutes south of Kansas City, would have robbed a home in a rural area of Webster County and needed to steal a vehicle to get away.

Kellogg was still in the Clay County jail on Friday after being charged on Jan. 24 with tampering with a motor vehicle, two days after the robbery in Webster County. When he's eventually jailed in Webster County, his bond will be $500,000.

Kellogg is charged in Webster County with first-degree robbery, which could bring him a prison sentence of 10 to 30 years; armed criminal action, which carries of prison term of three years or more; first-degree kidnapping, which carries of prison term of five to 15 years, of which 85 percent or more has to be served; first-degree tampering with a vehicle, which carries a prison sentence up to seven years; and first-degree property damage, which carries a prison sentence up to four years.
A 70-year-old man charged with robbing a Kansas City, Kan., bank said he did it because he preferred a jail cell over living with his wife.

Lawrence John Ripple is charged in federal court with the Friday afternoon robbery of the Bank of Labor at 756 Minnesota Ave.

According to court documents, Ripple handed a teller a note that read, I have a gun, give me money.



The teller complied.

But instead of fleeing, Ripple took the money and then took a seat in the bank lobby, according to the documents.

When a bank security guard approached him, Ripple told the guard, Im the guy youre looking for.

The guard took the money from Ripple and held him until police arrived, which wasnt long, because Kansas City, Kan., police headquarters is on the same block.

When he was questioned later by investigators, Ripple told him that he and his wife had argued and he no longer wanted to be in that situation, according to the documents.

Ripple wrote out his demand note in front of his wife  and told her hed rather be in jail than at home, an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit filed in support of the robbery charge.

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A Nigerian Air Force personnel, IgbobieUzezi, who accused one of her superiors, Flight Lieutenant B.S Vibelko, of drugging and raping her in 2011, has sued him along with the Air Force, Chief of Air Staff, and Attorney-General of the Federation, for her unlawful dismissal.

The suit, number FHC/L/CS/10/17, was filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos Division on January 5, 2017, by the Malachy Ugwummadu Chambers on behalf of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, which is handling the case.

The court processes obtained by our correspondent, state that the violent rape and sexual assault of Uzezi was a flagrant violation of her fundamental rights to life, dignity of human person and personal liberty.



Uzezi accused Vibelko of assaulting her on May 17, 2011 with claims that she contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the process.

She said in her suit, I was arrested and detained at the guardroom within the Air Force Base, Victoria Island, Lagos in an inclement and dehumanising condition with hard labour for a period of 14 days from May9 to 23, 2013 on the orders and prompting of the chief of air staff, air officer commandant, and the flight lieutenant, without charging me to a court of law or even making my offences known to me.

According to the suit, the claimant was again detained within the Air Force Base, Ikeja, Lagos for another 10 days from October 1 to 10, 2015 allegedly on the orders of the names mentioned earlier.

Her lawyers claim that Uzezi was dismissed from service without allowing her a fair hearing on allegations that Vibelko, her former instructor took undue advantage of her violently drugging and raping her against all known codes of discipline and laws of both the Nigerian Armed Forces Act and Criminal laws of Nigeria.

Uzezi is asking the court to award her the sum of N500m jointly and severally against the chief of air staff, air officer commandant and also the flight lieutenant as general and exemplary damages for the breach of her fundamental rights.

Uzezi joined the Air Force in 2010 at the age of 19. She said she was still a virgin at the time she was allegedly raped.

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PRESS RELEASE

Ambassador Nominee Branstad Says He Will Work for a Win-Win Relationship with China

Feb. 3, 2017 (EIRNS)Ambassador designate to China, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R), celebrated Chinese New Year Feb. 1, at a concert of traditional Chinese music in Muscatine, Iowa, before which he and the Chinese Consul Gen. Hong Lai of Chicago, spoke of the long, cordial relationship between Iowa and China. Muscatine is where Pres. Xi Jinping and Branstad first met in the 1980s, and in 1983, Iowa and Hebei Province became sister states.

The concert was performed by a Chinese orchestra from the Shaanxi Province, and attended by hundreds of enthusiasts. Chinese businessmen are building a hotel in Muscatine, on the Mississippi riverfront, expecting many Chinese tourists to visit the city, because of Mark Twains time there, a fond U.S. folk figure in China.

The same day, Xinhua ran an interview with Branstad, in which he says he would work for a "win-win" policy between the U.S. and China. "I am very honored and very proud to have been chosen to be the ambassador to China. We want to continue to enhance the relationship and to increase trade between our two countries."

Xinhua reported that Branstads view is, with China as the worlds largest developing country and the United States as the largest developed country, if the two countries can further improve their relationship, continue to build friendship and trade, he believes it can benefit the world as a whole.

Asked about the negative comments regarding China from Trump and some of his cabinet, Barnstad replied:

"I hope ... that I can play a constructive role trying to work out many of these differences in a way that makes it a win-win. It is beneficial to both of our countries, and also benefits the rest of the world,"

Branstad said.

"I think we have seen just the tip of the iceberg of the potential investments here, now we are seeing companies ... that have been here for some time, doing business in America. And I think many more Chinese companies will want to do that."

Branstad, who has had a long, friendly relationship with Xi Jinping due to Xis numerous visits to Iowa, faces a confirmation hearing before he can assume his post, which is expected within the coming month.

It was widely reported in the U.S. and Chinese press that Trumps daughter, Ivanka Trump, and Ivankas daughter Arabella Kushner, visited the Chinese Embassy in Washington yesterday to participate in a Chinese New Year reception. Ivanka was greeted by Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai. Arabella, who is reported to have been studying Chinese since she was 18 months old, sang a New Years greeting song in Mandarin Chinese on a video which has gone viral on Twitter. She sang in perfect tonality and in clear Chinese.

Ambassador Cui, in a speech at the reception, said, in regard to relations with the Trump Administration: "We have learned that we should always respond to difficulties and challenges by cooperation, instead of conflict or confrontation. We should work together for win-win cooperation, instead of being misguided by zero-sum or cold war mentality."
PRESS RELEASE

Kiev Regime Caught in Lies in Southeast Ukraine

Feb. 3, 2017 (EIRNS)The Kiev regime was caught in yet another lie, yesterday, when it claimed that it had no tanks in Avdeyevka, the village north of Donetsk where the fighting has been most intense in the past few days, even though video of the tanks had been posted to twitter by a BBC reporter in the area. Earlier in the day an official representative of the press center for Ukrainian security, Leonid Matyukhin, told Sputnik that he denied the presence of the tanks, saying that that there were no tanks in Avdiivka. This, however, was then contradicted by the monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who reported seeing four T-64 tanks behind a building in Avdeyevka, their presence being in violation of the withdrawal lines in the Minsk agreements. The OSCE monitors reported, today that they observed three T-64 tanks in Avdeyevka, as well as numerous others in other areas that were well inside the withdrawal lines.

The last two OSCE reports indicate that the amount of shooting has declined over the past two days, but is still intense. Officials of the breakaway Donetsk Peoples Republic reported this morning heavy shelling by the regimes troops of the Leninskoye village in the south of the self-proclaimed republic early on Friday. Late on Thursday, the Ukrainian forces opened fire at the territory of Donetsk from 152mm caliber artillery weapons and the Uragan multiple launch rocket systems, TASS further reports.

In Moscow today, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the barbaric behavior of the Kiev regime in the Donbass for putting civilians at risk. "Overnight Donetsk was heavily bombarded by the Ukrainian military," she said.

"The citys residential areas were shelled dozens of times with heavy guns as well as Uragan and Grad multiple rocket launchers. As a result, several civilians were killed and many, particularly children, suffered wounds, much damage was inflicted,"

Zakharova added.

"This barbaric attack cannot be justified, Kiev has violated not only the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, dated August 12, 1949, but also trampled upon all moral norms,"

she went on to say. "Only barbarians can bombard a sleeping city and kill innocent people, we have no other name for those who carried out this attack."

In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denied the reality acknowledged by most international institutions and called on Russia to use its "considerable influence" to end fighting in eastern Ukraine. "We call for an immediate return to the ceasefire," Stoltenberg said. "We call on Russia to use its considerable influence over the separatists to bring the violence to an end."

Russias mission to NATO responded that NATO, instead has to put pressure on the regime in Kiev to end its escalation. "By urging Russia to use its influence on the militias, NATO continues to ignore the real facts. How about calls upon Kiev for ending its offensive operations in Donbass and giving up the idea of a military solution of the conflict," the statement says, reports TASS. The Russian mission said that "NATOs strong political and practical support that continues to be promised to Ukraine merely encourages the party of warmongers."
PRESS RELEASE

Yemen Genocide Accelerates: Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World Now, Says UN OCHA

Feb. 3, 2017 (EIRNS)The years of malnutrition in war-torn Yemen are now beginning to take their toll in a devastating way. The number of civilian deaths from the war is estimated to have been 11,403 in November 2016, after 600 days of Saudi-led bombing. Now the deaths from starvation are rapidly overtaking the direct casualties from war. UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens Fund, reported Jan. 31 that 63,000 children had died during 2016 from malnutrition in Yemen. Almost half a million children are in "severe acute malnutrition," i.e. about to die. 3.3 million, among them 2.2 million children, are in "acute malnutrition."

Some 14 million people are currently "food insecure" of whom half are "severely food insecure." This means that at least 7 million people need emergency food assistance to survive.

The UN Security Council discussed the possibilities to open the airport and the Houdeida harbor in order to provide emergency humanitarian assistance. Some 20,000 persons are waiting to go abroad to get specialized medical treatment. The airport of the capital, Sanaa, which is closed because it was bombed, is also important to bring in journalists as it is almost impossible to travel to Yemen now, and very little independent news comes out. The only harbor under control of the Sanaa government, Houdeida, is blockaded by sea. The harbor cranes there were bombed by the Saudis and four new mobile cranes brought by the World Food Program are not allowed to land and are currently waiting in the ship at sea.

Our source said there is no new resolution or amendment of UNSC Resolution 2216 in the pipeline. What complicated the picture is that the British are the Security Council "penholder," meaning that the British UN representatives are supposed to write any amendment of this resolution.

The above information is from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

What therefore is left to do, to bring in the food and to stop the war, is to change the implementation of the Resolution 2216, as most of its implementation is illegal. The UN does not condone starvation or war crimes in the implementation of its policies and resolutions.

Here all pressure from both international non-governmental organiozations (NGOs) and governments is absolutely necessary. There are so many tricks with the implementation of the resolution and the blockades, that have to be identified. One of them is that most imports of food, medicine, and fuel have been stopped at the harbor of origin, pending acceptance of an application for import permission. However, this permission is almost never accepted, as the application has to be sent to the Yemeni Transport Ministry of the Hadi government in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where they block it, and thereby prevent the imports getting to the North. Even paperwork requests for humanitarian assistance have difficulty getting permission.

The Hadi government is in physical control of the other major harbor in Yemen, Aden, but this harbor is extremely insecure because of the proliferation of undisciplined militias and outright terrorist bands like Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Daesh (ISIS). The UN relief organizations therefore cannot bring the food ashore in Aden, and the food remains at sea or in Djibouti in eastern Africa.

On Dec. 6, 2016 Oxfam demanded the lifting of the import restrictions to Yemen for food, fuel and medicine. Mark Goldring, Oxfam GB Chief Executive, said:

"Yemen is being slowly starved to death. First there were restrictions on importsincluding much needed foodwhen this was partially eased, the cranes in the ports were bombed, then the warehouses, then the roads and the bridges. This is not by accidentit is systematic. The countrys economy, its institutions, its ability to feed and care for its people are all on the brink of collapse. There is still time to pull it back before we see chronic hunger becoming widespread starvation. The fighting needs to stop and the ports should be fully opened to vital supplies of food, fuel and medicine."

There are 12 international humanitarian NGOs that demanded on Aug. 16, 2016, that the restrictions for the civilian air traffic to Yemen be lifted. These NGOs were ACF International, ACTED, Care, Danish Refugee Council, Global Communities, Handicap International, International Rescue Committee, Intersos, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam and Save the Children.

UN Resolution 2216 violates the statutes of the UN Charter by putting the whole blame on one party of a domestic conflict, which is against the UN policy of reconciliation and noninterference in domestic conflicts. Then it encourages the Saudi-led coalition to enforce the disarmament of the party blamed, the Houthis, with a war on Yemen.

The bombing war is illegal, as it perpetrates war crimes against Yemenis by systematically attacking 1) civilian targets including houses, hospitals, schools, markets, funerals; 2) the food procurements, the harbor, the roads and bridges, fuel and food storages, food production, dams; even farm fields have been rendered unusable with cluster bombs; 3) the ancient cultural heritage, museums, cities, mosquesa world heritage.

Even the U.K. Ministry of Defense has said it has noted 252 alleged violations of international humanitarian law carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemens civil war. This also makes the arms trade to Saudi Arabia from U.K., U.S. and Sweden illegal.

Addressing these illegalities is now urgently needed to stop the genocide. Especially as the Saudis in the last days have decided to enforce their blockade against Houdeida, the only harbor that can reach the majority of the population in Yemen.
Evangelina Padilla Vaccaro of Corona is the new face of stem cell science in California. Born with bubble baby disease that deprived her of a functioning immune system, she was cured with stem cell therapy developed in Donald Kohns lab at UCLA, which has received millions of dollars in grants from the California stem cell program.

Now shes a vivacious 4-year-old, depicted astride a hobby horse and clad in a pink sweatshirt bearing a lightning bolt on the programs 2016 annual report under the legend CURED.

Thank you all for the amazing work you do, her father told the program board during its Dec. 13 meeting.

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The two big variables are whether any of their clinical trials pay off, and what the Trump administration does.  Henry T. Greely, Stanford University

Evangelina represents the great potential of the $3-billion state program, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, but also its dilemma as it ponders its next chapter. Established in 2004 by a nearly 60-40 vote for Proposition 71, CIRM began issuing grants in 2006. Now, after 10 years, the program has committed $2.2 billion of its bond-funded war chest. Its expecting to spend the rest by the end of 2020.

So it wont be long before CIRM must confront the question of whether to fold up shop when its well runs dry, seek outside funding from foundations and industry, or appeal to voters for more public money. If it returns to the ballot, CIRM would have a chance to reconsider its administrative structure, the inflated expectations it gave voters in 2004, its embedded conflicts of interest and even whether it should be limited to funding research into stem cells. All these features of Proposition 71 have created complications during the programs first decade.

Robert Klein II, the real estate investor who was the driving force behind Proposition 71 and chaired the institute for its first seven years, already has said that he intends to place a funding measure on the November 2018 ballot.

CIRM officials, wary of rules limiting how far public agencies can go in lobbying for ballot measures, arent yet taking an official stand on Kleins effort. Were leaving it to Bob, Chairman Jonathan Thomas says; he told the oversight board in December, We keep him updated on CIRMs progress so that his effort is fully informed.

Thomas added, however, that he and other officers have started discussions with philanthropists and medical foundations that could be potential sources of funds to keep CIRM going in the event Bobs measure is not successful. Klein didnt respond to a request for comment.

The success of any ballot initiative will depend on two factors, says Henry T. Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University: The two big variables are whether any of their clinical trials pay off, and what the Trump administration does.

The public wants evidence that its heavy investment in CIRM has yielded cures for diabetes, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, spinal cord injuries or other conditions that were touted as research targets by the Proposition 71 campaign. Evangelinas improvement notwithstanding, no CIRM-funded research has yet reached the marketing stage, although CIRM officials say some initiatives are getting close.

Greelys allusion to White House policy harks back to the very genesis of the stem cell program, President George W. Bushs 2001 ban on federal funding for research on stem cells derived from human embryos. The imposition of an essentially ideological test for scientific research was what spurred California voters to enact Proposition 71 as a constitutional amendment three years later. The measure endowed CIRM with $3 billion in bond revenue to fund California stem cell laboratories and attract world-class researchers.

The program certainly has helped turn California into a global center of stem cell research. California is the place to be if you want to develop stem cell treatments, says Jeanne Loring of Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, a CIRM grantee who is researching possible treatments for Parkinsons. A lot of my colleagues in other states are envious.

President Obama lifted the Bush ban in 2009, but by then CIRMs role as a bulwark of Californias research infrastructure was secure. Whether Trump might reimpose the ban is unknown.

Trump himself hasnt left a record of his views on embryonic stem cells, which typically are derived from unused embryos developed for in vitro fertilization and donated for research. But Vice President Mike Pence labeled such research morally wrong in the pages of Christianity Today.

A new ballot campaign would present an opportunity to fix some of the stem cell programs flaws that were written into Proposition 71 and consequently embedded in the state Constitution.

The measure gave CIRM unique exemptions from most legislative oversight and state laws mandating public accountability and transparency. By dictating that seats on CIRMs 29-member oversight board would be filled almost exclusively by representatives of grant-eligible institutions or patient advocacy groups, it institutionalized conflicts of interest and an atmosphere of cronyism.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences found in a 2012 report that this setup bedeviled the program with persistent questions about the integrity and independence of some of CIRMs decisions. Indeed, an analysis by David Jensen of the California Stem Cell Report found that about 90% of the $1.7 billion in CIRM grants by 2013 had gone to institutions with present or past representatives on the board.

Lasting damage to CIRMs mission also may have been done by the tenor of the Proposition 71 campaign, which used such high-profile victims of neurological conditions as Michael J. Fox and Christopher Reeve to give voters the impression that money was the sole obstacle to miraculous stem cell cures, and that successful treatments would yield immense profits for the state. Neither claim was realistic, but they set benchmarks for success that CIRM has been unable to meet.

A new funding campaign could give the program a much-needed reboot. The ballot measure could restructure CIRM as an ordinary agency of the state subject to legislative oversight, open meetings laws and other good-government statutes, says Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Berkeley-based Center for Genetics and Society.

Especially in its early years during Kleins chairmanship, the program guarded its independence from oversight truculently. Since then, Darnovsky says, its been more accommodating: Theyve been much better than they have to be by the letter of the law, she says approvingly. But she says the program has never resolved the conflicts of interest inherent in who decides where the money goes and who gets it.

A new campaign could instill more public realism about the potential of the research being funded. If they ask for money, it would be really important that they level with the people of California and educate them about how science really works, Darnovsky said.

CIRMs leadership knows that the publics inflated expectations threaten to obscure the programs real accomplishments. With multiple clinical trials of CIRM-funded research underway, the first government approval of treatments is expected in the not-too-distant future, C. Randal Mills, the programs president, said in an interview.

But he acknowledged that expectations need to be tempered with humility at the enormity of the task before us. We dont want to overpromise or overhype. CIRM is doing what it was set up to do, but it might be taking longer than people thought or hoped.

Still, the programs future may depend more on politics than science. If it looks like Washington is flipping off California, that could have political ramifications at the ballot box, Greely says. Some researchers arent optimistic about the prospects for independent, federally funded science under the Trump administration.

The only thing I can predict, Loring says, is that it will be neutral or negative. It wont be positive.

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.
This $7,800-a-month cancer drug caused rashes and rarely worked. Now Trump could make FDA approvals even easier (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

In June, pharmaceutical giant Genentech sent doctors a letter saying they should no longer prescribe a blockbuster drug called Tarceva to most patients suffering from lung cancer .

A study had found that only a small number of patients  those with a certain gene mutation  might be helped by the drug, the company said.

The news upended a 2010 decision by the Food and Drug Administration to greatly expand use of the $94,000-a-year drug, despite warnings from a panel of experts that said there was little evidence it actually worked.

The FDAs decision resulted in more harm than the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on a drug that was ineffective for 90% or more of patients.

Over the years, thousands of patients were prescribed a drug that had no chance of helping them but could frequently cause terrible rashes covering their faces and bodies, according to prescription data and adverse event reports. Some patients with the most aggressively growing cancers died before trying other treatments that may have lengthened their lives.

The story of Tarceva shows the danger of approving experimental medicines before reliable scientific data show they are effective  which regulators are now doing more frequently.

Pressured by powerful pharmaceutical company lobbyists and often dramatic testimony by patient groups looking for hope, Congress has repeatedly loosened regulations to speed medicines to sale.

Some doctors fear the bar for approval will be lowered even more.

The FDA is now examining how to comply with the 21st Century Cures Act, a law Congress passed in December to hasten the approval of drugs and medical devices.

And critics of the FDA who say the review process still moves too slowly  including drug companies, their investors and patients desperate for new medicines  hope that President Trump will go even further. At a White House meeting with pharmaceutical executives this week, Trump promised them he was going to streamline FDA regulations.

Every medicine puts you at risk of side effects, said Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist at Oregon Health and Science University who has studied the FDAs accelerated approval of cancer drugs. The question is: Are those side effects worth it? For many of these drugs, we just dont know.

An FDA approval doesnt necessarily mean that a drug works.  Brian Shields, ex-Genentech sales rep and whistleblower

In a written statement, the FDA defended its fast approval of Tarceva and other medicines. The agency said lung cancer patients had few options when the drug was first approved in 2004.

The FDA said it had limited the drugs approval to the small number of patients who had the mutation soon after Genentech released the results of the study last year showing it did not work for other patients. The agency had requested that study six years earlier.

How thousands of cancer patients were prescribed a drug that couldnt help them The Food and Drug Administration frequently speeds experimental medicines to sale by approving them before scientific evidence shows they work. For a drug called Tarceva, the FDAs decisions resulted in thousands of lung cancer patients taking a drug that could not help them. Twelve years passed before the agency warned doctors in October that Tarceva only worked for a small number of patients with a rare gene mutation. November 2004 FDA approves Tarceva for severely ill lung cancer patients who have not been helped by chemotherapy and have few options. An FDA scientist warns that Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals, the two companies selling the drug, have little incentive to find those patients who could respond to the drug because it would cut the  market in half. Summer 2009 Genentech and OSI ask the FDA to expand Tarcevas approval to lung cancer patients who are not as ill and have been helped by chemotherapy. OSIs chief executive tells investors the approval could add $500 million to sales. December 2009 A committee of cancer experts advising the FDA votes 12 to 1 against expanding the drugs approval, telling the agency there was little evidence the drug worked. April 2010 The FDA agrees to expand the drugs approval despite the committees vote. The agency asks the companies to perform another study to determine which patients benefit from the drug. December 2015 European regulators announce the results of the FDA-requested study, which showed the drug did not help 90% or more of patients. They warned European doctors not to prescribe Tarceva unless a patient tested positive for the mutation. June 2016 Genentech and OSI pay $67 million to settle a federal whistleblower lawsuit that said they had aggressively promoted the drug for years to patients it could not help. The companies said they did not agree with the claims, but settled to avoid more costly litigation. Late June 2016 The companies send American doctors a letter with the results of the study and warn them not to prescribe the drug unless a patient has the mutation. October 2016 The FDA removes Tarcevas approval except for the relatively few patients who have the mutation. Read more

FDA officials attributed the delay in limiting Tarcevas approval to the many years it can take to perform a meaningful scientific study.

This process of gaining new knowledge about disease and drug efficacy  which can significantly modify or even contradict results on which previous drug approval decisions were made  is the essence of scientific advancement, the agency said.

Genentech declined to make executives available for interviews. The company and its marketing partner OSI Pharmaceuticals instead sent a brief statement.

Clinical trials answer specific questions about the safety and efficacy of a medicine, but also lead to new hypothesis-generating information, the statement said. It is not uncommon for a medicines approved indications to change over time.

One of Trumps possible selections to head the FDA  Jim ONeill, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with no education in medicine or science  has raised the idea of approving drugs with no tests of their effectiveness.

Lets prove efficacy after theyve been legalized, ONeill said in an August 2014 speech at a biotech conference.

That would mean more patients would become part of a continuing experiment and be prescribed medicines their doctors know little about.

Tarceva is not the only medicine that doctors are now prescribing that may not work for most patients. In a study, Prasad and his colleague found that of 36 cancer drugs approved by the FDA between 2008 and 2012, only five had been shown to actually extend survival by 2015.

Some ineffective drugs have eventually been taken off the market, but it can take years. A drug called Mylotarg was pulled from pharmacy shelves in 2010  10 years after the FDA approved it for acute myeloid leukemia, a bone marrow cancer.

Scientists designed Tarceva to block an enzyme associated with epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, a protein believed to play a role in the formation and growth of cancer.

In 2004, researchers discovered a gene mutation tied to EGFR, creating a way to find those patients more likely to respond to the drug.

Many patients with the mutation have lived for months or even years while taking Tarceva.

Yet for years, Genentech and OSI downplayed the importance of testing for the mutation or levels of the protein and avoided using those tests to narrow the pool of patients. Instead the companies early trials  and promotion of the drug  were aimed at all patients with non-small cell lung cancer whether they had the mutation or not.

Former Genentech scientist Paul Waring explained more about the executives decisions in a presentation at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia in 2014.

He told the crowd of scientists that in 2006 Genentechs commercial team had estimated the company would lose $150 million a year in Tarceva sales if in its next trial  which it was planning to look at early-stage lung cancer  it stopped accepting all patients and instead restricted enrollment to those testing positive for the protein.

We struggled  boy, did we struggle  with this decision, Waring told the crowd. The company was obviously keen to protect its revenue base.

Yet by keeping all patients in the trials, even though other researchers had shown 10% or less might respond to the drug, the corporate scientists were having a hard time showing Tarceva offered an advantage over the placebo.

Instead, in the trials, the few patients who improved dramatically boosted the survival results for the overall pool of volunteers taking the drug. At the trials end, the group taking the drug looked just slightly better than those taking the sugar pill.

In essence, each trial was a lottery. Only a small number of patients won even though the companies sold hundreds of tickets.

When Genentech and OSI went back to the FDA in 2009 and asked that Tarcevas approval be expanded, their new trial showed the drug increased survival by a month.

The FDA had initially approved the drug in 2004 as a treatment for severely ill patients who had failed chemotherapy and had few other options. Now the companies wanted it to be prescribed as a maintenance therapy for patients who were not as ill and had responded to chemotherapy.

OSI Chief Executive Colin Goddard told investors in July 2009 that the expanded approval could add more than $500 million to Tarcevas annual sales in the U.S., more than doubling them.

To bolster their case at a hearing on the proposal, the companies paid for several patients to fly to the FDAs offices outside Washington, D.C., to testify about how Tarceva had saved their lives.

Two patient advocacy groups, which had received part of their budgets from Genentech and OSI, also pleaded for the expanded approval.

My cancer is being controlled by this drug, which I am so thankful for, said Mary Lou Fisher of Fortuna, Calif., in a statement read at the hearing.

The committee of experts advising the FDA was not swayed. They voted 12-1 against expanding Tarcevas approval.

I think theres uncertainty, substantial uncertainty, about what the actual added benefit is, said Thomas Fleming, a biostatistics professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, in explaining his vote, according to a transcript.

We were presented with a single study  that has some design flaws showing some very modest or even minimal benefit, added Ron Richardson, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic who also voted against the approval. I dont think the sponsor answered the question on the value of this drug.

The FDA did not take the experts advice.

The agency employee signing the 2010 approval letter was Robert Justice, a former Genentech senior scientist.

The approval further fueled Tarcevas global sales to nearly $1.5 billion in 2011, according to QuintilesIMS, a consulting firm. American doctors wrote 119,047 prescriptions that year.

In sales brochures, Genentech and OSI touted Tarceva for having a proven survival benefit and working in a broad patient population. One flier showed an older man reading to a young boy. For moments that matter, the tagline said.

Brian Shields, a former Genentech sales rep, said he complained in a 2010 meeting of the Tarceva marketing team that the company was promoting the drug to patients it could not help. His boss dismissed his concerns, he said, telling him he was not a team player.

Shields later filed a lawsuit as a whistle-blower under the federal False Claims Act, which the government joined. The suit claimed Genentech and OSI had illegally sold the drug, including by sending doctors and nurses to attend all-expense-paid retreats at resorts where they were groomed to tell others about how Tarceva could extend survival in a broad range of patients.

Brian Shields, a former Genentech sales representative, filed a whistle-blower lawsuit, saying the company sold Tarceva to patients that the drug could not help.

The companies also recruited patients whose cancers had responded to the drug, and then trained and paid them to talk to others in what it called the Patient Ambassador Program, his lawsuit said.

The companies discouraged doctors from testing patients for the mutation, the lawsuit said, because they knew it would reduce sales.

This is a failure of the system, Shields said in an interview. An FDA approval doesnt necessarily mean that a drug works.

On June 6, 2016, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Genentech and Astellas Pharma, a company that acquired OSI in 2010, had agreed to pay $67 million to settle the lawsuit.

For bringing the case to authorities attention, Shields received about $10 million of that amount.

As you lower the regulatory standards you open the flood gates to more of these ineffective drugs.  Vinay Prasad, Oregon Health and Science University

Three weeks later, the companies sent physicians an Important Correction of Drug Information. They warned doctors to stop prescribing the drug except to the minority of patients with the mutation. The letter revealed the results of the study the FDA had requested six years earlier. It showed that patients without the mutation died at the same rate whether they got Tarceva or the placebo.

Genentech and Astellas said they believe their promotional practices were entirely proper and in compliance with the law. They said they settled the lawsuit only to avoid more costly litigation.

It takes years to design clinical trials, recruit patients and evaluate results, the companies said in a statement. As we learned more about disease biology, we worked with the FDA to design a study that looked at Tarceva in people with EGFR mutations.

Waring, the former Genentech scientist, said in an interview that he believed the company had moved as quickly as it could in determining the drug only worked for those with the mutation.

We were all on a steep learning curve, he said.

But Prasad, the Oregon Health and Science professor, said the FDAs lax approval standards, combined with the six-figure prices companies can charge for unproven or marginal medicines, have encouraged the industry to take marketing shortcuts rather than spend research dollars to find true breakthroughs.

Prasad pointed to a study that found the average gain in survival for the 71 cancer drugs approved from 2002 to 2014 was just 2.1 months.

Thats not good enough for the people I see in my clinic, he said. As you lower the regulatory standards you open the flood gates to more of these ineffective drugs.

melody.petersen@latimes.com

Follow @melodypetersen on Twitter

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San Francisco Earth-imaging firm Planet will acquire Googles Terra Bella small satellite business, including the companys Sky Sat satellite constellation, the two companies announced Friday.

As part of the deal, Google also agreed to a multi-year contract to buy Earth-imaging data from Planet.

Founded in 2010, Planet builds small satellites and operates a so-called constellation for Earth observation. The company plans to launch 88 small satellites on an Indian rocket this month.

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Planet said in a blog post that the acquisition will allow the company to diversify its available data and be able to serve new customers and markets.

The company said a significant amount of Terra Bellas employees will join Planet once the deal closes, but did not disclose a specific number.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Terra Bella was once known as Skybox Imaging, and was acquired by Google in 2014 for $500 million. At the time, Google said the deal would help improve satellite imagery on its digital maps and could eventually help improve and provide Internet access around the world.

But recently, Google seems to be pivoting to sectors where it can dominate. In October, the company halted expansion plans for its high-speed Internet network, Google Fiber.

When we thought about a company that shares Terra Bellas passion and strengths in high-frequency satellite imaging, Planet was a natural home, Jen Fitzpatrick, vice president of product and engineering at Google, said in a statement. Were excited to see whats ahead for Terra Bella, and look forward to being a long-term customer.

The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions that the firms expect could take two to three months.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

@smasunaga
President Trump has been in office less than a month but already local and global tourism organizations predict that his policies, including a travel ban targeting seven countries, will hurt the nations $2-trillion travel industry.

Several travel executives, including the heads of Uber, Expedia and Airbnb, have condemned Trumps temporary halt on travel from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, saying it is hurting law-abiding tourists, business travelers and refugees.

The countries named in the ban generate so few travelers to the United States that no U.S.-based airline flies a direct route between those nations and the U.S. Other factors, such as the strength of the U.S. dollar compared with other currencies, could also play a role in short-term travel trends.

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Still, the United Nations World Tourism Organization issued a statement this week, saying the ban could damage the image of the U.S. to foreign travelers.

Besides the direct impact, the image of a country which imposes travel bans in such a hostile way will surely be affected among visitors from all over the world and risk dumping travel demand to the USA, said Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the organization.

Tourism Economics, a global research firm, estimated that Los Angeles County could lose 800,000 international visitors and $736 million in spending over the next three years as a direct result of Trumps ban, plus his America first rhetoric and the recent strained relationships with Mexico.

This loss would be significant for our local businesses and families employed in the hospitality industry, said Ernest Wooden Jr., president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board.

The Global Business Travel Assn., a trade group for corporate travel managers, released a survey that said nearly a third of travel managers expect the ban to diminish travel over the next 12 months. But the survey was based on responses of only 58 corporate travel managers.

Early indications of an immediate impact are mixed.

At Yellowstone National Park, Rick Hoeninghausen, director of sales and marketing for park concessionaire Xanterra, said he was unaware of any post-Trump downturn in international bookings.

Berkeley-based Wilderness Travel said its cultural trips to Iran, scheduled for April and May, have been cancelled because Iran has responded to Trumps executive order by canceling visas to American travelers.

We hope that this unfortunate situation will be resolved, and look forward to an end to the travel restrictions on both sides, said Barbara Banks, a spokeswoman for the company.

The leader of an inbound international tour operator said her business has increased since Trumps election.

Its up in the double digits over the same time last year, said Noel Irwin Hentschel, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Americantours International. Americas in a good position now for inbound tourism.

Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds contributed to this report.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.
Art, theater, music and performance that resonate with this tumultuous moment in world history. Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, and your friendly neighborhood newsletter writer with the weeks most intriguing culture stories:

Art that throws stones

A new retrospective at the Hammer Museum of Arkansas-born artist Jimmie Durham (who claims Cherokee heritage) couldnt be better timed, writes Times art critic Christopher Knight, given deplorable declarations of American xenophobia now splashed across newspaper front pages. Durhams work  visceral assemblages that combine cheekiness and humility  hasnt been shown in a significant way in the U.S. for two decades. But his art, Knight says, speaks with a voice that is otherwise only heard in American life at times of profound crisis. Los Angeles Times

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Art, architecture and the travel ban

Protesters gather in front of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX over the weekend. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

Airports around the country, including LAX, became sites of protest in the wake of Donald Trumps travel ban. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne looked at how the design infrastructure of these ports of entry served as curious stages for acts of civil disobedience. Airports, he writes, are conveners for the kind of cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism that Trumps nativist, America first rhetoric has put squarely in the cross-hairs. Los Angeles Times

I wrote about how artists and arts institutions are being affected by the travel ban. As artists poured into LAX to protest, organizations around Los Angeles are bracing themselves for a chill on cultural exchange. In an impassioned statement on the travel ban, James Cuno, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust, wrote: The Getty stands against it and adds its voice in favor of established American principles of freedom and engagement. Los Angeles Times

Tamika Katon-Donegal performs one of the acts in E Pluribus Unum: Out of Many, One, presented by Artists Rise Up Los Angeles at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Times culture writer Jessica Gelt reported on a group of artists wielding their art as protest: the activist theater group Artists Rise Up Los Angeles, which was formed by producer and director Sue Hamilton in the wake of the 2016 election. In a performance that incorporated song, dance, spoken word and poetry earlier this week, the troupe took on some of the political issues of our age. One can imagine these shows, writes Gelt, beginning to resemble the famously lewd, satirical and politically subversive cabarets of Weimar Berlin. Los Angeles Times

Plus, Oscar-nominated Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi, of The Salesman, has announced he wont attend the Academy Awards in protest of the ban, even if an exception were made for him. Times film and culture writer Jeffrey Fleishman, who has served as foreign correspondent in Iran, uses the news as a jumping-off point to explore his journeys through the region, and the issue of art in an era of divisive politics. Make this a must-read. Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile, The Times Deborah Vankin pays a visit to the exhibition Focus Iran 2: Contemporary Photography and Video, at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles  a juried biennial organized by the nonprofit Farhang Foundation. We wanted to show different aspects of Iran than whats typically covered in mainstream media, director Alireza Rex Ardekani tells Vankin. The more people know about a particular culture, and understand it, the less fear they will have about it. Los Angeles Times

The return of Zoot Suit

Zoot Suit, the fabled musical by Luis Valdez, inspired by key moments in L.A. history  including the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon Murder and the Zoot Suit Riots of the 40s  has returned to the stage at the Mark Taper Forum. In the role of the mythical character of El Pachuco: Oscar-nominated actor Demian Bichir. The Times Daryl H. Miller sat down with Bichir to discuss his approach to this otherworldly character. El Pachuco, says Bichir, is a wise man, a wizard, a shaman. Hes good and hes bad and hes hideous and virtuous and hes profane and reverential. Hes a trickster, a joker; hes life and death. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Times contributor Sylvie Drake speaks with Valdez, who talks about the childhood inspirations that drew him to theater, the roots of El Teatro Campesino, the roving theater troupe he established in the heady days of the farmworker movement, and the play that brought him international fame: Zoot Suit. His early work, writes Drake, represented a combustion of raw energy, defiance, irony and joy. Los Angeles Times

Gravity-defying Moby Dick and more

Herman Melvilles Moby Dick checks in at more than 500 pages  but Chicagos Lookgglass Theatre Company has shrunken down this literary behemoth into a buoyant two hours of stage time that offer an impressionistic, yet stunning, view of Ahabs obsessions. The production is now on view at South Coast Repertory through Feb. 19, and Times theater critic Charles McNulty describes it as a work of art that is well-suited to the moment. A voyage into the heart of darkness, he writes, Moby Dick is still the most incisive guide to the lure of destruction that threatens to capsize all that our civilization has built up in its defense. Los Angeles Times

McNulty also checked out Keith A. Wallaces powerful solo performance piece The Bitter Game at the Skirball Center last week  a work that brings the theatrical tool of emotional enlightenment to the issues that have given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. The story touches on well-covered subjects of gun violence and police brutality, writes McNulty, but its how Wallace personalized the words and individualized the experiences that made the difference. Los Angeles Times

And because too much theater is never, ever enough: The KOAN Unit ensemble has been staging a series of short plays by Samuel Beckett at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. In these five works  which include Act Without Words II, Come and Go, Catastrophe, Footfalls and Krapps Last Tape  McNulty says he found resonances and divergences and at least one piece that resonated with our politically own turbulent moment. But in staging so many plays at one go, he writes, there were signs of haste that would have driven the famously stringent Beckett mad. Los Angeles Times

A cry for a beloved country

Kurt Weills Lost in the Stars, inspired by the South African novelist Alan Patons anti-apartheid bestseller, Cry, the Beloved Country, was hailed for ushering in a new era in American opera when it first premiered on Broadway in 1950. Times classical music critic Mark Swed caught a rare revival staged by Anne Bogart and co-produced by UCLAs Center for the Art of Performance. A work that examines the ways in which injustice thrives, Lost in the Stars, writes Swed, fit the mood of its time, and though rarely revived, it fits the mood of our own. Los Angeles Times

A ballet competition fuels ambition

A dancer performs during the Youth America Grand Prix regional semifinals. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The Youth America Grand Prix, a national competition for young ballet dancers, landed in Huntington Beach last week, where children and teens staged their best choreographies for the possibility of landing scholarship money for a top dance school. The Times Gelt sat it in on the performances, where hundreds of young girls took to the stage as little women  but offstage they are as small as their age would indicate. Los Angeles Times

In other news

 New Yorks Museum of Modern Art is protesting the Trump administrations travel ban by rehanging part of its permanent collection to feature works created by artists from Muslim nations  including pieces by the late Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid and L.A.-based painter Tala Madani, who was born in Iran. New York Times

 How the travel ban has affected the architecture community. Architectural Record

 New York Citys security estimate for protecting the Trumps in New York is more than double the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts. Hyperallergic

 Plus, the best visualization Ive seen yet of the relative smallness of the NEAs budget. New York Times

 A musical version of George Orwells 1984 is coming to Broadway. Huffington Post

 Marta Becket, the desert icon who made the Amargosa Opera House at Death Valley Junction a destination for performance, has died at the age of 92. Los Angeles Times

 Glafira Rosales, the woman at the center of an art fraud scheme that passed off works by an unknown artist as Modernist masters, and brought down the famed Knoedler & Company gallery, has been sentenced to time served. New York Times

 How Japanese American designers shaped American art and architecture in the post-World War II era  and how their World War II internment experiences shaped their lives and work. Essential reading from design writer Alexandra Lange. Curbed

 Enough with the obtuse dance titles, writes Lindsey Winship. The Guardian

 One word: Puppets. New York Times

 LACMA has acquired Random Internationals popular Rain Room installation for its permanent collection. Los Angeles Times

 Plus, the Getty Research Institute has acquired artist Miranda Julys feminist DIY video archive, Joanie 4 Jackie. Curator Astria Suparak writes about what it was like to be part of that unusual video network. Los Angeles Times, The Iris

 The Times Makeda Easter looks at an exhibition at Inglewoods Residency gallery, which offers a different way of picturing black men. Los Angeles Times

 And, an art critic has a go at Beyonces pregnancy portrait. Plus, a little bit about Awol Erizku, the artist who made the pic. The Guardian, ARTnews

And last but not least

Trump Tweets the classics. This is bigly funny. New Yorker

Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

carolina.miranda@latimes.com

@cmonstah

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Since nearly everything that happens after the first few minutes of Foxs 24: Legacy amounts to a spoiler, even the red herrings and blind alleys  it doesnt ease you in slow  this review will be short on plot.

People go this way. They go that way; no, they cant go that way, so they go the other way. They get trapped, get free. Run! Shoot! Type!

If you have seen the original 24" with Kiefer Sutherland as hang-tough counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer, you likely already have a good idea whether youll like Legacy, which is very much its child in form and content. Suspenseful even when its silly (when its trying to be serious), the series premieres Sunday after the Super Bowl, when viewers are conveniently pumped up and adrenalized and ready to go. (I assume this happens  I dont know.) Monday it takes up its regular time slot.

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Possibly, you will like it more than you liked 24" after eight seasons of the same dude saving America from catastrophic cataclysm in a day, in similar ways, from similar people with similar secrets and agendas.

I should admit that I got off this Jack Bauer train relatively early in its run, less because of the similarity than with its love affair with torture  24: Legacy throws in just a dab right at the top, like a bloody amuse-bouche  and its obsession with terrorism. (Which, call me un-American, I find dramatically tedious.) Thats not a comment on the shows execution, necessarily, and certainly not on its popularity; 24" got along without me very well.

The real time aspect of the original series  24 episodes each representing an hour in a single day  was ingenious fun. (In practice, of course, it was a 24-hour story over half a year, not such real time after all.) Like the 2014 iteration 24: Live Another Day, a reunion series that brought the show and Sutherland back after four years away, 24: Legacy will cover that ground in just 12 episodes, supposedly by jumping ahead in between episodes. Perhaps the characters will all just clock out at midnight and get a good nights sleep before getting up to destroy or preserve the United States.

While maintaining signature formal elements  split-screen effects, a digital clock that counts the time at the beginning and end of each commercial break, the back and forth between the field and the command center  and its air of clenched-jaw action, the new show begins mostly from scratch.

Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton) plays former Army Ranger Sgt. Eric Carter, living incognito near Washington, D.C., after assassinating a major terrorist in Yemen. (The premise was reportedly inspired by real-life troops who killed Osama Bin Laden and then went into witness protection.)

Now his cover is blown; as the series opens, most of Carters old squad has already been murdered  all but Ben Grimes (Charlie Hofheimer), a homeless junkie who manages to warn Carter that danger is imminent.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Donovan (Jimmy Smits) is running for president; wife Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto) is the former head of the shows own fictional intelligence agency, the Counter Terrorism Unit, retiring to help in her husbands campaign. She is also the person who guided Carter in that assassination in Yemen we were talking about a couple paragraphs ago. Keep up!

Also involved, among others, are Erics wife (Anna Diop); a high school girl from Chechnya (Kathryn Prescott) and her ex-boyfriend (Drew Phelps); a struggling drug lord (Ashley Thomas) who is also Erics older brother; dueling computer jockeys (Dan Bucatinsky, Coral Pena); Rebeccas new-broom replacement (Teddy Sears); Donovans dad (Gerald McRaney) and his Muslim campaign manager (Sheila Vand). As in the mother series, nobody is who they seem, unless they are, and there is some care taken to make sure to show that evil is an equal opportunity employer  otherwise these stories can look racist pretty fast.

The original 24" debuted just after 9/11. (It was in production well before.) Its heir also arrives at a brutal, delicate international moment, with Donald Trumps own first counter-terrorism operation  also in Yemen, coincidentally  still lingering uncomfortably in the air, and the country divided over a travel ban that isnt about Muslims but also isnt about anyone who isnt. I suppose some viewers will take 24: Legacy virtually as a documentary, a catalog of real dangers, a pill to boost their paranoia. Others will see it as pulp with a topical gloss (There may be an attack, baby  I need to do this  because right now Im the only one I can trust). And they will be right.

24: Legacy

Where: Fox

When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday

Rating: TV-14-LV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14 with advisories for coarse language and violence)

robert.lloyd@latimes.com

Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd

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Damir and Dario Konjicija came to the United States from a refugee center in the Czech Republic. Now theyre living the Hollywood dream.

The brothers were swept out of war-torn Bosnia with their mother when they were children, eventually landing in Louisville, Ky.

After years of effort and immersion in American pop culture, they found their way to the writers room of the CBS sitcom The Great Indoors, where this week they watched the filming of their second episode as co-writers.

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Damir and Dario  now 29 and 33, respectively  remain grateful for their good fortune, which has been on their mind in light of the recent executive order banning refugees from certain countries from entry into the U.S.

Weve been very reflective this week, says Damir.

Although Bosnia is not on the current list, if it had been, Damir says, We think, man, in that moment in time, had that ban been in place, what would our life be like now? I doubt we would have been television writers. I doubt we wouldve gotten as far as we have. We cant help but see those photos of those mothers and children and they look like my mom, they look like Dario and me. Its been disheartening.

Below, in a conversation edited for length, the brothers discuss their journey and the parallels they see with the current refugee crisis.

How old were you guys when you left Bosnia?

Damir: I was 5.

Dario: I was 9 when the war started.

There were a certain amount of buses that were leaving for various hosting countries across Europe, and we were lucky enough to get on one of those six months into the war.

Were you with your parents?

Dario: It was us and our mom, our dad had to stay behind. If you were a male over the age of 18 and you didnt have any disabilities you had to stay and contribute to the war effort.

Damir: Just to give you some context, I think everyone was in disbelief that this was happening. Sarajevo is quite the modern city; I remember one woman boarded the bus in alligator boots. I think everybody was in denial. We all thought, This will be for a few months. No one could have predicted it was going to last for the next three years and so many atrocities would happen.

Dario: I just remember women and children being packed onto the bus and for the last couple hours of the journey they played Dirty Dancing on the television screen. We pulled up in front of the refugee center and none of the women wanted to get out until they saw the final dance.

Damir: We pulled into this worn-down motel that they had converted into a refugee center. It was about 40 women and then like 60 or 70 kids and they put each family in a room and some families had to double up, so all of a sudden you had roommates. We were lucky, there were two of us so we got our own room.

They tried their best to keep us entertained. I think really what helped us keep our sanity was this old television set they brought in. We became the original TV bingers. We started watching poorly dubbed episodes of everything from Growing Pains to Seinfeld to Wonder Years. Kevin Arnold became the third Konjicija brother.

Dario: Who Shot J.R.? was really big in the Czech Republic.

Damir: We bounced around a few refugee centers for a couple years, and then when the war ended in 95 we were given two more years in the Czech Republic of the government essentially supporting us. Then our parents had an option: go back to Bosnia or find a way to seek refuge in another country, and obviously America was the beacon.

We went through an extremely intense vetting process that lasted about a year and half. Twice a month we had to go to Prague to various different embassies and then, luckily, in 1997 we received a letter in the mail. It was sort of like that Youre going to Hollywood! American Idol-style [golden ticket]. I remember us jumping up and down in our little apartment. There was such excitement then opening up that envelope and seeing youre heading to Louisville, Ky.. Wed never heard of it, Dario remembered there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Prague. That was the only context we had.

When did you realize you wanted to pursue TV writing?

Dario: I was obsessed with the show Seinfeld. We didnt have stand-up in Eastern Europe, and when I would see Jerry doing his set before the show started I never understood what that was. So when I was 18 I started doing it. I had a pretty thick accent, but by my 20s I started getting some paid gigs and that was my foray into show business. Soon I discovered I liked writing jokes more than performing in front of strangers and getting heckled.

Damir: Meanwhile, I was getting my BFA in theater [from the University of Illinois]. I thought I was going to be an actor-slash-writer. We made a pact after I finished college in 2009 that we would move to L.A. About a year later we packed up our cars and drove out together.

We didnt have any contacts. We quickly realized were really going to have to write our way in. We were just in this sad one-bedroom apartment we were both sharing and we didnt know anybody. All we could do was write.

And just this past week you had an episode filmed in your first season as staff writers?

Damir: Its been trying in the sense that in the same week where were working on our second episode heres this ban that now  is going to make it impossible for other refugees to come.

Dario: Nobody chooses to become a refugee, its an unfortunate thing that happens to you. And the only silver lining, if you will, is that there are other countries that are going to help out and take you in. I can only imagine being a Syrian child in need of escape and a new home and all these countries are shutting their doors.

When we lived in Czech Republic for five years, we never felt like we were fully Czech citizens. We always knew our place: we were refugees, we were foreigners. I will say in America, at the time, what was beautiful about it is once we moved here, everyone just accepted you as American. That was very refreshing, they werent protective of their nationality.

That seems like such a striking difference from the climate right now.

Damir: Everyones circumstance is different. We understand the fact, you know, were from Bosnia. Were white men. I think our experience as white refugees might have been different had we been from Rwanda or from a different country. We can only speak from our perspective.

But I can honestly say that in Kentucky where youd think, Its a Southern state, people might be a little hesitant, we felt nothing but acceptance.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

chris.barton@latimes.com

Follow me over here @chrisbarton.

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Id never been to the Islamic Center of Southern California, on Vermont Avenue in Koreatown, so call me naive. But I didnt expect to hear a conversation in Spanish, or see so many Latinos, African Americans and Caucasians at the mosque and cultural center.

When you come on our main day, Friday service, its filled with people, and you dont see two people from the same country in any row, said Asim Buyuksoy, religious director and Turkish immigrant. It is the color of the rainbow, with people from Africa, Europe, Asia, South Asia. All are coming here to worship one God in the same sense as Christians and Jews.

I shouldnt be surprised, given the neighborhood.

In Koreatown, two-thirds of the 125,000 residents are foreign born, as per the L.A. Times mapping project published several years ago. Just west of there, the Mid-Wilshire District was ranked as the most diverse region in Los Angeles County, with large populations of white, Asian, black and Latino residents.

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That blending doesnt necessarily mean theres lots of mingling among people of different ethnic and faith backgrounds in these neighborhoods. In some cases, segregation is as real as it is in far less diverse neighborhoods.

But with all the news of travel bans and walls, of people with legal status being shipped home, of an America-first president taking pokes at Mexico, Japan and Australia, I wanted to disappear into the polyglot center of a city that stands apart, willfully accommodating, in defiance of division.

On Third Street, I walked into a Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian grocery store and cafe, and the man behind the counter told me the guys whod just left the cafe spent their lunch hour talking about Trump. I ran out and caught a guy named Murad, a process server and U.S. citizen born in Bangladesh. He didnt want me to use his last name because as a Muslim he fears being targeted by someone, given the political climate.

Everybody is in fear now, he said. The way executive orders are doled out, theres no respect for law. Fear is palpable. You can feel it everywhere.

What did Murad and his friends talk about over lunch?

Is this the way going forward? We dont know. The American system has checks and balances with the courts and Congress, but there are no checks now.

As for Trumps conflicting and unclear comments about whether hed want a database registry for Muslims, I asked Murad if hed comply.

If he had to, he said.

But Id seek constitutional protection first.

On Wilshire Boulevard, home to the consulates general of Egypt, Spain, Turkey and Iraq, I walked into the office of the latter. An armed guard called for a woman who told me the advice from Baghdad was clear and concise.

No comment.

But outside the office, I met a man who did want to comment, saying he left Iraq 20 years ago.

I support Trump, he said. Immigrants need to be vetted.

I agree. I worry about terrorism, an irrational fear given the tens of thousands who die each year in the U.S. from accidents and senseless violence that has nothing to do with terrorism. I know theres already a vetting system in place for immigrants, but if it can be tightened reasonably and legally, Im OK with that.

But the majority of Muslims are peaceful, and should be seen as allies rather than suspects. There may be no greater threat to national security and civility than provocation and division, two Trump specialties.

Just down the street from the Iraq Consulate is the law office of T. Michael Fehmel, the Idaho-born son of a German immigrant. He and his staff of Japanese and Latina assistants are busy with calls from clients in the U.S. and Japan, Singapore and South America, all confused about whats going on in the U.S., and wondering if they can still come and go.

Theres nobody in Los Angeles who doesnt know someone whos an immigrant, said Fehmel, who has his own story.

At 19, he went to Japan to work as a Mormon missionary.

It changed my whole outlook on life, he said. I was immersed in a new culture I knew nothing about, and I had to learn a language and how to deal with people. It was fantastic.

He later married a Japanese immigrant he met on a blind date in Los Angeles. They went out for Italian in Beverly Hills. Shes Buddhist; hes still Mormon. They have a son who can make up his own mind, Fehmel said.

 Jarin Islam of the Wilshire Center-Koreatown Neighborhood Council joins other community advocates and leaders for a news conference and solidarity rally with the Muslim community of Los Angeles.

Up on Vermont, a man who appeared homeless was sitting on the steps of the Islamic Center, talking to an invisible acquaintance. A doorman let me in, and the homeless guy slipped in behind me. He lay down on the carpet, where prayer service is held each day. Staffers knew him by name and said hello. He made himself comfortable and went to sleep on the carpet, talking in his sleep a bit.

Zubaida El Fattah, who came for prayer, was raised in Lancaster by a Catholic mother and Mormon father. She married a Muslim from Pakistan and then one from Egypt, and her job is to wash the bodies of Muslim women to prepare them for burial.

She said she was driving up Vermont one day recently when two men pulled along side her and yelled out, Wheres your camel?

Were peaceful people, she said. We dont do the things theyre putting on the news.

From a distance, I thought I heard a front desk clerk talking to a custodian in Spanish. Yes, said Muhammad Popote, a Muslim who told me his grandparents are from India and Pakistan.

Popote then spoke in Spanish to the custodian, Jorge Duenas Acosta, who was born in El Salvador and raised in Mexico. Acosta has worked at the Islamic Center for 21 years.

Im not fluent, but I could tell Popotes Spanish was pretty good. I asked where he learned it.

My parents speak Portuguese, he said, which made it easy for him to pick up Spanish while growing up in Koreatown. All our neighbors, our friends in Southern California, are immigrants. I learned from them and I grow from them, and theyre part of Los Angeles. Theyre Angelenos.

Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez

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Fifteen months ago, an elderly man with an American accent was found wandering around a British bus station parking lot disoriented.

It took much detective work, but authorities now say that man is Earl Roger Curry, a 76-year-old Whittier man suffering from dementia. Los Angeles County officials and a British police investigation now allege he was simply dumped in England by his son during a visit, a charge his son, Kevin Curry, denies.

Curry was returned to the United States by British authorities last year and is now in a Bellflower nursing home.

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Ive never seen one like this before. I have been in the business for 20 years: a U.S. citizen abandoned in another country, said Connie D. Draxler, the deputy director of the L.A. County Office of the Public Guardian. There are rarely cases of granny dumping, but I dont know of any so dramatic.

The case has generated intense interest in England this week after the BBC aired a documentary examining his case.

According to documents filed in probate court by the Office of the Public Guardian, the county is seeking conservancy of Curry. No one in his family is prepared to accept responsibility for him, the document stated. His own wife and son abused him when they took him overseas only to abandon him there.

In several documents, the public guardian alleges that his family in November 2015 simply left him in England. The BBC interviewed Currys son, who denied he had anything to do with abandoning him. The Times could not reach family members.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

For months, Curry sat in a nursing home in Hereford, the heart of England, as British police scoured the world with Interpols help.

All he could recall was his name was Roger Curry, and investigators knew he was tall, slim with gray hair and a squint, and spoke with a North American accent, according to Britains West Mercia Police.

He was found on a Saturday evening wearing newly purchased clothes from British retailer Tesco: a black hoodie, black jogging pants, black socks and running shoes, police said.

With few clues, investigators made several international public appeals for help identifying the man. In March 2016, British police took it one step further and made an appeal to identify a man seen with Roger, describing him as in his 40s with combat style trousers and black boots. According to West Mercia police, he was walking Roger to the local hospital. In a social media campaign, the police used the hashtag #RogersLostIdentity to spread the story on Facebook and Twitter.

Web sleuths around the globe began searching for answers. One woman came forward to say she believed he was Earl Roger Curry. She posted a picture of the man.

Ive never seen one like this before. I have been in the business for 20 years: a U.S. citizen abandoned in another country.  Connie D. Draxler, deputy director of the L.A. County Office of the Public Guardian

Authorities finally figured out who Curry was after the arrest of a 50-year-old man British man in April 2016 on suspicion of kidnapping Curry. He has not been charged.

That man, identified as Simon Hayes, admitted that when he found Curry and flagged down an ambulance in Hereford, he was not a stranger, according to court documents filed by the public guardian.

Mr. Hayes confessed that he lied about finding Mr.Curry, wrote the public guardian attorney William C. Sias in probate court records. Currys son and wife had brought him to England to be hospitalized, Hayes told British investigators. Mr. Hayes confessed that Kevin Curry had instructed him to claim that he had found Mr. Curry wandering in the streets.

Hayes could not be reached for comment.

Authorities figured out that Curry lived in Whittier, where some neighbors told the BBC that he often roamed the neighborhood in a disoriented state. He returned to L.A. last July.

While arranging for Curry to be brought back to the U.S., the L.A. County public guardians office learned the details of the British investigation, Draxler said.

Curry, a former registered nurse with Kaiser Permanente, has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease and dementia and required total care, the public guardian said. He is residing in a board and care home in Bellflower because he has nowhere else to go.

The public guardian is seeking a conservancy for Curry. The agency said the Social Security Administration suspended sending his benefits to his relatives as a result of suspected elder abuse and abandonment.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has appointed a temporary conservator to look after Currys interests and assets. In court documents, county lawyers noted several other relatives are unable to care for his needs. A judge will decide in April whether to appoint a permanent conservator to ensure Currys well-being.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAcrimes

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Are you a Westsider who has recently had the strange and discomfiting feeling that your local school board representative, Steve Zimmer, just might be a cold-blooded killer? Did you start to get the feeling one day recently, soon after you reached into your mailbox?

A campaign mailer targeting the Los Angeles Board of Education president may be responsible for that disturbing association, whether you fully realize it or not. It is based directly on the advertising for the widely watched Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer.

Netflix promotions for the show feature a split image of a face that looks like a photograph torn in half. The left half of the face, in black and white, is that of a little boy; the right, that boy grown up, bearded and accused of murder.

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The mailer does much the same thing with Zimmers face, one side black and white, clean cut; the other, in blurry color, his eye shaded and sunken.

Zimmers name appears in the red font and style of the Netflix logo. And the hit pieces title  in the same font and style of the show  is Making of a Scandal.

Underneath that title: The real story behind the biggest scandal in the history of the LAUSD.

Zimmer is running for reelection in the March 7 municipal primary against Nick Melvoin, Allison Holdorff Polhill and Gregory Martayan. The mailer is the product of political consultant John Shallman, on behalf of a political action committee that took the name LA Students for Change.

Three of seven board seats are on the ballot in an election that could tip the balance between allies of the teachers union and allies of charter schools.

Zimmers well funded opposition, including former Mayor Richard Riordan and the political arm of the California Charter Schools Assn., appear more concerned about that balance of power than with the purported transgressions listed in the mailer.

But to win over voters, the misleading mailer, like another one on the same topic, blames Zimmer for the school systems notorious iPads-for-all experiment, which the school board formally approved, on a 6-0 vote, in June 2013.

The districts goal was to provide an iPad to every student, teacher and administrator in the nations second-largest school system, and to deliver the districts curriculum via the device. It collapsed due to high costs, poor planning and eroding support.

The FBI seized 20 boxes of documents from the district in December 2014 as part of an ongoing investigation into the bidding process.

According to the other iPad-themed mailer, Zimmer approved a program that stole $1.3 billion from a voter approved bond intended to fix and repair dilapidated classrooms and build new schools. Instead, Zimmer wanted to use this money to purchase iPads that didnt work.

Its true that Zimmer voted to approve the iPad project  as did board members who were and are supported by the same group using these mailers in an effort to oust him. But the full $1.3 billion was never spent because the district canceled the program, and about half of that cost was earmarked for school Wi-Fi upgrades.

The bond money also was not stolen, although critics have said the money should have been used for other purposes.

And while there is a legitimate question about whether it was proper for school bond money to pay for the curriculum, attorneys for L.A. Unified and then-Supt. John Deasy insisted that it was.

The iPads functioned, but the companion instructional effort fell apart.

Both mailers leave the impression that Zimmer was the man behind the debacle. Both quote him saying, Never have I failed more. However, that statement was Zimmers attempt, after pressuring Deasy to resign, to accept some personal responsibility for what went wrong  which a number of others never did. The mailers also overstate the significance of two meetings Zimmer had with Apple representatives.

The iPad project was the brainchild and flagship effort of Deasy, superintendent from 2011 to 2014. Some key funders of the anti-Zimmer campaign remained backers of Deasy despite the iPad issues and a second disastrous technology project.

Deasy and his top aides, not Zimmer, appear to be the focus of the FBI investigation. They have denied any wrongdoing.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

howard.blume@latimes.com

@howardblume
Southern California air quality regulators delayed action on a major smog-reduction plan Friday after hours of public testimony and debate about what steps should be taken to curb the nations worst air pollution over the next 15 years.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board voted 9-3 to postpone consideration of the plan until its March 3 meeting. The decision came after Clark E. Parker Sr., a Democrat on the politically divided 13-member panel, left unexpectedly to attend a relatives funeral.

The delay gives environmentalists, industry and pollution regulators another month to wrangle over the details of the plan, which will guide efforts to slash harmful emissions and reduce harm to the health of millions across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

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Generating the most debate was the plans voluntary approach to ports, warehouses, rail yards and other hubs of the economically important but highly polluting goods-movement sector. The air district would first seek collaboration with the industry but may switch tactics and begin seeking formal rules within a year if the freight centers fail to agree to adequate and enforceable measures.

During testimony, environmentalists and residents from some of the worst-polluted communities criticized the districts approach to freight-handling facilities as weak and called for tougher measures to protect their health.

We cant have any more children, or people or our community hurting from the health impacts of this pollution, said Marina Barragan, a Sierra Club organizer who held a photo of her 4-year-old nephew at the hospital for an asthma attack.

Business leaders and representatives of the ports, railroads, trucking and logistics industries, meanwhile, pressed officials to adopt the plan without changes, arguing that formal regulation would stifle growth in a sector that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Saying at the hearing that the plan falls short, air quality board member Sheila Kuehl, a Los Angeles County supervisor and Democrat, proposed changing it to require the adoption of regulations for ports, warehouse distribution centers and airports within two years if voluntary measures do not work.

Cargo-handling industries and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach strongly oppose such indirect source rules, which the air district has long considered to target emissions from ports and other goods-movement facilities where large numbers of trucks, ships and trains pick up and drop off cargo.

Lake Forest City Councilman Dwight Robinson, a Republican air quality board member who operates a business in and around the port complex, spoke against such changes to a plan that he said balances environmental stewardship with blue-collar job retention.

Robinson expressed concerns that imposing rules on the ports could provoke lawsuits. We could potentially grind our progress to a halt while we end up in court, he said.

Jim Stewart, an environmentalist from West Long Beach near the port complex, told board members to take tougher action to ease the pain and suffering that is happening in this sacrifice zone.

Voluntary measures are not enough, he said. We need a guarantee.

Tracy Hernandez, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, supported the plan as drafted but warned that if the air district embarks on a path towards draconian regulations such as indirect source rules, then we are out.

Though Southern California air quality has improved dramatically due to decades of rule-tightening, the region still does not meet a series of federal standards for ozone, the lung-damaging pollutant in smog that reaches the nations highest levels in the regions inland mountains and valleys. Steep emissions cuts from heavy-duty trucks, trains and other transportation-related sources are crucial to meet the Clean Air Acts deadlines because they release the bulk of the pollution in the basin.

The air districts plan aims to go beyond existing regulations to slash smog-forming gases called nitrogen oxides by another 55% by 2031. Doing so will cost $16 billion, according to the agency. And success would hinge on finding ways to increase spending on clean-air incentive programs that deploy cleaner vehicles and equipment tenfold, to $1 billion a year.

But the district says costs to industry, taxpayers and consumers are vastly outweighed by the health benefits of cleaner air through the avoidance of thousands of asthma-related emergency room visits, missed school days and early deaths.

Another change to the plan proposed Friday by Rolling Hills Estates Councilwoman Judith Mitchell, a Democrat on the air board, would accelerate reductions under the districts troubled pollution-trading program, then replace the cap-and-trade program with traditional regulations.

The oil industry favors keeping the decades-old Regional Clean Air Incentives Market, or RECLAIM, which governs emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides from 275 of the regions largest stationary facilities. But the program has come under fire from state officials and environmentalists for failing to deliver promised emissions cuts and allowing refineries to avoid installing controls.

tony.barboza@latimes.com

@tonybarboza
A Latino gang member wanted for more than 15 years in connection with a racially motivated killing of a black man in Highland Park has been captured in Mexico and turned over to the FBI, officials said Friday.

Merced Cambero, 37, was taken into custody by Mexican authorities in Baja California and turned over to the FBI at the border Friday. Federal prosecutors allege that he was one of three shooters who gunned down Kenneth Kurry Wilson, an African American man, in Highland Park while he looked for a parking space in April 1999.

Federal prosecutors charged Cambero while he was on the run with conspiracy against rights, interference with federally protected activities, aiding and abetting, and use or discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death. Cambero, according to federal court documents, is a member of the Avenues gang that waged a campaign of terror against African Americans.

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FBI officials said that Cambero was captured with the help of San Diego police. According to an indictment, Cambero was one of the Avenues gang members who spotted Wilson as they drove by in a stolen van. They allegedly piled out of the vehicle and rushed Wilson, mortally wounding him with a barrage of bullets fired from a shotgun and two pistols.

In 2006, three other members of the Avenues gang were sentenced to life in federal prison as part of the six-year conspiracy that also saw another black man gunned down at a bus stop in December 2000. A fourth man was convicted as a lookout in that 2000 slaying of Christopher Bowser. Cambero, according to federal court documents, is part of the Avenues 43 clique.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @lacrimes

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Labor leaders and housing advocates cheered in November as Los Angeles voters approved a ballot measure that imposes new affordable housing requirements on many big developments.

If real estate developers wanted to get city permission to erect taller or denser buildings than city rules allowed, they would have to help provide affordable housing, backers of the measure said. Builders would also have to meet hiring and wage requirements favored by unions. Housing and labor activists argued that Measure JJJ would bring good jobs and affordable homes.

Now they fear that Angelenos could torpedo their plans. Just months after the November election, voters are headed back to the ballot box to decide the fate of another controversial initiative  Measure S  that would restrict real estate development. Labor leaders and other critics say it could effectively roll back much of the earlier measure.

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If it passes, Measure S will block much of the affordable housing that voters just voted for when they approved Proposition JJJ, Rusty Hicks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said in a statement.

Backers of the new measure reject those concerns, arguing that JJJ was riddled with loopholes that would allow real estate developers to ultimately avoid building the affordable housing and providing the local jobs that were promised. For instance, they pointed out that the city can adjust the housing requirements to ensure a reasonable return on investment for a developer.

We dont think JJJ is going to create affordable housing, said Jill Stewart, campaign director for Yes on S. Ultimately theres a way out, every single time, for developers.

Meanwhile, attorneys who represent real estate developers say the two measures could clash in an even more fundamental way: Both measures include poison pill language meant to block competing initiatives.

Such wording is commonly included when two measures are on the same ballot  as JJJ and S were originally expected to be  and leaders in both campaigns say they do not believe that JJJ could preclude S if voters approve the new measure in March. Attorneys nonetheless say those poison pills could trigger a legal battle.

This will get litigated, said Paul Rohrer, a land-use attorney who represents developers. Theres a lot of money at stake.

Both measures are focused on real estate developments that are taller or denser than city rules would ordinarily allow, which have become the focus of a seething debate over the future of Los Angeles. The city has established rules that govern what kind of development is permitted  such as shops, factories or apartments  how tall buildings can be, and how many housing units can be constructed on each site.

But city leaders regularly agree to alter those rules to allow bigger or denser projects to be built, a practice that has angered activists who say it degrades neighborhoods. Developers and growth advocates argue such changes have been needed because Los Angeles is saddled with outdated zoning that doesnt meet its needs.

Under Measure JJJ, voters agreed to allow real estate developers to continue getting such changes, but only if they offered up something else in return. The measure requires developers to meet affordable housing and labor requirements if they want certain zoning changes or alterations in the general plan, a document that guides development across the city.

This time around, voters are deciding whether to crack down on allowing such changes at all. Measure S would impose a moratorium on building projects that require changes in city rules to allow more height or density. The new measure also aims to stop spot zoning by barring the city from altering the general plan to facilitate individual projects.

Backers of Measure S argue that city leaders have been too quick to allow such changes, resulting in out-of-scale development that increases traffic and displaces longtime residents. Opponents counter that the proposed restrictions would eliminate jobs and prevent Los Angeles from building badly needed housing, leading to increased rents.

Labor and housing activists say Measure S would also obstruct the kind of building projects that were specifically promised under the earlier measure, which passed with nearly 65% of the vote in November.

We dont think JJJ is going to create affordable housing. Ultimately theres a way out, every single time, for developers.  Jill Stewart, campaign director for Yes on S

A coalition of housing and community groups issued a January statement arguing that voters had paved the way for more affordable housing, but Measure S rolls back this progress before it can get started.

Attorney Gideon Kracov, who analyzed the two measures for the L.A. County Federation of Labor, concluded that the new measure would probably prevent the city from being able to offer incentives to encourage more affordable housing units, transit-oriented development and more equitable hiring practices under JJJ.

Last year, JJJ pitted labor leaders, housing advocates and their allies against business groups, which argued the new requirements would end up crimping construction because of added costs. It was also opposed by the Coalition to Preserve L.A., which is behind Measure S, and the Tenants Union, which contended that JJJ would fuel luxury housing.

So far, its effect remains unclear: Since JJJ passed, no projects that are subject to its requirements have been approved. The Los Angeles City Council is awaiting a report from staffers about how it will be implemented.

The problem with JJJ is, no one really knows how it will work, said Dick Platkin, a former city planner who supports Measure S. He pointed out that under JJJ, developers can pay fees instead of building affordable housing, but no one knows what that fee is. All those issues need to be resolved.

Several attorneys said the bigger question is whether the poison pill language in both measures will clash.

Measure S, for instance, states that anything in city codes that is inconsistent with the new rules shall be repealed. But JJJ asserts that future restrictions on general plan amendments, zoning changes and other adjustments in city rules shall not preclude approving projects that meet the JJJ requirements.

It also states that by passing the measure, the people intend that no other changes to existing laws concerning development will be made by ballot initiative.

Its an attempt to block future legislation that conflicts with JJJ, said David Waite, a land use attorney who represents developers and construction companies.

However, both JJJ and S supporters are skeptical that would actually happen. Hicks, the labor federation leader, said the JJJ wording was meant to address competing measures on the same ballot, not bar voters from changing the law in the future. JJJ, he said, remains vulnerable if the new measure passes.

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesEmily

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A 74-year-old Lincoln Heights man was critically injured Thursday after he was attacked by two pit bulls who mauled his Pomeranian to death during a neighborhood walk, officials said.

The mauling occurred about 5:44 p.m. in the 2600 block of North Lincoln Park Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The man, whose family identified him as Valentin Herrera, was walking his 5-year-old dog named Dodger without a leash when the pit bulls attacked, KTLA-TV reported.

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The dogs pounced on Dodger, killing it. As Herrera looked for help, the dogs attacked him, the television news station reported.

Neighbors saw the attack and immediately called 911.

An animal control officer took the dogs to a Los Angeles area shelter.

The unlicensed dogs will be in quarantine for at least 10 days, according to Brenda Barnette, general manager for Los Angeles Animal Services. Authorities will hold a meeting to determine the dogs fate.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
In a major break in a 24-year-old case, Los Angeles police have arrested several suspects in a fire that swept through a Westlake apartment building crowded with Latino immigrants, killing 10 people, including seven children.

Several law enforcement sources told The Times on Saturday that three suspects are tied to the notorious 18th Street gang. At the time of the May 1993 fire, the gang was terrorizing residents of the neighborhood, then a densely packed first stop for immigrants flowing into L.A. from Mexico and other parts of Latin America.

The suspects were allegedly angry because the apartment manager had ordered them to take their drug dealing elsewhere, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to comment publicly. They sought revenge by lighting the building on fire, the sources said.

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The arrests capped years of investigations into what is considered one of the worst arson fires in L.A. history. The blaze also came to symbolize the desperate conditions faced by immigrants, both legal and illegal, who found themselves living in old, substandard apartments and facing daily threats from gangs who controlled the area.

Survivors of the fire told horrific stories of what it was like inside the burning building.

The scene of the 1993 Westlake apartment fire that left 10 people dead. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

As the flames spread, mothers threw babies out of windows, hoping someone would catch them. People formed human chains to hoist residents down from upper floors. One man watched in horror as his wife and three of his children ran into the smoke, where they perished, huddled in a hallway. Another man also lost three children and his pregnant wife.

More than 100 residents were displaced, and more than 40 were injured. The seven children who died ranged in age from 15 months to 11 years. Two of the women who died were pregnant.

The fire exposed major flaws in the citys fire inspection system. The building had recently been cited for fire code violations, but the owner failed to make the required changes.

Capt. Andrew Neiman, an LAPD spokesman, said Saturday that he did not have the names of the suspects who were arrested.

But a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said two men were arrested Friday on conspiracy to commit murder. A female suspect has been in custody on a murder charge since 2011.

A fourth male suspect remains at large.

In 1993, the 69-unit building at 330 S. Burlington Ave. was a way station for immigrants, some of whom lived a dozen or more to an apartment to stretch their incomes from low-wage jobs.

The fires rapid spread was aided by the crowded conditions, with personal belongings and furniture crammed into small spaces, fire officials said at the time.

After two suspicious fires on the premises the previous month, inspectors had noted that fire doors were propped open and alarms were not functioning properly. They required the owner to conduct fire patrols every half-hour. But the patrols never happened, and the fire doors were still open during the deadly blaze.

The tragedy prompted widespread calls for reform in city fire inspections. But a year later, many of the suggested measures, such as starting a fire safety inspection task force and creating a computerized record system, had not been implemented.

From the beginning, rumors circulated that 18th Street gang members had started the blaze. At the time, local gangs were growing increasingly violent. The building  a place where hardworking immigrants intersected with drug dealers selling rock cocaine to motorists  was in the heart of their territory.

Robert Bub, a retired LAPD homicide detective, said that after the fire, police officers were talking to every 18th Streeter that came in to try to shake something loose.

But people were scared to talk, fearing retaliation, Bub said.

Former City Councilman Mike Hernandez, who represented the Westlake district at the time, said that crime in the neighborhood at the time was overwhelming. He said there was never an outpouring of grief or activism because many residents were reluctant to call attention to themselves out of fear of deportation.

Five years later, in 1998, two 22-year-old 18th Streeters were charged with 10 counts of murder after a gang member arrested in an unrelated killing claimed to know who had started the fire. But the charges against the two men, Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos, were later dropped for lack of evidence.

Meanwhile, the survivors of the fire struggled to rebuild their lives. Most did not return to the apartment building on Burlington Avenue  the memories were too grim. A group of them received $2 million in a civil lawsuit against the buildings owner and managers.

Elias Verdugo Vasquez, the man who watched his wife and three children disappear into the smoke, returned to Chiapas, Mexico, with his only surviving child, his dream of a better life in America shattered.

Years passed, then decades.

At the Burlington Avenue building on Saturday, few people remembered the fire, and no tenants remained from that era.

But Maura Campos, the apartment manager, was living nearby at the time.

I remember how there was a pregnant woman who died in the fire, and it was not that she was burned, but it was the smoke from the carpet, and children also died, Campos, 61, recalled in Spanish.

There is much less gang and drug activity in the neighborhood than there once was, some residents said. Campos credits LAPD officers, who used to keep watch by sleeping on the floor of her living room.

Behind the scenes, detectives continued to chip away at the case. On Friday morning, with the female suspect already behind bars, they moved in on the two men and took them into custody.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is planning a news conference Monday to release more details about the arrests. Officials released little publicly about the case Saturday, saying only that the arrest occurred after an extensive and exhaustive investigation.

Times staff writer Ben Welsh contributed to this report.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

cindy.chang@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

howard.blume@latimes.com

Time staff writer Ben Welsh contributed to this report.

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UPDATES:

1:30 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from law enforcement sources.

This article was originally published at 9:45 a.m.
Two days after warning that it was putting Iran on notice, the Trump administration Friday imposed relatively mild economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic as punishment for last Sundays ballistic missile test and its support for militant groups in regional conflicts.

The penalties, which target 25 Iranian companies and individuals, appeared calibrated to increase pressure on Iran without jeopardizing the landmark nuclear deal negotiated under the Obama administration, or creating a new international crisis.

The Trump administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said in a statement.

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The sanctions are largely symbolic since they target groups that are unlikely to have U.S. assets or business dealings. They were announced a day after the Trump administration also appeared to show restraint on two other foreign fronts where the new president previously had suggested he would order a sharp shift.

On Thursday, the White House publicly appealed to Israel not to expand construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying doing so may not be helpful in achieving peace.

That suggested a far less radical approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict than Trump has staked out in the past, and it set clear limits for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus scheduled visit to the White House on Feb. 15.

The new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, similarly presented the establishment view of Russias 2014 seizure of Crimea and armed intervention in Ukraine during her debut speech Thursday to the U.N. Security Council.

We will never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense.  Mohammad Javad Zarif, Irans foreign minister

Although Trump has previously refused to condemn the Russian intervention, and suggested he might ease U.S. sanctions on Moscow, Haley said the United States would not lift sanctions until Moscow stopped destabilizing Ukraine and withdrew from Crimea.

Trumps unconventional foreign policy continues to vex allies and adversaries alike. In the last week, he has squabbled over the phone with the leaders of Mexico and Australia, and spurred sharp concerns by imposing a broad travel ban on visitors from seven mostly-Muslim nations.

The combination of aggressive rhetoric and less aggressive action seemed to be part of a struggle between bluster and pragmatism in the young administration.

The sanctions on Iran have real value by making it more difficult for Tehran to procure missile-building materials but there is no new ground here, said Richard Nephew, a sanctions expert who was part of the Obama administration team that helped negotiate the 2015 international accord that curbed Irans nuclear development programs.

Nephew said the sanctions, targeting 13 people and 12 companies in Iran, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, were identical to Obama-era measures imposed before and after the nuclear deal was signed.

They even target the same groups: entities involved in ballistic-missile development, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpss specialized Quds force, which is accused of supplying weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, both designated by the U.S. as terrorist groups.

Those named cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies, and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals face being put on a U.S. blacklist for making deals with them.

The administration cited Irans recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile, as well as attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on a Saudi frigate off the coast of Yemen, as justification for the latest round of penalties.

Irans continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide, and to the United States, said John E. Smith, acting director of the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Iran reacted angrily, saying it would impose its own legal restrictions on American individuals and entities involved in helping and founding regional terrorist groups. The foreign ministry said it would provide a list later.

It insisted the missile, which exploded in mid-air, was a test for defense only and does not violate U.N. resolutions or the arms control deal. We will never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense, Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Twitter.

Administration officials suggested they may take further action in the weeks ahead.

I would stress that these are just initial steps in response to Iranians provocative behavior, a senior administration official told reporters Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government protocol.

Iran has a choice to make, the official added. We are going to continue to respond to their behavior in an ongoing way at an appropriate level to continue to pressure them to change their behavior.

The official emphasized that the decision was taken through a normal and deliberative process, with Trump signing off each time.

For his part, Trump tweeted that Iran is playing with fire.

They dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me! Trump wrote.

Until now, Trumps unorthodox approach to foreign policy appeared at odds with norms set by Republican and Democratic administrations since World War II.

The latest moves suggest his confrontational approach  even to longtime allies  has some limits, at least for now.

While Trump has refused to condemn Russia, Haley blamed Russia at the U.N. for a spike in fighting in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow backs separatists against the Kiev government. The violence has killed civilians and left tens of thousands without water, electricity and heat in the dead of winter.

The White House also issued its first, albeit mild, condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion. Although the administration said it does not believe settlements are an obstacle to peace, departing from Obamas position, it said an expansion now did not help the pursuit of peace.

The rebuke was issued after the State Department warned the White House that Netanyahu has approved thousands of new settlement houses in the past two weeks, and that saying nothing would amount to a tacit endorsement of that policy.

Also for the first time, the White House stated support for a proposed two-state solution, the internationally prevailing solution that envisions an Israeli and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace.

We dont believe that the existence of current settlements is an impediment to peace, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Friday, but I think the construction or expansion of existing settlements beyond the current borders is not going to be helpful moving forward.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

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Protests have raged around the country since President Trump issued his executive order on refugees, with demonstrations taking place at airports, in parks and outside Congress members offices and homes.

In the Big Apple, protests took on a decidedly New York tone. Owners and workers from an estimated 1,000 bodegas, the ubiquitous corner deli and grocery stores run largely by Yemeni immigrants, shut their doors for eight hours Thursday (only after the morning rush had ended).

They were supported by the mayor, city and state representatives, and thousands of New Yorkers who depend on them for their daily coffee, bagels and newspapers. Many took to Twitter to show their support:

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New York City's bodega owners are bravely shutting their doors to oppose the president's shameful executive order. I stand with them. pic.twitter.com/TXT90Lrqii  Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) February 2, 2017

As a hasidic jew I felt the importance to stop by at my local bodega to show support 4 #MyYemeniNeighbor Sami & Mohammad. #BodegaStrike  pic.twitter.com/HNMAA98j0X  David Schwartz (@DavidSchwartz48) February 3, 2017

Not generally known for their activism, Yemini Americans turned out in droves. They gathered at a rally in downtown Brooklyn, which began with a call to prayer at sundown. They waved as many American flags as Yemeni ones, if not more.

One of the most powerful demonstrations I've ever seen #bodegastrike pic.twitter.com/NM95aN3irG  Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) February 2, 2017

Amazing turn out at #bodegastrike - we are proud to stand with our Yemeni brothers and sisters pic.twitter.com/03tKNt2QT3  New York Immigration Coalition (@thenyic) February 3, 2017

Debbie Almontaser, president of the Muslim Community Network and an organizer of the event, told Rolling Stone magazine that members of the Yemeni American community had gathered over the weekend to discuss what they could do in response to Trumps ban on travelers from not only Yemen, but also Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.

In tears at the amazing turn out for #BodegaStrike by Yemenis and it's only 3pm. pic.twitter.com/JbFbPHwZLJ  Dr.Debbie Almontaser (@DebbiAlmontaser) February 2, 2017

Instead of closing all day, shopkeepers opted to close from noon to 8 p.m. They said, We cant do 8 a.m. because we dont want to disrupt the lives of the people we serve every day, Almontaser said.

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

Twitter: @AgrawalNina

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Presidents have been signing executive orders since George Washington was in office. How do Trumps stack up?

Federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocks Trumps immigration order nationwide
In one of the strongest blows yet to President Trumps controversial immigration ban, a federal judge in Seattle on Friday ordered an immediate nationwide halt to enforcement of the order that has caused havoc at airports and sown confusion among thousands of visa holders and refugees.

The temporary restraining order from U.S. District Judge James Robart blocks the federal government from enforcing measures that suspended refugee admissions and most other immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries until a new system of extreme vetting is put in place.

The White House immediately responded with a statement calling the ruling outrageous and said it would seek an emergency stay. A revised White House statement later omitted the word outrageous, but repeated the presidents view that the executive order signed Jan. 27 protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States was within the law.

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But on Saturday morning, the Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended any and all actions related to the travel ban.

DHS personnel will resume inspection of travelers in accordance with standard policy and procedure, the departments statement said.

The judges order Friday came in response to a lawsuit filed by the state of Washington and joined by Minnesota. The suit argued that the presidents moves had amounted to religious discrimination against Muslims in violation of the Constitution.

The judge did not address the substance of those legal arguments, but suggested in court that the states had a good chance of winning the case.

The law is a powerful thing. It has the ability to hold everyone accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States, Washington state Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson said at a news conference.

The judges decision goes further than a ruling earlier this week from a Los Angeles federal judge that also ordered a temporary halt to Trumps immigration ban. This one orders a temporary stop to nearly every major portion of the administrations order, including the 120-day ban on all refugee admissions, indefinite suspension of the admission of Syrian refugees and preference for refugees who are members of persecuted religious minorities.

Also affected is a blanket, 90-day block on admission of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Its a wonderful day for the rule of law in our country, said Washington states solicitor general, Noah Purcell, who argued the case. The order was haphazardly carried out and poorly thought up.

Activist groups that have been running legal aid operations at airports and operating hotlines for immigrants already were celebrating.

Airport officials have informed us that Customs and Border Protection has been told to not implement the executive order at JFK, said Camille Mackler, an attorney at the New York Immigration Coalition who has been part of a group of lawyers stationed at John F. Kennedy airport all week.

This is a win. Its an affirmation that these orders are not necessarily enforceable and not necessarily legal, and not a representation of this country and its values, she said.

Officials at Los Angeles International Airport already had relaxed security procedures after an L.A. federal judges order earlier this week temporarily suspended Trumps travel ban on immigrants from the seven countries who had visas.

The administration said it would seek a review of the Seattle judges order. At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate, the White House said in a statement. The Presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.

The decision came as a Justice Department lawyer, addressing a hearing Friday on another challenge to the travel ban in Virginia, revealed that 100,000 visas had been revoked following the executive order  a figure the State Department later estimated at closer to 60,000.

Presumably, the courts order would require most or all of those visas to be reinstated.

Already Friday night, a European airline in Iran reported that it was allowing any traveler with a valid visa to board its U.S.-bound flights. Most travelers from Tehran earlier in the day had been blocked unless they held a green card.

Tens of thousands of protesters who swelled airport parking lots and international arrival terminals this week have seen the executive order as an attempt to associate Muslims with terrorism and bar them from the country.

The order caused confusion at airports around the country, as holders of green cards and visas from the affected countries who were en route to the U.S. this week were detained in airports for hours and sometimes deported upon arrival or not allowed onto flights traveling to the U.S.

After civil rights groups filed lawsuits on behalf of those who had green cards designating them as permanent legal residents, the Trump administration relented and clarified that green card holders would be exempt from the travel ban. Government officials also reversed a prior position this week and said that dual citizens who were from one of the restricted nations and another nation not on the list would be exempt.

With the Seattle judges order  which followed several other more limited rulings around the country  one of the new administrations most significant initiatives appears to be in peril.

This new order, even if temporary, seems to go beyond the other lawsuits, said Margo Schlanger, a University of Michigan law professor who was formerly a civil rights attorney at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The states got everything they asked for, said Schlanger, who has tracked dozens of lawsuits against the presidents travel ban. She said the case could pave the way for an eventual ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Washington was the first state to file suit against Trumps immigration order, and its case was backed by large corporations such as Seattle-based Amazon and Expedia, which employ immigrants from the barred nations and said Trumps order harms the regions economy and families.

Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii and Virginia also have gone to court over the presidents immigration restrictions, as have several civil rights groups across the country, and several of those cases, including the one in Los Angeles, have led to temporary court orders against portions of the immigration ban.

The Seattle ruling was one of several court cases on the executive order heard Friday.

Earlier in the day, a federal judge in Boston refused to extend an order prohibiting federal officials from detaining or deporting people with valid visas or green cards. The suit had been filed on behalf of two University of Massachusetts professors from Iran, who subsequently were admitted to the U.S.

Judge Nathaniel M. Gortons ruling in that case said the American Civil Liberties Union failed to show that the initial restraining order pertaining to those seeking entry to the country was still needed.

Like the judge in the Seattle case, he did not rule on the constitutional issues, and those aspects of the case will proceed.

Critics of the ban said the court order, even if it is extended beyond a temporary restraining order, is not a permanent solution.

This decision is a short-term relief for thousands of people whose lives have been upended, but Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good, Eric Ferrero, the Amnesty International USA spokesman, said in a statement.

Times staff writer Kaleem reported from Los Angeles and special correspondent Anderson reported from Seattle. Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran.

jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com

ALSO

L.A. city attorney demands list of people detained at LAX under Trumps travel order

Breathtaking violation of rights: L.A. city attorney barred from seeing detainees at LAX

Iranian man barred from entering U.S. lands at LAX; first to return after court order

UPDATES:

Feb. 4, 8:10 a.m.: This article was updated with an announcement that the Department of Homeland Security had suspended enforcement of the travel ban.

12:45 a.m.: This article was updated with information about U.S.-bound flights from Iran.

This article was originally published at 8:25 p.m. Feb. 3.
Welcome to the much-needed weekend, which many of us will be spending in front of one screen or another  getting caught up on some Oscar-nominated movies, watching the Patriots play the Falcons on Sunday in the Super Bowl, or maybe scrolling through restaurant menus.

You might try a tasting menu, maybe from one of the 14 restaurants on Jonathan Golds list. If youre in the mood for something more old school and nostalgic, there is the Apple Pan, where theyre still pouring coffee out of an urn and serving wedges of pie seven decades after the place opened. Speaking of nostalgia, its a good weekend to visit one of the neighborhood restaurants that are closing doors: Canele in Atwater Village, or Auntie Ems in Eagle Rock, which is closing Sunday, after 15 years. A giant piece of red velvet cake sounds pretty good right now  or on Sunday, since you can likely watch Bill Belichick scowl just as easily on your phone as on some giant flat-screen. Just dont get cream cheese frosting on the screen. Done that.

 Amy Scattergood

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THE JOY OF TASTING MENUS

This week Jonathan lists some of his favorite restaurants serving tasting menus, that beautiful exercise in small plates. You can call it omakase. You can call it degustation, a banquet menu or modern kaiseki. Because though the conceit is hardly new, there are some excellent iterations of the genre, from a fabulously expensive version of the Chinese banquet menu to a series of small tastes at a 10-seat counter in Koreatown.

A selection of dishes from at n/naka restaurant in Los Angeles. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

70 YEARS OF APPLE PAN

Speaking of counters, food writer Erica Zora Wrightson considers the U-shaped counter  and the food and the folks on either side of it  at the Apple Pan. The family-owned restaurant has been serving comfort food to its neighborhood since the day it opened, on April 11, 1947. Imagine the number of burgers, the cups of coffee, the slices of pie.

The Apple Pans signature Hickoryburger. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

WHAT TO DRINK ON SUNDAY

If youre making food for the big game (here are a few handy recipes), youll likely want something to drink with all of it. A case of wine, a keg, a vat of coffee. Beer writer John Verive suggests a crowler or two, the extra-large beer cans that you can buy and fill when you need more than a pint. If youre reading this at McCoy Station, consider this a serving suggestion.

THAT $24 BOWL OF SPAGHETTI

Chef Scott Conant, the guy behind the famously expensive bowl of spaghetti pomodoro at the late, lamented restaurant Scarpetta, is coming back  with his bowls of spaghetti. Conant will be opening a new restaurant in the former Terrine space, with restaurateur Stephane Bombet, called the Ponte. In other restaurant news, deputy food editor Jenn Harris gets details on the latest project from chefs Karen and Quinn Hatfield, a so-called sushi croissant, and a new blow torch restaurant. Not making this up.

Scott Conant says hell be making his famous spaghetti pomodoro at his new restaurant, the Ponte on Beverly Boulevard. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Jonathan Golds 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didnt get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.

City of Gold, Laura Gabberts documentary of Jonathan Golds Los Angeles, is available on Amazon.

Check us out on Instagram @latimesfood

In the Kitchen: Sign up for our weekly cooking newsletter

Check out the thousands of recipes in our Recipe Database.

Feedback? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.
Good morning. It is Saturday, Feb. 4. Heres what you dont want to miss this weekend:

TOP STORIES

Fake news brings fear: Law enforcement officials are warning about social media hoaxes falsely claiming that police are setting up checkpoints aimed at deporting people here illegally. Police called it fake news designed to incite panic. Immigration activists say hoaxes are scaring some people. Los Angeles Times

Sacramento as refugee central: With the Trump administration easing up on travel into the U.S. of some people from Iraq and Afghanistan, Sacramento could end up being one of the nations top refugee hubs. Sacramento Bee

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Forever young? Snap Inc.s ability to court a young demographic with its ephemeral photo and video messaging app Snapchat has been one of its defining characteristics and the pillar of its success. But as the company prepares for its stock market debut, its reliance on users under the age of 25 could also be one of its biggest liabilities. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Smart cameras offer big promises but also big challenges to privacy. San Diego Union-Tribune

Protective walls: UC Merced is striving to create a safe space for undocumented students. Said one student: You dont have to hide the person you are. Coming here, I realize Im not the only person who has these fears. New York Times

Silicon Valley scandal: In the wealthy Silicon Valley suburb of Los Altos, a series of high school parties got out of control, sparking allegations of rape and abuse and even a federal probe. Did the school district drop the ball? San Francisco Chronicle

Clearing the air: Southern California air quality regulators delayed action on a major smog-reduction plan Friday after hours of public testimony and debate about what steps should be taken to curb the nations worst air pollution over the next 15 years. Los Angeles Times

Grim stats: Homeless deaths in Orange County hit an all-time high. Orange County Register

Long shadow of hate: A Latino gang member wanted for more than 15 years in connection with the racially motivated killing of a black man in Highland Park has been captured in Mexico and turned over to the FBI, officials said Friday. Los Angeles Times

Cheesecake Factory explosive: Authorities are searching for a man they say detonated a homemade explosive device inside a crowded restaurant Thursday night in Old Town Pasadena and then ran away. Los Angeles Times

Weathering the storm: Another powerful atmospheric river is headed to rain-soaked Northern California, and it could be big. Or not. Mercury News

High-end brothel: A couple living in a wealthy suburb of south Orange County has been charged with operating a brothel in several high-end apartments, according to prosecutors. Los Angeles Times

THIS WEEKS MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA

1. UC Berkeley, home of the free speech movement, finds itself under fire from left, right and Trump. Los Angeles Times

2. A California state senator wants the White House to release documents related to Melania Trumps immigration. Politico

3. What every member of Congress from California said, or hasnt said, about Trumps immigration order. Los Angeles Times

4. A rape victim did her own detective work to find the pickup artists who assaulted her. San Diego Union-Tribune

5. A video tour of the new pedestrian tunnel at the 7th Street/Metro Center Station. Curbed Los Angeles

ICYMI, HERE ARE THIS WEEKS GREAT READS

Diverse L.A.: Donald Trumps hard-line immigration and travel policies feel disorienting to many in and around Los Angeles  in part, they say, because their lives intersect with so many people of so many cultures. Whereas a woman in a hijab might mystify or alarm passersby where such clothing is rare, she might not catch the notice of people in Los Angeles. To multicultural L.A., Trumps policies seem an affront to the way they live. Los Angeles Times

This land is...: On a blazingly hot morning in July 2000, I became an American. The ceremony took place thirty miles east of Los Angeles, in Pomona, at a venue ordinarily used for hosting the local county fair. It was a Wednesday, I remember, and Id worn a pair of new shoes that blistered my feet. My husband was in the only suit he owned, the one hed put on for our wedding.  Author Laila Lalami on becoming an American and seeing America change so much. The New Yorker

Getting by: The nations first municipal director of financial justice is, not surprisingly, in San Francisco. And shes busy in this place of such economic inequity, dealing with soaring rents and figuring out how the working poor can afford bus fare and parking tickets. The California Sunday Magazine

Lullaby of Broadway: How one of downtown L.A.s most important buildings, neglected for decades, is ready for a big comeback. Curbed Los Angeles

LOOKING AHEAD

Tuesday: Opening of the pedestrian passageway connecting the 7th Street/Metro Center Station with the Bloc shopping center.

Wednesday: The biggest Ikea in the nation opens in Burbank.

Saturday: The NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena.

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Shelby Grad.
As Oklahomas attorney general, Scott Pruitt has spent the last six years suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency over the extent of its authority, particularly its efforts to regulate the oil and gas industry and restrict coal-fired power plants. These industries belch out the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, yet Pruitt has led or been part of 14 lawsuits (most of them in concert with industry) challenging rules that limit them or otherwise protect the nations air and water.

Its hardly news that some public officials are shills or apologists for powerful polluting industries. But to select someone with a record like Pruitts to lead the EPA is mind-boggling, offensive and deeply worrisome. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the appointment Thursday despite a boycott by Democratic members, but the full Senate should say no.

Yes, Trump won the election, and as president, hes entitled to appoint people who reflect his political views. But when the presidents policies and appointees pose such a fundamental threat to the nation, even a Senate controlled by his fellow Republicans  whose first loyalty should be to the people of the United States  must put the nations best interests ahead of party loyalty.

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[Pruitts] appointment would be a classic case of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.

Pruitt shares Trumps ignorant skepticism about the global threat from climate change. Like Trump, Pruitt disbelieves the scientific consensus that human actions play a significant role in heating up the planet and that a crisis looms. That alone disqualifies him from running an agency charged with protecting the environment  because if there is any single issue that poses an urgent threat to the planet in the century ahead, it is climate change.

In addition to his objectionable efforts to weaken the EPA, Pruitt is a key figure in a cabal of Republican attorneys general who sued to undercut the subsidies for low-income insurance buyers under the Affordable Care Act, to kill the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, and to void the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Those efforts suggest Pruitt is not a principled law enforcement figure so much as an ambitious partisan.

There is a legitimate philosophical argument to be had over the proper extent of federal regulations. But Pruitt wouldnt run the agency as just another small-government Republican interested in paring excessive limitations on business. He actually disagrees with the fundamental mission of the EPA. He has argued that the federal government should play a lesser role in environmental protection, and that primary control should be given to the states. This is wrong-headed. Putting West Virginia in charge of its coal industry or Texas in charge of its oil industry would lead to horrific environmental damage not just there, but in neighboring states downwind and downstream.

Pruitts own performance in Oklahoma stands as evidence of this. When he first won election with the backing of the energy industry, he dissolved the offices environmental prosecution team and created what he called the Federalism Unit to combat unwarranted regulation and overreach by the federal government. Pruitt testified in his confirmation hearing that his office handled 15 environmental protection cases, but critics in Oklahoma say he inherited a dozen of those from his predecessor.

Pruitts political career in Oklahoma was heavily supported by the oil and gas industry. He submitted letters ghost-written by oil industry officials to the EPA, Interior Department and the White House challenging various regulatory schemes the industry opposed. He refused in his nomination hearing to promise to recuse himself from decisions tied to the lawsuits hes involved with, and which he would now be responsible for defending. His appointment would be a classic case of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. And he poses a particular threat to California: He has raised the possibility that his EPA could rescind federal waivers that Californias environmental regulators have used to help cut greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles by nearly a third since 2009.

As reprehensible as most of Trumps actions and appointments have been so far, their broader consequences, for the most part, are reversible at some later date. (Although not for individuals, such as a refugee who gets killed because Trump sends him back to a country where his or her life has been threatened.) Putting Pruitt in charge of the EPA, however, poses an irreversible risk to the planet, and the Senate needs to ensure that doesnt happen.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Mayor Eric Garcetti got lucky. When he took office in 2013, the national and regional economies were on the upswing and he was able to spend a little money instead of being forced to slash programs and services dramatically, as his predecessor had to do. Garcetti had an ally in President Obama, who directed billions of dollars to L.A., including funding for rail lines and anti-poverty programs. And there were no major crises in the city during the last four years  no secession votes, no earthquakes, no civil unrest.

Now, the calm is ending. Los Angeles will be challenged in many new ways in the coming years, by the Trump administration, by the possibility of another recession, by the increasing effects of global warming and by the changing demographics of the city itself, which will necessitate hard, controversial decisions about growth and development. L.A. needs a steady, experienced leader who can champion a progressive, humane and modern vision for the years ahead. Garcetti is the best  really, the only  choice on the ballot. Voters ought to give him a second term.

Two years ago, the Times Editorial Board gave Garcetti a midterm report card grade of C, noting that he ducked far too many difficult decisions and too often refused to speak out on issues of importance unless he knew that doing so would be good for him politically. Garcetti, we wrote, was a mayor with a laudable vision for the future of L.A., but might lack the political courage to make that vision a reality.

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Garcetti is the best  really, the only  choice on the ballot.

To his credit, Garcetti has begun to show more backbone. Last year, he was the public face for two hard-fought ballot measures designed to address some of L.A.s most pressing challenges. Garcetti was both an architect of and unrelenting advocate for Measure M, the county sales tax increase that would raise $120 billion over four decades to double the size of the regions mass transit system and invest in crucial transportation infrastructure. In the end, Measure M received 71% of the vote  well over the two-thirds majority needed to pass. It is an ambitious program that will help the mayor and his successors create a more modern, viable and efficient Los Angeles.

Garcetti didnt initiate Measure HHH, the $1.2-billion bond measure to build housing for the homeless; the City Council did. But Garcetti hustled to help it pass. With 28,000 homeless people living in the city, he recognized that it was time to put himself on the line. He made a compelling case to the public for investing in L.A.s future and voters responded. It passed overwhelmingly.

If Garcetti is committed to fulfilling the promises of Measure M and Measure HHH, he needs to demonstrate that same kind of political courage and leadership early and often. But he was too slow to respond when slow-growth advocates proposed the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, the two-year moratorium on major building developments now on the March ballot as Measure S. This measure not only jeopardizes Garcettis pledge to build 100,000 new market-rate and affordable housing units by 2021 but also is a threat to his vision of L.A. as a livable, affordable, transit-oriented and environmentally friendly city. Yet, until last week he had barely made a public peep about the ballot measure. Like it or not, Measure S will be a referendum on Garcettis version of L.A.s future, and he should be using every ounce of his political capital to convince the public that his is the right vision for L.A. and that he is committed to fixing the citys broken land-use process that has undermined trust in City Hall.

Whats more, he will need to be a champion for building the permanent supportive housing funded by Measure HHH, as well as a watchdog to make sure the program lives up to its promise.

Garcetti has rightly pushed the city to focus on the fundamentals. He was out front pushing for citywide earthquake retrofitting. And he should also stay committed to his back to basics agenda that focuses on improving services and government accountability. Its difficult, however, to invest in new computer systems, training and efficiency and other basics when the city continues to spend 20% of its budget on workers retirement benefits. Garcetti says hes controlled costs by limiting employee raises earlier in his term, but he agreed to generous 4% pay hikes to police and firefighters last year. Garcetti was elected in part for his pledge to reform the Department of Water and Power, but the utility is on its third general manager under his watch and voters rejected a measure he supported to reform governance of the department.

Ten Angelenos are running against Garcetti for the job of mayor. They offer interesting ideas for increasing transparency and improving services, but none have the experience to run the nations second-largest city for the next 5 years.

Garcetti, meanwhile, appears to have political ambitions beyond L.A. Despite having no serious challenger, hes raised $3.1 million already and is continuing to fundraise. So whats going on? Is he planning to stick around  or will he jump ship to run for the next major seat that comes open? Rather than a placeholder mayor waiting for his next career move, Los Angeles requires a committed leader who is willing to invest the time and energy required to help L.A. evolve into a modern city. If Garcetti wins, he should stay put and do the job.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
If ever a story qualified for the Twitter disclaimer big if true, it was the scoop that appeared in the online Daily Mail this week.

The lead of the EXCLUSIVE story was sensational: Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch founded and led a student group called the Fascism Forever Club at his elite high school, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The storys smoking gun was a snippet from the yearbook at Georgetown Preparatory School. It included the yearbooks litany of Gorsuchs school activities (including Forensics 1,2,3  which referred to speech and debate, not crime scene investigation). And there, among the other extracurriculars, was: Fascism Forever Club (Founder and President). There also was a reference in the yearbook to the way the club happily jerked its knees against the increasingly left-wing tendencies of faculty.

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The real revelation in the yearbook story is that young Gorsuch was a conservative (no surprise there) and that he had an adolescent sense of humor

I doubted this story at once, for two reasons. First, Georgetown Prep is a Jesuit institution, and I was pretty sure the Jebbies wouldnt have allowed their students to form a fascist club.

Second, this fact was in a high school yearbook. From time immemorial, yearbooks have served as repositories for inside jokes and hoaxes.

For example, according to the yearbook at my Catholic boys school, I was a victim of an airline hijacking.

It happened, according to an impressive photo spread, when my fellow yearbook staffers and I were flying to Miami for the International Yearbook Convention and an armed man (well, an armed teenager) put a gun to the temple of Rick Corrigan and said: This plane  and this yearbook staff  is going to Cuba! That shocking scene took place in the cabin of an idled United Airlines jet. The father of one of the kids, a travel agent, had arranged for us to use the plane for our photo shoot. (The airline didnt know we were going to stage a fake hijacking.)

I assumed that everyone who saw the hijacking spread in our yearbook would know it was an elaborate joke. Not so. Several kids commiserated with me about our ordeal. (You must have been scared less!) I hope they didnt go into journalism.

Obviously some people also believed the Teen Fascist Club story, but it eventually was debunked. Snopes.com gave the report a Red X for FALSE. In America, a Jesuit magazine, reporter Michael OLoughlin gave the background:

Mr. Gorsuch ... was routinely teased, accused of being a conservative fascist. No shrinking violet, he would shoot back, taking on the liberal ethos of the school and even arguing with religion teachers about the liberal theological trends in vogue at the time. 

When it came time to write his senior biography for the yearbook, he would make light of the divide between his conservative political beliefs and those of the more liberal faculty and students.

He wrote that he founded and led the Fascism Forever Club, though those with knowledge of the school back in the 1980s say there was no such club.

The mention of it in the yearbook was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to poke fun at liberal peers who teased him about his fierce conservatism.

So the real revelation in the yearbook story  other than the credulity of the Daily Mail  is that young Gorsuch was a conservative (no surprise there) and that he had an adolescent sense of humor (also unsurprising; he was an adolescent).

So is this example of fake news any more than an amusing diversion? I think it is.

As with past Supreme Court nominees, journalists and activists are trawling through Gorsuchs past in search of clues about how he might rule on the court in politically charged cases. A lot of these excavations will turn up evidence that, while not as falsifiable as the Fascism Forever Club, will be hyped or overinterpreted.

For example, the Guardian has published a piece with a headline worthy of the Daily Mail: Oxford scholar who was mentor to Neil Gorsuch compared gay sex to bestiality.

The story noted that Gorsuch studied for a doctorate at University College Oxford under the supervision of Prof. John Finnis, a 76-year-old Australian legal scholar considered one of the worlds foremost thinkers on the philosophy of natural law. But it emphasized not only that Finnis, a Roman Catholic, had written about the evil of homosexual conduct but also that he had described abortion as the approved killing of vulnerable innocent human beings.

What does this have to do with how Gorsuch might rule as a Supreme Court justice? The Guardian tries to draw a connection: Although Gorsuch has not formally stated his opinion on the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling, which established the right to abortion, his work on euthanasia, under the tutelage of Finnis, has been interpreted as some of the clearest evidence of his likely pro-life views.

Maybe, but the fact that Gorsuch wrote a thesis about assisted suicide under the tutelage of Finnis doesnt mean that he shares his mentors views of homosexuality and abortion. (And to the extent those views reflect Finnis Catholicism, they wouldnt necessarily be shared by Gorsuch, an Episcopalian.)

Still, I wouldnt be surprised if some senators engaged in some guilt by association by pressing Gorsuch to say whether he agreed with his old mentor.

But at least he wont have to deny that he was a teenage fascist. We can hope, anyway.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Protesters engaging in destruction fail Gandhis well-proven lesson: Nonviolent civil disobedience plainly reveals brutality of the opposition or authorities and legitimately garners public support for the principled protesters. For example, the images of carnage on Selmas Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 remain fresh today. (UC Berkeley  home of the free speech movement  finds itself under fire from left, right and Trump, Feb. 2)

It takes more courage to stand peacefully in the face of brutality, thereby revealing it, than to violently silence those whose words are abhorrent. Bad ideas succumb only to better ones, not to violence.

Those opposing President Trump need more of our numbers to be thoughtful, get serious and own the principled, thoughtful side of the conflict while exposing the weakness and brutality of the administration. And when some among you veer into violence, walk away and let them be exposed too. Then the public shall see who are the adults in the room.

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Much is at stake, for everyone.

David R. Fertig, Pasadena

..

To the editor: If UC Berkeley officials are correct and the rioters Wednesday night were not students, why did the students who wanted to peacefully protest conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos not stop the outsiders?

Why did they allow them to hide in their crowd? Why did they not start grabbing rioters and turning them over to the police? By failing to do this, they supported those who believe they have the right to destroy other peoples property and commit acts of violence against them. And this invalidates everything they are supposed to stand for.

Shame on you, UC Berkeley students.

Tim Watts, Livermore, Calif.

..

To the editor: As abhorrent and ridiculous as I find Yiannopoulus, I dont think he deserves fiery protests. Being the center of attention is his only interest. Had he spoken without incident, he would not have met his goal.

I hope UC Berkeley students will get back to fighting for things that matter.

Christina Hosmer, Laguna Niguel

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Sultan Ali, my Muslim grandfather, immigrated to this country in the early part of the 20th century. He settled in southern Arizona, where he began farming in the Colorado River valley just outside Yuma.

During the Dust Bowl, he brought wagons of food to Midwestern immigrants waiting to cross into California. He asked no money for the produce and eggs he passed out to them. At the start of World War II his son  my father  joined the Marines and fought in the Pacific. My grandfather was a successful farmer and gave generously to his less fortunate fellow Americans.

I grew up on his farm and listened to his daily prayers. What I learned from my multireligious background was that there is much more in common with Christianity and Islam than there are differences. Both religions, at their core, teach that without compassion for your fellow man, you cannot be close to God.

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My grandfather came from Pakistan, then a part of India. Because of laws that restricted the rights of Asian immigrants, he was not allowed to purchase land. My grandmother was stripped of her U.S. citizenship because she married him. I am appalled that this country has returned to an era when certain immigrants are banned and their rights curtailed simply because of where they came from.

Paul Ali, Sunland

..

To the editor: My wife and I are from immigrant families. She is Italian and her dad fought (on the other side) in World War II. My great-great grandfather emigrated from Scotland and fought and died for our country in the Civil War. President Trump claims a German heritage.

Whats different today, as opposed when our Scottish, Italian and German families came to America, is the nations of origin at issue, the religion and the skin color. The presidents travel ban is aimed at people who have never harmed our country and likely never will, other than perhaps by making their neighbors uneasy because of (you guessed it) the god they worship and the color of their skin.

The presidents plan to make America white again will fail. The only question is how much havoc will we wreak in the lives of innocent people in the process.

Bob Warnock, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Those fighting Trumps executive order have blind spots when it comes to immigration. Thinking of danger in terms of crime statistics alone, for example, endangers Americans of all political leanings.

With millions of Americans under-employed and out of the workforce, expanding immigration is incredibly irresponsible and shortsighted, especially given the steady erosion of the American middle class. More cheap labor brings increasing downward pressure on wages for everyone.

Another overlooked consideration is the inevitable overpopulation of the United States if our current immigration policies continue unabated. I lived abroad for nine years. When I first arrived in Seoul in 1992, it was among the most densely populated cities on the planet. Having experienced overpopulation first-hand, I am in favor of avoiding it in the United States.

Apparently, many other American voters are also aware of these dangers and agree that change is required.

David Goode, Manhattan Beach

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Enrollment in Obamacare health plans sagged markedly after President Trumps inauguration, according to new federal data that show sign-ups slowed in the final two weeks of the 2017 open enrollment period as Trump stepped up attacks on the healthcare law.

The slowdown is particularly noteworthy as enrollment was running slightly ahead of last years pace until Trump took office Jan. 20 amid renewed promises to scrap the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Altogether this year, slightly more than 9.2 million people signed up for coverage in the 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov marketplace operated by the federal government.

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That is down from more than 9.6 million who signed up last year.

The enrollment tally  which doesnt include sign-ups from 11 states, including California, that operate their own marketplaces  is still substantial, undercutting claims by Republicans that the healthcare law is collapsing.

Trumps victory assures a conservative majority on the Supreme Court 

But the dramatic drop-off in the last two weeks fed rising criticism that the Trump administration is sabotaging the marketplaces to strengthen its political argument that the law must be scrapped.

There is no doubt that enrollment would have been even higher if not for the uncertainty caused by political attacks on the law, and the Trump administrations decision not to provide consumers with all of the resources and support available to help them enroll, said Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America, which helps consumers sign up for coverage.

Within days of taking office two weeks ago, the administration pulled television ads urging Americans to sign up for health insurance.

Trump also issued an executive order in which he suggested his administration wouldnt implement rules crucial to sustaining markets.

And over the last two weeks, Trump and many GOP lawmakers have stepped up their criticism of the marketplaces, even as insurance industry officials warned that Republicans risked destabilizing the markets.

Only about 376,000 people selected a health plan through HealthCare.gov in the two weeks leading up to the Tuesday deadline, according to the recently released data.

By comparison, nearly 687,000 people chose plans through HealthCare.gov in the final one week of the open enrollment period last year.

For the 4th time, the Electoral College picks the loser of the popular vote 

They achieved what they wanted, said Andy Slavitt, who oversaw the marketplaces as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Obama administration. And 500,000 [people] are worse off for it.

Total national enrollment, including sign-ups from state marketplaces, will be available in March, Trump administration officials said.

Obama administration officials had aggressively urged Americans to continue signing up for health plans even as it prepared to hand over control of the marketplaces Jan. 20.

And enrollment data suggested they were successful, as sign-ups appeared on track to surpass last years total.

About 11 million people got commercial health plans last year through HealthCare.gov and similar state-based insurance marketplaces created through the law.

More than 80% of these consumers receive government subsidies to offset the cost of their premiums.

There have been widespread concerns that the markets could collapse as insurers raised premiums sharply this year in the face of more costly than expected patients, and others left markets around the country.

Some Americans saw their monthly insurance bills rise by hundreds of dollars.

On Friday, Republicans continued to advance their clams that the collapse has started.

People may be enrolled, but that doesnt mean Obamacare is working, said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.).

But many industry officials, healthcare experts and consumer advocates, while urging changes to the marketplaces, have concluded that the GOP repeal effort represents the largest threat to the marketplaces.

Overall, the marketplaces and the expansion of state Medicaid programs for the poor  which were also made possible by the healthcare law  are credited with a historic expansion of insurance coverage over the last three years.

More than 20 million previously uninsured Americans have gained health insurance, data show, and the nations uninsured rate dropped to the lowest level ever recorded.

noam.levey@latimes.com

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When President Trump ordered a vast overhaul of immigration law enforcement during his first week in office, he stripped away most restrictions on who should be deported, opening the door for roundups and detentions on a scale not seen in nearly a decade.

Up to 8 million people in the country illegally could be considered priorities for deportation, according to calculations by the Los Angeles Times. They were based on interviews with experts who studied the order and two internal documents that signal immigration officials are taking an expansive view of Trumps directive.

Far from targeting only bad hombres, as Trump has said repeatedly, his new order allows immigration agents to detain nearly anyone they come in contact with who has crossed the border illegally. People could be booked into custody for using food stamps or if their child receives free school lunches.

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The deportation targets are a much larger group than those swept up in the travel bans that sowed chaos at airports and seized public attention over the past week. Fewer than 1 million people came to the U.S. over the past decade from the seven countries from which most visitors are temporarily blocked.

Deportations of this scale, which has not been publicly totaled before, could have widely felt consequences: Families would be separated. Businesses catering to immigrant customers may be shuttered. Crops could be left to rot, unpicked, as agricultural and other industries that rely on immigrant workforces face labor shortages. U.S. relations could be strained with countries that stand to receive an influx of deported people, particularly in Latin America. Even the Social Security system, which many immigrants working illegally pay into under fake identification numbers, would take a hit.

The new instructions represent a wide expansion of President Obamas focus on deporting only recent arrivals, repeat immigration violators and people with multiple criminal violations. Under the Obama administration, only about 1.4 million people were considered priorities for removal.

We are going back to enforcement chaos  they are going to give lip service to going after criminals, but they really are going to round up everybody they can get their hands on, said David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. and an immigration lawyer for more than two decades.

Trumps orders instruct officers to deport not only those convicted of crimes, but also those who arent charged but are believed to have committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense.

That category applies to the 6 million people believed to have entered the U.S. without passing through an official border crossing. The rest of the 11.1 million people in the country illegally, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, are believed to have entered on a valid visa and stayed past its expiration date.

Also among those 11.1 million are about 8 million jobholders, Pew found. The vast majority have worked in violation of the law by stating on federal employment forms that they were legally allowed to work. Trumps order calls for targeting anyone who lied on the forms.

Trumps deportation priorities also include smaller groups whose totals remain elusive: people in the country illegally who are charged with crimes that have not yet been adjudicated and those who receive an improper welfare benefit, used a fake identity card, were found driving without a license or received federal food assistance.

An additional executive order under consideration would block entry to anyone the U.S. believes may use benefit programs such as Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, according two Trump administration officials who have seen the draft order.

The changes reflect an effort to deter illegal migration by increasing the threat of deportation and cutting off access to social services and work opportunities, an approach that 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney called self-deportation.

The White House insisted that it is intent on rooting out those who endanger Americans. Trump aides pointed to 124 people who were released from immigration custody from 2010 to 2015 who went on to be charged with murder, according to immigration data provided to Congress by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Its not that 6 million people are priorities for removal, it is the dangerous criminals hiding among those millions who are no longer able to hide, said a White House official who would not be named describing internal policy debates.

Weve gone from a situation where ICE officers have no discretion to enhance public safety and their hands are totally tied, to allowing ICE officers to engage in preventative policing and to go after known public safety threats and stop terrible crimes from happening.

The changes, some of which have already begun with more expected in the coming months, set the stage for sweeping deportations last seen in the final years of the George W. Bush administration. Factories and meatpacking plants were raided after talks with Congress over comprehensive immigration reform broke down in 2007.

After Obama took office, his administration stopped those worksite raids and restricted deportation priorities. Expulsions of people settled and working in the U.S. fell more than 70% from 2009 to 2016.

That era has come to an end.

For too long, your officers and agents havent been allowed to properly do their jobs, Trump told uniformed Border Patrol agents and immigration officers just after signing the order.

Although immigration agents will want to go after criminals and people who pose national security risks, Trumps order gives them leeway and marks a return to traditional enforcement, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for restrictions on immigration.

Almost everyone who is here illegally could potentially be considered a priority, Vaughan said.

Just how many people are swept up will depend on new instructions being drafted for immigration agents that will be rolled out over the next several months. But already, signs point to immigration officials embracing Trumps order.

In late January, Trumps immigration policy experts gave a 20-page document to top Homeland Security officials that lays out how to ramp up immigration enforcement, according to two people familiar with the memo. A list of steps included nearly doubling the number of people held in immigration detention to 80,000 per day, as well as clamping down on programs that allow people to leave immigration custody and check in with federal agents or wear an ankle monitor while their cases play out in immigration court.

The instructions also propose allowing Border Patrol agents to provide translation assistance to local law enforcement, a practice that was stopped in 2012 over concerns that it was contributing to racial profiling.

In addition, Homeland Security officials have circulated an 11-page memo on how to enact Trumps order. Among other steps, that document suggests expanding the use of a deportation process that bypasses immigration courts and allows officers to expel foreigners immediately upon capture. The process, called expedited removal, now applies only to immigrants who are arrested within 100 miles of the border and within two weeks of illegally crossing over and who dont express a credible fear of persecution back home. The program could be expanded farther from the border and target those who have lived in the U.S. illegally for up to two years.

By giving more authority to immigration officers, Trump has put his administration on track to boost deportations more than 75% in his first full year in office. That would meet the level set in 2012, at the end of Obamas first term, when more than 400,000 people were deported. It dropped to some 235,000 last year after illegal immigration fell and agents were given narrowed deportation targets.

In addition, Trump plans to empower local police to work with immigration agents to identify people they believe live illegally in their cities and towns, particularly those seen as violent, the White House official said, comparing the arrest of a suspected gang leader on an immigration violation to the FBI charging a mafia leader with tax evasion.

The great thing about immigration law is it is a preventative law enforcement tool, the official said.

Plans are in the works to expand a program that provides training for local cops on how to enforce immigration laws. The approach is similar to Arizonas papers, please law that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2012 on the grounds that the state was trying to enforce federal immigration laws. Civil liberties advocates warn that such programs risk targeting people for their appearance and could lead to rampant violations of search and seizure rights.

Elizabeth Ford, an immigration lawyer in Chardon, Ohio, near Cleveland, said she has already seen immigration officers detain migrants in the country illegally who have been charged with crimes but not convicted, even when those charges were later dropped.

Before Trump was even sworn in, immigration agents began detaining people as they left court, she said; agents previously only showed up after a conviction.

In addition, far fewer clients making asylum claims are being released while those claims are heard, she said, a stark change from just a few months ago.

It will get even more aggressive, she predicted.

Indeed, though Trump has backed off his campaign call to deport all 11.1 million people estimated to be in the country illegally, he is already facing pressure from his base to go beyond his executive order and end Obamas program that has awarded work permits to more than 750,000 people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

At Fridays White House briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked when the program would be ended and permits would stop being issued.

Weve made it very clear that well have further updates on immigration, Spicer said, though he did not give an update on the status of the work permits program. ... The president has made significant progress on addressing the pledge that he made to the American people regarding immigration problems that we face, and I think were going to see more action on that in the next few weeks.

Twitter: @ByBrianBennett

brian.bennett@latimes.com

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Aid groups see Trumps travel restrictions as a huge step backwards
As the healthcare vote looms, Trump sees opposition from conservatives, both on Capitol Hill and in the media By Kurtis Lee Its a really important vote in President Trumps fledgling first term. Will House Republicans pass a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act  a promise from Trump on the campaign trail  or reject it? (House Speaker Paul D. Ryan rushed to the White House on Friday morning for a last-minute meeting with Trump as both attempted to corral enough votes.) Trump spent much of the week trying to win support from members of the Freedom Caucus, among the most conservative lawmakers, some of whom are holdouts because they believe the bill does not go far enough. After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan! Trump tweeted Friday. But even some in conservative media arent all that thrilled about the bill. Here are some of Fridays headlines: Polls: Ryancare even more unpopular than Obamacare and Hillarycare (Breitbart) So, its been clear in recent weeks that the right-wing website Breitbart does not like the new healthcare proposal. The news site has dubbed the current bill Obamacare-lite or Ryancare  an homage of sorts to Ryan, who helped craft the legislation  and argued it does not go far enough in its overhaul. Most conservatives want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, they just differ on what the replacement should look like. For example, some on the far right want to see so-called essential health benefits, such as maternity and newborn care, stripped from the bill.) This piece highlights several of the dismal polls the legislation has received. Among them: A recent Fox News survey that showed 54% oppose the bill, compared with 34% who support it. The article also references an analysis of polling and data by FiveThirtyEight.com, which shows the GOP legislation is more unpopular than Obamacare and President Bill Clintons healthcare reform bill were when they were first introduced. A modest immigration proposal (Weekly Standard) Trumps recent immigration orders have left many immigrants on edge. Through social media and pop-up legal clinics, immigrant rights groups have doled out around-the-clock assistance, as families fear being separated. In this piece, Irwin Stelzer notes that at some point, our border will be secure, resistance to deporting felons will collapse, and we will have accepted the fact that Dreamers will be allowed to stay in this country, probably on a path to citizenship. He lays out his views of immigration reform, citing, among other things, setting an annual immigration limit and adopting a system that has the effect of enriching our citizens by filling that annual quota with immigrants who are likely to increase the well-being of the existing citizenry. Jeff Sessions is Rip Van Winkle on drug policy (American Conservative) Its clear from polls that most Republicans oppose marijuana legalization, while Democrats support it. However, libertarian-leaning Republicans often tend to support legalization. This piece highlights Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recent comments in opposition to states legalizing pot. The attorney general regurgitates simplistic cliches right out of the 1970s and 1980s about marijuana use. I dont think America is going to be a better place when people of all ages, and particularly young people, are smoking pot, Sessions told reporters on February 26, the author, Ted Galen Carpenter, writes. He adds, Such comments confirm that critics may be right when they label him a drug war dinosaur. He seems either oblivious or scornful about the trend in public opinion regarding marijuana. Facebook

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FCC Chairman Pai wants to halt Internet privacy rules before they begin taking effect this week By Jim Puzzanghera (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) The nations new top telecommunications regulator wants to halt tough Internet privacy rules before they begin taking effect this week, arguing they would unfairly impose tougher requirements on broadband providers than on websites and social networks. Privacy advocates and a key Senate Democrat vowed Monday to fight the move as well as a separate effort in Congress to overturn the regulations, which were approved in October on a party-line vote by the Federal Communications Commission when it was controlled by Democrats under President Obama. Following President Trumps inauguration, control of the commission passed to Republicans and Ajit Pai took over as chairman. All actors in the online space should be subject to the same rules, and the federal government shouldnt favor one set of companies over another, a spokesman for Pai said Friday. Read More Facebook

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Trump says Hollywoods obsession with him led to best picture Oscar gaffe By Michael A. Memoli (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) President Trump is often loath to accept responsibility when things go wrong, but in the case of Sundays Oscars broadcast, he made an exception. As he explained it Monday, it was Hollywoods obsession with attacking him that contributed to the botched best picture announcement, calling the embarrassing episode sad, of course. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has apologized for the mix-up that led Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to announce La La Land as the winner of the top Academy Award prize, instead of Moonlight. But in Trumps eyes, the blame falls more broadly on an entertainment industry so preoccupied with politics that they didnt get the act together, he told Breitbart News. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars, Trump told a reporter from the website, which was once led by his chief White House strategist, Stephen K. Bannon. It didnt feel like a very glamorous evening. Ive been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad, he added. The ceremony did contain a number of slights at Trump during its telecast, some more subtle than others. Host Jimmy Kimmel openly at one point begged the president to weigh in by tweeting at him. Trump spent part of Sunday night hosting a black-tie dinner at the White House honoring the nations governors, who were visiting Washington for their annual winter meeting. But it appears from excerpts of the Breitbart interview that he may have spent at least part of the evening watching. Facebook

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Justice Department shifts course in closely watched Texas voter ID case By Del Quentin Wilber The Trump administration has scaled back its assault on a strict Texas voter identification law that federal courts have ruled discriminated against minorities, portending a shift in how the Justice Department plans to pursue allegations of voter suppression. The government revealed its decision in court papers filed in federal court Monday, dealing a blow to civil rights advocates who have relied on federal support to help them knock down the controversial Texas statute. Its a very concerning signal to American voters about the Department of Justices commitment to enforcing the Voting Rights Act, said Danielle Lang, deputy director of the voting rights unit of the Campaign Legal Center, which is suing Texas in the case. The administrations partial retreat in the dispute highlights how Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a conservative Republican who has championed voter identification measures, is expected to handle such cases. The Obama administration had joined civil rights groups in aggressively challenging the Texas law and other such measures around the country. At issue in the case was how the Justice Department would proceed in a federal lawsuit that alleged the Texas legislature discriminated against minority voters when it enacted the strict voter identification law in 2011. Known as SB 14, the measure requires voters to present a specific form of government-issued photo identification - such as a drivers license, military ID card, U.S. passport or citizenship certificate - to be permitted to cast a ballot. The Obama administration and civil rights groups argued the state pushed the law, in part, to suppress the power of the states minority voters, who frequently dont drive or have a passport. State officials and lawmakers countered that the law was aimed at preventing voter fraud, though there is scant evidence that the problem exists. The law was challenged in court by civil rights groups and the Justice Department under provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was intended to help overcome legal barriers erected at the local and state level to keep African-Americans from the polls. Last July, a federal appeals court ruled that the Texas law had a discriminatory impact on minority voters. It told U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos to craft a temporary remedy in time for the November elections. Ramos subsequently ordered Texas to permit voters to present other forms of documentation to verify their identities. The judges order is expected to remain in force until she imposes a permanent remedy or Texas addresses the judges concerns. According to the court papers filed Monday, the Justice Department will continue to work with civil rights groups to address those issues but will seek to withdraw from another important aspect of the suit. In the same decision that found the Texas law had a discriminatory impact, the appeals court reversed Ramos finding that Texas legislators had intended to harm minority voters. It ordered Ramos to reconsider the evidence of that finding. If the judge determines discriminatory intent in crafting the voter ID requirements, she could throw out the entire law. Civil rights groups will continue to press that claim. In its court filing, the Justice Department asked Ramos to permit it to withdraw its claim that Texas acted with intent, arguing that it is best to give the Texas legislature time to address the matter. With the loss of their key ally in court, civil rights groups will argue on their own in an effort to prove that Texas acted with a discriminatory purpose in passing the law. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Voting advocates complained that the Trump administration was backing away from a key safeguard of voting rights. The Justice Department decision defies rationality and stands diametrically opposed to positions they have taken at every stage of this litigation, Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement. This reversal of position was taken despite years of work and effort that the government has invested in fighting the Texas Voter ID law, one of the most discriminatory voting restriction of its kind. Facebook

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House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes warns against witch hunt over Trump-Russia ties By Sarah D. Wire House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) talks to reporters about his committees Russia investigation. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes said on Monday he has seen no evidence from the intelligence community that there was contact between Russia and the Trump campaign. I want to be very careful, we cant just go on a witch hunt against Americans because they appear in a news story, said Nunes (R-Tulare). We still dont have any evidence of them talking to Russia. He said the committee has been briefed on the highlights of what the intelligence community has found, but is still collecting evidence. The committees ranking Democrat, Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), quickly responded, saying the committees investigation is in its infancy and its too soon to reach conclusions about the evidence. We havent obtained any of the evidence yet, so its premature for us to be saying weve reached any conclusion about the issue of collusion, Schiff said. The most that weve had are private conversations, the chair and I with intelligence officials. Thats not a substitute for an investigation. The House and Senate Select Intelligence Committees are conducting separate investigations into Russias reported attempts to influence voters in 2016 in an effort to curtail Hillary Clintons chances and boost Donald Trumps. A leaked U.S. intelligence report on the attempts did not look at whether the effort succeeded. The House committee has expanded a previous ongoing investigation of Russia cyberhacking to include a look at efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, Nunes told reporters Monday. Though it is still in its early stages  the leaders of the committee are still discussing the investigations scope  Nunes said he expects the findings to be made public. Schiff and Nunes spoke separately to reporters Monday. Schiff said the two agreed privately that they would jointly address reporters about the investigation going forward. Nunes, who served as a member of Trumps transition team, said he continues to be concerned about leaks of classified and sensitive information from the White House and intelligence communities. The leaks  one of which resulted in a report about the FBI investigating Trump campaign officials  will be part of the committees investigation. A government cant function with massive leaks at the highest level, Nunes said. Facebook

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Appeals court denies Justice Department request to put appeal of travel ban on hold By Jaweed Kaleem (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the

Justice Departments request to pause proceedings in an appeal of President Trumps travel ban. The court in a filing Monday said its schedule for the governments appeal of a lower courts halt on the travel ban will proceed, with the first brief due to the appeals court on March 10. In early February, the Justice Department appealed a Seattle-based federal district judges order blocking enforcement of Trumps executive action. which established a series of immigration and refugee restrictions aimed at preventing potential terrorists from entering the country. Last week, government lawyers asked the appeals court to stop proceedings in the case because the president planned to issue a new executive order and rescind the original one. A three-judge panel of the court previously denied a request from the government to reverse a nationwide stay on the travel ban. The same panel on Monday ruled that the appeal will proceed. Trump has said he will sign a new executive order tailored to deal with court decisions that have largely gone against him. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said he expected the order to be issued mid-week. Spicer has said Trump wants to fight for the current order while also issuing a new one, but the Justice Department has said in multiple court filings that the the current order will be undone after a new one is issued. The states of Washington and Minnesota, which brought the case in Seattle now under review, have pushed for courts to move forward on a review of the constitutional issues. Facebook

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No random ICE stops on streets of America, Homeland Security chief tells governor By Lisa Mascaro Gov holds closing media briefing on Capitol Hill to wrap up @NatlGovsAssoc Winter Meeting. pic.twitter.com/3mZMBA4S0o  Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) February 27, 2017 President Trump received some unsolicited advice at dinner with the nations governors when Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told him he needs to do a better job explaining his policies regarding deportations. McAuliffe, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Assn., told the president that there has been a chilling effect going on as businesses stay away from his state and as immigrants fear being rounded up. If theyre not going to be deported, we need to hear that from the president, McAuliffe said, recounting his conversation from the governors Sunday night dinner with Trump. What I told the president is these actions are hurting us. McAuliffe, a longtime ally of Hillary Clinton, said Trump agreed in large part. McAuliffe also met privately with Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, and said the secretary assured him during an hourlong talk that Trumps enforcement actions were only targeting criminals -- despite widespread reports of otherwise law-abiding immigrants being detained for being in the U.S. illegally. He assured me there will be no random ICE stops on the streets of the United States of America, McAuliffe said, referring to the raids being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. If thats the case, McAuliffe said, Trumps policy does not sound much different than the operations under former President Obama, whose administration deported more immigrants than its predecessors. Obama, however, explicitly put a priority on deportations of criminals, a distinction the Trump administration has done away with as part of the presidents executive action. My advice to him was he needs to let the American public know what theyre doing, McAuliffe said. Facebook

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Trump: I havent called Russia in 10 years By Brian Bennett President Trump rejected calls for an independent investigation of his ties to Russia, telling a group of business leaders Monday that he hasnt called Russia in a decade. At the start of a White House meeting with healthcare executives, a reporter asked Trump whether a special prosecutor should be assigned to investigate allegations of Russian meddling during the election. In response, Trump mouthed the word no to the executives. As reporters were led out of the room, Trump said: I havent called Russia in 10 years. Democratic lawmakers have ramped up their calls for additional investigations into allegations that Trump allies had been in contact with Russian officials during the election and inappropriately discussed U.S. sanctions against the Moscow regime during the transition. White House officials have denied reports that Trump associates were frequently in touch with senior Russian intelligence officials during the election. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had authorized an operation to damage Hillary Clintons campaign and tilt the 2016 election in Trumps favor. Facebook

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Trump: Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated By Michael A. Memoli View Twitter post President Trump promised the nations governors Monday that his yet-to-be-revealed replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act would give states greater flexibility and thanked some Republicans in the room who advised him on healthcare. Its an unbelievably complex subject, he said. Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated. The remark likely surprised state leaders; spending on Medicaid alone was the second-biggest driver of increased state general fund spending, according to the 2016 Fiscal Survey of States conducted by the National Assn. of State Budget Officers. And it was just eight years ago that Washington dove head-first into a raging debate over healthcare reform under President Obama, which simmered long after his signature health law was enacted. But the finer points of healthcare policy are likely new to Trump, who is immersed in discussions with Republican leaders and his senior staff on that and other subjects ahead of his high-profile address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress. Trump offered no hint as to the details. Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare, but their effort has stalled as they debate how to do so and await word from the White House on what Trump wants to do. The president seemed keenly aware of the political ramifications of whatever steps he takes. As soon as we touch it, if we do the most minute thing, just a tiny little change, whats going to happen? Theyre going to say its the Republicans problem, Trump said after telling the governors the easiest thing for him to do would be nothing, and, in his view, watch Obamacare collapse. But we have to do whats right because Obamacare is a failed disaster. Facebook

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Trump wants to add $54 billion to defense budget while slashing domestic spending and foreign aid By Brian Bennett President Trump is proposing a massive increase in defense spending of $54 billion while cutting domestic spending and foreign aid by the same amount, the White House said Monday. Trumps spending blueprint previewed a major address that he will give Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress, laying out his vision for what he called a public safety and national security budget with a nearly 10% increase in defense spending. We never win a war. We never win. And we dont fight to win. We dont fight to win, Trump said Monday in remarks to the nations governors. So we either got to win or dont fight it at all. Trump noted that the U.S. has spent nearly $6 trillion on fighting wars since the Sept. 11 attacks but said that cutting military spending was not the answer. Instead, the increase he is proposing would be offset by cuts to unspecified domestic programs and to foreign aid, which would in turn be made up for in part by demanding that other countries pay more for security alliances that have historically been underwritten by the U.S. This budget expects the rest of the world to step up in some of the programs that this country has been so generous in funding in the past, an official from the Office of Management and Budget said, demanding anonymity to discuss the presidents spending plans. Foreign aid makes up about 1% of the budget. This budget speaks for itself, the official said. I dont think this budget has anything to do other than putting Americans first. Trumps call for deep cuts to spending at home is likely to set up major battles on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and even House Republicans will likely be reluctant to pass a spending bill that includes such major reductions in programs for their constituents. Facebook

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Trump says businesses cant borrow because of Dodd-Frank. The numbers tell another story By Jim Puzzanghera President Trump was preparing the first step in a key campaign promise  dismantling the 2010 DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act  when he repeated a frequent criticism of the law. We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because, frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they cant borrow money, Trump told leading corporate chief executives, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Larry Fink of money management giant BlackRock Inc., meeting at the White House earlier this month They just cant get any money because the banks just wont let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank, Trump said. Shortly afterward, he ordered a wholesale review of the landmark act, which was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But a main reason for dismantling Dodd-Frank often cited by Trump and critics of the law  that its slew of tougher financial regulations have significantly restricted bank lending  isnt borne out by the data. Read More Facebook

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Another Trump nominee withdraws nomination to top national security post due to business interests By W.J. Hennigan Philip M. Bilden, President Trumps pick for Navy secretary, withdrew from consideration late Sunday, becoming the second White House nominee to bail on a top Pentagon position due to problems untangling his financial investments. After an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my familys private financial interests, Bilden said in a statement. He did not detail the issues but he said he fully supported the presidents agenda  to modernize and rebuild our Navy and Marine Corps. Bildens withdrawal comes after billionaire investor Vincent Viola dropped out from becoming Army secretary after he decided his extensive financial holdings would hamper his ability to win Senate confirmation. The White House shot down reports that surfaced two weeks ago that Bilden was considering stepping down. Just spoke with him and he is 100% commited [sic] to being the next SECNAV pending Senate confirm, White House spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted on Feb. 18. Bilden, a venture capitalist and Army veteran, was a surprise selection from Trump but had the backing of Defense Secretary James N. Mattis. This was a personal decision driven by privacy concerns and significant challenges he faced in separating himself from his business interests, Mattis said in a statement. While I am disappointed, I understand and his respect his decision, and know that he will continue to support our nation in other ways. Bilden served ten years in the U.S. Army Reserve as a military intelligence officer from 1986 to 1996. He then co-founded private equity firm HarbourVest Partners LLC and spent 25 years there, mainly in the companys Hong Kong headquarters. He also serves on the board of directors of the United States Naval Academy Foundation and the board of trustees of the Naval War College Foundation. Mattis said he intends on recommending a replacement nominee to Trump in the coming days. The withdrawal marks another setback for Trumps national security team, which has struggled to find its footing since the fledgling administration began. Earlier this month, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was forced to resign after it became public that he held secret talks with a Russian ambassador and then misled Vice President Mike Pence about it. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster took the job last week after Trumps first choice to replace Flynn, retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward, passed on the opportunity. Facebook

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New DNC chairman Tom Perez ridicules Trump tweet over rigged vote By Laura King Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was chosen to lead the Democratic Party over a congressman backed by the progressive wing. (Branden Camp / Associated Press) President Trump claimed Sunday that the race for Democratic National Committee chairman had been rigged -- drawing a quick riposte from Tom Perez, who narrowly won the partys leadership race. Trump insinuated that Perezs DNC victory on the second ballot at a party conference in Atlanta on Saturday was because Hillary Clinton had backed Perez, a former Labor secretary in the Obama administration who was seen as representing the partys establishment forces. Clinton did not make a formal endorsement, but Perezs rival, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the partys more liberal wing. Bernies guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance, Trump tweeted early Sunday morning. Clinton demanded Perez! Perez, appearing on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday, told host Jake Tapper that he and Ellison got a good kick out of that, adding: Donald Trump, up in the morning tweeting about us. Sanders, appearing on the same show, said Trump doesnt have a point about the DNC vote. Moments after Perez beat Ellison by 35 votes out of 435 cast, he named Ellison as the deputy chairman of the party, leading to widespread applause. Perez is the first Latino to lead the Democratic Party, and he faces the challenge of trying to rebuild a party that suffered devastating losses in the 2016 election. Republicans now control not only the White House and Congress, but 33 governorships and dozens of state legislatures. In his CNN interview, Perez sarcastically suggested that Trump should address questions about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign rather than concerning himself with the DNC leadership battle. Frankly, what we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by Donald Trump and his buddy Vladimir Putin, he said. Facebook

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White House again bats away call for special prosecutor on Russia By Laura King A White House spokeswoman said Sunday that it was too soon to say whether a special prosecutor should look into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, while President Trump again inveighed against coverage of Russia-related queries as FAKE NEWS. Calls have grown louder from Democrats in Congress for U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the issue because of his role as a prominent Trump supporter during the campaign, and to appoint an independent special prosecutor to carry out a Russia probe. A few Republicans have joined in that chorus  some reluctantly. Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista, appearing on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher, voiced support Friday for naming of a special prosecutor to probe the Russian connection, though he also said congressional intelligence committees should continue their work. He also said he considered Sessions a friend, but pointed to his role as a political appointee who had worked on the Trump campaign. Issa, who narrowly won reelection, was a vociferous critic of the Obama administration during his former tenure as head of the House Oversight Committee. In that post, he spearheaded an array of investigations on topics from Benghazi to bank bailouts. Some Republicans pushed back against the notion of Sessions needing to recuse himself. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on NBCs Meet the Press that he had seen no credible information about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians  and no allegations that rose to the level of criminal activity. If we get down that road, thats a decision that Attorney General Sessions can make at the time, said Cotton, who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian intelligence agencies hacked Democratic Party computers and used other tactics last year to interfere with the election. The FBI is separately investigating whether anyone on Trumps campaign had improper contacts with Russian authorities during the campaign. On Sunday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said congressional investigations on Russia and the campaign should be allowed to go forward before a special prosecutor appointment was considered. I dont think were there yet, Sanders said on ABCs This Week. Lets work through this process. Echoing the previously stated White House stance, Sanders said the Trump campaign had not colluded in any Russian meddling. We had no involvement in this, she said. The president is known to keep a close eye on surrogates performances on the talk shows, and Sanders repeated a prime administration talking point: that questions about possible Trump campaign contacts with Russia amounted to Democratic excuses for losing the election. If Democrats want to continue to relive their loss every single day, by doing an investigation or review after review, thats fine by us, she said. We know why we won this race. Its because we had the better candidate with the better message. Trump himself underscored that notion with an afternoon tweet denouncing media coverage of the ongoing Russia investigations as FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks! Facebook

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Whose news is fake? Heres the latest in Trumps war with the press By Kurtis Lee Every president since 1981 has attended the annual White House Correspondents Assn. dinner. That year, President Reagan missed out. The reason? He needed to recover after a would-be assassin fired a bullet into his chest a few weeks earlier. On Saturday, President Trump announced he will not be attending the annual dinner in April, long considered the premier social event of the Washington press corps and typically an evening of good-natured bantering between presidents and the Fourth Estate. Trumps announcement added to the ratcheting tensions between his administration and the media. Almost daily, in speeches or on Twitter, he calls particular news outlets fake, disgusting or dishonest  and news organizations have responded by digging in, standing united and devoting more resources to covering a president who has branded the press the enemy. Read More Facebook

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Crucial group of Americans like Trumps stands, not him, poll finds By David Lauter Trump still gets dismal ratings on temperament but is above water on economy, decision-making, promises of change. pic.twitter.com/Md0H096n9m  Carrie Dann (@CarrieNBCNews) February 26, 2017 With the public deeply split in its views of President Trump, one potentially key group stands out -- those who dislike the man, but approve of the direction in which hes moving. Thats a central finding of a new nationwide survey by NBC News and the Wall St. Journal. The new poll confirms what other major surveys have shown: Trump starts his administration with less support than any president in the seven decades of presidential polling. Asked if they approve or disapprove of the job Trump is doing, 44% approve, 48% disapprove. No previous president has begun his tenure with a net negative job approval. Trump has held onto the support of his ardent backers. At the other end of the spectrum, he gets almost no approval from Democrats. In the middle, the poll found, are many Americans -- just over a third of those polled -- who either voted for Trump with reservations, voted for a third party candidate or did not vote at all in 2016. Just over half of that group gives Trump positive marks, the poll found. Their support is enough, currently, to keep Trumps standing from collapsing, and holding them is likely key to his future. Just under one third of Americans say they like Trump and approve of his policies, the poll found. Another one in six approve of most of his policies even though they dislike him. Well over half, 59%, said they did not like him personally. On a separate question, only 43% of those surveyed have a positive view of Trump -- up from the low points of the campaign, but still far below the standing of most new presidents. By contrast, 86% agreed with one of the central lines of Trumps inaugural speech, that government insiders had reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost. On other issues, the public is more closely divided. The public splits evenly, for example, on Trumps proposed temporary ban on travel from seven mostly Muslim countries. Just over half of those surveyed, 52%, said that the problems Trump has encountered in his first month were unique to this administration and suggest real problems; 43% said they were growing pains similar to those other administrations have had. And by 51%-41%, the public thinks the press has been too hard on the new administration. The NBC/WSJ poll, run by a bipartisan team of two polling firms, was taken by phone, using cell phones and landlines, Feb. 18-22 among 1,000 American adults. It has a margin of error for the full sample of 3.1 percentage points in either direction. Facebook

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Trump appears to think Perez at head of Democratic National Committee is good news for Republicans By Evan Halper Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 The Democratic Party put its faith in its old guard Saturday to guide it out of the political wilderness, choosing as its new leader an Obama-era Cabinet secretary over the charismatic congressman backed by the progressive wing of the party. Tom Perez, a former secretary of Labor with strong ties to unions, persuaded the spirited assembly of party delegates in Atlanta that he can best help harness a grass-roots outpouring of anti-Trump protest and anger into a Democratic resurgence at the ballot box. Read More Facebook

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Trump to Washington reporters: Not going to your dinner By Kurtis Lee I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 The annual White House Correspondents Assn. dinner will be missing a key guest this year: President Trump. On Saturday, Trump tweeted he will not attend the April 29 dinner, considered the premier social event of the Washington press corps -- and typically an evening of good-natured bantering between presidents and reporters with a mix of celebrities watching. His announcement comes amid growing tensions between his administration and the media. Trump has decried stories he doesnt like as fake news, and described unnamed news groups as an enemy of the people. A day earlier, the White House barred reporters from several major news organizations, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, CNN and Politico, from attending an off-camera press briefing. In a sign of the growing rift, several media organizations that traditionally sponsor lavish parties around the black-tie dinner had announced they would not do so this year. At the annual dinner, the president usually delivers self-deprecating jokes and often is roasted by a high-profile comedian. The president also greets students who win journalism scholarships and awards, a major part of the evening. Trump has been a frequent guest of media organizations at the dinner in the past, but he always sat at a table in the crowded ballroom, not up at the front dias. President Obama singled Trump out during the dinner several years ago, mocking Trump for raising doubts about whether Obama was born in the United States. This year, as we do every year, we will celebrate the First Amendment and the role an independent press plays in a healthy republic, the White House Correspondents Assn. said in a statement earlier this month about the upcoming dinner. Facebook

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Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez named Democratic Party leader By Evan Halper Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez (Branden Camp/Associated Press) The Democratic Party put its faith in its old guard Saturday to guide it out of the political wilderness, choosing as its new leader an Obama-era Cabinet secretary over the charismatic congressman backed by the progressive wing of the party. Tom Perez, a former secretary of Labor with strong ties to labor unions, persuaded the spirited assembly of party delegates in Atlanta that he can best help harness a grass-roots outpouring of anti-Trump protest and anger into a Democratic resurgence at the ballot box. We are suffering from a crisis of confidence, a crisis of relevance, Perez told delegates before they chose him in a down-to-the-wire contest with Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, whom the Bernie Sanders wing of the party had rallied round. We need a chair who can not only take the fight to Donald Trump.  We also need a chair who can lead a turnaround and change the culture of the Democratic Party, Perez said. The ascendance of an establishment liberal is certain to renew tension between veteran party stalwarts and the unruly progressive movement aligned with Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both of whom backed Ellison. Some Ellison supporters erupted in protest as the final vote was announced. Perez quickly sought to unite the party by naming Ellison his deputy chair, a move unanimously approved by the 435 assembled delegates, who had supported Perez 235-200. Read More Facebook

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Trump chastises media for not reporting minor dip in national debt By Del Quentin Wilber President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to blast the news media for not highlighting a minor dip in the national debt. The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo., he tweeted at 8:19 a.m. The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 Trumps tweet came shortly after Herman Cain, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, made a similar comment on Fox News. While the numbers are accurate, Trumps tweet suggests he deserves credit for something that is largely beyond his control, especially since he hasnt yet given Congress any proposals to change tax laws or the financial industry. Considering that Trump hasnt enacted any fiscal legislation, its a bit of a stretch for him to take credit for any changes in debt levels, Dan Mitchell, a libertarian economist at the Cato Institute, told the fact-checking website Politifact. President Obamas first month in office in 2009 was largely taken up with spending bills aimed at easing the massive recession that he had inherited. Trump inherited an economy with low inflation, low unemployment and a booming stock market. The national debt, which stands at just under $20 trillion, is expected to rise by more than $500 billion in the fiscal year ending in September. Facebook

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Mexico rejects U.S. plan to deport Central Americans to Mexico By Patrick J. McDonnell Mexico has informed the Trump administration that it cannot accept non-Mexican nationals whom U.S. authorities arrest along the border and seek to remove from U.S. territory, the nations internal security chief said Friday. Earlier this week, the Trump administration rolled out a broad immigration crackdown that included a proposal to send non-Mexican detainees apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border back to Mexico while their immigration cases were pending in the United States. The vast majority of non-Mexican nationals detained along the U.S.-Mexico border are Central Americans. They often travel overland through Mexico to reach the United States. In a fact sheet released Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said that releasing detained, third-country nationals to the foreign contiguous territory from which they arrived would save on detention and adjudication resources. The idea would be to keep them out pending their hearings on deportation, the fact sheet said. However, Mexican authorities have reacted coolly from the outset to the notion. Now, they appear to have formally nixed the idea. On Friday, Mexicos interior secretary, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, told a radio interviewer than Mexican authorities had informed a pair of visiting U.S. Cabinet officers  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly  that Mexico could not oblige the U.S. request. We told them that our legal framework doesnt allow this, Osorio Chong told Radio Formula, referring to the visit this week of the two Trump Cabinet officials.  We told them it is impossible. There is no way, legally, nor is there capacity. In recent years, non-Mexicans, mostly Central Americans, have become a larger proportion of illegal immigrants apprehended along the Southwest border as the relative number of Mexican nationals has declined. In fiscal year 2016, according to U.S. Border Patrol statistics, agents recorded apprehensions of almost 191,000 undocumented Mexican citizens along the Southwest frontier. In the same fiscal year, the Border Patrol said it registered 218,000 detentions of non-Mexican nationals, most of them Central Americans. Cecilia Sanchez of The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report. An earlier version of this blog post misspelled Miguel Angel Osorio Chongs name as Osorio Chung. Facebook

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Trump blasts FBI over Russia leaks after a brief Twitter hiatus By Kurtis Lee (Alex Wong / Getty Images ) After several days of relative silence on Twitter, President Trumps feed came alive Friday with a direct attack on the FBI. Yes, hes done this before. But recent news reports that suggest his administration pressed the FBI to quell claims that members of his campaign had contact with Russians throughout the 2016 election appear to have inspired a response. The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security leakers that have permeated our government for a long time, he tweeted. And conservative news was all over it. Here are some of todays headlines: Trump blasts FBI leakers (Fox News) Trump has assailed everyone from Democrats to intelligence officials for the leaks  which he often refers to as fake news  about his ties to Russia. Reports from several news outlets this week, citing anonymous sources, claim Trumps chief of staff, Reince Priebus, asked FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to publicly dispute media reports that Trumps campaign advisors frequently were in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election. While some reports made it appear Priebus had contacted McCabe, this piece disputes that. Fox News has learned that McCabe indeed had initiated the conversation, asking to speak with Priebus for a few minutes at the end of an intelligence meeting last week, their article reports. Ed Schultz at CPAC: Trump promised Americas heartland a deal (Daily Caller) He was once among the top liberal voices in the country. Now, Ed Schultz, the former MSNBC anchor, is speaking glowingly about President Trump. Between covering high-profile speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference from Trump and his aides, the Daily Caller popped into a panel at which Schultz provided commentary. Shultz, who now works with the Russian government-funded RT television network, blasted the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, asserting that Trumps claim that it would cost U.S. jobs was a game changer in the 2016 election. Trump went into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin and he took down the progressive firewall, because he talked to the American people about a deal, Schultz said. It was a Wall Street deal, it was not a Main Street deal, he said, referring to the TPP. Trump is about blowing up Washington as it exists (Rush Limbaugh) Remember when Trump talked about draining the swamp? Since he entered the White House, some conservatives have wondered if Trump means business. Many members of his cabinet  including Priebus and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions  are the ultimate Washington insiders. Still, Rush Limbaugh, one of the firebrand conservatives out there, is certain the president will blow up traditional Washington. Whats Trumps No. 1 obstacle? I have concluded that the media is the No. 1 obstacle because of the success they have, he said on his radio show this week. The people in Washington, media is every bit as big a part of the establishment as anybody else is. He added: The media is creating this narrative, if you will, and this picture  this series of pictures, this overall image  that Trump is stalled, that everybodys opposing him, that his agenda is backlogged. Facebook

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After Trump calls media an enemy of the people, White House bars many news outlets from briefing By Noah Bierman Fridays White House press briefing, normally an on-camera affair open to all reporters with press credentials, was turned into an exclusive event for certain outlets hand-picked by the administration. The action came after President Trump on Friday described the media and what he terms fake news as the enemy of the people."On the list were Trump-friendly outlets such as Breitbart News, the Washington Times and OANN, a conservative television network that employs former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a commentator. Off the list were some of Trumps favorite targets, including the New York Times and CNN. The Los Angeles Times was also excluded. The off-camera briefing with Sean Spicer, the press secretary, was not solely for conservative outlets. Several mainstream reporters were also allowed in, including the three major broadcast networks and wire services, such as Bloomberg News. Also allowed in were pool representatives who transmit news events to a far larger group of reporters. The Associated Press and Time magazine were also invited but declined to participate in solidarity with other news organizations that were denied entry. The White House Correspondents Assn. protested, as did editors at several of the organizations that were excluded. In a statement, Times editor Davan Maharaj said that it was unfortunate that the Los Angeles Times has been excluded from a White House press briefing today. The public has a right to know, and that means being informed by a variety of news sources, not just those filtered by the White House press office in hopes of getting friendly coverage, Maharaj said. Regardless of access, The Times will continue to report on the Trump administration without fear or favor, he added. 12:30 p.m.: This post was updated with a statement from Times editor Davan Maharaj. Facebook

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Its a Russian flag! Trickster strikes CPAC before Trumps speech By Matt Pearce Crowd at CPAC waving these little pro-Trump flags that look exactly like the Russian flag. Staffers quickly come around to confiscate them. pic.twitter.com/YhPpkwFCNc  Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 24, 2017 As the crowd waited to hear President Trump speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, little red-white-and-blue flags appeared without warning, handed down the aisles by a man with a green bag, according to a witness. The flags said Trump. They also happened to be the flag of the Russian Federation. He was dressed like any one of us, said Tyler Dever, 20, a student at the University of South Florida in Tampa, who was wearing a suit. He passed them to me and was like, Pass them down, pass them down.  Dever, caught up in the moment, passed them down, before someone sitting next to him said, Oh, its a Russian flag! CPAC staff quickly recollected the flags. If it was just a red-white-and-blue flag, I would have picked it out, Dever said. He said it was his first time attending an event like CPAC and was surprised to see a provocateur in the audience, especially beyond the cordon set up by the Secret Service. Someone tried to victimize me, Dever said. You have Secret Service out here, and Id expect it to be fully screened. ... Thank God someone noticed. Facebook

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Trump still loves the USC/L.A. Times poll: What it got right and what it got wrong By David Lauter Throughout the fall campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump and his allies loved the USC/L.A. Times Daybreak poll -- the only major survey that consistently showed him winning. A couple polls got it right. I must say Los Angeles Times did a great job, shocking because, you know, they did a great job, Trump declared in his speech this morning at CPAC, the annual gathering of conservative activists. But did the poll get it right? In the simplest terms, no, and after considerble analysis, we know why. Read More Facebook

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A celebration, and wake, for a campaign legend and a Republican Party that is no more By Mark Z. Barabak (Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times) It was a cool and rainy day when elders of the Republican tribe recently gathered to honor one of their own. The honoree, Stuart K. Spencer, was unmistakable in his white duck pants and a lime-green sport coat so bright it almost hurt to see. A reformed chain-smoker, he snapped merrily away on a wad of chewing gum. The event marked Spencers 90th birthday, but the mood beneath the surface conviviality was unsettled and gray, like the clouds fringing the mountains outside. If the occasion was intended as a personal celebration, it also had the feel of a wake for a time in politics long passed. Along with former Vice President Dick Cheney and former California Gov. Pete Wilson, veterans of the Reagan years turned out in force. It was Spencer, more than anyone, who took a political long shot and washed-up B-movie actor and helped transform him into the Reagan of legend. Read More Facebook

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CPACs reaction to President Trumps speech: Two thumbs up By Matt Pearce Supporters cheer President Trump as he speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Friday. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump loves CPAC, and CPAC loves Trump. As hundreds of Conservative Political Action Conference attendees spilled out into the hallways Friday after Trumps speech to the group, they had glowing reviews of the man who has been tormenting Democrats and the media and transforming the Republican Party. It was fantastic, unbelievable, absolute truth, said Shia L. Lome, 84, a retired Air Force colonel from Deerfield Beach, Fla., appraising Trumps remarks. If he carries through [his promises], this will be the greatest country ever. Lome added that there is no question about it, Trump is his own type of Republican. Whether its conservative or whatever you want to call it, Lome said he is happy as long as [Trump] causes the Democrats heartaches. Kayne Robinson, 73, a former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, said Trump was simply taking the party in the direction that people want it to go. I think the party is every bit as united behind him as it was behind either of the Bushes, Robinson said. Trump led a revolution in the party, very much like Reagan. ... I think Trump is doing just fine. Frank March, a 50-year-old Army retiree from Fairfax County, Va., emerged from the ballroom at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, which carried Trumps jagged signature on the bill. Marchs daughter had gotten the hat signed when she previously met Trump, and he proudly showed off photos of that event. I recognize the signature! a woman exclaimed as she saw the hat. March praised Trumps follow-through and his commitment to workers as incredible. Hes bringing in new people to the party, March said. The hope is, by his follow-through, doing what he said he was going to do, then the non-Republicans who voted for Trump will stick. Helping workers will be one of the ways Trump can make that happen, he said. In politics, youre supposed to help people, March said. Workers are the people. Theyre people who earn money to take care of their families. Republicans should support those people because theyre the ones who make America run. Facebook

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Donald Trump shows up at conservatives most prominent gathering and defines a new GOP By Noah Bierman  President Trump shows up at conservatives most prominent gathering and defines a new GOP. President Trump made one of his strongest pitches Friday to unite the Republican Party and the conservative movement behind a nationalist, anti-globalist ideology that until recently would have been unthinkable for many Republicans. There is no such thing as a global anthem, a global currency or a global flag, Trump said to great applause from thousands of conservatives. Im not representing the globe. Im representing your country. He echoed ideas he has espoused in the past -- denouncing trade deals as the antithesis of economic freedom, warning that the great cities of Europe have been ruined by mass immigration, denouncing intervention in the Middle East by both parties. But while many of the words were familiar, the venue and the passion made Fridays speech remarkable. The comments came at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, just outside of Washington, D.C., the most prominent gathering of right-leaning groups and activists in the country. Such a speech would have been shocking from a conservative, much less the president, at almost any other time in the conferences history. Trump has been popular at CPAC in the past. He credits a speech there with launching his political career. But he snubbed last years event amid a heated primary in which many conservatives rejected his tone and the direction he was trying to move the GOP. I would have come last year, but I was worried that I would be at that time too controversial, Trump said in his speech, which lasted nearly an hour. Trump, the first president since Ronald Reagan to address the group during his first year in office, made clear that he is moving those once controversial ideas to the movements center. In addition to his usual critiques of the media and frequent references to his electoral success, Trump spoke directly of his ambition for reshaping the Republican Party to attract blue-collar voters, the forgotten men and women who helped propel his electoral victory. Im here today to tell you what this movement means for the future of the Republican Party and for the future of America, Trump said. The core conviction of our movement is that we are a nation that [must] put and will put its own citizens first. Later, he added that the GOP will be from now on also the party of the American worker. While Trump tried to unite conservatives, the speech made little effort to bridge the countrys larger political divide. For example, Trump dismissed people who have shown up at town halls around the country to protest reversal of Obamacare. Theyre not you, he said. Theyre the side that lost. Facebook

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Justice Department rescinds order phasing out use of private prisons By Del Quentin Wilber Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has jettisoned an Obama administration order to phase out the use of private prisons to hold federal inmates. The new order reverses one issued by former Deputy Atty. Gen. Sally Yates in August that sought to eliminate the departments use of private for-profit prisons, which hold just over 10% of the current prison population. The Obama administration order changed long-standing policy and practice, and impaired the bureaus ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system, Sessions wrote Thursday to announce the reversal. Civil rights and prisoner rights groups decried the Sessions decision, saying private prisons are not as cost-effective or as safe as government-run facilities, citing numerous abuses in the past. The Bureau of Prisons houses about 21,000 of its 190,000 inmates in a dozen private prisons, including one near Bakersfield. Atty. Gen. Sessions has shown that he is not taking the mass incarceration crisis seriously, said Wade Henderson, who heads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Continuing to rely on private prisons for federal inmates is neither humane nor budget conscious, Henderson added. We need a justice system that can work better for all people. Yates order did not affect facilities used to detain people in the country illegally. The use of private prisons is expected to surge under President Trumps promised crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump has signed an executive order calling for expansion of immigrant detention facilities and authorized the use of private contractors to construct, operate, or control facilities. Stocks in private prison companies have jumped on Wall Street since Trump won the presidential election, and they continued their rise on news of Sessions order. Facebook

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CPAC and conservative media prepare for Trump By Kurtis Lee The future path of the Republican Party is being debated in the halls of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland this week. Will it be the party of Donald Trump, an outsider of the GOP establishment, or House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the definition of establishment? Or, perhaps, of Richard Spencer, a white nationalist leader of the so-called alt-right movement? (Spencer was kicked out of CPAC on Thursday.) Trump is set to address the conference on Friday, and the conservative media are ready for the much-anticipated address. Tomorrow it will be TPAC when hes here, Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor to Trump told reporters Thursday. Here are some of todays headlines: Go Big, Go Bold: Walker, at CPAC, pushes GOP to carry out agenda as party controls Congress, White House (Fox News) Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, once a Trump foe, is urging conservatives to use the November election as a mandate. Do what you said you were going to do, Walker said to attendees. In the Fox News piece, which leads its website, it notes that leaders at the conference are hoping to use it to strategize about what they can accomplish and to better articulate their values at a time when the very definition of conservatism has seemed to waver. Sweden Democrats: Trump was right (Fox News) Remember last weekend when everyone  including many Swedish politicians  were really confused about Trumps comments at a recent rally? You look at whats happening last night in Sweden, Trump, at a rally in Florida on Saturday, said about the Scandinavian country that has accepted large numbers of refugees. Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible. Actually, not much happened in Sweden on Friday night. Trump said later that he had been referring to a broadcast on Fox News on that night. Still, recent riots in the country were covered extensively by conservative media. This post notes a recent op-ed penned by Jimmie Akesson and Mattias Karlsson, both leaders of the Sweden Democrats, in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday supporting Trumps characterization of a Muslim immigrant-led crime crisis in Sweden. In it they write, Trump did not exaggerate Swedens current problems.  If anything, he understated them. Trump Is Letting DREAMers Stay, And Rush Is Fine With That (Daily Caller) Hes an immigration hard liner, and, apparently, hes OK with Trump allowing DREAMERs to remain in the country. This piece highlights comments by Rush Limbaugh this week. A lot of people think that Trumps caving because if you allow the DREAMers to stay, were talking 750,000 DREAMers, kids, who each have two parents who could come in. Look, this is a-no-win, Limbaugh said this week. Nobodys gonna win anything by deporting a bunch of kids that we let in. Facebook

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Trump advisor Steve Bannon rails at corporatist, globalist media By Noah Bierman Steve Bannon to the #CPAC crowd: "If you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken" pic.twitter.com/ryw7iO0Snr  POLITICO (@politico) February 23, 2017 The two men with the most heavily dissected relationship in President Trumps White House held a rare public appearance together Thursday and agreed on one common enemy: the media. Reince Priebus, the chief of staff who is often described as embattled, said he has grown conditioned to the media counting Trump out: during the presidential campaign, the transition and the first month of the presidency. The biggest misconception is everything that youre reading, Priebus said. Steve Bannon, Trumps chief strategist, framed his complaint as an ideological war. He consistently called the media the opposition party throughout a 20-minute joint interview on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside of Washington. Its not only not going to get better, it gets worse every day, Bannon said. Theyre corporatist, globalist media that are adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has. If you think theyre going to give you your country back without a fight, he added. You are sadly mistaken. Bannon, former executive chairman of the far-right Breitbart News, seldom speaks in public. His nationalist rendering of Republican ideology is often seen in contrast to Priebus, the former chairman of the GOP, who is viewed as the more mainstream conservative advocate within the White House. The two men said the tension between them portrayed in the media is inaccurate. But as they praised each other, the men made clear that Bannon sees his role as dominant in shaping Trumps policy. Bannon praised Priebus for doggedly keeping the trains running -- one of the toughest jobs Ive ever seen in my life. Bannon talked about being in the first inning of shaping a new political order and beginning the deconstruction of the administrative state. Priebus used more prosaic language and spoke of Bannon as the one who pushes Trump to maintain his bold vision. He is very dogged in making sure that every day the promises that President Trump made are the promises were working on, Priebus said of Bannon. Facebook

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In Mexico, Homeland Security chief says there will be no mass deportations of people in U.S. illegally By Patrick J. McDonnell Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, left, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Mexico City on Thursday. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/Getty Images) Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, on a visit to Mexico, said Thursday that there will be no mass deportations of people living in the U.S. illegally. Kelly also said U.S. military forces would not be used in deportation efforts and that any deportation cases would go through the U.S. legal system. No. Repeat, no use of military force in immigration operations, Kelly said at a news conference at the Foreign Relations Ministry in Mexico City. None. Well approach this operation systematically, in an organized way, in a results-oriented way, in an operation and and in a human dignity way. Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are in Mexico City to discuss a wide variety of issues, including immigration and security, with Mexican government officials. Kellys remarks came the same day President Trump called recent raids in the U.S. an unprecedented enforcement effort. You see whats happening at the border. All of a sudden for the first time, were getting gang members out, he said. Were getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobodys ever seen before. Read More Facebook

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Mexico bracing for long battle with Trump administration, foreign minister tells lawmakers By Patrick J. McDonnell Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (Brian Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images) Mexico is preparing for a long battle with the administration of President Trump, its foreign minister reportedly told lawmakers in private comments, adding that the country was prepared to retaliate with new tariffs if necessary. We are here preparing for a battle that is going to be long, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told federal deputies Wednesday, according to the newspaper La Jornada, which said it had obtained a copy of the comments. This is not going to be resolved in three days. In the reported remarks, Videgaray said Mexico was prepared to retaliate with new tariffs on U.S.-made goods should the Trump administration follow up on its threats to slap an export tax of 20% or more of goods imported from Mexico to the United States. There was no official response from the Mexican Foreign Ministry on Videgarays reported remarks. Videgaray was among the Mexican officials, including President Enrique Pena Nieto, who met this week with a pair of visiting White House Cabinet members, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly. The private remarks were apparently made on Wednesday, when the two Trump envoys were scheduled to arrive in Mexico City. Read More Facebook

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Homeland Security tried to downplay immigration raids as routine. Now Trump says theyre unprecedented By Michael A. Memoli (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) After nationwide immigration raids this month in which more than 680 people were arrested, the Department of Homeland Security issued a nothing-to-see-here statement downplaying the sweeps as strictly ordinary. ICE conducts these kind of targeted enforcement operations regularly and has for many years, the agency said last week, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But President Trump had a different take Thursday, labeling the raids an unprecedented enforcement effort. You see whats happening at the border. All of a sudden for the first time, were getting gang members out, he said before a roundtable on manufacturing. Were getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobodys ever seen before. Under President Obama, deportations peaked at 400,000 people in 2012, touching off widespread criticism from immigration advocates, which prompted Homeland Security to scale back deportations. Last year, deportations fell to 240,000 as the Obama administration focused on targets similar to what Trump described in the raids conducted under his authority: criminals, repeat immigration violators and recent arrivals. Trump also called the sweeps this month a military operation, even though no military resources were involved and the White House has pushed back aggressively on reports that the administration was considering seeking National Guard forces to assist in deportations. Homeland Security said the raids were conducted by ICE agents, U.S. marshals and state and local law enforcement agencies. What has been allowed to come into our country, when you see gang violence that youve read about like never before, and all of the things  much of that is people that are here illegally, Trump said. Theyre rough and theyre tough, but theyre not tough like our people. So were getting them out. Of the 680 arrests last week, 161 occurred in Los Angeles and surrounding counties. Three-quarters of those detained in the Los Angeles-area sweeps were from Mexico. Trump noted that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly traveled to Mexico this week on a tough trip. We have to be treated fairly by Mexico, Trump said. Facebook

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White nationalist leader Richard Spencer booted from Conservative Political Action Conference By Matt Pearce Reporters surround white supremacist Richard Spencer during the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 23, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) One of Americas most prominent white nationalists, Richard Spencer, was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday after conference organizers gave him credentials to attend and then wavered on whether to let him stay. Spencer, who coined the term alternative right to describe his far-right views on separating the races, came to CPAC to attend a speech that was critical of the alt-right. CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp took pains to distance CPAC from the fringe Spencer represents. The alt-right does not have a legitimate voice in the conservative movement, said Schlapp, adding that nobody from that movement is speaking at CPAC. Read More Just talked to CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp. Said he didn't endorse Richard Spencer's ideas but won't kick him out of the conference.  Matt Pearce  (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017 Basically their line on this is, if they actually agreed with his ideas, they'd put him on stage, but they don't, and it's a free country.  Matt Pearce  (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017 Change of plans. Richard Spencer just got kicked out of CPAC.  Matt Pearce  (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017 Facebook

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Obamacare 101: Are health insurance marketplaces in a death spiral? By Noam N. Levey (Don Ryan / Associated Press) Its been a rocky few months for the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. Even if youre not one of the roughly 11 million Americans who rely on these online markets to get your health insurance, youve probably seen the headlines about rising premiums and insurance companies pulling out of the system. Last week, national insurance giant Humana announced it would stop selling plans on the marketplace. Aetnas chief executive claimed the marketplaces are in a death spiral. Republicans say the marketplaces are Exhibit A that Obamacare is collapsing. So whats the real story? Are these things really kaput or can they be fixed? Heres a rundown of where things stand. Read More Facebook

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Trump administration wants tax reform done by August, Mnuchin says By Jim Puzzanghera The Trump administration wants to overhaul the tax code by August, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday, laying out an aggressive timetable in his first significant public comments since taking office last week. Our economic agenda, the No. 1 issue is growth, and the first most important thing that will impact growth is a tax plan, Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC. So we are committed to pass tax reform, he said. We want to get this done by the August recess. Read More Facebook

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Loud and angry, protesters turn congressional town halls into must-see political TV By Mark Z. Barabak (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images) They came by the hundreds, in big cities and rural hamlets, to heckle, plead, badger and, in some instances, to protest the protests themselves. Congress is in recess this week, and a citizenry suddenly spurred to action used the opportunity to let their returning lawmakers know just how they feel about the tempestuous last month in Washington. Winners make policy and losers go home, a taunting Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, told an invitation-only gathering in his home state of Kentucky, as about 1,000 protesters gathered outside. Not exactly. The town hall meeting, a throwback to a time of more intimate connection, has become a political organizing tool in the social media age  a piece of performance theater and a worldwide stage. Obamacare, immigration, environmental regulation, Social Security, Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Trump, Trump, Trump  all poured forth this week in the form of questions, loudly and heatedly. Read More Facebook

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Trump administration rescinds guidelines on protections for transgender students By Michael A. Memoli The Trump administration rescinded an Obama-era directive Wednesday aimed at protecting transgender students rights, questioning its legal grounding. Under the guidelines, schools had been required to treat transgender students according to their stated gender identity, and either allow access to restrooms and locker rooms for the gender they identify with or provide private facilities if requested. The Obama administration had said that students gender identities were protected under Title IX requirements, which prohibit federally funded schools from discriminating on the basis of sex. But officials in the Education and Justice departments said that their predecessors failed to make their case, citing significant litigation spurred by the policy. Read More Facebook

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Americans in Mexico protest Trumps inflammatory rhetoric during Tillerson visit By Kate Linthicum A group of Americans living in Mexico is planning a protest Thursday to send a message to visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Their gripe? President Trumps inflammatory rhetoric. Thats according to a draft of a letter that several groups organizing the protest hope to deliver to Tillerson, who is in town along with Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly for talks with top Mexican officials. The letter, which will be cosigned by the Mexican chapter of Democrats Abroad, as well as other groups, complains about Trumps hostile attitude toward Mexico, which it says is engendering nationalistic sentiments in Mexico. Among Trumps hostile acts, the letter says, is Trumps vow to build a border wall and force Mexico to pay for it. The idea of building a wall ... frames Mexico and Mexicans as foreign invaders, the letter says. It also criticizes Trump for pledging to renegotiate NAFTA, saying, The U.S. and Mexico are deeply connected economies and it is in the interest of the United States to strengthen the regional production network to boost manufacturing employment in the U.S. and ensure the long-run competitiveness of manufacturing in the region. There are more than a million U.S. citizens living in Mexico, and many have been vocal since Trumps election. Last month, thousands turned out for a womens march outside the American Embassy that saw crowds chanting anti-Trump slogans. Facebook

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Mexico will never accept unilateral American immigration rules, foreign secretary says By Patrick McDonnell Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray said defending the rights of Mexican immigrants is the first point in the agenda for talks with U.S. officials. (Christian Palma / Associated Press) Mexico will reject any unilateral effort from the United States to impose immigration or other policies on the Mexican government, the countrys foreign secretary said Wednesday. I want to make clear, in the most emphatic way, that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept measures that, in a unilateral way, one government wants to impose on another, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray said in public comments. That we are not going to accept. He spoke a day after the Trump administration unveiled tough new measures to enforce immigration laws and deport people who are in the country illegally  proposals that were widely portrayed in the Mexican media as a prelude to massive deportations. On Wednesday, two top Trump administration cabinet members  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly  were arriving in Mexico for talks with that nations officials, including Videgaray. Immigration, trade and law enforcement issues were expected to be discussed at a tense moment in U.S.-Mexican relations. In his reported comments, the Mexican secretary did not single out any specific U.S. proposal as objectionable. Mexican officials have acknowledged there is little they can do to counter U.S. immigration policies. Among other things, the Trump administration has proposed sending non-Mexican citizens detained along the U.S.-Mexico border back to Mexico. Mexican officials would presumably have to sign off on such a plan. Mexico already detains and deports thousands of Central Americans annually who cross Mexican territory with the hope of entering the United States illegally via the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. authorities have worked with their Mexican counterparts to halt the Central American influx. The Mexican foreign secretary made it clear that immigration would be at the top of the list of items to be discussed during meetings with the U.S. Cabinet secretaries. Defending the rights of Mexican immigrants is the first point in the agenda, said Videgaray. He also said Mexico could take the issue of the rights of Mexican immigrants to the United Nations and other international agencies. Facebook

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Both in power and in turmoil, conservatives head to Conservative Political Action Conference to see whats next By Matt Pearce Josh Platillero (Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times) The eyes of men in crisp blazers darted toward passing faces and identification badges, looking for a familiar face, a famous name. As Fox News host Sean Hannity prepared to broadcast a live show from a ballroom, a brief chant burst out from the audience: U-S-A! U-S-A! Its that time of year again: Hundreds of Republicans began arriving Wednesday at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., just south of Washington, for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC, as its best known, is a place for conservative political figures and activists to gather, schmooze, hammer out new ideas and audition for starring roles in the Republican Party. And this year, CPAC attendees have a lot to talk about. Their party is in control of Congress, the White House and dozens of state governments across America, and yet not at all at peace with itself. President Trump is expected to address the conference later in the week after winning on a platform of populist nationalism that some conservatives have accused of not being conservative at all. Breitbart News, the brash rising star of right-wing media, is one of the conferences top promoters, but one of its staffers, Milo Yiannopoulos, lost his speaking slot at CPAC and resigned from the news organization after video circulated showing him appearing to promote pedophilia. Some conservatives had backed Yiannopoulos and cried censorship when the provocateur offended liberals at college speaking events, but now they had become offended themselves. Still, as CPAC began on Wednesday, the mood was upbeat. This was a victorious movement, after all. Many new guests were greeted by the sight of Josh Platillero, 23, wearing a cartoonishly large stovepipe hat and a suit the colors of the American flag. I love networking, said Platillero, who recently lived in Knoxville, Tenn., before moving to the D.C. area to work with a conservative nonprofit, the Leadership Institute. Its his second year attending CPAC, and he was excited about the lineup of speakers, which include some of the White House staff. I think our new president is not perfect, but I think hes doing good things, he said. Ariel Kohane, 45, who came from the Upper West Side in Manhattan, stood in the lobby holding signs that read, Jews for Trump, in both English and Hebrew. I love the fact that I can get together with many of my fellow conservative friends and colleagues and we can all be very proud of ourselves with all our accomplishments and the fact that we get to strategize and plan ways to further expand conservatism across America and across the whole world, Kohane said. Facebook

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Pence condemns Jewish center bomb threats and visits desecrated cemetery in Missouri By Jaweed Kaleem (Michael Conroy / Associated Press) Visiting Fenton, Mo., on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence condemned a string of bomb threats against Jewish community centers around the nation and the desecration of a St. Louis-area Jewish cemetery over the weekend. Speaking just yesterday, President Trump called this a horrible and painful act. And so it was. That along with other recent threats to the Jewish community centers around the country, said Pence, who was visiting the headquarters of the Fabick Cat machinery company. He declared it all a sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil. We condemn this vile act of vandalism and those who perpetuate it in the strongest possible terms. The vice president said it was inspiring how the people of Missouri have rallied around the Jewish community with compassion and support. Among those showing solidarity with the Jewish community is a group of Muslims who launched an online fundraising campaign to help repair the cemetery. Donors had pledged more than $90,000 by Wednesday afternoon. Pence later visited the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Mo., where nearly 200 tombstones had been toppled over the weekend. Facebook

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Trumps move on transgender bathroom access sparks interest By Kurtis Lee (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) For President Trump, commenting on social issues  such as same-sex marriage and abortion  has never seemed much of a priority. Indeed, throughout the campaign, Trump hardly discussed the topics. When asked about transgender bathroom access at a town hall in April 2016, Trump said people should be able to use whichever bathroom they choose. He then moved on from the question, offering little else. Now it appears his administration is set to wade into the controversy. Its a topic the conservative media loves to explore. Here are some of todays headlines: Return to normalcy: Trump readies reversal of transgender bathroom lunacy in public schools (Daily Caller) What will the Trump administration do about transgender bathroom access? The Caller highlights White House Press Secretary Sean Spicers pronouncement on the issue: This is a states rights issue and not one for the federal government, Spicer told reporters. The lunacy referred to is the federal guidance President Obama issued prior to leaving office directing schools that receive federal funding to allow transgender students to use restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identities. Several states filed suit to overturn the directive, and a federal judge issued a temporary injunction barring its enforcement, which remains in place. Several states, following the lead of North Carolina, are seeking to implement legislation that bans transgender people from using the bathrooms of the gender with which they identify. 66 percent of Trump voters change the channel when awards shows get too political (Daily Caller) When Meryl Streep criticized President Trump last month in her Golden Globes speech, he replied quickly. Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesnt know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes, Trump tweeted. Well, Trump can probably expect more barbs as actors (in overwhelmingly liberal Hollywood) take the stage at the Oscars on Sunday. Lots of Trump voters can be expected to change the channel, according to this piece, which highlights a new poll on the subject. The Hollywood Reporter says that 66% of Trump voters said they have stopped watching an awards show because a celebrity started talking about politics while accepting an award. By contrast, only 19% of Hillary Clintons supporters have done so. Trump talks tolerance, decries anti-Semitism, but media remain skeptical (Fox News) Well, Trump finally did say something to condemn the anti-Semitic vandalism and threats that have taken place since his presidential victory. Anti-Semitism is horrible, Trump said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. In the Fox News piece, Howard Kurtz argues the media should give the president more credit for speaking out. I always think its unfair to blame a political leader for violence or vandalism carried out by people who support him, he writes. I felt the same way about critics who blamed Barack Obama for urban riots or shootings of police officers. Facebook

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Among Republicans, Trump is more popular than congressional leaders By David Lauter Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) walk together. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press) Amid strain between the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, the White House holds the high ground, a new survey indicates. Among Republicans, President Trump has greater popularity than the partys congressional leaders. Asked specifically who they would trust if the two sides disagreed, most Republicans chose Trump over their partys leadership. The findings, from a new survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center underscore Trumps continued sway with the Republican congressional majority. Although the president has historically low job approval ratings among the public at large, he remains highly popular among Republican partisans and in Republican districts. As for Democrats, theyre strongly in an oppositional mood. Asked if they were more worried that Democrats in Congress would go too far in opposing Trump or not go far enough, more than 70% of Democrats said they feared their party would not go far enough. Only 20% said they worried the party would go too far. Republicans in Congress have eyed Trump warily on several fronts. His positions on trade and entitlement reform break with years of the partys positions. His reluctance to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin has generated tension. And the administrations lack of clarity on healthcare and tax policy have Republican leaders guessing which way to turn on major issues. But Republican partisans have fewer reservations than their elected representatives. Eighty-six percent to 13%, those who identify as Republicans or as independents who lean Republican have a favorable view of Trump, the Pew survey found. By comparison, 57% have a favorable view of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, with 22% unfavorable and 21% having no opinion. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is slightly better known, with 65% of Republicans holding a favorable view, 23% an unfavorable view and 13% having no opinion. Asked who they would trust if the two sides disagreed, 52% of Republicans said they would side with Trump and 34% with the Republicans in Congress. Republicans younger than 40 were the only major exception; 52% to 36%, they said they would side with Congress. At the same time, Republican partisans now have a warmer opinion of their party leadership than they had during most of President Obamas tenure. Republicans' approval of their congressional leaders has more than doubled since 2015 https://t.co/KSo1hRMhJj pic.twitter.com/WHTHxCNEFq  Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 22, 2017 During the Obama years, GOP partisans tended to be frustrated that their side could not reverse the presidents initiatives, even with a majority in the House, starting in 2010, and then in the Senate for Obamas last two years. Their view of the GOP leadership has rebounded strongly since the election. Democrats view of their congressional leadership has been more stable. And both sides widely dislike the other partys leaders. Facebook

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Supreme Court rejects use of racial stereotypes in death penalty cases By David Savage The Supreme Court rejected the use of racial stereotypes in death penalty cases Wednesday, reopening the case of a black man in Texas who was sentenced to die after his jury was told African Americans are more likely than whites to commit crimes. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said this testimony had no place in a sentencing hearing and appealed to the racial stereotype that black men are prone to violence. Our laws punish people for what they do, not for who they are, the chief justice said in the courtroom. The 6-2 decision faults Texas authorities for refusing to give a new sentencing hearing to Duane Buck, a Houston man who was convicted of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend and seriously injuring her new boyfriend in 1995. Buck was found guilty of murder, but when his jury was debating his fate, his court-appointed defense attorney put on the witness stand an expert who cited statistics showing blacks are more likely to commit future crimes than whites. After hearing this testimony, the jury decided to sentence Buck to death. Years later, Texas state attorneys set aside the death sentences for six other black defendants whose juries heard similar testimony, but they refused to reopen Bucks case. In Buck vs. Davis, the high court said that was a mistake. The jury was deciding the question of life or death, and this is no place for the introduction of a particularly noxious strain of racial prejudice, Roberts said. The court sent the case back to judges in Texas to reconsider the death sentence. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, along with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Thomas said Buck was properly sentenced to die for a brutal murder, and he insisted the court should not have heard the case for procedural reasons. Having settled on a desired outcome, the court bulldozes procedural obstacles and misapplies settled law to justify it, he wrote. Facebook

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At Rep. Tony Cardenas town hall, Democrats worry about what Donald Trump may do By Kurtis Lee (Kurtis Lee/Los Angeles Times ) They arrived with soggy jackets, hats and umbrellas. The topic was supposed to be the Affordable Care Act. But many who attended Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenas town hall meeting Tuesday night in a crammed auditorium at the Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academies came with a question: What can we -- as Democrats -- do to help you? Show up and vote, said Cardenas, who represents a slice of the staunchly liberal San Fernando Valley. (Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in this district by nearly 60-percentage points in the fall election.) Sign people up, get people involved, he said. At times the meeting had the feel of a therapy session for Democrats, wondering aloud how to function under a Trump administration. Where is the anger among Democrats? asked one man. I want to see more anger. Cardenas, standing at a lectern on an elevated stage, offered a stern look and nodded in agreement as rain could be heard splattering on the roof above. The complaints included Republicans efforts to repeal Obamacare and Trumps new immigration mandates. Trust me, Im pissed. Im upset, Cardenas said. But we have to act constructively. We have to be responsible. Last month, Trump signed executive orders directing the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the removal of people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal convictions. In addition to speeding up the deportation of convicts, Trumps orders also call for quick removal of people in the country illegally who are charged with crimes and waiting for adjudication. And in recent days, a handful of people who have received protection under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents nationwide. Cardenas said that for him, the issue is personal. His parents were immigrants from Mexico, who lived in the San Fernando Valley for decades, raising 11 children, he said. Today his district is nearly 70% Latino. Im going to fight for you, he said. Im going to fight for the people who are my immigrant father. When a young man, a DACA recipient, asked him, via Twitter, if hell be safe in the weeks ahead, Cardenas seemed at a loss. I pray that [Trump] doesnt go after you, he said. Facebook

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Killing with kindness, GOPs McClintock faces down hostile questioners as town hall goes into overti
While police departments across the country figure out what to make of President Donald Trumps call on local agencies to act as immigration enforcement officials, police departments in Burbank and Glendale said their work will remain business as usual.

Trump signed a pair of executive orders that seek to tighten the countrys immigration policy  including the building of a wall along the Mexican border in addition to empowering local law enforcement with the same authority as immigration officers.

The Los Angeles Times reported that such a policy could allow officers to ask about a persons immigration status when contacting them on the street.

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The president also threatened to cut off federal funding to any sanctuary city that protects undocumented immigrants. Neither Burbank nor Glendale has that designation.

While Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse could not be reached for comment, department spokeman Lt. Claudio Losacco said neither the Burbank Police Department nor the chief have a stance on the presidents directives.

The Burbank Police Department is not affected by this order, Losacco said. We will continue detention, arrest and jail procedures as usual.

According to Burbank police policy, a persons immigration status should not be the sole basis of contact or arrest unless it proves relevant to a criminal offense of investigation.

Losacco said any changes in department policy would need to be properly vetted and also require consultation with city officials, including the council and city attorney.

Drew Sugars, the citys public information officer, said Burbank officials have yet to come up with a response to the orders.

At this time, council has not met, and they have not addressed what happened lately with these executive orders, he said.

Glendale has also yet to officially respond to the orders. City spokesman Tom Lorenz said the city attorneys office still needs to review them before any action can be taken.

Both the city and police released a joint statement assuring residents the Glendale Police Department will continue to serve the community in the interest of public safety.

The Glendale Police Department does not have the authority nor the responsibility to incarcerate or detain individuals solely based on immigration status, according to the statement. Our responsibility is to protect the lives of the community we are sworn to serve and honor the established principles of democracy upon which this country was founded.

While the department itself will not directly detain people based on their immigration status, the city has been in agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2007 to use the Glendale City Jail as transitory housing for those arrested by the federal agency.

Recent census data show roughly 54% of residents in Glendale are immigrants, while around 31% of Burbanks population is foreign born.

The Burbank Police Department has built trust with our community over many, many years, Losacco said. We are always cognizant of how any action or inaction by our organization will impact the community we serve, both perceived and in reality.

The Burbank Police Officers Assn. declined to comment, and attempts to reach the Glendale Police Officers Assn. were not returned.

--

Andy Nguyen, andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc

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The largest IKEA store in the United States is ready to open its doors in Burbank to residents throughout the San Fernando Valley.

Construction crews and employees of the outgoing store in the Burbank Town Center have been busy the past two months putting the finishing touches on the new 456,000-square-foot store at 805 S. San Fernando Blvd. before its grand opening on Wednesday.

To commemorate the opening of the Swedish retailers largest store in the country, several pieces of furniture will be given away Wednesday morning.

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1 / 17 Ikea expansion public affairs spokesperson Joseph Roth shows off the cavernous new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 2 / 17 Ikea employee Monica DeClercq puts on hundreds of price tags on items at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 3 / 17 The new Ikea store will have every item the Swedish store sells available at the Burbank store, even more items than are available through the website or catalogue, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 4 / 17 Ikea expansion public affairs spokesperson Joseph Roth shows the best selling item, packs of uncented tealights, which will also be available at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 5 / 17 Ikea expansion public affairs spokesperson Joseph Roth shows off the cavernous new Ikea store warehouse in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 6 / 17 The cavernous new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 7 / 17 Breakfast, lunch and dinner items will be available at the new Ikea stores restaurant, in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 8 / 17 Hot food like the Swedish meatball plate will be available at the new Ikea stores restaurant in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 9 / 17 Ikeas new store will replace the old one nearby, in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 10 / 17 Everything is almost ready at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 11 / 17 There will be a wide variety of items for children at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 12 / 17 There is a wide variety of kitchen-related items at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 13 / 17 The sample rooms look much more like they would at a real home, at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 14 / 17 Real and plastic plants and containers are available at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 15 / 17 Lamps of all types can be found at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 16 / 17 The sample rooms look much more like they would at a real home, at the new Ikea store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. In comparison, the old Burbank store was half the size and this one seats three times more hungry customers. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 17 / 17 The new IKEA store in Burbank on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The store, on San Fernando Road, will open on Feb. 8 and it includes 456,000 sq. ft. of space, including 1,700 parking spots and a restaurant that seats 600 people. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

The outgoing Burbank IKEA opened in 1990 and was the companys first location in California. In honor of the 26 years it has been in the Media City, the retailer will give away Landskrona sofas, which retail $789 each, to the first 26 people in line. The next 100 people will receive a Poang armchair.

Customers can line up at the store beginning at 6 a.m. on Wednesday before the stores opening at 9 a.m.

In December, there was still plenty of electrical work to be finished and just a handful of displays were organized. However, during a walk-through on Wednesday, both floors of the store were almost fully furnished and the warehouse was nearly completely stocked with about twice the inventory than the former store.

The new store boasts several new features that the old location did not, such as 1,700 parking spaces that are located at-level and under the building. It also has a larger restaurant that can seat up to 600 people, said Joseph Roth, an IKEA spokesman.

The restaurant in the original store could seat up to 185 customers.

Additionally, the warehouse is nearly double in size and will allow the store to hold more inventory, which was an issue for the former site, Roth said.

The showroom is also much larger  77,500 square feet  allowing employees to put up more displays than they could at the old location, Roth said.

There are also updated display rooms, which are better designed to look more like an actual living space rather than a white box with furniture in it.

It makes it easier for the customer to envision themselves in that living situation, Roth said.

--

Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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A recent headline tweeted by the New Yorker magazine caught my eye: American immigration policy has fuelled an unlikely industry in El Salvador.

I couldnt resist. I retweeted the headline with the comment: Fuelled? What is this? The Yorker?

Even though I have a lot of respect for the New Yorkers reporting, Im not a subscriber. If I could capture why in one word, it would be fuelled. This kind of fussy pretentiousness is a little hard for me to get past.

But even sane people might do a double-take at the New Yorkers little editing quirks, which also include traveller and (get this) focussed, along with whatever ships anchor its editors set on top of the comma key.

To be clear, fuelled wasnt a typo. I wouldnt bother pointing out a little slip like that on Twitter. Anyone can make a mistake and, you know, glass houses and all.

Instead, fuelled, traveller, focussed and similarly silly spellings are official New Yorker style.

Heres their copy editor, Mary Norris, explaining the matter in a 2013 blog post.

To judge by letters from readers, the doubling of consonants in such words as traveller and focussed is a subject of undying interest. If Noah Webster were alive today, he would probably have written in to complain about our orthography. Webster favored simplifying the spelling of American English, and although we follow him on most points, this is where the founding editors of the New Yorker departed from Webster. Quoth the style book: When alternatives are possible, use double p in words like kidnapped, double s in words like focussed, and double l in words like marvellous and travelled. No kidnapper ever focussed so marvellously on this well-travelled territory. (And no copy editor ever backspaced so assiduously to poke in the second s and l to override the autocorrect.)

What, you may wonder, were the New Yorkers founding editors thinking when they laid down this law? No one knows. They didnt give a reason. Apparently, they didnt give a hoot about the march of time, either.

Most publications style guides are updated regularly. Until just a few years ago, I was under orders to hyphenate e-mail, to capitalize the I in internet and the W in web, and to avoid using over to mean more than. No more.

Language changes. Modern publications change with it. And theres a lot less inter-editor squabbling about those changes than you might guess. Publications just appoint someone with good judgment to make the call and most copy editors are happy to fall in line. The only thing thats really important is that the person making the judgment calls is still alive.

For the record, fuelled, traveller and many similar spellings are acceptable in American English. The dictionary allows them. But, as anyone whos done a good deal of reading knows, the double consonants are more popular in British English than American. Hence my snarky tweet about the Yorker.

The Associated Press Stylebook specifically calls for one L in traveler and traveling. The guide doesnt have entries for fuel or focus. But they have this guideline: Anytime a word isnt in APs style guide, turn to the dictionary.

When the dictionary gives more than one option for how to spell something, editors customarily use the first one listed. This practice ensures were all on the same page and that we dont end up with traveler on page one and traveller on page two, or with fueled on page one and fuelled on page two.

And because the spellings fueled and traveler are listed first in the dictionary, those are the spellings you see in most American publications.

--

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of The Best Punctuation Book, Period. She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.
A Costa Mesa man was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in prison for shooting his live-in girlfriend to death with a gun he stole from a neighbor.

Thomas Michael Wilhelm, 53, was drunk on cherry vodka and under the influence of prescription pills on July 8, 2012, when he shot Christine Marie Murray, 45, his girlfriend and business partner, multiple times in their home, according to a transcript of Wilhelms grand-jury indictment.

A jury in November found Wilhelm guilty of one count of first-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for personal discharge of a firearm causing death, according to court records.

Judge Thomas Goethals handed down the sentence Friday in Orange County Superior Court.

Prosecutors said Wilhelm walked to a neighbors home on Redwood Avenue and stole a handgun before returning home and firing six shots at Murray. Murray sent text messages to a friend 11 minutes before she was killed that said Wilhelm was intoxicated and singing along to the Guns N Roses song Used to Love Her, which features the lyrics I used to love her, but I had to kill her.

When police arrived minutes after the shooting, they found Murray unconscious in the bedroom with several gunshot wounds to her chest. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Authorities said Wilhelm and Murrays three-year relationship faltered during the two years before her killing after he brought her in as a partner in his business, Wilhelm Sprinkler Co. According to Wilhelms grand-jury indictment, he had a history of drug and alcohol abuse and Murray had begun to question his abilities as a business owner.

The defense argued that Wilhelm suffered from mental health issues, was extremely emotional after the couples personal and business relationship soured and acted impulsively because he was drunk.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
In the race for the Glendale Unified School Board, five residents will vie for three seats up for grabs in the districts first-ever district-based election on April 4.

In District B, incumbent Greg Krikorian, a school board member since 2001, will run to keep his seat against newcomer Vardan Stepanyan to represent northwest Glendale.

This election marks Stepanyans first run for school board, although hes not new to being involved in the district.

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Stepanyan serves on the board of directors for the Glendale Educational Foundation and has sponsored student essay contests in the past.

If elected, one of his primary goals will be to foster parents involvement in schools.

I think there is room for improvement. Based on meetings Ive had with district residents, theyre willing to participate, [but] theres no mechanism for them to get involved. We need to help the community participate actively, he said.

Krikorian has said his continued role on the board will bring stability to the district.

I think [there are] a lot of areas where were going to need a steady hand and a steady leader to address these challenges to maintain our public schools, he said when he announced his candidacy.

In District C, incumbent Armina Gharpetian is running unopposed.

First elected to the board in 2013, she said she will represent all Glendale Unified families, including those outside of District C, which spans from the Oakmont Country Club to East Colorado Street, and includes the Verdugo Woodlands neighborhood.

Gharpetian said her ongoing involvement on the board will be valuable when it comes to tackling the districts most pressing issues, including increasing student achievement, addressing the districts structural deficit and spending Measure S bond funds.

In District D, Joal Ryan will face off against Shant Sahakian.

Both residents grew up attending local schools and have held active roles in Glendale organizations for years.

Ryan and Sahakian also have robust websites listing their goals as prospective board members.

On her website, more than a dozen bullet points illustrate where Ryan stands on issues from her opposition to potentially losing the Sagebrush territory in La Canada to La Canada Unified to wanting to better arts education in Glendale schools.

As a Mark Keppel parent, she led an effort to raise more than $80,000 to support arts education at that campus. As a board member, she said shell represent District D families, who reside in the Scholl Canyon, Adams Hill and Glenoaks Canyon neighborhoods.

As a member of the first-ever board with geographical representation, I will make sure our District D schools get our fair share of the millions of dollars of bond money spent by [Glendale Unified] every year to support new construction, teachers, students and staff, she states on her website.

Sahakian currently serves on several groups, including as president of Glendale Parks and Open Space Foundation and chair of the Glendale Youth Alliance.

He recently won a unanimous endorsement from each member of the Glendale Community College board of trustees.

His vision for Glendale Unified involves, in part, expanding the districts dual-language immersion programs, offering more college and career pathway courses and providing students with financial literacy education.

My goal is to ensure that the high-quality education I was provided as a student is strengthened, improved and modernized for the next generation of Glendale Unified School District students, he said when he announced his candidacy.

--

Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan

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The U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday following remarks by President Trumps Defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted Chinas claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

The 1960 U.S.-Japan treaty is a product of the Cold War, which should not impair Chinas territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights, Lu said in a statement posted on the ministrys website.

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We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation, Lu said.

On his first trip to Asia as secretary of Defense, James N. Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous U.S. stance that the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to defending Japans continued administration of the Senkaku islands.

The islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa were under U.S. administration from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim, and Japans move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese riots in China and prompted the government to dispatch ships and planes to the area around them as a challenge to Japanese control.

China also registered its displeasure with Mattis remarks Friday in South Korea that Trumps administration is committed to carrying through on a deal the Obama administration reached with the Seoul government last year to deploy a high-end U.S. missile defense system to South Korea this year.

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is meant to improve protection of South Korea and Japan  as well as U.S. troops stationed in both countries  against a North Korean missile attack.

Beijing objects to the system because its powerful radar would allow it to peer deep into northeastern China, possibly allowing it to observe Chinese military movements.

At a Friday news conference, Lu said Chinas resolute opposition to the deployment ... remains unchanged and will not change.

The deployment will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region, Lu said.

Chinese officials and scholars say they anticipate further turbulence in relations with the U.S. under Trump. The president sparked anger among Chinese nationals following his election when he broke with decades by talking on the phone with the president of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory.

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European Union leaders at a summit Friday devised a plan involving largely lawless Libya to try to shut down the smuggling of hundreds of thousands of migrants from North Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

The vast human tide has helped boost anti-EU populist parties across the continent that have exploited the immigration crisis to gain voters.

But even as EU officials meeting in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta were voicing hopes that the strategy would help stop the loss of thousands of lives yearly when flimsy trafficking boats from Libya founder or sink, concerns arose that the plan risks seeing thousands of people marooned in inhumane conditions in Libya.

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Much of the plans success will depend on whether Libya can be helped by Europe to deter smugglers from operating along its poorly patrolled coastline. Thats a big unknown, given that the internationally backed Tripoli-based government only controls part of the sprawling country. Libya is beset by rival governments, militias and tribal factions that were unleashed in 2011 after the ouster and slaying of longtime ruler Moammar Kadafi.

Naturally, were hoping for results, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni told reporters Friday. There wont be any miracles, but better management and reduction of illegal migrants are what were working toward.

He said that if the plan can cut down on the hundreds of thousands setting off from Libya, it would also reduce the tragedies in which thousands of migrants die every year in the Mediterranean  including at least 5,083 last year.

In the last few years, Italys coast guard has coordinated the rescues of hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers and other migrants who were then brought to safety on Italian shores. Most dont want to stay in Italy but hope to reach families or find potential jobs in Germany or other wealthy northern European countries.

In March, the EU struck a deal with Turkey to stop the huge number of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others heading from Turkish shores toward Greece and then overland toward northern Europe. That arrangement involved about $3.5 billion in EU funds for Turkey in exchange for that country keeping the migrants within its borders and caring for them.

The Libyan government doesnt have the same control as (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan of his territory. We cant expect the situation will change suddenly in Libya, Gentiloni cautioned.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded that Libya doesnt have the needed stability to control all of its territory.

But citing an aid and cooperation deal that Italy signed Thursday with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, Merkel said Europe would help by continuing to train the Libyan coast guard and would help Libya protect its southern border.

Migrant trafficking routes in North Africa pass through Niger and cross into Libya across the Sahara.

The European Union will also work to make sure there are better reception conditions for migrants. Voluntary returns will be stepped up, and the EU will get more involved with neighboring North African nations including Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt to contain the inflow of migrants. The EU will provide an additional $215 million for the plan.

But there are deep concerns that migrants could become trapped in horrific conditions in Libya if the trafficking route is cut off.

The EU is yet again outsourcing its responsibility to protect the rights of migrants and refugees with no guarantees about what will happen to them if they are stuck in Libya, said Ester Asin of the Save the Children charity.

Doctors Without Borders General Director Arjan Hehenkamp said the EUs plan shows that it is delusional about just how dangerous the situation in Libya really is. The organizations boats are involved in sea rescues, and Hehenkamp said the survivors have recounted starving in Libyan detention centers and other abuse while in the North African country.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Hussein emphasized the importance of not sending people back to countries where they may face torture, persecution or other threats, calling it the cornerstone of international human rights and refugee law.
Polish police on Friday raided an organization that monitors racism and xenophobia and the private homes of some of its board members, seizing computers.

The head of the Monitoring Center on Racist and Xenophobic Behavior said he considers the early-morning raids on Friday an attempt to intimidate the group and destroy evidence that is inconvenient for the authorities.

It is a form of revenge against us; they want to silence us, Rafal Gawel told the Associated Press.

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He said the group has exposed ties between local officials, prosecutors and right-wing groups in Bialystok, a city in eastern Poland. The group also runs a theater whose program is not appreciated by the ruling party, he said. It challenges the traditional national values on which the government is focused.

Gawel said he and other board members were fearing for our lives after receiving arson threats.

Lukasz Janyst, a spokesman for prosecutors in Bialystok, confirmed there were raids at a number of locations in Warsaw and said they were related to an investigation underway in the city into fraud, the counterfeiting of documents and other wrongdoing. The investigation concerns the theater activity that the centers leaders opened in Bialystok and are now continuing in Warsaw.

Gawel admitted that he has been sentenced to four years in prison for business dealings unrelated to the anti-racism center. He is appealing that conviction.

The center has been filing complaints to prosecutors across the nation about anti-Semitic slogans or graffiti and recently it complained to the state broadcasting authorities about an anti-Semitic comment that was broadcast on public television.

Rafal Pankowski, the head of Never Again, a leading anti-racism watchdog, said Bialystok, the most multicultural city in Poland, has a record of neo-Nazi activities and a pattern of the local authorities not dealing with those issues properly.

Many serious investigations against violent neo-Nazi attacks have been dropped by the public prosecutor, Pankowski said. They drop them and then go after the people doing the anti-racism work.
It was past midnight on a moonless night in central Yemen, and Ahmad Jawfi was preparing to go to sleep when he heard the dull buzz of drones overhead. Drones were nothing new, so he and others paid little attention.

But soon, a military operation unfolded that left 14 Al Qaeda fighters dead and took the lives of at least 11 women and children and one U.S. commando. The operation last Sunday on the village of Yakla by SEAL Team 6 was to showcase the Trump administrations decisiveness in the fight against Al Qaeda.

The attack, the first special operations raid authorized by President Trump, targeted the house of a suspected leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula named Abdel Raouf Dhahab. Jawfi, a tribal leader, was visiting the Dhahab household as part of a tribal mediation.

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On Jan. 28, hours before U.S. and Emirati special operations commandos slipped into Yakla early the next morning, residents said they heard drones.

I was right beside the house preparing a place to go to sleep, Jawfi said in a phone interview Friday. Drone attacks had struck the area before, but now the buzzing was replaced by new sounds.

Some time in the early morning  we heard shooting from three sides of where we were, Jawfi said.

Jawfi ran into the house, thinking it was another drone attack.

But then we saw American soldiers everywhere.

It was the start of a firefight that lasted almost an hour, with the SEALs attacking with small arms and grenades before they called in AV-8B Harrier attack jets and helicopter gunships to help repel counter-attacks, according to U.S. officials.

Anybody leaving the house was hit and killed  and people in here have nothing but Kalashnikovs.  Saleh Mohsen Amery, raid survivor

Another survivor of the raid, Saleh Mohsen Amery, said his house was attacked and his daughter killed. Her 4-year-old son survived.

They attacked the mosque, school, medical unit and a prison in the area, he said.

He added, Anybody leaving the house was hit and killed  and people in here have nothing but Kalashnikovs, or AK-47s, to defend themselves.

After the fighting stopped, Amery said, people were too terrified to immediately hospitalize any of the wounded.

We feared the planes would attack again, he said. Most people were taken to the hospital at 6 in the morning.

Among the dead was Nawar Awlaki, the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar Awlaki, the charismatic Yemeni American cleric who emerged as an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula spokesman and spiritual leader before he was killed six years ago in a CIA drone strike.

Her uncle, Ammar Awlaki, posted a picture on his official Facebook page Monday of a smiling Nawar wearing a red skirt and a red ribbon in her hair. He claimed that she had been shot several times, once in the neck, and that she bled for two hours before she died.

The girl kept on reassuring her mother as she was bleeding. Dont cry, Mother. Im fine, Im fine,  he wrote. When dawn prayers came, her soul parted from her little body.

Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Monday that local reports of female civilian casualties should be taken with a grain of salt, because several women took up fighting positions and fired on U.S. forces. By Wednesday, U.S. Central Command acknowledged there were noncombatants, including children, among the casualties.

The civilian casualties apparently occurred when aerial gunfire was brought in to fight against a determined enemy that included armed women firing from prepared fighting positions, Central Command said.

The raid claimed the life of Chief Special Warfare Operator William Ryan Owens, 36.

Three other commandos were wounded but are expected to survive their injuries, officials said. An MV-22 Osprey aircraft was damaged after making what the Pentagon called a hard landing, injuring three additional U.S. service members. To prevent it from falling into enemy hands, the $70-million aircraft was destroyed.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, claimed that American soldiers shot children and women in cold blood and left the police dogs to crunch on the corpses of the dead.

U.S. intelligence agencies consider AQAP one of Al Qaedas most dangerous offshoots. The group attempted to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner over Detroit in 2009 and claimed responsibility for the mass shooting that killed 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015.

The Pentagon signed off on the Yemen operation Dec. 19, and other agencies gave their approval in the ensuing weeks.

Former Obama administration officials said Barack Obama didnt feel comfortable authorizing the operation because it was scheduled to take place after he left office  on Jan. 28, the next moonless night in Yemen.

On Jan. 24, new Defense Secretary James Mattis conveyed his support for the operation and forwarded it to the White House.

Trump dined the next day with an expanded team, including Mattis, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford and various military and administration officials, among them Vice President Mike Pence, chief strategist Steve Bannon, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

That was when Trump gave his approval.

The White House said the Obama administration had approved the raid, but former Obama officials took to social media to say the proposal had not gotten that far.

As for Abdel Raouf Dhahab, the target of the operation, he was among those killed. Farea Muslimi, chairman of Sanaa Center for Strategic studies, said his death will stir anti-U.S. sentiment  not because he belonged to AQAP but because he didnt.

Ahmad Salmani, another local from Yakla, said as much. Dhahab is not AQAP, and everyone knows that he is a tribal sheikh and has nothing to do with AQAP, Salmani said in an interview. Because of this, now everyone... is willing to risk his life to kill a U.S. soldier.

On Friday, an embarrassing coda to the raid emerged.

The U.S. military released what it claimed was sensitive intelligence seized during the assault  video showing jihadists building a bomb  only to discover that the video had been posted online in 2007.

One of the raids goals was to collect the computers, electronic devices and other information inside the AQAP suspected headquarters. The 2007 video was quickly taken down.

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Beirut and Times staff writer Hennigan from Washington.

william.hennigan@latimes.com

ALSO

Following up on tough talk, Trump administration adds sanctions on Iran

Israeli officials look ahead to working with Trump after White House settlement statements

For Syrians stuck in limbo in Lebanon, Trumps ban will mean harder times ahead
All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced.  19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc.
Study: Regular Meals Have Positive Impact on Hearts Health

staff@latinoshealth.com By Qudsia Ibrahim Feb 04, 2017 10:46 AM EST

Having three main meals on time are not in the daily routine of Americans anymore, which may have bad effects on their health and the weight they gain, says the American Heart Association. It is a good idea to plan the eating time as well as what to eat, according to a scientific statement.

The American Heart Association selected a committee of experts to review the evidence from dozens of reports to compile one big study. The first findings of the study were that the grownups in the US eat around the clock.

It is not yet clear, for sure that eating less after 6.00 PM or taking breakfast every day is better but the evidence from studies suggests that breakfast is a healthy habit and eating less after 6.00 PM can help you stay within your weight limit, reports Today.

Breakfast bulwarks the body from heart diseases, high blood pressure, and cholesterol. Those who skip breakfast and suffice on having snacks and munch throughout the day on different foods are more likely to get obese, have diabetes and suffer from malnutrition, scientific studies reveal.

Eating right before sleeping changes metabolism to promote weight and also dangerous to the heart according to a study conducted on animals. But in order to make sure late night eating impacts on human health needs more research on humans for reliable results, according to Telegraph.

The number of people consuming food at late hours of the night is increasing because they are eating round the clock. Men who had three meals a day in 1970 were 73 percent but this number fell to 59 percent in 2010. While women were 75 percent in 1970 and their number fell to 63 percent in 2010.

People should pause for a moment and plan timings of their meal as they plan the nutrition. After all, it is of equal importance.

Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter!
Scientists have created an advanced prototype of flying robot that can fly like a real bat. Making robots by following the moving style of animals or birds are known as biomimetics. Bats have always had the power to seek focus of scientists for its fascinating characteristics. This flying robot is inspired from the Brazilian free-tailed bat, fastest flying mammal on Earth.

A joint team of Engineers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign worked together for this project. This advanced flying gadget is equipped with soft, flexible and ultra-light weight wings and an advanced chassis that consume less power than any aerial robots. Researchers published about their invention in the journal of Science Robotics.

Dr. soon-Jo Chung, a research scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and associate professor at Caltech said in a statement, We have challenged ourselves to reverse engineer bats unrivaled agility with an aim to build a safe, energy-efficient soft-wing robot that can fly like a bat. Research team named this gadget Bat-bot(B2). It is not like a quadrotor drone. Instead of using spinning propellers, B2 mimics a real bat by flapping its wings.

According to the report by Fox News, B2 can fly almost 100 feet in a straight line by flapping its wings. Researchers covered the wings with ultra thin and flexible silicon membrane which is the almost impossible to tear. The whole set up weighs only 92 grams. Dr. Chung and his team made this as light as possible to gain extra lift and propulsion.

There are some extra advantages over traditional drones, Chung explained. As it doesn't have any spinning propeller so it is safer to use in a close proximity of humans. Even it can fly through the narrow spaces. Bats use more than 40 active and passive joints to take off and fly, researchers reduced the numbers to nine( five active and four passive).

Professor Seth Hutchinson from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign told that the robot could be used to do various things. He also added, it will help architects to build construction according to the plan and it might be able to perch in a steel structure.
The popular global car-hailing firm Uber will suspend its ride-sharing services after the government of Taiwan fined the company of $10.57 million within a month in connection with the new law that prohibits the operation of unlicensed taxi services.

According to Fortune, the company's decision to stop its operation comes after Taiwan imposed the fines against unlicensed ride-sharing services. Until now, the government of Taiwan still considered Uber's business as illegal and even ordered the company to leave the domestic market.

The suspension of the services will take effect on February 10. However, the company is still hoping for "restarting dialogue" with Taiwan's government to innovate the transport technology in the country.

Uber is only registered as a software company, but the government does not honor such registration. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has urged Uber to register as a taxi service provider which is required to covered by related insurance and pay local taxes. However, the company only criticize the government's insistence as "ridiculous."

"We have not made this decision lightly, as we know it will have a significant impact on hundreds of thousands of drivers and riders," Uber said in a statement that criticizes Taiwan government for not embracing innovation.

According to CNN, the U.S start-up business was only permitted to operate like a tech company, and not to provide transportation services. This kind of approach has already been adopted from the different parts of the world. Uber-Company tried to disregard the regulatory concerns of the government and continued to connect passengers and drivers through its app.

Since its start-up in Taiwan four years ago, the company has already arranged 15 million rides. According to the government, the only way to legalize Uber's ride-sharing services is to establish a new law related to it.




President Donald Trump recently nominated the federal court of appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch for a US Supreme Court lifetime judge. This is for restoring the majority of the US court. This is also for helping shape the rulings on such divisive issues as religious rights, gun control, abortion and death penalty.

It can be recalled that the Republicans refused President Obama's nominee to fill this said position that was opened when Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 2016. Chuck Schumer, the Senate democrat said that they will not allow a simple majority for approving Gorsuch. The part is planning for a procedural hurdle requiring for 60 out of 100 Senate seats.

While the liberal groups call for fight rejecting Gorsuch, Republican and conservative groups praise him with such remarks as being a home run, impressive and outstanding.

According to Washington Post, Trump commented on Gorsuch's resume for being "as good as it gets." He pointed out that Judge Neil Gorsuch possesses outstanding legal skills, gained bipartisan support, and tremendous support. He even added that this is a lifetime job with longer lasting decisions and can often last permanently.

Gorsuch is now considered as the youngest nominee to the US highest court over a quarter century. He serves as a judge at the 10th US Court of Appeals that is based in Denver. He received an appointment to this post on 2016 from Republican President George W. Bush.

Conservative Judge Neil Gorsuch was selected among the list of around 20 judges. The list was suggested by critics, unified Republicans, and conservative legal activists. As the source said, President Donald Trump chose between the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, Thomas Hardiman, and Gorsuch, CNN reported.

Gorsuch's gained the Senate's favor as his current judgeship in 2006 got 100% voice votes. The selection process' screening committee included Vice President Mike Pence, Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and Don McGhan, the White House counsel.
The US Defence Secretary James Mattis has warned North Korea it would be an "effective and overwhelming" response from the US if it used nuclear weapons. According to The Guardian, James Mattis reassured the South Korean government in Seoul that the US would retaliate if northern neighbor launches any attack.

The US Defence Secretary Mattis's remark comes amid concern that North Korea could be readying to test a new ballistic missile. That could be an early challenge for Trump's administration.

According to the U.S think-tank 38 North, North Korea, this regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and its main ally, the United States. They have conducted more than 20 missile tests last year, as well as two nuclear tests.

BBC has reported that as a post -war defense deal the US has a considerable military presence in South Korea and Japan. The US has 28, 5000 US troops in South Korea, mostly ranged along the heavily armed border separating it from North.

However, president Donald Trump has pointed out that he wants both South Korea and Japan to pay more towards maintaining that presence. In the recent visit, Mattis reassure south Korea that Trump administration "remains steadfast" in its "iron-clad" defense commitment.

North Korea's actions have promoted the United States and South Korea to respond by bolstering the defense. Under the Obama administration, the US and South Korea agreed to deploy a US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea.

However, China has objected to THAAD, saying this step put the direct threat to China's own security. That will do nothing to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table, leading to calls from South Korean opposition leaders to delay or cancel it.

Meanwhile, the official from US defense secretary said the united States essentially have two options. First to curb North Korea's fast-expanding nuclear and missile programs-negotiate or take military action.


President Trump's prayer for Arnold Schwarzenegger was right from his spur-of-the-moment statements during National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, witnessed by lawmakers, foreign dignitaries, and religious leaders.

The president was referring to Schwarzenegger's NBC series "The Apprentice" as he prays for its ratings to go up. Something that has swayed from the agenda of the formal gathering that was traditionally being held every first Thursday of February of each year.

President Trump's distaste for the "Terminator" star has rooted since the former's turnover of hosting the show to make way for his aspirations on running for U.S presidency. According to reports from CNN, the business tycoon-turned-president is still listed as the show's executive producer as his sons are already managing his assets put into a trust fund. However, given the performance of the show that can still be a financial stake for him, President Trump seems to be disappointed on how Arnold Schwarzenegger has been doing.

His impromptu statement came in minutes after he was introduced by Mark Burnett himself, the creator of the reality game show "The Apprentice". Arnold Schwarzenegger who replaced Trump as host retaliated by challenging the president to exchange roles with him, as Trump is an expert on ratings. Coming from different political parties, Schwarzenegger added that he might as well be the president so that "people can finally sleep comfortably again" as Washington Post reports.

The joke was meant to make light of the situation as President Trump has been getting some phone calls from foreign leaders of Australia and Mexico as they try to convince Trump to lift the ban. With his firm decision to provide a free and safe country, the president also emphasized on religious freedom and how he wants people coming to the country to "love the people and the values" that comes with it.
The official blog of the Campaign for the American Reader, an independent initiative to encourage more readers to read more books.
Feb 4, 2017, 11:10am ET

Faraday Future: no plans to build smaller factory

Faraday stresses it remains committed to the state of Nevada.

California-based, China-backed EV startup Faraday Future has shot down a recent report that claims the factory it's building in Las Vegas, Nevada, will be much smaller than initially announced.

The company stressed that it's not scaling back its original plans. The first stage of the construction process -- which included massive grading -- was completed last November, but the project screeched to a halt shortly after because Faraday allegedly found itself in dire financial straits.

However, the company is confident that the second stage of the process -- which will involve actually building the facility -- will begin in a timely manner. Officials want to start production of the all-electric FF91 (pictured) as fast as possible, though a more specific time frame hasn't been provided yet.

"Faraday Future remains committed to the State of Nevada and our $1B investment in the region over the next few years," affirmed the company in a statement published on its official website.

Interestingly, the news that Faraday had downsized its factory due to financial issues came straight from Dr. Qiong Liu, North Las Vegas' city manager. He told local broadcaster 8 News NOW that the floor plan had been reduced to just 650,000 square feet, or less than a quarter of the planned layout.
Feb 4, 2017, 11:31am ET

NanoFlowcell previews salt-powered Quant 48Volt concept

Is NanoFlowcell\'s salt-electric hybrid drivetrain inching towards production?

German startup NanoFlowcell will travel to next month's Geneva Auto Show to introduce a new concept car named Quant 48Volt.

The Quant 48Volt will inaugurate the next generation of the company's futuristic salt-powered hybrid drivetrain. Technical details are still shrouded in secrecy, but we know the 48Volt is equipped with four electric motors that develop a total of 760 horsepower.

The concept -- which, judging by the company's teaser image, is most likely a coupe -- hits 62 mph from a stop in just 2.4 seconds, and it reaches a top speed that's electronically limited to 186 mph. Even more impressive is that it has a total driving range of over 600 miles.

The drivetrain generates electricity by pumping two ionic fluids -- one with a negative charge and one with a positive charge -- stored in separate tanks through a cell. NanoFlowcell stresses ionic fluid is essentially liquid salt, so it's not toxic, dangerous, or flammable.

An eco-friendly, salt-powered supercar sounds too good to be true. However, NanoFlowcell founder Nunzio La Vecchia revealed last October that he was talking with a potential partner about bringing the technology to the market. We'll likely find out if the talks led to a deal when the Geneva show opens its doors in just a few short weeks.
It was standing room only in the Aughavas Community Centre tonight as well over 100 people in the small parish turned out for a public meeting aimed at securing the future of their local post office.

The pub housing the local post office and shop, recently sold and the current post mistress has expressed a desire to retire. While it had been hoped that the new owner of McCaffrey's Pub would be able to continue the post office service, An Post have put the future of the service out to public consultation.

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer last week, a spokesperson for An Post acknowledged that the outcome may involve the closure of the service in Aughavas.

A major campaign has been launched to try and save the service. At tonight's meeting Sligo/Leitrim TD and local resident, Deputy Martin Kenny said that it was vital people participate in the consultation process and write letters to secure the future of the post office.

"We have to let An Post and the Minister know that we're not going to let this go, that we're looking for at least a year to be able to build up the business, to see how it goes. We need this service," he said.

Cllr Paddy O'Rourke said it was up to everyone to fight for the future of Aughavas Post Office but he observed that, if the Government was truly committed to rural renewal, then "saving Aughavas Post Office, saving a vital rural service, would be a good place to start".

Sinn Fein Councillor, Caroline Mulvey urged the community to "get their fighting spirit out".

"We have to fight hard for this. We have to make lots of noise and everyone needs to make sure they are heard," she told the meeting.

Meeting organiser and founder of the Save Aughavas Post Office facebook page, Terry Williams, asked that a delegation of local residents be formed to meet with An Post Management to plead the case for keeping the local post office open.

A delegation of four people has been selected and they will now meet with An Post as part of the consultation process.

The people of Aughavas are also calling on the wider community to get behind the service noting that this situation is a fate which could face any rural community.

A line needs to be drawn in the sand to save rural services, they said.

You can view the facebook page here.

Making a submission

The closing date for written submissions on the future of Aughavas Post Office is February 17, 2017.

Post your letters outlining why Aughavas Post Office should be saved to:



Peter Gillespie

Retail Operations Manager

An Post

Wine Street

Sligo

See this week's Leitrim Observer for full coverage of this campaign.






The final Liberal Democrat contribution in the Article 50 debate came from Tom Brake. We have published all the others as it is important for us all to be aware of what our MPs did and said on this most momentous of decisions.

I hope that I am wrong, but I believe that the decision that the country took on 23 June will result in the biggest self-inflicted wound since our disastrous intervention in Iraq. That wound is festering and it will leave the UK permanently economically weaker, even after it has healed. I believe that, when Members of Parliament believe that a course of action is going to be a catastrophe, they have a duty to harry, assail and oppose the Government, not to acquiesce.

I respect those who voted to leave. They had, and have, genuine grievances about a lack of jobs or education prospects, and concerns about the changes they see in our society, including concerns about immigration. The Brexiteers claimed that leaving the EU would address those concerns by stopping the cancellation of urgent hospital operationspaid for, presumably, by the tsunami of cash that was going to come to the NHS post-Brexitimproving teacher shortages in our schools and boosting housing supply. It will not do any of those things. In fact, it will make them worse. I doubt that even the leave campaigns most prominent pledge, to reduce immigration substantially, will be achieved. Why would it be? After all, the Prime Minister has spent many years seeking to reduce the level of non-EU immigration, and nothing changed there.

What leaving the EU will do with certainty is diminish us as a nation and reduce our influence and international standing. That has already happened. Brexit has forced our Prime Minister, a born-again hard-line Brexiteer, to line up with Trumpindeed, to walk hand in hand with him. While European leaders and Canada condemned his Muslim ban, our Prime Ministers initial response was to say, Not my business. Worse, she immediately offered him, with indecent haste, a state visitfar quicker than any other US Presidentwhich I am sure had absolutely nothing to do with her desperation to secure a trade deal, any deal, with the protectionist Trump.

In The Art of the Deal, Trump says:

The worst of times often create the best opportunities to make good deals.

To translate that for Conservative Members, the worst of times for the UK create the best opportunity for a good deal for the US.

Jobs are at risk. Six months after the vote, there is still no analysis of how many jobs will be lost after we come out of the single market.

The Liberal Democrat position is very clear: the people voted for departure, not the destination. Now the Government must give them a chance to vote on the destination. If that guarantee were forthcoming tonight, I would vote with the Government.
A COUPLE whose baby died six hours after her birth in the University Maternity Hospital in Limerick are calling on the Minister for Health to conduct an independent inquiry into their daughters untimely death.

Baby Eimear Arnold died on July 15, 2010, at 6.39am, six hours after she was born in the Maternity on the Ennis Road.

Her parents, Shane and Teresa Arnold, who lived in Ballyneety at the time, took a High Court case against the Health Service Executive (HSE), over the circumstances of the delivery of their daughter.

It was settled for 98,000 in November last, without an admission of liability by the HSE, which denied all their claims, eleven days before the case was due to go to a full hearing.

The Arnolds told the Limerick Leader that they agreed to settle as they feared that if they did lose the case, they would not be able to afford the legal costs, and feared losing their home.

In a statement to this newspaper, the HSE wished to express its deepest sympathies to the Arnold family on their great loss.

The family, who now live in county Louth, said that they cannot afford the costs associated with an inquest into Eimears death, and is calling on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to review the case.

We were unhappy with the treatment we received in the days, weeks and months after Eimears death, and as we are not in a position to fund an inquest, we would like some kind of independently led inquiry that would be funded by the Government, said the couple.

Solicitor Sonya Morrissy Murphy, of Keating Connolly Sellors, who has acted on behalf of the family for a number of years, told the Limerick Leader: Teresa and Shane came to me looking for answers. They only ever wanted an explanation.

Due to the system we have in Ireland, all I could offer them were legal remedies. Whilst they have been somewhat comforted by the expert opinions that we were able to procure, from some of the worlds most eminent medics in this area, they merely wanted an enquiry, analysis and honest evaluation of what caused them to lose their beautiful baby.

"Teresa and Shane fail to understand how there is no requirement for a mandatory independent inquiry in cases such as this. It may well avoid protracted litigation, said Ms Morrissy Murphy.

Data provided to the Limerick Leader from the HSE shows that the perinatal death rate in the Maternity hospital ranges from 4.4 per 1,000 births, with 5,169 births in 2011, which has reduced in each successive year.

Figures for 2010, the year in which Eimear died, are not available.

The HSE also confirmed that within this five-year time-period 940 structured counselling sessions were provides for women, couples and families at UMHL.

Anonymised data, compiled by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre in University College Cork, and reported by the 20 Irish maternity units, shows that there were a total of 504 deaths in 2014 arising from 67,663 births.

Stillbirths, early neonatal and late neonatal deaths accounted for 330 (65.5%), 141 (28.0%) and 33 (6.5%) of the 504 deaths, respectively.

The perinatal mortality rate was seven deaths per 1,000 births; corrected for congenital malformation, the rate was 4.7 per 1,000 births; the stillbirth rate was 4.9 per 1,000 births; and, the early neonatal death rate was 2.1 per 1,000 live births.

The mothers who experienced perinatal loss in 2014 ranged in age from teenage years through to early-forties. Over half of the population (56.1%) who gave birth in 2014 were aged 25-34 years.

- See the Limerick Leader for the full interview with Shane and Teresa Arnold
A MOTORIST was over the limit at 1pm having stopped drinking at 11pm the previous night, heard Kilmallock Court.

Michal Janiczek, aged 33, of Douglawn, Caher, Co Clare pleaded guilty to drink driving and possession of drugs at The Quay, Askeaton.

Sergeant Michelle Leahy said gardai stopped Mr Janiczek at 1.05pm on September 22.

He failed a roadside breath sample. In the garda station he gave a reading of 49mgs of alcohol per 100mls of breath. Cannabis herb to the value of 50 was also found. The car was impounded, said Sgt Leahy.

Mr Janiczeks solicitor, Enda OConnor said his client had just returned to Ireland from Poland.

He had been drinking heavily for a few days. He stopped at 11pm the night before but there was still a huge amount of alcohol in his system, said Mr OConnor.

Mr Janiczek is a married man with two young children, said the solicitor.

He had a car washing business but it had to close due to planning regulations. He opened a shop which unfortunately went under and he resorted to cannabis herb.

He is aware there is a mandatory disqualification which will cause a lot of difficulty as his wife does not have a full drivers licence, said Mr OConnor.

Judge Marian OLeary put Mr Janiczek off the road for two years and fined him 350 for drink driving. The judge said she would strike out the drugs offence if he paid 150 to the court poor box.
ALMOST half of all foreign direct investment in Ireland can be found within 60 miles of Shannon Airport, Shannon Group chief executive, Matthew Thomas explained when he addressed a full meeting of Limerick City and County Council about airport expansion plans.

But compared to other airports, the numbers living in the region is low. The figures for Shannon are 700-800,00 people while the figure for Liverpool is 7m, he said.

Passenger numbers are a function of how many people live and work in the region, he continued.

We need to be very focused on bringing people into the region.

He outlined some key points to achieve that: increasing inbound flights; focusing on routes with proven demand; targeting business routes with hub connectivity.

Connectivity to the States is pretty good but connectivity with Europe is not so good, he said and the key lies with hubs such as Paris and Frankfurt.

We are the mouthpiece of the region, Mr Thomas said, adding that they were working to instil confidence in airlines that were risk averse to start new routes.

A new route is a bridge to a new market, he said, and we need to recognise the opportunities for tourism.

Meeting the needs of Irish passengers travelling abroad for leisure purposes was also crucial in increasing passenger numbers.

Were working hard to get everyone to fly Shannon and not go up the road to Dublin, he said.

But, he told the councillors, there was a need to look at what inbound visitors were getting,

Visitors from the US, Europe and Britain contribute 36m to the local economy, Mr Thomas said. But Limerick loses out compared with Clare, he explained, welcoming 79,000 visitors compared to 131,000.

We need to focus minds on what we need to do to develop the Limerick tourism product, he said.

The tourism product is brilliant but maybe not so well packaged, he argued.

There is no doubt the trend is towards more frequent short breaks. We need to make tourism here very very easy for people, he said.

Short break customers generally dont hire cars and easy access is crucial. If people fly into Shannon they are highly likely to stay in the Shannon Region, the West or the South West, he argued.

In-bound customers dont really see county boundaries. They see it as the West. How we market ourselves will be important.

People are looking for experiential tourism, Mr Thomas said and he would like to see that grow. But he spoke too of a tendency to preserve our heritage by not bringing people near it. The challenge, he argued, was how can we best preserve our heritage by showcasing it.

Mr Thomas also spoke of Shannon Groups progressive role in developing its property portfolio and of the risks facing the airport at macroeconomic level such as Brexit.

The growth of Shannon Airport is crucial to the region, he said. But a regulatory framework is required to ensure improved connectivity outside Dublin where a new runway is expected by 2020.
FAMILY homes are going into negative equity even before they are built, a Fine Gael councillor has claimed.

And he believes that this is a big factor in holding back the building industry in Limerick.

An estimated 3,250 new homes are needed in Limerick and in a bid to reboot construction, Cllr Stephen Keary has called for all development contribution levies to be slashed by 90% for the next two years.

The money that would be lost as a result, over 4m, could be recouped from the estimated 9m in contribution levies from Limerick that were frozen by previous governments during the recession, he argued.

That money should now be released, Cllr Keary said. It should go part of the way to stimulate development.

He was aware, he said, that prospective home owners were having difficulty getting mortgages because the site cost and the cost of building were coming in above the valuation of the property.

One-off houses are going into negative equity before a block is put up, The price isnt there. That is why building wont take off, he said.

Cutting their contribution levy would help, he argued, but when he put the proposal to last weeks meeting of Limerick City and County Council it was not taken up by his fellow councillors. Instead the matter was referred back to a Special Policy Committee and councillors went ahead, on a majority vote, to introduce a new scheme for development contribution levies.

The new scheme will carry levies of 7 per square metre for houses in the city centre and in town centres with zoning. Infill sites and derelict sites in all towns and villages will also qualify for the 7 levy but all other homes carry a levy of 20 per square metre.

Reuse of a protected structure for residential or commercial purposes will be exempt and there will be a reduction for residential and commercial developments that achieve a BER rating of A.

The scheme also allows for extensions to homes of up to 60 square metres to be exempt from the contribution levy.

Another proposal, from another Fine Gael councillor, John Sheahan, which would see the 7 levy hold for all towns and villages, whether they had zoning or not, was also referred to the Special Policy Committee. Councillors can vary and/or change the scheme.
OBJECTORS to a proposed 40m skyscraper on Limerick's riverfront have said that the 15-storey project would have a significant detri-mental impact on the citys rich historic character.

The developer behind the plan warned that the whole project is in jeopardy after three appeals were recently lodged with An Bord Pleanala.

On September 2, Kirkland Investments proposed to change the former Bord na gCon headquarters [Bishops Palace] to residential use at Henry Street; construct a commercial 15-storey complex at Lower Cecil Street and Bishops Quay; construct of a seven-storey residential building at Bishops Quay; and to demolish the former ESB premises on Cecil Street.

Given the green light by Limerick City and County Council on December 20, the objectors  The Irish Georgian Society, Cait Ni Cheallachain, publican Tom Moloney, and local resident Brian Phelan  submitted their appeals to the authority last week. Rudi Butler, of Kirkland Investments, said that the project would create 800 office jobs and also provied 42 luxury apartments, underground parking cafes and restaurants.

Meanwhile, Mayor Kieran OHanlon has called for a review of the An Bord Pleanala appeals process, saying that it can be unnecessarily delayed.

Irish Georgian Societys Donough Cahill said it would have a negative effect on the architectural integrity of the Bishops Palace site and the adjoining house on Henry Street. He stated that it is against the councils development plan, which aims to protect the intrinsic character and scale of the city and the city skyline.

He said that they believe the project would have a significant detrimental impact on the character and setting of the two eighteenth century buildings, and that it would impinge upon the historically low-rise character of Georgian Limerick.

Tom Moloney, who owns Squire McGuires Bar on Lower Cecil Street and lives on the floor above the premises, said that the project would severely impact on my business and place of residence. He said he supports the Limerick 2030 strategy and its plans for the citys quays, but added that he did not feel the project was in accordance with the strategy.

Mr Moloney, who appointed a planning consultant who submitted observations to the council, said that the project will cause a loss of sunlight and daylight which will have an adverse impact on my business and on the residential amenity.

He stated that it would seriously damage the vitality of a part of Lower Cecil Street; it would not strengthen Limericks urban form; cause serious land use-transportation implications; and there was insufficient attention given of the historic content of the site.

Ms Ni Cheallachain, of Corbally, said that her main concern is the 15-storey office juxtaposed with the Bishops Palace and the Georgian Grid. She stated that the building in this location will set an unwelcome precedent for the Georgian City.

Howleys Quay resident Brian Phelan expressed concerns over the height of the complex and how it will overshadow and reduce natural light. He said that development could be a potential eyesore. He added that it will result in a hugely negative impact on the quality of life and standard of living within his home.

Mayor OHanlon said that he supports the project and said that it will enhance the city. And though he supports peoples democratic right to appeal, he said that the process should be reviewed.

Mr Butler said that prospective tenants for the offices had a deadline of the middle of 2018 for handover, and that the appeal could push the project back to the middle of 2019. These objections could now put us back a year, and we fear that the tenants we had lined up wont wait that long and go elsewhere.

He said that he was disappointed to learn that the matter is now going to An Bord Pleanala, after engaging with the objectors.

Kirkland understands that they have right to object and thought we had dealt with their concerns after engaging with them. The real loser in all this will be Limerick city, if this does not go ahead.
BOTTOM Dog theatre company launched its ninth annual programme this week, which will kick off with a play offering a social commentary on rising divisions in the US.

Having tasted success Stateside in 2015 with an award for Bottom Dog founder member Myles Breen in his hit one-man play Language UnBecoming A Lady, the company has cast an eye over the US with its first production of the year in Drinking in America by New York playwright Eric Bogosian.

The play  set in the 1980s, but with contemporary overtones  receives its Irish premiere and will open in the Belltable on February 7, with fellow founder member Liam OBrien returning to the stage to star in the piece and occupy an impressive 12 roles in the process.

It is definitely a challenge  I have never done something like this, a one person play, which is how the playwright describes it, more than a performance piece, the well known actor told the Leader at the launch in No 1 Pery Square this week.

I am playing 12 different characters, they are all incredibly different, all from a variety of places and regions in America. It is set very much in the 1980s, but part of the reason for doing it was seeing the language that was being used by some of the more unsavoury characters, the vitriol, the aggression towards people from another place or different sexuality  and I thought it just seemed very timely.

The company, which received a small bursary from the arts office for the play, is working with New York director Patrick J. Byrnes and musician Steve Ryan of windings and Giveamanakick fame, who will provide live music for the piece.

Looking ahead, Bottom Dog will again produce its series of rehearsed readings at No 1 Pery Square, where is has staged 32 such plays since 2009.

The company is also gearing up for a site-specific production of ensemble member John Murphys play Smallone, while it also is preparing an Arts Council application for a large production of one of Breens plays later in the year.

Bottom Dog said the launch was very much a celebration of what the company has achieved but also "a statement of intent for the future".

Playwright and actor Breen said the civic reception the company received from the council in late 2015 provided "a renewed sense of energy" that encouraged them to keep going.

"We felt that the council, and the citizens they represent, value what we do. That we all want a professional theatre company based in Limerick, and that we in fact need and deserve it. Clearly as we launch this ninth season, were inclined to agree, he added.

See www.bottomdogtheatre.com for more. Drinking in America runs in the Belltable from February 7 - 9. See www.limetreetheatre.ie for bookings.
MINSK, Belarus (AP)  In a sign of growing friction between the two ex-Soviet neighbors, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko criticized Russia Friday for cutting oil supplies, ordered his interior minister to press charges against Russia's top food safety official and firmly refused to host a Russian air base.

In a live news conference that lasted about 7 hours, Lukashenko alleged that the latest trade restrictions imposed by Moscow had been spurred by its concern about Belarus' efforts to improve its ties with the West.

In more than two decades in power, Lukashenko has relied on economic and political support of Russia, skillfully exploiting its security concerns and casting Belarus as an indispensable ally.

The EU and the U.S. recently have rolled back the sanctions they had imposed on Belarus over Lukashenko's iron-fist rule, following relatively smoother elections and the release of political prisoners. Lukashenko voiced hope Friday that better ties with the West will boost the Belarusian economy.

At the same time, Russia-Belarus ties have soured.

Belarus has refused to accept the price Russia has charged for natural gas. Russia has estimated Belarus' debt at $550 million and responded by halving the volume of oil supplied to its western neighbor. Cheap Russian oil used by Belarus' refineries have been a major source of income for the nation of 10 million.

Lukashenko accused Russia Friday of using energy as a weapon to force Belarus into submission.

"We will do without the Russian oil," he said. "If we have independence on one scale, and oil on another, they are incomparable."

Ties also have been strained over Belarus' food exports. Russia has accused Belarus of becoming a conduit for contraband food to bypass a Russian embargo on most Western food introduced in retaliation to the U.S. and the EU sanctions on Russia over its action in Ukraine.

In response, Russia has introduced restrictions on imports of Belarusian food, citing sanitary reasons.

Story continues

Lukashenko vented his anger at Russia's top food safety official, Sergei Dankvert, ordering his interior minister to press charges against him for "damaging the state."

The Kremlin responded to the outburst with indignation, with the press office saying Dankvert is doing his job. The Kremlin also listed massive loans given to Belarus and billions of dollars that it lost in taxes Belarus was exempt from paying for importing Russian oil.

Other tensions also flared up.

Russia's main domestic security agency has established controls on the border with Belarus in response to its decision to abolish visas for short-term travelers from 80 nations, including the U.S. and the EU. Until now, the neighbors had no border controls.

Lukashenko fumed at the move, describing it as "political attack."

"Russia has become concerned that Belarus will go away, that Lukashenko has turned to the West," the Belarusian leader said.

For years, Moscow has pushed Lukashenko to host a Russian air base, and he answered Friday with a categorical "No," casting it as part of the Kremlin pressure on Belarus.

"What's the purpose of such a base from the military viewpoint?" he said. "We don't need it here. The base and the planes they want to put here is a demonstration."

He argued that the base would have little meaning as the two nations already maintain close military cooperation.

In an indication of just how bad the current Russian-Belarusian spat has gone, Lukashenko assured his country that "there will be no war."

"No one will occupy us, no one will send in troops," he said. "We will protect ourselves and our independence."

___

Nataliya Vasilyeva and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
The newly-described catshark, a species that spends its life on the seafloor.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new species of spotted, bottom-dwelling shark near the Galapagos Islands, where astonished researchers saw it from a submersible.

The newly named species, Bythaelurus giddingsi, is a kind of catshark. Such animals had never been seen near the famed Eastern Pacific archipelago until researchers descended some 1,600 feet (500 meters) to the ocean floor.

"We looked out the window and saw this spotted catshark and said, 'What the heck is that?'" recalled John McCosker, chairman of aquatic biology at the California Academy of Sciences, and lead author on a paper describing the shark. "It was very exciting because we didn't expect that that genus had a species of shark living in the Galapagos."

The veteran ichthyologist and shark researcher said he turned to the sub's pilot and said, "We gotta get that shark."

A close-up of the shark's pointy teeth. The species has a wide mouth good for grabbing passing fish and invertebrates. (Image credit: Douglas Long.)

Shark hunt

A farcical chase ensued, McCosker said, with the shark scurrying out of reach every time the sub's vacuum-like collecting tool got within reach.

The sub finally sucked in the evasive shark, and researchers eventually captured six more specimens: dainty, chocolate-brown sharks, speckled with pale spots about the size of their large eyes.

Unlike in many shark species, the spots appear to be distributed at random, with patterns unique to each animal, "which is quite remarkable," McCosker said. The species is found only near the Galapagos Islands, famed for their unique species both on land and in the sea, attributed to their extreme geographical isolation.

McCosker estimated that the largest catsharks he observed were about 2 feet (0.6 meters) long, about average for catsharks. Limited by the submersible's collecting instrument, the largest shark the team retrieved was only about 17 inches (45 centimeters).

A scientific drawing of Bythaelurus giddingsi. (Image credit: Alison Schoeer.)

DNA delay

Although researchers are only now publishing the new species description, the newly described specimens were collected on diving expeditions in 1995 and 1998. They were stored in formaldehyde, which breaks down proteins and makes DNA sampling impossible; McCosker said that, with advances in DNA analysis, the team was hoping to get further shark specimens for genetic sampling before proceeding. Unfortunately, he said, they weren't able to return to the region, and decided to publish.

The research is published in the March 5 issue of the journal Zootaxa.

McCosker said the announcement is bittersweet.

"There is great irony to be discovering new species of sharks, as sharks are disappearing worldwide," he said, many the victims of the lucrative trade in shark fins for shark fin soup.

"Ninety percent of the sharks that were in the ocean when I was born are gone," McCosker said.
/

A man has been arrested for allegedly crashing his Ford Explorer into three vehicles and fleeing the scene in northwest Laredo, police said.

Miguel Sanchez, 23, was charged Thursday with three counts of accident involving damages.
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Earlier today, Al Qaedas propaganda arm released a statement condemning the recent American counterterrorism operation in Yemen. US Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed that civilian non-combatants were likely killed in the midst of a firefight during the raid in Yemen on Jan. 29. The casualties may include children, CENTCOM stated.

As Sahab, al Qaedas propaganda arm, portrays the operation as part of an allegedly broader campaign against all Muslims.

Only a few days after [President] Trump warned of Islamic Terrorism in his inauguration speech, we witnessed the American massacre in the Qiffah area in Yemen, the seventh issue of Al Qaedas Al Nafir Bulletin reads.

The statement continues: Hence, it is clear to us all that the threat was not directed at the Mujahideen of the Islamic Ummah [worldwide community of Muslims] alone, but instead it was directed against the Muslims in general, whether they are men, women, or even children, since the Americans in this massacre intentionally killed women and children, and even an infant in the womb was not spared from their brutality.

The raid encountered multiple problems. A Navy SEAL, Chief Special Warfare Operator William Ryan Owens, was killed in the firefight. Several others were wounded. In addition, a MV-22 Osprey aircraft had to be destroyed after making an abrupt landing. Press reports have raised a number of questions concerning the level of planning behind the operation.

But there is no reason to believe that American forces intentionally sought to kill innocent women and children, as al Qaeda alleges. CENTCOM claims the civilians appear to have been potentially caught up in aerial gunfire that was called in to assist US forces in contact. CENTCOM also claimed that armed women were firing from prepared fighting positions and pointed out that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has a horrifying history of hiding women and children within militant operating areas and terrorist camps.

Nonetheless, al Qaeda used its statement to send a message to the new American president.

And on this occasion we say to the stupid President Trump: The presidency of your country has had several presidents in years past, all of whom have promised the American people to kill the Mujahideen and excise them, al Qaedas statement reads. However, they all ended up leaving the White House before fulfilling their promise, despite some of them having a second term. (Note: In reality, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama all had second terms.)

Al Qaedas bulletin concludes: This is undoubtedly your fate, for the flame of jihad has ignited and reached all over the world.

Al Nafir was first released in Arabic and then translated into English by the Global Islamic Media Front, which is affiliated with al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda and its online channels moved quickly to denounced the US for killing women and children. And these same social media sites posted photos of several children allegedly killed during the assault. One of them is purportedly the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al Awlaki, an American-born jihadi who became one of AQAPs top ideologues and an operational planner. Awlaki was killed in an American drone strike in Sept. 2011. His 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al Awlaki, was killed in a separate drone strike in Oct. 2011.

Pictures of the girl, Nawar Anwar al Awlaki, and other deceased children have been posted on dozens of al Qaeda-related and other social media sites.

Al Masra, a newsletter affiliated with AQAP, also included an article in its 38th issue denouncing the raid. Although Al Masra describes itself as being independent, FDDs Long War Journal assesses that it is actually produced by al Qaeda for its global membership.

AQAP remains a potent foe inside Yemen, as the group is waging a prolific insurgency and has been able to control significant territory at times.

Citing local residents, Xinhua reports that AQAP seized three towns in the Abyan province earlier today. Al Qaeda gunmen reportedly set up checkpoints in Lawder, Ahwar and Shuqra. AQAP captured much of southern Yemen in 2015 and held it for approximately one year, until an Arab-led coalition invaded the country in April 2016. Instead of sustaining significant casualties, AQAPs forces simply melted away, living to fight another day. The al Qaeda arm continues to control significant turf through its partners, including local councils and committees.

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.
A faction of the Pakistani Taliban that broke away from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) in 2014 has rejoined the group, and its leader has been named the deputy emir of the TTP. The reunion is the latest in a series of moves that have brought wayward Taliban groups back into the TTPs fold to help rebuild both its capacity and strength.

The TTP announced on Feb. 2 that the Mehsud division, which is also known as the Movement of the Taliban in South Waziristan and the Sajna or Khalid Mehsud Group, has rejoined the TTP, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained an English language version of the statement.

Urdu language statement announcing the return of the Khalid Mehsud Group.

Tehreek Taliban Pakistan [TTP] accepts the oath of allegiance of Mehsud Mujahideen under the esteemed Commander Khalid Mehsud Hafizahullah, the TTP said. TTP also declares that esteemed Commander Khalid Mehsud will be the representative of Mehsud division as well as deputy to the chief of TTP central Ameer Fazlullah Khorasani Hafizahullah.

Khalid Mehsud is also known as Khan Said and Sajna Mehsud. He took control of the powerful Taliban faction after the death of Hakemullah Mehsud, the previous emir of the TTP. He declared the formation of the Movement of the Taliban in South Waziristan in 2014 and broke away from the TTP after a leadership dispute with Mullah Fazlullah. At the time of the split, the spokesman for Khalids group accused its parent organization of being un-Islamic. [See Discord dissolves Pakistani Taliban coalition.]

In its latest statement, the TTP said that Khalid Mehsuds group returned after the defection of the rogue elements to the rival parties. SITE claims that this may be a reference to Khalifa Umar Mansour, who has conducted multiple attacks on Pakistani schools and other civilian institutions. The TTP has denounced some of Mansours attacks, but it is unclear if he has been expelled or if he withdrew from the parent organization.

The US added Mehsud to the list of specially designated global terrorists in October 2014. His forces are known to wage jihad in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The US has targeted his followers in airstrikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Feb. 2016, US warplanes struck a meeting in the Afghan province of Paktika that Mehsud was expected to attend. Eighteen of his followers were reported to have been killed. In April 2015, US drones killed four of Mehsuds followers in a strike in South Waziristan.

Mehsuds supporters have executed several high profile attacks in the region, including the May 2011 assault on Naval Station Mehran in Karachi that resulted in the destruction of two US-supplied P-3C Orion maritime surveillance planes, and the 2012 prison break in Bannu, which freed Adnan Rasheed, a commander who has a long history with Pakistani terrorist groups as well as al Qaeda. US intelligence officials who track the TTP and al Qaeda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region have told FDDs Long War Journal that Mehsud remains a close ally of al Qaeda to this day.

The TTP has attempted to reunite various factions that broke away in 2014 after the US killed Hakemullah in a drone strike. In March 2015, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a powerful faction, rejoined the TTP. However, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has operated with a degree of autonomy. At the same time, Lashkar-e-Islam merged with the Taliban. Additionally, three jihadist groups, all which are led by al Qaeda leader Matiur Rehman, merged with the TTP in May 2015.

Not all of the groups that split with the TTP have rejoined its ranks. One group of disaffected mid-level leaders joined the Islamic States Khorasan Province. Another faction in North Waziristan, led by Sheheryar Mehsud, who was loyal to Hakeemullah and TTP founder Baitullah Mehsud, is still thought to operate independently.

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.
carlos ghosn

Prior to Donald Trump winning the presidency and using the term as a cornerstone of his inaugural address, "America First" was best known as an anti-Semitic isolationist movement that took shape in the US before the nation's entry into World War II.

The most infamous America Firster was the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who argued against American involvement in Europe.

Accused of Nazi sympathies, Lindbergh didn't play a major role in the war and faded from view after hostilities ended. His fame rested on having been the first man to fly non-stop across the Atlantic.

It's understandable that the phrase would confuse multinational business leaders in the second decade of the 21st century. The Allies won the war and then commenced decades of economic and military integration, leading to the development of global markets  the world that Carlos Ghosn, the cosmopolitan CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, inhabits. America First was a pre-war relic.

Ghosn  born in Lebanon, raised in Brazil, educated in France  became CEO of Renault-Nissan in 2001 and for a decade and a half has been responsible for this French-Japanese hybrid, which not incidentally sells a lot of cars and trucks in the US.

At the Detroit auto show last month, Ghosn held a roundtable discussion with the media and spent a fair amount of time, in the days before Trump's inauguration, visibly grappling with the "America First" idea.

It isn't complicated

trump schwarzman barra business council

"If there is free trade, it should be good for me," Ghosn said when asked to describe what American First means  with the "me" being the Trump's USA.

He added that part two of his understanding of American First is that it prioritizes "American jobs."

Simple.

For the most part, Ghosn took a cautiously flexible attitude toward what Renault-Nissan might be up against if Trump's policies favor domestic US manufacturing.

Story continues

For starters, Nissan builds cars in both Tennessee and Mississippi, but jobs in those reliable GOP states won't help Trump. That's because Trump needs the hiring to happen in Michigan and Ohio, which are the states he sought out during the 2016 election and will need again to get re-elected in 2020.

So some new jobs might be better than others, and Ghosn might not gain much by pointing out that there were exactly zero car factories in Tennessee before Nissan landed in Smyrna back in 1983 (GM followed in the 1990s with its Spring Hill factory).

Playing by the rules

As for NAFTA, Ghosn threw up his hands slightly when asked about the trade agreement, relevant to Renault-Nissan as the automaker operated three plants in Mexico.

'The only rules in place were NAFTA," Ghosn said. "We played by the rules."

Since Trump took office, his relations with the Detroit Big Three have been far more visible than his dealings with any of the so-called foreign "transplant" automakers, many of whom like Nissan have been building and hiring in the US for decades, in the Republican stronghold that is the US South.

Ghosn "take it as it goes" attitude is understandable, and by taking Trump at his word on America First, he might actually be a good position to work with the new administration.

NOW WATCH: Nissan's redesigned GT-R is a beast worthy of its 'Godzilla' nickname





More From Business Insider


An American judge has imposed a temporary, nationwide hold on Donald Trump's ban on travellers and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, in a major blow to the US President's controversial order. US District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued the temporary restraining order that will remain valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint by Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson. "The Constitution prevailed today. No one is above the law  not even the President," Ferguson said after the federal judge granted his request to immediately halt implementation of Trump's executive order on immigration nationwide.

Robart, who was nominated to the court by President George W Bush in 2003, ruled that Ferguson had met the high standards necessary to block the executive order until the court reaches the merits of the lawsuit. The temporary restraining order immediately stops federal officials from enforcing parts of the ban that target immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and stops them from enforcing parts of the ban that grant exemptions based on religion. Reacting to the development, the White House said it will file for an emergency order against the federal judge's ruling.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. "The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said. The White House defended President's executive order. As the law states, 'Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate'," Spicer said.

Hailing the court ruling, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said, "This is fantastic and critically important news. These orders are inhumane and unconstitutional."Major Washington state institutions supported the attorney general's lawsuit through declarations filed alongside the complaint. In their declarations, for example, Amazon and Expedia set forth the detrimental ways the executive order impacts their operations and their employees. PTI
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.
Washington : The US has cancelled 60,000 visas since President Donald Trump signed the controversial immigration order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries, according to the State Department. The order signed by Trump last week imposes a 90-day pause on the entry into the US of nationals from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. "Fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order. We recognise that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the executive order," said Will Cocks, spokesperson for Bureau of Consular Affairs Department of State.

"To put that number in context, we issued over 11 million immigrant and non-immigrant visas in fiscal year 2015. As always, national security is our top priority when issuing visas," Cocks said. The pause does not apply to Lawful Permanent Residents, dual citizens with passports from a country other than the seven listed, or those travelling on diplomatic, NATO or UN visas, the Department of Homeland Security said. Special Immigrant Visa holders of these seven countries may board US-bound planes, and apply for and receive a national interest exception to the pause upon arrival, the Department of Homeland Security said.

"Importantly, these seven countries are the only countries to which the pause on entry applies. No other countries face such treatment. Nor have any other countries been identified as warranting future inclusion at this time, contrary to false reports," it said. As directed by the Executive Order, the Department of Homeland Security is working with Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a country-by-country review of the information provided by countries in order for their nationals to apply for myriad visas, immigration benefits, or otherwise seek admission into the US. This review is needed to ensure that individuals seeking to enter the US are who they claim to be and do not pose a security or public-safety threat," a statement said, adding that the results of this review will be provided to the President within 30 days of the executive order's signing. PTI
US Mint Gold and Silver Bullion Coin Sales

Golds first new bull market since 2011 last year was overwhelmingly driven by stock investors flooding into gold ETFs. Traditional physical bar-and-coin demand was actually quite weak, falling considerably year-over-year. Nevertheless, its still important to stay abreast of classic gold and silver investment demand. One key microcosm of that comes in the form of the US Mints sales of its popular American Eagle coins.

When American investors buy physical gold and silver bullion, its often in the form of these American Eagle 1-ounce coins. They have a really interesting history. Back in the early 1980s, foreign national gold coins led by South Africas famous Krugerrand were soaring in popularity. The US Congress didnt want the States to be left out of the prestigious national-gold-coin business, so it finally acted in 1985.

American lawmakers crafted the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, which president Ronald Reagan then promptly signed into law. It mandated the US Mint start producing a family of 22-karat gold-bullion coins containing one, one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of a troy ounce of fine gold. There were a couple of interesting restrictions, including the origin and age of the gold and the amount of coins to be produced.

The GBCA required all gold-bullion coins to be minted from gold mined from natural deposits in the United States, or in a territory or possession of the United States, within one year after the month in which the ore from which it is derived was mined. If that source ever proved insufficient, the Mint could use gold from reserves held by the United States to mint the coins. It makes sense to support American miners.

But far more importantly, this law requires the US Mint to produce these gold-bullion coins in quantities sufficient to meet public demand. Unfortunately the unaccountable bureaucrats at the US Mint have failed miserably on this front, and shouldve faced the wrath of Congress. There have been multiple times since the deep secular-bear gold lows of the early 2000s where bullion-coin sales have been suspended.

The most famous was probably in August 2008 heading into that years stock panic, when demand was growing. The US Mint claimed its suppliers couldnt produce enough planchets, the blank flat disks of 22-karat gold that are ultimately stamped into American Eagle coins. That ignited a firestorm among gold conspiracy theorists, and went mainstream with a major Wall Street Journal story published on page C1.

The US Mints history of producing sufficient silver-Eagle coins to meet public demand is even worse, with these popular coins rationed for as long as 18 months at a time. This was even a big problem in 2015, when these silver coins sales were severely restricted for the last 5 months of that year. Because the US Mint has such an ongoing problem meeting demand as mandated, its coin sales dont reflect true demand.

There are additional factors limiting the usefulness of this data for drawing conclusions about broader gold investment demand. Its primarily American investors buying these American Eagle bullion coins, effectively excluding the rest of the world. On top of that, these coins are never destroyed. So the true supply and demand in the marketplace encompasses the entire stockpile of coins minted since 1986.

Nevertheless, the US Mints sales of newly-produced bullion coins offer a useful peripheral read into American gold and silver investment demand as long as their limitations are kept in mind. This small piece of overall global gold demand is a valuable barometer of American physical investment demand. Trends within this dataset help illuminate broader trends in gold investment, which dominates golds price.

The US Mint doesnt sell coins directly to ordinary investors. Instead a network of authorized purchasers acts as middle men, which have to be fairly-large businesses to qualify. The US Mints minimum order requirements for gold Eagles and silver Eagles are 1k and 25k ounces. At current prices this equates to order sizes of $1209k and $438k, not including the 3%-gold and $2-per-silver-coin premiums the US Mint charges!

So buying American Eagles certainly isnt cheap for investors, who are forced to eat these big wholesale premiums. And the retail coin dealers naturally charge additional premiums on top of that to keep their businesses running. Thus paying 5%+ over prevailing gold prices is common, which is very inefficient. Thats one reason why gold ETFs led by the flagship American GLD SPDR Gold Shares have grown so popular.

Trading like any stock, GLDs commissions for purchasing shares are the usual trivial broker fees. Then GLDs managers charge a 0.4%-of-assets fee annually to pay their operating expenses including storing and transferring huge amounts of physical gold bullion. GLD shares offer investors portfolio-diversifying gold exposure for well under an order of magnitude cheaper than traditional coins including gold Eagles.

Thus the rise of gold ETFs led by GLD has certainly cannibalized classic gold-coin demand. There is no doubt physical gold ownership in ones own immediate possession is far superior to gold-ETF shares in extreme market-breakdown situations. But the vast majority of the time when markets are functioning normally, gold-ETF shares offer the same portfolio-diversification benefits of gold coins at a fraction of the cost.

So the investors still buying gold coins tend to be hardcore true believers. They want to own gold for a long time, making the high premiums more palatable. I amassed my core portfolio foundation of national gold coins including Eagles in the early 2000s, and would never trade them for GLD shares. Gold held in your own personal control is the ultimate insurance policy against devastating black-swan events.

The US Mints gold-Eagle sales offer insights into how the American physical gold market dominated by traditional investors is faring. This chart superimposes monthly gold-Eagle sales over gold prices since 2001. Since gold-Eagle production and thus sales are highly volatile, annual averages are included in yellow to smooth the trends. Provocatively gold-Eagle demand proved strong in 2016, defying world precedent.

Last year the US Mint sold 985k ounces of gold Eagles to its wholesalers. That was a major 22.9% jump over 2015s 802k ounces sold! Averaging out to 81.5k ounces per month, 2016 was actually the fourth best year of gold-Eagle coin sales in golds modern secular-bull era. Only 2009, 2010, and 2011 were better. Since the recent trough year for gold-Eagle sales in 2014, their monthly average rocketed 86% higher!

Despite the gold carnage seen in the wake of Trumps surprise election win, this metal had a solid year in 2016. Gold rallied 8.5% higher last year, its first up year since 2012s 7.0% gain. So it shouldnt be surprising that American physical investors started to return to chase golds young new bull. Investment demand growth is inverted, with higher prices fueling higher demand unlike normal commodities markets.

Provocatively these rising gold-Eagle sales really defied the world trend in bar-and-coin demand. The definitive arbiter of gold fundamental data is the venerable World Gold Council. It publishes awesome quarterly reports detailing global gold supply and demand. Until Q4s report is finalized and published in a couple weeks, the latest available is still Q316s. So we can analyze the first three quarters of 2016.

American Eagle gold-bullion coin sales ran 692.5k ounces in the first 9 months of 2016, which equates to just 21.5 metric tons. That was only a slight 3.4% improvement from the 670.0k ounces or 20.8t seen in the first 9 months of 2015. As this chart shows, the US Mint didnt start getting caught up with the surging gold-investment demand in 2016 until Q4. Gold-Eagle sales exploded last quarter, likely also on bargain hunting.

According to the World Gold Council, total global physical bar-and-coin demand in the first three quarters of 2016 was 664.2t. Thus new US Mint gold-Eagle sales are a vanishingly-small 3.2% of that. A subset of that bar-and-coin demand, only official coins, ran 129.9t. New gold-Eagle sales accounted for about 1/6th of that. But the surprising thing is gold-Eagle sales still rose year-over-year in the first 9 months of 2016.

Overall world bar-and-coin demand excluding ETFs and central banks actually fell 12.9% year-over-year in the first 9 months of 2016, from 762.9t to 664.2t! So its rather impressive to see new gold-Eagle sales buck that trend. This big 98.8t YoY drop in bar-and-coin demand was far more than offset by an epic 785.8t YoY surge in gold-ETF demand! That also outweighed falling jewelry demand, driving overall demand higher.

The sole reason overall global gold demand climbed 7.4% or 229.8t YoY in the first 9 months of 2016 was this massive gold-ETF buying. And that overwhelmingly came from GLD alone, the worlds biggest-by-far and dominant gold ETF. Its holdings grew 305.6t in that span, well exceeding the 229.8t growth in world gold demand! So realize new gold-Eagle sales are almost inconsequential relative to the gold ETFs.

Still, its very encouraging to see American investors demand for new gold Eagles defy the world bar-and-coin demand slump to rise year-over-year in 2016. That implies gold psychology is really improving. Investors dont want to pay the high premiums to hold physical gold in their own possession unless they think gold is going to climb on balance for years to come. Only true believers go to the trouble of buying coins.

But despite the strong 2016 gold-Eagle demand in ounces terms, in dollar terms it is still way down. At 2016s average gold price of $1250, the 985k ounces of gold Eagles sold were worth about $1.2b. That is nothing in market terms, a rounding error. Back in 2011 when gold averaged $1573, a similar 1000k ounces of new gold Eagles sold were worth around $1.6b. But 2009 saw the biggest modern gold-Eagle sales.

That year they ran a mammoth 1435k ounces, surging as gold soared emerging from 2008s first stock panic in a century. But at 2009s average gold price of $974, they were still only worth about $1.4b. So at $1.2b last year, new gold-Eagle sales have lots of room to grow before they hit normal levels for gold bull-market years. If the US Mint can keep up, odds are they will power considerably higher again in 2017.

Arguably the smart thing to do if you own physical gold coins in your own possession is to tell no one. If the wrong people hear you have substantial gold bullion on your property, that makes you a target for theft. And since gold is usually well-hidden, any thief thinking you had some would likely torture you to get its location. Thankfully most gold investors tend to be well-armed too, ready to defend with lethal force.

Security concerns aside, gold coins are a powerful evangelism tool to promote gold investment. When I get the chance to speak to new investors or kids about gold, I always bring a handful of gold Eagles to pass around. Portfolio diversification through gold is a broad and abstract topic that is hard to grasp at first. But when someone holds physical gold bullion in their own hands for the first time ever, their faces light up!

All of a sudden gold transcends an academic concept to become tangible and real. Decades ago when I was young, the same thing happened to me. My interest in gold and contrarian investing grew out of a friend letting me actually hold some gold coins. They happened to be South African Krugerrands, but the timeless allure of gold is universal for all people. I hope the growing gold-Eagle sales boost such opportunities.

While you dont want to advertise your physical-gold hoard, you can buy fractional gold Eagles to gift on special occasions. You can show trusted close friends the latest few Eagles you bought, and use that opportunity to tell them about the vast upside potential in gold. So while gold Eagles remain a small fraction of world gold demand, their possible impact on gold psychology lets them punch far above their weight.

For over 17 years now as a newsletter writer, Ive strongly recommended every investor amass a core portfolio foundation of at least 5% of investable assets in physical gold and silver bullion held in their own immediate possession. Eagles are a great way for Americans to do that. Physical gold and silver is the ultimate portfolio insurance, protecting investors from various extreme market or political situations.

While the odds are thankfully very small, theres always the chance that paper markets could crash or be inaccessible indefinitely. When such black-swan events smash the rest of your portfolio, your small gold allocation will soar and offset some of those losses. Physical gold and silver you possess can also be used for transactional purposes if severe market upheavals are accompanied by disruptive real-world unrest.

Interestingly the increase in new gold-Eagle demand last year didnt translate into higher silver-Eagle sales. This next chart looks at the US Mints monthly and annually-averaged silver-Eagle sales along with silver prices. They actually fell rather sharply last year, which is somewhat surprising given silvers 15.1% gain in 2016. But the silver-Eagle market is really considerably different from the gold-Eagle one.

Last year the US Mint sold 37.7m new silver-Eagle coins, down 19.8% from 2015s 47.0m. This pushed the monthly average sales down to 3.1m, the lowest seen since 2012. That implies silver demand was weaker. Unfortunately world silver fundamental data comparable to the World Gold Councils gold data isnt available quarterly. It is only published once a year by the Silver Institute, and thats not until May.

So unfortunately we cant do a silver-coin analysis on par with the gold-coin analysis above. But silver Eagles are very different from gold Eagles. While silver Eagles are certainly very beautiful and thus highly desirable, they are an expensive way to own silver bullion. Once again the US Mint charges the large wholesale dealers a whopping $2 per coin in premiums. At prevailing silver prices, this is a staggering 11.4%!

Once the retail coin dealers take their cut on top of that, silver Eagles are not an economic way to amass silver bullion. They make great gifts, but serious silver investors generally dont bother with them since they are so expensive. When building up core investment positions in both gold and silver bullion, the prudent thing to do is buy the forms of these metals with the lowest premiums to get the most bang for your buck.

Silver-Eagle demand is also exceedingly volatile. When silver surges and excitement grows, the coin dealers often steer newer naive investors towards high-margin silver Eagles. But as silver inevitably falls out of favor again, this demand collapses. These big swings are impossible to forecast, making it very challenging for the US Mint to achieve its Congressional mandate of producing sufficient coins to meet demand.

2015 is a great recent example. Though silver-Eagle demand surged to record highs that year, by July the US Mint had already run out of these coins thanks to a strong early-year silver rally. So as the Mint struggled to catch up, it actually had to ration silver-Eagle sales for 5 whole months! So these new sales the Mint reports arent necessarily a true reflection of investor demand, but often reveal Mint limitations.

Silver actually acts as a gold sentiment gauge. Investors only start getting excited about silver after gold has rallied long enough and far enough to convince them its upside is sustainable. Gold embarked on a new bull market in December 2015 out of deep secular lows, and powered 29.9% higher by early July 2016. During that short 6.7-month span, silver surged up 47.7%. But a half-year isnt much in the grand scheme.

The shift in investors silver-coin demand from bear to bull levels will take some time. Silver may have to rally on balance for a year or two before sustained new demand kicks in. And the US Mint will take even longer to respond to that demand shift, since it requires considerable lead time to source and fabricate raw silver bullion into finished Silver Eagles. So I suspect 2017 will better reflect growing demand than 2016.

Precious-metals physical-bullion demand among American investors should only grow as gold and silver mean revert higher this year and beyond. Theres no doubt the US Mint will be able to sell every last American Eagle coin it produces. Since the Mint has to buy this gold and silver from American miners, all this bullion-coin demand will certainly contribute to driving gold and silver prices higher as well.

If youve never bought gold and silver bullion coins, its a fantastic time to get started and stockpiling with gold and silver prices still low. All you have to do is find a reputable local coin dealer whos been in business a long time and stop by to chat. Hell help you understand what kinds of coins are available, and the premiums they command. Buy your coins, take them home, hide them, and forget about them.

At Zeal weve always advocated physical-bullion foundations for every investment portfolio. I started to recommend gold-bullion coins to our subscribers in May 2001 when gold traded near $264, and silver-bullion coins in November 2001 when silver traded at $4.20. These long-term investments trounced the S&P 500 ever since, with gains still in the hundreds of percent even with gold and silver relatively low today!

Weve been in the contrarian-research business helping investors and speculators thrive for over 17 years now. Since 2001 weve recommended and realized 906 stock trades in real-time to our newsletter subscribers. Their average annualized realized gains including all losers are now running way up at +22.0%! You can put our expertise to work for you through our popular weekly and monthly newsletters. They draw on our vast experience, knowledge, wisdom, and ongoing research to explain whats going on in the markets, why, and how to trade them with specific stocks. Subscribe today for just $10 per issue!

The bottom line is US Mint bullion-coin sales were mixed in 2016. While gold-Eagle sales surged with the new gold bull, silver-Eagle sales fell despite silver following gold higher. American investors gold-coin demand as evidenced by new Eagle sales grew last year, bucking the world trend of weakening bar-and-coin demand. The return of hardcore physical investors here in the US is very bullish for gold.

It reflects improving gold psychology, as investors are more willing to pay high gold-coin premiums that are far larger than gold-ETF fees. This only makes sense if they expect gold to climb on balance for years to come in a major new bull. As gold continues mean reverting higher out of recent years deep secular lows, global bar-and-coin demand should really start growing again. Investors love chasing a winner.

Adam Hamilton, CPA

So how can you profit from this information? We publish an acclaimed monthly newsletter, Zeal Intelligence , that details exactly what we are doing in terms of actual stock and options trading based on all the lessons we have learned in our market research. Please consider joining us each month for tactical trading details and more in our premium Zeal Intelligence service at  www.zealllc.com/subscribe.htm

Questions for Adam? I would be more than happy to address them through my private consulting business. Please visit www.zealllc.com/adam.htm for more information.

Thoughts, comments, or flames? Fire away at zelotes@zealllc.com . Due to my staggering and perpetually increasing e-mail load, I regret that I am not able to respond to comments personally. I will read all messages though and really appreciate your feedback!

Copyright 2000 - 2017 Zeal Research ( www.ZealLLC.com )

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




An apology for the bank's misbehaviours signed by the CEO of Deutsche Bank John Cryan is published as a newspaper ad in a big German paper in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)  Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, has apologized in full-page German newspaper ads for misconduct that has cost the company billions.

The ad, signed by CEO John Cryan on behalf of the bank's top management, ran Saturday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The bank said its past conduct "not only cost us money, but also our reputation and trust."

In December, Deutsche Bank agreed to a $7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its dealings in opaque bonds based on home loans in 2005-2007. Losses on such bonds packaged and sold by major banks helped start the global financial crisis.

Other misconduct cases have included rigging widely-used interest benchmarks along with other big banks and money-laundering violations involving security trades Russia.

The ad said "we in the management committee and bank leadership as a whole will do everything in our power to keep such cases from happening again."

Cryan, who became co-CEO with Anshu Jain in 2015 and sole CEO in 2016, had to present a 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) loss for the full year 2016 at the company's annual news conference on Thursday. Costs for legal settlements have played a role in weak earnings that have undermined the bank's share price.

Cryan also delivered an extensive apology at the news conference.

Deutsche Bank is in the midst of a wrenching restructuring, cutting costs and shedding riskier assets to meet tougher regulation aimed at preventing another financial crisis.

A news report that the mortgage-bond settlement might be as high as $14 million led to sharp falls in the bank's share price in September and October and fed speculation the bank might need to raise more capital or seek a government bailout. It did neither.
COLLINSVILLEA Martinsville woman who faces multiple drugrelated charges qualified for a court-appointed lawyer Thursday in Henry County.

In General District Court, Judge Marcus Brinks appointed lawyer Heath Sabin to represent 26-year-old Brandi Nicole Custer, who is charged with possession of a schedule 1 or 2 controlled substance with intent to manufacture, sell, give or distribute it. The offense allegedly happened earlier in the day.

A criminal complaint by Deputy J.A. Hatcher of the Henry County Sheriffs Office alleges the following:

Hatcher encountered Custer in a room at a motel on Martinsvilles Memorial Boulevard, after being asked by management to remove uninvited guests. Personnel effects were strewn about the room in plain sight, including a small straw with white powdery residue, numerous syringes that appeared used, and a small red hand purse that was opened. The purse contained a bowl used for smoking and what appeared to be a small zip-lock bag as is commonly used to package narcotics and illegal drugs.

The occupants of the room began gathering items, at which point Hatcher observed Custer allegedly pick up the red bag and place it with her belongings in a larger white handbag. She then exited the room and Hatcher stopped her outside the motel and searched her belongings. Hatcher found a small amount of white powdery substance in a plastic bag, which tested positive for cocaine; two bowl-shaped pipes showing signs of having been used for smoking or burning something; three zip-lock bags; a digital scale; and a grinder.

Judge Brinks set a court hearing for May 11.

HENRY COUNTY GENERAL DISTRICT COURT

Also on Thursday, 52-year-old Bassett resident William Stephan Manns, who is charged with felonious embezzlement, waived his preliminary hearing. Judge Brinks certified (or sent) the case to Circuit Court.

A criminal complaint by Investigator M.C. Pace of the Henry County Sheriffs Office alleged an asset protection manager at Walmart stated Manns admitted taking a total of $1,340 on Oct. 29, 2016, and that Manns provided a written statement stating the he took the money. A court document indicated Manns worked at Walmart, but it did not elaborate.

In another case, Derek Dwayne Galyean  who is charged with offenses including forging a check, uttering a forged check and larceny of a check (on Nov. 7, 2016)  qualified for a court-appointed lawyer, and Judge Brinks appointed lawyer Heath Sabin to represent him. Court documents list Galyeans address variously as Bassett, Stuart and Peterstown, West Virginia.

Criminal complaints allege that Galyean, 28, stole a check, forged it and cashed it at a bank. The check was for $150.

According to court documents, Galyean has been convicted two or more times previously of larceny offenses or offenses deemed punishable as larceny.

In another case, Judge Brinks found probable cause to believe Brandon Dean Oakes, 27, of Ridgeway, committed the crime of grand larceny of an auto (on Nov. 8, 2016). Brinks certified (or sent) that case to Circuit Court.

Oakes is accused of stealing a motor vehicle belonging to Enterprise Rent a Car that a Martinsville woman had rented.

Also in District Court on Thursday, Jerry Wayne Nester Jr., 24, of Eden, North Carolina, waived his preliminary hearing on two felony charges: grand larceny and sell or distribute stolen property. Judge Brinks certified (or sent) those two charges to Circuit Court. Criminal complaints allege that Nester stole a flat-screen TV from a Martinsville male and a generator, chainsaw and wedding ring belonging to his father, and then allegedly pawned stolen items at local pawn shops. The incidents happened in March 2016.
care van.jpg

The Chicopee Police Department donated $1,010 to the Elms College caRe vaN. Here are (back row from left) Police Chief William R. Jebb,, Brother Michael Duffy, founder and coordinator of the van, Michael Wilk, public information officer for Chicopee Police and Thomas Foley, director of Elms College Public Safety. In front are Elms College President Sister Mary and Kathleen Scoble, dean of nursing.

(Michael Wilk, Chicopee Police)

CHICOPEE -- To thank the Elms College nursing department for the work faculty, students and staff do in the community, the Chicopee Police Department donated $1,010 to help continue the efforts of the Elms Care Van.

The van is a mobile unit that provides free health care to the homeless and underserved of Chicopee. The Health Department offers blood pressure checks and monitoring, blood sugar checks, foot care, episodic first aid, minor wound care, patient education and helps with other needs. It has been operational since 2013.

The van was started by Michael Duffy, a Franciscan friar and Elms College's coordinator of the accelerated second degree in nursing program and an assistant clinical professor. Police Chief William R. Jebb and others on Thursday handed Duffy, President Sister Mary Reap and Dean of Nursing Kathleen Scoble the donation.

The money was raised when usually clean-shaven police officers each paid $40 to grow a goatee in December. Even some of the officers who decided against growing facial hair -- including the female officers -- donated, said Michael Wilk, public information officer for Chicopee police.

The idea came from Sgt. Rick Henry. Officers agreed they wanted to donate to two local causes and split the money evenly between the two selected, Wilk said.

Half of the money was donated to the Chicopee Bookmobile at the end of December. That money will be used for summer programs the Bookmobile will offer as it visits parks, the farmer's market and other locations in June, July and August.

Elms College was on Christmas vacation at the time so the Police Department waited until now to present the second check.

"This van provides care and other essentials to the homeless community here in Chicopee. Thank you for all you do," Wilk said.
vig.JPG

Former Springfield Police detective Steven Vigneault, shown here in 2016, has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city and police officials.

This is an update to a story filed at 3:25 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD -- A Hampden Superior Court judge has rejected a former narcotics detective's bid to win back his old job.

Steven Vigneault, who resigned from the police force in August amid an excessive force investigation, has sued the city, Police Commissioner John Barbieiri, the patrolman's union president, its lawyer and his former partner. His complaint has been characterized as a whistleblower lawsuit.

Vigneault alleges he was railroaded while the commissioner and the union went to great lengths to preserve Officer Gregg Bigda's job, even in the face of embarrassing video footage of Bigda threatening two juvenile suspects they believed stole Vigneault's car from outside a pizza shop in 2016.

The night of the car pursuit and the arrest of the boys, a chase ended in Palmer and drew a state police trooper, plus Wilbraham and Palmer officers. A Wilbraham patrolman later filed an "excessive force" report on an unnamed Springfield detective the patrolman alleges kicked one of the boys when he was handcuffed and on the ground.

Barbieri has filed an affidavit in connection with the civil case stating he was convinced it was Vigneault, though Vigneault has denied this. He also stated in the sworn statement that he was unaware of the Bigda videos until after a contractual 90-day window to bring charges against an officer had closed.

Bigda was suspended for 60 working days for the video incident, and drug prosecutions have crumbled in district and superior courts as a result of the blow to his credibility.

Vigneault's lawsuit alleges Bigda enjoys a level of inappropriate favor with department higher-ups. Barbieri denies this.

After a court hearing on Friday morning, Hampden Superior Court Judge Michael Callan denied Vigneault's motion, ruling his argument was not meritorious enough to warrant an emergency reinstatement.

Callan did, however, note during the hearing that he believes Bigda having remained on the force while Vigneault was advised to resign "felt imbalanced."
Correction: Police originally misidentified the suspect due to being given false identification. The man arrested is Eduardo Ayala, not Jose Ayala.

SPRINGFIELD -- A man suspected of stealing $3,500 worth of guitars from a Boston Road music store was arrested Friday after a K-9 officer reportedly tracked him down at a Waterford Circle home, city police announced Saturday.

Eduardo Ayala, a 40-year-old Springfield resident, was taken into custody and charged with larceny over $250 and breaking an entering with intent to commit felony after he allegedly stole two guitars from the Falcetti Music Store and broke into a nearby home, according to Springfield Police.

Officers, who responded to an alarm at the 1755 Boston Rd. music store just before 9 p.m. Friday, were told that a heavy set male had stolen two "Paul Reed Smith" electric guitars worth $3,500 before fleeing on foot toward Biddle Street.

Springfield Police K-9 Officer Eric Blair and his partner Warner tracked the alleged thief to a house located on Waterford Circle, where a male who appeared to be sweating and out of breath answered the door, police reported.

According to Springfield Police, the man told officers nothing suspicious was going on. A neighbor, however, told police that the man who answered the door did not live at the residence.

Warner and Blair, meanwhile, reportedly found the guitars in the back of the home along with a gray colored coat similar to that worn by the alleged thief.

Springfield Police said the neighbor contacted the homeowner and put her on with police. She told investigating officers that the man in her house must have broken in.

Falcetti Music staff came to the home and positively identified the man and officers arrested him, Springfield Police reported.

Ayala will be held over the weekend until he is arraigned on Monday, police said.
BRAINTREE  Massachusetts State Police have responded to reports of a shooting incident at a shopping mall in Braintree.

Police say it appears that two people were involved in an altercation at the mall and that shots were fired by one or both of them.

Police believe at least one of the people involved in the fight has been injured.

Both suspects are still at large.

Braintree Police say that the mall is currently in lock down. They have asked that people stay away from it and the surrounding area.

Several teams of State Troopers as well as Braintree police officers are now in the process of searching the mall and the surrounding area.

This story will be updated when more information becomes available.
Donald Trump, Reince Priebus

A federal judge ordered a nationwide stay of President Donald Trump's recent travel ban on Friday.

( (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik))

SEATTLE -- A federal judge ruled to temporarily block President Donald Trump's travel ban on nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries on Friday, according to The Washington Post.

U.S. District Judge James Robart, of Seattle, ordered a stay of President Trump's ban that applies nationally, according to the news outlet.

Trump's "Protection of the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States" order, signed January 27th, had banned nationals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan from entering the U.S. for a period of 90 days, and banned nationals from Syria "indefinitely."

Since its signing, President Trump's order has been met with considerable anger and confusion across the country--with civil liberty and immigrant rights groups launching protests and legal attacks.

One such attack was launched by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and various other federal officials on January 30th, arguing that the recent executive order given by the President justified discrimination.

Ferguson argued that Trump's order was having an overtly negative effect on Washington State--alleging that the "Executive Order has had immediate and significant effects in Washington" and that it was "tearing Washington families apart."

"Husbands have been separated from wives, brothers are separated from sisters, and parents are separated from their children," Ferguson said. "Some who have waited decades to see family members have had that reunion taken without warning or reason."

Ferguson's lawsuit asked that a national restraining order be issued against Trump's executive order.

In court on Friday lawyers for the Trump administration attempted to argue that Washington State didn't have the legal standing to stay the President's order.

A response brief issued Thursday by Trump administration attorneys argued that every "President over the last thirty years has invoked this authority to suspend or impose restrictions on the entry of certain aliens or classes of aliens, in some instances including classifications based on nationality,"

However, Robart ultimately ruled in favor of Ferguson on Friday, ordering that the travel ban should be temporarily halted.

"The Constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said after the verdict was read. "No one is above the law -- not even the President."
The current Chair of the African Union (AU.int) and President of the Republic of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, are following closely the developments in Ukraine and are particularly disturbed by reports that African citizens on the Ukrainian side of the border are being refused the right to cross the border to safety.

The two Chairpersons recall that all people have the right to cross international borders during conflict, and as such, should enjoy the same rights to cross to safety from the conflict in Ukraine, notwithstanding their nationality or racial identity.

Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach international law. In this regard, The Chairpersons urge all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity.

The Chairpersons commend the efforts by African Union Member State countries and their embassies in neighbouring countries to receive and orientate African citizens and their families trying to cross the border from Ukraine to safety.

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Artur Mas was president of the semi-autonomous region from 2010 to 2016 (AFP Photo/Josep Lago)

Madrid (AFP) - Separatists in Catalonia plan to come out in force Monday when the Spanish region's former leader, Artur Mas, stands trial over a non-binding independence referendum he held, further straining ties with Madrid.

Supporters of independence for the wealthy, northeastern region say they hope to draw at least 30,000 protestors on the large avenue next to the Barcelona court Monday morning.

Inside, Mas -- who was president of the semi-autonomous region from 2010 to 2016 -- his former vice-president Joana Ortega and Irene Rigau, the official once responsible for education in Catalonia, will face accusations of "serious civil disobedience" and "misfeasance".

Prosecutors want them banned from holding public office for nine to 10 years for having organised a symbolic, non-binding referendum in November 2014 in public schools, despite a ban from the Constitutional Court.

- 2.3 million 'on trial' -

Their defence argues they were merely defending "the right to freedom of expression" of Catalans, many of whom want a say in the future of their 7.5-million strong region -- be it for or against independence.

More than 80 percent of those who cast their ballot in the 2014 vote did so for independence -- although just 2.3 million people out of a total of 6.3 million eligible voters took part.

"On February 6, it is those 2.3 million people who will be on trial," Mas said Friday.

Faced with a pro-independence movement that refuses to die down, the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists that this type of local, one-region-only referendum is unconstitutional.

- 'More than ready' -

The fight for greater autonomy, or independence, for Catalonia, a region with its own culture and language, has for decades soured relations with Madrid but the clash has worsened over the past few years.

A watershed moment was in 2010, when Spain's Constitutional Court watered down a special statute awarded to Catalonia in 2006 under the Socialist government, giving it more powers.

Story continues

Supporters of independence slammed what they said was "judicial harassment" and asked for a referendum similar to the one organised in Scotland in 2014.

After the Constitutional Court banned that, Mas and his associates held the non-binding vote for which they are on trial.

Then in 2015, a coalition of separatist parties won regional elections, promising to steer Catalonia towards independence in 2017 and to organise a "real referendum" which is planned for September, with or without Madrid's consent.

"We are more than ready," a Catalan government source said this week, requiring anonymity. "If we win the referendum, everything will speed up," he said.

- Investigations, debt -

Madrid, though, refuses to be caught short, and considers that Catalonia is ruled by a "bunch of separatists" who are using independence to hide bad management of the region and corruption.

A probe is ongoing over alleged commissions received by members of Mas's party in exchange for public contracts.

And a week ago, prosecutors launched an investigation into claims made by an outspoken pro-independence senator that the regional government had illegally obtained Catalans' tax records to create a separate treasury -- claims he later retracted.

This week, reports emerged in several national dailies that Madrid was considering drastic measures to stop a referendum, such as closing schools where polling booths could be set up or taking control of the police, which is normally managed by the regional government.

The central government is also banking on the 100,000 civil servants in Catalonia whose salary depends on Madrid to refuse to obey orders.

It also has an economic weapon as Catalonia is hugely in debt, and would not be able to finance itself without the central state.

The Catalans themselves, meanwhile, remain divided -- 44.9 percent want independence while 45.1 percent don't, according to a poll conducted by a Catalan public institute.

A large majority, however, wants a referendum.
Supporters of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates gather outside a district collectorate office ahead of the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, in Allahabad, on February 3, 2017 (AFP Photo/SANJAY KANOJIA)

Millions of Indians went to the polls Saturday in the opening round of regional elections seen as the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party after his controversial move to ban high-value notes.

Five Indian states will elect new governments over the next five weeks, with northern Punjab and west coast Goa on Saturday witnessing high turnout in the first leg of the multi-phased elections.

Modi's move to ban notes in November that made up 86 percent of the currency was aimed at curbing widespread tax evasion, but it has also dented growth and caused widespread pain in the cash-reliant nation.

His personal popularity has remained high well into his first term, but the elections are being seen as a test of its endurance.

More than 76 percent of the 20 million eligible voters in Punjab and Goa turned out to cast their ballots to elect a total of 157 legislators, the Election Commission of India said.

"Goa had a record 83 percent voter turnout. Punjab witnessed marginally low turnout at 70 percent" Umesh Singh, an ECI official, told reporters in New Delhi.

Singh said voting went smoothly in both states with only minor delays caused by a few faulty voting machines.

The commission said 55 million rupees in cash, nearly 15 million litres of liquor and large quantities of drugs were seized by authorities in the weeks leading up to the elections in both states.

Cash and liquor are often used to buy votes.

Massive security arrangements had been put in place to ensure violence-free voting, with hundreds of thousands of security personnel on guard outside pollings stations.

Early Saturday Modi took to Twitter to call on voters to exercise their right to vote.

Polls have shown Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could lose in Punjab where it has been in power alongside its regional alliance partner since 2007, but also where a turnaround for the centre-left opposition Congress Party is possible.

Rahul Gandhi, the 44-year-old Nehru-Gandhi family scion who is seen as the Congress Party's next head, has pulled out all the stops to revive its fortunes after a series of state election defeats.

Story continues

"It is the most important election for the Congress Party which needs a victory on its own," said Nistula Hebbar, political editor with The Hindu newspaper.

"The erosion of its political support has been spectacular. More than anyone, Rahul Gandhi needs a standalone victory to silence critics both outside and within the party," she added.

Aam Aadmi ("common man") Party is contesting its maiden elections in the two states in a triangular contest with BJP and Congress after its sweeping victory over both in Delhi state elections in 2015.

- Big test -

But the biggest test for Modi will be in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh (UP), where the ruling BJP won big in the 2014 general election.

The state is important because it sends the highest number of MPs to the upper house of the national parliament, where the BJP currently lacks a majority and as a result has struggled to push through reforms seen as critical to fuelling the economic growth it promised voters.

"The BJP swept Uttar Pradesh with the largest chunk of MPs in 2014. A defeat here would signal that there has been erosion of support for Mr Modi," said Hebbar.

The northern state of Uttarakhand and Manipur in the northeast will also elect new governments, with results for all five states due on March 11.

"The immediate conclusion that can be drawn for the Bharatiya Janata Party is whether the larger politics behind demonetisation... has worked or not," Kanchan Gupta, commissioning editor with ABP News, told AFP.

"It would also be a reflection on whether in these two-and-a-half years, the national government has been able to perform with a credibility that overwhelms the performance of individual state governments."
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, February 3, 2017

Earlier this week, Healthcare and pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance, which spent nearly $600 million on advertising in its fiscal year 2016, tapped WPP to provide a full suite of global advertising and marketing services after a review that began early last year, the companies confirmed.

When the deal was announced on Tuesday the companies werent talking about specific WPP shops that would be contributing to a new unit, Team WBA, to service the account.

Now its been disclosed that Grey and MediaCom will be key contributors to that dedicated unit.

Grey Group Chairman and CEO Jim Heekin issued a memo to staffers, obtained by MediaPost, confirming that the agency and several sibling shops had been named as key participants, including MediaCom.

In the memo, dated Feb. 2, Heekin wrote, I am delighted to tell you that Grey has been named the lead advertising agency in the United States. We will work with our valued WPP partners: MediaCom, Burson-Marsteller, and Townhouse. Townhouse is a commercial production and distribution agency owned by WPP.

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Heekin added, Walgreens has been an iconic American brand for over a century. Together with its Duane Reade unit, the company changed the shopping habits of our nation and became its most trusted pharmacy. We are honored to add this premier company to our client roster in our Centennial year and help them continue to make marketing history.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, February 4, 2017

From his first full day on the job, Donald J. Trump made magazine cover play an important issue of his presidency, falsely boasting to members of the intelligence community that he held the record for Time magazine covers. In his second week on the job, he ignited a flame of magazine cover treatments, and in at least one case, extinguished it too.

This weeks cover of The New Yorker features an illustration entitled Libertys Flameout, and shows the Statue of Libertys torch raised, but burned out.

One of the things making the magazine cover so noteworthy -- aside from being one of a spate of covers depicting Trumps assault on Lady Liberty -- is that it was the first time in 92 years that The New Yorker bumped a trademark treatment of monocled dandy Eustace Tilley from the cover of its anniversary issue.

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This year, as a response to the opening weeks of the Trump Administration, particularly the executive order on immigration, we feature John W. Tomacs dark, unwelcoming image, 'Libertys Flameout'," the magazines Culture Desk Editor Francoise Mully explains.

"It used to be that the Statue of Liberty, and her shining torch, was the vision that welcomed new immigrants. And, at the same time, it was the symbol of American values," illustrator Tomac adds. Now it seems that we are turning off the light."

Germanys Der Spiegel magazine was even less subtle, running a cover illustration depicting Trump decapitating Lady Liberty like a jihadist. It was reminiscent of a cover of Trump hometown paper, New York's Daily News, which ran a similar cartoon cover of Trump decapitating the statue in December 2015.



It is not the first time editors have played covers depicting Trump assaulting Liberty. And though the publication of its December issue preceded Trumps immigration and refugee ban orders, the New Republic s depiction of Trump as the Statue of Liberty, thrusting his middle finger in place of the torch of freedom, may have expressed the sentiment of magazine cover editors best.


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Hormonal balancing

Pain moderation

Nutritional advantages (such as iron supplementation)

Increased lactation

Improved energy

Prevention of postpartum depression

Considering Placentophagy for Postpartum Depression

Study

Demographic information

Knowledge of placentophagy

Attitudes toward placentophagy compared with traditional medical treatments including willingness to try placentophagy

Personal use of placentophagy

Personal mental health history, as measured by patients' self-reported responses to survey items

Results

Stephanie Schuette et al. Perspectives from Patients and Healthcare Providers on the Practice of Maternal Placentophagy. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine ; (2017) doi:10.1089/acm.2016.0147.

During pregnancy , it acts as a channel for nourishing the baby by providing oxygen and nutrients and filtering out potentially harmful substances.Placenta is a major source of steroid and peptide hormones that are critical to the maintenance of pregnancy, timing of birth, and fetal development Many mammalian species consume the raw placenta immediately after delivery.Experiments in rats have shown that opioid effect from placental consumption enhances endogenous pain relief. But in humans, there is limited evidence available to support the benefits and/or risks of placentophagy.Certain cultures around the world practice ritualistic ceremonies surrounding the placenta. Chinese and Egyptian historical accounts describe the placenta as having medicinal properties, used for healing and fatigue.Some of the common self-reported benefits of placentophagy are improved energy, mood, and lactation.Few studies suggest that encapsulated (which are dehydrated and pulverized) human placenta contains several hormones like estradiol testosterone in low concentrations and trace minerals like iron, arsenic, and manganese.The concentrations of iron were high, and potentially toxic elements, such as arsenic and lead, were below recommended toxicity levels.But it remains unclear whether the concentrations of these elements are enough to achieve a therapeutic benefit or an adverse effect.The proposed benefits of placentophagy include:Women face multiple problems during the postpartum period because of hormonal fluctuations, added responsibility, and increased stress Due to the untoward effects of anti-depressants on infants, health care providers are often hesitant to prescribe medication to breast-feeding women.Both pregnant and postpartum women are more likely to prefer non-pharmacologic treatment methods for depression relapse/prevention and for them, consuming the placenta may appeal as a more natural remedy to address potential depressive symptoms postpartum To promote health and healing during the postpartum period, the practice of maternal human placentophagy has become increasingly prevalent in the past decade among women.But the extent of knowledge of clinicians or patients about the potential positive and negative health effects associated with this practice is still not clear.The research team conductedassess the familiarity with, and attitude towards placentophagy among patients and providers.The health care provider survey was distributed via email listservers to international perinatal professional organizations and obstetrics and gynecology, nurse midwifery, family medicine, and psychiatry departments at three urban hospitals.Female patients who were 18 years or older were recruited between June 2014 and January 2015 from Prentice Women's Hospital and the Asher Center for the Study and Treatment of Depressive Disorders, a clinic at Northwestern Hospital specializing in women's perinatal mental health.The patient survey consisted of 36 multiple-choice format questions and several free response items. The survey was divided into five key sections:The provider survey contained 39 multiple-choice questions.The research team including Stephanie Schuette and coauthors from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, IL), Brigham and Women's Hospital (Chestnut Hill, MA), and University of Colorado School of Medicine (Denver, CO) report that though the awareness of placentophagy among most providers and patients did exist, they are unsure of its benefits or risks.Sociodemographic factors also played a role in deciding the patients' familiarity with and attitudes toward placentophagy.Though many health care providers did not express much inclination towards the practice, several were in favor of future research that could shed light on the potential benefits and/or risks of placentophagy in humans."The results were intriguing for the remarkable differences in perceptions based on multiple factors, such as provider types, income and education levels of patients, and geographic location," saysEditor-in-Chief John Weeks, Seattle, WA.First author Stephanie Schuette, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, states "As women are becoming increasingly aware of placentophagy, it is important for future research to examine the safety and efficacy of consuming placenta pills/tissue for postpartum benefits."They added that further studies are needed to examine the potential therapeutic efficacy and/or risks of placentophagy.Source: Medindia
Yogic Postures - An Insight

Yoga poses requires one to study each pose and execute them slowly with balance and concentration. Asanas work on all the systems of the body, also making the spine and joints supple. It tones up the muscles, glands and internal organs. Yoga asanas must be executed with proper breathing. Undoubtedly, yoga contributes to spiritual growth and improves the quality of life. Apart from increased flexibility in the muscles, chronic health conditions are treated and cured through the practice of yoga. Inner peace ensues after the practice of asana and pranayama and this enables the practitioner to tread life with purpose and direction.
After becoming the 45th President of The United States of America, Donald Trump, hasnt even for once, stepped down from the throne of controversy and has been hogging the limelight majorly because of the criticism and protests people are holding against him and his decisions. President Trump recently announced a ban on foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries. This immigration ban includes Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. Clearly, this ban hasnt gone down too well with the people and prominent personalities from the Silicon Valley, Hollywood and around the world are not refraining themselves from voicing their opinion. The latest addition in this bandwagon is actress Priyanka Chopra. Describing this ban as a political witch hunt, Priyanka who is the global Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF said that she is deeply affected by this ban.

 Facebook

She wrote in a blog post, All of the banned countries are places where a lot of Unicef work is going on, where children are suffering the most. She further mentioned, What can I add that people across professions and age groups have not already said? But adding your voice will definitely make a difference. The actress is currently shooting the second season of her hit show Quantico, in the US and urged people to join her in strengthening her voice. And make a difference we must. Please join me in making our voice stronger so that globally, our children are not discriminated against on the basis of their religion and do not have to bear the brunt of a political witch hunt, she further added. Well, we couldnt agree any less with you Priyanka.

Source: The Times Of India
An annual study of the worlds leading brands reveals that Apple has been dethroned by Google for its position as the worlds most valuable brand. According to the study, Apples brand value has dropped 27pc within the past year and the same study also crowned Lego as the most powerful brand in the world.

Global 500 rankings, a yearly study which is responsible for the calculation of the most powerful and valuable brands deduced that Googles brand value has risen by 24pc to $109bn last year. While Google has risen in the rankings, Apple dropped to $107bn due to the simple fact that people doubt the companys ability to innovate.

There are probably 50 or 60 analysts that follow Apple, said David Haigh, the CEO of Brand Finance. Some are very bullish, some are very pessimistic. What drives our valuation is the consensus. We are reflecting what the market says and the market consensus is that the prospects of future turnover are worse than they were last year or the year before.

AP

Amazon secured the third place while Facebook has managed to jump up from 17th to ninth this year. Brand Finance also came to the conclusion that this years most powerful brand is Lego as it dethroned last years leader Walt Disney. Lego has innovated and expanded into different forms of media like movies and video games. Lego is now currently in the process of releasing The Lego Batman Movie later this month.

Brand Finance

Brand Finance takes many factors into consideration such as brand loyalty, corporate reputation, familiarity, and marketing investment in creating the Globall500 rankings. As for Google, the company "remains largely unchallenged in its core search business, which is the mainstay of its advertising income, Brand Finance wrote in the report. The company enjoyed increased revenues due to its domination of the online advertising sphere and the companys brand strength was also boosted thanks to the launch of Googles Pixel phones and other hardware.

To know the entire list, click here
The phrase "red states" could get a whole new meaning if Obamacare is repealed.

A new map starkly highlights the U.S. counties that are most at risk of ending up with zero insurers selling Obamacare individual health plans next year if Congress guts the law but suspends the effect of that repeal for some time.

That map's biggest concentration of high-risk counties, marked in red, is in the southern United States. That region heavily supported Obamacare foe Donald Trump in his successful campaign for president last fall.

But the entire states of Wyoming and Alaska, as well as large parts of Oklahoma, Missouri, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, also are at high risk of ending up with no Obamacare insurers, according to The Century Foundation, the progressive think tank that produced the map.All of those states, except for Nevada, gave their electoral votes to Trump.

The "red" counties at high risk contain a total of 10 percent of the U.S. population.





The Century Foundation's analysis and map, is based on a Congressional Budget Office report released last month.

That report analyzed the potential impact of a so-called repeal-and-delay bill that was passed by the Republican Congress last year but vetoed by President Barack Obama. The bill was sponsored Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., who is Trump's pick to run the Health and Human Services Department.

It would would dismantle certain key elements of the Affordable Care Act, but delay their actual removal.

The bill, which has been viewed as a template for possible repeal and replacement of Obamacare this year, would result in "roughly 10 percent of the population ... living in an area that had no insurer participating" in the first year after the bill became law, according to the CBO report.

There is no county currently in the U.S. that has zero insurers offering Obamacare plans.

But as of now, slightly less than 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in counties that have just one insurer selling Obamacare plans. Those individual plans  distinct from the group health coverage that most Americans get through an employer  are sold both through government-run Obamacare exchanges, as well as outside of those markets by brokers and insurers themselves.

Story continues

The Century Foundation for its map considered all of those counties with just one insurer at risk of "a complete loss of competition" by 2018 under a repeal-and-delay scenarios.

The counties most at risk of ending up with zero Obamacare insurers  the ones marked in red  next year have the lowest number of potential Obamacare customers among all of the at-risk counties.

Counties that are considered vulnerable, which are marked in orange, also have only one insurer, "but have a larger customer base, making them less likely to lose all insurer participation in the first year," according to the Century Foundation.

The map could end up with a lot more red and orange in future years.

The CBO estimates that a repeal-and-delay scenario would eventually lead to about three-quarters of the U.S. population not having access to an insurer selling individual health plans.

The same CBO report estimates that 32 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2026 , and that the prices of premiums paid by those people who remain in individual plans would double by that year.

The Century Foundation noted that its analysis "depicts only one possible scenario under either 'repeal and delay' or administrative actions to undermine the same policies."

Trump and Republican Congressional leaders say they want to repeal Obamacare soon and replace it with other health-care legislation. Such legislation could end up partially, or completely, offsetting the risk of insurers dropping out of the individual market.

But so far, the GOP has not produced a concrete replacement plan, much less agreed on one that is likely to draw the support of Republican members of Congress as well as the eight or so Democratic senators whose support would be needed to pass it into law.

In the meantime, people worried about the possible loss of health insurance under a GOP plan have confronted members of Congress in recent weeks to voice their concerns.





More From CNBC


Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson

Washington's state attorney general had a warning for President Donald Trump after a federal judge put a temporary nationwide hold on Trump's immigration order.

"In our country, no one is above the law and that includes the president,"Bob Ferguson, Washington state's top law official, said on CNN Friday night.

US District Judge James Robart on Friday temporarily blocked Trump's order that banned most travel to the US from seven majority-Muslim nations. Robart's ruling came after Washington state and Minnesota urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles nationwide.

Robart's ruling is the most extensive action against Trump's executive order since it was signed last week.

"Attorneys in my office were working around the clock for six days to make this happen," Ferguson said on CNN. "I'm prepared for this case to go all the way to the Supreme Court."

Ferguson said in preparing the motion, attorneys focused on elements of Trump's executive order that appeared to violate the Constitution's due-process protections or raise concerns about religious discrimination.

immigration protests

The Trump administration has used the threat of a terrorist attack in the US to justify banning travel to the US for 90 days by most people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

The executive order also barred all refugees from entering the US for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees from entering the US.

Here's part of what Robart's ruling says about Trump's executive order:

"While preventing terrorist attacks is an important goal, the order does nothing to further that purpose by denying admission to children fleeing Syrias civil war, to refugees who valiantly assisted the US military in Iraq, or to law abiding tech workers who have lived in Washington for years."

Story continues

Amazon is among the Washington state-based companies that threw its support behind attorneys challenging Trump's immigration order.

Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said Friday: "We only challenged the parts that are actually affecting people immediately, which are the parts about refugees and the parts about targeting these seven countries."

immigration ban protests

US Customs and Border Protection told airlines it is "back to business as usual" and was reinstating visas following the Washington federal judge's order, CNN reported.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer responded to the ruling in a statement Friday night: "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

After the ruling, many questions remain. The judge's order could be challenged in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It could potentially reach the US Supreme Court.

immigration protests

The Washington judge's restraining order Friday came down the same day a judge in Massachusetts declined to extend a separate restraining order against Trump's executive action. The restraining order in that state was due to expire on Sunday.

Earlier this week, another lawsuit filed in Virginia alleged dozens of immigrants trying to enter the US were coerced into giving up visas and green cards amid the travel ban. The State Department and Justice Department said tens of thousands of visas have been revoked as a result of the ban, though the two federal government agencies had diverging numbers.

Trump's executive order has been widely criticized from Silicon Valley to the auto industry, major banks, the nation's top universities, leading GOP senators, and beyond.

Watch the Washington state attorney general's remarks below:

WA state AG Bob Ferguson: "It will not surprise me or anyone else" if this ultimately ends up in the Supreme Court https://t.co/IR9FlqTLOn  CNN (@CNN) February 4, 2017

NOW WATCH: Here's how powerful an executive order is and how it could be reversed





More From Business Insider


Foreign Ministry spokesperson Stratos Efthymiou stated the following in response to a journalist's question regarding a statement made today by the spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry:



"A par excellence and systematic violator of international law cannot give us lessons concerning compliance with international law.



The violator  who in just one day carries out 138 violations and ten overflights over Greek islands, while at the same time making threats against our territorial sovereignty and the unimpeded exercising of that sovereignty  has no right to do this.



Greece will never relinquish  to any party  the right to take appropriate measures for its legitimate defence and the protection of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, based on the provisions of the UN Charter.



Moreover, Turkey, as a non-party to the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty between the Allies and Italy, based on which the Dodecanese were ceded to Greece in full sovereignty, derives no right from the Treaty, which for Turkey is 'res inter alios acta'."
Here are the post-crisis banking rules that Trump is about to put under review

President Donald Trump on Friday will take two financial-related actions, including one to explore ways to fix "overarching" banking rules put into effect after the 2008 crisis, according to a senior White House official.

Trump will sign an executive order directing the Treasury Department and other regulators to review actions taken by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law, including the Volcker Rule , the Trump official said.



The Volcker Rule, originally proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, restricts U.S. banks, or an institution that owns a bank, from making certain kinds of speculative investments with their own money that could hurt their customers.



The White House official also mentioned as part of the executive order an examination of issues dealing with financial institutions that are deemed "too big to fail," taxpayer bailouts, and the role of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in the housing market.



"Everything is going to be looked at," said the senior official, when asked specifically about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That agency was put in place to shield consumers from deceptive business practices.



While the administration believes Dodd-Frank "in many respects was a piece of massive government overreach," the official added, "this is not an attempt to undo Dodd Frank."



"There are quite a few things that we could do on Dodd-Frank ... that we think will have fairly immediate and dramatic impact," the official said, including personnel changes at regulatory agencies and additional executive orders.



Trump plans to meet on Friday with leading CEOs, including many financial chiefs such as JPMorgan (JPM)'s Jamie Dimon, Blackstone (BX)'s Steve Schwarzman, and BlackRock (BLK)'s Larry Fink.

Earlier this week, during another meeting with business owners, Trump described Dodd-Frank as "a disaster."





Trump to sign memo on 'fiduciary rule'

In the second action, in the form of a presidential memo, Trump will direct the Labor Department to delay implementation for the next 90 days and conduct a review on a rule designed to prevent conflicts of interest when financial advisors give retirement advice, the senior White House official said.



Story continues

The so-called "fiduciary rule," set to go into effect this spring, said asset managers of retirement accounts must act in the best interests of their clients.



Faced with questions about why the administration would roll back a consumer protection, the Trump official said existing regulations already protect consumers.



The White House believes the fiduciary rule "was a complete miss," the official said, adding it has "unintended consequences," including not giving consumers enough choices.



The retirement advice rule, issued by the administration of Barack Obama , has been staunchly opposed by the financial services industry.



The Labor Department had estimated the rule could cost firms as much as $31 billion over the next decade to comply.



Trump's memo will ask the Labor Department to determine whether the rule should be revised or whether it should be scrapped altogether, the official said.



 CNBC's Eamon Javers and Reuters contributed to this report.

WATCH: Trump vs. Obama: Here's who inherited the better economy
It's official: President Trump is delaying the U.S. Department of Labor's planned fiduciary rule . Originally slated to begin implementation on April 10 and expected to have affected more than $3 trillion of retirement assets in the United States, the rule  crafted under the former Obama administration  would have required financial advisors and brokers to act in the best interests of their clients when dealing with retirement accounts.

That regulation would have affected investors' retirement accounts and the relationships they share with their advisors. It wouldn't have affected non-retirement accounts.

It's traditional for incoming presidents from opposing political parties to try to undo what their predecessors did in office and Trump has been no exception. To that point, one of Trump's top Wall Street supporters, Anthony Scaramucci, managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, promised throughout the 2016 campaign that Trump would rip up a Labor Department investment advice rule once he took office.

More from Portfolio Perspective:

A look at the world's top 20 female portfolio managers

Bond investors must adjust their expectations

Are your investments really diversified enough?



Despite all the debate around the rule, however, the Labor Department had made it clear that it was moving forward with the fiduciary rule.

Knut Rostad, co-founder and president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard and supporter of the proposed regulation, said in a statement that Trump's move was "both deeply disappointing and entirely expected."

However, the pause in rule implementation "brings a new opportunity for fiduciary advocates to rethink strategies in line with how dramatically the positions of the field have shifted," he added. "We need to remake messages to better challenge dubious or misleading or plainly wrong statements about the DOL rule."

Should the rule ever become effective, all financial advisors will be required to recommend what is in the best interests of clients when they offer guidance on 401(k) plan assets, individual retirement accounts or other qualified funds saved for retirement.

Story continues

It's for that reason that certified financial planners Peter Mallouk, president and chief investment officer of Creative Planning; Barry Glassman, founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services; and Tom Stringfellow, president, managing director, CIO and fund co-manager of Frost Investment, say they believe that it's important for investors to truly understand the importance of the regulation.



They urge investors to ask key questions of their advisors to ensure they have a fiduciary responsibility to put the clients' interest above their own financial gain when offering individual retirement advice.

These advisors stress the need for investors to find out how their advisor is compensated. To that point, many investors just don't realize how much they are paying in fees, so it's very important to understand exactly how advisors get paid.

Note: This story originally appeared on Dec. 19, 2016.





More From CNBC


After a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked his immigration order temporarily banning refugees and nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, President Donald Trump has shot back.

On Saturday morning, the 70-year-old former reality star vowed to quash the ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington  tweeting the opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!

The president added that the ruling would halt enforcement, implying that the safety and security of the American people would be at risk.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security  big trouble! he tweeted

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security  big trouble!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

This isnt the first time Trump, who campaigned on a message of law and order, has publicly lashed out at a judge. Back in June, he claimed that a federal judge presiding over civil fraud lawsuits filed over Trump University had a conflict of interest because he is Mexican American.

Im building a wall. Its an inherent conflict of interest, Trump said at the time. The judge in question was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents. Trump later settled the Trump University fraud lawsuit for $25 million before he was sworn in as president.

Story continues

Trumps tweets came as he began his second day of a four-day weekend getaway to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he reunited with his wife, First Lady Melania Trump. Shes been living in their Manhattan Trump Tower-home until their 10-year-old son Barron finishes his school year.

RELATED VIDEO: Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack

Its the presidents first getaway, coming just 15-days into his presidency, and the first public reunion with the first lady since the Inauguration in January.

According to Politico, the trip is expected to be a mix of business and pleasure for Trump, as the couple will be attending the American Red Cross annual fundraising gala on Saturday evening.

According to a report the Government Accountability Office prepared about a similar trip for then-President Barack Obama in 2013, the trip could cost taxpayers upwards of $3.6 million.

Expensive presidential trips like this previously caused ire from pre-public servant Trump, who would often lash out on Twitter against Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama about their travel schedules.

The habitual vacationer, @BarackObama, is now in Hawaii. This vacation is costing taxpayers $4 million +++ while there is 20% unemployment, he tweeted in December 2011.

With 15% US real unemployment and a 16T debt, @Michelle Obamas luxurious Aspen vacation  her 16th  cost us over $1M, he wrote in July 2012.

(According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate at the time was actually 8.5 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively).

The habitual vacationer, @BarackObama, is now in Hawaii. This vacation is costing taxpayers $4 milion +++ while there is 20% unemployment.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2011

Fridays court order was first brought by the state of Washington, with Attorney General Bob Ferguson saying the order was causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination, the Associated Press reported. Minnesota later joined the suit.

It challenges that key sections of Trumps order are illegal and unconstitutional. The lawsuit ultimately seeks to permanently block parts of the executive order that suspend immigration from the seven Muslim-majority countries, put the U.S. refugee admissions program on hold and halt entry of Syrian refugees, the AP reported.

The temporary restraining order awarded on Friday will remain in place while the court considers the lawsuit.

The White House responded by going on the defense, claiming once again that the presidents controversial is meant for protection.

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement, CNN reported. The Presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people. The White House later reissued the same statement, this time omitting the word outrageous. According to the AP, the State Department reversed visa cancellations for foreigners affected by Trumps executive order after Robarts ruling.
UPPER THUMB  A top honor of the Michigan State Police (MSP) has gone to a trooper at the post in Caro.

The Corporal Samuel A. Mapes Criminal Patrol and Investigation Award went to Trooper Dennis Lapan during a special ceremony recently in Lansing.

The award was created to honor Mapes, who was an early pioneer in criminal patrol and investigation. He was killed in the line of duty during the Prohibition era.

The annual award honors the top 5 percent of troopers in each district for looking past the traffic stop to excel in proactive criminal patrol and criminal investigations closed by felony arrests, explained a press release.

Im definitely honored to receive the award and be recognized in the top 5 percent with so many others who are senior troopers, said Lapan, who has been a trooper less than three years. This is the second year the award has been given out. The first year it was created it was kept quiet while it was being developed.

There is a story behind the award named after Mapes. He was killed during a traffic stop by those he suspected to be rum runners.

They offered him a $300 bribe to look the other way. He decline. He knew he needed back up to help him, but it was before there were radios in the cars, explained Lapan, noting Mapes flagged down another car to have them go get him some back up. When he was doing that, (rum runners) shot him in the back.

Mapes killers were tracked down and prosecuted.

Lapan said that although the Mapes honor goes to the top 5 percent of troopers in each district, to those who look past the traffic stop, who do proactive criminal patrol and criminal investigations with felony arrests, there are other factors as well.

Im very passionate about my career and how I interact with others. If they are a victim of a crime, I try to make them feel safe. I do my job to the best of my ability, he said.

The Caro Post oversees not only MSP operations in Tuscola County, but also Huron and Sanilac counties.

He is a graduate of the 127th MSP Trooper Recruit School. He enlisted with the MSP on June 8, 2014. He has been with the post here since then, said MSP Caro Post Commander F/Lt. Todd Mapes.

According to Mapes, he has no connection to the trooper Mapes whom the honor was name after.

Its just a coincidence, he said.

Each award recipient of the Corporal Samuel A. Mapes Criminal Patrol and Investigation Award receives a special service ribbon to wear on their uniform. It includes seven blue stars in honor of Cpl. Mapes, who was the seventh MSP trooper to die in the line of duty.

Besides the service ribbon, the recipients were awarded the use of a special edition black and gold patrol cars, which were recently added to the MSP patrol fleet in honor of the departments 100th Anniversary.

Fifty fully equipped 2016 Dodge Chargers are painted to resemble MSPs iconic 1937 Ford Model 74 patrol car.

Its an awesome honor. Im a big fan of tradition and there is a lot of that with the MSP. Receiving the anniversary car to use was a surprise, said Lapan who is a Bay County native.
Its hard not to watch television and/or social media news and not see images of people protesting in the streets.

While millions have marched peacefully, a few have caused destruction to local businesses and public property. And they put our police in jeopardy.

Most recently, there was chaos at the University of California-Berkeley, where a group of 150 or so black-clad, masked people interfered with peaceful protesters and reportedly caused $100,000 in damage on Wednesday night.

America woke up Thursday morning wondering what our college kids were thinking. And it was later reported that it was not college students who caused the melee, but self-described anarchists said to be from off campus.

The peaceful protesters had gathered to speak out against Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who has been in the midst of a self-described The Dangerous Faggot Tour of college campuses.

Who knows why anarchists struck with near-military precision, according to media reports. But one thing we do know is the actions of that few will leave a black mark on the efforts of millions of men and women who have peacefully marched in the name of womens rights, love, tolerance, equal protections for all, etc.

By now, most have heard of President Donald Trumps initial Tweet about the UC Berkeley protest: If UC Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view  no federal funds?

His reaction echoed our initial concerns. First, that a group of college students stood in the way of free speech  because even if its hateful speech, its still free. And second, that they would put peoples lives and property in danger.

But as more information has come to light, its clear the student body is not at fault  its because of the masked agitators who some have even accused of being a rent-a-mob.

We wouldnt go as far as to agree with that sentiment, but we do agree students are not to blame. This time.

We say this time because in recent years, college students have become so sensitive to differing point of views that colleges around the nation have had to create safe zones that insulate students from hearing a political or cultural view that they dont agree with.

Comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock have said they wont perform at colleges because students are so politically correct that they cant take a joke. Other comedians have admitted they have to censor their sets while at college campuses.

When it comes down to it, there is now an absurd standard of free speech on college campuses. If anyone should understand how important it is to have free speech  even the speech we dont agree with  it should be college students. They are in the enlightenment stage in their life, learning so much, developing opinions and world views, and progressing on their journey toward adulthood.

So if they cant handle a differing view  a hateful or intolerant opinion  they are going to be shocked when they graduate and enter the real world. Its not a pretty place. And restricting speech of any kind will make it uglier.
Retired Maj. Gen. Arthur Lichte has resigned from aerospace company Airbus Group in the wake of his recent demotion after the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations found that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual acts while in uniform, Military.com has learned.

"Today, Airbus Defense and Space Inc. accepted from Gen. Lichte a letter of resignation from the company's board of directors," Airbus spokesman Jamie Darcy said Friday.

Lichte had been a member of the board since 2010. Darcy said the company is not at liberty to release details of his compensation. Lichte "has cited his desire to focus his full attention on his family at this time," Darcy added.

Larry Youngner, of Tully Rinckey PLLC and Lichte's attorney, said Friday, Lichte "appreciates respect for his privacy."

It is unclear if Lichte is still involved with Air Transport Services Group Inc., based in Wilmington, Ohio. He was appointed as the ninth member of ATSG Inc.'s board of directors in 2013.

A spokesperson did not respond to a query by press time. In September, the aviation company told Military.com that it too was "aware of reports of an Air Force inquiry pertaining to his military service, and we will have no comment on the matter until after the investigation is completed."

Lichte is also listed as a board of trustees member for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. A university spokeswoman said Lichte was not a member, but did not provide a time frame for his departure from Embry-Riddle's board of trustees.

Lichte, who retired Jan. 1, 2010, as a four-star after more than 38 years of service, was demoted two ranks to major general and will forfeit roughly $5,000 a month in retirement pay, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said Wednesday.

OSI ordered an investigation into the retired general in August after being notified that a female officer -- who initially had filed a restricted report in July to her sexual-assault response coordinator -- changed her report to unrestricted to involve law enforcement.

The investigation found that Lichte engaged in inappropriate sexual acts with the female officer twice in 2007, while holding the rank of lieutenant general as the service's assistant vice chief of staff and Air Staff director at the Pentagon. In 2009, Lichte, then a four-star general, once again had an inappropriate sexual relationship with the same female officer under his command, the service found.

Lichte was head of Air Mobility Command, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, between 2007 and 2010.

Per OSI's investigation and recommendation, Lichte would have faced charges of conduct unbecoming an officer, adultery, and having an unprofessional relationship under the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- but those charges have a statute of limitations, Stefanek said.

Youngner said he intends to appeal the Air Force's decision.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect Lichte's status with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
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...
A Marine colonel who is awaiting trial in the brig at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on charges of child sexual abuse and sexual assault, among other violations, will plead not guilty to all charges, Military.com has learned.

Col. Daniel H. Wilson, 55, was removed from his post as operations officer for II Marine Expeditionary Force and charged in November with three counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse of a child; four counts of assault and battery on a child under age 16; one count of failure to obey an order or regulation; and nine counts of conduct unbecoming an officer as a result of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation.

In January, II MEF officials announced that Wilson had been ordered to pretrial confinement and served with additional charges due to new evidence turned up by NCIS. The additional charges include four counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault consummated by battery, and one count of absent without leave. The allegations of sexual misconduct remain under investigation, II MEF spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Armistead said.

Wilson was to face an Article 32 investigative hearing Jan. 31, but opted to waive the hearing.

In a statement obtained by Military.com Friday, his civilian lawyer, Phillip Stackhouse, said Wilson planned to plead not guilty to all charges at an upcoming arraignment. Stackhouse said his client had been denied a continuance to allow adequate time to review discovery materials. He also complained that he had been informed by the prosecutors ahead of the scheduled hearing that not one witness would be called.

Under the Rules for Court-martial, Colonel Wilson has the right to present evidence in his own

defense and evidence in mitigation and extenuation at his Preliminary Hearing. Without the

continuance, Colonel Wilson was not able to exercise that right, Stackhouse said in the statement.

Stackhouse further claimed that the officer who reviewed the decision of II MEF Commander Maj. Gen. Walter Lee Miller to confine Wilson in the brig had deliberated less than 2 seconds before remanding Wilson to the brig.

That abuse of discretion and decision will be appealed, Stackhouse said.

Colonel Wilson waived his Article 32 [Uniform Code of Military Justice] preliminary hearing in order to get before a military judge as soon as possible in order to receive the rights afforded him under the code and rules so that he can defend himself against these allegations, Stackhouse said. At arraignment, Colonel Wilson will assert his innocence by pleading Not Guilty to all charges.

Marine officials have not released details about the alleged crimes of which Wilson is accused. Armistead Wilson is presumed innocent and will be afforded the opportunity to defend himself against all charges.
Waad Ramadan Alwan

This week, in trying to justify the travel ban the US government recently implemented, one of President Donald Trump's top White House advisers referred to the "Bowling Green Massacre"  a terror attack that never happened.

During an interview with MSNBC, Kellyanne Conway described two Iraqi refugees coming to the US, becoming radicalized, and masterminding an attack.

Conway admitted Friday that she erred in referring to the nonexistent attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that she said was one of the catalysts for Trump's executive order temporarily barring entry to the US by nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries.

She clarified that she was referring to an incident involving two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky.

In that case, the two Iraqi nationals were indicted on federal terrorism charges accusing them, in part, of providing material support to Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The Iraqi nationals were Waad Ramadan Alwan, who was 30 at the time of his indictment in 2011, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, who was then 23.

The FBI launched its investigation into Alwan in 2009, the year he entered the US. He bragged to an FBI source in 2010 about how he'd "fked up" US Hummers in Iraq with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and expressed an interest in providing support to terrorists in Iraq. He eventually recruited his friend Hammadi into his scheme to ship money and weapons (including machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Stinger missiles, and C4 plastic explosives) to terrorists in Iraq.

The operation was a sting operation  the FBI's source convinced Alwan and Hammadi that the money and weapons were actually going to terrorists abroad, but they were not.

Alwan and Hammadi entered the US as refugees. They lied about their terrorism ties.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi

Story continues

After they were arrested, they admitted to using IEDs against US soldiers in Iraq and attempting to send money and weapons to Al Qaeda in Iraq, the terror group that later morphed into ISIS, according to the Department of Justice.

Alwan was charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals abroad, distributing information on the manufacture and use of IEDs, attempting to provide material support to terrorists and to Al Qaeda in Iraq (the group that later morphed into ISIS), and conspiracy to transfer, possess, and export Stinger missiles, according to the FBI.

Hammadi was charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and to Al Qaeda in Iraq, conspiracy to transfer, possess, and export Stinger missiles, and making a false statement on an immigration application.

Alwan was sentenced to 40 years in prison and Hammadi was sentenced to life. Both pleaded guilty to the charges against them.

At the time of their sentencing, David Hale, the US Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, called Alwan and Hammadi "experienced terrorists who willingly and enthusiastically participated in what they believed were insurgent support operations designed to harm American soldiers in Iraq."

But while Conway used their arrests to explain why Trump's temporary travel ban is necessary to keep Americans safe, neither Alwan nor Hammadi were charged with plotting attacks in the US.

Hale also noted after Alwan and Hammadi were arrested that it was "not an indictment against a particular religious community or religion."

Bryan Logan contributed to this report.

NOW WATCH: Trump's Attorney General pick wants access to everyone's phones  here's why that's a problem





More From Business Insider


In this undated photo received on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 taken by Darius Kniuksta, a scene from a video game featuring a Tesla gigafactory. Lithuanians badly want Tesla Motors to build its next giant factory on their soil, so to grab the attention of the California tech company they built a virtual version of a facility inside the "Minecraft" video game. Vladas Lasas, who was behind the project, says they wanted to send a message to Tesla CEO Elon Musk that Lithuania "has plenty of skillful" people as well as a perfect factory site. (Darius Kniuksta via AP) In this undated photo received on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 taken by Darius Kniuksta, a scene from a video game featuring a Tesla gigafactory. Lithuanians badly want Tesla Motors to build its next giant factory on their soil, so to grab the attention of the California tech company they built a virtual version of a facility inside the "Minecraft" video game. Vladas Lasas, who was behind the project, says they wanted to send a message to Tesla CEO Elon Musk that Lithuania "has plenty of skillful" people as well as a perfect factory site. (Darius Kniuksta via AP)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP)  Lithuanians badly want Tesla Motors to build its next giant factory on their soil, so to grab the attention of the California tech company they built a virtual version of a facility inside the "Minecraft" video game.

Vladas Lasas, who was behind the project, says they wanted to send a message to Tesla CEO Elon Musk that Lithuania "has plenty of skillful" people as well as a perfect factory site. He said Saturday that 41 computer geeks spent two days building the virtual factory in Kruonis in central Lithuania near a hydroelectric plant and two airports.

Tesla tweeted Friday: "Lithuania knows the way to our heart."

No date has been set for the announcement of where the factory  estimated to cost 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion)  will be built.
Screen Shot 2017-02-03 at 4.47.23 PM.png

(CORE Partners website)

A factory employing 114 people on Detroit's east side near the General Motors Hamtramck assembly plant will close this year after the loss of a major customer.

International Specialty Tube, a division of Crowne Group LLC, will start mass layoffs this month.

Its 261,000-square-foot facility, located at 6600 Mt. Elliott, also has been listed for sale. The asking price: $6.185 million.

IST's shutdown is due to the loss of customer Arvin Sango Inc.

"ASI recently made the decision to in-source all production," according to the WARN Act filing with the state.

"They are bringing the work inside their plant instead," confirmed IST spokesmam Tim Dye of Truscott Rossman.

The IST contract with ASI ends March 31, prompting layoffs to begin this month.

The factory, located off of I-94, will permanently close by Nov. 30.

International Specialty Tube makes welded, stainless steel tubing for Tier 1 auto suppliers that supply Fiat Chrysler, GM, Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru and others, according to its website.

Work by IST for Arvin Sango, based in Indiana, accounted for 40 percent of IST's workforce, according to the company. ASI's primary products are emission control systems, stamped body shell components and door safety beams, according to its website.

While the ASI business change is prompting a factory closure in Detroit, the company also plans to relocate other business to Michigan: "Plans are underway to build a new state-of-the-art R&D facility in Detroit, MI. Once completed, design and engineering for ASI business will be relocated from ASI's parent company, Sango Ltd., Inc.," according to its website.

IST has been working through the layoffs with the United Steelworkers Union, Dye said.

Dye said the decision by ASI left the factory operators with no other option than to close, a move that he called "very unfortunate."

"When you're dealing with automotive parts and the rapid evolution of the automotive industy, there's all kinds of new technology coming into play," he said.

Besides International Specialty Tube, Crowne Group has several other manufacturing companies in the U.S. Among its Michigan-based portfolio: Vari-Form in Livonia; Sur-Flo, based in Warren; Alphi Manufacturing in Jonesville.
Eminem has some choice words for President Donald Trump in a new song in which he is featured in.

The lyrics are on fellow Detroit rapper Big Sean's new song "No Favors" off Sean's new album, "I Decided," which he released on February 3, 2017. Eminem is featured on the song with a long verse which includes mentions of Fergie, Tom Brady, Ann Coulter, John Elway, Dr. Dre, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Aaron Hernandez.

In the lyrics involving Trump, Eminem raps: "I'm anti, can't no government handle a commando, your man don't want it, Trump's a b#!^$, I'll make his whole brand go under (yeah)." The song also touches on issues like the Flint water crisis, police brutality and racism.

This isn't the first time Eminem has bashed Trump in a song. Last October, he slammed his supporters in an eight-minute freestyle called "Campaign Speech."

President Trump has yet to respond to Eminem. But, recently he responded to Madonna, who is also from Michigan, calling her "disgusting," in reference to her saying she had thought about blowing up the White House at the women's march in Washington, D.C. You can see more on that in the link below.
"Lost and Found Cat," co-authored by Ypsilanti resident Amy Shrodes, was published on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

YPSILANTI, MI - The true story of a cat that crossed a continent to be reunited with his family after they'd fled from war in Iraq is now a children's picture book, co-authored by an Ypsilanti resident who took part in the real life events.

Amy Shrodes was volunteering on the Greek island of Lesbos in the later months of 2015 when she discovered Kunkush, a white cat who'd been lost in transit by his owners, and set off the chain of events that led to his eventual return to his family.

"Lost and Found Cat," co-authored by Shrodes and photojournalist Doug Kuntz, relates Kunkush's journey from Iraq to his ultimate destination in Norway, conveying the story of a refugee through a different set of eyes.

Shrodes' hope is that the book, which was published Tuesday, Jan. 31, will help children come to a better understanding of what it is like to be a refugee in today's world.

"People don't realize what it's like to be coming out of a war zone, let alone to be trying to navigate this (refugee) camp system," Shrodes said. "It's really amazing that the cat could get back to them; I'm still surprised."

The 26-year-old had been volunteering in a seaside kitchen on Lesbos, serving soup and tea to the refugees who came through, for two to three weeks when she found Kunkush.

"I was there and asked a few volunteers what was going on with this cat because he was eating on the tables and stuff," Shrodes said. "I found out that he had actually come off a boat and that the volunteers had tried to find him ... (but his family) ended up having to go on to the next place and the cat was left behind."

Shrodes - who had previously worked for the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, where she played a role reuniting displaced pets with their owners following natural disasters - said she asked around to see if anyone would help her launch a reunion effort.

"After a week of asking people, I found another American who agreed that this would be worth it, that if we could find the family at least it would make a difference for this one family," Shrodes said.

From there, the online effort to reunite Kunkush with his owners was launched and a few months later the family recognized their missing cat on Facebook.

The family - a mother and her five children - had left from Mosul, Iraq, in November 2015, made it all the way to a town an hour and a half north of Oslo, Norway, and were reconnected with Kunkush in February 2016.

All told, Kunkush traveled from Iraq through Turkey and into Greece with his family before he got lost, and then made his way to Germany, where he was living with a foster family before Kuntz, the other author of "Lost and Found Cat," facilitated his reunion with his family in Norway.

"It seems like now, more than ever, this book needs to be a way to help children understand what it means to be a refugee," Shrodes said.

"(It) shows the importance of kindness, where kids can also connect (with what it means) when we're talking about refugees with this political climate right now."

Shrodes said a goal of hers with "Lost and Found Cat" is to help promote understanding, to show that "just because we're from different places, we speak different languages, doesn't mean we weren't meant to be friends.

"Because we'd all be trying to reunite with our animals if we were fleeing from a war," she said.

Shrodes confirmed a portion of the profits from the book will go to support Kunkush's family and their new life in Norway.

The young author is set to host a discussion and book signing from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Black Stone Bookstore and Cultural Center, 214 West Michigan Avenue, in Ypsilanti.

Washtenaw Refugee Welcome, an organization committed to identifying and mobilizing community resources to support refugee resettlement in Washtenaw County, will also be on hand to provide information about their services.

"Lost and Found Cat" can be purchased through online retailers Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as at the Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, where Shrodes will host another discussion and book signing event Thursday, March 2.

More information about the book can be found at lostandfoundcat.com.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Babak Soleimani is quick to admit he hasn't been impacted as much as other Iranian students at the University of Michigan by the recent executive order on immigration issued by President Donald Trump.

Soleimani accepts that there are obstacles to get an education in the United States that have existed for Iranian students long before the executive order, from traveling to another country to interview for a visa to acquiring financial support from other countries because there are no scholarship opportunities in Iran to attend American universities.

While remaining modest about his academic successes, the Ph.D. candidate in architecture said it takes a special kind of student to make it to the United States from his home country.

"Most of the students who study in the U.S., and specifically at the University of Michigan, are some of the smartest, hardest working students at Iranian universities," he said. "Most of the students here are the top one or two students at universities back home."

The negative perception Soleimani and many of the more than 100 Iranians studying at UM face, he said, comes from the contentious relationship their home country has had with the United States historically, despite the positive reception he has received at UM.

The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on 13 people and a dozen companies in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test, the United States Treasury Department announced Friday, Feb. 3, according to The Associated Press.

President Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said this week that the administration was putting Iran "on notice" for its missile test Sunday and for supporting Shiite rebels in Yemen.

Trump tweeted Friday that "Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!"

The sanctions come at a time that Trump's executive order paused the entire refugee program for four months, indefinitely banning all refugees from Syria and temporarily freezing immigration from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen for 90 days. Following the issuing of the executive order, a federal judge in New York issued an emergency stay, temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people with valid visas from nations subject to Trump's travel ban.

Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since 1979, when Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

The new immigration ban has limited Soleimani's ability to see his family over the next few months, while clouding his and other Iranian students' academic and professional futures.

"I'm not the most affected person by all of this, but the main thing for all of us is that we can't go visit family or friends back at home and they can't visit us," he said. "My parents were planning to visit, but they can't anymore, which is a major concern.

"The other thing is many of us are graduating or transferring to a different school, so we're not sure how that's going to impact us," he added. "I had been planning to do a (post-doctorate) here after finishing my PhD., but I'm not sure if I can do that with the current issues."

Soleimani's educational path to the United States is a common one among Iranian students.

According to the Washington Post, which cited data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of the 12,400 Iranians on student or scholar visas in the United States last November, more than 11,000 were studying or conducting research at the postgraduate level.

At UM, 107 of the 109 students enrolled in the fall of 2016 from Iran were pursuing a graduate degree or were graduate professional students.

Soleimani has served as a graduate assistant at both Penn State University, where he earned his master's degree, and UM, which has aided him in paying for his education.

The desire to advance his education is a primary reason Soleimani believes he and others Iranian students at UM shouldn't be viewed as threats.

"It's been a very tough process for all of us, from getting accepted to coming here," said Soleimani, who traveled to Armenia to interview for his visa. "The students that are here to advance in their studies see American universities as the best universities in their field. It's kind of surprising to me that the students at these universities can be seen as a threat."

He hasn't been seen that way by his peers in the campus community. Soleimani said students and faculty have always been welcoming to him during his three years at UM, making his experience in Ann Arbor a positive one.

"It's definitely a welcoming campus," he said. "The community has been very supportive the whole time I've been here, so it's been a very good experience."
DETROIT -- Comerica Bank plans to reshape its presence in and around downtown Detroit by investing $3 million in the area, the company announced this week.

Comerica Bank is opening new locations, relocating offices and selling offices for new developments in downtown, according to a news release, which did not specify locations.

"We opened our first bank in Downtown Detroit in 1849 and it's an honor for us to continue to serve the city's residents and businesses almost 170 years later," Mike Ritchie, Comerica's Michigan market president, said in a news release. "The developments underway will spark further growth in Detroit's economy and we're proud to support that growth through these changes."

Comerica Bank is currently housed in a downtown building on 201 W. Fort St., but the company listed the space for sale in late 2016, planning to move to a "nearby" location.

The bank is is selling its West Grand Boulevard and Sterling Street location to Henry Ford Health System to make way for a new cancer center, which will open in 2018, according to a news release.

A temporary drive-through location will open in April at 2838 W. Grand Blvd. to serve Comerica customers from the Grand-Sterling location.

It will include a 24-hour ATM and interactive teller-like machines for deposits, withdrawals, checks cashing and more.

It's Fort-Military Street location was acquired by the Michigan Department of Transportation, the company states, to make way for the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images. Senator Amy Klobuchar wants drugmaker Kaleo to explain the $4,500 price tags on its auto-injector devices for opioid overdose and food allergies.

Senator Amy Klobuchar wants drugmaker Kaleo to explain the $4,500 price tags on its auto-injector devices for opioid overdose and food allergies.

"Due to the severity of the opioid epidemic and Evzio's life-saving attributes, it is critical that your products remain affordable to Americans," Klobuchar wrote in a letter to Kaleo CEO Spencer Williamson.

Evzio dispenses naloxone , which can reverse the effects of opioid overdose, while Auvi-Q provides a dose of epinephrine, which is used to treat allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis.

The Minnesota senator also highlighted the price of the Auvi-Q, set to return to market Feb. 14 after being withdrawn for potential dosing problems at the end of 2015. The Auvi-Q's return follows outcry over the price of the EpiPen , for the same indication.

"Your price of $4,500 for a two-pack is especially disturbing, as more competition should mean lower rather than higher  prices for epinephrine injectors," Klobuchar told Williamson. "We must make the market work for consumers."

Kaleo said last month it would bring the Auvi-Q back to market after it was dropped by partner Sanofi (Euronext Paris: SAN-FR) following the dosage issues. The pricing scheme, announced at the time, was mind-boggling: a list price of $4,500 for two injectors, but a guaranteed cash price of $360 for those not using insurance and assurances of financial assistance for those whose insurance wouldn't cover the product.

CEO Williamson said at the time that no competing device, branded or generic, "will cost a commercially insured patient less out of pocket than Auvi-Q."

Drugs for both indications have seen prices rise over the last decade, leading to problems with access.









More From CNBC


Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will make an announcement concerning 2017, and "building Detroit's future together" in a noon gathering on the city's east side Saturday, Feb. 4.

The news conference will take place at The Wellness Center at The Samaritan Center, 5555 Connor St. in Detroit.

Updates will be posted in the comments section below as the event begins.

"Mayor Mike Duggan will host an event this Saturday, February 4 where he will make a 2017 announcement," the news release from the city reads. "Please join Mayor Duggan and special guests as they discuss building Detroit's future together."

Duggan formally announced his first mayoral run at The Samaritan Center in 2013.

And he reportedly began gathering support for a second earlier this year.

He didn't deny those reports when asked earlier this month about running for re-election.

Duggan beat Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon in the 2013 election. He was Detroit's first white mayor since Roman Gribbs left office in 1974. The 58-year-old Democrat is a former county prosecutor, and top official at the Detroit Medical Center and SMART suburban bus system.
DETROIT, MI - Police found three men dead with apparent gunshot wounds and other injuries Saturday morning on the east side of Detroit.

Detroit police were called about 11:20 a.m. Feb. 4 to a house on Sherwood Street for a welfare check, Officer Dan Donakowski said.

Officers entered the house near Nevada Avenue and saw the three men. A 58-year-old was near the front door. Two other adult men were in the kitchen and on a couch.

They had what looked to be gunshot wounds but also had been physically assaulted, Donakowski said.

Police have no suspect information and Donakowski did not believe there were any others in the house at the time police arrived. He did not know who called about the men's welfare or have information about when they might have died.

WDIV-TV, Channel 4, is reporting police had gone twice to the house. The first time, about 7 a.m., there was no sign of forced entry and officers left.

Donakowski said he could not confirm this.

According to the TV news station, one officer knocked on a window, startling a dog. The animal then tore down window coverings, allowing police to see the bodies inside the house.

The house was ransacked, according to WDIV-TV.

Donakowski did not have further details about the incident or the circumstances leading to the mens' deaths.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Detroit homicide unit at 313-596-2260 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- Genesee County is seeing a spike in norovirus, according to the health department.

Norovirus is a gastrointestinal illness that causes mild to severe diarrhea. It is sometimes inaccurately called the "stomach flu," but it is not related to the flu, which is a respiratory illness caused by a different virus, health officials say.

"We would like to remind everyone that Genesee County normally experiences an increase in gastroenteritis illnesses this time of year, but we continue to watch this closely," stated Genesee County Health Department Health Officer, Mark Valacak.

It is easily spread by food, person-to-person contact, aerosolization (of vomited material), or contaminated surfaces and objects

People can take measures to protect themselves and prevent the spread of norovirus, which typically has the following symptoms:

Nausea

Vomiting

Diarrhea

Stomach cramping

Other symptoms may include:

Low-grade fever

Headache

Fatigue

Muscle aches

Symptoms can occur as soon as 10 hours after exposure, but may take up to day or two to appear. Symptoms typically lasts one to two days, and most people recover from the illness on their own.

However, the very young and elderly are at higher risk for dehydration, health officials say.

Norovirus is very contagious and can live on surfaces for a long time. The Genesee County Health Department has some tips on how to stop the spread of the norovirus and to protect yourself:

Wash hands frequently using soap and warm water for a minimum of 20 seconds. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers will not work against norovirus.

Carefully wash fruits and vegetables before preparing or eating them.

Disinfect surfaces with chlorine bleach-based cleaners, and promptly wash contaminated clothing.

Officials advise that anyone showing symptoms should not go to daycare, school or work until symptoms have subsided. Those who work in nursing home, take care of patients or handle food should stay out of work for two to three days after symptoms end.

For more information, visit the Genesee County Health Department website at gchd.us.
FLINT, MI -- Around 400 people gathered together Saturday afternoon to stand with immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees and others they feel are threatened by executive orders signed off on by President Donald Trump.

The March for Justice, organized by the Equality Caucus of Genesee County, took place days after Trump signed off on an order calling for a 90-day period barring people from entering the country from seven predominately Muslim countries.

A federal judge ruled Friday, Feb. 3 temporarily blocked the order regarding visa holders, but press secretary Sean Spicer issued a statement noting "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

Statement by the Press Secretary: At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an... Posted by The White House on Friday, February 3, 2017

Rida Khan, 18, of Flint was among those in the crowd in Flint Saturday that gathered in front of city hall and marched through the streets of the city to fight for their rights.

"Everybody here is American," said Khan, a Muslim woman. "There is no one type of person; we are all one people."

Among those caught in limbo after Trump's order were Tareq and Ammar Aqel Mohammed Aziz, a pair of brothers from Yemen bound for Flint to live with their father Aqel Muhammad Aziz, a local businessman.

The brothers were sent back to Ethiopia after they were turned away Jan. 28 at Washington Dulles International Airport, with a lawsuit filed against Trump alleging they were detained, handcuffed, and forced to sign paperwork giving up their lawful permanent residence status.

Khan was joined by fellow marcher Gary Stillwagon, a 68-year-old U.S. Army veteran who voice his displeasure with the 45th president.

"I'm opposed to everything [President Trump] is doing," Stillwagon said. "He's going to ruin our country. He doesn't care about the environment and he doesn't care about the people of this country."

For Patricia Karnowski, Saturday's event was about more than just being seen.

"We're out here because we have to have a voice in our country," said the Flint resident, who began chanting "This is what democracy looks like" and was joined by the crowd.

MLive-Flint Journal photographer Mac Snyder contributed to this report.
FLINT, MI - A Flint man is back in federal custody after officers found him last week in a car on the highway with an open fifth of alcohol and a semi-automatic pistol.

Derrick Louis Kidd

Derrick Louis Kidd, 25, was on supervised release when a Michigan State Trooper found him sitting in the driver's seat of a disabled vehicle with the alcohol and gun on the side of eastbound I-69 on Thursday, Jan. 26, court documents said.

The trooper, who was originally responding to a woman walking away from the stopped car on the highway, found Kidd - who initially identified himself as Erick Louis Brown - and a woman sitting inside the vehicle, records said.

Kidd was placed under arrest on charges of:

Carrying a concealed weapon

Felon in possession of a firearm

Possession of a stolen firearm

Open intoxicants

Felon in possession of ammunition

Furnishing false information to police.

He was released on these charges pending further investigation, but remained in custody due to violation of supervised release provisions, records say.

U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker signed off on the amended violation report, which also noted that Kidd failed a urinalysis test and did not attend substance abuse treatment as mandated by the probation department.

At the time of the arrest, Kidd was on supervised release after spending five years in federal prison, charged with felon in possession of a firearm.

He was released from prison in August 2016 and serving three years of supervised release.

.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- in this week's Ask a Trooper, state police Lt. Rob Davis asks MLive readers to take a survey to improve the relationships between police and the communities they serve, while the leader of Fathers Against Distracted Driving shares concerns many of us have.

Have a traffic question? Email Davis and the troopers at the Lakeview and Rockford posts at AskTpr@michigan.gov

Lt. Rob Davis

Here's Lt. Rob Davis: Before I introduce this week's topic I would like to invite all of you to take a survey being sponsored by MCOLES (Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards).

This is a community engagement survey and they are looking for your input and ideas, on strengthening the relationships between law enforcement and communities they serve. We appreciate you taking the time and look forward to your input:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ExeDir2016-2



Distracted driving continues to be a hot topic and is truly the most serious traffic safety threat facing us. I realize I just spoke about the issue in December in conjunction with OHSP's (Office of Highway Safety Planning) "Get you head out of your app" campaign, but an opportunity to touch on it again arose so I thought I'd take advantage of it.

I don't know about you, but I often get information fatigue especially when public officials like me talk over and over about the same subject matter. So it's good when a citizen that's passionate about a cause and has often been affected by it, speaks out.

To that point, Marv Berkowitz, President of Fathers Against Districted Driving, asked Mr. Agar and MLive to publish his essay on the subject. FADD is a non-profit organization located in Portage, Michigan, and although I can't officially endorse the organization or confirm his statistics, his approach is unique and message is spot on.



Marv Berkowitz: The texting virus has now become an epidemic in the United States. It is rapidly transmitted by Smartphones into human brain tissues by touching the keyboard. Viral growth and load increases proportionally to number of texts sent and received. This equal opportunity virus attacks all ages, genders and races.

Marv Berkowitz

The texting virus is far more lethal than flu or Zika. Many of the afflicted die or are injured while driving a vehicle. That part of the brain associated with judgment is impaired and allows those individuals to believe they can safely drive and text simultaneously. The human brain needs to have a singular focus. Multitasking is highly overrated.

Vehicular crash deaths are increasing; 28,000 thru September 2016 per NHTSA-- plus over 2 million serious injuries. This increase is on top of large bump up in 2015. Of the top twenty industrialized nations, the US ranks #1 in crash rates per 100,000 miles driven. It is true we are driving more miles as the economy improves and gasoline prices are lower. However, a 3% increase in miles driven does not equate to an increase of 8% in fatal crashes.

Teen drivers exhibit the highest texting rate. In Michigan, (where I am), government figures say that 68% of teens admit to texting while driving as opposed to 48% of all drivers. One cannot drive five miles in any direction without seeing multiple examples.

The virus is so pervasive that it is easy to become complacent and accept this malady as "normal." Teens too often believe that their youth somehow confers immunity to the disease and its aftermath. Many if not most high schools have delegated driver training to outside parties. Parents do not always adhere to their designated roles in the Graduated Licensing process followed by most states. Teens have the highest crash and fatality rates but represent only 7 % of driver population. Baby boomers are a much larger group that is also virally infected. Police confirm all age groups are involved.

Texting is perhaps the single greatest lethality factor but there are many others.

Distracted driving includes; DUI, speeding, tailgating, and failure to obey traffic lights, stop signs, etc. Speed limits, stop signs and traffic lights, have for many become mere suggestions. Non-drivers also are infected as evidenced by people gazing into their phones as they cross streets; walk into walls, other pedestrians and into fountains.

The prevailing entitlement attitude, I can do what I want--the rules are for others, is creating unreal carnage on our roads. No vaccine can be developed for this pathogen.

What we need is a sea change in driver attitudes and habits to eradicate this contagion.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids is hoping a federal judge will speed up the process of firing three officers implicated in the case of a former assistant prosecutor's wrong-way crash in November.

The city filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday, Feb. 3, asking a judge to settle a dispute between the city and its police unions.

The disagreement regards five phone calls between the officers -- made on a recorded line they believed was not being recorded -- on the night of the crash, according to the lawsuit. The city disputes the union's claims that the calls cannot be used as evidence against the officers in the ongoing internal discipline process.

"I don't like this hanging out in the community," City Manager Greg Sundstrom said. "People in the media are having a heyday. I don't like it hanging over the department's head, and I don't like it hanging over the officers' heads."

The three Grand Rapids Police officers -- Sgt. Thomas Warwick, Lt. Matthew Janiskee and Officer Adam Ickes -- won't be charged with a crime.

However, Sundstrom believes the five accidentally recorded phone calls are not needed to fire the officers.

"We believe that there's sufficient evidence whether we have the recordings or not," Sundstrom said.

Former Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Josh Kuiper drove the wrong way on a one-way street and hit a car during the early morning hours of Nov. 19, 2016, injuring a man. Police put Kuiper through dexterity tests but did not administer a preliminary breath test.

Ickes called from the scene that night to report to his watch commander, Janiskee, that Kuiper was "hammered," according to the court filings. Janiskee told Ickes to call back on a line that was presumed to be unrecorded, the lawsuit states.

Warwick and Janiskee were both inside the police station when Ickes called, but Warwick headed to the scene of the crash and later drove Kuiper home, according to the court filings.

There were a total of five phone calls made on that supposedly unrecorded line - three from Ickes to Janiskee, and two from Warwick to Janiskee. Those calls were later found to have been accidentally recorded, according to the lawsuit.

"Every single phone in the city - landline and cell phone - we know when the phone is used, how long the phone call is and either to where you're calling out or the number of the person calling in," Sundstrom said, noting that, in the police department, most conversations are recorded.

The city's two police unions filed the same grievance with the city, claiming that the five phone calls should not be available for use in disciplining the officers.

The grievance also requests that the five phone recordings be destroyed, said Ken Deering, the city's labor relations manager.

The recordings have already been listened to by internal affairs staff at the police department, the police chief, the state police, the Kalamazoo County prosecutor, Sundstrom and Deering.

Those five phone calls also could be subject to a Freedom of Information Act request the city has received for internal investigation files, according to court documents.

The unions filed the grievances directly at the arbitration level.

One of the approved arbitrators agreed to in the unions' contracts will be scheduled to hear the dispute in June, Deering said.

Arbitrators - typically professors or attorneys from the University of Michigan or Michigan State University - conduct an informal hearing and act as judge over the contract, Deering said. He said it would take about a month for them to come up with a decision.

The desire to quickly resolve the case prompted the city to take the case to the federal court this week.

Sundstrom told the City Commission that a judge's ruling on the request could come as quickly as two days, or take long as four weeks.

"It's not a common move for the city to take a union to court over evidence in a disciplinary case," Sundstrom said.

City Commissioners have been kept apprised of the situation, but know few details, he said.

For now, the three officers are still city employees, suspended without pay.

Discharge hearings will be held in about a month. If they waive their right to that hearing, the officers would be fired - but could still file grievances, and potentially regain their jobs.

If they attend the hearing, and the deputy city manager decides that they still will be discharged, the officers would be fired - but could also still can file a grievance, and potentially regain their job.
WYOMING, MI -- Police have released surveillance camera images of a man and vehicle believed involved with a Jan. 26 gas station robbery in Wyoming.

Police said a man entered the Speedway gas station in the 1300 block of Burton Street SW about 3:15 a.m. Jan. 26 and demanded cash. He was holding a gun.

Wyoming police released the surveillance images of the man and vehicle Saturday, Feb. 3. Police said it took time to recover images from the gas station's in-store video system.

Anyone with information about the robbery suspect or the vehicle can call police at 616-530-7300 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.
Trump Carrier

United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones speaks during a news conference Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, in Indianapolis. The local union president slammed by Donald Trump on Twitter says he won't stop saying the president-elect is inflating the number of jobs being saved in a deal with Carrier Corp. to stop the closing of an Indianapolis factory. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

(Darron Cummings)

An Indianapolis-based labor leader told attendees of a Detroit forum hosted by the Democratic National Committee Saturday that members of the working class need to be brought back in the fold of the party, arguing that President Donald Trump convinced many likely Democratic voters to switch sides in 2016.

United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones -- who was singled out for criticism by Trump on Twitter after he said Trump had "lied his ass off" when he claimed to have saved 1,100 jobs at Carrier's plant in Indianapolis -- said from his experience, he'd never seen more enthusiasm from workers for a presidential candidate than Bernie Sanders.

That enthusiasm dropped off for Democrats after Sanders lost his bid for the presidential ticket, Jones said.

"When Bernie got put out of the primary, a lot of our folks were starting to drink Trump's Kool-Aid," Jones said. "We couldn't bring them back in."

Jones said for many of the workers he'd interacted with during the election, Democrat Hillary Clinton was the wrong candidate on trade issues: "What the hell is Hillary going to argue? She couldn't. Her husband was the one that gave us NAFTA."

If Democrats want to be successful in the future, Jones said, the party has to pay more attention to the labor community.

"For the working-class people, jobs are what we are interested in - we're not asking for handouts, we're asking for an opportunity to work," he said. "I'm asking you, I'm telling you, we need to get labor back in that boat."

Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump spent considerable time in Michigan and other Midwestern states, telling audiences at rallies and speeches that he was a staunch opponent of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, would look to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and would bring jobs back to the manufacturing industry.

Jones was a guest speaker at a "future forum" event featuring candidates vying for national leadership positions within the Democratic Party.

The event began at 9 a.m. Saturday and will continue throughout the day, featuring guest speakers and candidate forums for party leadership positions.

To follow the proceedings, visit the Democratic National Committee website.
capitol610.jpg

A group of mostly disabled protesters is suing several Michigan State Police troopers, the retired facilities director at the Capitol and two nonprofit groups for keeping them from a 2015 celebration of the American with Disabilities Act. One of them, Paul Joseph Harcz Jr., 64, was arrested and charged with a felony that was dismissed in 2016.

(Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com file photo)

LANSING, MI - They are not law breakers or rabble rousers. They are blind or disabled people who have long resisted disparate treatment and say, despite some progress, there is much to be done to improve the lives and perception of people with disabilities.

"If we ever want an equal, first-class citizenship in this state, we need to stand up against anyone trying to keep us down," David Robinson, 70, of Jackson said.

He and six others filed a lawsuit on Friday against several Michigan State Police troopers; the retired Capitol facilities director Dan Brocklehurst; and two nonprofit groups, the Office of Disability Network/Michigan and the Capital Area Center for Independent Living.

They allege they were wrongfully kept from a Sept. 17, 2015 event outside the state Capitol organized by the nonprofits to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act. One of them, the lawsuit argues, was illegally and unjustifiably arrested and charged with a felony.

This was done, they contend, because they voiced concerns about a sponsor they said pays disabled workers less than minimum wage and took issue with the event's location - outside a building they believe is not in compliance with the 1990 federal act prohibiting discrimination.

"Such conduct cannot stand. American citizens have a constitutional right peaceably to assemble and to express their views, even when - especially when - those views spark debate and promote a free exchange of ideas," the lawsuit states.

When contacted Saturday, Brocklehurst conceded organizers and officials did not want "interference" from those there to cause disturbance. "They told us that they were there to disrupt the event," he said before declining to discuss the case further because he had little knowledge of the lawsuit.

"We've yet to review the lawsuit since it was just filed today," state police spokeswoman Shanon Banner wrote in an email on Friday night. "Commenting at this point would be premature."

Efforts to reach the organizing groups since Friday night were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit contends state police violated their civil rights and would not allow Robinson and about 15 others to go beyond the Gov. Austin Blair statue, prompting complaints. The memorial stands about 150 feet from the east steps of the state Capitol during what was promoted as an open and free celebration.

Further, police arrested one of them, Paul Joseph Harcz Jr., 64, of Mount Morris, a blind man who weighs about 150 pounds and stands about 5 feet 8 inches tall.

Harcz attempted to evade metal barriers and police troopers blocking their passage, using his cane, the lawsuit states, but troopers pushed him back from the barricade.

Sgt. Edwin Henriquez testified he approached Harcz and supporters and told them they were welcome on state property but could not disrupt the event, according to the lawsuit. He said Harcz was hitting officers on and between their legs with the walking stick and pushed officers.

The lawsuit called any report of Harcz shoving the officers false.

"At no point did (Harcz) assault, batter, wound, resist, obstruct, oppose or endanger the officers. He was just trying to find his way into the event..."

Henriquez grabbed Harcz by one arm and pulled him across and through the barricades. Trooper Ryan Davis took hold of his other arm. A third trooper, Stephen Thomas, helped as Henriquez put Harcz in handcuffs and took him from the area, the lawsuit alleges.

They dragged him down a walkway. He went to jail and was charged with resisting or obstructing officers, a felony. The prosecution, according to the lawsuit, was malicious and without cause.

The Ingham County Prosecutor's Office did not dismiss the case until nearly a year later, on Aug. 22. This was done at the order of Gretchen Whitmer, who had become interim prosecutor as Stuart Dunnings battled prostitution allegations, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Harcz and the others could not file the lawsuit until after the criminal case was resolved, said Robinson, who supported his friend throughout the court proceedings.

He said Harcz refused to plead guilty to a lesser charge, insisting he had done nothing wrong.

Harcz served on a planning committee for the 2015 celebration and he and the other plaintiffs brought their issues to Sara Grivetti, CEO of Disability Network and chief event organizer.

She and another leader talked to state police Sgt. Jeff Held about the possible protesters. Held assured her no one would be permitted to protest, the lawsuit states.

"We just wanted to go there and talk to people and pass out our leaflets," Robinson said.

"They kept us apart from everyone else, like we were some sort of dangerous people."

All but one of the seven are disabled. One of them had a walker. Several carried white canes.

Safety considerations, Robinson said, are a "pretty lame excuse for denying us our civil rights."

Robinson, retired from a state agency, is president of the Jackson chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, and believes a disabled person should be given the same opportunities to succeed - or fail - as anyone else. He has worked to improve the lives of people with disabilities by, for example, pointing out problems with state web page accessibility.

"What we are trying to do is change the perception of disabled people," said Robinson, blind since he was 19 mostly because of glaucoma. "We want to change the culture."

He and his fellow plaintiffs wanted to communicate that not all is perfect and "hunky dory."

If the lawsuit shocks authorities into taking positive action on behalf of people with disabilities, "that would be a wonderful thing," Robinson said.

"The reality of what was happening, the backlash to our message was so severe, so uncalled for, we had to do something that would show that people with disabilities aren't going to sit down and shut up just because the bully state is going to do whatever they want."
The Trump administration late Friday blasted Obamacare as a failure after releasing final enrollment numbers for the federal health insurance exchange that were lower than the sign-up tally for 2016's open enrollment season.

A total of 9.2 million Americans signed up for plans sold on HealthCare.gov, which serves 39 states, by the close of open enrollment on Tuesday, officials said.

That's about 400,000 people fewer than had signed up last year. Advocates said the lower tally reflects efforts by the Trump administration to "sabotage" enrollment by pulling back ads and outreach for HealthCare.gov as of last week.

But even with fewer sign-ups on HealthCare.gov, when added to enrollment from individual state-run exchanges, an estimated 12 million or so people nationally have selected Obamacare plans, despite all the talk of President Donald Trump's plans to repeal and replace the law. That unofficial national tally is about 500,000 less than the national total for sign-ups last year.

"Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another," said a spokesman for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. The department's responsibilities include operating HealthCare.gov and overseeing Obamacare regulations.

"As noted today in a report from [the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, premiums in the [Affordable Care Act] marketplace have increased 25 percent while the number of insurers has declined 28 percent over the past year."

"We look forward to providing relief to those who are being harmed by the status quo and pursuing patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people," the spokesman said.



Benjamin Wakana, who until two week ago was the spokesman for HHS under the Obama administration, fired back at the new regime's characterization.

"That statement is insane, considering the ACA covered 20 million more people than any Republican plan," said Wakana, who with other Obama officials had enthusiastically promoted Obamacare enrollment until they left office two weeks ago.

Story continues

"Maybe they could forward me their plan? I'd love to read it," said Wakana, a pointed reference to the fact that neither Trump or Republican congressional leaders have submitted a concrete plan to replace Obamacare after its planned repeal.

Andy Slavitt, who until last month was head of CMS, said "I've never had to run anything that I hoped would fail, so I can't put myself in their position."

"Even carrying out policies I thought I could be improved, I always tried my best to deliver value to the American people," said Slavitt, whose bailiwick had included HealthCare.gov.



The lower official tally from HealthCare.gov, suggests strongly that the Trump administration's controversial decision to pull back advertising and outreach efforts for the federal marketplace dampened enrollment.



Before that decision last week, former officials in the Obama administration had expected HealthCare.gov to set a new sign-up record by modestly exceeding last year's 9.6 million tally.

The effect of the Trump reversal of enrollment promotion was underscored by the fact that the pace of plan elections in the final two weeks of enrollment on HealthCare.gov was sharply lower than the pace seen last year.

Just 367,260 people signed up for coverage in the final two weeks of enrollment on the federal exchange, officials said. That compares to more than 700,000 plan selections in the last week of 2016 enrollment alone.

Despite the slower pace at the end and lower tally overall on HealthCare.gov, Obamacare advocates lauded the final tally as evidence that demand for health insurance under the law remains strong.

"No matter how hard Republicans try, the American people won't let them rip away their health care. More than 12 million people just stood up against efforts to repeal the law without a plan," said Leslie Dach, director of the Protect Our Care Coalition. "And with support in Congress floundering, it's clear that Republicans are in disarray because the benefits of the Affordable Care Act are popular."



"Open enrollment was a success, and it would have been even higher without the Trump Administration's efforts to suppress enrollment," Dach said. "An estimated 500,000 fewer people signed up on HealthCare.gov because of Trump's attempted sabotage. Despite that, Americans continued to enroll in the final weeks, proving that there is considerable demand for quality and affordable coverage."

Dach added, "people want to keep their coverage and are making it clear that they won't stand for Republicans taking it away without any comprehensive and credible way to replace it."

Anne Filipic, president of the leading Obamacare enrollment advocacy group Enroll America, said,

"Today,HHS announced that more than 9.2 million Americans enrolled in Affordable Care Act insurance this year in the 39 states that use HealthCare.gov alone, within percent of the total from last year."

"There is no doubt that enrollment would have been even higher if not for the uncertainty caused by political attacks on the law, and the Trump Administration's decision not to provide consumers with a lot of the resources and support available to help them enroll," Filipic said.

"But the fact that in the face of opposition and controversy, millions of Americans continued to enroll is an incredible testament to the importance of Affordable Care Act coverage to families all across the country. All Americans deserve the peace of mind that comes with quality, affordable coverage; thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate is lower than it has ever been, and we need to continue to build on that success, rather than risk leaving families without the coverage they've come to rely on."


PORT HURON, MI -- A roommate dispute early Friday morning resulted in a double stabbing and a response from the state police bomb squad.

Police responded around 3 a.m. Friday, Feb. 3, to the 500 block of 15th Street on reports of a stabbing, Port Huron Police Sgt. Dave Seghi said.

When police arrived, they found three subjects with various injuries. Police believe a 28-year-old Port Huron man stabbed his two roommates -- men ages 37 and 39 -- during a heated dispute, Seghi said.

The victims were taken to a hospital, one in serious condition, but have since been released, Seghi said.

One man had a stab wound to the upper leg, the other had defensive knife wounds on his forearm and both hands from attempting to stop the knife attack.

The suspect, who sustained lacerations to his forehead and lip during the brawl, was expected to be arraigned Sunday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and second-offense domestic violence, Seghi said.

During a search of the premises for the weapon, police found an incendiary device in a closet under a pile of clothes, Seghi said.

The Michigan State ollice bomb squad was called and proceeded to remove and dispose of the device.

Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser said the device was described as a two-liter bottle with duct tape and a fuse coming out of the top.

Inside the bottle, Seghi said, was black powder emptied from fireworks mortars.

Seghi said none of the roommates admitted to any knowledge of the device and its intended use was unknown.

"It's not that uncommon to find these things," Seghi said.

The suspect remains lodged in the St. Clair County Jail.
ST. CHARLES, MI -- Snowmobile enthusiasts and a crowd of spectators gathered off Fordney Road in St. Charles for the fifth Racing with the Saints event.

The event is a charity for St. Charles schools and scholarships. Races began at 11 a.m. with the Kitty Cat race for young kids. Other vintage class lists included the Super Mod and Super Stock.

"We're one of the largest vintage snowmobile races in the state of Michigan," Joshua Barz, a Saints member, said.

Barz said racers from all over the Midwest attend the event. A total of 244 racers were registered for the day, with races going on until 5 p.m.

Barz said it was a huge turnout for the community, with serious racers participating.

"It's all about the bragging rights and the trophies," Barz said.
SAGINAW, MI -- Business owner Jessica Hill describes her new boutique in Old Town Saginaw as casual, upscale and glamorous.

She sells the kinds of clothes she always wanted to be able to buy locally but couldn't find in stores.

"Clothes have always been a big passion of mine," Hill said.

"Much to the chagrin of my mom," she laughed. "She was like, 'Spend your money on something else.'"

Hill opened Omoni Boutique at 108 N. Michigan in October. The space, located near Pasong's Cafe, Cebula Fine Jewelry and Rock Your Locks Salon, was formerly occupied by a cigar and billiard lounge called House of Leaf. She also has an online store at www.omoniboutique.com.

Like other entrepreneurs who have opened up shop in Old Town in the last few years, Hill said she wanted to be part of its revival.

"They're putting a lot of effort into bringing it back," she said.

Other recent newcomers to Old Town include Mid Michigan Music, Phat Cat Guitars and L & Co. salon.

Shoppers at Omoni will find minimalist, structural pieces "that flatter the woman's body," Hill said.

She said Saginaw needed a place where trend-focused shoppers could find quality clothing.

The boutique offers denim, leggings, T-shirts, jackets, dresses, purses, jewelry and more. Prices for many items range from about $50 to $150. When possible, Hill chooses pieces that are eco-friendly and made in the United States.

Hill grew up in Saginaw Township but was born in South Korea. She was 5 years old and living in an orphanage when she was adopted and moved to the United States.

Although her adoptive mother, Jackie Klein, never shared Hill's interest in fashion, she inspired the store's name, Omoni, pronounced "oh-muh-knee," which is Korean for mother. Klein died in 2015.

"I did want to pay homage to her," Hill said.

She joked, "I'm sure she's probably like rolling her eyes up there like, 'What are you doing?'"

Hill said she is considering opening a second boutique within the Uptown Bay City development, but doesn't have firm plans yet.

"I love that area. That's kind of up and coming," she said.

Hill encouraged women of all ages and sizes to check out her shop. She enjoys helping shoppers find pieces that will work for them.

"That's what I love to do," she said. "I just want them to leave really happy because clothes should make everyone happy. It makes me happy."
UPDATE: Sheriff has confirmed body found. Homicide investigation underway.

OGEMAW COUNTY, MI -- The Ogemaw County Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible homicide after a man who holed up in a hotel Saturday told police he had killed a man at a specific address in the county.

The sheriff's office, along with the Michigan State Police Bridgeport crime lab, are at a residence in Mills Township following up on those claims.

Ogemaw County Sheriff Howie Hanft confirmed Saturday evening police had found a body in the location the man said, in the 4700 block of Rifle River Trail in Mills Township.

The man, a parole absconder from Genesee County, barricaded himself in a room Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Super 8 hotel in West Branch Township after police approached him about the homicide allegations, Hanft.

Hanft said the man, who was on parole for a criminal sexual conduct conviction, told a group of people in the hotel's hot tub Friday night that he had recently been released from prison and killed a man the night before.

Saturday morning, one of those people from the hot tub told the sheriff's office about what the man had said.

Deputies knocked on the man's hotel room door around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, and announced themselves, Hanft said. Those deputies were met with threats to their lives.

Police then backed off and a five-hour standoff ensued, Hanft said. During this time, the hotel was evacuated.

Hanft said he was able to talk with the man by calling his room phone. The man told the sheriff he had recently killed someone and gave an exact address in Mills Township, Hanft said.

After a while, the man did not communicate with police.

The standoff ended after members of the Northern Michigan Enforcement Team snaked a camera into the man's room and saw that he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, Hanft said.

Police then stormed the room around 1:30 p.m. and found the man had cut himself, Hanft said. He was taken to an area hospital and later airlifted to another in Saginaw.

Hanft said the man was in "very serious condition." Apart from the man's self-inflicted wounds, no one was injured during the standoff, he said. The man was in the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections by Saturday afternoon, the sheriff said.

Hanft said his office is the lead investigator on the "possible homicide" claims followup and was in the process of getting a search warrant to go through the man's hotel room.

Besides the object the man used to cut himself, it's unclear if he had any other weapons, Hanft said.

Hanft said the man has ties to Flint and the Ogemaw County area. Although he couldn't give an exact age, Hanft said the man appeared to be in his 50s. The sheriff did not identify the man.

The incident remains under investigation by the Ogemaw County Sheriff's Office with assistance from the Michigan State Police.

The sheriff's office was aided during the standoff by state police, West Branch Police Department and the Northern Michigan Enforcement Team.
JannaJones.jpg

Janna Jones, a communications professor at Northern Arizona University, is speaking at Saginaw Valley State University on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. Her presentation is titled "Recovering History through Film Preservation: Researching the Subjects of a Film on Navajo Rug Weaving."

(Courtesy Photo | Janna Jones)

KOCHVILLE TOWNSHIP, MI -- A communications professor will visit Saginaw Valley State University later this month to discuss her use of film preservation to recover Navajo history.

Northern Arizona University professor Janna Jones is set to speak at SVSU at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Her presentation is titled "Recovering History through Film Preservation: Researching the Subjects of a Film on Navajo Rug Weaving." Jones will focus on a discovery of a 1939 amateur film documenting the making of a Navajo rug.

According to a SVSU press release, because of the time period, the Navajos in the film go unnamed, and their location is never mentioned. Jones obtained funding to preserve the film and research the biographies of its subjects.

Jones will share the stories of Sally Peshlakai, one of the Navajo weavers she identified. While giving the family the attribution they deserve, Jones will relate the case study to issues of representation and cultural memory in film preservation, according to the SVSU press release.

Jones' lecture is free and open to the public. It is part of the Dow Visiting Scholar program, which is endowed by the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation.
CHIPPEWA TWP, MI -- A 16-year-old out driving with his father lost control of the vehicle Wednesday afternoon and struck a tree, sending the father to a hospital for treatment of critical injuries.

Around 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, police responded to a single-vehicle crash on Wise Road near Broomfield Road in Chippewa Township, according to a press release from the Michigan State Police Mount Pleasant Post.

An initial investigation revealed the Mount Pleasant teen was driving on Wise Road when he lost control and struck a tree, the release states. He was treated for injuries and released.

His father, who was in the front passenger seat, was airlifted to an area hospital for treatment of injuries, the release states.

As of Thursday, Feb. 2, he was listed in critical condition.

The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Michigan State Police troopers were assisted at the scene by Isabella County Sheriff's Office, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police, Shepherd Police, Mobile Medical Response, St Mary's Flight Care and Shepherd Tri-Township Fire and Rescue.
Donald Trump

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One while traveling to Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. Trump is spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(Susan Walsh)

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at "this so-called judge" who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S. to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ruling set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judge's ruling late Friday, but that didn't appear to be enough for Trump, who vented his frustrations on Twitter.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said.

Trump has said the travel ban, which he enacted by executive order on Jan. 27, will keep Americans safe by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

He also said Saturday on Twitter that "when a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security -- big trouble!"

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled late Friday against government lawyers' claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Trump's order. Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said late Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the "outrageous" order "at the earliest possible time. Spicer quickly issued an amended statement that deleted "outrageous."

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said, calling the order both lawful and appropriate.

Trump billed the action as necessary to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to the U.S.

The order included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen, a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program, and an indefinite bar against admitting Syrian refugees.

The decision sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued an emergency order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from the seven countries who were detained at airports nationwide as the ban took effect.

Donnelly's order addressed only a portion of Trump's order, and barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from the seven countries. Robart's decision was more sweeping in scope.

Saturday was not the first instance of Trump criticizing a federal judge, a member of an independent branch of the government.

During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the federal judge who was presiding over a lawsuit brought by former students of Trump University. Trump claimed that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, had an "absolute conflict" in handling the case because he is "of Mexican heritage." Trump launched his presidential campaign with a harsh description of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.

Trump recently agreed to pay $25 million to settle the lawsuits against Trump University.
Close

If latest reports are to be believed, Sony may delay the launch of its Xperia 2017 smartphone. The company is gearing up to release a number of new Xperia phones during the MWC 2017 at Barcelona, Spain. However, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium successor and the Xperia 2017 device won't be part of the company's releases. Sony's next flagship, codenamed Yoshino, was earlier thought to be part of the Xperia line-up that was set to be debuted at the MWC 2017. However, this may not be the case primarily because of Samsung Galaxy S8.

According to Trusted Reviews, the delay is because of Samsung's decision to hold back the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processors until the Galaxy S8 handset in released in the market. This has caused a lot of manufacturers delay their handset release, including the Sony Xperia 2017 flagship that will come with the Snapdragon 835 chipset. The other option is to use an older Snapdragon processor, such as the Snapdragon 821. LG G6 is using the latter to not delay the release.

Another option for Sony is to tease an Xperia 2017 prototype at the MWC 2017, behind closed doors and then go for a full-scale release later in the year. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is set to release end-of-March. Mobile tipster Ricciolo has broken the news of a delay in the launch of the Xperia 2017 flagship via a tweet. Apart from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, the Sony Xperia 2017 is expected to have a 4GB or 6GB RAM and a 5.5-inch 4K display. As per Tech Radar, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium successor could also be in the works.

Sony hasn't been completely successful in its smartphone endeavors. The insanely competitive smartphone world is ruthless but Sony is ready to take the challenge. The company is always present at the MWCs where it typically releases one or two mobile phones. However, in recent years, none of its smartphones have been able to win the world. Stay tuned on Mobile & Apps for more information on the Sony Xperia 2017 flagship and Sony Xperia Z5 Premium successor.

 Copyright 2020 Mobile & Apps, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
donald trump 1

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on the Obama administration's landmark retirement savings rule, setting in motion a potential repeal of a recently passed standard that would have made it harder for financial advisers to give conflicted advice.

The so-called fiduciary rule, which is slated to go into effect in April and will likely now be delayed, requires advisers to put their clients' interests ahead of theirs. The rule has long drawn rebuke from Wall Streeters and some of those who are close to Trump.

"The rule is a solution in search of a problem," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday in a televised news conference.

"We're directing the Department of Labor to review this rule," Spicer added, saying that the department, which passed the rule, had "exceeded its authority" and represented a type of government overreach the president intended to stop.

Trump signed the executive order around 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday. (You can read a full copy of the order here.)

Earlier on Friday, White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told CNBC in a TV interview that the fiduciary rule limited customers' choices in financial products.

"I don't think you protect investors by limiting choices," said Cohn, who previously was Goldman Sachs' COO.

"We think it is a bad rule. It is a bad rule for consumers," Cohn told The Wall Street Journal. "This is like putting only healthy food on the menu, because unhealthy food tastes good but you still shouldn't eat it because you might die younger."

Those who supported the rule have come out against Trump's move.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took aim at the executive order, saying it would "make it easier for investment advisers to cheat you out of your retirement savings."

Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president at AARP, a nonprofit representing retirees with nearly 38 million members, said in a statement, "For many Americans, today's executive order means they will continue to get conflicted financial advice that costs more and reduces what they are able to save for retirement."

Story continues

What's the fiduciary rule?

It's a simple enough concept: A financial adviser should be legally required to put their clients' best interests ahead of their own.

But it's actually not the law. The Department of Labor  which concerns itself with such matters because of its oversight of workers' welfare and retirement  decided last year to change that by establishing the fiduciary rule over retirement accounts. That drew rebukes from Wall Street lobbyists and one of Trump's most flamboyant backers, financier Anthony Scaramucci.

Barack Obama

The fiduciary rule was set to take effect in April 2017. Its specific requirement is that financial advisers  who can be paid referral fees by asset managers for directing client money into their funds  must put their clients' interests ahead of theirs.

Currently, brokers, financial advisers, and other finance professionals don't legally have to act in a client's best interest, with few exceptions, such as those who are registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission or in individual states. Those who are registered in this way often advertise it  it's seen as good business.

Those who aren't registered, like brokers, just have to prove that the investment is suitable, not necessarily the best option, for their client  no matter that that fund might be more expensive and provide a better commission for the adviser.

"It's kind of like if you let doctors be part of the drug companies directly and prescribe their own medicine," Blaine Aikin, executive chairman of fi360, a fiduciary consultancy in Pittsburgh, told Business Insider last year. "Unfortunately, we have a system where we've not established clarity between the sales side of financial services and the profession of financial advice."

fiduciary rule

The conflicts of interest inherent in using advisers who aren't serving in clients' best interests may go unnoticed by those who use them and are unaware they are signing into a conflicted relationship.

Conflicted advice costs retirement savers about $17 billion a year, according to a 2015 report from the Obama administration. Despite objections, the administration pushed ahead with a rule change in April 2016, giving fund managers a year to figure out how they would comply.

Advisers could still receive commissions under the new rule, but they have to provide a contract promising to put a client's interests first  the "best-interest contract exemption"  and receive no more than reasonable compensation. Firms would also have to clearly disclose all their compensation and incentive arrangements.

Wall Street firms worried about this exemption because it opens them up to litigation if their clients believe their advisers have not acted in their best interest. "Retirement investors will have a way to hold them accountable," the Labor Department says.

To be clear, this rule applies only to retirement accounts like 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts, not to regular taxable accounts, with which advisers can rely on the weaker suitability standard. Still, there's big money at stake. Americans invest $7 trillion in 401(k)s and $7.8 trillion in IRAs, according to the industry's lobby group, ICI.

Wall Street's rebuke

Anthony Scaramucci 2

When it was first raised, the rule prompted rebuttals from the financial industry. Some argued that they would face increased compliance costs and that those costs would price out smaller brokers who wouldn't be able to service smaller accounts.

Scaramucci, now one of Trump's advisers, has been one of the rule's most vocal critics. He also had a lot at stake. SkyBridge Capital, a fund-of-hedge-funds he founded and recently sold, would likely have been hurt by the rule since the firm oversees retirement money, and gets a bulk of its assets via financial advisers at banks.

The fiduciary rule could put this very model of using a bank's army of financial advisers as a sales force for hedge funds at risk, especially at funds-of-funds that often end up in retirement accounts, industry lawyers previously told Business Insider.

Wall Street firms have also been fearful of another secondary effect that would hit them where they are already hurting. The rule was expected to accelerate a shift toward passively managed funds, like exchange-traded and index funds, because it's easier to prove that such products, which are much cheaper, are in a retirement saver's best interest. That has already been a big issue for Wall Street, as index funds have eaten into the share of actively managed funds.

The fiduciary rule may live on anyway

For all the concerns about what Trump could do to the rule, it might be too late for him to do much to undercut the change. That's because Wall Street firms have already made the move to comply with the new standard, creating an industry shift unlikely to bend, experts say.

"Pragmatically, it's very difficult to step back from a rule that's so obviously needed," Jack Bogle, founder of the index provider Vanguard Group, which is known for its low-cost offerings and is likely to benefit from the change, previously told Business Insider.

For more background on the fiduciary rule and what's at stake, read Business Insider's explainer.

NOW WATCH: Here's how powerful an executive order is and how it could be reversed





More From Business Insider


you are here:
Charlotte McKinney Carls Jr hamburger model eating

As President Donald Trump's nomination of fast-food CEO Andy Puzder for secretary of labor creates waves, a decade-old fast-food lawsuit has come out of the shadows.

In 2007, Puzder led CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr, in suing rival Jack in the Box for airing a commercial that implied the burger chains used meat from a cow's anus, CNN reported on Friday.

In the ads, Jack in the Box employees laugh when the word "Angus" is said and imply that that the "Angus" area of the cow is an improper part of its body.

Puzder was unamused by the campaign, as Carl's Jr. and Hardee's sold Angus beef (using a certain type of cattle), compared to Jack In the Box's sirloin burgers (which used a certain cut of meat).

"They're not being funny," Puzder told the Associated Press. "They need to stop misleading people about what Angus beef is."

Andy Puzder

So, CKE took the case to court, presenting the judge with a survey that revealed 36% of the 404 people surveyed believed Angus beef came from the cow's behind.

"Defendant's Sirloin burger commercials create the false impression that the meat used in plaintiff's 100% Angus Beef Hamburgers comes from the rear-end and/or anus of beef cattle by creating phonetic and aural confusion between the words 'Angus' and 'anus,'" CKE argued, reported CNN.

While attempts to get an injunction to have the ads removed from the air were initially denied, the fast-food companies eventually reached a settlement and the case was dismissed.

One decade later, Puzder is dealing with even weightier legal matters, with fast-food workers coming out to both support and protest against their boss.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Puzder's confirmation hearing for secretary of labor had been pushed back for the fourth time. The hearing will not be rescheduled until Puzder provides the committee with paperwork providing necessary background on his potential conflicts of interest, financial information, and personal history.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Here's what happened when I ordered Shake Shack's secret menu burger





More From Business Insider


Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity
February 04, 2017

The Empty Threat Against Iran - National Security Advisor Flynn Embarrasses Himself

Trump's National Security Advisor Flynn keeps demonstrating the limits of is strategic-intellectual capacity. He went in front of the cameras and issued this empty threat:

The international community has been too tolerant of Irans bad behavior. The ritual of convening a United Nations Security Council in an emergency meeting and issuing a strong statement is not enough. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests. The days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over.

What is such bluster supposed to achieve?

Interestingly the statement came out just an hour after Donald Rumsfeld left the White House where he had talked about "process" with Flynn and NSC staff.

The neo-conservatives are of course very happy about such nonsense talk. Obama Should Thank Trump for Putting Iran on Notice writes Eli Lake. James Rubin intones: Finally, the president made a smart move on foreign policy . For the very first time the neoconned Washington Post editors are lauding Trump and highlight Flynn's juvenile outburst.

But the U.S. has no way to coerce the 80 million Iranians into anything. The Bush administration learned that (it was one reason why Rumsfeld was fired), the Obama administration acknowledged it and the Trump administration will have to accept that too.

Iran has been under U.S. sanction since 1979. A few more years of unilateral U.S. sanctions will not change its positions one iota. The "international community" supports the nuclear deal and encouraged the lifting of international sanctions. It will not agree to new ones just because some Trump flunky says so.

Iran is needed to achieve peace and to fight Islamic terrorism in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. To even try such without Iranian involvement would require hundred-thousands of U.S. troops. They would fail should Iran decide to not support them. Indeed there is nothing that can be achieved in the Middle East without Iran. While it has only limited capabilities to actively interfere in other countries it can throw up hurdles everywhere and block U.S. controlled solutions.

Smaller direct U.S. attacks on Iran would be responded to with attacks by Iranian proxies elsewhere. U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially their resupplies, would be in imminent danger. A large attack on Iran itself would lead to the destruction of U.S. military bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Every U.S. ship passing through the Street of Hormuz would come under fire.

There will be no significant international support for any U.S. move against Iran. Sending the USS Cole to the Yemeni coast while fantasizing about Houthi mining the waters is a just too obvious setup for a "Gulf of Tonkin" replay.

Any significant military move against Iran would be a strategic foreign policy disaster just like the Bush administration attack on Iraq was one. That attack strengthened Iran's long term position. An attack on the country itself would achieve the same on a much larger scale.

The more grown ups in the Trump administration know all this. Secretary of Defense Mattis, no friend of Iran at all, pulled the rug out from under Flynn's empty threat:

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday that the threat from Irans missile program does not currently require the realignment of U.S. forces in the Middle East, striking a note of restraint shortly after the White House issued a strong warning to Tehran.

The U.S. Central Command on the Middle East was not even informed about the Flynn threat towards Iran. The move is obviously no a thought through administration policy.

Is Flynn freelancing with such threats trying to prove his worthiness for the administration? Or was he set up by others to embarrass himself?

Posted by b on February 4, 2017 at 14:13 UTC | Permalink

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President Donald Trump claims that his intervention forced Lockheed Martin (LMT) to reduce the cost of its F-35 airplane to the Pentagon, but the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee says that's not true.

Earlier this week, Trump asserted that his negotiating pressure had knocked $600 million off the costs of a deal, formally announced Friday, for 90 of the jets. At Friday's White House news briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the president's handiwork had saved taxpayers $455 million. Trump had tweeted in December that program costs were "out of control," and summoned Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson to a meeting.



But Pentagon officials, who've long bargained to reduce costs of the massive F-35 order, announced before that meeting took place that Lockheed would bring down costs for the 90-jet order by more than $500 million. That move followed the Pentagon's decision before November's election to invoke a provision of its contract to unilaterally impose cost-cuts on Lockheed.



After Trump's $600 million claim earlier this week, Lockheed offered a statement of appreciation that Trump had recognized "the positive progress we've made on the F-35 program." After Spicer took credit for the president Friday, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Armed Services Democrat, responded more bluntly.



"This is simply taking credit for what's been in the works for many months," Reed told CNBC in a telephone interview. "These are savings that would have happened anyway."






Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 82F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
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West Texas law enforcement officials are investigating Friday after finding human remains in a shallow grave near Alpine.

The remains were found Friday during a routine border patrol operation northwest of Alpine in Sunny Glen, the Alpine Police Department said in a news release. Police have not yet identified the remains and are continuing to investigate.

On the Alpine Police Department's Facebook page, commenters are speculating that they remains may be that of Zuzu Verk, a 22-year-old Sul Ross State University student who went missing in October of last year. Some commenters said they are praying the remains are not Verk's.

RELATED: Missing Texas college student's boyfriend named a suspect, drones used to search

Verk was last seen on a date with her boyfriend, Robert Fabian, 25, on Oct. 11, 2016, and was reported missing three days later. Fabian, who reported Verk missing, was named a suspect in her case in October, but at the time was being uncooperative with authorities.

The day after Verk disappeared, Fabian made two phone calls to Christopher Estrada. Estrada was arrested in January 2017 and charged with driving while intoxicated and evading arrest.

At the time of his arrest, he was driving the same white Ford Mustang that Fabian borrowed on Oct. 12, 2016, the day after Verk was last seen. Estrada had the vehicle cleaned three times in the days following Verk's disappearance.

RELATED: Person of interest in West Texas college student's disappearance arrested

Friends of Verk's have begun posting comments in a Facebook group dedicated to the missing student.

Many are asking for prayers for Verk and her family on the page.

"Sweet girl, I sit here in tears thinking that they have found you. Your parents are the strongest people I have ever met," one commenter said. "I know this would bring closure to them if it is you, I know they need to know, but it's so painful to think that it could be you."

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
"After I left the last treatment center, I knew what made me happy," Selena explains, "and it was a connection." But on the advice of her doctor, Selena's planned philanthropic visit to Kenya to see the schools she was helping to raise
Judge Neil Gorsuch recalls being blinded by tears in the middle of a ski run after someone rang his cellphone with news of the unexpected death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The reaction illustrates not only the depth of Gorsuch's admiration for his mentor but also how thoroughly he has modeled his conservative constitutionalist views after Scalia.

"I immediately lost what breath I had," Gorsuch, who sits on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said in a speech last April. "And I am not embarrassed to admit that I couldn't see the rest of the way down the mountain for the tears."

One year later, the 49-year-old Colorado native is President Donald Trump's pick to replace Scalia as the Republican leader heeded calls by many conservatives to find someone as near to a Scalia philosophical clone as possible.

Like Scalia, Gorsuch believes judges must focus primarily on the text of the 230-year-old Constitution and resolve legal disputes by following the Founding Fathers' intentions. Gorsuch has said that if judges factor in personal beliefs, societal changes or calculations about maximizing social welfare, they risk becoming "little more than politicians with robes."

Gorsuch, who once went fly-fishing with Scalia, said Scalia helped remind Americans about the roles of judges and lawmakers. In a speech last year at Case Western Reserve University, Gorsuch said that message was that "legislators may appeal to their own moral convictions and to claims about social utility to reshape law. ... But that judges should do none of these things in a democratic society."

Scalia, who died last February, was a leading proponent of originalism, an approach that seeks to resolve constitutional disputes by focusing on the document's text, its historical context and the framers' intentions. Originalism often is viewed as a conservative philosophy, but adherents can often hold strong civil libertarian views. Scalia, for example, held that flag burning was protected speech.

Story continues

Scalia frequently complained that the concept of originalism was misunderstood. He explained that an emphasis on text and historical context is flexible enough to be applied to modern phenomena like radio and the internet. And he said originalism left open avenues for change, including through constitutional amendments and legislation.

"You want to create new rights and/or destroy old ones?" Scalia asked in a 1996 speech. "A legislature and the electoral franchise are all that you need. The only reason you need a constitution is because there are some things which you don't want a majority to be able to change."

Originalism's critics say judges should treat the Constitution as a living, breathing document that's able to encompass society's evolving values. An example of this approach is the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that says constitutional rights to due process and equal protection supports a right to same-sex marriage. In his dissent, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the Constitution "had nothing to do with" that ruling by the court majority.

In his 2016 speech, Gorsuch also quoted Scalia as saying that, to be a good judge, "you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're not always going to like the conclusions you reach. If you like them all the time, you're probably doing something wrong."

Despite his adherence to a conservative legal philosophy, Gorsuch has also warned against rigidity. When asked at his 2006 confirmation hearings for the appeals court about the kind of judge he considers unacceptable, Gorsuch answered: "Someone who is not willing to listen with an open mind to the arguments of counsel, to his colleagues, and to precedent."

But Gorsuch's tendency to harken back to the framers is reflected in his sharp criticism of the Chevron doctrine, which holds that judges should defer to federal departments and agencies to fill in the blanks of certain laws, including on immigration and the environment. The framers, Gorsuch wrote last year, intended for lawmakers to make the laws, executives to execute them and judges to decipher their meaning.

"A government of diffused powers, they knew, is a government less capable of invading the liberties of the people," he wrote.

Gorsuch incorporated wariness of executive power in a dissent after the full 10th Circuit declined to rehear a three-judge panel's ruling that a sex offender should comply with detailed rules about registering as a sex offender. Those rules were set not by Congress, but by the U.S. attorney general.

"If the separation of powers means anything, it must mean that the prosecutor isn't allowed to define the crimes he gets to enforce," Gorsuch wrote in 2015.

If political leaders differ with judges over existing law, Gorsuch wrote, politicians always had a clear constitutional remedy: "It's called legislation. ... Admittedly, the legislative process can be an arduous one. But that's no bug in the constitutional design: It is the very point of the design."

Originalists such as Gorsuch also apply their philosophy to resolve disagreements over laws crafted by Congress or state legislatures, focusing on the text and intention of the lawmakers.

In a 2012 dissent in an appeal of a federal law that bans felons from possessing guns, Gorsuch wrote: "When the current statute's language is clear, it must be enforced just as Congress wrote it. ... Congress could have written the law differently than it did, and it is always free to rewrite the law when it wishes. But in our legal order it is the role of the courts to apply the law as it is written, not some different law Congress might have written in the past or might write in the future."

Gorsuch has argued that liberals are too quick to file lawsuits as a way to force change, even though there's "no doubt that constitutional lawsuits have secured critical civil-rights victories," including desegregation. He said that reliance can end up hardening divisions.

"In the legislative arena, especially when the country is closely divided, compromises tend to be the rule of the day," he wrote in the National Review in 2005. "But when judges rule this or that policy unconstitutional, there's little room for compromise: One side must win, the other must lose."

___

Tarm reported from Chicago and Lavoie from Boston. AP Researcher Rhonda Shafner also contributed.

___

The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate@ap.org
Sonora, CA  A road will be closed near downtown Sonora today.

The United Methodist Church will be doing some tree trimming that requires a closure of Norlin Street between West Dodge Street and Yaney Avenue. Six parking spots on Norlin Street will be inaccessible during the work. The road closure is anticipated to last from 7am until 5pm. You will need to take an alternate route around the work area.

Written by BJ Hansen .

Sign up for our Breaking News Alerts and the myMotherLode.com Daily Newsletters by clicking here. Report breaking news, traffic or weather to our News Hotline (209) 532-6397. Send Mother Lode News Story photos to news@clarkebroadcasting.com .
donald trump

President Donald Trump and his top staff on Thursday moved to defend controversial right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

On Wednesday, the University of California, Berkeley, canceled an appearance by the inflammatory Breitbart editor after a protest of the event turned ugly, as some demonstrators set fires, hurled objects at police officers, and broke windows in several storefronts.

Wednesday's event began as expected: Yiannopoulos arrived and protesters swarmed, noting his far-right nationalist sympathies and history of incidents in which he has been accused of waging harassment campaigns. But the scene became chaotic when, according to the university "masked agitators" arrived to cause mayhem, disturbing what would have otherwise been a peaceful protest.

The demonstration garnered coverage across multiple cable news networks, and eventually prompted a response from the president himself.

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?" Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

On "Fox and Friends" on Thursday, top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also weighed in on the protests, claiming the protesters "don't welcome free speech" and that students on college campuses were waging war on the First Amendment.

"I don't know if they even know what they're protesting. I'd love to do this big survey nationwide and ask everybody outside these airports, on college campuses, what's got you so in a lather? I mean, really, is it free speech? Having somebody on your campus who has a dissenting point of view, or wants to present an alternative point of view?" Conway said.

She added: "In the real world, when these kids grow up and try to find jobs, which they will in the Trump economy  life doesn't work that way, folks. You're going to work with people who disagree with you, who aren't just cosseting you in this protective environment."

Story continues

Trump's tweet didn't come as a surprise to many observers, who noted the provocateur's close relationship with White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon formerly ran Breitbart, and he performed tasks like hiring several former Navy SEALs specifically to protect Yiannopoulos at the Republican National Convention.

For his part, Yiannopoulos heralded the White House's involvement as a major victory.

"American universities should be on notice. The President is watching," Yiannopoulos told Business Insider. "The days you could silence conservative and libertarian voices on campus and still expect to collect their tax money are coming to an end. I am the catalyst for this change. I'm confident Trump and his team are watching closely and will act decisively."

Breitbart also appeared appreciative of the support.

The far right website characterized the tweet as a "Sheriff Trump Throwdown," a headline that led the site for hours Thursday morning.

NOW WATCH: Watch protesters and Trump supporters get into a fiery argument on the National Mall right after the new president was sworn in





More From Business Insider


The Melbourne Police Department's building is aging, mold-infested and in disrepair  and city officials are looking at options to do something about it.

Melbourne Police Department headquarters aging, mold-infested

The City Council is considering repairs or a new building

Renovations would cost about $3 million, city staff said

The decision could come down to making major repairs to the existing building or completely replacing it.

"A lot of condensation is built up, (and) basically, the building isn't breathing correctly," said Melbourne City Councilman Paul Alfrey, as he pointed out mold under a peeled-back piece of wallpaper.

Alfrey is a former police officer who worked out of Melbourne Police headquarters on Apollo Boulevard for more than a decade.

He was recently elected to the City Council, and he's behind the push to do something about the 1980s-era building that city staff said has air quality issues.

"It doesn't solve our problem that we are out of space and out of room," Alfrey said.

Police officers work in cubicles and closets are now serving as offices. Interview rooms are cramped.

According to a staff presentation, it would cost about $3 million to renovate the existing building.

It would cost about $25 million to build a new police department.

"There are a lot of aspects, and it will have to be worked out over time," Alfrey said.

The City Council is also deciding what to do with the police department's investigative division building, which is located about 1.5 miles from headquarters. It's possible that a new building would house all of Melbourne Police's offices under one roof.

The City Council is expected to revisit the issues in the coming months.
One stitch at a time, Virginia Cortes tries to bring comfort to parents who have lost a baby weeks after birth.

Altamonte Springs lawmaker proposes bill for 'nonviable birth certificates'

Bill would let parents who miscarry before 20 weeks to request certificate



RELATED: Read the full text of Florida HB101 (PDF)



She takes donated wedding gowns and sews them into "angel gowns" parents can use to lay their child to rest.

Theres no first grade, theres no graduations, theres no wedding, so all their dreams are shattered, she said.

Virginia and her husband, Florida Rep. Bob Cortes, know what thats like. They lost their son, Rob Jr., when he was 5 years old. They have memories of him  and a birth certificate.

Right now, parents who lose fetuses four months and older can get a stillborn birth certificate. Parents with fetuses that miscarry younger than that don't have that option.

Cortes, a Republican state representative from Altamonte Springs, is proposing a new Florida law to change that.

Many parents actually go out and spend $40, $50 on a fake certificate they have to buy on the internet. With this, they wont have to do that, Bob Cortes said.

House Bill 101, which creates the "Grieving Families Act," would allow parents who lose fetuses before 20 weeks to request a "certificate of nonviable birth."

Many times the parents walk out of that hospital empty-handed. This gives them the opportunity they can memorialize their child by means of a certificate, Bob Cortes said.

While Bob Cortes pushes the proposed law, his wife will continue to comfort families.

[The moms] say they cant believe their bodies betrayed them, and were just trying to bring healing, Virginia Cortes said.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation Thursday, cosponsored by U.R. Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19), that seeks to strike down an administrative rule enacted late in the Obama Administration that would unjustly deny certain Social Security beneficiaries their Second Amendment rights without due process.

A news release from Arrington explains the rule would designate Social Security beneficiaries as having a mental impairment if they allow someone else to manage their finances.

Federal law stipulates that it is a criminal offense for a person to possess a firearm if they have been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to a mental institution.

Arrington spoke in support of the legislation  House Joint Resolution 40  from the House floor on Thursday. He said, This rule is one of the most egregious examples of government overreach because it compromises one of the fundamental rights. In the 11th hour, the Obama administration quietly sneaked in a rule that threatens to deny certain Social Security beneficiaries their right to purchase a firearm.

Arrington adds, This midnight rule designates Social Security beneficiaries as having a mental impairment simply because they ask a family member or other person to help manage their finances. Just because an elderly or disabled individual chooses to delegate their financial responsibilities to another person does not make them mentally incompetent nor does it waive their right to due process.

He concludes, We cannot allow our federal government to haphazardly restrict the freedoms of over 4 million law-abiding Americans who would otherwise be responsible gun owners. In fact, they are some of those most vulnerable Americans who need to be able to protect themselves. As noted by the Founders  in the plain language of our Constitution  the federal government shall not infringe upon our right to keep and bear arms.

The measure, which passed the House on a roll-call vote of 235-180, next goes to the Senate. If approved there, it goes to President Trump who has already voiced support for overturning the targeted regulation.

The Congressional Review Act gives lawmakers 60 legislative days to nullify federal regulations by a majority vote if the president supports the move, according to the Washington Post. Only one rule, an ergonomics regulation adopted under then-President Bill Clinton, has ever been overturned under the 1996 act.
The Hale County grand jury on Jan. 30, at the conclusion of its January session, indicted 12 individuals on 13 felony charges. The report was released by District Attorney Wally Hatchs office.

Following are the individuals indicted, charges, level of offense and bond as set by the presiding district judge:
In the broadest court decision yet against President Trumps immigration order, a federal judge issued a nationwide ruling Friday blocking enforcement of a 90-day ban on migrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries and the 120-day prohibition on all refugees.

The ruling restores the rules for U.S. entry that existed before Trumps executive order of Jan. 27 and allows admission of refugees and some immigrants from the countries the president targeted. All have been screened by immigration officials.

U.S. District Judge James Robart of Seattle granted requests by the states of Washington and Minnesota for a temporary restraining order against the key provisions of the executive order.

At least five other judges had blocked parts of the presidents order, and one judge in New York issued a nationwide ruling last Saturday prohibiting deportation of anyone who had reached the United States but was being held in custody because of the order. But this was the first decision to halt enforcement of the entire executive order.

The state is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims that Trumps order discriminates against would-be immigrants on the basis of their religion and national origin, said Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

The Trump administration has not appealed any of the earlier rulings, but said late Friday it intended to file for an emergency stay of Robarts order at the earliest possible time.

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.

For now, the ruling is to remain in effect until Robart can consider a request for an injunction that would prevent implementation of the presidents order indefinitely or an appeals court intervenes.

The Constitution prevailed today, Washingtons attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said in a statement. No one is above the law  not even the president.

The executive order imposed a 90-day ban on entry of anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It imposed a 120-day ban on any admission of refugees, those who flee their home countries because of threats of violence or other serious harm and have been approved for entry by U.S. consular officials. Another provision, also halted by Robart, indefinitely barred admission of refugees from war-torn Syria.

The order has prompted widespread, angry protests and affected large numbers of refugees and travelers, but its exact impact has been unclear. A Justice Department lawyer in a separate case in Virginia told a federal judge Friday that more than 100,000 visas allowing entry to the U.S. had been revoked, but a State Department official said later that the actual number was less than 60,000.

Washingtons lawsuit, the first by any state, drew support from in-state companies like Amazon and Expedia because of the impact of the ban on their workforce.

Trump, in announcing the order, said it was needed to protect the U.S. from potential terrorists while his administration prepared a system of extreme vetting for entrants from nations subject to terrorism. He denied that he was targeting Muslims.

That position was voiced in court on Friday by Justice Department lawyer Michelle Bennett. Noting that Trumps order did not refer to religion, she argued that the restrictions were based on national security and that Robart could not, and should not, look for any hidden motive.

But Washingtons lawsuit, filed Monday and joined later by Minnesota, contended there was abundant evidence of discrimination.

The suit cited Trumps campaign pledge to prohibit all Muslims from entering the U.S., his statement while signing the executive order that its purpose was to keep out radical Islamic terrorists, and comments last Saturday by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump adviser, that the president had told him he wanted a Muslim ban and needed advice on how to do it legally.

The suit also noted that after the 120-day refugee ban expired, the executive order would give priority to admission of refugees who practice a minority religion in their country  a reference to Christianity  and who claim religious persecution. Robarts order blocked enforcement of that provision as well.

Trumps order, and the statements he and others have made about its intent and application, target individuals for discriminatory treatment based on their country of origin and or religion, and are intended to disfavor Islam and favor Christianity, in violation of the Constitution, the lawsuit said.

Bennett also argued that the states could not show they had been damaged by the order and thus lacked legal standing. But the states lawyers said the order had caused substantial harm to the states and their residents, including those who had been abroad and were unable to return, or had to cancel trips and speaking engagements because of the prospect of being denied re-entry.

Robart agreed.

The executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel, the judge said Friday evening in a written ruling after the hearing. He said the states also suffered direct harm in the operations and missions of their public universities and to their governments operations, tax bases, and public funds.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer, and Daniel DeMay is a SeattlePI.com staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com, danieldemay@seattlepi.com Twitter: @egelko, @Daniel_DeMay
Judge James Robart wore a bow tie to the hearing, opened with a joke and finished with a thunderclap.

He was known for that sort of thing.

"The amicus law professors," Robart said Friday, noting the many groups that waited in his Seattle courtroom to argue for or against a motion to halt President Donald Trump's travel ban. "Sounds like the three amigos."

People laughed, despite the tension. The federal judge had a habit of mixing soft speech and extraordinary pronouncements.

At the end of the hearing, with no jokes or spare words, Robart halted Trump's ban and potentially changed the fate of tens of thousands of refugees, Muslims and others around the world who had been denied entry into the United States.

His order challenges a White House that had spent all week defending the ban.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump wrote in a tweet Saturday morning.

But Robart had been called judge for more than a decade. President George W. Bush nominated him to the federal court for Washington's western district court in 2004. Though he had held no judgeship before, senators of both parties praised him.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced him to the judiciary committee as a man who had fostered six children with his wife.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., went over Robart's 30 years as a lawyer - up to his work at the time as managing partner at Lane Powell Spears Lubersky, where he handled mostly commercial law cases.

Utah's Republican Sen. Orrin G. Hatch noted Robart's "representation of the disadvantaged" - including his work representing "southeast Asian refugees."

"I was introduced to people who, in many times, felt that the legal system was stacked against them or was unfair," Robart replied."Working with people who have an immediate need and an immediate problem that you are able to help with is the most satisfying aspect of the practice of law."

"Well thank you," Hatch, a Republican, said. "That is a great answer."

No one opposed his confirmation.

In his 13 years on the federal bench, the judge handed down criminal sentences no lighter than the law recommended - 78 months in prison for a crack dealer, life for a man who murdered a woman on a Native American reservation two decades earlier.

His job as a federal judge got more complicated after Seattle police shot and killed John T. Williams - a partially deaf woodcarver who did not put down his carving knife one day in 2010.

Hundreds surrounded a Seattle police station to protest Williams' death, which had followed other accusations of police brutality in the city. A Justice Department investigation "found routine and widespread use of excessive force by officers," The Seattle Times reported. That led to a long series of settlements and lawsuits - the bow-tied Robart presiding.

"Well, there certainly are a lot of you!" he said last August. His tie was green, his beard as white as ever.

In the years since Williams' death, the Seattle case had evolved from passionate protests and a federal investigation into an endless string of hearings to oversee police reforms.

August's hearing was one of many, and Robart gave no indication at the beginning that it would be anything of special note. He listened to each side argue, as he had done many times before. When it was his turn to speak, he went over schedules, comments and consent decrees to come.

Then he took a deep breath.

"I will now step back from my very precise legal practice and give you the following observation - from me," he said.

He spoke of the police - training and accountability and leadership: "The men and women who go out and walk around Seattle and proudly wear the Seattle Police Department uniform," he said. "They are entitled to know what they may and may not do."

He breathed in again. Then he spoke of protests against police that had spread across the country, and FBI statistics showing that black people are twice as likely to be shot dead by police as their share of the population would warrant.

"Black lives matter," the judge said.

His words, The Seattle Times noted, caused "a startled, audible reaction" in the courtroom. Here was a federal judge echoing a slogan used by protesters.

Robart was not done. "Black people are not alone in this," he went on. "Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans are also involved. And lastly and importantly: Police deaths in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Minneapolis and let's not forget Lakewood, Washington, remind us of the importance of what we are doing."

If his words were extraordinary, he gave no indication that day. Robart thanked everyone before him "for your hard work" and walked out the door behind him.

Half a year later, a country troubled by different matters waited on the judge's word.

Robart listened for nearly an hour to arguments of the federal government and to those who oppose its travel ban, then thanked everyone for their "thoughtful" remarks.

He tried to tamp down any anticipation. A judge's job, Robart said, "is not to judge the wisdom of any policy," but only whether it was legal.

He would not even do that at the moment, he said, but merely consider whether Trump's order should be blocked temporarily to prevent "immediate and irreparable injury" to the people it affects.

Robert looked down at his papers and issued his order.

The travel ban must be halted not just in Washington, he said, but for all "federal defendants and all their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert ... at all U.S. borders and port of entry, pending further order from this court."

No one said a word. In his manner, Robart recessed and walked away.
A McAllen man is facing felony drug possession charges following a traffic stop in Montgomery County on Monday.

Roberto Velasco-Salinas was pulled over Monday stop in the 22000 block of Loop 494 near Porter by deputies assigned to the Montgomery County Narcotics Enforcement Team. During the roadside investigation, Velasco-Salinas appeared nervous and visibly shaking, deputies said. They searched his vehicle and allegedly found four kilos of cocaine and $15,000 in cash.

Now, Velasco-Salinas is facing felony manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance charge.

The Montgomery County Narcotics Enforcement Task Force is a cooperative multi-agency task force which consists of law enforcement agencies from, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Walker County Sheriff's Office, Montgomery County Precinct 4 Constable's Offices, Texas Department of Public Safety-Criminal Investigations Division, Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, Walker County District Attorney's Office, Customs and Border Protection-Houston Air and Marine Operations, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Participating agencies recognized that a special collaborative effort was necessary to more effectively combat the drug distribution and collection of drug proceeds throughout the area.
Pearland Police Department officers investigated a series of motor vehicle burglaries the week of Jan. 23-29. Items stolen included tools, iPads and a handgun.

The gun was taken from an unlocked vehicle Jan. 22 or Jan. 23 in the 1200 block of Pine Field Court, police said.

Three motor vehicle burglaries also were reported Jan. 23 nearby in the 1200 block of Pine Moss Court.

Three additional vehicles were reported burglarized in the 3600 block of Pine Valley Drive the same day.

Police investigated three reported vehicle break-ins Jan. 23 in the 4600 block of Cypress Bend Court.

Tools were stolen from a vehicle Jan. 17 or Jan. 18 in an industrial complex on the 1400 block of Main Street, according to a Jan. 24 police report.

A computer and two iPads were stolen from a vehicle Jan. 24 in the 2700 block of Shallow Falls Court, according to a Jan. 26 police report.

Items were reported stolen from two work trucks Jan. 29 in the 6500 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Burglary

A stolen truck was used to ram the front door and burglarize Handi Plus No. 43 Jan. 23 in the 1600 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police investigated a home burglary Jan. 29 in the 2900 block of Oak Road. Another burglary was reported later that day in the 2800 block of Oak Road.

Criminal mischief

The tires of two vehicles were reported slashed or damaged Jan. 23 in the 7900 block of Fite Road, police said.

A BB gun may have been used to break a vehicle's rear window Jan. 28 in the 2900 block of Oak Road, police said.

Theft

A juvenile was reportedly caught shoplifting Jan. 23 at Walmart in the 1700 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police arrested two males for theft, consumption of alcohol by a minor and failure to identify Jan. 24 in the 1900 block of Main Street.

Police arrested a man and woman for shoplifting Jan. 25 in the 1900 block of Main Street.

A man reportedly stole a chair Jan. 26 from H-E-B in the 2800 block of Business Center Drive, police said.

Construction materials were reported stolen Jan. 27 in the 5700 block of Magnolia Road, police said.

Police issued a citation to a man who reportedly stole merchandise Jan. 27 from a grocery store in the 1700 block of Broadway Street.

A wallet and iPhone 7 were reported stolen Jan. 28 in the 3700 block of Main Street, police said.

A man and woman reportedly stole a basket full of merchandise Jan. 29 from a business in the 1700 block of Broadway Street, police said.

A man reportedly stole food from a restaurant Jan. 29 in the 1800 block of Main Street, police said.

Tampering with governmental record

A traffic stop led to an arrest for fraudulent use or possession of identifying information, tampering with a government record and failure to identify as a fugitive Jan. 23 in the 12900 block of Shadow Creek Parkway, police said.

Theft of motor vehicle

A man reported his vehicle stolen Jan. 23 from the vicinity of 2500 Business Center Drive, police said. The man said he had been drinking and when he returned to where he had parked, he was unable to find his vehicle. No record could be found to show the vehicle had been towed.

A vehicle was reported stolen Jan. 23 from the 1700 block of Old Alvin Road, police said.

A vehicle was reported stolen Jan. 25 from the 10900 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Assault

A male student reportedly punched another student in the head several times Jan. 24 in the 2300 block of North Galveston Ave., police said.

A male student reportedly assaulted a female student on school property during school hours Jan. 26 in the 3700 block of Main Street, police said.

Narcotics

A woman was arrested for outstanding warrants and possession of marijuana Jan. 24 in the 11000 block of Shadow Creek Parkway, police said.

Police arrested a woman for driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance Jan. 25 in the 2000 block of Pearland Parkway.

Police arrested two men for possession of a controlled substance and unlawful carrying of a firearm by a felon Jan. 25 in the 1400 block of Main Street. A woman also was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and having a prohibited substance in a correctional facility.

A man was arrested for possession of marijuana and evading arrest following a traffic stop Jan. 25 in the 8400 block of Broadway Street.

Police arrested a man for possession of marijuana and unlawfully carrying a weapon Jan. 26 in the 17000 block of block of Texas 288.

Police arrested a woman for possession of the muscle relaxer Soma Jan. 27 in the 11300 block of Broadway Street.

Fraud

A man in the 12200 block of Harmony Hall Court reported Jan. 24 his identifying information was used without permission, police said.

A victim's name and information were used to open an account Jan. 12 at Discount Tire in the 10300 block of Broadway Street, according to a Jan. 27 police report.

Visual recording

A woman was the victim of invasive visual recording Jan. 20 or Jan. 21 in the 2500 block of Business Center Drive, according to a Jan. 24 police report.

Property damage

A Pearland employee reported damage to city property Jan. 25 around the 2000 block of Dixie Farm Road.

Crash report

Pearland police investigated a single-car accident Jan. 25 in the 7200 block of Magnolia Road. The driver apparently lost control of his vehicle during a road rage incident, police said.

A hit-and-run accident involving damage to a vehicle was reported Jan. 26 at the intersection of McHard and Country Place, police said.

Police completed a hit-and-run accident report detailing damage to a vehicle Jan. 26 in the 6100 block of Broadway Street.

Driving while intoxicated

Police arrested a man for driving while intoxicated Jan. 27 in the 2700 block of Meadowhurst Drive.

A man was arrested for driving while intoxicated Jan. 28 in the 4700 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police arrested a woman for driving while intoxicated Jan. 28 in the 6000 block of Village Grove Drive.

Police took a man into custody for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest Jan. 28 in the 13200 block of Shadow Creek Parkway.

Police arrested a woman for driving while intoxicated at 13700 Windward Bay, according to a Jan. 29 report.

Police arrested a man for driving while intoxicated, possession of a controlled substance and three municipal warrants out of Webster Jan. 29 in the 2700 block of Manvel Road.

Resisting arrest

Police apprehended a man for public intoxication and resisting arrest Jan. 29 in the 4500 block of North Magnolia Elms Drive.

Child pornography

Police investigated a report of possession or promotion of child pornography Jan. 28 in the 1900 block of Highland Point Court.
Filing for the March 2018 primary election is months away, but interest in the Montgomery County judge and two commissioner seats on the ballot is heating up.

County Judge Craig Doyal, Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Clark will be up for re-election, and all three confirmed to The Courier their plans to file for their respective positions. All three of them also face a criminal trial starting March 27 on a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to circumvent the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Former state Rep. Steve Toth and The Woodlands Township Board Chairman Gordy Bunch, who have been asked to challenge Doyal, say the outcome of the upcoming trial could motivate even more people "off the bench" to file for the seats.

Doyal, Clark and Riley were indicted June 24, 2016, the charge, which relates to the November 2015 $280 million road bond passed by voters. In addition, political consultant Marc Davenport also was indicted on the same charge.

"I really want to see what unfolds, what comes out of it, what transpires," Toth, who lives in The Woodlands, said of the trial. "I have been asked by several elected officials to consider (running for county judge), and we will just see what unfolds over the next few months.

"Any way about it, Craig is going to be challenged. We really need to return some ethics and transparency back to Commissioners Court. The other issue is how grotesque the county budget has grown."

Toth added that the county is bringing in millions of dollars in property taxes and said he supports a homestead exemption to give homeowners some tax relief. Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack recently announced he wants the court to consider up to a 20 percent homestead exemption. Doyal said a 20 percent exemption would be "irresponsible" due to the funding effect it would have on county services, specifically law enforcement.

Bunch said he wouldn't run for county judge, but he expects the field for the race to be large.

"I guarantee you I am not running for county judge," Bunch said. "My entire focus is on The Woodlands Township and the evolution of whatever (The Woodlands) is going to be when it grows up.

"I think the result of the upcoming trial will motivate some people off the bench."

Noack said he also has been asked to run for county judge.

"Commissioner Noack said he is honored that his name has been mentioned as a possible candidate," according to a release from the Noack campaign. "At this time he is focused on serving as commissioner of Precinct 3."

In Texas, elected officials hold district, county or precinct office are required to resign from their position if there is intent to run for another elected position and they have more than one year and 30 days left in their term. Once they announce or become a candidate by filing in a "general, special or primary election, for any office of profit or trust ... other than the office then held ... shall constitute an automatic resignation of the office then held ..."

Another community member whose name has been mentioned for county judge is The Woodlands resident Mitch Hausman, whose wife served many years on The Woodlands Township board. He could not be reached for comment.

Commissioner Races

While the county judge seat is drawing attention, both Clark and Riley probably will face several challengers.

In fact, East Montgomery County resident and current Montgomery County Hospital District Board member Bob Bagley already announced his intent to challenge Clark for the Precinct 4 Commissioner's seat. Bagley ran for the seat against Clark in the 2014 primary runoff election.

In a Jan. 24 press release, Bagley pledged "to donate, from my own pocket, $100,000 of my salary to various community projects benefiting Precinct 4."

"Our children that have had the good fortune of growing up in Montgomery County may not have the chance to raise their families here, they will be forced out by the exorbitant property taxes," Bagley said. "We have today, a county with a reputation all over Texas for greed and corruption. Most of the commissioners are currently criminally indicted awaiting trial. Maybe it's time to start looking for public servants with a heart for serving the community."

Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace James Metts also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Precinct 4 commissioner. However, like Noack, Metts is bound by the same resign-to-run law.

Former Precinct 3 commissioner candidate Brian Dawson, who lost to Noack in 2012 and now lives in Precinct 2, said he has been asked to run for Precinct 2 commissioner but he has not made a decision.

"While I am being encouraged by residents and business owners alike to run for Precinct 2 commissioner, I have not yet made a final decision," Dawson said in a statement to The Courier Friday. "There is much that goes into a commitment of this magnitude. Given the lackadaisical and sometimes arrogant attitudes of a few commissioners, it would seem natural, as someone who recognizes the lack of regard for the taxpayers these days, that I should run.

"The encouragement of Montgomery County voters has been resounding."

Filing will begin in November.
NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwired - February 03, 2017) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., reminds investors that they have until March 27, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), if they purchased the Company's securities between November 12, 2013 and December 14, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The action is pending in United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

What You May Do

If you purchased securities of Yahoo and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by March 27, 2017.

About the Lawsuit

Yahoo and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On September 22, 2016, Yahoo announced that hackers had obtained information in late 2014 on more than 500 million Yahoo accounts.

Then, on December 14, 2016, Yahoo disclosed that hackers stole data associated with more than one billion user accounts in August 2013. Yahoo further stated that it has not been able to identify the intrusion associated with this theft, but that it believes this incident is likely distinct from the hacking incident it disclosed on September 22, 2016.

On this news, the price of Yahoo's shares plummeted.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.
They still pour into Bridgeport  for well more than a hundred years now  the immigrants.

The faces and accents change over time, of course, the Irish, Italians, Germans, Hungarians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, followed by the Portuguese, Vietnamese, Laotians and the Brazilians and now, the Mexicans, Central and South Americans.

They came, once, for the jobs in the factories. Now, it is almost like a siphon at work. The flow works on its own.

These are dicey days for immigrants, whatever the stripe  legal, illegal, green card holders, people with accents, people who look different  in the age of President Trump.

On Stillman Street on the East Side of Bridgeport  deep into the East Side, where the scorched facades of abandoned tenements tower among the bodegas and the triple-deckers prickling with satellite TV dishes  is a little house where women have been helping immigrant women for more than 20 years.

It is called Caroline House and is run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. At Caroline House, when a woman comes for help, the nuns and staff dont ask her status. She gets help. Not just solace, but lessons in English and civics.

While the women study, Jean Fredricks, 73, and Nina Vlahos, 50, run a pre-school program for the womens children. The other day, with help from 22-year-old Taylor Barrow, a volunteer, they presided over a clutch of 11 little kids, three-and four-year-olds. They ate ziti and tomato sauce, salad and chicken tenders off paper plates at their little tables. It was a big day. Their mothers were graduating from one of the four levels of instruction offered at Caroline House.

Though it was a happy day, there was something disquieting in the air.

There is absolute dread, says Fredricks. And we see it in the children. They hear their parents talking at home. She speaks of one little boy who, on a recent morning, was crying after being left in the pre-school room. He said, Mommys leaving. Is she coming back?

On another day, I sat with a young woman, a client at Caroline House. Ill call her Maria. She is 30 years old and came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2008. The interview is brief because her husband is waiting outside for her and her four-year-old daughter is getting restless.

Marias English is halting, but much better she said, than when she arrived in this country and spoke no English. Her husband has a job and she cleans houses occasionally to supplement their income.

I am scared, she said, for the future, and for her husband, a so-called dreamer, an immigrant brought to this country as a youngster and was educated here. In Mexico, she said, there is no work, no..... Shes searching for a word. Opportunity, I offered. Yes, she said and smiled, No opportunity.

I come here for my daughter, for my husband, she said, words that seem to echo back over the generations before her.

Michael J. Daly is editor of the editorial page of the Connecticut Post. Email: mdaly@ctpost.com.
Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack is calling for every Montgomery County department to slash budgets by 5 percent for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

"I promised the citizens of Montgomery County that I would be their voice on the Commissioners Court," said Noack, who initially campaigned in 2012 on cutting the budget 5 percent. "They are demanding a more conservative and fiscally responsible government so we must exhaust every possibility when it comes to curtailing spending."

"If all county departments were to initiate a similar cut, Montgomery County could reduce its budget by nearly $17 million," Noack stated in his letter to department heads Friday.

All elected officials and department heads were notified of his request for the 5 percent in cuts to the $352 million budget. It was around $270 million when Noack was sworn into office for his first term four years ago.

"I was raised to lead by example, and if I am going to ask our department heads and elected officials to reduce their budgets by 5 percent, I better practice what I preach," stated Noack, who already worked with his staff members to determine where his precinct's cuts would be made.

"As we explore the feasibility of a 5 percent budget cut, we must also remain practical," Noack said. "I guarantee that neither public safety nor essential services will suffer as we bring about this spending reform."

Earlier this week, Noack proposed initiating a homestead exemption for Montgomery County homeowners. The county has the option to offer up to a 20 percent exemption but offers none at this time. Noack says a 10 percent homestead exemption, along with approving the effective tax rate for the coming year would result in taxpayer savings totalling more than reduced revenue to meet the $17 million goal.

Commissioners Court meets Feb. 14, and the homestead exemption item is expected to be on the agenda.

Montgomery County homeowners already can receive a school district exemption, as required by state law, and the county does offer an exemption to those over 65 years old. However, while state law allows for a local option homestead exemption for all homeowners, as well as a disability exemption, the county currently does not offer them.

Texas law, under the state's tax code, enables governing bodies of counties, municipalities and special districts the local option of adopting a homestead exemption up to 20 percent of the assessed value of a home. Meaning, the owner of a home with an assessed value of $100,000 would be taxed on $80,000 of the value.

Montgomery County's exemption for those 65 and older is $35,000. School districts also are required by law to provide a $25,000 exemption, and the Lone Star College System provides a 1 percent exemption. There also are state-mandated exemptions for disabled veterans and their surviving spouses.

According to a September article posted on the Texas Association of Counties website, 117 counties out of the 254 statewide offered the local option homestead exemption. Any homestead exemption would have to be approved by July 1 for it to take effect this year.

According to data, there is approximately $31.32 billion worth of assessed residential property value in Montgomery County, coming from 116,555 home sites with an average assessed value of $268,685.

With the current approved property tax rate of 46.67 cents per $100 valuation, there is approximately $146.2 million in tax revenue generated from residential property before any exemptions are taken into account.

Based on those figures, the maximum 20 percent homestead exemption could provide tax relief of up to $29.2 million combined for Montgomery County homeowners. A 10 percent exemption would result in half the savings.

Noack also proposed a 1-cent reduction in the county property tax rate for the 2016-17 fiscal year, which was approved by the court.
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STAMFORD  Every Sunday, Shaimah Hamdan, a Muslim woman of Palestinian descent, leads a religious class at Al Madany Islamic Center of Norwalk, a spiritual home she shares with hundreds of Fairfield County Muslims.

Hamdan, a board member at the mosque, teaches adolescent girls, a group that often struggles with their Muslim identity as they come of age.

Its hard to hear some of the things they go through, said Hamdan, 28, whose face is usually framed by a silky hijab.

Back in my youth days, I had my scarf pulled off. I was called a terrorist. To hear them talk  some of the jokes have gone too far. A girl takes out a pencil and someone says, Are you pulling out a bomb? I told them thats not a joke. But they dont know how to react. They dont want to feel like its bullying. They want to believe that person still likes them. It was difficult hearing because I havent gone through that in a while.

Hamdan and her husband, Fadi El-Ghussein, 35, moved to Stamford from New Hampshire in 2014. El-Ghussein is a senior design engineer at ASML in Wilton. Hamdan is a quality project manager for Stamford Health Medical Group. Her office is a short walk from the couples downtown apartment.

Like an estimated 150,000 Muslims drawn by jobs, education and family, Hamdan and El-Ghussein call Connecticut home. And despite a hostile political climate  especially since President Donald Trumps executive order banning immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries, which a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked  the couple has generally found Stamford to be welcoming.

Still, many Muslims, Hamdan said, want to change how Americans perceive and talk about Islam.

We dont always have the platform to claim our religion, she said. It has been hijacked for some time.

This is especially true for Muslim women, often stereotyped for wearing headscarves  called hijabs  and practicing Islamic courtship, customs that Hamdan strongly defends.

I know theres a lot of controversy surrounding Muslim women, she said, but I attain my rights as a woman not in spite of my religion, but because of my religion.

A friend introduced Hamdan and her husband in January 2012. They first met in Chicago with both sets of parents, El-Ghussein and his family traveling from Kansas City, Mo. By March, they were engaged.

We didnt date; we cant date, said Hamdan, who grew up in North Carolina. I can get to know him and he can get to know me for as long as we want, but theres no physical touch. We get to know each others goals, future outlook, compatibility.

Its a misconception, she said, that Muslim women are forced into arranged marriages.

He came with pure intentions, said Hamdan, whose smile grows when she talks about her husband, who is attentive and soft-spoken.

I often say this to people who ask me about my marriage: He respected me enough to come to my family through the right means, and so he won the great prize of seeing me without my scarf. I dont show my hair to men who arent related to me.

I think the process that Muslims have to go through shows he is dedicated, she continued. Then afterward the physical part comes and he gets to see my beauty without the scarf. Its a nice treat, I guess.

Sign of liberation

In most cases, a woman chooses whether to wear a hijab, said Samia Hussein, board president of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut.

Its really putting the power in the womans hands, she said. She is choosing who can and cant see her body and get to know her on a more individual level based on her character.

There are many people who think its a sign of oppression, but really its a sign of liberation.

Many say its empowering.

The perception of having a Muslim woman in the workplace and wearing a headscarf is very important for other people to see and other Muslim women to see, said Safia Hussain, 32, who works in Stamford with low-income families receiving Women, Infants and Children assistance. She wears a headscarf to work.

Hussain and her husband moved to Stamford from Texas after she got a job here. Stamford is close to her in-laws in Queens, N.Y. And compared to the southwest, Fairfield County has been welcoming, if lacking the vibrancy of Muslim communities in denser urban areas. Her clients are mostly unfazed by her hijab.

Ive heard comments, but they werent outwardly racist, she said. It was more because it was unknown and unfamiliar. It changes once I start talking to them as their health care practitioner.

But some comments are ridiculous, Hussain says. Ive had co-workers who have been like, You can drive yourself? Your dad doesnt drop you off at work?

Pioneering generation

Although worldwide Muslim men have more formal schooling than Muslim women  the education gap between them is large compared to other religious groups  Muslim women are beginning to make greater educational gains than their male counterparts, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center study.

This trend has been apparent for generations in the U.S. Many first-generation Muslim women are doctors, engineers, lawyers and entrepreneurs.

They are women like Zeba Iqbal, 47, who has an MBA from George Washington University and has worked for Princeton University and Ernst & Young. She moved to Stamford from New York City after marrying her husband, who runs an e-commerce business and has lived here since 1991. The couple has an infant son.

My parents were really that pioneering generation, and mine is a very typical Muslim immigrant story, Iqbal said. My parents put a very high priority on making sure we had Muslim infrastructure. And if we didnt go to Sunday school, they made sure we were taught at home.

Iqbal, a Muslim of Indian descent, found her career path shaped by 9/11. The terror attack prompted her to become involved in advocacy, and she went on to serve as executive director at the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals.

As a Generation X Muslim, her life was shaped by 9/11 in a way that younger generations will not experience, she said.

Millennial Muslims were traumatized in a different way by 9/11, she said. They were in school at the time and internalized it very differently  I was lucky I had a complete childhood and young adulthood that had nothing like that around. I had a lot of freedom to explore every aspect of my identity.

Beautiful challenge

Many of Fairfield Countys Muslim women are new immigrants. Basmah Jassem, 33, moved to Greenwich six years ago when her husband landed a job at Gartner in Stamford.

The couple moved from Jordan. They have three children, ages 2, 6 and 8. A former computer game designer of Iraqi and Syrian descent, Jassem met her husband while pursuing her masters degree in England.

Although Jassem and her family are members of Al Madany in Norwalk, hers is one of few Muslim families in Greenwich  a situation, along with adapting to life in the U.S., she views as a beautiful challenge.

Theres a spotlight on you, she said. If you do something good, it doesnt always show. But if you do something bad, youre afraid of getting labeled because youre a minority.

Jassem is involved with her childrens school and has met with Greenwich women to talk about her religion. Some of them told us theyve never really talked to someone who was Muslim, she said.

In the wake of Trumps executive order last week, Jassem is worried about the trips her family takes to Jordan. But its not enough to stop her from going this summer (she said her children would be allowed to return, but she may face problems). A holder of Iraqi and Jordanian passports, Jassem says shes used to being stopped at airports.

It really hit home, she said last week, over a pot of chai tea in Greenwich, with Lujane, 2, on her lap. Jassem wore a hijab with red flowers and black Converse sneakers.

This is the first time that something comes up and its really on me, because Im a green-card holder and with all thats going on, theres a big chance that if I travel to Jordan, there will be complications for me to return.

In America and abroad, Jassem sees misbeliefs about Islam, including how the word jihad is interpreted.

Jihad is a self struggle, she said. So my jihad can be waking up in the morning to my baby. For some people, jihad is waking up at 5 in the morning to pray.

Women like Jessem and Hamdan, who are friends, are dedicated to educating people about Islam.

Hamdan says if theres something a non-Muslim wants to know about a Muslim, just ask.

And at the same time, Muslims should continue to proudly own their faith, she says.

If Im fearful or I try to hide my Islamic identity, then that fear, that hate, has won  and Im not going to allow it, she said. In fact, Im going to go out there and be more proud of my faith.

eskalka@stamfordadvocate.com
The Angriest is a blog by award-winning Australian playwright and science fiction critic Grant Watson. Current regular features on this blog include episode-by-episode rewatches of Star Trek, a weekly comic book review column called The Pull List, and occassional reviews of Akira Kurosawa's films in chronological order.





In 2016 Grant was awarded Best Fan Writer at the Australian Science Fiction Achievement "Ditmar" Awards.

You might also like to check out FictionMachine , which is where Grant puts all of his full-length film criticism.
FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
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The week after a Texas A&M fraternity reported a brother was found dead in their house following a weekend party, another Texas frat is in hot water as well.

The Beta Theta chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity has been temporarily removed from the Texas Christian University campus after a series of hazing and drug dealing incidents, student media group TCU 360 reports. The media group based its report upon information in an email from Kathy Cavins-Tull, vice chancellor of student affairs at TCU.

TEXAS FRAT TROUBLE: Fraternity suspends Texas A&M Sigma Nu chapter after student's death

"The university believed that there were some things happening in the Phi Kappa Sigma chapter that put their members and their chapter at risk," Cavins-Tull told TCU 360 via email. "In trying to find solutions, we decided that closing the chapter for a period of time was the best solution."

The chapter will be closed for the next 18 months, according to the report. Chapter leaders hope the fraternity chapter will be reinstated by 2018.

In an email sent to other chapter members, Clayton Reis, the president of the fraternity at the time of dismissal, told his brothers what was happening in the house that caused the fraternity to close down.

In the email, Reis admits that some fraternity house residents were in possession of drugs, guns, and alcohol and admitted that "multiple Phi Kaps were dealing drugs, including a member in the house dealing some extremely hard drugs."

OTHER TEXAS SCHOOLS: Baylor University frat president charged with sex assault outside party, reports say

In two of the last three years, the fraternity was caught by school officials for hazing, among other behaviors not approved by the school and national chapter regulations.

Reis ended the email to his former fraternity with words of regret but love for his brothers.

"There was behavior that was accepted by a lot of you and that is why this happened. And ultimately because I did not stop these things from happening, it's a poor reflection on my ability to condemn that behavior," Reis wrote.

"That being said, I still love you guys and know everybody makes mistakes. I just wish it did not have to end."

PARTY ALERT: Here is the top party school in every state
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Memorandums sent to four fraternities at Texas State detailing their suspensions  one for up to 5 years  shed new light on the events of an October party held at the same venue a female student was found dead under a bus.

A university investigation found Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order and Delta Tau Delta each participated in hazing and serving minors, among other violations including submitting false documents to Texas State, according to the memorandums obtained by mySA.com.

Local law enforcement agencies called to Cool River Ranch for the Oct. 28, 2016 party found vomit in the facility's bathrooms, and passed out party-goers throughout the area. Additionally, the university investigation revealed that EMS officials were called to the party the night before a 20-year-old was found dead.

RELATED: Texas State fraternity suspends operations in wake of death of 20-year-old student

"The investigation found that attendees were intoxicated to the point of being unconscious as they laid on the ground or being intoxicated to the point of throwing up," each memorandum states.

In the notice sent to Alpha Tau Omega, officials said the fraternity was found to have texted a chapter member to tell university officials that the party was not one of their events, drinks were not being served from the bar and that everyone had their own drinks. However, the investigation found the fraternities were responsible for serving beer and boxed wine at the event.

Moreover, the fraternities were unable to provide the university with sufficient evidence that identification of minors was properly checked.

RELATED: 20-year-old Texas State sorority member found dead under bus near San Marcos River

The morning after the party, the body of Jordin Taylor, a 20-year-old Alpha Delta Pi sorority member and respiratory care freshman, was found near Cool River Ranch underneath a bus after being dragged 500 feet, officials said.

Guadalupe County Sheriff Arnold Zwicke said Taylor's cause of death was "consistent with being stuck and dragged by the bus" and "appears to be an accident."

Click through the slideshow above to see five of the most shocking revelations about the party where Jordin Taylor was found dead.

University spokesman Matt Flores avoided connecting the fraternity infractions directly to Taylor's death, but the party site and date mentioned in the documents matches the site and date where Taylor was found dead.

On what appears to be Taylor's Twitter account, she favorited a tweet posted Oct. 27 containing an image promoting a "Monster Mash" party hosted by Delta Tau Delta, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha and Pi Kappa Alpha Order fraternities  the fraternities facing suspension for their alleged actions.

The flier image did not include a date or location for the "Monster Mash" party.

On Nov. 1, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity released a statement that the chapter voluntarily suspended all operations in the wake of Taylor's death.

Staff writer Madalyn Mendoza contributed to this report.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
Brazos County Jail

A 36-year-old man was arrested on Texas A&M University's campus Tuesday after he allegedly attacked a co-worker with a pitchfork.

Carl Jackson Turner Jr., 36, now faces an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge. He remains in the Brazos County Jail on a $10,000 bond, jail records show.




Burn A Feed





------- flyfishyellowstone.blogspot.comThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License -------Please enjoy the wallpapers and other graphic content on your home computer or in personal emails.-------No materials may be used for commercial purposes. Thank you.
An independent woman who raised her daughter by herself after her husband was killed during World War II, Joanna J. Schmidt Churchill never saw a need to remarry.

Starting a career with the Wisconsin Telephone Company, Churchill joined what is now called the Pioneers, a service organization whose members work in the telecommunications field.

Going on various excursions with the group to do service projects, Churchill nurtured a passion for travel, eventually visiting the Pacific Rim, Europe and South America.

She especially loved New Zealand, staying at a bed and breakfast on a farm for months at a time.

She said if she could, she would go and live there, her daughter Jane Churchill said. It was her favorite place.

Churchill died Jan. 29 at 91.

The oldest of three children, Churchill was raised on San Antonios South Side, graduating from Brackenridge High School in 1943.

Though she wanted to go to college to become a journalist, money was scarce and Churchill instead began working.

She worked at Frost Bank during the war, her daughter said. The men were overseas, so she became a runner, carrying money, checks and documents all over San Antonio.

She met her future husband, who was in town for training with the Army Air Forces, at a dance. The couple married in 1944.

More Information Joanna J. Schmidt Churchill Born: Nov. 3, 1925, Fort Worth Died: Jan. 29, 2017, Cedar Park Preceded by: Parents Milton H. and Lillian Karp Schmidt. Survived by: Daughter Jane Ann Churchill and son-law Brian Graham; two brothers. Services: Visitation at 10 a.m., memorial service at 11 a.m., both Friday at Hope Lutheran Church in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. See More Collapse

Pregnant with their daughter by the time her husband was sent overseas, Churchill moved to Wisconsin to live with her in-laws, keeping the books for their commercial dairy farm.

Deciding to stay after receiving news of her husbands death, Churchill raised her daughter on the farm and later in town.

I was a latchkey child, Jane Churchill said. After school I had to call my mother and let her know I was home, and later on I fixed the supper.

Hired by Wisconsin Telephone Company in the early 1960s, Churchill later transferred to San Antonio to work with Southwestern Bell Telephone.

She made another move to the San Francisco Bay area to work for Pacific Bell, and later AT&T, at the time of her retirement in 1988.

Although she dated through the years, Churchill was content to be alone.

She didnt want to be dependent on anybody, her daughter said.

mheidbrink@express-news.net
Will President Donald Trumps election spur a new wave of political activism, particularly among those who are alarmed by his rise to power?

Probably. The marches around the nation on Jan. 21 showed that many Americans are motivated to become more involved citizens.

Will this heightened interest lead to major increases in voter turnout for municipal elections, such as San Antonios May 6 date to make mayoral, City Council and bond decisions?

That remains to be seen, but history indicates the San Antonio turnout likely will be anemic as usual.

After former President Barack Obamas election and the push for Obamacare helped spawn the tea party movement in 2009, a crowded San Antonio mayoral ballot attracted a dismal 11.61 percent turnout. Former Mayor Julian Castro won his first term in that election, which featured significant opposition.

Castro was easily re-elected in 2011 and 2013. Those elections drew 7.07 and 6.94 percent of registered voters, respectively.

The 2015 showdown between Mayor Ivy Taylor and three well-known opponents drew 11.89 percent of registered voters.

Still, those eligible to vote have the power to reverse the trend.

A new wave of civic activism and voter participation would be welcome in San Antonio and across the nation. A recently released study by Portland State University (first reported in the Lone Star State by the Texas Tribunes Ross Ramsey) found low mayoral election participation in most of the countrys 50 largest cities.

Turnout in 10 of Americas largest cities was less than 15 percent in the most recent mayoral election, the study found.

Of the top 30, San Antonio was fourth from the bottom. Fort Worth and Dallas fared worse.

The study found that the median age of voters participating in San Antonios 2015 mayoral election was 63.

The researchers key conclusion was hardly a surprise. The results show that in most cities few people vote in mayoral elections, and those who do vote tend to be older and more affluent than the population at large and less likely to be people of color.

Any street-level election hack worth his or her salt could have confirmed that, but having the data in hand helps reinforce the message that we have a serious problem.

Heres another key part of the researchers analysis of the national situation: City residents 65 and older were 15 times more likely to cast a ballot than younger residents between the ages of 18 and 34.

Apathy is a real problem, and worst among young people. Finding a way to inspire participation among all demographic groups is the hard part.

Researchers noted that 75 percent of the nations largest cities have their mayoral elections in odd-numbered years, and some cities have moved their city votes to the same day as the presidential or gubernatorial election.

That move increased turnout, but questions remain about whether it is reasonable to assume that presidential election voters have the time or inclination to study city issues simultaneously. And that alignment adds a stronger partisan dimension to nonpartisan municipal elections.

In the meantime, increased activism inspired by the national political situation is a positive development, and hopefully that inspiration will spill into city campaigns. San Antonio and other municipalities need all the voter interest they can get.

Whether you embrace or abhor recent national political developments, voting in every possible election is a citizens duty and most important method of influencing government.

The good news for San Antonians is that they have time to register for the May 6 election. April 6 is the registration deadline for eligibility to participate in this years mayoral election.

If you dont vote, bad government is as much your fault as it is the fault of those who make bad decisions at the ballot box.

bdavidson@express-news.net
President Donald Trumps executive orders on immigration are based on a myth that our country is being invaded by immigrants who are dangerous criminals. The facts, however, demonstrate the following:

Unlawful border crossings are at the lowest level in decades.

Immigrants are much less likely to engage in criminal activity, especially violent crimes and property crimes.

As the foreign-born population in the U.S. increases, crime rates have dropped.

Native-born individuals are two to five times more likely to be incarcerated.

The U.S. is already removing record numbers of individuals.

These executive orders will hurt South Texas. Every dollar spent on incarcerating and prosecuting immigrants, building a wall (which we already have along much of the border), and tripling the number of Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers is a dollar that we desperately need to educate our children, improve our health care and address our infrastructure needs.

Our border communities will suffer when they are no longer welcoming to Mexican visitors who spend money at U.S. businesses. Our law enforcement agencies will lose the confidence of entire neighborhoods and be viewed with suspicion rather than as trusted allies.

As with the Secure Fence Act of 2006, Washington will once again attempt to impose its will on our communities, regardless of the damage.

We need to remind our elected officials that the border is a vibrant, wonderful place to live, not a lawless, violent wasteland. A wall will not make us stronger or safer. It will divide families and communities, waste money, deprive landowners of full enjoyment of their property and damage the environment at a cost our communities cannot afford.

In the broader context, the heavy hand of enforcement should be concerning to all citizens. The new executive order prioritizes for deportation anyone convicted of a criminal offense, anyone charged with a criminal offense, or anyone who has committed acts that constitute a criminal offense. Thus, the bedrock principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty will only apply to people who can prove they are U.S. citizens. All others can be swept up and swiftly removed from the country without the right to stand trial.

This is a dangerous precedent to set. Once we begin to whittle away the fundamental rights of certain people in our society, we run the risk of losing those rights ourselves. A policy that prioritizes all criminal offenses, regardless of whether a person is convicted or even formally charged, gives license to law enforcement to accuse anyone of a crime in order to have the person deported.

If Trump were actually concerned about protecting the country from violent offenders, then the enforcement priorities should reflect that. Instead, the executive orders will allow the administration to have open season on immigrants in order to boost numbers and score political points with the xenophobes who voted him into office.

Finally, the bans on refugees and visas for immigrants from certain Muslim-majority nations signal to the world that we are no longer willing to comply with our international obligations. We have all seen photos of people literally dying to flee violence, war and persecution in their countries. Yet we are to believe that refugees are coming to harm us and commit terrorist attacks? There is no evidence to support these fears.

This is a time to ask who we want to be as a nation. Will we honor the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty and welcome the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free? Will we protect those who have already made it to our shores and are working hard to achieve the American dream?

I hope so. But it will not come easy. It will take a lot of work to dispel the myths, reject the fear and stand up for those who are in the shadows.

I am ready to do that work, and I hope that many of you will join me.

Erica B. Schommer is a clinical assistant professor of law at St. Marys University School of Law and specializes in immigration and human rights law.
Despite a decline in teen pregnancy rates across the country, Texas still has one of the highest number of babies born to teenage mothers.

Nationally, there are 31 births per 1,000 teenagers, while in Texas the rate is 46.9 births. In San Antonio, 22 percent of the 2,412 babies born in 2014 were the second children of teen moms.

State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, a registered nurse, former school board member and volunteer in the campaign against teen pregnancy, is well aware of the statistics and wants the state to get involved in lowering them.

She has introduced legislation to fund a pilot program based in six public school districts to provide long-acting reversible contraceptives to high school students. Students younger than 18 would need parental consent.

Howard cites the success of a program in Colorado that provides long-acting birth control to teenagers and low-income women. That program saw a 40 percent drop in the birthrate among teenagers between 2009 and 2013, and the abortion rate fell by 42 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Reducing the teen pregnancy rate could have a profound effect on the Texas economy. It would help more students remain in school through graduation and beyond, making them better prepared to enter the workforce. It would also reduce public health care costs and the number of abortions in the state, Howard said.

Howards bill seeks state funding, but she is leaving the door open for private funding of the project.

I am convinced there are foundations that would invest in a project like this, Howard said.

She is prepared for pushback on her bill from her colleagues in the Legislature. Competition for funding is fierce because of the grim revenue projection for the next biennium. However, she is convinced she will gain supporters when they realize that close to 80 percent of teen pregnancies are paid for by Medicaid.

Howard also points out that many pregnant teens do not receive the prenatal care they need and their babies end up in neonatal intensive care units.

There are some programs in place to provide long-acting reversible contraceptives, often referred to as LARC.

In 2014, San Antonio received federal funds to provide free IUDS and hormonal implants to teenagers, and it is estimated that 250 teens receive services through that program each year, the Express-News reported.

Regrettably, not all Texas communities have equal access to such programs.

Howards legislation would establish six pilot programs in districts with diverse demographics. They would include a district in an urban area, one in a rural area, in a property-tax wealthy district, a non-property-tax wealthy district, a district with high teen pregnancy rates, and one with a rate below the national average.

We recognize that school districts are overburdened with noneducation-related directives. This would be one more added to their list. However, school districts offer the best access to the population in need of this service.

Teen contraception will be an immediate red flag for many, but we urge legislators to take a bigger-picture view of the issue and give it committee support. And, we repeat, the program would require parental consent for those younger than 18.

Teen pregnancy is one of the primary reasons girls drop out of school. It is also closely linked to cycles of poverty and poor health. And the entire state pays when these cycles are allowed to continue.

Public policy and access to contraception can help change that.
Support all students

Re: More school choice is rallying cry; Some lawmakers agree with crowd at Capitol, but others dont, Metro, Jan. 25:

As a half of a childless couple, I was surprised by Kathryn Dormadys argument she should not have to pay taxes to support public schools because her children attend private schools. By that logic, my wife and I shouldnt pay school-supporting taxes at all. Moreover, Ms. Dormady wants public tax dollars to fund a portion of her childs private education.

Id suggest she abandon her tax argument unless she wants the value of Lt. Gov. Dan Patricks proposed education savings accounts (or whatever name they use for school vouchers next) to be greatly reduced. For if she shouldnt pay taxes for public education, why should I pay taxes to educate her children at all?

My wife and I pay our taxes in the expectation that they support all children  not just those who can find a private school to accept them.

William O. Pate II

A heavy toll

Re: Agency backing 1604 toll lanes, front page, Jan. 24:

It seems that if taxpayer funds are used to build roads, then taxpayers should have free use of said road. This road is at least 20 years behind trying to keep up with North Side growth.

Im OK with toll roads, but give the taxpayer who funded this project a discount when using it.

Charles Ogle

Price of populism

Re: North American trade war feared after talk of tax, front page, Jan. 27:

President Donald Trump says the wall could be financed by a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports.

Who pays these tariffs? The American public would pay because suppliers to American consumers would have to raise prices on Mexican goods to recover higher costs that now would include a 20 percent tariff.

What does Mexico export to the U.S.? Automobiles, delivery trucks, auto parts, electronics, televisions, computers, cellphones, crude oil, fruits, vegetables and beer. All may be 20 percent more expensive to the American consumer.

And in Trumps trade war, Mexico will almost certainly impose its own tariffs on major imports from the U.S., including engines, pumps, vehicles, refined oil, plastics, medical equipment, tires, corn, soybeans and steel.

Higher prices for Mexican consumers will result in lower demand for American products. So, in addition to higher prices for every American consumer driving a vehicle built in Mexico to a restaurant serving guacamole and margaritas, American producers exporting to Mexico will see lower sales.

If this is populism, leave me out.

Reagin McAllister

What gives?

Let me see if I have this correct.

First, the Democrats and the mainstream press said President Donald Trump wasnt a legitimate president because the election was jeopardized.

Now, when Trump questions voter fraud, they say, You won; you are legitimate.

A.J. Clark

To tell the truth

Re: Vote fraud claims repeatedly found to be unproven, Nation, Jan. 27:

Alternative facts can exist only in an alternative universe.

The best response would have been, Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?

Rick Reyes, Boerne

True prayers

Re: Trumps dressed to impress, Nation & World, Jan. 21:

The Rev. Robert Jeffress has established a reputation for thrashing Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, gays and President Barack Obama.

Apparently, none of this kept Donald Trump from inviting him to deliver the sermon at a prayer service preceding the inaugural ceremony. And the good reverend assured the new president that God would not oppose walling out Mexicans.

All this is in stark contrast to the mood set later at the National Cathedrals public prayer service, where various faith leaders prayed for the nation, for peace, justice, charity and for dismantling the obstacles (walls) that deter good will among people.

The new president would do well to ponder these particular prayers.

Roger Siptak

Choosing to boycott

Re: Lost patriotism, Your Turn, Jan. 25:

Your disgust should be directed where it belongs  at Donald Trump, perhaps the biggest liar in political history. According to the PolitiFact.com/truth-o-meter, during the campaign, 72 percent of his statements were lies.

The choice not to attend is a freedom that makes the U.S.A. the great nation that it is.

Carlota Sierra

Tweet strategy

For many of us who believe we have the first president in U.S. history who is neither qualified nor competent, there remains the problem of what to do about it.

I have an idea: Lets keep quoting back to him what he actually says to provide accurate summaries of his behavior. Unlike other public figures, he is incapable of just letting it roll off him. No, he must tweet a nasty response, no matter how absurd his comment. He will be so busy responding that he wont have time to mess up the country. And hell end up alienating nearly everyone. Then you can take it from there.

Richard S. Pressman

New circus in town

Isnt it ironic that Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is ending its great historical journey in America, while the Trump cortege arrived in all its splendor in Washington, D.C.?

Of course, no disrespect to Ringling Brothers.

Lawrence Kohler

Why the pardons?

I dont know why we give our presidents the power to pardon criminals. Isnt our justice system supposed to make that determination?

Barack Obama (and other presidents) put people back on the street who are most certainly going to kill people.

Its time for a constitutional amendment  now.

Kelly S. McMakin
Naming and shaming successful business people perceived to be corrupt breeds fertile ground for extortionists, Zanu PF acting secretary for administration Cde Patrick Chinamasa has said.

Cde Chinamasa said where any citizen has evidence of corruption against any person the correct procedure is to report to Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), Zimbabwe Republic Police or Prosecutor General so that the allegations can be investigated.

Naming and shaming that targets perceived successful business people be they black or white, breeds fertile ground for extortionists, rent seeking behaviour and will have one outcome, that is haunting such people out of the country into exile which will not help this economy whose growth must be driven by local business people.

It is on the back of the local business people that foreign investors will invest in Zimbabwe and will feel that Zimbabwe is open for business. What this country needs for its economic success is entrepreneurship. If we can help to grow 10 or so Strive Masiyiwas in each of our 10 provinces we would be on the road to meeting our Presidents Vision 2030 target of becoming an upper middle income country, whose growth must be driven by local business people, he said.

In addition, he said Zanu PF cadres especially those in leadership positions can never be said to speak in public in their individual or personal capacities.

If such leaders hold any personal views on politics and public affairs and such personal views differ from the Partys position and policies, they can only express such contrary views at their homes. Otherwise they are not justified to complain where consequences follow their actions. Cadres in leadership positions cannot articulate in public statements which are contrary to party policies and positions.

 Herald

Breaking News via Email
This Real News Network report focuses on one of what is becoming a large number of instances where climate models have underestimated the speed of climate change.



DIMITRI LASCARIS: This is Dimitri Lascaris for The Real News.

According to independent analyses by NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earth 2016 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880. This makes 2016 the third year in a row to set a new record for global average surface temperatures. Heat records for the Arctic were also broken, and to a stunning degree. According to satellite data, the 2016 Arctic sea ice minimum extent, is effectively tied with 2007, for the second-lowest yearly minimum in the satellite records.

Climate scientists have been saying that, What happens in the Arctic, doesnt stay in the Arctic. To help us understand why we should be very concerned about the dramatic shifts we are seeing in the far north, we are joined by Dr. David Barber. Dr. Barber is a specialist in sea ice and climate change, at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science, and has over 30 years experience working in the Arctic. He leads a research group of more than 125 persons. Hes published over 140 papers in peer-reviewed literature, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and is also an Officer of the Order of Canada. Dr. Barber, thank you for joining us today.

DAVID BARBER: Nice to be here, Dimitri.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Id like to begin by asking you to describe for us, in general terms, the effect that the planets warming is having now on Arctic sea ice.

DAVID BARBER: Well, a good way to think about it is the planet, as a whole, as it changes temperature, as it increases in temperature, it has a disproportionate effect as a function of latitude of the planet. Weve increased by about 1 degree Celsius globally across the entire planet. But in the Arctic, weve increased, on average, two to three times that, relative to the rest of the planet.

And the reason for that is, the Arctic is an ocean covered by sea ice, and that sea ice is white. So, when you have solar insulation on the surface, it reflects that energy from the sun back to space when the white cover is there; when there is no white cover there, its a dark ocean and it absorbs that energy from the sun into the ocean. You then have to get rid of all that energy for sea ice to form in the fall, and that is one of the main reasons why were seeing an amplification of this global warming signal in the Arctic.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Now, the polar bear has become a symbol internationally for the dwindling ice floe. But as we all know, the Arctic and the areas adjacent to the Arctic are quite sparsely populated. Why should those of us living in the more heavily populated parts of the planet be concerned about whats happening in the Arctic?

DAVID BARBER: Well, I think there are many different reasons. One, is that people are very concerned about the Arctic itself, so if you really like polar bears, youre very concerned about that issue the polar bears are having relative to their habitat. But if youre more, sort of self-oriented, youre thinking about your own personal situation, theres also growing evidence that the changes that are going on in the Arctic are affecting other parts of the planet.

There are a number of different kinds of effects, and we call these things tele-connections. So, what happens on one part of the planet doesnt just stay there, it affects other parts of the planet as well. This is not so surprising, because we all live on this single blue planet orbiting out there in space. And so we have to be concerned about our overall habitat as a human species, and the effects that climate change is having on that habitat.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Its my understanding that at one point in the fairly distant past, after the melting of massive levels of ice in North America, there was a dramatic cooling in Europe as a result of a change in the temperature of the flow of waters in the northern Atlantic.

Is that a scenario, that kind of scenario, one with respect to which theres a significant risk of a recurrence? That something along the lines of, for example, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet could have a dramatic effect on the climate in Europe, or other parts of the Northern Hemisphere?

DAVID BARBER: Yeah. What youre speaking of is what happens with meridional overturning in the North Atlantic. This is the way that deep water is formed on our planets oceans. And sea ice plays a very important role in that overall process of how ocean energy is circulated around the planet.

Now, historically, weve always felt that the amount of fresh water that you introduce to the North Atlantic had to be a very large amount of fresh water, for you to be able to slow down this overturning of this North Atlantic circulation. And of course, that fresh water historically has done that. And there is evidence from a paleoclimate record.

Paleoclimate records are when we go back and study different proxies of how the climate is changing. We can see, very dramatically, shifts, and very dramatic changes, based on the historical evidence in the Greenland ice sheet, for example. But also from other ice sheets around the planet, that there have been occurrences in the past where very significant, and relatively rapid changes have happened to our climate system. So, as climate scientists, were very concerned about that because it basically tells us that our planet is capable of shifting to another stable state relatively rapidly.

Now, whether this will happen or not, based on our changing climate in the Arctic, we really dont know. And a lot of scientists are working on this around the planet, to try to figure out how sensitive the climate system is.

I think the take-home message for the public is that, we should not be experimenting with releasing very large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere more quickly than anything our planet has seen before in its historical past, because the climate is very capable of changing to another stable state and, of course, thats not a good thing for us as a human species.

The displacement of people due to climate is a very big concern for us, because there are so many of us on the planet. And we dont have a whole lot of, just sort of free room, to go and move to, once we have a climate problem in one part of the planet. So, it is a big sensitive issue, and something we have to pay attention to as humans inhabiting this particular planet.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And thus far, weve been talking about the effect on ice of global warming in the northern hemisphere. What are we seeing in Antarctica currently? What are the current trends telling us?

DAVID BARBER: Well, its complicated, just like it is in the Arctic. But the general thing you see in the media is that the sea ice in the southern hemisphere is not shrinking as quickly as the sea ice in the northern hemisphere is. And thats very true. But its also very expected by us who work on sea ice. And the reason for that is, that the southern hemisphere is a very large land mass thats covered with a very large glacier situated right in the center of the southern pole, and then surrounding it you have this sea ice.

So, you have this very large cold source, that is losing mass quickly to the oceans, which is increasing the amount of fresh water that goes into the marine system in the Antarctic. And that causes sea ice to actually grow more efficiently.

In the northern hemisphere, we have an ocean surrounded by continents, which is a much different scenario. As we lose that sea ice in the northern hemisphere, we go back to this issue of a dark surface, versus a white surface, and that dark surface speeds up the removal of more sea ice in the northern hemisphere. So, thats why were losing so much sea ice in the North Pole, relative to the South Pole.

Both of them are giving us very strong signals that this global scale record that we have, this global scale increase in temperature, is affecting both poles very substantially. And of course, the other big thing in the southern hemisphere is all this land ice. Its the removal of that land ice into the ocean system, which then eventually melts, which leads to sea level rise. So, these are very important issues, both for the southern hemisphere, and the northern hemisphere.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Id like to conclude by talking a little bit about sea level rise. As weve discussed previously on The Real News, and as many of our viewers will know, in late 2015, the global community came together in Paris to enter into an international climate accord. Which established, as an aspirational goal, that we keep the global temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, and set a somewhat harder cap of 2 degrees Celsius.

However, the emission reduction targets that have been submitted thus far, by the states that have acceded to that treaty, the scientific community is telling us, will result  if those emission reduction targets are satisfied but not exceeded  will result in global warming in excess of 3 degrees Celsius, perhaps closer to 4 degrees Celsius.

If the global community satisfies its current emission reduction targets, but does not exceed them, what kind of sea level rise do you think we will experience in this century?

DAVID BARBER: Well, first of all, Im not a specialist in sea level rise, so Im a little bit uncomfortable with giving you numbers. Id rather talk more about the implications of this. What were seeing in the Arctic with the current situation, is that the cryosphere  so those portions of the earths system that are frozen, so lake ice, sea ice, glacial ice - all of them are being affected. Theyre all melting.

The Greenland ice sheet, were losing mass from it about 600% faster than what we expected. And of course, its the glacial ice masses that are really causing the sea level rise issue to be such an issue.

DIMITRI LASCARIS:  you said 600% more than what you expected. Do you mean, what you expected taking into account warming trends resulting from the introduction of CO2 into the atmosphere? Or, are you talking about historical melting, before the fossil fuels era?

DAVID BARBER: Thats mmm. I think the quote that Im thinking of, is 600% faster than what current models project. Thats based on greenhouse gas effects on the Greenland ice sheet. So, the situation is a serious one. Now, we also used to think that the Greenland ice sheet, and the ice sheets in the Antarctic, for instance, were a much slower process to lose mass to the ocean. Were finding that they actually lose mass quite quickly, when you have ice shelves in particular, where these glacial features grow out over an ocean.

This is an issue for us in the northern hemisphere, when we have these fjords that are covered with ice shelves that come out overtop of the marine system. And theyre a big concern in the Antarctic, where you have large ones that come out overtop the southern ocean.

Now, when you think about the sea level rise that results from that, our models right now, almost all the models we use in climate science, are conservative, relative to what were seeing when we go out and do field studies. Thats a general statement thats true across both hemispheres. If we were to start if we were to not meet our goals that we have, we will be in serious trouble if sea level rise within this century. One of the big concerns I have, is getting away from the very dirty fossil fuels.

So, the idea of coal, and how were going to use coal historically across our planet, transitioning to more greenhouse gas-friendly types of hydrocarbons, natural gas in particular. So, I think its a big concern and something we have to get the politicians to realize, is that theyre trying to set targets for things that appear to be happening much faster than our models are predicting. So, the models are giving us even a bit of a sense of optimism, when they really shouldnt be, because the observations are much more dramatic than the models predict.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Right. Well, that happens to be precisely why we at The Real News are establishing a new climate change bureau, because we think its all the scientists, like yourself, weve had on the program, and weve had many, have emphasized the need for our policymakers, our governments, to achieve a level of seriousness about the climate crisis that they havent demonstrated thus far, because otherwise we will be in serious trouble.

And for that reason, we thank you for joining us today, Dr. Barber, and Im sure well have the opportunity, or hope to have the opportunity, to speak to you again.

DAVID BARBER: Nice chatting with you. Have a good one.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: You, too. This is Dimitri Lascaris for The Real News.
Photo: Great gray owl finds balance TreeHugger (resilc)

The Computational Foundation of Life Quanta (Chuck L)

Math and the Best Life  an Interview With Francis Su Quanta (Chuck L)

Radiation Levels Are Soaring Inside the Damaged Fukushima Nuclear Plant Gizmodo (Selva)

FCC rescinds claim that AT&T and Verizon violated net neutrality ars technica (Dan K)

Back to the 40s! Why rationing is making a comeback Guardian (Joe H)

Veg crisis, what veg crisis? If we cant have courgettes, then let us eat kale Guardian (Joe H)

Our research in Chinas estuaries offers glimpses of a dire future: a world without effective antibiotics The Conversation (J-LS)

The cost of leaving the euro is rising every month for Italy Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph. Important.

Frances Fillon sees support drop as calls rise for election pullout DW

IMF  The secret documents, or how they destroyed Greeks and keep doing it Defend Democracy

Syraqistan

Trump Transition

Sanders reopens Dem primary wounds The Hill (altandmain)

Progressive Cities vs. Conservative States Atlantic

57 Years Ago Today  How Four College Students Started a Revolution Smirking Chimp (Judy B)

67,000 People Urge Accrediting Body to Reject Work-Hour Proposal That Would Endanger Resident Doctors and Patients AMSA

House Colloquy on the Affordable Care Act C-SPAN (Kevin C)

U.S. veterans vow to block construction of Dakota Access Pipeline Inhabitat

When a mosque burns, a Texas town defies national divisions Minnesota Public Radio News (Chuck L)

Fake News

Attack on Fed casts doubt over global bank rules Financial Times

Higher Jobless Rate Suggests U.S. Economy Has Room to Run Wall Street Journal

Shocking Fact in Todays Job Report: Employment Stalls Michael Shedlock (EM)

Guillotine Watch

Billionaire Peter Thiel makes fortune after sweetheart deal with Government New Zealand Herald (Richard Smith)

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (Robert H):

And a bonus, also from Robert H. Please note that only the dignity of the chicken suffered. Cats also get huffy when they recognize you have made them look silly.

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Independent TD Seamus Healy has claimed that Tipperary people deserve the same transport service as those in Dublin.

Speaking in the Dail, he said it was right that constituents of Public Expenditure Minister Pascal Donoghue should have a good bus service but so too should his constituents.

During a debate on the threatened bus strike, he said Bus Eireann "must and will be defeated and strike action, including a sympathetic strike, is the right and only response to this vicious attack on workers by the company."

He hit out at what he called a "deliberate and vicious' attack on Bus Eireann workers, describing it as "the thin end of the wedge for privatisation."

He said it was entirely proper that the Minister Donoghue's constituents and the people of Dublin have good quality public transport such as the DART, Luas and bus services, both in Dublin and from Dublin to all the major towns and cities throughout the country.

He said - "The towns in my constituency such as Ballina, Nenagh, Roscrea, Templemore, Tipperary town, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel and Clonmel have substantially fewer transport rights and substandard bus and rail service.

"We have lost our bus routes in Carrick-on-Suir and the Minister and Iarnrod Eireann want to close our rail lines through Ballybrophy, as well as the Limerick-Waterford line, where trains are cancelled almost on a daily basis and which is earmarked for closure by the Government.

"My constituents are entitled to the same adequate, good-quality transport service as are the people of Dublin. Far from cuts and the closure of routes, we need more services. The Minister should enact legislation to ensure more good quality transport services for all.

"The public, the elderly and social welfare recipients, wherever they are in the country, are entitled to a good quality public transport service at reasonable rates. Public transport services should not be subject to market forces as they are public services.

"The current difficulties are as a result of Government policy going back at least as far as 2009, which has been continued under the Minister and the current Government. The subvention has been reduced from 44 million in 2009 to 33 million currently and the difficulty is anything but an industrial relations dispute. It is a policy issue that has been driven by the Minister and the Government. The difficult financial state of affairs of the company is largely as a result of the reduction in the subsidy and the free travel scheme, which is inadequately subvented by the Government.

"The attack on Bus Eireann workers is a deliberate and vicious assault, not only on their pay but on their conditions. A 30% reduction in pay is absolutely unacceptable and must and will be opposed trenchantly by the workers. It is more than an attack on the workers at Bus Eireann, however. It is attack on all workers, whether they be in the public or the private sector, and it is the thin end of the wedge for privatisation. The company must and will be defeated and strike action, including a sympathetic strike, is the right and only response to this vicious attack on workers by the company."
EnerBank USA has built its business over the last 15 years by financing home improvement projects nationwide over the phone. It is now looking to disrupt itself with a homegrown app.

In January the $1.25 billion-asset industrial loan company rolled out a mobile app it built that allows its home contractor clients to offer homeowners a near-instant credit decision to finance a home improvement project by inputting financial information into an app on the contractor's phone or tablet. It also rolled out a web-based version of the product. So far, about 2,000 of its customers have downloaded the app and it expects that eventually half of its loans will be originated this way.

The app is the last example of how banks are responding to customers' demands for digital solutions and easier application processes. EnerBank executives said the Salt Lake City company wanted to allow its clients to be able to offer a digital option for a consumer base that is increasingly comfortable using mobile financial services.

"We did research, both quantitative and qualitative, and had a lot of client visits, and our customers told us they wanted to be able to offer a digital financing option," said John Harris, executive vice president of sales and marketing at EnerBank.

The company also wanted to "dispel one of the myths in the industry, that you can only pay contractors by cash or check," Harris said.

When homeowners are approved through the app they receive the loan immediately; the contractor is paid directly and the homeowners then repay EnerBank. Harris said there will never be a denial of a loan via the app; if homeowners aren't immediately approved, they are prompted to call the bank's lending department to offer additional information or work out an alternative financing structure.

"Typically, consumers get a home equity loan or maybe a personal line of credit from their bank if they want to finance a home improvement project, but this is another option for those that don't want to use home equity or another option," Harris said.

The ability to obtain quick financing on the spot for a home improvement project could prove very convenient for consumers, said Daryl Jones, a lending specialist with Cornerstone Advisors.

"There's a speed and convenience factor, and it's certainly easier than going out to [the homeowner's] bank to get a loan," he said.

In general, Jones said, mobile lending capabilities are becoming more popular, and more banks will likely be looking to offer them.

"Online [lending] has become pretty saturated," he said. "We have been seeing a lot more requests from clients wanting to do experience design and mobile-first design" when it comes to lending.

Indeed, EnerBank is not the only home improvement financier trying to make its loan approval faster and digital.

Renovate America, one of the largest providers of Property Assessed Clean Energy loans, recently began offering unsecured loans for home improvements through contractors that it has vetted. Unlike PACE loans, which are secured by borrowers' homes and can be used only for energy efficiency upgrades, the new financing can be used for many kinds of home improvement. Even cosmetic upgrades such as kitchens or baths. The new product, called Benji, is currently in four states, California, Florida, Kansas and Missouri, where Renovate America has existing contractor relationships. Contractors can download an app on their mobile phones or tablets, allowing them to offer financing in the home, where most improvement and replacement projects are proposed and accepted.

Renovate America executives said the app cuts the application process in half versus applying over the phone and said approval decisions are made within seconds of submission.

It's noteworthy that both Renovate and EnerBank build their solutions internally.

"We looked at the options of buy versus build, but because of our lending model and the customization of our loan product for contractors, building it ourselves was right for us," said Joel Cannon, a vice president of marketing at EnerBank. "So we took our model and built a credit engine to support these new options."

As a smaller institution, EnerBank had to bulk up its tech team to build the app itself, but ultimately that decision meant "not having to compromise in our lending decisions," Cannon said.

The company also wanted to give the app a slick user interface that consumers have become used to with mobile, Cannon said. So, for example, it has a function to scan a barcode on a driver's license to grab personal information, so the homeowner doesn't have to input it manually.

After spending about 12 months building the app, EnerBank released it with select customers as a pilot in September, before its general release in January.

EnerBank has no current plans to license it to other banks. Customers that are already members of the bank's Private Label Program (in which they pay a certain amount of money to have their brand identity in the loan materials instead of EnerBank's) can have their own branding in the app as well.

Cornerstone's Jones added that it is "pretty unique; you don't see a lot of banks building platforms like that on their own," but cautioned that any bank building in-house also needs to consider more than just technology.

"You need to have something that works well, but also the ability to support it, the customer service and back end is also extremely important," he said.

Allison Bisbey contributed to this article.
Friday, February 03, 2017 by: Vicki Batts Tags: cryogenics , frozen , Robert Nelson This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) Will the dead someday walk among us? According to 80-year-old cryogenics expert Robert Nelson, that may just be the case  as long as theyre frozen first. Nelson is the president of the Cryonics Society of California and recently revealed what it was like to freeze the first cryogenic patient back in 1967.

Nelson even believes that the first patient, James Bedford, will be brought back to life some day. The thought is certainly more than enough to raise some eyebrows, but that appears to have never deterred Nelson  who also hopes to be cryogenically frozen and revived some day in the future. But what exactly does it take to be frozen nowadays, and what was it like when Nelson froze someone for the first time?

What is cryogenics?

Cryogenics offers hope to the elderly and terminally ill; those who intend to be frozen hope that one day, theyll be brought back to life. Cryogenics is, at its core, a form of preservation: dead bodies are submerged in liquid nitrogen and frozen. [RELATED: Learn more about the latest exciting science at Scientific.news]

Proponents of the procedure believe that some day in the future, scientists will be able to defrost the dead and bring them back to life. And hopefully, by then they will be able to remedy diseases and conditions that we currently dont have cures for.

One caveat is that the person to be frozen must be dead prior to undergoing the cryogenic process. So hopefully, in the future, they will be able to bring people back from the dead, too.

Freezing needs to be done as soon after death as possible, to protect against damage to the brain. First, the body must be cooled down in an ice bath, to reduce temperature slowly and steadily. Then, all of the blood is drained from the corpse and it is replaced with a special type of anti-freeze that stops harmful ice crystals from forming.

After being transported to a facility in the US or Russia, the body is then placed into an arctic sleeping bag that is pumped full of nitrogen gas. Over a period of weeks, the body is frozen until the unit reaches a frosty -196 C. Then the body will be transferred to the patient care bay and suspended in liquid nitrogen indefinitely.

Freezing the first man

Psychology professor James Bedford died of kidney cancer in 1967. And on January 12, 1967, just moments after his passing, Nelson and his team began the process of freezing him. Bedford soon became the worlds first man to be cryogenically frozen; his body is still suspended in a liquid nitrogen vault located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Before his death, Bedford commented that he never expected to be revived. However, scientist Robert Nelson believes differently. Nelson has high hopes for Bedford and told Daily Mail that he believes Bedford will one day live again. [RELATED: Keep up with the latest headlines on aging at Longevity.news]

During the exclusive interview, he commented, When we froze Bedford, man had never been on the moon, there had never been a heart transplant, there was no GPS, no cellphones.

Who knows what the next 50 years is going to bring? I think his hope is in nanotechnology but the means to bring him back will exist sooner or later.

Bedford was placed into an ice bath. After being cooled, his blood was removed and replaced with biological antifreeze dimethyl sulfoxide, and then he was packed into a box, before being temporarily stored.

Unfortunately, the cryonic capsule meant to store Bedford was still being built in Arizona. Bedford ended up spending his first two weeks of frozen suspension at a garage in California, belonging to two of Nelsons friends.

After the cryonic vault was finished, Bedford arrived safely at his new home in Arizona, frozen for what may or may not be an eternity.

Nelson eventually left the field of cryonics. He had run out of money to run his California cryogenic vault and left the bodies he had frozen to decompose. In 1979, the family members of some whod been lost sued Nelson for $400,000.

Nelson was ridiculed by the scientific community and left the field for more than 25 years.

Sources:

DailyMail.co.uk

Express.co.uk
Friday, February 03, 2017 by: Robert Jonathan Tags: human trafficking , priority , sex trafficking This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) Los Angeles area cops busted about 500 suspects in a crackdown on human trafficking in California.

A task force consisting of approximately 50 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies including Homeland Security and the FBI participated in Operation Reclaim and Rebuild over three days at the end of January; a sting which also rescued 28 children as well as 27 adults forced into prostitution by the bad guys.

January was Human Trafficking Awareness Month as designated by the Obama administration.

Of the nearly 500 suspects taken into custody, about 140 men face solicitation charges while 36 others were detained for alleged pimping. (RELATED: Read more news about pure evil at EVIL.news)

According to a statement from the office of Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell about the effort carried out by the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, Operation Reclaim and Rebuild focused on rescuing victims of sexual slavery and human trafficking, providing victims with much-needed services, identifying and arresting their captors, seeking successful prosecutions, and disrupting the demand for vulnerable victims by targeting their customers.

In the mass sweep, cops concentrated their efforts on both street prostitution as well as online impropriety. Detectives conducted john stings to target men and women involved in prostitution and posed online as juveniles to go after pedophiles, the Los Angeles Times explained.

The rescued minors are currently under the care of family services agencies and foster care groups who will help them reorient into a normal life as non-governmental victim service organizations will do with the adults who were rescued.

Based only on calls and emails into the National Human Traffic Hotline, California has the unfortunate distinction of the U.S. state with the most reported human trafficking cases (1,323 in 2016). Texas is next with 670. Sex trafficking by far is the most common form of human trafficking across all states, and females comprise the vast majority of human trafficking victims, the Hotline statistics also indicate.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF estimates that human trafficking has victimized 21 million people around the world, including 5.5 million children who are exploited for sex work and in other forced labor scenarios such as sweatshops. There are 1.5 million victims of human trafficking in the U.S. alone. Global human trafficking generates profits in the range of $32 billion for criminals, UNICEF added.

Reacting to Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, the L.A. County district attorney declared that We will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children by anyone, not the sex traffickers and not the people who pay to sexually assault them.

We let everybody know throughout the state that  were going to aggressively go after the pimps and the exploiters, as well as the johns and especially the johns that think that they can prey on the minors, added an L.A. County Sheriffs Department official.

Sources:

Reuters.com

LATimes.com

Sheriff.LACounty.gov

HumanTraffickingHotline.org

UNICEFUSA.org
(Natural News) Milo Yiannopoulos has been attracting violent opposition crowds at many of his recent speaking events. Several media outlets have been heavily mislabeling him, which could have helped draw out the angry crowds to his recent scheduled performances. At a UC Berkeley event, Trump supporters were victims of violent left wing attacks. Fists were flying outside of the campus event, where Milo supporters were struck with flag poles and stomped while they were down. Literal fireworks also added to the mayhem in efforts to shut down the event. An interviewee was also pepper sprayed while speaking with reporters. Something is clearly amiss with both the violent demonstration against free speech and the aftermath.

Many people on the left-wing are speaking out about the attacks, but not in the manner you would expect; they are standing up for the attackers. The haters are saying they dont condone hate speech, including Berkeleys mayor who condoned the riots as a reaction to hate speech. If only they could realize how hypocritical they are. The mainstream media have been legitimizing these anti-right wing demonstrations for almost two years. (RELATED: Find real news headlines hourly at Censored.news)

The media are complicit when they label the violent riots as just protests and further downplay the severity when the right is attacked. What would the left-wing owned media stories look like if the situation was inverted at Hillary Clintons commencement address at Wellesley College? That would have also been blamed on right wing bigotry, homophobia, and racism. Theres no winning against the leftist media who continue to warp the minds of Americans into standing up for corrupt globalist interests. (RELATED: Read MediaFactWatch.com for more news about the lying left-wing media.)

Donald Trump responded to the recent riots with a threat to cease federal funding to the university. A statement from UC Berkeley condemned both Milos presence at the university and his perspectives. They called him a troll and provocateur who aims hate speech at a wide array of groups and individuals. The university is essentially blaming Milos opinions and behavior for the violent displays against Trump supporters. The worst part is that many people dont know or understand what types of discussions actually take place at a Milo event, they just know they oppose him because the media tells them to.

If you dont like Milo, the simple solution is to not show up at his events. The attacks went far beyond just Milo; Trump supporters were the prime targets for the rioters. If only the left-wing supporters could realize the facade they are fighting for is ultimately designed to work against them. If funding terrorists, depopulating the planet, and being enslaved by a one-world government sounds appealing to you, then keep on rioting. The media will continue to stand against Donald Trump and his supporters every at every chance possible. (RELATED: Find more Donald Trump news at Trump.news)

Sources:

InfoWars.com

Breitbart.com
Thousands of people flocked to San Francisco for a #NoBanNoWall rally amid a second straight week of uncertainty over President Donald Trumps immigration order.

Roughly 22,000 people expressed interest on Facebook in resisting a move labeled by organizers as "racist and exclusionary," and 10,000 were expected to attend.

The four organizers of Saturday's rally were children of refugees and immigrants and wrote, "The intention of this event is to create space for our community to voice our beautiful stories and tribulations."

'Immigrants Make America Great': People Flock to San Francisco to Decry Trump's Immigration Order

The gathering on Civic Center Plaza was passionate and loud, but peaceful, with protesters carrying signs that read "No immigrant ban" and Fight ignorance not immigrants." The crowd chanted "We're all children of immigrants" and "This country is already great and immigrants are the ones that make it great."

Organizer noted that the event was planned before the news of the temporary appeal. However, their fight is far from over as the Justice Department files a notice to appeal the federal judge's ruling.

"If we remain vigilant, if we remain strong, if we remain together, it won't happen again," former Congressman Mike Honda said to the crowd.

Participants said they attended the rally to fight against discrimination based on religion and national origin. A sentiment, speakers said, was at the heart of the ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

To make their point, some children dressed in white robes, known as thobes, and a handful of Muslim men practiced their faith outside City Hall.

"This country was built on immigrants, for immigrants, by immigrants, and to close the borders and say, 'We are not going to allow immigrants,' is anti-American," said Rahel Ruiz, a refugee from Ethiopia who now lives in Castro Valley.

Norma Chili of Novato agreed.

"Everything Trump is doing is so against our country and against the world that there's no reason to not come out and complain vehemently and complain about everything he's doing," she said.

Anti-Trump Organizers Meet in Women's Building to Organize Ahead of #NoBanNoWall Rally

Earlier that morning, a group that calls itself SF United Against Trump met at the Women's Building on 18th Street. The event attracted about 4,000 on Facebook, with another 20,000 people marked interested.

As the rain drizzled outside, hundreds came in person to sharing ideas, reflections and stories at a microphone.

While some speakers drew claps and support, others prompted criticism.

Working committees on climate protection, immigrant legal workshops and more were drafted for the next hour, with the next large demonstration proposed for Feb. 20, President's Day.

Meanwhile, on the Peninsula, volunteer lawyers were on standby at San Francisco International Airport where Customs and Border Patrol officers have been told to process people temporarily as if the immigration ban didn't exist.

"We're glad for that. We're grateful that we finally have a little bit of calm here at San Francisco airport," said Chelsea Haley Nelson, an immigration attorney.

[[412790043, C]]
A couple and their two cats found dead in a Berkeley apartment last week were killed due to "acute carbon monoxide intoxication," police said on Friday.

The pair was identified as Roger, 35, and Valerie Morash, 32, and their deaths were immediately flagged as suspicious, according to police.

Officials had initially ruled out carbon monoxide or radiation poisoning, saying tests came back negative for those elements. On Friday, however, police said that evidence collected from the Morash's apartment was free of "toxins," but autopsy, toxicology and necropsy findings pointed to carbon monoxide intoxication.

"It took some time to determine the cause ... however, our goal was to provide the family of the decedents with the most accurate answers regarding the death of their loved ones," police said in a statement.

Investigators are still trying to track down the source of the carbon monoxide that caused what they deemed a "tragic" accident.

Neighbor Maria Nadeu and two others who share her apartment have been uneasy since the Morashes were found dead in two separate locations of their unit.

"Teresa next door said she heard beeping," Nadeu said.

When authorities ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning, but refused to release more information, neighbors were panicked.

"Were not the public in this. We are actually tenants, potentially at risk," Nadeu said.

According to Nadeu, residents were asked to spend a day away from the building starting at 6 p.m. Friday. She had her hotel reservations in place and even her cat was ready to go for the 24-hour evacuation, but building management sent out an email earlier in the day cancelling it.

"Mystery upon mystery," Nadeu said. "Why would they cancel it?"

Police, however, said the California Public Health Department did not order residents to evacuate and is working with them to respond to their concerns.

"Investigators are focused on trying to determine the source of the carbon monoxide in order to provide peace of mind to the families and residents of the building," according to the statement.

Police on Jan. 23 responded to the Morash's residence on the 3000 block of Deakin Street and found the two bodies. The cause of the deaths was not immediately apparent, police said, and the building was evacuated out of an abundance of caution.

Police were alerted to the apartment home when a friend of one of the victims went to check on that person and found them dead. When officers searched the apartment, they found the second body, as well as two dead pets.

The Berkeley Fire Department and PG&E crews also responded to the scene to make sure there were no hazardous conditions.

The Morashes worked from home and residents in the building recall smelling fumes from a generator inside their apartment. A neighbor said she smelled burning rubber and even complained, but said nothing was ever done.

"The problem is we are in the first line of hazard and we are not being informed of whats going on," Nadeu said.
Divisive Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos caused a furor at UC Berkeley this week, and now he is promising to return and make the speech that protesters blocked.

Invited by the college Republican club, the 32-year-old alt-right blogger was slated to speak about cultural appropriation on Wednesday night, but protesters took the campus by storm. Bricks and bottles flew through the air; police barricades were torn down; windows of coffee shops and banks were smashed; blazes were set; some in the crowd were teargassed; and "Kill Trump" was spraypainted on walls.

Yiannopoulos was swiftly evacuated from the campus, which was locked down, and he bemoaned the demise of free speech from the safety of his hotel room. However, on Saturday, he promised to return to UC Berkeley as part of his "Dangerous Faggot Tour." Repairing the damage will cost an estimated $100,000.

"I'm planning to return to Berkeley to give the speech I was prevented from delivering. Hopefully within the next few months. I'll keep you posted," Yiannopoulos wrote on Facebook.

When asked about the latest development, Pieter Sittler, president of the UC Berkeley College Republicans said, "He has a right to speak and that right was abridged on Wednesday. We want appropriate security measures to be taken and we'd like have him come and speak."

Naweed Tahamas, who was on a balcony with Yiannopoulos when the chaos began, said it is up to university and security officials to keep students safe. The group will hold UC Berkeley's "feet to the fire," he said.

When asked about Yiannopoulos' not yet concrete plan, university spokesman Dan Mogulof said officials have not yet received a new request to bring Yiannopoulos back. That said, registered organizations like the Berkeley College Republicans retain the right to invite "who they want onto campus," he said  even if it's the man who UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks deemed a "troll" and "provocateur."

When asked about any security measures that might be taken to avoid a repeat of Wednesday's demonstrations, Mogulof declined to comment.

Divisive Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos caused a furor at UC Berkeley this week, and now he is promising to return. Thom Jensen reports.

Some local business owners and employees will be looking for security answers if Yiannopoulos makes his return.

Erfan Sadeghin from Fresco Restaurant did not have his establishment attacked during the night of violence, but he's still worried about future clashes cropping up again. While the community waits to see if Yiannopoulos will make a return attempt, Sadeghin has a message for those thinking about wreaking havoc.

"I think it doesn't help anything," he said. "I think it gets the word out, but it doesn't solve any problems."

Tension has been high at UC Berkeley ever since the violent outburst. President Donald Trump has threatened to rescind federal funding if the campus infringes on people's right to free speech. Fights have broken out among students and questions have arised about the efficacy of the campus and city police departments in responding to the protests on Wednesday night. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin also found himself in hot water after referring to Yiannopoulos as a "white nationalist," which he later rescinded.

NBC Bay Area's Thom Jensen contributed to this report.
Like millions of people, Tyger Dacosta fell victim to what has been described as the largest product recall in American history: the Takata airbag recall.

He soon discovered that not only was this crucial safety device defective, but the repairs would be slow.

So, for 8 months, I was driving around in a dangerous car, he said. That could have killed me.

For that risk and inconvenience, Dacosta figured he was due part of the $95 million fine that Takata has been ordered to pay the federal government. He was wrong.

I got zero, Dacosta said. Zero.

So, where does the money go?

The short answer is: a place few trust or have access to.

We analyzed three years of federal fines at nine large agencies, totaling more than a billion dollars. What stood out in our limited review is how rarely corporate fines are earmarked for consumers or the agency that investigated.

For example, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Gree Electric Appliances would pay a $15 million fine for making defective dehumidifiers, that money went straight to the U.S. Treasury for general use, the CPSC said.

When Fiat-Chrysler reached an agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over its response to recalls and agreed to pay a $105 Million civil penalty, that money went to "the U.S. Treasury for general use, NHTSA said.

And, a $100 million Federal Communications Commission fine that AT&T faces for claims it misled customers about its unlimited data plan is destined for the U.S. Treasury for general use, the FCC said.

Over and over, U.S. government agencies told us federal law requires them to send fines into a general pool that Congress spends as it sees fit.

I think its a travesty, said Rosemary Shahan, who runs the Center for Automotive Reliability and Safety. Thats money that could go to prevention and compensation for victims.

Shahan is a longtime crusader for automotive safety and consumer rights. She believes federal fines should stay in the federal agencies that sniff out the misconduct  not Congress.

I think probably every safety group in the country would like to see that happen, she said.

One federal agency told us it is set up differently: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The CFPB recently fined Wells Fargo $100 million for opening bogus accounts without customers' consent. But that money did not go to Congress. The full amount went to a fund that is specifically designated for financial education and victim compensation.

It's called the CFPB Civil Penalty Fund, and it has grown rapidly over the past three years. The balance of the consumers-focused fund is now $305 million.

But the stockpile has also raised eyebrows.

It sits in a non-interest bearing Federal Reserve Bank of New York account. Critics call the pot too large, the agency too aggressive.

During an April hearing on Capitol Hill, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby challenged CPFB Director Richard Cordray.

Some people believe what you all are after is money, rather than justice, Shelby asked. What do you say to that?

Cordray shot back without hesitation.

I think if youre enforcing the law, there are people who arent going to like it, he said.

NBC Bay Area asked CFPB about the size of the $305 million fund. To explain the agencys answer, we discussed Enron.

When that embattled, Texas-based energy company imploded in 2001, thousands of people lost billions. There was basically nothing left of Enron.

The CFPB said its nine-figure fund is designed to bail out victims of the next Enron-style collapse. Essentially, todays fines from a company that is still solvent  and able to separately pay restitution  might help compensate the future victims of another firm that goes belly-up.

But it is an exception.

Federal fines in many other consumer-focused agencies are paid to the U.S. Treasury  where Congress controls spending. Thats where Takatas $95 million went.

And that angers Dacosta.

Congress has no business spending that money, he said. The money belongs to the people. The people who are driving around in dangerous cars like this.

Shahan, the consumer advocate, told us this setup is unlikely to change. She says she and others have attempted to change the law to direct fines to victims.

But lawmakers have resisted, she said.
A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who has spent the last week stranded in Djibouti, will finally be able to travel to the United States and will land in San Francisco on Sunday after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Since Saturday, the girl, Eman, and her father, Ahmed Ali, have been in limbo, blocked from coming to America, despite going through all the necessary legal steps.

The family's attorney Katy Lewis said the duo will board a flight in under six hours. Then, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, a Turkish Airlines plane will transport them to San Francisco International Airport.

Seattle-based U.S. District Judge James Robart's temporary restraining order, allowed Eman and Ahmed Ali to board the flight, according to Lewis.

Lewis said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers worldwide have been informed of Robart's nationwide halt to the refugee and travel ban. So "nationals of the seven countries with valid visas will be allowed to board aircraft bound for the U.S.," she said. Airlines are to be informed of the same, too, Lewis said.

A Southern California district court's temporary restraining order against the immigration order gave the family some hope earlier in the week. But Lewis said it was not as simple as showing a travel document to airport officials and getting on a plane. There's been too much confusion about how the executive order works.

So the duo were forced to stay in Djibouti.

"She is really sad," Ahmed Ali said at the time. "She is expecting to go to the USA to see her mom, her sisters and everything will be OK."

From his hotel room, stuck in Djibouti, Ahmed told NBC Bay Area how he and Eman were steps away from boarding a plane Saturday, only to be turned away because of the president's order. The rest of Iman's family lives in Los Banos, citizens of the United States. Eman was born in Yemen.

Meanwhile, Stanford University student Hadil Al-Mowafak is hoping the ban is lifted for good. The 21-year-old is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed today in San Francisco by the ACLU.

Arguing that the travel ban is unconstitutional, Al-Mowafak said it will prevent her from being able to go home to Yemen and see her husband while pursuing her education in the United States.

"I can't imagine not seeing [him] for a year, let alone four years, she said.

On Friday, the Trump administration said the Department of Justice will file an emergency request to stop Robarts temporary restraining order.

For her part, Al-Mowafak says she is proud to fight for travel freedoms.

I am holding on to hope, she said.
A refugee from Somalia, one of the countries impacted by Donald Trump's travel ban, is running for city council in Boston.

"Boston has never had a candidate like myself," said candidate Deeqo Jibril, who recognizes she could be facing an uphill battle.

As a refugee from Somalia, it's a battle she says is more important now than ever.

"I unfortunately lost family to the civil war," she said. "We were the lucky ones to be here, and it's very disheartening that the chance I got, others are not getting now."

Jibril was 12 when she and her mother arrived in Roxbury - she hasn't left since, and is now an American citizen. She's become an advocate for the refugee community, successfully encouraging families to start businesses.

"Somali businesses are one of the fastest growing in Boston," Jibril said. "There are 17 in Dudley Square."

In Roxbury, the district she would represent, the decision for a Muslim refugee to run is encouraging. But other voters say they're more concerned about what she will do for the community than her religion or background.

Jibril will likely face tough competition. Candidates can't officially throw their hats into the ring until mid-April.
Authorities have opened a hate crime investigation after a synagogue in downtown Chicago was vandalized early Saturday, according to police.

Around 12:20 a.m., officers responded to a call at 16 S. Clark St. in the city's Loop, police said. [[412774103, C]]

There they found that the front window of the Chicago Loop Synagogue had been broken and "derogatory stickers" were posted on the entrance.

Evidence technicians could be seen removing two swastika stickers from the front door. [[412774313, C]]

Lee Zoldan, president of the the Chicago Loop Synagogue, said construction workers across the street witnessed the incident.

A black SUV pulled up, witnesses told Zoldan, and a passenger got out of the vehicle and used an object resembling a hammer or ax to break the window.

The person then went back to the car and retrieved the swastika stickers to put on the door. [[412778243, C]]

Saturday is the synagogue's Sabbath, Zoldan said, and services continued as usual beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The synagogue has not received any further threats, she added, though the board will discuss what further security measures they will take in the future.

The American Jewish Committee, a national advocacy group, condemned the vandalism in a statement Saturday, saying it came amid a rise in incidents of anti-Semitism across the country.

"The Chicago Jewish community will not be intimidated by anti-Semitic attacks on a house of worship," AJC Chicago director Amy Stoken said.

"The right of all religious groups to practice their faith without fear is a fundamental American value. Chicagoans must speak together clearly that the hatred behind this destructive behavior will never be accepted," she added.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, weighed in on the incident Saturday as well. [[412784883, C]]

"We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters as they worship at Chicago Loop Synagogue this Sabbath. Hate will not prevail. #NeverAgain," Cupich tweeted.

The Council on American-Islamic-Relations Chicago also denounced the vandalism, calling it "a shameful act of cowardice and hate."

"Chicago's Muslim community stands in full solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters as they deal with the trauma of this vile act of hate," CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said in a statement."No American should have to feel vulnerable and at risk simply due to their religious affiliation."

"Unfortunately, we know the feeling all too well as mosque vandalism and burning has spiked recently in the US," Rehab's statement continued. "We recognize the source of hate as one, and regardless of religious affiliation, we stand together in solidarity against it as one. An attack on any is an attack on us all."

No one is in custody, and authorities continue to investigate.
A Forest Park police officer fatally shot someone driving a stolen vehicle Friday night in suburban Oak Park, according to police.

The shooting occurred near the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Harlem Avenue about 6:20 p.m.

In a news release, Forest Park police Deputy Chief Mike Keating said the vehicle was reported stolen out of Glendale Heights. He said it was involved in a hit-and-run in Chicago. It was spotted by Chicago police officers near West Adams Street and South Central Avenue headed into Oak Park, Keating said.

A Forest Park police officer saw the vehicle stop at a nearby traffic light, according Keating.

The vehicle turned back eastbound on Jackson in an attempt to elude the officer, Keating said. As the Forest Park Officer approached the vehicle on foot, the suspect vehicle began driving towards the officer, who was in front of the vehicle.

Keating said the officer feared for his life and shot into the moving vehicle striking the suspect, who was later pronounced dead.

A man whose apartment overlooks the stretch of Jackson Boulevard where the shooting occurred, said he heard five shots in rapid succession. He ran to his window to see an officer aiming his weapon at a silver sedan, he said.

Saw the officer with his gun drawn, working his way around the car and yelling, witness Michael De Luc said. He opened the door, pulled the guy out, laid him on the ground right there.

De Luc said police began performing CPR on the person pulled from the car. An ambulance that arrived on the scene left after about 10 minutes.

Jackson Boulevard east of Harlem Avenue was blocked off about 10: 15 p.m.

Oak Park, Forest Park and Illinois State police were all on scene.

No details are available for release at this time as the incident is actively being investigated, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jason Bradley said.

The ISP Public Integrity Task Force will be doing an independent investigation into the use of force, Bradley said.
Hundreds of people gathered in suburban Palatine to protest Rep. Peter Roskam on Saturday morning.

Roskam, a Republican who has represented the 6th Congressional District since 2007, was attending the Palatine Township Republican Organization's monthly meeting at the organization's headquarters at 9 a.m.

Initially open to the public, the meeting was later closed because of high demand, according to the group's chairman Aaron Del Mar, who said that the office fits 100 people, and more than 110 members attended.

"He came in and gave us a synopsis of what this Congress is going to be focusing on and their priorities, and the rest was Q and A," Del Mar said of Roskam's participation in the meeting.

Outside, demonstrators carried signs with messages on a variety of issues, with many expressing frustration at being unable to meet with Roskam, whose district includes portions of Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties. [[412781683, C]]

The protest came just days after members of Roskam's staff reportedly canceled a meeting with a group of 16 constituents upon realizing a reporter was present, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Roskam later told the Tribune that the meeting, over concerns about a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act, would be rescheduled without the reporter.

"We do not permit members of the media to sit in on constituent meetings with staff," Roskam spokesperson David Pasch said via email on Saturday. "We have reached out to find a new time and look forward to sitting down with this group in the near future."

Saturday's demonstration was coordinated by several organizations including the 6th District of Illinois - Holding Peter Roskam Accountable, and Action 6th District Illinois, both of which have several hundred members in Facebook groups.

"His time is reserved for donors and corporate interests," said Carolynne Funk, one of the protest organizers, adding that Saturday's demonstration was to express concerns that Roskam is "not listening or engaging with his constituents."

"We can no longer accept that he refuses to hold town hall meetings or meet with constituents who may disagree with his voting record," Funk said. "The stakes are now too high to tolerate being shut out of the democratic process any longer."

Videos posted on social media showed protesters chanting things like "Talk to us" and "Hey Peter, we vote," as well as "Shame on you" as Roskam appeared to leave the meeting. [[412782083, C]]

One person was arrested in connection with the protest, according to Palatine police, who said it "was a very minor thing," but further information on the incident and any charges filed would not be available until Monday.

In a statement, Roskam's spokesperson held the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee responsible for the demonstration and disputed claims that he was not accessible to his constituents.

"Peter is no stranger to the DCCC," Pasch said. "These national groups are free to come into our community and exercise their first amendment rights, but it's not going to keep him from meeting with constituents. He's focused on representing the people of the western and northwestern suburbs in Washington, D.C., not the other way around."

Roskam "maintains one of the busiest district schedules of any Member of Congress," Pasch added, detailing highlights of his schedule over the past year.

In 2016, according to Pasch, Roskam held 74 meetings at his district office, 30 roundtable discussions and 11 "tele-town halls."

He also made 21 visits to schools and 107 visits to local businesses, hospitals and non-profits, Pasch said, as well as 113 speaking engagements and 147 other meetings, events and award presentations.
A 20-year-old Bridgeport man was killed on his birthday in a rollover accident on Interstate 95 in Milford Saturday morning, according to state police.

Police and firefighters responded to the accident on I-95 south near exit 36 around 5:30 a.m.

According to police, the driver, 20-year-old Ricardo Phagoo Jr., lost control of his vehicle and crossed out of his lane into the grassy area near the exit 36 off ramp. The car struck a DOT light pole and a tree and rolled over, officials said.

Phagoo was rushed to Bridgeport Hospital, where he later died of his injuries, police said.

Connecticut state police are investigating the crash.
The former postmaster at the Cobalt Post office in East Hampton is accused of sending and receiving packages with what he thought were drugs at the post office, according to investigators.

Gregory Sturges, 49, of Bristol, is charged with criminal attempt to possess LSD, psilocybin and other narcotics.

His arrest stems from an investigation by Connecticut State Police and the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Police said that in July of 2016 a confidential informant provided investigators with information on Sturges. That informant said Sturges voluntarily approached them about assisting in mailing illicit substances in exchange for cash or cocaine.

According to court documents, police used the confidential informant to do a sting operation, where that person went to the post office to mail fake LSD and Psilocybin mushroom material to an undercover address in Florida

Court documents state that Sturges took the unpackaged items from the informant, and packed what he believed to be illegal drugs for them.

The affidavit said that on another occasion Sturges even organized a name and address to have the packaged drugs sent to, so he could intercept them, then give them to the informant.

NBC Connecticut reached out to USPS and a spokesperson from the Officer of Inspector General there told us in a statement: At this time, Gregory Sturges is still on the rolls with the Postal Service, but is not handling mail or working with customers.

Sturges is out on bond. NBC Connecticut did reach out to him for comment but has yet to hear back. Hes scheduled back in court on February 28.
New London police arrested two people on robbery charges after the suspects allegedly robbed a victim at knife point on Broad Street early Saturday morning, according to police.

Police responded to a 911 call reporting an armed robbery at the Ravi Mart on Broad Street around 3:20 a.m. The victim reported that the suspects fled ina Dodge pickup. A short time later officers spotted the vehicle traveling near 74 Connecticut Ave., police said.

Police stopped the vehicle and the victim identified the occupants as the people who robbed him, police said.

Randall Sowa, 52, of New London and Gloria Okoasia, of New London, were arrested. Sowa was charged with second-degree robbery, second-degree larceny, carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia, misuse of marker plates and operating an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle. Okoasia was charged with second-degree robbery and second-degree larceny

Both were held on $50,000 bonds.
Both Hamden Mayor Curt Leng and Quinnipiac University President John Lahey said Friday relations between the town and university are improving.

Lahey presented Mayor Leng with a check for $1.4 million from QU for the town of Hamden for the fiscal year on Friday afternoon.

Quinnipiac and the town are on better footing right now than we have been in a very long time, Leng said.

Lahey credits the relationship hes developed with Mayor Leng for turning the page and working on issues like residents concerns about rowdy students living off-campus.

Just a tremendous amount of cooperation and willingness on the part of this mayor to meet with us, Lahey said.

NBC Connecticut wanted to know how does the town plan to use the $1.4 million contribution.

Theyre going to help our general fund, Leng said, so theyll help our budget this year which is going to be terrific as we work to balance our budget.

The mayor added some of the money will pay for arts programs, concert series and town fireworks displays.

To have the university bring a financial contribution of this significance to the town is certainly appreciated and it goes to show that the university recognizes the towns need for that assistance, Leng said.

I hope our financial commitment each year will be able to increase as well, Lahey said.

Hamden will also receive about $3.1 million from the state for a payment in lieu of taxes because of QUs presence in the town.
A Syrian family is thanking those who made their new life here in Connecticut possible, even when it seemed in doubt this week because of President Trumps travel ban.

It was an extraordinary moment as U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal kneeled down to meet two refugee girls from Syria.

Six days ago the girls and their mom were stuck in a Ukraine airport, unsure if they would ever make it to the United States to reunite with their father, Fadi Kassar.

"Im very happy," Kassar said with a wide smile.

This was a dramatic change from when we first met the father in Milford on Saturday.

It was hours after he learned his wife and daughters were denied boarding a United States-bound flight because of Trumps travel ban. Kassar had not seen his family in more than two years.

Kassar familys story prompted outrage and action, including the help of Connecticuts congressional delegation.

Finally mom and the girls, ages 5 and 8, were given the okay to fly.

On Thursday, they reunited with their father at New Yorks JFK Airport.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection granted an exemption since they were considered "en route" when the order took place.

Its really bittersweet. How amazing is it to have these little girls here after everything theyve gone through? But theres so many little girls just like them who will never get to the United States, Murphy said.

Political leaders said they hope stories like this one convince the president to change his mind about the travel orders.

For now, a community is welcoming a family ready to start a new life in the state.

Murphy said he believes the bans are illegal and hopes the courts agree. If not, he wants Congress to act.

Friday was also a fundraiser and people have given hundreds of dollars to help the family pay for their second set of airline tickets which were needed to fly here.
The board of trustees at Dallas County Schools is responsible for overseeing finances for an agency that provides bus service for 12 North Texas school districts.

But two DCS school board members tell NBC 5 Investigates they had not seen financial reports from agency administrators for months.

Then, this week a new interim chief financial officer hired to probe the finances at DCS told the board the agency is facing a $42 million budget deficit and is struggling to pay its bills.

Trustee Gloria Levario said Friday she had not seen financial reports since July. She told NBC 5 Investigates she is "absolutely" concerned about a lack of information.

As for the current crisis she said, "We all, as board members, are very concerned about this, and we are eager to get information."

Levario said she was not sure why the board had not been receiving financials.

At Tuesday's board meeting, trustee Kyle Renard also suggested the board had not been getting financial reports for months.

NBC 5 was unable to reach Renard for comment this week.

But another trustee, James Hubener, also confirms he had not seen financials since July.

Over the phone NBC 5 asked Hubener if he had concerns about that. He replied, "I really have no comment on that. I will share that at a board meeting at a later time."

NBC 5 reached out to DCS Superintendent Rick Sorrells for a response to the comments from board members, but he did not immediately respond.

Other board members whom NBC 5 contacted have either declined to speak or have not responded.

One question remains: if the board was not getting financial reports, what did those members do to push that information in the months leading up to the crisis?

Meanwhile, layoffs are underway at Dallas County Schools. On Friday afternoon, more employees were let go.

The agency is cutting up to 100 jobs in an effort to recover from the $42 million budget shortfall that's largely tied to a controversial school bus stop-arm camera program.

NBC 5 Investigates has learned some of the layoffs are in the DCS police force. Some DCS officers review school bus stop-arm violation videos and issue tickets. Others serve as school resource officers under contracts with local school districts.
Nearly two dozen Dallas Independent School District schools are on the "improvement required" list, according to the latest accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency.

Several schools have been on the list for consecutive years, which has led to direct intervention by the TEA. The district hopes its new Accelerated Campus Excellence (ACE) program, put in place just last year, can help turn these struggling campuses around.

"ACE is a strategic staffing initiative that is designed to support our most struggling schools in the city," said Jolee Healey, the program's senior executive director. "We really focus on bringing in strong new leaders into schools and finding the most effective teachers to work with our students who need the most support."

ACE has been implemented at seven Dallas ISD schools that required improvement. After just one year in the program, six of the schools were able to meet state standards.

"Because of ACE we were able to strategically hire. That immediately made the biggest impact for our campus, having highly effective teachers in front of students every single day," said Laura Garza, principal at Blanton Elementary School, an ACE campus. "We really focused in on social-emotional learning. How are teachers communicating and building relationships with our children so they know within themselves that they can succeed?"

The district hopes expanding the program will yield similar results at low-performing schools like T. W. Browne Middle School. It's been on the "improvement required" list for the each of the last five years.

Stephanie Elizalde, chief of school leadership for Dallas ISD, said despite the low performance the school is making progress. She said a sixth year on the list is unlikely to result in the school being shut down by the state.

"The results demonstrate that we're improving," she said. "T.W. Browne showed gains at the state level last year, it just wasn't significant enough."

Despite having so many campuses on the "improvement required" list, Dallas ISD has met state standards for school districts.
A young boy in Grand Prairie is getting recognition this week for his unwavering support of local law enforcement, even on their most difficult days.

Jayden Morales, 7, displayed a sign at the funeral of Little Elm Detective Jerry Walker last month that read, "Heroes Live Forever #DallasStrong."

Walker was killed during a SWAT standoff with a suspect on Jan. 17.

Jayden was also present at the funerals of the Dallas police officers killed in the July 7 ambush last year.

Grand Prairie police decided to honor Jayden for his dedication to fallen officers.

On Friday, Jayden earned the title "Chief for a Day" and was able to meet with officers, take a ride in the squad car and meet the police dogs.
The Brewster County sheriff says remains found last week in a shallow grave northwest of Alpine have been identified as missing 22-year-old college student Zuzu Verk, of Fort Worth.[[412935083,C]]

Her boyfriend, 26-year-old Robert Fabian, of Alpine, is jailed on a charge of tampering with evidence by concealing a human corpse.

A friend of Fabian's, 28-year-old Chris Estrada, is jailed on a corpse concealment charge in Phoenix and is awaiting return to Texas.

Zuzu Verk/Facebook

Verk was attending Sul Ross State University in Alpine when she disappeared Oct. 12, 2016. She was reported missing two days later by Fabian, who told police he'd last seen her two days before.

Fabian's bail was set at $500,000.

On Friday, police found human remains in a shallow grave off Wagon Road in Sunny Glen, northwest of Alpine. Police were unable to confirm Friday if the remains were Verk and sent them to The Institute of Forensic Sciences at the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office for identification.

Since he was the last known person to see her alive, police named Fabian a suspect last fall. Until now, they have not had enough evidence to make an arrest.

The investigation into Verk's disappearance is being conducted by the Alpine Police Department, Brewster County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Rangers.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect that the remains have been taken to Dallas for testing, not the University of North Texas as originally reported.
On a cold North Texas night, 1,300 volunteers fanned out over Dallas and Collin Counties for the annual Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance Point in Time Homeless Count.

"To get information on why they're out here, how long they've been out here," volunteer Laura Weis explained.

She was entering information about encampments into an iPhone app.

"Submitted our first entry!"

The first entry was a camp with no one around. They found the people who live there in their car in a nearby parking lot.

"I don't want to say it's dangerous," said Doyle. "It depends on how you carry yourself."

Doyle said he'd been living out of his car for six months.

"Man I just want an apartment," he said. "I miss watching TV laying in bed, you know what I'm saying?"

Last year's Homeless Count showed a 20 percent increase in people living on the streets. "Here in Dallas," Weis remarked. "One of the richest communities.

For volunteers, the count was eye-opening.

"I've never been out in the middle of the night at a fire pit at a homeless encampment," Weis said. "It's just heartbreaking."

"I think we gotta talk about it," said volunteer Julie Ramirez. "It's not something that's in another world. It's down our streets. It's on your corner."

For many of the homeless, the count is a touch of human kindness, too.

Volunteers handed out clean socks and food to those who needed it.

"Most of these people don't want handouts," said volunteer Damian Sanders. "They want a hand up."

The count helps the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance know how many homeless there are, and what some of the issues are that keep people from finding housing.

The MDHA will release findings from the count in March.

Tarrant County releases its Point in Time Homeless Count data March 23.
It might be called the art of the drug deal: Florida authorities seized scores of individually wrapped heroin packets stamped with the image of President Donald Trump.

As Tampa news station WFLA reports, law enforcement officers seized 5,550 packages of heroin Jan. 27 in Hernando County, culminating a months-long investigation into heroin distribution in the area.

Some of the packets bore the names or likenesses of other notorious figures, such as Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Authorities couldn't explain the markings' purpose. Dealers often stamp heroin bags with street "brand names."

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

Police arrested 46-year-old Kelvin Scott Johnson on suspicion of heroin trafficking and other charges. His bail is set at $75,000.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said the dealer "made a big mistake" using Trump's picture.
One of the surest ways to see the power and relevance of James Baldwin's words today would be to look at some of the signs of recent protesters. "If I love you I must make you conscious of things you do not see," read one. "The only way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people's pain," read another.

Or you could see Raoul Peck's urgent and clarion documentary "I Am Not Your Negro." It resurrects Baldwin's words  his eloquent poetry of injustice  with the same fire with which they were blazed. Peck's film, which is nominated for best documentary at the Academy Awards, bears no talking heads. There's no analysis of Baldwin's influence in literature or interpretation of his politics. But there is his voice: clear, direct and piercingly prescient.

"I wanted the confrontation to be direct from his words, himself to the audience," Peck, who shares his screenwriting credit with Baldwin, said in a recent interview. "I was the messenger."

It took Peck, the Haitian-born filmmaker of "Lumumba" and "Sometimes in April," years to find the right avenue into Baldwin for "I Am Not Your Negro," which opens in theaters Friday. A great responsibility hung over the decade-long endeavor, Peck says, to bring Baldwin to the forefront.

"I read Baldwin as a teenager and his writing never left me," said Peck. "His writing structured the man I am today and the filmmaker I am today. I wanted to make sure the next generation had access to Baldwin."

Peck was welcomed by Baldwin's estate, which is managed by Baldwin's younger sister, Gloria Karefa-Smart. But the key to the film only emerged when Karefa-Smart gave Peck the pages of "Remember This House," which Baldwin completed 30 pages of before his death in 1987 at age 63. The unfinished book was intended to stitch together reflections on three assassinated civil rights leaders: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers.

"Remember This House" is used as the prism through which to view the novelist, essayist and activist. Passages from the manuscript and other works by Baldwin are narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. And there is copious footage of Baldwin speaking and of his arresting appearances on shows like "The Dick Cavett Show."

But "I Am Not Your Negro" isn't a time capsule. It's about today. Peck juxtaposes Baldwin's words with images of police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement and other recent events. Other images flicker at times  John Wayne and Doris Day  that question the white picture of America promoted by Hollywood.

As he toiled, Peck found his film increasingly timely, a relevance that has only increased since the election. When the Ferguson protests grew, he sent a crew to document it.

"I knew how fundamental Baldwin's words were and I knew they were important to understand the confusion we were in," said Peck. "What I did not expect is that it would become so obvious and I would have so many examples and illustrations of what I was working on."

Aisha Karefa-Smart, Baldwin's niece, says Peck's film, which includes excerpts from the FBI's extensive file on Baldwin, was revelatory. "It made me understand my family more in terms of the hushed tones that people spoke in and the unspoken fears that permeated the household."

At festival screenings, she has watched the film help resurrect her uncle. "A lot of kids are upset they didn't know who he was," says Karefa-Smart. "He was kind of the background for a while."

That has changed in recent years. Baldwin is widely taught in universities. The Library of America has published his essays, novels and stories with introductions from Toni Morrison. The James Baldwin Review was begun in 2015. When Chris Rock spoke at a Harlem church on Martin Luther King Day last year, shortly after a second-straight year of all-white acting nominees to the Oscars, he read "My Dungeon Shook," Baldwin's letter to his nephew.

And perhaps most influential has been author Ta-Nehisi Coates, whom Morrison famously called the spiritual heir to Baldwin. His best-selling "Between the World and Me" was modeled on Baldwin's "My Dungeon Shook," from "The Fire Next Time."

What many respond to in Baldwin is his searing directness, his willingness to confront the deep-seated ills of America and to reposition questions of race. "The country's image of the Negro, which hasn't very much to do with the Negro, has never failed to reflect with a kind of frightening accuracy the state of mind of the country," he wrote in "Nobody Knows My Name."

Peck believes his film is ultimately an intimate one intended to provoke the kind of personal inquiry demanded by Baldwin, who warned against "purposeful blindness."

"You cannot, whether you are white or black or Latino or whoever, you cannot come out of this film an innocent person," says Peck. "You know. You know all you need to know in order to face it, to react, to do something or not. As far as Baldwin is concerned, you have no excuse anymore. The elements, as he would say, are all on the table."

The film opens Feb. 3 in selected theaters across America.
Burbank residents were alarmed Friday night after two military jets in town for training landed at a Burbank airport.

Two U.S. Navy F-18 jets flying in from Virginia rattled nerves around 9 p.m., said a spokeswoman for the Burbank Airport Authority.

The landing was scheduled to happen Friday night and these jets land there from time to time. They're scheduled to depart on Sunday.

Resident took to Twitter saying the jets landing sounded like they were 50 feet off the ground.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will hold its 12th annual Linda Joy Pollin Women's Heart Health Day Friday as part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness about heart disease -- the leading killer of women.

The event coincides with the 15th annual National Wear Red Day, with hundreds of Cedars-Sinai employees and guests dressing in red to demonstrate support for heightened awareness of heart disease risk factors and increased public education about gender differences in heart disease.

"Our goal is to train our employees to help fight heart disease, so that they can better serve our community," said Margo Minnissian, a nurse practitioner at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "In the past year, we've conducted 350 screenings on women to determine their heart disease risk and we want to continue to do more in the future."

The hospital recommends women get screened and understand their heart disease risk numbers, so they are better prepared if any health concerns may arise in their futures.

The event will begin with classes on fitness, meditation and Reiki, a Japanese relaxation technique that promotes stress reduction and well being. A panel discussion about new medical discoveries in women's health will follow.

The American Heart Association and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute have been holding National Wear Red Day annually on the first Friday in February since 2003 in an attempt to raise awareness about heart disease being the leading killer of women and about women's heart health.

Although heart disease has killed more U.S. women than men since 1984, most medical research has been focused exclusively on men and women are largely unaware that they are at risk, according to Sally Stewart of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

A survey by the American Heart Association found that only one in five American women believes that heart disease is the greatest threat to their health.

Research has shown that men and women often experience different forms of heart disease. Men who experience heart attacks often feel a tingling in their left arm and chest pain while women's symptoms may include extreme fatigue, nausea and back pain, Stewart said.

Other events taking place include the LA Galaxy's Heart Health Day event, which will be hosting a clinic on Feb. 3 to inform young girls about heart disease risks.The Little Hats, Big Hearts program with the American Heart Association, will also be raising awareness for women's heart disease by handing out red hand-knitted caps to babies in LA County hospitals all throughout the month of February.

Companies hosting their own events to raise awareness for women's heart disease include Southern California Gas, OPI, Pharmavite and Union Bank, among others.

NBC4's Marina Pena contributed to this story.
Sergio Romo is officially behind enemy lines.

The longtime San Francisco Giants reliever has reportedly signed a one-year deal to join the Dodgers for the 2017 season.

The Mexican-American right-hander with a wicked slider hails from Brawley, CA a city below San Diego near the border. He rose to prominence in the Major Leagues in 2008, and has spent the last nine seasons with the rival Giants.

Over that span, Romo rode his slider into the setup and closer roles for San Francisco as they won three World Series titles in five years. Romo was named setup man of the year in 2012, and was named an All-Star in 2013. The greatest moment in his career came on the mound in 2012 when he struck out American League MVP Miguel Cabrera in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 4 to win the World Series.

The 33-year-old has posted a 3.21 ERA over the past three seasons as he relinquished his closer role to Santiago Casilla in 2014.

After the announcement, which was first reported by MLB Network's Jon Morosi, many Dodger fans across the Southland issued their displeasure with the signing of a rival who now finds himself in hostile territory.

For those fans concerned with Romo's loyalty to the Bay, fear not. The right-hander grew up a Dodgers fan and his family famously wore Dodger blue to games at AT&T Park when Romo pitched.

"I followed them as a kid, but we became rivals in San Francisco," Romo told reporters in Culican, Mexico where he has been hanging out with Julio Urias and pitching for Team Mexico in the Caribbean Series. "Truthfully, it was something that came up when I was a kid. I've never put on a Dodgers uniform, not even in Little League. You never know if it will happen now, only God knows. We'll have to wait, but there are talks."

Also, Romo is not moving into the closer role which belongs to Kenley Jansen who signed a five-year, $80 million contract in the offseason.

If Romo can remain healthy (he missed 40 games last year with a strain in his flexor tendon), he is expected to serve as a specialist in late-inning matchups against right-handed hitters. Similar to Joe Blanton, Romo's slider is nearly unhittable against righties. In his career, right-handed hitters are batting .187 against Romo.

The Dodgers could still add another arm or two in their bullpen for pitchers and catchers are set to report on February 15th. Among the names to be on the lookout for are Blanton, and left-hander Craig Breslow.
Los Angeles County officials are seeking to become the guardians of a 76-year-old man from Southern California with a history of Alzheimer's after he was abandoned in a small English village two years ago by family members, court records state.

The Los Angeles County Office of the Public Guardian has filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to become the permanent guardian for Earl Roger Curry.

Curry, who is living at an assisted-living home in the LA area, can't provide for himself, is unable to manage his finances, and family members have not assumed responsibility for his care, the documents said.

Curry's attorney declined to comment. Curry's son and wife, who do not face criminal charges, could not be reached for comment. Curry's son has denied the allegation.

Curry, a retired registered nurse, was found disoriented and alone in 2015 in England where he remained in a nursing home until he could be identified and returned to Los Angeles after eight months.

His story is the subject of a BBC documentary that alleges Curry's family abandoned him.

Curry was found wandering the small village of Credenhill in Herefordshire, England on Nov. 7, 2015, according to a news release from the West Mercia Police Department.

He had an American or Canadian accent, appeared to show signs of dementia, and could only give authorities his name, police said.

He was taken to a hospital and ultimately placed into a nursing home in central England while police put out an international appeal for help using the hashtag #RogersLostIdentity on social media.

Police said he was in the care of the Herefordshire Council and was "safe and well."

"This is an unusual situation and we are desperately hoping that we can reunite Roger with his family, wherever they may be," West Mercia police said in a news release last March.

Police arrested a 51-year-old man from Taunton, a town in southwest England, on kidnapping charges in the case, according to Helen Blake, a spokeswoman for the local police department. She declined to elaborate further, citing English law.

LA County court records mention a man who initially told police he found Curry but later confessed that he lied, saying Roger Curry's son and wife brought him to England so he could be hospitalized there.

It is not clear whether the documents are referring to the same person police arrested on the kidnap charge.

Authorities eventually learned that Curry lived in Whittier and flew him back to LA last summer, court documents said.

Once here, Curry was hospitalized and officials with the LA County guardian's office began looking into his case. They have been trying to locate family members who can take care of him.

The guardian's office was granted last fall a temporary conservatorship to care for Curry. A hearing is scheduled in April to make the guardianship permanent, a department spokesman said.

Without a family member making a claim in court, Curry "has no other resource available to him other than the Los Angeles County Office for the Public Guardian," court records state.

Curry may have retirement benefits from Kaiser Permanente, where he worked, and possibly the U.S. Air Force, records show. But Social Security benefits have been suspended "due to allegations of elder abuse and abandonment," according to the Order Appointing Temporary Conservator filed last September.

He has a home in Whittier, but it is uninhabitable after it was destroyed in a suspected arson in 2014, according to the incident report from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Curry, his wife and son were not home at the time of the fire, the report said.



Investigators found a gas can and a lighter in a hallway, the fire department report said. The arson remained an open investigation as of Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, according to Jose Marron, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
A man who visited a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Santa Monica two years ago alleges in court documents that the company is deceiving customers by falsely claiming some of their jelly-filled doughnuts contain fruit.

Jason Saidian is seeking $5 million in the federal lawsuit filed in November in Los Angeles. He claims that the North Carolina-based Krispy Kreme chain's glazed blueberry cake contains imitation blueberries made of corn syrup, corn cereal, sugar, and food coloring.

He also claims that the maple bar contains no maple syrup.

The company "induces unsuspecting consumers into believing that the Blueberry Products contain actual blueberries," he said, according to court documents.

Saidian said he would not have purchased the doughnuts or would have paid significantly less for them had he known that they did not contain fruit, according to court documents.

Saidian said he "suffered injury" and lost money as a result of the "misleading, false, unfair, and fraudulent practices."

He said he's likely to purchase the doughnuts in the future if they contained real fruit.

Saidian couldn't be reached. His lawyers did not return an email seeking comment. Krispy Kreme didn't respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit alleges violations of California business codes, breach of warranty, common law fraud, and negligent misrepresentation.
When WWII Army veteran Felipe Lopez passed away mid-January in Reseda, it wasn't long before his younger brother Eliseo Lopez, also a WWII veteran, did too.

The family said Lopez's death left his brother heartbroken and he died in Texas just 10 days later.

This Saturday, there will be a special tribute at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth to commemorate Felipe Lopez's life and military service.

A Los Angeles Dodgers fan, handyman and prankster, Lopez died at the age of 92. His younger brother, a beloved grandfather, was 91 when he passed.

Born into a family of 13 children, four of the siblings were in active duty during WWII. The brothers served in Germany and Austria during the war. Lopez spent a year in the Philippines after the war and his younger brother continued on to the Korean War.

Erika Hanson, Felipe Lopez's granddaughter, recorded a video of her grandfather sharing stories about his experiences during the war. In one clip, he recalled being on the the frontlines.

"See once you are at the frontlines, you move to wherever you think you are safe," he said. "You use your mind."

"Once youre there, you try not to think about home," he added. "Because I never thought I was coming back."

The video continued, showing Lopez remembering the letters he would receive from his wife, Mary Lou, and the time he shared with his friend, Nick, who was in the frontlines alongside him. Lopez retired from the military as a staff sergeant.

Eliseo Lopez's daughters also recorded the veteran's experiences. They kept a letter he received from a Polish woman who expressed her gratitude to the veteran for his efforts in saving her family's life.
Using President Donald Trump's tweets and news interviews as some of the basis for a federal lawsuit, three California university students have sued the president over his travel ban, saying he is unconstitutionally trying to fulfill a campaign promise to ban Muslims from this country.

The 36-page suit follows on the heels of a plethora of other suits filed this week against the president; from the American Civil Liberties Union, which raised about $24 million last weekend alone during the height of the airport protests over the ban, to a prominent Muslim group, to the city of San Francisco.

The suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, is a class action complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from President Donald Trump's Jan. 27 executive order imposing a 120-day moratorium on refugees and a temporary ban on travelers who hail from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

An email to the U.S. Department of Justice seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday to the Associated Press.

According to the suit, Hadil Al-Mowafak - a Stanford University freshman - is now unable to visit her husband in Yemen. She hopes to visit him this sumer, but she's afraid to because she fears not being able to re-enter the country, the suit states, and therefore not be able to finish her studies.

"I can't imagine not seeing [him] for a year, let alone four years," the 21-year-old said.

Al-Mowafak said also that she is proud to fight for the freedom to travel, adding: "I am holding on to hope."

Protesters Against Trump's Immigration Policies Take Over SFO

Wasim Ghaleb, 23, also a citizen of Yemen - has been unable to return to resume studies in business administration at Grossmont College in San Diego. He was told on Jan. 28 at the Los Angeles International Airport, he was told that he could not fly back to California to start school on Jan. 30, the claim states. He showed the agents his paperwork, Form 1-20 and his F-1 entry visa, but he was told he "had no choice but to return to Jeddah" in Saudi Arabia.

And an unnamed Iranian national who is a Ph.D. candidate and who has published articles in "prestigious scientific journals" at UC Berkeley fears losing a job opportunity. He is stuck in Saudi Arabia where he was visiting family and now can't return because of the executive order, according to the suit. He currently lives in Alameda and is trying to finish his final year of study in engineering. He is fearful he won't get the necessary authorization to continue living in the United States and will have to turn down a job he got at a "top Fortune 50" company in Silicon Valley, according to the suit.

All three hold valid F-1 visas, the suit says.

Because of the ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries these students now are enduring unconstitutional hardships, the suit claims, and there is "chaos and confusion" in the country.

Specifically, the suit alleges that the president's executive order violates the First Amendment because it is a "thinly veiled attempt to discriminate against Muslims by barring them from entry into the United States." And thhe Immigration and Nationality Act ensures against this, the suit states.

Plaintiff lawyers are arguing that Trump's executive order is fulfilling a campaign promise to ban Muslims from entering the country.

Many citations in the lawsuit provide a direct link to Trump's tweets, including one he made on Dec. 7, 2015 that read "DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT ON PREVENTING MUSLIM IMMIGRATION," with a link to this proclamation.

The suit also references a July 2016 interview with NBC News "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd and Trump, where the then-candidate said: "We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time has proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place."

When Todd asked him if a plan he supported back them was a "roll back" from the "Muslim ban," Trump answered: "I don't think so. I actually don't think it's a rollback. In fact, you could say it is an expansion."

Plaintiffs lawyers include Julia Harumi Mass of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and Adam Lauridsen and others, who are also representing Jewish Family and Community Services of the East Bay.

The reason the Jewish agency is a plaintiff, the suit says, is because the nonprofit "supports those refugees and immigrants who are already present in the area, and stands ready to welcome and provide services to additional refugees and immigrants who are able to gain entry into the United States."

NBC Bay Area's Jean Elle contributed to this report.
Miami Beach police detectives are working to solve a gruesome murder mystery that's more than a decade old. The woman was found strangled to death in a duffle bag. Investigators say the killer went to great lengths to keep her body under water.

Captain Daniel Morgalo was assigned to the case while on the Miami Beach Police Department's Homicide Unit. It was his first case as the lead investigator.

Whoever person or persons that did this, went to a lot of trouble so that the body wouldn't be found," said Morgalo.

Thirteen years later, there are still no signs of who the victim is or who killed her.

"It's the only case that my victim remained unidentified and the case remains unsolved. All the other cases that I handled were solved," said Morgalo.

On January 2nd, 2004, boaters on the Indian Creek Waterway near 43rd street discovered a floating black duffle bag. Police say when they opened it, there was a decomposed body.

"It was a very brutal death. She was strangled, sexually assaulted. It's a pretty significant violent homicide," added Morgalo.

Initially, investigators tried to identify the victim through fingerprints, but they were unsuccessful. The next step was a sketch released to the public. And, still, no solid lead.

"So, our last course of action to try and identify her was to do a 3D forensic reconstruction," said Morgalo.

That's where Agent Lucy Ross from the Brevard County Sheriff's Office stepped in to create a 3D model using the victim's skull.

"Another aspect of this that makes me really want to try and solve this case and get this victim identified is that probably about 6 months after she completed this reconstruction, agent Ross was killed in a car accident in the line of duty," said Morgalo.

For the captain, this investigation is more than just a cold case. It's an opportunity to honor the legacy of a woman in such a specialized field and a chance to bring closure to a true mystery in his 22-year career.

"You really dont ever forget about this. And, to me this would be the highlight of a good career," said Morgalo.

If you recognize this woman, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
Detectives are on the hunt for the armed suspect who forced his way into a Miami Beach Thursday night.

Miami Beach Police say the intruder robbed two brothers at gunpoint inside their home located along the 2900 block of Flamingo Drive.

At around 7:40 p.m., 27-year-old Simon Chertman was walking out the backdoor of the home when he was confronted by a black male wearing all black clothing.

"I just went outside in the backyard and somebody came out with a gun," Chertman said.

Chertman told police the man told him he was just there for the jewelry and the money.

The intruder made his way into the home where he encountered 22-year-old Willy Chertman.

"My brother was in his room, he heard something and went outside and he got both of us.

The armed suspect forced both brothers into a bedroom where he stole hundreds of dollars worth of watches.

The residents, who are brothers, had their cell phones taken from them before being locked in a bathroom by the home invader.

"He took us downstairs to the cabana and told us to count to 100 and then I don't know where he went," he said.

Now Chertman says its uncomfortable staying in his own home.

"I feel afraid now to go outside to the backdoor, we even put a pool tabe there blocking the back door," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-474-TIPS.
Demonstrators rallied at Bayfront Park Saturday against Trumps moratorium on refugees from seven primarily Islamic countries and other issues.

The rally was organized by the Anti-Trump Action Committee for Saturday afternoon at Bayfront Park Amphitheater in Downtown Miami.

Organizers say they're joining with people across the country in denouncing Trumps executive orders and proclamations.

On Friday, the order was blocked by a federal judge and is, for now, no longer being enforced by the Department of Homeland Security or the State Department

Meanwhile, President Trump is spending his first weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in nearby Palm Beach since taking office two weeks ago.

Demonstrators are also expected to gather outside the pricey club Saturday afternoon.
A teacher at Cutler Bay Senior High School was arrested Friday for having a sexual relationship with a teen student.

Bernardo Osorio, 53, was booked into jail on three counts of engaging in sexual acts with a minor.

According to a Miami-Dade police report, Osorio befriended the victim back in November of 2015. At that time, the victim was 15-years old. During a six-month period, the teen boy told police he performed oral sex on the accused teacher at least three times.

The sexual acts happened twice on school grounds and once in Osorio's car, police said. The alleged victim said the teacher would initiate the sex acts, according to an arrest report.

When officers arrested Osorio, they say he confessed to having the teen victim perform oral sex on him. Police say Osorio told them the relationship was "wrong because he was a teacher and the victim was a student."

The 53-year-old has been a teacher for more than 20 years, according to a bio posted on the school's website. He has worked at other schools in South Florida.

Miami-Dade School District officials confirmed that a teacher was arrested and that he was terminated and banned from the school district.

Read the full statement:

"Miami-Dade County Public Schools takes every precaution to safeguard the children in our care. The employee taken into custody by Miami Dade Schools Police for having an inappropriate relationship with a minor. He is no longer employed by M-DCPS and is prohibited from seeking future employment with the school district. The allegations made against the employee are unacceptable and inexcusable and the school district will not tolerate such behavior."
The father of the Navy SEAL who was killed during a raid on al-Qaeda militants worked at Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler said Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, is the son of a retired Fort Laudersdale Police Department detective.

"Fort Lauderdale proudly honors his distinguished life of service and his ultimate heroic sacrifice on America's behalf, and extends our deepest sympathies and condolences to Ryan's family," wrote Mayor Seiler in a Facebook post. "Please keep Ryan and his family in your thoughts and prayers, and be sure to thank all our military and law enforcement for allowing us to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Owens, who was from Peoria, Illinois, enlisted in the Navy in 1998 and earned numerous awards and decorations, including two bronze stars with a combat "V" for valor and heroic service, according to NBC News.

President Donald Trump made an unannounced trip to Delaware's Dover Air Base on Wednesday to honor the returning remains of Owens.

Owens was the first known U.S. combat casualty since Trump took office less than two weeks ago. More than half a dozen militant suspects were also killed in the raid on an al-Qaida compound and three other U.S. service members were wounded.
Miami Police are searching for a man captured on surveillance video robbing an elderly woman in front of her home. Surveillance video of the crime was released Friday.

The incident happened Wednesday afternoon outside the victim's home, which is located on Southwest 6th Street and 60th Court.

Footage showed the elderly woman walking back home from checking the mailbox. That's when the suspect swooped in and accosted the victim.

The man pushed and struggled with the woman for her purse but was only able to snatch the victim's gold chain, police said.

The victim suffered minor abrasions.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
Child porn, Xanax and meth were allegedly found at the home of a Long Island priest who was fired Saturday over the charges.

The Rev. Christopher King, 51, was arrested Friday and charged with five counts of possessing child porn and two counts of possessing a controlled substance, Nassau County police said.

Police said the pornography on King's computer involved children younger than 16. Investigators said they also found methamphetamine, Xanax pills and drug-related paraphernalia.

King, who was the preist-in-charge of St. James in Long Beach, was fired Saturday when the diocese was notified of the allegations, the diocese said.

"The diocese and the entire Episcopal Church have a zero tolerance policy with respect to criminal conduct of any kind, including the allegations made against Father King," said Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

It's not clear whether King had an attorney.
The Justice Department has appealed a judge's order temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban, saying it's the "sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens in order to protect national security.

The appeal filed late Saturday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, cites a "basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application."

The Justice Department asked that the federal judge's order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal. It says the ban is necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended enforcement of the ban in compliance with the judge's order, which plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged both Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill campaign promises.

That stand-down marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says. The order also imposes harm on U.S. citizens "by thwarting the legal effect of the public's chosen representative," it says.

On Twitter, Trump mocked Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned." He added in a subsequent tweet: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case is judged by higher courts.

The ban has caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompting protests across the United States and leading to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and near Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was spending the weekend and attending an annual American Red Cross fundraising gala.

"We'll win," Trump told reporters Saturday night. "For the safety of the country, we'll win."

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was "focusing on booking refugee travel" through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump's order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had "suspended any and all actions" related to putting in place Trump's order, which the White House argued was "intended to protect the homeland."

Trump made clear what he thought of Robart's action.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned," Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!"

After a pause of several hours, the president returned to Twitter: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?"

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for "attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge" and said he seemed "intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis."

Trump's rhetoric also could put government lawyers defending his order in a tough spot.

"Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a 'so-called judge,' which you can't do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said U.S.-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trump's executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, volunteer lawyer Renee Paradis said most of the flights involving passengers from the affected countries were to arrive later Saturday.

"Anybody who comes here on a visa is supposed to be allowed in, so we would anticipate that somebody who is in the air would be able to land and enter," she said. "Of course, as with everything this week, it remains to be seen what happens on the ground."

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. In Washington on Saturday, demonstrators chanting "No hate, No fear, Refugees are welcome here" walked from the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide.

In arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order Friday, Robart said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."
Syfy is bringing the four shark-men to cable with a fifth installment of "Sharknado."

The franchise, which has become something of a cult classic, has taken on cities around the United States for its first four films. From D.C. to New York to Los Angeles, shark-slaying team Fin and April have slashed through their nemeses. But despite their efforts, Sharknado: the 4th Awakens left North America in ruins, with sharks everywhere poised for an international attack.

Tornadoes filled with sharks will cause a global environmental crisis as actors Ian Ziering and Tara Reid reprise their roles later this year. Sharknado 5 will be shot in more than five countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia. Filming has already begun.

No premiere date has been released for the sequel, but earlier installments have hit screens in summer, specifically July.
Around 2,000 people marched in Center City Saturday afternoon to protest President Trump's travel and immigration ban.

The March for Humanity began at 1 p.m. as protesters, many accompanied by children and wearing heavy jackets, scarves and caps to protect against the bitter cold, gathered at Thomas Paine Plaza. Street closures went into effect as the crowd marched on Broad Street from City Hall.

The demonstrators held signs, many saying "No Ban No Wall," and cheered as speakers excoriated the president's executive order a week ago to suspend America's refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the U.S. says raise terrorism concerns.

Police say the march was peaceful and no arrests were made.

The march led to rolling street closures around City Hall and down Market Street to Independence Hall where Vice President Mike Pence addressed the Federalist Society around noon.

SEPTA urged passengers to use certain rail lines ahead of the march. The public transportation service suggested riding the Market-Frankford and Broad Street subway lines as the best way to get into Center City. The trains run about every 10 minutes.

Passengers traveling from outside the city can connect with the Market-Frankford Line at Frankford Transportation Center and 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby, SEPTA advises.

The Broad Street Line is served from AT&T Station in South Philadelphia to the Fern Rock Transportation Center in Fern Rock.

Airlines reversed the travel ban overnight after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's order.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the order "outrageous" in a statement released late Friday and said the DOJ plans to file an emergency stay to defend the president's executive action. Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous."

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked U.S. District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling "will be overturned."

Trump's direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More
A suspect wound up nearly freezing to death in a Lehigh Valley quarry after running away from a stolen car during a traffic stop Friday night.



The wild scene played out after Slatington Borough officers pulled over a car near the Sunoco gas station along Main Street around 10 p.m., said Slatington Borough Police Chief David Rachman.



Officers learned of the car being stolen and attempted to take three occupants into custody, said police.



The driver, however, made a run for it, darting into a wooded area behind the nearby gas station. Officers tried to Taser the man with no success, said investigators.



While running around in the darkness, the driver  who hails from Coatesville, Pennsylvania  fell about 30 feet down an embankment and into a quarry partially filled with water, said police.



Officers threw the man a flotation device and waited for the required wet suit-clad rescuers to arrive to pluck the man from the cold water, said Rachman.



The rescue took about 40 minutes and the man was treated at a nearby hospital for hypothermia, said Rachman.



Police didnt immediately identify the suspect who will face a slew of charges including car theft. The man also had active warrants out from Chester County, said police.



The two passengers in the car were taken in for questioning. A female passenger was released while police held a male passenger on an outstanding warrant from Chester County.
Vice President Mike Pence came to Philadelphia to address the city's chapter of the Federalist Society and give his support to President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick.

Pence spoke Saturday afternoon at Congress Hall after a quick visit Saturday morning to the iconic Liberty Bell.

Couldn't pass this close to the Liberty Bell  without stopping by to see this symbol of American Freedom for myself. pic.twitter.com/b8L8rIIQzG  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 4, 2017

Pence pledged that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch will be seated on the high court "one way or the other."

Pence's comments during a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, echoed Trump's comments from earlier in the week. Trump urged the Senate's Republican leader to scrap longstanding rules and "go nuclear" if Democrats block Gorsuch.

Pence says the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia's death belongs to the American people. The vice president says he and Trump will work with the Senate to ensure Gorsuch gets an up or down vote.

"Rest assured, we will work with the Senate leadership to ensure that Judge Gorsuch gets an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor -- one way or the other," Pence said. "This seat does not belong to any party or any ideology or any interest group. This seat on the Supreme Court belongs to the American people, and the American people deserve a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

Pence said the Senate had voted unanimously to confirm Gorsuch to his current post, and that nearly a third of the senators who voted back then remain in the Senate. The Senate's vote on Gorsuch in 2006 was by unanimous consent, or voice vote. It was not a recorded vote.

The event was not open to the public but that didn't stop protesters from marching near Independence Hall. [[412780963, C]]

Congress Hall was the meeting place for the U.S. Congress from 1790-1800. Among the historic events held there was George Washington's second inauguration.
Did you know that underground warehouse parties in New York City years ago were seen as places to stay warm and avoid the freezing cold temperatures? Since we are bound to have six more weeks of winter -- thanks to Mr. Groundhog -- Ive put together a broad list of events for this month to give you plenty of reasons to go out and dance yourself warm!

On Saturday, Feb. 4, we cover Audiens return to San Diego at the intimate Bassmnt, so head to the front of the stage and stay tuned if you want to catch yourself on TV!

For those seeking to support local San Diego artists making a push for originality in their events, check out SHAMANIC featuring the stellar Tribe Out West crew and Dirtybirds CISZAK! Also at Spin on Saturday, Feb. 11, is the yearly debauchery presented by Camp Ego Trip featuring Haywire and Blond:ish -- definitely a double treat!

On Friday, Feb. 17, AUXEQ at Myst -- a new event at a new venue -- provides a profound experience that focuses on music, art and performers -- with all local DJs. On the same night, if youre feeling like some crazy laser beams, NGHTMVS brings in legendary Green Velvet for some after hours action at Spin. Sunday, Feb. 19, is a big one as LED Presents celebrates their anniversary party -- this time inviting RL Grime, Ghastly, Laidback Luke and more to Valley View Casino Center. If youre missing the 18+ anniversary party but still want to indulge in some Laidback Luke, hell be doing a special "strictly techno" set at Bang Bang.

On Friday, Feb. 24, continuing with their good vibes, the crew at House Music Fridays warmly invites all house music lovers to their weekly shindig. Strap on those dancing shoes and make sure to grab one of their fabulous Moscow mules! If you want to check out an artist that is quickly moving up the ranks before you have to fork it out at a festival, make sure to head out for Elephante at Omnia San Diego on Feb. 25.

Closing out the month on Tuesday, Feb. 28, is the "phatest" party of the month -- Mardi Gras! Blocked off streets in the middle of San Diegos Gaslamp featuring world class talent on multiple stages, roaming performers ready for a photo opp, themed out stages and the ever popular Mardi Gras Parade make this one heck of a party!

Stay posted for a way to win tickets for this mega bash!

Feb. 4: Audien @ Bassmnt

Feb. 11: Leather & Lace II with Blond:ish and Haywire @ Spin

Feb. 17: AUXEQ @ Myst

Feb. 17: FNGRS CRSSD's NGHTMVS with Green Velvet @ Spin

Feb. 19: LED Anniversary featuring RL Grime, Laidback Luke, Ghastly @ Valley View Casino Center

Feb. 19: Laidback Luke All Techno @ Bang Bang

Feb. 24: House Music Fridays @ Air Conditioned Lounge

Feb. 25: Elephante @ Omnia San Diego

Feb. 28: Mardi Gras San Diego Parade and Gaslamp Block Party

Tomas Serrano, aka DJ IDeaL, is the electronic dance music correspondent for SoundDiego, covering the best of San Diego's electronic music events and culture. Follow his whereabouts on Facebook, Twitter or contact him directly.
When it comes to President Trump's actions over the last two weeks, people are not shy in sharing their opinions. Still, there is a group of people caught in the middle.

A lot of those voices are in the business community.

These are people who are empathetic to many of the marches and protests happening around the country. Many of the issues these demonstrations highlight directly impact their employees.

However, these businesses also say these demonstrations can get in the way of their ability to work.

I was trying to get to San Diego from Portland, Oregon on Sunday and I was blocked access to the airport, said Mike Cully. Police had to actually escort us to the gate because of all the protest that were happening.

Cully runs the San Diego North Economic Development Corporation.

Of course we welcome and appreciate free speech, but when it prohibits and inhibits what you're trying to do, that's a problem, he said.

Scotty Lombardi does Talent Acquisitions at Hunter Industries, the largest employer in San Marcos. The company is probably best known for sprinkler systems.

Lombardi said they are a global company and employees commute back and forth between here and their office in Tijuana--sometimes daily.

"The protest that are happening on the other side of the border, in Mexico certainly have an impact on our ability to travel logistically to and from Mexico," he said.

Although there a sizable number of people out there that wish these protests were not so disruptive, some protesters say that's exactly the point--to make these issues inescapable.
With heavy hearts, family and friends gathered Saturday to pay tribute to a 5-year-old boy and his caregiver, both killed when they were swept into a rain-swollen creek last month amid strong winter storms.

A "Celebration of Life" ceremony was held at SonRise Christian Fellowship in Fallbrook, in San Diego's North County, for pre-school student Phillip Campbell and the man he lovingly called Pappy, Roland Phillips, 73.

Touching tribute videos were shown at the memorial service, one for Phillip and one for Roland. One by one, family members shared stories of both of their lives, many fighting back tears.

Although Phillip and Roland weren't related by blood, the pair were best friends. Roland and his partner, Tracy, helped care for Phillip.

Phillip's family told NBC 7 the boy and his "Pappy" were inseparable and did everything together.

"He followed him everywhere, everywhere," Phillip's grandmother said of the boy's friendship with Roland.

Phillip's uncle, Anthony Campbell, said what he will miss the most about the boy is his "wonderful smile and love."

"He would greet you with a hug; he didn't care to shake hands. He would want to give you a hug and a kiss," Anthony said. "He made you laugh -- in his own way -- just a silly little boy."

Anthony said it's an emotional time for his family, but they are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.

He said Saturday was all about finally letting Phillip rest in peace.

We just need to get to the cemetery and put his little body in the ground and put him to rest, said Anthony.

Phillip's uncle also said Roland was "a very good man" who dedicated a lot of time, along with Tracy, to helping raise Phillip. Roland was kind and generous, and those traits rubbed off on Phillip.

He called the connection between Phillip and Roland unique and their bond unbreakable.

"It was an awesome relationship. They went everywhere together," he added. "They were two great people."

On Jan. 22, Roland and Phillip were driving to Riverside to look at a car that was for sale. It was the weekend that a series of powerful winter storms hit San Diego County, causing flooding in many parts of the county.

As Roland's Toyota Camry approached the area of Fifth Street, east of Interstate 15 in Rainbow, California, the car was carried away by rising water from Rainbow Creek -- a normally small creek running across San Diego's North County to the Pacific Ocean.

The boy and Roland disappeared into the water.

Cal Fire and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) launched an extensive search for them that lasted five days. Winter storm conditions and water levels in the creek made the first few days of the search extremely difficult and dangerous.

The following day, Jan. 23, Rolands body was pulled from the creek. However, Phillip was nowhere to be found.

One Rainbow resident told NBC 7 that she saw the boy clinging to a tree limb before disappearing downstream on Jan. 22. The ME's report said other witnesses called 911 to report the child floating in the creek.

The searched pressed on  by ground and air  over the next five days. On Jan. 24, SDSO officials searched by helicopter from the point where Rolands vehicle was believed to have entered the creek to the ocean. A crew flew low enough for searchers to try and spot any sign of the child.

Again, nothing.

Deputies said their mission was a recovery effort, not a rescue, as Phillip was presumed dead. As the rain stopped and water levels dropped, the search resumed on Jan. 25 and again on Jan. 26.

Four swift water teams moved up and down the creek. SDSO search and rescue teams canvassed the area.

Finally, on Jan. 26, just after 11 a.m., Phillip's body was found in the water, buried under 6 to 8 feet of debris.

Cal Fire Division Chief Nick Schuler said the boy was found in very thick brush and trees, in an area referred to by officials as a strainer.

Schuler said strainers are areas where large trees have fallen across the creek and where debris and brush has gotten hung up as the water rushes through.

He said Cal Fires inmate hand crews were removing debris and brush in a heavily-wooded strainer area when they noticed a small shoe lying in the brush. As they removed more debris, they uncovered the body of a little boy.

The area where the body was found is near Moon Valley Nurseries on the west side of Interstate 15.

Schuler said the area was difficult to access, making for a very technical search  very complicated and dangerous.

[The creek] probably flowed in excess of 15 to 18 feet deep and 80 feet wide, he explained. He was buried in approximately 6 to 8 feet of debris.

It literally was like a needle in a haystack to try and find this little boy, he added.
Sara Yarjani was on the wrong flight at the wrong time.

The 35-year old is a student at California Institute for Human Science in Encinitas. She is also from Iran.

Last Friday, she was returning from a flight to Austria after visiting her family. She was in the air, bound for LAX, at the same time President Trump was signing an Executive Order that put a ban on entry from seven countries, including Iran.

Yarjani said even though she hasnt been to Iran in 20-years, and is a permanent resident of Austria, she was detained and eventually forced back on the plane and deported.

One of her teachers in Encinitas expressed her dismay.

It was completely unnecessary, disruptive, painful, traumatizing, said Ji Hyang Padma.

Yarjani has a valid multiple entry student visa, and carries a 3.9 grade point average. She says she was detained at LAX for 23-hours. During that time, a stay was issued by a federal judge, but agents at the airport would not allow her to stay.

The way it was carried out was certainly clumsy, very uncoordinated, causing unnecessary chaos, said Padma.

Yarjani is now being represented by a lawyer with the ACLU. They have yet to comment on her specific case.
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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 ...

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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 ...

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A drug tunnel had been discovered in Tijuana on Friday, a federal Mexican official confirmed to NBC 7.

The tunnel opening was found inside a home located just 20 meters from the U.S.-Mexico Border, just east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

According to the official, it is unknown at this time if the tunnel actually reached the U.S.

The house is currently being searched and is secured by Mexican army and local police personnel.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.
Dozens of people gathered for a candlelight vigil on Friday at the site where three family members lost their lives in Lemon Grove.

Some were friends and family, while others were complete strangers, all there to share their sorrow.

All of us have lost someone very precious to our lives, the prayer leader said.

Three members of the Soto family were killed in the head-on crash Wednesday on Massachusetts and Lemon Grove avenues, including 12-year-old Jose Alexander Soto.

He was my real best friend. I am just hurt that he passed away, Jose's friend Brandon Rodriguez said.

Jose's older sister, Lizbeth Soto, 18, was also killed.

Diego Arroyo, Lizbeth's high school sweetheart, helped organize Friday night's memorial service.

That was my queen. Ive been with her since we were 14, Arroyo told NBC 7.

He said there is no preparing for such a tragedy and added that he is supported by friends and family.

I know that she is smiling down on us right now, wishing she could be here. I wish she could be here too, Arroyo said.

Lizbeth's niece, 8-year-old Camila Nava Cardenas was also killed in the tragic crash.

Her older sister, Emili Soto, who was behind the wheel when the crash happened, is still recovering from surgery at Scripps Mercy Hospital.

"She's probably going through a lot, recovering and everything. If everyone could pray for her, Arroyo said.

Emili's 4-year-old niece, Melina Cardenas is in critical condition at Rady Children's Hospital.

Police identified the driver of the SUV involved in the crash only as a 40-year-old man.

He was not seriously injured.

Investigators said one of the two drivers ran a red light but have not identified which one yet.
In a true miracle on the highway, three people came out practically unscathed Saturday when a big rig crashed into a small car on Interstate 805, taking the car with it as the big rig plowed into a center median.

Firefighters rushed to northbound I-805 at Murray Ridge in Serra Mesa just after 11 a.m. to help those involved in the crash: the driver in the semi-truck and two women inside the small car.

California Highway Patrol (CHP) Sgt. Brent Lowery said the semi-truck lost a tire while on the freeway, causing the driver to swerve to the left. As the driver swerved, he didnt realize there was a car next to him. The driver ran into the car and then crashed into the median, taking the car along with it.

Somehow, although the small car was pinned against the wall, the women inside survived.

NBC 7 San Diego

They lucked out, the truck was kind of around it, and it did not crush it. They got very lucky, Lowery said.

As San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) crews worked to help the people in the wreck, Lowery said a tow truck was called in to actually lift the big rig off the small car.

The driver of the car was able to get out on her own, but the passenger was pinned inside. About an hour later, firefighters were able to pull the passenger out. She was grateful, hugging and thanking firefighters.

Lowery said the women in the car suffered only minor injuries and were taken to the hospital for evaluation. The driver of the semi-truck was not hurt.

CHP officials issued a traffic alert on northbound I-805 at Murray Ridge following the crash, saying the big rig was blocking the two left lanes. Traffic was at single-digit speeds, backed up from Interstate 8, CHP officials said.

Lowery said the traffic alert would remain in place for at least another hour.
Parents of a local high school claim their kids had been set up for failure in a college-prep program after more than half of the students fail the courses.

The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) launched the STEAM Middle College program two years ago. It was designed to give students at Lincoln High School access to college classes at San Diego City College and help reverse the declining enrollment rate.

But according to parents, the program did just the opposite.

Out of 66 students who had enrolled in a college class during the fall semester, only 17 passed.

Parents gathered at a school board meeting on Jan. 24, saying that the district is letting their kids down.

"We can all stand around and be stoic about this and not be bothered but this was a deliberate attempt to fail the students at Lincoln High," one parent said.

According to Mario Koran, from NBC 7's media partner Voice of San Diego, the STEAM Middle College Program saw some changes leading up to the fall semester.

Koran said in past years, students had the option to chose between Psychology, Hispanic Studies or a Personal Growth class. This fall semester, they were only offered the choice of remedial math.

"All the students who had signed up for college classes, all of them were routed into the math class...whether they had asked for it or not," Koran told NBC 7.

But Board Member Sharon Whitehurst-Payne said the school district had been attempting to make the program more economical. She added that it was also for students to get finish a required class.

"Whenever a college class does not have enough students in it, we have to subsidize it," Whitehurst-Payne said.

Parents argued students did not receive any support and there was no communication or intervention from the school.

"They knew 80 percent of the children failed that class and nothing was done," a parent said.

Whitehurst-Payne said the school should have monitored students even after the midterm but added that it was lesson to be learned from.

"For everybody, for the students, for the district--and I'm not going to say those children did not gain something from that experience," she said. "The second time around, they will do much better because they'll understand that math next time, right?"

She said SDUSD will not offer only one course next time. The district has also worked out a plan to change the failing grades to a W, indicating that students had withdrawn from the class.

The students will still have to take the course again if they want to earn credits.

But parents worry that this could impact the students' graduation requirements or even hinder them from getting accepted into colleges.
A man apparently fell four stories to his death early Saturday at an apartment complex in San Diegos Rolando.

San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Lt. Mike Holden, of the Homicide Unit, said the circumstances of the mans death are considered suspicious.

At around 2:50 a.m., the police department received a call reporting a man hurt near an apartment building in the 4600 block of 63rd Street. The man had apparently fallen from his apartment -- a unit located on the 4th floor of the building.

When officers arrived at the complex, they found the 25-year-old man unconscious in the courtyard. He was bleeding from a severe head injury, Holden said.

The man was rushed to a local hospital, but he died shortly thereafter.

Liberty Zabala

The SDPDs Homicide Unit is handling the case due to the suspicious nature of the mans death. The victims name has not yet been released.

Hours later, investigators remained at the scene collecting evidence.

Holden said two people were arrested at the complex Friday night; somehow, those people are connected to the victim. Holden said the victim had outstanding warrants for his arrest.

One of the people arrested lived in the apartment with the victim, the lieutenant confirmed. Holden could not release additional details, as the investigation is ongoing. The names of the people who were arrested were also not immediately released.

Neighbor says she heard loud thud & screams last night when 25yo man fell from his 4th floor apartment. Police say death is suspicious #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/Ggh2rwv1CJ  Liberty Zabala (@LibertyNBC7SD) February 4, 2017

Sydney Feese, who lives at the apartment complex, said she heard a thud and when she walked onto her balcony and looked down into the courtyard, she saw the victim unresponsive on the ground.

"I heard a person yelling, 'Call 911.' My boyfriend was with me and he said he heard those same voices yelling, 'He fell off the balcony," Feese recounted.

Feese said she saw three men rush to the victim's aid, trying to help him while they called the police.

NBC 7 spoke with other Rolando residents who said the apartment complex is heavily occupied by college students and tends to attract a lot of college-age visitors.

Neighbor William Hintzman said there are a lot of parties at the complex and drinking and rowdy behavior are frequent occurrences at the building.

Im not exactly surprised. Its unfortunate that it happened but theres a lot of drinking going on, a lot of partying [at this complex], he told NBC 7. These are young people who are away from home, away from their parents, away from normal constraints  and this sudden freedom, it seems to affect some of them to excess.

Kelly Verakis has lived at the building since the beginning of San Diego State University's fall semester. She also said the complex hosts a lot of college students.

Theres always partying and reckless behavior inside and around the complex, she explained, adding that its sad to this behavior can lead to such a devastating outcome.

Resident and college student Saba Abri described the atmosphere of her apartment building as "light, fun and playful," due to how many students live there. She said this incident is tragic.

"It's very, very sad incident, and it doesn't deserve to happen to anyone," Abri added.
Airlines are resuming service to the U.S. for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries affected by a sweeping travel ban implemented last week. The reversal comes after a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order on foreigners' admission to the U.S.

Qatar Airways, Egyptair, Lufthansa and British Airways confirmed Saturday that all passengers with valid travel documents were being welcomed on flights.

Qatar Airways issued an advisory to passengers saying citizens of the countries previously barred from entry who hold a valid U.S. visa or green card will be allowed to travel to the U.S.

The airline cited a directive by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Egyptair and Lufthansa also confirmed to NBC News that the airlines were allowing all passengers with valid travel documents to board U.S.-bound flights.

"There is no stopping any passenger if they have a visa," the Egyptair manager for flights to New York, Hossam Hussein, told NBC News. He said people from any nation could travel to the U.S.

A Lufthansa spokesperson said, "all passengers with valid travel documents are currently eligible to board on LH flights to any US airport," NBC News reported. "We will continue communicating with the CBP and will fully comply with the applicable immigration regulations.

British Airways said the airline always meets its "obligations under international immigration agreements," according to NBC News. "All customers with the correct documentation will be accepted for travel."

Foreign airlines operating in Iran, whose citizens were also included in the ban, however, have instructed travel agencies not to sell U.S.-bound flight tickets to Iranians holding U.S. visas in the wake of Trump's executive order.

The directive does not come from U.S. airlines.

The move comes even though a U.S. judge on Friday temporarily blocked the travel ban, siding with two states that urged a nationwide hold on the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle granted Washington state and Minnesota a temporary restraining order Friday while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trump's order.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart said. "This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis ..."

Lawyers for the U.S. government argued that the states don't have standing to challenge the order and said Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and admitting immigrants.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued, the first state challenging the president's order, saying the order is causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit this week.

The Constitution prevailed today, Ferguson said after the ruling. The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States."

Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell added that the Trump administration's argument that the president has unfettered discretion on immigrant entry is "not the law. It's a scary view of the law."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the order "outrageous" in a statement released late Friday and said the DOJ plans to file an emergency stay to defend the president's executive action. Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous."

"The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement from the Office of the Press Secretary said.

A Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News the judge's order will have no immediate practical effect because all previously issued visas affected by last week's executive order were canceled. Travelers with passports from those countries hoping to come to the U.S. would have to reapply for a visa, the officials said.

Still, the federal government is issuing waivers to some travelers affected by the ban in order to expedite their entry to the U.S. An Iranian infant, who was unable to enter the U.S. for heart surgery under Trump's ban, will receive a waiver, along with her family members. They are expected to arrive in Portland, Oregon for her surgery early next week.
Montgomery County's Inspector General is looking into spending by Montgomery College's president following a News4 I-Team investigation.

The I-Team investigated Dr. DeRionne Pollard after receiving complaints from staffers. School records show Pollard spent almost $160,000 on travel, meals and transportation since 2013, including sometimes for her wife, which is allowed in her contract.

The school's Board of Trustees approved that spending and an additional $70,000 on private security after, they say, the president received threats.

A spokesman said the college can afford the president's trips, which improve its visibility.

The county executive did ask the board about the spending in January. The board told him it was all authorized.
A man and woman are in critical condition after a Friday morning house fire in Clinton, Maryland. Firefighters arrived in time to pull the victims from the home on Milligan Road thanks to a vigilant sheriffs deputy and an emergency alert app.

A driver on Branch Avenue first spotted the fire around 6:30 a.m and called 911. But because of unfamiliarity with the area, the driver told the 911 dispatcher to send firefighters to Branch Avenue and Woodyard Road, an intersection that did not allow access to the home, according to a statement from the Prince Georges County Fire Department.

As firefighters were dispatched, an alert went out on PulsePoint, an app that alerts subscribers to reported accidents, fires and medical emergencies where CPR is needed. Prince Georges County Office of the Sheriff Corporal Thomas Russell was a block away from the fire when he received a PulsePoint alert notifying him.

Russell, who is also a volunteer firefighter, drove to the intersection and realized that firefighters had been dispatched to the wrong location and radioed dispatchers who were able to provide firefighters the correct address.

Russell, who is also a volunteer firefighter, drove to the intersection and realized that the reported location was wrong. He then radioed dispatchers with the correct address, making sure firefighters were able to correct their route before they arrived at the wrong location.

Russells actions saved valuable minutes in the rescue of the two victims, the fire officials said in a release.

Had it not been for Russell thinking quickly and getting us on scene and getting the fire department as quick as we could, wed probably be talking about a whole different topic right now, said Deputy Tyrone Macklin, one of the first responders to arrive.

PulsePoints main purpose is to alert subscribers that there is a medical emergency within a certain radius where CPR is needed. CPR trained subscribers can reach a scene before paramedics arrive and provide CPR, improving the recipients survival odds.

The app has helped save lives during a house fire at least once before. In 2015, PulsePoint alerted an off-duty firefighter to a house fire in his neighborhood outside of Portland, Oregon. The firefighter arrived at the scene before the fire department and was able to help a neighbor pull a woman to safety.

Investigators said the fire apparently originated in the rear portion of the one-story home in the area of the kitchen. They said it appeared the fire was accidental.
Two people have been arrested in London in the hacking of storage devices that record data from Metropolitan Police Department surveillance cameras.

The Washington Post reports the arrests were made following a search warrant served Jan. 19, the day before the presidential inauguration. Britain's National Crime Agency, which is similar to the FBI, confirmed the arrests of a man and woman but didn't disclose the suspects' names.

British officials said both suspects bailed out of jail. In a statement, the National Crime Agency said an investigation was ongoing and no further information could be provided.

City officials last week revealed the hack, which affected 123 of the 187 network video recorders in the closed-circuit TV system. Officials said that public safety and security for the inauguration were not compromised.

One video camera that was not working due to the hack was in close proximity to the location in Southeast D.C. where 68-year-old Vivian Marrow was shot and killed on Monday, Jan. 16 while sitting in her wheelchair.

A spokesperson for D.C. police confirmed that the camera was not working at the time of the murder, but said that footage from that camera would not have had an impact on the case. Police are still searching for the suspect.

"The camera located at Elvans and Stanton Roads, SE was infected with the ransomware, though we believe it did not have an impact on the case. As you are aware, we were able to retrieve footage of the shooting from the residential property that captured the masked subject responsible for the senseless murder of Mrs. Marrow," the spokesperson said. "We have received community tips concerning the shooting but still need additional information to identify the individual responsible and believe that the community will be instrumental in helping us close the case.

"All cameras are operational at this time and there are measures in place to prevent this from occurring in the future."
A 4-year-old girl has died after her mother told police she kicked the child because she refused to brush her teeth, police say.

Nohely Alexandra Martinez Hernandez died Wednesday, Montgomery County police said Friday evening.

Police were called to the Adventist Healthcare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Maryland, on Thursday after Martinez Hernandez was taken to a hospital with head trauma and multiple bruises on her body.

Doctors believed the injuries were the result of physical abuse.

The child's mother, Iris Hernandez Rivas, 20, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was charged with first-degree child abuse and first-degree assault.

When detectives spoke with Rivas, she told them she kicked the girl after becoming angry that the girl did not brush her teeth. Rivas said the child fell backward, hit her head on the living room wall and fell to the ground.

Rivas told police Martinez Hernandez went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She said she found her daughter face down in the bathtub and waited about an hour before calling 911.

Rivas also told detectives the bruises on the victims body were from her striking her daughter with a belt several days prior. Rivas is being held without bond.

Final results of an autopsy are pending.
A woman was killed and a man was injured after a shooting at a business in Charles County, Maryland, early Saturday morning, according to the Charles County Sheriffs Office.

Police said Miaquita Gray, 26, of Lexington Park, Maryland, was shot and killed by someone after she left the Beer 4 U store, located in the 2100 block of Crain Highway in Waldorf, Maryland. They said Gray was with a man, 24, who was assaulted by someone inside the business.

Investigators said Gray and the man were leaving through the parking lot, when one person pulled out a gun and fired shots, hitting Gray one time and injuring the man in the leg.

They are unsure what prompted the original assault and subsequent shooting.
Protests of President Donald Trump and his executive order barring immigration from select countries formed in cities across the U.S. and in London for a second straight weekend Saturday.

In New York, hundreds of people from the LGBTQ community gathered in lower Manhattan to rally in solidarity with those impacted by Trump's executive orders.

Hundreds of protesters organized by the Lambda Independent Democrats, an LGBTQ political club, marched near the historic Stonewall Inn.

In Miami, demonstrators rallied at Bayfront Park Saturday afternoon against Trumps immigration order.

Meanwhile, in nearby Palm Beach, President Trump is spending his first weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate since taking office two weeks ago. Both supporters and protesters of President Donald Trump were gathering outside Trump Plaza, a luxury waterfront condo building in West Palm Beach, on Saturday.

They are expected to march two miles to the president's estate.

In Philadelphia, hundreds of protesters, many accompanied by children and wearing heavy jackets, scarves and caps to protect against the bitter cold, gathered across the street from Philadelphia's City Hall.

A group of approximately 100 protesters took to the streets Saturday afternoon, at one point blocking traffic on the city's Route 34 connector. Police moved the marchers to the side of the road to clear a path for traffic.

They held signs, many saying "No Ban No Wall," and cheered as speakers excoriated the president's executive order from last week that suspends America's refugee program and halts immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The demonstrators later made their way through city streets as police closed off traffic to allow the march.

Hundreds of people attended Saturday's "sanctuary cities" and inclusion rally in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Somerville is among one of many cities that protects immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

President Donald Trump recently threatened to cut off millions in federal funding to such communities. Many cities like Somerville and Boston have vowed to take legal action, arguing that the threatened punishment would be unconstitutional.

In Houston, Texas, an organization named Resist Houston led marchers through downtown Houston on Saturday.

And on the West Coast, demonstrations both for and against the travel ban were happening at Los Angeles International Airport Saturday.

A group called "SF United Against Trump" organized a meeting at the Women's Builing in San Francisco, California. The four organizers are children of refugees and immigrants, who wrote, "The intention of this event is to create space for our community to voice our beautiful stories and tribulations."

In the U.K., thousands of protesters marched on Parliament in London to demand that the British government withdraw its invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump for a state visit.

Criticism of Conservative British Prime Minister Theresa May has swelled since her Washington visit to meet Trump last month, when she confirmed plans for a return visit by Trump to Britain expected in the summer.

Saturday's demonstration in the British capital involved a two-mile march of several thousand people from the U.S. embassy to the Houses of Parliament. Protesters chanted "Theresa May, shame on you!"

Lawmakers are expected to debate British plans to invite Trump later this month. An online petition calling for May to rescind the invite has attracted strong support, but May insists a Trump visit is welcome.

The U.S. government on Saturday suspended enforcement of the refugee and immigration ban and scurried to appeal a judge's order that blocked the ban, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trump's authority  and ability to fulfill campaign promises.
An arrest has been made in connection with Friday's shooting at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Braintree Police said Michael Spence Jr., 23, was taken into custody in Quincy early Saturday morning without incident.

Shots rang out inside the Macy's men's shoe department at about 7 p.m. Friday. Police believed the gunfire erupted when two gang members happened to cross paths in the store.

Boston, State Police, Federal Agencies, and regional Swat Teams immediately responded and put the mall in lockdown. Authorities said each store of the mall was thoroughly searched by officers in order to identify witnesses and to further evacuate employees and patrons.

While police processed the scene, a firearm and shell casings were recovered outside. Authorities said however, there was no evidence that anyone was shot or wounded in the incident.

Police said through store surveillance cameras and a coordination of Boston Police investigators, authorities were able to positively identify Spence. He is being held on numerous charges including unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and discharging of a firearm within 500 feet of a building.

Authorities said the investigation into the shooting remains open but they do not believe it was a random act.
It was an emotional greeting for Samira Asgari and her colleagues when she arrived at Boston Logan International Airport Friday afternoon.

"I'm very excited," said Asgari, a scientist set to study tuberculosis at Harvard Medical School. "I'm grateful to Massachusetts and people of Massachusetts for giving me this opportunity."

Asgari is from Iran and almost missed out on her opportunity because of President Donald Trump's immigration ban targeting seven countries.

She tried flying into Boston from Germany last Saturday, but was banned from getting on her flight.

"I'm very grateful to Lufthansa," said Asgari.

The airline made her third attempt at flying into Boston a success.

Lufthansa is the only airline that changed its policy to coincide with a Massachusetts court's temporary restraining order.

The order blocks the president's executive order for seven days.

Dr. Soumya Raychaudhuri will oversee Asgari's research.

He describes her as someone with an abundance of perseverance.

"Samira is somebody who has dedicated her life to science," he said. "She's a determined person. She is someone who has the determination necessary to succeed in science."

Asgari believes her perseverance helped her get through a week of uncertainty.

"I think that helped for sure," said Asgari. "My efforts wouldn't work if there were not other people who really helped me. People who I didn't know, people who I knew, people from here, from the lab that I'm joining, people from Switzerland, people that I didn't know and was just sending messages of support."

Asgari didn't go into detail about what she went through to get to Boston. Instead, she's focused on getting to work Monday.
Massachusetts fire officials say smoking around a medical oxygen system was the likely cause of a fatal fire in Haverhill.

A 68-year-old man died in a house fire that started around 4 a.m. Saturday morning.

The State Fire Marshal's Office said the victim, who hasn't been identified, likely fell asleep smoking in his first floor apartment unit, and medical oxygen being used in the residence accelerated the fire.

Second floor residents were able to escape with minor injuries.

The fire marshal's office says there is no safe way to smoke around medical oxygen. Increased levels of oxygen in the environment make it easier for a fire to start and spread.

And turning off the oxygen isn't enough to lower the levels in a person's clothes, hair and bedding, either.

The state fire marshal is working with Haverhill Fire and Massachusetts State Police to determine the exact cause of the blaze.
Hundreds of people attended Saturday's Sanctuary Cities and inclusion rally in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The rally, hosted by the city of Somerville and The Welcome Project, started at 10 a.m. outside of Somerville High School.

The purpose was to stand in solidarity with and in support of the city's commitment to its residents while remaining a sanctuary city.

"I'm going to stand up for them, this is a sanctuary city and we are going to protect with all we can to make sure our families don't get separated and that the integrity of Somerville doesn't get destroyed," says Bambi Best of Somerville.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Rep. Michael Capuano (D), and immigrant refugees were among those expected to deliver speeches. Curtatone vowed to maintain the city's status regardless of the cost.

The rally also included performances by local music and dance groups.

Somerville is among one of many cities that protects immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

President Donald Trump recently threatened to cut off millions in federal funding to such communities. Many cities like Somerville and Boston have vowed to take legal action, arguing that the threatened punishment would be unconstitutional.
Waterford police are searching for a suspect accused of stealing a 50-inch Samsung TV from a local Wal-Mart, police said.

According to police the theft happened Friday around 2:30 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store on Parkway North and that the TV is valued at $598. Police believe the suspect fled in a red vehicle.

Anyone who recognizes the suspect or the vehicle he drove off in is asked to contact Officer Flanagan at 860-442-9451 or email him at Pflanagan@waterfordct.org.
Child sex inquiry reveals institutional errors

CHILD sex predators went undetected because opportunities to catch them were missed, a probe into abuse in Thatcham has found.

A Serious Case Review (SCR) has also found that Kennet School had disregarded safeguarding policy and failed to share vital information.

In some cases, victims were even dismissed within organisations as malicious troublemakers, the report concedes.

However at a press conference yesterday (Wednesday) it emerged that no one would be disciplined for the failings.

The SCR was published by the West Berkshire Local Safeguarding Childrens Board (LSCB).

It was initially charged with investigating how former Kennet School teacher Robert Alan Neill was able to rape and abuse boys in his care over a period of years.

Neill, employed at Kennet School from September 1, 1995, until November 9, 2007, was jailed for 21 years in March last year.

The SCR was also charged with investigating the handling of the case of former Kennet School youth counsellor, the Rev Peter Jarvis, jailed in April 2016 for child sex offences.

Jarvis had also been safeguarding governor at Thatcham Park Primary School and had delivered assemblies at Spurcroft Primary School.

The review was later widened to examine the way in which anyone who educated, trained or supervised child victims dealt with abuse claims in Thatcham between the late 1980s and 2015.

While the report identifies a number of key failings, it does not attribute these specifically to individuals or even to particular organisations, stating: It is not the purpose of any SCR to publically provide a great deal of detail in relation to individuals about whom concerns or allegations have been raised.

Organisations involved included Kennet School and Spurcroft Primary School, both in Thatcham, Thames Valley Police, West Berkshire Councils education service and the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England.

As well as Neill and Jarvis, the report stated: There were a number of additional individuals in positions of trust where there had been crimininal/disciplinary proceedings and investigations... who were connected to Kennet School.

It says, of Kennet School, that: School staff, the governing body and the head have been deeply affected by the prosecution of [Neill and Jarvis] and were determined that these offences should not be repeated.

However, there were occasions when the school had not followed professional guidance or national policy.

Information which should have been shared with other agencies to protect children was not passed on.

The report states in general: Adults who were working professionally with some of the victims felt that these children were frequently not believed... they were seen as troublesome.

There was a view expressed by one individual that the culture within one organisation had, and continues to have, a profound impact on staff feeling comfortable to raise any concerns... this is clearly of concern.

It goes on: There were a number of examples... that children are perceived to make malicious allegations against staff and were discredited and judgements made about their credibility.

All staff should be encouraged to ensure that they look deeper into the underlying reasons for a childs behaviours.

In conclusion, the SCR states there were a number of missed opportunities to prevent the abuse of children, while making a number of recommendations for all agencies involved to improve safeguarding practice.

Asked, at the press conference, whether she had a message for those children who were abused because of school safeguarding failings, chairwoman of the directors of the Kennet School Academies Trust, Sandra Nicholls, said: Obviously we send our deepest sympathy to all involved.

Asked if anyone had been disciplined as a result, she replied that they had not, but that many involved were no longer at the school.

She pointed out that Ofsted undertook an inspection of the school in May 2016, which stated: The arrangements for safeguarding are highly effective.

A spokesman for national campaign group MandateNow, Tom Perry, said: The overall impression given by this SCR is that they dont want to say how bad the failings were because to do so would shock the public into demanding greater action.

Instead they have concentrated on reassuring the public that the failings (whatever they were) could not possibly happen again because everything is different now. It is wholly unconvincing.

MandateNow seeks the introduction of law requiring staff who work in regulated activities, including schools, to report known and suspected child abuse to the local authority for independent assessment.

West Berkshire Councils director of childrens services, Rachael Wardell, acknowledged: Anyone reading this report will be troubled to learn that agencies missed opportunities to protect some young people from harm.

But she added: We really value the learning in this report and have been implementing changes as we identify opportunities for improvement.

Safeguarding practices develop over time and are unrecognisable from those in place when the first offences were committed in the 1980s.

However, we know that there are always ways to improve further.

We have already taken steps to improve how we work and this includes an immediate review of all the agencies safeguarding practices, a move to three-yearly DBS checks, more training and a refreshed toolkit for schools to conduct their own reviews.

We already have robust safeguarding practices in place and this report will help us strengthen them further still.

The review can be read in full at www.westberkslscb.org.uk
West Berkshire Stronger Together supporters set to march through town

A RALLY to show solidarity with the European Union (EU) will be held in Newbury this lunchtime (Saturday).

West Berkshire Stronger Together is holding a Rally for EU, in association with Britain for Europe, which will see campaigners march through the town centre.

The march will begin at 1pm, with those taking part making their way from the Clock Tower in Northbrook Street to the town hall in Market Place, where a number of speakers will address the crowd.

The speakers will include representatives from the local Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties.

Organiser Sarah Lowe said: We want to remind our representative in Parliament, Richard Benyon MP, that Brexit is not what we voted for.

We want him to ensure that the democratic voice of the people of West Berkshire is not lost amidst our unelected Prime Ministers rush to deliver UKIPs manifesto.

The rally comes seven months after the UK voted to leave the EU in a national referendum and just two weeks after Prime Minister Theresa May laid out the Governments vision for Brexit with plans to quit the European single market as well as plans to renegotiate a new customs union deal  which were backed by Newbury MP Richard Benyon.

Those in attendance will gather from 12.30pm at the Clock House (also known as the Clock Tower) on Northbrook Street in Newbury with the march set to begin at 1pm.

The rally is the second such event in Newbury in the last 12 months, with West Berkshire Stronger Together also holding a demonstration through the town in July (pictured) following the EU referendum result.

Britain ultimately voted to leave the EU, however, 52 per cent of West Berkshire voters wanted to remain.

More than 100 people attended the July rally.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Over three years after a woman bank employee was brutally attacked by a machete-wielding man inside an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru, the attacker was finally caught by Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday.

The man has been identified as Madhukar Reddy (32), resident of Muddula Vadapalli village of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. He was arrested from Madanapalle.

Revealing details of the arrest at a press conference in Chittoor on Saturday, Superintendent of Police G Srinivas said, The accused Madhukar Reddy was arrested in 2005 on charges of a murder. In 2011, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment but had managed to escape from prison while being shifted to a hospital from Kadapa central prison. Since then, he had travelled across south India and confessed to have committed five murders and one attempt to murder (the attack in ATM).

Reddy, police said, was planning to rob a jewellery store in Madanapalli in Chittoor district.

Bengaluru Police commissioner Praveen Sood said theyve received information from Andhra counterparts about the arrest and a team has been sent to Chittoor.

Home Minister G Parameshwara said a joint operation of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka police enabled the arrest of Reddy. Further details will be known only after Karnataka police interrogate Reddy, he added.

The ATM attack in Bengaluru happened on November 19, 2013, when the victim Jyothi Uday, a Corporation Bank employee, was attacked early morning inside the bank ATM at NR Square, Corporation Circle.

Though over 500 police personnel were involved in the probe, he had remained elusive for three long years.

The Bengaluru City Police had eventually filed a C report before the court which indicated the closure of the case as the accused was untraceable. However, then DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil had said it does not mean there wont be further investigations. We will reopen the case if we get any crucial leads, he had said. More than 300 police officials and nearly 50 teams had worked on the case.

BENGALURU: Over three years after a woman bank employee was brutally attacked by a machete-wielding man inside an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru, the attacker was finally caught by Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday. The man has been identified as Madhukar Reddy (32), resident of Muddula Vadapalli village of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. He was arrested from Madanapalle. Revealing details of the arrest at a press conference in Chittoor on Saturday, Superintendent of Police G Srinivas said, The accused Madhukar Reddy was arrested in 2005 on charges of a murder. In 2011, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment but had managed to escape from prison while being shifted to a hospital from Kadapa central prison. Since then, he had travelled across south India and confessed to have committed five murders and one attempt to murder (the attack in ATM). Reddy, police said, was planning to rob a jewellery store in Madanapalli in Chittoor district. Bengaluru Police commissioner Praveen Sood said theyve received information from Andhra counterparts about the arrest and a team has been sent to Chittoor. Home Minister G Parameshwara said a joint operation of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka police enabled the arrest of Reddy. Further details will be known only after Karnataka police interrogate Reddy, he added. The ATM attack in Bengaluru happened on November 19, 2013, when the victim Jyothi Uday, a Corporation Bank employee, was attacked early morning inside the bank ATM at NR Square, Corporation Circle. Though over 500 police personnel were involved in the probe, he had remained elusive for three long years. The Bengaluru City Police had eventually filed a C report before the court which indicated the closure of the case as the accused was untraceable. However, then DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil had said it does not mean there wont be further investigations. We will reopen the case if we get any crucial leads, he had said. More than 300 police officials and nearly 50 teams had worked on the case.
M Abhilash By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Ever felt exasperated over measurements gone horribly wrong for the new suit you had got stitched at a showroom? With the pace of innovation in technology, can this area be left far behind?

Italian clothing brand for men Georgia Gullini has brought a Couture 3d Touch Screen precisely to address this concern. Using this feature, a customer can get his measurements taken without human touch and tape.

To begin with, choose from over 300 options on the touch screen for colour, fabric and style of the outfit. All this in a virtual reality environment. The camera then captures the customer image and he can instantly see how a particular cloth fits on him.

Customers even have an option to capture the image and share on Facebook for getting feedback. Once the cloth is chosen, measurements are mapped using a 3D scanner that automatically calculates the body measurements. After the customer gives the go-ahead for making the product, stitching begins and the made-to-order outfit is delivered within 10 days.

Georgia Gullinis first franchise in South India, brought out in association with Chimanlal Suresh Kumar textiles at Rikabganj in the city on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: Ever felt exasperated over measurements gone horribly wrong for the new suit you had got stitched at a showroom? With the pace of innovation in technology, can this area be left far behind? Italian clothing brand for men Georgia Gullini has brought a Couture 3d Touch Screen precisely to address this concern. Using this feature, a customer can get his measurements taken without human touch and tape. To begin with, choose from over 300 options on the touch screen for colour, fabric and style of the outfit. All this in a virtual reality environment. The camera then captures the customer image and he can instantly see how a particular cloth fits on him. Customers even have an option to capture the image and share on Facebook for getting feedback. Once the cloth is chosen, measurements are mapped using a 3D scanner that automatically calculates the body measurements. After the customer gives the go-ahead for making the product, stitching begins and the made-to-order outfit is delivered within 10 days. Georgia Gullinis first franchise in South India, brought out in association with Chimanlal Suresh Kumar textiles at Rikabganj in the city on Thursday.
Shama Bhagat By

Express News Service

Ever since his debut with Saugandh in 1991, Akshay Kumar has come a long way. From Khiladi, Singh Is Kinng, Namastey London to Oh My God!, Special 26, Rowdy Rathore, Airlift, Baby, Holiday and Gabbar Is Back, he continues to prove his boundless abilities. He has also set up a free training course for women on self-defence, has come to the rescue of dying farmers in Maharashtra and the grief-stricken families of soldiers. The affable star is now promoting Jolly LLB 2, which is about the judiciary system in the country.

We have got a great response for the trailer. This is a real story. Director Subhash Kapoor has been a political journalist in Delhi and UP. He has seen and read a lot about cases and knows the working of the judiciary, says Akshay.



He laments about the problems in the judiciary. People who have committed crimes are roaming freely. The common man is scared of the police and judiciary. It is unfortunate that 3.5 crore cases are pending. There are 21,000 judges who are trying to keep law and order in sanity. I hope more people make law their career. It is not easy to make judgments as they have to see both the sides of the coin. If a judge supports one person, it can create a havoc in the other persons life.

Jolly LLB 2 is different from its prequel. I am grateful to Arshad Warsi for the way he played the role. He paved the path for me. Court cases are different in films. Jolly LLB was based in Delhi and this one has been based in UP, he explains.



About his long innings in the industry, he says, I have worked on my own terms and have gone with positivity on the sets. I dont mull over hits and misses. I have been constantly trying to do different roles. I have done every rolea city guy, a rural guy I want to do four films a year. Who doesnt want his film to be a hit? I remember my debut, Saugandh. No one knew me. I was not an industry child. Every night when I go to bed, I thank god for all that he has given me.



The 49-year-old is not striving to make films that leave a message. I want to make commercial movies that entertain. Every movie has a subtle message. I go by my directors vision. When I did Airlift, director Raja Menon had lived that life and met those people in Kuwait and Jordan. Tinnu Desai did a lot of homework for Rustom. I just followed his instructions.

He is thankful to director Priyadarshan, through whom he ventured into comedies. I used to do a lot of action films and was bored of them, but no one offered me any other role. Priyadarshan saw promise in me. I am doing films like Toilet Ek Prem Katha directed by Shree Narayan Singh. I dont want to have a typical single image. I am playing a negative role in Robot 2. I love experimenting and changing roles.

About working with Rajinikanth for the first time in Robot 2, Akshay says, He is so humble.



He will now play the lead in Salman Khan and Karan Johars first production venture. For the first time this is happening in our cinema. It happens in Hollywood, where a George Clooney signs a Brad Pitt. Salman is producing a movie for me. It is a beginning of maturity, good friendship and business. Hats off to Salman for starting this trend.

About creating a website and mobile app on the eve of Republic Day for welfare of soldiers, the actor says, I started doing charitable work the day I started making money. My father was in the Army and I know how they lead their lives. I got the idea of this app because people want to help soldiers, but dont know how to. They dont want to donate to NGOs or fund-raisers. They want to know their money goes into the right hands.



About his Jolly LLB 2 co-star Huma Qureshi, Akshay says, We needed a girl who can control her husband. He is a husband who makes a drink for her and cooks for her. Huma fitted the bill well. A film is not about a lead heroine or the place she stands today. She has to fit the character she plays.

Ever since his debut with Saugandh in 1991, Akshay Kumar has come a long way. From Khiladi, Singh Is Kinng, Namastey London to Oh My God!, Special 26, Rowdy Rathore, Airlift, Baby, Holiday and Gabbar Is Back, he continues to prove his boundless abilities. He has also set up a free training course for women on self-defence, has come to the rescue of dying farmers in Maharashtra and the grief-stricken families of soldiers. The affable star is now promoting Jolly LLB 2, which is about the judiciary system in the country. We have got a great response for the trailer. This is a real story. Director Subhash Kapoor has been a political journalist in Delhi and UP. He has seen and read a lot about cases and knows the working of the judiciary, says Akshay. He laments about the problems in the judiciary. People who have committed crimes are roaming freely. The common man is scared of the police and judiciary. It is unfortunate that 3.5 crore cases are pending. There are 21,000 judges who are trying to keep law and order in sanity. I hope more people make law their career. It is not easy to make judgments as they have to see both the sides of the coin. If a judge supports one person, it can create a havoc in the other persons life. Jolly LLB 2 is different from its prequel. I am grateful to Arshad Warsi for the way he played the role. He paved the path for me. Court cases are different in films. Jolly LLB was based in Delhi and this one has been based in UP, he explains. About his long innings in the industry, he says, I have worked on my own terms and have gone with positivity on the sets. I dont mull over hits and misses. I have been constantly trying to do different roles. I have done every rolea city guy, a rural guy I want to do four films a year. Who doesnt want his film to be a hit? I remember my debut, Saugandh. No one knew me. I was not an industry child. Every night when I go to bed, I thank god for all that he has given me. The 49-year-old is not striving to make films that leave a message. I want to make commercial movies that entertain. Every movie has a subtle message. I go by my directors vision. When I did Airlift, director Raja Menon had lived that life and met those people in Kuwait and Jordan. Tinnu Desai did a lot of homework for Rustom. I just followed his instructions. He is thankful to director Priyadarshan, through whom he ventured into comedies. I used to do a lot of action films and was bored of them, but no one offered me any other role. Priyadarshan saw promise in me. I am doing films like Toilet Ek Prem Katha directed by Shree Narayan Singh. I dont want to have a typical single image. I am playing a negative role in Robot 2. I love experimenting and changing roles. About working with Rajinikanth for the first time in Robot 2, Akshay says, He is so humble. He will now play the lead in Salman Khan and Karan Johars first production venture. For the first time this is happening in our cinema. It happens in Hollywood, where a George Clooney signs a Brad Pitt. Salman is producing a movie for me. It is a beginning of maturity, good friendship and business. Hats off to Salman for starting this trend. About creating a website and mobile app on the eve of Republic Day for welfare of soldiers, the actor says, I started doing charitable work the day I started making money. My father was in the Army and I know how they lead their lives. I got the idea of this app because people want to help soldiers, but dont know how to. They dont want to donate to NGOs or fund-raisers. They want to know their money goes into the right hands.  About his Jolly LLB 2 co-star Huma Qureshi, Akshay says, We needed a girl who can control her husband. He is a husband who makes a drink for her and cooks for her. Huma fitted the bill well. A film is not about a lead heroine or the place she stands today. She has to fit the character she plays.
S Subhakeerthana By

Express News Service

After Aranmanai-2 (2016), Sundar C is busy with Tamil-Telugu-Hindi trilingual Sangamithra, which has Arya and Jayam Ravi in the lead. Initially, Vijay was approached, but he turned it down. As the project will mark Sri Thenandal Films

100th film, we hear that the makers are planning to make this one on a higher budget than Baahubali.

An official statement confirmed that AR Rahman has been roped in to compose music. A source informs us, The film is a well-packaged fictional historical drama. Sundar C has been researching on the subject for a long time and this is one of his pet projects. The team is in talks with a few top actors including Sonakshi Sinha and Deepika Padukone.

Though they have been approached, nothing has been finalised yet. Shooting will begin by the end of June. Since the film will have a pan-Indian appeal, were keen to bring in renowned actresses.

On the other hand, reports suggest that both Jayam Ravi and Arya have been instructed to learn horse-riding and sword-fighting for their characters. Sabu Cyril is on board for art direction. Sudeep Chatterjee will be the cinematographer and Kamala Kannan will supervise VFX-related work.

Pre-production is on, and the team seems to have finalised some locations abroad including Denmark, Ukraine and Iran.

After Aranmanai-2 (2016), Sundar C is busy with Tamil-Telugu-Hindi trilingual Sangamithra, which has Arya and Jayam Ravi in the lead. Initially, Vijay was approached, but he turned it down. As the project will mark Sri Thenandal Films 100th film, we hear that the makers are planning to make this one on a higher budget than Baahubali. An official statement confirmed that AR Rahman has been roped in to compose music. A source informs us, The film is a well-packaged fictional historical drama. Sundar C has been researching on the subject for a long time and this is one of his pet projects. The team is in talks with a few top actors including Sonakshi Sinha and Deepika Padukone. Though they have been approached, nothing has been finalised yet. Shooting will begin by the end of June. Since the film will have a pan-Indian appeal, were keen to bring in renowned actresses. On the other hand, reports suggest that both Jayam Ravi and Arya have been instructed to learn horse-riding and sword-fighting for their characters. Sabu Cyril is on board for art direction. Sudeep Chatterjee will be the cinematographer and Kamala Kannan will supervise VFX-related work. Pre-production is on, and the team seems to have finalised some locations abroad including Denmark, Ukraine and Iran.
By Express News Service

Weve seen Ajith in various looks in the past but he took the Internet by storm with his physical transformation this time. The first look poster of the actors upcoming film Vivegam is out where he flaunts his chiselled body with six-pack abs.

While pictures were doing the rounds online, many actors including Dhanush, Venkat Prabhu, took to Twitter and lauded him.



The latest to react to Thalas sculpted torso was Shah Rukh Khan! The Raees actor said, Awesome when he was asked to comment on it on social media.

Nee Vaa Thala ... Meendum Therikkavidalama? Vivegam, tweeted music composer Anirudh Ravichander.

His makeover came as a huge surprise to all, as he had to undergo a knee surgery post Vedalams release. In Vivegam, Ajith plays an Interpol officer and the team is currently wrapping up the rest of the film in Chennai.

Directed by Siva of Siruthai fame, Kajal Aggarwal is the leading lady and Akshara Haasan plays an important role in it. Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi has been roped in to play the bad guy.

Reports suggest that Siva got Hollywood action choreographer-director Jorian Ponomareff, who has previously worked on films like Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and others, to work on this film.

Weve seen Ajith in various looks in the past but he took the Internet by storm with his physical transformation this time. The first look poster of the actors upcoming film Vivegam is out where he flaunts his chiselled body with six-pack abs. While pictures were doing the rounds online, many actors including Dhanush, Venkat Prabhu, took to Twitter and lauded him. The latest to react to Thalas sculpted torso was Shah Rukh Khan! The Raees actor said, Awesome when he was asked to comment on it on social media. Nee Vaa Thala ... Meendum Therikkavidalama? Vivegam, tweeted music composer Anirudh Ravichander. His makeover came as a huge surprise to all, as he had to undergo a knee surgery post Vedalams release. In Vivegam, Ajith plays an Interpol officer and the team is currently wrapping up the rest of the film in Chennai. Directed by Siva of Siruthai fame, Kajal Aggarwal is the leading lady and Akshara Haasan plays an important role in it. Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi has been roped in to play the bad guy. Reports suggest that Siva got Hollywood action choreographer-director Jorian Ponomareff, who has previously worked on films like Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and others, to work on this film.
Neeta Lal By

Express News Service

From a desert, Im suddenly transported into the heart of a lush, tropical rainforest with its attendant sights, sounds and smells. No, it wasnt a time machine that did it, but Dubais latest attraction, The Green Planet, an enchanting bio dome where over 3,000 plants, birds and animals co-exist in the worlds oldest ecosystem.



As I enter the five-level origami-styled glass building in the spiffy City Walk area of Jumeirah, Im greeted by the Flooded Forest, the base level of the tropical ecosystem. A giant aquarium filled with fish species such as arapaima, arowana and graceful stingrays has me reaching out for my camera. The aquarium replicates different types of fish and animals found in underwater tropical environments.

Towering above me is a 25-metre Kapok tree, which serves as the anchor at The Green Planet. Native to Central America, this is the worlds largest fabricated self-sustaining tree. Although its knobby trunk is artificial, each branch has planters packed with tropical flora and fauna, including rare plants such as the bromeliad. Eventually the plants growing on the tree will take over the structure to create a living breathing environment in which tropical species can thrive, a staffer informs me.

The Kapok tree

I whiz up in an elevator to the bio domes roof, which offers a panoramic sweep of the entire ecosystem, complete with the waterfalls, steam and sounds associated with an Amazon rainforest. Exotic wildlife, such as South American toucans and crocodile lizards, tree boas, spiders, colonies of worker ants and brightly coloured parrots and tree frogs add to my viewing pleasure. Each exhibit has been carefully selected to thrive in the artificial environment. For instance, the fish came from breeders in Singapore, and the plants were imported from Thailand and India.



The delicate layers of the forest have been recreated with different plants and animals that help transport visitors to the real Amazonian ecosystem, the staffer adds. Meticulous planning has gone in to ensure that each exhibit is sourced from responsible breeders from around the world. It is vital that the species are capable of coexisting in a hybrid environment.



Environmental parameters in the bio dome have been designed to maintain the plants and wildlife. Temperatures are regulated between 25C and 28C, and mists are sprayed to recreate the sensory experience of a tropical rainforest. According to Eric Hupperts, a Californian wildlife expert and manager and curator at Green Planet, the bio dome is a living, breathing classroom that offers an engaging experiential about tropical wildlife.

I tiptoe over a hanging bridge connecting one end of the gigantic Kapok tree to the other, which houses birds such as Purple Glossy Starling, Crimson Rumped Toucan, Black-naped Oriole, Golden Conure (the national bird of Brazil) and toucan. Exotic hyacinth macaws, geckos, crocodile lizards, porcupines and a sloth jostle for my attention.



After viewing the top deck, I descend down a winding path saying hello to exotic and tropical animals along its periphery. Theres the resident sloth there, my escort points to a furry creature moving surreptitiously behind thick foliage. The animal has free rein to roam but doesnt do so too quickly living up to its name quite literally.



As I get back to the ground level, Im escorted to the terrariums (sealed glass containers), which hold live insects such as the Goliath Birdeater Tarantula (the worlds largest spider native to South America) and weaver ants from Southeast Asian forests.



From a bowl of insects I gingerly try to feed a toucan. As I reach out to the bird holding the creepy crawlies in my palm, it promptly dips its beak and gobbles up the proffered delicacy. As I step out of The Green Planet, still enveloped in its sounds and smells, I feel enriched having discovered the beauty of a fascinating ecosystem and the treasure trove it holds.

From a desert, Im suddenly transported into the heart of a lush, tropical rainforest with its attendant sights, sounds and smells. No, it wasnt a time machine that did it, but Dubais latest attraction, The Green Planet, an enchanting bio dome where over 3,000 plants, birds and animals co-exist in the worlds oldest ecosystem. As I enter the five-level origami-styled glass building in the spiffy City Walk area of Jumeirah, Im greeted by the Flooded Forest, the base level of the tropical ecosystem. A giant aquarium filled with fish species such as arapaima, arowana and graceful stingrays has me reaching out for my camera. The aquarium replicates different types of fish and animals found in underwater tropical environments. Towering above me is a 25-metre Kapok tree, which serves as the anchor at The Green Planet. Native to Central America, this is the worlds largest fabricated self-sustaining tree. Although its knobby trunk is artificial, each branch has planters packed with tropical flora and fauna, including rare plants such as the bromeliad. Eventually the plants growing on the tree will take over the structure to create a living breathing environment in which tropical species can thrive, a staffer informs me. The Kapok tree I whiz up in an elevator to the bio domes roof, which offers a panoramic sweep of the entire ecosystem, complete with the waterfalls, steam and sounds associated with an Amazon rainforest. Exotic wildlife, such as South American toucans and crocodile lizards, tree boas, spiders, colonies of worker ants and brightly coloured parrots and tree frogs add to my viewing pleasure. Each exhibit has been carefully selected to thrive in the artificial environment. For instance, the fish came from breeders in Singapore, and the plants were imported from Thailand and India. The delicate layers of the forest have been recreated with different plants and animals that help transport visitors to the real Amazonian ecosystem, the staffer adds. Meticulous planning has gone in to ensure that each exhibit is sourced from responsible breeders from around the world. It is vital that the species are capable of coexisting in a hybrid environment. Environmental parameters in the bio dome have been designed to maintain the plants and wildlife. Temperatures are regulated between 25C and 28C, and mists are sprayed to recreate the sensory experience of a tropical rainforest. According to Eric Hupperts, a Californian wildlife expert and manager and curator at Green Planet, the bio dome is a living, breathing classroom that offers an engaging experiential about tropical wildlife. I tiptoe over a hanging bridge connecting one end of the gigantic Kapok tree to the other, which houses birds such as Purple Glossy Starling, Crimson Rumped Toucan, Black-naped Oriole, Golden Conure (the national bird of Brazil) and toucan. Exotic hyacinth macaws, geckos, crocodile lizards, porcupines and a sloth jostle for my attention. After viewing the top deck, I descend down a winding path saying hello to exotic and tropical animals along its periphery. Theres the resident sloth there, my escort points to a furry creature moving surreptitiously behind thick foliage. The animal has free rein to roam but doesnt do so too quickly living up to its name quite literally. As I get back to the ground level, Im escorted to the terrariums (sealed glass containers), which hold live insects such as the Goliath Birdeater Tarantula (the worlds largest spider native to South America) and weaver ants from Southeast Asian forests. From a bowl of insects I gingerly try to feed a toucan. As I reach out to the bird holding the creepy crawlies in my palm, it promptly dips its beak and gobbles up the proffered delicacy. As I step out of The Green Planet, still enveloped in its sounds and smells, I feel enriched having discovered the beauty of a fascinating ecosystem and the treasure trove it holds.
Rinku Gupta By

Every rug has a story of its own. But our pieceshand-woven or hand-knottedare a unique fusion of old designs and weaving concepts with modern motifs, colours and textures, says Aditya Raman, founder of MyRugs, a Jaipurbased carpet brand.

Aditya was 27 when he learnt the ropes of the trade at Noble House, the company run by his family.



My parents started their rugs and carpets company in early 80s. The company expanded gradually and even won an award for The Most Magnificent Carpet Collection at the Atlanta Gift and Carpet Show in the US in 1996, says Aditya, who did his BSc in computer engineering from the University of Utah in the US. I went on to complete my MBA in strategy and information systems. But I returned to India in 2002 to join the family rug business.



Making rugs and kilims is no easy task. Apart from designing and selection of materials, inspection of looms is necessary when a piece is in the making.



Each piece is handcrafted by master weavers in the villages of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. And I personally inspect the work by travelling to the looms several times a month. Its exhausting, since they are usually situated in far-flung, hilly, tribal belts. I have to check colour and shade of the yarn and the dyeing techniques being used. Every material absorbs colours differently, which is a crucial factor in the final product, says the 42-year-old, who teamed up with his friend Ashish Kumar and started MyRugs in 2005.



Their sync has led to a dynamic partnership. Ashish has a good idea of design and I work on the colours. We travel across the world and incorporate design inspirations from various sources such as nature, art, fabrics and upholstery to African and Uzbek designs and old Spanish fabrics.



While the carpets extend over the entire floor, rugs are smaller in size. And kilims are flat woven rugs and carpets, which originated in Turkey and neighbouring areas.



Depending on the size and design, a product can take four to eight weeks to make. Since most of the weavers are real-time farmerswhose first priority is harvesting their cropsgetting them to complete a rug on time is a challenge.



Once the rug is ready, we use different kinds of washing techniques that change the look of the final product. We have ageing techniques for a vintage look and the mirror wash for shine and sheen. And the key to being different is incorporating latest colour preferences, Aditya says.

Its a labour of love since every process is done by hand, from spinning of yarn to vat dyeing. The design is made in computer-aided design (CAD) software, but the design map on paper is made manually before being given to the weaver. The warping of the loom, the weaving, the shearing, washing and finishing, everything is done with hand. Its a unique blend of artistic knowledge and technical knowhow, which manifests in an aesthetic design on your floor.

The brand also plays around with different materials such as fused Turkish wool, New Zealand blends, Bamboo Viscose and recycled sari silk and jute blending them with old dyeing and weaving techniques. The duo has also revived antique designs.

Though they are happy to keep a diminishing art alive, the going is tough. The local village economy is supported when work is generated for the weavers. And we have revived old skills like the kilim flat weave. But overall, hand weaving of daris, rugs and carpets is diminishing. Looms are scarce now. The next generation is not interested because its a very time-consuming art. A weaver has to be completely focused on the design map or else the design will change, Aditya says.



Our products speak a unique language to the buyer. When it enters a home, it carries with it, its own tale of the past merged with the present, he says and the passion for his work reflects in his voice.

Every rug has a story of its own. But our pieceshand-woven or hand-knottedare a unique fusion of old designs and weaving concepts with modern motifs, colours and textures, says Aditya Raman, founder of MyRugs, a Jaipurbased carpet brand. Aditya was 27 when he learnt the ropes of the trade at Noble House, the company run by his family. My parents started their rugs and carpets company in early 80s. The company expanded gradually and even won an award for The Most Magnificent Carpet Collection at the Atlanta Gift and Carpet Show in the US in 1996, says Aditya, who did his BSc in computer engineering from the University of Utah in the US. I went on to complete my MBA in strategy and information systems. But I returned to India in 2002 to join the family rug business. Making rugs and kilims is no easy task. Apart from designing and selection of materials, inspection of looms is necessary when a piece is in the making. Each piece is handcrafted by master weavers in the villages of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. And I personally inspect the work by travelling to the looms several times a month. Its exhausting, since they are usually situated in far-flung, hilly, tribal belts. I have to check colour and shade of the yarn and the dyeing techniques being used. Every material absorbs colours differently, which is a crucial factor in the final product, says the 42-year-old, who teamed up with his friend Ashish Kumar and started MyRugs in 2005. Their sync has led to a dynamic partnership. Ashish has a good idea of design and I work on the colours. We travel across the world and incorporate design inspirations from various sources such as nature, art, fabrics and upholstery to African and Uzbek designs and old Spanish fabrics. While the carpets extend over the entire floor, rugs are smaller in size. And kilims are flat woven rugs and carpets, which originated in Turkey and neighbouring areas. Depending on the size and design, a product can take four to eight weeks to make. Since most of the weavers are real-time farmerswhose first priority is harvesting their cropsgetting them to complete a rug on time is a challenge. Once the rug is ready, we use different kinds of washing techniques that change the look of the final product. We have ageing techniques for a vintage look and the mirror wash for shine and sheen. And the key to being different is incorporating latest colour preferences, Aditya says. Its a labour of love since every process is done by hand, from spinning of yarn to vat dyeing. The design is made in computer-aided design (CAD) software, but the design map on paper is made manually before being given to the weaver. The warping of the loom, the weaving, the shearing, washing and finishing, everything is done with hand. Its a unique blend of artistic knowledge and technical knowhow, which manifests in an aesthetic design on your floor. The brand also plays around with different materials such as fused Turkish wool, New Zealand blends, Bamboo Viscose and recycled sari silk and jute blending them with old dyeing and weaving techniques. The duo has also revived antique designs. Though they are happy to keep a diminishing art alive, the going is tough. The local village economy is supported when work is generated for the weavers. And we have revived old skills like the kilim flat weave. But overall, hand weaving of daris, rugs and carpets is diminishing. Looms are scarce now. The next generation is not interested because its a very time-consuming art. A weaver has to be completely focused on the design map or else the design will change, Aditya says. Our products speak a unique language to the buyer. When it enters a home, it carries with it, its own tale of the past merged with the present, he says and the passion for his work reflects in his voice.
G Parthasarathy By

The Republic Day parade this year was marked by the presence of Crown Prince of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and the participation by a contingent of the UAE armed forces. What, however, received worldwide attention was the tallest building in the world, the 2,722-foot high Burj Khalifa in Dubai, being beautifully lit up in the Indian tricoloursaffron, white and greenthe same night. Few in Dubai, and indeed across our entire neighbourhood, could have foreseen such a remarkable gesture to India from a neighbouring Arab country, with which India has enjoyed significant common interests, but uneven political understanding. Indians and others in Dubai described this as Modi effect!



In August 1984, an Indian Airlines flight from Srinagar to Delhi was hijacked and flown to Dubai, after stopovers in Lahore and Karachi. The aircraft was allowed to fly to Dubai, where contrary to Pakistani expectations, they were forced to surrender and repatriated to India by the then UAE defence minister. The cooperation we received in Dubai followed visits to India by the then UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed Zayed and a visit to the UAE by then Indian PM Indira Gandhi.



Responding to the assistance given during the hijacking, India became the first country to agree to regular flights by the newly established Emirates Airways owned by the Dubai Royals. Sadly, this relationship was soon neglected with no summit-level visits for three decades thereafter. The result was that likes of Dawood Ibrahim found refuge in Dubai.

The UAE became increasingly pro-Pakistani even on issues like J&K. It also became one of the only three governments worldwide to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan. When IC 814 was flown to Dubai from Lahore in 1999, UAE government showed little understanding for India. The aircraft was refuelled and allowed to fly to Kandahar, after an Indian passenger was killed in Dubai.



The timing of Narendra Modis visit to the UAE was propitious. The Emirate recognised that with a rapidly growing economy and openness to foreign investment, India was a major market in a world where growing production of shale oil in the US and elsewhere had sent the oil prices crashing. Meanwhile, Pakistan was proving an embarrassment, with its aids to terrorist groups.

But, what really appears to have turned the views of UAE leaders was their assessment that Modi is a strong leader, ready to expand business, investment and security ties. His visit produced agreement that UAE would commit investments of $75 billion and cooperate in dealing with terrorism. Another major agreement was that UAE will provide six million barrels of oil for Indias reserve. While talks on investments are to be held shortly, India will have to address UAEs concerns in the telecom, construction, infrastructure and civil aviation sectors. We need to remember that there are 2.5 million Indian nationals living in the UAE, who remit back around $2.6 billion annually. The UAE is one of our largest export markets worldwide, with our annual exports reaching $30 billion.



Apart from its recent reservations in recruiting Pakistani nationals, the UAE, like Saudi Arabia, feels betrayed by Pakistan refusing to live up to its promises of support for military operations in Yemen. Worse still, there is evidence of Pakistani support for the recent attack in Kandahar, wherein five UAE diplomats were killed and the UAE ambassador seriously wounded.

India can use its warm ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia to conclude a regional cooperation agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, like it has done with ASEAN. Modi has skillfully conducted his diplomacy across our western shores to ensure that India has good relations with all major regional powersIran, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.



dadpartha@gmail.com

The Republic Day parade this year was marked by the presence of Crown Prince of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and the participation by a contingent of the UAE armed forces. What, however, received worldwide attention was the tallest building in the world, the 2,722-foot high Burj Khalifa in Dubai, being beautifully lit up in the Indian tricoloursaffron, white and greenthe same night. Few in Dubai, and indeed across our entire neighbourhood, could have foreseen such a remarkable gesture to India from a neighbouring Arab country, with which India has enjoyed significant common interests, but uneven political understanding. Indians and others in Dubai described this as Modi effect! In August 1984, an Indian Airlines flight from Srinagar to Delhi was hijacked and flown to Dubai, after stopovers in Lahore and Karachi. The aircraft was allowed to fly to Dubai, where contrary to Pakistani expectations, they were forced to surrender and repatriated to India by the then UAE defence minister. The cooperation we received in Dubai followed visits to India by the then UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed Zayed and a visit to the UAE by then Indian PM Indira Gandhi. Responding to the assistance given during the hijacking, India became the first country to agree to regular flights by the newly established Emirates Airways owned by the Dubai Royals. Sadly, this relationship was soon neglected with no summit-level visits for three decades thereafter. The result was that likes of Dawood Ibrahim found refuge in Dubai. The UAE became increasingly pro-Pakistani even on issues like J&K. It also became one of the only three governments worldwide to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan. When IC 814 was flown to Dubai from Lahore in 1999, UAE government showed little understanding for India. The aircraft was refuelled and allowed to fly to Kandahar, after an Indian passenger was killed in Dubai. The timing of Narendra Modis visit to the UAE was propitious. The Emirate recognised that with a rapidly growing economy and openness to foreign investment, India was a major market in a world where growing production of shale oil in the US and elsewhere had sent the oil prices crashing. Meanwhile, Pakistan was proving an embarrassment, with its aids to terrorist groups. But, what really appears to have turned the views of UAE leaders was their assessment that Modi is a strong leader, ready to expand business, investment and security ties. His visit produced agreement that UAE would commit investments of $75 billion and cooperate in dealing with terrorism. Another major agreement was that UAE will provide six million barrels of oil for Indias reserve. While talks on investments are to be held shortly, India will have to address UAEs concerns in the telecom, construction, infrastructure and civil aviation sectors. We need to remember that there are 2.5 million Indian nationals living in the UAE, who remit back around $2.6 billion annually. The UAE is one of our largest export markets worldwide, with our annual exports reaching $30 billion. Apart from its recent reservations in recruiting Pakistani nationals, the UAE, like Saudi Arabia, feels betrayed by Pakistan refusing to live up to its promises of support for military operations in Yemen. Worse still, there is evidence of Pakistani support for the recent attack in Kandahar, wherein five UAE diplomats were killed and the UAE ambassador seriously wounded. India can use its warm ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia to conclude a regional cooperation agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, like it has done with ASEAN. Modi has skillfully conducted his diplomacy across our western shores to ensure that India has good relations with all major regional powersIran, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.dadpartha@gmail.com
Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Over six lakh first-time voters are set to exercise their right in the assembly polls of Punjab on Saturday with district administrations to award them with certificates and mementos.



Furthermore, Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system of voting will be used in 33 constituencies in Punjab for the first time in India.



Meanwhile, social networking site Facebook, in collaboration with the Election Commission (EC), has reminded voters over 18 years age (Facebook users) to vote on February 4. The reminder links to the ECs website where further details are available.



A Share You Voted button also allows people to highlight their status as a voter, without specifying who they voted for.



VK Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab and VK Bhawra, ADGP Elections, informed the state machinery is working round the clock with over 2.07 lakh employees and one lakh police officials.



He said over 1.98 crore voters would decide the fate of 1145 candidates in 117 constituencies. Singh pointed out that 14,177 polling stations have been established and 31,460 (Electronic Voting Machines) EVMs are being used in this election.



He further indicated that election commission has identified 786 critical polling stations while 23 constituencies have been declared sensitive as per the reports of the observer.



Meanwhile, for the first time, 45,000 police personnel have been given the option to exercise thier votes via postal ballot, Singh said. As per latest reports, over 21,000 personnel have already exercised their right.



He also conducted a demonstration of the VVPAT system and said Punjab is proud to initiate the transparent system of voting in 33 constituencies for the first time in India.



VK Bhawra, Punjab ADGP, has asserted that intensive search enabled Punjab Police to seize a record Rs 80 crores along with 416 illegal weapons.



He said a record 1412 FIRs were registered under the Excise Act and 155 cases worth Rs 24 crore were referred to the Income Tax Department.



Liquor worth Rs 8.58 crore, drugs worth Rs 17.52 crore, gold worth Rs 16 crore and cash amounting to Rs 10.05 crore were seized at different nakas. Forty cases of paid news were also detected, he said.

CHANDIGARH: Over six lakh first-time voters are set to exercise their right in the assembly polls of Punjab on Saturday with district administrations to award them with certificates and mementos. Furthermore, Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system of voting will be used in 33 constituencies in Punjab for the first time in India. Meanwhile, social networking site Facebook, in collaboration with the Election Commission (EC), has reminded voters over 18 years age (Facebook users) to vote on February 4. The reminder links to the ECs website where further details are available. A Share You Voted button also allows people to highlight their status as a voter, without specifying who they voted for. VK Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab and VK Bhawra, ADGP Elections, informed the state machinery is working round the clock with over 2.07 lakh employees and one lakh police officials. He said over 1.98 crore voters would decide the fate of 1145 candidates in 117 constituencies. Singh pointed out that 14,177 polling stations have been established and 31,460 (Electronic Voting Machines) EVMs are being used in this election. He further indicated that election commission has identified 786 critical polling stations while 23 constituencies have been declared sensitive as per the reports of the observer. Meanwhile, for the first time, 45,000 police personnel have been given the option to exercise thier votes via postal ballot, Singh said. As per latest reports, over 21,000 personnel have already exercised their right. He also conducted a demonstration of the VVPAT system and said Punjab is proud to initiate the transparent system of voting in 33 constituencies for the first time in India. VK Bhawra, Punjab ADGP, has asserted that intensive search enabled Punjab Police to seize a record Rs 80 crores along with 416 illegal weapons. He said a record 1412 FIRs were registered under the Excise Act and 155 cases worth Rs 24 crore were referred to the Income Tax Department. Liquor worth Rs 8.58 crore, drugs worth Rs 17.52 crore, gold worth Rs 16 crore and cash amounting to Rs 10.05 crore were seized at different nakas. Forty cases of paid news were also detected, he said.
Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Despite a cold wave in the state, Punjab on Saturday saw over 78.62 per cent voter turnout accompanied by stray incidents of violence and some technical glitches.

The highest polling was reported from Mansa district 87.34 per cent, while Mohali district recorded the lowest 71.97 per cent. The Malwa region the voting, as usual, was the highest (Ferozepur 83 per cent,

Fazilka 83.48 per cent, Muktsar 85.25 per cent, Faridkot 83.67 per cent, Bathinda 82.35 per cent), Mansa 87.34 per cent, Sangrur 83 per cent, Barnala 80.4 per cent and Patiala 78.6 per cent). At a few places, there were reports of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) developing snags which were later replaced with conventional EVMs.

Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab, VK Singh said 33 constituencies were covered by new transparent systems and 6,668 VVPAT machines for the first time in the country. He indicated during mock trial, 538 VVPAT machines were replaced and 187 were replaced during the conduct of poll, especially in Majitha, Muktsar and Sangrur Districts.

The state also witnessed stray incidents of violence. VK Bhawra, ADGP and Nodal Officer for elections, said an incident of firing has been reported from Lalu Ghuman in Tarn Taran constituency where scuffle took place between supporters of two rival groups over the issue of fake votes.

In one incident of firing, a man named Jagjit Singh was injured. A case was registered at the Jhabal police station against the Sarpanch of the village. Polling, however, did not get disrupted.

A similar incident occurred in a village named Ruppawali in the Fatehgarh Churian constituency where two rival political parties entered into a tussle over fake votes. One of the candidates demanded a change of presiding officer but refused to give it in writing. No injuries have been reported.

Bhawra said in Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, a dispute arose between supporters of two candidates over alleged fake votes causing injuries to two people. An incident of firing in air has also been reported from Guru Harsahai assembly constituency in the afternoon. Preliminary investigations have commenced in the matter.

Meanwhile, Congress and Akali Dal workers clashed at the Killanwali village in Lambi constituency, where Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh are in the fray. Two people were injured in a clash between the AAP and the Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district. In Moga, the EC has sought a report regarding the EVM displaying 50 extra votes at polling booth no 145.

Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh and his wife Preneet Kaur cast their votes. Cricketer Harbhajan Singh along with his mother Avtar Kaur also exercised their franchise. There is a three-cornered contest between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, the opposition Congress and the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party.

SAD has fielded candidate in 94 seats while its ally BJP has fielded 23 candidates. Congress is contesting alone in all the 117 seats. While AAP has fielded 112 candidates, its ally Lok Insaf Party is contesting on five seats. BSP, Apna Punjab Party, left parties comprising CPI and CPI-M, and SAD-Amritsar are also in the fray.

CHANDIGARH: Despite a cold wave in the state, Punjab on Saturday saw over 78.62 per cent voter turnout accompanied by stray incidents of violence and some technical glitches. The highest polling was reported from Mansa district 87.34 per cent, while Mohali district recorded the lowest 71.97 per cent. The Malwa region the voting, as usual, was the highest (Ferozepur 83 per cent, Fazilka 83.48 per cent, Muktsar 85.25 per cent, Faridkot 83.67 per cent, Bathinda 82.35 per cent), Mansa 87.34 per cent, Sangrur 83 per cent, Barnala 80.4 per cent and Patiala 78.6 per cent). At a few places, there were reports of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) developing snags which were later replaced with conventional EVMs. Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab, VK Singh said 33 constituencies were covered by new transparent systems and 6,668 VVPAT machines for the first time in the country. He indicated during mock trial, 538 VVPAT machines were replaced and 187 were replaced during the conduct of poll, especially in Majitha, Muktsar and Sangrur Districts. The state also witnessed stray incidents of violence. VK Bhawra, ADGP and Nodal Officer for elections, said an incident of firing has been reported from Lalu Ghuman in Tarn Taran constituency where scuffle took place between supporters of two rival groups over the issue of fake votes. In one incident of firing, a man named Jagjit Singh was injured. A case was registered at the Jhabal police station against the Sarpanch of the village. Polling, however, did not get disrupted. A similar incident occurred in a village named Ruppawali in the Fatehgarh Churian constituency where two rival political parties entered into a tussle over fake votes. One of the candidates demanded a change of presiding officer but refused to give it in writing. No injuries have been reported. Bhawra said in Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, a dispute arose between supporters of two candidates over alleged fake votes causing injuries to two people. An incident of firing in air has also been reported from Guru Harsahai assembly constituency in the afternoon. Preliminary investigations have commenced in the matter. Meanwhile, Congress and Akali Dal workers clashed at the Killanwali village in Lambi constituency, where Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh are in the fray. Two people were injured in a clash between the AAP and the Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district. In Moga, the EC has sought a report regarding the EVM displaying 50 extra votes at polling booth no 145. Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh and his wife Preneet Kaur cast their votes. Cricketer Harbhajan Singh along with his mother Avtar Kaur also exercised their franchise. There is a three-cornered contest between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, the opposition Congress and the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party. SAD has fielded candidate in 94 seats while its ally BJP has fielded 23 candidates. Congress is contesting alone in all the 117 seats. While AAP has fielded 112 candidates, its ally Lok Insaf Party is contesting on five seats. BSP, Apna Punjab Party, left parties comprising CPI and CPI-M, and SAD-Amritsar are also in the fray.
By Express News Service

The over three-month-long economic blockade in Manipur is likely to end soon with the Home Ministry saying substantial progress has been made in the talks held on Friday with the Manipur government and a Naga group spearheading the agitation in the poll-bound State.

The tripartite talks, among the officials of the Centre, Manipur government and representatives of United Naga Council (UNC), were successfully organised here. The Ministry successfully brokered the talks and the economic crises will end soon in Manipur, official sources said. They said an agreement in this regard has been reached between the agitating Naga group and the State government which is likely to be signed shortly.

The key National Highway number 2 (NH 2) is blocked since November 1 by UNC cadre, which led to normal life being severely affected there. The Council is protesting against creation of seven new districts in the State.

A late-night statement issued by the Home Ministry said there was substantial progress on the issues in the talks. Next tripartite meeting is expected on 7th Feb, 2017 on the issues, it said. Fridays meeting was attended by UNC president Gaidon Kamei and the Councils information secretary Sangkhel Stephen, both of whom are lodged in Imphal central jail since January after Manipur police arrested them on November 25 last for leading the indefinite blockade.

The over three-month-long economic blockade in Manipur is likely to end soon with the Home Ministry saying substantial progress has been made in the talks held on Friday with the Manipur government and a Naga group spearheading the agitation in the poll-bound State. The tripartite talks, among the officials of the Centre, Manipur government and representatives of United Naga Council (UNC), were successfully organised here. The Ministry successfully brokered the talks and the economic crises will end soon in Manipur, official sources said. They said an agreement in this regard has been reached between the agitating Naga group and the State government which is likely to be signed shortly. The key National Highway number 2 (NH 2) is blocked since November 1 by UNC cadre, which led to normal life being severely affected there. The Council is protesting against creation of seven new districts in the State. A late-night statement issued by the Home Ministry said there was substantial progress on the issues in the talks. Next tripartite meeting is expected on 7th Feb, 2017 on the issues, it said. Fridays meeting was attended by UNC president Gaidon Kamei and the Councils information secretary Sangkhel Stephen, both of whom are lodged in Imphal central jail since January after Manipur police arrested them on November 25 last for leading the indefinite blockade.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: What was once celebrated as a path-breaking initiative, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has now decided to scrap the open book tests.

The open book tests were introduced, amidst much fanfare, as a pilot project in 2014 for annual exam of Class XI and for the second summative tests (usually held in December or January) for Class IX.

Amidst negative responses for the open book tests, the governing body of the board at its recent meeting took the final call to put an end to it, terming it as a hindering development of students critical abilities.

This means that in the annual exams coming up from this March, the open book tests wont be a part of them.

During the first phase, the open book tests were introduced for Class IX in English, Hindi, Maths, Science and Social Science subjects and a few subjects, including Economics, Biology and Geography, for Class IX students.

The results were a part of the second summative assessment for Class IX (March) and the annual examination for Class XI (Carrying 10 per cent weightage in each subject).

Test material, including articles, pictures, graphics and case studies, were given to students months in advance and the questions had open-ended, subjective questions of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

Though the concept received widespread appreciation from academics and was a hit among student fraternity, a section of educationists and schools opposed it. Responding to this, the board sought feedback from various stakeholders last August.

This issue was taken up at the governing body meeting recently. Though some argued about the impact this practice had on keeping malpractice under check, a majority of the schools opined that the open book tests hindered the critical development of students, said a senior HRD official who attended the meet.

CBSE sources hinted that despite presence of HOTS questions, many students managed to pass by just answering basic questions. Mere copying of what was printed in the textbook was certainly not going to help them in higher grades.

Welcoming this, S Namasivayam, principal of Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Kilpauk, said, The system failed as the stakeholders (both students and teachers) failed to utilise it.

Speaking on similar lines, Mansi Dhanania, a Class IX student from Bhavans Rajaji Vidyashram, said that Open Text Based Assessment (OTBA) was an additional burden as most questions were vague and based outside their syllabus.

A CBSE teacher based in Chennai requesting anonymity said, We dont get adequate time to cover voluminous topics listed under OTBA. She added that students were unable to complete their exams on time as interpreting the questions within the prescribed time limit was difficult.

The governing body has also decided to scrap the CBSE-international curriculum made available for affiliated schools in India and abroad. These schools were advised to return to the regular CBSE curriculum from this year.

CHENNAI: What was once celebrated as a path-breaking initiative, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has now decided to scrap the open book tests. The open book tests were introduced, amidst much fanfare, as a pilot project in 2014 for annual exam of Class XI and for the second summative tests (usually held in December or January) for Class IX. Amidst negative responses for the open book tests, the governing body of the board at its recent meeting took the final call to put an end to it, terming it as a hindering development of students critical abilities. This means that in the annual exams coming up from this March, the open book tests wont be a part of them. During the first phase, the open book tests were introduced for Class IX in English, Hindi, Maths, Science and Social Science subjects and a few subjects, including Economics, Biology and Geography, for Class IX students. The results were a part of the second summative assessment for Class IX (March) and the annual examination for Class XI (Carrying 10 per cent weightage in each subject). Test material, including articles, pictures, graphics and case studies, were given to students months in advance and the questions had open-ended, subjective questions of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Though the concept received widespread appreciation from academics and was a hit among student fraternity, a section of educationists and schools opposed it. Responding to this, the board sought feedback from various stakeholders last August. This issue was taken up at the governing body meeting recently. Though some argued about the impact this practice had on keeping malpractice under check, a majority of the schools opined that the open book tests hindered the critical development of students, said a senior HRD official who attended the meet. CBSE sources hinted that despite presence of HOTS questions, many students managed to pass by just answering basic questions. Mere copying of what was printed in the textbook was certainly not going to help them in higher grades. Welcoming this, S Namasivayam, principal of Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Kilpauk, said, The system failed as the stakeholders (both students and teachers) failed to utilise it. Speaking on similar lines, Mansi Dhanania, a Class IX student from Bhavans Rajaji Vidyashram, said that Open Text Based Assessment (OTBA) was an additional burden as most questions were vague and based outside their syllabus. A CBSE teacher based in Chennai requesting anonymity said, We dont get adequate time to cover voluminous topics listed under OTBA. She added that students were unable to complete their exams on time as interpreting the questions within the prescribed time limit was difficult. The governing body has also decided to scrap the CBSE-international curriculum made available for affiliated schools in India and abroad. These schools were advised to return to the regular CBSE curriculum from this year.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Thousands of chemist shops remained shut in Jammua bastion of the BJP and winter capital of Jammu and Kashmirfor three days to protest against the PDP-BJP coalition governments decision to allow a non-state subject to open 57 pharmacy shops in violation of the Article 370, which guarantees special status to the state.

The chemists, however, called off the strike on Saturday afternoon after the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and Health Minister Bali Baghat assured them the State government will probe the matter.

According to chemists, Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Limited (JKMSCL) has issued a tender to a Delhi-based person to open 57 chemist shops at different government hospitals in the Jammu region on a lease basis for three years.

In the tender floated by JKMSCL for opening a chain of 24x7 pharmacy shops within the hospital premises, only permanent residents of J&K were eligible to participate in the auction, they said.

President of the Jammu Chemist Association, Naveen Bali alleged the tendering process adopted by the government was designed with malafide intent to facilitate the entry of Delhi-based Sanyog Pharmaceuticals, which is already black-listed in PGI Chandigarh for supplying sub-standard drugs.

On one hand, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti describes people opposing Article 370 as anti-nationals and on the other hand, her government is permitting a non-state subject to set up 57 pharmacy shops in the Jammu region, he said.

Accusing the government of violating Article 370 to benefit a non-state subject, Naveen said the department has accepted the tenders of a non-state subject against the law.

We feel this was purely done in lieu of exchange of favour. We will not allow the government to do so, added Naveen.

Following the call of Jammu Chemist Association, the chemists in Jammu observed a 72 hour-shutdown from February 2 with thousands of chemist shops remaining shut for three days. The Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Jammu, had extended support to the strike.

State Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and Health Minister Bali Bhagat on Saturday met the president of Jammu Chemist Association, Naveen Bali, the president of Jammu Chambers, Rakesh Gupta and other representatives of chemists and traders.

During the meeting, the deputy CM and the Health Minister assured us that the government would conduct probe into the tendering process. They assured us that the government would probe how the non-state subject was given permission to open pharmacy shops in Jammu region, Naveen told Express.

He said the government has assured them the matter would be probed in 15 days.

We had been demanding CBI inquiry but the government said they will probe it themselves. We will wait for 15 days. If the government fails to probe the matter within the specified time, then the chemists will go on an indefinite strike to demand closure of pharmacy shops opened by a non-state subject, warned Naveen.

The strike by the chemists in Jammu region is seen as a major setback for the BJP, whose main agenda is the scrapping of Article 370, which guarantees special status to J&K.

BJP, which is running a coalition government in the state with PDP, had won all its 25 Assembly seats in the Jammu region in 2014 Assembly elections.

The strike has sent a message that not only the people of Kashmir but those from Jammu also want protection of Article 370, a political commentator said.

SRINAGAR: Thousands of chemist shops remained shut in Jammua bastion of the BJP and winter capital of Jammu and Kashmirfor three days to protest against the PDP-BJP coalition governments decision to allow a non-state subject to open 57 pharmacy shops in violation of the Article 370, which guarantees special status to the state. The chemists, however, called off the strike on Saturday afternoon after the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and Health Minister Bali Baghat assured them the State government will probe the matter. According to chemists, Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Limited (JKMSCL) has issued a tender to a Delhi-based person to open 57 chemist shops at different government hospitals in the Jammu region on a lease basis for three years. In the tender floated by JKMSCL for opening a chain of 24x7 pharmacy shops within the hospital premises, only permanent residents of J&K were eligible to participate in the auction, they said. President of the Jammu Chemist Association, Naveen Bali alleged the tendering process adopted by the government was designed with malafide intent to facilitate the entry of Delhi-based Sanyog Pharmaceuticals, which is already black-listed in PGI Chandigarh for supplying sub-standard drugs. On one hand, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti describes people opposing Article 370 as anti-nationals and on the other hand, her government is permitting a non-state subject to set up 57 pharmacy shops in the Jammu region, he said. Accusing the government of violating Article 370 to benefit a non-state subject, Naveen said the department has accepted the tenders of a non-state subject against the law. We feel this was purely done in lieu of exchange of favour. We will not allow the government to do so, added Naveen. Following the call of Jammu Chemist Association, the chemists in Jammu observed a 72 hour-shutdown from February 2 with thousands of chemist shops remaining shut for three days. The Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Jammu, had extended support to the strike. State Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and Health Minister Bali Bhagat on Saturday met the president of Jammu Chemist Association, Naveen Bali, the president of Jammu Chambers, Rakesh Gupta and other representatives of chemists and traders. During the meeting, the deputy CM and the Health Minister assured us that the government would conduct probe into the tendering process. They assured us that the government would probe how the non-state subject was given permission to open pharmacy shops in Jammu region, Naveen told Express. He said the government has assured them the matter would be probed in 15 days. We had been demanding CBI inquiry but the government said they will probe it themselves. We will wait for 15 days. If the government fails to probe the matter within the specified time, then the chemists will go on an indefinite strike to demand closure of pharmacy shops opened by a non-state subject, warned Naveen. The strike by the chemists in Jammu region is seen as a major setback for the BJP, whose main agenda is the scrapping of Article 370, which guarantees special status to J&K. BJP, which is running a coalition government in the state with PDP, had won all its 25 Assembly seats in the Jammu region in 2014 Assembly elections. The strike has sent a message that not only the people of Kashmir but those from Jammu also want protection of Article 370, a political commentator said.
By Express News Service

KOZHIKODE: Advocating a presidential system for a better governance in the country, former union minister and senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the Anti-defection law has a negative impact on democracy as it reduced the voting power of peoples representatives.

Now a representative does not have the right to vote on his conscience. He has to vote on what his party says. This law has a negative impact on democracy, he said in an interactive session about the challenges of democracy, at Kerala Literature Festival here on Saturday.

Incidentally, the Anti-Defection Law contained in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, was introduced by the 52nd Amendment during the tenure of the Congress government headed by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. This was the result of a thought after the 1967 elections which started the coalition era in India and set off large scale defections in state assemblies.

A presidential system would be better for India. Our present system has no accountability and is not democratic enough. Presidential system would be good for a better governance, said Tharoor who was an Under-Secretary General at UN and finished second after Ban Ki moon to the race for the position of UN Secretary General before seeking mandate from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

Tharoor, who had courted a controversy in 2008 related to national anthem, said the rule to impose the anthem in cinema halls is an unnecessary step.

You cannot reduce nationalism to just a performance. I can say Bharat mata ki jai and I am comfortable with it. But I wont say it if Amit Shah mandates me to say, he said adding such an attempt is also a threat to democracy.

KOZHIKODE: Advocating a presidential system for a better governance in the country, former union minister and senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the Anti-defection law has a negative impact on democracy as it reduced the voting power of peoples representatives. Now a representative does not have the right to vote on his conscience. He has to vote on what his party says. This law has a negative impact on democracy, he said in an interactive session about the challenges of democracy, at Kerala Literature Festival here on Saturday. Incidentally, the Anti-Defection Law contained in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, was introduced by the 52nd Amendment during the tenure of the Congress government headed by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. This was the result of a thought after the 1967 elections which started the coalition era in India and set off large scale defections in state assemblies. A presidential system would be better for India. Our present system has no accountability and is not democratic enough. Presidential system would be good for a better governance, said Tharoor who was an Under-Secretary General at UN and finished second after Ban Ki moon to the race for the position of UN Secretary General before seeking mandate from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. Tharoor, who had courted a controversy in 2008 related to national anthem, said the rule to impose the anthem in cinema halls is an unnecessary step. You cannot reduce nationalism to just a performance. I can say Bharat mata ki jai and I am comfortable with it. But I wont say it if Amit Shah mandates me to say, he said adding such an attempt is also a threat to democracy.
Ejaz Kaiser By

Express News Service

RAIPUR: Former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has, since his split from Congress, hinted to both his former party as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress saying that his new party, Janata Congress Chattisgarh (J) will emerge as a formidable force with 90 Assembly seats.

I am independent now. Regional parties are now playing a major role in Indian politics, he had said in June after quitting the Congress.

With Assembly elections in 2018, the wheelchair-bound Jogi covered 19,800 km by road and helicopter to address 64 rallies in 27 days last month. He had quit the Congress in June last year, six months after his son Amit was expelled from the party. Jogis wife Renu is a Congress MLA.

Jogis party may be a litmus test for the Congress, which has suffered three consecutive debacles in Chhattisgarh. He will also challenge the ruling BJP. He has pledged for a Raman-mukt (free from CM Raman Singh) Chhattisgarh while launching Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J).

The BJP in power in the mineral-rich state for 13 years has taken the state backward with rampant corruption and misrule. Congress fell short of delivering the role of an effective Opposition. People are seeing us with hope. We have released our welfare agenda (manifesto) much before the elections, Jogi said.

For Jogi, there was no other way to revive himself politically after being marginalised by the Congress party.

Raman Singh said Jogi emerging as a third force will not affect his party but will harm the Congress.

The unpredictable Jogi will have to prove himself to his followers and the masses. His stakes are high in constituencies with a substantial vote base of Dalits and tribals.

Congress leaders once close to him say Congress legislators might hesitate to go with Jogi, though some former party MLAs and leaders may cross over.

The Congress gave Jogi recognition. Controversies such as the Jaggi murder case, his tribal status, the Maoist attack on a Congress convoy at Jhiram and the Antagarh tape will decimate him. People always wished to see

Congress without Jogi, who endured the partys defeat in three Assembly elections, state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said.

Ever since Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, regional parties have failed to lure voters. National Congress Party (NCP) led by V C Shukla in 2003 won one seat, Bahujan Samaj Party has one MLA and Chhattisgarh Swabhimaan Manch hasnt made its presence felt.

RAIPUR: Former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has, since his split from Congress, hinted to both his former party as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress saying that his new party, Janata Congress Chattisgarh (J) will emerge as a formidable force with 90 Assembly seats. I am independent now. Regional parties are now playing a major role in Indian politics, he had said in June after quitting the Congress. With Assembly elections in 2018, the wheelchair-bound Jogi covered 19,800 km by road and helicopter to address 64 rallies in 27 days last month. He had quit the Congress in June last year, six months after his son Amit was expelled from the party. Jogis wife Renu is a Congress MLA. Jogis party may be a litmus test for the Congress, which has suffered three consecutive debacles in Chhattisgarh. He will also challenge the ruling BJP. He has pledged for a Raman-mukt (free from CM Raman Singh) Chhattisgarh while launching Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J). The BJP in power in the mineral-rich state for 13 years has taken the state backward with rampant corruption and misrule. Congress fell short of delivering the role of an effective Opposition. People are seeing us with hope. We have released our welfare agenda (manifesto) much before the elections, Jogi said. For Jogi, there was no other way to revive himself politically after being marginalised by the Congress party. Raman Singh said Jogi emerging as a third force will not affect his party but will harm the Congress. The unpredictable Jogi will have to prove himself to his followers and the masses. His stakes are high in constituencies with a substantial vote base of Dalits and tribals. Congress leaders once close to him say Congress legislators might hesitate to go with Jogi, though some former party MLAs and leaders may cross over. The Congress gave Jogi recognition. Controversies such as the Jaggi murder case, his tribal status, the Maoist attack on a Congress convoy at Jhiram and the Antagarh tape will decimate him. People always wished to see Congress without Jogi, who endured the partys defeat in three Assembly elections, state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said. Ever since Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, regional parties have failed to lure voters. National Congress Party (NCP) led by V C Shukla in 2003 won one seat, Bahujan Samaj Party has one MLA and Chhattisgarh Swabhimaan Manch hasnt made its presence felt.
By Express News Service

ATTARI: In a goodwill gesture, the BSF today handed over a Pakistani national who crossed into to India inadvertently back to his home country. BSF did not register any case against the Pakistani national for crossing to India, a senior BSF official said.

BSF DIG J S Kataria said BSF troops of Border Out Post Rattan Khurd, Amritsar Sector apprehended the Pakistani national identified as Nemshah, aged 35, and a resident of Nagga Chak, Faislabad, Pakistan, after he crossed the international boundary and entered inside Indian territory near the border fence.

However, as Nemshah had inadvertently crossed over to the Indian territory, Pakistani Rangers were contacted and the apprehended Pakistani national was handed over to them, Kataria said.

ATTARI: In a goodwill gesture, the BSF today handed over a Pakistani national who crossed into to India inadvertently back to his home country. BSF did not register any case against the Pakistani national for crossing to India, a senior BSF official said. BSF DIG J S Kataria said BSF troops of Border Out Post Rattan Khurd, Amritsar Sector apprehended the Pakistani national identified as Nemshah, aged 35, and a resident of Nagga Chak, Faislabad, Pakistan, after he crossed the international boundary and entered inside Indian territory near the border fence. However, as Nemshah had inadvertently crossed over to the Indian territory, Pakistani Rangers were contacted and the apprehended Pakistani national was handed over to them, Kataria said.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Even as Indias stand to remain abstain from a resolution condemning Israel would have been read as change in its pro-Palestinian policy, New Delhi has reiterated its solidarity with the Palestinian cause by setting up an Institute to train diplomats of the territory that has seen a protracted conflict since 1948.

A lot has been read into the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Bangladesh and Pakistan as he gave New Delhi a miss. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the Palestinian President is expected to visit India sometime this year and there has been no lassitude in India-Palestinian relation. India will be setting up an Institute of Diplomacy in Palestine at the cost of $ 4.5 million to help train its diplomats.

we are also setting up an Institute of Diplomacy in Palestine for training of Palestinian Diplomats through Government of India assistance of $ 4.5 million, MEA Spokesperson revealed, before rejecting the idea of ascribing meaning to President Abbas sojourn to Bangladesh and Pakistan.

India has been regularly conducting special course for Palestinian Diplomats, where apart from facilitating the up-gradation of their diplomatic and professional skills, they are also informed about various issues including that from the West Asian region. But this would be the first time that it would be assisting in setting up an institute like this.

The development seems to be a takeaway from the first Joint Commission meeting between India and Palestine in November last year where the two decided to diversify their cooperation. India has been struggling to strike a balance between its thickening of ties with Israel that is undergirded by defence relation and its post-colonial commitment to the cause of Palestine. There have been buzz about Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to travel to Tel Aviv and it remains to be seen if Palestine too would be on his itinerary.

NEW DELHI: Even as Indias stand to remain abstain from a resolution condemning Israel would have been read as change in its pro-Palestinian policy, New Delhi has reiterated its solidarity with the Palestinian cause by setting up an Institute to train diplomats of the territory that has seen a protracted conflict since 1948. A lot has been read into the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Bangladesh and Pakistan as he gave New Delhi a miss. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the Palestinian President is expected to visit India sometime this year and there has been no lassitude in India-Palestinian relation. India will be setting up an Institute of Diplomacy in Palestine at the cost of $ 4.5 million to help train its diplomats. we are also setting up an Institute of Diplomacy in Palestine for training of Palestinian Diplomats through Government of India assistance of $ 4.5 million, MEA Spokesperson revealed, before rejecting the idea of ascribing meaning to President Abbas sojourn to Bangladesh and Pakistan. India has been regularly conducting special course for Palestinian Diplomats, where apart from facilitating the up-gradation of their diplomatic and professional skills, they are also informed about various issues including that from the West Asian region. But this would be the first time that it would be assisting in setting up an institute like this. The development seems to be a takeaway from the first Joint Commission meeting between India and Palestine in November last year where the two decided to diversify their cooperation. India has been struggling to strike a balance between its thickening of ties with Israel that is undergirded by defence relation and its post-colonial commitment to the cause of Palestine. There have been buzz about Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to travel to Tel Aviv and it remains to be seen if Palestine too would be on his itinerary.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday released 27 names of candidates for the poll-bound Manipur. The list was approved by the Central Election Committee of the BJP.

The BJP has by now released names of all 60 candidates for the North-eastern state. With Manipur facing road blockade for more than three months, the BJP on Saturday trained guns on the chief minister Ibobi Singh.

Union Minister for Human Resources Development and the BJP in-charge for Manipur Prakash Javdekar suggested that the state chief minister was not doing enough for the lifting of the economic blockade forced by the insurgent groups.

The Centre is making all efforts to lift the blockade. Will the chief minister Ibobi Singh rise to the occasion and help end the blockade Will he stop politicking, asked Javdekar in a series of tweets on Saturday.

Javdekar charged that the Centre has provided for enough security forces for Manipur. He alleged that the chief minister is not giving requisite permission for the deployment of the security forces. Stating that the Centre is holding tripartite talks, Javdekar stated that the NDA government is airlifting essential commodities for the people in Manipur.

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday released 27 names of candidates for the poll-bound Manipur. The list was approved by the Central Election Committee of the BJP. The BJP has by now released names of all 60 candidates for the North-eastern state. With Manipur facing road blockade for more than three months, the BJP on Saturday trained guns on the chief minister Ibobi Singh. Union Minister for Human Resources Development and the BJP in-charge for Manipur Prakash Javdekar suggested that the state chief minister was not doing enough for the lifting of the economic blockade forced by the insurgent groups. The Centre is making all efforts to lift the blockade. Will the chief minister Ibobi Singh rise to the occasion and help end the blockade Will he stop politicking, asked Javdekar in a series of tweets on Saturday. Javdekar charged that the Centre has provided for enough security forces for Manipur. He alleged that the chief minister is not giving requisite permission for the deployment of the security forces. Stating that the Centre is holding tripartite talks, Javdekar stated that the NDA government is airlifting essential commodities for the people in Manipur.
Abhijit Mulye By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: A day after announcing that the Shiv Sena will contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls by itself instead of teaming up with the BJP, sources have indicated Uddhav Thackerays party is likely to pull out of the state government.

The move is likely to jeopardise the BJPs hold in the 288-member Assembly, in which the party has 122 members and the support of 13 independent candidates, while the Sena has 63.

If the Sena quits the government, the BJP will need 10 seats to keep afloat in the House.

If the Shiv Sena gets a comfortable margin over us in the BMC elections, they will quit the government, a state BJP minister said. The Shiv Sena has 75 corporators in the 228-member BMC, while the BJP has 31. BJP strategists believe if the Shiv Sena crosses the 90 mark and the BJP fails to reach the 50 figure, the former will quit the government.

Announcing the split with the BJP earlier this month, Uddhav said, We had decided to support the government to put an end to the Congress-NCP regimen in the state. The way this government is functioning, I suspect it will be able to complete five years... We shall make an appropriate move when it will be in the interest of Maharashtra.

According to reports, the BJP has contacted over 20 Shiv Sena MLAs and several in the NCP and the Congress. Several leaders from all parties have expressed their wish to join the BJP, the BJP minister said. In the worst case, we can ask members willing to join us to resign, and we will ensure their re-election.



MUMBAI: A day after announcing that the Shiv Sena will contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls by itself instead of teaming up with the BJP, sources have indicated Uddhav Thackerays party is likely to pull out of the state government. The move is likely to jeopardise the BJPs hold in the 288-member Assembly, in which the party has 122 members and the support of 13 independent candidates, while the Sena has 63. If the Sena quits the government, the BJP will need 10 seats to keep afloat in the House. If the Shiv Sena gets a comfortable margin over us in the BMC elections, they will quit the government, a state BJP minister said. The Shiv Sena has 75 corporators in the 228-member BMC, while the BJP has 31. BJP strategists believe if the Shiv Sena crosses the 90 mark and the BJP fails to reach the 50 figure, the former will quit the government. Announcing the split with the BJP earlier this month, Uddhav said, We had decided to support the government to put an end to the Congress-NCP regimen in the state. The way this government is functioning, I suspect it will be able to complete five years... We shall make an appropriate move when it will be in the interest of Maharashtra. According to reports, the BJP has contacted over 20 Shiv Sena MLAs and several in the NCP and the Congress. Several leaders from all parties have expressed their wish to join the BJP, the BJP minister said. In the worst case, we can ask members willing to join us to resign, and we will ensure their re-election.
Ravi Shankar By

Being partisan is the new liberal. Last week, a New York Times article referred to Gallup polls in the 1950s asking Americans which political party their sons-in-law should belong to. 18 per cent chose Democrat, 10 per cent Republican. Significantly, the remaining 72 per cent either didnt answer or didnt care. In 2016, only 45 per cent Amercians didnt give a damn.

Trumps America is no longer the Land of the Carefree. Many Indians, who celebrated his victory, were dismayed at his order which made Indian professionals unwelcome in the US. The Donalds victory and the subsequent anti-Trump consolidation of non-partisan state governments, mayors, social groups, opinion blocs and even Republicans within the administration, reveal that a pitched battle for opinion rights has begun. In the rest of the world, too, including India, political conservatism has got a life. Decades of ideological drift were to blame. A despot like Putin is the new poster boy of the radical right, while the jury is still out on Turkeys Erdoganthough Trumps America may assume he is a bird.

In the fifties, the world, fresh from the horrors of World War II started by an Aryan supremacist, was finding its feet. The British empire was packing up. People craved for universality as a bonding experience. Societies opened up to diverse influences, culture flourished, and borders became less stringent. The Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood were just jokes on the fringe. Immigrants brought ideas and business concepts to the West, which made society vibrant. Until Islam declared war on the civilised world and changed it forever.

Whenever an established way of life is threatened, people circle their wagons. They prefer minded people among friends and family. Positions harden. Offense is easily taken. In most democracies, people believe governments have become soft. The refrain for a strong leader is soaringin France, Germany and the UK, where Islamic immigration was once not only tolerated, but encouraged. People are even fine with a benevolent dictator who does not even trust them and appeals to their inner masochist.

The irony of democracy today is that people have stopped trusting themselves and need leaders to redefine their identity. They forget certainty kills the spirit of inquiry. The new choice is frighteningly simplistic: fight for what you believe or fight against what others believe in. Millions of women marched against Trump in cosmopolitan American cities, and millions of Midwesterners defended him.

in the US, the secondary middle-class, consisting of blue-collar workers and small businessmen in smaller towns and suburbs, is challenging the established order everywhere. The exclusivity of the urban middle-class, with quality education, jobs and inclusive lifestyle, is a threat to their aspirations. An Indian globalist will experiment with French cuisine, while an American from the Bible belt will stick to burgers with extra fries on the side. The first is comfortable in their skin. The second is defiantly aggressive to a perceived assault on identity. Both sides defend their ways as right.

Being partisan is the new normal. Both for conservatives and liberals. And they are getting the shock of their lives.

Ravi Shankar

ravi@newindianexpress.com

Being partisan is the new liberal. Last week, a New York Times article referred to Gallup polls in the 1950s asking Americans which political party their sons-in-law should belong to. 18 per cent chose Democrat, 10 per cent Republican. Significantly, the remaining 72 per cent either didnt answer or didnt care. In 2016, only 45 per cent Amercians didnt give a damn. Trumps America is no longer the Land of the Carefree. Many Indians, who celebrated his victory, were dismayed at his order which made Indian professionals unwelcome in the US. The Donalds victory and the subsequent anti-Trump consolidation of non-partisan state governments, mayors, social groups, opinion blocs and even Republicans within the administration, reveal that a pitched battle for opinion rights has begun. In the rest of the world, too, including India, political conservatism has got a life. Decades of ideological drift were to blame. A despot like Putin is the new poster boy of the radical right, while the jury is still out on Turkeys Erdoganthough Trumps America may assume he is a bird. In the fifties, the world, fresh from the horrors of World War II started by an Aryan supremacist, was finding its feet. The British empire was packing up. People craved for universality as a bonding experience. Societies opened up to diverse influences, culture flourished, and borders became less stringent. The Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood were just jokes on the fringe. Immigrants brought ideas and business concepts to the West, which made society vibrant. Until Islam declared war on the civilised world and changed it forever. Whenever an established way of life is threatened, people circle their wagons. They prefer minded people among friends and family. Positions harden. Offense is easily taken. In most democracies, people believe governments have become soft. The refrain for a strong leader is soaringin France, Germany and the UK, where Islamic immigration was once not only tolerated, but encouraged. People are even fine with a benevolent dictator who does not even trust them and appeals to their inner masochist. The irony of democracy today is that people have stopped trusting themselves and need leaders to redefine their identity. They forget certainty kills the spirit of inquiry. The new choice is frighteningly simplistic: fight for what you believe or fight against what others believe in. Millions of women marched against Trump in cosmopolitan American cities, and millions of Midwesterners defended him. in the US, the secondary middle-class, consisting of blue-collar workers and small businessmen in smaller towns and suburbs, is challenging the established order everywhere. The exclusivity of the urban middle-class, with quality education, jobs and inclusive lifestyle, is a threat to their aspirations. An Indian globalist will experiment with French cuisine, while an American from the Bible belt will stick to burgers with extra fries on the side. The first is comfortable in their skin. The second is defiantly aggressive to a perceived assault on identity. Both sides defend their ways as right. Being partisan is the new normal. Both for conservatives and liberals. And they are getting the shock of their lives. Ravi Shankar ravi@newindianexpress.com
By Express News Service

KOCHI: A man from Kerala who allegedly sent funds to the Islamic State (IS) South India module, busted from Kanakamala in Kannur last year, has been intercepted by the United Arab Emirates police officials.

Following information provided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the UAE police have nabbed Moideen, a native of Kasargod.

According to NIA officials, Moideen is arraigned as the 13th accused in the case. "Moideen's involvement was revealed while examining the funds received by the group. He was frequently sending money to the group to commence its operations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We had passed on the information to police agencies in the UAE, an NIA official said adding they have received information on his detention.

The official further stated they would soon initiate steps to extradite Moideen. "We expect the procedure to be completed within a few weeks. We will communicate with the UAE police in this regard," he said.

Apart from Moideen, NIA has arraigned Sajeer Mangalassery from Kozhikode and Kamal from Chennai as accused in the case. Mangalassery was operating a fake Facebook account in the name of Sameer Ali propagating Jihadi ideology. Kamal was associated with Subahani Haja Moideen who fought with the IS in Iraq.

In October 2016, the NIA busted the IS group which was holding a secret meeting at Kanakamala in Kannur, following the inputs of intelligence agencies.

The agency found the group was planning to attack religious places, tourist locations where Israeli tourists frequented while also planning attacks on public gatherings by ramming vehicles similar to the attack in Nice, France. They were also planning to attack two Kerala High Court judges and BJP leaders in Kerala, it found.

KOCHI: A man from Kerala who allegedly sent funds to the Islamic State (IS) South India module, busted from Kanakamala in Kannur last year, has been intercepted by the United Arab Emirates police officials. Following information provided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the UAE police have nabbed Moideen, a native of Kasargod. According to NIA officials, Moideen is arraigned as the 13th accused in the case. "Moideen's involvement was revealed while examining the funds received by the group. He was frequently sending money to the group to commence its operations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We had passed on the information to police agencies in the UAE, an NIA official said adding they have received information on his detention. The official further stated they would soon initiate steps to extradite Moideen. "We expect the procedure to be completed within a few weeks. We will communicate with the UAE police in this regard," he said. Apart from Moideen, NIA has arraigned Sajeer Mangalassery from Kozhikode and Kamal from Chennai as accused in the case. Mangalassery was operating a fake Facebook account in the name of Sameer Ali propagating Jihadi ideology. Kamal was associated with Subahani Haja Moideen who fought with the IS in Iraq. In October 2016, the NIA busted the IS group which was holding a secret meeting at Kanakamala in Kannur, following the inputs of intelligence agencies. The agency found the group was planning to attack religious places, tourist locations where Israeli tourists frequented while also planning attacks on public gatherings by ramming vehicles similar to the attack in Nice, France. They were also planning to attack two Kerala High Court judges and BJP leaders in Kerala, it found.
By AFP

Quebec City: Mourners gathered at the Quebec City convention center Friday for the funeral of the last three of six men shot dead while praying at a local mosque earlier this week.

The service began midday with traditional Friday prayers, followed by an Islamic funeral ritual.

Up to 6,000 mourners were expected to pack into the convention center to pay their respects to Guinean-Canadians cousins Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and Ibrahima Barry, 39, and Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, of Moroccan origin.

The commemoration follows another funeral for three other victims held Thursday at a Montreal arena, which was attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Another sad day where we gather to reflect on the lives that have been torn from us," Trudeau said as he arrived at Friday's service.

The mosque shooting victims were a scholar, a butcher, a daycare operator, a food industry worker, a public servant and a computer programmer -- all connected by faith.

They had been attending evening prayers at their mosque in Quebec City when a 27-year-old student stormed in and unleashed a barrage of bullets from a pistol and semi-automatic rifle.

The suspect later surrendered to police and was charged with six murders and five attempted murders.

Four of the wounded in the attack remain in hospital.

"The whole nation has been shaken by this brutal and hateful attack, but in these dark moments our country has united and showed solidarity," Trudeau said at Friday's ceremony.

Trudeau again called on Canadians to "unite in love, and reject division and hate."

Earlier, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard spoke to reporters about the need to speak out against bigotry and to crack down on hate speech to prevent a repeat of last Sunday night's tragic events.

"Practically speaking we need to be more active around security, and all these social media and extremist statements are monitored by security forces," he said.

A Toronto rabbi, meanwhile, lead an interfaith effort to form "rings of peace" or human chains around mosques across Canada during midday prayers, after many in the Muslim community said they have felt unsafe in Canada since the attack.

As the shooting victims were mourned on Thursday a Montreal mosque was vandalized. The city's police hate crime unit has also reported a spike in hate-related complaints.

Quebec City: Mourners gathered at the Quebec City convention center Friday for the funeral of the last three of six men shot dead while praying at a local mosque earlier this week. The service began midday with traditional Friday prayers, followed by an Islamic funeral ritual. Up to 6,000 mourners were expected to pack into the convention center to pay their respects to Guinean-Canadians cousins Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and Ibrahima Barry, 39, and Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, of Moroccan origin. The commemoration follows another funeral for three other victims held Thursday at a Montreal arena, which was attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Another sad day where we gather to reflect on the lives that have been torn from us," Trudeau said as he arrived at Friday's service. The mosque shooting victims were a scholar, a butcher, a daycare operator, a food industry worker, a public servant and a computer programmer -- all connected by faith. They had been attending evening prayers at their mosque in Quebec City when a 27-year-old student stormed in and unleashed a barrage of bullets from a pistol and semi-automatic rifle. The suspect later surrendered to police and was charged with six murders and five attempted murders. Four of the wounded in the attack remain in hospital. "The whole nation has been shaken by this brutal and hateful attack, but in these dark moments our country has united and showed solidarity," Trudeau said at Friday's ceremony. Trudeau again called on Canadians to "unite in love, and reject division and hate." Earlier, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard spoke to reporters about the need to speak out against bigotry and to crack down on hate speech to prevent a repeat of last Sunday night's tragic events. "Practically speaking we need to be more active around security, and all these social media and extremist statements are monitored by security forces," he said. A Toronto rabbi, meanwhile, lead an interfaith effort to form "rings of peace" or human chains around mosques across Canada during midday prayers, after many in the Muslim community said they have felt unsafe in Canada since the attack. As the shooting victims were mourned on Thursday a Montreal mosque was vandalized. The city's police hate crime unit has also reported a spike in hate-related complaints.
By AFP

MIAMI: The body of Canadian documentary filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart was reportedly found off the Florida coast on Friday, days after he disappeared during a dive while making a film about sharks.

Stewart, 37, vanished Tuesday afternoon during a dive with three of his crew members at the Alligator Reef coral reef, some four nautical miles (seven kilometers) off the island of Islamorada.

"The body was reportedly recovered late in the afternoon," Marilyn Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard's Seventh District, told AFP.

"It was found about 300 feet (90 meters) from his last know position and it was found at approximately 220 feet in depth," she said.

The Key Largo Fire Department volunteer dive team discovered the body and identified it as Stewart's, although the coroner's office will officially confirm the identity.

Earlier in the evening, the US Coast Guard announced that it had suspended the search for Stewart.

Officials made no comment as to the reason for Stewart's death. After surfacing from his dive, he went underwater again before the crew's boat was able to pick him up. The other three divers emerged safely.

A biologist and underwater photographer, Stewart was filming a sequel to his best-known 2006 documentary "Sharkwater," about shark hunting and its impact on the marine ecosystem. The film won the Directors Guild of Canada award and a dozen others the following year.

"So happy to be shooting #sharkwater2 with the best cameras and equipment in the world," he wrote in his latest Instagram post three days ago. "For the first time I can show you sharks through my eyes."

The filmmaker was capturing "the personality in #shark faces that people that spend their lives with sharks truly understand," he added.

The accompanying picture shows a diver from behind, presumably Stewart, holding a camera on his shoulder.

Stewart's team is fundraising and looking for volunteers via Stewart's Twitter account to continue the search.: Yuki, Ramkumar give India a perfect 2-0 lead over New Zealand

MIAMI: The body of Canadian documentary filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart was reportedly found off the Florida coast on Friday, days after he disappeared during a dive while making a film about sharks. Stewart, 37, vanished Tuesday afternoon during a dive with three of his crew members at the Alligator Reef coral reef, some four nautical miles (seven kilometers) off the island of Islamorada. "The body was reportedly recovered late in the afternoon," Marilyn Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard's Seventh District, told AFP. "It was found about 300 feet (90 meters) from his last know position and it was found at approximately 220 feet in depth," she said. The Key Largo Fire Department volunteer dive team discovered the body and identified it as Stewart's, although the coroner's office will officially confirm the identity. Earlier in the evening, the US Coast Guard announced that it had suspended the search for Stewart. Officials made no comment as to the reason for Stewart's death. After surfacing from his dive, he went underwater again before the crew's boat was able to pick him up. The other three divers emerged safely. A biologist and underwater photographer, Stewart was filming a sequel to his best-known 2006 documentary "Sharkwater," about shark hunting and its impact on the marine ecosystem. The film won the Directors Guild of Canada award and a dozen others the following year. "So happy to be shooting #sharkwater2 with the best cameras and equipment in the world," he wrote in his latest Instagram post three days ago. "For the first time I can show you sharks through my eyes." The filmmaker was capturing "the personality in #shark faces that people that spend their lives with sharks truly understand," he added. The accompanying picture shows a diver from behind, presumably Stewart, holding a camera on his shoulder. Stewart's team is fundraising and looking for volunteers via Stewart's Twitter account to continue the search.: Yuki, Ramkumar give India a perfect 2-0 lead over New Zealand
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: The killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was a "turning point" for Kashmir, Pakistan's top diplomat today claimed here as he termed the ensuing violence in the Valley an "indigenous youth-led movement" triggered by India's "misguided efforts" to change the state's demography.

Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said this at an event to mark the 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' observed annually on February 5. Aziz claimed that the violence following the killing of Wani on July 8 by Indian security forces led to the several deaths and many were blinded either completely or partially. "This brutality, which has continued unabated in the past 7 months, has not however dampened the resolve of Kashmiri youth to secure their right of self-determination," Aziz said, according to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

Another important factor, Aziz claimed, after Wani's death was the "total rejection of the Indian narrative by the international community" that Kashmir was an integral part of India. Following the death of Wani, Kashmir witnessed protests and chaos last year. The situation normalised towards the end of last year.

Aziz also said: "The whole world now acknowledges that this is an indigenous youth-led movement which has become stronger because of the Indian government's misguided efforts to change the demographic composition of the state and its insensitivity to the rights of minority communities in India."

He said several countries have debated this issue and human rights organisations in Europe and North America have been mobilising public support to "force" India to resume dialogue with Pakistan to find an acceptable "solution to the longstanding dispute, still on the UN agenda." He accused India of "desperately trying to divert the attention" of the global community from the situation in Kashmir by "intensifying" cross-border firing along the Line of Control and "pretending" to be a victim of terrorism from Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: The killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was a "turning point" for Kashmir, Pakistan's top diplomat today claimed here as he termed the ensuing violence in the Valley an "indigenous youth-led movement" triggered by India's "misguided efforts" to change the state's demography. Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said this at an event to mark the 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' observed annually on February 5. Aziz claimed that the violence following the killing of Wani on July 8 by Indian security forces led to the several deaths and many were blinded either completely or partially. "This brutality, which has continued unabated in the past 7 months, has not however dampened the resolve of Kashmiri youth to secure their right of self-determination," Aziz said, according to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Another important factor, Aziz claimed, after Wani's death was the "total rejection of the Indian narrative by the international community" that Kashmir was an integral part of India. Following the death of Wani, Kashmir witnessed protests and chaos last year. The situation normalised towards the end of last year. Aziz also said: "The whole world now acknowledges that this is an indigenous youth-led movement which has become stronger because of the Indian government's misguided efforts to change the demographic composition of the state and its insensitivity to the rights of minority communities in India." He said several countries have debated this issue and human rights organisations in Europe and North America have been mobilising public support to "force" India to resume dialogue with Pakistan to find an acceptable "solution to the longstanding dispute, still on the UN agenda." He accused India of "desperately trying to divert the attention" of the global community from the situation in Kashmir by "intensifying" cross-border firing along the Line of Control and "pretending" to be a victim of terrorism from Pakistan.
By Associated Press

BEIJING: The U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday following remarks by President Donald Trump's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

The 1960 U.S.-Japan treaty is "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights," Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

"We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands' sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," Lu said.

On his first trip to Asia as secretary of defense, Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous U.S. stance that the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to defending Japan's continued administration of the Senkaku islands.

The islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa were under U.S. administration from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim, and Japan's move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese riots in China and prompted the government to dispatch ships and planes to the area around them as a challenge to Japanese control.

China also registered its displeasure with Mattis' remarks Friday in South Korea that Trump's administration is committed to carrying through on a deal the Obama administration reached with the Seoul government last year to deploy a high-end U.S. missile defense system to South Korea this year.

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is meant to improve protection of South Korea and Japan  as well as U.S. troops stationed in both countries  against a North Korean missile attack.

Beijing objects to the system because its powerful radar would allow it to peer deep into northeastern China, possibly allowing it to observe Chinese military movements.

At a Friday news conference, Lu said China's "resolute opposition to the deployment ... remains unchanged and will not change."

The deployment "will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region," Lu said.

Chinese officials and scholars say they anticipate further turbulence in relations with the U.S. under Trump. The president sparked anger among Chinese following his election when he broke with decades by talking on the phone with the president of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory.

Trump has also raised concerns with criticism of China's military buildup in the South China Sea, accusations of currency manipulation and unfair trade policies and allegations that Beijing was doing too little to pressure its communist neighbor North Korea.

In a lighter moment, however, Chinese media and internet users praised an appearance by Trump's daughter Ivanka and granddaughter Arabella Kushner's visit to the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday to attend Lunar New Year festivities. A video clip of Arabella singing a song of holiday greetings also set alight China's internet.

BEIJING: The U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday following remarks by President Donald Trump's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu. The 1960 U.S.-Japan treaty is "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights," Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website. "We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands' sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," Lu said. On his first trip to Asia as secretary of defense, Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous U.S. stance that the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to defending Japan's continued administration of the Senkaku islands. The islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa were under U.S. administration from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim, and Japan's move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese riots in China and prompted the government to dispatch ships and planes to the area around them as a challenge to Japanese control. China also registered its displeasure with Mattis' remarks Friday in South Korea that Trump's administration is committed to carrying through on a deal the Obama administration reached with the Seoul government last year to deploy a high-end U.S. missile defense system to South Korea this year. The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is meant to improve protection of South Korea and Japan  as well as U.S. troops stationed in both countries  against a North Korean missile attack. Beijing objects to the system because its powerful radar would allow it to peer deep into northeastern China, possibly allowing it to observe Chinese military movements. At a Friday news conference, Lu said China's "resolute opposition to the deployment ... remains unchanged and will not change." The deployment "will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region," Lu said. Chinese officials and scholars say they anticipate further turbulence in relations with the U.S. under Trump. The president sparked anger among Chinese following his election when he broke with decades by talking on the phone with the president of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory. Trump has also raised concerns with criticism of China's military buildup in the South China Sea, accusations of currency manipulation and unfair trade policies and allegations that Beijing was doing too little to pressure its communist neighbor North Korea. In a lighter moment, however, Chinese media and internet users praised an appearance by Trump's daughter Ivanka and granddaughter Arabella Kushner's visit to the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday to attend Lunar New Year festivities. A video clip of Arabella singing a song of holiday greetings also set alight China's internet.
By PTI

LAHORE: A five-year-old Pakistani boy, who was taken to India on the sly by his father a year ago, was today reunited with his mother in Pakistan at the Wagah border after the Indian authorities handed him over.

The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours. "I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani told reporters at Wagah. "I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's not a less than a miracle for me," she said.

In March 2016, Iftikhar was taken to India by his father, who is from Jammu. The boy's mother alleged that her former husband had lied to her that he was taking the child to a wedding along with him as he took him to Dubai and from there to Kashmir.

Rohina with the help of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi filed a case in an Indian court that ruled in May 2016 in her favour. After the case was taken up by the Pakistani high commission and proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani by nationality, the verdict was given that he be returned to his mother in Pakistan. Due to border tensions, it took eight months for the mother to get the good news of seeing her son.

LAHORE: A five-year-old Pakistani boy, who was taken to India on the sly by his father a year ago, was today reunited with his mother in Pakistan at the Wagah border after the Indian authorities handed him over. The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours. "I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani told reporters at Wagah. "I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's not a less than a miracle for me," she said. In March 2016, Iftikhar was taken to India by his father, who is from Jammu. The boy's mother alleged that her former husband had lied to her that he was taking the child to a wedding along with him as he took him to Dubai and from there to Kashmir. Rohina with the help of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi filed a case in an Indian court that ruled in May 2016 in her favour. After the case was taken up by the Pakistani high commission and proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani by nationality, the verdict was given that he be returned to his mother in Pakistan. Due to border tensions, it took eight months for the mother to get the good news of seeing her son.
By Associated Press

Legal battles are playing out across the U.S. as opponents of President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations take their fight to the courtroom. Hearings were being held Friday in a few of the cases.

A look at some of the court challenges:

___

WASHINGTON

A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's travel ban.

U.S. District Judge James Robart granted a temporary restraining order Friday at the request of Washington state and Minnesota that's effective nationwide.

Lawyers for the U.S. government argued the states don't have standing to challenge the order and said Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and admitting immigrants.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson had sued, saying the order is causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit this week.

___

MASSACHUSETTS

A federal judge in Boston has declined to extend a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump's travel ban. But a separate federal ruling in Seattle later in the day put the ban on hold nationwide.

U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston declined Friday to renew an order prohibiting the detention or removal of people as part of Trump's executive order on refugees and immigrants. That means a seven-day, temporary injunction granted Jan. 29 would have expired as scheduled Sunday.

But U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a Friday night ruling that temporarily blocks the ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The states that requested the order, Washington and Minnesota, had sought a broader ruling.

Robart wrote that his order "is granted on a nationwide basis."

___

VIRGINIA

A judge is allowing Virginia to join a lawsuit challenging the travel ban.

Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema greatly expands the scope of the lawsuit, which was initially focused only on legal permanent residents, commonly called green-card holders. Brinkema indicated a willingness to consider cases involving anyone who had been issued a visa and had it revoked.

A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the ban Friday at the request of Washington state and Minnesota. U.S. District Judge James Robart wrote that his temporary restraining order "is granted on a nationwide basis."

A government lawyer in the Virginia case said more than 100,000 people have had visas revoked since the ban went into effect, but the State Department later said the number was close to 60,000. The higher figure included visas that were actually exempted by the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

___

HAWAII

Hawaii is suing the federal government to stop President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from seven majority Muslim countries.

Attorney General Doug Chin says Trump's executive order keeps Hawaii families apart and keeps residents from traveling. He says it degrades values Hawaii has worked hard to protect.

Chin says the order also will make foreign travelers feel unwelcome, which is a problem for Hawaii's tourism-powered economy.

Hawaii filed the lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu on Friday.

Later in the day, a federal judge in Washington state issued an order Friday temporarily halting the ban nationwide.

___

MICHIGAN

A federal judge in Detroit says U.S. green-card holders shouldn't be affected by the order.

The Arab-American Civil Rights League argued in a suit filed this week in Detroit's U.S. District Court that the executive action is unconstitutional and targets immigrant communities.

A restraining order released Friday from U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts covers legal permanent residents, not some others that also are part of the lawsuit. She says lawyers for the government clarified to her that the ban doesn't apply to "lawful" permanent residents.

___

CALIFORNIA

Three California university students are challenging the ban. Their federal suit, filed Thursday in San Francisco, says the ban is unconstitutional and has created hardships for the students.

It alleges that a freshman at Stanford University now can't visit her husband in Yemen; another Yemeni at San Diego's Grossmont College can't resume studies there; and an unidentified University of California Berkeley doctoral candidate from Iran fears losing a job opportunity.

Legal battles are playing out across the U.S. as opponents of President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations take their fight to the courtroom. Hearings were being held Friday in a few of the cases. A look at some of the court challenges: ___ WASHINGTON A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's travel ban. U.S. District Judge James Robart granted a temporary restraining order Friday at the request of Washington state and Minnesota that's effective nationwide. Lawyers for the U.S. government argued the states don't have standing to challenge the order and said Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and admitting immigrants. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson had sued, saying the order is causing significant harm to residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the suit this week. ___ MASSACHUSETTS A federal judge in Boston has declined to extend a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump's travel ban. But a separate federal ruling in Seattle later in the day put the ban on hold nationwide. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston declined Friday to renew an order prohibiting the detention or removal of people as part of Trump's executive order on refugees and immigrants. That means a seven-day, temporary injunction granted Jan. 29 would have expired as scheduled Sunday. But U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a Friday night ruling that temporarily blocks the ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The states that requested the order, Washington and Minnesota, had sought a broader ruling. Robart wrote that his order "is granted on a nationwide basis." ___ VIRGINIA A judge is allowing Virginia to join a lawsuit challenging the travel ban. Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema greatly expands the scope of the lawsuit, which was initially focused only on legal permanent residents, commonly called green-card holders. Brinkema indicated a willingness to consider cases involving anyone who had been issued a visa and had it revoked. A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the ban Friday at the request of Washington state and Minnesota. U.S. District Judge James Robart wrote that his temporary restraining order "is granted on a nationwide basis." A government lawyer in the Virginia case said more than 100,000 people have had visas revoked since the ban went into effect, but the State Department later said the number was close to 60,000. The higher figure included visas that were actually exempted by the travel ban, as well as expired visas. ___ HAWAII Hawaii is suing the federal government to stop President Donald Trump's travel ban on people from seven majority Muslim countries. Attorney General Doug Chin says Trump's executive order keeps Hawaii families apart and keeps residents from traveling. He says it degrades values Hawaii has worked hard to protect. Chin says the order also will make foreign travelers feel unwelcome, which is a problem for Hawaii's tourism-powered economy. Hawaii filed the lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu on Friday. Later in the day, a federal judge in Washington state issued an order Friday temporarily halting the ban nationwide. ___ MICHIGAN A federal judge in Detroit says U.S. green-card holders shouldn't be affected by the order. The Arab-American Civil Rights League argued in a suit filed this week in Detroit's U.S. District Court that the executive action is unconstitutional and targets immigrant communities. A restraining order released Friday from U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts covers legal permanent residents, not some others that also are part of the lawsuit. She says lawyers for the government clarified to her that the ban doesn't apply to "lawful" permanent residents. ___ CALIFORNIA Three California university students are challenging the ban. Their federal suit, filed Thursday in San Francisco, says the ban is unconstitutional and has created hardships for the students. It alleges that a freshman at Stanford University now can't visit her husband in Yemen; another Yemeni at San Diego's Grossmont College can't resume studies there; and an unidentified University of California Berkeley doctoral candidate from Iran fears losing a job opportunity.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-ud-Dawa has rebranded under the new name of 'Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir', just days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest and a crackdown launched on the organisation's activities.

The Mumbai attack mastermind had indicated about a week before his arrest that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir". It shows that Saeed had got a wind of the official plans and already had worked out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his ostensible network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events on February 5, which is observed a 'Kashmir Day' in Pakistan. The TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns. The group is also planning to hold a big Kashmir conference tomorrow in Lahore after evening prayers. The TAJK has reactivated its donations centres and ambulance services in different districts of Punjab, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities.

Local media reported that even after the crackdown on their activities, the volunteers of Saeed's network yesterday actively participated in the rescue operation after a boat carrying about 100 passengers capsized in the Ravi river near Nankana Sahib town in Punjab.

A police official said law enforcement agencies were keeping a close eye on the activities of Saeed's network and appropriate action would be taken. "It is a sensitive issue and a measured response is needed to fulfill the international obligations of the country and deal with any possible fallout due to protest by followers of Saeed," he said.

Various offices of both JuD and FIF were closed on Monday following the house arrest of Saeed. Both organisations were also put on observation under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The government on Monday had placed Saeed and his four accomplices -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- under house arrest in Lahore.

The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-ud-Dawa has rebranded under the new name of 'Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir', just days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest and a crackdown launched on the organisation's activities. The Mumbai attack mastermind had indicated about a week before his arrest that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir". It shows that Saeed had got a wind of the official plans and already had worked out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his ostensible network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events on February 5, which is observed a 'Kashmir Day' in Pakistan. The TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns. The group is also planning to hold a big Kashmir conference tomorrow in Lahore after evening prayers. The TAJK has reactivated its donations centres and ambulance services in different districts of Punjab, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities. Local media reported that even after the crackdown on their activities, the volunteers of Saeed's network yesterday actively participated in the rescue operation after a boat carrying about 100 passengers capsized in the Ravi river near Nankana Sahib town in Punjab. A police official said law enforcement agencies were keeping a close eye on the activities of Saeed's network and appropriate action would be taken. "It is a sensitive issue and a measured response is needed to fulfill the international obligations of the country and deal with any possible fallout due to protest by followers of Saeed," he said. Various offices of both JuD and FIF were closed on Monday following the house arrest of Saeed. Both organisations were also put on observation under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The government on Monday had placed Saeed and his four accomplices -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- under house arrest in Lahore. The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country
By AFP

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that she would work toward securing a "fair" free-trade deal between the EU and Mercosur, the South American economic bloc.

Her comments, posted in her weekly video message, came ahead of a visit by Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez to Berlin on Wednesday.

"We are fundamentally in favour of international trade agreements, which is why we are very happy with the effort in the Mercosur countries" to reach a deal with the European Union, Merkel said.

"It's a matter of reaching a fair deal, where Europe's interests are taken into account just as are those of Latin America."

But she acknowledged that discussions over EU access for Mercosur's agricultural products would be "a difficult subject", given the large EU subsidies for its farmers.

Mercosur regroups Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela -- although Caracas's participation has been suspended for failing to meet democratic and trade standards.

The next round of EU-Mercosur trade talks are set for March.

They will be held against a backdrop of US President Donald Trump's hostility to international trade deals, including his decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

He is widely expected to drop any attempt to seal a free-trade deal with the EU, and has also lashed out at NAFTA, the accord between Canada, Mexico and the United States, calling it on Thursday a "catastrophe for our county."

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that she would work toward securing a "fair" free-trade deal between the EU and Mercosur, the South American economic bloc. Her comments, posted in her weekly video message, came ahead of a visit by Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez to Berlin on Wednesday. "We are fundamentally in favour of international trade agreements, which is why we are very happy with the effort in the Mercosur countries" to reach a deal with the European Union, Merkel said. "It's a matter of reaching a fair deal, where Europe's interests are taken into account just as are those of Latin America." But she acknowledged that discussions over EU access for Mercosur's agricultural products would be "a difficult subject", given the large EU subsidies for its farmers. Mercosur regroups Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela -- although Caracas's participation has been suspended for failing to meet democratic and trade standards. The next round of EU-Mercosur trade talks are set for March. They will be held against a backdrop of US President Donald Trump's hostility to international trade deals, including his decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He is widely expected to drop any attempt to seal a free-trade deal with the EU, and has also lashed out at NAFTA, the accord between Canada, Mexico and the United States, calling it on Thursday a "catastrophe for our county."
Express News Service

JAFFNA: The Chief Minister of Sri Lankas Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, boycotted the 69 th. Sri Lankan Independence Day function here on Saturday, and instead attended protest meetings held at Keppapilavu and Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district.

The Governor of the Northern Province, Reginold Cooray, hoisted the national flag, but the Chief Minister chose not to be present.

A small section of radical Tamil nationalists led by Northern Provincial Council members M.K.Shivajilingam and Ananthy Sasitharan, observed the day as a Black Day for the Tamils. Wearing black bands and scarves and covering their mouths with black cloth, they held a demonstration in front of the District Secretariat putting forth five demands.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran drove to Keppapilavu to join the protest against the militarys refusal to give back 530 acres of land seized from the local people during the war which ended in 2009. After addressing the protesters he went to Puthukudiyiruppu were there was an agitation to recover 19 acres pf private land from the military.

Shivajilingam told Express that the Tamils want the government to release political prisoners (who are classified by the Sri Lankan state as terrorists or terrorist collaborators); find out the whereabouts of about 20,000 missing persons who had been abducted and might even have been disposed off; return private lands seized during and after the war; institute a war crimes judicial mechanism with foreign judges; and get foreign mediators to find a solution to the Tamil problem with the collaboration of India, the Western Powers, and the UN.

According to Chief Minister Wigneswaran, the government has returned less than six percent of the lands the military had seized during the war. And according to the British Tamil Forum, by 2016, government had given back only 2565 acres of the 69,990 acres it was holding in 2015.

Shivajilingam said that the people are opposed to the further expansion of the Palaly airport runway because it will mean they will not get some of the seized lands back.

The existing runway can very well take A320 aircraft which are big enough to meet Jaffnas demand for flights to cities in South India, he said.

There is also frustration in Tamil circles after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe nullified the importance of the to-be-set-up Office of Missing Persons (OMP). He told parliament that it will be difficult to trace the missing because they might have fled the country.

JAFFNA: The Chief Minister of Sri Lankas Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, boycotted the 69 th. Sri Lankan Independence Day function here on Saturday, and instead attended protest meetings held at Keppapilavu and Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district. The Governor of the Northern Province, Reginold Cooray, hoisted the national flag, but the Chief Minister chose not to be present. A small section of radical Tamil nationalists led by Northern Provincial Council members M.K.Shivajilingam and Ananthy Sasitharan, observed the day as a Black Day for the Tamils. Wearing black bands and scarves and covering their mouths with black cloth, they held a demonstration in front of the District Secretariat putting forth five demands. Chief Minister Wigneswaran drove to Keppapilavu to join the protest against the militarys refusal to give back 530 acres of land seized from the local people during the war which ended in 2009. After addressing the protesters he went to Puthukudiyiruppu were there was an agitation to recover 19 acres pf private land from the military. Shivajilingam told Express that the Tamils want the government to release political prisoners (who are classified by the Sri Lankan state as terrorists or terrorist collaborators); find out the whereabouts of about 20,000 missing persons who had been abducted and might even have been disposed off; return private lands seized during and after the war; institute a war crimes judicial mechanism with foreign judges; and get foreign mediators to find a solution to the Tamil problem with the collaboration of India, the Western Powers, and the UN. According to Chief Minister Wigneswaran, the government has returned less than six percent of the lands the military had seized during the war. And according to the British Tamil Forum, by 2016, government had given back only 2565 acres of the 69,990 acres it was holding in 2015. Shivajilingam said that the people are opposed to the further expansion of the Palaly airport runway because it will mean they will not get some of the seized lands back. The existing runway can very well take A320 aircraft which are big enough to meet Jaffnas demand for flights to cities in South India, he said. There is also frustration in Tamil circles after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe nullified the importance of the to-be-set-up Office of Missing Persons (OMP). He told parliament that it will be difficult to trace the missing because they might have fled the country.
By IANS

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has commuted the death sentences of 60 prisoners to life imprisonment in view of the country's 69th Independence Day which was celebrated on Saturday.



Prison's Commissioner Nishan Danasinghe told Xinhua the prisoners had their sentences commuted following a recommendation made by Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse.



Rajapakse made this recommendation based on a report of an expert committee he had appointed to look into the commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment.



Most of the prisoners who had their sentences commuted were charged with murder.



Some of them also included prisoners who were in Sri Lankan jails for many years.



Although Sri Lankan courts have handed out the death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out in the island country since 1976.



All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has commuted the death sentences of 60 prisoners to life imprisonment in view of the country's 69th Independence Day which was celebrated on Saturday. Prison's Commissioner Nishan Danasinghe told Xinhua the prisoners had their sentences commuted following a recommendation made by Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse. Rajapakse made this recommendation based on a report of an expert committee he had appointed to look into the commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment. Most of the prisoners who had their sentences commuted were charged with murder. Some of them also included prisoners who were in Sri Lankan jails for many years. Although Sri Lankan courts have handed out the death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out in the island country since 1976. All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison.
By AFP

SEATTLE: US President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at a court ruling suspending his controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as "ridiculous" and vowing to get it overturned.

The order blocking the ban, issued late Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state's attorney general.

The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at airports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" Trump wrote, less than 12 hours after the ruling was issued in Seattle.

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" said Trump, who was in Florida for the weekend.

The White House said in a statement late Friday that the Department of Justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban, "which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," said the statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

Trump's executive order blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days.

Syrian refugees are barred indefinitely, and refugees from other countries are barred from entry for 120 days.

Friday's ruling by the federal court in Seattle was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Washington state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

"The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said, describing the judge's decision as historic. "No one is above the law -- not even the president."

"It is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it's the constitution," he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush.

The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas canceled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

SEATTLE: US President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at a court ruling suspending his controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as "ridiculous" and vowing to get it overturned. The order blocking the ban, issued late Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state's attorney general. The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at airports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo. "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets. "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" Trump wrote, less than 12 hours after the ruling was issued in Seattle. "Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" said Trump, who was in Florida for the weekend. The White House said in a statement late Friday that the Department of Justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban, "which we believe is lawful and appropriate." "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," said the statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer. Trump's executive order blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days. Syrian refugees are barred indefinitely, and refugees from other countries are barred from entry for 120 days. Friday's ruling by the federal court in Seattle was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order. Washington state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). "The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said, describing the judge's decision as historic. "No one is above the law -- not even the president." "It is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it's the constitution," he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush. The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas canceled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.
By IANS

WASHINGTON: They said he wouldn't or couldn't do it. He did it and is doing it with a vengeance, roiling foes and friends alike at home and abroad.



And in the midst of all the turbulence created by his executive pen, Donald Trump always finds the time to tweet -- to trumpet "he did it" as also to change the conversation.



In the two weeks since he took over, the new President has signed over a score of orders from one to slash regulations to another pausing intake of refugees and travel from seven terror-prone nations.



As protests against what "the dishonest media", as the Donald views it, called "a travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations" caused confusion and chaos at airports across America, Trump was unruffled.



"Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!" he tweeted.



He even made fun of opposition Democratic House and Senate leaders, Nancy Pelosi and "head clown" Chuck Schumer, for shedding "fake tears" for the poor Syrian refugees.



"Pelosi and Fake Tears Chuck Schumer held a rally at the steps of The Supreme Court and the mic did not work (a mess)-just like the Dem party!" he tweeted.



Trump also fired a defiant acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, for "betrayal" for refusing to defend his order in court.



Then as the Democrats boycotted a few Senate panels to block the confirmation of some of his cabinet nominees over "ethical concerns", Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell changed the rules to do it anyway without them.



"If you can, Mitch, go nuclear," Trump egged the Republican leader to similarly advance his new Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's confirmation by stripping the required 60-vote threshold if Democrats try to put hurdles in his path.



Ever the showman, Trump rolled out the "terrific" conservative judge's nomination in the Roosevelt Room of the White House at prime time keeping his final choice secret until the last minute.



And before former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was confirmed as his Secretary of State, he took diplomacy in his own hands to do some "tough talking" with Mexican and Australian leaders.



As media reports citing leaks would have it, he told Mexican President that his "bad hombres" needed to "be knocked out" and abruptly ended a call with Australian Prime Minister over an Obama-era "dumb deal."



"Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!"



"Dumb or not," the US would honour the deal, the White House said later while downplaying Trump's "hombre" comments as "light-hearted".



And in what pundits saw as a sign of return to normalcy, Trump told Israel that new settlements in the occupied West Bank "may not be helpful" in achieving Middle East peace without sounding admonishing.



His "desi" ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also "strongly condemned" Moscow for "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine even as she voiced Trump's desire "to better our relations with Russia".



Trump also seemed in no hurry to lift fresh sanctions imposed by Obama in the waning days of his regime over Moscow's alleged meddling in the presidential election to help the Manhattan mogul.



In response to an Iranian missile test, his administration imposed new sanctions aimed at Tehran's ballistic missile programme. But he again made no move to tear up the Iran nuclear deal that candidate Trump had dismissed as a "disaster".



But at a solemn National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump told Americans that "We have to be tough" before he inexplicably mocked Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has replaced him as "The Celebrity Apprentice" host, for its poor ratings.



"Pray for Arnold," he asked the audience only to have the Hollywood star hit back with a suggestion, "Why don't we switch jobs?"



Meanwhile, Trump's long time doctor revealed to the New York Times that the mogul, who has often let people ruffle his golden top to prove it's real, takes a prostate-related drug to stimulate hair growth.



And on Groundhog Day Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog saw his own shadow to "predict" six more weeks of winter.



But it failed to say how long the Democrats would have to keeping pulling their hair through a hair-raising Trump-era winter!

WASHINGTON: They said he wouldn't or couldn't do it. He did it and is doing it with a vengeance, roiling foes and friends alike at home and abroad. And in the midst of all the turbulence created by his executive pen, Donald Trump always finds the time to tweet -- to trumpet "he did it" as also to change the conversation. In the two weeks since he took over, the new President has signed over a score of orders from one to slash regulations to another pausing intake of refugees and travel from seven terror-prone nations. As protests against what "the dishonest media", as the Donald views it, called "a travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations" caused confusion and chaos at airports across America, Trump was unruffled. "Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!" he tweeted. He even made fun of opposition Democratic House and Senate leaders, Nancy Pelosi and "head clown" Chuck Schumer, for shedding "fake tears" for the poor Syrian refugees. "Pelosi and Fake Tears Chuck Schumer held a rally at the steps of The Supreme Court and the mic did not work (a mess)-just like the Dem party!" he tweeted. Trump also fired a defiant acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, for "betrayal" for refusing to defend his order in court. Then as the Democrats boycotted a few Senate panels to block the confirmation of some of his cabinet nominees over "ethical concerns", Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell changed the rules to do it anyway without them. "If you can, Mitch, go nuclear," Trump egged the Republican leader to similarly advance his new Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's confirmation by stripping the required 60-vote threshold if Democrats try to put hurdles in his path. Ever the showman, Trump rolled out the "terrific" conservative judge's nomination in the Roosevelt Room of the White House at prime time keeping his final choice secret until the last minute. And before former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was confirmed as his Secretary of State, he took diplomacy in his own hands to do some "tough talking" with Mexican and Australian leaders. As media reports citing leaks would have it, he told Mexican President that his "bad hombres" needed to "be knocked out" and abruptly ended a call with Australian Prime Minister over an Obama-era "dumb deal." "Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!" "Dumb or not," the US would honour the deal, the White House said later while downplaying Trump's "hombre" comments as "light-hearted". And in what pundits saw as a sign of return to normalcy, Trump told Israel that new settlements in the occupied West Bank "may not be helpful" in achieving Middle East peace without sounding admonishing. His "desi" ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also "strongly condemned" Moscow for "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine even as she voiced Trump's desire "to better our relations with Russia". Trump also seemed in no hurry to lift fresh sanctions imposed by Obama in the waning days of his regime over Moscow's alleged meddling in the presidential election to help the Manhattan mogul. In response to an Iranian missile test, his administration imposed new sanctions aimed at Tehran's ballistic missile programme. But he again made no move to tear up the Iran nuclear deal that candidate Trump had dismissed as a "disaster". But at a solemn National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump told Americans that "We have to be tough" before he inexplicably mocked Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has replaced him as "The Celebrity Apprentice" host, for its poor ratings. "Pray for Arnold," he asked the audience only to have the Hollywood star hit back with a suggestion, "Why don't we switch jobs?" Meanwhile, Trump's long time doctor revealed to the New York Times that the mogul, who has often let people ruffle his golden top to prove it's real, takes a prostate-related drug to stimulate hair growth. And on Groundhog Day Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog saw his own shadow to "predict" six more weeks of winter. But it failed to say how long the Democrats would have to keeping pulling their hair through a hair-raising Trump-era winter!
By PTI

BERLIN: German news magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy today with a cover depicting US President Donald Trump holding the severed head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other.

The weekly used for its front page an image by US-Cuban artist and political refugee Edel Rodriguez with the Trumpian slogan "America first" next to it.

"On our cover the American president beheads the symbol which has welcomed migrants and refugees to the United States since 1886, and with democracy and freedom," Spiegel's chief editor Klaus Brinkbaeumer told German news agency DPA.

The image, which shows an orange face featureless save for a wide-open mouth, was seized upon for discussion by other media outlets in Germany and beyond.

Bild tabloid saw a direct parallel with Mohammed Emwazi, the British national known by the pseudonym "Jihadi John", who was seen in several videos showing the beheading of Islamic State hostages.

Speaking to Bild, the vice-president of the European Parliament, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of Germany's liberal Free Democrats, slammed the image as being in "bad taste" and one which "plays on the lives of terror victims in a very nasty manner."

Liberal conservative broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for its part warned that if the media demonised Trump that could play into his hands.

"The Spiegel cover is just what Trump needs -- a distorted image of him which he can use to further his own distorted image of the press," it said.

The paper added that such images could underpin Trump supporters' beliefs that the media are biased against him and "belong to the establishment, which he is allegedly up against."

Conservative daily Die Welt, which like Bild belongs to the Axel Springer publishing group, criticised the Spiegel cover for "devaluing journalism".

The image was widely shared on social media and also featured on posters waved by protesters attending a rally today in Berlin to denounce Trump's temporary ban on migrants from seven mainly Muslim countries.

In November, following Trump's election win, Spiegel depicted him as a comet crashing to Earth.

Today's front cover image harks back to a similar, though less bloody, one used by the New York Daily News in December 2015.

That came after Trump first mooted a ban on Muslims and building a wall on the border with Mexico.

The Washington Post quoted Rodriguez on his rationale for the image.

"It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol," Rodriguez said.

The artist said he wanted to draw a parallel between Islamist extremist ideas and Trump's radical policies.

"Both sides are extremists, so I'm just making a comparison between them," he said.

BERLIN: German news magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy today with a cover depicting US President Donald Trump holding the severed head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other. The weekly used for its front page an image by US-Cuban artist and political refugee Edel Rodriguez with the Trumpian slogan "America first" next to it. "On our cover the American president beheads the symbol which has welcomed migrants and refugees to the United States since 1886, and with democracy and freedom," Spiegel's chief editor Klaus Brinkbaeumer told German news agency DPA. The image, which shows an orange face featureless save for a wide-open mouth, was seized upon for discussion by other media outlets in Germany and beyond. Bild tabloid saw a direct parallel with Mohammed Emwazi, the British national known by the pseudonym "Jihadi John", who was seen in several videos showing the beheading of Islamic State hostages. Speaking to Bild, the vice-president of the European Parliament, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of Germany's liberal Free Democrats, slammed the image as being in "bad taste" and one which "plays on the lives of terror victims in a very nasty manner." Liberal conservative broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for its part warned that if the media demonised Trump that could play into his hands. "The Spiegel cover is just what Trump needs -- a distorted image of him which he can use to further his own distorted image of the press," it said. The paper added that such images could underpin Trump supporters' beliefs that the media are biased against him and "belong to the establishment, which he is allegedly up against." Conservative daily Die Welt, which like Bild belongs to the Axel Springer publishing group, criticised the Spiegel cover for "devaluing journalism". The image was widely shared on social media and also featured on posters waved by protesters attending a rally today in Berlin to denounce Trump's temporary ban on migrants from seven mainly Muslim countries. In November, following Trump's election win, Spiegel depicted him as a comet crashing to Earth. Today's front cover image harks back to a similar, though less bloody, one used by the New York Daily News in December 2015. That came after Trump first mooted a ban on Muslims and building a wall on the border with Mexico. The Washington Post quoted Rodriguez on his rationale for the image. "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol," Rodriguez said. The artist said he wanted to draw a parallel between Islamist extremist ideas and Trump's radical policies. "Both sides are extremists, so I'm just making a comparison between them," he said.
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Having a premature baby raises a woman's risk for heart attack or stroke later in life, according to a study published February 2 in Circulation at the start of American Heart Month.

Lauren J. Tanz, MSPH, and colleagues at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed data from more than 70,000 participants in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study II at Harvard to examine the association between premature delivery and future cardiovascular disease (CVD). They found that women who delivered a baby before 37 weeks gestation in their first birth had a 40 percent greater risk of heart disease later in life, even after accounting for pre-pregnancy sociodemographic, lifestyle, and CVD risk factors, compared to women with term deliveries.

Women who delivered before 32 weeks gestation had double the risk of CVD compared to women with term deliveries.

The researchers say premature delivery may be an early warning sign of future heart problems, rather than the cause of them. More research is needed to determine the pathways through which premature delivery and CVD are linked.

"This study linking preterm birth and later CVD adds further urgency to groundbreaking research supported by the March of Dimes to prevent and treat prematurity," says Paul E. Jarris, MD, MBA, senior vice president for Maternal Child Health Impact and deputy medical officer. "It suggests that one day we may be able to screen young women at risk for both conditions to improve the health of mothers and babies throughout their lifetimes."

The American Heart Association already considers pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes to be risk factors for future CVD. "Our results suggest preterm delivery should be added to this list," the study authors said.
While many of us may find the sounds of chewing or breathing off-putting, for some they're unbearable - and new research has shown their brains are going into overdrive.

The team led from Newcastle University, report new findings of the physical basis for people suffering from a condition called misophonia, a disorder where they have a hatred of sounds such as eating, chewing or repeated pen clicking. Called "trigger sounds" by the misophonia community, the response can be an immediate and intense fight or flight feeling.

Publishing today in Current Biology, the researchers report the first evidence of clear changes in the structure of the brain's frontal lobe in sufferers of misophonia and also report changes in the brain activity.

Brain imaging revealed that people with the condition have an abnormality in the emotional control mechanism which causes their brains to go into overdrive on hearing trigger sounds.

Researchers also found brain activity originated from a different connectivity pattern to the frontal lobe. This is normally responsible for suppressing the abnormal reaction to sounds. The researchers also found that trigger sounds evoked a heightened physiological response with increased heart rate and sweating in people with misophonia.

Dr Sukhbinder Kumar from the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University and the Wellcome Centre for NeuroImaging at University College London (UCL) led the research which was supported by Wellcome. He said: "For many people with misophonia, this will come as welcome news as for the first time we have demonstrated a difference in brain structure and function in sufferers.

"Patients with misophonia had strikingly similar clinical features and yet the syndrome is not recognised in any of the current clinical diagnostic schemes. This study demonstrates the critical brain changes as further evidence to convince a sceptical medical community that this is a genuine disorder."

Physical differences

Using brain scans carried out with Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) the team revealed a physical difference in the frontal lobe between the cerebral hemispheres of people with misophonia - with higher myelination in the grey matter of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).

The study also used functional MRI to measure the brain activity of people with and without misophonia while they were listening to a range of sounds such as;

Rain, busy cafe, a kettle boiling - neutral sounds

Baby crying, a person screaming - unpleasant sounds

The sounds of breathing, eating - trigger sounds

This showed abnormal connections between this frontal-lobe area and an area called the anterior insular cortex (AIC). This area is in the grey matter of the brain but buried in a deep fold at the side of the brain and is known to be involved in processing emotions and integrating signals both from the body and outside world.

When presented with trigger sounds activity goes up in both areas in misophonic subjects, whilst in normal subjects the activity goes up in the AIC but down in the frontal area. The team think that this reflects an abnormality of a control mechanism between the frontal lobe and AIC.

Tim Griffiths, Professor of Cognitive Neurology at Newcastle University and UCL adds: "I hope this will reassure sufferers. I was part of the sceptical community myself until we saw patients in the clinic and understood how strikingly similar the features are.

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"We now have evidence to establish the basis for the disorder through the differences in brain control mechanism in misophonia. This will suggest therapeutic manipulations and encourage a search for similar mechanisms in other conditions associated with abnormal emotional reactions."

And for Dr Kumar this research opens up future possibilities for therapy: "My hope is to identify the brain signature of the trigger sounds - those signatures can be used for treatment such as for neuro-feedback for example, where people can self-regulate their reactions by looking at what kind of brain activity is being produced."

Reference: Kumar, S., Hancock, OT., Sedley,, W., Winston, JS., Callaghan, MF., Allen M., Cope, TE., Gander, PE., Bamiou, DE., Griffiths, TD (2017). The brain basis for misophonia. Current Biology (in Press) DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.048

Case study: Olana's story

Olana Tansley-Hancock, 29, from Ashford in Kent was just 8 when family meals became unbearable for her as she explains:

"The noise of my family eating forced me to retreat to my own bedroom for meals. I can only describe it as a feeling of wanting to punch people in the face when I heard the noise of them eating - and anyone who knows me will say that doesn't sound like me.

"My family were supportive and it was only at University that I found it becoming more of an issue. I found it spread to my housemates and to other noises and it all came to a head on a train journey when I had changed carriages 7 times as the noise of people eating or rustling papers was unbearable.

"When I saw my GP at the time, he laughed at me. Then I tried a counsellor but in my case, that made it worse as it made me even more sensitive to sound.

"It was only after I searched on the internet for 'hearing people eat makes me want to punch them' that I heard of misophonia - and through the misophonia UK website got involved with the research.

"Now, I'm a lot better probably through a combination of better bodily awareness and changes I've made to my lifestyle. I mediate and have reduced my caffeine and alcohol intake and I am always prepared - so take earplugs on a journey so I can watch a film and ask for headphones at the cinema so block out the sound of people rustling and eating. These steps have helped me manage and understand my condition better.

"This research is a huge relief as it shows there is a physical basis for misophonia which should help others understand the condition. It also opens up the opportunity for better management."

Misophonia

The term was coined by US scientists Pawel and Margaret Jastreboff in 2001.

Onset age tends to be pre-teens.

Trigger sounds are most commonly focused on eating, breathing and hand noises (typing/pen clicking).

The reaction starts with the sound and often develops to include actions associated with the sound and even anticipation of those actions.

Responses can include irritation, upset, disgust and extreme rage.

There is no known cure. Misophonia UK recommends seeing your GP in the first instance and asking to be referred to a consultant familiar with the condition. Ideally an audiological physician or a neurologist.

Source: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2017/02/misophonia/
Hyundai Motor Company plans to set up a car assembly plant in Pakistan in a joint venture with local textile firm Nishat Mills, an official from Nishat said on Friday.



Hyundai's return to Pakistan will boost the government's efforts to shake up the Japanese-dominated car market and loosen the grip of Toyota, Honda and Suzuki, who assemble cars in Pakistan with local partners.



Hyundai and South Korea's Kia Motor used to assemble cars in Pakistan until 2004 but withdrew after their local partner Dewan Farooque Motors Limited went bust.



It was not clear how much capital Hyundai, South Korea's largest automaker, would itself invest in the Pakistani venture.



Representatives for Hyundai could not immediately be reached for comment.



Nishat Mills is a subsidiary of Nishat Group, a giant in the Pakistani banking, textiles, energy and cement sectors. Its share price rose 1.4 percent after the announcement.



"Today we have signed a memorandum of understanding between the two companies and we will set up a ... project for the assembly and sales of both passenger and commercial vehicles," Nishat Mills company secretary Khalid Chauhan said.



Nishat Mills filed a statement with the Pakistan Stock Exchange saying the deal was "subject to applicable statutory and regulatory approvals".



Last year, French carmaker Renault agreed to invest in a new factory in Pakistan and South Korean carmaker Kia Motor Co said it would start assembling cars in a joint venture with Karachi-listed Lucky Cement, part of the vast conglomerate Yunus Brothers Group.



The government believes increased competition should bring down exceptionally high car prices in Pakistan, and in March it introduced a new auto policy favouring new entrants into the market by offering generous import duties.



The incentives have angered existing market players, some of whom have said publicly they should get similar terms.



Pakistan, with a population of nearly 200 million people, is a potentially huge market, but just 180,000 cars were sold in the 2014/2015 fiscal year. That compares with more than 2 million passenger vehicles a year in neighbouring India.
Tirupati: More than three years after the sensational attack on a 38-year-old woman in an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru, the assailant was nabbed on Saturday in his native Chitoor District in Andhra Pradesh during a routine police operation to trace absconding criminals, police said.



43-year-old history-sheeter Madhukar Reddy, who escaped from a hospital in Kadappa in 2011 while serving a life sentence for a murder and allegedly committed the ATM crime two years later, was arrested in Nimmanapalli near Madanapalli, about 120 km from here, a top district police official said.



Reddy was spotted by a special police team tracking criminals who went underground, Superintendent of Police Ghattamaneni Srinivas told reporters in Chittoor, around 70 kms from here.



During interrogation, Reddy confessed to the brutal assault on the woman bank official inside the ATM kiosk on November 19, 2013 when she was repeatedly attacked with a machete, with the chilling crime caught on CCTV, the SP said.



The accused allegedly told the police that he had also murdered two women in Andhra Pradesh and a sex worker in Hyderabad, he added.



The ATM incident had triggered widespread outrage as the woman, an employee of Corporation Bank, was left paralysed on her right side following the gruesome attack, which brought to fore safety issues with the government directing banks to shut down unguarded booths.



In the early morning attack, the woman was initially threatened by the assailant not to raise an alarm. He had later shoved her down and hit her repeatedly with a machete as she resisted. She was hospitalised for three months.



After the gory attack, the video footage had showed the attacker cleaning the machete of blood with the woman's napkin, taking away her phone and leaving the kiosk after pulling down the rolling shutter.



After committing the ATM attack, Reddy had worked as a painter at some places in Kerala and in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, the SP said.



He had been suffering from some blood-related ailment in one of his legs and had been in Chittoor district for the past few weeks for treatment, Srinivas said.



Karnataka Police had launched a manhunt for the assailant but without any success in the past three years.


New Delhi: Goa and Punjab on Saturday witnessed peaceful assembly elections with the former clocking a record 83 per cent voter turnout and the latter 70 per cent which the Election Commission said was set to increase when the final figures come in.



While Goa's voter turnout is the biggest ever, Punjab's polling percentage is lower as compared to the 2012 assembly polls and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.



In Goa, the final voter turnout recorded in the 2012 assembly polls was 81.8 per cent. It was 70.5 per cent in 2007.



In Punjab, it was 78.06 per cent in 2012 assembly polls and 70.89 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014.



Responding to questions on failure of EVMs in Punjab, Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said out of 22,167 machines deployed, only 47 malfunctioned and were replaced. He said the failure rate was 0.2 per cent which was well within the accepted figures of 1 to 3 per cent.



Out of the nearly 66,000 voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, 187 malfunctioned, Saxena said adding that the failure rate was 2.8 per cent.



While the elections went off peacefully in the two states, a clash between supporters of two parties was reported from Lalu Guman village in Taran Taran around 3.15 pm in which one person was shot at.


Thiruvananthapuram: India is yet to decriminalise homosexuality. But one organisation in Kerala has shown the way forward by passing a resolution which supports the scrapping of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.



The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), a pro-left youth organisation, which boasts of an India-wide membership of 1.15 crore youth, passed the resolution in its 10th All India Conference and also called upon its members to fight for the rights of the LGBT community.



"The LGBT community in India has been subjected to severe discrimination and oppression. The DYFI stands in solidarity with their struggle and calls upon the youth to fight for their rights, and demands for a decent and dignified life. The transgender population was first recognised by the 2011 Census and their population was recorded as 4.88 lakh and about 56 percent of them are illiterate," said DYFI resolution.

The DYFI resolution further stated, "We demand that there should be special budgetary provisions for the education of the transgender community. They should be given reservation in jobs and educationally institutions treating them as socially and educationally backward class similar to that of schedule caste and schedule tribes."



It also stated that homosexuality is not a crime and that all citizens have the right to choose their sexual preference and demands the scrapping of Section 377 of the IPC.



The national convention is being held in Kochi from February 1 to 5.



All 700 delegates at the conference also pledged their organs for donation. The national president of DYFI and Lok Sabha MP, MB Rajesh, administered the oath and all delegates gave a letter of consent agreeing to donate their organs.
Udaipur: The Rajasthan State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has asked a doctor to pay compensation to a man for wrongly treating him for HIV without confirming the disease through advance diagnosis for three years.



The doctor and a medical insurance company have been asked to pay compensation to the man for medical negligence.



Dhanraj Patel had visited M B Government Hospital in 2004 with fever, cough and cold. Dr D C Kumawat, the then associate professor of medicines, suspected him of being HIV patient and started treatment for HIV without confirming the disease through necessary tests.



Even as the treatment was continued, Patel visited a hospital in Mumbai where he was tested negative for HIV. He showed the test report to the doctor but he advised him to continue with the treatment for HIV.



The treatment continued for seven years during which Patel's health deteriorated due to side effects of the treatment. His claims were also rejected by the insurance company.





The complainant approached the commission in 2013. The commission found the doctor guilty of medical negligence and passed an order last month directing the doctor and National Insurance Company to jointly pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the complainant.



(An earlier photograph used along with this story was from the picture library and not directly linked to the story. The picture has since been withdrawn. We regret any inconvenience caused)
New Delhi: Six-year-old Devansh drowned inside a water tank at Delhis Ryan International School on January 30, 2016. More than a year after losing their son, his Devanshs parents are waiting for justice.



Devanshs parents say the police have not yet filed a chargesheet in the case and are planning to approach the High Court again, seeking the transfer of the case to the CBI.



Talking to CNN-News 18, Devanshs father Ramhet Meena said, There is no development in the case. We have been visiting the police station almost every week, talking to the investigating officer but they have not filed the chargesheet yet. The investigating officer keeps saying they have served a notice to the school about the negligence but have not got any reply. The notice was served six months ago and the police are still waiting for the reply. I have mailed to the senior cops as well, but there is no reply from them.



On January 30 last year, Devansh went missing shortly after participating in a poetry competition. His was later found by the school electrician inside the water tank and was rushed to hospital where he was declared brought dead. The hospital authorities had made a PCR call following which an FIR was registered. The school principal and four others were arrested and later released on bail. The Delhi government had also initiated a probe into the matter. They had submitted the report within a week.



A year on, the family is piecing its life together. Devanshs parents were blessed with a baby boy on December 25, 2016. They have named the child Dev.



We believe Devansh has come back to us in the form of our new child. Dev looks very much like his elder brother, said his father. They have changed their address now as their old home used to remind them of Devansh.



Three months after Devanshs death, the couple had approached the High Court asking for the case to be transferred to the CBI. At the time, the High Court had summoned the then DCP of the district. The DCP had appeared before the court and assured all help, said Devanshs father. But even after six months of the promise, nothing has been done, complains Ramhet Meena.



According to a senior police officer: The court was happy with our investigation. We had arrested five people in the case and had also conducted the CFSL. The scientific evidence were also collected. Though police admit that a chargesheet has not yet been filed, they assure it is almost complete and they will file it in the coming weeks.




In the year 2015, Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu made her television debut with the reality series Darr Sabko Lagta Hai. The actress decided not to follow the norm and went ahead supporting the horror genre in the television industry. She has previously worked in films like Alone, Raaz, Aatma and Darna Zaroori Hai  all of which belong to the same genre.



While talking to News18.com at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week, the actress expressed that shes still open to do reality television but that fiction will take time. Yes, I m open to television but mostly Id like to think reality show at this point of time. Ill get to fiction in a bit.



With shows like POW Bandi Yudhh Ki and 24, the remake of American series of the same name, one may see some progression of content on Indian television. To this, the actress said, Absolutely. The fiction is growing, but very slowly. Were still catering to a very different kind of audience but the mindsets are changing.



Bipasha, who turned the showstopper for Falguni Shane Peacock, credited her husband Karan Singh Grover for choosing her show outfit. She said, Actually Falguni sent two outfits, Karan chose this one. He said youre looking like a princess and youve to wear that. The actress sashayed down the runway in a pastel gown.




Kolkata: Inspired by the contributions of the visually challenged to society, actor Hrithik Roshan intends to take the experience of filming Kaabil forward by campaigning for the disabled.



The star also hoped the film debunks the stereotypical portrayal of the blind in cinema.



"On my part I will not just stop here. I plan to campaign for the disabled, not only the blind. That is going to be my part of the journey from here," Hrithik, who plays a blind man in the movie, told the media here on Friday.



The actor, who pledged his eyes on his 43rd birthday, said: "We are the people who are blind to the blind people, to not see what they are contributing to society."



Asked whether the movie can shatter stereotypes about the blind, the "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai" star admitted that cinema had indeed propagated the "cinematic blind".



"I hope so (it breaks stereotypes). It is my cinema that has propagated the cinematic blind which is a lie. That's not how the blind are. Not that the film is about a message, but when you believe characters like this, you know that they (audiences) are aware. The truth is important and without that there can be no progress," he added.




Los Angeles: Actress Sarah Paulson has been roped in to play the lead role in upcoming serial killer drama film Lost Girls



Documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus is making her feature debut with the film, which is based on investigative reporter Robert Kolker's eponymous 2013 non-fiction book, reports hollywoodreporter.com.



The film centres on a mother searching for her missing daughter in Long Island, New York. She makes a horrifying discovery in the woods, where the murdered bodies of four girls have been dumped.



Paulson recently won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story". She also won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for playing Marcia Clark in the mini-series.
New Delhi: As voters in Punjab came out to make their choice clear on Saturday, reports of electronic voting machines (EVMs) malfunctioning started pouring in from different parts of the state.



In many constituencies like Majitha and Malout, voters complained of malfunctioning EVMs leading to a delay in the voting process.



The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had started a social media campaign called AAP spy army aimed at monitoring the election process, said that it had set up a helpline for both Punjab and Goa and in Punjab alone, they had received over 400 complaints of the EVMs malfunctioning.



Manpreet Randhawa, the AAP media convener for Punjab and Chandigarh, told News 18, By 4 pm, we had received over 406 complaints from supporters all over the state of EVMs malfunctioning. It had led to a massive delay in the electoral process. One of the regions with the highest number of complaints is Malout. Even in Majitha, we have received complaints. While we are still expecting to receive more such complaints, we have forwarded all the complaints we have received so far to the Election Commission of India. We hope that some action will be taken as polling enters the final few hours.



In Majitha, the constituency of Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majitjhia, there were reports of malfunctioning EVMs in at least 50 polling booths. AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday tweeted, In Majitha, machines at 50 polling booths are not functioning. The EC is not acting despite repeated complaints. Cops are stopping people from voting.



Other areas where reports of EVM malfunction came from include Lehra, Malout and Sangrur. Delhi chief minister and party convenor Arvind Kejriwal also lashed out at the EC in a tweet, EC has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like CBI n RBI.



At 5 pm, voter turnout in Punjab was 70%. Of the three regions in Punjab, Malwa recorded the highest voter turnout at 82.7% while the border region of Majha had the lowest at 66%. The Doaba region had a turnout of 68.2%. Of Punjabs 22 districts, the highest voter turnout was in Fazilka district, which houses the seat of Jalalabad where Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is locked in an intense battle with AAP leader Bhagwant Mann and Congresss Ravneet Singh Bittu.


Former Union Minister SM Krishna, who resigned from the Congress late last month, will soon join the BJP, former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa said on Saturday.He (SM Krishna) has decided to join the BJP. When we don't know will fix it soon. He is joining 100%, Yeddyurappa, the BJPs Karnataka state chief, said.Explaining his decision to quit the party, the former external affairs minister had said, Today I feel Congress is in a dilemma about whether they need leaders who have a connect with the people. I feel the party needs no mass leaders. They only need managers.""My loyalty towards Congress never wavered. They only need people who can tide over the crisis," he had said.Krishna has served as Karnataka chief minister, Maharashtra governor and speaker of the Karnataka Assembly.
Goa on Saturday voted in its first and only phase of Assembly elections to decide the fate of candidates from the BJP, Congress, Shiv Sena and the Aam Aadmi party, which is making its electoral debut in the state.

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New Delhi: Voting in the single-phase 2017 Punjab Assembly polls ended at 5 pm with 70% voter turnout on Saturday.



This was much lower than the turnout in 2012 when 78% of the states voters had turned up to vote. Of the three regions in Punjab  Majha, Malwa and Doaba  Malwa recorded the highest voter turnout at 72.4% while the border districts in Majha recorded the lowest turnout at 66%.



Punjabs fertile Doaba region, nestled between the Sutlej and Beas Rivers, recorded a voter turnout of 68.2%. For the first time, Punjab saw a triangular contest between the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine, the Congress and debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).



The voter turnout, which sent out mixed signals as to which way Punjab will lean, has puzzled political pundits. Ashutosh Kumar from the Department of Political Science in Panjab University (PU), said, The AAP campaign in Punjab was most spirited in Malwa. Party leaders went all out in the campaign, especially in the last few days of campaigning. Bhagwant Mann, AAPs Sangrur MP, drew huge crowds all over the region. Arvind Kejriwal himself has held several rallies and road shows here. It is no secret that AAP is hoping to come to power in the state on the back of its performance in Malwa. If the turnout in Malwa has been big, it is good news for AAP.



This, however, does not guarantee an AAP win on March 11, when the votes will be counted. For AAP to win, Kumar said, they will have to do well outside of their stronghold in Malwa. Majha and Doaba recorded very low turnout this year. A high turnout suggests change and a lower one suggests people want to go with a status-quo party that will continue business as usual.



The Congress is seen as an old elephant that will not radically alter the way things are done. Captain Amarinder Singh has been banking on his experience as chief minister to win the voters trust. It was believed that they were doing well in Majha and it looks like they will retain most of their support. Doaba is a little tricky to guess because while infighting will hurt the Congress in the region, a low turnout suggests they will not do so badly here as well.



Of Punjabs 22 districts, the highest voter turnout was recorded in Fazilka district at 82%. Jalalabad, where Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is locked in an intense political battle with AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Congresss Ravneet Singh Bittu, is also in Fazilka district. Muktsar, which houses CM Parkash Singh Badals seat of Lambi, also saw a relatively high turnout at 79%.



Patiala, the hometown of Congress CM candidate Amarinder Singh, saw a turnout of 78%.



The lowest turnout in Punjab was recorded at 60% in Amritsar Urban, which is considered a stronghold of crickter-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. In Majha, the highest voter turnout was in Gurdaspur district at 71% and in Doaba, SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr) recorded the highest turnout at 72%. The lowest turnout in Malwa was in Bathinda at 67%.


Bhubaneswar: A local court on Saturday rejected the bail petition of TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, arrested over his alleged involvement in the Rose Valley Group chit fund scam.



District and Sessions court, Khurda, turned down Bandopadhaya's bail petition even as his lawyer pleaded that the TMC MP has been cooperating in the investigation.



Earlier, the CBI designated court had also rejected Bandopadhaya's bail petition.



The four-time TMC MP was arrested by the CBI on January 3 in Kolkata and brought to Odisha on remand.



Bandyopadhyay, the leader of Trinamool Congress parliamentary party, is presently lodged in Special Jail at Jharpada here.



Another TMC MP Tapas Pal has also been lodged in Jharpada jail for his alleged involvement in the Rose Valley chit fund scam amounting about Rs 17,000 crore.



Rose Valley group has allegedly duped investors in Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, MP, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh.
"Chinnamma (Sasikala) could take over as the Chief Minister next week. You see, Panneerselvam has been continuing as CM only on Chinnammas advice, a minister holding a key portfolio in the state government told CNN-News18 on condition of anonymity.

VK Sasikala, aide of late J Jayalaithaa, could take over as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu next week, top AIADMK leaders told CNN-News18.AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi confirmed the developments saying a decision with regard to the elevation of Sasikala would be taken on Sunday at a meeting of party MLAs in Chennai.In a related development, three key bureaucrats who had worked closely with Jayalalithaa, including her all-powerful chief secretary Sheila Balakrishnan, were removed from their posts in the office of Chief Minister O Pannerselvam on Friday night.Party sources said the surprise move to remove Sheila Balakrishnan, KN Vekataramanan and CMs personal secretary Ramalingam had Sasikalas stamp all over it.Friday also saw Sasikala reinstating AIADMK leaders who had been sidelined by Jayalalithaa earlier to key party positions. Former minister KA Sengottaiyan and former mayor Saidai S Duraisamy are now AIADMK organisation secretaries.Political analysts see this is as an attempt to quash dissidents within the party. She has also removed V Alexander as AIADMK's MGR Youth Wing secretary.By effecting these sudden changes in both top bureaucracy and the party organisation, Sasikala is building up her own team for a smooth tenure as CM, a political analyst told CNN-News18 on condition of anonymity.Speculation was rife that Sasikalas elevation was only a question of when and not if, but the sudden public protests over the ban on bull-taming sport Jallikattu seem to have forced the speed of events.Panneerselvam was seen as having an upper hand in the swift manner in which he persuaded New Delhi to allow the state to bring in an ordinance that effectively lifted the ban on the sport seen by its supporters as an essential part of Tamil culture.Sasikala maintained her silence throughout the week when hundreds of thousands had stormed into Chennais Marina Beach demanding a lifting of the ban. However, political observers note that she was quick to claim credit for Panneerselvams trip to Delhi and the Centres green light for the Ordinance. I made the AIADMK government fight for this cause (Jallikattu). I sent AIADMK MPs to meet the Prime Minister and Home Minister in person to request them (Centre) to permit the conduct of Jallikattu in the state. I asked the Chief Minister to meet the Prime Minister to talk about the issue, she said in a statement issued soon after the CM landed back.As things stand in AIADMK, Sasikala controls the party organisation with Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai openly voicing his support for Sasikala to become the Chief Minister, suggesting it is better if the party leadership and government is in the hands of the same person.Earlier, there were indications that Sasikala would wait until the final court verdict on the disproportionate assets case in which she along with the late CM had been implicated.
Many have been in a dilemma between these two phones in India. The two Chinese smartphone giants have been breathing down each others neck to capture the market in India. Xiaomi Has been successful in some attempts, but it's hard to shake down Motorola loyalists in India.Both the companies recently introduced two new smartphones in India, Xiaomi launched the successor to the popular Redmi Note 3 and Motorola made a metal body Moto G5.In this article, we tell you which one is the winner among the two. Will Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 take away the charm of the Moto M? Let's find out.Also Read: Xiaomi Mi 5 Selling at Flipkart For as Low as Rs 5,399 The Moto M is a stylish metal body smartphone from Lenovo. It's 7.8 mm thin and weighs just 163 grams. The Xioami Redmi Note 4 on the other hand, is 8.4 mm thin and weighs 2 grams more than the Moto M. The Moto M takes advantage on the design over the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 only because it's a waterproof and splash-proof smartphone. But the Redmi Note 4 has more character to it in terms of design over the Moto M.Both the smartphones come with an IPS LCD display with a pixel density of 401ppi. They both sport a full HD 5.5-inch display and offer great viewing angles. But if you talk about the overall integration of the display on the device the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 offers a seamless display experience than the Moto M.Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Review With Video: The Darth Maul Phone at Rs 9,999 The Xioami Redmi Note 4 offers a lot of processing power and performance. The Device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa Core, 2 GHz with 4 GB RAM. This is a lot of firepower on an affordable smartphone. The Moto M lags behind the Redmi Note 4 simply because of the Octa Core, 2.2 GHz, MediaTek MT6755 processor that is backed by 3 GB RAM. Both the devices run on Android Marshmallow Operating system. The Xiaomi MIUI offers ease of access and usability whereas the Moto M just offers a clean stock android experience.The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 comes with a 13-megapixel primary camera, dual-color LED flash and a 5-megapixel front camera. The Moto M offers a 16-megapixel primary camera, dual-color LED flash and an 8-megapixel front camera. On paper, the Moto might seem to be the right choice. But that is not the case. The images captured on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 are way more refined than what you get on the Moto M. The low light image quality on the Redmi is also far better than then Moto M. The camera app on the Redmi Note 4 is also way more intuitive than the stock camera app on the Moto M.Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Vs ZTE Blade A2 Plus: Which One Should You Buy Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 also beats the Moto M hands down when it comes to the battery usage and management. The Redmi Note 4 comes with a non-removable 4100 mAh battery as compared to the Moto M's 3050 mAh battery. The only advantage that the Moto M has over the Xiaomi in the battery department is that it supports fast charging whereas the Xiaomi lacks in that area.The Moto M is priced at Rs 15,999 and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 with 64GB storage and 4GB RAM is priced at Rs 11,990.Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4: 2GB vs 3GB vs 4GB RAM, Which One Should You Buy? The Moto M is a reliable smartphone, but the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 offers way more than what Moto M can deliver on. To top it all, in a price sensitive market like India the Xiaomi is priced way below the Moto M. As we said there is just one winner here and for us it is the Xiaomi Redmi Note4.
Khartoum: Sudan on Saturday vowed to enhance its bilateral relations with Washington despite US President Donald Trump banning the African country's citizens from entering the United States.



Citizens of Sudan, along with those from six other Muslim-majority countries, have been banned from entering the United States, although a US federal judge yesterday ordered a temporary nationwide halt to Trump's ban.



The ban on Sudanese travellers came just weeks afterformer US president Barack Obama lifted a 20-year-old US trade embargo imposed on Sudan.



Despite the travel ban, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour vowed that Khartoum will work towards enhancing bilateral ties with Washington.



"Sudan and the United States have many common goals, including fighting terrorism jointly in the region and internationally," Ghandour said in a message to new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a foreign ministry statement said.



"Such joint efforts led to the removal of US sanctions on Sudan," Ghandour said without specifically reacting to Trump's ban, but insisting that Khartoum was "committed to enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries".



Last week Trump barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan from entering the United States for 90 days.



Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.



Yesterday, Seattle US District Judge James Robart ordered a temporary nationwide halt to Trump's ban on travellers from these countries.



On January 13, Obama announced the lifting of some economic sanctions imposed on Sudan two decades ago, in an attempt to improve ties with Khartoum.



Sudan has been subject to a US trade embargo since 1997 for its alleged support for Islamist groups. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was based in Khartoum from 1992 to 1996.



The United States has also blacklisted Sudan as an alleged state sponsor of terrorism since 1993.
A federal judge in Seattle on Friday ordered a temporary, nationwide halt to President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, in the most severe blow to the controversial measure.The temporary restraining order issued by US District Judge James Robart will remain valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint by Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson.Federal judges in several other states have also acted against the ban since it came into effect last Friday but Robart's ruling is the furthest reaching order so far.Also Read | More than 100,000 Visas Revoked Amid Trump Travel Ban: Reports It came after Ferguson filed a suit to invalidate key provisions of Trump's executive order which bar Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days. Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days."The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said after the ruling. "No one is above the law -- not even the president."Washington Governor Jay Inslee welcomed the decision as a "tremendous victory" but warned that the battle to overturn Trump's executive order was not over."There is still more to do," he said in a statement. "The fight isn't yet won. But we should feel heartened by today's victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history."Ferguson argued in his complaint that the president's ban violated the constitutional rights of immigrants and their families as it specifically targets Muslims.However, attorneys representing the Trump administration argued that as president, he had broad powers and was within his right to issue an order that protects Americans.Similar legal challenges against the ban have been made in several other states, including California, New York and Washington.
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BEAST IN HUMAN FORM

This was how Imam Ameer Hosein described a man who remains in police custody for the killing of Penal resident Nadia Simms. In saying there can be no forgiving the act, Imam Hosein called for the full brunt of the law to be brought down on the suspect who was the last person Simms was seen with when she left her home last week Saturday to attend a job interview.

The person who has done this...he is nothing less than a low-down beast in human form! A lion in sheep clothes. A weak man, Hosein told mourners at the funeral service for Simms held at her home in Rampersad Trace, Rochard Road, Penal.

Even the suspects own relatives, in an earlier interview said when he drinks alcohol, he becomes a monster. (See Page 17A) On Thursday at about 11 am, hunters discovered Simms decomposing body in a shallow grave in the forested area off St Clyne Road in Santa Flora. The gruesome discovery came four days after Simms left home to meet with the suspect who promised to get a job for her. An autopsy performed at the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James, proved inconclusive because of the advanced state of decomposition.

Yesterday, mourners flocked to the familys home to bid a final farewell to Simms, who on Tuesday, would have celebrated her 26th birthday. Imam Hosein did not mince his words in describing the person held for Simms murder.

This evil, vile, despicable animal on two feet who did this crime, deserves the full depth of the justice system which all law-abiding citizens place their hope and trust in. Hosein is the leader of the Penal Rock Road Mosque.

The religious leader said that, weak people sweep things under the carpet, and often in an emotional state of weakness, they make a huge mistake with a sense of remorse that befits forgiveness.

Forgiveness for a wrong, he said, comes when there is sincere repentance from the person who committed the act.

Imam Hosein insisted that the suspect should not be forgiven for this evil, as the Holy Quran states if a person kills an innocent person, it is as though he/she has taken the lives of all mankind.

So right now, what I feel in my heart is that this man has taken the lives of all of mankind and no forgiveness can be due to him, because you give him that chance again, he will do it again. He will do it again and we do not know how many times he has done it already, Hosein said.

Simms was laid off her job as a waitress two weeks ago, at an establishment where the suspect was a regular customer. CCTV footage in the Penal restaurant showed Simms meeting with the suspect and had lunch last Saturday at 1 pm. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, her body was not shown at the funeral. Instead there was a photo collage of her on top of the sealed coffin.

I appeal to those in the protective services to try their utmost best. We owe it to Nadia to bring justice and solve this matter...God is the final adjudicator of what happens to us. We ask Allah for justice. Hosein urged mourners to take all precautions in protecting themselves and their loved ones.

He told mourners to refrain from thinking that Simms made a bad decision. Nadia was vulnerable, she was taken advantage of. She was murdered when she innocently went looking for a job. This was in no way her fault.

I pray that God Almighty fix this wrong for us, Hosein said. Following the service, Simms body was taken to the Platanite Cemetery for burial. A 31-year-old Siparia yam vendor remains in police custody.
Cops kill Bobo Dog

According to reports, officers of the Task Force began searching for Joel Charles alias Bobo Dog of La Canoa, Santa Cruz after officers received information that he was hiding out in a busy area at Upper La Canoa Road.

Yesterday, at about 1.30 pm, officers who were in the La Canoa area, found Charles and called on him to surrender. He is said to have pointed a firearm and began shooting at officers who returned fire.

Charles was shot by police and later died at hospital. Yesterday, the scene was visited by Assistant Commissioner of Police Surujdeen Persad and Senior Superintendent Sagramsingh.

Police investigators described Charles as one of the most wanted in the North Eastern Division and was linked to a series of serious criminal offences.

The area was cordoned off and crime scene investigators carried out a search of the shack where Charles was hiding out with the hope of recovering any drugs or illegal arms and ammunition. Police also recovered a firearm on the body of Charles. Investigations are continuing.
I am a ninja turtle

He jumped on me and threw me to the ground. Then he started to kick and cuff me up. As he jumped up on my elbow and said how he is a ninja turtle. He used to tap me up and pass and trip me and things like that all the time. He used to take my lunch money sometimes too. Tristan said he has made complaints to teachers about the past acts of bullying.

They talk to the two of us in the office and sent us back to class. That is all. The Ministry of Education has vowed to launch a full investigation to hear from all relevant parties before making a statement.

Principal of the Mayaro Government Primary School yesterday refused to comment.

Tristans mother Shareefa Ali, said Education Minister Anthony Garcia spoke with her yesterday morning and invited her and husband Christopher to a meeting with the other students parents. I dont want no meeting with them right now, Christopher Khan said, adding that at no time did the bully students parents make any attempt to get in touch with them to see if Tristan was ok, to offer help or even to apologise.

Khan said he receiving advice from a lawyer on how best to proceed.

This is not the first time.

We do not want this to happen to anybody elses child, said Ali.

We think our son could be a gateway to getting bullying stopped in school. Ali said Tristan is scheduled to have wires and pins removed next week and his arm put in a new cast. The pins and wires were used to secure the elbow socket to keep it in place during the healing process. Doctors cannot guarantee complete repair of all of Tristans nerves, but his family is hoping for the best.

We would like to say thank you to the doctors and nurses at Sangre Grande Hospital for their wonderful treatment, said Ali. We cannot remember the doctors name who led the surgery, but thank you and thank you especially to Dr Kristy Metivier who was on the ward overnight and was very helpful to us and our son. Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis yesterday said he got a preliminary report from the school principal which is very different from the medias version. He is awaiting an official report from the schools supervisor on Monday before making further pronouncements.
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As if opioid addiction isn't bad enough on its own, something else is going on in eastern Massachusetts (and possibly beyond) that is worrying public health officials. Doctors have identified 14 opioid users who have suffered amnesia, and they can't explain why. While memory loss in and of itself isn't unusual among drug users, brain imaging shows something strange, reports PBS. Almost no blood was flowing to the hippocampus area of the brain, which is associated with memory. In fact, hippocampus neurons seemed to be specifically targeted, reports Atlantic, which is highly unusual. Nor is it clear how permanent the damage is. Doctors followed up with three of the patients and found that one had recovered his short-term memory in five months, while two others continued to suffer problems one and two years later.

What were concerned about is maybe a contaminant or something else added to the drug might be triggering this, says state health official Alfred DeMaria, author of a new report for the CDC. Traditionally theres no evidence that the drugs themselves can do this. One possible culprit could be a synthetic opioid such as fentanyl. The patients ranged in age from 19 to 52, and some of them were brought to the hospital by relatives when they were unable to recognize loved ones. All but one had a history of substance use disorder, and the 14th tested positive for opiates and cocaine. The cluster came to light when one doctor noticed a pattern in four patients, then spread the word. The publication of the CDC report is expected to unearth more cases around the nation. (More people now use prescription opioids than tobacco.)
The 472,000-square-foot factory in a small town in Ontario once spewed out Hershey's chocolate. Now it's home to the world's largest legal marijuana producer, which supplies pot to 40,000 users across Canada and exports to Germany and Brazil. Canopy Growthfound under the ticker "WEED" on the Toronto Stock Exchange, per Bloombergis the marijuana industry's first "unicorn," a company valued at a minimum of $1 billion, which is about where it sits at present. Not only does the company supply pot to almost half of Canadian medical marijuana patients, but it also grows, processes, and packages the product with a license from the Canadian government, reports Business Insider.

Its business model might not be possible in the US. "If you don't have the right public policy, you don't have the right business opportunity," says CEO Bruce Linton, whose company partners with Snoop Dogg, per the Globe and Mail. With control over its supply chain, Canopy Growth is able to process everything from oils to gel capsules. When recreational marijuana becomes legal in Canada, Linton hopes to do even more. After all, Lintonwith a background in software and telecommunicationsstarted growing marijuana because he believed it to be, well, a budding industry. As more countries legalize marijuana, Linton also hopes to expand abroad; for now, the competition is light. (Read more marijuana stories.)
When Roger Logan started gaining weight in his stomach, doctors told the 57-year-old Mississippi man it was "just fat," the Bakersfield Californian reports. Not quite. According to KERO, Logan is recovering after traveling across the country to California to have a 130-pound growth removed from his abdomen. (The Californian says it was 140 pounds.) Doctors say the benign tumor, which started growing about 12 years ago, probably began as an ingrown hair. But it kept growing until it was massive and had its own blood supply. Logan had spent most of the past five years living in an armchair, unable to run his antique store or go fishing.

After false starts and depression, Logan and his wife finally found a specialist in California to perform the surgery. Logan left Mississippi in the back of a cargo van with his armchair bolted to the bottom. Despite being given only a 50% chance, the surgery was an apparent success. And on Thursday, Logan walked for the first time in years. He's now looking forward to getting his life back. While Logan's tumor was big, it wasn't even close to the biggest ever removed. Yahoo reports a man in China had a 242-pound tumor removed from his back in 2014. (Another man's tumor caused a five-day bout of hiccups.)
President Trump will attend Saturday's annual International Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago, which is expected to raise nearly $1 million for the charity, the Palm Beach Post reports. Some of that money will, in the words of a Red Cross spokesperson, be used to "provide basic support" for refugees affected by Trump's executive order on immigration. It's an "ironic twist," notes the Hill.

According to the Miami Herald, the International Red Cross Ball has frequently been held at Mar-a-Lago, and Trump himself has occasionally attended. It's unclear if Trump will speak at this year's event. While the Red Cross will be providing food, water, blankets, mental health care, and more to refugees affected by Trump's executive order, it hasn't issued a public statement on the order itself. (Read more Red Cross stories.)
A federal judge in Seattle on Friday evening halted enforcement of major parts of President Trump's executive order on immigrationeffective for the entire countryin the "broadest" ruling against the order yet, Reuters reports. According to the Stranger, US District Judge James Robart granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the parts of the order that ban refugees and immigrants from seven countries from entering the US, as well as the part that allows exemptions based on religion. Federal officers nationwide can no longer legally enforce those portions of the executive order.

The Constitution prevailed today, the Seattle PI quotes Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson as saying. No one is above the lawnot even the President. The restraining order was sought by the state of Washington, which was joined by Minnesota and officially supported by Amazon and Expedia. Ferguson had argued that Trump's executive order is illegal and discriminatory. Robart, who was appointed by George W. Bush, says he was following the job of the court, which is to make sure the order was both lawful and Constitutional. Attorneys for the federal government are expected to appeal the ruling. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
Lawyers for Mexican drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman complained about his strict jail conditions in the US during a court appearance Friday. Guzman's common-law wife, beauty queen Emma Coronel, flew to the US for the hearing in a federal court in Brooklyn, the BBC reports. Defense attorney Michelle Gelernt said that the court appearance was the only way Coronel has been able to see Guzman since he was extradited to the US last month. The 59-year-old, who twice escaped prison in Mexico, is being held at the high-security Manhattan Correctional Center, where he is under lockdown 23 hours a day and not allowed to call anybody except his legal team.

Guzman is accused of smuggling huge amount of drugs into the US as boss of a ruthless cartel. He has pleaded not guilty, but at Friday's hearing, his lawyers complained that the restrictions are so tight that it makes it tough for him to make decisions, the AP reports. They said he was even denied water during a recent meeting with defense lawyers. "I don't think there's any thought that if I have the guards give him a glass of water during a three-hour meeting that somehow that's going to effectuate his escape," Gelernt said. The judge, however, noted that the "history of the defendant is somewhat unusual" and said that based on what he knows about the case, "there are grounds for extra security measures." (Read more Joaquin Guzman stories.)
Puerto Ricans are getting another shot at voting on statehood after the island's governor on Friday approved a non-binding referendum to determine the US territory's political future. The referendum will be held on June 11 and gives voters two options: statehood or independence/free association. If a majority chooses the latter, a second referendum would be held in October and will ask voters to choose between the two, the AP reports. "Colonialism is not an option for Puerto Rico," Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. "It's a civil rights issue ... The time will come in which the United States has to respond to the demands of 3.5 million citizens seeking an absolute democracy."

Backers say the referendum could help the island overcome a decade-long economic crisis as it struggles to restructure nearly $70 billion in public debt. Around half a million people have left Puerto Rico for the US mainland the last decade, leaving the government with a shrinking tax base. Puerto Ricans have voted in four previous referendums that have resulted in no action from Congress, which has final say on any changes the island's political status. There was no clear majority in the first three referendums. In the last one, held in 2012, 54% said they wanted a change in status. Some 61% who answered a second question said they favored statehood but nearly 500,000 left the question blank, leading many to dismiss the result as illegitimate. (Read more Puerto Rico stories.)
An attempt to stop a pickup truck with a loud exhaust system led to a wild chase in which the driver shot at a trooper, stole a car with a baby inside, and eventually shot and wounded himself, authorities said. It began when a trooper tried to pull over a pickup truck with a loud exhaust on Interstate 29 in Grand Forks, the AP reports. The driver tried to get away, reaching speeds of about 100mph before being stopped by tire spikes, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The suspect jumped out and allegedly fired three shots at a trooper, who wasn't injured. Two others in the pickup were arrested and meth was found in the truck, authorities said. Meanwhile, the suspect, Daniel TwoHearts, ran into a neighborhood and jumped into an idling car with an infant inside it.

Officers spotted that car on a county road about 20 miles away, again deployed road spikes, flattening the tires and recovering the infant unharmed, but TwoHearts got away again. After dawn Friday, another truck was reported missing, and was later found abandoned at the Walmart in town. Police finally caught up with TwoHearts Friday night in Devils Lake, about 80 miles from Grand Forks. He was allegedly barricaded in an apartment. Officers entered after hearing TwoHearts shoot himself. Despite it all, only TwoHearts was hurt during the ordeal. "People can relax," police Capt. John Barnett told the Devils Lake Journal. "It got a little tense for a while." (Read more North Dakota stories.)
After a federal judge imposed a nationwide hold on President Trump's ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate." Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous," the AP reports.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said. US District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled Friday that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's orderwhich government lawyers disputedand said they showed their case was likely to succeed. A n internal email circulated among Homeland Security officials told employees to comply with the ruling immediately. (Read more Trump travel ban stories.)
The body of an award-winning Canadian filmmaker was found Friday, three days after he disappeared while diving in the Florida Keys, the BBC reports. Rob Stewart, 37, was diving at the site of a shipwreck Tuesday while filming a sequel to his 2006 documentary Sharkwater. He disappeared after surfacing following a dive, and his family believes he may have passed out. The US Coast Guardand othersscoured 5,500 square miles for Stewart's body and had just announced it was calling off the search when Stewart's body was found. According to Variety, his body was discovered by a remote operated vehicle 220 feet underwater. It was only about 300 feet from where Stewart had surfaced and disappeared, CBC reports.

Stewart's family describes him as being found "peacefully in the ocean." His sister says their family is "happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved." In addition to being a filmmaker, Stewart was a conservationist. Sharkwater, which won more than 40 awards, was instrumental in getting the practice of shark finning banned internationally. (Read more Florida Keys stories.)
It turns out ads are worth a lot more if you know the president is watching. It's no secret President Trump watches a lot of TV and is heavily influenced by what he sees there. For example, the Hill reports Trump tweeted about punishing people who burn American flags right after a Fox News segment on flag burning. Now advertisers are taking notice. According to Politico, ad rates for Trump-favorite Morning Joe on MSNBC have more than doubled since the election.

Meanwhile, ad rates for primetime shows on Fox News are up about 50%. The presidents media habits are so predictable, advertisers migrate to those areas, one media buyer says. Businesses and organizationsincluding recently a major bank and a pharmaceutical companyare now buying ads during shows they know Trump watches in the hopes of influencing the president's thinking on an issue or getting him to tweet about it. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
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New Delhi:

Jet Airways on Saturday reported a nearly 70 per cent dip in net profit at Rs 142.38 crore in the three months ended December 2016 as higher fuel expenses and other costs adversely impacted the full-service carrier.

The airline had a net profit of Rs 467.11 crore in the year-ago period. In the 2016 December quarter, the airline carried more number of passengers at 6.79 million compared to 6.52 million in the same period a year ago.

Jet Airways' total income from operations stood at Rs 5,478.07 crore in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal, according to a filing to the BSE.

The same was at Rs 5,443.97 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

In the latest quarter under review, the airline saw its fuel costs climb to Rs 1,428.89 crore which also pushed the total expenses higher. The expenses went up to Rs 5,405.32 crore in the December quarter, as per the filing.

The airline in a release said the group reported seventh successive profitable quarter with a profit of Rs 156.3 crore in the three months ended December 2016, "supported by rising traffic and improved business efficiencies".

Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said that in spite of the continuing downward pressure on yields caused by aggressive capacity addition in the industry as well as weaker international aviation markets, the airline achieved positive results.

"We have deepened our codeshare relationships with our strategic partner, Etihad Airways, and also with other airlines in the Far East, Asia Pacific and Africa.

"Our choice of Amsterdam as our European gateway, coupled with our comprehensive codeshare partnerships with Air France, KLM and Delta Air Lines out of Amsterdam, Paris and LondonHeathrow are also beginning to show promising results," Goyal said.

Traffic from codeshare partners rose 7 per cent to 0.56 million passengers from 0.52 million passengers in Q3 FY16, the release said.

In the latest December quarter, the group reduced its net debt by Rs 1,001 crore, it added.

Goyal said various initiatives undertaken by the company in relation to cost synergies, revenue management opportunities and ancillary revenues have resulted insignificant improvement in operating cash flow.

"Further, our continued thrust to improve operational efficiency and initiatives to raise funds are expected to result in sustainable cash flows.

"Accordingly, the statement of financial results continue to be prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates realisation of assets and settlement of liabilities in the normal course of business," he noted.
New Delhi:

Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai has issued Letters Rogotary to United Kingdom on Friday seeking details of assets owned by Vijay Mallya in the country.

The court has also sought legal assistance in connection with money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate against businessman Vijay Mallya in money laundering case.

Special Judge PR Bhavke said in his order, "Issue Letter Rogotary to a competant authority in United Kingdon to examine facts and circumstances of the case."

The ED had moved the special court recently seeking issuance of LR to secure details about Mallya's assets.

An ED official said, "We want details of the assets possessed by Mallya and hence we prayed to the court to issue LR."



In January this year, the Special CBI court in Mumbai issued non-bailable warrant against Beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya after the investigating agency moved an extradition plea.

On January 25, market regulator Sebi had barred Mallya and six others from the securities market in a case related to alleged funds diversions from United Spirits, a company which the tycoon promoted before selling it to Diageo. He had resigned as director and chairman of USL in March 2016.

Related Stories: Non-bailable warrant issued against Vijay Mallya by Special CBI court in Mumbai



Media is pitch, I am football, NDA vs UPA are teams but no referee: Vijay Mallya
New Delhi:

Indian steel major Tata Steel has submitted an application in the UK seeking planning permission to build 280 new homes near its plant in south Wales, but somelocal residents are objecting to the project, according to media reports.

The company has applied for outline planning permission on a 24-acre site near its Trostre plant in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

According to a BBC report, Tata Steel does not intend to build the houses themselves but are considering selling off the land. It is expected the land's value would be worth more with approval for outline planning.

Carmarthenshire Council received the application on January 18 and has since received a number of objections to the proposal from local residents as well as Llanelli Rural Council due to "concerns over existing sewer capacity not being able to cope with additional demand".

In a letter to the local authority, town councillors also expressed concern about houses being built on land "prone to flooding" which they said could "displace surface water" elsewhere. A Tata Steel spokesperson said: "It would be wrong for us to comment on this matter while it is still the subject of consideration by the planning committee."

Documents show that Manchester-based firm Turley is the agent for Tata Steel in the application.
New Delhi:

Reports claim that Samsung is set to partner with American Express for introduction of Samsung Pay mobile payment solution to India during the first half of 2017. Samsung has begun testing the feature in India starting December 2016, with the latest update of Galaxy Note 5 bringing the Samsung Pay app to the system according to Sammobile.

According to Mashable, the Pay feature will be introduced in India  after the rollout of the Android 7.0 Nougat update in India, which includes the Samsung Pay app and a notification claiming: The future of payments is coming soon!

Mashable further claims that Samsung is also looking for opportunities to partner with Mastercard and Visa as well.Samsung already partners American Express in regions including the US, Australia and South Korea already.

Also Read: Oppo witnesses 133 percent growth due to camera-focused devices: Reports

Earlier this week Samsung launched a mobile web payment service in South Korea for all sorts of smartphones that are powered by Android OS. The service called Samsung Pay Mini will let Android users make online transactions in S Korea after downloading a dedicated app.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Udaipur:

The Rajasthan State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has asked a doctor to pay compensation to a man for wrongly treating him for HIV without confirming the disease through advance diagnosis for three years.

The doctor and a medical insurance company have been asked to pay compensation to the man for medical negligence.

Dhanraj Patel had visited M B Government Hospital in 2004 with fever, cough and cold. Dr D C Kumawat, the then associate professor of medicines, suspected him of being HIV patient and started treatment for HIV without confirming the disease through necessary tests.

Even as the treatment was continued, Patel visited a hospital in Mumbai where he was tested negative for HIV. He showed the test report to the doctor but he advised him to continue with the treatment for HIV.

The treatment continued for seven years during which Patel's health deteriorated due to side effects of the treatment. His claims were also rejected by the insurance company.

The complainant approached the commission in 2013. The commission found the doctor guilty of medical negligence and passed an order last month directing the doctor and NationalInsurance Company to jointly pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the complainant.


Kohima:

The indefinite bandh has been partially lifted, Government offices, vehicles and Public emergency services exempted after Violence erupted in the Nagaland capital on Thursday with those opposed to the ongoing elections to urban local bodies (ULB) and bandh was called in the state. While protesters continue to demand the resignation of the cabinet.

In the face of demand for its resignation by various Naga tribal organisations, 42 of the 59 MLAs of the parties comprising the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) reaffirmed their support to the TR Zeliang government.

Out of the 60 members of the state Assembly, ruling DAN consists 48 MLAs of Naga People's Front (NPF), 4 of BJPand 7 Independents. Only one Independent MLA, Thomas Ngullie, was the sole opposition member.

Also Read: Nagaland: Violence erupts over urban local bodies polls in Kohima; Municipal Council building on fire

Of the 42 legislators present at the meeting today to express support for the leadership of Zeliang, 32 were of NPF,3 from BJP and 7 were Independent, officials in the Chief Minister's Office said.

Other MLAs were unable to reach due to bandh enforced by the tribal organisations in parts of Nagaland while some are out of station, the officials said.

Also Read: Violence in Nagaland: CM Zeliang rejects resignation demand, urges people to stay calm

Those a present in the meeting unanimously agreed to stand by the leadership of Zeliang till the tenure of the present government which ends in early 2018.

The Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) representing different tribal organisations has been demanding the resignation of the DAN government following the death of two persons in anti-ULB poll agitation in Dimapur.

Also Read: Nagaland: Violence erupts over urban local bodies polls in Kohima; Municipal Council building on fire

Zeliang had rejected the demand and said the ministry "has undisputed, unquestionable majority and support of the entire Assembly".

At the meeting, the legislators also decided to hold further consultation with various stakeholders and Naga tribal bodies on the present imbroglio over urban local bodies (ULB)polls for an amicable solution and conduct the elections, which has been withheld, at the earliest.

The MLAs observed a minute's silence to condole the death of two persons who died in Dimapur during a clash with police over the anti-ULB election agitation, officials said.

The DAN legislators also appealed to the Naga people to let peace prevail.
New Delhi:

Manveer Gurjar's father has finally opened up on his son's secret wedding saying that the Bigg Boss 10 winner is not just married but also has a daughter as well.

Gurjar's father also mentioned that Manveer's relationship with his wife hit a rocky patch a few months post their wedding.

He also asserted that Manveer did speak about his wedding while he was inside the Bigg Boss house.

aYes Manveer is married. It happened three years ago, though Manveer wasnat ready for it. But after one-and-half-years, Manveer and his wife started having certain problems. You know like the way it happens between husband and wife. I donat know what, only Manveer can talk about it. But yes my daughter-in-law and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter live with us. In fact, he spoke about his marital status on Bigg Boss,a Manveer's father told a leading daily.

His statement came after a video of Manveer went viral post his historic win in BB10, where he was seen dressed up as a dulha.

Interestingly, while Manveer has been denying all the reports of his wedding so far, he has finally accepted that he is married.

A video of him is doing the rounds on social media, wherein he is seen speaking about his wedding and how his relationship with his wife went wrong.

He said, "The terms were bad from the beginning, I was emotionally blackmailed and was pressurised by the surroundings".

A

Currently, Manveer is recovering from his ill health. He was recently admitted to hospital after he complained of high fever.
New Delhi:

After creating a ruckus in popular reality show Bigg Boss 10, Om Swami has now claimed to be a part of Big Brother.

Notably, 'Big Brother' happens to be the international version of Bigg Boss.

Swami asserted that the Big Brother has approached him to be a wild card entrant in the show.

While talking to News Nation exclusively, Om said, " I have got the Big Brother offer, they have called me to be a wild card entrant. I have asked them to mail me the contract papers. I will go through the papers and will then go to participate in Big Brother'.

The self-proclaimed godman made this statement after the hearing of his cycle theft case got postponed in Delhi's Saket Court.

Talking about the same, Om stated that the hearing has been postponed as the judge was on leave. The next hearing will be held on March 10.

He even claimed that the judge wanted to discharge the case in the previous hearing given that their wasn't enough evidences against him.

Om Swami even stated that currently he is busy with his Hollywood biopic titled 'Om Ji'.

For the uninitiated, Om Swami has been in the headlines for his objectionable actions and nasty remarks inside the Bigg Boss house.

He was kicked out of the show after he spilled his urine on Rohan Mehra and Bani J.

Besides, post his forceful eviction, Om has been babbling about the Bigg Boss and host Salman Khan.

We wonder, if there is any truth behind his claim about him participating in Big Brother, or this too is a mere hoax.
New Delhi:

In yet another case of humanity a five-year-old Pakistani boy was reunited with his mother on Saturday at Wagah-Attari border, with help of Indian authorities.

Iftikhar Ahmed, had forcibly been taken to India by his father, who belongs to Jammu and Kashmir, a year ago.

The five-year-old boy was lodged with a senior diplomat in Amritsar for some time and was later taken to Wagah, informed Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

Pak High Commissioner Abdul Basit appreciated the cooperative role of Indian government in the return of 5-year-old Iftikhar.

Iftikhars father Gulzar Ahmed had taken the boy to Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir in March 2016.

Following which the boys mother Rohina Kiyani who belongs to Pak-administered Kashmir, filed a case in an Indian court for his custody.

ALSO READ | Geeta refuses to recognise UP couple

However, the verdict on the case was given in May 2016 but it took almost 8 months to unite the mother with her son due to the growing border tensions between the neighbouring countries.

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Chennai:

Tamil Nadu may see a change of guard as a section of ruling AIADMK MLAs are likely to urge Sasikala, a close aide of late Jayalalithaa, to take over the reins of the government at a meeting in Chennai on Sunday.



However, the sources did not commit on the agenda of the meeting and declined to confirm reports that the MLAs would urge Sasikala, the AIADMK General Secretary, to take over as Chief Minister.



It is is all your imagination and guess work, a senior leader said when asked about reports of Sasikala taking over from Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.



Among others, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai has backed Sasikala for the Chief Ministers post.



Following late Chief Minister Jayalalithaas death on December 5 last year, Sasikala was appointed the party General Secretary.



On Friday, Sasikala had appointed senior leaders, including some former Ministers and a former Mayor, to key party posts.Former Ministers K A Sengottaiyan, S Gokula Indira and B V Ramana, besides ex-Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy were made the AIADMKs Organisation Secretaries.



The appointments also included that of Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar to a key party post.



She had also announced removal of Ambattur MLA V Alexander as AIADMKs MGR Youth Wing Secretary.



He will, however, continue as the partys Tiruvallore (East) District Secretary, Sasikala had said in a statement.



Last month, Thambidurai had said that the leadership in both the party and governance should be with the same person, while urging Sasikala to take over as Chief Minister.



He had cited the political tussle in Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh to drive home his point that the control of government and party should vest with the same person.



Sasikala was appointed as General Secretary by AIADMKs top decision-making body General Council on December 29. She took charge of the post on December 31, pledging to take forward the legacy of Jayalalithaa.



In December last year, four state ministers had asked Sasikala to become the Chief Minister, besides AIADMK General Secretary.



A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of Tirunelveli Urban Jaya Peravai (Forum), led by state AIADMK secretary and revenue minister R B Udhayakumar on December 17.



The other ministers who participated in the meeting were V M Rajalakshmi, Sevoor Ramachandran and Kadambur Raju.



Sasikala, 62, had been a close aide of Jayalalithaa for three decades and was always seen as a power centre in AIADMK.

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New Delhi:

BJP on Saturday announced 27 more party candidates for Manipur Assembly polls to be held in two phases on March 4 and 8.

It had earlier in its first list declared the names of 31 candidates.

The state assembly has 60 seats.

Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh has headed a Congress government for the last 15 years and the saffron party has been making concerted bid to capture power in the state for the first time.

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New Delhi/Goa:

Voting in Goa which was underway that saw 83 percent of turnout till 5 PM in the state. However, the first four of hours polling in Goa witnessed 34 per cent voters turning out to exercise their right to franchise in the State Assembly elections. Polling has finally ended in Goa.

ECIs data sourced from various polling booth have revealed that there was 16 per cent voting in North and 14 per cent in South Goa constituencies between 7 AM to 9 AM.

Long queues were seen outside almost all the polling stations in the state with estimates of more than 40 per cent voters going to vote before lunch.

Except for minor incidents of EVM failures which was rectified later on, polling has remained peaceful across the state. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar were amongst the early voters who turned up at their respective polling booths.

More than eleven lakh voters are eligible to exercise their right in this election which has 250 candidates in fray.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

Full coverage of voting in Goa and Punjab for assembly elections 2017 on Feb 4

LIVE COVERAGE:

#15:20pm: Goa has recorded an overall voter turnout of 67% till 3 PM



# 1:25 pm: Voter turn out in North Goa 55%, in South Goa 52%. Total voter turnout in Goa till 1 pm 53%

# 11:43 am: South Goa's polling percentage: 32%, North Goa's polling percentage 35%. Goa's overall turnout till 11 am: 34%

# 11:40 am: Women cast their votes at the pink booth in Margao

#GoaElection2017 : Women cast their votes at the pink booth in Margao. pic.twitter.com/chU2my3YcD  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

# 11:25 am: 75- year old woman casts her vote at polling booth no.14 in Goa's Margao

75- year old woman casts her vote at polling booth no.14 in Goa's Margao #GoaElection2017 pic.twitter.com/5cLXcGJO8h  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

# 11:00 am: BJP's vote will decrease by 1000 votes, but party will win the polls: Shripad Naik,BJP on Rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar

# 9:40 am: Goa and Punjab will create history today: Arvind Kejriwal

# 9:32 am: North Goa has recorded a voting percentage of 16%, while South Goa recorded 14% with an overall turnout of 15%, till 9 am

# 9:10 am: Senior citizens cast their vote at a polling booth in South Goa's Margaon

Senior citizens cast their vote at a polling booth in South Goa's Margaon #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/t0pCyTzWzC  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

# 8:26 am: Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar casts his vote at a polling booth in North Goa's Arambol

We will win with complete and comfortable majority, will continue development work and most importantly job creation: Goa CM #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/nvdm7Dd1xq  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

# 7:26 am: Initial reports suggest good turnout,Goa might cross last years turnout of 84% & BJP will win with 2/3rd majority-Manohar Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar casts his vote at a polling station in Goa's Panaji, says Goa will see heavy voter turnout #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/6vQrdTRmiP  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

# 7:11 am: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stands in queue at polling booth in Panaji to cast his vote

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stands in queue at polling booth in Panaji to cast his vote #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/3FfjNpTfVG  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

# 7:06 am: Urging people of Punjab & Goa to turn out in record numbers & vote in Assembly elections.I particularly urge my young friends to vote- PM Modi

# 7:02 am: Security deployed outside polling station in Goa's Panaji; voters queue up at polling station to cast their vote

# 7:00 am: Voting begins in 40 constituencies in Goa.

# 6:50 am: Voters arrive for polling in Goa's capital Panaji; voting to start at 7 am.

Read Full Coverage of Goa Polls in Hindi

Important details about Goa Elections

# Total Assembly Constituencies: 40 (SC- 1)

# Date of Polling: February 4 (Single Phase)

# Total Electorate: 1085271

# Number of Polling Stations: 1642

# Major Parties:

Bhartiya Janta Party

Indian National Congress

Aam Aadmi Party

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party

Punjab Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

2012 Assembly Election Results:

BJP: 21 Seats (34.7%)

Congress: 9 Seats (30.8%)

Others: 10 Seats (34.5%)

2014 Lok Sabha Election Results:

BJP: 2 Seats (54.12%)

Congress: None (37.02%)

Four-cornered fight in Goa

Goa will witness a contest among ruling BJP, opposition Congress, new entrant AAP and the three-party alliance forged by MGP, GSM and Shiv Sena.

Over 11 lakh voters in Goa are eligible to exercise their right to franchise to elect members for the 40-seat state Assembly. Voting across 1,642 polling booths in the state would begin tomorrow at 7 AM and culminate at 5 PM.

Goa Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

The Chief Electoral Officer, working under the guidance of Election Commission of India (ECI), has deployed trained staff to conduct polling which would be provided security cover jointly by state police and paramilitary forces.

The fate of five former chief ministers and present CM Laxmikant Parsekar will be decided in the election which is being contested by 250 candidates--131 in South Goa and 119 in North Goa. The counting of votes will be held on March 11.

Electoral issues

Law and order is at its lowest in several years, with media carrying reports about serious crimes, many committed with complicity of the ruling party and public servants.

Corruption and nepotism, particularly within and via association with the ruling Badal family, have been rotting the system, as political capital crumbles.

Transfers of government officials who show some spine, perpetual meddling within bureaucracy, halqa charges for good posting, unemployment among educated youth, agricultural crisis and a number of other key issues will decide the Assembly polls in Punjab this year.

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Shimla:

The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to contribute up to Rs 1,000 for each beneficiary of Atal Pension Yojana Account.

Going beyond the Atal Pension Yojana, the state government has decided to give contribution to MNREGA workers, agricultural and horticultural labourers, farmers and other persons in unorganised sectors, who subscribe to this Yojana, an official spokesman said.

Till date, as many as 16,119 people have been enrolled in the state and the government has transferred a sum of Rs 1.03 crore to the accounts of these beneficiaries on account of the state governments contribution, which implies that the average contribution of the state government is Rs 639 per subscriber.

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New Delhi:

Voting eneded in Punjab to elect 117-member Assembly and 40-member House in Goa on Saturday. Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest between ruling SAD-BJP alliance, Congress and AAP, which has claimed that it will repeat its Delhi success where it swept the election in 2015.



Goa in seeing a four-cornered fight with BJP, Congress, AAP and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party-led alliance vying for mandate to rule Goa. Besides them, small parties and Independents are also in the fray.



Full Coverage: Voting underway in Punjab to elect 117-member Assembly

LIVE COVERAGE:

17:15pm: 83% voter turnout is recorded in Goa



17:05pm: Polling in Punjab ends, people reporting to the booth up to 5pm will be voting (Visuals from Sohian Kalan near Majitha)

#17:01pm: Polling in Goa ends

#17:00pm: Polling started an hour late in Punjab today due to inclement weather, extended till 6PM



#17:00pm:Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 66% till 04:00 PM



#15:55pm: Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 55% till 03:00 PM



#15:30pm: Bike borne men open fire near a polling booth in Ferozepur district's Guru Har Sahai area, no injuries



#15:18pm: Goa has recorded an overall voter turnout of 67% till 3 PM



#15:15pm: Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 48% till 2:30 PM

#13:45pm: Captain Amarinder Singh casts his vote at booth no. 89 in Patiala

#13:15pm: 35 per cent polling in Punjab till 1 PM

#13:15pm: Voter turn out in North Goa 55%, in South Goa 52%. Total voter turnout in Goa till 1 pm 53%



#12:40pm: Very confident of our win,did door to door campaigns got positive response about my mother&father: Karan Singh, Sidhu's son



#12:30pm: BJP ka safaya hoga sab jagah se, aisa sanket mil raha: Lalu Prasad Yadav



#12:15pm: BJP-Akali Dal will win and Parkash Singh Badal will become the CM for the sixth time: BJP's Hans Raj Hans



#11:59am: Navjot Singh Sidhu, wife cast their vote

#11:50am: Will give Rahul Gandhi great gift with Congress' revival, says Navjot Singh Sidhu as he arrives to vote at booth in Amritsar, with wife Navjot Kaur



#11:42am: Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 14% till 11.30 am



#11:40am: South Goa's polling percentage: 32%, North Goa's polling percentage 35%. Goa's overall turnout till 11 am: 34%



#11:37am: Women cast their votes at the pink booth in Margao

#GoaElection2017 : Women cast their votes at the pink booth in Margao. pic.twitter.com/chU2my3YcD  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#11:36am: Punjab wants govt that coordinates wth centre not one that hs issues with centre everyday,certainly not one that ruined Delhi-Harsimrat Kaur

#11:35am: Aftr 30-yrs thr ws blast in Punjab,Kejriwal having dinner&breakfast with Babbar Khalsa,clear indication ISI sponsors Kejriwal-Harsimrat Kaur



#11:30am: There were two parties earlier, now there are three, several votes will be diverted. But whoever wins should give priority to Punjab: Harbhajan Singh



11:25am: Person at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar asked Cricketer Harbhajan Singh for a selfie and the latter obliged



Person at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar asked Cricketer Harbhajan Singh for a selfie and the latter obliged #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/FO23J5SMew  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#11:16am: Official at polling booth no 23 in Jalandhar takes a selfie with Cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who came there to cast his vote

Official at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar takes a selfie with Cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who came there to cast his vote #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/xjdrra3aE3  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#11:15am: Cricketer Harbhajan Singh along with his mother Avtar Kaur, waiting to cast his vote at polling booth no 23 in Jalandhar

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh along with his mother Avtar Kaur, waiting to cast his vote at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/vOFn715HKu  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#11:10am: Amarinder Singh is dal-badlu.I hv 70-yrs experience, fought for Punjab&India,this is a small battle-CM Parkash Singh Badal

#10:59am: We'll have a bigger win than last time, Amarinder Singh is only drama & AAP is on 3rd position: Sukhbir Singh Badal



#10:55am: CM Parkash Singh Badal of SAD casts his vote at a polling booth in Lambi



#10:53am: We'll have a bigger win than last year, Amarinder Singh is only drama & AAP is on 3rd position: Sukhbir Singh Badal



#10:52am: Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 12% till 10.30 am



#10:00am: People wait in queues as voting is yet to begin at booth no 35 in Majitha, due to error in EVM machine

#10:00am: Voter turnout in Punjab till 9am: 9 per cent

#9:55am: Aam Adami Party's senior leader Bhagwant Mann casts his vote in Mohali

AAP's Bhagwant Mann casts his vote at booth no.126 (Govt School) in Mohali #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/qXPVef7pJT  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#9:50 am: AAP's Gurpreet Ghuggi casts his vote at a polling station in Bathinda, says voting is our right and must be exercised

#9:35am: The environment is charged and very positive, we are confident of a win: Captain Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur

#9:35am: Congress will Punjab; we will win this match and set big goals - Pargat Singh, Congress

#9:35am: There is a little competition from AAP, from Akalis none - Pargat Singh, Congress

#9:31 am: North Goa has recorded a voting percentage of 16%, while South Goa recorded 14% with an overall turnout of 15%, till 9 am

#9:30 am: Congress candidate Pargat Singh casts his vote at booth no. 66 in Jalandhar

Gurdaspur (Punjab): Sucha Singh Chhotepur casts his vote #PunjabPolls2017. pic.twitter.com/Wj5ACDpMBi  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#8:45 am: Polling at booth no.124-125 in Amritsar began 40 minutes late due to a glitch in the EVM machine

#8:40 am: voter casts his vote at booth no.118 (govt school) in Lambi.

Women cast their vote at booth no.66 in Jalandhar #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/4SXUvqY2AP  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar casts his vote at a polling booth in North Goa's Arambol #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/d8E8qWlqBK  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

We will win with complete and comfortable majority, will continue development work and most importantly job creation: Goa CM #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/nvdm7Dd1xq  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

Gen JJ Singh (Retd) SAD candidate against Congress's Amarinder Singh from Patiala Urban, arrives to cast his vote #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/dz5oy8ubCt  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#8:00 am: Voting begins in Punjab for 117 seats in state assembly

Candidates seek blessings at Amritsar's Golden Temple, ahead of polling #PunjabPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/APST1dPgDy  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

Voters wait for polling to begin at 8am. Visuals from polling booth no.123-124 at SD College in Pathankot #PunjabPolls2017pic.twitter.com/2I0QKJPbcJ  ANI (@ANI_news)

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar casts his vote at a polling station in Goa's Panaji, says Goa will see heavy voter turnout #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/6vQrdTRmiP  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#7:20am: Initial reports suggest good turnout, Goa might cross last years turnout of 84% and BJP will win with 2/3rd majority-Manohar Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stands in queue at polling booth in Panaji to cast his vote #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/t0YGxunvEG  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

#7:00am: Urging people of Punjab & Goa to turnout in record numbers & vote in Assembly elections.I particularly urge my young friends to vote-PM Modi

#6:55am: Security deployed outside polling station in Goa's Panaji; voters queue up at polling station to cast their vote

#6:50am: Voters arrive for polling in Goa's capital Panaji; voting to start at 7 am.

# Voting begins in 117 constituencies in Punjab and on 40 seats in Goa at 7am.



Electoral issues in Punjab



Punjab's political fight is between ruling SAD-BJP alliance, Congress and AAP.



The AAP, which had won four Lok Sabha seats in 2014, has plunged into the contest in a big way with its chief Arvind Kejriwal criss-crossing large parts of the state. It has claimed that it will repeat its Delhi success where it swept the election in 2015.



The Badal family came under fierce attack from AAP over alleged corruption, drug menace and law and order while the SAD-BJP and Congress accused AAP of flirting with extremists and targeted Kejriwal for being an "outsider".



Kejriwal, in turn, accused Congress Chief Amarinder Singh and the Badals of being hand in glove.



Four-cornered fight in Goa



Goa is witnessing a contest among ruling BJP, opposition Congress, new entrant AAP and the three-party alliance forged by MGP, GSM and Shiv Sena.



The Assembly polls in five state - Goa, Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur - are being seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity especially in the wake of demonetisation.



The votes will be counted on March 11 for all the five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa -- which will go for polls between tomorrow and March 8.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage | Read this story in Hindi

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday addressed an election rally in Meerut ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. He said that if BJP forms a government in Uttar Pradesh, it will put an end to gundaraj in the state. He also attacked the Congress, saying the party entered into alliance with the Samajwadi Party even after demeaning them in the past.

Here are the live updates:

#BJP will clear all dues of sugarcane farmers within 14 days, if voted to power



#What is the reason that he has not been removed?

#Notebandi ka virodh karne waali Cong se poochna chahta hoon ki kya kaaran hai Karnataka mein unke ek mantri ke ghar se 150 crore mila?



#I knew on 8th November that people who looted will not like the decision that was taken and they'll join hands against me



#We gave a befitting reply to Pakistan, PM Modi on surgical strikes

#Central Government is one that will do everything for our forces. After forty years OROP became a reality



#UP Government should state their relation with sugar mills. Why are the farmers not being given their dues

Uttar Pradesh polls 2017: 'We will put an end to gundaraj in UP' | 10 sweeping statements of PM Modi

#40 saal tak faujiyon ki aakhnon mein dhool jhonki gayi. Desh ke liye jaan ki baazi lagane walon ke liye OROP humne laagu kiya



#Every family needs to have their own house and so we've started working towards fulfilling this vision by 2022



#We are willing to do everything for the growth of UP. To change the fortunes of UP change the government in the state



#Later, we increased the amount to Rs 7,000 cr and from there they couldnt even spend Rs 280 cr for the poor



#Rs 4,000 cr was allocated to UP Govt so that they can give health-related aid to you people, but they couldn't even spend Rs 250 cr



#UP govt plays vote bank politics



#Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, if the state Govt has no intention, the money will go somewhere else



#They are shouting 'bachao bachao' after alliance. Those who can't save themselves, talk about saving Uttar Pradesh

#What made you hug them: PM Modi on SP-Congress alliance

Read full coverage of UP assembly elections 2017

#If we've a state government that creates obstacles, then the development work will get stalled in Lucknow

#What politics guided you when you prevented development works and healthcare to reach people

#Those who have been rejected by the people, how can they talk about saving the state

#Congress was going to every village saying how UP has been looted. They were demeaning the SP and the state government

#Why are innocent citizens being killed? Why are innocent traders being killed? There is no fear of the law among the killers

#If we have a state government that creates obstacles then the development works will get stalled in Lucknow. Nothing will reach people

#Uttar Pradesh gave me affection & I am trying everything possible for progress of UP. Lots has been done but I want to work more

#Uttar Pradesh has so much potential but why do youth of UP not have employment opportunities

#First War of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857; Then the fight was against British, now it's against poverty

#We will put an end to gundaraj in UP



As Punjab and Goa go to polls, the focus of political stalwarts has shifted to western UP. BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati are all in western UP, campaigning heavily for upcoming assembly elections.

Leading the charge, however, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut on Saturday. With sizeable Muslim voters, western UP will vote in the first phase of UP elections 2017 on February 11.

In the upcoming polls, the competition is set between SP-Congress alliance, BJP and BSP. Western UP, rocked by Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, may set the tone for the other rounds of voting. The region has 73 constituencies in all.

While SP, Congress and BSP share influence over minority vote banks in the region, BJP has not given even a single ticket to Muslim candidates for the assembly elections. Muzaffarnagar riots, Kairana migrations and the Jat anger may further polarise the vote bank politics.

ALSO READ | UP elections 2017: Will PM Narendra Modi be able to set the tone for BJP's victory in western UP?

This may act as the double-edged sword for the BJP, which is banking heavily on its traditional Hindu voters to claw back to power after more than a decade and a half.

In a highly controversial statement, BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma in December claimed that Muslims do not vote for BJP because it is a patriotic party. "We dont care about any votebank. Muslims have never voted for us and they never will. It is a very simple matter.. why is every terrorist in the country a Muslim and why do Muslims not vote for BJP Because the BJP is a patriotic party, thats why Muslims dont vote for us. We dont care about any particular community. We will build the Ram Mandir."

Western UP will be a cakewalk for the BJP, Keshav Prasad Maurya told a newspaper recently, "Migration of Hindus out of fear and the protection given to Muslim goondas has made people lose faith in SP. We will find out how many more Kairanas are there in UP. Every Hindu family that had to flee will be brought back and every person who was party to this crime will be behind bars."

ALSO READ | Assembly polls: PM Narendra Modi trying to de-register AAP, alleges Arvind Kejriwal

On the Jaat anger against the BJP, he added. We don't do caste politics. It will be a one side win for the BJP in western UP. Deoband, Chandausi, Gautam Budh Nagar..We will win with huge margins here. We will get over 300 seats overall."

Despite the claims, PM Modi is likely to face an uphill task ahead of him on Saturday as he attempts to woo the voters who are traditionally not in BJP camp. But if he manages to tilt the balance in BJP's favour in western UP, the party may just make a comeback in the political arena of Uttar Pradesh.

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New Delhi:

A tragic oil spill on the Chennai's Marina Beach has turned the city beach into a nightmare. On January 28, two shipping vessels had collided outside the Kamarajar Port at Ennore, resulting in rupture for one of them which led to an oil spill.

Unfortunately, it is not the first time Marina Beach has made it to headlines, for wrong reasons.

Cauvery water protest:

In September 16, the Marina Beach of Chennai was hogged by people protesting against Cauvery water treaty.

Cyclone Vardah:

Only a few days later, devastating Cyclone Vardah destroyed the beach as it hit the entire eastern coast with a Wind speed of 60 kms to 80 kms gusting to 90 kms.

Jayalalithaa's demise:

Even before the city could recover from the cyclone damages, the people sunk in mourning at Marina Beach for the chief minister Jayalalithaa. On Dec 6, the beach was filled with people praying for health and later mourning her death in unity.



Jallikattu protests:

After the ban on 'Jallikattu', protests at Marina beach reached its peak with nearly over a lakh people from all walks of life assembling there, demanding the lifting of the ban on the bull taming sport. Around 50 protesters set Ice House police station on fire. Not only this, vehicles were also set on fire during the protests.



Oil spill:

The collision of two ships has now wreaked havoc on the beach, rendering it hazardous and useless for people. Although the government has now assured that 90 percent of cleaning work has been complete and rest will be done soon.



Hopefully, the cleaning process will also cleanse the beach of unrest it has been the witness of past two months and brings some peace and calm for people of Chennai.

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New Delhi :

Get ready to see new Rs 100 currency note. Yes, you heard it right; The Reserve Bank of India is all geared up to put the new bank note in circulation soon.

RBI is expected to soon issue new Rs 1000 note which will be similar to the design of the familiar notes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005.

RBI in a notification said, The Reserve Bank will shortly issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes+ in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, with the inset letter R in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India.

Also, the new Rs 100 note will bear 2017 written on the reverse.

Also read: Note ban | RBI allows NRIs to exchange old defunct banknotes up to June 30

Clarifying the air about its designing, RBI said that the design of the new Rs 100 note will be similar to those of currently available Rs 100 note in Mahatma Gandhi Series- 2005.

Among other features of the banknote, the numerals in the note will be written in the ascending order in the number panel, with bleed lines and bigger identification marks on the obverse.

RBI also made it clear that the older Rs 100 banknotes will continue to be legal tender.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Twitter is buzzing with news alerts from India and rest of the world. Here are the latest updates from the micro-blogging site in one scroll:

#11:05 PM

4 more Swine Flu cases reported in Coimbatore-PTI

#10:00 PM

Man sentenced to 15-yr Rigorous Imprisonment, fined Rs 30000 for raping newly married woman, trespassing into her house in Jajpur-PTI

#9:37 PM

Several ancient Hindu Sculptures dating back to 12th century AD unearthed in south Kashmir's Anantnag-PTI

#9:36 PM

Police busted high-tech examination cheating racket in Patna, 8 persons arrested-ANI

#9:34 PM

106-yr-old woman Mala Devi exercises franchise in Punjab; was presented rose as Good will Gesture-PTI

#9:01 PM

US State Dept reverses revocation of visas after judge stayed Trump executive order-AFP

#8:57 PM

Tribal youth group AYO locks main gate of Nagaland Civil Secretariat, State Assembly, demanding resignation of CM T R Zeliang-ANI

#8:40 PM

#Telangana: Number of deaths because of other complications and #Swineflu as on date is 13-ANI



#8:14 PM

BCCI voted against proposals on new financial model & governance structure of the ICC at ICC board meeting held on Saturday in Dubai-ANI

#7:39 PM

5-year-old Pak boy Iftikhar Ahmed handed over to Pakistani officials at 06:40 pm on Saturday

#7:36 PM

Supporters of 2 political parties clashed.1 person sustained bullet injury. FIR lodged, main accused rounded up during Punjab Polls: EC

#7:30 PM

58.02 crore cash, 12.43 lakh ltrs liquor worth 13.34 crore, 2598 Kgs of drugs & narcotics worth 18.26 crore were seized in Punjab: ECI



#7:25 PM

In Goa, one polling station was picked up which was managed totally by the persons with disability: Election Commission-ANI

#7:24 PM

For the first time 100% use of electronically transmitted postal ballot system was done in Goa: Election Commission-ANI



#7:23 PM

58.02 crore cash, 12.43 lakh ltrs liquor worth 13.34 crore, 2598 Kgs of drugs and narcotics worth 18.26 crore were sized in Punjab: ECI

#7:22 PM

Till now the information received is 83% polling in Goa, in north Goa 84%, in south Goa 81.5%: Election Commission-ANI

#7:20 PM

Voter turnout of 70% (tentative) recorded in Punjab till 5 PM says Election Commission-ANI

#7:06 PM

Record voter turnout of 83% recorded in Goa:Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha-ANI

#7:05PM

100% webcasting was done in Goa on all the polling stations: Election Commission

#7:04 PM

Polling in Goa passed off peacefully: Election Commission

#6:42 PM

Section 144 continues to remain imposed in Dimapur Nagaland ahead of Local Body Elections-PTI

#6:33 PM

70 per cent polling in Punjab; technical glitches, skirmishes at some places-PTI

#6:23 PM

India to hand over 5-year-old Pak boy Iftikhar Ahmed, to cross Wagah border to Pakistan shortly Father forcibly took him from mother and came to India-ANI

#6:15 PM

High voter turnout of over 83 per cent recorded in Goa Election 2017 till 5 PM-PTI

5:28 PM

Polling in Punjab ends, people reporting to the booth up to 5pm will be voting-ANI

5:04 PM

Polling in Goa ends-ANI

4:59 PM

Police arrested 6 persons from an illegal liquor making unit, recovered illegal liquor in huge quantity-ANI

#4:41 PM

Former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala's disproportionate assets matter: Tis Hazari Court reserves the order for Feb 6th, Monday-ANI

#4:30 PM

Special PMLA court issued Letters Rogotary to United Kingdom on Friday seeking for details of assets owned by Vijay Mallya in UK-ANI

#4:07 PM

Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 55% till 03:00 PM-ANI

#4:00 PM

SASE issues a medium danger Avalanche warning for some avalanche-prone slopes of J&K, HP-ANI

#3:40 PM

Goa has recorded an overall voter turnout of 67% till 3 PM-ANI

#3:20 PM

Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 48% till 2:30 PM (ANI)

#3:30 PM

Bike borne men open fire near a polling booth in Ferozepur district's Guru Har Sahai area, no injuries reported-ANI



#3:10 PM

BJP releases second list of 27 candidates for upcoming Manipur assembly election 2017 (ANI)

#3:06 PM

What is the reason that he has not been removed?: PM Narendra Modi in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

#3:02 PM

Central Government is one that will do everything for our forces. After forty years OROP became a reality: PM Modi

#2:55 PM

Amit Shah appoints Tirath Singh Rawat as BJP National Secretary (ANI)

#2:53 PM

Every family needs to have their own house and so we've started working towards fulfilling this vision by 2022: PM Modi

#2:44 PM

Rs 4,000 cr was allocated to UP Govt so that they can give health-related aid to you ppl, but they couldn't even spend Rs 250 cr: PM Modi

#2:42 PM

UP govt plays vote bank politics: PM Modi

#2:36 PM

Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, if the state Govt has no intention, the money will go somewhere else: PM Modi



#2:33 PM

BJP allocated Rs 4,000 cr to UP Govt so that they can give health-related aid to you ppl, but they couldn't even spend Rs 250 cr: PM Modi (ANI)

#2:33 PM

This election is fight of BJP against 'scam'; 'S' for Samajwadi, 'C' for Cong, 'A' for Akhilesh, 'M' for Mayawati: PM. (PTI)

#2:28 PM

Murderers & goons have flourished in UP due to political patronage: PM Narendra Modi at Meerut rally (PTI)

#2:28 PM

Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, if the state Govt has no intention, the money will go somewhere else: PM Narendra Modi

#2:26 PM



I am content with my task in Uttar Pradesh & harbour no ambition of becoming the Prime Minister: Akhilesh Yadav (PTI)



#2:24 PM

This is BJP's fight against SCAM-Samajwadi Congress Akhilesh Mayawati: PM Narendra Modi (ANI)

#2:22 PM

UP government repeatedly says that their action speaks, if so, then it should also reflect on records: Piyush Goyal

#2:20 PM

There is no legal action taken on the culprits behind killings in UP: PM Modi in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (ANI)

#2:18PM

If we've a state government that creates obstacles, then the development work will get stalled in Lucknow: PM Modi



#2:15 PM

Uttar Pradesh has so much potential but why don't the youths of UP have employment opportunities: PM Modi in Meerut (ANI)

#2:13 PM

First War of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857; Then the fight was against British, now it's against poverty: PM Modi (ANI)

#2:13 PM

Earthquake with magnitude 3.5 felt in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh at 12:35 PM (ANI)

#2:08 PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (ANI)

#2:05 PM

Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 36.05% till 1PM (ANI)

#2:04 PM



COA member Vikram Limaye is the only BCCI representative at the ICC Board meeting. (PTI)



#2:00 PM

Captain Amarinder Singh casts his vote at booth no. 89 in Patiala (ANI)



#1:54 PM

Sheena Bora case: All 3 accused's judicial custody extended till Feb17; CBI commits to start working on witness statement & evidence from Feb23 (ANI)

#1:47 PM

Narcotics Control Bureau arrests an international drug traffickers & seizes 4 kg Cocaine worth Rs. 28 crore (ANI)

#1:39 PM

District & Sessions Court judge rejects bail plea of TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay arrested in chit fund case,to apply for bail before Odisha HC (ANI)

#1:35 PM

35 per cent polling in Punjab till 1 PM. (PTI)

#1:30 PM

2 terrorists killed by Baramulla Police & 52 RR in Baramulla district, J&K; 1 AK-47 rifle & 1 pistol recovered; Sanitisation op on. (ANI)

#1:26 PM

Voter turnout in North Goa 55%, in South Goa 52%. Total voter turnout in Goa till 1 pm 53% (ANI)

#1:08 PM

UP Polls: BSP chief Mayawati addressing election rally in Bareilly (ANI)

#12:57 PM

Sheena Bora Murder case: CBI refuses to give complete list of witnesses in advance as they suspect that it'll compromise safety of witnesses (ANI)

#12:55 PM

2 terrorists killed by Baramulla Police and 53 RR in Baramulla district in J&K. More details awaited. (ANI)

#12:53 PM

Almost 2000 school kids & NGOs have also helped in removal of oil sludge, many thanks to them-Union Minister Nitin GadkariA on Chennai Oil Spill (ANI)

#12:51 PM

Incident will be enquired, committee set up & required action will be taken once probe is complete: Union Min Nitin Gadkari on Chennai Oil Spill (ANI)

#12:45 PM

Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remains shut for traffic. (PTI)

#12:44 PM

Home Minister Rajnath Singh addresses a rally in Badaun. (ANI)

#12:38 PM

Very confident of our win, did door to door campaigns got positive response about my mother&father: Karan Singh, Sidhu's sonA (PTI)

#12:31 PM

Budget maintained consistency with govt policy with regard to reforms and tax policy: Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das at FICCI (ANI)

#12:31 PM

Only 2% of GDP comes from personal income tax, which is abysmally low; increasing it is a big challenge: Adhia (PTI)

#12:31 PM

It will cost Rs 18,000-19,000 crore if corporate tax is to be cut by 1 percent: Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia. (PTI)

#12:26 PM

Sludge left only in this area (Ennore); Cleanup op to take few more days as it can be done only manually-Pon Radhakrishnan on Chennai Oil Spill

#12:23 PM

Lowering corporate tax a challenge unless personal I-T collections increase and people pay taxes:A Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia (PTI)

#12:23 PM

Union Min Pon Radhakrishnan visits Ennore coast to inspect removal work of oil sludge says work will be complete in 1-2days (ANI)

#12:18 PM

Iran is to deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise in a show of defiance (AFP)

#12:16 PM

BJP-Akali Dal will win and Parkash Singh Badal will become the CM for the sixth time: BJP's Hans Raj Hans (ANI)

#12:12 PM

Have the highest respect for SM Krishna; He may have been hurt but he's not immature to go to BJP; Yeddyurappa is totally false: DK Shivakumar, Congress

#12:10 PM

BJP's Hans Raj Hans exercises his right to vote at a polling booth in Jalandhar (ANI)

#11:56 AM

Impact of demonetizationA is going to be transient; GDP going to be upward 7% in the next year: Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das (ANI)

#11:47 AM

Will give Rahul Gandhi great gift with Congress' revival says Navjot Singh Sidhu as he arrives to vote at booth in Amritsar, with wife Navjot Kaur (ANI)

#11:45 AM

Head-on collision between car and truck leaves three dead near Morbi, Gujarat (ANI)

#11:42 AM

Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 14% till 11.30 am A (ANI)

#11:40 AM

South Goa's polling percentage: 32%, North Goa's polling percentage 35%. Goa's overall turnout till 11 am: 34% (ANI)

#11:37 AM

Women cast their votes at the pink booth in Margao. (ANI)

#11:34 AM

Min temp in Delhi stands at 11.9 degrees Celsius. Shallow fog in city, rail services affected. (PIT)

#11:34 AM

GDP growth expected to be upwards of 7 per cent next fiscal: Finance Ministry (PTI)

#11:34 AM

Punjab wants govt that coordinates with centre, not one that has issues with centre every day, certainly not one that ruined Delhi-Harsimrat Kaur (ANI)

#11:32 AM

AIADMK MLAs meeting to take place tomorrow at their party headquarters. (ANI)

#11:31 AM

After 30-yrs the was blast in Punjab, Kejriwal having dinner&breakfast with Babbar Khalsa, clear indication ISI sponsors Kejriwal-Harsimrat Kaur (ANI)

#11:25 AM

Earlier there were 3 parties, now there are three. The votes will certainly get diverted, but whosoever wins must keep Punjab ahead of the party: Harbhajan Singh (ANI)

#11:24 AM

75- year old woman casts her vote at polling booth no.14 in Goa's Margao (ANI)

#11:19 AM

Official at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar takes a selfie with Cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who came their to cast his vote (ANI)

#11:16 AM

6 children injured after a school bus fell into a ditch in Gorari village, Uttar Pradesh (ANI)

#11:15 AM

Over 90 per cent of clean-up work over, says Centre on Chennai Oil Spill (PTI)

#11:14 AM

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh along with his mother Avtar Kaur, waiting to cast his vote at polling booth no.23 in Jalandhar (ANI)



#11:11 AM

Mallya loan default case: Bail applications of IDBI & Kingfisher Airline employees adjourned till 7 Feb by Mumbai's Special CBI court (ANI)



#11:13 AM

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar early voter in Goa Election 2017; dodges questions on Goa return. (PTI)

#11:08 AM

BSF apprehended a Pakistan national near International Border in Gharinda, Punjab earlier today. (ANI)



#11:07 AM

Amarinder Singh is dal-badlu.I have 70-yrs experience, fought for Punjab & India, this is a small battle-CM Parkash Singh Badal (ANI)

#10:56 AM

CM Parkash Singh Badal of SAD casts his vote at a polling booth in Lambi (ANI)

#10:55 AM

BJP will be affected, votes might reduced by 1000 but it will surely win: Shripad Naik, BJP on Rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar (ANI)



#10:53 AM

We'll have a bigger win than last year, Amarinder Singh is only drama & AAP is on 3rd position: Sukhbir Singh Badal (ANI)

#10:48 AM

Punjab has recorded an overall voter turnout of 12% till 10.30 am. (ANI)

#10:29 AM

He (SM Krishna) has decided to join BJP, when we don't know, will fix it soon. He is joining 100%: B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP Karnataka President (ANI)

#10:27 AM

Contrary to what they say completing work in 2-3days not possible even for developed country, takes weeks: DMK MP Kanimozhi (ANI)

#10:27 AM

UN removes Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from designated terrorists list (PTI)

#10:15 AM

S.M. Krishna (recently resigned from Congress) will join BJP shortly: B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP Karnataka President (ANI)

#10:09 AM

Kerala CM P.Vijayan writes to PM requesting enquiry into matter of E Ahamed's death, says situation should've been handled in a humanitarian way (ANI)

#10:06 AM

Work to clean up oil spill after collision between 2 cargo ships off Ennore Port, underway. (ANI)

#10:05 AM

Iran 'biggest state sponsor of terrorism': Us Defence Secretary James Mattis (AFP)

#10:03 AM

9% voting recorded in Punjab till 9 a.m.

#10:01 AM

People wait in queues as voting is yet to begin at booth no 35 in Majitha, due to error in EVM machine (ANI)

#9:54 AM

AAP's Bhagwant Mann casts his vote at booth no.126 (Govt School) in Mohali (ANI)

#9:51 AM

No matter whose govt comes in power, youth wants employment: First time voter at a polling booth in Lambi (ANI)

#9:46 AM

Goa and Punjab will create history today, says Arvind Kejriwal



#9:45 AM

AAP's Gurpreet Ghuggi casts his vote at a polling station in Bathinda, says voting is our right and must be exercised (ANI)

#9:36 AM

The environment is charged and very positive, we are confident of a win: Captain Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur (ANI)

#9:32 AM



Punjab will have a Congress government this time, we will win the match; AAP has some buzz but Akali Dal isA no where, says Pargat Singh, Congress (ANI)



#9:28 AM

North Goa has recorded a voting percentage of 16%, while South Goa recorded 14% with an overall turnout of 15%, till 9 am (ANI)

#9:25 AM

Congress candidate Pargat Singh casts his vote at booth no. 66 in Jalandhar. (ANI)

#9:19 AM

Exiled Baloch leaders & activists to meet Trump seeking termination of American military & Economic aid to Pak in view of Baloch's abuse by Pak (ANI)

#9:18 AM

If he doesn't belong here (Patiala), yes, of course, he's a parachute candidate: Captain Amarinder Singh's niece on Gen JJ Singh (retd) (ANI)

#9:15 AM

Policemen conduct security checks at booth no.118 (govt school) in Lambi (ANI)

#9:06 AM

Senior citizens cast their vote at a polling booth in South Goa's Margaon (ANI)

#9:03 AM

Long queues of voters at booth no. 66 in Jalandhar after polling delayed due to glitch in the EVM machine. (ANI)

#8:57 AM

Prime Minister Modi to address an election rally in Meerut (ANI)

#8:53 AM

White House slams 'outrageous' federal court ruling blocking travel ban (AFP)

#8:49 AM

UP DGP Javeed Ahmed constitutes SIT to probe online fraud worth Rs 37 lakh that took place in Noida; supervised by IG Crime&led by DIG Meerut (ANI)

#8:46 AM

Sucha Singh Chhotepur casts his vote in Gurdaspur, Punjab (ANI)

#8:46 AM

Polling at booth no.66 in Jalandhar delayed due to glitch in the EVM machine (ANI)

#8:44 AM

Polling at booth no.124-125 in Amritsar began 40 minutes late due to a glitch in the EVM machine (ANI)

#8:41 AM

Fisherman badly affected. Stress the need of state & centre too take necessary steps to rectify situation: DMK's MK Stalin (ANI)

#8:39 AM

First voter casts his vote at booth no.118 (govt school) in Lambi. (ANI)

#8:38 AM

1 Maoist carrying cash reward on his head, along with 3 other Maoists arrested in Basaguda, Chattisgarh (ANI)

#8:33 AM

He loves challenges; In Arunachal also he wanted a challenging area-Wife of Gen JJ Singh(retd) on him contesting against Cong's Amarinder Singh (ANI)

#8:27 AM

We will win with complete and comfortable majority, will continue development work and most importantly job creation: Goa CM (ANI)

#8:26 AM

Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar casts his vote at a polling booth in North Goa's Arambol (ANI)

#8:08 AM

Gen JJ Singh (Retd) SAD candidate against Congress' Amarinder Singh from Patiala Urban, casts his vote (ANI)

#8:00 AM

Voting in Punjab begins. 1145 candidates to contest across 117 seats. (ANI)

#8:00 AM



Gen JJ Singh (Retd) SAD candidate against Congress's Amarinder Singh from Patiala Urban, arrives to cast his vote A (ANI)



#7:53 AM

Voters arrive at booth no.66 in Jalandhar; security deployed, preparations complete for voting to begin at 8 am (ANI)

#7:48 AM

Final preparations for elections underway at booth no.118 (govt school) in Lambi (ANI)

#7:45 AM

Voters wait for polling to begin at 8 am at SD College in PathankotA A (ANI)

#7:36 AM

Candidates seek blessings at Amritsar's Golden Temple, ahead of polling (ANI)

#7:31 AM

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar casts his vote at a polling station in Goa's Panaji, says Goa will see heavy voter turnout A (ANI)

#7:26 AM

Initial reports suggest good turnout, Goa might cross last year's turnout of 84% & BJP will win with 2/3rd majority-Manohar Parrikar (ANI)

#7:09 AM

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stands in queue at polling booth in Panaji to cast his vote (ANI)

#7:00 AM

Assembly election polling for 40 seats in the state of Goa begins. (ANI)

#7:00 AM

Urging people of Punjab & Goa to turnout in record numbers & vote in Assembly elections.I particularly urge my young friends to vote-PM Modi (ANI)

#6:58 AM

Security deployed outside polling station in Goa's Panaji; voters queue up at polling station to cast their vote. (ANI)

#6:55 AM

Voters arrive for polling in Goa's capital Panaji; voting to start at 7 am. (ANI)

#6:47 AM

Polling for assembly elections to be held in Punjab for 117 seats; to start at 8 am. (ANI)



#6:46 AM

Polling for assembly elections to be held in Goa for 40 seats; to start at 7 am. (ANI)

#5:31 AM

US judge in Seattle temporarily blocks Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries. (AP)



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New Delhi:

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces on Saturday in north Kashmirs Baramulla district. Two police personnel were also injured in the gun battle which took place near Amargarh village of Sopore.

An information was received that militants were traveling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. Police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore.

While being challenged, terrorists lobbed a grenade and fired on police party in which the SP (Operation) Baramulla and a Sub-Inspector were injured. In the retaliatory action, two militants were killed, the spokesman said.

Two AK assault rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were also seized from the encounter scene.

Hizbul Mujahideen has termed the killing as a big loss and identified the slain militants as Azaharuddin alias Gazi Umar and Sajad Ahmad alias Babar.

With PTI Inputs

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News Delhi:

Congress on Saturday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dubbing his political rivals in Uttar Pradesh as 'SCAM', saying it does not behove a PM to use such words and, instead, he should give an account of the work done by him.

"Instead of delivering or what the road map ahead is, we hear him (Modi) speak on abbreviations. He is extremely worried because he has realized the faults what demonetisation has done across the country," Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told reporters.

He also asked the Prime Minister to take back his words in which he said Indian Army carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan territory, as the strikes took place in PoK which was very much a part of India.

"The Prime Minister is very keen to use English abbreviations and he used 'SCAM' to attack his political rivals. We will tell you what 'SCAM' means in Hindi - it is'satta bhogi, kapti dhongi Amit Shah Modi'," he said.

Vadakkan came out with similar taunts for BJP calling it "bhagoda jugadu party", "bhai bhateejawad party", "bhaicharajalao party", "bhrashtachar jagao party" and "bhramjaal jagao party".

The Congress reaction came after Modi, while addressing a rally in Meerut, asked the the people in Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati".

Vadakkan also alleged that the Prime Minister talks of scams and scamsters as "all such people are in BJP and demonetisation is the biggest scam that he has given to the country due to which all sections of society suffered".

Questioning Prime Minister over his remarks on surgical strikes, he asked, "My simple question to the Prime Minister of India is when he says that this operation took place on 'Pakistan ki dharti', I want to know when did PoK became part of Pakistan's territory. PM should make it clear when did PoK become part of Pakistan's territory?."

"Is it correct for the Prime Minister of India to say this? If anybody else in any political party had said this, he would be immediately painted as anti-national. The Prime Minister of India needs to withdraw the statement," he said.

The Congress leader said the DGMO reported that surgical strikes happened on the LoC but the Prime Minister's reference was to PoK. "While we know the Operation was in PoK, lies are never converted into facts and the ground reality is that you have tried to politicize the Indian Army," he said.

The Congress spokesperson also showed a video of the wife of BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav who he alleged has been kept in illegal detention since he put out a video of the alleged poor food quality provided to BSF jawans.

"I want to draw your attention to a surgical strike onthe dignity and honour of a BSF jawan," he said, demanding that government should launch an inquiry into the allegations of Constable Yadav.

He also said that the family of Constable Yadav should beinformed of his status and whereabouts and he should bereleased immediately from any unlawful confinement.

"PM should explain to the country why jawans are servedsub-standard food. He must apologise to the nation promising such incidents do not happen again," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said that OROP should beimplemented forthwith and the discrimination between armed forces and civilian employees should be redressed forth with including issues of equivalent ranking, disability.

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh polls 2017: 'We will put an end to gundaraj in UP' | 10 sweeping statements of PM Modi

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally in Meerut in the wake of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. While campaigning for BJP, he said that if his party formed government in the state, they will improve the law and order situation.

Let us have a look at top ten statements made by PM Modi:

# We will put an end to hooliganism in Uttar Pradesh.

# With surgical strikes, we gave a befitting reply to Pakistan.

# If voted to power, BJP will clear all dues of sugarcane farmers.# We will build homes for all citizens by 2022 and have started working towards fulfilling this vision

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh polls 2017: PM Narendra Modi rakes up surgical strikes to woo voters in Western UP

# The first war of independence occured in Meerut in 1857. Then the fight was against British, now it's against poverty.

# Despite having enough potential, youth in UP do not have proper employment opportunities

# Rs 4,000 cr was allocated to UP Govt by the center for spending on health facilities. However, they were unable to even spend Rs 250 cr for welfare of people.

Also Read: UP elections 2017: Will PM Narendra Modi be able to set the tone for BJP's victory in western UP?

# Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, it can't reach the people if the state Govt creates obstacles.

# For 40 years, soldiers were kept in the dark by the ruling forces. We implemented OROP for the armed forces.

# Uttar Pradesh gave me affection & I am trying all sorts of things for UP's progress. Although a lot of work has has been done I aspire to do more.

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh polls: Alliance with Congress is a political suicide for Samajadi Party, says Rajnath Singh

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Lucknow:

BJP leader Rajnath Singh on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Congress and Samajwadi Party while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradeshs Fatehabad ahead of the assembly elections in the state. He said that the ruling-Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has committed political suicide by entering into an alliance with Congress.

Here is what all he said:

#Samajwadi Party has committed a political suicide by joining hands with Congress

#Samajwadi Party has gone into depression

#You (SP) has compromised with a party (Congress) which itself is in limbo

#I would like to tell this to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav that ache din are not visible in the state because your government is in power

ALSO READ | Uttar Pradesh polls: PM Modi rakes up surgical strikes to woo voters in Western UP

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Islamabad:

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit is set to become the country's new foreign secretary, media reports said in Pakistan said on Saturday.

The Nawaz Sharif government has "in principle" decided to appoint Basit as the country's new foreign secretary, replacing Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry who has been designated as Pakistan's ambassador to the US, The News reported.

Prime Minister Sharif, who is also retaining the portfolio of the Foreign Affairs, has concluded consultations for appointing new administrative head of the Foreign Office, the daily said.

It is likely that the announcement pertaining to the appointment of Basit would be made next week, the report said.

58-year-old Basit is the senior most among the contenders for the top post. Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post.

Basit, who has varied experience of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, was selected for the job three years back also but could not be appointed due to technical reasons and instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi.

He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany. Pakistan will take the decision about new High Commissioner in India after Basit's return, the daily said

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Beijing:

China sharply criticised the new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday for his "amateurish" suggestion that he would encourage talks between Beijing and Dharmsala-based Tibetan government in exile apart from warning the Trump administration of "endless trouble and burden" if it uses the Dalai Lama against it.

The US should stop using Dalai Lama to create trouble for China, as it brings no benefit to the US but damages Sino-US relations, Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said. "The US government had used the Dalai Lama to create problems for China's unity and stability, which has brought no benefit to Washington while it caused damage to Sino-US relations," he said apparently referring to former US Presidents including Barack Obama's meetings with the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Reacting to Tillerson's reported remarks that he will continue to encourage dialogue between Beijing and Dharmsala-based "Tibetan government-in-exile," Zhu told state-run Global Times that it's impossible for the Chinese government to "have a dialogue" with the illegal group that is aiming to split China.

Tillerson's remarks shows he is a "complete amateur" on Tibet-related questions, he said. The US Secretary of State in a response to the US SenateCommittee on Foreign Relations, said he will continue toencourage dialogue between Beijing and representatives of "Tibetan government-in-exile," the daily report quoted thetibetpost.com as saying.

Tillerson also gave an affirmative answer to whether he would commit to receiving and meeting with the Dalai Lama, it said. Taking exception to Tillerson's comments, Zhu said the one and only sensible thing the 'government-in-exile' can do is to "dissolve itself". China in the past had held talks with the Dalai Lamarepresentatives to discuss his return to Tibet but the talkswere discontinued for several years.

Beijing has made no move for dialogues with him after Chinese President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013. Zhu said China will not change its policy to support the development of the Tibetan society, nor will the country stop protecting its sovereignty over the region. "The new US government should carefully study the policyand that its attention to the Tibet question will only bringendless trouble and burden for the US," he said.

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Tehran:

Iran has extended a deadline for bids on oil and gas projects, urging Britain's BP to join major international companies that have already applied, local media reported on Saturday.

The bidding round for exploration and production licences comes as it seeks to revive the sector, hard-hit by international sanctions that were lifted last year. National Iranian Oil Company head Ali Kardor said the deadline for bids had been pushed back to February 15, ISNA news agency reported.

He said the original late January deadline had been extended because "information from some companies was notcomplete". He said British Petroleum had still not submitted a bid. "We are interested to see more companies on the list,"Kardor said.

"BP has not sent its information to us. "Although we said this is an official process and youneed to enter your information, they haven't done it," he added. The new licensing round comes a year since a deal between Iran and world powers came into force, lifting international sanctions against Tehran in return for limits on its nuclear programme.

Iran is keen to access new technology to boost its production from fields it shares with its Gulf neighbours. In early January, it published a list of 29 companies it would allow to bid. It said it had received bids from Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, Italy's ENI, France's Total, Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil, and Schlumberger of the Netherlands.

Asian giants including China's CNPC and Sinopec International, the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration also put in bids along with companies from Malaysia and South Korea.

Oil-rich Iran has increased production to 3.9 million barrels per day from 2.6 million bpd before President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013. It has also earned more than USD 2 billion (1.9 billioneuros) from gas sales since sanctions were lifted, Kardor said. The country has already signed a flurry of deals with international companies. In November, French oil and gas giant Total signed a preliminary agreement for a USD 4.8-billion (4.3-billion-euro) project to develop an offshore gas field at South Pars, which Iran shares with Qatar.

In December, Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia's Gazprom on the development of two major oil fields. Also in December, it signed three preliminary deals with Shell to examine developing major oil and gas fields.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
San Francisco :

Top executives of across Silicon Valley have slammed US President Donald Trump's immigration ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries claiming that the move is capable of troubling their own staffers and stop bringing amazing talent to the US.

In the latest bid of opposition, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and about 1,000 of his colleagues have donated over USD 1.5 million to a leading rights group that has pledged to fight President Donald Trumps temporary ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Earlier, various other executives including India-born CEOs Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella have criticized Trump for his call on immigrants. The donation has been made to American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that has reportedly raised more than USD 24 million in online donations in the past few days.

Executives from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netflix, Tesla, Facebook, Uber and other top American companies slammed Trumps immigration order that sparked widespread protests across the US.

Initially, 925 Twitter staff pulled together a donation of over USD 530,000. That was then matched by CEO Dorsey and Executive Chairman Omid Kordestani to take the total to USD 1.59 million, TechCrunch reported, citing a company-wide email.

Tech giant Google also created a crisis fund that could raise up to USD 4 million for four immigrant rights organisations, including ACLU and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the donation and the numbers involved to the tech industry news website.

Our work is far from done. In the coming months well see a flurry of legal challenges, legislative pushes and public pronouncements. But as long as civil liberties are threatened, Im proud to know that as individuals we will stand up to defend freedom and look after people, Twitter General Counsel Vijaya Gadde wrote in the memo.

The Executive Orders humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting, Dorsey said on Twitter over the weekend. We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the US, he said.

Also, Microsoft has requested the Trump administration to ease travel restrictions on its employees affected by the executive order on immigration, visa and border security.

Trump last week signed the sweeping executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough new controls on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen as part of new measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of America.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was one of the first to address the ban publicly.

We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources..., he had written on Facebook.

(With Inputs from PTI )

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army:

T

I

P

S

1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's Army
wow...what a colossal waste of time and money this soap opera has been so far.

Bundestag politicians have instigated an Asylum Procedures Acceleration Act in a bid to speed up the process of deportation.



The German parliament has banned family reunion for two years, meaning battles to bring relatives of migrants over to Germany, as currently happens in Britain, will no longer take place.



And they have introduced a new law to allow for the easier expulsion of offenders in the case of asylum seekers suspected of committing a criminal offence.



Mrs Merkels Government says this law will allow them to identify strange behaviour of foreigners that could put them at risk of expulsion.



And they are set to digitise their immigration protocols as they implement an introduction of proof of arrival scheme to identify those who have no paperwork.



Forty-six billion: Thats the number of dollars taxpayers in Germany and across the European Union will have to shell out to deal with matters caused by Muslim migrants.Thanks, Angela: Germanys Angela Merkel and her open welcome to migrants from mostly Muslim nation is costing taxpayers big, to the tune of $46 billion across the European Union.The estimation comes by way of a report from the Federal Ministry of Finance.And the budget report also suggested its time to get Germany on a good path of sound fiscal finance.As such: (from the Express The money taken directly out of citizens hands to pay for migrants is only one side of the story. Lets not forget the effects  financially, medically, emotionally  from the crime committed by migrants.Christine Williams at Jihad Watch writes:The elites failing of the public economically was only one aspect of the migrant chaos; the citizenry has also been exposed to crime surges, sex assaults, and jihadist attacks, as well as threats of much more to come. Stemming the influx of Muslim refugees has nothing to do with lack of compassion for their suffering, contrary to leftist leaders adamant claims; it has everything to do with homeland security and stability.
Remington1 said: That would be impossible for most, they don't speak the languages of Canada, their accreditation is un-verifiable. They cannot fend for themselves; its one thing to find for adults, but many of them have 4, 5 or 6 kids in tow. We need to help them for a few years to be fair. Click to expand...

You can help them all you want with your own money. The only thing my taxes should give them is visa-free access to the Canadian labour market. Beyond that, I give to charity. The food bank's down the street next to the homeless shelter. If you don't like that, Canada should be more than willing to buy you a one-way ticket back home. I think Svalbard's on to something.If it works in Svalbard, why could it not work here? Honestly, I bet the quality of refugees in Svalbard is superior to that on the Norwegian mainland in spite of Svalbard's open-border policy. Why? Because they have to support themselves in Svalbard and don't get to enjoy any state benefits.
IKEA reportedly plans to unveil a new line of rugs and textiles made by Syrian refugees.

The project is expected to create 200 jobs for refugees in Jordan, most of them women.

CNN Money reports that IKEA is currently working with local women's organizations to kick off the initiative. The retailer says hours will be flexible to accommodate women caring for family members.

The rugs and textiles will be part of a limited-edition run in 2019 and sold locally and in select Middle Eastern markets.

Jordan currently hosts over 650,000 Syrian refugees  10 percent of the entire displaced population, says Amnesty International.

On Monday, IKEA country manager Lars Petersson wrote in a letter to employees: "We are committed to continuing to stand for the dignity and rights of everyone."

In the letter, which was published online, Petersson informed employees that the company would be offering free legal advice and mental health counseling to co-workers potentially affected by the President Trump's immigration ban.

According to CNN Money, the rug initiative predates the immigration ban by at least 90 days.

IKEA also recently developed a flat-packed refugee shelter with the UNHCR. The innovative shelter won the 2016 Beazley Design of the Year award.

The Swedish retailer just gave shoppers another reason to get lost in its warehouses.

Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.
DANBURY - In May, when Danbury was identified as the fastest-growing city in Connecticut, Mayor Mark Boughton said the challenges of growth were preferable to the challenges of decline, but they were still challenges.

A new report appears to bear that out, revealing growing pains in a city that is noted for its low crime rate, its low unemployment rate and its affordable housing.

A first-of-its-kind report, created by Fairfield Countys Community Foundation and a New Haven nonprofit, gives Danbury poorer scores than Connecticut and Fairfield County as a whole in seven out of 12 categories that measure community wellness.

The report gives Danbury low scores for having a high percentage of pre-kindergarten kids who are not enrolled in school readiness programs, a high percentage of low-income children, a high percentage of people without bachelors degrees, a high percentage of people who feel financially insecure and a high percentage of part-time workers seeking full-time work  the underemployed.

These more sensitive and nuanced measures of well-being include how people are doing on a daily basis, how they function in the world, and how they generally perceive their lives and their communities, writes Mark Abraham, executive director of the New Haven nonprofit DataHaven, in the reports introduction. Attention to well-being is particularly useful when analyzing ... perceptions of safety, certain environmental factors, access to community resources, and general optimism about the future.

Boughton, the citys longest-serving mayor and a likely GOP candidate for governor in 2018, called the report predictable, and therefore unhelpful.

To compare us in the same field with some of the wealthiest places in the United States is absurd, Boughton said, referring to gold coast towns such as Greenwich, Darien and Westport. If you want to compare us against cities our size such as New Britain or Bristol or Meriden, fine, but this data tells us something we already know: If you have more wealth, you have better health care, and if you have more college degrees, you have better jobs and more financial security.

Of the citys scores the one that most concerns a leading developer of social service programs in Danbury is the number of preschool age kids who are not enrolled in school readiness programs. The report ranks Danbury last in Fairfield County with only 53 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds going to pre-Kindergarten classes, compared to 60 percent in Stamford, 62 percent in Bridgeport and 72 percent in Norwalk.

I am very concerned about that, said Kim Morgan, the chief executive officer of United Way of Western Connecticut. The child care subsidy has been cut significantly, and it is only going to get worse with the (state) budget crisis. If we start to see problems with kindergarten readiness, that is a huge issue.

The reports researchers spent 2015 and 2016 interviewing 5,000 Fairfield County residents and another 16,000 Connecticut residents statewide, incorporating the responses with state and federal data.

The results are meant to help cities such as Danbury identify regional solutions to social problems.

One of the values of looking at this information across the region and the state is to identify needs that cant be addressed on the local level, said Nancy von Euler, the vice president for programs at Fairfield Countys Community Foundation. Part of the power of this study is bringing together people across the region whose fates are tied together.

DataHaven and the Community Foundation had planned the first public presentation about the report last week in Danbury, but the event was postponed because of bad weather. The next presentation is planned for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Stamfords Ferguson Library.

The 70-page report includes data showing

Fairfield Countys population is getting older and more diverse.

Stamford, Danbury and Bridgeport continue to outpace state and national trends for foreign-born residents.

Fairfield County has the largest income inequity of any large metropolitan area in the country.

Beyond numbers

The report attempts to understand the how conditions in the community affect people every day.

Telephone surveys asked people questions such as How happy did you feel yesterday? and How satisfied are you with your life nowadays? and How anxious did you feel yesterday?

Combining those responses with health and economic data, the study tried to show the relationship between quality of life, healthy lifestyles and economic competitiveness.

The score for Danbury was better only than Bridgeport and Stratford when it came to the reports index of personal wellbeing. Connecticut and Fairfield County as a whole scored higher, the report said.

The score for Danbury on the separate community index was better only than Bridgeport among Fairfield County communities, the report said.

The community wellbeing index was based on 12 categories that ranged from health to economic security.

One category where Danbury scored low was called walkability - a measure of how close people are to stores and cultural attractions and how well sidewalks and bike trails are kept.

Boughton observed that a downtown merchants group called CityCenter has been working to bring life back to Main Street by encouraging shops to appeal to broad customer bases. He added that the city recently received a $250,000 grant to study ways to improve foot traffic downtown.

The report also gives Danbury a low score for its share of adults with four-year college degrees. Danburys 30 percent is second to last in Fairfield County, ahead of Bridgeports 16 percent.

We do have an educated workforce trained to work in light manufacturing and high tech, but that doesnt mean that everyone has a four-year degree, said Boughton. We are not hearing complaints about the quality of our workforce, but one of the things we are hearing is companies want our graduates with two-year degrees to have more engineering skills, so that is something we are working on with Naugatuck Valley Community College and Abbott Technical High School.

The mayor said he would he would investigate why the report showed the city with the highest percentage of pre-school kids not attending a school readiness program.

I think we have more pre-K programs that are free than any city in the state, he said. That number just doesnt seem right.

Meanwhile, the United Ways Morgan said the organization is working with partners to secure a major grant for programs to help residents with language skills, child-care costs and finding transportation to work.

Danbury is a fantastic community to live and work in, and it should be our strength that we are diverse, Morgan said. While it bring challenges, these are our opportunities to be creative, because we all have a responsibility to make every neighborhood the best place to live that it can be.

rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342
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Connecticuts high school seniors can expect to face tougher graduation requirements, but its not clear how soon the standards will kick in.

In 2013, the state increased the number of credits required for graduation from 20 to 25, but each year since the implementation date has been postponed. As of now the requirement would apply to students entering the ninth grade in fall 2018, but a state committee has already revived a bill that would appoint a task force to review the rules once again.

That leaves local school officials in some suspense.

Were moving forward and monitoring graduation requirements, but were not holding our breath, said Danbury Deputy Superintendent Bill Glass.

The toughened requirements would require each student to complete a fourth year of math, a third year of science and two years of a world language, as well as completing a senior project. The rules also would increase the arts requirement from one credit of fine or practical arts to one credit of fine arts and two credits of career and technical arts.

An earlier task force has proposed a series of revisions to this plan that could still be taken up during this legislative session, said Abbe Smith, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.

That task force recommended eliminating the humanities credit, dropping one of the two world language credits and adding a STEM credit (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The recommendation would also remove the project requirement, though districts would have to make it optional for juniors and seniors.

The report was created after the task force listened to presentations and testimony from school officials and students from across the state, including some from Danbury.

As a result of this discussion, the Task Force has concluded that the 2021 graduation requirements are in urgent need of a major overhaul in order to align well with the objective of every student meeting the (State Board of Education) standards, the report states.

Glass said Danbury supports the new requirements, but he said officials are wary about the timeline for implementation, partly because Danbury High School, with about 3,000 students, is the biggest in the state.

Conceptually, were very much in favor of the graduation requirements, he said. The devils in the detail.

School officials already encourage students to take at least two years of a world language, but if the state makes two years mandatory, the district would have to hire another two or three teachers to offer the needed classes. Glass said that ordinarily wouldnt be a problem, but there arent that many world language teachers in the state and school districts would be competing against each other to hire them.

We like the idea, but the issue is finding teachers in a limited pool, Glass said.

Another challenge will be finding enough mentors to work with Danburys 700 seniors on the capstone projects, which require the supervision of faculty advisers. Danbury High has about 200 faculty members, so each teacher would have several students to mentor, Glass said.

Newtown has started working toward the new requirements by gradually adding them based on the students interests. Next years seniors will have to complete 23 credits to graduate, including a world language course, said Assistant Superintendent Jean Evans Davila.

She said many students are already taking more than the required courses, including extra math classes, and she doesnt expect the transition to the tougher state requirements to be a challenge.

We want these kids to leave with the best opportunities, regardless of what an enhancement act says," she said.

Thomas McMorran, superintendent of Redding, Easton and Region 9 schools, said he doesnt expect the new requirements to have much effect at Joel Barlow High School, where many students are already taking the required courses.

He said many Barlow students would probably exceed the 25-credit minimum because they tend to take full courses to get into college, compared to other schools where students might prefer to graduate early or enter the workforce.

Most students in [affluent] schools in general are putting together credit experience to prepare for colleges, he said.

Shepaug Valley School is the only one in the Danbury area that adopted the tougher requirements even though they are not yet mandatory. Teresa DeBrito, Region 12s curriculum director, said they ensure that students are well-rounded and prepared for college or careers.

Shepaug previously required 28 credits to graduate, but lowered the figure to come in line with the state guidelines. Few changes were needed in the mix of required classes.

They were pretty much in line with what we were doing, DeBrito said.

Increased variety in the required courses  especially the career and technical options  has allowed the school to reach more students and improve graduation rates to 100 percent. It also allows students to take more high-level courses to prepare for college and presents career options for students who would rather pursue a vocational degree or an apprenticeship after high school.

If you dont offer these opportunities, youre potentially holding students back and preventing them from being a well-rounded student, DeBrito said.

McMorran said the new requirements are the states way of ensuring every student has the same opportunity for learning.

We shouldnt only have a comprehensive college prep program in well-to-do towns, he said.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345; @kkoerting


PETER OBORNE: The unpalatable truth is that the EU is more bigoted than Trump's America

A nasty revenge against Ukip







Several salacious stories have emerged about alleged expenses fiddling by Ukip members of the European Parliament.



Im suspicious of the motives behind these claims, considering its well-known that numerous MEPs fiddle their expenses.



Indeed, Frank Antoine-Poirel, head of the EUs hopeless Parliamentary Assistance and Members General Expenditure Unit, admitted as much last year when he conceded that MEPs can claim 120,000 a year in expenses without providing real proof of how the money is spent.



Shockingly, Mr Antoine-Poirel presides over an enormous taxpayer-funded slush fund which is wide open to abuse.



So why the sudden focus on Ukip MEPs?



Theres something fishy going on. It looks as if the Brussels establishment, which loathes Ukip, is on a revenge mission.

Security headache for the Queen







Royal sources have expressed concerns to me that Donald Trumps proposed State visit to Britain will cause serious security problems. We are trying to avoid him appearing in public places, Im told. This means hell be restricted to castles  and other places  with big walls.



Certainly, Trump will visit Edinburgh Castle and Windsor. Even Arundel Castle, in a West Sussex market town with a population of just 3,000, is under consideration.



But in a major break with tradition, the President, I gather, will not be making a speech to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. Royal sources have expressed concerns to me that Donald Trumps proposed State visit to Britain will cause serious security problems. We are trying to avoid him appearing in public places, Im told. This means hell be restricted to castles  and other places  with big walls.Certainly, Trump will visit Edinburgh Castle and Windsor. Even Arundel Castle, in a West Sussex market town with a population of just 3,000, is under consideration.But in a major break with tradition, the President, I gather, will not be making a speech to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall.

By Peter Oborne For The Daily Mail 4 February 2017This week has seen worldwide outrage against President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on people entering the United States from seven mostly Muslim countries.There have been demonstrations across the globe and a petition here trying to stop the Presidents State visit to the UK has been signed more than 1.8 million times.As an observer of international politics for many decades, I believe that Trumps move to ban certain Muslims from travelling to the U.S. is inept, morally wrong and, above all, a propaganda gift to violent Islamic organisations such as Isis and Al Qaeda.That said, I am utterly appalled by the behaviour of many of those who are condemning Trump.Most egregious is the hypocrisy of the leaders of many EU countries, including Angela Merkel and her cheerleaders among the British liberal elite. Their hypocrisy turns my stomach.For the truth is that their anger over the new Presidents ban is outrageously two-faced.Let me spell out the facts. Many European politicians treat migrants  and, in particular, Muslims  more disgracefully than they are being dealt with by Trump.For example, Hungarys Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, wants to build a massive fence to stop refugees crossing into his country from the East. He calls migrants a poison that Hungary wont swallow.Why hasnt he been subjected to the kind of chorus of opprobrium from those European liberals who greeted Trumps move to tighten Americas borders? Why have fellow EU leaders not shunned Orban as a racist and a xenophobe?Instead, he is seen as a valued colleague and friend. His Fidesz party is in the same political grouping in the European Parliament as Mrs Merkels Christian Democrats. They work together at European summits, planning a common strategy.Yet this man is much more bigoted than Trump. But do we ever hear talk of banning Orban from travelling to Brussels?Was there a whisper of dissent when he visited London in November to see Theresa May? Does Nick Clegg make strident Commons speeches about the pernicious Hungarian?Of course not.The objectionable Orban is not alone. The Prime Minister of neighbouring Slovakia, Robert Fico, said last year that Islam had no place in his country. He speaks of the need to monitor every Muslim and wont let a single Muslim refugee enter his country.With other chilling views  such as describing journalists as dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes  he almost makes Trump sound like an Islington Leftie.Again, where are the denunciations of this man (who has the gall to call himself a Social Democrat) from Mrs Merkel, Labours Yvette Cooper, who this week urged the Government to have the guts to speak out over Trumps immigration ban, the liberal Left or the Guardian newspaper?I have searched hard and I cant find evidence that European leaders have ever criticised Prime Minister Fico, whose country took its turn last year to assume the EU Presidency.As for Jeremy Corbyn, despite saying he is not concerned about numbers of migrants, he (along with his fellow Socialist, President Francois Hollande of France) is a member of the same European political group as the virulently anti-immigration Slovakian prime minister.Incidentally, Hollandes criticism of Trump has been ferocious, while Corbyn has joined the clamour for Trumps State visit to Britain to be cancelled.Yesterday, I scoured the internet for any condemnation by either Hollande or Corbyn of their bigoted fellow European Socialist party leader. I couldnt find even a veiled criticism of an inflammatory man who has vowed to stop Muslims destroying the cultural identity of Europe. It is very plain that a double standard is operating.Whereas bigotry from European leaders is tolerated, Trump is demonised for fulfilling his campaign promises.True, like many, I worry deeply that Trump may make the world a much less tolerant place. But the intolerance which motivates him is at work in the European Union. And not just on the fringes. The truth is that it has contaminated countries which have had proud histories of liberalism.For example, it seems that the anti-Islam Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders  an overt and dangerous racist  will win most seats in the election in Holland next month. Although unlikely to take power, his party will become king-maker.And in April, Marine Le Pen, leader of the ferociously anti-migrant Front National and whose father was convicted over racial hatred, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, has an increasingly strong chance of becoming president of France.This widespread and odious hostility to migrants in mainland Europe is one of the main reasons (along with the EUs economic failure) why I voted Leave in last years referendum.That decision has been vindicated by the shameless double standards of many European leaders. They endeavour to make themselves look good by expressing anger about Trump. But they are hypocrites.Meanwhile, theres been a great deal of idle talk in some sections of the British media about the rise of fascism in the U.S. That may be a genuine worry. But the truth is that the rise of fascism is a far bigger threat across todays continental Europe than in America  in large part because, sadly, it is in the DNA of so many European countries.
TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2017 /CNW/ - Thousands of people are gathering at the US Consulate today in Toronto, joining actions against Islamophobia and White Supremacy taking place in cities across the country. In the wake of the tragic terrorist attack in which six Muslims were massacred and many others seriously injured while worshipping at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre and mosque, the vandalism of a mosque in Montreal and Trump's hateful policies banning Muslims and refugees, demonstrators will march to a federal courthouse demanding action from the Canadian government.

"We can't just speak to our values. We have to act on our values," said Walied Khogali, a Toronto community activist and one of the protest organizers. "Standing up for Canada means telling our friends south of the border that their policies are xenophobic, Islamophobic and they're making Canadians less safe."

In less than a week, over 150 organizations have endorsed the National Day of Action against Islamophobia and White Supremacy. Civil society across the country, from national unions that represent teachers, postal workers and other professions to student associations and environmental groups, have united to combat hate.

Hussan Syed, organizer with No One Is Illegal Toronto asserts that "Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Hussen are prioritizing platitudes over policy. If Canada is serious about standing up to Trump, it must start with opening the borders to migrants and refugees. It must start with revoking the Safe Third Country Agreement, the Designated Country of Origin list, caps on sponsorships and allowing for special humanitarian consideration of applicants coming from the US as well as an end to Islamophobic laws here."

Demonstrators are calling on the government to:

Condemn Trump Open the Borders End Canada's own racist, anti-refugee, anti-Black, Islamophobic exclusion of migrants and refugees Canada must rescind all federal legislation that attacks racialized Black and Brown Muslims and refugees, including the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act as well as anti-terror legislation such as Security Certificates and Bill C51

The Trudeau government has to date refused to make policy changes in response to the legalization of Islamophobia in the United States. The violence in Quebec shows that Canada is not a safe place for Black and Brown Muslims and refugees. Demonstrators say that Canada must take action to prevent serious hate crimes and allow migrants the freedom of movement.

Jeewan Chanicka, community activist and educator believes that, "It is imperative for our politicians to take a decisive stand and support the most vulnerable members of our society."

Over 150 organizations have issued a joint statement against Islamophobia and Deportations signing on to the demonstrators' goals.

SOURCE National Day of Action against Islamophobia and White Supremacy Organizing Committee

For further information: Walied Khogali - 416-625-7712 (Cell); Hussan Syed - 416-453-3632 (Cell); Jeewan Chanicka - 416-419-1660 (Cell)
we all remember that fake news doo-goody bullsh!t awhile back eh...well...good times are a comin'. be nice to see thse clowns go bankrupt.WASHINGTONA Russian-tied tech firm named in a controversial dossier containing uncorroborated allegations about President Donald Trump and the hacking of Democratic National Committee email accounts announced late Friday that it has filed defamation suits against the online news site BuzzFeed, its editor in chief and a former British intelligence agent.The lawsuits were brought by XBT Holdings, a Cyprus-based company owned by Russian tech magnate Aleksej Gubarev. Lawyers for his firm filed complaints Friday in London against the former spy and his company, and against BuzzFeed and its editor in chief, Ben Smith, in Broward County Circuit Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where XBTs subsidiary Webzilla is headquartered.The dossier included libelous, unverified and untrue allegations regarding XBT, Webzilla and Gubarev. The lawsuits seek yet undetermined compensation for the damages suffered by XBT, Webzilla and Gubarev as the result of the publication of the dossier, a statement said.New York-based BuzzFeed Inc., which published the dossier in full on Jan. 10, wasnt alone. Former spy Christopher Steele and his company Orbis Business Intelligence in London were named as defendants in the London suit.In a statement to McClatchy, BuzzFeed spokesman Matt Mittenthal said Friday night, We have redacted Mr. Gubarevs name from the published dossier, and apologize for including it.Steele is a former British intelligence agent who conducted opposition research on behalf of Trumps political opponents from both major U.S. parties. The dossier, which was shared privately with reporters, lawmakers and law enforcement, exploded into the national debate after FBI director James Comey presented it to President Barack Obama and then President-elect Donald Trump.Among other things, the document alleged, without corroboration, that the Trump campaign had worked with the Kremlin on penetrating Democratic National Committee computers. The dossier alleges XBTs involvement and names Gubarev, saying he cooperated with Russian spy agencies under duress.more
The Google Word Lens app is now available in Japanese. Youll never have to worry about taking a wrong turn on a busy Shibuya street or ordering something you wouldnt normally eat.

The Google Translate app already lets you snap a photo of Japanese text and get a translation for it in English. But its a whole lot more convenient if you can just point your camera and instantly translate text on the go. With Word Lens, you just need to fire up the Translate app, point your camera at the Japanese text, and the English translations will appear overlaid on your screeneven if you dont have an Internet or data connection. Its every savvy travellers dream.

The instant translation feature Word Lens has support for Chinese and with Japanese now translate about 30 languages. Word Lens can translate both Simplified and Traditional Chinese to English, or the other way around.
Barely three days after my story entitled Exposed: How the UK Conspired to convict Ibori, Gohil, others  Govts Role, appeared in the Weekend Vanguard of 28 January 2017, the BBC on 1st February 2017 confirmed one of the most damning disclosures there.My expose showed how the British Government, acting through the DfID, had been in contention with Chief James Onanefe Ibori over the control of V-Mobile shares. I gave this back grounding: At the centre of this conspiracy is the British governments aid agency  the Department for International Development (DfID). To the world, it provides British monetary support for humanitarian aid and projects in impoverished counties. Yet, as its role in the Ibori case shows, its agenda is however political. In the Ibori case/s, the British government used these aid funds as a political tool against Ibori and to support its political agenda and undermine Nigerian sovereignty.Then I dropped the bombshell: To begin at the beginning; It will be recalled that since 2005, DFID funded the entirety of the Ibori, Gohil and linked prosecutions; with 16 million going to The Proceeds of Corruption Unit.This week Wednesday, Mr. Mark Easton, BBCs Home editor, published James Ibori: Nigerian ex-governor challenges UK conviction He wrote: In 2005 the Department for International Development funded a special police unit inside Scotland Yard to go after corrupt African politicians.Its prime target was Ibori. Its aim: to get him into a British court and convict him for corruption. The UK government spent years and millions getting Ibori out of Nigeria and into a British court in one of the most expensive and complex police investigations undertaken.And showing that the hunters have become the hunted as the Ibori case has turned against the Police, the BBC report added: Last year, after repeatedly telling judges there was no evidence of police corruption, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) admitted they had found substantial material that supported the allegations.There exists intelligence that supports the assertion that [a police officer] received payment in return for information in respect of the Ibori case, the CPS admitted.The officer in question has always denied taking bribes and internal police investigations have previously exonerated him. Details of how Scotland Yard tapped phones and conducted covert surveillance on a number of officers in the unit investigating Ibori emerged for the first timeUnfortunately for DfID, it did little to cover its tracks. Once Ibori was arraigned, it never bothered to arraign any other politically exposed person. Also, the claim that the special Police Unit it funded lavishly with 16 million was for African-wide operation was a ruse; it has not cast an eye at any other country apart from Nigeria or at any other person.Yet, the BBC report repeated the lies the media had heaped on Ibori owing to media manipulation, calculated disinformation and misinformation. Mr. Eastons report claimed: Ibori was believed to have laundered large sums in the UK, just part of hundreds of millions of dollars it was claimed he had embezzled from the Nigerian people.On a state salary of just 4,000 a year he had bought a fleet of luxury cars and expensive properties. He was also looking to buy a private jet.This nonsense that a governors salary was Iboris only source of income from 1999 to 2007 has been at the heart of the Ibori London and Asaba trials. And that has been the most crucial media manipulation and court-misleading both the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the British Police and Prosecution did against Ibori.The British Police and Prosecution both knew that Ibori had other sources of income, such as an oil service company called MER Engineering but chose to mislead both the court and the public. Page 14 of the 44-page charges filed by the London Metropolitan Police, against Ibori in court, item 81, on MER Engineering states: MER built houseboats, which were rented out to oil workers in the Delta. It was Ibori who was able to influence the contracts with Chevron and Shell and the NNPC, Item 83: It was MER money that paid for the Ibori property in Hampstead, Westover Hill: Count 5. Item 84, It was MER money that paid for the house Ibori bought in Houston Texas. Item 85, it was MER money that paid for the deposit for the $20 million Challenger Jet airplane that Mr. Ibori was in the process of buying when his monies were restrained by the UK courts.Yet, weeks before Ibori was sentenced, EFCC arrested and questioned one Dr. Babalakin on the charge that he helped Ibori launder money, using the account of Babalakins company. EFCC said Ibori never tried to buy a Challenger jet but was only helped to launder money by pretending he was buying a jet. I replied that the EFCC was lying because it had known for years that Ibori actually invested some money in a registered air-charter company for a jet that would be used commercially, but the world has been deceived that Ibori had bought, or was in the process of buying, a private jet. And didnt Prosecution state in court that Ibori had invested only $4million on that aircraft  money from MER Engineering?I wrote then: Adding the $4 million for the jet to the $6 million for the properties, sums that came from MER Engineering, brings the entire sum in contention in the UK to $10 million. If you make allowance for police exaggeration of property costs, you would have a sum that is below $8 million. It is a huge amount but it is nowhere near 50 or 250 million Pounds that were bandied about. And the monies came from MER Engineering accounts. Also, I dont want to go into the amount of the travel and overnight allowances that Ibori was paid during his eight-year tenure as Governor.Now, see court-misleading at work as I had pointed out before!. On item 175 of the same court charges against Ibori: By the time he was into his second term of office as Governor of Delta State, James Ibori had defrauded Delta State of such large sums of money that he was planning to buy himself a private jet aeroplane costing $20 million. Is this not the same plane for which Mr. Babalakin was arrested, and EFCC said he was laundering money for Ibori in the guise of buying a plane? Item 183: MER had an account at Barclays bank in Knightsbridge. The Money went from the oil companies straight out of Nigeria and into MER account in Barclays. And that too is a crime? Item 29: Mr. Ibori used money defrauded from the people of Nigeria to buy a property in Houston in Texas  only to see in Item 84, It was MER money that paid for the house Ibori bought in Houston Texas. Iboris many sins for which he was convicted included this terribly grave crime: Item 34: In addition to his millionaire life style, Ibori called himself HIS EXCELLENCY, a title not recognized by the constitution.For the source of this commotion, remember that former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu accused some oil majors of helping Ibori launder money over the same MER Engineering contracts, claiming that MER Engineering had no contracts at all with those oil companies. He was simply preparing the grounds to make this deliberate falsehood stick. And such nonsense even found its way into the Financial Times of London of November 16, 2007 story, Probe into Chevron and Shell payments written by Michael Peel and Dino Mahtani. It stated that Anti-corruption investigators are probing payments by ChevronTexaco and Royal Dutch Shell to a company owned by a powerful Nigerian politician they suspect has laundered tens of millions of dollars in British banks, property and cars.James Ibori, who was governor of Delta State until last May, is being investigated by British and Nigerian authorities over sums he is alleged to have accumulated during his years in office.A UK court affidavit seen by the Financial Times says there is reasonable cause to believe Mr Ibori bled money from his oil-rich state and bought assets including a $20m jet, houses in London and Dorset, and a 406,000 ($595,460) armour-plated Mercedes-Benz from a Mayfair dealership.The document says police are examining 2.3m ($4.7m) of payments made over the past three years by ChevronTexaco and the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into a dollar-denominated Barclays account in London held on behalf of MER Engineering, a company owned by Mr Ibori.The affidavit says the purportedly legitimate payments were for the rental of two houseboats for oil workers, although it suspects the transfers were corrupt payments rather than in exchange for legitimate services. So the Police knew as far back as 2007 that Ibori earned money legitimately apart from his salary as Governor. Yet, even the BBC towed reported their lies ten whole years later.That is the source of the commotion. Ribadu and the British Police never wanted anybody to know that Ibori had other sources of legitimate income. And this nonsense continued even after the FT wrote this Chevron confirmed it had hired two houseboats from MER, but declined to give more details. It said it believed it had complied with anti-corruption laws. Shell said MER was on its register of approved contractors. It declined to elaborate on the amount and type of work done by MER.NNPC said it never paid bribes. That was written in 2007.So what was the conclusion of Nuhu Ribadus investigation? On October 19, 2007, Sahara Reporters wrote: Documents available to Saharareporters paint a picture of how former Governor James Ibori of Delta State used international collaborators, offshore shell companies and local assistants to BUY a Bombardier Challenger jet from Bombardier Aerospace Incorporated, Canadas leading private jet manufacturing company. Total hogwash! So, where is the jet parked today?No wonder Iboris understatement : I have been unfairly treated, thats all I can say, Mr Ibori told the BBC, confirming that he plans to appeal against his conviction for money laundering.Yes, I am, of course. I have made that decision personally and I have instructed my solicitors.What lawyers had thought impossible became possible in the Ibori case. Tuesday, 02 February 2010 Daniel Elombah of elombah.com, a lawyer, analyzed the Ibori London case and concluded: Without original evidence, without the predicate crime, and relying on inference alone, the battle to secure the conviction of Ibori at all cost seems a lost cause. Well, he spoke too soon; without adducing any evidence whatsoever of any monies lost by Delta state, and proving same beyond every reasonable doubt, the London prosecutors got judgment against Ibori when a Judge agreed the case should be decided on inference and inference alone and so no burden of proof weighed down on the prosecution at all, no matter how wild their claims could be. But Justice Marcel Awokulehin of the Federal High Court Asaba, rested his judgment on the prosecutions failure to establish of prima facie evidence of guilt against Ibori. And Ignorant Nigerians have been condemning that judgment without knowing the planks on which it rested; proof beyond all reasonable doubt as against inference alone  relied on by the London court.
What business pays between N500,000 and N1million per night? Oil cooking. That is it. To the uninitiated, oil cooking means the refining of crude oil through improvised means, a widespread operation around the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The business, SaharaReporters observed, provides young, able-bodied women access to copious sums of money. In a village we visited in the Niger Delta region, young men spend the daytime sauntering around. At night, they are busy, usually behind their homes engaged in illegal refining of crude oil also known as Oil Cooking.An illegal refinery operator, who goes by the street name, Scorpion, said illegal refinery operators are in the business because they have families to feed and other needs to meet."Desperate times call for desperate measures. This business we do is to keep body and soul together and feed our families, he said.The business, which Scorpion said is dangerous but lucrative, gives operators money based on what they invest."The money we make depends on the size of the "pot" (constructed tank). There are pots you can build with about N300,000. Such a pot can give you like 200 liters. Sometimes, we sell as between N500,000 and N1million worth of crudely refined fuel per night, he said.Scorpion contested the claim of the Nigerian Navy, which said it seized stolen crude oil worth N420billion in 2016. According to Scorpion, there is no way in the world in which the Navy would seize that quantity of crude because security agents collaborate with villagers to steal crude and sell off to illegal refinery operators.Scorpion said he does not steal crude, but gets supply from those who do, an indication of the division of labor."Me no get access to crude. Somebody supplies, another brings it to me. My own is to cook it and send it to market," he told SaharaReporters in halting English.Scorpion disclosed that the security agencies are half-hearted in the discharge of their duties.According to him, they go after illegal refinery operators only when the feel like impressing their bosses.Another operator, who gave his name as Saturday Nuate, said the military constitutes a danger to their business, but operators think the profits compensate for the danger. He also argued that the business is a way of getting recompense from the Nigerian state, which has treated oil-producing communities like conquered territories. "We have many oil wells in our locality, yet we don't have anything from the government. We have no pipe-borne water, no electricity. We are just left like that. In order to survive, God has given our youths a way to do crude oil refining business our families are happy, he told SaharaReporters. 
Zimbabweans have reportedly been urged to donate at least 150 cattle towards President Mugabes upcoming birthday on February 21. According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, this year's birthday bash organisers said they aimed at raising at least 150 heads of cattle to feed about 100 000 guests.A Zanu-PF lawmaker Never Khanye said that the donations were voluntary, but that large-scale farmers in Matabeleland South, where the celebrations would be held, must donate a cow each to show appreciation of the long-time leader.Chipanga was last month quoted as saying To us, February 21 is not just a day. To us, it is a special day we treat in the same manner Christians treat December 25, the birthday of Jesus Christ. I don't want to be blasphemous, but in my humble view, President Mugabe is second to Jesus Christ. He is our saviour, so his birthday means a lot for us the youths of Zimbabwe. News24 reports.
About 15,000 youths are expected to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari from his vacation in the UK.

About 15,000 youths are expected to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari from his vacation in the UK.The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), says it has mobilised the youths to meet Buhari at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.President Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria on February 6, following the 10-day vacation.Malam Gambo Jagindi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of NYCN, Murtala Gamji, said:The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has concluded arrangements to mobilise not less than 15,000 of its members to be at Abuja airport on Feb. 6, to welcome President Buhari from vacation.It is on record that integrity, discipline and honesty are gradually returning to our public life unlike in the past when impunity was the order of the day. We all know that they do not have the interest of our country at heart and are only wishing to carry on with the looting of our treasury in the absence of our president."He noted that in spite of the corrupt mafias working to undermine the anti-corruption war, Nigerian youths under NYCN would continue to support Buharis laudable programmes.
The former Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori who was released last month from prison in the United Kingdom (UK) has arrived in ...





The former Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori who was released last month from prison in the United Kingdom (UK) has arrived in Nigeria.Ibori whose flight landed in Abuja some hours is said to be on his way to his hometown, Oghara in Delta state.Ibori was released from British prison in December after serving half of his 13-year sentence, taking into account pre-trial detention.What happens in African politics  you are in it until you die, Ibori told Reuters in London on Tuesday.I am a politician, I will always be a politician. I play the politics in my party and in my country for the good of my people, he said after a court hearing, part of ongoing legal proceedings in his case.Asked if he would run for office again, Ibori said he was barred from doing so for 10 years because of his conviction, but that he intended to appeal to have that conviction overturned.The appeal would centre on an allegation, made by one of Iboris former associates, that a British police officer had taken bribes in return for inside information on the case before Iboris conviction, and that prosecutors had covered it up. British police say the allegation was investigated, resulting in no arrests or charges.The state prosecution service says material supporting the allegation exists and it initially failed to disclose that to Iboris defence team, but it is confident Iboris conviction remains valid. Court proceedings are ongoing.
A fake doctor who allegedly performed an illegal abortion of a six month pregnancy in Akute, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State has b...

A fake doctor who allegedly performed an illegal abortion of a six month pregnancy in Akute, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State has been arrested.The crime was uncovered by a supervisory team of the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) while monitoring the level of compliance of the re-validation and registration exercise of health facilities in the State.Chairman of NANNM, Roseline Solarin who disclosed this during an interview added that the fake doctor was also discovered to have organised a graduation ceremony for a fake nurse.She, however reiterated the readiness of the professional body to lead the fight against quackery in the health sector.This particular suspect conducted a graduation ceremony for a fake nurse. Let me assure that the NANNM is now fully ready to cooperate with the State Government in the fight against quackery in the State health sector.Any nurses or doctor found practicing without the prerequisite certificate would be arrested and prosecuted Solarin said.While commending the state government for taking bold steps in fighting quackery in the health sector, Solarin lamented that fake doctors and nurses are gradually taking over the profession but warned that anyone caught practicing without the prerequisite certificate would be prosecuted and shown the way out of the system.Reacting to the development, thedeclared that government was ready to combat quackery in the health sector to a standstill, expressing regret that a large number of unsuspecting members of the public had been victims of this practiceIpaye declared that the state would not be a comfort zone for quack health personnel, warning that any health facility caught operating with fake documents or not having the new approved signboards by the state government would be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the state.I want to urge members of the public to always patronize approved health facilities that have signboards with the new colour and coded number, which can offer them better and qualitative health care services.The Governor has mandated officials of the Ministry to arrest and prosecute anyone found operating facilities with fake documents Ipaye said.To send the right signal in this direction, over 60 illegal health facilities were shut down in different parts of the state during similar monitoring exercises in 2016.
Anyone planning to join the anti-government rally planned by Nigerian music star, Innocent Idibia popularly known as Tuface Idibia will be...

Anyone planning to join the anti-government rally planned by Nigerian music star, Innocent Idibia popularly known as Tuface Idibia will be protected and free to do so.Thats the assurance from the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, in reaction to an earlier report of a police ban on the protest.He told Politics Today on Channels Television: This Commissioner of Police did not at any time say a rally cannot be held. The CP is not the convener of the rally.Its the people that are planning the rally that can decide based on advisories as to whether they need to go on with the rally or not.I must emphasise here that the policing philosophy of the Inspector-General of Police that he has set out is for us to ensure that our policing conforms with international best practices, with observance of rule of law and of course to know that we are in a democracy.Mr Owoseni said that the organisers and the protesters are free to exercise their fundamental human rights by engaging in the planned peaceful protest expected to take place in Lagos and some other major cities of the nationIf they must exercise their rights, ours is to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order.We are assuring the members of the public there wont be any breakdown of law and order. Everyone in Lagos will be able to go about his or her business without hindrance, he promised.He added that both the planned pro and anti-government protests would be given the needed police protection without any breakdown of law and order.Pro (or) anti-government rally, the Police will ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order and that we manage it properly.This is not the first rally. There was one last month when another group marched from Yaba at the NLC secretariat to Ojota and it was done peacefully and well managed.We will continue to make sure that whoever wants to express his or her opinion does that under a peaceful atmosphere.
Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti state, has referred to himself as an authority in politics, based on his years of active participa...

Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti state, has referred to himself as an authority in politics, based on his years of active participation in Nigerian politics.Speaking in an interview with PUNCH, the governor said he owes no apologies for his actions and decisions because they are always in good faith.Fayose said he would continue his objective criticism of the government while reminding anyone who cared to know that he remains the longest serving governor in Nigeria.Many have been silent now for the fear of the unknown. Im the longest serving governor; I served under former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo; Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari. So Im an experienced governor. This is why when I say things, they happen like that. Most of the things I say happen.Some people in the APC are praising me for saying the truth always. They cant talk. Courage is a virtue from God. Fearlessness is a virtue from God. If you dont want to die, why are you a governor? People only want the benefits of the office, not the pains of office. I have nothing personal against anybody: I speak my mind and let the devil be ashamed.Im not their mate when it comes to politics: Im a professor of politics. Im an authority.Fayose said his courage is not fueled by the diplomacy he enjoys as a governor and that those waiting for him to complete his tenure would also be out of office someday.May I tell you that anybody that waits for me negatively to complete my tenure would not be in the office at the time. Anybody waiting for my downfall would be swimming in more troubles that time. My name is Peter, The Rock, he said.When questioned about Buruji Kashamus reaction to his emergence as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors forum, Fayose chose to show maturity so as to avoid further trouble in the party.I will restrain myself from saying things that would further cause troubles within the party. I want to show maturity.If Senator Buruji Kashamu has anything against that, he should go to court. He knows how to go to court.I dont want to go to the senate, so when they are talking in the senate, Buruji Kashamu should pay attention to it and not issues of governors. It is in the wisdom of governors, Fayose said.The governor said he has seen no good in the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.When asked if he would work for Buhari given a chance, he replied in the negative, emphasising that his loyalty will always lie with the PDPNigerians were seeing me as somebody who didnt see anything good in President Buhari, but today the economy has been run aground. I have said it several times that you cannot give what you dont have. The economic situation of the country at present is as a result of the body language of the president..There is nobody who would call me, Ayo Fayose, a mole or an agent of destabilisation in the Peoples Democratic Party. There is no way I could be linked to any political party apart from the PDP. I have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that Im a committed party member.The president does not have an economic team and does not listen to advice. Whatever they decide in his clique, they foist it on the nation. At present, there is nothing sustaining the economy; the economy is sick because the managers of this economy are under the palpable fear to do what the President wants and not what is right.The governor also spoke about his role in foiling the plan of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest Johnson Suleman, the cleric who was accused of inciting his followers.Why should they visit the man of God at 1am? What kind of wickedness is that? Do they want to kill him? Let them come if they want to invade the Ekiti state government house. They should come and take away their police and DSS if they want to. I dont care.On the rally proposed to hold on the expected day of the arrival of the president, Fayose said, I never said I would join the protest. I only said I support the protest. The planned protest is not against any political party; it is an advocacy for good governance.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari will return to the country from his vacation in the UK on Sunday.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari will return to the country from his vacation in the UK on Sunday.According to reports, Buhari will be received at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport by top government officials tomorrow."There are no indications yet that he will not be back on Sunday. If he will not return, he would have communicated to the National Assembly. Since he has not done that, then he is expected back," a Presidential source reportedly said.He is expected to resume his presidential duties on Monday.
An Iraqi couple has named their new-born son, Trump Ajil Ajil Musheen in show of appreciation that the United States provided Medical care...

An Iraqi couple has named their new-born son, Trump Ajil Ajil Musheen in show of appreciation that the United States provided Medical care for their son  Duboreen  who in a fire accident lost his nose, lips and most of his face damaged.Duboreen is being taken care of in the United States by a kind stranger. His parents are in Northern Iraq. After Duboreen's fire accident in Iraq, a British agency arranged for Duboreen and his father to travel to a Children hospital in Boston for treatment. After series of operations, Duboreen was well, and could feed from the bottle again.While Duboreen was receiving treatment in US, his father could not wait any longer because his wife was about to give birth in Iraq. He left him in the hands of a kind stranger to watch after him, and that he would be back.Duboreen's little brother was born day after US elections, his parents were grateful that the United States had provided medical care for their child.According to the father, he said: 'we wanted to show appreciation to America for what they are doing to our son, that's why we named him Trump.''Despite being initially approved in January, Duboreen's parents visas were revoked. They are in Iraq, while their son is in the US. Iraq is one of the 5 muslim-majority countries banned from entering the United States for 90 days.His father said: ''They didn't give us visas because they thought we were going there to stay. We wanted to finish our son's treatment, and then return home. ''More information about this story, WATCH VIDEO:
The left-wing group that helped organize the violent shut down of the Milo Yiannopoulos event at the University of California, Berkeley on Wednesday is backed by a progressive charity that is in turn funded by George Soros, the city of Tucson, a major labor union and several large companies.The Global Alliance for Justice, based in Tucson, is listed as an organizer and fiscal sponsor for Refuse Fascism, a communist group that encouraged left-wingers to shut down the Yiannopoulos event.The call to arms succeeded. Yiannopoulos talk was cancelled after demonstrators lit fires, vandalized businesses, and assaulted Donald Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters.Refuse Fascism, which includes Princeton professor Cornel West as one of its founding initiators, defended the response, issuing a statement on its website that called the shut down righteous.And on its Facebook page , the group asserted that the vandalism and arson were not violence. Instead, the group argued that Yiannopoulos and Trump perpetrate violence through the policies they support.Dismantling police fences is not violent. And to compare preventing someone like that from speaking to the real-world violence that they perpetuate everyday is ludicrous, reads one post on the groups Facebook page.
Opponents of a proposal to weaken minority filibuster rights on Friday cautioned their largely Republican rural colleagues to consider the fact that rural senators are gradually becoming more of a minority in the Nebraska Legislature.

Be careful what you wish for, Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus warned his fellow Republicans in the nonpartisan Legislature who live outside the steadily growing Omaha-Lincoln metropolitan complex.

Urban vs. rural disagreements about education funding, roads, distribution of University of Nebraska funding and competition for other resources will be some of the issues that may need strong filibuster protections to guard rural interests, Schumacher suggested.

Rural senators ought to be concerned about protecting minority interests, Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln said.

The filibuster is an important tool for all of us to use, he said.

The division in the Legislature is not just between senators who are Republicans or Democrats or between conservatives and liberals or progressives, a number of senators agreed.

At issue is a proposed change in the filibuster rule authored by Sen. Tyson Larson of ONeill that would require the vote of at least 20 of the Legislatures 49 senators to be able to continue debate on legislation once a cloture motion has been filed to end a filibuster.

The current rule requires that at least 33 of the 49 senators would need to vote for a cloture motion to end debate.

The practical impact of the proposed change would be to increase the threshold of senators required to sustain a filibuster from 17 to 20.

And that change is aimed at the minority of senators who are Democrats or who do not fit the conservative label.

The Legislature adjourned for the weekend with the Larson motion pending and a Tuesday deadline for adoption of permanent rules in effect.

A number of senators said they are prepared to debate rules for the remainder of the session if thats what will be needed to guard current filibuster protections.

Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha noted that earlier proposals to change filibuster provisions already have been rejected by the Legislatures Rules Committee.

Lets not be like Washington, Sen. John McCollister of Omaha said in supporting the current filibuster rule.

Unfortunately, he said, hyperpartisanship seems to be invading this body.

Larson and McCollister are Republicans; Morfeld and Harr are Democrats.
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.
Anna Houvenagle wants to conquer a mountain. And shell help a lot of people along the way.

The Council Bluffs woman will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in early August. Shes currently working to raise $1,500 for Compassion Internationals Water, Sanitation and Hygiene  or WaSH  initiative.

The climb is part of a Compassion Trek organized through the charity.

Were raising money for their WaSH campaign: water, sanitation and hygiene. It provides access to clean drinking water, properly dug latrines and hygiene education, said Houvenagle, 29. Most of us have access to that every day. People often dont think about it, about people in other countries have issues with access to clean water. People forget about the issue. You need something big to bring people back to the problem of water.

Houvenagle added, Climbing Kilimanjaro is an attention-grabbing thing to bring attention back to the real problem.

The mountain, the tallest summit in Africa, is 19,341 feet high and will take six days to climb.

Im really excited about seeing the view, she said of reaching the top of the dormant volcano.

Houvenagle faces a two-day trip to reach Tanzania. The trek will be the 2006 Thomas Jefferson High School grads third trip to east Africa.

Most of the people Ive met are very friendly, very welcoming, she said.

She spent a winter term in Tanzania while pursuing her degree at the University of Iowa in 2010. In 2014, she spent six months in Kenya with Silver Cord Ministries of Minnesota, working with area seniors on a variety of health education issues.

We work on the basic stuff  what Alzheimers is, dementia, diabetes, she said. In that part of Kenya, the elderly dont necessarily get the help they need.

Houvenagle is a sponsor of a Ugandan child through Compassion International. The faith-based organization works to ensure children have access to education. Through her involvement with the charity, Houvenagle learned about the Compassion Treks and Kilimanjaro piqued her interest.

She said her time in Kenya showed her how critical the need for clean water is.

In slums across the world, theres not a lot of good, safe places to get water from. Sanitation is non-existent in areas, she said. When I went to Kenya a man didnt have an outhouse so he was going in his house. It was a mess. It wasnt safe for him to live in his house.

The money that I raise for this trip will go toward that  wells for fresh water, education on wow to keep yourself clean, why its important to wash your hands. And information and help in digging latrines for toilets.

Houvenagle is a classroom associate at the Heartland Family Service Therapeutic School on Ninth Avenue in Council Bluffs, where she works with lower-functioning students on life and vocation skills.

Houvenagle said climbing the mountain is a chance to raise money for a good cause and to also prove something to herself (and others). She noted a negative leader in Kenya who told her, that Im not a self-starter, that I wont amount to a whole lot.

Im looking forward to be able to say I did this, she said.

Houvenagle is currently at $100 of her $1,500 goal for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene campaign, details are available at goo.gl/zfWzO3. Houvenagles Go Fund Me to help cover the cost of the trek is at goo.gl/WQB9uV.
Left Canton Iowa 4 Oclock AM April 24th, 1864. Arrived at DesMoin City at 10 PM Monday May 9th.

Camped by a pond near an encampment with others.

Stampede of horses at night.

The diaries of John and Margaret Tomlinson recount the couples trek by wagon from Canton, Iowa, to the gold mines of Montana in August 1864. Four months earlier Montana had become a territory of the United States.

Some expected to make their fortunes panning for gold. John Tomlinson, who became known as the mill man, was bringing machinery to build a saw mill. He hoped to set up his business on the Yellowstone River and supply lumber for construction of boats to carry men and supplies up and down the river.

The Tomlinsons joined up with a wagon train. Thats when they saw their first prairie dogs and buffalo herds. Wolves howled at night as they camped along the Nebraska bluffs. During the daylight hours, they passed markers with the names of men, women and children who had died before reaching their destinations.

Encountering a band of Native Americans, the travelers accepted the chiefs invitation to assemble into a circle and pass a pipe. Margaret was fascinated with a beaded cape worn by one of the Indian women.

Entries in the Tomlinsons diaries mention Margaret suffering from an illness. I was quite sick. Dr. Hull sent medicine, she wrote on June 14. There was no mention of what ailed her, but the birth of her first child in April 1865 meant she was probably in the first few months of her pregnancy as she made her way across the prairie in the ox-drawn wagon.

At one point in the journey, two women were almost killed when fighting dogs incited a horse stampede. The wagon train decided to break into two different groups. The one for dog owners was called the dog train. The Tomlinsons wrote that there were no hard feelings over the situation.

When the Tomlinsons reached their destination on the Yellowstone River in Montana Territory, they and other Iowa emigrants began to build a town they named Yellowstone City. They built cabins out of logs, with layers of pine poles, topped with soil and grass as roofs. The floors were bare dirt, sometimes carpeted with fresh elk skins.

The settlers quickly enacted written laws. But they revised them almost every day. The new laws offered ample protection for the women of the settlement. Any man who dared insult a woman was dealt a terrible punishment.

The nearby mines became known as Emigrants Gulch. Although the gulch was reported to be rich in gold, huge boulders made it almost impossible to mine. It was not easily accessible by pack mules, and men ended up carrying their provisions on their backs. Those who were lucky enough to find gold worked all day for $6 per man.

The mining season ended on Oct. 20, 1864, when ice formed in the sluice box. The miners headed into Yellowstone City. The winter of 1864-65 was a long, hard one. There were few supplies in the only store. And everything was expensive. A 96-pound sack of flour went for $28. Coffee cost $1 per pound, tea was $2 per pound. Tobacco was $5 per pound. The settlers paid carriers 37 cents for taking a letter from Yellowstone City 100 miles to Virginia City.

At one point there were two saloons in town, but one located in a tent had to close its flaps. Nobody wanted to drink there because the owner didnt offer 40-rod whiskey.

The whiskey got its name from miners who said it could kill a man from 40 rods. Some said it took its name from a unique recipe: 40 gallons made from one gallon of good whiskey mixed with strychnine.

No one got very rich at Emigrants Gulch. They could never overcome the problem of the huge boulders that blocked the miners access to the gold. As one miner put it, Theres plenty of gold, if you could only get it.
A Council Bluffs man faces charges after he suffered an injury caused by a gunshot while trying to steal from a home.

Just 10 p.m. on Thursday, Adam Daewood, 34, was confronted while he was trying to steal from a property in the 900 block of Second Avenue, according to the Council Bluffs Police Department.

The occupant of the home, Gauino Gutierrez, came out of his house and confronted Daewood while armed with a small-caliber rifle, police said. Gutierrez fired two shots in an attempt to scare Daewood.

Neither round struck the suspect, but Daewood suffered a leg injury because of either a bullet or concrete fragments ricocheting up and hitting him, police said.

After being treated at a local hospital, Daewood was arrested on suspicion of fifth-degree theft and criminal mischief. Daewood remains the Pottawattamie County Jail on a $650 bond.

Gutierrez was cited for discharging a firearm inside city limits.

 News Editor Mike Brownlee can be reached at (712) 325-5732 or by email at mbrownlee@nonpareilonline.com.
Two complaints on the case of blogger Alexander Lapshin will be filed in the Supreme Court.

February 4, 2017, 09:36 Two complaints on Lapshin case to be filed in Belarus Supreme Court

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: As Lapshins lawyer told NEWS.am, the day before she had a meeting with his client, during which the details connected with complaints were discussed.

Two complaints, on behalf of Alexander Lapshin, and on behalf of his lawyer will be submitted, the lawyer noted.

According to her, the defendant honestly believes that he did not commit the alleged offense:

He expressed his opinion as a journalist and blogger, which fully complies with the principle of freedom of speech.

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.
Our soldiers know this feeling all too well. Perhaps you have experienced it too. You are in a far off place with no one familiar around you, and then you see it and experience an instant feeling of connectionan American flag. At that moment, the flag is more than a piece of cloth with colored stars and stripes. It is an enduring symbol that expresses a deep unspoken narrative about who we are as a people and about the ideals that unite us as a nation.

If you ask people what America means, most would say freedom. Yet this word freedom is so overused we have forgotten its essential meaning. Most properly understood, freedom is the ability to do what one ought, to take responsibility for oneself, ones family, ones community, and, by extension, ones nation. Freedom is not a detachment from responsibility, to do whatever you want. That self-destructive idea erodes freedom, resulting in not only the loss of oneself but the degradation of community.

We often reflect on what it means to be an American when discussing immigration. America has long offered the hope of freedom for immigrants yearning to work for a better future for themselves and their families. To those tempest-tossed, to those tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, America lifted its lamp beside the golden door. Implicit in this world-wide welcome, was a basic compact that those who came here, however arduous their journey, must undertake the responsibilities of citizenship.

In fact, Americas very survival as a beacon-handed land requires those who immigrate to assimilate and adopt the values proposition that makes our country unique in the history of the world. Those values include respect for others, acceptance of law and order as a prerequisite for the orderly functioning of society, and the desire to participate constructively as a citizen. Those who refuse to assimilate or reject these time-honored values take advantage of the sacrifices and hard-fought gains of generations of Americans who have built, and often died for, what we cherish and share. This is fundamentally unfair and an abuse of freedom itself.

Individual freedom is achieved most fully in community. When the government and interest groups see freedom merely as the functional meeting of material needs, it undermines the social dimensions of freedom, which are rooted in authentic human relationship. Conversely, the proper amount of government provides protection and creates the guardrails for individuals to flourish together, generating meaning for persons and communities. The right political approach in America can restore that golden mean.

There is a story of a man talking to his young son. He said, Son, see that beautiful home on the hill there? One day, if thats your hearts desire, if you work hard enough and are patient, if you do what is right, you could have such a home. Another man in another country talking to his young son took a different approach. He said, You see that big mansion on the hill there? If you work hard enough, if you stay focused, and if you position yourself rightone day you can get that guy.

Our country is not based on envy. It is based on respect and responsibility. To make America flourish againpolitically, economically, and culturallya restoration of this ideal is necessary to create the conditions for a true and lasting freedom.
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 ...
The National Ebola Training and Education Center, a partnership between three academic hospitals in the U.S. including the University of Nebraska Medical Center, has doubled its funding to expand services for health care professionals treating patients with highly infectious diseases.

The $12 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded to the center in 2015 was doubled to $24 million, UNMC said Friday.

Led by UNMC, Emory University in Atlanta and NYC Health and Hospitals in New York City, the center has trained 840 health care workers to care for patients with diseases like Ebola using safe methods.

Doubling the grant will allow the center to perform additional site visits, expand education and training and build a special pathogens network that will work with the 10 regional Ebola treatment centers spread throughout the country.

Dr. Chris Kratochvil, UNMCs associate vice chancellor for clinical research and a vice president for research at clinical partner Nebraska Medicine, said the new network will lay the groundwork for rapid research when a new disease outbreak occurs.

Its not if, but when, because its only a matter of time before another outbreak like Ebola happens, Kratochvil said in the release. When Ebola hit, UNMC, Emory and other institutions were all independently trying to determine the best drug for treatment. It was inefficient  we werent using the same protocols and there was no consistency to the research.

Now we can all collaborate to develop medical countermeasures together, he added.

Dr. Bruce Ribner, medical director of the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit at Emory University Hospital, said the grant money will train more health care professionals and help the center partner with more researchers.

We are excited to expand our knowledge base to better prepare the public health and health care infrastructures for the next outbreak, he said.

The new research infrastructure will be in place by summer, Kratochvil said, which should make research more efficient because of the expansion of shared resources.
Just days ago, I drove my cousin Carole and myself to the famous Fort Worth Stock Show. While there, we met and shook hands with the famous Gunsmoke actor Buck Taylor, who portrayed Newly in the series. I am a native Kansan, and Gunsmoke portrayed the early-day cow town of Dodge City, Kansas. To that, Buck and I chuckled at the irony that fate had us meeting each otherin Texas. Recently, Buck finished a Home On The Range documentary near Smith Center, Kansas, which added to the connection.

Buck Taylor was in the Stock Show parade, but he was also showcasing his second career in life: his beautiful paintings of classic cowboy artwork.

So many people idolize actors for their role; I dont necessarily. I admire their character roles; but I especially admire actors and actresses more who live good, decent, honorable lives in the real world. No actor should be a role model merely by acting. They should only be a role model if their character, home life and morals are high and beyond reproach.

Buck Taylor grew up knowing actors such as John Wayne, Tex Ritter and Chill Wills. Those actors are gone, but Buck Taylor reminds us of the value of remembering our history and the sacrifices our pioneer ancestors made for us. At age 78, Buck exemplifies the Best of the West.

James A. Marples,

Longview, Texas, with family in North Platte
More than 25 past and present Indigenous rugby league players, including members of this year's men's Indigenous All Stars team, have come together for a two-day camp, heralding the start of a week long celebration leading up to the 2017 Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars match on Friday 10 February.

Indigenous All Stars players including Greg Inglis, Dane Gagai and Jack Wighton gathered at Manly's Quarantine Station in Sydney Harbour on Saturday, as part of what has become a traditional part of the lead up to the annual All Stars fixture.

The group spent the day together, learning about the significance of Indigenous culture and its place in Australian history, with sessions from guest speakers, including Stan Grant, Linda Burney and Chris Sarra dedicated to leadership, belonging, cultural heritage and identity.

Indigenous All Stars captain, Greg Inglis said the annual gathering of Indigenous players helps everyone involved in the week develop a better connection to Indigenous culture.

"This week not only provides a significant and positive impact on the players involved, but the wider community and the importance of Indigenous history, the people and our culture," Inglis said.

"While we'll be doing everything we can as a team to win next week, and encourage everyone to head to Newcastle to cheer us on come Friday, the most important result for us as a group is to best represent our family, people and culture, both past and present, as leaders on and off the field."

Former NRL Indigenous layer and current NRL Ambassador, George Rose said this week remains his favourite week on the Rugby League calendar each year.

"This is without question the best, most important week, for Indigenous Rugby League players to go out show the world just how amazing they are," Rose said.

"There's a wonderful amount of pride on display throughout this whole week and I can't wait to see it come to the fore on Friday night."

This is the fifth Indigenous Players camp, with this year's camp focussing on the importance of connecting with Indigenous history and culture, as well as developing their progression as leaders and role models within the community.

The Indigenous All Stars and World All Stars men's teams will officially head into camp in Sydney on Monday 6 February, before heading up to Newcastle and the Hunter Region for a series of community visits.

Tickets to the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars are on-sale now and can be purchased via Ticketmaster and AllStars.NRL.com.
Raiders recruit Jordan Turner has been so impressed with the rugby league vibe in New Zealand that he wants to see the Auckland Nines concept expanded to include Super League clubs, or, if possible, the UK to host its own Nines event.

The 28-year-old said he was thrilled to finally be a part of the tournament he had heard so much about, and lamented the fact it didn't receive enough exposure in the UK.

"I've always been a big watcher of the NRL so I've always been aware of it, but because there hasn't been a lot of coverage back home, I haven't seen too many highlights," Turner told NRL.com.

"It's a concept that I'm really excited to play because there's nothing like this back in the UK. It's something you can look back on at the end of your career and say that you got to experience a weekend in New Zealand and play an exciting brand of rugby league."

Such is Turner's excitement that he hopes to one day see the UK adopt a similar competition for Super League sides, or, at the very least, send a few teams down to Auckland to build rugby league's global brand.

"I heard a couple of years ago that they were thinking about putting an English team into this tournament," he said.

"I know it would be tricky with teams releasing players and having to travel across the world, but I think it would be a great concept for some of the English players to come over and experience this.

"It would help build the Nines profile back home and maybe we could see something similar down the track."

In what is his first trip to NZ, Turner said he had already fallen in love with the country and its people.

The Raiders, Rabbitohs and Eels visited Manurewa in Auckland's south on Thursday evening to meet and greet diehard fans from the local community. The experience resonated with Turner whose love for rugby league grew when professional players back in the UK visited his school.

"I love going to new countries and experiencing different cultures. The New Zealand culture is quite distinctive and it's great to finally meet and mingle with the locals because they seem like a great set of people," he said.

"It takes you back to when you were a kid. When I was younger I appreciated when the professional guys would come down to visit us. It meant a lot then, and I'm sure it will stay with these kids today for a long time. It keeps us players grounded and reminds us where we come from."
BOGOTA, Colombia  Colombia's police have arrested an Indiana man wanted on charges of attempted murder tied to a 2012 bank robbery.

Twenty-four-year-old James Cole was arrested Thursday in the western city of Medellin and will be deported in the coming hours. Authorities say he was in Colombia illegally and pretended to be a language student at a local university.

Cole and a partner are accused of holding up at gunpoint a First Merchants Bank near Muncie in 2012. During the robbery, he is accused of firing shots at a police officer.

Elkhart 14-year-old charged as an adult with murder

GOSHEN, Ind.  Court documents say a 14-year-old charged as an adult with murder had fired gunshots at the victim's house in retaliation against a girl who lived there.

A judge entered a preliminary not guilty plea Thursday for D'Angelo Honorable of Elkhart. He was waived into adult court last week in the Nov. 30 shooting death of 34-year-old Teketa Hixson of Elkhart.

Documents say Honorable threatened the teen girl after an argument with her. They say he fired four shots, including one that struck Hixson.

Elkhart Circuit Judge Michael Christofeno ordered Honorable held without bond at the Elkhart County Jail.

If convicted of murder, Honorable faces between 45 and 65 years in prison.

Court records don't list an attorney for Honorable.
* The latest installment in our special report on Indiana's infant mortality rates focuses on Daviess County (population 32,407) in southwest Indiana. Health officials there were recently shocked to learn the rural county had the highest infant mortality rate in the state from 2010 through 2014.

Also part of Sunday's installament, when a family loses an infant at Daviess Community Hospital, the first person they often meet is Sarah Morrison, an OB-GYN nurse who counsels families after losing a baby herself. She also runs an infant loss support group in Daviess County.

In this series, reporter Giles Bruce examines why babies die in Indiana at a higher rate than most other states and what is being done to change that fact.

This project was undertaken with the support of the National Health Journalism Fellowship, a program of the Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California.

* A Hammond woman and her Nigerian husband share their love story. Read about the long-distance blessing in Lifestyle.

* Be sure to look for $224 in Sunday coupon savings.
Daniel Fredrickson of Dixon, Illinois, recently celebrated his 22nd birthday.

He had the usual items, like a dinner and cake. But his main treat to himself involved driving more than two hours to Ogden Dunes and Chesterton to photograph trains.

"I've been interested in trains my entire life," he said.

For Fredrickson, it all started when he was a baby on a day his grandparents took him to a railroad crossing to see a train pass by.

"I'm told I shot out of my seat with my eyes wide open," he said. "But it was me embracing the moment and I was clapping my hands. It's just a fascinating industry that keeps changing all the time."

Dixon is a town more than 100 miles away from Northwest Indiana, and Fredrickson isn't the only one willing to take the long drive to come to the Region. While local residents may experience frustration while stopped by the numerous trains in the area, railroad photographers from the Midwest and beyond see it as a prime spot for their craft.

"It's one of the busiest bottlenecks of railroads in the country," said Drayton Blackgrove, of Jackson, Michigan. "I know people that have driven seven hours just to spend an afternoon watching trains. You can see 200-plus trains within a 30-mile radius."

Jackson is a town south of Lansing, Michigan, and Blackgrove occasionally makes the drive to Northwest Indiana for photographing trains. Indeed, the Region has many freight and commuter lines passing through, such as CSX through Dyer or Gary, Canadian National through Munster and Highland, Norfolk and Southern through Whiting, as well as the South Shore. Just over the state line there's the multiple Metra rails and other freight lines in and around Chicago and its suburbs.

Blackgrove became interested in trains because of ties to the railroad in his family history, such as his great grandfather that lied about his age as a teenager to become a locomotive fireman on the Southern Railway in Georgia, according to Blackgrove.

Its role in U.S. history is also of interest to him, such as its function for the Union during the Civil War, or its transportation of goods and people out West during the 19th century.

"Railroads are really what allowed America to become the greatest country on earth," Blackgrove said. "Without the railroads our country would look a lot different than it does today. A locomotive is the closest thing mankind has created to being a living, breathing thing. It has a soul."

Blackgrove does a mix of video and photography of rail lines. He has a website and YouTube channel titled 'Delay in Block Productions,' where he receives around 400,000 views on new videos regularly. The channel had such a large following, YouTube allowed him to become part of its partnership program, and the money helped him pay for college, he says.

It's an artistic niche with a huge following. There's conventions and groups, such as the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and the Center for Railroad Photography & Art in Madison, Wisconsin. The magazine 'Trains' regularly features photography as well as a photo contest each year. Photographers also may like to make numerous equipment investments, such as Blackgrove who has a video camera, GoPro camera and drone to film as well as a scanner to monitor railroads' radio signals.

However, it isn't easy. There's long drives, tracking the trains and waiting for them as well as trying to get a quality photograph or video.

"You're looking at things that are stationary and moving and putting it into a theater of constant change with mother nature," Todd Halamka of Chicago, Illinois said. "I wouldve gotten bored if it was something that was fairly easy."

Halamka has taken railroad photography for five years and likes to try and get photos at night or during dawn and dusk. He's also an architect and likes to photograph in and around cities, including NWI, to capture that connection between cities and railways.

"You can tell a great deal about an urban place or city by going to its main train station," he said. "Its fundamentally influenced by its rail transportation in and out of the city. The combination of industry and railroads is a treasure trove of opportunities to photograph."

For a noncompetitive side and for those that just simply want to watch the trains pass by, there's specialty hotels across the country, such as Riley's Railhouse, a bed & breakfast in downtown Chesterton. The establishment is approaching its sixth birthday, and has four rooms for guests to stay in: two in the building and two in railroad cars adjacent to it. The lounge can even be rented out for events.

Guests come from as far away as Germany and Ireland, and there's even live cameras on the sides of the building people can access, according to Maria Eicke, a manager at Riley's Railhouse.

"What I like is meeting people from all over," Eicke said. "It never ceases to amaze me on the wide age range."

"It is fascinating to see such a network and so many different aspects of that network coming together," Blackgrove said. "I have friends from all over the country that I otherwise wouldnt have met without this hobby. The trains are what bring us together."
HAMMOND  Federal prosecutors want to keep Lake County's top cop unarmed.

A defense attorney for Sheriff John Buncich petitioned a U.S. District Court judge last week for the return of the weapons he surrendered last year when he was charged with fraud and bribery.

The U.S. attorney's office responded Friday the sheriff hadn't been using a gun before his indictment and doesn't need one now.

A federal grand jury indicted Buncich Nov. 18 on felony fraud and bribery charges alleging he solicited and received campaign contributions from towing firms seeking business from county police.

Buncich is pleading not guilty and awaiting a trial, now scheduled to begin as early as April 10.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry has released Buncich on bond under the condition he surrender any firearms and not possess while awaiting trial.

Bryan M. Truitt, who is defending Buncich, argued last week Buncich has served 40 years in law enforcement and has won election as sheriff four times since 1994, "needs his firearms to carry out his employment."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip C. Benson said the government opposes their return.

"During the almost three-year investigation of this matter, at no time did agents ever observe Buncich carry a firearm on his person," he argues.

The judge has yet to rule on the request.
Steve Meyer, Porter County adult probation chief officer, is among 61 county officials from across the state calling on Medicaid officials to reconsider coverage of the sublingual film version of the drug Suboxone, which has posed a contraband problem at jails and prisons.

The group is hoping to win backing for the change from the Indiana Family & Social Services Administration Therapeutics Committee, which is meeting Friday morning.

The tiny, paper-thin version of Suboxone is particularly easy to sneak into jails and prisons between people and through the mail as it can be hidden under stamps and in book bindings, according to a letter the group wrote to the director of the state's Medicaid program.

The Suboxone sheets also can be liquefied and added to nearly any material to become undetectable.

"To address this influx we have had to deploy precious manpower and resources to oversee our mail operations and tighten security around visitations  further stretching our limited resources," the letter states.

Suboxone is a drug used to treat opiate addiction. The sheets are similar in appearance to the Listerine-brand breath strips.

According to the group's understanding, Medicaid buys millions of dollars of the sublingual drug each year. The demographics of the inmates and their families suggest that many are Medicaid eligible, "which could be a key source in the rising level of film contraband we are experiencing," the letter states.

Medicaid officials are called upon to consider limiting the drug to formulations that are not as prone to become contraband.

"Please know we did not experience high contraband issues with buprenorphine prior to the release of the Suboxone film in Indiana," according to the letter.

The Porter County Sheriff's Department said it recently broke up a smuggling effort involving the film, which was selling for $100 each.

William Merriweather Jr., 46, of South Bend, faces a felony count of dealing a controlled substance.

Aaron Myers, 36, and Randall Madaras, 26, both with addresses of the jail, are charged with a felony count of aiding in the dealing of a controlled substance, according to court records.

LaPorte resident Amber Malstaff, 32, was charged in December with a felony count of trafficking with an inmate based on allegations of attempting to smuggle the sublingual drug into the county jail by hiding it within the binding of a book.

The Westville Correctional Facility reported that it had caught the mother of one of its inmates attempting to smuggle the same form of Suboxone into the prison Jan. 14.

Polly Smart, of Huntington, Indiana, was caught with 50 small strips believed to be Suboxone in sealed packages, officials said. She faces felony counts of attempted trafficking with an inmate and possession of Suboxone.

The Lake County Jail employs two full-time officers to screen incoming and outgoing mail and has not had a problem with Suboxone, sheriff's department spokesman Mark Back said.

A spokesman for the LaPorte County Jail could not be reached to comment on whether officials there have discovered problems with the drug.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A lot of politics is about the basics, and in Congress that means answering the phone. By that measure, life on Capitol Hill in the Trump era is a struggle.

Whether constituents are calling to request congressional flags, get help with a local issue  or, more likely, to register their support or displeasure with the latest move by President Donald Trump  these days they are more likely to get a busy signal or voice mail than a live human.

It's especially true for Republican senators responsible for ensuring confirmation of Trump's Cabinet, including divisive picks like billionaire Betsy DeVos to lead the Education Department.

Dropped calls mean angry voters, so lawmakers across the Capitol, from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to the most junior senator working out of a temporary basement office, are scrambling to handle the surge.

When a local radio host asked McConnell about Trump's controversial edict on refugees on Wednesday, the Senate's top Republican first made sure his constituents knew he was taking care of business.

"I appreciate many Kentuckians sharing their comments and for their patience with the jammed phone lines," McConnell told WHAS AM radio host Terry Meiners. "I might suggest to people who've had that experience, the best way to contact me is online."

Senate officials won't confirm just how many calls are flooding congressional offices, but it's a lot, as people take to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to urge a tsunami of calls. A spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York, citing Senate officials, says calls have averaged 1.5 million a day this week.

Word has also gotten around that calls are a better way to get a message to lawmakers than emails.

Opposition to DeVos, driven in part by teachers' unions, is responsible for much if not most of this week's surge.

"Over 3,000 people have contacted me opposing her. I have had 20 people contact me who support her. In fact, the phones are ringing off the hook," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. "The phone system is shut down. There are some senators who aren't even answering their phone because they don't want to hear it."

"I have heard from thousands, truly thousands, of Alaskans who share their concerns about Betsy DeVos," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in citing her opposition to the nomination. "They have contacted me by phone, by email, in person."

The surge of calls has led Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., to install software that provides limitless voicemail capacity. Staff aides use caller ID and know to pick up Nebraska calls first.

And senators are taking to social media to offer alternatives. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., tweeted a link to an email for comments and promised, "I assure you that our team is working diligently to respond to your calls and messages."

It doesn't hurt for the senators to occasionally pitch in themselves, as Steve Daines, an irrepressibly upbeat first-term Republican from Montana, did on Tuesday.

"It was Montanans calling in. I remember Missoula, Bozeman, Butte. ... It's always good to pick up the phone and sometimes it surprises the caller  they're not expecting the senator to pick up," Daines said. "It's really important to listen and have a civil, thoughtful conversation."

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., is in the political crosshairs as the only Republican from a state carried by Hillary Clinton last year facing re-election in 2018. His office tries, against the odds, to have an intern or junior staffer answer each call live, which is impossible right now.

Heller took to Twitter to explain: "We are experiencing heavy call volumes in all our offices. Staff is answering as many as possible. Please continue calling to get through."

Social media seems to be a big part of the surge, as people openly post and share telephone listings not only for lawmakers' Washington, D.C., offices but telephone numbers back in their states and congressional districts.

"I'm certainly seeing a lot of my teacher friends on Facebook who are politicized in ways that they never have been before," said Keith Barton, a professor of education at Indiana University who's had limited success in getting through on the lines of freshman Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind. "People who would have had liberal opinions, who might have liked something, but who now are writing and calling and emailing  things that they never would have done before. It's been very striking just how politicized these middle-of-the-road kind of people are."

"They're putting office numbers on the internet and social media," said Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn. "In some part this is a protest against the Trump administration and confirmation of some of the nominees."

While it's the Republicans under siege right now, Democrats are soon to face an effort by conservative groups to gin up calls backing Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, federal Judge Neil Gorsuch.
NAIROBI, Kenya  A Sudanese woman who wore pants in public was fined the equivalent of $200 but spared a whipping on Monday when a court found her guilty of violating Sudans decency laws.

The woman, Lubna Hussein, an outspoken journalist who had recently worked for the United Nations, faced up to 40 lashes in the case, which has generated considerable interest both inside and outside Sudan.

Mrs. Hussein vowed to appeal the sentence and even walked into the court in Khartoum, Sudans capital, wearing the same pair of loose-fitting green slacks that she had been arrested in.

Manal Awad Khogali, one of her lawyers, said the judge hearing the case had called only police witnesses to testify and refused to allow Mrs. Hussein  who had pledged to use her trial to bring attention to womens rights in Sudan  to defend herself.
Californias 1,100 miles of coastal beaches, many with soft sand and great waves and fun piers, are among the states greatest assets, destinations for locals and visitors alike.

But new research shows that for many Californians, the beach is out of reach.

While the beach itself is intended to be free or inexpensive, ancillary expenses and social barriers often make it tough for low-income residents to enjoy a day on the sand.

This week, legislation was introduced in Sacramento aimed at fixing that problem. If passed, Assembly Bill 250 would direct the state Coastal Conservancy to develop new, low-cost accommodations and improve existing affordable accommodations, with the goal of making a trip to the beach more accessible for families that dont have a lot of money and might have to travel far.

Its heartbreaking to see lower-income families and middle-class families who never have seen the beach or enjoyed waking up to the sounds of tides and the salt in the air, said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, who introduced the legislation Monday.

Its heartbreaking for me because its such a part of the California experience.

The bill comes days after researchers at UCLA released a study that details how travel costs and lack of affordable accommodations prevent low-income families from going to the beach.

The average travel cost for a one-day visit to the beach was $22 (not including parking or food), according to the study. And an increase of $15, researchers found, could force many families to skip the trip altogether; that amount is typically eaten up by parking and day-use fees. Staying in beach towns costs an average $605 for a four-day stay, and three-quarters of the 1,100 people polled said an overnight stay was unaffordable.

In addition to showing why some people dont go to the beach, the study  conducted last summer at beaches from Ventura County to south Orange County  also found who goes to different beaches, with questions focused on family income and demographics.

The least racially diverse of the 11 beaches studied were the Doheny and Strands beaches in Dana Point, where nearly 80 percent of the visitors were white. Less than 1 percent of the visitors at Doheny were African-American.

Those beaches also drew the wealthiest visitors, with 82 percent reporting household income of $50,000 or more.

Huntington State Beach was slightly more diverse, with 54 percent of its visitors white and most of the rest Latino and Asian. About two-thirds of visitors had household income of $50,000 or more.

Conversely, the majority of visitors to Dockweiler State Beach in the South Bay were nonwhite, with 63 percent Latino and 16 percent African-American. Nearly half of the visitors reported household income of less than $50,000.

And on the sand in Redondo Beach, 47 percent of visitors were white, and 40 percent were Latino. More than a third of those visiting Redondo Beach earn $50,000 or less.

If the beachgoers look different at different beaches, researchers say, a variety of issues are at play, including cost, self segregation and amenities such as fire rings and RV spaces, which the report said attract different groups of people.

We believe its a combination of factors, said Jon Christensen, a researcher at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA who co-authored the study.

There are historically patterns of visitation and discrimination  where people feel theyre welcome (at some beaches) and where they might not feel as welcome (at others), Christensen said.

The research found that among key demographic groups, African-Americans generally were less likely to visit a beach, with about a third of those polled saying they get to the sand less than once a year.

Christensen said a legacy of discrimination that prevented African-Americans from using public pools and beaches continues to play a role.

This is a very real issue and a real concern, he said.

Effie Turnbull Sanders, 44, a lawyer and a member of the California Coastal Commission, grew up as a competitive swimmer. By the time she was swimming for UCLA in the 1990s, she noticed that the swimmers and the fans mostly came from the same white background.

I was keenly aware that kids of different socioeconomic backgrounds didnt make it to the beach, even if they lived only 10 miles away, she said.

There are efforts to change that. Nonprofits such as the Oakland-based Brown Girls Surf push to promote surf culture among women and girls of color.

Turnbull Sanders said transportation is a problem, so the Coastal Commission is partnering with Caltrans to help get more young people to the beach. The state agency also is working to lower beach parking fees and create more beach camping and low-cost accommodations, both of which are important for people who live hours from the coast.

Though many Californians are prevented from visiting the beach, in part because of the cost, most have a relationship with the ocean. Up to 94 percent of California voters said in surveys that the health of the ocean and beaches is personally important.

People across all of these demographic categories  want the same thing when they visit the beach: clean water, clean sand, a place to relax and enjoy the scenery and a place for their kids to play, Christensen said. People at the beaches, though they look different, they all want the same things by and large. Thats true even across income. The beaches are still these great democratic spaces.

For Daniel Ordaz, 56, who recently strolled the Huntington Beach Pier while visiting from El Paso, Texas, seeing people from different walks of life was part of the draw when he lived locally as a teen.

Thats why I came, Ordaz said. To see the diversity here.

Contact the writer: lawilliams@scng.com
DANA POINT  Speaking on what would have been his late sons 48th birthday, former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday made an impassioned plea to hundreds of health care industry representatives to waste no time in preventing the loss of life resulting from medical errors and cancer.

Biden addressed participants at the fifth annual World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit organized by The Patient Safety Movement. The Irvine-based nonprofit operates with the goal of reducing deaths caused by preventable medical errors to zero by 2020.

The biggest challenge, whether its preventing errors or preventing cancer deaths, is to change the culture, Biden said.

When his son Beau, a decorated Army veteran, learned he had terminal brain cancer and was undergoing treatment in 2015, there was no data sharing among the companies that manufactured the CT scan machines and other devices that tracked the progress of his treatment, Biden said.

We need a sense of urgency about this, and we need to be unwilling to postpone, he said, using the same words former President John F. Kennedy used about putting a man on the moon.

Beau Biden died May 30, 2015.

Joe Biden spoke at length about the accomplishments of the Cancer Moonshot initiative, a charge President Barack Obama gave him during his final State of the Union address.

Joe Biden detailed the momentum that had been generated through the initiative, including creating a sense of urgency in cancer research, calling for enhanced prevention and screening efforts, engaging patients as partners in research, sharing patient health information and expanding access to care and new treatments.

The Patient Safety Movement now thrives in 43 countries encompassing 3,526 hospitals, 2,856 in the United States said founder Joe Kiani, who is also CEO of Irvine-based medical technology company Masimo Corp. Kiani said in 2016 the movement saved nearly 69,000 lives, a number reported by the hospitals that have some of the safety initiatives in place. The goal for 2017 is to save 150,000, he said.

To be a part of something that will save 150,000 lives? he said. Thats meaningful.

More than 200,000 people die annually in the U.S. as a result of medical errors.

Kiani said one of the ways in which The Patient Safety Movement is accomplishing its goal is by getting medical technology companies to share data. Seventy companies have pledged their commitment to patient safety, including Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences, which joined this network Friday, he said.

Data sharing allows doctors to monitor and observe patient trends based on information ranging from lab tests and X-rays to vital signs, Kiani said.

With all the data available, you could assess if an infection is about to occur or if someone is going to have a heart attack, he said.

Bidens presence at the summit is important not just for this event but also for the cause of patient safety, said patient safety advocate Vonda Vaden Bates, whose husband died in 2012 after he suffered a blood clot following brain surgery.

There has been a lot of galvanization of leadership in this area, which is critical to make a change of this magnitude, she said.

Bates said when her husband died, she and her family received no answers from the hospital about why or how it happened.

Now, as an advocate, Id like to see us create a mindset where there is more transparency and a willingness to admit it when an error has been made, she said. But thats extremely challenging because who really likes to admit theyve made a mistake?

Biden ended his address optimistic and hopeful.

Im absolutely convinced that we can change the face of cancer as we know it even if we cannot cure it, he said. I see the day when patients get the right therapy the first time. I see when prevention is effective, care is personalized and there are fewer side effects.  The one thing we desperately need is hope.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@scng.com
ARCADIA  The board said 33-1.

The directors of the board of Champagne Room knew different.

The week before the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies race, Champagne Room was working at Santa Anita, as was Hoppertunity, the veteran 4-year-old. Champagne Room is pretty exuberant anyway, so she decided she wanted to join in.

She pushed it pretty hard with Hoppertunity, which was not in trainer Pete Eurtons game plan. But maybe that was the first sign.

The morning of the race, Eurton and his daughter Britney, who is an on-camera commentator for TVG, found themselves in Gary Stevens box. You dont use your own box on Breeders Cup weekend, she explained. Stevens and Beholder had just won an unforgettable duel with Songbird the day before. So this could have been the lucky box, Britney said.

Champagne Room, still fighting off the terrible twos, was in the No. 6 post position. She could load late. Eurton liked that, and now Mario Gutierrez got her out free and clear and running.

My dad was behind me and started yelling, Just have enough left, Britney said, Thursday morning at Santa Anita. She did, and we later thanked Bob Baffert (Hoppertunitys trainer) for letting us run with him.

Sharon Alesia, one of the owners, was there. Whenever her horses come in first, Eurton calls her, and they say, Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

There were toasts, too, involving Chivas on the rocks. The story there is Frank Alesia, the character actor who appeared in beach-blanket movies and was the director of Laverne & Shirley, among others. He died at 65, and that was his favorite drink.

On Sunday, Champagne Room tees it up in the Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita, one of the first stops on the 3-year-old trail.

The favorite will be Unique Bella, Jerry Hollendorfers filly. Hollendorfer also trains Songbird, and Unique Bella has similar flash and speed. But this race is a mile, with two turns.

Over there in that barn they think she might be another Songbitrd, Eurton said, but there are still some questions to answer. If she handles two turns like she handled one, they might be right.

Champagne Room had won the Sorrento Stakes and competed respectably in her other three races. The win didnt come from thin air. But it was Eurtons first Breeders Cup victory, and she became her first Eclipse Award winner.

Emotions crested all around. In 2014 Eurton had Dance With Fate, a 2-year-old who won the Blue Grass Stakes and wound up in the Kentucky Derby. Dance With Fate fired the way the Eurtons knew he would, and he had a bead on California Chrome until Commanding Curve boxed him in.

In June, Dance With Fate was working out at 5:30 a.m. when he bolted and crashed into a fence at Del Mar. The ligaments in his right rear leg was torn so badly that he couldnt be saved.

Think of the memories he could have given us as a 4- or 5-year-old, said Britney, who doesnt discuss this easily, 30 months later. He took us places wed never been. You never get over that.

Three years later, Eurton himself had a scary crash landing, also at Del Mar. He was on a riding pony when a renegade horse came by, snatched Eurton with his teeth, and threw him into the track. He needed two surgeries for the hematoma on his back.

That was scary, but he drove himself to the hospital, Britney said. He probably missed about three days. Thats the way these trainers are. They have work to do so they do it. If they have to have surgery, they schedule it for Monday or Tuesday, when the track is closed.

Britney got a business degree from USC but she was set on acting, and spent two years at a conservatory in Santa Monica. She was making her way, doing commercials, when she visited the track one day. A TVG executive suggested she audition. Her blend of authenticity and TV command isnt commonplace.

I still think about acting, she said. But maybe I enjoy being myself more than I enjoy being someone else.

Its hard for me to explain how special it is to have her around so much when Im working, Pete said. I have to think were closer than a lot of fathers and daughters.

Britney says Unique Bellas talent is freaky, and maybe Champagne Room would be better off meeting her later.

But you cant pick and choose, she said. You have to face her sometime.

Sure. Every day in this game is a dance. Sometimes its a fete.

Contact the writer: mwhicker@scng.com
In his much acclaimed speech at the Davos World Economic Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping proclaimed the importance of globalization and free trade for lifting people out of poverty. China is a prime example: Since the reform movement began in 1978, living standards have increased dramatically and China has become the worlds largest trading nation and second-largest economy.

President Xi told world leaders, We must remain committed to developing global free trade  and say no to protectionism, which he likened to locking oneself in a dark room. While Mr. Xi should be applauded for promoting the benefits of globalization and free trade, his rhetoric does not match the reality in China. It is true that the Middle Kingdom has come a long way in liberalizing its economy and opening to the outside world since the dismal days of Mao Zedong, but that progress should not divert attention from the fact that socialism, not market liberalism, is at the core of the Chinese Communist Party.

At the Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress, in November 2013, it was made clear that the cadre must hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, follow the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, and adhere to Mao Zedong Thought  in addition to Deng Xiaoping Theory. Since that time President Xi has consolidated power, slowed liberalization and, in preparation for the major Party Congress later this year, made allegiance to Party principles paramount.

The truth is that while China has increased economic freedom, it has protected the Partys iron grip on power and suppressed freedom of expression  there is no free market for ideas. Without such a market, the Chinese people are subservient to the state and their range of choices limited. Thus, the lack of a free flow of information and competition in the market for ideas hamper human and economic development.

The absence of a market for ideas in China reveals that President Xis embrace of free trade and globalization is largely a pretense. His anti-protectionist rhetoric is belied by his protectionist and nationalistic actions, grounded in the very nature of a one-party state. The actions of the CCP against free speech are well known. In the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters without Borders, China ranked 176 out of 180 countries, only three ranks above North Korea  and things appear to be getting worse in preparation for this years Party Congress.

Most recently, the prominent free-market advocate Mao Yushi was censored for criticizing Zhou Qiang, chief justice of the Supreme Peoples Court, for his campaign to delegitimize the Western ideas of an independent judiciary and the separation of powers. Mao, one of the founders of the liberal Unirule Institute of Economics and a recipient of the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, has long suffered under the watchful eyes of the authorities. His books have been banned and the Beijing Municipal Cyberspace Administration has closed two of Unirules websites.

In addition, the cyber police have gone after virtual private network services that allow users to circumvent Chinas Great Firewall. Locking individuals out of Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will only isolate them from the global economy and further empower the state.

Instead of treasuring open discussion and independent thought, Chinas leaders fear criticism and competition. Yet protectionism in the idea market is a major threat to Chinas future. It deprives individuals of their freedom and places them in the dark room that Mr. Xi warns against.

The late Nobel laureate economist Ronald Coase and his coauthor Ning Wang concluded in their book How China Became Capitalist, When the market for goods and the market for ideas are together in full swing, each supporting, augmenting and strengthening the other, human creativity and happiness stand the best chance to prevail. Xi Jinping is correct to support free trade and globalization, but to be taken seriously he must also end destructive protectionism at home  not only in the market for goods but in the even more important market for ideas.

James A. Dorn is a Senior Fellow and China specialist at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
VALLETTA, Malta  European Union leaders pledged Friday to slow the movement of African migrants crossing the Mediterranean in an often deadly bid to escape war, chaos and poverty.

A record 4,579 people died last year along the Central Mediterranean route  typically while trying to reach Italy from Libya. This year, as of Thursday, 254 people have perished along that route.

With hundreds having already lost their lives in 2017 and spring approaching, we are determined to take additional action to significantly reduce migratory flows along the Central Mediterranean route and break the business model of smugglers, the leaders said in a joint statement in Malta.

The blocs leaders met as anxieties mounted about President Donald Trumps comments disparaging the EU. Frances president, Francois Hollande, said Trump should not interfere in the life of the European Union.

National leaders, Hollande said, should think of their future as being first in the European Union, instead of focusing on their relations with the Trump administration.

The leaders agreed on a plan that would increase support and training for Libyas coast guard, and give African countries more aid to discourage the paying of smugglers to undertake the perilous maritime journey.

European leaders said their goal was to save lives and choke off the flow of profits to smugglers.

They stopped short of taking more severe actions  like declaring Libya a safe third country, which would obviate the legal obligation to consider asylum claims from people who have reached Europe through Libya, or screening migrants and processing their asylum claims in centers based in North Africa.

Immigrant rights groups expressed concern Friday that the plan would result in the warehousing of migrants in decrepit centers.

We believe that, given the current context, it is not appropriate to consider Libya a safe third country, nor to establish extraterritorial processing of asylum seekers in North Africa, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement. We urge a move away from migration management based on the automatic detention of refugees and migrants in inhumane conditions in Libya towards the creation of proper reception services.
TOKYO  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday that the threat from Irans missile program does not currently require the realignment of U.S. forces in the Middle East, striking a note of restraint shortly after the White House issued a strong warning to Tehran.

Mattis, on a three-day visit to South Korea and Japan, echoed statements from the White House identifying Iran as a chief danger to U.S. security after a recent ballistic missile test.

On Thursday, Michael Flynn, President Trumps national security adviser, told reporters that the new administration was officially putting Iran on notice. He provided no details on what that may mean.

But Mattis, a former commander of U.S. operations in the Middle East and a hawk on Iran, said the United States did not need to add military assets, potentially including additional troops or an aircraft carrier, to the region.

Mattis inaugural overseas trip is aimed at reassuring Asian allies concerned by Trumps questioning of longstanding U.S. security alliances.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Mattis called Iran the worlds single biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

I think its wise to make certain that Iran recognizes that what it is doing is getting the attention of a lot of people, he said. It does no good to ignore; it does no good to dismiss it, and at the same time, I dont see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time.

Mattis comments raise additional questions about whether Trumps new national security team can come together on major issues facing the United States.

The retired Marine general gave a similar answer to a question about the South China Sea, where Beijing is seeking to assert control over areas claimed by other Asian nations. China has launched a major campaign of building up artificial islands and has installed equipment that analysts believe is military in nature.

Trumps new secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said during his confirmation hearing that the United States should block Chinas access to those areas. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has also made similar remarks.

Speaking to reporters at the Japanese Defense Ministry, Mattis said that military action was not now needed to counter Chinas actions.

What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try to resolve this properly, maintain open lines of communication, he said. Certainly our military stance should be one that reinforces our diplomats in this regard. But there is no need right now, at this time, for military maneuvers or something like that that would solve something thats best solved by the diplomats.

Mattis did say that freedom of navigation remained a core principle for the U.S. military and said U.S. ships would continue to transit international waters.
NEWPORT BEACH The developer of the controversial Museum House, a proposed 25-story condominium in Newport Center, spent $435,699 in what was ultimately an unsuccessful attempt to halt a referendum drive.

The political action committee Line in the Sand, which gathered nearly 14,000 signatures over two weeks seeking to overturn the Newport Beach City Councils November approval of the project, spent $91,645, according to expenditure reports.

A big chunk of the expenditures by developer Related California and Line in the Sand went to consulting and media companies, according to the expenditure reports. Related Californias biggest expenditure was $200,000 to Sacramento-based campaign consultant GOCO Consulting.

The petition was certified by the Orange County Registrar of Voters in January. The City Council is expected to decide at its Feb. 14 meeting whether to stand by its approval of Museum House or bring it to a public vote this year or in 2018.

Plans call for the construction of the 100-unit Museum House on the Orange County Museum of Art property at 850 San Clemente Drive. The museum would use the money from the sale of the land to move to Costa Mesa.

The art museum is contesting the legality of the petition in a lawsuit filed last month, saying it does not meet state elections code requirements.

Line in the Sand received a $46,506 in-kind donation from the political action committee Newport 1st, group spokesman Tim Stoaks said Thursday.

The group spent about $30,000 on Calabasas-based PCI Consultants to gather petition signatures and deliver the referendum to the city clerks office, according to campaign filings.

The group really appreciates all the support it received during the petition, Stoaks said.

Newport 1st received a $47,500 donation from Citizens Against High Rise Urban Towers, a Santa Ana-based nonprofit, according to campaign filings.

Related California has described the Citizens group as a dark money organization, saying it has been secretive about source of the majority of the money used to fuel the petition process.

Clearly, these reports are not a complete picture, said Gino Canori, executive vice president for Related California. We believe these reports raise significant questions about the money spent by opponents against Museum House. Related California has been fully transparent in reporting its expenditures down to the penny.

Attorney Mark Rosen, spokesman for the Citizens group, told the Register the group is comprised of citizens who oppose Museum House, but he declined to reveal its backers. He also disputed the developers dark money description of the nonprofit.

I dont even know what that means, he said. Related California is going to build an ugly tower and take all their millions and leave the city and the citizens of Newport Beach high and dry.

Before Line in the Sand began circulating its petition in December, residents reported being asked to sign fake petitions.

The Irvine Co. later that month sued Related California, saying Museum House supporters were creating a hostile environment for shoppers at Irvine Co. properties.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 lcasiano@scng.com
The 2016 presidential election is over. With a new president and a new Congress, Californias leaders now face a choice: be at the table or be on the menu.

When I watched Gov. Jerry Brown deliver his State of the State speech in Sacramento recently, I agreed when he said, When California does well, America does well. Even though one political party controls the federal government and another controls Californias state government, it behooves elected leaders in both governments to try to work together whenever possible.

If we fail to do so and pursue confrontation instead, it could put vulnerable Californians at risk. For example, Californias state budget receives more than $105 billion in federal dollars, which covers vital programs including unemployment insurance, public schools, higher education and health care programs such as Medi-Cal. Needlessly provoking the new presidential administration with overheated rhetoric  and the administration responding in turn  will just lead to more gridlock than ever before.

So I took some comfort when the governor said in his State of the State that he can work with the president on repairing and upgrading the states transportation infrastructure, which is especially important to Orange County. There is no debate about the need to fix our aging roads and bridges as we can sure use more federal investment  and the jobs that come with it.

Yet the governor continues to insist that the Legislature impose massively higher gas taxes on drivers. His proposal is a 10-year plan to raise $4.2 billion annually via gas and vehicle tax increases, including a road improvement charge of $65 per vehicle. This is essentially the same proposal that did not make it through the Legislature last year.

The state can fix our roads by diverting money from an unnecessary high-speed train that continues to rise in cost, eliminating inefficiencies at Caltrans and using designated transportation dollars for their original purpose. California already spends three times the national average on maintenance per mile of roadway, yet our roads rate among the nations worst in pavement condition and congestion. It is clear that we need smarter spending choices, not higher taxes.

In his speech, the governor portrayed California as an example that other states should follow. However, he did not mention how he would address an uneven economy that benefits too few Californians, where coastal communities tend to have lower unemployment than inland communities. Consider this  45 percent of the net employment growth since the recession has been in the San Francisco Bay Area alone. Such a two-tiered California is dangerous to our states economic future, and therefore to the well-being of all Californians.

There was also no mention about addressing housing costs that are among the nations highest, which have pushed many people to live in communities far from their jobs. Our state cannot realize our full potential unless more Californians can actually afford a decent place to live.

Finally, the governor did not say in his speech how he would pay for Californias growing unfunded public pension liabilities, where every extra dollar spent on pensions is one less dollar for public services. These liabilities are estimated to be at least $202.8 billion among the states three pension systems. We cannot put off this problem indefinitely.

That is why cooperation between Democrats and Republicans  at both the state and federal level  is critically important in resolving these issues. Such progress is not impossible, as demonstrated when both parties worked together to pass a rainy-day fund that will help California weather a future economic recession.

The fact of the matter is that the bonds between California and the rest of the nation are deeply intertwined. In some areas such as transportation and water, federal cooperation is critical for continued progress.

That is why I hope the governor and Californias legislative leaders will extend a hand of cooperation to the federal government, and vice versa. The issues are too important for both sides to engage in an unproductive war of words over the next two years. In such a war, everyone loses.

Senator Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, represents the 36th Senate District in the California Legislature, which covers South Orange County, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and North San Diego County.
After more than four hours of sometimes contentious testimony, Southern Californias air quality agency on Friday decided to wait a month before voting on a 15-year air pollution cleanup plan that relies heavily on voluntary compliance and cash incentives for industry.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board voted 9-3 to delay a decision following remarks by new board member Sheila Kuehl, a Los Angeles County supervisor, who said the plan needed to be strengthened to ensure more pollution cuts.

It still falls short in a number of ways, Kuehl said. There doesnt seem to be, as my dentist would call them, teeth.

Several board members also said they wanted to wait until March 3 because board member Clark Parker had to leave early to attend a funeral.

The delay allowed the board to avoid dealing with concerns over the plans lack of rules or emission reduction goals for the regions ports, warehouses and railroad yards. Air district officials had instead planned to work with the cargo hauling and storage industries to secure volunteer emission reductions before going to rule-making mode.

Kuehl, a Democrat, introduced a motion that, among other provisions, would have required staff to draft regulations that would kick in should volunteer reductions not come to fruition.

She also wanted the district to seek legislative authority to require zero-emission vehicles for publicly owned fleets.

Republicans Dwight Robinson, a Lake Forest councilman; Shawn Nelson, an Orange County supervisor; and Janice Rutherford, a San Bernardino County supervisor, all said the plan should be approved as it was, and a delay was not necessary.

First proposed in June by new Executive Officer Wayne Nastri, the plan called for nearly $1 billion a year in cash incentives to get industry to retool with cleaner machinery.

The meeting at the air district headquarters in Diamond Bar drew about 500 people. About 200 had to watch from video screens in three overflow rooms and a cafeteria.

The AQMD regulates air pollution in Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Most speakers opposed the plan, saying it needed to have tougher rule-making to more quickly reduce emissions and should not rely on tax dollars to pay industry incentives.

Many spoke of pollution-related illnesses they or their family members had suffered.

Esther Portillo of Riverside said her grandmother, who lived in Colton, recently died of lung cancer, her mother-in-law has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and several of her nieces and nephews have asthma.

You have a choice to side with the polluters or to side with the people, Portillo said to the board.

Plan opponents, many from the Sierra Club, rallied outside the air district building, holding signs depicting a bird wearing a gas mask and saying, Please care.

Philip Fine, the air districts deputy executive officer, told the board that incentives and volunteer reductions are only part of the pollution cleanup plan.

The rate of regulatory reductions in this plan is more than the previous plan, Fine said.

Several business leaders urged the plan be approved without any changes.

Tracy Hernandez, founding CEO of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, said the plan has been vetted and is the result of collaboration with affected businesses and other interested parties. It has the support of 300 employers in the federation.

It is time to move this plan forward, Hernandez said.

Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said the ports are dedicated to making more emission reductions voluntarily, and the plan doesnt need rules to force such pollution cuts.

The ports clean-air plans already have reduced diesel soot emissions by 85 percent and smog-causing nitrogen oxides by 50 percent, and more cuts will come, he said.

We expect to make more breakthroughs, Seroka said.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@scng.com or @DavidDanelski
GENEVA  Members of Myanmars army and police have slaughtered hundreds of men, women and children, gang-raped women and girls, and forced as many as 90,000 Rohingya Muslims from their homes, according to a U.N. report released Friday.

The report, the world bodys first official account of a 4-month government crackdown on ethnic Rohingya in Myanmar, said the actions of members of the army and the police very likely were crimes against humanity.

The gravity and scale of these allegations begs the robust reaction of the international community, said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, whose office released the 50-page report.

Al-Hussein demanded that the government halt the security forces counterinsurgency operations in Rakhine, a state on the western coast, which began in October, and he said he delivered that message to Myanmars leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, by telephone Friday.

I impressed on her that she is an individual of high moral standing in the international community and she must use that and every means at her disposal to exert pressure on the military to end this operation, he said in an interview. I hope this is exactly what she will do now.

Myanmars government has repeatedly rejected accusations, from human rights groups and others, that the military has systematically abused members of the Rohingya ethnic group, a long-persecuted minority in the country, and resisted calls for an international investigation.

In their telephone conversation, Suu Kyi seemed to be genuinely moved by what she had read, al-Hussein said. There was no defensiveness. There was no denial.

Suu Kyi said the government needed more information, he added, and, in an apparent shift from the governments previous public position, she asked for help from the United Nations in learning more, al-Hussein said.

On Friday, presidential spokesman Zaw Htay said that the government was taking the allegations in the report seriously and announced that an existing commission led by Vice President Myint Swe would investigate.

Where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, we will take all necessary action, Htay said, according to Reuters.

Al-Hussein was skeptical of the commission, and he said an independent inquiry would be necessary. In our view, this would not meet international standards, and there would need to be an international commission of inquiry, he said.

More than 200 Rohingya villagers who fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh gave harrowing testimony to U.N. investigators about the treatment they had received.

The investigators report said that soldiers and police officers, helped by local villagers, carried out a calculated campaign of terror against the Rohingya in Rakhine after insurgents attacked military posts on the border with Bangladesh, killing nine guards.

Witnesses, some with scars from gunshot wounds or beatings, told investigators how security forces swept through their villages, often before dawn, shooting indiscriminately with rocket launchers and from helicopters. They killed people who tried to flee and burned them alive in their homes, villagers said, according to the report.

A 14-year-old girl told investigators that soldiers had raped her, beaten her mother to death and killed her two younger sisters. They were not shot dead but slaughtered with knives, she said, according to the report.

The report said that members of the security forces sometimes beat, raped or killed people in front of their relatives with the intention of inflicting severe mental torture, humiliating and instilling fear.

They beat and killed my husband with a knife, a 25-year-old woman told investigators, describing how five soldiers then raped her and killed her 8-month-old son, who was crying. To silence him, they killed him too with a knife.
SAN FRANCISCO  Three California university students are challenging President Donald Trumps travel ban in another lawsuit prompted by the presidents executive order.

The federal suit filed Thursday in San Francisco says the ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries is unconstitutional and has created hardships for the students.

According to the suit, Hadil Al-Mowafak  a Stanford University freshman  is now unable to visit her husband in Yemen. Wasim Ghaleb  also a citizen of Yemen  has been unable to return to resume studies in business administration at Grossmont College in San Diego. And an unnamed Iranian national who is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley fears losing a job opportunity.

An email to the U.S. Department of Justice seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Federal regulators killed a rigorous examination of cancer in millions of Americans living near nuclear plants because they were convinced the study couldnt link reactors to disease and would be too costly, newly released records show.

Doubts over the studys usefulness ran deep at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency overseeing Americas aging fleet of nuclear plants. But some study skeptics pushed to save it nonetheless, arguing that modern science could help address public concerns over possible health risks related to the plants. They couldnt convince their bosses, however, who concluded that the $8 million price tag for the pilot study  which would have examined San Onofre and six other sites  couldnt be justified.

The previously unreported rift is captured in more than 1,000 pages of NRC documents obtained by Southern California News Group under the Freedom of Information Act. Some officials worried that killing the study would be a PR fiasco, reigniting questions about the demise of what some saw as the most significant federal examination of nuclear plant safety in a generation.

The push for this new probe was driven by dissatisfaction with the U.S. governments reliance on an unsophisticated 27-year-old study  employing even older data  to assure Americans there are no health risks associated with living near nuclear power plants.

Several recent European studies found disturbing links between childhood cancers and kids living close to nuclear plants, and NRC staffers traded emails citing them. A senior agency advisor dismissed the methodology used in those studies. Publish or perish, she wrote to her colleagues.

NRC staffers began pressing for an update of the old U.S. study a decade ago. The NRC contracted with the National Academies of Sciences, a separate agency, to design a modern scientific assessment in 2010. The NRC spent five years and $1.5 million on the effort before abandoning it two years ago.

Most people realize that all the evidence shows youre not going to find anything, said Brian Sheron, retired director of the NRCs Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, who supported the study.

There are so many variables. The point was, even if you found something that looked like a relationship, you wouldnt know what to attribute it to. Did the person live their whole life near the nuclear plant? Or did they live somewhere downwind of an asbestos factory for 20 years? In order to get all the facts, it was going to be prohibitively expensive.

Assumptions about the outcome enraged some critics.

That is what they said: We dont need to do the study because we already know the answer, said Roger Johnson of San Clemente, a retired neuroscience professor who followed the proceedings closely. How could they possibly know the answer?

The scientific method begins with a hypothesis, but it needs to be tested by experimentation.

You do not know whether the study will find something unless you do the study, said Ourania Kosti, who headed the aborted study at the National Academies of Sciences.

The NRC asked us to do the study because of concerns of members of the public who live near the nuclear facilities it regulates. I think it is important to use the best information available to communicate with members of the public about risks.

The dont worry, be happy report

In 2012, the French Institute of Health and Medical Research found that kids living within 3 miles of nuclear power plants had double the risk of developing acute leukemia as those living farther away. The peak impact was on children between the ages of 2 and 4, and the findings echoed those of a German study.

For decades, however, the official opinion of the United States government has been: From the data at hand, there was no convincing evidence of any increased risk of death from any of the cancers we surveyed due to living near nuclear facilities.

Which raises the question of the quality of the data at hand.

The 1990 report was done by the U.S. National Institutes of Health-National Cancer Institute (Cancer in Populations Living Near Nuclear Facilities) and has been criticized as deeply flawed. It examined more than 900,000 cancer deaths from 1950 to 1984, using mortality records collected from counties with nuclear facilities within their borders. It looked at changes in mortality rates for 16 types of cancer, and showed no increased risk of death.

But there were many problems with that approach, said critics and the NRC itself:

 The 1990 report tracked mortality rates based on where people died, rather than where they lived before getting cancer.

 Tracking cancer deaths  rather than how many people actually got cancer  may downplay the full health impact of living near a reactor, since many cancer patients survive.

 It used countywide data to reach conclusions  a blunt measure that may again downplay the impact on those living closest to a reactor. Residents in La Habra and San Clemente live in the same county  but few will argue that their exposure to San Onofre is the same.

The new study was designed to address these weaknesses. The NRC asked NAS to evaluate cancer diagnosis rates, not just cancer deaths, and to divide the areas around nuclear facilities into geographical units much smaller than counties.

The NAS would then track not just geography and cancer incidence, but also radiological releases from the plants themselves, and see if there was any cancer correlation.

This study design is much more rigorous than what was done in Europe, and the NAS was the first to admit it was a complicated endeavor that would take an enormous amount of work.

A pilot study of seven of sites, including San Onofre, would take 39 months and cost $8 million, the NAS said, and those results would not necessarily extrapolate out to Americas other 60-or-so nuclear sites. Studying them all would take many more years, and many more millions, officials said.

Expecting that nothing would be found, NRC officials decided they couldnt justify the costs.

PR fiasco

Tension over the study mounted as years ticked by, with Sheron, director of the NRCs Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, squaring off with Michael Weber, the NRCs deputy executive director for operations, research and compliance programs, emails show.

FYI: Brian Sheron called me today, first to show off a new electric banjo, and second to tell me that someone associated with the 1990 cancer study has offered for a small amount of money ($2m) to update it. He was looking for my backing to push back against Mike Weber who, he said, has been going around saying the NAS study is dead, wrote Eliot Brenner, director of the NRCs public affairs office, to a colleague in July 2015.

On the premise that something with some data, albeit mortality data rather than incidence data, is better than saying that the agency killed off the NAS study, I said I was for having something, Brenner wrote.

Sheron and other NRC officials floated the idea of a scaled-down study by the NAS as well.

Brian grabbed me late yesterday. His concern is that it appears as if he is the one killing the Cancer study. Hes uncomfortable with that because he thinks it is hard for him to explain why (in his $55M budget) he doesnt have money for this, wrote Michael Case, director of the NRCs engineering division in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.

He checked with Bill Dean (NRCs regional administrator for the northeastern U.S.) and it seems Bill supports it. He also talked to Elliot and he thought it would be a PR fiasco if we didnt do it, Case wrote.

But Weber was apparently unmoved.

Weber doesnt think the Agency can afford even the smaller scale approach and asked us to reconsider our recommendation to move forward at all, wrote Stephanie Coffin, deputy director with the NRCs Division of Advanced Reactors and Rulemaking, to her colleagues. He emphasized he was always a fan but he cant help but see that these nice to have but dont need to have projects cannot be justified in the current environment.

Sheron responded: I understand Mikes feeling, but Im not about to cancel this just because Mike thinks its a nice but not necessary project.

About a month later, however, it was over.

Hi All, wrote Terry Brock, project manager for radiation studies and reporting, in August 2015. This is to inform you all that the cancer study has been canceled. Three of the four Commissioners specifically lined out the study from the budget.

Important

Sheron would have liked to see a study happen, but the NRC has many other demands on its nearly $1 billion budget.

It was a lot of money, and we couldnt get the National Academies to say they could give us a definitive answer to the question, Sheron said. That was a lot of the driving force on the part of the commission and senior management. At the end, the National Academies couldnt give us something definitive.

The NRC felt comfortable with its decision because it already requires nuclear plant operators to sample air, water, and vegetation around their sites, and results show only very tiny amounts of radioactive material are released during normal operation, spokesman Scott Burnell wrote at the time. That evidence supports the conclusion that the average U.S. citizens annual radiation dose from natural sources, such as radon and cosmic rays, is about a hundred times greater than the largest potential dose from a normally operating reactor.

Nationwide, some 116 million people are nuclear neighbors, living within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many remain convinced that the plants are tied somehow to local cancer clusters and other maladies.

Officials from the NAS and NRC heard heartbreaking testimony at public meetings on the study all over the country. I want to remind you how important it is to protect people from the harmful things that are being put into our environment, said Sarah Saurer, then 17, who lived near two reactors near Chicago and developed brain cancer at age 7. I hope that in this study you will remember who you are doing this study for. It is for me and all of the other kids and people who live near nuclear power plants.

They are not as certain as NRC officials were about the outcome.

The NRC likes the results it has, activist Johnson of San Clemente said  one bad study unable to find a cancer effect. Why upset this and risk the possibility that maybe there is one?

The pure scientists only want pristine studies with no confounding variables. That is pretty impossible for this kind of work so you do the best you can. Improve on previous studies and hope that future studies will be better, said Johnson, the retired neuroscience professor.

What you dont do is bury your head in the sand and say that we are not going to investigate something unless we already know everything. Science moves in steps, and it is time to take a big step forward from the awful study.

Those recent European studies finding a correlation between childhood cancers and proximity to nuclear plants do not prove causation, but they raise huge questions. Johnson is unclear why living near a nuclear power plant in Europe might have an effect, but living near one in America would not.

Kosti, director of the aborted study at the National Academies of Sciences, wonders that as well.

I think it is important to update the findings of the 1990 study using better methodologies and information, Kosti said. This is the reason the Academies agreed to carry out the update. The Academies remain willing to do the study, if asked to.

Contact the writer: tsforza@scng.com
SANTA ANA  A Fullerton man has pleaded guilty to filing bogus tax returns that defrauded the IRS out of $1.1 million.

Michael Raymond Martinez, 48, recently admitted to aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Operating under various business names such as Your Home Tax Service, Great Tax Services and Great Tax Solutions, Martinez filed at least 245 false tax returns from 2009 to 2015, authorities said.

Prosecutors say Martinez often met his clients at their homes while pretending to be a certified public accountant, often for only a few minutes, as he guaranteed large returns. He would take the income and taxpayer documents from his clients, prosecutors allege, but did not review the returns with them.

Martinez is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on May 15. He faces up to three years in federal prison, and could be ordered to pay restitution.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6979 or chaire@scng.com
VALLETTA  European Union leaders on Friday vowed to remain united and defiant in the face of an onslaught of criticism from the new American president that has started to undermine the once-unshakeable trans-Atlantic relationship.

And they hit back in an increasing battle of words, underscoring how they fear that Donald Trumps campaign rhetoric will be turned into policy and further tear apart their troubled bloc.

EU chief Donald Tusk earlier this week moved the U.S. into a threat category for the EU, following several negative comments about the 28-nation bloc.

Maybe the best evidence that we are together in this context was the fact that some of my colleagues have used a new nickname for me, spontaneously, which is our Donald, Tusk said Friday at an EU summit in Malta, highlighting the new divisions in the century-old alliance with the U.S.

French President Francois Hollande said it cannot be acceptable that Trump could put pressure on the EU through his declarations on Twitter. And he warned that Trump should not send any envoy to the EU that has criticized the bloc, which one potential candidate has done.

To appoint an ambassador, better for him to believe in the institution with which he would have to work. It is as simple as that, Hollande said.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite pointed out that it was almost impossible to build a bridge with Trump because today were communicating with the United States mainly on Twitter.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said that Trump must be judged by his actions and not by his rhetoric and his election campaign. But now he has delivered enough actions that are worrying. He said the United States was partly responsible for the strong refugee flows toward Europe because of its Mideast policies.

What has happened in the last few days are really not the values Im fighting for, Kerns Luxembourg counterpart, Xavier Bettel, said, referring to Trumps ban on refugees.

Trump has questioned the NATO alliance linking North America and Europe, calling it obsolete. In addition, hopes for a major EU-U.S. trade deal have already taken a deep dive amid worries of new U.S. protectionism under the Trump slogan America first.

And adding insult to injury, Trump called the British decision to leave the EU  the most cathartic event in the blocs 60-year history a tremendous asset and not a tremendous liability.

For France and Germany, there is only one solution to facing an unpredictable partner.

Many countries have to realize that their future is first in the European Union, rather than who knows what bilateral relation with the United States, said Hollande.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the more strongly we are clear about how we define our role in the world, the better we can tend our trans-Atlantic relations.

Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni saw a great opportunity for the EU if the Trump administration turns out to be largely domestic-focused, leaving the way open for Europe to be what he called the No. 1 trade superpower in the world.

The question the EU must pose itself is  can it play a more relevant role than what its has played up till now internationally? Gentiloni said, adding that included being more engaged in defense.

He said an EU summit in Rome next month could be the occasion to rise to the challenge.

Even though Trump has spoken on the phone with Merkel, Hollande, Tusk and hosted British Prime Minister Theresa May in Washington, Europe keeps searching for how to understand the new American leader.

Who knows what the president of the United States really wants on NATO, Hollande said of the military alliance uniting most EU member nations with the U.S.

While leaders and diplomats say the cornerstones of the EU-U.S. relationship remain intact, the bad vibes are seeping out in EU member nations.

On Friday, the Portuguese parliament voted to condemn Trumps U.S. travel ban on Muslims and highlighted the United States important role in promoting tolerance and human rights around the world.

In Sweden, a photo said it all. Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin posted on Facebook a photo of her signing the countrys new climate change law while surrounded by seven female staff members. Swedish media noted it resembled photos of Trump in the Oval Office signing decrees surrounded by only male advisers.
Years of gerrymandering, partisan politicking and silo-style media consumption have turned America into a politically balkenized country.

Most voters picked congressional representatives of the same party they wanted for president.

Except in Orange County.

There are 435 congressional districts nationally, but only a few of them are mixed  with a House member of one party representing voters who picked a different party for president. And one strain of mixed congressional district  with GOP representatives of voters who wanted Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, in the White House  is particularly rare, with just 22 examples.

Four of those touch Orange County.

And that local cluster of ticket-splitting figures make the county a key battleground in the Democratic Partys effort to regain political power in Washington, D.C.

The fight, officially, is on.

On Thursday, the committee that raises money for Democratic congressional candidates announced it would target 20 districts nationally for special fundraising and volunteer efforts in the 2018 midterm election. Two of those districts are local.

Unofficially, the fight started five days into the Trump administration.

Thats when groups of left-leaning constituents starting turning up at the local offices of GOP Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce, Mimi Walters and Darrell Issa.

Initially, the voters wanted to express frustration over Trumps pledge to repeal Obamacare. Then they turned up to decry Trumps executive order to freeze immigration and travel from seven majority-Muslim countries.

Though a representative from Issas office (in Vista) did meet with voters, the answers at other offices generally were more in the vein of talk to the hand. Police were called to Rohrabachers office (no arrests were made), while representatives for Royce and Walters declined to open their doors.

Political experts say the friction could last, much the way the Tea Party voiced frustration during the early years of the Obama administration. Though those protests eventually ebbed, Tea Party politics morphed into what many view as the driver of Trumps victory.

The duration of the current battles could depend on Trumps moves as president and the endurance of those who oppose him. While Trump won the electoral college, the fact that nearly 3 million more voters preferred Clinton  by far the biggest popular vote loss for a candidate that entered the White House  could affect many things over the next four years.

This is new territory, said Raphael Sonenshein, head of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State Los Angeles.

It certainly is for Bill Burger.

The 37-year-old civil attorney is a Democrat who lives in Rancho Santa Margarita, part of the 45th district thats currently represented by Walters.

In the past, Burger says, hes been relatively quiet about politics. In the age of Trump, he says, hes found his voice.

Burger was among those who turned up this week to see Walters or a representative from her office in Irvine. His group looked at a locked door.

Burger says his message to Walters, had he been able to deliver it, would have been simple. He just wanted to remind her that while she won her district handily, by about 17 percent, Clinton did too, by about 5.4 percent.

The fact the president wasnt able to carry this district is a sign to me that something he is saying doesnt sit well with this community, Burger said.

Hitching your wagon to Trumps bus may not be the smartest maneuver given he lost in our district.

The numbers are similar in other local districts. Rohrabacher won the 48th by 16.6 percent while Clinton won by 1.7 percent; Royce won the 39th by 14.4 percent while Clinton won by 8.6 percent.

Only for Issa  long described as the GOPs attack dog against Obama  do the numbers run close. He won the 49th by a scant 0.5 percent, while Clinton won by 7.5 percent.

Satisfying constituents and adhering to GOP wishes on issues such as health care and environment will be a delicate balance. This term, plenty of voters could be watching.

If they are smart, theyll focus on the needs of the district and stay out of making broad statements on large issues, Sonenshein said.

I dont see the activism abating.

Thats certainly the hope among people who want to see Democrats regain power.

It would be political malpractice not to go in and kick the tires, said Ty Law, spokesman for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. People are motivated.

Law said the Democrats will attempt to capitalize on the tough position that these congress members may be in.

Are they going to do what their constituents want? Or what the party tells them to do?

To Walters, the path is clear.

As the representative for Californias 45th Congressional District, it is my responsibility to represent everyone who lives there, regardless of who they voted for, she wrote in an email. Thats a responsibility I take very seriously. I dont answer to anyone in leadership; I answer to the people I represent. Period.

Yet Walters, who entered the House in 2015 and who endorsed Jeb Bush for president, was reliably conservative as a California state legislator and has campaigned for her current job, in part, on repealing Obamacare.

In Issas district, officials met with groups of constituents  perhaps motivated by the fact that he kept his seat last November by less than 1 percent.

Theres a lot of energy and emotion left over from the campaigning that dragged on, said Issa spokesman Calvin Moore, referring to the presidential race. I think the lawmakers from all sides of the aisles should take notice Reach out to their concerns.

Moore said Issa ran on his own agenda and thats where he is going to focus. The voters want people who are authentic to their beliefs.

In Rohrabachers district, spokesman Kenneth Grubbs said the congressman of nearly 30 years also will not be doing anything different.

Dana is just being Dana, its simply that. And he seems to remain popular.

At Royces office, his representatives responded to a request by the Register for comment by writing: Representative Royce is in DC this week as Congress is in session. He regularly reviews feedback from constituents, who are always welcome to visit, email, or call his office.

But constituents were unsatisfied with their recent attempts to talk with his representatives.

Several of us went to his offices  (in solidarity with the teams who went to Rohrabacher and Walters offices), and did not receive a warm, fuzzy, we want to work with you response, wrote Misty Becker, in an email to the Register.

Political analysts explained that Republicans facing a new challenge from their Hillary-voting constituents might be wise to avoid controversy.

We are in a whole different political environment, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor at USC Price School of Public Policy.

Theyre going to try to be very low profile through all of the brouhaha They cant rely on the old rules of politics to keep them in power.

Under the old rules, Royce and Issa would not have to begin the fight to keep their seats two years before the election.

GOP political strategist Michael Schroeder predicted the midterm election would be a referendum on the president.

If Trump becomes unpopular, hell take members with him on his way down, Schroeder said. (But) I think theyll continue to stay with the positions they ran on. Theyll be OK.

He said, I think the protests are helping Trump.
LONDON  Thousands of protesters have marched on Parliament in London to demand that the British government withdraw its invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump for a state visit.

Criticism of Conservative British Prime Minister Theresa May has swelled since her Washington visit to meet Trump last month, when she confirmed plans for a return visit by Trump to Britain expected in the summer.

Saturdays demonstration in the British capital involved a two-mile (3-kilometer) march of several thousand people from the U.S. embassy to the Houses of Parliament. Protesters chanted Theresa May, shame on you!

Lawmakers are expected to debate British plans to invite Trump later this month. An online petition calling for May to rescind the invite has attracted strong support, but May insists a Trump visit is welcome.
Not everyone can say that they discovered their lifelong passion at the age of nine, but this ...
Agricultural News

USMEF Head Advises Beef Industry Not to Let "Protectionism" Get in the Way of Its Own Success

After a tough few years, the beef industry has seen exports on the global marketplace rebound quite well recently. According to US Meat Export Federation President and CEO Philip Seng, who spoke recently to Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, this movement of product through the export channel has been a testament to the quality and quantity of protein made available by American beef producers. He says there is a growing population out there and they are developing a taste for American made beef.





"It looks like this year we're going to finish exports over 10 percent as far as our export performance," Seng reported. "That's a significant growth compared to where we've been."





Part of that he says, are the many inroads that have been made with developing markets such as Korea, where exports into that country have grown to 38 percent, replacing Australia with the US as the Asian nation's top beef supplier. In Japan, too, Seng reports that American beef exports are up dramatically. The same goes for Taiwan, Mexico and Canada. Strange to think since many of these markets were considered developed and mature.





"Just because a market is developed doesn't mean it doesn't continue developing," retorts Seng. "We're seeing all kinds of dynamics in Japan and I think that the changing nature of food consumption, especially meat consumption is allowing for more of it to come in."





But to keep this momentum going, Seng argues that trade must be able to move without interruption or setback. He says he was recently emboldened by statements made by one of the fastest growing markets, the Chinese, who last year expressed their hopes to reopen their doors to American beef. Those negotiations are in the works right now, he says, but warns of possible interference by new sentiments of "protectionism" sweeping across the country.





"Protectionism is the enemy of the producer," Seng remarked. "Anything that we can do to rollback protectionism, anything that we can do to have access to these markets, continue that access - it's important. Anything that would create barriers, anything that would impede product flow, this has to be stopped. So, protectionism is something we all have an interest in fighting."





Listen to Hays' full interview with Seng as they discuss the role the American beef industry is playing in the global marketplace and what factors are at play there, by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below.























Listen to Hays' and Seng as they discuss the role the American beef industry is playing in the markets

WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady NSI

Top Agricultural News
WASHINGTON  On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch for deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's long-empty seat. On Wednesday morning, liberals woke up, did the math and realized it was time to be concerned about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's fiber intake. Also bone density. Also exposure to airborne viruses (Madame Justice, what is your flu shot status?), and salmonella, and slippery ice, and also: Has anyone heard how scientists are coming along with a Zika vaccine?

"I'm very interested in this." says Jeanette Bavwidinski, a community organizer in Pennsylvania. "I'm interested in what her daily regimen is. Like, what are you all feeding RBG? Is she getting enough fresh air? Is she walking? Is she staying low-stress? What is she reading? Is she reading low-stress things?"

"Can she eat more kale?" asks Kim Landsbergen, a forest ecologist in Ohio. "Eat more kale, that's all I can say. We love you. Eat more kale."

The facts in play: Ginsburg is 83 years old, the oldest justice by more than three years. She is one of the four reliably liberal jurists on the Supreme Court, and a mascot and hero to the left. There is one swing vote on the court, Anthony M. Kennedy, and there are three staunch conservatives. Adding Gorsuch would maintain the balance that existed when Scalia was alive: conservative replacing conservative.

But what if Ginsburg retires? What if Ginsburg gets sick and needs a leave of absence? What if Trump ends up replacing Ginsburg? In a week that has seen a relentless churn of White House news, liberal residents of the nation funneled their worst fears into a tiny, elderly woman.

"I kept thinking, you know, I could organize a bunch of gays," says John Hagner, a consultant for Democratic campaigns who lives in Washington. "I could organize the gays, and we would just make a protective circle around her at all times. We could help her get up and down the stairs. We got this."

With a rainbow phalanx protecting the justice against potential slips and falls, Hagner would then feel free to turn his attention away from external dangers, and toward microbial pathogens. "At that point," he says, "what I'm mostly concerned about is the cancer. Is she getting her checkups? Do her doctors realize how important it is for her to get her checkups? Do they? The woman is 98 pounds."

Ginsburg, appointed to the bench 23 years ago, has the endurance of a "Law & Order" franchise, but there are those YouTube clips of her nodding off during the State of the Union address, and she has already survived both colon and pancreatic cancer (a death sentence to many, though Ginsburg was back at work two weeks after surgery). And there are those people who remain furious that she didn't step down during Barack Obama's presidency: "Looking back, it was seriously dumb (and, frankly, selfish) of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer not to retire from #SCOTUS in 2013," fumed a user on Twitter shortly after the Gorsuch announcement.

But! Bygones. Now was the time for liberals to work with the reality they had. Now was the time to channel the energy of thousands of anxious supporters into a solution for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg problem.

"I was just talking to a friend about this," says Michael J. McClure, an associate professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin. "Like, what could we do? What could we do to help Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Could we protect her with packing peanuts? Then it turned into, 'I need to become a vampire. Like in 'Twilight.' I need to become a vampire so I can make her a vampire with eternal life.' If I'm damned to eternal life myself, so be it. It's a sacrifice worth making."

BREAKING NEWS: In the middle of all the Wednesday fretting, a Ginsburg sighting! She took to the stage for a livestreamed Q&A at Virginia Military Institute. She wore a gray suit, matching gray gloves, and a lace jabot, as has become her trademark. A questioner asked about her health.

She regularly does push-ups, she told the crowd, as well as situps and "something called a plank." She can do more than 20 push-ups. She does the full push-ups, not the knee variation. She has a personal trainer. This personal trainer also now works with Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen G. Breyer, too. "He does his best to keep us all in shape," Ginsburg reports.

So. Whew. That's settled. She's good. She's good, right?

Still, "I have O-negative blood that she's welcome to at any time," offers Mikayla Thatcher, a lecturer at the University of Michigan. "I feel like this is getting a bit post-apocalyptic - no wait, that's not the right word. Dystopian. I feel like this is all getting a bit dystopian. But she's welcome to my O-negative blood at any time."
COUNCIL BLUFFS  More than two-thirds of Iowas legislators  including all who represent Council Bluffs  are paying hundreds of dollars less per month than they should be for their health insurance, costing taxpayers about $350,000 a year and possibly breaking a state law.

An analysis conducted by The Des Moines Registered shows that 92 of Iowas 149 legislators pay as little as $20 a month in health insurance premiums, rather than the $142 to $334 a month those plans call for. Nearly 40 other lawmakers pay up to $344 a month for coverage plans, rather than as much as $446 their plans call for.

The newspaper, according to The Associated Press, found the total underpayments are costing taxpayers more than $29,000 a month, or about $350,000 a year.

Lawmakers from Council Bluffs who could be reached by The Nonpareil said they were unaware of this.

No, I didnt know that at all, said Rep. Greg Forristall, who represents eastern Council Bluffs and most of Pottawattamie County. Basically, this is all handled by our legislative personnel office. They deduct from my paycheck. This is the first I knew about it.

His next step, Forristall said, is for that office to tell him what he owes, if anything, and also for them to fix the mistake.

Rep. Charles McConkey, who represents Carter Lake and western Council Bluffs, said he was glad that this issue was brought to his attention.

We should obey the law and pay our fair share, he said. Im going to try to find out how to rectify this.

Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa, who represents central and southern Council Bluffs, said she was leaving Des Moines late Thursday afternoon and had not yet reviewed The Registers reporting, so she said she would wait to comment on the newspapers findings.

Sen. Tom Shipley, who covers eastern Council Bluffs, said lawmakers had considered increasing how much they pay for health insurance but the proposal never reached the floor of the chamber.

Were looking to rectify this, he said. Well see what we can do.

The investigation comes as state lawmakers are discussing possible changes to state workers benefits.

Its an issue that will come up, Hanusa said of health insurance coverage.

The nearly 35-year-old law that governs Iowas executive branch extends health insurance to legislators but says theyre eligible only for insurance plans made available under group plans to non-union employees.

The Register found that state lawmakers are paying the lower health insurance premiums available to union members, while receiving the better benefits afforded in non-union plans. That means their out-of-pocket maximum costs are decreased.

Danny Homan, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61, said this situation is particularly unfair given that the Legislature has said it intends to rewrite the states collective-bargaining law.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers say they were unaware of the problem before the newspaper contacted them.

Our premiums do seem to conflict with the law, said Rep. Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada, and chairman of the House Labor Committee.

Drake University constitutional law professor Mark Kende said the issue raises statutory construction questions, meaning they may need to be resolved by a court.

Theres just something about it that seems questionable, Kende said.

Both the states Department of Administrative Services, which provided the data, and Attorney Generals Office declined to comment, the AP reported. The Nonpareil couldnt reach Sen. Dave Dawson, who represents Carter Lake and most of Council Bluffs, on Thursday afternoon.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Facing higher premiums, less choice and a last-minute advertising pullback, fewer people signed up for coverage this year through HealthCare.gov, according to data from a preliminary government report Friday.

About 9.2 million people signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states, said the Department of Health and Human Services. Thats about 500,000 fewer customers than had enrolled last year in those same 39 states, or slippage of around 5 percent.

The report doesnt include figures from 11 states that run their own health insurance marketplaces  including California and New York  so the final national number will be higher. But the preliminary report is being closely watched because President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress have vowed to repeal President Barack Obamas health law and replace it with a plan yet to emerge.

Even before Trumps election victory, the ACAs marketplaces were facing double-digit premium increases and a sharp drop in insurer participation. Although most customers receive taxpayer subsidies for their premiums, the increases averaged more than 20 percent nationally and much higher in several states.

Trump administration spokesman Matt Lloyd said Friday that Obamacare has failed and that the new president looks forward to providing relief through patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people.

But independent analysts said the report also highlights the challenges that Trump and the GOP Congress will face trying to deliver on their promises without disrupting coverage for millions. That includes many people in states that Trump won in November, among them Florida (1.8 million), Texas (1.2 million), North Carolina (549,000), Georgia (494,000) and Pennsylvania (426,000).

Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Special display: Trinity Episcopal Cathedrals Historical Society will open the museum rooms for a special display entitled, The Many Faces of Trinity on Sunday at the church, 113 N. 18th St. Come view postcards, photographs and a newly acquired painting of the church. The rooms will be open after both 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. services.

Chaplain award: The Rev. Ryan P. Lewis, chaplain of Gross Catholic High School, was recently awarded National Chaplain of the Year by Legatus. Legatus is an international organization of practicing Catholic laymen and laywomen, composed of CEOs, presidents and managing partners, with their spouses, from the business community and professional enterprises. Lewis was to be honored with this award at the Legatus National Summit in Naples, Florida, in late January.

Church anniversary: St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, 1809 N. 23rd St., will celebrate the churchs 61st anniversary at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 19. The service is open to the public.

Retreat: A Beginning Experience Weekend for the separated, divorced and widowed is planned for March 10-12 at the Archdiocese Retreat Center, 3330 N. 60th St. The weekend begins at 7 p.m. March 10 and ends at 4 p.m. March 12. Cost is $100 or $125 (for semiprivate or private sleeping room). For more information and an application, go online to beginningexperienceofomaha.org or contact Denise Carlson at the Center for Family Life Formation at 402-551-9003, ext. 1304, or dmcarlson@archomaha.org. Registration deadline is Feb. 24.

Melodrama performances: The St. James/St. Elizabeth Ann melodramas Money Isnt Everything or All You Need Is Love and the olio The Thing Is ...! will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 6 p.m. Sundays Feb. 17-19 and 23-25 at Sokol Auditorium, 13th and Martha Streets. Tickets, $23 per person, includes admission, beer, soda and popcorn. For tickets, call 402-493-3326.

New minister: Lord of Love Lutheran Church, 10405 Fort St., is celebrating its 45th year by installing its new pastor, the Rev. Becky Sells, at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services on Sunday.

Special service: On Sunday, following the 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist service, the Northwest Iowa Chapter of the Order of St. Luke will offer special prayers of healing and thanksgiving at St. Albans Episcopal Church in Spirit Lake, Iowa.
BLACK HISTORY: OMAHA CIVIL RIGHTS

 Civil Rights: How Omaha Evolved is a free 90-minute workshop for middle school students through adults. The workshop will be presented by LeClara Gilreath. No registration required.

 10 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 18

 Great Plains Black History Museum, 7400 Dodge St.

 Call 402-401-9893 or email gpbhm2015@gmail.com

UNION PACIFIC CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH

 Union Pacific Museum is partnering with Union Pacifics Black Employee Network. BEN members will host stations throughout the museum, allowing visitors to experience the history of the American Negro Baseball League. The Great Plains Black History Museum will bring artifacts and information on the metro areas involvement in the League. Information has been provided for the event by a special collaboration between BEN and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Visitors will receive a special ticket to take around to eight stations throughout the museum to learn more about this unique time in baseball history. Visitors are invited to come dressed in their favorite baseball teams uniform. Admission is free.

 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 18

 Union Pacific Museum, 200 Pearl St., Council Bluffs

 Call 712-329-8307 or uprrmuseum.org.

DREAM KEEPER'S AWARD

 The second annual Dream Keepers Award will honor Kathy J. Trotter, with special guest Isaiah Butler The Soaring Violinist. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

 6:15 p.m. Feb. 18. Doors open and dinner begins at 5:30 p.m.

 St. Johns African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2402 N. 22nd St.

BLACK HISTORY PROGRAM

 Fellowship Christian Center and Black Men United will host a program with guests Elder Larry Duncan, Willie Hamilton and Justin Wayne.

 4 p.m. Feb. 19

 Fellowship Christian Center, 3211 Pinkney St.

 Call 402-502-9699

BLACK HISTORY: BLACK LOVE

 Free 90-minute workshop, presented by Jade Rogers, for middle school students through adults.

 1 to 2 p.m. Feb. 20

 Great Plains Black History Museum, 7400 Dodge St.

 Call 402-401-9893 or email gpbhm2015@gmail.com

UNO OPEN MIC

 Any adult or student can take the stage and express thoughts about culture, race and history through any form of written word, poetry, lyrics or song.

 6 p.m. Feb. 21

 Thompson Alumni Center, UNO

FILM SCREENING: BROTHER OUTSIDER

 Watch the documentary about the life of civil rights, nonviolence and gay rights leader Bayard Rustin. This event is free.

 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 23

 Milo Bail Student Center, Council Room, UNO

QPOC IN BLACK HISTORY

 Learn about the influence of queer people of color on media, activism and social justice. Presenter is QPOC (Queer People of Color) Nebraska Executive Director Dominique Morgan.

 2 to 3 p.m. Feb. 25

 Hotel RL Omaha, 3321 S. 72nd St.

AN EVENING WITH WES MOORE

 Speaker Wes Moore is a youth advocate, combat veteran, social entrepreneur and host of Beyond Belief on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Moore will share human stories and his programs to inspire attendees to see new outlooks and motivation to tackle todays problems.

 7 p.m. Feb. 28

 Milo Bail Student Center, Ballroom, UNO
Check out Omaha.com/calendar for more community happenings and events

Meet the authors: Meet the authors of Lost Council Bluffs and Carter Lake: A Slice of Iowa in Nebraska and discuss the history of the two states during a meet-and-greet Saturday at Barnes and Noble Crossroads. The local authors, S.M. Senden and John Schreier, will sign books and answer questions from 1 to 3 p.m. This event is free.

Celebrate culture: Enjoy Chinese food, culture and activities Saturday during the ninth annual Omaha Chinese New Year Celebration presented by the Nebraska Chinese Association. This years gala theme is Celebration of the Year of the Rooster and will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. at Westside Middle School, 8601 Arbor St. Omaha Chinese will showcase their creativity and talent with performances in vibrant costumes to commemorate the important holiday in the Asian community. Cost is $20 and includes food and performances. For more information, go to omahachinese.net.

Dine and donate: Have an Italian dinner Saturday while raising money for the St. Michael Lutheran Churchs 2017 youth mission trip. Michellinos Ristorante will serve lasagna or spaghetti with meatballs, salad, bread, drinks and dessert. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5 to 12 years old. Children 5 and younger are free. The fundraiser will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the church, 13232 Blondo St.

Watch a comedy battle: Local improv comedians will perform a show made-up on the spot at the fifth annual Battle of the Improv All-Stars Saturday at 2864 State St., the Florence City (Reception) Hall. Food and drinks will be sold at the event. The 18 and older show, hosted by Florentine Players, is from 7 to 9 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is $10. For more information, call 402-455-6341.

Hear a symphony: Join the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras at their winter program Sunday. Tickets to the 3 p.m. concert are $16 for adults and $11 for students. This performance is at the University of Nebraska at Omahas Strauss Performing Arts Center.
The fourth-graders at St. Cecilia Catholic School used a shoes off, learning on way of learning to celebrate Nebraskas 150th birthday. Fourth-grade social studies teacher Cathy Lyons borrowed a giant map of Nebraska and a tub of tools from Geography Educators of Nebraska.

The map is an 18x16-foot floor map that the students walk over while learning about Nebraska geography. Students identified and described locations on the map using their map skills.

They found the states major rivers and discussed their flow, identifying the mouth and source of each. They used latitude and longitude to locate two cities and find the direction when traveling from one city to the other.

Students explored locations and landforms and created and identified angles that could be formed from those locations. They also did research on a county and presented their findings to the class.

Other local school news and events include (click on the photo above to see more pictures in this week's gallery):

Alumni event: South High School Alumni Association will hold its Mardi Gras Casino Night on Feb. 25 at Serbian Hall, 50th and Harrison Streets. Tickets are $35 per person. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 402-738-9493.

Rally registration: No Limits, Nebraskas youth-led tobacco prevention movement, is accepting applications to participate in the No Limits Kick Butts Day Rally March 1415 in Lincoln. The event is open to Nebraska youth ages 1218, in seventh through 12th grades. Participants will plan and prepare for the rally during a workshop on March 14. The March 15 event includes a march from downtown Lincoln to the steps of the Nebraska State Capitol. Participants also will meet with state senators to discuss how tobacco is impacting Nebraska teens. Groups are encouraged to have an adult sponsor, but sponsors are not required. Applications must be submitted by Feb. 15. More information and application forms are available at NoLimitsNebraska.com or info@NoLimitsNebraska.com or by calling by calling 866-394-8336.

Photo exhibit: The Remembering Our Fallen photographic war memorial, honoring those who died in the War on Terror, will be at Papillion-La Vistas Liberty Middle School all next week. It has been on display at both high schools and the other two middle schools already. The memorial displays are open to viewing by the public.

Health & fitness: Students in the Papillion-La Vista Community Schools Young Adult Transition Program learned about healthy eating and exercise as they peddled a bicycle to power a blender to make smoothies during a classroom activity. Blender Bikes from the Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties were used as part of a unit on health and wellness. The program for students in special education who are ages 18 to 21, and the curriculum focuses on vocational skills, communication and socialization to help prepare students for employment.

Drone course: Students will get the chance to learn about science, technology, engineering and math in a hands-on way when Metro Community College hosts the CEENbot Drone course beginning Sunday on the second floor of Do Space, 72nd and Dodge Streets. Students will utilize 3-D printed parts to construct a robotic drone before flying it through an obstacle course. The four-session noncredit course will be offered on Sundays through Feb. 26. Registrants can choose between two different times; 9 a.m. to noon or 1 to 4 p.m. Offered through MCCs Continuing Education Department, noncredit robotics classes are designed for students K-12.

100th day: Franklin Elementary students celebrated the 100th day of school on Wednesday. Among the special 100-day activities, students were asked to dress as if they are 100 years old. Staff also participated.

Robotics classes: AIM, in collaboration with the Omaha Public Schools, will provide free science, technology, engineering, art and math learning experiences to students at Liberty Elementary. Once a week, participating Liberty students travel to the AIM Brain Exchange at 1902 Howard St., to participate in robotics classes. Classes meet on Thursdays.
COUNCIL BLUFFS  At least 19 southwest Iowa fire departments are among those affected by the states Fire Service Training Bureau testing scandal.

More than 1,700 firefighters and emergency responders in Iowa were improperly issued credentials during a four-year span, according to findings by the Iowa Department of Public Safety, which led to criminal charges against John McPhee, the former coordinator.

The bureau sent letters to 560 departments, a majority of those in the state, to notify them that one or more firefighters on your department may have been erroneously granted certificates in recent years and will be expected to undergo retesting.

Carter Lake Fire Coordinator Phil Newton said that three department members will have to retake certification tests.

It makes us look bad, in a way, Newton said. Not us as individuals. But it makes the process look bad, knowing how it was done and what was affected by it.

Firefighters will have until June 30 to retake the test or face starting the certification process over from scratch. The bureau is offering refresher courses to affected firefighters and emergency personnel for free. Eighteen classes will be offered throughout the state in February, with southwest Iowa courses held in Harlan, Red Oak and Carroll.

In addition to Carter Lake, letters were sent to the volunteer departments in Treynor, Underwood, Neola, Lewis Township, Glenwood, Avoca, Shelby, Missouri Valley, Logan, Woodbine, Persia, Pisgah, Minden, McClelland, Crescent, Hancock, Oakland and Atlantic.

The certification and accreditation programs are voluntary and are not required by the state of Iowa or nationally. However, some local agencies either require or recommend certification of their employees, the bureau noted.
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime more than 50 times by firing over 250 shots from 60mm and 82mm mortars, AGS-17 grenade launcher and various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions. In the eastern and north-eastern directions of the line of contact the Azerbaijani side fired also overall 98 shots from 60mm and 82 mm mortars.

The NKR Defense Army forces confidently fulfilled their military tasks and took countermeasures in case of necessity.

At the moment the situation is relatively calm in the frontline.
LINCOLN  Shortly after arresting two brothers on suspicion of drunken driving, a Lincoln police officer began to find dead, mangled animals at his home.

Sometimes the squirrels and rabbits were thrown against the officers garage door. Other times the small animals were beheaded, left in the driveway or placed in his backyard, which was protected by a privacy fence.

In Butler County, two men fired guns at the home of a deputy sheriff. The bullets ended up lodged in the bedroom wall of the deputys 18-month-old son. Two years later, the deputy learned the men targeted his home because he had arrested them in a previous case.

And in Gage County, a sergeant with the Sheriffs Office who parked his patrol vehicle in front of his home found notes calling him a Nazi and fascist pig and warning that he was being watched.

Those were among the stories told Friday to a panel of lawmakers considering a bill that would direct county assessors and registers of deeds to withhold from the public the home addresses of members of the law enforcement community.

The Lincoln officer, who now works as a gang investigator, said police never could determine whether the brothers he had arrested were behind the dead animal harassment, which lasted for a year.

Still, he and others argued that Legislative Bill 624 is needed, especially in light of national events involving law enforcement.

These men and women stand between us, every day, and the dark underside of our culture, said Roy Christensen, a Lincoln city councilman who brought the issue to the bills sponsor, State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln. I think we owe it to them to make it so that darkness doesnt follow them home at the end of their shift.

Under the bill, the home addresses of law enforcement officers could be removed from county websites. The bill would require officers to pay $25 for county assessors to remove their address from the county website for five years.

The fee would be in place to avoid passing along an unfunded mandate to counties that may, as a result of the bill, need changes to their software or face more paperwork, Wishart said.

She said her goal is not to withhold information from the public but to provide an extra barrier and level of protection to law enforcement officers and their families.

The withheld information wouldnt be completely removed from the public record. A person still could request an officers home address from the county, but would have to do so in writing.

This added step of having to request the address in writing will hopefully make a person with bad intentions stop and think twice about what theyre doing, said Wishart, whose husband served as a Lincoln police officer for five years.

The added step also would provide a record of who made the request, should an officer become a target, supporters argued.

Many counties across the state allow users to search online for property by the owners name, address or parcel. Current state law leaves it up to local officials to decide whether to remove from their websites such public information for specific people or groups, according to Christensen.

If requested, Douglas County currently will disable its website function that allows a person to search for a property by the owners name, said Michael Goodwillie, who works for the Douglas County Assessor/Register of Deeds Office. Any property owner can make the request. The county does not charge for the service.

But the user still could find a persons listing in Douglas County if the user had an address or parcel number.

Goodwillie, who offered neutral testimony, said the bill wouldnt completely stop people with bad intentions from threatening law enforcement.

At best, I think (LB) 624 only makes it a little more difficult, and if thats the goal, thats fine, he said.

The proposal would not stop outside websites, such as Whitepages, from requesting officer addresses in writing and posting them online, said Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, who also provided neutral testimony.

No one testified in opposition during the hearing before the Legislatures Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. The hearing drew about 50 law enforcement officers in support.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. John Murante of Gretna, said that the bill identifies a serious problem, and that the committee will work to seek the best policy to address it.

Murante said hes extremely reluctant to charge law enforcement for a service to keep them safe. That doesnt seem right to me, he said.

Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, a member of the committee, said she supports any effort to protect people who protect the public, but she raised concerns about where lawmakers should draw the line.

Blood said that while protecting domestic violence victims may be a good idea, lawmakers may be confronted by special interest groups asking for similar treatment.

Matt Barrall, vice president of the Nebraska Fraternal Order of Police and an investigator with the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office, said he doesnt dispute that there may be other people who also may need protection. But officers are being targeted regularly, he said.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 64 officers were killed in gun-related incidents in 2016. Of those, 21 were the result of ambush-style attacks.

My focus has to be for my brothers and sisters and their families, Barrall said.
No one outside of Anthony Garcia and his confidantes knows how much he and his family paid to his Chicago-based attorneys in their attempts to defend him against charges that he killed four Omahans.

But Garcias attorneys want taxpayers to foot a portion of the bill.

On Friday, Jeremy Jorgenson, one of Garcias attorneys, asked Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall to use tax dollars to pay another $43,400 in expert fees  on top of the nearly $25,000 that Randall authorized in early September for experts to evaluate evidence and perhaps testify on behalf of Garcia.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine objected to the payments.

Kleine noted that Garcia  a former doctor  hired the Motta law firm of Chicago. When attorneys are privately retained, Kleine argued, it is up to the defense team to budget for private investigators and experts.

This whole thing causes me concern, Kleine said. Bottom line  (county) taxpayers shouldnt have to pay the fees of a privately retained defense team.

Jorgenson countered that Judge Randall declared Garcia indigent in late September  just before his trial began. And the defense team has noted that Garcia, who was unemployed at the time of his arrest, met the definition of destitute and therefore qualified for indigent defense assistance all along.

Instead of turning to the public defenders office, his attorneys point out that Garcias family footed a huge part of his legal bill in a case that took more than three years to get to trial.

After his October trial, a jury deliberated about seven hours before finding Garcia guilty of the March 2008 killings of 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman and the May 2013 killings of Dr. Roger Brumback and Mary Brumback, 65.

Garcia killed the four out of revenge for his 2001 firing from Creighton University Medical Center by Thomas father, Dr. William Hunter, and Dr. Brumback.

Among the $68,000 in bills Jorgenson submitted, the defense team requested:

 $3,000 for a gun expert who had never testified as an expert before.

 $12,000 for a computer data expert who charged $350 an hour. His testimony was refuted by an Omaha police detective.

 $17,000 for coroners physicians to testify about the timing of the Brumbacks deaths. About $12,000 of that is requested to pay a national expert who ultimately declined to testify in the Garcia case because of a separate, pending lawsuit by the brother of murder victim JonBenet Ramsey.

 $29,400 to a private investigator who worked for the Mottas and Jorgenson throughout the case.

Kleine particularly balked at the request to pay funds of the private investigator.

The private detective listed his services performed as research, investigations, process serving, interviewing, transportation and security for legal team. He also requested money for parking, office supplies and an $88 meal with expert witness.

Kleine questioned what security the defense team needed.

He further balked as he reviewed the documents that Jorgenson submitted to the judge. Some of the receipts arent itemized and have no detail of what the expenditure is for. One of the bills submitted is simply a credit card bill that purports to be charges for airfare. It doesnt list who took the flights.

Kleine questioned how a private investigator qualifies as an expert, noting that he didnt testify in court and did nothing more than the law firms work.

Someone who serves subpoenas for them  thats not an expert witness, Kleine said. And thats not what an expert witnesss fee is for.

Jorgenson countered that the investigator, Steve Yahnke, provided invaluable service to the defense team in interviewing witnesses who helped the defense. Jorgenson provided an example: Yahnke interviewed several neighbors who said they heard nothing  no gunfire, no loud noises  the Sunday afternoon that the Brumbacks were killed.

Jorgenson said he and Alison Motta just finished a federal trial in which the court paid for a private investigator to serve subpoenas. He also argued that prosecutors had an entire task force at its disposal.

Jorgenson told the judge hes not privy to how much Garcia paid the Motta law firm. He said Garcias family mortgaged their house to pay for his defense.

Im a little unclear how much I got paid, he told the judge. I suppose I could be asking the court for attorneys fees.

Its not unusual to make these requests. I think the court can go through the bill and determine that these were necessary.

Judge Randall took the matter under advisement.
Roughly 200 people gathered Friday afternoon in front of U.S. Sen. Deb Fischers office in west Omaha, protesting her decision to vote for Betsy DeVos as education secretary.

The protesters, holding signs that said things like Bad move Deb! and Corporate hands off education, questioned DeVos competence and her devotion to charter schools, and said if Fischer, a Republican, voted to confirm, they would remember it when she ran for re-election in 2018.

We want to hit her where it hurts, said Dena Draskovich, one of the protesters. Her re-election is not a sure thing.

When a speaker asked who in the crowd was a teacher, maybe half cheered. Some were students. Some protesters brought their children.

Jennifer Simpson, who brought two children, said she was concerned that DeVos had difficulty answering questions during a Senate committee hearing.

Simpson said if she had answered questions that way during a job interview, she would not be hired.

She did not seem very prepared for this job, she said. She did not give me a good feeling.

DeVos has proven to be one of President Donald Trumps most troubled nominations.

Nearly all Republican senators are expected to vote to confirm DeVos nomination. But Fischer, whose mother was a longtime teacher in Lincoln Public Schools, was seen as someone who could be persuaded to vote nay. Because two GOP senators have announced they will do so, one more switch by a Republican could torpedo the nomination.

But on Thursday, Fischer announced her support for DeVos: While I do not agree with Mrs. DeVos on every issue, I do believe she has the ability and commitment to lead the department, she said in a press release.

As is, if Democrats remain united against the nominee, Vice President Mike Pence will be needed to break a tie vote, even with Fischers support.
Long before trains, trucks and airplanes crisscrossed the Midlands, Native American tribes traversed the land and planted settlements. This Indian history extends deep into our regions past, and existing sites preserving that heritage deserve recognition and appreciation.

The U.S. Department of the Interior sent that message when it recently designated an archaeological site in northwest Iowa, known as the Kimball village site, as a national historic landmark, the 26th in Iowa.

Archaeological digs going back to the 1930s show that the site was home to a substantial village of at least 20 houses, fortified by a ditch and timber palisade. Digs have yielded more than 9,000 artifacts providing important details about life in Kimball village, inhabited from about 1100 to 1250.

The site is marked by a mound under which lies essentially a complete village, says Matt Anderson, with the Sioux City Public Museum.

The inhabitants hunted buffalo and deer and things like that, but they were also agriculturalists. They grew a primitive version of corn and other grasses.

Department of Interior materials describe the site as the earliest, best-preserved eastern Great Plains fortified village known in the country.

Kimball village is among several notable Native American heritage sites across Iowa. Mills County, for example, is home to the Davis Oriole earth lodge site, a settlement dating from about 900 to 1300.

The federal government defines national historic landmarks as structures or sites providing a significant connection to a notable individual or event or because a site offers important insight into the past.

Nebraska has 20 sites designated as such. Some of them are Indian heritage sites, generally not open to the public. Among them:

 The Signal Butte site in Scotts Bluff County. The oldest set of artifacts indicate human habitation there as long ago as 3000 B.C. Prehistoric peoples during this period developed sophisticated hunting and foraging techniques following a prolonged drought on the Great Plains, the Nebraska State Historical Society says.

 The Schultz site in Valley County in central Nebraska. People lived there during the period between A.D. 1 and A.D. 500. Artifacts include trade goods from as far away as the Gulf of Mexico.

 The Pike-Pawnee village site in Webster County in south-central Nebraska, with remnants of lodge sites, cemeteries and hoop game courts. The site was occupied intermittently from the 1770s to the 1820s.

Scholar David Wishart of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has noted that right under our wheat fields and city streets, just below our feet, lie the bones of hundreds of generations of Plains Indians, slowly turning into soil, then geology, still belonging to the place.

Native American heritage anchors our region. Its vital to acknowledge and honor that abiding connection.
Assembly polls 2017: Three-cornered contest begins in Goa, Punjab

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Polling for 40 seats of the Goa assembly and 117 seats of Punjab began at 8 am amid tight security arrangements on Saturday.

In Goa, 251 candidates, including 19 women, are in the fray for the 40-member assembly. Around 11 lakh voters will decide the fate of the candidates the state, which is set for a three cornered contest. More than 1,600 polling booths have been set up for the polls. About 90 CRPF companies and over 3,300 police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order in the coastal state.

In Punjab, 1,145 candidates are in fray to for the 117-member assembly. Punjab, where the main contest is between the BJP-SAD alliance, the Congress and the AAP, has around 1.98 crore eligible voters. More than 22,500 polling stations have been set up, with over one lakh security personnel deployed for smooth conduct of elections.

According to reports, 100 polling stations have been declared as critical in Punjab and around 5,500 pockets have been considered vulnarable.

BJP is contesting 36 seats and supporting four independents in Goa, while the Congress is contesting polls in the coastal state in 38 seats. The AAP has fielded its candidates in 39 seats, while the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party-Goa Suraksha Manch-Shiv Sena alliance is contesting 28 of the state's 40 seats.

In Punjab, BJP is contesting in 23 seats while its ally Shiromani Akali Dal is contesting in 94 seats. The Congress is conteting in all the 117 seats on its own, while the AAP has fielded its candidates in 112 seats.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 9:37 [IST]
Thats something to keep in mind as advocates for school choice make a big push this legislative session.

Their cause has never found much traction in Nebraska, but things may be changing.

School choice supporters have an ally in the governors mansion and new, supportive senators in the legislative chambers. They also have a nominee for U.S. Education Secretary who has devoted much of her life to the charter school movement.

In Nebraska, lawmakers including Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, Sen. Tyson Larson of ONeill and Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion are submitted a host of proposals.

Around the country, the charter school movement found fertile ground in areas where public schools were in dire straits. In Nebraska, however, public schools are doing a great job, with a few, isolated exceptions.

For example, Nebraska has one of the highest high school graduation rates in the country at 89 percent. It also ranks among the top 12 states in all categories of the National Assessment of Education Progress.

Interestingly, Nebraska also has a long tradition of school choice  just not the kind that private school advocates are pushing. In Lincoln, for example, hundreds of students go to public high schools outside of their attendance areas.

In fact, 22,148 Nebraska students use their option enrollment to attend public schools in other districts, Ralston Public Schools Superintendent Mark Adler wrote in a Local View column.

There is absolutely no doubt parents should have the right to send their children to private schools that emphasize religious values.

But should other taxpayers be forced to subsidize that choice? Many Nebraskans send tax dollars to public schools districts even though they have no school-age children. Should that money be diverted so some parents can send their children to schools with daily prayer and church services?

Although charter school proponents make it sound like private schools invariably do a better job than public schools, the reality is that around the country some charter schools have failed miserably. In Ohio, state auditors have found more than $27 million spent improperly.

Another reality is that providing tax breaks for parents who send their kids to private schools often means that most of the benefit flows to the wealthy. In Wisconsin, tax filers making more than $100,000 a year claimed two-thirds of a private school tuition tax cut, the Madison State Journal reported this month.

In Nebraska, the push to give tax breaks for private schools seems like a solution in search of a problem. State senators should do the same thing they have done every time similar proposals have been offered: Vote them down.
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Goa polls: Pink polling booths, teddy bears woo women, first-time voters

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Panaji, Feb 4: It seems the Election Commission has learnt how to woo women voters. In Goa, the EC has set-up several 'pink' polling booths across the state to encourage women voters to exercise their democratic rights.

Since 'pink' colour is generally associated with women, so the EC has designed several pink-coloured theme polling booths in the state.

Panaji: In a bid to encourage women voters to come out and exercise their right to vote,'pink' polling stations introduced for #Goapolls2017 pic.twitter.com/O1wI3SX6Jy  ANI (@ANI_news) February 3, 2017

As Goa voted on Saturday, the EC also gifted pink teddy bears to first-time women voters as a mark of appreciation.

Election official giving out teddy bear to 1st time women voter at pink polling station in #Goa.#AIRPics: Nijo Verghese#PollsWithAIR pic.twitter.com/VGOhCpSNcn  All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) February 4, 2017

An EC official said that this was a 'fun' way to tell women voters that how important it was to vote and elect their leaders.

"The idea was to spread the message of exercising voting rights among the women voters," the official added.

The assembly elections for 40 seats in Goa were held on Saturday. The results will be announced on March 11.

In the last assembly elections in 2012, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party alliance removed the Congress from power in the state.

This time, the BJP's main rivals are the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. The voting in the state began from 7 am on Saturday. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was among the first few voters to cast their votes in Panaji, the capital city of the coastal state.

OneIndia News
Goa: Man arrested for recording video of girl in hostel bathroom in Panaji

Goa: Two held for stabbing cab driver, his father over parking row

Great tolerance, the CBI is sitting idle in Goa says its SP

Goa records high voter turn out at 83%, Punjab at 78.62 per cent

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Panaji, Feb 4: Goa recorded the highest voter turn out on the polls held on Saturday. The Election Commission has said that The voter turn out in Goa was a record 83 per cent.

Deputy Election Commissioner of India Umesh Sinha informed the media that the elections in Goa passed off peacefully.

In the case of Punjab the voter turn recorded at 78.62 percent, the ECI said.

Sinha also informed that 100% webcasting was done in Goa in all the polling stations and added that 84 per cent polling was recorded in north Goa, while in south Goa it was 81.5 per cent. The postal votes are yet to be counted.

"The final figure for Goa is likely to increase," Sinha said while thanking all the stakeholders for the smooth conduct of the polls.

Goa also became the first state in the country to introduce a polling station managed by all women officers including security personnel. Goa also had one polling station managed by disabled persons, Sinha added.

Sinha said that in Punjab Rs 58.02 crore cash, 12.43 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 13.34 crore, 2,598 Kgs of drugs and narcotics worth Rs 18.26 crore was siezed.

While briefing on the polling day in Punjab, Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said that a case of violence was reported in Lalu Ghuman village in Tarn Taran. The supporters of 2 political parties clashed and one person sustained bullet injury. An FIR was filed and the main accused arrested.

Two were injured, and one sustained a bullet injury. A FIR was filed following which the main accused was rounded up," he said.

The election commission said that in Punjab, 47 of the 22,615 EVMs malfunctioned and were replaced. Out of the 6,668 VVPATs, 187 had to be replaced.

Re-polling recommended in booth number 8 of Margao constituency in South Goa after faulty procedure by staff.

OneIndia News
I miss fish curry more: Parrikar drops hints of his return to Goa

India

oi-Anusha

'Will he, won't he?' -- this has been the question on many people's minds as far as Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar returning to Goa is concerned. As if to fuel the speculations further, he said that he likes 'Goan food better'.

"I have lost weight in Delhi because I like fish curry more. I miss the food from Goa," Parrikar said. Asked if his statement hinted at his return to Goa, Parrikar made no efforts to clear the air. "I only said that I like Goan food better. I leave it to you to make sense out of it," said Parrikar after casting his vote on Saturday.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office say that Narendra Modi is not ready to let go off Manohar Parrikar. The BJP leadership however, says that legislators will decide on the same.

Parrikar's return to Goa as its chief minister in the case of a win for the BJP in the assembly polls has been making it to the headlines time and again. Shifting of stances by Parrikar himself only added to the speculation. While he had denied such a development initially, as election dates drew closer, he spoke of 'doing whatever the leadership asked him'.

OneIndia News
If you are hungry, come over: Pak rangers mock BSF

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

"If you are hungry please come over." This was a jibe by a Pakistan Rangers made at at the Border Security Force personnel posted at the Barmer sector of the Gujarat frontier. BSF jawans have complained that the Pakistan Rangers had been mocking them since a video of a jawan complaining about the quality of food went viral.

It may be recalled that Tej Bahadur Yadav, a BSF jawan had posted a video in which he complained about the poor quality of food. The BSF has been inquiring into this matter and will submit a report soon.

Pakistan Rangers have been mocking the BSF jawans following this incident. Jibes such as, "We have food here and come over if you are hungry," have been made. Officials say that such posts by jawans damage the reputation of the force. "Jawans must be careful before making complaints public as the enemy nation tends to take advantage of the same," says an official.

Officials say that when such issues are raised in public domain, Pakistan tends to take advantage of the same. "Such jibes have become common these days and this has a very demoralising effect on the forces. There have been complaints of such jibes several times," officials claim.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 10:15 [IST]
JuD is now known as TAJK after crackdown on leadership

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

In a bid to stay in contention the Jamaat-ud-Dawa which is the financial wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba has renamed itself as 'Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir.' Incidentally, the name change comes just days after LeT boss Hafiz Saeed was placed under house arrest in Pakistan.

This is the second time that the JuD is changing its name. Earlier, the outfit was renamed Falah-e-Insaniyat (Humanity).

The TAJK is expected to make an official announcement on Sunday. Several banners of this new group are already on display in various parts of Pakistan.

While the donation centres of the JuD have been reactivated under the new banner, the group also plans on hosting a conference on Sunday. The conference would discuss Jammu and Kashmir, sources say.

Official sources say that although it is being claimed that TAJK is a new outfit, in reality it is the JuD with a name change. With Pakistan under pressure to act against terrorists, these groups are coming up new methods to avoid a ban, officials in the intelligence agency say.

OneIndia News
Punjab elections: ISI sponsors Kejriwal,' alleges Harsimrat Kaur

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

In a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of rubbing shoulders with the militant outfit Babbar Khalsa. She said that it was an indication that the AAP convener is being sponsored by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

Aftr 30-yrs thr ws blast in Punjab,Kejriwal having dinner&breakfast with Babbar Khalsa,clear indication ISI sponsors Kejriwal-Harsimrat Kaur pic.twitter.com/wThXYnRjBo  ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

Urging the electorate to vote for the SAD, Harsimrat said Punjab should have a government that coordinates with the Centre.

"Punjab wants a government that coordinates with the Centre not one that has issues everyday, certainly not one that ruined Delhi," she told ANI.

Polls for the 117-seat Punjab assembly is underway across the state. 1,145 candidates are in fray to for the 117-member assembly. Punjab, where the main contest is between the Bharatiya Janata Party-SAD alliance, the Congress and the AAP, has around 1.98 crore eligible voters. More than 22,500 polling stations have been set up, with over 1 lakh security personnel deployed for smooth conduct of elections.

OneIndia News
S M Krishna will join BJP, says a confident B S Yeddyurappa

India

oi-Anusha

The chief of BJP in Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa told reporters on Saturday that former Congressman S M Krishna will join the BJP soon. Yeddyurappa added that the former union minister had no issues with the offer made by the BJP to him and another round of talks will ensure his induction into the party.

[Eyes on Cauvery belt, BJP lures disgruntled Congress defectors]

Talking to media persons in Kalburgi of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa said, "Krishna will for sure join the BJP. I am meeting him on Sunday. He has not laid down any conditions and is willing to join the party."OneIndia had reported of S M Krishna's meeting with Amit Shah on January 23, days before he submitted his resignation to Sonia Gandhi.

[S M Krishna met BJP's Amit Shah before quitting Congress]

The Congress leaders in Karnataka had attempted to woo Krishna and convince him to withdraw his resignation but to no avail. The Krishna meet with Amit Shah had sparked off speculations of him joining the BJP and Yeddyurappa's statement on Saturday only went on to cement the same. Krishna's induction into the BJP is likely to cause an exodus from the Congress as far as leaders from the old Mysuru belt and Cauvery belt regions are concerned. This news should come as big worry to the Congress in the state.

OneIndia News
UP: Modi slams opposition, vows to weed out corruption

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Meerut, Feb 4: Asserting his resolve to weed out corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked the opposition and urged the Uttar Pradesh voters to boot out parties involved in graft. He also lashed out at leaders who promoted caste and vote bank politics.

24hrs rajneeti karte rahoge kya? Aise log pehle parivaar ka sochte the, phir apna aur ab kursi ka; Aise logon se UP ka bhagya nhi badlega-PM pic.twitter.com/56XU7oS9sm  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 4, 2017

Addressing a huge gathering at the 'Vijay Shankhnaad Rally' in Meerut, the Prime Minister made a strong pitch for demonetisation and urged people to bring a BJP government in power in Uttar Pradesh so that 'corruption and black money could be weeded out'.

"When I took the decision to demonetise high-value currency notes, I knew that people who have stashed black money will gang up and bay for my blood. But I knew the people of this country are behind me," he said as the audience cheered.

He asked the people to seek answers from the Congress on how come Rs 140 crore was found stashed at the residence of a Karnataka minister.

Notebandi ka virodh karne waali Cong se poochna chahta hoon ki kya kaaran hai Karnataka mein unke ek mantri ke ghar se 150 crore mila?: PM pic.twitter.com/UMKQ74fJ9s  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 4, 2017

"I am not going to stop; neither will I bow to such forces. I am Modi... I will not rest until each and every penny looted from the people of this country is accounted for," he said.

Modi also took potshots at the Bahujan Samaj Party, saying that people who had sold tickets and stashed money in rooms had lost it all due to note ban.

"I assure you that no matter who gangs up against me -- whatever alliances are formed -- no one can shake me from my resolve to make this country corruption-free" the Prime Minister said amid shouts of 'Modi Modi'.

IANS
Will Sasikala take over as Tamil Nadu chief minister soon?

India

oi-Anusha

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs are expected to meet on Sunday following which new political developments are expected in Tamil Nadu, one of them may also include party MLAs choosing Sasikala as their legislative party leader effectively proposing to make her the chief minister. Speculations are also rife that Sasikala may take over as Chief Minister soon. While February 9 or 8 was speculated as the date for her to take over initially, sources suggest that it may happen as early as Februay 6 to counter any opposition that may arise.

The systematic removal of Jayalalithaa loyalists from top posts in Tamil Nadu was intended at sending a strong message out to everyone: 'Sasikala is the new boss and she will call the shots'. The unceremonious ouster of top bureaucrats in Tamil Nadu including Jayalalithaa aide Sheela Balakrishnan is a 'cleaning up process', say political observers.

[Jayalalithaa's aide Sheela Balakrishnan shown the door]

The ousting Jayalalithaa's aides is only the first step towards clearing any hurdle that may come in the way of Sasikala or threaten her elevation, say sources. "Not becoming the chief minister undermines her authority within the party and in the state. Sasikala has to become CM to stay relevant. The resistance against her is huge and assuming power is the only way to contain it," said political observer Ramasubramanian.

Sources suggested that the ouster of the IAS officers had more to do with the central government than them being Jayalalithaa loyalists. "Most of these IAS officers, including Sheela Balakrishnan had become loyalists of the central government soon after Jayalalithaa's death. It is quite natural that Sasikala doesn't want anyone around her to function as the eyes and ears of the Modi government. It was imperative to get rid of anyone who could pose even a remote threat to Sasikala's leadership," sources said.

"The shots are being called by Sasikala's husband Natarajan and they will stop at nothing.

Their fight is with the central government directly that is trying to gain a grip on the current scenario in Tamil Nadu. Sasikala doesn't trust people like Sheela Balakrishnan to stand by her as they had stood by Jayalalithaa. This is going to be a fight to the finish," said the policial analyst.

Meanwhile, reports on possible transfers of more IAS officers are doing the rounds. Sources suggest that IAS officer Sabitha is likely to join Ramalingam and Venkatraman, who were shifted out of the chief minister's office.

OneIndia News
10 killed in Afghan avalanche

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kabul, Feb 4: At least 10 people lost their lives and 12 others were wounded after a snow avalanche struck a village in northern Afghan province of Badakhshan, a local official said on Saturday.

"The incident happened in Barghut village, Mahami district late Friday night. The initial information found 10 people, including women and children, were killed and 12 others wounded," Sayyed Abdullah Dehqan, director of provincial Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, told Xinhua news agency.

The number of the causalities may further rise as the natural disaster also destroyed 18 houses in the remote village, the official said, adding that "a rescue team has been dispatched to the area to help and provide assistance for the affected villagers."

IANS


Abdul Basit set to become Pak's new foreign secretary: Reports

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Feb 4: Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit is set to become the country's new foreign secretary, media reports said here on Saturday. The Nawaz Sharif government has "in principle" decided to appoint Basit as the country's new foreign secretary, replacing Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry who has been designated as Pakistan's ambassador to the US, The News reported.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is also retaining the portfolio of the Foreign Affairs, has concluded consultations for appointing new administrative head of the Foreign Office, the daily said.

It is likely that the announcement pertaining to the appointment of Basit would be made next week, the report said. 58-year-old Basit is the senior most among the contenders for the top post.

Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post.

Basit, who has varied experience of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, was selected for the job three years back also but could not be appointed due to technical reasons and instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany.

Pakistan will take the decision about new High Commissioner in India after Basit's return, the daily said.

PTI
Donald Trump terms court ruling suspending travel ban as 'ridiculous'

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Feb 4: US President Donald Trump lashed out on Saturday at a court ruling suspending his controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as "ridiculous" and vowing to get it overturned.

The order blocking the ban, issued late on Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state's attorney general. The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at airports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" Trump wrote, less than 12 hours after the ruling was issued in Seattle. "Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" said Trump, who was in Florida for the weekend.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The White House said in a statement late on Friday that the Department of Justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban, "which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," said the statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer. Trump's executive order blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days.

Syrian refugees are barred indefinitely, and refugees from other countries are barred from entry for 120 days. Friday's ruling by the federal court in Seattle was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order. Washington state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

"The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said, describing the judge's decision as historic. "No one is above the law -- not even the president." "It is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it's the constitution," he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush.

The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas canceled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

PTI
In Iran, men and women are 'equal' only in torture

Iran hits back after Donald Trump administration tightens sanctions

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Tehran, Feb 4: Iran's Foreign Ministry said it will counteract the fresh US sanctions imposed against some Iranian and non-Iranian entities under the pretext of being linked with Iran's missile program.

The fresh sanctions are "inconsistent with the US commitments and in contradiction with the spirit of the UN Resolution 2231," Xinhua news agency cited a Foreign Ministry statement.

"Developing missile capabilities of the country, which is solely designed for defensive purposes and carrying the conventional weapons, is the international right of the Iranians based on the UN charter," it said on Friday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that any foreign intervention in this regard is a violation of the international law.

Iran's security is non-negotiable and "the Islamic republic will counteract any measure which targets the national interests of the Iranians," it said.

The US on Friday announced sanctions on multiple entities and individuals involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and providing support to a military force in Iran.

The move came days after Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that the action reflects the US commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and "destabilising" activities in the region, and is fully consistent with the US commitments under the nuclear deal with Iran.

IANS


Poland says Berlin and Paris running EU as an 'oligarchy'

Knife-wielding attacker is an Egyptian, reveals Paris prosecutor

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Paris, Feb 4: A machete-wielding man who on Friday attacked soldiers near Louvre Museum in Paris and was shot, was an Egyptian national, a Paris prosecutor has said at a presser.

Francois Molins told reporters on Friday evening that the attacker arrived in France from Dubai at the end of January, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The identity of the perpetrator is not formally established, but the searches allow to identify a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen," Molins said.

Molins said the attacker was not carrying an identity card, but a photo registered in Visabio (a European biometric database including digital photography and fingerprints of visa applicants) was the same of the machete-wielding man.

Investigation is underway to determine the motive and to establish whether the attacker acted alone or have been guided, he added.

According to initial indications, the attacker arrived on January 26 after acquiring a one-month tourist visa. Two days later, he bought two machetes at a store in French capital.

During a raid in the suspect's residence rented in Paris' eighth district, the police found $970 in cash, an iPad and several pre-paid cards.

On Friday morning, the suspect armed with two machetes rushed at four soldiers patrolling the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre, shouting Allahou Akbar (God the Greatest).

He slightly injured a soldier in his scalp before he was shot and seriously wounded.

In a statement, French President Francois Hollande called the machete-wielding Louvre attack "savage".

France where terrorist alert remains high, has imposed emergency rules since the November 2015 attacks in which gunmen and suicide bombers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State killed 130 people.

A recent attack left 86 victims injured when a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice on July 14, 2016.

"The incident was completely controlled but (terrorism) threat is here to stay and we must confront it," Hollande said at a meeting of European Union leaders in Malta.

"We have mobilised all the necessary means and we'll continue to do so till the time it will take," he added.

IANS


Pak hopes of 'better environment for peace talks' after assembly polls

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Feb 4: Pakistan hopes that there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India after the assembly elections in five Indian states, a senior minister has said.

"We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed," Pakistan minister of planning and development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering in Washington.

Responding to a question at the US institute of peace, a top American think-tank, Iqbal rued that Pakistan is an election issue in the state assembly elections in India.

"This is a bit unfortunate that they're taking, you know, strong positions along the electoral cycle. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that. India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now, think in terms of peace," Iqbal said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, is a strong advocate of peace in the region.

"We have very actively pursued peace with Afghanistan and India and continue to do so because we think that our development depends upon peace in the region," he said.

"But I think, there is a little issue that, in Pakistan, since 93' I don't remember any election where any leadership has shown any sensitivity towards doing India bashing in order to get some extra votes in the elections. I mean, in our elections India is not affected, nobody speaks about India, nobody does any India bashing," he said.

"But somehow we feel that the electoral dynamics in India are still quite sensitive to Pakistan bashing. So whenever you have, a electoral process in India, the government takes a certain hawkish position towards Pakistan," Iqbal said, adding that after these election there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India.

Responding to a question, Iqbal alleged that India's reaction to China-Pakistan economic corridor is 'a knee jerk' reaction. India, he said, needs to look at opportunities with CPEC as increasing regional cooperation.

"So instead of opposing CPEC, it should now join CPEC and look at different opportunities," he said, adding CPEC would provide India shortest land route to do trade with most of China.

"What you also have to see, that in China, they have now developed extensive road and rail links with west China," he added.

"If you are even doing trade through CPEC you can reach out to any destination in China from this area. So we are very hopeful and we continue to work to normalize our relations with India," Iqbal said.

PTI

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Story first published: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 12:47 [IST]
Trumps Muslim ban: Seattle judge blocks executive order

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Washington: A federal judge in Seattle on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order banning entry into the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries.

District Judge James Robert, who was appointed by President George Bush in 2003, issued a temporary restraining order against the restrictions, ruling that the ban would be immediately stopped nationwide.

In Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson's 90-page lawsuit filed on Monday, he'd claimed that the Trump administration is violating the Constitution's protections for religious freedom. "The Constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said in a statement after the verdict. "No one is above the law, not even the President."

Meanwhile, New York and Virginia have also taken legal action against the president's ban.

Reacting to the lawsuit, White House attorneys issued a response brief, claiming that Washington state is unable to challenge the President and his intentions. "What the judge announced today was nationwide the president's executive order does not apply," the brief said.

President Trump's order banned immigration for 90 days from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also halted the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely along with all other refugees for 120 days, sparking confusion and outrage resulting in mass protests across the states.

The White House has not officially responded to the Seattle court ruling.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 9:53 [IST]
Thousands in Europe march against Trump's immigration ban

International

oi-PTI

London, Feb 5: Thousands of Europeans enraged by US President Donald Trump's immigration ban demonstrated on Saturday in cities across the continent, calling on Americans to "dump Trump" and vowing to fight his policies.

In London, an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader. Brandishing placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "Socialism not Trumpism", the protesters moved from the US embassy toward May's Downing Street office.

In Paris and Berlin each, around a thousand people came out to protest, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities including Manchester and Birmingham. Rallies were also held in Sweden's capital Stockholm and the Spanish city Barcelona, where some 300 people marched outside the Spanish consulate, according to media reports.

Earlier, protests on the days following the announcement of the ban had also drawn several thousand people across the globe, including in Australia, whose prime minister reportedly clashed with Trump in a phone call last week over US commitment to a refugee deal.

"We are here to say we don't accept hate," said 20-year-old American Michael Jacobs, co-organiser of the Paris rally, surrounded by signs saying "Refugees are welcome!"

In an executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- barring their entry to the US for 90 days. Refugees were also barred from entry for 120 days, except those from Syria who were blocked indefinitely.

However, on Friday a judge lifted the ban, a move which Trump condemned and vowed to fight. The White House argues the ban will make the country safer and efficient at preventing terror attacks. A Justice Department attorney has said since Trump's order, about 100,000 visas have been revoked.

Protesters in London heard a video message from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who thanked them for "standing up for what is right" and said they showed solidarity with "our friends all over the USA who share our views and our values, who are standing with minority communities under attack".

The Guardian newspaper said around 10,000 people attended, while organisers claimed 40,000. More than 1.8 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be afforded a formal state visit because it would embarrass Queen Elizabeth II.

PTI
Travel ban: Radical Jamaican cleric calls Trump a wonderful enemy

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

"He is a wonderful enemy," is what radical Jamaican cleric Abdullah el-Faisal had to say about United States President Donald Trump. Reacting to the travel ban imposed by Trump, Faisal said that this decision would ultimately encourage Muslims to wake up.

SITE Intel Group reported that Faisal discussed the travel ban and predicted that the policy would ultimately encourage Muslims to 'wake up'. His statements come just a few days after pro-Islamic State operatives called on Muslims to wake and hit America.

Faisal, a one-time imam of south London's Brixton mosque has been a fervent online champion of the IS, even supporting the kidnapping and rape of Yazidi minority women in Iraq. Since 2010, counter-terrorism agents in New York and Washington have been keeping tabs on a Jamaican imam whose death-spewing sermons in English raised fears of him radicalising American Muslims

Recently a video titled The Americans will turn on the Muslims had gone viral in jihadi circles following the ban on all immigration and visa holders who are citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.

The IS handles and social media groups too debated the Trump imposed ban. Use this as a recruitment tool said one group recruiters to their followers. Another channel, the Telegram which is used most by the IS termed Trump as the 'best caller to Islam'.

The IS has termed Trump as an evil crusader and wants its followers to use the issue to recruit as many people as possible. Intelligence officials say that the ban imposed by Trump could have a flip side to it as well. "It is already being used as a recruitment tool. America is being portrayed as the evil crusader and the IS now says that this issue has led to a battle between the West and Islam," says an official.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 11:58 [IST]
Trump travel ban: US State Dept reverses revocation of visas

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Washington, Feb 4: US State Department on Saturday reversed revocation of visas after a judge stayed Donald Trump's executive order on banning travellers. US State Department said visas that were previously revoked under Trump's executive order are now valid for travel.

Department of Homeland Security says it has suspended all actions to implement Trump's immigration order. This comes after Trump lashed out on Saturday at a court ruling suspending his controversial ban. Trump described federal judge James Robart as a "so-called" justice whose "ridiculous" opinion "essentially takes law-enforcement away from" the US.

Judge Robart ruled on Friday that the prohibition was unconstitutional. A number of airlines have said they are allowing nationals targeted by the ban to board flights to America.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter.

OneIndia News
Explained: What is Indonesias nomad visa which allows tax free living for travellers

US: 100,000 visas revoked under Donald Trump's travel ban

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, Feb 4: Over 100,000 visas have been revoked since US President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban a week ago, media reports said.

According to the Washington Post on on Friday, the attorney revealed the data during a hearing in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Yemeni brothers who arrived last Saturday at an Dulles airport near Washington DC, but were sent back to Ethiopia due to the controversial order issued.

"The number 100,000 sucked the air out of my lungs," Xinhua news agency quoted Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, who represents the brothers.

For people like the Yemeni brothers, the US administration appears to be attempting a case-by-case reprieve. They and other plaintiffs in lawsuits around the US are being offered new visas and the opportunity to come to the US in exchange for dropping their suits.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer, when asked about the case during his daily briefing, said he had no information about it.

The White House has downplayed the order's effects on people in transit after chaos and protests erupted at airports around the country last Friday.

Under the executive order Trump signed on January 27, refugees from all over the world will be suspended US entry for 120 days while all immigration from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days.

Countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Last Sunday, thousands of protesters rallied before the White House, at more than 30 US airports and in big cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.

IANS


US: Seattle judge blocks Trump's controversial ban

International

oi-PTI

Washington/Los Angeles, Feb 4: An American judge has imposed a temporary, nationwide hold on Donald Trump's ban on travellers and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, in a major blow to the US President's controversial order.

US district judge James Robart in Seattle issued the temporary restraining order that will remain valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint by Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson.

"The Constitution prevailed today. No one is above the law -- not even the President," Ferguson said after the federal judge granted his request to immediately halt implementation of Trump's executive order on immigration nationwide.

Robart, who was nominated to the court by former president George W Bush in 2003, ruled that Ferguson had met the high standards necessary to block the executive order until the court reaches the merits of the lawsuit. The temporary restraining order immediately stops federal officials from enforcing parts of the ban that target immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and stops them from enforcing parts of the ban that grant exemptions based on religion.

Reacting to the development, the White House said it will file for an emergency order against the federal judge's ruling.

"At the earliest possible time, the department of justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.

"The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said. The White House defended President's executive order.

"As the law states, whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate'," Spicer said.

Hailing the court ruling, Indian-American congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said, "This is fantastic and critically important news. These orders are inhumane and unconstitutional."

"This ruling came from a courthouse in Seattle and it makes me so proud of my city and my state for leading the way in defence of human rights and the rule of law. Washington leads the way," Jayapal added.

Trump last week signed the sweeping executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough new controls on travellers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen as part of new measures to 'keep radical Islamic terrorists' out of America.

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AMES -- Iowa Beef Center and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach are teaming with University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Nebraska Beef Council to offer a Feedlot Roundtable session Thursday at five Iowa locations, including Garner.

IBC extension beef program specialist Erika Lundy said these sessions are offered annually in Nebraska and a cooperative arrangement between the two state universities offers internet access for Iowans to the afternoon session.

This webinar is part of an agreement between ISU Extension and Outreach and UNL Extension to share livestock educational resources and programs.

New this year for the Iowa locations, well host an Iowa State feedlot research update at the Ames location that will be broadcast to the other four Iowa locations via an internet connection, Lundy said. This update will feature information from trials on trace mineral supplementation levels to implanted and non-implanted steers, effects of sources of trace minerals on steer recovery from mineral deficiencies, and a five-year summary of feeding efficiency research."

The $10 fee is payable at the door and covers materials and refreshments. Those interested in attending the Garner session should register by Tuesday using the following contact information:

Hancock County, 327 W. Eighth St.; Russ Euken, reuken@iastate.edu, 641-923-2856.

More information is available from the Iowa Beef Center website at www.iowabeefcenter.org, ISU Extension and Outreach county offices or ISU Extension and Outreach beef program specialists.
FOREST CITY  These lobbyists are only in seventh and eighth grade.

Five Forest City Middle School student council members spoke with local lawmakers at the Iowa Capitol late last month. They were in Des Moines as part of the American Cancer Society's (ACS) Cancer Action Network's annual Day at the Capitol.

"We were the youngest ones there," eighth-grader Olivia Gayther said.

The annual day brings volunteers and staff to the Capitol to advocate on cancer policy. Danielle Oswald-Thole said last year's event brought in a high school group for the first time.

"We were never lucky enough to have middle school students," said Oswald-Thole, ACS grassroots manager.

Local ACS representative Steve Lovik thought of including middle-schoolers from Forest City.

"The middle school is a great advocate in the fight against cancer," Lovik said.

The students annually organize a mini relay week, which includes education about cancer.

"We've been learning about skin cancer since sixth grade. And now we were able to talk to someone bigger who can do something about it," eighth-grader Laura Harms said.

Harms said they talked with Rep. Tedd Gassman, R-Scarville, about how tanning beds and tobacco affects younger generations and how both can lead to cancer. Melanoma is the leading cause of cancer in young people, and using a tanning bed can increase the chance of cancer by 59 percent.

The group was impressed with how attentive Gassman was during their presentation.

"He cared enough to listen to kids because it affects them more," seventh-grader Keevan Jones said.

Lovik and Oswald-Thole were impressed with how well the middle school students presented their information.

"I was really impressed by their advocacy. They were very articulate and well prepared," Oswald-Thole said.

The students also inspired others at the Capitol.

"They got a lot of comments from people saying they really appreciated having the younger students there," Lovik said.

"I feel like the information and concerns they shared did not fall on deaf ears," said Kari Olson, student council advisor. "Rep. Gassman seemed to value their opinions and together they had a nice conversation. It was important for him to hear what they had to say because these students represent the future."
Editor's note: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story - published online Feb. 4 - incorrectly quoted Rep. Jane Bloomingdale's and misconstrued her stance on collective bargaining. The Mitchell County Press-News regrets the error.

ST. ANSGAR  It was standing-room only at the St. Ansgar City Hall for the first of four monthly Mitchell County legislative forums.

Sen. Waylon Brown, R-St. Ansgar, and Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, R-Northwood, listened to concerns and answered questions from those in attendance.

Former Mitchell County Supervisor Betty McCarthy asked about the current state of Medicaid and issues regarding delayed, partial or no payments made to medical providers.

Theyre in the hole already, McCarthy said. There are a number of providers around the state who will no longer service Medicaid patients because of a lack of reimbursement.

Both legislators said they were aware of the issue and would be attending meetings in upcoming weeks to bring them up to speed.

It made no sense, McCarthy said. They already had something in play that was working. Why give these companies millions up front so they can hire and train people to do a job that wasnt needed?

Brown said he had been in contact with a couple of providers who had been waiting five to six months for payment. He said he was working to help with progress, but admitted it has been slow.

He shared information about two proposed bills that would have a negative effect on rural health care.

The first involves private, for-profit companies to work at rural hospitals. The second is for sleep labs, who would no longer serve people on Medicaid.

Osage High School Principal Tim Hejhal asked about collective bargaining.

What I can tell you, said Bloomingdale is that at this point, they are not going to touch IPERS, they are not going to touch any retirement," Bloomingdale said. "Those two items have never been part of collective bargaining, and will not be and are not going to be touched at this point. I dont want to see IPERS touched and at this point in time, thats where they are."

Most in attendance raised their hands when asked if they favored an enforcement of the 3/8-cent sales tax passed in 2010, with proceeds used for water quality.

Lots of things go into factoring what is an impacted waterway, said Brown. Recreational issues, drinking quality, the presence of a dam stopping fish from making it upstream, or the presence of nitrates and phosphates. There is also the issue of wildlife habitats.

Residents also asked about the pipeline break near Hanlontown, funding inequity for rural school transportation and school vouchers.

The next forum begins at 10 a.m. Feb. 25 at the Osage Public Library. The forums are sponsored by a bipartisan group of Mitchell County residents.

Chrystal Berche is a correspondent for the Mitchell County Press-News, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.
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Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on you again Mofo.

I have heard here and elsewhere, "Give him time, give him a chance to start moving on his promises, moving on his agenda, getting his people in place before you start to tear him down, etcetera. Ok. That's reasonable. I heard Peter Lavelle on CrossTalk suggest that giving him 100 days to see how things are going to go is reasonable. I don't need no stinking 100 days at this point to know that I don't like the smell coming out of the ruling class' government as exemplified by Mr. Trump.

I've been waiting for Mr. Trump to show that he is a peacemaker, because that is what he promised to do with Putin. Make peace and with Russia's help "eradicate" ISIS. Do his globalist classmates take this as a threat given that ISIS is their baby, and therefore he is talking about eradicating them? Or does he think we have forgotten who sponsors the terrorists therefore he is going to throw us back under the MSM bus pretending that ISIS is what"its own creation? Seriously? Alternately are we to think that he is uninformed about who ISIS is, who funds it, loves it, pets it and keeps it watered and alive? No. So why would Mr. Trump make a bullsh*t statement about eradicating ISIS? If you were Russian, how would you feel about Mr. Trump's call for Russian assistance to wipe out ISIS? Is he asking for Russia's help to go to war against his ruling classmates? Perhaps the grandmasters in Russia are dumbfounded and do not know what to think of Mr. Trump"However, they did decide to do one thing which was to move a bunch of country killing missiles into Kalingrad -- Now why would they do that? After all Trump loves the Putin and says NATO is obsolete, or something to that effect. Lights, cameras, Action! Wow"Look at all those US led NATO troops and obsolete military hardware pouring into Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania -- In my opinion, the visit with Mr. Trump by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway must have cleared up any confusion the US President had about making nice with Mr. Putin.

Apparently the Russians are not going for the Trump con and do not consider this NATO build up "friendly". They have decided instead that they can very easily drop earth quaking nuclear tonnage on East Germany, take out Copenhagen and the surrounding country and everything else in between down to Italy. What would trigger it? How about the Ukrainian President deciding to do a little ethnic Russian cleansing?

Crap! What happened? Onward christian soldiers to the Middle East and safe zones for Syria. Mr. Trump says the US will lead in establishing the safe zones and make the Gulf States pay for them. We all know that there would never be anything safe about a safe zone that the US would impose in Syria where it is arming terrorists and carrying out an illegal war against its people and its elected and internationally recognized government. So now the Russians after having witnessed US/NATO accelerated movement of war stuff to the Russian border is expected to okay safe zones in Syria? Notice how arrogant that suggestion is? Not only isn't the question addressed to Assad, it is a declaration about what the US plans to do and asks how the Russians "feel" about that or something to that effect.

Lavrov has defers to Assad, after all the Russians were invited to assist Syria to defend its sovereignty, not make policy for Syria. Does Trump really expect Syria to allow the same stunts that have been pulled by the terrorists to be pulled again, which is to negotiate ceasefires, until the terrorists can regroup, get resupplied by the US/NATO and the terrorists gulf state allies, then resume the killings? So Assad and the Russians, and Turkey and Iran and China are going to support the Syria government in allowing the US to set up terrorists' cells in Syria, except they will be called safe zones. Of course there will be antiaircraft batteries and therefore the establishment of a no fly zone -- EGADS! Shades of Hillary!! The Russians and Chinese and Iranians and Turks will not allow Assad to cave.

I do not expect Assad will want his enemy the US and its ilk to have anything to do with creating "safe zones" in Syria, so the answer to the Trump will be NO.

I don't know what Trump is up to but this move is really disingenuous.

Strike two.

Trump loves an Israel that would love for the head chopping ISIS and Saudi supported Wahhabis to be in Damascus versus the existing legitimate government. This attitude is no doubt fed by the hatred the Israeli DF has after suffering their only defeat at the hands of Hezbollah who kicked them out of southern Lebanon. So the Israeli government owes a little payback to Tehran.

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A Georgetown Law professor named David Koplow has drafted what he calls a Nuclear Kellogg-Briand Pact. In an article proposing it, Koplow does something all too rare, he recognizes some of the merits of the Kellogg-Briand Pact. But he misses others of those merits, as I described them in my 2011 book When The World Outlawed War.

Koplow acknowledges the cultural shift that the pact was central to, that shifted common understanding of war from something that just happens like the weather to something that can be controlled, should be abolished, and would henceforth be illegal. He acknowledges the role of the pact in motivating trials (albeit one-sided trials) for the crime of war following World War II.

But Koplow also does something that I imagine any U.S. law professor must be expected to do. I have yet to find one who doesn't. He declares that the pact "silently" includes language that it does not actually include, language opening up a loophole for defensive war. While Britain and France added reservations to the treaty, other nations ratified it as it is written. The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee produced a statement interpreting the treaty, but not actually modifying the treaty. Japan did the same. That committee statement interprets the existence of a loophole for defensive war. The pact itself does not contain it and would not have been created, signed, or ratified had it done so.

The actual text of the treaty is superior to the United Nations Charter in not containing two loopholes, one for defensive wars and the other for UN-authorized wars. And contrary to what Koplow claims, but consistent with the facts of the matter that he relates, the Kellogg-Briand Pact is still law. That this makes numerous recent wars illegal is not so significant, as most -- if not all -- of those wars fail to fit into the UN Charter's loopholes. But the existence of those loopholes allows endless claims to legality that muddy what would be clear waters if we looked to the peace pact instead of to the UN Charter.

Of course intent is often taken to override actual text. If the people who created the pact intended it to silently allow defensive war, then it allows defensive war, according to this theory. But did they? That all depends on who counts as being those people. Koplow only mentions one of them, Senator William Borah. In fact, Koplow drastically understates Borah's role. Following the lead of the Outlawry movement and intense lobbying by its leaders, Borah had publicly promoted outlawing war for years before the pact came up for a vote, and he had been instrumental in making sure that it did. On November 26, 1927, Borah had written this in the New York Times:

"I do not think peace plans which turn upon the question of an 'aggressor nation' are workable. An aggressor nation is a delusive and wholly impracticable proposition as a factor in any peace plan." Borah, agreeing with the widespread understanding of the Outlawrists, believed that in any war each side would label the other the aggressor, and that through ultimatums and provocations any side could make another into the aggressor. "I would not support a peace plan," Borah wrote, "which recognized war as legitimate at any time or under any circumstances." Having learned from the creators of outlawry, Borah tutored Kellogg and Coolidge, even overcoming the hurdle created by the latter's belief that outlawing war would be unconstitutional.

But in what exactly did Borah tutor them? Surely not in what appears to every living U.S. law professor in 2017 utter nonsense or a suicide pact? Yes, in fact, in just that. And I'm not sure either Kellogg or Coolidge ever understood it to any greater extent than this: the public demand for it was a hurricane. But here's what it was, and why those who come around to praising the Kellogg Briand Pact seem more intent on burying it. Outlawry was opposed to the entire institution of war on the model of opposition to dueling -- which, outlawrists pointed out, had not been replaced by defensive dueling, but by abolition of the whole barbaric institution. Once you sanction some wars, you motivate preparation for wars, and that moves you toward wars of all kinds. The Outlawrists had grasped this even before Dwight Eisenhower had been part of a chemical weapons attack on World War I veterans in the streets of D.C., much less made any farewell addresses.

But if you ban all war, the Outlawrists grasped, you end up eliminating the need for any war. You organize nonviolent systems of conflict resolution. You create the rule of law. You mobilize a reverse arms race. Peace Studies Departments have largely grasped this just in recent years. Peace activists had it down in the 1920s. And they insisted on their vision in the treaty that they wrote, that they negotiated, that they lobbied for, and that they passed -- against the very will of many of the Senators ratifying it. Si vis pacem, para pacem. Koplow quotes this inscription from the pen used to sign the treaty. If you want peace, prepare for peace. That people actually meant that in 1928 is beyond common understanding in 2017. Yet it is down in writing in both the text of the treaty and the many texts of the movement that created it. Banning all war was the intention and is the law.

So why should we, as Koplow proposes, create a brand new treaty, modeled on Kellogg-Briand, but banning only nuclear war? Well, first of all, doing so would not legally or otherwise cancel the existing Kellogg-Briand Pact, which is universally ignored by that tiny number of people who've ever heard of it. On the contrary, creating a nuclear KBP would bring attention to the existence of the total KBP. Ending all nuclear war would be a powerful step in the direction of ending all war, would quite possibly keep our species in existence long enough to do so, and would point our thinking in just the right direction.

The treaty as Koplow has drafted it would not be in any conflict with a treaty banning nuclear weapons, but might be a treaty that nuclear nations would sign and ratify, and it would be stronger than simply a commitment not to be the first to use nukes. As drafted, the Nuclear Kellogg-Briand Pact goes beyond mirroring the language of the KBP to finesse the defensive question and many others. It's well thought out, and I recommend reading it. Buried toward the end of the draft treaty is a requirement to accelerate efforts toward total nuclear disarmament. I think passing such a ban on only nuclear war would actually accelerate the abolition of all war, and might just do so via creating awareness that all war has been illegal for 88 years.
From Paul Craig Roberts Website

150 masked "protesters" at Cal Berkeley, precisely 0.0039 percent of the 38,000 student body was all it took to shut down free speech at the University of California, Berkeley.

The protesters are so confused that they see the shutdown as a victory for free speech.

Something is wrong here. The 150 violent protesters are masked, so we don't know if they are students or a Deep State operation against President Trump. The protesters are behaving as fascists by shutting down free speech. By associating the exercise of free speech with fascism, the protesters appear to be too stupid to be Cal Berkeley students. When I was a graduate student at Cal Berkeley, there were high admission standards. Perhaps those standards have been declared to be racist and were thrown out with the bath water.

What is most odd about the protests is that the protesters are protesting a government whose goals are to reduce tensions that could lead to war with Russia and to bring back jobs for the working class. Normally, these are things that people protest in favor of, not against.

How do we explain that the liberal/progressive/left has abandoned its traditional agendas and aligned instead with the ruling One Percent and the arms merchants?

These protests make no sense on their face. For 15 years, indiscriminate slaughter of Muslins has been tolerated. Now suddenly a ban on Muslim immigrants brings violent protests into the streets.

I conclude that The Saker is correct that these protests are orchestrated by the One Percent and the Deep State.

Even Al Jazeera is caught up in the disinformation. Reporter Rob Reynolds described the protests as a liberal push-back against a right-wing president. In my day, the right-wing wanted to nuke the Russians. Now it is right-wing to desire to be at peace with Russia. Of course, youth are devoid of historical perspective, but this level of confusion seems too extreme to flow from sincerity.

Fifty-six years ago President Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex. We paid no attention. Consequently, today they have us, along with the liberal/progressive/left, in their clutches. I wonder if even Donald Trump can rescue us.
MASON CITY | Trinity Lutheran Church offers two forms of prayer to the community, Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina, through the Faith and Wellness Outreach program.

Centering Prayer is a form of silent prayer meant to enhance and nurture relationships with God, one another and all of creation. It involves quieting the mind for twenty minutes of silence to experience God in the stillness.

Centering Prayer is held at 9 a.m. Feb. 6 and Feb. 20 in Faith and Wellness Outreach Room No. 2. It is also held 6:00 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Library-Lounge.

Lectio Divina or "divine reading," is an ancient practice of praying the Scriptures. It is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 13 and Feb. 27 in Faith and Wellness Outreach Room No. 2.

Trinity Lutheran Church is located at 213 North Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City.
From The Nation

This should scare the wits out of Americans of every partisanship and ideology.

Most Americans had not thought much -- or, for that matter, heard much -- about Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Then Donald Trump went nuts on Turnbull, reportedly cutting short a Saturday phone conversation with the leader of one of the closest allies of the United States over the past century after growling out a complaint that it was "the worst by far" of his calls with global figures.

On a "day of diplomacy" featuring "cordial congratulations given to the new leader of the free world," Trump's conversation with Turnbull should have been uneventful. But the new US president blew up when the prime minister mentioned a deal that had been struck with the Obama administration to allow the resettlement of roughly 1,250 asylum seekers (mostly from Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq) to the United States.

That was the point at which Trump is reported to have -- how shall we put this delicately? -- lost it. According to the Time magazine report from Sydney: "The agreement, Trump reportedly told Turnbull on Saturday, 'was the worst deal ever.' It would get him 'killed' politically at a time when domestic sentiment was pushing him to secure American borders against would-be terrorists. Australia, by urging him to honor the deal, was seeking to export 'the next Boston bombers.'" The Washington Post reported that what has been planned as a one-hour call was cut short after 25 minutes.

Reaction in Australia was intense. Television networks and newspapers labeled the incident " Phonegate." Programs were devoted to debates about how best to respond to diplomatic "bullying" and commentators ripped Trump's "offensive" behavior. Bruce Springsteen, having read the papers, opened his Melbourne show by announcing: "We stand before you embarrassed Americans tonight." Then the American rocker played the 1965 Orlons song "Don't Hang Up" as a way "to send a letter back home." Click Here to Read Whole Article

Congressman Adam Schiff, the ranking Democratic member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, tweeted: "Before @POTUS shows such disrespect again, he should consider only one nation has stood with us in every war of the last century -- Australia."

There is no reason to believe that Turnbull was looking to rumble with the new president of the United States. That's not this prime minister's style. A savvy political veteran who knows how to keep things cool, he is comfortable debating with people from across the political spectrum; and he is skilled at engaging in civil discourse with dissenters and critics of his policies.

Yes, Turnbull is fast on his feet. Yes, he can get the better of those who are ill-prepared and uninformed. But he knows how to do so gracefully, and with an eye toward settling disputes rather than inflaming them. That has earned him criticism from the left and the right in Australia. But Turnbull has kept the lines of communication open, at home and abroad.

I know. In my other life as a writer and commentator on global media policy, I have shared platforms with Malcolm Turnbull. I've listened to his speeches and he has listened to mine. We have engaged in reasonably complex discussions about broadband service, public broadcasting, and coverage of politics. As I recall, he disagreed with some of my arguments, and I certainly disagreed with some of his. But he struck me as a worldly conservative who was engaged, informed, and inclined toward finding common ground -- precisely the sort of international figure that Donald Trump is going to need to work with if the United States hopes to function on the global stage.

When I wrote about Australian politics for The Spectator several years ago, the editors headlined the piece: "If only the US had a Malcolm Turnbull." In that article, I observed that...

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From Alon Ben-Meir Website

This is the second in a series of articles based in part on eyewitness accounts about the rapidly deteriorating socio-political conditions in Turkey and what the future may hold for the country. The first article is available here.

Much has been written on the endemic corruption in Turkey which involves virtually every social strata -- including political, judicial, government administration, private sector, civil society, business, and military -- and which stands in total contrast to President Erdogan's grandiose vision to make Turkey a significant player on the global stage. After 15 years in power, Erdogan now presides over a state deeply entrenched in corruption, conspiracy theories, and intrigue. He uses every lever of power to cover up the pervasive corruption consuming the nation and overshadowing the remarkable socio-political progress and economic growth that he made during his first nine years in power.

To consolidate his reign, he intimidated his political opponents, emasculated the military, silenced the press, and enfeebled the judiciary; most recently, he pressed the parliament to amend the constitution to grant him essentially absolute powers.

Turkey ranks 75th in the world in transparency on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index -- falling nine places since 2015 -- along with Bulgaria, Kuwait, and Tunisia. More than 40% of Turkish households perceive public officials to be corrupt.

The economy: Given the pervasiveness of corruption, economic progress in Turkey has slowed down. In Erdogan's initial years, the economy grew by 5-7 percent because he made it a priority while focusing on the poor and less educated, who subsequently became his core supporters.

When the global economy was strong, Turkey registered significant economic growth, but the recent economic slowdown revealed the fault line in Turkey's economy. An inflated and corrupt bureaucracy made it extremely difficult to be granted licenses for development, making it ever harder for foreign and local investors to accelerate the process without bribing government officials.

During a corruption investigation in 2013, $17.5 million in cash was discovered in homes of various officials, including the director of state-owned Halkbank. Fifty-two people connected to the ruling AK Party were detained in one day, but subsequently released due to "lack of evidence."

Given this grim reality, as long as the government continues to deny the existence of pandemic corruption, Erdogan's ambition to make Turkey's economy among the 10 largest economies by 2023 (the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic) has become nothing but a pipe dream.

Suppressing the press: Erdogan has shown zero tolerance for criticism and has worked to stifle the press. Any media outlet that exposed corruption cases became an "enemy of the state."

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 81 journalists are currently imprisoned, all of whom have been charged with anti-state offenses, and over 100 news outlets have been ordered closed by the government. In total, between July 20 and December 31, 2016, 178 broadcasters, websites, and newspapers were shuttered.

Whereas in a democracy the media is considered central to keeping the government honest, in Turkey investigative journalism has become taboo as the Erdogan government is terrified of the potential exposure of corruption cases where government officials are directly involved.

The implications of this are far and wide as other countries, especially democracies, become suspicious of Turkey's positions. The lack of transparency severely erodes its credibility and international standing.

Political: Two-thirds of Turks in a survey revealed they perceive political parties to be corrupt. Turkey lacks an entity that monitors the financing of parties, which are required to submit their financial tables to the Constitutional Court, an institution ill-equipped to handle audits.

Additionally, according to the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, Turkey "does not have a specific regulatory process to eliminate possible conflicts of interest" for parliamentarians who transition to the private sector after their terms are complete.

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A society of thousands that had its genesis in a prayer camp in the summer of 2016 at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers has evolved into something that is almost unrecognizable from those languid summer days. The rhythmic notes of Junior Cuero's bird songs summoning unity and respect were lost in the roar of Dakota Access bulldozers and sonic blasts from long-range acoustic devices combined with the whoosh of tear gas canisters.

Media narratives have been mixed. Those of us who were there witnessed much good and also some very troublesome behavior.

Elliott Rhoades is a member of the Standing Rock Tribe and is a regular columnist with Teton Times. Rhoades is a former Vice Chairman for the tribe, a former tribal councilman, and he is the former Tribal Veterans Service Officer. Here is a portion of a narrative he wrote for the paper.

"I went out to those camps as they were being formed, Red Warrior camp consisted of people who were intent on creating trouble and problems from the start. They intended to disrupt everything and everybody, thus creating problems then decided to leave.

The over flow camp consisted of everyone else who thought they should be a part of this protest, but had no idea of why? Hundreds of people were soon descending on Standing Rock with the intent of taking part in a peaceful, prayerful, non-violent protest to try and stop this pipeline from being completed. Thus putting an end to the route. This was the intent. But as you read, this did not happen"

"There is plenty of fault and blame to go around on both sides. Hundreds of protesters were arrested, jailed and are bound for court off the reservation. Personally, all that was accomplished by getting arrested is that the protesters now will have a jail record, pay a fine and the protest will continue. They did not stop the pipeline in any manner. Court action later, delayed the pipeline easement, but the fight continues in the courts."

Those summer and early autumn days of people living together in an organized community with shared traditions and values are gone. The heavy presence of Big Green Environmental groups as well as opportunistic wolves who prowl cyberspace in search of the gullible and guilty have crushed the birds sent by the Creator. Creator offered the birds to teach the People how to sing and dance and treat each other with empathy and not indifference.

The sun no longer bathes campsites in warm light while people gather together to pray. Instead, a grandmother is found zip-tied to a chair in a tipi, diaperless and surrounded by her own urine and feces. (Source: Bismarck Tribune) Meanwhile a middle-aged man freezes to death behind a building and women die for lack of propane, while Indian women in Pendleton jackets party at Hollywood fundraisers and are interviewed on national television.

It is not surprising that, in an interview with an Oregon student newspaper, Tribal Chairman David Archambault condemned the current situation. "What I saw happen was something that was beautiful. Then I saw it just turn to where it's ugly, where people are fabricating lies and doing whatever they can, and they're driven by the wrong thing. What purpose does it have to have this camp down there? There are donations coming, so the purpose is the very same purpose for this pipeline; it's money." (Source: Daily Emerald, University of Oregon)

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baby

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Donald Trump speaks. This is a narcissistic megalomaniac, who in my opinion is probably the most ignorant president United States has ever had.

Everyone wanted Sen. Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination,but it was stolen from him by the DNC and everyone knew it. That destroyed the Democratic Party and The thing is that Sanders isn't the great Messiah that everyone thinks is. He never mentions that 54% of our budget goes to the military. That is because Vermont has been building the F 35 fighter plane and to call for cuts in the military would hurt the state of Vermont.

I've told people before that we spend more than military and we did at the height of World War II. We neglect our roads are schools are infrastructure and serve water filled with lead to our children. Nobody mentions Flint Michigan anymore. Meanwhile, the children of Flint are still exposed to lead in the water.

Instead of worrying about refugees and choosing one religion of being the source of all our problems, the people of the United States and the people of the world need to realize that this planet cannot support 8 billion people. I'm sure the climate change is a big deal many people and it should be. But would also be a big deal to people is that this planet cannot support a population of 8 billion people.

The only humane way of cutting the population of the world is to impose a worldwide rule that couples can only have one child. If the world got together and made this happen and strictly enforces rule, the population of the earth would decline by 50% in about 50 years. The population would go from 8 billion people to 4 billion people.

I know many people think it's a radical idea and that the governments of the world should not have the right to tell people how many children they can have. The People's Republic of China has already done this. Every country of the world should incorporate this rule and make it law. The only way we are going to say this fun and make it habitable for human beings is to decrease the population. The only humane way to do this is to stop people from having more than one child.

Humanity is headed for annihilation. We will either do it to ourselves to a nuclear war or will do it by over populating the planet and watch the social strife and the revolutions that will come when people will have enough to eat. This is not conjecture is the fact. The most pressing problem that humans has is overpopulation.

It would only take about 50 years to reduce the population by half. 4 billion people living on the planet is sustainable, 8 billion people living on this planet is not sustainable. Still, none of the politicians will talk about things like this, they would rather argue whether women should have abortions or whether two people of same-sex can love each other. This is a weapon of mass distraction. Don't think for a moment that the governments of the world don't understand that overpopulation is eventually going to wipe out humanity.

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IN MAY, 2013, the Washington Post's Greg Miller reported that the head of the CIA's clandestine service was being shifted out of that position as a result of "a management shake-up" by then-Director John Brennan. As Miller documented, this official -- whom the paper did not name because she was a covert agent at the time -- was centrally involved in the worst abuses of the CIA's Bush-era torture regime.

Click Here to Read Whole Article

As Miller put it, she was "directly involved in its controversial interrogation program" and had an "extensive role" in torturing detainees. Even more troubling, she "had run a secret prison in Thailand" -- part of the CIA's network of "black sites" -- "where two detainees were subjected to waterboarding and other harsh techniques." The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on torture also detailed the central role she played in the particularly gruesome torture of detainee Abu Zubaydah.

Beyond all that, she played a vital role in the destruction of interrogation videotapes that showed the torture of detainees both at the black site she ran and other secret agency locations. The concealment of those interrogation tapes, which violated both multiple court orders as well the demands of the 9/11 Commission and the advice of White House lawyers, was condemned as "obstruction" by Commission Chairs Lee Hamilton and Thomas Keane. A special prosecutor and Grand Jury investigated those actions but ultimately chose not to prosecute.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall demonstrates how the Bottom-Up revolution has ushered in a business, political and social upheaval the likes of which we've never seen. Bottom-Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution is a must read book that you need, to understand how this revolution affects every area of your life and the opportunities it is creating."



Jim Donovan, author, happy@work - 60 Simple Ways to Stay Engaged and Be Successful
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Thank you, legislators. You finished your most important task in an impressive time frame: The states checkbook is balanced.

Now, pack your bags and go home.

The states public schools need their supplemental funding, and were hopeful  but not optimistic  that it will be closer to Gov. Terry Branstads 2 percent increase as opposed to the 1.1 percent moving through the chambers. That business and final figure should be done within the week.

Iowa Senate passes 1.11 percent hike for K-12 schools DES MOINES  Iowas 333 public school districts would receive an extra $40 million in state 

Some of the priorities we outlined prior to the session arent getting much attention, and theres little confidence on our part that meaningful improvements will be made: Medicaid oversight, water quality, highway safety, medical marijuana, and more local control of a siting large-scale confined animal operations. Yet, legislators have found the hours to take taxpayer time discussing voter identification, stripping funding to a prominent provider of womens health care, shifting Iowas clock to standard time year-round, and fantasy sports.

This isnt a formula for positive, efficient government, and we fear its only going to get worse if it continues much longer.

Branstad asked this years capitol team to be change agents. We agree, but likely in a different fashion. We have no confidence that productive work will be done in the next three months. This, the first week of February, is the legislatures apex.

We ask the legislators on the right and the left to skip the drama that could go on for another 60-plus work days. Leave the social issues to society. Leave your pet projects to your communities. Your history, both recent and distant, suggests whats ahead will only produce headaches for the very people who elected you.

Lead by leaving Des Moines.

Winter Dance Party

Were glad the 38th edition of the Winter Dance Party proved to be another success. The region benefits from the worldwide visitors, and the history behind the event is a critical aspect of North Iowas fabric. Work for next years celebration is already in progress, and we expect continued success. Our event is like no other in the country, Laurie Lietz, executive director of the Surf Ballroom, told our Courtney Fiorini. We hope it stays that way, too.

Pipeline spill

The recent pipeline spill in Worth County correctly continued the discussion about the safety of those lines. While we worry about long-term impacts after incidents like this, we believe pipelines, by and large, are the safest way to transport those resources. The key in laying and maintaining them is being a good steward and neighbor, and that task never ends. Also, we appreciate the prompt response by local and company officials to mitigate damage done in the area. Thats not an easy job, but they took it quickly and seriously.

Court, IPIB cuts

While we wince at hits Iowa education systems will take with the OKd budget, perhaps the most damaging reductions are at the judicial level. Iowas courts will have at least one furlough day, and we can only expect more delays in an already clogged system. The future status of Cerro Gordo County's drug court is also in limbo. Additionally, the cuts to the Iowa Public Information Board will likely result in more lawsuits  instead of cordial negotiations  to force your government to act transparently. Taxpayers will end up paying more in the long run to hold officials and bureaucrats accountable.
From Counterpunch



Torture - America's Shame

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The Trump administration has signaled that it is willing to return to the heinous crimes of the past two decades, including torture and abuse, secret prisons, and extraordinary renditions. The appointment of Gina Haspel as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency clearly indicates that the use of torture, including the use of waterboarding, which has been endorsed by the President, the national security adviser, and the CIA director, could once again be a major part of the U.S. campaign against international terrorism.

Haspel was a central figure in the CIA's criminal behavior during the Bush administration. She ran the CIA's first secret prison in Thailand, where the brutal interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri took place. No intelligence was gleaned from the use of torture in these interrogations. When the head of the Counterterrorism Center, Jose Rodriguez, ordered the destruction of the videotapes of the torture, it was Haspel who drafted the cable that ordered the destruction. This was clearly evidence of obstruction of justice in view of the investigation of torture and abuse that had already begun.

When former CIA director John Brennan tried to make Haspel the deputy director for operations in 2013, the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, blocked her assignment. Currently, the Senate intelligence committee is under the stewardship of Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), who has blocked all attempts to circulate Feinstein's authoritative account of the CIA torture program. And the current CIA director, Mike Pompeo, does not even believe that waterboarding is an act of torture and has referred to those who conducted waterboarding as "patriots."

Haspel was also a leading voice for extraordinary renditions, which involved the "capture" or kidnapping of individuals suspected of acts of terrorism. When the CIA concluded that these victims had no important information to reveal, they were turned over to foreign intelligence services, such as those in Syria and Jordan, that conducted their own methods of torture and abuse.

Nevertheless, the New York Times refers to the promotion for Haspel as an example of the CIA's "ambivalent attitude" toward torture and abuse because former intelligence officials, such as intelligence tsar James Clapper and acting director Michael Morell, have praised the appointment. But Clapper has been known to lie to the Senate intelligence committee about the massive surveillance program of the National Security Agency, and Morell used his own book to lie about the so-called intelligence that was gleaned from so-called "extraordinary interrogation techniques."

There is no ambivalence here. This is simply one more example of the CIA promoting those officers who committed crimes on behalf of the agency. The intelligence officers who were held accountable in the Inspector General's report on the 9/11 intelligence failure ultimately received promotions and rewards from the agency. The intelligence officers who participated in the politicization of intelligence in the 1980s similarly received promotions and rewards. And now we have another example of the "worst of the worst" at the CIA becoming the second most important official of our leading civilian intelligence agency. There is no better way to create cynicism within the intelligence community and the larger political community than to reward the very people who tarnish the moral compass of the CIA.

The title character of John le Carre's The Honorable Schoolboy never wanted to deal with problems of ethics and morality. "Point me and I'll march," he said to spymaster George Smiley. "Tell me the shots, I'll play them," he added. Once again, the CIA is being led by officials who have never accepted or understood the Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that declared CIA's torture program a violation of Geneva Conventions. This decision should have made those who conducted torture subject to the federal War Crimes Act.

Perhaps if former president Barack Obama had sought accountability and responsibility for the crimes of torture, then we would not be witness to the return of war criminals to positions of responsibility.
By Edward Curtin

From Global Research

In 1929, Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew, U.S./CIA war and coup propagandist, and the founder of public relations, conducted a successful mind-manipulation experiment for the tobacco industry. In those days there was a taboo against women smoking in public, and Bernays was hired to change that. He consulted a psychiatrist, A. A. Brill, who told him that cigarettes represented the penis and were a symbol of male power. If women could be tricked into smoking, then they would unconsciously think they "had" their own penises and feel more powerful. It was irrational, of course, but it worked. Bernays had, in his words, "engineered the consent" of women through symbolic prestidigitation. The age of the image was launched.

He did this by having a group of women hide cigarettes under their clothes at a Big Easter parade in New York. At a signal from Bernays, they took out and lit up what he called "torches of freedom" (based on the Statue of Liberty). The press had been notified in advance and dutifully photographed and reported the story. The New York Times headline for April Fool's Day 1929 was entitled "Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom." This fake news story made cigarettes socially acceptable for women, and sales and advertising to them increased dramatically. The institutional power structures smiled and continued on their merry way. Women were no freer or more powerful, but they felt they were. A symbolic taboo was breached as women were bamboozled. Image triumphed over reality.

We have moved on from the symbol of the penis to that of the "p*ssy," and now the symbol is displayed openly as an ironic postmodern spectacle in the form of a sea of pussyhats.

And the fake news stories continue apace; the mind manipulators labor on and are still successful.

Genitalia remain the rage. In the 1920s there was no overt talk of the penis; the idea then was that there was an unconscious association that could sway women to smoke. Today subtlety is gone. "p*ssy" power is out there, cutely symbolized by pink pussyhats, promoted by a group called the Pussyhat Project that on its website praises the Washington Post and the New York Times for their "high quality journalism" and "integrity." "In the midst of fake news sites," the Pussyhat Project claims, "we need high quality journalism more than ever...newspapers that have integrity...[that] can continue reporting the truth" -- i.e., the Times and the Post.

By "truth" and "integrity" do the women running the site mean that the Russians are behind Trump's election, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and there are 200 or so alternative websites that repeat Russian propaganda, a few of the lies reported by these papers of "integrity"? Or do the Pussyhat women have something else in mind?

Most women demonstrators who marched against Trump were no doubt well intentioned within their limited perspective. At the call of organizers, they were roused from their long liberal naps. Reacting to Trump's gross comments about "grabbing p*ssy" -- sick words, macho aggressive in their meaning -- they donned their pink hats, made signs, and took their newly awakened outrage to the streets. Rightly disgusted by being verbally assaulted and afraid that their reproductive rights and services were threatened, they pounced like tigers on their verbal attacker. Massive, very well organized, media friendly marches and demonstrations followed. It was a hit parade.

Yet as others have forcefully written, something is amiss here. During the Obama years of endless wars, drone killings, the jailing of whistleblowers, including Chelsea Manning, etc., these demonstrators were silent and off the streets. A large number of the women (if not the vast majority) who marched against Donald Trump -- and the recent women's marches can only be described as anti-Trump marches -- were Hillary Clinton supporters, whether they would describe their votes as "the lesser of two evils" or not. Thus, opposition to Trump's aggressive statements toward "p*ssy" was implicit support for Clinton's and Obama's "feminism." In other words, it was support for a man and a woman who didn't publicly talk aggressively about women's genitals, but committed misogynist and misandrist actions by killing thousands of women (and men and children) all over the world, and doing it with phallic shaped weapons. Trump will probably follow suit, but that possibility was not the impetus for the marches. The marches centered on Trump's misogynist, macho language, and his threats to limit women's access to health services -- i.e., family planning and abortion.

Since the women who recently marched didn't march against Obama and his Secretary of State Clinton while they slaughtered foreigners (others) and Clinton exulted at the sodomized killing of Muammar Gaddafi, it is quite clear the focus of their anger was a sense of personal outrage at Trump's insulting remarks.

Where were they these last eight years?

Mike Whitney recently said it perfectly. "They were asleep. Weren't they? Because liberals always sleep when their man is in office, particularly if their man is a smooth-talking cosmopolitan snake-charmer like Obama who croons about personal freedom and democracy while unleashing the most unspeakable violence on civilians across the Middle East and Central Asia...No one seems to care when an articulate bi-racial mandarin kills most people of color, but when a brash and outspoken real estate magnate takes over the reigns of power, then 'watch out' because here comes the protesters, all three million of them!"

Obviously partisan politics, self-interest, hypocrisy, and incredible ethnocentrism are involved. Would women's marches have occurred if Hillary Clinton had been elected? Of course not. She would have been applauded and regaled as the first woman president, and her war-mongering history against women and men would have been excused and supported into the future, just as Obama's has been.

This is liberal war porn by default; complicity through silence.

"Hands off my p*ssy." "My p*ssy bites back." These are funny repartees to Trump's comments, but they are totally ineffectual and harmless. Trump's objectives are larger, as were Obama's and Clinton's. Symbolic protests attract attention, but result in the stasis of structural power arrangements, or worse. Edward Bernays' "torches of freedom" campaign resulted in more women smoking, more disease, and more profits for the tobacco companies. He preyed on the gullible. What was learned?

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Nikki Haley: New UN ambassador warns US will respond against ...

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US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nicki Haley

Take your pick, Russia, China and Iran. All are in the crosshairs of US machinations ranging from war like provocations at their borders, fomenting internal dissent with the intent to bring eventual regime change, hegemony over them or war.

Now with Donald Trump in the White House it's becoming evident that he is no different than if a Democrat was in charge. Nuances, attitudes, bombast may be different but the ultimate strategy remains the same.

The US is a militant state needing "enemies", real or contrived to justify its bloated, unnecessary war machine and it's been that way since the end of WWII when the US stood alone as the preeminent power, unrivaled only to be challenged by the Soviet Union once it became a nuclear power. That brought the onset of the cold war which lasted 40 years till the demise of the USSR in 1991. Then it took 10 years for a new "enemy" to be found.

And with 9/11 that new "enemy" conveniently became al Qaeda, its face Osama bin Laden with his Islamic terrorism network and with it the war on terror.

But terrorists as "enemies" can hardly justify a $trillion dollar defense, security, surveillance budget so a new cold war had to be contrived so Russia, China and Iran became the new "enemies". In conjunction the American people had to be brought on board, made fearful through the governments tried and true propaganda formula, repeated endlessly through its complicit corporate MSM enablers to buy into and support this new cold war.

And here we are today.

On Thursday another bad omen came emanating from the Trump administration on the foreign policy front.

The "Donald's" UN Ambassador Nicki Haley speaking before the UN Security Council said, "The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea. Crimea is part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine." While reading Haley's comments one thought Obama's UN Ambassador Samantha Power had returned to the scene.

Haley's remarks came during a emergency UN meeting after new violence emerged in Eastern Ukraine with the Russian speaking Eastern Ukrainian's blaming the Ukrainian government for the renewed fighting while Kiev said it was the so called "rebels", the Russia backed separatists that were violating the Minsk ceasefire agreement.

"Reportedly" an unidentified source told CNN, "the White House was aware in advance of Haley's speech...didn't get direction...but wasn't asked not to do it" while "another source said the National Security Council signed off on the remarks." Think what you will of the validity considering it was CNN's unidentified sources.

So is Trump reversing himself with regards to Russia just days after last Saturday's reportedly favorable one hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

It's hard to say. It wasn't Trump making the remarks at the UN and it wasn't Trump saying he agreed with Haley's comments.

But Haley's remarks definitely contradicts Trump's earlier position regarding Crimea when in the campaign he supposedly "hinted" he might recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.

All this comes after newly confirmed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said before the Senate Foreign relations Committee, "I would block access to the islands in the South China Sea."

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From Smirking Chimp

Why did President Donald Trump fire off an angry and threatening tweet early Thursday morning following the violent protests that had broken out the night before on UC Berkeley campus? Here's a copy of Trump's tweet:

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view -- NO FEDERAL FUNDS?"

Maybe the impulsive President was just angry that a controversial, rightwing speaker like Milo Yiannopoulos was unable to deliver his presentation because masked agitators began to rampage across the campus breaking windows, burning signs and wreaking havoc. That's certainly one possibility, but there are other more intriguing explanations that seem equally likely.

Consider this: Like most Americans, Trump knows that these anarchist groups show up routinely at peaceful demonstrations with the intention of raising hell and discrediting the groups that peacefully assemble to express their opinion on one issue or another. In this case, the protestors had gathered in opposition to a man who seemingly advocates religious intolerance and Islamophobia. Trump was well aware of this.

He also knew that the UC Berkeley Chancellor and his staff did everything in their power to provide security to both the speaker and the groups that had gathered for the event. Check out this excerpt from an article at Bloomberg:

"Some advocates for universities and education said they were surprised by Trump's tweet... "'I have never seen anything like this,' said John Walda, president of the National Association of College and Business Officers. 'Why would you infer that you want to punish a university' when it was only trying to protect people. The university 'did exactly the right thing,' he said... "The university said Chancellor Nicholas Dirks had made clear that Yiannopoulos' 'views, tactics and rhetoric are profoundly contrary to those of the campus,' but that the university is committed to 'enabling of free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective' and condemned the violence. "'Berkeley seems to have done everything it can to protect students' First Amendment rights,' Cohn said." ("Trump Threatens U.C. Berkeley Funding Over Violent Protests," Bloomberg)

So if the Chancellor had already gone the extra mile to protect free speech, then why did Trump decide to lower the boom on him? Was he genuinely angry with the Chancellor's performance or did he interject himself for political reasons? In other words, how did Trump stand to benefit from getting involved in this mess?

Isn't his tweet crafted to win support from his red state base who identify Berkeley with the erratic behavior of the "loony left" that burn flags, spit on veterans, and hate America? Isn't it designed to discredit the millions of liberal and progressive protesters who have peacefully participated in pro-immigration demonstrations or anti-Trump marches across the country? Isn't Trump's interference intended to make him look like a strong, decisive leader willing to defend free speech against hypocritical leftists thugs who violently oppose anyone who doesn't share their narrow "librul" point of view. Isn't the action part of a broader plan to reinforce a stereotypical view of liberals as sandal clad, fist pumping, Marxist firebrands who want to burn down the country so they can create their own Soviet Utopia?

Isn't this really why Trump decided to parachute into the event, to enlarge and polish his own image while exacerbating existing political divisions within the country?

Trump's reaction to the incident in Berkeley is worth paying attention to if only to grasp that --what we are seeing-- is not the random act of an impulsive man, but a governing style that requires an identifiable threat to domestic security, "the left." A divisive president only prevails when the country is divided, when Americans are at each others throats and split between Sunni and Shia. That's the goal, driving a wedge between people of differing views, exacerbating historic animosities in order to enhance the authority of the executive and usurp greater control over the levers of state power.

Once again, we're not excluding the possibility that Trump's tweet may have been a "one off" by an impulsive man but, by the same token, it might be an indication of something more serious altogether.

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From Paul Craig Roberts Website

At a time when the Western world desperately needs alternative voices to the neoliberals, the neoconservatives, the presstitutes and the Trump de-regulationists, there are none. The Western left-wing has gone insane.

The voices being raised against Trump, who does need voices raised against him, are so hypocritical as to reflect less on Trump than on those with raised voices.

Sharon Kelly McBride, speaking for Human Rights First, sent me an email saying that Trump stands on the wrong side of "America's ideals" by his prohibition of Muslim immigrants into the US.

My question to McBride is: Where were you and Human Rights First when the Bush/Cheney/Obama regime was murdering, maiming, orphaning, widowing, and displacing millions of Muslims in seven countries over the course of four presidential terms?

Why is it OK to slaughter millions of peoples, destroy their homes and villages, wreck their cities as long as it is not Donald Trump who is doing it?

Where does Human Rights First get off. Just another fake website, or is McBride seizing the opportunity to prostitute Human Rights First in hopes of donations from the DNC, the Soros' NGOs, the Israel Lobby, and the ruling One Percent?

Money speaks, and alternative voices need money in order to speak. As so many Americans are indifferent to the quality of information that they get, many alternative voices are thrown back to relying on whatever money is available. Generally, it is the money of disinformation, of information that controls the explanations in ways that favor and enhance the ruling oligarchy.

Is this the position in which McBride has placed Human Rights First?

Turn now to Truthout. This website says that Trump is demonizing Muslims by denying them immigration into the US. Where has Truthout been for the past 16 years? Did Truthout not notice that the George W. Bush regime said "We have to kill them (Muslims) over there before they (Muslims) come over here."

Did Truthout not notice that Obama continued the policy of "killing them (Muslims) over there"?

How insane, how corrupt, does Truthout have to be to say that it is Trump who is demonizing Muslims?

Trump has not said that he wants to "kill them over there." He has said that if the masses of peoples we have dislocated and whose families we have murdered want to come here, they might wish to exact revenge. Having made Muslims our enemies, it makes no sense to admit vast numbers of them.

According to Bush and Obama, we are supposed "to kill them over there," not bring them "over here" where they can kill us as a payback for the murder machine we have run against them.

This is common sense. Yet, the deranged left says it is "racism."

What happens to a country when the alternative voice is even more stupid and corrupt than the government's voice?
I have predicted in previous articles that the first important foreign policy initiative of the Trump administration would be to find a pretext to tear up the Iran Nuclear Deal and start up a shooting war. Today (Feb 2), Trump has said that the ballistic missiles tests by Iran are "hostile actions" and that military action is "not off the table." This is even less pretext for war than the Bush lies about WMD's and ties to terrorism.

Kerry and Lavrov sign the Iranian Nuclear Deal.

Russia, which is Iran's miitary ally said of the US threats of military action: "

""Such actions, if they took place, do not breach the resolution," Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, told Interfax news agency, saying demands for UN talks were aimed at "heating up the situation."

If the US attacks Iran, Russia, China, Iraq, and Syria will be obliged to defend Iran. So much for the peace overtures and the end of the neo-con war mongering.

Of course, since Iran, according to the CIA and Mossad, had no nukes and no nuclear weapons program, the name of the deal is a propaganda ploy, but I think that worked to the advantage of Iran, since even tho intelligence of its two most paranoid enemies, the US and Israel, knew they had no nuclear program, the illusion of such a threat, fed by right wing politicians in both nations, was used by Iran to cut a deal to get its seized assets back and to resume normal trading operations on a global scale. They gave up a threat they did not have: that was the price of the right wing lies about Iran being a nuclear threat

The Deal: Iran gives up its non-existent nuclear program and gets its frozen financial assets back.

But now we have a new President who has made several comments to reveal his intent towards Iran, including the threat of bombing Iran. This comes through his advisor John Bolton, who has written op-eds urging the US to bomb Iran. When asked a few months back, during the campaign, when the US should bomb Iran, he said "Yesterday."

Bolton has been the lead on the neo con Bomb Iran campaign.

Of Bolton, whom Trump considered as Secy of State but backed off because of GOP opposition, Trump said: "He's a good man...he has good ideas."

Here is what Trump said about the Iran Nuclear Deal in Sept of 2015: " Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday that he'd try to work with what he called a "disastrous" nuclear deal with Iran to turn it around and that there will be "hell to pay" if Iran violates the terms."



From flickr.com: .I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look l

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With many Republicans urging immediately tearing up the Deal, and Bolton providing the extreme view that urges immediate bombing, Trump has made it clear that he is looking for a pretext to shred the Deal and challenge Iran militarily. This is extremely dangerous because it throws all his other foreign policy initiatives, including peace and co-operation with Russia and detente with the Assad regime, into a crisis.

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Human Biobanking Ownership Market: Evolving Market Trends & Dynamics 2024

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12491

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Global Human Biobanking Ownership Market: OverviewBiobanks play a pivotal role in the field of biomedical research. A wide range of biospecimens including plasma, saliva, blood, and purified DNA are maintained by biobanks. These biospecimens are compiled to study the unique and general features of the continuous cell line and determine the presence or absence of contaminants. Biobanks usually compile the specimens on the basis of various genetic and other traits such as ethnicity, gender, age, and blood type. To understand the impact of environmental factors on the human genes, some of the samples are also collected depending upon whether the donor has been exposed to radiation and other substances.The human biobanking ownership market can be segmented into private banks, public banks, hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics, transplantation, and biobank storage companies, and medical institutions, research, and forensics. The private and public banks can be further classified into disease-based banks, population-based banks, and academics.Global Human Biobanking Ownership Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe genetic data compiled by human biobanks helps scientists to understand hereditary diseases and the interaction of environmental and genetic factors. Studying the correlation between environmental and genetic factors is crucial to understand the mutations caused in the genes. Furthermore, these biobanks offer researchers an extensive pool of samples on the basis of age, gender, education, and lifestyle. All these factors have contributed toward the growth of the global human biobanking ownership market.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :Cost is one of the primary factors inhibiting the growth of the global human biobanking ownership market. The process of sequencing genome is both tedious and expensive. As a result, government-owned biobanks usually outsource this process to research organizations. Compared to sequencing of genomes, genotyping is cheaper and about 10 times faster than harvesting the entire genetic code. Furthermore, concerns regarding the security of the genetic data across human biobanks have also hampered the growth of the market. In the U.S., 23andMe, a California-based personal genomics and biotechnology company has been accused of selling the genetic data of over one million customers for profit.In the near future, the global human biobanking ownership market is expected to be governed by laws to protect the privacy of gene donors and establish their rights. For example, in Estonia, the Human Genes Research Act passed in 1999 provides donors full authority over who can access their data and establishes anonymity in clinical research. Such laws will help in the growth of the global human biobanking ownership market.Global Human Biobanking Ownership Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global human biobanking ownership market can be segmented into four key regions: Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World. Among these, Asia Pacific has been driving the global market growth owing to the rapid growth of the private biobanks and clinical research organizations in the region. Demand witnessed in North America and Europe is also significantly aiding the growth of the market.In Europe, countries such as Estonia are focusing on collecting the DNA of every citizen in order to enrich their national biobank. In Estonia, the national biobank program started in 2000 by collecting DNA samples from a quarter of the countrys population. While these DNA samples are mostly used for clinical research, the government is planning to use this data to build a robust health care infrastructure by offering personalized care. The Government of Estonia has already started developing a system to make this genetic data available to citizens and doctors.Global Human Biobanking Ownership Market: Vendor OutlookSome of the key players in the global human biobanking ownership market are Affymetrix Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Acorda Therapeutics, Alpha Cord Inc., Autogen Inc., Biobank Ireland Trust, BioCision, Biokryo GmbH, BioLife Solutions Inc., Biomatrica Inc., BioStorage Technologies Inc., Cells4Life Ltd., Cesca Therapeutics Inc., China Cord Blood Corporation, Core Dynamics Inc., and Cryo Bio System.About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Cell Analysis Market: Latest Trends & Insights 2024

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Cell Analysis Market: OverviewCell analysis is a method of measuring and analyzing the properties of cells which includes size and shape, cellular parameters such as availability and mechanism of specific proteins. Apart from this cell assay also helps us to study and monitor complete cellular processes such as its growth and proliferation. Enhanced accuracy of cell imaging and analysis system helps in reducing the time and cost of the drug discovery processes. Today at most of the places cells are analyzed in masses with thousand of cells per sample and results are analyzed on the basis of average response of the cells. Hence in order to obtain effective and accurate cell analysis it is important to study how exactly individual cells respond.Cell Analysis Market: SegmentationThe cell analysis market can be broadly classified on the basis of application, products and end users. The application market for cell analysis includes cell proliferation, cell interaction, target identification, study of cell structure. Apart from this it also encompasses the study of cellular viability, signal transduction pathway and other morphological features such as presence and absence of nucleus, shape of the nucleus among others.On the basis of products in the cell market can be further categorized on the basis of instruments used and consumables products. The instrument market encompasses microscopy, flow cytometry, spectrophotometery, cell counting instruments, cell microarrays among others. Whereas, the consumables market comprises of reagents, miroplates and assay kits among others.Cell Analysis Market: DriversThe major drivers for cell analysis market comprises low cost and time for novel drug discovery and significant technological up gradations or developments with respect to analysis instruments and consumables. The market for cell analysis instruments are expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. For a cell analysis market to produce effective and accurate results within a stipulated time the consumable products have to be of best quality. Hence, with the growing product market the consumables market will also have a favorable growth in the forthcoming years.Many companies in past have started collaborating with each other along with research institutes in order to develop and offer innovative and better products and software to the end users are also boosting the growth and opportunities for cell analysis market. For instance in February 2014, Agilent Technologies and Cell Line Genetics collaborated for developing high throughput screening of cell lines for regenerative medicines.Cell Analysis Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically market for cell analysis in Asia-Pacific region would be the fastest growing market. Growth in Asia-pacific market is spurred by government support for improvement and development of innovative screening technologies along with growing trend of outsourcing drug discovery services in these regions are likely to boost the Asian market for cell analysis. This could be an excellent opportunity in terms of revenue for new entrants, particularly if affordable products are introduced.Developed nations such as the United States and European regions are dominating market in terms of revenue and utilization of application kits and instruments. With the intense research and development activities and allocation of government funds for promoting development and innovations in cell analysis tools and instruments has uplifted the market in past decades. For instance companies and research institutes in these regions have been prominent players in carrying out extensive research with respect to stem cells and its application in curing fatal diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancers.Key players in cell analysis market include Cell Analysis Market include Merck KGaA, Thermo Fisher Scientific, BD Biosciences, Danaher Corporation, GE Healthcare, Olympus, Agilent Technologies, Inc., PerkinElmer, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, and Promega among others.About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
BY VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN

BOUGAINVILLE IS AN ISLAND 10,000 km2 in size with a population of 160,000 people who speak English, Pidgin and their own local languages.

French explorer Louis de Bougainville sighted the island in 1768 and named it after himself. By an agreement in 1899 between Germany and Great Britain, Bougainville was separated from the rest of the Solomon Islands and remained under German control while the Solomons went to Great Britain. Bougainvilleans object to this separation.

During World War I, Australians occupied Bougainville and, after the defeat of Germany, the German territories collectively called New Guinea became mandated territories of the League of Nations. They were placed under Australian administration in 1920. During World War II, Japanese occupied the island in 1942. By 1944 US troops have regained control.

After the war, Bougainville was again put under Australian administration, but this time as a United Nations trust territory. By 1960 an Australian geologist had found copper and gold on the island and large scale prospecting began in 1963.

In 1968 elections were held throughout PNG. Bougainville called for a referendum on secession, but the Administration did not meet this request. Self-government was given to PNG in December 1973 and full independence from Australia in September 1975.

Two weeks before PNG gained independence, Bougainville unilaterally declared independence emphasising its wishes to remain separate from the new state of PNG.

Bougainville appealed to the United Nations without success. A year later, negotiations with the PNG government resulted in agreement for limited autonomy and Bougainville became a province of PNG and was to have its own government.

Many Bougainvilleans complained that the people did not democratically elect the Bougainvilleans to the delegation that signed the 1976 agreement.

By 1988 it became increasingly clear to Bougainvilleans that mining profits from Bougainville Copper Ltd were not benefiting them and that the mining activity was seriously damaging the island's environment.

This paved the way for the tension between the PNG government and the Bougainvilleans to escalate into violence. In the same year, an organised group of traditional landowners, later came to known as the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, forcibly closed the mine and demanded the renegotiation of contracts.

The PNG government responded by sending in the police riot squad and then the PNG Defence Force, which caused the displacement of 24,000 villagers.

This struggle to close the mine escalated into a struggle for self-determination and indigenous control of the land as the population of Bougainville turned massively against the PNG government.

As a result, in April 1990, the PNGDF left the island defeated and imposed a sea blockade. On 17 May 1990, Bougainville unilaterally declared its independence from PNG for the second time and established the Bougainville Interim Government.

In response, taking advantage of the hardships caused by the blockade, the PNGDF re-invaded Bougainville. By 1991, the PNGDF, although using Australian donated helicopters and Australian and New Zealand pilots, as well as being funded by Australian and international aid programs, continued to be unable to defeat the BRA.

As a result the PNG government imposed a blockade around the island preventing even the Red Cross from giving humanitarian aid, whilst continuing military offensives. It is estimated that more than 20,000 Bougainvilleans died from 1990-96.

During this time, some Bougainvilleans fought on the side of PNGDF against the BRA. These Bougainvilleans formed the Bougainville Resistance Fighters. During this crisis, it is alleged by many sources that many crimes including rape, torture, killing of civilians and destruction of property were committed by the PNGDF.

As a result people either joined BRA, BRF (who fought on the PNGDF side) or sought safety in PNG controlled care centres or fled to care centres in the Solomon Islands.

The war in Bougainville ended in 1998 with the signing of a peace treaty, leaving the island devastated but unbowed.

Source: www.tamilcanadian.com/article/1732 Reposted for PNG Attitude by Leonard Fong Roka
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Feb. 03, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Software Inc. (ticker symbol OTC:PFSF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Simmonds to the Board of Directors of the Company. He brings with him a vast corporate knowledge as an experienced entrepreneur and industrialist. He is currently Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of A.C. Simmonds and Sons Inc. which holds interests in a variety of enterprises. Mr. Simmonds will be a valued member of the Board of Directors of the Company and is expected to serve for a minimum term of two years.



GrandWall may present the first social media network visualizing a digital wall between USA and Mexico while using it as a platform for political discussions and special interest debates (www.grandwall.com). It is expected to shortly launch its non-partisan community and special interest social network where the centerpiece consists of a 1,989-mile-long digital wall with millions of individual wall pieces and bricks to be purchased and designed exclusively by its members. The ongoing controversy between opinions and perspectives may project the digital wall as a leading place for people to express their arguments, sentiments and desires.

As a result GrandWall may become the largest digital canvas globally displaying millions of personal beliefs, comments and unique viewpoints. GrandWalls visualization concept has been inspired by the Berlin Wall and its world-famous East Side Gallery which is part of the former border wall between East Germany and West Germany (www.eastsidegallery-berlin.de). The East Side Gallery consists of 105 wall paintings by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall. It is possibly the largest and longest-lasting open air gallery in the world while GrandWall.com may be the largest digital wall and virtual open air gallery in the world.

Memberships to Grandwall.com may be available to everyone, and there may be no restrictions on what members may publish on their wall pieces of the digital border wall (#borderwall) as protected by the First Amendment, whether they support President Donald J. Trump and his proud Make America Great Again movement (#MakeAmericaGreatAgain) or whether they support or voted for Hillary Clinton and her Stronger Together campaign (#StrongerTogether) or any other candidate.

About Us: Pacific Software Inc. is a U.S. based corporation which has acquired social media platform Grandwall.com (www.grandwall.com), its software and related assets. Our team of software developers and Internet specialists have worked on projects with over 500 agencies and clients in the USA, EU, UK, and other countries. Once fully designed, engineered and online Grandwall.com may be characterized as a third generation social media platform in the emerging augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology space with worldwide applications.

Contact: For further information please visit our social network at www.grandwall.com and our corporate website at www.pacificsoftwareinc or call us or email us at any time.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrandWallcom/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrandWallcom

Pacific Software Inc.

Safe Harbor Notice: Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Pacific Software Inc. cautions that statements made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions. Actual results could differ materially from implied results. Pacific Software Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release. Additional details of the Company's business can be found in its public disclosures as a reporting issuer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") EDGAR database.

Disclaimer Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release, on Pacific Software Inc.s (PFSF) website and other oral and written statements made by PFSF from time to time are forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding beliefs, objectives, intentions, goals, plans, strategies, any other statements regarding the future. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and PFSF expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof. All forward-looking statements, whether written or oral and whether made by or on behalf of the PFSF, are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. PFSFs expectations, beliefs are expressed in good faith and are believed by the PFSF to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that expectations, beliefs will result or be achieved or accomplished. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond PFSFs control affect PFSFs operations, performance, business strategy and results and could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of PFSF to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For PFSF, particular uncertainties arise, amongst others but not limited to and not in any order of importance, from (i) focusing on and allocating more resources on certain target markets (ii) the possibility to raise further equity and debt to fund future growth, (iii) changes in demand for PFSFs products, (iv) performance issues with key suppliers, affiliates, agents, advisors or subcontractors, (v) changes in government changes in laws or regulations to which PFSF or its suppliers are subject, including environmental laws and regulations relating to water sources and (vi) the inability to complete announced acquisitions, difficulty or unanticipated expenses in connection with integrating acquired businesses and the risk that anticipated synergies and opportunities as a result of acquisitions will not be realized or the risk that acquisitions do not perform as planned, including, for example, the risk that acquired businesses will not achieve revenue projections. NO SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. THIS NEWS RELEASE SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF THESE SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION.
Global Prefilled Syringes Market: Urgent Need to Address Concerns over Needle Stick Injuries a Key Growth Booster, finds TMR

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Becton Dickinson and Company Group plc., Baxter International Inc., Terumo Medical Corporation, and Medtronic are the top four players that dominate over half the prefilled syringes market. Transparency Market Research has noted that the global prefilled syringes market is highly dynamic and competitive and while the nature of the market is consolidated in developed regions owing to the presence of large players, it remains fragmented in most of the emerging markets with many small regional players.The global sales of prefilled syringes amounted to US$3.5 bn in 2015 and is projected to reach US$7.9 bn, expanding at a CAGR of 9.3% over the period of 2016 to 2024. In terms of prefilled syringes consumption, the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period.Ambulatory Surgical Centers to Show Promising Growth over Forecast PeriodBy application, the vaccines segment dominated the global prefilled syringes market, accounting for a collective share of 34.3% in 2015. The segment is also projected to exhibit a strong growth rate from 2016 to 2024. In terms of percentage share contribution, the polymer-based prefilled syringes segment is expected to continue its lead in the global market through 2024. It will also register the highest growth in the coming years. By distribution channel, the hospitals segment is projected to account for the major share by the end of the forecast period. On the other hand, ambulatory surgical centers are likely to register a high growth rate by 2024.North America dominates the global market, while Asia Pacific is expected to witness strong growth. The U.S. is the largest market for prefilled syringes, accounting for around 35.5% share of the global marketImproving Safety Standards Driving Innovation among Product ManufacturersThe incidence of needle stick injuries has been a cause for concern over the years. According to the World Health Organization, almost two million healthcare professionals suffer from infectious diseases resulting from needle stick injuries each year.Various needle safety devices  such as passive needle guarding caps with a polymer shield and a retractable needle system  as well as advanced technologies  such as advanced barrel technology and multi-chamber syringes  are being developed to cope with this problem, the author of the study finds. Therefore, improving safety standards and technological advancements have been primarily driving the global prefilled syringes market.High Costs Associated with Prefilled Syringes Inhibiting widespread AdoptionThere are several factors that pose a severe challenge to the growth of the global prefilled syringes market, the primary one being the high costs associated with temperature controlled packaging required for temperature-sensitive drugs. In order to maintain specified temperatures and conditions throughout the shelf life of a drug, drug manufacturing companies require several complex machineries that need to be maintained regularly, the TMR analyst states. This is a costly affair and as a result, restricts companies from manufacturing prefilled syringes.Other factors inhibiting the market include product recalls due to breakages and leachables, the potential risk of interaction between prefilled syringes and drugs, and the availability of alternative drug delivery methods.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Medical Aesthetic Devices Market: Low-cost Products and Services could Hamper Growth across Emerging Economies, observes TMR

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The global market for medical aesthetic devices is characterized by a highly consolidated competitive landscape, wherein the top two vendors, Mentor Worldwide LLC and Allergan Plc., collectively held a nearly 60% of the market in 2015, observes a recent report by Transparency Market Research. Mentor Worldwide LLC, the market leader with a 32% share in the global market, stayed ahead of the competition with the help of strategic collaborations and a strong emphasis on aesthetic products such as breast implants and body contouring.In September 2016, the company announced its plans for a new collaboration with Galderma, a medical solutions firm with strong operations in skin health. Under the collaboration, the companies plan to partner with Canadian surgeons to improve patient experience across innovative aesthetic procedures and solutions, broadening consumers' access to and awareness of aesthetic treatment options.Transparency Market Research estimates that the global medical aesthetic devices market will rise from a valuation of US$6.5 bn in 2015 to US$15.1 bn in 2024. This reflects a 9.0% CAGR from 2016 through 2024. In terms of product types, the segment of laser and energy devices presently leads. The segment held a nearly 30% share in the global market in 2015 and is expected to remain one of the most promising product segments over the forecast period as well. From a geographic perspective, the market earns a significant share of its revenues from sales across developed regions such as North America and Europe. North America dominated in 2015, accounting for a 43% of the global market.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :Increased Usage of Lasers for Medical Aesthetic Procedures to Stimulate Market GrowthIn the past few years, the global consumer has become more open to aesthetic procedures owing to a vast reduction in cultural prohibitions and social taboos. The resultant rise in surgical procedures for enhancing personal appearance is the key driver of the global medical aesthetic devices market.Other key trends positively influencing the overall development of the market include the increased adoption of laser-based devices, heightened demand for minimally invasive and non-invasive equipment, and the high demand for augmentation and reconstructive surgeries. The global adoption of laser-based devices has increased owing to the widening utility of laser devices.Cost-effectiveness and versatility of laser devices are also the key factors increasing adoption and usage of laser procedures in the aesthetics market.Increased adoption of minimally invasive surgeries, owing to the fewer post-surgery complications and side effects, and shorter recovery spans, have driven innovations and technological developments, bringing about a huge change in the quality and effectiveness of surgeries. As a result, the number of minimally invasive procedures in dermatological applications has significantly increased lately. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimated that the number of minimally invasive aesthetic procedures performed in the U.S. increased to 15.9 mn 2015, a rise of 2% over 2014.Competitively Priced Equipment and Services from Domestic Vendors to Limit Market GrowthThe global medical aesthetic devices market is characterized by intense competition wherein local manufacturers and service providers offer devices/services at affordable costs. The resultant need to reduce costs of equipment to stay ahead of competition can severely hamper the overall profitability of international vendors, especially across cost-sensitive emerging economies.Continuous technological developments in the aesthetic devices market with respect to product design and efficiency require manufacturers to provide up-to-date solutions to the customers. Such upgrades could be highly cost-intensive and lead to erosion of investment and not many service providers may be open to adopting them on a regular basis. The scenario is expected to have a negative impact on the overall development of the market in the long run.About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Microarray Market -: Future Demand and Growth Analysis

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Microarray is an advanced molecular biology technique used to spot expressions of many genes at the same time. Gene expression is a crucial part of normal gene functioning and plays significant role in understanding normal growth and development of life. Any abnormalities in gene functioning can lead to critical disease. Research involving the study of many genes by traditional method is next to impossible. Microarrays serve the purpose. Thousands of genes can be arrayed at one time and analyzed accurately. It is fast, accurate, cost effective and easy to do assay design. Microarray can be used for many micro molecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and also for enzymes, carbohydrates, and tissues. It can be used for gene expression profiling, molecular interactions, biomarker profiling, enzyme activity, pathway identification, and mutations. Microarray is not limited to basic research, but has expanded to clinical research and diagnosis.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :Based on type, microarrays can be segmented into DNA microarrays, protein microarrays, and antibody microarrays. DNA microarrays can be used for single nucleotide polymorphism-based diagnostics, forensic detection, gene expression profiling, etc. Large number of applications of DNA microarrays makes it a major segment of the microarray market. Protein microarrays are used in biomarker screening, enzyme substrate profiling, small molecule profiling, protein-protein interaction, etc. Antibody microarrays find applications in immunology in antibody specificity profiling, electronic immunoassays, etc.In terms of application, microarrays can be segmented into gene expression profiling tool, comparative genomics tool, disease diagnosis, drug discovery, and toxicological research involving the uncharacterized microbial populations exposed to toxins and pollutants. With the help of microarrays some of the uncharacterized microbes can be identified and their original gene pattern and functionality can be studied. Microarray technology has provided a new insight into the evolutionary studies, as many arrays can be studied parallel that are specific for particular species. Microarrays can be used in comparative genomics and pathway probing. Microarrays provide information, though not complete but useful, about the gene or group of genes that can be studied further, illuminating the biological pathways. Microarray has helped in better understanding of some diseases, their pathogenesis, and genetics. Scientists are able to differentiate cancer on the basis of organs harboring tumor, leading to a better understanding of gene pattern in the tumor cells. Microarray has also benefitted therapeutics development. Better understanding of any drug addiction followed by better treatment in any patient is an example of it. In diagnosis of diseases, particularly at the time of outbreaks, where a quick and accurate diagnosis is required, microarray has gained recognition in identifying the causative agent or the pathogen and the specific strain or antigen (serotype).Based on product type and analysis, the microarray market can be segmented into consumables and instruments. Large number of applications of microarray has led to high demand for consumables such as reagents, primers, buffers, DNA chips, and reagent kits.Microarray has widespread applications in genomics as well as proteomics. The progressively evolving information and software technology and emerging bioinformatics are some of the factors driving the microarray market, making it economical, unfailing, and durable. The development of biological products such as vaccines and therapeutic proteins involving microarray technologies could lead to promising results. However government protocols have mentioned that minor changes in the biological process may lead to distinguished end product, there is an urgent need of extensive testing and authentication. And these factors may hamper the market.In terms of region, the microarray market can be segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America was the largest market for microarrays. Advanced technology, high quality result oriented research, public awareness about personal health, and government initiatives are the factors contributing to the growth of the microarray market in North America. Europe was the second largest market for microarrays, followed by Asia Pacific. Increasing awareness among the people about genetic diseases, education, government initiatives, and modern technology in diagnosis and treatment of diseases are propelling the microarray market in Asia Pacific.Key players in the microarray market are Agilent Technologies, Illumina, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific and Merck. Other companies include Applied Microarrays, BioGenex, Perkin Elmer, QIAGEN, and Phalanx Biotech.About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Bovine Respiratory Disease Treatment Market: Valuation to Nearly Double by 2024, predicts TMR

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The global market for bovine respiratory disease treatment features a highly consolidated competitive landscape despite the presence of a large number of regional players, observes a recent report by Transparency Market Research. Owing to the small duration of product exclusivity in the animal health care industry  about three to five years - competition from generics and over-the-counter (OTC) products is a big threat.The rising consumption of bovine products in emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil, the demand for effective treatment methods for respiratory disease has considerably increased. To exploit the vast growth potential, an increasing number of companies are establishing operations in these countries. A recent example is the 2016 collaboration between Merial and Zoetis, Inc., which is expected to allow the former to effectively market and distribute its product in India. Some of the other key companies in the market are Merck & Co., Inc., Bayer AG, Elanco, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, and Virbac Group.TMR estimates that the global bovine respiratory disease treatment market will exhibit a promising 7.6% CAGR from 2016 through 2024. At this rate, the market, which had a valuation of US$805.9 mn in 2015 is projected to reach US$1,543.9 mn by 2024.Asia Pacific to Lead to Lucrative Growth OpportunitiesIn terms of distribution channel, the segment of veterinary hospitals dominated, accounting for nearly 35% of the global market in terms of revenue in 2015. From a geographic perspective, North America which held nearly 37% of the market in 2015, dominated the global market and is expected to easily retain its dominance over the forecast period as well. However, owing to the rising population of cattle and the rising incidences of bovine respiratory diseases, the Asia Pacific market will emerge as one of the most lucrative regional markets for bovine respiratory disease treatment methods.Rising Consumption of Animal Protein to Remain High-impact DriverOf the key factors driving the market, the rising consumption of beef is expected to have a prominent impact on the overall development of the market over the forecast period. According to a World Bank Group survey (2016), global human population is estimated to be 7.4 billion in 2016 and is growing at a rate of 1.8% per year. To sustain the ever rising demand for beef as well as other animal products from this mounting global population, there would be a vast rise in the worlds cattle population in the near future. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global cattle population will increase by 73% between 2015 and 2050, from nearly 936 mn in 2015 to nearly 2.6 bn in 2050.As bovine respiratory diseases account for 65% to 80% of morbidity and 45% to 75% mortality rate in livestock animals, the rising cattle population will also intensify the need for effective treatment modalities for these diseases. This will have a significant positive impact on the global bovine respiratory disease treatment market.Strict Government Regulations to Restrain MarketSeveral studies have demonstrated that bovine antibiotics can have a highly negative impact on human health. Issues such as induction of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and disruption of normal human intestinal flora are commonly observed in individuals who consume animal products with excessive amount of antibiotics. According to The New York Times, around 2 million people in the U.S. fall sick every year and about 23,000 of them die from antibiotic-resistant infections induced due to consumption of such products.These factors have urged government bodies to regulate the use of antibiotic therapeutics in animals too. In December 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforced a new policy related to the limited use of antibiotics in production animals. This is likely to hamper the growth of the bovine respiratory disease treatment market over the forecast period.This review of the market is based on a recent market research report published by TMR, titled Bovine Respiratory Disease Treatment Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2016 - 2024.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Macy's

Cincinnati-based Macy's Inc. has been approached by Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Co., which already owns the Saks Fifth Avenue in the U.S., about a possible acquisition, according to the The Wall Street Journal.

(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

A Canadian buyer has approached Macy's Inc. about a potential takeover, according to news reports.

Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Co., which already owns the Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor brands in the U.S., has approached the Cincinnati-based company about a possible acquisition, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

The report sent the struggling retailer's shares up sharply Friday.

Discussions are in the early stages, and it's possible no deal could be reached, the report said. The two sides also may consider other ways to collaborate, including selling Macy's real estate, it said.

Macy's and Hudson's Bay declined to discuss the report, with Macy's saying "we do not comment on rumors and speculation."

Macy's stock initially shot up more than 10 percent and there was a six-minute trading halt on the New York Stock Exchange due to the shares' volatility. The stock then backed off its highs and finished with a gain of $1.97, or 6.4 percent, to $32.69 a share.

That gave Macy's a total market value of about $9.4 billion. Hudson's Bay, whose stock trades on Canadian markets, has a market value of about 1.8 billion Canadian dollars, or $1.4 billion.

Like many other brick-and-mortar retailers, Macy's has been struggling to keep up with changing consumer spending habits, mainly their increased shopping online at e-commerce retailers such as Amazon.com Inc.

Following a disappointing holiday season, Macy's said last month that it would slash more than 10,000 jobs and go ahead with plans to close 68 stores that are among about 100 locations that Macy's last August said it would eventually close.

The company confirmed late last year it would close its store in downtown Portland after selling the property for $54 million.

Other national retailers have struggled as well. Last month, the Limited said it would close all 250 of its stores and filed for bankruptcy. Teen retailer Wet Seal said it is closing all 171 of its shops. And American Apparel laid off about 2,400 employees after selling its brand to Canadian clothing maker Gildan Activewear.

The closures are a blow to dozens of shopping malls across the country, especially where Macy's is one of the anchor stores that help draw consumers to the malls' other tenants.

Macy's stock has plunged after hitting a high of $72.31 in July 2015.

Last year, Macy's longtime Chief Executive Terry Lundgren said he planned to step down in 2017. President Jeff Gennette was tapped to take over.

-Los Angeles Times
AX189_450B_9.JPG

Beaverton Bakery in downtown Beaverton.

(Beth Nakamura)

Update: Beaverton Bakery reopened Saturday after the Oregon Department of Agriculture determined the bakery had made the "necessary cleanup," according to agency spokesman Bruce Pokarney.

Beaverton Bakery closed Tuesday after health inspectors found a rat infestation throughout the space.

The inspection of the bakery, founded in 1925, was triggered by an email complaint, John Burr, program manager at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said. As a result of the inspection, the bakery voluntarily closed to address the problems. On Facebook, the bakery posted they had closed due to mechanical failure.

According to the inspection report, the investigation found "an active rodent infestation...in an upper storage area of the bakery and rodent activity (droppings, urine) was noted in all areas (cookie, back warehouse, main bakery processing, cake I, cake II, storage area above walk-in cooler, miscellaneous storage room upstairs)."

A contamination of ingredients, both stored and in-use, packaging materials and bakery cake boards was also found throughout the space, according to the report.

"We had a flood...and we have a really old building here, because of the water, it did draw rodents to our facility," Beaverton Bakery president Carrie Ann Schubert said. "We have lots of pest control notes that can show we've been on top of this all along, but because the building is so old, there's tons of exclusions, little areas where animals can get in."

Schubert said the three day closure allowed the bakery to take care of the work, and go "above and beyond what the health department told [them] to clean."

"We do expect to open tomorrow, but this building is very, very old," Schubert said. "For the last 20 years, we've had pest control services here, don't want you to think we're negligent. But as you know, floods happens and when you've got an old building, this gives us the opportunity to seal this off and take care of any problems in the facility."

Bruce Pokarney, director of communications at the Oregon Department of Agriculture said it's not uncommon to occasionally find evidence of rodent activity in their licensed establishments.

"In this case, the level of activity, however, was significant enough to warrant a closure of the bakery...and that doesn't happen very often," Pokarney said.

The bakery requested a re-inspection midday Friday and hopes to reopen Saturday.

Beaverton Bakery first opened in 1925 by Charles Yeager. Charles Schubert bought the bakery in 1965 when it was a single building run by 10 employees on Southwest Broadway Street. Schubert's daughter, Carrie Ann, now runs the bakery.

12375 S.W. Broadway St, Beaverton, 503-646-7136, beavertonbakery.com

-- Samantha Bakall

sbakall@oregonian.com

Follow @sambakall
WILLIAMSON2.JPG

House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, answers questions from the media at the Oregon statehouse.

(Stephanie Yao Long/Staff)

Jennifer Williamson

With the start of the 79th Legislative Assembly, Oregon faces a set of challenges unlike any we've faced before. Solving them will mean coming together with courage, optimism, and a commitment to protecting Oregon values.

This session, we'll tackle a $1.8 billion budget deficit caused by the longstanding flaws in our revenue system, craft a statewide transportation package, and do everything we can to resist the destructive actions of the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress.

Oregon's House Democrats released our blueprint for the 2017 session--called "Moving Oregon Forward Together"--reaffirming our commitments to equality, opportunity for all, efficiency, transparency, and creating a future where everyone has a shot at real prosperity. These values will shape how we approach the session.

Education: Despite having one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, our revenue system is so broken that we're unable to fund our basic needs, let alone invest in the future. This could mean larger class sizes, shorter school years, and higher college tuition.

Shortchanging our children's education and closing off access to higher education is exactly the wrong direction. In order to create the kind of education system our kids deserve, we'll need everyone to come to the table with their best ideas--including ideas on how to fund our classrooms.

An Economy that Works for Everyone: In 2016, Oregon's rate of job growth outpaced the national average. We're going on more than 50 consecutive months of job growth, the longest stretch since we began collecting that data in 1990.

But clearly, we've got more work to do to ensure that the economic gains are being shared more widely. We need to invest in a comprehensive transportation plan that meets the everyday needs of families and businesses across the state. We need to facilitate small business growth across the state by connecting local entrepreneurs with grants, loans, and technical resources to get their ideas off the ground.

And we also need to ensure that working families have the protections they need to thrive. Oregon has led the way by ensuring that workers have access to paid sick leave and giving low-income workers a raise. Still, too many workers--particularly those in the service and retail industries--are forced to choose between their job and caring for their kids or a loved one. By exploring protections like paid family leave, predicable scheduling policies, and ensuring that women receive equal pay, we can improve the health of our communities and our local economies.

Standing With Our Vulnerable Neighbors: Donald Trump is making good on his most extreme, xenophobic, and cruel campaign promises, including breaking up immigrant families, scapegoating Muslim refugees, and restricting women's access to reproductive care. Trump's bigoted rhetoric has ushered in a spike in hate crimes, emboldening the worst elements of humanity.

As Democrats and as Oregonians, we will fight to make sure that this state remains open and welcoming to all. To our neighbors who are being directly targeted by the Trump Administration, please know that we're standing by your side and will use every legal tool at our disposal to protect you.

The challenges ahead are enormous. But if we're all pulling together, we can keeping moving Oregon forward.

Rep. Jennifer Williamson, D-Southwest and Northwest Portland, serves as the majority leader in the Oregon House of Representatives.


Trump goes with a conservative choice

President Donald Trump shakes hands with 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch, his choice for Supreme Court associate justice in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats should use any and all means, including the filibuster, to block confirmation of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. They will almost surely fail. But sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war.

This is purely about politics. Republicans hold the presidency, majorities in the House and Senate, 33 governorships and total control of the legislatures in 32 states. If the Democratic Party is going to become relevant again outside of its coastal redoubts, it has to start winning some elections -- and turning the other cheek on this court fight is not the way to begin.

Trump's pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch, has the resume required of a Supreme Court justice. But so did Judge Merrick Garland, former President Obama's last nominee, to whom Senate Republicans would not even extend the courtesy of a hearing, let alone a vote. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left the late Antonin Scalia's seat open for nearly a year to keep Obama from filling it. That, too, was purely about politics.

I'm not counseling eye-for-an-eye revenge. I'm advising Democrats to consider what course of action is most likely to improve their chances of making gains in 2018, at both the state and national levels.

The party's progressive base is angry and mobilized. Many Democrats are convinced that FBI Director James Comey and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided the election. The very idea of a Trump presidency sparked vast, unprecedented demonstrations in Washington and other cities the day after the inauguration.

In the two weeks since, Trump has only piled outrage upon outrage, as far as progressives are concerned. He took the first steps toward building his ridiculous wall along the southern border, but with U.S. taxpayers' dollars, not Mexico's. He squelched government experts who work on climate change. He weakened the Affordable Care Act in the hope that it would begin to collapse, which would make it easier for Congress to kill it. He displayed comic ignorance of our history (somebody please tell him that Frederick Douglass has been dead since 1895). He signed executive orders banning entry to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world, an action so appalling that huge crowds gathered at major airports in protest.

And Trump is just getting started. Democrats cannot even limit the damage, let alone reverse it, without more power than they have now.

That is the political context into which the Gorsuch nomination arrives. From my reading of the progressive crowds that have recently taken to the streets, the Democratic base is in no mood to hear about the clubby traditions and courtesies of the Senate. The base is itching for a fight.

The way McConnell et al. treated the Garland nomination was indeed unforgivable. Senators who fail to remember that will get an earful from their constituents -- and, potentially, a challenge in the next primary. More importantly, those senators will be passing up a rare political opportunity.

With just 48 votes, all Senate Democrats can do is filibuster, denying McConnell the 60 votes he needs for a final vote on the nomination. In response, McConnell could employ the "nuclear option" -- changing the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court confirmations. In the end, Gorsuch would be approved anyway.

But I believe Democrats should wage, and lose, this fight. The 60-vote standard looks more and more like an anachronistic holdover from the time when senators prided themselves on putting the nation ahead of ideology. These days, so many votes hew strictly to party lines that it is difficult to get anything done. The Senate is supposed to be deliberative, not paralyzed.

And I can't help thinking back to 2009. Republicans made an all-out effort to stop the Affordable Care Act. Their motives were purely political; some GOP senators railed against policies they had favored in the past. Ultimately, they failed. Obamacare became law.

But this losing battle gave tremendous energy and passion to the tea party movement -- which propelled Republicans to a sweeping victory in the 2010 midterm election. It is hard not to see an analogous situation on the Democratic side right now.

Democrats cannot stop Gorsuch from being confirmed. But they can hearten and animate the party's base by fighting this nomination tooth and nail, even if it means giving up some of the backslapping comity of the Senate cloakroom. They can inspire grass-roots activists to fight just as hard to win back state legislatures and governorships. They can help make 2018 a Democratic year.

Contact Eugene Robinson at eugenerobinson@washpost.com.

(c) 2017, Washington Post Writers Group
The Hopi Prophecy of the Red Hat and Red Cloak People

The Hopi are a Native American tribe who descend from the Ancient Pueblo Peoples (Hopi: Hisatsinom or Navajo: Anasazi). They were well known by their large apartment-house complexes that they had built many hundreds of years ago in the Southwest of the United States in places such as northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. Today they are currently a sovereign nation mainly residing in northeastern Arizona on a reservation that occupies part of Coconino and Navajo counties, encompasses more than 1.5 million acres, and is made up of 12 villages on three mesas.

The Hopi are known as a mostly peaceful people whose culture is deeply rooted in spirituality, mythology, morality, and ethics. They have maintained for several centuries through an oral tradition various religious. mythological, and prophetical traditions that live on to this very day. The Hopi are famous for their prophecies that are told through their sacred oral doctrines.

Recently I was researching questions for Robin Robertson who was a guest on the Gnostic Warrior Podcast. During the course of my research, I found that like me, he has an interest in both biblical and end time prophecies with an emphasis on the Book of Revelation. Reading through his blogs, I found one Hopi prophecy that he had shared with the world to be very interesting given the fact that it bears a close resemblance to the Apocalyptic (unveiling) events of our modern times.

This prophecy deals with what has been called the third great shaking of the world that will be symbolized by a group of people or a tribe of whom the Hopi call the red hat and red cloak people. They are said to either bring us wisdom which we accept or they can destroy us. The Hopi say, When the iron bird flies, the red-robed people of the east who have lost their land will appear, and the two brothers from across the great ocean will be reunited.

The Hopi say that these people would be led by the Blue Star Kachina who will remove his mask in the village plaza during a sacred kachina dance. After that, all Hopi ceremonies would cease entirely. In the Hopi religion, the Kachina are spirit messengers between the world of the gods and the world of humans. They are like angels in the Christian religion or daemons to the Ancient Greeks.

I would like to share with you some extracts from Hopi prophecies of the  red hat and red cloak people. The great shaking is said to be in relation to the third World War which will be a spiritual conflict against material values. Material values will be exterminated by spiritual beings who will stay on the earth in order to create an integrated world and a single people, the Creators world.

The great shaking is said to be in relation to the third World War which will be a spiritual conflict against material values. Material values will be exterminated by spiritual beings who will stay on the earth in order to create an integrated world and a single people, the Creators world.

The leader of these people is known to the Hopi as the long-awaited true Pahana (or Bahana), The Purifier  aka True White Brother will come to Hopi land. His ancestor was of light complexion so he is also known as the Great White Brother. Hopi consider him the Earth keeper and the Supreme God Servant (Bodhisattva, like Jesus in Christianity).

It is his function to purify the world of all the wicked people. He will be the only stranger who will be able to read tiponi (Hopi history tablets). When he returns, he will attach the broken corner to the Fire familys tablet, which corner he will bring with him, and so Hopi will know he is the True White Brother.

It is said that after many years the elder brother might change the color of his skin, but his hair will remain black. He will have the ability to write, and he will be the only person able to read the Tiponi. When he returns to find his younger brother, the Tiponi will be placed side by side to show all the world that they are true brothers. Then great judgment will take place, for the elder will help the younger brother to obtain real justice for all Indian brothers who have been cruelly mistreated by the white man since he came to Turtle Island.

The Pahana will wear a red cloak and a red cap. He has no religion (Gnosticism), except his own (Gnosis), and he will bring tiponi with him. He will be omnipotent, and no one will be able to oppose him. Within a day he will assume power over the entire Tortoise Island (the Indian name of North America). If he comes from the east, the disaster will not be great. But if he comes from the west, dont clamber on roofs to see him, for he will be merciless.

The True White Brother will be accompanied by two mighty and wise assistants (in printed prophecy texts there are two assistants, whereas the narrator mentions them in plural, implying they are not individuals, but whole peoples). One will carry the swastika sign as the power of male purity. The other assistant will carry the Celtic cross drawn red, that is the color of female blood from which life originates.

This will be the war between Good and Evil caused by the mankinds consumer development, and the period of purification. During these times, only those will survive who remain faithful to the will and commandments of the great Creator.

The White Brother is already among us. And he will be with us for 15 years more (it was said in 2003). Be prepared to everything, stock up bread, water, and candles

RESEARCH AND IMAGE SOURCES:

Robin Robertson  At the End of Time

Book of The Hopi By Frank Waters

http://rgdn.info/
Iran Missile Glance

In this Dec. 29, 2016 file photo, released by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), a long-range S-200 missile is fired in a military drill in the port city of Bushehr, on the northern coast of Persian Gulf, Iran.

(Amir Kholousi)

By Eli Lake

Don't say Donald Trump never did anything for Barack Obama. On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn put Iran "on notice" for its ballistic missile test and its arming, training and equipping of Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The early reaction from the network of groups that pushed for the Iran nuclear deal has been shock and horror. The Arms Control Association warned President Trump against "provoking confrontation." The National Iranian American Council said Flynn's warning was "reckless." Ben Rhodes, Obama's top national-security adviser, let loose about it on his twitter feed.

And I understand the alarm. After all, Trump has ridiculed the Iran deal since the parties agreed to it. News outlets Thursday night reported the administration planned on sanctioning 25 Iranian entities for the missile test and support for the Houthis. Trump administration officials tell me there will be other changes to Iran policy to follow, including new rules of engagement for U.S. Naval vessels in the Persian Gulf. All of this creates an atmosphere of uncertainty for Iran's leaders who don't yet know what it means when Trump puts them "on notice."

Most times, predictability and steadiness are important for statecraft. But there are exceptions. Iran's recent aggression in the Middle East is one of them. Since completing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran has tested ballistic missiles at least 12 times, according to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. This is not only contrary to U.N. Security Council 2231, which calls on Iran not to test missiles. It also means Iran is perfecting the delivery mechanism for an eventual nuclear weapon, if it chooses to build one down the road. Remember, the limits on Iran's enrichment activities expire between 2025 and 2030.

Perhaps the deal's supporters believe Iran's Sunni neighbors and Israel would just allow Iran to keep testing with no real consequences. But that's a risky bet. And it's made even riskier in light of Iran's aggressive shadow war throughout the region. The Yemeni Houthi militias it has armed, trained and equipped just attacked a Saudi ship in the Red Sea. These skirmishes can quickly escalate. How likely is it that the nuclear deal would survive such an escalation?

One way to reduce the risk of a regional war Iran and its proxies are currently stoking is through deterrence. Because Trump's advisers have yet to present a new war plan to take out the Islamic State, it also makes sense that the U.S. position on Iran should be vague. Let the regime's imagination run wild. Who knows what else Trump will do?

Now it should be said that Iranian officials have long publicly warned that their proud nation does not respond well to threats. As the Iranian-Swedish activist Trita Parsi wrote Thursday in the Huffington Post, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is fond of saying Iranians are "allergic to threats."

But this just isn't true. Threats and pressure have worked well with Iran. Look no further than the nuclear deal itself. Iran only agreed to even negotiate with the U.S. and five other great powers after the world imposed crippling sanctions on its oil exports and central bank. It took the threat of economic collapse to get Iran to start negotiations.

The reverse is also true. Iran has been testing more ballistic missiles, increasing its interventions in Yemen and Syria and detaining additional U.S.-Iranian dual nationals since it completed the nuclear agreement. When Obama was trying his best to reset the relationship with Iran, the Iranians became more aggressive.

The best news for Obama is that the White House on Wednesday was clear that, for now, it does not intend to withdraw from the nuclear deal. A senior administration official on Wednesday told reporters that he did not consider these missile tests to be a violation of the pact itself. When Obama sold that agreement to Congress in 2015, he promised that the U.S. was only lifting sanctions on Iran related to its nuclear program. And while Obama imposed a few mild sanctions designations on Iran for missile tests, the economic pain these measures caused was miniscule compared to the benefits of Iran's sanctions relief.

Trump is now preparing new sanctions and signaling that there will be greater consequences under his administration for missile tests and other forms of Iranian regional aggression. If those consequences are meted out with skill and resolve, a little confrontation today could stave off a larger conflict down the road.

Contact Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.net.
The United States Constitution is an amazing document. We praise it and hold it in as high esteem as the Bible or Quran or other sacred books. But just as the sacred books are interpreted in many ways and misunderstood in the process, so is the Constitution. It was created by men for the purpose of uniting 13 sovereign colonies into one country. The writers of the Constitution did not like democracy (rule directly by the people). They therefore created a representative democracy called a republic. They put in place several provisions which did not involve election by the people. One of these was the Electoral College to select our president. The original purpose of the Electoral College has been subverted over the course of history and must be changed or ended.

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution says in part Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.

In 1788, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay wrote a series of essays, called the Federalist papers, in defense of the newly created Constitution. In No. 68, Hamilton wrote that the meeting of the electoral college affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications, because they were independent men chosen expressly for this purpose.

HOW IT WORKED

In 1824, there were four candidates for president. The independent electors could not agree on which one to elect so the decision went to the House of Representatives, which chose John Quincy Adams.

Gradually over the course of the 19th century, political parties gained more and more control over the electoral process and states began to allow the people to vote for president. The debate over whether the people should elect the president or continue to use the Electoral College process began and continues to this day. Four elections resulted in the electoral college voting for a candidate who had fewer popular votes in 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016.

By the beginning of the 20th century, it was a widespread practice for political parties to choose the electors rather than the state legislature. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Ray v. Blair in 1952 that a political party can demand that its electors promise to vote for the candidate the party wants. In 29 states the electors are mandated by law to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state. Not only are the electors no longer independent, the winner of a state gets all the electoral votes, except in Maine and Nebraska.

CONCLUSION

Prior to 1964 many states had a legislature modeled after the U.S. Congress: one house based on population and the other based on geographical areas. In 1964, the Supreme Court, applying the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, ruled in Reynolds v. Sims that both houses of state legislatures needed to be based on population, not geographical areas. This is often referred to as the one man one vote principle.

While the Electoral College is part of the Constitution, it clearly violates the principle established in Reynolds v. Sims. Because of the way electoral votes are assigned, popular votes are not equal around the country. In 2008, Wyoming had 3 electoral votes with a population of 532,668. This means each vote represented 177,556 people. On the other hand, California had a population of 36,756,666 with 55 electoral votes. Each vote represented 668,303 people. This means that Wyoming votes were worth nearly four times the votes in California.

The 13 original states were made up of distinct groups of people for the most part and their sovereignty was recognized but today the sovereignty of the individual states is nearly irrelevant as migration constantly changes the population and traditions of states. While I was born and raised in Michigan and have lived most of my life here, I would be at home just as easily in most other states.

It is clearly time to accept the results of the popular vote. This can be done through state legislation since states control the electoral college. Ten states and the District of Columbia have already passed legislation requiring their electors to vote for the winner of the national popular vote (The National Popular Vote plan). These states represent 165 electoral votes, 105 short of the 270 needed to win an election. When states total 270 electoral votes, the law will take effect. Urge your state representatives and senators to support The National Popular Vote plan. Please feel free to pass this column to others.

Norbert Bufka is a Midland resident and an occasional editorial page contributor to the Midland Daily News. He can be reached at norbert609@sbcglobal.net. His website is http://www.thisonly.org/ where this column appears with a list of sources.
Wednesday marked the end of a two-week Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) between U.S. and Philippine military members here.





Over the last two weeks, approximately 30 U.S. and Philippine service members participated in a series of exchanges and discussions focused on how the acquisition and analysis of satellite imagery can support Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) operations.



A culminating table-top exercise served as the capstone event for the SMEE. The exercise used satellite imagery of an area impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. The U.S. and Philippine service members used Eagle Vision, an unclassified commercial satellite U.S. Air Force system, to gather before and after imagery of areas ravaged by the tropical storm in November 2013. Pre-typhoon imagery was compared to current images of affected areas. Imagery captured by Eagle Vision was then developed into geospatial maps by U.S. Army geospatial engineers with the 5th Engineer Detachment Geospatial Planning Cell. The bilateral training partners then used the maps to plan a disaster response operation for the simulation.



"Today's table-top is about bringing together HA/DR experts from both countries," said Lt. Col. Peter Day, commander of the current Rotational Air Contingent Philippines. "Over the past two weeks we've focused mostly on the theory of how satellite imagery can help direct operational decisions for HA/DR missions. Today we are applying what we've learned to discover new tactics, techniques and procedures to ultimately enhance how we work together," said Day.



Typhoon Haiyan devastated certain communities when it hit the Philippines. More than 6,000 Filipinos lost their lives because of the storm. An estimated 20 percent of the population impacted by the Haiyan received aid during the relief efforts following the storm.



"I see this exchange as an opportunity to enhance our abilities. I see after these exchanges how I can use my intelligence skills to improve our speed and efficiency for delivering aid when disasters happen here," said Philippines Air Force Airwoman 2nd Class Jane Ralcel Bernardo, Air Logistics Command Intelligence Production Branch's enlisted person-in-charge.



Following Haiyan, BBC reported the city of Tacloban as a "war zone" due to the extensive damage the typhoon caused. Tacloban was one of the hardest hit locations and a topic of serious discussion during the simulation.



"Damage assessment is an area where I've learned I can help with disaster aid. The satellite images let us know have much damage there is or that we think there will be. This information makes it possible for us to know where to bring the most relief to help people," said Bernardo.



Eagle Vision is capable of deploying to any location in the world. The system and personnel fit entirely into a single C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft and can be set up in eight hours.



"Oftentimes disasters impact communications infrastructure which makes delivering files and information a challenge, said Capt. Jay Munechika, Eagle Vision 5 Officer in Charge. For HA/DR operations it's paramount we know the status of an area to help drive the decisions that impact people's lives. Eagle Vision can provide imagery quickly and to a level-of-detail that is very useful for commanders and first responders on-the-ground so they provide the best disaster response possible," said Munechika.



Eagle Vision and the U.S. military have a longstanding history of working with the Philippines in relief operations. Eagle Vision was in the country in 2006 and provided satellite imagery of Southern Leyte, which aided the Philippine military's response to a massive mudslide that killed 1,126.



"The U.S. and Philippine alliance has been a cornerstone in the Asia-Pacific. Our nations continually work together when responding to crises and this simulation builds upon the teamwork necessary to deliver aid following a disaster, Day said.
EUREKA  Woodford County officials are cautioning that indirect labor costs eventually will affect the county's bottom line.

While working on its budget for the current year, the board set targets for each department in an effort to hold general fund expenses to about a 1.5 percent increase.

Board member Mike Hinrichsen said that in 2009, the actual cost to run the county was $6.4 million. That will rise to $8.4 million as projected in the 2017 budget.

Thats an additional $2 million passed along to the taxpayers to run this county, Hinrichsen said.

The budget year includes an additional payroll, an anomaly that happens about every 10 years, and costs were included to put a new roof on the public safety building, a one-time capital expense.

However, indirect labor expenses are growing at a higher rate than wages. Indirect labor expenses are costs associated with, but not paid directly to employees, including group insurance, Social Security, workers compensation and health insurance.

Hinrichsen said total labor and related costs have increased about $1.8 million since 2009.

Board member John Krug said projections may not be accurate, especially over a period of five years and department heads may have difficulty projecting budgets.

Going out (five years) with that many variables is very tough, Krug said. If (employees) can tell us what it will be in five years, they need a raise.

Board member Randy Roethler said the problem of controlling expenses may be magnified when jail bonds are paid off in 2018.

After Caterpillar Inc.'s unexpected announcement that the company is moving its managerial offices from Peoria to Chicago, Hinrichsen said it is even more important to work on financial restraint.

"This sends a strong signal to get costs under control," Hinrichsen said of the changing climate of the economy. "We need a unified voice across the county board where we should go in Woodford County. I don't see things getting any better."
Of the many actions taken in the first week of office by the new president and his administration, there were two that could easily be ignored but are particularly alarming and serve to erode our freedoms and democratic values.

First, the gag order on communication with social media imposed upon the USDA, EPA and other agencies tasked with keeping our food and water supplies and environment safe. These agencies are also banned from accessing websites containing research reports on climate change. How is restricting communication and information available to these agencies helpful in protecting and serving us?

Secondly, and more egregious, is the presidents expressed endorsement of the use of torture, a violation of International Humanitarian Law. He has repeated his belief publicly that torture works. And even if the national security and military leadership choose not to impose such actions, the fact that a U.S. president has made these statements puts Americans at great risk  particularly those living and working abroad, including embassy personnel, journalists, government contractors, diplomats and especially our armed forces servicemen and women. What better way for adversaries to further their cause then to torture Americans and those who support us?

I am pleading with the congressional leadership to forsake their priority of re-election and recognize the instability of the world and threat to our freedoms that these and other actions of the new president have caused. Those in power must make decisions as if the survival of the republic depends upon it. Because it does.

Emily Barr, Bloomington
Fire and paramedic service stands out as a singular area of municipal government where lock-step coordination and cooperation between Bloomington and Normal can improve service, potentially saving lives and dollars.

If we had a do-over, wise leadership would likely create one fire department to serve all of Bloomington-Normal. Fire stations would be strategically located with a community-wide view, rather than one constrained by political borders with names like Division Street.

We wouldnt have the current situation where no fire station exists north of Empire Street and east of Veterans Parkway, resulting in emergency response times in much of the northeast side that fall well short of national standards.

Both city governments are intent on remedying the situation, presenting opportunities.

Normal is in the early stages of a 10-year plan to replace its three stations, re-positioning them to serve a growing and changing community. Construction on Main Street is underway to replace the aging facility on Adelaide.

And within a few months, the town will pinpoint property east of Veterans where another new station would be built in about three years to replace the one on College. That will solve the northeast problem for Normal. About four years after that, the Raab Road station will be relocated to the west, improving response times to a different part of town.

Normal believes its plan greatly delays the need for a fourth station and the couple dozen firefighters it would take to staff it.

Bloomington meanwhile thinks it needs to add a northeast station to solve its own response time problem in that area. For a lot of murky reasons (two different firefighter union contracts among them), discussions between Normal and Bloomington about having a single, possibly larger northeast-side station never got off the ground.

So, Bloomingtons city council is deciding just where a new, northeast side fire station will land on its list of spending priorities.

To their credit, there already is good cooperation between the two fire departments. They assist and cover for one another on a regular basis. The likelihood is that Normal will have its new northeast station operating before Bloomington does, and if its personnel there can get to a fire or rescue call in northeast Bloomington minutes before Bloomingtons can, Normals trucks will roll.

Which brings us to a point already under discussion. Why not just cut to the chase and have Bloomington execute a long-term contract with Normal to respond to all northeast side calls? Making that decision sooner than later would allow Normal to bake those coverage needs into locating and designing its new east-of-Veterans station.

Its an idea worthy of discussion in the current mayoral and council election campaigns.

The Cat news

News that Caterpillar wont be building a new world headquarters in downtown Peoria, as it had announced less than two years ago, and will instead relocate its headquarters to Chicago is a bewildering blow to Peorias psyche. It also fans the embers of Bloomington-Normal insecurities about State Farm.

If theres any surprise-within-the-surprise, it may be that Cat isnt heading to a big city outside this sinking state, say to Atlanta or Dallas.

Playing at home

Adam Larson, the Twin City native saxophonist-composer whos winning notice on the New York City jazz scene, will be back home in coming months.

Hell appear with the U High and Metcalf jazz ensembles March 9 with a master class at Illinois Central College the next day. And his quartet will be in Normal July 9 for an appearance at the Connie Link Amphitheatre. In between is a four-night gig at Chicagos Jazz Showcase in late March.
The negative first impressions of social partners of people under the autism spectrum could mar their experiences. This was the findings of a study participated in by people who did not belong to the autism spectrum. The participants were asked to view videos of people with autism and their social interaction.

It was found out that the participants rated people with autism and those without autism in the same way when it comes to intelligence and trustworthiness, Those under the autism spectrum, however, got a less favorable rating in terms of traits necessary in connecting with people such as awkwardness and likeability.

"Our study provides evidence that the social difficulties faced by people with autism are exacerbated by how they are perceived by other people," Dr. Noah Sasson, associate professor of the UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, said. His team's findings were published in the journal Nature.

The participants were reluctant about interacting with those who belong to the autism spectrum, according to the Science Daily. Sasson said the social difficulties experienced by people under the autism spectrum is also a result of the reactions and judgments made by people who are not autistic.

Sasson said their findings show the gravity of the difficulties faced by people under the autism spectrum, in a variety of social interactions. Simply said, those with autism might be challenged by lesser social opportunities. Bias can affect people's perception of people with autism, but interaction can help change this prejudice.

A person may think he is not biased against those under the autism spectrum, according to LA Times. University of Montreal's Dr. Laurent Mottron, however, said most people, even doctors like him, do have this prejudice against people with autism, regardless of what they think.

Mottron managed to do away with this bias and now has persons with autism working in his laboratory. Learn more about interacting and understanding those with autism in this video below.
Chemical burns and eye injuries in toddlers have risen since laundry pods or laundry detergent packets hit store shelves in 2012. A new study has learned that from the year it was released till 2015 there was a 30 percent increase in injuries among 1,200 kids below 4-years-old.

The study, published in the JAMA Ophthalmology journal, showed about 12 incidents were reported in 2012. Three years later, however, the injury reports rose to 480.

"The liquid detergent in the pods is not the same as regular liquid detergent," scientist Eric Moorhead, who was not part of the study, told CNN. "It has a higher concentration of surfactants, chemicals that are responsible for stain removal."

Moorehead further said the laundry pods' high concentration of chemicals can easily irritate the skin, especially around the eye area. Researchers thought those most at risk from the packets are workers in factories who could get splashed by the chemicals in the eye.

The packets, however, look like toys or candies in bright colors, thus curious toddlers find these interesting. Researchers were surprised to learn that most of the injuries happened at home and among toddlers who were able to get hold of the laundry pods.

Experts warned the chemical burns and eye injuries from the laundry pods can lead to long-term vision impairment. "It's not only eye injuries. Children will also swallow these," pediatric doctor Michael Grosso said.

Parents are advised to wash out the child's hands and eyes thoroughly in case of accidents. "Take your child and put their eye under cool water under the faucet and flush it with cool water for 20 minutes," Grosso said. A trip to the hospital emergency room might be necessary as well.

Parents are also advised to keep the laundry pods out of reach of children. The experts are also asking manufacturers to consider changing its packaging.

American Cleaning Institute (ACI) said in a statement that manufacturers have been in compliance with safety standards even before the study came out. "By the end of 2016, more than 99 percent of the volume of liquid laundry packets being shipped to retailers were in compliance with the ASTM standard," the statement said, according to Fox News.
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So last weekend I got to visit Our Neighbor to the North, the magical land where when you say, Toller Cranston, people actually say, Oh, the figure skater? I learned many things there. Milk in bags is a REAL THING, people, its not just something made up for Gordon Korman fanfiction! Here are some notes, including bonus #CanCon in case theres a subsidy for that.

# I was there to do a longer version of my usual shtik about paths of love for gay people in the Church. (BOOK ME, I RESONATE WITH THE YOUTH.) I had a chance to speak privately with a lot of the audience, which was fantastic, and two conversations in particular stood out.

One person wanted to tell me about hearing a different same-sex attracted Christian speaker (not one Ive met or heard), and trying to discuss that presentation later with a gay friend who thought the testimony had been, basically, weaponized. Celibacy presented as the solution to the problem of gay people. And Ive had at least one person tell me that his pastor has tried to use my story that way as well: Why cant you just be like Eve Tushnet, shes celibate and super happy about it! (lol not not always, my friend.) The other person said, Im not gay, but a lot of what you said seems really relevant to my life and I think it might help me work out some things about my own future.

And I think these two conversations are related. On one level Id be happy if my project was only relevant to gay or same-sex attracted people, since thats a community to which I belong and to whom I feel an especial obligation. But I do also think how much are you asking or inviting straight people to change? is one decent metric for how useful your story is as a weapon.

What I try to talk about most is neglected forms of love. These forms are open to everyone, though they are especially desperately needed by gay people who accept the historical Christian sexual ethic. Many of them are specifically forms of same-sex love, and therefore places where gay people can illuminate what the majority of the church has forgotten and allowed to decay. Our longings for same-sex intimacy, care, and devotion can be lamps guiding the whole church back to Her neglected treasures. This is much less likely to happen if straight Christians view us as problems to be solved, or view our longings as dangerous forms of deviance.

If youll indulge meperhaps gay people in the Church have preserved a forgotten language of love, a kind of Christian palare. We mostly use it nowadays to say the wrong things. But once we spoke the words of Scripture. We can teach you to speak those words again.

# One of the themes I hit on a lot was the diversity of gay Christian experiences, and one of these diversities concerns our doubts. People have really different experiences of doubt. I am an extremely impulsive and unreflective person, and I think thats part of why I basically do not doubt and never have. I sin, like all the time, but I dont doubt. Even in the most despairing days of my drinking I did not ever doubt that God existed, that He loved me and cherished me. I just, I dont know, found it really hard to care or to believe that I could love Him back. I doubted His strength, you could say, though not His mercy.

People in my position can be helpful at times. Sometimes it helps to hear bluntly, No matter what has happened or how weird things have gotten, I have never stopped trusting Gods goodness. But a lot of the time the people who can speak to you most are the people who doubt only slightly less than you do, whose relationship with God is only slightly less angry or fraught or uncertain.

That suggests two things: a) Sometimes you need to seek out the people who do doubt only a little less than you do (in part because if you stick to talking to the people who doubt a lot less than you do, you can start to really resent them/us). And b) If you are currently doubting and chaotic, your honesty about that can be a form of complicated but real witness, and a gift you can give to others.

# Lately Ive been on a kick of telling people not to be ashamed to be mammals. Mammals gonna mammal, yall. I know I often use this idea kind of obnoxiously to defend e.g. men who talk to you when you want to read your book (I stopped reading the Bible in public because men kept trying to propose to me, so I am as unimpressed by this mating tactic as anybody) but I think it can also be somewhat comforting when our unfulfilled desires seem overwhelming.

People really yearn for sexual release, for physical intimacy e.g. cuddling, for biological children. Not everybody, but these are extremely normal things for mammals to want. My guess is that when these desires are unfulfilled, the absence is easier to bear when we can see and be grateful for the goods our vocations do offer us, but Im not sure. Sarah at A Queer Calling writes well here about Grieving What My Vocation Is Not.

I think my own most-intense and most-unfulfilled longing is for mystical union with God in prayer, which is slightly less mammalian. Man is the distracted animal, yo.

# You know who I found myself talking about constantly, and not just because she is in fact Canadian? Melinda Selmys. Shes a great example of somebody whose approach to intellectual questions within the faith is super different from my own on multiple levels. I tend to be very, Have you considered going beyond critical thinking?, very Roma locuta, causa finita est. I emphasize that you shouldnt expect that you will be able to understand Church teaching, even in the areas most directly relevant and difficult for you, because there is no guarantee that you can grasp any portion of the mind of God. What you can expect yourself to understand, maybe, is the reason for your own church membership: a reason for the hope that is in you, or at least a description of what you love and what binds you to follow Jesus under the guidance of His Bride. I believe all that and its important, but I often do it in a way that gets arrogant or judgmental of others questioning.

I do think theres a humble and fearless way to understand your primary intellectual task as acceptance and obedience, in fact surrender of your intellect to the guidance of Mother Church. But theres also a humble and fearless way to seek out the hardest questions and apply your intellect and experience to them. Melinda does that really well, which is why I loved her sequel to Sexual Authenticity even though I disagreed with at least half of it. I admire her approach a lot even when I disagree with her conclusions.

Lets end on that semi-irenic note, eh?
Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday inaugurated the Patna Book Fair at the Gandhi Maidan on Saturday where he touted the recent successes of Prakash Utsav, Kalchakra, and the world's longest human chain while taking shots at those who were not part of his bandwagon.

Speaking from the podium after lighting the ceremonial inaugural lamp, the Chief Minister said he was unable to fathom why certain people were so determined to project Bihar in bad light when the state had earned widespread accolade following the huge successes of Prakash Utsav to mark the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs; the Buddhist festival of Kalchakra, and the world's longest human chain in support of prohibition in Bihar.

"People all over the world are talking about Bihar following the success of Prakash Utsav, Kalchakra and the human chain. Biharis have shown the world what they are capable of and by doing so, they have essentially shut the mouths of those who were engaged in false propaganda against the state. Treating our guests with ultimate love and respect is in our nature and we have proved that once and for all after the successes of these events," he said.

The Chief Minister, who has been accused by his detractors of abandoning the agenda of development and trying to deflect from his failure to attract investment in the state by organizing one mega event after another, gave a preview of the upcoming centennial celebration of the Mahatma Gandhi's historical Champaran Yatra undertaken to gain Independence from the British rule.

"The program to mark the 100th anniversary of Gandhiji's Champaran Yatra would commence on April 10, 2017. My goal is to take the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi to every child in the state," he said.

Speaking briefly about the Patna Book Fair organized annually since 1985 by the Center for Readership Development, Kumar said that events like this should help create awareness in the public.

More than 200 publishers from India and abroad are showcasing their publications on varied topics at the fair.

Fair founder N K Jha, organizing committee chairperson H L Gulati, poet Satyanarayan were among many who were present on the occasion.
U.S. Travel Ban Stands Between Iranian Cancer Patient And Her Grandmother

02/03/17

By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL



Kiana Ghanei protests at Philadelphia's airport on January 28,

the day her grandmother was supposed to arrive from Iran.



These are trying times for Negin Ghanei and her family.

Doctors in the United States last year detected a return of her teenage daughter Kiana's lymphoma cancer, leaving the transplanted Iranians in what the U.S.-based chemical engineer calls a state of shock.

Ghanei says the second shock came in late January when she learned that Kiana's 74-year-old grandmother couldn't travel to the United States to help care for Kiana and provide them all with much-needed moral support.

Ghanei had asked her mother to join them in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, to spend time with Kiana, who must look after herself on days when both parents are at work and her 20-year-old sister, Kimia, is at university.

"It's not good for Kiana to be alone," Ghanei says, "Her temperature has to be monitored and, most importantly, psychologically."

Kiana's grandmother got a U.S. entry visa from the U.S. Embassy in Dubai quickly and without complications. She was due to depart for Philadelphia on January 28.

But hours before she was to board her flight from Tehran, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order, with immediate effect, barring all foreign nationals from Iran and six other mostly Muslim states from entering the United States for at least 90 days.

"We were shocked," Ghanei says of the travel ban. "They've taken our right away; it's our right, but someone powerful says no."

'Everyone Is An Immigrant'

The Trump administration presented the order as a way of "protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States" and made the ban applicable to citizens of seven countries identified as countries "of concern" by the Obama administration: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Iran has been identified as a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department since 1984.

But Ghanei says it is hard for her to understand the travel ban since "everyone is an immigrant in this country."

She was initially hopeful but her optimism waned as reports suggested that the new measures were imminent.

"Everyone was telling me that [my mother] may not be able to come, but I wouldn't believe them," she says. "I thought in the worst-case scenario I'll show [U.S. authorities] the letter from the hospital [stating that my daughter has cancer] and they will let my mother enter the country."

But Kiana's grandmother was not allowed to board her Qatar Airways flight in Tehran.

Protesting Travel Ban

Ghanei says her sick daughter was especially hard-hit by the news. "Kiana is awaiting a stem-cell transplant," she says. "It's difficult and she knows it, she's now undergoing chemotherapy."

She says a visit from her grandmother was "Kiana's only hope" in these tough times, adding that her daughter remains very attached to her relatives in Iran.

"She kept crying every day -- you know, she's morally weak now -- and no matter what we say, she says she wants her grandmother."

On January 29, the day her grandmother was due to arrive in the United States, Kiana asked her mother to take her to Philadelphia's international airport to participate in a protest against the travel restrictions.

She prepared her protest sign herself. "I'm battling cancer and my grandmother was supposed to arrive from Iran today," her hand-written sign said.

NBC reported that several thousand protesters took part in the rally in an effort to send a message that immigrants are welcome in the United States.

Trump's executive order halted the entire U.S. refugee program for 120 days, indefinitely banned Syrian refugees, and suspended all immigration from seven countries for 90 days.

The U.S. president defended the ban via Twitter on February 1, saying that the order was aimed at "keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of the country."

Copyright (c) 2017 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
A Friday storm brought a healthy dose of rain to Los Angeles County on Friday but mostly fizzled for Orange County and the Inland Empire, according to National Weather Service officials.

Still, hope remains for a stronger and even wetter storm starting as early as Sunday night. Rain will persist Monday and linger at least into Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.

That storm, forecasters say, will affect not just Los Angeles County but also Orange County and the Inland Empire. It will bring anywhere from half an inch to an inch of rain for most areas, officials say.

The system has just changed so much, said meteorologist Tom Fisher, who works in the National Weather Services Oxnard office. He said forecasters initially thought the storm would be weak, bringing either no rain or trace amounts.

Models since have changed, he said, and much of Southern California, from Ventura County to Riverside County, will see .5 of an inch to 1 inch of rain. The NWS saids San Diego County will get a little less  around .25 of an inch.

Both the Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County mountains could see anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of rain, though snow will be unlikely except for elevations above 8,000 feet.

Fisher said forecasters will need to monitor the situation because the system has changed so rapidly in just a few days. He said that though as much as an inch is the estimate as of midday Friday, it could be even more as the storm moves in.

Well have to watch this until 24 hours from when it comes in, he said.

Though the future storm promised more of a drenching for all of Southern California, the rain wasnt as evenly distributed Friday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Noel Isla, who works in the NWS San Diego office, said that since Orange County and the Inland Empire were at the tail end of Fridays storm, much of those areas didnt really see rain. If they did, it was a fairly small amount.

Were really not expecting much more, Isla said Friday morning. Were at the tail end of this trough and its pretty weak as it moves through the area so were not expecting any significant amounts.

But for as dry as those areas were, Los Angeles County and the areas north of it did fairly well, Fisher said. Some areas, he said, saw as much as half an inch of rain, although most places varied from a little over .10 of an inch to .4 of an inch.

Hannah Chandler, a forecaster for the National Weather Services Sacramento office, said the Sacramento Valley saw anywhere between an inch and 2 inches of rainfall. The Sierras were on track for between 8 and 12 inches of snow below 6,000 feet and 12-18 inches above 6,000 feet on Friday.

951-368-9693 or agroves@scng.com
Parents and community leaders are demanding the resignation of an Alvord school board member who they say posted racist social media messages blasting undocumented immigrants, blacks and Muslims.

Joseph Barragan, who joined the board in December, denies writing the now-deleted Facebook posts that appear as screen shots on a flier calling for him to resign. The flier, in English and Spanish, urges people to attend the Alvord Unified School District board meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, and tell trustees that Barragan is not fit to make decisions for our students.

Barragan, 21, said his Facebook account was hacked or someone made a fake page with his name and photo. Barragan added that hes the target of a politically motivated attack spearheaded by the head of Alvords teachers union, who denies being involved in the effort to get him to resign.

I will not resign because theres no need to resign, Barragan said. The work Im doing is supported by the community to enhance our childrens education and report on the financial misdeeds of the district and bring attention to those issues that have been forgotten the last 25 years.

The Alvord district serves almost 20,000 students, nearly 80 percent of them Latinos, in west Riverside and part of northeast Corona.

Superintendent Sid Salazar on Friday, Feb. 3, issued a statement from himself and Board President Art Kaspereen condemning the inflammatory and offensive individual personal comments made by Mr. Barragan through his public use of social media.

Alvord response to concerns over board members Facebook posts by The Press-Enterprise / pressenterprise.com on Scribd

At the same time, we recognize Mr. Barragans sacred and protected right to freely speak his mind as a private citizen, the statement said.

Salazar said Barragans views are his alone and the board and superintendent have no power to censor or moderate his comments as a private citizen.

According to images on the flier, the Facebook posts  which Barragan attributes to hackers  support a wall like the one Israel has to keep Muslims out and call for population control by performing surgical procedures on prisoners so when they get out they cant have kids. We dont need kids with stupid genes.

Another message says, We wonder why life was better when we had slaves. They were actually tamed like animals. Another post threatens to run over Black Lives Matter protesters if they block traffic in Baltimore.

Eva Amezola, an organizer of the effort against Barragan, said some of his friends or former friends saw the Facebook posts and sent her screen shots and the flier. The person who made the flier fears retaliation and wants to remain anonymous, Amezola said.

Amezola said shes not working with the Alvord Educators Association to oust Barragan, whom she considers unqualified to hold the seat.

Im more concerned about him being a self-proclaimed racist and speaking so poorly about the people that live in that community, said Amezola, a 32-year-old Riverside resident who lives outside the school district boundaries.

Barragan was the only candidate to file last year for a vacant District 2 seat on the board. The seat wasnt on the November ballot and he took office in December. The seat encompasses Riversides Arlanza neighborhood in the southwest area of the city.

Barragan said he was born and raised in Riverside and graduated from the districts Norte Vista High School, adding that hes studying sociology and business administration at San Diego Mesa College, a community college.

Barragan said he has done nothing wrong, adding that theyre making up things to discredit me.

Barragan said he doesnt want undocumented immigrant students deported and backs their right to an education.

People do not like me because Im a gay Hispanic Republican, Barragan said. Thats what this whole thing is about.

He said he attended a recent meeting at Norte Vista at which he sought to reassure Alvord undocumented students and families that he would do whatever I can do to make this a safe place for you guys.

Barragan said he also supports Padres Unidos, a Norte Vista parent group comprised partly of undocumented families.

Barragan said he has received death threats from radical leftists and people saying Youre a disgrace to your own race and you should be six feet under.

Barragan said he reported the threatening phone calls as well as the Facebook hacking to Riverside police. Spokesman Ryan Railsback said the department is investigating. Someone found guilty of such a crime could be charged with a misdemeanor and spend up to a year in jail, he said.

Barragan said his opponents have another agenda.

He believes Alvord teachers union President Leigh Hawkinson  who condemned the remarks in a statement  is retaliating against him because he has called on Salazar to resign.

Barragan maintains Salazar has misspent district funds and is beholden to the union  assertions that Hawkinson and the superintendent deny.

The allegations have no merit are defamatory and brought in bad faith for no reason other than to advance his political agenda, Salazar said in an emailed statement.

I pledge that if he presents any actual facts or evidence, they will be investigated and I will be fully vindicated, Salazar said. His allegations will be shown to be nothing but lies.

Barragan said hes in the process of getting records that will detail the improper spending.

Alvord school board member Robert Schwandt said he supports Salazar and doesnt believe he misused district money. He declined to comment about efforts to get Barragan to resign.

Hawkinson said the union has no part of the effort to get Barragan to resign. She said she told her members they arent allowed to use district email to send out the meeting flier, but doesnt know if any did so.

Barragan should focus on the positive changes Salazar has made, she said.

Barragan said hes trying to hold the superintendent and district employees accountable and improve Alvords education quality.

Claudia Garcia, whose daughter attends kindergarten at Alvords Valley View Elementary School in Riverside, said she was shocked by the Facebook messages on the flier.

Him being Latino, I cant believe he would be going against the community in this way, Garcia said. Its embarrassing, its disrespectful. Hes attacking everyone, Latinos, African Americans, Muslims. Its just crazy things.

Darlene Trujillo-Elliot, president of the nonprofit Riverside Latino Network, said Barragan should resign or be censured by the school board.

This is a scary time, said Trujillo-Elliot, who lives in Riverside outside the Alvord boundaries. We work with parents who are scared for themselves and their children. To have a board member so actively advocating for something like that is scary. Its not something we want in our city.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9292 orstwall@scng.comTwitter: @pe_swall
California officials have discerned a chilling signal that the Trump administration may be willing to halt the states unique authority to impose its own vehicle emission rules  a move that could undercut its pioneering effort to battle climate change.

The threat arose during the confirmation hearing for Scott Pruitt, Trumps choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt was asked by California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris if he would pledge to continue the EPAs decades-long policy of granting California waivers from the federal Clean Air Act, giving the state the right to set its own more stringent clean air standards. Pruitt  who as Oklahomas attorney general sued the EPA more than a dozen timesrefused to commit to continuing Californias authority, instead saying he would have to study the issue.

The waivers have been the bedrock on which much of Californias climate change goals stand. The states emissions from passenger cars and light trucks have been reduced by more than 30 percent since 2009, when California expanded its use of the air quality waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The ability of the state to chart its own course has brought California to a place of national and international leadership in combating climate change, often without the partnership of recalcitrant elected officials in Washington. In many cases, Californias regulations have become the de facto federal standards.

Fran Pavely, the recently retired Democratic state senator who authored most of Californias climate change legislation, said in an interview that the state would absolutely not have been able to achieve the current greenhouse gas reductions without waivers.

Losing that flexibility under the Trump administration would be a crushing blow to more than a decade of carefully crafted policies that, stitched together across multiple state and local agencies, aim to reduce Californias carbon footprint and dramatically reshape how the state generates and uses energy.

The clean air waivers also play a critical role in improving public health across Californiaand although theyve helped clean pollutants from the air, large parts of the state still have air quality that violates federal ozone thresholds.

There is no way that the 10 million Californians living in areas with smoggy air will be able to breathe healthy air without the state keeping (waiver) authority, said Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean air.

Since 1967, California has requested more than 100 waivers on an array of air quality issues, ranging from requiring more advanced engine diagnostic information on heavy-duty trucks to emissions standards for forklifts. All but one was approved. That pushback came as George W. Bush was leaving office, and the states application was granted in Barack Obamas first term.

Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, said the state does not have any waiver requests pendingand that emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks are in place until 2025.

The Trump administrations intentions are not yet clearPresident Trump has described himself as an environmentalist, but also once tweeted that global warming was a Chinese hoax to stymie competition from U.S. manufacturers. Should a Pruitt-run EPA elect not to grant, the state would likely mount a legal challenge bolstered by 50 years of precedent.

I think it would be a heavy lift to say no now, said David Pettit, a senior attorney in the Natural Resources Defense Councils Southern California Air Program. The EPA cant do something that is arbitrary or capricious. If you show a judge a 1,000-page administrative record, that judge is going to ask EPA what has changed.

He said that because Californias right to seek an EPA waiver is written into statute, the nightmare scenario would come into play should Congress undertake to rewrite the Clean Air Act.

There have been rumblings, Pettit said.

But some conservatives, who contend that regulations often saddle businesses with unfair burdens, welcome the notion of eliminating the right of states to make their own rules. Former state Assemblyman Tim Donnelly recently wrote a column for the alt-right Breitbart website supporting dismantling both the state air board (CARB) and the EPA.

But now, CARB could be on the ropes for a change, Donnelly wrote. If President Trumps pick for EPA picks a serious fight with CARB, this could be the first ray of hope for the long-suffering Americans living behind enemy lines in the Socialist Republic of California.

Expect Californias leaders to strike back at any such move. Since the November election, the state has girded for a fight, bringing aboard a legal hired gun, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, to look out for the states interests. Californias new attorney general, Xavier Becerra, also intends to defend state policies from erosion by federal decree.

Californias right to set its own clean air standards dates back to the mid 1960s, when the federal Clean Air Act was written. In acknowledgement of the states smog crisiswhen the mountain backdrop of Los Angeles resembled a brown smudge California was the only state granted the ability to seek a waiver from federal regulations so that it could set stricter emission standards.

We needed exceptional regulations in order to meet federal standards, Clegern said. We have unique geography, a large population and millions of vehicles on road of all ages and conditions. The one-size-fits-all national rule did not get us anywhere.

In many instances, policies California put in place through waivers were adopted as national and even international standards. For example, the state used waivers to mandate the adoption of unleaded gasoline and to require that vehicles be fitted with catalytic converters.

An engineer from China told me several years ago, If it werent for California, we wouldnt have catalytic converters in China, Pavley said.

Pavley was in the delegation that went to Washington in 2008 to negotiate when the EPA issued its only waiver denial. She said that today California has a target on its back with the Trump administration, but the battle isnt just about one state.

I cant believe that Americans and other states dont care about clean air, she said.

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news venture explaining California policies and politics.
Reports of the Trump administrations plan to revamp a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies and going forward only focus on Islamist extremism, is raising concerns among those working to counter violent extremism at the international, national and local levels.

Reuters reported Wednesday that the federal government program Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), would be changed to Countering Islamic Extremism or Countering Radical Islamic Extremism. This would mean the program would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out attacks in the United States, according to Reuters.

Such an approach could strip some of the benefit from having a CVE program, which was established in February 2015 to counter radicalization and terrorist acts through community partnerships, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.

Our most prominent terrorism threat today in the United States does come from violent Salafist Jihadists, he said. But we also have the most diverse set of extremist movements threatening the country, from neo-Nazis, black separatists and sovereign citizens to animal liberation and environmental extremists. Its like a logjam.

A study by the Anti-Defamation League shows that of the 52 extremism-related deaths in 2015 in the U.S., 38 percent were caused by white supremacists, 37 percent were a result of domestic Islamic terrorism, 19 percent were linked to anti-government extremism and 6 percent were tied to anti-abortion extremism.

According to the same report, of the 295 domestic extremist-related deaths from 2006 to 2015, 70 percent involved white supremacists, 15 percent anti-government extremism and 13 percent domestic Islamic extremism.

The CVE initiative was introduced by the Obama Administration in 2015 as a pilot program in Los Angeles, Boston and Minneapolis. It created its own controversy and division within Muslim communities in Southern California and nationwide.

While officials said the initiative is a tool to reach out to Muslim groups through community events, mentoring and youth programs, its broader goal was to prevent radicalization and identify potential extremists.

Some groups, such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), became partners in the initiative but others, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), backed away, suspecting the effort was just another way Muslims would be targeted and vilified.

The CVE program, even under the Obama administration, was a smokescreen for targeting the Muslim community, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of Anaheim-based CAIR-LA.

Even though they made it seem like it was going to encompass all groups, it was apparent to us from the documents and where the funds were going that Muslims were the focal point. It is a program that already unfairly targets Muslims and now, itll do so openly.

Muslims are no more prone to violence or extremism than anyone else, Ayloush said.

Salam Al-Marayati, MPACs executive director, said by changing the name of the CVE program, the Trump administration will essentially kill whatever positive relationships or partnerships were built with the Muslim community.

MPAC took a different approach than CAIR in terms of cooperating and partnering with law enforcement in the CVE initiative.

The red flag here is that the Trump administration is deliberately killing this partnership, Al-Marayati said.

He said MPACs work with local law enforcement would continue as before, or even expand, but that would change if the federal program shifts focus.

Extremism is not a Muslim problem, but a human problem, said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who also heads the citys Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau.

There are violent extremist ideologies across the board, he said. Of course, radical Islamist extremism is the white elephant in the room. But if you single that out, you are leaving out other ideologies that have led to violent acts around the country.

Downing said his department will continue to approach countering extremism in a broad manner, despite what the Trump administrations stance might be.

Some experts, including Berlin-based Daniel Koehler, who has been working on deradicalization efforts in the U.S. and around the world, have sharp criticism for the Trump administrations approach.

It will essentially kill counter-extremism in the United States, further alienate Muslim communities, play into the hands of ISIS and other jihadist groups and burn one of the most effective counter-terrorism tools, said Koehler, a fellow of George Washington Universitys new Program on Extremism at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.

Koehler

said the Trump administration, by excluding right-wing extremists from the CVE program, is sending a message to jihadists and mainstream Muslims alike that violence and terror from the far right can operate freely.

Europeans made the same mistake of singling out a specific target group and are still suffering from the backlash, he said. Muslim communities, families and civil society are our first line of defense against violent extremism and they are the most effective partners in intervention work.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@scng.com
I like to bring to light long-forgotten figures from our local history.

This week, Id like to introduce you to someone I stumbled across who is unknown to us today but who played a role in city, county and California history.

His name was Alfred Conklin Al Murray.

Murray was born in Woodland, in Northern California, on Sept. 3, 1889. He attended Stanford law school and became a member of the California Bar in 1915. Murray served a year in the military during World War I, although it does not appear that he was sent overseas. He apparently suffered an injury, however, which required a year and a half of recovery time.

While still living in Woodland, Murray was assistant city attorney for two years and was also in private practice. He married his wife, Florence, and they had a son, Alfred C. Murray, Jr. Sometime in 1920 or 1921, the Murrays moved to Riverside. In July 1925, they had their second son, William Ward.

Murray entered into a law practice in Riverside with Hayden L. Hews in the firm of Hews and Murray. Murray also threw himself into the life of the city, becoming a member of the Exchange Club, the I.O.O.F and Elks lodges, and American Legion Post 79. Most significantly, he was secretary for the committee that got a bond passed to build Riversides first City Hall, which still stands at Mission Inn Avenue and Orange Street.

In 1924, Murray won the 77th Assembly seat, representing Riverside County. His platform called for fewer laws and better legislation; advancement of the interests of Riverside County; legislation promoting the citrus, cotton and other farming industries; good roads; strict enforcement of laws; and fair laws for labor, education and child welfare.

For conservative Riverside County, Murray also wanted voters to know how he felt about prohibition by placing a newspaper ad that stated he would take a firm stand against any modification of the Wright Enforcement Act and other laws against the liquor evil.

When Murray entered the Assembly, theLegislature was pushing Washington to build a dam on the Colorado River, later known as Hoover Dam. Murray served on the Colorado River Board of California and apparently did a good job working on that issue.

According to the May 14, 1925, Riverside Daily Press, Max Stern, legislative correspondent of the San Diego Sun, said of Murray that he was a young man who will be heard from, possibly in Congress; distinctly fine, able, and independent: his fight for the Colorado river has been a masterpiece.

Murray ran unopposed in 1926 for his second Assembly term.

Unfortunately, his promise was not to be realized.

On Dec. 21, 1926, Murray and his family were traveling near Bakersfield in bad weather. They were in a terrible automobile accident and Murray, his wife, an older son and his mother-in-law were killed.

This unfortunate event robbed Riverside County of a real up-and-coming civic leader. Who knows what Murray might have accomplished?

If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column , contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at backinthedaype@gmail.com.
President Donald Trump wants to pay for his proposed southern border wall by slapping a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer says Trump has discussed the idea with congressional leaders and wants to include the measure in a comprehensive tax reform package.

RELATED: Mexican president says he will not attend meeting with Trump

Spicer spoke to reporters on Air Force One as Trump flew back from a Republican retreat in Philadelphia. He says that taxing imports from Mexico would generate $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall.

Spicer says discussions are continuing with lawmakers to make sure the plan is done right. But he says it clearly provides funding for the wall.

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Most of the attention given the new president in the past two weeks has focused on his actions regarding immigration, his cabinet picks, his phone calls with world leaders and his order for the military to come up with a new strategy to battle ISIS within 30 days.

Not much has been said directly about education. But colleges and universities have been catching some secondary fire. And UC Berkeley took a direct hit from a Trump tweet on Thursday in the wake of a protest on that campus that turned ugly.

The protest came in response to a scheduled appearance on campus by Milo Yiannopoulos, a writer for the conservative/alt-right news site Breitbart.com. Investigations are still underway, but university officials have said a group of about 150 protesters who were not students broke windows, threw objects at police and started fires. The speaking event was canceled over safety concerns.

The following morning, Trump suggested in a tweet that federal funding might be pulled from the campus because Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view.

Numerous news sites have quoted Berkeley officials as saying they were doing their best to accommodate both Yiannopoulos and protesters.

Legal experts have said Trump likely does not have the authority alone to withhold such funding. But that doesnt mean administrators, researchers and students arent concerned about potential fallout.

The recent immigration restrictions put in place last week, may already be costing universities across the country the better part of $1 billion.

A study by College Factual, a college rankings site, estimates the restrictions  aimed at seven majority-Muslim countries  are affecting nearly 24,000 college students, the majority of whom are from Iran. Most of these students pay full tuition prices and the study estimates the cost of these students not attending a year of school would be $702 million.

That doesnt factor in faculty and staff who may be affected by the restrictions.

California has the greatest number of students from the seven countries in question  Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. And it stands to lose the most financially, $77 million, the study says.

USC is expected to be the states hardest hit university, with 252 students impacted at a cost of $17 million.

Among the UC campuses, UC Irvine is most affected, with 152 students. The cost of losing them would be $8.6 million, the study says.

UC Riverside officials said about 100 students, faculty and staff are from the seven countries. School officials were not able to provide a breakdown of those numbers by country.

Feminist Art

An exhibit by the activist artists group the Guerilla Girls is scheduled to open Feb. 11 at the Fullerton Museum on the Cal State San Bernardino campus.

Not Ready to Make Nice: Guerrilla Girls in the Art World and Beyond, is a retrospective of the feminist groups work over the past three decades.

An opening reception is planned from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9. The event is free and open to the public. Call (909) 537-7373 or visit raffma.csusb.edu

Contact the writer: mmuckenfuss@scng.com or 951-368-9595
SANTA ANA  A Costa Mesa man was sentenced to 50-years-to-life in prison on Friday for killing his girlfriend over a business dispute.

Thomas Michael Wilhelm, 52, was drunk when he shot Christine Marie Murray, 45, multiple times in their Costa Mesa home in July 2012. Prosecutors said he had listened to a Gun N Roses song with the lyrics I used to love her, but I had to kill her right before the shooting.

Wilhelm had owned Wilhelm Sprinkler Co. for more than 20 years and asked Murray to step in and take part ownership when the business began faltering, prosecutors said.

They split as a couple, but Murray refused to give up her part of the business, which enraged Wilhelm, prosecutors said. Authorities said he became distraught over losing his business and planned to kill Murray out of revenge.

The defense had argued that Wilhelm lost control and acted impulsively because he was drunk and devastated over the business situation. But in handing down the sentence on Friday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals said Wilhelms anger was no excuse.

Its still difficult to make sense of what happened here, Goethals said. I accept after hearing the evidence that you were angry and frustrated, but that doesnt mean you didnt have alternatives.

Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com
Police arrested a 20-year-old Fontana man in connection with a Jan. 10 hit-and-run crash that killed a 53-year-old Rialto woman, according to officials.

Jesus Orozco, who police say had fled to Mexico following the crash, was brought to the border with the help of U.S. federal law enforcement agencies and arrested by the Rialto Police Department on Friday, Feb. 3, according to a department news release.

Online jail records show that Orozco was arrested on suspicion of hit and run causing death or injury and was booked into West Valley Detention Center.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. Jan. 10 a vehicle struck Rosalind Pitchford, 53, on Cedar Avenue south of Third Street in Rialto and left the scene, officials say.

They say Pitchford was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where she died from her injuries.

An investigation by the Rialto Police Departments Major Accident Investigation Team led to Orozco being named a suspect in the crash.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9693, agroves@scng.com or @AlexDGroves on Twitter.
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.
Ghana was ranked 70th with a score of 57 in terms of the worlds best passports, according to 2017 Passport Index rankings.



The country was ranked the same position with Uganda, Mongolia and China.



The Index ranked national passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a visa-free score according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.



South Africa was the leading country on the African continent, with a score of 90, ranking it 49th in the world, followed by Botswana with a score of 69 (59th in the world), Lesotho with a score of 66 (61st in the world) and Malawi with a score of 65 (62nd in the world).



The lowest-scoring African countries were Nigeria (41 scores) and ranked 87th globally, Ethiopia (34 scores) and South Sudan (34 scores) ranked 93rd respectively and Somalia (34 scores) ranked 94th in the world.



Germany was ranked number one in the world with a visa-free score of 157. Singapore however overtook South Korea and became the highest ranked Asian passport, with a visa free score of 156. The worlds least-desirable passport went to Afghanistan, with a score of just 23 and ranked 98th in the world.



The newly added World Openness Score (WOS) tracks the progression of freedom of mobility across the globe.



The world openness score in 2016 was 17 925. In the first few days of 2017, the score has increased to 17 948.



The comparison tool also has a newly added Improve function, which demonstrates how the addition of one or more passports to an existing travel document can improve the holders Global Mobility Score (GMS).



New Top 10 Passport Power Ranking:



1. 157  Germany



2. 156  Singapore, Sweden



3. 155  Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, UK, USA



4. 154  Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, Japan



5. 153  Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand



6. 152  Greece, South Korea, Australia



7. 151  Czech Republic, Iceland



8. 150  Hungary



9. 149  Malta, Poland



10. 148  Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia

Source: The Finder









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghana is determined at strengthening its efforts at eradicating poverty through increased investments in human development, social inclusion and insurance for the wellbeing and dignity of all citizens.



Addressing the 55th United Nations Session of the Commission for Social Development at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Ghanas representative, Madam Otiko Afisah Djaba, outlined many policies, programmes and interventions under a comprehensive legal and policy framework to consolidate the gains made towards the creation of a just and equitable society and called for global partnerships to make them successful.



The Minister-designate for Gender and Social Protection, is representing President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo -Addo, who she said had dedicated his life to fight for social justice, as the leader of the Ghanas delegation, to the 10-day event, which opened on Wednesday.



The event, being held at the world bodys headquarters in New York, is on the theme: Strategies for Eradicating Poverty to Achieve Sustainable Development for All.



It is providing various platforms for members of the Commission and other key stakeholders, including civil society organisations, to advance the dialogue and efforts towards the eradication of poverty, targeting issues related to Ageing; Indigenous People; the Family; the Youth; Disability and Cooperatives.



Madam Djaba stated: As a country, our objectives for the next 13 years are to halve the current percentage of poverty and augment employment opportunities for the poor through productive inclusion and decent work to ensure social security and social insurance. Our progress shall be measured by the SDGs.



Ghanas poverty level fell by more than half - 56.5 per cent, to 24.2 per cent - from 1992 to 2013, thereby achieving the Millennium Development Goal One, according to the Ghana Poverty Inequality Report, 2016.



However, poverty levels remain very high in especially the three Northern regions, with the Upper West recording the highest of more than 70 per cent.



Explaining the commitment of the Government in achieving more towards a society that would leave no one behind, Madam Djaba said 50 per cent of the loans disbursed by the Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) would be given to women to improve their financial status and contribution towards economic growth.



On the political front, she said concrete strategies would be implemented to increase the participation of women by at least 30 per cent; and to push for the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill to promote and achieve gender equity.



As part of efforts to improve access and retention in school, the beneficiaries under the School Feeding Programme would be increased from 1.7 million to three million pupils, she said.



In addition to efforts at promoting Free Universal Basic Education, Ghana, she said, would also introduce a Free Senior High School Policy so that majority of its children would achieve secondary education.



Madam Djaba said a comprehensive social and pension scheme would be implemented to cover the most vulnerable, while increasing access by the aged to social welfare services such as free transport.



Our target is to increase access to formal social security for 75 per cent of Ghanaians of working age and for 50 per cent of persons of old age by 2030, she explained.



This would complement the gains being made by the Livelihoods Empowerment Against Poverty programme, under which stipends are paid to the extreme poor, the National Health Insurance, Capitation Grant and other pro-poor programmes.



We are also committed to expanding and building micro and small industries as well as agro-based enterprises in every district to provide social employment to the youth, the poor and the vulnerable and building small-scale dams in arid communities, especially in the Northern part of the country, to boost agricultural production and improve food security, she stated.



We would also work to reduce and finally eradicate the phenomenon of female head porters, known as kayayei in Ghanaian parlance, while combating child trafficking with significant investments in coastal communities, where the incident is prevalent, Madam Djaba said.



Nigerias Minster of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan, who delivered a speech on behalf of the African Group, called for fair and equal access to the global market to bring in the requisite revenue for the continents socio-economic progress.



She said the African Union was committed to implementing strategies that would harness the potentials of the continents huge youth population for the advancement it desired and positive global partnerships were needed.



The achievements made at the 55th Session would build on the experiences gained in implementing the Copenhagen Programme of Action adopted at the World Summit for Social Development.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Vice President of Kenya, William Ruto has warned members of the Provincial Administration in Mount Elgon area and other parts of the country to stop sleeping with underage girls. According to his statement, culled out from a never seen 2013 video, he said the men will be held responsible for pregnancies among underage girls in areas under their jurisdictions.



'Once some people are arrested and prosecuted, then it will serve as a deterrent to others.'

However the video has since been deleted.



Over the years, it has been recorded that so many underage girls have been impregnated in Mount Elgon area.







Source: Nairobi News









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Zambian Minister of Information who was allegedly an ex-prostitute has begged his people to forget about her past and focus on who she is presently.



The Zambian Observer reports that the beautiful minister, Kampamba Mulenga, has allegedly urged everyone to forget her past records of promiscuity and judge her on her present and future life as she is now a changed person.



There are reports that the young woman was a very popular prostitute before her appointment as a minister.



But speaking last week, she said she was deeply saddened by some Zambians who still refer to her past when describing her.



She reiterated the fact that she is now a changed person as she has left her past behind.



I am a change person who deserve to be welcomed and accepted in the society, she told some PF senior members in Livingstone.

Source: The Zambian Observer









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Members of the Holy Blossom Synagogue and the Fair Lawn United Church form a peace ring around Toronto's Imdadul Islamic Centre during prayers on Friday, February 3, 2017, in a show of solidarity following Sunday's shooting at a Quebec City mosque. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Here, there, everywhere  why car washes seem to be on every corner




The gas supply challenge: falling off Mt Trinidad



Globally respected consulting firm, Rystad Energy were recently commissioned by the Energy Chamber to conduct a study into the competitiveness of the Trinidad & Tobago gas industry. Highlights of study were presented at the Energy Chamber's recently concluded Energy Conference. The presentation, by Kjetil Solbraekke, Senior Vice President South America, Rystad Energy, focused on the significant challenges faced by the Trinidadian gas industry and the problem of under-investment in upstream gas development, leading to significant shortfalls in production. He showed conference delegates the rapid rise and steep decline of the natural gas production over the past 5 years and the projected decline post 2019 unless significant new gas fields are sanctioned for development immediately. He characterised this as falling off Mt Trinidad.

The report by Rystad highlighted the fact that since 2005 there has been a significant decrease in the number of new gas development projects sanctioned for investment in Trinidad & Tobago. This has led directly to the significant decline in production experienced since 2010 and the shortfalls in gas delivery to the petrochemical industry in Point Lisas and the Atlantic LNG facility.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, an average of 1.5 trillion cubic feet of new gas delivery projects were sanctioned annually, contributing to the high production growth observed in the years leading up to 2010. Since 2005, the aggregate volumes of new gas delivery projects receiving sanction has dropped significantly, with average volumes of 0.7Tcf of gas being sanctioned annually. With an installed market capacity for gas of around 1.4 tcf per annum, demand for gas has outstripped the country's ability to bring in new supplies, leading inevitably to shortfalls.

Gas production in Trinidad & Tobago has dropped from 4.2 Bcf/d in 2013, to 3.3 Bcf/d in 2016.

The report also pointed out that Trinidad & Tobago had a high level of exploration success between 1996 to 2008, with 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas discovered on average each year. During the same period, average gas production was 0.8 Tcf per year. This means that the gas industry discovered twice the amount of resources that were produced every year. Since 2009, exploration success has been limited, which has resulted in a very low replacement rate and the decline in Trinidad & Tobago.

2016 as actually the most successful year in terms of gas exploration since 2008, driven by BHP's LeClerc discovery. This is the first ultra-deepwater discovery in the country, though significant further work is required before the find could be considered commercial.

According to Rystad gas production in Trinidad & Tobago is expected to continue to fall over the next few years although at a much slower pace than in the past few years. Over the period 2016-2019 Rystad estimates a production decline of around 3% per year as new volumes are expected to come on stream.

This new production that will largely offset natural declines will come from fields already under development, but not yet fully producing including EOG's Sercan project, expected on stream 2017, BP's Juniper development (expected towards the end of 2017) and the Trinidad Onshore Compression project (TROC), expected operational early 2017.

Rystad estimate that underlying decline of already producing fields will be 14% over the period 2016-2030, and there is not sufficient resources currently being developed to offset this drop. After 2019, gas production will again decline rapidly, unless new projects are sanctioned in the very near future.

Rystad's investigation of the fiscal regime in Trinidad & Tobago indicate that it is not very competitive at present and adjustments are needed to secure development of all commercial volumes and increase exploration. They highlight particular problems for profitability created by the royalty regime.

The report also indicates that some measures in the PSC regime are too harsh and may inhibit development. The report notes that it seems likely that some contracts are suboptimal in the current price/cost environment. Adjusting terms to the current situation could unleash new resources from blocks where the tax system make otherwise profitable resources, unprofitable.

The Energy Chamber commissioned Rystad Energy to undertake the survey of the competitiveness of Trinidad & Tobago's gas industry to help guide decision-making by presenting unbiased data and analysis from a respected consulting group. Energy Chamber CEO, Dax Driver explained:

"There is a lot of debate and discussion about the gas sector in Trinidad & Tobago and the direction that needs to be taken to ensure that the industry can be sustained in the future. The Energy Chamber decided that it was important that we had access to independent analysis and data, rather than just relying upon information and analysis from our member companies - who may have specific interests or biases. We think that this report will help us in our dialogue with government and the industry and help drive decision-making."





The Energy Chamber Of Trinidad & Tobago / energynow.tt / Jan 24, 2017
Rabaul was the capital of Australian-mandated New Guinea and was protected by a tiny garrison consisting mainly of the 2/22nd Battalion Lark Force.

Few Australians know of the carnage at neighbouring Tol and Waitavalo plantations - nor that it came soon after one of the most shameful episodes of our war when 1,400 diggers and civilians were abandoned as hostages to fortune ahead of the Japanese invasion of Rabaul on 23 January 1942.

That this tragedy is barely remembered and rarely commemorated blights Australias national conscience and to this day rankles the distressed families of the victims.

So horrific was the Tol Massacre on the island of New Britain that the Australian government suppressed details for 47 years.

Seventy-five years yesterday, 160 Australian prisoners were bayoneted, beheaded, shot or burned alive by Japanese troops  on what was then Australian territory.

IT WAS one of the most callous atrocities of the Pacific war.

The town was quickly routed by a massive Japanese fleet of carriers, destroyers, submarines and fighter and bomber aircraft.

When the order every man for himself was given, soldiers and civilians fanned out over New Britain looking for escape routes through the most rugged terrain imaginable.

Some endured an epic trek through dense jungle  battling malaria, dysentery, tropical ulcers, leeches, exhaustion, malnutrition and crocodile-infested rivers  to eventually reach points where they were able to escape on small boats.

But this was not the majority, including those who reached Tol Plantation hoping to be rescued.

To their horror, five barge-loads of Japanese troops were on the beach to meet them.

There was no option for the starving, exhausted, virtually unarmed Australians but to surrender. At first it seemed they would be treated as normal prisoners of war. Then an order to execute the prisoners was given.

Red Cross brassards were ripped off medics. Men were trussed together in small groups with fishing line or ropes and taken into the jungle and slaughtered.

They stood or sat listening to their mates death cries  awaiting their own fate by blade or bullet.

The few survivors told of grinning Japanese soldiers emerging from the bush wiping blood from their bayonets and beckoning their next targets.

Some victims - asked if they wanted to be shot or bayoneted - chose the gun only to be stabbed. Two wounded men found alive in Waitavalo Plantation homestead had been smeared in pig grease to be burned alive in the house.

Requests for final cigarettes were refused. Some men prayed, some begged for their lives, others said cheerio to their mates.

They were covered in palm leaves and left to die. Incredibly, several men feigned death and survived to tell the story.

Private Billy Cook of the 2/12 Field Ambulance survived 11 bayonet wounds. He wrote:

The first stab knocked us down. The Japs stood over us stabbing madly. I received six wounds in the back, two just missing the spine, two more breaking ribs

As the Japanese were moving off, the man next to me groaned. One of the Japanese soldiers came running back and stabbed him once more. By this time I could hold my breath no longer. When I drew a deep breath the soldier heard me and inflicted four more bayonet wounds.

The last thrust went through my ear into my mouth, severing an artery on the way. Seeing the blood gushing out of my mouth, he assumed that I was at last dead, he covered the three of us with coconut fronds and vine leaves and left.

Cook somehow crawled off into the jungle  as did five other survivors  and eventually was evacuated from New Britain to Port Moresby with 156 soldiers, sailors and civilians aboard the overcrowded government yacht, the Laurabada.

An estimated 1,053 of the troops and Rabaul residents who remained in the town or who were captured would eventually perish as prisoners when their prison ship, the Montevideo Maru, taking them to Hainan then occupied by Japan, was sunk by mistake by an American submarine off the Philippines.

The details of that episode and the miserable way victims families were treated for decades - plus the disgraceful abandonment of Rabaul itself - are stories for elsewhere.

So, too, is the shameful way in which the Chinese population under Australias protection was left behind along with indigenous workers employed by the colonial administration.

But this weekend we remember the 160 poor souls who died such unspeakable deaths at Tol and Waitavalo 75 years ago.

Many were just boys  the average age of Lark Force soldiers was 18 and a half  while some of the civilian volunteer rifle men were granddads in their fifties and sixties.

Some remains were retrieved post-war and buried at Rabauls beautiful Bita Paka war cemetery - but the bones of others rot still in the jungle soil of a place whose name most Australian have never heard.

They deserve better.

Lest We Forget.
At a town hall meeting in Jackson Heights, Queens last night, a standing room only crowd, along with scores of chanting demonstrators outside the event, challenged state Senator Jose Peralta to explain his surprise decision to join the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of eight Democrats who have defected from the Democratic Party in order to form a power-sharing agreement with Republicans.

Several attendees said they felt betrayed by Peraltas sudden desertion, which helps Republicans maintain power in the senate, after he campaigned on a progressive platform and won District 13, covering Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst and Corona, with nearly 87% of the vote in November.

He did this on the down low, Lisa Jenkins, a reverend who has lived in East Elmhurst for more than fifty years told Gothamist. Hes betrayed us and he needs to show some kind of remorse for going behind our backs.

Jenkins confronted Peralta during the question-and-answer phase of the meeting and demanded he commit to future town halls so that the protestors outside - barred by space limitations inside the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights - could participate. Like many other attendees, she said she was disappointed that Peralta did not discuss his plan to join the IDC with constituents before the decision was made public.

A chorus of No IDC chants from the protestors outside penetrated the meeting from the outset as Peralta explained that he joined the IDC to influence Republicans and champion progressive issues like gun control, womens health care and climate change legislation.

I can push things forward and I can slow things down, he said. Without this agreement, theres no way that anything could pass.



(David Brand / Gothamist)

After attendees demanded to know what he and the IDC had to give Republicans in return, Peralta said the IDC provided cover for Republicans reluctant to upset their base over property tax increases.

Daniel Shin, a City attorney and lifelong Queens resident, told Gothamist he questioned the political calculations that motivated Peraltas decision.

This was a bait and switch, Shin said. We elected him as a Democrat and we expected him to work together with the other Democrats, but now he has decided to collaborate with the Republicans who stand for so many things that are antithetical to what we all in this community believe in.

After Peralta blamed Democratic leadership in the State Senate for not accomplishing liberal reforms, Shin reminded Peralta that he was the Minority Whip before switching his allegiance to the IDC.

Earlier, audience members jeered as Peralta lectured on the ineffectiveness of progressive Senate Democrats over the last decade and frequently blamed rogue Brooklyn Democrat Simcha Felder, who typically votes with Republicans, for the fissure in the party. A man standing to the side of the senator suggested Peralta focus on 2017 and consider the power of an energized Democratic base, as evidenced by the event attendees who he said were eager to resist regressive lawmakers.



(David Brand / Gothamist)

A woman in the back of the room held a sign that read Where the REAL Democrats at? and interrupted Peralta to chastise him for unfulfilled funding for public schools. Later, another woman stood in the aisle in the middle of the room and said Peraltas staff deliberately did not publicize the event to limit dissent.

Pressed by attendees on whether he would reverse his departure from the Democrats if the party reclaimed more seats in the 2018 election, Peralta said he pledged to continue working with mainline Democrats and to rejoin the party conference if they win seats in Long Island and Upstate New York.

I am committing myself to making sure we bring the party under one umbrella, Peralta said before pledging that the Senate is going to pass the DREAM Act.

The crowd applauded when one attendee asked why Peralta did not form a progressive caucus instead of colluding with Republicans.

The progressive caucus is the Independent Democrats, he said, to which many in the crowd booed.

Other attendees, including those who arrived early for the event and offered testimonies about Peraltas work on their behalf, said they admired Peraltas courage and would keep an open mind as he worked more closely with Republicans.

I think its a good idea to have some options, said Peter Bahr, president of the South Asian Democratic Club and a naturalized citizen from Bangladesh. This IDC idea should have come earlier because the Democrats and Jose Peralta have to work with the Republicans. Its not a good idea to have enemies.
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A financial adviser at a New Jersey bank has been charged with stealing over $5 million from his clients, which he used to pay for a country club membership, a summer house in Las Vegas and the use of a private jet, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the criminal complaint included in the press release, Barry Connell spent just under a year, from December 2015 to November 2016, allegedly defrauding his customers while he managed their investments. Connell is accused of stealing money from five accounts belonging to a single family, with the money going towards a private jet company in California, auto dealerships in Delaware and California and one $48,652 payment going towards a dentist in Texas.

Connell allegedly took the money by submitting fraudulent bank transfers that he said were authorized by his clients, and in some cases used checks that were supposed to be used to pay his client's bills to pay credit card bills, for membership in a yacht club and for a summer home in Nevada.

While the bank that Connell worked at isn't mentioned in the press release, Connell was fired from a New Jersey branch of Morgan Stanley on November 10th, 2016 after he was accused of committing the crimes he was charged with yesterday. Connell was arrested on Friday in a Las Vegas suburb, and in addition to his criminal charges, he was hit with civil charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Connell was charged with one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison. Connell could also be hit with a maximum $1 million fine for the wire fraud and a maximum $250,000 fine for the identity theft.

The reliability of our banking system is paramount to the success of our economy and ability of our markets to flourish. But when that confidence deteriorates because people allegedly breach the expectation of trust, we all suffer," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said in the press release announcing Connell's charges. "Theres no excuse for this type of alleged crime, especially when a clients hard-earned money is involved.
Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers descended upon the city's airport, courthouses, and streets to protest President Trumps Muslim ban. Now theres a new site of resistance: the dinner table.

On Friday, Breaking Bread NYC released its first map of restaurants serving food from the seven countries targeted by the ban. The group, which describes itself as a collective of concerned citizens interested in building community through food-related activities, plans to release a map every Friday highlighting these restaurants for the duration of the travel ban, and to compliment the maps with guided tours and dinner parties.

The inaugural tour took place Saturday, with Scott Wiener, a Breaking Bread founder and the man behind Scotts Pizza Tours, leading a group through seven Cobble Hill restaurants depicted on the first map - two of them Syrian and five Yemeni. The tour costs $30, which includes food, and a $10 donation is recommended for the maps. All of the proceeds will go toward supporting the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The collectives purpose, according to Wiener, isnt just to raise money for charity and Muslim-owned business, but to increase empathy among New Yorkers who might not otherwise interact. It seems from current events that theres a certain level of misunderstanding of people who may look different or live in different areas, and sometimes its hard for people to get past that, Wiener said. But everybody eats.

You know when you go to a friends house and eat a meal with their family, and you get this really intimate view of what theyre all about? Wiener continued. Were just trying to do that.

Turns out, Wieners observation is backed by hard evidence. According to a University of Chicago study, those who eat the same meals exhibit more trust in each other than those who eat different food, even when both meals are taken together. Ayelet Fishbach, one of the lead researchers of the study, explained the psychology behind this on NPRs Morning Edition earlier this week: Food is about bringing something into the body. And to eat the same food suggests that we are both willing to bring the same thing into our bodies.

So put some food in your body from a Muslim-majority country, for science and the resistance. Breaking Bread NYC is currently planning a dinner party for next week at a Somalian restaurant in Harlem, and you can find all future events on their Facebook page.

Of course, you could also just look up your nearest Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Libyan, Somalian or Yemeni restaurant and go support them yourself. Just make sure to order what everyone else is having.
Photo by Robert Gerhardt / Museum of Modern Art

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Sols 1548-1549 update by Ryan Anderson: Still at Precipice (12 December 2016)

Unfortunately, one of the drill diagnostics early in the plan indicated a problem, which prevented most of the other activities for the weekend (including the arm motion and drive) from happening. So that means that for the Sol 1548-1549 plan the rover is still sitting at Precipice. In addition to more drill diagnostics, ChemCam has a long-distance RMI mosaic of Ireson Hill, as well as two additional observations of the target Blue Hill. Mastcam will document the Blue Hill observations, and take an image of a butte named Oak Hill.

Meanwhile, the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting is happening this week, so many scientists on the team (your trusty bloggers included!) are either in San Francisco or on their way here. Tomorrow morning is the main session discussing the latest Curiosity results, and there will be a press conference at 11:30am (California time) that you can watch live!

Sols 1550-1551 update by Ken Herkenhoff: More drill testing (14 December 2016)

Use of the arm and driving remain off limits while the drill continues to be diagnosed. The 2-sol plan starts with ChemCam and Right Mastcam observations of bright vein targets dubbed "Bear Brook" and "Canon Brook." MARDI will take images during both morning and evening twilight to look for changes due to winds. Remote sensing on Sol 1551 will include ChemCam, Navcam and Mastcam observations of the sky and Sun at a couple times of day, and a set of ChemCam calibration activities.

Meanwhile, the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco is going well, with lots of interest in Mars rover results, especially from Curiosity. About 26,000 geoscientists are attending the meeting, with speeches today by California Governor Jerry Brown and U. S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell. It's been an exciting week so far!

Sols 1552-1554 update by Ryan Anderson: Diagnostics, science, and a drive (16 December 2016)

The engineering team is still hard at work diagnosing our drill issues, but in the meantime we are still getting good science done. The Sol 1552 plan starts off with ChemCam observations of the targets Hall Quarry and Long Porcupine. Mastcam will document those targets and then do a multispectral observation of Western Head. Mastcam also has an image of the rover deck, and Navcam will watch for dust devils. There will also be some drill diagnostics on Sol 1552.

After sitting in the same spot for so long, it will be nice on Sol 1553 when we retract the arm and drive to an interesting area about 10 meters away. After the drive we are planning post-drive imaging and a MARDI image of the ground under the rover. Sol 1554 is an untargeted sol, with Navcam and Mastcam atmospheric observations.

Sols 1555-1557 update by Ryan Anderson: Lots of Targets! (19 December 2016)

Our short drive over the weekend went well, and we are now at a new location with plenty of science targets to choose from. Its been quite a while since we had a plan with this many new target names! The Sol 1555 plan starts off with a remote sensing science block. Navcam and Mastcam both have atmospheric observations, and then ChemCam will analyze four targets: Somes Sound, Schoodic Peninsula, South Bubble, and Schooner Head. Mastcam then has a bunch of mosaics covering the targets Old Soaker, Squid Cove, Sieur de Monts, Goat Trail and Bald Peak.

Later on Sol 1555, we are planning a short bump to position the rover for possible contact science. After the bump, well collect some post-drive images to help with targeting. On Sol 1556 Navcam has an atmospheric observation to watch for clouds, and on Sol 1557 we have a routine engineering diagnostic activity for the Hazcams, but otherwise Sols 1556 and 1557 are pretty quiet.

Sols 1556-1568 update by Lauren Edgar: Preparing for the holidays (21 December 2016)

Today was our last tactical planning day before the team takes a break over the holidays. But that doesnt mean that Curiosity will be resting! A group of science team members and operations staff assembled an 8-sol plan that will execute over December 22-30, focused on environmental monitoring and change detection. Todays tactical planning was aimed at creating a 3-sol plan that will take place over New Years, from December 31- January 2. When we return to normal operations on January 3, well dive right back in to a campaign investigating some interesting fracture patterns at Old Soaker, seen in the Mastcam image above.

Todays 3-sol plan starts with Mastcam multispectral observations of the targets Old Soaker and Schooner Head to assess their red and gray color variations. This is followed by a Navcam observation to search for dust devils. Then ChemCam will target Moore Harbor and Northeast Harbor to look for variations in chemistry. In the afternoon, well use MAHLI to investigate the grain size and sedimentary structures at Bar Island, Thompson Island, and Mill Field, and overnight well let APXS integrate on Mill Field and Thompson Island. On the second sol, well move the APXS to Bar Island for an overnight integration, along with a SAM electrical baseline test. On the third sol well retract the arm to enable additional remote sensing of the workspace, including ChemCam on Goose Cove, Deep Cove, and Dix Point, a small Mastcam mosaic, and some environmental monitoring observations. It should be a busy week for Curiosity, and Im looking forward to seeing all of the exciting data that shell collect while the team is enjoying a break. Its been quite the year for our rover: we have drilled six holes, performed two scoops, driven 3 km, and climbed 85 vertical meters! I cant wait to see what 2017 will bring. This will be the last blog until January 3 when we resume normal operations. Until then  may your sols be merry and bright, and safe travels as you rove into the New Year!

Sol 1569 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Back to daily planning (3 January 2017)

The MSL operations team is back at work after the holiday break, planning Sol 1569. The activities planned for the holidays executed well, so we are proceeding with the investigation of the ridge/fracture patterns at Old Soaker. First, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the ridges at "Beech Mountain" and Navcam will search for clouds. Then MAHLI will take close-up images of a grey patch named "Eagle Lake" and a full suite of images of Beech Mountain. MAHLI will also acquire images from 25 cm and 5 cm of an area without ridge patterns dubbed "Hodgdon Pond" and another interesting feature called "Huguenot Head," as well as a single oblique image of "Squeaker Cove" from 15 cm. The APXS will be placed on Beech Mountain for a short integration, then on Eagle Lake for an overnight integration. Lots of good contact science to start the new year!

Sol 1570 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Finishing up at Old Soaker (4 January 2017)

The focus of the Sol 1570 plan is to finish our work at Old Soaker. The APXS will be retracted and the arm moved out of the way for ChemCam and Right Mastcam observations of Huguenot Head and ChemCam measurements of a dark grey patch called "Valley Cove" and another observation of Deep Cove. Navcam will search for dust devils, then the rover will briefly rest and recharge before deploying the arm for more contact science. MAHLI will acquire a full suite of images of Valley Cove and a couple close-up images of "Fresh Meadow." Fresh Meadow is a new target near Eagle Lake, which was not well centered on the grey material of interest in this area. The APXS will be placed on Fresh Meadow for a short integration, then on Valley Cove for an overnight integration. If all of this goes well, we will be ready to drive away from Old Soaker on Sol 1571.

Sol 1571 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Leaving Old Soaker (5 January 2017)

The investigation of Old Soaker continues to go well, so we're planning to drive away on Sol 1571. But first, ChemCam and Right Mastcam will observe darker bedrock patches named "Gilley Field" and "Fresh Meadow" and a dark clast called "North Bubble." Mastcam will also acquire a multispectral set of images of a dark spherule dubbed "Greening Island" before the drive. After the drive, the arm will be unstowed to allow Navcam and Left Mastcam to take pictures of the area in front of the rover to aid planning for this weekend. Navcam will search for dust devils and clouds, then the rover will sleep overnight and recharge her batteries.

Sols 1572-1574 update by Ken Herkenhoff: New diagnostics (6 January 2017)

MSL drove nearly 17 meters on Sol 1571, to a location with bedrock outcrops in the arm workspace. So the weekend plan includes lots of arm work as well as remote observations. On Sol 1572, MAHLI will take images of the REMS booms to diagnose recent problems with the wind sensors. Some of the wind sensors on one boom have not functioned since landing, and sensors on the other boom have been acting up lately. Later that afternoon, MAHLI will take a couple images of a yellow/red color boundary at "Greenstone" and a full suite of images of a yellow bedrock target named "Isle Au Haut." The APXS will then be placed on Isle Au Haut for an overnight integration. Early on the morning of Sol 1573, Navcam will search for clouds and Mastcam will measure the amount of dust in the air by imaging the Sun and the distant crater rim. These dust measurements will be repeated at two other times of day later that sol. Later that morning, ChemCam will acquire passive (no laser) observations of its calibration target. Then the arm will go to work again to perform new diagnostic tests of the drill feed mechanism, to help us understand whether the drill feed stall is more sensitive to rotary-only or percussive drilling. The test data acquired to date indicate an intermittent problem with the internal brake within the motor that feeds the drill forward and backward relative to the rest of the turret. Fortunately, we are able to do everything except drilling while the investigation continues, but the team has decided not to try again to drill at Precipice, and to continue driving up the flank of Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp").

After the drill tests, ChemCam will perform some more calibration activities, and acquire LIBS data on Greenstone and a bedrock exposure called "Birch Harbor Mountain." The Right Mastcam will then image these targets and bright vein targets dubbed "Tarrantine" and "Flying Mountain." On Sol 1574, ChemCam and Right Mastcam will observe Isle Au Haut before the rover drives away. After the drive, the arm will be unstowed and Navcam will take a stereo pair of images of the arm workspace to set us up for possible contact science on Sol 1575. It will be another busy weekend for our intrepid rover!

Sol 1575 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Investigating Dorr Mountain (9 January 2017)

After a 25-meter drive on Sol 1574, MSL again has bedrock exposed in her arm workspace. To balance desires to sample the composition of the rocks along the traverse and to make good progress toward the south, contact science and another drive are both planned for Sol 1575. First, MAHLI will acquire a full suite of images of a knobbly bedrock target named "Dorr Mountain." Then the arm will be stowed to allow ChemCam to observe the same target and for the Right Mastcam to acquire a 5x2 mosaic of the Dorr Mountain area. Navcam will search for dust devils before the drive begins. After the drive, the arm will be unstowed to allow Navcam stereo imaging of the arm workspace, in anticipation of another "touch and go" plan tomorrow.

Sol 1576 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Arm fault (10 January 2017)

MSL planning started 2 hours later than usual today because the Sol 1575 data needed for planning weren't expected until almost 10 AM PST. Unfortunately, the news was not good: An arm fault prevented the MAHLI full suite from completing, leaving the camera close to the surface with its dust cover open. The remote science and drive that were planned to follow were also precluded. Fortunately, this fault has occurred before and is well understood, but recovering from the anomaly made for a rather hectic day for me as SOWG Chair! The first order of business was to get MAHLI into a safe configuration, so the Sol 1576 plan starts with a single MAHLI image to look for evidence of dust on the exposed optics. Front Hazcam images will be taken before and after MAHLI is retracted from the surface, then Right Mastcam will take a picture of MAHLI's optics, again to look for dust contamination. Finally, the MAHLI dust cover will be closed and APXS placed on Dorr Mountain for a short integration. The arm will then be stowed and Right Mastcam will acquire a 5x1 mosaic of a distant mesa named "Lobster Mountain." ChemCam and Right Mastcam will observe Dorr Mountain and a bedrock target dubbed "Parkman Mountain," and Left Mastcam will take another image of the rover deck to monitor changes in the dust and sand on the deck. Mastcam will also measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere before the drive is attempted again. We don't expect as much data as usual in time for planning the next Sol, so we had to carefully prioritize the post-drive imaging, which includes another Navcam stereo pair of the arm workspace. Later in the Sol, ChemCam will autonomously observe a target selected by the AEGIS software. Finally, the rover will recharge overnight to get ready for more fun on Sol 1577.

Sol 1577 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Another touch and go (11 January 2017)

MSL drove almost 30 meters on Sol 1576, stopping in a location with a nice exposure of bedrock in the arm workspace. MAHLI's optics look clean, so we planned a full suite of MAHLI images and a short APXS integration on a bedrock target named "Mansell Mountain." Fitting the remote sensing observations we wanted, along with the contact science and a ~46-meter drive, into the Sol 1577 plan was a challenge. But the tactical team did a great job, working together to put together an excellent plan. After the contact science is completed, ChemCam and Right Mastcam will observe an odd cobble called "Ames Knob" and a bedrock target dubbed "Day Mountain." Left Mastcam will acquire a 2-image mosaic of the bedrock slab in front of the rover, and Right Mastcam will take an image of the Sol 1576 AEGIS target and a 4x1 mosaic of a layered exposure named "Appleton Ridge." After the drive and the post-drive imaging needed to plan Sol 1578 activities, Navcam will acquire a panorama and search for dust devils and clouds. It's been a busy day for me as SOWG Chair!

Sol 1578 update by Lauren Edgar: Investigating sedimentary structures (12 January 2017)

Curiosity had a successful drive of 45 m on Sol 1577. Were continuing to characterize the Murray formation by investigating changes in composition and sedimentary structures as we ascend Mt. Sharp. Todays plan provided another opportunity for touch and go contact science, starting with MAHLI imaging of the Megunticook outcrop. This outcrop shows some interesting textures, as seen in the above Navcam image. After MAHLI imaging of the outcrop, well acquire ChemCam LIBS on the same target. Then Mastcam will be used to document the outcrop and look for changes in texture, as well as to provide some stereo data for structural measurements. After a ~35 m drive, Curiosity will take post-drive imaging for context and targeting. The plan also includes an overnight SAM experiment to investigate methane in the atmosphere.

Sols 1579-1582 update by Ken Herkenhoff: A 4-sol plan (13 January 2017)

After a 25-meter drive on Sol 1578, MSL is surrounded by more dark sand than usual, but there is enough rock exposed that we had a lot of science targets to choose from today. Due to the US holiday on Monday, we are planning 4 sols today. The first sol will include only REMS atmospheric observations while the rover recharges after the SAM methane measurement the night before, but the rest of the plan is packed! Sol 1580 starts with ChemCam passive (no laser) measurements of the sky and calibration targets. Then we'll use the laser to zap rock targets "Oak Bay" and "Rockport" and take Right Mastcam images of them. Mastcam will also acquire a mosaic of bedrock exposures just west of the rover, measure dust in the atmosphere, and take another image of the rover deck. Later that afternoon, ChemCam and Right Mastcam will observe disturbed sand at "Kennebec," an undisturbed ripple called "Spruce Top," and bedrock targets named "Traveler" and "Mars Hill." Right Mastcam will also acquire a 3x1 mosaic of a more distant outcrop dubbed "Ogler Point."

Sol 1581 is dominated by contact science, starting with full suite of MAHLI images of Mars Hill. MAHLI will also take close-up images of nearby "Camera Hill" and acquire a 3-image mosaic of the layered outcrop target "Small Falls." The APXS will be placed on Camera Hill for a short integration, then on Mars Hill for an overnight integration.

On Sol 1582, Navcam will search for clouds and dust devils before the rover drives away. After the drive, AEGIS will again be used to autonomously select a ChemCam target and acquire data, and MARDI will take another image during twilight. Finally, the rover will get some well-earned rest overnight.

Sol 1583 update by Lauren Edgar: Driving and remote sensing (17 January 2017)

The 4-sol weekend plan went well, and Curiosity drove ~ 44 m further to the south. I was the GKOP today and it was a fairly straightforward plan focused on driving and remote sensing. Were in late slide sols this week, which means that today we started 2 hours later than usual to wait for critical images to come down. The plan starts with two ChemCam observations of the target Benner Hill to investigate the chemistry and color variations around a vein. We also planned a small Mastcam mosaic to document the bedrock as we continue climbing Mt. Sharp. Then Curiosity will drive, and well take post-drive imaging for context and targeting. Were also planning some workspace imaging to prepare for possible APXS and MAHLI in tomorrows plan. Later in the afternoon ChemCam will take an autonomously selected AEGIS observation, and MARDI will take a systematic image to document the terrain beneath the rover. Well also use Mastcam to monitor atmospheric opacity. Ill be on duty again tomorrow, so Im hoping for some interesting outcrop in the workspace after todays drive.

Sol 1584 update by Lauren Edgar: Touch and go at Frost Pond (18 January 2017)

On Sol 1583 Curiosity drove 16 m, which set us up for touch-and-go contact science today. I was the GKOP again, and it was a fun day of planning contact science and remote sensing. The plan starts with a short APXS integration on the target Frost Pond, (seen in the middle of the above Navcam image) to investigate the chemistry of a typical Murray bedrock block. Then well take a full suite of MAHLI images on the same target. Later in the plan well acquire a ChemCam observation of Frost Pond for comparison, and well also take a Mastcam image for documentation. Well also acquire a small Mastcam mosaic of Burnt Brook to investigate some color variations, and a Navcam observation to search for dust devils. After another drive, well take post-drive imaging for targeting. Later in the afternoon well use Mastcam to monitor the movement of fines on the rover deck and take a systematic clast survey, and ChemCam will take another AEGIS observation.

Sol 1585 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Examining "Jewell" (19 January 2017)

After a 31-meter drive on Sol 1584, MSL is in position for contact science on a block of bedrock in front of the rover. So, as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today I focused on planning a full suite of MAHLI images of a target named "Jewell" that appears to expose sedimentary structures. The Sol 1585 plan also includes ChemCam and Right Mastcam observations of Jewell, a single Right Mastcam image of another bedrock exposure dubbed "Bernard Mountain," and a Navcam dust devil survey. The rover will then drive again and acquire images in the new location. Later in the afternoon, Mastcam will measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere and Navcam will search again for dust devils. After the usual MARDI twilight image is taken, ChemCam will perform some calibration activities at various temperatures.

Sols 1586-1588 update by Ken Herkenhoff: ChemCam sick (20 January 2017)

MSL drove another 13 meters on Sol 1585, again placing the rover in a good position for contact science. But the telemetry also showed that ChemCam had been marked "sick," so we will not be able to use ChemCam this weekend while the problem is diagnosed. The weekend plan is still pretty full, though! First, on Sol 1586, Right Mastcam will acquire small mosaics of nearby rocks named "Bell Brook," "Blind Brook," and "Beck Pond," then Left Mastcam will take another image of the rover deck to look for changes in the dust and sand on the deck. The rover will rest until late that afternoon, when the illumination will be good for MAHLI imaging. MAHLI will take a single image before the DRT is used to brush off a bedrock target dubbed "Belle Lake," then take a full suite of images (plus extra stereo images) of the brushed spot. MAHLI will also acquire a full suite of images of another bedrock target called "Bluffer Pond" before the APXS is placed on the same target for a short integration. Just before midnight, the APXS will be placed on Belle Lake for a longer integration. On Sol 1587, the arm will be retracted and stowed to allow Mastcam to acquire a full multispectral set of images of Belle Lake. Navcam will search for dust devils before the next drive. In addition to the standard post-drive activities, the arm will be unstowed to allow Navcam to take stereo images of the new arm workspace. MARDI will take images during twilight on Sols 1587 and 1588 to look for any changes due to winds. Navcam will again search for dust devils on Sol 1588, and CheMin will perform some maintenance activities overnight.

Sols 1589-1590 update by Ryan Anderson: Team Meeting (23 January 2017)

This week most of the Curiosity team is headed out to California for a team meeting. Im not at the meeting because I have a new baby at home, so Ill be following along remotely!

Even though theres a team meeting this week, were still keeping the rover busy. Over the weekend the rover drove ~28 meters, and the plan for Sol 1589 continues our slow ascent of Mt. Sharp. ChemCam is still marked sick while we sort out the error that occurred last week, so the Sol 1589 science block is heavy on Mastcam. After Navcam does an observation to watch for dust devils, Mastcam will collect mosaics of the targets Cape Elizabeth, Mount Battle, Mount Blue, and Hematite Ridge. After that, APXS will measure the composition of Cape Elizabeth and MAHLI will take supporting pictures. Once the arm activity is done the rover will drive about 30 meters, squeezing between a couple of large rocks, toward some bedrock that looks good for more contact science. After the drive, well do some post-drive imaging.

Sol 1590 will start with an early morning Mastcam mosaic of the north face of Ireson Hill, and then the rest of the day will be dedicated to Navcam and Mastcam atmospheric observations.

Sols 1591-1592 update by Ryan Anderson: Early Wheel Check-Up (25 January 2017)

The Sol 1589-1590 plan went well, with a successful ~31 meter drive. ChemCam remains sick and some diagnostic activities are being planned for the weekend plan. We are approaching the Bagnold Dunes, so in order to save time and allow more room for science activities at the dunes, todays plan does not include a drive. Instead, we will do a MAHLI check-up of the wheels. Before checking on the wheels, the Sol 1591 plan starts with APXS and MAHLI of the bedrock target Munsungun, followed by Mastcam of Daniel Island and Chapman. After the MAHLI images of the wheels, we will do a short bump drive to get in position for weekend science.

SAM will do an evolved gas experiment overnight, and then on Sol 1592 Navcam has a dust devil search and Mastcam has some multispectral images of Hematite Ridge. Mastcam also has a small stereo mosaic of Maple Mountain.

Sols 1593-1595 update by Lauren Edgar: Dead River, Misery, and Boil Mountain? (27 January 2017)

Looks like the team had some fun using the less desirable names for rock targets in todays plan! These are all named after rock formations and geologic features from Bar Harbor, Maine. MSL drove another 8 meters on Sol 1591, and well continue to drive in the weekend plan. The three-sol plan starts with a few data management activities for Mastcam and MAHLI, and a recovery sequence to restart ChemCam after it has been marked sick. Then well take some Mastcam mosaics of Dead River and Boil Mountain to investigate laminations within the Murray formation and provide some context imaging of the Misery outcrop. Then well use MAHLI and APXS to study Misery and Dead River, with an overnight APXS integration on Misery. On the second sol Curiosity will wake up early for some environmental monitoring observations, including some Navcam movies and Mastcam imaging to assess atmospheric opacity. Well also take another Mastcam mosaic of Ireson Hill to document the stratigraphy with long baseline stereo imaging. The third sol includes additional environmental monitoring, a drive, post-drive imaging for targeting, and preparing for more contact science. Curiosity will also perform a SAM evolved gas experiment to use the residual derivatization vapor in the sample manipulation system. Ill be on duty next week so Im getting caught up on Curiositys activities. Lets hope we can leave the Misery behind us next week!

Sols 1596-1597 update by Lauren Edgar: Approaching the dunes for round two (30 January 2017)

Over the weekend, Curiosity drove an additional ~ 26 meters to the southwest, as we prepare for another investigation of the active sand dunes. Were still a few more drives away from the dunes, but looking forward to the next campaign. I was the GSTL today, and we planned some contact science and Mastcam imaging and another drive. The plan starts with a short APXS integration and MAHLI imaging of Isleboro to characterize the composition, grain size, and sedimentary structures exposed in a typical block of the Murray formation. Then well use Mastcam to document some color variations and stratification at Parker Bog, and to assess fracture patterns at Jim Pond. Well also take a Mastcam image to monitor the deck and characterize the movement of fines. And ChemCam will continue its recovery activities with a LIBS observation of the titanium calibration target. Then Curiosity will drive further to the southwest, and acquire post-drive imaging for context and targeting, including an upper tier Navcam frame to prepare for more imaging of Ireson Hill (seen in the above Mastcam image from Sol 1590). The second sol is devoted to environmental monitoring, with Mastcam and Navcam observations to assess dust in the atmosphere and search for dust devils.

Sols 1598-1599 update by Lauren Edgar: Imaging Ireson Hill (1 February 2017)

The drive on Sol 1598 went well, and Curiosity drove ~21 m to the southwest, providing a great view of Ireson Hill, seen in the above Navcam image. Todays two-sol plan looks pretty similar to the last. Well start with MAHLI and APXS of the target Digdeguah to investigate typical local bedrock with some exposed stratification. Then ChemCam will continue its recovery activities with an RMI observation of the titanium calibration target. Well use Mastcam to acquire a large mosaic of Ireson Hill to characterize the contact and color variations exposed on the south side of this feature. The team also planned a Mastcam mosaic of the Allsbury area to document the contact science target and fracture patterns, as well as a Mastcam tau to characterize atmospheric opacity. Then Curiosity will drive further to the southwest, and will take post-drive imaging to prepare for more contact science in the weekend plan. The second sol is devoted to environmental monitoring and a SAM measurement of the atmosphere.
Police in Whitestown, IN, are searching for someone who vandalized several squad cars and a home belonging to local police officers. The vandal used some profane language targeting officers from four different police departments who all live in Whitestown, reports WXIN.

Written in marker, the obscene message on the side of a Whitestown police SUV read F*** WPD. The same message was written on one police officer's garage door.

This is somebody that is attacking the central core of our community, said Whitestown police chief Dennis Anderson.

Chief Anderson says the vandal also used a knife to puncture several tires on police cars belonging to four agencies: Whitestown, Westfield, Lebanon, and Speedway. All the officers live in one of two Whitestown housing additions.
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A group of Arizona state legislators is proposing a bill that would find charities in the state $1000 a day for helping to each refugee that they help to settle.

The Arizona Daily Sun reported, Unable to block the federal government from sending refugees to Arizona, six Republican lawmakers want to penalize the charities that help them resettle here.The potentially more far-reaching part of her legislation would impose a fine on charities of $1,000 a day for each refugee it helps place in the state. And if a refugee is arrested, the charity would be financially liable for the cost of arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of that person. Burges conceded that she is using that approach because, realistically, its the only option available to her to stem the flow of refugees.

The cruelty behind this legislation operates on numerous levels. Arizona Republicans are attempting to criminalize legal refugees, and are punishing non-profit organizations that are often strapped for cash with absurd fines for simply trying to fulfill their mission of helping people in need.

Many charities are faith-based and attempted to carry out the teachings of their religion by helping others. Those charities and non-religious organizations alike would see their good acts become crimes punishable with fines of $1000 per day per offense.

The heartlessness that has its epicenter at the White House is trickling down to the state level. If this legislation were passed, it would be the definition of a bad law that would be immediately challenged in court. Criminalizing charity is completely bigoted and misplaced.

Republicans are attempting to beat back a changing demographic tide by targeting refugees and immigrants with foolish and destructive laws. It wont work. The change is coming, and all these proposed laws and executive orders are doing are revealing the true face of the Republican Party.
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Donald Trumps executive order targeting refugees and Muslims was dealt its most serious blow yet on Friday, with a George W. Bush-appointed federal judge in Seattle putting an immediate nationwide halt to the immigration ban.

More from Politico:

U.S. District Court Judge James Robart ruled in favor of the attorneys general of Washington state and Minnesota on a lawsuit they brought seeking to overturn the order limiting travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury, Robart said, according to local press reports.

The temporary ruling from Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush, appeared to be the most sweeping legal rebuke to the order since Trump issued it a week ago.

Here are the remarks made by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson shortly after the decision came down:

Ferguson said:

Its obviously a historic decision and an important one for the rule of law and for the people of the state of Washington and the people of our country. I said from the beginning, it is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom  its the Constitution. And thats what we heard from Judge Robart today. I want to very clear about what his decision does  Judge Robarts decision  effective immediately, effective now  puts a halt to President Trumps unconstitutional and unlawful executive order. I want to repeat that: It puts a stop to it immediately  nationwide. So for all those individuals, that relief is there. Folks can travel to this country as they could before the executive order  That relief is immediate.

What the judge announced today was nationwide, he added. The presidents executive order does not apply.

While its only a temporary block on the presidents unpopular and legally dubious ban, its a devastating loss for the new administration just two short weeks into Trumps presidency, when he is already seeing his approval numbers sink to record lows.

While the White House may be feeling the heat on Friday night, millions of people around the globe are  for now  breathing a sigh of relief.
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It is estimated that Trumps first vacation as president could cost taxpayers at least $3 million for the weekend.

Politico reported:



President Donald Trumps trip to his luxury resort in Mar-a-Lago this weekend could saddle taxpayers with a bill upward of $3 million and is already drawing the type of scrutiny Trump and other Republicans regularly heaped upon former President Barack Obama.

..

The closest approximation of the cost comes from a report the Government Accountability Office prepared in 2016 about one of Obamas trips in 2013 at the request of Republican Sen. John Barrasso. The trip was actually quite similar to the one that Trump is about to take. It occurred in February 2013 over the course of four days. Obama flew from Joint Base Andrews to Chicago on Feb. 15 to deliver a speech on the economy and the middle class, then flew from there to Palm Beach, Florida. He returned on Feb. 18. But for the Chicago detour, Trumps trip is almost identical. The cost of the 2013 trip for the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, was $3.6 million, the GAO found.

Presidents pay for their own and their familys food and lodging, but taxpayers foot the bill for the travel and security costs. It is not cheap to fly Air Force One. The cost of Trumps flight alone will be $200,000 an hour.

Here is Trump complaining about the cost of President Obamas vacation in 2012:

President @BarackObama's vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars-Unbelievable!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2012

There is some genuine hypocrisy in Trump spending years criticizing Obama for taxpayer funded vacations and then taking a taxpayer funded vacation within two weeks of taking office.

Trump sold himself as a billionaire who will pay his own way, but one of his first acts as president is to take a vacation that will cost the taxpayers millions. IF Trump really were as frugal and business savvy as he makes himself out to be, he would choose a cheaper vacation like leaving Air Force One in the hangar and going to Camp David.

However, Trump is the ultimate watch his hands, not his lips president. President Trumps words are meaningless because he is acting like a man who is ready to live it up on the taxpayer dime.
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Immigration lawyers are warning that in his rush to ban Muslims. President Donald Trumps Executive Order also contained language that shut down all tourism to the United States.

Politico reported on a section of Trumps Muslim ban that immigration lawyers warn has major consequences:



But immigration lawyers who have read the order carefully are now increasingly concerned that one of its provisions could have much wider repercussions, affecting literally every foreign visitor to America, from tourists to diplomats.

The little-noticed section, appearing immediately after the travel ban, calls for the government to develop a uniform screening standard and procedure for all individuals seeking to enter the United States. As written, it appears to require all visitors to go through the same vetting measures, regardless of where they come from or how long they intend to stay.If interpreted as broadly as its written, It would basically shut down tourism, said Stephen Legomsky, the former chief counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Obama administration.

Lets give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt and say that they were not trying to shut down all foreign tourism to the United States of America. What is left is an act of gross incompetence that is the result of an administration that like its president is focused on action and pays no attention to the details of what they are doing.

The Muslim ban Executive Order is such a mess that Congressional Republicans have to stop defending it, and must vote along with Democrats to overturn this ill-conceived executive action.

The broader picture of what the Muslim ban fiasco says about the competency of the new administration should trouble every American. The Trump administration is creating a crisis with their own actions. Imagine what is going happen when Trump is faced with a real crisis? It is impossible to fathom this administration putting together a competent response to a natural disaster or a terrorist attack.

It is time to stop pretending like there is some hidden intellect or master plan, and admit that the United States is being led by a man who has no idea what he is doing.
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*

It is with a fair amount of confidence that one can safely assume most Americans understand that when a court issues an order, failure to comply is a crime. Oh, its true one can be found in contempt of a court for badmouthing a presiding judge to their face, but most contempt charges are for not doing what the court ordered.

One seriously doubts, and it is truly unfortunate, that many Americans actually comprehend that according to the U.S. Constitution, the Judicial branch (the courts) is the ultimate arbiter of what is legal and constitutional, and what is not. It is how America has operated for 239 years as part of the checks and balances enshrined in the law of the land and a specific means to prevent an authoritarian tyrant from making and enforcing, or violating at will, laws according to their particular religious or racist bent. In fact, the checks and balances were put in place by the Founding Fathers and Constitutions Framers specifically to keep a megalomaniac narcissist like Don Trump from ruling America like it is a two-bit banana republic. The whole point is, as Nick Baumann at Huffington Post reminded Americans; When federal judges rule, government officials  up to and including the president  are supposed to obey or risk being held in contempt of court.

The reason Trumps religious Muslim ban has now been cited as a constitutional crisis on two separate grounds is because he cannot, and apparently will not, accept that the Constitution, and not Trump, is the law of the land. The law of the land that for over 200-hundred years stated that all Americans have to abide by a court order. But an order, any kind of order, affecting Trump just cant apply to him because no-one tells him what to do and no stinking court is going to question his religious edict against Muslims. It doesnt matter what the Constitution says, only what Trump says. Yes, its true that a couple of weeks ago Trump did put his tiny little hand on two Christian bibles and swear to his god to uphold and support the Constitution, but even the Christian god knows Trump was lying and that he had no intent of upholding, supporting, or even acknowledging that the document has any relevance in his regime.

There were four separate courts from Virginia to Washington state that ruled against Trumps religious ban, but as of now only Virginia is looking for the court to hold President Trump in contempt of court. Virginia had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) that required officials to let attorneys speak with legal residents who were being detained on religious grounds; part of their Constitutional due process rights guaranteed in the 5th and 14th Amendments. Based on the evidence that, under the Trump executive orders, officials still refused to allow detained travelers at Virginias Dulles International Airport see their lawyers, the state demands that the court hold Trump in contempt of court, and one adds throw his bloated sense of himself in jail. There is a very recent precedent to imprison an elected official until they obey the court, the law and the Constitution they swore to support.

It has only been a year-and-a-half since another elected official decided that the law, and federal court orders, didnt apply to her because religion was the issue like Trumps Muslim ban. Kim Davis is the Kentucky clerk who ordered her underlings to obey her and reject the Constitution and federal court orders founded on a religious issue. It is exactly like Trump ordering Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials to ignore the courts over another religious issue  Islam. There is no reason whatsoever that Trump should not be held in contempt and escorted off to jail by federal marshals until such time he decides that he too is bound by the Constitution and court orders. If jail for contempt of court was good enough for Kim Davis, it is good enough for Trump; they are both violating the U. S. Constitution and federal court orders based on religion.

Despite a very clear order from a Virginian judge to allow detainees access to lawyers, CBP officials refused to obey the judges order and told the attorneys Its not going to happen. That kind of response sounds like they came directly out of Trumps mouth despite it violates due process law and a federal court order. In fact, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker was rejected by CBP officials as well and it prompted him to say:

I am now of the belief that though this was issued by the judicial branch, that it was violated tonight. And so one of the things I will be doing is fighting to make sure that the executive branch abides by the law as it was issued in this state and around the nation. This will be an ongoing battle  I believe its a constitutional crisis, where the executive branch is not abiding by the law.

As HuffPos Baumann said, Obedience to specific court orders is what keeps us from being a banana republic or fascist dictatorship. Thats a really big deal. With all due respect to Mr. Baumann, it would be a big deal if America wasnt already waist-deep in the midst of a fascist coup detat with a banana republic dictator flouting the Constitution when it contradicts his law. The only means of sending the Trump a signal that he is not above the law, at least not yet, is hold him in contempt of court and lock him up; at least until he countermands his religious ban against Muslims or rots in a 57 cell where criminals belong.
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Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) showed President Trump that there would be consequences for his outburst against the judge who temporarily halted Trumps ban. Schumer said that Trumps behavior had lifted the bar even higher for confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee.

Schumer reacted to Trumps outburst against Judge James Robart in a statement:



The Presidents attack on Judge James Robart, a Bush appointee who passed with 99 votes, shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesnt always bend to his wishes and a continued lack of respect for the Constitution, making it more important that the Supreme Court serve as an independent check on the administration.

With each action testing the Constitution, and each personal attack on a judge, President Trump raises the bar even higher for Judge Gorsuchs nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. His ability to be an independent check will be front and center throughout the confirmation process.

Senate Democrats are sending a message to the Commander In Chief. If the President is going to insist on acting like a child, he will be treated like a child.

Sen. Schumer raised a great point. How are Democrats supposed to believe Trumps claim that he chose the most qualified Supreme Court nominee when he is showing complete disrespect for the judicial branch of the US federal government?

President Trump is demonstrating that his judgment is untrustworthy. Senate Democrats are going to use Trumps erratic behavior to make the road even more difficult for Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch.

Trump is adding fuel to the fire, and making it easy for Democrats to make the case that for the good of the country, they must block the Presidents Supreme Court nominee.
... Since 1950 ...



1951 - July 13 -

FLOOD

In the early morning darkness, the

Kansas River over-tops the flood-walls in both Kansas Citys

May 20

TORNADO

Ruskin Heights is dissected by an F-5 tornado

.

The tornado formed southwest of Ottawa- near Williamsburg, Kansas around 6 pm and by 7:30 pm- the killer vortex had crossed the state line into Missouri.



Most of the unincorporated town of Martin City and nearly half of the homes in the fairly-new Ruskin Heights subdivision were either heavily damaged or destroyed.





Forty-four deaths are officially attributed to the entire tornado's 71-mile path- 39 of those dying in Missouri.





This is the deadliest tornado in Metro KC weather history.









September

FLOOD - FLASH FLOOD

April 12

TORNADO

July

FLASH FLOOD

April 19

TORNADO

May 15

TORNADO

1966

June 8

TORNADO

January 24

TORNADO

June 29

TORNADO

1973

January 3 & 4

ICE STORM

September

FLASH FLOOD













1977 - May 4 - TORNADO - A mini- tornado outbreak affected every part of Metro Kansas City except the northwestern areas.



There were at least 4 separate tornadoes - 3 of them F-3 or stronger.



There are 3 deaths - 2 in Pleasant Hill where an in-session high and elementary school were hit - and one near Odessa, MO..



More than 2 dozen injuries were reported.



It was







1977 - September 12 & 13 - FLASH FLOOD - Kansas City's worst flash flooding in terms of lives lost and damage.



Twenty-five people died.



Up to 16-inches of rain over a 2-day period on the heavily-urbanized Brush Creek watershed culminated on the night of the 13th.



Devastating flooding occurred along Brush Creek from the Kansas suburbs just west of the state line eastward to the Big Blue river.



Several of the Blue's smaller tributaries like Independence's Rock Creek suffered major flooding as well.



Four people in their cars were washed away into Round Grove creek, which was more than 10-feet out of it's banks along Raytown Road as they exited the Truman Sports Complex after the Royals baseball game was cancelled.



Most of the other victims drowned along Brush Creek between State Line and The Paseo.



The scenes I witnessed that night haunt me to this day as much as the Jan. 28, 1978 Coates House fire where 20 died.







1980 - July-August - HEAT WAVE - Kansas City's deadliest weather disaster by far: A prolonged heat wave . Floodwater inundates a mobile home park in Northmoor mobile home park where emergency rescue of residents had to be conducted.- A mini- tornado outbreak affected every part of Metro Kansas City except the northwestern areas.There were at least 4 separate tornadoes - 3 of them F-3 or stronger.There are 3 deaths - 2 in Pleasant Hill where an in-session high and elementary school were hit - and one near Odessa, MO..More than 2 dozen injuries were reported.It was the first time I got on the tail of a twister - following it into Pleasant Hill - Kansas City's worst flash flooding in terms of lives lost and damage.Up to 16-inches of rain over a 2-day period on the heavily-urbanized Brush Creek watershed culminated on the night of the 13th.Devastating flooding occurred along Brush Creek from the Kansas suburbs just west of the state line eastward to the Big Blue river.Several of the Blue's smaller tributaries like Independence's Rock Creek suffered major flooding as well.Four people in their cars were washed away into Round Grove creek, which was more than 10-feet out of it's banks along Raytown Road as they exited the Truman Sports Complex after the Royals baseball game was cancelled.Most of the other victims drowned along Brush Creek between State Line and The Paseo.The scenes I witnessed that night haunt me to this day as much as the Jan. 28, 1978 Coates House fire where 20 died.- Kansas City's deadliest weather disaster by far:



More than 200 people are reported to have died from various heat-related causes from late June through August.



One July day was tinder-dry with Santa-Ana-like conditions.



Grass, brush and other fires citywide had the Fire Department down to a handful of companies in service when a grass fire spread to an apartment complex near 76th St. & Blue Ridge.



Four other fire departments - including Johnson County KS. - had to help what few KC-MO companies that made it there.



No one was injured - but several buildings were damaged.







1982 - August - FLASH FLOOD - Flash flooding strikes southern & southeastern KC-MO..



One fatality was reported.



The not-yet completed Longview Lake saved the Little Blue Valley from major flooding.







1984 - March - ICE STORM - A damaging ice storm affects a wide area of eastern Kansas and western Missouri - including the Kansas City Metro.







1984 - June 8 & 9 - FLASH FLOOD - Severe flash flooding affects Indian Creek from Olathe and Overland Park to it's mouth with the Blue River in KC-MO..



Hundreds of residents along Indian Creek from Olathe, Overland Park into KC, MO.. flee the record flood crests.



No one was reported hurt - but 2 young women were stranded on a traffic island by floodwaters at 103rd St. & Conser in OP-KS for more than 2 hours.



The author's 6-inch rain gauge in Olathe overflowed before it could be emptied and yet another 2.5 inches fell into it by 2 am on the 9th.



Based on this information plus flooding I was both witnessing and listening to in the Indian Creek headwaters and downstream, KCTV-CBS-5's meteorologist Mike Thompson was able to warn those downstream along Indian Creek of the danger via bulletins.







1986 - September - FLASH FLOOD - Flash flooding along Rock Creek in Mission, KS. & Brush Creek sends water again lapping at the curbs in the Plaza.



The Brush Creek flood control project - undertaken in the 1990's - has greatly reduced the flood threat for the Plaza.



However middle portions of the project not yet completed would have fatal effects on Brush Creek 12 years later.







1990 - May 15 - FLOOD - More than 8-inches of rain in 4 hours sends the Big Blue river into a massive flood and- at many points - flood crests exceeded records set during the 1961 flood.



By evening drive - there were only 2 routes open east or west across the Blue unless you lived south of Bannister Road: Independence Avenue ("Armco") viaduct and Interstate-70.



The Blue was channelized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the 1990's and greatly reduced flooding as would be illustrated 8 years later during the 1998 flash floods.







1993 - July 9 - FLASH FLOOD - After a slow-moving thunderstorm complex threatens Lawrence, KS with tornadoes then floods it - the complex moves into northern Johnson County KS..



Flash flooding is by far the worst on Turkey Creek - it's entire floodplain is inundated from Overland Park & Merriam into KC-KS then into Southwest Boulevard and the West Bottoms in KC-MO..



Dozens of residents have to be swiftly evacuated by police & fire departments on both sides of the state line. Several people have to be rescued from rooftops of flooded buildings along Southwest Blvd..



One man is later found dead.



Kemper Arena and the American Royal complex is also flooded and damage figures reach the tens of millions of dollars.



WDAF-NBC4's Mike Thompson stays on the air all night- relaying high water reports I was receiving by radio.



Later that day - the now-swollen Kansas River caused two boats to be torn from their moorings.



One - the sand dredge The General Mitchell - struck 4 bridges and was severely damaged before 2 tugboats could push the Mitchell onto the Missouri River levee east of the Paseo bridge.



Along with post-8 am flooding and the General Mitchell- the author also videotaped the Missouri rising in Parkville, a make-shift levee and a "conga-line" of people heaving sandbags onto an overtopping Line Creek levee in Riverside, MO..







1993 - July 26-27 - FLOOD - Record Missouri River flood crest at Kansas City.



Squeezed into a narrow channel by levees- the Missouri River reaches an all-time highest flood crest of 48.87-feet near Downtown (old Municipal) Airport.





That surpassed the previous record 48-foot crest estimated during the legendary 1844 flood.





Downtown Parkville and most of Riverside are under water.









The water supplier for more than a million residents - the Kansas City Water Works - becomes severely threatened by the flood-swollen Missouri river.

Sandbagging and the additional pumping power of nearly a half-dozen Fire department pumper companies save the city's water supply from contamination.



In KC-KS -residents of the Argentine, Armourdale and the Rosedale neighborhoods - nearly destroyed in the 1951 flood - are evacuated.

The higher levees built after the '51 flood hold.

The flood crest in that flood is now No. 3 at 46.20-feet.



Parts of the Turner area of KC-KS are not so lucky and are flooded.

A mobile home park for about 100 people off K-32 is inundated and eventually abandoned.



At least no one dies in this flood.



1996 - May 26 - TORNADO - Southern Lee's Summit-MO. - what the NWS ultimately determined to be a "micro-burst" struck the Raintree Lake subdivision just after sunset.



There was tornadic circulation in that "micro-burst" - with winds "officially estimated at around 125 m.p.h.."



I saw 2 x 6 lumber driven into the ground at the correct angle & position on the northern edge of the damage path 20 minutes after the strike.



Several people suffered minor injuries and nearly 4-dozen homes received damage varying from slight to major.



Damage was in the $10-million range.







1998 - October 4 & 5 - FLASH FLOOD - It's the deadliest flash-flooding event in the KC Metro since "The Plaza Flood" of 1977.



September 1998 had already been a wet month and the ground across the entire K.C. Metro was saturated.



On Sunday, October 4 - a morning of off and on heavy showers and thunderstorms produced up to 5-inches of rain and flash- flooding in southeastern & eastern parts of the Metro.

Damaging flooding occurred in parts of Lee's Summit and a youth was swept away and drowned in a rain-swollen creek by early afternoon.



By mid-afternoon- the area was under not only under a NWS-issued flash flood watch but also a tornado watch.



Just before sunset- a huge thunderstorm complex formed west of Lawrence, KS. and- after deluging them- the complex moves eastward across northern Johnson County KS. into western and central Jackson County MO..



Over mid-town KC-MO - the storm dropped rain rates of 5-inches per hour during the 7-o'clock hour.

A huge- sudden flood-wave on Brush Creek swept over the top of the old Prospect bridge - sweeping seven people in and on top of their cars downstream.



Despite rescue attempts by by-standers and- eventually- firefighters- all 7 people drown.



(Minutes before this happened- an audio tape has this author pleading with a local TV weatherman over the phone to emphasize the flash flooding- rather than the tornado threat that we also were under.)



There were two other fatalities during the evening deluge - one each in Overland Park at a storm-water culvert that flowed toward I-435 east of Quivira and in Lenexa, KS on Little Mill Creek.



For the first time since the highway was opened around 1970 - both eastbound AND westbound lanes of I-435 just east of Quivira in OP-KS are flooded.



One man is barely saved from his pickup truck when it was washed off the eastbound lanes into the creek the gorged underground culvert was feeding.



Severe flooding again occurs on Turkey Creek - especially in Merriam- a portion of I-35 is closed by flooding for a couple of hours.



Southwest Boulevard is again flooded but water levels are not as high as in 1993.



Millions across America had tuned into the Chiefs vs. Seattle Seahawks NFL football game on TV and watched as Arrowhead Stadium's walkways turn into waterfalls.

The game was halted and nearly 75000 people were advised to seek cover for nearly an hour during the deluge.





2000 - May 11 - TORNADO - Surprise tornado north of The River.



"The threat of tornadoes in K.C. appears to be over."



That's what at least 2 TV "chief" weatherpersons say over the airwaves 15 to 30 minutes prior to a tornado touching down about 11:25 pm at 40th St. & North Oak in KC-MO..



The tornado destroys a car dealership- then rises to tree-top level for another several miles across heavily-populated KC-MO North towards the Worlds of Fun area.



Fortunately, there were no injuries.







2002 - January 27-30 - ICE STORM - MetroRegion-wide ice storm that persists over 3 days.



Damage to trees and the utility grids was tremendous - at one point more than a million people in the KC MetroRegion lost power.



There were at least 4 fatalities attributed to some aspect of this storm.







2003 - May 4 - TORNADO - First fatality tornado in Metro Kansas City since 1977 - and on the 26th anniversary of the '77 storm .



A tornado touches down in S.E. Leavenworth County about 4 pm in the afternoon and intensifies to F-4 as it moves across I-435 into western & northwestern KC-KS..



Both fatalities occurred in a heavily-devastated area around 91st St. & Leavenworth Road.



The tornado moved across the Missouri river into Riverside & Northmoor, MO.- producing varying degrees of damage.



The now-weakened circulation reorganized about a mile north - then moves from southwestern into eastern Gladstone- causing most of the heavy damage there.



The again F-4 tornado now roars into adjacent KC North subdivisions and on northeastward into Liberty- weakened- yet causing heavy damage on the town square and the nearby William Jewell College campus.



Two die with around a dozen people injured along the total path of the tornado. Damage was in the several tens of millions of dollars.



This outbreak began an almost week stretch of severe weather- culminating with a May 8th tornado in southwestern Lawrence-KS that damaged an apartment complex and nearby homes and caused several injuries..







2008 - May 1 - 2 - TORNADO - Another surprise tornado north of The River.



An intense- but compact storm system produces severe weather around Metro Kansas City starting the evening of May 1 (SEE CaptGSpaulding's video on YouTube).



Just after sunset on May 1- a tornado warning is issued by the NWS when a small tornado touches down in an open field southwest of Belton-MO.. A van-load of us were there to video that which we never actually saw.



Yet no tornado warning is in effect in the early-morning hours of May 2 when an F-4 tornado strikes Gladstone- then an F-3 twister strikes a subdivision in far northeast Kansas City-MO North.



Hurricane force winds also struck other areas- especially portions of Independence- Raytown and eastern KC-MO..



Less than a dozen people suffered minor injuries Metro-wide but daylight on the morning of May 2 reveal a man dead of what were reported as storm-related injuries near M-291 and Gudgell in Independence.



Damages Metro-wide were later estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.





Passage across the Missouri is not possible between Kansas City and St. Joseph.The water supplier for more than a million residents - the Kansas City Water Works - becomes severely threatened by the flood-swollen Missouri river.

-Flash flooding caused by a dying Gulf hurricane caused record floods on the Big and Little Blue rivers and their tributaries.The heavy damage done to one of General Motors' first Chevrolet assembly plant in the Leeds district of KC-MO. helps lead to the plant's closing by the mid 1970's.The flood brings about planning and in the 1980's construction of 2 new flood-control reservoirs - Lake Longview and Lake Blue Springs.This greatly reduces flooding on the Little Blue River - opening up the floodplain to development in southeastern Independence and northern Lee's Summit, MO..Yet land in neighboring Johnson County KS. is too expensive for flood-control projects for the Big Blue River - and continued flooding of the Blue Valley over then next 30 years would help lead to it's industrial-base demise.-It's the first tornado outbreak in the Kansas City MetroRegion for many years.Tornadoes cause damage southwest and west of Lawrence and in Leavenworth County and the city itself.Other supercells produced tornadoes in Cass County MO. and around Pleasant Hill where one fatality occurred.There were dozens of injuries all told in the affected areas with damage in the millions of dollars.- Smithville, MO. is ravaged by a flash flood on the Little Platte River.Tracy - on the Platte River a few miles downstream from the confluence of the Little Platte - also suffers major flooding as the Platte River reaches a record crest that stands early into the 21st Century.- A tornado forms over what was then farmland east of I-35 & 119th Street in Johnson County KS. and moves northeastward.Within 10 minutes - the F-3-rated tornado strikes a new housing subdivision and barely misses an elementary school at West 96th St. & Knox in Overland Park There are several minor injuries and the tornado-bearing storm moves over highly-populated areas of southern K.C. & Independence, MO..The official tornado warning wasn't issued by the National Weather Service or the local broadcast media until after the tornado had touched down - traveled it's roughly 4 to 5-mile-long path and lifted.- A weak "white" tornado touches down near 15th St. & Minnesota in KC-KS.It's only on the ground a few minutes but wreaks F-1 destruction to buildings & car dealerships along Minnesota.A few people suffered minor injuries.- A day of tornado-producing thunderstorm supercells across eastern and northeastern Kansas.One produced an F-3 tornado that struck Manhattan, KS. around 6 pm.Another cell spawns the first U.S. tornado to produce 100-million-dollars worth or more of damage - the devastating F-5 tornado that struck Topeka, KS ..The wedge-shaped, multi-vortex tornado roared over legendary Burnett's Mound just after 7 pm and diagonally sliced through the entire city.Sixteen people were killed and hundreds were injured that Wednesday evening.Around 8:30 pm- a tornado then moved across Leavenworth County and kills one in the tiny town of Jarbalo.- The Orrick, MO. tornado.A rare mid-winter thunderstorm formed on the Kansas side just after noon and became severe over southern KC-MO..Just after 1 pm- a tornado forms southwest of Buckner. MO. - gains F-3 strength after it crosses the Missouri River - and heads for the southwestern Ray County community of Orrick. It strikes the in-session high school on the western side of Orrick - where 2 are killed and more than a dozen are injured inside the shattered school building.- A tornado - rated as strong as F-3 - hits parts of southern Platte County and western Clay county MO..Damage is reported in Riverside and northwestern Gladstone with at least 6 persons injured along the tornado's path.- A massive ice & snowstorm -beginning around noon on the 3rd - hits Metro K.C..Nearly a foot of snow falls on the several inches of freezing rain and sleet.Tens of thousands of residents who lose power suffer sub-zero temperatures following the storm.The tree & power line damage I see far and away exceeds that witnessed in the 1984 and 2002 storms.- Failure of a private lake dam in the upper watershed of Line Creek in KC-MO leads to flash flooding downstream.
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President Trump threw a tantrum Saturday morning, lashing out at a Bush-nominated federal Judge who blocked his Muslim ban, calling the judge a so-called judge.

Trump tweeted:

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

U.S. District Court Judge James Robart, the judge Trump insulted playground style, was appointed by George W. Bush and confirmed 99-0. The American Bar Association rated this so-called judge Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination.

This is the rule of law in action. Its called a co-equal branch of government, part of our checks and balances.

But not for Donald Trump. The self-described law and order candidate and now president doesnt think laws apply to him. Hes special, you see. If a judge doesnt see things his way, and by his way he means an inept, bungled expansion of the executive office powers that would embarrass even W., then Trump responds by questioning the judges authority.

So the president with a dubious academic record (why wont he release those transcripts? Trump offered $5 million for Obamas transcripts, so this is obviously a thing he thinks presidents should do) is taunting a man who graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973 as being a so-called judge.

I would put money on the so-called Judge knowing more about the law in his little finger than Trump knows even with the help of his closest confidantes, a cheat sheet, and a lifeline, because look at the evidence. But Trump is embarrassed and he doesnt like having his decisions questioned, so we are being subjected to yet another crazy Trump tantrum.

If that isnt bizarre enough, the President lashed out again at the New York Times this Saturday morning, so hes obviously enjoying the weekend vacation that youre funding in part, to the tune of $3 million dollars:

After being forced to apologize for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

Trump seems to have been reacting to a New York Times report that the trust he set up to distance himself from his business is actually revocable, and he is the sole beneficiary and owner. So, in other words, Trump lied to the public again. But instead of dealing with this fact, Trump is trying to silence the fourth estate.

Undermining the independence of both the judicial branch and the fourth estate? All in a mornings work.

These are the things that obsess the new president: How to beat the New York Times into submission, while neener-neenering a federal judge for doing his job as his unquestioned qualifications see fit. Rule of law, bad!

It is, of course, Donald Trump who is the so-called person in this scenario. He is the person who is uniquely unqualified, unprepared, disinterested in learning, and got into office with the aggressive and illegal help of a hostile foreign agent.

With President Trump, the childish insults come as a free side to the unbridled incompetence that has already cost the life of a Navy SEAL.
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A penchant for self-pity and a demand that others be held to standards to which they refuse to hold themselves are identifying markers of the Trump administration so far.

Kellyanne Conway, the Trump counselor and infamous spokeswoman for alternative facts, is blaming haters for all of the flack shes getting for making up a fictional massacre to justify Trumps Muslim ban.

In a Fox News Media Buzz interview airing Sunday, Kellyanne Conway defended her misstatement in which she referred to a fictional Bowling Green massacre which didnt get covered.

Conway  called some of her critics haters and said she corrected her error as soon as she learned about it. Conway told Howard Kurtz, I should have said plot or I should have just called them terrorists.  I clarified immediately. I should have said terrorists and not massacre.

I misspoke one word. The corrections in the newspapers that are attacking me are three paragraphs long every day.

Conways fictional terrorist attack in Bowling Green by Iraqis used to justify Trumps Muslim ban didnt go over well because there was no Bowling Green massacre.

Heres Conways original claim, I bet its brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalised and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.

The difference between plot and massacre is pretty significant. One is a plan, the other is an event that happened. Lets plug in Conways claim of what she meant to say, and see if it makes sense.

 they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre plot. The problem here is the Justice Department literally wrote in 2012, Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States.

Now terrorists:  they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre terrorists. No, this inaccurately implies a terrorist attack or plot on Bowling Green.

Remember, this phrase was being used to justify a Muslim ban, so the wording is crucial. Conway is even now conflating massacre with plot and terrorists, suggesting something did happen, something that justifies a ban on Muslims because they are domestic terrorists.

This nefarious conflation isnt a new tactic. See weapons of mass destruction being used to justify an invasion of Iraq.

So even this correction, this moving of the goal posts so as to suggest a clarification, is not accurate. Is it really wrong that the media is focused on the Presidents adviser citing imaginary history to justify an unconstitutional ban? No, its not. And its not haters. Facts matter. Accountability matters.

CNNs media expert Brian Stelter asked on Friday if networks should still have Conway on. My thoughts were that they should do so only if she agreed to concede to reality regarding her past lies, without deflecting, as a show of good faith. Because that is what someone would do who was actually committed to being more accurate in the future.

That is not what Conway did in this Fox News interview.

Kurtz reported that when he asked if the White House should be equally forgiving of mistakes by journalists, she said: That is not what the president means when he says fake news on his Twitter. He is talking about things that are invented and just inaccurate.'

Things that are invented. Like, say, a fake massacre.

The only real fake news around is coming from Donald Trump and his administration. These people threw a fit over a pool report that the bust of MLK was missing in Trumps Oval Office, a report that was corrected within the hour. They threw a fit over accurate reporting of Trumps relatively small crowd sizes.

Kellyanne Conway is whining about haters and claiming that the White House doesnt need to allow journalists to make honest mistakes, but she should be forgiven for her pattern of outright fabrications.

So thats a sorry, not sorry if youre keeping track, which CNN seems to be. Conway intends to rock on with her alternative facts, and bury herself in self-pity over the haters, aka, people who value reality.

Any attempt to adhere to reality is seen as a personal attack by Trump conservatives.

Riddle me this, whats the difference between calling a group of people deplorables versus haters? If the first was wrong, why isnt the second.
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Thousands of people are marching on Parliment in London and demanding the British government withdraw its invitation to President Trump for a state visit.

Video of the marchers:

Thousands march in London to demand British government withdraw invitation to Pres. Donald Trump for state visit https://t.co/xTVz2VEghD pic.twitter.com/yJPmAaJox6  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 4, 2017

ABC News reported, Saturdays demonstration in the British capital involved a two-mile (3-kilometer) march of several thousand people from the U.S. embassy to the Houses of Parliament. Protesters chanted Theresa May, shame on you!'

President Trump has been on the job for two weeks and one day and inspired the same level of revulsion in citizens of US allies that it took George W. Bush years to achieve. Currently, the historic failure of the Bush administration is a level that Trump should hope to reach.

The British government is the most storied ally in the modern history of the United States. It is one thing for Trump to have reached record levels of toxicity at home, but for a brand new president to not be able to seek refuge in foreign policy trips is unheard of. For decades, presidents have weathered tough political climates at home with overseas trips.

This may not be an option for Trump as the protests over his very presence on British soil signal that for many he will be an unwelcome guest.

Trump isnt wanted by a majority at home, and he wont be welcomed with open arms with traditional allies abroad. President Trump is one of the most disliked political leaders in the entire world.
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While his Muslim ban sinking under the weight of popular backlash, President Trump tried to boost support for his Executive Order by promoting a fake news story on his Facebook page.

Daniel Dale of The Toronto Star captured a screengrab of Trump promoting a fake news story about Kuwait following in his Muslim ban footsteps:

Obscure websites published a fake story that Kuwait was copying Trump's ban. The president Facebooked it, got 67,000 shares. pic.twitter.com/IYzEiKdjR3  Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 4, 2017

Here is the post which is still up on his Facebook page:

We know the story is fake news because the Kuwait government issued a statement categorically denying the story:

This sort of thing should never happen in any White House. It speaks volumes that the kindest explanation for the President Of The United States promoting fake news is incompetence.

Trump and his team have a well-documented history of promoting false stories and fake news on social media.

Trump has never shown himself to have much use for facts, and he has promoted a fact-free culture within first his campaign, and now his administration. Given their track record, it is not difficult to envision the Trump team promoting a fake news story and not caring about whether or not it was true because the story itself helped to sell their Muslim ban as popular around the world.

Trump social media promoted a fake news story as real, which is a big reason why the American people should never take what the current White House says at face value.
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We have seen the disaster that is Trumps alleged foreign policy, a collection of hackneyed tweets and erratic phone calls. Now it turns out, as revealed by the Associated Press, that the Trump White House wanted to know about a Polish incursion into Belarus, once called White Russia, a landlocked country wedged in between Poland and Russia, with Lithuania and Latvia to the north and Ukraine to the south.

Julie Pace, the Associated Press White House correspondent, tweeted the news this morning:

Also eyebrow raising: senior aides requesting info on Polish incursions into Belarus, which don't appear to exist https://t.co/XFlFubjm9I  Julie Pace (@jpaceDC) February 4, 2017

According to the Associated Press,

According to one U.S. official, national security aides have sought information about Polish incursions in Belarus, an eyebrow-raising request because little evidence of such activities appears to exist. Poland is among the Eastern European nations worried about Trumps friendlier tone on Russia.

Eyebrow raising indeed. As security consultant John Schindler tweeted, it isnt as if Belarus will be invading its bigger and bullying neighbor any time soon:

No big. It's not like Poland has a history of betrayal by so-called allies or getting handed to Moscow on a platter.https://t.co/sWMIWXFake  John Schindler (@20committee) February 4, 2017

Poland is afraid of Russia, and for good reason, after being betrayed by Stalin in 1939 and divided between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. When NATO forces arrived in January to their new base in Zagan in southwestern Poland, Russia called them a threat to its national security but Poles cheered.

And with good reason, notwithstanding Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenkos protests that Belarus provides some kind of meaningful border between the two countries.

The other partner in Trumps national security fantasy scenario, Belarus, is just as worried about Vladimir Putins Russia. Belarus is not a NATO member state but Putin worried it may become too friendly to the West and too independent of Russia.

Schindler believes Minsk is slipping from Putins grasp and that provocations should be expected. The timing of the national security aides inquiries is, therefore, suspicious.

In fact, brave words aside, Lukashenko is currently worked up about alleged Russian violations of the two countries 20-year old border agreement. As the Financial Times explains,

Russia and Belarus share a border under a 1996 deal that set up a commonwealth known as the Union State. But Russian border guards this week set-up checkpoints at crossings into Belarus in response to Mr Lukashenkos decision to introduce five-day visa waivers for citizens of 79 countries, including the US and EU member states.



These tensions are happening because people in Russia are concerned that Belarus will move towards the west, Mr Lukashenko said at an annual press conference in Minsk, the capital.



As president Im not supposed to play games or show my hand, because theres a lot going on behind the scenes that you dont see or hear and dont need to know, he added.



The comments by Mr Lukashenko, often described as Europes last dictator, highlighted growing tensions between Moscow and Minsk over Belaruss balancing act between east and west.

It is more than a bit disturbing that the Trump administration is so ill-informed and amateurish than it would seriously entertain the idea of a Polish invasion of Belarus.

Lukashenko, by the way, lashed out at the FSB, the Russian security agency once known as the KGB and of which Vladimir Putin was once an agent  and the same folks Trump is busily cozying up to in easing the terms of President Obamas recent sanctions.

There is a very real threat here. Keep in mind that Hitler used a staged Polish incursion into Germany  the infamous Gleiwitz incident  as his casus belli in invading Poland in 1939. If Putin is looking for an excuse to invade Belarus as well as Ukraine, Trump, whether intentionally or in his role as a useful idiot, seems eager to lend a hand.

Tellingly, Trump was not the least bit interested in news about Russian incursions into Ukraine, which are anything but the product of overheated and Kremlin-influenced White House imaginations.

Map: Google Maps
Emanuel AMEs former secretary is suing the church and the Rev. Norvel Goff for ending her employment after she questioned the handling of donations that poured into the church after a gunman killed nine worshippers. Read moreFormer secretary at Emanuel AME sues for unpaid wages
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to West Columbia-based Nephron Pharmaceuticals saying has not gone far enough in its response to concerns raised during an annual inspection, threatening possible seizure and injunction" if violations were not quickly corrected. Read moreFDA says West Columbia drug maker not done enough to find cause behind 3.8M dose recall
In an undated photo provided by Parastoo Amiri, Nazanin Zinouri poses for a photo with her PHD degree from Clemson University. Zinouri has a visa and has lived in the U.S. since August 2010. On Jan 20, 2017, Zinouri flew to Iran, expecting to have three weeks of family time with her mother, brother and sister. Instead, she was barely in Tehran before she began trying to get home to South Carolina. (Parastoo Amiri via AP)
S.C. Education Superintendent Molly Spearman wasnt dreaming up hypothetical problems when she went to the Statehouse in 2019 to ask for authority to remove school boards in districts the state has to take over. Read moreScoppe: Allendale interventions show SC school takeovers work  while they last
Nearly 13 percent of registered voters in South Carolina have already cast ballots for the 2022 general election after the state opened up no excuse early voting to all for the first time. More than 438,000 votes were in as of the end of Thursday, which was the 10th day of early voting, according to statistics from the South Carolina Election Commission. Read more13% in SC have already cast ballots with new early voting
It is through raw, real human interactions that we are changed. It's easy to avoid encounters with people who are different from us and hold onto caricatures and stereotypes instead. But when we do that, we miss out. We miss out on opportunities to grow, learn, and connect with other people.

Jesus had a raw, real human interaction in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, and it changed him. It's an encounter that has been written about extensively and interpreted by theologians in a variety of ways. It was the first text I ever studied in seminary: orientation week 2005.

In Mark 7: 24-30, Jesus interacts with a woman of a different religious background than him. She's identified not by name  only as a Gentile and a Syrophoenician (i.e. a religious outsider from the geographic region of Syria).

Up to that point in Mark's gospel, Jesus has been hanging out with people from within his same general faith tradition. Then, to get away from the crowds, Jesus stealthily hides out in someone's house. But he just can't escape the masses of people begging for his help.

The Syrophoenician woman approaches him boldly  begging for Jesus to heal her daughter. She gets on her hands and knees and pleads at his feet.

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Jesus says something harsh and judgmental, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." I cringed when I heard that line during seminary orientation.

"What on earth?" I thought. "Is Jesus calling the lady and her child dogs just because they're different from him?"

Translated into our own modern-day national political landscape, he's basically saying something like, "Too bad that you're suffering but America first."

The woman refuses to relent. She digs deep within and emerges with a clever retort. "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

In saying these words, she is expressing to Jesus that everybody, regardless of religious tradition and geographic background, deserves care and support  even religious outsiders from the region of Syria.

Jesus says, "For this statement you may go your way." He heals her daughter immediately.

Some people, uncomfortable with the idea that Jesus could initially have been so insensitive to the woman, like to imagine that Jesus was just testing her faith to see if she really believed.

I doubt it. That sounds like a really weird test to me. They both had enough going on without a random religious pop quiz.

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I tend to interpret the text another way. I think it's a story about the woman who expanded Jesus' heart at a pivotal moment on his own spiritual journey.

Jesus grew up in a religious context in which there was one specific way to think. The human part of him didn't necessarily know a world beyond the cultural and religious landscape in which he was raised. Everything beyond the scope of his worldview likely seemed foreign, untrustworthy, and unfamiliar. He perhaps believed that his primary responsibility was to the people of his own faith tradition.

But through the interaction with the woman, something appears to shift. She speaks directly from the depths of her heart to the depths of his heart, and he hears her.

Jesus grants the woman's request. Her daughter is healed. I would imagine that all involved in the encounter are permanently changed.

It would've been easy for this story to be edited out of Mark's Gospel. But miraculously, it wasn't cut, and I am forever grateful. It is a story of transformation, vulnerability and change. It is an example of what happens when we pause long enough to question our beliefs about other groups of people. It is a story of grace.

Thanks be to God for the Syrophoenician woman of Mark, chapter 7 and for all those who courageously plead for justice today.
Zoey Jantsan, 25, originally from Pine Island, is the reigning Miss Minnesota U.S. International , crowned Oct. 22 in Big Lake. (The competition was held earlier, in St. Paul.) It was the first pageant she had ever been in.

"It's a completely new field for me," she said. "I'm sure I don't know all the insider tricks like some of the other girls, but I loved it and had a great time. It was not what I thought a pageant would be, though. I competed against several other beautiful young women from throughout the state, and the pageant was a multi-level competition.

"First, you have to submit your head shot, profile and bio, and at that point I was elected to move forward," she said. "The competition was heavily influenced by the interview portion, and I was lucky enough to move forward again, and that is how I got the state title."

In June, Jantsan will be competing for the national title in Orlando, Fla., and she is already preparing for the national stage.

"There will be interviews like last time, but a few new things for me," she said. "In this next one, there will be a swimsuit section and I'm actually working on my opening sequence right now. I have to choose what to wear, which has been a lot harder than expected, so I'm glad that I have some time with that."

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Jantsan's platform is animal and environmental conservation, and animal cruelty awareness.

"I am already partnered with the Minnesota Zoo, so I'll be working with them quite a lot this year to help raise awareness," she said. "While I will have a few glamorous events to attend this year, there will also be a lot of days that will require just jeans and a T-shirt and a messy bun and helping at the zoo, so I'm really excited about that. I am also hoping to partner with a few different Minnesota State Parks and help with things on the environmental conversation side of things as well. It's going to be a very exciting year with all of this."

Jantsan graduated from Pine Island High School in 2009 and went to the Minnesota School of Business, where she majored in business administration. She moved to Rochester when she was 19 and has been here ever since. When she is not competing for crowns, she is a realtor with with Remax Results .

To keep track of things with Zoey and read her blog posts on everything she is doing as Miss Minnesota International, make sure to check out www.zoeyjantsan.com .
Judge Pamela King choked back tears Friday morning as she addressed Steven Mark Zelich, 55, who'd just confessed to killing a Farmington mother of seven.

"Mr. Zelich, a human life is not something to be played with," King told the former police officer. "Laura Simonson was loved and valued by those who called her mom, sister, daughter and friend."

The 25-year prison term King handed down for Simonson's death "is never going to be enough to bring her back; it's never going to replace her, but you're going to remain in prison long enough that no other woman will be harmed at your hands," she said.

Zelich's sentence will run consecutively to the 35-year term he received in March in a Wisconsin courtroom for the 2012 murder of an Oregon woman.

He was returned to a Wisconsin prison immediately after Friday's sentencing in Olmsted County District Court. When he completes his time there  he'll be 88 years old, if he lives  Zelich will begin his prison term in Minnesota.

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He pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional, unpremeditated murder, answering questions from public defender Lisa Swenson about the events Nov. 2-3, 2013, the weekend Zelich killed Simonson in a Rochester hotel room.

The crime

The two had "met" in September in an online chat room for people active in bondage, dominance and sadomasochism and eventually arranged to meet in person.

Zelich picked Simonson up Nov. 2 near her mother's home in Farmington; they drove to Rochester, where they spent the night.

The next morning, he told investigators, he gagged Simonson, taped her wrists and ankles together with two-inch wide tape, blindfolded her and handcuffed her hands behind her back. Once again, Zelich said, he engaged in "breath-play," eventually wrapping a rope around Simonson's neck.

"And she lost her life because you didn't let her breathe?" Swenson asked.

"Correct," Zelich answered.

Simonson died during one of the sessions. Her killer "panicked," court documents say, didn't call police or rescue personnel or perform CPR himself, then put her body in a suitcase before checking out of the hotel and driving back to Wisconsin. The suitcase was in the trunk of his car.

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The case is nearly identical to that of his other known victim, Jenny Gamez, 19, who in August 2012 told a friend she was moving to Milwaukee.

According to court records and testimony, Zelich met Gamez online and invited her to visit. He picked her up at the Milwaukee airport, and they drove to a Kenosha, Wis., hotel, where they spent several days.

Zelich told investigators they played a sexual game in which he would choke Gamez. On the last day, he lost control and choked Gamez until she died, according to the criminal complaint.

She, too, was stuffed into a suitcase after her death, which Zelich then kept in a refrigerator at his home.

When he killed Laura Simonson more than a year later, he left her body in the trunk of the car because it was cold outside; he put Gamez's body in the trunk in February 2014.

Their bodies, still in the suitcases, were found along a rural Wisconsin highway in early June 2014 and eventually traced to Zelich.

The impact

Niki Carlson, of Golden Valley, lost her only sibling when Simonson died.

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She, her mother and several other members of Simonson's family are unhappy with the sentence handed down Friday, sharing their frustrations during their victim impact statements.

"To the justice system, this is a job," Carlson said. "To me, it's my sister. ... It's one thing to negotiate with terrorists, it's another thing to negotiate with a monster who killed two women."

Kaylee Wierson, the oldest of Simonson's six surviving children, said she has "felt guilty ever since she was found in that suitcase. My fear is (of) the younger kids wanting to know more about what happened to Mom, and I have to tell them."

Sarah Simonson, 18, was especially close to her mother.

"Laura was a strong, creative and resourceful woman with a huge heart," she said, "who would do absolutely anything for her children."

She called Zelich "a man who preys on the lost and suffering defenseless women, takes advantage of them and uses it for his own purposes. What this man has done to my mom is beyond human. This is a man with no heart or soul. He's a monster. ... While he rots in a cell, maybe he'll realize what kind of pain and suffering he's brought to so many people."

Laura and Troy Simonson had divorced about six years before she was killed; the children lived with him while Laura dealt with mental health issues and the death of their 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, who'd been profoundly disabled by a near-drowning when she was very young.

He called Simonson "a woman who had endured some of the most tragic and devastating realities as a parent, who worked harder than most women could ever imagine to give her children love, comfort and security through some of the most heart-wrenching times."

"I refuse to let this man take any more from these amazing children," Simonson said. "I want him to know, it ends here. They will not dwell in sorrow and pain; it has driven each and every one of them to rise above and beyond. The everlasting gift their mother gave them, without a doubt, is each other."

The defendant is "a phony keeper of the peace," Simonson continued, "and a waste of the air we breathe. He's nothing. He's weak. He's a coward. He's not a man, and his name will not be spoken in my house."

The reaction

Eric Woodford, team lead attorney for the Olmsted County Attorney's Office, acknowledged the family's dismay with the sentence, saying the shorter prison term "doesn't reflect a difference in the value of life" but the order of the cases and their litigation.

Simonson's loved ones "displayed great strength and persistence through this process, and their point of view was considered by our office."

Public defender William Wright told the court Zelich is "very deeply remorseful about what he did," electing to plead guilty because "he doesn't want to further traumatize the family. He takes responsibility and has cooperated throughout the process."

When asked if he had anything to say, Zelich answered, "Not at this time, your honor. I think counsel has expressed my feelings."

Simonson's family members didn't buy it.

"He didn't make eye contact with any of us," Troy said. "He didn't have tears in his eyes. Remorse is in the eyes; he's not a man of remorse."

Instead, they wondered "how long (Zelich) has used the tools he has to exploit women."

They were grateful for the compassion shown to their family by the judge, Carlson said.

"It's very important that people know Laura was more than just how she died, and it's important to share that with others," she said. King "gets it."

After more than three years of questions, painful answers, delays and frustration, "we're learning a new normal," Carlson said.

"A piece of your life that was living is just ... gone," Troy Simonson said. "Every occasion, every school function, everything that comes up; we're going to reflect on the memories, on the little things. We'll focus on moving on and our emotional well-being."

As they move forward, he recognizes the experience "has built their character and their strength," Simonson said of his children. "I'm so proud of you guys. Things like this are tragic and awful, but you can't let him win.

"She'd be proud of the people we've become."

In addition to Kaylee, 21, and Sarah, 18, Simonson's surviving children are Hunter, 15; Emily, 14; Josephine, 11, and Ashton, 9. The two youngest drew photos of their family for the judge. They weren't in the courtroom during Zelich's confession.

An account for the family has been set up at Community Resource Bank,1605 Heritage Drive, Northfield, MN 55057.
ST. PAUL  Minnesota State's search for a new chancellor is moving into the final stage next week.

The search began last spring, after the system's current leader, Chancellor Steven Rosenstone, announced in April 2016 that he planned to retire upon completion of his contract in July 2017.

The final candidates' names and curriculum vitae will be released on Feb. 6 for consideration by the system's governing board, the Board of Trustees.

The search, which began in the fall of 2016, was conducted by a 19-member search committee that included faculty, staff, student, Minnesota State leadership, community members and representatives from the Board of Trustees, according to a news release from Minnesota State.

"I am very pleased with the outstanding candidates who were attracted to this key position, and I thank all members of the search advisory committee for their hard work and collaboration throughout this process," said George Soule, committee chair.

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The candidates will interview with members of the Board of Trustees, college and university presidents and members of the chancellor's cabinet as well as participate in an employee and student forum on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Board of Trustees will review feedback during a special meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday; the board will consider the appointment of the preferred candidate. The new chancellor will begin work on Aug. 1.

Rosenstone led the system of 31 community and technical colleges and seven universities since 2011.
More than 50 potential University of Minnesota Rochester students will visit the campus this weekend to compete for scholarship money.

It's UMR's second Health Care Scholar's Day, which brings students whose passion for health care, in addition to their academic aptitude, makes them a good fit for the health care focused school.

The competition, which begins at 9:45 a.m. today in the banquet room at the Doubletree Hotel, is an invitation-only, daylong event for those that have been admitted to UMR.

The scholarship competitions will take place in the afternoon with interviews, displays or storytelling that will highlight the student's commitment to a career in health care.

"The process of selecting admitted students to compete was itself highly competitive, with many more passionate, high-achieving prospective students than could be accommodated," according to a news release from UMR.

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The competition is drawing students mostly from the region, but also from Illinois, Colorado and Texas.

Scholarships range from $1,000 to $8,000, but all students who compete will be awarded at least $250 to cover textbook purchases if they choose to attend UMR.
Two Rochester brothers believe they have a better way to treat 80 million Americans with a common, but potentially deadly, condition.

Scott and Dr. Eric Snyder grew up in Rochester and graduated from John Marshall High School. In 2013, they founded a start-up firm called Geneticure, which is built around the idea that the correct genetic test can eliminate the need for traditional trial-and-error medication adjustments to find the best treatment for an individual.

The idea is to create a general platform to test for a variety of conditions, but their first target is one of the largest ones  high blood pressure or hypertension.

"It can take weeks and weeks, up to 65, for physicians to find the right mix of medications for a patient with hypertension," said Scott Snyder.

Geneticure's solution is a patented panel of genetic markers to identify how the patient's system will respond to the drugs used to treat hypertension. The goal is to narrow down the process to find the best treatment within days or weeks instead of the months it can take now.

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Early on, the brothers unexpectedly found a test patient very close to home  their mother, Gayle Snyder. She was diagnosed with "emergent" hypertension. She began traditional treatment in Rochester, but the boys took cheek swabs and ran her through their 14-gene test.

In her case, they were able to identify the best treatment, and the condition was under control within a few days.

Other than their star patient, Geneticure did not start in Rochester.

Eric Snyder was doing genetic research at the University of Arizona, when he and others came up with the basics of this type of test. He showed it to his brother, Scott Snyder, who had experience with financing young companies. They decided this was something worth building into a company with Scott's backing.

An early "proof of concept" study went well, which impressed Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services. A clinical study now is underway there involving 800 patients.

Though it started elsewhere, the Snyders wanted to bring their young business to Rochester. They moved Geneticure into the Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator in the Minnesota BioBusiness Center in downtown Rochester in late 2016.

"Geneticure is developing tools to improve patient care, while creating jobs in Rochester. That is the type of companies we want to attract," said Accelerator Director Xavier Frigola in an announcement of the move. "Scott and the rest of the Geneticure team has had a fantastic year in 2016, achieving many crucial milestones. At the Accelerator, we want to support them as they continue to grow."

The firm now has 10 employees, most which live or work in Rochester.

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"It's fun to bring it home. We want to help the local economy and be part of the startup ecosystem that's growing here," said Eric Snyder. "And we thought it was important to build connections here."

The Snyders already tapped into Mayo Clinic's wealth of experience in this area by bringing on David Herbert as a senior adviser in August. The retired Mayo Clinic executive served as chair for Global Business Solutions from 2011 to 2014 and director of business development at Mayo Medical Laboratories from 1998 to 2008. Before all of that, he worked at Mayo Medical Ventures.

"Geneticure is demonstrating how personalized medicine can improve patient care with tools physicians can use now to better dial in the right hypertension drug for each patient from amongst all the treatment options," Herbert said when he was hired last summer.

While Geneticure is not the only firm creating tests for how patients respond to drugs, they are targeting conditions that involve how multiple organs respond to multiple medications. Many other companies have tests that focus solely on how a patient metabolizes a drug.

"Our main competition is the status quo of trial and error," said Scott Snyder.

Hypertension is an ideal candidate for Geneticure's test. About 50 percent of patients diagnosed with the condition haven't gotten it under control. Plus, about 5 million more people are diagnosed every year. A test that can reduce the time needed to identify the best medication mix for a patient could eliminate an estimated 1 million medical visits per year, according to Geneticure. That could add up to a potential savings of $13 billion annually.

Another factor that makes this new testing system attractive is "the low-risk hurdle." Doctors diagnose patients with hypertension, and they use traditional drugs to treat the condition. This test just shortens the fine-tuning process.

Snyder says Geneticure is talking to 30 to 50 health systems about adopting their system.

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Hypertension could just be the beginning. The Geneticure team also is studying two other conditions for possible future testing panels. Snyder declined to name which ones for proprietary reasons.
Xcel Energy is asking state lawmakers to clear a path for a new natural gas plant in central Minnesota.

It's part of the utility's plans to retire part of Sherco, its giant coal-fired power plant in Becker. Two Sherco plant units will retire by 2026, and building a natural gas plant could make up for some of the lost electric generation.

Both clean energy advocates and utility customers are showing skepticism of the plan.

Regulators signed off on the shutdown last fall, but they stopped short of endorsing Xcel's plan to build a natural gas power plant nearby to compensate for some of the lost capacity.

Xcel will ask the Senate energy committee Thursday to support a bill that would allow the natural gas plant without going through the normal regulatory process.

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Here's where things stand.

The issue:The Sherburne County Generating Station is the largest power plant in the state and was first built in the 1970s. The older two units will be retired in 2023 and 2026 as part of Xcel Energy's plan to reduce carbon emissions and keep costs to its customers as low as possible.

The utility is arguing that to stabilize the grid, it will need a new power source at that location in Becker. So, Xcel proposed building a natural gas power plant that would be smaller than the two coal units they're retiring. The utility says it needs to start planning now for the plant, which would cost roughly $800 million.

Who wants it:Besides Xcel, lawmakers from central Minnesota have been pushing for a replacement to Sherco that provides good-paying jobs and continues supporting city and county government through property taxes.

Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker, has sought out and received bipartisan support for the bill. He said the Sherco plant represents more than three-quarters of the city's property taxes and supports hundreds of jobs.

The gas plant would result in only about 30 permanent jobs but would also bring construction jobs to the area. Newberger and labor unions see the gas plant as a better scenario for their community than not building anything in the coal plant's place.

Who's skeptical:Clean energy advocates want to know if the natural gas plant in that location is really the cleanest, cheapest option for Xcel. Electricity ratepayers have also been skeptical, more because of the costs and whether they will cause utility bills to go up.

On the environmental side, natural gas power plants emit far less carbon than coal, but the process of extracting natural gas can lead to methane leaks, and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas linked to climate change. There's a national debate over to what extent we need to use natural gas as a bridge fuel between coal and all renewable energy.

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In Minnesota, the debate over how to generate power usually plays out at the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates Xcel and other utilities. Clean energy advocates and rate payers have said Xcel is circumventing that process by going straight to the Legislature for the gas plant's approval.

But Xcel says there are other cases where the Legislature approved the conversion of plants from coal to natural gas. Xcel officials also point out that the Legislature has placed mandates on how much renewable energy Minnesota utilities must generate.

The bill's status:The House and Senate bills have been approved by their respective energy committees and await floor votes.

Supporters and opponents of the bill have been negotiating over language to satisfy some of the concerns about the cost of the plant being passed on to utility customers, so it's possible amendments could come up during Thursday's committee meeting.
President Donald Trump's tough immigration stance has led Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo to voice concerns about the further degradation of the H-2B visa program for the island.

In a letter to John Kelly, the secretary of Homeland Security, Bordallo requested that any immigration-related executive orders spare Guam's labor needs from being negatively affected.

Members of Guam's construction and health care industries have repeatedly said they've been experiencing a shortage of temporary, foreign skilled workers because of the high rate of denials for H-2B visa petitions since December 2015.

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"In particular, I am concerned that another order without sufficient clarification could have detrimental impacts on Guams workforce, which is already experiencing labor shortages impacting major military construction projects associated with the modernization of U.S. military force posture in the region," Bordallo stated.

"Over the past year, Guam has experienced a drastic reversal in the administration of the H-2B visa program, resulting in less than 10 percent of renewal applications being approved."

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 banning most travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from coming into the United States, leaving uncertainty on how other immigration policies, such as temporary worker programs, will be handled.

Bordallo, in her letter to Kelly, said she worked diligently with Trump's predecessor to seek regulatory relief to Guam's temporary labor issues, but achieved little progress.

"I was frustrated with the lack of action in the previous administration and hope that new leadership can take a fresh approach to this challenging problem," Bordallo added.

Gov. Eddie Calvo said much of the labor issues Guam is facing today started during the Obama administration, but he's still concerned with the future of the H-1B and H-2B visa programs. He added that the Trump administration should be made aware of these concerns.

However, on Trump's travel ban, the governor said he has little reason to worry.

"We never got any reports from our airport of any type of problems that occurred as a result of folks delayed in movement ... but at the same time, the problems we're having right now are at a critical mass when it comes to the H-2 visas," Calvo said.

"We don't want to see H-1 included as well, and this is something that we've got to work toward with the Trump administration."

Trump executed the travel ban under the rationale of protecting American citizens from terrorist actions.

Calvo added that the general concerns behind the travel ban fall in line with protecting the people of Guam. Calvo has made it a practice to commute the sentences of non-U.S. citizens and hand them over to federal authorities for deportation.

"There is an interesting correlation here," Calvo said.

"Guam has had an issue with crime against our citizens by non-citizens ... so I'm hopeful that the decisions made by the Trump administration will assist in building a safer Guam ... whether it's those coming into our island or those non-citizens that have come into our island and committed a crime, that (their cases) are also properly disposed of."
PARK: President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16, 2015. In the wake of scandals that have rocked Park's administration, South Korean lawmakers are moving to limit presidential powers. Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press
Life is Dulce

We call it the dolce far niente. It means the sweetness of doing nothing. You may have heard this while scrolling through Instagram or T Read moreThe benefits of doing nothing
On Thursday evening, Gavin McInnes, a comic, commentator and co-founder of Vice Media, attempted to give a speech at New York University, at the invitation of the NYU Republican group. A crowd of anti-free speech rioters battled police officers and ultimately succeeded in shutting down McInness speech. Steve Sailer comments:

Unlike the Berkeley Police Department with Milo, the New York Police Department made sure Gavin McInness could actually deliver at least part of his talk at New York University at the invitation of the NYU Republicans. Gavin did get pepper-sprayed by anti-free speech activists, and eventually he got shut down after about 20 minutes by screamers.

***

The NYPD standing up for Gavins civil rights caused one protester to memorably enunciate to the line of cops protecting the dissidents the high principles and deep commitment to objective rationality that are at the heart of todays anti-free speech movement.

You have to see this to believe it, but trust me, you wont be able to watch to the end:

The Blaze helpfully provides a transcript of the alleged professors rant:

Whos protecting NYU from this bulls**t? Why are you here? Youre not here to protect these students from Nazis. No, youre not! This is completely f***ed up. And these students had to f***ing face them on their own. You should be ashamed of yourselves! You should be standing up to those Nazis! You should be protecting students from hate! This is hate! These are f***ing assholes  you are a joke. Youre grown boys! Youre grown boys  and Im disgusted! Im a professor! How dare you! How dare you f***ing assholes protect neo-Nazis? F*** you! F*** you! F*** you! These are kids who are trying to learn about humanity! Theyre trying to learn about human rights and against racism and xenophobia and LGBTQ rights, and youre letting these f***ing neo-Nazis near here! You should kick their ass! You should! You should be ashamed of yourselves! You should! F*** that s**t. F*** that s**t. Its not up to these students to kick the ass of a neo-Nazi! They dont have to raise their fist! They were taught to be peaceful! F*** you! F*** you. Im a professor. God f***ing damn it  youre here to protect neo-Nazis! So f*** you! God f***ing damn it! Those kids should not have to take fists up to neo-Nazis, and youre putting them in that situation! Go to hell. F*** you NYPD!

This woman says that the job of the police is to beat up people with whom she disagrees. And she thinks the other sidethe ones trying to give, and listen to, a speechare neo-Nazis. That is modern liberalism in a nutshell.

An update to the Unz post says that the woman in the video is possibly Rebecca Goyette, an artist who specializes in lobster-related pornography and video enactments of Donald Trump being castrated. Based on a Google Images search, I would say the woman in the video is either Ms. Goyette or her double.

Rebecca Goyette is indeed a professor, although not at NYU. I would post pictures of her work, only this is a family site. Among other things, she doesnt just hate Donald Trump, she hates the United States. I think her biggest beef against the U.S. is that she isnt able to jail the people she dislikes.

Its just another day in the life of the American left. I am so, so glad I voted for Donald Trump!
A former 40 year Atheist analyzes Atheism, without resorting to theism, deism, or fantasy.

***

If You Don't Value Truth, Then What DO You Value?

***

If we say that the sane can be coaxed and persuaded to rationality, and we say that rationality presupposes logic, then what can we say of those who actively reject logic?

***

Atheists have an obligation to give reasons in the form of logic and evidence for rejecting Theist theories.
Audi was caught up along with Volkswagen for having fiddled with their diesel engine software to defeat smog checksa problem that would never have been possible if we had moved to on-road pollution monitoring as free marketeers have been advocating for over 25 years.

But now Audi is spewing a new form of noxious emissions, in the form of a TV ad to run during the Super Bowl tomorrow where they embrace the anti-factual feminist ideology of pay inequity. See for yourself:

Audi has a comment/feedback portal on their websitelook for the black AudiChat button at the bottom of this page. Heres what I sent:

Heres the reply I received:

Danielle K: Hello and thank you for your feedback. When we account for all the factors that go into pay, women at Audi are on par with their male counterparts. There is a lot that goes into calculating pay  individual performance, experience or tenure in the job, etc. But we are confident in our processes for evaluating pay equality and can confirm pay equality between men and women. Please visit http://audi.us/Progress for details on Audi of Americas commitment to equality for all of our employees.

But the ad didnt just boast of Audis own company efforts. And if they used the same filter here in evaluating the supposed pay gap (experience, tenure in the job, etc), theyd know the main story line of the ad is wrong. They used general language about how my daughter will automatically be valued as worth less than every man she ever meets.

I recommend that Audi hear from a lot of us. Go to their AudiChat link at the note above and let them know theyve lost thousands of potential customers by indulging the political correctness of their ad agency. Heck, if they get enough blowback today, they might even pull the ad before game time, or re-run their rather good one from the 2010 Super Bowl (although this ad is ironic since Audis clean diesel wasnt so clean):
When I last wrote about Frances upcoming election, it looked like the Socialist party would nominate hard-leftist Benoit Hamon and that he would lose out in the first round of the general election to Francois Fillon of Frances conservative party, considered something of a Thatcherite, and Marine Le Pen of the National Front. It seemed to me that Fillon would have a decided edge in a two-way race against Le Pen, but a Len Pen victory could not be ruled out.

That was then (January 23). What about now?

Hamon did win the Socialist primary handily, and he still seems destined to be out-of-the-money in the general elections. Beyond that, however, two developments may have flipped the script.

First, the Fillon campaign has been rocked by a scandal. He is accused of paying his British wife, Penelope Fillon, up to half a million euros to do a job that never really existed or that she never really performed.

French authorities are investigating the matter. His poll numbers have dropped. It is difficult to see the French rallying behind a candidate calling for the slashing of entrenched economic privileges if voters believe his wife was paid large sums of money for doing little or nothing.

The second development is the rise of Emmanuel Macron. Until recently, he was the Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs under Socialist president Francois Hollande. However, he quit that job to form a new centrist party, called En Marche (On the Move).

Macron casts himself as a maverick, saying Ive seen the emptiness of our political system from the inside; I reject this system. He insists that he is neither of the Left or the Right but for France.

I guess he wants to make France great again. Its been a while.

Centrist candidates running independently of the two main parties are nothing new in French presidential politics. They dont fare well.

But this year might be different. Macron is doing well in the polls. According to one recent survey, he is ahead of the embattled Fillon, with Le Pen leading them both. The numbers are: Le Pen 26-27; Macron 22-23; Fillon 19-20.

Polls give Macron a big lead over Le Pen in a run-off between the two  bigger than Fillons lead over the National Front woman. Against Fillon, Le Pen could perhaps draw significant support from leftists opposed to the conservatives free market, privilege-slashing agenda. As a former Socialist running on a vague platform, Macron should be able to prevent Le Pen from making significant inroads among leftists. As a centrist, he should also be able to hold his own at worst among French conservatives, especially those who vote for Fillon in the first round.

The election isnt until April 23, so we might well see more twists and turns. But in the event of a victory by either Macron the outsider or Len Pen the flamethrower, the French election will, in at least some senses, follow the pattern that began with the victory of Brexit and continued with the victory of Trump.

Stay tuned.
At The Stranger Sydney Brownstone provides a summary of the temporary restraining order entered by Judge James Robart staying enforcement on a nationwide basis of President Trumps timeout on immigration from seven countries previously identified by the Obama administration. The Seattle Times has posted an excited story on the order together with a video of the hearing on it (below).

This case has been brought in federal district court against the Trump administration by attorneys general of Washington and Minnesota with dreams of higher office in mind. Judge Robart has no such excuse.

The case is styled State of Washington et al. v. Donald J. Trump. Judge Robart disposes of the issues in a decision less than seven pages long. The heart of the courts order, such as it is, amounts to about one page. It is entirely conclusory. If the order had been submitted to me when I was teaching legal writing at the University of St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis I would have agonized over whether to award it a D- for satisfying the the formal requirements (barely) or flunk it outright. At American Thinker, Ed Straker finds the order wanting. Eds assertions are at least arguable; the judges decision makes no arguments.

I dont think the temporary restraining order is immediately appealable, although Judge Robarts comments at the beginning and end of the hearing suggest otherwise and I may well be mistaken. The White House has vowed to seek an emergency stay of the order.

Judge Robart orders the parties to propose a briefing schedule on the entry of a preliminary injunction. An order granting or denying an injunction would be immediately appealable to the Ninth Circuit, but the Ninth Circuit is itself famously problematic.

I asked an immigration attorney for his opinion on the substance of the order last night. His response came in the form of advice that seems to me inarguable, if beyond my power: Get on with the Gorsuch confirmation. Fast.
On Friday, an Egyptian Muslim named Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy appeared at the Louvre wearing, or carrying, two backpacks. This apparently caused him to be stopped by police officers, whom he attacked with a machete, yelling Allahu Akbar! They shot him.

Current information is that al-Hamahmy is 28 years old and comes from the Nile delta region. His father says he is completely normal and claims to be shocked. Al-Hamahmy moved at some point to the United Arab Emirates, presumably to find work; the Emirates are home to many guest workers from Egypt. He traveled from UAE to Paris on a tourist visa, arriving on January 26.

Al-Hamahmy rented an apartment for one week and bought two machetes at a gun store. (I didnt know they had gun stores in Paris.) Preliminary investigation has revealed no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any militant group. However, al-Hamahmy has a Twitter account on which he posted, shortly before his Louvre attack:

No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war.

The Louvre attack is one of a long and growing list of similar terrorist attacks that explain why the Trump administrations concern about travel to the U.S. by people from Islamic countries is legitimate. It would be stupid, frankly, to deny that a certain number of people are likely to travel here, just as Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy traveled to France, in order to carry out terrorist attacks.

Of course, even if it were a permanent ban rather than a temporary stay, the Trump order wouldnt have helped in this case, since neither Egypt nor the Emirates is on the list of affected countries. That suggests that the Trump order doesnt go far enough. Moreover, Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy has no doubt been more thoroughly investigated, following his crime, than any random applicant for a travel visa could be. And yet there apparently were no signs of radical activity or affiliation. This illustrates the difficultyperhaps futilityof even extreme vetting as a security measure.

The effectiveness of Trumps order as an anti-terror measure is debatable, but in my opinion, the need for improved security with respect to travelers, immigrants and refugees from Islamic countries is not.

So far, the Europeans are taking this issue much more seriously than we are. I have just returned from two weeks in Italy. In Rome, both police and military units are everywhere. Their presence on the streets, and particularly at all noteworthy monuments, is visible and striking. We were told that this has all happened within the last year, as a result of terrorist attacks in France and elsewhere. There is nothing like this sort of armed police/military presence anywhere in the U.S.
A month ago, liberals were claiming that Donald Trump would be a tool of the Russians. After all, they hadnt brought about his election, via WikiLeaks, for nothing.

To be fair, it wasnt just liberals who expressed concern about what Trumps Russia policy might be. As a candidate, Trump took a softer line on Vladimir Putin than many, including me, liked. But it was the left that claimed something sinister  perhaps even a Manchurian candidate or a president controlled by Moscow through blackmail  was afoot.

But yesterday at the U.N., President Trumps ambassador, Nikki Haley, blasted Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. She did so in a speech that the Trump administration reportedly (and almost surely) cleared.

Haley stated:

The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea. Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine.

Haley did not confine her condemnation to Crimea. She also said:

We do want to better our relations with Russia. However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions. The sudden increase in fighting in eastern Ukraine has trapped thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure and the crisis is spreading, endangering many thousands more. This escalation of violence must stop.

The Russians were not amused. Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov went so far as to tweet: It looks like the new U.S. representative at the UN came with remarks that were written by [Samantha] Power.

Yet Haleys speech didnt get the coverage it deserved. For example, more than half of the stories in the first ten pages of the Washington Posts front section today were about Trump. Yet, Haleys U.N. speech was not covered anywhere in the front section of the newspaper delivered to my house, not even in a story about U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Instead, the mainstream media touted a story about the Trump administration supposedly lifting certain sanctions against Russia. Though not quite fake news, the story was highly misleading. It turns out that the adjustment in sanctions was simply a technical fix or, as the Washington Post eventually described it, a nothing-burger.

But the casual consumer of news easily could come away believing that Trump was easing sanctions on Russia and might well not know that the U.S. had blasted Russia, and affirmed the need for ongoing sanctions, at the U.N. For the casual consumer, the liberal narrative would have been reinforced, not cast into doubt.

The Trump administration also cast doubt on a second liberal narrative yesterday  the idea that the new president will give Israel free rein to build wherever it wants on the West Bank and that he sees no merit in a two-state solution. This line, which replaced the claim that Trump was running an anti-Jew campaign, took hold when the president selected David Friedman as the U.S. ambassador to Israel and gave his Orthodox son-in-law a prime policy-making position on matters pertaining to the Jewish state.

But yesterday, the White House told Israel that new settlement construction may not be helpful in achieving Middle East peace. Its statement was:

While we dont believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal.

Take out the first clause and the may in the second, and this statement too could have been written by Samantha Power or John Kerry.

Is there a tension between the two clauses? I dont think so. What the White House seems to be saying is that settlements arent currently an impediment to peace (presumably because the Palestinians arent serious about negotiating peace), but constructing new settlements and expanding new ones beyond their borders might become an impediment if the parties ever get down to serious peace talks.

Though there may be some validity to this hypothetical, Im not thrilled about the White Houses statement. My purpose here, however, is not to debate its merits, but rather to note that, for the second time in one day, a left-wing anti-Trump talking point turned out, at a minimum, to be vastly overstated.

And dont get me started on the bogus claims about Trumps immigration order.

In reality, no one on the outside knows what Trumps Russia policy and his Israel policy will be, or what he will decide to do after the 90-day and 120-day periods in his immigration order elapse. Its not clear that anyone on the inside knows for sure either.

In this situation, the rational move, consistent with the way new presidents traditionally have been treated, is to wait and see  not to assume and condemn, starting even before the president is sworn in. But such rationality is out of the question for liberals these days, especially those in the mainstream media.
How To Renew Your Parish In Just Twelve Years

1. Why be committed to parish renewal?

Because we love Jesus and we love the Church as Jesus loves the Church (Eph 5:25), and because the parish is an important part of the body of Christ, the Church.

2. What is parish renewal?

The word "renewal" is a very fuzzy term. You can make it mean almost anything you want. Therefore, we need to define "renewal" more objectively. I define renewal to be the transformation of a person, group of people, geographical area, building, or institution into what the Lord wants it to be. Thus, renewal implies a knowledge of God's will for the person or thing to be renewed. For example, God's will is for each person to be saved and to become holy. So the renewal of persons means that we are transformed so as to live a saved and sanctified life. God's will for a parish is that it be transformed into what it is intended to be _ a community of small Christian communities, not just a collection of renewed individuals. This is the historical meaning of the parish and the definition of a parish given by Pope John Paul II. There are many other good things that can happen in the parish, but these are, at best, a preparation for renewal, if we define "renewal" as the transformation of a person or a thing into what God wants it to be.

3. What is the basis for Pope John II defining a parish as a community of communities?

All of the churches of the New Testament and of the first 300 years of Christianity were small communities. The Bible and the early history of the Church are the basis for defining a parish as a community of small communities. Any other definition of a parish is not strongly based in the source of divine revelation _ the Spirit working through the Church and its Bible. (For more on this, see our book, Christian Home-based Communities.)

4. What are small Christian communities?

Small numbers (approximately 12 adults with their children) of people who are trying to share daily their life in Christ. In other words, a small community is made up of Christians who are practically living out their baptismal brotherhood and sisterhood.

5. How many small communities must there be in a parish for it to be renewed?

There is no definite answer to this question. However, if 25% of the parishioners were in small communities, this would probably determine the general spirit, outreach, and ministry of the parish. This would be reason to call the parish renewed, or at least in the process of renewal.

6. Does everyone have to be in a formal Christian community?

No, for some Christians, there will be points in their lives when a structured Christian community is not possible. At these times, they will need to develop an informal network of brothers and sisters in Christ. However, this informal Christian community will not usually branch off into new communities. This prevents the great evangelization which can take place through Christian communities. Therefore, we should try to join or form small Christian community, if possible.

7. What is the first step in renewing a parish?

Jesus began His public ministry by evangelizing and discipling twelve men. We should begin in a similar way.

8. What do these twelve people do as they grow in discipleship?

They evangelize and disciple others. They do this primarily at home, in their neighborhoods, and where they work. They also evangelize other parishioners through several outreaches, such as parish missions, retreats, days of renewal, revivals, prayer services, etc.

9. What part do prayer and intercession have in parish renewal?

Usually great numbers of parishioners must pray more than they ever have before. Otherwise not many people will be evangelized, discipled, and enter small communities. The parish leadership should encourage more frequent (even daily) Mass attendance, eucharistic adoration, monthly Confession, daily Bible reading, Marian devotions, family prayer, and prayer for married couples.

10. Will the parish grow in numbers throughout this time?

Not at first. As the parish begins to be renewed through small communities, many parishioners will notice in a year or two that the parish is changing. Some will not like this. This will result in a drop of attendance at Sunday Mass. For example a parish of 500 people may drop to 400 before growing to be 700.

11. How involved must the pastor be for parish renewal?

Ideally, the pastor should be very involved. He has the responsibility to lead in uniting the small communities of the parish with each other and with the diocese. However, it is possible to renew a parish without the pastor leading. This can be done with exceptionally gifted lay leaders and with at least the support of the pastor.

12. What if your pastor doesn't even support your attempts at parish renewal?

Pray for your parish, serve your parish as the Lord leads you, and try to lead parishioners to a total commitment to the Lord. However, you will have to limit yourself to setting the stage for renewal in your parish. You may be called to work in renewing the larger church by forming a small community and networking your community with others in your diocese and beyond.

13. How can I connect a small community or a network of small communities with my local diocese?

By forming a lay association. See canon law, section 298 and the following, for more details. For more information on this, you may contact us at Presentation Ministries. We can share with you how we became a lay association under the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

14. What are the advantages of becoming a lay association under a diocese?

As a lay association, you are recognized and approved by the universal Church. Moreover, your relationship with the Church is clearly defined. Even if you can connect with the Church by being under your parish, a change of pastors can be a serious problem if the new pastor does not see parish renewal in terms of forming small communities. Also, small communities, through no fault of their own, can be an occasion for unnecessary division in a parish where most of the people may not be evangelized. If the small communities are officially connected with the diocese rather than the parish they can still fully serve their parish but not have to be initially accepted by a large number of parishioners.

15. How long will it take to renew a parish?

Obviously, there is no set answer to this question, but I propose 12 years as a general and probably minimum time-frame. To prepare a parish for renewal requires leading many parishioners into a new dimension of prayer. This will take a year or two under the best conditions. Moreover, parish renewal must be preceded and accompanied by strong evangelistic outreaches. To develop this requires at least two to four years. The key to parish renewal is to raise up both leaders to form small communities and leaders to help develop these leaders. This took Jesus three years. It will take us at least that long. For small communities to begin to branch off to form new communities may take one to three years. For these communities to be firmly networked in the parish or diocese may require another three years.

16. How can a group of leaders persevere in parish renewal for ten to fifteen years?

Only by God's grace. By daily forgiveness of those who have hurt them, daily repentance from their own sins, accountability to and support from other leaders, a strong sacramental life, relationships ordered according to God's will, and unconditional love poured out by the Holy Spirit (see Rm 5:5).

17. Is there any way to speed up parish renewal?

We can at least keep from slowing it down by being courageous in not avoiding the suffering that the gospel entails (2 Tm 1:7). If we willingly make many sacrifices and suffer rejection and persecution for love of Jesus (see 1 Pt 4:16), parish renewal will proceed as quickly as the Lord wills.

18. Why would we suffer in parish renewal?

After having repented ourselves (see Mt 7:5), we are called to correct others and call them to repentance of such sins as unforgiveness, apathy, lust, gambling, gossip, etc. Some will react to this negatively and persecute us. Furthermore, the Lord will call us to make many sacrifices for years to do the work of parish renewal.

19. Why would we be willing to suffer to renew our parishes?

Because of our love for the Lord and His people, we can be willing to share in Jesus' sufferings (see Col 1:24; Phil 3:10).

20. Will the Lord renew my parish?

Eventually, He will either renew it or phase it out (see Rv 2:5). He will fulfill His plan of salvation. "He who calls us is trustworthy, therefore he will do it" (1 Thes 5:24).

Nihil obstat: Reverend Robert J. Buschmiller, July 1, 1994.

Imprimatur: + Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 6, 1994.
ATLANTIC CITY  Joe Berenato has traveled as far as 900 miles from his Hammonton home to go to Easyriders Custom Motorcycle shows in Tennessee. So as soon as he found out one was coming Saturday to the Atlantic City Convention Center, he knew he was going.

I sent the money the next day, said Berenato, who wasnt just a spectator at the first-time event in Atlantic City. He was showing off a chopper he built at his business, Action Auto Body, which was one of more than 120 cycles on display in the building.

The motorcycle buff traces his interest to his dad, also Joe, and has passed it along to his son, Chris. Those three generations were all at the custom-bike show Saturday. As an Easyriders veteran, the younger Joe was impressed by the crowd.

Liza Jensen organized the show for Easyriders, a Los Angeles-based company that publishes a motorcycle magazine by that name and does a tour of five shows coast to coast. This year, theyre set for Sacramento, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbus, Ohio, along with Atlantic City.

Most of those are fixed locations, but we do switch it up sometimes, Jensen said when asked if Atlantic City could be a regular stop. For a first-time show, weve had a really great turnout. So wed definitely consider it.

Peter Harry, of Buena Vista Township, brought a special bike to show off at his first Easyriders experience. He bought it used in 2004, had a major accident on it a few years later when somebody ran a red light and hit him, then spent a year rebuilding his motorcycle on his kitchen table.

He liked some of the other machines he saw Saturday but said his has more going for it than just that history.

There are a lot of bikes that people dont ride, he said  they just show them and protect them. I ride my bike. It gets ridden all the time, all summer.

As part of Saturdays show, a couple of three-wheeled cycles were being ridden right in the Convention Center, in a demonstration of a fancy technique called drifting. Tom and Karen Kosky, of Milton, Delaware, watched the drifting demo, and he came away saying hed love to try it.

They were doing a day trip, but they like Atlantic City and they planned to spend some money in town.

The Borgata is our happy place, Karen said, although they dont go there as much as they used to.

I like riding (cycles) more than I do losing money, Tom added.

Atlantic County Harley-Davidson in Galloway Township was one of the vendors at the Easyriders show, and co-owner Ben Petrovic was glad he came.

Were selling a couple, and we got some really good leads, he said, adding hed also like to see a return engagement for the event. I think we can build on it and have a really nice show in Atlantic City.
ATLANTIC CITY  When the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort closed in October, the Hard Rock Cafe lost more than 6,000 parking spots it could potentially use.

Left with no nearby parking besides the garage at Resorts Casino Hotel, the music-themed restaurant in the closed Taj Mahal turned to the city for help. The city was happy to oblige.

The city agreed to let the restaurant use the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue to set up a valet parking service.

This is a business that is employing local people, said Councilman Kaleem Shabazz. We want to help local businesses as much as we can.

Hard Rock employs about 100 people.

Hard Rock touches on a larger issue in the city. Five closed casinos have cost the city more than 20,000 parking spots in three years, according to the state Casino Control Commission.

Under the plan, Hard Rock can set up a valet station on the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue. In return, the restaurant, which late last year celebrated its 20th anniversary, will pay the city $1, according to the six-month agreement approved Jan. 24.

With the closure of the Taj Mahal and the hotels parking garage, it was important for us to offer our guests a convenient and accessible parking option, said Jason Petrina, director of operations at Hard Rock International.

The Taj Mahal closed Oct. 10, leaving more than 2,800 people unemployed.

The city recognizes the importance of Hard Rock staying open and keeping employees working, Mayor Don Guardian said.

Elizabeth Terenik, director of planning and development for Atlantic City, said the city would be willing to help out more with parking if they had the land in the area.

The closing of five casinos since 2014 have depleted the citys parking stock. Since topping out at 50,545 casino parking spots in 2013, the casino industry now only has 29,863 parking spots, according to state Casino Control Commission.

Less parking availability negatively impacts commerce, said Robert Ambrose, an instructor of hospitality and gaming at Drexel University.

He added, It is great to see the city and the business community looking for a solution.
UPPER TOWNSHIP  About 80 people Saturday on the chilly shore of Great Egg Harbor Bay protested a South Jersey Gas plan for a pipeline that would run through part of the Pinelands.

They carried signs that read Too Much To Lose should a pipeline accident occur and chanted slogans that included dirty gas has got to go and water is our life.

And before they left the beach area at Beesleys Point for a protest march along the pipeline route, they got a final pep talk from Jaclyn Rhoads, of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.

We are here to peacefully make a statement that the South Jersey Gas pipeline must be stopped, said Rhoads, who used a loudspeaker while standing on the roof of a bus that would take some protesters to the pipeline route. The pipeline violates the  rules and is unnecessary.

The (New Jersey Pinelands Commission) voted against this deal once, she said. Four former governors opposed this plan twice, and the people of the Pinelands have spoken time and again. This is the Pinelands, not the pipelands.

Saturdays rally was held just a short distance from the B.L. England electrical generation station. The rally was also held while State Police blocked the access route to the power plant.

South Jersey Gas wants to build the pipeline to repower the B.L. England plant at Beesleys Point.

Under an agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the coal- and oil-powered plant must shut down May 1 because it cant meet clean-air requirements. The plant can reopen as a cleaner, natural gas-powered operation.

The proposed 22-mile pipeline would run between the plant and Maurice River Township in Cumberland County. Part of the route follows roadsides through about 10 miles of protected Pinelands Forest Area.

Saturdays protesters came from all over South Jersey.

Their primary fears centered on possible environmental problems caused by the pipeline.

Vineland resident Michelle Ernst said shes worried a pipeline explosion could destroy the remaining bit of heaven we have in South Jersey.

The pipline doesnt benefit the Pinelands residents, she said.

Antonina Renner, of Mantua Township in Gloucester County, said she fears the pipeline eventually would open part of the Pinelands to development.

Its not a good precedent to set, she said.
WASHINGTON  The State Department has reversed visa cancellations for foreigners after a judge put on hold President Donald Trump's executive order instituting a travel ban from select countries.

Meanwhile, Trump lashed out Saturday at "this so-called judge" who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S. to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ruling set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judge's ruling late Friday, but that didn't appear to be enough for Trump, who vented his frustrations on Twitter.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said.

Trump has said the travel ban, which he enacted by executive order on Jan. 27, will keep Americans safe by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

He also said Saturday on Twitter that "when a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!"

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled late Friday against government lawyers' claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Trump's order. Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained.

More protests were planned for this weekend, including near Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




NEW YORK, February 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Increase in fleet of passenger cars and commercial vehicles coupled with growing replacement tire market to drive Djibouti tire market through 2022

According to TechSci Research report, "Djibouti Tire Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2012 - 2022", the tire market in Djibouti is anticipated to cross $4.50 million by 2022, owing to increasing domestic automobile demand, growing industrial and service sectors and expanding automobile fleet size. Moreover, growing population, which increased from 0.84 million in 2011 to 0.89 million in 2015, is expected to boost the demand for automobiles as well as tires in the country over the next five years. Djibouti lacks manufacturing facilities both for automobiles and automotive tires. Consequently, automobile as well as tire market in the country is 100% import driven.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



Browse 20 market data Tables and 47 Figures spread through 111 Pages and an in-depth TOC on

"Djibouti Tire Market"

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/djibouti-tire-market-forecast-opportunities/885.html

Passenger car tire segment dominated Djibouti tire market during 2012 - 2016, and the segment is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period as well. In 2016, Djibouti Region accounted for the largest share in the country's tire market. Djibouti city is the capital of Djibouti and the largest city in the country as well. With a population exceeding 0.5 million, Djibouti city is the center for all economic activities in the country due to its strategic location as a Red Sea transit point. Most of the goods exported to Somalia and other neighboring countries pass through Djibouti. Hence, due to its strategic location, Djibouti city is the largest contributor the country's tire market, and the same trend is expected to continue over the next five years as well.

Download Sample Report

@ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=885

Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.

"On account of unstable political environment, automobile as well as tire companies are facing challenges in conducting their operations in the country. However, with the country gradually regaining political stability coupled with better fiscal and regulatory policies, Djibouti is expected to evolve into a more open and stable economy over the course of next 5-10 years, which would eventually have a positive impact on the country's tire industry in the coming years." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

"Djibouti Tire Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2021" has analyzed the potential of Djibouti tire market, and provides statistics and information on market sizes, shares and trends. The report will suffice in providing intending clients with cutting-edge market intelligence and help them in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers and key challenges faced by the industry.

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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.

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SOURCE TechSci Research
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Func Food Group Oyj (the "Company") today announces the successful completion of the written procedure in relation to the Company's outstanding up to EUR 38,000,000 senior secured callable bond loan with ISIN SE0007186150 2015/2019 (the "Bonds"), regarding certain amendments to the terms and conditions of the Bonds (the "Proposal"). The amendments to the terms and conditions became effective immediately as of 3 February 2017.

A sufficient number of bondholders participated in the written procedure in order to form a quorum, and a qualified majority of the bondholders voted in favour to approve the Proposal.

As a condition for the amendments, the Company will arrange for an equity contribution in an amount of minimum EUR 2,000,000 and maximum EUR 3,000,000, of which EUR 500,000 was contributed on 20 December 2016, within two (2) months from 3 February 2017.

Pareto Securities has been retained as financial advisor in connection with the written procedure.

The amended terms and conditions of the Bonds are available on the Company's website (www.funcfood.com) and attached hereto.

For further information, please contact:

Tommi Virtanen, CFO

Telephone: +358 40 590 4040

Email: tommi.virtanen@funcfoodgroup.com

The information contained in this press release is such information that Func Food Group Oyj is required to publish in accordance with the Swedish Securities Market Act (2007:528) and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act (1991:980). The information was submitted for publication on 3 February 2017 at 20:00 CET.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/func-food-group-oyj/r/func-food-group-oyj---approval-of-written-procedure-and-amendments-to-the-terms-and-conditions-of-th,c2180480

The following files are available for download:

http://mb.cision.com/Public/14350/2180480/a23ab8499b3f5eea.pdf Amended Terms and Conditions

Related Links

http://www.funcfood.com



SOURCE Func Food Group Oyj
DUBAI, UAE, February 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Following the recently announced moratorium on the Hungarian Residency Bond Program and the upcoming March deadline for new applications, Arton Capital is happy to announce a significant improvement in the investment conditions for new and existing clients of the program.

Instead of locking 300,000 of their capital over a period of 5 years, applicants now have the option of financing the residency bond purchase for a one-time interest prepayment of 125,000. This option allows our clients to gain access to the most popular residency by investment program in Europe and obtain permanent residency within 30 days. To qualify applicants will need to meet the program's due diligence and procedural requirements.

The attractive financing option makes Hungary's residency program the best in the world, as ranked by Arton Index, the industry benchmark for residency and citizenship programs based on attractiveness from investors' point of view.

Furthermore, the 2017 Passport Index, which ranks the world's passports has ranked Hungary's passport at the 8th place in the Global Passport Power Rank, with access to 151 countries visa-free or with visa on arrival.

Thanks to Arton Capital's proven track record of more than 5,000 invested clients and our strong relationship with major financial institutions, the company has managed to secure a syndicated loan from key European and international banks for the required investment.

In addition, by the second half of 2017, we expect to extend this financing offer to current clients who have already purchased government bonds and obtained residency. Applicants who invested between 2014 and 2016 will be offered a buyback option of their bonds at a rate relative to the bond's maturity.

New investors have a limited time before March 31, 2017, to benefit from this extraordinary opportunity. For more details, please contact our team of experts or visit our page dedicated to Hungary's Residency Bond Program.

About Arton Capital

Arton Capital empowers individuals and families to become Global Citizens by investing in a second residency or citizenship around the world. As a global financial advisory firm, Arton plays a critical role in helping investors, industry professionals and governments meet their goals quickly, efficiently and effectively.

For more on Arton's bespoke services, please visit http://www.artoncapital.com.

About the Hungarian Residency Bond Program

Established in 2012, the Hungarian Investor Residency Bond Program offers investors a 30-day pathway to permanent residency in one of the most-visited, culturally rich and well-located countries in Europe.

Learn more on the Hungarian Residency Bond Program.

John Hanafin, CEO, Arton Capital - Empowering Global CitizenshipE, info@artoncapital.com, T (Dubai) +971-4-456-9220

SOURCE Arton Capital
BOSTON, Feb. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for active review its New Drug Application (NDA) for ITCA 650, an investigational therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Intarcia looks forward to working closely with the FDA through the review process.

ITCA 650 provides continuous delivery of exenatide via an osmotic mini-pump placed just beneath a patient's skin in the abdominal wall. It is designed to do this by leveraging Intarcia's innovative and proprietary technology, the Medici Drug Delivery System. In studies, ITCA 650 mini-pumps were given with a 20mcg/day three-month introductory dose and then followed by a 60mcg/day six-month maintenance dose, which translates to twice-yearly dosing after initiation.

About Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.

Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to enhance treatment and prevention outcomes by optimizing and improving the efficacy, continuous administration and tolerability of drug therapies. Delivering medicines just once- or twice yearly to prevent and/or chronically treat diseases holds potential to improve outcomes by improving effectiveness over time and by addressing real-world unmet needs around poor patient adherence and persistence rates that are high in the majority of chronic diseases. Intarcia is investigating multiple therapies, including combination therapies, for chronic diseases leveraging the convergence of novel medicines and the proprietary Medici Drug Delivery System. Intarcia is developing a strong pipeline in important therapeutic areas, including: diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, HIV, and other serious disorders.

For more information on the Company, please visit www.intarcia.com.

Intarcia and its logo are registered trademarks of Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.

Follow us on Twitter @intarcia.

Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/454546/Intarcia_Therapeutics_Logo.jpg

Related Links

http://www.intarcia.com



SOURCE Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.
PRINCETON, New Jersey, Feb. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MIAX PEARL, the newest U.S. equity options exchange, today confirmed that it will launch trading operations on Monday, February 6, 2017 at 9:30 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. MIAX PEARL further confirmed that IBM will be its first symbol listed for options trading. MIAX PEARL is the second exchange offered by its parent holding company Miami International Holdings, Inc. The first exchange, MIAX Options, began operations in December of 2012, and executed 6.81% of U.S. equity options industry volume in 2016. To date, MIAX Options has executed more than 690 million contracts.

"Monday, February 6th will mark a tremendous milestone for us with the launch of MIAX PEARL and the culmination of many hours of hard work and commitment," said Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive officer of MIAX PEARL. "We would like to thank our MIAX PEARL Board members, our MIAX PEARL member firms, our stockholders and employees for their efforts toward a successful launch."

"We are excited for MIAX PEARL to officially go live and become the industry's newest price-time exchange," said Douglas M. Schafer, Jr., Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of MIAX PEARL. "Our systems have performed exceptionally during industry-wide testing and our member firms are eager to now experience the ultra-low latency and exceptional throughput capabilities of our technology platform during live trading."

Added Barbara J. Comly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of MIAX PEARL "We are pleased to be launching trading operations on Monday following the receipt of all necessary approvals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission."

For further information regarding MIAX PEARL, please visit www.MIAXOptions.com or contact MIAX Trading Operations at TradingOperations@MIAXOptions.com.

Corporate Communications Contact: Dominique Prunetti-Miller

(609) 897-1465

dprunetti@miami-holdings.com

About MIAX PEARL and MIH

MIAX PEARL is Miami International Holdings, Inc.'s (MIH) second fully electronic options trading exchange following the launch of MIAX Options in December 2012. MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL have assembled a team with deep rooted experience in developing, operating and trading on options exchanges. MIAX PEARL received SEC approval as a national securities exchange on December 13, 2016 and leverages the industry leading technology and infrastructure developed by MIAX Options to employ a price-time allocation model with a maker-taker pricing structure. The executive offices, technology development center and National Operations Center for the MIAX exchange group are located in Princeton, New Jersey.

MIAX PEARL, MIAX Options, Miami International Technologies, LLC (MIAX Technologies) and MIAX Global, LLC (MIAX Global) are wholly-owned subsidiaries of MIH. The MIAX exchange group's trading platforms have been developed in-house and designed from the ground up for the unique functional and performance demands of derivatives trading. MIAX Options now lists and trades options on over 2,700 multi-listed classes. MIAX Options' unparalleled system throughput is approximately 38 million quotes per second. The average latency for a single quote on MIAX Options is approximately 17.38 microseconds for a two quote block. At the 99th percentile, the latency on MIAX Options is approximately 26.86 microseconds. At the 99.9th percentile, the latency on MIAX Options is approximately 53.11 microseconds. MIAX Technologies is MIH's technology subsidiary for the sale and/or license of the trading technology developed by MIAX Options. MIAX Global focuses on merger, acquisition and joint venture activities of MIH. MIAX Global also provides technology and other services outside of North America, with its initial concentration being on Europe and Latin America.

Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of MIH, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer; solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical or current facts of MIH, together with its subsidiaries, including MIAX PEARL (collectively, the Company). Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the possible or assumed future results of operations of the Company; the competitive position of the Company; potential growth opportunities available to the Company; the expectation with respect to securities, options and future markets and general economic conditions; the effects of competition on the Company's business; and the impact of future legislation and regulatory changes on the Company's business. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

Related Links

http://www.miaxoptions.com



SOURCE MIAX PEARL
SHANGHAI, Feb. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University took 34th place in the 2017 Global MBA Ranking by the UK's Financial Times (FT) of the best 100 programs released on January 30, 2017, once again making the list of FT's top 50 business schools worldwide and reconfirming its position as one of China's leading business schools.

Antai is currently the only Chinese business school that has made it into all four of the FT's key rankings of the best 40 programs worldwide: besides the placement in the 2017 FT Global MBA Ranking, the school also came in 7th in the 2016 FT Global EMBA Ranking, 9th in the 2016 FT Global Executive Education-Customized Ranking and 33rd in the 2016 FT Global Master in Management Ranking.

Antai's MBA program remains committed to helping students in developing and executing on their career path, the results of which were reflected in the core graduate career development indicators of the FT rankings. Employment rates, salary increases from pre-MBA levels, employment outcome, career progress, cost performance and salaries three years post-graduation at Antai ranked 1st, 2nd, 17th, 23rd, 31st and 52nd respectively.

Despite the global economic downturn, the average MBA alumni salary three years after graduation at Antai stood at US$123,330, up 11 percent compared to 2016 and 32 percent compared to 2015, demonstrating that Antai's MBA alumni are being increasingly sought out and recognized by companies.

Backed by stellar academic credentials, Antai's MBA program instructors are senior executives or independent directors, or lead collaborative efforts with local businesses. Beyond their international outlook, they are also actively involved in understanding business at the local level. The FT rankings confirmed Antai's steady and continuous improvement in their academic and scientific research indicators, with 92 percent of the instructors having a PhD, taking second place for this ranking.

Antai has been committed to globalization for years, proven by the increasing proportion of international students in its programs. Its international program is ranked 27th globally. Antai's MBA program, a combination of study abroad, campus exchanges and dual-degree courses, is further enriched by the abundant international educational resources. Nearly 80 percent of its students continue their studies abroad upon completion of the program.

As China's first business school with a triple accreditation - accreditations from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) -, Antai has demonstrated its leadership in terms of global authoritative rankings. Shanghai Jiao Tong University's business and management program placed 43rd in the 2016 QS World MBA rankings, with four of its business management-related programs listed among the world's top 100.

SOURCE Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
"We are now active in 37 U.S. states/territories and 15 countries, with more added each month," stated Concierge Auctions President and Founder Laura Brady. "In 2016, we achieved significant milestones that drove our growth in key markets both nationally and internationally, selling nearly $300 million in high-end real estate. We built upon our technology platform, expanded our network, and broke new ground in more continents. This continued success demonstrates that our model works for the efficient purchase and sale of unique, high-end real estate all over the world. And, it is a promising sign that the best is yet to come in 2017."

Concierge Auctions' notable domestic transactions spanned 20 U.S. states in 2016 and included many record-setting sales including Hacienda de las Palmas, a Monterey Spanish-styled private residence located in one of the most affluent zip codes in the country, which achieved the highest sale price in Rancho Santa Fe, California for the year; 885 Hill Lane in Reno, Nevada, a European-style, mountain cottage circa the 1700s, which achieved the highest sale price in the area in the last 10 years; and a grand manor in Colorado Springs and new construction beachfront home in South Carolina, both of which achieved the highest sale prices within their respective markets in many years.

Additional highlights included the $10.725 million sale of 72-2941 Hainoa Street at the exclusive Hualalai Resort in Hawaii, home to the Four Seasons Hualalai, which marked the firm's highest price ever in the state; the famed Kleeberg Residence at 3 Riverside Drive, Concierge Auctions' first private home sale in New York City; and 212 White Pine Canyon Road in Park City, Utah, a modern-day manor set on the ski slopes of the world-class Park City Mountain Resort.

"The auction process generated great exposure for the property within an accelerated time period," said Hacienda de las Palmas Seller Rick Nicholas. "We were pleased the Concierge team found a new family to enjoy the home as much as we have. In fact, as a result of the heightened interest, we negotiated the sale pre-auction. There is no doubt in my mind that the auction process brought us the buyer. It was the right decision."

Internationally, Concierge held auctions for properties across eight countries including the U.S., the most notable of which was the 8 million sale of Finca Sa Vinya, a 200-year-old Spanish villa in Mallorca, Spain. Other sales abroad included 26 Park Lane Circle, a 23,000-square-foot, copper-roofed estate, located within Toronto's famed Bridle Path neighborhood, sold by former newspaper publisher Conrad Black.

"Our growth continues to be a sign that sellers and forward-thinking real estate professionals are looking to compress the timeline and maximize the price of luxury real estate. Our sellers value control, predictability, and liquidity. And, our buyers gain access to some of the best properties available for sale around the world in a transparent process," stated Chairman Chad Roffers.

Born out of the brokerage community, Concierge Auctions has never auctioned a property without an agent partner. This is a key tenet of the firm  to give control back to agents and their clients.

"We always partner with listing agents, and having experienced first-hand the limitations of traditional efforts alone, it has been rewarding to continue to expand our relationships within the real estate community," Roffers added.

Additional 2016 company milestones included achieving record-breaking sales over all four consecutive quarters; receiving seven Telly Awards for the firm's innovative film production; the recognition of Brady and Roffers as two of "The Most Influential People in Real Estate" by Inman News, a first for Roffers and Brady's third consecutive selection; an increase in the firm's unrivaled number of global contacts from over 298,000 to over 421,000; an increase in subscribers from over 48,000 to over 62,000; becoming a preferred agent partner to Luxury Portfolio International; and being named in Inc. Magazine's list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. for the third consecutive year.

2016 SALES

1/15/2016: 155 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City, UT  Sold | Listed for $7,295,000

 Sold | Listed for 2/2/2016: Goshen Brook Country Estate | 77 Hageman Shean Road, Goshen, CT  Sold for $1,150,000

 Sold for 2/16/2016: L'Dor V'Dor, Montego Bay, Jamaica  Sold for $2,805,000

 Sold for 2/18/2016: Bahama Reef Yacht & Country Club, Freeport, Bahamas  Sale Pending

 Sale Pending 2/23/2016: Casa Karen, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico  Sold for $2,600,000

 Sold for 3/8/2016: 26 Park Lane Circle, Toronto, Canada  Sold | Listed for $21,800,000

 Sold | Listed for 3/17/2016: 14855 Sunset Ridge Court (Lot 7), Poway, CA  Sold | Listed for $3,450,000

 Sold | Listed for 3/29/2016: 50938 Desert Arroyo Trail, Palm Springs, CA  Sold for $2,585,000

 Sold for 3/31/2016: 16827 Via De La Valle, Rancho Santa Fe, CA  Sold for $687,500

 Sold for 3/31/2016: 24 Dispatch Creek Court, Key Largo, FL  Sold for $5,720,000

 Sold for 4/5/2016: Rosale Plantation | 10378 Highway 61, Saint Francisville, LA  Sold for $2,970,000

 Sold for 4/12/2016: Villa Ballena, Nayarit /Punta de Mita, Mexico  Sold for $2,805,000

/Punta de Mita,  Sold for 4/15/2016: Hope Town Cottage 50, The Abaco Club, Winding Bay, Abaco, Bahamas  Sale Pending

 Sale Pending 4/26/2016: Villa Viviana, Tryall Club, Jamaica  Sold for $1,950,000

 Sold for 4/29/2016: 980 Crescent Beach Road, Vero Beach, FL  Sold for $3,300,000

 Sold for 4/29/2016: 360 N. Blue Wave Lane, Vero Beach, FL  Sold for $5,005,000

 Sold for 5/5/2016: 12 Front Light Walk, Daufuskie Island, SC  Sold for $1,991,000

 Sold for 5/5/2016: Villa La Ponche | 2-4 Rue de Pecheurs, Saint Tropez, France  Sold for 2,145,000

 Sold for 2,145,000 5/21/2016: Deer Lodge | 6284 San Marcos Pass Road, Santa Barbara, CA  Sold | Listed for $14,000,000

 Sold | Listed for 5/25/2016: 101 Pascal Lane, Austin, TX  Sold | Listed for $16,900,000

 Sold | Listed for 5/25/2016: Villa Gracia & Lot 14, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico  Sold for $1,540,000

 Sold for 5/31/2016: Monticello - Somers | 732 Hall Hill Road, Somers, CT  Sold for $2,330,000

- | 732 Hall Hill Road,  Sold for 5/31/2016: 19 Elm Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO  Sold for $4,400,000

 Sold for 6/10/2016: 2 Coventry Court, Larchmont, NY  Sold for $3,245,000

 Sold for 6/14/2016: Finca Sa Vinya, Mallorca, Spain  Sold for 8,000,000

 Sold for 8,000,000 6/14/2016: 233 Carter Road, Princeton, NJ  Sold for $1,600,000

 Sold for 6/15/2016: Casa del Vinatero, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico  Sold for $2,750,000

 Sold for 6/25/2016: 55 Granite Ridge, Alberta, Canada  Sold for $2,500,000

 Sold for 6/29/2016: 885 Hill Lane, Reno / Lake Tahoe, NV  Sold for $1,650,000

/  Sold for 6/30/2016: 20155 NE 38th Court, Unit 1804, Aventura, FL  Sold for $2,050,000

 Sold for 6/30/2016: 625 Old Tonahutu Ridge Road, Grand Lake, CO  Sold for $1,490,000

 Sold for 6/30/2016: 76 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City, UT  Sold for $6,275,000

 Sold for 7/14/2016: Wolf Creek Ranch Estate #4 | 10845 E. Wild Elk Meadows #4, Park City, UT  Sold for $4,125,000

 Sold for 7/24/2016: Above the Clouds | 189 Upper Springs Road, Stowe, VT  Sold for $2,750,000

 Sold for 7/25/2016: Moose Point | 1100 Delbrooke Road, Lake of Bays, Ontario, Canada  Sold for $3,580,000

 Sold for 7/26/2016: Eagle Ranch | 7955 South Eagle Ranch Road, Jackson, WY  Sold for $2,350,000

 Sold for 7/27/2016: 212 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City, UT  Sold | Listed for $14,500,000

 Sold | Listed for 8/1/2016: Freedom Pass, Big Sky, MT  Sold for $1,500,000

 Sold for 8/2/2016: Olu Pua Gardens, Kauai, HI  Sold for $3,630,000

 Sold for 8/11/2016: 18127 Via Roswitha, Rancho Santa Fe, CA  Sold for $7,040,000

 Sold for 8/30/2016: 7500 Escala Drive, Austin, TX  Sold for $2,688,000

 Sold for 8/30/2016: 91 Winding Creek Road, Olympic Valley, CA  Sold for $2,585,000

 Sold for 8/31/2016: Blackpoint at Linville Falls | 124 Black Point Drive, Linville Falls, NC  Sold for $1,456,000

| 124 Black Point Drive,  Sold for 8/31/2016: 72-2941 Hainoa Street, Kailua-Kona, HI  Sold for $10,725,000

 Sold for 8/31/2016: Starfire | 1200 Starfire Way, Sandpoint, ID  Sold for $1,980,000

 Sold for 9/13/2016: Buffalo Creek | 18200 East Highway 287, Jackson Hole, WY  Sold | Listed for $3,800,000

| 18200 East Highway 287,  Sold | Listed for 9/28/2016: 508 Woodthrush Way, Banner Elk, NC  Sold for $875,000

 Sold for 9/29/2016: 707 Weaver Street, Larchmont, NY  Sold for $2,688,000

 Sold for 9/29/2016: 3 Pine Road, Colorado Springs, CO  Sold for $1,568,000

 Sold for 9/29/2016: 14115 Biscayne Place, San Diego County, CA  Sold for $2,525,000

 Sold for 9/30/2016: 157 Easton Road, Westport, CT  Sold for $2,050,000

 Sold for 10/5/2016: 19 Wharf Avenue, Pensacola, FL  Sold for $2,625,000

 Sold for 10/12/2016: Casa Belle Vista | 3816 Turtle Creek Drive, Dallas, TX  Sold | Listed for $8,900,000

 Sold | Listed for 10/12/2016: Cedar Island on Lake Champlain | 1 Cedar Island, South Hero, VT  Sold for $1,008,000

on Lake Champlain | 1 Cedar Island,  Sold for 10/13/2016: Hacienda de las Palmas | 16270 Via de la Valle, Rancho Santa Fe, CA  Sold | Listed for $19,750,000

 Sold | Listed for 10/18/2016: The Versailles Penthouse | 360 East Desert Inn Road, Las Vegas, NV  Sold | Listed for $4,880,000

 Sold | Listed for 10/27/2016: 12612 White Deer Drive, Denver, CO  Sold for $2,596,000

 Sold for 10/28/2016: 716 Beaumont Hwy, Lebanon, CT  Sold for $775,000

 Sold for 10/28/2016: 221 Spring Road, Malvern, CT  Sold for $3,036,000

10/29/2016: 14914 Springview Ridge, Bristol, VA  Sold for $772,000

 Sold for 11/10/2016: Villa Ghida, Calle Bella Vista, San Eugenio Alto, Adeje, Tenerife, Spain  Sale Pending

 Sale Pending 11/14/2016: 6626 Talmadge Lane, Dallas, TX  Sold for $3,416,000

 Sold for 11/17/2016: Casa Dall' Oceano | 9 Strand Beach Drive, Dana Point, CA  Sale Pending

| 9 Strand Beach Drive,  Sale Pending 11/18/2016: 508 Stonegate Lane, Winston-Salem, NC  Sold for $2,275,000

 Sold for 12/7/2016: 64 Orchard Road, West Hartford, CT  Sold for $789,000

 Sold for 12/8/2016: The Governor Ross Sterling Mansion | 515 Bayridge Road, Houston /Galveston Bay, TX  Sold for $2,800,000

/Galveston Bay, TX  Sold for 12/15/2016: Il Incanto | 6605 La Valle Plateada, Rancho Santa Fe, CA  Sold for $6,804,000

 Sold for 12/20/2016: Chateau Montagel | 7 Montagel Way, Shoal Creek, AL  Sale Pending | Previously listed at $9,900,000

 Sale Pending | Previously listed at 12/20/2016: Carrington House | 6 Hertford Street, London, UK  Sale Pending

| 6 Hertford Street,  Sale Pending 12/20/2016: Viscount Court | 12 Viscount Court, London, UK  Sale Pending

 Sale Pending 12/20/2016: Cheyne Gardens | Flat 6, 14 Cheyne Gardens, London, UK  Sale Pending

 Sale Pending 12/20/2016: 300 Elks Park, Telluride, CO  Sale Pending | Previously listed at $18,000,000

 Sale Pending | Previously listed at 12/20/2016: The Kleeberg Residence | 3 Riverside Drive, New York, NY  Sale Pending

 Sale Pending 12/20/2016: The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Unit 401A/501A, 2700 N. Ocean Drive, Singer Island, FL  Sale Pending | Previously listed at $7,750,000

12/31/2016: 68-1051 Honoka'ope Way, Kona, HI  Sale Pending | Previously listed at $4,600,000

For more information, or if you have a remarkable property to submit for consideration to the Concierge Auctions platform, call 212.202.2940.

About Concierge Auctions

New York-based Concierge Auctions is the dominant marketplace for buying and selling the world's finest properties. Since its founding in 2008, Concierge's business has spanned 37 U.S. states/territories and 15 countries, resulting in over $1 billion in sales and many record-setting transactions. Concierge conducts a majority of its auctions through its custom mobile Instant Gavel application, which can be downloaded from the Apple and Android app stores. Concierge recently received the "Best Overall Marketing" award from Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate, a global collection of more than 130,000 real estate professionals in more than 60 countries, and has been named one of America's fastest-growing companies by Inc. Magazine for the past three years.

Contact:

Kari Neering [email protected]

Chanelle Kasik [email protected]

212-920-7057

SOURCE Concierge Auctions
VIENNA, Va., Feb. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stemtree Education Center has been named one of the Best Summer Camps in Northern Virginia Magazine's March 2017 Best Summer Camps edition. Stemtree was chosen by readers and vetted by staff in the magazine's search for the best-of-the-best local summer camp program.

This award comes on the heels of Stemtree's recent selection as Best STEM Program in Washington FAMILY Magazine's 2016 Best for Families survey.

Northern Virginia Magazine

"We are thrilled to be recognized once again for the exceptional experience we provide our students," says Stemtree founder and Curriculum Director Dr. Abdelghani "Bell" Bellaachia. "I'm particularly proud of our camp program because it is no small feat to make summertime learning both productive and fun. But we have done it here at Stemtree, and that's generating a lot of enthusiasm in the community."

Building on the momentum of another successful school year, plans for an exciting 2017 summer program are well underway. Stemtree campers will spend the dog days of summer exploring science, technology, and engineering through fun, hands-on activities and one-on-one instruction. Returning students will continue with their curriculum, while new attendees will be given an initial assessment from which a customized lesson plan will be developed.

Campers will delve into science experiments, computer programming and game design, and robotics and electrical engineering, all while having fun with their peers. "Stemtree's summer camp is a win-win proposition," explains Dr. Bell. "The children are happy because they are having a blast, and the parents are happy because not only are their kids engaged, safe, and happy, they are getting an edge for the upcoming school year."

September through June, Stemtree offers after-school programs at its Vienna location for elementary, middle, and high school students, with optional pick up at local elementary schools. Students enjoy snack time, playtime, and workouts in science, engineering and technology, plus support for homework, test preparation, and exam support (SOL, AP, IB) as needed.

Stemtree also coordinates with local elementary school PTA/PTOs to offer school-based after-school programs to supplement or enhance the core science curriculum. Tutoring services in the fields of science, technology, and engineering are also available. Fun, science-related birthday parties can be hosted on request.

2017 Camp registration is now open online at https://www.stemtree.com/camps. Spots available for Student Holiday Camp (March 24 and April 17), Spring Break Camp (April 10-14), and Summer Camp (sessions available from June 26  August 25). Space is limited.

Franchise opportunities are available at www.stemtreefranchise.com. Stemtree Education Center is located at 220 Maple Ave West, in Vienna, Virginia. To learn more, visit www.stemtree.com.

Related Images

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Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKbIdelTAFo

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com.

SOURCE Stemtree Education Center

Related Links

https://www.stemtree.com


WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

ROSA PARKS

Profile America  Saturday, February 4th. Adding poignancy to Black History Month, today marks the birthday in 1913 of Rosa Parks, a community activist who became a symbol of the fight for civil equality. Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white man. This sparked a boycott of the bus system by black people, which greatly energized the ultimately successful civil rights movement. During her life, Rosa Parks championed the cause of increased opportunities for youth. When she was arrested in 1955, black children on average had attended about seven years of school. Now, about 85 percent of African-American adults have at least a high school diploma, and almost 3.4 million are enrolled in college as graduate or undergraduate students. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.

Sources:

Rosa Parks/accessed 11/30/2016: http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715

Black education in 1950s: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 380

High school diplomas/American Community Survey: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S0201//popgroup~004

College enrollment: American Community Survey:

https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/B14007B

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov


Founded in 2014 by CEO and former Green Beret Evan Hafer, BRCC was built upon the mission to provide a high-quality, roast-to-order, coffee to the pro-2A and veteran communities. Between deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Hafer worked to refine both his coffee roasting and firearms skills. He spent over a decade researching coffee, refining roast profiles and of course drinking while he roasted. BRCC stands for more than just a coffee company. It's a veteran-owned business operated by principled men who have served our country honorably and stand together to protect the business integrity, conservative values, the veteran community, and our families. They are the proud individuals who raise their right hand to support and defend the Constitution, who set aside aggressive social progressiveness to be what's important, kind, loyal, and protecting what they love: AMERICA. Just as committed to supporting the 15 thriving businesses beneath their umbrella as they are to the act of war, their brotherhood is stronger than commerce.

BRCC has consistently grown well over 700% since roasting their first batch of coffee just two years ago. Plans are in the works to open over 100 brick and mortar stores in the next three years and 500 in six years. Currently, the BRCC compound rests on 3.3 acres in downtown Salt Lake City and is already building an infrastructure for expansion. BRCC has teamed up with 5.11 Tactical and several other vetreprenuerial powerhouses to support its rapidly progressing operation. With escalating growth, comes obvious need to hire more employees. BRCC wants to remind the veteran community, "Starbucks says they are hiring Syrians because it makes for impressive PR. We hire veterans because it's who we are." While irate Starbucks patrons have been trading in their gift cards for cash at stores across the nation all week over this controversy, BRCC made a formal announcement on Instagram encouraging veterans to apply for future positions with their company by way of email to [email protected]

The inherent reality as a free society is the ability to vote with dollars. Repeatedly, conglomerates play on the emotional component of political prowess, by siding with the market best suited for their business endeavors versus standing for what they believe in as human beings. As a small business consistently faced with "schoolyard bullies" shoving and attacking every successful move BRCC makes, they refuse to stop serving their country, devalue patriotic predecessors, and watch American heritage being washed away in a storm of progressive, loutish intolerance. BRCC's sentiment of hiring veterans isn't for marketing propaganda, but how they have built their foundation. BRCC asks America, "Before you decide to vote with your hard earned dollar, what do YOU believe in?"

For more information on BRCC, contact BlackRifleCoffee.com.

Stay Connected @BlackRifleCoffee

SOURCE Black Rifle Coffee Company

Related Links

http://www.blackriflecoffee.com


If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Chennai, Feb 1 : Actor Nani and the crew of his next yet-untitled Telugu project left for the US on Wednesday for a month-long schedule, a source in the know said.

"The team left for the US in the early hours of Wednesday. This schedule will go on till March 2, and nearly 30 to 40 percent of the film will be shot there," the source, from the film's unit, told IANS.

Being directed by Nirvana Siva, the film also stars Nivetha Thomas and Aadi Pinisetty.

An excited Nani wrote on his Twitter page on Wednesday: "Off to US. Shoot of my next begins on February 2."

On Thursday, in San Francisco, Nani will attend the special premiere of his Telugu film "Nenu Local", which is slated for theatrical release in India on Friday.
New Delhi, Feb 1 : Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit on Wednesday condoled the death of senior Kerala parliamentarian E. Ahamed.

"My sincere condolences. I have fond memories of meeting him a few times," Basit tweeted.

"May Allah bless the departed soul," he added.

Ahamed, an IUML MP from Mallapuram, Kerala, had served as Minister of State for External Affairs in the previous UPA government. He died here early on Wednesday, hours after collapsing in the Central Hall of Parliament on Tuesday during the President's address. He had suffered a cardiac arrest, and was rushed to hospital.
Beijing, Feb 3 : China registered a record 6.15 million foreign trips during the Lunar New Year holiday, according to official data released on Friday.

This amounts to a seven per cent rise compared to the same period the previous year, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

While the number of Chinese people travelling abroad for the festive period increased this year, the figure is still relatively low given that a total of 344 million trips within China were recorded during this year's season, a 13.8 per cent increase on last year, Efe news reported.

The data refers only to the week-long holiday that began on Jan. 27, although the peak travelling season lasts up to 40 days.

Authorities estimate a total of 3 billion trips take place throughout the country during the holiday.

During Chinese New Year celebrations, hundreds of millions of people return to their hometowns to be with their families, journeys which contribute to the largest annual human migration in the world.

The revenue for the Chinese tourism industry rose 15.9 percent in the so-called "golden week" holiday, to 423.3 billion yuan ($61 billion), compared to 2016.

The industry recorded revenue worth 3.9 trillion yuan in 2016. Authorities hope to raise that figure to 7 trillion by 2020.

Millions of Chinese returned to work and their daily routines this week as the Lunar New Year festive week in China ended on Thursday.
Washington, Feb 4 : Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have arrived back at their residence here after a short vacation on a private island, media reports said.

The former first couple have now returned to their nine-bedroom, $4.3 million home in the elite Kalorama neighbourhood -- which is just two blocks from Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's new $5.5 million pad, Daily Mail online reported.

They flew out of Virgin billionaire Richard Branson's private island on Thursday, after ten days in the Virgin Islands - with no children and no work obligations.

The former leader of the free world has remained almost silent about his successor after nearly two full weeks.

But on Monday the former President released a statement through a spokesperson, rather than directly through his Twitter account, in response to Trump's travel ban.

'President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country,' according to a statement released by his post-presidential office.
Tehran, Feb 4 : Iran's Foreign Ministry said it will counteract the fresh US sanctions imposed against some Iranian and non-Iranian entities under the pretext of being linked with Iran's missile program.

The fresh sanctions are "inconsistent with the US commitments and in contradiction with the spirit of the UN Resolution 2231," Xinhua news agency cited a Foreign Ministry statement.

"Developing missile capabilities of the country, which is solely designed for defensive purposes and carrying the conventional weapons, is the international right of the Iranians based on the UN charter," it said on Friday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that any foreign intervention in this regard is a violation of the international law.

Iran's security is non-negotiable and "the Islamic republic will counteract any measure which targets the national interests of the Iranians," it said.

The US on Friday announced sanctions on multiple entities and individuals involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and providing support to a military force in Iran.

The move came days after Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that the action reflects the US commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and "destabilizing" activities in the region, and is fully consistent with the US commitments under the nuclear deal with Iran.
Valletta, Feb 4 : French President Francois Hollande called on European Union leaders to refuse any "pressure" from the US administration and to reflect a complete independence on its future, particularly on defence, trade and its relations with Russia.

Hollande did not rule out the possibility of a "multi-speed" Europe when addressing the press during the European Union informal summit here, Xinhua news agency reported.

A plan was endorsed at the summit to stem illegal immigration along the central Mediterranean route and prepared for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome to be celebrated on March 25.

"There may be different opinions within the 28, even judgments on the Trump administration can be nuanced among us, but there needs to be a unity of the European Union to take the full account of what is taking place," said the French president.

Hollande also warned against relying solely on the US-dominated alliance for Europe's military defence. Europe must organise its own defence within the framework of the NATO alliance, he said.

He stressed that the EU should assert its interests especially when a country, the US in this case, aims at changing the situation and adopts unilateral and protectionist measures.

"What matters is solidarity at the EU level. We must not have the illusion of some sort of external protection," he said.

"We in France have a defence policy. We fear nothing...We must have a European conception of our future. If not, there will be, in my opinion, no Europe and not necessarily any way for each of the countries to be able to exert an influence in the world," he added.
New York, Feb 4 : A week after US President Donald Trump imposed a temporary travel ban for residents of seven Muslim-majority countries, dozens of lawyers remained at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to defend the rights of those affected, the media reported.

The Central Diner, a 24-hour eatery in Terminal 4, has become a makeshift office for lawyers, interpreters and others who are donating their time and effort to aid travellers, Efe news reported on Saturday.

Immigration attorney Tahanie Aboushi has been here all week assisting the families of some 100 people detained on arrival.

"This is a direct violation of the United States Constitution. The President's executive order discriminates on the basis of nationality and we can't stand by doing nothing in the face of something like this," she told Efe news on Friday.

Aboushi recounts the case of a father and son who spent 33 hours in custody after arriving on a flight from Iran.

"They gave them two choices: be deported to Iran with a five-year prohibition on returning to the US, or face indefinite detention," the lawyer said.

Since Trump issued the order on January 27, federal judges have issued temporary injunctions blocking the deportation of Iranians, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Sudan, Somalis, and Yemenis who arrived in the US with valid visas.

But the problem extends beyond the borders of the US, according to Aboushi, who says that in some countries, airlines are preventing people of those nationalities - some with Green Cards - from boarding flights.

"People whose entry has been blocked have valid visas and even so they have been exhaustively interrogated and reviewed," lawyer Steven DeMaio said. "We need to remember they are not illegals."

"We have been told about cases in which authorities have asked permanent residents to sign form I-407, which implies a voluntary renunciation of their legal status," DeMaio said.

The attorneys wait in the Terminal 4 arrivals hall with signs in English and Arabic reading "Have you seen someone being detained?" and "free legal aid".

Around 200 people gathered outside JFK's Terminal 4 on Friday for an interfaith prayer service organised by the New York Immigration Coalition and Majlis Al Shura: The Islamic Leadership Council of Greater New York.

"New York is home to 4.3 million immigrants and it is essential that we do everything we can to protect them against these anti-immigrant executive orders," the coalition's Muzna Ansari said.

"As a Muslim woman myself, I am heartened by the tremendous momentum achieved by diverse New York communities. We are showing the new administration that our New York is welcoming, inclusive, and will not rest until we receive justice," she added.
Tokyo, Feb 4 : US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Saturday reaffirmed Washington's commitment to defending Japan, including a group of disputed islands which have been claimed by China.

"I made clear that our long-standing policy on the Senkaku Islands stands -- the US will continue to recognise Japanese administration of the islands and as such Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty applies," Mattis said in a press conference with Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada, CNN reported.

Article 5 of that treaty says the US will defend territories under Japanese administration, which would include the Senkakus, an uninhabited group of islands in the East China Sea called the Diaoyus by China.

Tensions have flashed numerous times in recent years over the islands, including face-offs between Japanese and Chinese air and naval forces that have been termed dangerous by both sides.

Mattis' visit to Japan and South Korea follows a campaign in which President Donald Trump unsettled the region by suggesting that Seoul and Tokyo develop their own nuclear weapons and pay more towards keeping US troops stationed in the two countries.

But in his inaugural trip as Secretary of Defence, Mattis has repeatedly reassured the staunch US allies of the Trump administration's commitment to the region.

"I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100 per cent shoulder to shoulder with you and the Japanese people," Mattis said.
Panaji, Feb 4 : Goa recorded 15 per cent voting in the first two hours, since polling began at 7 a.m., on Saturday for the state's 40 assembly seats, election officials said.

"North Goa district experienced 16 per cent voting and South Goa district polled 14 per cent. Overall voting is 15 per cent," Chief Electoral Officer Kunal told the media here.

No untoward situation has been reported so far.

However, polling at one booth in Cumbharjua constituency was delayed due to EVM machine malfunction but eventually began at 7.45 a.m, Kunal added.

Among the early voters on Saturday were Defence Minister and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who cast his ballot in Panaji, while Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar voted in his coastal constituency of Mandrem, minutes after the polling started.

Speaking to IANS after casting his ballot, Parsekar expressed confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would come to power, when the results are announced on March 11.

"There is no doubt about victory. What matters is what we do for Goa after March 11," Parsekar said.

Former Goa Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Subhash Velingkar also cast his ballot in Panaji.

Velingkar said that the alliance between the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa Suraksha Manch and Shiv Sena would win 22 seats.

"The BJP government has to go and will go. The RSS cadre in Goa will not vote for them. The Goa BJP and Parrikar are responsible for the maladies the state is suffering," Velingkar said.

Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes also cast his ballot.

A total of 251 candidates are contesting the Saturday polls, the main parties in the fray being the ruling BJP, Indian National Congress, AAP, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa Suraksha Manch, among others.

Over 8,000 additional paramilitary personnel, in addition to the state police, have been despatched to the 1,642 polling stations across the state and other strategic locations to maintain law and order.

Goa has 11.08 lakh registered voters, who are entitled to exercise their franchise.

Polling will end at 5 p.m.

The 2012 state assembly polls recorded a highest ever voting percentage in the state last year at 82.2 per cent.
Washington, Feb 4 : The White House said the Justice Department will challenge a judge's nationwide halt of US President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice (DOJ) intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement on Friday night.

"The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Earlier on Friday, Federal Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee in Seattle, granted the injunction at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office said that the order applies nationwide, CNN reported.

"The court concludes that the circumstances brought before it today are such that it must intervene to fulfil its constitutional role in our tripartite government," Robart wrote in the order.

By Friday evening, Customs and Border Protection alerted airlines that it would begin reinstating visas quickly.

Trump's executive order that he signed last week suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, the US refugee programme for 120 days and indefinitely halted Syrian refugees from entering the US.

"This is exactly what we were looking for," Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson told CNN shortly after Robart's order, adding that "we have a bucket of Constitutional claims".

This suit was brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota against the travel ban enacted by Trump's executive order.

The sweeping ruling from the Seattle judge came just hours after a different ruling from a federal judge in Boston, who declined to renew a temporary restraining order in Massachusetts.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman told CNN the agency will review the order and comply with all court orders.

The State Department is working with the Department of Homeland Security to determine the effect of the stay.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately hailed Robart's order.

"This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," Schumer said in a statement.

"President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all."
Chennai, Feb 4 : The makers of actor Rajasekhar's next Telugu actioner "PSV Garuda Vega", which is being directed by Praveen Sattaru, are currently filming a crucial action episode in Bangkok, a source said.

"The entire team is in Bangkok where they are shooting a high-octane action episode. The schedule will go on till February 15. Nearly 80 per cent of the film has already been completed," the source from the film's unit told IANS.

Also starring Pooja Kumar, Shraddha Das and Adith Arun, the film features Rajasekhar as an uptight police officer.

Best known for his khaki-clad avatars in 1990s' Telugu films such as "Ankusam", "Aagraham" and aceMagaadu", this movie will reinvent Rajasekhar's onscreen police avatar.

"Praveen is going to reinvent Rajasekhar's angry cop avatar. He will be playing his age in this suspense drama and his role will be along the lines of his character from 'Magaadu', but even more serious," the source added.
Washington, Feb 4 : The chairwoman and CEO of General Motors has described her meeting with US President Donald Trump and a group of executives of major corporations as "constructive", a media report said.

The meeting discussed the nation's economic policies on Friday, Efe news reported.

"I'm pleased to have been part of a very constructive discussion on how we can all work together on policies that support a strong and competitive US economy," said Mary Barra in a statement.

After the meeting, GM announced it will invest $47 million in two production plants in the US "to prepare for future product programs".

GM added that "the combined investments will result in 230 retained jobs in the US".

The investments would be made in plants at Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Bay City, Michigan.

The investment of $27 million in Spring Hill - which currently produces the Cadillac XT5 and Buick Acadia - will allow the plant to assemble a "right-hand-drive crossover for export to Australia as the Holden Acadia".

The investment of $20 million in the Bay City plant, which produces components for the motors of the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands, would allow it to start up future engine programmes.

Like other car manufacturers, GM has been slammed in the past by Trump for producing vehicles in Mexico and then exporting them to the US.

Since Ford announced the cancellation of a $1.6 billion investment in Mexico, and other manufacturers like Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and Toyota committed themselves to invest in the US, Trump has temporarily withheld his criticism of carmakers.
Shimla, Feb 4 : The hills of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday saw a rise in temperature due to long sunny days, but the Met Office here forecast chances of rain and more snowfall in the next two days.

"There are chances of light to moderate rainfall and snowfall at many places in the state with heavy falls at isolated places till February 5," Meteorological Office director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

He said the western disturbances - storm systems originating from Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - would be active again in the region.

Most of the prominent tourist towns like Narkanda, Kufri, Manali and Kalpa may witness moderate snowfall, he said.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state with a low of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius.

Shimla recorded the minimum temperature at 9 degrees Celsius, whereas it was 7.8 degrees a day earlier.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded a low of zero degree Celsius, while it was 4 degrees at Manali and 7.8 degrees at Dharamsala.
Tehran, Feb 4 : The Iranian air force on Saturday began a series of military drills that include testing of radar systems and indigenous missiles in defiance of an earlier caution by the US, a media report said.

According to a statement released by the Iranian Army on Sepahnews, the manoeuvres were underway in an area of 35,000 square km in Semnan, Efe news reported.

The drills come amid an escalation of tension with the US, which on Friday imposed 13 sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities related to Tehran's ballistic missile programme. Iran responded with reciprocal measures.
Mumbai, Feb 4 : Film industry veteran Mahesh Bhatt has questioned the validity of the censor board certificate in the wake of the legal drama Akshay Kumar's forthcoming movie "Jolly LLB 2" is going through.

"Despite 'Jolly LLB 2' getting CBFC certificate, it is being screened to Bombay High Court. Why? Has the CBFC certificate any validity?" Bhatt posted on Twitter on Saturday.

The courtroom drama, which features Akshay as a lawyer, named Jolly, has received a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification.

However, the film got caught in controversy after a Nanded lawyer named Ajaykumar Waghmare, told the Bombay Hight Court that the film was an attempt to portray the country's legal profession and the judicial system in a poor light.

Later, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court set up a committee to see the film.

The matter was later moved to the Supreme Court which refused to put on hold the screening of "Jolly LLB 2" before a three-member panel appointed by the Bombay High Court.

The fate of the film is now in the hands of the Bombay High Court, which is expected to make a decision regarding film's release on February 7, just ahead of its February 10 release.
Los Angeles, Feb 4 : Actress Sarah Paulson has been roped in to play the lead role in upcoming serial killer drama film "Lost Girls".

Documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus is making her feature debut with the film, which is based on investigative reporter Robert Kolker's eponymous 2013 non-fiction book, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

The film centers on a mother searching for her missing daughter in Long Island, New York. She makes a horrifying discovery in the woods, where the murdered bodies of four girls have been dumped.

Paulson recently won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story". She also won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for playing Marcia Clark in the mini-series.
Islamabad, Feb 4 : The Pakistan government has in principle decided to appoint Abdul Basit, the country's envoy to India, as the new Foreign Secretary, Geo News reported.

In another major appointment, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary has been designated to become the country's envoy to the United States.

This was decided during consultations headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, for appointing the new chief of the Foreign Office.

The announcement regarding the appointment of Basit is likely to be made next week.

Basit is currently Pakistan's High Commissioner in India and the senior most among the contenders of the slot. He was selected for the job three years back but couldn't be appointed due to technical reasons and was instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany.

Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, the country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post, Geo quoted sources as saying.

Pakistan's ambassador for the United States Syed Jalil Abbas Jailani has relinquished the charge on completion of his contractual period as ambassador in Washington. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh will be acting as Charge D' Affairs in Washington till the arrival of Aizaz Chaudhary in the US capital.

It is likely that formal assent for Chaudhary's appointment by the host administration would be received in the meanwhile.

The sources said that the Donald Trump administration has stalled issuance of all pending agreement of various countries including Pakistan.

Aizaz Chauduary has planned to leave for the United States immediately after the ECO summit to be held in the first week of next month, the sources added.

Pakistan will take a decision about the new high commissioner in India after the return of Abdul Basit, the sources said.
Greater Noida, Feb 4 : India is the highest growing market for the Konica Minolta group, a top executive of the Japanese technology company said at the Printpack India 2017 exhibition organised at India Expo Centre here on Saturday.

While demonstrating the company's high-end printing and web solutions at the exhibition, Yuji Nakata, Managing Director of Konica Minolta India, told IANS that the company has got the strongest infrastructure in India with nearly 200 engineers working on development of the products.

The five-day event, that commenced on February 4, is showcasing solutions for mid-range as well as large businesses, which include products like bizhub PRESS C1100/C1085; bizhub PRESS C1070/C1060; bizhub PRESS 1250 and MGI JETvarnish 3DS.

The company also launched its end-to-end web printing solutions at the event, including CS Remote Care Global Services, Accurio Pro solutions suite and Infinite Web to Print solutions.

The company displayed its bizhub PRESS C1100/ C1085 solution for mid range businesses. The solution has an industry leading speed of 100/85 A4 pages per minute in vibrant colours.

The machine offers at 1200 by 1200 dots per inch (dpi) resolution with 8-bit processing for polished and high-resolution images.

Also on display is bizhub PRESS C1070/C1060 digital printing press that gives a print output rate of 71/61 A4 pages per minute with excellent colour image quality and offers a maximum of 7,500 sheet paper capacity for long and consistent press operations.

The Bizhub PRESS C1070/ C1060 is embedded with an "Enhanced Simitri HDE" toner for halftone and skin-tone reproduction and is crafted with biomass plant based substance for eco-friendly operations.

The MGI JET varnish 3DS with iFoils has a spot UV and 3D tactile varnishing capabilities.

The machine can transform a standard printed output into a high quality spot UV printed sheet or further into a high margin 3D embossed output.

"Our industrial printing solutions are tailored to meet the high volume printing demands of businesses," added Yoshinori Koide, Marketing Head for Production Print Business Unit at Konica Minolta India.

The bizhub PRESS 1250 Digital Printing Press offers print speeds of up to 125 A4 pages per minute and comes with a monthly duty cycle of three million outputs as well as real time image density.

The newly launched AccurioPro is specially designed for print shops of differing sizes and the platform's modular design is crafted for an end-to-end work flow automation.

"The launched web solutions will also help businesses gain more visibility and agility in their work operations which in turn will raise the productivity of their workforce," Kuldeep Malhotra, Sales Head at Konica Minolta India, said.
Washington, Feb 4 : A federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked President Trump's week-old immigration order from being enforced nationwide, reopening America's door to visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Following the ruling on Friday, government authorities immediately began communicating with airlines and taking steps that would allow travel by those previously barred from doing so, the Washington Post quoted a US official as saying.

At the same time, though, the White House said in a statement that the Justice Department would "at the earliest possible time" file for an emergency stay of the "outrageous" ruling from the judge. Minutes later, it issued a similar statement omitting the word "outrageous".

"The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the White House said.

In his opinion, US District Judge James L. Robart in Seattle, wrote that "fundamental" to the court's work was "a vigilant recognition that it is but one of three equal branches of our federal government".

"The court concludes that the circumstances brought before it today are such that it must intervene to fulfil its constitutional role in our tripart government," he wrote.

Robart, a judge appointed by George W. Bush, granted a request from lawyers for the state of Washington who had asked him to stop the government from acting on critical sections of Trump's order.

He said in his written order that US officials should stop enforcing the key aspects of the ban: the halting of entry by refugees and citizens from certain countries.

Justice and State department officials had revealed that about 60,000 -- and possibly as many as 100,000 -- visas already have been provisionally revoked as a result of Trump's order.

The sweeping ruling from the Seattle judge came just hours after a different ruling from a federal judge in Boston, who declined to renew a temporary restraining order in Massachusetts.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as "the first of its kind" and declared that it "shuts down the executive order immediately".

"What we're seeing here is the courts standing up to the unconstitutional ban that President Trump imposed," said Omar Jadwat, director of the Immigrants' Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"There's obviously more litigation to come, but this is truly good news for the many people both in this country and abroad who have been unfairly targeted on the basis of their religion by this ban."

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately hailed Robart's order.

"This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," Schumer said in a statement.

Robart's ruling will remain in effect until a definitive decision is taken on the legality of the presidential order or until a higher court decides to lift the restraining order.

Trump reacted to the judicial decision with the tweet: "We must keep 'evil' out of our country!"

His executive order stipulates a temporary pause in admission of refugees, a 90-day prohibition on entry of residents from the seven Muslim-majority nations, and an indefinite suspension on the admission of Syrian refugees.
Imphal, Feb 4 : The BJP Central Election Committee on Saturday released a second list of 27 candidates for the March 4 and 8 elections to the 60-member Manipur assembly.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had already announced the names of 31 candidates some days ago, while two names are yet to be announced.

The BJP and the ruling Congress are the only ones which have come out with the names of the candidates.

Some high profile politicians were disappointed as their names were not included. The most prominent among them is Yumnam Joykumar, a retired Director General of Police.

Nemcha Kipgen got the BJP ticket for the Kaangpokpi constituency. She had resigned from the ruling Congress and joined the BJP. The second BJP woman candidate is S.S. Olish from the Chandel constituency.

So far, there is just one Muslim candidate of the BJP. The last constituency where a Muslim may have got a ticket was Khetrigao but a non-Muslim was given it. In sharp contrast, there are three Muslim candidates, two women and one Nepali in the Congress list.

A prominent candidate included in Saturday's list is Lallukham Fimate, former Director of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, and presently the Head of Department of forensic science, J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal. He had contested unsuccessfully in the 2012 elections.

Indications are that some disappointed BJP ticket aspirants may join some other parties. One retired IPS officer, P. Dhanakumar who was denied the BJP ticket, has already joined a local party to contest the elections.
Mike Munck sat in a collapsible chair he brought with his sign stuck in the snow next to him as he waited for Fridays rally in support of immigrants and immigration to begin.

Keep America Great! Ban ignorance, not immigrants! his sign stated, a sentiment that would be echoed by others who brought signs with them in protest of President Donald Trumps executive order that temporarily scaled back immigration.

"I am a descendant of immigrants. Are you? No Ban, No Wall Montana for All and Say No to UnAmerican Trump, read some of the other signs that would be held in protest of the ban.

Trumps order blocked refugees from any country from entering the United States for 120 days and those from Syria indefinitely. For 90 days, the order blocked entry into the United States for citizens of seven primarily Muslim nations: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Munck is retired. He last managed the St. Peters Hospital Foundation where he worked for 24 years, he said. He lists his past employment and concludes by saying he has lived here 44 years.

He came to the rally in protest of what he considers to be ignorance going on in the nation regarding the ban on immigrants, the rationale that led to the ban and the irrational fear that it continues to stoke, he said.

Munck makes note that Americas the richest country on Earth and yet singles out seven of the poorest, the most poverty stricken and war-torn countries for the ban.

The ban denies safe refuge to women and children who are dying every day and involves countries that had nothing to do with any terrorist attack on the United States, he said.

The fate of the foreign nationals around the work who risked their lives through their work with the United States to protect its interests also concerns him.

Its appalling from a moral perspective. Its appalling from a national security perspective," he said.

Were all immigrants. Thats part of what makes this country such a great country, the diversity of the people that are here," he added.

Nothings ever going to be 100 percent. Will somebody sneak through? At some point. But a blanket ban on all immigrants is just doing more harm than good, in my humble opinion, Munck 62, said.

I think its important that people in America stand up and visibly say No, this is not what we are for. These are not our values. We dont support this.

Around 300 people filled the area of the Downtown Walking Mall at the trolley for the rally despite the bitter cold.

Annie Hanshew, an organizer of the Montana for Immigrants event, said the demonstration wasnt associated with any other group, although similar rallies were being held in Billings, Missoula and Bozeman.

This rally, she continued, is to protest the presidents order that we feel is un-American.

When speaking to the crowd, she said this event was to let friends and neighbors know we dont support the hate and fear that is being directed at them.

This was also to let state and federal lawmakers -- as well as the governor -- know that these beliefs are not shared by those at the rally, she said.

Hanshew was pleased with the turnout, which was roughly twice what she expected based on responses on the Facebook page where the event was organized.

Rallies allow the public to narrow down the options of what is acceptable in American politics, she said and added thats the point of grassroots Democracy.

Carolinn Hagan was among the rallys participants and said afterward, I think were being unjust to (immigrants) and somebody needs to step up for their rights."

All but Native Americans are immigrants to this country, she added.

I dont support the presidents immigration ban, said Valerie Hellemann, also a Helena resident.

She explained it was her duty as an American citizen to stand up for the constitutional rights of immigrants and United States citizens.

The rally is effective, she added, because our citizens have come out and are visible.

And we know were not alone, and our immigrants know that were here to support them," she said.

Rally participants took postcards that were offered to them addressed to Montanas congressional delegation. Those that would appeal to Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., went much quicker than those addressed to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

Hanshew was pleased as she handed out postcards.

I think it went great. Short and sweet so that people dont freeze to death. I think its pretty impressive to see this many people.

The very fact that people are coming to get these postcards suggests that they care about spreading the message, and I think theres a lot of work to do both here and around the country," she said.

I personally think that cultural diversity is the thing that has always defined American greatness, Hanshew said.

We dont all have to share the exact same culture, but we can learn from each other -- different perspectives, different backgrounds, different religions. That needs to constantly be refreshed.

So when immigrants come here, when refugees come here, they just add to the vibrancy of Americas community," she said.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said the increased allocation in the 2017-18 Budget for his ministry will help in the socio-economic and educational uplift of the minorities.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has been allocated Rs 4,195.48 crore, around 10 per cent more, in the 2017-18 Budget announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday. Last year, the allocation was Rs 3,827.25 crore.

Naqvi said a major part of this amount will go towards educational empowerment and skill development of the minorities.

"The Modi government believes that commitment to development of the poor, weaker sections and minorities is not only its 'raj dharma' but also its 'kartavya' (duty)," he said.

The Minister said more than Rs 2,600 crore has been provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes such as 'Seekho aur Kamao', 'Nai Manzil', 'Nai Roushni', 'Usttad', 'Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre' and 'Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship for Girls'.

He said Rs 393.54 crore has been earmarked for merit-cum-means scholarship; Rs 950 crore for pre-matric scholarship; Rs 550 crore for post-matric scholarship; Rs 250 crore for 'Seekho aur Kamao'; Rs 176 crore for 'Nai Manzil'; Rs 113 crore for Maulana Azad Education Foundation; and Rs 170 crore as equity for National Minorities Development Financial Corporation.

Besides, Rs 1,200 crore under the Multi-sectoral Development Programme will also be utilised for various education development activities.

The programme provides basic infrastructure for minority-concentrated areas such as schools, hospitals, roads, multi-purpose community centres and 'sadbhav mandap' etc.

Naqvi said for 2017-18, the Ministry has set a target to provide scholarships to about 35 lakh students.

Last year, the government spent about Rs 2,800 crore on scholarships, training and other educational activities, he said.
Amritsar, Feb 4 : The Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday handed over a Pakistani national who had crossed into Indian territory inadvertently in the Amritsar sector to the Pakistan Rangers, BSF officials said here.

Nemshah, aged around 35 years, and resident of village Nagga Chak, Faislabad (Pakistan), was apprehended by BSF troopers after he inadvertently crossed the International Boundary (IB), entered Indian territory and reached near the border security fence, a BSF spokesman said.

The Pakistani national was apprehended in the operation area of Border Out Post (BoP) Rattan Khurd in Amritsar sector.

"The Pakistan Rangers were contacted and the apprehended Pakistani national was handed over to them, being an inadvertent border crosser, on humanitarian grounds," the spokesman added.
Rabat, Feb 4 : Osvaldo Andrade Lara, president of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, was set to arrive in Morocco on Saturday.

He will be in Morocco till February 14.

The visit, which is meant to strengthen cooperation between the Moroccan House of Advisors and the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, will be an opportunity to examine the means and mechanisms to broaden the prospects of partnership between the two parties, said a statement by the House of Advisors.

The visit also aims at promoting dialogue on issues of common interest and discussing the outcome of the last visit to Chile (January 9-13) of a Moroccan parliamentary delegation, led by Speaker of the House of Advisors, Hakim Benchamach.
Washington, Feb 4 : US President Donald Trump on Saturday took to Twitter to blast a federal judge's decision to halt his immigration order nationwide.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" he tweeted.

Federal Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee who presides in Seattle, temporarily stopped the order on Friday night.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) then alerted airlines the US government would quickly begin reinstating visas that were previously cancelled, and also advised airlines that refugees who are in possession of US visas will be admitted as well, an airline executive said.

Trump sent out a series of tweets lamenting the ruling that halted enforcement.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" he tweeted.

A chaotic Friday night set up the nation for a second straight weekend of widespread uncertainty over the controversial ban, this time with the administration on defence, reported CNN.

The White House first called the order "outrageous" and then dropped that word minutes later in a second statement.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice (DoJ) intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.

"The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Trump's executive order that he signed last week suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, the US refugee programme for 120 days and indefinitely halted Syrian refugees from entering the US.

The ruling came on the heels of its first legal victory over the travel ban.

The sweeping ruling from the Seattle judge came just hours after a different ruling from a federal judge in Boston, who declined to renew a temporary restraining order in Massachusetts.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as "the first of its kind" and declared that it "shuts down the executive order immediately".

This suit was brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota against the travel ban. Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately hailed Robart's order.

"This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," said Schumer.

"President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all."

"What we're seeing here is the courts standing up to the unconstitutional ban that President Trump imposed," said Omar Jadwat, director of the Immigrants' Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim civil rights organisation, welcomed the ruling.

"Because the Trump administration is vowing to appeal the ruling, CAIR is urging travellers to consider immediately contacting relevant airlines to inquire about rebooking their flights, with the recognition that the situation remains fluid," the group said.
Bhopal, Feb 4 : A Bhopal resident arrested on the charge of murdering his live-in partner and entombing her body in his house here has confessed to his parents' murder too, police said on Saturday.

Accused Udyan Das revealed during interrogation over the murder of his partner Shweta Sharma (28) that he murdered both his parents in 2010 and interred the two bodies in their house in Raipur in Chhattisgarh in a way similar to what he did in the case of Shweta, Superintendent of Police Sidhartha Bahuguna told IANS.

He said a police team from Bhopal had since been dispatched to Raipur to check the veracity of Das' statement regarding his parents' murder.

Das had come in contact with Shweta, who hailed from Bokaro in West Bengal, through a social networking site and was living with her at his Saket Nagar residence since June 2016. Both had a fight in December 2016, following which he allegedly murdered her.

He built a concrete platform in his first floor house over Shweta's body to conceal his crime. The murder came to light after he was questioned by police after the tower location of Shweta's mobile phone was located to Saket Nagar area.

Shweta's family had registered a missing complaint with Bankura police in West Bengal.

The Gobindpura police said the concrete platform was broken on Thursday night and the body buried underneath was recovered.
Panaji/Chandigarh, Feb 4 : Over a crore and a half voters turned up to chose new governments in the traditionally high-turnout states of Punjab and Goa on Saturday, in the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies after the government's move to ban high-value notes last year.

Eighty-three per cent of the over 11 lakh electorate exercised their franchise for Goa's 40 assembly constituencies while over 75 per cent of Punjab's over 1.98 crore voters cast their ballot for 117 assembly segments, election officials said.

Poll officials said the final voting percentage in both the state could go up as many people were still in the queues outside polling stations and were allowed to cast their ballot even after the voting formally ended at 5 p.m.

Brisk voting took place almost all over Punjab - a state which recorded 78.57 per cent turnout in the 2012 assembly polls - where the ruling BJP-SAD alliance, Congress and new entrant AAP are locked in a bitter triangular fight.

The border state's Malwa belt, which accounts for 69 out of the 117 assembly seats, also saw a heavy voter turnout - most districts in the belt recording turnout of 75 to 85 per cent, that could be decisive for any party's victory.

The highest turnout was in Mansa district at 85 per cent followed by Sangrur at 83 and Bathinda at 82 per cent.

Amritsar and Mohali districts recorded the lowest turnout at 67 and 69 per cent respectively, the poll officials said.

Voting at different polling stations in Punjab was disrupted or delayed due to technical snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs).

At stake was the political fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and a lone transgender in Punjab where the Akali Dal-BJP alliance has ruled for two straight terms.

Both Congress and AAP are hoping to cash in from an anti-incumbency factor as surveys point to a cliffhanger between the two parties.

Voting for the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat was also held on Saturday.

"Overall Punjab witnessed a peaceful polling without any major incidence of violence and intimidation. There was just one incident in a village in Tarn Taran where supporters of two political parties clashed and one person faced bullet injuries...an FIR has been registered," said Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena in New Delhi.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V.K. Singh thanked voters for ensuring peaceful polling. "Barring some incidents, the polling passed peacefully," he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, 89, his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal cast their votes in Badal village, which is part of Badal senior's Lambi assembly constituency.

"We will win easily. Punjab is looking forward to peace and development," the Chief Minister said.

Badal is being challenged for the Lambi seat by Punjab Congress President and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh.

Amarinder Singh, accompanied by his wife and former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, and other family members, cast his vote in Patiala city.

"I am sure that we (Congress) are winning this election comfortably," Amarinder told the media.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is the convenor of the AAP, criticised the poll panel for having "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Modi amid reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day in violation of the model code of conduct. "This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission," he tweeted.

Goa saw a high voter turnout of 83 per cent and polling remained peaceful for the 40 assembly seats, compared to 81 per cent in the 2012 polls.

The incumbent BJP is fighting the Congress and AAP in the coastal state where heavy polling was witnessed in the mining belt of Sankhalim, Bicholim and Curchorem.

None of the political parties or groups, except for the AAP, had fielded candidates from all the 40 seats.

The incumbent BJP had put up its nominees on 36 and is supporting two independents.

The assembly elections to be held in five states - Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur - in phased manners through this month till March 8 are the first big electoral test for the Modi-led government since the November 8 note ban.

The note ban move was heavily criticised by the opposition and labelled as a self-inflicted blow on the country's economy that triggered enormous hardship for the people all over.

The BJP and its allies have hailed the move as a surgical strike at tax evasion, black money and corruption that would also herald India into a cashless economy.

Votes for all five states will be counted on March 11.
Kabul, Feb 4 : The Afghanistan government has welcomed the decision of the United Nations on Saturday to remove the name of former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from its sanctions list.

"We welcome the recent announcement of United Nations of removing name of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami of Afghanistan, and we are optimistic the move would further boost peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan," said Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, presidential adviser on political affairs, Xinhua reported.

On Friday, a United Nations committee removed the name of Hekmatyar from the sanctions list.

In September last year, Hekmatyar signed a peace agreement with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, which was brokered by the Afghan High Peace Council after two years of negotiations, via a video conference broadcast by the state-run TV.

Hizb-e-Islami, a radical Islamic party and the third strongest insurgent group in terms of military power after Taliban and the Islamic State, has been fighting the Afghan government and the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

In 2003, Hekmatyar was designated by the US as a "global terrorist" and his name had been blacklisted by the UN. However, after the peace deal, the Afghanistan government demanded that the UN Security Council remove the name of Hekmatyar from its sanctions list.

Hekmatyar, who was reportedly living in eastern Afghanistan, is expected to visit Kabul soon. The government will have to provide security for Hekmatyar and his followers and release imprisoned members of the group under the peace deal.

The Hizb-e-Islami also fought against the troops of the former Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Ghaziabad, Feb 4 : Ishaq Ahmed, a driver from Bareilly who has denied he was at the steering wheel of an Audi Q7 that mowed down four people here last month, on Saturday alleged that police had forcibly taken his father's thumb impression on a document to acknowledge summons and were implicating him in the case.

Ahmed, 31, spoke to IANS over the phone from Assam where he said he was driving a truck and was planning to return to his village home in Bareilly on Sunday.

He said he would appear before a court in Ghaziabad on Monday to "settle the issue" after a person impersonating him "confessed" to have driven the SUV that ran over an auto-rickshaw, killing four people, on January 28 in Ghaziabad.

Police have not been able to identify who was behind the wheel of the luxury car belonging to Safdarjung Hospital neurosurgeon, Manish Rawat, when the accident occurred.

Anil Yadav, a police officer heading the probe in the case, told IANS that a person who identified himself as Ishaq of Labhera in Bareilly surrendered before the court on January 31, confessing that he was behind the wheel of the car when the accident occurred.

"We have sent separate notices to Ishaq and the owner of the SUV to appear before police to assist in the case," Yadav said.

Police said Rawat was "still on the run" but his lawyer had approached them claiming that the driver who was behind the wheel that day would surrender in a court.

Speaking to IANS, Ahmed said he was intrigued how his name even cropped up in the case when he was in Ahmedabad on the night of the accident.

He said he didn't even know the doctor and his family and had never driven any luxury car and has driven only trucks for the last seven-eight years.

"A police team reached my home (in Bareilly), with a summons in my name. They told my father to affix his thumb impression on the summons document. When my father refused, they abused him, and threatened 'Your son has accepted in court of killing four people in a road accident'," he said.

"I think police and the judicial system is trying to implicate me in the case on the basis of a statement made by a person impersonating me," he said.

According to Ahmed, he left Bareilly on January 9 and returned home around 2 a.m. on January 31 on way to Guwahati.

"On January 7, I left Sitarganj (Uttarakhand) after loading my truck with plywood for Natwada (Rajasthan). On the way, I stayed at my village on January 8 and again left from there the next day. On January 11, I reached my destination in Rajasthan.

"On January 25 I left for Ahmedabad carrying some machine loaded on my truck. On January 27, I left Ahmedabad for Guwahati with some plastic materials and took a halt at my village in the intervening night of January 30 and 31," Ahmed said.

Asked about his driving licence and statement being part of the court and police records, Ahmed said: "I am innocent. I will approach Ghaziabad court on Monday and challenge the impersonator, and ask to clear the matter. The copy of my driving licence has been misused."

"In the Audi accident, the fake driver was not arrested by police. He surrendered in court, accepted his crime, and got bail. We are probing the matter," Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad tweeted.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
Islamabad, Feb 4 : Qatar's Ambassador to Pakistan Saqr bin Mubarak Al Mansouri has said the government of the emirate was not involved in the Panamagate issue.

Mansouri, in a short video clip released by Aaj News for their show Rooh Barooh, added that Panamagate was an internal matter of Pakistan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, in a series of tweets, termed the letter by the Qatari royal as "fake".

He added that the "Qatari government is embarrassed by this fake letter written by an acknowledged business partner of Sharifs".

Khan further claimed in his tweets that the letter from Sharif's business partner enabled him to clinch a Pakistani Rs 200 billion Port Qasim deal, among "other largesse".

During the Panamagate hearings in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the defence counsel for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif submitted two letters on the letterhead of Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, the emir of Qatar from 2007 to 2013.

The second letter was submitted on January 26 and like the first, which was submitted in court last November, was marked private, confidential and not to be disclosed to any party, except for the benefit of the courts of Pakistan.

In the letter, Al-Thani said that Sharif's father, Mian Mohammad Sharif, made an investment of approximately 12 million dirhams in the Al-Thani family's real estate business.

The second Qatari letter was also accompanied by transaction details and auditor's reports regarding the Gulf Steel Mills in Dubai and the Azizia Steel Mills in Jeddah.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Congress on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdraw his statement made in Meerut in which he apparently referred to PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) as Pakistan's territory while talking about last year's surgical strikes.

"In Meerut, the Prime Minister also talked about the surgical strikes. The DGMO reported that the surgical strikes happened on the LoC but the Prime Minister's reference was to PoK," said Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan.

"My simple question to him is when he says that this is 'Pakistan Ki Dharti', I want to know when did this exchange take place that PoK became part of Pakistan's territory. Prime Minister should make it clear when did PoK become part of Pakistan's territory?

"Is it correct for the Prime Minister to say this? If anybody else in any political party had said this, he would be immediately painted as anti-national," added Vadakkan.

The Congress demanded that the Prime Minister should withdraw the statement.

"He (Modi) talked about a surgical operation in the land of Pakistan. While we know the operation was in PoK, lies are never converted into facts and the ground reality is that you have tried to politicise the Indian Army," said Vadakkan.

The Congress also demanded an inquiry into the allegations levelled by BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav over the poor quality of food served to security personnel on the border and corruption among high-ranking officers.

He also demanded an apology from Modi on the issue.

"The government should launch an inquiry into the allegations of Constable Yadav. The family of Constable Yadav should be informed of his status and whereabouts.

"Constable Yadav should be released immediately from any unlawful confinement. PM should explain to the country why jawans are served sub-standard food. He must apologise to the nation promising such incidents do not happen again," said Vadakkan.
New Delhi, Feb 4 : In what can be a big boost to India's chances of becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in the face of opposition from China, New Delhi is going to host the Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) from February 8 to 10, the External Affairs Ministry said on Saturday.

The meeting is in consonance with what Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington in April last year.

"Pursuant to the announcement made by Prime Minister at the Nuclear Security Summit held in 2016, Ministry of External Affairs in coordination with the Department of Atomic Energy is hosting the Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism on February8-10, 2017, at the Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"Approximately 150 delegates from various GICNT partner countries and international organisations will be participating in this event.

"This event highlights India's commitment to global nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It is a part of our overall engagement with the international community on nuclear security issues," it added.

China opposed India's membership in the NSG plenary in Seoul in June last year on the ground that for a country to become a member of the 48-nation bloc, it has to be a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Since then the two Asian giants have held two rounds of talks on the issue in Beijing and New Delhi.

Saturday's statement by the External Affairs Ministry said that India hosting this meeting would highlight the continued priority it "attached to nuclear security, our efforts to further strengthen the institutional frameworks, capacity building and enhance international cooperationa.

"The possible use of weapons of mass destruction and related material by terrorists is no longer a theoretical concern," it said.

"A breach of nuclear security may lead to unimaginable consequences. Such an event would have a global impact. It is imperative to strengthen international efforts to combat such threats. This meeting is therefore timely and important and would further enhance our vigil."

According to the statement, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will inaugurate the meeting. The meeting will conclude with an address by R.B. Grover, Member, Atomic Energy Commission of India.

GICNT was launched in 2006 jointly by Russian and the US. In the past 10 years, it has grown to include 86 partner nations and five official observer organisations and has held several multilateral activities in support of its Statement of Principles.

It comprises four working groups - Implementation and Assessment Group, Nuclear Detection Working Group, Nuclear Forensics Working Group and Response and Mitigation Working Group.

India has been an active participant at GICNT events.
New Delhi : Bengaluru, Feb 4 (ANS) The alleged attacker of a woman at an ATM kiosk here over three years ago was arrested from Andhra Pradesh, said Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Saturday.

"The accused (K. Madhukar Reddy) was arrested at Madanpalle in a joint operation by the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh police," Parameshwara told reporters here.

Madanpalle is in Andhra's Chittoor, about 140km from here.

An unidentified man in mid-30s attacked Jyothi Uday, 38, with a machete when she was drawing cash from the ATM of the state-run Corporation Bank in the city centre on November 19, 2013. She is an employee of the same bank.

Though the CCTV camera in the kiosk vividly captured the horrifying incident, the attacker was at large, despite police launching a manhunt for him in both the states over the past 40 months and circulating his picture to trace him.

"A constable on duty identified Reddy at a bus stand in the town on January 31 and was taken into custody as he was wanted in many crimes, including a murder in Andhra. During interrogation, he admitted to have been also involved in the ATM attack on the victim in Bengaluru," said a Chittoor police official.

A police team from the city has rushed to Madanpalle to bring Reddy to the city after getting a transit remand from the local court on Sunday.
Lucknow, Feb 4 : Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday charged the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh with failing on all fronts, specially safeguarding the interests and honour of women.

Addressing reporters in the party headquarters here, Irani also said the Samajwadi Party government in the state had not utilised funds sent by the central government.

"On many occasions, I have written to the Chief Minister but got no response... it was suggested that the state government is not serious about welfare programmes like the Swacch Bharat Mission," she said.

On the issue of triple talaaq, she said: "I, Priyanka Vadra and Dimple Yadav were of the same age and should come together to elaborate on the issue."

She, however, added in the same breath the free thought process was blocked by vote bank politics where leaders only react when it is to their benefit.

"Are rights of Hindu women and Muslims different?" she questioned while adding in Uttar Pradesh, FIRs were not lodged in police stations, women are being gang-raped and eve teasing has become order of the day.

Listing various promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto for the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, she said that after it was voted to power, these would be implemented in a fixed time frame.
Kohima/New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Nagaland government on Saturday decided to approach the Centre, seeking that the state be exempted from the purview of the Constitution's Part IX, dealing with civic bodies and its powers.

The decision comes after Nagaland tried to hold its Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections with 33 per cent reservation for women recently, but the step led to strong protests and violence led by local tribal bodies against the government's decision, citing that the women reservation will infringe upon the Naga Customary laws protected under Article 371 (A).

"The Nagaland Cabinet has today (Saturday) decided to take the matter to New Delhi to demand that Nagaland be exempted from the purview of Part IX of the Constitution of India," said an Nagaland government statement.

The Nagaland Cabinet has sought an emergency appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to handover the memorandum.

"All the 60 legislators of the State, both Members of Parliament, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland are to submit the memorandum jointly," said the statement.

The violence had intensified after the state government had gone ahead with the decisions to hold ULB elections in some of the places on February 1.

However, the poll was declared null and void after two Naga youths were killed and several government offices were set ablaze, including a private property of State Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang, during the protests.
Mumbai, Feb 5 : The Congress' Maharashtra unit on Saturday demanded a waiver of all farm loans on the lines of the assurance given by the BJP in poll-bound Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

In a memorandum to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee General Secretary and spokesman Sachin Sawant said it was surprising and shocking that in its poll manifesto for Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party had promised farm loans waiver.

"In the 2014 elections in Maharashtra, the BJP had made a similar promise and assured it would not allow a single farmer's suicide as part of its Vision 20-20. After two years, the picture has worsened and this state ranks among the worst in the country in terms of farmland suicides," Sawant said.

Not only has the number of suicides shot up, and even Osmanabad which was declared as a "zero suicide district" has reported more than 170 farmers ending their lives between August 2015-August 2016, he added.

He accused the government of completely ignoring the plight of the farmers who have been battered by successive periods of natural calamities like droughts, floods, unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

Sawant said Maharashtra has the highest number of farmland suicides compared to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, but this state is also economically stronger.

"Despite this, the state government has ignored repeated pleas by the Congress to announce a complete farm loans waiver. However, with an eye on the ongoing elections, the BJP has promised to write of farm loans in Punjab and UP, but not in Maharashtra," he said, urging Fadnavis to immediately declare farm loans waiver for Maharashtra as assured before the 2014 elections.
Mechanical engineer, Suneet Jain joined Chrysalis Entrepreneur Forum from India to smash the Guinness World Record for the longest human chain underwater with an astounding 182 scuba divers in Koh Tao, Thailand. The record was earlier held by 173 Italian divers.

Remarkably, the team included more than 30 non-swimmers, several first-time scuba divers and all age groups from 8-year-olds to 58-year-olds. They collectively overcame several challenges including recruiting and training over 200 participants, scouting for a suitable location internationally and organizing a large-scale scuba diving event in a foreign country. Unfamiliar with saltwater, the team failed their practice attempt the previous day after six months of planning. Overnight, they dropped and replaced several divers and created a winning dive plan to set this spectacular record, demonstrating their belief that Impossible is nothing! The overarching goal of this event was to inspire ordinary people to extraordinary accomplishments.

24-year-old Suneet, born in India, plans to use his engineering skills for his next Guinness World Record. He has a few ideas and is already working out their feasibility.

Link: http://guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-human-chain-underwater
Michael Suffredini, President Axiom Space and Jeff Manber, CEO Nanoracks, exchange views at the Space Settlement Summit With Elon Musk calling for the colonization of Mars, and Jeff Bezos looking forward to millions of people living and working in space, space settlement is an idea whose time has come. - Dale Skran, NSS Executive Vice President

An enormously successful first annual Space Settlement Summit hosted by the National Space Society (NSS) occurred on January 10-11, 2017, in Santa Monica, California. Industry leaders, financial experts, scientists and engineers, and leading space activists were brought together to assess the state of the art driving space settlement.

The NSS invitation-only Space Settlement Summit featured industry leaders including Josh Brost, Director of Government Business Development SpaceX, Dr. George Sowers, VP Advanced Programs ULA, Michael T. Suffredini, President Axiom Space, Steven Oldham, Senior VP MDA, Karlton Johnson, Director Information Risk Management Arconic, Jeff Manber, CEO Nanoracks, Akshay Patel, VP Strategy and Business Development Planetary Resources, and energy CEO and famous actor Harry Hamlin. Special guest Astronaut Yvonne Cagle headlined a dinner event celebrating the success of the movie HIDDEN FIGURES, speaking on recent medical advances from NASA. Key industry experts speaking included Dr. John C. Mankins on space solar power, Lt. Col. Thomas P. Schilling USAF on ultra-low cost access to space, Steve Wolfe of SpaceCom on open-source space settlement design, and Jeff Greason (XCOR founder) on funding space startups.

"The resources of Earth are limited and humanity is increasingly constrained by these limits. This is particularly true when reasonable environmental considerations are taken into account," said Mark Hopkins, Chair of the NSS Executive Committee. "Fortunately, the vast majority of the resources of the solar system both in terms of energy and materials lie in space rather than on Earth. Space settlement allows us to tap into these resources, thus smashing the resource constraints of Earth. Space settlement can create a hopeful prosperous future for all of humanity."

"With Elon Musk calling for the colonization of Mars, and Jeff Bezos looking forward to millions of people living and working in space, space settlement is an idea whose time has come," said Dale Skran, NSS Executive Vice President.

"NSS has been developing a Roadmap for space settlement for a number of years (see http://www.nss.org/settlement/roadmap/)," added Bruce Pittman, NSS Senior Vice President and Senior Operating Officer. "The Space Settlement Summit will provide input that guides NSS's current updating of the Roadmap. Anyone interested in learning more about how NSS is supporting space development and settlement should attend the International Space Development Conference in St. Louis Missouri May 25-29 (http://isdc2017.nss.org/)."
Jingsong Zhou, PhD This research represents a significant and innovative approach to understanding and treating ALS

Probiotics may hold part of the key to treating ALS.

New research led by Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCU) scientist Jingsong Zhou, PhD and Jun Sun, PhD of University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) found an imbalance of bacteria in the digestive tract may contribute to the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Their preliminary research suggests probiotics could be a potential therapy for the disease.

The study which appears in the journal Clinical Therapeutics, found evidence that targeting gut microbiota with natural bacteria products was successful in alleviating ALS progression in animal models. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28129947

ALS is a fatal disease with progressive loss of motor neurons. The only current treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration extends life by just a few months.

Due to the severe and rapidly progressing neuromuscular symptoms, the majority of study on ALS has focused on neurodegeneration, said Zhou. We hope that our published studies will draw attention from the research field, encouraging more investigators to consider ALS as a systemic disorder by evaluating the potential contributors outside of the nervous system.

While Zhou and her colleagues are encouraged by what they believe is a solid step forward, Zhou says the work is still in the preliminary stages. There is a lot to do before we can translate the basic research to finally treat ALS patients, Zhou said.

Robert White, PhD, dean of the KCU College of Biosciences said Zhou and her colleagues are contributing crucial knowledge about the devastating disease.

This research represents a significant and innovative approach to understanding and treating ALS, said White. Dr. Zhou is a nationally recognized researcher in this field, and we are delighted to have her at KCU.

Funding for the research came from one of 58 ALS Association grants totaling $11.6 million, which was raised through the international Ice Bucket challenge.

About Kansas City University

The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCU), founded in 1916, is a fully accredited, private not-for-profit university with a College of Biosciences and a College of Osteopathic Medicine. The College of Osteopathic Medicine is the oldest medical school in Kansas City, Mo., and the largest in the state. KCU is the second-leading producer of physicians for both the states of Missouri and Kansas.

KCU will open a second medical school in Joplin, Mo., in 2017 to help address the growing need for primary care physicians in the regions rural communities.
We are delighted to participate in Indias ambitious future by supplying large-scale, cost effective solutions with our partner MultiVirt",said Carl Pick, Founder, Chairman and Chief Scientist of VideoPropulsion.

Wisconsin-based VideoPropulsion Interactive Television, Inc. (OTC:VPTV) and New Delhi-based MultiVirt India Pvt Ltd are now demonstrating a new, very low cost headend system for Local Cable television Operators (LCOs) in India. The two companies announced their collaboration early in 2015 and are now ready to deliver an inexpensive, innovative digital headend solution tailored specifically for the Indian digital CATV market.

The partners premier offering is a MultiVirt integrated headend appliance capable of selectively receiving up to 200 channels of Free to Air (FTA) programming via DVB-S2 satellite, and then re-modulating the programs over QAM on a COAX network to DVB-C Set Top Boxes (STB). The single 4U chassis employs VideoPropulsions preeminent, high-density DVB-C QAM modulator (ITU-T J.83 Annex A) PCIe cards.

The system has been designed for the LCO to optionally merge up to 40 of its own local programs into the COAX cable plant multiplex via an ethernet port on the appliance. The locally supplied content is encoded into MPEG2 or H.264, then transmitted to the VideoPropulsion QAM where it is combined with up to 200 FTA channels for delivery over the cable network to the subscribers STBs. This makes for a very affordable 240 Channel headend, ideal for small, remote operators.

Additional options and upgrades include the ability to do hardware transcodes of any of the programs to or from MPEG2 or H.264, as well as the ability to encrypt any of the programs using a variety of conditional access schemes such as Conax, Novel-SuperTV, Cryptoguard, Irdeto, and others.

Our new VPro-S Headend represents an exciting new opportunity for us to provide a large segment of CATV markets in India with a powerful and affordable solution, said Rakesh Gupta, Founder & Director at MultiVirt. We are gratified to offer this high-density, low-priced product in support of the final phases of the digitation of television services in India. VideoPropulsion and Multipart will demonstrate the Vpro-S Headend on Booth E12 Hall12A at Convergence India 2017 February 8-10 in New Delhi.

"Our ongoing partnership with MultiVirt showcases our ability to solve large-scale digital television problems quickly and cost-effectively, said Carl Pick, Founder, Chairman and Chief Scientist of VideoPropulsion. We are delighted to participate in Indias ambitious future.

About VideoPropulsion

Now in its 43rd year, VideoPropulsion has been a world leader in hardware and software for high performance, low cost per stream, digital content manipulation, and has established a reputation for providing unique HDTV, VoD, and IPTV products. The Company offers revolutionary FloodGate satellite and CATV transcryption appliances as well as OEM computer modules for a variety of applications, including streaming, multiplexing, demultiplexing, modulation, demodulation, transcoding, encryption, and splicing MPEG formatted data.

For further information, contact:

Emily Otte, ExecutiveVice President

VideoPropulsion Interactive Television, Inc.

255 Info Highway

Slinger, WI 53086

(262) 644-1000 x102

sales(at)videopropulsion(dot)com

http://www.videopropulsion.com

VideoPropulsion and FloodGate are registered trademarks of VideoPropulsion Interactive Television, Inc.

About MultiVirt

MultiVirt India Pvt Ltd as a company was established in 1995 to cater to the growing markets of broadcast, cable and multimedia in India. Since then they have become one of the leading pioneers in Digital Media technologies and applications. Their core competency has been consultancy, systems integration and turnkey project execution for broadcast, Cable and OTT, mobile and web-media. The Company also develops content and software applications for broadcast, Cable, OTT, web and mobile media.

For further information, contact:

Rakesh Gupta, Founder/Director

MultiVirt India Private Limited

101 C, Ashram Chowk, 2nd Floor

New Delhi 110014 India

marketing(at)multivirt(dot)com

+91-11-26340035, +91-11-26349290, +91-11-26342708
"This case was about accountability and responsibility, and in this neighborhood, big mistakes were made". "Suing a large company is not easy. But when companies won't accept responsibility, you go to the court system.

Hayes Law Firm wins $7.2 Million dollar verdict against national homebuilder John Wieland Homes for alleged faulty construction and inferior craftsmanship. A Charleston County jury came back with the verdict on January 30, 2017 after a six-day trial.

According to Court court documents the 105 two-story townhomes were built between 2005 and 2009. The homeowners group sued John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods in 2013 over claims of rotting porches, building code violations and defects in roofing, siding, structural beams, and window installation.

The Plainitiffs lawyers representing the homeowners were John Hayes, Keith Mccarty, and Mary-Margaret Noland.

Lawyers representing the John Wieland defendants were Teddy Manos and Andy Haselden.

"This case was about accountability and responsibility, and in this neighborhood, big mistakes were made" Hayes said. "Suing a large company is not easy. But when companies won't accept responsibility, you go to the court system. Twelve Charleston, South Carolina jurors understood that." If you are going to come to Charleston and build homes, build them right if you are going to sell them to the public."

State Judge Deadra Jefferson presided.

VERDICT REPORT - CONSTRUCTION DEFECT

Amount: $7.2 million

Case name: Waverly vs. John Wieland Homes

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2013-CP-10-03326

Date of verdict: January 30, 2017

Attorneys for plainitiff: John Hayes, Keith Mccarty, and Mary-Margaret Noland.

ABOUT HAYES LAW FIRM

The Hayes Law Firm is dedicated to service and helping those in need. The firm's track record of success in Construction Law is built on experience and all Hayes Law cases are meticulously researched and prepared for as if they are going to trial. This strategy, rooted in client service, is responsible for the firm's success on behalf of its clients. Visit their website for a complete list of practice areas. Contact them at 843.805.7003, jhayes(at)hayeslaw.org or at their office, 180 Meeting Street, Suite 330, Charleston, South Carolina 29401.

Contact:

John Hayes

843.805.7003

jhayes(at)hayeslaw.org
Assemblyman Gary Finch thinks Gov. Andrew Cuomo is more worried about running for president in three years than helping New Yorkers.

Finch, R-Springport, issued a statement Thursday questioning Cuomo's priorities. The comments are in response to the agenda Cuomo released this year which includes tuition-free college for low- and middle-income students and a proposal that would require counties to develop plans for sharing services.

"As my colleagues and I review more details about the administration's spending plan, it is becoming clear to me that the governor is more interested in courting progressive voters across the country than in drafting a sustainable, balanced budget for New Yorkers," Finch said.

Cuomo unveiled his tuition-free college plan in January at an event in New York City. Joining him was U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and darling of the progressive movement.

Instead of investing in free college  the program would cost $163 million annually, according to estimates released by the governor's office  Finch thinks the state should be supporting Auburn and other school districts in need of significant support.

"Free college plans may sound good to liberal primary voters in 2020, but what about our high needs public schools that are shortchanged and underfunded?" he said.

Finch added later, "Our Legislature cannot let taxpayers pick up the tab on the governor's presidential ambitions."

Cuomo has been discussed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. The Democratic nominee will likely face President Donald Trump, a Republican from New York.

So far, Cuomo hasn't said he's interested in running for president in three years. He has said in past interviews that he's flattered by such comments, but he's focused on the 2018 election.

Next year, Cuomo will seek a third term as New York's governor. He first took office in 2011.

UPDATED: Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, released a statement responding to Assemblyman Gary Finch's criticisms.

Assembly Republican Gary Finch attacked the Governor's budget using the Republican talking points. It's a shame that after the Governor's bipartisan governing style resulting in six on-time budgets in a row, Assembly Republicans are adopting Washington-style gridlock politics. We understand he is personally upset because they didn't get a pay raise, which would have brought the assemblyman's salary for his part time position up to approximately $100,000. However, New Yorkers in every corner of the state were opposed to it by wide margins and now even members themselves publicly say they were against it!

The facts here are undeniable. Governor Cuomo has had lower spending increases than any Governor in modern history -- lower than the budgets by Republican Governor Pataki that Assemblyman Finch voted for.

He says public schools should get more money. How much more Assemblyman Finch? How much higher do you want to raise taxes. New York currently spends more per pupil than any state in the nation and twice the national average.

Yes, we support scholarships for middle and working class SUNY students to help them reduce costs. These kids, like many of the sons and daughters of Assemblyman Finch's constituents, come from families who make less than $125,000 a year.

College is now a necessity not a luxury. It is in all our best interest to have the most educated workforce -- especially upstate.

We need jobs and the place with the most educated workforce gets the jobs. We want to be New York.
A representative from Wildlife SOS moves one of the two leopard cubs into a safe box, in hopes the mother leopard will show up to claim them. This is a small miracle; these cubs will now grow up wild and free instead of in captivity.

A rare and touching video from last week tells the story of two tiny leopard cubs, separated from their mother and on the brink of disaster, finally being reunited with mom in the night. The cubsjust three weeks old, still with their eyes closedfound themselves lost and alone in a sugarcane field near Pune, India. They were in imminent danger from predators and even unsympathetic humans. But thanks to the involvement of a few good-hearted farmers, the Pune Forest Department, and conservation group Wildlife SOS (WSOS), the cubs and their mom eventually slunk back into the forest as a familyall under the watchful eye of WSOS camera traps.

But according to local forest official Sanjay Gaikwad, situations such as this dont always turn out so well for wildlife. Sugarcane fields provide safe cover to the cats, Gaikwad told the Hindustan Times. But this also gives rise to conflict situations when farmers harvest the sugarcane. We received a distress call from the village and a team was dispatched.

Even with the helping hand of government officials and WSOS, the cubs fate was still undecided early in the evening. Mother cats are reluctant to return to an area once humans have gotten involved, or they may not return at all due to injury or death. In such cases, cubs are doomed to a lifetime in captivity, at best.

WSOS Senior Veterinarian Ajay Deshmukh had a plan. After an in-field medical exam showed that the tiny cats were fit to be released, WSOS representatives constructed a makeshift shelter from milk crates and laid it in the field where the mother leopard had last been spotted. WSOS then placed two remote-control camera traps to keep an eye on the kittens from a safe distance. Several hours later, they heard the mother leopard call out, then watched her cautiously emerge from the forest to carry her cubs by the scruff of the neck back into the wild. It was a victory for everyone.

We want to ensure that these leopards dont end up in captivity if we can help it, WSOS cofounder Kartick Satyanarayan told the Pune Mirror. We want them back in the wild living freely. Its crucial for leopard cubs to grow up with their mothers.

With little forest cover left for foraging, hiding, and living in, female leopards now look to agricultural areasparticularly the tall, dense sugarcane fields common in Punefor the necessary shelter to give birth and rear cubs. But cubs often end up alone when the mother ventures out to hunt, and if she doesnt return immediately, the situation can become serious. Heart-warming reunions such as this are rare, according to WSOS, but the possibility of a reunion is worth every effort.

This is a small miracle; these cubs will now grow up wild and free instead of in captivity, said WSOS Executive Director Nikki Sharp in a press statement. Some people are skeptical that leopard reunions even occur, but weve got an amazing video showing one right here. You just cant always assume that the mother has died or is too afraid of local people to return to the area; [this video] is a reminder that we should make every effort even if the likelihood is slim.

For more information, please contact Wildlife SOS Communications Lead John Pecorelli at (801) 750-0301. Email: john(at)wildlifesos(dot)org.

About Wildlife SOS: A non-profit organization, Wildlife SOS is one of the largest rescue and conservation charities in South Asia, operating 10 wildlife rehabilitation facilities across India, including the worlds largest sloth bear rescue center and the recently established Elephant Conservation and Care Center, which is the first in India and currently houses 22 rescued elephants. Wildlife SOS runs a tribal rehabilitation project that aims to create an alternative livelihood for poachers and other indigenous communities that once depended on wildlife for a livelihood. We also run a leopard rescue center, a wildlife hotline in New Delhi and Agra, and Forest Watch, which is an anti-poaching wildlife crime enforcement unit. More information about the organization can be found at http://www.wildlifesos.org. The U.S. branch of Wildlife SOS is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and received 501(c)3 charity status in 2005.
As the transition to value-based care and the scrutiny of health care costs continue under the new Administration, both start-ups and industry giants alike are seeking novel ways to stake their claim in an evolving health care market. The 2017 Wharton Health Care Business Conference will bring together over 400 health care leaders for discussions and debates about what lies ahead for the industry. The conference, organized by the Health Care Club of the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, will be held February 9  10, 2017 at the Union League of Philadelphia.

Mainstage Features include:



Opening remarks by David Blumenthal, M.D., President of The Commonwealth Fund at the Thursday night welcome reception

Keynotes by Robert J. Henkel, FACHE, President and CEO of Ascension Health, and Craig Samitt, M.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Anthem

A capstone discussion between Seth Blackley, President and Co-Founder of Evolent Health and Carolyn Magill, CEO of Remedy Partners, moderated by Dan Diamond, Author at POLITICO Pulse, to solicit views on how the industry will transition as it seeks to balance value with quality

The agenda also includes five panels led by executives and industry experts, exploring how traditional boundaries that have defined the industry are being broken, to meet the needs of an evolving market:



Measuring What Matters: Finding the Patient in the Value Equation  ft. Jason Dinger, CEO of MissionPoint Health Partners and Julian Harris, M.D., MBA, President of CareAllies

Pursuing the Next Investment Wave: Seeking Long-Run Value Creation and Untapped Potential  ft. Sam Brasch, Senior Managing Director of Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Adam Koppel, M.D., PhD, Managing Director of Bain Capital BioSciences

Extending the Care Continuum: Improving the Patient Journey between the Hospital and Community  ft. Benjamin Breier, President and CEO of Kindred Healthcare, David Baiada, President of BAYADA Home Health Care, and John Driscoll, CEO of CareCentrix

Innovation in Personalized Medicine: Collaboration in Pursuit of a Cure  ft. Liz Barrett, President and General Manager of Pfizer, Frank Clyburn, President of Global Oncology at Merck, and Cecilia Schott, VP of Precision Medicine at AstraZeneca

Health Tech Talks: The Role of Technology in the Rapidly-Changing Future of Healthcare  ft. Jason Gorevic, CEO of Teladoc, Glen de Vries, President of Medidata Solutions, and David Wennberg, M.D., MPH, Chief Science Officer of Quartet

About the Wharton Health Care Business Conference:

Begun in 1996, the Wharton Health Care Business Conference is the marquee event of the year for health care at Wharton. Entitled Breaking Boundaries: Redefining Collaboration and Competition in an Evolving Market, the 2017 conference will explore how companies are balancing the tension between collaboration and competition while in an evolving health care landscape, while breaking down the traditional boundaries that have defined the industry. To learn more, visit http://www.whcbc.org.

Media Contact: Karen Au Yeung (karenay(at)wharton(dot)upenn(dot)edu), WHCBC Co-Chair for Marketing
The Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) Practice of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP received the ESOP Law Firm of the Year award at the 8th annual Americas M&A Atlas Awards in New York City.

The Americas M&A Atlas Awards recognizes top players in the middle market transactional communities, honoring excellence in the categories of best value-creating deals, top teams, and outstanding firms and leaders from North and South America. According to the Global M&A Network, winners are selected independently based on the deal performance criteria, expertise, clients served, and leadership.

"We were thrilled to be recognized as the ESOP Law Firm of the Year by Global M&A Network. This recognition speaks volumes about our ESOP practice and the quality of work we provide our clients, stated Jeffrey S. Kahn, Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurigs ESOP Practice.

Our team, supported by an international platform, provides our clients with innovative and tailored solutions  implementing successful ESOP transactions. It is an honor to be recognized as a leader in the industry among so many other ESOP professionals, said Marc R. Baluda, Co-Chair of the firms ESOP Practice.

In addition, Greenberg Traurig, E&M Ice Cream and CSG Partners were listed as winners of the U.S.A. ESOP Deal of the Year for the acquisition of Calip Diaries and E&M Ice Cream by the E&M Ice Cream ESOP.

The full list of awards can be found here.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GTLaw) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is celebrating its 50th anniversary. A single entity worldwide, GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the second largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2016, and among the Top 20 on the 2016 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
HROC and Sepsis Alliance We have been doing research into how MAM can help reduce the threat to patients, and the ways reducing task saturation can help with this looming healthcare crisis.

Sepsis Alliance and the High Reliability Organization Counsel (HROC) are joining forces to raise awareness of superbugs, or bacteria that are immune to drugs such as antibiotics. This partnership comes on the heels of a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a Nevada patient who recently died from a bacteria that could not be stopped by any antibiotic available in the U.S.

The case in Nevada was not the first detection in the past year. In April, 2016, the Military identified a patient in Pennsylvania with a germ impervious to the antibiotic of last resort. Today, there is new evidence that these bacteria are circulating more widely than reported, and even among people with no signs of infection.

The potential risks to patients and their loved ones cannot be overstated, and historic outbreaks have demonstrated the incredible toll such superbugs can take. For example, the nation's first large scale pandemic, the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, was estimated to have killed up to 5% of the world's population. To put this in perspective, a mortality rate of 5% using current population numbers would equate to 350 million people globally. In the U.S., a 5% mortality rate would equal more than six times the number of people that died from all causes last year.

Concerns of a pandemic were also just elevated by the CDCs report in January, 2017 that death rates from influenza and pneumonia are now above epidemic thresholds. Flu and pneumonia are common precursors to sepsis, the bodys overwhelming response to infection that can lead to patient injury, limb amputation, or death. Consequently, treating infection early  and properly -- with effective antibiotics must be a primary mission for healthcare providers.

Currently, the CDC notes drug-resistant bacteria cause 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths annually. Given the increase in infections in the past decade, more antibiotic use will be necessary and should be expected. Appropriate antimicrobial use and stewardship in healthcare will be critical, along with the reduced use of antibiotics in farming and the encouragement of new antibiotic development.

Given the risks posed by these superbugs to national security, the United States Army commissioned a new research arm in 2009 to address the global threat of antibiotic overuse and preventable drug-resistant infections. The Multidrug-Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN) was designed to improve biosurveillance, and tied to about 100 military facilities around the world.

Pandemic-level diseases such as the flu, Ebola, and other pathogens can spawn epidemics that can then result in sepsis -- the most dangerous of all complications from infection.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are considered by experts to be the result of the overuse of antibiotics. To prevent possible infections from worsening, more people are using antibiotics with greater frequency and in stronger doses, given the threat to the elderly and the goal of avoiding severe infections and sepsis (currently a major focus nationwide). The paradox many healthcare providers are finding is that more resistant bacteria can emerge from this increased usage that, in turn, will not be able to be stopped by these antibiotics.

To battle this crisis, one measure currently advocated by the CDC is "antimicrobial stewardship" (AMS). Studies have shown stewardship programs, involving increased monitoring, education within clinical settings, and improvements to antibiotic use, may lower the use of antibiotics by almost 20 percent. Such programs have also been linked to declining infection rates, especially from resistant microbes in a hospital.

Given the presumed limiting associated with any stewardship program, a misconception exists that antimicrobial stewardship could make it even harder to fight sepsis, such as by delaying needed antibiotics. Research into another Military-led contribution against the pandemic threat, called the Military Acuity Model (MAM), suggests otherwise.

Balancing the "not too little, not too much" in antibiotic use was key to the research conducted for MAM being applied to antimicrobial stewardship. "We have been doing research into how MAM can help reduce the threat to patients, and the ways reducing task saturation can help with this looming healthcare crisis," said Lieutenant Colonel Jared Mort, an expert on MAM and its implementation. "This strategy relies on people reacting precisely the right way at the right time. This was the reason for HROC's research into ensuring reliability in the proper timing and execution of care tasks."

A study showing how MAM tackles this threat to patients and the public is expected to be published shortly. However, it is not the only research that seems to suggest more attention be focused on improving the means by which healthcare is delivered.

A 2007 New Yorker article written by Atul Gawande quoted patient safety expert Peter Pronovost, M.D., who suggested the fundamental problem with the quality of American medicine is the failure to also view the delivery of health care as a science. Dr. Pronovost noted that the tasks of medical science fall into three buckets: 1. Understanding disease biology; 2. Finding effective therapies; 3. Ensuring those therapies are delivered effectively. "That third bucket has been almost totally ignored by research funders, government, and academia, Dr. Pronovost said in the article. Its viewed as the art of medicine. Thats a mistake, a huge mistake. And from a taxpayers perspective, its outrageous."

This Delivery Science" is where HROC and Sepsis Alliance are focusing their joint efforts and research.

In fact, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation estimated that $4.5 billion per year is required to protect against pandemic threats -- a key reason HROC and Sepsis Alliance joined the research to halt the rise of these pandemic risks that often lead to sepsis.

The financial impact that health systems may suffer during possible pandemics is also a significant concern. The hospital that had the nation's first Ebola incident in 2014 was criticized for poor adherence to safety protocols, and suffered negative media attention after its mishandling of the Ebola patient. The financial impact of this superbug protocol failure was dramatic. The hospital's revenue dropped 25.6% in the month following the negative press, and continued to be running below normal even months later. Hospitals also have other expenses to consider, including losses from liability to patients and care workers, and costs from extra efforts to prevent the next disaster. Such expenses are so significant that they may force smaller, community-based hospitals to close, which will only exacerbate the issue of preventable fatalities in the event of an epidemic.

"Hospitals that get overwhelmed by patients during a pandemic or superbug outbreak will have too much to do in too little time," notes Terry Rajasenan, HROC's chief scientist for MAM projects. "If teams become more reliable, they don't wait for high acuity patients to reach riskier late stages of infection that consume more staff time and costlier care, such as intensive care units. An example of too urgent is septic shock -- often too late to save patients. Earlier treatment means less fatalities, but it also means more patients to review to properly catch actual infections sooner -- or else it would lead to giving patients antibiotics that weren't needed. Staff with enough 'time to think' can choose this ideal time to treat. In short, timing is critical, and it's adversely impacted by task saturation."

Combating task saturation brings increased reliability and preparedness to our battle against pandemic risks, which in turn can help stop sepsis in its tracks, said Tom Heymann, Executive Director of Sepsis Alliance. "All of us stand to benefit in improving antimicrobial stewardship.

For those interested in learning more about improving antimicrobial stewardship and preventing infections from reaching sepsis in any setting, HROC encourages people to access a special webinar on high reliability organizations, which is free for those qualifying as serving the public interest, such as those helping the Military and VA. More details are online at:

http://www.thinkhro.org

For more information on identifying sepsis, or coping with its aftermath, visit the Sepsis Alliance website at:

http://www.sepsis.org

About HROC

HROC (http://www.thinkhro.org) is a registered non-profit committed to scientific study and public safety, and serves as a platform for education and collaboration, supporting and assisting in the implementation of High Reliability Organizations (HRO) in healthcare, government, and nonprofit entities. It arose from over 2 years of pro bono work by ProcessProxy Corp. with the U.S. Air Force in a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement. HROC members are clinicians, researchers, veterans, and HRO practitioners on the frontline of educating the public on the need for healthcare to adopt HRO principles in the interest of significantly improving both patient and public safety.

About Sepsis Alliance

Sepsis Alliance is the nations leading sepsis advocacy organization, dedicated to saving lives by raising awareness of sepsis as a medical emergency. A 501(c)(3) organization, Sepsis Alliance was founded by Dr. Carl Flatley after the sudden, unnecessary death of his daughter Erin to a disease he had never even heard of. Sepsis Alliance produces and distributes educational materials for patients, families and health providers on sepsis prevention, early recognition and treatment. The organization also offers support to patients, sepsis survivors, and family members through its sepsis.org website which receives more than 1 million visits each year. The organization founded Sepsis Awareness Month in 2011, and works with partners to host community outreach events across North America. Since Sepsis Alliance began its mission, sepsis awareness has increased almost threefold, from 19% to 55%. For more information on Sepsis Alliance, a GuideStar Gold-rated charity, please visit http://www.sepsis.org.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/superbug-resistant-every-available-antibiotic-u-s-kills-nevada-woman/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-these-biomedical-detectives-identified-the-dreaded-new-superbug-in-us/2016/06/06/96ac8922-2bda-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html?utm_term=.84a74125006d

http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-study-raises-specter-of-more-bacteria-resistant-to-last-line-antibiotics-1484596800

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article. Also see: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/1918flupandemic.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140123-spanish-flu-1918-china-origins-pandemic-science-health/

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/influenza.html

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/5/668.full

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db88.pdf

https://www.thoracic.org/patients/patient-resources/resources/top-pneumonia-facts.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-these-biomedical-detectives-identified-the-dreaded-new-superbug-in-us/2016/06/06/96ac8922-2bda-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html?utm_term=.84a74125006d

https://www.thoracic.org/patients/patient-resources/resources/top-pneumonia-facts.pdf

http://www.sepsis.org/sepsis-and/ebola/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5124618/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378521/ https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783672/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterubel/2014/09/30/could-pay-for-performance-lead-to-overuse-of-antibiotics/#17872bbb53ed

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/cms-proposed-rule-for-hospitals-reduce-antibiotic-use-or-exit-medicare.html

http://paidpost.nytimes.com/gates-foundation/preparing-for-pandemics.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4076364/The-world-NOT-prepared-flu-epidemic-Bill-Gates-warns-amid-recent-surge-antibiotic-resistant-bugs.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dallas-nurses-hospital-sloppy-ebola-protocols-union/story?id=26205956

"Texas Health reports lower margin, higher expenses", Beth Kutscher, April 1, 2015

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150401/NEWS/150409983

"Texas Health Resources works to rebuild image after Ebola", Steven Ross Johnson, October 18, 2014

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20141018/MAGAZINE/310189988

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/09/04/failures-of-dallas-hospital-during-ebola-crisis-detailed-in-new-report/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/dallas-hospital-tries-to-repair-its-reputation/2014/10/17/dfb62dc4-55fa-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html?tid=a_inl
Nearly 60 fishing tournaments across Montana may proceed as planned this year by incorporating measures to stop the spread of invasive aquatic species.

Exotic mussel larvae detected for the first time in Montana last year triggered concerns about the spread of the mollusks. Confirmed positive samples came from Tiber Reservoir while samples from Canyon Ferry Reservoir, upstream on the Missouri River and the Milk River returned suspected positives. Once established, mussels can overwhelm aquatic ecosystems and plague hydropower and irrigation infrastructure.

Invasive species attached to watercraft or held in live wells is a major way the species spread. Mussels attached to boats can live for up to five days out of water and several weeks in high humidity.

A mussel rapid response team brought several recommendations to legislators last month. The recommendations include mandatory boat decontamination at infested waters and inspection of out-of-state boats.

Among the 58 open water tournaments this year, five are scheduled for either Tiber or Canyon Ferry. The team earlier recommended installing decontamination stations at both reservoirs and mandated cleaning and drying before and after launching a boat. The rules implementing the suite of recommendations will go out for public comment ahead of the boating season.

Mussel response team spokesman Tom Palmer said mandatory decontamination tournament rules will be emphasized at infested waters and are in line with recommendations.

Were not targeting tournaments at all because all of the recommendations apply to all boats, he said. I think because well have those protocols to take care of all boats is really the reason these tournaments can take place.

The Tiber Walleye Tournament is scheduled for May 20-21. Also scheduled are the Canyon Ferry Carp Safari on June 10, Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival on June 24-25, the Broadwater Rod and Gun Club Walleye Derby on July 15, and Camp Mak-A-Dream Walleye benefit on Aug. 12. More than 400 boats are expected to launch as part of the events.

Under existing rules, contest sponsors statewide are responsible for notifying participants that boats and trailers must be cleaned before and after the event.

That will be especially important this year and for years to come, Eileen Ryce, FWPs fisheries division administrator said in a statement. Were in the process of alerting each contest organizer to expect additional boat and equipment cleaning requirements.

FWP will be on hand at the Tiber and Canyon Ferry contests to ensure boats are properly decontaminated upon leaving the water, she said.

Weve scrutinized each application with care and with an eye toward the recent invasive mussel developments, Ryce said. We believe these contests can be held safely with additional restrictions that further protect the fishery. Its not going to be business as usual and the anglers and the contest organizers recognize that.

A message left with the Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival organizer was not returned in time for this story.
After struggling to get bills with a price tag out of committee, some Montana legislators are making amendments to move policies forward without funding.

One strategy to get a bill out of committee and onto the floor is changing the required funding to $1 instead of the original estimate of what the bill would actually cost to implement.

House Bill 185 would have appropriated $4 million over the next biennium to establish a grant program to eliminate tuition for certain post-secondary programs, but was tabled after the committee expressed cost concerns. After the amount was changed to $1, it passed out of the education committee and the House.

The general idea is to find funding near the end of the session, or hope the budget will be in better shape in 2019. But with legislators meeting term limits or losing their re-election, critics of the $1 bills say legislators next session will be burdened with funding someone elses policy.

That tactic could be less effective under a new policy from the governors budget office, which would require fiscal notes to include the actual cost of a proposed policy.

Chair of House Appropriations, Rep. Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton, said she thinks having the actual cost attached to the bill will ensure legislators are truly evaluating policy and not putting forward a mediocre bill because it doesnt have an immediate cost.

House Bill 185, carried by Rep. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, was tabled in the education committee, with an original appropriation of $4 million over the next biennium. It was taken off the table and passed 12 to 5 with an amendment appropriating $1 for the biennium.

Morigeau said he thinks listing the actual cost of the bills isnt necessary for every bill with a reduced fiscal note. If his bill doesnt have any money, the program is simply put on hold. It wont cost the state money unless they decide to fund it, he said.

The updated fiscal note reflects the actual cost as $4 million in the biennium, or any lesser amount the Legislature decides to appropriate.

I think theres a danger in killing good policy even if you cant fund it right now, he said. Lets at least find a vehicle for the future where we can help students in need.

If there are funds at the end of the session, the bill could see an appropriation. Even if it were a small amount, such as $1,000, Morigeau said a few students could receive assistance.

He said the Board of Regents would be able to set the criteria to determine the students with the highest need receive at least some portion of the available funds.

If not, the law could be funded next session without having to rehash a policy debate.

The amendment also adjusted the mandatory GPA from a 2.5 to 2.7 and instituted a community service requirement of at least eight hours a semester.

Morigeau said he spoke with almost every committee member to address their concerns with his bill. Beyond a financial standpoint, he said some members were in favor of the bill if there were more checks and balances, like the higher GPA requirement, to make sure the student was doing well.

When the fiscal note was reduced to $1, some committee members who previously voted no changed to a yes vote.

When the version of HB185 that would have appropriated $4 million was up for executive action, a second bill that delayed funding until 2019 was also tabled by the committee. During that discussion, Rep. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, said she was hesitant to pass legislation without funding.

This same type of legislation or bill request could be brought forward in 2019 rather than committing to that at this time, she said.

Vinten originally voted yes for HB185 and voted yes a second time even though it had a $1 fiscal note. She said she doesnt think a reduced fiscal note will help the bill become law.

As far as the policy of reducing a fiscal note to $1, its not helpful, she said.

When asked why she voted yes for the bill if she didnt think it would pass without funding, she said she has a passion for technical and vocational education.

I appreciate the intent of policy for providing further avenues of education, she said.
Readers Respond

Last week we ran an editorial by Jim Milliot, PWs editorial director, headlined Standing Up to President Trump. In it, he argued that book publishings missionto provide Americans with credible, vital information, and to tell the stories that reflect the diversity that is the strength of our nationis invaluable and that PW will support it. The editorial was shared widely on social media and generated plenty of commentary on our own site, both positive and critical:

Admitting a bias, and then claiming such a noble mission as to tell the stories that reflect the diversity that is the strength of our nation seems, on its face, at least contradictory, if not disengenuous. Trump did not get elected by ghosts, but by citizens who believe their voices have been unheard or ignored. Thats where the power that you are standing up to comes from. Not from a single man. Maybe it would be wiser to listen than to shout Resist! You might even sell more books. Just a thought.

Alton Fletcher

Sometimes, truth is a matter of perspective... [for both] liberals [and] conservatives. On the other hand, labeling falsehoods alternative truths doesnt turn a lie into a fact. While there is no question that Trump has many admirers who believe in what he says, his alternative truths can only lead this nation to greater divisiveness. As the publishing industry enters the age of Trump, we have to determine for ourselves whether we wish to legitimize these alternative truths spewed out by his spin doctors, enablers, and... the man himself. Rudy Shur, Square One Publishers

From the Newsletters

Tip Sheet

The 11 most anticipated book-to-film adaptations of 2017, including The Dark Tower, The Glass Castle, and Fifty Shades Darker.

Childrens Bookshelf

Want to know what the big childrens and young adult books are going to be this fall? Check out our sneak peeks!

BookLife Report

The self-publishing year in preview.

Sign up for these and other great, free newsletters.

The most read review on publishersweekly.com last week was Lotus Blue by Cat Sparks (Talos).

Podcasts

Week Ahead

PW senior writer Andrew Albanese reports from a meeting of trade publishing media in Paris, offering a look at the state of the global book business and why politics is making for a murky 2017.

More to Come

George Rohac, founder of management company Organized Havoc, which handles business planning for comics creators and projects of nerd culture at large, gives his perspective on career planning, crowdfunding, the future of webcomics, and more.

PW Radio

Donna Freitas discusses her new book, The Happiness Effect: How Social Media Is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost (Oxford Univ.). And PW bookselling and international editor Ed Nawotka reports on the ABAs Winter Institute, which ran January 2730 in Minneapolis.

Blogs

ShelfTalker

A childrens bookseller on the role a bookstore can play in these tumultuous times.

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Atria Nabs Debut Novel on Israeli Military Draft

Atrias Daniella Wexler secured world English rights, in a preempt, to Sadness Is a White Bird, a debut novel by Moriel Rothman-Zecher, a MacDowell fellow, in a deal brokered by Julia Kardon of Mary Evans Inc. According to the publisher, the novel concerns a young Israeli man trying to reconcile his connection to two Palestinian siblings with his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country as his military draft date approaches. In 2015, the author published an op-ed in the New York Times about Israelis who refuse to serve in the nations military. Atria plans to publish the novel in spring 2018.

Acevedo Brings Historical Novel to Europa

Michael Reynolds, editor-in-chief of Europa Editions, bought world English rights to The Milk Brother by Chantel Acevedo in a deal arranged by Stephanie Abou of Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents. According to the publisher, the novel is based on the true story of the Spanish princess Eulalia, an outspoken firebrand at the Bourbon court during the troubled final years of her familys reign. Acevedo, who teaches in the MFA program at the University of Miami, previously published the novel A Distant Marvel with Europa in 2015. The Milk Brother is set to be published in fall 2017.

Journalists Book on Truth Under Trump to Prometheus

In a deal negotiated by Karen Gantz of Karen Gantz Literary Management, Steven Mitchell of Prometheus Books acquired world rights to USA Today journalist Nathan Bomeys second book, tentatively titled The Post-Fact Era: How Truth Died in the Trumpian Age. According to Gantz, the book explores how the erosion of truth as a pillar of community laid the groundwork for Trumps rise to power. Specifically, Bomey will examine how social media, shifting news habits, the spread of entrenched ideologies, and the failures of educators fueled societys increasingly tenuous commitment to the facts. Bomey, a business journalist, previously published Detroit Resurrected: To Bankruptcy and Back with Norton in 2016. The Post-Fact Era is set to be published sometime in 2018.

Avery Takes Psychoanalytic Look at Trump

Caroline Sutton, editor-in-chief at Avery, bought world rights to Trump on the Couch by Justin A. Frank, a psychoanalyst, in a deal brokered by Gail Ross and Katie Zanecchia of Ross Yoon, a Washington, D.C., agency. The book is the third such work by Frank: he previously published Bush on the Couch and Obama on the Couch. The new book, according to the publisher, builds on three decades of the authors practice and teaching of psychoanalysis to create an insightful and entertaining psychological profile of Trump and a deeper understanding of his supporters. Avery plans to publish the book in spring 2018.

New Remnant Chronicles Book to Holt

In a six-figure, two-book deal negotiated by Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio, Kate Farrell of Henry Holt purchased North American rights to Dance of Thieves, a young adult novel by Mary E. Pearson that is set in the universe of her Remnant Chronicles series. According to Stimola, the book centers on a reformed thief who is sent by the Queen of Venda to investigate a disturbance in a distant land. There, she finds herself matching wits with the leader of an outlaw dynasty as she tries to uncover the dangerous secret his family hides. Holt, which has published the previous Remnant titles, plans to release the new novel in spring 2018.

CORRECTION: This article originally misprinted the title of Acevedo's A Distant Marvel.
Given the highly charged atmosphere following Donald Trumps election as president, it came as little surprise that Winter Institute 12, which began on the same day that Trump issued a temporary executive order banning travel from seven countries with Muslim-majority populations, turned into the most political bookseller gathering in recent memory.

Trumps actions created a sense of urgency that extended to issues that have roiled the bookseller community for years, particularly its lack of diversity. Americas a different place, ABA CEO Oren Teicher said. Were part of that. This was more political [than previous years Winter Institutes]. But its about how stores respond to that and the changing [climate in] America.

Two talks early in the conference, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis from January 27 to 30, captured booksellers and publishers attention and helped move it away from focusing solely on bookselling basics. On the afternoon before Winter Institutes official opening, Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, addressed the inaugural meeting of the Independent Publisher Caucus, founded by Tom Hallock, associate publisher of Beacon Press, and Dan Simon, publisher of Seven Stories Press. She told indie publishers that it is time to get beyond merely talking about diversity. I think were leaving writers and readers on the table, Lucas said. How do you get a diverse staff? You have to do the work. Not by starting a committee. This is embarrassing. Its actually shameful how homogeneous this community is.

Many of her words were echoed the next morning by Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay in her opening keynote. Rather than speak about her new story collection, Difficult Women, Gay addressed diversity and making bookstores sanctuaries. This is the state of most industries, and particularly contemporary publishing. People of color are not asked about our areas of expertise, as if the only thing we are allowed to be experts on is our marginalization. We are asked about how white people can do better and feel better about diversity or the lack thereof. Rather than offering absolution, Gay called on booksellers to do the work to make the publishing industry inclusive and to make brown, black, and disabled readers feel welcome in their stores, particularly at this political juncture.

Youre smart, passionate book people, Gay said. You can forego the distance of needing to be taught what you can learn through trial and error. You can figure out how to be more inclusive in all ways. You can get political. You can get uncomfortable. You can remember that you are not just selling books. You are providing sanctuary. You are the stewards of sacred spaces. Rise to the occasion. Rise.

Much of the passion that both Gay and Lucas put into their talks was channeled by booksellers at the ABA Town Hall, which drew roughly 350400 booksellers, or more than half of the 654 attending the conference (overall attendance was up 30% from previous years, when it was capped at 500). Many came with prepared remarks or calls for action: to make the ABA more inclusive and to make Winter Institute more reflective of the outside world.

Its been a disconcerting juxtaposition, to contrast the updates in my Facebook and Twitter feeds with the largely business-as-usual panel topics and programming weve been engaged in here, said Christin Evans, co-owner of the Booksmith in San Francisco and a director of Keplers in Menlo Park. The Bay Area is erupting in almost daily protests. My request is that ABA open up [a] discussion of what stores are doing and thinking about doing now. She also took exception to ABAs stance to defend, on free speech grounds, Simon & Schusters decision to publish Milo Yiannopouloss book Dangerous.

Denise Chavez, co-owner of Casa Camino Real in Las Cruces, N.Mex., offered to serve on an advisory committee for the ABA so that it can diversify. I deal with racism daily, said Chavez, who gets at least one call a day from people who tell her that its un-American to have an answering machine message in Spanish.

Hannah Oliver Depp of Word in Jersey City and Angela Spring, who is opening a bookstore in Washington, D.C., spoke in alternating sentences on diversity. As the independent bookstore community grows, we need more diversity for owners and staff. We challenge you [the board] to make diversity not just symbolic, but systemic, they said. The two are founding members of Indies Forward, an organization formed to help booksellers share resources and information.

Other booksellers such as Noelle Santos, who is looking to open the Lit Bar in the Bronx, N.Y., encouraged more booksellers to participate in the ABAs Abacus study. According to Santos, realtors and lenders dont want to just see a report that only reflects how the best stores are doing, they want a picture of bookstores across the spectrum. Single mother Maria Stasolla, manager of Ye Olde Book Shoppe in Warwick, N.Y., wanted to know why the ABA couldnt provide health insurance, a topic that also came up at the Independent Publisher Caucus.

The morning after the town hall, ABA president Betsy Burton, co-owner of the Kings English in Salt Lake City, thanked booksellers for an amazing meeting. As a result of the questions raised there, the board will create a task force on diversity and increase the diversity of the Booksellers Advisory Council. We are one organization and want to be inclusive, Burton said.

While Burton was making her announcement, a second meeting took place in another part of the hotel of a loosely organized group of about 50 people calling themselves Booksellers Resist. Led by Depp and Spring, along with Anna Thorn, general manager of Upshur Books in Washington, D.C., and Lacy Simons, owner of Hello, Hello Books in Rockland, Maine, their goal was to talk about how to work together in Trumps America and how to be inclusive. One of the most important things, Thorn said later, describing the meeting, was [to end up with] action items and not just discussion. She encouraged those who want continue the conversation in Indies Forwards Slack group to request an invitation by emailing indiesforward@gmail.com.

Despite the fact that the convention programming focused on best practices for increasing margins, selling used books, and managing store brands, and included numerous opportunities to meet authors, the overwhelming theme was running a bookstore during changing times.

There is more political energy at this Winter Institute than Ive ever seen, said Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo, co-owner of Greenlight Books, which has two stores in Brooklyn, N.Y. Ive never been to a town hall thats so exciting. Its partly the reaction to Trumps America. It feels so urgent to people, even the stores that have never been political.

While many found the conference energizing, Ruth Liebmann, v-p of account marketing at Penguin Random House, found galvanizing to be more accurate. If I had to pick one adjective to describe this Winter Institute, it would be galvanizing for booksellers, publishers, and writers, she said. From the town hall to the editorial sessions to the ad hoc sessions in the bar, it seems like everyone is leaving with mission and excitement.
Two new publishers have sprung up looking to fulfill what they see as a growing demand for books by Latino authors that are more varied than those currently being published. Black Rose Writing, a San Antonio, Tex.based publisher, recently announced the launch of its latest imprint, La Casita Grande, and Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein, two friends who couldnt find books about Latinos or Latino culture for their children, are upping the output of their publishing company, Lil Libros.

La Casita Grande, headed by Black Rose Writing author Jonathan Marcantoni (Kings of 7th Avenue), promises a hands-on approach that Marcantoni developed during his time as editor-in-chief of Aignos Publishing, a bilingual publisher in Honolulu. Marcantoni says, La Casita Grande is stepping in to fill the void in Latino literature for a house that is dedicated to experimental, innovative, genre-busting narratives in English and in Spanish, while providing international distribution. Beginning this year, the imprint will publish four titles annually in a combination of Spanish, English, and bilingual formats.

Marcantoni stresses that he is looking for writers of Latin-American and Caribbean descent but is not interested in books about immigration or identity literature, areas he thinks are almost overrepresented. Marcantoni is most interested in such writers work in science fiction, crime, romance, horror, and experimental works.

La Casita Grandes first book, Dysfunctional Males, is a collection of short stories written by Argentinean author Fernando Sdrigotti that will be released February 28. Its second title, Coffee/Black, No Sugar, is a bilingual poetry collection by the Puerto Rican writer A.B. Lugo.

Lil Libros, based in Los Angeles, began when Rodriguez could not find the kinds of bilingual books she wanted to read to her son. She wrote the bilingual manuscript for Counting with Frida/Contando con Frida, which combines number learning with an account of the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Unable to find an agent or publisher, Rodriquez enlisted Stein to start Lil Libros in 2014, and the two have steadily expanded the business.

Rodriquez acknowledges the two had a sometimes-rocky start. Our first print run was printed in China and we had no idea what to expect, she says. We thought, well go and pick the books up at the ship, which arrived at the Port of Long Beach in California. We went with my van to pick up six pallets. Needless to say, we were ill-equipped to take the books to a storage facility.

Stein notes that with the help of family and friends, she and Rodriguez have gotten Lil Libros books stocked at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Scholastic, Target, museums such as MOMA and the Mexican Fine Arts Museum of Chicago, and 100 independent stores, and they are being distributed by Baker & Taylor, Brodart, and Follett. Lil Libros has published eight books featuring Latino icons (Emiliano Zapata, Cuauhtemoc) and cultural touchstones (lucha libre, loteria), and it will publish another three titles in 2017.

Rodriguez and Stein both come from Mexican immigrant families who worked picking grapes and instilled a passion for books and Latino culture in their daughters. When asked what the goal of their company is, Rodriquez says: We want to inspire our community to dream big. We need books that belong to us, in more ways than one. We also want to inspire parents, especially Latino parents, to read to their children at the youngest age.
MISSOULA -- A bill to clarify that mug shots are public information  but was then amended to do the opposite  appears set to be killed by the House at the request of the bill's sponsor.

My grandpa was a farmer and I loved him dearly. He told me a long time ago, If youve got a horse with a broken leg, youve got to be prepared to put it down, Rep. Frank Garner, R-Kalispell, said upon introducing HB 236 to the House floor Friday. Im actually going to ask you today to vote against it.

Garner, a former Kalispell police chief, introduced his bill with the support of law enforcement leaders and media organizations, who sought to clarify a portion of state law that is unclear about whether mug shots taken upon arrest are public information.

Current law mentions photos as an example of confidential criminal justice information, although most police agencies interpret that to mean photos with evidentiary value such as images taken at crime scenes or pictures of victim injuries. Some, erring on the side of caution, also have not released mug shots to the public, which are sometimes shared by investigators when they are seeking more information from the public about a suspect or are requested by media organizations for publication.

In 2015, a district court judge ruled that booking photos are indeed public information. The Gallatin County attorney then asked Attorney General Tim Fox to weigh in, but he declined to issue an opinion, citing the court decision.

Last week, the House Judiciary committee voted to amend the bill to ban the release of mug shots until after someone has been convicted. This week the 11 Republicans on the committee voted to send the amended bill to the House floor while the eight Democrats opposed it.

Chairman Alan Doane, R-Bloomfield, defended the amendment Friday as protecting the rights of citizens to be considered innocent until proven guilty. He noted the amendment allowed two exceptions: if a judge deemed it necessary or if person photographed allows for its release.

Are we gonna be guilty without due process? Or are we gonna be guilty in a court of public opinion or are we going to wait until a person is guilty in a court of law before their mug shot is stuck on the front page of the newspaper? he said.

Garner argued that if legislators support the committees amendment, they should kill HB236 and reintroduce it as a new bill so that it could again receive a public hearing. He noted that because the amendments were made days after the hearing with no indication at that time about an intent to change it, law enforcement and media organizations did not have a chance to speak to the new version.

The House appears set to kill the bill as Garner requests. In a preliminary vote, 17 Republicans and 39 Democrats opposed the measure as amended by the committee while 42 Republicans and three Democrats supported it, meaning it's opposed by a 55-42 margin. It will face a final vote Monday.

John MacDonald, a lobbyist for the Montana Newspaper Association, said in a statement that he had mixed feelings about Friday's vote.

"No one ever likes to kill a bill they helped craft and spent a lot of time working on, along with a lot of other groups, so we are disappointed from that perspective, he said. But the bill had been turned in to something entirely different than what we, and the sponsor, were trying to accomplish, so there wasn't much choice."
DAVENPORT -- Dana Waterman III is stepping back from his profession, but remains as dedicated as ever to his community.

The 70-year-old attorney -- the fourth generation of his family at the Quad-Cities oldest law firm, Lane & Waterman -- recently stepped down as its managing partner. He was with the firm for more than 45 years and still maintains his practice there.

"I felt it was an appropriate time to make a transition and hand the reins off," he said.

Being semi-retired will allow more time for his myriad volunteer activities. His board service includes the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, the Quad City Defense Alliance, the Genesis Health System, the University of Iowa Health Alliance, Augustana College and the Iowa Law School Foundation.

He also is past board chairman of the Putnam Museum and Science Center and a founding co-trustee of the Quad City Cultural Trust. He is co-trustee of the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, begun in 1967 by his aunt and uncle, Larned and Mary Waterman, that supports area nonprofit organizations with its assets of more than $30 million.

"I had good mentors. I had good people who set the example," he said of volunteerism, citing his uncles, law firm members and his father, a longtime Davenport library board president and 17-year president of the Putnam board.

"He got me involved in the Putnam in the mid-80s," Mr. Waterman said.

"It's become, if not an expectation, we certainly encourage all of our people at the firm to become involved in the community in a volunteer capacity," he said. "That's one of our firm's core values."

In 2015, Junior Achievement of the Heartland named him a laureate in its Quad-Cities Business Hall of Fame. He chaired DavenportOne -- a precursor to the Chamber -- during the $119-million River Renaissance campaign.

"Communities are often defined by the economic success of their downtowns," he said. "If you don't have a vibrant, strong, growing core, then you're going to be perceived...as decaying, dying, going in the wrong direction.

"I've invested a lot of my time in trying to make that happen. That investment will ultimately pay off in helping us having a stronger client base," he said. "They serve the community and make the community stronger."

Augustana President Steve Bahls asked Mr. Waterman to join the school's board in 2014 after working with him on the Putnam and chamber boards.

"Dana has been a role model to me in my nonprofit service," said Mr. Bahls, praising his leadership during the merger of the Iowa and Illinois chambers. "I admired his dedication to this community, his faith in its possibilities, and the insightful manner in which he built connections to address its problems.

"His understanding of what motivates people, together with his quick and calm grasp of issues, makes him a leader in building a better community," Mr. Bahls said.

"His sense of duty is legitimate," Mr. Bahls said. "Dana believes you volunteer because much has been given to you, much is owed back. Dana believes the community has given him and the firm much, that a vital community is important to us all. It's out of a sense of calling."

Born in Hanover, N.H., Mr. Waterman graduated from University of Iowa's law school. He joined Lane & Waterman in 1971 and became its managing partner in 2001. He also serves as secretary and general counsel of Lee Enterprises.

For more than 20 years he has been honored by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers & Partners and other independent organizations for his expertise in corporate, securities, and mergers and acquisitions areas of law.

Mr. Waterman said the first nonprofit group he joined was the American Red Cross in the early 1970s. He was chapter board chairman 1979-1981 and remained involved for 15 years.

"It was a wonderful opportunity for me to become acquainted with other business people, other volunteers in the Quad-Cities, at a relatively early age in my professional career," he said.

He succeeded his father as trustee of the Adler Theatre Foundation. He joined the Putnam in 1986 as a trustee of the W.C. Putnam Estate Trust that was established in 1905 and dissolved four years ago.

Mr. Waterman worked out the development agreement for the renovation of today's River Music Experience, opened in 2004 in the Redstone building. He recalled that some people wanted it torn down, calling it an "eyesore" and "dinosaur."

"For a long time, I've been passionate about all of our downtowns," he said, noting he's been part of the Adler renovation, RiverCenter, Putnam properties, demolition for the Figge and the Ryan Companies' development of Moline's John Deere Commons in the mid-1990s.

In 2001, he helped lead the Putnam's $15 million campaign for its giant-screen theater. The art museum's decision to move downtown challenged the Putnam to have something else to make it a destination attraction, he said. He noted people ask why the Putnam also doesn't move downtown.

"Aside from the fact you have a $30 million investment sitting there on the hill -- how do you turn around and justify abandoning that?" he said. "You can't."

In 2007, the Q-C Cultural Trust was formed by the Bechtel Trusts, the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation and the John Deere Foundation. With assets of more than $20 million, it makes grants to leading institutions such as RME, the Putnam, the Figge, the Q-C Symphony and the Botanical Center, Mr. Waterman said.

"It's an important element of our community, and one that's increasingly attractive to younger people," he said of the arts. "It certainly merits ongoing support.

"The cost of providing those cultural services is something that needs to be paid for," he said. "Arts organizations historically don't earn enough revenue to be able to cover their operating costs, so they need contributed revenue. In most communities, that comes from the municipalities in which they're located."

Mr. Waterman and his wife, Faye, have three children and five grandchildren.
BETTENDORF -- Police are asking for information that could lead to the arrest of a knife-wielding robber who struck Thursday night at Anns Hallmark Shop.

At about 6:38 p.m., two employees at the store, 886 Middle Road, Bettendorf, were approached by a man who walked behind the counter, according to a news release from Bettendorf police. The man was holding a small, silver-colored knife and demanded money.

The employees cooperated, placing money into a Hallmark bag, and the man ran away, heading west from the store, the release stated.

He was described as a black man who appeared in his 20s, the release stated. He was about 5-feet-11-inches tall and about 175 pounds.

When the robbery occurred, he was wearing a red bandanna on his face and a black, hooded sweatshirt with a zipper, the release stated. The hood was up, and he was also wearing a dark-colored stocking cap.

He was also wearing light-colored jeans that were torn on the upper left leg, black shoes and gloves, the release stated.

The amount of money taken was not released.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bettendorf Police Department at 563-344-4024 or Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500.
MIDDLETOWN, Iowa  In an effort to promote potential commercial development, the Project Director Joint Services and Joint Munitions Command ARMS Team hosted a site visit at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant Jan. 11-12 to obtain site certification and highlight the rail trans-loading, warehousing, manufacturing and logistics facilities.

Lacy Kreger, Assistant Manager, Economic Development, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company and David Toyer, Director of Economic Development, Greater Burlington Partnership, were among the guests who reviewed building and railroad infrastructure for potential ARMS facility use on the ammo plant.

Debbie Hookway, Project Officer, Plans, Programs & Policy, Office of PD Joint Services Picatinny Arsenal, Picatinny, N.J., provided guidance and information during the tour to highlight the ARMS Program.

"Being recognized by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Rail Railroad as a certified site that can accommodate their rail customers is a major achievement for the ARMS program, IAAAP and the U.S. Army, said Ms. Hookway.

The BNSF program, launched in March 2016, allows certified sites to use the BNSF Certified Sites distinction in marketing materials to attract new businesses. BNSF actively markets and promotes the sites to the economic development industry across the country, according to a recent BNSF press release.

One of the ways BNSF works to ensure the right solution is offered to each customer is by scouting potential sites for development in advance of customer inquiries, said Colby Tanner, assistant vice president, Economic Development, BNSF. By doing the upfront leg work to confirm a site is rail-served and shovel-ready, BNSFs Site Certification Program creates significant value for customers by accelerating the process needed to support customer growth and development.

The Commerce Center of Southeast Iowa is 153 acres within the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown. The site has received certification as part of BNSF Railways Certification Site program.

BNSF certification ensures a site is ready for rapid development through a comprehensive evaluation of existing and projected infrastructure, environmental and geotechnical standards, utility evaluation and site availability. Benefits of a certified site provides businesses with reduced development time, increased speed to markets, and reduces upfront development risk of rail-served industrial development.

The site provides access to more than 100 miles of track and several storage yards which link directly to the BNSF mainline that extends westward from Burlington to Mount Pleasant, Iowa and eventually Des Moines and Omaha, Neb., Adjacent to the 153 acres are more than 30 available warehouse buildings with more than 25,000 square feet each.

Through this process we have gained a great partner in BNSF and proven that the Commerce

Center of Southeast Iowa has significant value for warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing companies, added Ms. Hookway.

Preparing the documentation for the state of Iowa certification, as well as the BNSF certification, has been a long process," she said. "But with our partners, American Ordnance, the Greater Burlington Partnership, BNSF, and Alliant Energy, we are close to landing a tenant that will be transformative for IAAAP and the local community. We are excited at the potential opportunities this partnership will bring to IAAAP and the greater Burlington area."

The ARMS Program rents government-owned land for industrial, commercial and office development, as well as buildings and infrastructure to private businesses. The program was established by Congress in 1993 to encourage the commercial use of underutilized property at select installations. Six ammunition installations managed by JMC participate in the program: Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Milan Army Ammunition Plant, Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, Radford Army Ammunition Plant, and Hawthorne Army Depot.

The ARMS Program helps reduce each installations operating costs. In addition, it creates new jobs and compensates for reduced government production that would negatively impact the local communities. In Fiscal Year 2015, the Army saved $12 million and created 1,839 jobs. Since its inception in 1993, the program has generated $558.4 million in cost savings.
CHICAGO  Since Chicagos violence rate began to spike in 2012, Cook County judges have doubled the amount of bond set for people charged with felony gun crimes.

If judges hoped the increase would keep armed gang members off the streets until their cases were decided, that did not happen.

Despite increasingly high bonds, the opposite has happened  the same group of those charged with gun crimes is getting out of jail more than twice as fast as they were four years ago, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of jail data of arrests and bonds.

At the same time, the Chicago Police Department is making fewer gun arrests and recovering fewer guns. From 2012 through the end of last year, the number of guns recovered fell by 33 percent and the number of arrests dropped by nearly 9 percent overall despite a recent uptick, according to department figures.

The result, even police leaders acknowledge, is a revolving door in the criminal justice system for those who potentially pose the greatest threat to public safety. And it is coming as city leaders have come under pressure to stem the rising tide of violence, including an ambiguous tweet from President Donald Trump last week that he would send in the Feds! if local police dont get the violence under control.

Its all the more confounding because Mayor Rahm Emanuel and successive police superintendents have made increasingly strident calls for judges to be tougher on gun cases to keep violent criminals behind bars.

Judges have indeed become tougher in setting bonds for felony gun cases, which have seen bonds double from $25,000 in 2012 to $50,000 last year and are significantly higher than bonds set for other crimes. But, to get out of jail, typically only 10 percent of that is paid.

Police are just bringing fewer people to court.

To some criminal justice experts, the revolving door is part of the significant fallout from the police misconduct scandal that has consumed the department since the end of 2014. The police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which led to a murder charge against one officer and a wave of discipline against others, spurred a civil rights investigation by the Justice Department into the departments practices.

At the same time, it also has resulted in a high level of anxiety among officers battling the citys ultra-violent gangs. Rank-and-file officers acknowledge that they have retreated, making fewer arrests and often staying out of the way of gangs on the street. Between 2012 and 2016, bookings for felony drug arrests at the jail dropped by more than 28 percent, according to the Tribune analysis of sheriffs jail data.

That means gang leaders who control drug profits have fewer demands on their money because fewer of their foot soldiers are being locked up and they are seeing less interference from police in the drug trade, said Frank Himel, a criminal defense lawyer who handles many gang-related cases.

In the end, theres plenty of money to go around when gang members need to make bond.

Drug dealers are flush with cash right now, Himel said. Gang leaders who control drug corners, he added, are not having to bond out multiple people at a time, and fewer guys are getting arrested.

Even gang members acknowledge that a shift has taken place. Dominick Taylor, 24, who said he was a member of the Gangster Disciples from Englewood, said neighborhoods have been so awash in guns and drug money over the last few years that the deterrents of the criminal justice system have no impact on the decision-making of gang members.

Id say, like, if nine of 10 people got guns, at least four to five getting arrested, Taylor said during an October interview in Cook County Jail, where he was being held on a theft charge. His adult criminal history does not include any record of gun-related offenses. But they get right back out, say, on house arrest or a low-ass bond.

The data analyzed by the Tribune revealed a pattern of defendants who had been released on bond being rearrested on subsequent gun-related charges. Among the new charges filed against individuals who had bonded out, the Tribune analysis found 15 of them had been charged with murder over the five-year period.

The Tribune examined more than 67,000 criminal charges between 2012 and 2016 that resulted in a person arrested making bond to get out of jail. The paper did not analyze cases in which defendants did not bond out before their cases were resolved.

Of the cases considered, roughly 10 percent involved gun charges, nearly all of them felonies. One in 10 of those who were arrested and bonded out on gun charges were later re-arrested by police on serious charges and bonded out again, according to the analysis.

In reviewing statistics from multiple criminal justice agencies, the Tribune found some discrepancies in exact figures. While collecting crime data presents such challenges, there is little dispute over the broader trends.

Since 2012, the median amount of bond set by Cook County judges for people charged with felony gun crimes has doubled  from $25,000 to $50,000. But over the same time period, the average number of days a defendant spends in jail before posting bond for a gun charge has fallen by more than half, from 42 to 18 days, according to the Tribune analysis.

Bond is meant to ensure that a criminal defendant shows up as his case winds through court. Judges can release defendants on the promise they will appear or they can require defendants to pay cash to be released from custody. In more extreme cases, they can be held without bond. Typically, the higher the bond amount the more serious the criminal charge.

There are two types of monetary bonds in Cook County. A cash bond, where defendants must pay the entire amount of the bond set in order to get out of jail, and the more common deposit bond, where defendants are held in jail until they pay 10 percent of the bond amount. For instance, a $50,000 deposit bond means a defendant needs only to come up with $5,000.

But defendants accused of theft, who often cant afford bond, typically spend more time in jail than those facing gun charges, the Tribune found.

Cara Smith, chief policy officer for Sheriff Tom Dart, said judges are human and are aware of whats happening in the neighborhoods. The higher bonds for gun offenses appears to be a reaction to the violence that is decimating the city, Smith said.

The rise in bond amounts is not the result of any guidance or directive from Chief Judge Timothy Evans, said a court spokesman, Pat Milhizer. Each case, he said, has its own set of facts and judges make their rulings case by case.

No judge, including the chief judge, can tell another judge how to rule in any case, Milhizer said. The Tribune analysis shows that the growing tendency to blame judges for the increase in violence is misguided. As Chief JudgeEvans has stated, we are not going to arrest, prosecute and jail our way out of the problem.

Dart and some other politicians favor a bond system where money doesnt determine whether a defendant is released from jail. Smith said she has seen nonviolent, poor inmates languish in jail while those accused of violent crimes with access to money  like gang members  are released onto the streets to commit new crimes.

The jail is for people who pose a risk to the community, Smith said. It should not be for those who stole a bar of soap or a bottle of liquor and cant come up with bond.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said he was frustrated to hear the Tribunes findings but he found a twisted logic to the statistics.

A lot of the shootings occur by repeat gun offenders, which are with the gangs. So when those guys get picked up, for whatever reason, who do you think the gangs are going to bail out first? They bail out the shooters because they are the most valuable pieces to that gang organization, Johnson said.

Because they arent afraid to use violence to get their message across. So what we see is just an unbelievable cycle of CPD arresting these guys, and then for whatever reason, the judicial system spits them right back out, only to be dealt with  again.

That higher bonds are proving little deterrent for gun-crime defendants returning to the street provides another window into the violent chaos that plagues the citys most troubled and impoverished neighborhoods.

Last year ended with a Chicago homicide tally not seen since the drug wars of the 1990s, and 2017 has begun with a nearly 25 percent increase over last year, leading to Trumps tweet last week.

The intent of Trumps remarks remains unclear, but federal involvement in Chicago law enforcement has been increasing over the past year, even before Trump began citing Chicago as an example of mounting urban violence during his campaign.

In addition to the Department of Justices civil rights investigation into police practices, the government has also added crime-fighting resources.

The FBIs special agent in charge in Chicago, Michael Anderson, has created a gang squad that focuses on Latin Kings and other Latino gangs to supplement the bureaus three other gang squads. About a year ago, he created a new homicide squad, where agents work alongside Chicago police to investigate warm cases, typically recent, unsolved killings.

Since 2012, circumstances in Chicago have been cause for alarm. The number of people shot has grown by 33 percent. While shootings are up, gun seizures are down.

In the same time period, shootings increased by 42 percent while the number of firearm recoveries, as well as firearm-recovery arrests, have plunged. Firearm recovery arrests dropped by 9 percent, and gun recoveries fell by about 33 percent, from 12,650 in 2012 to 8,416 last year, according to police data.

The police superintendent said he was not familiar with data showing such a stark drop in gun recoveries by police during the five-year period, instead noting a small one-year increase between 2015 and 2016. He also said police have been focusing on arresting people who have committed more serious gun offenses rather than casting a wider net to scoop up anybody with a gun.

Were still attacking the gun issue, Johnson said. We are focusing more on arresting the right people.

Nonetheless, the revolving door of the criminal justice system appears to keep turning, he said.

We just dont do a good job of sending a message to these gang members that there are consequences to carrying these illegal firearms, he said.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Gang members interviewed by the Tribune offered differing opinions of how to combat the cycle. But they were united in expressing just how deeply ingrained the culture of guns and the threat of violence have become in Chicagos most impoverished neighborhoods.

Taylor, the Englewood gang member, said that if making bond became less accessible and stiff prison sentences for convictions a real threat, it could change behavior on the street.

If people be more strict  you say yall want to play with guns, right? OK, we going to show you what you get for playing with the guns, Taylor said. Like, they say its going to be (nine- to 45-year sentences) with the guns? All right, people start seeing  like, Damn, my brother just got cracked 10 years for having a gun, first gun case. They see stuff like that  theyre like, man, thatll make them think twice.

The data analyzed by the Tribune does not include juvenile arrests. Police and gang members alike stress that violence is increasingly fueled by the heedless behavior of minors.

But Rasheed Muhammad, 19, who said he belonged to a Traveling Vice Lords faction on the West Side, said that younger gang members believe that the consequences of committing violence as a minor are acceptable.

Its these real shorties now. Im going to do five years and get out at 21, said Muhammad, voicing the conventional wisdom on the street. Like, kids really talking like that.

Muhammad was interviewed in October at the County Jail, where he was being held on a juvenile arrest warrant. He has no record of gun-related crimes. He disagreed with the notion that stiffer prison sentences would act as a strong deterrent, because young gang members bent on forging reputations as strong players are constantly stepping into the void.

That still aint going to change nothing, if people get locked up, he said. I dont see it getting no better for Chicago, no time soon. I see it getting worse.

Violence takes not only a physical toll but a psychological one as well, Taylor and Muhammad said.

I feel like Im an old man, Muhammad said. I feel like I lived a full life. Thats sad to say, though. Like, average life span in Chicago right now? You be lucky if you see past 17. And Muhammad said that the leaderless nature of gangs breeds a fearfulness that violence can come from any direction at any time.

Now its  aint no structure, Taylor said of gang leadership.

When asked how many people in his family had been shot, Taylor started counting on his fingers: his father, uncle, cousins. But the thing Im scared about, is when I get out, I dont want to be the person who gets out, and want to change my life, and end up dying two weeks later.

Taylor rattled off the names of family members who belonged to the Gangster Disciples. Breaking the pattern and getting out of the gang life is not easy, especially when nearly everybody you knew growing up belonged to the same system.

If you grow up around 10 rich people, youre going to be rich, Taylor said. But if you grow up around 10 people with guns, and drug dealers, you most likely going to be the 11th.
CORDOVA  The 64th annual World Series of Drag Racing will return to Cordova International Raceway August 25-27. The move was confirmed exclusively to The DispatchArgusQCOnline on Friday by Chris Lencheski, CEO of IRGSE, which owns the Cordova track.

The official announcement will come tonight at the tracks annual Racers Banquet, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Gils, 2750 S. 27th St., Clinton.

Mr. Lencheski denied reports that the event name would change.

Its the World Series of Drag Racing. Thats what it is, Mr. Lencheski said. Ive heard the rumors. I cant speak to that. Its an event. Its a factual representation of a historical event. Frankly, its a bit silly.

He also confirmed that the World Series is back at Cordova to stay.

Last year, the World Series was held at the IRGSE-owned track in Memphis. That helped re-establish Memphis as a motorsports destination and, in the meantime, necessary safety improvements were made at Cordova, he said.

We heard you, Cordova, and the entire greater Quad-Cities. You wanted your race back, and we are glad to make it happen, Mr. Lencheski said. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the outcry for the return was audible.

Memphis did a great job to the tune of six-figures of support. But each track is unique and different, said Mr. Lencheski. Memphis has a 30,000-seat oval and wants NASCAR. Its the home of NASCAR sponsors like Autozone and Fed Ex. Cordova wants the World Series.

Its a case of adding 1 and 1 and getting 3.

The World Series of Drag Racing began in 1953 in Lawrenceville, Ill., moving to Cordova International Raceway in 1957. When IRGSE bought the track in late 2013 it also acquired the World Series. It has featured many of the worlds best drag racers in a family-friendly environment that includes a kids zone, many food options, driver meet-and-greets and fireworks shows.

Mr. Lencheski said IRGSE is working with the Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote the World Series of Drag Racing and is also looking for other partners. Work has begun contacting talent for the race and tickets will go on sale in March. The purse has been increased and fans attending this years race will see an event thats a little bigger than in the past, including an upgrade in the customer experience, he said.

According to Joe Taylor, CEO of the convention and visitors bureau, the economic impact of the World Series is significant.

Assuming 15,000 paid attendances and using $35 per person as the average spending for a day tripper, thats a $525,000 boost to the economy, Mr. Taylor said. Add in overnight stays, racer fees and expenditures, and the direct economic impact is $750,000.

Motorsports fans, not just locally but from across the nation, are thrilled that major drag racing will return this summer to its traditional August dates at its traditional home, Cordova International Raceway, Mr. Taylor said.

The success at IRGSE has been a team effort, Mr. Lencheski said. Now were celebrating what we said we would do.

The company has seen financial growth in its membership base with the International Hot Rod Association which last year had its first profitable year in eight years. It signed a five-year partnership agreement with ESPN, and its IHRA Australia program is doing well.

We said we were committed to sportsman (weekend) racing, and we now have the best sportsman series in the world with 30 races on 15 weekends, Mr. Lencheski said.

Outside of drag racing, NASCAR is bringing its K&N Series to the -mile tri-oval in Memphis on June 3. This week it was announced that the Red Bull Global Rallycross Series will kick off with a new race at Memphis on April 30.

You have to tear it down to build it back up. Three years from now were going to be having a lot of fun, Mr. Lencheski said Friday.
A bill allowing the care of children to be transferred from a parent to someone else via power of attorney passed second reading in the Senate.

An investigative report in 2013 by Reuters on unregulated private re-homing networks revealed that children were being passed around to new families without any oversight. As a result, many states have banned the transfer of custody via power of attorney to stop private adoptions from circumventing state foster care.

Sen. Roger Webb, R-Billings, wants to make it easier to transfer guardianship without state interference. Webb said Senate Bill 117 would allow a faith-based organization to temporarily care for a child if a parent voluntarily asked for help. Democratic senators said the bill could allow a child to be transferred to a stranger with no accountability.

The Foundation for Government Accountability asked Webb to carry the bill in 2015, where it died on the Senate floor. SB117 is the revival of that legislation, which passed second reading 30 to 19 on Friday.

Webb said the bill would allow the Foundation for Government Accountability to take in children via power of attorney. The website for its Safe Families program says children are in its temporary custody for an average of six weeks, but there isnt a time limit on if, or when a child must be returned to a parent.

Power of attorney allows people to go around a legal adoption, which requires a court and vetting of adoptive or foster families. A power of attorney document is one piece of notarized paper that declares the child to be in the care of someone else. It isnt filed anywhere, and as reported by Reuters, acts more like a receipt.

While organizations like Safe Families screen volunteer families, there isnt a consistent process to make sure all parents are subject to the same standards. Its also impossible for Child and Family Services to monitor whether those children are at risk of abuse or neglect.

During discussion on the floor, Webb said the foster care system is broken and his bill provides a safe alternative.

It gives a faith-based organization an opportunity to help these people, he said. Were not asking for help from the state.

Specific cases gone wrong in the Reuters investigation were mentioned on the floor by Democrats, who strongly oppose the bill.

One family was struggling to raise Quita, a child they adopted from Liberia. The Puchalla family posted an ad online and a few weeks later drove from Wisconsin to a mobile home park in Illinois to hand off Quita. The only paperwork was a notarized statement transferring guardianship.

The Reuters investigation later found that Nicole Eason, who took guardianship of Quita, lost custody of her two biological children after she was found to be violent. Nicole and her husband Calvin Eason were also accused of sexually abusing the children they babysat, although no charges were filed. On the first night Quita stayed with the Easons, she was asked to sleep in their bed where Nicole slept naked.

When the family called to check up on Quita, they couldnt reach the Easons, and she hadnt shown up at the school she was supposed to attend. The Puchalla family called the police, who located Quita in New York and took her out of the Easons' custody. Law enforcement didnt take any action to stop the Easons from using online networks to take in another child.

In one case, Nicole Eason and a man took custody of a 10 year old child in a motel parking lot. That man was later sent to prison for trading child pornography.

Sen. Jen Gross, D-Billings, said the similar situations could unfold in Montana if SB117 takes effect. She said the bill doesnt implement any of the safeguards and regulations used by the Department of Health and Human Services.

No background checks. No requirement for a home check either before or during the temporary transfer of custody, she said. We could very well call this bill legalizing parking lot abandonment, Gross said.

Sen. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, had similar concerns that one organization with a screening and background process doesnt mean other organizations or individuals will hold themselves to the same standard.

My understanding of the role of the faith-based group is that it would be providing something of a safeguard to make sure these transfers of custody were not made improperly, but in fact in the bill, there is no provision for any safeguard of that kind, Barrett said.

Shannon McDonald, deputy chief of legal counsel at DPHHS, said the bill is dangerous without regulations.

This bill would really take us in the opposite direction, she said.

Webb said he believes the foster care caseload would go down by 25 percent if his legislation passes, but McDonald said there hasnt been any evidence introduced to support his claim.

Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, said the legislation is coming forward at a time when the Legislature should be reforming Child and Family Services, not making it more difficult to monitor the safety of children in Montana. While Webb pointed out the large number of children in foster care in Montana, Caferro said the high number isnt necessarily the sign of a bad system.

It could be that state workers are doing a better job of keeping kids safe and removing them from a dangerous situation, she said.
There may a lot of angst about how the UK will shape up in a post-Brexit world and how the world will see the country, but for the TV industry at least in 2016 it was a case of cool Britannia.

According to data released by Pact  the trade association representing the commercial interests of UK independent television, film, digital, childrens and animation media companies  UK television programmes generated sales to international markets in 2015/16 rising to 1.326 billion, a 10% increase on the previous report period.The UK Television Exports Report showed that the US remained the UKs largest export market, with sales increasing by 16% in 2015/16 to almost 0.5 billion.Australia was the second largest market, with sales of 106 million. Yet despite what may be seen as logical success in English-speaking markets, the report also observed a noticeable increase in activity in the Chinese market, which was up 40% on 2014/15. Moreover, a co-production treaty between the UK and China signed in December 2016 means that this figure could be set to rise even more in years to come. Europe was the biggest market for sales of formats, and exports to France grew 5% to 73 million in 2015/16, making it Britains biggest non-English speaking market and its third biggest overall.Exports of finished television programming remained the largest source of revenue at 668 million, in line with 2014/15. However, sales of digital rights increased 79% to 248 million. This figure was almost a fifth of total revenue, making it the second largest source of TV revenue.The UK Television Exports Report survey also highlighted the increasing importance of digital rights, particularly on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. Respondents strongly affirmed that there would be further opportunity for growth from this area.British innovation and creativity are considered among the greatest assets of the sector and the report showed that there was important future growth potential for the industry, remarked Mark Garnier, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Trade (DIT) and author of the reports foreword. Commenting on the report, he said: From The Night Manager to Downton Abbey, UK TV exports continue to go from strength to strength and UK programmes are some of the most recognisable and eagerly anticipated in the world From small creative digital and animation companies to major production houses, the UK leads the world in television production and I look forward to continuing to work with the sector to grow UK exports.Looking forward, the report also noted that the industry saw economic and political uncertainty, particularly in Europe, as one of the obstacles to further growth next year. Currently, respondents remained confident that TV export revenues would increase next year from further sales in both established markets such as the US and newer markets in territories such as Asia, Latin America and Russia.Added Pact CEO John McVay: UK television content continues to be highly sought-after around the world. The impressive level of year-on-year growth demonstrates that the sector is embracing the challenges of the global marketplace and is adept at exploiting new opportunities. However, with Brexit on the horizon, continued support from the government will be crucial if we are to ensure that UK companies can carry on punching above their weight on the world stage.
Although still a growing business across Latin America, pay-TV has reported weaker growth than other telecom businesses for America Movil.

During Q4 2016, Carlos Slims telco reported 1.9% growth in pay-TV accesses across the region, while mobile subscriptions grew by 5.3% and broadband households by 7.4%. Such subs figures have driven America Movil revenues to rise by 16.9% year-on-year in Mexican peso terms and 3.7% at constant exchange rates.EBITDA came in at 3.15 billion, 2.9% higher than last year in Mexican peso terms, but down by 8.1% at constant exchange rates.No specific pay-TV data has been published for every specific market, but America Movil reports broadband to generally have driven most of the fixed business growth.In Brazil, the telcos largest TV market, fixed businesses closed the final quarter of 2016 with 36.7 million revenue-generating units (RGU). According to the latest report from telecom authority Anatel , America Movils pay-TV operators were down by 0.5% in December 2016, but leading the market with 9.9 million subscribers.In Colombia, where America Movil also leads the pay-TV market through Claro, it ended the period with 4% more pay-TV households than the previous year. Cable TV digits were also on the up in Peru (+5.3%), where America Movil is far from the dominant position held by Telefonica.Several operations, including Mexico, Colombia, the US, Puerto Rico and Peru, posted their best numbers for service revenue growth in at least four quarters. In Central America, they continued to expand although at a lower rate, highlighted America Movils report , analysing the big picture.Mexico contributed 24.1% of our service revenues followed by Brazil with 21.6%, the US with 15.8% and Telekom Austria Group with 9.4%.
Fighting erupted in Ukraine after many months of uneasy but consistent calm after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the U.S. and Russian presidents, finally spoke for the first time last weekend by telephone. Instantly, the Trump White House is faced with one of the tough foreign policy questions that proved quite beyond Barack Obama's capacities. By most accounts, Ukraine wasn't a major topic during the TrumpPutin exchange, but Trump has a major policy judgment on his hands now.
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India was U Thaung Tun's first port of call after his appointment, which should intrigue China and Pakistan, says Rajeev Sharma.

Myanmar's newly appointed National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun has just paid an official visit to India, a visit that must have raised many eyebrows in China and Pakistan and rightly so.

That's because the agenda of the Myanmarese NSA, who is a career diplomat and not a military officer which is incidentally quite a rarity in Myanmar's set-up, pertained to these two neighbours of India.

The Indian government hasn't come up with any press release or a read-out about the outcome of this visit or the nature of the discussions held.

In fact, it was unusual on the Indian government's part to have announced the Myanmar NSA's visit in the first place and issue a brief press release.

The MEA press release reads thus: 'The newly appointed National Security Advisor of Myanmar U Thaung Tun is currently on an official visit to India. U Thaung Tun is a career diplomat who has held diverse posts in the course of his long career in the Myanmar Foreign Office.'

'In his present capacity, he is expected to advise the Myanmar Government on internal and external threats by assessing situations from a strategic point of view.'

'We welcome him to India and are privileged that he has chosen to make India his first port of call following his appointment.'

'During his stay in India, he will be interacting at length with our own NSA, MOS (External Affairs), Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and others. We look forward to a productive association with U Thaung Tun and with the office of the NSA in the time to come.'

U Thaung Tun met his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on February 2 and then also met Foreign Secretary Dr S Jaishankar and Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar.

The Indian foreign office proudly underlined the importance of the visit by saying that U Thaung chose to make India his first port of call and the fact that he is expected to advise the Myanmar government on internal and external threats by assessing situations from a strategic point of view.

Normally, any senior civil or military official from Myanmar visiting India is thought to be engaging his Indian interlocutors with issues associated with the insurgency in India's northeast and India-Myanmar border management.

Yes, U Thaung indulged in these discussions too, but this time his talks with his Indian interlocutors went far beyond this.

One of the unusual issues discussed during this visit was the Pakistan factor.

And when you discuss Pakistan with Myanmar, China has to be in the frame too!

The Pakistan angle in India's bilateral relations with Myanmar was accentuated almost two years ago when Myanmar decided to buy 16 JF-17 Thunder multi-role combat aircraft from Pakistan in 2015.

The development got India anxious and India kept Myanmar-Pakistan defence ties under its microscope from thereon.

Indian anxiety over this development turned into major concern as India realised that Myanmar is now in advanced negotiations with Pakistan to also licence-build the third-generation fighter, the JF-17.

China has to be in the frame whenever one talks of the JF-17, more so in in the context of Myanmar because this fighter aircraft is co-developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China's Chengdu Aerospace Corporation.

Myanmar getting into license production of the single-engine JF-17 combat aircraft can be an adverse strategic game changer for India as the only two neighbours India has fought wars with end up playing queer games right in India's backyard.

The Myanmar air force has justifiably been seeking to replace its over two-decades-old combat aircraft fleet obtained from China with modern flying birds.

The 16 new JF-17 fighters that Myanmar has acquired from Pakistan are expected to be operational later this year.

Though India does not perceive any credible strategic threat from Myanmar's Pakistani acquisitions, the nagging question from the Indian perspective remains about flowering Myanmar-Pakistan defence ties, with China not too far back in the entire zigsaw puzzle.

A few things can be safely presumed.

One, the strategic ties between India and Myanmar are definitely moving beyond border management and Indian northeast insurgency-related issues and are now encompassing much bigger strategic issues.

Two, Myanmar is playing ball that is reflected from the fact that it was the Myanmarese NSA's first-ever foreign visit and that too to India since he took over.

Three, the Myanmarese NSA is a career diplomat and not a serving or retired military officer which significantly confirms the transition in the mindset of the all-powerful military in Myanmar.

U Thaung's very appointment conveys that Myanmar's military leadership has an open mind on receiving strategic inputs from non-military officers.

Four, Myanmar is signalling a new approach of looking beyond its erstwhile traditional sole mentor China and that it is now poised to truly engage with foreign powers.

Whatever the scope of discussions between the Myanmarese NSA and his Indian interlocutors and whatever the difficulties, this visit marks a new chapter in strategic ties between India and Myanmar in the truest sense.

Rajeev Sharma, an independent journalist and strategic analyst, tweets @Kishkindha

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Vientiane, Laos, on the sidelines of the 14th ASEAN-India Summit, September 2016. Photograph: MEA/Flickr
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said he had no prime ministerial ambitions and was content with his job in the state.

"I am content with my task in Uttar Pradesh and harbour no ambitions of becoming the Prime Minister of the country," he said at an event organised by a news channel in Lucknow.

"People who stay away from Delhi are happier," he said in a lighter vein.

The chief minister said the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance will win an overwhelming majority in the assembly polls and get more than 300 seats in the 403-member House.

"If 50 per cent of people who have benefited from schemes of my government vote for us, we will get 300 seats," he said.

Listing some of the schemes, he said: "55 lakh women are getting Samajwadi Pension, 18 lakh laptops were distributed, MBBS seats doubled since Independence, helpline services 108, 100, 109, Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojna...there are many more schemes that directly touch the poor."

To a question on his overpowering clout over his father and former SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh sought to allay all controversy surrounding it, saying the father son relation existed in all its grace and nothing could change it.

"Samajwadi Party still belongs to him. The 'cycle' belongs to him. The relationship is intact, father-son relationship can never change. It was necessary to distance ourselves from people who ultimately wanted to harm the Samajwadi Party," he said referring to the bitter infighting in the Yadav clan.

"This is not an act of rebellion... Netaji (Mulayam) is above all of us in the party. The responsibility to take Samajwadi Party forward if now with the next generation," he said.

Asked if Mulayam will campaign for the alliance, he said, Our only aim is to retain power in the state. His (Netaji) blessings are with us. Netaji will be the happiest person if the SP wins. I am sure, the SPs thumping victory will only increase Netajis respect.

"His (Netaji) photographs are in our campaign. Netaji is in our each slogan. Netaji told me that he will campaign for the alliance," he said.

Quizzed as to why he removed Mulayam from party president post despite assurances that he will have final say in ticket distribution, Akhilesh said, "If I had got support of only 10 MLAs, I could have lost all respect."

To a question on who was behind the family feud, the 43-year-old SP boss said, "Azam Khan sahab has clearly identified who created the rift in Samajwadi Party."

"This is not my party, this party is of an ideology. People who were conspiring against me, had gotten me out of the party. Now it is the responsibility of our generation to take this movement forward," he said.

Asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party making deteriorating law and order situation in the state an election issue, he said, "People who are questioning law and order should tell how many sections (of the penal code) were slapped against them. Look at their national president and their state president. There were so many sections slapped against them."

On joining hands with the Congress, he said, "If this friendship works, 27 saal UP behaal will become 27 saal UP khushaal."

"This friendship will last long," Akhilesh said.

The chief minister, however, refused to acknowledge that the SP has revived the Congress.

"This can only be said after the results," he said, adding that even he wanted the SP to go it alone but was forced into an alliance due to the prevailing conditions.

"I initially wanted we (SP) should go alone, everything was ready but there were people who wanted to stop us. This was an initiative taken by both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress," he said of the new alliance.

Lashing out at the BJP for trying to gain political mileage over surgical strikes, he said, "This was not the first surgical strike, people from the army should tell us that it happened in the past as well."
United States authorities on Saturday suspended Donald Trumps ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries following a court ruling that blocked its enforcement, even as the President termed the court order as ridiculous and vowed to get it overturned.

"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a US State Department spokesman said.

The official added that the Trump administration is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington States attorney general, which filed one of several legal challenges to the measure.

The order blocking the ban was issued on Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart and is valid across the US, jeopardising Trumps stated plan to prevent radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump said in a tweet.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble! he said in another tweet, as he lashed out at those who are opposing his ban on people coming from these seven Muslim-majority countries.

Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction! (sic) Trump said.

Trumps executive order, which went into effect a week ago, blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days, while barring entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, and refugees from other countries for 120 days.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a separate statement on Saturday wrote: In accordance with the judge's ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the executive order.

It added: DHS personnel will resume inspection of travellers in accordance with standard policy and procedure, but said that US Department of Justice officials would launch an appeal at the earliest possible time to reinstate the ban, which the Trump administration believes is lawful and appropriate.

The order is intended to protect the homeland and the American people, and the President has no higher duty and responsibility than to do, the DHS statement said.

The US President, who is spending his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, also lashed out at The New York Times, which has been critical of his policies.

After being forced to apologise for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost! (sic) Trump said.

The New York Times had endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich in the primaries and Hillary Clinton in the general elections.

US suspends travel ban, Trump vows to overturn ridiculous court order
DECATUR  The Central Illinois Jazz Festival will be returning to Decatur for its 42nd year with many favorites from the jazz community.

Approximately 20 acts will be performing throughout the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel Feb. 10 through the 12.

Tickets for each session is $40. A patron package costs $160, but includes reserved seating, a Friday afternoon party, a souvenir badge and acknowledgment in the program.

Sponsors of the festival, the Juvae Jazz Society, have separated the event into four sessions each featuring a variety of jazz. Musicians from around the country will gather to play various styles of jazz from Big Band and Zydeco. The event will open with an umbrella parade at 6:45 p.m. Friday. Prizes will be awarded for the best the umbrellas.

Michael Jontry, Juvae Jazz Society co-president, said the nationally known festival is unique because of the its location. Jazz fans have a selection of food, bars and music available throughout the conference center. Once you get here it is all under one roof, he said. The bad thing is there is only three days.

The musicians are known at jazz festivals from California to Connecticut. Organizers have scheduled the acts base on each one's styles. We let them do some interesting things, said Maggie Parker-Brown, director for the Juvae Jazz Society.

One of the Juvae's most treasured acts is the Central Illinois Jazz Festival All Stars. The band is a mix of professional jazz musicians organized by the festival's coordinators.

We pick the top of the line across the United States, Parker-Brown said.

According to the director, the organization has invited other bands, including the Fat Babies Jazz Band because their brand of music, from the 1920 and 1930s, has become popular again.

Young people love that style, she said. We are hoping we get some dancers with this band.

Local bands are also part of the festival, including Dixie Daredevils and Four Other Brothers.

The jazz society has a mix of musicians that are creating original acts for the festival. Pianorama is a show with three hand-picked piano players. The Banjorama brings together three banjo players playing Dixieland music. Another special addition is the Estrogen Elites, a set of all the female musicians.

One of the highlights of the show will be Dan Levinson's tribute to the 100th anniversary of first jazz recording.

Members of the jazz society are excited to have the musician returning to Decatur. According to Jontry, the bands may travel throughout the United States, but they continue to play for the love of the music. They just want to play, he said. And we want to keep this music in front of people.
The Seattle court verdict potentially reopens the country's door to visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries and dealt the Donald Trump administration a humbling defeat. But the White House has vowed to fight back.

Striking a major blow to the Donald Trump administration, a federal judge in Seattle brought the American President's executive order on immigration to a halt nationwide Friday, issuing a temporary restraining order in US District Court until further hearings can be held.

US District Judge James Robart in Seattle on Friday ruled that the states had the standing to challenge Trump's order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart said.

"The Constitution prevailed today," Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said after the ruling. "No one is above the law -- not even the president."

"This ruling shuts down the (president's) executive order immediately -- shuts it down -- so people can travel like they did before," Ferguson said.

Robart, who was nominated to the court by President George W Bush in 2003, ruled that Ferguson had met the high standards necessary to block the executive order until the court reaches the merits of the lawsuit.

The White House vowed late Friday to fight what it called an "outrageous" ruling, saying it would seek an emergency halt to the judge's order as soon as possible and restore the president's "lawful and appropriate order."

The challenge was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travellers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the US refugee programme.

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

Also on Friday in Virginia, a federal judge ordered the White House to provide a list of all people stopped from entering the United States by the travel ban.

The State Department said on Friday that fewer than 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had been invalidated as a result of the order. That disclosure followed media reports that government lawyers were citing a figure of 100,000.

White House responds: Will seek emergency stay





White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer released a statement following the Friday ruling:

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

As the law states, "Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."

'This ruling is a victory for the Constitution'

Hailing the court ruling, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said, "This is fantastic and critically important news. These orders are inhumane and unconstitutional."

"This ruling came from a courthouse in Seattle and it makes me so proud of my city and my state for leading the way in defence of human rights and the rule of law. Washington leads the way," Jayapal said.

Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate Minority leader, said, "This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer. President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all."

Major Washington state institutions supported the attorney general's lawsuit through declarations filed alongside the complaint.

In their declarations, for example, Amazon and Expedia set forth the detrimental ways the executive order impacts their operations and their employees.
EFFINGHAM -- Two people were seriously injured in a two-vehicle accident on the south edge of Effingham at 11:40 a.m. Friday.

According to the Illinois State Police, Leslie E. Reed, 60, of Beecher City and Pauline A. Grames, 25, of Effingham were taken by ambulance to HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham before being airlifted to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

State police said Reed turned north onto Banker Street from Walk Avenue. She pulled into the path of Grames' van, causing Grames to rear-end her pickup truck. The truck overturned several times and came to a rest on the west side of the roadway on its top in a ditch.

The accident remained under investigation, and charges are pending, according to the state police. The conditions of the drivers were not available Friday night.
Nearly two months after a federal inmate committed suicide at the Cayuga County jail, the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office has said its relationship with U.S. Marshals remains strong as the feds continue to send inmates to the jail.

On Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, corrections officers were conducting bed checks at around 10 p.m. when they discovered 34-year-old Donald Johnson hanging by his bed sheets in his cell.

Johnson was immediately transferred by ambulance to Auburn Community Hospital where he was treated for several hours. However, he died from his injuries the following morning.

The United States Marshals Service confirmed Johnson was a federal prisoner being held at the Cayuga County jail.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. District Court, Johnson  a Canadian citizen  was arrested in Canton on Dec. 7, 2016, after admitting he illegally entered the U.S. from Canada. Johnson allegedly told police he took a rubber raft from Brockville, Ontario to Ogdensburg, New York earlier that day, and then took a taxi to Canton.

"Johnson stated that he just came from Canada, that he did not speak to anyone or show identification when he entered the United States, and that crossing from Canada to the United States was just crossing 'an imaginary line,'" the complaint said.

In addition, Johnson admitted he did not have permission to re-enter the U.S. as he was deported from Plymouth, Massachusetts, to Toronto, Canada, in August 2011 for committing crimes involving "moral turpitude."

Johnson was arrested in St. Lawrence County and charged with illegal re-entry of a removed alien. He was then sent to the Cayuga County jail, where Sheriff David Gould said he was screened by mental health personnel.

"Mr. Johnson spoke to a social worker on Dec. 9 so he was screened properly," Gould said. "He had been seen by our people and (Cayuga County) Mental Health and there were no red flags."

Following protocol, Johnson was then placed in a single cell at the jail  a cell with solid walls to prevent other inmates from seeing inside.

"We have to classify everybody that comes in and until we classify them, they have to be kept alone," Gould explained, noting that jail staff must check an inmate's background to ensure there are no gang affiliations or orders of protection in place. "He had just started his classification investigation ... so he was in a single cell.

"If (Johnson) had been put in a pod, he'd probably still be alive because he wouldn't have been able to hang himself without 13 other inmates grabbing him and stopping him," the sheriff added. "So within another day he would have been classified and it probably wouldn't have happened."

Johnson had been incarcerated in Cayuga County for less than 30 hours when officers found him hanging in his cell. An investigation by the sheriff's office also revealed Johnson had been left alone for less than 15 minutes, as an officer had a visual on Johnson at around 9:45 p.m.

"Our routine is every half hour, every inmate is checked  and that's a state commission rule," Gould said. "In this case, he was alone less than 15 minutes. But it doesn't take long. Once you put that sheet around your neck, you're talking minutes."

Johnson was alive when officers found him, Gould said. But on Saturday, Dec. 10, roughly 10 to 12 hours later, Johnson succumbed to his injuries at ACH.

Johnson's death was the first suicide at the Cayuga County jail since it opened in 1988, the sheriff said. However, Johnson was not the facility's first federal inmate to die in custody.

In December 2013, 47-year-old Donnie Kenneda died from congestive heart failure while incarcerated at the Cayuga County jail. But in 2016, a New York State Commission of Correction investigation concluded that Kenneda's death may have been prevented had his medications been tapered and his symptoms monitored.

But, despite Kenneda's death and Johnson's suicide, Gould said the jail continues to house federal inmates for U.S. Marshals.

"(U.S. Marshals) came in and did their investigation and said we did everything we could do," Gould said. "All our rules and regulations were followed ... and we've got dozens of federal inmates still here."

In a phone interview with U.S. Marshals, Chief Denis Donovan confirmed that the federal government will continue working with the Cayuga County jail.

"The United States Marshals Service has a fantastic relationship with the Cayuga County Sheriff's Department and will continue to house federal inmates in their facilities," he said, noting that the jail just passed an inspection last week. "We rely on the state investigation and coroner reports in these situations ... and we are going to continue to do business with the Cayuga County jail."

"I don't want to say anything bad about other jails, but (suicide) happens quite a bit in county jails," Gould added. "It happens in state prisons, it happens in federal prisons. It's truly unavoidable sometimes."
New administrations often fail to change the foreign policies of their predecessors as radically as they promised, in large part because statecraft is so different from campaigning. And of course, todays positions could shift over time. There is no doubt the Trump administration has staked out new ground on trade and immigration, upending relations with Mexico and large parts of the Muslim world in the process.

But the administrations reversals were particularly stark because they came after days of tempestuous phone calls between Mr. Trump and foreign leaders, in which he gleefully challenged diplomatic orthodoxy and appeared to jeopardize one relationship after another.

Mr. Trump made warmer relations with Russia the centerpiece of his foreign policy during the campaign, and European leaders had been steeling for him to lift sanctions they and Mr. Obama imposed on President Vladimir V. Putin after he annexed Crimea. But on Thursday, Mr. Trumps United Nations ambassador, Ms. Haley, sounded a lot like her predecessor, Samantha Power.

We do want to better our relations with Russia, she said in her first remarks to an open session of the United Nations Security Council. However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.

Similarly, Mr. Trump presented himself during the campaign as a stalwart supporter of Israel and criticized the Obama administration for allowing the passage of a Security Council resolution in December that condemned Israel for its expansion of settlements.

While we dont believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, his press secretary, Sean Spicer, said in a statement, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal.

The White House noted that the president has not taken an official position on settlement activity. It said he would discuss the issue with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel when they meet Feb. 15, in effect telling Mr. Netanyahu to wait until then. Emboldened by Mr. Trumps support, Israel has announced more than 5,000 new homes in the West Bank since his inauguration.

Mr. Trump shifted his policy after he met briefly with King Abdullah II of Jordan on the sidelines of the National Prayer Breakfast  an encounter that put the king, one of the most respected leaders of the Arab world, ahead of Mr. Netanyahu in seeing the new president. Jordan, with its large Palestinian population, has been steadfastly critical of settlements.

The administrations abrupt turnaround also coincided with Secretary of State Rex W. Tillersons first day at the State Department and the arrival of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in South Korea on his first official trip. Both men are viewed as potentially capable of exerting a moderating influence on the president and his cadre of White House advisers, though it was unclear how much they had to do with the shifts.

With Iran, Mr. Trump has indisputably taken a harder line than his predecessor. While the Obama administration often looked for ways to avoid confrontation with Iran in its last year, Mr. Trump seems equally eager to challenge what he has said is an Iranian expansion across the region, especially in Iraq and Yemen.
Fake news website vanguardng.local-reports.com tried to make people believe Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing visa-free travel to the United States by Nigerian citizens. The first paragraphs of the article read:

The United States President, Donald Trump has signed an executive order to allow all Nigeria nationals travel to the United States without visas. The new order, serving as a change in visa policy for Nigerians traveling to the United States, would permit them stay in the U.S for a maximum period of 180 days for Tourism or Business purposes only. Stay over 180 days would therefore require a visa.

None of this is true, no such order is listed among Trump's executive orders so far. If you want to travel to the United States from Nigeria, contact the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria about a visa.

The hoax article is clearly inspired by a rash of other visa-free travel hoaxes that have been making the rounds since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, exploiting the hopes and fears of many people to gain a few clicks on a website.
A look back on all of our reporting of the Delphi murders since 2017
Pierse Long (1739  April 13, 1789) was an American merchant from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He served as a colonel of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War and served as a New Hampshire delegate to the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786.

Pierse was the son of an Irish immigrant (also Pierse) who had originally traded with Portsmouth merchants from Ireland. Around 1730, he moved to Portsmouth to open a store. In Portsmouth, Pierse Sr. married and had two daughters and a son, Pierse, who was born in 1739. He died only a year or two later. Young Pierse received a limited education, then was apprenticed to another merchant, Robert Trail.

After his apprenticeship, Pierse became a merchant in his own right, exporting timber to the West Indies and importing goods from England and Ireland. He prospered in business and became active in the militia and in civic affairs.

As the Revolution neared, he became a member of Portsmouths Committee of Safety. In 1774, he participated in the raid that removed gunpowder from Fort William and Mary. The following year, the town sent him to the revolutionary Provincial Congress held at Exeter. As New Hampshire reorganized the militia in preparation for war, he was named colonel of the Continental Army regiment raised in New Castle, New Hampshire called Longs Regiment.

During the Saratoga campaign of 1777, he led the bulk of his regiment in the withdrawal from Fort Ticonderoga. They successfully delayed the British at the Battle of Fort Ann on July 8. Very soon thereafter, their enlistment terms expired, and most of the regiment was discharged. Long and a few of his men fought as volunteers in the Battle of Saratoga as a part of Enoch Poors brigade. But, by the end of the year, he returned home to Portsmouth. He was confined to his home for nearly half a year by illness before resuming his mercantile activities.

In 1784, New Hampshire named him as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In congress, he was active in developing some of the proposals for dealing with western lands. While not passed at the time, many of these became part of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. On his return to New Hampshire, he served on the state council from 1786 until 1789. He was a member of the States convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

Long died at home in Portsmouth on April 13, 1789 and is buried in the Proprietors Burying Ground there.

Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierse_Long
Killings, rapes, forced disappearances, and other abuses committed against Rohingya Muslims allegedly by Myanmar security forces indicate the very likely commission of crimes against humanity, the U.N. said Friday in issuing a report based on interviews with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Attacks against the Rohingya population concentrated in Myanmars Rakhine state appeared to be widespread and systematic since Oct. 9, 2016, when nine border guards were killed by suspected insurgents, said the Geneva-based United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Its 43-page flash report resulted from interviews conducted by U.N. investigators, between Jan. 12 and Jan. 21, of 220 people who had fled to the southeastern Bangladesh district of Coxs Bazar from northern Rakhine State (nRS).

The forcible displacement of persons from an ethnic or religious group as a consequence of acts of violence committed against them such as killings, torture, arbitrary detention, rape and sexual violence and the destruction of houses and places of worship has been described in other contexts as ethnic cleansing, the report concluded.

An estimated 66,000 Rohingya had fled into Bangladesh from Rakhine, while another 22,000 were internally displaced by the cycle of violence following a military crackdown there dating to early October, OHCHR reported.

The information gathered by OHCHR raises serious concerns that what is occurring in nRS is the result of a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic area, it added, citing a letter from the U.N. Secretary-General to the Security Council back in May 1994, when the war in Balkans was raging.

In a statement accompanying the reports release, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein talked about the devastating cruelty to which Rohingya children had been subjected in recent months.

What kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mothers milk. And for the mother to witness this murder while she is being gang-raped by the very security forces who should be protecting her, he said.

The U.N. reached a similar conclusion regarding possible crimes against humanity in June 2016, four months before the most recent spate of violence began.

Out of the 204 people were interviewed, 26 personally reported being shot or stabbed; 91 reported that a family member had disappeared; 96 reported that a family member had been killed; 26, including two girls, reported being raped; and 33, including five girls, reported suffering other forms of sexual violence. Of the 101 women and girls interviewed by the U.N., more than half reported having been raped or sexually assaulted in other ways, OHCHR said.

Now is the worst it has ever been. We have heard from our grandparents that there were bad things happening in the past too, but never like this, an interviewee told the U.N.

Similar stories

Last month, a BenarNews correspondent visited refugee camps in Coxs Bazar and interviewed scores of Rohingya. These included 54 women, of whom 17 said they had been raped by Myanmar security forces in Rakhine.

The Rohingya who were interviewed by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, included some who described abuses including beatings, and seeing their homes torched and loved ones killed. They said the perpetrators were members of the military or the Nadala, a uniformed paramilitary force.

A 24-year-old refugee at the camp in Kutupalong, said security forces snatched her one night and took her to a nearby hill where she and other women were tortured by turns  meaning they raped her. She was able to flee, but two other women died.

The ongoing violence led Malaysia to host delegates from the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Jan. 19 in calling for Myanmar to stop attacks against the minority Muslim group. On Friday, a ship set sail from Malaysia to bring food, medical supplies and aid to Rohingya still in Myanmar and those in Bangladesh camps.

Myanmar responds

Before Zeid, the U.N. human rights chief, released his agencys report and called for Myanmar to immediately stop human rights violations against the Rohingya, the government in Naypyidaw denied that its forces had committed such alleged abuses.

On Friday, the government was quick to respond to news of the U.N. report.

These are extremely serious allegations, and we are deeply concerned. We will be immediately investigating these allegations through the investigation commission led by Vice-President U Myint Swe, Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Myanmars president said in Yangon, according to Reuters.

Where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, we will take all necessary action.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine say one of their top commanders was killed when his car exploded early on February 4.

The separatists' Luhansk Information Center said Oleg Anashchenko and a second unidentified person were killed in the explosion in Luhansk city. It accused Ukrainian special services of causing the explosion, saying "it was a plotted and targeted car bombing."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said on February 4 that three of its soldiers were killed and seven others wounded in the past day amid escalating fighting in eastern Ukraine.

More than 30 people, including civilians, have been killed and several dozens injured in fighting between pro-Kyiv forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine this week, with both sides blaming each other for the upsurge of violence.

UN, EU, and other international officials have issued urgent pleas for negotiations to avoid a "catastrophe."

According to UN figures, more than 9,800 people have been killed in the conflict since it began in April 2014.

Based on reporting by Interfax, AP, and unian.net
With contribution from RFE/RL's Moldovan Service in Chisinau

In July 1941, Ura and Motl Gabis, two brothers living in the town of Edinet, in what is today Moldova, were taken with their mother and father from their home at gunpoint. They were lined up along the wall of a barn and shot. Their crime was their Judaism.The shooter, Stepan Derevenchuk-Babutsak, was an unemployed son of peasants who knew which homes were Jewish. His gun came from local authorities who sent civilians to get an early start on the systematic cleansing to come when pro-Nazi Romanian and German soldiers swept in.Evidence that these local attacks were ordered by the Romanian military under then-Prime Minister Ion Antonescu -- and were not spontaneous, as was long claimed -- can be found among the more than 40 million pages of archives held at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.The plan, complete with a map of target villages (see below), turned neighbors into murderers on ground fertile for anti-Semitism.But now,by the Moldovan government is providing researchers with fresh evidence of the plan's execution -- and a look into the lives of victims and perpetrators alike."A plan is evidence of a crime, but when you don't have the result of this plan, then it's only half of the story," says Vadim Altskan, coordinator of the museum's International Archival Program. "So what we now have is the implementation, or results -- who did this and how it actually worked. We have details -- how it worked at the village-level."The case of Derevenchuk-Babutsak and his killing of the Gabis family is one of about 50 investigations and trials that are contained in the archive. They were carried out by the Moldovan KGB starting in 1944, after the Soviets liberated the area, and continued into the late 1950s.In total, there are some 15,000 pages of testimony, interrogation transcripts, and other documents -- all contained on a computer hard drive that was handed over by Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Leanca at a ceremony in March.Reading this particular case, Altskan quotes the shooter, Derevenchuk-Babutsak, during an interrogation in 1944, where he denies committing any crimes.Then comes a twist.While their parents fell dead beside them, the brothers, Ura and Motl Gabis, survived. They would live to testify against their shooter, who would be sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.This and other cases provide not only evidence of barbarism, but also tell stories of co-opted ignorance, survival, and even love.According to Radu Ioanid, the Bucharest-born archival director at the Holocaust Museum, the Gabises were among some 300,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, the territory that largely constitutes today's Moldova, and the neighboring region of Bukovina in 1930.Tens of thousands were killed during the Romanian/Nazi assault, while others were sent to regional internment camps and ghettos. From there, Ioanid says, most were carted off to the killing fields of Transdniester, today a breakaway region of Moldova."One hundred and fifty thousand Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina reached Transnistria alive [in 1941-42]," he says. "Two years later, only 50,000 were alive. That's the story. Transnistria was the ethnic dumping ground of the Romanian pro-Nazi government."The Moldovan government estimates that there are some 15,000 Jews living in the country today.Ioanid spearheaded the museum's efforts to obtain the archive. To succeed, the museum had to overcome political hurdles by enlisting U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden to push for an amendment to Moldovan restrictions on the international transport of personal data.In fact, national politics often come into play when the museum tries to expand its repository.Altskan says that among the countries of the former Soviet Union, the museum has yet to obtain postwar trial records held in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan."The most important out of the four is Belarus. First of all, it was under Nazi occupation [and] you had a large Jewish community. We visited them. They were ready to work with us -- actually, more than willing," he explains. "It's because of our own government and sanctions we have against Belarus [that] we were told very clearly that it's not a good idea to collaborate with the local KGB."U.S. law prohibits the transfer of equipment that the Holocaust Museum would ship to Minsk to assist in the copying of documents.For the countries that hold Holocaust-era documents, there may also be a political advantage, perceived or real, to working with the U.S. museum, which is partially government-funded.At the handover ceremony for the archives, Chisinau's Leanca expressed hope that the move would help convince U.S. lawmakers to repeal trade restrictions against Moldova stemming from Soviet-era limitations on Jewish emigration.But foremost, Leanca said, was his country's commitment to "paying respect to the tragedy that occurred on our soil to make sure we draw the necessary lessons looking forward."Indeed, leaders of Moldova's Jewish community are hoping that the new insight into Holocaust-era crimes will have reverberations at home."Unfortunately, the extent that today's students and youth are informed about the tragedies of the Holocaust is not sufficient," says Aleksandr Bilinkis, the vice president of the Organization of the Jewish Communities in Moldova."Moreover, the topic is not talked about or is distorted. Historical facts are twisted. In some places even the opposite happens, when information about the tragedies of these years are checked and [then] distorted to satisfy the prevailing political needs."The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has expressed its interest to Chisinau in a continued partnership, including in the sphere of Holocaust education.
With the country on the brink of becoming NATOs 29th member, the stakes for Montenegro are high.

Although an accession protocol has already been approved by 23 of the alliance's 28 member states, the process has been delayed in the U.S. Senate. Opponents of NATO expansion see this as a last chance to block the Balkan country's long-expected membership.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has been visiting the region this week. Speaking to journalists in Sarajevo on February 2, Stoltenberg said NATO was aware of reports of increased Russian influence in the Balkans and of Russian intervention in political processes in Montenegro.

"We are following that very closely. We work with partners, including Montenegro, to help them strengthen their intelligence capacities and defense institutions," Stoltenberg said, answering a journalist's question.

A day earlier, two Montenegrin opposition politicians rushed to Moscow and were received by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov.

Meshkov reportedly told Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic, leaders of Montenegros Democratic Front, that "dragging Montenegro into NATO may cause a rift in the country's society," according to the Russian TASS news agency.

Stoltenberg said he was not concerned that the misgivings about NATO expressed by U.S. President Donald Trump would delay U.S. approval of Montenegro's membership.

"I am confident that the accession protocol will be ratified by the Senate. It has already passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and it has strong bipartisan support," he said after meeting the Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.

'Useless Defense Dependent'

Opposing Montenegro's NATO membership, Doug Bandow, senior fellow at The Cato Institute, claimed that "the Balkans is irrelevant to U.S. security and only indirectly relevant to the protection of Europe."

If he were still around, it easy to imagine the 19th-century German statesman Otto von Bismarck immediately tweeting his own warning to Bandow about the importance of the Balkans to European peace.

If there is ever another war in Europe," the Iron Chancellor reportedly said at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, "it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.

Bandow argues that, if Montenegro becomes a member of NATO, "Americans will have yet another essentially useless defense dependent, this one a corrupt, longtime one-party gangster state. Quite a model for future alliance expansion."



The former prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, was regularly accused of corruption by members of the opposition, but these accusations were never substantiated.

Djukanovic was the dominant figure on the Montenegrin political stage for a quarter of a century, until stepping down as prime minister after the October 2016 elections.

His Democratic Socialist Party (DPS) narrowly won the elections but was only able to form a parliamentary majority in partnership with deputies from smaller groupings representing Montenegro's various ethnic minorities.

However, the events surrounding Montenegro's October elections were dramatic even in the currently volatile Balkan context.

During the night before the election, only hours before polling booths opened on October 16, Montenegrin police -- with help from neighboring Serbia's security service -- detained 20 people suspected of plotting a violent overthrow of the government.

According to reports based on sources within the Serbian security services, the plan called for the assassination of Prime Minister Djukanovic.

Although he relinquished his prime ministerial role, Djukanovic remained as the leader of the DPS. In an interview with the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List, Djukanovic said that the attempted coup was "the last attempt to divert Montenegro from the course it has been following for the past 20 years -- namely, its desire to join the EU and NATO."



On the subject of the alleged assassination plot, Djukanovic suggested that the real target was something bigger than himself.



"The target was not Milo Djukanovic as such, but the legitimate prime minister who is taking his country into the EU and NATO," he said. "They wanted to send a message to others [in the Balkans] as well. Having in mind that most countries in the region are currently at different stages of Euro-Atlantic integration, the message was that they would not be allowed to make those decisions based on their national interests."

Djukanovic added that the alleged plotters also "wanted to send a message to NATO and the EU -- that there would be no enlargement without approval from Russia."



Djukanovic also said that we "can only speculate" about allegations that Russia was involved in the foiled October plot.



Nonetheless, he added that "Moscow officials had been issuing warnings to Montenegro to stay away from NATO, arguing that it would destabilize the country."

"As our membership talks progressed, the tone of those warnings was becoming harsher," he said. "That was followed by obvious [Russian] support for Montenegrin opposition groups ahead of the parliamentary elections. We are talking about anti-NATO, anti-European, and, in essence, anti-Montenegrin parties run by the same people who had been the foremost opponents of Montenegros declaration of independence [in 2006]. They continued to receive substantial support from Moscow in their struggle to reverse the countrys decision on NATO and EU membership."

Litmus Test?

Although Moscow made an official announcement after the failed coup attempt that Russia had nothing to do with the events in Montenegro, Djukanovic described the Kremlin's statement as "not convincing."

Michael Haltzel, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins' Center for Transatlantic Relations, has suggested that the U.S. Senate vote on Montenegro could be seen as a litmus test for the United States' foreign-policy independence.

"The U.S. Senate should ratify Montenegros membership as soon as possible, and President Trump should formalize it," Haltzel wrote. "For Trump to do otherwise would show the world that during his presidency the Kremlin will exercise unprecedented influence on U.S. foreign policy.



Acknowledging that Podgorica finds itself on the brink of NATO accession at a time of fraught international relations and rising tensions in the Balkans, Djukanovic indicated that Montenegro was still correct to pursue membership in the alliance, saying that the country was now "in the right place at the wrong time."

Should Montenegro eventually join NATO, it will become the third ex-Yugoslav country to enter the alliance, after Croatia and Slovenia.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL
Children of Uzbekistan's elite have bought property in Latvia, given birth in the Baltic country, and allegedly used its banks to handle millions of dollars in bribes. While more than 1,500 Uzbeks have taken advantage of Latvias controversial golden visa program, it remains a mostly silent and closed community.

According to his Facebook posts, Azim Ganiev, the son of Uzbekistan's foreign trade minister, enjoyed his life as a student in Riga, although sometimes he felt homesick.

His posted pictures show a dark-eyed, baby-faced young man, dining with friends and traveling around Europe.

Ganiev was far from his native Uzbekistan, studying international tourism at Turiba University, one of Latvia's business schools. He never finished his studies, though, and was expelled in 2014, officials at Turiba told investigative journalism organization Re:Baltica.

Ganiev did not respond to questions sent via Facebook about why he chose Riga, or why he left. His status updates indicate he is now back in Tashkent.

His brother, Aziz Ganiev, is still a student in Riga, hoping to get a degree in business administration from Baltic International Academy (BSA) this year, BSAs administrator told Re:Baltica.

Uzbek nationals have become the second-biggest group of foreign exchange students, comprising 13.5 percent of the total, with almost 900 students scattered around Latvia's higher-education establishments. Only Germany has more, according to the Latvian Ministry of Education.

Latvia owes its popularity in part to aggressive regional advertising of its degree programs, which are cheaper than those in other education destinations, such as Britain. And its the only Baltic country with an embassy in Uzbekistan, making it relatively easy for prospective students to get visas to enter the EU, according to Turiba Deputy Rector Imants Bergs.

The Ganiev brothers are not the only children of the Uzbek elite to have made their way to Latvia.

Cultivated Relationship

Since the mid-1990s, Latvia has nurtured its diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan. Diplomatic passport holders can travel without visas. Since 2004, Uzbekistan Airways has flown from Tashkent to New York via Riga, providing Latvia with its only transatlantic service.

Three of Latvias five presidents since independence in 1991 have made official visits to Uzbekistan, while Uzbek President Islam Karimov has visited Latvia three times. His last visit in 2013 outraged Uzbek human rights activists, who pleaded with Latvian diplomats to prevent a leader they called one of the most ruthless dictators of our time from laying flowers at the Freedom Monument, the symbol of Latvian independence.

Latvia dismissed the activists plea, perhaps not wishing to jeopardize its role as intermediary between Uzbekistan and NATO, which has long moved cargo through Uzbekistan to NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.

There are other ties.

In 2010, Latvia introduced a golden visa cash-for-EU-residency scheme which gives five-year residence permits to people who invest substantial sums in property or the country's many banks. Since then, 1,525 Uzbek nationals have obtained the permits, more than from any other former Soviet republic except Russia and Ukraine, Immigration Board (PMLP) statistics show.

Other arrivals have not obtained golden visas, focusing instead on banks that cater to nonresidents. Several banks have been embroiled in international money-laundering scandals.

Banks And Bribes?

When the 2008 global economic crisis took down Latvias largest domestic bank, Parex Banka, Gulnara Karimova arrived in Latvia to save her multimillion-euro deposits.

The elder daughter of Uzbekistans president, Gulnara Karimova has reportedly been under house arrest since early 2014 following her fall from grace amid investigations in Western countries involving suspicions of involvement in the alleged extortion of hundreds of millions in bribes from three major international telecom companies, as well as money laundering. She is also at the center of a financial-crimes probe in Uzbekistan.

Documents filed in U.S. Justice Department lawsuit suggest that Karimova deposited some $446 million in suspected bribe money in two Latvian banks: Aizkraukles Banka (now ABLV) and Parex Banka (renamed Citadele after a bailout). ABLV declined to comment , saying that it is cooperating closely with investigators. Citadele said it acted in line with the relevant laws at the time.

The lawsuit states that between 2004 and 2012 a close relative of a high-ranking Uzbek government official received more than $800 million in corrupt payments to shell companies.

The lawsuit never names Gulnara Karimova, 43. The case revolved around massive bribes from Scandinavian and Russian telecom companies who were interested in getting access to Uzbekistan's market.

The Other Daughter

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva is the younger daughter of Uzbekistans president. Unlike her sister, the 37-year-old Lola is relatively unknown to the public.

In the summer of 2006, she gave birth to her second child, a son, in Riga. She was hosted by Gulam Gulami, a businessman of Afghan origin who has been living in Latvia for a long time and has gained citizenship.

Karimova-Tillyaeva spent the last months of her pregnancy near the seaside in a new house in Jurmala, a Baltic Sea beach resort town and playground for the nouveau riche. The home was purchased for about 2 million euros in the name of Gulamis wife, Valentina, according to data from the Land Registry.

Karimova-Tillyaeva's family drove around in Hummer and BMW SUVs with vanity plates reading TT (the initials of her husband, Timur Tillayev) and 1LK.

In autumn 2006, Karimova-Tillyaeva and her family left Latvia. Her lawyer says she has no business interests in Lativa whatsoever. According to the Business Registry data, her husband established a company called Euro West Invest, but it never operated.

A Cousin

Gulnara and Lolas cousin Akbar Abdullaev arrived in Latvia at the same time as Karimova-Tillyaeva, and settled into a house next to hers, planting evergreens in the big backyard. According to the Latvian Land Registry, Abdullayev -- who was 23 at the time -- paid 1.4 million euros for the home with a swimming pool and a guesthouse.

Abdullaev, once seen as a potential successor to Karimov, cut quite a swathe in Latvia. He bought a 200,000-euro Bentley, which when it was registered in 2011 was one of the most expensive cars in the entire country. A year later, he bought an apartment in a prestigious Riga neighborhood near the Daugava River, with a view of to the picturesque Old Town, according to the Latvian Land Registry.

Abdullaev turned his apartment into an office for his two hotels, bought in the mid-2000s for at least 18 million euros in partnership with the Gulami family; later, they ended up in Gulamis hands. How that happened is the subject of legal battles and of speculation that reads like a detective novel, with allegations of a beating, attempted murder, a bribed judge, and suspicious court rulings involving murky offshore companies.

Today, the gutters at Abdullaev's Jurmala home are overrun by weeds.

By the time votes were cast in Uzbekistan's 2015 presidential election, Abdullaev had been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of leading an organized crime group in the Ferghana Valley.

Another offspring of a high-ranking official who got an EU residency permit from Latvia is Timur Kerimov, a son-in-law of Rashid Qodirov, the former prosecutor-general of Uzbekistan. After 15 years in the post, Qodirov was sacked in April 2015 and transferred to a job at the Constitutional Court.

According to the Latvian Land Registry, Kerimov bought an apartment in central Riga in 2010. He has also registered two enterprises, ITIR Solutions and IVT Solid Energy, but the companies show no activity. IVT Solid Energy was sold to a Cyprus-based company a few months after it was founded in 2013.

For several years Kerimov headed the regional office of Uzbekistan Airways in Riga. When Re:Baltica tried to find him there recently, the sole worker at the office said that he had been gone for a year. Uzbekistan's embassy in Latvia did not respond to several requests for a meeting and did not reply to questions sent by Re:Baltica. Several members of the Uzbek community in Latvia have declined to speak to Re:Baltica.

Journalists with RFE/RLs Uzbek Service contributed to this report
Officers from the European border agency Frontex have begun patrolling the border between Greece and Macedonia to deter illegal crossings by migrants, Frontex said on February 3.

So far, nine Frontex officers are assisting the Greek border agency, with more due to join them in the coming weeks. The operation is initially planned to last one year.

Last year, the border was frequently used by smuggling gangs trying to sneak migrants stranded in Greece through Macedonia towards Europe's affluent heartland.

But the clandestine traffic has eased considerably since a series of border closures in the Balkan region at midyear and a deal between the European Union and Turkey to limit migrant flows.

Still, more than 62,000 refugees and other migrants remain in Greece hoping for a chance to travel to northern Europe to live and work.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa


15 Time was running out for both the royal family and Faberge. The Karelian Birch Egg was the last Faberge would complete. Finished shortly after the tsar was forced to abdicate during the February Revolution of 1917, the invoice sent by Faberge addressed Nicholas not as "Tsar of all the Russians" but as "Mr. Romanov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich." The royal family was held captive by Bolsheviks as civil war raged in Russia.
A new report on global slavery ranks Uzbekistan and Pakistan among the five worst offenders in terms of the number of people forced into modern slavery.



With its forced labor in the cotton fields, Uzbekistan also was estimated to be the worlds second-worst country when ranked by the prevalence of slavery in proportion to the population.

The findings are contained in the 2016 Global Slavery Index, which was released on May 31 by an Australia-based nongovernmental organization called the Walk Free Foundation.

Around the world, the report says, there are now almost 46 million people who are enslaved.

Andrew Forrest, the chairman and co-founder of the Walk Free Foundation, told RFE/RL on May 31 that the 2016 estimate is more than 10 million higher than the findings from his organizations 2014 research.

Forrest said he thinks slavery is increasing in the world and that it will probably get worse before it gets better and then is finally eliminated.

The definition of modern slavery includes people who are trapped in forced labor, human trafficking, debt bondage, sex trafficking, forced marriage, and other slavelike exploitation.

The studys leading author, University of Hull professor Kevin Bales, says slavery can be defined as a relationship in which one person is controlled by another through violence, the threat of violence, or psychological coercion, has lost free will and free movement, is exploited economically, and is paid nothing beyond subsistence."

He says modern-day slavery takes various forms and achieves certain ends but its outcome is always exploitative in nature: appropriation of labor for productive activities resulting in economic gain.

The report says Uzbekistan ranks near the top of the shame list for modern slavery because the government in Tashkent uses one of the worlds largest state-sponsored systems of forced labor to harvest cotton.



Uzbekistans government denies that forced labor is an official policy. It claims its citizens volunteer out of civic responsibility and take part in a form of traditional voluntary labor called khashar.

But Forrest notes that employees of local administrations, teachers, factory workers, state firms, and doctors are forced to leave their jobs every autumn for weeks at a time to pick cotton with little or no additional compensation.

Those who refuse to take part are threatened with punishment and dismissal from their state-sector jobs, he said.

That, unfortunately, defines itself as modern slavery, Forrest said.

The central leadership of the government [in Uzbekistan] is able to distribute those profits [from the cotton industry] as they see fit, he said. The people who made the profits, which is the people who plant the cotton and harvest the cotton, have no say in the distribution of that income. They are just there to do the governments bidding, to make that revenue. And they see none of it.

The Global Slavery Index says that authoritarian President Islam Karimovs government, under pressure from international monitoring organizations, has begun to take steps to improve the situation.



But it says reports from the 2015 cotton harvest in the Central Asian country estimate that more than 1 million people were forced to work.



Only North Korea has a higher proportion of its population forced into modern slavery than Uzbekistan, the report says.



It says North Korea tops the list because of its extensive system of prison labor camps, and because many North Korean women are subjected to forced marriage and commercial sexual exploitation in China.

In absolute terms, the report said countries with the most people forced into slavery are India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan.

Forrest explained that Pakistan is high on the list because of the widespread practice of forced marriage and child marriage.

Across Pakistan, wherever you have child marriages or you have marriages by force, it defines itself as modern slavery because those young girls have no say whatsoever in what is happening to them, he said.

They are absolutely under the control of someone else, Forrest said. They have no choice and they can never leave under their own free will. That, of course, meets the definition of slavery.

The report listed North Korea and Iran as the two countries that were taking the least action to reduce modern slavery.



Governments that were praised for their efforts to combat modern slavery and forced labor include Croatia, Georgia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova, Albania, and Serbia.



The 2016 Global Slavery Index includes a measure on state-sanctioned forced labor as a way of rating how governments respond to slavery.



It says state-sanctioned forced labor is where the government forces the population, or segments of it, to work under the threat of penalty, and for which the person or population has not offered himself voluntarily.



It said the countries that have systematically forced their population into labor include Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, China, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam.

With reporting by Reuters
Over the past five years, Iranian officials and state media have touted the "indigenous" ingenuity in the Islamic republic's mass-produced Mohajer-6 combat drone, which Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine.

But a new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 are far from homegrown.



The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of such technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes  dual-use technology.

The presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 does not mean their producers are in violation of U.S. or EU sanctions, and RFE/RL does not have evidence that this is the case.

The investigation also found Mohajer-6 components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm that said it was "very sorry" that its products were being used in war.

At least one major foreign-produced component of the Mohajer-6 has previously been identified by reporters in a Mohajer-6 recovered from the battlefield by the Ukrainian military: an engine made by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products.

But Ukrainian intelligence assesses that the Iranian combat drone contains components from nearly three dozen different technology companies based in North America, the EU, Japan, and Taiwan, the Schemes investigation has found. A majority of these companies are based in the United States.



A Schemes reporter who personally inspected the foreign-made drone parts identified components produced by at least 15 of these manufacturers.

These include parts made by the U.S. technology firm Texas Instruments, which said in a statement that it does not sell into Russia or Iran and complies with applicable laws and regulations.

To identify these components, Schemes reporters examined parts of the Mohajer-6 drone that the Ukrainian military shot down over the Black Sea near the Mykolayiv region coastal town of Ochakiv. They also reviewed Ukrainian intelligence records on the sources of these components.

The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China.

Both Western officials and experts on illicit technology transfers say Iran has built a broad, global procurement network using front companies and other proxies in third countries to obtain dual-use technology from the United States and the EU.

"Exporters will look at the request coming from the [United Arab Emirates] or another third country, and they'll think that they're selling to an end user based there, when really the end user is in Iran," Daniel Salisbury, a senior research fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told RFE/RL.

In September, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions specifically targeting Iranian companies that Washington links to the production and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for deployment in its war on Ukraine. Fighting rages with no sign of an end more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24.

"Non-Iranian, non-Russian entities should also exercise great caution to avoid supporting either the development of Iranian UAVs or their transfer, or sale of any military equipment to Russia for use against Ukraine," U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

Chinese Cameras, California Chips

Development of the Mohajer-6, the latest model in a series of drones Tehran has used since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, began in 2017, while mass production began the following year. During a ceremony commemorating the Islamic Revolution, then-Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the new tactical drone could perform surveillance, reconnaissance, as well as help destroy targets.

Hatami extolled what he described as the drones domestic design, a portrayal echoed in later reports by Iranian media.

"The homegrown drone was made through cooperation among the army, Defense Ministry, and Quds Aviation Industries," the English-language Tehran Times quoted an Iranian military official as saying in July 2019.

The dismantling of the Mohajer-6 drone recovered by the Ukrainian military shows that the UAV is packed with foreign components.

One of these parts is a bright-orange real-time mini-camera produced by the Hong Kong-based company RunCam Technology. Documents seen by Schemes show that Ukrainian intelligence has also identified RunCam as the producer of the camera, which likely assists in remote guidance of the drone.

Founded in 2013, RunCam is involved in the development and production of so-called "first-person-view" real-time cameras. "Our users are our friends," the company's website states. The site says that RunCam has two authorized Iranian dealers.

Reached by Schemes for comment about the use of its camera in the Iranian drone deployed by Russia in its war on Ukraine, RunCam said in an e-mailed response: "We are very sorry to know that RunCam's products were used in warfare. RunCam is specialized in producing products for model aircraft hobby. We never contact any customer related to military."

The provenance of the Mohajer-6 drone-s thermal-imaging camera is more difficult to determine. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Schemes indicates it could be the Ventus Hot model produced by Sierra-Olympic Technologies, based in the U.S. state of Oregon, but that it also resembles a cheaper analog available for sale by the Chinese company Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology.

Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology said in an e-mailed statement that the company did not "have any business with Iran," because "it will affect our business." The company said it specializes in marine services and is not involved in manufacturing. It also said that it did not have a single successful order for its online advertisement of the thermal-imaging camera resembling the one recovered from the Iranian drone.

Sierra-Olympic Technologies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible use of its thermal-imaging cameras in Iranian combat drones in time for publication.

Microchips recovered from the drone also featured the logos of the California-based company Linear Technology Corporation and its parent company, the Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). ADI did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the possible use of its technology in the Iranian combat drone.

Schemes reporters also observed among the components of the Iranian drone a voltage step-down converter produced by Texas Instruments. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it "does not sell into Russia, Belarus, or Iran."

"TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and does not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren't designed for," Texas Instruments said.

Schemes reporters also saw several components produced by the California-based technology manufacturer Xilinx, whose parent company is the multinational semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also based in California.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, one of these Xilinx components was integrated into a video data-link module located in the wing of the Mohajer-6 that helped carry out attack missions.

"This module transmits information from the board to the missile head. That is, guidance for the missile. With the help of this module, it was possible to guide the missile to the target," a Ukrainian military intelligence representative told Schemes.

AMD did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

'No Authorization'

Previous media reports about the components of the Mohajer-6 drone, including by CNN, have shown evidence that its engine was produced by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, whose parent company is the Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP).

The Canadian company responded to the reports on October 21, saying in a statement that it "has not authorized and has not given any authorization to its distributors to supply military UAV manufacturers in Iran or Russia."

"As soon as we were made aware of this situation, we started an investigation to determine the source of the engines," BRP said. .

But Schemes reporters found that the authorized Rotax distributor listed on the Austrian manufacturer's website advertised itself as a Rotax aircraft engines distributor for Iran as recently as December 2020.

The distributor, the Italian company Luciano Sorlini S.p.a., has posted multiple magazine advertisements on its websites in which it describes itself as a Rotax distributor for numerous countries. Prior to January 2021, Iran was listed among these countries.

The Rotax website also lists a Tehran-based company -- MahtaWing -- as an official service center for its engines. The company, known in Persian as Mahtabal, conducts repairs of Rotax engines, including the Rotax 912 iS, the engine that was found in the Mohajer-6 combat drone recovered in Ukraine.

BRP said in an e-mailed statement on November 4 that while Luciano Sorlini S.p.a. is the appointed distributor of Rotax aircraft engines in Iran, "since 2019, no Rotax engines have been sold in Iran, and we will not sell any engines to Iran moving forward."

The Canadian company said it had "internal controls" that "significantly" restrict the sale of its products for military purposes.

"For example, the sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran, Turkey, and Russia is strictly prohibited," BRP said. "We conduct our business in compliance with all EU, Canadian, and U.S. applicable regulations."

BRP described the Iranian company MahtaWing as a "local service center" that "offers maintenance services for previously sold aircraft engines."

Shahriar Siami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report.
Former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev has announced that he will run for president in the next election, scheduled for the autumn.

The announcement was made during Sarievs Ak Shumkar political party conference on February 4.

Sariev, 53, served as prime minister from May 2015 through April 2016, when he resigned after several parliament members accused his cabinet of corruption.

Kyrgyzstan is the only country in Central Asia in which the president is limited to a single term.

Incumbent Almazbek Atambaev has said publicly that he would not seek political office, including the post of the prime minister, after his presidential term ends.

In December, Kyrgyzstan held a constitutional referendum, which approved 26 amendments, including changes shifting key powers from the president to the prime minister.

The move has been criticized by Atambaevs opponents, who suspect it is designed to pave the way for him to stay in power after his seven-year term ends following the election.

With reporting by 24.kg
Thousands of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia have protested against the arrest of three men charged over the killing of five Macedonians last month.



The mid-April killings near Skopje and the ensuing police investigation have ratcheted up ethnic tensions in Macedonia, where at least one-quarter of the 2 million people are ethnic Albanian Muslims.



Twenty people, mainly ethnic Albanians, were arrested on May 1, and five of them were accused of the killings. They were charged with terrorism and described as "followers of radical Islam."



In Skopje, some 5,000 ethnic Albanians protested on May 11, chanting, "Muslims are not terrorists!"



Smaller protests were held in three other Macedonian towns.



In 2001, an armed conflict was fought between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.



A peace deal was signed in August 2001, when Albanians were given improved rights.



Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
The European Union faces tough challenges fostering its values farther east, where oligarchs who rule or wield enormous policy influence might not share Brussels' views on corruption and rule of law.

Moldova, a former standout among the six members of the EU's Eastern Partnership program, provides a telling example. The country has been rocked by a billion-dollar bank heist that emerged a year ago and charges of corruption that recently toppled the former ruling coalition that was leading the drive for European integration.

The turmoil in Chisinau raises fears that ordinary Moldovans are losing confidence in the reform process that backers argue can bring Moldovan institutions into line with European standards and deliver a better future.

It also risks fueling efforts by pro-Russian parties to discredit the EU and urge the former Soviet republic closer to Moscow.

Here are four lessons the crisis in Moldova offers on the challenges of EU eastern expansion:

Oligarchs Make Difficult Partners

Oligarchs dominate the political systems of the three Eastern Partnership countries actively working with Brussels: Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. Many of those magnates made their fortunes under opaque conditions and fund some of their countries' biggest political parties.

Some of these same parties are now leading their countries' respective drives toward Europe. But as Moldova shows, even when parties are formally committed to European values, old habits can die hard.

Moldova's governing coalition, the Alliance for European Integration III coalition, collapsed on October 29 in a no-confidence vote after months of street protests over the disappearance last year of some $1 billion from the state banking system.

At the same time, infighting within the pro-Europe camp is undermining efforts to put together a new pro-Europe alliance. The former ruling coalition splintered over the arrest last month of Prime Minister Vlad Filat, a businessman behind the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), on charges of state theft by the Prosecutor-General's Office, which is controlled by a rival oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, who controls the Democratic Party (DP). The turmoil has left an open playing field for pro-Moscow parties if there are early elections.

Stefan Fuele, the EU's former enlargement commissioner, says the political crisis in Moldova illustrates three factors that can hamper reform efforts. "The issue of concern is [firstly] the lack of sustainability of the reform process and, secondly, the polarization of society, and third, a kind of 'privatization' by oligarchs and political parties of the democratic institutions," he says.

After the formation of each new ruling coalition in Chisinau, for instance, it has been common for the parties to divide control of state institutions between them, including the nominally independent judiciary.

But Fuele says fixing these problems does not depend upon Brussels but upon Moldovans themselves. "We want to ensure in our dealings with our partners that they have all the capacity, all the conditions to make their own choice about their future," Fuele says. "We are not imposing a pro-European or any kind of future on our partners."

He says that civil society has a hugely important role to play in applying pressure upon ruling parties to do better. The street demonstrations taking place daily in Chisinau to express anger over the bank thefts and perceived government mismanagement may be part of that corrective process.

The three other countries in the six-member Eastern Partnership program -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus -- have taken little interest in reforms or are closely linked to Moscow.

Eastern Europe Is A Tough Neighborhood

The Moldova crisis equally illustrates the difficulty of spreading European standards into former states of the Soviet Union where Moscow opposes the effort.

As many Moldovans' confidence in reforms is shaken by the corruption scandal, pro-Moscow parties have been quick to urge turning to the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Union instead. That union groups Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.

The pro-Moscow argument is made easier by the facts that Russia remains Moldova's main export market and one-half of Moldovans working abroad are in Russia.

The presence of a pro-Russian, self-proclaimed statelet called Transdniester within Moldova's borders, guarded by Russian peacekeepers, adds pressure to come to terms with Moscow.

"We should be more active in addressing [pro-Russian] propaganda about what the Eurasian Economic Union offers versus what the EU offers a country like Moldova," Fuele says. "It is a competitive neighborhood."

Judicial Reforms Must Come First

For some observers, what has happened in Moldova is no surprise.

"In most of the former communist countries the transition from dictatorship to democracy and the free market cannot be done without having corruption at the political level, there are too many opportunities," says Monica Macovei, a Romanian member of the European Parliament and a former justice minister.

She says the problem is compounded when the judiciary and other law enforcement bodies are weak or dominated by political powers -- the case in Moldova.

"A lesson learned by the EU from previous accessions is that the fight against corruption and the reform of the judiciary are the issues to start with, because if politicians don't start to be punished for corrupt behavior then you can't go forward with any reforms," Macovei says.

A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Perhaps the toughest issue raised by the Moldova crisis is whether Association Agreements, without a clear promise of eventual EU membership, are enough to encourage the Eastern Partnership states to stay the course.

"These countries suffer from oligarchic, corrupt systems which have held back their development over the last 20 years, and one question is whether the kind of relationship the EU is offering them gives some kind of leverage to those who like to see cleaner government," says Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the London-based Center for European Reform.

Brussels has offered Moldova considerable access to European markets, visa-free travel, and help with adopting standards that make its products to the EU and other global markets

Both Armenia and Ukraine faced intense pressure from Moscow ahead of the possible signing of such agreements, leading in the latter case to the so-called Euromaidan unrest that unseated President Viktor Yanukovych.

But what Brussels has not offered Moldova -- or Ukraine or Georgia -- is the certainty that if they do so they will be admitted to the EU.

The closest Brussels has come is its reassurance to a post-Yanukovych Kyiv that the Association Agreement Ukraine signed on March 21, 2014, in Brussels, "does not constitute the final goal in EU-Ukraine cooperation."

Fuele calls that affirmation a "light at the end of the tunnel that shows the way forward." He adds, "We must show a light at the end of the tunnel for the country which is seriously engaged in trying to become a member state."

But Brussels seems loathe to offer such encouragement when member states are divided over the question of bringing in Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia. "There is a question of enlargement fatigue and loss of confidence in the EU and that has to do with the prolonged economic crisis in the eurozone and now the refugee crisis," Bond says.

That suggests that EU may have to decide for itself whether it really wants new members before it can judge its eastern partners too harshly for stop-and-go progress toward European integration.

It also suggests that Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine might best focus on reforming their systems for the sake of improving their own states as much as for the goal of joining the EU.

RFE/RL's Moldovan Service contributed to this report
The head of NATO has urged Serbia and Kosovo to ease tensions and revive their efforts to normalize relations after talks aimed at mending ties collapsed amid mutual recriminations this week.

"Not more rhetoric, but we need dialogue. We need to reduce tensions to avoid incidents...and move forward normalizing the process between Pristina and Belgrade," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after meeting with Kosovar Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in Pristina on February 3.

Kosovo and Serbia, after an attempt at negotiations abruptly broke up without result late on February 1, have engaged in an escalating war of words, accusing each other of stoking ethnic tensions.

Kosovar President Hashim Thaci urged the European Union and NATO on February 3 to warn Serbia against inciting a new conflict in Kosovo and the Balkans.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, meanwhile, blamed Kosovo for the collapse of the EU-mediated talks and charged that Pristina is planning to send troops into a part of northern Kosovo that is populated largely by Serbs.*

He rejected calls by Western ambassadors to pull back Serbian police forces from Serbia's border with Kosovo.

NATO still has around 4,500 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep the fragile peace.

*This article has been amended to clarify where Vucic accused Pristina of planning to send troops.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
On September 2, Uzbekistan's government announced the death of longtime President Islam Karimov. While Uzbekistan has remained tranquil in the days immediately following Karimov's death, the fact that he did not publicly anoint a favored successor has increased the risk of a prolonged power struggle in Tashkent.

Many Central Asia experts fear that political instability could disrupt Uzbekistan's natural gas exports and make the country a nexus for Islamic extremism in the region.

The uncertainty surrounding Uzbekistan's leadership transition has caused particular alarm in China. Chinese policymakers fear that Karimov's death could cause Uzbekistan to strengthen its security ties with Russia. This would erode China's leverage over its most important Central Asian partner.

The Chinese government is also concerned that instability in Uzbekistan could disrupt Uzbek liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to China, and increase the threat posed by Uzbekistan-based Islamic extremist movements to China's security.



Why Karimov's Death Could Weaken The China-Uzbekistan Partnership



Even though Uzbekistan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and exports large quantities of LNG natural gas to China, Karimov's death could weaken the burgeoning alliance between Beijing and Tashkent. Karimov's pro-Chinese foreign policy stance was rooted in his disdain for Russia's hegemonic aspirations in Central Asia. The Uzbek government also viewed China as a consistent partner, as it defended Uzbekistan when the United States criticized Karimov for egregious human rights abuses.



The extent of China's loyalty to Karimov was revealed by Beijing's handling of the 2005 Andijon massacre. After that massacre, the United States called for an international investigation into the Uzbek government's repression of Andijon demonstrators. But China refused to condemn Karimov's conduct.



China supported Karimov's claim that 187 civilians were killed in the Andijon massacre, and rejected Western media allegations that Uzbek military repression caused the deaths of 750 civilians. Karimov rewarded China's loyalty to his government over the Andijon massacre by supporting China's territorial claims to Taiwan and strengthening counterterrorism cooperation with Beijing.



The absence of personal loyalty bonds between Chinese officials and Uzbekistan's new leader might cause Tashkent to drift away from China's orbit. The likelihood of a China-Uzbekistan rift would grow significantly if Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev -- who is serving as interim president until a December 4 election -- emerges as Karimov's successor.



Mirziyaev's rumored alliance with Rustam Inoyatov, the former KGB officer who heads of the Uzbek Internal Security Service, has caused some analysts to predict an imminent improvement in the Uzbekistan-Russia relationship.



The growth of Uzbek nationalist sentiments and Russia's economic recession make Uzbekistan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) an unlikely scenario.



However, enhanced Tashkent-Moscow security policy coordination is more likely, as Uzbekistan was a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member from 1992-1999 and 2006-2012. If Uzbekistan rejoins the CSTO, China's leverage over Uzbekistan's security policies will dramatically diminish.



Even if Uzbekistan's foreign policy does not radically change as a result of Karimov's death, Mirziyaev's history of impulsive violence and thuggish reputation could cause alarm in Beijing. China has strengthened its relationship with Uzbekistan, in part because it viewed Karimov as a steady-handed dictator presiding over a highly authoritarian regime.





If Uzbekistan's international conduct were to become more unpredictable under Mirziyaev's rule, China could redirect its investments and diplomatic energies towards strengthening its budding partnerships with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. A Chinese pivot away from Uzbekistan would be devastating for Tashkent, as Uzbekistan stands to benefit more than any other Central Asian country from China's One Belt, One Road funding.



If Mirziyaev's erratic conduct was to cause a schism within the elite that prevented him from maintaining complete dominance over Uzbekistan's political life, as Karimov did, Uzbekistan's relationship with China could suffer. Uzbek political analyst Anvar Nazirov recently told Eurasianet that Karimov's absolute control over the Uzbek media has restricted coverage of winter fuel shortages caused by excessive Uzbek gas exports to China.



If Uzbek elites opposed to the Samarkand clan's political hegemony foment anti-Chinese nationalist sentiments, many Uzbeks may no longer view alignment with China as a lesser evil to Russian neo-imperialism. This change in perception would weaken the soft power foundations of China's most important Central Asian alliance and cause considerable strains in the Uzbekistan-China relationship.



How Karimov's Death Could Undercut The China-Uzbekistan Security Partnership



Even though China elevated its relationship with Uzbekistan to a strategic partnership at the Tashkent SCO summit on June 22, instability in Uzbekistan resulting from Karimov's death could threaten China's strategic interests. Chinese policymakers are concerned that unrest in Uzbekistan could disrupt Uzbekistan's LNG sales to China.



Uzbekistan has drastically increased its gas exports to China in recent years to take advantage of Beijing's investments in Central Asian gas pipelines and dilute China's reliance on Russian gas. Three major Chinese-funded gas pipelines run through Uzbekistan. These pipelines contribute 20 percent of China's annual natural gas consumption. According to a recent Global Risk Insights report, Chinese investors are in the process of constructing a fourth pipeline that would pump an additional 30 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan to China via Uzbekistan.



As Uzbekistan's gas exports to China directly threaten Russia's interests, Moscow could offer Uzbekistan's new president security guarantees that require Tashkent to slow the growth of its gas exports to China. The resolution of the 2015 Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan dispute on Russia's terms provides a useful precedent for Russian President Vladimir Putin to apply to the Uzbekistan-China relationship.



Journalist Chris Rickleton suggested in a January 2015 article for Eurasianet that Russia offered to forgive Uzbek debt if Karimov agreed to resume gas exports to southern Kyrgyzstan. This implies that, if Russia provides Tashkent with the right incentives, Uzbekistan could align with Moscow's preferences and restrict China's access to Uzbekistan's natural gas reserves.





Chinese policymakers are also concerned that instability in Uzbekistan could strengthen Islamic extremist groups, like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and Islamic State (IS). The August 30 attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, has heightened Beijing's concerns about the threat posed by radical Islamists in Central Asia. As Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have a long-standing border dispute, Chinese officials are worried that radicalized Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan could cross the shared border and launch terror attacks against Chinese nationals in Kyrgyzstan.

To appease Chinese policymakers and maintain Uzbekistan's secular authoritarian system, Uzbekistan's new president will likely continue Karimov's repression of Islamist movements. But if Uzbekistan succumbs to a power struggle between the Tashkent and Samarkand clans, internal discord could empower Uzbek Islamic extremist movements, which direct their animosities towards China.



According to a Eurasianet report that cited an unnamed translator at a company working on Uzbekistan's Angren-Pap railroad project, many Uzbek Islamists disdain Chinese guest workers because the majority of Chinese expats are atheists. The IMU's official alignment with IS in mid-2015 has further increased the risk of religiously motivated terror attacks on Chinese Confucian institutes in Uzbekistan.



The Chinese government is also concerned that instability in Uzbekistan could fuel Uyghur terrorism in China's Xinjiang province. An estimated 55,000 Uyghurs live in Uzbekistan, and some Uyghur insurgents have a cordial relationship with the IMU. Some analysts have speculated that the IMU could militarize Uyghurs in Uzbekistan to attack Chinese-funded pipeline projects in Uzbekistan. This scenario could compromise China-Uzbekistan counterterrorism cooperation under the SCO umbrella, and undercut the security foundations of Beijing's Central Asian strategy.



Islam Karimov's death has plunged the future of the China-Uzbekistan partnership into a prolonged period of uncertainty. If Uzbekistan undergoes a smooth presidential succession to the rule of Mirziyaev or Finance Minister Rustam Azimov, Beijing-Tashkent relations will likely remain largely unchanged. But if Uzbekistan succumbs to inter-clan strife and the rising tide of Islamic extremism, China stands to lose a critical Central Asian ally.

Regardless of how Uzbekistan's political future unfolds, Chinese policymakers will be keeping a close eye on developments in Tashkent in the months and years to come.

Samuel Ramani is a DPhil candidate in International Relations at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford. He is also a freelance journalist. He can be followed on Twitter (@samramani2) and on Facebook (Samuel Ramani).


More than 1,000 Bucharest residents, young and old, women and children, gathered in front of the Romanian government building on Saturday (February 4) to protest against the weakening of anticorruption laws. The protest was organized via Facebook by a civic initiative called Corruption Kills under the slogan "Education for Democracy." (RFE/RL's Moldovan Service)
Romania's government has formally repealed an emergency decree that decriminalizes some official corruption in response to nearly a week of massive public protests.



Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu's cabinet confirmed the withdrawal of the measure in a statement that was issued after an emergency meeting on the issue.



The government also declassified the transcript of debates during the February 5 cabinet meeting when the decree that would have protected dozens of politicians from prosecution was approved.



But Grindeanu received no respite, as according to estimates on television around 200,000 people protested in Bucharest while many called for his resignation.



Protests were also reported in other cities.

In an sudden about-face, Grindeanu said on February 4 that he would implement the measure because he didnt want to "divide Romania.... Romania in this moment seems broken in two."

His announcement came as tens of thousands of people gathered at protests across the nation for the fifth straight day.

On February 4, police estimated the total number of demonstrators at 330,000, making them the largest protests in the country since the 1989 fall of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

While the announcement was broadcast live on television, some of the protesters outside Grindeanus office -- which police estimated to number 170,000 -- waved the Romanian flag and chanted, "Resign! Resign!"

Under the January 31 decree, abuse of power would only be an offense punishable by prison time if the amount involved exceeded 200,000 lei ($47,500).

The government justified the decree by saying the current law did not conform the constitution and claiming it would help ease prison overcrowding.

Critics said the real goal was to help some of the several thousand officials and politicians caught in an anticorruption drive in recent years, many of them from Grindeanus PSD. Grindeanu took office a month ago.

The government's pullback could be seen as a victory for President Klaus Iohannis, who filed a Constitutional Court challenge against the decree, arguing that it undermined the rule of law and efforts to combat corruption.

Some members of the European Union had expressed concerns about the decree.

Romania joined the EU in 2007, but it, like Bulgaria, is still under the bloc's mechanism for monitoring whether they are meeting EU requirements.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters
The Russian Embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus was shelled on February 2-3 but no one was hurt, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

It said one of the shells hit the space between an office and residential housing, while another exploded 20 meters away from the entrance.

"No one was hurt, but there has been some material damage," the ministry said, contending that the attack was aimed at derailing the cease-fire and peace process Russia has been pursuing in Syria.

"This crime cannot remain unpunished," the ministry said, vowing that Russia will continue its "uncompromising fight with terrorists in Syria."

Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Interfax




RFE/RL's Balkan Service contributed to this report

Visitors to downtown Skopje will have a hard time missing the massive and brightly lit equestrian statue of Alexander the Great. Set on a marble fountain, it stands 22-meters high.Just a short walk away is the gleaming white "Porta Macedonia," modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.And those are just a couple of dozens of ornate bronze and marble monuments that have sprung up in the Macedonian capital over the past three years. Part of the government's Skopje 2014 architectural project, they are designed to evoke Macedonia's Ottoman and Hellenic heritage.The effort has irritated Greece, which already takes issue with Macedonia's name and which claims figures like Alexander the Great as central to its own national identity.But complaints about Skopje 2014 aren't coming just from Athens. Lately, they have come from Macedonians themselves, with large majorities saying they disapprove of the project."The biggest reason why [Skopje 2014] is unpopular among people is the corruption and the finances," says Nikola Naumovski, a member of the civil rights group Plostad Sloboda ("Freedom Square"). "The residents are more worried about the money spent, than the spatial or aesthetic aspects of Skopje 2014."In addition to the cost of the project amid an economic crisis and 28 percent unemployment, critics have assailed the lack of transparency in bidding for the projects. Many have also derided the aesthetics as "nationalist kitsch."Macedonia's government claims the project has cost taxpayers 208 million euros so far. But critics say the price tag is at least 300 million euros -- and possibly as high as 500 million.The Alexander the Great statue is a case in point. When the project was first announced, tender notices estimated the cost at 487,000 euros. But when the project was completed, it ended up costing the government nearly three times that much -- approximately 1.4 million euros.The state auditor hasshowing similar cost overruns on several Skopje 2014 projects.Critics have long alleged that the high cost of the projects is the result of a lack of transparency in the bidding process, which they claim is rife with corruption.Such allegations were a key issue in local elections in March when the center-right ruling party, the Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity, lost control of Skopje's Centar municipality (where 90 percent of the construction took place) to the opposition Social Democratic Union.After the elections, the Centar municipality's new mayor, Andrej Zernovski, set up a review commission whose findings appeared to give credence to the corruption allegations.In November, the commission reported that an uncompetitive bidding process cost the local budget approximately 8 million euros.After the elections, Zernovski, also vowed to halt any additional any new construction plans."There will be no new [construction projects] from Skopje 2014 which will usurp free space in the Centar municipality," he said. "Unfortunately, we can't change what is already in the detailed urban plans the previous government adopted."Skopje 2014 is also widely unpopular nationwide. A Septembershowed that 67.3 percent of Macedonians disapprove of it from a financial point of view. Moreover, 73 percent are wary of the project and believe it should not continue.Despite this, the government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, has remained committed to completing Skopje 2014.It's unclear how many more monuments will be built before the project wraps up next year. Observers say it would be difficult to get any new projects off the ground in time.And that would be fine with Robert Dandarov, a New York-based Macedonian architect and one of the project's fiercest critics."Skopje, to be honest, has turned into an encyclopedia of 'kitsch,'"RFE/RL's Balkan Service.
The White House says President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the United States will work to end the deadly conflict near the Russian border in eastern Ukraine.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said in a statement issued on February 4.

The statement added that the two leaders discussed the possibility of meeting in the near future.

A statement by Poroshenko's office said the two leaders "noted the urgent necessity of establishing a complete cease-fire" in the region.

The Ukrainian president thanked Trump for his "strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the statement added.

The call came as an upsurge in fighting has killed at least 35 in a week of escalated fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has expressed concern that Trump could roll back some sanctions imposed on Russia after its illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and in retaliation for Moscow's military, economic, and political support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly expressed hope for improved relations with Moscow. The phone call came a week after Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On February 2, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, expressed "strong condemnation of Russia's actions" in eastern Ukraine and warned that Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia would not be lifted until Crimea was returned to Kyiv.

"Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine," she said.

At least 9,800 people have been killed since the conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in April 2014.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP
Turkmenistan is conducting a presidential election on February 12. Eight competitors are running against the incumbent, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.

But if he looks like Berdymukhammedov, the person who's been hitting the campaign trail in the last week or so doesnt much act like Berdymukhammedov.

First, let's take a brief look at the eight candidates in the race. (Thats a record for a Turkmen presidential election.) It's probably one of the only times youll ever hear about these folks.

They are: the deputy head of Mary Province, Jumanazar Annayev; the director of the Seidi oil refinery and member of parliament, Ramazan Durdyyev; the deputy head of the Dashoguz regional administration, Meretdurdy Gurbanov; the chief of the department of economy and development of the Akhal regional administration, Serdar Jelilov; the CEO of Garabogazsulfat, the production association of the Turkmenchemistry state concern, Suleimannepes Nurnepesov; the deputy chairman of the state food industry, Maksat Annanepesov; the candidate of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Bekmyrat Atalyev; and Agrarian Party candidate Durdygylych Orazov.

They will be splitting the 1.5 to 2 percent (I predict) of the votes Berdymukhammedov does not receive.

Which brings us to Berdymukhammedov.

Candidate Berdymukhammedov is generous, at least in clips aired on state television and reports in state media. On January 30, he was touring an area in Akhal Province and, with a big smile, gave what were said to be televisions to herders. (In the background is the cleanest yurt I've ever seen in the Kara-Kum desert.)

Technically, candidates are not allowed to give gifts to voters, but Turkmenistans Central Election Commission explained to RFE/RLs Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, that Berdymukhammedov was giving the gifts as the countrys president, not as a candidate.

Berdymukhammedov has been seen on state television giving away copies of the dozens of books he has supposedly written to officials, or small gifts of money to women on International Womens Day. (Beyond this, I cannot remember him giving any gifts to "average" citizens.)

A week earlier, Berdymukhammedov the president was in eastern Lebap Province, inspecting construction projects. Berdymukhammedov the candidate took a few minutes to meet with workers and during the meeting asked if everyone in the room had been to Turkmenistans Caspian coast resort area of Avaza. One man raised his hand to show he had not. Berdymukhammedov said he would send the man and his family to Avaza.

The trip was undoubtedly a gift from Berdymukhammedov the president, not the candidate.

While visiting with workers at a gas complex in Akhal Province on January 30, Berdymukhammedov, just an average guy at heart, gave the crowd what they were reportedly asking for and took the stage with guitar in hand to "perform" for the people.

This Berdymukhammedov is different from the Berdymukhammedov seen on state television earlier in January, who dismissed 14 deputy district chiefs, all for "shortcomings" in their work, and reprimanded dozens more officials. He fired Ashgabat Mayor Muradniyaz Abilov, calling him a "bastard."

In 2016, state television also showed Berdymukhammedov dismissing and reprimanding dozens of officials. On February 5, 2016, he dismissed the head of the presidential administration, Palvan Taganov, telling Taganov, "It is a great pity that you have failed to perform the duties entrusted to you," then ordering him to get out of the room "straight away."

And then, of course, there is this footage of Berdymukhammedov in 2011 ridiculing officials:

Berdymukhammedovs active campaigning this time around -- and his "nice guy" act -- are probably just further proof of Turkmenistans economic crisis. Were times better in Turkmenistan, it is unlikely we would be seeing the smiling Berdymukhammedov seen on state television since late January.

We probably wont see this new Berdymukhammedov after the election is over, either, when he'll be enjoying a new seven-year term in office.

Farruh Yusupov, the director of RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, contributed to this report

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to establish safe zones for refugees in Syria to discourage them from fleeing to other countries, but a top United Nations official says that won't work.

"Frankly, I don't see in Syria the conditions" to create successful safe zones, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on February 3.

"With the fragmentation, the number of actors, the presence of terrorist groups, it's not the right place to think of that solution," he said.

Grandi made his comments on a visit to Lebanon, where President Michel Aoun endorsed the idea of safe zones and said world powers should work with the Syrian government to create such zones so Syrians can return to their country.

At least 1 million Syrians have fled since 2011 into Lebanon, which has an estimated total population of less than 6 million.

The war has divided Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, various rebel groups fighting to unseat him, Kurdish militia, and Islamic State militants.

Trump is expected to soon order the Pentagon and the State Department to craft a plan for safe zones, a move that could require significantly more U.S. military involvement in Syria.

Trump has not provided details about the proposed zones, except to say he would try to persuade Persian Gulf states to pay for them.

The Pentagon has warned that policing them would be difficult in a war zone filled with armed groups.

The UN refugee chief, who just completed a visit to Syria, said his agency has no information about the Trump safe zone plans, but he expressed opposition to the idea.

"Let's not waste time planning safe zones that will not be set up because they will not be safe enough for people to go back," Grandi said. "Let's concentrate on making peace so that everything becomes safe. That should be the investment."

The Syrian government said earlier this week that any attempt to create safe zones for refugees without coordinating with Damascus would be "unsafe" and violate Syria's sovereignty.

Syrian rebel backers such as Qatar have welcomed Trump's support for safe zones. Turkey -- which has proposed safe zones in the past -- says it is waiting to see what Trump proposes.

Turkey is the country that currently hosts the most Syrian refugees, estimated at nearly 3 million.

Trump discussed safe zones in a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Washington on February 2. Jordan is host to some 650,000 Syrian refugees.

The Syrian refugee crisis is one of the most pressing in the world. The six-year war there has killed hundreds of thousands of people and made more than half of Syrians homeless, creating the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Trump barred all Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely as part of sweeping anti-immigration restrictions announced a week ago.

He had originally suggested creating Syrian safe zones as an alternative to resettling Syrian refugees in the United States.

The UN estimates that around 20,000 refugees worldwide have been affected by Trump's suspension of the entire U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days, a move Grandi called a "dangerous weakening" of protections for refugees.

"These are people that flee from danger. They are not dangerous themselves," he said.

"We are taking exception to discrimination," he said. "All people that are vulnerable, irrespective of their ethnic or religious affiliations, should be given a chance to benefit from this program."

With reporting by AP and Reuters


The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on notorious former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, potentially paving his way to return to Afghanistan.

The move, announced on February 3, was requested by the Afghan government as part of a peace deal with Hekmatyar and his militant group, Hezb-e Islami, in September.

In removing Hekmatyar from the list of people sanctioned for their ties to militant groups, the UN unfroze his assets and dropped a travel ban and arms embargo against him.

Amin Karim, Hekmatyars chief negotiator, was quoted by the Associated Press in January as saying that he would return to Kabul in "a matter of weeks, not months."

The Afghan governments peace deal with Hekmatyar was criticized by some Afghans and human rights defenders.

Rights activists have expressed concerns about long-standing accusations of human rights abuses against Hekmatyar, saying he was responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed during the civil war in the 1990s.

Hezb-e Islami has also carried out deadly attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Kabul hopes a deal with Hezb-e Islami can convince the Taliban to end its insurgency and join the political process.

Based on reporting by Reuters, tolonews.com, and AP
The regional police chief in the north of Kosovo has been suspended after he was accused of refusing to implement the government's policy on phasing out license plates issued by Serbia when Kosovo was still part of the country.

Nenad Djuric was suspended after the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo announced on November 3 that he is suspected of criminal offenses related to his refusal to implement the plan.

Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Svecla said that the refusal to implement the governments decisions represents a serious threat to the security and stability of Kosovo.

The Kosovo police is one [force] and all its members should have the same mission: the rule of law and the creation of a safe environment for all citizens regardless of difference, Svecla said on Facebook. We will not allow any action that violates this mission, and together with the Kosovo Police we will continue its implementation.

The main party representing Serbs in Kosovo, Serbian List, said that the decision to suspend Djuric was illegal.

Goran Rakic, chairman of the party, said that the Serbs should "strengthen and build" their own institutions in northern Kosovo in cooperation with Serbia.

Rakic said that he has called an extraordinary meeting of the Serbian List with the mayors of four municipalities in the north of Kosovo with Serbian majorities. The meeting will be held after the "illegal and anti-Serbian decision" to suspend Djuric, he said.

Radic said he will call on Serbs to vacate institutions in the north, including judicial, police, and other institutions.

Meanwhile, the head of the office for Kosovo in the Serbian government, Petar Petkovic, told a news conference on November 3 that Djuric was suspended because "he stood in defense of the Serbian people."

He questioned what mistake Djuric had made by refusing to participate in the decisions of Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, which are political."

Djuric said on November 2 that the police in the north would not implement the government's decision to issue warnings to drivers who have cars with license plates issued by Serbia.

Djuric was appointed regional police commander in the north in June 2013 after Kosovo and Serbia reached the first agreement on the normalization of relations in the dialogue mediated by the European Union.

The agreement stated that the regional commander in the four municipalities with Serbian majority is to be appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo.

Kosovo has attempted several times this year to require its Serb minority to change their old car plates from before 1999 when Kosovo was still part of Serbia. Authorities began implementing the latest plan to phase out old vehicle license plates on November 1.

Kurti announced the plan last week, saying drivers would first be given warnings during an initial three-week period starting on November 1. That is to be followed by a two-month period when 150 euro ($149) fines will be issued. There will then be another two-month period during which temporary license plates will be valid.

If drivers do not change their plates by April 21, their vehicles will be confiscated, according to the government decree.

Kosovo and Serbia fought a war in 1998-99, with Kosovo eventually declaring independence from Serbia in 2008.

Ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo have been using car plates issued by Serbian institutions since the end of the war with the acronyms of Kosovar cities such as KM (Kosovska Mitrovica), PR (Pristina), or UR (Urosevac).

The government in Kosovo regards the plates as illegal but until now has tolerated them in four northern municipalities with Serb majorities.
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A 76-year-old substitute teacher in Chesterfield County has been charged with misdemeanor assault of a 14-year-old student after his hand allegedly brushed against her upper-chest in the course of him touching her hair.

Daniel L. Foldenauer, 76, of Midlothian, was arrested Friday following the Thursday incident at Manchester Middle School, Chesterfield County police wrote in a statement.

Details about exactly where in the school the alleged assault occurred, or under what circumstances, were not released by police Friday.

Foldenauer responded to the charge in a statement emailed by his son.

"As an educator for over fifty years, and a full-time teacher in Chesterfield County for over twenty years, I pride myself in dealing professionally with all students and colleagues," he said. "I dispute the misdemeanor allegation and look forward to having my day in court in order to resolve this matter.

Foldenauer has been a school teacher for more than 40 years and was previously charged with misdemeanor assault in a separate incident several years ago allegedly involving two female students ages 12 and 13, though those charges were dismissed.
Henrico County firefighters faced heavy smoke and flames while battling a blaze that severely damaged a Sandston business Friday night.

Just after 10:20 p.m., firefighters were called to a one-story commercial building in the 300 block of East Williamsburg Road near East Nine Mile Road, said Henrico fire Capt. Taylor Goodman.

Despite heavy smoke, firefighters entered the building to check for victims, Goodman said. They were forced to exit the structure after the smoke grew increasingly dark and fire broke through the rear of the building, he said.

Additionally, a partial roof collapse and the buildings thick walls created challenges in extinguishing the blaze, Goodman said.

No one was injured in the fire, officials said, and its cause remains under investigation.
A state lawmaker has agreed to drop his effort to pass a bill that would prevent law enforcement agencies from quickly identifying police officers involved in shootings, according to the Virginia NAACP.

Robert Barnette, who represents the NAACP at the General Assembly, said in an email Saturday that Del. Jackson H. Miller, R-Manassas, told the group he plans to drop his pursuit of legislation that would make it a crime to identify a police officer before six months have passed since a shooting incident or an investigation can be completed, whichever comes first.

Miller was unavailable for comment Saturday.

Miller had said the bill would help protect police officers and their families in tense situations that often involve misinformation. The NAACP and government transparency advocates opposed it, saying it would supersede local discretion and erode community trust.

The bill passed a House of Delegates committee Thursday on an 11-8 vote.

Barnette said Miller agreed to pull the bill after a meeting with the NAACP on Friday.
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A Virginia Tech graduate student filed paperwork this week to oppose Del. Greg Habeeb in the 8th District House of Delegates race.

Steve McBride, a 33-year-old Democrat living in Salem, wants to give Habeeb, R-Salem, a contested election  something the delegate hasnt faced since he was first elected in a 2010 special election.

I felt that our voters needed a choice, McBride said.

The Hampton Roads native moved to the Roanoke Valley with his wife and daughter in 2015 to begin graduate coursework in biology at Virginia Tech.

Habeeb, who is currently focused on the General Assembly session, has not decided if he will seek re-election. That decision will come post-session after Habeeb discusses another two-year term with his family and law partners at Gentry Locke.

The Republican, whos in his third full term, welcomed McBride to the race and said he is pleased to know there are others in the area who are willing to step up and serve their community.

I look forward to getting to know Mr. McBride and hearing his vision for the citizens of the Roanoke Valley, and Im sure we will have spirited but good-natured conversations, Habeeb said.

McBride got his undergraduate degree in biology from Metropolitan State University of Denver and completed a masters degree at James Madison University.

The Democrat said he is dismayed by the number of uncontested House races that occur every two years. This is McBrides first time running for office, and the self-proclaimed political outsider is starting to reach out to Democratic groups in Roanoke and Montgomery counties.

McBride debated whether to run as a Democrat or an independent, but eventually decided he could gain momentum from the growing number of motivated Democrats who are becoming more vocal since President Donald Trump took office. But McBride is realistic and acknowledged that he faces a difficult race in a conservative-leaning district.

A Democrat winning the 8th District is going to be an uphill battle all the way, he said.

The 8th District includes Salem and Craig County and parts of Roanoke and Montgomery counties. McBride hasnt yet raised any campaign funds, but Habeeb has almost $90,000 squirreled away, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
It took a while for the visitors in the packed committee room to understand the meeting was over and lawmakers were leaving. When they realized it, they started shouting.

"Shame!" the crowd yelled as officials filed out of the room Friday at the Virginia General Assembly Building. Many of the politicians already had left, which meant the House of Delegates election committee staff took most of the heat.

The outburst came in reaction to the Republican-controlled committee snuffing out a last-ditch effort to revive a GOP-sponsored redistricting reform measure that advocates saw as their best shot to scale back partisan gerrymandering and create "fair-fight" districts.

A Democratic lawmaker had planned a motion to bring back a redistricting measure patroned by Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta. But the panel's Republicans abruptly adjourned the 9 a.m. meeting before anything could happen.

"We came all the way from Falls Church," said Geri Falek, one of several redistricting reform advocates frustrated over the sequence of events. "Woke up at 5:30 in the morning, walked in the door and they shut us out."

Despite Friday's fuming, Republican leaders have shown little desire to change the system that elected GOP majorities in the House and Senate despite the party being shut out of statewide offices and Virginia's Democratic voting streak in presidential races.

Though the governor's race this year gives Republicans a chance to break their statewide slump, several GOP proposals to expand the General Assembly's power seem to anticipate a future in which the legislature remains the center of Republican power in Virginia.

Nearing the midway point of the 2017 legislative session, Republicans have advanced a constitutional amendment that would give the General Assembly power to overrule any administrative rule or regulation adopted by the executive branch; and a bill to tilt the State Board of Elections to GOP control.

"The legislation would give the General Assembly prerogative over important areas of state government," Chris West, a spokesman for House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said in a statement. "It would allow the citizens of Virginia a chance to weigh in through their elected representatives, Republican or Democrat."

Another bill would strip away a governor's power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. It would require a special election instead of a temporary gubernatorial appointment.

Republicans argue they're simply bringing more balance to Virginia's system, in which governors have unusually strong authority over state affairs but must leave office after one four-year term.

That hasn't stopped Democrats from making multiple comparisons to the power struggle in North Carolina, where the Republican legislature moved to weaken its governor's office after losing it to Democrats.

"The majority party thinks they're never going to win another statewide election in Virginia," said Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, who opposed the measure on regulatory overrides Friday before trying to bring back the redistricting amendment. "There are numerous bills in this session on every topic chipping away at the governor's powers."

The constitutional change giving the General Assembly more control over the administrative rules, which has House and Senate versions, would give the legislature a hand in the finer details of how state agencies interpret and enforce the law. Much of the regulatory rule-making process focuses on dense, technical issues of interest to certain industries.

The governor's office called the proposed amendment "ill-advised."

"It would basically mean that lobbyists and influence peddlers can interfere with the regulatory process in the same way that many Virginians feel they interfere with the legislative process," McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said.

Other regulations have dealt with more political issues where a Republican legislature could be expected to differ sharply with a Democratic governor and vice versa.

The state Board of Health, for example, regulates the licensure of abortion facilities, and McAuliffe recently directed the board to lift controversial restrictions on abortion clinics that grew out of a law Republicans approved in 2011.

McAuliffe can veto the bills that shrink the power of his office, but he can't block constitutional amendments, which require General Assembly approval in two consecutive years before being put on the ballot for voters to decide.

The legislation that could help Republicans win control of the Board of Elections even if they dont win the Executive Mansion passed the House last week.

"The complaint about it is that the governor is too powerful," said Del. Mark L. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, the bill's patron.

Virginia is the only state that bars its governor from serving consecutive terms. Cole, the chairman of the House elections committee, said he favors allowing longer tenures for governors.

"And he needs to give up some of his authority before we go to a two-term governor," Cole said. "This is just a small step in that direction."

Under existing law, the governor appoints all three board members and is allowed to choose two from his own party. The third seat is reserved for the party finishing second in the last gubernatorial election.

A GOP-sponsored bill still would allow the governor to appoint the board but would require one board member from the party in power in the House, one member from the party that controls the Senate, and one from the governors party.

If all three are from the same party, the minority party still would get one representative.

Under the current balance of power, with Republicans holding both chambers but no statewide offices, the bill would create a GOP majority on the elections board, which oversees the work of local election officials throughout the state.

Democrats have come close in recent years to winning a majority in the Senate, but Republicans currently hold a 21-19 advantage.

Republicans also hold a 66-33 majority in the House. Richmond's 71st House District, a strongly Democratic seat, is vacant but will be filled through a special election Tuesday. All 100 House seats are up for re-election in the fall.
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.
Impaired and reckless drivers are on notice during Super Bowl weekend.

Statewide, New York State Police and local law enforcement agencies will be cracking down on dangerous driving Saturday, Sunday and early Monday morning, according to a news release from the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Increased patrols, setting sobriety checkpoints to recognize, deter and arrest people impaired while behind the wheel and identifying and enforcing against underage drinking will be elements of the campaign.

"This Super Bowl weekend, I urge all New Yorkers to keep their celebrations off the road and make responsible choices to avoid needless tragedies, Cuomo said. We have zero tolerance for reckless and impaired driving, and our troopers and local law enforcement agencies will be out in force to keep our roadways safe.

During the bowl campaign last year, state police handed out over 4,686 tickets and arrested 92 people for impaired driving. On the local law enforcement level for last year's enforcement, 103 DWAI and DWI arrests, 9 DWAI drug-only arrests and 100 other arrests were enacted and around 1,300 tickets were written, according to the new release.

The new release noted that according to the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 19 percent of traffic deaths among children age 14 and below in 2014 were due to alcohol-impaired driving crashes, plus alcohol-related vehicle crashes kill 28 people every day, which comes to a person dying every 53 minutes.
Jim Wildeman, third from right, leads a parachute game last August at a picnic hosted by the local group Open Doors for Refugees at Olin Park. "This is Madison's response to an unfair American response to immigration in America," Wildeman said. "America is not an unwelcoming country."
When Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals bought Stratatech Corp., of Madison, last August, it paid $76 million in cash for the regenerative skin tissue company, according to documents filed with federal regulators.

And there may be additional payments yet to come. The British drug company could pay up to $121 million more if certain milestones are met and royalties collected, Mallinckrodt said in the filing. That would bring the total price tag to a potential $197 million.

When the acquisition was announced, terms were not disclosed.

Stratatechs lead product is StrataGraft, skin tissue developed from human skin cells. Clinical tests have shown StrataGraft has healed the wounds of patients with serious burns without requiring grafts of the patients own skin, which can be a painful process.

Mallinckrodt estimated the value of the research and development of StrataGraft at $99.8 million, and pegged the value of all of Stratatechs assets at $160.5 million. That includes $57.3 million in goodwill, which represents future product development, the assembled workforce, and the tax status of the transaction, Mallinckrodt said in its annual report, filed in late 2016.

Stratatechs liabilities were calculated at $84.5 million, all but about $5 million of that in deferred taxes and in contingent consideration, which represents the fair value of the $121 million in potential future payments, Mallinckrodt spokeswoman Rhonda Sciarra said in an email exchange.

Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, said the total potential purchase price of $197 million is somewhere in the mid-range of other Madison-area biotech acquisitions in recent years.

For example, drug giant Roche bought gene chip company NimbleGen for $272.5 million in 2007 and bought Mirus Bio, with RNA interference technology, for $125 million in 2008. Hologic bought biological screening tools company Third Wave Technologies for $580 million in 2008 while Kensey Nash bought surgical adhesives company Nerites for $20 million in 2011.

Based on previous acquisitions in that general space, it would seem the Stratatech acquisition is in the ballpark if milestone payments and royalty payments are achieved, Still said.

Since Mallinckrodt bought the company founded in 2000, Stratatech has moved into bigger space in University Research Park and has started pilot manufacturing of StrataGraft there, Sciarra said. As clinical development progresses, we will explore a future expansion of this facility, she added.

Up to now, the tissue had been produced at the Waisman Biomanufacturing facility at UW-Madison, Stratatech CEO and founder Lynn Allen-Hoffmann said in an interview last September.

Nearly all of the 55 employees stayed with the company; Allen-Hoffmann is senior vice president of regenerative medicine, Sciarra said.

She said the next phase of clinical trials will soon begin for treatment of two types of severe burns. If approved for one or both indications, this product could transform the standard of burn treatment, Sciarra said.

Mallinckrodt has said it anticipates U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of StrataGraft by 2020, projecting the U.S. market alone for that type of product is $300 million.

Stratatech already has a big contract with BARDA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, to provide its skin tissue for stockpiling, in case of a nuclear attack by terrorists. The arrangement could be worth up to $247 million over five years.

Stratatech also is working on other skin tissue products for wound healing, particularly for diabetic ulcers.

Mallinckrodt is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company based in Staines-upon-Thames, England, with U.S. headquarters in Hazelwood, Missouri. It has 4,500 employees worldwide and reported 2016 sales of $3.4 billion.

Allen-Hoffmann said Stratatech fit well with the company since Mallinckrodt already sells its products to hospitals and burn centers.

Having Stratatech as a part of Mallinckrodt also strengthens our surgical offerings to further improve patient outcomes, Sciarra said.
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

A couple of weeks ago, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin urged his party to start working with Democrats to fix Obamacare for the benefit of the American people.

On Tuesday, he called on Democrats to help confirm President Donald Trumps Cabinet appointees: Give us a little hand here so this administration can actually get up and running and I think the roll out of these policies will be smoother.

Apparently, when your partys candidate wins the White House  albeit as a fact-resistant nationalist and by negative 2.9 million votes  it puts a guy in a cooperative mood.

Johnson ran for the Senate in 2010 out of disgust with the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, which he called the greatest assault on freedom in our lifetimes. In 2014, he launched an unsuccessful bid to get the courts to invalidate the law.

Since the laws passage in 2010, former President Barack Obama and other Democrats have proposed changing it in ways they believed would make it better. When I asked Johnsons staff whether he participated in any of those efforts, his communications director, Ben Voelkel, provided a list of 21 bills that he had worked with Democrats to pass into law, including the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act and the Federal Asset Sale and Transfer Act.

The only Obamacare legislation he pointed to was a measure Johnson wrote to repeal coverage mandates.

Johnsons pre-Nov. 8 sense of cooperation was more robust when it came to voting for Obama appointees  assuming they werent for the judiciary.

In May, the senator met with Obamas nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. That meeting didnt translate into support for holding confirmation hearings and giving Garland a vote, though. Instead, Johnson joined his GOP colleagues in saying that the court should remain a member short  and numbering a tie-prone eight  for close to a year so that the next president could make a nomination.

In 2011, he put holds on two of Obamas federal court picks. He later insisted on changes to a judge-recommending commission that facilitated gridlock and has helped keep a Wisconsin-designated seat on a federal appeals court empty for seven years.

Voelkel pointed out that Johnson was one of 10 Republicans to vote for Obamas pick for attorney general, Loretta Lynch, in 2015. He also listed 13 other Obama administration Cabinet nominees Johnson voted for, including John Kerry for secretary of state and Ernest Moniz for Energy secretary.

Johnsons occasional reluctance to work with Democrats is reflected in his score on The Lugar Center-McCourt School Bipartisan Index, created by former Republican Sen. Richard Lugars think tank and Georgetown University.

He ranked 96th of 98 senators in bipartisanship during his first two years in Congress, 89th during his third and fourth years, and 52nd during his fifth and sixth years. Among the 227 people who served as senators between 1993 and 2014, he ranked 223rd.

But I guess thats all in the past now for Johnson, whose message to Democrats since Trumps election seems to be: Do as I say, not necessarily as I do.
CHICAGO  Among the flurry of jaw-dropping executive actions were trying to keep up with was President Trumps withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific-rim countries was an attempt by the Obama administration to stem Chinas growing influence in the region and around the world.

This action ushers in a new era of U.S. trade policy in which the Trump administration will pursue bilateral free trade opportunities with allies around the world, wherever possible, to promote American industry, protect American workers, and raise American wages, read the White House press release. It is the policy of the Trump administration to represent the American people and their financial well-being in all negotiations, particularly the American worker, and to create fair and economically beneficial trade deals that serve their interests.But which workers, really, is Trump talking about?

For some answers, I called Jose Oliva, co-director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a Chicago-based national advocacy group seeking to improve wages and conditions for workers in the food-services industry. The group had vocally opposed the TPP on the grounds that past U.S. trade policies have had the unintended consequence of spurring foreign workers to migrate to the United States, which increased competition for jobs. I asked Oliva what to make of the White Houses claim of representing the American people and their financial well-being in all negotiations.

Trump is opposed to free trade for xenophobic and anti-globalist reasons but the world is what it is and there is no going back, whether he rejects free trade aggressively or not, he said. But the reality is that trade regimes are going to continue to exist, and there is a real potential of TPP coming back even uglier.

As for NAFTA, which Trump has called the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, Oliva remarked: I dont doubt for a minute that he is going to renegotiate NAFTA, but how? ... If it is renegotiated completely in private with little oversight, like TPP was, who is going to ensure that labor, environmental and other concerns are going to be addressed?

While it hardly seems possible, its worth considering that a renegotiated NAFTA could end up being costlier to American consumers. We think about American job loss now, but we could be looking at a combination of higher prices for consumer goods coming from south of the border and a shortage of workers to do the dirty jobs of picking our crops and processing our meat, making food staples more expensive. We must ask ourselves what Trump imagines when he refers to American workers. He loves promising them a better deal in life  and thats laudable. But whenever I hear him refer to American workers, I get the distinct feeling Trump has very specific workers, in very specific places, in mind.

Its a meta frame, its absolutely dog-whistle language meant to refer to white, male manufacturing workers in rural locations, said Oliva. The reality speaks otherwise. The food industry is one of the nations largest employment sectors, with about 18 million workers. The USDA estimates that about 70 percent of hired crop farmworkers are Latino and half of them are undocumented. Workers in meat and poultry processing are largely Latino but, according to Oliva, about 30 percent are African-American. Restaurants and bars employ about 11 million workers, over 70 percent of whom are people of color and about 40 percent are undocumented, according to Oliva.

Its hard not to come to the conclusion that there are dark days ahead for workers who dont fit the template of high-wage-earning skilled labor. Especially when you stop to consider that Trumps pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, faced numerous Labor Department violations while he helmed Carls Jr. and Hardees, and he has been an outspoken critic of efforts to raise the minimum wage and provide mandatory sick leave.

In Olivas mind, Puzders nomination signals the new administrations predilection for jobs that pay minimum wage, have no long-term prospects and are essentially exploitative. Basically, Trump doesnt see food jobs as real jobs. For him, the real jobs are heartland industrial  even as the fastest-growing sector is service, not manufacturing.

Its not all doom and gloom, however. There is plenty to do to ensure that all workers get a fair shake: You can be more civically engaged in your community and help get out the vote in local elections.

And since we now have a businessman as president, the following strategy should be especially effective: Vote with your wallets for companies that treat their workers well.
Bill Self, Kurtis Townsend won't be on sidelines for KU's first four games
Dear Editor,

Re: Government reveals mini market plan

Here is a proposal for the government.

Why not build strip malls across the islands to invite tourist to shop all over the islands? It helps vendors save money from commuting to Apia each day.

I believe those who can sell goods within five minutes of commute would rather stay at their local area if provided with the opportunity to save money on gas or bus fare.

The government can take the responsibilities to promote all these market to tourists. For some of us in Apia, we would rather take a ride across our island to shop at different villages or community while take in the beauty of our island.

It also keep youth from getting into trouble when they are send to town to shop.

Dallas
Dear Editor,

Re: A timely warning from Leala

A bit rich to be complaining about the high cost of living on one hand and then complaining about the business owners who actually do more than anyone else to lower the costs of living for Samoan consumers with their lower prices.

An unstoppable wave are all those Samoans who have moved to New Zealand, Australia and the United States of America. All immigrants. All theoretically taking jobs away from people who were there before them.

Most of them not creating jobs but actually working in the factories and warehouses earning wages that couldve gone to other New Zealanders or Australians or Americans.

A funny thing happened though. Those immigrants assimilated into those countries. Their children assimilated into those countries, growing up as Americans, as New Zealanders, as Australians. No longer fluent in Samoan or knowing much about their parents villages and many representing those countries especially in sports.

Samoa have also had immigrants to this country. Melanesians, Niueans, Tongans, Europeans and of course the much talked about Chinese. The old chinese turned into Samoans. So many Samoans now have Chinese surnames and have Chinese features. Those people are never identified as Chinese but Samoans. Rightly so. They and their ancestors have been here for 100 years.

I dont really see any reason why these new Chinese would be any different. Assimilation is just a natural phenomenon. It has happened when Samoans move to other countries and it happened when immigrants moved to Samoa during the colonial period. The only immigrants who have ever been a real threat to the country were the Germans and New Zealanders who colonised the place and killed Samoans.

In time, these new Chinese will have children and their children will have children who grow up identifying themselves as Samoans, speak Samoan, marry Samoans, represent Samoa, and be buried in Samoa ... and then the cycle of life will continue and the next generation of Samoans will carry on the legacy of our homeland.

Lets be real here, the Samoans of the 17th and 18th centuries probably spoke a much different type of Samoan language than the Samoans of the 13th and 12th century and the Samoans of modern day Samoa. The culture of Samoans back in history would be probably unrecognisable to the modern day Samoan culture of today. So it will be with the culture and the genetic makeup of Samoa in the next 200-300 years and so on.

Petelo Suaniu
The University of the South Pacific (U.S.P.), Alafua Campus organised a two-day orientation and information session for new students at the U.S.P. Savaii Centre this week.

The orientation sessions were well attended by students and parents.

There were presentations from various sections including the School of Agriculture, Food and Technology (F.B.E.), School of Biological and Chemical Sciences (F.S.T.E.), Pacific T.A.F.E., Library Services, IT Services, Campus Life and Student Administrative Services.

The students were provided with information on the various support services as well as guidance and tips to guide them through their university life.

The U.S.P. Alafua places much emphasis on its Orientation Programmes to ensure that new students are well supported and provided with the information to help them succeed.

The Head of School of Agriculture and Food Technology (S.A.F.T.), Associate Professor Mohammed Umar, encouraged students to take up Agriculture courses.

He highlighted the importance of Agriculture in the Pacific region including Samoa.

Students were also informed of scholarship opportunities to Samoan students enrolled in the Bachelor of Agriculture programme.

Similarly, Dr. Singh from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences spoke about the need for more Science graduates and the numerous opportunities that exist for science students in the region amidst important challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, technological and environmental challenges.

In recognition of the important role parents play in guiding and supporting students, the two-day programme also encouraged parents to attend.

The Coordinator for Pacific T.A.F.E. in Samoa, Ronna Lee, reminded that it takes a village to raise a child. She encouraged students to make good use of the study opportunities and resources available to them through the U.S.P. Savaii Centre.

She also emphasised the importance of giving students second chances and elaborated on the wide range of opportunities available through Pacific T.A.F.E.

The majority of the U.S.P. Savaii Centre students study U.S.P. courses via distance and flexible learning modes.

As such the IT Manager, Le Mamea Sia Matalavea, highlighted the satellite REACT and MOODLE learning management systems that allow students to connect to Lecturers and students based in other U.S.P. member countries.

In particular students were informed of exciting opportunities to take fully online courses with selected courses now having recorded lectures online using the new lecture capture facility.

In addition students were informed of the services offered though the library located at the Savaii Centre and Alafua campus, and the support and counselling services through Campus Life.

Students were also guided through the registration process and other services offered by the Student Administrative Services.
The Police Patrol Boat, Nafanua, will soon be replaced.

The Australian government will help the government of Samoa deliver a replacement boat in May 2020.

That was one of the issues discussed during the Security Partnership talks between Samoa and Australia held in Apia this week.

Hosted by the government of Samoa, officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence and the Australian Federal Police travelled here for the meeting.

They met with officials from several Samoan government Ministries led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The meeting discussed a new patrol boat to replace the existing Nafanua, scheduled to be delivered around May 2020, a statement from meeting said.

The replacement vessel will be more fuel-efficient, with significantly more capability for a range of operations, including maritime security and responding to disasters.

The replacement patrol boat will also provide improved crew accommodation with facilities for both men and women.

The officials also discussed a range of matters of mutual importance to the two countries including bilateral and regional security and defence co-operation, police co-operation and cyber-security.

Officials noted that our two countries have a good, long track record of working closely together to address security challenges.

The important contribution that the Pacific Patrol Boat Program has made to Samoas security as well as search and rescue capabilities was highlighted.

The meeting also reflected on the positive contribution of the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre (P.T.C.C.C.) and the Samoa Australia Police Partnership (S.A.P.P.) in ensuring a secure and prosperous Samoa.

At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister and Minister of Police, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, and Australias High Commissioner, Sue Langford, signed a partnership arrangement on the Australian Governments continued support to the P.T.C.C.C. and the S.A.P.P. for the next five years.
Students who turned up at the University of the South Pacifics (U.S.P.) Faculty of Business and Economics (F.B.E.) orientation on 1 February, 2017 gave their testimonials on how they chose the University as their tertiary education provider.

Among them was Fuatino Vaiaouauli, 19, from Samoa.

She said it was not easy leaving her family behind.

This is my first time in Fiji and although I look forward to new friends here I really miss my family back home, she said.

I know I will get used to being away from them so I need to work hard.

They have very high hopes for me and I will not disappoint them, she said.

She said in Samoa there are a lot of U.S.P. alumni working for government and N.G.Os and she hoped that one day she would share their experience and join them too.

I am the first one in my family to attend U.S.P. and I want to make them proud eventually, she noted.

Akuila Vunidravo, a staff of iTaukei Land Trust Board (T.L.T.B.) enrolled as a part-time student after having graduated from the Fiji National University with a Diploma in Land Use Planning.

Mr. Vunidravo said he decided to do his degree at U.S.P. after hearing so much about the quality of the Universitys programmes.

Many of my friends have told me that if we graduate here at U.S.P. we can get a job anywhere in the world and that is a great opportunity that I would love to explore, he relayed.

Mr. Vunidravo said he wanted to do a degree in Land Management and he was sure he would not regret coming to U.S.P.

I want to pursue my career because most of the stuff we deal with at work is in regards to land. I carry out a lot of evaluation exercises and I liaise a lot with landowners.

I am confident that I will benefit greatly from this programme and it will help me understand my work much better, he stated.

Nineteen-year-old Kia Williams said she looked forward to exploring the new environment.

I chose U.S.P. because of the relevance of its courses and programmes which I do not see anywhere else and I am looking forward to a head start, she said.

It is so different from high school and I am loving it already, said the former student of St Joseph Secondary School.

I have enrolled into the Bachelor of Commerce programme majoring in Accounting and Finance. I have always wanted to become an Accountant and this is an opportune time for me to pursue this dream of mine, she said.

Temboa Tibuuarate, 20 of Kiribati said U.S.P. sounded exciting and interesting.

I guess the one thing I am excited about apart from everything else is the fact that there is a diversity of cultures here at USP and I am looking forward to learning from that, Mr. Tibuuarate said.
A network of young Pacific Islanders under the name of 350.org Pacific has called on Patrick Suckling, the Australian Governments Ambassador for the Environment, to immediately remove his support for the Adani Carmichael coal mine.

Mr. Suckling is visiting the Pacific this week for the first time. He is scheduled to arrive in Samoa on Monday.

According to 350.org Pacific, if the Carmichael mine goes ahead, it would be the biggest coal mine in Australia and one of the biggest in the world. The annual emissions from burning the coal it produces would be similar to those of the whole of Malaysia or Austria, and more than New York City.

With Fiji playing an important role in the process of implementing the Paris Agreement, the support by Australia for the continued expansion of the fossil fuel industry is a slap in the face of the vulnerable Pacific Islands, says Koreti Tiumalu, the Groups Pacific Coordinator.

If the Australian Government has seriously recognized the plight of the Pacific in dealing with climate change and rising sea levels, they must look at its complicity in the problem the Pacific is facing.

The most effective move the Australian Government could take is to immediately say no to the Carmichael coal mine and urgently take the necessary actions required to move away from fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy.

As the worlds largest coal producer and one of the biggest per capita climate polluters, Australia has a responsibility to act swiftly on climate. If Australia wants to be good regional neighbors they must demonstrate genuine action and tackle the causes of climate change, by neither allowing new coal mines nor pushing for the construction of new coal power stations.

In the lead up to COP 23, 350 Pacific and the Pacific Climate Warriors will continue to highlight Australias inaction on climate change and urge Pacific leaders to rally together and call on Australia to end its fossil fuel expansion.

Our Pacific leaders must remain vigilant for the future of our Islands - they know what is at stake and have in fact called for a global moratorium on coal mines. Fijis presidency at COP 23 this year will be a chance for the Pacific to emphasize how Australias inaction on climate change speaks louder than words, concluded Tiumalu.
Opportunities come in different forms.

They are wrapped up in challenges and obstacles mankind must overcome in order to finally realise the first step towards a golden opportunity.

So believes Kaiva Asiasi, 32-year-old man from the village of Magiagi. Kaiva works for the Ministry of Women, Community and Development.

He believes that whatever job you are given to do, you should do it honestly and have the courage to push through the pain.

You cant reach a million dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic, he said. But you get opportunities along the way to help you work towards that dream.

When you fail, try again. It isnt a bad thing, you keep knocking, knocking, and the doors will open to you.

Kaivas village is an area vulnerable to flash flooding and was heavily affected during Cyclone Evan in 2012. Two days ago, the village was flooded again.

He said its time something is done to protect their properties.

Where we live is quite unsafe due to the weather most of the time, he said. Our plantations are vulnerable and sometimes lives are threatened.

Most families enjoy rainy days unfortunately for us we dont.

Getting back to opportunities, Kaiva said these are realised when one overcomes the challenges.

Ive been working for the government for seven years now. Its not easy but I work hard. In 2016, I won an award from my workplace. This year, I got a prize from Frankies raffle. See, God is surely awesome.

Like I said, when we work hard, the opportunities will come.

Kaiva supports Prime Minister Tuilaepas call for the population to increase.

But he said the government should also come up with a way to support such an increase.

Children are a gift from God, he said. I think the government should come up with a benefit system for the children.

Ive seen many changes in Samoa and I strongly believe Samoa will improve.

And his final advice?

Do your best and God will do the rest. Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts, this is the secret to success.
Being grateful and happiness go together.

In fact, when you are grateful for whatever you have, no matter what, you will always find happiness. But when you always want more, you are bound to stress when you cant achieve your goals.

Thats the opinion of Itagia Samuelu from the village of Maninoa Siumu.

Stay happy every day, he said. Being happy doesnt mean everything is perfect, it means youve decided to look beyond the imperfections and keep on working.

Aged 70, Itagia believes that happiness in a family is a choice.

The man caught up with the Village Voice yesterday, and yes he was all smiles.

Happiness is something that always comes from within so if were happy my children will act the same, he tells Village Voice.

Lets be clear, money cannot buy happiness. You can have all the money and power in the world but it cannot buy you happiness and it certainly cant buy you love.

My children and I make do with what we have; the only thing that matters is happiness.

If we only have tea and taro for the day were grateful. At least we get to eat.

The father resides with his wife and kids at Vaiusu but hes originally from Maninoa Siumu.

Im on my way to visit my family and our plantation at Maninoa, he said. I really miss the peaceful life we had there. But we cannot turn back time.

The father went on to say that in his family - everyone is responsible and everyone counts.

Very simple, from there you begin to enjoy and see healthier days together, and your family will stay together.

There are challenges along the way; sometimes the money to meet our daily needs is not enough. But we never give up.

Family is all about teamwork. Right now we have kids overseas and they are helping us out.

He went on to say that family bonds are tied with love.

Yes, life begins in family. he said.

If you show your children the right path for them to survive the future...show them true love, attention, discipline and other positive attitudes.
The government is committed to developing its financial centre, the Samoa International Finance Authority (S.I.F.A).

The ruling Human Rights Protection Party administration also wants to grow Polynesian Airlines in a bid to attract more tourists to Samoa.

Thats what Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi told Brian Caplen of The Banker during an interview where he talks about how the country has tackled money laundering concerns and how its is dealing with the pressures for the financial centre, S.I.F.A amidst international pressure.

The financial centre should play a very big role in Samoas development, Tuilaepa is quoted as saying. Ever since it was established in 1992, we have continued to grow. What happened was [that] because of its belated development, we tended to take the best experience of the other centres and avoid complex policies and try to maintain the good name of the financial centre.

Of course, the centre has been facing many problems with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [O.E.C.D.] zeroing in on money laundering control and we were on the grey list for a short time.

But we have been to the international committees for [advice and oversight on] the control of money laundering. The money that the financial centre gets has been very useful to help with the funding of our budget but mostly it helps in the sponsoring of our sports.

One of the things with the international financial centre is the great competitiveness between centres to maintain the clientele. These clients are up to date with what they can get [in incentives] from the different centres, so they play us off one against the other.

The trust companies that are licensed here follow up on developments at all the centres and the moment a jurisdiction puts up a law to give itself a comparative advantage they immediately pick it up and advise our centre.

Tuilaepa told The Banker Samoa has to update its own laws to stay competitive.

The essential thing the O.E.C.D. is after is to have disclosure of information on the activities and to ensure there is no money laundering passing through the centre. Ours is one of the most reputable centres.

Tuilaepa also spoke about the importance of tourism and the need to address the challenge of air travel.

We have been very active recently in writing to airlines to [ask them to] use the centrality of Samoa's [geographical] position as a stop for the refuelling of long-distance flights to South America. We have excess room capacity here yet to be filled and all we need is more tourists to come, he said.

We [Polynesian Airlines] have a joint venture with Virgin [Australia Airlines] and there are quite a lot of flights from New Zealand, but still we think it is not enough.

We are now looking at the possibility of having our own planes again.

Our joint venture is coming up for review and the feeling is generally that, subject to a review, we should fly our own planes once again [internationally]. (Polynesian Airlines got into financial difficulties and stopped flying internationally after the downturn that followed the terrorist 9/11 attacks of 2001.)

This would give a real boost to tourism because its quite possible that Virgin will still fly its planes in if we terminate our joint venture so that would mean extra flights and more tourists.

The first planes would be on a leasing basis. We do not consider that we should go all out. We would have to proceed very cautiously and restrict flights to the more profitable routes of New Zealand and Australia. It was when we flew to the US that we began to face problems. Thats where we should enter into a co-share with other airlines."

The Prime Minister believes more flights will bring in more visitors.

What we want to do is get more flights and more visitors in. As it is now, both Virgin and Air New Zealand are deliberately controlling the flights into Samoa to ensure that fares are raised as high as possible. The fares from here to New Zealand are extremely expensive and they are doing that by limiting the flights.

Both Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand reject the claim from the Prime Minister, according to The Banker.

Virgin Samoa offers a range of highly competitive fares and holiday packages for travel between Samoa and both Australia and New Zealand, a spokesperson for Virgin Australia is quoted as saying.

As joint venture partners for 10 years, Virgin Australia and the government of Samoa are undertaking reviews of the future of the joint venture. We look forward to discussing the outcomes of these reviews with the government in due course.

Anna Cross, external communications consultant for Air New Zealand is quoted as saying there are a number of factors that determine fare prices. These include operating costs, such as airport landing and navigation costs, and passenger demand for a particular route.

In the case of Samoa, we recently announced that due to strong demand we will operate an additional six flights between Auckland and Apia in late December [2016]  nearly 1000 additional seats on the route.

Away from tourism and finance, the Prime Minister is also excited about the development of Information Technology (I.T.)
David Cameron, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, visited the San Diego headquarters of DNA sequencing giant Illumina this week.

Cameron discussed the importance of genomics and continued investment in science and medicine, according to an Illumina statement.

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Its the latest example of Britains interest in San Diegos life science industry at the highest levels.

-- In late January, the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment toured local biomedical companies.

-- In October, Britain opened a trade office in San Diego, paying special emphasis to the regions life science community.

Cameron was prime minister from 2010 to 2016. In 2012, his government launched a project to sequence the genomes of 100,000 Britons. The project uses Illumina technology.

Cameron told a standing-room-only crowd that his interest in genomics came from personal tragedy, the statement said. His first son, Ivan, had Ohtahara syndrome, an infant-onset form of epilepsy. Ivan died in 2009 at the age of 6.

He recalled the lack of information genetic counselors could provide at the time about whether he and his wife were at risk for having future children with the condition as an example of why he made genomics research a priority in Britain.

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Several hundred Encinitas homeowners have been targeted by a city crackdown on unregistered vacation rentals that are advertised on websites like Airbnb.

A view of the playground at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, a popular spot with tourists and visitors. (Sean M. Haffey / San Diego Union-Tribune)

In the last three months, the city has sent letters to 305 homeowners stating that an ordinance passed in 2006 requires a permit and tax payment on short-term rentals, which are private homes rented for 30 consecutive days or less. Roughly 165 letters are still to be mailed.

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Encinitas officials said a high number of unregistered vacation rentals prompted the enforcement push. According to a city analysis last year, only about one-fourth of the 688 short-term rentals in Encinitas that are listed on various home-sharing websites had city permits.

Lance Hetherington, a property owner who received a letter, said he didnt realize hes required under city law to pay a 10 percent tax on rental revenue and obtain a permit that costs $140 annually.

I wasnt up to speed on permitting, but I am now, Hetherington said.

The two-bedroom house hes rented to travelers for roughly the past year is on the same lot as his small home. Hetherington, who was unemployed for three years, said he listed it through HomeAway.com to help pay the bills. When it isnt booked, its a place friends and family can stay, he said.

The citys letter gives homeowners 14 days to apply for a permit and start paying taxes  or cease renting and advertising their short-term vacation rental.

Hetherington plans on pursuing the former option, even though hes not exactly thrilled by the 10 percent tax, part of which is earmarked for beach replenishment projects.

Im OK with paying taxes to the city. I see why its necessary. I just think theyre a little high, he said, adding that hell either have to raise rates or absorb the loss.

The city passed its short-term rental ordinance more than a decade ago  well before the boom in online rental websites  due to complaints over rowdy out-of-towners. The ordinance was enforced on a complaint basis until last year when the city hired a temporary employee to track unregistered rentals.

Mayor Catherine Blakespear said enforcing the ordinance is important for the sake of neighborhoods. A key component of the law, she said, is a requirement that landlords display a sign outside their home with a name and telephone number in case of any problems.

Systems work best when neighbors are able to communicate with each other directly, follow the rules in place, and not involve city code enforcement, Blakespear said.

Coastal cities like Encinitas  described on websites like Airbnb and VRBO.com as a charming seaside community, close to golden beaches and good surf  have seen vacation rentals explode in popularity over the past several years.

Del Mar and several other cities are still wrestling with how to regulate rentals, some of which have been operating for decades. Some residents argue the rentals result in a revolving door of strangers with little regard for neighborhoods. Others say theyre an important source of income for owners and also boost the local economy.

Blakespear said while she periodically hears concerns about short-term vacation rentals in Encinitas, the city hasnt discussed strengthening its rules.

It doesnt seem like weve reached a fever pitch around this issue, and I do think that its because weve had an ordinance in place for some time, she said.

Since beginning proactive enforcement on Oct. 24, Encinitas hasnt issued any fines, which start at $250 and reach $1,000 upon fourth and subsequent violations.

Once we go through this initial effort, I think there wouldnt be as much leniency, because people should be on notice now, said City Finance Director Tim Nash.

The unlicensed rentals were identified after a temporary city employee  armed with the online listings  determined the general area of each rental and then matched the online photos to images on Google Street View. Those pictures are included with the letters.

Helen Jones said she was surprised to receive a letter because her property hasnt been offered as a short-term rental since the summer of 2015. Still, she said, she complied with the tax and permit requirements.

She also sent a response to the city clarifying that, though her listing was still online, it was done only as a matter of convenience, in case she decides to one day rent it out again.

Just to make sure Im OK with the city, Ill take the listing down, she said.

Nash said most of the homeowners hes spoken with so far said they simply werent aware of the citys ordinance. Others  like Jones  have sent responses saying their units are no longer being rented, and a few were landlords who didnt realize their long-term tenants were renting to vacationers.

The citys initial attempt to enforce the registration rules hit a snag months ago when the first batch of 40 letters went out  and half went to property owners not hosting vacation rentals. Nash attributed the error to bad data from a consultant that the city ultimately scrapped in favor of the temporary employee.

When we sent out those letters that werent accurate, yes there were some folks that were upset. But since then, I would have to say most people understand why were doing this, Nash said.

He said the city budgeted $15,000 for the temporary employee, and paid the consultant $4,188  some of which it might recoup.

Whitlock is a freelance writer.
Inside a 28,000-square-foot nondescript building off Auto Parkway in Escondido, Mike Simon and his team of 45 TransPower employees are shaping the future of large electric vehicles like big rig trucks and school buses.

Funded almost exclusively by government grants and contracts aimed at reducing the countrys dependence on fossil fuels, TransPower has clients all over the world clamoring for the businesses experimental technology.

Its exactly the type of company that Escondido leaders have been trying to attract for years  employers that offer high-paying jobs in up-and-coming fields.

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TransPower will be one of the businesses featured later this month in a city promotional video that will debut at the Mayor Sam Abeds State of the City Address.

I think this is an impressive specialty business thats serving San Diego and the entire world, Abed said. Theyre already running out of room.

Simon started his business in 2011 in the Poway Business Park, but outgrew that site in 2016 and moved 20 miles north to Escondido, into a building once used by an aerospace company to manufacture weapons.

In the past six years, the company has received more than $50 million in local, state and federal grants, and has been perfecting its electric drive and battery storage systems.

Our technology is very research intensive, Simon, 57, said. Its taken years to develop our hardware and our software and our battery pack designs.

Government funding has been key since what TransPower does takes years to bear fruit. Private investors want a faster return on their investments, Simon said.

Weve been fortunate enough to find government agencies that promote energy efficiency, reduced emissions and reduced dependency on fossil fuels and weve competed for grants and contracts, he said.

But relying on a government committed to future energy needs can be nerve-racking when a new administration takes control in Washington D.C.

Its not clear yet how committed President Donald Trump might be to alternative forms of energy, but Simon is optimistic.

We all want clean air, he said. We all want good jobs. We all want, as Americans, to have leadership roles in industries of the future like renewable energy and like electric vehicles. Im pretty confident that once all the facts are put on the table and once all the businessmen in the current administration get to talking about all the jobs companies like TransPower are creating, there will be a strong support for us, no matter who is president.

Plus, Simon said, private companies that manufacture fleets of vehicles worldwide are paying attention.

Weve had visitors from Sweden just last week, he said. Weve had visitors from Finland, South Africa, fleet operators in France, South America, South Korea, Vietnam. Its really global and comes from all corners of the planet. And we dont even do global marketing. Its all word of mouth and our website (transpowerusa.com). Its quite exciting.

Uncertainty about future trade with China  which supplies most of the tens of thousands of batteries Transpower uses in its designs  led Simon to approach Escondido last year about the building a battery factory in the city.

He envisions a day when electric heavy equipment will make up a large part of the trucking and large-vehicle economy.

Diesel engine big rigs will still be needed for long-distance hauling because current battery technology isnt even close to allowing for lengthy trips without recharging. But for local hauling, once the technology gets into mass manufacturing, Simon believes the costs and fuel savings will change the industry forever.

School buses would seem perfect for widespread conversion. Recently the Blue Bird Corp., a large-scale manufacturer of school buses, received a $4 million grant from the Department of Energy to develop electric buses  money that has found its way to TransPower, which will be converting 12 new buses in the coming year.

Simon says 500 of his systems could eventually be built in Escondido annually and then shipped to Blue Birds massive bus factory in Georgia for installation.

Simons wife, Kirsten Andleman Simon, said when the electric school buses the company has already converted are put into use the children, drivers and parents all rave about the quiet, emissions free ride they provide.

And buses can be used in the morning to take kids to school, brought back to a central yard where the batteries would be recharged, then taken back out again in the afternoon for school pick up.

Simon says he plans on hiring 15 more people this year and he sees a future that could bring 200 new employees to TransPower if the Blue Bird tests prove a success.

No matter how much fracking we do and how many wells we drill, theres only a finite amount of fossil fuel that will be used up, Simon said. Long term, we need renewable sources of energy for transportation. Which countries are in the lead in creating those industries will be key. Its important that America remain in the lead in electric vehicle technology.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
At 17, Jenny Amaraneni knew she wanted to own her own company, she just hadnt figured out what kind of business she wanted to start.

I loved the idea of being a leader and making a difference in the world, she says.

When she got to her international entrepreneurship class at San Diego State University, she was tasked with reading one of two books, and then developing a business idea that had a positive social impact. After reading Out of Poverty by Paul Polak and coming across references about the need for eyecare, globally, she was motivated to do some research.

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I learned that 80 percent of the worlds blindness is preventable and that 1 billion people do not have access to eye care, she says. I had very poor vision and had never stopped to realize how blessed I was to own a pair of glasses or contact lenses. I immediately felt compelled to address this great need in the world.

Today, Amaraneni is 32 and the co-founder and chief executive officer of SOLO Eyewear, a company that creates ecologically friendly sunglasses made from recycled materials, and the purchase of each pair helps fund work to restore vision for people in need. She took some time to talk about the company, her commitment to helping others, particularly with regard to their vision, and the time she found herself named among influential people, including two notable Bills  former President Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.

Q: You researched statistics on eye care from studies by the World Health Organization and other institutions. What was it about eye care that spoke so strongly to you?

A: Every morning, we wake up and open our eyes to see, whether its to check the time, see our partners face or if its still dark outside. Regardless of the reason, we get to open our eyes and see. Eight out of 10 people who are blind in our world would still be able to see if they had access to eye care. That statistic gives me chills every time I think about it. Over half of preventable blindness is caused by cataracts and can be corrected with a simple, 10-minute surgery. Seeing how easily vision can be restored to people in need is what speaks so strongly to me. I knew I needed to find a way to fund and scale those efforts.

Q: Is it fair to say that it sounds like you started your company based on a cause?

A: I think we can all agree that the world doesnt need another sunglasses company. The world needs companies that care about people and the planet.  Yes, I started SOLO for a reason far bigger than myself. My passion does not lie in products, it lies in making a profound difference in the world. Were accomplishing that with each pair of our sunglasses purchased.

Q: Where are your glasses made?

A: Our glasses are made in China. We work with a high quality manufacturer that has undergone and passed a comprehensive audit conducted by a U.S. based firm. China manufactures approximately 90 percent of the worlds eye wear. They have the infrastructure and most options to manufacture eye wear.

What I love about Pacific Beach ...

I love being near the beach and able to ride down to Law Street to watch the sunset.

Q: What makes your glasses ecologically friendly?

A: Our eye wear is made with recycled and re-purposed materials. We have two collections of eye wear. One collection is made with re-purposed bamboo and acetate, while the other is made with a recycled plastic blend. We work with a bamboo flooring supplier to utilize their scrap pieces of bamboo to construct the temples for our glasses. The acetate frames are made from cotton and are non-petroleum based. With our recycled collection, we use a 20 percent recycled blend of TR90, which is a durable, heat-resistant type of plastic. We also utilize bamboo scraps to produce the SOLO logo on the temples of that collection.

Q: What is your companys process for helping people with eye care?

A: We partner with two non-profit organizations to restore vision to people in need: Aravind Eye Care System, which is based in India, and Restoring Vision, which is based here in California. We donate 10 percent of our profits from each pair purchased. Those funds are used to provide eye exams, eyeglasses and cataract surgeries for people in need internationally.

Q: How do you decide which non-profits to work with?

A: In order to identify potential partners, I spent a lot of time researching the need for eye care. After reading the statistics about vision, I knew I needed to drill down to understand what areas within eye care are the most efficiently addressed. Two areas became clear: Approximately 60 percent of people suffer from refractive error, which can be corrected with eyeglasses. And, nearly half of preventable blindness is due to cataracts. Individuals who are blind from cataracts can undergo a 10-minute surgery and have their vision totally restored. I then found non-profit partners who were the best at addressing those two specific needs. Restoring Vision specializes in producing eyeglasses and making them accessible to people in need internationally. Aravind Eye Care System is the most efficient at performing cataract surgeries for the masses. A person who is blind from cataracts can walk into Aravinds hospital, undergo a 10-minute surgery and have their vision restored for as little as $15. Its truly life-changing.

Q: How many people have benefited from your program?

A: Over 13,000 individuals have had their vision restored through our efforts. Weve reached 32 countries to date, which includes the United States. Each of our sunglasses styles is named after a country where we have funded eye care.

Q: How do you track this?

A: Our non-profit partners have reporting systems in place. Once our donations are submitted, they utilize the funds to provide eye care and then provide reports on how many individuals benefited from that donation. We keep track of both organizations impact reports.

Q: Youve visited clinics in other countries?

A: We have visited Pondicherry, India, twice to meet with our partner, Aravind. We have also visited a Restoring Vision clinic in Vamos Tamaulipas, Mexico, and in two weeks will visit one in San Quintin, Baja California. I am also currently working with the State Department through the Young Leaders of Americas Initiative to co-sponsor an eye care clinic in Guyana in March of this year. It is important to meet face-to-face with partners to build relationships, to develop a deeper understanding of the need for eye care and to see how our collective efforts are truly changing lives.

Q: What did you learn from these visits?

A: I was able to see the need firsthand and understand how debilitating losing your vision in an impoverished area can be. I watched a man who had recently lost his vision figure out how to navigate the dirt roads of his village, how to cook and care for himself. His family had abandoned him since they could not provide for him. I learned about the numerous programs and initiatives that Aravind has established to be as efficient as possible and provide low-cost, high-quality eye care. I learned that people will wait for an endless number of hours to have their vision checked, to hopefully receive a pair of glasses to return to work or read their bibles. Every time we visit a clinic, we learn volumes and are driven to work harder.

Q: Are there other causes youre also engaged in or passionate about?

A: Yes, I work closely with San Diego State University as a mentor in their Lavin Entrepreneur Program. I love helping students by building their confidence and encouraging them to pursue their dreams. I also support local organizations like Bosh Bosh, Compassion It and Cura Coffee. All three of these organizations are doing incredibly things like educating and employing women in Liberia, inspiring individuals worldwide to act compassionately on a daily basis and supporting the fair-trade coffee industry in Nicaragua and providing dental care to their rural communities. My peers founded these companies and Im incredibly inspired by them and their efforts. San Diego is becoming a hub for social enterprise. That really excites me.

Q: What is the best advice youve ever received?

A: The first thought that comes to mind is not actual advice I received. Its a quote by Maya Angelou: I come as one but I stand as 10,000. Her quote is a reminder that although you may enter a room as one person, 10,000 people paved the way for you to have the freedoms and opportunities that you have. I love this quote so much. I frequently give presentations and speeches and will feel nervous at the beginning. In those moments, I recite this quote to myself repeatedly and I find so much strength in it.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

A: I was featured in Time magazine as one of the Worlds Most Influential Change Agents and my name was included in that list with Bill Clinton.

Q: Describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: I love San Diego. My ideal weekend includes a few outdoor activities (hiking, running, surfing), trying a new restaurant and spending time with friends.

Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @lisadeaderick
Tijuana can seem highly Americanized, its parking lots crowded with California license plates, its avenues dotted with U.S. fast-food outlets, even the presence of Walmart and Home Depot stores in the citys farthest reaches. But for all the trappings of U.S. culture, many residents of this city have been holding fast to their Mexican identity in recent days.

A wave of nationalism unseen for decades has swept across Mexico since Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency  and the sentiments have reached as far as northern border cities such as Tijuana. But the feelings play out differently in a city where the border is a daily reality, where business and political leaders often have houses in both countries, and where many residents routinely cross to study, shop, work, bank and visit family.

We feel aggrieved, and we feel offended, Gilberto Leyva Camacho, president of the Tijuana Chamber of Commerce. There is no need for so much aggression toward a neighboring country when weve been brothers all our lives.

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Leyva, whose Tijuana used car business depends on importing U.S. vehicles, is among those calling for residents to temporarily refrain from shopping in San Diego.

One group linked to Mexicos Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, is sending a message largely through social media: Dont cross to the other side! from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, to let Trump know that we have dignity. It would be the first such boycott since Operacion Dignidad in 1994, which urged Tijuana residents to avoid crossing the border in protest of Californias Proposition 187 ballot initiative that sought to deny unauthorized immigrants state health care, education and other services.

Some counter that boycotts of San Diego businesses are the wrong approach  that they hurt some of Mexicos staunchest supporters, and that the times call for joining forces. I hope that this dynamic of separation does not settle in, said Gustavo Fernandez De Leon, director of Colegio Eiffel, a private school in downtown Tijuana, and a former president of the business group Coparmex. We are a region and no one can deny this.

In San Ysidro, where shops look to Mexican customers for 90 percent of sales, merchants are watching anxiously. I empathize and sympathize with them, San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce executive director Jason Wells said of the boycott proponents, even though he disagrees with their tactic. But were the same team.

Trumps calls for Mexico to fund an extended border wall and for a tax on imports have signaled a new era in U.S.-Mexican relations. Despite uncertainty over the future, one thing is clear, the Mexican historian Lorenzo Meyer wrote in a column last month in the Mexico City newspaper Reforma. The bilateral relationship has suffered a drastic change, and neither the Mexican government nor Mexican society can pretend that after the storm there can be a return to business as usual.

Still, many border groups are fighting to maintain their cross-border relationships even as strains have developed at the national level. Among them: The CaliBaja Bi-National Megaregion Initiative, an umbrella organization for seven economic development groups in the United States and Mexico, which promotes a single economic region spanning San Diego County, Imperial County and the state of Baja California  an area with more than 6.5 million residents and a combined gross domestic product of more than $210 billion and a workforce of 3.3 million.

Mexican nationalism

Mexican nationalism has its roots in the 19th century, forged during turbulent decades that saw it emerge from Spanish colonialism, fight off French intervention and lose a large amount of territory in the Mexican-American War.

A period of intense economic interaction with the United States over the past thirty years led to a softening of the intensity of Mexican nationalistic sentiments, said Tonatiuh Guillen, president of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a Tijuana-based think tank known as Colef.

Massive migration to the United States has also changed the equation: Today some 12 million U.S. residents are Mexican-born, and their 11.5 million offspring have a right to Mexican citizenship, Guillen said.

In Mexico, having a family member, a contact, a friend, an acquaintance in the United States has become part of the reality of our lives, Guillen said. That has resulted in interactions that have made our nationalism far more complex, he added.

Tijuanas proximity to California, a state whose leaders have spoken out against Trumps immigration stances, can serve to temper nationalistic sentiments, said Guillen. But a brief border boycott can send an important message, by highlighting the size of our interactions, their importance, and that is worthwhile, he said.

In the two weeks since Trump launched his term, many Tijuana residents have been looking toward Washington, D.C. and also south to Mexico City, watching carefully as the countrys leaders respond to the new U.S. president.

A giant Mexican flag flies on Thursday above Tijuanas Cuartel Morelos, a military base near downtown. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Giving a rare news conference late last month in the Mexican capital, billionaire Carlos Slim called for an ambitious infrastructure program and other measures to strengthen the countrys economy. The best fence is made up of investments, economic activity and opportunities for employment in Mexico, Slim said, adding that people leave because they dont have economic opportunity.

On Wednesday, President Enrique Pena Nieto presided over re-launching of the Made in Mexico brand by the federal government and private sector, in a ceremony that highlighted products such as tequila, avocado, organic coffee, beer and flat-screen televisions.

In Tijuana, the influential business umbrella group, Consejo Coordinador Empresarial on Tuesday initiated its own consume in Mexico campaign  but remained staunchly opposed any effort to discourage shoppers from crossing into California.

On both sides of the border, much of the public discussion has taken place through social media. In Tijuana, many have taken to posting images of the Mexican flag on their Facebook pages.

Jaime Chaidez Bonilla, a Tijuana cultural critic, explained his disinterest in renewing his U.S. visa.

It seems like an indignity to walk, line up for two hours, and wait for an inspector to look at you in the face and deign to allow you to pass to the other side, he wrote on his Facebook page that is widely followed by members of the citys cultural community.

The first seven days of the Trump administration confirmed his decision to not renew his U.S. visa, he wrote and added: I will never again travel to the United States.

Early Thursday at Tijuanas Hotel Marriott, members of the civic group Los Madrugadores saluted the Mexican flag before launching into their monthly meeting.

Pablo Vera, a professional property appraiser in Tijuana and former president of the group, said he plans to increase his consumption in Mexico  but will not stop crossing the border to meet with Mexican clients who live in San Diego.

The crisis in relations, has caused us to go back to identifying with our country, and that is a very good thing, Vera said. Its awakened this feeling that we dont need to depend so much on the United States.

But for the many who have dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, the issues are not so clear-cut. San Diego resident Bertha Fridman, a Mexico native and naturalized U.S. citizen, was among the customers who crowded on Thursday morning into Tamales Colorado, small storefront in downtown Tijuana.

Carrying away bags filled with steaming tamales, Fridman spoke of her allegiance to both countries.

I love Mexico, I love the people, I love the food, I love everything, said Fridman, who owns a post office box and money exchange business in San Ysidro. But I love the United States also, it opened its doors to me, and it is thanks to the country that I have work.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

@sandradibble
Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security turn over a list of travelers detained, questioned or returned to their country of origin under President Trumps travel ban executive order.

Feuer on Friday sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan and Los Angeles Area Port Director Mitchell Merriam seeking to verify that the federal agencies operating at Los Angeles International Airport complied with two court restraining orders last week.

The restraining orders issued by courts in New York and Los Angeles enjoined federal agents from removing individuals with approved refugee applications or valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven nations named in Trumps executive order.

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Feuer said he was denied access to the incoming immigration area on Jan. 27 and was told a high-level federal official would provide answers, but he said he was never provided with information.

The city prosecutor asked for a detailed accounting of those who landed with passports or legal status and were questioned, confined or subject to surveillance from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Feuer also wants to know any who were sent back or who voluntarily returned. The prosecutor is also requesting details of those persons travel and whether any documentation or passports were confiscated.

Feuer has been a vocal opponent of the executive order. The Democratic city attorneys letter is the latest move in a legal battle over the travel directive.

richard.winton@latimes.com

ALSO

Seattle judge temporarily blocks Trumps immigration order nationwide

Breathtaking violation of rights: L.A. city attorney barred from seeing detainees at LAX

Iranian man barred from entering U.S. lands at LAX; first to return after court order
Sometimes readers contact me about a defendant whose criminal case has been mentioned in an article and ask whether the person is a U.S. citizen.

Most recently, I received an email about Carlo Mercado, a 31-year-old Mira Mesa man who admitted last month to fatally shooting three young people on Christmas Eve in a shopping mall parking lot in San Diego.

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For the record, he was born in Chicago.

I dont know why this reader asked the question, and I wont make any guesses here. But when others have asked in the past, a few have accused me  or the editors I work with  of deliberately withholding information about citizenship status, particularly if a defendant is an unauthorized immigrant.

The truth is that in most criminal cases I cover in the state courts, the subject of someones immigration status rarely comes up unless there is some direct connection to the alleged offenses. (Immigration cases, and those dealing with smuggling contraband across international borders, are handled in the federal courts.)

But the topic of crime and immigration  and whether theres any nexus there  has been in the news a lot lately, not just leading up to last years presidential election when then-candidate Donald Trump made a statement connecting Mexican immigrants with crime and drugs (a statement that has been roundly criticized).

Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Trump has signed several executive orders, a couple of which focused on concerns about the nations borders, unauthorized immigrants and public safety. His Jan. 25 order authorized the start of construction of a wall along the southern border of the U.S. and would withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities that protect people who are in the country illegally.

On Jan. 27, Trump signed an order that limited immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, ones the president said had been identified previously as sources of terror. The order prompted protests across the country, including in San Diego, and lawsuits in other jurisdictions.

One provision of the order requires the Department of Homeland Security to publish a weekly list of criminal actions committed by aliens an any jurisdiction that ignored or otherwise failed to honor any detainers with respect to such aliens.

Many studies have shown that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes in the United States than people born in here.

The New York Times reported in a recent article that an analysis of census data from 1980 through 2010 shows that among men ages 18 to 49, immigrants were one-half to one-fifth as likely to be incarcerated as those born in the United States. Across all ages and sexes, the newspaper reported, about 7 percent of the nations population are noncitizens, while Justice Department figures show about 5 percent of inmates in state and federal prisons are noncitizens.

I contacted the county District Attorneys Office this week, as well as the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the San Diego Association of Governments and the Sheriffs Department, and asked if they track the citizenship or immigration status of defendants or inmates.

They all say they do not.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 23,729 people were deported from San Diego in fiscal 2016, 10,872 of whom were convicted criminals. (Its not clear where their crimes were committed). In the previous year, 19,603 people were deported from San Diego, 11,118 of whom were criminals.

There are times in my own reporting when a defendants citizenship is critical to the case, such as the Los Palillos prosecution, which wrapped up in 2014. In that case, the District Attorneys Office prosecuted members of a violent, drug-trafficking crew with ties to the Arellano Felix cartel of Tijuana.

Among the 18 defendants, some of whom are still at large, there were U.S. and Mexican citizens.

Its more common, however, that I dont learn about a defendants citizenship status until after he or she has been sentenced, when such information may be listed in a probation report.

More often than not, the criminals are home grown.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
Without a doubt, Judge Elizabeth Riggs path toward becoming the first African-American woman to serve on the bench in San Diego County had its challenges, but she often preferred not to dwell on those.

A close friend and colleague recalled recently a time when she heard Riggs give a speech to a local lawyers club that was honoring her for her achievements.

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Riggs remarks were inspirational but didnt go into a lot of detail on the difficulties she had faced.

I know your story, and all the trials and tribulations, why didnt you mention them? Judge Patricia Cookson remembered asking her friend that day. She said, What would be the point? I want to encourage people to succeed.

Friends and family members said Riggs had a long history of encouraging success in others, something she kept up long after she retired from the bench in December 2001.

On Tuesday, Riggs passed away after a nearly seven-year battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer, her family said. She was 75.

She handled her illness with dignity and grace, said Luther Riggs-Zeigen, the eldest of her three sons.

After a long career as a prosecutor, Riggs was appointed to the El Cajon Municipal Court in 1979 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She spent the bulk of her tenure as a jurist in El Cajon, where she opened its first domestic violence court in 1997, the year before she became a Superior Court judge.

Riggs remained the only black female judge on the county trial court for two decades.

Superior Court Judge Desiree Bruce-Lyle, who in 2001 became the second black woman appointed to the local bench, said Riggs mentored a lot of people in the legal community, herself among them. In fact, it was Riggs who urged her to apply for a judgeship.

But the two didnt share the bench for long.

She said, Ive been holding on, waiting for another African-American woman to be appointed. Now that youre here, Im retiring, Bruce-Lyle recalled with a chuckle.

Judge Randa Trapp, a black woman who was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 2003, said many women of her generation regarded Riggs as an inspiration.

Just (her) being in that position gave me hope that I could be there as well, Trapp said.

Riggs served in a variety of assignments as a judge, including in the Juvenile Court. Even in retirement, she regularly filled in on juvenile delinquency and dependency assignments when other judges were unavailable, court authorities said.

She helped found the Association of Black Attorneys of San Diego County, which later changed its name to the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association, and was a past president. She served as a board member of the San Diego Legal Aid Society, Urban League of San Diego and the African-American Museum of Fine Arts.

Public service and activism, family members said, were in her bones.

We grew up in a family that was fully expected to be active, and you were expected to work in the community, said Barbara Riggs, the judges younger sister, one of seven siblings.

Judge Riggs was born and raised in Camden, N.J., where her mother had been a school board member for 30 years. Riggs earned her undergraduate degree from Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., and later earned her juris doctor degree from Rutgers Law School.

Both my mother and father expected excellence, said Barbara Riggs, who lives in North Carolina.

Over the years, the judge was recognized many times for her achievements in San Diegos legal community. She has been named a Legend of the Bar by the San Diego Bar History Committee, and in 2007 was honored as Woman of the Year by Californias 39th Senate district.

In 2008, she was inducted as as trailblazer in the San Diego County Womens Hall of Fame.

Trailblazing aside, to her three sons, she was simply mom.

Even though she had a tremendous responsibility to her job, she was first and foremost a mother, said Riggs-Zeigen. He said his mother, who was divorced, was involved and engaged in her childrens endeavors into their adulthood.

Riggs-Zeigen described his mother as a private person, but said she cultivated a large group of friends whom she met with regularly in book clubs and for theater outings and other social gatherings.

And she was a top-notch Scrabble player.

I called her the Scrabble queen, Cookson said.

Riggs is survived by her children  Luther Riggs-Zeigen, Michael Riggs and Adam Riggs-Zeigen  and three grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. on Feb. 11 at Christ United Presbyterian Church, 3025 Fir St. in San Diego.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
While President Trump has not yet moved to deport students who are unauthorized immigrants, Mexican education officials already are preparing for it.

The officials acknowledge its uncertain whether Trump will take such action, but that the threat is very real.

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We dont know how many may come, Rodrigo Guerra-Botrello, the second secretary general the Mexican Federation of Private Institutions of Higher Education, said about a possible influx of students from the north.

Its a common concern, said Guillermo Hernandez, general director for strategic partnership with the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education in Mexico. We hope that nothing is going to happen. However, we are preparing to receive those deported students.

Short of deportations, the unauthorized students could also head south if Trump takes away their government student aid, they said.

The two men and other educators from around the world were at San Diego State University Friday morning for the start of the three-day International Association of University Presidents conference.

University leaders from several countries visited SDSU and the University of San Diego and were scheduled to visit CETYS University in Tijuana and Ensenada on Saturday.

On the opening day, CETYS University President Fernando Leon-Garcia said educators are staying positive in light of the possibility that they soon may have to find room for an unknown number of students heading across the border.

Still, he said, they are not moving ahead blindly. CETYS and other universities are working with politicians to streamline the onerous process of transferring units from American schools and also studying how to help those students with financing, he said.

Hernandez said his association has been asking higher education institutions how much room they have in different disciplines as a way of preparing for a wave of new students.

On the U.S. side of the border, colleges and universities have reported many students are anxious about possible changes to immigration laws and DACA  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals  a federal act that allows young people who are brought to the country illegally as minors to stay if they are in school and keep out of trouble.

Students also could be affected by changes to the California Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which allows children brought to the U.S. as minors without proper visas or immigration documents to apply for student aid if they have attended school on a regular basis.

Trump already has signed executive orders aimed at cracking down on unauthorized immigration and blocked refugees from certain countries from entering the U.S. But so far there has been no indication about when or if he will take actions affecting immigrant students.

An aerial photo of U.S. and Mexico border at the San Ysidro port of entry. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune)

We dont know what he may do next, Guerra-Botrello said.

There also is no way of knowing how many students would continue their education in Mexico if they do have to leave, but Guerra-Botrello said the Federation of Private Institutions of Higher Education already is preparing for them.

To streamline the process, he said a new law passed Wednesday allows private schools to review and enroll students, steps that in the past were done by government officials. The change gives private universities, which serve about 20 percent of Mexican students, the same enrollment power as public schools, he said.

Mexico Sen. Victor Hermosillo, a member of the federal governments Education Commission, said politicians south of the border are working to create a law within 30 days to protect Mexican students who may be deported from the United States.

Specifically, he said the law would guarantee those students have the same rights as all Mexico citizens to attend schools in the country for free.

Hermosillo estimated there may be 100,000 unauthorized immigrant students from Mexico in American schools from kindergarten through college.

We have to answer how are we going to find a place for them in our schools, he said.

Hermosillo, Leon-Garcia and other Mexican officials also plan to meet with California legislators Feb.15 to discuss education, immigration and other border issues.

While state officials may be helpless to stop federal orders regarding immigration, Hermosillo said the meetings could lead to both sides working together to make any transition facing students run smoothly.

He also hopes the meetings will create better relations between the two countries.

Were going to have more of a relationship with the United States, he said. There is a lot of misunderstanding.

Hernandez, whose association represents 100 of the top public and private institutions and research centers in Mexico, said he worries that deportations or other changes in immigration laws could stall the improved relations he has seen building between educators in the two countries over the past three years.

I think its a shame, because there are so many things to do, he said. We need to know more from each other and understand from each other.

Both Hermosillo and Hernandez said the U.S. needs to have a better understanding of the contribution of Mexican immigrants.

There are 300,000 Mexicans with graduate degrees working in the U.S., he said. Mexico is not necessarily sending bad people. Theyre sending good people.

Despite the concerns, Leon-Garcia said relations between schools on both sides of the border will remain solid.

The communications and collaboration between universities are so strong that it would be very difficult for walls to stop them, he said.

.Leon-Garcia said collaborations include professors from SDSU teaching in at CETYS and engineering students at UC San Diego interning at a high-end electronics firm in Mexicali.

But changes on the border, whether a wall or increased security, could have consequences, he said.

About 350 students in the U.S. regularly cross the border to classes at CETYS in Tijuana and Mexicali, he said. Border waits already are long, and if they become even longer, Leon-Garcia said it might discourage students from attending the school.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
The superintendent of Cajon Valley Union School District and two other district representatives went to Washington last week to lobby for more federal funding to handle the influx of refugee students.

Superintendent David Miyashiro, Cajon Valley board member Tamara Otero, and Eyal Bergman, the districts family and community engagement officer, trekked to the nations Capitol Jan. 28 to meet with elected officials to help the hundreds of students new to the district who are from countries in peril.

The trio met with Congresswoman Susan Davis, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Kamala Harris and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as well as representatives from Congressman Duncan Hunters office.

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Miyashiro told them Cajon Valley has received 700 newcomers, many of those refugee students, in the last 12 to 18 months at the districts 26 schools. They have come from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Somalia.

Funding the district gets is based on last years attendance figures, and it doesnt include extra to cover the recent arrivals.

Miyashiro said the student population of Cajon Valley is 17,500. He estimates that the districts financial need for each new student annually is between $8,500 and $10,000.

The school representatives explained that most of the new students havent gotten any formal education in their home languages  Arabic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Kurdish, Farsi and Pashto -- much less in English.

These students have also witnessed or been victims of trauma, Miyashiro said. He hopes the district will be able to hire some mental health professionals and social workers to help the children and their families with their emotional needs.

Miyashiro said addition stress has come from the recent immigration ban issued by the Trump Administration. Family members in targeted countries may not be allowed to join those who have already relocated to El Cajon.

The district is seeking help through Every Student Succeeds Act Impact Aid and other federal programs, similar to funding Congress provided for unaccompanied minors who came to the U.S. from Central America in 2015.
A 16-year-old girl from San Diego was among those rescued during a recent two-day anti-human trafficking operation that resulted in hundreds of arrests across the state.

The high school student is one of an estimated 8,000 to 11,000 girls and young women who fall victim to sex trafficking each year in San Diego alone.

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The issue has become so pressing that schools now regularly educate teachers  and sometimes students  about the problem. The idea is to inform educators, teenagers and parents about the disturbing trend, arming them with information  including how to spot warning signs on campus and at home.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Summer Stephan, who leads a multi-agency task force on human trafficking in San Diego County, has trained 130 school nurses throughout the region.

There is almost a disbelief that this is really happening in our high schools, Stephan said. These are kids, and they are trying to keep it a secret. It is upon us adults to recognize it and stop it because this is really happening.

A three-year study by the University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University released in 2015 found that 8,830 to 11,773 victims  mostly underage girls  are trafficked in San Diego County each year. Some of the girls are from the region, others are brought here from other parts of the state. Largely operated by gangs, the industry is estimated to have generated $810 million in 2013, researchers found.

In 20 San Diego County high schools that participated in the study, all confirmed that recruitment was happening with their students. Of those schools, 18 of them reported documented cases of sex trafficking victimization. About 140 staff members from the 20 high schools identified 81 reported victims along with an additional 54 suspected victims over five years. They also identified 17 recruiters targeting their campuses.

The Grossmont Union High School District has trained all its educators on how to recognize signs that students are involved in prostitution. The district had been working on the issue even before a 2014 federal investigation revealed students from the district were among 100 recruited into prostitution on school campuses by gang members.

San Diego High School will pilot a program for the San Diego Unified School District this year. Crawford High School plans to train staff and student leaders in May. The San Diego County Office of Education offers workshops for educators throughout the region.

Young teenagers (age 15 is the average age of entry) are often the targets, with runaways and those from broken families especially vulnerable. Gang members seek them out at school and in social media, posing as boyfriends. In reality, these Romeos seek to coerce the girls  sometimes with gifts and other times with violence  into prostitution and to use them to recruit others.

In one recent case, a 15-year-old girl from San Diego County was contacted 5,000 times on social media from a gang member pretending to woo her. The girl finally agreed to meet him wound up as a prostitute, Stephan said.

With the younger victims, they (johns) use more violence and are less likely to use condoms, she said. These girls become trapped by their own shame. They feel dirty and that no one wants them. Trafficker tell them they will be there boyfriend when no one else wants a prostitute for a girlfriend.

Californias mandatory reporting law changed a year ago to include sex trafficking. That means that if teachers or other professionals sees signs or reports that a minor is involved in sex trafficking, they are obligated to report it.

Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, will reintroduce legislation this year to give schools federal funds to train staff. The bill, which she said has bipartisan support, would authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to school districts to establish programs to identify human trafficking, or expand existing programs.

There are there are funds to train healthcare workers, but not for teachers who spend so much time with our children, Davis said. We dont want resources to be taken away from other (education) issues. We want to support schools so they can get involved.

San Diego High Principal Carmen Garcia said she raised a few eye brows when she first proposed a campus-wide campaign targeting gang and sex trafficking issues last year.

I wasnt going to put my head in the sand when it comes to this issue, Garcia said. We have to address it head on.

Garcia first assembled a focus group of about 25 students from all grade levels last year to bring awareness and to elicit from them steps to implement a program this school year.

Knowing what to look for is key.

Often, sex trafficking victims fall asleep in class after a late night working. Sometimes, they miss school on Mondays or Fridays. Other potential indicators: use of a second cell phone to communicate with a pimp; new tattoos, expensive clothing or purses. Some have older boyfriends, who pick them up after school for sex work.

Stephan of the district attorneys office got a call this week from the father of a high school student in San Diego who had been trained to spot the signs of sex trafficking. The mans daughter became concerned about a classmate when multiple hotel key-cards fell from her expensive purse.

Richard Lawrence, principal of Crawford High School in City Heights, said his students have been targeted by sex traffickers.

Here we are off El Cajon Boulevard. Our students are vulnerable, said Lawrence, who plans to start a training and awareness program on campus in the spring.

People prey on our beautiful students  it should not happen, he said. We need to know the warning signs, but we also have to get to know our students better so we recognize when something is out of the ordinary.

Grossmont is known both for the well-publicized sex trafficking case, but also for the national work its down to combat the problem.

Grossmont developed a guidebook for parents and educators with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and has helped the San Diego County Office of Education train districts throughout the region how to address the uncomfortable topic.

Jenee Littrell, the districts former director of guidance and wellness, headed the U.S. Department of Educations first report on the topic. She now works at the San Mateo County Office of Education.

This is not solely on the shoulder of schools, but schools have a huge responsibility and opportunity to keep our young people safe, she said. If you really have a safe learning environment with caring adults, young people are more likely to turn to that trusted adult and confide.

Littrell believes educating teachers and other school employees about sex trafficking is crucial. When it comes to including students in the conversation, she urges caution because it could trigger something in students with histories of sexual abuse.

maureen.magee@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @MaureenMagee
Dying willows in Escondido Creek appear to be victims of fungus, rather than a beetle infestation, the Escondido Creek Conservancy announced on its website Wednesday.

The problem began over the summer, when the conservancy learned that trees in Elfin Forest were wilting and dying, Executive Director Ann Van Leer said. Withered branches lined the creek bed, and blackened leaves drooped from nearby trees.

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Conservancy officials temporarily closed trails in the area in August, and enlisted Riverside plant pathologist Akif Eskalen to study the die-off, hoping to pinpoint the cause.

After testing samples from the willows, he found four different types of fungus that can attack trees.

Conservancy officials plan to take a wait and see approach to the problem, monitoring whether the infestation worsens in the spring and discouraging hikers and visitors from moving any wood from the area.

These fungi are known to cause wood canker and dieback on a wide variety host trees worldwide, Eskalen wrote in a report to the conservancy. They are also known to produce overwintering structures where they release spores the following spring to reinfect its host plant and possibly spread to others.

Eskalen included a photo of a tree from the watershed, showing a grayish patch of fungal spores on tree and the damaged wood tissue beneath. And he sent photos of willows with dried out, dying branches, indicating that the infestation is still ongoing and could continue in the spring. Officials warn that transporting wood could also spread pests between woodland areas.

The collapse of willow groves can devastate habitat for the least Bells vireo, an endangered songbird that lives along streams, and the stands of dead wood could pose fire hazards to surrounding communities.

Conservancy officials were relieved that Eskalen didnt find any shot-hole borer beetles, which can also ravage willows, along with oaks and sycamores.

The Kuroshio Shot Hole Borer has infested parts of coastal San Diego, according to the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The insect, an invasive species from Taiwan and Okinawa, decimated the Tijuana River Valley, where hundreds of thousands of denuded tree trunks stand in the place of formerly lush streamside habitat.

Eskalen will continue to monitor the creek and study beetle infestations in San Diego County. Conservancy officials will also track the trees condition in the coming months.

Well be keeping a close watch come spring time as the trees start to leaf out and again when it warms up in summer, Executive Director Ann Van Leer said in an e-mail. We will re-emphasize to folks to not move cuttings.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @deborahsbrennan
An East County anesthesiologist has sued Sharp Grossmont Hospital, alleging managers retaliated against him and eventually forced him to resign after he complained about problems that he says ranged from understaffing to video cameras in operating rooms.

Dr. Patrick Sullivan, who worked in the La Mesa hospitals Womens Health Center from 1994 to 2016, recently filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court that accuses Sharp of ignoring his concerns about patient safety.

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I have documented these instances multiple times in emails to the administration. I think it would be hard for them to deny, Sullivan said.

Scott Evans, Grossmonts chief executive, denied the allegations in an email Thursday to the hospitals governing board and medical staff.

Sharp Grossmont Hospital did not retaliate against Dr. Sullivan because of the concerns he raised, Evans wrote, noting that the physicians departure was voluntarily.

While the doctor said he did resign, he alleges harassing behavior  such as accusing him of poor patient care and spreading false rumors that he inappropriately touched a nurse  forced him to quit. Employers are forbidden from using intolerable work conditions to make their employees leave the workplace under a legal concept called constructive termination.

The 48-page suit makes it clear that Sullivan has never been shy about pushing back against hospital policies, mentioning several former colleagues by name in association with behaviors or he says were dangerous or misguided. The installation of Pyxis drug-dispensing machines in 2011 was a major flash point. The suit says Sullivan and others in the department resisted installation of these machines, which are designed to more tightly control access to powerful painkillers, on grounds that they could make access to those drugs slower in emergency situations.

A year later, Sharp Grossmont conducted video surveillance in its womens center operating rooms, attempting to catch health care workers pilfering the anesthetic medication Propofol. The state medical board eventually accused one Sharp doctor of diverting medication, but ultimately exonerated the physician after a formal hearing. The events were detailed in 2016 coverage by inewsource, and Sharp now faces two lawsuits from women whose procedures were recorded without their knowledge during the surveillance operation.

In his suit, Sullivan notes that new computer monitors recently installed in the womens center operating rooms have built-in video cameras. Sharp, in its statement, said the cameras are a standard feature and are not enabled.

Software was never installed on those laptops to activate the cameras. No surveillance occurred, the statement said.

Lawrance Bohm, Sullivans attorney, said he will test that statement.

We will get a court order. We will not just accept their word for it. This is going to be forensically evaluated, Bohm said.

The suit also alleges other safety problems at Grossmont which includes under-stocking some medication carts in the womens center causing physicians to run out of supplies in the middle of the night. Sullivan also alleges that he and others observed inadequate nursing resources that caused it to take longer to get rooms ready for new patients, and led to the cancellation of labor inductions and a full-term pregnancy death because of a missed diagnosis.

No specific details of these incidents are included in the suit, and Bohm said thats because Sullivan has a duty to protect patients privacy. Sullivan said he did not file a patient harm complaint with the California Department of Public Health about any of his concerns. He said he was worried that doing so would subject him to retaliation from hospital leadership.

Even though complaints to these oversight bodies are technically anonymous, the health care system can usually figure out who it was who reported them, Sullivan said.

Sharp says it will formally respond to all of the lawsuits claims in court.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
President Trump grappled Saturday with the first major setback to his young administration, appearing to question the constitutional checks on his power after a judges order reopened the flow of travelers from seven mostly Muslim nations covered by his controversial travel ban.

The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that it had suspended any and all actions related to Trumps executive action after federal Judge James Robart issued a temporary restraining order, effective nationwide, in response to a lawsuit filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota. The suit argued that the presidents moves had amounted to religious discrimination against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

On Saturday night, the Justice Department said it would appeal the order by Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush who is now senior judge of the U.S. District for the Western District of Washington.

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Early Sunday, the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied a request to immediately reinstate Trumps travel ban, asking both sides to file arguments by Monday.

The issue may eventually end up at the Supreme Court. Several other federal courts have also issued emergency stays against portions of the executive order as dozens of lawsuits proceed against it.

In response to Robarts restraining order, the State Department, which had provisionally revoked 60,000 visas since the president signed his Jan. 27 order, said Saturday that it had started reaccepting those visas from people in the countries affected.

Some travelers in countries affected by the suspension already were being allowed to board planes headed to the U.S., as foreign airlines started telling passengers Saturday that the immigration ban had been lifted. Many rushed to catch flights, worried that the window to travel might soon be closed again by courts.

At the airport in Boston, crowds had gathered at international arrivals to welcome those from the restricted countries. They held signs saying, Refugees are welcome in the U.S.A, Christians build bridges, not walls and I am home and so are you.

We had more than 40 mostly Iranian nationals land and clear customs today. Weve had Tunisians and Syrians too, all flying from Germany on Lufthansa, said Kerry Doyle, an attorney with the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. who was posted at the airport.

Many visa holders had changed their plans to fly to Massachusetts even if it wasnt their final destination because of an earlier Boston federal judges temporary order against Trumps ban that was being applied locally when the national order came down from Seattle.

Its a whole different feeling at the airport than last week, Doyle said.

Trumps executive order, which also includes a temporary ban on most refugee admissions and indefinitely for Syrians, was one of several the president has signed since taking office as part of a White House strategy designed to begin implementing his governing vision with maximum impact.

But the torrid pace of action sparked an equally fierce public response that continued Saturday, including protests in Los Angeles and other cities. One march neared the gates of the Palm Beach, Fla., estate being branded as the Winter White House where Trump was spending the third weekend of his presidency.

Trump and his advisors had largely downplayed the confusion his order sparked and insisted it was on solid legal ground, even though on Monday he dismissed the acting attorney general who had told Justice Department attorneys to cease defending it in court.

Trump began Saturday with a series of tweets against Robart in which he blasted the so-called judge for a ridiculous opinion.

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.? he asked later in another Twitter message.

Activists and state officials opposed to Trumps order celebrated. The law is a powerful thing. It has the ability to hold everyone accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States, Washington state Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson said at a news conference after the court decision.

Democrats seized on Trumps criticism of the judge as an opening in the emerging Senate confirmation battle over the presidents Supreme Court nominee.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said Trumps attack shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesnt always bend to his wishes.

With every outburst, Schumer said, Trump just raises the bar even higher for federal Judge Neil Gorsuchs nomination.

Democrats were quick to remind that this was not the first time Trump has singled out a judge, comparing it to his attacks during the campaign on American-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel of San Diego, who Trump said could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage.

Now he is attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge  this one appointed by a Republican president and confirmed by a Republican Senate  for having the audacity to do his job and apply the rule of the law, said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The presidents hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous.

Trumps Republican allies in Congress remained largely silent over the courts stay, and GOP leaders declined to respond to the presidents attacks on the judge.

Congressional leaders have been furious after being cut out of the White Houses planning and execution of the travel ban, and they continued Saturday scrambling to repair the chaotic rollout. Many lawmakers have been fielding frantic requests from constituents calling their offices and pleading for help for family members, students and others ensnared in the travel ban.

Some of the confusion surrounding Trumps early moves has been attributed to a tight circle of decision-making in the White House, centered around senior policy advisor Stephen Miller and chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

But James Carafano, who oversaw national security planning during Trumps transition, described a more deliberate approach that flowed from Trumps own view of a security threat.

People are kind of in shock and awe of the phenomenon so theyre running around coming up for explanations for it, said Carafano, a national security and foreign policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The notion that somehow they could have waited and done more vetting and talked to more people  and what? It would have been less controversial? Give me a break.

They understood there was going to be some friction, but those things could be worked through, he said. And as a matter of fact, youve seen them working through this pretty quickly.

After civil rights groups filed lawsuits on behalf of those who had green cards designating them as permanent legal residents, the Trump administration clarified that green-card holders would be exempt from the travel ban. Government officials also reversed a prior position this week and said that dual citizens who held citizenship from one nation that was not on the restricted list would be exempt, even if they also were citizens of a country on the list.

Times staff writer Memoli reported from West Palm Beach, Fla., Kaleem from Los Angeles and Mascaro from Washington. Times staff writers Shashank Bengali in Mumbai, India; Tracy Wilkinson in Washington, D.C.; and special correspondents Rick Anderson in Seattle; Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran, Iran; and Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.

ALSO

L.A. city attorney demands list of people detained at LAX under Trumps travel order

Breathtaking violation of rights: L.A. city attorney barred from seeing detainees at LAX

Iranian man barred from entering U.S. lands at LAX; first to return after court order

UPDATES:

Feb. 4, 1:30 a.m.: This article was updated after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reinstate Trumps ban.

4:55 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about the Justice Departments plans to appeal.

4:00 p.m.: This article was updated with more background.

1:40 p.m.: This article was updated with information about additional arrivals of travelers from countries subject to the earlier ban, and an assessment of the next legal steps.

11:40 a.m.: This article was updated with an interview with a Syrian whose brother has boarded a flight to the U.S.

10:25 a.m.: This article was updated with a report that travel from Beirut is operating normally.

9:30 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting throughout.

This article was originally published at Feb. 3 7:25 a.m.
Five days into the administration of President Donald Trump, a man fleeing political persecution in Turkey presented himself at the U.S border in San Ysidro  only to be turned away.

Friday, he tried again. This time, he made it through.

The man came back in a group of eight asylum seekers, accompanied by four attorneys. They asserted their rights under international and U.S. law and were taken in.

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There are many ways to enter the U.S.  illegally crossing the border, working through the normal immigration process, waiting for years in overseas resettlement camps under the official United Nations refugee process.

Asylum seekers take another route. They can present themselves at the border and wait  most often in detention  for the U.S. to decide whether they have credible reason to fear return to their homeland. Their fate under Trumps executive orders turning away refugees and building a border wall has been unclear.

Even under former President Barack Obama, advocates for asylum seekers complained that they were too often shooed away when they pleaded for asylum at the border.

The eight asylum seekers who filed up the walkway of the pedestrian bridge to San Ysidro on Friday were led by Nicole Ramos, an immigration attorney who volunteers in Tijuana and has been escorting asylum seekers to the border for over a year.

Ramos decided last week she needed more legal support, after the first rejection of the man from Turkey. The first time, she said, Customs and Border Protection officers threatened to call Mexican law enforcement to physically remove her from the entrance.

She was further convinced she needed help after seeing the turmoil at U.S. airports from Trumps order banning refugees and other travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the country.

Now I need to bring regular civil rights monitors, Ramos said Friday at the groups meeting place, the Tijuana office of Madres y Familias Deportadas en Accion. It shouldnt be that attorneys should have to accompany asylum seekers. The process should just work.

Ramos was part of the complaint recently sent to the Department of Homeland Security that alleged U.S. border officials were illegally turning away asylum seekers. The complaint said the issue began last summer, and Ramos said it had grown even more difficult to get border officials to accept asylum seekers since the recent presidential election.

When asked about the filed complaint, Customs and Border Protection officials denied the allegations.

The United States has long adhered to international laws and conventions allowing people to seek asylum on grounds that they are being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or other factors, said Carlos Diaz, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. The applicant does not have to specifically request asylum, they simply must express fear of being returned to their country.

Under both international and U.S. law, border officials are required to give those with fear of returning to their home countries an opportunity for an interview with an asylum officer to determine if the asylum seekers have credible fear.

People are generally held in mandatory detention until that interview process is complete. Ramos said that some single parents with children are not held in detention but rather given ankle monitors and have required weekly check-ins with immigration officials. Those who do not pass the interview are deported, and those who pass move on to the next step, presenting their cases to immigration judges in court.

Nobody is trying to game the system, Ramos said. The process itself ferrets out what is a valid asylum claim.

San Diego County courts granted asylum to 59 percent of the cases heard in 2015, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the most recent year with data available. Nationally, the rate was 48 percent.

For Imperial County cases, which are also heard by San Diego judges through video conference, the asylum grant rate was 25 percent. The highest individual grant rate was in New York City, at 84 percent, and the lowest was in Atlanta, at two percent.

Ramos is careful about who she chooses to help, she said. She only escorts those who she believes have legitimate claims to asylum.

Trumps executive order that started work on the border wall included several pieces pertaining to asylum seekers, including assigning asylum officers to immigration detention facilities  as opposed to offices where they now hold credible fear interviews with detainees on remote telephone calls.

Several immigration attorneys said the meaning behind parts of his order and how it will play out for asylum seekers is vague. Even now that the order has been signed and released, they said, they are still waiting to see what happens.

San Diego attorney Maricela Amezola said shes heard rumors about different ways that asylum seekers could be affected, but its a bunch of speculation at this point. She hasnt had a new asylum case since the order, she said.

The order requires detention for those apprehended for violations of immigration law pending the outcome of their removal proceeding.

It also called for new facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border to house detainees, including those seeking asylum.

Denver-based immigration law professor Cesar Cuauhtemoc Garcia Hernandez said this could affect asylum seekers, many of whom are already detained for the duration of their cases under policies from the previous administration, because most of the southern border is made up of rural areas with little access to immigration attorneys.

Winning an asylum case without an attorney is significantly more difficult than with one.

The order instructs the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that asylum law is followed in a manner consistent with the plain language of the law. Garcia Hernandez said he was unsure what that might mean for interpretation of asylum law.

Fridays asylum seekers may be some of the first to find out if and how the process has changed. They came from Colombia, Honduras, Turkey and Mexico. Some fled for fear of political persecution. None wanted to be interviewed by media in fear that it would affect their ability to successfully apply for asylum.

A few of the hopeful asylees had rolling suitcases. A family from Honduras had only a small shoulder bag and a plastic folder of documents.

When they reached a gate where private security officers were checking IDs, the officer on duty recognized Ramos and told others standing behind the gate to get Customs and Border Protection officers.

After several officers assembled on the other side of the gate, one stepped through to take paperwork from Ramos and lead the asylum seekers away. Ramos watched, warily, until the asylum seekers were out of sight. She said it could be several days before she heard from them to know theyd made it to the detention facility.

She and the other attorneys celebrated together with Ramos visibly emotional.

That was what I wanted, she said. We dont want to change the rules. We want the rules to be followed.

Ramos was part of a complaint recently sent to the Department of Homeland Security that alleged U.S. border officials were illegally turning away asylum seekers. The complaint said the issue began last summer, and Ramos said it had grown even more difficult to get border officials to accept asylum seekers since the recent presidential election.

When asked about the filed complaint, Customs and Border Protection officials denied the allegations.

The United States has long adhered to international laws and conventions allowing people to seek asylum on grounds that they are being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or other factors, said Carlos Diaz, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. The applicant does not have to specifically request asylum, they simply must express fear of being returned to their country.

Under both international and U.S. law, border officials are required to give those with fear of returning to their home countries an opportunity for an interview with an asylum officer to determine if the asylum seekers have credible fear.

People are generally held in mandatory detention until that interview process is complete. Ramos said that some single parents with children are not held in detention but rather given ankle monitors and have required weekly check-ins with immigration officials. Those who do not pass the interview are deported, and those who pass move on to the next step, presenting their cases to immigration judges in court.

Nobody is trying to game the system, Ramos said. The process itself ferrets out what is a valid asylum claim.

San Diego County courts granted asylum to 59 percent of the cases heard in 2015, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the most recent year with data available. Nationally, the rate was 48 percent.

For Imperial County cases, which are also heard by San Diego judges through video conference, the asylum grant rate was 25 percent. The highest individual grant rate was in New York City, at 84 percent, and the lowest was in Atlanta, at two percent.

Ramos is careful about who she chooses to help, she said. She only escorts those who she believes have legitimate claims to asylum.

Trumps executive order that started work on the border wall included several pieces pertaining to asylum seekers, including assigning asylum officers to immigration detention facilities  as opposed to offices where they now hold credible fear interviews with detainees on remote telephone calls.

Several immigration attorneys said the meaning behind parts of his order and how it will play out for asylum seekers is vague. Even now that the order has been signed and released, they said, they are still waiting to see what happens.

San Diego attorney Maricela Amezola said shes heard rumors about different ways that asylum seekers could be affected, but its a bunch of speculation at this point. She hasnt had a new asylum case since the order, she said.

The order requires detention for those apprehended for violations of immigration law pending the outcome of their removal proceeding.

It also called for new facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border to house detainees, including those seeking asylum.

Denver-based immigration law professor Cesar Cuauhtemoc Garcia Hernandez said this could affect asylum seekers, many of whom are already detained for the duration of their cases under policies from the previous administration, because most of the southern border is made up of rural areas with little access to immigration attorneys.

Winning an asylum case without an attorney is significantly more difficult than with one.

The order instructs the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that asylum law is followed in a manner consistent with the plain language of the law. Garcia Hernandez said he was unsure what that might mean for interpretation of asylum law.

Fridays asylum seekers may be some of the first to find out if and how the process has changed. They came from Colombia, Honduras, Turkey and Mexico. Some fled for fear of political persecution. None wanted to be interviewed by media in fear that it would affect their ability to successfully apply for asylum.

A few of the hopeful asylees had rolling suitcases. A family from Honduras had only a small shoulder bag and a plastic folder of documents.

When they reached a gate where private security officers were checking IDs, the officer on duty recognized Ramos and told others standing behind the gate to get Customs and Border Protection officers.

After several officers assembled on the other side of the gate, one stepped through to take paperwork from Ramos and lead the asylum seekers away. Ramos watched, warily, until the asylum seekers were out of sight. She said it could be several days before she heard from them to know theyd made it to the detention facility.

She and the other attorneys celebrated together with Ramos visibly emotional.

That was what I wanted, she said. We dont want to change the rules. We want the rules to be followed.

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate
Emily Sifa Ngandu arrived in El Cajon less than three weeks ago. At age 22, the Congo native has spent most of her life in limbo  the past 17 years were in a refugee camp in Uganda  so her euphoria now is unmistakable.

The people here are friendly, she said with a broad smile. They are so loving.

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People who work with refugees speak of a honeymoon period, when everything seems new and exciting. This usually lasts a few months.

For Ngandu, the honeymoon may be over. Ten days after she landed in the U.S., President Donald Trump signed an anti-terrorism executive order suspending refugee admissions while security procedures are reviewed.

As young people, we come to the United States in order to pursue our dreams, said Ngandu, who wants to be a lawyer or a journalist. When we come here and hear that kind of news, it is kind of scary.

Although Trumps order was temporarily halted by a federal judge Friday, it adds to the fear and anxiety refugees have always carried with them to America, along with their hopes and dreams. Will they be able to stay? Can family members join them? If an emergency requires travel back to their homeland, can they get back into the U.S.?

These questions resonate deeply in San Diego County, where refugees have been a part of the community fabric since at least the 1910s, when Baja California residents fled the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. They were followed in the 1920s by Jews escaping European pogroms. World War II brought more refugees, as did Vietnam, and almost every wave of unrest sweeping the globe over the years has brought new arrivals to these shores.

The county took in 3,100 refugees last fiscal year, according to the state Department of Social Services, with the largest groups coming from war-torn Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Annually since 2009, the county has admitted more refugees than any other region in California, which accepts more refugees than any other state.

Trumps executive order, signed Jan. 27, suspends new refugees from anywhere in the world for 120 days, and those from Syria indefinitely. The directive also cuts the number of refugees allowed nationwide this fiscal year by more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000. And it bans for 90 days immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia.

In order to protect Americans, Trump said, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles.

Resettlement agencies say refugees already go through an extensive screening process that thwarts terrorists. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., issued a report in September that said of the 3.25 million refugees who came to America from Jan. 1, 1975, through Dec. 31, 2015  41 years  20 have been convicted of planning or committing an act of terrorism on U.S. soil.

The report calculated the annual odds of someone in the U.S. being killed in a terrorist attack by a foreign-born refugee at 1 in 3.64 billion.

Emily Sifa Ngandu, left, is a refugee from Congo who came to San Diego with her cousin Pendeza Batende. (Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Culture shock

San Diego has become a preferred destination for refugees for the same reason its popular with others: the weather. But another factor is the variety of ethnic communities here, many of them started by earlier escapees.

There are refugees here from everywhere, said Etleva Bejko, director of refugee and immigration services for Jewish Family Service of San Diego. Having that mix creates the feeling that there is going to be a way for you to navigate the new country you are living in.

Navigation begins with one of four federally sanctioned resettlement agencies: Jewish Family Service, the International Rescue Committee, Catholic Charities and the Alliance for African Assistance. They provide everything from toothpaste to apartments.

On a recent weekday morning inside the City Heights offices of the Alliance for African Assistance, a classroom was packed with 30 people from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Kathryn Shade, a case worker, tells them that they can expect a small stipend from the federal government for about eight months.

So after eight months, she asked, will you have a job?

No, one of her Iraqi students replied, looking confused.

No? Shade said, raising an eyebrow.

I am hoping so, the Iraqi man said.

Inshallah, right? Shade said, smiling. Inshallah, God willing.

Having worked with hundreds of refugees, Shade finds that most undergo what she calls the culture shock curve. In the beginning, they are almost giddy with relief about finally reaching America.

But as they struggle to make ends meet in an expensive region and comprehend a new culture, many become anxious or depressed.

These guys want to work right now, Shade said, pointing to two young Middle Eastern men in the front row of the class. But theres not enough opportunity if you dont speak English. You have to learn English like your life depends on it.

Ahmed AL Zaidi took that advice to heart. A survivor of an ISIS attack that left him with a permanent limp, the 39-year-old Iraqi came to El Cajon in April and immediately enrolled in English classes. After 10 months here, I feel I can live in America.

He has a new job as an Amazon delivery driver. A dental laboratory assistant in Iraq, AL Zaidi understands that hell need more education and American credentials if he aspires to a middle-class life in San Diego County. Now, though, the roughly $70 a day he earns driving is enough to pay his expenses.

The divorced father of four misses his children, who remain in Iraq, but hes excited about the future. America saved my life, he said. The United States is free. Free in culture, free in speech, free in education.

Ayan Sheikh-Mohamed, center, laughs about a question over where to find camel milk in San Diego, as she translates the teachers words into Arabic in a class at the Alliance for African Assistance in City Heights for new refugees. (Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune)

War and terrorism

San Diego has been a haven for refugees since at least 1911. Thats when Mexican army units and rebels massed for a battle near Tecate, sending dozens of non-combatants fleeing north.

Refugee camps sprang up in Campo and in the countryside across the border from Tijuana and Tecate. The Red Cross in San Diego led a drive for tents, food and other items. Everything that can be used in the shape of clothing and household goods will be needed, The San Diego Union reported.

When the Mexican Revolution ended, the border region witnessed another wave of refugees, these fleeing religious persecution in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Starting in the 1920s, more and more Jews wanted to get out of Europe because of the bad situation there, said Joellyn Zollman, a historian and guest curator of Celebrate San Diego! The History & Heritage of San Diegos Jewish Community, opening at the San Diego History Center on March 11.

In the 1920s, a lot of Jews came to Tijuana, because they couldnt get into San Diego and cant get into the United States. But the Jewish community in San Diego helped them out, Zollman said.

These European Jews were unable to enter the U.S. because of congressional immigration acts of 1917, 1921 and 1924. After World War II, though, the Truman Doctrine loosened restrictions to take in Holocaust survivors. Once again, foreign turmoil led to national policies with a local impact.

San Diegos Jewish community agreed to resettle up to one refugee family per month, Zollman said. Between 1948 and 1953, about 75 families arrived.

The pattern was set. The president decides on each years quota, taking into account global events and American priorities. In 2002, the year after the 9/11 attacks, refugee admissions fell to under 27,000 nationwide, according to State Department data. In the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, there were 84,995.

One small suitcase

A lot of the infrastructure in place to screen refugees before they come to the U.S. and then assist them when they get here started with the federal Refugee Act of 1980, which has its roots in the chaotic evacuation of thousands of Vietnamese after Saigon fell in 1975.

Camp Pendleton was the first of four tent cities set up in the U.S. to house Vietnamese refugees  the others were in Arkansas, Florida and Pennsylvania  and it happened in a hurry. They basically had 24 hours to get ready for the first wave, said Faye Jonason, the bases museum director.

Refugees landed at the former El Toro air station in Orange County and were bused to Camp Pendleton, where they lived in Quonset huts and tents. Eventually there were eight separate camps and almost 1,000 tents. Areas were set up for meals, washing, clothes-distribution, health care, religious services. Babies were born at the camp. Couples got married, including a double wedding with two brothers.

From April through November 1975, about 50,000 refugees came to the camp, Jonason said, with the peak at any one time about 18,500. Some stayed for only a day until they were placed with sponsor families or relatives; others were there for months.

Thu Nguyen was 10 when she arrived with her five sisters, mother and grandfather. Her father was already in the U.S., studying at Syracuse University in New York. At the camp, all they had was one small suitcase each that they had been allowed to bring from Saigon  enough for two outfits, Nguyen said.

Now an executive with a bank in San Diego, she remembers how cold the Marine base was in the morning. How bewildering it was to be around Americans and realize that not everyone has dark hair and dark eyes. How odd the rice and soy sauce tasted. How worried she was about getting lost because every tent looked the same.

I felt very confused, she said. People spoke a language I didnt understand. I didnt know where we were going to go.

But she felt welcomed, too. The strangers were friendly. There were cartoons and movies, a playground and no school. It was scary, she said, but a little bit fun at the same time.

The family went to New York and was reunited with Nguyens father. His friends there made recordings of childrens songs  On Top of Spaghetti, B-I-N-G-O to help them learn English, and they played them over and over.

Many of the refugees who came through Camp Pendleton stayed in Southern California, settling into Little Saigon neighborhoods in Linda Vista and City Heights and reshaping the regions demographics and culture.

In 1970, the U.S. Census didnt have a separate category for residents of Vietnamese descent. Today, more than 50,500 live in San Diego County.

70 nations a year

Scan the headlines for stories about turmoil abroad  civil war, ethnic cleansing, guerrilla uprisings, dissidents imprisoned or executed. Those countries are generating future waves of refugees.

Its where there are global hot spots, said David Murphy, executive director of the International Rescue Committee in San Diego. Youll start to see refugees coming from those conflicts several years later. Theres a lag because they have to pass through security checks overseas.

In the 1980s, eastern Africa  roiled by invasions, coups, political crackdowns  was a wellspring. First came the Eritreans, then the Somalis and Sudanese. A handful arrived first, followed by hundreds who were reassured that others had paved the way.

But San Diego is a pretty expensive place to live and not a friendly place if you dont have a lot of skills, said Abdi Mohamoud, a Somali refugee who is now the executive director of Horn of Africa, a nonprofit in City Heights. Thousands headed to Minneapolis-St. Paul, taking jobs in meat-packing plants. That area now has the nations largest Somali population, which the U.S. Census Bureau in 2015 reported as 31,233. (San Diego County had 3,534.)

The recession, though, caused some Somalis to reconsider. If Im going to be unemployed, Mohamoud heard them say, why am I also freezing to death?

The 1980s also saw an influx of Central Americans to San Diego. Then in the 90s, the Balkans blew up and we had a number of Bosnians, said the International Rescue Committees Murphy. African countries have had a fairly steady stream, and in the last 10 years its shifted a bit to the Middle East.

More Iraqi refugees have come recently than any other ethnic group, with 1,120 in the last fiscal year and 426 in the first three months of this year, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency. The number of Syrians has risen sharply, from 17 in fiscal 2014 to 788 last year. So far this year, 214 Syrians have been admitted.

In a typical year, Murphy said, San Diego welcomes refugees from 70 nations.

Lost no more

In 2001, the wave of refugees that washed ashore in America carried 4,000 Lost Boys of Sudan, forced from their villages and families by civil war.

Alepho Deng, who lives now in El Cajon, was one of them. He and his brother and cousin were part of the Dinka tribe, farming and raising cows and goats. To escape the fighting, to avoid being conscripted, they spent about four years walking with 20,000 other boys  most younger than 10  to safety in Ethiopia.

It was a journey of 1,000 miles, and more than half of them died  from starvation, thirst, wild animals, drowning, bullets in the crossfire of war.

At the refugee camp, Deng wondered where he might wind up. He thought back to a time before the civil war, when he was walking with his father and he noticed white streaks in the sky.

There are these people, theyre called Americans, and they have these birds in the air, his father told him.

Deng remembered thinking, These must be superior beings to live in the air.

When he arrived in San Diego, his amazement continued. He was given a place to live and food. Wow, he thought, everything is free. It took him about a year to see what America is really like, that its entirely dependent on you to make your life what you want it to be.

He and his brother and cousin wrote a memoir about their ordeal in Sudan, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, with San Diego author Judy Bernstein. Deng and Bernstein have a contract to write a sequel, about his resettlement here.

I fled my country not because I wanted to, but because I had to if I wanted a peaceful life, a normal life, Deng said. He still feels safe here, even after Trumps executive order, especially when he compares it with what he went through to escape Sudan.

When people start knocking on my door with a gun, he said, that will be a problem.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
Public defenders representing Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman presented a litany of challenges to the governments 17-count indictment on Friday, arguing that hes being held in overly restrictive conditions and that his extradition from Mexico may have been illegal.

Guzman, wearing a dark navy jumpsuit, stayed silent and still as the attorneys spoke, occasionally conferring with an interpreter.

He has pleaded not guilty to a wide swath of charges, including drug trafficking, conspiracy and murder. He is currently allowed a single hourlong exercise break a day and can only visit with a select team of defense attorneys.

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We arent even allowed to give Mr. Guzman a glass of water, defense attorney Michelle Gelernt told the court. Even Guzmans wife is unable to visit him  she saw him for the first time since his extradition in court on Friday, Gelernt said.

Judge Brian M. Cogan ruled that the famously elusive Guzman would continue to be kept under tight security at the discretion of law enforcement officials.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, talks with reporters as she leaves Brooklyn federal court following her husbands court appearance, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017 in New York. (Elizabeth Williams / AP)

This may put defense counsel under burdens that are somewhat unusual, but the defendants public history is somewhat unusual, Cogan said, making reference to Guzmans celebrated prison escapes in Mexico in 2001 and 2015.

At the center of the hearing was an argument by Guzmans defense team challenging the Mexican extradition orders that sent Guzman to the United States in the middle of the night in January on the final evening of the Obama presidency.

The orders, defense attorneys argued, never contained the charges Guzman now faces in New York, which means he could be tried in another jurisdiction, such as Texas or California, or the extradition orders could be found illegal altogether. The attorneys argument was based on speculation, because they hadnt actually seen the orders. On Friday, Cogan ordered that the documents be released to Guzman and his defense team.

I dont care whether Mr. Guzman refuses them and they have to be dropped on the floor, Cogan said, ordering Mexican consulate officials to ensure Guzman and his legal team had access to the paperwork.

But Gelernt later told reporters that Guzman and his lawyers met with Mexican officials after the hearing. She said the officials once again refused to give them the papers without Guzman signing for the documents, which Cogan said Guzman was not required to do.

I cannot imagine any lawyer in this circumstance would allow Mr. Guzman to sign a document that he was not able to read or that we were not able to review and advise him on, Gelernt told reporters.

The circumstances of Guzmans legal representation also came up at the hearing. Prosecutors argued that Guzman had significant assets as a former billionaire drug trafficker and shouldnt have to rely on public defense attorneys in the first place.

Yet defense attorney Michael Schneider told reporters that Guzman was in no position to hire an attorney for himself.

We think its ridiculous that the government expects Mr. Guzman to choose a counsel when he is locked up 23 hours per day. If they want him to hire a lawyer, we believe he needs to be able to speak with his family and confer with them about his wishes for counsel.

Cogan allowed Guzman to retain his public defense team to get things moving in the run-up to trial, but said he would revisit the issue as needed.

Guzman is being held in Manhattans Metropolitan Correctional Center, which has been nicknamed the Guantanamo of New York for its isolated cells and foreboding atmosphere.

For court appearances, he is shuttled into Brooklyn via a convoy of law enforcement vehicles which often snarls morning traffic. On Friday, his motorcade was accompanied by police helicopters overhead.

In a hearing earlier in the week without Guzman in attendance, Cogan ordered Guzman to appear in person Friday rather than by videoconference, agreeing with defense attorneys that he needed to be present throughout his trial.

But the security precautions havent stopped inmates in other facilities, awed by El Chapos legendary status, from pledging their loyalty to him and offering their help to set him free. A group of prisoners in a private prison in California even released a video swearing their allegiance to Guzman.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego County proclaimed states of emergency on Friday because of Januarys major rainstorms.

If the Mayors proclamation is approved by the City Council on Tuesday, the decree will make San Diego eligible for state funds to pay 75 percent of the costs of certain storm-related damages and activities.

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The funds would be provided through the California Disaster Assistance Act.

San Diego County said in a news release that the money could used to repair roads, infrastructure, and emergency services. The cost of the weather-related damage is still being calculated, but its not expected to be high enough to qualify people and businesses for state or federal assistance.

The county said roads were damaged and need to be repaired, and that debris needed to be removed.

Last months series of rainstorms generated 60 mph winds and caused power outages, toppled trees and created flash floods. Emergency crews had to respond to debris and structure damages, and and made water rescues in low-lying areas. There was just over three inches of rain at San Diego International Airport in January. The Oceanside Marina received 6.7 inches.

On Jan. 23 Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency across nearly all of California. His decision orders state government to request help from the Federal Highway Administrations Emergency Relief Program. He said the proclamations were needed to respond from winter storm that caused floods, mudslides, erosion, and debris damage to roads and highways.

Chula Vista, Poway and National City also declared emergencies.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
This weeks Back Story features reporter Jeff McDonald, who has been following issues related to the 2012 failure of the San Onofre nuclear plant north of Oceanside. This past week marked five years since the radiation leak and shutdown.

Q. Whats your background as a journalist?

A. I bounced around four or five newspapers before landing at the Union-Tribune in the late 1990s and I never forget this work is a terrific honor  and responsibility. Over the years, Ive covered everything from cops and robbers to elected officials at every level. Somehow, Im still surprised to uncover outright criminality or dishonesty.

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 5 dramas still playing out 5 years after San Onofre shutdown

Q. Whats the mission of the watchdog team?

A. The U-T Watchdog team strives to uphold the public trust, regularly, and that means asking difficult questions of powerful people. Our mission is to arm readers with facts and information so they can better participate in this unique and continuing democratic experiment.

Q. Where do you see the San Onofre story fitting into that?

A.The San Onofre story has all the elements of great accountability journalism  alleged corruption, backdoor deal-making, multibillion-dollar decisions and, of course, the ongoing safety of the 8 million-plus people who live within 50 miles of the failed nuclear plant.

Q. Do you think anything will come of the criminal investigation into the utilities commission, or has the trail basically gone cold at this point?

A.Two years after the Union-Tribune exposed the infamous RSG notes  the deal points sketched out between then-commission President Michael Peevey and an Edison executive at a secret meeting in Warsaw, Poland  seems like a long time to evaluate potential smoking-gun evidence of white-collar crime. But theres a new California attorney general looking at the case now and San Onofre keeps making news, so my best answer is maybe. I do suspect that any decision to file charges will be more the product of political courage than basic evidence.

Q. Do you think the $4.7 billion settlement deal dividing costs from the plants failure will become more favorable to ratepayers through the process the utilities commission has set up to reconsider it?

A. I expect it will be. Both regulators and utility executives now know the process was the subject of undisclosed ex parte communications like the one in Warsaw. Edison was fined nearly $17 million for violations.and the commission ordered a new round of settlement talks that include several groups that were excluded from the original negotiations. Perhaps even more telling is the interest of federal judges, who agreed to hear an appeal in a case alleging the deal was fixed from the outset. The interest of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may prove to be a strong incentive for utilities to modify the deal in favor of ratepayers.

Q. The utilities commission process is very bureaucratic, how do you sort it all out?

A. I dont pretend to have sorted it all out. This is an incredibly arcane and complicated regulatory process  the existence of which may benefit utilities with entire staffs to maneuver through it. I have learned a great deal, but I am still learning. The trick is to make it interesting to readers and explain why they should care, and they should care because the decisions cost them money. Utility rates in California  and San Diego in particular  are among the highest in the country.

Q. Do you get a sense that readers are still paying attention to this issue, even though five years have gone by?

A. Yes and no. I hear from readers after almost every story, with most of them thanking me for continuing to report these issues. That said, I do think the general public made up its mind on this story some time ago, and many of them feel let down by regulators and elected officials who put utility interests ahead of theirs.

Q. Of the many storylines still playing out about San Onofre, which one do you think will be the most important this year?

A. The decommissioning angle is not going away. Questions over how to manage tons of radioactive waste leftover from decades of operating a nuclear power plant will confront residents and public officials for years to come. People are right to wonder if it is safe to store 3.6 million pounds of spent fuel on the San Diego County coast, where the canisters are subject to earthquakes, saltwater intrusion, leaks and decay. Theres something very daunting about the prospect of such dangerous material being buried within a few dozen miles of millions of peoples homes.

Q. What about 50 or 100 years from now?

A. At the end of the day, this is a problem for the U.S. Government, which years ago pledged to create a permanent home for nuclear waste but has not delivered. Hopefully, the brightest minds in science, engineering and public service will develop  and implement  a solution that secures the materials for many generations to come.

Q. What else are you focusing on, as an investigative reporter?

A. Im always hunting for the next case of misspent public trust and working to better arm people with information they need to choose their representatives  and to hold them to account. And I always urge people to call or email me with tips on issues they think might benefit from a healthy public discourse.

Jeff McDonald can be reached at 619-293-1708 or jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com.

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

Follow me at @RickyWhy

ricky.young@sduniontribune.com
Before the Cedar fire in 2003, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. closely monitored the Santa Ana winds, hot dry temperatures and other conditions fueling what emergency officials feared could be a runaway wildfire.

SDG&E activated an emergency desk to keep tabs on fast-moving developments. Then the utility opened an emergency operations center to respond to other worrisome trends.

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The preparation and response to the Cedar fire helped SDG&E recover more than $40 million in costs related to what proved to be the worst wildfire in California history.

But according to recent testimony from a senior SDG&E executive, the utility did not employ the same strategy four years later, when a spate of powerline-sparked wildfires again ravaged San Diego County.

Chief Administrative Officer Lee Schavrien said he had no knowledge of the utility opening an emergency operations center in response to the fire threat in October 2007. He also said the utility could not have anticipated the fires that fall.

We didnt  could not have known of the magnitude of the winds and the weather and the conditions that spread the fire and the resource constraints that our county firefighting services had, Schavrien said.

The testimony was presented as part of a California Public Utilities Commission proceeding called to decide whether SDG&E can charge its customers hundreds of millions of dollars for costs leftover from the Witch, Guejito and Rice fires.

The commission held five days of evidentiary hearings in San Francisco related to the application.

Transcripts obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune show SDG&E likened the fires to a natural disaster, like a hurricane or tornado, even though two state investigations found that utility equipment ignited the fires.

Schavrien acknowledged the company did not conduct an internal investigation into what started the fires. Instead, he cited weather conditions and said the city and county of San Diego could have maintained better-funded, better-performing fire agencies.

Santa Ana winds, weather, firefighting resources, Schavrien answered when asked to explain how the fires were like natural disasters.

The evidentiary hearings are the latest step in SDG&Es attempt to charge ratepayers  thousands of whom are fire victims  $379 million to cover company expenses not paid by insurers or other companies involved in the wildfires.

Unlike two public hearings held in Escondido three weeks ago, the San Francisco hearings provided consumer advocates an opportunity to cross-examine utility officials under oath.

It is unusual that the evidentiary hearings would stretch past a week. By comparison, the same proceeding in a $4.7 billion case regarding the the San Onofre nuclear plant failure was limited to three hours.

In testimony and public statements, SDG&E said the request to pass wildfire costs to customers is appropriate.

SDG&E is not held responsible for the 2007 fires simply because our facilities were involved, spokeswoman Colleen Windsor wrote in response to questions.

SDG&E is entitled to show that it acted as a prudent utility with respect to the operation and maintenance of its system based upon what we knew at the time, she added. And thats what we are demonstrating in hearings.

Windsor said the utility does not blame San Diego city or county for the 2007 fires and said the company took steps after the 2003 fires to reduce future threats.

The 2003 Cedar fire ignition did not involve power lines, she wrote. Notwithstanding this, SDG&E continued to enhance its vegetation-management program and other practices.

The utility has never admitted liability for the Witch, Guejito and Rice fires, but has not disputed its equipment was involved.

During testimony, the utilities commissions Office of Ratepayer Advocates presented a series of emails between SDG&E lawyer David Smith and Frank Lindh, the regulators top lawyer, into evidence. The two lawyers were discussing fire-preparedness in the aftermath of the 2007 fires.

It is going to be very bad in San Diego, and I know once again it is all caused by our own conduct, Smith wrote to Lindh in 2008. We have only ourselves to blame.

SDG&E executives testified that they were responsive to wildfire investigators.

I believe that we fully cooperated with the commission, said David Geier, who is in charge of transmission at SDG&E. We fully cooperated with the Cal Fire and all the other parties with these fires.

Cal Fire and utilities commission investigations faulted SDG&E for failing to trim vegetation near the power lines that started the fires. The commission accepted a $14.75 million payment to settle the investigation.

Michael Aguirre, who sued SDG&E on behalf of San Diego when he served as city attorney in 2008, asked Schavrien if anyone at the utility had been disciplined for violations that led to the fires.

I am not aware of anyone, said Schavrien, who also testified that no executive bonuses were lowered as a result of the fires.

Windsor defended the decision not to discipline anyone for the violations that led to the fires and the subsequent executive bonuses.

There were no errors in the design or maintenance of the facilities implicated in the ignitions, she wrote.

In 2012, SDG&E agreed to pay the city of San Diego $27 million to settle the lawsuit Aguirre filed as city attorney. San Diego County accepted $24.5 million to resolve a similar complaint.

A decision on the $379 million rate increase to cover fire costs is expected later this year.

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
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.  Donald Trump, Jan. 20, 2017

In theory I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly.  Donald Trump, Nov. 22, 2016

We hire presidents to advance the interests of their employers, we the people. President Donald Trump has created a situation in which even people of good faith might ask, Exactly whom, sir, do you work for? Regrettably, the president has not yet unequivocally answered this question in the only way possible: by building a big, beautiful wall between his public office and his private wealth.

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Will President Trump work, as his oath requires, to the best of my ability for the national good (which, given the job description, would seem to require a full-time, level of commitment)? When push comes to shove, will he prioritize the public interest over his private wealth, making domestic policies without an eye toward his personal bottom line, conducting foreign policy without a nod toward possible retaliation against his own assets?

Given the way hes handled the disposition of his wealth to date, we simply cannot be sure. This tumor of doubt, exacerbated by the realities of his both losing the popular vote and now having the historically lowest approval ratings  could metastasize into a true cancer on the presidency producing political paralysis, crisis or even impeachment.

Related: Ethics: Trump already sees himself above law

To reassure we the people that they work only for us, modern presidents from LBJ to Obama placed their assets into some form of a blind trust: their investments were liquidated and reinvested and managed by a fiduciary agent with whom they had no immediate connection so they would not know directly how their public actions affected their private portfolios.

True, presidents are not (shame on us for tolerating it) bound by the same conflict of interest and ethics rules as are any other federal official. But modern presidents have at least made good-faith efforts to live up to the spirit of these laws. Mr. Trump has, as yet, not been willing to do so.

True, his case is unique. His personal fortune, tied up in over 500 companies operating in at least 25 countries with an asset value estimated in the low billions (though a net value minus debt still at this point unknown) is four times larger than that of any other president. This understandably presented him with complexities in clearing a high bar of separating of wealth and duty. Liquidating all his companies assets and placing them in a blind trust is problematic. A large portion of the value of his holdings (up to half or more) is the Trump brand itself. If he sells his D.C. hotel, its just another luxury hotel  a gilded Marriott.

But the steps Mr. Trump has taken short of doing so are, according to the director of the Office of Government Ethics, wholly inadequate. He promised hes consolidated his companies into a single trust over which hell have no control or knowledge. Hes ruled out any new foreign investments to eliminate foreign influence. But the wall hes built between himself and the trust is thinner than blood, with his two adult sons in charge. Mr. Trump knows what assets the trust holds (that would be the ones with his name on them).

Existing foreign investments will continue. And Mr. Trump has made it clear that, after his presidential sabbatical, he plans to retake control. So whose interests, exactly, will he be dedicating the next four or more years to exclusively serving?

Donald Trump may never make a decision as president with the intent of directly benefiting his own wealth. He may never take any action solely to protect himself from foreign retaliation. He may work to the best of his abilities for the good of the nation. But in prioritizing his desire to maintain his fortune above his office he may well have already critically wounded his presidency. The American people deserve better.

I think it would be highly unlikely that Mr. Youre Fired Donald Trump would tolerate one of his employees putting their own enrichment before the good of Trumps company. I do not believe we the people should tolerate our employee, the president, doing so.

No one forced you to run for president, Mr. Trump. If you truly want to unite the country and show us you are willing, even at great personal cost, to separate your self-interest from the public good, then sir, respectfully, build that wall.

Luna is a professor of political science at San Diego Mesa College and director of the University of San Diego/San Diego Community College District Institute for Civil Civic Engagement.
As has often been noted, the best test of free speech is what we allow our enemies to say. This week, protesters at UC Berkeley failed that test.

There are, of course, limits to free speech. The Supreme Court has said that you and I cannot yell fire in a crowded theater. But on Wednesday night, what appeared to be students from the UC community and outside agitators attempted to set fire to a theater in order to prevent an incendiary Breitbart News editor from airing controversial views.

By all accounts Milo Yiannopoulos is a bomb thrower. It is almost as if he wishes to trigger violent reactions by advocating fringe right-wing positions.

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It might be said as well of the College Republicans at the University of California, Berkeley that they, too, were cultivating an already tense atmosphere by inviting Mr. Yiannopoulos to campus in the first weeks of the new administration, a time during which President Donald Trump confirmed he is indeed a divider, not a uniter.

Yet free speech is not about whether we like what is being said.

Universities are enlightenment institutions. They are supposed to cultivate the free exchange of ideas, even ideas that most of us will find foolish or even dangerous.

This is so fundamental to the purpose of universities that faculty are still granted tenure, centuries after permanent employment was necessary to protect intellectuals from the wrath of the crown. If someone espouses nonsense, what better way to bring their foolishness to heel than to display it openly on campus, in the light of day?

The use of violence and intimidation to prevent the free exchange of ideas must be vigorously opposed since this is fundamental to the mission of an academic community.

The leadership of the University of California has been vigorous in the last week, penning two statements opposing President Trumps executive order on immigration as contrary to the values we hold dear. It has been less vocal in standing up for core values over which it has direct control.

What about the right of Mr. Yiannopoulos, an invited speaker, to be heard? Such a stance is certainly going to be less popular than encouraging opposition to federal policies on immigration or climate change, over which the UC administration has little direct influence.

It would also require action rather than rhetoric. But it is the right thing to do.

In 1770, a mob attacked British soldiers garrisoning Boston. John Adams, a patriot and later president of the United States, defended the soldiers in court against the charge of murder. This was not a popular move at the time. Many Bostonians hated the British redcoats. But it was a principled stance that proved the character of Mr. Adams.

Today, University of California President Janet Napolitano and other UC officials should defend Mr. Yiannopoulos right to free speech at the University of California, even while hating what he represents and what he is likely to say.

Gartzke is a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego.
Lightly edited comments from our online coverage.

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Regarding Could the Raiders find a home in San Diego? (Jan. 31):

Las Vegas. San Diego, it matters little so long as the Loser Faiders leave the Bay Area and their rude, lewd and violent thug/fans leave with them.

barely0there

Joined Dec. 21, 2016

Regarding Trumps executive orders draw opposing views (Jan. 30):

The great American Melting Pot has disintegrated a long time ago thanks to the left and their identity politics. People use to come to this country legally. While still keeping their customs like marriage ceremonies, foods, dance, religion, etc., they realized they had to adapt to the American culture and learn the language.

They lived in area with people of their same nationality but mixed with other Americans. In other words assimilated. There were no press #1 for Italian, no different language test for their drivers test, etc. Their bills came in one language, English. They received no government financial assistance. The immigrants of today expect us to adapt to their culture and coddle and cater to them. They have their hand out as soon as they arrive.

toddgilbert1

Joined June 15, 2016

Regarding San Diego legalizes recreational pot dispensaries (Jan. 31):

This is hilarious! So NOW, after 20 years of fighting state law, San Diego NOW wants to adhere to the will of the voters?

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.

E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com

Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191.

You can also leave a comment below

You just cant make this up. Oh, wait ... or could it be the potential $30 million in yearly revenue that is waking up San Diegos City Council? Oops!

Political Irony



Joined May 3, 2106

I know it seems more shocking here than other parts of the state. There are a great many people in San Diego who have been very wrong on this issue and owe an apology for wasting our tax money and other resources fighting against positive change.

SirVivor



Joined April 23, 2016

Regarding San Diego home price increases outpace nation and California (Jan. 31):

Increase the size of the wall, so people from other states quit coming here. If you have less than 20 years under your belt living in San Diego, save those county-born, then go back to where you came from. We dont need you, we dont want you, and we dont care about you. There, dwelling issue solved.

khantot



Joined April 21, 2016

The Case-Shiller methodology makes it the gold standard for market price changes in single family homes because it is only minimally affected by changes in the distribution of price levels in each months data or among metro areas.

However, some local markets such as Downtown and Hillcrest-Bankers Hill-Mission Hills have far more condos than single family homes for sale, and the C-S data do not include sales of condos.

hillcrester



Joined April 16, 2016

Regarding Short-term rentals: Code enforcement long past due (Jan. 20):

Another problem with short term vacation rentals is that it erodes the fabric of a community. We have been struggling in Ocean Beach to keep the enrollment of our elementary school up because young families are being pushed out for lack of affordable housing, the very people that are vital for it to continue to survive.

We really are at a tipping point. The question ALL San Diegans need to ask themselves is do we want our beach towns to be changed forever into transient communities with no real soul?

mark00604

Joined Jan. 20, 2017

Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board is reluctant to recommend the Senate reject any Cabinet nominees who meet basic qualifications. A new president deserves some deference. Barring scandal or conflicts of interest or other serious problems, Donald Trumps nominees should be confirmed.

But that doesnt mean we will stay entirely on the sidelines. We find Trumps nominees for attorney general and education secretary  Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions and Michigan education activist Betsy DeVos, respectively  to be troubling.

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Sessions, 70, is out of step with a bipartisan criminal reform movement that sees our justice system as unnecessarily punitive and too ready to throw people away. But as The Washington Post reported, the former Alabama attorney general used his nomination hearing to cast himself as an old-school law enforcer. The reputation of that old school is in tatters. America warehouses aging convicts despite evidence that crime is a young mans game, and that warehousing hasnt made the U.S. safer. Dozens of nations with weaker sentencing laws have less crime. The last thing we need is a return of the lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key approach that ruins lives and costs taxpayers more than it should.

Sessions has also struggled to shed an image of racial insensitivity even as he has emphasized his commitment to protecting civil rights. But Sessions, like Trump, is hostile to the idea of the U.S. Justice Department monitoring local police departments  even in an era in which video footage has repeatedly chronicled officers brutalizing black suspects with little or no evidence they were at risk, or contradicted officer statements in official reports or testimony. BuzzFeed News recently tallied 40 such contradictions since 2014. Of course, this isnt an issue at many police departments, but the problem surfaces in some and can merit federal attention as it did in Cleveland in 2014 and St. Louis County in 2015.

In her Senate hearing, DeVos, 58, was, in a word, unfit. Her stance on education reform is especially concerning. She has fought for decades for voucher programs in which parents can be given government money to help pay for their childrens private-school tuition. But the voucher movement peaked two decades ago when education reformers saw the promise of charter schools as an alternative to overregulated, underperforming regular public schools.

On the charter front, DeVos is deeply worrisome. When she couldnt get Michigan lawmakers or voters to embrace school choice, she and her wealthy family successfully lobbied for laws that made it easy for just about anyone to open up a charter school in the state  but without significant oversight of any kind. This is a big reason why Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad  perhaps the nations highest-profile supporter of charter schools  strongly opposes DeVos nomination. He sees the poor results DeVos has achieved in Michigan as discrediting the charter movement.

Criminal justice and education are two crucial issues in this nation and for this board. We suppose President Trump could have made choices to help shape the national debate on these issues who were worse than Sessions and DeVos. But he could definitely have made choices who were much better.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: UTOpinion
Paul Dragos took first place and a finalist spot this week. Good work, Paul! He will receive Steve Breens signed original in the mail. Thanks to all those who participated.

Next weeks cartoon is below. Please remember to limit your submissions to three and keep em brief. Good luck!

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Winner

I dont care you have so many children you dont know what to do; its against San Diego zoning laws to live in a shoe. Paul Dragos, San Diego

Finalists

Id have caught you sooner if you hadnt been wearing those track shoes. Richard B. Rothwell, Escondido

Because youre my mom, I didnt taser you. Ron Quirk, Oceanside

Sorry, lady, the maximum limit is five cats per household. Holly Hamel, Carlsbad

Sorry, maam, but these brick etchings are still considered graffiti. Ruben Escobosa, San Diego

Mom, Im the boss out here, remember? Roy Zinkil, San Diego

Just because the Beach Boys wrote you into a hit song, you still need a license to drive. Dee Heslar, Phoenix

I take it this is your first perp walk? Jim Austin, Encinitas

You are being charged with appearing in public without a smartphone in your hand. Iris Price, Ramona

You cant fool the SDPD, El Chapo. Paul S.D. Berg, Castro Valley

You say you were only jaywalking to avoid potholes? Suzanne Whittlesey, San Diego

Yes, the fashion police do exist. Mark Collins, La Mesa

You cant assault a helpful Boy Scout just because he made you feel like an old lady. Bob Klein, La Mesa

For the last time, this is not a stripper gram! Debbie Mitton, Lakeside

Bingo isnt a contact sport. Karen Farrington, Alpine

Im afraid no amount of hot apple pie is going to get you out of this. Felmar Mationg, San Diego

It was clearly written on the page, lady: Limit your submissions to three and keep em brief. Paul Dragos, San Diego

K-12

Youre charged with attempted assault for throwing those butterscotch candies. Talia DePodesta, fifth grade, Torrey Pines Elementary

Next weeks cartoon

To enter, email entries to cartooncontest@sduniontribune.com by 10 a.m. Tuesday. Please remember to limit your submissions to three and keep em brief. View last weeks winners
Is California Sen. Kamala Harris running for president in 2020?

Shes sure acting like it, at least on Twitter. Since President Donald Trump s inauguration, the Senate rookie has sent more than 80 Trump-related tweets in 14 days.

And that doesnt include the subtweets.

Each time, in just 140 characters or less, Harris has trolled him on his policies, his cabinet nominees and more.

Some examples:

Dissing his cabinet nominees

Trashing his policies

Making the most out of negative reports

Axios, a venture co-founded by former Politico columnist Mike Allen, reported on Thursday that a source who worked on Trumps campaign said he likes women who work for him to dress like a woman. (No other outlets or the White House have corroborated this report.)

Shortly after, the #dresslikeawoman hashtag was born and used by many calling Trump sexist. Harris joined in Friday.

Protesting his actions

Trolling his speeches

In a Black History Month speech, Trump referred to Frederick Douglass in a way that sounded like he didnt know Douglass wasnt still alive. Harris capitalized on the backlash on social media with this informative tweet.

(Note the Harris icon and slogan in the top right corner. Looks pretty presidential to me...)

Acting presidential

Shes been known to share inspirational or encouraging gems like these that are more like what a candidate might tweet out during a campaign.

You can follow Harris here to see for yourself.

Harris sent out a tweet ripping yet another Trump nominee between the time I started writing this and finished it just now, so it doesnt look like shell stop trolling Trump any time soon.

What do you think of this strategy? Trump tweets a lot, so maybe shes following his presidential example?

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
Lets face it: cute and funny Super Bowl commercials are as much of a staple as the nachos and the hot wings.

But given the tense political climate beyond the walls of the NRG Stadium where the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons will face off on Sunday, some of this years commercials will also hit the familiar political themes that are dominating the national discussion right now.

Thats right, you cant escape politics even on Super Bowl Sunday.

Related: 5 ideas to tune out politics, focus on the Super Bowl this Sunday

Equal pay for women

Car-maker Audi tackles the issue of equal pay for women in an emotional 60-second commercial featuring a girl winning a box-car race. The commercial, titled Daughter, is narrated by the girls father as he struggles to find the words to talk to her about gender inequality.

What do I tell my daughter? the narrator begins. Do I tell her that her grandpa is worth more than her grandma? That her dad is worth more than her mom? Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will be automatically be valued as less than every man she meets? Or maybe Ill be able to tell her something different.

Immigration

American beer brand Budweiser is already surprising a lot of people by telling its own story of what it means to be an immigrant with this 60-second commercial titled Born The Hard Way.

The short story follows the steps of Budweiser co-founder Adolphus Busch as he leaves Germany and is welcomed to the United States with these first words: You dont look like youre from around here.

At one point, Busch is thrown off a boat and told Youre not wanted here, go back home!

Crossing the border

The first idea 84 Lumber came up with for a Super Bowl commercial got rejected by Fox , but now it seems the building supply company has found a way to be a part of the big show.

Its 90-second commercial titled The Journey Begins tells the story of a mother and her daughter making a journey from south of the U.S. border. The ad doesnt say where theyre headed but one easily deducts they are headed to the United States.

Do they make it? The ad doesnt say but the end concludes with a message that says See conclusion at JOURNEY84.com where the website describes the ending as content deemed too controversial for TV.

Have some thoughts to share?

Join me in a conversation: Shoot me a private email with your thoughts or ideas on a different approach to this story. As always, you can also send us a tweet.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez
Thanks to young men who cleared the roadway for others

On Friday afternoon (Jan. 20) my husband and I were coming back from San Diego. As we turned down Hunter Street from Main Street, theres a very low spot in the road where water collects whenever it rains, and on Friday it was like a lake. In fact, dozens of ducks were swimming around the sides of the road.

Because of the high wind, logs and branches that had blown and floated off neighboring yards had settled into the water in the middle of the intersection, making through traffic almost impossible. Despite the deep water and pouring rain, two young men had stopped their truck, and waded out into the water to remove the obstacles that were blocking the street. They tossed the logs and branches to the side of the road so others could get by.

I want to thank these two young men for their thoughtfulness. They saved many people from having to turn around and go back to Main or Rowley streets, and perhaps prevented an accident from happening, especially after it got dark.

Isnt it nice to know what we have such responsible, caring people in Ramona?

Iris Price

Ramona

Trumps trivial pursuits

President Trump deserves kudos for his valued efforts to both preserve and increase the number of jobs for American workers. He should make that his number one priority, but instead hes wasting a lot of time chasing trivial pursuits.

Trump and his wrecking crew are determined to kill the Affordable Care Act and construct an unnecessary border wall with our neighbor Mexico.

In his first week in office, he said, If we have a second chance, he will take Iraqs oil. Both Mexico and Iraq are our allies!

He also said hes going to bring back torture of political prisoners, mainly in Guantanamo. Hes vowed to initiate new torture techniques much worse than water-boarding, a violation of the Geneva Convention. Hes also said that hes going to establish a nationwide investigation into voter fraud. He still cant believe that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.

He claims millions of people are registered in different jurisdictions. In fact, his own daughter, Tiffany, is still registered in Pennsylvania and New York. Truth is that people move and people die and it takes time to purge the voter rolls. Because of safeguards, its very difficult to vote in two different locations. Nobody contacts their former registrar of voters to inform them that they have moved or become deceased.

Trump vows to withdraw federal money to sanctuary cities, particularly in California where he lost handily. This is in direct violation of the 10th amendment that guarantees the rights of local and state government.

Disenfranchised voters must unite in a resistance movement against Trump and his policies as demonstrated by the peaceful womens march Jan. 21. The country needs a unifier, not a divider.

Trump lives in a murky, parallel universe where facts dont matter and the only truth is what Trump says at any given moment.

Peter W. Quercia

Ramona
Calling it a difficult decision, a San Diego judge chose Monday to split the 18-year sentence of Kevin Bollaert, convicted in February for operating a revenge porn website.

Superior Court Judge David Gill resentenced the 29-year-old to eight years in prison, to be served in local jail followed by 10 years of mandatory supervision.

The decision will effectively reduce the time Bollaert spends in custody, but it will also place him under the watchful eye of probation for a decade after he is released.

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Under the states realignment law, he would have to serve at least four years in custody before mandatory supervision could begin. His original sentence would have kept him behind bars for at least nine years, but would not have included any supervision.

Bollaert, 29, ran a website called UGotPosted.com, on which users were prompted to post nude or otherwise intimate photos of women and men, along with their names and other identifying information, such as the cities where they lived and worked.

In many instances, the images had been taken during intimate moments between romantic partners but were posted without the victims knowledge, after those relationships broke down.

When the victims complained to UGotPosted.com, they were directed to Bollaerts other website ChangeMyReputation.com, where people were told they would have to pay hundreds of dollars to have their photos taken down.

Bollaert was convicted of 27 felony counts, including identity theft and extortion, and sentenced under Californias public safety realignment law, which shifted responsibility for some nonviolent offenders from the state to the counties. The law was a response to a federal court mandate to relieve prison overcrowding.

Instead of being sent to a state facility, Bollaert was sentenced to 18 years in county jail  the longest jail sentence ordered in San Diego County since realignment took effect in 2011.

Bollaerts lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Emily Rose-Weber, asked the judge to consider the re sentencing, arguing that local jail wasnt equipped with the programs that could bolster Bollaerts rehabilitation.

Rose-Weber and the judge both acknowledged Monday that they believed initially that the defendant would be sent to a jail where he would earn the privileges to work as a trusty, or participate in educational or vocational training programs such as those offered at the East Mesa Detention Facility in Otay Mesa. But Bollaert is not eligible for any of those programs because of his lengthy sentence.

Rose-Weber said Bollaert understands he has to be punished for his crimes and that he needs to make amends. But she argued that one of the goals of putting him behind bars is to make him change for the better.

She said her client has few options to occupy his time at the George Bailey Detention Facility, where he is now housed. He can spend time reading, watching TV or walking around in the day room, or he can take part in a short HIV education class, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or enroll in a general education degree program.

Bollaert already has his high school diploma and he attended some college. He asked the jail staff repeatedly if he could take correspondence courses to complete his degree, a program offered to some prison inmates, but was told such courses werent available in the local jails, according to his lawyer.

How can we break up his day so that hes doing something other than walking around in circles? Rose-Weber said.

Deputy Attorney General Tawnya Boulan Austin told the judge that Bollaert is likely the first of many white collar criminals who will be sentenced to a decade or longer in jail under realignment. She argued against creating a situation in which such defendants may be sentenced differently by county, based on how the jail facilities are run.

There are other avenues to pursue these issues, the prosecutor said.

She also stressed that the women Bollaert victimized would be serving a sentence for the rest of their lives.
The adverse effect of climate change on honey bees was evident from last year's statistics, which indicates that there was a considerable decrease in the total output in many apiaries across the world. Furthermore, entomologists also recorded a significant decline in the number of several honey bee and bumble bee varieties. The abrupt and steep decline in the rusty patched bumble bee population in America has put the species in the federal list of endangered species, which needs immediate attention.

Climate change influences every living organism and ecological habitat. Scientists have been saying that for years, but the real-time realization of the same is recent. Climatologists have already declared 2016 as the second hottest year ever recorded after 2012. The increase in average atmospheric temperature and the decrease in rainfall lead to many ecological discrepancies in various countries.

Beekeepers in distant parts of the world, including Uganda, noticed a significant drop in the total honey output in their apiary. It was attributed to the prevalent drought conditions and consistent scarcity of water, NTV reported.

While in America, disappearance of honey bees and bumble bees has raised concern among farmers and scientists. According to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, since bees are the chief pollinating agents for about one third of all crop varieties cultivated in the U.S., disappearance of bees will have a negative impact on total crop production.

Rick Becker, Trumbull County bee inspector and owner of apiary in Heritage Farms in North Bloomfield, explained that disappearance of floral vegetation is hurting the pollination habits of bees, Tribune Chronicle reported.

"The severe fluctuations in temperatures that we have been having during one day recently haven't been good for both honey bees and bumble bees," Becker explained.

As per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the decreasing bumble bee and honey bee population is multifactorial, which includes pesticides, climate change, loss of natural habitats and sometimes diseases.

Though it is estimated that there has been 90 percent decline in the bumble bee population since the late 1990s, according to Barbara Bloetscher, expert entomologist from Ohio Department of Agriculture, the exact numbers are not yet clear. A federal survey regarding the same will commence soon, and the exact extent of damage will then be realized.
Thumbs up to S.C. Sen. Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Were pleased that he was re-elected late last month as the president pro tempore of the South Carolina Senate. Were disappointed but not surprised that 16 senators  all Republicans  voted against him. Thats politics. Leatherman is conservative yet progressive. Some of his colleagues dont think he is conservative enough. They want us to believe that Leatherman did something wrong when he stepped down as president pro tempore in order to avoid rising to the powerless position of lieutenant governor. This was after Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster succeeded Gov. Nikki Haley, who now is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Leatherman didnt want to give up his power in Columbia. His foes are envious of that power. People in Florence County and the rest of the Pee Dee should be pleased to have powerful representation that nearly is unprecedented. If he had not maneuvered to regain his top spot in the Senate, Leatherman would have let down constituents who voted for his re-election to a 10th term. We suspect that few of the 16 senators who voted against him would have given up the president pro tempore position if they had been in Leathermans position. We agree with Andy Brack. In his Statehouse Report column on this page, Brack says Leatherman has used his power wisely for the benefit of the entire state. The Senate and South Carolina citizens have benefited from Leathermans outstanding leadership. We look forward to more of the same.

Thumbs up to Help 4 Kids of Florence. We highlighted this local nonprofit organizations good work in the community late last month with a six-day series. Food Fight: Nourishing Students in Need went into great detail about the hunger problem in Florence County schools. The series ran during Hunger Awareness Week, as declared by Help 4 Kids. We think of hunger being a problem in third-world countries. Its heartbreaking to consider that we have such an issue so close to home. Help 4 Kids raises money and conducts food drives to lessen the problem. It works with Florence School District One staff members to send hungry children home each Friday with a bag of nutritious food for the weekend. As we reported in our series, some of these children share their food with their families. A week from today, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Help 4 Kids will conduct food drives at the Walmarts on South Irby Street and Beltline Drive in Florence. We urge our readers to support this drive.

Thumbs up to local firefighters. They had a busy week fighting brush fires. We were warned last weekend that dry, windy conditions in our region were conducive to fires spreading rapidly. Its a shame that some careless people did not heed these warnings. Homes were threatened by some of these brush fires. Quick responses by professional and volunteer firefighters saved these homes. The next time we are warned about fire safety, lets hope everybody gets the message and postpones setting debris on fire.

Thumbs up to the Best Neighbor. That comes from Florences Arthur R. Edwards Jr., who wrote, I would like to thank Ms. Inez Wade for the many things she does for me. My wife is in a nursing home, and Ms. Wade is always there to hep me. She is the best neighbor I have ever had. God bless her.

Thumbs up to Francis Marion University and its president, Fred Carter. That comes from Mollie W. Floyd of Gresham, who expresses her appreciation to the people who anticipated a four-year college in this area and who worked tirelessly to bring it about. I had completed junior college, but because I was my familys sole support, I could not possibly even consider driving the required distance to receive my bachelors degree. Having a four-year college in this area was like a dream come true, and I was grateful and proud to be one of FMUs first graduation classes. But then I surprised even myself by continuing my dream and making time for the needed classes, and slowly but surely achieved my masters degree. That day was very meaningful to me personally and financially. Dr. Carter has been one of the best presidents and leaders that anyone could strive for. When you see the size now of this campus, plus the educational gains, you see a true and exceptional leader. He is deserving of accolades for exceptional tenure.

Thumbs up, thumbs down is a regular feature of the Morning News and appears each Saturday on our Opinion page. We seek nominations for both good and bad deeds from our readers. Send nominations to us by email at letters@florencenews.com. Be sure use the word thumb in the subject and include a contact number. Thumbs can also be mailed to us c/o The Morning News, 310 S. Dargan St., Florence, S.C., 29506.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2017-41

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an investment adviser representative with stealing approximately $5 million from client accounts by initiating unauthorized wire transfers and issuing checks to third parties to cover personal expenses.

The SEC alleges that Barry Connell, who worked in the New Jersey office of a major financial institution, conducted more than 100 unauthorized transactions by using falsified authorization forms misrepresenting that he received verbal requests from the clients. Connell allegedly used money from client accounts to rent a home in suburban Las Vegas and pay for a country club membership and private jet service.

As alleged in our complaint, Connell stole funds from clients who entrusted him their finances, choosing to fund his own lavish lifestyle rather than fulfill the fiduciary duty he owed them, said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SECs New York Regional Office.

The SECs complaint charges Connell with violations of Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York today filed criminal charges against Connell.

The SECs investigation, which is continuing, is being conducted by Jonathan Grant, George OKane, and Wendy Tepperman. The litigation will be led by Dugan Bliss and the case is being supervised by Sanjay Wadhwa. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
President Donald Trump takes a drug to stave off baldness and another to prevent the skin condition rosacea, his longtime personal physician disclosed this week.

Dr. Harold Bornstein told The New York Times that Trump - whose elaborate coiffure is a running punchline for critics - takes finasteride, also known as Propecia. The drug is commonly used to treat an enlarged prostate as well as male-pattern baldness, which the Times noted could account for Trump's low results on a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test used to detect signs of cancer.

The 69-year-old Bornstein said he also takes Propecia, which he said has helped him keep his own hair as well. Bornstein said the president also takes an antibiotic for rosacea, a skin ailment similar to acne, which can cause redness and thickening of the skin on the face. The newspaper said the White House did not respond to requests for comment on Bornstein's disclosures.

The Food and Drug Administration notes that Propecia can decrease PSA counts even when prostate cancer has emerged, and says doctors should carefully evaluate those results in a patient who's taking the drug. In 2012, after complaints of erectile dysfunction and other sexual side effects, the FDA added an expanded warning label to finasteride products to warn that some of those effects could continue even after some men stopped taking the drug.

RELATED: Male Birth Control Is Effective but Brings Side Effects

At 70, Trump is the oldest man to be elected president. Bornstein raised eyebrows in December 2015, when he released a letter attesting to Trump's health in glowing terms, but with little detail.

The then-candidate's test results were "astonishingly excellent," Bornstein wrote, adding that Trump "will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." In September, Bornstein released a more detailed statement that recounted blood test, EKG, colonoscopy and other test results, describing the GOP nominee as being in "excellent physical health. He also disclosed that Trump was taking the anti-cholesterol drug rosuvastatin, known as Crestor.

Propecia is manufactured by the pharmaceutical powerhouse Merck, whose CEO was one of several drug executives Trump met with at the White House on Tuesday. Trump complained that drug prices are "astronomical" and threatened to use the federal government's purchasing power to cut better deals  but he also said he wanted to speed up the FDA's approval process to get new medicines to market and criticized other countries for what he called "global freeloading" - price controls that cut into U.S. manufacturers' profit margins.

WATCH: This Device Could Turn Off Your Sperm
JV LAUDS BOC FOR SEIZING 15-M RED ONIONS

Senator JV Ejercito lauded Bureau of Customs for actively pursuing smugglers, with its seizure of 15-Million worth of red onions from India last Wednesday.

"I am glad that BOC is actively chasing agricultural smugglers. This is a huge help for Filipino farmers and the agricultural industry," Ejercito today said.

Ejercito is principal author of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law (Republic Act No. 10845), which imposes harsher penalties such as imprisonment and 1-million fine for perpetrators caught in the act of smuggling.

Yesterday, Ejercito was in Nueva Ecija to share the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling law to farmers, and the Free Irrigation Bill he is currently pushing in the Senate.
Press Release

February 4, 2017 Akbayan Sen. Risa Hontiveros on gov't's reaction to Amnesty Int'l report: Appalling, unconscionable Any Senate or government-led inquiry that will sincerely help the people in their search for the truth and in crafting better policies to safeguard human rights is welcome. As such, I am dismayed at how the Duterte administration has responded to the Amnesty International's report on extrajudicial killings in the country. From the House Speaker's "it's none of their business" remark to the Justice Secretary's "criminals are not humans" statement, to the President's usual profanity-laced attacks, the government's lack of commitment to address the country's human rights issues is appalling and unconscionable. After all, what should a government be for, if not to protect the basic rights and liberties of its citizens? It is important to remember that peace and order is worth nothing and will eventually itself be destroyed without human rights, that an improvement in people's lives will only have lasting positive effects if it were founded on human rights for all. The Amnesty International has a long track record of safeguarding human rights. It will not stake its reputation by issuing baseless reports. Its findings on the country's extrajudicial killings are a very serious matter. It deserves the government and the country's utmost serious attention.
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The previous two Portals described how students protesting the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in San Francisco in May 1960 were blasted with fire hoses, beaten and dragged down the stairs of City Hall by police.

All 68 protesters arrested had their charges quickly dismissed, with one exception: 22-year-old Robert Meisenbach, a UC Berkeley English major who was accused of provoking the confrontation by attacking a police officer and was charged with felony assault. That charge was largely supported by a story written by star San Francisco Examiner reporter Ed Montgomery, which said Meisenbach had clubbed the officer with a baton.

The prosecution would come to regret hanging its case on Montgomerys reporting.

As Seth Rosenfeld writes in Subversives: The FBIs War on Student Radicals, and Reagans Rise to Power, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called the protests the most successful communist coup to occur in the San Francisco area in 25 years. He ordered the special agent in charge of the FBIs San Francisco field office, Richard Auerbach, to prepare a report on the Communist Partys involvement in the protests.

Auerbachs agents hastily put together Project: Revolution in San Francisco. Its predetermined finding: Communists had manipulated students into engaging in wild rioting and disorder that threatened the government of the city of San Francisco and defied the authority and power of the federal government.

Hoover used the report as the basis for a booklet, Communist Target  Youth: Communist Infiltration and Agitation Tactics. The 18-page booklet, signed by Hoover and released to news outlets across the country, said Communists had orchestrated the protests and used mob psychology to incite the students, who were portrayed as gullible dupes of the wily reds.

Communist Target  Youth resulted in alarmist coverage in the New York Times and other leading newspapers. At the same time, HUAC released its own propaganda screed against the students, a 42-minute documentary titled Operation Abolition. The film, which can be seen online, features grainy footage of the protests while an authoritative-sounding male narrator declaims that Operation Abolition was the name the Communists gave their plot to destroy HUAC, weaken the FBI and discredit its great director, J, Edgar Hoover.

The film got enormous play. The Defense Department used it in mandatory training and planned to show it to 500,000 soldiers. Schools, colleges, churches and police departments across the country screened it, as did companies like Standard Oil, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and Pacific Telephone and Telegraph.

But criticism of Operation Abolition was immediate. Students who had been at the protests denounced it as distorted and biased, and a law professor commissioned by UC Berkeley Chancellor Clark Kerr concluded that the students criticisms were legitimate. The film became a cult classic at Cal, where it was seen as proof that the government would lie about students who were exercising their constitutional rights. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen blasted the film, and the Washington Post editorialized that the movie warps the truth.

Alarmed, Hoover asked Auerbach to vet the film. Auerbach discovered that there were even more errors than the Post had uncovered. Most important, there was no evidence that anyone had leaped over a barricade or beaten a police officer, as the film asserted.

Hoover began dodging questions about the accuracy of Operation Abolition, but he kept promoting Communist Target  Youth. By the time of Meisenbachs trial, more than 300,000 copies of the pamphlet had been distributed.

The trial opened April 18, 1961, in the old Hall of Justice on Kearny Street. The stress of awaiting trial on charges that could jail Meisenbach for 10 years had given the young man ulcers, made his hands tremble and led him to consider suicide. But he refused a plea bargain that would have let him walk free, saying he believed in his innocence and in the truth.

The prosecutor, Walter Giubbini, opened by asserting that Meisenbach had attacked a police officer, Ralph Schlaumleffel. One of Meisenbachs attorneys, Jack Berman, called the charges a fabric of lies. He said Meisenbach came from a respected Central Valley family, was not an activist, had attended the hearings mostly out of curiosity and had been photographed at the time of the alleged assault 40 feet away.

Giubbini called Schlaumleffel, who asserted that Meisenbach had hit him with his own baton. On cross-examination, however, the patrolman said Meisenbachs alleged assault had happened after the fire hoses were turned on, not before. This undermined Hoovers and the prosecutions central claim  that Meisenbach had touched off the melee.

After a series of defense witnesses testified that they hadnt seen any violence by students before the police turned the fire hoses on them, famed defense attorney Charles Garry called Meisenbach. Speaking in such a low voice he could barely be heard, the Marine veteran said he had been standing by a pillar when the fire hoses were turned on. He was trying to leave when he was beaten by police officers, he said.

Garry asked Meisenbach if there was anything else he wanted to say. Meisenbach started to weep. I was beaten and I was afraid, he said. Then, in a whisper, he said, I had an involuntary bowel movement.

The prosecution called two police officers, who testified that they hadnt seen any officers beating Meisenbach. Under cross-examination, they also said they hadnt seen Meisenbach strike Schlaumleffel.

It took the jury less than three hours to return a verdict of not guilty. Hoover ordered his aides not to comment on the verdict and to stop distributing Communist Target  Youth.

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 prosecutions star witness, Examiner reporter Montgomery, never testified. The reason was that before the trial, the newsman told Giubbini that the story he had written reporting that Meisenbach had hit Schlaumleffel was false. Montgomery, a longtime water carrier for the FBI, had published it anyway.

The City Hall debacle was a black eye for Hoover, for HUAC and for their shrill, paranoid worldview. HUAC never returned to San Francisco. And a student protest movement that would shake America had been baptized by the fire hoses of the SFPD.

Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com

Trivia time

Previous trivia question: When did the first Pony Express rider arrive in San Francisco, and how long did the trip from St. Joseph, Mo., take?

Answer: April 14, 1860. The trip took 10 days.

This weeks trivia question: Prefabricated metal houses were popular in the 1850s. Why did they fall from favor?

Editors note
When President Trump kicked off his campaign almost two years ago by declaring that Mexico was sending unwanted criminals and rapists across the border, Valeska Castaneda brushed it off, laughing at the man she compared to a movie villain who clearly didnt understand her Latino community.

But now that Trump is using a purported connection between crime and illegal immigration as a basis for policy  like the border wall he ordered built and a crackdown on sanctuary cities  Castaneda and other immigrants are alarmed and shaken.

To say that immigrants are inherently criminal  how are we able to still navigate and produce such fruitful lives? said Castaneda, a 29-year-old East Bay resident whose mother, seeking political asylum, carried her from Nicaragua to Texas when she was a year old. Wanting something more, whats criminal about that?

Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles, said Trumps use of the slogan Make America safe again in his inaugural address, even though overall crime rates have fallen in recent decades, made clear the president would repeatedly use crime and the fear of crime to create exclusionary and restrictive policies.

Amid a flurry of early immigration orders  including a temporary ban on U.S. entry for refugees and people from seven majority-Muslim countries, which was also predicated on a fear of violent crime  Trump instructed the Department of Homeland Security to make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens on a weekly basis.

The move appeared to be an effort to illustrate the danger created by sanctuary cities like San Francisco whose law enforcement officials refuse to turn people over to federal immigration agents for deportation.

There are deep disagreements over San Franciscos practice, which came under attack after the July 2015 killing of Kathryn Steinle on the Embarcadero, allegedly by a Mexican immigrant who had been freed from a local jail even though the federal government wanted to deport him for a sixth time.

The sanctuary city notion ... really just paints over the fact that youre shielding illegal immigrants, people who have broken the law, said Paul Forrest, a retiree who worked for Chevron in San Ramon and closely followed the case. Out of all these arguments, an innocent person like Kate Steinle is killed.

Trump, however, has suggested that all immigrants in the country illegally bring an elevated danger  not just those who are convicted of crimes. The executive order he signed states, Many aliens who illegally enter the United States and those who overstay or otherwise violate the terms of their visas present a significant threat to national security and public safety.

But many criminologists say the notion that immigrants who are in the country illegally are more likely to break the law is a disproved myth.

Although the federal government does not track peoples citizenship status when assembling crime data, studies over the last few decades have concluded there is either no correlation between immigration and crime, or a negative relationship  meaning that as a citys immigrant population increases, violent crime and property crime tend to decrease.

In California, men between the ages of 18 and 40 born in the United States have an institutionalization rate  which factors in jails, prisons and halfway houses  10 times higher than that of foreign-born men, according to a 2008 report from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Other research notes that as a wave of immigration peaked in the 1990s, with most people entering from Mexico, the national homicide rate plunged.

But Trump has highlighted individual cases of violence, appearing with so-called Angel Moms, women who have had a relative killed by a person who was in the country illegally. The president has also often cited the killing of Steinle in San Francisco.

Patricia Solis, 32, whose family emigrated from El Salvador, said she found the whole discussion disappointing. On a smoke break outside her mothers clothing shop in Oaklands heavily Latino Fruitvale neighborhood, where she works, she gestured around the city to make a point about Trump.

We all learned to get along in one way or another here. Weve gotten used to seeing different kinds of people and different kinds of cultures, but hes dividing all that, she said. Its just sad he thinks that us Latinos are criminals.

Ricky Rivera, a 39-year-old Oakland resident and fifth-generation immigrant from Mexico, had a different perspective. He said people who come to the country illegally ought to be held to a higher standard. Rivera said he is in favor of the weekly crime listing ordered by Trump, so long as it includes all aliens, not just those from Latin America.

Im a tax-paying American citizen, so I feel like I have a right to commit crimes in my country, Rivera said. But I feel like non-Americans, non-citizens shouldnt be allowed to come here and commit crimes. They should be happy to be here and happy to send money home to their families.

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.

In the Bay Area, many lawmakers and immigrant advocates are outraged by Trumps call for a weekly log of crime by immigrants who are in the country illegally, seeing it as an effort to exploit irrational fear that will further skew perceptions of immigrants.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi described it as a scare tactic  an attempt to villainize. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the list to be countered with frequent reminders of objective truths about immigration that Trump has no interest in promoting.

His entire purpose is to scare people, Newsom said. Sanctuary is not about harboring criminals, period, full stop.

Newsom and others argue that sanctuary policies boost public safety, allowing people in the country illegally to cooperate with law enforcement, whether they are crime victims or witnesses.

Jose Maciel, a 25-year-old Oakland resident whose parents brought him to the U.S. from Mexico when he was a month old, said he hadnt heard about the list, but laughed after hearing an explanation of Trumps order.

He really said that? Maciel said. I mean, I understand if you want to make a place better and reduce crime, but its not the way to do it. If Trump (knew) my father and my family, he wouldnt be saying that stupidity.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Last month, the Recreation and Park Commission OKd a maintenance plan for the citys natural areas. But controversy surrounding it hasnt died down.

The San Francisco Forest Alliance has filed an appeal with the Board of Supervisors, saying that many of the claims in the comprehensive new plan are unsubstantiated and too far-reaching. It will be heard Feb. 28 at the boards regular Tuesday meeting.

The environmental impact review must be adequate, accurate and objectively analyzed in order for its certification to be legal, the Forest Alliance said in a release.

The plan has been in the works since 2006 and will review the biology and geology of the Recreation and Park Departments 32 natural areas and trails, including Mount Davidson, Twin Peaks and Bernal Heights. Members of the public with wildly differing views spoke for 6 hours during a commission meetings comments period in December.

Some said the plan would restore native habitats. Others said parts of the plan would drastically alter the parks they love. The biggest point of contention centered on Mount Davidson, which under the plan would lose 3,500 non-native blue gum eucalyptus trees over the next 30 years.

At Decembers meeting, commission President Mark Buell cautioned those opposed that the plan was a framework and not set in stone.

Funding for parts of the plan, including cutting down the eucalyptus forest, also has not been identified.

If the nonprofit  which fights perceived threats to public parks  is successful, the plans environmental impact review will be sent back to the citys Planning Department for further review.

Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle 2016

 Lizzie Johnson

Tough talk: Supervisor Aaron Peskin has a message for property manager Sequoia Equities: Cut a deal with the city to rent some of its units at below-market prices or the company will live to regret it.

I dont want to spend my life making you miserable, but I will do that if we cannot solve this issue, Peskin said at a hearing of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Thursday.

The dispute concerns 54 residents at 737 Post St. Its among a handful of apartment buildings built in the late 1980s and early 1990s with city redevelopment money, loaned in exchange for a promise that 20 percent of the units would stay affordable for 25 years.

Sequoia now essentially says: Time is up. In December, the company sent out notices to the tenants living at reduced rates, advising them of big rent increases beginning in March.

Colton Windsor, a gay rights activist, moved into the building five years ago. He pays $1,746 for a two-bedroom apartment and is facing a $2,100 rent increase over the next year and a half.

When I moved in there, they never mentioned there was going to be a termination of the rental agreement, he said.

Michael Parker, a former health care administrator now living on disability benefits, has lived in the building for 20 years. He said his $1,570 rent for his one-bedroom apartment is due to double.

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.

I have nowhere else to go, he said. I am realistically afraid that in a year Im going to be homeless.

Sequoia has rejected offers by the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development to pay the company money in exchange for keeping the units at below-market rates.

A representative for Sequoia couldnt be reached for comment.

Peskin, who threatened to sue the company if it doesnt agree to a deal with the city, was joined in his tough talk by his fellow members on the boards committee.

Its not fair to expect somebody to pay a ridiculous amount of money, Supervisor London Breed said.

We are not asking you for a charitable contribution, added Supervisor Jane Kim. There is a long-term relationship to be had with our city.

 Emily Green

Lizzie Johnson and Emily Green are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, ljohnson@sfchronicle.com, egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @LizzieJohnsonnn, @emilytgreen
The cornerstone of the New Liberation Presbyterian Church that was dedicated 41 years ago this month on San Franciscos Divisadero Street quotes the prophet Isaiah: Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth! Do you not perceive it?

But even a prophet might not imagine what has happened to Divisadero, once a street for middle-class San Francisco to shop and then a near rival of Fillmore Street when the Western Addition was the Harlem of the West.

Now Divisadero is the main street of NoPa, short for North of the Panhandle, a hip, happening neighborhood of mostly young, mostly white, mostly new San Franciscans.

You dont have to go far to see it. Only a couple of blocks from the historically black New Liberation church is the year-old Kava Lounge, in a building that has been a church, a mortuary and a 99-cent store. And now its a drinking establishment where the beverage of choice is kava, made from the root of a plant that grows in the South Pacific. The Kava Lounge is very cool, a great place to take someone for a nonalcoholic date or a nightcap. Its dark and soothing, something new in an old location, like Divisadero Street itself.

Divisadero is the San Franciscans street, said Alva Capia, who scouted the city a year ago to find the perfect spot for San Franciscos first kava bar. I looked all over  the Mission, Valencia Street, Polk Street  but this was it.

The street, he said, is in the center of the city but away from the bustle of downtown. And it has a good vibe.

You have to go there at night to see the street in its glory, the bars and restaurants packed, the sidewalks full of people, lines out the door at the Madrone Art Bar on weekend evenings.

Divisadero is an old street. It was the western boundary of the city 160 years ago, but now its young. It may be illegal  or more likely unhip  for anyone over 35 to be on the street after dark. Its like a college town for postgraduates.

Divisadero is the Spanish word for a dividing line, like a frontier, much in the way Embarcadero is a place to embark on a voyage. So the name is apt.

You want history? Divisadero has some large and classic Queen Anne Victorians. Also San Franciscos first parklet.

The heart of the street is the strip between Geary Boulevard south to Haight Street. It is bookended, you might say, by Chicagos Barbershop at Golden Gate Avenue, and by J.P. Kempt Barber, seven blocks south at Haight and Divisadero. Chicagos is an upscale shop where the customers are mostly African American; Kempt is an upscale establishment where the clientele is mostly white. Chicagos Barbershop has been in business for 75 years; Kempt is new to San Francisco.

In between, Divisadero Street is a mix of old San Francisco and the new city. There are traditional corner grocery stores and, between Hayes and Fell, the Bi-Rite Market, a grocery purveyor to the tech boom, where everything is sustainable, gluten-free and pricey. Auto repair shops are just up the street from the Mojo Bicycle Cafe, which offers coffee, beer and bike repairs, or the Vinyl Coffee and Wine Bar at Oak and Divisadero, where 14 of the 20 customers the other evening were tapping away on laptops.

We had a drink there with Charles Dupigny, the newly elected president of the North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association. Dupigny, 31, has lived in the neighborhood since 2010.

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.

Dupigny is upbeat and enthusiastic about the area. He likes the community feel of NoPa. Its a city within the city, he said. And he is fond of Divisadero. You can get everything you need on this street, he said.

He likes the creativity he sees in the area. Theres art and music, a weekly farmers market and various community events, the next one a nighttime art walk on Divisadero on Feb. 16. People live here and work here, Dupigny said.

Like most of the San Franciscans you meet these days, Dupigny came from somewhere else, in his case Sierra Leone. He was drawn to San Francisco because, he said, here you have the freedom to be who you are.

But all of that has a price. New people and the money they brought to the area have made San Francisco one of the countrys most expensive cities to live in.

It is one of the factors that have contributed to the population shifts in the city, so that much of the old Western Addition became NoPa, and the working people moved away.

They always told us there would be a place for our community, said Carl Payne, a retired Muni man and police officer. But they didnt tell us we could afford it.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears every Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf
Theres never been a better time to blow the whistle.

You might think Im referring to President Trump, whose apparent indifference to transparency and accountability has alarmed watchdogs of all stripes.

But long before Trump assumed office, Congress has been making it easier for employees to report fraud to regulators and law enforcement officials.

For example, the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010  which is under fire from Trump, who signed an executive order Friday initiating a major review of it  established a whistle-blower office at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency has since fined companies more than a half of a billion dollars based on information gleaned from insiders.

And then in May, Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act. The law was primarily designed to help innovation-heavy companies like Apple and Google protect their intellectual property across state lines. But tucked into the law is a provision that prevents companies from suing employees who disclose trade secrets to federal and state authorities in order to report fraud.

As a result, whistle-blowers now enjoy significant financial and legal firepower that did not exist prior to 2008, the year the housing crisis created the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression.

We can now give people more assurances than we could before, said Eric Havian, a former federal prosecutor who represents whistle-blowers for the Constantine Cannon law firm in San Francisco.

Federal whistle-blower law dates back to the Civil War. In 1863, Congress passed the False Claims Act, also known as Lincolns Law, in an effort to stop contractors from sending the Union Army sick horses and mules, spoiled food, and defective guns and ammunition. Under the laws qui tam provision, whistle-blowers, known as relators, could earn a portion  usually 15 to 20 percent  of any recovered money if they supplied helpful information to the government.

Last year alone, Uncle Sam collected close to $1.7 billion from whistle-blower cases related to mortgage fraud, according to U.S. Department of Justice figures. Another $2.5 billion came from fraud within the health care industry, including drug companies, medical device makers and hospitals.

In addition, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, has emerged as Congress foremost champion of whistle-blowers, especially those who work in the federal government.

But what about corporate fraud cases that dont involve taxpayer dollars?

Employees are the best sources of information about wrongdoing. Nearly 40 percent of cases of initial detection of fraud came from tips, according to a survey last year by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, compared with 16.5 percent from internal audits and 13.4 percent from management review.

In fact, companies detected more fraud by accident (5.6 percent) than by hiring pricey outside auditors (3.8 percent), the survey said.

But employees are often reluctant to come forward because of the social and professional stigma traditionally attached to whistle-blowing. People might think of them as rats, disloyal workers with personal axes to grind.

The risk of losing employment or getting shunned by an entire industry are the top reasons potential whistle-blowers stay silent, Havian of Constantine Cannon said.

Offering big financial rewards can sometimes help encourage whistle-blowing. The Dodd-Frank Act required the SEC to offer money to whistle-blowers in exchange for evidence of securities fraud.

The fate of Dodd-Frank, including the whistle-blowing provision, is unclear. Trumps Friday order called on the Treasury Department to review the law with an eye to paring it back, though Congress would need to approve changes.

Since 2010, the agency awarded more than $111 million to whistle-blowers, according to SEC figures, including $57 million last year alone  more than than all award amounts issued in the previous six years combined. Thanks to whistle-blowers, the SEC recovered $346 million in ill-gotten profits and interest.

But evidence suggests money alone is not enough to motivate whistle-blowers.

A 2015 paper by researchers at Bucknell University and North Carolina State University found that employees were not likely to report wrongdoing in companies likely to retaliate against them, even if they could earn a big payout.

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Based on our findings, it is imperative to have and enforce policies to protect whistle-blowers from retaliation; only then might monetary incentives be effective, the paper said.

Thats why the whistle-blower provision in the Defend Trade Secrets Act is so important. Prior to the law, companies would try to silence whistle-blowers who leaked trade secrets by suing them for things like breaking confidentiality agreements (a favorite tactic in Silicon Valley), breach of fiduciary duty, and outright theft, Havian said.

Companies have creative ways to punish whistle-blowers, he said. They dont have to win the case to achieve their goals. They can win just by forcing whistle-blowers to defend themselves.

But the Defend Trade Secrets Act now offers broad immunity to employees who disclose trade secrets to federal and state authorities (and their own lawyers) if their purpose is to report fraud and other corporate malfeasance  though the specifics of how the law is applied will now be worked out in court.

Its a powerful tool employees can use to protect themselves, Havian said. This is going to be a big deal.

However, Mark Krotoski, a former top official in the U.S. attorneys office in the Northern District of California, says the importance of the whistle-blower provision remains to be seen.

He acknowledges that the provision grants whistle-blowers powerful protections. But Krotoski, who now represents companies for the Morgan Lewis law firms office in Palo Alto, argues that only a small percentage of such cases concern true whistle-blowers who want to report fraud. Most of the cases are about employees stealing trade secrets for financial or professional gain, he said.

The whistle-blower language, drafted mostly at the behest of Grassley, seemed a like a small price to pay for legislation that significantly upgraded their ability to enforce intellectual property rights, Krotoski said. The Defend Trade Secrets Act, for example, allows companies to go after violators in federal court; in the past, they would have to pursue cases based on different laws in different states.

Federal law has indeed come a long way to protect employees who want to report wrongdoing. The big question now is whether potential whistle-blowers will take the plunge.

Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee
On the same day Richmond City Council members voted to open a new investigation into a 2014 officer-involved shooting that killed a 24-year-old man, the city announced the mans family agreed to an $850,000 settlement to end a civil rights lawsuit.

The city announced Tuesday afternoon a settlement had been reached with the family of Richard Pedie Perez hours before city council members voted to launch a Police Commission Investigation to determine if Richmond Police Officer Wallace Jensen used excessive or unnecessary force when he shot Perez.

The decision comes after several investigations into the September 14, 2014 shooting outside of a Richmond liquor store. The Contra Costa County District Attorneys Office opened a joint investigation into the incident with Richmond Police as a part of county protocol.

The shooting went through a coroners inquest, and the city also hired independent private investigator J.P. Badel to look into the matter.

All investigations cleared Jensen of wrongdoing, but Vice Mayor Eduardo Martinez, along with council members Jovanka Beckles and Gayle McLaughlin, proposed another probe.

McLaughlin said the main difference of the new probe is that an investigator will present the results to the commission, which is made up of civilians.

For the sake of us feeling comfortable and feeling a sense of trust with our police department, having a civilian review process is important, McLaughlin said.

Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, who does not see the need for a new investigation, called the shooting an anomaly while praising the departments good record.

Its not like nobody has ever investigated this, Butt said Tuesday of the shooting. Its been investigated at least four times... Im really puzzled about what people want to get out of this.

Julie Perez, Richards mom, was not convinced by the initial findings. She said none of the investigations were truly impartial.

One of the conditions of the settlement is the city of Richmond does not have to admit fault or liability in Perezs death and forever be discharged of any claims and similar expenses, according to the settlement document.

Perezs mother said the timing of the new investigation assures that even if the officer is found to be in the wrong, the city will bear no legal responsibility. The results will simply validate whether or not excessive force was used, and the commission may present recommendations for preventing similar incidents in the future.

Its not a coincidence that they settled and now they want an investigation, she said.

In a police account of the shooting, Jensen was conducting a security check at Uncle Sams Liquor Store, which had several police calls for service in the past and was closed a year before the shooting for alcohol-related violations.

Perez was heavily intoxicated during a struggle with the officer while outside near Cutting and Carlson boulevards, then-Chief Chris Magnus said at the time of the shooting. Perez tried to grab Wallaces gun out of the holster, prompting the officer to fire three shots into his chest.

But the Perez family said witness accounts of the incidents dont match the officers statement.

They came out saying Pedie tried to take the officers gun nothing is showing that, including forensic evidence, Julie Perez said. Pedie was simply trying to resist the officer and walk away from the incident.

In the civil rights suit filed by the Law Offices of John Burris, Perez was ordered to sit on the curb when Jensen detained him, but then he got off the curb and Jensen grabbed him.

When Perez struggled to free himself of defendant Jensens constricting grasp, the officer got up, stepped back and, from a distance of five to six feet, shot Perez in the chest several times, the suit says.

A YouTube video titled The Murder of Pedie Perez appears to show surveillance footage from inside the liquor store at the time of the shooting. In the video, an officer appears to fire at someone while standing at a distance, consistent with the lawsuit and witness testimony.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
A 27-year-old San Jose man was arrested on suspicion of killing his 40-year-old wife, authorities said Saturday.

Sajawal Chadhar was booked into the Santa Clara County main jail Thursday in connection with the death of his wife, Leann Watson Chadhar, according to the San Jose Police Department.

Officers sent to the Chadhar home on the 2100 block of Coyne Court about 8:45 a.m. Thursday found the woman at the home, where she was pronounced dead, officials said.

Crime scene investigators ruled the death a homicide, but police have not disclosed how Leann Chadhar died.

Her husband is being held without bail.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
Rafe Swan/Getty Image

A man suspected of killing a 23-year-old woman in Richmond in 2015 was captured in Mexico and returned to the Bay Area to face murder charges, officials said Friday.

Guillermo Sanchez, 22, was arrested in Guadalajara and returned to California on Jan 24. after detectives worked alongside the government of Mexico and the U.S. Marshals Service to track him down, police said.
President Trumps pledge to cut back on regulation of the nations businesses may have taken a big step forward with his nomination this week of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Gorsuch, who has been a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver for the past 10 years, is probably best known for his broad view of religious freedom  including a business owners freedom not to provide insurance coverage for female employees contraceptive care  and his philosophical kinship with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whom he would succeed on the high court.

But perhaps just as important, because of the many cases the court hears on government oversight of commercial activity, is Gorsuchs view of the proper balance of power between regulators and judges.

Under the Supreme Courts Chevron doctrine, named after a 1984 ruling, when a law can be read in different ways, federal judges must defer to a regulatory agencys interpretation  and accept it unless it is unreasonable. They are not to decide the proper meaning themselves.

The doctrine has made regulatory law more stable and predictable, legal analysts say, because it requires judges to pay heed to regulators views, regardless of political party or ideology.

Chevron makes judicial decision-making less political, said Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor. If judges stop deferring to government agencies, we can expect that conservative judges will strike down far more agency regulations in a Democratic administration  and vice versa.

But the doctrine has detractors in the business community and on the bench, most notably Gorsuch.

Adherence to Chevron for more than three decades seems to have added prodigious new powers to an already titanic administrative state, Gorsuch wrote in August in an opinion rejecting an immigration agencys legal interpretation, which he found unreasonable. He urged the Supreme Court to reconsider the doctrine.

It is a judge-made doctrine for the abdication of the judicial duty that has allowed executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power, Gorsuch wrote. We managed to live with the administrative state before Chevron. We could do so again.

He has taken similar positions in other cases on regulatory issues. That was the main reason that the chief executive of the National Federation of Independent Businesses took part in a White House meeting with Trump on Wednesday to praise the nomination, said Jack Mozloom, a spokesman for the group.

The Chevron doctrine has caused expansion of regulatory power that hurts small businesses everywhere, Mozloom said. He said the federations chief executive, Juanita Duggan, reported that her brief conversation with Trump was extremely productive, and the president was very attentive.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has scheduled a hearing March 28 on the right of a transgender boy to use a high school boys restroom, from which he has been excluded by his school district in Virginia.

An issue in that case is whether courts should defer to findings by former President Barack Obamas administration that a schools refusal to recognize transgender status amounts to sex discrimination. The court required such deference in a 1997 ruling, but Scalia, the author of that ruling, later repudiated it. The 1997 case was similar to Chevron but involved an agencys interpretation of its own regulations rather than a federal law.

The Senate would have to confirm Gorsuch quickly for him to be on the court by March 28, a somewhat questionable prospect in view of the looming battle over his nomination.

Pressed by feminists alarmed at his rulings on contraception and religion, and by civil rights and environmental advocates fearing rollbacks of legal protections, Senate Democratic leaders have called for a filibuster of Gorsuchs nomination, setting the stage for a time-consuming fight with an uncertain outcome.

Its also unclear whether Gorsuch, if confirmed, could persuade his fellow justices to overrule the Chevron doctrine or scale it back substantially. Of the eight current justices, only Clarence Thomas, in a 2015 opinion, has advocated overturning Chevron. Scalia, the courts most outspoken conservative before his death last February, was not a public critic of the doctrine.

But advocates of regulatory protection, such as consumer and labor groups, are wary of Gorsuchs potential influence. Hes a very engaging writer, certainly a smart guy, said Pam Allen, legal director of the California Nurses Association.

Business doesnt like Chevron because it doesnt like being regulated, Allen said. It doesnt like consumer protections and health care protections and labor protections.

The basis of the doctrine, said Lena Zwarensteyn, a lawyer with the liberal American Constitution Society, is that agencies that are responsible for such things as clean drinking water and food safety are able to exercise their expertise, as opposed to a judges expertise.

Although Chevron applies mostly to commercial regulations, it affects other areas of government oversight, including immigration, the subject of the August 2016 case that prompted Gorsuchs call for repeal of the doctrine.

That case involved an unauthorized immigrant, Hugo Rosario Gutierrez-Brizuela, who applied for legal status in 2009. Two years later, in a separate case, the appeals court in Denver invoked Chevron to uphold an immigration boards rule requiring such immigrants to leave the United States for 10 years before applying for legal status.

The immigration board then applied its 10-year rule retroactively to require Gutierrez-Brizuela to leave the country for the length of the waiting period. In a ruling that rejected the boards position, Gorsuch said the boards regulations didnt pass muster under the Chevron doctrine because they unreasonably extended the waiting period to those who had applied before it took effect, and might also violate the constitutional right to due process of law.

Supporters of Gorsuch say such cases show his willingness to follow his principles regardless of the outcome.

He is a conservative judge, but when he sees the law pointing in what he thinks is a particular direction, hes going to follow it even if his fellow conservatives say no, said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who has known Gorsuch since they both served as Supreme Court law clerks in the early 1990s.

For liberals who dont want a justice who would rubber-stamp the Trump administration, and for conservatives and libertarians who feel the same way about future court appointees under a liberal administration, Volokh said, I think Gorsuch is your man.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko

Court cases that have fallen under the Chevron doctrine

The doctrine was established in 1994 with Chevron vs. the Natural Resources Defense Council. Here is the decision: http://bit.ly/2l5u2lM

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch called for repeal of the requirement as a federal appeals court judge in the August 2016 case of Gutierrez-Brizuela vs. Lynch. The decision: http://bit.ly/2kPDvh5

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas also called for repeal in a concurring opinion in the 2015 case of Michigan vs. EPA. The decision: http://bit.ly/2j5Xj2r
A 62-year-old animal activist was charged in connection with an undercover operation intended to expose conditions inside a San Joaquin County cage-free egg-supplier.

In one of a series of nighttime visits to Pleasant Valley Farms, a supplier of eggs to Costco located in Farmington, Redwood City resident Diane Gandee Sorbi removed from the facility an injured hen that couldnt walk, according to Direct Action Everywhere, the animal activist organization that recorded undercover video at the farm.

Sorbi was charged with theft, larceny and criminal mischief, according to a letter from the district attorneys office. She was not arrested, but must appear in court Feb. 10, the letter states.

Inside the barn, video shows a number of dead birds  and others the activists said were sick  as well as hens with injuries from other hens.

A lawyer for Sorbi, Sonya Mehta of the Siegel & Yee law firm, said in a statement her client was helping animals who were sick and suffering.

The removed hen, which activists named Ella, was dying and would have literally been thrown into the garbage by the farm, Mehta said.

Instead, she is now healthy and living at a sanctuary  which is what every animal deserves, Mehta said.

After the footage came to light, Pleasant Valley Farms released a statement categorizing the groups action as trespassing and claimed the video was staged for production effect, the New York Times reported.

Mehta said Sorbi planned to plea not guilty.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley
On Wednesday night, a right-wing hatemonger came to Berkeley and was met with a left-wing response of arson, violence and assault. All in all, it was a good night to be a centrist.

The Berkeley College Republicans broke no laws when they invited Milo Yiannopoulos to their campus, but they knew that they were engaging in an act of provocation by testing an overwhelmingly liberal communitys commitment to free speech. A small number of radicals took the bait and turned what might have been a peaceful protest into a destructive rampage against people, property and propriety. By the end of the night, neither side had done much to advance their respective causes. If anything, both groups were likely to have repulsed many more observers than they attracted.

I have been teaching a class at UC Berkeley for more than 20 years, and while the vast majority of my students are committed progressives and are repulsed by the statements on which Yiannopoulos has built his career, I cant think of any of them who believe that the proper response to unacceptable incendiary speech is to break windows, set banks on fire or attack police officers. On the other side of the aisle, while my students who voted for Donald Trump or support conservative causes are much fewer and far between, I dont know any of them who would support the type of noxious sentiments that Yiannopoulos regularly directs toward women, minorities and Muslims.

So lets begin with the premise that most liberal Cal students do not resort to violence or vandalism any more than most conservatives are misogynists or racists. (Indeed, several dozen students organized a cleanup event for Thursday morning where they swept, scrubbed and mopped the previous nights damage.) But if you watched news coverage of the controversy surrounding Yiannopoulos visit to Cal, you would assume that the entire campus was divided into groups of anarchists and Islamophobes.

In an ideal world, the peaceful protestors would have made more of an effort to separate themselves from those small numbers of off-campus agitators who were committed to fomenting violence. Similarly, it might not have been a bad idea for the College Republicans to recruit a speaker who can articulate their principles without resorting to race, religion or gender-based invective. But Wednesday night was not for reasoned or thoughtful discussion. The ideological and emotional outliers who occupy both extremes on the political spectrum instead staged a Milo-Comes-to-Cal kabuki intentionally designed to outrage and offend. According to that narrow standard, both succeeded. They created a cable television and social media spectacle that allowed both the far left and far right to indulge themselves in mutual righteous indignation against the other.

But the overwhelming majority of that indignation was conveniently and predictably targeted. It would have been tremendously reassuring to see large numbers of Republican elected officials step forward to condemn Yiannopoulos and remind the broader audience that conservatism is incompatible with that type of venom. It would have been just as refreshing to hear more Democratic leaders denounce the anarchists, to reassure the viewing audience that principled opposition from the left does not require violence.

Unfortunately, contemporary American politics seem to require that fury and anger can only be transmitted across party lines. The current environment demands selective outrage, which excuses or ignores the same type of behavior from a political ally that would be attacked mercilessly when performed by an opponent. This type of knee-jerk contempt is both convenient and cathartic; it reinforces the smug superiority with which ideologically quarantined zealots can protect themselves from contradictory information, opinion or analysis. But it also drives away the vast center of the electorate, voters of both parties who feel increasingly isolated from the loudest and harshest voices who dominate the political dialogue.

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Those young people who are not inclined to occupy the ideological battle lines have retreated, not from civic responsibility but rather from traditional political engagement. Volunteering has become an acceptable substitute for voting for them, and while devoting time to a community project is admirable, it is also a way to avoid the harsh and uncompromising extremism that dominates the campaign trail.

Neither Milo Yiannopoulos nor the anarchists who oppose him represent a seminal threat to our democracy: They are two players in the same sideshow. The more serious threat comes from those who excuse them, ignore them or otherwise allow them to dominate the political dialogue that rightfully belongs to the rest of us. Engaging in intolerable behavior is unacceptable, but tolerating it isnt good enough either.

Dan Schnur, who has worked on four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns, teaches political communications at the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley.
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A husband and wife were caught with more than 4,000 pounds of opium-producing poppy pods in Mountain View, the largest such seizure in the citys history, police said Friday.

Jasvir Singh, 34, and Donna Santo, 45, were importing large quantities of the poppy known as papaver somniferum from overseas, according to the Mountain View Police Department.
A couple of new shows move to their regular time slots tonight: 24: Legacy, which premiered after the Super Bowl, settles into the 8 p.m. slot on Fox (although maybe it shouldnt unpack quite yet). And Superior Donuts, the nicely cast and written sitcom based on the play by Tracy Letts, opens shop at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Fox follows with the series premiere of APB, a police procedural starring Justin Kirk, a very good actor you know from Weeds, Tyrant and Modern Family. Eric Winter, Natalie Martinez and Ernie Hudson co-star. The show airs at 9:01.
In early October, as Donald Trumps campaign seemed to have flatlined for good, I left the performance at the Berkeley Repertory Theater thinking: This nation just dodged a bullet. The play was based on the 1935 Sinclair Lewis semi-satirical novel, It Cant Happen Here, about how an ostensible populist with authoritarian designs, Berzelius Buzz Windrip, whipped up class, racial and religious resentments, security fears and nativist appeals to win the presidency and bring fascism to an erstwhile democratic America.

The themes were so eerily familiar, almost as if Trump had used the novel as a playbook for his campaign. I alone can fix it, Trump crowed, along with his dystopian view of the world and mantra to make America great again. Windrip pledged to make America a proud, rich land again, and to punish nations that stood in the way.

But on that autumn night, America seemed as far as could be from falling for a Windrip-style, divide-and-conquer appeal.

I heard from a reader last week who was trying to get a copy of It Cant Happen Here that local booksellers are struggling to meet demand. He finally scored a copy after several tries. Sales of George Orwells 1984  the ultimate cautionary tale about critical thinking being suppressed under totalitarian rule  have surged since Trumps election. It recently became Amazons top seller, nearly 70 years after its publication. It was No. 89 on the Amazon list in 2015.

Americans are paying attention now, as they see Trumps transition  or nontransition  from fire-breathing candidate to president of the United States.

Selena Zito, who covered the Trump campaign for the Atlantic, best summed up the view of his unorthodox campaign in September: The press takes him literally, but not seriously, she wrote. His supporters take him seriously, but not literally.

Corey Lewandowski, Trumps combative former campaign manager, expressed a similar take in December when he told a group of journalists: This is the problem with the media. You guys took everything that Donald Trump said so literally. The American people didnt. They understood it.

Or, to be precise, a minority of American voters understood it. Dont forget, Trumps unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud notwithstanding, that Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes.

But here is the essence: Its now time for all Americans to recognize that Trump must be taken seriously and literally.

Any notions that he might evolve temperamentally with his assumption of the highest office in the land vanished in the first two weeks of his presidency. His hide has not thickened, as evident in his obsession with his inaugural crowd size. He has kept his Twitter account and his penchant for the insult: his targets have included one of the most overrated actresses, Meryl Streep; the fake tears of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., over the ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries; the fake news of CNN, and a shot at Arnold Schwarzeneggers The New Celebrity Apprentice ratings ... at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Give Trump credit for rapidly taking up some of his campaign promises (see chart), even if the immigration and refugee ban is alarming civil libertarians at home and causing political heartache for allies abroad, such as British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Global diplomacy has quickly devolved into a demolition derby under Trump.

He already has scolded key ally Australias prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, over the phone over a refugee-relocation deal it cut with President Barack Obama. Trump piled on with a tweet calling it this dumb deal.

Trump also reportedly warned Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto to take care of the bunch of bad hombres in the country. I think your military is scared, said Trump, according to a partial transcript of the call obtained by the Associated Press. Our military isnt, so I just might send them down to take care of it.

But no one who followed the campaign can say they werent warned about his tempestuous ways and authoritarian instincts.

By the way, after Buzz Windrip won the election, he cracked down on dissent, curtailed womens and minorities rights, marginalized Congress  and even ordered an invasion of Mexico.

Relax, Americans, its all fiction, the word once used for alternative news. It could never happen here.

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron

Donald Trump: the candidate and the president

Trump has charged right into delivering on some of his major campaign promises:

The border wall

Promise: I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me  and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words, Trump said in June 2015.

Action: Trump moved quickly to order his administration to move forward on the wall  even with no sign that Mexico is inclined to pay for it  expected to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion.

Reaction: Will this become the burden of taxpayers or consumers? One idea was floated to raise the money through a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico. Translation: We pay.

Trade deals

Promise: 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, he said. Its a harsh word, but its true.

Action: On his first full day in office, Trump signed an order for the U.S. to withdraw from the TPP, a 12-nation deal encompassing 40 percent of the worlds economy. It had been agreed to by the Obama administration, though never ratified by the Senate, as a way to open up foreign markets to U.S. goods and to counter Chinas growing economic clout.

Reaction: The move drew praise and condemnation that reflected views on the value of free trade and its inevitable effects on workers and business left behind in a global economy.

Muslim ban

Promise: In December 2015, Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our representatives can figure out what is going on.

Action: Trumps Jan. 27 order abruptly suspended the acceptance of refugees for 120 days, banned entry from seven Muslim-majority nations for 90 days and indefinitely halted entry for Syrian refugees .

Reaction: Fast and emphatic. Americans rushed to airports to protest the ham-handed rollout of a discriminatory and constitutionally suspect order that separated families and left some green-card holders caught in limbo. Critics pointed out the notable omissions from the ban, such as Saudi Arabia, home of 15 of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks .

Supreme Court

Promise: Trump pledged throughout the campaign to fill the courts vacancy with a justice in the conservative mold of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Action: The nomination of Neil Gorsuch, a 49-year-old federal appeals court judge from Colorado, delivers on that promise.
Two weeks into Donald Trumps presidency, and hes already reshaped Americas role in the world. Our presence on the global stage is shrinking, and we will come to regret it.

One of Trumps first actions as president was to sign an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multination Pacific Rim trade deal including Japan, Peru and Vietnam.

The Obama administration painstakingly negotiated TPP, as the trade deal was known, over the course of years. It would have established the U.S., not China, as the critical trading partner for many smaller Asian nations. It also contained a number of important protections for American workers and for the health of the environment.

No more. A multination Pacific Rim trade deal will still go forward, but the odds are now overwhelming that the critical trade partner will be China, not the United States. Malaysia and Thailand have both urged a speedy conclusion to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Chinas own Pacific trade initiative.

While the Trump administration has been floating the idea of imposing tariffs on imports from Mexico  currently Americas third-largest trade partner  Chinese President Xi Jinping has been talking up globalization and free trade.

Jinping has been a reluctant global presence, so it was a surprise to many when he appeared on the main stage of the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos, arguing that globalization has powered global growth and facilitated movement of goods and capital, advances in science, technology and civilization, and interactions among people.

This is the kind of statement that any other American president in modern history would have made, but times have changed. Now its China thats assuming a more powerful global role, and its rethinking its relationship with the U.S.

There are many confrontations simmering in Chinas backyard  North Koreas nuclear and missile programs, for example, present a clear and present danger to the world  and if China cant depend on the U.S., it will invest more in its own defense. Some Chinese officials already understand that increased defense investment could also come in handy should President Trump attempt a trade war.

Closer to home, Trump has also pulled the U.S. away from one of our most important allies: Mexico.

Despite Trumps insulting language during the campaign about Mexicans, and his determination to build a wall, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was willing to meet with Trump soon after he took office. The offer made sense  in addition to being a major trade partner, Mexico is a crucial ally for the U.S. on national security and counter-narcotics.

Then Trump tweeted that Pena Nieto should cancel their meeting if Mexico isnt willing to pay for a border wall. It was a needless provocation and proof that the Trump administration has lots to learn about diplomacy. Pena Nieto canceled the meeting  and watched his poll numbers rise in his own country.

Its a bad idea for the U.S. to antagonize Mexico, for many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason is immigration, an issue Trump appears to take very seriously. Immigration is a multifaceted phenomenon, but Mexicans have historically had economic reasons for immigrating to the U.S.

If Trump is interested in having less Mexican immigration to the U.S., its in his interest to have a stable and prosperous Mexico, not one thats damaged by trade wars and resentful of his insults.

Trump also reportedly had a testy phone call last week with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, supposedly telling Turnbull that the refugee deal his country struck with President Barack Obama was the worst deal ever and could result in terrorists entering the U.S.

Like it or not, the U.S. needs other countries  as military allies and economic trading partners. Australia has been one of our most reliable allies in war and counterterrorism efforts.

Trump won partially on a promise to renegotiate Americas global deals, and perhaps some of Americas global deals need to be fixed.

But as anyone with a background in global diplomacy could tell Trump, theres no need to go out of your way to antagonize someone with whom youre attempting to negotiate. Alienation of allies should be deleted from his America First playbook.
I cant find a part of myself where youre not important. Im sorry I hurt you. But I meant it. Its no trick loving somebody at their best. Love is loving them at their worst.

Thats just a small fraction of the gorgeous, devastating, hyper-articulate dialogue in Tom Stoppards 1982 play The Real Thing, which Aurora Theatre Company opened on Thursday, Feb. 2, under the direction of Timothy Near. Its the kind of writing we dont see too often in contemporary plays, in no small part because Stoppard is the only one who can create it. In this show, which is about love and marriage, writing and theater, even the dimmer characters are many times more clever than the rest of us, speaking in wordplay thats at once wry and deeply felt, lofty and off-color, musical and slapstick.

The deluge of bon mots, nuggets of wisdom, deadly barbs and tirades about, and paeans to, the power of the proper use of language make you mostly forgive that Stoppard allocates the bulk of his sparkling wit to a single, scene-stealing character, making fight after fight feel unevenly matched.

Henry (Elijah Alexander) is a playwright whose currently running show centers on a husband (Seann Gallagher) who accuses his wife (Carrie Paff) of adultery. Charlotte, who plays the wife in the play-within-a-play, is also Henrys wife, and hes cheating on her with a younger woman, Annie (Liz Sklar), also an actress. Got all that?

David Allen/Aurora Theatre Company

The other characters exist mostly to give Henry an excuse to play mind games with them, to feel things, to excavate his subconscious or hold forth on pet intellectual topics, but Alexander makes the all-Henry-all-the-time show very worth watching. He especially excels with the tomfoolery in Stoppards language, changing vocal registers, whipping his head to the side, wincing through a misuse of the English language, all with a clowns antic physicality and comic timing.

When Henry speaks of the force of words, rebutting Annies assertion that a storyteller and his story matter more than the inept language he might use to tell them, Alexander is chilling. If you look after (words), you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, theyre no good anymore, he says, channeling all the might of a general leading his army to battle.

The actors single misstep is the one moment in the play when Henry cant find words, with his daughter Debbie (Emily Radosevich); as the character rambles, all fragments and abstract nouns, Alexander performs as if the point of the monologue is to ramble as well, rather than to evince a proud mans effort to find some way, any way, to conceal the cracks in his armor.

The Real Thing isnt really about Henrys betrayal of and divorce from Charlotte, nor is it about its many subsequent betrayals. Nears direction underscores its less pulpy, more inward trajectory: that of one writer to find the feelings beneath the words, and then the words for those feelings.

Lily Janiak is The San Francisco Chronicles theater critic. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

The Real Thing: By Tom Stoppard. Directed by Timothy Near. Through March 5. Two hours, 30 minutes. $32-$65. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St., S.F. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org
SACRAMENTO  The man behind a campaign to make California its own country is receiving support in Russia from a far-right nationalist group that wants to break up the United States.

Yes California President Louis Marinelli, who is living and teaching in Russia, has partnered and received financial support from the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, a Kremlin-supported political group that opposes a handful of countries, such as the United States, having a majority of the worlds political clout.

His relationship with the Russian group has caused rifts with some California-based proponents of the secession  known as Calexit  who want nothing to do with a country accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

State campaign finance experts say financial ties between Yes California and the Russian group could violate state laws forbidding foreign groups from contributing to ballot campaigns.

Yes California is currently collecting petition signatures to qualify a measure on the 2018 ballot that would remove language from the state Constitution describing California as an inseparable part of the United States of America. If that measure succeeds, a future ballot measure would ask voters whether the state should secede. The proposed initiative would need more than 585,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot.

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

A surprising number of Californians  1 out of 3  said they support the idea of the state peacefully withdrawing from the union, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll last month.

Constitutional law experts say its virtually impossible for the Golden State to break away since it would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution and support from three-fourths of state legislatures.

Still, interest is driving donations to the proposed ballot measure. Between Jan. 29 and Feb. 2, more than $1,200 from 22 donations flowed into the ballot measure committee, according to data Marinelli shared with The Chronicle. He said 946 people have donated to the ballot measure, mostly in contributions of $25 to $35, although some have given as much as $1,000. He did not disclose how much the group has taken in all together.

Marinelli, a 30-year-old New Yorker by birth and upbringing, is unapologetic about his efforts to advocate in Russia for Californias secession. He graciously accepts numerous American media interviews and has been featured positively on many occasions in Russian state media. Marinelli, who first moved to California in 2006, said his focus is on one thing, despite growing criticism of his motives.

I want California to separate from the negativity and the dysfunction and the corruption and the broken system we live under, said Marinelli, who teaches at a language school in Yekaterinburg, Russia. I just want to live in a country Im proud of. Im not proud of the United States or Washington, D.C. I am proud of California.

He said he is not surprised by the attention his current residence is receiving in the United States.

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The United States has always tried to train its people to be afraid of Russia and Russians, he said. There is always some kind of common enemy that the American system tries to unite the people against when in reality the people should be uniting against the people in Washington. The people in Washington are the enemy, not the people in the rest of the world. Those people in Washington are masters of propaganda and have a machine of fear that they are good at executing.

Marinellis own political background is complex. He was a Republican and a Democrat before running as an independent candidate for the state Assembly last year. He voted for President Trump in November, then quickly used the election to drum up support for the secession campaign. He said he has not seen convincing evidence that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump win the White House, despite the CIA and FBI believing so.

I dont take the word of the intelligence community, he said. I want to see the evidence myself.

Hes also no stranger to controversy, having previously worked from Russia against gay marriage before returning to the United States to be a strategist for the National Organization for Marriage. He went on to write a book about his change of heart to supporting gay rights.

Marinelli said he is confident he isnt running afoul of campaign finance laws. He said he accepted a free hotel room from the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia when he attended a conference in September to promote Yes California. That was before the ballot measure was filed, but he used his speech at the conference to ask for Russia and other countries to acknowledge and support the results of the ballot measure.

That conference of foreign secessionists was partially funded by a $50,000 grant from a Kremlin-backed charity founded by President Vladimir Putin. The Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia is also providing rent-free office space for what Yes California is promoting as a California embassy in Moscow. The two groups will partner for an upcoming exhibit promoting Californias culture.

Marinelli said the Yes Californias embassy is separate from the groups ballot measure.

State law forbids any ballot measure committee from accepting contributions from a foreign government, foreign political party or any noncitizen. Those contributions can be cash or nonmonetary, such as a hotel room or other gifts.

The reason is that the people trying to influence our decisions at the ballot box should be those affected by those decisions, said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Law School and president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. The purpose is we dont necessarily trust foreign governments to meddle in our business and we worry about the motives.

Experts say Russia and groups like the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia have a motive for promoting secessionist movements in the West. Edward Walker, executive director of the UC Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, said anything that creates fissures in the West would benefit Russia and its political elite.

Its to weaken the West, Walker said.

But other secession groups say the only thing being weakened is their efforts to see California split from the United States. And many blame Marinelli.

We see (Yes California) as a Russian front organization engaged in an attempt to coup the genuine California movement for independence, said Jed Wheeler, an Oakland resident who is vice chairman of the California National Party, a political group that wants to see California gain its independence.

Marinelli was part of the group that created the California National Party and is feuding with its new leadership. The party has not taken a position on the ballot measure, although some members are supporting it.

This movement is not because of Russia; its happening in spite of Russia, Wheeler said. Others echoed his comments.

Timothy Vollmer, who supports the ballot measure but is not affiliated with Yes California, said the secession movement in the state would have happened without Marinelli or Yes California.

Vollmer, who is helping gather signatures for the ballot measure in the Bay Area, said many Californians feel disenfranchised, particularly after President Trump won the election without winning the popular vote.

Basically, my vote didnt count, he said. I still flush and get furious when I think about it.

And thats why he gets frustrated by the growing attention on Marinelli.

Its demeaning and condescending to suggest that California would do something at the snap of someones fingers 6,000 miles away, Vollmer said. This is much bigger than one person.

The attention on Marinelli prompted Yes California to make all of its chapters independent. Marcus Ruiz Evans, who founded Yes California with Marinelli, said the baggage associated with Marinelli and the Russia questions prompted the group to tell chapters they were free to do as they please. He said they all have one mission  for California to gain independence  and there is only one ballot measure that would take the first step toward that.

Marinelli plans to fly to Los Angeles for a Yes California media conference Feb. 13 with hopes of ending the uncertainty about him and his motives.

Marinelli said he plans to return to California when immigration issues related to his Russian wife are finalized and he lands a new job in the state. In the meantime, he said his focus is on the ballot measure and the embassy, which he said will be privately funded or self-sufficient. He said Yes California staffers are awaiting visas in order to staff the embassy.

He said the embassy will showcase the values Californians believe in  such as talking about the importance of LGBTQ rights and womens equality  at an event this month with the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

This is an opportunity to promote those values in Russia, he said. This is a country that needs to hear that message.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
San Francisco, long a bastion of erotic freedom and home to groups celebrating alternative sexuality, has welcomed a newcomer into the fold  Skirt Club, a British sex club for women.

Skirt Club was created in London in 2013  not for lesbians, but for straight and bisexual women interested in experimentation, said founder Genevieve LeJeune, 35. Skirt Club has since opened chapters in Berlin, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

The bisexual LeJeune, a former finance executive, was motivated by bad experiences at play parties with a former boyfriend.

Id walk in, having purchased a ticket, and Id be mauled by lots of men standing naked, beer inside of them  no respect, LeJeune said at a cocktail launch party at Monarch bar in SoMa on Feb. 2.

Her boyfriend was also tone-deaf about her needs. Being a bisexual female somehow gave him the license to point out the females in the room he wanted me to kiss, so suddenly it was his threesome, his fantasy, LeJeune said.  I felt very pressured by men, generally. I just thought this had to stop.

She created her own club, aiming to attract members shed want to mingle with  professional women ages 18 to 49 who identify as straight or bisexual. Members who pay $150 for a ticket are admitted to play parties, where they can engage in sexual experimentation anonymously and judgment-free, LeJeaune said.

A subsequent boyfriend, now her husband, told her it wouldnt work, because women wouldnt pay $150 for a ticket to a sex party. Turns out LeJeune has discovered an untapped market. With the relaxing of social and cultural mores during the past decade, LeJeune and others say its easier to be open about sexual fluidity. Skirt Clubs membership, LeJeune said, now counts 6,000 members worldwide.

Carolyne Zinko/San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco launch drew about 75 women in their 20s and 30s  including lawyers, tech workers and marketers  clad in little black dresses, stilettos and makeup. They sipped sparkling wine and nibbled on strawberries and chocolate-covered almonds before the evenings program began. That included a welcome by LeJeune, two performances by burlesque dancer Bovixxen and a brief and humorous tutorial in the art of erotic hair-pulling and spanking by the Girl Sex 101 author Allison Moon. Dare cards were handed out, with instructions like kiss the girl closest to you on the cheek, and give the girl closest to you a neck massage. Attendees later broke into groups, where rounds of spin-the-bottle ensued.

Prospective members fill out forms on Skirt Clubs website that include self-assessment on the Kinsey scale (a heterosexual-homosexual rating). Only vetted, accepted members are permitted to buy tickets ($150 each) to play parties, held in private homes.

LeJeune believes hers is the worlds only bisexual sex club for women, a contention some in the Bay Area might dispute. In decades past, female sex clubs included Club Cream at Eros and the Klit Club. Today, Exiles gather at the Center for Sex and Culture, and girlpile, an underground play party, said San Francisco sexologist Carol Queen, while Club Kiss nights are held at Mission Control, which has moved from San Francisco to Oakland.

It is in no way new for women to gather for their erotic interest in the Bay Area, but it might be theyre doing it in a relatively new way, Queen said.

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.

LeJeunes motto, confidence in the bedroom leads to confidence in the boardroom, certainly puts a 21st century spin on an old practice.

You come to one of our play parties  it takes a lot of guts, LeJeune said. Youre going by yourself  lets face it, youre not going to bring your sister or a friend  to an event and its at someones private home. Thats a pretty scary thing to do. I guarantee you, Monday morning when youre at that board meeting, doing your presentation, you wont give a flying f anymore, because no one else in that room would have had the guts to have done that on their own.

Carolyne Zinko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: czinko@sfchronicle.com
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(c) 2017, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - More people may be arrested in connection with violent Inauguration Day protests as authorities sort through evidence of the rioting that left six police officers injured and caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage to vehicles and store windows, a District of Columbia prosecutor said.

During the Jan. 20 inauguration for President Donald Trump, 230 people - many of whom defense attorneys said are college students who live outside of the District, Maryland or Virginia - were detained in a mass arrest and charged with felony rioting. Since then, authorities have been working through the cases in an effort to identify each person's role, then pursuing some cases and dismissing others.

As of Friday, prosecutors had dropped charges against nine people. Four of those are journalists who were swept up as they reported on the protests; prosecutors would not say why they dropped the cases against the other five.

Court records show that 63 of the arrestees have so far been indicted on a charge of felony rioting, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. The remaining cases are making their way through the court system.

In D.C. Superior Court last week, one of the lead prosecutors told a judge additional arrests, as well as dismissals, could occur in coming days.

"We are continuing to get new information every day. In the next week or two we expect to bring in more defendants," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff told Judge Danya Dayson during the Thursday hearing.

Investigators within the office are working to view still photos and hundreds of hours of video to pinpoint the actions of people involved in the rioting. Undercover D.C. police officers were dispatched at the protests with cameras, according to a court charging document. And D.C. officers wore body cameras during their interactions with protesters.

Several videos have been circulated publicly, some of which have been posted on Youtube.

Still, identifying particular people may be a challenge as many had their faces covered with goggles, hats and black scarves.

In addition, defense attorney Jason Flores-Williams said three of his clients received emails from Facebook alerting them that prosecutors have subpoenaed information from their accounts. Flores-Williams said he plans to seek a court injunction blocking Facebook from releasing the information.

The attorney said he believes prosecutors wanted to look at the postings and friends of his clients.

"This violates their rights. And what does that have to do with the case? It's broad and overreaching. They're just trying to intimidate people and scare them," Flores-Williams said.

A spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the Facebook request allegations, or generally on the cases.

A Facebook spokesman Friday confirmed such emails have been sent to users regarding subpoenas involving the inauguration protests, but the spokesman declined to comment further.

At last week's hearing for 10 of those indicted, one defense attorney showed some signs of his strategy in the case. Matthew Davies, with the District's Public Defender Service, argued that the U.S. attorney's office should recuse itself from prosecuting the case, because the president selects and nominates the U.S. attorney. Defense attorneys have argued that a special prosecutor or even prosecutors within the District's Office of the Attorney General should be appointed. The judge said she would respond to the attorney's petition at a later date.

Davies represents 22-year-old Breton Strasburger of Pittsburgh, who is charged with rioting. He also argued prosecutors had failed to specificy what his client - or any of the defendants - were alleged to be doing at the time of their arrests.

In charging documents, authorities recount the actions of the group but do not elaborate on any individual's alleged role.

Some defense attorneys for the protesters have argued prosecutors are rushing to indict the defendants to avoid preliminary hearings, where the prosecutor would have to present evidence of the allegations.

"Without such specifics or merit, a judge could find there is no probable cause and order the case dismissed," said Betty Ballister, head of the court's Trial Lawyer's Association, who is not involved in the case. "They don't want to have to prove their case early on."

D.C. authorities had prepared for the possibility of mass arrests. In anticipation of the large number of protests on Inauguration Day, prosecutors met with police officials and attorneys within the D.C. police department to discuss strategies.

The case has been assigned to the U.S. attorney's office major crimes unit, a division that includes veteran homicide prosecutors such as Kerkhoff.

The incidents occurred in a four-block area.

Other cases have shown the challenges of prosecuting those picked up in mass arrests. Last November in Portland, Oregon, 120 people who were part of an anti-Trump demonstration were detained. Two months later, prosecutors were forced to dismiss the cases of about 80 of them. The cases were dropped, largely, was because police were unable to identify each person arrested as being involved in criminal activity by viewing video taken during the arrests.

Reviewing hundreds of hours of video footage, said Kirsten Snowden, chief deputy district attorney for Portland, was not an option. "It was painstaking and very time consuming," she said. Snowden said since most of the cases were dropped were misdemeanors, her office was then allowed to focus on the more serious felony offenses such as vandalism. Unlike in Washington, only two people arrested in Portland were charged with rioting.
Police determined that carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death for a Berkeley couple found dead in their apartment, along with their two cats, officials said Friday.

Roger Morash, 35, and Valerie Morash, 32, were found by a friend paying the couple a visit on the 3000 block of Deakin Street on Jan. 23, said Officer Byron White, a spokesman for the Berkeley Police Department.
Hashtag this

#BowlingGreenMassacre

When presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway falsely spoke Thursday night of a Bowling Green massacre by Iraqi refugees, the Twitterverse was quick to attack  or at least have a laugh at her expense. A parody Jill Biden account tweeted, Those 3-5 million people we lost in the #BowlingGreenMassacre voted for Hillary Clinton illegally. There were mock Facebook Safety Check posts, plus lots of videos that put the bowling in Bowling Green. Conway acknowledged and corrected her statement Friday morning on Twitter .

Acquisition is out of this world

Planet Labs, a San Francisco startup that launches small satellites into orbit and sells the imagery, is acquiring the Terra Bella satellite business of Alphabet in a bid to take on larger rivals. In return, Alphabets Google is taking a stake in the startup. Google has also agreed to purchase satellite images captured by Planet in a multiyear deal. The companies declined to share financial terms.

Nordstrom drops Ivanka Trump

Nordstrom said Thursday that it has decided to put the brakes on its relationship with Ivanka Trump and removed her brand from a list on its site. The move comes amid a #GrabYourWallet campaign to encourage shoppers to boycott products with ties to President Trump. In November, Nordstrom defended its decision to sell Ivanka Trumps products. We hope that offering a vendors products isnt misunderstood as us taking a political position, the company tweeted Nov. 2. Were not.

Compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing
BEIJING  Zhang Heng barged through an exam-room door, surprising a doctor and a patient. He didnt have time to knock. In Zhangs business, every second counts.

You have to hand it directly to the person, said Zhang, one of the legions of package couriers in Beijing who help power Chinas online shopping boom. He spoke as he blitzed through a surgical wing, medical storeroom and patient ward delivering parcels small and large, soft and square, to doctors and nurses in an effort to ensure the right person gets the right package.

Otherwise, Zhang said, you may get fined.

The Chinese e-commerce industry has been built on the backs of couriers  called kuaidi, or express delivery, in China  like Zhang. They number 1.2 million, by one survey, and online retailers like Alibaba use them to zip packages to customers by scooter or three-wheeled electric cart. Across China, the worlds largest market for package delivery, a courier shouting kuaidi! through a door or a phone signals your package has arrived.

But for the couriers  who are largely unskilled workers from Chinas interior  the work can be low-paying and difficult. It is coming under scrutiny from labor activists and legal experts who say many couriers face punishing hours and harsh working conditions.

Nearly one-quarter of them work more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the survey, which covered 40,000 couriers and was conducted by Beijing Jiaotong University and Alibabas research and logistics arms. A majority work more than eight hours a day each day of the week.

Labor standards in the industry vary widely, but many couriers work under arrangements that might, for example, provide no overtime pay or no employer contributions to their government health care and pension benefits. Just as in the United States, where Uber drivers and many others work as contractors, those arrangements raise questions about what defines work and employment.

Couriers, meanwhile, complain about fines. Some delivery companies penalize them if they do not deliver all the mornings packages by 2 p.m. Poor penmanship, damage to a package or customer complaints can also result in fines, which can add up to a weeks pay.

Im here to make money, said Zhang, a 28-year-old former coal miner from Shanxi province who is saving money to build a home, widely seen in the countryside as indispensable in attracting a wife. If Im not diligent now, Im going to regret it. Im almost 30 and still single.

China hopes to move away from manufacturing and seeks to build a more service-oriented economy led by accountants, lawyers and other professionals. Yet for migrant workers at the bottom of the pay scale, service work can mean conditions not unlike those in Chinas factories, where lax enforcement has long led to excessive overtime and unsafe conditions.

Some couriers work directly for companies such as JD.com, an e-commerce retailer, or SF Express, a delivery service. Others drive for a group of delivery companies that dominate the business of ferrying packages on behalf of online retailers like Alibaba. One of those companies, ZTO Express, last year raised $1.4 billion in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

Those companies run nationwide distribution networks but rely on smaller companies for last-mile delivery  and there the relationships can become murky. Those smaller companies, which are franchisees of the big delivery companies, sign up drivers as employees or contractors. Some of those drivers subcontract their work to other drivers.

Those arrangements often result in couriers who drive under the name of a big delivery company but whose hours and terms are only loosely managed, experts say. For example, many drivers lack workers compensation benefits or insurance in case of accidents, said Jin Yingjie, a professor specializing in labor law at the China University of Political Science and Law.

Delivery companies should work to bring the industry into the confines of the labor law, she said.

Meanwhile, tough conditions have led to unrest among couriers, said Keegan Elmer, a researcher for China Labor Bulletin, a workers rights group in Hong Kong. His group has seen disputes in a number of Chinese cities, he said, along with a rise in strikes as economic growth slows.

The delivery companies are pushing drivers to the point of taking collective action, Elmer said.

In December, a weeklong strike brought deliveries by one package company partly owned by Alibaba, YTO Express, to a halt in Baoji, a city in Shaanxi province.

Wheres our October pay? one of the deliverymen told a local TV station. There needs to be someone in charge handling this. Theres nobody.

A spokeswoman for YTO Express said the strike was caused by a franchisee who did not promptly calculate fees or properly communicate with couriers.

Alibaba is a leader in big-data technology, an Alibaba spokesman said in a statement. Taking advantage of that strength, we are committed to helping the logistics industry improve its efficiency and the working conditions for couriers and other industry participants.

Most couriers make about $300 to $600 a month, according to the Jiaotong study  an amount roughly equal to the wages of Chinas migrant factory workers. They can deliver 150 packages on a weekday, drivers said, sometimes helped by making mass deliveries to office buildings.

Couriers generally make about 15 cents per package delivered, according to drivers and reports in the state news media, though they can make more by picking up outgoing packages from customers or through other tasks.

The work initially appealed to many as package volume boomed. But their pay per package has barely budged as competition intensified and more drivers entered the market. About 40 percent of couriers quit within a year, according to the Jiaotong study.

Most deliverymen are like me, said Lu Yong, who quit in December. They work for three months and realize its no good.

Lu, 29, of Henan province, spent years assembling electronics in the southern province of Guangdong before going to work for a ZTO Express franchisee in Beijing. The factories lack the same freedom as delivery, but its not cold like here, he said. And every month you get four days of rest, too.

Lus November pay slip showed that he was paid $382 on 4,291 packages delivered, after fines and other expenses including his uniform. He says he pays for maintenance on his cart, which bears ZTOs logo, including new tires, replacement batteries and new brakes. He also said he never signed a labor contract.

James Guo, the chief financial officer of ZTO Express, said that it requires its franchisees to comply with local laws but that its not up to us to manage or control the compensation of our deliverymen.

Some thrive. Li Pengbo, 21, from Henan province, drives for Best Express, another large delivery company in which Alibaba owns a stake. He dominates the area he subcontracted from a Best Express franchisee, he said, and earns about $2,000 a month.

Since the sixth day of the last Chinese New Year until now, I havent rested, not a single day, Li said, describing an 11-month stretch. I work from 6:30 in the morning until 11 or 12 p.m. at night.

My family is poor. This bitterness is nothing compared to what theyve gone through.

A spokeswoman for Best Express said its franchisees are required to follow labor laws.

Franchisees say they have borne the brunt of declining delivery prices. If we can turn a profit eight months of the year, thats not bad, said Wang Lin, a franchisee in Beijing for another delivery company, STO Express.

Wang said her franchise does not pay for driver benefits because the drivers are contractors, not employees.

Frankly its not a very good job, she said. Its extremely tiring, the salary is not high, and the responsibility and risks are great. We dont have a stable workforce.

Ryan McMorrow is a New York Times writer.
Trading of Macys stock was briefly halted Friday after its price shot up unusually quickly, apparently fueled by a news report that the retail giant is in preliminary talks to be acquired by Hudsons Bay, a Canadian department store empire.

The merger discussions, which were reported by the Wall Street Journal, come as each company is facing an identity crisis. Department stores have been pummeled by major changes in shopping patterns: Much of our spending is moving online, where these businesses have struggled to grab market share. Meanwhile, women are shifting in droves to buying their clothes at off-price stores such as T.J. Maxx or fast-fashion outposts such as H&M or Zara.

The companies might see joining forces as a way to bolster their brands in the fight to win over shoppers. Macys saw dismal sales during the holiday season, and recently announced that it would slash 10,000 jobs. At Hudsons Bay, a sprawling business that includes Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, things werent quite as grim, but holiday results suggest that the company is still facing challenges in connecting with shoppers.

Both companies are no strangers to mergers. In 2005, when Macys was known as Federated Department Stores, it purchased May Department Stores for $11 billion, a deal that created the largest department store company in the United States. Hudsons Bay acquired Saks Fifth Avenue in 2013 for $2.4 billion. Last year, it scooped up Gilt, an e-commerce startup, to help it strengthen its digital know-how.

Macys stock rose as much as 12 percent during the session on the New York Stock Exchange. Occasionally, trading can be automatically halted if it is swinging wildly, and the exchange says that is what happened in this case.

The stock ended ending the day up more than 6 percent, or $1.89, at $32.61. Shares have been down 21 percent over the past 52 weeks.

In an email, a Macys spokeswoman said, We do not comment on rumors and speculation. A representative for Hudsons Bay also declined comment.

Hudsons Bay has 485 stores worldwide; Macys has more than 800. Hudsons Bay has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, compared with $10.64 billion for Macys.

The report of a possible deal comes as Macys prepares for a long-planned changing of the guard. CEO Terry Lundgren will step down and be replaced by Jeff Gennette. Company veteran Peter Sachse, the chief growth officer, was pushed out in recent weeks.

Macys has been trying a variety of tactics to boost its business. It has invested in new concepts, including an off-price store called Macys Backstage that was intended to get a piece of some of the success enjoyed by off-price chains such as Nordstrom Rack. It also purchased Bluemercury, a specialty beauty and spa chain. And it has been closing stores, an acknowledgment that online shopping is making it unnecessary to have so many locations.

And then there have been moves that are more visible to Wall Street than to shoppers: It has been working to figure out how it might unlock value from its lucrative real estate portfolio.

Sarah Halzack is a Washington Post writer.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

A San Francisco Sheriffs deputy gave her department-issued pistol to a former inmate she allegedly had a relationship with, then claimed it was stolen in a robbery at her home that never happened, federal prosecutors said Friday.

April Myres, 52, filed a claim with her insurance company in March 2016 alleging the theft of her personal property  including Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Versace handbags, Gucci shoes, and her handgun  according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of California.
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A retired Oakland police sergeant has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of failing to sound the alarm on child abuse that unraveled into a widespread sexual misconduct scandal involving the teenage daughter of a police dispatcher and the contact she had with officers and sheriffs deputies from across the Bay Area.

An attorney for Leroy Johnson, 51, entered the plea on his behalf last month in Alameda County Superior Court, said Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the district attorney. He was sentenced to three years of court probation and had to pay a $240 fine along with $150 to a restitution fund  both standard penalties.

Johnson, the only veteran Oakland police officer to be charged in the scandal, now lives in Texas. He and the teenager were family friends, prosecutors said.

With his sentence, he was ordered not to contact the young woman.

The teenager told Johnson in a Facebook message in September 2015 that she had sex with several of his colleagues in the Oakland Police Department, prosecutors said. According to an affidavit, the young woman saved a screen shot of their conversation and gave it to authorities.

Tell me you were (an) adult, Johnson said to the teenager, who at that point had turned 18, according to the affidavit.

Id (be) lying, she responded.

Johnson is the first of six current and former officers charged by the Alameda County district attorney to have his criminal case settled. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the Richmond teenager at the center of the scandal are gearing up for what could be massive legal action against the cities and counties whose law enforcement officers were accused of inappropriate contact.

The scandal particularly jolted Oakland, whose police force went through three chiefs in less than two weeks amid revelations of widespread misconduct. After a months-long search, Anne Kirkpatrick, known by colleagues as a reformer, was selected as the new top cop. She will be sworn in later this month.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
The San Francisco Police Department is asking the publics help in identifying a homicide suspect caught on security video running from the scene of a homicide that occurred over the weekend about a block from a senior living home, officials said Friday.

Marco Diaz Perez, a 58-year-old San Francisco resident, was assaulted and killed about 9 a.m. Sunday in the area of Mission Street and Excelsior Avenue, near the Jewish Home of San Francisco, police said.
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It's that time of year again. The Knot released its annual report on wedding trends, and the average cost for 2016 comes to ... drum roll please ... $35,329. This is an 8 percent increase from the 2015 average of $32,641.

That's a national average, with a lot of variation across the country. According to the Knot's study of 13,000 heterosexual couples who married in the United States last year, the most expensive place to get hitched is Manhattan, with the average wedding there costing $78,464; and the most affordable spot is Arkansas, at an average of $19,522. The survey found that, on average, a bride's parents cover 44 percent of the overall wedding budget; the couple contribute 42 percent; and a groom's parents' pay for 13 percent. However, 10 percent of couples pay for their weddings entirely on their own.

Last year, we brainstormed five things you could get for about the same price as a wedding: a boat, a trip around the world, two years of graduate school tuition, one year of college for 10 women in Africa or 82,000 meals for people in the Washington, D.C., area. We're keeping that tradition alive with six new ideas of how to spend $35,000 if you were to forgo a wedding altogether.

More for you Here's how much people are spending to get married in San Francisco

1) Food truck: $34,000

Some couples rent food trucks as a low-cost catering option at their weddings. However, an entrepreneurial couple could buy their own food truck for the price of a wedding - Craigslist recently had a posting in the D.C. area for a food truck with a 14-foot kitchen includes a griddle, deep fryer, stove, salad bar unit, freezer and more for $34,000. Parking permits and taco shells sold separately.

2) Model 3 Tesla: $35,000

Let's say you're in the market for a less-clunky vehicle than a food truck. There's the "Tesla for the masses," available at just $35,000 (compared to their other models, which range from $68,000 to $140,000). After the electric-vehicle tax credit, you'll have $7,000 or so left over to fund your honeymoon.

3) Feed 350 school children, on weekends, for an entire school year: $35,000

The average amount spent on catering at a wedding in 2016 was $71 per guest. Now, the full price of a wedding could provide food for 350 school children on the weekends. According to its website, the nonprofit organization Blessings in a Backpack provides food to 89,000 children who get free meals at school but can't always count on being fed over the weekends.

4) Tiny home: $35,000

In a tiny home (typically 300 square feet), you'd have no room for wedding gifts anyway, so good thing you're skipping the nuptials. The Tiny House Blog puts the average contractor-built tiny house at $35,000, though there's quite a range out there.

5) Go on $35,000 worth of extravagant dinner dates

Let's see: For about $16,000, two people can dine at the world's 12 most expensive restaurants -- according to this list from Forbes - in New York, Spain, France, Japan, Beverly Hills and more. That leaves about $20,000 left over for airfare and hotels, which should do just fine as long as you're not flying first-class and staying at the world's most expensive hotels.

6) Four tickets on the 50-yard line at the Super Bowl: $36,000

According to TicketCity, around $9,000 will get you a club-level premium ticket to this year's Super Bowl on the 50-yard line. For $36,000, you and your significant other can go - and bring your best friends along.
LAS VEGAS  A federal jury in Nevada is about to be picked to decide whether a tense standoff pitting armed ranchers and rangers against federal agents over a herd of cattle in a dry river bed amounted to a peaceful expression of free speech and weapon rights, or an insurrection against the U.S. government.

Trial begins Monday in Las Vegas for six men  the first of a trio of proceedings for 17 defendants that will later include Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy, four of his adult sons and seven other men. Each is facing the equivalent of the rest of his life in prison for the confrontation nearly three years ago.

The courtroom showdown is the latest battle over Western federal land policy dating to the Sagebrush Rebellion in Nevada more than 40 years ago. A jury in Oregon in October acquitted seven people, including two Bundy brothers, of federal conspiracy and weapon charges in an occupation of a federal wildlife refuge.

Theyre not the Bundys, said Todd Leventhal, attorney for defendant Orville Scott Drexler, one of the six whose case begins Monday. But realistically, this is a Bundy case. The outcome of this trial affects the other two.

Although theyve been characterized as the least culpable followers and gunmen among the 19 men arrested a year ago, stakes are high for Drexler, Todd Engel, Eric Parker and Steven Stewart, all of Idaho, Gregory Burleson of Phoenix and Richard Lovelein of Oklahoma.

Two other defendants previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and are expected to be sentenced in coming months to up to six years in prison. They are not expected to testify.

If convicted of all 10 charges, including conspiracy, firearm offenses and assault on a federal officer, each of the six could face up to 101 years in prison.

This is not an undercard for Mr. Lovelien, defense attorney Shawn Perez said of his client. It is the main event.

The six are accused of bringing guns to the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to support Bundy family members against U.S. Bureau of Land Management agents enforcing federal court orders to herd Bundy cows off public rangeland in the scenic Gold Butte area.

Hundreds of supporters were in a dry riverbed when the standoff took place, and dozens of self-styled militia members from across the nation remained for months afterward in dusty and windy camps around the Bundy ranch.

At the height of the protests, they blocked roads, gave speeches, flew flags and set up armed checkpoints to protect the rancher who declares that the federal government doesnt own the land, the people do.

The standoff came to a dramatic end April 12, 2014, with Bundy backers positioned on a high Interstate 15 overpass pointing military-style AR-15 and AK-47 weapons at heavily armed land management agents and contract cowboys herding cattle toward a corral in a dry wash below.

Las Vegas police stood by without interfering, after then-Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie negotiated a stand-down that was to have had the federal agents release the cows and abandon the cattle roundup.

The government may also have to overcome a potentially damaging new BLM inspector general ethics and conduct report, made public this week.

It said the Salt Lake City-based land management supervisory agent who headed the Bundy cattle roundup misused his position during the 2015 Burning Man festival in northern Nevada, and manipulated a hiring process so a friend could get a bureau job.

Jury selection is expected to take several days before prosecutors begin outlining the government case.

Ken Ritter is an Associated Press writer.
1 Supreme Court: Vice President Mike Pence pledged Saturday that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch will join the nations highest court one way or the other. Pence made the pledge during a speech in Philadelphia to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. His remarks echoed President Trumps comments last week in which the president urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to scrap long-standing rules requiring 60 votes if Democrats move to block Gorsuch. Trump announced Gorsuch, 49, a judge on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as his choice Tuesday to fill the opening created by last Februarys death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

2 Prison uprising: The Delaware State Police says a prison building that was the site of an inmate uprising in which a guard died last week has been turned back over to the Delaware Department of Correction. State Police said they cleared the crime scene late Friday and turned Building C at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna back over to corrections officials. A vigil for the guard who died, 47-year-old Steven Floyd, was held Friday at Smyrna Municipal Park. Floyd was one of four staff members taken hostage Wednesday.
NEW YORK  President Trumps heated rush to launch what he said would be a major investigation into voter fraud has cooled, leaving White House staff uncertain when it will come to pass or what shape it will take.

An executive action commissioning the probe is still planned but could be several weeks away, said two senior administration officials. Although Trump instructed staff to jump on the project shortly after taking office, he has not discussed the issue in recent days, according to two other people in close touch with the president. All demanded anonymity to discuss private conservations.

Asked about the status of the effort, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said: I do not have an update at this time.

The indefinite delay comes as some of Trumps advisers counseled him to abandon the idea, arguing it was a distraction from more pressing issues. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in last Novembers election. Trump won the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote by almost 2.9 million votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The episode is a striking example of the new presidents mercurial streak and his willingness to impulsively seize on ideas with little planning and sometimes later reverse course when encountering obstacles or criticism.

A senior official said the investigation, which Trump never publicly discussed in detail, has become less of a priority because it has been drowned out by other White House efforts, including attempts to manage the chaotic aftermath of Trumps executive order restricting immigration. The investigation probably would not be considered until well after the confirmation of Trumps pick for attorney general, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the official said.

That would be a marked change from the breakneck pace by which the order was introduced. In his earliest days in office, Trump appeared to be fixated on the election results and frustrated by political opponents who questioned the legitimacy of his victory.

At his first meeting with bipartisan lawmakers, he declared he believed that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in November, a widely debunked assertion that sent the White House scrambling to craft an order that met the presidents wishes.

Two days later, Trump announced a major investigation in a pair of tweets. White House staffers told reporters on the afternoon of Jan. 26 to get ready. But the photo op was abruptly postponed.

Jonathan Lemire is an Associated Press writer.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 6 1 of 6 Courtesy Mountain View Police Department / Courtesy Mountain View Police Department Show More Show Less 2 of 6 Courtesy Mountain View Police Department / Courtesy Mountain View Police Department Show More Show Less 3 of 6 4 of 6 Courtesy Mountain View Police Department / Courtesy Mountain View Police Department Show More Show Less 5 of 6 Courtesy Mountain View Police Department / Courtesy Mountain View Police Department Show More Show Less 6 of 6











A husband and wife were caught with more than 4,000 pounds of opium-producing poppy pods in Mountain View, the largest such seizure in the citys history, police said Friday.

Jasvir Singh, 34, and Donna Santo, 45, were importing large quantities of the poppy known as papaver somniferum from overseas, according to the Mountain View Police Department.
DEATH VALLEY JUNCTION, Inyo County.  A ballerina who drew audiences from around the world to an abandoned Mojave Desert stage she adopted after being stranded in the area by a flat tire in 1967 has died at the age of 92.

Marta Becket was stranded near the remote town of Death Valley Junction about 95 miles west of Las Vegas and said she felt destined to revive it.

With one glimpse inside the towns abandoned social hall, Ms. Becket saw the other half of her life, she told the Associated Press in 2001. A native New Yorker who had performed on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, Ms. Becket moved West to renovate the dilapidated building, which is now an artistic sanctuary known as the Amargosa Opera House.

Louis Kavouras described Ms. Beckets shows as vaudevillian, an assemblage of brief dramatic and comedic pieces, but always with a strange and contemporary twist. Kavouras, chairman of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas department of dance, said Ms. Beckets art never failed to surprise him.

He was mystified when he saw Ms. Becket in 1992, then in her late 60s, rise to her toes and float across the stage in a difficult, shuffling ballet move known as a pas de bourree.

It was magic, Kavouras said, like the hot desert wind flowing across the desert sand.

She continued flitting across the stage in her iconic performances well into her 80s, although health problems slowed her in later years. She gave a final performance in February 2012, before turning the theater over to a nonprofit group.

Tom Walker, a city councilman in North Cowichan, British Columbia, said he and his wife stumbled upon Ms. Beckets act about 15 years ago during a winter RV trip. He described Ms. Becket as a kind, memorable woman, then in her 70s, who talked with him and his wife for 45 minutes after the show and performed for them again on pointe.

She said at the time she was probably the oldest person who could still do that in her ballet slippers, Walker said.

Ms. Becket and her husband rented the building, and she made her debut in 1968 at the Amargosa Opera House. In the beginning, her only patrons were the three Mormon families who lived in the isolated town.

The next nearest town is 23 miles from the opera house, but audiences filled its 114 theater seats so many times over the years that extra chairs sometimes had to be brought in.

It was the spirit of the pieces that I think was so moving in her work, and I think that had a lot to do with where it was and how you discovered it, Kavouras said.

Ms. Becket wrote songs and dialogue, sewed costumes and painted sets. She danced every Monday, Friday and Saturday whether the house was full or empty  as if thousands were watching.

She spent six years drawing and painting imaginary fans on the opera houses walls and painted the ceiling with a blue sky, dancing cherubs, clouds and doves.

I love dance. I love ballet. Its the world I want, she said in 2001. Its mystifying. I feel as if this is what I was intended to do.

Her husband moved in 1983, leaving Ms. Becket and Tom Willett  her longtime friend, master of ceremonies, stagehand, stage manager and silent sidekick  as the towns only residents. Willett died in 2005.

Her story was captured in 2000 in the award-winning documentary Amargosa.

Ms. Beckets autobiography, To Dance on Sands, was published in 2006.

Jeff Mullenhour, Inyo County deputy coroner, said Wednesday that the cause of Ms. Beckets death had not been determined. She died Monday at her home in Death Valley Junction.

Alison Noon and Scott Sonner are Associated Press writers.
This blog is written solely by John Ray, who has a Ph.D. degree in psychology and 200+ papers published in the academic journals of the social sciences. It does occasionally comment on issues in psychology but is mainly aimed at giving a conservative psychologist's view on a broad range of topics. There are very few conservative psychologists.The blog originated in Australia and many (but not most) posts discuss Australian matters. Australians have an unusually good awareness of events outside their own country. Australian newspapers feature news from Britain and the USA not as an afterthought but as a major part of their coverage. So Australians do tend to have a truly Western heart, which is the reason behind the old name for this blog. So events in Australia, Britain and the USA all feature frequently here, plus occasional coverage of other places, particularly Israel.SCOTUS is the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the landThe "GOP" stands for "Grand Old Party" and refers to the Republican party. The GOP is at present center/Right, while the Democrats have been undergoing a steady drift Leftwards and now have policies similar to mainstream European Leftist parties.The ideological identity of both parties has however been very fluid -- almost reversing itself over time. In the mid 19th century, the GOP was the party of big government and concern for minorities while the Democrats advertised themselves as "The party of the white man" -- an orientation that lasted into the mid 20th century in the South. The Democrats are still obsessed with race but have now flipped into support for discrimination AGAINST whites.Was Pope Urban VIII the first Warmist? Below we see him refusing to look through Galileo's telescope. People tend to refuse to consider evidence if what they might discover contradicts what they believe.Climate scientist Lennart Bengtsson said. The warming we have had the last 100 years is so small that if we didnt have meteorologists and climatologists to measure it we wouldnt have noticed it at all.The term "Fascism" is mostly used by the Left as a brainless term of abuse. But when they do make a serious attempt to define it, they produce very complex and elaborate definitions -- e.g. here and here . In fact, Fascism is simply extreme socialism plus nationalism. But great gyrations are needed to avoid mentioning the first part of that recipe, of course.Beatrice Webb, a founder of the London School of Economics and the Fabian Society, and married to a Labour MP, mused in 1922 on whether when English children were "dying from lack of milk", one should extend "the charitable impulse" to Russian and Chinese children who, if saved this year, might anyway die next. Besides, she continued, there was "the larger question of whether those races are desirable inhabitants" and "obviously" one wouldn't "spend one's available income" on "a Central African negro".Hugh Dalton, offered the Colonial Office during Attlee's 1945-51 Labour government, turned it down because "I had a horrid vision of pullulating, poverty stricken, diseased nigger communities, for whom one can do nothing in the short run and who, the more one tries to help them, are querulous and ungrateful."The book,, authored by T.W. Adorno et al. in 1950, has been massively popular among psychologists. It claims that a set of ideas that were popular in the "Progressive"-dominated America of the prewar era were "authoritarian". Leftist regimes always are authoritarian so that claim was not a big problem. What was quite amazing however is that Adorno et al. identified such ideas as "conservative". They were in fact simply popular ideas of the day but ones that had been most heavily promoted by the Left right up until the then-recent WWII. See here for details of prewar "Progressive" thinking.R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reasonFranklin Delano Roosevelt was a war criminal. Both British and American codebreakers had cracked the Japanese naval code so FDR knew what was coming at Pearl Harbor. But for his own political reasons he warned no-one there. So responsibility for the civilian and military deaths at Pearl Harbor lies with FDR as well as with the Japanese. The huge firepower available at Pearl Harbor, both aboard ship and on land, could have largely neutered the attack. Can you imagine 8 battleships and various lesser craft firing all their AA batteries as the Japanese came in? The Japanese naval airforce would have been annihilated and the war would have been over before it began. FDR prolonged the Depression . He certainly didn't cure it. WWII did NOT end the Great Depression . It just concealed it. It in fact made living standards worse Joe McCarthy was eventually proved right after the fall of the Soviet Union. To accuse anyone of McCarthyism is to accuse them of accuracy! The KKK was intimately associated with the Democratic party . They ATTACKED Republicans!People who mention differences in black vs. white IQ are these days almost universally howled down and subjected to the most extreme abuse. I am a psychometrician, however, so I feel obliged to defend the scientific truth of the matter:The average African adult has about the same IQ as an average white 11-year-old and African Americans (who are partly white in ancestry) average out at a mental age of 14. The American Psychological Association is generally Left-leaning but it is the world's most prestigious body of academic psychologists. And even they have had to concede that sort of gap (one SD) in black vs. white average IQ. 11-year olds can do a lot of things but they also have their limits and there are times when such limits need to be allowed for. America's uncivil war was caused by trade protectionism . The slavery issue was just camouflage, as Abraham Lincoln himself admitted . See also here Leftist psychologists have an amusingly simplistic conception of military organizations and military men. They seem to base it on occasions they have seen troops marching together on parade rather than any real knowledge of military men and the military life. They think that military men are "rigid" -- automatons who are unable to adjust to new challenges or think for themselves. What is incomprehensible to them is that being(to use the extreme Prussian term for following orders) actually requires great flexibility -- enough flexibility to put your own ideas and wishes aside and do something very difficult. Ask any soldier if all commands are easy to obey.
Amy Osborne/Special To The Chronicle

A man taking pictures at San Francisco's Twin Peaks was taken to the hospital Thursday evening after two thieves stole his camera and then ran him over when the victim tried to stop their car.

The incident was reported to police at about 6:50 p.m. at Twin Peaks at Christmas Tree Point Road.
I am Kerry Burgess. This is what I think.
A section of the border wall with Mexico in Agua Prieta, Mexico will shine in the night thanks to 1,000 glow in the dark butterfly stickers placed there by students and community members from Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy.

The project, designed by Flagstaff artist Shawn Skabelund, whose daughter, Chiara, attends FALA, was part of the schools annual border trip, organized by art teacher Janeece Henes.

The idea for an art installation at the border wall came to Skabelund about two years ago, and he chose butterflies because they are a symbol of hope, he said. The border wall on the Mexican side contains other art installations like murals and religious imagery, but it is not legal to decorate the side of the wall that faces the United States, Skabelund said.

Henes said the Mexican side of the wall has become a place for artwork, and she has worked on other projects at the border wall.

Its become a place where people can use to build art and to build community, she said. People have come to put beauty on it.

The butterfly installation was originally planned to go in the desert, where Skabelund said most migrants attempting to cross the border will go. However, it was almost impossible logistically to set it up there, he said.

Students putting the butterfly stickers on the wall were joined by students from a high school in Agua Prieta, called Colegio Bilingue Benemerito de las Americas, along with the mayor of Agua Prieta, Hector Rubalcava Gastelum, and the mayor of Douglas, Ariz., the city that borders Agua Prieta, Robert Uribe.

Katie Giovale, a FALA student who went on the trip, said working as an artist and seeing other artwork at the border showed her how powerful art can be.

All of us as artists were able to see how much art can have an impact, she said. Art can send a message to people and it can change perspectives.

Giovale said the part of the trip that struck her the most was visiting Operation Streamline in Tucson, where undocumented immigrants who have been caught in the United States are taken for criminal proceedings.

Dillon Hlohinec said he was taken by surprise at the kindness and friendliness he experienced with people in Mexico.

Everyone was kind, sharing with us, he said. They embraced our company.

Geneva Rusk said the experience humanized border issues for her, and let her see that people who cross the border illegally are people. Rusk said meeting people at a migrant center in Agua Prieta was a powerful experience for her.

Seeing them as people made it even harder to see them dehumanized in court, she said.

Maya Wirtanen said the piece was powerful in bringing people together.

The border art piece was really fun, she said. We worked with so many people. It was cool to see how stickers on a wall can build community.

Justine Kennedy, another student who attended the trip, said it was eye-opening to be on both sides of the border and experience processing of undocumented immigrants.

Kennedy said she would like more people to have the chance to visit the border and learn about the process, which she said might change peoples perspective on immigration and deportation.

It was really inspiring, but it was also really sad, Kennedy said. It was my first time seeing the border in person, so it had been more of a construct to me, not a physical thing. Now I question why we need to separate ourselves with these physical barriers.

Kennedy said work like theirs in controversial spaces can ignite progress.

Its a way to change the world through art, she said.

Chiara Skabelund, Shawns daughter, got emotional talking about the border and current political discussions around it, including President Donald Trumps efforts to complete and fortify the border wall.

Its been really hard coming back with everything thats going on, she said. Seeing how the new administration has done so much thats torn up the country more than its already been is really frustrating. We need to work hard on educating through art.
In their entirety ...

No one should be surprised that groupthink instead of rational choices surround the 13 interconnected bills of the Grand Bargain. It is wholly predictable, given the longevity of the Senate leaders involved. Theyve been working together for nearly two decades. They put in place many of the policies that are now taking a toll on our state. They are the beneficiaries of generous pensions when they retire, excessive pay for their part-time jobs, and the public attention and stature of the positions they hold.

Whats new now is the heat is on. Calls to DO SOMETHING! echo throughout the state. But after decades of living in the Springfield bubble, Senate leaders have forgotten the common Illinoisan in the Grand Bargain.

In doing so, they misread entirely the mood of the people and depth of our troubles. Understand, Illinois is not a middle of the pack state. We are an outlier. We rank at or near the bottom in nearly every financial category, which is what matters to taxpayers and businesses that fund government. Moodys and others in the financial world are now describing our states situation as a death spiral.

We need revolutionary reform, not a bargain with the hostage takers.

Instead, Senate leaders John Cullerton and Christine Radogno propose marginal ineffective pension reform when the choice should be reform that moves new hires into 401(K) style retirement accounts which the vast majority of taxpayers have.

They propose worker compensation reform that neglects the Causation Standard, which is the biggest reform that is needed.

They propose massive gambling expansion  six new casinos - knowing the original gaming bill never met its goal to fund education and that market saturation would ensue.

They propose some procurement reform when the biggest cost to government is labor that is controlled by union collective bargaining agreements that need limits put in place.

They propose consolidation of local government that affects less than five percent of your property tax bill, while ignoring school consolidation which is over 70 percent of your bill.

They propose a massive income tax increase and an ever-shifting list of new taxes without publicly defining any cuts in spending.

And after these proposals, they went to the editorial boards to sell the ideas because they knew if they brought it directly to the people they would be laughed at.

They are out of touch with taxpayers in Illinois. They operate in an environment controlled by lobbyists, crony capitalists, public sector unions, and weak-kneed legislators focused almost exclusively on their next election.

Truly, the inmates are running the asylum. Illinoisans needs independent-minded leaders who know what life is like for families and businesses outside the Capitol Building.

There are better ways and better ideas and my colleagues and I will be proposing them in the coming weeks.
My record on this issue is clear, and has not changed: I support a vetting process that ensures every refugee, migrant or foreign national is not a security threat prior to his or her admission to the United States," Shimkus said in a statement issued Sunday. "Thats why I supported bipartisan legislation to stop the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees until our nations top security officials can be certain that each individual poses no threat to our homeland.

Shimkus said he supports vetting to ensure foreign nationals wanting to enter the U.S. are not a security threat.

MARYVILLE - In the midst of the weekend's controversy over President Donald Trump's executive order to temporarily halt those pursuing entry to the U.S. from seven countries affiliated with terrorist threats, Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15) announced general support for the stepped up effort.

Shimkus said that the world has grown more dangerous, and enemies of the U.S. have become more emboldened in the last eight years.

"It would be irresponsible to ignore these threats, and to allow our inadequate screening of those entering our country from unstable or hostile regions to continue as is," the statement said.

The temporary halt will allow Congress and the new Administration time to evaluate and improve the vetting process, and in the meantime allow Secretary Kelly authority to grant exceptions to the restrictions as needed.

Shimkus said green card holders, who have already undergone extensive screening, should be exempted from the pause.

America is an extraordinarily compassionate country, and we should continue to use our unique capabilities to help those in need around the world," Shimkus said. "So far we have contributed more resources to help Syrian civilians than any other nation, more than $4.5 billion since the start of the crisis. We should continue to provide humanitarian assistance, not only together as a nation, but individually to any of the dozens of non-governmental and faith-based aide organizations doing important work there.

Shimkus reiterated his longheld position that the most immediate way the U.S. can help refugees fleeing Iraq and Syria is "to establish and guarantee safe havens within the region where they can receive vital humanitarian assistance.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- Students of the Staten Island Chinese School performed songs and dances and recited poetry on Saturday to celebrate the Chinese New Year at the Rocco Laurie Intermediate School (I.S. 72) in New Springville.

The Chinese new year celebration helped kick off the Year of the Rooster, which started on Jan. 28.

According to Principal Julie Tam, almost 200 people attended the event.

"It's a once-a-year tradition," said Tam.

The event opened with a lion dance -- a traditional dance in Chinese culture --performed by Tak Wah Kung-Fu Club, Shaolin Temple of Manhattan. The dance, led by Sifu Paula Wong, is a favorite among the children.

"The costume is colorful and the noise of the drums is supposed to scare the evil away and welcome the new year," said Tam.

The students also gave a performance of the "Three Little Pigs" and sang "It's a Small World."

The celebration also featured the "Thank You Song," in which students accompanied the music with sign language.

"It was very touching," said Tam. "The lyrics say how you should be thankful for everything and to appreciate what you have around you."

The performance took place in the cafeteria this year, instead of on stage in the auditorium, due to renovations at the school. Tam said the parents liked the more intimate setting.

"Our parents loved the atmosphere because they were closer to the students," said Tam.

The Staten Island Chinese School offers a link to Asia for about 110 students ages 4 to adult, offering Mandarin and Cantonese classes, tai chi, Chinese calligraphy and kung fu, among other programs.

The Saturday school started in 1971 with only seven students, has since blossomed along with the borough's Chinese American community.

Housed in the I.S. 72 building, the school welcomes people of all backgrounds, and has students from Russia, Poland, Malaysia, Singapore and other places across the globe, as well as a number of Chinese-born youngsters adopted by American parents.

Following the event, there was a luncheon at East Pacific Restaurant at the Staten Island Mall, New Springville.
Screen Shot 2017-02-03 at 7.28.10 PM.png

According to a spokesman for the FDNY, one individual was transported from the scene of the accident to Staten Island University Hospital South in Princes Bay with injuries and is in stable condition.

STATEN ISAND, N.Y. - An accident at the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Arthur Kill Road in Greenridge is causing traffic delays in the area and left one individual with injuries.

A black Dodge Charger and a black BMV collided as one of the vehicles was making the turn from Richmond Avenue on to Arthur Kill Road, according to a witness.

The woman said she hear a very loud "bang" as the two cars collided.

"Traffic is usually a mess in this area at this time but this just made it so much worse," the witness who declined to give her name said.

A spokesman for the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said that the accident is not currently being investigated by the Collision Investigation Squad.

According to a spokesman for the FDNY, one individual was transported from the scene of the accident to Staten Island University Hospital South in Princes Bay with injuries and is in stable condition.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Today's archive page is from April 6, 1970.

An eighth-grader writes a letter to the Advance, expressing concern over the newspaper's coverage of bad news vs. good news.

The letter writer cites the Advance's interest in an incident at school in which a student brought dynamite caps into the building, yet there was no coverage of an Arista assembly.

The letter states: "I am beginning to wonder if, in fact, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew is right when he says that there is a newspaper bias toward reporting EVILS in our society!"

The Advance prints an editor's note, explaining that the publication does indeed publish good news, and that society is composed of both good and evil -- which a newspaper can't ignore.
Anthony C. Ferreri

Anthony Ferreri says the best memory he has of his more than 20 year tenure with Northwell Health is when he was at the helm of Staten Island University Hospital. (Courtesy of Staten Island University Hospital)

(Third-Party-Submitted)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Anthony Ferreri says the best memory he has of his more than 20-year tenure with Northwell Health is when he was at the helm of Staten Island University Hospital.

"The best part of my career is having been the CEO of Staten Island University Hospital. I just loved the opportunity work in the community that I live in, and I couldn't have asked for a better job than having that privilege to do that," said Ferreri.

While he's retiring from Northwell Health, Ferreri says he's not retiring from "working life."

"The plan is to take a look at something I may be able to do in the community. It's my passion, and if I can continue to do things in this community, I'll do so," said Ferreri.

A letter announcing Ferreri's retirement from the company was sent out to staff this week by Northwell Health. It was signed by Michael J. Dowling,

president and CEO of Northwell Health, and Mark Solazzo, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company.



"When it comes to Staten Island, nobody at Northwell Health has had a bigger impact than Anthony Ferreri," says the letter.

"After 11 years leading Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) during one of the most successful eras of the hospital's history, Tony went on to make his mark in expanding Northwell's footprint in Westchester County and elsewhere as the health system's chief affiliation officer, helping to negotiate agreements to acquire Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow and Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco," states the letter.

40-YEAR-LONG CAREER

Ferreri's career in health care spans more than 40 years in administrative and human resources positions.

"He leaves an impressive 20-year legacy at SIUH (Staten Island University Hospital), beginning in 1995 when he was appointed to the hospital's Board of Trustees," the letter states.

A year later in 1996, the hospital board voted to join what was then known as the North Shore Health System, becoming only the second New York City hospital to join the health network that now includes 21 hospitals and 550 outpatient practices, according to Northwell Health.

Ferreri was hired in 2001 as executive vice president, and was appointed as the hospital's president and chief executive officer in 2003 - a position he would hold for the next 11 years.

"During his tenure, he led the hospital's courageous response to the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash that killed 11 and injured 71. He also oversaw the hospital's 2011 evacuation in the hours leading up to Hurricane Irene," says the Northwell Health letter.

"A year later, he led the hospital's preparation and response efforts to Super Storm Sandy, which killed 24 Staten Islanders and displaced thousands of local residents - including many SIUH employees -- from their homes. He played a key role in helping to secure $23 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to fund repairs and support flood abatement efforts," the letter continued.



During his years as CEO, Ferreri also led successful capital campaigns for construction of the Regina McGinn Education Center and the Elizabeth Connelly Emergency and Trauma Center.



In January 2015, he was appointed regional executive director for Westchester before his promotion as chief affiliation officer in early 2016.

Ferreri was awarded a doctorate in business administration from California Coast University in 2016.

BOUT WITH BREAST CANCER

During his tenure at Staten Island University Hospital, Ferreri had a triple cardiac bypass, and a few years later he battled breast cancer. Subsequent surgery and treatment followed.

Ferreri earned a master of science degree in human resources and industrial relations from Rutgers University and a bachelor of arts degree in social studies from Wagner College, where he's a member of the adjunct faculty in the Nursing Practice Management Doctoral Program.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A local not-for-profit hosted a celebration on Saturday to highlight those who made an impact in the area of human services within the organization.

#SurpriseTheStruggling, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that was created to assist homeless women and teen girls across the country and provide them with much-needed necessities. Their campaign was able to go global with their hashtag #STSGlobal, reaching Canada, Haiti, Jamaica and Africa.

The celebration, which marked their one-year anniversary, was held at the American Legion in South Beach with a catered dinner, specialty drinks and special guests.

Under the guidance of Founder and Executive Director Dr. Jacquelyn Wilson, staff, ambassadors and volunteers donated more than 5,000 bags and purses filled with toiletries including deodorant, wipes, sanitizer, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap.

"The looks on their faces when we surprised them, that's the whole goal," said Dr. Wilson. "It's to grant hope in the midst of their struggles."

Dr. Wilson said her inspiration for starting the non-profit was that she was homeless and in need when she was younger. Based on her own personal experiences and feeling the need to do more, she started the organization.

Members of the non-profit organization surprise women at different locations in the New York and New Jersey area including the St. George Ferry Terminal. Wilson said they look for women in need and give them gently-used or brand-new purses with supplies.

When reflecting on the organization, Wilson recalled one moment in particular that stood out. She was at a hotel in Queens for an event when she discovered that several homeless women were living in the hotel. Wilson and other women attending the event decided to raise money and donate toiletry-filled purses for all of the homeless women at the hotel.

In addition to donations, the organization hosts surprise baby showers, birthday parties, back-to-school parties and off-to-college parties for those in need or in shelters.

The ceremony host was CEO and motivational speaker, Keisha Christie, founder of Level Up Connections. The special guest speaker was actress, humanitarian, author and activist Hayley Gripp. The keynote speaker was Iesha Sekou, educator, senior activist and CEO and founder of Street Corner Resources.

For more information about #SurpriseTheStruggling, visit their website, www.surprisethestruggling.org. Dr. Wilson also is the founder of Mynding My Own Bizness, a non-profit that advocates against bullying.

If you are looking to help the organization, donate or become a sponsor, you can email surprisethestruggling@gmail.com or visit their website. If you would like to donate a gently-used or new bag, with or without toiletries, Wilson will pick up any donations.
NWS shooting

Police remained at the scene of a shooting on Jan. 29, 2016, about 5 hours after the incident was reported at the Park Hill Apartments.

(Staten Island Advance/Kyle Lawson)

CITY HALL -- Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday announced the creation of a new Office to Prevent Gun Violence amid a decrease in shootings on Staten Island and across the five boroughs.

The new office will expand violence interruption strategies developed by the city's existing Crisis Management System, which deploys teams to mediate conflicts on the street and connects high-risk individuals to preventative services.

The Crisis Management System is funded with $22.5 million from the mayor's office and City Council this fiscal year. The city will invest an additional $4.5 million in future years.

"Law enforcement is critical in reducing gun violence, but we also need to change a culture in which conflicts too often escalate to shootings," de Blasio said in a statement.

There were fewer than 1,000 shootings citywide last year -- a first in recorded history.

Staten Island saw fewer shootings in 2016 too, though there's been more so far this year.

There have been four shootings in the borough this year through Jan. 29, one more than during the same time in 2016, according to NYPD statistics.

The number of shooting victims so far this year also increased slightly, from three to five through Jan. 29.

Thirty-six shootings occurred on Staten Island last year, down 14 percent from 42 shootings in 2015, according to the NYPD.

Staten Island also saw fewer shooting victims in 2016.

There were 38 shooting victims last year, down from 47 in 2015.

Police said there were 38 shooting incidents and 43 shooting victims on Staten Island in 2014.
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A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under litigation, said Friday: "We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available.?"
An investigation has been launched by police into a string of Canberra burglaries in which two male offenders used axes to gain entry.

Six businesses across Canberra were broken into between 3am and 6am on Monday, with offenders taking large amounts of property and cash.

The Yacht Club was among the businesses targeted in the crime spree. Credit:Facebook/CanberraSouthernCrossYachtClub

Police said the businesses targeted include Coco's Hair and The Knox Made in Watson, Edgar's Inn in Ainslie, The Yacht Club in Yarralumla as well as The Pedlar Cafe and Avenue C Wine Co in Campbell.

The Knox Made in Watson owner Daniel Conroy said he was glad nobody was working when the burglaries happened.
A new website has been launched to promote the 48 wineries in the Canberra wine district, with information about the region's vineyards, restaurants and events. The Canberra District Wine Industry Association initiative showcases members and partners. A new website showcases the 48 wineries in the Canberra wine district. Association president John Leyshon said the site targets Canberra residents and visitors to educate, inspire and provide information in a user-friendly format. "The Canberra wine district covers a huge area from Yass and Murrumbateman, Bungendore, Wamboin, Bywong, Collector and Lake George to Hall, and one vineyard within the boundaries of the ACT," Mr Leyshon said.

"With this sort variety we needed to make sure we showed the depth and distance of the area, the range of award-winning wines being made and which vineyards are open for visitors and when." The website includes an event calendar, interactive map, tour planner and details of cellar door opening times and places to eat. Winemakers and vineyards owners are also spotlighted, giving visitors some of the background to their produce and how the district has developed over the years. "The Canberra district is overflowing with vineyards making excellent wines, and we were conscious of the need for anyone thinking of visiting to have as much information at their fingertips as possible before making the trip," Mr Leyshon said. "We know that people can have different reasons for coming to visit. They may be looking specifically for Shiraz, or they are curious to know which vineyards are doing new varietals.
An international forum in Canberra will address childhood obesity with the hope the nation's capital will become a trial site to implement the findings.

The Shaping Spaces for Gen Z forum will be held at the University of Canberra in March. The forum will focus on who is responsible for childhood health, and research findings which show emotional intelligence and outdoor play are fundamental for healthy children.

James and Lewis Gunn playing in the Arboretum playground. Credit:Jay Cronan

University of Canberra professor of public health Tom Cochrane said the main aim was to focus on collective responsibility.

He said it wasn't up to parents, schools or governments individually.
When it comes to children and food, fussy eating now has a whole new meaning.

Kids are going gourmet, swapping fish fingers for lobster, sausages for wagyu beef and cordial for coconut milk.

One-third of NSW children prefer fine dining over fast food and 49 per cent have dined at a hatted restaurant at least once, a new survey for OpenTable has found.

Three-quarters of Australian parents say their children eat out more often than they did growing up, with 18 per cent taking their kids to a restaurant at least once a week. A quarter of parents are willing to spend over $26 on a meal for their child.
There is no consensus. Economists either believe it is vital that Australia becomes a low-carbon intensity economy, or that the issue is so unimportant  or perhaps that it is so politically divisive  that they choose not to volunteer an opinion.

Asked about the importance of reducing the country's carbon footprint and how best to do it, more than half of 27 economists from industry, consultancy, academia and finance questioned for the annual BusinessDay Scope survey agreed it was a must.

Another 10 left the question blank. Whether this indicates a lack of interest or the contentious nature of climate change policy is unclear.

But none of those who did answer made the case that cleaning up the economy did not matter. They overwhelmingly said action should be swift and include a market-based carbon pricing scheme.
Mohd Younas Karzi was harassed at work because of his Afghan background. Credit:Louise Kennerley "I felt hopeless and useless," he said. "I felt like, what what have I done wrong that they are treating me this way. They are calling me a bomber. "It really damaged me. They destroyed my life." James Saba from Shine Lawyers is seeking compensation for Mohd Karzi. Mr Karzi, now 34, had worked at Toll for three years before a co-worker started to single him out in 2014.

The man was reinstated after being sacked when the Fair Work Commission found in March 2016 he had not been given enough warning by management and because of his personal commitments as a bread winner and carer. "I couldn't handle it anymore. He just wasn't himself," said Tania Fath, Mohd's wife. Mr Karzi, who left his job at Toll Holdings in late 2015, said the man "was always telling me: did you like it when the buildings came down and how the people died? I said why would I like it, innocent people were killed." "He asked me if I was from the Taliban. He was always making a comment about my background and my religion." Other workers had sided with his abuser, who had taunted him as a "terrorist" . After the coworker was sacked, these coworkers pressed for the sacked worker's reinstatement.

Depression set in and Mr Karzi tried to commit suicide. It was more than his wife Tania Fath could cope with. Her husband was not the same man she had married in late 2011. The pair are now divorced. "This job has cost me my marriage. It has cost me everything," Mr Karzi said. "My wife said to me you are not the person that I met. You don't eat, you don't talk, you go outside at three in the morning. I'm sorry I cannot tolerate this." Last week, Mr Karzi returned to the flat he shares with a friend in Lidcombe after spending four months in hospital where he was treated for serious depression.

Ms Fath said: "I couldn't handle it anymore. He just wasn't himself." The pair first met online and after meeting in person in Canada in late 2010, fell in love and married. The couple lived in Toronto where Mr Karzi had been living with his family for 16 years. But after a year of freezing winter temperatures, Ms Fath persuaded Mr Karzi in late 2012 to move to Australia where it was warmer. He found work at Toll Holdings the following year. "I said it is a beautiful country, you'll really like it. I finally encouraged him to come and look what happened to him," Ms Fath said. Still, Mr Karzi loves Australia and wants to stay. "Five years of my life I have spent here and it is a glorious country. It is my home now," he said.

He now faces deportation back to Canada because his spouse visa was delayed for three years. His solicitor James Saba from Shine Lawyers said the visa should have been processed in half the time, but the delay now meant he could not look for work and faced deportation. Mr Saba is seeking compensation from Toll Holdings for two injuries Mr Karzi suffered on the job: psychological, and a back injury from lifting heavy boxes. Mr Karzi claims members of the Transport Workers Union of which he is a member had urged him to drop his complaint against his sacked co-worker. "The person who was accusing me was a good friend of the union delegate," Mr Karzi said.

The Fair Work Commission last year ordered Toll Holdings to re-employ the sacked dock hand at its Erskineville warehouse despite holding he had victimised Mr Karzi. Commissioner Michelle Bissett said Toll had failed to take formal disciplinary action to ensure the sacked worker was fully aware that his conduct would not be tolerated if it persisted. The 58-year-old worker's service, age and the impact of his sacking was also taken into account. The effect of his dismissal was considered severe because he was the sole breadwinner for his family and was caring for an ageing father. However, Commissioner Bissett said the sacked worker and those who had supported him "should not feel vindicated by my decision". Conduct such as that displayed "must be called out". "Employees engaging in such conduct must be warned that the conduct is not acceptable and further conduct of that type may lead to dismissal," she said. Commissioner Bissett said the comments made to Mr Karzi were designed to hurt him and "could not, in anyone's view, be considered a joke".

She said his evidence was supported by witnesses and management records and she was satisfied the sacked worker had made inappropriate comments to Mr Karzi on January 7, 2015 with respect to the Taliban and its activities and, "that in doing so, he implied that Mr Karzi would have some knowledge or would have some sympathy with the activities of the Taliban". She said there was no excuse for the conduct and that the comments were designed to harass, vilify and victimise Mr Karzi, causing him unnecessary distress. A spokeswoman for Toll said it takes the health and safety of its employees very seriously. "As soon as we became aware of this incident, we started an investigation and took actions to support and protect our employee," the spokeswoman said. She said Mr Karzi had agreed to work in the Erskineville facility which had "many distinct areas", including the "freight solutions" area where he worked with 10 other employees.
Finally. Some certainty!

America has been cast of late into a mutinous sea of inconstancy, in which many hitherto straightforward-seeming questions (Is it OK to stop someone with a valid visa from entering the country? Is Australia's Prime Minister called Turnbull or Trunbull?) are  all of a sudden  woozily unsusceptible to broad consensus.

No wonder, then, that on Thursday the disoriented American population fell with the hysterical avidity of a starving man stumbling across a Snickers bar upon the news that Beyonce is pregnant. With twins.

And it's not just that Beyonce  America's heroine, a pop star of infinite wattage  has demonstrated the triumph of Madonna-like patience (no, not that Madonna) over reason, conceiving once again with a man who is literally on record with the observation that "Sisters get respect  Bitches get what they deserve. Sisters work hard  Bitches work your nerves. Sisters cook up a meal, play their role with the kids  Bitches in the street with their nose in your biz".
Watching what has unfolded in the United States has been scary for many people around the world. But, for the refugees in Manus, it has been more scary. In the many years since we were exiled here we have closely observed the political evolutions in Australia and around the world, and the gradual shifts and sudden jolts further towards scapegoating, intolerance and bigotry. We saw with foreboding that we had had to flee our countries at exactly the wrong time, just as Australia, and the world, was turning its back more and more on the principles enshrined in the Refugee Convention after the horrors of fascism and the Second World War.

Two years ago I wrote that a dictatorship is like a cancer. If you don't stop it right away it will continue to grow until it takes over its host. In other words, when we tolerate injustice anywhere, it will raise its head in other places too. Many people this week are shocked and outraged by Donald Trump's actions. They are right to be outraged. But this is just the latest in a pattern across the Western world. Trump is talking about building a wall. Australia built its wall four years ago.

Home, sweet home. Credit:Andrew Meares

When I watched the recent women's march in Sydney against Donald Trump I was so proud that the feminist movement is powerful enough to bring so many people onto the streets, and such beauty to our world. Seeing that protest, no one could deny the power and creativity of women in our society. That rally, like the protests on January 26 and those breaking out spontaneously now across the US, are a source of hope. On the other hand, as a refugee in Manus prison I could not help feeling disappointed when I compared these huge protests with the rallies here for supporting refugees.

Civil society is like a chain and all of the elements are connected. You cannot be a part of the feminist movement and at the same time stand silent on the migrant crisis. You cannot struggle to protect the environment and at the same time ignore the enormous injustices against Aboriginal people, or fight against climate change but ignore the rights of LGBTIQ people. A year ago a refugee woman set herself on fire in Nauru prison, but the majority of the feminist movement have not stood up to investigate why she felt compelled to take such extreme action, or to demand change. Nor have they rallied enough against the injustice of denying medical care to women on Nauru who urgently need it.
But with billionaire Donald Trump now in the White House and the United Kingdom consumed by its Brexit processes, action on wealth redistribution and tax evasion and avoidance has slipped down the political agenda. At present it's hard to see President Trump giving the issue priority. But he will ignore it at his peril. Once the disadvantaged who voted for him discover that he cannot reincarnate manufacturing plants, they might consider the reality of the United States of America and find that the American dream is just that - a dream. The reality is a grossly inequitable society.

It's estimated that the top wealthiest one per cent own 40 per cent of the nation's wealth while the bottom 80 per cent own just 7 per cent. And Americans are not in the process of earning their way out of this with the top one per cent of income earners averaging $1.3 million a year while the bottom 50 per cent earns an average of just $16,000. The days when American children could look forward to earning more than their parents are gone. When this reality sinks home there's always the possibility (likelihood?) that to maintain his popularity Donald Trump will manufacture a war or a national crisis to rally the disaffected behind him. If anti-Muslim hysteria isn't enough, then there's always China and the chance to provoke a war over the US "right" to sail its warships though the South China Sea.

It is to be hoped that other governments will not let the tax evasion issue drop. The solution is not a race to the bottom, with lower and lower company and personal tax rates. Governments need to raise revenue and at some point the rich must be required to pay their fair share. Lower tax rates will not generate the needed additional revenue. Closing loopholes and increasing taxes on those who can afford to pay is the only option. In Australia the government argues that income inequality has increased by substantially less than in many comparable OECD countries over the past 30 years.

But think about this statement. It says in effect: our rich are getting relatively richer; our poor relatively poorer. But don't you worry about that. Overseas the gap is worse. This response isn't good enough for a number of reasons. Firstly unemployment is set to rise. Last week Toyota announced that it would close its Altona plant in October, with the loss of 2600 direct jobs. Ford has already closed its plants and Holden is to follow. The number of job losses from the flow-on impact on suppliers can only be guessed.

So too the number of small businesses that will lose sales because the now unemployed workers will cut their expenditure. No matter what the theorists say, the technological revolution will also cost jobs. New industries will emerge, but that will take time. And it does not follow that the new industries will employ the same number of people as in the past. It is the rich  the owners of capital -- who determine the shape of the economy. It is they who choose to invest in a coal mine or a wind turbine, a robot-driven capital intensive plant or a labour intensive operation. It's not simply a technological issue. The driverless trucks in the Pilbara are not simply the result of technological progress, they are the result of a decision by management to employ this sort of technology instead of trucks with drivers.

If owners continue to believe that all that matters is achieving the highest rate of return on their capital, they will drive people out of jobs. The aristocrats in the eighteenth and nineteenth century may have gotten away with the Highland clearances but capitalists in twenty-first century democracies will pay a price if they ignore the creative destruction of new technology. (There's a tendency today to use the coy term "disruption" rather than the blunt word "destruction" coined by early twentieth century economist, Joseph Schumpeter, to describe the economy's evolutionary processes of innovation and destruction.) Governments will have to act to temper the process with legislation and regulation. Operations such as Uber, which enriches the developer but in the long term will impoverish drivers, must be regulated.
Those who remember the MX missile "crisis" of the 1980s are probably bemused by several mentions in recent days nominating that incident as the last great conniption in a normally unruffled US-Australia relationship.

That's not because these MX comparisons are entirely wrong per se  although "crisis" it was not. Rather it is because of some striking parallels  albeit with reversed roles  that the controversy has with the current refugee impasse.

Back then, it was not the Americans, but a new Australian government that found its hands tied by an unpalatable secret deal  one agreed with Washington by the Fraser government.

The Bob Hawke-led ALP had come to office in 1983 on a king-tide of goodwill. But that positivity took a hit when it emerged that the centre-left prime minister had agreed to let the hawkish Ronald Reagan test-fire his MX missiles in our neck of the woods. The unarmed rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads would be launched from California with an intended splashdown in the Tasman Sea only a couple of hundred kilometres off the Apple Isle's east coast.
Despite serious incidents and near misses regularly occurring in public maternity health services, the Queensland government is overlooking both the extent and the root cause of the problem.

In January, Health Minister Cameron Dick vowed to conduct a statewide review of midwife staffing levels throughout the state following the tragic death of a newborn.

In many cases, early intervention may save the life of the mother, the baby, or both. Credit:Brendan Esposito

While this is an important first step in reducing maternal and infant deaths, it ignores the core issue  that midwives throughout Queensland are working without obstetrician supervision or input.

This is not a recent crisis and the Health Minister is aware of AMA Queensland's concerns. Last October, we recommended a number of changes to the way public maternity health services were delivered, purely to improve outcomes for mothers and babies.
Google NAPLAN and you'll get an advertisement taking you to a website that will help you cram for it.

Of course that's not the idea. The standardised National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy introduced by Julia Gillard as education minister is meant to be impossible to prepare for.

Donald Trump's ''alternative facts'' would not have done well with Greek philosopher Socrates. Credit:Getty Images

But teachers do. The next one is in May, two weeks into term two. The reputation of their students, the reputation of the school and their own reputations depend on it. Time that would have been spent encouraging year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students to ask questions and gain knowledge will instead be spent drilling them in how to pass the test.

That the two aren't the same ought to be apparent from the writing test. It's a hangover from an earlier era, before Donald Trump stood for president.
Nor would Trump be turning against his base if he stymied climate action. Research by the University of New Hampshire found just one in four of Trump voters polled "agree with the scientific consensus that human activities are changing Earth's climate", far less than the wider population and the 90 per cent support from Hillary Clinton voters. Extreme weather Climate extremes, particularly at the hot end, are already becoming more common. Credit:Nick Moir Among the many instances of extreme weather in the past year  2016, the hottest year on record, had many  the remarkable temperatures monitored over the Arctic have been standouts. This coming week, temperatures over the far north are projected to be as much as 20 degrees above normal.

In Australia, Trump's anti-climate tilt has been echoed with relish by right-wing politicians, such as One Nation and South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi. They have called on the Turnbull government to abandon the Paris agreement in which Australia has pledged to cut 2005-level emissions by as much as 28 per cent by 2030. Australia should also scrap the 2020 Renewable Energy Target in favour of subsidies for new coal-fired power stations, they say. Signs Turnbull is willing to be swayed include comments at last week's National Press Club in favour of so-called "clean coal", and his reported appointment of Minerals Council veteran Sid Marris to be his climate and energy policy advisor. Beyond the bluster Scientists fear that, under President Donald Trump, the US may exit the Paris global climate agreement. Credit:Getty Images But experts at home and abroad caution against anticipating that all of Trump's blustering  such as declaring on Twitter that climate change is a hoax concocted by China  will actually become policy.

Andrew Light, who served as senior adviser to Todd Stern, Obama's special envoy on climate change who led America's Paris negotiations, says it's too early to know Trump's intentions. He points to new US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who has said it's important that the "US maintains its seat" at the Paris table. Trump's political appointees also continue to hear advice on why it's in America's interests to stay in the agreement. "The bulk of the people in Paris  will remain in their positions," says Light, who is now a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute. "All of these people know how important it is for US power to stay in." Those interests include many developing nations who have signed up to Paris because of promises of assistance  such as through the Green Climate Fund  and won't take kindly to reneged offers of help to adapt to a changing climate and investment in renewable energy, Light says. Also leaning against a radical shift will be the Pentagon, which, over the past decade, has increasingly come to view climate change as a "threat-multiplier" that may tip fragile nations into chaos and pose humanitarian and economic risks.

"The Pentagon as an institution has always been a very moderating influence," Light says. "They can't mess around and look at issues ideologically, or leave it to a guess." He says climate change, for instance, is widely seen to have played a role in igniting the Syrian civil war that has led to millions of refugees and the emergence of the so-called Islamic State. Trump will also have no choice but to deal with major nations, such as India and China, who expect the US to keep its emissions promises. China's President Xi Jinping has spoken out strongly in support of the Paris agreement, which aims to keep global warming to well below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. "The Paris agreement is a milestone in the history of climate governance," Xi told a UN gathering in Geneva last month. "We must ensure this endeavour is not derailed." The G20 gathering in Germany's Hamburg in July will be one event to watch, assuming Trump hasn't derailed the Paris pact by then. "That's the place where we'll potentially see countries express to President Trump how important climate change is as an area of global diplomacy," Light says.

Nor are critics at home likely to remain idle, with states such as California planning legal action to stall Trump reversals on climate. "In no way did the elections give Donald Trump a mandate to run roughshod over bedrock environmental laws or all the recent progress made by the Obama administration," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, a senior vice president with the League of Conservation Voters. "We will go to the mat with our champions in Congress to fight the Trump administration's attacks on our environment and public health, and we are confident that other countries, states, cities, and businesses will continue to act on climate and transition to a clean energy economy." Money talks Chris Field, a Stanford scientist who led the IPCC's special report on managing risks of extreme events and disasters, also cautions about assuming the worst case scenario.

"There's clear evidence that the US and all countries benefit from the work of the IPCC, but it is possible that the US will cut its funding," says Field, who is director of Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. The US now provides about a third of the global scientific climate panel's funding  for a "few million dollars a year"  and it would be important for other nations to make up any shortfall, Fields says. Scientists volunteering their time make up the biggest contribution. "The strongest motivation for scientific research on climate change and for assessments to pull that science together is to save lives and save money," Field says. "We're using that knowledge to figure out how to protect economies, communities and eco-systems. "The essential feature of climate change is to make smart decisions about the future. If you're concerned about protecting [and] keeping this nation safe, climate change is one of the things you need to work on." US citizens and companies will also suffer "profound disadvantages" if the world becomes less safe. "For a wide range of businesses that are involved in everything from renewable energy to building efficiency, to adaptation solutions, leadership is really going to be key to be growing enterprises in the 21st century," Field says. "Disengagement from the US now forecloses on lots of those opportunities."

Legal hurdles A threat of a different kind for US businesses may await if Trump pulls up stumps on its global climate obligations, says Tim Stephens, a professor of international law at Sydney University. Paris is a more robust agreement than the Kyoto protocol that preceded it, and businesses around the world are already moving to cut emissions and refocus investments, he says. A bigger issue, though, may occur if Trump tries to pull out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which came into force in 1994 and aims to stabilise atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and prevent dangerous interruption of the climate. Exiting the UNFCCC can happen with fewer delays than the Paris accord, but to do so will expose the US "to potential legal liability", Stephens says.

"Under pretty basic principles of international law, they could be held responsible for trans-boundary harm, and there are plenty of precedents to support that," he says."I imagine there'd be pretty clear advice within the State Department that it would be against the US's legal interests to withdraw and denounce the Paris agreement and the UN framework convention." Stephens says that, while erratic decisions can't be ruled out, much of what is being seen in Washington is political posturing to a domestic audience. "Diplomatically, the blow-back around the world will be extraordinary were they to do some of these things," he says. "The US name would be mud in so many places where they require co-operation." Australia has also hit diplomatic blocks "because of our intransigence on climate", including votes in the UN that it has lost because it is viewed as a "pariah", Stephens says. Those diplomatic blocks will become more evident, particularly from at-risk South Pacific nations, should Canberra follow the US on any climate climbdown, he says. Loading
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has accused unnamed figures within the NSW RSL of trying to drive out the league's CEO Glenn Kolomeitz, who has spearheaded the recent efforts to reform its finances and investigate past alleged improprieties.

Senator Lambie, a former soldier who is pushing for improved veterans services, posted on Facebook a defence of Mr Kolomeitz and suggested that "bullying" was going on inside the organisation.

Senator Jacqui Lambie posted this photo of herself with Glenn Kolomeitz. Credit:Facebook

"Glenn took the job at enormous financial and personal sacrifice. A select group trying to drive him out are denying the RSL NSW of many mission-funding initiatives developed by Glenn," Senator Lambie wrote.

"Stop the bullying and get behind this younger veteran."
An Iranian refugee who attempted to seek asylum in Fiji could face criminal charges after being forcibly deported back to Papua New Guinea.

PNG's immigration and foreign minister, Rimbink Pato, has also vowed to tighten border security after Loghman Sawari was deported from Fiji for travelling to Nadi on a false passport.

Refugee Loghaman Sawari now faces criminal charges in Papua New Guinea. Credit:Andrew Meares

"We will receive him and take the necessary steps to ensure he is properly questioned and, if appropriate, brought before the courts, noting he is a refugee who has had mental health issues," Mr Pato said.

"Tendering false statements or documents as part of any application for a passport or travel document is a criminal offence in PNG. Breaches will be investigated and those breaking the law will be prosecuted."
With model Karlie Kloss far too difficult to gain access to, Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) was the hot ticket at the David Jones autumn/winter 2017 collections launch.

Kloss was largely off limits thanks to a horde of IMG management minders surrounding her in case anyone dared to ask about her ties to US President Donald Trump, why she didn't join her boyfriend Joshua Kushner (brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump and now White House advisor) for the women's march in Washington DC or her best friend, Taylor Swift.

Arrivals began to filter through on the black carpet from 7pm on the forecourt of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, but it wasn't until almost an hour later when the church bells began to chime to mark the beginning of the show that Worthington arrived with celebrity agent, Annie Kelly.

"She's finally here," a hush went out amongst gathered media once the Cronulla local, who is married to Avatar actor Sam Worthington, 40, was spotted in a mint green Celine dress and orange fur Fendi heels.
While 2016 may have been the year love died and when the world was Trumpified, a beacon of hope shone out from an unexpected source: Rupert Murdoch's heart.

As Brad and Ange split and James and Mariah imploded, the 85-year-old gave us the real life Love Actually sequel by marrying Jerry Hall.

Sarah Murdoch helps stepmother-in-law Jerry Hall shop in Sydney this week. Credit:JAFA

While the octogenarian was busy terrorising his troops at Holt Street or watching over his Merino flock up at Yass, the fourth Mrs Murdoch was joined by another Mrs Murdoch for a spot of shopping and lunch in Sydney.

Dressed in the eastern suburbs mother's group uniform  all white  Sarah Murdoch accompanied the Texan model/actor around Surry Hills this week with the pair popping into Wheels and Dollbaby to pick up some new cardigans.
The governor of Arkansas has signed a new law that bans one of the safest and most common abortion procedures during the second trimester of pregnancy, and allows for a woman's spouse or family member to sue to block the abortion.

Arkansas Act 45, signed by Governor Asa Hutchinson, makes dilation and evacuation abortions  the procedure used in 95 per cent of second trimester pregnancies, and the safest method in this period according to the American Medical Association  a felony in Arkansas. Prior to this law women in the state could terminate pregnancies up to 20 weeks. The procedure is also used after miscarriages.

Legislation was passed in the state of Arkansas which bans one of the safest and most common abortion procedures.

As The Daily Beast reports, the bill contains a clause that the husband of a woman seeking an abortion in the state can file a civil lawsuit against the doctor or seek injunctive relief to stop the doctor performing the procedure, even in the instance of rape or incest.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arkansas told the The Daily Beast that the ACLU intended to challenge the bill. Similar laws have been challenged in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, and as Reuters notes, the bans on the procedure have yet to be implemented.
A non-concessional contribution is money from savings, inheritance, redundancy payout, or the sale of shares or property, for example. Super is still one of the best ways to save for retirement. That's different to "concessional" contributions, such as salary sacrifice into super, where the marginal rate of income tax is swapped for the 15 per cent super contributions tax that applies to most people. The concessional cap is also coming down from $35,000 for over-50s and $30,000 for under-50s to $25,000 for everyone from July 1. The $25,000 includes the 9.5 per cent compulsory super paid by employers. From July 1, the three-year bring forward will be $300,000 to reflect the lower annual cap.

New $1.6 million cap Phillip Gillard, a financial planner at Shadforth Financial Group, says there is a further incentive to act before July 1 for those with large superannuation account balances. That's because, from July 1, non-concessional contributions will not be allowed by those whose super balances are higher than $1.6 million. From July 1, a maximum of $1.6 million will be allowed to be held by a retiree in a pension where no tax is paid on the money. However, non-concessional contributions before July 1 that push the balance beyond $1.6 million will be able to stay in super, Gillard says.

Those who will have more than $1.6 million in a pension will be required, from July 1, to either take the excess out of super, or to put it into an accumulation super account where the 15 per cent tax applies on earnings, he says. Melinda Houghton, a financial adviser and founder of Houghton Strategic Solutions, says not that many people are able to make really big non-concessional contributions. "But someone could be thinking of selling something and I would be thinking of bringing the sale forward to before June 30 to take advantage of the higher non-concessional caps," she says. "However, all aspects have to considered before bringing forward a sale, including any tax events such as tax on capital gains from the sale of shares or property," Houghton says. Concessional caps

Gillard suspects many people may think that they have to do something before July 1. "But the reality is that for most people the $100,000 non-concessional cap per person will be enough," he says. More people are likely to be affected by the new $25,000 cap on concessional contributions, he says. Another of the government's super changes is that the unused concessional cap can be carried forward for up to five years. That means that up to $125,000, less compulsory super, can be put into super over a five-year period as long as the super balance is less than $500,000.

This measure was to start on July 1 this year, but it has been deferred until July 1, 2018. Houghton says it is those in their 50s, especially women, who have increased their hours of paid work, who are the most likely to take advantage of the catch-up measures. As well as increasing their hours of paid work, their children have finished school and the mortgage, if not paid off, is likely to be much smaller, she says. Hutton points to the opportunity to use the higher concessional caps that are available for the remainder of this financial year. Personal contributions

Dennis Eagles, the national head of self-managed superannuation at Grant Thornton Australia, says another important change is that which extends the tax benefits of sacrificing salary into super to almost everyone. From July 1 this year, those under the age of 65, and those aged 65 to 74 who meet the work test, will be able claim a tax deduction for personal contributions to super, up to the $25,000 concessional contributions cap. It's important to keep in mind this cap is inclusive of compulsory super contributions, Eagles says. Small employers sometimes do not offer salary sacrificing to their employees and these employees will now be able to make personal contributions. It will also benefit those who are partially self-employed and partially wage earners, such as self-employed contractors. They will be able to make contributions and receive the same tax benefits as if they were salary sacrificing through an employer.

Robert Ross, a senior financial adviser with Fitzpatricks Private Wealth in Sydney, points to another benefit of this change. It means that people can make personal contributions to their super from proceeds of, say, a sale of shares, where tax is payable on the capital gains. That can reduce the amount of taxable income and, therefore, reduce the tax paid on the capital gains. This extension of the ability to make personal contributions is even more powerful after July 1, 2018, when $125,000 of deductible contributions, less compulsory super, can be put into super over a five-year period as long as the super balance is less than $500,000. That means even larger proceeds from an investment on which capital gains tax is payable can be put into super as a personal contribution and get the tax deduction.
Labor has accused the state government of "appalling failure" in neglecting public schools after a freedom of information request revealed that some have maintenance backlogs that would take up to 40 years to fix.

The value of outstanding maintenance on the Department of Education's books is now $775 million, with new documents revealing the government has allocated just $65 million in 2017 to address it.

Marsden High School in Ryde is waiting on $2,882,626 of maintenance but was allocated just $118,346 this year, while Great Lakes College in Forster has the state's highest backlog at $3.3 million and received just $140,263 this year. On this basis both would need 24 years to catch up on the backlog.
In 2004, photos surfaced documenting the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. Zimbardo wasn't the only one with deja vu. Noting the similarities with Stanford, the legal team for one of the accused guards asked Zimbardo to be an expert witness on how the situation at the prison would have affected their client's behaviour. In return, they promised him access to all the material associated with the case. "[I] would be one of the few people who knew what really happened". After the trial had finished (Zimbardo's situationist argument was largely rejected), Zimbardo decided to write about Stanford and Abu Ghraib and everything else he'd learnt about evil. That write-up became The Lucifer Effect, the controversial thesis of which is that the only thing separating evil people from most good ones is that the latter have never had the opportunity to turn bad. A US soldier with a naked detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Credit:AP Exceptions to the rule

Still, as he wrote, Zimbardo noticed individuals like Maslach who had bucked the trend. There was the army reservist, Joseph Darby, who turned over a CD of incriminating photos from Abu Ghraib, the petty criminal who had stolen a bus to drive others to safety during Hurricane Katrina, the Europeans who hid Jews at risk to their own lives. "In every case there's always a minority who resist," he says. "But nobody's ever studied that minority because we have all been fascinated by the people who did what we didn't think could be done," he says. "So in the Milgram experiment (in which volunteers administered apparently ever-stronger electric shocks to students who answered questions wrong) the fact that two-thirds went all the way, shocking somebody nearly to death, that was the remarkable thing. Nobody said: 'What about the one-third who didn't? What were they thinking'?" The improvised jail in the basement of the Stanford Psychology Department. The opposite of a hero is not a villain, it's a bystander. Matt Langdon These thoughts became the coda to Zimbardo's book. "I began to think  maybe those people who can resist powerful group pressures, we can think of them as heroes. And then I began to say, well, what are heroes?"

Zimbardo had witnessed what Hannah Arendt, after watching the trial of Adolf Eichmann, called the "banality of evil", but now he wondered whether there could be a banality of heroism too. "We now know how easy it is for good people to be transformed to do evil deeds, evil of action and evil of inaction," he says "[but] could ordinary people be inspired and trained to do heroic deeds?" Students participate in the Stanford Prison Experiment 1971. In a 2006 article, The Banality of Heroism, Zimbardo and his colleague, Zeno Franco, admitted that social science couldn't yet explain why some people acted heroically, while others stood by and did nothing. Still, Zimbardo was willing to bet heroism could be learnt and in 2008 the psychologist turned activist and founded the Heroic Imagination Project. As well as in the US, Heroic Imagination Projects have now run in Hungary, Poland and Sicily and, as of November 2015, in Geelong. The project generally includes six lessons on themes like the bystander effect and situational pressures that schools or businesses or even whole countries can buy the licence to. Australian Matt Langdon quit his job as a school camp counsellor to develop his "hero" lessons for school children.

"So you see a video of a woman lying on the steps at Liverpool station," Zimbardo says of one lesson. "The clock goes for four minutes and you see 35 people pass by within one foot and no one stops." Students are asked questions about the video and what they would do in a similar situation. In some cases, such as Hosok Tere in Hungary, trainees go on to stage their own experiments. "They pretend to be a victim lying down on the street and the rest of the group videotapes," Zimbardo explains. "When people help they ask, 'Why  and give some small reward'. If people don't stop they also ask, 'Didn't you notice? Why didn't you help? Make a promise that you'll help next time'." Philip Zimbardo designed the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, in which volunteer ''guards'' abused fellow volunteers. The "imagination" part is crucial, Zimbardo says, because "heroism starts in the mind  with thinking I could do that, I could be the one, I could make a difference." Heroic impulse

When mother rats notice a baby rat has wandered off, whether it's their own child or not, they retrieve the wanderer so quickly and so repeatedly that scientists have suggested the behaviour may be the result of an ancient impulse, an impulse that may also explain why some people rush into extreme danger to save strangers. In a chapter in the Handbook of Heroism and Heroic Leadership released last month, neurobiologist Stephanie Preston suggests that the heroic impulse may have evolved from the same urge that makes rats retrieve baby rats. Preston points out that the parts of the brain (mainly the amygdala) engaged when rats retrieve offspring are the same as those engaged when humans act altruistically in a neuroimaging experiment or during extreme altruism. She also highlights research by other scientists that has found stronger amygdala responses in people who have donated kidneys to strangers, compared with those with psychopathic tendencies. Interestingly, the amygdala also lights up in rats who don't help, but the neural path ends in a different location for helpers and non-helpers. This, Preston says, suggests that the helping response is switched on by pregnancy hormones or activated when rats that aren't mothers get used to the novelty of newborns. Applied to humans, it would explain why some people are willing to stand by while others are hurt "when inaction is actually the adaptive response". Still, there is no definitive evidence that we are hardwired for heroism and perhaps there never will be. You can't put people into life-threatening situations to test if they'll react, and Zimbardo says nothing like the Stanford Prison Experiment would be possible in today's litigious culture (for the record he doesn't regret the experiment, though regrets not ending it sooner).

Nonetheless, the field of heroism research has expanded exponentially during the past decade. Olivia Efthimiou, one of the organisers of an international conference on heroism science held at Murdoch University in July, says the momentum "has all the hallmarks of an emerging social movement". Much of the new research contradicts Zimbardo's argument that heroism (and evil) are dependent on situations rather than individual disposition. A 2013 comparison of 25 Canadians who had received awards for life-risking bravery with 25 ordinary people found the heroes were distinguished from non-heroes on the basis of personality composition and that they shared similar "life narratives". Authors William Dunlop and Lawrence Walker concluded, "those who possess the 'right' type of story may be more likely to intervene while under the press of peril". A more recent study of heroes found they shared characteristics including courage, perseverance, honesty and kindness as well as a disregard for what others thought of them. Beyond this the heroes fell into two distinct groups, the first, according to Claremont Graduate University researcher Brian Riches, were "open, loving and risk-taking", while the second were "spiritual, socially responsible and prudent", suggesting heroes come in different varieties. Despite finding heroes may have unique features, Riches argues his study could be used by programs such as Zimbardo's to identify the characteristics that can be fostered to create potential heroes. Back to school

Jeff Neall, principal of Michigan's Grand Blanc West Middle School, who signs his emails "Peace, Jeff", was embarrassed when two of his seventh-grade girls got into a fight at a school picnic and no one stepped in to help. He called in Matt Langdon. Langdon was an Australian who'd been living in the US for more than a decade and working as a school camp counsellor. He had recently quit his job managing a YMCA camp to start The Hero Construction Company. The aim was to take the character-building workshops he'd developed at camp into school rooms, specifically middle school, which in the US covers years 6, 7 and 8.. Langdon was nervous: he'd quit partly because his boss had said kids wouldn't "get" the hero workshops. But when he spoke about the hero's journey at Grand Blanc West Langdon got a standing ovation, kids lined up to shake his hand or hug him, and the sixth-grade teachers cancelled the rest of the day's lessons so the students could talk about what they'd heard. He starts his training by getting kids to recognise the "hero's journey"  a recurring literary pattern identified by American academic Joseph Campbell in 1949  in their own lives. Then he encourages them to be a hero to others. "The opposite of a hero is not a villain, it's a bystander," he says. "And this isn't a one-time decision, it happens every day The idea is to push the ratio towards acting [despite] variables that might hold you back, whether that's the bystander effect, peer pressure, social structures, conformity with the crowd."

A few months after Langdon's presentation, Neall rang to report that a six-former had successfully confronted an older girl who was bullying another student. "Even better  the girl who was confronted was the same girl who'd been in the fight the year before," Langdon says. "So this was a tough girl with a tough reputation." Langdon made, by his own estimate, hundreds of school visits, but he noticed that for many schools money was a barrier, so when he returned to Australia in 2014, he decided to change direction and develop free lesson plans for schools to deliver themselves (the first plan is complete and Langdon hopes to have ten by the end of the year). He funds the Hero Construction Company, a not-for-profit organisation, through "The Hero Round Table" conferences, which he started in 2013 and which are slowly becoming profitable. Langdon posted a local Facebook group to ask for feedback on his new website and got a response from a Geelong-based woman, Sylvia Gray, who said he couldn't go wrong with a quote from Zimbardo. Langdon suggested they have coffee. Gray, an American who moved to Australia when she was 20, had first come across Zimbardo just a few years earlier when she heard him speak about Stanford and situational pressures as part of an online course she and her husband were taking. A lot of what he said rang a bell.

Gray had been through a hero's journey of her own. At the age of 21 and newly married, she adopted her younger sister from the US in a bid to rescue her from what Gray describes as the abusive home that she herself had run away from at age 14 (Gray divorced her parents at 16). By the time she commented on Langdon's Facebook post, her sister had grown up and left home and she and her husband, Atticus, were looking for a way "to give back". Over coffee in Geelong, Langdon invited Gray to his next Hero Round Table, which was taking place in Michigan. In Michigan, Gray learnt about the Heroic Imagination Project (of which Langdon is a board member) and thought maybe she could bring it to Australia. "I remember calling my husband and saying this is a little silly and crazy and we're students but should we do this?" Atticus (the couple changed their names to Sylvia and Atticus Gray in 2014 to mark a break with Sylvia's past) "was 110 per cent for it" and two months later, in November 2015, Geelong played host to another Hero Round Table, which this time included Zimbardo.
Sometimes, teenager Karla Del Rosario gets just three hours of sleep for fear of missing the moment a celebrity is on the move. She even admits to "car chases" across the city in search of her favourite.

"I've only done it for Justin [Bieber], and yes it was dangerous, but so much fun," the 19-year-old said. "The adrenalin rush is crazy."

Justin Bieber at the BRIT Awards last year. Credit:Getty Images

With celebrities regularly accessible across all social media platforms, fans are finding it easier than ever to find them, usually through pictures and tweets.

"It's actually much easier than most people think. All you have to know is the celebrity and how they use their social media," said Miss Del Rosario, who has been following celebrities  beyond the internet  since 2015. "You can find hotels and such from looking at the details in the background, listening to what's happening, and the signs."
Four adults are suspected to have had a drug overdose early on Sunday morning at a home in Sydney's west, where three children under the age of 10 were present.

Police are investigating the incident, which took place at a home on Gilroy Street in Ropes Crossing about 4am on Sunday.

Officers from Mount Druitt Local Area Command were called to the home by NSW Ambulance paramedics who were treating two men, aged 33 and 35 and two women, aged 28 and 32.

The four patients were found to be suffering a suspected drug overdose. It remains unclear what symptoms they were suffering or what drugs were involved.

None of the patients required transport to hospital, however all underwent treatment at the home.
The much-maligned Millennial generation is not really a bunch of lazy, entitled narcissists; it is just misunderstood.

That's the opinion of author and public speaker Simon Sinek whose views on today's teens and twentysomethings have been shared millions of times since being posted online late last year.

Simon Sinek says bosses must learn to understand their millennial employees.

The 43-year-old Gen Xer describes the younger generation as "accused of being entitled and narcissistic, self interested, unfocused and lazy  but entitled is the big one"  blaming the situation on cosseted parenting, technology overload, their own impatience and the current environment.

Mr Sinek's interview, which has been viewed 60 million times, has drawn criticism as well as support from Millennials, generally described as being born between 1982 and 2004, although definitions do vary.
It didn't bother Florence Antouny that her friends joked she had chosen a "boring" profession. Nor did it trouble her that most students in her finance classes were male.

Ms Antouny, 24, a financial analyst, has been working in the industry since 2011 after receiving a cadetship with one of the big four accounting firms

For the past seven years, women like Ms Antouny have been gaining full-time employment at a higher rate and in higher numbers, according to data from Graduate Careers Australia, a research organisation specialising in graduate employment.

In 2016, women represented 36.7 per cent of full-time employees in the workforce, up from 34 per cent in 2003.
A man's body was found on rocks at Coogee Beach in Sydney early on Saturday morning.

A group of teenagers discovered the body on the northern end of the beach near Giles Baths about 7.10am.

Police have established a crime scene at the area and the body has been taken in for examination.

The identity of the man is still being investigated.

The cause of death is still unknown but Eastern Suburbs Inspector Aaron Wunderlich says that there has so far been no evidence to suggest that suspicious circumstances are involved in the man's death.
A "professional" conwoman wanted in three states is accused of stealing the personal identification details of job candidates for her children's party business, then using them to obtain loans of $25,000.

Courtnie Thomas, 27, was refused bail in a Melbourne court on Saturday with police alleging she obtained loans in the names of three victims and tried to obtain a further $7000 from a fourth victim last year.

Courtnie Thomas

They say Thomas is a "professional" fraudster wanted in South Australia and Queensland for deception.

Efforts are now under way to extradite her to Queensland where she faces 74 fraud related charges, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told.
A man has died in hospital after his vehicle crashed into a tree at Broadwater in Victoria's south-west on Thursday.

Police say the 77-year-old Port Fairy man was the sole occupant of a vehicle travelling on Port Fairy-Hamilton Road about 11.30am.

A man has died after his car struck a tree at Broadwater. Credit:Rob Gunstone

He is believed to have lost control of the vehicle, which crossed the road and hit a tree.

The man was taken to a hospital in Melbourne but died on Friday.
It's well known that when you donate money to charity your dollars don't necessarily end up on the the front line, despite the need there being the reason you gave in the first place.

Duncan and Nicola help build schools and provide education for kids around the world. Credit:classroomofhope.org

In order to do their work effectively, many charities split their funding between front line operations and administration, with donations forming a pool from which funds are distributed where they're needed.

But times are changing and new models of charity funding are turning this kind of arrangement on its head.
New York: Corporate America has been called on to combat anti-Muslim hatred and enforce anti-discrimination laws to fill a perceived void from government after the election of US President Donald Trump.

The call, from the European Union and former Obama officials who led political initiatives to combat discrimination, comes amid uncertainty about US policy on immigration, impending elections in Europe, and US Department of Justice figures that show an increase in hate crimes across the US.

According to the FBI's most recent hate crime figures released in November, there was a 67 per cent spike in incidents targeting Muslims in the US in 2015, and a seven per cent rise in hate crimes overall.



Shaarik Zafar, the US government's former Special Representative to Muslim Communities, a position created by President Obama, said the new president must show leadership and follow his predecessors in condemning anti-Muslim bigotry and racial discrimination.

"President Bush went to a mosque right after 9/11, President Obama consistently spoke out against anti-Muslim bigotry and hatred, and it's important that government officials continue to assume this mantle of leadership," Zafar said. "But beyond words, you need action."
London: Intense shelling in eastern Ukraine hit civilian areas for a sixth day, as an intensifying battle between government forces and Russian-backed separatists threatened to trigger a diplomatic crisis.

Locals said at least three more civilians were killed after shells landed in a residential area of the government-held city of Avdiivka early on Friday morning in what was described as the heaviest fighting for two years.

At least 20 soldiers and civilians on both sides have been killed over nearly a week of fighting near the city.

A British photographer who was staying in one of the apartment blocks that was hit was among the wounded.
Swaziland's King Mswati III has chosen an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant as his 14th wife, a palace spokesman says, days before a much-criticised parliamentary vote.

"I can confirm that the king has introduced to the nation a new liphovela (royal fiancee)," said Ludzidzini palace governor Timothy Mtetwa on Tuesday.

Pick me: Thousands of young girls gathered at the annual reed dance in Ludzidzini, Swaziland, in 2005. The annual ritual gives King Mswati III an opportunity to choose another wife. His latest choice is an 18-year-old beauty contestant. Credit:AP

Mr Mswati, a 45-year-old who is sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, introduced Sindiswa Dlamini at a Reed Dance celebration over the weekend, Mr Mtetwa told AFP.

She wore red feathers on her head - a sign of royalty.
Budapest: While Donald Trump was busy antagonising Iran, offending Australia and insulting Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vladimir Putin made a quick, businesslike visit to his best friend in Europe and showed how he intends to defend Russia's interests in this new age of uncertainty.

Mr Putin's talks with Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban coincided with a flare-up of the war in Ukraine. In the joint press conference afterwards, the Kremlin leader departed from his chosen economic script to field one question on Ukraine, making clear Russia was not about to apologise for any of its actions there.

The press conference was classic Putin. Amid tight security, journalists were kept waiting in the snow for admission to Hungary's opulent parliament. Four questions were allowed, two from the local and two from the Russian media. In a slick performance, Mr Putin showed his grasp of economic nitty gritty while avoiding the elephant in the room  Russia's part in the disastrous state of East-West relations.

Both Mr Putin and Mr Orban, proud to be illiberal, admitted sanctions against Russia were hurting them and expressed hope for pragmatism in international relations under President Trump. The Kremlin leader allowed his host to speak for them both when Mr Orban said he wanted a world in which economics and politics were not mixed.
Throughout last week a succession of judges around the country nipped and tucked the controversial executive order , by which Trump halted all refugees entering the US for four months, pending a proposed new "extreme vetting" that would block entry by "radical Islamic terrorists". The ban was to be indefinite for refugees from Syria and all travel from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - was suspended for three months.

But much to their amazement, Trump and the Bannon bunch keep running into this brick wall  it's called American democracy.

In discovering late Friday that as President he's one of three intermeshed branches of government, Donald Trump belittled the jurist who had pulled him up as a "so-called judge" and his ruling that iced Trump's immigration crackdown as "ridiculous".

US President Donald Trump after signing the first executive order banning refugees and people from some Muslim-majority countries. Credit:Bloomberg

In putting the whole Trump order on hold, Judge James Robart, who was appointed to the bench by George W. Bush, the country's last Republican president, took the opportunity to give the new President a primer on the three branches of US government  writing that "fundamental" to the court's work was "a vigilant recognition that it is but one of three equal branches of our federal government".

And a series of leaks in the last 24 hours suggest that the Bannon boys still can't get no satisfaction  in the words of the song that the Rolling Stones demanded Trump cease playing at his campaign rallies last year.

There was a fantastic point of drama in early chaotic hours of Trump's order being implemented. When Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly decided to exempt green card holders, Bannon figured he could order Kelly to back off  but, the Washington Post reports, "respectfully but firmly, the retired general and longtime marine told Bannon that despite his high position in the White House and close relationship with Trump, the former Breitbart [News] chief was not in Kelly's chain of command".

What followed was equally remarkable  a 2am council of war at the White House, during which Kelly, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and then-yet-to-be-confirmed secretary of state Rex Tillerson hammered Bannon and the rest of the White House political team for shutting them out of the secretive drafting of the migration executive order and their stubbornness in resisting sensible changes to it.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The European Union funded COSME Programme, is launching a 3 day Small and Medium-sized Enterprise: Start and Develop Your Business (SME-SDB) 21st Century Entrepreneurship training program in St.Maarten, in collaboration with the University of St. Martin. This training is part of a series of trainings which are also implemented in all the other 11 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).

This SME-SDB 21st Century Entrepreneurship Training Program is being coordinated by Mr. Prakaash Rostam, Key Expert SME & Private Sector Development Specialist, and the workshops are facilitated by the international trainer Mr. Erwin Wolthuis. The partner involved for this program is the University of St.Martin (USM). This approach is to create a sustainable structure, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop their skills and broaden their knowledge on 21st century entrepreneurship.

Mr. Rostam emphasizes that institutional capacity building is as an important ingredient for the sustainability of entrepreneurs. He identifies the combination of knowledge and skills in business development & management as a key factor for every entrepreneur. As the playground for entrepreneurs is getting more global, we should be aware of the global rules of this game of entrepreneurship he states, being an International Trainer and Business Development Consultant.

Dr. Francio Guadeloupe, President of the USM added that traditionally St. Martiners have been workers-entrepreneurs. They may have been employed in a hotel or restaurant, but usually had, what was called something on the side. This something on the side was chairs that they rented to tourists, catering that they did in the weekends, or say a car rental of 3 cars. This was the St. Martin spirit. Now besides this work ethic, St. Martiners also put a premium on education and being informed about world affairs. The USM is teaming up with COSME to revive and update this tradition for our modern times. This is an open invitation to all St. Martiners who still believe in having that little something on the side and more than that, namely, cultivating it that it may become the thing that provides most of the bread on their table.

Knowledge is power, skills are your tools, so why not choose to conquer this world by creating opportunities for all, through entrepreneurship Mr. Rostam concludes.

This first course, which will be held on the evenings of February 13, 14 and 15; from 5.30 till 9.00 pm, has a limited availability. Interested (prospective) entrepreneurs can register by contacting Mr. Erwin Wolthuis (Tel.: 5860437 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) Registration will follow the first come  first served principle.

PHILIPSBURG:--- He was a century not out, until a few days later, he was caught with a leg spin by death. George Frederick Adolphus York, the patriarch of the York family, was in good spirits when we all came together to celebrate his 100th birthday. I was fortunate to be part of the celebration, both in church and at the Tropicana Ballroom. It is therefore with utter disbelief that I received the news of his passing.

I recall mentioning on the day he turned 100, two personal experiences with him which have followed me ever since. The first was going whelking with him and the late Amos Richardson many rains ago. We used to walk from Middle Region to Oyster Bay, on the reefs where the Westin Resort and Spa is now located. Anyone who knew Mr. Freddy York, would know that such a distance was really a short stroll for him.

Looking back at those days, I think they may have allowed me to tag along with them so I could carry their bag. Whatever the reasons may have been, I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to share the same space and joy with them. The whelking lessons were for me an excuse to be in the presence of two wise, older St. Maarteners, who had a singular and contagious joie de vivre.

In more recent times, I had once stopped to offer Freddy a ride when I came across him on one of his daily walks. He was going back home from Town. As I pulled the car next to him, he looked at me and said, Young man, you are taking me off my routine, but I wont disrespect you. He then hopped into the car and I drove him home.

I am sure many other people, whose lives he impacted in his simple, quiet way, would tell of their own memories of him, whether as a seasoned, and avid domino player or as one who loved to tell jokes.

But at times like these, we are usually lost for words. Let me, therefore, borrow from novelist Isabelle Allende, who wrote: People die only when we forget them,' my mother explained shortly before she left me. 'If you can remember me, I will be with you always.

George Frederick Adolphus York will surely be with us always, because we will always remember him for his simplicity, his discipline (for it takes tremendous discipline to exercise as he did daily) and his immense sense of humor.

To all the entire York family, and in particular, to Henrietta Doran-York, our Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague, and to all the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren and the relatives and friends he left behind, please accept heartfelt condolences from my wife Gabrielle, and me and our family as well as on behalf of the Government and people of St. Maarten.

We pray that you will find strength and comfort in your faith during this time of grief and take solace in the words of author Joseph Campbell who said: To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.

Freddy will continue to live in our hearts until we meet again.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Prime Minister William Marlin
Insel Air under intensified supervision of the CCAA

PHILIPSBURG:---The Minister Interior Affairs of the Kingdom Affairs Ronald Plasterk and the Secretary of State Sharon Dijksma has sent a letter to the 2nd chamber informing them that all civil servants from the Netherlands that are in the Caribbean are forbidden to travel for work-related purposes on Insel Air. However, Dutch civil servants are allowed to use Insel Air Aruba, pending the outcome of the safety investigation. Plasterk has advised the 2nd chamber to make their information known to other travelers abroad, in order to update them on the current situation with Insel Air. The Aviation Inspectorate of the Netherlands (ILT) has agreed to provide support to the Aviation Authorities in Curacao and Arua. In the Netherlands will begin searching for an alternative air transportation due to the loss of Insel Air flights which has greatly impacted the Dutch Caribbean islands. Minister of Transportation Suzy Romer has requested the US Aviation Authorities to also conduct an inspection of the Insel fleet of aircraft. Insel Air was also placed under intensified supervision by the Curacao Civil Aviation Authorities. At the moment some charter flights are being executed to fill the gaps that Insel Air left within the Dutch Caribbean islands.

About a week ago the American consulate in Curacao also forbids its citizens from using Insel Air after it became clear that the aircraft are not airworthy.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Friday, February 3rd representatives from the Gendarmes met with representatives of the Police Force during a work related visit. The purpose of this visit from the Gendarmes was to become familiar with the operation of the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center and to get acquainted with the personnel of that department. In addition, both law enforcement organizations have been continuously busy having many discussions with each other on how to improve the already good cooperation and working relation in the battle against crime. The articles mentioned in the Treaty of Concordia will be the tools to be used as guidelines to further strengthen the ties in law enforcement.

The Gendarmes and the police force have already established direct radio communication between both emergency dispatch centers in addition to the traditional direct phone line. It is the intention to immediately communicate with each other during high-impact criminal cases such as armed robberies and in cases involving hot pursuit chases on either side of the island. A communication protocol with guidelines will be put in place to facilitate this process. Also present during this meeting was a representative of the radio communication provider C3 (Critical Communication Caribbean).

In the coming week, representatives from the police force will be visiting the emergency dispatch on the French Side.

KPSM Press Release
PHILIPSBURG:--- Several residents of Plough Drive Cul de Sac are extremely relieved that the home that was severely damaged by fire last week was demolished on Friday. The residents along with the owner of the home who was having a hard time obtaining a demolition permit met with the Minister of VROMI Christopher Emmanuel on Wednesday afternoon at the site. The Minister saw the danger the residents were facing with the damaged house still standing at the location and the risk they were facing. At that meeting, the residents said Minister Emmanuel asked them to give him until Friday. They said that Minister Emmanuel is a man of his word because on Friday an excavator and workers from the Ministry showed up at the location and demolished the damaged home.

The residents said they are at ease now that the building is no longer there and that the children in the neighborhood can move around safely.
GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), announces that there will be a partial road closure of the Walter J.A. Nisbeth road on Sunday, February 5.

The partial closure will be between 7.00am and 12.00pm and will take place between Voges Street and the Salt Pond Pickers Round-a-bout in the vicinity of Police Headquarters.

The partial closure is in efforts of applying the white dividing lines and pedestrian crossings for the newly paved areas of the road.

All road painting will be completed within short by the Department of Infrastructure Management within the Ministry of VROMI.

The resurfacing of Walter J. A. Nisbeth road, Coralita road and Mount William Hill road has been completed.

Honorable Minister C. Emmanuel is focused on resurfacing as many roads as the budget permits. A new approach has been taken where minimal patch work will be conducted and a longer area of the road will be resurfaced in order to increase the durability.

Ministry VROMI apologizes for any inconveniences this may cause.
MAHO:--- The Child Protection Agencies of the Dutch Caribbean and Judges of the Joined Court of Justice of Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba held a one-day conference on St. Maarten, entitled The Child as Focus of Attention in the Caribbean, Together, We are Stronger. The conference was initiated and hosted by Dutch Dependents Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba (the BES islands). It was attended by representatives from the BES islands and St. Maarten.

The related entitiesCourt of guardianship, Child Protection Services, Center of Youth and Family and the Court officialscame together to discuss the legal frame of the protective measures, matters related to alimony request/collection and other matters of interest.

Paramount also was seeking ways on how these organizations can work better with each other in a more efficient and effective manner to provide assistance to each other in the service of protecting the children in their respective Countries.

At the opening of the conference, there was a welcome address by the Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman, who welcomed participants and encouraged a productive meeting, seeing the critical importance of the topic and the real life situations with our countries and islands.

Other opening remarks were given by Director of the Court of Guardianship St. Maarten/SXM, Mrs. Richelda Rodriguez-Emmanuel and the substitute Director of Center of Youth and Family from the BES, Mrs. Ingrid Sealy.

Short lectures were given by Judge Mauritsz de Kort (St. Maarten) as well as Judge Gerardus Van den Dungen (Bonaire), Mrs. Ingrid Sealy ( substitute Director Center of Youth and Family of the BES) and Curvin George (Director of the Court of Guardianship of the BES). Mr George also chaired the panel discussion and the debate that took place on the different elements of child protection.

The attendees were committed in their efforts to offer the same quality of protection and care to minors living on the respective islands of the Dutch Caribbean.
Claim: Two grandchildren of John Tyler, the 10th U.S. President, are still alive. Rating: About this rating Mixture What's True As of October 2020, John Tyler's sole remaining grandchild, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, is still alive at the age of 92. What's False Harrison Tyler's brother, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., died at age 95 on Sept. 26, 2020.

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John Tyler, who served as the tenth President of the United States from 1841 to 1845, does not rate highly in the pantheon of American presidents, typically ranking near the bottom of surveys that classify U.S. presidents according to their effectiveness in that position. To casual students of U.S. history he is perhaps best remembered today as the latter half of the phrase "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," the famous slogan from the 1840 presidential campaign that paired Tyler as a vice-presidential candidate with William Henry Harrison on the Whig ticket. (In 1811, Harrison, who was then governor of the Indiana Territory, led military forces in a battle against Native American warriors at a site near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers, thereby acquiring the nickname "Tippecanoe.")

John Tyler might not be remembered for even that much today were it not for a shocking twist of fate: William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia barely a month into his term, making Tyler the first U.S. vice-president to take over for a chief executive who died in office. Unfortunately for Tyler, having to set that precedent cost him dearly in a political sense. Fierce debate raged over whether the wording of the U.S. constitution meant that a vice-president should become president upon the death of the incumbent, inheriting the full office (e.g., the title of President, all presidential powers, residency in the White House), or whether he should merely fulfill the constitutionally-specified duties of the presidency, acting as a sort of caretaker of the office while Congress guided the nation until the next presidential election. Tyler firmly resolved that he was indeed the President of the United States, both in name and in fact, and he took the oath of office on that basis.

Nonetheless, many of Tyler's political opponents and detractors refused to accept him as the legitimate President of the United States, derisively referring to him as "His Accidency" and continuing to address him as "Vice-President" or "Acting President." Tyler, a former Democrat who had since aligned himself with the Whigs, eventually alienated himself from both parties, his entire cabinet resigned, he became the target of the first impeachment proceedings against a president in U.S. history, and neither party nominated him for re-election in 1844. Tyler retired to his Virginia plantation and withdrew from electoral politics until the very end of his life, when he sided with the Confederacy after the outbreak of the Civil War and was elected in November 1861 to the House of Representatives of the First Confederate Congress (but never took part in that body because he died before its first session).

Even if John Tyler may not be remembered kindly by history for his political efforts, he is nonetheless notable today for an unusual aspect of his non-political life: though Tyler was born in the 18th century and died in the middle of the 19th century, two of his grandsons are alive today, more than a decade into the 21st century. It's a circumstance many people find unbelievable  that there are two people living in the United States today who are the direct offspring of children born to a man who not only served as President of the United States twenty years before Abraham Lincoln did, but who was a contemporary of such titanic early American political figures as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, and was himself born when George Washington was President.

This remarkably short line of ascendancy is due to a confluence of factors that are not common in modern American society but once were not so unusual: men (particularly widowers) marrying much younger women late in life and fathering large numbers of children. John Tyler fathered fifteen children, more than any other U.S. president: eight with his first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler (who was his own age), and seven more with Julia Gardiner Tyler (a woman thirty years his junior) whom he married two years after the death of Letitia. Five of those children lived into the 20th century (the youngest, Pearl Tyler, was still alive after the end of World War II and finally passed away in 1947), and one of them repeated the pattern of his father. John Tyler's thirteenth child, Lyon Gardiner Tyler (18531935), had three children with his first wife, Anne Baker Tucker Tyler, and three more with his second wife, Sue Ruffin Tyler (a woman thirty-five years his junior), whom he wed a few years after Anne's death, when he was nearly 70. One of those latter three children died in infancy. Of his two remaining children, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. and Harrison Ruffin Tyler (both born in the 1920s), only one, Harrison, is still with us today, the living grandson of the 10th President of the United States. Lyon died on Sept. 26, 2020, at the age of 95.

New York magazine interviewed Harrison in early 2012 and reported that:
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New film Chariot will be made-in-Swansea starring some of the area's most well-known actors. Writer and producer Robert Surman tells Mark Rees why Swansea Bay was the only place to make the movie

"This film is entirely Swansea Bay" Robert Surman assures me when we meet up to chat about new locally-made movie Chariot.

"That's the great thing about it," adds the Mumbles-based writer and producer.

"The whole reason I'm making this film is you don't have to look any further for all the talent that you need.

"From the director of photography who is from Neath, to Robert Pugh, the lead actor, from Mumbles, this is all about the local area."

And it's not just about the local acting and production talent, either. Robert will also be making use of the area's familiar places.

"It's based in a fictional town called Capel Gwyn, but all of the locations, and all of the landmarks, will be recognisable," he says.

"Places like Orchard Street, Mumbles promenade, and Underhill Park."

Arguably the most popular Swansea-based film to date is Kevin Allen's Twin Town, and while Robert says there are no direct comparisons between the two, they do share a similar black humour.

"There is a lot of dark comedy in it" he says, before offering a few inspirations of his own for the film.

"There are heavy elements of In The Loop, and the film Hits by David Cross. And there are similarities with The Casual Vacancy TV series, which also starred Menna Trussler."

The film is currently in the production process, but on Monday Robert will launch a crowdfunding campaign in order to raise funds to make the film even better.

And what does he hope to do with any gratefully-received donations?

"I'll be able to pay people!" he says with a laugh, explaining that the film is currently limited by the busy schedules of those giving up their time for the project.

"Rather than having to just grab people when they're free, it will help a lot. And I can feed my cast and crew, and pay for the insurance."

In true crowdfuning style, of course, there are different levels of incentives to be had in return.

"For 5 you'll get a thank you on social media, for 2,500 you can get full producer credits," he says of the top and bottom ranges available.

"Incentives are good, but I don't think anyone really donates to get the incentive, it's more of a goodwill gesture. I've donated to films myself, and it's nice to know that it's something that you have helped make happen.

"But whatever happens, this film will definitely happen, by hook or by crook, and any extra money will help improve it."

 For more details about Chariot visit : www.facebook.com/ChariotFilm

What's it all about?

Writer and producer Robert Surman gives us a synopsis of the film:

Chariot is an ensemble feature film which explores the ripple effect of one man's actions on the community around him.

A darkly comic dramedy, it will be shot docu-style over eight days in Swansea Bay. Veteran screen actor Robert Pugh has signed on as lead.

Chariot follows Len Lewys-Jones (Pugh), a right wing politician on the eve of an historic local election. Polling suggests a win for Len; if so, it will mark the end of over 100 years of Labour rule in the region. Hyper ambitious, he will do anything to secure a victory, even if it means betraying those closest to him. He is accompanied by Craig, an idealistic and loyal young aide, who is nevertheless horrified by Len's boorishness and venality. Married to Len is Diane, a woman several years younger who turns a blind eye to her husband's pecadilloes due to the lavish lifestyle his money and status afford her. However, her selective blindness is tested when local woman Toni enters their lives.

At the same time, Ceri and Marc - two talented but socially inept young graduates who publish graphic novels together - have discovered they are to lose their subsidized office space after Len acquires the building. In order to keep the venture going, they accept an offer from loud, boisterous Jason, a former school friend of Ceri's who now runs a telesales company (also owned by Len). Uptight Marc is appalled by the culture of sleaze and forced jollity, while Ceri, who seeks approval from others at all costs, fits in better. But Ceri's desire for acceptance may stifle a fledgling romance with Seona, a girl from the office.

Nina Hetherington, a London journalist, has travelled to Wales with Martin, her intern, to interview Len. Leading a comfortable life with her husband, Jonty, and young daughter, Lila, in a fashionable district of the capital, Nina seems to have it all. She resents having to travel to a less than desirable area of the country, and is openly snobbish about their accommodation, and Wales in general. But her wealth and status belie a troubled marriage, and Martin the eager young intern may provide a temporary escape.

Chariot explores the deterioration of the social contract and the effects our actions have on others, and asks the question "Should we limit personal ambition to benefit the wider community?"

Meet some of the cast:

Robert Pugh: The prolific actor has worked with some of Hollywood's most acclaimed directors, including Ridley Scott (Robin Hood) and Roman Polanski (The Ghost). Robert plays the lead role of Len Lewys-Jones, a corrupt politician who will stop at nothing.

Darren Evans: Darren has been a familiar face on our screens since his hilarious turn as school bully Chips in the 2010 movie Submarine, filmed in Swansea. Darren plays a young illustrator whose life is impacted by Len's greed and selfishness.

Claire Cage: It's been a busy few years for Cardiff based actress Claire, a self-declared "Northern thesp with a hint of Welsh," with stints on Coronation Street and Casualty and Being Human. In Chariot, Claire plays the highfalutin journalist Nina Hetherington.

Kyle Rees: Port Talbot born Kyle appeared in 2014 film Pride, and went on to star in Kurt Sutter's FX series The Bastard Executioner. Later this year he will be seen opposite Orlando Bloom in Romans. Kyle plays Jason Lewys-Jones, son of Len, a monster in the making.

Caroline Berry: The Swansea actresses' numerous screen credits include Doctor Who and Stella. More recently, she played the role of Jo Sutton in BBC thriller Mayday, and had a memorable stint on Coronation Street. Caroline plays Diane Lewys-Jones, wife to Len, whose 'trophy wife' demeanour masks a fierce intelligence.

Helen Griffin: The renowned Swansea actress has enjoyed an enviable career, including two films with director Caradog W James, Little White Lies and The Machine. She appeared in Twin Town and the recent adaptation of Under Milk Wood, both directed by Kevin Allen. Helen plays Alice Cartwright, a lawyer who is pitted against Len in the by-election.

Menna Trussler: With a career spanning four decades, Menna is one of Wales' best loved actresses. Her talent for comedy has been put to use in shows such as Little Britain and Stella. Menna plays the awkward yet well-meaning Enid Wist.

Nia Trussler Jones: Nia has worked in Welsh theatre for over 20 years, and screen credits include Eros Unleashed for ITV Wales. Nia plays Toni Davies, a council worker with an unexpected connection to Len.And there's more...

Other actors include: Rhys Isaac-Jones, Tom Myles, Sarah Louise Madison, Huw Novelli, Jessica Sandry, Holly Brennan, Adrian Metcalfe and Maryanne Jones.
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The problem will not resolve itself. German business is the opponent of American trade policy, the German democracy is the ideological opponent of Donald Trump, but even here, in the middle of Germany, right-wing extremists are trying to give him a helping hand. It is high time that we stand up for what is important: democracy, freedom, the West and its alliances. Germany, of all countries, the economically and politically dominant democracy in Europe, will have to form the alliance against Trump, because it won't otherwise take shape. It is, however, absolutely necessary.

The image for this week's cover was created by the artist Edel Rodriguez. Edel was nine years old when, in 1980, he came to the U.S. with his mother -- two refugees, like so many others. "I remember it well, and I remember the feelings and how little kids feel when they are leaving their country," he told the Washington Post on Friday night. The newspaper wrote: "This DER SPIEGEL Trump cover is stunning." It wasn't the first time Edel has drawn Trump. He usually portrays him without eyes -- you just see his angry, gaping mouth and, of course, the hair. "I don't want to live in a dictatorship," he says. "If I wanted to live in a dictatorship, I'd live in Cuba, where it's much warmer."
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STAMFORD  The city fire departments highly decorated chief of volunteers was suspended for one week for safety violations.

Assistant Chief Robert Rex Morris was suspended after he unexpectedly fell through a fire-damaged floor in a burning North Stamford home on Deepwood Road on Jan. 21. His suspension was lifted Friday.

Morris, 68, said he was not injured in the fall and was able to get himself out of the home unscathed.

Morris was the highest-ranking fire official at the blaze, according to a list of those who responded to the scene. Morris said the accident occurred when he slipped on a board and fell through a hole in the floor. He said firefighters were removing debris from the home at the time of the fall and the blaze was nearly completely extinguished.

Fire Chief Trevor Roach declined to describe what exactly Morris violations were and would only say he was suspended for safety concerns. Roach also declined to discuss any additional penalties Morris was given for his conduct during the fire, calling them personnel matters.

Morris referred a question about his suspension to Roach.

Morris, the former commander of the New York Fire Departments storied Rescue Co. 1, was hired as one of the Stamford departments two assistant chiefs in November 2014.

Morris position was created as part of the 2012 Stamford Charter Revision that formed a single unified city fire department out of five volunteer departments and one professional department.

Fire union President Brendan Keatley said he was not at the Deepwood Road fire and declined to comment about the Morris incident. But Keatley said there needs to be more uniform procedures among the volunteers and career firefighters.

Its a disaster from the beginning, he said. There is no one department, there is no one anything. There is no one set of procedures for career and volunteer firefighters alike.

Keatley said there were firefighters at the Deepwood blaze whose job it was go go into the burning structure.

Could someone ask what his job is? Is he an administrator or a fire suppression person. I think there has to be a distinction, Keatley said.

From November 2014 until the following October, Morris served in an equal position with Roach, who was assistant chief of the career firefighters. Roach was then promoted to the fire departments top slot when Chief Peter Brown retired.

Brown called Morris when he was hired in Stamford the guru of forcible entry. Morris invented a lock-breaking device  dubbed the Rex Tool  carried by firefighters to break into burning buildings. Brown even deemed Morris a legend in his own time in the fire service.

Morris firefighting career spans more than 40 years, beginning as a Belltown volunteer.

Morris joined the FDNY in 1973 and worked in all five boroughs, earning 28 meritorious awards.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com;
STAMFORDThe man on the losing end of a Friday night street fight took vengeance with a firearm, according to police.

An unidentified gunman fired multiple shots around 10 p.m. in front of a residence on the 200 block of Franklin Street, according to Stamford Bureau of Criminal Investigations Sgt. Chris DiCarlo, the lead detective in the case.

Two of those shots grazed the back and arm of a 25-year-old man who was the target of the attack, DiCarlo said. The wounds were not life-threatening. He was released early Saturday morning after being treated at Stamford Hospital.

The initial investigation indicated that the confrontation started in an argument over money. It didn't involve a firearm at first.

A short time before the shooting the victim was with some friends along with his brother, near the house, DiCarlo said. Then an acquaintance of the 25-year-old man approached the group, saying that he was owed money.

A fight ensued, leaving the acquaintance beaten, DiCarlo said. The group then dispersed. Some went inside the house and the beaten man left.

A short time later, he returned and taunted the 25-year-old man whom he said owed him money, DiCarlo said. From outside the house, he allegedly shouted and screamed, saying that he had a gun.

When the 25-year-old man came out of the house to confront him, the aggrieved gunman allegedly pulled out his weapon and fired several shots.

Police investigated the incident with a K-9 unit, some 20 or so officers and a spotlight to illuminate the scene, according to a neighborhood resident.

DiCarlo and his colleagues are also checking video surveillance of the incident and canvassing the neighborhood, but have few leads.

One stumbling block: the victim purports not to know the real name of the man who allegedly shot him, just a nickname. He also was not sure if the man lived in Stamford.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to cal Stamford police at 203 977-4417.
This post was originally published on Feb. 10, 2015

At least since 1952, when Norman Vincent Peales The Power of Positive Thinking was published, Americans have been inundated with the notion that the path to success can be smoothed by accentuating the positive. In this cult of optimism, one must keep ones eyes on the prize and not let negative waves interfere, and all forms of positive thinking are cast as inherently helpful.

Gabriele Oettingen wasnt buying it. The psychology professor at New York University and the University of Hamburg spent more than 20 years testing her contention that starry-eyed dreaming isnt all its cracked up to be.

As it turns out, dreamers are not often doers. Oettingens new book, Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation (Current), introduces a seemingly more realistic way of visualizing the future. If our wishful thinking is followed by an acute assessment of the obstacles that stand in the way of our dreams, achievement is far more likely, she contends. We spoke with Oettingen about her work and its practical applications.

Your studies have led you to conclude that positive thinking by itself does little to advance our goals. In fact, you believe it could be detrimental. How so?

My research has confirmed that merely thinking and dreaming about the future makes people less likely to achieve their goals. Just dreaming, detached from an awareness of reality, doesnt cut it. It seems to let us fulfill our wishes in our minds, but actually it saps the

energy we need to perform the hard work of meeting the challenges we face in real life.

To think positively about the future is very pleasant. Its a big temptation to think that doing it is the recipe for achieving success, instead of putting in the effort. In our minds, weve already reached a desired future, but there is a long way to go. [When people] pretend they are there, they will not prepare themselves for the obstacles and wont get motivated to make the difficult climb. We might actually forgo realization of our dreams.

What were some of the results of your 20 years of research?

We found that students who fantasize about getting together with a romantic partner are less likely to get involved with that person. We found that with overweight women, the more they fantasized about losing weight in a program, the less weight they lostover three months and over two years.

Youve come up with an alternative approach that you say leads to more constructive results.

I call this method mental contrasting. It instructs us to dream our dreams, but then visualize the personal barriers that prevent us from achieving them. My studies show that when we perform such mental contrasting, we actually gain energy to take action. And when we go further and specify the actions we intend to take as obstacles arise, we energize ourselves even more.

Simply put, by adding a bit of realism to peoples positive imaginings of the future, mental contrasting enables them to become dreamers and doers. My work presents a single, surprising idea: The obstacles that we think most impede us from realizing our deepest wishes can actually hasten their fulfillment.

How is mental contrasting useful as a tool to achieve our wishes?

Positive fantasies are great for momentary pleasure, for exploring a possibility a person might have in the future by trying it out mentally. But they seduce people into thinking they are already there. When it comes to actually realizing that possibility, those wishes need to be complemented by a clear sense of reality.

You need to juxtapose those fantasies with the realities in you that stand in the way of achieving these wishes. If you also do that, you get the energy to overcome these obstacles.

If we combine a positive future with the obstacles of reality, then we get going. If we see the obstacles as insurmountable, we realize those wishes are not feasible, so we let them go. We become more selective in what we are going to pursue. Mental contrasting helps us get less overwhelmed with life.

What did your analysis of the blood pressure and brain images of study participants show?

In one study, we recruited 164 female college students to fantasize about wearing sleek, stylish high heels. We randomly divided them into two groups and had them fill out questionnaires on a computer. For three minutes, a message on the screen asked the women in both groups to imagine themselves all dressed up in high heels. They jotted down their thoughts and daydreams. After three minutes,

one group was asked to generate more positive thoughts about wearing their heels; the other group was asked to generate negative thoughts.

Before we began, we took blood pressure readings of both groups. Systolic blood pressure is a cardiovascular measurement that reveals how energized or motivated a person is. The women who had fantasized positively showed lower systolic blood pressure. The second group showed no change in blood pressure. Positive fantasies relax us so much that it shows up in physiological tests. But when your objective is to make your wish a reality, the last thing you want to be is relaxed.

We also did work measuring brain responses to mental contrasting. It showed enhanced activity in sections of the brain responsible for willfulness and memorymuch different patterns than when people were merely fantasizing about a desired future.

Some of your early work on motivation was rejected for publication. Why?

Reviewers claimed the arguments and results were too far-fetched, that my message was ridiculous. If you come up with data that goes against cultural postulates, its always difficult. People were reluctant to acknowledge my message. Some are still reluctant. But it was understandable. You cant necessarily trust the results of just a few studies. So I spent the next 20 years conducting a number of rigorous, larger studies until my overall findings were supported.

The results were the same: Positive fantasies, wishes and dreamsdetached from an assessment of past experiencedidnt translate into motivation. They translated into the opposite.

In your book, you take mental contrasting a step further with the introduction of a meditative practice you call WOOP: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. It is meant to help people reap the full benefits of mental contrasting.

Yes, WOOP has another stepthe forging of explicit intentions about how to achieve a wish. If you break down the process by which people pursue wishes, you can distinguish two phases: an initial phase in which you weigh your options and decide to commit to a goal, and a second phase in which you plan how to take action to attain the wish.

There is a large amount of literature that shows this second phase is helpful in attaining goals. It doesnt work if you dont have a strong determination to implement your wishes. You must identify likely obstacles to your goal and approve behavior to overcome the obstacle.

This little exercise is a discovery into your wisheswhat you really want, not what others want you to do. It will help you find out what you are passionate about and what holds you back.

If youre a professional, you can use it to reach a new milestone in your career, improve your skillswhatever you can think of. It can be used to help with any kind of wish, short-term or long-term, big or small.

Related:

The Bright Side of Negative Thinking

12 Things You Should Never Say at Work (Infographic)

7 Ways to Better Networking



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
S cotland Yard is investigating claims security workers were paid by convicts to deliberately fit electronic ankle tags loosely.

Staff at Capita, which is contracted to run the Government's Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS), were allegedly paid 400 a time to help at least 32 offenders beat their court-imposed curfews, The Sun reported.

The Metropolitan Police said 14 people, including three current and former EMS workers, have been arrested in connection with a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

Capita won the six-year 400 million contract for electronically tagging criminals in 2014 after security firms G4S and Serco became embroiled in an overcharging scandal.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was "urgently" investigating the claims.

Scotland Yard said a 46-year-old man, a former EMS employee, was arrested in Romford on January 3 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and theft of tagging equipment.

A 45-year-old man from Barking and 57-year-old woman from Romford - both current employees - were arrested on January 18 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A further 11 people were arrested in connection with the investigation in January, Metropolitan Police confirmed.

A spokesman for the EMS said: "We have a zero tolerance policy against any of our employees who act in any way to undermine the robustness of the electronic monitoring service.

"The small number of employees being investigated regarding this isolated issue were swiftly taken off duties and we are closely co-operating with the Metropolitan Police Service."

A Met spokesman said: "Detectives in Newham borough are investigating a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

"Police had become aware that offender monitoring equipment was being used inappropriately."

A spokesman for the MoJ said: "Public protection is our priority. We are urgently investigating and working closely with the police."

All 14 suspects have been bailed to dates in early April and inquiries are ongoing, police said.
A rapist who attacked a London tourist has been jailed for seven years.

Salah Koubar, 20, of Densole Close, Beckenham, dragged his 29-year-old victim, who was visiting the capital on holiday, behind a building near West Dulwich station and raped her after they met on a night out in Soho in July last year.

He was found guilty of rape following a trial at Blackfriars Crown Court on Tuesday and was sentenced on Friday to seven years in prison.

Police said Koubar terrified his victim by leading her on buses to Brixton when she thought she was being taken to Westminster.

As she became increasingly nervous of Koubars actions he snatched her phone and handbag.

The woman retrieved her possessions and left the bus at West Dulwich station but Koubar followed her before he launched the "horrific" sex attack.

Attack: The attack took place at West Dulwich station / Mags

Police were alerted after a bystander noticed the victim looking distressed and CCTV later identified Koubar who was arrested and then charged three days after the rape.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Ian Trantum, said: Koubar is a manipulative and nasty individual who deliberately exploited the victims vulnerability and unfamiliarity of the city.

He led her away from the busy city centre and raped her where he knew it would be quiet.

Incidents like this are thankfully extremely rare, however we police a CCTV rich environment and will do everything in our power to find those responsible.

And as in Koubars case, bring them before the courts.

I would like to applaud the overwhelming bravery of this victim who had the strength to return to London to face her attacker in court.

Id also like to thank the Good Samaritan who helped the victim after this truly horrific attack, he supported and comforted her until police arrived.

Koubar will now spend the next seven years in prison for his shocking actions.
C rowds have gathered to march through central London in a protest against US President Donald Trump.

Demonstrators were arriving at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square in opposition to the new Presidents travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

The controversial ban was blocked nationwide by a judge on Friday, but the White House plans to fight the decision.

Saturdays protest is expected to see thousands of people gather outside the embassy before heading off on a march towards Downing Street.

The protest has been organised by a swathe of groups including the Stop the War Coalition and Stand Up To Racism.

A statement on the events Facebook page read: Trump's ban on Muslims must be opposed by all who are against racism and support basic human rights.

Theresa May's collusion with Trump must end. 

Sabby Dhalu, from Stand Up To Racism, said: "The people traveling to the US from the seven countries they have banned are fleeing terrorism, war and persecution but this is being forgotten in the midst of the racist hysteria that Trump has unleashed.

"The chosen target of attack is Muslims and Mexicans, but tomorrow it will be women, LGBT communities, Jews, trade unions and others.

"We call on everyone who stands against Trumps politics of hate to join us.

Saturday's march comes after thousands of protesters descended on Whitehall this week to take a stand against the travel ban.

On January 23, another protest saw thousands of women march through the capital in the wake of President Trump's inauguration.
T housands of people joined a protest against Donald Trump in London on Saturday following the US President's controversial travel ban.

Organisers claimed 40,000 people took part, gathering at the US embassy in Grosvenor Square at 11am, before making their way towards Whitehall.

The protesters clutched banners reading "Love Trumps Hate" and "Theresa the Appeaser".

Another, parodying Mr Trump's election slogan, read: "Make America Think Again."

Demp: Protesters hold up placards reading 'no to Islamophobia' / PA Wire/PA Images

Organisations including Stop the War and Stand Up to Racism were involved in organising the event.

Activist John Rees, co-founder of Stop the War Coalition, said there were almost 40,000 people at the demonstration which showed that "the Government has got a very, very big problem with the state visit".

He said Mrs May had a choice to either "insult the American president, or insult a majority of people in this country who don't share that president's views on practically any issue you care to mention".

Mr Rees added: "He (Mr Trump) thinks one way about women, most people in this country don't share that view. He thinks one way about Muslims, most people don't share that view.

Protest: Demonstrators gather at the US Embassy in central London / PA Wire/PA Images

"She's got a choice: she can either insult him, or us."

Mr Rees also claimed that Theresa May had "walked into a storm wholly bigger than she could imagine" and urged her to "disinvite" the president.

The march was set up to condemn the travel ban, alongside the forthcoming state visit of Mr Trump to the UK.

Protester Bryan Pirolli tweeted a picture of the demonstrators, writing: "The biggest crowds. The best people.

"Standing up to hatred. Dumb hatred. Proud."

Rich Squince wrote: "Demo surrounds US embassy. Trump not welcome here!"

One of Mr Trump's first acts as President was to issue an executive order banning entry to the US for people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

A judge ruled against the President on Friday, blocking the ban nationwide in a move the White House is set to challenge.

Saturday's protest was the third large scale demonstration in the capital since Mr Trump's inauguration.

Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, told the crowds that Mr Trump's policies were aimed at "stoking up fear".

Protest: Thousands joined the march / PA Wire/PA Images

He said that the "fear and division" was evident in schools and told the masses gathered: "I'm here to say that every teacher should be involved in the campaign against Trump."

"We can fight Trump's policies, we can fight that division," Mr Courtney added.

Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, told the crowds that Mrs May needed to "understand the responsibility" of the UK's relationship with the US.

She added: "The answer isn't walls and the answer isn't bans."

Demo: Donald Trump has introduced a controversial travel ban / PA Wire/PA Images

The crowds marched down Park Lane - filling the length of the famous London street - and along Piccadilly towards Downing Street.

They chanted "Donald Trump has got to go" and "No ban, no wall" as they went.

Park Lane, Piccadilly, Pall Mall East, Haymarket and Trafagar Square were all closed off for the demo.

The prime minister invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House.

Hours later, Mr Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to America, sparking fury.

Thousands march in protest over Theresa May's Donald Trump invitation

A petition calling on the government to prevent Mr Trump from making a state visit because it would cause "embarrassment" to the Queen has received more than 1.8 million signatures.

Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year, but MPs will debate the matter later this month.

Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including at least 2,000 protesters at New York's Kennedy International Airport, while thousands took to the streets of the UK amid anger over the ban.
M ore than 30 London mosques are set to throw open their doors to Londoners on Sunday as experts say the current climate marks a perfect storm of polarisation.

The event, organised by the Muslim Council of Britain, hopes to encourage members of the public to come and ask questions about Muslims and Islam and to understand the faith beyond the negative media headlines.

Volunteers will be offering tea and biscuits and will be able to explain the workings of a mosque as well as wider theological questions.

Visit My Mosque Day comes after a week in which six Muslims were killed in a shooting at a mosque in Canada, and Donald Trump suspended all immigration to the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

People listen to a talk at the East London Mosque / East London Mosque

Matthew Wilkinson, a research fellow at the Centre for Islamic Studies at SOAS, told the Standard the current political climate meant the day was particularly important to help demystify the mosque.

Londoners visit the East London Mosque during Visit My Mosque Day last year / East London Mosque

He said: I think were seeing a perfect storm of polarisation. The combination of far-right fear mongering and the legitimate fear caused by Islamist terror is uniquely polarising.

It probably is a uniquely important time for mosque doors to be thrown open, to show its a place where people of other faiths are welcome and a place where human diversity is celebrated.

A sign for Visit My Mosque Day last year / East London Mosque

Its not a panacea for anything but its important because Islam is a faith which tries to be open and encourages civility, and in the current climate these values have been lost or covered over.

Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, also stressed the days importance in the current political landscape.

A talk given at the East London Mosque during Visit My Mosque Day last year / East London Mosque

He said: As the world recoils at President Trumps so called Muslim Ban and now the mass killing at a mosque in Canada, Visit My Mosque Day is a much needed antidote to the poisonous atmosphere we find ourselves in.

This Sunday, February 5, the British public, Muslim and non-Muslim have an opportunity to come together and renew bonds of friendship.

To find your local Mosque visit the website.
J ournalist Owen Jones has announced he will not attend Saturdays anti-Donald Trump demonstration after he blasted one of its organisers as a cult which covered up rape.

Mr Jones, who organised a separate rally against Mr Trump last week, said he did not support Saturdays protest because of the lead role of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

Saturdays demonstration is being held against Mr Trump's divisive travel ban which shut down the US refugee programme for 120 days and halted all immigration from seven predominately Muslim countries for 90 days.

Thousands march in protest over Theresa May's Donald Trump invitation

Protestors were due to assemble outside the US Embassy in London on Saturday morning before marching on Downing Street in a demo organised by Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism, Muslim Association of Britain and Muslim Engagement and Development.

But Mr Jones took to social media on Friday to announce that he was not taking part because of the leading role of the SWP which he described as cult which covered rape.

The SWP, a far-left organisation, has previously been accused of setting up kangaroo courts to hear allegations of rape and sexual misconduct against a senior member of the party.

The senior party member denied the allegations and the party refuted reports of a cover-up.

Mr Jones claims that Stand Up to Racism is a front for SWP.

The journalist organised last weeks rally against Mr Turmp which saw thousands of Londoners descend on Downing Street in protest against the presidents controversial ban.

Mr Jones has also called for another anti-Trump demo to be held in London on the day MPs are due to debate the US Presidents planned state visit.

The 'Stop Trump' protest is set to take place in Parliament Square on February 20. Some 16,000 people have already registered their interest in attending.
A hilarious clip shows the moment one of Theresa May's key aides was handed the Prime Minister's handbag as she dashed off for a photograph.

The sturdy aide sprung into action as the UK PM turned to him and thrust him her handbag during a visit to Malta.

Mrs May is currently visiting the country for an EU summit to talk to leaders about Brexit.

The grinning aide, thought to be the permanent secretary of the department for exiting the EU, is shown in the clip looking slightly bemused as he is handed the bag.

Hold my bag: A key aide is given Theresa May's bag to hold.

He swiftly tucks it alongside his briefcase as Mrs May walks off with the PM of Malta, Joseph Muscat.


H usbands who rape their wives will be given the power to stop their victims having an abortion under a new law passed in the US state of Arkansas.

The law, set to come into effect this spring, lets family members sue abortion providers for damages or block terminations, American media report.

There is no exception for spousal rape or incest, although a husband would not be able to win damages if that was the case.

The Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act, also bans most second trimester abortions, making commonplace dilation and evacuation procedures a felony.

That procedure, deemed to be the safest way for women to end their pregnancies, sees doctors removing the fetus from the womb with surgical tools.

State Representative Andy Mayberry, who helped push the law through, called the procedure barbaric and claimed it was one that no civilised society should embrace.

Karen Musick, co-founder of Arkansas Abortion Support Network, slammed the decision to pass the pro-life law.

She told The Daily Beast: There is zero part of me that understands why a rapist or someone who got someone pregnant against their will, maybe incest, would have any right in that decision.

I cannot wrap my brain around the fact that there would be anyone who thinks otherwise.

Holly Dickson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, told the Huffington Post the law could be unconstitutional.

She said: They created a whole new right  the right of a husband or family member to sue a doctor on behalf of an adult patient.

I cannot begin to tell you what the intent was, but we have raised concerns about that provision and the entire rest of the bill, which is unconstitutional.


D onald Trump has pledged to overturn a US judges ruling that his travel ban on refugees is unconstitutional.

Judge James Robart, of Seattle, Washington, issued a temporary restraining order on Mr Trumps refugee ban on Friday, putting a halt to the controversial policy which has caused uproar around the world and led to chaos at airports.

Judge Robart said the ban, which had shut down the US refugee programme for 120 days and halted all immigration from seven predominately Muslim countries for 90 days, was unconstitutional and announced that the block was effective immediately.

But Mr Trump took to social media on Saturday to dismiss the block saying it is ridiculous and will be overturned.

Posting on Twitter the US President wrote: The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!

Minutes earlier Mr Trump had posted: When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in and out, especially for reasons of safety and security  big trouble!

Donald Trump fights back after judge blocks his travel ban

He added: "Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!"

The White House had said late on Friday that it believed the ban to be lawful and appropriate and that the US Department of Justice would file an emergency appeal.

However, just hours after the ruling, US Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could take travellers who had been affected by the ban.

Mr Trumps January 27 executive order banned all immigration from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the US.

Mr Trumps retort came as thousands of Londoners protested outside the US embassy against the ban, before marching on Downing Street.

The State Department said on Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended in the wake of Mr Trump's order. It was not clear on Friday night whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what travellers with such visas might confront at US airports.

While a number of lawsuits have been filed over Mr Trump's action, the Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of the executive order.
A judge has thrown Donald Trumps travel ban on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries into chaos after blocking the executive order nationwide.

The Seattle judge's temporary restraining order, issued on Friday, puts a hold on the controversial ban, which has caused uproar around the world and led to chaos at airports.

However, the White House said late on Friday that it believed the ban to be "lawful and appropriate" and that the US Department of Justice would file an emergency appeal.

Still, just hours after the ruling, US Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could take travellers who had been affected by the ban.

Opposition: Anti-Trump protesters rally outside Trump Hotel in Washington / REUTERS

The US Presidents January 27 order caused chaos at airports across the United States last week as some citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were denied entry.

Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the US.

The setback came as thousands of protesters prepared to demonstrate in opposition to Mr Trump's travel ban from 11am at the US Embassy in London.

The State Department said on Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended in the wake of Mr Trump's order. It was not clear on Friday night whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what travellers with such visas might confront at US airports.

While a number of lawsuits have been filed over Mr Trump's action, the Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of the executive order.

Thousands to protest Donald Trump on day of MPs' debate on state visit

Judge James Robart, a George W Bush appointee, explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges facing similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.

The challenge in Seattle was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Donald Trump has a barney with Arnie

Mr Robart said no attacks had been carried out on US soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Mr Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas.

Amazon.com and Expedia, both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

The White House said it would file an appeal as soon as possible.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," the White House said in a statement.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "No person - not even the president - is above the law."

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

"This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order," said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: "Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good."
T he machete-wielding man who tried to attack soldiers at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Friday is believed to be Egyptian, French authorities said.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said the attacker may have travelled from Dubai to Paris on a tourist visa last month.

The man, 29, who was reportedly living in the United Arab Emirates, is currently fighting for his life in hospital after being shot.

French police are trying to establish if he acted alone or under instruction, Mr Molins added.

Louvre evacuated following shooting of machete wielding terror suspect

Parts of central Paris went into lockdown shortly after 10am local time on Friday after a man carrrying two machetes and two backpacks tried to attack soldiers at the entrance of the Louvre.

Police said the man reacted when soldiers told him he could not enter a shopping area below the museum with his bags.

The man tried to attack the soldiers after yelling "Allahu akbar", the Arabic phrase for "God is great". A soldier opened fire and the man was struck five times, including once in the stomach, Paris police chief Michel Cadot said.

Louvre Paris Shooting - In pictures 1 /12 Louvre Paris Shooting - In pictures Pictures from inside The Louvre Museum in Paris where tourists are being evacuated into locked down halls Twitter via Wang Feng Pictures from inside The Louvre Museum in Paris where tourists are being evacuated into locked down halls Twitter via Wang Feng Police and rescue workers car park outside the Louvre museum in Paris AP French police officers and soldiers patrol in front of the Louvre museum AFP/Getty Images Police officers cordon off the area next to the Louvre museum in Paris AP French police officers patrol near the Louvre museum AFP/Getty Images French police attend shooting incident at the Louvre in Paris BBC Police officers take position outside the Louvre museum AP A French soldier stands guard near the Louvre museum AFP/Getty Images

The backpacks did not contain any explosives, he added.

French president Francois Hollande told reporters at an EU summit in Malta that there was "no doubt" the attack was of a "terrorist nature".

He said the situation around the landmark museum is "totally under control" but the overall threat to France remains.

Mr Hollande said he expects the assailant to be questioned "when it is possible to do so".

Mr Molins said the attacker had no identity papers but investigators used his mobile phone to find out that he was a resident in the United Arab Emirates and came to Paris on a tourist visa on January 26.

Two days later he is said to have bought two military machetes at a gun shop in Paris.

Mr Molins said the man's identity has not been formally confirmed but the French soldiers' quick reactions put an end to "a terror attack" at one of Paris' most iconic tourist attractions.

Several police raids are said to have happened in the French capital, two French officials close to the investigation said.

A police union official, Luc Poignant, said one of the raids took place on Rue de Ponthieu, a street near the Champs-Elysees Avenue.

The Louvre will stay closed for the rest of Friday but will reopen on Saturday, culture minister Audrey Azoulay said.
T he man suspected of attacking soldiers at the Louvre in Paris, named on Saturday as Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, professed support for Isis minutes before the assault, it is claimed.

An Egyptian Interior Ministry official named the attacker as Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, 28, of Egypt but French authorities have not yet confirmed his identity.

The Egyptian official said an initial investigation in Egypt found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any militant group by Mr al-Hamahmy.

French authorities said they are not yet ready to name the suspect, but confirmed on Friday they thought he was Egyptian and had travelled to Paris from Dubai on a tourist visa last month.

Mr Hamahmy reportedly posted on Twitter about a trip from Dubai to Paris on January 26.

In another tweet in Arabic written shortly before the attack, he reportedly posted an angry tirade: "In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world."

He added: "Why are they afraid of the establishment of the Islamic State? it said. Because the Islamic State defends its resources and dignity and honor, and respond fight back.

"No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war."

According to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, on arriving in Paris, the suspect bought two military machetes at a gun store.

He also paid 1,700 euros (1,468) for a one-week stay at an apartment in the chic 8th arrondissement of the French capital, near the Champs-Elysees Avenue.

In an interview with the Dubai-based news channel al-Hadath aired Saturday, Mr Hamahmy's father, Reda Refae al-Hamahmy, said he was shocked to learn of his son's alleged involvement in the latest Paris attack.

"All I want is to know the truth and find out whether he is dead or alive," the father said.

"This is all a scenario made up by the French government to justify the soldiers opening fire," he added, denying that his son was radical or a member of any militant groups.

"He is a very normal young man," he said.

The suspect's father said Mr Hamahmy is married with a 7-month-old child and told them he intended to tour the sights in Paris before leaving France.

He sent his father a photo of himself with the Eiffel Tower in the background shortly before the clash.

Mr Hamahmy's brother Ahmed, who works at the Health Ministry in Dubai, was interrogated for several hours by security officials in the United Arab Emirates, the father said.

In Egypt, several officers from the domestic security agency visited the family home in the Nile Delta on Friday night to question family members.
V isa holders from countries affected by US president Donald Trump's travel ban have hurried to board US-bound flights after a federal judge temporarily halted the block.

Those who can travel immediately were urged to do so because of uncertainty over whether the US justice department would be granted an emergency freeze of the order issued on Friday by US district judge James Robart in Seattle.

The US government suspended enforcement of the week-old ban as it attempted to appeal Judge Robart's order.

But an immigration lawyer said passengers in at least one African airport were told they could not get on the planes.

Ban lifted: Banah Alhanfy is greeted at Logan Airport after she cleared U.S. customs and immigration on special immigrant visa / REUTERS

Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan, told The Detroit News that her group is advising people to hurry.

US officials have said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Mr Trump's order.

Although the government suspended enforcement of the travel ban while it sought an emergency stay of Judge Robart's order, some airlines reportedly still were not letting some people from the seven Muslim-majority countries board their planes.

Anti-Trump: a demonstrator chants during a rally protesting the immigration policies of President Trump in Washington, / AP

Royal Jordanian Airlines, which operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit, said it would resume carrying nationals from the seven countries as long as they presented a valid US visa or green card.

But in the African nation of Djibouti, immigration attorney Julie Goldberg said a Qatar Airways representative told her that immigrants from all seven countries affected by the ban - Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia - were not allowed to fly on Saturday afternoon.

A Qatar Airways spokeswoman said the airline would begin boarding travellers from those countries.

President Donald Trump lashes out at US judge on Twitter

Ms Goldberg said she was trying to arrange flights for dozens of Yemeni citizens who have immigrant visas and were stranded there.

She said a supervisor at Turkish Airlines told her that people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas from the seven countries still were being banned unless they had a special email from the US Customs and Border Protection with the person's name and passport number.

A 12-year-old Yemeni girl whose parents and siblings are US citizens living in California was finally allowed to depart after "an hour-and-a-half of fighting" with officials, Ms Goldberg said. It was unclear when she would arrive.

A Somali refugee said about 140 asylum seekers whose resettlement in the US was blocked by Mr Trump's executive order were sent back to their camp. It is unclear if or when they could travel.

Thousands march in protest over Theresa May's Donald Trump invitation

Nadir Hassan said the group of Somali refugees was relocated to Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya on Saturday.

They had been expected to settle in the US this week and had been staying at an International Organisation for Migration transit centre in Nairobi.

"I was hoping to start a new life in the US," Mr Hassan said. "We feel bad."

Ban suspended: Ammar Alnajjar, left, shakes hands with his cousin, Fahd Alfakih, after coming into New York's JFK International Airport on a flight from Istanbul / AP

Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports to offer assistance to new arrivals in case anything went wrong.

Volunteer attorney Renee Paradis was among 20-25 lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside JFK's Terminal 4 in case anyone arrived on Saturday needing help.

They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi which read they were available to help.
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.
America wouldnt exist without immigrants, and its economic future will look bleak if we dont keep welcoming them.

Thats why so many companies, from Coca-Cola to Google, spoke out against a travel ban that affects people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Its also why the stock market, which had been rising since President Donald Trump was elected, got nervous when he announced the ban.

Contrary to some political rhetoric, immigration isnt a zero-sum game in which they take our jobs.

Joel Prakken, senior managing director at Macroeconomic Advisers in Clayton, says most research shows that immigration helps the economy by increasing the working-age population and by boosting productivity.

Some of the productivity increase comes from skilled immigrants who invent things  people such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Tesla founder Elon Musk.

It also comes from specialization: As employers hire immigrants for routine tasks, native-born employees move into jobs that make use of their language and communication skills.

You get a larger and more flexible workforce, and you get a larger economy, Prakken said. If you told me right now, No more immigrants, I would cut my forecast for economic growth dramatically.

Anyone who expects to collect Social Security should be a fan of immigration. Youll need working, taxpaying Americans to fund your benefits, and a lot of them will be born in other countries.

The Census Bureau projects that over the next 30 years, more than half of the nations population increase will happen through immigration. By 2050, the demographers expect immigration to account for 82 percent of growth.

That number, by the way, assumes a net inflow of nearly 1.5 million migrants a year by 2050. Only 1.1 million people a year can enter the country legally, so the Census Bureau is assuming that we will either get smart about immigration reform or see unauthorized entrants more than double.

The former  a well-thought-out policy of making the U.S. more welcoming, especially of people with skills  is the best way to ensure prosperity in decades to come. Instead, with Trumps travel ban and with orders he is said to be drafting that would restrict work visas and make it harder for noncitizens to get government benefits, were moving in the opposite direction.

While immigrant-rich places such as Los Angeles and New York are most affected by the travel ban, Rust Belt cities like St. Louis also have a lot to lose. With their manufacturing industries in decline and their population aging, they need the innovation and energy that foreigners can bring.

After a study said a lack of immigrants was hurting St. Louis economy, local leaders launched the Mosaic Project in 2013. They want to make St. Louis immigrant population the fastest-growing among the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, a goal that was met in 2015.

For Betsy Cohen, Mosaics director, the benefits are easy to see.

The research shows that foreign-born people are more than 60 percent more likely to start a business, she said. They encourage neighborhood and retail viability, keeping schools open and contributing to the local economy.

Cohen said Mosaic is nonpolitical, so she wouldnt comment on any specific policies. She noted that even in an era of restricted immigration, the region could meet its goal by convincing foreign-born residents to move here from other cities.

A bigger slice of a shrinking pie wouldnt be much of a victory, though. In a national immigration debate thats becoming increasingly shrill and nonsensical, St. Louisans and their leaders must keep arguing for economic reason.
A suburban Chicago brewery Saturday announced a recall of its "Not Your Mom's Iced Tea" brand, which is sold in the St. Louis area.

The Small Town Brewery, based in Wauconda, Ill., said inspections revealed a manufacturing flaw in bottles that could cause glass to break off upon opening the bottles.

The brewery says it has received no complaints about the flaw and that as few as 28 bottles on store shelves across the country could be at risk.

For more information about the recall, go to the brewery's website.
Five Coast Guard cutters are charged with marking navigation channels on major rivers from roughly the St. Louis area north to the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and between Omaha, Neb., and near Chicago.

In recent weeks, just one boat  the Sangamon, a river buoy tender ported in Peoria, Ill.  has been on the water in that area as the others await repairs.

The boats all have more than 50 years of service, which means they break down and require more maintenance. Lead and asbestos are problems, as is equipment so dated that some replacement parts arent sold anymore.

The condition of cutters assigned to inland rivers hasnt gotten as much attention as the aging Coast Guard boats used to catch drug dealers along the nations ocean coasts. But many in the river industry say the work done by the Coast Guard on rivers is vital to moving cargo.

We rely on those aids to navigation to guide us through ever-changing river systems, said Aimee Andres, executive director of the Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals Association based in East Alton.

The cutters mark channels guaranteeing river traffic a space thats at least 9 feet deep and 300 feet wide, and build and maintain shore aids, a system of towers and lights along the rivers.

When I explain it to my neighbors, I say that we put out the buoys that guide the commerce up and down the river, said Mike Love, the master chief officer who captains the Sangamon cutter.

Adm. Paul Zukunft, who heads the Coast Guard, said its not the most glamorous Coast Guard duty, but he stressed the importance of the role the cutters play on the nations rivers and the challenges faced by the old fleet.

He cited his recent visit to the Smilax cutter, which is ported in Atlantic Beach, N.C., and was commissioned in 1944, back when no women worked on the boats.

It still cannot accommodate a mixed-gender crew.

Zukunft said $20 million is needed to bring the Coast Guards fleet of cutters, which include 36 on inland waterways, up to modern standards. He said hes optimistic hell get more funding from Congress.

The aging fleet of the Coast Guard is a concern for us all on the river system, said Dennis Wilmsmeyer, executive director of Americas Central Port in Granite City.

Those in the barge industry have heard for years about broken-down cutters when they request navigation aids be placed out early in the spring, he said, and continue to seek federal money to help bolster those efforts.

And those aboard the cutters would be glad to see more money for the boats too.

Take for instance the Sangamon, which usually is assigned to the Illinois River between Grafton and Joliet, Ill.

Recently, that patrol has extended at times to the Mississippi River near St. Louis, which normally would be covered by the Coast Guard cutter Cheyenne.

But the Cheyennes crane was broken  it sat out of commission along the St. Louis shore. And the company that builds the cranes hasnt manufactured the parts needed to repair the crane since the 1980s.

Were trying to repair old systems with old parts, said Nate Sancarranco, the Sangamons chief engineer. That means an intensive search is required to find the parts, or they have to be pulled from another ship.

Water transportation moves 60 percent of U.S. grain for export, and the largest commodity it moves is petroleum  244 million tons annually, according to the American Waterways Operators association.

The group also says 20 percent of the nations coal is moved on the water, and that the nations domestic maritime industry supports 500,000 jobs with $100 billion in economic output.

Our river levels rise and fall continuously. The constant fluctuation in water levels and the flow of the current causes the channels to shift and change, creating a navigation challenge, said Dave OLoughlin, senior vice president of vessel operations and customer service for the Nashville, Tenn.-based Ingram Barge Co., in a statement.

He also said Coast Guard provides an essential service by marking navigational channels with buoys and that modernizing the fleet should be prioritized for the sake of safety and growing the nations economy.

Until then, its making use of whats there now.

Ryan Agre, chief executive officer of the Cheyenne, summed it up this way: Were working with 1960s technology to find where the water goes from deep to shallow.
Michael Sandknop is not the first person, nor likely the last, to have his curiosity captured by the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

The Jefferson County man is intrigued by the connection between St. Louis and one of the prime suspects in the slayings: Dr. Francis J. Tumblety.

I was absolutely shocked to read articles saying Jack the Ripper may have died in St. Louis, said Sandknop, who is producing a documentary on the subject for a class at Webster University. From that point, it became a great curiosity.

In the second half of 1888, Jack the Ripper was terrorizing the streets of East London, killing and mutilating women. They were known as The Whitechapel Murders.

Sandknop believes he has come across discarded evidence that bolsters the case against Tumblety.

But more on that later; lets look at Tumblety.

Modern fingers began pointing at Tumblety in 1995, when British police officers Stewart P. Evans and Paul Gainey wrote Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer.

According to the detectives, Tumblety left Rochester, N.Y., and came to St. Louis in 1863. He moved in the 1870s to New York City, which he used as a base for traveling  especially to England, where two nieces lived.

The detectives noted that one trip landed Tumblety in London in June 1888.

The first Ripper murder occurred Aug. 31, 1888. The victim was Mary Ann Nichols. On Sept. 8, the Ripper killed Annie Chapman. On Sept. 30, Catherine Eddowes became the Rippers next victim. Organs had been removed from both Chapman and Eddowes  including Eddowes uterus.

In the wake of these murders, Scotland Yard discovered that Tumblety stayed in Whitechapel, and that he had visited a London pathological museum to ask if it had uteruses for sale.

On Nov. 7, London police arrested Tumblety in Whitechapel for gross indecency, a term used at the time to denote homosexual activity. He was released on bond Nov. 8.

On Nov. 9, the Rippers last victim, Mary Kelly, was grossly mutilated in her bed, and a number of organs, including her heart and uterus, were removed.

Police arrested Tumblety on Nov. 12 on suspicion of the murders. He was released without being charged, and on Nov. 24, sailed to France and then New York.

Scotland Yard detectives followed him to New York and did some further investigative work, but could not uncover enough evidence to extradite Tumblety back to England.

The book also notes that in the original police investigation, an American lawyer, C.A. Dunham, told police that during a dinner party in Washington in 1861, Tumblety called women cattle, sermonized about their evils and showed guests specimen jars that held human uteruses.

But one major finger of guilt pointed at Tumblety was discovered by Evans and is known to Ripperologists as the Littlechild Letter.

In the 1913 correspondence, Scotland Yard Inspector John G. Littlechild responded to a reporter working on a 25-year anniversary story about the murders:

I never heard of a Dr. D. in connection with the Whitechapel murders. But amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T. (which sounds much like D). He was an American quack named Tumblety.

In the last dozen or so years of his life, Tumblety shuttled among Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Louis. In early April 1903, he checked himself into St. Johns Hospital in downtown St. Louis. He died there May 28, 1903.

Sandknops discovery is a deposition taken in New Orleans from Richard Norris, who appears to have been a lover of Tumbletys when he would visit during Mardi Gras season.

Norris says Tumblety invited him to his (hotel) room to seduce him, Sandknop said. And while he was there, he showed Norris a collection of knives and surgical instruments that he kept.

No one has ever before noted that Tumblety collected medical instruments, he said.

Sandknop said he hopes to substantiate one or two other leads before finishing his film.

What Id like to see when this is done, Sandknop said, is that we advance Tumblety to the top of the list of suspects.
I am a refugee from the 50s. I was a child then, but I can understand why so many people want to return to those times.

Let me tell you about childhood in a middle-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Kids were free and unafraid. We walked to school. Alone. Nobody was escorted by a parent. Thats because our parents were unafraid, too. They did not worry about our safety. They did not feel like they had to know where we were at all times.

On Saturdays, we might be gone all day.

Summers were magical. Nothing to do. Nothing scheduled, anyway. I can remember the absolute joy of waking up on a summer morning with the day stretching lazily in front of me. None of my friends went away to camp, and as far as I know, there were no summer day camps. A friend and I would sometimes get on the bus and ride across the city to Wrigley Field.

Were our parents naive? Was the world really that safe, or in the absence of a 24-hour media, did they just not realize how dangerous it was?

Of course, bad things happened. Our Lady of the Angels, a Catholic grade school on the citys west side, burned in December 1958. Ninety-two kids and three nuns died. Also, there were occasional car accidents. I knew two families who lost a loved one. That should not be surprising. There were no seat belts, no special car seats for children. Toddlers crawled around in the back seat.

To show you how unafraid we were, people hitchhiked. Imagine standing on the side of the road with your thumb out, hoping that a stranger would stop. Amazingly, strangers did. What was everybody thinking?

Crime is much worse today, but there was crime even then. Surely, my parents knew that. Like many people in the neighborhood, we subscribed to two daily newspapers, the Tribune in the morning and the Daily News in the afternoon. There was no Twitter, fake news or alternative facts. Actually, the last two were familiar to anybody who had read George Orwells 1984, but that was considered more fantasy than reality.

My world was homogeneous. Everybody was white. We had a mild split between Catholics and Protestants, but only because some of the Catholic kids went to Catholic school while the rest of us marched down the street to our public school. A neighborhood school, of course.

We marched back home at noon because our mothers were home to prepare lunch. My family was the exception. My mother worked at nearby Chicago Bridge and Iron  she was a secretary  and my grandmother fixed lunch for us.

There were no gays back then, and certainly no transgender people. It seems to me that gays did not exist until about 1970, and transgenders came along about 30 years later. I am being facetious, of course. Its just that nobody knew.

Several police officers lived in the neighborhood. They were rough men. Our next-door neighbor, Don Virkler, was a cop. He sat in our kitchen one day and told my father that he and some fellow officers had gone into a bar and had beaten the heck out of a guy. Don said that when they were finished, he looked at the other patrons and asked if anybody wanted to go downtown with them and file a report about police brutality. Nobody volunteered.

My father nodded approvingly. He was a rough man, too. Most of the men in the neighborhood were. They were almost all veterans of World War II.

I dont think any of them were college graduates, but with the exception of my father, all supported their families while their wives stayed home with the kids.

What made this idyllic life possible?

Unions.

Except for the police officers, who were expected to make do with graft, almost all of the men were union members. Some, like my father, were in the trades  he was an electrician  and others worked in the factories. They were not rich and they probably werent saving much, but that did not bother them. They would get modest pensions when they retired. Modest would be enough. They lived simply.

Admittedly, life might not have been idyllic for everybody. Perhaps the poor had it tough. They usually do. And the rich. The top income tax rate in 1960 was 91 percent.

Another nice thing about life of the middle class was this  they did not have to save for their childrens education. In those days, a kid could easily work his way through college. Tuition at a state school was low. A good summer job would take care of it. For me, a good summer job was easy to come by. Because my father was well-regarded in the union, I was hired as an electricians helper.

I am grateful I lived in such good times. Of course, it marks me as an old guy. Thats fine. There are advantages. We dont take ourselves so seriously. Back when I was working full time, I believed that I was as smart as the next guy. I now understand that was a defense mechanism. When youre out in the Great Hustle, you have to feel capable of competing.

Now, I happily concede there are a lot of people smarter than I am. For instance, Missouris new governor, Eric Greitens. He went to Duke and Oxford. I like to think he knows what hes doing.

On the other hand, I watch him go after unions and I wonder if that is really the way forward. When he turns his Gatling gun on the state universities and forces them to either make deep cuts or raise tuition, I wonder again. Either hes got a plan Im not smart enough to understand, or 50 years from now, somebody else will be writing about the good old days when there was still something called the middle class.
Diamond DeDual is ashamed to be an American.

The 27-year-old hairstylist lives in Cuba, Mo. Thats Donald Trump country. Nearly 80 percent of voters in Crawford County voted for the nations new president in the November election.

But one of Trumps first actions has been devastating to DeDuals family.

Four months ago, she and her husband, Mariwan, had their first child, Arrow.

Thanks to the presidents executive order barring immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for at least four months, Diamond isnt sure when shes going to see her husband next, or when he will see his son.

Hes stuck in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, caught in a presidential crackdown on immigrants and refugees that is splitting American families.

Im completely shocked that, as an American, Im even having this conversation, DeDual told me Wednesday.

She and Mariwan met in Rolla.

He was a student at Missouri University of Science and Technology, working on a masters degree in petroleum engineering. Mariwan is Muslim in the way that a lot of St. Louisans are Catholic. Its the faith of his father, but he doesnt actively practice. He was in the country legally on an F-1 student visa.

The couple got married in Iraq in September 2015 and lived there for about a year.

Every single person I came in contact with was so friendly, Diamond says of her time in Kurdistan. They love Americans.

When she became pregnant, the couple decided Diamond should come back to Missouri to have the baby. The health care was better, and Mariwans job prospects would be, too. So they started a new visa process, this time applying for a spouse visa.

The case was approved by the U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Service, says their St. Louis-based attorney, Jim Hacking. It was forwarded to the National Visa Center. Mariwan went to the U.S. Embassy for the final step of the process, a personal interview. He left his passport with them and was supposed to get it back this week.

Then Jan. 27 happened. Trump instituted a ban on immigrants entering the country if they came from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq. His executive order also stopped Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. The order created chaos as various federal departments hadnt been consulted and werent sure how to react when immigrants already flying to the U.S. landed at airports. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained a stay on a portion of the order, allowing those who had entered the country under legal visas to stay.

But that didnt help the DeDuals.

Before Diamond flew back to Missouri, the couple sold most of their possessions to prepare for a new life together in the United States. Without his passport, however, Mariwan is now stuck, separated from his wife and son, unable to complete the immigration process in which he had already been vetted twice, once as a student, and again as a spouse of an American citizen.

He cant go anywhere right now, Diamond says of her husband. Hes living on the floor with a teapot and a space heater.

The nations immigration system was already broken, Hacking says. Now Trump has thrown it into utter chaos.

American citizens who are married to individuals from the seven Muslim countries are being denied the ability to bring their spouses to the U.S., Hacking says. This is true despite months and months of processing and vetting by USCIS and the State Department. The procedures are already in place to check their criminal background, and they have to go through an interview. My citizen clients are being treated as second-class citizens with no individualized determination that their spouse did anything wrong. Its not fair.

Diamond and Arrow are living with Diamonds father. She talks to Mariwan by iPhone and Facebook. She waits, and watches her baby grow, and wonders how much of his early life his father will miss.

He wants to see his son, Diamond says of Mariwan. Its not like hes never been here before. He lived here for five years. Hes a good man, an educated man.

But thanks to President Trump, hes isolated from his American family, kept out of the U.S., because of the faith of his father.

I am absolutely ashamed of being an American right now, Diamond says. Nobody ever treated me this badly in a Muslim country.
VENICE  An attempted armed robbery turned deadly Thursday when the would-be victim pulled a gun and fired, killing one of the robbers and injuring another, police said.

Billy Dean Dickerson, 19, of St. Louis died Thursday morning when he and Perry A. Richardson, 23, tried to rob a 70-year-old man who was dropping off a friend at her house in the 200 block of Abbott Street in Venice, police said. The man is a Vietnam War veteran from St. Louis.

The veteran and his friend were sitting in his car when Dickerson pulled his vehicle up next to the driver's side, police said. Richardson, who was sitting in the passenger seat, pulled out his gun and demanded money.

The veteran pulled out his gun and fired, hitting Dickerson in the head and Richardson in the arm and chest.

Police were called to the block for a report of shots fired and found Dickerson inside his car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Richardson was taken to St. Louis University Hospital, where he was being treated for his injuries Friday night.

On Friday, he was charged in Madison County with first-degree murder. Under Illinois law, someone committing a forcible felony, like the armed robbery, can be held legally accountable for a death that occurs while the felony is being committed, said Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons.

"(The veteran) is a citizen who was minding his own business  following the law, doing nothing wrong  and someone attempted to victimize him and his friend," Gibbons said.

Authorities plan to hold Richardson without bail at Madison County Jail once he is released from the hospital. He faces up to 60 years in prison.

The Illinois State Police helped the Venice Police Department with the investigation.

Richardson also goes by the name Deandre Richardson.
COLUMBIA, Mo.  Gov. Eric Greitens rescinded the nominations of two members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators who were seated by then-Gov. Jay Nixon when the Legislature wasnt in session.

Greitens decision to withdraw the nominations of Jon Sundvold and Patrick Graham on Tuesday came after two other Nixon appointees, Tom Voss and Mary Nelson, resigned in January, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

Currently, the nine-member board has six curators because two are serving even though their terms expired Jan. 1.

Under the Missouri Constitution, the nominations of Sundvold, Voss and Graham had to be confirmed by the Senate or withdrawn by the end of this week or they would be barred from being appointed to the board in the future.

The vacancies also come as the curators are scheduled to meet next week to discuss how to respond to Greitens $31.4 million budget reductions .

Greitens spokesman Parker Briden did not respond to a request for information .

Sunvold, Voss, Nelson and Graham  the boards non-voting student member  were appointed by Nixon in June after Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, refused to consider Nixons appointments during the 2016 legislative session. The four began serving immediately after they were appointed.

Voss said he was appointed to help a new system president and that was accomplished when Mun Choi was selected in November.

Graham, a senior from Lees Summit, said he had submitted a resignation before Greitens withdrew his nomination to ensure that he could be appointed to the board in the future.
ST. LOUIS  Hundreds of people massed downtown Saturday in the latest local protest against President Donald Trump's executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States.

The rally outside the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse began about 1 p.m. and featured various speakers.

Marchers carried signs with messages such as "Refugees are welcome here" and "Alternative Facts: Denying Refugees Is Un-American" and "Trump Poster Boy For What Is Wrong With America." Protesters then walked down Market Street to the Gateway Arch, where they continued cheering and chanting in support of refugees.

The demonstration ended with people kneeling and praying together below the Arch.

Among those taking part was Ali Abdul, 63, of St. Louis, an imam at an area mosque.

"I believe this is a country of immigrants and that's what's special about this country," said Abdul, who came to the U.S. from Libya in 1978. "I'm sorry to see there are people who hate immigrants."

Jan Cerny, 68, of Kirkwood, said she's happy about the ruling Friday by a federal judge in Seattle which is temporarily blocking enforcement of the presidential order.

"We can grow St. Louis again," Cerny said, referring to immigration's possible role in increasing the metro area's population. "If we all stand up for what we believe in in our community, then we can make a difference."

Trump has said his order is aimed at keeping terrorists from entering the U.S. and protecting Americans.

His order included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, an indefinite prohibition against admitting Syrian refugees and a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program.

The White House has said the Justice Department would swiftly appeal the federal judge's ruling.

Last Sunday about 1,000 people upset with Trump's order demonstrated outside Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Then, on Wednesday, several hundred people did the same outside the Clayton office of Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri Republicans are committed to funding the rollout of a voter-approved photo ID law taking effect this year, even as declining tax revenue and growing Medicaid costs have led to a budget shortfall of nearly $500 million.

The law requires Missourians to show photo identification before voting, or sign a binding legal document that says they are who they say they are.

But it also requires the state to foot the bill to provide photo identification to anyone who doesnt have one and wants one, absorbing the costs of any documents needed along the way, including birth certificates, divorce decrees, marriage licenses, social security cards or naturalization papers to prove citizenship.

Without sufficient funding for those costs, the personal identification requirements shall not be enforced," the law says.

But while the estimated cost of implementation ventured well into the millions, Gov. Eric Greitens has only recommended about $300,000 for the changes in his proposed spending plan, which he unveiled on Thursday.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican whose office is tasked with paying fees involved in getting photo IDs to voters, said the process is just beginning.

This is just the first step in a difficult budget year and I am confident that the legislature, the governor and I will work together to make sure that the will of the people is followed, Ashcroft said.

But for others, the low appropriation raised a red flag.

It was a concern, said Rep. Justin Alferman, R-Hermann, who sponsored the photo ID law. But in talking with the governors office yesterday, they are in lockstep in making sure we implement photo ID.

A spokesman for the governor was not immediately available for comment.

In the fiscal analysis for the law as it passed out of the Legislature in 2016, more than 300,000 individuals could be eligible for a photo ID at no cost, either because they dont have one or their photo ID on file has expired, based on figures from the state Department of Revenue.

The analysis then assumes half of those Missourians might try to acquire an ID for free, for an estimated $11 million price tag in 2018.

Alferman contends that fiscal note is likely inflated, not taking into account factors like inactive registered voters.

He said it also relied on figures from former Secretary of State Jason Kander, A Democrat, who has been very outspoken again the photo ID law  most recently, speaking on the House floor to call on lawmakers not to pass any further restrictions.

Meanwhile, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri say theyre going to watch the budget process to make sure the state has a plan to pay for those seeking the IDs.

Underfunding it doesn't show commitment to the voting process, said Daniela Velazquez, a spokesperson for the ACLU.

Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, a Shell Knob Republican who chairs the House budget committee, said the legislature will work with Ashcroft to fund the IDs at a level both are comfortable with, finding other areas to cut if the governors numbers are too low.

Its my feeling that voting is important enough that we fund whatever the requirements are to make sure people are able to get to the polls, Fitzpatrick said.

As lawmakers grapple with how to pay for it, the law could still face legal challenges down the line.

While Republicans have praised the change as a way to fight voter fraud, Democrats say it disenfranchises certain groups of voters, including the elderly, the poor, students and people of color.

Courts in North Carolina and Wisconsin cited voter disenfranchisement ins striking down voter ID laws, but experts say it could be tougher to mount a court challenge in Missouri because lawmakers sent a constitutional amendment to voters, 63 percent of whom approved the change.
CHESTERFIELD  For nearly eight years, this city has made an annual expenditure of roughly $84,000 that even some of Chesterfields highest-ranking officials cant explain.

There was never a discussion, to my knowledge, about how this property would be used, said Chesterfield City Administrator Mike Geisel.

The property is a 1.4-acre vacant gravel lot that sits next to old train tracks. Chesterfield has leased the former brickyard since 2009.

The city must keep making the $6,500-a-month rent payments until the 10-year lease ends in March 2019. The agreement also obligates the city to pay the property taxes, which were $7,458 last year.

In all, Chesterfield taxpayers will spend roughly $850,000 and receive no discernible benefit. Recently released records reveal that prior and current city officials:

 Discussed the possibility of the property for a potential MetroLink stop or city parkland.

 Tried to keep the lease secret by agreeing to store it at a former city attorneys office, who, according to some council members, gave questionable advice about the deal.

 Have unsuccessfully attempted to get out of the deal for years.

At the time the lease was signed, John Nations was Chesterfields mayor. Today, Nations is the president and chief executive of Bi-State Development, the agency that oversees the regions Metro mass transit system.

Nations insisted in an interview that he always intended the property for parkland, believing the property could serve as a trailhead for Chesterfields levee trail. He said he never participated in discussions about a MetroLink stop.

Nations has long been a prominent advocate for MetroLink. In 2010, while still mayor, he ran a successful sales-tax campaign for Metro. A few months later, he resigned after being named to lead the Bi-State Development agency.

We greatly expanded our parks program, provided trails, the whole nine yards, Nations said in a recent interview. Now I left, and the city did nothing with it. Thats OK. They are entitled to take whatever action they think is appropriate.

The debate surrounding the property  owned by William and Marilyn Doorack  was reignited in early 2016 when a newly appointed council member discovered the lease while reviewing the citys $41 million annual budget.

I really had a hard time getting my mind around the fact that the city was actually renting a useless vacant lot, said Barb McGuinness, who was appointed to the City Council in late 2015.

Last fall, the city attorney, Chris Graville, compiled a 323-page file of documents related to the lease. In November, the council split 4-4 about making the information public. Nations wife, Bridget Nations, now a Chesterfield council member, was among those voting against releasing the records. Mayor Bob Nation, no relation to John Nations, broke the tie, thus making the documents public.

The documents include lawyers correspondence and confidential memos mentioning a trailhead and a MetroLink stop as possible uses of the land.

Both options would have presented major obstacles. To access the levee trail from the Doorack property, the Baxter Road bridge would have to be reconfigured to accommodate pedestrians, or Chesterfield would have to build a bridge over the railroad tracks and Bonhomme Creek, Geisel said.

East-West Gateway, the agency that plans MetroLinks routes, once considered the old Rock Island Railroad, which runs behind the property, as a possible route to Chesterfield. But in 2009 MetroLink was cutting back services, not expanding.

The appraiser is wrong

According to a letter from former City Attorney Robert Heggie, the Dooracks approached the Sachs Properties real estate firm after they closed their brickyard. For tax reasons, the couple wanted to rent the property rather than sell it.

Before his death in 2012, Sachs Properties Chairman Louis Sachs had owned or developed at least 1,500 acres in Chesterfield. In the recently released file is a November 2008 letter from former Sachs Chief Executive Kathy Higgins to Nations. Sachs had negotiated a property lease with the Dooracks and was offering to assign it to the city.

Nations argued for the city to take over the lease despite advice from an appraiser that the parcel had been overvalued, according to a 2009 email. In that same email, Nations said he wanted the lease on the City Councils agenda while I know I have the votes. He referenced an unidentified appraiser and that the city would have a $1 million option to purchase the property starting in 2016.

I think the appraiser is wrong, Nations wrote.  If the rental rate is good, then the $1 million is a good price. In fact, I could argue its undervalued.

But before Chesterfield assumed the lease, Tom Smallwood, a lawyer for Sachs, had some issues. He proposed a requirement that the property be used as a future public trail system hub, a MetroLink station and/or an express bus transit station, according to an email from Smallwood to Heggie dated March 5, 2009.

Nations is not listed as a recipient of the email.

The provision never made it into the lease. But Sachs did receive the ongoing right to review all architectural, site improvements, and landscaping plans for the Property ... and to evaluate such plans and require reasonable changes.

Officials at Sachs Properties did not return phone messages for this article. Kathy Higgins, who has since retired from the firm, declined to comment.

Cancel at any time

Smallwood brought up another point in his March 2009 email: Sachs desire for the lease to be legally enforceable. A provision in the Missouri Constitution prohibits municipalities from entering into multiyear contracts.

Have you come up with a solution to the annual appropriation of funds issue since this is a multiyear lease? Smallwood asked.

On March 6, 2009, Heggie replied, citing a Missouri Supreme Court case and arguing it allows cities to enter into multiyear contracts if they can show they have reserve funds to cover the contract.

Chesterfield has sufficient reserves and can certify this if needed, Heggie wrote. A provision was then added, stating that Chesterfield certified it had enough funds in reserve to pay for the entire term of the lease.

Five days later, Heggie said in a letter that under the agreement, the city must reassign the lease to Sachs if Chesterfield fails to pay the yearly rent. A few paragraphs later, Heggie wrote: As indicated above, the City may, at any time, cancel the assignment of the lease and all rights therein by indicating its intention to Sachs that it wants to end the lease.

We thought, OK, you spend a couple of months negotiating and if it doesnt work out, you can get out of the darn thing, said Council Member Dan Hurt, who voted for the lease at the time. That was the gist of what a lot of us were dealing with.

Moreover, Hurt said a developer had expressed interest in building a gas station on the Doorack property, which was located in an area of Chesterfield that contains historic buildings. The city planned to create a historic district there and a gas station threatened that vision.

As the economic recession worsened, the council had misgivings. Heggie provided them with various strategies for canceling the lease. But the recently released records  the majority of which were obtained from Heggies files  do not indicate that Heggie ever told the council that he instructed Sachs attorney how to make the lease binding on the city.

Graville, the new city attorney, emphasized that point to the council in a closed session meeting in September, according to the minutes.

To some council members it seemed that Heggies email to Smallwood and his memo to the council  written within a few days of each other  offered contradictory legal advice.

I think he (Heggie) knew what he was doing, Councilman Tom DeCampi said.

Heggie, now a St. Louis County associate circuit court judge, told the Post-Dispatch that attorney-client privilege prevented him from discussing the lease. On Monday, the Chesterfield City Council is expected to vote on a resolution releasing Heggie from any obligations that would prevent him from publicly addressing the lease.

Im going to hedge a little bit

Heggies letter in March 2009 about the lease also mentioned a not-yet-completed appraisal. In a frank discussion with an appraiser, the appraiser put the lots value at $800,000. However, the appraiser said the $6,500 monthly rent was fair.

Bob Nation, then a council member, was out of town during a March 2009 meeting when the council voted 6-0 in closed session in favor of the lease. To him, the agreement never made sense. He continued pressing city officials for a copy of the appraisal.

That appraisal, however, apparently was never finished and didnt exist. In an Oct. 2, 2009, email, Heggie told Nation the councils unanimous vote made it unnecessary. Still, Nation kept pointing out problems with the deal.

This guy just flat out wears me out, Mike Herring, then the city administrator, wrote in an email to Heggie dated Oct. 22, 2009.

Heggies reply seemed to reveal a shift in his thinking about the ease with which Chesterfield could cancel the lease.

Im going to hedge a little bit on what would happen if the city failed to pay the annual rent, Heggie wrote, saying the city might have to pursue other methods if it wanted to avoid paying damages to the property owners.

In part because of Nations insistence, the city obtained an appraisal of property in 2011. The document said the 1.4-acre lot was worth $950,000. But the appraiser used the cost of the citys lease to help arrive at the number. Typically, vacant land isnt appraised on the income it generates but on comparable sales.

In closed session on Feb. 23, 2011, five council members said they believed the appraisal was performed correctly and that the city had negotiated a GOOD DEAL, according to meeting minutes.

At that meeting, Heggie was also absolutely clear about one point: How to best keep the lease details secret.

According to the minutes, he recommended continuing to keep the citys lease at his private office, where it is protected from public scrutiny.

Difficult to justify

Six months later, Bruce Geiger, who was elected mayor after John Nations left for Bi-State, urged Herring to extricate the city from the agreement.

...its becoming increasingly difficult to justify the $84,000/year ($7,000 a month????) ..., Herring wrote in an email to Heggie after speaking with Geiger.

As the city explored its options, Heggie repeatedly warned that defaulting on the lease would damage Chesterfields credit and result in expensive litigation.

When the city couldnt convince the Dooracks to renegotiate, Chesterfield employed its regulatory power as a negotiating tactic, telling the Dooracks the city would rezone their land from commercial to parks and scenic, a move that would reduce its value. In an email to Heggie, Herring referred to the action as a threat. The city followed through with the rezoning in 2015.

Later that year, McGuinness asked Herring for a copy of the budget a few days before taking her oath. Herring was reluctant. Council members never received the full budget, he said in an email. He offered to meet with her to answer questions.

Nearly impossible to ask questions without detailed info, McGuinness responded. McGuinness wouldnt relent. Her persistence eventually led the city to order a new appraisal.

That appraisal assumed the parcel could be rezoned back to commercial status, relied on comparable sales and provided an estimated value far lower than any the city had ever received: $400,000.
The elk carcass bore the signs of a mountain lion kill.

Even though such a predator-prey showdown might sound like a scene from Yellowstone, this one was discovered last February in Shannon County, Mo., in the Ozarks, where both animals have resurfaced in recent years  the elk through a reintroduction program and the mountain lions as occasional visitors that stray into the state from afar.

I never thought Id see it in my career that weve got mountain lions eating elk in our state, said Tom Meister, a veteran biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

But the biggest surprise came almost a year later, when state wildlife biologists got lab results back from the scene of the kill. Traces of mountain lion saliva confirmed the identity of the culprit, but the salivas DNA revealed that it was a female cat  the first to be confirmed in Missouri since the state started documenting reports of the species in 1994.

The MDC announcement on Jan. 27 of the females presence has renewed conversation among wildlife biologists and other mountain lion experts about whether the cats that wander in from the West can establish a breeding population in Missouri for the first time in nearly a century.

Though Missouris native mountain lions have been considered locally extinct since the 1920s, the species dispersal from more densely populated enclaves in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska has led some to return, at least as guests.

Since the state began monitoring the cats activity in the 90s, it has confirmed 68 reports of them around Missouri. Many of those are concentrated in the Ozarks, but theyve occurred in places all across the state, including St. Louis County.

We believe theyre just wandering males for the most part  up until this female, said Dan Zarlenga, an MDC spokesman.

In established populations out West, adult males force younger male mountain lions out of their territory once they reach a certain age. Those displaced males then set out in search of new territory where they can find a mate.

But with few, if any, females in the Eastern U.S.  save for the extremely isolated sub-population of Florida panthers  young, eastbound males keep going, enduring odysseys that can take them hundreds and even thousands of miles.

In 2011, for instance, one of the roving male cats was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn., just about 20 miles from New York City. DNA traced the cats heritage to the Black Hills region and linked the same individual to clues spread along a path of more than 3,000 miles.

Missouri is right along the path of many of the mountain lions.

Missouri does seem to be one of the hot spots for cats heading east from their range in the Rockies, said Will Stolzenburg, the author of a book published last year about the Connecticut lions journey.

Missouris transient cats are almost always condemned to the same fate of futility: struck down while searching in vain for a mate.

We dont have any evidence of these animals surviving for very long, said Stolzenburg. It seems to be a one-way trip.

Such was the case when, on Jan. 21, MDC confirmed that a young male was struck and killed by a vehicle along Interstate 70 in Warren County.

But males may finally have reason to take up more permanent residence now that a female has made a surprising appearance in the state.

To have females do this, this is really unusual, Stolzenburg said. They usually set up really close to their home territory. They usually set up next to Mom.

At the time his book was published in April, Stolzenburg says he was aware of only seven or eight females striking off east of the species known breeding range, including one that turned up as far away as Tennessee.

The sudden appearance of one in Missouri is raising some interesting theories.

It has some people wondering, I wonder if this is a second-generation cat? Stolzenburg said. These are all tantalizing questions, but its all speculation.

The DNA from the female cat suggests shes from the Black Hills area. But John Laundre, a mountain lion biologist who has authored his own book on the eastward movement of the species, said even mountain lions born across the Plains would show those genetics.

Theyre all going to be Dakota-stock animals, he said.

His guess, though, is that the female is originally from either western or central Nebraska.

Those areas cant really support that many cats, Laundre said. Were starting to see that population pressure kind of moving females to the East.

Because of the Ozarks location and amount of available habitat, Laundre believes they are a prime candidate for a new breeding population to take root.

I think in terms of cats and females establishing east of the Plains, the Ozarks is the ideal place, Laundre said. And if mountain lions were to gain a toehold there, he believes it has the best potential as a generational stepping stone for continued eastward colonization by the species.

State wildlife officials emphasize that they dont want to re-establish a breeding population of the cats in Missouri. But while they wont lay out the welcome mat with any restocking efforts, nothing is being done to deter them, either. Theyre simply monitoring the species and letting nature take its course, Zarlenga said.

Stolzenburg says the female lion may spare the state from any contentious debate about reintroduction by reproducing naturally.

That would certainly circumvent a lot of the political headaches of translocation, Stolzenburg said.

He recognizes the improbability of a pair of mountain lions both surviving the same gantlet to breed east of the Plains. But, he points out, the species has a tendency to defy the odds.

Never say never, Stolzenburg said. Who wouldve thought that an animal could make it to Greenwich, Conn.?

Laundre, meanwhile, is optimistic that the female will find a mate and thinks some breeding could take place. But such a small population, he warns, would still be very precarious.

You just never know, he said. They could catch on or they could blink out.
Mark Gentry was born November 3, 1951 in San Bernardino, California. He died January 22, 2017 from complications due to an unexpected fall in Kachina Village, Flagstaff, Arizona. Mark was the fourth of five sons born to William and Roberta Gentry. He is survived by his spouse and companion of 41 years, Brent Davis Richie, his brothers; Bill (Joyce) Gentry, Scott

(Gail) Gentry, Craig Gentry, Kurt (Cate) Gentry, ten nieces and nephews, 18 grandnieces and nephews, and his dearly loved Aunt Betty Mytinger He is also survived by his five kids,

Charlie, Max, Poppy, Molly and Hickory. He is preceded in death by his parents, niece, Kylie

Williams and nephew, Don Gentry.

Mark worked for Coconino County at Kachina Utilities, head of the water department for 25 years. He most recently worked at NAU as a stationary engineer in the HVAC Department, retiring in 2014.

Mark loved Flagstaff and had lived there for 38 years. He enjoyed camping, traveling and being with his family. Many miles were covered and destinations journaled in their camping log book over the years. His favorite camping spot was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Often meeting up with family for camping reunions.

Mark loved dogs, especially dachshunds. He loved Christmas. He loved his four brothers.

Mark was a very loving and kind person. He had a twinkle in his eye and an endearing laugh, he had a great sense of humor. He will be sorely missed by Brent and his loving family who are comforted by the knowledge that he has been reunited with his beloved parents.

A family gathering will be held in Bountiful, Utah on February 4, 2017.

Internment will be held at the Lakeview Cemetery in Bountiful, Utah.
The White House on Friday night said the Justice Department will challenge a judge's nationwide halt of President Donald Trump's immigration order.

The Trump administration initially called the order "outrageous," but minutes later, dropped that word in a second statement about the matter.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

A federal official told CNN DOJ lawyers were not expected to file an appeal Friday night.

The order by federal Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee who presides in Washington state, is a significant setback for Trump's controversial travel ban and created another round of chaos nationwide over the policy's legality. Friday evening, Customs and Border Protection alerted airlines it would begin reinstating visas quickly.

"The court concludes that the circumstances brought before it today are such that it must intervene to fulfill its constitutional role in our tripartite government," Robart wrote in the order.

Trump's executive order that he signed last week suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, the US refugee program for 120 days and indefinitely halted Syrian refugees from entering the US.

"This is exactly what we were looking for," Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson told CNN's Anderson Cooper shortly after Robart's order, adding that "we have a bucket of Constitutional claims."

"It's Keystone Cops, the way that thing (the order) was put together," added Ferguson, who said he was prepared to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

This suit was brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota against the travel ban enacted by Trump's executive order.

The sweeping ruling from the Seattle judge came just hours after a different ruling from a federal judge in Boston, who declined to renew a temporary restraining order in Massachusetts. That judge's order was more limited than the Seattle ruling, as it only prohibited the detention or removal of foreign travelers legally authorized to come to the Boston area.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman told CNN the agency will review the order and comply with all court orders. The State Department is working with the Department of Homeland Security to determine the effect of the stay, a State Department official said.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately hailed Robart's order.

"This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," Schumer said in a statement. "President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all."

Visa complications

The seven affected Muslim-majority countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

CBP told major US airlines Friday night that the government is reinstating visas and is "back to business as usual" prior to the situation that was in place before last week's executive order, an airline executive told CNN. Airlines are expected as soon as Friday night to start removing travel alerts from their websites and getting messages out to customers to alert them about the change.

It is possible there will be more court activity and an appeal before anyone could act on getting a visa, and it's unclear how long it would take to obtain one.

US airlines use an automated system connected to the CBP database to scan passports and visas to get an instant determination if the passenger can board or not. Unless the government reinstates visas and the airlines get a "board" status, the airlines still will not allow such passengers to board.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Customs and Border Protection.

CNN's Mary Kay Mallonee and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.
PALM BEACH, Fla.  President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at "this so-called judge" who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S. to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ruling set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judge's ruling late Friday, but that didn't appear to be enough for Trump, who vented his frustrations on Twitter.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said.

Trump has said the travel ban, which he enacted by executive order on Jan. 27, will keep Americans safe by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

He also said Saturday on Twitter that "when a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!"

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled late Friday against government lawyers' claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Trump's order. Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said late Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the "outrageous" order "at the earliest possible time. Spicer quickly issued an amended statement that deleted "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said, calling the order both lawful and appropriate.

Trump billed the action as necessary to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to the U.S.

The order included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen, a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program, and an indefinite bar against admitting Syrian refugees.

The decision sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued an emergency order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from the seven countries who were detained at airports nationwide as the ban took effect.

Donnelly's order addressed only a portion of Trump's order, and barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from the seven countries. Robart's decision was more sweeping in scope.

Saturday was not the first instance of Trump criticizing a federal judge, a member of an independent branch of the government.

During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the federal judge who was presiding over a lawsuit brought by former students of Trump University. Trump claimed that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, had an "absolute conflict" in handling the case because he is "of Mexican heritage." Trump launched his presidential campaign with a harsh description of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.

Trump recently agreed to pay $25 million to settle the lawsuits against Trump University.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
President Trump is capable of many a miracle. On Wednesday, after just 12 days on the job, he raised the dead.

Addressing a small group of African-American aides and supporters to kick off Black History Month, the new president not only offered pro forma praise for the usual suspects  Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr.  but also singled out somebody who recently caught his attention.

Frederick Douglass, Trump said, is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.

Amazing job, Frederick! Great work!

Its unlikely anybody could recognize Douglass today, because he died in 1895. And though Trump may not have noticed it previously, Douglass has long occupied a revered place in American history: escaped slave, iconic abolitionist, world-renowned author; and publisher and counselor to presidents.

But Trumps awkwardness was not limited to placing Douglass in the present perfect tense. He also declared: During this month, we honor the tremendous history of the African-Americans throughout our country  throughout the world, if you really think about it, right?

Well, if you really think about it, being African-American is, by definition, limited to Americans. But no matter. He was on a roll.

Trump said hed gotten a real glimpse of African-Americans when Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and lone black person named to Trumps Cabinet, took him to places that I wasnt so familiar with during the campaign. Trumps judgment: Theyre incredible people.

The best!

It brought to mind Trumps Cinco de Mayo tweet of a taco bowl and the words I love Hispanics!

Neither Latinos nor African-Americans are loving Trump back in large numbers. The Senate Judiciary Committee marked Black History Month by approving the nomination of Jeff Sessions to be attorney general; Sessions was once rejected for a federal judgeship for perceived racism.

Trumps nascent presidency has also brought about a revival of bogus claims about widespread voting fraud, which has been used as an excuse to restrict voting rights. And Trumps new Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, is already opposed by some civil rights groups who fear a further clampdown on ballot access.

Trump earned 8 percent of the black vote in November after a racially charged campaign in which there were sometimes violent clashes with black demonstrators at his events and he appealed to minority voters by saying: What the hell do you have to lose?

In fairness, Trump has struggled so far to find the right tone regardless of his audience. When he fired acting attorney general Sally Yates this week for refusing to enforce the travel ban, the presidential statement was a campaign-style jab: Yates betrayed the Department of Justice and is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.

Commemorating Black History Month, Trump had a tough act to follow. President Barack Obama delivered passionate remarks to adoring audiences at such events. From our earliest days, black history has been American history, he said last year, recalling the slaves who quarried the stone to build this White House.

Obama went on at length, then added: Theres a gap  there always will be  between who we are and the perfect union, that ideal that we see. But what makes us exceptional, what makes us Americans is that we fight wars and pass laws, and we march, and we organize unions, and we stage protests, and that gap gets smaller over time.

That gap seems larger now. Trumps Black History Month celebration was a carefully choreographed assembly of black administration officials and Trump supporters. It was billed as a listening session, but the press was brought in only for Trumps talking. He was seated between Carson and Omarosa Manigault, one of his former contestants on The Apprentice and now a White House official.

Trump had papers in front of him, but he didnt rely on them. He did what came naturally. He attacked the press. He complained, again, about an erroneous report saying a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. Turning to pro-Trump CNN contributor Paris Dennard, he said: I dont watch CNN so I dont get to see you as much as I want to. I dont like watching fake news. But Fox has treated me very nice  wherever Fox is, thank you.

Amazing work, Fox! But why dont you invite Frederick Douglass on air more often?

Dana Milbank

Copyright The Washington Post
By David Gaffen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday after the United States imposed sanctions on some Iranian individuals and entities, days after the White House rebuked Tehran for a ballistic missile test.

The strong U.S. January jobs figure was also supportive, as it suggests ongoing strength in energy demand.

Front-month U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $53.83. The contract gained more than 1 percent for the week.

Brent crude futures settled 25 cents higher at $56.81 a barrel, giving it a 2 percent gain on the week, the first significant weekly rise this year.

Volume in U.S. crude futures on Friday was relatively low, with about 440,000 contracts changing hands by 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT), short of the 200-day moving average of 528,000 contracts a day.

"I think that the consensus is that Iran supported the market, but I think that its probably more on the stronger jobs report leading to higher demand in the near term," said Carl Larry, director at Frost & Sullivan.

U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring. Nonfarm payrolls were up by 227,000, with the unemployment rate edging up to 4.8 percent.

Under the sanctions, announced by the U.S. Treasury, 13 individuals and 12 entities cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies. They are also subject to "secondary sanctions," which means foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them, or risk being blacklisted by the United States.

This is the first move by the administration of President Donald Trump against Iran. It follows his vows during the 2016 campaign to get tough on Tehran.

The news added to volatility in what had already been a day of choppy trading. Analysts said the market is torn between promised cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and fears over rising U.S. shale oil production.

"While the market is taking these actions in stride so far as unlikely to result in a larger military conflict that would put Persian Gulf crude oil supplies at risk, the odds of that scenario are certainly higher than a week ago," wrote Timothy Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures in New York.

(Reporting by Libby George in London and David Gaffen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/03/17 -- Canadian Orebodies Inc. ("Orebodies" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CORE) announces that it has granted an aggregate of 2,310,000 stock options (the "Options") to Directors, Officers and consultants of the Company under the terms of the Company's incentive stock option plan. The Options are exercisable at a price of $0.25 per share for a period of five years and are subject to a four month hold period from the date of the issuance thereof.

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.

For more information please visit www.canadianorebodies.com.

Contacts: Canadian Orebodies Inc. Gordon McKinnon, President & CEO (416) 644-1747

Source: Canadian Orebodies Inc.
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Feb. 03, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Software Inc. (ticker symbol OTC: PFSF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Simmonds to the Board of Directors of the Company. He brings with him a vast corporate knowledge as an experienced entrepreneur and industrialist. He is currently Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of A.C. Simmonds and Sons Inc. which holds interests in a variety of enterprises. Mr. Simmonds will be a valued member of the Board of Directors of the Company and is expected to serve for a minimum term of two years.

GrandWall may present the first social media network visualizing a digital wall between USA and Mexico while using it as a platform for political discussions and special interest debates (www.grandwall.com). It is expected to shortly launch its non-partisan community and special interest social network where the centerpiece consists of a 1,989-mile-long digital wall with millions of individual wall pieces and bricks to be purchased and designed exclusively by its members. The ongoing controversy between opinions and perspectives may project the digital wall as a leading place for people to express their arguments, sentiments and desires.

As a result GrandWall may become the largest digital canvas globally displaying millions of personal beliefs, comments and unique viewpoints. GrandWalls visualization concept has been inspired by the Berlin Wall and its world-famous East Side Gallery which is part of the former border wall between East Germany and West Germany (www.eastsidegallery-berlin.de). The East Side Gallery consists of 105 wall paintings by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall. It is possibly the largest and longest-lasting open air gallery in the world while GrandWall.com may be the largest digital wall and virtual open air gallery in the world.

Memberships to Grandwall.com may be available to everyone, and there may be no restrictions on what members may publish on their wall pieces of the digital border wall (#borderwall) as protected by the First Amendment, whether they support President Donald J. Trump and his proud Make America Great Again movement (#MakeAmericaGreatAgain) or whether they support or voted for Hillary Clinton and her Stronger Together campaign (#StrongerTogether) or any other candidate.

About Us: Pacific Software Inc. is a U.S. based corporation which has acquired social media platform Grandwall.com (www.grandwall.com), its software and related assets. Our team of software developers and Internet specialists have worked on projects with over 500 agencies and clients in the USA, EU, UK, and other countries. Once fully designed, engineered and online Grandwall.com may be characterized as a third generation social media platform in the emerging augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology space with worldwide applications.

Contact: For further information please visit our social network at www.grandwall.com and our corporate website at www.pacificsoftwareinc or call us or email us at any time.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrandWallcom/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrandWallcom

Pacific Software Inc.

Safe Harbor Notice: Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Pacific Software Inc. cautions that statements made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions. Actual results could differ materially from implied results. Pacific Software Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release. Additional details of the Company's business can be found in its public disclosures as a reporting issuer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") EDGAR database.

Disclaimer Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release, on Pacific Software Inc.s (PFSF) website and other oral and written statements made by PFSF from time to time are forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding beliefs, objectives, intentions, goals, plans, strategies, any other statements regarding the future. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and PFSF expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof. All forward-looking statements, whether written or oral and whether made by or on behalf of the PFSF, are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. PFSFs expectations, beliefs are expressed in good faith and are believed by the PFSF to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that expectations, beliefs will result or be achieved or accomplished. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond PFSFs control affect PFSFs operations, performance, business strategy and results and could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of PFSF to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For PFSF, particular uncertainties arise, amongst others but not limited to and not in any order of importance, from (i) focusing on and allocating more resources on certain target markets (ii) the possibility to raise further equity and debt to fund future growth, (iii) changes in demand for PFSFs products, (iv) performance issues with key suppliers, affiliates, agents, advisors or subcontractors, (v) changes in government changes in laws or regulations to which PFSF or its suppliers are subject, including environmental laws and regulations relating to water sources and (vi) the inability to complete announced acquisitions, difficulty or unanticipated expenses in connection with integrating acquired businesses and the risk that anticipated synergies and opportunities as a result of acquisitions will not be realized or the risk that acquisitions do not perform as planned, including, for example, the risk that acquired businesses will not achieve revenue projections. NO SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. THIS NEWS RELEASE SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF THESE SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION.

Harrysen Mittler, Chairman and CEO [email protected] Heide Morris, Investor Relations [email protected] Address: 537 S. Coast Hwy Laguna Beach CA 92651 U.S.A.

Source: Pacific Software Inc.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Town and Country Financial Corporation (OTC Pink: TWCF), the parent holding company for Town and Country Bank (TCB), with the help of an online, community vote, has selected four individuals who will each receive a $2,500 grant to help overcome hardship and start the New Year a little more comfortably. TCBs Your Need, Their Voice, Our Help campaign invited area residents to share stories of how the available grants could make a big impact on their lives.

TCB will host the winners for a check presentation event on Wednesday, February 15, from Noon to 2 p.m., at the Town and Country Bank branch located at 1645 State Highway 121, Mt. Zion, Illinois.

The four winners selected by community vote are Decatur residents Sandra Lee, Greg Scharf, Kathy Bledsoe and Nadia Hines. Their stories helped draw attention to the struggle many face to meet basic needs including food, shelter and healthcare.

Sandra Lee lost her husband in 2014 after a long battle with diabetes and kidney failure. He had always taken care of the handy-man projects around the home, and since hes passed, the projects have piled up. Lee shared, Homeowners insurance wont cover the leaky roof and the money will really come in handy to fix leaks, as well as a number of other projects. Its been very difficult on my own and Im trying to provide a safe environment for my daughter and three grandchildren as well.

Nadia Hines shared a powerful story to help her mother secure resources to finish her education. She is only two classes away from finishing her Bachelors Degree. This money is such a relief. Now there are no more roadblocks standing in her way. We are so proud of what she has been able to accomplish and thankful to Town and Country Bank for relieving the financial stress so she can finish what she started, said Hines.

Hines mother stayed home for more than 20 years to raise her family. She is recently divorced. Hines said her mother always put the needs of her children ahead of her own, including her education. Hines mother will graduate in May with a Bachelors degree in Psychology.

Kathy Bledsoes 16-year-old daughter is recovering from a traumatic brain injury that was caused by a car accident. The teen has been in therapy for months and still has at least two more years of therapy ahead. Since submitting the story, Kathy and her family also lost everything to a house fire on New Year's Eve.

Greg Scharfs life was changed when his child developed a serious medical condition. His 9-year-old son was diagnosed with Arteriovenous Malformation, AVM, a rare condition that creates a tangle of abnormal blood vessels connecting arteries and veins in the brain. Scharfs son has undergone four surgeries since September and needs physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy twice a day, six days a week.

We are incredibly thankful. This grant will allow our family to focus on our sons recovery. It will help alleviate the stress of travel expenses, missed work, and some medical bills, said Scharf.

TCB has a culture of compassion that focuses on the importance of the people in the communities it serves. This program is a way of giving back and showing solidarity with friends and neighbors in their time of need.

We believe money should empower people, not hold them back, said Micah R. Bartlett, President & CEO, Town and Country Bank. The grants from Your Need, Their Voice, Our Help are going to help these individuals take on the challenges in their lives.

Town and Country Financial Corporation is the parent holding company for Town and Country Bank and Town and Country Banc Mortgage Services, Inc. with offices in Buffalo, Decatur, Edwardsville, Fairview Heights, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Mt. Zion, Springfield, Waverly, White Hall and Quincy, the latter operating under the name of Peoples Prosperity Bank. Town and Country Financial Corporation shares are quoted under the symbol TWCF. For more information about the bank, please visit www.townandcountrybank.com.

Source: Town and Country Financial Corporation
A piggybank painted in the colours of the Greek flag with a 20 euro banknote in it's slot, stands amongst various euro coins in this picture illustration taken in Berlin, Germany June 30, 2015. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's government said on Friday it remained united on the need to stabilize the Greek economy despite indications of divergent views between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their Social Democratic coalition partners.

Spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer declined to comment on a newspaper report that Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel had criticized the government's handling of Greece in a letter to Merkel last month and had suggested easing a surplus requirement.

Greece needs a new tranche of financial aid under its 86 billion euro bailout by the third quarter of the year or it faces the risk of defaulting on its debts. Germany's views on the deal are particularly closely watched as it contributes the most to the bailout.

Demmer said Berlin's views remained unchanged. "The goal is to conclude the second program review," she told a government news conference.

But comments on Friday from Gabriel, a Social Democrat, and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats, suggested tensions remained.

Schaeuble signaled growing impatience with the process and said Greece must meet its commitments, or end up in an impossible position.

"If Greece again and again does not do what it has committed to, eventually that will not work," Schaeuble told a business meeting in Saarbruecken in western Germany.

Asked about possible difference within the ruling coalition, Gabriel told reporters in New York that Germany should work to keep the euro zone together. "I expect the finance minister to do that, and I am certain he will deliver," he said.

Demmer declined to comment on a report in the Handelsblatt newspaper that Gabriel had suggested easing a requirement for Athens to keep a 3.5 percent budget surplus in the medium-term.

Reports of a rift within the German government come as the country gears up for a national election in September, with polls showing growing support for the Social Democrats, who have vowed to regain the leading role in the government.

Gabriel told Merkel that the different perspectives of Schaeuble's ministry and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) appeared to make reaching an agreement on another rescue plan impossible, the newspaper reported.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, wants the IMF to have a stake in Greece's bailout to give the rescue plan greater credibility, but opposes granting Athens the significant debt relief that the IMF is demanding.

Berlin has opposed large-scale debt relief unless Greece completes wide-ranging reforms and keeps running budget surpluses of 3.5 percent for the medium-term after the end of the bailout program in 2018.

Gabriel, who swapped into the foreign ministry from the economics ministry last week, had proposed that Greece only be required to keep a 3.5 percent budget surplus for three years, according to the newspaper.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Paul Carrel in Berlin, and Sabine Siebold in New York; Editing by Andrew Heavens)




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

February 3, 2017

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)

CIBER, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware 001-13103 38-2046833 (State or other jurisdiction of (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) incorporation)

6312 South Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 600E

Greenwood Village, Colorado, 80111

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

(303) 220-0100

(Registrants telephone number, including area code)

(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):

o Written communication pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

















Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

On February 3, 2017, CIBER Holding GmbH (Ciber Holding) a subsidiary of Ciber, Inc. (Ciber) and Ciber, as guarantor for Ciber Holding, Blitz 17-11 GmbH (Blitz 17-11), a subsidiary of Allgeier SE (Allgeier), and Allgeier as guarantor for Blitz 17-11, announced that (i) they have signed a purchase agreement for the sale of all of the outstanding shares of Ciber AG (Ciber Germany), which operates Cibers business in Germany and all of the outstanding shares of Ciber France SAS, which operates Cibers business in France, and (ii) Ciber Danmark A/S (Ciber Denmark), which operates Cibers business in Denmark, and Blitz 17-11 have signed a purchase agreement for the sale of substantially all of the assets of Ciber Denmark (such purchase agreements together, the Agreement and such sales together, the Ciber Germany Sale). Subject to the terms of the Agreement, Blitz 17-11 agreed to pay, in the aggregate, an approximately $8.8 million (USD) cash purchase price (the Purchase Price), which price is to be paid in three separate installments at closing, in March 2018, and in March 2019, subject to the achievement of certain operating performance targets for fiscal years 2017 and 2018. Ciber anticipates using the proceeds from the Ciber Germany Sale for working capital and to use up to 50% of the net proceeds to reduce its borrowings under its ABL Facility with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A (Wells Fargo). The Agreement also contains representations, warranties and covenants, as well as indemnification provisions customary for transactions of this nature. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the performance of covenants and the satisfaction of certain other conditions, including the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, consent of Wells Fargo, no material adverse change with respect to Ciber Germany, Ciber Holding or Ciber since the date of the Agreement, and other terms as set forth in the Agreement. Ciber Holding will continue to be involved in the full transition of the business to Blitz 17-11 after the closing of the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions as described above. The foregoing description of the Agreement is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Agreement, to be filed as an exhibit to the Companys next Annual Report on Form 10-K.





On February 3, 2017, Ciber and Allgeier issued a press release regarding the Agreement. A copy of the press release is attached as Exhibit 99.1 hereto.





Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits.

99.1 Press Release dated February 3, 2017.

























SIGNATURES

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 thereunto duly authorized.

Ciber, Inc. Date: February 3, 2017 By: /s/ Christian Mezger Christian Mezger Chief Financial Officer





















Exhibit 99.1









Allgeier Strengthens Operations With Acquisition of Ciber Germany and Ciber Denmark





Bremen, Germany, February 3, 2017  Allgeier SE , one of the leading IT companies for Business Performance, today announced an agreement with Ciber , Inc. (NYSE: CBR), a leading global information technology consulting, services and outsourcing company, to acquire its business in Germany and Denmark.





With this acquisition, Allgeier builds on an established presence in Germany and Denmark and reinforces its position as a leader in providing fully integrated IT solutions and IT services. The transaction is expected to close in February following receipt of regulatory approvals.





This acquisition reflects our strong commitment to the future of SAP and the value for our customers by bringing Enterprise IT- Services and new SAP technologies together, said Hubert Rohrer, Member of Executive Board of Allgeier SE. Our interests are completely aligned with Ciber as we transition, support and deliver for our customers.





The sale of Ciber Germany and Ciber Denmark is consistent with our announced strategy to divest non-core assets, said Ciber President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Boustridge. "With Allgeier, we have found a terrific home for our German and Danish employees and customers .





About Allgeier SE

Allgeier SE is one of the leading IT companies for digital transformation: with a growth strategy oriented to innovations and future trends, as well as an integrative business model, Allgeier seizes the opportunities that digitalization offers. Three operating segments, each with their individual specialist or sector-related focal points, work together for more than 3,000 customers from almost all business sectors. With more than 6,100 salaried employees and more than 1,300 freelance experts, Allgeier offers its customers an extensive one-stop-shop range of solutions and services. With a highly flexible delivery model, Allgeier covers the entire IT service spectrum from on-site through to nearshore and offshore: with a strong business pillar in India, the company secures flexibility and maximum scalability of services, as well as highly qualified high-end software development expertise. Allgeier customers include globally operating groups as well as innovative medium-size business operations that aim to secure strategic advantages through high-performance IT solutions, intelligent software and flexible personnel services. This Munich-based, fast-growing Group maintains more than 90 branches in German-speaking countries, the rest of Europe, as well as in India, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico and the USA. Allgeier generated EUR 445 million of revenue in 2015 (continuing operations). Allgeier SE ranks first in the 2016 Lunendonk list of "Leading German Medium-Sized IT Consultants and System Integrators". According to the Lunendonk 2016 market segment study "The Market for Recruiting, Mediating and Managing IT









Freelancers in Germany", Allgeier Experts ranks among Germany's top three IT personnel service providers. Allgeier SE is listed on the Regulated Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN 508630, ISIN DE0005086300). For more information, visit: www.allgeier.com.





About Ciber, Inc.

Ciber partners with organizations to develop technology strategies and solutions that deliver tangible business value. Founded in 1974, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CBR). For more information, visit www.ciber.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus and our blog.





Ciber, Inc.s Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 relating to Cibers operations, results of operations and other matters that are based on Cibers current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Words, such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "may," "opportunity," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "project," "should," and "will" and similar expressions, are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. For a more detailed discussion of these risks, see the information under the "Risk Factors" heading in Cibers Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and Cibers Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2016, and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other than as required by law, Ciber undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.





###





Contact

Scott Kozak

Ciber, Global Communications, Investor and Industry Relations

303-967-1379





























Allgeier SE

Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

Dr. Christopher Groe

Wehrlestrae 12

81679 Munich

Tel.: +49 (0)89/998421-0

Fax: +49 (0)89/998421-11

e-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.allgeier.com




Qatar's ambassador to Pakistan, Saqr bin Mubarak Al Mansouri, has said the Qatari government is not involved in the Panamagate issue. Mansouri, in a short video clip released by media, added that Panamagate is an internal matter for Pakistan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, in a series of tweets on Saturday following the release of the video clip, termed the letter by the Qatari royal as "fake".

"Qatari government is embarrassed by this fake letter written by an acknowledged business partner of Sharifs," he claimed.

Qatari govt distances itself from fake Qatari letter from NS's business partner - share in Port Qasim etc pic.twitter.com/4xTD2Rdwqz  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 4, 2017

Clearly Qatari govt embarrassed by this fake letter written by acknowledged business partner of Sharifs, who is also named in Panama Papers https://t.co/k0CCftxVLM  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 4, 2017

Khan further claimed in his tweets that the letter from Sharif's business partner enabled him to clinch a Rs200 billion Port Qasim deal, among "other largess [sic]".

This letter from Sharif's business partner got him, amongst other largesse, a Rs 200 bn Port Qasim deal. Corruption breeding corruption. https://t.co/k0CCftxVLM  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 4, 2017

During hearings of the Panamagate case in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's counsel submitted two letters authored by Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, the emir of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, as evidence backing his claims

The second letter was submitted on January 26 and like the first, which was submitted in court last November, was marked private, confidential and not to be disclosed to any party, except for the benefit of the courts of Pakistan.

In the letter, Al-Thani said the premier's father, Mian Mohammad Sharif, made an investment of approximately 12 million dirhams in the Al-Thani family's real estate business.

The second Qatari letter was also accompanied by transaction details and auditor's reports regarding the Gulf Steel Mills in Dubai and the Azizia Steel Mills in Jeddah.
A330 air bus deal sends SriLankan Airlines into a tailspin By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):

Debt-ridden national carrier SriLankan Airlines has been sent into a tailspin following the almost, near-crash of its much hyped A 330 air bus deal with Pakistan Airlines (PIA).

After five months of the A 330 Aircraft wet lease to PIA., SriLankan Airlines is being pushed to a precarious situation as a result of PIAs insistence to reduce the lease payment rate or else take back the A 330 already leased out to them in August last year.

During the past two months, the top management of the two airlines has been repeatedly engaged in exchanging letters to find a way out for the lease payment issue with PIA insisting a rate discount for the A 330 Aircraft wet lease, a top state official involved in the deal in an administrative capacity told the Business Times. High level talks to arrive at a settlement on the aircraft deal stalemate between PIA and Sri Lankan Airlines took place in Dubai last week, he disclosed.

The SriLankan Airlines official delegation led by its chairman Ajith N. Dias had said it would consider a reduction in the wet lease payment rate during the talks, he said.

But in a surprise move on Friday, PIA called for bids from international airlines issuing bid documents to lease out aircraft to strengthen its fleet.

This came just like a knights final move in chess to checkmate the island nations national carrier, as it has given the final option for the Sri Lankan Airlines to agree on discount rates or submit fresh bids or take back the already leased out aircraft canceling the three A330 deal, an expert in the aviation field told the Business Times.

SriLankan is charging PIA a rate of US$ 8100 per hour under the lease agreement which is a hefty amount, he said adding that it will have to come down drastically as the normal rate is about $6000 per hour.

When contacted via an email query, national carrier CEO Suren Ratwatte responded saying, We dont comment on on-going commercial agreements.

If PIA takes a decision to return the aircraft already leased out by them while canceling the acquisition of the other two aircraft, Sri Lankan Airlines will have to ground all the three incurring heavy losses, an aviation expert said.

PIA had agreed to acquire three Airbus A330 aircraft from Sri Lankan Airlines on a wet lease last year.

Aviation experts said that the 6-month lease term ends on February 10.

The first aircraft acquired by them is being used for the Islamabad-London Premier Service, since its inauguration by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on August 14 in 2016.

The airline is facing severe financial difficulties and is struggling even to pay salaries of the staff. PIA, which has been a loss-making entity in recent times, came under criticism by its board of directors for spending extra on the new aircraft from SriLankan.
Bleak outlook for what was once the granary of the East By Alvin Sallay View(s): View(s):

Once upon a time Sri Lanka was the granary of the East. But those days are long gone by decried Prof. Buddhi Marambe thanks to inept policy decisions combined with the vagaries of nature  leaving the country with enough rice to feed its people only until the middle of this year.

Usually any story which begins with a Once upon a time has a fairytale ending. But this was not the case at a Colombo seminar this week on the Future of Agriculture where a group of experts voiced fears that the food security of this country was under grave threat unless the decision-makers pulled up their socks.

We were always proud to say we were the granary of the East in ancient times but sadly current statistics dont paint a rosy picture, lamented Prof. Marambe, head of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Peradeniya.

In an hour-long presentation at the seminar organised by the Marga Institute and the Gamani Corea Foundation, he mainly looked at the countrys staple rice and outlined the reasons for the decline  man-made and natures whims.

Focusing his talk on poor policy changes and climate change, Prof. Marambe believed both aspects were unpredictable and human-induced, and together had a detrimental effect.

The world population will increase to 10 billion by 2050. Here in Sri Lanka, we need to increase our food production by 50 per cent (from current levels) to feed our population in 2030. But it is a Herculean task with limited land and water resources.

Hotter every year

Prof. Marambe likened global warming to the worlds fastest man, Jamaican Usain Bolt who broke the 100 metres record at every Olympic Games he ran in.

Every year since 2000 has been hotter than the previous year breaking the record. Global warming has resulted in an increase in droughts and floods. We have experienced both recently where there is no rain when it is needed and more rain when not needed.

Last year we experienced a very serious drought after 40 years. It does not mean it is going to repeat in 2017 and we should not panic. We have four rainfall seasons, the first inter-monsoon (early in the year) failed last year, then the South-West monsoon failed, both affecting the Yala season. To make matters worse the second inter-monsoon failed and that was followed with the North-East monsoon being delayed affecting the Maha season.

There was no rain for 11 months last year. In May we had a heavy downpour where we experienced more than 300 mm of rain continuously for three days resulting in 96 people dead and damage worth US$570 million. We pray for rain, but when there is heavy rainfall that is much more dangerous, he added.

The drought had a large impact with only one-third of the land extent during the Maha season being cultivated. The Department of Agriculture says we have enough requirements of rice to feed the nation until mid-2017, but after that what?

What about next season. Even if we have good rainfall next season, do we have adequate seed paddy for the next cultivation season? It is a serious problem, especially as we only cultivated one-third of the land. We have to take judicious policy decisions or this country will be heading for trouble, Prof. Marambe urged.

But he was less than enthused about politicians making the correct decisions based on two recent examples of policy changes with regard to fertiliser and pesticides.

The contentious fertiliser subsidy, in place since 1962, was changed last year to a cash subsidy a move which Prof. Marambe likened to missing the bus because it didnt address the real issue which was the misuse of fertiliser.

All recent increases in yield and production (of rice) are due to technology (improved fertilisers among them). If we are going to kick out technology overnight then the system will fail. You cannot have paradigm shifts overnight. This is the unfortunate problem where changes in policy are made without consulting people who know about the subject.

The same thing happened with pesticide. There was a ban imposed on pesticide but after that there was a cry for an alternate cost-effective method for weed control. Why kick out the time-tested method we had without proper monitoring?

The real issue was the misuse of pesticides. The problem we have always had is to sift truth from non-truth, to draw a line. Truth is never allowed to stand on its feet in this country, pointed out Prof. Marambe cleverly using a slide of a cartoon of Gulliver being staked down by the Lilliputians (depicted as red-scarfed politicians).

He called on the government to think a 100 times before taking a decision pointing to scare-tactics (a toxin-free product) which said Sri Lanka was the highest user of fertiliser in the region and Asia when a World Bank study showed that leading rice producers like Thailand, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh were all ahead.

The same thing happened with glyphosate (an herbicide). People said this was used heavily in paddy but the problem was it was used on tea, maize and wet zone paddy. Look at the level of misinformation fed to policy-makers.

People do not understand the ground level situation in Sri Lanka and they advise people to make erroneous decisions which are irreversible and significantly damage our economy and our agriculture, Prof. Marambe cited.

He called on the decision-makers to be impartial and discerning in trying to sift through the truth and non-truth, to put faith in scientific methods (and not divine) and modern technology.

Last month the President planted the first plant of a drought resistant variety of team which was developed after 25 years of research by the TRI (Tea Research Institute). Sri Lanka scientists are working to address climate change.

The National Adaptation Plan recently released was welcomed by Prof. Marambe who also called for; a need to develop climate resilient planting material (seeds are the most important for any crop), a move to animal integrated farming systems which is considered as climate resilient; self-sufficiency in the main staple rice with buffer stocks, the cultivation of abandoned paddy land especially in the wet zone, crop diversification and further improved land productivity.

We also need to prioritise investment in agriculture with the private sector playing a key role. Without the private sector and their intervention, agriculture cannot progress in this country. We need to strengthen entrepreneurial capacities and increase investment in research and development.

Also addressing the seminar were Dr. Parakrama Waidynatha who spoke on a Toxin-Free Nation, Prof. Jeevika Weerahera who looked at whether the rice sector in the country was at a crossroads and Rizvi Zaheed, executive director and head of the Hayleys agriculture sector who touched on the topic of sustainable commercial agriculture. Economist Dr. Nimal Sanderatne chaired the seminar.

Amar Gunatilleke of Marga Institute called on the experts to make a noise so that there is some sort of a change in the status quo. He added: We need to carry on these seminars and highlight the issues facing our country.

There were no decision-makers at the seminar. Mr. Gunatilleke, said tongue-in-cheek: We invited politicians but all wanted to give speeches.

A pity, for to make Sri Lanka the granary of the East once again, they have to be included in any future discussion. Then perhaps, this Once upon a time story could have a happy ending.
Complexity of labour View(s):

Consider this: On one side, there is a shortage of labour, we are told by the pundits. On the other side, the youth unemployment rate is rising  more than 20 per cent compared to 4 per cent of total unemployment. Consider this: On one side, there is a shortage of labour, we are told by the pundits. On the other side, the youth unemployment rate is rising  more than 20 per cent compared to 4 per cent of total unemployment.

Add to this equation the shortage of workers in the garment sector  30,000 vacancies in the free trade zones or 200,000 in all categories, according to the Board of Investment (BOI). Another minister recently claimed that there are 50,000 vacancies but no takers at BOI zones.

It gets more complex when, according to a World Bank enterprise survey in 2011, nearly 40 per cent of manufacturing units complained that there was a serious problem of skilled labour. In 2017 this figure, without any doubt, would be much higher.

Then there is a situation evolving of pressure on the government to come up with proper regulatory standards in anticipation of hundreds of outsiders walking into the labour force as imported labour under the proposed trade and services pacts with India and China. Wait? Isnt there already dozens of workers from China working on Chinese-funded projects (on legal work permits) and India working (on tourist visas or business visas) in restaurants and agriculture farms?

The list of issues in the labour conundrum is endless with no immediate solutions as evidenced from a labour discussion in Colombo organized by the Sunday Times Business Club on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, Kussi Amma Sera was faced with a dilemma: What to write, no? she asked herself, scratching her head, while stirring the near-empty pot.

Maybe, she thought, maybe  labour which is a much-talked about topic these days with the furore over possible labour imports from India and China. Reality check; it is already happening.

This was on her mind when she attended Tuesdays discussion. However, rather than be refreshed with knowledge and solutions, she found herself far more confused than before entering the grand Kingsbury hotel.

The fact that labour is a complex problem is stating the obvious. From mismatches between supply and demand, massive rigidities in the system, under-employment, and as one researcher said in a recent published article todays millennials being unwilling to work on farms or factories and prefer cushy jobs  desk jobs, Sri Lankas labour crisis doesnt have easy and simple solutions.

Clearly just like poverty, distortions in labour and unemployment provide excellent fodder for politicians to offer dummies to an unsuspecting rural population (the mass base of voters who decide on who would form the central government or a local authority) by way of programmes to eliminate poverty and provide more jobs. Invariably at the end of the electoral term, the situation in both areas doesnt get better.

Good examples are the cash-handouts to those living below the poverty line and housing for the poor. The World Bank, which has raised concerns for many years without success over proper targeting for cash-handouts, recently announced a project to ensure proper targeting of beneficiaries, many of whom had earlier moved out of poverty but continue to receive cash subsidies.

In the labour context, the government has promised one million job opportunities by 2020 through new industry and manufacturing units, kicking off with a series of new factory openings in January, some of which were controversial like the proposed Volkswagen facility at Kuliyapitiya and the tyre factory at Horana by a Sri Lankan businessman domiciled in Dubai.

But is there a shortage of jobs when there are, in fact, hundreds of vacancies in the manufacturing sector (BOI), on rice farms (paddy cultivation where many Indians are employed for seasonal work), on tea plantations, in the construction sector and also hotels and restaurants? Arent these serious contradictions in the labour debate?

Tuesdays discussion also revealed that there are more than 400,000 jobs unfilled in the hotel, tourism and industrial sectors per annum. Another key data that emerged at the discussion was the dearth of skilled and unskilled workers and many going abroad.

The last issue points to policy inconsistencies, a common problem in Sri Lanka. For example more than 200,000 people go abroad every year to work mostly in West Asia. A few years back it was mainly unskilled labour including housemaids. However, in the past 18 months, the government has been discouraging domestic workers and other unskilled migration and instead brought in policies for more skilled migration with the hope that this would not only swell remittances but at the same time ensure that domestic workers are better prepared and more trained to handle

complicated situations in a foreign home environment.

Earlier this week, new minimum wages for migrant workers were announced effective February 1 at US$450 for skilled and $350 for unskilled workers (generally in construction and domestic employment).

No one will complain if Sri Lankans get higher wages abroad. However, there is a BUT in this policy. While on one side, there is an acute shortage of both skilled and unskilled workers here, another arm of government is promoting skilled and unskilled migration. This is just like that famous Rudyard Kipling saying: East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. Its another Koheda Yanne Malle Pol kind of policy. If the argument is that the country needs both  a skilled workforce to meet current demands and skilled workers to send abroad at higher wages which boosts remittances -, then this should happen only once the domestic needs are met, before exporting skilled labour

Mechanization and labour imports are often pronounced as some of the ways to address the labour shortage. But as Prof. Athula Ranasinghe from the University of Colombo suggested at Tuesdays discussion, there are many other things to consider as solutions for the labour shortage.

Our take on this is simple. Confusing signals emerging from different sectors like industry, services or academia on what ails labour suggests the need for a comprehensive public-private study on labour to provide an actual and more accurate assessment of the issues and (possible) solutions. What appears on the table now are piecemeal solutions based on immediate needs in some sectors particularly the phenomenal growth in services like IT and tourism, rather than a proper analysis of what direction Sri Lanka would take in the next 30 to 50 years, and based on those needs, policies for the education (key to labour needs) and employment sectors. For example, how many workers do we need in tourism or IT by 2050? Or for that matter will there be a shift to new sectors and one see demand in tourism and IT fizzle out, and thus prepare strategies to meet these challenges in 2050?

Do we really know the changes in Sri Lankas economy 20-30 years from now? The rapid transformation of the world economy with information technology and digitalisation as the core stunned the world and bewildered many thinkers, philosophers and country planners across the planet. Many countries scrambled to be up to date. Therefore what is the next stage of transformation and what impact would it have on Sri Lankas current thinking of growth on industry, garments, plantation crops, IT, tourism, etc and preparing education/employment and even health strategies accordingly?

One step in that direction is the phenomenal growth in new age entrepreneurs  the generation of start-ups which doesnt wait for handouts, policy formulations or bank funding akin to traditional businesses.

While this sector is expected to take a giant leap in the future, in all the current discussions on labour or employment and strategic planning, start-ups are nowhere to be seen, heard or supported. This is another area where Sri Lanka will miss the bus.

Often, politics takes over everything in the name of eradicating poverty, providing full employment and ensuring a happy and contented population. A sure way of missing the bus of prosperity for all just like the scramble to become the nation with the tallest Christmas tree in the world, a riddle that even Kussi Amma Seras pot of destiny failed to unravel.
Conflicting views on SriLankan Airlines intended partners By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s):

More than eight months after the government called for bids to resurrect the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, the authorities are groping in the dark in the bid to find a management or equity partner.

Conflicting reports on who is in the front running to get the cash-strapped airlines comes almost each day with some parties saying its Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and others saying that Gamini Wettasinghes Peace Airways is also pushing for it. There is no clear statement from the government as to whether the three short-listed parties continue to be in the running, or whether the party that has topped the list being considered, or whether all three have been dropped.

Using the media to put pressure on the government claiming that his bid is by far the best, Mr. Wettasinghe has had two media conferences during the past two weeks on his proposal and on enlisting the support of airline staff unions. He says the companys shares will be given to its workers should he succeed in the bid.

TPG, Peace Airways and Super Group were shortlisted out of eight that responded to the Ministry of Public Enterprises expression of interest to partner SriLankan Airlines but some sources say the last two are out of the race though there is no official announcement on this.

According to the Ministry of Public Enterprise sources, TPGs proposal was submitted to the Prime Minister.

Latest reports indicate that the government has also initiated discussions with a Middle Eastern carrier. They say that the issue with Peace Airways was the source of their funds. He isnt saying where its from, a source told the Business Times. One thing has clarity though; that the state will only part with 49 per cent and retain the majority.
National strategy for exports being prepared View(s):

The Export Development Board EDB has initiated action on the preparation of a National Export Strategy (NES) for the next five years. The EDB is empowered by the Sri Lanka Export development Act to prepare a national export strategy, according to EDB media release.

The initial consultative meeting was held recently at the EDB chaired by Sujeewa Senasinghe, State Minister of International Trade who is the designated navigator for NES. The NES is a collaborative effort of the state and private sectors to provide a detailed and prioritised 5-year action-oriented framework for the development of trade and competitiveness particularly for the benefit of the small and medium sector SME in Sri Lanka. The strategy will provide a clear direction for sustainable export led growth to make Sri Lanka a key trade hub in the Indian Ocean, the release added.

The main objective of the initial meeting was to discuss the NES objectives and agree on the next milestones. An aggregated set of detailed strategies with realistic and measurable action plans will be prepared. Detailed strategies for the development of product and service areas and key trade support areas such as trade promotion, trade intelligence, trade financing, quality and enterprise competency development will be prepared. Ms. Indira Malwatte, Chairperson and Chief Executive of EDB, Ms. Chandani Wijayawardena, Secretary, Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade and Dr. Saman Kalegama, Managing Director, Agency for International Trade, Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, were among the 13 members of the consultative team and the NES coordinated by the Policy and strategic planning division of the EDB, the release said.

Technical assistance for the NES is provided by the International Trade Centre (ITC), based in Geneva and financially supported by the European Union.
Sri Lanka ranked 12th in the world by IBM for BPO View(s):

everjobs.lk, the fastest growing online career portal in Sri Lanka, has in a new report said that jobs in the Information Technology (IT) sector led the demand for jobs in Sri Lanka in 2016.

The report says IT has been at the top of the pops in the hiring industry and one of the most searched for words of the year by online job seekers. This is according to data gathered by monitoring more than 37,000 job opportunities, 200,000 job applications and 290,000 job searches on everjobs.lk.

The portal has published a yearly analysis of the national job market with some very revealing insights. Put together in a simple-to-read infographic, everjobs.lks new release identifies key trends within the job seekers sphere in Sri Lanka and reveals the top industries hiring in 2016.

It comes with no surprise that three of the five most searched for professions by online job seekers lie within the IT industry. Data Entry, general IT and Graphic Designer roles are most sought- after, which is equally represented in the most vacancies by job category  in IT and software, the portal said in a media release.

This trend was explained by Rushabh Sheth, Managing Director for everjobs Sri Lanka, as follows: Sri Lanka is ranked 12th in the world by IBM for business process outsourcing and is home to BPO units of companies such as Google, J.P. Morgan or Microsoft. Needless to say, IT and system engineers are some of the most in-demand talent in the job market and we see this trend continuing in the future. The only ones beating IT jobs in popularity are positions in the HR space.

Colombo remains the undisputed employment powerhouse in Sri Lanka, providing nearly 60 per cent of all vacancies on everjobs.lk during the past year. The increasing number of jobs in other, more touristic, cities like Kandy and Negombo can be explained by the 14 per cent rise in tourist arrivals in 2016 compared to 2015. While Sri Lankas travel and tourism industry employed around 800,000 directly in 2015, the World Travel and Tourism Council expects this number to rise to 943,000 by 2025.

Put in a nutshell, the Sri Lankan job market has experienced a further rise in the IT industry as its major employer in 2016, as well as Colombos undisputed dominance as a supplier of vacancies, the release added.
Police promotion and pension for state minister View(s):

Policeman-turned-politician Palitha Range Bandara has had many a brush with the law since he switched professions.

The state minister is now in for some good news  the former Inspector of Police is likely to be promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police. That will not mean he will join the active ranks but he will receive a pension and possibly a commuted amount too for the period he did not get paid.

After he made representations to the Political Victimisation Committee, the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to consider his request. This will be in consultation with the National Police Commission.

A precedent has already been set earlier by two more policemen-turned-politicians. One is the late M.K.D.S. Gunawardena, a former Minister. He was a Sub Inspector in the Police. The other is E.K.D. Gunawardena who was also a Sub Inspector.

Their requests for promotions were granted. The two were promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). They became entitled to a pension that is paid to ASPs upon retirement.

There were also other instances where the Political Victimisation Committee recommended the re-instatement of police officers to active service. Some were given their promotions and received even back wages.

More amendments to human rights action plan

A lesser known fact is that the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) was further amended before the Cabinet of Ministers approved it.

The amendments were made by the then acting Foreign Affairs Minister, Harsha de Silva.

Such amendments were made taking into consideration the following factors, a ministerial source said. They were: Religious sentiments and cultural values of the General Public of the country.

Actions that could have undesirable effects on the investor confidence pertaining to the prevailing industrial peace in the country.

The existing Government policy of provision of housing facilities to the homeless in a phased out basis.

Ministers noted that:

Ministers noted that: The NHRAP has paid attention to give effect to certain civil, political, economic and cultural rights which had not been fully enjoyed up to now;

The NHRAP should give priority to the matters pointed out by the General Public to be enforced in the field of Human Rights, to ensure the sustainability of a Democratic Society;

Comprehensive provisions are already available in the Constitution for non-discrimination of any individual of any segment of society;

Actions proposed in the NHRAP should not impinge on the religious sentiments and cultural values of the General Public and the sentiments of the minority communities of the country.

Ministers were emphatic that the countrys religious sentiments and cultural values should be protected. They also said they wanted to ensure the existing Official Language Policy based on the Constitutional provisions be retained. This was in the light of an NHRAP provision that English also should be made a national language.

Ministers also decided that any other matter which may not be in harmony with the civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights of the General Public in the country should not be changed.

Free Ports in Lanka

An octogenarian retired public service official has been placed in charge of a Committee to submit a report on converting the Financial City (Colombo Port City), Hambantota and Trincomalee as free ports.

A free port (porto franco) is a port area where goods in transit are exempt from customs duty.

R. Paskeralingam, now advisor to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, will head the committee including the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, the Secretary to the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade and the Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping.

The decision to appoint the committee was made by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) which is chaired by Premier Wickremesinghe.

A former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Paskeralingam was then a close confidant of the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa. After President D.B. Wijetunga took over Mr. Paskaralingam became a resident in London. With the advent of the National Unity Government, he was invited to return to Colombo and serve as the powerful Advisor to the Prime Minister.

A CCEM source said yesterday that the report of the Committee, once ready, will be studied and a cabinet memorandum submitted thereafter for approval.

Johns family tourism

The promotion of Sri Lankas tourism industry, it appears, is the exclusive preserve of the Minister in charge  John Ameratunga.

Mr. Ameratunga was in Spain for a tourism conference last week. He was accompanied by his private secretary and son-in-laws father Lal Ratnayake. The Ministers Personal Assistant, his own daughter, was in the official delegation.

He is set to go on a tourism promotion tour  a workshop  in Israel. Of course the delegation  Minister, daughter, Private Secretary, an Advisor  are all travelling at state expense. They will be away for eight days.

There are whispers that Mr. Ameratunga has already made plans to travel to Jerusalem. Of course, the per diem allowances for the whole trips have been paid for by the state. At least this part of the trip, a source close to the Minister said, was on religious grounds.

So from promoting tourism, Mr. Ameratunga has turned himself into a lucky tourist and even a pilgrim from Sri Lanka.

Bet what they are?

Sri Lankas gaming laws are to be changed.

The matter is now being examined by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) which is chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Probe suspended as part of package

An investor who won never-never terms for a manufacturing project near Colombo is two times lucky.

Before he won the deal and worked his way into the hearts of a known deal maker, the man was to be questioned by FCID detectives over money laundering.

Insiders now say that the matter has been put on hold. As one detective remarked rather wryly; its all part of the package.
Policy prerequisites for rapid development from the 70th year after Independence View(s):

Sri Lankas economic and social development in the 70th year after regaining independence and after would depend much on the adoption and effective implementation of pragmatic policies based on the current local and global situation. National unity and harmony and a consensus on economic and social policies are essential.

We must learn from the mistakes of the past, accept the realities of the present and pursue pragmatic policies for the countrys economic and social development.

Achievements

Admittedly there were many achievements in the 69 post independent years. The improvement of health and education has been a foremost achievement. The country has achieved self sufficiency in rice despite the population growing threefold from about 7 million at independence to 21 million in 2017. We have a diversified economy that is much less dependent on its agriculture alone. The country has achieved middle income status, reduced poverty and increased per capita incomes significantly.

Learning from the past

However it is agreed that the country could have done better and achieved higher levels of economic development. Countries in Asia that were at a lesser level of development at the time of our independence have gone far ahead. We have missed many opportunities to develop faster.

Communal tensions, ethnic clashes and a civil war; political ideologies that have prevented pursuance of pragmatic policies; bad policies and ineffective implementation of required policies; the lack of consistent economic policies to attract higher domestic and foreign investment; the inability to develop an investment friendly climate; widespread corruption; excessive politicisation and lack of discipline are, among others, the reasons for this lesser development.

Herculean task

Remedying these is a Herculean task. Yet improvements in these are vital for rapid development. The change of government two years ago raised hopes and expectations that there would be progress in these. There are pronouncements on reform but implementation has been disappointing.

Policy imperatives

The foremost priority is to build a united country free of communal tensions and violence. The severest setback to the economy has been ethnic violence. Without communal harmony the economic future is bleak in pluralist Sri Lanka. In as much as communal violence has impeded economic development, ethnic diversity has been an important impetus for economic development as ethnic minorities have contributed handsomely to entrepreneurial activities and the country economic development.

Ideology

Political ideology has blurred the nations vision on economic policies. Inward looking import substitution policies not only created scarcities and sluggish growth, but prevented the country from taking advantage of global trade. Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and other countries developed owing to their export-led growth.

It was only in 1977 that the country realised her folly and adopted outward looking economic policies. However communal violence in July 1983 setback the countrys economic progress.

Pragmatic policies

Pragmatic economic policies are crucial. Yet political motivations prevent the adoption of such policies in pursuing economic and social reforms that are vital for rapid development. The huge losses of state enterprise remain a burden on the economy and public. Yet their reform is politically difficult. There are echoes of failed import substitution policies in many.

Socialist countries

Socialist countries like Vietnam and China have gone ahead with pragmatic changes in their economies and increased efficiency and productivity and international competitiveness. Like them we must be outward looking, attract foreign investment and expand exports.

Consensus

Most important is a consensus in the coalition government on economic policies and their effective implementation. Unless such a consensus is achieved there would be policies proposed and opposed by elements in the government itself.

Conducive environment

One of the constraints to development has been the inability to develop an environment conducive to investment. Much was expected of the present government, but little accomplished. The rhetoric of encouraging private investment has not been backed up by policies that give confidence to investors.

The Budget of 2016 was a disaster in this respect as taxation measures were altered, amended and revoked. There have been statements that have discouraged investment in the stock market as well as in foreign direct investment. The inflow of FDI has fallen to as low as US$ 300 million that is an inconsequential amount compared to FDI inflows into other Asian countries like India and Vietnam and even Myanmar.

Political uncertainty, prevarication in policies, constant demonstrations, disturbances and strikes, account for this lack of confidence among investors. A clear statement of economic policies and signs of their effective implementation are vital to attract FDI.

Corruption

A vital prerequisite for development is the containing of corruption. By all accounts corruption has grown rather than diminished. Corruption raises the costs of public investment, distorts decision making, prevents release of lands and other resources owned by the government, delays investments and discourages investors. Widespread corruption is recognised by the government that has vowed to eradicate it. However rhetoric hardly achieves the eradication of corruption. There have to be meaningful actions to curb corruption. As the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Sambanthan pointed out in parliament there is corruption all over but hardly anyone has been found guilty.

Tourism

One of the countrys recent success stories has been the rapid growth of tourism in the post war years. Tourist earnings reached US$ 1.8 billion in 2014, increased to US$ 2.2 billion in 2015 and has reached US$ 3.5 billion in the first nine months.

It is however important not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs as we did in 1983 by the ethnic violence. The protection of the environment, communal harmony and peaceful conditions in the country, especially the containment of harassment and violence against tourists, are prerequisites for tourist development.

Balance of payments

Tourist earnings together with remittances will exceed the expected trade deficit of about US$ 8.5 billion this year to generate a current account surplus. This is a significant achievement in the context of the growing balance of payments difficulties. However prudent management of the foreign debt is vital to tide over difficulties in 2019.

Conclusion

National harmony and elimination of communal violence, pragmatic economic and social policies that provide an environment for investment, economic and social reforms, improvement of social and economic infrastructure are vital for rapid economic and social development. It is essential that there is a consensus on economic policies and those policies are effectively implemented. Fiscal consolidation with appropriate fiscal measures and monetary policies that contain aggregate demand are vital for economic stability and development.
The government needs to be constructive rather than combative View(s):

Is the essentially combative tone adopted by the Government to the Juan Mendez report finding that a culture of torture is still being practised in Sri Lanka quite wise, one might ask?

Of course, we live in an age where, confounding his own advisors and despite solid evidence to the contrary, the President of the United States is on record stating bombastically that torture works as an interrogation method.

Key Mendez findings

But Sri Lankas state representatives have long adopted a far more devious method of denial. The immediate response has always been to rebut off hand, allegations that torture is commonly practised. That reaction does not appear to change, let it be the yahapalanaya government, or any other. So this blunt rejection as reported in this newspaper last week is unsurprising. Yet the larger question is whether a more sober appraisal will not actually help the country more than an obstinate ostrich-like denial.

Let us dispassionately consider what Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Mr Mendez had said. He issued the report to the UN Human Rights Council consequent to a visit made to the country early last year. It is due to be considered by the Council at its 34th session, scheduled to run from February 27 to March 2017.

A key finding is that while the practice of torture is less prevalent today than during the conflict and the methods used are at times less severea culture of torture persists. Physical and mental coercion is employed as an interrogation method by both the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in regular cases and by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Grave trends in the report

Where the TID is specifically concerned, a causal link seems to exist between the level of real or perceived threat to national security and the severity of the physical suffering inflicted by agents of the Division during detention and interrogation Mr Mendez observed. Linked to this is the observation that he had received credible reports of white van abductions by officers in plain clothes as recently as up to April 2016. As he says, such abductions in the past, more often than not, led to enforced disappearances.

However these recent instances have led to incommunicado detention of the suspect with the purpose of obtaining a confession before transfer to official Department or Division facilities. Meanwhile brutal abuse of detainees predominantly of Tamil ethnicity under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in order to induce confessions is found akin to a recurring decimal in interrogation practices.

The other equally grave trend in the report is his finding that Magistrates are overly passive and rubber-stamp detention orders made by the executive branch and do not inquire into conditions of detention or potential ill-treatment. This is a conclusion that is supported by Sri Lankas own Supreme Court where the dereliction of duty by judicial officers has been lamented. In effect, this constitutes a most eloquent justification as to why Sri Lankas proposed counter-terror Act (CTA) meant to replace the PTA should not superficially put forward this excuse of magisterial supervision in preventing torture, when practically that protection is almost nil. The initial draft of the CTA proceeded exactly on this basis, justifying the whittling down of protections accordingly.

Suspicious secrecy surrounding the revised CTA

And we still remain in a state of suspended animation in regard to what revisions have been made to the CTA. As has been remarked in these column spaces previously, the proposed CTA appears to be more draconian than the PTA. The fact that the CTA had been revised was announced by the Government with impeccable and splendid timing just before the European Commission stated that it would recommend to the EU, the restoration of the GSP Plus trade benefit to Sri Lanka.

But the revised draft appears to be guarded with a passion that can only arouse suspicion as to the bona fides of its defenders. And this seems to have conveniently slipped off the radar of the merry travelers on the transitional justice bandwagon who have also (and predictably so) received a series of short and sharp shocks recently by de-prioritization of transitional justice on the Government agenda.

Other aspects of the Mendez report mirror concerns stressed domestically. These include the right of a suspect to legal representation at a police station immediately after arrest and during detention. Extreme concern is expressed in regard to the willingness of judges to admit confessions in criminal proceedings without corroboration by other evidence, creating conditions that further encourage torture and ill-treatment.

Reflecting domestic concerns

Thus too, a common practice of conducting the investigation while the suspect is in custody, rather than determining the need for detention based on preliminary investigations. Certainly these particular conclusions reflect a recurrent pattern confirmed by innumerable academic and activist reports buttressed also by fundamental rights decisions of the Supreme Court from almost two decades ago.

Indeed, continuing weaknesses in Sri Lankas institutional processes receive special attention in the report with the confirmation by the Chief Justice to the Special Rapportuer that there is a backlog of some 3,000 fundamental rights cases before the Supreme Court. Mr Mendez acknowledges strides taken by the National Human Rights Commission but makes the pertinent point that this has left untouched the task of remedying impunity for past and present abuses through effective prosecution. He passes down graver strictures on reliance of the National Police Commission on police investigations and the worrying lack of will on the part of the Attorney-General to investigate and prosecute torture allegations.

These are serious findings no doubt. Yet in many respects, they only echo what has been said before, by Sri Lankas own monitoring and advocacy bodies. They come as no surprise even though state representatives may throw up their hands in horror at the very idea.

A considered response needed

Thus, the Mendez findings and recommendations merit a considered response by the Government. Much of the recommendations also echo long standing institutional reforms that have been pending for decades. A rejection of this report out of hand will help no one, least of all Sri Lankas own albeit increasingly strained case that it is painfully plodding to regain a measure of normalcy after decades of terrorized abnormal state behaviour.

It is hoped that sanity rather than unhelpful hysteria will prevail in future official responses.
Kids Essays View(s):

Good behaviour

Good behaviour is very important. Like my mother always says, We should never talk back to elders especially in front of kids, because they do what we so. Everyone should use polite speech and not razor sharp words that come from your tongue. We should speak properly and have good manners. We also should be obedient and have a good relationship with people we should be patient and not interrupt elders while they are talking.

As my brother always says, We are nothing without good behaviour but good clothing is important too! We should be a good example mainly to the little ones. We gain merits when we behave well. I repeat again, good behaviour is very important.

Zahrah Jouzi (Grade 7)

Hejaaz Int. Girls School

How I spent my school vacation

We didnt go anywhere but I enjoyed my vacation by studying. My Christmas gift was my little Nala, my cat. She had two cute little babies on Christmas day.

I spent my vacation studying because my class teacher said that my handwriting was not good. So in the end my handwriting became perfect. At last my parents decided to take my brother and me to watch a film because we worked hard. I know that Im going to have more marks than I had before. And thats how I spent my vacation.

Jithmi M. Arachchige (Grade 4)

Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda

My trip to Australia

During the December holidays,

I went to Australia with my family.

We went on an Emirates flight.

We had tasty food on the flight.

We landed in Australia at 10.30 a.m. We went to our Nandis house. I played with my cousins. I had lovely food at my Nandis house.

We went to many places such

as the Sydney Opera House, Blue Mountains, Taronga Zoo and Foster. The Jenolan Caves tour impressed me a lot.

We went to Melbourne by train.

It took 12 hours. I enjoyed the long train journey. In Melbourne I went to the city. We went to Canberra. It is known as the capital of Australia. We went to the Parliament Houses, Telstra Towers and the War Memorial.

On December 31 we came back to Sri Lanka. I enjoyed my trip to Australia. This was the best trip I ever had.

Senuka Nagodavithana (Grade 6)

S. Thomas Preparatory School

My little brother

He wakes up early morning

And tries to wake me too

He thinks its fun to hit me

Which makes me angry too

He can be quite an angel

When he sleeps at night

But hes a real devil

At times he gets into a fight

He gets me into trouble

By telling naughty lies

But he shares his things with me

So he can be good

sometimes

Of course he is a nuisance

He really annoys me too

But as he is my

little brother

I really love him too

Dulandee Handapangoda (Grade

Visakha Vidyalaya,

Colombo 5

My favourite newspaper

My best newspaper is the Funday Times.

It has many young readers of course I am one of them.

It comes free with the Sunday Times newspaper. I always wait impatiently for the paper boy to deliver it every Sunday morning. There are many thrilling sections such as news, essays, art, cartoons, competitions and many other activities. My favourite section is the

Art Corner.

I love the Funday Times because of its colourful and exciting pages.

Kadeejah Reza (11 years)

Seylan School, Colombo

Our year-end family trip

Every year, we go to Katharagama to get the blessings of the god. This year too as usual we went to Katharagama but on the way we visited some other places too.

Our first visit was to Bopath Ella. Bopath Ella is situated in Ratnapura and it is shaped like a Bo leaf. It was a very spectacular sight. The next place we visited was the Adisham Bungalow. It had been a monastery run by the Benedictine monks. It was a very beautiful place filled with flowers. The view of the mountains from there was very fascinating.

In the evening we went to Katharagama and performed our rituals. The next day we went to the new Safari Zoo near Hambantota. It is a zoo where the animals roan freely in the environment while we are caged in a bus.

Then we went to the Hot Water Springs. There we had a heavenly bath of hot water.

Next we thought of going to the NLDB dairy farm. In the farm we had pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

Then we headed home. I was very tired and I fell asleep in the car without knowing. It was the most memorable trip Ive ever had.

Sinali Bethmage (10 years)

Musaeus College

The event that impressed me most

April 21 is a very special day. Actually it is very special for the British not for Sri Lankans. It is the birthday of the British Queen Elizabeth. Though I am a Sri Lankan I have a special interest towards royal families. So I sent my wishes to the Queen on her 90th birthday. Normally I do correspond with pen-pals as a hobby, so I thought of writing to a royal and sent my wishes to the Queen.

I was not expecting a reply, but unexpectedly after some weeks, I got a very surprising letter. It was November 22, when I was getting ready for my third term exam.

My father told me that there was a letter for me and it was an air-mail. So I thought it was from a pen-pal, but to everyones amazement it was a royal mail; a note and a card with a photograph of Queen Elizabeth thanking me for my wishes. I couldnt believe it, but it is the truth.

I shared my happiness and surprise with my parents first and then with my classmates. They too were all surprised but all of them were pleased to see it. They forced me to tell our teachers about this. So I showed it to them too. They admired my work.

I will always remember this and treasure it because it is a royal letter.

Hamna Mohamed (14 years)

Sacred Heart Convent, Galle

My pet

My pet is a cat.

Its name is Kitty.

Kitty is black in colour. Kitty loves to eat fish.

Kitty loves to drink milk.

Abhilash Karunanayake (7 years)

Richmond College, Galle

Our country

We are Sri Lankans. We live in

Sri Lanka. Our country is an island in the Indian Ocean. An island is a place that is surrounded by water on all sides. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the official capital city of our country. Our country is popularly known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

Our history dates back to thousands of years. We have a

rich cultural and religious history.

We all live peacefully together in

Sri Lanka. The two main communities here are Sinhalese and Tamils. Sinhala, Tamil and English are the main languages spoken in our country. We should respect our country.

Madawan Brindayini (10 years)

Rathnaloka M.V.

My class teacher

My class teachers name is Ms. Shashi Harshani. Shes very kind to us. In her face always theres a smile. My class teacher is very fair. She has long hair, but its not very long. She wears nice coloured saris. She comes to school early in the morning. She teaches us English and E.N.V. She teaches us very well. I am very happy about her. I like her very much.

Kalana Wijethunge (Grade 3)

Lyceum Int. School, Ratnapura

My best friend

My best friend is Dinithi Vihara. She has five members in her family. We play together and we eat together. She likes to eat fruits. She likes to drink fruit juice. The members of her family are her elder sister, younger sister, mum, grandmother and my best friend. She has two pets. They are Bunny and Row. I love my best friend.

Valentina Dewmini (Grade 4)

Jennings Int. College,

Nainamadama

My favourite animal

My favourite animal is the giraffe.

I like giraffes the most because they are very innocent and very beautiful animals. Giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. They belong to the horse family and live in groups. They are mammals and are herbivorous. Giraffe has a long neck and special pattern of light brown and white spots. A baby giraffe is light brown in colour at birth.

Giraffes walk and gallop like horses. They hear and see very well. Their eyes are on both sides of the head. It helps them to see what is happening all around them. They have large pointed ears and can turn their ears to any direction.

Giraffes are fast runners. They can run about 30 miles per hour. They run from side to side to protect from animals who hunt them. They sleep while standing and bray when they are in danger to warn other giraffes. The leader of the herd of giraffes stays at the back of the group.

Today, giraffes have lost many of their lands and are in danger, because of humans. Humans have destroyed many of the lands to build houses and to cultivate. Many governments have built national parks to protect giraffes but we all have to stop doing things that harm animals like my favourite animal, the giraffe.

Rawindra Tennakoon (11 years)

Sri Sumangala N.C., Nildandahinna
Celebrating Love at OZO- Colombo View(s):

Many people around the world celebrate Valentines Day by showing appreciation for the people they love or adore. Some people take their loved ones for a romantic dinner at a restaurant, while others may choose this day to propose or get married.

OZO- Colombo offer lovers with two options to celebrate the month of Romance this year.

ON14 rooftop lounge and bar unveils a unique Valentines Day Rooftop dining experience making it a perfect night out with special someone.

There is a wide range of indulgent treats appealing to all and an acoustic solo artiste serenading throughout the night when lovers dine under the stars. stated a release from the hotel.

Say it with Dinner this Valentines Day at EAT- OZO Colombo.

Indulge in our very intimate dinner spread and celebrate it in style. Whats more when you reserve your dinner for two prior to Valentines Day at either ON14 or EAT you stand a chance to win prizes that allow you to travel to one of our sister properties in Bangkok as well as OZO-Colombo, OZO- Kandy and Amari- Galle a spokeperson from the hotel added.

Apart from the events taking place at both ON14 and EAT , to celebrate Valentines Day, ON14 will be offering 2 special Italian styled cocktails for a limited time only from 13th -19th February.

Valentinus  a cool and refreshing strawberry sangria, with white wine fresh strawberries and thyme hints of peach, orange and Italian vermouth.

Tiramisu  the much-loved quintessential Italian dessert re-imagined as naughty and indulgent cocktail. Coffee tequila, coffee andchocolate liqueurs, espresso with double cream and a few secret ON14 ingredients make a perfect Valentines treat for all.

Call 077 176 1313 or 0772215222 for more details.
Chinas entry to Hollywood The Great Wall View(s): View(s):

The Great Wall, China-Hollywood film that was recorded as the most expensive movie ever made in China is now being screened in Colombo and suburbs. The Great Wall, China-Hollywood film that was recorded as the most expensive movie ever made in China is now being screened in Colombo and suburbs.

The action adventure directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the film cast lead by Hollywood superstar Matt Damon and massive Chinese actors and actresses.

The film narrates the story how European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defence of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures.

When a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within the Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront the unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.

The film is now being screened at Savoy Premier, Excel Cinema, Liberty Lite, Vista Lite- Jaela, Sky Lite Malabe and Sky Lite Matara.
Hidden Figures, Fences lead politically charged SAG awards View(s):

Hidden Figures was the surprise best film ensemble winner at the recent Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, a show overshadowed by politics as stars slammed U.S. President Donald Trump for restricting entry for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Hidden Figures, the true story of three black female mathematicians during the 1960s space race, ousted awards front-runners Manchester By the Sea and Moonlight to claim the nights top prize.

This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside and we come together, star Taraji P. Henson said.

Thank you for appreciating these women, they are hidden figures no more, she added.

Fences, based on August Wilsons award-winning stage play about blue-collar African-Americans, claimed two major acting awards.

With awards darling La La Land out of the running for the top SAG prize for best ensemble, the win put Hidden Figures firmly into the race for the best picture Oscar, the top accolade in the film industry.

Voted for by about 120,000 U.S. actors, the two-hour televised SAG awards show often anoints top Academy Award winners since actors comprise the largest body within Oscar voters.

A surprised Denzel Washington won best actor for Fences, beating out front-runners Casey Affleck for Manchester By the Sea and Ryan Gosling for La La Land.

Washingtons co-star Viola Davis, who won best supporting actress, thanked the late playwright Wilson for honoring the average man, who happened to be a man of colour.

The SAG awards honored many actors of colour in a year when diversity in Hollywood has been in the spotlight. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced seven Oscar nominees of color among its acting categories this month after two years when only white actors were nominated, prompting the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.

Politics took center stage at the SAG awards as many stars delivered fiery speeches to directly or indirectly criticize Trumps ban on Muslim travelers.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won best comedy TV actress for playing flawed fictional U.S. President Selina Meyer on HBOs political satire Veep, called Trumps ban a blemish.

Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes, and this immigrant ban is a blemish, she said. It is un-American.

Mahershala Ali, who won best supporting actor for his role in independent drama Moonlight, noted that he is the Muslim son of a mother who is a Christian minister

She didnt do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago, but I tell you now, we put things to the side, he said.

Emma Stone, winning best actress for musical romance La La Land, praised her fellow actors for reflecting society.

Were in a tricky time in the world and in our country, and things are very inexcusable and scary and need action, she said. And Im so grateful to be part of a group of people that care and want to reflect things back to society.

Netflix Inc dominated the top television wins as womens prison show Orange is the New Black won best comedy ensemble, British royal family show The Crown took the best actor and actress awards for a drama, and new 1980s sci-fi mystery series Stranger Things won best drama ensemble.

(REUTERS)
Two faces of the STF View(s):

The Police Special Task Forces newly formed riot squad members wearing full face masks shielding them from tear gas are seen here in different modes. On Thursday, near the Presidential Secretariat, they helped disperse university students protesting against the South Asia Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM). Yesterday, at the Galle Face Green, they are seen in a more patriotic mode, participating in the Independence Day parade.

Pix by Amila Gamage and Indika Handuwala
Breathing space for moonshine makers through legal loophole By Chris Kamalendran View(s): View(s):

Kasippu raids in Matara and Kalutara Districts by the police have come to a halt, following Lawyers, for suspects caught in raids on illicit liquor dens, successfully arguing in court that the police had no authority under the Excise Ordinance to file plaints and that, only Excise officers could do so.

DIG (Legal) Ajith Rohana on Friday argued in the Kalutara Magistrates Court that the police have powers to raid, arrest and file plaint against anyone engaged in illicit liquor manufacture, while blanket immunity under the Excise Ordinance is only applicable to those holding liquor licenses.

This was in consequence to an accused in a case of illicit distilling ochallenging the Kalutara Chief Magistrates judgment at the Kalutara High Court, and being acquitted.

Accordingly, the Kalutara Magistrates Court had then informed all police stations in the District that the police could not file plaints under the Excise Ordinance and only Excise officers could do.

The Police, however, have now challenged this decision.

DIG Rohana argued that the ruling did not provide blanket immunity to illicit liquor manufacturers.

He said there was a similar case in Matara as well.

He said that, in 1962, former Minister Maithripala Senanayake issued a gazette notification under Section 52 of the Excise Ordinance, authorising the Police Dept to arrest illicit liquor manufacturers and produce them in court.
Cabinet clash over vehicle factory View(s):

Minister and the United Peoples Freedom Alliance General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera will submit a memorandum to the Cabinet calling on the Government to withhold a proposal to grant concessions to a vehicle importer trying to assemble vehicles locally.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake last week submitted a Cabinet proposal seeking a 70 percent tax concession for locally assembled vehicles by Vehicles Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd with used vehicle parts.

Mr. Amaraweera said he opposed the proposal on the grounds that concessions should not be given to one selected company and that the particular importer had already violated Customs regulations.

He said investigations against the company had been suppressed due to political pressure even during the previous government. Mr. Karunanayake was seeking the concession for a maximum of 2,250 vehicles over a three year period and the company was assembling vehicles using used vehicle parts, enabling it to make higher local value addition.

Last week, the Sunday Times reported that the Finance Ministry had directed the Customs to immediately release eight containers carrying vehicle spare parts for the company.

Meanwhile this week, the Customs raided the assembling plant at Minuwangoda and took into custody 54 vehicles assembled with imported spare parts.

Customs officials said this contravened the Motor Traffic Act.
Karu, first Lankan to be honoured with Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun View(s):

The Government of Japan has conferred on Speaker Karu Jayasuriya The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, in recognition of his significant contribution towards promoting bilateral relations between Japan and Sri Lanka.

This is the first time this title has been conferred upon a Sri Lankan.

The honour was bestowed on Mr. Jayasuriya at a special function held at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo this week.

Mr. Jayasuriya worked continuously for the promotion of bilateral relations, and when the Sri Lanka-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Association was established in 2001, he joined it as an MP, and later served as its President from 2002 to 2004, the Japanese embassy said in a press release.

Other recipients of The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 2016, also include, former PM of Australia, Paul Keating, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, John Boehner, former PM of the Philippines, Cesar Enrique Aguinaldo Virata, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Dr Han Sung Joo.
Lankan envoy hospitalised after cardiac arrest View(s):

Sri Lankas Consul General Faizer Mackeen suffered a cardiac arrest soon after he addressed the Independence Day ceremony at his office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and was hospitalised, an official said.

He is being treated at the intensive care unit of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah.

Mr. Mackeen was the President of the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) before he was appointed as Sri Lankas Consular General in Jeddah nine months ago.
No Lankan travellers held at any US airport: Foreign Ministry View(s):

Sri Lankan travellers were not stranded at any US airport, following the new immigration regulations including a controversial immigration ban issued by US President Donald Trump, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mahishini Colonne tweeted on her official Twitter handle that, Sri Lankan missions in the US have informed there were no confirmed cases of Sri Lankans stranded at airports. Sri Lanka is not on the list of countries in the recent US Executive Order.

All Sri Lankan missions in the US are on alert and in touch with relevant US authorities on this matter. Any Sri Lankan stranded at a US airport and requiring assistance, can call Sri Lankas Mission in New York on 001 917 597 7009, she said.

However, No Ban JFK, a coalition of volunteer attorneys camped out at New Yorks John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport earlier in the week claimed that 71 persons including Sri Lankan nationals were detained at the airport.

Reiterating that Sri Lanka is not on the list of countries included in this Executive Order signed by President Trump, the US embassy statement said that Sri Lankans can continue to travel to the United States with a valid visa. For reasons of privacy, however, we cannot comment on individual visa cases.

The U.S. Government is committed to facilitating legitimate travel for international visitors, while ensuring the security of US borders. This suspension provided for in the Executive Order will allow the U.S. Government to review current screening procedures, while protecting national security, the statement said.

According to The US Department of State, a country-by-country review of the information provided by countries in order for their nationals to apply for myriad visas, immigration benefits, or otherwise seek admission into the United States. This review is needed to ensure that individuals seeking to enter the U.S. are who they claim to be, and do not pose a security or public-safety threat.
Rs. 161 b expressway: Its China again View(s):

Another massive unsolicited project; loan coming from Exim Bank

By Damith Wickremasekara

In another unsolicited proposal, a Chinese company has been awarded the contract for the construction of the fourth phase of the Central Expressway project.

Under the project, the Central Expressway between Kurunegala and Dambulla spanning 58.7 kilometres of four lanes is to be constructed at a cost of Rs. 161.61 billion, excluding Value Added Tax.

Cabinet approval for the project has been granted to obtain a loan from the Exim Bank of China with the project to be carried out by the China Gezhouba Group of Companies. Sri Lanka will receive a six-year grace period for the repayment of the loan and it will have to be completed in 20 years.

Project Director T.S.H. Abewickrema told the Sunday Times the agreement would be signed next week and word would be started at a ceremony presided over by President Maithripala Sirisena the following week.

She said the project would be completed in three and a half years and would be part of the Rajarata Navodaya  the Presidents programme for the development of the Polonnaruwa district.

Ms. Abeywickrema said the expressway would include five interchanges at Ridigama, Melsiripura, Galewela and two in Dambulla. There would be 21 bridges, 32 culverts, nine under passes and seven over passes.

PM going to Beijing to finalise FTA

Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit Beijing in May as discussions continue over the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Sri Lankas Ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku said in Beijing yesterday.

He said the Prime minister would also attend a major summit scheduled to be attended by about 20 world leaders. Dr. Kodituwakku was speaking to reporters at a ceremony in Beijing to mark Sri Lankas 69th Independence Day.

Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema yesterday confirmed the visit of Premier Wickremesinghe and said the talks on the proposed FTA were going well, but declined to give a time frame. I dont want to put more pressure on the negotiating team, but we are going ahead well.
Scorched earth: Farmer misery worsens By Anushiya Sathisraja View(s): View(s):

Hundered of farmer families have abandoned their lands seeking refuge in dirt camps, their financial debts have increased, and there is not much hope for heavy rains. Tales of crop failures abound as the drought continues to cause misery.

The low rainfall across the island has severly disrupted hydropower generation, domestic water supplies, and agriculture.

According to the Disaster Management Center, 581,110 people have been bady affected in the island. More than 45,000 alone are suffering in the Puttalam district.

Pallama, Puttalam, Karuwalagsawewa are the worst hit areas. In Pallama, 9,608 are suffering, Puttalam is home to 8,174 badly affected, and in Karuwalagaswewa there are 6,670 affected. In Moneragala, 38,828 people are suffering.

Irrigation Department Director-General, S S L Weerasinghe, said efforts are being made to create more water reserves, but that it was no easy undertaking because inundating forest land means wildlife habitat would be impacted.

The Water Board said demand for drinking water has increased by 15 per cent and 2 million cubic metres of water is provided every day in 200 water tankers.

Most of the main irrigation tanks are at 27 per cent of their capacity, while 220 medium sized tanks are at 30 per cent capacity.

Secretary of the Mahaweli Authority, Udaya R. Seneviratne, said water sources and irrigation tanks in the Mahaweli sector have shrunk below 50 per cent of capacity. As a result, distribution of drinking water gets priority instead of agriculture.

As of now, only 45 per cent of the land used for agriculture has been cultivated in the Mahaweli sector. Of that, 35 per cent includes rice, while the remainder includes other organic food products. There areas will get priority with water from irrigation tanks in the Mahaweli sector and not new cultivations, he said.

Ceylon Electricity Board, Engineers Forum, president, Athula Wanniarchchi, said as an emergency measure, 60 per cent of electricity will be tapped from the private sector.

He reminded the public to conserve electricity through measures such as setting regulators of air-conditioners to 26 degrees Celsius.

DMC spokesman, Pradeep Kodippili, said officials are working together with the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management to provide drinking water to the affected families.

Not surprisingly, the minor tanks have almost completely dried up, while the water levels of major tanks are receding fast. In Ampara, where there are eight major reservoirs, storage has dwindled to 20 per cent and has been declared to be at a critical level, he cautioned.

Farmer, S D Piyadasa, said growers were supposed to receive water from the Maheweli River. But, we got water only for a day in the past two weeks and its insufficient to save the paddy.

Dambulla farmer, S M Ratnayake, 63, complained: There is no water back home. What are we farmers going to do? This is the worst situation I have experienced in at least 20 years. Nobody wants to leave their homes and sleep under the open sky in a city.

Balasooriya Sarath, a farmer from Polonnaruwa, alleged that there was sufficient water in some tanks, but what remained was being used for power generation. He said Mahaweli project officials were giving priority to electricity generation rather than for growing rice.

There is enough water in large reservoirs such as the Parakrama Samudraya, Minneriya and Kawdulla, but officials were preserving the water, he noted.

District Secretaries (Government Agents) in these areas are struggling to hire water tankers provide plastic barrels, and distribute dry rations and prepared food.

With more than, 45,000 people badly affected in the Jaffna district, an official at the District Secretarys office said water in major irrigation tanks had receded to 28 per cent of capacity.

He revealed that 35,500 hectares of rice had been cultivated out of an estimated one million hectares in the past rice-growing season. He said 49,258 hectares were to have been used for growing vegetables but only 30,900 hectares were cultivated.

Every day, 35,000 litres of water is distributed by 14 water tankers. Unfortunately, villagers in rural areas do not have wide-mouthed 50-litre or 100-litre barrels to store water, said Hambantota District Secretary Sumanthi Edirisuriya.

Meteorology Department Director (Forecasting), Sarath Premalal, said heavy rains over catchment areas cannot be expected. There will be irregular, intermittent showers during the day and night.

Mainly fair weather with colder nights and mornings can be expected over most parts of the island he said, adding that, misty conditions can be expected in some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and Southern provinces in the mornings.
State sector manpower workers in limbo View(s):

Despite political promises during elections and continuing protests and strikes, issues related to Manpower Workers (MW) stand still in the backdrop of Government efforts to create new job opportunities. Despite political promises during elections and continuing protests and strikes, issues related to Manpower Workers (MW) stand still in the backdrop of Government efforts to create new job opportunities.

The concept of MW that was started a few years back, is now well established in the country, especially in the Free Trade Zones. The lack of security in their jobs, salary anomalies, the inability to make long term plans and the lack of social recognition, are the key problems related to MW, social activists say.

One of my friends girlfriend changed her mind after she realised he was a MW driver, and not a permanent employee in the company, an MW of more than six years in a leading company said.

Although they work for well reputed companies, certain MWs are unaware that their employer, for all intents and purposes, is not their employer.

It is true that, there are wage discrepancies between MWs and permanent workers doing the same job, but we fight for the social recognition we will gain by making us permanent, not the salary hike, said All Ceylon Telecommunication Employees Union President Nimantha Wijesuriya, commenting on societys lack of regard for them.

There were instances when school authorities rejected Grade 1 admissions merely because the parents were manpower workers said Mr Wijesuriya, expressing his concerns.

The recent struggle started by the 2,100 Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) MWs on December 26 last year, is still under way for more than 40 days, although they have had many rounds of discussions with the officials regarding the matter, the Union said.

MWs are recruited via recruitment agencies, usually called manpower agencies, not directly by the company itself, which is a strategy practised globally by businessmen, to cut cost in human resource management and to reduce the responsibility borne by the companies regarding the employees.

MWs were mainly hired by private companies for low-skilled jobs, but later spread to the public sector very quickly.

Manpower workers were mainly engaged at the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), SLT, Water Board, Sri Lanka Engineering Cooperation, Cultural Triangle and State Banks.

National Organiser of the Centre to Make Permanent, Manpower Workers (NCMPMW) Ranjan Jayalal said that, as a result of the collective campaigns organized by the trade unions, a significant number of MWs had been absorbed into the permanent cadre of some of the above institutes.

The SLT trade unions work according to different political agendas. They should work together, forgetting political beliefs, like at the CEB, where 6,759 MWs were made permanent, Mr Jayalal emphasised.

He said that it is miserable to see even graduates work as MWs.

We strongly believe the MW system should be abolished. It is no different to the slavery system that prevailed in ancient Rome, he noted.

All Ceylon Telecommunication Employees Union stated that 12.5% of an MWs monthly salary is deducted, which they believe is the commission given to the agency they were

recruited by.

Theres a huge salary anomaly. Permanent colleagues sharing the same work receive a salary 4 to 5 times of what we receive. This is totally unfair. Telecom is under a mafia of the officials, a manpower worker said.

He also levelled allegations against SLT officials, saying that, although it had an adequate number of workers, the authority had recruited workers on a contract basis, who were employed by engineers to make profits.

Meanwhile, a senior SLT officer involved in the discussions said, These workers are under Human Capital Solution (HCS)- a fully owned subsidiary of SLT, where their jobs are secure. They are entitled to all the benefits including EPF and ETF. The workers are labelling themselves as MWs, but they are not, he said.

Commenting on the 12.5% deduction on the salary, he said, It is for day-to-day management expenses and to provide other benefits such as for their medical expenses.

Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, Harin Fernando told the Sunday Times that, as the Minister, he cant directly interfere in Management level decisions.

As the Management is responsible to the Companys shareholders, they take decisions in keeping with the financial position of the Company he explained.

He further stated that these MWs would be absorbed gradually into the permanent cadre within the next three years.

There are issues with the qualifications of some of these workers as well. Permanent staff will not be happy if we recruit these low qualified workers, violating standard procedure. So, SLT intends to give them the relevant training at SLT expense and make them qualified. We intend to finish absorbing these workers into SLT by 2020, he said.

Black for White to abduct in Yahapalanaya eraThe All Ceylon Telecommunication Employees Union Vice President Sujeewa Mangala who was reported missing since last Saturday, was found Wednesday early morning in Ingiriya. Mr Mangala told the Sunday Times he was abducted by an unknown armed gang near Palanwatta, Maharagama, and was threatened to stop union activities and the ongoing strike. While I was returning home Saturday night, a black coloured van followed my motorbike and blocked my way. Three men carrying pistols came out and two of them forced me into the van. There were five men inside the van, with their heads covered with black cloth, and I couldnt identify anyone. he revealed. He had been taken to a dilapidated house and was locked in a dark room alone for three days. They provided my meals on time and I was not assaulted, but was warned against continuing with my Trade Union activities, he said On Tuesday night he was again brought back near to Ingiriya in a vehicle and pushed out. The van sped off after pushing me out. I went to the Ingiriya Police Station to lodge a complaint at about 1 am, from where I was sent to the Piliyandala Police station and finally to Maharagama Police where for 4 hours my statement was recorded, he said. I have been working as a MW for 17 years. I was threatened to refrain from engaging in this union action, but until we get a proper solution I will fight, he stressed. Further investigation on the abduction is being conducted by the Maharagama Police, who declined to comment on it.
From colony to call for freedom Reflections on Independence, 69 years on by D.C. Ranatunga View(s): View(s):

Independence is an opportune time to look back on the glorious days of Sri Lanka. As Ponnambalam Arunachalam (later Sir) reminds us in Sketches of Ceylon History  a lecture he delivered in 1906 in the presence of Governor Sir Henry A. Blake  there is perhaps no country in the world that has such a long continuous history and civilization. At a time when the new great nations of the West were sunk in barbarism, or had not yet come into existence, Ceylon was the seat of an ancient kingdom and religion, the nursery of art, and the centre of Eastern commerce. Her stupendous religious edifices more than 2,000 years old and, in extent and architectural interest, second only to the structures of Egypt, and her vast irrigation works, attests the greatness and antiquity of her civilization. Her rich products of nature and art, the beauty of her scenery, her fame as the home of a pure Buddhism, have made her from remote times the object of interest and the striking manner the ancient native chronicles which Ceylon is almost singular among Asiatic lands in possessing.

The ancient kings held sway until the early 16th century although they faced invasions from rulers of different provinces in India. Then came the Portuguese. When a Portuguese fleet from Goa sent to capture some ships of their Arab rivals in trading activity was carried by current to the harbour of Galle, they went back and returned a few years later and succeeded in getting the king who was ruling from Kotte to agree to the erection of a factory which they ultimately converted into a fortress. They ousted the Arabs (also called Moors) and took over the trade. When the king realised his folly it was too late. The Portuguese had territorial ambitions, commercial greed and religious conversion in mind.

The Kandyan king and his subjects however maintained a heroic struggle against the Portuguese, who were to face the might of the Dutch who expelled them in 1658. The Dutch ruled until the British appeared on the scene by the end of the 18th century. In 1782, when Britain was at war with Holland, the English East India Company despatched a force to reduce the Dutch possessions in Ceylon.

In 1796, all places occupied by the Dutch were handed over to the British. In 1802, by the Treaty of Amiens, they were formally transferred to Britain. Ceylon which was administered by the English East India Company from 1797 to 1802, was then made a Crown Colony. In 1815 the British declared war against the last king of Kandy whose misgovernment had estranged his own subjects. Eventually he was captured and taken prisoner. The Kandyan Convention was signed on March 2, 1815 between the British authorities and the Kandyan chiefs, the king was dethroned and the Sinhalese surrendered the island to the British sovereign with full reservation of their rights and liberties. They may claim to be one of the few ancient races of the world who have not been conquered, says Arunachalam.

That marked the end of the oldest dynasty in the world after enduring for twenty-four centuries, and the whole island passed under the sway of Britain. Following the Uva Wellassa Rebellion in 1818 the authority of the Kandyan chiefs was taken away and given over to civil servants in the British administration. Meanwhile, the British Government became anxious that finances were not being properly balanced and a Commission was appointed under Sir William Colebrooke to investigate and propose reforms. In 1933 on the Commissions recommendation an Executive Council was appointed to control the acts of the Governor, and a Legislative Council, nominated by the Governor, to represent various interests and government departments. With the opening up of plantation crops starting with coffee, European business interests came to the island and soon became a formidable minority. In the years to follow, they started agitating for constitutional reforms. The local intelligentsia too gradually began to realise to need for more participation in the administration. Patchwork was done by increasing the number of members of the Legislative Council at regular intervals but the agitators were not happy.

Agitation for self-government

In 1919 the low-country Sinhalese and the Tamils united to form the Ceylon National Congress and demanded that the majority of the Legislative Council and at least half the Executive Council should be Ceylonese.

Obviously realising that colonies could no longer be governed autocratically, the British Government decided to test out Ceylon with more reforms. The Donoughmore Commission was appointed to recommend changes. The first State Council was thus established in 1931.

When Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott arrived in 1937, he had instructions to study the constitutional position carefully, taking into account the different opinions about the State Council system.The Governor recommended a Cabinet of the normal type (in place of the Board of Ministers under the Executive Committee system), the elimination of the system of Executive Committees, and the retention of territorial representation which had replaced communal representation when members were elected to the State Council from 1931. It was coupled with the grant of universal adult suffrage when all male and female Ceylonese over 21 years were given the right to vote. This increased the voting population from 204,997 (based on educational and property qualification) to 2,175,000.

No further action was, however, taken due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

On May 26, 1943, a declaration by the British Government stated: The post-war re-examination of the Ceylon Constitution, to which His Majestys Government stands pledged, will be directed towards the grant to Ceylon by the Order of His Majesty in Council of full responsible government in all matters of civil administration.

This was the first positive response to agitation over many years by Sri Lankas leaders on the need for self-government.

Following the 1943 Declaration the Secretary of State requested the Ministers who were agitating for self-government with other statesmen and organisations to frame a constitution for examination. A Commission appointed in September 1944 under Lord Soulbury came and spent five months (December 1944 to April 1945) before making their report public in October 1945. On the Commissions recommendation, a Westminster style of government was established with a bicameral legislature and the first general election based on party system was held in August 1947.

On June 18, 1947, Governor Sir Henry Monk Mason Moore made a statement at a special session of the State Council that early steps will be taken by His Majestys Government as soon as the necessary arrangements are negotiated with the new Ceylon Government to confer upon this country fully responsible status within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

On December 19, 1947, Ceylon Independence (Commencement) Order in Council, 1947 was released at the Court at Buckingham Palace declaring that the appointed day for the purpose of the Ceylon Independence Act shall be the fourth day of February 1948. Present was The Kings Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Thus the colonial saga ended and a new chapter in this islands history began.
Pride and tragedy The man who gave birth to our national anthem, Ananda Samarakoon instead of being hailed a hero was meted out injustice after injustice. Here, Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne tells Randima Attygalle how a proud moment in our post colonial history went so wrong View(s): View(s):

During the much abhorred mathematics period in the Wewala Government School, seven-year-old Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon took refuge in his own lyrics. Preferring the river which flowed by the school to his sums, young Samarakoon immortalised it in verse to the fury of the mathematics master. The punishment was to sing his own lyrics for the entire class! This in fact, was his entry to the world of aesthetics.

Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon (later Ananda Samarakoon), was born a Christian to Samuel Samarakoon who was then the Chief Clerk to British-owned Maturata Plantations and Dominga Peries on January 13, 1911, in Watareka, Padukka. He was the second of four sons. After his primary education at Wewala School, Samarakoon was admitted to Christian College in Kotte during which time he sent his entry to a lyrics competition organised by the Education Department. The lyric which opened with api wemu eka mawakage daruwo clinched the silver trophy and was later published in an anthology of lyrics titled Kumudini. Returning from Shanti Nikethana in India in the late 1930s, he not only changed his name to Ananda Samarakoon, but also embraced Buddhism.

Nowhere else in the world had a creator of a national anthem been meted out such injustice as much as Ananda Samarakoon had, reflects Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne, the eminent scholar. Donning multiple hats of linguist, researcher, lyricist and script writer, he has done extensive and little known research to date on the Father of the National Anthem. His book- Ananda Samarakoon Adyayanaya (Ananda Samarakoon  A Critical Study) navigates the life of Ananda Samarakoon from his birth to tragic death and offers a comparative study of several other national anthems across the world.

With the dawn of the British colonial era in 1796, the national anthem of the island was God Save the King. The national flag was the British Flag. As Prof. Ariyaratne points out, the colonial manacles were not so easy to shed, so much so that even before the commencement of theatrical productions of eminent dramatists such as John de Silva who produced satires on the British value system, God Save the King was sung. However with the independence struggle getting intense towards the late 1930s, there was a revival in patriotic lyrics among which some so called national songs were also not uncommon, says the scholar citing the lyrics of Ven S. Mahinda, M.G. Perera, J.P. Welivita, C.W.W. Kannangara and Ananda Samarakoon as some of them. There was no agreement on a national anthem as such, so much so that from 1943, The Ceylon National Congress sang its own anthem composed by D.S. Munasinghe. It was around this time the record under His Masters Voice label was released with Ananda Samarakoons namo namo matha. Among his other best known lyrics include ese madura jeewanaye geetha, vile malak pipila, besa seethala gangule and manaranjana darshaneeya lanka.

With the debate over the national anthem becoming more intense each day, a committee representing Sri Lanka Ghandharwa Sabhawa was appointed to organise a contest. Although Ananda Samarakoons namo namo mathawas submitted for the contest by his wife Caroline Samarakoon in 1948, he was in India at the time. In a bid to heal his broken heart after the tragic death of his five-year-old son, Ranjith Arunadeepa, Samarakoon found himself to be a Bohemian artist travelling all over India, holding not only successful art exhibitions but receiving invitations to adorn the covers of some of Indias much acclaimed publications. As Indian critic Jasmine Roy once noted: there is something of music in his paintings: though the colour harmony is muted, his lines have all the charm and rhythm of Indian Ragas.

Interestingly, the winner of the national anthem contest was not Samarakoon but P.B. Illangasinghe. The music for his lyrics was by Lionel Edirisinghe. As Prof. Ariyaratne explains, it was this Illangasinghe-Edirisinghe collaboration which was initially broadcast as the official national anthem. The euphoria was short-lived as many challenged the validity of Illangasinghes anthem since he too was one of the judges of the selection committee. Samarakoons namo namo matha which was more popular among people by this time was eventually sung as the national anthem at the second Independence Day commemoration in 1949 in Torrington Square by a group of Musaeus College girls trained by Fr. Marcelline Jayakody. What is even more significant was the fact that the Tamil translation of the national anthem for which Pandit M. Nallathambi is credited was also sung on the same occasion. The commemoration notice printed at the Ceylon Government Press endorses, National Songs in Sinhalese and Tamil to be sung on the occasion of the Inauguration of the Independence Memorial Building at Torrington Square.

In the wake of the recent controversy over the prospects of a Tamil National Anthem, historical evidence of this nature is imperative, says Prof. Ariyaratne who supports his research with historical evidence that singing the Tamil version of the national anthem was customary and even the government text books in Tamil incorporated this. Sadly this custom had a natural death. However, there was nothing controversial about it as the Tamil version did complete justice to the original lyrics and there should not be any controversy in reviving the tradition, observes the scholar who further notes that national anthems rendering multiple linguistic flavour in multi-ethnic countries are not uncommon across the world.

With the debate over an officially sanctioned national anthem for independent Ceylon raging, The Times of Ceylon in its August 1st edition in 1951 made headlines to the effect, Decision soon on National Anthem. Accordingly the Cabinet decision to declare Ananda Samarakoons namo namo matha was officially announced in newspapers on March 12, 1952. Two years later His Masters Voice label, produced by the Cargills Company was entrusted with the production of records with the official anthem which had music and vocals by the Eastern Orchestra of the Radio Ceylon, Army Band and the choir of the then Blind School in Seeduwa. As a gesture of honour, the government decided to award Rs. 2500 to Ananda Samarakoon.

The first storm against Samarakoon loomed when P.K.W. Siriwardene claimed that the reward should be legally his as Samarakoon had sold the copyright of the publication Kumudini (an anthology of lyrics prescribed for school children by the Department of Education) in which namo namo matha was included. The irony was, Samarakoon was away in Madras involved in the production of the film Seda Sulang, meaning, devastating gales! A man destined for such gales in life, Samarakoon lost the case against Siriwardene. In February 1956, the state awarded Siriwardene the cash reward of Rs. 2500 and acquired the copyright of the lyrics.

The cross Samarakoon had to bear as the architect of the national anthem was exceptionally heavy. With the Bandaranaike regime coming into power in 1956, an anti-Samarakoon campaign was underway, alleging namo namo matha brought ill-luck. The extremists argued that political tragedies including the death of D.S. Senanayake, the downfall of Sir John Kotelawala and later the assassination of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike were all by-products of an ill-fated national anthem starting with an inauspicious syllable of n, explains Prof. Ariyaratne. In 1961 without any consent from its creator, namo namo matha was replaced with Sri Lanka matha.

Devastated, Ananda Samarakoon in a letter to Dudley Senanayake on March 3, 1962 hinted of his impending end stating that the act of altering the national anthem during the Sirimavo Bandaranaike era was nothing but a beheading of the same. He further noted that death was more merciful than life under a merciless regime. Exactly a month after this declaration, Samarakoon took an overdose of sleeping tablets on April 2, 1962 and was pronounced dead three days later at the National Hospital. He was just 51 years.

A man rich in all artistic faculties, was made poor by forces that worked against him. Ironically, Samarakoon was lauded only after his tragic death. The Cultural Department which gave him stepmotherly treatment took all measures to give him a cultured farewell at the National Art Gallery, the first instance where an artistes remains were kept at the place. This act of hypocrisy was vehemently condemned by the press at the time, reflects Prof. Ariyaratne.

The unsung hero he was, Ananda Samarakoons ill-fated life is best mirrored in Piyal Wickramasinghes reflection for the Rividina paper of April 8, 1962: Samarakoon did not die. We killed him. The government together with a few pundits killed him in cold blood. He is among the dead and we are among the killers.
What happened to the good old rice n curry? By Gyan C. A. Fernando View(s): View(s):

Uncle! Will you serve yourself some rice! commanded Samanmalee (The Sam), my loud-mouthed-but-nice and long-legged and short-skirted niece, at a recent home dinner party. Where is it, Dahling? I asked. What? Where is the rice Darling? Right in front of you! Cant find it, Darling! You need eye surgery, Uncle! she said.

***

In my younger days rice was either white or red, not Technicolour like the large Mount Namunukula-shaped heaped dish in the middle of the table as pointed out to me by The Sam.

So, this is the rice! In those days we had basic boiled rice and we didnt have bits of unidentifiable faunal and floral remains sticking out of it. Apparently, this concoction is called Fried Rice or Pilau Rice or Lampreys or even Biriyani.

There was a lot of stuff on the table that I didnt really recognise as staple Sri Lankan food. There were bright-red and blood-coloured, recently eviscerated alien viscera like items identified as Devilled Beef, Devilled Chicken and D. Fish: With or without Cashew Nuts.

Many, many, years ago, when I first visited Istanbul, which happened to be in Turkey, I tasted Turkish coffee for the first time. It was a memorable experience and I sipped my coffee in a street cafe in Sultanahmet with a good view of the Blue Mosque. Ahhhh! It was real coffee complete with a thick bottom layer of coffee grounds. A few years later when I returned to Istanbul I was offended when, in the same cafe, I was offered something called Nescoffee!

I suppose this had to do with the vast hordes of tourists visiting Istanbul just like the vast hordes visiting Sri Lanka.

Cuisine, which is just a posh word for food, has changed in the Old Republic. You may not have noticed it!

Cuisine is just a posh word for food

Glancing around the table I looked for old staples like Mukunuwenna, Kankun, Pathola, Wetakolu,Bandakka, Kohila and most of all: Karavala or fried-smelly-dried fish!

Shush! said my lovely sister Babs. We dont serve Karavala at Posh Parties! Whoops! That was a serious social gaffe on my part. Where was the Kos and Polos? I asked. And the Gotukola? Shush! I was commanded again.

There was an embarrassing silence broken only by the sound of serious chomping and slurping and burping.

Funeral wreath

Have some Pasta and salad, Uncle said the Sam trying to break the embarrassing silence caused by my request for Karavala and Pol Sambol. Pasta? Pasta, to my knowledge is definitely not Sri Lankan. There were olives everywhere, definitely not Sri Lankan either and the salad on offer looked like a funeral wreath from one of the posh funeral undertakers in Borella, with multi-coloured flowers made out of vegetables.

***

I remembered the time in 1974 when Ariyadasa and Subramaniyam, our mess boys at Badulla General Hospital, made us young doctors a decent bit of Muss Curry with Parippu, Pol Sambol, Vambotu and plain, white rice! Ahhhhh! And old fashioned omelettes with chillies and chopped onions. I longed for those distant days! We never had olives.

Is there any Insulin on the menu?

A recent headline in a local newspaper declared that 40% of Sri Lankans are Diabetic. I was not surprised. Apart from starch there was thick, thick coconut milk in everything except in the salad. In the Bad Old Days one had to grate and squeeze the coconut to get milk. These days you have tinned or powdered coconut milk. Add coconut milk ad lib, seemed to be the general recipe.

Looking across the table I saw several grossly obese kids and their equally plump parents in a feeding frenzy. They all called me Uncle and so they must be family. They were tucking in to the mountain and sucking the chicken bones as if it was their last meal on earth.

Uncle! You are not eating! admonished you-know-who. I am waiting for afters, Dahling! I said politely and hoping that the famous Watalappan would be on for desserts. Sadly, it was not to be.

Cheesecake and Gateau

Generally speaking, Cheesecake is made with cheese and not with industrial quantities of Gelatine and Condensed Milk; and Gateau is not thickly plastered with rapid-setting-cement-like chocolate. Where is the Watalappan, I asked, rather aggrieved at this display of food snobbery. A kid giggled and then another embarrassing silence followed. Pass me the Statins, Dahling! I told The Sam firmly. She kicked me under the table.

There is a lot of food snobbery in the Old Republic.

Buth Kade

I have had enough of this idiocy! Next week I am going to have a dinner party in my own way. I have located good ol Buth Kade-type caterers who do Buth Packets. You have a choice of fish, meat, egg or veg. and guaranteed to be suitable for persons with nut allergy. If you are willing to pay a little bit more extra they even add Karavala!

Do I say Bon appetite! at this point?
Another successful Hard Talk by Bren Security View(s):

Bren Security (Pvt) Ltd, the Sri Lankan partner of the worldwide Securitas AB Group held its Hard Talk event for the 12th time at 8 Degrees On The Lake, Cinnamon Lakeside on January 10. Chief Operating Officer, Securitas Asia, Africa & Middle East, Kris Van den Briel was present at the event which was hosted by the Country President/CEO, Securitas Sri Lanka  Major Tissa Aluwihare.

Hard Talk is an open forum discussion where clients can express their views and feedback on service. Over the past 25 years, Bren has come to be recognized as the premier security company in Sri Lanka and the main security service provider to the Diplomatic community. Present at the event were Head of EU, Tung-Lai Margue, Ambassador of Egypt, Mohmoud Hisham Assran and Ambassador of the UAE, Abdulhamid A.K. Al-Mulla. The evening commenced on a wild note with wild-life enthusiasts and photographers, Raveendra Siriwardena, Milinda Wattegedara and Sadeepa Gunawardena giving an insight into Sri Lankas wildlife. This was followed by Stefanie Wege-Aluwihares presentation on the planned brand migration from Bren to Securitas, the worlds leading security brand.

Thereafter Major Tissa Aluwihare enlightened the forum on future threat perception, its scope and evolution in recent years, handing over to Mr van den Briel, who briefly spoke on the growing foot print of Securitas. The highlight of the evening, of course, was the actual Hard Talk, after which guests gathered on the top deck for another wild treat a performance by the electrifying Hikkaduwa drummers, Elephant Foot.
Growing onions with Korean agricultural technologies View(s):

The Korea Programme on International Agriculture (KOPIA) Sri Lanka Centre donated 25 drip irrigation system units, 40 power spreading machines, and 1,000 plastic containers to transport onion mother-bulbs for vernalization to 40 Sri Lankan farmers in Galenbindunuwewa, Hambantota and Mannar.

Since 2015, the KOPIA Centre has been assisting in onion production in Sri Lanka, in cooperation with the Field Crops Research and Development Institute (FCRDI) of the Department of Agriculture, Mahailluppallama. The project aims to improve onion productivity by using Korean agricultural technologies, and accordingly to help Sri Lankan farmers to be self-sufficient.

Under the project Three model farm villages have been set up at Mannar, Galenbindunuwewa and Hambantota.
Kinetic, the brand new music collaboration between Laughton Kora (KORA, Fly My Pretties), Shelton Woolright (Blindspott, I Am Giant) and Paul Matthews (I Am Giant, Stylus) have just released their brand new single Invincible.

The track captures the upbeat summer vibe of New Zealand with the music video filmed on the Mount Maunganui beach.

Falling in love over summer and following the sun through a carefree hot summer day were the beginnings of the lyrics for the song. The music video gave director Paul Innes (thirtyonefortyone) and wife Sass an opportunity to showcase the Bay of Plenty, in particular the iconic Mount Maunganui beach.

Sass and I have been producing our content everywhere except at home, says Paul.

So when this track came along with its positive summery vibes we contacted Anton Steel from BOP Film whos been doing a great job of wrangling local talent. The amount of coverage we got in one day over four locations is a real testament to the skill of the crew.

The locations included a beach bonfire complete with log seats and toasted marsh mellows, inside a local beach house on Marine Parade, outdoors at Moturiki Island, and on Mount Main beach.

The fact we could bring Kinetic down to the Bay of Plenty successfully is really encouraging, says Paul.

Now theyve seen what we can pull together here, its a pretty easy sell. We bought another artist on Warners Music down here last week.

The end game for us is producing feature films locally. Its a great time to get involved with film in BOP, weve known we have the best locations and weather for a while, but you need passionate people and theyre starting to show up.
Today marks the 150 Year commemorations of Te Weranga ki Taumata - The Bush Campaign - which is being marked with the raising of a pou at Pyes Pa.

Ngai Tamarawaho spokesman Peri Kohu says raising the pou is one of three functions being held to commemorate the bush war.

Damian Kohu is responsible for carving the pou.

The pou stands 5m high.

While it is little known about now, the bush war is hugely significant for local Maori.

To us it is a big deal, its hugely significant for us, says Pere.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council Mayor Garry Webber.

Known by historians as the Tauranga Bush Campaign, it was a small-scale conflict resulting from the surveying of land that was confiscated from Tauranga Maori after the Battles of Gate Pa and Te Ranga in 1864.

Some Maori responded to the surveying by interfering with the process, and with threatening the surveyors.

The government responded in 1867 by sending in troops to burn villages and destroy crops.

The Waitangi Tribunal regards the response as unjustifiable.

The actions of Crown forces in burning villages and destroying cultivations were excessive in relation to the declared aim of the campaign, which was to apprehend individuals who had interfered with surveys and threatened surveyors working on the confiscated blocks

Historians say that prior to the bush war, Maori had successfully created a thriving economy in Tauranga, attaining economic benefits from their involvement in the colonial economy.
Chief minister Fabian Picardo was in Brussels on Monday last week to address the European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee on the constitutional relationship of the United Kingdom and the European Union, and the consequences of the results of the EU referendum.

With regard to the impact of Brexit on Gibraltar and the surrounding area of Spain, Picardo said this would be difficult to assess until it is known what the new relationship between the UK and EU would be, but he highlighted the fact that, notwithstanding political difficulties with Spain, the relationship between Gibraltar and its surrounding region "is a European success story to be proud of".

The chief minister described the relationship as a textbook example of two parts of the EU coming together to create economic growth, friendship and mutual prosperity, and said, "Nothing symbolises this success more clearly for both sides than a free-flowing border."

He added that thousands of Spanish nationals cross the border to work in Gibraltar on a daily basis, and that "a frontier which lacks the necessary fluidity for people to be able to access their places of work would therefore put directly at risk the jobs of 10,000 European citizens who live in one member state and work in Gibraltar."

After giving statistics to demonstrate the importance of Gibraltar to the economy of the Campo de Gibraltar region, Picardo insisted that a "sensible" Brexit is needed, one which provides for Gibraltar to continue to be an engine of economic growth because that is in everybody's interests. He said Gibraltar would like a special relationship with the EU after Brexit to keep the border free-flowing, and for access to the single market for services.

"Gibraltar's situation is unique," he stressed, "Its has always had a different status in the EU to the UK."
The parents of several students, whose futures are in jeopardy due to apparent malpractice, have reported the head teacher and administrator of the former European Sixth Form College in Mijas Costa for fraud.

The parents, who filed the official report with the Guardia Civil in Mijas at the end of November, have accused the school's former head teacher, Debbie Leigh Campbell, of fraudulent practice that includes obtaining money under false pretenses and falsifying GCSE and A-level results.

The angry parents claim in the report that is now in the hands of the Guardia Civil - and to which this newspaper has had access - that the head teacher accepted money for school fees after 25 August 2016, with prior knowledge that the school was about to close down.

Students have found themselves rejected by universities and have to resit exams

Parents say they showed up at the school on 30 August, in order to collect exam results, only to find that the building was deserted. The following day, an advertisement offering the property for rent appeared on a website.

The ESFC has been at the centre of a row since it went into official receivership last August and now parents of those students affected have taken the matter to the authorities.

The police report speaks of a sum of 42,210 euros paid by 25 people in school fees for the 2016/2017 academic year, even though the school was about to close down. Some parents had apparently paid for the first half of the 2016/2017 year, a total of 5,400 euros.

Missing exam results

Another part of the report concerns the examinations taken by the pupils through the UK examination boards Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and Edexcel.

The parents had become alarmed when, although their children, who are all between 16 and 20 years of age, had sat GCSE and A-level examinations, the school was unable to present them with evidence of their results.

The parents allege that the head teacher failed to submit exam papers to the relevant UK boards. They claim that some scripts and course work had been found in a filing cabinet in Campbell's office after the school's closure.

They also allege that the head teacher offered some parents conflicting rates for the same examinations, and that she had falsified and presented exam results that did not exist.

Resitting exams

Carrie Wright's son is one of the students whose future hangs in the balance because of the situation, and he now needs to resit exams in order to gain his place at a university.

Another parent, who asked not to be named, told of a phone conversation she had with Campbell on the evening before Cambridge International Examinations and Edexcel were due to release exam results.

The parent said she had phoned because her daughter was due to fly to England the following day. The former head apparently assured the mother that the CIE and Edexcel were definitely going to release the grades.

However, when her daughter arrived at the university in the UK to enrol, she was refused entry because her A-level results could not be verified.

When confronted, Campbell, who originally stated the negligence was due to a serious illness, apparently claimed that the scripts had been lost in the post.

In the meantime, many of the students involved are, like Carrie Wright's son, having to resit examinations.

Those parents whose financial situation prevents them from funding further education say they have been left heartbroken and penniless; their only hope is a long and difficult legal process.

In a short statement issued to SUR in English prior to the 'denuncia', Campbell said, "In my communication with several parents, I stated that the receiver's responsibility is to work with lawyers to correlate accounts which will then go to court. I have explained that until this happens, no payments will be made. Insolvency means there are no current funds."

Campbell has previously denied any wrongdoing and stated that many of the school's problems were because some parents were behind on their fees. The former head teacher suggested that some parents had become unemployed and so fees were late, forcing the school to send out several debt letters during the course of the year.

The former head teacher has been unavailable for comment since the case was put in the hands of the Guardia Civil.
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Winter trip to White Mountains, New Hampshire



I checked the weather app and ensured that there is no snow forecast for any of the destinations I had planned (also all along the route). I didn't want to end up getting stuck with a foot of snow. We packed all the emergency essentials for winter driving such as food packets, water bottles, blankets, flashlight, matchsticks, ice scraper, shovel, additional pair of clothes. It's always recommended to carry these stuff before venturing into remote areas of White Mountains in Winter as the weather is highly unpredictable there. We started early in the morning from Boston and reached White Mountains at 8:30 AM. The only traffic on the highway was the cars heading to ski resorts. The first place I had planned for the day was a small town called Fabyan in New Hampshire. We can get very good views of Mt Washington from this place.



The deserted US-302:











The Mt Washington was completely covered with clouds:





























We waited for sometime for the clouds to clear but it never showed any signs of it. We could not spend more time there due to cold weather and hence we left for the next destination. Winter is the time where we stay indoors most of the time owing to extreme weather conditions. Most of the weekends are spent watching movies on TV or visiting friends nearby. The weather was pretty good in the second weekend of January and I took the opportunity to drive to some scenic areas of White Mountains in New Hampshire. It took some time for me to convince my wife to join as she is not fond of Winter drives. While New Hampshire is the preferred destination for viewing fall foliage, it provides some wonderful views on Winters too.I checked the weather app and ensured that there is no snow forecast for any of the destinations I had planned (also all along the route). I didn't want to end up getting stuck with a foot of snow. We packed all the emergency essentials for winter driving such as food packets, water bottles, blankets, flashlight, matchsticks, ice scraper, shovel, additional pair of clothes. It's always recommended to carry these stuff before venturing into remote areas of White Mountains in Winter as the weather is highly unpredictable there. We started early in the morning from Boston and reached White Mountains at 8:30 AM. The only traffic on the highway was the cars heading to ski resorts. The first place I had planned for the day was a small town called Fabyan in New Hampshire. We can get very good views of Mt Washington from this place.The deserted US-302:The Mt Washington was completely covered with clouds:We waited for sometime for the clouds to clear but it never showed any signs of it. We could not spend more time there due to cold weather and hence we left for the next destination. Last edited by guyfrmblr : 3rd February 2017 at 02:07 .
This improved variant sells for Php 13,990 - which is just Php 1,000 more than the initial release - and yet, for that additional amount, you already get a handset with 4GB of RAM for an even smoother multitasking experience as well as a whopping 64GB of internal storage where you can keep all of your photos, videos, and music tracks for easy access on-the-go

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)

In September 2016, OPPO Philippines announced that they had managed to become the second best-selling handset brand in the country, based on data gathered by GFK. The company was able to achieve such tremendous feat in less then six months since starting its full-blown operations largely because of the market success of OPPO F1s.Known as the, the Philippines became the perfect key market for this specific handset release, which has a 16 MegaPixel front facing camera with wide aperture for snapping clear and crisp selfies even in low light conditions. The performance of the front cam is further enhanced by OPPO's advanced Beauty Mode that instantly evens out the user's skin tone and highlights good facial features in every shot.The first batch of OPPO F1s units hit store shelves across the Philippines last August 19, 2016. And amazingly, in just three days, all of it - that's over 19,000 units - were completely sold out!"We never expected that consumers would be this enthusiastic about the F1s," shared OPPO Marketing Brand Manager. He added, "It's overwhelming to know that our first units sold out in three days. We are excited to deliver more F1s units to stores, especially because we want more people to have the ultimate selfie experience."Fast forward to February 2017, the company continues to stay true to that promise. And why not? OPPO F1s is still ever popular among Filipinos - students and young professionals alike.OPPO F1s UpgradedSlate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)Midrange154.5 x 76 x 7.4 mm160 gramsGold, Rose Gold, GreyAndroid 5.1 Lollipop with Color OS interface5.5 inches (~71.0% screen-to-body ratio), 720 x 1280 pixels (~267 ppi pixel density), IPS, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Corning Gorilla Glass 464-Bit Octa Core 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex A53, Mali-T860MP2 GPU, Mediatek MT6750 chipset4GB RAM options64GB ROM, expandable via dedicaded microSD card expansion slotBack: 13 MegaPixels, f/2.2 aperture, 1/3" sensor size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDRFront: 16 MegaPixels, f/2.0, 1/3.1" sensor sizeFull HD 1080p 30 frames per second for main camera, Full HD for front cameraMP3, WAV, eAAC+, FLAC, MP4, H.264microUSB 2.0, 3.5 mm audio jackWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, 3G HSPA+; LTE Cat6A-GPSYesAccelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity, Fingerprint Scanner2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 and SIM 2,3G HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100,4G LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)Dual = nanoSIM + nanoSIMNon-removable Li-Po 3075 mAh batteryTBDPremium Design, Selfie-Centric Features, Fingerprint Scanner App UnlockFebruary 2017February 3, 2017Php 13,990
Ohio is poised to hit more than double last year's annual total of overdose-related deaths. The Montgomery County Coroner's office has already recorded 145 cases just one month into 2017.

The pressure on the County Coroner, however, is mounting. It is running out of room for bodies.

The same spike in overdose-related deaths is also seen in Clark County, while the Springfield Regional Medical Center (SRMC) reported the same pattern of rising cases of drug overdose.

Cuyahoga County also had its share of overload: 517 cases in 2016, which almost doubled the 2015 figure.

Spike In Overdose Deaths Straining Facilities, Medicine Supply

With overdose-related deaths rising in Ohio, there is much strain on the state's resources, both in terms of facilities and medicine.

Dr. Kent Harshbarger, county coroner in Montgomery, said his office had expanded its facilities by adding 12 more spaces in their refrigerators but found these were "not enough" with the uptick of deaths due to drug overdose.

The coroner plans to rent spaces in funeral homes to meet the overload.

In Clark County, drug overdose cases averaged five or six in a day. The number, according to the county's Health Commissioner Charles Patterson, could be higher if those who refused medical attention after being revived by first responders are included.

On Jan. 27, for instance, there were 50 drug overdose cases in SRMC.

This prompted Clark County's health department to seek help from the state for the supply of overdose reversing drugs. The supply of overdose reversing drug naloxone is running low, but the state health department has vowed to help.

Ohio Drug Overdose Causes: Fentanyl And Heroin?

The increasing number of drug overdose deaths in the state is traced to fentanyl and heroin, Harshbarger said.

Fentanyl is a potent, synthetic pain reliever used among cancer patients. It is 50 times more powerful than heroin and up to 100 times than morphine. The analgesic has been widely used as synthetic opioid with record 1,700 kilograms (approx. 3,740 pounds) sold in 2013 despite its life-threatening side effects.

Some opioid deaths were due to wrong usage of fentanyl instead of heroin. Users may have been taking the drugs in their usual dose without knowing it was fentanyl.

Ohio has invested close to $1 billion annually to address the crisis, but the cases of accidental overdoses continue to climb. The state recorded some 3,050 lives lost due to drug-related overdoses in 2015, which was 20 percent higher than in 2014.

It could not yet be ascertained if the law signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich last month to combat drug addiction in the state would ebb the tide. The measure requires, among others, pharmacy professionals to register with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and put a cap on opiate prescriptions.

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The Mobile World Congress is set to kick off on Feb. 27 in Barcelona. It is one of the biggest technology conferences of the year with 100,000 expected attendees from over 200 countries. But forget about the numbers. What matters most are the newest smartphones and devices to be unveiled. Heres what to expect.

Samsung Galaxy S8

Following the exploding Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, Samsung has decided to delay the launch of the Galaxy S8. There will be no Galaxy S8 launch during the MWC 2017, but to maintain the hype and pique interest, there are reports that the company will give its fans a glimpse of its next flagship smartphone through a 1-minute video clip.

What will Samsung unveil at MWC 2017? The invite rolled out by the company hints it might be a new tablet, the Galaxy Tab S3. The new tablet [translated] will reportedly sport a Snapdragon 820 chip in tandem with a 4 GB RAM. The Tab S3 will run on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and might also boast a 9.6-inch display with a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution. The main camera will have a 12-megapixel sensor.

Motorola Moto G5 And Moto G5 Plus

Loyal fans of Motorola can say hello to the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus at MWC 2017. The Lenovo-owned brand is expected to unveil the successors of the Moto G4 line on Feb. 26, a day before the gates officially open in Spain.

The Moto G5 will give users a full HD 1080p display with a 5-inch screen real estate, while its bigger sibling will sport a 5.5-inch display. Both smartphones will run on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and will depend on an octa-core Snapdragon 621 chip and 3 GB RAM.

The two new smartphones are also said to hit the shelves a few days after the MWC unveiling.

LG G6 At MWC 2017

LG is also expected to unwrap the LG G6 smartphone. Tech Times reported about a leaked image of the LG G5 successor acquired by The Verge. The image features the top half of the new smartphone and shows that the designers were still not able to get rid of the antenna bands. The LG G6 might also come with a display sporting rounded corners just like the Galaxy S8 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix.

In terms of LG G6 specs, what we know so far is that it will most likely have a Snapdragon 821 processor, a non-removable battery, and Google Assistant onboard. Latest LG G6 rumors also point to the possibility of being water resistant.

LG might also have other iterations of the new handset such as the G6 Compact, G6 Lite, G6 Hybrid, among others in the pipeline as spotted in some reports [translated].

Huawei P10

The rumor mill is also suggesting that the high-end Huawei P10 alongside with its P10 Plus sibling will debut at MWC 2017.

Huawei P10 specs and features rumors suggest the the P10 will sport an octa-core Kirin 960 processor, 6 GB RAM, a 5.2-inch QHD display, and will run on Android Nougat out of the box. The Huawei P10 Plus will basically have the same specs but with a bigger display. Both handsets will also most likely have Leica-branded cameras.

Sony 4K Xperia Smartphone

Xperia fans might need to stretch their patience a bit as the latest news about Sony MWC 2017 unveiling suggests that the manufacturer will only showcase its Xperia Z5 successor behind closed doors. Loyal consumers can blame the upcoming Galaxy S8 for this move, as Sony decides to avoid the possible collision course with the new Samsung flagship that will possibly hit the market in late April.

Its not all bad news, though, as Sony might still unwrap some mid-range smartphones in Barcelona. These handsets are codenamed Mineo, Hinoki, Keyaki, and BlancBright.

BlackBerry Mercury

The BlackBerry Mercury said hello to technophiles during CES 2017. The brand is trying to build up the excitement as it gave fans a glimpse of its latest flagship smartphone.

Not much is known about the BlackBerry Mercury specs, but rumors suggest that it will have a 4.5-inch display, run on Android Nougat, and pack 4 GB of RAM. Of course, it will have a physical QWERTY keyboard.

There are also reports that the Mercury will use a Sony IMX378 sensor for its camera. This is the same hardware used by the Google Pixel and Pixel XL.

Nokia P1/Nokia 8

Nokia is still alive, and the brand has actually sent out invites to its MWC 2017 press conference. Were still not sure whether the new Nokia flagship will use the Nokia P1 or Nokia 8 as its official name. If rumors hold water, this new handset will sport a Snapdragon 835 chip, 24-megapixel main camera, 6 GB RAM, and run Android OS.

There might also be a less potent sibling that will have a Snapdragon 821 processor with 4 GB RAM.

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Thieves who want to rob banks often have to come up with elaborate schemes to steal money. Robbing banks may also involve working with a group of armed robbers with get-away vehicles who do thorough planning to commit the crime.

A bank teller in Texas, however, did not have to resort to using guns and wearing mask to steal money from the bank where she used to work. She managed to get away with over a million dollars for a decade without having to hide her identity. All it took her was essentially some guts to do the crime under the nose of her colleagues.

Unfortunately, the bank teller, Jill Marie Myers, ran out of luck and now faces 30 years in prison after her fraudulent scheme was eventually caught.

$1.25 Million In Stolen Money

Forty-two-year-old Myers of McAllen, Texas, who prosecutors said stole $1.25 million over 10 years from the bank where she worked, was the head teller at a branch of First National Bank in Edinburg, Texas. Her duties included tallying up the cash on hand and recording the amount in the general ledger of the bank every day.

Fraudulent Scheme Undetected By Bank For 10 Years

Her job and access to records made it easy for Myers to steal money from the bank. One likely reason why the scheme was not caught earlier is that it involved gradual stealing of relatively small amounts. She also covered up the theft by creating fraudulent entries in the records.

Prosecutors said that over a period of 10 years, Myers systematically falsified the entries stealing small denominations every day, which added up to about $10,000 of stolen money every month. The fraudulent scheme occurred between June 2004 and June 2014.

"From approximately June 2004 until June 2014, U.S. currency belonging to the bank began to disappear from the vault at an average of $10,000 per month," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. "Myers admitted she created fraudulent entries in bank records in order to conceal theft of $1.25 million in U.S. currency."

How The Fraudulent Scheme Was Caught

First National Bank uncovered the scheme when it was bought out by PlainsCapital Bank and regulators needed to audit the branch's books. Myers later pleaded guilty in a federal district in Texas to falsifying the bank's records.

The charge comes with a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and/or a fine of $ 1 million. U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said that Myers, who is free on bond pending sentencing in April, agreed to pay back some of the stolen money.

Another Case Of A Bank Employee Caught Doing Unauthorized Transactions

The case of a bank employee robbing from a bank may raise security concern particularly among bank clients. It is not the first time that bank employee has been caught doing fraudulent schemes at the bank though. In 2013, an employee of the Progressive Home Federal Savings and Loan Association in Pittsburgh was fired for using the bank's computer systems to make unauthorized withdrawals and deposits.

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NASA retired its Space Shuttle program in 2011. While remaining an object of fascination and an engineering wonder, the Shuttle required significant maintenance after each flight and did not truly deliver the next major leap forward. The interest in spaceflight too suffered the brunt of tough economic conditions.

So why did the U.S. space agency give up the Space Shuttle despite no alternative launch vehicle?

Not On NASAs Hands

In a response made on Quora, NASA instructor and flight controller Robert Frost said that NASA does not have sole powers to decide on such matters.

NASA is an agency of the government. Its direction comes from the government, Frost said, as reported by Forbes.

Former president George W. Bush initiated the Space Shuttles cancellation back in 2004 as part of his Vision for Space Exploration, where its main purpose in the coming years was to help finish assembly of the International Space Station. He announced that the Space Shuttle will retire from service in 2010, after three decades of duty.

In that same speech, Bush broached the idea of a new Crew Exploration Vehicle to bring the United States back to the moon and eventually take it to planet Mars. In terms of budget, he said the new endeavors will be fueled by an $11 billion reallocation within NASAs five-year budget of $86 billion at that time.

Effectively saying no new funds will be provided, Bush added that funding decisions in the future will be guided by the progress we make in achieving our goals.

Heres the situation back then, as outlined by Frost: the Space Shuttle program remained pricey to operate, with the 20-year-old Orbiters getting more expensive to maintain. It would aid in completing the new space lab but would not assist in the new Constellation project that would take astronauts out of low Earth orbit.

Human Resources, Change Of White House Administrations

Its not just the money, Frost continued. He added that there was a very limited pool of people that can provide expertise in operating spaceflight and an even smaller one for manned missions since others had already devoted work to the Space Shuttle and ISS missions. Jumpstarting the Constellation program, he explained, meant transferring manpower, and ISS surely couldnt give up its people.

It was a sad decision to end the Space Shuttle, but Frost deemed it logical. Building another spacecraft for new missions meant harnessing new technology and entering foreign territory, adding to the fact that Congress did not fund work that would complete the CEV according to schedule.

With the entry of a new U.S. president and Congress, priorities changed again. The Space Shuttle bought time, CEV became Orion and got delayed, and Constellation was called off. The decision: tapping into commercial spaceflight and letting commercial firms pitch in bringing astronauts to and from the ISS.

NASAs Commercial Crew Program was brought to life to achieve safe, reliable, and cost-effective access to and from the ISS and low-Earth orbit, awarding contracts to the likes of SpaceX and Boeing for space taxi services. Both companies, however, discovered that human spaceflight could be more complicated than thought, and they proved to be not ready at the expected time, Frost said.

Since the Space Shuttle program came to a close, NASA has had to rely on purchasing a spot inside the Russian space agencys Soyuz spacecraft, which launches from Kazakhstan. This capsule has flown American astronauts to the space lab and back on several occasions, including Scott Kellys historic return to Earth last March after spending 340 days aboard the ISS.

Prospects For SLS

After bidding goodbye to the Space Shuttle era, the attention is now on next-generation rocketship inspired by the Saturn V era, Eureka Magazine reported.

NASAs Space Launch System is poised to be the most powerful rocket ever launched, hopefully bringing humanity closer to a return to the moon and stepping into Mars, but how long will it take for this to come to fruition?

We will keep the teams working toward a more ambitious readiness date and will be ready no later than November 2018, said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the human explorations and operations mission directorate at NASA.

For its maiden flight test, the SLS will be configured for a 70-ton lift capacity and carry the unmanned Orion crew module beyond low-Earth orbit, but in its most powerful configuration, the SLS will offer a lift capability of 130 tons and push missions farther into the solar system, including the moon, asteroids, and even the Red Planet.

How NASA, in a post-Space Shuttle era, will shoot for the moon and beyond in coming years remains to be seen.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ever since 2014, Google has offered users to install its own Google Now-based launcher on any Android device, but that option may soon revoke.

According to reports, Google is planning to remove the Google Now Launcher from the Play Store not later than Q1 2017. It will also stop approving new Android devices that'll ship with the said launcher beginning March 1.

Google Now Launcher To Be Pulled Soon

The report was culled from an email forwarded to Android Police. In it Google says that because its Search Launcher Services library is a more scalable solution, it decided to do away with the Google Now Launcher.

Google's proprietary launcher was designed primarily for its Nexus line of devices, although many users with non-stock Android phones had the option to download it, presumably to cover up unpleasant and hyper-customized Android skins slapped on by third-party phone manufacturers.

The Google Now launcher is by contrast clean, smooth, streamlined, very organized, and fitted with a consistent Material Design flair all throughout.

Google Now Launcher Will Still Be Supported (Kinda)

While the email clearly states that Google is about to pull the Now Launcher off the Play Store before Q1 2017 ends, it also states that support for existing users will continue via updates to the Google Search app.

With the pseudo-demise of the Now Launcher, it's possible that Google is redirecting its focus on expanding the new Pixel launcher, although it's currently exclusive to the company's self-branded flagships, the Pixel and Pixel XL. When Google finally kills off the Now Launcher however, users would have to relent with their default Android skin or download a different one from the Play Store, like the Nova Launcher or the Zero launcher. There's practically a trove of them available.

Will Google Release Its Pixel Launcher To Other Devices?

Could this mean that the Pixel launcher will soon open up to other devices? The notion seems unlikely for now, as it's actually one of the incentives customers get with Pixel handsets. Don't hold your breath for a wide Pixel launcher release any time soon, but if Google's Now Launcher was able to land on other devices in the past, it's certainly a possibility that the newer Pixel launcher will have the same fate.

But Google seems stingier about what features it's willing to share with other phone manufacturers, given that it's trying to provide plenty of incentives for users who pick up either a Pixel or a Pixel XL. That's not to say, however, that it will totally close off broad access to the Pixel launcher, but as it stands, the prospect seems unlikely.

Anyhow, the email also states that the Search Launcher Services library for OEMS that's been in testing is now finally available. That's the one Sony used to integrate the Google Now panel into its custom Android launcher in the past. That essentially means that OEMs can overlay the Google Now panel on whatever launcher they choose.

The Google Now Launcher currently has 50 million downloads on the Play Store.

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Planet Labs has confirmed its acquisition of Google's Terra Bella satellite imaging division, which includes SkySat constellation that has seven high resolution satellites.

On Friday, Will Marshall - the CEO and co-founder of Terra Bella - officially confirmed the deal with Google. Marshall shared that Planet has long admired Terra Bella's achievements. The company believes that the SkySat constellation of satellites will compliment Planet's existing satellite fleet.

John Fenwick, the co-founder of Terra Bella, noted that both Planet and Terra Bella share a similar vision in the field of aerospace technology. Although, the satellites of Terra Bella and Planet are different, they bring unique capabilities as a whole.

Planet has dozens of satellites in low orbit and the company sells images taken from these satellites. However, the images taken from the satellites are of low resolution. The acquisition of larger Terra Bella satellites will enable Planet to take high resolution images. However, with only seven high resolution satellites, the company's photo-taking frequency will be limited.

A previous Wall Street Journal report shared that Planet's low resolution images from its satellites made it difficult for the company to attract new customers. The Terra Bella acquisition will enable Planet to lure more customers in the near term.

In 2014, Google acquired Terra Bella - previously called Skybox Imaging - for $500 million in a bid to boost Google Maps. As part of the multi-year deal, Planet Labs can sell Earth-imaging data to Google.

"When we thought about a company that shares Terra Bella's passion and strengths in high frequency satellite imaging, Planet was a natural home," said Jen Fitzpatrick, VP of Product and Engineering at Google. "Terra Bella has accomplished a lot in the past two years-including the design and launch of five more satellites. We're excited to see what's ahead for Terra Bella, and look forward to being a long-term customer."

Planet has not disclosed the terms of the deal but according to an older Bloomberg report, Alphabet may own stake in Planet for the sale of Google imaging software.

Trevor Hammond, a Planet spokesman, revealed that some Terra Berra employees will join the company. Although, Hammond confirmed that a significant number of Terra Bella employees will join Planet, he declined to reveal the exact number.

The latest deal with Google is very significant for Planet Labs; however, this is not the first acquisition the company has made. In 2015, Planet acquired BlackBridge, a company that operated a smal fleet of five remote sensing satellites. The capabilities of BlackBridge's satellites are similar to Planet's own satellites.

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Amazon plans to hire 100,000 more employees over the next 18 months, as Tech Times reported on Jan. 13.

At the time, U.S. Press Secretary Sean Spicer was quick to take credit on behalf of President Donald Trump for the online shopping group's decision. However, Spicer's claim is only as true as Counselor Kellyanne Conway's alternative facts. Here's why:

Amazon's 2016 Performance

The whole truth about Amazon's plans for massive hiring rests on the actual fact that the company did well in 2016 and saw a 22 percent increase in sales in the 4th quarter of the year. This increase in sales translates to $43.7 billion in earnings for Amazon  nothing to do with Trump's win but with the company's holiday season sales.

"The announcement was made after the president-elect met with heads of several other tech companies and urge them to keep their jobs and production inside the United States ... The president-elect was pleased to have played a role in that decision by Amazon," Spicer claimed on Jan. 12.

Amazon has been opening up thousands of U.S.-based jobs even before Trump won the presidential elections, and the company only seeks to continue growing its business.

Amazon would have opened up 100,000 more jobs regardless of who won in the U.S. elections. The company's official press release came out after the meeting, but it does not necessarily mean it did it for Trump.

New Fulfillment Centers, Premium Services

Amazon also opened many fulfillment centers and added premium services in 2016, and these directly translates to the company needing more people to keep services running alongside its robots. Hence, more job opportunities.

"Keep in mind we're also adding Amazon delivery capability as well as building teams around the Echo, Alexa, AWS, Prime Video and a lot of the Prime benefits that you see. But the predominant factor is still the headcount in our fulfillment area," Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said.

According to the company's press release, the company's net sales for the 4th quarter of 2016, ending Dec. 31, increased 22 percent when compared with Q4 2015, which reflected sales at $35.7 billion.

The numbers above are only for the 4th quarter, however, because the year-on-year comparison showed a net sales increase of 27 percent, from 2015's $107 billion to 2016's $136 billion.

If we take away the $550 million negative impact caused by shifting exchange rates, Amazon claims, its actual sales increase is at 28 percent.

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By Press Trust of India: From Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Feb 4 (PTI) Bicentenary celebrations to mark 200 years of services of the fearless Gorkha Soliders of 9th Gorkha Rifles was organised today in western Nepals Pokhara city.

The event held at Pension Paying Office in Pokhara witnessed a special performance by the Brass and the Pipe Bands of the 39 Gorkha Training Centre, Varanasi.

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War widows and veterans were felicitated on the occasion with financial assistance in the form of gifts such as Sewing Machines, Wheel Chairs and cash incentives, according to a press release issued by the Indian Embassy.

Bhu-Puu Samitis were also provided with Computers, reiterating the fact that the welfare and well being of all ex-servicemen is of paramount importance to the Government of India, the release said.

The 9th Gorkha Rifles has five battalions and its history dates back to 1817, when it was first raised with Gorkha Volunteers as a Local Levy.

The Regiment has distinguished itself in many battles and campaigns in the First and Second World Wars and all the battles fought after Independence.

Year 2017 marks the Bi-centenary of 9th Gorkha Rifles for which similar events are being organised at many places in India, but the commencement of the entire celebrations have been done from Nepal.

More than 3,500 ex-servicemen and families of 9th Gorkha Rifles participated in the event with zeal and enthusiasm.

Th event culminated on a high note with a sumptuous Barakhana organised specially for the Bhu-Puus was widely appreciated by the veterans with overwhelming response

The event was attended by Gen Rajendra Chhetri, COAS, Nepal Army and Honorary General of Indian Army, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae, and other dignitaries. PTI SBP AJR AKJ AJR

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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
By Press Trust of India: Kochi, Feb 4 (PTI) Raking up the issue of the death of IUML leader E Ahamed at a Delhi hospital, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament K V Thomas today alleged that the government wanted to keep his body there till the budget was presented and said it was not only an "insult" to the late MP but also to the Muslim community.

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Thomas also condemned the "ill-treatment" meted out to members of Ahameds family at the hospital after he was admitted there on January 31.

Demanding a probe by a Parliamentary Committee into the incident, Thomas also sought "strong action" against those who "insulted" the family of a senior parliamentarian.

"Had Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not intervened strongly, Ahameds children would not have got the opportunity to see his body and offer prayers as per Muslim customs," he claimed.

"...Disrespect was shown to his body..it was not only an insult to Ahamed but to the Muslim community as well," Thomas, also a senior Congress leader, said in a release here.

Thomas alleged that Ahamed had passed away while he was taken to the hospital, but the government wanted to keep the body in hospital until the budget was presented.

The 78-year-old former Union minister and IUML MP collapsed during the Presidents Address to the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on January 31. He was declared dead in the wee hours of next day, hours before presentation of the budget.

Congress and Left had yesterday raked up inside and outside Parliament the issue of the death of the Lok Sabha MP, alleging that he was shown alive under PMO "pressure" to allow budget presentation.

While raising the issue, they forced premature adjournment of Lok Sabha for the day as they created ruckus by alleging that "ill-treatment" was meted out to Ahameds family members at the government hospital after he was admitted there. PTI TGB BN AAR

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The accused Udyan Das had initially claimed that his father passed away few years back and that his mother stays in the United States.

By Hemender Sharma: The 32-year-old psychopath killer, who was arrested for murdering his live-in-partner in the Saket Nagar area of Bhopal, has confessed to killing his parents in Raipur as well, Sidharth Bahuguna, Bhopal superintendent of police, today claimed.

"During the investigation yesterday, the accused Udyan Das confessed that he had killed his parents in Raipur six years back and buried their bodies in the ground," Bahuguna said.

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"However, his statements are varying constantly," Bahuguna added.

A Bhopal court has given a 15-day transit remand to Das. The Bankura police will now take him to Raipur to verify his claims after which he will be taken to Bankura in West Bengal.

ALSO READ | Bhopal: Man murders live-in partner, buries body in concrete

Meanwhile, the last rights of his live-in-partner Akanksha were performed at the Subhash Nagar crematorium in Bhopal today. The deceased's father and brother were present at the cremation ground.

The Bankura police and the Bhopal police drilled out the girl's body that Udyan had buried in concrete at his home in the city's Saket Nagar suburb and arrested the accused late on Thursday night.

Das had initially claimed that his father passed away few years back and that his mother stays in the United States. He had earlier told the police that he was an ex-IITan and had worked in the US in the past but during the interrogation now, he confessed that he is a class 12 pass out.

ALSO READ | Delhi University student's body found in ventilation shaft of friend's house

Das met Akanksha on Facebook and claimed that he was a resident of the United States.

According to the police, Akanksha had left home to stay with Das in Bhopal hoping that he would get her a job in the US.

Das suspected Akanksha of having a relationship with another man and angered over it, killed her while she was asleep.

He initially claimed that he had killed Akanksha in December but during the interrogation yesterday, he said that he had committed the murder in July. After murdering his live-in-partner, he put her body into a wooden box, converted the box into a cement slab by pouring several bags of cement concrete and water into it. He then broke the box and covered the slab with marble stone.

ALSO READ | Man drowns girlfriend in waterfall; arrested

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The bride and the groom, both officers of the Bihar Administrative Service, chose to get married without burning a hole in their pockets and served the guests piping hot tea.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Beating the demonetisation woes, a couple in Bihar tied the knot today in a simple yet unique manner over 21 cups of tea. The marriage was solemnised at the Marriage Registrar office in Muzaffarpur.

What is also interesting about this marriage is the profile of the couple who chose to get married without burning a hole in their pockets.

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As simple as they had kept the wedding, only family members and close friends of the couple were present while they happily exchanges vows.

HERE'S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW The groom Sandeep Kumar is an officer of the Bihar Administrative Service and is currently posted as jail superintendent in Gopalganj town. The bride Gyanita Gaurav is also an officer of the Bihar Administrative Service and is posted as jail superintendent in Sheikhpura district. Family members and close friends of the couple were present at the wedding and the guests were served piping hot tea. "I wanted to get married in a simple manner, without any pomp and show and today I have realised my dream," said Sandeep. "I have heard about dowry system ever since my childhood and I had made up my mind to get married without giving dowry," said the bride. Sandeep and Gyanita came in contact after both passed the Bihar Administrative Service exams and had gone for the training. During the training, love blossomed between the two and they decided to get married. After the training, Sandeep was posted in Gopalganj and Gyanita in Sheikhpura district.

ALSO READ | Band baaja baarat: Decoding new age wedding trends

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Jody Meche, whose family has fished the Atchafalaya Basin for three generations, has no philosophical objection to fossils fuels, no desire to see the oil and gas industry come to a halt.

But when a roomful of environmentalists spoke out at a public hearing last month to protest the proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline, Meche was right there with them, demanding in his thick Cajun accent that any new pipelines not foul the swamp as so many others have done in the past.

The pipeline would run 163 miles across south Louisiana, from Lake Charles through the Atchafalaya Basin to St. James Parish, bridging a gap between oil refineries in Louisiana and a major oil and gas hub in Texas.

Many of the objections raised by environmental groups have focused on possible oil leaks and the need for the state to begin transitioning from oil to renewable energy, but Meche and others like him who make their living pulling crawfish from the Basin have different concerns.

+9 Pipeline hearing attracts crowd concerned about Atchafalaya A crowd of more than 400  thick with environmentalists, crawfishermen and oil-and-gas worke

Crawfishermen for years have complained about pipeline spoil banks: dirt piled up alongside the pipeline route when the trench was dug to lay the pipe.

The spoil banks serve as mileslong levees stretching across the swamp, blocking the natural flow of water and leaving parts of Basin stagnant and inhospitable to crawfish and other aquatic life.

"The effect of the pipelines on the Basin has been disastrous," said Dean Wilson, director of the conservation group Atchafalaya Basinkeeper.

+9 Louisiana environmentalists mounting fight against proposed pipeline through Atchafalaya Basin Environmental groups in Louisiana are gearing up to fight a proposed 162-mile oil pipeline t

Meche, Wilson and others  mainly through the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Assocation-West  have waged a yearslong battle to force oil and gas pipeline companies to level or break up spoil banks along existing pipelines, with little success.

"There was no reason for them to have destroyed the Basin the way they did," said Meche, who also serves as a councilman for Henderson, a town on the western edge of the Basin. "They made plenty of money to do that right."

Energy Transfer Partners, one of the main companies behind the new pipeline project, has pledged to leave behind no spoil banks or open canals, which also can disrupt the swamp by rerouting water to where it normally would not go.

Joey Mahmoud, a vice president with Energy Transfer, said in an interview with The Advocate last month that the company will bury the pipeline beneath the swamp floor and restore the surface to how it was before construction. Indeed, federal law now requires that procedure in most cases.

"Even if I didn't want to do it, I would have to do it anyway," Mahmoud said. "You have to restore your contours and elevations. It's not an option. Plus, it's the right thing to do."

St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier, who, with other local leaders, met with pipeline company officials earlier this year, said the company seems to have good intentions.

"I've been in office for a dozen years, and this is the first time a pipeline company comes down and sits with us before the pipeline is built," he said.

But Cormier also said he is taking a trust-but-verify approach.

"We are not against oil and gas companies," Cormier said. "We just want to make sure it's done right. ... I want to know exactly what they are going to put in the ground."

As for addressing past pipeline problems, it's a complicated issue.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulates pipelines in the Basin, but most of the existing pipelines don't fall within the Corps' regulatory oversight because they were built before the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, said Corps spokesman Ricky Boyett.

Boyett said the Corps investigates reports of improper spoil banks along pipelines that fall under the agency's authority and takes action if necessary, though he added that it is challenging for the regulatory staff to stay on top of violations considering the volume of work handled by the New Orleans office, which oversees the Basin.

"From the enforcement standpoint, there is definitely a lack of manpower from the Corps' perspective," Cormier said.

There has been no large-scale project in the Basin to address the effects of older pipelines, but the state Department of Natural Resources has overseen restoration projects that included cutting gaps in spoil banks to improve water flow, and more are in the works, said department spokesman Patrick Courreges.

"In general, it's a recognized problem," he said.

Energy Transfer Partners has agreed to consider mitigation work in the Basin to help improve water flow, but Mahmoud said the company cannot alter spoil banks along another company's pipeline.

"We can't go onto somebody's pipeline and move dirt. That is somebody else's asset. They own the right-of-way," Mahmoud said.

But he said the company will work with crawfishermen, local officials and conservation groups to identify projects that could help restore the natural flow of the swamp in other ways.

"We have committed to do that. We just don't have a project nailed down yet," Mahmoud said.

Meche said he is wary.

"That's just talk. They are going to tell you everything they are going tell you to get you to go along and let them do what they want to do," he said.

No decision has been made for the permits required for the Bayou Bridge pipeline.

The Corps and the state Department of Environmental Quality held a hearing on the project last month.

The state Department of Natural Resources has a public hearing on the project set for Wednesday in Napoleonville.
Prisoners waded out of the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women six months ago, each clutching two laundry bags of belongings, as floodwaters engulfed the state's only prison for female offenders.

They won't return for at least a year.

Renovations and reconstruction at the St. Gabriel facility are underway, but state Department of Public Safety and Corrections officials believe the $4 million repair project will take that long to be completed. Meanwhile, prisoners and corrections employees are scattered at other facilities around the state.

The water level in the prison on August 16  the day state officials made the call to evacuate  fluctuated between ankle-deep to up to the hip, said Seth Smith, chief of operations for the state agency. Still, Smith recalled that he kept finding that whatever new boots or waders he put on still werent enough.

While describing the day-long evacuation process, Seth Smith had a Freudian slip that summed up the situation.

We started at about 11:30 a.m. that afternoon.  I think we didnt get the last boat out, er last boat. That last bus load out. Im sitting here picturing all the water, Smith said. It felt like a boat. We didnt get the last bus load out until well after 9:30 p.m.

The rising water displaced 1,015 inmates, including 95 women who had previously evacuated from Livingston Parish Prison, to four facilities across the state.

The event was a first for Shanda Crain, who has been incarcerated for about two decades. She said they were watching the news all morning, but didnt know they would be personally affected. Once they got the evacuation order and left, however, things changed.

It became very different when we walked out of LCIW and water was up over our knees, Crain said.

Helen Burns, who has been an inmate in the prison for about as long as Crain, said the amount of unknowns made it difficult to pack quickly, which may be a familiar experience to those outside of prison walls.

The thing was to figure out what was most important, Burns said. We didnt know where we were going or how long we would be gone.

The inmates were then handcuffed together in pairs. They waded out to the buses with their belongings in tow.

Both Burns and Crain were with the group of inmates to move to C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center in DeQuincy, just 16 miles from the Texas border. They were not allowed to know where they were going so the women occupied their time by searching for street signs. Crain was surprised to see signs for Texas as they got closer to DeQuincy.

The largest group of offenders went to Phelps, while some were sent to the Louisiana Transitional Center for Women in Tallulah and Avoyelles Parish jail. Almost 40 women were sent to the Louisiana Penitentiary in Angola, the maximum security prison that normally only houses men.

Phelps, a work release facility for male prisoners, and Angola both had open buildings that the women moved into and had clear separation from the male inmates. The Avoyelles jail already houses both male and female inmates.

Temporary resettlement

As the flood waters receded and damage was assessed, Smith said he realized that a more long-term solution needed to be found. Corrections officials eyed the Jetson Center for Youth, a juvenile correctional facility in Baker that closed in 2014.

After two weeks in Phelps, 54 inmates were chosen to move to Jetson and renovate it for 233 others to join them later.

Crain was part of that convoy and called the bus ride to Jetson somber because they did not know what to expect or, again, where they were going.

We all prayed on the way and when we got here  we came in and they said heres your lunch and be ready to work in an hour, Crain said.

They cleaned, painted and organized the shuttered facility, all the while keeping in mind that their goal was to get it ready  to get everybody back together again, Crain said.

A month after the evacuation in mid-September, Jetson was ready. There are now 287 inmates at the facility, while another two hundred prisoners transferred to a separate dorm building at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, the prison for male inmates next door to LCIW in St. Gabriel, which didn't flood. Some inmates were moved to other local facilities.

We managed to evacuate this entire facility, spread them out and then bring them back in and consolidate at few facilities with minimal incidents, Smith said. Thats just a lot of teamwork.

Though visitation and programming was suspended at first, it eventually returned as daily operations got up and running, Smith said. They've also reinstated academic and trade programs.

We dont want them to lose an opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and abilities to help them on the outside, Smith said.

One option for programming is the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, which operates within various Louisiana prisons. Burns, a seminary student, ministered to other inmates while at Phelps by just talking with and supporting them. For her, it has also been a lesson.

In order to receive  we have to lose, Burns said. In order to reach people, we have to be on the same level as them.

On top of the damage at the prison and the ensuing headaches of moving inmates around, many LCIW employees suffered damage at their own homes. Others needed to help out family members who lost their houses.

Master Sergeant Yulonda Brooks flooded personally. Although it was challenging to balance her work and personal life, I knew I had to do it, she said.

Thats one of the heroic things about the situation is that we had employees who lost everything, but (they) were committed to getting this population out safely into another location in spite of their families being in distress, LCIW Warden Frederick Boutte said.

Renovations

Renovations are underway at LCIW and remediation is 80 percent complete. But officials say a January 2018 reopening date would be ambitious.

Currently, the ticket price hovers around $4.07 million, which will be mostly covered by FEMA and insurance. But the price is very likely to increase once electrical and mechanical surveying is completed, Smith said. For example, it is still unclear if the electronic lock system sustained damage or not.

Even though the level of water varied across the prison, it sat for longer than in most places throughout the Baton Rouge area because the prison is on the fringes of the Spanish Lake area. High water in the swamp basin became trapped behind Manchac-Alligator Bayou roads and took weeks to drain.

Because the water lingered, even a few inches did serious damage. Water wicked up the walls and soaked into the concrete blocks, which requires special cleaning.

All linens, all personal items, most furniture and the entire sewing shop, where inmates use newfound skills to produce state prison linens, were lost and will need to be replaced.

Some things, however, cannot be replaced, which prompted some reflection for Crain.

Her kids, now 28, 30 and 31 years old, were 5, 7 and 8 years old when she went to prison. She lost many mementos of them like pictures and letters. Many women also left behind pardon board portfolios and program certificates that show that youve become a different person, Crain said.

She said it makes her realize what matters in life.

Do not store your treasures up on this earth, Crain said, paraphrasing the biblical passage. I think we tend to do that in prison, out of prison.  As quickly as its given, it can be taken.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, Crain said the flood losses made her reflect on the reason she is in prison in the first place. News accounts show that a Shanda Crain was found guilty in 1997 of the murder of her parents in Washington Parish. Prosecutors says she wanted the $300,000 life insurance benefits to fund her video poker habits.

Its a reminder of what you took from other people when they became a victim of your crime, she said.
One of the biggest, recurring debates in the push to revamp public schools is how to change the system for grading schools, which was launched under former Gov. Bobby Jindal.

A panel of education leaders is set to meet on Wednesday at noon to try to resolve arguments  the sixth such gathering where the topic has been aired since June.

Leaders of the group, called the Louisiana Accountability Commission, had hoped to resolve disputes at their Jan. 12 gathering.

But arguments continue on one of the most contentious subjects since schools underwent sweeping changes under Jindal. Like those battles this one pits traditional public school groups, including teacher unions, against self-styled education reformers.

Jindal, who pushed for approval of the letter grades in 2010, saw them as the cornerstone of his push two years later to overhaul public schools, Timmy Teepell, a longtime Jindal confidant, has said.

The first results, one year later, showed that 44 percent of public schools were rated "D" or "F."

Jindal used those results to help win legislative approval for landmark laws expanding school vouchers statewide, tougher teacher tenure rules and other changes in 2012.

Getting a resolution on the current dispute is important because the commission advises the policy-setting state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Letter grade calculations are a big topic in how the state plans to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which is driving the overhaul.

BESE hopes to sign off on a plan next month, and the commission's recommendations are important.

The key issue is this: How much weight should yearly academic gains play in calculating school grades for students in elementary and middle schools, regardless of scores?

Under current rules, grades are based mostly on how students fare in high-profile exams.

Classroom improvements can only count for 7 percent of the grade, and that only applies to struggling students.

Leaders of traditional school groups contend the growth should play a major role in the grade, perhaps 50 percent, and apply to all students.

Opponents counter that doing so would dilute the value of what has been an easily understandable grading system, and make the states's roughly 1,300 public schools look better than they are.

Kathy Noel, a DeSoto Parish educator and chairwoman of the commission, said Friday a growth factor of 25-30 percent would strike the right balance. "There are schools that are growing students and we don't have a way to acknowledge that," Noel said.

State Superintendent of Education John White recommended 25 percent in September.

White's revised ESSA plan is to be released on Monday at 9 a.m.

"I still believe that 25 percent is too high and will continue to speak against it," said Brigitte Nieland, a member of the commission who follows education issues for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

Nieland said she favors making student growth 10-20 percent of a school's score, which is then converted to an A, B, C, D or F. She said allowing student improvements to count for 25 percent of the tally could allow an "F" school to be misleadingly classified as a "C" school.

"I don't see how it helps children to do that," Nieland said. "All it does is mask the problem."

Debbie Meaux, a member of the commission and president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said Friday she prefers making academic growth 50 percent of the school performance score, and 30 percent at a minimum.

Yearly growth is vital because it shows what kids are doing, she said.

Meaux said the current grading system is flawed. "It is a snapshot in time," she said.

Meaux said the issue is especially divisive because its pits concerns about distorting school performance versus arguments that improvements need to be clear to the public.

"It is something brand new that we have not looked at before," she added.

Noel said she is confident the growth issue will be resolved Wednesday.

A task force named by Gov. John Bel Edwards last month said the state should consider scrapping the public school letter grades, which would require a change in state law.

Consider dropping public school letter grades, group named by Gov. John Bel Edwards says The state should consider scrapping the annual issuance of letter grades for public schools,

Edwards is a critic of the grading system.
But the war with China will, it seems, have to wait. First comes Australia. And Mexico. And Iran. And the European Union. (But never Russia.)

The most likely flashpoint seemed to be China, the subject of much Trumpist tough talk, where disputes over islands in the South China Sea could easily turn into shooting incidents.

Partly this worry reflected Donald Trump's addiction to bombast and swagger, which plays fine in Breitbart and on Fox News but doesn't go down well with foreign governments. But it also reflected a cold view of the incentives the new administration would face: as working-class voters began to realise that candidate Trump's promises about jobs and health care were insincere, foreign distractions would look increasingly attractive.

For the past couple of months, thoughtful people have been quietly worrying that the Trump administration might get us into a foreign policy crisis, maybe even a war.

And while there may be an element of cynical calculation in some of the administration's crisismongering, this is looking less and less like a political strategy and more and more like a psychological syndrome.

The Australian confrontation has gotten the most press, probably because it's so weirdly gratuitous. Australia is, after all, arguably America's most faithful friend in the whole world, a nation that has fought by our side again and again. We will, of course, have disputes, as any two nations will, but nothing that should disturb the strength of our alliance - especially because Australia is one of the countries we will need to rely on if there is a confrontation with China.

But this is the age of Trump: In a call with Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's prime minister, the U.S. president boasted about his election victory and complained about an existing agreement to take some of the refugees Australia has been holding, accusing Turnbull of sending us the "next Boston bombers." Then he abruptly ended the conversation after only 25 minutes.

Well, at least Trump didn't threaten to invade Australia. In his conversation with President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico, however, he did just that. According to The Associated Press, he told our neighbour's democratically elected leader: "You have a bunch of bad hombres down there. You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it."

White House sources are now claiming that this threat - remember, the U.S. has in fact invaded Mexico in the past, and the Mexicans have not forgotten - was a lighthearted joke. If you believe that, I have a Mexico-paid-for border wall to sell you.
By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) Slamming BJP president Amit Shah, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today said the upcoming electoral battles are no "friendly matches" and the BJP has lost a "staunch supporter" who backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi even after the Gujarat riots.

"The BJP President says this is a friendly match between them while the state leaders call this a Mahabharat between Kauravas and Pandavas. I want to tell Amit Shah this is no friendly match now. You have lost one who has always backed you and has been your staunch supporter. A supporter who backed (PM Narendra) Modi after the Gujarat riots when everybody was against him," he told in his first BMC poll rally here.

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Shah had last Sunday said there were no differences with the Sena and that he hoped its decision to contest the Maharashtra civic polls independently was not going to cause damage to the alliance.

Thackeray said he does not want to play the politics of alliance anymore after having seen the behaviour meted out to the Sena.

"In future Sena will be alone only on the support of the Shiv Sainiks," he said.

Quoting Shah, Thackeray said when he says there are no differences and only manbhed (differences of the heart) between the estranged allies, the BJP should come clean on the issues on which there is a manbhed.

"We will not leave the cause of Hindutva. If you do, there is manbhed. If you do not stop the atrocities being conducted by Pakistan, there is manbhed. If you give money to the family of Burhan Wani after he was killed, there is manbhed. If farmers land is snatched and given to industrialists and if people are made to stand in long queues due to demonetisation, there is manbhed," the Sena chief said. (MORE) PTI MM NRB ANB ZMN ANB

--- ENDS ---
The Turnbull government is preparing for intense Senate negotiations when Parliament resumes this week as it seeks to strike deals to pass its childcare package, company tax cuts and the deregulation of media ownership rules.

Based on the current numbers, the government will need the support of eight of the nine crossbench Senators to pass legislation opposed by Labor and the Greens.

Nick Xenophon's block of three Senate votes will be crucial for the government to pass its proposed childcare, media ownership and company tax changes. Credit:Andrew Meares

The government will next week introduce a new bill combining its $3.5 billion childcare package with almost $6 billion in cuts to family tax benefits.

The government's childcare changes would combine the existing Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate into one means-tested subsidy. The package also introduces a tougher activity test to ensure parents claiming childcare benefits are engaged in meaningful study or employment.
Millions of Australians are wasting money on drugs for back pain that do more harm than good, a study has found.

Sydney researchers say patients taking commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are 2.5 times more likely to suffer from gastro-intestinal problems, such as stomach ulcers and bleeding.

Yet anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, offer "very limited" short-term pain relief, according to the study's lead author associate professor Manuela Ferreira. "They do reduce the level of pain, but only very slightly, and arguably not of any clinical significance," she said.

"If you consider the side effects, which are important, we argue that the benefit is not really worthwhile."
Far from vicious, greyhounds are the sleepy cats of the canine world, says Rebecca Wilson, who volunteers for an organisation that rescues former racing greyhounds.

The transition of nearly two dozen greyhounds from racetrack to retirement as pets has been documented in Project Hound by Fairfax Media photographer Chris Pearce and artistic director Sarah Vandepeer.

Project Hound celebrated ex-racing greyhounds and the diversity of their new owners, who are featured around their homes and in work environments. Credit:Christopher Pearce

"People have this misconception of greyhounds as being vicious because of the racing, actually they are the most wonderful pets," said Ms Wilson, a Sydney law student who volunteers for a greyhound rescue organisation. "After a short walk they can sleep all day; they're like the cats of the dog world," she said.

Adopting a former racing greyhound called Bruno was "life changing" for upholsterer Anthony Kennedy.
What is Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras is a French term, translated to Fat Tuesday, that is also known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day in Christian countries. Historically it began as a reaction to Lent, where the carnival season began on Epiphany and ended the day before Ash Wednesday. During this period, people were allowed to indulge in excessive eating, sex and celebrations before the prohibitions of Lent were implemented.

In Sydney, the first celebration of the Mardi Gras march took place at 10pm on June 24, 1978. It was Sydney's answer to the international Gay Solidarity Celebrations that were taking place across America, and in protest of homophobic Festival of Light campaigner Mary Whitehouse's visit to Australia.

Destiny Haz at the official launch event for the 2017 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Credit:Steven Siewert

However, the event was met with police violence, as 53 men and women, of the several hundred LGBTQI members and supporters marching from Oxford Street to Hyde Park, were arrested. In more recent times, the parade has attracted crowds of over 500,000, with the largest parade expected this year with 12,000 colourful participants in their march along Oxford Street and through Taylor Square in Sydney's inner east.
Melbourne City Council says it is working closely with traders to combat "a number of incidents of rodent infestation" at Queen Victoria Market.

The city's environmental health officers are working with 13 market businesses that were rated "unsatisfactory" after pests were discovered at their premises during inspections conducted between between January 2015 and September 2016.

Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market Credit:Marina Oliphant

Council spokeswoman Claudine Ledwidge-O'Reilly said follow-up inspections found that all the traders had complied with required actions to manage and/or eliminate pests.

"The City of Melbourne acknowledges that there have been a number of incidents of rodent infestation at Queen Victoria Market," she said.
Mentally ill patients are increasingly being held in overcrowded jails and unable to get the treatment they need because of a lack of beds, adding to the risk of self-harm, death, or reoffending.



With Premier Daniel Andrews under pressure over community safety, the government has been warned of yet another escalating crisis: the growing number of severely unwell prisoners being locked up in mainstream jails because forensic psychiatric hospitals are full.



Public watchdogs including the Ombudsman and Auditor-General have urged successive governments to act for years, but some now say the problem will worsen unless a new secure psychiatric facility is built to take pressure off hospitals such as Thomas Embling in Fairfield.

Such concerns were recently raised by health services expert Stephen Duckett, who told the government as part of a review into hospital safety: "It has been 13 years since the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health identified that demand for forensic psychiatric beds has outstripped availability  Since then, the problem has worsened and concerns have continued to be raised, but without redress."

Public Advocate Colleen Pearce is concerned that there are prisoners receiving ''inadequate or no treatment''. Credit:Joe Armao

This week, Public Advocate Colleen Pearce also weighed in, saying she was "very concerned that there are prisoners receiving inadequate or no treatment for their serious mental health issues, and that they may be released back into the community still unwell and at risk of reoffending".

Thomas Embling has 116 beds, housing patients from Victoria's criminal justice system, including murderers and other dangerous offenders, who have been ordered by the courts into high-security psychiatric care. It also has forensic patients who are found not guilty or unfit for trial; or people who are unable to be managed in the community and need treatment in a highly secure environment.
Northern Victoria, including the Mallee and northern country district, were even two to three degrees above normal. "Across the metropolitan area, temperatures were a degree above the average," he said. "The average temperature for Melbourne [in January] is 26.0 degrees. Melbourne recorded 26.5 degrees for January." But take heart, Saturday is certainly "beach weather" with the mercury hovering on the 34 degrees mark. Across the state temperatures will stay in the high 30s, with Mildura topping at 38 degrees.

"We will see sunny conditions for most of the day. However there will be some showers and thunderstorm activity developing over the west of the state," Mr Efron said. "Melbourne will see a minimum of 19 degrees, a reasonably warm night." The good news, however, will not last as Sunday will be wet and muggy. "Temperatures of around 25 degrees and quite humid conditions, almost tropical conditions across Victoria and once again the risk of thunderstorms pretty much in the afternoon and evening from around 2pm," he said. "It is more likely around northern Victoria; there is a risk in Melbourne [of thunderstorms] as well in the second half of the day."

The bulk of the rain in the metropolitan area will be in the late afternoon and evening. Monday will certainly be a wet morning in Melbourne, with a top of only 20 degrees. "It will still be quite wet, especially in the first half of the day. It will be raining all morning," Mr Efron said. "On Tuesday, we should see that rain clearing to the east. It looks like a dry day and the temperature back up to 24 degrees." If you are thinking of having a soiree, then Wednesday is your night.

Conditions will return to warm to hot on Wednesday, with a top of 32 degree in Melbourne. Cloud cover and northerly winds will ensure the mercury will stay around 24 degrees for the night. The rest of Victoria will have a relatively cooler night in the low 20s. Mr Efron said the end of the week looked to be reasonably dry. "Melbourne on Thursday looks quite warm as well, up to 31 degrees, even reaching 40 in Mildura," he said. "Friday temperatures will be back to 26 degrees and this early stage Saturday looks quite warm again.
The blood was spattered on the fence, smeared in a bloodied handprint near the front door.

The "bright and airy white cottage" in Malvern East had been rented off Airbnb for a teenage house party.

Blood splatters at the residence used for a house party. Credit:Chris Hopkins

But the party turned into a wild brawl on Saturday night when gatecrashers suddenly showed up - a group police are now investigating for links to a youth gang in the area.

Neighbours heard the music cut out when the gatecrashers arrived.
Santiago: Massive bush fires in Chile have killed at least 11 people, destroyed nearly 1500 homes and so far consumed more than 580,000 hectares (1.4 million acres).

Firefighters and specialists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United States and Venezuela have teamed up with local rescue teams to fight the 41 active fires.

Residents watch the forest burn in Portezuelo, Chile, last week. Credit:AP

Forest fires are a regular feature of Chile's hot, arid summers, but a nearly decade-long drought combined with historically high temperatures have created tinder-like conditions in the nation's central regions.

This year's fires will cost the government $US333 million ($430 million), Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes said.
"Washington has a profound interest in protecting its residents from the harms caused by the irrational discrimination embodied in the order," Ferguson said in a brief. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson talks to reporters following the judge's order on Friday. Credit:AP Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and admitting immigrants. "It's a wonderful day for the rule of law in this country," said Washington state solicitor general Noah Purcell. Izzy Berdan, centre, wears a US flag as he chants slogans with other demonstrators during a rally against President Donald Trump's travel in Boston. Credit:AP

The decision came on a day that attorneys from four states were in courts challenging the ban. Trump's administration justified the action on national security grounds, but opponents labelled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs. Shortly after the ruling, US Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could board travellers affected by the ban. A man holds a placard during a gathering in Paris to protest US President Donald Trump's recent travel ban. Credit:AP The US State Department was working with the Department of Homeland Security to work out how Friday's ruling affects its operations, a spokesman told Reuters, and will announce any changes affecting travellers as soon as information is available. Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Boston on Friday declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from certain countries despite being barred by US President Donald Trump's recent executive order.

Kjell Magne Bondevik, former prime minister of Norway, was detained at Dulles airport in Washington. Credit:Commons Also on Friday, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered the White House to provide a list of all people stopped from entering the United States by the travel ban. The State Department said on Friday that fewer than 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had been invalidated as a result of the order. That disclosure followed media reports that government lawyers were citing a figure of 100,000. The state of Hawaii on Friday joined the challenge to the order, filing a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country. The new Republican President's order signed on January 27 triggered chaos at airports last weekend. Some travellers boarding US-bound flights were turned back, crowds of hundreds of people packed into arrival areas to protest and legal objections were filed across the US.

The order also temporarily stopped the entry of all refugees into the country and indefinitely halted the settlement of Syrian refugees. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security issued additional clarification of the order, stating that there were no plans to extend it beyond the seven countries. The DHS also reiterated that the ban did not apply to permanent residents, or green card holders, and some others, such as those who have helped the US military. Norway's ex-PM detained over Iran trip The block comes in the wake of the revelation that a former prime minister of Norway - a US ally - was detained in Washington this week because he had taken a trip to Iran in 2014.

Kjell Magne Bondevik, an ordained Lutheran minister travelled to the US for the National Prayer Breakfast event headlined by Trump on Thursday. He has travelled to and from the US on numerous occasions. His office contacted the US Embassy in Oslo prior to him travelling, and was told his passport and a separate electronic travel authorisation - a visa waver - would be enough for entry into the country. But after flying into Dulles International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, he was detained and questioned for about an hour. His passport - which clearly stated he is the former prime minister of Norway - indicated he been to Iran, where Bondevik said he had attended a human rights conference. "I was surprised, and I was provoked," he told WJLA ABC7. "What will the reputation of the US be if this happens not only to me, but also to other international leaders?" Bondevik contacted the Norwegian Embassy in Washington after he was detained, he said. A spokesperson said the embassy was "happy that things were sorted out."

He was placed in a room with travellers from the Middle East and Africa who also faced extra scrutiny, and had to wait for about 40 minutes before being questioned for about 20 minutes, he said. Officials asked him why he had been in Iran and why he was coming to the US, he told Norway's TV2, according to English-language news outlet the Local. "There should be no reason to fear a former prime minister who has been on official visits to the country several times before," Bondevik said. "It appears that when the name of a certain country shows up, all of the antennas go up. This will create totally unnecessary suspicion." Bondevik said his detention was prompted not by President Donald Trump's recent executive order, but by a policy instated under President Obama, which calls for extra restrictions on some citizens from 38 countries - including Norway. Exemptions for travel for diplomatic or military purposes exist. Still, Bondevik was shocked, he said, particularly because this was not his first visit to the US since his trip to Iran in 2014. A spokesperson with US Customs and Border Protection said the agency is prohibited by privacy laws from discussing specifics of any individual's admissibility review," ABC7 reported. "I understand the fear of terror, but one should not treat entire ethnic groups in such a way," he said, the Local reported. "I must admit that I fear the future. There has been a lot of progress over the last 10 years, but this gives great cause for concern, in line with the authoritarian leaders we see controlling other major countries."
Days after the Pakistan government placed Hafiz Saeed under house arrest, one of this organisations - Jamaat-ud-Dawa - rebranded itself to Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir'.

By Press Trust of India: Jamaat-ud-Dawa has rebranded under the new name of 'Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir', just days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest and a crackdown was launched on the organisation's activities. The Mumbai attack mastermind had indicated about a week before his arrest that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir".

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It shows that Saeed had got a wind of the official plans and already had worked out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his ostensible network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events on February 5, which is observed a 'Kashmir Day' in Pakistan.

The TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns. The group is also planning to hold a big Kashmir conference tomorrow in Lahore after evening prayers. The TAJK has reactivated its donations centres and ambulance services in different districts of Punjab, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities.

Also read: After Hafiz Saeed 'arrest', China sends top counterterror official to Pakistan

Pakistani media reported that even after the crackdown on their activities, the volunteers of Saeed's network yesterday actively participated in the rescue operation after a boat carrying about 100 passengers capsized in the Ravi river near Nankana Sahib town in Punjab.

A local police official said law enforcement agencies were keeping a close eye on the activities of Saeed's network and appropriate action would be taken. "It is a sensitive issue and a measured response is needed to fulfill the international obligations of the country and deal with any possible fallout due to protest by followers of Saeed," he said.

Various offices of both JuD and FIF were closed on Monday following the house arrest of Saeed. Both organisations were also put on observation under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The Pakistan government on Monday had placed Saeed and his four accomplices -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- under house arrest in Lahore. The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country.

Also read: Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed placed on Pak's Exit Control List

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Also watch: Hazif Saeed and 4 others put on house arrest in Pakistan. Who's Hafiz Saeed?

--- ENDS ---
A week after Donald Trumps executive order on immigration caused confusion and heartache at airports around the country, John F. Kennedy Airport remains the epicenter of New Yorks resistance to what many call the Muslim ban.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Terminal 4 on Friday afternoon for jummah, the weekly communal prayer in Islam. It was the second public, outdoor Muslim prayer in as many days, part of a campaign to show unity and combat misconceptions.

As an immigrant and a Muslim, I had to be here, Ali Mohammed told The Daily Beast.

Hed heard about the jummah prayer on TV, radio, and through Facebook. The 46-year-old works in Manhattan and usually goes to a mosque in midtown on Fridays. But today, he took a half-day to show his opposition to the executive order by coming out to JFK.

I think security and safety matter to American Muslims, too, Mohammed said. But what we dont want is discrimination.

Fridays show of unity was powerful in that it was muted. Organized by the New York Immigration Coalition and the Islamic Leadership Council, it drew more than 100 worshippers for a short program, khutbah or sermon, and prayer.

They brought prayer rugs, signs, a tarpeven a gay pride flagto show the diversity and strength of the Muslim community. And they gathered outside an airport, a complicated space to be visibly Muslim in recent years and weeks. As they prayed, citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries affected by Trumps travel restrictions were still being pulled aside for secondary screening as they waited to get waivers from Customs and Border Patrol.

The afternoons khutbah talked about America as the promise of an ideal community, but a promise that everyone must keep fighting for.

Now is your chance, dear immigrant brothers and sisters, to become real Americans, Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid told the crowd. What makes you a real American is not your passport. Its not your waving of the flag.

Its your willingness to stand for justice and confront those in power who want to make America restricted, he said. Because thats how we do it in America.

If we dont stand for the rights of those people, tomorrow its going to affect us as American citizens, said Ahmed Hussein, 49, who immigrated to the U.S. from Egypt nearly 20 years ago and came all the way from Staten Island to attend. The best thing I like about America is diversity, especially here in New York.

Mohamed A. Amin arrived at the jummah prayer holding an LGBT pride flag and a Guyanese flag in his hands.

What brought me out here is our LGBT community, our Muslim community, and standing up for our rights, he told The Daily Beast.

Inside the Terminal 4 arrivals area, meanwhile, volunteer lawyers and translators continued to staff the 24-hour legal aid center that popped up in the wake of the order. They greeted people exiting arriving flights with signs offering legal advice in English, Urdu, and Arabic.

On the first night, the volunteer lawyers occupied the outdoor seating area of the Central Diner in Terminal 4, and moved outside that area in coming days. By Friday, theyd set up a temporary wall to guard off their space from casual diners.

Now, the effort is less hectic than it was in the first few days, when lawyers frantically drafted habeas petitions for individuals in CBP custody. Now, they largely gather information on those who had their visas cancelled abroad, and occasionally file petitions for individuals from the seven countries affected who are detained in secondary screening for more than six hours.

Theyre detained when they get off flights [and] theyre held for four or five hours, Camille Mackler, the director of legal initiatives at the New York Immigration Coalition, told The Daily Beast.

Thats pretty standard for secondary screening, she said. Only now it applies to everyone from the seven countries as they wait to get waivers from CBP.
HONG KONGA Chinese billionaire exited his harborfront serviced apartment, rode the elevator down to the ground floor, walked through the front door of the luxury hotel where he lives, and promptly disappeared.For those in Hong Kong, and much of the rest of China, that meek description can bring chills. Xiao Jianhua, who lives in the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong, was most recently seen in the building lobby of his glitzy residence on the eve of Chinese New Year, in the last week of January. Hong Kongs South China Morning Post, once a newspaper of high repute that has been relegated to a dressed-up mouthpiece of the Chinese government, cited an anonymous source who claimed Xiao crossed into mainland China.That runs counter to the narrative on the front page of another Hong Kong newspaper, Ming Pao, where an ad placed in Xiaos name claimed that the billionaire was overseas receiving medical treatment, and will meet with members of the press when he makes a full recovery and returns to the port city. In the same ad, Xiao or his imposter stated, I think the Chinese government is an institution with a civilized rule of law! I am not in a situation where I have been kidnapped and taken back to mainland China.There is a Chinese idiom: There are no 300 taels of silver buried here. It means that clumsy denials, poor lies, and conspicuous protests only give away what one is trying to hide.Forty-five-year-old Xiao Jianhua has worn many hats. At the age of 14, he was admitted to Peking University, where he became head of the student union. He swore allegiance to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and stood against the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that led to a crackdown by the state. Soon after, he started a business to sell personal computers in Beijing, targeting clients who lived or worked near his alma mater. Ten years after his classmates faced rolling tanks of the Peoples Liberation Army in the heart of the capital, Xiao made his first bucket of gold in a computer-related business in Inner Mongolia.

But those ties he established as a student representative of the CCP were never severed. Officials recognized an intelligent spark in young Xiao. Whereas the Partys princelings might be ham-fisted in flaunting their wealth or influence, Xiao liked to keep a low profile. The Financial Times aptly called him a bagman of the moneyed and powerful of China.

Weirdly, Xiao was also named ambassador-at-large for Antigua and Barbuda in 2015. This is perhaps a testament to the deals he sealed on behalf of Chinese clients, who at times hide their assets in the Caribbean. The US Department of State names Antigua and Barbuda as a substantial offshore center which continues to be vulnerable to money laundering and other financial crimes.

All of Xiaos schemes paid off. By 2016, the man was one of the wealthiest in China, worth $6 billion. He currently owns multiple businesses that cross a myriad of sectors, including raw materials and chemical production, food product refinement, electronic component production, cement manufacturing, insurance, financial leasing, game and software development, and more.

Xiao is a Canadian citizen, which guarantees consular protection. He is also a permanent resident of Hong Kong, where the law and its execution differ from mainland China. The Partys security service cannot legally operate in semi-autonomous Hong Kong. Also, Xiao apparently holds a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda, which means he enjoys diplomatic protection. None of that, however, has dissuaded whoever might be holding the multibillionaire captive. Xiaos eight female bodyguards, in this case, offered no meaningful protection.

This is not the first time for a Chinese billionaire to seemingly fall off the face of the Earth. In December 2015, Guo Guangchang, the chairman of an international conglomerate and investment company, as well as a representative of the 12th Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, went missing for a few days but then resurfaced. His company issued a statement that said he assisted in investigations carried out by judicial authorities. Last year, Zhou Chengjian, a textile magnate and the chairman of one of Chinas major fashion labels, disappeared after he was picked up by police.

Xiao stands out in that he has direct ties to the family of Chinese president Xi Jinping, whose anti-graft campaign has bagged many corrupt public servants, but has also been characterized as a means to purge Party members who do not fall in line with Xis doctrines. In 2014, Xiao admitted to The New York Times that he helped the Chinese presidents family dispose of their assets when they were coming under scrutiny. Since then, he has been living in self-exile in Hong Kong, cultivating his business interests from his harborfront serviced apartment. It is likely that Xiao will resurface in days or weeks, providing alternative facts to explain away why nobody has managed to get in touch with him. And then, hell fall in line, perhaps even trumpet the gospel of president Xi Jinping, who, if youll believe it, is the most serene, affable free market master our world will ever see.
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) Tax benefit on loan repayment of second house will be restricted to Rs 2 lakh per annum, Finance Bill 2017 has proposed, a move that may hit hard those making big savings so far as there have been no limits on set off from such property.

As per the proposal, the owner can set off losses towards second home against other heads of income up to Rs 2 lakh under Section 71 of the Income Tax Act.

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Under the present dispensation there is no such limit for set off of losses from house property, which is mainly the difference between between the rental income and interest on home loan. In other words, a buyer could deduct the entire net interest paid on the home loan.

"The Finance Bill, 2017 proposes to restrict such set off of house property loss to Rs 200,000 per annum only. Balance loss if any will be carried forward to be set off against house property income of subsequent 8 years. Hence individual tax payers having loss of more than Rs 2,00,000 will now have a higher tax outgo," KPMG partner Parizad Sirwalla said.

"In line with the international best practices it is proposed to insert sub-section (3A) in the said section to provide that set-off of loss under the head Income from house property against any other head of income shall be restricted to two lakh rupees for any assessment year.

"However, the unabsorbed loss shall be allowed to be carried forward for set-off in subsequent years in accordance with the existing provisions of the Act," the Finance Bill 2017 said.

Till now, individuals who had let out property could set off the loss from housing property against their salary or any other income, without any upper limit.

Such individuals will be allowed to carry forward the losses not claimed for up to 8 subsequent years, but the immediate relief will be capped at Rs 2 lakh, Kuldip Kumar, Partner and Leader, Personal Tax, PwC India said.

According to Amit Singhania partner Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas the set off loss under income from house property under any other head of income has been restricted to Rs 2 lakh as per the Finance Bill 2017.

For instance, he said, if an individual has a second house and is earning a rental income of Rs 1 lakh per annum and Rs 5 lakh is the interest outgo on the housing loan so the set off loss on the housing property comes to Rs 4 lakh.

As per the existing provision, he get tax relief on the entire set off loan but as per the Finance Bill 2017, it get limited to just 2 lakh, he said.

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Currently, if an individual has a self-occupied property (SOP), there is Nil income offered for tax under Section 23 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act). The interest paid on acquisition of such property is allowed up to Rs 2 lakh per annum under Section 24 of the Act. MORE PTI DP CS SA BJ SA

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In a press conference at City Hall last month, surrounded by elected officials and black, Latino, and Asian staff members, Bostons Mayor Marty Walsh delivered a scathing response to President Donald Trumps promise to crack down on illegal immigration through executive order.

The latest executive orders and statements by the president, argued Walsh, are a direct attack on Bostons people, Bostons strength, and Bostons values. Walsh clearly had more in mind than simply reasserting the citys commitment to preventing local police from reporting undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. Even at the risk of losing federal funding for much needed infrastructure projects, Mayor Walsh spoke for many in his commitment to protect Bostons undocumented immigrants from being removed from their families and communities by federal authorities: If people want to live here, theyll live here. They can use my office. They can use any office in this building.

Boston is no stranger to standoffs with the federal government over individuals escaping hardship and seeking a better life in the city. Today it is undocumented immigrants, but in the 1850s the conflict centered on fugitive slaves from the South, who sought freedom and opportunity in Massachusetts. The most famous incident took place in the spring of 1854 and involved a fugitive slave from Virginia named Anthony Burns.

Burns had been enslaved since the age of 6 to Charles F. Suttle, a sheriff and shopkeeper in Alexandria, Virginia. Suttle eventually hired Burns out to a pharmacist in Richmond. While in Richmond, Burns used his free time to earn extra money, make the necessary contacts on the citys wharves, and plan his escape with a Boston-bound sailor.

In early February 1854, he arrived in a city deeply engaged in the debate over the future of slavery in the United States. Boston was the home of a vocal community of black and white abolitionists that included William Lloyd Garrison, the editor of the controversial newspaper The Liberator.

In Boston, Burns secured temporary employment as a cook and window-cleaner before finding long-term employment at a clothing store. He might have been able to make good on his escape, but for a letter that he mailed to his brother in Richmond, which was postmarked from Canada to conceal its origins but dated from Boston. The letter was discovered by his brothers master and shared with Suttle.

On May 24, 1854 Burns was arrested by deputized agents of the U.S. government and promptly removed to the federal courtroom, where he was locked in the jury room and forced to face his former master. Suttle took advantage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore as part of the Compromise of 1850, a series of laws intended to end sectional strife over the expansion of slavery into the western territories. The law made it easier for slave owners to recover slaves who fled to free states by requiring the former to secure a sworn statement or document certifying that appropriate testimony had been given to an official in the state from which the alleged escape had occurred. Once the document was provided, the federal commissioner was bound by law to issue a certificate that allowed the owner to transport his slave back home.

This was not the first time the Fugitive Slave Act was invoked in Boston. Residents of the city foiled an attempt in 1850 to recapture fugitive slaves Ellen and William Craft. That same year, in a more high-profile case, Bostonians stormed the courthouse and rescued Shadrach Minkins, who was dangerously close to being transported back to Norfolk, Virginia. The unrest and violence from these earlier incidents led to stricter measures that would eventually help to secure Burnss fate.

As lawyers for the two parties prepared for trial, the streets of Boston were awash in plots to rescue Burns from the courthouse. Following a meeting at Faneuil Hall on the evening of May 26, a Vigilance Committee, led by abolitionists Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Lewis Hayden attempted to storm the Court House. Higginson gathered an assortment of weapons and stirred up the crowd with inflammatory language announcing that a large number of negr**s were assembled at Court Square, waiting to rescue Burns. The crowd broke down the Court House door with a beam that they turned into a battering ram. Shots rang out on the first floor, but the rescue attempt ultimately proved unsuccessful. At some point in the melee James Batchelder, who was serving as a temporary deputy federal marshal, was hit by a bullet and killed.

The next morning Burnss lawyer Richard Henry Dana noticed the courtroom was filled with hireling soldiers of the standing army of the U.S.... ready to shoot down good men, at a word of command. In addition, U.S. marines from the Charleston Navy Yard and Fort Independence were ordered by officials to secure the trial site. Bostons mayor, Jerome Smith, made his position clear to the city by calling out the militia. President Franklin Pierce followed events closely in the nations capital and signaled his support to the federal marshal in Boston: YOUR CONDUCT IS APPROVED. THE LAW MUST BE EXECUTED.

While local and federal troops maintained an uneasy peace outside the courtroom, lawyers for Burns and Settle pleaded their respective cases. Danas case was hamstrung from the beginning owing to a conversation that took place between Burns and Settle that acknowledged the legal relationship between the two. Testimony from witnesses corroborated the conversation, which is all the prosecution needed to prove its case. Dana and his co-counsel attempted to argue that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional and that their client was not the person who escaped from Virginia, but neither believed that these arguments would prove convincing to the judge.

Throughout the trial the city remained on edge with demonstrations organized by groups from within and beyond Boston. Five hundred black and white members of the Worcester Freedom Club descended on Boston on May 29, marching two abreast to the now fortified Court House. The Liberator noted that their appearance created some excitement among the crowds, who cheered them with a will. More ominous were the letters received by Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker from a friend of the slave in New York suggesting that an attacking force carrying ten pounds of chloroform could subdue the Court House guards. Newspapers only added to the concerns among local and federal authorities. The Boston Evening Transcript reported that 1,000 pistols had been sold to black men for the purpose of rescuing Burns.

Evidence of popular outrage over the trial continued right up until its final day on June 2. The federal marshal in charge prepared for the worst, asserting that, if bloodshed is to be prevented in the public streets, there must be such a demonstration of a military force as will overawe attack. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis ordered the Armys adjutant general to Boston to help maintain order and to transfer Burns back to Virginia on a naval vessel if necessary. By 7:30 a.m., a detachment of the Fourth Regiment, U.S. Artillery was ordered to the front of the Court House with one cannon. Soon thereafter the mayor issued a decree warning citizens to leave those streets which it may be found necessary to clear and, under no circumstances, to obstruct or molest any officer, civil or military, in the lawful discharge of his duty.

Judge Edward G. Loring announced his ruling in favor of the plaintiff at 9 a.m. All that was left to do was transfer an utterly dejected Burns the third of a mile from the courthouse to Long Wharf. In one final act of defiance Boston police captain Joseph Hayes resigned rather than have to order his men to help return Burns to slavery. Shortly thereafter, Burns, wearing a suit and blue silk handkerchief chosen by his captors, left the courthouse in the middle of a square of 120 specials armed with revolvers. Burns refused to be shackled for the first leg of his journey back into slavery.

Burnss return to Virginia was only temporary. After he was sold to a North Carolina slave trader, his freedom was purchased by Leonard Grimes, a Baptist minister in Virginia. Burns returned to Boston in 1855 and traveled throughout the North to share his story. He eventually became the pastor of Zion Baptist Church across the border in Canada. He died in July 1862, just a few months shy of the signing of Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation. The same year that Burns returned to Boston the state legislature passed An Act to Protect the Rights and Liberties of the People of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which defied the authority of the federal government by preventing the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act within its borders. No fugitive slave was ever returned to bondage from Massachusetts following its passage.

There are echoes of Bostons response to the arrest and trial of Anthony Burns in the mayors renewed commitment to the citys undocumented immigrants. It is highly unlikely that the current standoff between the city of Boston and Washington, D.C. will escalate to the level of tension seen in the spring of 1854, but it is a reminder of the passions that can be stirred in our communities when the most vulnerable and those living on the periphery of society are no longer able to enjoy the freedom and opportunity that many of us take for granted each and every day.

Kevin M. Levin is a historian and educator based in Boston. He is the author of Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder (2012), and is currently at work on Searching For Black Confederate Soldiers: The Civil Wars Most Persistent Myth for the University of North Carolina Press. You can find him online at Civil War Memory and Twitter.
This weekend, President Donald Trump returned to an old habit: attacking a federal judge. This time, it was for getting in the way of Trumps Muslim ban, the executive order on refugees and immigration.

On Friday, Seattle federal judge James Robart granted a temporary nationwide restraining order blocking the Trump administration order banning those from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Robart ruled in favor of a legal challenge to the order, which was brought by the state of Washington and then by the state of Minnesota, ruling that states have standing to sue the administration.

The State Department consequently announced on Saturday morning that it has reversed 60,000 visa revocations for people impacted by the presidents highly controversial executive order.

On Saturday morning, Trump predictably lashed out at Robart on Twitter, tweeting that "the opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

The Washington-based judge, who was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2004, is almost certain to remain in national headlines, as a latest target of Trumps ire. The last time Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate, started picking a public fight with a federal judge, Trumps openly racist attack on the judge dominated news cycles and became a major talking point for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

This wouldnt even be the first time Robart received national media attention regarding a hot-button political issue. In August, during a court hearing for a 2012 lawsuit filed by the Obama administration against the Seattle Police Department, Robart declared that "black lives matter," and sharply criticized the Seattle police union for holding the city hostage.

According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in deaths involved 41 percent black people, despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities, Robart said during last years hearing. 41 percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population. Black. Lives. Matter."

Robarts declaration drew a startled, audible reaction in a courtroom listening to the words coming from a federal judge sitting on the bench, The Seattle Times reported at the time.

To hide behind a collective- bargaining agreement is not going to work, the judge continued. The court and the citizens of Seattle will not be held hostage for increased payments and benefitsIm sure the entire city of Seattle would march behind me.

Trump, for his part, has repeatedly made clear that his administration would be an all lives matter one.

Furthermore, Robarts past pro bono work with Southeast Asian refugees is another sharp contrast between the Trump White House and its latest addition to its rapidly growing list of enemies. Of course, Robarts past legal work does not have any relevance to his current job as a federal judge. However, it is safe to assume that the presidentwho famously went after Judge Gonzalo Curiel simply for being of Mexican heritagewill not care.
VICTORIA, Texas  Steps away from the rubble of their mosque, members of the Islamic Center of Victoria, Texas, prayed by flashlight in a portable buildingwithout electricity or water.

The mosque burned to the ground in the early morning hours of Jan. 28, hours after President Donald Trump issued a travel ban against seven Muslim-majority countries. Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

Abe Ajrami, a board member of the Islamic Center, said the citys mayor and police chief have been incredibly supportive. As worshippers prayed by flashlight, the chief sent officers to the area for protection.

Governor Greg Abbott and President Trump, on the other hand, have remained notably silent on the mosque fire.

It would be a nice gesture if [Abbott] would call and ask what he could do, Ajrami said. But the local government has been absolutely phenomenal.

Abbotts office did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump, who this week used Twitter to defend his travel ban, decry protests over an alt-right leader at Berkeley that turned violent, claim he would get tough on Iran, and say the United States needs to get smart following a stabbing outside the Louvre in Paris on Friday, has said nothing in the name of religious freedom when it comes to those who practice Islam.

When it came to the attack on a mosque in Quebec City, Canadaallegedly carried out by a white nationalist who has reportedly expressed support for Trumpthe presidents silence continued. While Trump shared his condolences for the victims of the attack in a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the most the White House has said is that the attack proves Trumps hawkish stance on national security is necessary. (The White House didnt release a statement, either.)

Its a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant, and why the president is taking steps to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to our nations safety and security, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a Jan. 30 briefing.

Yet Trumps rhetoric and actions have exclusively targeted Muslims, and the White House will reportedly remove white supremacists from the Obama-era Countering Violent Extremism program and focus it solely on Islamic extremism.

The events in Victoria are a reminder that when tragedies hit communities, it is mostly the communities themselves that pick themselves up and carry on. It has been Victorians and supporters from across the country and around the world who have raised more than $1 million in a week as Trump and Abbott saidand didnothing.

Ajrami holds out hope that the fire wasnt an act of terror or intimidation.

We hope we get this call that the fire was electric, he said. Well leave this up to law enforcement now.

The mosque was built in 2000 after two Pakistanis, a doctor and an engineer, came to Victoria, for work, Ajrami said. Membership ranges between 100-130 people, fluctuating in part because of work available in nearby oil fieldsone of the areas largest economic drivers.

Ajrami noted that it was all faiths that came to the aid of the Islamic Center, including Unitarians, Catholics, Jews, and Lutherans. And personifying the interfaith effort is Sharif Rachid, an Army veteran and a native Victorian whose father is Muslim and mother is Lutheran.

Rachid said he wasnt surprised by the communitys support. His father, Omar, created a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $850,000. As of Saturday, the page had received donations in excess of $1.1 million from more than 23,000 people.

This is a tolerant town, Rachid said. This is one of the safest places for me, and I go by my name, Sharif.

While Victoria waits for a cause of the fire, members of the mosque are moving forward with plans to rebuild. Demolition crews were on site Friday afternoon, bulldozing the rubble, dumping the mosques guts into two large dumpsters. Ajrami said the new mosque will incorporate the golden domes salvaged from the firethey laid near one of two remaining walls of the building, dented and blackened.

You can react or you can act, Ajrami said on Friday. The electricity had just been turned on in the building next door to the mosque that served as the mornings flashlight-lit prayer site. Water now flows from the faucets there, too.

We chose to act.
On Jan. 24, 2017, PBS aired a two-hour special on Rachel Carson, the mother of the environmental movement. Although the program crossed the line from biography to hagiography, in Carsons case, the unbridled praise was well deservedwith one exception.

Rachel Carson was an American hero. In the early 1960s, she was the first to warn that a pesticide called DDT could accumulate in the environment, the first to show that it could harm fish, birds, and other wildlife, the first to warn that its overuse would render it ineffective, and the first to predict that more natural means of pest controllike bacteria that killed mosquito larvaeshould be used instead.

Unfortunately, the PBS documentary neglected to mention that in her groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, Carson had made one critical mistakeand it cost millions of people their lives.

On Nov. 1, 1941, Rachel Carson published her first book, Under the Sea-Wind. Although written for adults, the book had a child-like sense of wonder. Under the Sea-Wind told the story of Silverbar, a sanderling that migrated from the Arctic Circle to Argentina; Scomber, a mackerel that traveled from New England to the Continental Shelf; and Anguilla, an American eel that journeyed to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. There is poetry here, wrote one reviewer.

On July 2, 1951, Carson published her second book, The Sea Around Us. Two months later, The Sea Around Us was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, where it remained for 39 weeks: a record. When the dust settled, The Sea Around Us had sold more than 1.3 million copies, been translated into 32 languages, won the National Book Award, and been made into a movie. Editors of the countrys leading newspapers voted Rachel Carson Woman of the Year.

In October 1955, Carson published her third book, The Edge of the Sea, a tour guide for the casual adventurer. The New Yorker serialized it, critics praised it and the public loved it: more than 70,000 copies were sold as it rocketed to #4 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Today, most people under the age of 40 have probably never heard of Rachel Carson. But in the early 1960s, almost every American knew her name.

On Sept. 27, 1962, Rachel Carson changed her tone. Her next book, Silent Spring, which she called her poison book, was an angry, no-holds-barred polemic against pesticides: especially DDT.

The first chapter of Silent Spring, titled A Fable for Tomorrow, was almost biblical, appealing to our sense that we had sinned against our Creator. There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings. Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change the cattle and sheep sickened and died streams were lifeless everywhere there was the shadow of death. Birds, especially, had fallen victim to this strange evil. In a town that had once throbbed with scores of bird voices there was now no sound, only silence. A silent spring. Birds werent alone in their suffering. According to Carson, children suffered sudden death, aplastic anemia, birth defects, liver disease, chromosomal abnormalities, and leukemiaall caused by DDT. And women suffered infertility and uterine cancer.

Carson made it clear that she wasnt talking about something that might happenshe was talking about something that had happened. Our war against nature had become a war against ourselves.

In May 1963, Rachel Carson appeared before the Department of Commerce and asked for a Pesticide Commission to regulate the untethered use of DDT. Ten years later, Carsons Pesticide Commission became the Environmental Protection Agency, which immediately banned DDT. Following Americas lead, support for international use of DDT quickly dried up.

Although DDT soon became synonymous with poison, the pesticide was an effective weapon in the fight against an infection that has killedand continues to killmore people than any other: malaria. By 1960, due largely to DDT, malaria had been eliminated from eleven countries, including the United States. As malaria rates went down, life expectancies went up; as did crop production, land values, and relative wealth. Probably no country benefited from DDT more than Nepal, where spraying began in 1960. At the time, more than two million Nepalese, mostly children, suffered from malaria. By 1968, the number was reduced to 2,500; and life expectancy increased from 28 to 42 years.

After DDT was banned, malaria reemerged across the globe:

 In India, between 1952 and 1962, DDT caused a decrease in annual malaria cases from 100 million to 60,000. By the late 1970s, no longer able to use DDT, the number of cases increased to 6 million. In Sri Lanka, before the use of DDT, 2.8 million people suffered from malaria. When the spraying stopped, only 17 people suffered from the disease. Then, no longer able to use DDT, Sri Lanka suffered a massive malaria epidemic: 1.5 million people were infected by the parasite. In South Africa, after DDT became unavailable, the number of malaria cases increased from 8,500 to 42,000 and malaria deaths from 22 to 320.

Since the mid 1970s, when DDT was eliminated from global eradication efforts, tens of millions of people have died from malaria unnecessarily: most have been children less than five years old. While it was reasonable to have banned DDT for agricultural use, it was unreasonable to have eliminated it from public health use.

Environmentalists have argued that when it came to DDT, it was pick your poison. If DDT was banned, more people would die from malaria. But if DDT wasnt banned, people would suffer and die from a variety of other diseases, not the least of which was cancer. However, studies in Europe, Canada, and the United States have since shown that DDT didnt cause the human diseases Carson had claimed. Indeed, the only type of cancer that had increased in the United States during the DDT era was lung cancer, which was caused by cigarette smoking. DDT was arguably one of the safer insect repellents ever inventedfar safer than many of the pesticides that have taken its place.

Carsons supporters argued that, had she lived longer, she would never have promoted a ban on DDT for the control of malaria. Indeed, in Silent Spring, Carson wrote, It is not my contention that chemical pesticides never be used. But it was her contention that DDT caused leukemia, liver disease, birth defects, premature births, and a whole range of chronic illnesses. An influential author cant, on the one hand, claim that DDT causes leukemia (which, in 1962, was a death sentence) and then, on the other hand, expect that anything less than that a total ban of the chemical would result.

In 2006, the World Health Organization reinstated DDT as part of its effort to eradicate malaria. But not before millions of people had died needlessly from the disease.

Paul A. Offit, MD is a professor of pediatrics and director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and the author of the forthcoming book Pandoras Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong (National Geographic, April 2017).
I grew up in a coal-mining village about 30 miles north of Edinburgh. My parents didn't own a car and our trips to Scotland's capital city were few and far between. When it turned out that I was academic, Edinburgh University became my natural first choice. It was only a 45-minute train ride from home, so I could visit my parents at the weekend. I was the first member of my family to go to university, and fairly gauche, but I did love books and was looking forward to studying English literature. The course provided a steep learning curve and I just made it into the MA stream by the skin of my teeth, but I was getting to know and love the city, its history and (of course) its literary past. Intimations of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Robert Burns seemed to lie around every corner, but the author I became obsessed with was Muriel Spark. I ended up studying her novels for three years, intending to complete a PhD thesisbut actually starting my own writing career instead. (I told myself it's what she would have wanted.)Her best known work is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and it's a novel I still turn to all of thirty years later, finding fresh pleasures in its artfulness, its blending of comedy and tragedy, and the complexity of characterization. Spark started life as a poet and it shows in her economy. This short novel contains multitudes, meaning it repays re-reading. Miss Brodie herself is both hero and villain, engaging and horrifying in turn, and we watch in fascination as her clique of chosen schoolgirls react to her in very different ways. Spark is excellent in her depiction of these girls' lives as they grow towards womanhood. She also brilliantly depicts the world of the 30s, with Fascism on the rise in Europe. The shadows of wars past and future hang heavy over the story.And then there's Edinburgh, a beguiling setting for the action. For decades afterwards (the book first appeared in 1961), it was as if Spark had captured the city so well that other authors shied away from the place. One reason, perhaps, that I decided to focus on Edinburgh in my own work, showing a society that had changed enormouslyin some wayssince Spark's depiction. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie took me on a journey through the central trope of Scottish literaturethe notion of the divided self. Miss Brodie is descended from a real-life Edinburgh character, William Brodie, who was gentleman by day and villain by night. He was almost certainly an influence on Robert Louis Stevenson's Doctor Jekyll. Another influence on that work may have been James Hogg's Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, one of the first serial killer narratives. In that book, a religious zealot meets a charismatic stranger who convinces him that he is one of God's chosen people, so can do whatever he wants while earthbound, up to and including murder. The stranger may be a devil or a figment of the anti-hero's fevered imagination.Jean Brodie is no devil, but she does lead some of her schoolgirl charges into errors of judgment, with fatal and life-changing results. All of this is contained in a story just over a hundred pages long, so short in fact that it was originally serialized in a couple of issues of The New Yorker. I took my first edition with me to a reading Muriel Spark gave in Edinburgh the year before she died. After her talk, she duly signed the book for me. It was our only meeting. I was a well-known author myself by then, my PhD days far behind me. But I was able to tell her of the impact she had made on my life. All of her novels are worth reading, but one stands tallest among them: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.Ian Rankin is an internationally bestselling novelist and the recipient of an Edgar Award, a Gold Dagger for fiction, a Diamond Dagger for career excellence, and the Chandler-Fulbright Award. His most recent novel is Rather Be the Devil. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife.
As a general rule, movie studios are rarely thrilled when their multi-billion-dollar franchise stars pipe up about politics. Fear of alienating half a tentpoles potential audience sometimes drives CEOs to make conciliatory, contradictory statements like, say, [Rogue One] has one of the greatest and most diverse casts of any film we have ever made...and that is not a political statement, at all. (Sure, Bob.)

Jason Momoa, who will debut in November as films first live-action Aquaman in DC and Warner Bros.s Justice League, knows the implicit no-politics rule, too.

He just doesnt give a shit about breaking it.

To his overlords chagrin, Momoa and his fellow Earth defendersGal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Ben Affleck (Batman), Ezra Miller (The Flash), and Ray Fisher (Cyborg)issued a collective YouTube shout out last year to the Oceti Sakowin water protectors opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. In an Instagram post, Momoa urged fans to sign a petition against the oil pipeline which, according to activists, threatens to pollute water sources and disturb sacred burial grounds on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

In an interview the week of Trumps inauguration, Momoa, who is part Native American, held out hope that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspension of the project would hold. (Im pretty spooked to find out what happens, he admitted. Its really scary.) It lasted all of four days. An executive order unblocked the project and, on Friday, the Trump administration sent law enforcement to clear the area of dissenters.

Momoa held no regrets about rallying fans to the cause, despite resistance he met from higher-ups. He laughed about it. Man, we were definitely gonna be the ones who were gonna get in trouble for that shit, he said. [Studios] always want that but its like, at the end of the day, I gotta live with myself. You know what I mean? I dont mind standing up for what I believe in.

Miller recruited him to the cause, he said, relaying how close the Justice League actors had grown on set. That chemistry, he promised, signals a brighter, more fun take on the DC superheroes than what weve seen in grimmer tales like Batman v Superman and Man of Steel.

To be able to get along and to have your personalities match the way theyre supposed to for the roles, its great, and were really supportive, he said, earnestly. Were a pretty lovey set. And lots of laughs, we like laughing a lot. So I cant see why that wouldnt show up in the film.

In the meantime however, Momoa is talking up his latest project, the freshman Netflix historical drama Frontier. As Declan Harp, a half-Cree, half-Irish fur trader bent on revenge in the Canadian wilderness, Momoaan imposing, ultra-magnetic screen figuretears into what he proudly calls his meatiest role to date. For the 37-year-old, the chance to delve deep into a complex, leading role is a long time coming.

The Khal formerly known as Drogo talked to The Daily Beast about Frontier, standing up for NoDAPL, and what its like, after 15 years in television, to finally get the roles he deserves.

Your character, Declan, is in a fairly unique position among the fur traders as someone both half-Irish and half-Native.

Yeah. Whats super interesting about it is Declan is obviously raised by the evil man, Lord Benton, and he wipes out my whole family. I fall in love with a Native woman, we have a baby, he takes out my whole family in the village. And when you pick up the whole story, its about me rising from the dead. So Im back to pretty much kill all the HBC [Hudsons Bay Company, which monopolized the Canadian fur trade in the late 1700s]. This is weird to say but it was really fun and challenging as an actor to go to those places, but pretty horrific just to think about. You know, being a father and being a husband. Thats why I signed on, because I dont get too many of those chances to play something like that.

What about him gave you a chance to dig deeper?

Well theres definitely more meat to him than any of the roles Ive had. I thinknot to say that Drogo was one-note, or Conan. [Drogo] evolved a little bit obviously and fell in love with a woman and, you know, Im only around for a couple of episodes. But this has a lot of depth and character to him. He basically starts out as a shell of a man, someone whos completely dead and doesnt care if he dies. How does he love again, how does he let anyone else in again, how does he keep his troops together, how does he make people fight for him, how does he remain a leader, and at the same time be completely vulnerable, and make people follow him into war? Theres just a lot of stuff I never really had the chance to play in six hours. Its good to be able to get the roles. You gotta get to the top of the pecking order, is what it comes down to. People actually want to see you, so that helps. (Laughs)

Did you see that begin to change more significantly after you got cast as Aquaman?

Well someone brought this up earlier, they were like, Did Game of Thrones change your life? And I was like, yes? Yes and no. You know, obviously people want to see me now, so that helps. Like, Oh, I really liked him in that show. Ill check this out. But then sometimes it doesnt help. No ones really seen anything of Aquaman, its all talk, right? I mean, theyve only seen one scene from Batman v Superman. Theyve seen pictures of the stuff, so they can imagine, knowing some of the roles Ive done, whats gonna happen when I play Aquaman. But Im never gonna be able to do some of the stuff that I do on this in Aquaman, you know? And theres stuff on Aquaman that theres no way they can even come close to making here. So its really just emphasizing the other parts of my creative brain. But it was cool to get to disappear for six weeks, go up to Newfoundland, and play with some really great material. Its the same time as shooting something big.

Youd worked pretty steadily in TV before Game of Thrones, on shows like Baywatch, North Shore and Stargate: Atlantis. Had you ever found yourself boxed in by your looks?

I mean, its never been easy. Like, you now, its a specific look [on me], obviously. Sometimes it works and sometimes it works against you. Im sure all actors have trouble. The guy who always plays the funny guy, he wants to be taken seriously. And theres the action guy who wants to do serious stuff. Everyones grass is greener. Yeah, theyre always trying to box us in. But thats kind of the thing, I know about this industry and I want to use my name. There are too many stories I want to tell. And its so rare to get really good material. And like I said, its the pecking order, so fuck it. Im just gonna make art myself. I have a lot of ideas of things I wanna do and really talented people and friends Im around, so we decided to make our own thing and set out to do it. Ive had a movie that Ive had to wait until Aquaman comes out [to make], so I wont be able to direct it for a while. But its a story set in Hawaii, in the 1790s, kind of my dream role. Its a beautiful film. I cant wait to show the world that one.

Theres been some trouble with The Crow reboot you were attached to a while ago. Are you still onboard with the project?

You know what, I have always been talking to Corin [Hardy, the director], hes got an amazing and beautiful vision for it. I am not 100 percent. I havent signed anything for it.

I know you can only say so much but now that Justice League has wrapped filming, how do you see it shaping up differently from previous DC movies?

I can only say so much but I mean, its gonna be fun for sure. Its all action-adventure. And all of us get along really well. I had this experience when I was just looking around at [the cast]. Theyre all dressed up and Im just staring at all of the characters. And theres really no one else thats supposed to play those people except for them. Like Gal [Gadot] is supposed to play Wonder Woman, Ben Afflecks the perfect Batman, Henry [Cavill], therell never be another Superman. Youre like, shit, youre sure as hell fucking Superman. Ezra [Miller] is perfect for The Flash. Ray [Fisher], I mean, were all the ones. And thats a really cool feeling. And just to be able to get along and to have your personalities match the way theyre supposed to for the roles, its great, and really supportive. Were a pretty lovey set. And lots of laughs, we like laughing a lot. So I cant see why that wouldn't show up in the film.

It was great to watch you guys speak out as a group in support of the NoDAPL protesters.

Well we all have our own things we like to support. I think Ezra was really the man behind everything. He was on the front lines and I know all his friends were out there. So hes really the one who started all that and I wanted to back him up. He got me really involved and obviously being a Native and seeing what was going on, I researched more and did as much as I could. At the time we were all pretty stuck over there in London. But its definitely something I try to support as best as I can. I was pretty happy when all that stopped for a little bit. I hope it stays that way. Im pretty spooked to find out what happens when Trump gets in there. Its really scary.

Studios often prefer their franchise stars to stay mum on political issues.

Oh yeah. Man, we were definitely gonna be the ones who were gonna get in trouble for that shit. They always want that but its like, at the end of the day, I gotta live with myself. You know what I mean? I dont mind standing up for what I believe in. You get your hand slapped for doing something and youre like, Eh. Its something I believe in. Its tough. Its tough for them. Some people dont see their views, I get it. People are like, Oh, theres some actor out there doing this and doing that. I just prefer to put it out there because you can use your social media to get out some things that people may not know about. Its how I find some things out, so I just want to be able to pass it on.

The great debate: whether actors should stay out of politics.

I mean, I tend to think youre smart enough that if I say something you arent just gonna fucking follow me. Youre gonna take your own perspective on it, you know what I mean? But I do embraceif someone wants to speak up about it and theyre passionate about it, youre like, Go for it, man. I dont have to agree with him. It doesnt mean I have to fucking hate him or like him. Im like, Hes passionate about it. At least hes standing up for what he believes in, whereas he could just be quiet and not do anything. I mean I spoke up a lot about Mauna Kea and fought for what was happening on the Big Island. Theres a lot of things I would definitely go to bat for in Hawaii. Ive been all over that stuff. If someone told me to be quiet about that because of my profession, no. Thats my people.

Im curious to know what you thought of what Kit Harington said about the way we objectify male actors. He finds it demeaning.

I dont know. I really find ithow would I I dont really think of myself as a pretty face. I mean, you see me with my shirt off. Im really comfortable with my clothes off. I dont know. If its called for in the role. I mean, Drogo wasnt supposed to wear a fucking polo, you know what I mean? When we were trying to figure out how Aquaman was going to look, Aquamans not going to look good in a polo. So Im playing characters that just generally are that way. I dont look at myself that way at all. I was raised in the Midwest. I wasnt raised in Hollywood where Im dependent on my face and all that shit. So it was always weird getting into this business for that. But I think to make for long-term, you gotta have some brains and some balls and some looks and some luck. Theres a lot more than just pretty. Im not losing any sleep over it.
ROMEAh, Malta, that picturesque and oft-forgotten European island out there in the Mediterranean somewhere between Sicily and the coast of North Africa. Its where Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met during the waning days of World War II, and on Friday it was once again supposed to be a retreat for high-level decision making.

Between meetings and photo ops, Europes leaders there for a summit were given boat rides around the very harbor where thousands of migrants and refugees arrive each year from Libya, just 200 miles away.

Europes crushing migrant and refugee crisis was supposed to top the agenda for the one-day meeting. But it soon grew hard to distinguish which threat they considered greater, migrants or Donald Trump.

On the migrant front, on Thursday night before the summit began Italy and Libya reached an agreement that vaguely mirrors one forged by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi back in 2011. Its aim is to turn off the spigot of refugees into Europe, as Gadaffi used to say. Its not exactly a wall in the water, but, if implemented, the agreement would be a strong deterrent.

The new plan calls for European and Libyan forces to patrol Libyan waters closer to shore so they can turn back migrant ships shortly after they set sail and force them back to the North African coast. In exchange, Italy, with Europes backing, would invest 200 million ($216 million) in camps inside Libya where would-be migrants and refugees could be processed or repatriated without having to try to make the deadly to Europe. In 2016, 5,083 people are known to have died in the crossing. Countless others may well have perished without anyones knowledge.

Its an agreement which strengthens the cooperation between Italy and Libya in many areas, Italys Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday. There is need for development, stability, reconstruction, rebirth of unity. On the other side the agreement commits Italy to strongly support Libya.

But just as the European leaders were agreeing to stop migrants and refugees, which, according to aid agencies, would put migrants and refugees at greater risk in potentially lawless Libyan camps, they were also bashing American President Donald Trump for his planned wall to keep out Mexican migrants, his ban on Muslims from many countries, and his meddling in Europes already rather messy affairs.

British Prime Minister Theresa May offered to be the bridge to help smooth the way between Europe and Trumps America, which was met with lukewarm response, not least of all because Brexit surely means Mays priority will be smoothing things over for the U.K.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told BBC radio, I dont think there is a necessity for a bridgewe communicate with the Americans on Twitter.

Outgoing French President Francois Hollande had less than kind words for Trumps support of Brexit and prediction of the end of the EU. What is at stake is the very destiny of the European Union. It is unacceptable that there should be, through a number of statements by the U.S. president, pressure on what Europe should be or what it should no longer be, said Hollande. He emphasized the need for Europe to make sure it had its own mutual defense policies in place within the framework of NATO, and said bluntly, We must protect our commercial interests when they are threatened.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for Europe to stay focused on unity. I already said that Europe has its destiny in its own hands, she told reporters upon her arrival in Malta. And I believe the stronger we state clearly how we define our role in the world, the better we can take care [of] our transatlantic relations.

Other leaders, like Christian Kern of Austria, called Trumps travel ban on certain nationlities highly problematic and blamed America for its role in creating the tinder box that has become the Middle East. There is no doubt that America shares responsibility for the refugee flows by the way how it intervened militarily, he said on the sidelines of the summit.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the host of the summit for the 28 members of the European Union, echoed concerns about decisions and attitudes set forth by the Trump administration, but was quick to say there was no hate for the United States as a whole. The basic message to Americans: We dont hate you, we just hate your president.

Obviously there was concern among the EU 28 on some decisions that are being taken by the new U.S. administration and some attitudes that are being adopted by the said administration, Muscat told the summit in his closing remarks. Nevertheless there was no sense of anti-Americanism. There was a sense that we need to engage with the United States just the same, but we need to show that we cannot stay silent where there are principles involved.

Trump, who has made no bones about his lack of affection for the European Union might just have done what decades of summits and attempts at unity have failed to do. Europe seems, for the first time in perhaps ever, finally united. But its not because of borders or treaties. Europe is uniting in its resolve to stand up to Trump.
NOGALES, Arizona/SonoraA fence has cut through the border city of Nogales for decades, dividing the Arizona side of town from its more sprawling Mexican neighbor.

At one time, it was very friendly, says Tony Estrada, sheriff of Santa Cruz County in southern Arizona. The fence was made of chain link. It had gaps and holes. But a surge of drug-running and illegal immigration during the early 1990s convinced the federal government to strengthen the fence with dark, steel-mesh landing mats used by the U.S. military to improvise airstrips during wartime.

The Border Patrol installed some of these surplus mats edgewise along the border to create a tighter, darker fence. This barrier foiled some aggressive smuggling but failed to take into account our neighbors across the line, says Estrada, meaning Mexicans in Nogales, who found it ugly and disrespectful. Members of smuggling cartels learned to cut the mesh mats with acetylene torches.
On June 3, 1924, Franz Kafka died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Austria. He was only 41 years old and was just getting started with his writing career.

But his death was made all the more tragic by loveKafkas last moments were spent in the arms of Dora Diamant, the love of his life whom he had only met 11 months earlier.

Dora would cherish the memory of Kafka for the rest of her lifeso much so that she named her only daughter after her former lover ten years after his death. She kept a piece of him in the 35 letters he had written to her during the rare times they were apart, as well as 20 notebooks that were left in her possession.
Last August I wrote an article for the The Daily Beast [that has now gone viral] about a strange encounter I had with Steve Bannon at a party on Nov. 12, 2013. Bannon, whom I had never met, came up to me and informed me that he was a Leninist who wanted to bring down the establishment including the Republican and Democratic Parties. Back then, he was organizing and speaking for the Tea Party, and his sights were set on winning Congressional races. They were the vehicle through which he hoped his ideas would take root and that by winning races the Tea Party activists would set the stage for a future populist transformation.

Bannon has certainly come far. Not only is he a senior adviser to the president at the White House, he is hiring many of his former staff at Breitbart.com to join him. He has been given an unprecedented seat on the Principles Committee of The National Security Council (never before given to a political adviser by any administration, Democrat or Republican). Not content with this, Bannon has created a counter group to the NSC in his office, called the Strategic Initiatives Group. The NSCs stature, independence and influence, as Julie Smith and Derek Chollet write in Foreign Policy, has been even more eroded. As they put it, Bannon and his team have been increasing their public profiles on foreign policy issues in recent days, which may be an understatement.

It is no wonder that Bannon is sarcastically being referred to by many commentators as President Bannon. This past week, it was Bannon- not the president- who got the cover story in Time which called him the Second Most Powerful Man in the World. Because of his importance in the Trump administration, there is great interest in finding out what he believes, and what motivates him.

The answer is to be found in a speech Bannon delivered in New York City to an outdoor rally to the New York Tea Party on April 15, 2010. Here he is angry, and inflames the rowdy crowd with his attacks on the world financial system. Bannon attributes the financial collapse to the financial elites and the American political class. They took care of themselves, he tells the crowd, and let everyone else suffer, as government took over the financial industry, the auto industry and the health system. He refers to the ticking time bomb of mortgage defaults, and he calls the situation an existential threat to the nation, a true crisis that threatens the nations sovereignty. Our beloved country is an addict, he says, led by the pushers on Wall Street. Then he holds up a copy of The New York Times which he calls the paper of the liberal elite, while he describes The New York Post as the paper of the people. The Tea Party, Bannon says, are the people who fight our wars, pay our taxes, work in civic organizationsthe beating heart of the greatest nation on earth.

It is the end of his speech, however, that is most important. After blasting Anderson Cooper and CNN, he concludes with words that somehow have escaped all the commentators who have been writing on Bannon:

"It doesnt take a weatherman to see which way the wind blows, and the winds blow off the high plains of this country, through the prairie and lights a fire that will burn all the way to Washington in November."

Although his audience may not have gotten the reference, he was saying that he and the Tea Party are revolutionaries who want to bring down the system. Bannon took the phrase from a verse of Bob Dylans Subterranean Homesick Blues, which was used by the self-proclaimed revolutionary young people in the late 60s and 70s who created first the Weathermen, and then the Weather Underground terrorist group from the detritus of Students for a Democratic Society. Their publication in which they spread their ideas was named Prairie Fire, and four years before he spoke, the Weather Undergrounds leadersBill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and Jeff Jones published their writings for a new generation, in the book Sing a Battle Song, a compendium of the groups revolutionary arguments.

These revolutionary New Leftists goal was to use bombing and guerrilla warfare tactics to bring down our democratic capitalist system, to smash the state and create a revolution in the United States. Clearly Bannon is consciously revealing that he sees the Tea Party as the equivalent of a new revolutionary movement, that will play the same role as did the Weather Underground by organizing to destroy the old order.

Recent articles, including one in The Washington Post by Frances Stead Sellers and David A. Fahrenthold, and another one by Steve Reilly and Brad Heath in USA Today, have presented his views from his take on Islam, which he believes we are at war with, to his belief that there is a crisis of national sovereignty which is being threatened by global elites, which necessitates strong nationalist movements being developed both here and abroad.

Bannon famously believes that were at war, not only with jihadists and Islam around the world, but at home with the pressthe real opposition partyand the entire American left-wing. But to understand just what Bannons actual world view is, one must look at other speeches he gave to different Tea Party groups. The most recent was this past August, in the heat of Trumps campaign which Bannon had joined, before it was becoming apparent that Trump would win the White House.

Anyone who thinks Bannon is not smart will think differently after hearing his performance. In much of his speech he sounds like Bernie Sanders. He talks about how working-class and middle-class women who formed the Tea Party know how prices for groceries have gone up, and about the debt their children have incurred for going to college. He talks about the new Generation Zero, as he calls todays young generation, that knows no history and hence buy into the illusions of Occupy Wall Street.

Here, Bannons anger is directed at the cultural, financial, industrial and political elite in America. His concern is for the enraged middle-class, who sees socialism for the poor and the very wealthy, while middle-class people are paying for their own childrens destruction. He notes how the bankers and the people at Goldman-Sachs, where he once worked, made money on the backs of regular people, who lost their homes and saw their incomes decline. [One wonders what he thinks of Stephen Mnuchin, who made a killing from owning One West Bank, that foreclosed on delinquent homeowners, and then evicted them from their houses and profited from their losses.] There is no depression, he says, in Georgetown and in East Hampton. The people he speaks to, he tells them, are the last line of defense for saving America.

Bannon distains Republicans and conservatives who, he thinks, got everything wrong by attacking the Tea Party. He names people he says he has great respect for, including conservative pundits Charles Krauthammer and David Frum. He and the Tea Party, Bannon emphasizes are not homophobic, nativist and racist, but simply people trying to save the country. Referring to America as a center-right nation, Bannon attacks the large national debt and out of control federal spending which keeps expanding it. And of course, he has no patience for the Occupy Wall Street movement who know very little about real life and how it works.

Bannon, of course, put it most succinctly in his much-discussed speech at the Vatican in 2014. It is here that he talked about the global war against Islamic fascism that must be waged, about crony capitalism that in the Marxist sense treats people as commodities, and where he praises the entrepreneurial spirit that can flow back to working-class and middle-class people. If you put aside his nationalist solution, this is quite like the arguments made by most leftists and socialists.

What is different is that Bannon clearly favors an alliance with the new right-wing authoritarian and populist parties in Europe, with Le Pens National Front in France, Neil Farages UKIP in Britain, and Geert Wilders Party of Freedom in the Netherlands, as well as other similar ones throughout the continent. He states, attacking crony capitalism, that "all the upside goes to the hedge funds and the investment banks, and to the crony capitalist with stock increases and bonus increases. And their downside is limited," because the banks will be saved and bailed out by middle-class taxpayers.

Now that he is in the White House, Bannon seeks to use the Trump presidency and administration as the vehicle to fulfill the very revolutionary goals he has sought since 2008. Referring to the movement he is helping build as revolution- and this is a revolution, Bannon emphasized in the Vatican speech, his end goal is to create a new center-right populist movement. That seems at first glance to be a benign goal, since other conservatives and centrists also favor it. But Bannons version is different- when he says center-right he means a new nationalist, anti-immigrant movement quite different from that favored by many conservatives and centrists. That alone, he believes will produce the revolutionary outcome he seeks.

Whether or not he will succeed remains to be seen.
By Press Trust of India: The killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was a "turning point" for Kashmir, Pakistan's top diplomat today claimed here as he termed the ensuing violence in the Valley an "indigenous youth-led movement" triggered by India's "misguided efforts" to change the state's demography. Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said this at an event to mark the 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' observed annually on February 5. Aziz claimed that the violence following the killing of Wani on July 8 by Indian security forces led to the several deaths and many were blinded either completely or partially.

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WHAT AZIZ SAID

"This brutality, which has continued unabated in the past 7 months, has not however dampened the resolve of Kashmiri youth to secure their right of self-determination," Aziz said, according to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

Another important factor, Aziz claimed, after Wani's death was the "total rejection of the Indian narrative by the international community" that Kashmir was an integral part of India.

Following the death of Wani, Kashmir witnessed protests and chaos last year. The situation normalised towards the end of last year.

Aziz also said: "The whole world now acknowledges that this is an indigenous youth-led movement which has become stronger because of the Indian government's misguided efforts to change the demographic composition of the state and its insensitivity to the rights of minority communities in India."

He said several countries have debated this issue and human rights organisations in Europe and North America have been mobilising public support to "force" India to resume dialogue with Pakistan to find an acceptable "solution to the longstanding dispute, still on the UN agenda."

He accused India of "desperately trying to divert the attention" of the global community from the situation in Kashmir by "intensifying" cross-border firing along the Line of Control and "pretending" to be a victim of terrorism from Pakistan.

Also Read

Burhan Wani encounter: 3 soldiers who gunned down Hizbul terrorist awarded Sena MedalNo compensation provided to Burhan Wanis family: Mehbooba

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UPS Truck Loses SAT Tests of Texas Students

GONE WITH THE WIND

The affected students in El Paso will now have to retake the standardized test, UPS apologizing for the driver's actions.
By Press Trust of India: Itanagar, Feb 4 (PTI) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has taken serious note of many departments not convening the periodical departmental promotion committee (DPC) meeting thereby depriving timely promotion to the eligible officer and officials.

Khandu viewed that due to non-convening of DPC meetings, many officers and officials are forced to stagnate inordinately in a particular post for many years together despite being eligible for promotion, an official release informed.

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"Such stagnation in service has a cascading effect in the departmental hierarchy which adversely affects the morale of the officers and officials resulting in low work output and degradation of overall work culture," he observed.

The chief minister further reasoned that such stagnation has become a major cause of corruption in the departments.

In order to have maximum work output from the government employees and to ensure them better career progression and more congenial working atmosphere, Khandu directed Chief Secretary to issue strict instructions to all the departments to conduct DPC meeting once every six month failing which the head of department of the concerned department should be held directly responsible for the lapse warranting disciplinary actions against them, the release added. PTI UPL RG

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GTR range from Loch Lomond at Glasgow Airport

Loch Lomond Group, independent distiller, has announced the launch of a new global travel retail range at Glasgow Airport.

The new collection features two single malt Scotch whiskies, Loch Lomond 12 Year Old and Loch Lomond Inchmurrin Madeira Cask Finish, as well as the blend, Loch Lomond Signature, and Loch Lomond Single Grain.

The GTR range launches in response to growing demand for Loch Lomond Scotch whiskies, which are now available in 90 markets internationally. It incorporates new one litre bottles and premium packaging.

World Duty Frees Glasgow Airport store is the first stop in a worldwide roll-out of the bespoke GTR range, which will launch in Nordic markets later this month. Canada and the US are also set to offer the range.

A tasting table will be available at Glasgow Airport during February and March, enabling World Duty Frees shoppers to sample the new range and encouraging travellers to take a little piece of Loch Lomond home with them. Loch Lomond claims the packaging is designed to tell the story of the unique parts that come together to create the liquid inside and appeal to those purchasing whisky as a gift.

Glasgow airport was chosen for the launch because it is local to Lock Lomond. Andre de Almeida, managing director of Global Travel Retail at Loch Lomond Group, says: Weve been keen to introduce a global travel retail range for some time now following increased demand for our Loch Lomond whiskies overseas. It means a great deal to us to offer the new range at World Duty Free in Glasgow Airport, less than 15 miles from our spiritual home in the heart of Loch Lomond - one of Scotlands most beautiful and popular visitor destinations.

Were confident that we are offering something new and unique to the marketplace that will deliver strong sales and a sense of discovery for whisky drinkers around the world.

Francois Bourienne, commercial director, at Glasgow Airport says: Its exciting to be the first international airport to offer Loch Lomond Whiskies new bespoke global travel retail range. Were also very proud to be supporting a brand based so close to Glasgow Airport on the shores of Loch Lomond, one of Scotlands most beautiful and iconic attractions. Many of our customers will probably fly over the distillery itself  one of the whisky worlds best kept secrets.

Fred Creighton, managing director, UK and Germany at World Duty Free, says: Were delighted to offer our Glasgow Airport customers the opportunity to purchase and enjoy the local Loch Lomond Whiskies exciting new travel exclusive range before anyone else. This very special collection is only available at the airport and its great to be able to offer our customers the opportunity to take a piece of Glaswegian heritage away with them, to remember their trip by.

The new range is priced from 25 to 75.

4 February 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorial assistant
With the exception of the Books of Ruth and of Esther, women do not have their own books within Hebrew Scripture.

This lack of Biblical books assigned specifically to women, or baring their name, does not mean that women did not play major roles in Biblical (or Modern) Jewish history. Quite to the contrary, right from the earliest times of Israel's history women are given a prominent role.

In fact, the general rule is that whenever a man is mentioned there is also a woman. Adam is joined by Eve, Noah and his sons travel the world's oceans with their wives, Lot's wife and daughters are essential to the story's plot and each of the patriarchs' lives is interconnected with the lives of their wives. In a like manner, Israel's matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel are cofounders of the nation along with Israel's patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel's great liberator, Moses, would have failed were it not for the efforts of his mother, Jochebed, his sister Miriam, and wife Tziporah (sometimes written in English as: Zipporah).

The same is also true of the prophets in Hebrew Scripture. Just as there are n'viim (prophets) we also have n'viot (prophetesses). Classically, the Bible speaks of at least seven major women who acted the role of prophetess. These are: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Isaiah's wife, Huldah, Noadiah and Abigail.

In typical Jewish fashion, there is a disputer over which women should receive the title of being a prophetess. Thus, the Talmud refers to a variant list of women. That list includes: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther. Ruth, who gets a whole book named after her, but neither she nor her mother-in-law, Naomi, appears on either list. Despite the dispute, over who gets the title, the fact remains that just as men, including non-Jewish men, might be considered to be prophets, so too were women.

The entire controversy of who is, or is not, a prophet leads to a deeper question: Who is a "navi" (prophet) and what exactly do we mean by the word "navi"?

Often it is easier to define a navi by what he or she is not than by what the navi is. Prophets are not soothsayers or fortunetellers. It was not the navi's job to predict or fulfill the future, but rather to critique what the present's actions might mean for the future.

Like the modern political commentator of today, the role of the prophet was both clear and unclear. Even the word indicates this duality. Many believe that the word may be derived from the term "niv sefatayim" meaning "fruit of the lips," or perhaps it means in modern American parlance: One who shoots from the hip, a straight talker. These then were men and women who spoke for God as a way of protecting the interests of the common people. The prophets were willing to speak on behalf of God, and to oppose the government, no matter what the political consequences. The fact that they were able to speak freely tells us then a great deal about freedom of consciousness and thought in ancient Israel. These were not men and women hemmed in by political correctness, but rather said what needed to be said without fear of offense.

To be a prophet in Biblical Israel was to be a contrarian and often a political or social outcast. Facing government officials and stating what the powerful did not wish to hear, prophets fought the establishment and became the moral voice of the nation.

Prophets told kings what they did not want to hear stating the truth as they saw it. The ancient world's kings, just like many of today's political leaders, did not look kindly on contradictory positions. What makes the institution of prophecy so unique is that prophets were not afraid to be politically incorrect or state opinions that were not popular. These were the people who were not afraid to confront the establishment and question the elite.

The concept of the navi goes to the very beginnings of Biblical faith. Its basic assumption is that God and human beings are in a never-ending relationship, and that no political leader is God, all make mistakes, and at times all must be confronted. The prophetic tradition is a special gift that ancient Israel gave to the world. May we be wise enough to learn from it and to employ its principles in our modern political discourse.

 Peter Tarlow is the rabbi emeritus at Texas A&M Hillel Foundation in College Station. He directs the Center for Latino-Jewish Relations and teaches at the Texas A&M College of Medicine.
By Press Trust of India: Budget

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Empowering minorities will be the focus area of the NDA government during the next fiscal, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas asserted today and hailed the Budget for provisions made for development of the communities in line with its "rashtriya kartavya" (national duty).

Rs 4,195.48 crore has been allocated to the Ministry Of Minority Affairs in the Budget for 2017-18, nearly 10 per cent or Rs 368.23 crore rise over the provision made for 2016-17.

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"The Modi government believes that development of poor, weaker sections and minorities is not only its rajdharma but also its rashtriya kartavya (national duty)," Naqvi said.

"Its focus is on educational empowerment and skill development of minorities. Maximum part of this budget will be used for the purpose," the minister told mediapersons.

Naqvi said for 2017-18 fiscal, his ministry has set itself a target of providing scholarships to about 35 lakh students. Employment-oriented training will be provided to more than two lakh youths belonging to minority communities.

The government has hiked allocation for his ministrys spending under the Prime Ministers new 15-point programme by 19 per cent vis--vis the current fiscal, he said.

More than Rs 2,600 crore has been earmarked for the ministrys various scholarships and skill development schemes such as Seekho aur Kamao, Nai Manzil, Nai Roshni, Usttad, Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre and Begum Hazrat Mahal scholarship for girls.

Rs 250 crore has been allocated for Seekho aur Kamao and Rs 176 crore for Nai Manzil scheme, a jump of Rs 56 crore and Rs 40 crore respectively over the current fiscal.

Rs 113 crore has been earmarked for Maulana Azad Education Foundation and Rs 170 crore as equity for National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation.

Besides, funds under multi-sectoral development programme (MsDP), with a total allocation of Rs 1,200 crore having an increase of Rs 141 crore over the last fiscal, will be utilised for various educational and development activities.

In the last six months, the minority affairs ministry has approved around 200 sadbhav mandap. Sixteen Gurukul type schools have been approved at cost of around Rs 262 crore, the Union MoS for Minority Affairs said.

"We have also decided to help those madrasas who are also providing mainstream education," the minister said.

The mandaps will be used as community centres for various cultural, social, educational activities as well as relief centres during calamity, he said.

Naqvi said his ministry proposes to offer 40 per cent reservation to minority girl students at five world class institutes to be set up for imparting education to students of minority communities.

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"Students from other communities though can undertake education at the institutes... Till now, 16 states have evinced interest in setting up the institutes," he said.

Out of Rs 3,827 crore allotted to the ministry for the financial year 2016-17, it has spent around Rs 2,800 crore until now on scholarship, training and other education-related activities. (MORE) PTI ENM NSD

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As the Mollywood heartthrob Dulquer Salmaan completed five years in filmdom, the actor took to Facebook and wrote a sweet message to his family and fans.

By India Today Web Desk: Despite being the son of veteran actor Mammootty, Dulquer Salmaan's success wasn't overnight.

Making his acting debut in the hit film Second Show, Dulquer Salmaan rose to stardom after the stupendous success of Anjali Menon's Ustad Hotel.

ALSO READ: Bogan Review

ALSO READ: Pudhupettai 2 is one the cards, confirms Selvaraghavan

Having acted in both critically and commercially successful films, Dulquer is one of the leading stars not just in Malayalam, but Tamil as well, thanks to Mani Ratnam's OK Kanmani, which earned his a strong fanbase in Tamil Nadu.

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Reminiscing his journey, Dulquer took to Twitter and wrote, "5 years ago today, the world as I knew it changed for the better ! Honestly, a part of me never thought I could do it. It was daunting and the pressure was immense. But from then to now every day, every film, every year there's been only one thing pushing me to do better and become a better version of myself. "

Thanking his family and fans, the Charlie actor wrote, "Love ! The endless & immeasurable love that each of you have given me and my movies, the selfless & unconditional love from my family, and the never judging & ever encouraging love from my friends and colleagues. Reach for the stars. Dreams do come true. All you need is Love !"

Basking in the success of Jomonte Suveshishengal, Dulquer is presently shooting for a Malayalam-Tamil bilingual Solo, which is being directed by Bejoy Nambiar.

Post Solo, Dulquer Salmaan is teaming up with director Amal Neerad for a Malayalam flick titled CIA: Comrade in America.

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The way Romanians are tenaciously defending their democracy by standing against corruption is a model for the world. The nations hard-won anti-corruption gains are now under threat due to a government issued decree.

As January drew to a close, the countrys Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu issued an emergency decree that decriminalizes some forms of corruption. This is but the latest attempt by members of the Romanian government to escape indictment. For days Romanians in 50 towns and cities have been on the streets to show their support for the countrys anti-corruption laws. These are the largest demonstrations since the fall of communism almost thee decades ago.



A joint statement from six strategic allies of Romania (US, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium) called for a repeal of the decree and underlined the importance of the fight against corruption.

These protests are a beacon of hope in the dark days of the Trump/Bannon kakistocracy.

Efforts to combat corruption have never been more important than they are today. In the context of the current US administration and surging right-wing movements in Europe, this point becomes particularly prescient.

The Trump administration includes some of the most corrupt and powerful people in the country. The Secretary of State is Rex Tillerson, he is the former CEO of Exxon arguably the most corrupt corporation in the most corrupt industry on Earth.

Corruption not only undermines environmental protections it also eats away at a nations resources and frays the fabric of society. Sustainability is a bulwark against corruption. Through its emphasis on transparency sustainability actively combats the culture in which turpitude flourishes.

Corruption is a cancer that is highly detrimental to a countrys well-being. We have seen evidence of this in Greece. At the last two Olympic Games, in both Russia and Brazil corruption was rampant. Perhaps the most well-known corruption story to break in recent years is the release of the Panama Papers.

Romanian protests

Romanians appear to understand what is at stake and they are standing firm against corruption. Protests have been ongoing in the country for four days as people are pushing back against government corruption.

Justice Minister Florin Iordache said the measure would decriminalize abuse of power cases in which the financial damage is valued at less than 200,000 lei ($47,800 ).

Hundreds of thousands are protesting against this decree. This comes after repeated attempts by politicians to weaken anti-corruption measures to save themselves from prosecution. Now the countrys president has joined the fight pledging to use the courts to challenge the prime ministers decree.

The Romanian people and the nations press show us what doing ones civic duty looks like. These brave people are not complacent or apathetic they are standing up to their government out of love for their country and its fledgling democracy. It may also be that they remember what tyranny looks like. The memory of their former leader, the massively corrupt communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu still looms large.

With the aim of contextualizing these protests here is a brief summary of the recent history of Romanias anti-corruption measures. Prior to joining the EU in 2007, Romania was well known for its money laundering operations. Tax evasion seemed to be the norm and crimes like forgery and graft were commonplace.

DNA

In 2015 Romanias anti-corruption laws were enforced in earnest and 1,250 public officials including a sitting Prime minister were indicted.This is due to the work of the countrys National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA).

DNA has investigated and indicted the former prime minister Victor Ponta, five ministers, 21 members of the combined houses of parliament, and Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu. These efforts have been hailed by citizens, foreign governments, and investors. This reinforces the idea that such measures are good for international relations and the economy.

Romania compared to Bulgaria

Anti-corruption efforts also contribute to political stability conversely, the absence of such measures are a recipe for volatility. Romanias neighbor Bulgaria has been plagued by instability due in large part to ineffectual policing in the face of widespread corruption.

Bulgaria is ranked as the worst nation in the EU according to latest Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International. As long as the government refuses to allow itself to be thoroughly investigated, Bulgaria will likely remain the most corrupt nation in Europe.

Although Romania is still near the bottom of this list it is improving quickly while Bulgaria appears to be getting worse. In fact, Romanias progress has caused European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to say that corruption monitoring will end in 2019.

Model country

Romanias efforts to combat corruption has implications well beyond Romania. As reported by Politico,

Laura Stefan, who was instrumental in reinvigorating the DNA as the director of the ministry of justice from 2005 to 2007, told POLITICO. We have a hemorrhage of people under investigation. They have to change their way of doing business, or kill the DNA. Or else theyll all end up in jail. Stefans ex-boss, former justice minister Monica Macovei, said the DNA should serve as an example for other countries.Its a model for the region, but not only the region, for all Europe, as it works extremely well, Macovei said.

Perhaps the most prophetic words for people around the globe and particularly those in the US is the following warning from a former justice minister

We need to be very vigilant the whole timeIt is like democracy  if you think its given to you forever, you can lose it overnight.

Romanians offer both a warning and hope for everyone. We can learn from their brave dedication in defense of their country. We have to confront the apathy that accepts corruption.

Romanians are leading by example. If we value our democracies we need to stand up and protest against corrupt governments.
A total of Rs 58.02 crore in cash, 12.43 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 13.34 crore were seized from Punjab, while from Goa, Rs 2.24 crore in cash and more than 75,000 litres liquor worth more than 1 crore were confiscated.

By Manjeet Sehgal: The Election Commission has seized cash worth over Rs 60 crore and liquor worth over 13 lakh litres from Goa and Punjab, the two states that went to polls in a single-phase today.

A total of Rs 58.02 crore in cash, 12.43 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 13.34 crore, and 2,598 kgs of drugs and narcotics worth 18.26 crore were seized from Punjab.

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As much as Rs 2.24 crore in cash, more than 75,000 litres of liquor worth more than 1 crore and 6 kgs of drugs and narcotics worth Rs 34.22 lakh were seized from Goa.

FIRING REPORTED IN TARAN TARAN

Meanwhile, while the polling in Punjab was by and large peaceful, an incident of firing took place at Lalu Ghuman in Taran Taran. Supporters of 2 political parties clashed with each other and one person suffered a bullet injury in the scuffle.

Supporters of 2 political parties clashed.1 person sustained bullet injury. FIR lodged, main accused rounded up: EC #PunjabPolls pic.twitter.com/WVD3VQm5s8 ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

Village headman Desa Singh has been arrested in connection with this case.

There were stray incidents of clashes from a few other parts of the state.

WATCH VIDEO

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By Press Trust of India: Bhopal, Feb 4 (PTI) A delegation from the Chinese Embassy today met Wang Qi (77), a Chinese soldier who was caught for entering the Indian territory shortly after the end of Sino-India War of 1962, and settled down in Madhya Pradeshs Balaghat district after he was released. Wang has long been wanting to visit his native land.

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"Three officials from Chinese Embassy in India met my father and talked to him for more than one hour. They assured him all possible help to visit China," said his son Vishnu Wan (35), speaking to PTI over phone from Balaghat.

"A Chinese TV crew of 4-5 members also came with the officials and interviewed my father...We are hopeful now that he will be able to visit his birth place," he added.

Wang, who lives with his wife and three children in Tirodi area of Balaghat district, has not been able to visit China for the last five decades for want to permission from Indian government, according to the family. "My father joined the Chinese army in 1960 and he entered India through the eastern frontier after losing his way in the darkness one night," Vishnu said. He landed in Assam where an Indian Red Cross team handed him over to the Indian Army on January 1, 1963. "My father spent six years in prisons in Assam, Ajmer, Delhi before the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered his release in March 1969," Vishnu said. "The Indian government had promised to the court that it would rehabilitate my father. He was taken to Delhi, Bhopal, Jabalpur and then finally handed over to Balaghat police." Wang started working as a watchman with a mill and soon his colleagues named him Raj Bahadur, apparently due to his Nepali features, Vishnu said. (MORE) PTI LAL MAS KRK SMN

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What to know about daylight saving time 2022 in Iowa
Superintendent of Police (Operations) Shafqat Hussain and a Sub-Inspector, Mohammad Murtaza, were also injured in the gun battle which took place near Amargarh village of Sopore, 50 kms from Srinagar, after police intercepted the two militants travelling in a vehicle.

By Press Trust of India: A "major terrorist operation" was today thwarted as two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

Superintendent of Police (Operations) Shafqat Hussain and a Sub-Inspector, Mohammad Murtaza, were also injured in the gun battle which took place near Amargarh village of Sopore, 50 kms from Srinagar, after police intercepted the two militants travelling in a vehicle, a police spokesman said.

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"An information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. Police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore.

"While being challenged, terrorists lobbed a grenade and fired on police party in which the SP (Operation) Baramulla and a Sub-Inspector were injured. In the retaliatory action, two militants were killed," the spokesman said.

He said two AK assault rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were seized from the scene of the encounter.

"With the elimination of these militants, a major terrorist action was averted," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen identified the slain militants as Azaharuddin alias "Gazi Umar" and Sajad Ahmad alias "Babar", saying both were local militants and were active for quite some time.

It termed the killing of the two militants as a "big loss" and said Azharuddin was a lecturer by profession who had abdicated the government service and had joined the outfit.

Watch Video: 2 Hizbul terrorists killed in gunfight with security forces in Sopore, J-K

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The new technologies of the past two decades have given all of us the tools to make films.

You can shoot anything and have it streaming on YouTube within a few minutes. To make something that is of interest to a group larger than your Facebook followers, however, is still an art that can be developed at a film school.

It doesnt matter if youre doing 30 seconds or 30 seasons  on any size screen  whats relevant is how you tell a story, says Damon Maulucci, one of the founding professors at the graduate film school Sacred Heart University launched on its Stamford campus four years ago.

The industry has kept shifting since 2013, Maulucci says. Its exponentially more topsy turvy with Netflix and Amazon acting as new studios. The changes in technology and access means more opportunities to work.

There are fewer gatekeepers now, he adds of the many new alternatives to the Hollywood studios and the four major television networks. It is no longer an elite thing.

In other words, a movie can be what you see on a giant IMAX screen or what you watch on your iPhone. Twenty years ago, the options for an aspiring moviemaker were limited. He or she had to aim at learning how to shoot and edit film, and hope any resulting movie would find its way to theatrical distribution. Now, digital equipment has opened up new markets that have no connection with movie theaters. A creative YouTube video can be watched by more people in a few hours than a traditional film could be seen during many months in theaters.

What the SHU film school does is show students how to use the new technology to tell stories that will get them work in the movie business, as well as the ever-expanding universe of internet streaming and website videos.

They can do spots for a foundation or a company. ... One of the first group of students (to graduate from the program) banded together to form a production company. They did a big spot for Two Roads Brewery. ... There is all sorts of content needed for the web. They are also shooting a short film, Maulucci says.

Justin Liberman, another founding professor at the school, went to Sacred Heart University for his undergraduate studies in the 1990s, where he nurtured the dream of making movies.

I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I didnt know you could do that. ... I thought it was just a hobby, he says.

Liberman moved to Los Angeles where he worked as an assistant to director Michael Mann on Collateral and Miami Vice.

The catch was that I was a horrible assistant, Liberman says, laughing, but he was inspired to make his own film, maxing out his credit cards for a short that had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. He knew he needed to learn more about his craft, so he came back East to study film at Columbia University, where the emphasis is more on storytelling than technology.

In 2012, Libermans SHU mentor, James Castonguay, called to tell him the university was developing a graduate film program. They worked on building the Film and Television Masters Program curriculum while Liberman was finishing his Columbia thesis film.

Liberman says many of the barriers in front of potential filmmakers have been lifted since he started working in the field more than a decade ago.

Everyone has the equivalent of a film studio in their pocket now, he says of the smartphone. You can shoot whatever idea you have, color correct it and have it online in a half hour. We are in a place and time where people have all the tools they need at their disposal.

What separates amateurs from professionals is the ability to use technology to tell stories clearly and dramatically. Liberman and Maulucci guide the students through workshops where ideas are developed into narratives that will keep viewers watching. With all of the media competing for our time these days, you need to grab viewers and hold them, whether your ambition is to make the next Moonlight for theaters or House of Cards for home viewing.

Stories have been at the foundation of society for many years. ... The link that connects us now is film (and TV), Liberman says, pointing out the great novelist John LeCarre thought it important to produce the TV miniseries version of his book The Night Manager.

Maulucci and Liberman continue to be working filmmakers as they teach at SHU, so that students know what they are learning is not just theoretical.

I shot a commercial for Remy Martin recently, and I had six FTMA alumni working on that, Liberman says.

In addition to the school, the FTMA has added to the cultural life of Fairfield County with its annual fall film festival and regular free screenings of classic movies such as Glengarry Glen Ross and Louis Malles Vanya on 42nd Street at the Avon Theatre in Stamford.

The screenings are fun because we try to show films that have been somewhat overlooked, Maulucci says of the Avon events that are open to the public, as well as the students.

JMeyers@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @joesview
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Highest number of cancer cases in 2014 were reported from Haryana followed by Delhi at a leading hospital in Gurgaon which has set up a registry to study the prevalence and trends of the disease.

Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) instituted the registry in 2013, seeking to address challenges that exist in the availability of updated oncological data and figures for the public as well as key stakeholders.

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"Out of 15,664 hospital visits of cancer entries reported in 2014 (at FMRI), about 2,157 (13.8 per cent) were new cancer cases with 1,191 (55.2 per cent) of these being males and women accounting for 966 (44.8 per cent) cases.

"The median age at diagnosis of cancer was 54 years in males and 52.4 years in females. The highest number of cancer cases recorded from Indian states were from Haryana at 39.6 per cent followed by Delhi at 27.3 and Uttar Pradesh at 12.7 per cent," hospital authorities said, quoting from the registry.

Cancer is a major cause of death in India. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), there will be 17.3 lakh new cases of cancer by the year 2020, with breast, cervix and lung cancers being the most prominent.

The ICMR has already instituted the National Cancer Registry Program (NCRP) to establish a demographic profile of cancer patients. FMRI recently released the data of their registry.

Besides, of all new cases at FMRI, tobacco-related cancers constituted 23.4 per cent of all cancers in males and 8.8 per cent of all cancers in females.

"In males, lung (31.2 pc) was the common site followed by urinary bladder (16.5 pc), mouth (16.5 pc), tongue (11.8) and larynx (10). In females, cancer of the lung (36.5 per cent) was leading, followed by oesophagus (18.8), urinary bladder (15.3), mouth (12.9) and tongue (10.6)," according to the registry.

Paediatric cancers account for 5.8 per cent of the total cancer cases reported at FMRI during this period. The total paediatric cancer load among boys and girls were 6.6 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.

World Cancer Day is being marked today across the globe to raise awareness and to encourage its prevention, detection and management.

"Non-communicable diseases account for 53 per cent of all deaths in India, out of which cancer accounts for 6 per cent. The purpose of a cancer registry program is to collect data as per age, gender, geographical distributions, type of cancer, site of cancer, grading and staging of cancer (to evaluate degree of invasion and metastasis), management, morbidity and mortality.

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"Such a database is critical for yearly mapping of prevalence, future planning of resources, assessment of preventive measures and charting important disease trends," Executive Director, FMRI, Vinod Raina said. (MORE) PTI KND AAR

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WILTON  Twelve years ago, Hossein Sadeghi witnessed the devastation patients experience without access to proper treatment and medication in his home country.

He saw Iranian children with cystic fibrosis, who looked as if they were being released from concentration camps, he said  malnourished, with significant lung disease.

Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and restricts the ability to breathe over time.

The average life expectancy in Iran is around 18, Sadeghi said. In the U.S., its close to 40.

Basically these patients are dying if you dont take care of them, said Sadeghi, a pediatric pulmonologist at the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia Medical School in New York City.

Sadeghi founded CF Bridge of Hope in 2012, bringing patients from areas in the world where treatment and support services are not readily accessible. Through Bridge of Hope, with help from the Wilton Interfaith Action Committee and a coalition of other local groups, patients from Iran, Ecuador and Georgia have received free treatment, and more importantly, a hope to live, Sadeghi said.

His most recent patient was 17-year-old Iranian Reza AliAkbari, who was housed in Wilton and given treatment at the Stamford Tully Center, where Sadeghi works with his wife, Golnar Raissi-Sadeghi, also a pediatric pulmonologist.

Reza lost his brother four years ago to cystic fibrosis, and his life changed basically after the treatment, Sadeghi said. He entered the country on Jan. 18. If he had waited another week or 10 days, that would have changed everything.

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order banning citizens of Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

Trumps order, Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States, also stops the U.S. Refugee Admissions System, already one of the most rigorous vetting processes in the world, for 120 days and halts the Syrian refugee program indefinitely.

With this ban put into place, Sadeghi fears what he feared most: not being able to provide lifesaving treatment to patients from Iran, including a 5-year-old awaiting treatment this year.

These are patients coming to me for care for their survival. You cant tell them, lets wait till we work out, Sadeghi said. We shouldnt, just under the banner of safety, antagonize and harm other individuals who have nothing to do with the actions that have made this world unsafe.

Many children in most need of international emergency aid come from five of the seven countries listed in the executive order  Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen  according to Unicefs assessment, Humanitarian Action for Children 2017.

Additionally, the United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that 20,000 refugees will be in precarious situations during the 120 days, based on monthly average figures for the last 15 years, according to a statement on Jan. 30.

I dont see any logic in this executive order to make this country any safer, Sadeghi said. We shouldnt go under fearmongering and do actions that are under the mask of creating fear for everyone.

We as the superpower, as the greatest nation in the world, we should be able to help people.

Specifically for these patients, as he mentioned, its hope, its a cure, its treatment, Raissi-Sadeghi said. So how can you stop this hope?

America was a country of hope for Sadeghi and Raissi-Sadeghi in the late 70s and 80s, when the left Iran during their teenage years.

Sadeghi came to America for a better education, in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, when he was just 14. Raissi-Sadeghi joined him 11 years later to get married.

Since then, theyve become U.S. citizens, pursued a career in pediatric pulmonary, practiced their Muslim faith, and lived and raised their children in Wilton for more than 20 years.

America is their home. Wilton is their home.

And they believe America should be the country of hope for those afflicted in the seven banned countries.

We just want President Trump to support us, to protect us and help us with the project of saving children, Raissi-Sadeghi said. Saving children doesnt know of religion, culture, terrorism, borders.

One thing that Ive learned in America is you just dont give up. Failure is not an option.

SKim@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1044; @stephaniehnkim
I found myself feeling deeply nostalgic for a scent my mother used to wear: Jean Nate. Its signature hip, plastic yellow bottle with its circular black top represented the ultimate in sophistication.

I was explaining this sentimental memory to a friend who interrupted me by saying, They still sell the stuff, Gina. You could find it at Walgreens. You can get it at Target. You could even buy it at Sears, you know, while youre there picking up a self-cleaning oven. They didnt stop making it just because you stopped thinking about it.

She practically wrecked my nostalgia. After all, when we stop using things or wanting them, dont they just disappear? My husband experienced this awhile back when he, in a small wistful voice, said, Wouldnt it be terrific to have a Hostess Cupcake? You know, with the little swirls on top? But they stopped making those.

No they didnt, I said. They were on sale last week. I just havent bought them in 15 years because the last thing you and I need to be eating are little concentrated grenades of sugar and fat.

I think youre wrong, he said. He clutched his grief firmly, and only after seeing that Hostess Cupcakes have their own lively website was he persuaded that they still exist. He was more than persuaded, to be honest. He was ecstatic. It was like finding out that there really is an Easter Bunny.

Some things, of course, are genuinely gone. Does anybody still use a ditto machine? My students, most of whom were born between 1995 and 1999, dont have any idea what it is. My pal Mary said her children thought a spirit master was some kind of New Age guru, and a spirit duplicator was a character of out of Ghostbusters. Theyve never breathed in the tingling smell of a fresh ditto, never seen a mimeograph, rarely if ever used a rotary dial phone (or heard a dial tone) and have never actually hung up a phone.

Two particularly smart students were having lunch in my office the other day. Dylan and Julia dismissed the idea that theyd never used fold-out paper maps, whiteout correction fluid, pencil sharpeners or blackboard erasers. Yes, they had.

What hadnt they experienced and what couldnt they imagine? Using a shared and public phone. You called a location, not a person? You didnt know who was calling or who that person wanted to speak to? Was it like in a movie when somebody calls a bar and the bartender has to yell out a name to see if the guys there? Yes, yes and yes, I explained. There were no answering machines, either. You relied on somebody to write a note telling you that you received a call.

We never asked, Where are you? at the beginning of a conversation, I told them. Because we knew that people were usually speaking on a home phone attached by a short cord to a wall in their house. People sat down when we spoke.

Thats wild, said Dylan, his eyes wide. Wow.

Know what else my students never heard of? The rabbit test. I explained that women and girls used to go to the doctor to find out if they were pregnant, and that their urine was then injected into a bunny, which was dissected to determine the results. They were horrified. They actually killed a rabbit? Yes, I said again. Yes.

I explained further that unmarried women would often buy fake-gold bands to put on their fingers and see doctors away from their hometowns to avoid the stigma of a pregnancy test. Since the mid-1970s, women could pee on a stick at home to see whether theyre pregnant; to young people, everything about the rabbit test now seems barbaric.

If you are under 50, you might not know that birth control was illegal, even for married people, until a 1965 Supreme Court ruling in a Connecticut case overturned the law. Only some of them knew why people in the Womens March on Washington held signs with images of coat hangers on them, emblazoned with the words Never Again.

A great deal of our past doesnt deserve nostalgia; we need to be cautious when romanticizing the good old days. Some of them were terrible.
SM Krishna, a former Karnataka chief minister, resigned from the Congress on January 29th.

By India Today Web Desk: Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party president B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday said that former Congress leader SM Krishna will join the saffron party.

SM Krishna, a former Karnataka chief minister, resigned from the Congress on January 29th.

He (SM Krishna) has decided to join BJP, when we don't know, will fix it soon. He is joining 100%: B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP Karnataka President pic.twitter.com/E9mgECwzO1 ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017

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Also read: SM Krishna hits out at Congress, says party wants managers not mass leaders like him

The 84-year-old leader sent his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi, but his letter to Gandhi did not elaborate on the reasons for his departure.

Krishna was the External Affairs Minister in the second UPA government from 2009 to 2012 after his stint as the Maharashtra Governor from 2005 to 2008 and Karnataka's Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004.

He was also a Rajya Sabha member from the state from 2009-2016.

WATCH THE VIDEO

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A new Southern Illinois University Edwardsville community partnership program is offering local public libraries assistance in designing mobile-friendly websites, brand management and marketing assistance, and a robust set of non-credit small business and leisure learning classes.

Public libraries have long been the backbone of public education, creating stronger, smarter and more vibrant communities. Playing a key role in the development and maintenance of the region, libraries provide access to a wide and varied range of knowledge, ideas and opinions that may otherwise not exist.

However, many libraries today are finding it harder to connect, generate interest, foster advocacy and grow in the digital age. Budgets are being cut, staff reduced and programs canceled. Through its Library Partnership Program, SIUE is committed to helping change those trends.

"Learning does not end with a formal education - for most, its a lifelong activity, said Tim Engelman, SIUE Office of Educational Outreach. Public libraries allow people to acquire new skills at various stages of life in a setting and location thats familiar, close and comfortable. They are an important and vital piece of the architecture of America. With this new program, SIUE is going to shine a light on that fact.

The program offers free brand, marketing and advertising mentorship, technical assistance in building and maintaining a new mobile-friendly website, micro-and-email marketing insight, and guidance on creating community-based advocacy programs and campaigns.

The program also gives partnering libraries full access to SIUEs new House Call program, bringing an exciting collection of community-based non-credit lectures, workshops, classes and certificate programs to their front door.

When a library becomes a partner, well review their current brand, email and marketing strategy, make suggestions as to how to improve them, and provide the needed insight, know-how and physical support to foster positive advancement, said Engelman.

Our House Call program bridges the gap between a continued formal education and what individuals can find digitally, Engelman continued. It offers access to exciting sets of lectures, workshops and classes such as Writing Your First Book, Getting Your First Book Published, You and Your new DSLR Camera, Painting with a Lens, Winning Social Media Strategies, Photo and Video techniques for Small Businesses, and more.

For more information, contact Engelman in the SIUE Office of Educational Outreach, at 618-650-3210.
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Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017 13:02 2100 9b519824cb3263083aedb70a0be45db7 1 Science & Tech google-code-in,Competition,Google,#competition,students,#students,#Google Free

Three Indonesian students were named winners of the annual Google Code-in 2016 competition on Monday.

Raefaldhi Amartya Junior from Haiku, Scott Moses Sunarto from Moving Blocks and Kaisar Arkhan from FOSSASIA open source organizations successfully completed the 842 tasks set during the seven-week competition period and brought home Grand Prize titles alongside 31 other youths from countries around the world, including the United States, Romania, India and Russia.

The winners will be given the opportunity to visit the Google Campus for four days in June and to enjoy the San Francisco Bay Area.

(Read also: LinkedIn reveals buzzwords most overused by Indonesian professionals)

The Google Code-in 2016 also announced 51 finalists who will receive digital certificates, Google Code-in T-shirts and sweatshirts.

Held since 2010, Google Code-in is a competition that aims to introduce open source software development to pre-university students aged 13 to 17. More than 3,200 students from 99 countries have participated in the competition. They are required to complete tasks from different categories, such as coding, documentation, training, outreach, research, quality assurance and user interfacing. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

Supporters of three Jakarta gubernatorial candidates - Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, Anies Baswedan and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono -- came together unplanned near the Proclamation Monument in Central Jakarta on Saturday.

Ahok's supporters wore checkered shirts and were heading to the Concert Gue2 in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on motorcycles while Anies supporters were in a convoy heading to a campaign event in Kota Tua in West Jakarta.

At the Democratic Partys headquarters in the same area, Agus father, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and head of the party, and top party figures were holding a press conference on the effort to help Agus win the topmost position in Jakarta.

One of Anies supporters, Mohamad Huda, said the meeting outside the Democrats' headquarters was unplanned . We didnt plan this but we met with them here. It was fun having so many people here, Huda said as quoted by kompas.com.

Kompas.com reported that supporters of the three candidates mingled and were friendly toward each other.

Agus supporters passed us earlier. We want to show the political elites that people are mature enough to embrace democracy. We may choose different candidates, but we remain friendly, Immanuel, one of Ahoks supporters, said. (evi)
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Linkedin N. Adri (The Jakarta Post) Balikpapan  Sat, February 4, 2017

The Balikpapan administration in East Kalimantan temporarily halted the operation of ride-sharing service Go-Car, which is a service provided by PT Gojek Indonesia.

Transportation agency head Sudirman Djayaleksana said a notice had been posted at Go-Cars office on Jl. MT Haryono.

The circular said Go-Car was not allowed to take passengers or new partner cars and drivers. The letter also called on the public to not use the service.

Go-Car management has yet to fulfill several requirements so we have halted their operations indefinitely, said Sudirman on Friday at Go-Cars office.

(Read also: Blue Bird taxi becomes Go-Car partner)

The decision was met with disappointment from some residents who said Go-Car was cheaper and more comfortable compared to public transportation.

Regular taxis need to improve their services. They should offer lower fares and provide better service, Abdul Rasyid, a resident said. He also said more public minivan routes should be opened to ease access to many areas.

A Go-Car driver has complained about the move, citing loss of income. Well, Im unemployed again now, Jeje said.

The administration said Go-Car had yet to comply with a Transportation Ministry regulation and traffic law. One of the rules was for Go-Car to cooperate with a registered land transportation company. The agency also required Go-Car to obtain a transportation service license. (evi)
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4 2017

The Jakarta administration is currently drafting a regulation to better protect people with disabilities by providing them with wider political access and stronger recognition of their rights.

The head of the social rehabilitation division of Jakartas Social Agency, Chaidir, said the administration was revising several articles in Bylaw No. 10/2011 on protection for people with disabilities, including the definition of and terms being used to describe disabled people.

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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Sat, February 4, 2017

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has called on Jayapura residents to vote in the upcoming election, even though there is only one candidate pair running, saying that voting for the pair or leaving the box blank had the same political value.

He encouraged those who did not want to vote for the pair to visit a polling station anyway and leave the ballot paper blank. Choosing a blank box counts as equal to choosing the sole candidate because it is your political aspiration, KPU official Sigit Joyowardono said on Saturday during an election simulation in Jayapura, Papua.

Numerous residents came to see the election simulation event in Abepura, Jayapura. I am a first-time voter and now I have to choose between a candidate and a blank box. I just learned today that we have only one candidate, Nita, 20, said on Saturday.

Nita said although it would be her first time voting, she had adequate information because officials had explained the process clearly.

(Read also: Golkar denies double endorsement in Jayapura)

Haji Idrus, 69, felt different about leaving a ballot paper blank. I feel different because usually we have several choices for candidates. But I have decided on my choice, he said.

Jayapura is one of 11 regencies and municipalities in Papua that will hold elections on Feb. 15.

The municipality has 308,775 registered voters spread across 629 polling stations in five districts. The candidate pair in Jayapura is incumbent mayor Benhur Tomi Manno and Rustan Saru. (evi)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4 2017

The grand vision of practicing good governance and achieving self-sufficiency in the beef sector may just be an optimistic vision after all as recent development has continued to reveal the sectors murky side.

By 2021, Indonesia is expected to meet its beef self-sufficiency target. However, a bribery case recently emerged involving one of the countrys top law enforcers.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4 2017

As well as operating buses, PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta) is set to provide boats serving routes between the Jakarta mainland and Thousand Islands, an executive said on Friday.

The expansion is needed to enable better transportation facilities for passengers to and from both areas, said Transjakarta president director Budi Kaliwono.

To reach the goal, however, the city-owned company is currently conducting a study to examine the social impacts of the proposed operation.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4 2017

Actor Indra Bekti plans to bring his wife, Aldilla Jelita, to go on a holiday to Japan to console her after the death of their child.

Kenward Athar, the third child of Indra and Aldilla, was born premature and died on Tuesday after her mother suffered from bacterial infections.

Coincidentally, we have an invitation to spend a holiday in Japan, Indra said, hoping that the offer would encourage Aldilla to get better.

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By Press Trust of India: Coimbatore, Feb 4 (PTI) Even as the state health department is taking all efforts to check the spread of H1N1 virus (swine flu) in this and neighbouring districts, four more persons infected with swine flu were admitted to the government hospital here for treatment.

As six persons are already undergoing treatment in the hospital, four more, including two women were admitted last evening, hospital sources said.

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All the four tested positive for H1N1 virus and have been kept in a special ward, they said.

However, the number of those receiving treatment in private hospitals is not known, they added.

The disease has claimed the lives of four persons during the last 10 days, including a one-year-old boy from Salem, who died in a private hospital here, prompting the district authorities to expedite efforts to prevent its spread. PTI NVM ROH RBS

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Boyolali  Sat, February 4 2017

The National Polices counterterrorism squad, Densus 88, searched the houses of two suspected terrorists in Banyudono village, Boyolali regency, Central Java, on Friday.

The suspects, Winarno and Murjianto, were arrested Thursday and stand accused of joining the Neo Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist network. Winarno and Murjianto were neighbors and known by other villagers to be active in religious activities.

The search at the two properties, which are near each other, began at 2:30 p.m. and also involved Boyolali Police, which deployed armed officers to stand guard in front of the houses. Curious villagers crowded the area during the search operation.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonos desire to meet with President Joko Jokowi Widodo has received a positive response from the palace, which intends to schedule a meeting between the two figures after the regional elections on Feb. 15.

Yudhoyono expressed his wish to meet during a press conference and the palace learned about it from the media. Yesterday, [Jokowi] made plans to meet [Yudhoyono], Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.

Luhut said the plan could not be realized immediately but it would be more fitting if a meeting was scheduled after the regional elections.

Perhaps meeting after the regional elections is better. We have to consider things, Luhut said.

Luhut said the meeting would be arranged directly between the two parties without any middlemen. He said Jokowi needed to ensure stability and peace amid his efforts to improve the economy.

I think the meeting is to ensure peace. If the situation is calm, whoever wins [the Jakarta election] is OK, Luhut said.

As I have said several times before, we will arrange the meeting but we will wait for a request [from Yudhoyono], he said.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the meeting should be arranged after the regional elections. After Feb. 15 is better to avoid political speculation, Kalla said as quoted by kompas.com.

Yudhoyono said he wanted to meet Jokowi to clarify several things including accusations that he was behind large-scale rallies in November and December. (evi)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, February 4 2017

Here are the sneak peek into the latest lifestyle stories from www.thejakartapost.com. If you are keen to read the full articles or want to look for more interesting pieces, complete with photos and videos, drop by the J+ channel on our website. For quick access, download QR scanner application on your smartphone and scan the codes displayed next to the articles.

Its morally wrong not to support Jokowi: Slank

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

The Depok Police in West Java have arrested a man and a male high school student for allegedly possessing gorilla tobacco, a new type of drug that has recently increased in popularity.

Depok Police narcotics division chief Comr. Putu Kholis said the two men were Bayu Triharyono, also known as Bule, 21, and Farhan Dwi Pratama, known as Abdul, 17.

They were arrested on Wednesday in two separate locations carrying a total of 7.08 grams of gorilla tobacco, Putu said on Friday as quoted by tempo.co.

He added that the police confiscated 17 rolls of the tobacco from Bule and another 3.38 grams from Abdul, which he had in a small plastic bag.

Bule was arrested at his rented house in Tugu subdistrict, Cimanggis, Depok, after reports from the public that drug abuse and transactions often took place at the house.

The police, Putu said, were currently gathering more information to uncover suppliers of gorilla tobacco in the area.

We have detected that gorilla tobacco has been circulated among students, he said.

According to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), gorilla tobacco contains synthetic cannabinoids, chemical substances that were first encountered in Indonesia last year. Users reportedly feel they are in a gorillas crushing embrace, hence the name.

Synthetic cannabinoids can also induce effects such as psychotic episodes, agitation, aggression, anxiety, ideas of suicide as well as withdrawal and addiction. (fac)
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri made a speech at a large campaign event for incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat on Saturday in Senayan in Central Jakarta.

During her speech, the former president and daughter of first president Sukarno thanked all attendees and fellow political parties in the coalition for their support and, as usual, pointed out the Pancasila as the countrys ideology.

"The Pancasila teaches us how to live peacefully. That all people in the country, no matter the religion or ethnicity, live together under Unity in Diversity," Megawati said, wearing a red shirt combined with blue-red plaid. She referred to the national slogan Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, or Unity in Diversity.

"We shouldn't be shortsighted, because that will divide us with meaningless slander and criticism. [...] Seeing such enthusiasm, I am sure that we [Ahok-Djarot] will win [the election]," she added, referring to a series of blasphemy accusations lodged against Ahok.

She called on all participants and supporters to vote for the pair without fear.

(Read also: Celebrities endorse gubernatorial tickets, but do they make a difference?)

The Jakarta gubernatorial election has seen party elites taking part directly in the campaigns. Prabowo Subianto, the Gerindra Party patron who formed a coalition with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to back candidate pair Anies Baswedan - Sandiaga Uno, made appearances on the campaign trail.

Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who leads the coalition backing Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni, was also seen on the campaign trail meeting with residents. (evi)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

The Industry Ministry is finalizing prototypes of cars designed especially for local farmers to harvest crops and carry out other agricultural tasks.

Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the vehicle prototypes would be ready by August.

Now we have five prototypes. We have completed the test drive and emissions tests, but we still want to improve the designs, he said on Friday.

Each car features an engine under 1000 cc and will be tagged at Rp 60 million (US$4,484). The ministry claims that each prototype is made from 100 percent local components.

(Read also: Indonesia en route to popularize tropical fruit)

Airlangga said that once the prototypes were launched, the ministry would open up opportunities for whoever wanted to produce and distribute them.

[The program] is open source so production can be anywhere, including in workshops in villages, he said.

The ministrys metals, machinery, transportation and electronic equipment director general, I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, said the cars were expected to replace the so-called Grandong car, a locally made multipurpose diesel vehicle that harvests crops and serves as a rice mill and waste processing machine.

The Grandong car doesnt meet safety standards, he said. (hwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

The National Polices accountability reports released by the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry showed improvements in the institution last year, Minister Asman Abnur said on Saturday in Semarang, Central Java.

The police score last year was 71.85 or a BB grade, Asman said as quoted by Antara news agency during an event held to launch the Smile Police phone app at the Central Java Police.

The score, he said, was an increase from 67.23 in 2015.

He said the BB grade meant the institution or the ministry had displayed high bureaucratic efficiency.

Asman said his ministry had cooperated with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to assess working units within government institutions and found 21 units were free of corruption, three of which were under the National Police.

The three were: Gresik Police, Sidoarjo Police and Jember Police, all in East Java. (evi)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian launched Saturday six phone apps in a package called Smile Police, made by the Central Java Police.

Speaking in Semarang, Central Java, Tito announced the Android-based apps: Panic Button, E-Babinkamtibmas (community policing), E-Public Service, E-Complain, E-Office, and E-Learning.

Tito said the digitization of public services was in line with an order from President Joko Jokowi Widodo.

The IT-based service will improve our services, he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the package would be available for Central Java residents but hoped availability could be expanded nationwide.

This is input for the National Police. If we cannot make a new one, just adopt this app package, Tito said.

Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Condro Kirono said the apps were available for download. He said the Panic Button app has been downloaded 5,000 times in the province. (evi)
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Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

Despite the three candidate pairs in the Jakarta gubernatorial election offering promises to various social and demographic groups across the capital, religious minority groups still feel left out as candidates seem to prefer wooing members of the majority community.

In the three months since the election campaign kicked off in late October, none of the three candidates, namely Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni, incumbent Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno, have specifically spoken about protecting religious minorities from intolerant groups, even in the face of a rising number of sectarian incidents in the city.

Human rights organization Setara Institute reported that 31 sectarian incidents occurred in Jakarta in 2016, putting it in second place as the most intolerant province after West Java with 41 cases. Jakarta had not been in the top 10 of the most intolerant provinces list since 2008, according to Setara Institute deputy director Bonar Tigor Naipospos.

The Ahmadiyah and Shia are just two of the religious minority groups that have often faced discrimination in the past.

The leader of East Jakartas Ahmadiyah community, Aryudi Prastowo, said the candidates should have spoken more about the issue of religious-minority rights because Jakarta was home to people from different religions and ethnic backgrounds.

What makes Jakarta Jakarta is the minorities. If you wipe out all the minorities, Jakarta would no longer be Jakarta, he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Aryudi said the Ahmadiyah community left its members to vote for whichever candidate they wished. Voters, however, were urged not to vote for candidates that were backed by intolerant groups, he added.

Similar to Aryudi, a prominent Shia figure in Jakarta, who preferred to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue, agreed that the issue of minority rights had only been minimally touched on during the campaign. He urged the administration to immediately take action to handle the increase in intolerance in the city.

According to Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the issue of minority rights had become very sensitive for the candidates as a result of the blasphemy charges against Ahok. Candidates were reluctant, Bonar said, to address this issue openly for fear of alienating voters.

However, Bonar warned that leaving the issue untouched would have worse consequences as it would provide more space for intolerant groups to pursue their own agenda and force that agenda later when a particular candidate was elected.

It is unpopular to address it, but there is no way to avoid discussing it, Bonar told the Post over the phone. The candidates should have the courage to show that they are not going to tolerate any intolerant acts.

Agus spoke about the importance of maintaining a harmonious and tolerant city in the first official debate on Jan. 13, without however, elaborating on how he would implement the concept and whether he would reject certain intolerant groups.

Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, previously said that every minority citizen like himself had the constitutional right to run for office. However, he has not taken a public stance about intolerance toward minority groups like the Shia or Ahmadiyah.

Anies once said that he would protect pluralism and ensure every single law enforcement agency enforces the law against groups carrying out intolerant acts. However, his visit to the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) headquarters was regarded by many as proof that he has a special relationship with the FPI, which in the past has raided places of worship belonging to minority groups.
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

Infighting in state oil and gas company Pertamina forced the government on Friday to dismiss the companys CEO and its deputy over concerns of an escalating conflict that may further undermine operations.

The dismissal of president director Dwi Soetjipto and deputy Ahmad Bambang, following months of disagreements, seems to be just a hint of the messy management within the firm, which had hindered progress in realizing several of the companys mega projects.

To help stabilize operations while awaiting for a new permanent CEO to be appointed within the next 30 days, the government assigned Yenni Andayani, the companys director for gas and renewable energy, as acting president director.

Pertamina president commissioner Tanri Abeng said the lack of teamwork was what ultimately forced the board to dismiss the two and propose an overhaul of the firms top executives.

They [Dwi and Ahmad] just did not fit with each other. There had been no teamwork at all, said Tanri. We hope the board of directors and commissioners can continue to work together. Pertamina must become a worldclass energy company.

Several cases provide evidence that Dwi and Ahmad were not getting along, including when the latter overstepped his position by signing off on gasoline imports that Dwi allegedly kept putting off. Even though the imports were needed, the board of commissioners agreed that Ahmad overstepped his authority.

But Ahmad was not entirely to blame. State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Rini Soemarno promoted Ahmad as deputy in October last year and gave him authority similar to that of the president director amid speculation of a rift between Rini and Dwi.

From that point until Friday, Pertamina had been run by two captains.

Tanri also said that promotions of the companys 20 strategic positions remained unclear, including the position of president director of Pertamina Gas (Pertagas), a Pertamina subsidiary.

President Joko Jokowi Widodos appointment of Dwi as Pertaminas top leader in Nopolitical vember, 2014, had drawn ire from the beginning, with critics highlighting Dwis lack of experience in the oil and gas sector.

This was despite his leadership illustrated by his success in merging three of Indonesias state-owned cement firms Semen Padang, Semen Gresik and Semen Tonasa into Semen Indonesia and later making it the first SOE as a multinational company through overseas acquisition.

Meanwhile, the deputy position held by Ahmad, formerly the Pertamina marketing director, was also questionable as it did not exist prior to his appointment last October.

The position was approved on the basis that Pertaminas goals were becoming more ambitious and therefore needed increased support.

Minister Rini justified the move to establish the position, as the board of commissioners had hired independent consultants who came up with similar suggestions.

We did it as shareholders and accepted the board of commissioners proposal to include a deputy president director, she explained.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy, Gus Irawan Pasaribu, said that this was not the first time someone without significant experience in a field was assigned to lead a stateowned firm. He cited state-owned electricity firm PLN president director Sofyan Basir, formerly president director of state-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), as an example.

The difference is, Sofyan Basir has strong leadership skills and was able to support PLN. This did not happen at Pertamina, he said, adding that it would be a boon for the next Pertamina leader to have some background in the oil and gas sector.

(Read also: Pertamina president director, deputy sacked over 'leadership issues')

Pertamina, which as of the third quarter last year posted a sizeable profit of US$2.83 billion, has set ambitious goals, including constructing and improving national refineries and acquisition of overseas oil and gas fields amid dwindling domestic production.

ReforMiner Institute executive director Komaidi Notonegoro claims the dismissal of both Dwi and Ahmad was premature.

However, he acknowledged that the government, specifically the SOEs Ministry, might need fresh faces.

Pertamina is notorious for inefficiencies and as a cash cow for political and economic gains.
Goa goes to polls today in a multi-cornered battle with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Suraksha Manch-Shiv Sena combine in the fray besides the other three.

By India Today Web Desk: Goa and Punjab have a few points in common as far as Assembly elections in the two states are concerned. Polls are being held in one phase on Saturday and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is contesting its first Assembly elections in these two states.However, while Punjab is witnessing a triangular contest between SAD-BJP combine, Congress and AAP, Goa goes to polls in a multi-cornered battle with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Suraksha Manch-Shiv Sena combine in the fray besides the other three.

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The highpoint in Goa is the high stakes of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar attached to the Assembly elections. The former IITian was the Goa Chief Minister when BJP-led NDA had won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Despite Parrikar being popular in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handpicked him to take over the Defence portfolio.

Get live updates from polling day here

However, Parrikar has occasionally been accused by the Opposition of remote-controlling the State through his predecessor Laxmikant Parsekar. With BJP's prestige associated with the elections, party president Amit Shah has gone to the extent of declaring that Parrikar could return to the state as chief minister.

The politics over language is being sought to be made a key issue. It was on this matter that former RSS strongman Subhash Velingkar parted ways with BJP to form his Goa Suraksha Manch. He has aligned with Shiv Sena, BJP's ally at the Centre and in Maharashtra, to contest the elections. He objected to the state government's subsidy to schools in which languages other than Konkani and Marathi were the medium of instruction.

KEY FACTS:

There are 251 candidates in the fray for 40 constituencies.

Of these candidates, 234 are males while just 16 are females.

Total electors: 11,10,884

Males: 5,46,742 Females: 564142 No. of polling stations: 1,642

Party wise candidates

BJP: 36

Congress: 37

AAP: 39

MGP: 25OTHERS: 113

PARTY WISE CRIMINAL CANDIDATES:

BJP: 6 (17 per cent)

CONG: 9 (24 per cent)

MGP: 2 (8 per cent)

AAP: 3 (8 per cent)

PARTY WISE CROREPATI CANDIDATES:

BJP: 35 (97 per cent)

CONG: 34 (92 per cent)

MGP: 13 (52 per cent)

AAP: 19 (49 per cent)

VIP SEATS

Mandrem

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar (BJP)

Dayanand Raghunath Sopte (Congress)

Devendra Krishnaji, Prabhu Parsekar Desai (AAP)

Mapusa

Francisco C JA De Pinto E Souza (BJP)

Vijay Laxman Bhike (Congress)

Shraddha Khalap (AAP)

Cuncolim

Elvis Gomes (AAP)

Subhash alias, Rajan K Naik (BJP)

Clafasio Dias (Congress)

Panaji

Atanasio J Monserrate (UGP)

Sidharth Sripad Kuncalienker (BJP)

Valmiki Naik (AAP)

Pernem

Rajendra Arlekar (BJP)

Ajgaonkar Manohar Trimbak (MGP)

Shivanand Krishna Pilarnkar (AAP)

Ponda

Ravi Sitaram Naik (Congress)

Mulla Mansur Muzawar (AAP)

Sunil Desai (BJP)

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KEY ISSUES

Preserving the cultural identity of the state has become one of the main issues in recent years. The demography of the state has seen a change with population rising as people from other states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have migrated to the state.

Drug trade, as in Punjab, is also a key issue.

Addressing the problem of dual nationality faced by Goan people is another concern.

AAP promises casino free tourism, eradication of drugs and prostitution as key highlights of its manifesto. The party has also released a separate youth manifesto - as in Punjab - that vows to promote sports and education in the state.

AAP's chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes has said that if AAP comes to power, it will recover Rs 36,000 crore by putting the corrupt miners behind the bars.

There is no clarity over BJP's chief ministerial candidate.

The BJP's manifesto focuses on job creation and development. The party has also promised employment opportunities in the MOPA airport project.

The Congress manifesto promises free petrol for youth and wheat at Rs 2, rice at Rs 3 and sugar at Rs 7 for the people of the state. The rather socialistic manifesto also promises to provide free water and electricity to poor people without increasing or imposing any further taxes.

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SEATS WON BY PARTIES IN ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2012

Party Seats Won/Vote Percent

BJP 21 (34.68 per cent)

Congress 9 (30.78 per cent)

MGP 3 (6.72 per cent)

GVP 2 (3.5 per cent)

Independents 5 (16.67 per cent)

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Total: 40

Result of Lok Sabha 2014

Seats 2

BJP 2 (54.12 per cent votes)

--- ENDS ---
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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar  Sat, February 4, 2017

The search for victims of a boat ferrying between Takalar and Tanakeke Island in Takalar regency, South Sulawesi continues while the death toll has risen to eight.

Makassar Search and Rescue Team (SAR) head Amiruddin said Saturday that his side was still looking for a passenger identified as Haji Ada.

The team has rescued 26 passengers and found eight bodies. One of the rescued passengers was still being treated in Takalar General Hospital as of Saturday.

Takalar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Iskandar said seven bodies had been returned to their families in Takalar but one victim, identified as Darmawan, was still in the morgue because he was from Ngawi, East Java.

We have spoken to his family and they want us to send his body to East Java, Iskandar said.

He said the police were still seeking confirmation on the exact number of passengers because the captain of the boat, Daeng Ngawing, was still unstable.

He said as of Saturday afternoon they had stopped receiving families looking for their relatives.

However, the search continued for Haji Ada and other possible passengers. The search and rescue team deployed 100 personnel to look for more victims.

The boat, Cahaya Irna, departed from Old Takalar Harbor for Tanakeke Island on Friday at about 2 p.m. local time. About an hour into the trip, the boat was hit by a high wave and water entered the boat. Another wave hit and the boat capsized. (evi)
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Linkedin Veeramalla Anjaiah (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, February 4 2017

Tauzia Hotel Management on Jan. 26 launched its sixth brand, HARRIS Vertu Hotels, at a colorful cocktail party in Jakarta.

With the famous French concept of Joie de Vivre (the Joy of Living), Tauzia  a well-known hotel operator in Indonesia  will soon open its first five-star hotel under the HARRIS Vertu brand in the heart of Jakarta and close to the Presidential Palace, other important government institutions and major tourist attractions in Central Jakarta.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Makassar, South Sulawesi  Sat, February 4 2017

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently visited education institutions in South Sulawesi to assess the impact of its partnership project with local governments to improve the quality of basic education in the province.

The Jan. 26 visit to Makassar and Maros by USAID mission director Erin McKee and US Consul General in Surabaya Heather Variava focused on the impact of USAIDs PRIORITAS project, which began in 2012 and will end later this year.

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Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Pittsburgh  Sat, February 4, 2017

A teen charged with slashing and stabbing 20 fellow students and a security guard at a Pennsylvania high school cannot plead guilty but mentally ill, a judge decided Friday.

Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani concluded in an opinion and court order that Alex Hribal, 19, "may have suffered from a psychotic illness" during the April 2014 rampage but that didn't make him incapable of knowing what he did was wrong.

Both sides agree Hribal used two 8-inch kitchen knives to carve a bloody path though the hallways of Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville. Four of the victims were critically injured, including one who required a liver transplant, but all survived and have since recovered.

Hribal, then 16, purposely planned the attack on the birthday of Eric Harris, one of two teens psychiatrists say Hribal "worshipped" for their attacks on Columbine High School near Denver on April 20, 1999. Hribal told psychiatric experts for the prosecution and the defense he first wanted to commit the attacks on the 15th anniversary of the Columbine attacks but couldn't because school wasn't in session that day.

Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey sought the plea because it would send Hribal to a mental health facility first, then a state prison if his condition improved.

"I'm very disappointed," Thomassey told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I assume now we'll proceed to trial, and I'll see if 12 citizens from Westmoreland County believe he's mentally ill or not."

(Read also: Police hunt alleged child killer)

The judge cited Hribal's planning and preparation ahead of the rampage and inconsistent mental health assessments in issuing the denial.

"The Court finds that Hribal engaged in a well-organized and sophisticated plan to commit a deliberate act, namely killing as many people as possible," the judge wrote.

Prosecutors have said Hribal's mental conditions could be adequately treated in a state prison.
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Linkedin Eveline Danubrata and Cindy Silviana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017

Indonesian billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who is building luxury resorts to be managed by the Trump group, said on Friday his relationship with the United States president had been focused on business but he could help ties between the nations if needed.

Hary, 51, is chairman and chief executive of MNC Group, which is building two luxury resorts in Indonesia that will be managed by the Trump Hotel Collection, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization founded by US President Donald Trump.

There had been speculation in Indonesia that Hary, who attended Trumps inauguration in Washington last month, could act as a bridge between Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, and the US.

With the Trump Organization, the capacity is a business relationship. Its still the same before and after Trump became president, Hary said.

But if needed, I can try to help, he said.

Several leaders in Indonesia have expressed concerns over President Trumps tough immigration stance.

Trump signed an executive order a week ago that temporarily suspended the US refugee program and stopped visits to the US for 90 days by citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Indonesia was not among the countries facing restrictions but Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said the policies could raise suspicion toward Muslims. Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi expressed deep regrets over plans for extreme vetting of people from some Muslim countries entering the US.

Most of Indonesias 220 million Muslims practice a moderate form of Islam, although the Southeast Asian nation has some vocal Islamist groups and has suffered deadly militant attacks in the past.

Indonesia has traditionally close relations with the US and many Indonesians think highly of former president Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta.

(Read also: Trumps Indonesia partner heads to inauguration to bolster deals)

In an interview with Reuters ahead of Trumps inauguration, Hary dismissed concerns by ethics officials that Trumps overseas business deals might be vulnerable to conflicts of interest.

Trump has said the company would not make any new deals abroad while he is president and that his two older sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, would take over his business roles.

Hary has his own political ambitions and has said he would decide before the end of next year whether to run in Indonesias 2019 presidential election.

He told reporters on Friday that his MNC Group conglomerate, which has businesses including property and media, is planning total investments worth Rp 30 trillion (US$2.25 billion) over the next five years.
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Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Chicago  Sat, February 4, 2017

A Singapore teen seeking asylum after blog posts mocking his government landed him jail will remain in U.S. custody until a Chicago immigration court hearing next month.

Amos Yee's attorneys said Friday that immigration authorities denied a request for his release. He's been detained since Dec. 16 when he was taken into custody at O'Hare International Airport.

His hearing is March 7.

(Read also: Trump's ban dashes hope for many asylum-seekers)

Attorney Sandra Grossman submitted his asylum application this week, saying it was unclear whether he'd be released from an Illinois jail during the proceedings. She says he'll be imprisoned longer in the U.S. than he was in Singapore.

In Singapore, the 18-year-old was jailed twice on charges of hurting the religious feelings of Christians and Muslims. Grossman says he was persecuted based on laws restricting freedom of expression.(dan)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 4, 2017 08:40 2100 9b519824cb3263083aedb70a0be39cd6 4 News VocationalEducation,digital-courses,vlog,vloggers,animation,application,e-commerce,Jokowi,Education,#education,digital,students,#students Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has urged vocational schools (SMK) to provide new subjects related to technology and the digital industry.

As reported by kompas.com, Jokowi said vocational schools should not only offer machinery, electrical and construction departments, suggesting that digital skills like video blogging (vlogging) should be included as well.

The world is changing so quickly. We need to have departments on IT networking, creating vlogs, applications, animation, which are all currently trending, Jokowi said during the opening of the Indonesian Rectors Forum and Conference at the Jakarta Convention Center in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. The new skills would aim to help local talents compete in global settings.

(Read also: Minister sees Germany, Switzerland as models for vocational schools)

The President was hopeful that vocational schools would be able to offer education on e-commerce. "If there was a department on online stores, we could educate our children on developing platforms, like how Alibaba has developed such huge logistical and retail platforms that attract hundreds of millions of visitors," he said.

During the occasion, Jokowi also revealed that 82 percent of Indonesian migrant workers who worked as maids overseas were vocational school graduates. (jes/kes)
New York City law enforcement authorities have been cracking down on Yep Tours, an intercity bus company operating illegally from the eastern end of Chinatown. Now the citys Department of Transportation has delivered another blow to the Massachusetts-based carrier.

Once again last night, the NYC Sheriff was on the scene in the area near the Manhattan Bridge. In recent weeks, the cops have seized at least a half-dozen buses because Yep has failed to pay hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in fines for loading passengers without a permit.

Now Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer tells us the DOT has rejected an application for a permit at 2 Pike St. A DOT spokesperson confirms the denial.

During the fall, CB3 passed a strongly worded resolution opposing the application. The board, and members of the SPaCE Block Association, argued that the company should not be rewarded for violating city regulations.

A 2012 state law, pushed by State Sen. Daniel Squadron, set up a permit system for intercity buses, requiring operators to obtain permits and to load in designated areas. Enforcement has been a struggle, but authorities now appear to be making some headway.
Like Punjab, single-phase polling was held in the state which is witnessing a multi-cornered battle. The BJP-led NDA is currently in power in the state, where 251 candidates are in the fray.

By India Today Web Desk: Voting for 40 Assembly seats in the coastal state of Goa has concluded with nearly 83 per cent voter turnout. Like Punjab, single-phase polling was held in the state which is witnessing a multi-cornered battle. The BJP-led NDA is currently in power in the state, where 251 candidates are in the fray.

Among the early voters on Saturday were Defence Minister and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who cast his ballot in Panaji, while Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar voted in his coastal constituency of Mandrem, minutes after the polling started. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes also cast his ballot.

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Here are the latest updates:

Voting in Goa ends. Final voter turnout yet to be announced by the Election Commission

Goa has recorded an overall voter turnout of 67 per cent till 3 pm.

Voter turn out in North Goa 55 per cent, in South Goa 52 per cent.

Total voter turnout in Goa till 1 pm is 53 per cent.

"The BJP government has to go and will go. The RSS cadre in Goa will not vote for them. The Goa BJP and Parrikar are responsible for the maladies the state is suffering," Velingkar said.

Former Goa Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Subhash Velingkar cast his ballot in Panaji. Velingkar said that the alliance between the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa Suraksha Manch and Shiv Sena would win 22 seats.

"Congress and BJP have been in power for five years each. People have seen how corrupt they are. People will vote for AAP," Aam Aadmi Party's Panaji candidate Valmiki Naik said earlier in the day.

Commenting on the Goa and Punjab elections, Lalu Prasad said, "BJP ka safaya ho jayega yahi sanket mil raha hai ." (The signs indicate that the BJP will be wiped out).

." (The signs indicate that the BJP will be wiped out). South Goa's polling percentage: 32 per cent, North Goa's polling percentage 35 per cent.

Goa's overall turnout till 11 am: 34%.

First time voters in Goa are being given pink teddy bears.

Goa: North Goa has recorded a voting percentage of 16 per cent, while South Goa recorded 14 per cent with an overall turnout of 15 per cent, till 9 am.

We will win with complete, comfortable majority and will continue development work and most importantly job creation: Goa CM.

Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar casts his vote in North Goa's Arambol.

Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar casts his vote at a polling booth in North Goa's Arambol #GoaPolls pic.twitter.com/d8E8qWlqBK ANI (@ANI_news) 4 February 2017 Hinting at his own return, Parrikar said, "I like Goan food... now its upto you what meaning you make of it" told reporters while exiting the polling booth. Parrikar, notably, served as the Goa chief minister before taking up a post in the Central government.

Parrikar says initial reports of voter turnout are good and that the BJP will win the election with two-thirds majority.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar reaches polling booth in Goa.

Polling begins in Goa at 7 am for the state's 40 Assembly seats.

Also read: Goa elections: Will Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's magic work in multi-cornered contest?

Get live updates from Punjab's election day here

Watch video: Assembly elections 2017: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar casts vote in Goa

(With inputs from agencies)

--- ENDS ---
open letter

(Ian West/PA)

(Ian West/PA)

Abbie Walsh-Greenfield, 20, visited the Victorias Secret store in Cardiff and looked for an item in an XL size, when she says she was asked by a member of staff if she was aware about the sizes the store caters for. She wrote: In all honesty, having not even looked at the VS website before, let alone going to the actual store, I wasnt entirely sure what to expect. Id definitely seen plus size Victorias Secret hauls on YouTube, but had never actually clicked on a video.Nevertheless, she continued wandering round the lingerie store without allowing herself to get phased about the lack of sizing available to cater to her. She wrote: Its the same with any store, when they dont have your size, you forget about the item and move on. Which I was very happily doing at this point, may I add. Abbie soon noticed a pair of lacy, pink bed shorts and this time, was determined to find her size. She scoured the rack unsuccessfully, before picking up a L, after which she was approached by a sales associate. She wrote: The sales assistant, a very important looking and tall lady, walked straight past my friend and stood a metre or two away from me.I turned around with the large lacy, pink, baggy, elasticated bed shorts in hand, and went to head for my friend to show her my might-fit-me-might-be-tight-but-worth-it bed shorts, when.. Hi.. Are you aware of the sizing in this store?.Abbie shuffled away, placing the item back on the rack, admitting the woman had made her feel like she didnt actually want to help at all. Although she realised that the comment had just been a result of the staff member herself, as opposed to the Cardiff store or Victorias Secret as a brand, she struggled to understand the saleswomans intentions. I dont actually know what the sales assistant meant by her comment, but surely theres no two ways about it. I cant even imagine another sentence that she could have tried to say. Abbie went on to spend 100 at Ann Summers later that day, where she said the staff were lovely and kind and didnt question her size once. I am more than happy with myself, although there are some things that I would like to change, Im in no particular rush to look any certain way, she said.A Victorias Secret spokesperson told us: Victorias Secret expects that all customers be treated with respect. We are reaching out to the customer and will take the appropriate actions as were committed to ensuring that everyone feels welcome in our stores.
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By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) Ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for female genital mutilation (FGM)on February 6, a group of Bohra women has appealed to their religious leaders to put an end to the practise.

The group, Speak Out on FGM, said a UN resolution passed in December 2012 denouncing FGM and calling a ban on it has been signed by 194 countries.

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"Young Indian girls are still being subjected to FGM and this has to stop. It is extremely unfortunate. We hope to draw the UN?s attention on FGM in India, and thereby impress upon the Indian government to give the issue the urgency it merits," convener of Speak Out on FGM Masooma Ranalvi told PTI today.

In December last year, this group along with another outfit Sahiyo launched two petitions on social advocacy site Change.org to urge United Nations to recognise India as the country where mutilating of females genitals (FGM) was still practised.

Aarefa Johari of Sahiyo said, "We would like to see that UN and various international agencies pay more attention to end this inhuman practise." PTI APM RMT BAS

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Jaipur, Feb 4 (PTI) The private security guard of Gujarats Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel was today slapped with a penalty for carrying a revolver and live cartridges in his handbag instead of the luggage before boarding a flight at Udaipur airport.

Satish Kumar had declared the licensed revolver and cartridges before boarding the flight for Delhi from Dabok airport in Udaipur and he was supposed to put them in the luggage but he was carrying them with him in a handbag, DSP Vallabh Nagar (Udaipur) Ghanshyam Sharma said.

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He was in possession of the revolver and 16 cartridges. CISF detected them during frisking and informed the airport authority and police.

After initial questioning, the police allowed him to go but the Airports Authority of India (AAI) imposed a fine on him, Sharma said.

He was later allowed to board the next flight.

Kumar had arrived in Udaipur by road from Ahmadabad. PTI SDA KUN

--- ENDS ---
Two abandoned suitcases in Phuket Town cause bomb scare, confirmed by police to be emtpy

PHUKET: Two abandoned suitcases suspected of potentially containing explosive devices were found in two locations in Phuket Town yesterday evening (Feb 3).



By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 4 February 2017, 05:11PM

They were both found to be harmless after inspection by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team of the Phuket City Police.



At 8:30pm yesterday (Feb 3), the Phuket City Police and Kusoldharm rescue workers closed off an area near Suan Luang Park (Rama IX) Park in Phuket Town after the discovery of an unattended suitcase in front of SB Living Place hotel near the Intersection of Chao Fah East and Bangkok Roads.

While they were waiting for the EOD team to arrive, a worker of Phuket Municipality garbage collector told Lt Col Chatchat Choonoo of the Phuket City Police: While I was collecting the garbage, I found a piece of luggage at 8pm, so opened it and found it was empty. I was going to put it into the garbage truck, but I thought that the owner might come back to get it. So I didnt move it.

The police EOD confirmed that the suitcase was empty.

Later that evening at 9:01pm police were informed of another luggage that was found in front of the SCB Bank on Chao Fah East Rd. Again, Police cordoned off the area to inspect the suspicious luggage. The owner of the luggage later returned to collect it.

Once the police confirmed that the suitcases posed no threat, both cordoned off areas were reopened.



A similar situation occurred in Dec 2016, see story here.
From rare pictures of Gandhi to kinetic art from Israel, this art fair in Delhi will take you around the world.

This photograph of Mahatma Gandhi will catch your eye at the India Art Fair. Photo: Mail Today

By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today, Adila Matra: INDIA

THE sepia-tinted photograph of Mahatma Gandhi lounging in a train compartment is sure to catch your eye at the India Art Fair. There are many more such photographs of Gandhi, taken between 1945 and 1946, at the fair. The photographer is Kanu Gandhi, son of Narandas Gandhi, a nephew of the Mahatma. Though Kanu wanted to be a doctor, in 1936, he was persuaded by his father to join Gandhi's personal staff at Sevagram where he came to be known as 'Bapu's Hanuman'.

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It was during this time Kanu developed an interest in photography and persuaded Gandhi to allow him to photograph him. Edited from a long forgotten archive, these restored 55 gelatin silver sepia toned prints offer an extraordinary and rare account of the Mahatma's life and his interactions with political leaders of the freedom movement. Delhi based gallery PHOTOINK is exhibiting late Kanu's photographs at Booth P4.

Also read: Artist Paresh Maity's latest show is a toast to his love for watercolours

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art is exhibiting artist Sudarshan Shetty's Taj Mahal. Constructed with over 250 miniature metallic reproductions of the monument, a video plays inside the structure, showing the central dome of the actual building, a mausoleum for love, consumed by flames. Shetty wants to comment on the commoditisation of the monument in the form of tacky metal and stone souvenirs. Sudarshan Shetty's Taj Mahal, supported by KNMA, is at Booth P11.

Israeli artist Yaakov Agam. Photo: Mail Today

GLOBAL

THE international contingent is in full form at India Art Fair. At the forefront is the 'Platform' space, where established and emerging South Asian galleries such as Britto Arts Trust (Dhaka) and Nepal Art Council (Kathmandu) are showcasing their works.

Delhi-based gallery Blueprint 12 is also a part of 'Platform', and is displaying the works of four artists - each from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. While Bangladeshi sculptor Mahbubur Rahman's sculpture 'Lonely King' comments on today's society where power and money are worshipped, Sri Lankan artist Pala Pothupitye's project ('Fort Jaffna') places social context in the historical evolution of the Jaffna region.

Then there's Israel-based Bruno Art Group, which is only displaying the works of one individual. Yaakov Agam's show explores the dimensions of art. Agam is renowned for establishing the Kinetic Art Movement, wherein movement and time are an important feature of art. He focuses on these dimensions in art and uses unconventional materials such as plastic, resin and enamel to create a bright kaleidoscope of colours.

Don't forget to check out the stalls of the following international galleries - Kalfayan Galleries (Athens), Grey Noise (Dubai), Sabrina Amrani (Madrid) and Lukas Feichtner Galerie (Vienna).

MUST-SEE BOOTHS ON THE GROUND

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1. Tasveer has a selection of photographs at BOOTH C4. Waswo's Photowallah -a series of hand-painted photographs produced in collaboration with Rajesh Soni; Serena Chopra's Bhutan Echoes; and Rohit Chawla's reconstructed compositions of paintings by Raja Ravi Varma from The Inspired Frame.

2. FICA's MEMOIR BAR project by artist duo Thukral & Tagra is at BOOTH P14. The project invites viewers to write a memory down on paper, shred it and watch it being made into a tile.

3. In an event curated by Le Meridien, street art is juxtaposed with music at LE MERIDIEN HUB (VIP LOUNGE). While the musician plays the drums, the artist paints to the notes, capturing the rhythms on the canvas.

4. Artdistrict XIII presents 'Condition Reports' curated by Ranjit Hoskoteat BOOTH E10. It brings together the work of 11 artists, including Baiju Parthan and Veer Munshi.

India Art Fair is on till February 5 at NSIC Grounds, Okhla

--- ENDS ---
How many people have already voted absentee in South Dakota ahead of Election Day?

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By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Feb 3 (PTI) US President Donald Trump today alleged that Iran is "playing with fire" and he would be not as kind to them as was his predecessor Barack Obama was.

"Iran is playing with fire - they dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump said in a tweet.

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Earlier in another tweet, Trump claimed that Obama bailed Iran out from its economic crisis.

"Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the US came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: USD 150 billion," he told his 23.5 million followers.

Later today, the Trump administration slapped more than two dozen Iranian entities with sanctions after the Islamic Republic launched a missile test.

Early this week, the US National Security Advisor Gen (rtd) Michael Flynn put Iran on notice and said that the United States would respond appropriately against the alleged destabilising behavior of Iran. PTI LKJ UZM

--- ENDS ---
"As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," James Mattis told reporters in Tokyo.

By Indo-Asian News Service: US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Saturday described Iran as the world's greater sponsor of terrorism, hours after the Trump administration announced fresh sanctions on the country following a recent missile test.

"As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," Mattis told reporters in Tokyo, before adding that he saw no need to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

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"I do not see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time," Mattis said as he wrapped up his visits to Japan and South Korea, his first foreign trip as defence secretary.

Michael T. Flynn, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser, said this week that the US was putting Iran "on notice" because of its January 29 missile test and support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom the US has accused of threatening American vessels in the Red Sea and attacking a Saudi Navy patrol boat, the New York Times reported.

The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions on Friday against 25 Iranians and companies that it said were connected with Iran's missile programme and the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Mattis defended the decision to put a spotlight on Iran's behaviour, saying that it was important to make Iran recognise that "it is getting the attention of a lot of people", according to the report.

He also said that the US did not need to deploy additional military resources to signal its concern. "Right now, I do not think that is necessary," he said.

Also read:

Poll suggests 40% people support Donald Trump's impeachment

How Trump's new executive order on H1B visas will dent Indian IT sector

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Jacqueline Fernnadez and Sidharth Malhotra recently wrapped up the shoot of their upcoming release Reload, and if a report in Mumbai Mirror is to be believed, the last shoot was hot as hell. Jacqueline, who made hearts melt with her sexy French talk on Koffee With Karan, reportedly shot for a sensuous song where she pole-dances to seduce Sid.

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ALSO READ: Jacqueline's answer to silence all 'dating Sidharth Malhotra' rumours

The report quotes a source as saying, "The song, called Chandralekha, was shot in Mumbai over three days on a set designed as a nightclub. Jackie took some classes in pole dancing before the shoot to look convincing on screen. The song has been choreographed by Adil Shaikh, who recently won the Filmfare award for Best Choreography Filmfare for Kar Gayi Chull from Kapoor & Sons."

Jacqueline and Sidharth's flirty camaderie on Koffee With Karan was a hit with the audience. Reload, which is set to release on August 25, marks Jackie and Sid's second collaboration after Brothers (2015).

--- ENDS ---
On the completion of 12 years of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black on Saturday, megastar Amitabh Bachchan revealed that he didn't take any salary to work in the project as just working with the filmmaker in such a project was "sufficient fees".

Black, which released on February 4, 2005, revolves around a blind, deaf girl (played by Rani Mukerji), and her relationship with her teacher (Amitabh) who himself later develops Alzheimer's disease.

"I had just wanted to work with Sanjay, after seeing all other works he had done. And when the opportunity came, it was quite overwhelming. I did not take any salary for the film. Just being a part of such an enterprise, was sufficient fees," Amitabh posted on his blog.

The 74-year-old further said that when a fire damaged the set of the film during its production, he and Rani visited Bhansali's house and got ready to do all the scenes again.

"He (Bhansali) built the first set of the house at a new floor at Film City, the first set to be put up on this floor. I was shooting for Kaun Banega Crorepati' in Film City and Bhansali invited me to come over and see the set.

"It was magnificent! And just before I entered, Bhansali had lit up the place with candles. It looked heavenly," said Amitabh, who won a National Award for Best Actor for his role.

However, Amitabh went on to add that when they were "halfway through the schedule", one morning they got to know about the "tragedy  a fire on set, and the entire set burnt down".

"Rani and I sped across to Sanjay's home to hold his hand that morning to reassure him that we would re-shoot what had been lost, again. He was quite obviously distraught and broken, but never too much to not get back up on his feet. He did. We did. And the results are there to be seen," Amitabh added.

Amitabh said Bhansali asked him to read the story of the film on his own as the "Bajirao Mastani" director called himself a "bad narrator".

"It was special from the very first day of its shooting. Bhansali came to Nasik where I was shooting for Khakee' to narrate the script to me, started reading from a very well bound black file, read a few sentences, and then stopped. I am a bad narrator Amitji, you read the script' and left for Mumbai," Amitabh said.

Further praising Bhansali, Amitabh said: "Sanjay's attention to detail, his creating an ambience to enhance performances, was simply breathtaking".

The movie also gave Amitabh a chance to realise a childhood dream.

"At the premiere when we all saw the film, there were just those tears of joy within me, and of course the fact of having Dilip saheb (Dilip Kumar) in the audience was a childhood dream coming true," Amitabh said.

"When the film got over, he stood outside the hall, held my hands and just looked into my eyes. It was, what I could have allowed, to last a lifetime," he added.


Pakistani actor Mahira Khan, who made her Bollywood debut with Raees, joined the cast at a press conference via a video call on Friday.

The press conference had Shah Rukh Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Ritesh Sidhwani, who were later joined by the female lead of the movie Mahira Khan via a video call. She could not be physically present for the promotions of the movie due to the impending ban on Pakistani artistes in India but she made a virtual appearance and addressed the Indian fans for the first time.

Mahira was extremely excited to be a part of the press conference and happily answered the questions thrown at her by the media. When asked how she feels about the stupendous success of the film, she said, "I wasn't expecting such an amazing response and so it's just surpassed everything I could've imagined."

The actor donned her Zaalima t-shirt and when asked about her favourite song from the film, she immediately said it's Zaalima and also expressed how popular it is in Pakistan."It's playing here, everywhere, in every nook and corner. I love it. It is a really nice song and I have some really good memories.", she quipped.

SRK was at his jovial best.When asked to comment on his journey of Raees he expressed how he enjoyed every bit of it and especially doing a garba song, 'Udi Udi Jaaye' which he had never attempted before.

Helmed by ace director Rahul Dholakia, Raees also features Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a pivotal role.
A Novel, a memoir, or simply a pack of lies? Described as each in turn, Michael Chabons new book Moonglow vacillates between multiple guises, playfully teasing the reader at every turn.

In it, a young writer who goes by the name Mike Chabon (a subtle but necessary distinction), is privy to the deathbed confessions of his grandfather. In the final stages of painful bone cancer, the old mans tongue is loosened by high doses of painkillers. Explain everything, he tells his grandson. Make it mean something. Use a lot of those fancy metaphors of yours. Put the whole thing in proper chronological order, not this mishmash Im making you.

Chabon definitely makes it mean something  a tender love story between two damaged people  what he doesnt do, however, is set it forth in chronological order. For, whatever this book is, its also a reflection on memory, and memory doesnt work like that. By default its self-selecting; not objective reportage, but instead the creation of a narrative, one in which beginnings, middles and ends chase each others tails.

Chabons grandfather is an engineer from Philadelphia. As a soldier during the Second World War he witnesses the liberation of Mittelbau-Dora, the concentration camp at Nordhausen where inmates were forced to work on the V-2 rocket. Hes haunted by what hes seen, and by the figure of Wernher von Braun, the aerospace engineer who invented the missile for Nazi Germany and thereafter the Saturn V rocket for Nasa in the US. Space both compels and repels him  knowing what he does about von Braun, he has to leave the room when his family is gathered round the TV eagerly watching the moon landings, but later in life he builds scale models of crafts and vehicles for Nasa.

Grappling with her own demons is Mikes grandmother whom Mikes grandfather meets in Baltimore in 1947, a French Jewish refugee with an infant daughter (Mikes mother) in tow. The horrors of her war experience manifest in the frightening figure of a Skinless Horse, and soon a full-blown psychosis sends her over the edge and into a state hospital. With the action moving episodically between Germany during the war, Florida in the late Eighties (where Mikes grandfather is living in a retirement complex prior to falling sick), Baltimore in the Forties and Fifties, and a New York prison (Mikes grandfather does time after attempting to kill his boss), the books structure ably mimics the labyrinths of a drug-addled mind.

That said, Chabon never loses control of his material, or his plot; the liberties he takes when it comes to the truth  whatever that is  allowing him to create a narrative that unspools in a seemingly organic way. In preparing this memoir, he explains in the authors note that precedes the work, I have stuck to facts except when facts refused to conform with memory, narrative purpose, or the truth as I prefer to understand it. Whether fact or fiction, its undeniably a masterclass in storytelling.

the independent
The BJP Central Election Committee on Saturday released a second list of 27 candidates for the March 4 and 8 elections to the 60-member Manipur assembly.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had already announced the names of 31 candidates some days ago, while two names are yet to be announced.

The BJP and the ruling Congress are the only ones which have come out with the names of the candidates.

Some high profile politicians were disappointed as their names were not included.

The most prominent among them is Yumnam Joykumar, a retired Director General of Police.

Nemcha Kipgen got the BJP ticket for the Kangpokpi constituency. She had resigned from the ruling Congress and joined the BJP.

The second BJP woman candidate is S S Olish from the Chandel constituency.

So far, there is just one Muslim candidate of the BJP. The last constituency where a Muslim may have got a ticket was Khetrigao but a non-Muslim was given it. In sharp contrast, there are three Muslim candidates, two women and one Nepali in the Congress list.

A prominent candidate included in Saturday's list is Lallukham Fimate, former Director of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, and presently the Head of Department of forensic science, J N Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal. He had contested unsuccessfully in the 2012 elections.

Indications are that some disappointed BJP ticket aspirants may join some other parties.

One retired IPS officer, P Dhanakumar who was denied the BJP ticket, has already joined a local party to contest the elections.
The BJP promises to end corruption in Uttarakhand by appointing Lok Ayukta in 100 days, if voted to power. Chief Minister, ministers, public representatives and bureaucrats all will come under the preview of Lok Ayukta. Besides this BJP will set up anti-corruption cell and special helpline to register complains related to corruption.

BJP has smartly played the Lok Ayukta card as in the last assembly election the saffron party managed to put up an impressive show by making similar promise. The 2007 assembly poll survey indicated BJP winning below 20 seats, but by changing the Chief Minister and playing on the clean image of Major-General (Retd.) B.C. Khanduri the saffron party won 31 seats- to finish one seat behind the Congress. Khanduri brought the Lok Ayukta bill to reverse fortunes of BJP.

BJP released its vision document for Uttarakhand in Dehradun on Saturday. The document makes sharp attack on the prevailing corruption of the Congress government and makes special mentioning about ending the malpractice.

Despite preaching honesty regularly, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat failed to appoint Lok Ayukta in his two year term. Uttarakhand Governor K.K Paul rejected the Lok Ayukta files twice- for not following the procedure.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the document in Dehradun. BJP will set up anti-corruption cell and a special helpline, to register complains about corruption. The helpline will function directly under CM office.

Even on the permanent hill state capital issue, BJP has indicated some clarity by claiming that after developing infrastructure at Gairsain, and consulting people, plans will be made for making it Uttarakhands summer capital. On the permanent capital issue, BJP wants to discuss the topic in Uttarakhand assembly to take final decision on it.

Besides this BJP promises new tourism policy, youth policy and makes attempt to woo NRI from Uttarakhand. For this BJP plans to host Pravasi Uttarakhand Diwas. On the mass illegal sand mining going on in Uttarakhand, the BJP document makes provision for making a transparency policy for sand mining. Introducing e-tendering and e-governance are other steps which BJP wants to take for tackling corruption.

Countering the free smart phone poll sops of Congress in a limited way, BJP announces providing free smart phone and laptop to economically weak but talented students. But, aims at providing free wi-fi in every college.

Improved medical facilities, new tourism circuits, free travel for students to appear in competitive examination, promoting organic farming, restarting closed hydro power projects, generating electricity through water mills (Gharat), improving air/train connectivity, promoting solar power generation, etc were other promises made by BJP in its vision document.
Former Army Chief and ex-governor, General J.J. Singh, was among the first to cast his vote on Saturday morning at a polling station in Patiala city in Punjab, 60 km from here.

Accompanied by his wife, Gen Singh, who is a candidate of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, said that he was confident of victory from the Patiala-urban assembly where he is challenging Punjab Congress President and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Nand Kishore, a Patiala resident, was the first one to cast his vote in Patiala.

"I have been the first one cast to my vote for the past 30 years," he said.

Over 1.98 crore electors will decide the fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and one transgender candidate.


Several first time female voters who cast their ballot in 40 selected polling booths in Goa, came away with more than just an indelible ink stain on their fingers.

Pink teddy bears were distributed at the specially designed polling stations, in a bid to incentivise young voters to vote.

The polling booths were decorated with pink balloons, pink table cloths, pink walls, while polling officials were also seen wearing pink clothes.

"The teddy bears were given to first time voters in 40 specially designed polling booths across Goa," Chief Electoral Officer Kunal said.

Over 1000 teddy bears have been ordered by the election officials here.

A total of 32,354 first time voters are entitled to cast ballot in Saturday's state assembly polls.
Sixty seven per cent voters cast their ballot by 3 pm in the Goa assembly polls on Saturday, an election official said.

"Seventy per cent votes were polled in North Goa and 65 per cent voting was recorded in South Goa," a spokesperson for the Chief Electoral Officer told reporters in Panaji.

Electronic voting machines malfunctioned in at least three polling booths in the state.

While polling was rescheduled at booth number eight at Aquem in Margao town, 35 kms from here, in another booth in Vasco, EVM malfunctioning led to suspension of voting for around two hours, the official said.

EVM failure was also reported at booth number 12 in Cortalim assembly constituency in South Goa.

Goa has 11.08 lakh registered voters who can exercise their franchise till 5 p.m.

The 2012 Goa assembly polls recorded the highest-ever voting percentage at 82.2 per cent.
The encounter took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district.

By Ashraf Wani: Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in a brief encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla.

The slain militants have been identified as Parvaiz Ahmad, a Hizbul district commander and Umar Ghazi, which is a code name.

Security forces from the J&K police's Special Operations Group and the 22 RR, acting on specific inputs about the movement of the, cordoned off the area and killed the two in an exchange of fire.

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One AK rifle and one pistol was recovered from the killed militants.

Also read: Jammu and Kashmir: 3 Hizbul terrorists killed in encounter with security forces in Pahalgam

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Himachal Pradesh Assembly Budget session would commence from March 1, State Vidhan Sabha Secretary Sunder Lal Verma stated in notification on Friday.

Verma said a notification for the session which would commence from March 1 has been issued.

The budget session is scheduled to have 21 sittings at Shimla and it would begin with Governor Acharya Devvrats address on March 1, 2017 wherein supplementary budget would be tabled.

Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra, who also holds the portfolio of Finance, would present Financial Year 2017-18 Budget of state on March 10, he said.

He said during the session there would two private members days.

There would be 21 sitting during the session and the House would be on nine days break from Mar 18 to Mar 26, he said, adding this would be the 14th session of 12th State Legislature Assembly and it would end on April 7, 2017.
The tension between Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration and JNU Student's Union (JNUSU) on the issue of new M.Phil/Ph.D entrance policy got further intensified after administration introduced three tier entrance test consisting of a objective type qualifying test where all students need to get 50 percent for moving on to the next stages.

The student community termed it as nothing short of 'mockery' on the face of 'undeterred' and 'continuous' struggle by the students against the new rules.

In December JNU administration altered the 'age-old' entrance criterion and introduced new policy giving absolute weightage to viva-voce while making written only qualifying. Students particularly from the backward community were the first who protested against it, followed by right wing ABVP and left dominated JNUSU in fray.

After the continuous hunger strike by students in pursuance of their cause, the JNU administration allegedly 'conceded' to their demands in standing committee meeting and reportedly accepted to introduce the 80:20 criteria, though no written assurance was issued.

However, the press release issued by administration took students by surprise as it makes provisions of introducing three tier entrance test consisting of a objective type qualifying test where all students need to get 50 percent for moving on to next stages.

The subsequent stages would be of descriptive type written test and viva voce having weightage of 80 and 20 respectively. Students alleged that the JNU administration has played very 'cleverly' around the issue and its assurance is merely an 'eye-wash' for student community. JNUSU alleged that administration has manipulated the minutes of standing committee in haste to implement UGC Gazette Notification thus ignoring the concerns raised by student community. JNUSU alleged that troika of JNU-MHRDUGC are going against the constitutional mandate of OBC expansion.

The JNUSU is on indefinite hunger strike against the new entrance policy, since last 4 days,demanding the revocation of UGC Gazette notification, 2016. JNUSU said that the intentions of JNU administration were to bar the students from marginalised community from entering the varsity.

JNUSU president Mohit Pandey said that underprivileged section would be filtered out at the very first stage itself if the present policy was followed as it would make it almost impossible for them to qualify. However,the administration told that it had framed the rules only after prolonged deliberations in the presence of the JNUSU representatives.

JNU's shocking press release came a day after JNUSU submitted a memorandum to Union HRD minister demanding the revocation of UGC Gazette notification of 5 May, 2016 taking 'leverage' of which JNU claims to alter its admission criteria making it almost 'inaccessible' for Dalit and backward student community to enter JNU.
As the elections are over now, the new government will have Punjabs dream task ahead to compete with neighbouring Pakistan on Kinnow- a type of citrus fruit  export. For this, the state-run Punjab Agro Industries (PAIC) have set a target to catch the pace of Pakistans annual exports of around four million tonne of Kinnow every year.

Encouraged by its last years export of 5,000 tonnes of Kinnow in Russia, Ukraine and Middle East, the PAIC is eyeing to accelerate its export efforts to 20,000 tonnes of Kinnow to the domestic and international markets.

Sources said that the major targeted export will be done in international markets such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and Iran by ship routes.

In order to take a lead from last financial years export, the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (PAIC) has been working on International Standard post-harvest fungicide laden wax technique to maintain the quality of Kinnow for a longer time.

Also, the PAIC officials are in the process of consulting with the top companies running cold chains on international levels. Eyeing to strengthen its cold chain system the corporation is in the process to tie up with top companies to make a success in the export of 20,000 tons of Kinnow in next one year.

Kahan Singh Pannu, Managing Director PIAC, told The Statesman, We are in process to gear up the efforts on Kinnow export on international levels. This move is likely to benefit the Kinnow growers of the state. We are also working to import citrus fruit clippers and harvesting bags, besides providing specialised training to labour engaged in fruit picking in the orchards, he said.

At the fag end of the election year of 2016, Punjab chief minister (CM) Parkash Singh Badal led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government had sanctioned a financial grant of Rs.10 Crore to PIAC for immediate improvement of cold chain infrastructure for Kinnow marketing.

In order to take Kinnow to distant marketing centers, the Railway Ministry had been requested to provide refrigerated wagons from Abohar, Bathinda and Hoshiarpur railway stations, thereby covering the Kinnow hubs of the state.

According to the information, Pakistan has been the traditional Kinnow exporter and produces close to 4 million tonnes of Kinnow annually as compared to 1 million tonnes produced in India.
Only partial traffic for stranded vehicles was allowed on Saturday on the Jammu-Srinagar highway which has remained closed due to landslides.

"After remaining closed for two days due to multiple landslides in Jammu's Ramban sector, the highway was partially restored," a traffic official said.

"Only stranded vehicles will be cleared today (Saturday) and no traffic from either Jammu or Srinagar will be permitted."

Over 2,000 vehicles including light motor vehicles and trucks remained stranded on the over 300 km long highway.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Friday during which she requested the Centre to allow vehicular traffic through the Bannihal-Qazigund tunnel.

The tunnel connects the Kashmir valley with the Ramban district.
Actor Brad Pitt has reportedly refused to pay his estranged wife Angelina Jolie $100,000 in child support.

According to a source, Pitt "has no issue taking care of" their six children  Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox, but he will not pay her money to take care of their children, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The source said $250,000 will be put in each child's trust fund every year, which will be capped off at $5 million.

"This will pay for all of the kids' expenses as well as set up a trust fund for each child," the source told InTouch magazine.

Jolie is said to be hoping to get the divorce finalised in the next 90 days.

"Angie wants the divorce finalised within the next 90 days, including custody and property settlements. But with everything she's asking for, it's unlikely that will happen. She's making ridiculous financial demands," the source added.
Art is the expression of human creative skill and imagination in a visual form to be appreciated for its beauty and emotional power.

A work of art when recognised becomes a classic.

A film, an art, a brain child of its maker when is critically acclaimed, loved and appreciated, and becomes recipient of the most prestigious awards can surely be called a classic.

Hard-hitting cinema, heart wrenching emotions, brain teasing story lines and spell binding cinematography, the world of cinema has it all.

And the most prestigious awards of all, Oscars is a dream to be won.

The awards unite the film fraternity all across the world. The red carpet and the splendid starry night bring the most talented artistes under the same roof.

Oscars are not just confined to Hollywood anymore; the craze is all around the world.

The best of the films await these awards and those who win one surely have a feather in their hat to cherish forever.

From Leonardo DiCaprios win to Indias nominations, the awards have always been the hot topic of almost every movie buffs conversation.

Not only the announcement of winners is the exciting part of these awards but the history of Oscars is equally interesting.

Oscars- the most prestigious awards to annually honour the best creations and performances in the field of cinema are also called Academy awards.

The first ever award ceremony took place in the year 1929 which was a private affair and selected guests could witness the event. Unlike the current ritual of the award shows, the winners of the first ever Oscars were announced three months before the ceremony took place.

On May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotels blossom room the first batch of awards were given.

The first Oscar for best actor was bagged by German tragedian Emil Jannings for 'The Last Command' and 'The Way of All Flesh'.

The actor had to return to Europe much before the actual ceremony, so on his request the Academy gave him the award early making his award the first Academy Award to be ever presented.

The award for best actress was won by Janet Gaynor, for her performance in 'Seventh Heaven', 'Street Angel' and 'Sunrise'.

There were two awards in direction; Frank Borzage won for Dramatic Picture and Lewis Milestone for Comedic Picture.

Crediting the magnificence of these awards to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the world awaits for the Oscar night every year. On February 26, 2017 the 89th Academy awards will be presented.

Film actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was chosen as the first president of the Academy with total 36 members.

AMPAS brain child, the whole event is categorised into around 24 categories this time although the first one had only 12 categories.

Since 1929, Oscar ceremony has been publicly broadcast. From Radio to Television to print media, the news used to be everywhere.

Till 1953, radio broadcast used to take place and thereafter, the ceremony was switched to TV. During the first 10 years, the results of the award ceremony were given to newspapers for publication at 11 in the night right after the awards.

However, Los Angeles Times ruined the ritual by announcing the winners even before the ceremony began. Hence, use of a sealed envelope to carry the names of winners came into being.

The first ever coloured broadcast of the awards was in the year 1966 which made the experience for viewers even more dazzling.

Since 2002, the awards have been broadcast from the Kodak Theatre.

Currently Oscars are watched internationally and reaches movie fans in over 200 countries.

So while you plan to spend this weekend binge watching your favourite Oscar award winning movies, share with us which is your most favourite and why in the comment section below.
Eleven years after he became a byword for shame and disgrace, Mel Gibson is once again an Oscar candidate. Hacksaw Ridge is his first film as a director since 2006, and its star Andrew Garfield is nominated for best actor. But Gibsons full-blooded take on the true tale of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to bear arms but won the Medal of Honour after heroically saving more than 70 soldiers as a medic in Okinawa, reminds us of his artistic virtues and vices.

Inspired by unfashionable, patriotic Pacific war films such as the Errol Flynn potboiler Objective, Burma, its visceral battle scenes pummel the viewer, as heroic US troops are destroyed by fanatical Japanese hordes. Earlier sequences, meanwhile, valourise the piously religious, simple country upbringing of Garfields Doss. When blood sluices from him after battle, he recalls Jesus in Gibsons The Passion of the Christ (2002). Whether Gibsons sins can be washed away is Hacksaw Ridges Hollywood subtext.

His downfall had been brutally swift. Stopped by police for speeding in July 2006, he was found to be drunk, with an open bottle of tequila by his side. F***ing Jews, he then blurted to the arresting officers. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. This anti-Semitic outburst was soon made public, and linked to the beliefs of Gibsons father, Hutton Gibson, a member of an extremist Christian sect, Catholic Traditionalism, which blames Jews for the crucifixion, as The Passion of the Christ also does.

As Hacksaw Ridge is released in the UK this week, the French are debating another notorious, hugely talented figure. The original choice of Roman Polanski as president of this years Cesars (Frances Oscar equivalent)  he has now dropped out following backlash  recognises his brilliance as the director of Rosemarys Baby and Chinatown. But it has been widely condemned because of the rape charges against him following an incident with 13-year-old Samantha Gailey in Hollywood in 1977. Fleeing the US before a trial which he was warned would end in him being jailed for 42 years, he has been an exile in fear of extradition ever since. Gailey herself (now named Geimer after marriage) eventually forgave Polanski, and wishes him no further punishment. The directors crime is also balanced by his suffering as a Jewish child in the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust. His Oscar for his film set in that period, The Pianist (2002), was the Hollywood ending to his shame.

Separating art from fallible artists is a quandary that recurs through the decades.

A new DVD release, meanwhile, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, tells another wartime tale, and reminds us of another talent brought low by personal flaws. Its the story of the crew of the US ship that was torpedoed while returning from delivering components of the atom bomb, the missions secrecy leaving hundreds of its crew to be eaten by sharks. Nicolas Cage stars, but Tom Sizemore is equally memorable.

In the late Nineties, Sizemore was a riveting character actor on the point of stardom after roles in Heat and Saving Private Ryan. This was itself a story of redemption, after a history of drug addiction. But drugs and lurid debauchery brought him low again, sealed by his 2005 conviction for assaulting Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. All his old volatile charisma and fast-talking nerviness are on display in his new film. Time will tell if he ever again gets the roles hes capable of.

Separating art from fallible artists is a quandary that recurs through the decades. Leni Riefenstahl is the most infamous director of all, because of Triumph of the Will (1934) and Olympia (1938), documentaries loved for their high and hugely influential style, and loathed for their subjects  respectively, the 1934 Nazi Nuremberg rally and Hitlers Munich Olympics.

As an independent film-maker, Riefenstahl was less entwined with the Nazi regime than many other German directors, who quietly resumed their careers after the war. She denied complicity, and knowledge of the Holocaust. But its impossible to extricate her work from its murderous time. What, though, are we to make of Sergei Eisensteins great work made in Stalins Soviet Union, a regime of equivalent savagery? His conflicted, coded response to it is held to absolve him. Still, like Fellinis start in Mussolinis fascist film industry, a filmmakers era cant always be escaped.

Back in Hollywood, scandal more usually involves sex and money. Silent comedy star Fatty Arbuckles 1921 trial for the rape and manslaughter of Virginia Rappe at a party, though he was acquitted, gave the town its reputation as a modern Gomorrah, and ended his career. The greatest star of all, Charlie Chaplin, was then ruined after decades of unbroken success by his 1943 trial for transporting 22-year-old Joan Barry (30 years his junior) across state lines for immoral purposes. Though he too was acquitted, a paternity case later that year saw him condemned by Barrys lawyer as a grey-haired old buzzard. He had previously survived his wife Lita Chaplins still more lurid, 52-page petition for divorce in 1927. But back then, he had been the most famous and beloved man in the world.

Much later in his career, the seediness stuck. His next film, Monsieur Verdoux (1947), in which he played a serial killer of women, seemed, like The Passion of the Christ, to confirm his distasteful nature. Its premiere was booed and hissed. It was Chaplins first flop, and the American public rejected all his subsequent work.

Aged 61, Gibson, too, has seen a natural dissipation of his appeal as an actor.

His last two starring roles, in Get the Gringo (2012) and Blood Father (2016), were well-reviewed commercial duds. Hacksaw Ridge, though, is already a hit in the US, and received a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. In its best moments, it recalls the exhilarating, daring velocity of his previous film as a director, the 16th century-set, Mayan-language Apocalypto (2006). The talent and bull-headed determination behind that and the mostly Aramaic-language The Passion of the Christ has clearly survived his alcoholic outburst of racism and misogyny a decade ago.

Ive done a lot of work on myself these last 10 years, he recently reflected to Deadline. Ive deliberately kept a low profile  I think the best way somebody can show theyre sorry is to fix themselves and thats what Ive been doing, and Im just happy to be here. Hollywood clearly believes hes served his time.

An Oscar would confirm his human, horrible mistakes have been forgiven. With the artist absolved, appreciating his art can resume.
Theatre in Bengal  or anywhere else for that matter  has seldom seen such commitment. There are no high stakes, no big advertisements, not even a regular stage for the kind of theatre that Partha Gupta has converted into a mission. The graduate from the drama department of Visva Bharati University had a brief encounter with painting before he realised that the theatre was a stronger medium of expression.

That was primarily because he intended to make the theatre a product of the soil that has nurtured him.

His theatre is presented in the vast landscape of Birbhum  just over an acre of land which is not only his home but also the centre of all his creative ideas. He himself may have been creatively sustained by the formal education he had received from Visva Bharati but the team that now forms the Birbhum Blossom Theatre, which was started more than 10 years ago, consists of the men and women of the soil.

The freezing climate of Dwaronda provided just the right open-air setting for Guptas unique interpretation of Tagores Muktadhara. As an audience from the neighbouring villages on the outskirts of Santiniketan streamed in, a group of Adivasi performers showed how the Nobel Laureates message of freedom could be presented in Santhali and inspire not just a group of unlettered tribal people but also the audience from 30 neighbouring villages that was treated to a rare experience. Gupta confesses that it was not his objective to offer a literal translation of the play. Instead, it was not just the physical barriers that people encountered but also the barriers of the mind and spirit that needed to be removed from the stream of life. The play was thus clipped to its essentials and fleshed out with the music and dance that came naturally to the tribal people. Whether they had grasped the complexities of the play was less important than the fact that this version of Muktadhara was a visual delight in a natural setting creatively designed with the help of the people themselves.

The audience marvelled at the large stage made of mud after months of labour. The wings were made of branches chopped from trees while the frugal props matched the quality of life with which the plays ideas were integrated with superb craftsmanship. It was clear that the director and overall team leader, Gupta, was using all the technical skills he had acquired in his study of theatre to promote the social and creative awareness among the local population to which he has now dedicated his life. While the makeshift stage had been built by the tribal people, the lighting had been designed by the director with technical equipment brought over from Kolkata. The difference between the technically advanced theatre produced by established groups and the makeshift performances arising from the soil was only too conspicuous. But a visitor like Ashok Mukhopadhyay, who heads Theatre Workshop in Kolkata, could only explode with appreciation for the honesty and integrity with which the tribal people, spearheaded by Gupta, had produced a unique interpretation of Muktadhara.

Mukhopadhayay had been invited to speak on the interpretation of Shakespeare in the Bengali theatre before the performance of Muktadhara. In keeping with the objectives of the Birbhum Blossom Theatre, he said that it was the content of the Shakespeare plays that mattered more than the language.

The work that had been done with the tribal people over the past 11 years had been justified by the results that had been achieved. Gupta went on to say that he himself had toyed with the idea of doing Shakespeare but had later settled for Tagore. After doing Raktakarabi last year, he had been inspired to take up the more complex theme of Muktadhara this year. The final result should be

a trilogy with Raja, probably next year.

Whether it is Shakespeare or Tagore, the inspiration that Gupta had derived from Ratan Thiyam in Manipur has taught him to remain true to his roots. The Manipuri stalwart of the theatre had given him the opportunity to organise a tribal dance festival under the banner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi in Dwaronda in 2011. That was the plant that has now grown into a tree of artistic consciousness among the tribal people. The land that belongs to Guptas family has now acquired a more meaningful identity of tribal theatre. Gupta is firm on sustaining the creative spirit that has found strong roots.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday held their second road show here, reflecting the new found bonhomie between the two parties in the poll-bound state.

Large crowds and party workers of both the parties cheered the two leaders who targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their speeches from their special 'Rath'.

The three-hour long exercise covered 12 kilometres from Dayalbagh to the Bijlighar crossing.

The first joint road show was held in Lucknow on January 29.

Rahul said Akhilesh has done good work in the state and "We will now oust the BJP and the RSS from UP".

The road show touched the minority areas as it inched its way along the life line of the city, the MG Road, bringing traffic to a halt.

There would be a three-cornered fight between BJP, BSP and SP-Congress alliance in UP.

Out of the 403 assembly seats, SP would be contesting 298 and Congress the rest 105.
Empowering minorities will be the focus area of the NDA government during the next fiscal, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas asserted on Saturday and hailed the Budget for provisions made for development of the communities in line with its "rashtriya kartavya" (national duty).

Rs 4,195.48 crore has been allocated to the Ministry Of Minority Affairs in the Budget for 2017-18, nearly 10 per cent or Rs 368.23 crore rise over the provision made for 2016-17.

"The Modi government believes that development of poor, weaker sections and minorities is not only its 'rajdharma' but also its 'rashtriya kartavya' (national duty)," Naqvi said.

"Its focus is on educational empowerment and skill development of minorities. Maximum part of this budget will be used for the purpose," the minister told mediapersons.

Naqvi said for 2017-18 fiscal, his ministry has set itself a target of providing scholarships to about 35 lakh students. Employment-oriented training will be provided to more than two lakh youths belonging to minority communities.

The government has hiked allocation for his ministry's spending under the Prime Minister's new 15-point programme by 19 per cent vis- -vis the current fiscal, he said.

More than Rs 2,600 crore has been earmarked for the ministry's various scholarships and skill development schemes such as 'Seekho aur Kamao', 'Nai Manzil', 'Nai Roshni', 'Usttad', 'Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre' and 'Begum Hazrat Mahal' scholarship for girls.

Rs 250 crore has been allocated for 'Seekho aur Kamao' and Rs 176 crore for 'Nai Manzil' scheme, a jump of Rs 56 crore and Rs 40 crore respectively over the current fiscal.

Rs 113 crore has been earmarked for Maulana Azad Education Foundation and Rs 170 crore as equity for National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation.

Besides, funds under multi-sectoral development programme (MsDP), with a total allocation of Rs 1,200 crore having an increase of Rs 141 crore over the last fiscal, will be utilised for various educational and development activities.

In the last six months, the minority affairs ministry has approved around 200 'sadbhav mandap'. Sixteen 'Gurukul' type schools have been approved at cost of around Rs 262 crore, the Union MoS for Minority Affairs said.

"We have also decided to help those madrasas who are also providing mainstream education," the minister said.

The mandaps will be used as community centres for various cultural, social, educational activities as well as relief centres during calamity, he said.

Naqvi said his ministry proposes to offer 40 per cent reservation to minority girl students at five world class institutes to be set up for imparting education to students of minority communities.

"Students from other communities though can undertake education at the institutes Till now, 16 states have evinced interest in setting up the institutes," he said.

Out of Rs 3,827 crore allotted to the ministry for the financial year 2016-17, it has spent around Rs 2,800 crore until now on scholarship, training and other education-related activities.
Gautami questioned why there was a denial on the prime minister's part to acknowledge issues of Tamil Nadu, including the one on Jayalalithaa's death, if he claimed that the whole of India was one to him.

By Pramod Madhav: On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking on the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine of Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav and BSP Supremo Mayawati at the same time at a rally in Meerut, actress Gautami Tadimala, in a letter, criticised him for ignoring Tamil Nadu's concerns.

Here are 5 key takeaways from Gautami's letter In her letter, Gautami alleged that the Prime Ministetr had ignored all of Tamil Nadu's concerns. Gautami stated that Modi, who had expressed himself as a champion of digitisation, and one who wished that Indians utilised social media to the best, had not responded to her letter. She wrote, "How is a citizen's query, made with honest intent and immense grief, any less relevant because it has been delivered on a communication platform of modern technology?", she asked. Gautami questioned why there was a denial on the PM's part to acknowledge Tamil Nadu's issues if he claimed that all of India was one to him. "Is south India, most specifically Tamil Nadu, not deserving of the attention and accountability of our central government?" Irked at the fact that she and the people of Tamil Nadu hadn't received a single reply from the PM yet on the controversy over Jayalalithaa's demise, Gautami wrote in her letter, "To deny answers to our questions and deny justice to Amma is to deny Tamil Nadu itself

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Also read | Sasikala set to take charge as Tamil Nadu CM? Decision likely in crucial AIADMK meet tomorrow

Gautami complained that Tamil Nadu had been battered and was in a bad shape due to several unprecedented events and wondered what would get the Centre to listen to the queries of Tamil Nadu.

Here's the full text of Gautami's letter:

I have written an open and very direct letter to our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, regarding my questions on the tragic demise of Amma, our Honourable Chief Minister Dr. J Jayalalithaa. This letter was published on the 8th of December 2016 through my blog and directly sent to his Twitter handle as well as that of his office. Subsequent to this, the pain and uncertainty I expressed in my letter have been amplified to resonate through the country and our citizens throughout the world. The outpourings of anguish from citizens of Tamil Nadu and all over India, have joined forces with my voice addressed to our Prime Minister. I have addressed our Prime Minister on the most democratic public platform as this is a matter that is of the greatest public relevance and importance.

Our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, has been one of, if not our earliest, political leaders to embrace the ways of today's modern world. Most specifically in his wholehearted espousal of modern technology and social media. He has been a most vociferous proponent of utilising technology and digital and social media to make communication instantaneous and effective. He has reiterated time and again his accessibility on digital and social media platforms to the common citizen of India. There are several examples of his drive and initiatives to this effect but I will not digress in order to reiterate what is a very well-known fact.

If we are to be told today that a letter that was addressed directly to our Prime Minister, the contents of which raged across our nation both on national media and social media, has escaped the notice of his office and therefore himself, it is an extremely devastating reality for us to face. As a political leader, who has promised to listen to his people and bring about true and meaningful change in the way this country has been governed through the past decades, this denying any knowledge even of a justified and rightful query from the very citizens of his country is disappointing to say the least. How is a citizen's query, made with honest intent and immense grief, any less relevant because it has been delivered on a communication platform of modern technology?

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DOES TAMIL NADU NOT DESERVE PM'S ATTENTION, ASKS GAUTAMI

In the time since writing that letter, I have been steadfast in my faith in my Prime Minister. Faith in his accountability to the people of his nation as per the tenets of democracy. Faith in him as an individual leader who has shown the strength to take harsh and potentially unpopular steps for the betterment of this country. Faith in his word when he said the entire nation is one for him. Then why this denial now? Is south India and most specifically Tamil Nadu, not deserving of the attention and accountability of our central government? Yes, several members of the central government and other officials have travelled back and forth to Chennai during the period of Amma's hospitalisation and "treatment" but have we, the people of Tamil Nadu, received even one response to any of our entreaties? To deny answers to our questions and deny justice to Amma is to deny Tamil Nadu itself. Why must we be forced to accept this apathy towards our anguish and uncertainty?

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AMMA'S DEMISE

My state has been battered for the past several months in unprecedented and shattering ways. Amma's heartrendingly tragic demise that has left an indelible mark upon each of us in different ways. Cyclone Varadha that tore us up and ripped us apart in a storm of huge proportions. We are still, and will be struggling for a long time to come, with the devastating aftermath of this calamity. Our awe-inspiringly peaceful and rightful protest by the people of Tamil Nadu all over the world to uphold the age-old traditions of one of the oldest-known cultures in the world. Our farmers continue to be battered to the point of ending their lives out of sheer hopelessness, knowing their cries are unheard.

Through all of these devastating happenings, I, we, have been waiting. Waiting and hopeful of meaningful support and response from our central government. Respectful of the demands of due process and the inner workings of government and politics. However, there must come a time when we must ask if this silence is more than a preoccupation with matters of "greater" importance. What is the message inherent in such a steadfast silence on a matter critical to the very basis of a democratic state and the safety and security of its citizens? A leading politician of our country and the serving chief minister of one of India's foremost states has died in office under conditions that are shrouded in mystery and complete obscurity. As citizens of this state and this nation, we are entitled to have complete knowledge of these details. It is a fundamental confidence and security that a democratic nation owes her people. In addition to this, Amma is a leader who has a lasting and very real bond with crores of her people who love and respect her. Our anguish and our grief must be respected and honoured with answers. With the truth.

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What will it take our governments to listen to us? For them to respond to us? Another massive uprising of every citizen on the streets of this state before they will pay attention? And do the right thing only when faced with protests of gargantuan proportions? At what human cost?

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Taking potshots at Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday alleged the two "good-looking princes" involved in corruption are now out to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh, and accused the SP government of discriminating on the basis of caste and religion.

Targeting the Congress-SP poll tie-up in UP, Shah branded it as an alliance of "corruption and lawlessness" and that 'achche din' for the state will come once the Akhilesh Yadav government is voted out.

Addressing a rally here, the BJP leader alluded to Congress Vice President Gandhi and UP Chief Minister Yadav saying "both are 'khoobsurat shehzade' (beautiful princes) who are out to mislead the public".

"Mother is fed up with one and father is fed up with the other. How will they help Uttar Pradesh? One has looted the country while the other has looted the state. Beware of them," Shah warned.

"Congress-SP alliance is alliance of corruption and criminalisation. Have you forgotten the corruption done by Rahul Baba's government? Who does not know the Mathura case of Uttar Pradeshthere is a striking similarity between the corruption of both," Shah said.

He alleged that the state government was discriminating on basis of caste and religion on virtually every issue from distribution of laptops to lodging of FIRs.

Shah said filing of FIRs would be made obligatory for SHOs failing which action would be taken against the police within a week.

He declared that all slaughterhouses would be closed in the state if BJP forms the government.

He also repeated the BJP poll manifesto promise that "anti-exodus squads" would be formed to prevent migration of people from districts like Saharanpur or Kairana.

Commenting on recent statement of UP CM, he said Akhilesh is asking Modi when the good days would come for UP.

"My answer to him is 'achche din' (good days) of UP would come when SP government would be replaced by BJP government since people would then be free from atrocities of goons," Shah said.

Shah lauded the functioning of BJP-led states which he said are trying to excel in various fields.

"While few states are trying to excel on water problem, other are trying to excel in power generation or cereal production etchowever Uttar Pradesh government is establishing record in crimes," he alleged.

Presenting data on murders and rapes in UP he said while 13 murders on an average are taking place in a single day, 33 rape incidents are taking place on an average daily.

He cited example of few girls of UP who had met him in Delhi when he was general secretary of the party and told him that they were studying in Delhi since they were unsafe in UP.

"Anti-Romeo squads would be formed to protect the girls if BJP is voted to power," he declared.

He also alleged that goons of SP had taken possession of government as well as private land.

"Nobody is listening to complaints of unauthorised possession of land by goons of SP," he alleged.

Shah criticised UP government for rampant corruption in recruitment of class III and class IV jobs saying jobs are given on the basis of caste and religion.

"There would be no interview system for class III and class IV jobs, when BJP government would come to power these jobs would be filled on merit basis without interviews," he declared amid thunderous clapping.

He expressed concern about improving the lot of farmers.

"The loan of farmers would not only be waived off but farmers would take interest free loans in future if BJP comes to power," he stated adding that the paddy of the farmer would also be purchased on "Samarthan Mulya" (support price).

Free education for girls upto graduation, free laptop with 1 GB internet to students, opening of 25 medical and 80 engineering colleges in the state, improving the plight of river Yamuna, curbing lawlessness among others were the other announcements Shah made on the occasion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked BJP's political rivals in Uttar Pradesh, saying that in the acronym SCAM 'S' stands for Samajwadi (Party), 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati. It drew a riposte from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who said the word stood for "Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi". The Congress too hit back.

Campaigning ahead of the first phase of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with a 'Vijay Shankhnaad Rally' here, Modi slammed the Samajwadi Party and Congress for forging a pre-poll alliance.

Modi called upon the people to give his Bharatiya Janata Party a mandate similar to the 2014 general elections when the party won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. He also took digs at the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party on demonetisation and sought the people's support in making the country "corruption-free".

Uttar Pradesh will witness a seven-phased election for 403 seats from February 11 to March 8. The BJP is fighting a triangular contest with the SP-Congress combine and the BSP. Leaders from these parties have been addressing a series of rallies in western Uttar Pradesh that goes to polling in the first phase.

In his well attended rally, Modi urged people to vote for change and remove the state government that he claimed scuttled development. He said it was a fight against "SCAM." "Do you know what 'SCAM' stands for? It is 'S' for Samajwadi (Party), 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati."

"Uttar Pradesh has to decide whether it wants a scam or lotus (election symbol of BJP). It wants scam or development," Modi said.

Hours after Modi's remarks, Akhilesh Yadav returned fire, saying that 'A' and 'M' in the acronym stand for BJP President Amit Shah and Modi. Addressing a rally at Auraiya, the 43-year-old Samajwadi leader said SCAM means  "Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi".

"If we have to save the country, we have to save it from the politicians whose names start with A and M," Akhilesh said to loud cheers from his supporters.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vaddakan said: "Let us also tell them the meaning of SCAM in Hindi. "SCAM means Sattabhogi (hungry for power), Kapti dhongi (fraudster) and Amit Shah Modi."

Modi, in his speech, said till a few months back the Congress was accusing the ruling Samajwadi Party of corruption and neglecting farmers, but the two have now "embraced each other".

"What changed overnight that the two arch rivals embraced each other? This is to save themselves. Those who cannot save themselves, how will they save Uttar Pradesh?" Modi said.

The Prime Minister urged the voters to defeat parties involved in graft and leaders who promoted caste and vote-bank politics.

Referring to the November 8 demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Modi said he knew that people with ill-gotten wealth will become his enemies but the people are with him.

"I am not going to stop, neither will I bow to such forces. I am Modi I will not rest and will not allow those with ill-gotten money to rest. I am not going to stop the fight," the BJP leader said as the audience cheered.

Modi took potshots at the BSP, saying people who had sold tickets and stashed money in rooms had lost it all (due to demonetisation).

Attacking the Congress, he alleged that an undisclosed income of Rs 150 crore was found from the residence of a Karnataka minister but he had not been removed from office.

"The Congress should give an answer," he said.

Modi asked the income tax officials to go only after the big fish and not cause unnecessary problems for others. "If there is any harassment, bring it to my notice," he said.

The Prime Minister, who is an MP from Varanasi, said he had tried to do whatever he could for the development of Uttar Pradesh but a lot remained to be done. "But for the development to happen, you will have to remove the state government that scuttles development. Otherwise, howsoever hard I try to help Uttar Pradesh, the funds from Delhi will be stopped at Lucknow," Modi said.

The BJP won 47 seats in the 2012 assembly elections, finishing behind Samajwadi Party and BSP
Two militants were feared dead in an encounter with security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

"Two militants killed in an encounter with security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir," police said.

Only last Sunday, a gunfight erupted and three militants were killed on Monday in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, according to police.

The shootout took place following information about the presence of the militants hiding in a house in the village.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday lambasted the Samajwadi, the Congress party, CM Akhilesh Yadav and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati and said Uttar Pradesh must get rid of SCAM  Samajwadi Congress Akhilesh Mayawati.

This is BJP's fight against SCAM-Samajwadi Congress Akhilesh Mayawati and Uttar Pradesh must get rid of it," Modi said, addressing an election rally in Meerut.

He said that the development works in the state get stalled if the state government creates obstacles.

If we've a state government that creates obstacles, then the development work will get stalled in Lucknow, he said.

Saying that the time has come to fight against mafia and goons, Modi hoped that this time UP should become a model state in the country.

This time the fight is against the mafia, goons and those committing crime against our sisters and mothers, he said and added that time has come to make Uttar Pradesh, India's top state.

Aiming to eradicate poverty from the state, Modi said,First war of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. That time the fight was against British, but now the fight is against poverty.

Modi said despite Uttar Pradesh having so much potential for development, youth from the state were still being forced to look for employment opportunities in other states of the country

He will be addressing one more rally in Aligarh on February 5 as part of his campaign plan before the February 11 polling in the first phase.
Former Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain is one of the key persons behind the launch of Prime Minister Narendra Modis favourite crop insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojna, which was introduced in January last year. He was also behind starting procurement of pulses at market rates under the Price Stabilisation Fund. An IAS officer of the 1979 batch, Mr Hussain served in various positions in the government. During his 35 years of service, he was Chairman and Managing Director of Food Corporation of India, Vice Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University and Managing Director of the UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC).

His last assignment was as Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. In the Agriculture Ministry, he contributed to streamlining Agriculture Trade Policy, the National Agriculture Development Project, Natural Resources Management and Agriculture Extension. He had also initiated the much talked about E-National Agriculture Market (E-NAM). In an interview with VIJAY THAKUR, Mr Hussain spoke about the performance of the Modi government in the agriculture sector. Excerpts:

Q: The Modi government has set an impressive target of doubling farmers incomes. Do you think it will be able to meet the target and what more is needed to achieve it?

A: Actually, the government should first bring more clarity on what they mean by doubling farmers incomes. Do they want to double the real income of farmers or do they want to double the nominal income of farmers? If it is the former, the government needs to do much more.

But all this is not very easy. First, the government should take large-scale initiatives to diversify cropping pattern ~ from cereals to other crops. Farmers should be encouraged to diversify from cereals to horticulture, dairy, fisheries. Secondly, marketing of agricultural produce should be much better organised.

We have recently seen how badly farmers were affected due to demonetisation. The prices of vegetables have gone down considerably. There were few takers for pulses in some areas as there was a bumper crop. Government has to devise a mechanism to ensure farmers receive the correct price.

Thirdly, farmers should be encouraged to use better technologies. Besides adopting good farming practices, the seed replacement ratio has to be achieved, from conventional seeds to new hybrid and GM crop seeds. Lastly and most importantly, efforts should be made to bring down expenditure of farmers to make farming more sustainable.

Here we should also not forget that the Indian agriculture sector depends mainly upon the monsoon. If in the next five years there is good rain, farmers incomes may double provided government takes some special initiatives on diversification of crops, and better marketing strategy. Having said that, I would say this sector mainly depends upon good rains. If like in previous years we face two or three bad monsoons, it would not be easy to double farmers incomes.

Q: Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojna (PMFBY) was introduced when you were the Union Agriculture Secretary. How do you see its performance?

A: The crop insurance scheme has been quite successful in some respects. The sum insured under PMFBY has now reached Rs1,36,000 crore from Rs 69,000 crore last year. It is good that the sum insured has increased substantially. But the area insured has increased marginally from 3.38 crore hectares to 3.80 crore hectares, only a 12 per cent increase. Special stress should be laid to increase the crop area.

When this scheme was introduced it was presumed that modern technologies would be used to evaluate crop damage in time and more accurately. Unfortunately, this has not happened on the ground and little use of technology is visible in crop assessment. It was thought that all the revenue staff would be provided with smart phones; live satellite data and drones would be used to gauge crop damage so as to bring down administrative expenses. But government has made no headway in this direction. As a result, accurate and transparent assessment is not being done. If accurate assessment is not made and farmers show inflated losses, the crop insurance premium would go up next year. This would defeat the very purpose of crop insurance. States and the Centre should take up this issue urgently and address the problem.

Q: The government has introduced Soil Health Card in a big way. Do you think it would really help the agriculture sector the way the government is projecting it?

A: Soil health card is a wonderful scheme and it give useful tips on how to improve soil fertility and stop excess use of fertilisers. But with this we need to introduce more reforms, mainly in the present fertiliser regime. Prices of fertilisers are so skewed in favour of urea that unless the pricing is done right, farmers would continue to use excessive urea.

When the Modi government came to power, we presumed that fertiliser prices would be increased and direct benefit transfer scheme (DBTS) would be introduced in this sector as well, but so far no progress has been made to pay subsidy directly to farmers through DBT route.

Though 100 per cent neem coated urea introduced by the present government was a very good step to prevent diversion of subsidised urea to some other areas, use of DBT route to transfer subsidies would make farming more sustainable.

Q: You have worked with the UPA as well as with the Modi government. Which government do you think has done better for the agriculture

sector?

A: Agriculture sector is very important for the country. It contributes employment for almost half the working force. Even though its contribution to GDP is only 14 per cent, the number of people this sector supports is very high. Boost in agriculture sector is very important to reduce poverty in rural areas as no other industry can reduce poverty as fast as the agriculture sector.

All governments try their best to make policies to help agriculture and the rural sector. It would not be appropriate to comment or compare between the previous and present government. The previous government had introduced MNREGA and increased minimum support price of cereals.

This government has also taken some good steps like crop insurance to protect farmers from the uncertainty of nature, introduction of neem-coated urea to enable them to use fertilisers in a more balanced manner, e-national market scheme to give them better marketing facilities, issuance of soil health cards, electrification of villages, opening of farmersbank accounts, and introduction of DBT scheme for some subsidies.
Primetime shows on television are peppered with repeated allusions to the Indian defence forces, from invoking the soldier on legitimate issues like the Indo-Pakistan impasse, to utterly disconnected issues like demonetisation and standing for the National Anthem in cinema halls. There is convenient propping up of the symbolic Indian soldier to inject hyper-nationalism aided by the accompanying retinue of the latest newsroom warriors ~ Veterans in resplendent military regalia, creating political no-fly-zones to guarantee the nationalistic high ground for political parties. This is a new medium for the essentially barrackised soldiers, who are more attuned to relative isolation from the political mainstream, ensconced in either the forward areas or picket-fenced cantonments.

Part-historical and part-deliberate, the institution of the Armed Forces has evolved its own governance, ethos and values that have withstood the parallel degradation of most other governmental agencies. It has its own laws, redressal and operational systems that have ensured that the efficacy of the sword arm is maintained from the frozen minus 50 degrees of the Siachen glacier, to the infernos of plus 50 degrees of the Thar Desert. The systems are not perfect and are susceptible to aberrations and derelictions like Adarsh scam, Tehelka sting, Tatra trucks scam among others but the proverbial bad apples are still a minority unlike other governmental bodies. However, it does have a simmering angst and ire that is dangerously glossed over as in OROP and successive pay commissions, testimony to the price that befalls any disciplined institution that delivers more than mandated, and yet remains voiceless, by design, choice and good reason.

The frustration of voicelessness first burst forth in the OROP saga, that sadly continues, with the emotional and financial humiliation of the fraternity playing out on the footpaths of Janpath. The OROP struggle was apolitical in its inception as it presupposed that all political parties had contributed to the regression of the Indian Armed Forces, notwithstanding the condescending invocation of the Indian soldier. Sadly, TV lost interest in the technicalities of OROP and the civil bureaucracy managed to kick one more in, when the 7th pay commission perpetuated the second amendment and disallowed the promised parity.

The OROP movement is symptomatic of the institutional discipline that is oddly enough, abused and ignored, as the dual reality of tanks parading down Rajpath on Republic Day is juxtaposed with the spectre of aging warhorses with rusting medals sitting silently across the road in Janpath, unable to comprehend the indignity of jumlas. Apathy breeds division and the governments procrastination almost succeeded in creating a hitherto unprecedented and explosive divide ~ a few metres from the principal OROP movement tent was an alternative OROP protest that was ostensibly protecting the rights of other ranks, as the principal movement was unfairly projected as propagating the issues of officers only. The first fissures of internal divide surfaced. This owes its genesis to the governmental twiddling-of-thumbs, and risking the sacred covenant between the officer and the soldier. Like all divided protests, OROPs totality was essentially lost despite the institution exemplifying living by the sword in Pathankot, Pampore and various other natural disasters that elicited jingoistic fervour for a few days, before settling down to concerted apathy.

OROP was the primetime TV baptism for veterans, and soon, many joined the varied debates and propounded blunt military angularities, unquestionable in import and running the risk of sounding anti-national, should a less kinetic option be suggested. The political appropriation and showcasing of these veterans was irresistible, as they offered plausible justifications and cover-fire for the muscular posturing of the executive. Except that this pawned overreach led to veterans joining the shouting brigades and navigating debates to convenient political positions. This tactic was fraught with inherent risk, as initially the conversations were essentially outward and therefore even extreme solutions like let us raise our own fidayeens were given a long rope. The cookie crumbled when the dispassionate TV channels picked up a story of disgruntled soldiers on social media to milk it for primetime TRPs. For once the Veterans were forced to stare at their own navels and get caught in the line of fire of TV sensationalism. The no-holds barred platform of the TV newsroom pitted officers versus the other ranks and watched them squirm with glee. TRPs were guaranteed, institutional sensitivities and implications be damned!

The construct, history and conditions of the Armed Forces are so complex that to make immediate sense of the situational status is impossible, and to twist it extremely possible. The viral reaction to the posts of the BSF jawan, then the CRPF jawan, and finally the Army jawan, was almost expected given the immediacy of the medium. Again, this is not to suggest that there are no lapses or issues warranting redressal and review. However, this was tantamount to acts of unimaginable disciplinary consequences, and belies the reality of the multiple redressal systems that exist within the Armed Forces.

General Bipin Rawat was spot on to call the bluff of sensationalism and insist on raising valid concerns in the appropriate form and forum ~ frankly, given the overall governmental apathy, the institution would not be able to deliver a Kargil, a surgical strike or continue winning in the most hostile and inhuman combat conditions but for the exceptional internal leadership and redressal systems that exist and keep the chin up, across the board. The systems in the Forces work better than anywhere else.

The Veterans have paid a price for their own naivety. The fraternity reposed its faith on politicians and TV studios and found itself stuck in the quagmire of selective usage. Recently, the apolitical voice of the Armed Forces acquired a deeply political overtone by willfully dragging the soldier in political posturing. The continuing slide of the Armed Forces is a legacy reality that needs a voice stripped of all political colours and loyalties, when it is about the institution itself. Veterans must engage carefully avoiding the political usurpation of the soldier and avoid minefields of divide, that come from ignorance of the institutional functioning, as politicians and TV studios are only driven by ratings, political or viewership, fickle either way.

The writer is Lt Gen PVSM, AVSM (Retd), Former Lt Governor Of Andaman & Nicobar Islands & Puducherry
Its official. A new world order, aka the Trump Order, has been set in motion.

Most of us should have been ready for it, since the man had been more than clear about backtracking on Americas global trade policies. And now, in one flamboyant gesture, he has overturned his predecessor Barack Obamas decision to join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

As one of the key members, Japan is up in arms. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed he would continue to try and persuade President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Tokyo appears to be quite ready to face the new threat.

Japan is a country that downplays the number of naval destroyers it has in order to keep its frenemies in check, and to assure them it still has a long way to go in terms of military defense. In reality, Tokyo is armed with seemingly worn-down subs that can actually be made battle-ready at a moments notice.

The Abe administration has been ready to face off with Trump for a while now, and internal government sources say the foundations have already been laid. Prime Minister Abe has already put in motion the necessary structural reforms to wean Japan off the US or make Japanese firms more competitive in the face of high tariffs. Abe is also preparing to enlist the support of high-profile companies such as Softbank, which has been pledging more investment in America.

Further, Japan is looking to cut loose from China, which has made it clear it wont play into US hands.

In contrast to Japan and China, South Korea has a smaller say. But that does not mean it has less on the line.

The country stands as the worlds 11th-largest economy in terms of GDP, but it also depends on exports for more than two-thirds of it. So any policy decisions by its chief trade partners are bound to have a profound impact  even more so now that its internal economic affairs are in a mess due to the ongoing impeachment. South Korea truly cannot afford to have its global partnerships jeopardised.

During his presidential campaign, Trump has already called the US-Korea FTA a failed partnership that has robbed the US of 100,000 jobs. The Seoul government should have long been brainstorming a strategy to keep the deal on track, and must readily communicate its plans with the public before the concerns mushroom into something bigger. The alliance with the US goes far beyond military issues, and the significance should not be downplayed or tainted in any way if Korea is to continue pursuing its national interests.

The strategy should be laid out in such a way to prevent Koreans from harbouring unnecessary ill sentiment toward the US, and vice versa. For this, both governments will have to cooperate seamlessly. Trump must realise the contribution that Koreans and the Korean economy are making in the US. That while it may not be comparable in size to other nations such as Japan and China, there is no going around the fact that in the end, cliched as it may sound, it is indeed a global economy.

Korean firms should take a cue from Softbank and find ways to offer more support for the Korean economy as it faces the aftershocks of Trumps latest policy move. As for the US, it must remember that Korean companies like Hyundai, Samsung and LG have been seeking cheaper entry into the US for years via countries like Mexico and Vietnam. The change of a regime must not pull the plug on these efforts for the sake of global partnership. And needless to say, the products and services brought into the US also help create livelihoods there, and give Americans what they need.

All of this should not be forgotten or put on a back burner. As already witnessed in the Lehman Brothers meltdown, the intricate web of global trade and finance ensures that the demise of a single company can affect so many more.

But, in a weird and twisted way, I do envy the American people. Sure, there could have been someone better than Trump, who psychologists have branded as narcissistic and delusional.

But for many Americans, Trump is doing what they have only dreamed of doing and saying. To say out loud that they think America is the best, that they are scared of anyone appearing to infringe upon its beliefs and interests, even at the expense of other nations and peoples. To say that the US wont play the peace-brokering leader who is constantly mindful of others, including rivals. To say, the US will start acting only for its benefit, regardless of how short-sighted this may be.

To have a president, as strange as he may be, who for now, appears so committed to his campaign, does draw an odd contrast with Korea's embattled President Park Geun-hye who now seems anxious only to cover her own tail. In some ways, they are similar in that they seem to prioritise themselves. But at least for now, Trump is giving many Americans the promise they need, as twisted or unorthodox his methods may be.

In a similar fashion, but based on a strategic and acceptable approach, Korea should be ready to protect its interests and its people amid the fast-changing global order. And all other players in the economy must be ready to lend a helping hand.

The writer is the Tokyo correspondent of The Korea Herald. This is a series of columns on global affairs written by top editors and senior writers from members of the Asia News Network and published in newspapers across the region.
Whitehall is apparently on a sticky wicket, having suffered a serious double whammy in the span of a week. The first was the imprimatur of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on the legislative endorsement of Brexit. The second, and still more sensationally, has been the disaster that befell the Trident missile test off the Florida coast. On the face of it, the malfunction was a technological failure, with profound international implications. Strikingly, the common thread is the month of June 2016. The test of the missile happened before Theresa May assumed office as Prime Minister. What has intensified the sensation is the manner in which the failed launch was airbrushed for the past seven months till The Sunday Times broke the news last weekend. Arguably, the compelling reason for Whitehalls silence was that the Trident missile had misfired when Parliament approved a 40-billion pound funding for the nuclear deterrent system. The legislation has been passed with 472 votes to 117, thus securing the future of the system. The facts are simply stated. A Trident II D5 missile was launched from the submarine HMS Vengeance in June, somewhere off the coast of Florida. The test missile contained no nuclear warhead, but something went wrong when it was launched. Instead of launching on an eastward trajectory towards Africa, a malfunction caused it to head towards the United States instead. Mercifully, a catastrophe was averted, yet it may be a while before the British government can hope to recover from the grave embarrassment, indeed a technological setback that has been compounded by the cover-up.

The cocktail would seem to be purely coincidental ~ the missile failure, the attendant silence, and the deepening uncertainty of Brexit. With the news now in the public domain, the calculated silence of the government must be no less embarrassing. Reports speak of a major panic at the highest level of government and the military after the first test of the nuclear deterrent in four years ended in disastrous failure. Small wonder that ultimately Downing Street decided to cover up the failed test. The funding has come through and from the financial perspective, the system has gained a certain inbuilt security. Mrs May has refused to confirm whether she knew about the missile test before the crucial vote. I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles, the Prime Minister is reported to have told the BBC last Sunday. When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident. Much as she tries to restore confidence, unmistakable is the flutter in the 10 Downing roost. The PM needs to clear the air, and there ought to be an urgent investigation into what actually happened. Both technology and credibility are at stake.
I was amazed because one Saturday, I visited Bandar (the capital) at 3pm and found no people or cars on the street. Ive never expected that there could be a place where no one would be walking around at all. Its so unbelievably calm here, Stephanie Wu On Ki said.

There are people who travel to a country specifically to visit its popular attractions and then there are those who travel with the intention of understanding a place and to live the way the locals do.

The latter is precisely what 21-year-old Stephanie Wu On Ki wanted to experience in Brunei on her first visit to the nation.

Wu was also highly interested in seeing how two Islamic countries would differ in terms of food, culture and the way of life. Prior to her visit to Brunei, she spent some time on an exchange programme in Morocco, Africa, where the main religion is also Islam.

As the locations are so different and so far apart with one in Asia and the other in Africa, I wanted to find out if there are any differences between them despite sharing the same religion, and also if a difference in location and continent will have an effect on these factors, she said.

She got to stay in the nation for over a month as an exchange student with Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and was part of the industry internship in the sultanate.

After having spent a fair amount of time in both places, she shared that there are great differences between them.

On one hand, she truly appreciated the architectural wonders and interesting souvenirs found in Morocco but on the other, it is the simplicity, food and people in Brunei that she believes suit her far more.

Morocco is a place thats very big on food like hamburgers and Shawarma but here, you can see that the food is more influenced by Southeast Asian cuisines and that there is more variety. To be honest, I prefer the food here, said Wu.

I love everything Ive tried. Some that I can remember would be buttermilk chicken, ayam penyet, curry puff and I also really like Ambuyat. The sauces are so good, as its a mixture of sweet and sour, she added.

In terms of the people, she shared that the locals in Morocco were very curious about her as she looks different. On the other hand, the people in the nation warmed up to her quickly and often even said she resembles a local.

Theyre nice, even though we cant really communicate sometimes. They would still smile at me and try to use different gestures to show me what theyre trying to say, such as the price and taste of the food, said Wu.

I went to an open house on my very first day here. I was brought to visit a family that Ive never met before and then I was told to eat. They didnt even mind having me there and despite being strangers, they just started talking to me. We talked to each other about our backgrounds and exchanged information. That was great, she added.

During her stay, she experienced quite a lot from witnessing different performances at the Gerai Perayaan to visiting the Royal Regalia and Jerudong Park Playground to participating in His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalams meet-and-greet sessions with the nations people. One of her favourite activities was visiting mosques, noting these sacred places fill her with peace and calmness.

I enjoyed the mosque a lot. I dont mind simply staying there for three hours just watching it and not doing anything else. I stayed there for some time one day and realised that people would drive to the mosque to pray with their family. That kind of atmosphere and vibe make me feel really good, she said.

It also amazes her just how quiet it can be in Brunei. Its the kind of quiet that you wont really find in a lot of places.

I was amazed because one Saturday, I visited Bandar at 3pm and found no people or cars on the street. Ive never expected that there could be a place where no one would be walking around at all. Its so unbelievably calm here, she said.

As Wu came from Hong Kong, China, she shared that the entire system back home, including the pace and the government welfare, is completely different compared to Brunei.

I think the welfare is different. We dont have a lot of government jobs available in Hong Kong and those are the jobs that tend to provide better welfare, salary and working hours (for Bruneians). I know that people dont have to pay when they visit the hospitals here but we do, she said.

When crossing or walking along the roads here, she said that drivers are courteous and will give way to pedestrians, which according to her, is not the case in Hong Kong. She fears that she will no longer be used to the pace back home after being here for five weeks.

When you walk on the streets in Hong Kong, people walk past you very fast and they dont care about you. On the escalator, we must stand on the right hand side to leave the left hand side for people to walk on if theyre in a rush. If anyone stands on the left hand side without moving forward, the people behind would become very irritated and show it too, she shared.

The intern from Lingnan University in Hong Kong is full of praises for the servers in restaurants and the sellers at the markets here, sharing that they seem genuinely interested in their customers and the quality of service they provide.

If I go to a shop to get food in Hong Kong, people are always so cool. They only care about taking your orders and giving you the food and thats the end. Here, when I go to the market to buy something, theyll ask me where Im from, how long Im staying or just something about me in general, she said.

When she goes back to Hong Kong, she vowed to promote Brunei to more people there as Brunei is not very well-known in their country. The only thing that most individuals seem to know about the country is that it is rather rich.

Before I came here, most of my friends joked that I would be meeting a tonne of rich people. But life here is not extravagant like many people seem to think. After this experience of living like a local, I can tell people what Brunei is really like, which is spacious, relaxing and cozy.

-The Brunei Times/ANN
The Pakistan government has in principle decided to appoint Abdul Basit, the country's envoy to India, as the new Foreign Secretary, Geo News reported.

In another major appointment, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary has been designated to become the country's envoy to the United States.

This was decided during consultations headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, for appointing the new chief of the Foreign Office.

The announcement regarding the appointment of Basit is likely to be made next week.

Basit is currently Pakistan's High Commissioner in India and the senior most among the contenders of the slot. He was selected for the job three years back but couldn't be appointed due to technical reasons and was instead posted as High Commissioner in New Delhi. He was previously serving as ambassador to Germany.

Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Geneva headquarters Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan's former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, the country's ambassador for Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan's High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan were the other contenders for the post, Geo quoted sources as saying.

Pakistan's ambassador for the United States Syed Jalil Abbas Jailani has relinquished the charge on completion of his contractual period as ambassador in Washington. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh will be acting as Charge D' Affairs in Washington till the arrival of Aizaz Chaudhary in the US capital.

It is likely that formal assent for Chaudhary's appointment by the host administration would be received in the meanwhile.

The sources said that the Donald Trump administration has stalled issuance of all pending agreement of various countries including Pakistan.

Aizaz Chauduary has planned to leave for the United States immediately after the ECO summit to be held in the first week of next month, the sources added.

Pakistan will take a decision about the new high commissioner in India after the return of Abdul Basit, the sources said.
National daily Samakal's local correspondent Abdul Hakim Shimul was hit by a bullet while covering the clash and died while undergoing treatment.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: A people representative of the ruling Awami League has shot dead a journalist named Abdul Hakim Shimul in front of police in Bangladesh's northern district Sirajganj. The deceased Shimul was a local correspondent of country's one of the top daily.

Additional Police Super Abul Hasnat said two section of local Awami League locked into a clash when one section cordoned off Mayor Miru's house on allegation of beating the president of Shahjadpur Government College Chatra League Bijoy Mahmud on Thursday.

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National daily Samakal's local correspondent Shimul was hit by a bullet while covering the clash and died while undergoing treatment. Additional SP Hasnat said police rushed to the scene immediately after the clash erupted to maintain law and order.

"I was there on the spot. The mayor opened fire ignoring my repeated requests. Only the mayor fired, no one else did. He fired several times," Abul Hasnat said.

The officer also said, 43 rounds of bullet and 6 empty cartridges have been recovered from the mayor's house after the incident. Drive is on at different places to arrest Mayor Miru since Friday night and he can be arrested soon, he added.

Meanwhile, tension is intensifying in the small municipal town since the incident. Different organization chalked out protest rally against the mayor. Journalists have demonstrated agitation across the country including the capital Dhaka protesting the killing of Shimul.

Shimul's wife Nurunnahar Begum filed a case accusing 18 people for the killing. Investigation officer of the case Sub-Inspector Kamal Debnath said besides investigation, police have detained three persons so far. They are the mayor's brothers, Hafizul Haque Pintu and Habibul Haque Mintu, and Upazila Awami League leader KM Nasuruddin. Officer in charge of Shahzadpur police station Rezaul said the mayor's shotgun has been seized already.

--- ENDS ---
US President Donald Trump on Saturday took to Twitter to blast a federal judge's decision to halt his immigration order nationwide.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" he tweeted.

Federal Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee who presides in Seattle, temporarily stopped the order on Friday night.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) then alerted airlines the US government would quickly begin reinstating visas that were previously cancelled, and also advised airlines that refugees who are in possession of US visas will be admitted as well, an airline executive said.

Trump sent out a series of tweets lamenting the ruling that halted enforcement.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security  big trouble!" he tweeted.

A chaotic Friday night set up the nation for a second straight weekend of widespread uncertainty over the controversial ban, this time with the administration on defence, reported CNN.

The White House first called the order "outrageous" and then dropped that word minutes later in a second statement.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice (DoJ) intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.

"The President's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Trump's executive order that he signed last week suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, the US refugee programme for 120 days and indefinitely halted Syrian refugees from entering the US.

The ruling came on the heels of its first legal victory over the travel ban.

The sweeping ruling from the Seattle judge came just hours after a different ruling from a federal judge in Boston, who declined to renew a temporary restraining order in Massachusetts.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as "the first of its kind" and declared that it "shuts down the executive order immediately".

This suit was brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota against the travel ban. Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately hailed Robart's order.

"This ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," said Schumer.

"President Trump should heed this ruling and he ought to back off and repeal the executive order once and for all."

"What we're seeing here is the courts standing up to the unconstitutional ban that President Trump imposed," said Omar Jadwat, director of the Immigrants' Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim civil rights organisation, welcomed the ruling.

"Because the Trump administration is vowing to appeal the ruling, CAIR is urging travellers to consider immediately contacting relevant airlines to inquire about rebooking their flights, with the recognition that the situation remains fluid," the group said.
French investigators believe the man who launched a machete attack outside the Louvre in Paris, before being shot and wounded by a soldier, is a 29-year-old Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa.

The incident has thrust security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections in France, with authorities saying it was a "terrorist" assault.

The attacker, in a black t-shirt bearing a skull design and armed with two 40-centimetre (16-inch) machetes, lunged at four patrolling French soldiers while shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest"), Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference.

One of the troops was struck on the head and another fell to the ground outside the famous Paris museum after the assailant attacked. The second soldier managed to open fire and hit the machete-wielder in the stomach.

"The attacker fell to the ground, seriously wounded. He has been taken to hospital and is fighting for his life," the prosecutor said.

A source later said that the suspect's condition had stabilised. Security forces said one soldier had suffered a minor head wound.

Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the world famous attraction after the assailant was shot five times around 10:00 am (local time) in a public area near one of the museum's entrances.

The attacker who is thought to live in the United Arab Emirates, is believed to have entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26, a source said.

An Egyptian passport, thought to be the suspect's, was found during a search of an apartment in an expensive district of Paris near the Champs-Elysees.

Investigators are examining the account of an Egyptian man named Abdallah El Hamahmy after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic between 9:27 am and 9:34 am, just minutes prior to the attack.

"In the name of Allah for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," El Hamahmy wrote, before making reference to the Islamic State group in another tweet a minute later.

The UAE government condemned the "hateful crime" and assured France of its "full solidarity".

As French authorities probed the attacker's background, President Francois Hollande said that "there is little doubt as to the terrorist nature of this act," an assessment echoed by Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

France was already reeling from a string of terror attacks over the last two years and the country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said it will counteract the fresh US sanctions imposed against some Iranian and non-Iranian entities under the pretext of being linked with Iran's missile program.

The fresh sanctions are "inconsistent with the US commitments and in contradiction with the spirit of the UN Resolution 2231," Xinhua news agency cited a Foreign Ministry statement.

"Developing missile capabilities of the country, which is solely designed for defensive purposes and carrying the conventional weapons, is the international right of the Iranians based on the UN charter," it said on Friday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that any foreign intervention in this regard is a violation of the international law.

Iran's security is non-negotiable and "the Islamic republic will counteract any measure which targets the national interests of the Iranians," it said.

The US on Friday announced sanctions on multiple entities and individuals involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and providing support to a military force in Iran.

The move came days after Iran launched a ballistic missile test, which drew a stern warning from Washington.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that the action reflects the US commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and "destabilizing" activities in the region, and is fully consistent with the US commitments under the nuclear deal with Iran.
Lashing out at critics, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday said his government was "determined and dedicated" to achieve national reconciliation with the minority Tamils despite the work of some opportunists.

Sirisena made the remarks while addressing the 69th anniversary of Lanka's independence celebrations here.

"We are determined and dedicated in our commitment despite the work of some opportunists. The government would work towards a knowledge and innovation based economy," he said, blaming them for their aiming of narrow political gains.

Succeeding Mahinda Rajapaksa, President Sirisena's unity government had set in a series of reconciliation measures.

The government has promised a new constitution to address the Tamil political aspirations. Tamils say the progress had been painfully slow and questions the government's commitment despite making some symbolic gestures to win over them.

Sirisena's work to hand back Tamils the land held for military purposes and release some of the former terrorist suspects have raised criticism from Rajapaksa's joint opposition who claim that Sirisena was appeasing the Tamils and putting the country's national security at risk.

While the national ceremony was happening here, a section of the hardline Tamils held a demonstration in the Northern capital of Jaffna.

"The independence day is our black day. The Tamil community is in grief," said MK Shivajilingam a Northern provincial councilor who led a protest of several hundreds.

"Our land issues, detention of our people and disappearances have not been addressed. We want an international investigations on crimes against Tamils," Shivajilingam said.

According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to nearly three-decades long civil war in Sri Lanka with the defeat of LTTE in 2009.
Thousands of protesters were set to march on London for the second time in a week on Saturday, to oppose US President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven mainly-Muslim nations entering the US.

Demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square for a day of campaigning and speeches against the executive order suspending entry to the US for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries for three months to combat terrorism, the Daily Express newspaper reported.

The protesters will be walking towards Downing Street. Organisations like Stand Up to Racism, Stop the War and the People's Assembly organised the event.

An estimated 30,000 people marched on Downing Street earlier this week, and Sabby Dhalu, from Stand Up To Racism, told the Independent that he expected another "massive show of opposition" on Saturday.

The organisation has called the US President's travel ban as "an appalling attack on human rights" and said that it is "unacceptable that Theresa May has not come out and condemned this".

Protests against the ban have been organised in at least 12 of Britain's cities, including Sheffield, Brighton and Birmingham, according to the report.

More than 11,000 people were expected to attend the protest. On Friday, Londoners formed a human chain around a mosque in protest against the controversial President.

A statement on the event's Facebook page read: "Trump's ban on Muslims must be opposed by all who are against racism and support basic human rights.

"Theresa May's collusion with Trump must end", according to another statement. The protest would last until 2 pm.

Campaigners tweeted their pictures of the protest outside the US embassy with one person burning his US passport.
A US judge in Seattle has issued a temporary nationwide block on President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim nations, media reports said.

US District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart on Friday granted the injunction at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office said that the order applies nationwide, Efe news reported.

"The Constitution prevailed today. No one is above the law  not even the President," Ferguson said.

The lawsuit against Trump's ban was initially filed by Washington state, with Minnesota joining later.

Ferguson has described the ban as illegal and unconstitutional, because it discriminates against people on the ground of their religion.

The ruling is a major challenge to the Trump administration, and means that nationals from the seven countries are now able  in theory  to apply for US visas, the BBC said in its report.

The administration can appeal against the verdict.

Last week's move by Trump triggered mass protests and has resulted in confusion at US airports.

The State Department says 60,000 visas have since been revoked.

Trump's executive order brought in a suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days.

There is also an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. Anyone arriving from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen faces a 90-day visa suspension.


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By India Today Web Desk: Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut have cemented a place for themselves in the Wall of Fame for having one of the most ugly spats in the history of Bollywood. A subtle insult ("silly ex") snowballed into a full-blown mudslinging match, where legal notices were exchanged, private emails were made public and accusations were made.

ALSO READ | Kangana on spat with Hrithik: I was threatened, my parents were concerned about my safety

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ALSO READ | Timeline of the Hrithik-Kangana legal war

ALSO READ | Rakesh Roshan breaks silence on Hrithik-Kangana fight, says truth will shock everyone

While Hrithik has maintained a dignified silence, Kangana has been vocal since day one, insisting that Hrithik was in a romantic relationship with her "behind closed doors." In an interview with Firstpost, Kangana said that even though a private affair between two people was made public, no third person could "help that situation." She revealed, "there were instances when he (Hrithik) was going and crying to the entire industry, wanting them to sabotage my career, and people were calling me and saying - 'He met us, he has showed us proofs and (do you) want to meet us because we want to know your side of the story as well?' But I was like, it is none of your business."

The Rangoon actor had earlier said that she was threatened and her parents were concerned for her safety. She elaborated, "The threats were quite open, weren't they? They said they would release some statements, they would reveal something, say something... 'We will expose her and everyone will be shocked'... something along those lines... It is not that I knew this sort of game plan that would be unleashed against me. So I thought there would be some reveal but there was none and obviously those were just threats."

One of the focal points of the Hrithik-Kangana spat was an email ID, allegedly belonging to Hrithik, which Kangana received declarations of love from. However, Hrithik pleaded that it was an impostor's doing, and approached the Cyber Crime Cell to look into the matter. In November last year, reports suggested that there were no leads to trace the origin of the ID, and that the case had been closed. But the matter was far from over. Hrithik's lawyer rubbished these reports and maintained that the investigation was ongoing, while Kangana's lawyer said that the case was indeed closed and "Hrithik Roshan and his team are once again desperately trying to salvage the situation."

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When Kangana was asked if the case was indeed shut, she said, "Of course, there was no case only. It was all so absurd... actually I couldn't understand what the entire matter was. So there is someone who is in love with me but he wants to impersonate Hrithik. But I in return want to stalk Hrithik, Hrithik in return wants an apology [laughs]. He is basically not after the person who is impersonating him, he is after me. Apparently, he wants an apology (from me) because someone is impersonating him and romancing me, whereas I am meeting him every day on the sets and he is my friend regardless. I frankly did not get this. And apparently, all this happened in my head. It was in my head, but the impersonator was a real person. But then, I also imagined things and through those imaginations, I also managed to harass this person who eventually did not decide to ever speak to me about this matter - the only thing he decided to do is have a court case against me!"

She added, "It was very absurd for me to digest any of this and I always knew that all this is just sensationalism... And then two to three more people dived in with their comments about 'bi**c, wh**e, mixing of blood'... all of this led to too much excitement. When that excitement subsided then people wanted to know - 'Hello, what is this story?' This story will not make sense in any time and age." ALSO WATCH: Kangana talks to India Today about being called a witch and a psychopath

--- ENDS ---

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By India Today Web Desk: When designers as talented as Falguni and Shane name their collection The Rebel, you know what you're in for.

Aimed at women who are daring, and will settle for nothing short of masterpieces in their wardrobe, the collection made all the right waves at the Lakme Fashion Week, Summer/Resort 2017.

Bipasha Basu walks the ramp in this glittery number. Photo: Yogen Shah

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One of the highlights of Day 3, every single gown in this designer duo's collection was outstanding. But Bipasha Basu's gown literally took the spotlight.

Bipasha Basu with designers Falguni and Shane. Photo: Yogen Shah

Also read: Nimrat Kaur's radiance on the LFW ramp was a thing of beauty

We dig the deep maroon lip gloss paired with this gown. Photo: Yogen Shah

The gorgeous showstopper wore a crystal and sequin encrusted gown. The plunged neckline and the floor-length cape sleeves added to the allure of the gown. Paired with Bipasha's deep maroon lipstick, bare ears, and a top knot, the gown seemed to be fit for the Oscar red carpet.

We totally dig the way the Bipasha floored the runway, and the crowds.

--- ENDS ---
The actor ruled the floor as the showstopper for designer Arpita Mehta on Day Four of the Lakme Fashion Week.

By India Today Web Desk: What a start to the day!

If you've been following the Lakme Fashion Week, you would have been just as dazzled by showstopper Karisma Kapoor. The actor just walked the ramp for designer Arpita Mehta, and stole our hearts all over again.

Karisma Kapoor featured as the showstopper for designer Arpita Mehta. Picture courtesy: Instagram/therealkarismakapoor

Lolo looked stunning in an embroidered crop top, high-waist flared pants, and a chic shrug with elbow-length sleeves. The off-white ensemble was nothing short of breathtaking, as Karisma walked down the ramp.

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Also read: Bipasha Basu shimmers and shines on the LFW ramp

Our hearts fluttered when she twirled for the paparazzi, before taking another walk down the runway with Arpita Mehta. A little shimmying, and a lot of oomph--that's how we'd sum up Lolo's walk down the LFW ramp.

Lolo walks down the ramp with designer Arpita Kapoor. Picture courtesy: Instagram/arpitamehtaofficial

Check out this video of Karisma Kapoor twirling in slow motion:

#daylighttwirls ?????#lfw#summerresort2017 @lakmefashionwk @arpitamehtaofficial A video posted by KK (@therealkarismakapoor) on Feb 3, 2017 at 11:34pm PST

--- ENDS ---
Organisation: Trocaire

Duty Station: Gulu, Uganda

Reports to: Project

Coordinator

About Trocaire:

Trocaire is an Irish development organisation with over 40 years

experience that works through local partners to implement programmes in the

organisations priority areas of Building Sustainable Livelihoods, Governance

& Human Rights and Gender. Trocaires programmes in Uganda are managed by a

small country team based in the office in Kampala with regular travel to

Northern Uganda. Trocaire works through a partnership approach and is a member

of worldwide networks such as Caritas and CIDSE. This is an exciting time in

the history of the organisation as we embark on our new strategic plan for

2016-2020. In Uganda, Trocaire is working to deliver the new strategic plan

focusing on resource rights and gender based violence.

About DGF Project:

The Trocaire Uganda office recently secured a grant extension

Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) to implement additional activities for 12

months. The project will be implemented

in partnership with the Joint Acholi Sub Region Leaders Forum (JASLF) who will

provide technical guidance and support to the project through the Technical

Committee and the JASLF Secretariat. The goal of the project is: To strengthen

the security of customary and communal land tenure in Acholiland through

piloting new approaches based on research, consultation and advocacy. The

project will research how Acholi customary and communal land is controlled,

managed and administered, by and for whom, it will investigate legal mechanisms

to secure customary land rights and will create awareness of the findings and

implications of the research. The project implementation period is for 18

months ending December 2017.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

Internal Communications:

Roll-out communications and dissemination

Strategy for the project in collaboration with the project coordinator

Develop and distribute, in conjunction

with the Project Coordinator and the M&E officer, monthly updates for

key internal stakeholders on project activities.

Review and copy-edit research and other

publications from the project.

Copy-edit key work from project staff

within the office. This might include, for example, reports to back-donors

like the European Union or DFID or to government institutions.

Provide support and advice to the Project

Coordinator to ensure that we meet the Code of Conduct and standards

expected in all our communications.

The jobholder will travel to the field to

gain first-hand knowledge of project work, in order to be able to

communicate it accurately.

External Communications:

Establish and maintain a database of

stakeholders that would require information on the project and ensure they

receive regular briefings on the project

Produce and distribute a quarterly

newsletter for key internal and external stakeholders setting out the key

activities in the project and wider land issues in Uganda. This will

involve engagement with a range of stakeholders.

Produce leaflets, briefings and brochures

for existing and potential donors, setting out the nature of our project

work.

Suggest story ideas and produce

well-written stories of change on the impact of project for specific,

pre-agreed/designed purposes

Produce good quality photographs/footage

of the impact of project work to be used by Trocaire for specific,

pre-agreed/designed purposes including social media

Organising media interviews in

coordination with the Project Coordinator.

Assess attitudes and perceptions of target

audience on key issues, publications etc. related to the project.

Events Organisation:

Organisation of external meetings

especially those set out in the project document including Trocaire-GNPF

meetings, VVGT-CSO meetings and JASLF plenary meetings, with support from

the administration officer.

Support the Policy Officer  Natural

Resources and the Programme Officer  Resource Rights to organise the NULP

meetings.

Record minutes of key internal and

external meetings especially those outlined in the project documents.

Work in liaison with the project

coordinator to organise media events to publicise the activities and

achievements of the project.

Assist in the organisation of field visits

of supporters, HQ staff, and donors; in particular producing briefing

materials on project work they will visit. Potentially accompany such

trips to encourage high quality materials coming out of the trip for use

in media and communications work.

Other:

Keep abreast of the context in Uganda

especially Acholi as it relates to the land issues.

Keep abreast and inform the Country CMT

and Project Coordinator of key media news events as they relate to land.



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The ideal candidate should hold a degree-level

qualification in media, communications or related field.

At least three years of working in

communications field.

Possession of post-graduate qualification

in a relevant area is desirable

Prior experience of working with CBO/NGO

Experience of working on land issues in

Uganda.

Previous exposure and experience of

organising NGO and/or government events/meetings

Ability to write in perfect, clear,

accessible, English

An excellent communicator with strong

social/representation skills

Ability to demonstrate sound experience of

communications and media work, including seeking out stories proactively

Ability to produce high standard photographs

and video footage

Computer literacy skills i.e. proficiency

in Word-processing and desktop publishing software skills to layout work

to a very high standard

Able to identify and write strong, interesting stories / case

studies

Excellent analytical skills and ability to

summarise complex issues clearly

Highly organised, with excellent planning,

prioritisation and problem-solving skills.

Extremely well organised, and able to

responding swiftly to requests while maintaining a very high quality of

output to deadline

Demonstrated capacity to engage with a

wide range of actors

Ability to build good relationships with others

quickly, to being a team player

Demonstrate a commitment to gender

equality and an ability to influence and engage others to support gender

issues.

Capable of working efficiently under tight

deadlines.

Commitment to Trocaires Vision, Mission

and Values and an understanding of a partnership approach to development.

Good understanding of media environment in

Uganda

A good understanding of development issues

in the region, and able to encapsulate them in clear and simple ways.

Fluent spoken and written Acholi desirable

How to Apply:



this application form, Download

Here, and send it to

Please indicate position title as subject of E-mail. Send an application letter

and updated CV as one pdf as part of the application. All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to fillthis application form,, and send it to recruitmentuganda@trocaire.org Please indicate position title as subject of E-mail. Send an application letterand updated CV as one pdf as part of the application.

th February

2017 by 9:00 am Deadline: 6February2017 by 9:00 am
The core infotech industry has been virtually ignored in the Union Budget 2017, with little either to enthuse or enrage them. But the push towards a cashless digital economy has been welcomed by companies, mostly startups or e-commerce entities , which stand to benefit from the fallout.

Skill developers and educators find silver lining in online training platforms like Swayam. The e-cash tool BHIM, added to the support for BharatNet, is welcomed by mobile phone makers as an indirect fillip to selling more handsets, though there is precious little direct incentive for the sector. In fact, phones will be marginally costlier after the latest tax tweaks.

Here are tech industry and association voices on Budget 2017:



Thanks to the initiatives proposed in the budget, next-generation Knowledge Service Hubs such as Fintech Valley, Andhra Pradesh can emerge as growth magnets and growth drivers for the Indian economy, feels J. A. Chowdary, Advisor IT & Special Chief Secretary to Chief Minister, Government of Andhra Pradesh. The transformative potential of Union Budget 2017 is enormous, he adds.

Industry associations

M. N. Vidyashankar, President India Electronic and Semiconductor Association, said the benefits to startups will give a fillip in promoting the startup ecosystem in India. We will have an immense role to play along with MSMEs in making the Startup India Scheme initiative successful as 96 per cent of Indian companies will benefit from this. The investments made by the government in Swayam will provide 350 online courses in IT and enable students to attend the courses virtually. This initiatives will give impetus to implementation of national programmes like Digital India, Make in India,

A NASSCOM statement says: For the IT sector, leading the startup journey, extending the time period for eligibility for the three year income tax exemption from five years to seven years will allow for startups to actually avail the benefit, as most startups do not make profits in the initial years of their operations.

The association finds the budget proposals a mixed bag. TDS on payments to call centres have been reduced from 10 per cent to 2 per cent. This will improve working capital available with call centre companies and potentially support companies in their expansion to Tier 2/3 locations. However, this is possibly the only IT sector focused announcement in the budget. Several industry recommendations to help sustain and grow global competitiveness of the sector like support for research, development and innovation, rationalising safe harbour margins to more realistic levels and roadmap for corporate tax reduction have not found place in the budget.

Analysts



Partha Iyengar, VP and Gartner Fellow, India says: The biggest positive is the continued focus on infrastructure (roads, railway, housing, tier-II airports et al) in general and rural infrastructure (affordable homes, rural electrification) in particular, including e-infrastructure with the increased allocation to BharatNet. This will allow commercial activity to expand to the rural segment in a much more efficient manner, if the aim of achieving the broadband connectivity targets by 2018 is actually met. Iyengar noted that there are no sops for the infotech industry and none were expected. In another sign of the fact that the IT industry has become quite mature and does not need sops to continue its growth trend (other factors like Trump notwithstanding), there were no overt steps taken  and none expected  for the industry, and there is no hue and cry about it. In a sense it is a no-news is good-news story for the sector from a budget perspective.

Education/skills

Shekar Sanyal, director and country head, IET: The Union Budget 2017-18 with its very specific focus on higher education is a welcome relief to this sector. The enhanced focus on skill development, with over 100 India International Skills Centres established across the nation and the Rs 2,200 crore allocated for vocational training will help bridge the skill gap among the youth.

This is a view shared by Partha DeSarkar, CEO, Hinduja Global Solutions, the IT-BPM arm of the Hinduja Group: The focus on quality education through a revised framework for educational institutions and employable skill development for the younger generation will encourage the IT/BPM sector to further deepen their presence in Tier II and Tier III cities. Also, increasing the MAT credit carry forward period from 10 to 15 years will help companies in SEZs to utilise the same when moved into normal tax regime.

Ajay chhangani, ceo and co-founder of Rise India: The setup of 100 international skill development centres and 350 online courses with top faculty would help energise the youth and accelerate the employment growth of the country. Allocation of 1.84 lacs crore for skill development for women is the biggest ever initiative on women empowerment taken by Government of India.

Mobile industry

Sanjeev Bhatia, CEO of Zopo Mobile India: Those portions of India that are deprived from the fruits of technology will now be able to enjoy it. Government's mission to connect 1,50,000 gram panchayats with hotspots and digitisation will increase the use of technology and will create a friendly environment for digital payment system. No doubt smartphone will play a crucial role in strengthening Indian economy.

Peter Chang, region head, South Asia and country manager for ASUS India: Governments thrust on digitisation through its push on Aadhaar-enabled payments will provide impetus to the demand of mobile phones in the country. The BHIM app has already been adopted by 125 lakh people and governments plans to introduce two new schemes to promote its use will make the concept of a cashless society and digital currency, a reality. In addition to this, proposed extension of the OFC network to 1,50,000 gram panchayats for high speed broadband connectivity and rollout of 4G in the country will create a more digitally inclusive society. The budget was also conducive to promoting domestic manufacturing of electronics. With a provision of Rs 745 crores in 2017-18 in incentive schemes like M-SIPS and EDF, manufacturing of smartphones in India should see a boost.



Like ASUS, Gionee is sanguine about make in India. Arvind R Vohra, country CEO and MD, Gionee India said: We are positive that the governments increased allocation and incentives will provide the necessary push to the mobile and internet manufacturing economy. Also the allocation of Rs 10,000 crore in BharatNet provides the much needed boost for the penetration of Digital India into the rural segment, and for strengthening the consumptions of smartphones.

This is a view also shared by Indian phone makers. Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder, Micromax Informatics said, It is heartening that the government has announced multiple measures which can improve local manufacturing and create a better component ecosystem for mobile handset makers. The allocation of Rs 745 crore is a welcome move which will provide impetus to local component manufacturing in the electronics sector

Jay Chen, CEO, Huawei India feels the allocation of Rs 10,000 crore towards BharatNet will give an overall boost to broadband connectivity in the country. The success of the BHIM app and announcements related to its promotion, Aadhar-based swipe machines, and tax exemption to those who use Aadhar-based POS machines, will all help accelerate acceptance of digital payments.

Startups

Girish Rowjee, co-founder and CEO, Greytip Software: The reduction in corporate taxes by 5 per cent will immensely benefit the MSMEs in India and spur growth in the domestic sector. Legislative reforms to streamline and amalgamate existing labour laws into four codes will significantly help in simplifying the effort required on statutory compliances and result in improved compliance across organisations.

Adhil Shetty, CEO and co-founder, BankBazaar: The budget has several provisions for startup that can help them conserve that amount. Taxes for startups and small businesses have seen a dip, with the profit-linked deduction available to startups for three out of five years extended to seven years now. The Income Tax for MSME up to Rs 50 crore turnover has been reduced to 25 per cent and the presumptive income tax for enterprises whose turnover is up to Rs 2 crore has been reduced to 6 per cent from 8 per cent. These measures bring down the operating expenses and give startups a little more breathing space and room to conserve resources and grow.

Nita Kapoor, Head, India New Ventures, News Corp which has invested in many Indian startups said the Union Budget 2017 has left the Indian startup community asking for more. A five year tax holiday or the profit linked-deductions for startups are benefits which are virtually redundant. This is because there is a long gestation period for them to even break even, forget achieving profitability. Had there been fiscal incentives for private sector to support the setting up of more incubators through industry academic partnerships, that would have been a positive for startups in India.

Prabhakar Jayakumar, country manager, DigitalOcean: The government's announcement to allow eligible startups to avail their three-year tax holiday in a block of seven years as against the earlier five years is a useful one and should give further impetus to the Startup India initiative.

Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder, UrbanClap: The new policy proposed in the budget, allowing startups a three year tax holiday in the first seven years of their existence is a welcome change. However, this policy could have been more impactful had it included startups incorporated prior to March 31, 2016, and extended the period when the tax holiday can be availed from seven to 10 years.

Rajiv Vij, CEO & MD, Carzonrent.com: The impact of the demonetisation drive is visible with progressive steps taken for an inclusive and cashless economic future of India.

Make in India

There is disappointment for global companies who hoped to find some encouragement to Make in India.

Kuldeep Malik, country head, corporate sales international, MediaTek India said: We were expecting Financial Budget 2017 to offer incentives to start inflow towards design-led manufacturing in place of assembly-led manufacturing ecosystem, but it seems government is not yet convinced towards adopting multiple layered incentives for localisation while increasing the duties on CBU (Completely Built Units). The budget and the impact of the policies seems to be neutral for mobile/tablet industry, at best.

Manish Sharma, president and CEO, Panasonic India & South Asia: The governments move on imposing a 2 per cent special additional duty on populated printed circuit boards (PCB) used for mobile phones imported into the country, will provide adequate protection to the domestic industry and give the necessary impetus to Make in India under the GST regime.

Security

Altaf Halde, managing director, Kaspersky Lab, South Asia: Post demonetisation, the number of digital transactions have increased, and also the concerns about cyber security. The government has taken a step to address this by announcing to set up Computer emergency response team for cyber security of financial sector. It will lead to collaboration between the technology companies and the banking system in the country.

Rostow Ravanan, CEO and MD, Mindtree points to special provisions to ensure greater financial growth, with emphasis on enhancing cybersecurity in finance, and bringing greater coordination and transparency between departments. The Computer Emergency Response Scheme is a great initiative which will smoothen coordination between finance regulators.

Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Axis Communications: We see conducive growth for the security and surveillance industry. Axis Communications sees tremendous potential in India as a market for security solutions as the country is experiencing rapid economic growth and sectors like banking, IT, transportation, retail, healthcare including the government, city surveillance/safe city and critical infrastructure where security is a key concern.

Digital economy

This is a sector most pleased with the budget, thanks to the government's own post-demonetisation agenda of pushing people to go digital.

Rakesh Desmukh, CEO and co-founder, Indus OS: The budget is an extremely promising one, and extremely pro digital economy. Several of the initiatives rolled out seek to include the masses into the Digital India fold, making it possible for them to not only have the right technology to transact online, but also the right broadband infrastructure to provide Internet to data dark areas. Specific announcements and provisions like the target of Rs 2,500 crore digital transactions across platforms like UPI, AadharPay, IMPS, launch of AadharPay for merchants, and Aadhar-based smart cards for senior citizens, all encourage more Indians to come online and gives them more reason to transact online. Incentives to promote the use of BHIM app will make citizens more comfortable with mobile wallets, and we see all of these as providing a major boost to Indias move to digital.

Thyagarajan Seshadri, president of Banking Relations at Electronic Payment and Services: Budget 2017 provides impetus and growth to digital payments, proposes change to the Payments and Settlements Systems Act, and envisages a Payment Regulatory Board in the Reserve Bank of India. It paves way for digital economy by focussing on speed, accountability and transparency.

Govind Rajan, CEO FreeCharge: FreeCharge welcomes the policy measures aimed at accelerating the adoption of a digital economy in India. The incentives for adoption of fintech equipment, expansion of digital infrastructure in under-served areas, Aadhar Pay for wider adoption by merchants and capping cash transactions at Rs 3 lakh, all together have kept the spotlight on building a less-cash India. In doing so, we will all help build a transparent and efficient future for our country.

Sashank Rishyasringa, co-founder and Managing Director, Capital Float: This budget is transformational at its core, aimed at propelling India towards becoming a digital economy while increasing employment opportunities and having a determined focus on rural development. The governments push for digitising infrastructure is heartening. Incentivising cashless transactions at fuel stations, hospitals and railways, rolling out 1 million POS terminals by March and proposing a payment regulatory body to the RBI will help create a robust architecture for digital transactions.



MSME

The small and medium industry sector counted its blessings: reduced income tax and hopefully reduced lending rates:

Shilpa Mahna Bhatnagar, CEO and co-founder Evoxyz Technologies: On the positive side, there has been tax reduction on MSMEs, these concessions will also build a platform for MSMEs to embrace the companys format, reduction of custom duties on hardware for Fintech innovation and increase in child and women healthcare fund, the only concern which advances is that whether we as startups will be able to use them.

Sudhir Singh, MD Marg Compusoft: The government did not disappoint corporates, especially SMEs and MSMEs on the much expected reduction of tax rates. For small and medium businesses with annual turnovers of less than 50 crore, the tax has been reduced from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.

Sunil Gupta, founder and director, ExportersIndia.com: MSMEs and startups have all the reasons to cheer with a dip in income tax to 25 per cent for companies with an annual turnover of Rs.50 crore. Their grin grows wider with the FM proposing dip in bank lending rates. Incentives such as cash backs, referral schemes on BHIM app is all set to push the use of digital transactions which is yet another reason for MSMEs to move to online business models.

Tourism

India is now the world's fastest growing travel market, yet there was little in the budget to accelerate the growth in this sector:

Aditya Loomba, joint managing director, ECO Rent A Car: I wished there could have been more focus on our Tourism and Hospitality industry as it has a much greater potential for growth and needs suitable investments. We are a large country with an amazing potential for tourism. If the tourism grows, it has cascading benefits on Employment, GDP and general image building of our nation.



Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder, Ixigo: Kicking off on a good note, this years budget brought happiness to many with the removal of service charges on bookings made through IRCTC, indicating the governments focus to drive more digital transactions.

E-commerce

Vishwavijay Singh, Co-founder, SaleBhai.com: The hero of the Union Budget 2017 is definitely the rural sector, with finance minister Arun Jaitley allocating Rs 1,87,223 crore for rural agri development. As an e-commerce player, I see consumption in rural areas going up. With rural areas likely to witness greater digital penetration, the e-commerce sector is surely to benefit.

Neelesh Talathi, CFO, Pepperfry.com

The Indian furniture industry employs around 5mn people and over 85 per cent operate in the unorganised sector. We are heartened with the governments investment in skill upgradation and tax relief for the MSME sector.



Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal: We commend the focus on growing the digital footprint in the countryenhancing digital infrastructure, capping cash transactions, reducing cash donations, using Aadhaar Pay to enable more digital payments are significant measures. Initiatives make an impact when there is continued attention and the announcement of today builds on the demonetization efforts of last few weeks.

Healthcare

Startups in healthcare found little to cheer except for a general thrust to digital payments, which was at best an indirect fillip.



Ravi Virmani, MD and founder, CrediHealth: The Union Budget 2017 has taken a step towards making healthcare not just affordable but structurally robust as well. But, unfortunately the budget has completely overlooked the health-tech startups which are changing the landscape of healthcare industry in India. With a focus on transparency and reach, they have been deprived of an opportunity to make an dent in healthcare ecosystem.

Pradyumn Singh, co-founder and CEO, Pharmarack: The thrust on cashless transaction and move towards digital economy will help startups like ours which is all about bringing stakeholders of Indian pharma sector online and facilitate automated sales order processing. The encouragement to go digital will encourage more and more distributors to move important component of their business online.

Housing

The thrust on low cost housing is a mixed blessing.

Sangeeta Banerjee, co-founder and CEO, Apartment, ADDA: When it comes to Real Estate or Housing, the budget is solely oriented towards boosting affordable housing, as expected. Affordable housing defined as house cost up to Rs 50 lakh or carpet area of 300 sqft in metros and 600 sqft in other cities. This definition varies for different benefits in the budget.
Cinema, in more ways than one, has the power to change. The influence of a film can last longer than one can imagine. Something similar happened to Sanjeev Gupta, who was growing up in Agra. Every film he watched changed him bit by bit. Films became such an intrinsic part of his life that he made it his profession. After a degree in Media Studies from Pune, Gupta moved to the maximum city to make it big in the film industry.



While not many are courageous to break out from the conventional set-up for the fear of losing the regular income and work, Gupta did just that in an industry often termed ruthless. His film about a six-year-old girl's transit visit, who is brought to Mumbai from a village, has won quite a few awards, including the Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2015 for the best film director and the Grand Prix Best Feature Film Award at Paris Indian International Film Festival, among others. The story of Q, according to Gupta, is inspired by many real life events around the world.



A poster of the film on Netflix

I researched a lot before writing the script. It is around a situation and how people deal with that situation, he said.



Q has now been picked up by Netflix and would start streaming from mid-February. Gupta couldn't be happier to have got a platform that would enable a larger audience to access his labour of love. He always wanted the 96-minute film to get a theatrical release, but at a time when many are struggling to get the nod of the Censor Board of Film Certification, Gupta's story is no different. When asked about the CBFC's response, he said, I applied for censor last year. Things are in process, response is good from the CBFC. I hope I will get a censor very soon, but before that I got this Netflix opportunity and I opted this for Q.



Q has been selected in many international film festivals. Audience and festival curators, festival directors, organisers have celebrated my film. After the Best Film Award at the Indian Film Festival of Paris, I came across a Netflix person, said Gupta, as he explained how the deal happened. The process is quite long though, he said. They first see the film to decide whether they want it or not. I feel lucky that they have picked up Q. Netflix, as a platform, has a huge audience across 180 countries. Thats the best part. With a deal like this, you know your film will be internationally watched.



The digital boom, besides giving a platform to people like Gupta, is also a boon as far as the remuneration is concerned. Netflix pays you for taking your film. My film will be on Netflix for three years, he said. He pointed out that if one can shoot a film digitally, why not release it digitally, too. Digital viewing is flexible and convenient.
Even as the National Investigation Agency registered maximum number of cases in 2016, the anti-terror probe body is battling acute shortage of manpower with at least 200 posts at various levels are lying vacant.

The vacancies existed in almost all the branches, an MHA official said adding that a review was underway on how many posts were vacant against the total sanctioned strength at each branch office. State governments are being roped in to allow officers to come on deputation and fill up the various posts.

The manpower shortage comes at a time when the NIA is trying to rapidly expand its footprint. Today, the agency has branches in Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai besides recently opened branches in Jammu and Raipur. NIA feels that its base in Raipur will help it collect the desired intelligence in the naxal belt for smoother investigations.

However, the vacancies at the superintendent and deputy superintendent level in various branches are a matter of concern for the headquarters. Sources in the agency reveal that the shortage of manpower is something that has been lingering on for the last few years and needs immediate attention.

In 2016, a total of 34 cases were registered by the agencythe highest in a year ever since its inception. The vision document of the agency, which was set up in 2009 soon after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, visualises it as being at par with its counterparts like the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.

Sleuths point out that while there has been an increased focus on honing the skills of its officers for terror investigations, there is a need to fill up posts to ensure the quality of investigations.

The workload of the NIA has multiplied over the last few years. It is probing cases of Jihadi terrorism, fake currency, terror financing, north east insurgency and CPI(Maoist) issues besides other cases. The government has entrusted the agency with the investigation of 12 Islamic State related cases in which 35 accused are still absconding.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a blistering attack on the political rivals in Uttar Pradesh saying murderers and goons had flourished in the state due to political patronage.

Addressing an election rally in Meerut, Modi said the word 'scam' is an acronym for Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.

"Do you know what 'Scam' stands for? It is 'S' for Samajwadi Party, 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati," he said.

Taking a dig at the SP-Congress poll alliance, the prime minister pointed out that till a few months back, Congress was accusing the ruling party of corruption. "What changed overnight that the two arch rivals embraced each other?," he asked.

'Repeat 2014'

Modi said he had tried to do whatever he could for the development of Uttar Pradesh ever since he became the prime minister.

"But for the development to happen, you will have to remove the state governments that scuttle development. Otherwise, howsoever hard I try to help Uttar Pradesh, the funds from Delhi will be stopped at Lucknow," he said while urging the voters to repeat the 2014 general elections in which the Bharatiya Janata Party won 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Modi said the central government gave Rs 4,000 crore to the state government in 2014-15 to spend on improving healthcare services but the state government "failed to spend even Rs 2,500 crore" of the amount.

(With agency inputs)
The Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran, which it said were just "initial steps" and said Washington would no longer turn a "blind eye" to Iran's hostile actions.

The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities were the opening salvo by President Donald Trump who has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and came two days after the administration had put Iran 'on notice' following a ballistic missile test.

"The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests," National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said.

"The days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," Flynn said in a White House statement.

Suggesting that more concrete action could follow if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile programme and continues support in regional proxy conflicts, a senior administration official said the latest sanctions were the initial steps in response to Iran's "provocative behaviour".

The administration was "undertaking a larger strategic review" of how it responds to Iran.

Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and said it would impose legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping "regional terrorist groups", state TV quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying.

Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the US financial system or deal with US companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.

Nuclear deal

The White House said while the sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before. It added that a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme was not in the best interest of the United States.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the missile test did not violate the nuclear agreement.

"It's not a direct violation ... I think there is no question that it violates the spirit of that," Spicer said in an interview with MSNBC. He said the nuclear agreement was a "sweetheart deal" for Iran.

Citing a foreign ministry statement, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said the missile programme is "the undeniable and inalienable right of our nation under international law and the UN charter. Any foreign interference in this regard is a violation of international law."

The new designations stuck to areas that remain under sanctions even with the 2015 nuclear deal sealed between Iran and world powers in place, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military body that is powerful in Iranian politics and the economy, and Iran's ballistic missile programme. Zarif led Iran's delegation at the nuclear negotiations in 2015.

Among those affected by the sanctions were what it said was a Lebanon-based network run by the Revolutionary Guards.

"The list is actually so targeted and comparatively mild, it leads one to surmise that it may have been a set of targets devised by the Obama administration, and was ready to go when Trump came into office," said Adam Smith, former senior advisor to the Director of the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"As such, the real test for which way the Trump team will go on Iran may well be not this list release but the next one, whenever that occurs," Smith said.

The sanctions' impact will be more symbolic than practical, especially as they do not affect the lifting of broader US and international sanctions that took place under the nuclear deal.

Also, few of the Iranian entities being targeted are likely to have US assets that can be frozen, and US companies, with few exceptions, are barred from doing business with Iran.

Meanwhile, the US moved a Navy destroyer, the USS Cole, close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran.

Designations

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Friday expressed understanding over the sanctions, but warned against conflating Sunday's test with the nuclear deal.

Earlier on Friday, Trump tweeted: "Iran is playing with fire". US Senator Mark Warner expressed support for the sanctions, adding:

"I urge the Administration to bring clarity to their overall strategy towards Iran, and to refrain from ambiguous rhetoricor provocative tweetsthat will exacerbate efforts to confront those challenges.

Some of the entities sanctioned by the US Treasury are based in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China.

Among those affected were companies, individuals and brokers the US Treasury said support a trade network run by Iranian businessman Abdollah Asgharzadeh.

Treasury said he supported Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which the United States has said is a subsidiary of an Iranian entity that runs Iran's ballistic missile programme.

Hasan Dehghan Ebrahimi, a Beirut-based official with the Revolutionary Guard's Qods Force, which runs its operations abroad, was put under sanctions for acting on behalf of the Qods Force, Treasury said.

Three Lebanese companies involved in waste collection, pharmaceuticals, and construction were also listed under the sanctions for being owned or controlled by Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat, one of Ebrahimi's employees.

Treasury said he has facilitated millions of dollars in cash transfers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Two of his employees and a company he manages were also sanctioned. Treasury said Ebrahimi and his employees used a Lebanon-based network to transfer funds, launder money, and conduct business.
Picture this. A Harvard graduate from Sudan with a green card, pursuing a PhD from Stanford University, in handcuffs. Back from a research trip, Nasrin Omer was held for over five hours at New Yorks JFK airport by immigration officers. The 39-year-old was questioned about her views on Sudanese politics and was patted down aggressively, upon which she broke into tears. Omer was among hundreds who bore the brunt of President Donald Trumps decision to ban immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries.

Barely two weeks into his presidency, Trump has stunned the US and the world by speedily signing into effect several of his controversial campaign promises. These include building the Mexico border wall, recommissioning oil pipelines, pulling America out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and repealing Obamacare. But none of them evoked the punch-in-the-gut reaction like the executive order banning refugees from seven Muslim majority countries. The extreme vetting orders were signed on January 27, suspending with immediate effect entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barring Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocking for 90 days citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Political pundits were quick to point out that Trump had no business interests in those countries.

Chaos and despair unravelled at airports across the US as the ban went into effect. Sara Yarjani, an Iranian student at the California Institute for Human Science, was returning after a trip when she was stopped at the Los Angeles airport. She was forced to void her visa on her own, after being threatened with serious consequences if she resisted. Only then was she allowed to use a phone. She was then put on a plane to Oslo, Norway, en route to Austria where her family lived.

Fighting spirit: Students at Columbia University in New York protesting against Trumps anti-immigration policies | Reuters

Opponents of the ban said it violated the spirit of the US constitution, which ensured protection from all forms of discrimination. Moreover, the seven countries on the list have had no history of attacks on US soil. And yet, the ban spared no one. Not even Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an Iraqi refugee who had worked as an interpreter for the US Armys 101st Airborne Division and saved the lives of several American servicemen. He was detained upon his arrival at JFK.

Luckily for Darweesh and many others, the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in and got a stay on certain provisions of the ban from federal district court judge Ann M. Donnelly.

As fear and despair gripped homes and campuses, wary protesters were seen flocking to airports, city squares and public places. We barely rested from the womens march [against Trump], but had to come here, said Hamzah Safieh, who was at Battery Park, New York, with friends Sarah and Katie. These are testing times for American democracy.

Thousands of academics, including 20 Nobel laureates, have signed a petition against the executive order. They said conducting international diplomacy was completely different from running a presidential campaign. Trump, however, is unrelenting. In an unprecedented move, he fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for instructing justice department lawyers against making legal arguments defending the ban on immigrants. Miranda Yaver, who taught at Yale University, said there was no other way to interpret the order. The narratives Trump created of a world out of control are simply untrue. The Muslim ban is about fascism and not democracy, said Yaver.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Americas largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the executive order. It takes two years for a Syrian refugee to come to the US. They are extremely vetted, said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR. Trumps executive order is not based on national security. It is based on fear-mongering. He is still in the campaign mode, he said.

Samantha Crane, legal director of Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a disability rights movement based in Washington, DC, agreed with Awad. Trumps refugee ban is personal, she said. My mom came to America in 1948 as a refugee from Czechoslovakia. There is extreme vetting and then to be turned away at the airport or prevented from entering the country is very traumatising.

Such callousness is what the immigrant community is worried about. Safieh said her friends were cancelling their summer vacation plans. Immigrant students said they were scared to leave the country. Boston University, in fact, advised students hailing from the countries on the banned list against travelling.

Wazir Ahmad, a Pakistani Ame-rican green card holder, who runs a small store in New York, is worried about the annual trip he makes to his homeland to meet his family. He fears that he may no longer be allowed back in, like Marzieh Moosavizadeh, a 75-year-old Iranian American from Phoenix, Arizona. Moosavizadeh, who travels regularly between Iran and the US on a green card, was in for a major shock as she was detained at the Los Angeles airport. With her grandson acting as an interpreter, Moosavizadeh spoke about how she was detained although she was a senior citizen, who had undergone triple bypass surgeries and was suffering from a range of medical issues. She said the detainees were denied food, given just 250ml of water and escorted to and from restrooms, which made them feel humiliated.

Marc Springer, an American citizen, is a worried man. Trumps latest move has unnerved Springer and his wife, who is from Yemen. It isnt just about visa holders or people with green cards, it is about people with American citizenship as well, he said. Many of his wifes relatives living in the US are currently travelling abroad, like an aunt who is in Saudi Arabia to meet her ailing mother. Springer said he was not sure whether they would be allowed to return.

He said Trumps policies had made him so worried that he was considering leaving the US for good. I have been pondering over alternative plans in case the situation here becomes untenable. My wife and I have both lived overseas, so that is a possibility, he said.

Former attorney and journalist Mark Fass said the fallout from the ban would be serious. While it is true that Trump is playing to his base, what is being destroyed in the process is the image, reputation and goodwill of the United States as the leader of the free world, he said. No wonder attorney generals of 16 states, including California and New York, have offered their support to ACLU in its fight against the ban. Even in the senate there appears to be a certain amount of bipartisan consensus against the ban. While Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said the US was facing a constitutional crisis, seasoned Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham observed that the ban was not likely to improve national security.

Senator Bernie Sanders said that telling over a billion Muslims in the world that they were not welcome to the US sent a horrible message and was against American values. I hope very much that President Trump rescinds that ban. Trumps unprecedented decision forced former president Barack Obama, who had vowed to be respectful to the new president, to voice his displeasure. He said in a statement that he disagreed with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.

Tanya Selvaratnam, an American citizen of Sri Lankan origin, who had exposed many of the malpractices of the Rajapaksa regime, said democracy in the US was hijacked by a regime which refused to listen to immigrant and citizen voices. The New York-based actor and writer said that after attacking the immigration policy, the Trump administration would clamp down on public protests and the media. The US is on the verge of a civil war of a different kind, she said.

Huddled in coffee shops, on college campuses and local hangouts, immigrants and citizens are in a collective fight for the soul of America. Some of them have doubts about their settled lives in America. Like Ahmad and Moosavizadeh, they fear that even a green card cannot protect them against the unconstitutional or un-American measures imposed by a government devoid of empathy. Worse still, they worry that the ban has alienated the US from its allies and has played right into the hands of terrorist groups like Islamic State.

Isolationism will not serve us well, said Yaver. Regime stability is crucial. But I dont feel optimistic until we preserve a free press in addition to the mutual co-existence of the executive, legislative, judicial branches. But with the White House refusing to comply with the judiciarys orders regarding the ban, America finds itself at the edge of a socio-political precipice.

WITH LAURA SILVIA BATTAGLIA

H-1B VISAS

What reforms would mean to me

Vinutha Shivanna, final-year computer science engineering student, Bengaluru

THE US move to restrict H-1B visas is bad news for computer science engineering students in India. I wanted to work for an IT company after graduation, but now I feel that it is better to turn to teaching than pursue a career in IT.

As it is, getting into an IT company is very challenging. During one of the campus recruitments, an IT company selected only three out of 700 aspirants. Now, if these restrictions come into effect, IT companies in the US, especially the Indian firms, will be forced to hire locally. This will significantly reduce the chances of these companies recruiting freshers from India.

Also, I feel that job security in an IT company is low, and it is bound to get worse with restrictions in place as the companies may resort to mass sacking if they are under stress. Moreover, many Indian students go to the US to do their masters in the hope of getting a job there. With the proposed restrictions, the prospects look bleak for them too.

AS TOLD TO ABHINAV SINGH
By Vidya : The special NIA court in Mumbai has granted 3-week provisional bail to Malegaon blast accused retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay during which he can go ahead and campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Upadhyay wants to contest elections from Bairia as it is his ancestral village.

The Hindu Mahasabha had fielded him from Bairia during the previous elections but Upadhyay was not allowed to go and canvass for his seat and seek votes. He had lost the election then.

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The Mahasabha has decided not to field him this year. However, whether Upadhyay will go into the elections as an independent candidate or will align with a party will be decided only after a week.

ALSO READ | Malegaon blast accused allowed to contest UP elections, Hindu Mahasabha to field him from 2 seats

But the shocker for the Upadhyay family was the estimate of the expenditure on security that the Mumbai police has handed over to them. According to the Upadhyay family, the police has given them a bill amounting Rs 65,000 a day. "This works out to Rs 12 lakh for three weeks, which we cannot even afford. We will now try to reduce the number of days of his campaigning," says Vishal, Upadhyay's son, who is studying Law in Pune.

According to Vishal, since the filing of nomination starts on February 7, his father will leave for Uttar Pradesh by February 14 when nominations close so that they can go for a few days of campaigning and return early without drawing a huge bill on security.

ALSO READ | Malegaon blast: NIA gives clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya, waters down case against Col Purohit

The other conditions that Upadhyay will have to follow are that he will have to make regular appearance before the local police in Uttar Pradesh. Before leaving Mumbai, he also has to give details of his place of stay in UP and submit a list of the people who will be visiting him there to the special court here.

Upadhyay has been in judicial custody for the last eight years.

ALSO READ | Families of 2008 Malegaon blasts accused demand capital punishment for ATS officials

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Thane, Feb 4 (PTI) A 35-year-old man from Virar here, who posed as a Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) inspector and allegedly demanded bribe from a doctor, has been arrested, police said today.

"Accused Sanjay Shinde impersonated as FDA inspector and meet one Dr Raghavendra Tripathi at his hospital in Kalyan yesterday. He then accused Tripathi of indulging in adulteration of medicines," sub-inspector Y M Gaikar of Bazarpeth police station said.

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Shinde demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Tripathi and threatened him to shell out the money if he wanted to continue his medical practise.

"Suspecting Shinde, the doctor asked him to show his identity card, which he failed to furnish. Tripathi soon alerted drug inspector Dr Anil Manickrao, attached to Thane FDA division," Gaikar said.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Shinde was a real estate agent.

Police is also probing that if he has cheated more medicos in a similar fashion and duped them.

Shinde was booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 170 (personating a public servant) of the IPC. PTI COR ARS

--- ENDS ---
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

T.D. writes: Pentagon Asset Management approached me about selling my carbon credits. Its website address is pentagonassetmgt.com and the telephone number is 020 7859 4985.

I assume this company is a scam, but perhaps you can check it out and let readers know if it is to be avoided.

Pentagon Asset Management claims to be based in Berkeley Square

Thank you. I have checked them out. This is a scam. Avoid.

Carbon credits were a scam investment to begin with, so any firm claiming it can sell them for you is just another rip-off.

One investor says Pentagon told him his credits were worth more than 8 each but  surprise, surprise  he would have to pay an up-front fee to start the sales ball rolling.

This is not the only evidence against Pentagon. For a start, while there are businesses with similar names, records at Companies House show there is no such British limited company.

Then there is the website. It claims Pentagon is almost 200 years old, with more than 26billion of client assets, offices in London, Switzerland, Guernsey and South Africa, and services covering shares, unit trusts and currencies.

Remarkably though, the firm has somehow managed not to be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, leaving its bosses open to the risk of being jailed for providing all these services illegally.

Some of its website has simply been copied from that of the genuine Investec Wealth & Investment. It mistakenly copied over a passage that says: 'Discover how IW&I can help you preserve capital'. A bit of a giveaway.

'Want to know more?' Pentagon asks. 'Speak to one of our specialists today.' The confident face that smiles out from Pentagon's website really does belong to a financial adviser.

Dupe: Brian LaHue is an adviser, but not for firm Pentagon Asset Management

I traced him  thousands of miles away in Louisville, Kentucky, in the US.

His name is Brian LaHue and he told me: 'No, there is no connection with me. Why would it want to use a picture of me?'

Closer to home, Pentagon claims to be located at Berkeley Square in London, but says its registered office is 12 Chequers Road in Derby.

This address exists and it is the registered office of a company called Pentagon Investments Limited  but this is a legitimate business in the vehicle industry.

Joe O'Callaghan, of the Derby company, told me: 'It has got nothing to do with us. When we found out about it we called the police straight away.

'We passed all the details to Action Fraud, but unfortunately we have heard nothing back.'

Last Tuesday, I called Pentagon's London phone number. The person who answered said 'Reception', with no company name  a clue that he takes calls for all sorts of bogus businesses. He could not help, he said, but he would get someone to phone me back.

A short time later Pentagon called me. I explained who I was and asked why the company was not authorised, why it used a fake picture on its website and why it used the address of an unconnected business in Derby.

The speaker said he would put me through to his boss. There were some background noises, then the line went dead. By Thursday, Pentagon's website had disappeared.

There is no disputing that Pentagon is a criminal enterprise run by crooks. But if Joe O'Callaghan and his colleagues in Derby already reported this, why was Pentagon still in business just a few days ago?

If the authorities ignore crooks like this, then all they have to do is reopen under a new name and carry on stealing.

You don't need this company's assistance

D.F. writes: I am sending you a copy of a letter I have sent to the Financial Ombudsman Service concerning Uniform Tax Credits, an organisation recently featured by you.

I wrote about Uniform Tax Credits (UTC) because the Swansea-based firm had won a 63 tax refund for a reader but charged 207 in fees.

Your own problem is rather different. Your son, who has learning difficulties, works as a supermarket cleaner. You told me he was contacted with an offer of help in claiming backdated tax relief for the cost of cleaning his work uniform and he authorised UTC to lodge a claim.

He was told by Revenue & Customs last June that a refund of 48 was sent to UTC. You then spoke to three different people at UTC, but your son still received nothing.

Although you have written to the Ombudsman, it does not handle tax problems. These are dealt with by the Revenue Adjudicator.

I asked UTC's boss, Michael Byfield, to comment. He told me two cheques were sent to your son, but for some unknown reason, neither arrived. A third cheque has now been sent and you have confirmed that this time your son really does have his money.

As I reported in December, the Revenue does not want to have to make individual calculations for millions of people who have to provide or clean work uniforms.

The taxman operates a flat-rate expenses scheme that anyone can use without professional help. Byfield told me: 'Our target customers are not typically Mail on Sunday readers and have no idea they are due a refund for past years, or an allowance for future years, until we contact them.'

Let us be clear: UTC has no official role and anyone can find out from their tax office whether they qualify for a fixed expenses allowance.

Binary calls are not 'local'

C.R.D. writes: Further to your recent article on binary options investment scams, I believe BT is assisting these fraudsters. It is doing this by selling telephone numbers that make people believe a call is coming from within Britain, rather than abroad.

Advances in technology mean that none of us should rely on a telephone number as proof of where a call originates. You have given me examples of numbers that appear to show calls coming from Bedford, Aberdeen and Ayr, when in fact they all come from Cyprus.

It is not illegal to supply a British number to a foreign firm. BT told me: 'BT, like many communications companies, has for many years offered companies the use of worldwide phone numbers, including UK numbers, that may be located in almost any country. Companies use these numbers to appear local and enable them to be contacted at low cost, or no cost, by their customers.'

Worse though, scam firms can 'spoof' a British number, so when they call from abroad, a fake British number shows up on your caller ID screen. The safest policy is to refuse to deal with cold-callers. When in doubt use a free online directory service to get the genuine number of the firm supposed to be calling you and then ring them back so you can be sure of dealing with the genuine article.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
The desire for income from a portfolio of shares has never been greater among investors.

This huge appetite has prompted Woodford Investment Management to launch a fund next month paying an income of around five per cent.

The Income Focus Fund, to be run by hugely respected manager Neil Woodford, will complement the Woodford Equity Income fund with more emphasis on extracting dividends from companies listed abroad. About 20 per cent of the fund will be invested overseas.

Continued demand for equity income is also a key reason why rival investment house Miton Asset Management is appearing on the radars of both advisers and investors.

On the move: Gervais Williams likes services group Stobart, now the UK's biggest biomass fuels supplier

Since Gervais Williams, formerly of Gartmore, joined the firm six years ago, Miton has gained a reputation for managing income funds effectively.

What makes it slightly unusual is the approach it takes to find income-friendly UK investments.

Unlike many rivals, which concentrate on dividend payers in the FTSE 100 Index, Miton also looks for income among smaller firms found in the FTSE AIM, Small Cap and Fledgling indices.

Nowhere is this approach more manifest than on Miton UK Multi Cap Income, which Williams has managed with Martin Turner since it was launched in October 2011.

The biggest chunk of the 150-strong portfolio is concentrated on AIM stocks.

It seems to be working. Analysis by investment experts at Sanlam Private Wealth identifies Miton's as the 'best' UK equity income fund.

This is based on its analysis of income funds over the past five calendar years, taking into account factors such as dividends, investment performance and the smoothness of returns.

The biggest chunk of the 150-strong portfolio is concentrated on AIM stocks

Others on Sanlam's 'white list' of top UK equity income funds include Axa Framlington Monthly Income, Royal London UK Equity Income and Threadneedle UK Equity Alpha Income.

The analysis excludes UK equity income investment trusts, which, because of their ability to smooth the income they pay investors, have long-established records of increasing their dividends.

Williams says: 'We are looking for income in parts of the market that are not that well researched. It enables us to dig out opportunities that others miss.

'Yes, we are happy investing in FTSE 100 stocks. Indeed, we would be fools if we did not. But there are lots of smaller firms out there that have strong balance sheets, have invested to make productivity gains and are now paying good dividends or have the potential to do so.'

Stobart Group, he says, is a case in point. Best known for its juggernauts, Williams says it has undergone a transformation in recent years.

It is now the UK's largest supplier of biomass fuels and it owns Southend Airport.

'The airport has great potential,' says Williams. 'Passenger numbers are rising and it has a great reputation for service.'

Although Sanlam's analysis puts the Miton fund top of the pile, its income record over the past five years is a little uneven, with the dividend payments dipping in 2013 before growing in each of the next three years.

As a result, income seekers may prefer Diverse Income, an investment trust run by Williams and Turner in near identical fashion to Miton UK Multi Cap Income. There is 90 per cent overlap between the two portfolios.

The trust's ability to regulate the income it pays out means that dividends have increased year on year since its launch in April 2011.

It also has a year's income in reserve to boost dividend payments if the economic backdrop tightens, forcing companies to cut back on the income they pay shareholders.
Low & Bonar has come a long way from its roots back in 1903, when John Low and George Bonar set up a jute firm in Dundee.

Today, the company is run by Brett Simpson, who was born in New Zealand, raised in Australia and has spent most of his working life in the US, Asia and continental Europe.

The group still has a presence in Dundee, making yarns for carpet groups, including Axminster & Wilton. But it now has 15 factories worldwide, and operates in 20 countries, with almost 2,500 employees.

On course: The company provided the textile for a tensile roof at Aintree racecourse

The shares are 71p and should rise this year and beyond. Simpson was brought in at the end of 2014 to turn the business round.

He has made significant progress, but the best lies ahead and the shares should respond as he meets targets.

Low & Bonar can seem like a complicated business because it makes a wide variety of products, used in industries ranging from mushroom farming to motorway building and from carpeting to water filtration.

But all these applications share certain features. They all involve taking polymers and using technology to convert them to hardwearing, lightweight yarns, fibres and other fabrics.

The company has contributed to projects including the O2 Skywalk in London, Aintree racecourse in Liverpool, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road, Copenhagen airport and waterway embankments in Holland.

When Simpson joined, the firm was organised on a regional basis, with each regional manager responsible for everything sold in that area.

Simpson has restructured the business into four global divisions: building & industrial (products for large buildings, roofs, farming and horticulture); civil engineering (products for infrastructure projects including roads, rail and land reclamation); interior and transportation (mainly carpet backing); and coated technical textiles (tarpaulin and similar materials).

Organising the firm this way makes it much easier to see what is working around the world. Simpson sets the bar relatively high  every division should be able to achieve profit margins of at least 10 per cent.

Businesses that seem incapable of reaching that goal have either been sold or are due for imminent disposal. Those with potential are being invested in and expanded.

The strategy is starting to deliver results. Annual figures, released last week, showed a 6.6 per cent increase in underlying pre-tax profits to 29.2 million for the year to November 30, while sales rose 10 per cent to 400 million.

The company benefited from sterling's weakness, but suffered from a major blip at the coated technical textiles division, where core profits tumbled 38 per cent to 8.7 million.

The business ran into problems on two fronts  changes in EU regulation and manufacturing issues, after a period of rapid expansion. Simpson has taken action to resolve both issues and the division is expected to return to health this year.

The three other divisions experienced strong growth, delivering profit rises of between 15 and 27 per cent.

Encouragingly too, the dividend has been raised by 8 per cent to 3p, putting the shares on a yield of just over 4 per cent.

The group is also expanding in parts of the world where it should have an edge. A new factory has been opened in China and there was a small US acquisition.

Low & Bonar derives about 65 per cent of its revenues from Europe, 20 per cent from the US and 15 per cent from the rest of the world.

Simpson is keen to increase the firm's presence in China and the US, both countries with extensive infrastructure programmes from which it should benefit.

Analysts are optimistic about this firm, despite the disappointment over coated technical textiles.

The group specialises in high-end materials, which cannot easily be copied and it should benefit from global trends, such as spending on roads and rail, a focus on clean air and water and the move towards lighter, durable and flexible fabrics within construction.

Brokers forecast an 18 per cent rise in profits this year to 34.6 million, rising to 38 million in 2018. A 3.2p dividend is expected for 2017, increasing to 3.4p next year.

Midas verdict: Low & Bonar has been through some difficult times in recent years, but Simpson is determined to improve profits, reduce debt and deliver generous dividends. Buy now, at 71p, and there should be substantial rewards over the next few years.

Traded on: Main market Ticker: LWB Contact: lowandbonar.com or 020 7535 3180
Anglo Pacific Group occupies a unique place on the stock market. The only natural resources royalty company to be listed in London, Anglo Pacific invests in mining projects and then receives a proportion of the revenues they generate.

Midas last looked at the company in December 2014, when the shares were just 105p, having suffered from the slump in commodity prices, particularly coal.

The company had also invested in several exploration and development assets, which produced no royalties because they were not making any money.

Rights: Anglo Pacific Group has struck a deal over uranium from Cigar Lake

A new management team was brought in to put the business back on its feet, headed by Julian Treger, a financier specialising in natural resources and turning companies round.

Today, the shares are 130.5p and should continue to gain ground. Many commodities have been rising in price and Treger has streamlined the business, focusing on assets that are producing royalties and diversifying the portfolio so the group is less reliant on coal.

That strategy was given a boost last week, when Anglo completed a complex deal, under which it is paying 26.5 million for the rights to uranium processing revenues in Canada.

The uranium comes from the Cigar Lake mine, the highest quality uranium operation in the world.

The mine owners pay for the uranium to be processed at the McClean Lake Mill and Anglo will now receive a proportion of those annual processing fees. The transaction will boost Anglos profits and reduce its reliance on coal-related royalties.

The deal could also prove to be timely, as uranium has not enjoyed the same recovery as other commodities, but is expected to rise in price over the coming years.

Anglo said in January that royalty income for 2016 should be the highest it has been since 2011 and analysts expect further strong growth this year.

A dividend of 6p is forecast for 2016, as Anglo takes advantage of rising commodity prices to rebuild its balance sheet. But the payout should recover to at least 7p for the current year.

The firm has 12 investments in its portfolio, but it has a 70 per cent exposure to coal and Treger would like to reduce this by making acquisitions that provide a more diverse revenue stream.

Midas verdict: Anglo Pacific has primarily been an income stock in recent years, and the 4.6 per cent yield is still attractive.

The shares should also rise in price as commodities continue to recover and Treger maintains his efforts to refocus the portfolio.

Existing investors should hold on to their shares. New ones could find value at the current price.

Traded on: Main market Ticker: APF Contact: anglopacificgroup.com or 020 3435 7400
There was a time when getting a mortgage as a self-employed worker was simple. Indeed, some lenders were happy to grant a loan without seeing any evidence of earnings.

Although such 'self-certified' mortgages were banned six years ago, many lenders have now gone to the other extreme.

Conscious of a regulator keen to clamp down on reckless lending, they are nervous about lending to the self-employed.

Rather than 'We say yes', the common response from many lenders to enquiries from the newly self-employed is: 'The computer says no.'

New affordability rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority are to blame. They mean some lenders will only entertain the self-employed if they can provide at least three years of accounts or three years of income that has been reported to Revenue & Customs (via a form called SA302).

The mechanistic way many big lenders now process mortgage applications means that those made by the self-employed are routinely spat out.

The decision on whether to lend is taken by an insensitive computer located on some industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, not by an employee working out of a bank or building society branch who has discretion over lending decisions.

Only a few specialist lenders and a handful of local building societies are happy to lend to the self-employed without resorting to a computer, assessing cases on an individual basis.

It means many people setting up in business can find themselves excluded from getting a home loan.

If they already have a mortgage, they can find remortgaging nigh-on impossible. In most cases, they have no choice but to stick with their existing lender irrespective of how competitive their products are.

David Hollingworth, mortgage expert at broker London & Country, says the reluctance of lenders to accommodate the newly self-employed can feel like a 'lockout' for those searching for a loan.

Although he believes some lenders, especially new challenger banks, are adapting their lending to take into account the labour market's shift from employment to self-employment, they are not adapting quickly enough.

Research by challenger bank Aldermore indicates that worries over getting a mortgage are holding back some people from becoming self-employed.

Though one in seven workers would like to be self-employed, one in ten fear that they would struggle to get a mortgage if they made the jump, so putting them off.

Charles Haresnape, director of mortgages at Aldermore, says: 'As the self-employed market grows, more needs to be done by lenders to support their needs.

Healthy: Nigel Patton's ambulance firm has a multi-million pound turnover

IT'S NOT EASY...EVEN WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS A SUCCESS Former fireman Nigel Patton is a self-employed business success story. But getting a mortgage lender to put its trust in him has not been easy. When he moved home 18 months ago, he had only been self-employed a short while. His existing lender was not interested in helping him, nor were other big banks. Eventually, he turned to Aldermore, one of a new breed of challenger banks, and keen to make its mark in the mortgage market. Aldermore's faith in Nigel has proved shrewd. Nigel's business, Meditech Ambulance Service is now generating a multi-million pound turnover. As well as patient transfer, it specialises in repatriating people from Europe (usually ski injuries) and moving obese people (bariatrics). 'It has been a difficult journey,' says 51-year-old Nigel. 'We have ridden our luck.' He and his family  he is married with two children  have since moved home again. They moved last December into a four- bedroom detached property in Ashford, Kent. The current mortgage is a two-year fix, priced at 3.68 per cent. Aldermore required him to provide details confirming his income over the past two years. 'Getting a mortgage as a self-employed worker is not easy,' says Nigel. 'This time around, Aldermore asked for more information and to speak to my accountant. 'But it treated me as an individual and wanted to help me.'

'All too often these borrowers do not fit the norm for high street lenders and it can be a real challenge for them to receive the financial support they need to buy a home.'

He adds: 'This has to change. Self-employment now accounts for 15 per cent of the country's employed market and this figure is going to grow. Lenders must move with the times.'

Aldermore, which is happy to lend to the self-employed, now only requires applicants to show one year of accounts  it was previously two. It is among a select band of lenders which experts describe as self-employed friendly.

Others include specialists Kensington, Paragon, Precise and Vida and building societies Coventry, Ipswich, Leeds, Market Harborough, Newcastle and Saffron. Clydesdale, Kent Reliance, Metro Bank, Platform (Co-operative Bank) and Virgin will also lend.

Ray Boulger is senior technical manager at mortgage broker John Charcol. Apart from the need for accounts, he says the self-employed face other challenges, irrespective of how long they have been trading.

'No two lenders are the same,' he says. 'For example, those people who trade as a company may have a loan application assessed purely on the salary they are drawing from the business plus any dividends they pay themselves.

This can discriminate against those who opt to keep the bulk of their profits in the business in order to grow it. Flexible lenders will take retained profits into any lending decision.'

A recent blip in profits may also cause some lenders to say no. Accommodating lenders, says Boulger, will be happy to accept a mortgage application if this blip has been caused by a 'non-recurring event' such as a large bad debt or someone taking time off after the birth of a child.

Those who have just been made a partner after being employed in a business such as an accountancy firm, a solicitor's or a GP practice can also come unstuck. This is because a lender can treat them as if they were newly self-employed.

Finally, those who generate a lot of their business revenue in a foreign currency can find the choice of lenders restricted. This is because a recent EU directive means any mortgage is treated as a foreign currency loan.

'As far as the self-employed are concerned, it's a mortgage minefield out there,' says Boulger. 'It can be navigated but it is not easy.'
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) Days after National Company Law Tribunal refused relief, ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry today moved the Appellate Tribunal seeking stay on the shareholder meeting of the Tata Groups holding company, called on February 6 to seek his removal.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has listed the petition for hearing tomorrow, according to the quasi-judicial bodys agenda listing.

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Two investment firms backed by the Mistry has moved the NCLAT through their law firm Jaitley and Bakshi.

On January 31, the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had refused to grant a stay on February 6 EGM.

"This issue was already decided in the last hearing when the contempt petition filed by two Mistry family companies was dismissed. There are no roadblocks for Tata Sons to hold the EGM. It can go ahead with the forthcoming EGM," had said a division bench of NCLT comprising B S V Prasad Kumar (Member-Judicial) and V Nallasenapathy (Member-Technical).

On January 18, NCLT had dismissed contempt plea filed by Mistry group companies alleging violation of NCLT directives in taking steps to remove Mistry from the Board of Tata Sons.

However, while dismissing contempt plea, NCLT had allowed Mistry companies to file an affidavit on the issue of Tata Sons holding EGM on February 6. PTI KRH ANZ MKJ

--- ENDS ---
MBABANE  Principal Crown Counsel Phila Dlamini said murder suspect Themba Masimulas case warrants a death sentence.



Dlamini was speaking during the bail hearing of Masimula, who has been charged with the murder of his wife, Funekile. The Crown counsel said the State vigorously opposed the suspects bail application. He told the court that the matter was serious and challenged Judge Sipho Nkosi to look at the photographs, which were taken at the scene of the alleged accident.



Dlamini said if he could speak Afrikaans he would say Funekile was slagting (slaughtered) before she was allegedly burnt.

Someones daughter was killed. Looking at the pictures, the deceaseds relatives would take the law into their own hands if the suspect were to be released, said Dlamini. He further mentioned that the chamber of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was concerned about the matter.



Instead of summoning the pathologist and the investigating officer to appear before court, Dlamini said the matter should go straight to trial. The Crown counsel told the court that the DPP was ready to proceed with the matter at trial. He boldly told the court that the Crown was ready to prosecute and was prepared to negotiate with the chief justice and registrar of the High Court to have the matter enrolled for trial.



Dlamini said a pre-trial was only a five minute thing; emphasising their readiness to have Masimula tried. He submitted that an indictment could be launched before the close of business yesterday.

We do not want to be seen to be frustrating the accused, he said and Judge Nkosi chipped in to say the accused was already being frustrated by the Crown.



The judge also asked why the bail was being vigorously opposed and further mentioned that he was inclined to grant the suspect bail.

Masimulas attorney, Noncedo Ndlangamandla, disputed that the Crown was ready to prosecute the suspect. Considering that the bail application was moved three months ago, if they were ready they would have indicated then. They are not ready to prosecute. There is no indictment and no judge to hear the matter right away, said Ndlangamandla.

She added that there were many suspects who have been awaiting prosecution for more than three years. Ndlangamandla wondered why the Crown wanted to treat Masimulas matter differently.



Ndlangamandla also said the Crown was being emotional about the matter, which has been argued for three months now. She stated that the Crown would not proceed even if Masimula were to be indicted. Ndlangamandla said the DPP had no control over when a matter is to be heard. She said the bail application had been taking a long time. Even Judge Nkosi mentioned that the matter was taking too long.
MBABANE  His Majesty King Mswati III has given a directive to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy to review the mining legislation so that it creates an environment that is competitive and attracts new investment.



He said: In our pursuit of earning foreign revenue with our minerals, we need to ensure that we fully harness the opportunities presented by value addition on our products.

Investors had been punching holes in the Legislation, saying it is not attractive at all to foreign investors.



A mining expert and interested investor in the country told this reporter that the Kings directive is welcome because reviewing the Legislation will attract more investors.

The thorny issue about the current Legislation is the shareholding more so because mining is a capital intensive business, and therefore the shareholding structure should be making business sense to investors.



Investor



It will make more business sense if government shareholding could be reduced so that the core investor can have reasonable returns on investment, said the mining expert and prospective investor.

The Mining and Minerals Act of 2011 stipulates that the King will acquire 25 per cent of shareholding without any monetary consideration and another 25 per cent shareholding in any mining enterprise that will be allocated to government.

Mining companies are also expected to pay rent for the area where company mining is going on to the head of State (royalties).



According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the country has more than 100 million tonnes of coal, 500 million tonnes of iron ore, 2.1 milliom tones of gold and over 5 million tonnes of diamonds available in areas which are not mined.

Translating these mineral deposits to mining years, it could be 260 years for coal, over 300 years for iron ore, over 200 years for gold and a minimum of 21 years for the mining of diamonds.
MBABANE  Learning from His Majesty King Mswati IIIs Speech from the Throne, the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture has to be increased significantly.



This follows that the King has directed that governments top priority should be the development of adequate water harvesting infrastructure to enhance food security.

The King said: Following the recent rains, the development of adequate water harvesting infrastructure to enhance food security should remain a top priority for government. We are encouraged by the support pledged towards the short-term prioritised investment plan for agriculture which has great potential to add a significant number of jobs for our people.



He went on to say that government should continue promoting programmes for value addition on agricultural products and enhancing access to local and international markets.

Sipho Shongwe, a farmer and director of Swaziland Livestock and Technical Services, said the Kings directive in this regard is appreciated mainly because the country needs more water harvesting infrastructure mainly because farmers under rain-fed zones are always hit hard by the shortage of rains which is induced by climate change.



If quickly implemented, this will go a long way in catapulting Swaziland to a food secure nation.

Government will commit more money to the Ministry of Agriculture as construction of Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP) Phase II is getting underway since SWADE intends awarding INES Joint Venture a contract worth over E554 million.



The contract is for the construction of the main conveyance sysstem and related structures for the Matata Block.

SWADE is an acronym for Swaziland Water and Agricultural Enterprise and INES is a joint venture between Inyatsi Construction and South Africas ESOR.



Project



INES joint venture proposed to undertake the project for E554 645 485.76.

In its programme of action (2013-2018) government promised that to achieve growth targets, a paradigm shift from current dry-land, subsistence farming to irrigated, commercial agriculture had to be secured.

It had planned that 12 small earth dams would be constructed as part of the plan to increase the area under irrigation by 10 000 hectares by 2018 which should provide the platform for a further increase of 4 000 hectares by 2022, but the rate at which the dams are being constructed is close to zero.
MBABANE  The lion has roared as elderly people will smile all the way to the bank. His Majesty King Mswati III has announced an increase in grant for elderly, people with disability and Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC), starting from next month.



The King made this directive in his address at the State Opening of Parliament yesterday.

This has been defined as an answer to their prayers, as it was even brought to the attention of the King during the national dialogue known as Sibaya in August last year.

He said the government will continue to take care of the elderly.

They are an important reference for guidance for this country, so each and every individual has a responsibility to look after them.



Strategies



The King urged the nation to come up with strategies to complement government efforts to enable the creation of a befitting comfort for them during the remaining days of their lives.

Let them rest knowing that the nation took very good care of them. we are pleased to inform the nation that social grants for bogogo nabomkhulu (the elderly), the orphaned and vulnerable children, together with those who are physically challenged, will be increased in the next financial year, he said, a statement that attracted reactions among the people in the House.

Elderly people get E260 per month while the disabled get a grant of E200.



Last year there was no increase in the grant, something that resulted in an outcry and calls for review of the money.

And that was not the only good news, as His Majesty assured that people should not think they were just letting off steam at Ludzidzini Royal Cattle Byre as all the issues they raised are being dealt with.

He said, We wish to thank the nation for utilising this opportunity.

There were several issues raised during the presentations and they were noted. The relevant structures will now monitor how they are taken forward.

His Majesty said the country continued to pride itself in preserving a culture of dialogue to discuss national issues, irrespective of age, gender, religious affiliation or social status.

He added that the nation turned up in numbers at the highest decision making body in the land, sibaya.



Taking a look into 2016, the King said the year had a plethora of challenges as well as opportunities for the nation in a variety of sectors.

Notwithstanding all these challenges, we stood together as a nation and supported one another. This was a clear testimony that the spirit of nationhood runs through the veins of every citizen.

The good rains ushering us into 2017, therefore, serve as a well deserved blessing to emaSwati for staying united, upholding the peace and keeping the faith. God is surely answering our prayers and wiping away our tears.
The massive protests were against a Gauhati High Court order to implement 33 per cent reservation in the legislative bodies in the state that has no female legislator from any of the 60 assembly constituencies in the state.

By Manogya Loiwal : The protests in Nagaland have been continuing for almost a week, bringing life in the state to a grinding halt.

The massive protests were against a Gauhati High Court order to implement 33 per cent reservation in the legislative bodies in the state that has no female legislator from any of the 60 assembly constituencies in the state.

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Also Read: Nagaland protesters demand Chief Minister TR Zeliang's resignation: Latest developments

Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) based in Kohima, which is just a week old forum formed by the protesters, reiterated that their democratic struggle for people will soon come to a logical conclusion.

DEVELOPMENTS SO FAR: NTAC condemned the statement of Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang, terming it irrational on his part to blame the democratic protest of the tribal bodies for the death of two youths and injuring of several others in police firing at Dimapur on January 31. Holding the CM responsible for crisis in the state and along the Longleng area, which resulted in mob violence at Kohima and other parts of the state. Another organisation named Angami Youth Organisation (AYO) on Saturday locked the Nagaland Civil Secretariat and Nagaland Legislative Assembly along with all the Nagaland state directorate offices in Kohima demanding the Chief Minister's resignation. AYO also informed that they will continue to lock the offices of government officials till their demands are fulfilled. Both Kohima and Dimapur will not allow any movement of government or affiliated vehicles. Private vehicles however are not being stopped and essential services, including school and colleges, have been exempted from the bandh.

Zeliang had earlier clarified that the government would adhere to court order and implement it.

See Pics: Nagaland protests disrupt life, government offices closed

On international girl child day last week Zeliang had stressed upon the need to bring in women and girl child development in the state to a better and higher level for a progressive society.

Governor PB Acharya too has made it clear that "there is no question of Chief Minister resigning. He is an elected representative and has proved his majority on floor of the house. The demands cannot be met by protests but will be addressed to with discussions".

Also Read: Nagaland unrest: Rajnath Singh speaks to CM Zeliang, assures support from Centre

A tripartite meeting is expected to be held post Sunday with government, protestors and Governor to find an amicable solution to the ongoing crisis in Nagaland.

(WITH INPUTS FROM GRACE T ODYUO)

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By Press Trust of India: Los Angeles, Feb 4 (PTI) Scientists have developed a thin, flexible, lightweight material that can block thermal detection and absorb light from every angle to keep buildings and cars cool on hot summer days.

The material, developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego in the US, is called a near-perfect broadband absorber.

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It absorbs more than 87 per cent of near-infrared light (1,200 to 2,200 nanometre wavelengths), with 98 per cent absorption at 1,550 nanometres, the wavelength for fiber optic communication.

The material is capable of absorbing light from every angle. It also can theoretically be customised to absorb certain wavelengths of light while letting others pass through.

Materials that "perfectly" absorb light already exist, but they are bulky and can break when bent. They also cannot be controlled to absorb only a selected range of wavelengths, which is a disadvantage for certain applications.

Imagine if a window coating used for cooling not only blocked infrared radiation, but also normal light and radio waves that transmit television and radio programmes.

By developing a novel nanoparticle-based design, a team led by professors Zhaowei Liu and Donald Sirbuly at the UC San Diego has created a broadband absorber that is thin, flexible and tunable.

"This material offers broadband, yet selective absorption that could be tuned to distinct parts of the electromagnetic spectrum," said Liu.

The absorber relies on optical phenomena known as surface plasmon resonances, which are collective movements of free electrons that occur on the surface of metal nanoparticles upon interaction with certain wavelengths of light.

Metal nanoparticles can carry a lot of free electrons, so they exhibit strong surface plasmon resonance - but mainly in visible light, not in the infrared.

The researchers reasoned that if they could change the number of free electron carriers, they could tune the materials surface plasmon resonance to different wavelengths of light.

"Make this number lower, and we can push the plasmon resonance to the infrared. Make the number higher, with more electrons, and we can push the plasmon resonance to the ultraviolet region," said Sirbuly.

The problem with this approach is that it is difficult to do in metals. To address this challenge, engineers designed and built an absorber from materials that could be modified, or doped, to carry a different amount of free electrons: semiconductors.

Researchers used a semiconductor called zinc oxide, which has a moderate number of free electrons, and combined it with its metallic version, aluminium-doped zinc oxide, which houses a high number of free electrons ? not as much as an actual metal, but enough to give it plasmonic properties in the infrared.

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The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. PTI NKS SAR SAR

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By Mark Hallum

The NYPD said it has arrested the suspect wanted in connection with a string of 12 commercial burglaries within the 109th and 111th precincts.

Police said Kenneth Connolly, 50, an Auburndale resident, was charged with nine counts of burglary and four counts of grand larceny. His last known address was in vicinity of 188th Street between 47th and 48th avenues.

The first burglary took place Jan. 15 around 7 a.m. when Connolly allegedly broke into a business at 171-67 46th Ave. through the rear door and removed an undetermined amount of cash, according to police.

On Jan. 17 at 10 a.m., police said an individual entered JSC Laundromat at 192-19 47th Ave. through a duct in the back of the building. The suspect also removed cash from the register at this location, according to NYPD.

Moon Star Chinese Restaurant was next at 172-16 46th Ave. was next on Jan. 20. The suspect left with $300 from the register. This burglary was followed by two others that day, including B&J Cleaners at 172-18 46th Ave.

Pioccolo Sogno Pizzeria at 195-14 47th Ave. was hit by the serial burglar on Jan. 22.

On Jan. 23, the suspect took money from three locations by going back to JSC Laundromat, according to police, then Michael and Sons Pizza located at 192-13 47th Ave., and Auburndale Pharmacy at 192-15 47th Ave., all between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

On Jan. 25 three more businesses were struck in the early morning, including a barbershop at 46-08 Utopia Ave., J&L French Cleaners at 172-18 46th Ave. and the Family Dentistry at 46-06 Utopia Ave. All three locations reported an undetermined amount of cash missing.

In all, 12 sites were burglarized within a few blocks of the suspects of the suspects last known address.

If any information is known about the man in question, NYPD is asking for tips to be directed to the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, www.nypdc rimes toppe rs.com . Spanish-speaking tipsters can call 1-888-57-PISTA.

All calls are confidential.
Strong defense, pair of goals from Shaye Bailey hands Freedom WPIAL Class 1A championship

A shutdown defense and a pair of second-half goals from junior Shaye Bailey led the Freedom Bulldogs to a convincing 3-0 win over Springdale Friday.
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Utica

It's not unusual around Utica to see tables full of Bosnians sipping strong coffee in cafes, Muslim women in hijabs shopping at grocery stores and Somalis raised in equatorial heat heading to work in the blowing snow.

An influx of thousands of refugees from around the world over the past few decades is credited with injecting new energy and optimism into this faded post-industrial city of 62,000. But now, Utica is beset with new anxiety in the age of Trump.

President Donald Trump's order restricting refugees and travel from certain Muslim countries has immigrants in Utica feeling uncertain about their place here.

"There's one saying my mom used to tell me in camp in Iraq: A refugee will always be a refugee," said 18-year-old Manal Alawsaj, a Palestinian who just became a citizen. "It makes me terrified. I ran out of Iraq because of this. And now I'm here, and yet I'm feeling the same way. ... Maybe this is not home, maybe I should move, or this is not my country."

Thousands have settled in Utica through the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, which grew out of efforts to bring over Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s. It has since shepherded in 16,000 people from around the world.

By some estimates, refugees and other immigrants make up more than 20 percent of Utica's population.

Signs of the diversity abound, from the polyglot shop signs, to restaurants serving Asian and Bosnian dishes, to the teenagers from Myanmar and Somalia playing together at a community center.

A large mosque is visible from the City Hall office of Mayor Robert Palmieri, who calls the refugees the "next evolution" for a city that was once known for its textile mills and was built generations ago by immigrants from Italy, Germany and Poland.

"We are Utica, said Hana Selimovic, a nursing student who was a Bosnian refugee, "the city that loves refugees."

It's not always a smooth transition. Somali Bantu refugees accustomed to camp life in Kenya can have a hard time getting used to upstate New York winters. Alawsaj recalls looking at all the trees on the ride to Utica and thinking, "Oh, my God, am I living in a forest?"

The city poverty rate remains at 32 percent  in line with other upstate cities but above the national rate. The streets are dotted with empty storefronts and ramshackle homes. And the school system last year settled lawsuits that accused it of steering refugee students into inferior education programs.

Still, Selimovic considers Utica a cultural oasis where friends and family can go to a cafe and talk politics in Bosnian. Alawsaj, who wears a hajib, said the city has always made her feel welcome.

The mayor loves the cosmopolitan culture and how Bosnians have built up Utica's east side by rehabbing old homes.

"I would love to have the president come to Utica, New York, to see what it's all about and how beneficial it's been as a melting pot and blending them into the fiber of America," Palmieri said.

The refugees work in dozens of businesses, including nursing homes and local manufacturers. At least one major employer has taken notice of Trump's order.

Chobani yogurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya, who employs about 300 refugees among the 1,000 workers at a plant south of Utica, said the company will assist any affected employees and family members and "have their backs every day and every step of the way," according to an in-house letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The president's order prompted Mowlid Hussein, a Somali Bantu, to cancel travel plans to see his two children from a previous marriage in Kenya. He is upset the order will delay efforts to bring them here.

"Imagine your kid is away from you. You don't have enough sleep at night. ... And the order comes: They cannot come anymore until four months," he said. "What can we do? How did this happen?"
By Press Trust of India: Pune, Feb 3 (PTI) As many as 2,661 nominations were today filed for 162 seats of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), election to which would be held on February 21.

Today was the last day of filing of nominations.

"We have received 2,661 nominations for 162 seats," a PMC spokesperson said.

Ten municipal corporations in the state, including PMC and the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), would go to polls on February 21 and the results will be announced on February 23. In Pune, 162 corporators will be elected from 41 panels.

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Meanwhile, after being denied tickets, several BJP aspirants today shouted slogans against the partys city unit chief Yogesh Gogawale outside the party office alleging that they were not given candidature for the sake of "imported" candidates.

Supporters of the disgruntled aspirants even blackened the photo of Gogawale during the protest.

Sitting NCP corporator Reshma Bhosale, wife of NCP MLC Anil Bhosale, filed her nomination as a BJP candidate as she was reportedly not given ticket by NCP from Shivajinagar area.

Out of the 162 seats, Congress and NCP have joined hands for 100 seats, whereas they will lock horns for a "friendly fight" for the remaining 62 seats as there was no consensus between the two parties over these seats. PTI SPK NP

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Because of the sensitive nature of the area, the proposed development of a footpath and other works at Circular Road, Cashel, will be carried out pursuant to Part 8 of the Planning and Development Regulations. Following submissions from Councillor Tom Wood and others to the Cashel/Tipperary Municipal Office requesting that the development be carried out sensitively due to its proximity to the Rock of Cashel and Hore Abbey, the proposed lamp standards are to be reduced in height from eight metres to six metres and the overall number of lamp standards will be reduced from sixteen to thirteen. Poles will be finished in a muted green colour while a lighting specialist will be involved in the design of lamp heads to reduce light glare.

A suitably qualified, licenced Archaeologist will submit details to the National Monuments Service of any features exposed while any additional groundwork will be subject to licenced archaeological monitoring. In the event that significant features are encountered during ground works, all works will cease at those locations pending a strategy with the National Monuments Service. Archaeological investigation costs, including post excavation analyses, will be borne by the Council. The two metre wide footpath will be bounded by a fence masked with a triple hedge consisting of Holly, Whitethorn and Blackthorn.

Councillor Wood, in welcoming the progress made to date, says, the footpath, when complete, will be welcomed by both pedestrians and motorists alike and with the area in question regarded as one of high visual sensitivity and zoned as special amenity I am pleased with the attention given to its design by the Council officials involved.
Thurles lady Miriam Durack is the incoming President of Network Ireland Tipperary North.

As President this year the theme is Creating Opportunities to Empower and Develop you, as an individual and your business. Miriam told The Tipperary Star that throughout the year they will have a monthly event where they will invite guest speakers from all business backgrounds and allow the opportunity to network with like-minded people.

This year we are also introducing a mentoring programme for our members and social inclusion for women seeking employment, she said.

Our Network is holding an Open Evening on Wednesday February 8th at the Thurles Chamber Enterprise Centre, which is an ideal opportunity for women to get a flavour of our organisation. This event is open to every female who is in business, employees, as well women between jobs - all professions are welcome, she said.

Come along to this event, network with like-minded people and learn what the future holds for our region. You will learn how this could have a positive impact on your professional and personal development. This is a very positive step for you. This event will start with registration at 6.30pm and networking opportunities, meet current members. Presentations from guest speakers will start at 7pm sharp.

For further information on this event contact Miriam  086 8031800 or Aileen 086 8339882
Garda Brian Hanrahan, who had been shot and injured only four months earlier in the US, said the last thing he wanted was to be involved in an altercation.

Judgment has been reserved in the case of a Limerick-based garda who is accused of assaulting two women during a night out last year.

Garda Brian Hanrahan, who is attached to Newcastle West garda station, denies the charges which relate to an incident outside a take away in Nenagh on March 5, 2016.

During a district court hearing, which lasted for several hours this Friday, Judge Elizabeth MacGrath heard evidence from the garda who insisted he stuck the women in an effort to defend himself.

Garda Hanrahan, who was off-duty on the night, said the last thing he wanted was to be involved in an altercation - four months after he was shot and injured during an incident while he was on holidays in the US city of New Orleans.

Nenagh District Court was told one of the woman lost a tooth when she was kicked in the face by the defendant.

The woman had earlier told the court that she was in a car with friends when she saw Garda Hanrahan trying to flag down cars. She said they agreed to give him a lift home after he offered to pay 15.

However, the witness said when she asked him for the money he pulled her hair. She said he then punched her and kicked her up to eight times when she fell to the ground.

Another passenger in the car said Garda Hanrahan pushed her back and hit her in the face.

In his evidence, the defendant said one of the women got out of the car and attacked him.

While he admitted hitting her he insisted it was to fend her off and to defend himself.

I wasn't trying to hurt her. I was trying to stop her. I couldn't get away from her, he told the court.

Judge MacGrath reserved judgement indicating she will deliver her verdict on February 10, next.
[February 03, 2017] Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Applaud B.C. Government Support for Clean Energy Vehicle Technology

TORONTO, Feb. 3, 2017 /CNW/ - Today the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA) applauded the British Columbia government's announcement of the continued support of the Clean Energy Vehicle (CEV) consumer incentive program in British Columbia. This announcement is critical to clean energy vehicle adoption by consumers and technology innovation within the province of B.C. "It not only recognizes the importance of consumer incentives in the decision to purchase a plug-in electric vehicle, but the importance that expanding readily accessible recharging infrastructure (residential, workplace and public), public awareness, consumer education, fleet programs, and training play in advancing the adoption of electric vehicles in British Columbia", said Mark Nantais, President "More than 29 models of plug-in elecric vehicles are now available in the B.C. market and demand is growing at an unprecedented rate. Other incentives that will help accelerate the replacement of older higher emitting vehicles with new vehicles having a broad range of vehicle energy efficiency technologies are very effective policies in reducing greenhouse gases from the transportation sector, said Nantais.



The electrification of the automobile is a crucial part of the industry's efforts, which include hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in research and development activities, focused on the development of more sustainable personal transportation. About the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA)

The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association is the industry association that has represented Canada's leading manufacturers of light and heavy duty motor vehicles for more than 85 years. Its membership includes FCA Canada, Inc.; Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited and General Motors of Canada Company. Collectively its members account for approximately 60% of vehicles produced in Canada, operate 5 vehicle assembly plants as well as engine and components plants, and have over 1,300 dealerships. 115,000 jobs are directly tied to vehicle assembly in Canada. Direct and indirect jobs associated with vehicle manufacturing are estimated at over 500,000 across Canada. Please visit www.cvma.ca. SOURCE Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA)

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[February 04, 2017] Next-gen Standard Missile-3 completes first intercept test

PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, Hawaii, Feb. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) have completed the first successful intercept flight test of a Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA, a defensive weapon designed to defeat short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. Crew members onboard the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) launched a SM-3 Block IIA, which successfully engaged and destroyed a land-launched target resembling an advanced ballistic missile threat. "The SM-3 Block IIA program continues to reflect MDA's commitment to maturing this regional ballistic missile defense capability for the defense of our nation, its deployed forces and our allies abroad," said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, Raytheon Missile Systems president. "This test success keeps the program on track for deployment at sea and ashore in the 2018 timeframe, building on Raytheon's unequalled fifteen-year history of exo-atmospheric intercepts." The test's primary objective was a successful intercept. The mission was also designed to evaluate key missile system performance, including the kinetic warhead, divert and attitude control system functionality, nosecone performance, steering control section function, booster performance and separation and the secondand third stage rocket motor performance and separation.



The interceptor's kinetic warhead has been enhanced to best address advanced and emerging threats, with improvements to the search, discrimination, acquisition and tracking functions. The kinetic warhead, along with larger rocket motors, allows SM-3 Block IIA to engage more sophisticated threats and protect larger regions from short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats, providing greater operational flexibility. The SM-3 Block IIA was flown twice before in successful test demonstrations, both without target intercepts, in order to fully evaluate the missile in flight and prepare for the first intercept test. Future flight tests will continue to evaluate system performance, en-route to a 2018 deployment in support of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Phase 3.

About the Standard Missile-3 SM-3s destroy incoming ballistic missile threats in space using nothing more than sheer impact, equivalent to a 10-ton truck traveling at 600 mph. SM-3 Block IB is deployed at sea and ashore in Romania .

. SM-3 Block IIA is on track for deployment at sea and ashore in 2018. B About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter Media Contacts

Amanda Schildt

+1.571.305.3915

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/next-gen-standard-missile-3-completes-first-intercept-test-300402261.html SOURCE Raytheon Company

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A look back on all of our reporting of the Delphi murders since 2017

crime
"We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed," Pakistani Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering here.

By Press Trust of India: Pakistan hopes that there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India after the state assembly elections in the neighbouring country, a senior minister has said.

"We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed," Pakistani Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering here.

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Responding to a question at the US Institute of Peace, a top American think-tank, Iqbal rued that Pakistan is an election issue in the state assembly elections in India.

"This is a bit unfortunate that theyre taking, you know, strong positions along the electoral cycle. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that was India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now, think in terms of peace," Iqbal said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, is a strong advocate of peace in the region.

"We have very actively pursued peace with Afghanistan and India and continue to do so because we think that our development depends upon peace in the region," he said.

"But I think, there is a little issue that, in Pakistan, since 93 I don't remember any election where any leadership has shown any sensitivity towards doing India bashing in order to get some extra votes in the elections. I mean, in our elections India is not affected, nobody speaks about India, nobody does any India bashing," he said.

ELECTORAL DYNAMICS SENSITIVE TO PAKISTAN BASHING

"But somehow we feel that the electoral dynamics in India are still quite sensitive to Pakistan bashing. So whenever you have, a electoral process in India, the government takes a certain hawkish position towards Pakistan," Iqbal said, adding that after these election there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India.

Responding to a question, Iqbal alleged that India's reaction to USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is "a knee jerk" reaction.

India, he said, needs to look at opportunities with CPEC as increasing regional cooperation.

"So instead of opposing CPEC, it should now join CPEC and look at different opportunities," he said, adding CPEC would provide India shortest land route to do trade with most of China.

"What you also have to see, that in China, they have now developed extensive road and rail links with West China," he added.

"If you are even doing trade through CPEC you can reach out to any destination in China from this area. So we are very hopeful and we continue to work to normalize our relations with India," Iqbal said.

Also read:

After Hafiz Saeed 'arrest', China sends top counterterror official to Pakistan

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Kaabil releases in Pakistan, Rakesh Roshan wants India too to move forward

Kuwait bans visa for 5 Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan

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By Press Trust of India: From Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Feb 3 (PTI) Pakistans National Assembly today passed a bill giving legal and constitutional cover to the centuries old jirga and panchayat systems in the country in a bid to ensure speedy resolution of petty civil matters and reduce the burden of litigations on the courts.

The bill called Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Bill-2016 was passed by National Assembly, the lower House of the bicameral parliament.

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Law Minister Zahid Hamid tabled the bill in the House and was adopted despite opposition by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Hamid said during the debate that the ADR system will settle 23 types of civil and criminal disputes.

The government under the ADR system will appoint mediators, who will be called "Neutrals" to settle various disputes.

"Under the system the government will appoint panels of Neutrals in all districts in consultation with the relevant high courts and the courts will appoint them as mediators in different disputes," Hamid said.

According to the Law Minister, there will be no punishment in the disputes to be settled by the ADR system, as the law was criticised by the women members of the parliament.

"The dispute will be settled with consent of both parties in the dispute and if any woman feels that she is not being given justice, she can move the court," he said.

Neutrals will be appointed by the government in each district in consultation with the high court.

They will include lawyers, retired judges of superior and subordinate judiciary, retired civil servants, social workers, religious scholars, jurists, technocrats and similar other experts of repute and integrity.

The law will be immediately implemented in the federal capital and later expanded to provinces after consultation.

The law effectively legalises the Jirga system which often came under scanner for anti-women decisions. PTI SH UZM

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Bruce Springsteen is currently touring Australia. In case youve missed his shows, youve probably heard plenty of folks at your local pub talking about the last time he was in town, or berating you for missing one of the best rock shows going around. Well, it turns out its not just Springsteen bringing the goods to rock fans.

As The Age reports, Aussie rock legends Hoodoo Gurus took to the stage of Melbourne Zoo for their Zoo Twilight series of gigs last night, only to be joined by Bruce Springsteens long-time E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt for an encore.

The famous guitarist was reportedly side of stage, watching Hoodoo Gurus perform, before the group realised he was there.

As Gurus frontman Dave Faulker puts it, Not content to just let him watch, we pulled him up on stage for an unrehearsed finale, joining us for the Seeds psychedelic rocker Pushin Too Hard, which none of us had played before.

It looks like Van Zandt is a big fan of the group though, having played their music a lot in the past on his weekly radio show Little Stevens Underground Garage.

Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band have still got a couple of shows left in them on this tour, so if the group has another night off, you never know who might be in the audience with you.
While Kansas City's rate of killing continues at a horrific pace and locals remain concerned about the dangerous level of local municipal debt . . . Mayor Sly James is mostly focused on social media opposition to Prez Trump immigration policies.Even better . . . His twitter storm hasn't been so carefully crafted.He blames "fat fingers" and hitting send too soon . . . But then engages in a bit of a battle with Kansas City comic artist Bryan Stalder over the prospect of drunk tweeting . . .This week Kansas City's Mayor has been a constant immigration advocate . . .Dead Tree Media picks up his sentiments on the topic days after our blog community discussed it:And while the crusade for social justice is nice . . . There are a great many denizens of our blog community who might argue that the problems confronting KCMO are far too important for any of these distractions that Mayor James can't directly impact except by way of tweet.Developing . . .
A First Instance Court will decide on Tuesday (Feb. 7) whether to temporarily freeze the sale of any assets of the bankrupt DOL media group

A First Instance Court in Greece will decide on Tuesday (Feb. 7) whether to temporarily freeze the sale of any assets of the bankrupt DOL media group and whether it will exempt one bank account to allow for the payment of the groups employees. DOLs 500 employees have not been paid in seven months.

In a court hearing on Friday, representatives of the four banks with outstanding loans to DOL requested the temporary halt of any liquidation of its assets in favour of other creditors. On their side, the groups employees asked the court to exempt a specific bank account where DOLs sale revenues and earnings are deposited, so they can receive part of their unpaid wages and ensure the viability of the newspapers.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
The repercussions of the refugee and migrant crisis once again dominated talks held by main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a visit to the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos

The repercussions of the refugee and migrant crisis once again dominated talks held by main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a visit to the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos on Friday. Meeting the island's business and professional community at the local Chamber of Commerce, Mitsotakis repeated a list of measures that need to be taken to protect local communities.

Among these he included effective guarding of the borders, detention of irregular migrants in closed pre-departure centres, decongestion of islands through a rapid processing of asylum applications, exploiting European funds that currently remain unutilised and the implementation of a special programme to benefit island communities.

Talking about the EU-Turkey agreement on migration, Mitsotakis said that this was a good agreement that did not bring the expected results due to the mishandling and omissions of the Greek government. He noted that the entire agreement was based on the premise that asylum applications would be processed quickly, since all sides were aware that migrants would ask for asylum once the borders were closed.

"Under the agreement, anyone not granted asylum would be returned to Turkey, while those given the status of refugee would be able to move freely throughout the country. At its conception, therefore, this agreement did not necessarily result in a great concentration of refugees and migrants on the islands. The main reason this happened is because asylum services are understaffed and there was a considerable delay, both at the first and secondary level of examining asylum requests," Mitsotakis said.

He promised that ND will adopt a policy of decongesting the islands that would not jeopardise the core of the EU-Turkey Statement. He also noted that those critical of the government's handling could not automatically be cast as belonging to the far-right and cited a need to better control non-governmental organisations.

Referring to the problems created for tourism, Mitsotakis listed three ND proposals for a recovery of tourism, such as directly communicating with tour operators at a top level, contacting the large cruise companies and striking deals with budget airlines, such as Ryanair.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
The Prespa Park (PP), the first transboundary protected area in the Balkans, was established on 2 February 2000

Seven years after the signing of the international Agreement on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Prespa Park in northern Greece and 17 years after its establishment, Deputy Minister for the Environment and Energy Sokratis Famellos tabled a bill in parliament, ratifying the deal.

The Prespa Park (PP), the first transboundary protected area in the Balkans, was established on 2 February 2000, World Wetlands Day, with a joint declaration by the Prime Ministers of Greece, Albania and FYROM, following a proposal from the Society for the Protection of Prespa and the WWF.

The news was welcomed by the municipality of Prespa and various environmental organizations and local protection groups such as the Managing Body of Prespa National Park, the Company for the Protection of Prespa, WWF Hellas, the Greek Ornithological Society, the Nature Protection Society, the Environment and Cultural Heritage Company, and the Goulandris Museum of Natural History.

The organizations urged lawmakers from all parties to approve the bill, as it was approved unanimously in the parliaments of other neighbouring European countries.

The Prespa Park is the first cross-border nature reserve in the Balkans. For all of us, the future of the Prespa region - in the heart of the politically unstable Balkan region - means the cooperation and bridging of the gaps for a peaceful coexistence, maintaining the precious natural environment and sustainable development. In this direction, the implementation of the agreement will be catalytic, the organizations said in a joint statement.

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
Australias Vogue recommends the Greek island of Milos to those who are looking for an undiscovered paradise

Australias Vogue recommends the Greek island of Milos to those who are looking for an undiscovered paradise.

Milos, which is located in the Aegean Sea and is part of the Cyclades, features more than 70 beaches ? from Sarakiniko, the most photographed thanks to its unique lunar landscape, to Kleftiko, an old pirates hangout.

According to Vogue, Milos is perhaps most famous for being the location of the statue of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty, discovered in 1820 and now on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

But, the Venus De Milo is not the islands only claim to fame, the magazine noted adding that he beaches are quite different compared with other Greek islands due to their interesting rock formations.

The island, Vogue said, offers the feeling that youve landed on the moon thanks to its smooth limestone rock formation that makes up the impressive landscape.

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
"We are hoping that by March, these state elections will be over and maybe then, there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed to fostering peace between the two sides", Federal Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said.

By Hamza Ameer: Pakistan is viewing the assembly elections in India, which started with polling in Punjab and Goa on February 4, with the hope that they will pave the way for resumption of peace talks with its neighbour.

Federal Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said this while addressing a gathering in Washington.

"We are hoping that by March, these state elections will be over and maybe then, there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed to fostering peace between the two sides."

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INDIA'S HOSTILE STANCE TOWARDS PAK UNFORTUNATE

"It is a bit unfortunate that they are taking, you know, a strong hostile position (against Pakistan) at the time of elections. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that. India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now think in terms of peace," Iqbal said.

"But somehow we feel that the electoral dynamics in India is still quite inclined to Pakistan bashing. So whenever you have elections round the corner, the government takes a certain hawkish position towards Pakistan," he added.

Also read | India did not respond to Pakistan's call for dialogue: Nawaz Sharif to UN Secretary General

Responding to a question, Iqbal alleged that India's reaction to $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was "a knee-jerk" reaction.

"So instead of opposing the CPEC, it should now join CPEC and look at different opportunities," he said, adding CPEC would provide India the shortest land route to do trade with most of China.

"If you are even engaging in trade through CPEC, you can reach out to any destination in China from this area. So we are very hopeful and we continue to work to normalise our relations with India," Iqbal added.

--- ENDS ---
Jotun Paints, one of the worlds leading coating brands for industrial protection, is showcasing its innovative range of high-performance coating technologies for offshore and onshore industries at the upcoming Gulf Industry Fair 2017 (GIF) in Bahrain.



The Northern Gulf's leading business-to-business industrial show, GIF will be organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) from February 7 to 9 under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister of Bahrain.



The Norwegian coating brand offers a wide repertoire of products that incorporate the latest technological developments to decorate and protect when applied to industrial substrates.



Venkat Krishnan, the regional marketing support manager for Middle East and Africa, India, said: We are delighted to unveil our new range of specialised coating products at the Gulf Industry Fair 2017. The show offers a unique experience and opportunity to network and sell across the Middle Easts industrial sectors."



According to him, Bahrains strategic location in the Gulf allows exhibitors at GIF to market to key targets in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.



We will be showcasing our four main coating products - Tankguard, SeaQuantum, Steelmaster and Jotachar - all of which have been developed and tested to protect industrial, marine, deep sea, offshore and onshore vessels, refineries and chemical plants, revealed Krishnan.



Tankguard is specifically designed to protect the internal lining of offshore and onshore tanks, pipes and is resistant to crude oil temperatures up to 160 deg C.



Jotachar PFP is the industrys first mesh -free solution for hydrocarbon and jet fires, currently used in onshore drilling, power plants and oil and gas installations.



Steelmaster 1200 WF is a water-borne intumescent coating which provides structural steel with 180 minutes of fire protection against cellulosic fire scenarios.



The SeaQuantum Ultra S coating offers self-polishing and low friction antifouling to offshore and slow steaming vessels. This coating has been applied to over 10,000 vessels and has built a reputation as the ultimate fuel saver in the marine coatings business.



Jubran Abdulrahman, the managing director of HCE, said: "Jotun Paints is the worlds leading coating brand for industrial protection. Their debut at GIF is eagerly anticipated by GCC businesses looking to take advantage of the cost-effective use of coatings for their companies."



Gulf Industry Fair 2017 is sponsored by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) in association with Noga. Majaal and Naffco will be supporting the Industrial Facilities and Fire and Safety zones of the event respectively.



Supporting organisations for GIF 2017 include AHK Saudi Arabia, Indias PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the German Saudi Arabian Liaison for Economic Affairs, the Saudi British Economic Offset Programme and the Bahrain Industrial Association.-TradeArabia News Service
Eastern Asphalt and Mixed Concrete Company (Eamco) is set to showcase its quality products and superior customer service at the upcoming Gulf Industry Fair 2017 (GIF) in Bahrain.



The Northern Gulf's leading business-to-business industrial show, GIF will be organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) from February 7 to 9 under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain.



A government-approved supplier, Eamcos plants and site operations are managed and supervised by engineers and technicians with extensive experience in their respective fields.



Eamco was set up in 1976 as a joint venture between Abdul Aziz Mansoor Al AAli and Ahmed Mansoor Al AAli, to manufacture asphalt and construct roads and supply readymix concrete to contractors on the island.



The company has been awarded the ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications covering its all divisions.



Its flagship division Eastern Asphalt has been involved in major roads construction and has contributed considerably in building the roads network all over Bahrain.



"Eamco has been a major contributor to infrastructural projects in Bahrain. Our participation at Gulf Industry Fair give us an opportunity to demonstrate our quality products and services that can support the ongoing development of Bahrains industrial sector," remarked its chairman Ahmed Mansoor Al Aali.



Eamco boast another division  Eastern Ready Mix - that has consistently been producing high quality mixed concrete and has been a major contributor to infrastructural and housing projects in Bahrain.



In 1985, the group set up a new division  Eastern Precast - to manufacture and erect hollow-core slabs and other precast concrete elements.



Welcoming the group, Jubran Abdulrahman, the managing director of HCE, said: "Eamcos participation in Gulf Industry Fair provides visitors with an opportunity to see another 'Made in Bahrain' product that supports the infrastructural development of the industrialisation of the GCCs economies."



Gulf Industry Fair 2017 is sponsored by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) in association with Noga and Aluminium Bahrain (Alba). Majaal and Naffco will be supporting the Industrial Facilities and Fire and Safety sectors respectively.



Supporting organisations for GIF 2017 includes AHK Saudi Arabia, the German Saudi Arabian Liaison for Economic Affairs, the Saudi British Economic Offset Programme and the Bahrain Industrial Association.-TradeArabia News Service
Oman Air, the sultanate's national carrier, said a new Boeing B737-800 aircraft has joined its fleet.



This new aircraft will be used on short and medium haul routes and has a capacity of 162 seats, with 12 Business class seats of seat pitch 46 inches and 150 Economy class seats with seat pitch 30 inches. Each seat is equipped with an LCD screen, back-mounted 10.6 inches.



Oman Air has operated B737s for many years and the aircraft provide the backbone of the airlines long and medium haul fleet, with 23 currently in operation.



The new aircraft will be deployed soon on its arrival for commercial flights, said a top official.



"In keeping up with the expansion programme, Oman Air is adding new aircraft to its fast growing fleet. Known for its energy efficient systems, and combined with Oman Airs superb maintenance staff and facilities, this is an ideal acquisition as we spread our wings to further afield," Abdulaziz Alraisi, Executive Vice President Products and Brand Development, said



With the addition of the new Boeing 737  800, Oman Airs fleet stands at 48.

Currently Oman Airs fleet consists of four Boeing 787 Dreamliners, six Airbus 330-300s, four Airbus 330-200s, five Boeing 737-900s, 23 Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 737-700 and four Embraer 175s.



A second new B737-800 will be joining Oman Airs fleet on February 16, followed by a Dreamliner B787-9 on February 23.

The delivery of new aircraft is part of Oman Airs ambitious and dynamic programme of fleet and network expansion,. said the national carrier.



The airline continues to be recognised for its award winning on board experience; winning an array of industry awards in 2016 to add to its growing collection.



Oman Airs latest aircraft addition consolidates its position in 2017 as the airline continues its progress to becoming a successful, sustainable company of the highest quality: To Become the Best.-TradeArabia News Service
Amidst the ire and confusion over Donald Trump's immigration ban, stood the Statue of Liberty and the lady has a story of her own. Historians say that America's famous icon of freedom and diversity is based on Arab women.

The USA Today reported historian Edward Berenson saying that the designer of the statue was Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, who decided to build a monument for the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt around 1860s. "And that monument was going to be a woman in the southern opening of the canal holding up a torch over her head and that woman was dressed in Arab peasant garb," Berenson says.

But the project was never realized as the ruler of Egypt, Khedewi Ismail Pasha, went bankrupt. The statue was meant to be a lighthouse designed as an Arab woman with its torch meant to guide sailors on their way when they reached the northern entrance of the Suez Canal.

Brenson mentioned that the artist was planning to give a gift to the US to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution way before Egypt's ruler asked Bartholdi for the statue. Brenson explained, "A couple of years earlier, Bartholdi and his friends decided they were going to give a gift to the United States that was going to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution. And then, Bartholdi thought, 'Ah! I've got a great idea! I can reuse this image but change it to fit the American Revolution."

Lady Liberty wore an Arab garment when Bartholdi decided to change the clothes reminiscent of a Greco-Roman goddess of liberty. He sought help from Gustave Eiffel, the prominent maker of the Eiffel Tower, as his structural engineer.

The group finished Lady Liberty in France before shipping it to the US. It was unveiled on October 28, 1886.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
A bomb threat forced an American Airlines flight to divert and do and emergency landing earlier this week. American Airlines flight 1804 landed on Knoxville, Tennessee around 10 pm last Tuesday, January 31.

The American Airlines flight 1804 was originally headed from Charlotte to Indianapolis, with 100 onboard passengers and the cabin. The flight didn't reach their destination as the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing following an apparent bomb threat.

The pilot made a distress call at McGhee-Tyson Airport in Alcoa, Tennessee, requesting for permission to land and emergency crews be on standby. Upon arriving at the airport, law enforcement was already on the scene, and about 5 officers immediately searched the plane along with a police K9.

Ross Feinstein, American Airlines spokesperson said that all passengers were able to get off the plane safely after an initial search, and were given hotel rooms at Knoxville to spend the night. He also said that the apparent bomb threat was made through a non-credible robocall.

In an interview by local8 News, passenger Aaron Ingram said: "When we landed they said they got word back from air traffic control to the plane that there was a credible bomb threat." The Knoxville Police Department Bomb Squad searched every bit of the American Airlines aircraft but found no trace of any bomb.

Passenger Keith Entwistle described what happened during the scary flight in an interview. "Cops came on came back and the row right in front of me took two Middle Eastern guys out. One older gentleman one younger gentleman. When the cop asked him to come with him he asked should I take my bags with me and he said no don't take your bags leave them right here. Once he took the bags off we were able to get off the plane," he said.

"I texted my wife I love you just in case, because I really thought we were crashing. When we finally did land that's when he came on and said there was a bomb threat. I'm still shaking it's been like an hour that was the scariest thing I think I've been through, and they weren't in a big rush to get everyone off the plane you know when there's a bomb threat I wanted to get off the plane."

Witnesses reported that the two men who got questioned by the authorities also got released the same day. It's still isn't known who made the bomb threat and the motive behind it.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Who knows the streets better than your local street dwellers? Vienna launched a tour program where homeless people take travelers around the city to talk about their personal experiences of living in the streets while shedding light about the facts of 'homelessness' in the Austrian capital.

Initiated by the Shades Tours Vienna, the group wants visitors to experience a new idea of vacation by posing the questions, "What challenges do homeless people face? How does the Viennese social system work? How do social institutions help?"

Shades Tours Vienna founder Perrine Schober told The Lonely Planet that the project "was to 'alleviate poverty through tourism and [...] help people overcome their prejudices and questions surrounding homelessness." Schober worked with charities and organizations to make the project a reality and encourage tourists to ask questions about the issue in Vienna.

The movement also generates employment opportunities for the homeless. Shades Tours would want to point out, however, that, "Please don't expect that we will take you to sight-see homeless people. Neither will they showcase their tragedies. We work with symbols that your guide will pick to explain different issues to raise awareness and understanding."

Statistics shows that there are about 16,033 homeless in Austria with 9, 736 of them can be found in Vienna. There are 1,174 street dwellers in the city, but luckily, Shades Tours has 18 partners to curb the issue and uplift the lives of the homeless.

The tour will last for two hours and costs  15 per person. Visitors who have booked the experience are expected to meet at Hauptbahnhof main train station and will be off to discuss the topic of homelessness. It will end in the Schweizer Garten Park adjacent to the Quartier Belvedere station.

Shades Tours was founded in 2015 and was organized by Schober after having found inspiration in London, Prague, Barcelona and Amsterdam who also hold similar tours.

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Shell hunting has been around since the Middle Ages. Warriors would stumble upon shorelines and find amazing abandoned mobile crustacean homes of beauty and rarity during the idle moments of battle. Collectors have always raided beaches for single versions of shells and if travelers have their own collection, the world offers five beaches perfect for shell hunting.

American travelers might find it unnecessary to leave their own isle if they only need to fly or drive to Texas. According to CNN, Galveston Bay's beautiful sunsets, amazing amenities and semi-crowded beaches are home to America's rarest shells. Travelers might find rivaling collectors in the area; beware other shell hunters.

Shell Beach does exist -- referring to the persistent question of the cult classic sci-fi movie "Dark City" --and Western Australia's real-world version makes piles of shells look like pasta. According to MSN, Shell Beach was home to billions of shored-up crustaceans, explaining the existence of a beach covered by meters of shells everywhere.

If the cooler and soothing quiet beaches of Europe suit your tastes better, the welcoming crackling waves of Agios Dimitrios of Greece has some rare species of shells American shores would consider a rarity. One can think that shell hunting is like a game of "Pokemon;" rare shells exist elsewhere. MSN writes that the sandy beaches of Agios Dimitrios have the breeds Clanculus Corallinus and Ocinebrina Edwardsi of shells.

Back in America, New York's Great Peconic Bay in Long Island has some splendid, short-distance travel beaches for tropical bums looking for a quick sandy break. For shell hunters, a history of the Great Peconic Bay being a source of seafood ingredients -- namely crustaceans -- makes this a prime destination.

In Portugal is the true beautiful beach life -- except it still has temperate beaches especially at night. The beaches of Faro get crowded during the day time, so expect fellow shell hunters to hunt more shells during the day. At night is the best opportunity to go hunting.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
If anyone should ask, travelers must tell people -- those who might believe traveling into a potentially deadly active volcano is a bad idea -- that active-volcano visits are once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Okay, it can be risky, but it is thrilling and indeed, it does make one's bucket list look amazing. Here are the world's five still-active volcanoes travelers can head to on a whim.

Travelers hunting for lava trails, acid pools and acrid scents from the Earth's natural emissions passages only need to head inside Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park in Pahoa. Kilauea -- the still-active volcano -- is welcoming travelers brave enough to see the flying lava and smoke on the water.

In Italy's Sicily is the turf of Mount Etna. Easily reflective of the melting pot of culture and history of famous Mafioso in the region, Sicily's 10,000 feet volcano is still spewing lava and forming craters around. According to Business Insider, travelers could travel as high as 9,000 feet to see this breathtaking sight.

Apparently, Sicily is home to another active volcano, albeit a smaller one. Mount Stromboli allows adventurers to hike up to 400m towards the summit, bringing an intimate volcano experience complete with earthquakes and even fire thrown towards the sky from the crater. It is a beautiful, dangerous but thrilling experience to be a few meters away from flowing lava.

From Costa Rica's San Jose capital is a three-hour ride heading towards Arenal. While not entirely active as Sicily's flame-and-rock throwers, Arenal's nearby towns show the scars it had borne on the Earth -- indeed a remarkable sight. Cheap lodgings with great views await travelers.

According to The Telegraph, not everyone knows about the active volcano Nisyros, situated in Dodecanese, Greece. While not visibly active, magma movements underneath the rocks are bubbling up natural springs, making it an amazing retreat for some hot spas. But a little exploring should bring adventurers towards the crater for at least just $30 in total including ferries and bus rides.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
A research team led by the South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand has found evidence that might result in the discovery of an ancient continent below the Indian Ocean. They found the land covered in lava and dubbed it 'Mauritia,' after discovering it under the island of Mauritius.

According to the journal Nature Communications, a piece from the continent can be barely detected and was considered to be part of Gondwanaland, a super-continent that broke up 200 million years ago. The Gondwanaland split came to what we know today as the countries of Australia, Antarctica, Africa, South America and India.

The author of the research paper, Professor Lewis Ashwal told CNN News, "There are a number of pieces of 'undiscovered continent' of various sizes spread over the Indian Ocean, left over by the breakup. This breakup did not involve a simple splitting of the ancient super-continent of Gondwana, but a complex splintering took place with fragments of continental crust of variable sizes left adrift within the evolving Indian Ocean basin."

Furthermore, Ashwal concluded, "The fact that we have found zircons of this age proves that there are much older crustal materials under Mauritius that could only have originated from a continent." It is a statement many researchers took to heart and declare "the existence of ancient continental crust beneath Mauritius."

Meanwhile, Travel + Leisure reported that Mauritius became a favorite topic of geologists and scientists because of its strong gravitational pull. Therefore, Mauritia can be said to have sunk due to crustal motions and clearly disappeared from the map.

Although the island of Mauritius is 'young,' just about eight million years old, samples of the mineral zircon along the island shows it to be 2 billion years old. It is seen possible that a land between India and Madagascar existed but sank to the waters. However, the land's volcanoes created Mauritius and have accidentally deposited some of its minerals on the island.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Paris is competing with Los Angeles and Budapest to host the 2024 Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will select the host following a vote on Sept. 13 in Lima.

By Reuters: Paris showed on Friday that it can offer a safe environment to host the Olympics after an attack was thwarted at the Louvre Museum on the day when the city submitted its bid file to host the 2024 Games, mayor Anne Hidalgo said.

A French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with machetes and carrying two bags on his back on Friday as he tried to enter the Paris Louvre museum in what the government said appeared to have been a terrorist attack.

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"I went straight there (to the Louvre museum) with the head of Paris police and what I could see is the serenity and the efficiency of our security forces," Hidalgo said on the Place du Trocadero, with the Eiffel Tower lit in blue and red in the backdrop. (Budapest puts finishing touches to 2024 Olympics bid as opposition grows)

Paris is competing with Los Angeles and Budapest to host the 2024 Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will select the host following a vote on Sept. 13 in Lima.

Hidalgo does not believe Paris is the only city concerned by militant attacks.

"The threat exists in all cities across the world. It's a threat that all cities need to take seriously," she said. (LA, Budapest, Paris voted candidates to host 2024 Olympics)

"This morning, our security forces showed their efficiency and again we showed how resilient Paris is."

More than 230 people have died in France in the past two years at the hands of attackers allied to the militant group Islamic State. Therefore the French capital knows how to handle terror threats, Hidalgo explained.

"This capacity to react is an asset for this (Olympic bid)," she said.

"It is important that we can rely on our security forces to counter these threats."

On Friday, the man trying to enter the Louvre shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and rushed at police and soldiers before being shot and seriously wounded near the museum's shopping mall, police said.

The soldier who shot the man was from one of the patrolling groups which have become a common sight in Paris since a state of emergency was declared in November 2015. (Italy withdraws bid to stage 2024 Olympics in Rome)

Another soldier received a scalp wound in the incident. "I want to spare a thought for the officer who got injured," said Hidalgo.

"Paris is a city of hope and youth, in which a lot of people come to take root.

"It is a city that reassures, a city from which we can build a bright future."

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Socialist Hidalgo was elected mayor in 2014.

--- ENDS ---
Get On Board

Seeing is believing when it comes to selling luxury cruise experiences

Travel Agent Michael Holtz
By India Today Web Desk: Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has accused Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal of riding on support of extremists to win Assembly election in Punjab.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

Talking to reporters after casting her vote, Harsimrat accused Kejriwal of rubbing shoulders with Pakistani spy agency - Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and extremist group - Babbar Khalsa.

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"Kejriwal is trying to cause unrest in Punjab by shaking hands with terrorists. In the last 30 years there was no bomb blast in Punjab. Kejriwal is having breakfast with Babbar Khalsa members. The ISI has sponsored Kejriwal," the Shiromani Akali Dal leader said.

A couple of days ago, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had also slammed Kejriwal for taking help from extremists to secure a win in election.

"Kuch din pehle bomb blast mein 6 log maare gye. Kejriwalji jo Delhi ke CM hain, wo in shaktiyon ko madad kar rhe hain, unhe khada hone de rhe hain (Kejriwalji is backing those who were behind the bomb blast which killed 6 people a couple days ago," Rahul said during a community lunch event in Sangrur while referring to the January 31 blast in Bathinda district.

Six people, including a Congress worker were killed in a car blast in Bathinda's Maur. The blast took place during a road show by Congress' candidate Harminder Singh Jassi, who escaped unhurt.

ALSO READ:

Punjab Assembly election: Arvind Kejriwal backing extremists, says Rahul Gandhi

Punjab Assembly election: Parkash Singh Badal vs Amarinder Singh at Lambi is mother of all battles

Watch the video here

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Islamabad, Feb 4 (PTI) Qatar is not involved in the Panamagate issue and it is Pakistans internal matter, the countrys envoy here has said distancing his government from a case that has put Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under pressure.

"Let me say to you, it is very clear... my government is not involved in this internal issue," Saqr bin Mubarak al Mansouri said while talking to a private Pakistani TV channel.

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The arch-rival of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan took to Twitter, saying Qatar distanced itself from the "fake letter," The Express Tribune reported.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz claimed in November last year that their London apartment was bought through Qatari investments.

Along with a 397-page document consisting details of transactions as well as receipts of payments since 2011, the Sharif family submitted the letter from a Qatari prince claiming the flats were purchased through the settlement of accounts between his familys company and the Sharif family.

Nawazs childrens counsel Akram Sheikh submitted a letter from Qatari Prince Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Muhammed Al Thani to the Supreme Courts larger bench hearing the Panamagate case.

The letter addressing the apex court states that in 1980, Muhammad Sharif (Nawaz Sharifs father) invested 12 million Dirhams in the Al Thani company belonging to the Qatari princes father.

"In the year 2006, the accounts in relation to the above investment were settled between Hussain Nawaz Sharif and Al Thani family, who then delivered the bearer shares of the companies referred in para 4 above to a representative of Hussain Nawaz Sharif," the letter read.

Moreover, Imran lash out at Sharif, alleging that the letter he had presented in the court was "fake".

He claimed that the letter was originally written by a business partner of Sharifs that has embarrassed the Qatari government.

"Qatari govt embarrassed by this fake letter written by acknowledged business partner of Sharifs, who is also named in Panama Papers," he tweeted.

The PTI leader also went on to say that in return of this favour, the businessman who wrote the letter got a deal worth 200 billion rupees. PTI ABH

--- ENDS ---
Nepali couple found dead in Mansa

Mansa: A couple was found hanging in their rented house at Jawaharke road area today. The couple belonged to Nepal and was living in Mansa since long. The body of the couple was handed over to the police. Both were working as labourers at Ganga Oil Mill in Mansa.

The police have registered a case under sections of the CrPC.  TNS
Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, February 4

With 76 per cent polling reported from the Dera Bassi constituency, the fate of nine candidates was sealed in the EVMs here today.

Mohali Deputy Commissioner DS Mangat said voting started at 8 am amid tight security and continued till 5 pm. He said amidst a few reports of interruptions due to faulty EVMs and tension between supporters of the SAD-BJP combine and AAP at the polling station in Lohgarh village, the Assembly elections passed off more or less peacefully in the Dera Bassi constituency.

According to police officials, the situation was brought under control. There were also reports of gunshots fired in the air, but police officials claimed that nothing had happened and it was just a rumour. The centre of attraction was booth No. 109 at Chhat village where brand ambassador for the Punjab Elections 2017 and Indian shooting star Abhinav Bindra cast his vote along with his parents.

Congress candidate Deepinder Singh Dhillon, his wife Rupinder Kaur and their two sons, Tanvir Singh and Udayvir Singh Dhillon, daughter-in-law Harkirat Kaur Dhillon and grandmother Malwinder Kaur too cast their votes at booth No. 109 at Chhat village.

AAP candidate Bibi Sarabjit Kaur and her daughter Manpreet Kaur Dolly was also seen casting their vote at the same booth. After exercising her franchise, Bibi Sarabjit Kaur said she was confident that people would keep the development work carried out by her late husband Capt Kanwaljit Singh in mind while casting their vote.

SAD-BJP nominee NK Sharma along with his wife and other family members cast his vote at a polling booth in Lohgarh village here and hoped that the people would vote in favour of the ruling alliance. The women, the elderly and the physically challenged, braved the chill to exercise their democratic right. There was large-scale participation by the youth and women. In the morning, very few people turned up to vote in the urban areas. Small queues were also seen outside several polling booths in the Dera Bassi Assembly segment. It picked momentum as the day progressed. A tour of the segment by this correspondent revealed long queues at the polling booths in the rural belt. At Booth No. 197 in Lalru, 16.5 per cent votes had been polled by 10 am with scores of voters waiting for their turn to cast their vote. Similarly at Booth No. 195 here, 17 per cent votes had been polled while at booth No. 203, 26 per cent votes had been polled by 11 am. Voters in the rural areas also showed their enthusiasm and long queues were seen at the polling booths. A large number of first-time voters exercised their franchise. It is our first experience and we are casting our vote for Punjabs development, said Renu and Manjeet Kaur, both first-time voters.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 4

NCB sleuths have arrested two African women with 4-kg cocaine worth Rs 30 crore from a hotel near the Delhi airport area.

The women have been identified as Zambian national Thelma Mkandawire (38) and Tanzanian Pamela D Kiritta (41).

They said the NCB, following a tip-off, was tracking Mkandawire after she landed here from Sao Paulo (Brazil) via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and intercepted her when she checked in a hotel in the Mahipalpur area even as Kiritta came there to allegedly obtain the consignment she was carrying.

NCB Zonal Director (Delhi) Madho Singh said: The cocaine was seized from the baggage of Thelma. The women have been arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) and the consignment is worth Rs 30 crore in the international market.

Thelma was arrested in Pakistan in 2015 for drug smuggling. Kiritta was staying in an apartment in the Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi since she came to India early this year in January.

Kiritta said she had visited India nine times since 2006 and had been to other countries like Ecuador and Kenya. Now, the agency is trying to probe womens international and Indian contacts.
Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, February 4

The local unit of Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS) has expressed apprehension that anti-social elements may vitiate the peace by engineering some untoward incident during their agitation for quota. The unit has informed the police about it and demanded adequate security arrangement at the dharna venue to foil any such attempt.

Samiti members in hundreds are sitting on an indefinite dharna at Rashalwas Chowk on the Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh road here for the past six days. Paramilitary and police personnel in significant numbers have also been deputed near the dharna venue to maintain law and order.

We are carrying out our agitation peacefully, but we have learnt that anti-social elements from Uttar Pradesh (UP) would reach dharna sites in various districts of the state and cause disturbance. All district units have been intimated about it and asked to be vigilant. Even the Jhajjar DSP has also been informed, who has assured us of not letting such elements entre the dharna venue, said Jitender Dhankar, district chief of ABJASS.

He informed a committee of youths had also been formed to keep surveillance at dharna venue to ensure peace. Dhankar said the final call on continuing the dharna in the night would be taken after February 5.

Jhajjar DSP Rajeev Kumar said nakas had been laid at 17 points across the district to check the entry of anti-social elements and maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, Akhil Bhartiya Adarsh Jat Mahasabha (ABAJM) spokesman Deepak Rathi has accused the Jat protesters of trying to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the state. The protesters have no other agenda but to prevent Haryana Jats from going to UP so that they could not canvass against the BJP during the Assembly polls there, said Rathi.
Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 4

The All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) today served an ultimatum on the state government to fulfil their demands by February 11 and said more dharnas would be staged across the state from February 12.

Besides, massive rallies would be organised in each district on February 19 to mark the death of Jat youths during the stir last year.

Yashpal Malik, national president of the samiti who joined the dharna in Ramayan village of the district today, rejected the state governments offer of jobs to family members of five youths killed during the violence last year, stating they wanted the state government to keep its promises made by the Chief Minister.

We have no new demand that needs discussion with the state government. We are merely asking the government to keep its word. Theres no point holding talks on this issue. Our dharnas are going on in a peaceful manner, but I urge the authorities not to adopt a confrontationist attitude. The authorities are playing tricks to weaken our peaceful dharnas by serving notices and making direct and indirect threats to the activists who exercise their democratic right, he said.

Malik said they had to resume the agitation after waiting for eight months to fulfil the promises of the government made to the samiti during discussions on February 22, March 18 and again on June 18. The governments dilly-dally attitude has forced us to stage dharnas. Our demands include release of youths arrested in cases of violence, withdrawal of cases against them, government jobs for the dependents of those killed during the stir, probe by the Parliament Ethics Committee against BJP MP Rajkumar Saini for his caste utterances and criminal cases against police officials who framed false cases against youths during the stir, he said.

Leaders of various khap panchayats, including Sangwan, Nandal, Ahlawat, Antil, Kaliraman, Kajla, Boora, Panchgami, Rohel, Singhmar and Panchgami khaps, and representatives of different castes and communities also marked their presence at the dharna site.
Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4

With vote bank politics coming into play in the ongoing Jat agitation, political parties and its leaders have been forced to make a beeline for dharnas being organised by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) and support the cause even as the samiti has threatened to intensify the stir if its demands are not met.

With the support of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Congress, the agitation is set to grow bigger much to the discomfort of the ruling Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government even as there are reports of grassroot BJP leaders addressing the dharnas.

Though the government has been repeatedly trying to get Uttar Pradesh Jat leader Yashpal Malik, spearheading this protest, to the table for talks, it has had no luck so far. With various political leaders joining the meet-the-demands chorus, the Khattar government is likely to come under greater pressure especially since the samiti is insisting on fulfillment of commitments made during the agitation in February last year.

The government has sent messages for talks, but we are not ready. Let them meet the demands they have already accepted and we will pack up and go. Till then, our dharnas will continue and we will even intensify the stir. The entire programme is ready, Malik said.

According to the plan, the samiti has decided to hold dharnas at multiple places in districts where permissions are being delayed or denied on February 12. This will be followed by a balidaan diwas on February 19 in memory of all those who lost their lives in last Februarys agitation which turned violent.

Let the government deploy more force and let the message go that we mean business. The political parties are joining us only out of compulsion since they want votes from our community. If they dont stand by us, we will not stand with them. That is probably why local BJP leaders who want to fight any kind of election, too, have started addressing the gatherings and supporting us. The district chief of the BJP in Sonepat addressed our dharna in his district, Malik claimed.

Meanwhile, INLD state chief Ashok Arora and state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar said they were supporting the cause of the Jats since the government had backtracked. They clarified that they would support the stir as long as it was peaceful.

The BJP government wants the Jat-non-Jat issue unresolved, which is why it is not accepting the demands it has agreed to. While the reservation issue is in court, the government should meet the demands it has agreed to fulfil and drop police cases and give compensation to the families of those who died in the stir, Arora said.

While stating that the Congress always stood for the empowerment of the backward, Tanwar maintained that the BJP believed only in lip-service and did not deliver. The result is that a year later, the community has been forced to resort to agitations despite the government giving its word on the demands. We will listen to the grievances of those on dharna and support them, he said.

Sources in the BJP, however, dismissed Maliks contention that the local leaders were joining the agitation. Our leaders are addressing the community to convey that governments intentions are right and we are doing our bit. This message must reach the people, a senior BJP leader said.
Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Jassia (Rohtak), February 4

Leader of Opposition and INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala has stated that they would not let the Assembly function if the demand for reservation and other related demands are not fulfilled.

Addressing Jat protesters here today, Abhay maintained that the coming session of the Vidhan Sabha, which is scheduled to begin on February 27, would not be allowed to be held if the demands were not accepted by them.

Abhay, who was accompanied by seven INLD MLAs and other party leaders, extended full support to the protesters. The BJP leadership had promised to provide reservation during the elections. Even after the Supreme Court scrapped the provision of reservation for five communities, including Jats, the CM promised to provide reservation to them. But they backed off afterwards, leading to division between different communities, the INLD leader remarked.

Apart from Abhay, INLD MLA from Julana Parminder Dhull, partys Dadri MLA Rajdeep Phogat, Rania MLA Ram Chander Kamboj, Uklana MLA Anoop Dhanak, Barwala MLA Ved Narang, Narwana MLA Pritvi Numberdar and Sirsa MLA Makhan Lal Singla attended the dharna on its seventh day.

Targeting state BJP president Subhash Barala and other Jat leaders in the saffron party, Abhay said only those who did not have Jat blood in their veins were opposing the Jats agitation.
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 4

The BJP and the Congress are now trying to outdo each other in the race for showing their love for Kangra, the most significant district of the state having 15 Assembly segments.

After Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh termed the BJP anti-Kangra for their alleged opposition to the declaration of Dharamsala as the second capital of the state, the Opposition is raising more demands for Kangra.

Former minister and senior leader of the BJP from Dharamsala Kishan Kapoor today demanded that Dharamsala should be made the second capital. He said the state government should move there in winter as the J&K government moved from Srinagar to Jammu.

He added that the budget session of the Himachal Assembly should be held in Dharamsala.

Kapoor alleged that the Chief Minister was issuing different statements. While in Kangra, the he had said Dharamsala was the winter capital, he issued contradictory statements in Shimla.

Kapoor alleged that most of the projects announced by the present government were limited to just foundation stones. Most of the government colleges announced by the present government were running in two to three rooms taken from government schools. Many projects have not gone beyond the foundation stones. Though sub-divisions have been announced at many places in Kangra, there was hardly any building and infrastructure to justify the government decisions.

He said government doctors were on strike and patients were suffering. The medicos said they were not safe. Kapoor said they were attacked by Congress workers. The government was also not taking any steps to resolve the problem and the doctors had threatened to go on mass causal leave.

Employees in various other government departments were also threatening to go on strike as the government was not paying their dues, he alleged. The former minister also flayed the government for not contributing its share of Rs 186 crore to the Dharamsala Smart City project.
"Samajwadi Party still belongs to him. The 'cycle' belongs to him. The relationship is intact, father-son relationship can never change. It was necessary to distance ourselves from people who wanted to harm the party," he said of the infighting.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said that the Samajwadi Party's election symbol 'cycle' belongs to "Netaji" (Mulayam Singh Yadav), and that his blessings are with his son.

"The father-son relation exists as before and nothing can change that. Netaji is above all of us in the party. The responsibility to take Samajwadi Party forward rests now with the new generation," he said while speaking at the Chunav Manch conclave organised by India TV here.

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"Samajwadi Party still belongs to him. The 'cycle' belongs to him. The relationship is intact, father-son relationship can never change. It was necessary to distance ourselves from people who wanted to harm the party," he said of the infighting.

Also read: SCAM stands for Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh, Mayawati: PM Modi

Asked whether his father Mulayam Singh will campaign for the alliance, he said: "His (Netaji) blessings are with us. Netaji will be the most happiest person if SP wins. I am sure, our party's thumping victory will only increase his stature."

Akhilesh said he is confident of the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance winning more than 300 seats in the assembly elections this time.

"This alliance will prove beneficial to both parties. Our alliance is going to win more than 300 seats. All the opposition parties are now targeting our alliance for the last 2-3 days. They have now started fearing that the two young leaders (Akhilesh and Rahul) who have come together may form the government," he said.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

Asked whether he would like to be projected as Prime Ministerial candidate in 2019, Akhilesh replied: "I want to emphatically state here that I have no ambition to become Prime Minister. People who stay away from Delhi are happier. But yes, even Congressmen have asked me who will be the PM candidate in 2019, and I have told them, first let's win this election, and then see which turn politics will take. Nobody can predict."

Asked about his government's achievements in the last five years, Akhilesh said that as many as 55 lakh women are getting Samajwadi Pension, 18 lakh laptops were distributed, MBBS seats doubled, helpline services like 108, 100, 109 have started, and "there are many more schemes like Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana which have directly touched the poor".

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--- ENDS ---
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 4

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today announced sub-tehsil office at Pragpur and fire sub-station at Dadasiba in the Jaswan Paragpur constituency.

The CM, addressing a public meeting at Dadasiba, said he was not a professional politician, but a social worker who wanted to serve people.

I wanted to be a professor and teach students but it was the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who introduced me to politics. Later, Indira Gandhi brought me to state politics, Virbhadra Singh said.

He said there were a few people who created history and were remembered. YS Parmar, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were on the list, he said, who did a lot for Himachal.

The CM criticised the BJP MLA from Jaswan Pragpur for opposing development projects in his constituency. He said the BJP MLA had gone to court against the governments decision to set up a government college in Jandour. The BJP legislator believed in creating furore in the Assembly rather than taking up the demand of the people.

The MLA had pasted posters posing questions to the CM. In the posters he had asked the CM as to why he had opposed the creation of Central University at Dehra and regarding various pending projects in his constituency.

As of today, more than 37,000 kms of road network was present in the state, he said, adding that he wanted to see every village connected with roads. In the last four years, 1,721 kms new roads and around 180 bridges were constructed.

The CM said more than 168 health institutions and three medical colleges at Chamba, Hamirpur and Nahan had been opened. The government had also taken over ESIC Medical College at Nerchowk in Mandi, he said. The CM laid the stone for augmentation and extension of LWSS Jambal Behi. The Chief Minister also inaugurated CHC at Kotla, laid stone for a bridge on Kotla Khad and stone for a bridge over Gummi Khad.

He also laid the stone of Government Degree College, Jandour, to be constructed at Rs 5 crore.

Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the stone for the multi-story parking at Jwalamukhi to be constructed at Rs 5 crore. He also inaugurated the Science block of Govt Senior Secondary School, Jwalamukhi, completed at a cost of Rs 73.48 lakh and performed Bhoomi Pujan of Shivaji-Katyalu Road.

Vice-Chairman, Employees Welfare Board, Surinder Mankotia welcomed and honoured the Chief Minister. MLA Sanjay Rattan, Vice-Chairman, State Disaster Management Authority, Rajinder Rana, Chairman, HP Education Board, Balbir Tegta and former MLA Yog Raj, were present.
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 4

Two militant commanders of the Hizbul Mujahideen were killed and two police officers, including a Superintendent of Police, were injured in a brief gunfight in north Kashmir on today.

The police said two militants were moving towards Srinagar and planning some action in the capital.

The gunfight erupted near Amargarh, Sopore, over 40 km from here, when a joint checkpoint of the police and Army was set up after an input with the Baramulla Police about militant movement in the neighbouring subdistrict of Sopore. As the suspected Santro car was intercepted near Amargarh, the militants lobbed a grenade and fired upon the security men.

On being challenged, terrorists lobbed a grenade and fired upon the police party in which the Superintendent of Police, Operation, Baramulla, and a Sub-Inspector were injured. In the retaliatory action two militants were killed, Senior Superintendent of Police, Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain Mir said.

The injured police officers were identified as SP, Operation, Baramulla, Shafqat Hussain, and SI Mohammad Murtaza. The condition of both of them is stable, Mir said.

The slain militants were identified as Azhar Khan, alias Gazi Umar, of Kandi Kupwara, and Sajad, alias Babar, of Eidipora Bomai, Sopore.

The duo, who had been active for the past few years, had planned some attack in Srinagar. With the elimination of these militants a major terrorist action was averted, Mir said.

Azhar (26), sources said, had been active since April last year and before joining militancy was a contractual Arabic lecturer. As the news about his death reached his native village, people came on streets and staged a protest.

Sajad was an active militant of the HM and had gone to Pakistan in March 2016 on a passport and infiltrated into India to take command of the HM in Sopore.

A police spokesman in Srinagar said two AK rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

Hizb Mujahideen operational spokesperson termed the death of the two as a big loss to the outfit.
Jammu, February 4

Governor NN Vohra has given cash awards to the students of Army Goodwill School, Wuzur, who won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in an essay writing competition which was sponsored by the Governor.

The 1st prize of Rs 3,000 was given to Muneeb-Ul-Maqbool, 2nd prize of Rs 2,000 to Suhaib Hussain Bhat and the 3rd Prize of Rs 1,000 to Muntazir Ahmed Wani. The essays were evaluated by teachers of the school.

On their return from a national integration tour to Jammu, Mumbai and Pune, the students of Army Goodwill School recently met the Governor at Raj Bhawan in Jammu.

After talking to the boys about their impressions of the tour, the Governor had asked the accompanying school teachers to organise an essay competition on their tour experiences and had announced the cash prizes.  TNS
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 4

Two unidentified militants were killed in a brief gunfight in north Kashmirs Sopore sub-district on Saturday afternoon.

Police said that gunfight erupted when militants opened fire on a check point at Amargarh, over 45 kms from here.

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There was an input with the Baramulla Police about the militant movement and a joint-check point was set up at Amargarh. As a suspected vehicle was asked to stop, the militants boarding the car opened fire, triggering a brief gunfight in which both militants were killed, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sopore Harmeet Singh said.

The identity and affiliation of the two militants is yet to be established.
Meerut, February 4

In his first rally in UP after polls were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said SCAM is an acronym for the Samajwadi Party, the Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.

He alleged that the corrupt he had robbed with note ban had ganged up to bring him down and targeted the SP-Congress alliance, saying the two parties which abused each other till recently were now locked in an embrace to save themselves.

He asked the people to choose between development agenda of the BJP and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote bank politics and encourage land and mine mafias.

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In his over-an-hour-long address, he spoke about corruption, law and order and nepotism allegedly prevailing in the state as he sought peoples vote for the BJP to change the states fate.

It is UP which made me the Prime Minister, Modi said, adding that he wanted to repay its debt and that he could do it only with a government that joins hands with the Centre to develop the state unlike the current dispensation which was a hindrance in its progress.

Wooing farmers, he reiterated the partys promise of waiving loans of small and marginal farmers and paying the dues of sugarcane growers within 14 days of coming to power.

Playing the pro-poor and pro-farmers card, a plank BJP has assiduously tried to claim for some time, Modi said the recent budget was all about them besides the middle class.

Noting that the rebellion against the British rule in 1857 had started from Meerut, Modi said he had chosen this place to start the war against poverty, corrupt forces and land grabbers.

The PM again attacked the opposition parties over demonetisation and surgical strikes to strike a chord with the audience as he said he was determined to cleanse the system at the top and was not interested in small fights.

Those who filled rooms with currency notes collected by selling party tickets are very anguished as I forced them to deposit their money in banks. I knew they will all gang up against me. Do you think that corruption should be ended and black money finished off? I have been doing this and will not rest nor will let these robbers rest, he said.  PTI
Lahore, February 4

A 5-year-old Pakistani boy who brought to India by his father a year ago was reunited with his mother at the Wagah border on Monday.

The child, Iftikhar Ahmed, was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah, where his mother waited for him for hours.

"I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani told reporters at Wagah. "I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's nothing short of a miracle for me.

The childs mother claimed that her ex-husband brought her son to India in March 2016 saying he was taking his child to a wedding first to Dubai and then to Kashmir. Kiyani then brought a lawsuit against her ex-husband in a court in India with the help of Pakistans High Commission in New Delhi. The court ruled that the child should return to Pakistan in May 2016, but cross-border tensions between the two countries delayed the childs return by eight months. PTI
Kathmandu, February 4

Bicentenary celebrations to mark 200 years of services of the Gorkha soldiers of 9th Gorkha Rifles was organised in western Nepals Pokhara city today.

The event held at Pension Paying Office in Pokhara witnessed a special performance by the Brass and the Pipe Bands of the 39 Gorkha Training Centre, Varanasi. War widows and veterans were felicitated on the occasion with financial assistance in the form of gifts such as sewing machines, wheel chairs and cash incentives, according to a press release issued by the Indian Embassy.

Bhu-Puu Samitis were also provided with computers, reiterating the fact that the welfare and well-being of all ex-servicemen was of paramount importance to the Government of India, the release said.

The 9th Gorkha Rifles has five battalions and its history dates back to 1817, when it was first raised with Gorkha volunteers as a Local Levy. The regiment has distinguished itself in many battles and campaigns in the First and Second World Wars and all battles fought after Independence.

Year 2017 marks the bicentenary of 9th Gorkha Rifles for which similar events are being organised at many places in India, but the commencement of the entire celebrations have been done from Nepal. More than 3,500 ex-servicemen and families of 9th Gorkha Rifles participated in the event with zeal and enthusiasm.

The event culminated on a high note with a sumptuous Barakhana organised specially for the Bhu-Puus. The event was attended by Gen Rajendra Chhetri, COAS, Nepal Army, and Honorary General of the Indian Army, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae and other dignitaries.  PTI
Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 4

Though the burden of cancer is rising in the country with every passing year, two-thirds of the cancer cases remain preventable only if people can watch out for risk factors.

In India, cancer is one of the 10 leading causes of death and is an growing public health challenge with an estimated 8 lakh deaths happening on this count alone. Experts, however, say two-thirds of cancer cases are preventable and half of them can be avoided just with early detection.

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As for the rates of cancer, the worlds highest rates of cervical, gall bladder, oral and pharynx cancers are in India. Dr Rajendra Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, notes, In 2011, a UN resolution declared four key strategies to curb the rising burden of cancers  tobacco control, controlling the use of alcohol, checking obesity and improved nutrition. It is a mammoth task to improve the nutritional status of so many people, but control of tobacco, areca nut, alcohol, junk food is well within the reach of our policymakers. It will not be an exaggeration to say that most cancers are caused by the organised industry for making profits at the cost of peoples health.

Estimated costs of policy interventions to control cancer risk factors show that in India, it would just cost $1.52 per person to put in place interventions to prevent cancers.

Recent data from the National Family Health Survey shows that almost a third of Indian males consume tobacco in some form and nearly one-third of them die prematurely from serious illness such as cancers, heart diseases.

Gutkha has been banned in several states but the enforcement is lax. The sale of gutkha in twin packets (tobacco and pan masala) is causing trouble. This needs to be stopped, says oncologist Pankaj Chaturvedi.
Meerut, February 4

Continuing his vigorous campaign for the BJP with six days to go for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a combined attack on the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati.

Addressing a rally here, the Prime Minister said Uttar Pradesh would not show any progress unless it is free from corruption, which could be achieved only if the SCAM is removed from power, adding that UP had the potential to be Indias most prosperous state.

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The ruling government in Uttar Pradesh is one that needs to be removed from power immediately, because they are a government that collectively supports rogues and goons. There is no value for anybodys life in this state. One has no guarantee that he or she will return home alive after stepping out of his/her home. This state has made me what I am, and I will not rest until this government is replaced, he said.

Candidates who have been given tickets by the Samajwadi Party were those who were branded as mafias by the same party even two months ago. The money given for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was Rs 950 crore, out of which not even Rs 40 crore has been used, the Prime Minister revealed.

Until now, the Congress was completely against the current government. Now they have also joined hands overnight. This goes to show how honest their intentions are, he added, taking a swipe at the alliance.

Speaking on the condition of farmers in UP, Modi alleged that the government might have some deal with sugarcane mills in the state, because of which farmers had not been paid yet. He went on to assure the public that if BJP came to power in UP, the farmers would be reimbursed within 14 days.

After the BJP comes to power, we will make sure that loans for small and marginal farmers are waived. Furthermore, we will also do everything that I needed to ensure safety of women and generate more employment opportunities for youth in the state, Modi said.

Uttar Pradesh will be voting for a new state assembly in a seven-phase election between February 11 and March 8. Out of the 403 assembly seats, the Congress will be contesting on 105 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates in rest of the 298 seats. ANI
Lucknow, February 4

A major reason why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is believed to be finding it difficult to cross the finishing line with ease in the ensuing UP Assembly elections is its loss of the Muslim vote since 2014, when it had secured more support from the community than ever before.

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Winning over the community is essential in a state where the Muslims make up 19.3 per cent of the population. Their vote is now expected to be shared mainly by the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress combine and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the tilt favouring the former because its chances are perceived to be better.

The BJP will rue this shift of preference because it had the support of a sizable section of the Muslims in the parliamentary polls.

According to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), 10 per cent of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh voted for the BJP three years ago, evidently because they were impressed by Narendra Modi's pitch for development.

It is also noteworthy that a large number of Yadavs, who form the SP's core base of support, and Jatavs, who constitute the BSP's vote bank, also leaned towards the BJP.

It was obviously Modi's promise of "achhey din" (good days) which acted as an incentive.

But the increase in the Muslim preference for the BJP was of greater significance because of the traditionally fraught relations between the minorities and the saffron brotherhood.

However, a CSDS researcher noted that the backing of the Muslims for the BJP in 2014 was the highest in the Lok Sabha's electoral history.

Of the 87 parliamentary seats in the country with a high concentration of Muslims, the BJP won 45. These included all but one of the 27 seats in Uttar Pradesh, demonstrating how the members of the community had turned away from their earlier favourites, the SP and the BSP, in favour of the BJP.

It is obvious that if Modi had been able to retain this block of support, his party would have had a fairly easy run in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Considering that he still enjoys the faith of large sections of the people, mainly of the middle class, in his promise to accelerate development, there is no reason to doubt that the Muslims, too, would back him now as in 2014.

If they have drifted away, however, the fault lies with the Prime Minister's failure to check the hardliners in the BJP much earlier. He has now succeeded in largely silencing the "ghar wapsi" and "love jehad" brigades, but his action against them has come too late in the day to reassure the Muslims.

Had he cracked down on them immediately after his Lok Sabha victory, the BJP might not only have been able to hold on to those Muslims who had reposed their new-found faith in the party but also attracted others from the community.

This accretion would have been possible even if the economy had not taken off with the speed that was earlier expected.

But the moment was lost because the Yogi Adityanaths and the Sakshi Maharajs interpreted the BJP's majority in the Lok Sabha as a sign for pushing their Hindu nationalist agenda.

Yet, as a former pracharak (preacher), Modi would have known the central tenets of their anti-minority mindset.

If he took his time in acting against them, as he had done in the post-2002 period in Gujarat, the reason perhaps was that he was not sure of how far he could go against the vested communal interests in the party and the parivar at the national level.

There were undoubtedly ideological reasons as well. After all, when even Atal Bihari Vajpayee avoided a head-on confrontation with the hardliners, calling them "pagal" (mad) in private, as the then attorney-general Soli Sorabjee said, Modi's hesitation was understandable.

But his reluctance to be more proactive in this respect is now proving to be his worst electoral disadvantage. This drawback became clear as early as in 2015 when the BJP was decimated in the Delhi assembly elections although it had won all the seven parliamentary seats in the national capital a year before.

Since then, the BJP has suffered a series of defeats in Assembly elections in Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, putting into shade its excellent showing in virtually all the contests in 2014.

The gainers have been the "secular" parties because the Muslims remain convinced that the BJP hasn't changed from its Jana Sangh days, notwithstanding the protestations of Modi and other senior leaders.

This failure on the BJP's part has enabled even the down-and-out Congress to claw its way back into reckoning, which would not have been possible if Modi had been able to retain the momentum of 2014 when he was seen as non-sectarian.

The opportunity which he had, therefore, to mould the BJP in his own forward-looking image has seemingly been lost.

However, Uttar Pradesh is his last chance. If a hung assembly shows that the BJP can at least come close to the half-way mark, it will mean that the party can still find its way back if it is prepared to crack down on the saffron hawks.

IANS
By India Today Web Desk: Sanjay Dutt has had his share of trouble with the law, but it looks like he is not done yet. The police paid him a visit, but before you think otherwise, let us tell you that they were responding to a noise complaint from one of Sanju's neighbours.

ALSO READ: Sanjay Dutt wanted to beat up Rishi Kapoor over an affair?

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2017 may have just begun, but according to a report in Mumbai Mirror , cops have already dropped by twice and warned him to keep the volume down. "The first incident happened on January 14, the second on Thursday. Around 11.30 pm, they (Dutts) started playing music on their terrace. It was so loud that we couldn't even sleep... They (the police) promised to help us and that's when the music was stopped," the report quotes Amitav Shukla, chairman of the Pali Hill Residents' Association, as saying.

Unimpressed by Dutt's loud parties, he added, "We had sent him a warning letter the last time but he has not changed. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in Pali Hill. The issue will be raised at the next AGM meeting and we have also asked the zonal DCP to take strict action against Sanjay Dutt."

ALSO WATCH | Sanjay Dutt at India Today Conclave 2016: Feeling of freedom yet to sink in

--- ENDS ---
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4

The voting percentage in Punjab on Saturday touched the 78.6 per cent mark even as technical glitches and stray incidents of violence were reported in the state which is seeing a high-stakes contest among the Congress, new entrant AAP and ruling SAD-BJP combine.

The figure of 78.6% was given late in the night by the Election Commission after several revisions, as more data came in from the constituencies. The poll percentage in the 2012 Assembly elections was also 78.6 per cent.

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Also read: Punjab elections: All action from day of polling as it unfolded

"Barring stray incidents of violence the polling in single-phase remained peaceful," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP- elections) V K Bhawra said.

Two persons were injured in a clash which took place between AAP and Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district, police said.

In Tarn Taran district, a Congress worker identified as Jagjit Singh was injured when an Akali supporter allegedly opened fire at him outside a polling booth in Lalu Ghuman village, they said.

A large number of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, installed for the first time in the ongoing Punjab Assembly polls, developed snags during the polling process in the state.

Snags hit VVPAT machines

A technical snag was reported in VVPAT machines in Majitha and Sangrur, an election office spokesman said, adding that the matter had been referred to the ECI.

Due to a snag in the machines, polling had to be called off a number of times, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V K Singh said, adding that these machines were replaced by others.

Over 79 per cent electors had cast their votes in the 2012 assembly polls. The final figure of today's voting is still awaited as all those who were inside the polling booths will be allowed to vote, an election official spokesman said here.

Shortly before the polling was to end, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal "thanked Punjabis for peaceful polling and reposing faith in SAD-BJP alliance."

A statement issued by Badal's spokesman quoted him as saying, "Moved by people's love despite negative agenda."

However, this time around 70 per cent out of the total 1.98 crore electors exercised their franchise to seal the fate of 1,145 candidates, including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and Deputy, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Punjab Congress president and the party's chief ministerial candidate, Capt Amarinder Singh.

The total number of electors in the state is 1,98,79,069, including 93,75,546 females. There are 415 transgender voters. The total number of candidates in the fray include 81 women and a transgender.

Six persons were injured during a clash between Congress and SAD supporters at Ropowali village in Fatehgarh Churian constituency, police said.

In Majitha, a heated exchange of words took place between Akali candidate Bikram Singh Majithia and Congress candidate Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli after the former raised objection over allegedly bringing vehicles inside the polling station.

"Don't break the rules," Majithia, who is seeking re-election for third time from Majitha constituency, told his opponent, asking the driver to take the vehicles out of the polling booth.

A verbal duel took place between some media personnel and security staff deployed at one of the polling booths in Majitha constituency after the scribes alleged that they were not allowed to enter the polling booth by the security personnel despite authorisation, police said.

A minor clash took place between Congress and BJP workers at Preet Nagar of Jalandhar Central constituency.

Another minor clash between SAD and AAP workers took place at Kotkapura in Faridkot district while there was report of a clash at Kalanaur in Batala between AAP and Congress workers, in which police had to use mild force to diffuse the situation.

Minor clashes also took place between Congress and BJP workers at Samrala village in Bhoa Assembly segment in Pathankot district.

In Phillaur's Atta village, a verbal duel took place between Congress and Akali Dal workers.

In Nangal village in Phillaur, a verbal duel took place between AAP and BSP workers.

Meanwhile, Moga district police booked Independent candidate Manjit Singh Mann, contesting from Moga constituency, under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and and also under relevant section of the IPC, for campaigning after the deadline for the same had ended, Moga's Returning Officer said.

A 35-year-old man identified as Prakash, a resident of Bhim Nagar in Jalandhar, died due to suspected cardiac arrest, when he came out of the polling booth at a school in Bashirpura, Jalandhar, police said.

Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, opposition Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party.

Other political outfits in the fray include BSP, former AAP leader Sucha Singh Chhotepur-led Aapna Punjab Party, the Left comprising CPI and CPI-M, and SAD-Amritsar.

Voting for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat by-poll was also being held amid tight security arrangements.

For the first time webcasting from over 4,000 polling booths was done, which was monitored from Chandigarh control room.  With PTI inputs
Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4

Punjab recorded 78.62 per cent polling, almost the same as in 2012 (78.67), as the state went to the hustings today to elect 117 representatives for the 14th Assembly. But for a few incidents of firing, skirmishes and technical glitches in VVPAT machines, polling was by and large peaceful.

The turnout in rural constituencies was higher than those in urban segments. Mansa, with a large number of rural votes, recorded the highest poll percentage at 87.34 while the majority urban SAS Nagar saw the lowest turnout at 71.97. The Election Commission was expecting the percentage to go as high as 85.

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The high-pitched election saw a three-cornered contest among the Akali Dal-BJP alliance, the Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

There were two incidents of violence. Akali and Congress supporters clashed at Lalu Ghuman village in Tarn Taran and Ropowali village in Fatehgarh Churian. There were incidents of firing outside a polling booth in Guruharsahai and at Lohgarh village in Dera Bassi constituency.

We have registered cases against the accused in all cases. Barring these, polling was peaceful. We had put in place an unprecedented security cover, deputing 30,400 personnel of the central security forces and 55,000 of the Punjab Police, said Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, VK Singh, and ADGP VK Bhawra. The latter said after the twin blasts in Maur, anti-terror SWAT teams had been deployed too.

The voting, that began at 8 am, was brisk till noon, but slowed down in many constituencies in the afternoon. While reports of cash and liquor being distributed to woo voters flooded the social media, the election authorities said they had received no such complaints.

Other than the 100 election observers in the state, assigned by the Election Commission, 8,166 micro-observers were appointed by us, and they will file a report from the ground. Appropriate action will be taken if attempts to influence voters have been made, said Singh.

After Delhi, AAP has set its hopes on staking claim to power in Punjab, even as the ruling alliance and the Congress have used their might to stop the new entrant.

With the youth seemingly swaying towards AAP, it looks like the party has an advantage. But vote mechanics played out by the two arch rivals of Punjab politics  including consolidation of the Hindu urban votes as well as those of three deras, Punjabi versus outsider campaign and accusation of AAPs alliance with radicals  made the contest tough, with each party having its pockets of influence. Whether AAPs strategy to win over young voters (more than 50 per cent of the electorate) did succeed will be only known on the counting day, March 11.
GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 4

Navjot Singh Sidhu, accompanied by his wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu and son Karan Sidhu, on Saturday exercised their franchise at an Amritsar North polling booth for the Assembly election besides the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

It is for the first time that Sidhu voted as an Assembly candidate from Amritsar East on a Congress ticket.

Surrounded by media which kept on waiting since 9 am at the polling booth, the Sidhus arrived around 11.45 am.

Seeming confident of victory, Sidhu said, I congratulate Capt Amarinder, Rahul bhai and Sonia ji in advance. Its going to be the revival of the Congress with a new hope in Punjab.

Talking about CM Parkash Singh Badal, he said, As you sow, so shall you reap.

Its not anti-incumbency but hatred towards the atrocities committed by Akalis. I expect over 70 per cent voting. Badal saheb will realise that what is happening is just a result of his actions.

On the possible threat from the AAP, and the Sirsa dera supporting the SAD, he said, When people make up their mind, its all meaningless.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4

A blow-by-blow account of the polling day in Punjab, with field reports and pictures straight as they arrived.

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CHANDIGARH

Election Commission revises polling percentage to 78.6, same as 2012 Assembly elections. Jalalabad constituency, where SAD's Sukhbir Badal is pitted against AAP's Bhagwant Mann and Congress' Ravneet Singh Bittu, registered a high of 86% polling.

PATIALA (Updated 9:13 pm)

AAP and SAD workers accuse each other of harassing their supporters. Police rush in.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 9:10 pm)

Final vote polled in Punjab: 75 per cent

CHANDIGARH (Updated 8:52 pm)

District-wise polling percentage: Fazilka 81, Pathankot 77, Patiala 77, Barnala 80, Sangrur 83, Mansa 85, Bathinda 76, Faridkot 80, Muktsar 81, Ferozepur 80, Moga 75, Ludhiana 73, Fatehgarh Sahib 80, SAS Nagar 69, Ropar 75, Nawanshahr 77, Hoshirapur 72, Jalandhar 72, Kapurthala 74, Tarn Taran 74, Amritsar 67, Gurdaspur 72.

FARIDKOT (Updated 8:50 pm)

Last voter in Faridkot cast his vote at around 6.45 pm. District election office estimated that some 3,677 voters were still queued up at 57 polling booths in the district at 5 pm.

Records also showed that 78.75 per cent of total 1,53,573 registered voters in the assembly segment had cast their ballots by 5 pm.

NEW DELHI (Updated 7:45 pm)

Out of 22,615 EVMs deployed, only 47 malfunctioned and replaced. Out of total 6,668 VVPATs deployed 187 replaced.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 7:02 pm)

Final voting percentage in Punjab is expected to be 75 percent, CEO VK Singh said.

SANGRUR (Updated 7:01pm)

SAD and Congress workered clash in Lehragaga. Two injured.

NEW DELHI (Updated 5:20 pm)

Any voter reporting to the booth up to 5 pm will be allowed to cast his or her vote, even beyond schedule time. Entire election machinery up to polling booth level has been directed to facilitate voting by such voters, said Election Commission of Indias directive to its machinery.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 6:05 pm)

70 per cent polling until 5 pm. Some voters still waiting in queues to cast their ballot.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 5:10 pm)

Voting closes at 5 pm, no change in time, CEO clarifies after a meeting with AAP leaders. Polling in Goa is scheduled from 7 am to 5 pm whereas in Punjab it is 8 am to 5 pm. This is discrimination with Punjabis, says Sanjay Singh. "A large number of voters have failed to cast vote."

Elections are normally held 8 am to 5 pm in Punjab. Timings can't be compared with Goa. All voters who enter polling stations by 5 pm will be able to cast votes, CEO VK Singh said.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 5:05 pm)

At 4 pm, highest polling of 73 per cent reported in Fazilka and Sangrur. Lowest (56 percent) in Ropar.

BATHINDA (Updated 5:03 pm)

AAP workers clash with SAD workers over alleged fake votes. Congress workers also jumped in, enter into heated arguments with SAD workers in Maur.

ZIRAKPUR (Updated 4:53 pm)

Firing incident reported in Lohgarh village.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 4:50 pm)

66 per cent polling in Punjab until 4 pm.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 4:36 pm)

AAP demands polling time to be extended till 6 pm; Deepak Vajpayee and AAP legal team members at CEOs office. Main concern is Majithia segment where police are not cooperating, AAP team alleges. Sanjay Singh reaches CEO's office.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 4:21 pm)

Poll percentage at 3 pm: Pathankot 59, Gurdaspur 56, Hoshiarpur 58, Ropar 58, Mohali 54, Fatehgarh Sahib 65, Ludhiana 60.5, Ferozepur 59.5, Muktsar 60.5, Faridkot 62, Barnala 54.6, Patiala 59.5

LUDHIANA (Updated 4:20 pm)

High drama near booth no 129 in Gandhi Nagar of Rampura city after Congress worker Vinod Kumar Neeta accused Akali leader-cum-former Market Committee Chairman Parveen Kansal Rocky of assaulting him. He alleged that Rocky was distributing cash among voters, which Neeta denied. Minor clash followed heated arguments. Police asked Neeta to lodge complaint but he refused. 'There is no use of lodging complaint with police. There is a goonda raj'. SHO said: 'I am urging victim to come and lodge complaint but he is unwilling. There was no clash rather it was a minute scuffle.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 4:15 pm)

56.9% polling in Punjab until 3 pm.

TARN TARAN (Updated: 4:11 pm)

Congress worker Jagjit Singh injured after two shots allegedly fired at him by SAD sarpanch of Lalu, Ghuman Desa Singh, and his supporters outside polling booths. Bullets hit his belly and leg.

MOGA (Updated 4:10 pm)

EC seeks report regarding EVM displaying 50 extra votes at polling booth no 145.

JALANDHAR (Updated 4:10pm)

Clash between AAP, BSP supporters this morning after drunken BSP Sarpanch Khushi Ram picked up a fight and tried to barge in. Congress also alleges Khushi Ram was abusing non-BSP voters.

AMRITSAR (Updated 4:05 pm)

Amritsar south assembly constituency is lowest in the polling percentage, at 33 per cent, in the state. Gurpartap Singh Tikka of SAD, Inderbir Singh Bolaria of Congress and Inderbir Singh Nijjar of AAP are contesting on this seat.

ZIRAKPUR (Updated 4:05 pm)

Indian gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra casts his vote at Chatt village.

TARN TARAN (Updated 4:00 pm)

Firing reported in Tarn Taran village. One injured.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 4:00 pm)

No VVPAT surplus in Sangrur, Roopnagar, Muktsar, Jalandhar Cantt. Lehra has three and Majitha only one.

FARIDKOT (Updated: 3:55 pm)

After they were offered money to 'buy' their votes, about 40 youths in Kamena village marched to a polling booth in the village to vote and openly declared whom they would vote for.

FEROZEPUR (Updated 3:45 pm)

Firing incident reported in Guruharsahai.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 3:45 pm)

Highest polling to date reported in Ghanaur and Samana (61 per cent). Lowest in Jalandhar Cantt (32 per cent).

FARIDKOT (Updated 3:45 pm)

Lowest voting percentage at 42 per cent in Amritsar; close to 43 per cent at Ropar.

MUKTSAR (Updated 3:45 pm)

Akali worker injured in clash with Congress activists at Killanwali village in Lambi. Sustains head injury. Brought to Community Health Centre, Lambi. Referred to Bathinda.

BATHINDA (Updated 3.30 pm)

Minor clash reported between SAD and AAP workers at Maiserkhana.

TARN TARAN (Updated 3.20 pm)

FIR registered against son of AAP candidate from Khadoor Sahib for allegedly beating a Congress worker. The accused is yet to be arrested.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 3.15 pm)

VVPAT machines were used in 6,500 polling booths, and 50 of these machines in Sangrur, Majitha and Muktsar developed snag, says CEO Punjab VK Singh

MOGA (Updated 3.02 pm)

CEO Punjab VK Singh takes note of voting being halted at a polling booth in Khosa Pandu village. He pulled up officials for halting the polling after he received complaint from the US.

KALANAUR (Updated 2.50 pm)

Clash between supporters of SS Randhawa (Congress) and GS Kushalpur (AAP) in Kalanaur. Police rush in to defuse situation.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 2.38 pm)

48 per cent polling in Punjab till 2.30 pm.

JALANDHAR (Updated 2.30 pm)

Twenty five-year-old Prakash, a resident of Bhim Nagar, dies after casting his vote at Bashirpura; kin create ruckus outside polling booth.

BATHINDA (Updated 2.14 pm)

SAD Bathinda city president Sudhir Bansal allegedly beaten by Congress supporters outside a polling booth.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 2.00 pm)

41 per cent polling in Punjab till 1.40 pm. Average polling percentage in rural constituencies is 45 per cent.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 1.55 pm)

EC allows replacement of defective VVPATs with EVMs, where VVPAT stock is about to exhaust. Use of conventional EVMs at eight polling stations in Majitha, six in Muktsar and one in Sangrur allowed.

LUDHIANA (Updated 1.22 pm)

Kamal Chatly, BJP candidate from Ludhiana West, along with his supporters has been booked by the Sarabha Nagar police for trespassing and attempting to thrash the supporters of Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu at his BRS Nagar office. Chatly had trespassed into the office of Ashu alleging that stock of liquor was lying in his office, which was to be distributed to the voters. Meanwhile, the police raided the office and nothing incriminating was found.

PATIALA (Updated 1.03 pm)

Capt Amarinder Singh arrives to cast his vote at Government College for Girls; says the Congress is coming to power.

NABHA (Updated 1.02 pm)

AAP and Congress supporters were seen outside polling booths, while SAD workers were conspicuous by their absence at many places.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 12.50 pm)

32 per cent polling in Punjab till 12 noon

MUKTSAR (Updated 12.04 pm)

Voting delayed for nearly 2 hours at some polling booths in Muktsar Assembly constituency due to snag in VVPAT machines.

GURUHARSAHAI (Updated 12.01 pm)

Congress and Akali workers clash in Theh Gujjar village; situation under control.

PATTI (Updated 11.40 am)

Election observer for Patti constituency warns Congress candidate Harminder Gill of seizing his vehicles, other than his car and security vehicle, if he found in his cavalcade. Observer and Congress candidate came face to face when Gill arrived to cast his vote at Patti town.

CHANDIGARH (Updated 11.34 am)

14 per cent voting in Punjab till 11.30 am

LUDHIANA (Updated 11.17 am)

Supporters of senior SAD leader Hira Singh Gabria booked by Daba Police for attacking LIP candidate Balwinder Bains last night. Bains did not sustain any injuries. Following the attack, Bains supporters had ransacked the office of Gabria.

LAMBI (Updated 11.15 am)

Sukhbir Badal says the SAD will get 80 seats. In both Lambi and Jalalabad, the Akalis will secure No. 1 position, Congress 2 and AAP 3. Harsimrat says people will vote for development, even opponents cant say anything about it. She alleges the AAP has links with extremist forces.

SIRHIND (Updated 11.10 am)

Technical snag in VVPat machines at Sirhind and Chanarthal.

CHANDIGARH

12 per cent polling in Punjab till 10.30 am

MAJITHA

SADs Bikram Majithia could not cast his vote like hundreds others at Polling Station-35 of Ward No. 5 due to snag in EVM.

CHANDIGARH

EVMs with VVPAT are developing snag almost in all 33 segments where they are installed. Punjab CEO likely to seek ECI permission to replace defective VVPAT EVMs with conventional EVMs. Major trouble with VVPATs in Muktsar, Majitha, Barnala and Sangrur districts. Almost entire stock of reserved VVPATs exhausted in Majitha segment which is also decalred as sensitive seat by ECI. The Majitha RO has sent an emergency communication to EC informing depleting reserved stock of VVPATs. Meeting begins at EC headquarters to deal with the situation.

FAZILKA

SAD Guruharsahai (Ferozpur) candidate Vardev Singh Mann and his son Harpindet Singh booked for not depositing firearms ahead of polling.

FARIDKOT

Election commission is very strict in installation of polling tents by political parties in Faridkot, not allowing tents within 200 meter of polling booths

SANAUR

SHO Sanaur shifted midnight and SHO Julka police station (Patiala) shifted by ECI just after polling begins. Both Sanour and Julka police stations fall under Sanaur segment, where Chandumajra's son is contesting against Tohra's daughter. Action against SHO Jhulka came last night after Patiala SSP S Bhoopathi visited the police station and shifted him.

CHANDIGARH

Instructions of EC to not carry mobiles creating confusion outside polling booths. People are returning without casting votes as there is no provision to keep mobile outside.

SANGRUR

SAD and Congress leaders booked for last nights clash in Khanauri. Town still tense.

CHANDIGARH

Sky overcast at many places, strong winds. Polling slow till 10 am.

SHUTRANA

Heavy police presence in Shutrana Grain Market as AAP and Congress supporters gather and raise slogans in support of their parties. Police on spot to avert any violence.

SANGRUR

Administration has deputed additional force in Malerkotla after getting information about likely problems

CHANDIGARH

8 per cent polling till 9.30 am in Punjab.

BADAL

Gurdas Badal says: God knows who will win from Lambi, Parkash or Amarinder. People are annoyed with Akalis, and I think Congress is coming to power.

SANGRUR

Dera Sirsa followers have formed teams to ensure that all followers give votes to only SAD as some other party candidates are trying to woo followers.

PATIALA (Updated 9.50 am)

Capt Amarinder Singh, along with his family members, to cast his vote at 12 noon at Government College for Girls. He is camping at New Moti Bagh Palace and keeping a close watch on developments in Patiala and Lambi, from where he is the official candidate.

MOHALI (Updated 9.15 am)

AAP leader Bhagwant Mann casts his vote at Mohali. "Our contest is with drugs and corruption," he said.

BADAL (Updated 9.15 am)

Manpreet first from the Badal clan to cast his vote. He came in a jeep along with his son Arjun. Says "it will be a historic defeat of the Akalis. I will win with a good margin.

LUDHIANA (Updated 9.15 am)

Clash between Balwinder Bains and Hira Singh Gabria supporters left five injured. Reports of gunfire. Incident took place around midnight.
Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Kasauli (Kharar), February 4

About 1,500 voters from four villages of Majri block, located less than 15 km from Chandigarh, exercised their franchise today, even as they registered a protest against lack of education for their children after Class X, poor roads and no bridges. These villages had decided last month to boycott the polls.

On behalf of the panchayats of Bagindi, Karaundewala, Kasauli and Gudapind villages, Kasauli sarpanch Bhim Sain tried to hand over a memorandum to Booth-Level Officer Palwinder Singh in Government Primary School. The officer said, Accepting any protest letter is not a part of our job, so please stay outside the polling station. And dont click photographs.

Karaundewala sarpanch Chhinda Singh said Our panchayats had decided that no one would cast his vote. Soon, various political parties, including the Congress, SAD and AAP, started making a beeline to our villages, seeking votes and promising to resolve our issues immediately after the polls.

Bhim Sain said, Land in our villages is being grabbed by the mafia, which is patronised by politicians. We dont trust anybody. However, being helpless, we have no option but to depend on candidates who appear to be honest.

Their main demands include the repair of a 12-km road from Mullanpur (adjoining the PGI) to Tanda village in Haryana; a road in Bangidi village; a senior secondary school in the area; and bridges on the rivulets which cut off the villages for months during the monsoon.
GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 4

After a mum, the Akal Takht today announced to initiate action against the Sikh candidates who went to seek support from the Sirsa dera for garnering votes. The SGPC has been asked to probe the matter and gather requisite proofs.

Controversy arose after some Akali candidates from the Malwa region had attended a meeting of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Saudas political wing in Bathinda. It was reported that the leaders assured to facilitate the religious congregation of the Dera head in Punjab, if voted to power again.

Later, Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had announced to extend support to the SAD-BJP combine for the Assembly polls.

On May 17, 2007, the then five high priests - Joginder Singh Vedanti, Iqbal Singh, Tarlochan Singh, Balwant Singh Nandgarh and Golden Temples priest Jagtar Singh - had issued hukumnama for the Sikh community to boycott the Sirsa dera head socially, religiously and politically for his indulgence in blasphemous act of impersonating Guru Gobind Singh.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and other Takht heads remained incognito after the matter came to light. Their mobile phones too were found to be switched off.

However, Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh became reachable immediately after polling.

He said, It was sheer violation of the Akal Takht edict to have any sort of relation which the Dera Sacha Sauda. Those who had gone to seek support for political gains are certainly liable to face action. The video clippings and still photographs too will be procured to identify them. We have also received a complaint from the DSGMCs former president Paramjit Singh Sarna demanding action against those leaders who compromised with the Panth maryada to gain political mileage. The SGPC has been told to scrutinise it. As soon as the report is received, action will be taken accordingly.

Meanwhile, the Akal Takht Jathedar denied having any meeting of the five Takht heads in the recent past over the issue, as was surfaced on social media.

In the past few days, a fake hukumnama flashed on social media that demanded boycott of the entire SAD leadership for allegedly violating the edicts of the Akal Takht. This hukumnama also had incorrect dateline as 3/4/2017.

Similarly, another letter under the forged signatures of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh was posted on the social media.
Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4

The newly introduced Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) EVMs turned out to be headache for the Election Commission of India (EC) on polling day as at least 725 such machines -- installed in 33 Assembly segments -- developed a snag, delaying voting in at least 45 polling stations.

Returning officers (RO) of several Assembly segments made SOS calls to the EC before noon as the entire surplus stock of VVPAT EVMs was exhausted by 1:30 pm in at least four assembly segments -- Jalandhar Cantonment, Muktsar, Rupnagar and Sangrur.

Only one machine was left in surplus in Majitha constituency and three in Lehra. Thirty-eight machines were replaced in Majitha and 39 in Rupnagar.

Polling was delayed in 25 polling stations in Majitha and 10 each in Sangrur and Muktsar.

While the EC had to replace187 such machines after the beginning of polling at 8 am, 538 VVPAT EVMs developed a snag even before voting began and had to be replaced during mock polling sessions.

Mock polling is conducted by the polling staff in the presence of representatives of all political parties during which dummy votes are polled to check the machines.

As reports of snags started pouring in this morning, state elections officials sought permission from the EC to replace the defective VVPAT EVMs machines with conventional EVMs.

Around 400 VVPATs were replaced with simple EVMs, mostly in Majitha, Muktsar, Sangrur, Barnala and Bathinda (Rural) seats. Polling was delayed at 45 polling stations, said VK Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab.

Akali candidate Bikram Singh Majithia criticised the EC for the technical glitches in the machines installed in Majitha segment. AAP leader Sanjay Singh met VK Singh around an hour before the culmination of polling, demanding that polling time should be increased by at least one hour in those segments where VVPATs are installed.

However, no extension was allowed.

In Goa, polling start at 7 am, where in Punjab, the EC scheduled it at 8 am. This is discrimination with Punjabis, he said after meeting the CEO.

My rivals, be it Parkash Singh Badal or former Army chief Gen JJ Singh (retd), will face a humiliating defeat. I have got reports from all parts of the state. We are winning.  Capt Amarinder Singh, Punjab Congress chief

We will win at least 85 seats. People are aware that AAP is encouraging radical elements, while the Congress has always discriminated against Punjab.  Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister

People of the state deserve credit for being part of a revolution for building a new Punjab. This election will strengthen the publics faith in democracy.  Arvind Kejriwal, AAP convener

I appreciate the tolerance, dignity and patience with which voters conducted themselves. I also congratulate the EC, security agencies and other government departments for their hard work.  Vijay Sampla, State BJP chief
"The first war of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. Then the fight was against the British and now the war is to eradicate poverty," PM Modi said addressing a rally in Meerut.

By India Today Web Desk: In his first rally before Uttar Pradesh votes in the first phase of seven-phase Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took on the newly formed alliance between Samajwadi Party and Congress terming it as a pact of opportunism.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

Addressing a rally in Meerut, where voting in scheduled to take place on February 11, PM Modi once again used his wordplay act to slam the Opposition. "This election is against a SCAM. Uttar Pradesh has to get rid of this SCAM if it has to develop. SCAM stands for - Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati," Modi said to a huge response from the crowd.

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"The first war of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. Then the fight was against the British and now the war is to eradicate poverty," PM Modi said.

HERE ARE PM MODI'S TOP QUOTES FROM MEERUT RALLY:

The BJP's fight is against SCAM which stands for Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati. Now you decide if you want SCAM or LOTUS. If you want scam or development? Until you free UP from SCAM the state won't see any development. You made me PM, and it is over 2 years, do you have any complain? Did I do anything to defame your country? I still need to pay debts to Uttar Pradesh and its people, I need to do more. Even if I want to work for the development of your state, it will be stopped by the state government, so it is important to remove these people (Samajwadi Party government) from Lucknow. For over 40 years, the army veterans were fooled by governments. But we approved One Rank One Pension (OROP) as promised. Our jawans conducted surgical stikes to give a befitting reply to Pakistan. But some leaders raised questions over the military operation. Some even said how come none of the Indian soldiers die in such an operation.You tell me, those who have stopped to such level...should they be allowed to do politics? On November 8, 2016, old notes were banned from circulation. It was a huge setback for those who had accumulated wealth by wrong means. The money they had kept hidden for 70 years, was forced to be deposited in banks. Every family needs to have their own house, so we've started working towards fulfilling this vision by 2022.

Watch the video here

ALSO READ:

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--- ENDS ---
Purnima Sharma

The Bamyan province misses its Buddha statues, says Zahra Kazemi. The diminutive businesswoman hails from the Afghani province that shot to fame after the Taliban mercilessly reduced its gigantic art pieces to rubble. But there is now hope for the war-ravaged country and its people. Theres news that these will soon be restored. That will bring more tourists to Bamyan and help our handicrafts and lives prosper, smiles the 39-year-old who was recently in the Capital for the Dastakar Winter Mela that brings in tribal arts, not just from India but also our neighbouring regions.

Bamyan, the area that once thrived on the ancient Silk Route, is home to women like Kazemi, who is on her fifth trip to India to sell her wares. People here are appreciative of our work, she says pointing to crafts from her region that are an amalgam of creativity and colour. And Bamyan women, she adds, are particularly fortunate as they enjoy a great deal of freedom. They are being educated (and even allowed to study English as a subject in schools), and work on stuff like handicrafts once the time is right, she says.

Pointing towards the colourful clothing that she and other artisans from the area have created, she says, Unlike the tough times we faced because of the Taliban, women now enjoy wearing colourful clothes themselves, so what if these are covered with shawls when they step out, says Kazemi who has studied at the American University in Afghanistan and proudly talks about her collection of clothes generally made from light and loose-fitting linens.

Beautifully embroidered, the styles and designs that Kazemi works on have come from the different regions of Afghanistan. We pay great attention to detailing, she says and goes on to talk about the khamak, khandar and graf dozi (embroidery) together with the mora dozi that is done with multi-hued beads. Most of our embroidery is done with very thin threads in a variety of shapes, and patterns ranging from geometric to flowery. The more intricate the design, the more expensive the outfit, she says.

The women, according to Kazemi, embroider on materials in a variety of stitches in very fine and precise patterns. Different regions of Afghanistan are known for different designs, be it the multi-hued geometric designs or those embellished with tiny beads or gold-coloured braids. With changing times, embroidery has moved on to enhance a variety of other things like veils, stoles, bags, purses, etc. as well. While the craft and designs remain innately traditional, we sometimes shift gears to cater to the changing tastes of our buyers too, adds Kazemi.

Talking about women empowerment that is slowly making its presence felt in Bamyan, Masooma Ibrahim, who is accompanied by her husband Hyder Ali, says that out of the total number of people involved in the handicraft business, almost 97 per cent are women. On their first visit to India, the couple tells it took refuge in Iran when the Taliban wreaked havoc in Afghanistan. With over 60 employees working for them, the two started venturing into handicrafts 23 years ago. Before that our family was into welding business, informs Ali. Fortunately for them, dress designing has their elders support. Masooma remains up to date with what designs work and sometimes creates new patterns. However, we only work on designs that are allowed by Islam, says Ali. And yes, Masooma takes inspiration from India too, especially saas-bahu soaps and historicals that have many hooked to the telly in Afghanistan.

The Afghan experience also offers suzanis  pure wool rugs and bedcovers  brought in from Mazar in the Balkh province. Coming from the area that is now Uzbekistan, suzanis are mostly embroidered with wool on a cotton fabric in traditional patterns. Besides suzanis, there are other varieties of Afghan carpets that are finding a ready market in India. Theyve created a presence here right from the time the Mughals, says Ghulam Fazaluddin, who hails from Mazar-e-Sharif and is happy continuing with the craft that goes back several generations in his family.

Among the varieties of carpets that he has on offer are the Khal Mohammadi and the Khal Yusufi. Made of sheep wool, these hand-woven carpets come in a variety of sizes and colours that range from the darker shades of red and brown. There are no weaving machines in Afghanistan, informs Fazaluddin.

We ask him about the reports of forced child labour in Afghanistan... According to the US Department of Labour 2014 report on child labor and forced labor, the country is among the 74 of those listed to have registered significant child labour incidence in the manufacture of carpets. Fazaluddin says this is not true. There are now strict laws against using child labour in this industry. Kids under 15 years of age are not allowed to weave carpets, he adds.

However, carpet-weaving is an art that many are happy to pursue. The fact that carpets, depending on their size, can take more than two months to complete, is no deterrent. And at the time of marriage, the more proficient a girl is in the art of carpet weaving, the better are her chances of finding a good match, he laughs. Happy that Afghan carpets are getting the attention they deserve, he talks about how these have repeatedly won awards at international events, including the Hannover Fair in 2014. It is equivalent to Oscars in the carpet industry, he smiles.
Pushpa Girimaji

Last month, I bought a shirt with a label describing it as wrinkle resist. When I asked the shopkeeper what it meant, he said I do not need to iron the fabric after a wash. However, I found this statement to be untrue because the shirt did need ironing after a wash. Can you please explain the true meaning of wrinkle-resistant fabric? Is it possible to cross-check the claims made by a manufacturer at the time of purchase?

Cotton, a natural fibre, has certain inherent superior qualities like sweat absorption and heat transmission that makes it an extremely comfortable fabric to wear in all weathers, particularly in summer. Cotton also has a high wet strength that makes it durable. However, it has a few negative qualities, one of them being that it gets crushed easily.

Earlier, cotton was blended with certain other fibres like polyester to overcome this disadvantage, but more recently, with the advancement in technologies, various finishes are applied to improve this negative quality of cotton fabrics. For example, certain synthetic resins are applied to the fabric during the process of dyeing or soon after dyeing to make the fibres resilient and resistant to crushing or creasing. Cotton fabrics that have undergone wrinkle resistance treatment are labelled wrinkle free or wrinkle resistant. Even terms such as easy care, durable press, and permanent press are used for them.

However, depending on the quality of the fibres and the finishing process, the extent of resistance to wrinkling may vary. Manufacturers who use these labels should therefore specify or explain what they mean by the term. Does it mean that the fabric does not need ironing at all, even after a wash? Or does it require light pressing? Is it completely crush-proof? And will this quality last till the life of the fabric or remain only for a certain number of washing cycles? The consumer has a right to such information and both the manufacturer and the retailer have a responsibility in ensuring that the information that is provided is true and not misleading.

I must also mention that in recent years, there is lot of concern over formaldehyde-based chemicals used to render the fabric wrinkle-resistant, as the chemical is a known carcinogen and has also been found to cause skin problems in sensitive individuals. In fact, some countries have standards restricting the presence of formaldehyde in textile products because of such health concerns.

Now I come to the last question  about cross-checking the claims at the time of purchase. Well, you can crush a wrinkle-resistant fabric in your hand to see how it behaves, but you will still not know how it looks after washing. So the best option is to buy from retailers who do not mislead you and have a good track record of respecting consumer rights. Of course, it is also important to collect the cash receipt for the purchase made.

Is it possible to haul up the retailer or the manufacturer in this case for making a false claim? Can it come under the purview of the consumer court?

If the claim on the label turns out to be false or misleading, then it constitutes an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act and you can seek redress before the consumer court. In fact, clothes with false labelling can also be described as a defective product, as per the definition of defect in the Consumer Protection Act.

So please approach the retailer and ask him for a refund. You can also write to the manufacturer and complain about the false labelling. If your grievance is not redressed, you will have to lodge a complaint with the consumer court seeking not just a refund, but also compensation for the harassment caused to you. These days consumer courts take serious note of false and misleading claims and award punitive damages too.

You can also seek the help of a consumer group to take up this issue. They can, in fact, get the fabric tested and make out a strong case against the manufacturer and get the court to issue a direction to the manufacturer not to make such false claims on the label. It can also direct the manufacturer to issue an advertisement asking all those who bought the particular brand of shirt to return it for a full refund. Ahmedabad-based consumer group, Consumer Education and Research Centre, for example, has taken up many such cases of false textile labelling (on the composition of the fabric) in the past, after testing the fabric. I must also mention that there are a number of textile testing laboratories where one can get the fabric tested to cross-check the claims on quality or fabric composition.
Harish Khare

IT got over yesterday. The Punjab voters have done their bit. And, now we have a suspenseful interregnum till March 11. The state would be at peace as the leaders would disperse for a well-deserved R&R. The candidates will be making pilgrimages to their favourite gods and astrologers while the bookies will have their hands full.

The most intriguing part of the 2017 campaign has to be the substantive presence of a new political outfit  the Aam Aadmi Party  which is presumed to have carved out a niche for itself. The AAP has perfected the blue-book for instigating the voters dormant rebellious instincts. It has also acquired a flair for mesmerising the narrative-makers with the energy and enthusiasm of its cadres. All those who came from outside to report on the Punjab elections have gone back mightily impressed.

As The Tribunes series on the previous Punjab elections shows, it has not been easy for a third force to make its presence felt. The Congress and the Akalis have divided the honours, most of the time. In the last Assembly elections, in 2012, Manpreet Badals Punjab Peoples Party promised to break this binary mould, but its challenge ended in a whimper. The AAP is threatening to buck the trend.

Whatever be the shape of its final electoral tally, the AAPs Punjab performance can only be understood in the context of the disenchantment with the established political parties. The Congress, of course, is the party of the status quo and is institutionally handicapped in coming to terms with a very fast-changing India. This is no surprise. As far as the BJP is concerned, the Punjab voter was never enamoured of Narendra Modi. But the surprise  and, a welcome one  is the Punjab voters readiness to move out of the jathedars influence. The rural Punjab is ready for a change.

THE two traditional parties, the Akali Dal and the Congress, were carpingly disapproving of a large number of the non-resident Indians coming to Punjab and working the voters in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party. The AAP has managed to excite the imagination of very many NRIs, not just in Punjab, but also all over India. It is entirely possible that many of the hardliners have sneaked in, with a somewhat dubious intent of instigating a bit of anarchy in Punjab. Only the final results would tell whether the NRIs have made any difference to the AAPs electoral fortunes.

I found the traditional parties criticism rather lacking in grace. After all, beginning with the Vajpayee government, the NRIs have been systematically wooed officially and extensively. This is a global trend. Every government wants to entice the diaspora. It is natural that, in turn, the NRIs should feel entitled to have their say in the affairs back home. And, a large number of the NRIs do adopt a village here or there or in some other way contribute to the betterment of life in Punjab. If their peacetime involvement is not objectionable, then there should be no objection to their active involvement during election time.

That apart, almost all Punjab leaders and politicians go out of their way to seek out influential NRIs on their visits to Canada and the USA. Not just leaders from Punjab, in fact. Since becoming Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has manufactured quite a spectacle out of his meetings with the NRIs in New York, London, etc. If the NRIs applause and approval are cited as a leaders global standing, then why should anyone crib about the NRIs interest in the Assembly elections?

This is nothing but hypocrisy.

THOU shall not speak ill of the dead. This adage can be easily, without any qualms, dispensed with, in the case of Joginder Singh, the man who found himself appointed as the Director of the Central Bureau of Intelligence during the HD Deve Gowda government days.

A clownish figure, he was totally unequipped for leading the premier investigative agency, being totally without intellectual heft or urbaneness. Those were the days when corruption was high on the national agenda. The Vohra Committee had talked of the nexus between the criminals and the corrupt. All eyes were on the CBI, but Joginder Singh reduced the fight against corruption into a public relations stunt. Many would recall that famous photograph of him arriving from Geneva with a box of Bofors Papers. The man had posed with an empty box.

Beginning with his tenure, the CBI lost its institutional elan. The agency and its senior personnel became ensnared in partisanship of political connections. No amount of Supreme Court oversight can debug the agency of the Joginder Singh virus.

A lesson for all those who care about our institutions.

MANY years ago, I stumbled upon a radio programme on Delhi, which allowed listeners to phone in with their queries about the mysteries and mystiques about the historic Mughal city. I found the programme inviting because there used to be one expert  someone referred to as Swapna jee  who would very competently provide fascinating details and explanations. I found the half-hour show absorbing because, as an old and proud Dilliwalla, I thought I knew almost everything there was to know about the Walled City. But here was someone who knew much more and unloaded, week after week, absolutely delicious nuggets of history. And then, years later, I was to discover that this wonderful repository of historical tidbits was spoused to one of my professional acquaintances, Gourab Banerji (a former additional solicitor-general).

Now this Swapna  Ms Swapana Liddle  has produced a small book, Chandni Chowk  The Mughal City of Old Delhi. A very readable book, full of scrumptious details. Sample this: Seth Dipchand Sah, the Jain merchant and jeweller, who had built the famous Lal Mandir from across the Red Fort, had 16 sons! (Alas, there is no mention of daughters or wives). Ms Liddle informatively tells us how the gates and the masjids dotting the Walled City got their names.

What I found insightful about the book was that it contextualises Delhi as the capital centre of an empire. Ms Liddle tells us that the very site on the banks of the Yamuna that Emperor Shahjahan chose to locate his capital was, in fact, associated with Hindu myth and tradition. This spot, called Nigambodhak was deemed to have been blessed by Bhagwan Vishnu: A knowledge of the Vedas could be gained simply by taking a dip in the waters. And, she adds: By establishing a capital city here, the Mughals could reinforce their legitimacy to rule in the eyes of the people.

Swapana jee manages to bring out the fundamental principles of statecraft. The king has to work for the welfare of all his subjects. The Mughal rulers had seen themselves as rulers of all the people of India, irrespective of class and religious beliefs. Not only that, as Ms Liddle tells us, the Mughal emperors went out of their way to acknowledge Hindu festive occasions. On Holi and Diwali, the emperor bathes in the water of seven wells and the palace was specially lit for Diwali. Special durbars used to be held during the Hindu festivals. A glimpse of the composite culture.

And, then there is always the need to impress and intimidate the subjects. The basic feature of the city was designed to showcase the imperial majesty. The broad main streets were designed to enable impressive processions. As the emperor went to pray at the Jama Masjid, or as he left the city to the north or to the south, his magnificent procession of elephants, horses, palanquins and carriages made an impressive spectacle. (Today we have the SPG and the whole caboodle called bandobast, aimed at intimidating the citizen, every time the Prime Minister steps out).

The British also took a leaf out of the Mughal book. For example, the durbar of 1877 was organised, in the words of Viceroy Lytton, to place the Queens authority upon the ancient throne of the Moguls, with which the imagination and tradition of (our) Indian subjects associate the splendour of supreme power.

Ms Liddles book suddenly makes us realise that till this day, we continue to replicate the imperial rites of splendour. Our Republic Day parade, and the Beating Retreat ceremonies can be traced to the imperial need to establish demonstratively hierarchy and authority.

Ms Liddle also tells that the Walled City was known for its kahwe khane (coffee shops). Well, well, I will raise my cup of coffee to that. Join me.

kaffeeklatsch@tribuneindia.com
Nonika Singh in Chandigarh

The dust over Bollywoods Padmavati, despite talk of compromise being worked out between the moviemaker and perpetrators, is far from settled. The heated debate over distortion of historical facts is fueled by a violent incident in which National Award winning director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted at Jaigarh fort in Jaipur. Big names in the film industry such as lyricist Javed Akhtar and producer-director Anurag Kashyap have joined the fray. The question also has an element of existential certitude: was Padmavati a historical reality, in the first place? Akhtar doesnt think so. His tweet is: Padmawat is the first Hindi novel written by Malik Mohammad Jaisi. It is not history but pure fiction like Salim Anarkali. This has invited censure. The fast-tweeting trollers not only differ with Akhtar but are also eager to paint it with communal colours.

Kashmir-based director Rahat Kazmi asks plainly: Why does every debate boil down to a religious divide? Why must a creative persons ideas have to be seen as war of religions, as us versus them? Perhaps, Padmavati was a figment of imagination. Or maybe she was an actual real flesh and blood being who may not find mention in historical accounts. But like so many of her counterparts, if she lives in popular imagination, there must be some basis to it. Either way this heroic character is an ideal material for a film and is the stuff that cinema is made of. Would Bhansali do justice to her valour, fabled or real, would Deepika Padukone be able to match her beauty, again imagined or actual? These are fair queries.

Noted Punjabi director Anurag Singh says when you are talking of history, when facts arent so easy to ascertain or establish, imagination is always at play. The line between fact and fiction anyway begins to blur. Kazmi, however, thinks facts are sacrosanct and authenticity has to be the pillar of any historical film. Harry Sachdeva writer and producer of 31st October agrees: Makers actually do a lot of research. He doubts if any miscreant of Karni Sena or other naysayers know better than Bhansali who must have read tomes on the subject before deciding to make a film on Rani Padmavati.

Actually this isnt the first time Bhansali is delving into Rani Padmanis character. His opera adapted for the Parisienne stage in 2008, based on the 1923 work by French composer Albert Roussel, too brought the Rani of Chittor to life. Besides, this time his production team has gone in overdrive to recreate the 13th and 14th century period look. Indeed, making a historical film is never a cakewalk. The hardships K Asif underwent when he was making Mughal-e-Azam are now as much a part of cinematic history as his magnum opus.

No doubt passion drives most makers. Yet who can deny that often commercial constraints overtake research. Ashutosh Gowariker whose Jodhaa Akbar too ran into choppy waters must be doing his homework. Yet he not only faltered with Jodhaa Akbar, his depiction of Harappan culture in Mohenjo Daro too did not win any brownie points either with critics or historians. Even while reflecting on recent history or creating biopics on men and women who are still alive, the truth goes missing. Few makers actually dare to ask discomfiting questions in films based on real incidents and people. Unnecessary spicing of romance, and too much eulogizing of its lead characters take precedence. So, on that count perhaps Karni sena vigilantes should not have had any worries. If Bhansali had decided to put Rs 180 crores on a film on Padmavati rest assured it would be a lavish tribute of epic proportions.

Singh reminds that few mainstream Bollywood filmmakers claim that they are recreating history. Thats why a disclaimer is a norm. But in volatile times that we live in, do makers have to be mindful of hurting popular sentiments which is a ruse, often used to hound makers. Singh is adamant, If all creative people were to pander to popular sentiments, it would be the death of art.

Sachdeva says misguided outfits have no loci standi. All they want is cheap publicity. But in that even Bhansali is not a loser. Now the nation knows there is a film called Padmawati. Of course, in all fairness Bhansali didnt ask for it. Moreover, he certainly didnt deserve the treatment meted out to him by fringe groups with whom ironically he had little choice but to reach an amicable solution.
Parveen Arora in Karnal

Given sugarcanes record production this year, how many of us bite off the hard sugarcane stick and relish its sugary part? While chewing the hard part is to believe its richness, the munching part of it can even be more luscious. Savour this without having to strain your teeth: soon, you would have cane juice powder. Mix it in water, and you have the perfect drink ready.

The sweet news comes from down south. Scientists at the Coimbatore-based Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI), one of the oldest of the Indian Council of Agriculture (ICAR), claim the sugarcane juice can be packed in a powder form with a satisfactory shelf-life. Sugarcane juice is rich in glucose, fructose, antioxidants and high minerals. The juice boosts the protein level in the body. The antioxidants in it help in fighting infections. It helps in keeping the bilirubin levels in control.

We developed the powder form by using freeze dry technique last year. No extra preservative was used, said Bakshi Ram, SBI director. The earlier variety extracted by spray-dry method came in 2012-13. A private firm was licensed to bulk-produce it, but it has not, Ram said. We are looking for a partner for tech-transfer and commercial production, he said.

Neeraj Kulshreshtha, head Regional Centre of Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Karnal, says the powdered product has a shelf-life of around six months, and has to be consumed immediately after opening the tetra pack. A 40gm sachet is to be mixed in 200 ml of cool drinking water. The drink has the same taste as that of normal cane juice, he said.

Kulshreshtha says this season most farmers in Haryana adopted a high-yield variety, which increased the sugarcane recovery. The higher production also came with a sweetener: the state government raised the state advisory price (SAP) by Rs 10 per quintal for all varieties. Farmers now plan to increase the cultivated area of sugarcane and expect handsome returns.

I hope to get good money Id first pay my loan installments and then save something for my family, says Raj Kumar, who sold his produce to the Karnal co-operative sugar mill.

I had around 30-40 quintal more production per acre than the last year, said a cheerful Dheer Singh from Bada Gaon village. He says normal weather conditions helped a lot and so did the high-variety seedling/sapling.

Many farmers like him want more government attention to cane farming as input costs have escalated. Cultivators have to pay around Rs 50,000 per acre as rent of the land besides incurring the same amount on other heads such as labour, pesticides and transport and tools, said Rakesh Sharma, a farmer from Khirajpur.

Chander Parkash Kathuria, chairman Sugarfed, said the SAP raise would lead to additional benefits of around Rs 60 crore to farmers during the current season. There are 14 co-operative and private sugar mills in the state. The co-operative mills had so far produced over 13.21 lakh quintal of sugar by crushing 1.47 crore quintal of sugarcane during the current crushing season.
Sanjeev Sharma in New Delhi

Triggered on November 8 last year, a disruptive demonetization caused a tectonic shift and a new normal admitted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech. So, on February 1, the minister intended to mitigate the hardship caused by the cash crunch that ensued following the note ban. But, that was a speech; the intentions are noble. Any tangible action is anybodys guess.

The Finance Minister first explained why like all reforms, the measure is obviously disruptive, as it seeks to change the retrograde status quo. Drop in economic activity, if any, on account of the currency squeeze during the remonetization period is expected to have only a transient impact on the economy, he asserted.

The intention

The Budget seeks to revive growth hit by demonetization by putting more money in the hands of the people through income tax breaks in the low income bracket. It promise to offer a helping hand to sectors most hit such as micro, medium and small enterprises by reducing tax, boosting spending on the rural job guarantee scheme (MNREGA) to ease pressure on the informal sector. On the job front, Jaitley wants to build on success stories like in agricultural, rural development and infrastructure on which the government wants more spending to boost employment.

Then Jaitley went back to the oft-repeated lament: We are largely a non-tax compliant society. Clearly, he wanted to say not many people pay taxes, so, where and how the government would get the money? By curtailing the use of cash and incentivizing digital payments. He repeated assertions such as measures to boost tax compliance, cleanse the economy and widen the tax net. On the revenue side, he hoped tax collections would increase as the government get down to scrutinizing cash deposits made in banks post demonetization. In the first batch under Operation Clean launched by the Income Tax Department, around 18 lakh people have been identified whose deposits will be vetted.

The Finance Minister said that the existing rate of taxation for individual assesses between income of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh will be reduced by half to 5% from the present 10%. This would reduce the tax liability of all below Rs 5 lakh income either to zero (with rebate) or 50% of their existing liability. All the other categories of tax payers in the subsequent slabs will also get a uniform benefit of Rs 12,500 per person. The tax forgone on this account is Rs. 15,500 crore.

Mukesh Butani, managing Partner, BMR Legal, said: I do see undercurrents of a move to redistribute income: aiding citizens affected by demonetization and making high net worth individuals and large businesses to pay.

Going digital

For moving towards a less cash economy and attack black money, Jaitley said no transaction above Rs 3 lakh will be permitted in cash. A proposal to mandate all the government receipts through digital means, beyond a prescribed limit, is under consideration, Jaitley said.

He proposed an amendment to the Income-tax Act. He also proposed limiting the cash expenditure allowable as deduction, both for revenue as well as capital expenditure, up to Rs 10,000. However, traders body CAIT said that such a reduction will prove to be counter-productive and will stall smooth business activities.

The Finance Minister said the government would launch two new schemes to promote Bhim app, including a referral bonus scheme, for individuals and a cash-back scheme for merchants.

Aadhar Pay, a merchant version of Aadhar Enabled Payment System, will be launched shortly. This will be specifically beneficial for those who do not have debit cards, mobile wallets and mobile phones.

What they say

Piruz Khambatta, chairman and MD, Rasna and co-chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing, said: The Budget was expected to be a tsunami of reforms, especially by way of boosting private sector investment, manufacturing and job creation. This has not happened.

He said the advantage of a cashless economy and rewarding the common man for being honest has not been achieved. Service tax on digital payments has been removed in case of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), but not in many other cases.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 4

The Uttarakhand BJP in its vision document released here today pledged to declare Gairsain as the summer capital and also seek a resolution to declare it permanent capital in the Vidhan Sabha. The state will go to polls on February 15.

The BJP states in the document after developing infrastructure in Gairsain, with the consent of all, it will be declared the summer capital of the state.

Ajay Bhatt said, BJP MLA Madan Kaushik had brought a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha for declaring Gairsain as the summer capital, but it was defeated.

While releasing the Vision Document, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said due to the inefficient government and political instability in the past five years, the state had lagged behind. Our vision is to give a clean government that is free of scams and ensure that welfare schemes reach the deprived, he said.

He said the state, which had tremendous potential in education and tourism sectors, could realise the full potential of its growth only when the BJP comes to power and works in partnership with the Centre for its development.

The 14-page document has pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, besides those of the five MPs, former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Satpal Maharaj and state BJP president Ajay Bhatt on the cover. It promises to develop the state as an education hub by reviewing the education policy and putting in place an education system with emphasis on quality.

It also promises to distribute free laptops and smartphones among meritorious students, free education up to postgraduation level to girls from economically weaker section, free wi-fi connectivity to all state-based universities and regularisation of guest and contract teachers.

Building boarding schools for girl students is also on top of the partys agenda.

The document also vows to take effective steps to stop commercialisation of education and put an end to corruption prevailing in the sector.

It speaks of prioritising the health sector and opening trauma centres in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions, affordable drug dispensing centres in every block, besides beginning air ambulance services and strengthening the 108 mobile health services by launching additional fleet of vehicles.

BPL families and those which come outside the ambit of payment of income tax will be provided Health Welfare Cards. Existing medical colleges will be provided better facilities and efforts will be made to set up new ones.

In view of the states tremendous potential of tourism, steps will be taken to boost medical tourism by putting up health resorts, yoga and ayurvedic centres.

Home stay schemes will be made more effective besides fine-tuning facilities for tourists at the pilgrimage centres dotting the state.

Organic farming will be given impetus and interest free crop loans will be given to farmers, besides giving preference to run-of-the-river projects to tap the states huge hydro-electricity potential without interrupting the flow of the rivers, the vision document states. (With inputs from PTI)
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, February 4

Sitarganj is among the most backward Assembly constituencies in Kumaon. It lacks basic facilities even though Vijay Bahuguna as Chief Minister represented it. While Bahuguna could link almost every Bengali colony with concrete roads during his tenure, the Sitarganj hospital still faces shortage of doctors. It has only two doctors against the requirement of 13. The roadways station is still incomplete and the 25-km road from the Sirsa Bengali colony to SIDCUL has not been sanctioned after Harish Rawat replaced Vijay Bahuguna as Chief Minister in 2014. The main contest this elections is between the Congress and the BJP.

The BSP won the Sitarganj Assembly seat in the first two Assembly elections in 2002 and 2007. Later Kiran Mandal of the BJP was elected from the constituency in the 2012 elections. He polled 29,280 votes and defeated his nearest rival BSP candidate Narayan Pal, who secured 16,668 votes. The constituency came into news after Kiran Mandal defected to the Congress and vacated the seat for the then Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to fight the byelection to enter the Assembly.

Bahuguna polled a record 53,766 votes and defeated BJP candidate Prakash Pant, who secured only 13,812 votes. Vijay Bahuguna got overwhelming vote percentage in the 2012 byelection due to the expectation of the Bengali community, which forms a sizeable population in the segment, of getting ownership rights on lands they were occupying for the last 50 years, says Rajiv Pandey, a senior journalist based in Haldwani

This time, the main contest in Sitarganj is between Congress candidate Malti Viswas and BJP candidate Saurab Bahuguna, younger son of Vijay Bahuguna. Eight other candidates are also in the fray. Both candidates have their own advantages and the contest is likely to be close between them. Saurabs father was Sitarganj MLA while Malti Viswas is the wife of Shyam Viswas, owner of Shyam Beeri who is a Bengali businessman and well known for his philanthropic work among the community in Sitarganj. According to election office sources in Udham Singh Nagar, of the total 1.7 lakh voters in Sitarganj, 32,000 voters are Bengali who are well known for voting en mass while 24,000 Muslim voters usually vote for the Congress. While Saurab Bahuguna is banking on the votes of the Bengali community on the strength of works done by his father during his tenure as Chief Minister, Malti Viswas expects Bengali voters to vote en mass, besides Muslim votes, says Pandey.

Vijay Bahuguna had carried out various development works in the constituency after he won in the 2012 byelection. He has opened a degree college, a nursing college and a roadway station in Sitarganj, besides launching the process for giving ownership rights to the Bengalis of the land occupied by them. Of over 318 families that have applied for the ownership rights of land, 118 have been granted rights while 200 cases are under process, says Rajendra Tiwari, a journalist based in Sitarganj.

Saurab is assuring voters that this time the BJP will form government in the state and all works sanctioned and assured by his father, who is now a BJP leader, will be completed. After my father joined the BJP to save the state, the incumbent Chief Minister stalled funds sanctioned by him (Vijay Bahuguna) for the projects in Sitarganj, he alleges.

Malti Viswas is confident of getting overwhelming votes of Bengalis and Muslims. She says she will get more than two-thirds of the total votes as Bengali voters have a history of favouring their own candidate. The contributions of my husband to the Bengali community coupled with the Muslim communitys cooperation will ensure my victory in the elections. Vijay Bahuguna had left the Bengali community midway without solving their problems, says Malti.
Islamabad, February 4

Jamaat-ud-Dawa has rebranded under the new name of 'Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir', just days after its chief Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest and a crackdown launched on the organisation's activities.

The Mumbai attack mastermind had indicated about a week before his arrest that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to "expedite the freedom of Kashmir".

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It shows that Saeed had got a wind of the official plans and already had worked out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his ostensible network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events on February 5, which is observed a 'Kashmir Day' in Pakistan. The TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns.

The group is also planning to hold a big Kashmir conference tomorrow in Lahore after evening prayers.

The TAJK has reactivated its donations centres and ambulance services in different districts of Punjab, including Lahore, which is the hub of its activities.

Local media reported that even after the crackdown on their activities, the volunteers of Saeed's network yesterday actively participated in the rescue operation after a boat carrying about 100 passengers capsized in the Ravi river near Nankana Sahib town in Punjab.

A police official said law enforcement agencies were keeping a close eye on the activities of Saeed's network and appropriate action would be taken.

"It is a sensitive issue and a measured response is needed to fulfil the international obligations of the country and deal with any possible fallout due to protest by followers of Saeed," he said.

Various offices of both JuD and FIF were closed on Monday following the house arrest of Saeed. Both organisations were also put on observation under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The government on Monday had placed Saeed and his four accomplices -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- under house arrest in Lahore.

The Interior Ministry had also placed Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF members on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country.  PTI
AUSTIN  A Texas Senate panel shrugged off 16 hours of sometimes tearful pleas and defiant opposition to approve a "sanctuary cities" proposal that would withhold grant funding from local jurisdictions that don't hand over immigrants already in custody for possible deportation.

A 7-2 vote around 12:45 a.m. Friday from the chamber's powerful State Affairs Committee sends the bill to the full Senate, where a vote could come as early as next week.

Hundreds of Texans traveled from all over the state to testify on the bill and proceedings were repeatedly disrupted by protesters. Supporters say the measure will impose the rule of law, but civic groups, immigration lawyers, church leaders and Hispanic activists oppose it, fearing it will lead to racial profiling and promote mistrust of law enforcement among minority communities.

The committee voted along party lines and the hotly contested bill should clear the Senate too, since Republicans control 20 of its 31 seats. Similar measures have been backed by top Texas Republicans in previous years but never became law. A bill reaching the Senate floor so early in the state's legislative session  which began Jan. 10 and runs through the end of May  bodes well for its chances this time.

The Texas Democratic Party accused Republicans of using the late hour to rush legislation that much of the state doesn't want. The committee had scheduled a second meeting to discuss the bill after 8:30 a.m. on Friday, but canceled that after succeeding in voting overnight.

"In the dead of the night, while the very families that will be targeted by this discriminatory legislation were asleep, Republicans voted to launch Trump's deportation force agenda," Manny Garcia, the party's deputy executive director, said in a statement Friday.

Republican state Sen. Charles Perry said local authorities must enforce the law.

"This is not a deportation bill, this is a rule-of-law bill," Perry said. "We have almost a culture of contempt for federal immigration law."

The term "sanctuary cities" has no legal definition, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has promoted the legislation as a move to crackdown on criminal suspects who are in the country illegally. The issue has become contentious in many legislatures around the country, especially with President Donald Trump promising to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border and impose strict federal immigration policies.

As proposed, Texas' bill applies to local police forces and law enforcement at college campuses, and seeks to strip authorities of state-controlled grant funding if they don't comply  though some of its key provisions may change as it clears the Senate and makes its way through Texas' Republican-controlled state House.

Individual sheriffs and police chiefs  particularly in heavily Democratic areas  have long opposed enforcing federal immigration law, though some statewide law enforcement groups have endorsed the bill. Abbott has already blocked $1.5 million to be withheld from the Travis County sheriff, who has said the jails in the state capital, Austin, will no longer honor most federal immigration detainers. That funding supported projects such as family violence education and a special court for veterans. The governor has warned that more money could be cut.

On Friday, an Austin Democratic lawmaker launched a website to fundraise money to replace the grant dollars.

"If Governor Abbott is willing to sacrifice our veterans, women and children to score political points, then we will show him the power of love," state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez said.

Opponents of the measure say immigrant communities won't cooperate with law enforcement for fear of deportation if anti-sanctuary cities legislation is approved in Texas.
Peter's family said that he has in a way "forgiven" Indrani but he "would not be able to spend the rest of his life" with her after what he has been through in the last one year or so.

By Vidya : Former television head honcho Peter Mukerjea is ready to divorce his wife of 15 years Indrani Mukerjea. Indrani had last month told the special CBI court in Mumbai that she wanted to file for divorce. The court had told her that since this was her personal issue she did not need permission from court to do so.

Peter came to court on Saturday in a crisp white shirt and a smile and was seen sporting a black smear on his forehead. When asked about it, he said that someone had been to Pandharpur and these were the blessings he had received. During the hearing on Saturday his son Rabin too was present with a friend.

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Peter's family said that he has in a way "forgiven" Indrani but he "would not be able to spend the rest of his life with her" after what he has been through in the last one year or so. The two were married in 2002 and it was the second marriage for both of them. However remembering the fact that Peter had written a letter to Indrani exactly a year ago in jail on her birthday stating, "God is great and will see an end to this, and like Romeo and Juliet, we will hopefully see each other soon," the family said that it is all over from his end now. Peter's letter to Indrani was sent around the same time.

Interestingly the court was also abuzz with the two fighting like cats and dogs when they were brought together by the police from their respective jails. Peter, along with Indrani's ex-husband and co-accused in the case, Sanjeev Khanna, are languishing in Arthur Road Jail while Indrani is put up in Byculla Jail. Sometimes all three are picked up in the same vehicle by police officials and brought to court. During the last hearing that is on February 1, the first time that the three met in the vehicle after Indrani's announcement that she wanted a divorce, the two fought so much that policemen had to intervene. When Khanna was asked about the incident, he gave a know it all smile but gestured that his lips were sealed.

Recently, Peter's niece got married in Bengaluru and he had sought permission to attend the ceremonies there. CBI had sighted difficulties regarding his security and the court had thus ordered that he be allowed to attend it through video conferencing, however in spite of court's order for jail authorities to arrange for video conferencing it could not be done so. The Mukerjea family did seem upset about it as they were looking forward to Peter giving blessings to his niece on that day.

--- ENDS ---
BEIRUT/DAMASCUS/WASHINGTON, February 4

Citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries banned from the United States by President Donald Trump can resume boarding US-bound flights, major airlines said on Saturday, after a Seattle judge blocked the executive order.

The ruling gave hope to some Middle East travellers but left them unclear how long the new travel window might last. Trump denounced the judge on Twitter and said the decision would be quashed.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" the president said.

The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, has sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who have called it racist and discriminatory.

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" Trump tweeted. "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" In the wake of Friday's ruling, Qatar Airways was the first to say it would allow passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to resume flying to US cities if they had valid documents.

Fellow Gulf carriers Etihad and Emirates said they would do the same, as did Air France, Spain's Iberia and Germany's Lufthansa. Officials in Lebanon and Jordan said they had received no new instructions on the issue.

The White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.

Ibrahim Ghaith, a Syrian barber who fled Damascus in 2013, told Reuters in Jordan: "Today we heard that the measures may have been abolished but we are not sure if this is just talk. If they go back on the decision, people will be overjoyed." Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab said in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now." The 52-year-old said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on January 31. The trip was cancelled two days before that, and he was now waiting for a phone call from UN officials overseeing their case. "It's in God's hands," he said.

Race against time

Two Sudanese travellers said they were trying to travel as soon as possible, fearing the ban might be reinstated.

"I'm in a race against time," said a 31-year-old female academic who declined to be named for fear of any consequences.

"Today I face a real problem in Khartoum because the international airlines are refusing to sell me a ticket to travel for fear of contradicting the President's decision. Now I am going from one airline company to another to convince them about the court's decision," she said.

A 34-year-old Sudanese engineer, who also did not want to be named, said: "After the court's decision I am now trying to leave as fast as possible before the situation changes once more".

US Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could board travellers affected within hours of Friday's ruling, but budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights, including from London and Oslo, said many uncertainties remained about the legal position.

"It's still very unclear," spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson said. "We advise passengers to contact the US embassy ... We have to follow the US rules." In Cairo, aviation sources said Egypt Air and other airlines had told their sales offices of Friday's ruling and would allow people previously affected by the ban to book flights.

But for some who had changed their travel plans following the ban, the order was not enough reassurance.

Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States last week with five members of her family, was hesitant to express any hope in the court ruling as she awaited word from her lawyers.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch, and then I build my hopes. We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been cancelled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she said in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family only learnt of Trump's order after landing at Philadelphia International Airport with US visas that were granted in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications.

Visa suspensions

Trump's order caused chaos at airports across the United States last week. Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the US. The State Department said on Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended following Trump's order. It was not clear whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what reception travellers with such visas might get at US airports.

The Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's executive order. Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges in similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.

The challenge in Seattle was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas.

Amazon.com and Expedia, both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the use of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on US soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction".

The White House said in a statement: "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

It added: "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people". Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "No person  not even the president  is above the law".  Reuters
Washington, February 4

The US authorities on Saturday suspended President Donald Trump's controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, following a court ruling that blocked its enforcement.

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"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a US State Department spokesman told AFP.

"Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid," the official said.

The State Department official added that the Trump administration is "working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams" pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state's attorney general, which filed the challenge.

Now, citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries who were banned from the US by President Donald Trump can resume boarding US-bound flights.

The ruling gave hope to many travellers and sent some scrambling for tickets, worried that the newly opened window might not last long. Trump denounced the judge on Twitter and said the decision would be quashed.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" the president said.

The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, has sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who have called it racist and discriminatory.

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!" Trump tweeted.

In the wake of Friday's ruling, Qatar Airways was the first to say it would allow passengers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to resume flying to US cities if they had valid documents.

Fellow Gulf carriers Etihad and Emirates said they would do the same, as did others, including British Airways, Air France, Spain's Iberia and Germany's Lufthansa.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented along with his family from boarding a flight to New York a week ago.

"We were right, we are legal. Even at that time, I was optimistic. I was sure that we were going to go. I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," he told Reuters.

The family was due to fly on Turkish Airlines later on Saturday from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Officials in Lebanon and Jordan, however, said they had received no new instructions regarding the January 27 travel ban.

A spokeswoman for budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights including from London and Oslo, said the situation was "still very unclear".

Race against time

Some travellers interviewed in Middle Eastern capitals were cautious about the news of Friday's ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.

Ibrahim Ghaith, a Syrian barber who fled Damascus in 2013, told Reuters in Jordan: "Today we heard that the measures may have been abolished but we are not sure if this is just talk. If they go back on the decision, people will be overjoyed." Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."

Two Sudanese travellers told Reuters they were trying to travel as soon as possible, fearing the ban might be reinstated.

They declined to be named, for fear of possible consequences.  AFP/Reuters
By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) The deposition of prosecution witnesses in the Sheena Bora murder case is likely to start from February 23 with the trial court today directing CBI to hand over the list of its witnesses to defence lawyers. "Court has directed us to give the list of witnesses to defence on February 17, and we may bring the first witness on February 23," a CBI official said. Earlier in the day, during the hearing, the CBI lawyer initially refused to give the list, saying it will create unnecessary media attention for witnesses. Special CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami also told the court that security of the witnesses will be compromised if the entire list was given, so CBI would disclose the names of only one or two witnesses to the defence at a time. The defence told the court they needed the list to prepare for cross-examination. The prosecutor then said the defence must not make the list public. Judge H S Mahajan conducted further hearing about the list of witnesses inside his chamber. Indrani Mukerjea, her husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna are accused of conspiracy and murder of Sheena Bora, Indranis daughter from earlier relationship.

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According to the prosecution, Sheena was murdered on April 24, 2012, but the crime came to light after the arrest of Indranis driver in another case in August 2015. PTI VI KRK RT BAS

--- ENDS ---
Those who have the merits to be in Rinpoches sphere will very quickly realise that one of Rinpoches most prominent qualities is that of generosity. It is a quality that has always inspired me because not only is the scope of Rinpoches generosity vast and far-reaching, but it also comes after a lifetime of difficulties. From the moment of his birth when he was rejected by his birth mother, to the abuse he suffered under his adoptive parents, to the physical difficulties he faced in Gaden Monastery, right until the time he was instructed to stay in Malaysia and teach  Rinpoche has experienced more pain and obstacles than the average human being.

For me, that is what makes Rinpoches generosity so special because although Rinpoche himself only experienced kindness and generosity from time to time, Rinpoche has never made his own sufferings a reason to cause suffering to others.

Rinpoche has always maintained that the main influence for his generosity was his adoptive mother, Dana Bugayeff. Although she suffered from severe schizophrenia that remained undiagnosed until her later years, during her periods of lucidity, she would be extremely generous towards everyone around her. Rinpoche, for example, was the recipient of countless toys and whatever Rinpoche asked for, as long as it was unrelated to Dharma, he would get it. This I learned first-hand from one of Rinpoches cousins, Sara, who said everybody always loved going over to the Bugayeffs house, the adults because of the hospitality and food that Dana would shower them with, and the children because of the basement full of Rinpoches toys that they got to play with.

Dana is also fondly remembered as having brought in nearly-homeless people into the family home, to feed them a good meal at the family dining table. She would carry around in her car boot a shovel and snowchains during winter, since winters in New Jersey were especially harsh and the snow could pile up to 6ft. This would inevitably result in many cars getting stuck in the snow. With her shovel and snowchains, Dana would dig these cars out of the snow so the drivers could safely resume their journeys.

Most notably, Dana never expected anything in return, whether it was recognition or payment. Hence Rinpoche always says he learned this attitude of giving in abundance, with no agenda, from his adoptive mother.

Over the last 20 years, countless people have been recipients of Rinpoches generosity. The list below, therefore, is by no means an exhaustive record of all the times Rinpoche has given to others. This generosity also inspires me to practise gratitude because, as you will see below, I have been the recipient of Rinpoches kindness in all ways, big and small.

Gaden Monastery

Redoing the entire flooring of Gaden Lachi, which is the main prayer hall used by over 3,000 monks from both Gaden Jangtse and Gaden Shartse monasteries.

Offering and donating cows and buffaloes to provide milk for the monastery, a vital source of nutrients (calcium and fat).

Sponsoring medical equipment for the Shartse clinic, and for the local hospitals. One hospital was opened by the Tibetans, operated by the Tibetans for the Tibetans and offering Western-style treatment. The other hospital offered Tibetan medicine.

Sponsoring tuberculosis medication through the local Nyingma monastery. The Nyingma monastery had a program which provided full courses of tuberculosis medication for each patient requiring treatment. Rinpoche sponsored many courses for many patients, making all of these offerings through the monastery.

Sponsoring and constructing houses and / or Ladrangs for various monks and lamas, including Kalden Rinpoche and the 103rd Gaden Tripa.

Redoing the entire flooring of Gaden Shartse Monasterys debate courtyard, used daily by the monks to debate and examine the scriptures.

Sponsorship for individual senior monks. Physical life in Gaden was very difficult and older monks facing financial hardship often sought Rinpoches assistance to connect them with sponsors, who would offer basic necessities and help them to further their education.

Taking care of younger monks, and assuming responsibility for their welfare and education. Rinpoche is fondly remembered in Gaden by younger monks as someone who was very fair, strict and traditional, yet very warm, generous and fun-loving. Rinpoche would, for example, organise badminton games in the garden of Tsem Ladrang as an activity for the younger monks and to provide entertainment for Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche who would watch these games.

Amongst many other statues, offering a 5ft Avalokiteshvara statue to Gaden Shartse Monastery. Rinpoche has also previously offered a 3ft statue of the 5th Dalai Lama to Sera Monastery. With great pomp and ceremony, it was escorted into Sera Lachi in the traditional manner, with the procession being led by the then Abbot of Sera Je Monastery Geshe Jampa Tekchok. Sera Lachi is the main prayer hall which is used by all 3000 monks of Sera Jey and Sera Mey. In more recent years, Rinpoche has sponsored statue sets for other Dharma centres, including a large statue set of Lama Tsongkhapa and his two heart sons to the Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India.

3000 sets of robes and 3000 Manjushri statues, one for each of the monks of Gaden Jangtse and Gaden Shartse monasteries. In more recent years, Rinpoche and his students have offered 800 White Tara statues to Shar Gaden Monastery.

Making countless offerings of vitamins and nutritional supplements to senior monks, who were not necessarily getting all the nutrients needed from the general monastic diet.

Sponsoring schools in the local Tibetan community, and for the local Indian community (one of which was headed by Dr Hegde in Mundgod).

Sponsoring poor families, paying for their childrens schooling and uniforms, and bringing them cooking oil, rice and other daily necessities.

Taking care of the local Indian community. Rinpoches care for them was so extensive that even decades later, having lost contact with them, Rinpoche would still continue to find them and reach out to them to extend his assistance. Everyone who knew Rinpoche could still remember their experiences with Rinpoche very clearly. I personally witnessed one of these incidents when, decades after he last saw Rinpoche, a rickshaw driver in Bodhgaya could still pick out Rinpoches voice from the very large crowd.

Taking care and sponsoring old folks homes. Not only did Rinpoche sponsor food and supplies for the residents, but Rinpoche would personally deliver these to the facilities. Oftentimes, before going there, Rinpoche would also ask them what theyd like to eat. They requested for soft mashed potato as they didnt have any teeth, so Rinpoche would go to the homes with this aloo sabjzi and personally feed them, especially those who were bedridden.

Raising sponsorship for and constructing accommodation for Pukhang Khangtsen, for over 100 monks. This was instrumental in saving them from developing pneumonia and tuberculosis, and suffering from snake bites during the monsoon season. For this, Rinpoche had to leave his beloved monastery and travel to Malaysia for the very first time in 1992 where, after three months, he raised the necessary funds to sponsor the construction of the rooms.

Raising sponsorship for and installing water pumps to provide clean potable water for the monks. Rinpoche often oversaw the installation of these pumps too, which required contractors to come in and drill to find ground water and install a well.

One of the water pumps that Rinpoche sponsored, to provide clean drinking water for the Sangha.

Life-saving medical treatments for many senior monks, most notably Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche who was suffering from untreated diabetes until Rinpoche took him for medical treatment in Bombay and brought the diabetes under control. Kensur Rinpoche would go on to live until he was 80 years old, teaching and creating many scholars and Geshes in the process. More recently, Rinpoche also oversaw and ensured that Kensur Rinpoche Lobsang Phende, the Abbot Emeritus of Shar Gaden Monastery, would receive the medical treatment he needed.

Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche (left) in Bombay when Tsem Rinpoche (middle) took him there to receive treatment for his diabetes.

In Malaysia

PERSONAL

In a personal capacity, I have been the recipient of Rinpoches generosity and kindness since I first met Rinpoche when I was 11. These are just some of the many examples of the ways in which Rinpoche has assisted me and my family:

Dharma teachings, formally and informally, in action and in speech.

Personal practice and connecting me with the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.

Pilgrimages to Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. On these trips, I didnt realise it then but the connection with Dharma somehow became much deeper and more personal. I believe it was through the blessings of the many great lamas I had the privilege to meet through Rinpoches kindness. It was after one of these pilgrimages that I first requested to become a nun so the trips definitely did have an impact on me!

After visiting this nunnery near to Gaden Monastery in South India, I made my first request for ordination to Rinpoche.

Knowing how restless with wanderlust I was when I first joined Kechara, Rinpoche sponsored a weekend trip to Bangkok for myself and another girl. All Rinpoche asked for was a text a couple of times a day to let him know we were okay and safe.

During her obstacle year, Rinpoche gave my mother specific initiations to clear the obstacles and save her life.

Rinpoche conducted my beloved maternal grandmothers funeral.

Dharma books which Rinpoche continues to gift to this day, to inspire and educate me. One of the very first books I received, which left an indelible impression on my mind was Blue Jean Buddha. Young, really cool people being all spiritual? Sign me up!

Statues, thangkas and tsakaleys including a Trijang Rinpoche statue, this Milarepa thangka and a Gyenze tsakaley.

School fees, phone bills. When my parents were facing severe financial difficulties with my higher education, I was on the verge of being removed from school when Rinpoche quietly arranged for my education to be sponsored. I did not find out until many years later.

Food and drink. On one particular occasion, I was working late in Ladrang and the whole team had gone out. When they returned, I was called down to Rinpoches room. Rinpoche gave to me bottles of ginger beer (my favourite!) and boxes of salad, then shooed me off to go and enjoy them.

Laptops, phones. Rinpoche always says its not for me, but for me to do my work.

A note to accompany the first phone Rinpoche ever gifted to me, a Nokia 6230

Security deposit and rental for my Dharma home, and renovations for my room. On more than one occasion Rinpoche has personally taken me shopping in IKEA to help me choose furniture and has rallied everyone together to help make sure everything was set up properly.

An entire collection of Bigfoot books!

Cards. For example, the year Rinpoche returned to the USA for the first time in 26 years, Rinpoche sent a funny Halloween card in October to a few of his students.

Clothes. On one occasion, I was in Bangkok mostly alone during heavy flooding and Rinpoche had already returned to KL. Through a Dharma sister, Rinpoche sent me some clothes to let me know I was being thought about and not alone. The gesture was deeply encouraging, to say the least.

Clothes from Malaysia, sent to Bangkok (2011).

Ultimately, the greatest generosity I experience is being allowed to stay in Rinpoches mandala and to do something purposeful with my life that I know, under any circumstances, will never require me to do something evil, unethical or against my own beliefs. In samsara where everything is built and manifested to create more suffering for ourselves and others, it is a privilege to be in an environment where we have a chance to hopefully add less pain to the world.

When I reflect on all of the things Rinpoche has done for me, Malaysians and the lineage at large, it would not be remiss of me to conclude that what the scriptures tell you is true. That is, real teachers  genuine teachers  who have your ultimate well-being at heart, will be kinder to you than our own mother and father. And to say I am a bit embarrassed by the length of my list is an understatement because a student should never take from the teacher, and should always aim to give instead. But in compiling this list, I hope people are also encouraged to recount and reflect on the kindnesses they have received from their own teachers, to practise gratitude towards their guru and to find ways to show the same kindnesses to others. So, given everything all of us have received, isnt it about time we start giving back to our lamas?



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By Press Trust of India: Colombo, Feb 4 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today said his government was "determined" to achieve national reconciliation, even as hundreds of Tamils held a protest in Jaffna demanding an international probe into alleged war crimes during the civil war in the country.

Addressing the 69th anniversary of independence celebrations here, Sirisena said the country must strive to achieve economic independence.

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"We are determined and dedicated in our commitment despite the work of some opportunists. The government would work towards a knowledge and innovation based economy," Sirisena said blaming them for their aiming of narrow political gains.

Succeeding former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sirisena unity government had set in a series of reconciliation measures.

The government has promised a new constitution to address the Tamil political aspirations. Tamils say the progress had been painfully slow and questions the governments commitment despite making some symbolic gestures to win over them.

Sirisenas work to hand back Tamils the land held for military purposes and release some of the former terrorist suspects have raised criticism from Rajapaksas joint opposition who claim that Sirisena was appeasing the Tamils and putting the countrys national security at risk.

While the national ceremony was happening here, a section of the hardline Tamils held a demonstration in the northern capital of Jaffna.

"The independence day is our black day. The Tamil community is in grief," said MK Shivajilingam a northern provincial councilor who led a protest of several hundreds.

"Our land issues, detention of our people and disappearances have not been addressed. We want an international investigations on crimes against Tamils," Shivajilingam said.

According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during Rajapaksas regime that brought an end to nearly three-decades long civil war in Sri Lanka with the defeat of LTTE in 2009. PTI CORR MRJ AKJ MRJ

--- ENDS ---
Oklahoma is about to get a boost in revenue: Amazon plans to start collecting sales tax in the state on March 1.

Just how much of an impact the online retailers decision will have on the states struggling finances is tough to say.

In an address Thursday afternoon previewing the upcoming legislative session, Gov. Mary Fallin said the online retailer plans to collect sales tax in the state. Oklahoma Watch first reported Thursday morning that Amazon might begin collecting sales tax.

The move could boost the states coffers significantly, but state officials dont have a firm figure. Oklahoma is facing an estimated $870 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year.

Amazon didnt return a request for comment. Oklahoma is poised to become the 39th state the company collects sales tax in.

Fallin said Amazons decision, which came after about a year of negotiations, would be to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and would make a huge difference for cities and towns.

Oklahoma Tax Commission spokeswoman Paula Ross said the e-commerce giant would collect both state and local sales tax, giving sales tax-dependent municipalities that have been hurt by the growth of e-commerce a chance for more revenue.

Ross said shopping on Amazon would have a similar tax cost as shopping at a local department store.

Amazon paying sales tax helps level the playing field for brick-and-mortar stores, Ross said.

While the state doesnt have an estimate for what the potential revenue from Amazon will be, a local economic development consulting firm does.

Civic Economics estimates that if Amazon had been collecting Oklahoma sales taxes in 2015, it would have collected a total of $56.6 million  sending $29 million to the state and $27.6 million in local sales tax.

Dan Houston, who helped write the yearly study that estimates Amazon sales in every state, explained his firm comes up with the calculation based on the Seattle-based companys total U.S. revenue and using a weighted formula on purchasing power by state. Then, it uses figures from the Tax Foundation to estimate the amount of money Amazon owes the states.

Amazon collecting sales tax in Oklahoma comes on the heels of the Oklahoma Retail Protection Act of 2016, a House bill that asked out-of-state retailers that didnt collect sales tax to remind their customers to pay it. Those retailers were supposed to remind their customers by Feb. 1.

Rep. Chad Caldwell R-Enid, who was among the sponsors of the bill, said, Its a good day for Oklahoma.

He added that no one likes to pay taxes but this was the right thing for the state. He thanked the governor and the tax commission for their efforts.

Local city leaders whose municipalities have had their fiscal fortunes tied to the fate of the brick-and-mortar store praised the announcement Thursday afternoon.

Given the heavy reliance of Oklahoma municipalities on sales tax, this is remarkable news, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement. The long-term impact of this announcement in Tulsa will be a city with safer neighborhoods and smoother streets. I am thankful we have a Governor who listened to the concerns of cities across the state and worked diligently to address them.

Its not new revenue for cities, however. Oklahomans are required to pay a use tax every year on online purchases. Most of them dont, however, which as e-commerce grabs market share becomes a larger issue for cities.

Broken Arrow Mayor Craig Thurmond said, I think a large percentage of it is money that were just reclaiming. ... I think we all, when we cant find something, well jump on Amazon, noting how pervasive the e-commerce company has become and the competition it brings to traditional retailers.

Thurmond and Elizabeth Osburn, senior vice president of government affairs for the Tulsa Regional Chamber, said there is still work to be done on the federal level regulating e-commerce.

Osburn said Amazon collecting sales tax in Oklahoma was essentially voluntary without a federal means of enforcing it.

Thurmond said he thinks e-commerce will continue to grow.

Hes not alone. Houston said a potential reason for Amazon agreeing to pays sales tax in more and more states is because of its expansion plans.

In large urban areas across the country, Amazon Prime members can receive same-day delivery. That quick turnaround requires an extensive logistics network  and sometimes a presence in the state otherwise known as nexus. If a retailer has nexus in the state, its required to pay sales tax.

The Civic Economics report is called Amazon and Empty Storefronts and it notes that Amazons growth has harmed the traditional brick-and-mortar store.

Tulsa has seen the decline of the traditional department store firsthand in recent weeks with the announced closures of Sears at 21st Street and Yale Avenue and Macys at Tulsa Promenade.

There will be less commercial space relative to our population in the future than there is today, Houston said. And Amazon, and online retail, obviously played an enormous role in that. Thats going to have tremendous repercussions for tax revenue. 
OKLAHOMA CITY  Possible expulsion of Rep. Dan Kirby will be taken up before any legislation in the upcoming session, House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols said Friday.

The fate of the Tulsa Republican could be decided as early as Tuesday or possibly Wednesday, said Echols, who serves on the House Rules Committee.

The first regular session of the 56th Legislature convenes on Monday.

Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, is supportive of the recommendations and believes Oklahomans deserve a vote.

We are unsure of the vote, and based upon quotes in the media from the minority party, unsure of their desire to punish Rep. Kirby, Echols said. But I am confident that anyone who reads the 110-plus page report will surely not play political games and do the right thing.

The House Rules Committee on Thursday issued a report recommending that Kirby be expelled from the House following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations made by two of his former executive assistants.

One assistant said he requested topless pictures of her, which she sent, and that he took her to a strip club.

Kirby has said the two were in a relationship, something the former subordinate has denied.

The panel also recommended that Rep. Will Fourkiller, D-Stilwell, attend one-on-one sensitivity training on appropriate workplace conduct and be prohibited from contact with the House Page Program for one year. He would still be allowed to host student pages from his district. Fourkiller has said he was told in 2015 that he had done something that made a page feel uncomfortable.

Both Kirby and Fourkiller have denied wrongdoing. Kirby met with the panel. Fourkiller did not.

Several lawmakers contacted said they had not read the full report and were withholding judgment on expulsion. Others said they would vote to expel.

Rep. Eric Proctor, D-Tulsa, said he has not read the full report, but the allegations may be more representative of the general climate at the Capitol and may be scratching the surface.

There are a lot more than two people committing sexual harassment, Proctor said.

He said the way people talk at the Capitol indicates to him it is not a professional environment, adding that he wouldnt let his daughters work in the building.

The male members do not respect women the way they should be respected, said Proctor, the father of two young daughters. It is an environment that can be extremely disgusting  not everybody, but there are a lot more than two.

Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, said a vote to expel Kirby would be an endorsement of a flawed process, while voting not to expel would be an endorsement of such behavior.

Some Democrats criticized the committees closed-door meetings and believe that an independent entity should have been selected to investigate.

Rep. Terry ODonnell, R-Catoosa, is majority whip and serves on the House Rules Committee. He said he would vote to expel Kirby, saying his behavior is inappropriate for any setting and very inappropriate for an elected official.

You just cant let that go, ODonnell said. We have to maintain a decorum and standard in the House of Representatives that is beyond reproach. That conduct is not acceptable. I think Oklahomans expect and deserve better from their representatives.

Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, also served on the House Rules Committee.

She said in the private sector, it is abundantly clear and expected that relationships be platonic between an employee and supervisor.

That is just fundamental, she said. That is just a cardinal rule you never, ever violate.

She said serving on the panel was difficult for a variety of reasons.

I felt empathy for everybody involved, she said.

McCall charged the panel with investigating after it was learned that former House Speaker Jeff Hickman approved a $44,500 settlement to one of Kirbys former assistants and her attorneys to settle a sexual harassment and wrongful termination claim. It was later learned that a second executive assistant had come forward.

McCall on Friday approved three recommendations from the panel.

The House will require expanded yearly sexual harassment training and information on how to report it. The training will apply to members and employees.

The House will create written procedures to ensure members and employees are better educated on the proper chain of command and authority between the House and its employees.

Finally, it will require members to sign and update the anti-nepotism and anti-fraternization form for every elected term.
Nines new crime series Murder Calls Australia, will screen Wednesday nights from mid-February.

Produced by Screentime Banijay and narrated by Leila McKinnon, the series looks set to go up against Sevens Murder Uncovered, presented by Michael Usher.

Narrated by Leila McKinnon, Murder Calls Australia reveals cases that were solved by the power of one of our most innocuous devices  the phone. It gives a never-before-seen or heard insight into the minds of the murderers through crucial phone calls that finally cracked the case and put the killers behind bars.

The series features calls from witnesses, the public, the perpetrators, even eerily from some victims beyond the grave  calls you have never heard before.

Each episode tells the story of one of Australias most shocking murder cases. The series features previously unseen interviews with the victims families and the police, as well as unearthed crime scene footage and the phone calls that delivered the key piece of information and evidence that brought some of Australias worst killers to justice.

Episode one follows the investigation into the murder of multi-millionaire Herman Rockefeller, a devoted husband, father of two and model citizen from the affluent Melbourne suburb of Malvern.

However, unbeknown to his family and friends, the 51-year-old property investor had a dark secret: a hidden double life. His four mobile phones and many aliases took him to the other side of town where his need for sex eventually turned deadly.

When Rockefeller disappeared his family and the police were at a loss. Not a trace of evidence or information came to light until a series of phone calls gave the police the breakthrough they needed. The calls, one from an observant member of the public and another from someone within Rockefellers dark and seedy secret world, shocked his family, police and a nation, but they were the key evidential moments that turned the investigation and located his killers.

8:40pm Wednesday February 15 on Nine.
If you were looking to concoct a surefire drama recipe it might go something like this: legal setting for episodic plots, sympathetic female lead who is a gun at her job but struggling in her domestic life, unresolved sexual tension with male lead, quirky supporting characters featuring a reliable cast, series title with puns.

Newtons Law is all of these and more.

Im still trying to get my head around the conversation ABC had when pitched a new legal drama with Claudia Karvan.

Shes a solicitor trying to keep her life together, but she risks it all for a return to the bar.

ABC: We already have Rake.

Shes tough but vulnerable, smart but flawed, and will overcome obstacles to win her cases.

ABC: We already have Janet King.

We couldnt do any more Miss Fisher because Essie Davis is based in London and in demand.

ABC: Ok well take it.

Its not that there is anything essentially bad about Newtons Law, indeed Karvan and co-star Toby Schmitz are its best assets, but I had the decided feeling that Ive seen it all before, albeit in other guises.

Karvan plays Josephine Newton, separated from her husband Callum (Brett Tucker), raising a teenage daughter, and struggling to make ends meet as a solicitor. Her team at Newtons Legal, solicitor Helena (Georgina Naidu) and general go-to guy Johhny (Sean Keenan), are dependent on her both financially and emotionally.

But a case defending a pyromaniac goes belly-up and he torches her office, forcing Josephine to accept a job offer from an old University buddy, the eloquent, high-flying Lewis Hughes (Toby Schmitz), a Senior Counsel at Knox Chambers (Ed: no relation). The two have history with Josephine the only woman to have ever eluded his clutches

The first case involves a former Knox Chambers associate accused of murder. But Eric Whitley QC (Andrew McFarlane) isnt convinced she can pull it off. Shes going to need to dig deep to prove him wrong, which naturally requires her to work in tandem with Lewis, cue the sparks.

Elsewhere her former team of Helena and Johnny turn a car wash in the bottom of Knox Chambers into makeshift solicitor officers .hence the odd ABC suggestion the series is the Upstairs, Downstairs of legal dramas -it so aint.

Karvan, who is always skilled with juggling dramatic and lighter storylines, gives her best with a pretty pedestrian script by writer Belinda Chayko. When she is working alongside the youthful gravitas of Schmitz, one could almost forgive the underwhelming set-up, the unconvincing Crown case, and a curiously light approach to a murder case. What a shame Josephine was denied the moral dilemmas of defending a murderer. How do you sleep at night doing that -who knows?

There are quirky touches, including from supporting cast Jane Hall, Freya Stafford (and Miranda Tapsell to come), a 70s Charger and a surf-style soundtrack to endeavour to keep this in motion. Ironic given the series title.it still lacked energy for me.

Special mention goes to Barracuda actor Chris van Ingen for bringing authenticity and diverse casting to his role.

Watching Karvan on screen only made me miss The Time of Our Lives (or any number of assorted fine performances), but Newtons Law, from Every Cloud Productions, has its work cut out in a crowded genre.

The problem is TV is offering us so many compelling binge dramas that you get one shot to grab our attention.

I just dont have time for anything that drives down the middle of the road, even if it is in a 70s Charger.

Newtons Law premieres 8:30pm Thursday on ABC.
By Press Trust of India: Colombo, Feb 4 (PTI) Lashing out at critics, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today said his government was "determined and dedicated" to achieve national reconciliation with the minority Tamils despite the work of some opportunists.

Sirisena made the remarks while addressing the 69th anniversary of Lankas independence celebrations here.

"We are determined and dedicated in our commitment despite the work of some opportunists. The government would work towards a knowledge and innovation based economy," he said, blaming them for their aiming of narrow political gains.

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Succeeding Mahinda Rajapaksa, President Sirisenas unity government had set in a series of reconciliation measures.

The government has promised a new constitution to address the Tamil political aspirations. Tamils say the progress had been painfully slow and questions the governments commitment despite making some symbolic gestures to win over them.

Sirisenas work to hand back Tamils the land held for military purposes and release some of the former terrorist suspects have raised criticism from Rajapaksas joint opposition who claim that Sirisena was appeasing the Tamils and putting the countrys national security at risk.

While the national ceremony was happening here, a section of the hardline Tamils held a demonstration in the Northern capital of Jaffna.

"The independence day is our black day. The Tamil community is in grief," said MK Shivajilingam a Northern provincial councilor who led a protest of several hundreds.

"Our land issues, detention of our people and disappearances have not been addressed. We want an international investigations on crimes against Tamils," Shivajilingam said.

According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during Rajapaksas regime that brought an end to nearly three-decades long civil war in Sri Lanka with the defeat of LTTE in 2009. PTI CORR MRJ ZH AKJ ZH

--- ENDS ---
Kejriwal's remarks came in response to reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and other campaigning material, and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Calling it "spineless", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that the Election Commission has "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kejriwal's remarks came in response to reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and other campaigning material, and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day.

"Election Commission has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like the CBI and the RBI," Kejriwal tweeted.

As per EC notification, polling time in Goa from 7 am to 5 pm but in Punjab, it is from 8 am to 5 pm (one hr less). Why?- Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 4, 2017

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"This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission."

Also read: Punjab Assembly Polls 2017 LIVE: 55 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm

The Aam Aadmi Party leader had earlier repeatedly targeted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for acting on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office.

"Just like Modiji destroyed the RBI, he has also destroyed the Election Commission by appointing his cronies in the Commission," Kejriwal said.

Punjab began voting for all 117 assembly constituencies in the state at 8 a.m., while polling for Goa's 40 assembly seats got underway at 7 a.m.

Also read: Assembly Elections 2017: FULL COVERAGE

Kejriwal also slammed Modi for his November 8 demonetisation move and said it had failed to curb black money.

"Modiji had said that the note ban will put an end to black money. But it is being openly distributed in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the use of the note ban," Kejriwal asked.

In a sudden move, the Prime Minister had on November 8 announced that 500 and 1,000 rupee notes would no longer be legal tender.

The move, Modi had then said, would eliminate black money from the system apart from targeting counterfeit currency and terror funding.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Also read: Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur calls Kejriwal ISI 'agent'

--- ENDS ---
Students who drop out of school face a challenging future as they might have a difficulty with employment and are more likely to live in poverty and be prone to abuse of drugs and alcohol. However, families, most especially parents, can play a significant role when it comes to making sure their children graduate. In fact, a study shows that parental involvement is one of the leading indicators of a student's performance and of whether the student will eventually graduate.

According to NCSET, dropping out of school is not always an internal decision of a youth. There are various factors that influence this decision including their problems with their teachers, they have low grades, or they just do not like the thought of school at all.

The new mathematical modeling from Arizona State University, Northeastern Illinois University, and the University of Texas at Arlington looked at the impact of peer as well as parental influences to a student's academic performance, according to Science Daily. In the study, parental involvement and social influences from peers were both measured and after the results were categorized, the data was eventually applied in a mathematical method which is used to track the spread of social and biological problems.

Anuj Mubayi, now an assistant professor with ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change said that the underlying principle of the study was to point out that social behaviors can spread interpersonally through social interactions and influences, similar to infectious diseases.

This means that parents have the power to "immunize" their kids against dropping out but only to a point. The researchers explained that it is because a student with high parental involvement hits a moderately high range of negative influence from peers, their risk of failing and dropping out begins to trend upward on a similar trajectory as those students whose parents do not show much involvement.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook is set to receive an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow. Cook confirms that he is going to visit Scotland to receive the honor and open a Q&A with the university students.

Cook is known for introducing Apple products such as the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple Watch and iPad Pro. Now, his energy is directed into using 100 percent renewable energy at all Apple sites. The business executive first joined Apple as a senior vice president of world wide operations. Currently, he is the chief operating officer.

Aside from his technology and business prowess, he is also a philanthropist. Since becoming Apple's CEO, he has differed from Steve Jobs when it comes to charitable giving. According to The Verge, Cook donated $50 million to Stanford's hospitals and has also donated millions to a charity called Product RED, which combats diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.

Because of his significant background, the University of Glasgow invites him on board to receive an honorary degree in science. The event is going to happen at Bute Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Aside from the Q&A with the students, he is also going to hold a fireside chat.

The event itself is not open to the public. According to a spokes person from the university, the event is already sold out within the hour of its public announcement, as reported by STV News. There are many who would wish to hear what Apple's own Tim Cook would say but the event can accommodate only staff and students of a few hundred people. The program is between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Tim Cook is a graduate of Robertsdale Highschool and has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University. He also took his Master of Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

For a preview, watch Apple CEO Tim Cook's commencement address at George Washington Universitys Class of 2015 below:
The debate on allowing concealed guns on campus in colleges and universities is still moving. In recent news, the Arkansas House has put out a vote that will require all public colleges and universities to allow students to carry arms on campus.

School officials like Dr. Randy Esters, the school president of the North Arkansas College, is concerned about the effect of carrying concealed weapons on campus. He is looking at how it will affect students and staff that work at the college.

Esters hope that if the vote gets through, he feels that there should be some amendments, as reported by Harrison Daily. In 2013, Republican Rep. Charlie Collins proposed a law that leaves the concealed carry decision up to colleges. This idea is said to help deter potential mass shooters and it helps increase campus security.

If the proposal becomes a law, Arkansas will join other states that mandates schools to allow concealed weapons in college campuses. Utah and Colorado are already forcing colleges to allow people to carry concealed hand guns on campus provided they are permit holders. Other states allow the same but only in certain circumstances.

Although this is going to cover colleges and universities, Collin's carry bill will not allow guns at child-care centers and institutions, as reported by Arkansas News. Exemptions are placed for the Clinton School of Public Service and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

The campus police chief for the University of Arkansas campus in Fayettville expresses that he opposes the ban. Austin Bailey, head of the Arkansas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, says that allowing such law would make it harder for campus police and more dangerous for everybody. Arkansas professors have also voiced concerns that this will change the learning environment.

Capt. Gary Crain says the University of Arkansas Police Department is already prepared in the event of a shooting. Watch the video below:
The External Affairs Minister has appealed to all Indians working overseas to register on madad.gov.in and tweet their problem with the ID number of the Indian Embassy there.

By Indrajit Kundu: In the wake of reports of harassment or discrimination faced by Indian employees abroad, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assured prompt respite.

She has appealed to all Indians working overseas to register on madad.gov.in and tweet their problem with the ID number of the Indian Embassy there.

The Foreign Minister tweeted that the employees being harassed needed to contact ProtectorGenGOI with names and details of the agent.

Pl register on https://t.co/w2j1ppb4uc and tweet your problem with ID no to Indian Embassy. Our Embassy will help you. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) February 4, 2017

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A CASE IN POINT

A case of an Indian employee in distress is that of a 24-year-old Ravindra Kumar Gupta from Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, who along with four of his friends, is facing exploitation at the hands of his employer in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabian Sheikh, identified as Kapil, makes them work like a slave and beats them whenever he wishes. He has taken away their passports and made them captive.

Saudi Arabian Sheikh Kapil. Saudi Arabian Sheikh Kapil.

Whenever these five Indians have tried to escape, the employer has threatened to kill them.

Ravindra Kumar Gupta

Ravindra and his four friends came here for a job 5 years ago. After landing in Dubai, the five got the job in a firm owned by Kapil Sheikh. They soon realised the hell they were in when they were forced to go on working without payment and have had a nightmarish life since.

Every effort they have made to get out of there has failed. When Gupta reached the Embassy in Dubai for help, they asked him to contact Indian government.

His father Mohan Gupta's contact number is 09936758075.

5 INDIANS JAILED IN TOGO RELEASED

Only a couple of days ago, Swaraj had announced that the government had secured the release of 5 Indians who were jailed in Togo.

She complimented the Indian mission in Accra and Consulate in Togo for their help in getting the Indians released.

The employees, from a Merchant Navy firm, had been in jail since 2013 for their suspected involvement in a piracy attack off the coast of Togo, according to reports.

They were sailing on board a ship to South Africa from Mumbai when they were arrested.

Also read | Sushma Swaraj helps parents of disabled daughters

--- ENDS ---
Trump's travel ban has a lot of colleges and universities concerned. Which is why an alliance consisting of 598 colleges and university presidents from around the country has recently released a letter that lists their concerns regarding the temporary ban initiated by current United States President Donald Trump.

The imposed Trump travel ban affects travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. And while this does not include other countries, the ban still has a feared effect on international studies. The letter is addressed to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly via the American Council on Education. These school presidents explain that the ban affects not only international students, but also staff, researchers and faculty members.

Although it mainly affects travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for a period of 90 days, other international persons are still concerned about the future of their stay in work or study.

The letter reads that America would only be able to maintain its global scientific and economic leadership position of international individuals are allowed to come to the country to work and study, as reported by Elon University. The letter also stresses that the Trump travel ban has opened up a huge boat of challenges in immigration. In addition, the letter notes that there are about one million international students who attend American colleges and universities and all of them add to the country's intellectual connections and vibrancy. In effect, they impact the country economically by about $32.8 billion and supports 400,000 jobs.

Among the 598 college and university presidents are presidents from Boston College, Washington State University, Michigan State University and many more. Aside from these school presidents, the American Association of Community Colleges and other higher education organizations have joined the cause, as reported by The Hill.

Until now, Donald Trump has not conceded to any statements that counters the travel ban imposition.

Watch the USA Today clip below where U.S. District Judge James Robart of Seattle on Friday issued a nationwide restraining order blocking the travel ban put in place by President Trump last week.
A team at the Delft University of Technology, or TU Delft, in Netherlands has recently earned top scores from Elon Musk's highly influential SpaceX tech project, Hyperloop. The competition that was held last week at Hawthorne, Los Angeles, brought in thirty university students and research teams.

But only one team emerged with the highest scores. TU Delft has promised a thirty minute trip from Amsterdam to Paris and this can become a reality after their pod has passed through an array of technical testing.

TU Delft had to demonstrate their futuristic pod in Hyperloop's vacuumed tunnel, as reported by I Am Expat. The tunnel is based on Elon Musk's vision of a faster mode of transportation. He called it a fifth mode of transportation. In the Hyperloop tunnel, pods can rely on magnetic levitation or air pressure to float, using very little resistance.

Last year, teams competed for the best design. This year, the actual testing of the design happened. Which means for the past year, students sacrificed their weekends and off hours to create a pod that would one day transport subjects from point A to point B in less than half the time required.

TU Delft competed against prestigious tech schools such as MIT and other engineering institutions. After rigorous testing, only five teams passed the technical round when it came to safety and design. In the end, three teams competed for speed and total experience. But it was TU Delft that had the highest average score in both categories. However, the German WARR from the Technical University of Munich was the fastest in the speed category.

It could be possible that in 2018, Hyperloop transportation will be realized. Hyperloop engaged companies, such as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, has already filed for construction permits in Quay Valley, California, as reported by CNBC.

Watch the exciting announcement of the scoring below:
Corporate leaders of the tech industry have reportedly banded together last Thursday and drafted a formal letter in opposition to President Donald J. Trump's immigration policies signed last week.

Tech companies are spearheading heading the move, but are reportedly working to involve other industries, including media, manufacturing, and consumer product companies, according to Recode. The initiative by big American businesses is the first major push in support of immigration in direct opposition to travel restriction ordered by Trump. The ban triggered a backlash that erupted into protests over the weekend at airports all over the country, the report said.

Gist of the drafted letter

The letter draft mentions the valuable contributions of immigrant workers from all backgrounds, adding their concern that the recent executive order affects visa holders who work in the U.S contributing to the country's success. Accordingly, it is critical to continuously attract the best and brightest from around the world.

While they support and even offered to help in the government's effort in continuous evaluation and improvement of security and vetting procedures, they say that a full blanket suspension is not the right approach. Additionally, they say they employ thousands of Americans and just some of the most talented people from abroad to work alongside their American counterparts, to help their companies succeed, and eventually expanding their overall employment.

After days of serious criticism, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down from Trump's economic and advisory council. Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian immigrant, had there been a ban then, Apple would not exist, according to The Washington Post. Cook was also mulling legal options over the ban, which he says already impacted hundreds of Apple employees.

America's secret weapon

Five years ago, renowned theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku asked: "How come the scientific establishment of the United States doesn't collapse?" He answered his own question by citing America has a secret weapon in the H-1B. According to Dr. Kaku, without the H-1B, which he said is the "genius visa," the scientific community of the country will collapse, citing America's Achilles heel, the educational system. Watch the video below.

Dr. Kaku's words five years ago are in direct parallelism to what the current industry leaders are trying to prevent from happening now in conjunction with the current ban, as well as, the administration's plan to reform H-1B visa norms.
An international team of scientists were able to find similarities between the genetic makeup of ancient humans and some modern East Asian populations. The researchers were from the University of Cambridge, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea and Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin in Ireland

Phys.org reported that the researchers studied ancient DNA which was extracted from human remains that were buried almost 8,000 years ago. They were the first to collect nuclear genome data from ancient mainland East Asia and compared the results to modern populations.

The study, which was published in the journal "Science Advances," found that there was no significant migratory interruption or "population turnover" for over seven millennia. With this, some contemporary ethnic groups still share a genetic similarity to their Stone Age ancestors.

Deemed as "high genetic continuity," this phenomenon in East Asia is opposite of what happened to most of Western Europe where the migrations of early farmers from the Levant overpowered the hunter-gatherer populations. Moreover, during the Bronze Age, this was followed by horse riders from Central Asia, which was most likely motivated by the success of agriculture and metallurgy.

This new research points to evidence that, in East Asia, there is little genetic disruption in populations ever since the early phases of the Neolithic period. The Ulchi people of the Amur Basin, located in the proximity of Russian borders for China and North Korea, and the ancient hunter-gatherers whose remains are buried in a cave close to the Ulchi's home.

According to Science Magazine, the data was collected from DNA extracted from the teeth, inner ear bones as well as other skull bones of two skeletons found in the Devil's Gate Cave, which is also known as Chertovy Vorota Cave. The skeletons were also found to be related to other groups of people who speak the endangered Tungusic languages spoken by ethnic people in Eastern Siberia and China.

The women, whose skeletons were used in the study, were also believed to look like modern people in the Amur Basin. They were said to have brown eyes, straight thick hair, similar skin color as Asians as well as shovel-shaped incisors.
NASA has revealed the first genetic results of the "Twins Study." This comes after astronaut Scott Kelly returned from his most recent mission. However, the official results of the whole study may take about two years to be released.

Gizmodo reported that twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly have volunteered to become test subjects for NASA's "Twins Study." The project is a 10-part investigation in understanding how space travel affects the human body.

The study required scientists to collect blood samples as well as other biological data from the twins while they were both on Earth and in space. While The Washington Post noted that the research findings will not be confirmed until after about two years, initial details of the study have already been announced by NASA.

According to CNN, the preliminary results from the study with Scott Kelly as well as Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko have been released last week at the Investigator's Workshop for NASA's Human Research Program. The findings provided new insight as scientists examined a wide range of information about the astronauts' health.

Researchers tried to determine whether a "space gene" was activated during the time that Scott spent in space. They found that Scott and Mark Kelly had hundreds of mutations unique to themselves. Over 200,000 RNA molecules were presented differently.

Moreover, Scott's DNA experienced chemical modifications while he was in space. However, they returned to normal after he arrived back on Earth. Mark experienced the same thing in the middle of the study but also returned to normal after the event.

Researchers believed that this is proof of how genes are sensitive to changing environments, whether on Earth or in space. What's interesting, though, was that Scott's telomeres increased while he was in space.

Usually, telomeres, the repetitive sequences in the end of a chromosome that protects it from deterioration or fusion with other chromosomes, decrease in length as an individual gets older. However, they returned to normal once Scott came back to Earth.
Mary Schweitzer, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, led a study which claimed that she and her colleagues were able to recover an 80-million-year-old dinosaur protein. This provided evidence to the possibility of isolating protein fragments from dinosaurs even for millions of years.

According to Science Magazine, there were two studies that suggested the possibility of isolating dinosaur protein. First was the study led by Schweitzer while in the other study by ancient protein expert Enrico Cappellini and Matthew Collins, a paleoproteomics expert at the University of York, they were able to identify protein fragments from 3.8-million-year-old ostrich egg shells.

In 2007 and 2009, Schweitzer and her colleagues reported that they were able to isolate intact protein fragments from 65-million- and 80-million-year-old dinosaur fossils. However, their study was met with skepticism by other biochemists and paleontologists who did not believe that these organic molecules could last that long.

Last year, though, Cappellini and Collins were able to identify protein fragments from ostrich egg shells. This was found convincing by most of their colleagues.

BBC reported that the scientists examined the fossils of a Lufengosaurus dinosaur. They used infrared spectroscopy with a synchrotron, which was done in Taiwan.

Collagen and iron-rich proteins were discovered within the walls of blood vessels found running through rib bones. It is believed that the remains of dinosaur blood could be the reason that the collagen was preserved for nearly 200 million years.

The discovery has big implications for the scientific community. First, it shows that there are still a lot of things to learn about fossil formation and preservation. Second, this would validate previous studies on similar proteins found in other dinosaurs.

The Washington Post noted that the researchers were also able to find crystals of hematite, which is the mineral form of iron oxide. This is believed to be from the iron-rich blood cells of the dinosaur since rocks around the fossil do not have much iron.
A research team from UC Berkeley's School of Public Health has been awarded a $3.6 million, five-year grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The fund is to be used for the development of new ways to simulate and optimize surveillance networks for the detection of infectious diseases.

In its official website, UC Berkeley reported that the project will be using big data to overcome major challenges that are an obstacle to the surveillance of global infectious diseases. This includes monitoring the progress of disease elimination campaigns, detecting co-infections as well as making sure that the detection of rare diseases in high-risk populations is maximized.

The researchers are said to focus on high-priority global infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and schistosomiasis. The team will also be working with practitioners at the U.S. and Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Project leader Justin Remais, who is an associate professor of environmental health sciences at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said that good surveillance systems are vital in detecting outbreaks, tracing emerging infections and continuing infectious disease control efforts especially in low- and middle-income countries. He also added that health datasets are important in identifying effective surveillance strategies for changing epidemiological and environmental conditions.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will fund the research through the NIH's Spatial Uncertainty funding program. The project will have collaborators such as statisticians and epidemiologists at the Beijing Institute for Microbiology and Epidemiology, Emory University and the University of Florida.

The project is titled "spatio-temporal data integration methods for infectious disease surveillance." It is intended to create statistical techniques for incorporating complex data from several surveillance systems, providing accurate insights into how the systems function as well as result to key advances in surveillance informatics.

Last September, it was announced that UC Berkeley, along with UC San Francisco and Stanford University will work together in a new medical science research center funded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan. The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub is dedicated to "advancing human potential and promoting equality."
The U.S. Library of Congress has released a newly-digitized collection of Sigmund Freud's personal writings. 20,000 documents were made available online on Feb. 1.

Quartz reported that the documents included letters with his family as well as his contemporaries such as Carl Jung, Albert Einstein and Thomas Morin. The collection is intended to give the public a better understanding of his theories as well as his personal life.

Archivist Margaret McAleer said that the collection "exposes the complexity of the man and his ideas." It is expected that several scholars will be going over the documents again and again to search for its deeper meanings. McAleer was the one who catalogued the collection.

One letter, written in 1910, was sent to Jung. Freud complained about not feeling well and about the difficulty that he experienced in using allegory in interpretations.

The two scholars had a great friendship early on, with Freud considering Jung as his intellectual heir apparent. However, in 1913, they had a big falling out and ended their correspondence.

The collection has been deemed as the "Sigmund Freud Papers." The letters are mostly in German.

In the Library of Congress' official website, it was noted that the bulk of the material was dated from 1871 to 1939. It is a collection of documents on how Freud founded psychoanalysis as well as how the theory matured and was refined.

Several facets of his life and work are reflected in the collection. This includes his early medical and clinical training as well as his relationship with his family, friends, colleagues, students and patients.

According to The Washington Post, the digitization of the collection took a year and a half. It was funded by the Polonsky Foundation which is a nonprofit organization in the U.K.

Experts on Sigmund Freud agreed with the collection and making it available online. They believe that this would pave the way for more people to be interested in Freud worldwide.
German weekly magazine Der Spiegel's cover depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other.

By Reuters: German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.

It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First".ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."

The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as "tasteless".

The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner".

Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners.

No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the U.S. embassy in Berlin.

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Also Read

Poll suggests 40% people support Donald Trump's impeachment

US reverses travel ban after judge stayed President Trump's order

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Feb 3 (PTI) President Donald Trump is "extremely upset" with the refugee deal with Australia, the White House has said, while indicating that the administration will go ahead with the agreement but with "extreme vetting" of every immigrant.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer lashed out at the Obama-administration for the move, saying the new president was "unbelievably disappointed" to have inherited the deal.

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Later asked if the deal would continue, Trump however said, "Well see what happens."

Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull though, had yesterday said that Trump had committed to the agreement to accept 1,250 refugees who are lodged in offshore detention centres on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

The US President had abruptly ended his now-infamous phone call to Turnbull after their disagreement on the issue reportedly left him unhappy. True to character, he then took to Twitter to describe the agreement as a "dumb deal".

At the event, Trump told reporters that one must respect a step taken by the previous administration, but added in the same breath that it could also be questioned.

"A previous administration does something, you have to respect that but you could also say, why are we doing this? Thats why were in the jams that were in," he said.

"We had one instance in Australia, I have a lot of respect for Australia, I love Australia as a country but we had a problem where for whatever reason President Obama said that they were going to take probably well over 1,000 illegal immigrants who were in prisons and they were going to bring them and take them into this country and I just said why?," he said.

"Why are we doing this? Whats the purpose? So well see what happens," the US President said.

"We have some wonderful allies but were going to keep it that way but we have to be treated fairly also. We have to be treated fairly," Trump said. He also lamented that a "lot of countries" were "really terribly" taking advantage of the US.

At his press conference yesterday, Spicer said Trump "had a very cordial conversation" with the Australian Prime Minister.

"The President is unbelievably disappointed in the previous administrations deal that was made and how poorly it was crafted and the threat it put on US national security," Spicer.

"He (Trump) has tremendous respect for the PM and the Australian people and has agreed to continue to review that deal and to ensure that as part of the deal, was always part of it, that we would go through a very, very extreme vetting process to ensure that every single person that is being offered up is coming here with peaceful intentions and poses no threat to the United States," he said.

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"So he has ensured that while he has respect for the Australian people and respect for PM Turnbull, that we do not pose a threat to the US, that the deal that he was cut by the last administration is something that he is extremely, extremely upset with. He does not like it," Spicer said. PTI LKJ BSA BSA

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By Press Trust of India: Srinagar, Feb 4 (PTI) A "major terrorist operation" was today thwarted as two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmirs Baramulla district.

Superintendent of Police (Operations) Shafqat Hussain and a Sub-Inspector, Mohammad Murtaza, were also injured in the gun battle which took place near Amargarh village of Sopore, 50 kms from here, after police intercepted the two militants travelling in a vehicle, a police spokesman said.

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"An information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. Police and security forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore.

"While being challenged, terrorists lobbed a grenade and fired on police party in which the SP (Operation) Baramulla and a Sub-Inspector were injured. In the retaliatory action, two militants were killed," the spokesman said.

He said two AK assault rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were seized from the scene of the encounter.

"With the elimination of these militants, a major terrorist action was averted," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen identified the slain militants as Azaharuddin alias "Gazi Umar" and Sajad Ahmad alias "Babar", saying both were local militants and were active for quite some time.

It termed the killing of the two militants as a "big loss" and said Azharuddin was a lecturer by profession who had abdicated the government service and had joined the outfit. PTI MIJ GVS

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By Press Trust of India: From Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Feb 4 (PTI) The UN has removed notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from its list of designated terrorists, dropping the assets freeze and travel ban against the former anti-India insurgent leader, infamous as "butcher of Kabul", who has signed a peace pact with the government.

The UN Security Councils al-Qaeda sanctions committee concerning ISIS, al-Qaeda and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities removed the Hezb-e-Islami leaders name from the ISIS and al-Qaeda Sanctions List here yesterday.

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"Therefore, the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) no longer apply to him," the Sanctions Committee said in a statement.

In details mentioned about the 67-year-old, the statement said Hekmatyar was listed on February 20, 2003 and was "believed to be in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area as at January 2011."

Hekmatyar, who heads the now largely dormant Hezb-i-Islami militant group, had last year in September signed a landmark peace agreement with Kabul after months of negotiations. The agreement paved the way for his return to the country and possibly political life.

Hekmatyar, who has been in hiding since 1997, is widely believed to be living in Pakistan. He is believed to have close ties with Pakistans spy agency ISI and is considered anti-India insurgent leader.

A former Prime Minister, Hekmatyar was a prominent anti- Soviet commander in the 1980s and stands accused of killing thousands of people in Kabul during the 1992-1996 civil war, making him infamous as the Butcher of Kabul.

Following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and fall of the Taliban, the US State Department designated him a terrorist, accusing him of taking part in and supporting attacks by al-Qaeda and the Taliban. PTI YAS MRJ ZH AKJ ZH

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The southern province of Binh Phuoc is seeking investors to inject more capital into its 13 industrial parks and spur industrialisation, the Peoples Committee said. -VNA/VNS Photo

Businessmen are being encouraged to invest in petrochemical, pharmaceutical, plastic and rubber components, and production projects with added value of 30 per cent or more, in addition to automobile manufacturing and auto components, electronic components, manufacturing machine tools, and machinery, equipment, parts and machines for agricultural sector, according to the committee chairman Nguyen Van Tram.

They are also encouraged to invest in forestry, fisheries, salt production, and food processing plants, he added.

In the agricultural sector, the province is expecting investments in animal husbandry, refining of animal, poultry and fish feed, cultivation techniques, as well as crop and animal protection.

Binh Phuoc is also looking to attract investments in the housing sector for construction workers, besides formulating preferential policies on social housing for workers and employees.
Supporting services at the Tan Son Nhat international Airport were ensured to be safe, convenient and fast despite the increasing number of tourists, while authorised agencies assigned shift tasks to avoid flight delays, said the municipal Department of Tourism.

A plenty of special festivals and activities were held during the holiday, attracting numerous domestic and foreign tourists.

Over 1 million holidaymakers visited the Nguyen Hue Flower Street, opening for seven days, while the Tet Book Street, Tao Dan Spring Flower Festival and many tourist sites such as Dam Sen, Suoi Tien, Binh Quoi and Thanh Da were popular attractions for travellers.

In addition, many travel agencies in the city such as Vietravel, TST Tourist and Saigontourist operated New Year tours to destinations in Vietnam and overseas. Meanwhile, special tour packages were offered to introduce Vietnams Lunar New Year festival to foreigners, thus helping them understand the traditional culture of Vietnam.
illustration photo

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung was quoted in a Thanh Nien (Young People) newspapers report as saying that this year the ministry plans to provide a travel allowance to officials who were previously eligible to use State-owned cars at ministries and localities. The allowance would subsidise business trips within a city or town, the report said.



According to the law, only top leaders from the deputy ministerial rank and above were eligible to use State-owned cars. However, these were often used by local level department heads.



As of October last year, the ministry began curbing the use of State-owned cars in an effort to reduce State spending. The six deputy finance ministers and heads of departments began to get travel allowances (their taxi fares subsidised), depending on the distance from the officials house to the office. Alternatively, they could use their own cars and still receive the subsidy, but the use of State-owned cars was prohibited.



According to the latest statistics provided by the ministrys Public Asset Management Department, there are currently some 37,000 State cars in use, each of which costs an average of VND320 million (US$13,800) in maintenance each year.



If the travel allowance for a deputy minister is VND9 million (US$400) per month, equivalent to VND108 million (US$4,800) per year, up to VND230 million (US$10,200) can be saved annually.



If the number of State-owned cars is cut by 30%, (11,100 cars), the Government would save VND2.3 trillion (US$102 million) each year; this would increase to more than VND4.2 trillion (US$186.7 million) if the number was cut by 50 percent.



Hanoi is the first locality nationwide to implement the travel allowance scheme on a trial basis. Since the beginning of this year, the subsidy has been applied in eight administrative units, including four departments and four districts. Each official is given a travel allowance of 9 million VND per month, and each unit is allowed to operate two State-owned cars for business travel.



Associate Professor Ngo Tri Long welcomed the new move, but added that it was necessary to review and reduce the number of unused State-owned cars and drivers once the subsidy takes effect.



Otherwise, we will waste money on car subsidies and wages for drivers while both the cars and drivers are not working, he said.



He felt that the new policy should become a law that all units have to follow.



The Ministry of Finance should consult with the Government on deciding practical subsidy levels for leaders of local agencies, he said.
Protesters hold signs as they march on January 29, 2017 in front of airport traffic during a demonstration against the recent immigration ban that was imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump AFP/JUSTIN SULLIVAN

"Fewer than 60,000 individuals' visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the Executive Order," said Will Cocks, spokesman for the department's bureau of consular affairs.

"We recognize that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the Executive Order," he said.

"To put that number in context, we issued over 11 million immigrant and non-immigrant visas in fiscal year 2015," he said, insisting national security remains "top priority."

A week ago, Trump issued an executive order halting arrivals for at least 90 days for the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

All refugee arrivals from around the world were also halted, in this case for 120 days.

During the 90 day period, the US administration will review visa procedures with a view to introducing what Trump has called "extreme vetting" to weed out extremists.

US officials have denied the ban amounts to an anti-Muslim measure, despite the order saying "religious minorities" in the mainly-Muslim countries will get priority treatment.

Trump said the move is needed to tighten US security against foreign terror threats, citing the September 11, 2001 attacks despite the hijackers having no links to the named countries.

In the days after the move, dozens of visitors with valid visas and many with "Green Card" residency permits were detained on arrival at airports and many were sent back.

The White House has said 109 people were held for questioning upon arrival under Trump's executive order. US media have cited homeland security officials as saying many hundreds were denied boarding to the US as the ban was rolled out.
The order signed by Trump last week imposes a 90-day pause on the entry into the US of nationals from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen.

By Press Trust of India: The United States has cancelled 60,000 visas since President Donald Trump signed the controversial immigration order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries, according to the State Department.

The order signed by Trump last week imposes a 90-day pause on the entry into the US of nationals from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen.

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"Fewer than 60,000 individuals visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the executive order. We recognise that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the executive order," said Will Cocks, spokesperson for Bureau of Consular Affairs Department of State.

Also read | US govt to challenge judge's 'outrageous' order blocking Trump's travel ban

"To put that number in context, we issued over 11 million immigrant and non-immigrant visas in fiscal year 2015. As always, national security is our top priority when issuing visas," Cocks said.

WHO ALL ARE EXEMPT

The pause does not apply to Lawful Permanent Residents, dual citizens with passports from a country other than the seven listed, or those travelling on diplomatic, NATO or UN visas, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Special Immigrant Visa holders of these seven countries may board US-bound planes, and apply for and receive a national interest exception to the pause upon arrival, the Department of Homeland Security said.

"Importantly, these seven countries are the only countries to which the pause on entry applies. No other countries face such treatment. Nor have any other countries been identified as warranting future inclusion at this time, contrary to false reports," it said.

INFO ON VISA APPLICANTS TO BE REVIEWED

As directed by the Executive Order, the Department of Homeland Security is working with Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a country-by-country review of the information provided by countries in order for their nationals to apply for myriad visas, immigration benefits, or otherwise seek admission into the US.

Also read | Over 1 lakh visas revoked after President Trump imposed travel ban on 7 countries

"This review is needed to ensure that individuals seeking to enter the US are who they claim to be and do not pose a security or public-safety threat," a statement said, adding that the results of this review will be provided to the President within 30 days of the signing of executive orders.

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This review will determine which countries do not provide adequate information on their nationals seeking immigration benefits or admission into the US.

The goal is to ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward the US and its founding principles.

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Uncertainty.

It's a state Dr. Monica Vohra says many of her low-income, mainly immigrant and minority patients are in when they arrive at Bread for the City's free medical clinic in Washington, D.C.

But lately, the internal medicine physician says that state has been heightened.

"I think the language out there has been disturbing. Some of it has retraumatized folks who have been traumatized by previous policies. There is a sense of feeling unsafe and insecure," Vohra said.

Watch: 43 Million Americans Live in Poverty, Worry About Future

That's because Vohra says many of her patients who have received health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are not sure whether they will still have those benefits under the new administration.

"It's definitely something that is on our minds. We encourage people to get insurance every day, and in the back of my mind I am thinking, 'What if this is not an option soon?' "

Growing anxiety

While President Donald Trump and the Republican-majority Congress look to repeal the ACA and replace the federal program with one that the president has said will be "great health care for much less money," many low-income Americans are waiting to determine what any such change will mean for them.

"We are just going to have to wait and see, because we really don't know what we are going to get," said Brian Nabinett.

On this day, the lifelong resident of the nation's capital is waiting in line at Bread for the City's food pantry for bread, chicken and other staples. The nonprofit organization runs a free legal, medical and dental clinic and offers food, clothing and other services to 10,000 Washington residents each month.

"It's one of the beautiful places in D.C. It helps a lot of people here," Nabinett said. "If I need counseling or food, I can always come here."

'It makes you wonder'

Just weeks into the Trump presidency, some at Bread for the City wonder what the new administration will mean for those who struggle to make ends meet.

"I do have concerns about the state of the poor and what services will be offered," said volunteer Patrice Ali. "Some of these programs, like Obamacare and Medicaid, have been an integral part of people's survival, and it makes you wonder if those programs will continue to get funding."

Ali benefited from Bread for the City's food and clothing program when she was unemployed. She says in recent years, she has noticed an unsettling trend in the United States  a growing income gap and a growing disconnect between politicians and the American public.

"Since I have been in my 20s, I have noticed that the gap has increasingly gotten larger, no matter who is in that position of power or authority to run this country," she said.

Still, Ali says she tries to remain optimistic.

"There is a spirit of despair that has kind of come over people, knowing where this administration may take them," said Ali. "I, on the other hand, am leaning more toward hope."

Coping in York

A two-hour drive north from the U.S. capital, Grace Geltrude is going through a walk-in freezer at the York County Food Bank in York, Pennsylvania.

The city, once a manufacturing hub that is still home to a number of smaller factories, voted overwhelmingly for Trump, who promised to bring economic change to working-class Americans.

On this day, Geltrude walks through the food bank, voucher in hand, to pick up extra food and toiletries she says are a big help to her family.

"It is very important because cost of living goes up all the time. We have a 3-year-old in the home. There used to be 13 people in the house at one time," Geltrude said, while looking through a box of canned products at the pantry.

Last year, the nonprofit York County Food Bank distributed more than 900,000 kilograms of food to local churches and agencies that work with the neediest families in southern Pennsylvania.

Debbie Krout-Althoff, director of development at the food bank, says 680 kilograms are distributed on Fridays alone.

"I think it is an eye-opening experience when you come back from lunch and you see people who are outside of our building lined up for blocks to receive the food in all kinds of weather," said Krout-Althoff. "We go through life with blinders."

Day-to-day focus

She says some low-income residents have expressed concern about the uncertainty surrounding the ACA and the new administration's plans for programs like Medicare and Medicaid, but that most are more concerned about day-to-day survival  "how they are going to feed their family, how are they going to pay their bills. I also think they have been discouraged for so long that it doesn't really matter to them who is in control [of the government]."

For now, York resident Geltrude is just focused on filling in the gaps. She has relied on the food bank, welfare assistance and a local health insurance program when her paycheck and her husband's Social Security check have fallen short.

"I couldn't afford the insurance any other way, with the bills and all, taking care of a vehicle. I mean, it does get costly," Geltrude noted. "And without some of these programs, people are struggling."
Listening for the engines of navy boats hunting illegal refineries in the swamps of Nigeria's Niger Delta, workers heat up crude oil in a tank next to a waterway.

The young men are ready to abandon their bush refinery at a moment's notice. Nerves are on edge now that the military has started sending boats, jeeps and helicopters to destroy hundreds of such facilities in the country's main oil region.

The government wants to prevent theft from oil company pipelines and so has turned its attention to shutting down the illicit refineries - makeshift, blackened structures of pipes and metal tanks hidden in oil-soaked clearings - that process the stolen crude.

But the security crackdown risks driving hundreds of young men from the refineries into the militant groups that have been attacking legitimate oil facilities in an attempt to force the government to allocate more money to the impoverished region.

Authorities have spent the last eight months holding peace talks with the militants, whose attacks in the Delta temporarily reduced Nigeria's oil output by a third last year.

But community leaders say the talks will go nowhere unless the government legalizes the bush refineries, which support tens of thousands of people locally.

"The refinery is the only job I can find to feed my family," said a father of three in his early 20s, standing next to a tank being filled with refined petrol.

"It's very likely that we'll end up as criminals if the army closes us down," he said, asking not to be named as his business is illegal.

Reuters was given exclusive access to several makeshift refineries in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta on condition that their exact location was not disclosed.

In this area alone, the military has shut down more than 50 mini refineries in recent weeks, making hundreds of youths jobless. Some have threatened to burn down the houses of community leaders in revenge.

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, said the navy had destroyed a total of 181 illegal refineries last year, arrested 748 suspects, and confiscated crude oil and diesel worth 420 billion naira ($1.3 billion).

Delta Avengers

The oil pipelines that criss-cross the Delta suffer from being broken into by thieves who steal the crude, and also from destructive attacks by militant groups trying to make a political point.

Locals see the crackdown as a recruiting opportunity for the militants, who pay young men to blow up pipelines to force the government to meet their demands. A major group, the Niger Delta Avengers, has threatened to call off a truce unless the government does more to end poverty in the region.

"My youths have found a way of surviving with crude [refining]. It's very difficult to ask them to stop this," said Saturday Nuate, head of the Kegbara Dere community in Ogoniland. "People are very hungry."

Officials have promised more spending and job training but projects gave been delayed because the government is suffering from a slump in the oil revenues on which it depends.

Unemployment in the swamps has shot up in the last few months as oil companies have responded to low prices by firing hundreds of workers, according to labor unions.

"It's a time bomb," said Annkio Briggs, an environmental activist. "The government should legalize the modular refineries so young people can make a living."

There would also be less pollution if the bush refiners bought oil legally instead of relying on crude stolen by breaking into pipelines, she said.

The mini refineries have been tolerated by local politicians, oil workers and army officers, who all benefit from their activities.

Those working at the makeshift refineries are often trained by friends working for oil firms, who also advise on how to build the equipment.

In addition, the refiners ease local fuel shortages, part of daily life due to Nigeria's inefficient state-owned refineries.

War on Oil Theft

That climate of acceptance changed when President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015, declaring war on oil theft as part of an anti-corruption drive.

The military campaign has intensified in recent weeks, forcing refiners to work at night so the smoke from the crude oil they process is harder to detect as it rises over the mangrove swamps.

At one clandestine facility, a dozen men pumped crude into a tank from a boat moored nearby. Its owner had taken to the bush on a motorbike - without lights to avoid detection - to check for military patrols.

A navy boat could be heard later, but after listening for a moment one worker said: "It's cruising a different waterway."

Two weeks ago soldiers had destroyed a barge at the same spot.

Refinery owners say they make 2 million naira ($6,500) a month from producing petrol and diesel - the latter sought by hotels and shops forced to rely on generators during Nigeria's frequent power cuts.

The refiners buy crude oil from gangs that drill into pipelines or from corrupt oil workers. A tank of 200 liters of oil costs around 500,000 naira ($1,600).

"We can process 1,000 liters a night," said a refinery owner, watching his workers siphon freshly produced petrol into cans to be taken by motorcycle to traders who will sell it on.

He accepts he will have to pay bribes to the authorities.

Buhari has made it more difficult for soldiers to profit from the illicit trade but some still manage to do so.

"I twice got workers freed who had been detained in raids by paying 100,000 naira [$330] each time," he said. After work is over at dawn, the workers dump the waste crude, adding to the massive pollution in the creeks.

"We could dispose of the waste better or even turn it into more products if this was legal," he said. "But since we are on the run we just dump it."
Opposition groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the umbrella group Rassemblement are expecting talks with the government will begin next week, despite the death of the groups leader, Etienne Tshisekedi.

Opposition supporters and civil society organizations expressed concern that Tshisekedis demise could imperil the transition agreement recently signed with the government. The agreement will, among other things, allow President Joseph Kabila to lead a transitional government for a year, after which fresh elections would be held.

The Catholic Bishop mediators, who suspended negotiations between the Rassemblement and the government, are expected to return to the capital, Kinshasa, to jump start the talks next week, according to Freddy Mbuyamu Matungulu, leader of the opposition Congo Nabiso Party (known as Congo -- in the local Lingala language).

It is my hope that the talks would resume and would take it to a fruitful conclusion, because the passing of our elder and leader only happened a few days ago. We havent had time to really test the goodwill of the government. Everybody has invested so much in these discussions and I am hoping that the government is going to continue being serious about how we take all these processes forward and we do complete [them], said Matungulu who is also a prominent member of the Rassemblement negotiating team.

As the opposition, we are taking very seriously the talks in a view of completing the discussions [which] would help consolidate Tshisekedis political legacy. We are going to work hard to make sure that we complete the discussions successfully, so that we can consolidate his legacy of bringing democracy to this country, Matungulu added.

Some Congolese say failure of the opposition groups to choose a leader to rally around could create divisions and embolden President Joseph Kabila to scuttle the deal, and amend the constitution to remove term limits.

Kabilas supporters and his ruling party have rejected the accusations as without merit. They said the government has demonstrated good will by engaging the opposition in talks to ensure the country remains united, peaceful and stable in spite of the accusations and suspicions.

Tshisekedi was head of the wise men committee in the Rassemblement and it is going to be falling on us now to decide who would eventually lead the group at that particular level going forward. But we have been working together closely since his passing, making sure that there is good coordination between the different platforms that are in the Rassemblement, Matungulu said.

Civil society groups say the governments statement to the United Nations that the re-emergence of M23 rebels in the countrys east could derail the transition agreement with the opposition, is yet another indication that the administration is not committed to the negotiations and a subsequent agreement. They called on the Rassemblement to pressure the administration to assure the country that the transition agreement would be respected.

We are going to be working hard to make sure that this agreement is going to be respected. We have told the people of this country that they would have to remain vigilant to continue being committed to monitoring developments as we go forward, said Matungulu.

The agreement is very clear, we have to make sure that we have these elections as soon as possible in 2017 and we are going to be working hard as part of the new government that is going to be eventually going to be set up so that we are able to achieve those particular objectives.

The other guarantee is the commitment of the international community. We have been working closely with the major partners in the international community, the U.N., the United States of America, France, Great Britain and Belgium. Everybody involved trying to do their bit so that we have the possibility of ensuring a very successful implementation of this agreement, added Matungulu.
With the White House reviewing its policy on North Korea, discussions are taking place among former U.S. officials and experts on whether regime change is a viable option for U.S. President Donald Trump in tackling North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Recently, North Korea threatened to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, claiming it can do this at any time from any location. In prepared testimony submitted to the House Armed Services Committee this week, John McLaughlin, former acting CIA director under President George W. Bush, said there is a "looming prospect of [North Korea's] intercontinental ballistic missile exploding somewhere on the U.S. soil."

Many North Korea watchers believe that former President Barack Obamas policy of "strategic patience" has failed to curb North Korea's nuclear development.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, told a Senate hearing on North Korea this week that even as the U.S. ramped up sanctions against the North, the "current approach is not working" to rein in the regime's weapons program.

New approach

"We have an obligation to the American people to challenge existing assumptions and explore policy alternatives," Corker said.

Quoting two unnamed White House officials, the Financial Times reported Thursday that the Trump administration has already launched a review of its North Korea policy.

Also speaking at the Senate hearing, Nicholas Eberstadt, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said: "For over 20 years, I've been arguing that the North Korean nuclear problem is the North Korean regime, and we won't have denuclearization until we have a better class of dictator there."

Kathleen Hicks, who served as the U.S. Department of Defense director for policy planning in the Obama administration, told VOA that "it looks very unlikely" that the Kim Jong Un regime would step away from its nuclear arsenal without regime change.

"At present, I do not see a set of incentives that seem to be powerful enough," said Hicks, who is now director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Regime change

Speaking to VOA, Sue Mi Terry, a senior analyst on North Korea at the CIA from 2001 to 2008, said pursuing diplomatic dialogue with Pyongyang would prove little.

"I really don't think that the regime could be persuaded to give up its nuclear program," Terry said. "Washington has been trying to deal with North Korean threats through negotiations, through engagement, and we know that North Koreans have been happy to pocket the aid and various concessions but they have not really delivered on any of their promises of ending their nuclear program."

Scott Snyder, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, suggested during an interview with VOA that "regime transformation" was a possible option.

"Essentially what [regime transformation] means is that it includes the possibility that the regime could change direction voluntarily, but it also includes the possibility that if the DPRK doesn't change direction, then it could also be achieved through coercion," he said. North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

Some experts, however, are skeptical of regime change as a policy option for the Trump administration, believing that there is still room for talks.

Negotiations possible

Dennis Wilder, former senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council in the administration of President George W. Bush, said if pressure is put on North Korean elites, then they would talk Kim into changing his mind and returning to the negotiation table.

"If they are suffering enough, then he has to think about his survival, and while he says that he wants to keep his weapons, I think that the more important thing to Kim is surviving," Wilder said in an interview with VOA.

Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses in Arlington, Virginia, told VOA that instead of aiming for regime collapse that comes with great calamity, the U.S. should open up an aperture of engagement and give the Kim regime something that will offset the nuclear weapons program  for example, economic assistance.

"Hopefully, over time, as North Korea becomes more engaged with the outside world, the regime begins to slowly evolve into something that will be able to peacefully reunify with South Korea," he said.

On Friday, Seoul announced that Pyongyang had dismissed its minister of state security, Kim Won Hong, in what appeared to be another purge of a high-level official. Jeong Joon-hee, spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, told reporters that the dismissal could lead to instability in the North's leadership.
After a summit in Malta Friday, the European Union agreed to a deal to support security forces in Libya to try to decrease the number of migrants arriving on the continents southern shores. But analysts warn with such a move, the EU risks cementing political divisions within Libya  and aid groups have criticized the deal for failing to recognize the dangers faced by migrants.



The deal will see the European Union give $215 million to Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli to improve the security forces and coast guard. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the approach was tried and tested.



She told reporters that cooperation with neighboring states - the same approach that we took with Turkey in the Aegean - has to be the answer to fighting illegal immigration.



Europe is banking on the internationally recognized government in Tripoli to implement the deal. But rival factions control much of the country  and they are not part of the agreement, says Luigi Scazzieri of the Center for European Reform.



What is needed, really, is a broader deal that brings in other stakeholders within Libya as well.





At odds with US



There is growing concern in Europe that Washington may switch its support to strongman General Khalifa Haftar, who is based in the east of Libya  though U.S. President Donald Trump has not signaled a change of policy. Again, Luigi Scazzieri says the EU might still change its stance.



That would put Europe at odds with the U.S. policy. So in view of that I think, it may become more and more tempting for EU leaders to shift towards a policy in Libya which is more compatible with the one that the U.S. may well take, Scazzieri said.



EU leaders are divided on how to respond to Trump  and many voiced concern.



British Prime Minister Theresa May  the first foreign leader to meet the new president in Washington  presented herself as a bridge between allies.



Crucially, when I was there, I was able to confirm with him his 100 percent commitment to NATO, May said.



May left the summit early  excluded from the final session of talks on Britains impending exit from the European Union. Relations are becoming increasingly acrimonious as Britain seeks bargaining power in the negotiations, says analyst Scazzieri.



For example, will it use security cooperation with the EU, will it attempt to use that as leverage or not? Scazzieri said.



The security threat was underlined Friday as an apparent terror incident unfolded in Paris. Security forces shot and seriously wounded a man as he attacked soldiers patrolling outside the Louvre museum.
Speaking at a rally in Meerut today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today likened his first election rally in Uttar Pradesh with India's first war of independence in 1857.

By India Today Web Desk: While Punjab and Goa vote to elect a new Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, which is scheduled to vote in seven phases starting February 11.

Assembly Elections 2017: Full Coverage

Prime Minister Modi will be addressing one more rally in Aligarh on Sunday (February 5) as part of his campaign plan before the February 11 polling in the first phase.

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The seven-phase polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, March 4 and 8. The results will come out on March 11.

HERE ARE THE LIVE UPDATES:

Some people questioned the surgical strikes conducted by our jawans: PM Modi

For over 40 years, governments were just dilly-dallying over One Rank One Pension. But we approved OROP: PM Modi

40 saal tak faujiyon ki aakhnon mein dhool jhonki gayi. Desh ke liye jaan ki baazi lagane walon ke liye OROP humne laagu kiya: PM Modi pic.twitter.com/FrCvkZG10b ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 4, 2017 PM Modi lures sugarcane farmers, says if voted to power, the BJP government will clear all dues of sugarcane farmers with first 14 days.

Every family needs to have their own house, so we've started working towards fulfilling this vision by 2022: PM Modi

Modi takes a dig at Samajwadi family - Kabhi chacha, kabhi papa, chachi, bhatije aur na jane kya kya. Kya haal kar rakha hai UP ka. UP sarkaar har cheez vote bank ke tarazu se tolti rahi hai: PM Narendra Modi in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh pic.twitter.com/VE2FjerX3O ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 4, 2017

UP made me PM, now I have to repay the debt: PM Modi

Rs 4,000 crore was allocated to UP government so that they can give health aid to people, but they couldn't even spend Rs 250 crore: PM Modi.

Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, if the state government has no intention, the money will go somewhere else: PM Narendra Modi

UP needs to get rid of SCAM which stands for Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh, Mayawati: PM Modi

Those who abused each other everyday have now become partners: Modi

Time has come to make Uttar Pradesh, India's top state: PM Modi

It's been 2.5 years, has there been any stain on Modi's name? Has Modi done anything to tarnish the country's name? PM Modi in Meerut

Some obstructionist governments trying to stall efforts of my government: PM Modi

This time the fight is against mafia, goons and those committing crime against our sisters and mothers: PM Modi

Why the youth of Uttar Pradesh struggling for food, jobs: PM Modi targets Akhilesh government in Meerut rally.

First War of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. That time fight was against British, now we are fighting poverty: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at a rally in Meerut.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh pic.twitter.com/JXJKwkYoly ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 4, 2017 Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to reach Meerut 1.30pm.

BJP MP Hema Malini is also in Mathura.

BJP MP Hema Malini speaking at an election rally in Mathura #UPpolls pic.twitter.com/zh4F766yHf ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 4, 2017 Ek se maa pareshan hai, dusre se baap; ye kya UP ka bhala karenge? Ek ne desh ko loota hai, ek ne pradesh ko : Amit Shah in Mathura

: Amit Shah in Mathura BJP president Amit Shah is campaigning in Mathura.

Watch the video here

ALSO READ: UP election: Mulayam Singh snub to son Akhilesh Yadav, to campaign for brother Shivpal first

ALSO READ: UP election: How Akhilesh Yadav does a volte face in giving nod to 'katiyas' for power theft

--- ENDS ---
European Union leaders have expressed concern about some of the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, but said at a summit in Malta that engaging with the United States is still a high priority.

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who hosted the EU summit of 28 countries, said, "Obviously, there was concern amongst the EU 28 on some decisions that are been taken by the new U.S. administration, and also some attitudes that are being adopted by said administration."

However, "there was no sense of anti-Americanism," he added. "There was a sense that we need to engage with the United States just the same, but we need to show where we need to do that, that we cannot stay silent where there are principles involved."

European Council chief Donald Tusk said the EU still views its transatlantic relationship with the United States as having top priority.

"I have no doubt that for all of us this is still the highest political priority, to protect our relationship with the United States against its enemies," Tusk told reporters at the summit.

His comments came several days after he labeled the United States one of the "threats" facing the European Union, along with Russia and China.

French President Francois Hollande called for European unity ahead of relations with the United States.

"Many countries have to realize that their future is first in the European Union, rather than who knows what bilateral relation with the United States,'' Hollande said upon arrival at the summit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, "The more strongly we are clear about how we define our role in the world, the better we can tend our transatlantic relations.''

Following the summit, British Prime Minister Theresa May defended her recent meeting with Trump despite concerns among EU leaders about his policies toward Europe. She said that while Britain wants a strong relationship with the United States, it also wants to see a strong Europe.

Brexit and immigration

The concerns about Trump overshadowed other discussions at the summit, including on the topics of Brexit and immigration.

On immigration, EU leaders agreed on a plan to stem migration from Libya that includes helping the Libyan coast guard stop boats to Italy and setting up temporary camps in North Africa. Under the plan, the EU will provide an additional $215 million to Libya to improve its frontier controls.
The U.S. sanctions against 13 individuals and 12 entities are linked to Tehrans ballistic missile program and its proxies across the Middle East. The targets include Iranian, Lebanese, Emirati and Chinese individuals and firms that have been working to help Tehran obtain technology and materials needed to advance its ballistic missile program.

The Treasury Department says sanctions were also levied on individuals and networks working with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force and the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

What do the sanctions restrict?

Those individuals and companies sanctioned are prohibited from doing any business in the United States or with American citizens. Foreign companies that do business with the targeted individuals and companies risk being blacklisted by the United States.

Timing of the sanctions

The White House said the timing of the sanctions was in reaction to Iran's recent ballistic missile test, but said they had previously been under consideration. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said while much of the groundwork for the sanctions occurred under President Barack Obama, the administration "acted swiftly and decisively" and said the action serves as punishment to "what weve seen in the last couple of days" from Tehran.

How do the sanctions affect the 2015 nuclear accord?

The sanctions do not impact U.S. compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, and none of the individuals or entities had been sanctioned under the Obama administration.

Iran says its missile test does not violate the nuclear accord or U.N. Security Council resolutions. The United States argues the test violates a U.N. resolution extending an eight-year ban on Iran's ballistic missiles "designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

Trump's view of Iran

Trump has ridiculed the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran as a terrible idea. Throughout his campaign, Trump accused the Obama administration of being weak on Iran and vowed to crack down on the country. In a tweet Friday, Trump said: "Iran is playing with fire - they dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me! "

Overall impact of the sanctions

Analysts say the impact of the sanctions is largely symbolic and will likely not have a large effect on Iran's economy.
President Donald Trump made clear in executive orders issued last week that he intends to strengthen enforcement of U.S. immigration laws  and that is likely to mean an increase in deportations.

How much of an increase remains unclear. President Barack Obama repatriated a record 2.5 million undocumented people between 2009 and 2015.

Trump said that subject to the availability of funds, he wants to hire 10,000 additional immigration officers and 5,000 new Border Patrol agents. That would be a significant boost for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workforce, which stands at about 20,000, while there are currently a little more than 21,000 Border Patrol agents. Those additional forces will most likely increase the number of apprehensions.

Punishing 'sanctuary cities'

Immigration officials identify undocumented immigrants in a number of ways: raiding workplaces suspected of hiring undocumented workers; tracing failed applications for asylum or green cards; acting on tips from citizens; and discovering undocumented status when people are arrested on other criminal charges.

ICE agents make arrests both on the basis of their own investigations and when they are contacted by state or local law enforcement who have made an arrest  sometimes for violations as minor as traffic stops  and suspect the person they are holding is undocumented.

This cooperation is a key way authorities find people who qualify for deportation, but law enforcement officials in some cities and counties have refused to work with federal authorities in rounding up undocumented immigrants. These places are known as sanctuary cities and counties.

In his executive order entitled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, Trump says he will cut off federal grant money to jurisdictions that do not cooperate with ICE in enforcing deportations. The city of San Francisco is already challenging the policy in court.

Trump has said he intends to target undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but in the executive order, he seems to reach beyond that. The order expresses an intent to go after not only those who have been charged with or convicted of criminal offenses but also people who may have committed a chargeable offense without charge or conviction. He also targets people who have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits.

Crowded detention centers

Jennifer D. Elzea, acting press secretary at the ICE's Office of Public Affairs, told VOA that ICE has a total of 203 detention facilities across the United States. Together, they contain a little more than 34,000 beds.

About 400,000 people are detained in these facilities every year, and the average stay is about 30 days. Some people stay much longer.

Using 2012 data, Syracuse University's TRAC, a data-gathering site that tracks the federal government's enforcement activities, found that 40 percent of the people detained in these facilities stay three days or less, while 3 percent can be there more than 180 days. TRAC says often the people who stay the longest are those who are in the U.S. legally and trying to prove their status.

In his order, Trump says he will build new detention facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Court hearings

Immigration courts are notoriously clogged with a backlog of more than half a million cases. Immigrants awaiting their day in court face an average wait time of 678 days, or close to two years.

Trump is calling on the Department of Justice to provide immigration judges to immigration detention centers in his executive order titled Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements.

Unlike American citizens, immigrants are not provided legal counsel and must hire their own lawyers or seek pro bono help from pro-immigration organizations. Having a lawyer can make a difference.

Deportees are unable to return to the U.S. for 10 years. Sometimes attorneys can negotiate for a voluntary removal, which requires offenders only to admit they have no legal right to remain in the U.S. and agree to depart on their own. People who have a case for staying are even more likely to need legal help.

Removal

In 2016, ICE conducted 240,255 removals, a 2 percent increase over the previous year. ICE says the increase was due to a combination of increased state and local cooperation and increased border interdictions.

Out of those, 65,332 removals were of individuals arrested inside the United States. The rest were apprehended at the borders or ports of entry.

Fifty-eight percent of all ICE removals, or 138,669, were people previously convicted of crimes, while 2,057 people removed by ICE were classified as suspected or confirmed gang members.

The leading countries of origin for removals were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, ICE reported.

Costs

The average cost of repatriating a person outside the United States  from identification, arrest, through removal  is $12,213, according to Elzea with ICE. This cost includes all costs necessary to identify, apprehend, detain, process through immigration court, and remove an alien.

At that rate, the cost of the Obama removals was $30.5 billion; the Trump directives indicate his administration will invest more, but how much is unclear.

It would take 20 years and cost the U.S. government $400 billion to $600 billion to remove all 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States and prevent all future unlawful entry, according to the conservative think tank American Action Forum (AAF).

Here is some of what AAF says would have to happen using fiscal 2013 data:

 Increase federal immigration apprehension personnel from 4,844 positions to 90,582.

 Increase immigration detention beds from 34,000 to 348,831.

 Increase immigration courts from 58 to 1,316.

 Charter a minimum of 17,296 flights and 30,701 bus trips each year.
A top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander says Tehran conducted missile and radar exercises Saturday. The drills happened a day after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran for a ballistic missile test it conducted last week.

Iranian state TV reported that the countrys Revolutionary Guard air force conducted air defense exercises Saturday, including missile and radar tests over a 35,000-square-kilometer area in the northern province of Semnan.

The TV channel added that Irans vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, denounced recent U.S. accusations against Tehran, insisting the Iranian people do not take them seriously.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, while visiting Tokyo on Friday.



Mattis stressed, however, the U.S. was not contemplating raising the number of U.S. troops in the Middle East, for the moment, to respond to what he called Irans misbehavior.



The U.S. has, nevertheless, deployed the warship USS Cole in the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, off the coast of Yemen, in response to a recent attack on a Saudi naval vessel, which left several crew members dead. The USS Cole itself was attacked by al-Qaida militants in 2000.



qIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday there is a diplomatic "need for a common front against Iran's defiant aggression which has raised its head in recent weeks." Israel and Iran are bitter enemies.

Houthi support alleged

Saudi military spokesman General Ahmed Assiri claimed recently that Iran has military advisers helping Yemens Houthi militia fighters in various parts of Yemen.

Assiri said he would not give specific details about Irans activities inside Yemen, but he accused Tehran of being responsible for all the wars and instability in the region.

Saudi analyst Ali Touati did, however, in an interview with al-Arabiya TV, accuse Iran of helping Houthi forces in the Red Sea port of Hodeida, which attacked the Saudi naval vessel.

He also accused Iranian advisers of helping the Houthi forces conduct a series of missile attacks that have hit inside Saudi territory. One such missile struck a U.N. compound Monday in the Saudi town of Dhahran al-Janoubi.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif told state TV that his country would never initiate a conflict, though, and was relying on its own resources to defend itself.

We will never, repeat, never use [missiles]  against anybody, unless in self-defense and be sure that nobody has the guts again, to attack us, Zarif said.



U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn told journalists Wednesday the U.S. believes that Irans recent missile tests breached U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted in July 2015, after a nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group of nations.

Iran has denied it violated the resolution.
Lawyers for Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman complained Friday that strict jail conditions for their client were too harsh.

The lawyers told a judge in New York City that Guzman is locked up 23 hours a day and is not allowed to make phone calls, or see his wife or Mexican attorney. The lawyers requested easier access to their client as well as loosened jail restrictions, but were denied.

Judge Brian Cogan said he would defer to prison authorities about the jail conditions.

"It's an unusual case," he said. "Obviously they are taking extra security measures. We know the reasons for that."

Guzman has twice escaped from maximum-security prisons in Mexico. He last escaped from Altiplano prison in 2015 after maneuvering through a kilometer-long tunnel that was dug by his associates. He was recaptured a year ago.

Guzman, 59, smiled at his common-law wife, 27-year-old Emma Coronel, who attended the hearing Friday in a Brooklyn courtroom.

"This was so far the only way she has been able to see him," defense attorney Michelle Gelernt told reporters after the hearing. She said Guzman was even denied a glass of water in prison.

"I dont think there's any thought that if I have the guards give him a glass of water during a three-hour meeting that somehow thats going to effectuate an escape," she said.

The drug kingpin has pleaded not guilty to charges of running a massive drug-trafficking operation in North America, including money laundering, kidnapping and murder in cities throughout the United States, including Chicago, Miami and New York. The charges carry a mandatory life prison term.

Prosecutors say the U.S. government is also seeking a $14 billion forfeiture order as part of its prosecution.

They say Guzman's Sinaloa cartel operated for decades in much of North America and reaped billions of dollars by dispersing cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine throughout the United States.

The convicted cartel boss has spent the past year fighting extradition from Mexico.

Guzman's lawyer says his extradition was politically motivated.
Mozambique continues to resist work to reopen a waterway that would give Zambia and Malawi, both landlocked countries, access to its Chinde port on the Indian Ocean. The route hasn't been in use since the 1970s when civil war erupted in Mozambique. Reopening it could be a major boon to Malawi and Zambia's economies.

The Malawian government spends $300 million annually to import and export goods. Much of that trade moves through the ports of Beira and Nacala in neighboring Mozambique.

That means goods must travel by rail, as far as 1,200 kilometers.

Traders are loading bags of cement at Wenela railway station in Blantyre heading to the southern district of Balaka. The cement arrived via Mozambique.

Mayamiko Majawa, one of the traders, said erratic train schedules affect his business.

We are supposed to transport the goods four times a week but the train only comes once a week. That is a very big problem in business because at least we could be selling more if we transported a lot of goods in a week, said Majawa.



Shire-Zambezi waterway

Malawi and its neighbor, Zambia, want to reopen the Shire-Zambezi waterway with access to the Mozambican port of Chinde.

Proposing the move back in 2005, then Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika said it would slash costs of doing business for Malawi by 60 percent.

But recent talks between the three countries in Malawi ended in deadlock.

Reopening the waterway would cost the governments and donors an estimated $6 billion.

Mozambique's Minister of Transport Carlos Mesquitta said it will be too expensive.

"Within 10 to 15 years, the cost of maintenance dredging per year will be doubled. So, double, means $60 million. So how come it says we will have some advantage and then we will be paralyzed by all sorts of these things? he asked.



Chinde waterway

Mesquitta said the annual cargo load for Chinde  about 250,000 tons  is far less than the 15 million tons Mozambique loads through its three other ports.

But Zambias deputy minister of transport Mutaba Mwali said the waterway is worth it.

We are in a position like Malawi. We are a land locked country. And we know that water transport offers the cheapest means of transport for our goods. So we are eager to see the fruits of this project," said Mwali.

Malawi said compromise is possible. Another round of talks on the waterway is planned for November in Zambia.
The U.S. defense secretary says the United States recognizes Japans administration of the Senkaku Islands; a comment quickly criticized by China.

Jim Mattis said Saturday in Tokyo that in talks with his Japanese counterpart, Tomomi Inada, he made clear that our longstanding policy on the Senkaku Islands stands.

The uninhabited, contested islands are known as the Senkaku in Japan and as the Diaoyu in China. Both countries claim sovereignty, and China has created artificial islands in the contested South China Sea area.

In addition, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the waters that contain strategic sea lanes and rich fishing grounds, as well as oil and gas deposits.

No military moves

Mattis, however, stopped short of calling for any military moves in the area.

What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try to resolve this properly, maintaining open lines of communication, Mattis said. At this time we do not see any need for dramatic military moves.

The U.S. defense secretary criticized China for the distrust it has caused with its assertiveness in the South China Sea region.

China has shredded the trust of nations in the region, apparently trying to have a veto authority over the diplomatic and security and economic conditions of neighboring states, Mattis said.

China responds

In Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the U.S. stance on the contested area. Lu Kang called on the U.S. to ... take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands, sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation.
As time goes by, Americans have broadened their idea of what constitutes marriage. But one area where we've gone the opposite direction: marrying out of the family's political party.

The Gallup organization has been charting American attitudes about marriage for years. In 1958, for instance, they noted that only 4 percent of Americans approved of an interracial marriage between blacks and whites. These days, that number is 87 percent.

And just 20 years ago, a majority of Americans disapproved of the idea of marriage between people of the same sex. Today, 61 percent of people support same-sex marriage.

Lynn Vavreck, a political science professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, decided to see how people would feel if their kids decided to marry outside their political party.

The Gallup Organization asked a random sample of Americans a question about what kind of man people wanted their daughters to marry, Vavreck writes in a recent emailed column. A Democrat or a Republican. The question read: If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you prefer she marry a Democrat or a Republican, all other things being equal?

When Gallup surveyors posed that question in 1958, 18 percent said they would want their daughter to marry a Democrat and 10 percent a Republican, while an overwhelming 72 percent said they wouldn't care.

And now?

So, Vavreck decided to ask what she called a representative sample of people a version of this question, which included the words "son" as well as "daughter."

The answers she got were surprising: Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they wanted their son or daughter to marry a Democrat and 27 percent a Republican, leaving only 45 percent to say they didn't care.

When it comes to Americans who identify strongly as Democrat or Republican, the divide is even wider. In 1958, 33 percent of Democrats wanted their daughters to marry a Democrat, and 25 percent of Republicans wanted their daughters to marry a Republican, Vavreck writes. But by 2016, 60 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans felt that way.

It points to the idea that Americans are increasingly living among like-minded people, in their own ideological bubble, as it's been called. This trend now applies to romance.

So don't be surprised if you hear someone say, No child of mine will marry a Democrat! Or a Republican, depending on party affiliation.

Political gridlock, it seems, has moved out of the voting booth and into the wedding chapel.
Myanmars national police chief has taken personal charge of an investigation into the killing of a prominent lawyer and adviser to Aung San Suu Kyis ruling party, police sources said, after leaks and conflicting comments by officers about its progress.

The killing of Muslim advocate Ko Ni, 63, shot in the head Sunday in front of onlookers while he held his grandson outside Yangons international airport, has rocked the commercial capital, where acts of political violence are rare.

It comes amid heightened religious and communal tensions in the Buddhist-majority country, with a report from the United Nations human rights office Friday saying a military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in the northwest in recent months very likely amounted to crimes against humanity.

Tens of thousands turned out for Ko Nis funeral, and the public is closely watching how authorities investigate a killing the civilian presidents office has called an attempt to destabilize the state.

Colleagues have told Reuters Ko Ni was working on amendments to Myanmars military drafted constitution to help the National League for Democracy-led government rule effectively in a system that keeps soldiers in control of key ministries.

Police chief arrives

Major General Zaw Win, chief of the Myanmar Police Force, arrived in Yangon from the capital, Naypyidaw, Thursday to oversee the probe, which is being led by the polices criminal investigation department, two police officials told Reuters.

The official, who like other police spoke about the investigation on condition of anonymity, said the militarys domestic intelligence agency was also involved in the probe.

A military intelligence agent told Reuters he was instructed to monitor Ko Ni in the months before the lawyers death. The intelligence agency was primarily concerned with how the suspect obtained a firearm, ownership of which is tightly controlled in Myanmar, the official said.

Citizen investigators

The suspected shooter, named by police as Kyi Linn, 53, was arrested after a group of taxi drivers chased him down. One of the drivers was shot and killed.

Despite a ban on police talking publicly about the case, photographs showing parts of a report on Kyi Linns interrogation have spread widely online. The leak sparked a race on social media to identify a man who, according to the document, Kyi Linn said enticed him to shoot Ko Ni.

The office of President Htin Kyaw said late Friday that a 46-year-old named Aung Win Zaw had been detained just hours after Ko Nis shooting, in the eastern state of Kayin, which borders Thailand.

Aung Win Zaw is accused of conspiring with Kyi Linn to kill Ko Ni, the office said in a statement, adding that police were searching for more suspects.

Police said Kyi Linn, who is charged with murder, has been jailed twice in the past for trafficking Buddhist artifacts, but was released in a 2014 amnesty granted by then-President Thein Sein.
A top Pakistani official has hinted that his government would be willing to discuss with the new American administration freedom for Shakil Afridi, the jailed doctor who helped the United States hunt down Osama bin Laden in 2011.

We will handle this issue within the parameters of our legal system but at the same time we don't want it to become an irritant with anyone. That is not the purpose of [our legal proceedings], said Tariq Fatemi, the Pakistani prime ministers foreign policy aide.

His remarks to a local television station, Geo News, followed reports of renewed pressure on Pakistan to release Afridi since U.S. President Donald Trump assumed office last month.

Fatemi denied the reports, however, saying the issue has not "at all come under any discussions" his government has held so far with the Trump administration.

Fatemi went on to acknowledge the previous U.S. administration had demanded Afridi be released, but was elaborately informed that the man is a Pakistani national who violated local laws and was being dealt with accordingly.

Hailed as a hero in US

Afridi is hailed as a hero in the U.S. for helping the CIA obtain the Bin Laden familys DNA by organizing a fake immunization campaign that led American forces to raid and kill the fugitive al-Qaida chief in his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in May of 2011.

Fatemi maintained that if a third countrys assessment finds his [Afridi's] actions useful to them, it is not the case under Pakistani rules.

Afridis fake immunization campaign was followed by the covert American military action that triggered widespread backlash in Pakistan, prompting many internationally-backed health programs to shut down.

Soon after media reports emerged about how the worlds most wanted man was tracked down, Pakistani authorities moved to detain the doctor, put him on trial and convict him for treason. Currently, Afridi is serving a 33-year jail sentence in a Peshawar prison.

Fatemi also dismissed reports the Trump administration plans to add Pakistan to its list of seven Muslim-majority countries whose citizens have been subject to strict screening before being allowed into the United States.

Instead, the key Pakistani advisor described as positive and constructive his discussions with the Trump team during a visit to Washington days before the inauguration of the new U.S. president.
The five districts of Braj - Agra, Mathura, Hathras, Firozabad and Mainpuri are witnessing neck to neck contests between SP, Congress, BJP, BSP and RLD star campaigners.

By Siraj Qureshi: As the date for the first stage of elections in UP is nearing, the political temperature in the Braj region is skyrocketing. The five districts of Braj - Agra, Mathura, Hathras, Firozabad and Mainpuri are witnessing neck to neck contests between SP, Congress, BJP, BSP and RLD star campaigners to gain as much share in the voter base as possible in support of their candidates.

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Addressing a rally in support of Samajwadi Party candidates in Firozabad, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav referred to the family dispute in Yadav clan in muted tones and said that the people are aware of what happened in the past few months. People have read newspapers and know everything and they know why outsiders had to be brought in to contest elections on Samajwadi Party ticket.

Akhilesh said that Mulayam Singh Yadav is the leader of Samajwadi Party and even in the future he will be the leader. Disagreement with father does not end a father-son relationship. He said that the Election Commission had given back the cycle poll sign to him and it is a victory of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya addressed rallies in Fatehpur Sikri, Saiyyan and Agra in support of BJP candidates and commented on Akhilesh Yadav saying, he couldn't even be faithful to his father, how could people of UP expect him to be loyal to the state?

He said that if the BJP forms the government in UP, the farmer loans will be waived off in the first cabinet meeting itself and agricultural loans won't attract any interest.

Mathura MP and film star Hema Malini told India Today that UP desperately needs BJP government and only the BJP can make the state really prosperous as the Modi government is fully focused on rural development.

Several RSS functionaries are also active in the field and it is implementing a strategy similar to the 2014 parliamentary elections. 5-5 volunteers are being posted at every polling booth who will make voters aware of their rights.

An RSS functionary told India Today that a multi-stage strategy has been planned for the elections. In the first strategy, senior RSS functionaries will bring such dedicated BJP workers back into the mainstream who were dissatisfied with the ticket distribution. In the second stage, awareness program will be conducted.

Meanwhile, speaking in support of RLD candidates at various rallies in Braj, RLD general secretary Jayant Chowdhary said that no government could be formed in UP without RLD support. Commenting on the BJP, Jayant said that even after three months, the farmers are still spending hours languishing in bank queues. Demonetisation has totally destroyed the economic growth of India.

--- ENDS ---

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President Donald Trump says his executive order stopping refugees from entering the United States for 120 days is needed to keep Americans safe from terrorism. The order has received both criticism and praise. But for churches and other groups planning to sponsor refugees, the result has been consternation and confusion. Jeff Swicord visited members of a Maryland church who were expecting an Afghan refugee family to arrive in early February.
Many U.S. presidents have placed their financial holdings in a blind trust that is managed by a trustee without any input from the president. This arrangement is believed to help the president avoid any conflicts of interest between his finances and issues that come across his desk.

U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has avoided calls for him to sell his assets or place them in a blind trust, according to a report in The New York Times. Trump has noted that presidents are not legally obliged to do so.

Instead, the president has a revocable trust and the trustees are his eldest son Donald, Jr. and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organizations chief financial officer.

I dont see how this in the slightest bit avoids a conflict of interest, Frederick Tansill, a trust and estates lawyer told the Times. First it is revocable at any time, and it is his son and his chief financial officer who are running it.

Sheri Dillon, Trumps tax lawyer, said last month that an agreement with Trumps trust limits the information the president can access about his company.

The Times, which says the Trump Organization declined to comment on its article, says the information about Trumps trust was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by ProPublica.

The Trump Organization has released a list of hundreds of companies Trump has been involved with, and says he has resigned from all of them. The Trump Organization has also said it will not pursue any overseas business deals, but plans to expand within the U.S.

Washington hotel

On another issue, the Times article says the president will benefit from his arrangement with the federal government for the Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C., which houses his Trump International Hotel.

The lease for the building, the Times says, signed by Trump and his three oldest children appears to prohibit a federally elected official, including the president, from benefiting from it. However, lawyers who specialize in federal contracts say the president will benefit from the arrangement.

The Times reports that while Trump may have to do some maneuvering to avoid violating his lease, he is exempt from laws that prohibit federal employees from participating in government matters that could directly affect their own financial interests.

Representative Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, told the Times he remains skeptical about Trumps hotel arrangement and has called for a congressional investigation into the lease.
The tech industry is bracing itself for an expected Trump administration executive order that will most likely limit U.S. employers use of a set of visas for skilled foreign workers.

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump criticized visa programs that allow U.S. employers to bring skilled foreign workers into the country. He promised to make changes to ensure more of those jobs go to Americans, not foreigners.

The tech industry has relied on temporary visas such as the H-1B to bring in workers with skills it says are hard to find in the U.S. Each April 1, the U.S. holds a lottery for 65,000 of these visas and 20,000 additional visas for foreign students with masters degrees. Last year, there were requests for more than 200,000, a record figure.

But critics say skilled-worker visa programs have hurt American workers. Companies have used them, they say, to hire foreign workers who are not highly skilled and who are paid lower than market rate wages. The biggest users of the H-1B program have been outsourcing firms that do IT consulting.

Leaked draft order

A draft executive order that has been circulating among tech firms would not immediately impose new requirements. Many of the changes would rely on specific agencies and Congress.

For example, one draft document seen by VOA says the secretary of homeland security will have 90 days to review all regulations allowing foreign workers to come to the U.S., and the Department of Homeland Security shall consider ways that the visas could be better allocated. Its vague, said one person who works for a tech industry group.

But Ron Hira, an associate professor at Howard University and a critic of the foreign worker visa programs, said that the draft executive order he has seen would be a good first step.

If we got good reform, it would save and create tens of thousands of jobs and it would increase the standard of living for hundreds of thousands of American workers, he said. And it would free H-1B visas for the true best and brightest.

The first place where the effects of the order could be felt will be the annual H-1B application window on April 1. At the moment, the visas are issued by a lottery system, but the Trump administration could choose to favor visas for positions that offer to pay higher wages, Hira said.

Unintended consequences

Some in the tech industry say that some reform has long been needed, but dramatically tightening down on the visas, or restricting U.S. immigration laws, could have unintended consequences.

Jonathan Nelson, chief executive of Hackers/Founders, a tech startup accelerator in San Jose, said he has worried about whether the H-1B visa program has been used to bring in cheap engineering labor, suppressing wages.

But he said most of the entrepreneurs he works with are foreign-born, some waiting for years to get a H-1B or stand in line for a green card. If there are new limits on visas or regulations that lengthen the time workers must wait for one, he said he would open up centers in places such as Vancouver or Guadalajara, Mexico.

If they cant come to Silicon Valley, lets get them in the same time zone, he said. Ill invest in them there instead of here.

Others in the tech industry argue that barriers to visas, already so scarce, could hurt the U.S.s competitive edge as an innovation center.

We should harness the talents of foreign-born entrepreneurs and students to benefit our economy and our communities, rather than pushing them to other countries to compete against us, said Leezia Dhalla, a spokesperson with FWD.us, an issues advocacy group funded by tech industry leaders that focuses on immigration.
Facing higher premiums, less choice and a last-minute advertising pullback, fewer people signed up for coverage this year through HealthCare.gov, according to data from a preliminary government report Friday.

About 9.2 million people signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states, said the Health and Human Services department. That's about 500,000 fewer customers than had enrolled last year in those same 39 states, or slippage of around 5 percent.

The report doesn't include figures from 11 states that run their own health insurance markets -- including California and New York -- so the final national number will be higher. But the preliminary report is being closely watched, because President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress have vowed to repeal the Obama-era health law and replace it with a plan yet to emerge.

Insurance markets created by former President Barack Obama's law provide subsidized private coverage for people who don't have access to health care through their jobs. Along with a Medicaid expansion aimed at low-income adults, the Affordable Care Act has helped millions get coverage, reducing the nation's uninsured rate to a historic low of about 9 percent.

But even before Trump's election victory, the ACA's markets were facing double-digit premium increases and a sharp drop in insurer participation. Although most customers receive taxpayer subsidies for their premiums, the increases averaged more than 20 percent nationally and much higher in several states.

The night he was inaugurated, Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to provide relief from "Obamacare." That was interpreted as a signal that officials would waive the law's tax penalties meant to nudge uninsured people to sign up. Then last week the administration pulled back about $5 million in ads that were part of a closing bid to woo the uninsured. Former Obama administration officials cried foul.

Trump administration spokesman Matt Lloyd said Friday that 'Obamacare has failed" and the new president looks forward to providing relief through "patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people."

But independent analysts said the report also highlights the challenges that Trump and the GOP Congress will face trying to deliver on their promises without disrupting coverage for millions. That includes many people in states that Trump won in November, among them Florida (1.8 million); Texas (1.2 million); North Carolina (549,000); Georgia (494,000), and Pennsylvania (426,000).

"While enrollment is down, this does not exactly paint a picture of a program collapsing," said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Enrollment had been tracking on pace with last year, but sign-ups slowed down in the final weeks of open enrollment," said Caroline Pearson of the consulting firm Avalere Health. The controversy over unwinding the health care law may have contributed, she said.

Nonetheless, Pearson said the demand for coverage "remains strong." She added, "Policymakers will need to consider how forthcoming changes will impact those currently purchasing coverage."

Supporters of the health care law, trying to beat back or blunt efforts to repeal it, blamed the Trump administration for the lackluster number.

Ron Pollack, executive director of the advocacy group Families USA, said Trump had tried to "sabotage" enrollment.

"Millions of consumers still got their insurance through the ACA," said Pollack. "The Republican rush to repeal the ACA without a replacement will do real harm to real people."

A final, national enrollment report isn't due until next month. Some of the 11 state-run insurance markets, including California, have extended open enrollment through Saturday. Washington, DC, also runs its own insurance market. HealthCare.gov's sign-up season ended Jan. 31.
Shukri Ahmed Ali was ecstatic when she received a letter of acceptance in December to the elite Wellesley College in the American state of Massachusetts.

But Ali, 19, from Somaliland in the northwest of Somalia, worries she will not be able to attend Wellesley later this year because of U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary visa ban, which was announced last week against Somalis and citizens of six other Muslim-majority countries.

"If Donald Trump extends the 90-day ban, I may not be able to get into the U.S. because Somalia is part of the seven countries that he banned," Ali told VOA.

Ali is a student at the Abaarso School of Science and Technology, a secondary school on the outskirts of the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa, which has gained a reputation for sending its students to elite universities in America. The school regularly feeds Somali students to top American schools like Harvard and Yale universities.

Yet the visa ban has thrown the educational futures of Ali and dozens of her Abaarso classmates into uncertainty.

The ban has sparked confusion about who is allowed into America and who is not. The White House has said it may extend the ban or blacklist additional countries. On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary hold on the ban, which the U.S. president has vowed to overturn.

'Safeguard' Americans

The Trump administration says the ban is meant to protect Americans from foreign terrorists, but critics say it targets Muslims, an allegation Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly denied at a news conference this week. Kelly added that his agencys mission is to safeguard the American people, our homeland, our values."

More than 17,000 university and graduate students from the seven banned countries attended school in the United States last school year, according to the Institute of International Education.

Abaarso headmaster James Linville said he has eight students, including Ali, accepted to attend American colleges and universities, including Marist College and Columbia University, which are both in New York. About 45 Abaarso students currently study in American preparatory schools and universities, Linville said.

"We are advising them very strongly not to leave the country, not to come home during the summers, and that can be tough," Linville said. "Some of them are graduating from high school in the U.S. this year, and they've been accepted to continue at U.S. colleges, and so we still haven't quite figured out if they'll be able to transfer their visa."

Linville also worries about a dozen Abaarso students who have applied to attend college in the U.S. but still are waiting to hear back.

"We're not sure if maybe those applications will be affected, since the 90-day period will end after they hear back from their schools," he said. "I think from the perspective of some of the universities where they've applied to, maybe it seems like more of a risk to accept them knowing that it's possible they won't be able to come."

Abaarso has received more than $1 million from the U.S. government, he said.

Next generation of leaders

Linville said that when Abaarso's students return home after graduating from American schools, they will be among the most educated people in Somaliland, which declared independence from the rest of Somalia 25 years ago but is not internationally recognized.

"They'll be in a great position to help develop Somaliland and help be part of the next generation of Somali leaders," he said. "To have those people in the future leading countries that are important to the U.S. strategically, and in terms of security, I think that's a very good situation for everyone."

Ali is one Abaarso student who already has experience in America. She applied to Wellesley after studying as an exchange student in a Massachusetts high school.

"I visited [Wellesley] when I was in the U.S. last year, and I liked their neuroscience department and the campus was really beautiful," she said. "So my plans are to attend Wellesley College, study neuroscience, and then when I finish my education come back to Somaliland and start a hospital."

Ali said that despite the ban in the U.S., she still wants to go to America to study.

"I feel like the majority of the Americans are supporting us," she said. "We as Abaarso students are coming to the U.S. to get an education, and we are not terrorists ... and the only reason we want to come there is to get an education that we can use to help our country and our community."

As Trump's order goes to the courts, students like Ali hope to continue their studies in America as planned.
The venue for Somalia's presidential election next week has been moved from the police academy to inside the Mogadishu airport because of concerns about security and possible corruption.

Sources close to the candidates and the electoral commission reported the news to VOA's Somali service on Saturday.

The move came after 18 of the 24 presidential candidates wrote to the election commission, expressing concern about a number of issues, including security and corruption, sources confirmed.

The 329 members of the upper and lower houses of parliament will vote for the president Wednesday. A candidate must get two-thirds of the vote to win outright in the first round; observers think a first-round victory by any candidate is highly unlikely.

Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, one of the candidates, told VOA he was one of those who signed the letter to the commission. The letter demanded a change of venue.

Warsame said the candidates lost confidence in the original venue after reports emerged that the commander of the police publicly expressed support for the current president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

"The lights in the venue [the police academy] can be turned off in the middle of the election. We don't know who will control the gates, and it's not a neutral venue," he told VOA's Somali service.

During a speech at a ceremony in late December, the police commander, General Mohamed Sheikh Hassan, told Mohamud that he could "count on" votes by former police officers who now have become members of the parliament.

Warsame said candidates seeking a venue change also thought the police academy was vulnerable to possible "acts of corruption."

"Some candidates may try to smuggle money into the venue, so we asked to be changed," Warsame said.

Another source told VOA the venue was not changed because of the security issue, but because many candidates felt the police academy was "too compromised."

Election Commission Chairman Abdirahman Duale Beyle confirmed to VOA that the venue had been changed to the Mogadishu airport.

Beyle said the majority of the candidates made the request and said he didn't think the remaining candidates would object to it.

"The objective is to make sure we find a transparent venue," he said.

Beyle confirmed that the new venue of the election would be the Somali air force academy on the eastern side of Mogadishu's international airport, which is not far from the police academy. He said it had been considered a "second option" for the commission.

Mogadishu's airport is a large vicinity in the southern part of Mogadishu, near the Indian Ocean. The airport also hosts the headquarters of the African Union troops and a number of foreign embassies.

The police academy hosted the 2012 presidential election, and the parliamentarians chose Mohamud.

VOA's Sahra Abdi Ahmed contributed to this story.
Incumbent Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed to focus on establishing security and political stability if parliament gives him another term in next week's crucial election in Mogadishu.

In an exclusive interview with VOA, Mohamud said his primary priorities will be to work on the security of the country.

Mohamud said he wants to complete the unfinished business.

Security was our first priority and it still remains our first priority, he told VOA Somali on Friday evening. We will end the threat coming from anti-peace elements and we will lay foundations for reliable security agencies in the country.

Asked why he failed to stop al-Shabab attacks on key government installations in Mogadishu, Mohamud said the group has now resorted to attacking vulnerable targets.

In 2012, al-Shabab was attacking the presidential; in 2014, they attacked the parliament, the law courts, and the U.N. HQs. That cannot happen today and it does not happen, he said.

In a speech to parliament Thursday, Mohamud vowed to rebuild the army to take over the security of the country within two years, and to prepare for popular elections in 2020.

The 62-year old former civil society activist says another priority will be to create political stability in the country. He said the country needs a national political system.

First and foremost of this is completing constitutional review, establishing electoral and political parties' laws, he said.

He said Somalia needs state powers to function to determine policies and deliver to the public.

Challengers

Mohamud faces a tough challenge, with 23 other candidates competing. All the candidates are men, and most of them have dual citizenship, many with European countries, the United Sates and Canada.

The challengers include some high-profile politicians, among them Mohamud's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, who said the country needs a change of leadership.

They also include former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who has lived abroad since he lost to Mohamud in 2012. Another heavyweight candidate is Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, who worked under Ahmed as prime minister.

The candidates have been making speeches before the members of parliament to explain their plans for the future of Somalia. Most criticized the current president, accusing him of failing to stop al-Shabab attacks or to stabilize the country.

Ahmed accuses Mohamud of failing to implement his promises, starting with those pertaining to security. Ahmed argues that the progress he made on security in removing al-Shabab from key towns has been rolled back.

"No work has gone into security. Instead, they got preoccupied with personal issues, he told VOA Somali.

When I left here in 2012, everyone was able to drive their cars and walk freely. I came back to see a city crippled by roadblocks, sandbags, bricks and security barriers. You can't improve security by building walls, trenches and barriers, he said.

Ahmed said his priority would be to rebuild the army and provide support to them by paying their salary. He also said he would work on building government institutions and improving their capacity.

The 329-member parliament will vote for the president on Wednesday. A candidate must get two-thirds of the votes to win outright in the first round. Observers think a first-round victory for any of the candidates is highly unlikely.
Jihadist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida could use the controversy over the disputed U.S. travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations as a way to recruit followers, according to some analysts.

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Saturday to overturn a federal judge's order temporarily blocking his executive order banning travel to the U.S. from several Middle Eastern countries. He called the ruling "ridiculous."

The Trump Administration has been arguing the ban on those seven nations is temporary in nature until a broader policy is developed.

But as protests and legal wrangling over the ban continue, some analysts are concerned that terrorist organizations will be using the controversy to expand their reach.



The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based terror monitor, wrote that jihadists said President Donald Trumps executive order, which set in motion the temporary ban, revealed "Americas hatred towards Muslims.

The White House has said the restrictions are about safety and protecting the U.S. border. Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Sudan are the affected countries.

While highly unpopular overseas, the 90-day ban on citizens of those countries is supported by roughly one-half of all Americans, according to polls, and is consistent with repeated promises made by Trump during his election campaign.

Homeland Security Chief John Kelly said at a news conference this past week that the ban is not aimed specifically at Muslims, adding his agency's mission "is to safeguard the American people, our homeland, our values."

But Rand Corporation senior political scientist Jonah Blank says IS quickly seized on the issue as a recruiting tool.

The Islamic State has already been using this [the travel restrictions]... and its adherents have been using it in a variety of social media, said Blank.

Creating hostility

Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the ban provides a narrative for jihadists that plays into their thinking.

You are even doing a greater job of creating hostility between Muslims and non-Muslims which is one of the key goals of movements like IS and al-Qaida, he said.

The Trump administration has cautioned that the policy is still evolving.

Seth Jones, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the Rand Corporation, said Trumps policies in the longer run will tell more about the possible impact on jihadist recruiting.

I think a lot depends on what happens after the ban ends and what process will the U.S. take, he said. Will it open up to asylum seekers and refugees from a range of these countries like Somalia, Syria and Iraq?... If the U.S. puts into position a policy where it bans a certain religion from coming in from a certain number of countries, that could be problematic.

Targeting wrong people

David Sterman, an analyst with New America, said the issue of homegrown terrorism has been overshadowed by the debate and protests over the ban.

At New America, we have looked at our data which we have collected and put on our website, he said. We found that of the deadly attackers inside the U.S. since the 9/11, all of them are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents of the U.S., and none of them came from one of the countries covered by the ban.,

There is very little if any evidence that the ban itself does anything to protect American national security, he said.

Still, proponents of the ban say it is an important move toward stopping jihadist expansion efforts.

It is a temporary step and I think it is important for the United States, considering the environment that we face internationally, and transnational terrorism and the history of the last couple of years, the rise of the Islamic state, threats from other terrorist organizations, thats very reasonable for the administration to take a look at this. said Peter Brookes, a senior fellow for national security affairs at the Heritage Foundation.

It is fair for a new administration to ask its departments involved in this to review how we are allowing entry in to the United States, especially from these seven countries that are in same way terror affected, he said.
Swaziland's King Mswati III is set to become the next chairman of the Southern African Development Community at the regional heads of state and government summit to be held in Swaziland's capital, Mbabane, in August.

But the kingdom's pro-democracy groups say the country's absolute monarch should not be allowed to lead the regional body. They argued the king's administration continuously violates the fundamental rights of citizens by preventing freedom of speech and association.

King Mswati recently told an SADC parliamentary forum that the kingdom's monarchical democracy  which his administration established  is "a new democratic ideology that works."

Political parties are banned from participating in elections organized by the Swaziland Electoral Commission  the only institution mandated to organize official polls in the southern African kingdom.

Mario Masuku, leader of the banned People's United Democratic Movement, a pro-democracy group, said King Mswati's imminent chairmanship of the regional body makes a mockery of the tenets of democracy.

It is a shame for SADC to have a chairman of the character and caliber of King Mswati, who is an absolute monarch who does not respect the fundamental rights of people, [and] who does not respect the international norms of democracy," Masuku said.

Supporters of the administration say it is a source of pride for Swazis for King Mswati to assume the rotating chairmanship of the SADC. They also say violence carried out by pro-democracy groups has undermined peace and security in the country.

Masuku says people supporting the king do so only because they are benefiting from the status quo.

"Swaziland has been divided into two sections of society, Masuku said. One society is the one that benefits from the corrupt and unscrupulous manner of governance, and those will always back whatever the monarchy says because they benefit. The rest are the poor, the unemployed and all the people that respect the fundamental human rights."

The government plans to buy new cars for use by visiting heads of state and government when Swaziland hosts the Southern African Development Community meeting in August. But pro-democracy groups say the planned purchases, which they estimate at more than $11 million, reflect misplaced government priorities.
By Press Trust of India: Hyderabad, Feb 4 (PTI) The proposed visit of an all-party delegation from Telangana to Delhi on the SC categorisation issue has been postponed, the state government said here today.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was scheduled to lead the all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 6 to urge him to take steps for categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the state.

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However, the Prime Ministers Office informed the Chief Ministers Office here today that the proposed meeting of the all-party delegation with the Prime Minister has been postponed, a release from the CMO said.

The PMO officials informed that the next date of appointment will be conveyed later, it said.

The categorisation of SCs is being sought by certain outfits on the ground that they have not benefited much in the existing system.

The Chief Minister had written a letter inviting all political parties to be part of the delegation. PTI SJR NRB SRE

--- ENDS ---
Donald Trump is expected to speak by phone Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the second consecutive weekend the U.S. president will converse with world leaders.

The conversation with Italy's prime minister comes one day after a European Union summit in Malta where leaders discussed the future of the European bloc. Gentiloni and the other EU leaders promised to remain defiant of Trump, whose criticism of the union is thought by some to threaten the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance. Summit participants discussed ideas that will be included in a declaration on the EU's future when bloc leaders will gather in March in Italys capital to observe the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome that established the European Economic Community, the precursor of the EU.

Gentiloni said Friday he saw a "great opportunity" for the EU if the Trump administration focuses primarily on domestic issues, giving Europe the chance to establish the "number one trade superpower in the world."

The EU leaders also embraced a plan to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants from North Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The plan was approved after an agreement was reached on the eve of a summit between Italy and Libya. Its success is largely dependent on Europe's ability to help Libya stop more migrants from crossing into Libya's southern desert and preventing smugglers from sending migrants from the poorly patrolled Mediterranean coast toward Europe.

Ukraine crisis

Trump's first post-inauguration call with Ukrainian President Poroshenko comes amid a surge in fighting in the eastern Ukraine war zone between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed insurgents. Dozens of people have been killed in the past week as the level of violence escalated to levels not seen since 2015.

Poroshenko has argued that the outburst is a reason to continue Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its actions against Ukraine. Trump's repeated promises to strengthen relations with Russia have stoked Ukrainian concerns the U.S. could drop some sanctions.

Earlier this week, however, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine, and said U.S. sanctions would remain in place.
U.S. President Donald Trump left Washington on Friday for what his aides are calling the winter White House  Trumps Palm Beach, Florida, estate known as Mar-a-Lago.

Trump took several staff members with him, including chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior aide Steve Bannon, traveling on Air Force One to Palm Beach.

Watch: Trump, First Lady Arrive in Florida

A White House spokesman said Trump will meet with advisers this weekend before undertaking another big week of action on behalf of the American people.

Trump will visit U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, before returning to Washington on Monday.

Centcom, as the headquarters is known, oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, including Iraq and Syria.
The United Nations has removed notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from its list of designated terrorists following his recent peace agreement with the Kabul government.

Therefore, the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo ... no longer apply to him, the U.N. Security Councils Sanctions Committee said in a statement issued in New York Friday.

The move comes months after Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis government sealed a peace deal with Hekmatyars Hizb-e-Islami, or HIG, an insurgent faction.

The truce

The truce required Hekmatyar to cease fighting against the Afghan government in return for his removal from the U.N. blacklist, along with other leaders of his faction, and allowing his group to resume political activities in Afghanistan.

Fridays announcement has set the stage for the notorious fugitive warlord, a designated global terrorist, to return to Afghan politics after years in hiding, allegedly in neighboring Pakistan, though his aides insist he is present somewhere in the country.

A member of Hekmatyars peace negotiating team, Atiqullah Safi, confirmed to VOA Saturday that the group has formally been informed about the removal of their leaders name from the U.N. terrorist list.

The world body has taken this step at the request of the Afghan government and we welcome it, senior government official Akram Khpalwak told VOA. He heads a joint committee of government and officials from Hekmatyars group, which is tasked to oversee implementation of the peace deal.

It will boost efforts the government has been making to promote peace in the country, Khpalwak said.

Reaction

Local and international human rights groups have been critical of the peace deal from the outset and called for Hekmatyar be held accountable for his alleged crimes.

His return will compound the culture of impunity that the Afghan government and its foreign donors have fostered by not pursuing accountability for the many victims of forces commanded by Hekmatyar and other warlords that laid waste to much of the country in the 1990s, Human Rights Watch said in a recent statement.

Hekmatyars group has been fighting the U.S.-backed Afghan government alongside the Taliban for the past 15 years. He was designated a terrorist in 2003 for his association with al-Qaida.

A longtime guerilla commander with a history of war crimes and rights abuses, Hekmatyars forces fought against the former Soviet Union in the 1980s. Later, his militias battled the Taliban for control of Afghanistan during the brutal civil war of the 1990s.

The United States has also designated him a terrorist and offered millions of dollars for information leading to his arrest. But Washington has welcomed Kabuls peace deal and promised to take steps to support efforts aimed at ending years of conflict in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban has refused to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government and instead intensified insurgent activities across the country.
The head of the United Nations refugee agency says a proposed initiative to create safe zones in Syria for refugees would not work in the country.

Lets not waste time in planning safe zones that will not be set up because they will not be safe enough for people to go back, Filippo Grandi told reporters in Beirut Friday.

Grandi said Syria was not the right place for the initiative because of terrorism in the country and the number of groups involved in Syrias conflict.

Trump interested

U.S. President Donald Trump recently expressed an interest in safe zones, as did Turkey and Lebanon, the two countries host 3.75 million Syrian refugees.

Trump also signed an order last week barring Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely and barring refugees from other countries for 120 days. The order also includes a 90-day entry ban on citizens of seven countries that the administration identifies as sources of terror.

Grandi said Trumps executive order is a dangerous weakening of the established international norms to protect refugees.

He said Syrian refugees should be embraced, they should be received with solidarity and generosity, not identified as carriers of risk, of threat, they are not. These are people that flee from danger, they are not dangerous themselves.

Trumps executive order is supported by roughly one-half of all Americans, according to recent polls, and is consistent with repeated promises made by Trump during his election campaign.

Other developments

Also Friday, Turkey hosted talks with Syrian opposition members ahead of U.N.-backed negotiations with Syrias government in Geneva later this month.

And in another development, Russias foreign ministry said Russias embassy in Syrias capital, Damascus, was shelled Thursday and Friday, but no one was hurt. It said it would continue its uncompromising fight with terrorists in Syria.
The U.S. State Department said fewer than 60,000 visas have been provisionally canceled as a result of President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel from seven countries.

The number conflicts with one released earlier by Department of Justice lawyers, who said more than 100,000 visas had been revoked after the people they were issued to were blocked from traveling to the U.S.

The State Department said the higher figure included diplomatic and other visas that were exempted from the ban.

The executive order bans visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. Trump says the measure is necessary to protect American people from terrorists.

Deportation stay

The 100,000 number was revealed during a federal court hearing Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, in a case brought by two Yemeni brothers who arrived at nearby Dulles International Airport last Saturday. The brothers say they were forced to give up their legal resident visas and return to Ethiopia.

During the course of the proceeding, the Justice lawyers said they did not know how many people had been sent home as a result of the ban but that green-card holders had been allowed entry to the U.S.

Judge Leonie Brinkema commended the government for trying to bring Tareq and Ammar Aqel Mohammed Aziz back to the U.S. She also encouraged the government to consider how it might resolve such cases more broadly.

"I have been on this bench a long time. ... I have never seen such a public outpouring before," she said.

Brinkema added that this order "touched something" in people like she had never seen before. She previously presided over the case of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, another case that sparked considerable interest.

Brinkema extended her stay on deportations for another week, having also agreed to hear a suit brought by the state of Virginia that questions the constitutionality of the travel ban.

Thursday, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, put a stay on deportations until February 21. Numerous other cases around the country are contesting the legality of the travel order.
Rafael Diaz-Yoserev is no huge fan of Donald Trump.

The 69-year-old, who came to the United States from Cuba at age 13, may have voted for Trump but admits he often finds the president's demeanor offensive.

"I still don't like him," says Diaz-Yoserev, who works as a surgeon in Miami, Florida. "But I'm in agreement with everything he's done so far."

Diaz-Yoserev especially supports Trump's move to temporarily restrict immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspend the refugee program.

The executive order, signed last week, set off days of protests across the U.S. The White House says the order is aimed at protecting the U.S. from foreigners who wish to do it harm. But opponents say it actually makes the country less safe because it is an unconstitutional and discriminatory policy that represents a first step toward fulfilling Trump's campaign pledge to ban Muslim immigration.

Diaz-Yoserev doesn't see it that way.

"I have nothing against immigration. I'm an immigrant myself," he says. "But if some foreigners are inconvenienced for the protection of the people of the United States, then it's obviously an acceptable trade-off."

He's not alone.

Polls suggest around half the country supports the ban, with opinion sharply divided along party lines.

Widespread support

The latest poll, released Friday by CBS News, found that 45 percent of U.S. citizens approve of the travel ban, compared to 51 percent who disapprove.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this week showed 49 percent agreed with the measure, compared to 41 percent who disagreed.

"I have absolutely no problem with the executive order," says Lisa May, a 52-year-old Trump supporter who runs an in-home day care in Kearney, Nebraska.

May doesn't think the travel ban targets a specific religion, but expressed concern when asked about the idea of Muslim immigration to the U.S.

"If you want to come to this country and immigrate here, then do it legally and become an American and live by the American philosophy," she says.

Some want the travel restrictions to go even further.

Fifty-three percent of U.S. voters support "requiring immigrants from Muslim countries to register with the federal government," according to a Quinnipiac University poll from last month.

During the campaign, Trump suggested he was open to a so-called Muslim registry, though his staff has since tried to distance the president from those comments.

Muslim ban?

Trump also called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," and made the proposal a top campaign theme for months before eventually backing away from the plan.

At least several senior White House staff have also embraced anti-Islam views, including Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon, who suggested just over a year ago that the U.S. is the "wrong place" for observant Muslims, and National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, who tweeted last year: "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer this week said Trump doesn't share Bannon's views on Islam. And White House officials continue to insist that the travel ban isn't aimed at Muslims.

Diaz-Yoserev, along with many others, agree with him.

"This has nothing to do with religion," he says. "And if it means a minor inconvenience for some of the travelers to this country, then I'm sorry, but we have to protect our homeland."

But polls suggest the public is skeptical that the travel ban will actually protect them. Only one in three Americans thinks the move will make the country safer from terrorism, according to the CBS News poll.

There are also questions about the legality of the executive order.

Federal judges already have halted parts of the measure, and more lawsuits challenging the entire order have been filed. The order is also under official review by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

But even if courts determine the move is legal and has widespread public support, that doesn't mean it's necessarily justified, warns Max Abrahms, who focuses on international security and public policy at Northeastern University.

"We need to be careful about what the framers call the tyranny of the majority," Abrahms says. "We live not just in a democracy, but a liberal democracy. So we need to make sure that our laws represent not only the will of the people, but that we also protect minorities."
U.S. scientists will mark Earth Day by marching on Washington in protest at U.S. President Donald Trumps stance on climate change and on science they consider under threat from ideology, organizers said Thursday.

This long-simmering history of anti-science is on a freight train thats barreling down on all of us, said Kathleen Rogers, president of the Earth Day Network, the Washington-based nonprofit that coordinates Earth Day.

Since launching a website for the anti-Trump march on Monday, more than 40,000 people have registered interest, saying they planned to attend the march or a satellite event.

Some 325,000 people have also liked a Facebook page announcing the March for Science.

Fear of anti-science platform

The election of President Trump and the Republican party, which has adopted more often than not an anti-science platform, has certainly inspired some of the viral explosion that weve seen come out of this movement for a march for science, Ted Bordelon, acting spokesman for the march, said in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The march is planned for April 22 in downtown Washington  centered on the National Mall, a park bordered by the Capitol and the White House  in conjunction with the long-running, annual Earth Day environmental event.

It is the latest in a line of big protests staged to voice anger at the new Trump presidency and oppose his policies on everything from women to immigration. Last month, hundreds of thousands of people took to the same D.C. streets to greet the new presidency with a loud rebuke of an agenda many see as demeaning to women, Mexicans and Muslims.

Climate hoax

Organizers said the idea of a science march began as a casual conversation on a discussion website, Reddit, following Trumps surprise election.

Scientists were alarmed that science may not drive policy-making under his leadership, said Bordelon, after Trump dismissed global warming as a hoax created by China to weaken U.S. business.

During his election campaign, Trump also promised to pull the United States out of the so-called Paris Agreement aimed at curbing global warming. Trump has since told the New York Times he has an open mind on the pact.

But Trump then picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has questioned the science of climate change, to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Organizers said the march would span other scientific issues beyond global warming. Protesters will also make their voices heard on other areas of science they feel are under threat, from public health to federal funding for research.
Detained Zimbabwean minister of religion, Pastor Evan Mawarire, who was arrested Wednesday and is facing charges of subverting a constitutionally-elected government, has been remanded in custody and advised to apply for bail in the High Court.

His attorney, Harrison Nkomo, said Harare magistrate, Elisha Singano, told the court Thursday that they have no jurisdiction over Mawarires case, which carries a 20 year-jail term.

We had actually put a spirited fight to ensure that he is released today  but the magistrate disagreed with us and placed him on remand. What it means is we have to go and apply for bail at the High Court since the magistrates court has no jurisdiction to hear his bail application because the matter that he is facing is a serious one.

He said Mawarire is facing charges of subverting a constitutionally-elected government. He is accused of using social media to mobilize people to revolt against the government.

He is also accused of denigrating the image of the Zimbabwean government last September in New York where he allegedly organized a massive anti-government protest when President Robert Mugabe was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Nkomo said his client, who is set to appear in the High Court on Monday, is denying these charges.

Mawarire faced similar charges, which were dropped, before he fled to the United States where he stayed for almost six months.
Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM

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Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.

Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.

Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens.
Photo: Clarence Davis/NY Daily News via Getty Images

Earlier today it was announced that Faith Evans will be releasing a duets album called The King & I, in which she will posthumously collaborate with her ex-husband, the Notorious B.I.G. CNN, however, didnt have its musical Faiths straightened out this morning when they tweeted out that Faith Hill would be releasing a duets album with Biggie, prompting the country star  and longtime wife of Tim McGraw  to tweet out, This sounds awesome! in response to the news. But now that the idea has been incepted, why not consider a Hill-Smalls mash-up album? If the world was gifted with a countryhip-hop collab project, here are nine songs we humbly suggest would be on it.

I Dont Know Who Shot Ya, But I Will

This one requires some rejiggering, since the spirit of these two songs is very different. In the context of Biggies diss track to Tupac, though, maybe Hill singing Remember when I said the next time would be the last time? That time came this morning when you came in could sound more threatening than longing, and having Biggie rap slaughter, electrical tape around your daughter suddenly gets even more frightening.

Mississippi Girl Going Back to Cali

Just a little ditty about two big stars a long way from home.

This Kiss Is Unbelievable

For B.I.G.s part, this track is about how superior he is to everyone else, while Faith obsessed over the peerless kiss from her paramour. So the mash-up would be something like a call and response. Faith enumerates all the ways in which This Kiss is unstoppable, critical, criminal, and so forth, and he answers back Biggie Smalls is the illest.

You Cant Lose Me, Big Poppa

An unlikely love song in which Faith promises Biggie shell always be just a wish away for whenever he wants to watch a movie in the Jacuzzi, smoking Ls while she has sex with him.

The Way You Love Me Is Juicy

If you were going to mash up Faith and Biggie, the pace of these two songs isnt wildly different. Just imagine Hill singing Someday Ill find a way to show you just how lucky I am to know you, then Biggie drops in with And if you dont know, now you know.

Trying to Breathe With Me and My Bitch

All my thoughts just seem to settle on the breeze when Im lying wrapped up in your arms is basically the same sentiment as When I met you I admit my first thoughts was to trick / You looked so good Id suck on your daddys dick, right?

A Baby Changes Everything in This Everyday Struggle

This one could actually make a lot of sense! Youve got Big rapping I know how it feel to wake up fucked up, pockets broke as hell / another rock to sell, narrating the experience of trying to make a life for his soon-to-be-born child. Then at the same time you have Faith singing about the womans experience: Much too young, unprepared for whats to come / A baby changes everything. Its just two sides of the same coin.

Hypnotize Me With That Sunshine & Summertime

This is Faith Hill doing the country version of listing her assets with swagger. Weve got barefoot ladies and tricked out Mercedes, and people getting crazy on the boulevard / Weve got classic colas and ice cold Coronas, and big pool parties in the backyard. Meanwhile, Biggie says, I put hoes in NY onto DKNY / Miami, D.C. prefer Versace / All Philly hoes dough and Moschino / Every cutie with a bootie want a Coogie. Ultimately, both songs are about how to make friends no matter where you are!

Ready to Die, Because Im a Wild One

Faith Hill, singing about a woman child in a state of grace who doesnt want to brush her hair and loves rock and roll, is for sure the spiritual companion to Biggie as he raps My mother didnt give me what I want / What the fuck? / Now Ive got a Glock making motherfuckers duck. Parents are a drag no matter where youre from, am I right?
Matt Leblanc in Man With a Plan

Mark Gross, the executive-producer of Man With a Plan, has sold another pilot, Brothered Up, to CBS, Variety reports. The Detroit-set show sees two patrol partners who are constantly at odds  one of whom is African-American and the other Pakistani. Like a few (okay, all) buddy cops before it, the police officers are of two wildly different temperaments, with one being described as emotionally guarded and the other emotionally available. Somehow, despite these differences, theyre likely to be best friends in no time and the best cops in the neighborhood. The series comes at a time when CBS has been called out for a lack of diversity in its lead characters.
Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for TNT

Sarah Paulson is stacking up feature-film roles. The actress recently pocketed a SAG Award for her turn as Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, she has just signed on to star in the narrative-feature debut from director Liz Garbus. Garbus received an Academy Award nomination last year for her documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? and now shes adapting the book Lost Girls for Amazon Studios. Paulson will star in the story about a mother who, in the process of searching for her missing daughter, discovers the body of four girls discarded in the woods on Long Island. Lost Girls is based on the 2013 nonfiction book of the same name by Robert Kolker.
The Blackcoats Daughter was on Vultures most-anticipated indie-horror list from last year, and its finally got an official trailer and a theatrical release date. Formerly called February, the movie is the feature-length directorial debut of Oz Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins. It takes place over the course of winter break at a boarding school where two girls, Kat (Kiernan Shipka) and Rose (Lucy Boynton), have been left to stay in their lonely dorms after their parents fail to retrieve them. Meanwhile, a mysterious girl named Joan (Emma Roberts) is on an intersecting path with them, and as she draws closer, Kat starts experiencing dark visions. Really, its all pretty vague at this point, but that just means more surprises when it finally premieres on March 31.
Rob Stewart. Photo: DFilms/Twitter

Rob Stewart, the documentarian behind the acclaimed conservation film Sharkwater, was found dead at the age of 37 after going missing during a deep-sea scuba dive on Tuesday. His body was recovered in the Florida Keys, where Stewart was visiting the wreck of the Queen of Nassau as part of his sequel to Sharkwater. The confirmation of his death follows days of Coast Guardled rescue operations.

Stewart was a Canadian marine biologist best known for making 2006s Sharkwater, a critically-acclaimed documentary that contributed to increased outlawing of shark finning worldwide. Its sequel, Sharkwater: Extinction, explores the unexplained deaths of 80 million sharks annually. The film had intentions to debut this year, but its currently unclear how much of it Stewart was able to complete. Stewarts family posted a message about his death on the Sharkwater website, writing, Rob has been found, peacefully in the ocean. There are no words. We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved. We are working on how best to honour his incredible work.
A Midway Independent School District principal spent time in a national spotlight this week for an intriguing marriage proposal, and her journey from struggling student to inspiring educator is just as striking, if not as attention-grabbing.

Castleman Creek Elementary Principal Mandy Vaseks boyfriend, dressed up as the school mascot, proposed to her Jan. 26 in front of 600 elementary students during a secretly planned pep rally. The moment has gotten national attention, with stories running on ABCs World News Tonight, Fox News Radio, Inside Edition, Good Morning America and local broadcast stations.

But before the proposal, she was known in the halls and classrooms for inspiring others to overcome learning challenges after facing her own educational adversity from elementary to high school, her coworkers said. Until college, Vasek didnt have the ability to comprehend what she read. She couldnt process the text on pages or in books and couldnt mentally visualize what the words meant enough to draw conclusions and make inferences, as students are taught to do in English and language arts classes.

I always struggled with that, and even today, I still have to work through that a lot. I was never an A student in school. I had to work very, very hard. It got to the point when I was in high school where I struggled so much that I got to  I guess it was an I dont care mentality, Vasek said. I felt like I couldnt do it. For me, giving the students here that growth mindset, we really talk that up big because of that, because of the struggles and because I dont want any child to feel that way.

Vasek, who is new to her administrative role, didnt read her first full chapter book until she was 18, she said. The book, The Boxcar Children, is aimed at children in grades three through five.

When she graduated and tried to get into college, she struggled to score high enough on the reading portion of the entrance exam, she said.

Students who cant read at grade level by third grade are more likely to graduate high school at an older age than the average 17- or 18-year-old, according to an article by Education Week, a national newspaper covering kindergarten through 12th-grade education. If the student faces economic disadvantages, the students chances for success in high school drop even more, the article states.

I ended up having to go to a class, and it was there at MCC (McLennan Community College), where a teacher  she just had a loving heart  took me aside and worked with me harder than she did with anybody else in there because she knew I struggled, Vasek said. I could decode like crazy, I could read big words, I could spell but I couldnt read. I couldnt picture. I couldnt do the visual images in my head, and thats what she taught me.

The challenge impacted her personal life, shaking her confidence to the point she felt excluded from others, she said. But the moment she finally committed to finishing college with a bachelors degree was the moment she started to embrace her differences. She started as a nursing major, but as Vasek looked back on her life, curriculum courses she took and people who helped propel her forward, she knew teaching was the best fit, she said.

A reading specialist position opened for the 2010-11 school year at Woodway Elementary, where Vasek worked at the time. Her co-workers knew just how much she loved reading, so they encouraged her to apply. She landed the job and fell in love with teaching students with dyslexia and other students facing struggles similar to her own, she said.

Kappy Edwards, an assistant principal at Spring Valley Elementary, met Vasek in 2005. Edwards was a first-grade teacher at the time and eventually learned about Vaseks struggle. She shared ideas about how to break down barriers for struggling students, Edwards said. Vasek often helped with her students, she said.

She is a very relational person, so one of her main things was just forming relationships with those kids and encouraging them and letting them know they can do it despite anything they had been told previously, Edwards said. A lot of it was relational, which did make a big difference with my students. I loved teaching reading, and she encouraged me to do that as well. She saw some leadership abilities that I didnt really see in myself, and she encouraged me to take on that role as well.

Now as an avid reader with a masters degree under her belt, Vasek is focused in her role as principal both on what teachers teach and how students learn, she said. She shares her story with parents, teachers and students to show comprehension obstacles can be overcome, Vasek said.

We have so much more information today than we did when I was in school. Its all at our fingertips, and we have programs like Response to Intervention, where you catch kids before they fall into that gap, Vasek said. I felt like I was a gap kid. I was one of those ones who survived, just barely, with just enough air to keep on going.

Clint Glaesmann, Vaseks assistant principal, helped plan her surprise marriage proposal to Russ Johnson. Glaesmann has also seen first-hand how Vasek inspires those who work for her. He learned of her challenge when Vasek shared her story during a faculty meeting about developing a growth mindset, he said. As a former English teacher, he can recall times when writing came naturally to him but he couldnt help students who were falling behind because he didnt understand what that struggle was like or didnt remember.

A unique perspective

It gives her a unique perspective. This isnt true of all teachers, but most teachers loved education at some point and were passionate about it, so they want to continue that passion. For her, it came very difficult. Shes able to relate to those kids who are struggling, Glaesmann said. Its a great motivational story about grit, about persevering and about that just because youre struggling now doesnt mean its always going to be that way. That translates to everything she does.

Looking ahead, Vasek is working on her doctorate, writing a dissertation about how social media can be used as a tool for teacher and professional development, she said. She plans to graduate this May and said she never imagined she would be where she is now.

Up until right before I interviewed for that (administrator) position, it was a confidence thing. Growing up struggling like that, your confidence is low, and I dont like to be center stage, Vasek said.

I think it was people inspiring me to do that and believing in me. Thats why I did it, and now Ive gained a lot of confidence since then and now I like giving that confidence back to the teachers here. I think one of the great things leaders can do is build other leaders and inspire and encourage and find the talent in people they dont even know they have.
The law firm serving Valley Mills ended its contract with the city last month, calling the citys working environment and communications toxic and ineffective, and most elected officials arent talking.

Brittany Lannen, with Diaz Lannen Wright Law PLLC, wrote a letter to city leaders Jan. 12 giving a 30-day notice after four months on the job.

The mayor and one city council member refused to comment on the situation, three council members and the city administrator did not return repeated messages, and one council member expressed deep worry about the turmoil.

Lannen wrote in the letter that excessively aggressive responses to situations in city operations led to at least one resignation by a quality employee who was exceptionally hard to secure at that pay level.

We have learned that some of the security video systems have been deactivated, and the recent terminations of employees without attorney review are warnings regarding the culture within City Hall, Lannen wrote. Best practices dictate that administrators should welcome opposing viewpoints, seek professional advice and not use conjuncture or hyperbole to misdirect or manipulate effective communication.

Mayor Ray Bickerstaff said counsel advised him not to speak publicly until the letter could be reviewed. Bickerstaff said he could not name who was counseling him on the situation because it hasnt been approved. He said the advice was from an attorney the city has used in the past but who is not currently the municipal attorney.

Lannen said because of confidentiality requirements, she cant comment either.

Council member Bill McKain said he would not discuss the matter. City Administrator William Linn, Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Wittmer, and council members Larry Turner and Scott Layne did not return calls for comment.

Need for change

Meanwhile, council member Bill Lancaster said hes worried.

I guess you can read between the lines as much as I can, Lancaster said about Lannens resignation letter.

Lancaster said the current administration is a problem. He would not specify who he was referring too. Lancaster said hes not sure what to do but hes dissatisfied with the citys administration, and there needs to be a change.

Lancaster has been associated with the city intermittently for 25 years. He has served as mayor, mayor pro tem, a council member and city administrator. He was elected a year ago to his council seat.

No one in the city administration listens to someone thats been in the city for 25 years, he said. I guess Im old and the new thinking is to spend all the money that you have, dont hold anything back for rainy days, and Im very opposed to that.

Lannen wrote in her resignation letter she had a growing concern over what appears to be a consolidation of control, authority and flow of communication by Linn. She wrote that gross exaggerations to vendors about Linns past accomplishments, including dismantling multi-million dollar corporations have led to a complete lack of bargaining power in negotiations.

City administrator

Statements such as I will tell you how we are going to do it as well as requests for the names of council members asking questions or who are opposed to the city administrator on issues is alarming. We will not be used by the city administrator to inform on council members who do not agree with him, Lannen wrote in the letter.

Lannen and others at her firm grew to feel their advice and resources were rebuked and underutilized, she wrote. Information requested from the city was slow, refused or never received, according to the letter.

In researching matters for the city, counsel has been repeatedly ignored when they have asked for copies of the city ordinances and other documents. This completely prohibits progress on any matters, particularly time-sensitive matters, for the city and thus costs the city more time and money to accomplish its goals, the letter states.

Lannen wrote that when a law firm is not informed, is blocked or is surprised, it is typically because someone is paranoid or knows there is a potential problem but feels knowledgeable enough to address it without trained professionals.
McLennan Countys cost for indigent defense went up more than $120,000 in the past year, while the states contribution to expenses decreased by about $3,500.

Its not a new trend for the county. The growing annual costs once covered by the state could surpass $5 million within a year, up from about $3 million in 2010, County Judge Scott Felton said.

County commissioners on Tuesday will vote to accept state funding for 2017, while in Austin on the same day, the senate finance committee is set to hold a hearing where the Texas Indigent Defense Commission will ask the state to cover the whole cost, Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Jones said. Jones said he wrote a letter to Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Republican from Granbury who is on the finance committee, to consider the commissions request.

As time has gone by theres been less and less money from the state going to that, Jones said.

Commissioners allocated $4,679,151 in expected expenditures for the program in fiscal year 2017, up from a little more than $4.5 million spent in fiscal year 2016. Expenditures were at almost $4.16 million in 2015 and at almost $4.14 million in 2014.

The states contribution for indigent defense was $532,597 in 2014 and has declined since to the $270,000 commissioners expect to approve Tuesday.

The number of indigent people receiving assistance of counsel in Texas increased from 324,000 in fiscal year 2002 to more than 460,000 in fiscal year 2015, a 42 percent increase, according to the Texas Indigent Defense Commissions appropriations request submitted to the Legislative Budget Board. Since the Fair Defense Act of 2001 passed spending in Texas has increased about 160 percent, largely because of better systems for ensuring Constitutional requirements are met, according to the report.

Counties report that indigent defense is one of the major uncontrollable costs in their budget because they have no control over the number of defendants who must be represented at a level of quality that meets the minimum standards imposed by the law, the report states.

Twenty-seven states provide full funding for indigent defense, and six other states provide more than half, according to the Texas Association of Counties. Texas is among 17 states that cover less than half of the cost of indigent defense.

Felton said he has expressed his concern to Birdwell and Rep. Charles Doc Anderson, R-Waco, over the effects state mandates have on county government.

County commissioners approved a resolution in December requesting the Texas Legislature fully fund the costs of indigent criminal defense, Jones said.

Constitutional right

The right to assistance by legal counsel is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and the Texas Fair Defense Act of 2001 implements procedures to ensure the right is upheld. It dictates certain procedures and attorney appointments.

The Texas Legislature has failed to provide sufficient funding to offset the costs of the Fair Defense Act and has shifted this cost to county taxpayers, according to the countys resolution. County expenditures for indigent criminal defense have increased over 100 percent since the adoption of the Fair Defense Act. . . . The state funding is totally inadequate, providing approximately 12 percent of the indigent defense costs.

Commissioners courts in five of the states largest counties  Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris and Travis  passed resolutions requesting the state fully fund indigent defense services.

Back in 2010, the countys expenditures for indigent defense costs were about $3 million, Jones said.

Now were pushing about $5 million, he said.

The countys growing population coupled with the amount of people qualifying for indigent status sends the costs up, he said.

Its a social issue. It has to do with our poverty rate being a little higher, somewhat higher, than the rest of the state, Jones said.

-----

State indigent defense reimbursements

2014  $532,597

2015  $278,441

2016  $273,512

2017  $270,000 (estimated in 2017 budget)

McLennan County indigent defense expenditures

2014  $4,138,564

2015  $4,158,559

2016  $4,557,354

2017  $4,679,151 (budgeted in 2017 budget)
When Nick Harrington arrived at Subway on Friday morning with Baylor University Veteran Affairs coordinator Jessica Alford, he was assuming they would have a quick early lunch.

I was completely blindsided, and even when I saw some familiar faces, it took a while for me to connect the dots, the 35-year-old cancer patient and U.S. Army veteran said. Jessica just told me that she had to take an early lunch then she needed to collect more information from me about the scholarship, but I just thought shed get a quick sandwich and wed be done.

After opening the restaurants door at 24 LaSalle Ave., Harrington smiled and looked around the dining room of the sandwich franchise. Mark Ochsenbein, volunteer executive director of Soldiers Wish, welcomed him into the building shortly before handing Harrington a $5,000 check to help ease expenses while he attends Baylor University and continues cancer treatment.

I always get emotional and since I am a veteran myself of 22 years in the Army, I know our veterans need help in so many ways, Ochsenbein said. I know what these men and women do on a daily basis when they are overseas, supporting the interest of us back home, so I know what it takes, and we want to give as many veterans we can a hand up, not a hand out.

Soldiers Wish, an Oklahoma-based volunteer organization that raises money to help support veterans and active-duty military members, has partnered with Subway restaurants for about the past three years. About 60 Subway locations throughout the Central Texas area collected donations from patrons last fall for veterans like Harrington, Waco Subway franchisee Kevin Allen said.

Allen and Michael Ebers, a franchisee out of Killeen, said the advertising market in Waco, Temple and Killeen raised money for Harrington and the mission of Soldiers Wish.

We both grew up in Copperas Cove and we both have military ties with our families, so this is very important to us, because we have been around military our whole lives, Allen said. Subway does partnerships with Soldiers Wish all over the country, so it gives you warm fuzzies, but when you can actually be a part of it and give help to someone in your town, it makes a big difference when you are helping someone locally.

2016 diagnosis

Harrington said he joined the military straight out of high school and served in the army for six years, including rotations in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

In June 2016 when Harrington was scheduled to begin his sophomore year, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer before his thyroid was removed on June 21.

At first, (the diagnosis) was a real big blow and it took some time for me to realize what was going on, Harrington said. When we realized it was a little more serious than what we originally thought, it was even more discouraging, but the Baylor community has been more than supportive in helping me with everything.

Additional surgeries required Harrington to have 81 lymph nodes removed from his neck. Doctors found cancer traces in his neck that will require additional medical treatment.

This is going to help. It is going to be huge for me helping with a lot of the day-to-day, monthly bills, Harrington said. I had to sell my car to just help get by, but this is going to give me a little more breathing room and let me relax. I cannot thank everyone enough for all the support.
Last Friday, with one stroke of his pen President Donald Trump swept away more than two centuries of American history in which we prided ourselves on our generosity, our goodness and our commitment to embrace the oppressed. He replaced it with fear and self-interest.

With that same stroke of his pen, he struck through the famous words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Trumps order prohibited travel from seven mostly Muslim nations. None of the terrorists who successfully carried out attacks on U.S. soil came from any of these countries.

But, we all came from somewhere.

Native Americans came first, beating all of us to this continent by a few thousand years. My multigreat grandfather, Thomas Tinsley, landed in Jamestown in 1638 after a risky voyage across the Atlantic. My mothers family, the Harpers, came later from Ireland. Along with them came others from Norway, Poland, Germany, Italy, and a host of captives from Africa. They were followed by still more from Asia, including refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. We have come from every corner of the earth. We are a nation of immigrants.

We are one nation with many ethnicities embracing every skin color and many languages. More than 90 languages are spoken in Houston. Polish is the third-largest language group in Chicago with a Polish population equal to Warsaw.

We like to keep the teachings of Jesus in the tepid category. We dont like for Him to mess with our assumptions. But this is what got Him into trouble. His teachings are radical when it comes to loving people who are different than we are.

The Jews of Jesus day despised Samaritans. But Jesus specifically went out of his way to enter Samaria and to visit with a Samaritan woman. When she pointed out that the Samaritans worshipped at Mount Gerazim while Jews worshipped in Jerusalem, Jesus replied, An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.

When Jesus wanted to illustrate what it means to love our neighbor, He told of a Samaritan who risked his own safety to help a stranger who had been beaten and left for dead.

When Jesus introduced himself to the synagogue in his hometown at Nazareth, he infuriated the crowd by stating that God loved the Syrians. He reminded them that Elisha healed a Syrian leper when there were many lepers in Israel. They were so enraged they tried to throw Jesus off a high cliff. (Luke 4:16-30).

Today the oppression in Syria represents the worlds greatest refugee crisis. Eleven million Syrians, more than half of them children, have fled the brutal attacks by ISIS. Most of them are Muslim. But many Christian organizations are reaching out to these refugees providing shelter, blankets, water, food and comfort. Virtually every denomination is represented as well as para-church groups like Samaritans Purse and World Vision.

We are always afraid and suspicious of people who are different than we are. But perfect love casts out fear. Isaiah says, Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. Let the fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer. The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land (Isaiah 16:3-4).

Bill Tinsley reflects on current events and life experience from a faith perspective. Visit www.tinsleycenter.com. Email bill@tinsleycenter.com.
On Wednesday, the White House put out a statement from National Security Advisor Michael Flynn criticizing Irans recent ballistic missile test as well as a number of attacks in recent months by Iranian-supported Houthi militias against American, Saudi and Emirati ships off the coast of Yemen. The statement then criticized the Iran nuclear deal and the Obama administration before concluding that we are officially putting Iran on notice.

This is the Trump administrations first meaningful foray into Iran policy since taking office. In some ways, its reassuring, as parts of the statement are reasonable. And it does not appear that the administration is at least at this point determined to walk away from the nuclear agreement. But then President Donald Trump started tweeting. And now, there are some reasons for concern.

First the good news. Those elements of the official statement calling out Irans destabilizing behavior in the Middle East are on point. Indeed, the Barack Obama administration was also worried about missile launches off the coast of Yemen, which is why last October it struck Houthi radar sites and, over the past year, pursued a number of interdictions of Iranian arms shipments to the Houthis. Also, over the last five years the Obama team used a series of sanctions measures to target Houthis in Yemen for their threatening and destabilizing activities, as well as scores of powerful sanctions on Irans ballistic missile program and its support for terrorism and regional violence.

But fair or not, there was a perception across the Middle East that the Obama administration overlooked some of these problematic actions because of its prioritization of the nuclear agreement. So for the new team to come in and signal that this is a priority should be reassuring to some of our Gulf partners and send an unambiguous message to the Iranian leadership.

But the Trump team needs to be careful. The Yemen conflict is a difficult and ugly slog in which Americas core interests are not fully engaged, which is why the Obama administration chose for the most part to stay out. There is a value in reassuring partners, but it must be weighed against the risks of diving into a quagmire.

Moreover, the Houthis are not under the direct control of Iran. Compared to other non-state proxies such as Hezbollah or Iraqi Shiite militias, the Iranian-Houthi connection is weak. If the United States threatens direct action against Iran for behavior taken by a proxy that Iran cannot or does not actually control, that can be a dangerous pathway toward unintended escalation. Better to tie any threats to Irans shipment of weapons to the Houthis  an action Irans government has control over and which is a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions pertaining to the Yemen conflict.

The Trump administration also called for a U.N. Security Council consultation to discuss and highlight Irans ballistic missile test. This is also a reasonable step and is reassuring in that  despite their disdain for multilateral institutions  the Trump team in this case appears to recognize the value of holding such a session and using it to politically isolate Iran for a provocative test. Moreover, doing so is a good step for counterproliferation efforts. The United Nations has unique abilities to rally member states to publicly identify and target nodes in Irans missile and nuclear proliferation networks, including through the implementation of sanctions.

Whether the missile test is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, the resolution recognizing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear accord with Iran, is open to interpretation. It is up to a panel of experts that monitors implementation of the Security Council Resolutions against Iran to conclude that. Those experts couldnt reach consensus about whether similar tests last year constituted a violation; the panel merely called them inconsistent with the spirit of the resolution. So it was unwise for the Trump administration to so quickly call it a violation, putting it at odds with the Europeans and the Russians.

But the biggest problem with the U.S. statement is that Flynn used it to criticize the nuclear agreement as weak and ineffective. And then Trump doubled down on this position, tweeting Thursday morning that Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse before the JCPOA and claiming Iran had received $150 billion as part of the deal  a number that has been repeatedly debunked. None of the steps Iran has taken in recent days violated the JCPOA. And more importantly, this whole situation would today be much worse if Iran was significantly closer to a nuclear weapons capability, which it would be without the nuclear agreement.

Iran was not on the verge of collapsing in 2013 when the nuclear negotiations began in earnest, but it was only weeks away from being able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. As for the claim of $150 billion, no one knows precisely what the number is  but most experts put the funds Iran was able to obtain in the aftermath of the agreement at far less than $150 billion. And these funds were not a giveaway but Iranian money that it had obtained through trade in past years but was unable to repatriate because of sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.

Even if the Trump administration wants to walk away from the nuclear agreement or provoke the Iranians to walk away, criticizing the deal was unwise. If it wants to build international support and put more pressure on Iran, the statement should have reaffirmed Americas commitment to abiding by its obligations to the letter and spirit of the nuclear agreement and called on Iran to do the same. Critiquing the deal just isolates the United States from the rest of the P5+1 (including Russia), which does little to increase pressure or leverage on Iran.

Finally, the most newsworthy part of the statement came at the very end where the administration made clear it was putting Iran on notice. On the one hand, this could be an effective tactic. Trump is seen as dangerous and unpredictable; a tough statement that does not commit the administration to specific action could be a useful deterrent. The Iranians want no part of a direct confrontation with the United States and Trump could, in theory, use his reputation as an impulsive and unstable actor to be crazy like a fox to deter Iran and force it to scale back some of its destabilizing behavior in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, there is little indication that he and his team have the deftness to pull this off and plenty of signs that he may just be plain old crazy.

The reality is that most of the options that the administration develops would require support from partners across the globe, which means they require President Trump to be doing a far better job of building coalitions and treating our allies with respect.
Congress may soon prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing a recently finalized rule aimed at preventing chemical explosions such as the one that killed 15 people, sent 260 to the hospital and devastated the town of West, Texas, in April 2013. This news should be of great concern to anyone who lives or works near a wide variety of facilities that use or store chemicals that can cause devastating damage when they leak or explode.

In 2013, President Obama signed an executive order that, among other things, instructed the EPA to expand its risk-management program to address risks of explosions and chemical releases posed by storage facilities such as the fertilizer and blending plant that blew up in West. That program requires facilities that use dangerous chemicals to write and enforce plans to reduce the risk of leaks and explosions and to protect emergency responders from death and injury.

After spending 2 years studying the matter, the EPA finalized a regulation that expanded the coverage of the risk-management program, tightened its accident prevention provisions and enhanced emergency preparedness to ensure better coordination between chemical facilities and local officials. But the chemical industry opposed the changes, and the House Freedom Caucus placed it on its list of regulations that should be scrapped during the first 100 days of the Donald Trump administration.

The problem for the rules supporters is that it was not finalized until Jan. 13, 2017, and it is therefore subject to a veto by Congress and President Trump under the little-known Congressional Review Act (CRA) of 1996. That statute requires agencies to submit every regulation to Congress for review. Congress then has 60 days to pass a joint resolution disapproving the regulation. If Congress passes a joint resolution and the president signs it, the regulation dies.

The act provides fast-track procedures that allow joint resolutions to sail through Congress without any hearings, and floor debate in the Senate is limited to 10 hours. This means that they are filibuster-proof.

The bottom line is the current Congress has ample time to kill the protective changes to the EPAs risk-management program if it wants to. And given Trumps recent promise to eliminate 75 percent of existing federal regulations, it is a good bet that he would sign a joint resolution preventing the EPA from issuing a new one.

It gets worse. Once Congress has passed a joint resolution of disapproval, the agency may not promote a new regulation that is substantially the same as the one it disapproved unless Congress subsequently passes a new law specifically authorizing the regulation.

This means that if Congress passes and Trump signs much-needed changes to the EPAs outdated regulations, which failed to prevent the tragic deaths of emergency responders in West, the EPA will not be able to update those regulations in a similar fashion until a perennially gridlocked Congress tells it to do so.

The one saving grace for the risk-management program revisions is that it can take up to 10 days for the Senate to pass a joint resolution. Because floor time is precious, this means that the Senate leadership will be willing to take up only a few CRA joint resolutions.

The Republican leadership of both houses of Congress has prioritized Congressional Review Act joint resolutions during the next few weeks. In fact, Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently promised that Congress would use it to repeal as many regulations as possible. The chemical industry is vigorously lobbying Congress to void the risk-management revisions and Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma has already drafted a joint resolution to do just that.

Unless congressional leaders hear from their constituents that the revisions are needed to protect residents of small towns and large cities from explosions such as the West catastrophe and toxic chemical releases, a good chance exists that Trump and the newly elected Republican-controlled Congress will repeal the added protections that Obama ordered in 2013, and that it will be impossible for a future EPA to resurrect them.

This is not what voters had in mind last November.

Thomas McGarity is a professor of law at The University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Center for Progressive Reform.
Join our campaign

Last Saturday, the newly formed Group W Bench Litter Patrol, using supplies provided by Keep Waco Beautiful, picked up litter along Lake Shore Drive from Bishop Drive to Koehne Park. With only about 10 workers, we gathered 44 industrial-sized bags of litter in just two hours. Whats so awful is theres twice as much litter still in the ravine that will eventually wash out into Lake Waco, our drinking-water supply.

Since forming in November, our group has held three cleanups, also picking up in the downtown area and along the river. We ask every citizen to support us by not throwing out bottles, cups and other litter from your vehicle and by bagging your garbage so it cannot blow away during trash pickup.

Parents, please talk to your children and set an example. Teachers, reach your students with lessons on the environment. Organizations and individuals, please volunteer to clean up our city and combat Wacos appalling litter problem. To get involved, join the Group W Bench Litter Patrol on Facebook.

Bruce and Sherrell Huff, Hewitt

Trump: both sides

Every morning when I pick up the Tribune-Herald, I read these words on the front page: In God We Trust. Do we really understand what it means to trust God for our country, regardless of who is president?

It is disturbing when media report on so many negative remarks concerning our president. You may not agree with the choice the country has made, but we need to respect the office. I was appalled by the Sunday Focus section that made our president look like a deranged idiot, even making disrespectful remarks on the side of the Bible image [Time to stop blame game, face reality, Jan. 22, Page 1B]. What a shame and disgrace to depict our president in such a manner.

I didnt realize the paper is so liberal in its views, but there are many who chose to elect Donald Trump and pray that God will help him bring the two political parties together. With such negative remarks, it only causes anger and hate.

We all have a right to voice our opinion, but we would like to hear both sides. What a shame that our country is fighting against one another. A divided house will never stand. May we understand that all of us need to reach across the aisle where we can say one nation under God with liberty and justice for all. May God grant wisdom to those who have the power of the pen.

Betty Orton, Hewitt

* * *

Let me address the matter of Donald Trump, our newly designated Liar in Chief, for lying about the crowd numbers at his inauguration, as if this obsession  including browbeating and bullying civil servants under his power  will help bring this nation together. From the beginning, I have marveled at his audacity in lying about so many, many things, consequential or not.

Never has it been more clear that the devil is the father of all liars.

Barbara Collier, Waco
In his Opinion on 16 March 2016

Advocate General (AG) Szpunar held the view that an intermediary cannot be held liable for an IP infringement committed by a user of its services and, as a result, cannot be asked to bear pre-litigation and court costs. Holding otherwise "could potentially have the same punitive effect as an order to pay damages and could in the same way hinder the development of the intermediary services in question."

[para 77]

The AG further noted that injunctions may be imposed on innocent intermediaries to repress third-party infringements. However, the safe harbour regime (within Article 12 of the E-commerce Directive in that specific case) "precludes the making of orders against intermediary service providers not only for the payment of damages, but also for the payment of the costs of giving formal notice or other costs relating to copyright infringements committed by third parties as a result of the information transmitted."

[para 80, emphasis added]

The phrase other costs might encompass the costs of implementing an injunction, including a blocking injunction. The statement of the AG in this part of the Opinion, in fact, does not appear to distinguish between costs arisen before an injunction is granted and costs arisen after an injunction is granted, eg costs of implementation.
An RSL NSW state councillor who resigned recently on principle over the financial scandal engulfing the league has made a frank admission that "no one of that era is completely exonerated" as the leadership faces a looming grassroots backlash.

Fairfax Media can also reveal that one state councillor is the subject of an investigation over whether Bondi Junction sub-branch, of which he is secretary, has illegally denied membership to an RAAF veteran.

Dr Rod Bain says some councillors and staff had failed to keep the rest of the RSL coucil informed about the financial issues. Credit:Phil Hearne

Bill Harrigan, a former Australian Federal Police officer, could face a disciplinary tribunal if an RSL investigator finds evidence he has used his power to exclude dissenters as the veteran claims. Mr Harrigan denies the allegations.

The state councillor who has resigned, Rod Bain, told Fairfax Media that information was withheld from some councillors about the financial issues that are now the subject of investigations by police, the charities watchdog and internal auditors appointed by the league's national council.
Police say a 14-year-old boy was knocked unconscious by a hit-and-run motorbike rider at a park in Mount Lawley.

He was rushed to Princess Margaret Hospital for treatment.

A 14-year-old boy was knocked unconscious by a hit-and-run motorbike rider in a Mount Lawley park on Friday. Credit:WA Police

Around 3pm on Friday two boys were walking through Hamer Park when one of them was hit by the motorcycle.

The motorbike rider didn't stop to help the injured boy and instead rode off despite attempts by a member of the public to stop him.
His ruling Friday came in a case brought by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, granting the state's request for an immediate restraining order blocking further enforcement of the travel ban. The White House has said it would appeal Robart's ruling as soon as it can. Longtime friends and colleagues said Robart is known for careful legal analysis and a strong sense of the judiciary's role in checking unconstitutional excesses by Congress or the executive branch. Trump has spoken out about the judge's ruling, labelling it "ridiculous". Credit:Getty Images "He will rule as he believes the law requires, and he is not afraid to make a ruling that is difficult and unpopular," said Jenny Durkan, who was US attorney for Western Washington during the Obama administration.

Robart is known as a prepared and pointed questioner of attorneys arguing cases before him. "Anybody who walks into Judge Robart's courtroom knows the No. 1 rule is you better be prepared," Durkan said. Mike McKay, a Seattle attorney and Republican who was US attorney for Western Washington under President George H.W. Bush, described Robart as a moderate Republican motivated by a steady understanding of the law. "It's probably important to note this is a guy who was Republican before he was appointed to the bench and ruled in this (executive-order case)," said McKay, who with Durkan was on the selection panel that recommended Robart's appointment. He said Robart is known for his integrity and makes it a practice to avoid socialising with people who have cases before his court.

A magna cum laude graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Robart earned his law degree at Georgetown University. As an attorney in private practice, he worked on complex commercial litigation and rose to managing partner of the Seattle-based law firm Lane Powell Spears Lubersky, now known as Lane Powell. President George W. Bush nominated Robart for the federal bench in 2003. The US Senate voted 99-0 in June 2004 to confirm him. Before the confirmation vote, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch cited Robart's "wealth of trial experience" and his work on behalf of disadvantaged people, including refugees from Southeast Asia. Robart also was chairman of the board of trustees for Whitman College. In a 2008 talk with students there, he said federal judges can do a lot of good and noted that he'd left a lucrative legal practice to serve as a judge. "I took a two-thirds pay cut to get death threats once a month, but I'm benefiting society," he said.

Robart also worked with at-risk youth, and he and his wife were foster parents to six children, US Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted during a Senate confirmation hearing. Steve Smith, a former law partner of Robart's who now lives in Idaho, wouldn't let Trump's "so-called judge" lie. "Jim Robart is a great judge, greater man and even better human being," Smith wrote in a Facebook post. "I think he would consider it a badge of honour to be attacked on Twitter by the childish ignorant Trump." In an interview, Smith said anyone attacking Robart as some kind of overreaching liberal judicial activist doesn't know what they're talking about. "Jim Robart is not a liberal. He is a classic Washington Republican," Smith said, putting the judge in the moderate Republican tradition of former US Senator Slade Gorton. "He truly believes in the application of the Constitution and that due process and the Establishment Clause mean what they say," Smith said, referring to the Constitution's ban on government favouring a particular religion.

Smith said the judge is not known as attention-seeking or prone to "fist pounding" or "histrionics." His demeanour has generally been understated and courteous, Smith said. "Even when he is telling you you wrote a crummy brief, it was with a velvet hammer." In making his ruling Friday - an order seen not just as a judicial order, but also as a political rebuke - Robart showed that soft but firm touch. In a calm tone, occasionally sighing, he told a packed courtroom the state of Washington had met its legal burden to show Trump's order was causing "significant and ongoing harms" to state residents. "The court concludes that the circumstances that brought it here today are such that we must intervene to fulfill the judiciary's constitutional role in our tri-part government," he said, granting the immediate, nationwide restraining order.
Trump tweeted early on Friday, that Iran is playing with fire adding that they dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me!

Using Twitter again on Thursday morning, Trump continued his condemnation of the Nuclear Deal, an agreement that the U.S. and five other world powers reached to curb Irans nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

According to Trump, Iran should be thankful for the agreement, and that the country was ready to collapse before the billions of dollars were unfrozen.

He tweeted, Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them! A later tweet read, Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion

At a White House meeting with Harley-Davidson executives and union members, Trump stated nothing is off the table in response to a reporter who asked whether military action against Iran was an option.

The Nuclear Deal required Iran to limit its enrichment of uranium and convert several of its nuclear facilities to other uses, for the next 10 years.

On Wednesday, Trumps National Security adviser, Michael Flynn condemned Irans recent missile launch, declaring it just the latest in a series of incidents in which Iran has threatened the U.S. and its regional allies over the past six months. He claimed that leaders in Tehran are emboldened to take these actions because the nuclear agreement is weak and ineffective, and the other nations involved in the agreement have failed to rein in Irans military ambitions. Additionally, during a briefing at the White House, Flynn said former President Barack Obama and other members of his administration were not tough enough on Tehran.

Political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Ian Lustick, told VOA the U.S. has to be careful in dealing with Irans actions, especially since Iran can make things worse for the 6,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The majority of the population in Iraq is Shia, and sympathetic in one way or another to Iran, Lustick said. There are very large and powerful militias in Iraq that are commanded by and trained by the Iranians. Those are some of the best fighting units that have had success against ISIS.

ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State.

Iran also is being advised to remain cautious. According to VOA Persian, Houchang Hassan-Yar, an international relations professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, told them that the tone of Trumps warnings toward Tehran is similar to the rhetoric of former President George W. Bush, a marked contrast to Obamas cerebral approach. Given Trumps unpredictability and the fact that his national security and military advisers have written extensively about Iran as a regional threat to U.S. interests and those of U.S. allies, Iranian rulers would be well advised to think carefully about their next steps, Hassan-Yar said.

United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S. advocacy group, says there is uncertainty for international businesses about Tehrans behavior. UANI discourages its contacts from establishing new deals with Iran. In an interview with VOA Persian, UANI President David Ibsen said companies are asking whether Iranian missile tests will result in a reimposition of financial sanctions on Tehran. They also ask, if a company has dual national citizens [in Iran], will they be kidnapped or held incommunicado by the Iranian regime? Will they be doing business with front entities for the regime or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? All these risks are very real, and companies have taken our warnings to heart, Ibsen said.

On Wednesday, Iran confirmed that it carried out a missile launch on Sunday, but denied that it violated the nuclear agreement. U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted after the nuclear deal was reached, called on Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles, but it did not specifically ban the activity.

Shahir Shahidsaless, an Iranian-Canadian political analyst, told VOA Persian on Wednesday that the resolutions lack of an explicit ban on ballistic missile activity is problematic for Washington. The United States cannot rely on this resolution to condemn Iran at the U.N. Security Council, and for the same reason, Russia and China will not cooperate with the U.S. on this, he said.

Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, denounced Irans missile launch as absolutely unacceptable during a Security Council meeting Tuesday. She further stated that the Trump administration will not turn a blind eye to these actions.

Matthew Rycroft, Britains U.N. envoy, agreed with Haleys concerns.

Irans U.N. mission issued a statement reiterating that Security Council Resolution 2231 does not prohibit legitimate and conventional missile activities.
Jakarta: Exquisite head coverings were a highlight of this week's Indonesia Fashion Week in Jakarta amid the hijab's growing popularity in the country.

Last year Indonesian Anniesa Hasibuan made history as the first ever designer to feature hijabs in every outfit on a New York Fashion Week catwalk.

Modest-wear is the new black: a model shows a creation by SI.SE.SA during Indonesia Fashion Week. Credit:AP

"Even some people who are not Muslim, are interested in wearing Muslim fashion," she told Fairfax Media.

Just 30 years ago it was relatively rare to see an Indonesian woman wearing a hijab or veil, says Dr Ariane Utomo, a social demographer at the Australian National University, in the 2015 paper Who wears a hijab?
Thousands of protesters with banners and placards marched through central London on Friday. Credit:Getty Images US District Judge James L. Robart on Friday entered a temporary but nationwide stop to the order, saying he concluded the court "must intervene to fulfill its constitutional role in our tripart government." Following the ruling, government authorities immediately began communicating with airlines and taking steps that would allow travel by those previously barred from doing so, according to a US official. At the same time, though, the White House said in a statement that the Justice Department would "at the earliest possible time" file for an emergency stay of the "outrageous" ruling from the judge. Minutes later, it issued a similar statement omitting the word "outrageous." "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the White House said.

The president, however, was less cordial on Twitter. The Trump administration said it would go to court as quickly as possible to dissolve Robart's order.

Robart has been on the bench since 2004, and was nominated by President George W. Bush. "This ruling is another stinging rejection of President Trump's unconstitutional Muslim ban," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "We will keep fighting to permanently dismantle this un-American executive order." Robart granted a request from lawyers for the state of Washington who had asked him to stop the government from acting on critical sections of Trump's order. Justice and State department officials had revealed earlier Friday that about 60,000 - and possibly as many as 100,000 - visas already have been provisionally revoked as a result of Trump's order. A US official said that because of the court case, officials would examine the revoking of those visas so that people would be allowed to travel. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as "the first of its kind" and declared that it "shuts down the executive order immediately." Robart said in his written order that US officials should stop enforcing the key aspects of the ban: the halting of entry by refugees and citizens from certain countries. He did not specifically address the matter of those whose visas already had been revoked.

The judge's order does not mean the US has no say on who can enter it, only that the new restrictions in Trump's executive order cannot be implemented. Since it was first rolled out a week ago, Trump's travel ban has been evolving - both because of legal challenges and as a result of decisions by the administration to walk back aspects of it. Green-card holders from the affected countries, for example, no longer need waivers to get into the United States, as they did when the order took effect. And the Department of Homeland Security asserted Friday that the order does not apply to dual citizens with passports from countries other than the seven listed. The numbers of visas revoked, too, demonstrated the far-reaching impact of the order. Families have been split, students unable to pursue their education, and those in the United States unable to leave for fear of not being able to return - and not by the handful, but by the tens of thousands. During a hearing in a lawsuit by two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles International Airport last Saturday and were quickly put on a return flight to Ethiopia because of the new restrictions, a Justice Department lawyer said 100,000 visas had been revoked. The figure, though, was immediately disputed by the State Department, which said the number of visas revoked was roughly 60,000. A spokeswoman said earlier Friday the revocations have no impact on the legal status of people already in the United States, but if those people left the country, their visas would no longer be valid.
Under Sharia, imposed since the 1979 Islamic revolution, retribution is permitted in cases where bodily injuries are inflicted.

Tasnim reported that two years ago, the convicted attacker threw acid in the face of her victim in the city of Dehdasht, and quoted Majid Karami, the Head of the Judiciary in the province of Kohgiluyeh. The sentence to blindness in one eye, payment of blood money (compensation), and seven years imprisonment have been confirmed by the highest court, he stated.

Victims and their families have the final say and can prevent the punishment from being imposed, under the law. Mr. Karami gave no information as to when the sentence was scheduled to be carried out.

Reuters reports that activist Mohammad Surizad in Tehran, said that activists are urging the victimss family to show clemency, and pardon the convicted woman.

Concerned over the increase in the rate of acid attacks, Iranian officials, have endorsed retribution, but Amnesty International has urged Iran not to inflict the punishment.

Amnesty reported that a man was forcibly blinded in both eyes in Tehran in November 2016, in retribution for blinding a four-year-old girl in an acid attack in June 2009.

Several acid attacks have been reported in Iran in the past few years.

In 2011, an Iranian woman was blinded with acid by her suitor after she spurned his marriage offers. She spared him hours before surgeons prepared to blind the man with acid.

In Iran, eye for an eye punishment applies to other crimes such as murder. Victims families may demand the death of a convicted murderer, or they can commute the sentence in return for financial compensation from the perpetrator.
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By Chris Skates

Feb. 03, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By Chris Skates Feb. 03, 2017 | 03:44 PM | PADUCAH, KY

I was in prison and you came to visit me  I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Matthew 25:36, 40



Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin speaks regularly about Kentucky becoming the best version of itself. If one steps back and takes a birds eye view of the Governors initiatives, one will see there is a scope and harmony to them that is moving the commonwealth in exactly that direction.



There have been significant initiatives to improve education, the economy, and workforce development to be sure. At the same time, there are positive moral initiatives, such as passing important right to life legislation, the Fostering Success program, and declaring 2017 as the Year of the Bible among others. These encourage Kentuckians to return to the Judeo-Christian roots that built this nation and the commonwealth.

In that vein, the Governor recently signed an executive order known as the Fair Chance Employment Initiative. Bevin rightly said at the signing that ours is a nation of second chances, founded on core principles that include mercy and redemption. This initiative will allow those who have paid their debt to society to have their state job application reviewed on its merits prior to the potential employer inquiring about past convictions. Later in the evaluation process, employers will still be able to inquire about past mistakes and can then determine if the applicant is rehabilitated and ready for employment.



We have all filled out job applications. Its a tedious and sometimes intimidating task at best. Imagine if you also had to check a box confirming that you had a prior felony conviction. How deflating that would be. One would surely assume that your efforts were in vain and that all other applications would instantly be favored over yours. However, if you knew that at least your work skills and positive attributes would be weighed equally with those of other applicants, you would be encouraged to apply until employed.



Edmund Burke once wrote, All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory, they may alter the mode and application, but have no power over the substance of original justice. When we speak of the historical American Judeo-Christian ethic, isnt that the model? Shouldnt our laws, our jurisprudence and our government actions follow the spirit of original justice?



I cannot help but see the parallel between the Fair Chance Employment initiative and the gospel. We were all in that place, burdened with our own lifes baggage and feeling hopeless. Yet Christ made a provision for us. Now the Father doesnt only see our past sins and condemn us out of hand. Instead, he made a way for us. He provided a way that he could evaluate us on Christs merits.



Atheists and agnostics take the argument too far, much farther than Christian voters would allow, and accuse that people of faith want a theocracy. Poppycock. What those of faith know is that laws based on the Judeo-Christian ethic will be the ones that most often result in good being done for the largest segment of society.



Obviously, our hope does not lie in any government. Yet properly implemented government can remove obstacles and allow the hard work of its citizens to move from hope, to a dream, to reality. It does my heart good to be living in a time where we see one initiative after another being implemented that separately and aggregately will do that for Kentuckians from all walks of life. If businesses and manufacturing grow (the recent announcement of the 1.5 billion dollar Amazon expansion in Kentucky is one example) then thousands benefit economically. At the same time, as more private employers follow the example of fair chance hiring set by Kentuckys Executive Branch of government, those seeking to rebuild their lives and contribute to society have much greater opportunity to do so. Likewise, as the government acts morally, as in the initiatives mentioned above, it sets an example that the private sector and the people can follow.



Chris Skates is a freelance writer based in Kentucky.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Feb. 03, 2017 | FANCY FARM, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 03, 2017 | 05:12 PM | FANCY FARM, KY

A Fancy Farm man faces a murder charge after a fatal crash last month.



The Graves County Sheriffs Office says 50-year-old Patrick Wilson has been charged with murder and other charges stemming from a fatal collision that occurred Jan. 15. Deputies said Wilson was driving on KY 339 at the intersection of KY 121 when he disregarded a stop sign and hit another vehicle driven by Larry Wiggins of Mayfield. Kristie Wiggins, Larry Wiggins wife, was killed in the crash.



Blood test results obtained through a search warrant reportedly revealed that Wilson had a blood alcohol concentration of .23 at the time of the collision, just under three times over the legal limit. Wiggins was also injured in the collision and treated at a local hospital.



Wilson was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to a Nashville area hospital that evening. He was later released from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility in Bowling Green. He was released and arrested Friday by the Bowling Green Police Department on Graves County District Court warrants.



Deputies traveled to Bowling Green and returned Wilson to Graves County. Wilson has been charged with murder, assault in the first degree, DUI 2nd offense with aggravated circumstances, failure to wear a seat belt and disregarding a stop sign.
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This article was published 03/02/2017 (2101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Hydro Place will cut 900 of its workforce.

Manitoba Hydro is cutting 900 jobs  15 per cent of its workforce  and theres more to come.

The cuts will come from throughout the entire organization, including the elimination of three vice-president positions, and should save the utility $65 million a year.

But that wont be enough to save Manitobans from significant rate increases for the next five years unless the provincial government provides financial help, Hydro board chair H. Sanford Riley said Friday in a prepared statement.

Even with these reductions, double-digit annual rate increases would be required for at least five years in order to re-establish Manitoba Hydro on a proper financial footing, he said.

We believe that a balanced approach in which the government  the owner of Manitoba Hydro  invests equity into Manitoba Hydro, will allow the utility to moderate rate increases to more manageable levels.

Kelvin Shepherd, the Crown corporations president and CEO said the intention was to reduce the 6,200-person workforce more slowly through attrition, but the utility couldnt wait any longer. He said Hydro wants to cut as many of the jobs as possible by the end of 2017.

There are between 900 and 1,000 employees eligible for retirement, though they may not all be in jobs Hydro wants to reduce, and they wont necessarily be willing to take a buyout. Shepherd wouldnt say what the next move would be if 900 people dont leave voluntarily.

And he declined to answer questions about the amount of financial help the board is seeking or the size of rate increases Manitobans could expect.

Those are all discussions between the board and the government, he said.

Premier Brian Pallister has, so far, resisted making any commitment to a Hydro bailout and was not available for comment Friday.

The government released a statement from Crown Services Minister Ron Schuler, who pointed the finger at the NDP.

Serious problems, created by political decisions and direction of 17 years of NDP government, have forced the board of directors of Manitoba Hydro to make some very difficult decisions, Schuler said.

Addressing the financial challenges of Hydro will take time. Our government will continue to monitor the corporations ongoing efforts. We will review and consider Manitoba Hydros plan for the future alongside the necessary processes of the Public Utilities Board, which will play a significant role moving forward.

NDP labour critic Tom Lindsey called the decision a shocking and shortsighted move.

The loss of so many skilled workers puts Hydros long-term future in doubt by making it more difficult to finish projects on time and meet export contract deadlines, Lindsey said in a prepared statement. He said it will force Hydro to rely more heavily on contract and out-of-province labour to fill the gaps Pallister is creating.

Hydro said in the fall that megaprojects approved by the former NDP government would doom the utility to doubling its debt to $25 billion and cause serious damage to Manitobas credit rating.

Fridays news came as no surprise to the unions representing the bulk of Hydros workforce.

They certainly made lots of noises in the fall, said Unifors Paul McKie. First they create the false story of a financial crisis, now they kill hundreds of good jobs.

McKie, the unions Manitoba and Saskatchewan area director, said theres plenty of anger over the announcement.

Its not good  900 jobs is massive, he said, adding Unifor has no idea how many of its members will be affected. To take 900 good-paying jobs out of the Manitoba economy is vicious.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034 president Mike Velie said Hydro is targeting 200 to 250 IBEW-member positions but has not provided specifics.

About 280 members are currently eligible to retire, Velie said.

They have a brand-new board hand-picked by the premier, Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck said. This is a broken promise. Manitobans put their trust in (Pallister) to protect services.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has already lost 150 Hydro jobs in the last five years and recently agreed to a wage freeze in the first year of a four-year deal, Local 998 president Chris Mravinec said, adding further reductions of CUPE members will affect customer service.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 04/02/2017 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, filed Thursday for a US$3 billion initial public offering, positioning itself to be the third-largest technology debut in history, according to the financial services platform Dealogic. It intends to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SNAP.

While Snap didnt offer a full picture of its offering in its initial filing  including how it will price its shares  the document does offer a lot of insight into how the company views itself and how we should be thinking about it in the future. Below, weve pulled together some key tidbits from the filing.

Snap sees itself as a camera company. No, really; its right there in the companys mission statement:

Snap Inc. is a camera company, reads the filing. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way that people live and communicate. Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world and have fun together.

Cameras, of course, havent exactly been a growth business in the age of the smartphone. Snap acknowledges that.

In the way that the flashing cursor became the starting point for most products on desktop computers, we believe that the camera screen will be the starting point for most products on smartphones, the company said in its filing. This is because images created by smartphone cameras contain more context and richer information than other forms of input like text entered on a keyboard.

The company said that it plans to create more camera products to improve our life experiences.

That may explain why the company is willing to branch out beyond its app and into products like Spectacles, the camera glasses that its selling in pop-up stores around the country.

Snap reported in its filing that Snapchat had 158 million daily active users on average in the quarter ended December 31, 2016. Daily active users, Snap said, are the metric that it looks at the most to judge the health of its company. Its users send more than 2.5 billion snaps a day, the company said.

On average, Snap makes US$1.05 off each user per quarter. Thats a far cry from the US$4.83 that Facebook reported in its most recent earnings report. Still, Snapchat is just five years old and is managing to grow that all-important figure each quarter. In the United States, the figures are higher, at US$2.15 per quarter.

Snap said that it is still not making any money and that its losses are growing. The company posted a net loss of US$372.8 million in 2015 and a net loss of US$514.6 million in 2016.

The company warns that it may never achieve or maintain profitability  language that has appeared in IPO filings of other tech companies, including Twitter and Etsy.

That itself, though, isnt necessarily a sign that Snap isnt worth the investment. While its not making money yet, it is growing its revenue, which is something that potential investors will look at as a key way to tell how well it is able to support itself. The company reported revenue of US$404.5 million in 2016, up significantly from the previous years figure of US$58 million.

Snap did warn that its revenue tends to be seasonal, with the most advertising dollars spent in the last quarter of the year  meaning it doesnt expect growth to continue at quite the same clip as it heads into the first quarter of 2017.

There has been some discussion of where the Snapchat line is, referring to the age beyond which the network becomes confusing for the average person. Snapchat seems to put this line at 25, based on this statistic from its filing: Users 25 and older visited Snapchat approximately 12 times and spent approximately 20 minutes on Snapchat every day on average in the quarter ended December 31, 2016, while users younger than 25 visited Snapchat over 20 times and spent over 30 minutes on Snapchat every day on average during the same period.

That said, the company also boasts that more than half of its new daily users in the United States are over the age of 25. And in other countries, its appealing to an even more mature crowd. In Norway, for example, approximately 46 per cent of its users are over 35.

While Snapchat definitely appeals to a young audience, Snap wants investors to know that it is maturing into a serious company. The firm said, for example, that it has resolved internal accounting issues that plagued it in the past and has addressed technical issues that frustrated users and may have slowed growth.

It also pointed out that it has added many features to its app since its debut and that everyone should see it as so much more than a sexting app. Yup, Snapchat used the word sexting in its SEC filing:

When we were just getting started, many people didnt understand what Snapchat was and said it was just for sexting, even when we knew it was being used for so much more. We think this was because deletion by default was an unusual concept compared to what was standard at the time, so it took time for people to understand that we were trying to solve a problem that many people didnt realize they had. We believe that if we do a good job listening to our community, we can create products that solve their problems even if the products we create arent immediately used by everyone.

At Snap, its good to be the boss. According to the filing, co-founder and chief executive Evan Spiegel has a total compensation package of US$2.4 million. But that is due to change, according to the filing. At the end of last year, he had a base salary of about US$503,000, a US$1 million bonus and received US$901,000 in other compensation  most of which went to pay for his security, according to the filing. But his base salary will be reduced to US$1 on the effective date of the registration statement in connection with this offering.

As well, Snapchats record on the privacy front hasnt been completely clean. It settled in 2014 with the Federal Trade Commission, which had said that its claims that pictures on the network disappeared were overblown. The company also admits in its filing that it has previously suffered the loss of employee information related to an employee error.

But it also points out that, as a result of the FTC action, it has to submit to biannual privacy audits for the next 20 years.

Tellingly, the companys filing hammers home that it is not looking to be the biggest network out there; it would rather focus on making sure that users spend a lot of time with it.

 Washington Post
Opinion

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This article was published 04/02/2017 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When former senior U.S. trade negotiator Joe Glauber was in Winnipeg last October talking about agricultural trade, the notion of Donald Trump as president was the subject of late night television comedy.

There was growing awareness of the protectionist forces behind Britains startling vote to exit the European Union, the last-minute crisis facing Canadas trade deal with the EU and the likelihood the newly negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership may fall by the wayside.

But no one  especially not economists who see the world through the lens of rationality  thought the U.S. electorate would turn the White House over to a blowhard making populist pronouncements about sealing the U.S. off from immigrants and imports.

CANADIAN PRESS FILES In a recent analysis by four economists circulated by Guelph University, Joe Glauber points out the people who arguably have the most to lose from unravelling trade relationships are farmers and ranchers in Americas heartland, where he saw his strongest support.

Well, they were wrong, and it turns out Trump wasnt just rattling sabres. He is doing what he said he would do, which should surprise no one.

Now, economists such as Glauber are busy analyzing how much damage he can do to hard-fought gains in the flow of agricultural goods and services between countries over the past three decades.

In a recent analysis by four economists circulated by Guelph University, Glauber points out the people who arguably have the most to lose from unravelling trade relationships are farmers and ranchers in Americas heartland, where he saw his strongest support.

Roughly one-third of what U.S. farmers produce is exported. Its closer to 50 per cent for crops such as wheat, soybeans and cotton.

Moreover, with a slowing population growth rate at home, more than 97 per cent of the anticipated population growth over the next 35 years is anticipated to take place outside of U.S. borders, said Glauber, now an analyst with the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Those facts explain why U.S. agricultural interests have been such strong supporters of free trade agreements in the past.

Yet, they still voted for Trump, who has promised to raise tariffs on exports to China, now the U.S.s biggest trading partner, to 45 per cent. Thats bound to have repercussions, despite the prevailing rhetoric that China needs U.S. farmers to feed its growing middle class.

Those arguments ignore the fact that there are many other suppliers in the world  particularly in South America and the Black Sea region  which have the capacity to ramp up production and exports to meet those demands, Glauber said. U.S. farmers and ranchers would likely be the primary losers, particularly as Chinas demand increases over the long run.

As for NAFTA, its not clear what Trump wants by way of concessions from his countrys closest trading partners, but it appears reinstitution of barriers, such as mandatory country-of-origin for livestock entering the U.S., is back on the agenda. Interestingly, that law was struck down under World Trade Organization rules, not NAFTA. But that win took six years and millions of dollars out of Canadian pockets.

Glauber said any move to apply punitive tariffs or trade barriers on Canadian and Mexican imports would disrupt the highly integrated supply chains that have evolved under NAFTA, costing producers and processors  not to mention consumers who have enjoyed higher availability and lower food bills.

There are also the indirect effects of the Trump presidency. His administration has so far added a new layer of volatility to markets that makes other major world and weather events look tame.

Bruno Larue, an agricultural economist with Universite Laval, says Trumps plan to increase government spending could cause further devaluation of the Canadian dollar.

That makes Canadian exports more competitive, which cuts into the market share held by U.S. producers and processors. That would result in their pursuit of trade remedies such as countervailing and antidumping actions, he said.

More than half of Canadas agricultural production is exported, much of it to the U.S. The industry has been the target of protectionist forces in the past and is well aware of the potential.

For now, all it can do is wait and see what Trump decides to do next.

Laura Rance is editorial director for Farm Business Communications. She can be reached at laura@fbcpublishing.com or 204-792-4382.
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This article was published 03/02/2017 (2101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Winnipegs StandardAero facility will get a four-year, $45-million contract to overhaul engines for the Canadian military.

Winnipeg Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson made the announcement at StandardAeros Sargent Avenue facility Friday afternoon.

Its very good news for the local economy, Eyolfson said.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Workers will repair engines for Canada's fleet of CP-140 Auroras and CC-130H Hercules at Winnipeg's StandardAero facility.

However, its not clear how many new jobs will be created. Eyolfson said it helps ensure existing jobs continue, but the company wasnt clear how many new jobs might result.

The contract will see Winnipeg workers repairing T56 engines for Canadas fleet of CP-140 Auroras, which are maritime patrol planes, and CC-130H Hercules.

The Hercules, which Canada began replenishing in 2010, are used for troop transport, search-and-rescue missions, air-to-air refuelling, aircrew training and tactical airlifts.

Canada has 18 Auroras and 13 Hercules. There are some Hercules based at 17 Wing in Winnipeg, but the Auroras are located in British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

Another $45-million, 51-month contract was given to Magellan Aerospace in Mississauga, Ont., for engine maintenance on Canadas CF-18 Hornets.

The contracts are for an initial period of four years and three months. The $45-million price tag is flexible and can be adjusted each year depending on need and budgets. The contract can be renewed at the end of the 51 months, possibly as long as the life span of the planes.

They are the first contracts the Canadian military has issued with that flexibility.

Both StandardAero and Magellan are required to invest the value of the contracts into the economy, creating jobs at their Canadian facilities.

Eyolfson said it doesnt make sense not to be flexible. He added that if needs are greater, the company might get more work.

The announcement comes as the federal government is trying to make amends with Manitobas aerospace industry following legislation that eliminated the requirement for Air Canada to keep high-paying, heavy-maintenance jobs in the city.

Eyolfson, whose Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley riding is home to many of Manitobas aerospace companies, has received the brunt of the local criticism, particularly because he initially said he would vote against the legislation, but changed his mind when his vote would have meant the bill would pass or fail.

He said he has heard from some people who are upset with the government for its aerospace decisions, but he said its not a large number.

In addition to the announcement, the government contract for heavy maintenance on new search-and-rescue planes will bring an estimated 100 new jobs to the city after the first planes are delivered in 2019.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has also said Winnipeg stands to benefit from plans to buy new fighter jets and refurbish CF-18s to keep them airworthy.

No specifics of that plan have been released.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 03/02/2017 (2101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon police believe they have made their first seizure of the so-called designer drug known as bath salts.

A youth has been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking of suspected bath salts following the raid of a city home on Wednesday.

Police caution that at this point they only believe the drug to be bath salts. The substance has yet to be sent for testing.

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Files A vile holding "bath salts", a designer drug that Brandon police believe has surfaced in their city.

If it turns out to be what it appears, it marks a troubling development in the local drug trade.

If it is in fact bath salts, then obviously its very concerning due to the dangers and risks that are associated with this substance, Brandon Police Service Sgt. David Andrew said. Dealing with chemicals such as these, its not really known what exact harm it could do to the body.

The Brandon Police Service has never come across bath salts before, Andrew said, so the investigators suspicion is based on what theyve read or learned in courses.

As part of an ongoing investigation, Brandon police executed a search warrant at a city home on Wednesday evening. Inside, they found and arrested a 22-year-old man and 17-year-old boy.

Also in the home, they found a small amount of cocaine and crystal meth, and about 10 ounces of what officers believed to be bath salts  Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).

While it remains to be seen whether a lab confirms MDPV, the discovery was taken seriously enough for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to email the court Thursday morning to instruct the laying of charges against both suspects in relation to MDPV as soon as possible.

Court documents show that the youth, at least, has been charged with possession of MDPV for the purpose of trafficking. The adults paperwork wasnt available to confirm whether he also has been charged with that offence.

The youth was granted bail on Thursday, while the adult remains in custody.

Andrew said both have been charged with possession of cocaine and crystal meth for the purpose of trafficking, based on the fact that packaging materials were also found at the apartment, and with possession of proceeds of crime.

So-called bath salts  nicknamed such because they look like epsom salts used in bath water, or because they were once sold as bath salts  are typically a mix of one or more cathininones (stimulants) that can include MDPV.

The danger is that the user doesnt know what is in the powder, especially as bath salts can be found to be mixed with cocaine.

If testing confirms it was MDPV that was found in the Brandon home with cocaine, it raises the possibility that they were being mixed.

If in fact it is bath salts thats being used as a cutting agent, then thats even more concerning, Andrew said.

Users of bath salts can experience euphoria, alertness and increased sex drive. But, use can also bring hallucinations, panic attacks and anxiety.

Long-term effects can include depression, anxiety, violence, suicide and death.

In the United States, the media linked bath salts to a series of violent incidents, including two especially gruesome ones.

In 2012, Miami police fatally shot a man believed to have been on bath salts when he ate the face of another homeless man. While it was rumoured the offender had taken bath salts, only marijuana was found in his system.

In August 2016, also in Florida, a 19-year-old university student stormed out of a restaurant and allegedly killed a married couple. Police arrived to find the suspect eating the murdered mans face.

While initial tests showed no drugs in the suspects system, a sheriff said they wouldnt be surprised if they found Flakka  a stimulant similar to bath salts.

In 2012, Canada made it illegal to possess and traffic MDPV. It was placed in the same drug category as heroine, methamphetamine and cocaine.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com
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Police in Brandon believe they have seized the designer drug known as bath salts for the first time.

A youth was charged with possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking, following the raid of a home in the city Wednesday.

Police said the substance must be tested to confirm it is bath salts.

If it is in fact bath salts, then obviously its very concerning due to the dangers and risks that are associated with this substance, Brandon Police Service Sgt. David Andrew said.

Dealing with chemicals such as these, its not really known what exact harm it could do to the body.

Brandon police had never come across bath salts before, Andrew said, so the investigators suspicion is based on what theyve read or learned during course study.

As part of an ongoing investigation, police executed a search warrant at a home Wednesday evening, where they found a 22-year-old man and 17-year-old boy. Police said they found a small amount of cocaine and crystal methamphetamine, and about 10 ounces of what they believe is methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).

Court documents show the youth was charged with possession of MDPV for the purpose of trafficking.

Its not known if the adult has been charged with that offence.

The youth was granted bail on Thursday, while the adult remained in custody.

Andrew said both accused have been charged with possession of cocaine and crystal meth for the purpose of trafficking  based on the fact that packaging materials were also found at the apartment  and with possession of proceeds of crime.

So-called bath salts are typically a mix of one or more stimulants that can include MDPV.

The user often doesnt know what is in the powder because bath salts can be mixed with cocaine.

If testing confirms the substance is MDPV, it raises the possibility it was being mixed with cocaine.

Thats even more concerning, Andrew said.

In 2012, Canada made it illegal to possess and traffic MDPV. The substance was placed in the same drug category as heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.

 Brandon Sun
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The impending closure of Elkhorns only bank is causing a great deal of anguish for residents, says the president of the local chamber of commerce.

CIBC will be closing the Elkhorn Banking Centre on Aug. 18 due to low business volumes.

From the senior end its a great blow  and the business end, Mark Humphries, Elkhorn District Chamber of Commerce president, said.

About 100 people turned up for a community meeting hosted by CIBC earlier this week.

Humphries believes the number would have been higher if there was a chance to reverse the decision.

The largest demographic in attendance was the senior population, many of whom still prefer in-person banking.

Any time we look at closing a banking centre, its a decision that we make very carefully, said CIBC spokeswoman Caroline Van Hasselt in an email.

In the case of our Elkhorn Banking Centre, we have seen low business volumes, which have been declining in recent years.

Once the branch closes, residents will have to drive to Virden or across the border to Moosomin, Sask., for their banking needs.

This would be approximately a 20- to 30-minute drive.

Theyve got that extra burden on them to either find transport, or to ask somebody else to go for them, Humphries said.

Thats the issue that most of them there were raising.

The bank has been in the community for nearly 115 years and many residents have used it their entire lives.

Humphries said the community of about 500 is a growing town.

Theyve managed to save the local school from closure a few years ago, Humphries said.

The community raised $300,000 for a new spray park, he added.

The hope is Elkhorn can entice another financial institution to come to town.

We seriously hope so, Humphries said.

We know its going to be a fight, we know its going to be an uphill battle, but Elkhorn is not one to give in. So were going to push forward and try.

 Brandon Sun
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It all started on Aug. 29, 2007.

Thats when I first heard the words, You have breast cancer, Lisa Babey said Friday.

Babeys first thoughts, other than shock and initial fear, were of her maternal grandmother, Tekla, who died of heart disease exactly 25 years earlier on Aug. 29, 1982. The bizarre coincidence had an unexpected effect on her.

The kismet or randomness somehow gave me comfort, said Babey, who was 38 years old when she was diagnosed. That (Tekla) throughout this journey would somehow be taking care of me in some way, shape or form.

That was nearly a decade ago. Since then Babey has had a recurrence of cancer in her breastbone in 2011, and in a lung in 2014. Recently, a jelly bean-size tumour was detected in her brain.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Cancer patient, Lisa Babey tours the Research Institute at CancerCare Manitoba.

In fact, earlier this week Babey, an entomology researcher at the University of Manitoba, underwent gamma knife surgery to address the brain tumour. The only evidence of the operation is a small red dot on her forehead left by a frame to guide the laser to its target. But to paraphrase Babey, you should see the other guy.

We found that thing and sent it back to hell, she said.

On Friday, Babey was the focus of A Day in the Life of a Cancer Patient, as a gaggle of media followed her through CancerCare Manitobas treatment facilities. Today is World Cancer Day.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Babey with Dr. Julian Kim, Radiation Oncologist by the linear accelerator for radiation therapy.

It was a behind-the-scenes glimpse of CancerCares radiation, chemotherapy and research stations housed in the McDermot Avenue building where most of the 6,800 Manitobans expected to be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year will undergo treatment.

First was the linear accelerator, the high-tech $4.3 million machine that delivers radiation. There are six in the building, which handle about 250 patients a day.

Babey has undergone 25 radiation events in total. Another four treatments were boosters to target scars around her tumours.

It produces therapeutic X-rays in a very precise manner in order to target the tumour and avoid the normal tissues around it, radiation oncologist Julian Kim explained. For example, if youre treating a tumour in the lung, you want to avoid the heart. This can do that with ease.

Fifteen years ago we were not using anything nearly as complex as this. Almost real-time dose imagery.

Its estimated that one-in-three Canadians will need radiation therapy in their lifetime. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Next was what Babey called the big, blue chair  the seat where she receives chemotherapy every three weeks. Each session lasts about 90 minutes.

Babey can only ballpark the number of chemo treatments shes had since her initial diagnosis.

Hundreds, she said.

Yet when asked what advice she might offer to the people who will sit in that big, blue chair in the future, Babey was hopeful.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Babey sits in the "big blue chair" in the chemotherapy treatment room as she listens to Jodi Hyman, a nurse educator at CancerCare Manitoba.

Its very scary, she said. There are fears of treatment effects. And Id like people to be reassured that they will be taken care of in a manner that is top-notch. They dont have to be afraid of treatment.

Babey said CancerCares nurses are vital in helping patients cope with often-overwhelming anxiety and depression.

All of the staff here have become like my family, she said. They have to keep their distance in order to do their jobs. So they take care of me with their hands and they hug me with their eyes.

Theres absolutely no way I could have gone through this journey of chemotherapy without this great, cohesive and loving team. They are undying in their dedication to their patients. I get pretty choked up about them.

Im not just seen as a tumour. Im not just seen as a cancer. Im seen as a person. Im treated as a person who is living with cancer, not dying from cancer.

The hands-on, human interaction can be a constant. But the science never stops evolving. For example, the chemo drugs Babey now receives were approved only a few years ago. And theyre also designed to attack her specific cancer.

Weve had targeted treatments for a long time, offered medical oncologist Vallerie Gordon. (But) were getting more finesse, were learning more about cancers. And breast cancer is probably one of the better-known cancers that can be broken down into different types to direct our therapy to those weaknesses.

Custom treatment is now a buzzword in cancer treatment. There is a reason: Up on the sixth floor is the Tumour Bank, where more than 2,000 cancer case samples are kept in wax cubes or -80 C freezers. Blood samples are stored in liquid nitrogen tanks.

Part of my breast is in here somewhere, Babey cracked.

Shes probably right, according to Dr. Spencer Gibson, head of the cell biology section of the centres Research Institute.

Youre surrounded by the bank, Gibson said, adding that the CancerCare samples are linked with similar tumour banks across the country. The goal is to collect as many strains of cancer  lung, breast, prostate, leukemia  and study them. Then connect individual treatments to the research.

It used to be all about the cancer, he said. Today, its all about the patient. Its how can we treat your breast cancer, instead of treating breast cancer (the same) as everybody.

Babey said she has either experienced or benefitted from every step along Fridays tour. Just 10 years ago, she was a seemingly healthy, fit, young woman with no history of breast cancer in her family. I thought it happened to other people, she said.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Spencer Gibson, Head of Cell Biology at the Research Institute at CancerCare Manitoba by the storage freezers used for preserving cancer samples at -80C so they don't degrade.

She found out differently, and now wants to share a story, and journey, that has not been all sunshine and lollipops. There was shock. There was fear of death. Depression.

And now, hope.

Things shifted, she said. I went through feeling I could beat it, and then when the recurrence happened I was extremely disappointed. But through all this time I was given the confidence from my doctors that no matter what happened we had many, many different tools that we could use to treat my cancer as a chronic disease rather than a terminal illness.

Its not a death sentence. Its a matter of using the most cutting-edge technologies that can to give me a good quality of life.

Living with cancer has changed Babey. She has been in Stage 4  the final one  since 2011. Shes been told its incurable, but so far manageable. The future, to her, is as much about discoveries in treatment as her own life plans.

Time is on my side, she said. There are advances made every day. I live in the moment and not to think about the future because the future is fiction. No one knows whats going to happen. We dont know what kind of cure or treatment or prevention tool is going to come our way, that might be right around the corner.

I have gratitude for every moment and try to notice the little things. So I have hope. I dont have dread for the future.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @randyturner15

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Lab Technician Andrea Fristensky handles a slice of a mouse brain mixed with human cancer cells in the tumor bank at the Research Institute at CancerCare Manitoba. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Lisa Babey points to the elevator door with her photo on it while at CancerCare Manitoba. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Senior Radiation Therapist Scott Payton demonstrates the rotation of the linear accelerator at CancerCare Manitoba.
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DEVILS LAKE  Daniel Michael Two Hearts, a fugitive accused of firing a handgun at a state trooper and stealing at least three vehicles, was taken into a hospital late Friday after engaging in a standoff with police in Devils Lake and shooting himself.

According to a statement from the Ramsey County States Attorneys Office, officers evacuated a downtown apartment building where Two Hearts, 23, was located. While law enforcement was negotiating with Two Hearts to give himself up, a gunshot went off in the building.

States Attorney Kari Agotness said there were no hostages involved in the incident, contrary to an earlier media report.

Robert Snell, who said he is a cousin of Two Hearts, lives on the same floor of the apartment building as the unit that served as the stage for the final standoff. Snell and his family were outside as the negotiation played out, waiting and hoping for a peaceful resolution.

They were saying they didnt want to hurt him, didnt want to kill him, said Snell. But then we heard the gunshot.

NORTH DAKOTA HIGHWAY PATROL PHOTO Daniel Michael Two Hearts, 23, has been on the run since late Thursday and is still at large.

Two Hearts had been on the run from law enforcement after leading officers on a chase starting Thursday in Grand Forks, during which he fired a weapon at a Patrol officer, according to Patrol news releases. He fled and remained on the loose while stealing three vehicles, including one with a baby inside in Hillsboro, N.D.

The Traill County States Attorneys Office charged Two Hearts on Friday with Class A felony attempted murder, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Two Hearts abandoned a stolen GMC Sierra pickup at the Devils Lake Wal-Mart Friday afternoon before showing up at the Locke Block apartments in the city, where he reportedly met up with people he knew.

The investigation and pursuit of Two Hearts had united a host of agencies as it took its course. According to Agotness, that group included members of the Devils Lake Police Department, Ramsey County Sheriffs Department, Benson County Sheriffs Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Lake Region Narcotics Task Force, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Snell was out of the building when he got word his cousin was holed up on his floor. When he walked back towards the Blocks front door, he said police had already surrounded the building.

It was crazy, said Snell. I was walking outside and they pulled up with their guns drawn asking Is that him? 

As Snell tried to work his way back home, his girlfriend, Tiffany Ross, and their two young children  Kieran, 5, and Vaya, 2  were in the process of leaving. Ross said shed met Two Hearts over the course of her relationship with Snell. She described him as shy around her and said hed seemed nice in their past encounters.

Ross said it had been surprising to see Two Hearts in the news. It was also startling when, on Friday night, shed answered a knock at the door to find officers in the hall with their weapons unholstered.

We didnt know if there would be shots fired or what, Ross said. We didnt want (Two Hearts) or any of the officers to get hurt, and we werent trying to stay inside.

Ross younger brother, Wyatt, was staying with the family and was in the apartment Friday when police evacuated the building.

I just gathered up the babies, my niece and nephew, and got them ready to get out, he said.

Two Hearts is originally from the Spirit Lake Reservation south of Devils Lake, as are Snell, the Rosses and many of the other occupants of the building. Wyatt Ross said he had been friends with Two Hearts in the past on the reservation. Ross described Two Hearts as someone who had fallen into a lifestyle of methamphetamine use and drug-related trouble.

He was a good guy, but the meth, it changes you, he said. When I heard about all this stuff, it made me sad. All you can do now is pray.

Snell said Two Hearts had largely been raised by his grandmother, who lived in a building adjacent to the one the fugitive had ended up in. Snell pointed out a window in the back end of the Block where he said his cousin had shattered the glass in an attempt to call to his grandmother across the alleyway. Before Two Hearts shot himself, Snell said, he had written a note for his grandmother to tell her he loved her.

After the shot was fired and police gained entry to the apartment, Two Hearts was transported first to the hospital in Devils Lake before being airlifted to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks. Snell said he and his family waited late into the night at the local hospital to learn as much as they could of the status of his cousin.

From what Snell had last heard, Two Hearts had a punctured lung and had persistent buildups of fluids in his chest. He had also been told his cousin had suffered frostbite in his extremities, a condition likely caused by periods in the chase when Two Hearts fled on foot from pursuing officers.

His condition was unknown as of Saturday afternoon.

 Grand Forks Herald
Opinion

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Theres a wall that stretches across Assiniboine River, interrupting the skating trail. Its pretty hard to miss. A bright safety-orange bar, glowing against the winter snow.

From far away, it looks garish and inpenetrable. Get closer, though, and youll see that the wall is made out of sunlight-catching transluencent strips. You can easily pass through it, or take shelter in the middle of it.

Make no mistake: this piece is political. Designed by Rotterdam-based artists Joyce de Grauw and Paul van den Berg as part of Warming Huts: An Art + Architecture Competition on Ice, its called Open Border.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ethan Offman, age 9, pushes a kicksled through the Open Border warming hut, a wall made out of orange plastic strips hanging across the river trail along the Assiniboine River.

As laughing children skate back and forth through this open border under a brilliant blue sky on Friday afternoon, another conversation about borders is taking place not far away, at Portage and Main. Several dozen protestors have assembled for a peaceful demonstration, the first of two to be held on Friday, organized by a migrant justice group called No One is Illegal. Protestors here are denouncing U.S. president Donald Trumps Muslim ban (because thats what it is), as well as calling for Mayor Brian Bowman to formally designate Winnipeg a sancutary city. Sancutary cities are cities that protect undocumented residents.

Many protestors carry signs. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, reads one. No Ban on Stolen Land, reads another.

Leen, 11, is carrying a sign that says We Heart Muslims. The sentiment is underlined with five red hearts. Shes at the rally with a friend and some family members. While other kids her age are spending their day off from school skating at the Forks, shes gearing up to speak at a rally.

Leen, who would not disclose her last name, was born in Canada. Her parents are immigrants. One is from Saudi Arabia, the other from Syria.

Even if she didnt have the day off school, shed be here. I feel like even kids have a say about this  that means this is a big deal, she tells me. Everybodys being affected. This could become bigger and bigger, thats why we have to stop it at the core of the issue.

John Woods / The Canadian Press People gathered on Friday, in downtown Winnipeg to encourage Mayor Brian Bowman to make Winnipeg a sanctuary city for undocumented migrants.

When its her turn to take the megaphone and address the crowd, her voice is fiery and passionate. She sounds a lot older than 11, a point that is not lost on Leen herself.

Im not supposed to be here, she says. Kids are not supposed to be worried. Nobodys supposed to be. Conversations at school are becoming less fun and more serious. I wonder why? I think to myself sometimes, Why am I worried? Isnt that something a parent is supposed to do? Isnt it something a leader is supposed to do?

Children are watching. Theyre witnessing the horror that cannot be erased from their memories. Shocked and scared. Worried about their friends, family. Thats not supposed to happen.

Shes right, of course. The children are watching. And every day seems to bring with it a fresh horror, such as a lone gunman walking into a Quebec mosque and killing six people assembled for evening prayer.

Over the past two weeks, children have also walked alongside their parents in marches and protests that have taken place all over the world. Two Saturdays ago, it was the Womens March on Washington that filled the streets of cities across the globe. A week later, thousands gathered at airports to protest the travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries.

And there have been many vigils, too. On Monday night, people gathered across the country to mourn the lives lost in the mosque shooting and to show solidarity with this countrys Muslim community.

Judging by the events of the last 14 days, it seems like 2017 is already shaping up to be the Year of the Protest, with people putting paint to cardboard and marching alongside their fellow community members. Activism seems like its moving offline and into the streets.

This is an illusion, of course. The fact is, protests  and vigils  have always been happening, whether theyve had international news cameras trained on them or not. The most privileged among us might see the recent spate of global demonstrations as a trend. But others, for whom discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and violence is embedded in their daily lives, know better. Theyve been gathering, standing up and speaking out for a long time. Theyve been leading the resistance. Now, perhaps, more people are showing up to have their backs.

Over at the Forks, a diverse cross-section of people are enjoying the warm February sun in the heart of our city. May we all know sanctuaries like that.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Young tweens, Leen (left) and her friend Isra hold signs and speak out at ralliy Friday.
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Plans to expand live broadcasting of court cases havent yet taken shape despite a pilot project to make Manitoba a leader in public access to the justice system.

The pilot project  the first of its kind in Canada  to allow TV cameras into courtrooms to record certain cases began nearly three years ago. Since then, live broadcasts of court proceedings have occurred on only five occasions, Manitoba Justice said.

Mondays upcoming livestream of a provincial court judges verdict in the case of a Winnipeg mother accused of storing her six dead babies remains in a locker will be the first courtroom broadcast since 2014.

John Woods / The Canadian Press files

Technological difficulties, along with few requests from broadcasters and some judges exercising their authority to refuse cameras, have slowed down the project, which launched with support from chief judges at all three levels of Manitobas court system.

Court of Queens Bench Chief Judge Glenn Joyal said the court remains committed to expanding the project and working with TV stations to improve access.

Its important that people understand the pilot project is still alive. It hasnt stopped Its intensity and frequency subsided for technological reasons, he said.

A plan to set up a courtroom where any case could be broadcast live hasnt materialized because of infrastructural limitations within the old Law Courts building, Joyal said, where the ability to send and receive cellular signals is limited.

Without a designated courtroom, the onus is on broadcasters to request permission to take in cameras. A spokeswoman for Manitoba Justice said there are no statistics on how many broadcast requests have been made since the beginning of the pilot project, and how many have been denied.

Joyal said its a combination of a lack of requests from broadcasters and refusals from judges.

Judges are using their discretion to deny a broadcast, and they do it for reasons that they set out. Theyre rational reasons, I certainly wouldnt criticize them but in some instances theyre based upon a set of concerns that represent worry about uncertainty, he said, adding thats why its important for the pilot project to act as a laboratory to determine where caution is justified and perhaps where its not. And then well see the extent to which this can grow. But I think its important to be open and to be bold, particularly when were talking about the open court principle. We have nothing to be ashamed of and to the extent that some caution and restriction has to be put in place, we can do that, he said.

The courts are working with local TV stations to find technological solutions and expand the project, Joyal said.

Absent any opposition from the judge or Crown and defence lawyers, Global TV was granted approval to broadcast Mondays verdict in the case of Andrea Giesbrecht, who is accused of six counts of concealing a childs body. As per rules set out by the justice department, the camera will be focused only on provincial court judge Murray Thompson and will be switched off immediately after he finishes delivering his decision.

As journalists, were always in favour of more transparency and more access. Being able to broadcast from the courtroom lets the audience see the proceedings first-hand, said Global Winnipeg news director Brent Williamson.

He said the station is working with the courts to gain more access while respecting Manitoba Justices policy for cameras in courtrooms, which restricts broadcasts of certain proceedings.

Access like this to the courts is something thats new and its somewhat unique to Manitoba, so its going to take a little bit of time for journalists to know which cases they can apply for (broadcast access to) and which ones they cant.

Winnipeg media lawyer Bob Sokalski, who has been advocating for the broadcast of court proceedings for the past 20 years, said hes disappointed the pilot project hasnt been used more often, particularly with the recent rise of alternative facts and political rhetoric in the United States.

I think those issues make it much more critically important to have camera access, and camera access has come in in baby steps, he said. Those baby steps can be made bigger if the media makes more applications, and that enables the public to have the choice to see from the horses mouth what a judge is saying, rather than having it filtered.

Privacy lawyer Andrew Buck said the possibility of expanding live broadcasts from courtrooms has to be weighed with the benefits  contributing to a more open and transparent court system  and the drawbacks, which include concerns about intimidation of witnesses or reluctance of citizens to participate in the legal process.

John Woods / The Canadian Press A videographer for CBC, sets up his camera in the courtroom of the Court of Queens Bench.

Buck said Manitoba Justices protocol for the pilot project seems to strike a good balance. It only allows judges and lawyers to be shown on camera and doesnt allow the recording of any witness testimony.

You can see when you look at that protocol, there are a couple of really important objectives its intended to address. One of them is respect for the court process, ensuring the ability for a fair trial and the ability for justice to be administered properly is not compromised. But I also think theres a recognition of peoples privacy rights in there as well.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

mavric_guidelines
Opinion

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In her December Weweni Lecture at the University of Winnipeg, Cree education Prof. Alex Wilson mentioned, offhand, her work in the 1990s with the mayors office for The Year for Racial Harmony. My wheels began spinning.

What? Winnipeg had once had a Year for Racial Harmony? I immediately thought about what  if any  meaning this might have for the citys Year of Reconciliation.

The announcement this past January that 2016 would be the Year of Reconciliation was, in part, a response to Macleans magazines accusation that Winnipeg was Canadas most racist city. The city also framed the declaration as building on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

City of Winnipeg Archives Winnipeg proclaimed 1994 as the Year for Racial Harmony.

Reconciliation, diversity and racial inclusion were the focus of the years activities, and the so-called divide between indigenous and non-indigenous people was the key subject. Winnipeg was not alone in announcing an urban response to the TRC; Saskatoon, Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary each declared Years of Reconciliation as early as 2013. They, too, were responding to the TRC and used the proclamations to organize activities to promote education  often about history.

For these cities, as for Winnipeg, the Year of Reconciliation was not the year when we reconciled our past or the year we reconciled our differences. In addition, it was also not the year Winnipeg began a conversation about racism.

This conversation was not started in January 2016; it would be naive to think it could possibly end by January 2017. The Year of Reconciliation finds its place in a history of Winnipegs efforts to acknowledge and document racism and promote good relationships, albeit with different terms of reference and diverging goals and ends.

Im curious about Winnipegs history of discussing race and racism, as this rarely seems to make it into conversation about race  especially in the most popular publications.

I went to the citys archives. In response to the TRCs Call to Action No. 77 (calling upon provincial, territorial, municipal and community archives to work collaboratively with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to identify, collect and make available copies of all records relevant to the history and legacy of the residential school system), archivists have searched relevant holdings at the archives to identify records related to residential schools and their legacies.

Digital copies of those records are being shared with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. The archives posted a guide to researching and accessing open and restricted records relating to indigenous peoples and history at the city archives. The guide can be found at winnipeg.ca/clerks/archives/publications.stm.

As a result of this work, files about the mayors community and race relations committee  which undertook the work for The Year for Racial Harmony  came into view as having value to researchers interested in the history of building relationships.

The community and race relations committee was struck in 1981 to advise the mayor and city council on ways and means of promoting stronger relationships amongst various ethnic communities in Winnipeg.

The committee members roles were primarily to develop policies and programs to improve race relations; provide guidelines for individuals and organizations seeking aid on matters of racial discrimination; and mediate disputes and foster understanding between ethnic groups. The committee has changed names a few times, evolving into what is now the citizen equity committee.

From a preliminary review of the records of its early work, the committee reads as being significantly Filipino-led; it neared gender balance and it was fairly optimistic about finding solutions to racism in the city and the notion that in Winnipeg, racism will not be tolerated. Until the 1990s, it also reads as operating in the absence, or near absence, of indigenous people  with the exception of connections to community interest groups, namely the Boys and Girls Club, the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties and the Winnipeg Council of Treaty Indians.

The committee discussed concerns about education and physical violence experienced by and discriminatory assessments of students of colour. Racial discrimination in public transportation, employment and housing, police and justice and health care were also on the agenda.

Digging deeper into the records, such proclamations appear throughout the citys history.

The records weve uncovered remind us that reconciliation has a history and that people in Winnipeg have been engaged in this process for years, city archivist Sarah Ramsden said.

For example, in recognition of the 11th anniversary of the Indian-Metis Conference of Manitoba and in acknowledgement of the need for closer relationships between Indian-Metis and other communities, (and, it appears, perhaps also at the instigation of then-director of the Indian-Metis Friendship Centre and celebrated indigenous nurse Jean Cuthand), Feb. 6, 1965, was proclaimed Indian-Metis Day.

Commonly, discussions of racism are framed as individual accounts or experiences disclosed in a context that is otherwise, out of politeness or denial, silent about racism. But there is a history of discussion  sometimes initiated, engaged in and even shut down by indigenous people and people of colour more generally in Winnipeg.

To find documents relating to this past is not all that surprising  but it is an important reminder of the creativity and work of our predecessors and the engaging documentary evidence of people who have acknowledged discrimination, documented and defined prejudice and imagined alternatives in what has been called Canadas most racist city.

Mary Jane Logan McCallum is an associate professor in the department of history at the University of Winnipeg.
Hawaii bill would legalize prostitution industry: HONOLULU  Hawaii lawmakers are considering decriminalizing prostitution in the Aloha State after the speaker of the House introduced a bill that would also legalize buying sex and acting as a pimp. The proposal also would end a state law that says police officers cant have sex with prostitutes in the course of investigations. Transgender activist Tracy Ryan said shes pushing the bill because transgender women are overrepresented in the sex trade and therefore disproportionately affected by criminalization laws.

Puerto Rico gov approves referendum in quest for statehood: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico  Puerto Ricans are getting another shot at voting on statehood after the islands governor on Friday approved a non-binding referendum to determine the U.S. territorys political future. The referendum will be held on June 11 and gives voters two options: statehood or independence/free association. If a majority chooses the latter, a second referendum would be held in October and will ask voters to choose between the two. Backers say the referendum could help the island overcome a decade-long economic crisis as it struggles to restructure nearly $70 billion in public debt and faces a federal control board pushing for more austerity measures.

Thousands of Romanians protest diluted graft law for 4th day: BUCHAREST, Romania  Tens of thousands of protesters again took to the streets of Bucharest and other Romanian cities on Friday, blowing whistles, waving giant Romanian flags and booing at giant puppets of politicians they hold responsible for a decree to dilute the countrys anti-corruption fight. The demonstration came amid a deepening political crisis after two key government allies said Friday that the emergency government decree passed early Wednesday without input from parliament was not constitutional. Even the influential Romanian Orthodox Church criticized the measure, which critics say will allow corrupt politicians to escape punishment.

Worst fighting in east Ukraine since 2015: AVDIIVKA, Ukraine  International monitors on Friday strongly urged the warring sides in eastern Ukraine to silence their guns as heavy artillery and rocket barrages continued to pummel residential areas. At least 33 people including civilians have been killed and several dozen injured in fighting this week in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels  the worst violence in the region since 2015.

The death toll in the fighting that began in April 2014 has now exceeded 9,800, according to U.N. figures and a tally of recent fighting.

Mexico sees 22 percent rise in murders in 2016: MEXICO CITY  Homicides in Mexico rose by 22 percent in 2016, the government reported Friday, the highest rate of increase since the height of the drug war. Official statistics released by the Interior Department show that Mexico had 20,789 homicides in 2016, compared to 17,034 in 2015. Some states saw murders rise by dizzying levels. Homicides in the Pacific coast state of Colima more than tripled, and in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz they more than doubled.
In Christian tradition, the feast of Epiphany marks the end of the 12-day Christmas season and celebrates the revelation  to the whole world  that Jesus is the Son of God.

Thus, it was highly symbolic when a Muslim participating in an Epiphany rite at St. Marys (Episcopal) Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland, chanted verses from the Quran, Surah 19, in which the infant Jesus proclaims:

Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet. ... Peace is on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! The text then adds: Such was Jesus, son of Mary: a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. It befitteth not Allah that He should take unto Himself a son.

Cathedral leaders took to social media to hail this as a lovely moment. But in the Church of England, one of the chaplains of Queen Elizabeth II was dismayed by what many would consider an act of blasphemy  a reading of this clear Islamic denial of Jesus being the Son of God.

The Glasgow rite was justified as a way of building bridges and a way of educating people, the Rev. Gavin Ashenden told the BBC.

Nevertheless, he argued that it was wrong to insert such a reading into the Holy Eucharist, and particularly a Eucharist whose main intention is to celebrate Christ, the word made flesh, come into the world. ... To choose the reading they chose doubled the error. Of all passages you might have read likely to cause offense, that was one of the most problematic.

After hearing from Buckingham Palace, Ashenden resigned as one of the queens chaplains. Thus, he surrendered his unique status in a land in which the Church of England has been weakened by almost every cultural trend, yet retains a unique niche in the national psyche.

This was, Ashenden said, a matter of personal principle and ancient doctrine. He also noted that he asked cathedral leaders to apologize because I think Western clergy in their comfort have responsibility towards other Christians who suffer for their faith. Thats part of being the body of Christ.

That kind of language can get a priest in trouble in todays multicultural England.

They might have pushed me. They didnt. But we agreed that the things that I wanted to say, about the Gospel, about the faith, were becoming sources of embarrassment to the establishment, he said, in a recent Anglican Unscripted podcast.

Its not easy for people outside England to understand that the queen is not just a person, shes an idea. ... She is an office. So, behind the office, you have bureaucrats, and the bureaucrats have views. The bureaucrats can be leant on by other bureaucrats in other palaces or offices. So the bureaucrats were getting increasingly uncomfortable, and not just with this issue of the Quran being read in the cathedral.

If anything, he said, this collision with Islams rising presence in the United Kingdom and Europe is a sign that doctrinal traditionalists now face challenges on issues other than marriage, family and sexuality. In this case, its telling that a public defense of the Incarnation of Jesus as Son of God  a statement of faith at the heart of credal Christianity  created so much public controversy.

Reached by email, Ashenden said he understands that this kind of doctrinal clash may seem picky and unimportant to the growing number of unbelievers in this secular age in Western culture. But doctrine matters to traditional Christians, and Muslims, who do not believe all religions are the same. It would have been impossible, he noted, to read a biblical passage about the divinity of Jesus during Friday prayers in a major British mosque.

Yes, public battles over sexuality make bigger headlines. Nevertheless, Ashenden said that this Epiphany dispute  as a credal issue pitting the Quran against the Gospels  was important. It offered a revealing window into larger disputes in which advocates of relativism and syncretism are colliding with the objectivity of Christian claims about the Universe and God, he said.

Our culture doesnt like objective differences, he said. They require people to make choices. ... That is embarrassing.
MINNEAPOLIS  A 4-year-old Somali girl whose long-awaited reunion with her mother was put on hold this week due to President Donald Trumps travel ban is now with her family in Minnesota.

Mushkaad Abdi gripped a doll and the hand of her mother, Samira Dahir, who wiped away tears Friday as she spoke to reporters about the reunion.

Im very happy today that my daughter, Mushkaad, is now home after painful years, said Dahir, 32. I would like to thank you everyone who helped me ... Im so happy. Thats why Im crying.

Dahir came to the U.S. in 2013 with her two older daughters. Prior to her arrival but after she was approved to enter the U.S. as a refugee, she gave birth to Mushkaad, her youngest daughter. Dahir was told she would have to choose to start the refugee application process all over again with her whole family, or leave the youngest girl behind and bring her to the U.S. later, said Maureen Warren, chief family services officer for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota.

Dahir left Mushkaad with a friend in Uganda and has worked for years to bring her to Minnesota. The situation became more urgent months ago when the friend was no longer able to care for the girl. Dahir told her naturalization teacher about the problem, and the teacher contacted U.S. Sen. Al Frankens office.

Franken and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobochar spent months working with Dahir to expedite her daughters arrival.

Mushkaad was scheduled to arrive on Jan. 31, but her trip was canceled by Trumps executive order banning refugees from certain countries. Franken and Klobuchar intervened and pressed Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to clear the girls travel.

Its been heart-wrenching for Samira and her two older daughters, who have waited to be reunited with Mushkaad since she was an infant. Im very pleased that  after far too long of a separation  this Minnesota family is now together, Franken said in a statement. This case proves that President Trumps Executive Order was poorly thought out, poorly executed, and above all wrong for Minnesota and the nation.

Dahir and her older daughters are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. and Mushkaad is now in the U.S. as a refugee. She will be allowed to become a legal permanent resident in a year. But when Dahir becomes a U.S. citizen in the next year, her daughters will also become citizens, said Benjamin Casper Sanchez, director of the Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School.
MADISON  The Republican chairman of the state Senates Natural Resources Committee wants to let utilities loan money to customers who want to replace lead service lines into their homes and businesses.

At least 176,000 customers in Wisconsin have lead service lines, with about half in Milwaukee County. Lead particles that flake off into water running through the lines can cause brain damage to young children.

Communities around the state have struggled to adequately defray the costs for homeowners to replace their portion of the pipes, which can cost up to $5,000 per location.

Sen. Robert Cowles introduced a bill Thursday that would let municipalities grant water utilities the authority to offer financing arrangements to customers with lead service lines. The arrangements could take many forms, including low-interest or no-interest loans, customer cost-sharing or an income threshold for qualifications.

The city of Baraboo has been replacing up to 600 lead pipes in the public water system at a rate of 15-20 per year, Utility Superintendent Wade Peterson told the News Republic in April 2016. Local homeowners have been left to cover the cost to replace any lead service lines leading into their property.

Were trying to give more authority to water utilities to utilize the resources they have, Cowles said about the propsed legislation.

In Green Bay, which includes some of Cowles district, about 4,000 homes have lead service lines.

Last year, the Department of Natural Resources allocated $14.5 million to poor communities to fund lead service line replacements. But Cowles said many communities didnt qualify for that funding.

Customers in places like Milwaukee  where 70,000 homes or businesses have lead service lines  have pushed back against proposals that leave some of the burden of paying for the expensive replacement to them.

Cowles said his proposal would leave it to municipalities and utilities to decide how much assistance to provide.

Some people are saying well, we could go further, Cowles said of his proposal. But we might not get it passed. I think I can get this passed.

Cowles proposal would only apply to cases where the municipality has already replaced or plans to replace its portion of the lead service line. Utilities could not fund financing programs with revenue generated from increases in customer rate payments without permission from the Public Service Commission but could use other sources of money without approval, according to Cowles spokeswoman Toni Herkert.

Curt Witynski, assistant director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, said the bill is a step in the right direction. But municipalities want water utilities to be able to get approval from the PSC for rate increases to fund financing programs, he said.

Baraboo News Republic Reporter Ben Bromley contributed to this report.
First-generation college students who transfer from the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County to UW-Madison could receive at least one year of free tuition at the Madison campus under a new proposal announced Thursday by campus officials.

Free tuition only would be granted if the state opts to provide new funding for the UW System in its 2017-2019 biennial budget, which is set to be released next week.

Dubbed the Badger Promise, the proposal combines two initiatives to make earning degrees easier for transfer students. The first updates transfer contracts between UW-Madison and the 14 UW Colleges, along with several technical colleges across the state. The other measure would provide one year of free tuition to in-state, first-generation college students who transfer to UW-Madison from the Colleges.

In addition to one year of free schooling, low-income students who are eligible for federal Pell grants would have an additional year of tuition covered as well.

UW-Madison Assistant Vice Chancellor John Lucas said the initiative would require an additional $1.5 million in state aid annually, but also noted the price could go up as more students choose to participate in the program.

What we dont have is a good sense of how many additional students might apply through the transfer contracts to participate in the program with this added incentive, he said. So it is possible that it could have a bigger price tag with more demand.

Lucas said university officials are unsure if they will receive the additional funding, but added that they are hearing encouraging remarks from the governors office and Legislature about reinvesting in the UW System.

UW-Baraboo Associate Dean of Student Affairs & Enrollment Kristin Fillhouer said an average of nine first-generation students have transferred from Baraboo to UW-Madison each year over the past five years. Fillhouer, who also manages enrollment at UW-Rock County and UW-Richland, said an average of 11 transferred from UW-Rock County, and two transferred from UW-Richland over the same time period.

Regardless of whether the state provides the additional funding, the proposal updates transfer contracts between UW-Madison and all UW Colleges in an effort to more clearly lay out what coursework is required to transfer.

Under the updated contract, students must maintain a higher GPA  raised to 3.2 from 2.8  and earn 54 academic credits, along with some specific course requirements, to guarantee admission to UW-Madison.

This is about providing access for first-generation students of Wisconsin to come to UW-Madison, said UW-Madison Vice Provost for Enrolment Management Steve Hahn. Often these students have no ready examples of navigating to UW-Madison, so we want to make sure we let them know we are a destination for them, and we want them here.

While UW-Baraboo students already were able to sign a transfer agreement that would guarantee admission to UW-Madison contingent upon academic performance, Hahn said many students did not take advantage of the measure. The new proposal is intended to lay out a clear roadmap for students to earn their degree, he said.

We believe its clear, its not a long agreement, its a clear agreement and it gives everyone at UW-Baraboo a clear indication of what it takes to be successful here at UW-Madison, he said.
Parents of children with disabilities or special needs know how tough it can be to get the services their children so desperately need.

The help is often there, but parents may easily lose their way, get misdirected or not get the help that they know in their hearts is needed.

KIDS (Keeping Individuals with Disabilities Served) Wisconsin has been active in making connections between servers and served since around 2012. A small group (so far) has been making the morass of needs and services negotiable and getting results in the process.

KIDS leaders Mary Weinheimer, Tami Biddle and Kristi Hartzheim met recently to outline what they do and share their hopes for the future.

According to their website, The mission of KIDS Wisconsin is to provide opportunities for families to connect and share in empowering events to build strong and supportive networks that improve connections for all family members.

Right now were working on getting our nonprofit status up and running, Weinheimer said. We started out with group meetings for parents of children with special needs and evolved through that to what we are today, which is a way larger goal than what we started with.

The group was formerly known as Its All About the Kids.

Weinheimer is quick to point out that the group is not solely focused on autism. My daughter, for example, was 20-years-old before she got a correct diagnosis, Weinheimer said. There are a lot of kids who go undiagnosed for a long time, and that keeps them from getting the help they and their families desperately need. Our children are always in need of services. In the beginning years, it is through the county's birth to three programs and childrens long term support (Human Services and Health Department), through IEPs (individualized educational plan) with their school district, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, Medicaid and other services.

Parents often have to negotiate their own path to receive such services, frequently encountering obstacles that could easily derail their efforts.

They need help understanding whats available to them, Biddle said. It can often feel like youre on an island when youre the parent of a child with a disability  like youre running this race that has no distinct finish line and no set coarse, yet youre on it. It can be a lonely process and a tiring process. The point of the group is to be an advocate for parents and to connect them with resources and information. Were there for advocacy  a shoulder to lean on  somebody to talk to. Somebody to listen and complain to, and well say, Been there. I gotcha!

Weinheimer said many times families are not told about services or when they are denied services do not know what steps to take next.

Parents sometimes dont know their rights. If its in school they dont know they can have an advocate sitting with them when they do the IEP, Hartzheim said. You just dont know, in my case, that my son was told he is no longer disabled. Well Im pretty sure the last time I checked he had autism. It was a horrible situation because I didnt know my options and my social worker was telling me he had no services or he was cut off at this date. I needed to figure out who I could talk to and figure out what my options were.

And each child and each childs disabilities are different, said Biddle. If you know one child with autism you dont know all children with autism. Every situation is different, so there are plenty of opportunities for things to get missed.

She added, Often times its about confidentiality and people being afraid to give information to the agencies that can help. Often times you meet parents who are doing a wonderful job, and the assumption is that theyre getting the help they need  and that isnt necessarily happening.

Having other people to talk to is a big help that a lot of parents really need.

KIDS Wisconsin has begun giving presentations to police and fire personnel, so they know how to handle the many children who suffer from physical or behavioral challenges.

This group has provided me with confidence, with knowledge, so now I can advocate not just for my son, but for just about anyone, Hartzheim said.

Weinheimer stressed, KIDS Wisconsin helps parents seek help for medical, mental health, educational, behavioral -- the entire gamut of needs.

Weve all gone through our own struggles and we know how to help, Hartzheim said. We parents struggle day in, day out, and cry and look for support from family and friends, and still its not enough. This group can offer you that support and also find the resources that you need.

There is no stronger advocate for a child than the parents, Weinheimer said, and were here to help.

For more information call 920-296-0341, email info@kidswi.org, visit www.kidswi.org or like them on Facebook. Volunteers and helpers are always welcomed as well.
One of the Joint Legislative Council study committees that convened last summer was charged with looking at how fire protection and emergency medical services are provided around the state. The committee also worked to identify the issues surrounding the shortage of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians, especially in rural areas. They were asked to come up with ideas to meet the needs of full time and volunteer fire departments, including proposals designed to increase the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters throughout the state.

The committee heard from volunteer firefighters, professional firefighters and emergency services providers. The firefighters identified a few key issues that they believe is contributing to the shortage in their field. They explained that volunteer firefighters often have to travel long distances and have to miss time at work. Training requirements for firefighters and emergency technicians were also identified as a barrier to recruitment. While the Wisconsin Technical College System offers courses for firefighter certification and EMTs, the courses are not always offered at times that work for people with a full-time job and do not include the hands-on, department-specific training that firefighters said they need. These emergency services providers also explained that the states staffing requirements, meaning the number of EMTs with varying degrees of training, makes it difficult to provide services, especially in rural areas.

The committee developed a number of bills and sent two letters to the WTCS and the Department of Health Services. The proposed bills would:

1. Create an additional endorsement and training for EMTs to allow them to administer intravenous medications and fluids. This additional endorsement is aimed primarily at EMT-basic credential holders, as the other levels of licensure already include this skill.

2. Require certified first responders, EMTs, and paramedics to renew their licenses every four years rather than the current requirement of every two years.

3. Allow two or more cities, towns and villages to jointly create a fire protection district.

4. Expand how funds from the emergency medical services funding assistance program are used to allow funding for their use for first responder level training and continuing education costs.

5. Enhance the length of service award program that municipalities can provide for volunteer firefighters by requiring the state to double the amount deposited by the local municipality, up to $500 per year.

6. Establish a refundable income tax credit for volunteer fire fighters, EMTs and first responders.

The Joint Legislative Council must approve these bills before they can be introduced in the legislature.

In the letter sent to the WTCS, the committee recommended reducing barriers for firefighter and EMT training, particularly in rural areas. Those recommendations include: increased online training, maximized training at local fire departments and EMS providers, better communication between the WTCS, fire department, and EMS providers throughout the state. Finally, the committee asked WTCS to look into the discrepancy between the number of people who complete the required coursework and the number of people who pass the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technician exams.

While addressing the DHS, the committee noted that they heard testimony from EMS providers, who expressed a desire for flexibility from DHS in terms of licensing that would allow them to provide one level of service some days and another level of service other days. For instance, some ambulance services have EMT-intermediate staff available during weekday business hours, but EMT-paramedic staff on hand in the evening and on weekends. Currently, ambulance service can only be licensed as an EMT-intermediate service because it cannot guarantee the higher level of paramedic service at all times.

Study committees are convened to tackle tough issues facing the state. Part of what makes study committees successful at generating ideas and finding solutions is the mix of people at the table. These committees are made up of legislators, staff from state agencies and citizens with real-world experience dealing with the issue. Citizen members tell the rest of the committee how things actually work, what challenges they face, and how they think a program or law could work better. I would like to extend a special thanks to one of those citizen members, Jodie Olson, the city administrator from Berlin, for sharing her time and expertise with this committee.
The way Rusch Elementary addresses hunger isnt flashy or ceremonial. School leaders last week started a new program by putting snacks in backpacks for about 30 students before they went home for the weekend.

The items are modest  some fruit cups, raisins, granola bars, instant oatmeal and peanut butter crackers. The school had recently received an anonymous donation of $1,000 to get the program off the ground, and other donations  such as the very grocery bags the snacks are placed in  factor into the schools estimation it can keep the program going for the rest of the school year.

We felt as a staff we needed to do something, Principal Nikki Schoenborn said. Across the Portage Community School District, about 900 students or 40 percent are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches, numbers that in the Portage area continue to grow. At Rusch, the free/reduced lunch number is at 63 percent.

Several factors are considered for eligibility, including household income. The federal eligibility income chart for free/reduced meals depends on household size. To qualify in a household of three, for example, total household yearly income must fall at or below $37,296.

The snacks arent much, leaders said, but theyre something. If we can help them in this small way, we think it will help them be more successful, Schoenborn said.

Larger programs, Counselor Lori Burbach said, provide actual meals, so were starting small because thats what we can sustain. It would be great if it could be bigger.

For now, the program is dubbed the Rusch Backpack Program and will remain entirely dependent on donations. Larger communities such as Madison benefit from organizations like Feeding America and Second Harvest, Burbach said, but smaller communities like Portage typically need to rely on donations and church groups.

Rusch leaders simply put the snacks inside students backpacks on Fridays when nobody is around to see it. We dont want them singled out, Schoenborn said of the process. Identifying which students need snacks is, sadly, very easy. Wed hoped to get this up and running a few weeks ago, and at that time we had kids coming to us, asking whats available.

Schoenborn and Burbach hope that, with help from the community, the program will grow. Schoenborn estimates at least 50 students at Rusch could really use it. Currently the snacks are just things that can keep them full, Burbach noted, but leaders would love to expand the program to provide full meals that students can take home.

The value of the program is plainly seen, they agreed. Think about when youre hungry, and you can magnify that for a child, Burbach said. Its easy to imagine how a student might struggle remembering math facts when his or her stomach is grumbling, for example. The school is used to asking students who are struggling if they had a good breakfast, and often a simple granola bar makes a big difference in improving their performance.

The program was spring-boarded by work the school has done for the past three or four years during the holidays, in which donations help school leaders send food home with children for the holidays. Seeing how appreciative these families are during the holiday program is ultimately what led to the establishment of the new snack program, Schoenborn said.

Seeing the reaction of students when they open their backpacks doesnt hurt either. Burbach noted that last week she saw a student peek in his backpack before a big smile came over his face. He thanked her for the snack, even though he couldnt have known she put it in there.

Seeing that makes it all worth it, Burbach said.

Schoenborn estimated that to continue the snack program at its present size for an entire school year would cost about $4,000 for 30 to 35 kids. The school is still in the process of ironing out the finer points of the program with parents, who are encouraged to ask questions and provide input for snack purchases.

Those interested in donating may contact the school office at 608-742-7376 and ask for Schoenborn or Burbach directly. The program is under a separate activity account, so the entirety of such donations will only be used for the Rusch Backpack Program.

The school would also welcome partnerships with area businesses.

People interested in addressing food needs in the Portage area are encouraged to attend the next food insecurities meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 in the Childrens Program Room at Portage Public Library.
Theres one fundamental difference between the new White House and the old when it comes to immigration: Barack Obama ordered his administration not to enforce a number of immigration laws. Donald Trump has ordered his administration to enforce them.

Trumps two immigration executive orders, issued Jan. 25, are long, far-reaching, and complicated. But perhaps the most consequential passage in the two combined orders is a single sentence: The purpose of this order is to direct executive departments and agencies to employ all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.

That is the heart of Trumps immigration strategy. We do not need new laws, the president said at the Department of Homeland Security. We will work within the existing system and framework.

Trumps proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border dominated coverage of the two executive orders. But the orders start the process of doing much more. For those who follow immigration closely, the Trump orders contain several critical provisions. Among them:

End catch and release

In the Obama years, as thousands of people, mostly from Central America, crossed the Mexican border illegally  and made no effort to escape apprehension, asking for a permiso to stay  the border authorities would briefly detain them, give them a date to show up in court, and let them go. The practice was known as catch and release.

Under Trumps new directive, the Department of Homeland Security will now detain those illegal crossers and handle their cases on the spot.

Pressure sanctuary cities

Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States, the Trump order on interior enforcement says. The order would give the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to determine that jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply with (federal law) are not eligible to receive federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the (DHS) Secretary.

Speed deportations

Both the Obama administration and now Trump said they want to remove illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes. But Obama waited until the immigrant in question had been convicted before even beginning what could be a lengthy removal process. The Trump interior enforcement order allows removal paperwork to begin at the time an illegal immigrant is charged, on the reasonable assumption that a person who is in the United States illegally to begin with, and is then charged with at least one additional crime, does not have a right to stay in the country indefinitely.

Deport illegal immigrants

We cannot faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States if we exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement, the order on interior enforcement says, referring to illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, and in some cases deported multiple times, only to return to commit more crimes and endanger local communities.

Review asylum seekers

Thousands of people come to U.S. ports of entry along the Mexican border from places like Haiti, India, China, and elsewhere  all claiming asylum. The Obama administration allowed them to stay in the country while their cases were adjudicated. Many simply skipped out on the process and stayed permanently. The new executive order would require those asylum seekers to apply for asylum and then wait for a decision not in the U.S., but in Mexico or Canada.

Inform the public

In the Obama years it was sometimes hard to find good statistics about illegal immigrants who were accused of crimes. Trump seeks to change that. The new statistics could give researchers, and the general public, a much better idea of the extent of crimes involving suspects in the country illegally.

Trumps orders stop short of measures that would require the approval of Congress, such as resetting the numbers of immigrants allowed to enter the country each year. But they still go a long way. The early response among Republicans on Capitol Hill is encouraging for the new administration.

Trump will undoubtedly have proposals for Congress on immigration. But his two executive orders go a long way toward undoing the practices that Barack Obama unilaterally set in place. If Trump makes sure his orders are enforced, he will have kept a major promise to those who elected him.
A quiet man with an unassuming personality, Kurt Wenger said he likes to help because it feels good.

As the owner of the Prairie du Sac video production company Drop Frame Productions, Wenger has been involved in multiple community-based projects over the years such as the Sauk County Institute of Leadership and he volunteers for the United Way.

Drop Frame Productions received the Sauk Prairie Chamber of Commerces Small Business of the Year award for 2016.

I think Kurt is seen by many in the community as a quiet leader you arent always going to hear him talking but he takes a lot in, said Chamber Director Tywana German.

German recapped responses from the groups members to Wengers nomination for the award, including recognition that he always looks for ways to assist the community or grow as a community leader.

A lot of his business is referral-based, German said. He is very creative, and wants to please the customer.

Wengers video production company focuses mainly on corporate projects, as he helps tell a businesss story. Wengers most recent business venture was to help create the Chamber of Commerces latest marketing venture, a video called Destination Sauk Prairie: Live, Play, Work.

He has helped the 6:8 group with its Sauk Prairie Against Hunger campaign, assisted several dance studios around town capture events and filmed life events, such as that of a World War II veteran, which he did in conjunction with the Prairie du Sac Veterans of Foreign Wars and local Historic Preservation Committee.

Being able to tell a persons life story is probably one of the most rewarding things I can do, he said. One of the main things I enjoy about my business is seeing people doing these great things that not everyone gets to see.

Wenger, who is married and has a daughter, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with a degree in radio/film/television production. His office is in a small room in his home, and he has a single part-time employee and a seasonal employee along with a few independent contractors to help.

He said his involvement in the SCIL program opened his eyes to the greater needs of the community. The UW-Extension program provides participants with leadership skills and helps them learn about programs and services in the county.

It provides you with a really great chance to see whats going on around here, Wenger said. I found it to be very inspirational.

After winning the award, Wenger was almost at a loss for words.

Its hard to describe  to know the people out there making this a better community felt I deserved the award is incredible, he said. It makes me want to work harder to live up to that. I guess it means Im doing something right.
The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc..

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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.
Archived Results for Saturday, February 4th, 2017

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Installed Building Products, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the installation of insulation, waterproofing, fire-stopping, fireproofing, garage doors, rain gutters, window blinds, shower doors, closet shelving and mirrors, and other products in the continental United States. The company offers a range of insulation materials, such as fiberglass and cellulose, and spray foam insulation materials. It is also involved in the installation of insulation and sealant materials in various areas of a structure, which includes basement and crawl space, building envelope, attic, and acoustical applications. In addition, the company installs a range of caulk and sealant products that control air infiltration in residential and commercial buildings; and waterproofing options, including sheet and hot applied waterproofing membranes, as well as deck coating, bentonite, and air and vapor systems. It serves homebuilders, multi-family and commercial construction firms, individual homeowners, and repair and remodeling contractors through a network of approximately 210 branch locations. The company was formerly known as CCIB Holdco, Inc. Installed Building Products, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.
CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- Two were arrested after an alleged armed robbery at a city residence at 12:46 p.m. Thursday at 500 6th Street.

Charleston police report that DeQuan A. Johnson, 22, and Darrion J. Christmas, 23, were arrested for their suspected involvement in the alleged robbery.

CPD reports that the suspects entered the residence and one suspect displayed a handgun before robbing the tenants and fleeing the area. The investigation into this incident by Charleston patrol officers and detectives and the EIU police, resulted in the arrest of suspects, according to a police press release.

Johnson, who has addresses in both Charleston and Chicago, was charged with armed robbery with a firearm and sent to the Coles County jail, Charleston police report. Christmas of Chicago was sent to the jail on charges of armed robbery with a firearm as well as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and armed violence, the press release states.

According to the jail report, the two were still detained at 3:05 p.m. Friday. The investigation into this incident is ongoing, the CPD reports.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company also operates a portfolio of oil and gas properties primarily located in offshore California and the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 31, 2021, it operated approximately 135 wells. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Slick Willy (former President Clinton) gave a speech to congress in 1995 about the problems the large numbers of "illegal aliens" were creating in this country. (President Trump could not have said it better!) First of all, they are not "aliens", because "aliens" come from outer space! They are immigrants, pure and simple. Politicians (both democrats and republicans), like immigrants, need to learn the language! Willie didn't follow up on his good idea of limiting immigrants because he soon realized they were votes. And if he gave them free healthcare, unemployment benefits, and jobs that our legal citizens should hold, he was sure they would vote for him.

Immigrants now in this country, both legal and illegal, are reaping those benefits at the expense of the American taxpayer. Those wanting to immigrate will create even more of a burden, one that we cannot afford. Those desiring to come here need to understand a few things. We have no problem with you moving to our country, just do it legally, learn the language, and get a job! You are not welcome if you think this country is here to pay your way while you sit on your backside, collecting all the "freebies." We have enough "burdens" to our society from those already here, including many of our politicians!

Now, as if Slick Willy's ignoring the immigration problem wasn't enough, Obama and his congress pushed the Muslim agenda. What happened to the separation of church and state?

One more thing, to you Muslims whining about your "freedom of religion" being abused, pardon me for not shedding a tear! Any "religion" that advocates killing anyone that doesn't embrace their ideals, that mutilates their women, and advocates violence as a solution to everything is not a religion but a cult, kind of like the Ku Klux Klan. If you want to practice that kind of "religion," get your a-- back home, you are not welcome here! Every country you have infiltrated and forced your "religion" on has put up with your violence because they had no way to fight back. We in this country have the Second Amendment, and we know how to use it!

Frederick J. Sherer, Humboldt
KAR Auction Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides used vehicle auctions and related vehicle remarketing services for the automotive industry in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments, ADESA Auctions and AFC. The ADESA Auctions segment offers whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry through online auctions and auction facilities. It also provides value-added services, such as auction related, transportation, reconditioning, inspection, title and repossession administration and remarketing, vehicle research, and analytical services, as well as data as a service. This segment sells its products and services through vehicle manufacturers, fleet companies, rental car companies, finance companies, and others. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had a network of approximately 70 vehicle logistics center locations in North America. The AFC segment offers floorplan financing, a short-term inventory-secured financing to independent used vehicle dealers; and sells vehicle service contracts. The company provides wheel repair and hail catastrophe response services. It serves vehicle manufacturers, vehicle rental companies, financial institutions, commercial fleets and fleet management companies, and dealer customers. The company was formerly known as KAR Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to KAR Auction Services, Inc. in November 2009. KAR Auction Services, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.
CHARLESTON -- This year's officer of the year selected by the Charleston Police Union simply described his six years as police officer, three at the Charleston Police Department, as "rewarding."

Pat Easterday said it was rewarding as a career to do what he did, which, aside from enforcing the law, included, in his eyes, changing the views some have of the police, especially children.

"We deal with children that, as soon as they see the police, associate that with 'Mom's leaving. Dad is leaving'" Easterday said. "I don't want these kids to think that anytime they see the cops it is because they are in trouble and we are taking somebody to jail. I like to spend a little more time with the kids and reassure them."

That is the mindset or one of the goals he takes into work, he said, like, for instance, one day when he gave a boy, who could have used a better mattress, one he had from home, as well as some Christmas gifts.

"There was a family that was kind of down on their luck," Easterday said. "I had extra mattresses at my house and I was able to get a mattress and box springs and some extra presents up there around Christmas time that I was able to deliver to a kid."

The boy was scared of him initially when seeing him, however, it has changed, Easterday said.

"He was scared, and now anytime we go there (near the boy's residence) he is looking out the window to see if it is me or another officer," Easterday said. "At the beginning he was terrified, and now he looks forward to seeing us, and to me, I consider that a success."

Moments like this one made him proud of the work he puts into the job, he said.

According to a police press release, other officers saw these moments and his proactive approach to police work as worthy reasons to be selected this year as the officer of the year.

The release states that Easterday was selected as this year's officer of the year largely because of his "proactive patrol work," "positive attitude and thorough and well-written investigations.

Easterday saw it as less proactive and more as a need to move.

"I have a tough time sitting still," Easterday said. "I don't sit stationary long."

David Reed, Officer of the Year committee member, said Easterday received numerous nominations this year, all describing his dedication and thoughtfulness as key reasons to why he should have been selected.

"Pat was a standout this year," Reed describing the decision by the committee to chose him.

Aside from changing perspectives of police from those in the community, Easterday said he was also proud of the driving under the influence enforcement he has and continues to make.

"You save that person from hurting themselves," he said.

Easterday said he was honored by the recognition but still saw other Charleston police equally, if not more deserving, than him.

"I can think of 20 other officers, 30 other officers here that we could say something about why they deserve this award," he said.




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Greying of Europe: A demographic phenomenon in Europe

Greying of Europe also known as the aging of Europe is a demographic term used to describe the population status in Europe that is characterized by fertility decrease, mortality rate decrease and higher life expectancy.

Population trends

In 2006, Declan Costello and Giuseppe Carone of IMF projected that the ratio of the retiring in Europe will double in 2050 to 0.54 from the current four workers for every two retirees to two workers for every two retirees. According to the William H. Fray, an analyst with Brookings Institution envisaged that in Europe, the median age would increase from 37.3 years old in 2003 to 52.3 years in 2050. This is in contrast to the US predictions which is expected to increase to only 35.4 years old. The OECD on the other hand estimates that 39% of the working population in Europe is between the ages of 55 to 66. Besides, the minister for social affairs in Austria predicted in 2006 that by 2010 people in European Union aged between 55 and 64 years old would be more than people aged between 15 and 24 years old. Similarly, in 2006 the Economic Policy Committee and the European Commission released a report indicating that the working population of the European Union will reduce by 48 million, which is similar to 16% decrease between 2010 and 2050. At the same time, the aging population will increase by 58 million which is equivalent to an increase of 77% over the same period.

Implications

The implications of the increasing aging population indicate that the economic output in Europe could drastically reduce over the next few decades. A greying population is an indication of a looming social and economic burden in the affected countries because a significant portion of the scarce resources will be allocated to pay for health care and pension of the elder people in the society.One of the major impacts of the larger age brackets of the aging population is the rising and higher old age dependency ratio, which is the number of people aged above 65 years for every 100 working people in a country usually 15  64 years. If the ratio is high, it means more older people are being supported by the young working people. The dependency ratio is rising in Europe, for instance, in Spain the ratio may rise 42% point to 67% in the next four decades. Italy is expected to rise by 31% points to 67%.

Mitigation

There has been mixed feelings over the years about the increasing life expectancy and the falling birth rates from the time Europe experienced a demographic transition in the 18th and 19th century. The European Commission has raised concerns on reversing the decline in birth rates from the current ones of about 1.4 to 2.1 for optimal replacement level. Another approach is to allow immigrants from different parts of the world to settle in Europe so that they can prevent labor shortage deepening further. Italy for instance, will need to increase the retirement age to 77 years or allow immigrants of about 2.2 million annually to maintain a constant and stable worker retiree ratio. Approximately 25% of women in Italy do not have children while another 25% have only one child. As of 2005, some parts of Italy like Liguria had a death rate of 13.7 for every 1,000 people and birth rate of 7.7 births for every 1,000 people. The government of Italy has tried to reverse and limit the trend through financial incentives to couples with children and increasing the number of immigrants. However, the fertility levels have remained constant, while the immigrants have minimized the fall in the workforce.
Tajikistan gained independence in 1991 following the break-up of the Soviet Union. The presidential Republic has had three presidents, two of which were elected. The president is the chief of state, the chairman of government, and the commander-in-chief of the national army. Constitutionally, the president is chosen by a national vote for a seven-year term renewable only once. However, reforms to the constitution have removed restrictions on the number of terms a president can serve. International bodies and observers have often criticized the elections which are neither free nor fair.

Presidents Of Tajikistan Since The Fall Of The Soviet Union

Qahhor Mahkamov (1990-1991)

Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Mahkamov as the first president of the Republic of Tajikistan on November 30th, 1990. His political career began in 1957 with his membership in the Communist Part of the Soviet Union rising to become head of the Committee of Representatives of the Workers of Leninabad. Later in 1963, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Tajikistan. He served in powerful positions as the vice-director of the Cabinet of Ministers and as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan. His tenure as president experienced several periods of unrests most notably the Dushanbe riots of February 1990 and the August coup. After the coup, mahkamov received pressure from the public due to his support for the failed coup. He retired on August 31st, 1991.

Rahmon Nabiyev (1991-1992)

Nabiyev succeeded Mahkamov as president in December 1991 and retired in September 1992 amid a coup staged by pro-government militia. He previously held political positions in different capacities including as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan, a position he lost to Mahkamov due to a corruption scandal in 1985.nabiyev became the first elected president of the Republic of Tajikistan. The elections sparked disputes and demonstrations that prompted the September 1992 coup. Nabiyev then resigned from office to the safety of his home in Leninabad province. He died in 1993 of uncertain causes. He was succeeded by the paramilitary leader, Emomali Rahman.

Emomali Rahman (1992-Present)

Rahman is the third president of the Republic of Tajikistan who is currently serving his fourth term in office since 1992. As a young man, he served in the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet Union between 1971 and 1974. Rahman joined politics in 1990 after the election as a peoples deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Tajik SSR, later serving as the chairman of the Supreme Soviet. In his first years as president, the United Tajik Opposition opposed his rule throughout the civil war. The 1997 and 1998 coup attempts further destabilized the government. Several constitutional reforms over the years have helped Rahman remain in power for the number of terms he desires.

Ills of the presidency

The Republic of Tajikistan has experienced years of instability, corruption, violation of human rights and poor governance. Tajikistans top and wealthy businesses are controlled by the government making the country one of the poorest.
1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted.

2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks.

3. Comments must not be made by "anonymous" or "unknown".

4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam).

I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published.
In the movie La La Land, the heroine fields calls in the current style, with her cellphone pressed close to her ear.

When President Barack Obama gave his farewell address, he equated innovation with a computer in every pocket.

Some users sleep with their cellphones on the nightstand  or even tucked under the pillow.

But how close should you really get to your cellphone?

The answer depends, in part, on whom you ask. Government experts say cellphones, which emit radio frequency radiation, have not conclusively been linked to any health problem. But some critics point to studies they say raise concerns, including a preliminary report by the National Toxicology Program that rats exposed to cellphone radiation experienced a small but significant increase in heart and brain tumors. Critics also point to studies indicating that cellphone exposure may negatively affect sperm quality.

Given those considerations, we asked government spokespeople, an industry representative and a skeptical scientist what Americans should do if they want to reduce their exposure to cellphone radiation.

Heres what we found:

* Follow the advice of the cellphone manufacturer. And no, youre probably not doing that. Cellphones are tested for radiation emission  and approved by the government as safe for use  at a small but significant distance from your body. You should be able to find that distance in the fine print of your manual or other instructions that come with your phone, and it differs from phone to phone. Youre supposed to keep an iPhone 7 at least 5 mm (about 0.2 inches) away from your body, a Samsung Galaxy S6 at least 1.5 cm (about 0.6 inches) and a Google Pixel 1 cm (about 0.4 inches) away.

The takeaway: Dont keep your cellphone in your pocket or your bra when its powered on.

* If you want to go further, consider the suggestions of government scientists. Youll see small differences in the positions stated on the websites of various government agencies, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) telling us, reassuringly that the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cellphones with any health problems. The National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences agrees that theres no conclusive evidence linking cellphones to any health problems. But it also says that little is known about potential health effects of long-term exposure to radio frequency radiation, the kind of radiation emitted by cellphones, and that data from human studies is inconsistent.

The takeaway: Both the FDA and the NTP say that if you are concerned about cellphone radiation, you can take two simple steps. You can reduce the amount of time you spend using your cellphone, and you can use speaker mode or a headset to increase the distance between your head and the phone.

* Want to do everything possible, short of ditching your cellphone? There are webpages for that, but make sure you choose the right one. Rather than scrolling around and scaring yourself with off-the-wall claims, consider turning to reputable scientists, such as Devra Davis, who was the founding director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, or Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California at Berkeley. Moskowitz and Davis are among the over 220 scientists who have signed the International Electromagnetic Field Scientist Appeal calling for tougher limits on cellphones and related technologies.

The takeaway: Moskowitz offers an extensive list of steps you can take to reduce radiation exposure, including: 1.) Keep your distance. Keep your cellphone or cordless phone away from your body when its powered on, taking special care to maintain distance from your head and reproductive organs. Use your speakerphone or a wired headset, or text instead of calling. 2.) Wait for a good signal. Your cellphone emits more radiation when the signal is poor, so avoid using it while in enclosed metal areas such as elevators, cars, buses, trains or planes. 3.) Avoid secondhand exposure. Reduce the time you spend in places where a lot of people are packed together and using cellphones. 4.) Turn off your phone. Turn off your cellphone when not in use, or switch to airplane mode.
The New York Times, the semi-official voice of the Democratic Party establishment, published an extraordinary article in its Friday edition headlined Anarchists Vow to Halt Far Rights Rise, With Violence if Needed.

The piece, which ran across four columns of the newspapers front page under a huge photo of a black-masked individual preparing to break an office building window with an iron bar during Wednesday nights protests at the University of California, Berkeley, amounted to free publicity and promotion of the violent protests organized by elements identifying themselves as the black bloc, anti-fascists and anarchists.

Authored by Times reporter Farah Stockman, the article consists not only of breathless accounts of gratuitous acts of violence by these elements and extended quotes from individuals claiming to represent their politics, but also multiple links to anarchist and black bloc websites and twitter feeds, helpfully provided for any reader who might want to get involved.

With far-right groups edging into the mainstream with the rise of Donald Trump, self-described anti-fascists and anarchists are vowing to confront them at every turn, and by any means necessaryincluding violence, Stockman writes.

Anarchists also say their recent efforts have been wildly successful, both by focusing attention on their most urgent argumentthat Mr. Trump poses a fascist threatand by enticing others to join their movement, the article continues. It is clear that she and the Times decided to lend a hand to this enticement.

The article ran just two days after the protest in Berkeley over a scheduled speaking appearance there by Milo Yiannopoulos, a senior editor at the extreme right-wing Breitbart News, whose former boss, the fascistic Stephen Bannon, has become Trumps chief White House strategist.

While thousands of Berkeley students turned out to protest peacefully against Yiannopoulos, a reactionary provocateur who laces his speeches with Islamophobia, racism and right-wing nationalism, a minority of about 150 black-masked demonstrators organized under an amorphous coalition describing itself as ANTIFA, standing for anti-fascist, marched onto the campus and carried out acts of gratuitous violence that an overwhelming majority of the students at the protest opposed.

The ANTIFA contingent smashed windows, set fires, shot fireworks at police, assaulted the few Trump supporters in the area and vandalized local stores, buildings and ATMs.

The intervention by these hooded vandals managed to turn a mass protest into a police provocation.

These actions were precisely what Yiannopoulos and his supporters desired, allowing them to drape their virulent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant racism in the mantle of free speech. Trump responded with a threat to cut off federal funding to UC Berkeley, and the turmoil was seized upon by various politicians as a pretext for promoting laws to suppress genuine protests and strikes.

There has been a long experience with the violence of the so-called black bloc, anarchist and ANTIFA protesters, not only in the United States, but in Europe and around the world. The politics of these movements are thoroughly reactionary, based upon a visceral hostility to any struggle to mobilize the working class and youth in an independent political struggle against the capitalist system and for socialism. They attract demoralized and disoriented elements from the middle class, along with a sizable number of police provocateurs who hide behind hoods and masks and egg on the violence to provide an excuse for repression.

For obvious reasons, as at Wednesday nights protest in Berkeley, these forces are often given a free hand to carry out provocations that are then exploited by the police. The challenge confronting those seeking to carry out genuine political actions in opposition to the government and the capitalist system it defends is to identify these provocateurs before they can do their dirty work and throw them out.

The Times, however, seems determined to see them get in. The article includes the following: The question now is whether anarchists' efforts against Mr. Trumpwhether merely colorful and spirited, or lawless and potentially lethalwill earn their fringe movement a bigger presence in the battle of ideas in years to come.

No, the real question is, why is the Times promoting this fringe movement as some kind of serious contender in the battle of ideas?

The article, like much of that which appears in the news pages of the New York Times, stinks of a filthy political provocation.

The Times aim in promoting such retrograde tendencies as the black bloc and self-styled anarchists is to help divert the growing popular radicalization in response to the most right-wing government in US history into safe political channels.

Whatever the cost in broken windows, damaged ATMs and looted Starbucks coffee shops, these forces are fully subordinated to the Democratic Party and the capitalist system, while serving as a useful tool for the police in repressing mass unrest.

This explains how a newspaper that endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, has supported every imperialist war waged by Washington and has waged a neo-McCarthyite campaign in support of confrontation with Russia has become an enthusiastic patron of anarchism.
The European Union summit in Malta on Friday was held in the context of growing tensions between Europe and the United States. Although the official topics of discussion were the exclusion of refugees from the EU, the future of the EU after Brexit, and preparations for the 60th anniversary in March of the Treaty of Rome, many European leaders used the occasion to sharply criticize the policies of the new US government.

It is unacceptable that the president of the United States should make a series of statements pressuring Europe on what it should or should not be, said French President Francois Hollande upon his arrival in Valletta, the capital of Malta.

German Chancellor Angel Merkel called for a strengthening of Europes international role in response to Donald Trumps policies. She said that in view of the new US president, the more clearly Europe defines its role in the world, the better we can maintain our transatlantic relationships. She repeated her statement from the middle of January that Europe has its fate in its own hands.

This did not go far enough for Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party, who is a candidate for German chancellor and the former president of the European Parliament. In an interview with Der Spiegel, he demanded that Merkel adopt a tougher attitude toward Washington.

The chancellor must not keep quiet about behaviour we cannot accept, he said. If Trump sends his wrecking ball through our set of values, one must say clearly: that is not our policy. Schulz declared the new US president to be extremely dangerous to democracy. He accused Trump of playing with the security of the Western world and beginning a culture war.

Even before the summit, EU Council President Donald Tusk of Poland spoke of worrisome declarations by the new American administration, and characterized the US as an external threat along with Russias aggressive policy, an increasingly, let us call it, assertive China and the wars, terror and anarchy in the Middle East and in Africa. He said that particularly the change in Washington is placing the EU in a difficult situation, since the new administration [is] seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy.

Tusk called on the 27 leaders of the countries that will remain in the EU after Brexit to implement a new common European foreign and defence policy to secure their global geo-strategic and economic interests, if necessary in opposition to Washington.

To master the most dangerous challenges since the signing of the Rome Treaty, he said, it is necessary to take decisive, spectacular measures. The aim must be to use the changes in the trade strategy of the US to the advantage of the EU by intensifying our discussions with interested partners.

This requires a definitive strengthening of the external borders of the EU, improved collaboration between agencies that are responsible for combating terrorism and protecting peace and order within the border-free zone, an increase in defence spending, and a strengthening of the foreign policy of the EU as a whole.

After the initial shock, the EU is reacting with aggressive countermeasures to what Tusk called the new geopolitical situation brought on by Trumps nationalistic and militaristic foreign policy, which has in its crosshairs Germany and the EU as well as Iran, Russia, China and Mexico.

The Handelsblatt responded enthusiastically on Wednesday in an article entitled The EU fights back. It wrote, After initial speechlessness, the EU has reacted fiercely to Trumps attacks and decisions.

In addition to Tusks declaration, the German business newspaper hailed the decision of the EU to put the US on the planned tax haven black list. Green Party member of the European Parliament and cofounder of Attac-Deutschland, Sven Giegold, said it is right that the EU Commission is targeting the US tax system.

On Thursday, other leading members of the European Parliament opposed the expected appointment of Ted Malloch as the new American ambassador to the EU. Malloch openly questions the existence of the EU and has indicated that his aim is its destruction. In an interview conducted in January, he told the BBC why he wanted to become the US ambassador in Brussels. I took a diplomatic post that helped to destroy the Soviet Union, he said. Perhaps there is another union that needs taming.

In an open letter to Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the factional heads of the Liberals (ALDE) and the conservatives (EVP) in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt and Manfred Weber, said, These statements demonstrate outrageous malice toward the values that constitute the EU. If an official representative of the US were to say something like this, it could seriously damage the transatlantic relationship that has been an essential contribution to peace, stability and prosperity on our continent.

The deeper cause of the worsening of the transatlantic relationship as well as growing tensions within the EU itself is, however, not Mallochs statements, or Trumps actions, but the fundamental contradictions of the world capitalist system: the contradiction between the global integration and interconnection of the economy and its division into national states with opposed interests, and the contradiction between the social character of global production and its subordination to private ownership of the means of production and the accumulation of private profit by the ruling class.

Twenty-five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, these contradictions, which in the last century led to two world wars but also the October Revolution in Russia, are emerging once again and driving the ruling class on both sides of the Atlantic to ever more aggressive measures. While Trumps America First policy is aimed at offsetting the economic decline of US imperialism by military means, the EU is reacting to the deep political, economic and social divisions in Europe with the militarization of the continent in both domestic and foreign policy.

Like few EU summits before it, the meeting in Malta contributed to the exposure of the rhetoric of democracy and human rights that is being used to mobilize the widespread outrage over Trump behind the realization of European great power fantasies.

The so-called Declaration of Malta prescribes the brutal sealing off of the central Mediterranean route against refugees from Africa. This involves the arming and training of the Libyan coast guard, which is infamous for its brutality, to capture refugees when they are still in Libyan territorial waters and bring them back to the African coast.

During her visit to Ankara on Thursday, Merkel supported the dirty refugee deal between the EU and Turkey, which aims to keep out refugees from the war-torn regions of the Middle East.
More than 1,000 pages of FBI policy manuals recently leaked by The Intercept detail the agencys secret powers, which were massively expanded under the Obama administration. These include the power to send armed surveillance teams to stalk journalists without a warrant, to coerce potential informants (including minors) with deportation, and to extensively infiltrate campus, ethnic and political organizations. The leaked manuals are the subject of an 11-part report by the online journal.

The biggest document obtained by The Intercept is the 2011 edition of the agencys Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG), a 656-page policy manual, in unredacted form for the first time. The rulebook governs all of the agencys activities, including infiltration, surveillance, and electronic information collection.

Infiltration and surveillance

One category of investigation outlined by the DIOG is the Assessment, created in December 2008, which codifies warrantless stalking. Assessments do not need the authorization of a court, nor do they need to be based on any evidenceparticular factual predication in the manuals bureaucratic jargonlet alone the suspicion of any wrongdoing. Certain types of assessments may be proactively initiated by individual agents on their own. Most other assessments need only the rubber stamp of a supervisor, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the field office, in order to proceed.

An FBI agent may request from an Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) the deployment of a mobile surveillance teamincluding armed teamsto physically stalk the subject of an assessment, including (but not limited to) journalists, religious figures, elected officials, potential informants, and individuals who are not the subject of any investigation. The manuals 2011 revision removed the restriction of only one surveillance team per assessment.

Agents may also request authorization to aerially surveil the land around a targets home, including with thermal imaging cameras. The manual asserts that peoples yards do not enjoy Fourth Amendment protection from aircraft-mounted surveillance and thus do not require search warrants authorized by a judge. In assessments related to counterterrorism, the best practices outlined in the FBIs Counterterrorism Policy Guide directs agents to cross-reference the agencys databases and other systems with information such as the subjects phone numbers.

Assessments can be used to map and collect information on populations with potential informants and on other communities of interest, including demographic data, religious affiliations, community dynamics, and businesses. FBI memoranda obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) revealed that the FBI mapped Chinese neighborhoods in San Francisco because [w]ithin this community there has been organized crime for generations.

Data collected by an assessment can be retained for decades and queried by various law enforcement agencies for years, even when the assessment never leads to an investigation.

FBI infiltration of any group, both sensitive (e.g., religious, political, ethnic) and non-sensitive (e.g., business, recreational) also does not need the approval of a court. The unredacted form of the DIOG reveals loopholes exploited by the agency to jump over the already threadbare safeguards against infiltration. By labeling groups with majority non-citizen memberships as acting on the behalf of a foreign power, and labeling any group illegitimate, agents can avoid the apparently onerous burdens of fetching the rubber-stamp of an SAC, and the go-ahead from their divisions head legal adviser if the group is sensitive.

If a group is not related to sensitive investigative matters, then, with the approval of the divisions head legal adviser, FBI infiltrators may substantially affect the groups agenda on social, religious, or political issues.

A report issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2010 revealed that the FBI had illegally infiltrated left-wing groups, spying on an antiwar rally for the concocted purpose of investigating international terrorism subjects (and lying about it at a congressional hearing), and labeling nonviolent acts of civil disobedience as acts of terrorism so as to place activists on federal watch lists.

FBI use of informants

The 2015 edition of the FBIs Confidential Human Source Policy Guide expands the powers afforded by the manuals 2007 edition on how the FBI handles informants. The new policies, with an entire chapter devoted to Immigration Matters, allow the agency to threaten potential informantsincluding minorswith deportation if they dont cooperate with the agency.

The FBI works closely with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency to identify potential informants whose immigration status they can use as leverage, then petitions Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow the informants and/or their dependents temporary relief from deportationbut only as long as they remain useful to the FBI. As soon as an informant loses value, the FBI is obligated to report them to ICE and to have their relief terminated. A presentation obtained by The Intercept and drawn up by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force refers to these coercive methods as immigration relief dangle.

In the case of Moroccan citizen Yassine Ouassif, border agents seized his permanent residency card as he was crossing from New York to Canada, forced him onto a bus back to San Francisco, and instructed him to contact an FBI agent. The agent offered him a choice: become an informant so that he and his wife can stay in the United States, or be deported to Morocco.

With permission from an SAC, FBI agents may recruit minors, emancipated or not, as informants, with or without their caretakers consent. With the permission of the DOJ, the FBI may also recruit clergy, lawyers and journalists. Informants can operate in other countries and the FBI is not required to notify the host countries.

One of the FBI documents obtained by The Intercept is an educational pamphlet on cultivating informants and how to build effective dossiers. These source identification packages identify, among other things, informants motivations, vulnerabilities, family relations, financial goals and psychological characteristics. Today, the FBI has more than 15,000 informantsover ten times the number the agency had in the 1970sand has built software dedicated to tracking and managing said informants.

The FBIs online activities are now coordinated under the Net Talon National Initiative, first established in 2008. The agencys online operations are so ubiquitous that internal documents complain of resources accidentally wasted on investigations of personas created by its own agents.

FBI agents may converse with someone who has nothing to do with any investigation, and then decide that person should be the subject of an investigation. Agents can target any web site, forum or online network that the FBI believes terrorists are using to encourage and recruit members or to spread propaganda.

The FBI has a long and sordid history [1] [2] [3] of entrapping socially isolated, often mentally ill individuals in terror plots that they would otherwise have no capacity to enact. In the case of 29-year-old Basit Javid Sheikh, the FBI created a fake Facebook profile of a female Syrian nurse whom Sheikh became infatuated with. After Sheikh confessed to the nurse that he wanted to travel to join an Islamist militia, the nurse suggested he join the US-backed al-Nusra Front and another undercover FBI agent promised Sheikh a way in. Sheikh agreed, purchased a plane ticket to Beirut, and was arrested at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina. A federal judge later ruled that Sheikh was mentally ill and not competent to participate in his hearing.

Phone surveillance and warrantless search requests

The DIOG also details the use of pen register and trap and trace devices, which disrupt a phone lines service as it tracks the numbers dialed into it. Judges can grant the FBI and other law enforcement agencies pen register orders without the need for officers to establish probable cause. These orders not only authorize the use of these recording devices, but also can be used to demand that the subjects telecom provider immediately hand over any and all telephone numbers, email addresses, and other dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information that the agent deems relevant to the investigation.

National Security Letters (NSLs) function as another type of warrantless search request that may be issued to telecom providers and other financial institutions. NSLs can be issued by a variety of FBI leadership personnel. Over 300,000 NSLs have been issued in the past 10 years, with an average of over 35 a day in 2015.

The scope of NSLs issued to Internet companies is limited to basic subscriber information: name, address, length of service. But FBI internal guidelines reveal that the agency has standard templates for requesting email transaction information, such as email headers and activity logs, which are beyond the scope of what an NSL can be used to obtain. The DIOG also reveals that the agency uses NSLs to obtain second generation call records of multiple individuals en masse. The FBI may label journalists as foreign spies to sidestep the required DOJ approval of NSLs targeting journalists.

The ACLU chief technologist Chris Soghoian, speaking to The Intercept, explained that the FBI routinely asks for information it is not legally entitled to because it is banking that some companies wont know the law and will disclose more than they have to  The FBI is preying on small companies who dont have the resources to hire national security law experts.

With the monstrous expansion of the FBIs spying powers under Obama, the Trump administration, the most right-wing government in American history, now holds the reins of a domestic intelligence agency with the freedom to spy on masses of people without so much as a rubber stamp.
Just over a week after allegations of corruption were first published, French presidential candidate Francois Fillon has come under increasing pressure as more information emerges.

Last Wednesday, the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine published allegations that Fillon, the candidate for the conservative The Republicans (LR) party, had paid his wife Penelope 600,000 over eight years for a fictitious job as his parliamentary assistant. This allegedly also included 500,000 as a parliamentary attache for Marc Joulard, a deputy who replaced Fillon in the Assembly during the time that Fillon was a minister in government.

The newspaper cited statements from another attache, Jeanne Robinson-Behre, who had worked for Joulard during the same period, in which she claimed not to recall any occasion when Penelope Fillon ever did any work for Joulard. Fillon has not denied that his wife received this sum of money, but has repeatedly declared that she had done work to justify her salary, such as meeting guests in his absence and proof-reading drafts of his speeches.

The allegations against Fillon were fuelled by a video aired on television channel France2 on Thursday. The video showed an extract from an interview with UK newspaper the Sunday Telegraph in 2007, in which Penelope Fillon stated, I have never been actually his assistant or anything like that.

I dont deal with his public relations, she added.

In its most recent edition, Le Canard Enchaine has stated that the amount paid to Fillons wife was higher than initially thought, at approximately 831,000.

It also alleged that Fillon paid 84,000 of public funds to two of his children, who he supposedly hired as legal advisers while he was senator, in 2005 and 2007. This is despite the fact that neither of his children had finished their legal studies and were therefore not qualified as lawyers, leading to further speculation over what work they supposedly did.

Although it is still unclear whether the payouts to Penelope Fillon and to Fillons two children were technically illegal, due to the flexibility of French laws on hiring family members and parliamentary assistants, the allegations are discrediting not only Fillon, but the entire political establishment. While demanding that the working class endure draconian austerity measures, the ruling elite is able to procure hundreds of thousands of euros of public funds for their own benefit.

Media and political circles are increasingly wary of the consequences of scandals like these in further distancing the working class from the established parties.

An editorial published yesterday in Le Monde stated: By taking the French people as fools, by allowing them to see and hear such levels of indifference towards them, by getting rid of even the slightest show of integrity, we will end up, one way or another, by deepening their disgust with government business and by provoking their revoltand legitimately. With their sense of impunity and blind egotism, it continued, the candidates responsible for this state of affairs will only have themselves to reproach. But itll be too late.

The publication of this new information has provoked intense divisions within LR, whose candidate has gone from being the favourite for the presidency, to facing an electoral debacle. According to a recent survey, 76 percent of the French population said they were not convinced by Fillons statements about the allegations. Polls now predict that Fillon would only gain 19 to 20 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections, coming in behind PS-linked banker Emmanuel Macron and National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen. This would eliminate him from the second round.

As the European powers scramble to respond to Donald Trumpwhose administration is backing Le Pen, who has taken Trumps election as a sign that she can win the French presidencyLR are debating how to salvage their candidacy and assert French capitalisms interests on the world stage.

On Thursday, 17 prominent LR officials, including LR General Secretary Bernard Accoyer, and former candidates for the LR primary Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Bruno Le Maire, penned an editorial in the French newspaper Le Figaro, in which they declared their total support for Fillon, and denounced the allegations as rumours, approximations and slander.

However, other officials have called for Fillon to step down, and cede his nomination to another LR candidate. Calling the results of the November primary contest, which nominated Fillon as LR candidate, null and void when confronted with these unpredictable developments, the deputy for the Rhone region, George Fenech, called for the LR to organise a national council meeting in order to find a solution.

Sections of the LR are manoeuvring to install as presidential nominee Alain Juppe, who came in second after Fillon in the primaries. LR deputy Philippe Gosselin confirmed on Thursday that an open letter calling for the nomination of Juppe was being prepared, and was ready to be signed by several dozens of deputies.

With the Socialist Party (PS) also deeply divided over last Sundays nomination of Benoit Hamon as presidential candidate, the French ruling elite is faced with the possibility of the collapse of the two major parties of bourgeois rule for the last half century.

Broad sections of the French and European ruling elite are concerned that Le Pen could benefit from the breakdown of these two parties, and widespread popular disgust with the entire political establishment in France. Le Pen is resolutely hostile to the European Union (EU), and in the wake of the Brexit vote in the UK and Donald Trumps hostile stance towards the EU, an FN presidency would profoundly change the EU, threatening its very survival.
Food banks, also known as food pantries, are rapidly proliferating on college and university campuses across the US. The College and University Food Bank Alliance counts 434 member food banks at colleges and universities nationwide, an increase of 23 in the span of just two months.

There are food banks at prestigious public universities, including University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of Pittsburgh, University of Oregon, Georgia Tech, and University of Minnesota. Whats more, there are food banks at selective private universities, including Cornell University, Georgetown University, University of Southern California, and George Washington University, all of which charge roughly $50,000 per year in tuition alone, with total annual cost of attendance at roughly $70,000 per year.

2016 brought additional hardship to part-time students along with unemployed workers in Pennsylvania and 21 other states that implemented changes to eligibility rules for the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps. The federal government cut SNAP benefits for an estimated 500,000 to one million childless adults between 18 and 49 who have been unemployed for over three months. Students enrolled in higher education more than half their time are generally ineligible for SNAP unless they work at least 20 hours a week, care for dependent children, or meet a handful of other exemptions. The change in the work requirement does apply for part-time students.

In response to high unemployment levels in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, many states were allowed to temporarily waive requirements that SNAP beneficiaries work at least 20 hours per week to receive benefits after 90 days. 22 states implemented the cut in 2016, with 22 others doing so in 2015. The justification given for these cuts is a drop in the quasi-fictional official unemployment rate, which does not count workers who have given up looking for work. The US labor force participation rate, the fraction of the working-age population that is employed, remains at lows not seen since the late 1970s, when women entered the workforce en masse.

The draconian SNAP work requirement was itself a product of the 1996 welfare reform law, which then-President Bill Clinton boasted would end welfare as we know it. The Democrats are fully complicit in these cuts. At the federal level the question was not seriously raised by either congressional Democrats, then-President Obama or any of the Democratic presidential candidates. At the state level, the cuts were ruthlessly implemented in states with Democratic as well as Republican-controlled administrations.

WSWS reporters spoke with food pantry volunteers and community college students at Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The food pantry, named the CCAC Allegheny Campus Foodbox Project, began this year to provide nutritional assistance to students on roughly a monthly basis.

A CCAC staff member, who asked not to be identified, explained her reasons for helping start the food bank during the mid-December holiday season. I wrote a small grant to get the initiative started. We partnered with the honors class, and this is our third food pantry.

She spoke of the stigma surrounding hunger. As a result of reluctance to discuss the issue, student hunger is almost certainly under-reported. The proliferation of food banks, however, is a clear indication of the growing need.

People dont want to talk about it; maybe a small circle of friends know. But I put a box of snacks on the table in the cafeteria yesterday, and before I could get them to my office, it was gone. So it helps if they see something thats easy to pick up. We try to give them things that they can eat right now and they dont have to worry about shelf life.

Students have a lot of pride, and thats why we chose this location, because there is a culinary program in the basement. Theres a bus stop on the corner. If youve got a car, you can at least stop temporarily to go load up your food, and nobody is really seeing you carrying bags of groceries through the student union. We try to be mindful of peoples pride.

When someone thanks us four or five times as theyre walking out the door, we know they really need it. One person said, Im just trying to fill in gaps from what I already have.

She went on to emphasize the need for students in the greater Pittsburgh area. At South Campus [several miles away], a student stole some food because they were hungry.

I only got a small grant. Were trying to get a bigger grant now so we can carry this through to next year.

Michelle, a CCAC student, explained her reasons for volunteering at the food bank. Everybody needs to eat, and not everybody can afford to go to the store as frequently as they might need to, especially students.

Abby, a culinary student at CCAC, gave her thoughts on hunger among students. I feel that its becoming more of an issue in todays society because the cost of school is so high. People often cant feed themselves or their families. Some of the students have families, or are single parents, and that makes it even harder.

I was working 35 hours a week part-time, but I hurt my thumb, cut it with a knife at school, and had to quit my job. I didnt get workmans comp because I was hurt at school. I live off loans, about $1,000 a month, and I live with my boyfriend.

Elle, a student at CCAC, spoke on hunger in the working class more broadly. In high school, I volunteered at the Food Bank of Greater Pittsburgh. I definitely think its important. I think that hunger is definitely a problem that needs to be solved, because there are people who go to sleep hungry all the time. There are people who dont have money for food, and thats a problem.

I think its a huge issue. There are a lot of homeless people. Thats horrible. Especially homeless veterans, thats tragic. I feel something needs to be done. Im not sure what, but something definitely needs to be done.

Joe, who studies graphic communication at CCAC, added, I heard there were more foreclosed houses than there are people who can actually use them. I used to volunteer in high school as well at a food bank in Homestead. I saw people all the time down there who both took from food banks and volunteered at food banks. It definitely helps out a lot of homeless people.

Elle continued, Its expensive to live and be able to afford everything you need as a human being. The minimum wage is not enough. Fifteen dollars an hour is not enough. Something needs to change. Its just a question of what and how we can do it.
Labour councillors in the impoverished London borough of Haringey are pushing forward with plans to place 2 billion of public property into private hands.

To be finalised in April, the scheme will place the whole of Haringeys public finances at risk, see thousands of council tenants thrown out of their homes and increase already unaffordable house prices in the borough. These events are a reflection of Londons ongoing process of social cleansing, in connection with the wholesale destruction of social and genuinely affordable housing to make way for high-value developments.

Haringeys privatisation marks a new stage, whereby UK local authorities themselvesand all of the services they provideare placed under private direction. Above all, the situation in Haringey is a vital political lesson in the pro-capitalist character of the Labour Party.

The driving force behind the privatisation programme is the leader of Haringey Council, Labour councillor Claire Kober. She intends to establish a Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV), a private company half owned by the Council and half by a private developer. The Council will put up land to secure its share, which the developer will match with equity. The Councils assets will be transferred to the HDV on long leases for a 20-year period.

To decide which developer Haringey Council would partner with, Kober was flown to a high-flying property fair at Cannes in France to discuss with various bidders. A shortlist was drawn up which includes Lendlease; Morgan Sindall with Affinity Sutton and Circle; Pinnacle with Starwood Capital and Catalyst.

Two of these corporationsLendlease and Starwoodare represented by a lobbying group that has wined and dined Kober and her heads of housing no less than 13 times. A spokesman for the Council, when asked if the HDV had been discussed at these lunches, responded: It is impossible to account for all of the conversations that took place at these events which involved a large number of people who are not from Haringey including London borough leaders and GLA representatives.

The immensely rich surroundings in which Kober and her administration made their decisions could not be further divorced from the life experience of Haringeys working class residents. The borough has the fourth-highest landlord eviction and overcrowding rates in London, the second-highest rate of families housed in temporary accommodation, above average homelessness rates for the capital and one of the highest rates of out-of-work benefits recipientsaccording to the London Poverty Profile of 2015.

There has not been the slightest democratic pretense at giving voice to the interests of working class people. In fact, most residents of Haringeys Council housing estates slated for destruction under the HDV are entirely unaware of what is being planned. This is something Haringey Councils own consultants admit, but intend to do nothing about.

What information has been gained from the Council regarding the HDV has provoked an overwhelmingly hostile response. A number of demonstrations have been held protesting the plans. The Haringey Defend Council Housing organisation has described it as an absolutely terrible policy, continuing, The whole plan is about increasing house prices. Its morally wrong. They [the Labour Council] should stop doing the Tories dirty work.

In response, Kober falsely claimed in the Guardian, Whatever you want to call what were doing, its not privatisation. According to Kober, HDV is a route to 5,000 new homes and thousands of new jobs in the next 20 years. She said in the same article, A council like Haringey could never borrow the money or recruit the talent to build on this land at the scale and pace thats needed. So, rather than sell it to private developers and hope for the best, were bringing in the investment and skills from a private partner while retaining a 50% control...

This is a miserable cover-up. There are no plans to build social housing under the HDV, only so-called affordable housing. As is well known, affordable prices are defined as up to 80 percent of the market rate. This is already unaffordably high for many Haringey residents and will be driven yet higher by the new HDV builds whichif previously approved redevelopments are an indicationwill be tailored to the very rich. These previous projects include the sale of Hornsey Town Hall to Far East Consortium International Ltd (FEC), despite the opposition of over 99 percent of locals consulted. The building was renovated into a luxury hotel with just four affordable units.

As for Kobers suggestion that the involvement of private interests is harmlessand even beneficialthis is indicative of the programme of the Labour Party, which supports big business.

The door has been opened to private, for-profit involvement in local authority affairs on an unprecedented scale. Haringey Council, under the HDV, will be as responsible for providing a profitable return to the private developer as it is for providing for its residents. Given that the leaders of Haringey Council are closely intertwined with big business, it is clear which of these commitments will be given priority. This is a process taking place throughout the public sector in Britain and internationally.

The motivations of big business in this area are made clear by recent analysis from Bilfinger GVA, which showed that the fastest rate of economic growth is happening outside of central London. According to their research, the combination of major regeneration projects and access to affordable office space is driving up demand in boroughs like Haringey. In other words, Londons outer boroughs are considered the capitals next big investment bubble. Private developers are rushing to bulldoze obstacles like social housing in order to secure themselves a slice of the profits.

As the example of Haringey shows, among their most valued accomplices in this effort is the Labour Party. Clearly aware of the serious popular fallout they can expect from their actions, lower-tier Haringey Labour councillors have criticised the course of action taken by Kober and the Councils leadership.

Whatever their arguments or the course of the debate, these councillors offer only token opposition to Kobers plan. An examination of their record since 2010 reveals they have voted again and again for massive spending cuts in the borough. Since 2010 to the beginning of 2014, Labour cut 117 million from Haringeys budget, with many vital services reduced or terminated. A further 70 million reduction is to be imposed by 2018. More than 600 council workers jobs are slated to be lost by 2018

What has been imposed by the Labour council in Haringey has been enforced by Labour everywhere, with the party in control of councils in virtually every major urbanised area in London and nationally.

Left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his close political ally, shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, have ordered all Labour councils to impose increasingly savage cuts to local authority budgets. Labour-run authorities across the country are enacting cuts with as much callousness and ferocity as Conservative.

Corbyns own Islington constituency Labour council has slashed 220 million over the past decade, with plans for a further 70 million in cuts, and has set up a council-run private company, called iCo, to charge for services.
For Kayla Manley and Nathan Garrison, the Lincoln Childrens Zoo Adventures program opened their eyes, their hearts and their minds to the world beyond.

The 20- and 22-year-old Lincoln college students saved sea turtles from poachers in Costa Rica, tracked tapir and observed conch in Belize and helped save Galapagos tortoise in Ecuador

This July, they will work with cheetahs in South Africa.

Just three spots remain for the zoos first Expedition South Africa, a joint, hands-on conservation tour offered for youth ages 14 to 20, in partnership with Classic Escapes.

As part of the tour, July 9-18, youth will work with hand-raised cheetahs at the De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Center, participate in conservation efforts at the Entabeni Game Reserve and immerse themselves in the culture through community outreach and tours of Johannesburg and the Lesedi Cultural Village.

For Manley, 20, this will be her fifth Adventures Expedition. For Garrison, 22, it will be his fourth.

Adventures program is designed to open young eyes to career opportunities in conservation and influence their lifelong understanding of the world around them, said Ryan Gross, director of creative strategy with the zoo.

Executive Director John Chapo, who for decades has led adult eco-tourism expeditions to South Africa, India and Central America, said that although the travel stops are similar, the experience is not.

The youth are hands-on, hearts on, Chapo said. The adults are heads-on, hearts-on.

We want to connect youth, have them look to the future and inspire them, Chapo said.

For adults, the approach is lifelong learning, as opposed to a life-shifting decision.

Manley and Garrison say their experiences have definitely changed them.

I found myself as a person, Manley said. It sounds a little cliche. But I discovered my independence and that I was capable of doing things that I never thought I could do. I feel more connected to everything.

... In America we are so engulfed in ourselves. We are in a bubble. I feel like I popped my personal bubble. There is a lot more out there than what we are taught and what we think and what we know.

Manley and Garrison both worked as Zoo Crew volunteers in middle school. When they outgrew the program, they joined the zoo staff working in the education department with camps, programming and special events. Garrison fills in wherever needed, be it manning the Critter Outpost, painting a restroom or trimming trees.

A farm boy, Garrison always knew his career was with animals and conservation.

Working here just confirmed that love, Garrison said of the zoo. He learned of the Adventures after the first group returned from Costa Rica.

They told me about all the cool things they were doing with the animals," he said. "And I knew I wanted to experience that."

The following summer, he did traveling with Adventures on its second journey to Costa Rica.

We walked up and down the beach at night looking for sea turtles -- it was treacherous, but fun, he said, referring to their task of protecting sea turtles and their eggs from poachers. It gave me a wider perspective of what the zoos goal of conservation is."

And it opened his eyes to the world beyond U.S. borders

It really interests me to see how people live in other countries," Garrison said referring to his visits to Costa Rica, Ecuador and Belize. "Here there is the white picket fence mentality. Down there it is completely different in how they live. Its really eye-opening.

People are a lot more connected to the environment, Garrison added.

In Belize, 90 percent of the economy is ecotourism," he said. "That plays a huge role in conservation and how they are working to conserve so much more than we do here."

Garrison will graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December with a degree in fisheries and wildlife management with the option of zoo animal care.

Manley says the Lincoln Childrens Zoo has always been her home away from home. She visited often as a child and has photos of her riding the ponies, posing on the tortoise statue and dressed in a Halloween costume beside The Wizard (a.k.a. Chapo) at a long ago Boo at the Zoo. Like Garrison, she graduated out of Zoo Crew and went on to land a job with the zoo.

I feel like I have come full circle. I grew up here, and the zoo is the only job Ive ever had, Manley said.

She was just 17 when she made that first Adventure expedition to Costa Rica.

It was amazing. It opened my eyes to so many different things. It was my first time out of the country. My first time traveling without my mom. I grew so much. I was a different person when I came home.

And she knew she would find a way to fund her way on the next Adventure.

I babysat a lot, she said.

These days, her zoo salary goes right toward her Adventures expedition.

Before taking her first expedition, Manley planned to become a high school science teacher. Adventures changed that.

I realized I wanted to teach people what I learned and what I know in whatever way works for them, she said. I didnt want to be told what I had to tell them  I learned so much out of the classroom. That I dont want to limit that knowledge to a classroom.

She changed her major to wildlife ecology and transferred from UNL to Peru State College. Her dream job is working in a zoo education department -- preferably at the Lincoln Childrens Zoo.

But Aimee Johns, the current education director and Manleys boss, has no intention of giving up the coveted post or the Adventures program, which she started in 2012.

The idea actually came to her while she was the education director for the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland.

I heard kids saying Id love to be an astronaut, but I could never do that," she said. "It was heartbreaking to hear them have a goal and then hear a child think they couldnt do that."

Working with Nebraska astronaut and family friend Clayton Anderson, she started a summer youth camp in which students experienced a mini-immersion into NASA.

When she left the museum for the Lincoln Childrens Zoo, she brought the immersion idea with her.

There are so many more possibilities at the zoo, Johns said.

The program started with an adventure to Florida, where students experienced marine biology through snorkeling and working behind the scenes in a marine laboratory.

Five years ago, the program went international.

Up until now, Adventures focused on work with reptiles.

Were working our way around the globe and working our way through animal classifications, Johns said, noting this will be the first mammal-focused expedition.

And what magnificent mammals they will work with -- from cheetahs, to elephants, to lions and more.

Its Africa, Manley said, shivering with excitement. Thats all you can say."
Asia

Taiwan railway workers strike

Around 500 workers, including train conductors, station workers and other operational staff, covered by the Taiwan Railway Union (TRU), refused to report for work during the Lunar New Year holiday to protest the Taiwan Railways Administrations (TRA) failure to solve staffing shortages and pay cuts after new labour laws came into effect. Commuter services were affected over the weekend and ticket windows at major stations were closed on January 28 due to the shortage of staff.

The strikers allege that the new labour law will force them to work an extra 46 hours per month. A union representative claimed that the TRA would need to hire 2,500 more employees to operate its current schedule without extending current work hours. TRU members are demanding that staffing levels be increased or the number of passenger and cargo services reduced. Other demands include higher bonuses, subsidies for employees exposed to vocational hazards, and pensions and benefits on par with civil servants.

The TRU is a new union whose members broke from the TRA Corporate Union. The corporate union opposed the Lunar New Year strike action and over 5,000 TRA employees did not participate.

Thailand seafood processing workers make demands

Over 2,000 migrant workers from seafood exporter Sea Value Group submitted a petition to management on Monday calling for higher wages and better working conditions, a rare stand in a country where foreign workers are banned from forming trade unions.

According to the Migrant Worker Rights Network, at least 2,200 Burmese (Myanmar) workers are employed at several Sea Value processing factories. The workers want increased welfare benefits, improved work conditions, a higher nightshift allowance and increased incentives.

Thailand is the worlds third largest seafood exporter. The sector is mainly staffed by desperately poor migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia. Workers in the industry endure slave-like conditions in factories and on fishing vessels where injuries and fatal accidents are common.

Sea Value Groups factories process more than 1,000 tonnes of fish a day, much of it exported to Europe and the US.

Cambodian garment workers protest

More than 200 workers from the Kbal Koah Garment Company and Top World Garment Cambodia factories demonstrated on National Road 1 in Phnom Penhs Chbar Ampov district for an hour seeking government intervention in claiming unpaid wages.

Workers believe the shuttered factories have gone bankrupt and are demanding their unpaid December wages. A factory administrator said the owners have left and cant be found.

Bangladeshi journalists protest against police violence

Journalists demonstrated in Dhaka on January 28 against the brutal attack by police on two colleaguesone ATN News correspondent and a cameraman. The two journalists were covering a protest against the proposed construction of the Rampal coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans tidal mangroves.

Witnesses said police singled out the two journalists and dragged them into the Shahbagh Police Station where they were allegedly beaten so badly that they were hospitalised from their injuries. The Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association and Dhaka Union of Journalists General demanded trial and punishment for the policemen involved in the attacks.

India: Contract nurses at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on strike

Following a week of unsuccessful protests, 210 outsourced nurses from the Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad, Hyderabad walked out on January 28 on an indefinite strike over permanency and equal pay. They are maintaining a protest in the hospital grounds. On Sunday at 2 a.m., police arrested 90 striking nurses who had occupied the fourth floor of the hospital. The nurses were later released after being charged with trespassing, unlawful assembly and mischief.

Nurses said many of them have been at the hospital for ten years, receiving a monthly wage of 17,500 rupees ($US260), compared to nurses directly employed by the hospital who receive 28,000 rupees a month. Hospital management is refusing to talk to the nurses.

A nurse from the Telangana Medical Contract Employees Workers Union told media that they struck last June, but were promised that our services would be regularised. We were fooled. This time we are determined and will not work unless the government takes a decision.

Striking workers in Jammu and Kashmir occupy mine

Fifteen workers at the Moughla coal mine in Kalakote tehsil, Rajouri district began a hunger strike on January 25 as part of their ten-year campaign for entitlements and permanency. According to the Bhartiya Cola Khan Mazdoor Union, they are occupying the mine deep underground. They want permanency for casual workers, an increased dearness allowance, promotions and release of the cost of living allowance.

Pondicherry childcare centre workers protest

Childcare centre (anganwadi) workers demonstrated outside the Swadeshi Cotton Mills in Pondicherry on Monday for a wage increase and entitlements. They want implementation of minimum wages, social security, including ESI (Employee State Insurance), Provident Fund and a pension. Other demands, include implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations and payment of 50 percent arrears as per the Sixth Pay Commission.

Power loom workers in Tamil Nadu strike

Over 120 workers in Ayakattoor and Anna Nagar areas, operating 327 power looms at 14 factories in Tamil Nadu, walked out on an indefinite strike on January 27 to oppose a wage cut. Workers complained that their wage per metre of cloth produced was cut, resulting in about 1,700 rupees reduction in their monthly income.

Tamil Nadu explosives factory workers end strike

Industrial Explosives Limited (TEL) factory workers in the Panamadangi Reserve Forest near Katpadi ended a three-day strike on January 27, after management paid two months outstanding salaries and assured them they would receive their remaining four months back salary within a week. Workers warned that they had only suspended their strike action for a week while management honoured its agreement and addressed other issues, such as the voluntary retirement scheme.

Pakistan: Punjab polio workers demand wages

Punjab government-run anti-polio vaccination campaign workers in Rawalpindi demonstrated outside the deputy commissioners office last Saturday to demand immediate payment of two months wages. The protest was in response to the Punjab governments decision not to pay salaries to female health workers, sanitary patrol workers and employees engaged in anti-polio awareness until the next polio campaign. Workers have threatened to boycott the upcoming vaccination campaign if the government does not pay their wages.

Pakistani construction workers in Azad Kashmir strike

Over 200 construction workers at the Neelum Jhelum Hydroelectric Project in Azad Kashmir province walked off the job on Monday to oppose the Water and Power Development Authoritys (WAPDA) refusal to make workers permanent and to oppose the axing of retirement plans and other benefits.

The WAPDA workers have been involved in a protracted campaign against the restructuring and privatisation of the state-run utility. The WAPDA Labour Union called off the strike after authorities verbally promised to address the issues.

Sri Lankan contract telecom workers maintain strike

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) workers remain on strike after failed negotiations between representatives of striking outsourced workers and management.

Around 2,100 workers of the outsourcing company, Human Capital Solutions, walked out on December 26 to demand permanent jobs. The strikers are paid much less than permanent employees and not provided with adequate facilities or safety equipment.

The workers rejected an offer from SLT to recruit 200 of them per year as new employees, which will take more than 10 years to recruit all 2,100 manpower workers. Their basic salary would be reduced to 17,500 rupees a month from 30,000 rupees. Management has only agreed to integrate workers who have a service of more than seven years and are less than 50 years old, making a considerable section of workers ineligible to take up the offer.

Sri Lankan port workers protest against privatisation

Workers from the Hambantota and Trincomalee ports marched last Wednesday in Central Colombo against government plans to privatise the ports. Police fired tear gas and used water cannons in an attempt to break up the demonstration at Lotus Road in the Colombo Fort area. Heavy traffic congestion was caused by the police action.

The government has announced that 80 percent of Hambantota Port will be sold to Chinese-owned Merchant Port Holdings and Trincomalee Port sold to an Indian consortium. The newly-developed east container terminal of the Port of Colombo is also in the pipeline for privatisation.

The government is following International Monetary Fund orders to privatise state-owned enterprises.

The Hambantota Port workers walked out on December 7, demanding permanent jobs with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). This demand took on a new urgency after the government hastily signed an agreement to privatise the facility. The government mobilised hundreds of navy soldiers who brutally attacked the strikers with poles and rifle butts in an attempt to end the walkout. Several workers were hospitalised.

Following a court order overturning the port workers right to strike, they returned to work on December 15 fearing they would lose their jobs.

Australia and the Pacific

New South Wales coal workers on strike

Some 140 contract workers at the South 32 coal mine in Appin (near Wollongong, south of Sydney) have been on a protected action strike for nearly three weeks demanding job security and wages and entitlements on par with full-time workers. The workers are employees of labour hire firms Delta and Southern Colliery Maintenance (SCM). They are also demanding the right to move from casual to permanent employment after 12 months service.

Meanwhile, another labour hire firm at the Mastermine pit has terminated all its workers before rehiring them on a new contract. Some workers have been at the mine for nine years and are not sure if they will be rehired.

South 32 is a spin-off from BHPs coal operations in the district and has developed a ruthless reputation for driving down labour costs by forcing the three competing labour hire firms to cut labour costs to get a contract. According to the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) the number of labour hire workers has been cut by 40 percent over two years.

Over 300 contract workers from South 32 demonstrated in December over pay cuts in new contracts proposed by the labour hire firms. A protesting worker at a rally in Wollongong said that his wages had dropped from $36 to $30 an hour during the last four years. South 32 management said it intended to axe 300 permanent and contract jobs by June.

While a CFMEU South West District representative has assured the miners that the union fights for the rights of all members, whether they are permanent or contract employees, the union isolated the contract workers dispute.

New Zealand: Lyttelton Port workers extend strike again

Over 160 members of the Maritime Union of New Zealand at the Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) container terminal have been striking each weekend since December 24 over a proposed new work agreement. Following three days of failed negotiations last week, the union issued strike notices for weekends up to, and including, February 1112. A court challenge by LPC over the legality of the proposed strike for this weekend was declined on Monday. Talks are scheduled to resume today.

Workers are opposed to managements demands for rostering changes to the current work agreement. They are concerned with how quickly they can be required to take up a shift or a shift can be cancelled. The proposed collective agreement will cover about 60 percent of the terminals workforce. Union members are maintaining weekend pickets outside the port terminal.

Papua New Guinea university lecturers on strike

Some 138 lecturers at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) boycotted classes on Tuesday to protest over the non-payment of a salary increase. A National Academic Staff Association (NASA) spokesman said lecturers were awarded a 7.5 percent pay increase in 2014 to be spread over three years. While they received an adjustment (2.5 percent) to their salaries in 2014, there was none in 2015 and 2016.

Around 90 percent of the universitys lecturers signed a notice to strike. NASA warned that they would continue the strike for five days, then decide on further action.

Meanwhile, 30 lecturing doctors at the PNG School of Medicine and Health Sciences, at UPNGs Taurama campus, began a boycott of classes on Monday over payment of an allowance. The National Doctors Association said the outstanding allowance, totalling 5.6 million kina ($US1.76 million), is part of the associations award negotiated with the government in 2013 and came into effect on January 1, 2014. Doctors said that classes would not resume until the matter is resolved.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis, who is currently touring North East Asia, warned North Korea yesterday that any attack on the United States and its allies would be defeated. And any use of nuclear weapons would be met with an effective and overwhelming response.

This bellicose threat only has one meaning: the obliteration of the North Korean regime, as well as its military, industry and infrastructure, with the loss of countless lives. It is a message that is aimed not only at North Korea, but also China, Pyongyangs only ally and economic lifeline.

In the first instance, Mattiss comments were aimed at reassuring South Korea and Japan. During last years presidential election campaign, President Trump threatened to walk away from the US alliances with Japan and South Korea if they did not pay a far greater share of the costs of the extensive American military bases in their countries.

On his flight to South Korea, Mattis declared that the alliance between the two countries was enduring. He met with South Koreas acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Thursday and pledged that the US intended to stand shoulder to shoulder against any North Korean threat. After meeting with the US defence secretary on Friday, South Korean Defence Minister Han Mikoo welcomed Mattiss threat to North Korea as evidence of the allies close military cooperation.

For all the public reassurances, Mattis is likely to have discussed South Korea paying a greater share of the ongoing costs and restructuring of US military bases. The Pentagon has been engaged in a major reorganisation of its presence in South Korea as part of the Obama administrations military build-up throughout the region in preparation for war with China. The US has some 28,500 military personnel in the country.

Mattiss immediate priority was to secure the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery to South Korea. The South Korean government, under pressure from the Obama administration, agreed last year to install the sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system despite widespread local opposition.

Mattis repeated the claim that the THAAD battery in South Korea, part of an extensive and growing anti-missile system in Asia, is aimed against North Korea. If it were not for the provocative behaviour of North Korea, we would have no need for THAAD out here, he said.

The prime target of the US anti-missile network is not North Korea, but China, which has protested against the planned THAAD installation in South Korea. The THAAD system, which is capable of shooting down nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, is not primarily for defence, but to neutralise Chinas ability to retaliate in the event of a US first nuclear strike.

Mattis and his South Korean counterpart announced that the THAAD system would be deployed by the end of 2017. The South Korean government, however, is mired in political crisis after the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Her future is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court. If she is removed from office, a fresh presidential election will be held.

South Korean opposition parties have no opposition in principle to the THAAD deployment but are seeking to capitalise on mounting public opposition. The Los Angeles Times reported: A large group gathered in a central square [in Seoul] Thursday to protest Mattis arrival. One held a sign that read, Mad Dog MattisNot Welcome in Korea.' More protesters were expected Friday.

Mad Dog Mattis is a former Marine general and head of US Central Command notorious for his murderous language and methods in the Middle East. The fact that he chose to make his first overseas trip as defence secretary to North East Asia is another sign that the Trump administration has put a confrontation with China at the top of its agenda.

Trumps threats of trade war measures have gone hand-in-hand with bellicose statements on Chinas activities in the South China Sea and North Korea. Trump has repeatedly accused Beijing of failing to use its economic muscle to force Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons and programs.

Trump responded last month to North Korea's claims that it was preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile by flatly declaring that it wont happen. While he gave no indication how the US would prevent such a test, the implication was that the North Korean missile would either be destroyed on the ground or shot out of the sky by an anti-missile system.

Trumps belligerent comments toward North Korea coincide with a debate in US foreign policy and military circles over the danger that Pyongyang will soon have nuclear-armed missiles. Patrick Cronin, from the Centre for a New American Security, told the Washington Post that North Korea was on the cusp of being able to demonstrate and deploy all the sinews of a nuclear-weapon state.

Prior to Mattiss trip, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart to discuss the acute security situation posed by North Koreas nuclear and missile programs. The two reaffirmed the strong commitment of the two countries to building up a joint defence posture.

Under the Obama administration, the US and South Korean militaries agreed to new joint operational plansOPLAN 5015that shifted from a defensive posture in the event of a war with North Korea to an offensive one, including pre-emptive strikes on North Korean missiles and nuclear weapons and decapitation raids on the Pyongyang regime.

In an article this week in the Joint Forces Quarterly, Dunford indicated that any war with North Korea would not be limited to the Korean Peninsula. Today, North Koreas intercontinental ballistic missile, cyber, and space capabilities could quickly threaten the homeland and our allies in the Asia-Pacific region, he wrote.

Deterring and, if necessary, defeating a threat from North Korea requires the Joint Force to be capable of nearly instant integration across regions, domains and functions, Dunford stated.

These comments make clear that the Pentagon is preparing for a conflict that would rapidly draw other powers, including China, into a new world war that would range across the globe and into outer space.

Mattis left South Korea last night for further talks in Japan over the weekend.
Prior to the beginning of yesterdays European Union (EU) summit in Malta, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democrats, CDU) met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. It was the fifth trip to Turkey for Merkel in the past 18 months and her first visit since the failed coup in Turkey on July 15-16, 2016.

The meeting took place under conditions of an extremely tense foreign policy climate in the wake of the inauguration of US President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Michael Flynn, the national security adviser to the US president, threatened Iran, which is currently closely collaborating with Turkey in Syria, with war. Mexico and China, as well as Germany and the EU, previously were targeted by Trumps nationalist and militarist foreign policy.

Brussels and Berlin are responding to these developments with their own foreign policy offensive. Since Trumps assumption of power, several media outlets, foreign policy think tanks and leading business and political figures have sharply criticised the new US administration and called for a more independent EU foreign policy to enforce their own economic and geopolitical interests, in opposition to the US if necessary.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is currently in Washington, demanded immediately following Trumps inauguration speech that their own interests had to be firmly defined. In an interview with Handelsblatt, he declared, among other things, If Trump initiates a trade war with Asia or South America, opportunities will open up for us. Europe had to work quickly now on a new Asia strategy and make use of  the spaces left free by America.

While the media focused in its reporting on Merkels alleged reference to the need to defend democracy and human rights in Turkey, it was apparent that the two-and-a-half hour talks between Merkel and Erdogan also dealt with major geopolitical and economic issues.

Shortly after the beginning of the joint press conference, Erdogan emphasised, After our joint discussion there were further discussions among delegations. We were able bilaterally as well as jointly to evaluate various issues, on defence, the economy, trade, different areasincluding, of course, terrorismand this both nationally and internationally.

Relations between Germany and Turkey were important relations. In addition, the issue of what we can jointly do in the defence sector was dealt with. Other important issues were political relations within the framework of the EU, the EU process, as well as in the framework of NATO.

Despite sharp foreign policy conflicts with Ankara in recent monthsthe most recent caused by 40 Turkish officers who were ordered to return from NATO bases, but instead applied for asylum in GermanyTurkey is for several reasons a key ally of German imperialism as a central bridging country between Europe and the energy-rich Middle East.

An important goal for Merkel and the German government is the brutal sealing off of Europe from refugees fleeing the war zones in the Middle East. At the joint press conference with Erdogan, Merkel explicitly praised the dirty refugee deal between the European Union and Turkey, stating, Turkey is making extraordinary efforts here every day. She said, Everything [would be] done to ensure that the resources promised by the EU can of course be dispersed as soon as possible.

There are also the close economic ties between the countries. Like many other countries, Turkey is important for the export-dependent German economy, above all as a sales market. In 2015, Germany supplied goods valued at 22.4 billion to Turkey, which placed 14th among Germanys export destinations. On the other hand, Germany imported goods valued at 14.5 billion from Turkey (17th place). Merkel said reassuringly in Ankara, The economic relations are good, but they could be further intensified; we will also work on that.

Turkey is also an important ally for Germany due to the German armys interventions in the Middle East. At the Turkish airbase at Incirlik, German Tornados and up to 1,200 troops have been stationed for the operations in Syria and Iraq, the expansion of which was agreed to last November.

The Defence Ministry is currently pushing for an expansion to Incirlik, so as to be able to potentially act more independently of the US military. Spiegel Online wrote last September that the expansion of the base was from the point of view of the military  urgently required, because since the beginning of the German intervention, the air force parks its jets on US army facilities, rests them in temporary accommodation and depends upon technology from allies during their surveillance flights.

Merkels visit to Turkey exposes the hollow talk about human rights used to justify German foreign policy. The Erdogan government used the failed coup as a pretext to suppress all domestic opposition and establish an authoritarian regime. More than 120,000 state employees have been laid off since July, and more than 40,000 people detained. In April, Erdogan is seeking to win a referendum on a highly controversial constitutional amendment so that he can effectively cement his power as a dictator.

Behind the human rights criticism of Merkelabove all from the Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party, as well as from sections of the CDUis not concern with the democratic rights of Turkish workers, but rather differences over how German imperialism can most effectively enforce its interests in the Middle East.

Christian Social Union (CSU) defence policy spokesman Florian Hahn declared that Turkeys behaviour was inappropriate for a NATO member and considered the option of stationing German troops in another country. One definitely needs to consider this. But at the end of the day there cannot be a long-term situation in which every six months we are put under pressure by Turkey over some technical issue. I believe, for example, that Jordan would be a much more reliable partner. Although this would mean a corresponding use of financial resources and time.
According to a short excerpt of a telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto, leaked by an anonymous White House official, the US head of state threatened to send US troops south of the border because of the Mexican militarys supposed reluctance in prosecuting a bloody war on drugs.

You have a bunch of bad hombres down there, Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the excerpt given to AP. You arent doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isnt, so I just might send them down to take care of it.

The Associated Press claims the leaker provided only that snippet of the conversation to the news agency on condition of anonymity because the administration did not make the details of the call public. Mexicos Secretariat of Foreign Affairs denies the veracity of what was leaked of Trumps bellicose and inflammatory remarks.

Eduardo Sanchez, spokesman for the Mexican president, asserted that Trumps threat, did not happen during the call. According to this account, Pena Nieto had first posed the matter of cross-border arms trafficking. Sanchez claimed he was not in a position to confirm the content of Trumps response.

However, a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, subsequently told the media that Trump had made the remark, but claimed that it was lighthearted.

News of the exchange last Friday comes alongside a similarly tense conversation between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refugee-swap deal brokered during the Obama administration.

Given both the Australian and Mexican governments efforts to downplay the tenor of the discussions, there is the likelihood that the leaks were calculated to send a message to ruling classes around the world as to the new political order, to use Stephen Bannons ominous phrase, represented by the America First orientation of the Trump administration.

The exchange between Trump and Pena exposed the historical character of the relationship between the two countriesthat is, one of imperialist exploitation of Mexico by Washington. Trumps crude bullying, his addressing of a head of state as though a colonial administrator to a coolie, would simply be the slipping away of the mask of diplomatic civility hitherto concealing the ugly face of US imperialism.

In looking at the social devastation wrought by Mexicos War on Drugs, including over 166,000 dead and some 28,000 disappeared in the past decade alone, and from there to draw the conclusion that the Mexican military is operating with an excess of timidity, only points to the barbarous and fascistic outlook prevalent at the summits of power.

Of course, this outlook is not unique to the Trump administration. The Democrats have no serious differences with the Trump administrations current approach to the long and predatory relationship of the American ruling class towards Mexico. After all, Vermont senator and democratic socialist Bernie Sanders voted to confirm former Marine General and commander of US Southern Command John F. Kelly as secretary of Homeland Security.

That Kelly, who has voiced his opposition to sanctuary cities and his support of the recent immigration ban, is held by Democrats and their coterie of pundits to be a moderating influence, exposes as a fraud their feigned commitment to immigrants and refugees currently facing the threat of deportation.

Far from an isolationist strategy, Trumps America First policy would mean further stacking the terms of US-Mexico trade in Washingtons favor. Taken to its most extreme conclusion, it also signals to the Mexican ruling elite the willingness of the present administration to employ military force in pursuit of US profit interests.

In response to the growing economic and political threats from the north, the Mexican bourgeoisie is attempting to lessen its dependence on US-Mexico trade, whose balance is decidedly in US imperialisms favor, contrary to Trumps bald-faced lie that the US is being taken advantage of. While 80 percent of Mexican exports head to the US, by comparison, only 15 percent of US exports go to Mexico.

Mexico has recently moved to fast-track a modernized trade agreements with the EU, with the next rounds of negotiations scheduled for April and June in Brussels and Mexico, respectively.

The Pena Nieto government has also sought to strengthen economic ties along the Pacific and in the Americas. Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray has highlighted in particular the revisiting of trade relations with the countries of the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) and South America, alongside China, South Korea and Japan.

In particular, Mexico and China have announced a $212 million deal, brokered by multibillionaire Carlos Slim, to begin assembling cars for the Chinese state-owned automaker JAC Motors in the state of Hidalgo, with hopes of catering to domestic and Latin American markets.

Despite the open threats, Pena Nieto and the Mexican ruling establishment will undoubtedly continue efforts to curry favor with the Trump administration.

From the role of the CIA in assisting previous PRI governments in carrying out a dirty war against leftists and guerrillas, to the current funding of the Mexican repressive apparatus through agreements such as the Merida Initiative in order to brutalize and deport Central American immigrants, the Mexican ruling elite has a long and bloody history of close collaboration with Washington.
US President Donald Trumps menacing phone call to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this week, which was leaked to the media, has further exposed the thuggish character of the new administration and the brutish face of US imperialism.

During the call, scheduled to last an hour, Trump berated Turnbull over a refugee swap deal that had been brokered with the Obama administration, and then abruptly ended the conversation after 25 minutes.

This was intended to send an unmistakable message that making America great again means the US will lay down the law to its allies and enemies alike.

Before hanging up, Trump told Turnbull, who heads the government of one of Washingtons closest military partners, that the phone conversation was the worst by far of the five he had held that day with world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Just two weeks in office, Trumps aggressive America First economic nationalism and militarism are sending political shockwaves around the world. Not only has the new president launched provocations and threats against Europe, Mexico, Iran and China, he has deliberately placed a question mark over a number of Washingtons key partnershipswith NATO and the European Union, and with Japan, South Korea and now Australia in the Asia-Pacific region.

Trump has declared that the US military and strategic pivot to Asia to confront China, initiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, along with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has failed to halt Chinas rise.

Because of its strategic location, Australia has become a key component of the pivot and a platform for Washingtons war plans against China. It hosts several critical bases such as the satellite intelligence facility at Pine Gap in central Australia and the northern port of Darwin, where a growing number of US marines rotate each year.

Trump and his newly-confirmed secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, have already threatened to block Chinas access to the islets it controls in the South China Sea, which would constitute an act of war. Such a conflict, which would spell disaster for Australian corporate and financial interests, could rapidly escalate into a nuclear war.

Over the past quarter-century, US administrations have launched an unending series of wars in an attempt to counter by military means the economic decline of the United States. The Trump government represents a qualitative new stage in that process. His phone call with Turnbull was aimed at cracking the whip on Canberramaking clear that a Trump administration will brook no deviation as it prepares for war against its priority targets, first and foremost China.

In mid-2010, after Australian Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd suggested that Washington make some accommodation to Chinas economic growth and rising influence, he was removed via a backroom Labor Party coup orchestrated by elements close to the US embassy, including current Labor leader Bill Shorten. Last November, Obama deliberately leaked the fact that he had personally rebuked Turnbull for failing to consult Washington before a Chinese corporation was awarded a 99-year lease to operate Darwins strategically vital commercial port in Australias north.

Trump and his advisors will be aware that Turnbull has expressed reservations in the past about the pivot because of its implications for Australias relations with its major trading partner, China. Until now, while the US has sent warships and planes into the territorial zones around Chinas South China Sea islets, under the bogus pretext of defending freedom of navigation, the Turnbull government, while carefully adhering to the main lines of the pivot, has refrained from following suit.

Since 2010, every Australian government has been aware that it could be rapidly destabilised and removed by Washington. Trumps public animosity towards Turnbull has sent alarm bells ringing throughout the media and political establishment in Australia and elsewhere around the world.

Saturdays editorial in the Australian Financial Review began: Donald Trump is the ugly face of the worlds retreat from globalism and its replacement with a new narrow nationalism. Two weeks into the job, the new US president has wasted no time going to war with the system of multilateral trade arrangements and military alliances which have underpinned Australias prosperity in peace and security since World War II.

In the US itself, elements within the political and military establishment such as former Republican Party presidential candidate Senator John McCain have criticised Trumps hostility to Turnbull and rushed to assure the Australian government that it remains an essential part of the US military and strategic network. Even some of Trumps cabinet members have felt obliged to engage in damage control.

Defence Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis, a former general, said he would ensure that Australia continued to have a voice in Washington. In response, Trump issued a tweet yesterday denying his mistreatment of Turnbull and thanking him for telling the truth about our very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about.

Such maneouvres have become part of the Trump administrations gangster-style modus operandi. But whatever the divisions in ruling circles, the underlying course is becoming increasingly clear: Washington is on a path to war.

In Australia, as in Europe, prominent media commentators, along with the Greens and various pseudo-left groups, are seeking to channel widespread popular hostility to Trumps policies in a nationalist Australia First direction. Fairfax Media political editor Peter Hartcher, up until now an arch advocate of confronting China, yesterday called for a more independent foreign policy, declaring it was time to wake up, Australia!

Such calls, which are invariably bound up with proposals for increased military spending, serve only to subordinate Australian workers and youth to the profit interests and war preparations of the national ruling elite and pit them against their working-class counterparts internationally.

Workers in every country, including Australia, the US and China, face the necessity of unifying their struggles internationally to end the source of warthe capitalist profit system. Workers everywhere face the same threat of military conflict, accompanied by relentless assaults on their jobs, social conditions and democratic rights, which can be answered only through the development of a global anti-war movement based on an internationalist, anti-capitalist and socialist program.
Tens of thousands have been taking to the streets each day in Romania to protest against a relaxation of anti-corruption laws.

On Tuesday evening, the government used an emergency decree to implement legal changes protecting corrupt politicians from prosecution. It also submitted a law to parliament that would grant amnesty to criminals who have been sentenced to less than five years in prison. As a result, several politicians sitting in prison for corruption will benefit.

There were fierce protests on Wednesday in the capital Bucharest and 55 other cities. According to the police, some 250,000 people participated in the demonstrations, while others put the figure at 300,000. The protests continued on Thursday and Friday. According to participants, the protests will continue for 10 days. The new regulations will then come into force, if the government does not retreat.

Corruption is endemic in Romanian politics. Many leading politicians are under investigation, have criminal records or are in custody. According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), there are currently 2,150 facing charges of misconduct in office. Those affected include not only the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), but also all the other bourgeois parties.

The protests are only superficially about corruption, which is seen especially by younger representatives of the middle class as an obstacle to their own social advancement. Behind this is a power struggle within the ruling elite that has been raging for years over foreign policy orientation and the allocation of sinecures.

NATO member Romania, with its proximity to Russia and border with Ukraine and the Black Sea, plays a key role in the efforts of the United States to encircle Russia militarily. It is the location of the US missile defence shield and is strivingtogether with Bulgaria and Turkeyto establish a permanent NATO fleet in the Black Sea, the most important base of the Russian Navy.

Tensions between the US and Europe always find a direct echo in Romanian domestic politics. With the intensification of tensions as a result of the new administration of Donald Trump, the trench warfare in Romania is taking on more aggressive forms. This is the main reason for the flare-up of the protests.

It is significant that the European Union is openly standing behind the demonstrations. In a joint statement, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his deputy Frans Timmermans expressed their deep concern about the recent developments in Romania. They demanded: The fight against corruption must be taken forward, not be undone.

The spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, Martin Schaefer, also explained that the Romanian governments decree was not a good and proper sign.

Romanian President Klaus Johannis has openly sided against the governments plans. On the very night the government agreed the legislative change, he wrote on his Facebook page that it was a day of mourning for the rule of law, which had received a powerful blow by the opponents of justice, equity and the fight against corruption. Johannis described it as his mission to restore the rule of law.

On January 22, when the first plans about the law change were leaked, the president had participated in street protests against them. As a result, the PSD chairman, Liviu Dragnea, accused him of wanting to take part in a coup.

Johannis, regarded as a follower of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was elected as president of Romania at the end of 2014. The most important opposition candidate was the then Prime Minister Victor Ponta of the PSD. A year later, Ponta resigned following a wave of protests, which bear a great similarity with the current ones.

At the time, the WSWS characterized the protests as follows: The demonstrations, styled in the media as a popular revolution, represent the efforts of the imperialist powers and local elites to cultivate a layer of the upper middle class as a constituency for their policies of war and austerity.

Johannis utilised Pontas resignation to install a technocrat government under the non-party former european commissioner Dacian Ciolos, who was responsible for ruthlessly implementing Brussels austerity diktats.

The consequences for the working class were devastating. More than 25 years after the fall of the Stalinist Ceausescu regime and 10 years after Romanias accession to the EU, it remains the poorhouse of Europe. According to the EU Social Justice Report by the Bertelsmann Foundation, it stands in 27th place. Only Greece is worse. The average wage is 400 (US$430) a month; 40 percent of the population and 48 percent of young people under 18 are at risk of poverty; 28 percent of the population suffer from severe material deprivation.

In the end, the policies of the Ciolos government were so hated that the PSD won over 45 percent of the vote in early elections last December. However, turnout was below 40 percent. At the beginning of this year, the PSD formed a new government under Sorin Grindeanu, which is now the focus of the protests.

Since the fall of Ceausescu, the PSD and its predecessor organization have been reliable pillars of capitalist rule in Romania. Closely associated with the trade unions, it supported ferocious attacks on the working class, the privatization of state enterprises and accession to NATO and the European Union. The successor organization of the former Stalinist state party, it always encountered a certain mistrust from Washington, Brussels and Berlin. The accusation of corruption has always been a synonym for the suspicion it was being influenced by Moscow.

Now that the conflicts between Brussels and Washington are escalating, the PSD is trying to curry favour with the Trump administration. Party chairman Liviu Dragnea and premier Grindeanu have publicly boasted that they participated in a private dinner during Donald Trumps inauguration, at which the new president was present.

Dragnea published photos on Facebook, claiming he told Trump he wanted to take the strategic partnership between Romania and the US to a new level. Trump replied, We will make it happen! Romania is important for us!

They also met with Michael Flynn, national security adviser, and discussed the excellent perspectives of the strategic partnership between Romania and the United States. He had assured Flynn that the new government would respect Romanias commitment to allocate 2 percent of GDP to defence.

President Johannis responded immediately. His office issued a statement saying that the Romanian ambassador to the US was the countrys only official representative at the inauguration ceremony. Delegations made of representatives of some institutions or political parties, who take part in events organized in the margins of the official inauguration ceremonies, do not represent the Romanian state.
Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Labor Party opposition leader Bill Shorten delivered what were billed as heartland addresses to the National Press Club in Canberra this week, laying out their visions for 2017. Each speech, in its own way, underscored a profound crisis engulfing Australias political establishment.

Donald Trumps election as US president has sent shockwaves through the parliamentary elite. Not only has Trumps campaign underlined the deep popular hostility to the major capitalist parties internationally. It has accelerated the global turn to trade war and war, with catastrophic implications for Australian capitalism, which is already reeling from the collapse of the mining boom.

The US presidents naked America First program is intensifying the dilemma facing the Australian ruling elite as Washington ramps up its confrontation with China, Australias biggest export market. Trumps brutal anti-immigrant measures and aggressive pursuit of the profit interests of American big business are also fuelling popular opposition to the social offensive being waged by the capitalist class worldwide.

There is already widespread working class disaffection after decades of attacks on jobs and social services by successive Liberal-National Coalition and Labor governments. According to a world 2017 Trust Barometer published last month by PR company Edelman, the implosion of trust in government, business and the media in Australia is among the greatest of the 28 countries surveyed.

The trust index in Australia is 40, below that of the US, on 47. Last year, when Turnbulls Coalition government narrowly survived the July federal election, the proportion of Australians trusting government plunged from 45 percent to 37 percent, one of the sharpest falls recorded, comparable only to Mexico, Russia and China.

Neither Turnbull nor Shorten has any answer to the deepening crisis of Australian capitalism or the mounting geo-political tensions and drive to war, other than a deepening assault on the social position of the working class to provide tax cuts for the wealthy and boost military spending. Like Trump, both are whipping up anti-refugee xenophobia to divide workers and divert attention from their own regressive policies and records.

Turnbulls speech gave an indication of political paralysis. It was devoid of anything new, except for a call for new coal-fired power stations. The financial media outlets immediately denounced Turnbull for not laying out any agenda to meet their demands for sweeping company tax cuts, the dismantling of welfare entitlements and a full-scale assault on workers wages and conditions.

Writing in Murdochs Australian, contributing economics editor Judith Sloan condemned the speech as predictable, unenlightening guff that was also gutless. The Australian Financial Review said Turnbulls agenda continues to fall short of the bold economic program needed to deal with the emerging global order.

These comments reflect the mounting handwringing by big business over Turnbulls failure to deliver on his promise, when he ousted Tony Abbott as prime minister in September 2015, to supply an economic narrative to overcome the public backlash that erupted against the governments austerity measures in 201415.

Remarkably, Turnbull virtually said not a word about Trumps victory or the world situation. There was no mention of Trumps program of protectionism and militarism, which has already provoked tensions with China and the European powers. The only hint of the consequences came when Turnbull said his government was disappointed by Americas withdrawal from the TPPthe proposed US-led Pacific trade bloc now dumped by Trump in favour of threats of more open trade war measures against China.

Later, without referring explicitly to Trumps plan to slash US corporate tax rates from 35 to 15 percent to boost profits and attract investment, Turnbull tried to use the global cutting of business taxes to demand support for his own scheme to cut the company tax rate from 30 to 25 percent over the next decade.

Acutely aware of the rising public animosity toward his government, Turnbull tried to present his tax planwhich would hand companies an estimated $50 billion over 10 yearsas a boon for ordinary workers. Without offering any explanation, he claimed that full-time workers on average weekly earnings would have an extra $750 in their pockets each and every year. In reality, the spiralling global race to reduce corporate taxation will only benefit the super-wealthy, while further stripping billions of dollars from basic social spending.

Likewise, Turnbull cynically tried to dress up his pledge to promote supposed clean coal technologyin the interests of the coal mining giantsas a means to protect households from soaring electricity prices.

While avoiding any reference to the growing threat of war following Trumps victory, Turnbull reiterated his governments intentions to massively expand military spending. No peacetime government has committed more resources to national security than mine, he declared.

Claiming it would create thousands of new jobs, he described the Defence Industry investment program$195 billion for warships, plans and other weapons systems over 10 yearsas a truly a historic national enterprise.

Turnbull also echoed Trump in demonising refugees, vowing to ensure that asylum seekers would never reach Australia. Since 2013, Operation Sovereign Bordersan initiative that began under Mr Abbott and that I reinforcedhas stopped the boats and restored integrity to our borders.

During his National Press Club address, Labor leader Shorten also emulated Trumps drive to divert the rising social and class tensions in reactionary nationalist, protectionist and militarist directions. Shorten claimed to have heard the message of what was a global phenomenon: Too many Australians think the political system is brokenand more than a few dont trust us to fix it.

Scapegoating overseas workers, Shorten demanded a drastic cut in work visas for them, to protect the jobs of Australians. Feigning concern for soaring levels of youth unemployment, he said a Labor government would ensure that one in every ten jobs on defence projects went to an Australian apprentice.

These policies, like Trumps, will only divide workers and youth in Australia from their fellow workers around the world, and whip up xenophobic sentimentsa prelude to inciting workers to fight each other on battlefields in the interests of their national capitalist class.

Toward the end of his speech, Shorten, a former trade union chief, underlined the crucial role of the unions in peddling this divisive agenda. He declared: We need to revive the co-operative spirit of the Hawke-Kelty consensus between businesses, unions, the Commonwealth and all sectors of our community.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, under the banner of making Australia globally competitive, the Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating worked hand-in-glove with Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Bill Kelty and the entire union leadership to smash up workers conditions, eliminate tens of thousands of jobs and privatise major enterprises.

That offensive launched an endless process, intensified by every government since, of shifting wealth more and more into the hands of the privileged few. The speeches by Turnbull and Shorten point to the turmoil now wracking the political system as a result of the enormous discontent produced by this assault, and the escalating global geo-strategic tensions.
On Thursday, the Conservative government released its White Paper, supposedly setting out its plans for Britains exit from the European Union (EU).

The 77-page document was made public one day after parliamentby a large majoritypassed a one-line Conservative government bill authorising the triggering of Article 50, the Lisbon Treaty legislation that begins the formal exit process.

The document, United Kingdoms exit from and new partnership with the European Union White Paper, is not so much a plan as an empty wish list. It outlines 12 principles that read like chapters from a marketing manual, including Providing certainty and clarity, Ensuring free trade with European markets, Controlling immigration and Delivering a smooth, orderly exit from the EU.

The Guardian criticises the government and its document from the standpoint of that section of the ruling elite favouring EU membership and continued access to the Single Market and Customs Union. That said, the newspapers cynical conclusion that the White Paper tells the country nothing and everything about the most important foreign policy decision to face Britain for decades is certainly to the point.

As is now the established pattern, the government promises the best of all possible futures for British imperialism. After affirming, We will not be seeking membership of the Single Market with all that this entails, the paper states that the government will pursue instead a new strategic partnership with the EU, including an ambitious and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement and a new customs agreement.

A final agreement, it claims, may take in elements of current Single Market arrangements in certain areas as it makes no sense to start again from scratch when the UK and the remaining Member States have adhered to the same rules for so many years.

In other words, the UK will leave the Single Market while seeking to maintain access to the Single Market!

Nothing concrete is outlined in regard to the position of the City of London. The paper boasts, The UKs financial services sector is a hub for money, trading and investment from all over the world and is one of only two global, full service financial centresand the only one in Europe, before observing that what is being sought is the freest possible trade in financial services. But it again offers no explanation as to why the EU states should or would adopt a magnanimous attitude toward their major competitor.

The White Paper goes on to state, To provide legal certainty over our exit from the EU, we will introduce the Great Repeal Bill to remove the European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book and convert the acquisthe body of existing EU lawinto domestic lawafter previously complaining that EU law was un unwarranted intrusion into British sovereignty.

The bill avoids any concreteness as well on the issue of immigration controls, the central concern of the Tory xenophobes in Westminster and the wider party base. It states only that it is undecided how the UK will gain control of the numbers of people coming to the UK from the EU. Instead, in a move designed to make it easier for the Tories Article 50 bill to complete its passage through committee stage hearings in parliament next week, the document indicates, We expect to bring forward separate bills on immigration and customs.

The paper declares in addition that implementing any new immigration arrangements for EU nationals and the support they receive will be complex and Parliament will have an important role in considering these matters further. The sole purpose of this vague pledge is to draw the teeth of the opposition parties should they offer a pro forma defence of the rights of EU citizens post-Brexit.

It blames the EU for the question mark placed by Brexit regarding the fate of an estimated 2.8 million EU nationals who currently reside in the UK, asserting, The government would have liked to resolve this issue ahead of the formal negotiations. And although many EU member states favour such an agreement, this has not proven possible.

As things stand, the government has little reason to fear amendments being made to its plans for Brexit. Despite more than 150 pages of amendments from Labour, the Scottish National Party and Greens, not a single Tory MPbarring the soon-to-retire pro-EU Kenneth Clarkeis prepared to rebel. In short, the Tories look set to keep to a timetable of triggering Article 50 by the end of March.

The May government is triggering Brexit while boasting, backed by the Bank of England, that the economy is performing well and even headed for a boom. However, what has fuelled the growth spurt of the past few months is consumer spending. This week the Economist predicted this was set to end, noting, There are signs that Britons freewheeling ways may not last much longer ...

People now appear to have decided that with Brexit negotiations about to get under way and the attendant economic uncertainty, they should focus less on borrowing and more on repaying. On January 31st the Bank of England revealed that consumer-credit growth in December fell to 1bn from 1.9bn the month before.

The absence of any strategic plan in the White Paper is further proof of a growing crisis of rule in Britain. Powerful sections of the ruling elite never considered they might lose the referendum, underestimating the extent of opposition in the population to the EU and the general discontent with the entire political set-up after nearly a decade of savage austerity. No contingency planning was therefore ever considered by then Prime Minister David Cameron in the event of a Brexit vote.

His successor and fellow advocate of remaining in the EU, May, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis have no plan either. The Brexit wing of the Tories claimed that leaving the EU would allow the UK to go out of Europe and into the worldby signing new trade deals with the US, China and other major marketswhile, conversely, maintaining access to the UKs most important existing market, the EU.

This was and remains a fantasy.

As for the prospect of a buccaneering Britain rampaging merrily across the planet, Mays obsequious performance during her meeting with Donald Trump underscored the reality that the UK, in fact, overwhelmingly relies on securing increased US trade, along with Washingtons backing, so as to pressure the EU into making concessions.

In reality, there is no indication from Trumps America First administration that the UK will get such a favourable deal, which can, in any event, only be negotiated and signed after leaving the EU. Equally, there is no reason to believe that any European leader will be prepared to treat Britain leniently.

Prior to this weeks vote on Article 50, Sir Ivan Rogers, the UKs former EU ambassador, tellingly noted the negotiations would be held in an extremely feisty atmosphere and that EU Commissioners were openly insisting that Britain would have to pay up to 60 billion as part of the exit process in a predictably hard line.

Moreover, Rogers scenario does not factor in the hostile response of Germany and France to being threatened by Mays relationship with Trump. The major European powers, rather than preparing to back down, have concluded from the new US presidents declared intention to seek the breakup of the EU that any concession to May would only allow the UK to function as the Trojan horse for this project.
More than 450 Lincoln Southeast High School students signed an open letter expressing disappointment in the decision of one of their distinguished alums -- U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer -- to support President Trumps pick for education secretary.

Three Southeast seniors wrote the letter Thursday night and began asking their fellow students if they wanted to sign it Friday morning.

By 8 a.m. they had more than 100 signatures.

I had to go to the library and print off more sheets, said Lucy Collins, one of the three seniors who wrote the letter and circulated it.

They ended with 24 sheets -- more than 450 names -- and a good feeling about the desire of their fellow students to get involved.

I think students arent given enough credit for how involved some of them really want to be in the community, Collins said. The idea all high school students arent interested yet, thats really just not true.

Fischer has been the subject of intense pressure from Nebraskans opposed to Trump nominee Betsy DeVos, an ardent supporter of charter schools and school vouchers.

After two Republican senators announced they would vote against DeVos confirmation, Fischers vote became the target of DeVos opponents.

Protesters gathered outside Fischer's Omaha office on Friday afternoon, and similar protests were planned Saturday afternoon in Lincoln, Omaha, Kearney and Scottsbluff.

Public school advocates see hope in Fischer's background. After graduating from Southeast she earned a degree in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She served on the Valentine school board and was state president of the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Her mom was an elementary school teacher in Lincoln for more than 30 years.

But on Thursday Fischer announced that she planned to vote for DeVos confirmation, saying "I have received assurances from her in writing that the Department of Education will not impose new federal mandates related to vouchers on our schools." It was a point of discussion at Southeast.

There are lots of students who are upset, Collins said.

That night, she and two of her friends -- Grace Pugh and Samuel Stanley -- attended a party with a group of people whod gotten together to talk about how to get involved in local and national issues.

Collins, who knew Fischers picture hung on the wall with other distinguished alumni, said the idea for the letter popped into her head at the party. Fellow party-goers encouraged her, and she, Pugh and Stanley, who play in a string quartet together and plan to pursue music careers after college, got to work.

The letter is short, telling Fischer why DeVos isnt qualified, and what they hope she will do if DeVos is confirmed.

Collins said she doesn't like DeVos' support of charter schools but is most concerned about her lack of experience.

"We need people ... that know what they're doing and will do their job effectively," Collins said. "I dont think she can. She didn't even attend public school."

Collins said she was impressed by her fellow students. Not everybody wanted to sign it, and a couple were upset they were collecting signatures. But every student read the letter before they signed it, some asked questions, though most knew of DeVos. Some who didnt said they wanted to do more research and get back to her, then did. Others heard about the letter and texted Collins, asking if they could sign.

The letter was not part of a school project nor sanctioned by the school, Collins said.

She plans to email Fischer the letter and signatures, then shell mail the document to her office in Washington.

Collins said shes been socially active all her life, and she's written her elected officials before. She's just never asked others to sign them.

After doing this I really dont think Im going to stop, she said. Just seeing how excited it gets other people -- that makes me feel good. That gives me hope for my generation. I really want us to be involved and I think we will be, after this.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - An appeals court Friday rejected a lawsuit filed by gun-rights groups that challenged the city of Tallahassee over decades-old firearms ordinances that conflict with state law.

A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal, in a 25-page ruling, said the ordinances, while still on the books, are "null and void" because of the state law and that the city has not sought to enforce them.

In response to Friday's decision on Florida Carry vs. The City of Tallahassee, Mayor Andrew Gillum released the following statement:

"Today's decision is a victory for citizens over the gun lobby, Florida Carry and the Second Amendment Foundation. Once again, my colleagues and I have been found to have done no wrong in the eyes of the law. However, this ruling still ignores two years of litigation by special interests intended to bully local governments. I'm disappointed that the courts have failed to rule on the constitutionality of these tactics, and we will be reviewing our legal options to best protect the ability for our citizens to decide local solutions to local issues."

It upheld a decision by a Leon County circuit judge who turned down arguments by the groups Florida Carry, Inc. and The Second Amendment Foundation, Inc. that the city should be required to repeal the ordinances and should be blocked from enforcing them.

"While appellants' (the gun-rights groups') frustration with the city's inaction and the individual appellees' (city officials') unwillingness to engage in what some might describe as a simple task of repealing void ordinances is understandable, (state law), as it currently stands, does not prohibit the re-publication or re-printing of the void ordinances," said the ruling, written by appeals-court Judge Joseph Lewis and joined by judges Ross Bilbrey and Thomas Winokur. "... The fact that appellees refused to remove the ordinances from the city's code does not constitute prohibited conduct under the statute."

In the ruling, however, the appeals court also agreed with the circuit judge's dismissal of arguments by city officials that state law violates their constitutional rights by subjecting them to stiff penalties if they pass or enforce local firearms regulations.

"Had this been a situation where (city officials) were penalized through a fine, denied the use of public funds for their legal defense, or removed from office by the governor, the counterclaim would certainly need to be addressed," the appeals court ruled. "However, not only was there no violation of (state law) that has occurred in this case, but there were also no penalties imposed. As such, no bona fide, actual, present, and practical need exists for the declaration sought by (the city officials)."

The dispute stems, in part, from a 1957 Tallahassee ordinance that said, "No person shall discharge any firearms except in areas five acres or larger zoned for agricultural uses" and a 1984 ordinance that made it illegal to discharge guns in parks or recreational facilities owned or operated by the city, according to Friday's ruling.

In 1987, the Legislature approved a law that gave the state exclusive power to regulate firearms and ammunition and declared "null and void" any local ordinances or regulations --- a legal concept known as state "preemption."

The Legislature followed up in 2011 by amending the law to allow potentially far-reaching penalties against local officials for enacting or enforcing firearms regulations. The Tallahassee police chief advised officers on June 30, 2011, that the city ordinances were unenforceable, according to Friday's ruling.

But later, the Tallahassee City Commission indefinitely tabled discussion of repealing the ordinances --- effectively leaving them on the books.
Tallahassee, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida State Environmental Service Programs has organized a rally for the EPA in Tallahassee.

FSU Environmental Services rallied with the hopes to bring attention to several environmental issues.

Lauren Corey, an organizer of the rally said, "The event is taking place because the current administration has enforced unrealistic expectations and unfair restrictions."

They said that the legislation against the agency is happening in Florida as well.

This week U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican junior congressman representing Florida's 1st Congressional District, drafted a bill that would eliminate the EPA.

Organizers also point to the Trump Administration as a main contributor to the limitation of the agency.

Just today, Associated Press reported that the Trump administration had stopped its temporary freeze on contract and grant approvals. A media blackout at the agency has appeared to been lifted, but AP reports that the agency hasn't posted to it's Twitter feed since Trump's inauguration.

These things, as well as scrutiny of the EPA's data, has lead these protesters to feel like the agency is being unfairly "oppressed".
QUINCY, FL (WTXL) -- Gadsden County residents met with the school board Thursday to go over a proposal to reconfigure the district.

The district scheduled the special workshop to address growing concerns about school closures and students having to travel further for their education.

School board members were quick to reiterate that nothing has been decided. Public feedback is necessary before any vote.

"It's kind of like a moot point for us to sit here and continue to go back and forth about what we support and what we don't like without getting input from the citizens, our stakeholders," said school board chairman Isaac Simmons.

Still, the board debated exactly what should be presented and when.

"This is not about your community. This is not about your school," said board member Steve Scott. "This is not about the job that you have. It's all of us."

"Yes, it affects the whole county, but if you live in Midway, it doesn't affect what's going at St. John," said board member Charlie Frost. "That doesn't affect you, so you can vote any kind of way."

The board decided to set seven meetings at locations around the county. The tentative order is as follows:

1) Gretna Elementary School

2) St. John Elementary School

3) Chattahoochee Elementary School

4) West Gadsden High School

5) James A. Shanks Middle School

6) Stewart Street Elementary School

7) East Gadsden High School

"We are going to go into the community and make sure that we hit every location, because all of our citizens really matter," said board member Audrey Lewis.

Residents said they realize reconfiguration will happen, but it's more about creating the best plan for students.

"Are we using the capacity to effectively educate the number of students we now have?" said Gadsden County resident Anthony Viegbesie. "If the answer is 'no,' then consolidation becomes a necessity."

Chattahoochee resident Frances Brown said, "We're freaking out on this, because it's like, 'Bam!' We're almost at the end of this year. This would be coming up."

"He doesn't have to do everything the first hundred days," said Judge Helms, a former school board member. "Things will still get done -- and, hopefully, to the satisfaction that we're thinking about doing for our students."

The community meetings have not been scheduled and the order of the locations is subject to change. The superintendent told WTXL he will provide a list of dates and times when they are finalized.
ORLANDO, Fla. (WTXL) - Governor Rick Scott announced that over $16 million in research funding was awarded a number of universities and cancer research centers across the state, including Florida A&M University.

These important projects not only help us discover more about how to prevent and treat these terrible diseases, but also keep world-class researchers in our state," said Scott. "We all know someone who has been impacted by cancer, and I am proud to continue working with our incredible research institutes as we fight to find a cure.

State Surgeon General and Secretary Dr. Celeste Philip said, Investing in Floridas research institutions to effect change in the areas of prevention, diagnosis and treatment is critical to the future of health care innovation in our state.

The following organizations received awards:

Florida A&M University - $94,810 for one project;

Florida Atlantic University - $622,683 for one project;

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute - $7,162,380 for six projects;

University of Florida - $2,648,986 for two projects; and

University of Miami - $5,728,856 for six projects.

The funding supports a new series of projects related to cancer and tobacco-related diseases, including prevention and treatment, health disparities, treatment-related morbidities and the development of investigational new drugs.
The Nebraska Board of Education voted Friday to oppose legislative bills that would authorize charter schools and vouchers, and to require the state Department of Education to rate school performance on an A-F scale.

The board supported several other education bills, but focused its discussion on bills which have generated significant opposition by public schools advocates and enthusiastic support by school choice proponents.

Discussion also centered on LB595, which would allow teachers and administrators to use physical force to subdue students who become physically violent toward others or school property.

Introduced by Education Committee Chairman Mike Groene of North Platte, the bill also would allow teachers to remove disruptive students from class.

In the end, elected members of the state education board voted to remain neutral on the bill, primarily because members wanted more information about it. But several said they had grave concerns about liability issues the bill would raise.

Molly OHolleran and Maureen Nickells wanted the board to oppose the bill, saying the issues it raises should be addressed by offering more training for teachers to deal with behavioral and mental health problems and to provide more services for children.

Board member Pat McPherson supports the bill, saying teachers need a mechanism to respond to disruptive students and maintain order in their classes.

McPherson was the only board member to support both the charter school and voucher bills -- and was the lone vote against opposing them.

LB630 would authorize charter schools in districts with low-performing public schools. LB608 would provide vouchers for students to attend private schools if their local schools are among the lowest-performing statewide.

Several board members questioned the constitutionality of the portion of LB630 that would create a separate commission to oversee charter schools.

McPherson abstained from an opposition vote on LB662, which prescribes a system for gauging school performance based on grades A-F.

Although he said he thinks LB662 addressed issues that need to be addressed, he also said it would be disruptive.

The departments new accountability system, called AQuESTT, or Accountability for a Quality Education Today and Tomorrow, aligns well with requirements of the new federal education law and with the departments strategic plan, McPherson said.

To arbitrarily change it to an A-F system has the potential to cause major disruption to what were doing and what were planning to do, he said during a work session Thursday.

AQuESTT classifies schools and districts into four categories based on graduation rate, proficiency levels on statewide tests and improvement in those scores from year to year. Now, state law requires the state intervene in three low-performing priority schools.

Several board members said the system includes many of the elements outlined in LB662, and it may be a matter of talking with lawmakers or tweaking the existing law.

For instance, Rachel Wise said she would like to see the department be able to identify more than three priority schools that need help to improve.

State education officials have spent a significant amount of time getting schools to buy into the new system by steering away from the punitive federal No Child Left Behind system that labeled schools as failing.

Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said that while the primary goal of an accountability system is to improve schools, the department may need to do a better job of balancing that with a system that makes it easy for the public to see how their schools are performing.
"Many a foolish policy is based on trying to make the real world match the picture inside someone's head."

"Good things have costs, often costs out of all proportion to whatever good they might do. But notions like trade-offs and diminishing returns seldom deter zealots, whose own egos are served by their zealotry in imposing their vision, however costly or counterproductive it may be for others."

"Trade-offs and diminishing returns are not the stuff from which heady visions and dramatic crusades are made. For that you need goals to be reached 'at all costs' and a clash between heroes and villains. This appeals to the young and those who remain adolescents all their lives."

Economist and N.C. native Thomas Sowell's recent decision to end his syndicated newspaper column at age 86 has prompted this observer to revisit some of Sowell's most compelling observations.These are three of the nearly two dozen permanently flagged quotations in a well-worn copy of Sowell's 2006 essay collection, Ever Wonder Why? Many more deserved to be flagged. And that doesn't even consider the insights and expertise shared in dozens of other books and thousands of additional columns Sowell crafted over the decades.His analysis will be missed.One hopes, though, that Sowell's regular readers will remember his most valuable lessons. Apply those lessons to key public policy controversies of today - and tomorrow - and state and national governments might generate better outcomes.A fourth flagged quote from Sowell's 2006 book comes from a column titled "Hiroshima." The 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of that Japanese city served as Sowell's prompt. But the quote itself merits consideration beyond that context."Much of the self-righteous nonsense that abounds on so many subjects cannot stand up to three questions: (1) Compared to what? (2) At what cost? and (3) What are the hard facts?"Those who advocate new or expanded government programs often lament some harm that the program will address. The problem exists, the argument goes, and the government program will fix it.The program likely sounds reasonable on paper. Sowell's three questions can help policymakers decide whether advocates' arguments withstand scrutiny. Starting with the third question first: What are the "hard facts"? Does a problem exist? If so, does the real problem mirror the arguments advocates are making for increased government involvement?Back to the first question: What's the point of comparison? Is this problem new? Has it existed in perpetuity? Is the problem unique to this state or nation? If it's a long-standing problem, have conditions improved or deteriorated over time?Sowell's second question addresses the critical concept of trade-offs. Perhaps government can address the problem, but how much will it cost? Would hundreds of millions of dollars in additional spending barely move the needle in addressing the problem? Would new spending on this program necessitate less spending on another more effective program? Would new spending necessitate a tax increase that would stop people from spending their own money in ways that are more important to them than addressing the problem?Policymakers ought to address all of these questions as they make decisions about proper use of tax dollars and government workers' time. And Sowell's framework, useful as it is, does not have to serve as the only template.Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute has recommended a four-question test to determine when government action is appropriate. First, is there a source of "market failure," in which free markets fail to produce efficient outcomes? Second, is there evidence of actual failure? Third, can government reasonably solve the problem? Fourth, would the benefits of government action outweigh the costs?Another framework, set out in a previous Daily Journal, mirrors Sowell by employing just three questions: Is there a problem? Can government do anything about the problem? Should government do anything about the problem?People will disagree about the answers to these questions as they're applied to particular public policy disputes. But that's where disputes should take place - while answering critical questions about real problems and the trade-offs associated with addressing them.As long as policymakers are asking the right questions, we're less likely to encounter as much of the "self-righteous nonsense" that attracted much of Thomas Sowell's attention for decades.
There was one thing in particular that Rev. Dan Warnes remembered about his late friend, Rev. John Keak Nguth -- his big smile.

He never liked to talk over the phone -- we always had to meet face-to-face, said Warnes. He spoke of Nguth's "people-first" mindset in front of hundreds of Sudanese refugees from around the U.S. who gathered at First Lutheran Church on Saturday to sing hymns, offer condolences and celebrate the life of Nguth, who died on Jan. 15 of liver disease at age 49.

James Dhol, a close friend of Nguth, led the celebration with a brief speech shared in the Nuer language of South Sudan.

Nguth served as pastor for the 30 to 40 Sudanese parishioners at First Lutheran Church after years of ministry in refugee camps in Ethiopia.

Ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1995, Nguth served his fellow Sudanese refugees who were fleeing civil war, acting as both peacemaker and evangelist between warring tribes.

When Nguth arrived in the U.S. in 2000, he looked to continue his ministry at any church that would welcome him and other refugees.

In 2001, he served as a pastor for the South Sudanese at Mount View Presbyterian Church in Omaha. He moved to Lincoln in 2004 and jumped from church to church seeking to find the right place to share his Nuer-language ministries.

First Lutheran Church filled that bill beginning in 2013.

We were honored that they would seek refuge here, Warnes said. There are no foreigners in the family of God.

Despite only knowing Nguth for three years, Warnes said he learned a lot from his friend.

He was a great influence on the way I do ministry, Warnes said. John helped me make clear that its about putting people first."

A decades-long civil war, which pitted the Sudanese government against the Sudan People's Liberation Army, forced thousands of refugees over the past three decades to escape to camps in neighboring countries like Kenya and Ethiopia. The end of the war in 2005 paved the way for South Sudan independence six years later.

Rev. Jock Tut Paleak of First Presbyterian Church, who was friends with Nguth in the refugee camps in Ethiopia, recalled his friend as a community leader.

He was a man of unity and peace, said Paleak, who came to the United States in 2012. There would be people he would visit in their homes, and he would bring them to church. John was very involved.

During his time in Ethiopia and the United States, Nguth baptized hundreds of Christians, like his niece Nyagoa Gatluak of Grand Island.

He always lent a helping hand, Gatluak said. Everybody loved him.

Along with his ministry duties, Nguth served with the Nebraska Council of Churches.

Daniel Wal, a bilingual liaison at Lincoln Public Schools who was friends with Nguth at the Pignido refugee camp in Ethiopia, described his friend as a devoted Christian who humbly served his people.

John was a good preacher, preaching for peace, unity and forgiveness, Wal said.

Nguth is survived by his wife Sarah Nyapene Bol, their seven children, and a brother and three sisters.

For Warnes, he is glad for the relationship he built with the stranger who came knocking at his door years ago.

We learned from each other, Warnes said. We had no idea that in three years we would become friends.
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Friday that it will take the necessary steps to protect the legitimate rights of Chinese companies following anti-dumping measures taken by the European Union.
YAKIMA, Wash. -- An Outlook man who fatally shot another man on the mistaken belief that the victim had impregnated a teen girl was sentenced 
Trinna Hugill is about to practice saving someones life. But first, she checks her surroundings to make sure shes not in danger. Then she gets to work, kneeling by her mock patient.
A Somali man and two Burmese families arrived in Nebraska on Friday, a final trickle of refugees as President Donald Trump's four-month ban on U.S. resettlement takes full effect.

Mohammed Mahad, 30, saw his wife for the first time in two years when his flight landed at the Lincoln Airport around 2 p.m.

A Somali refugee, Mahad had been living in Ethiopia and will resettle with his wife in the Lexington area.

It remains unclear how many, if any, additional refugees will be granted conditional admission to Nebraska in the coming months, but the state's resettlement agencies are preparing for significantly less activity.

Other immigrants  including people from Iraq and Afghanistan whose service to the U.S. government earned them "special immigrant" visas  will still arrive.

Among them is the family of Abdul Bari, who was featured in Sunday's Journal Star. They were scheduled to touch down in Lincoln late Friday.
Its 1972, a year before the Yom Kippur War and the great rift it created. Following the Six-Day War, Israel is not engaged in survival battles, is launching the settlement enterprise, is experiencing relative economic welfare  but is dealing with internal problems. And the world is noticing that too.

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One of the tens of thousands of CIA documents published on the American intelligence agencys website recently describes the social difficulties faced by the State of Israel that year. The document, titled Israel: Problems Behind the Battle Lines, was released on May 10, 1972.

The Black Panthers protest movement. If we ever get peace in the Middle East, we will have civil war at home (Photo: David Rubinger)

The document describes in detail the tensions between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, between Sabra and old Zionist Israelis and between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews. The worlds view on Israel has been focused on the military and diplomatic conflict with the Arabs, the secret CIA document begins. The dust of continuous conflict has diverted attention  both Israeli and foreign  from some of the cracks and crevices in Israeli society.

Some of Israels domestic problems, such as the rift between the Ashkenazi and the Oriental Jews and the declining immigration rate, may prove critical, the CIA stressed. Others, such as the Sabra-Old Zionist generation gap and the religious-secular disagreements, are more irritating than profound. In any case, the problems that have begun to surface during the recent period of relative calm indicate some of the domestic difficulties that Israels leaders will face should peace ever settle over the Middle East.

In the first part of the document, the American spy agency stresses that the popular image of Israel as primarily a nation of kibbutzim or other collective systems of agriculture is now inaccurate. In December 1969 there were some 600 collectives of varying degrees of communalism, with only 212,534 residents, about 8.5 percent of the total Jewish population Any significant agricultural expansion would appear to lie in the desalination of large amounts of sea water or in permanent expansion beyond the 1949 borders into the occupied Arab lands.

Headline of the secret CIA document from 1972

According to the CIA, The shortage of new cultivable land and of water, in fact, gives the Israelis an added bonus in their control of the occupied territories. The standard Israeli justification for the establishment of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories (now some three dozen) has been that they were required for defensive reasons  the need for secure borders against any future Arab incursions. But the economic advantages must also be tempting to the Israelis, particularly if they want to double their population, as they say they do.

Some of the change in Israeli society is the natural result of the passage of time  the aging of the old Zionist pioneers who control the Israeli establishment and the growing numbers of the Israeli-born, the Sabra (named for a desert cactus), who are eager to take over, the document stated 45 years ago.

In 1969 native-born Israelis numbered some 1.1 million, between a third and a half of the total Jewish population. Ashkenazi-descended Sabras tend to fare better economically and politically than those of Oriental descent, reflecting the deep social, political and economic cleavage between the Ashkenazi and the Oriental groups.

Golda Meir, a representative of the old Zionist generation, and Yigal Allon, a representative of the Sabra (Photo: Shalom Bar Tal)

Whether of Ashkenazi, Oriental, or Sabra parentage, the document stresses, the dominant experience of the native-born Israeli has been within Palestine/Israel. Unlike his parents, the Sabra has no personal knowledge of anti-Semitism, the ghettos of Europe or the Middle East, the pogroms of Eastern Europe, or the Nazi holocaust. His life has consisted wholly of the military battle with the Arabs and the struggle to fashion a viable Israeli state. He is said to be more concerned with the here and now; he is less interested in the Jewish past than in the job of consolidating the Israeli state. He is also said to be less moved by ideology than his parents, and less Zionist in the classic sense. He feels little strong connection to the Jews who voluntarily remain outside Israel. In fact, he is said to feel disdain for those who, while donating money to Israel, choose the more comfortable life abroad.

The documents authors noted that the old Zionist pioneers, who were born in Eastern Europe, were still very much in political control  74-year-old Prime Minister Golda Meir, 63-year-old Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir, 61-year-old Minister without Portfolio Israel Galili: Mrs. Meir has indicated she plans to step down following the 1973 elections, but Sapir is expected to replace her. That didnt happen, of course. Yitzhak Rabin became Israels first Sabra prime minister in 1974, after Meir resigned following the war. The big bang occurred in 1977 with the political upheaval and the election of Menachem Begin, who was actually born in Eastern Europe, as prime minister.

Moshe Dayan. Popular among the public, but not in his party (Photo: Fritz Cohen, GPO)

The writers explained in the 1972 document that the political system is such that those who control the Israeli Labor Party control the countrys political institutions  and the old Zionist establishment controls the party. For example, although Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, a Sabra, is immensely popular, he has only limited influence within the ruling party. However impatient they may be to assume political control, Dayan, Deputy Prime Minister Allon, and other prominent Sabras have chosen to bide their time rather than challenge the political system that allows the old Zionists to rule. And well they might; the establishment is aging and shortly will be forced to pass the torch to the Sabras. When this happens, the Sabras probably will make no basic changes in Israeli policy, but the manner in which policy is conducted will doubtless change. The Sabra will act even more independently than his predecessors, because he is less concerned over Israels image abroad and less susceptible to foreign influences.

Ashkenazi-descended Sabras tend to fare better economically and politically than those of Oriental descent, says CIA report (Photo: David Rubinger)

At this point, the documents authors went on to analyze the ethnic schism: By far the most important domestic social problem  one with a potential for political instability  is the deep cultural, economic, and political differences between the Ashkenazi and the Oriental Jews. The only bond between the Ashkenazi and Oriental seems to be their mutual adherence to Judaism and allegiance to Israel. Great differences exist in cultural background, education, social values, and even in physical characteristics.

The Orientals, who often have darker skins, are sometimes referred to as black Jews; they maintain many of the characteristics and habits of their original non-Western environment. The Oriental Jew is most often poor, ill-educated, and has fewer skills; he generally has a larger family than does an Ashkenazi. Most Oriental Jews are latecomers to Israel (in the 1950s) and are at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder; they are not well-fitted to compete in an industrial and basically Western society.

Photo: David Rubinger

The rest of the description can also be considered racist: Status and power in Israel lie with the Ashkenazi Jews and their Sabra descendants The Ashkenazim are usually highly literate, European in culture and possess technological skills, and imbued with the Western work ethic. The overwhelming majority of Oriental Jews are drawers of water and hewers of wood. In 1969, only about seven percent had made it up to professional, scientific, and technical jobs, and only about ten percent were administrators, managers, executives, or clericals. In 1969 the annual income of the Oriental family, while increasing, was still well below that of both the Ashkenazim and the Sabras.

As a result, the CIA explains, the Oriental is not a large consumer, cannot afford adequate housing and most often lives in the big-city slums. He finds the higher education is almost entirely reserved for his European or Sabra neighbors. Enrollment in high schools and universities in Israel is based on performance in competitive national examinations, which put Oriental students at a disadvantage. Moreover, higher education is expensive. Both high schools and universities have tuition fees. Many of the Oriental students who do enter high school drop out before graduation.

The document was released a year after the emergence of the Black Panthers protest movement , and it mentions a quote from an Oriental leader, saying: If we ever get peace in the Middle East, we will have civil war at home. At the time, Oriental Jews had already outnumbered Ashkenazi Jews. According to the document, An estimate made by the US Embassy in 1965 indicated that by 1980 the balance between Ashkenazi and Oriental Jews might be on the order of 35-65 percent. This has raised concern among the Ashkenazim that in time their influence will be diluted and that Western-oriented Israel might ultimately become another Levantine state.

The government, according to the document, is trying to bridge the gap between the Orientals and the Ashkenazim. The major effort is directed at recasting the Oriental in a Western mold  mostly through Hebrew-language training, special educational benefits, agricultural and other vocational training, and army service. But progress is slow, both because of the nature of the problem and because of limited finances. The government will have to run hard just to keep ahead of the Orientals rising expectations. The eventual assumption of power by the Sabras could bring an evolutionary solution  there seems to be less awareness of differentness among younger Israelis.

The CIA on ethnic tensions in Israel

A large part of the document is dedicated to the importance of immigration, on the backdrop of the fear of losing the Jewish majority  a fear which has not materialized thus far: The Israelis are faced with high Arab birthrates both inside and outside Israel. The Jewish birthrate in Israel in 1969 was 23.4 live births per 1,000 population The Arab birthrate in several nearly Arab states and in Israel approaches 50 live births per 1,000 population. A recent study within Israel of the Gross Reproduction Rate, based on the average number of daughters a female has, listed the Israeli Muslim female the highest with a reproduction rate of 4.39; the Oriental Jewish female followed with 2.05; the Sabra female, 1.38; and the Ashkenazi female, 1.28. Thus, the Israelis have always regarded a steady stream of Jewish immigrants from the Diaspora as crucial to the long-term survival of Israel as a Jewish state. After defense, immigration has the top national priority The problem is that relatively few Jews in the West want to settle in Israel, and Moscow until recently would not let Soviet Jews emigrate.

Residence in Israel for many Jews is a considerable culture shock, the documents authors state. Most Western immigrants resist pressure to get them into the less settled rural areas; they want to settle in the more heavily populated coastal urban area or in Jerusalem. The less affluent Oriental Jew is often the one who ends up in the country or the newer development towns. For some, the standard of living in Israel is lower than what they were used to. Emigration from Israel is a real problem, and Tel Aviv is sensitive about it In the 20-year period, 1948-1968, about 220,000 persons are believed to have left. The average number of departees probably remains about 9,000-10,000 annually. Most important, those who leave tend to be Western, young and professional  the very type of people Israel needs to keep.

At the end of this chapter, the CIA d ocument estimates that barring a world crisis or events abroad that threaten the Jews, immigration is likely to remain constant or even to decrease, which augurs ill for the concept of Israel as a Jewish state. A professor at Weizman Institute said in February 1971 that, because of the high birthrate of the Israeli Arabs, the population balance will eventually shift to the detriment of the Jews if 60,000 Jewish immigrants do not come to Israel annually. Some demographic experts have predicted that the Arabs in Israel will have numerical equality with the Jews by the year 2000.

But due to the arrival of more than one million immigrants af ter the dissolution of the Soviet Union, almost 20 years after the document was written, Israels Arabs make up no more than one-fifth of Israels population today. In addition, the drop in birthrates among the Arabs is another reason why there is still no Arab majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, even if we include the Palestinians living in the PA territories.
Stands packed with juicy red fruit welcome visitors to the Israeli Arab city of Qalansawe. On good days, the residents refer to their city as the land of flowers and strawberries, which many of them grow in greenhouses for a living.

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But these are not good days for Qalansawe. Last month, on January 10, 11 illegal homes were demolished in the city. Since then, Qalansawe has been protesting . Many cups of coffee have been poured in the protest tent set up at the entrance to the city, as if trying to pacify the infuriated atmosphere.

Demolishing houses in Qalansaew

Home demolition in Qalansawe. Bibi wrote that he hadnt slept trying to find a solution for Amona. How much sleep had he lost over Qalansawe? (Photo: AFP)

Alongside protests and larger gatherings, a regular protest watch is held at the tent. Handwritten signs demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stop the demolition of homes in the Arab sector. Young and old, women and children, sit in circles, talking. Jewish women from the Sharon region arrive to show their solidarity.

There is tension in the air, anger, frustration, but zero violence. All the protest activities, including a demonstration of 20,000 people near the demolished buildings, are relatively calm. Police officers are not run over, and roads are not blocked.

"And thats the most frustrating thing, says Qalansawe resident Hasuna Makhlouf, whose sons' and siblings homes were demolished. We have been protesting here for a week now and no one has showed any interest, apart from the local Arab media. As soon as blood was shed in Umm al-Hiran , they remembered us. Is that what they want? Blood? Suddenly, Israeli journalists are arriving too. Where have you been until now?

I have been going through a nightmare since the homes were demolished. A nightmare. Two of my grandchildren are in such a state of shock and fear that they wont leave my side. Even at night, they come to sleep with me in the room. How can you surprise a family like that at 5am when the children are inside and start destroying (their home)? On the morning after the demolition, I turned on the television. I was sure they would mention the demolition. Nothing. Nada. Not a word.

Despite his anxiety, Hasuna was the person who tried to calm things down. During the first protest, at the entrance to the city, he called on the residents to avoid blocking the road and throwing stones. When one of the residents pulled out a Palestinian flag, Hasuna demanded he remove it.

On Friday, January 13, Hasuna was no longer able to remove the dozens of flags waved at the major protest in Qalansawe. Young Arabs from across the country flocked to the city, some marching with flags and chanting violent slogans such as With our souls and blood we will redeem Palestine.

I was unable to control people who arrived from the outside, he apologizes. But I am one hundred percent Israeli, one hundred percent, he says excitedly. I respect the police and the army. Whenever they would come to wash their cars at my business, I would give them a reduction out of respect. For years, I worked as a driver at a senior citizens home in Netanya. Every day, I volunteered there beyond my working hours.

Hasuna. I am one hundred percent Israeli (Photo: Tal Shahar)

Later, on our way to the demolished homes, Hasuna shows me a thank you letter he received from the Hadar senior citizens home in Netanya. Take a picture of it, he says. Take a picture. We dont hate Jews. We dont want to throw them into the sea, as your prime minister claims. After the demolition, I was invited to the Netanya Municipality as an apology for destroying our home.

I explain to my grandchildren that we will rebuild the homes, that we must not hate all the Jews because our home was demolished. But why doesnt the state respect me? We are being suffocated. I have seven children, some married. Where will they live? In the air? Why arent they approving the construction of more homes in the city? Kfar Yona next to us has become a huge city, but we are just being suffocated. What does a person want? To live, to earn a living, to raise children. What are we asking for?

Real distress

Before the State of Israel was founded, Qalansawe had 1,500 residents on an area covering 4,200 acres. Today, there are more than 20,000 people living in Qalansawe, but the citys official area of jurisdiction is 2,075 acres. One-third of the citys residents live outside the approved zone. A new zoning plan for the citys expansion was prepared in 2000, but it has yet to be approved.

When the zoning plan was prepared in 2000, they were thinking 20 years into the future. Seventeen years have passed and the plan has yet to be approved, says Mayor Abed el-Basat Salame. I am telling you that in 20 years from now, you will find Qalansawes residents in Petah Tikva and in Raanana. They will have no choice, because there are no lands in Qalansawe. There are state lands nearby. Why arent they being allotted to the city so that we can build residential areas for our young residents in an organized manner? The illegal construction is the result of real distress.

I sense an explosion ahead of us. In the meantime, the protest is being held in an orderly manner, but I feel like Im about to lose control. There will be an explosion here. If Bibi doesnt calm down, and carries on with these home demolitions, there will be an explosion in the entire Arab sector. There have never been a case where 11 homes were destroyed just like that. They would destroy one building, at most two, once a year. And suddenly theres this demolition and immediately afterwards, a demolition in Umm al-Hiran. The Arab sector is on the verge of exploding.

On the morning of the home demolition, Salame announced his resignation. If I cant protect the residents of my city, there is no point in me being mayor, he told the residents during a spontaneous protest.

I came to that protest. I was the only Jew who arrived to show solidarity at the time, says Yaniv Sagi, director of the Center for a Shared Society at Givat Haviva. I met the mayor at the protest, and he was moved to tears. Where are you? he asked me. Why arent the Jews coming to show solidarity? I said to the mayor that he shouldnt resign, that these forces are much greater than him, and that neither he nor anyone else can face them. The illegal construction issue in the Arab sector is a countrywide problem. Since the states establishment, 700 Jewish communitiesbut zero Arab communitieshave been built. How can one talk about equal enforcement if the Israeli Arabs reality is so fundamentally unequal? This problem must be solved, but Netanyahu doesnt want to solve it. He just wants to inflame the situation and divert the focus from the investigations against him. The deeper the investigation, the deeper the incitement against the Arab public.

Construction in the Arab sector Illegal construction in Arab sector continues unhindered Yifat Erlich Near Umm al-Fahm stands a monument to the weakness of the rule of law in the State of Israel: A giant house, whose illegal construction began 13 years ago and which despite demolition orders and a series of judicial decisions remains standing. Illegal construction in Arab sector continues unhindered

Four days later, the mayor reconsidered and rescinded his resignation, following demands from the citys residents. The confidence they showed in him should not be taken for granted. The former mayor, Mahmoud Kahdega, was convicted of taking a bribe and of blackmail. Instead of taking care of the citys development and the regulation of thousands of illegal buildings, he was busy making personal profits.

Salame is trying to rectify the situation, to instill proper management in the city and solve the housing crisis. He is unsuccessful. There is no one to help him. The State of Israel is finding it very difficult to solve the housing crisis in the Arab sector. Even when the authorities finally began developing towns and villages in the Arab sector, and advancing zoning plans, they failed to catch up to the reality on the ground. The planning was too slow compared to the accelerated construction taking place. In many cities, the planned zoning plan became irrelevant even before being approved, after entire neighborhoods had been built illegally. In many towns, residents objected zoning plans that included condominium complexes, claiming that they are unsuitable to the one-floor housing style which is common in the sector.

There is, however, massive illegal construction even in Arab towns with an approved zoning plan, so the claim that the lack of a zoning plan is the reason for the construction offenses is not always true. The construction offenders are often driven not by distress but by the cheap cost of illegal construction, which requires no tax payments. In any event, the Israeli government has so far failed to solve this mess for years, not even through enforcement, which is like a drop in the bucket compared to the huge amount of illegal buildings in the Arab sector.

Are we the enemy?

Bibi is not trying to solve our housing problem. All he is trying to do is to lay down a smoke screen on the investigations against him, says Fadi, a young Qalansawe resident who works as an electrician at a Netanya mall. I wish he would go to jail already, Bibi. He has found a way to gain popularity. He inflames the Jewish street against the Arabs. It began with incitement in the elections, continued with the terror attack in Tel Aviv, in which he smeared Israels Arab, and is going on now. In the middle of the demolition, Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post: Our forces are operating in Qalansawe. What do you mean our forces? Are we the enemy that you have to use our forces against us?

Netanyahu talks about equal enforcement. Has anyone offered us an alternative solution like in Amona? Has anyone compensated the families in Qalansawe? Or have they thrown them on the street in the middle of the winter? Bibi wrote in a post that he hadnt slept for many nights trying to find a solution for Amona. How much sleep has he lost over Qalansawe? Is that equal?

Fadi. I used to define myself as Israeli (Photo: Tal Shahar)

The prime ministers associates, however, say that the home demolitions have nothing to do with the investigations against Netanyahu. They say the prime minister spoke about equal enforcement long before the investigations began, stressing that the decision on equal enforcement was made together with the governments unprecedented decision to invest NIS 13 billion in bridging the gaps in the Arab sector.

But in Umm al-Hiran, the families were actually offered alternative land and compensation, and they turned down the offer.

Thats not true. They were in the middle of negotiations with the government. They had already agreed to evacuate and there was a debate over where they would live temporarily until the permanent solution (can be found). And in the middle of the negotiations, Bibi decided to send bulldozers. And police officers arrived and simply murdered a math teacher, a schools vice principal who was just moving his car.

The police claim that he murdered a policeman. The government claims that the residents broke up the negotiations.

The police and the government are lying, and so is the media, Fadi believes, and so do all the residents listening to our conversations. Anyone who was there says it had nothing to do with ISIS. It wasnt a terrorist attack. He was just murdered. Why was the policeman buried so fast? Had they performed an autopsy, they would have seen that he wasnt even run over. Its possible that his friends shot him, and they are simply trying to cover it up.

But lets talk about Qalansawe. What about us? A demolition order was issued, and the bulldozers arrived here within 48 hours. There was no discussion, the families were not given a chance to appeal the demolition order in court, and the families were definitely not offered any compensation or some kind of housing solution.

Im getting married in two months, Fadi sighs with fire in his green eyes. Fortunately, I built a home over my parents apartment, but in the past week I have been asking myself, What for? Why get married? Where will my children live? Today, half a dunam in Qalansawes master plan costs about 1.5 million shekels. There are no lands, so those are the prices. I used to define myself as Israeli. Today I am definitely not Israeli. Im telling you, soon things wont be so calm. There will be an explosion. There will be a disaster.

After the residents return to their homes, we escort Hasuna to his familys non-home. A regular vehicle would have trouble driving there. Legal Qalansawewith roads and street lightingcomes to an end and illegal, wounded Qalansawe breaks forth. Gravel roads with rain puddles and pits, complete darkness, and thousands of illegal homes, some of them 30 years old.

I was already born in the illegal part of Qalansawe, says Hasuna, and my seven children were raised here too. They took my grandfathers lands and built Tzoran. Why wont they let us build on the few lands they left us?

At the center of the neighborhood lie the ruins of what used to be 11 lively buildings. Crushed stones and bent iron scar the flat red loam soil. Its hard to understand why these 11 homes were the ones destroyed. To our left and our right, we see hundreds of illegal structures. Life in the State of Israels backyard is no fun.

Asked to comment, the Finance Ministrys housing department offered the following response: The national unit for the enforcement of planning and construction laws is operating in accordance to the law, in full cooperation with the State Attorneys Office and in accordance to its instructions, while strictly applying the law equally without any discrimination.
Head of the opposition, MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Camp), was hospitalized Friday night at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv after feeling unwell. Doctors suspect he suffered a minor stroke.

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Ichilov issued a statement saying MK Herzog arrived at the emergency room and underwent a series of tests raising suspicions of a minor stroke. According to a hospital spokesperson, He feels great and is communicating with his surroundings. However, medical staff decided to keep him overnight for observation in the department of neurology.

Herzog and his wife at the hospital Friday evening

Shortly after being admitted, Herzog posted a message on Twitter saying: Tonight I felt ill. I came with Michal to the medical center in Tel Aviv just to be safe. I am undergoing tests and I feel better. Thank you to all those who worried and the medical staff. Shabbat Shalom.

Herzogs aides said that throughout the day he was suffering from a fever and felt weak. During the evening, his fever went up and he was obliged to go to the emergency room. He was driven to the ER with his wife where he was admitted shortly thereafter.

His aides have stressed that he was fully conscious, arrived at the hospital on his feet and did not require assistance.
Thousands of protesters rallied across Australia on Saturday condemning US President Donald Trump's order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries and demanding an end to Australia's offshore detention of asylum seekers. US ties with Australia became strained on Thursday after details about an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull emerged and Trump said a deal between the two nations on refugee resettlement was "dumb."

About 1,000 people gathered in Sydney to protest against Trump's executive order on immigration and to call on Australia to close its offshore processing centres on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Similar protests were held in Canberra, Newcastle and Hobart, while hundreds attended an anti-Trump rally in Melbourne on Friday.

Under the "dumb deal," the United States would take up to 1,250 asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus. In return, Australia would take refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Trump has begrudgingly said he planned to stand by the deal, but a source told Reuters on Friday US immigration officials have postponed interviews with asylum seekers on Nauru.
A Seattle federal judge on Friday put a nationwide block on US President Donald Trump's week-old executive order that had temporarily barred refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States

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The judge's temporary restraining order represents a major setback for Trump's action, though the White House said late Friday that it believed the ban to be "lawful and appropriate" and that the US Department of Justice would file an emergency appeal.

A protest against Trump's Muslim ban at Seattle International Airport (Photo: AP)

Still, just hours after the ruling, US Customs and Border Protection told airlines they could board travelers who had been affected by the ban.

Trump's Jan. 27 order caused chaops at airports across the United States last week as some citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were denied entry. Virtually all refugees were also barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the US.

A Muslim prayer begins en masse in New York, in protest of Trump's ban

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A protest against Trump's Muslim ban at JFK Airport in New York (Photo: AFP)

The State Department said Friday that almost 60,000 visas were suspended in the wake of Trump's order; it was not clear Friday night whether that suspension was automatically revoked or what travelers with such visas might confront at U.S. airports.

While a number of lawsuits have been filed over Trump's action, the Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of the executive order. Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges facing similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.

Anti Muslim ban protest at JFK (Photo: AFP)

The challenge in Seattle was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the travel ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas. Amazon.com and Expedia, both based in Washington state, had supported the lawsuit, asserting that the travel restrictions harmed their businesses.

Tech companies, which rely on talent from around the world, have been increasingly outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

Robart said no attacks had been carried out on US soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trump's order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

'Outrageous order'

The White House said it would file an appeal as soon as possible.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," the White House said in a statement.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "No personnot even the presidentis above the law."

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

"This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order," said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: "Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good."

But the fluid legal situation was illustrated by the fact that Robart's ruling came just hours after a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order allowing some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

A Reuters poll earlier this week indicated that the immigration ban has popular support, with 49 percent of Americans agreeing with the order and 41 percent disagreeing. Some 53 percent of Democrats said they "strongly disagree" with Trump's action while 51 percent of Republicans said they "strongly agree."

At least one company, the ride-hailing giant Uber, was moving quickly Friday night to take advantage of the ruling.

CEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump's business advisory council this week in the face of a fierce backlash from Uber customers and the company's many immigrant drivers, said on Twitter: "We have a team of in-house attorneys who've been working night & day to get US resident drivers & stranded families back into country.

"I just chatted with our head of litigation Angela, who's buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!! #homecoming #fingerscrossed"

4 states in court

The decision in Washington state came at the end of a day of furious legal activity around the country over the immigration ban. The Trump administration has justified its actions on national security grounds, but opponents have labeled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.

In Boston, US District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed skepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Trump's order represented religious discrimination, before declining to extend the restraining order.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday dropped sanctions against Afghan strongman Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, potentially paving the way for the notorious warlord to return openly to Afghanistan. The Afghan government requested the move as part of a peace deal with Hekmatyar and his militant group, Hezb-i-Islami, in September.

The deal was criticized by some Afghans and human rights groups for the pardon it granted to Hekmatyar and many of his fighters.

While playing only a small role in the current insurgent conflict in Afghanistan, Hekmatyar was a major figure during the bloody civil war of the 1990s, when he was accused of indiscriminately firing rockets into Kabul, as well as other human rights abuses. Many foreign governments, including the United States, praised the accord at the time as a step toward wider peace in Afghanistan.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrapped up a visit to Japan on Saturday reaffirming Washington's commitment to its defense treaty with Tokyo amid concerns about President Donald Trump's approach to the region and the alliance.

Mattis reiterated that provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs, as well as China's growing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas, left no room for doubt about US commitment to Japan's defense. This was similar to the message that Mattismaking his first overseas trip since taking officedelivered in South Korea, Washington's other key Asian ally, earlier in the week.

Matthis also played down any need for major US military moves in the South China Sea to contend with China's assertive behavior, even as he sharply criticized Beijing for "shredding the trust of nations in the region." "At this time, we do not see any need for dramatic military moves at all," Mattis told a news conference in Tokyo, stressing that the focus should be on diplomacy.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continued with military testing in North Iran on Saturday, as tensions with US President Donald Trump contrinue to rise. The Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran, which it said were just "initial steps" and said Washington would no longer turn a "blind eye" to Iran's hostile actions.

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The Iranian exercise will test out ground-to-ground missiles, radar systems and cyber warfare, and follows ballistic missile testing Iran carried out on Thursday. "Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" tweeted US President Donald Trump on Friday. The tweet followed a related message from Thursday, in which he tweeted, "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile.Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!"

Trump; Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Photos: EPA; AFP)

Making the his administration's hardening position even clearer, on Friday the US announced that it would be sanctioning 12 Iraninan companies and 13 Iranian individuals, as a response to Iran's testing of ballistic missile launching. These are the first sanctions President Trump has placed on Iran since entering office.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fires ballistic missile

"The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests," National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said. "The days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over."

Suggesting that more concrete action could follow if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support in regional proxy conflicts, a senior administration official said the latest sanctions were the initial steps in response to Iran's "provocative behavior."

The White House said that while the sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before. It added that a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear program was not in the best interest of the United States.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the missile test did not violate the nuclear agreement. "It's not a direct violation ... I think there is no question that it violates the spirit of that," Spicer said in an interview with MSNBC. He said the nuclear agreement was a "sweetheart deal" for Iran.

US Senator Mark Warner expressed support for the sanctions, adding, "I urge the Administration to bring clarity to their overall strategy towards Iran, and to refrain from ambiguous rhetoricor provocative tweetsthat will exacerbate efforts to confront those challenges.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Friday expressed understanding over the sanctions, but warned against conflating Sunday's test with the nuclear deal.

Iran tweets back

Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and said it would impose legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping "regional terrorist groups," state TV quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying. In response to the new US sanctions, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted "Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense."

Citing a foreign ministry statement, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said the missile program is "the undeniable and inalienable right of our nation under international law and the UN charter. Any foreign interference in this regard is a violation of international law."

The new designations stuck to areas that remain under sanctions even with the 2015 nuclear deal sealed between Iran and world powers in place, such as the IRCG, an elite military body that is powerful in Iranian politics and the economy, and Iran's ballistic missile program. Zarif led Iran's delegation at the nuclear negotiations in 2015.

Meanwhile, the US moved a Navy destroyer, the USS Cole, close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran.

Global ramifications for US sanctions on Iran

The sanctions' impact will be more symbolic than practical, especially as they do not affect the lifting of broader US and international sanctions that took place under the nuclear deal. Also, few of the Iranian entities being targeted are likely to have US assets that can be frozen, and US companies, with few exceptions, are barred from doing business with Iran.

Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the US financial system or deal with US companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States.

Among those affected by the sanctions were what it said was a Lebanon-based network run by the Revolutionary Guards.

"The list is actually so targeted and comparatively mild, it leads one to surmise that it may have been a set of targets devised by the Obama administration, and was ready to go when Trump came into office," said Adam Smith, former senior advisor to the Director of the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control. "As such, the real test for which way the Trump team will go on Iran may well be not this list release but the next one, whenever that occurs," Smith said.

Some of the entities sanctioned by the US Treasury are based in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and China. Among those affected were companies, individuals and brokers the US Treasury said support a trade network run by Iranian businessman Abdollah Asgharzadeh: the Treasury said he supported Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which the United States has said is a subsidiary of an Iranian entity that runs Iran's ballistic missile program.

Hasan Dehghan Ebrahimi, a Beirut-based official with the Revolutionary Guard's Qods Force, which runs its operations abroad, was put under sanctions for acting on behalf of the Qods Force, Treasury said.

Three Lebanese companies involved in waste collection, pharmaceuticals, and construction were also listed under the sanctions for being owned or controlled by Muhammad Abd-al-Amir Farhat, one of Ebrahimi's employees. The US Treasury said he has facilitated millions of dollars in cash transfers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Two of his employees and a company he manages were also sanctioned. Treasury said Ebrahimi and his employees used a Lebanon-based network to transfer funds, launder money, and conduct business.
US President Donald Trump has launched his long-promised attack on banking rules that were rushed into law after the nation's economic crisis, signing new orders after meeting with business and investment chiefs and pledging further action to free big banks from restrictions. Wall Street cheered him on, but Trump risks disillusioning his working-class voters. On Friday he directed his Treasury secretary to review the devilishly complex 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, which was signed by President Barack Obama to overhaul regulations after the financial and housing crisis of the past decade. It aimed to restrain banks' from misdeeds that many blamed for the crisis.

The new president also signed a memorandum instructing the Labor Department to delay an Obama-era rule that requires financial professionals who charge commissions to put their clients' best interests first when giving advice on retirement investments. While the order on Dodd-Frank, named after its Democratic sponsors, won't have an immediate impact, Trump's intent is clear. The law has been a disaster in restricting banks' activities, he said earlier this week. "We're going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank."

Those regulations unnecessarily cramp the US economy and job creation, he declared. But many Democrats see it differently, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who was behind the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, formed as part of the Dodd-Frank law. "Donald Trump talked a big game about Wall Street during his campaignbut as president, we're finding out whose side he's really on," Warren said in a statement. "The Wall Street bankers and lobbyists whose greed and recklessness nearly destroyed this country may be toasting each other with champagne, but the American people have not forgotten the 2008 financial crisisand they will not forget what happened today."
A Hamas security delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday and is expected to meet with Egyptian officials in order to discuss matters of security. According to reports, one of the issues to be discussed is the three missing Israelis and the two bodies of Israeli soldiers, who were killed during Operation Protective Edge.

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The delegation entered Egypt through Gaza's Rafah crossing and is set to meet officials as a follow-up to meetings held by Hamas Deputy Political Bureau Chief, Ismail Haniyeh, which took place about a week and a half ago.

Hadar Goldin, Oron Shaul and Abera Mengistu

Egyptian sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that the Egyptian side has asked the delegation to open the discussion on the missing Israelis being held in Gaza. The sources say that it is possible the Egyptian request was done following an Israeli appeal.

In July 2015, it was cleared for publication that Abera Mengistu, a 29-year-old from Ashkelon, was being held captive in Gaza after having crossed the border in September 2014. Three months after Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed crossed the border into the Strip as well, a Bedouin resident of the south, with a known mental disability.

In last July, another Israeli citizen crossed the border, Jumaa Ibrahim Abu-Ghanima from Hashem Zana, a Bedouin village.

The bodies of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed during Operation Protective Edge, are held in Gaza as well.

Ismail Haniyeh (Photo: AFP)

According to reports, the Hamas delegation to Egypt also included Marwan Issa, the leader of Hamas' military wing. The sides are also expected to discuss Egypt's attempts to increase the pressure on the ISIS branch in Sinai, which operates near the Gaza border, and has been enjoying the support of Hamas' military wing in recent years.

On other matters, they are set to discuss the reinforcement of Hamas' deployment in the vicinity of the Egyptian border.

Cairo has started relieving the pressure on the Gaza Strip by opening the Rafah crossing on a more regular basis, allowing the passage of a greater number of people from Gaza to Egypt, as well as the entrance of merchandise, construction materials and cars.
For the first time since the campaign to integrate more women into combat positions in the IDF began two years ago, the preferred combat unit for women is no longer the Border Police, but rather the Home Front Command (HFC).

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The HFC took first place with 30% of the overall available female combat personnel requesting the unit. The Border Police came in second place, garnering 20% of overall demand, followed by other combat units such as Caracal, the Lions of Jordan, air defense units such as the Iron Dome and the Military Police Corps.

Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Photo: AFP

The four regular battalions of the HFC recently consolidated into one main brigade, which routinely gets assigned duties such as emergency actions and search and rescue operations.

In the next war in the Gaza Strip or Lebanon, it is expected that various units from the HFC will be assigned to regular combat battalions as rescue teams on the front lines. Currently, HFC units are assigned to regional divisions in the West Bank where they also participate in operational activities. This comes after years of placements on remote sectors of the Egyptian and Jordanian borders.

Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

While the mixed battalions of the HFC have traditionally stood at 70% male and 30% female, the numbers have begun to stabilize in recent years and the trend is expected to continue.

It is enticing to serve in a position that sometimes requires soldiers to take life and to save it as part of the job, said a senior HFC officer to Ynet. We train our personnel extensively to love their people, their commanders and to take care of them.

Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

According to IDF figures, the number of fighters in the IDF has greatly improved from only 514 in 2011 to 2,100 in 2015. This is due to the IDF integrating female soldiers into various units such as the Navy, the special rescue forces and the armored corps.

However, the program has beenhighly scrutinized and the IDF has encountered problems with female soldiers in integrated combat units making a career out of the IDF. Currently, there are only two female battalion-level commanders in these units, with many leaving the army before being promoted to senior positions.
Thousands of people travelled to the north and south of Israel Saturday to enjoy the snow of the Hermon and the anemones of the south.

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The Darom Adom festival (lit. the red south) officially began Friday and has already drawn hundreds of spectators to the south. Although the blossoming anemones are not yet at their seasonal peak, heavy rainfall has still brought about the lovely sight in parts of the northern Negev.

Snow in the north and flowers in the south (Video: Roi Idan) (:  )

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White and Red

The flowering anemones can be seen at a variety of southern communities such as Kibbutz Alumim, Shokeda, Kibbutz Beeri and Reim.

Several communities are also offering nature activities and performances for families, with attractions taking place in the Eshkol Regional Council and Shaar HaNegev.

Flowering anemones (Photo: Roi Idan)

Photo: Roi Idan

The festival will continue throughout the month of February, but many are predicting the flowering season to continue well after.

In the north, thousands of visitors arrived at Mount Hermon to enjoy the snow. By 11:00, nearly 5,000 people had entered the site creating massive traffic jams.

Photo: Hermon Ski resort

Photo: Hermon Ski resort

Director of the Hermon Ski Resort, Liron Mills, said, The weather this week was extremely cold, which allowed us to keep the snow. At the top layer, we have nearly 90cm of snow and wonderful ski conditions, which are expected to be constant with the cold weather. Were asking the public to try and come in the middle of the week when conditions will be better in terms of crowds.
The sight that will remain carved in our collective memories from the Amona evacuation is the footage of children being evacuated.

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This picture of an infant and a baby held in the arms of two police officers graced the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth. On the following day, it turned out that two-month-old Moshe and his brother, four-and-a-half year old Yossef are the children of Elyashiv and Emuna Avi Yona, and that they aren't even Amona residents.

Baby Moshe and his brother, 4-year-old Yossef held by police officers

The mother, Emuna, is a member of an organization called Nahala led by Daniella Weiss, whose interests lie in encouraging the development and advancement of towns.

When the government started discussing the Amona layout plan, the female members of the organization felt that the men had grown somewhat weak, and decided to join the struggle along with their children. And so, the Avi Yona family, including their five children, Yehuda, 9, Esther, 6, Ephraim, 2, and the two brothers who were photographed in the newspaper, took a stand alongside Amona's residents on the day of the evacuation. "When Israel screams in anguish, everybody enlists," said Emuna (whose name translates to faith), with complete faith.

As per the guidelines of professional factors, most of Amona's children who were under the age of ten were not on site during the evacuation. They were sent away ahead of time to stay with family members outside of the town and the older children joined them on the day of the evacuation.

During the evacuation, some children regretted having chosen to stay behind, and following their request, they were dropped off with family members in Ofra while closely chaperoned.

On Thursday, the daycare center, the preschool and the center for Talmudic studies were opened in order to maintain a modicum of normality for the children of Amona in Ofra.

The Amona teenagers, about thirty in total, had not attended any such curriculums in the last few months. The Binyamin Council has been closely monitoring them: the boys were given chaperones, who were trained in the guidance of teens following the Gush Katif evacuation, and the girls were provided with a coordinator.

Regarding the decision to keep the young children away, Emuna Avi Yona said: "Some people may have sent their children to their grandparents earlier on since there was a lot of pressure from those with an interest in not having to deal with children during the evacuation."

Emuna, born and raised in Kokhav HaShahar, lost her mother, Esther Galia, 14 years ago, in a terror attack at Rimonim intersection, near Amona.

A few months ago, Emuna met with several of the female Amona residents and decided to bring her children to the evacuation. "If you are taken out of your house, it is important your child understands what you are fighting for. We came to Amona as a family, to bring strength to families. It is just like observing the Shabbat, you don't just bring your wife or husband and your eldest. A family is hosted by another family."

She emphasized that she was not upset with those who kept their children away from the violent sights. "I also told my children: each person should follow his heart during the evacuation, and when her eldest said, 'I will hit a police officer if he grabs me,' I told him that is not the way to act."

While her children were being photographed, she was being carried away by police. But she has no regrets. "This is self-abnegation in the name of our country and the children will remember this as something good and valuable."

And what would you say to those who cannot understand how you could put your children in the eye of the storm on the coldest day of the year?

"I didn't take my children out of the house in this weather; the irresponsible forces took those babies out in this weather. I feel that from a familial and national perspective, what went through yesterday, fighting for the land of Israel, was something we will tell our grandchildren about."

Daniella Weiss, one of the leaders of the settlement movement, could not understand the source of the fuss either. "What is it with the complaints about the cold? If I were standing in the middle of the road, offering free tickets to Iceland, to a couple of parents and their two young children, 99 out of a hundred couples would immediately rush to pack and it wouldn't matter to them, cold or no cold."

"Now take this story and transpose it to Amona. I tell my children and my grandchildren that if we were to happen upon such a situation of banishment, the children should undergo the entire experience as well, and only then would we be able to deal with future struggles that still await us," Weiss continued.

According to Weiss, ever since she established the town of Kedumim and to this day, all of her friends, mothers to dozens of children, have taken their children down a similar path. "These are formative experiences. When a child sees his mother suffering for the land of Israel, he understands that this is a value worth suffering for."

What would such a young child remember?

"These things unequivocally mark their DNA, just like when you play classical music to an unborn child. The baby picks up on everything. The majority of mothers understand that the child is nourished with the meaning of the struggle through his mother's milk."

Fighting without diapers

For Weiss, Amona is a symbol of female empowerment.

"When we noticed the struggle weakening and that the men were not strong enough, we formed an alternative team made of women, who announced they were staying put, no matter what."

However, she adamantly rejected the claim that she brought children to Amona to create a media buzz.
ALMONACID DEL MARQUESADOFor two days in a tiny Spanish village, the devil ceases to be enemy No. 1 for a few devout Catholics.

Since medieval times, the 400 residents of Almonacid del Marquesado have celebrated the Endiablada (Brotherhood of the Devils) festival each Feb. 2-3.

Members of the town's all-male religious brotherhood dress up in what they consider devil-type characters, donning colorful jumpsuits and red miter hats. Almost every male in the village, from boys up to the elderly, then take part in processions through the twisting village streets.

They each carry heavy copper cowbells around their waist, which they clang incessantly, and some run and jump to make as much noise as possible. Each man in the brotherhood also has his own wooden staff that they have inherited or carved, some of which include images of a devil.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is set to arrive in London Sunday afternoon.

The meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May will take place on Monday, followed by a meeting with Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson.

On the agenda is the issue of Iran and its attempt to expand their influence in the region, the Iranian involvement in Syria, as well as Iran's ballistic missile test.

Netanyahu will also discuss regional issues including the Palestinians.
Nearly 4,000 protestors are marching in Tel Aviv Saturday night against government policies they say discriminate between Jews and Arabs.

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The march comes at a time of tension, with illegal buildings being demolished in Qalansawe and Umm al-Hiran in the Negev, where Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan was shot to death after running over a group of police officers with his vehicle.

Protests in Tel Aviv

Demonstrators began the protest march at the intersection of Allenby and King George, where they then proceeded to Rabin Square to hold a rally. Protestors, including Jews and Arabs, called for an end to incitement and racism and for Jews and Arabs to cease being enemies.

Public figures are expected to speak at the rally including Knesset members and Amal Abu Saad, the wife of Yaqoub al-Qiyan, who said, We demand an independent inquiry. Since the incident, no one has spoken to us and explained what happened. We are citizens of Israel and we want to be treated with respect. I want to be like everyone else. I want the same respect they gave to residents of Amona. We demand to know the truth behind the incident.

The event was organized by some 20 human rights organizations, including the organization Standing Together, the Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, Meretz, Hadash, Rabbis for Human Rights and others.

Majed Abu Bilal, a resident of Rahat and activist with Standing Together, said, We set out to protest together todayJews and Arabsagainst the racism of this government, which is destroying Arab homes in Qalansawe and Umm al-Hiran, sending police officers prepared for war and at the same time, promoting the regulation for the takeover of Palestinian lands. We want to say that there is another waythat all citizens are equal. Together we can build a common future, for all of us.
The Jordanian air force conducted air strikes against Islamic State targets in southern Syria on Friday night, hitting an ammunition depot, a car bomb factory and a barracks, the Jordanian military said in a statement.

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In an announcement issued Saturday night by The Jordan News Agency Petra, "The operation resulted in killing and wounding a number of members of the terrorist gang in addition to destroying a number of vehicles."

President Trump and King Abdullah II (Photo: AFP)

The statement went on to say that the attacks were "in memory of the soldiers who died as part of the war on terror."

In addition, the announcement also stated that the attacks were executed using drones and guided missiles, and that as a result of the attack, a large number of ISIS fighters were killed or injured.

At the end of the statement, they reiterated that "these attacks represent the continued Jordanian efforts to quench the activity of the criminal terrorist group so that it realizes that all bets are off until it is completely terminated."

Jordan airforce attacks ISIS

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This attack came a day after the meeting between US President Donald Trump and the Jordanian King Abdullah in Washington.

The king and the president discussed the need to cooperate on several topics, including the war on terror, ensuring the Syrian people's safety, and increasing the efforts to kick start the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

On Friday, Jordan commemorated the anniversary of the horrific burning of the Jordanian Air Force pilot, who was captured by ISIS in Syria in December 2014. The organization posted the video of his execution on February 3, 2015, in which he is seen burning alive inside a cage.

Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh

Photo: Reuters

At the time, the Jordanian government confirmed via its state television that its pilot had been murdered, and according to the channelISIS had murdered the pilot a month prior, which possibly explains the failure of the captives' deal that seemed to be forming.

Al-Kasasbeh's capture roused waves of protest in Jordan. In Al-Kasasbeh's hometown of Al-Karak, dozens of youths protested, shouting slogans against the international coalition fighting ISIS, demanding the king withdraw from it.

"We will not be America's victim," screamed angry youths across town, whose tribes had always been supportive of the Hashmite regime.

Unlike his father, King Abdullah took upon himself and his kingdom a braver role in the joint operation against ISIS by sending fighter jets to Syriaand bringing Jordan to its first intervention in the aerial bombings abroad, in contrast with the solely logistic roles and intelligence collection it had executed in the past.
Authorities have opened a hate crime investigation after a synagogue in downtown Chicago was vandalized early Saturday, according to police.

Around 12:20am, officers responded to a call at 16 S. Clark St. in the city's Loop, police said. There they found that the front window of the Chicago Loop Synagogue had been broken and "derogatory stickers" were posted on the entrance.
YORK  Governor Pete Ricketts will be visiting York next week in order to discuss his legislative priorities.

His office says the intent is also to listen to his constituents.

Nebraskans are invited to join Governor Ricketts at this upcoming legislative update, said Taylor Gage, the governors public relations director. This is a great opportunity to hear on how Nebraska is growing and how the governor is working with the legislature on key priorities like balancing the budget this legislative session.

The governor will be speaking in Room I at the Holthus Convention Center on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

The public is encouraged to attend.
MONDAY 2/6

>> Alcoholics Anonymous - Fresh Start Group meets Monday at 12 noon at First Presbyterian Church located at 414 Delaware Ave. in York.

TUESDAY 2/7

>> Sexaholics Anonymous, a 12 Step recovery group for those dealing with addiction to pornography, sex, and other forms of lust, meets Tuesday nights at 5:45 p.m. For more information please call our toll free number 1-877-889-8071 or visit sanebraska.org.

WEDNESDAY 2/8

>> Alcoholics Anonymous - Fresh Start Group meets Wednesday at 12 noon at First Presbyterian Church located at 414 Delaware Ave. in York.

THURSDAY 2/9

>> Weight Watchers meets in the basement of the York Towne House, 5th & Grant Ave., each Thursday. Weigh in 5:15 - 5:45 p.m.; Member meeting 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.

>> AL-ANON meets Thursday at 12 noon at First Presbyterian Church located at 414 Delaware Ave. in York.

>> Narcotics Anonymous meets Thursday at 8 p.m. at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in the Annex building.

FRIDAY 2/10

>> Alcoholics Anonymous - Fresh Start Group meets Friday at 12 noon at First Presbyterian Church located at 414 Delaware Ave. in York.

>> Alcoholics Anonymous - AWOL Group meets Friday at 8 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church located at 414 Delaware Ave. in York.

SATURDAY 2/11

>> Alcoholics Anonymous - Fresh Start Group meets Saturday at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church located at 414 Delaware Ave. in York.
Just days into the Trump administration, the left's narrative is clear. First, it was that Trump is an "illegitimate" president because he didn't win the popular vote, claims about "voter fraud" notwithstanding.

Then the left tried name-calling. Unfit. Immoral. Crude. High-handed. Fascist. His supporters stuck with him when similar tactics were tried during the campaign.

Now the narrative has gone "racist," that all-purpose word the left seems ready to attach to anyone for any reason. Egged on by their media allies, Democrats called the temporary halt on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries "racist" and referred to it as a travel "ban." It was nothing of the kind.

This action shouldn't come as a surprise. It's what Trump promised during the campaign.

It should also be noted, because the major media doesn't, that the past six presidents have limited access or banned outright immigrants from certain parts of the world deemed dangerous, as they are allowed to do by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. These include former President Obama, who couldn't help himself and spoke out against the temporary delay. Trump's action, as noted by Matt Vespa for townhall.com, "is based on a bill that Obama signed into law in December 2015." At that time Obama restricted waivers from the same seven majority-Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen -- that President Trump did.

When I traveled internationally during the Ebola epidemic, U.S. immigration officers would routinely ask if I had been to areas infected with the virus. If I had you can bet I would have been pulled out of line for further questioning and screening, perhaps even quarantined. When I travel internationally, I must also list the countries I have visited on a U.S. Customs and Immigration form. If it shows a pattern of visiting places that foment terrorism, I would expect to be questioned about the purpose of my travels.

Now we come to the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Even before his name was announced, liberal groups pledged to oppose him and urged Senate Democrats to filibuster the nominee in retaliation for the Republicans' refusal to give an up or down vote on Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked for such a vote for Garland, but he appears to be ready to try to deny an up or down vote for Judge Gorsuch. For such actions the word "hypocrisy" was created.

Does Judge Gorsuch have the best possible experience? Yes, but it won't matter to Democrats. A great education? Yes, doesn't matter. Good temperament? Yes, doesn't matter. The fact that he was unanimously approved by the Senate for his appeals court seat won't matter either, even though some of the Democratic senators who voted for him are still in the Senate and may vote against him this time out of party loyalty.

Remember Sen. Ted Kennedy's "Robert Bork's America" line? When the left gets through sliming Judge Gorsuch, his own family won't recognize him. It's all about the narrative, but will it work against Judge Gorsuch, as it did against Judge Bork? Social media and cable TV can help explain to the public his views on the Constitution and in the end Judge Gorsuch will likely be confirmed, especially if Republicans borrow from former Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and employ the "nuclear option," which establishes the principle that a simple Senate majority can overrun any rule at any time.

Democrats have run out of ideas, even bad ones, and have nothing left but name-calling and protests. The fact that voters have rejected their agenda has not yet resonated with them. They are like people who attend oldies concerts and wave their hands in the air, eyes closed, singing "The Age of Aquarius," like it is 1969 again. For them, the sun isn't shining in, it's setting. That narrative hasn't changed.
Since my early childhood, as far back as I can recall, parents and elders have always asked me to stay away from smoking. It wasnt hard as nobody in my family smokes and so I did not realise how cool smoking can actually make you look- until I joined college where a lot of people I saw around would have a cigarette in hand, even though most of them were doing it under pressure from friends or just to impress girls; not knowing what it would eventually do to their health. <br><br> Well, the days passed by and I somehow coped up with the aggravation of having to blankly stare at my friends when they talked about various brands of cigarettes and in what way one tasted different from the other. The agony grew when I watched my favourite movie star puffing a huge cigar just before kicking the bad guys butt. I will never be able to do thatI would say to myself disappointingly. <br><br> The craving to have a smoke was at its peak often and I would think of giving in to the temptation at the insistence of friends, who would say just try once and we will not force you again. But, somehow, I held myself back. <br><br> All that talk of how smoking can be the root cause of different deadly diseases such as cancer seemed even more meaningless when I started working. More than just getting to know your colleagues, I realised that the ordinary looking tobacco filled tube of bliss can also help you get into your boss good books (generally applies to male bosses). Imagine what would it feel like when even your boss joins the smokers league and you are made to look like an unwanted outsider at males only parties, where you would be the only one without a smoldering stick in your hand. <br><br> I was slowly, but surely, starting to discover what fun it is to spend thousands of rupees every month to ruin your health and still feel on top of the world. How much I would have loved to experience that. <br><br> I also got to know that smoking is the best way to socialize because the corner cigarette shop just outside your work place is the best place where you can meet just about anybody and everybody in the official hierarchy. Who knows where a casual conversation starting over a do you have a light? can take you? It is worth every second of the seven minutes that each cigarette takes out of your life. <br><br> Well, smoking has so many benefits that I can go on and on filling pages, but for the fear of inviting the wrath of our ignorant government officials, who have taken extreme steps to cut down the consumption of cigarettes. <br><br> But all said and done, one thing that I do know deep down inside my heart is that all these smokers are a bunch of regular chaps, who would do anything to quit the habit but are just paying for what would have been just one cigarette and no more at a day back in college. <br><br> Proud to be a non smoker!
Dehradun: Union Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday released the party`s manifesto -- `Vision Document` -- for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls.

Pointing out that the BJP had a special connect with the hill state as it was formed when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, the Minister rued how the Congress rule had slowed the development of the state.

"We as a party are committed to the all-round development of the state and are hopeful that the people of the state will give the BJP a chance to form the government again and take the state to the position it deserves," the Union Minister stated.

Pointing out that the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was of fast development, the Finance Minister said development in the hill state had suffered due to political instability.

Giving details about the `Vision Document` which is the party`s manifesto for the state assembly polls, Jaitley said it was made after much deliberation and keeping in mind clean and progressive governance.

"We aim to bring governance to the last man," he said, adding that since the state was bestowed with best natural resources, good governance can spur development.

The state will go to polls on February 16.
The voluntary move by online giant Amazon to begin collecting state sales tax for purchases in Nebraska is a sign that the unfair advantage online retailers have enjoyed for years is finally coming to an end.

Nebraska lawmakers have an opportunity to hasten that day with bills that would tighten the online loophole. The bills deserve priority.

For decades, brick-and-mortar retailers have watched a scenario known as showrooming, referring to customers who check out products in local stores and then order them online to save a few bucks on sales tax.

Its an everyday problem, Lincoln jeweler Thomas Wright told state senators. And if the online loophole is not closed, whos going to pay for the schools and the streets?

Online retailers scored a big win in the U.S. Supreme Court a quarter-century ago, when online retailing was in its infancy, with a ruling that they could be required to collect sales tax only if they had a physical presence in a given state.

But the precedent set in that case, Quill v. North Dakota, has gradually been eroding. Late last year, the high court let stand a Colorado tattletale law that requires online retailers to turn over the names and addresses of Colorado residents who make purchases online. The customer information report is intended to help Colorado authorities collect unpaid sale tax.

And the year before, in a concurring opinion, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy signaled that he was ready to consider reversing the ruling in Quill, writing that he felt it was appropriate, and indeed necessary, to add this separate statement concerning what may well be a serious, continuing injustice faced by Colorado and many other States.

Kennedy wrote: A case questionable even when decided, Quill now harms States to a degree far greater than could have been anticipated earlier.

In Nebraska, state Department of Revenue officials estimated the loss at $30 million to $40 million a year. In Lincoln, officials said it could be $1.5 million to $2 million.

Bills have been introduced this session in the Nebraska Legislature by both Sen. John McCollister of Omaha and Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse.

Of the two, McCollisters bill (LB564) is the stronger. It's similar to the Colorado law left standing by the U.S. Supreme Court and would require Internet sellers to either collect sales tax or file a report on sales to Nebraskans.

The best option would be for Congress to plug the loophole. But nothing seems to get done in Congress these days. So the Legislature should to what it can to level the field.
New Delhi:The Election Commission has sought the response of AIADMK on a complaint filed by sacked leader Sasikala Pushpa against the election of V K Sasikala as party General Secretary.

Sasikala Pushpa had filed a complaint that the election was not as per procedure, official sources in the poll panel said here.

Without sharing much details, the sources said the party has been asked to respond to the complaint but there is no timeline as it is not a 'notice'.

Pushpa had told the Commission that the elevation of Sasikala as the general secretary of the party was carried out in an "undemocratic manner".

V K Sasikala has been Jayalalithaa's closest aide since the 1980s. She has been taking care of party affairs, although she never held any formal position in the AIADMK before Jayalalithaa's death.
Lambi: Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today exuded confidence that the SAD-BJP would again form the government in the state as she hit out at Congress and AAP for making "false promises" to lure voters.

"With the grace of God, our (SAD-BJP) government will again form the government in the state as our government always worked for the state's progress and development," Harsimrat, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, told reporters after casting her vote in Lambi.

"100 per cent we shall score a hat-trick," she asserted.

Hitting out at Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, she said, "They (Congress and AAP) were busy making false accusations against us and both of them will bite the dust".

"What did Capt Amarinder Singh do when he was the Chief Minister in the state. And one should also ask AAP what they have done for the people in Delhi during their tenure," she said.

"We did not make any false promise with the voters. We did what we promised," she claimed.
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.
Gov. Pete Ricketts on Friday traveled to the fertile Platte River Valley, deep in popcorn country, to promote his plan to overhaul how Nebraska values farm and ranch land.

Speaking from the Chapman office of farmer-owned distributor Preferred Popcorn, Ricketts said changing how Nebraska calculates valuations from being based on land sales to reflecting lands income potential will make the process fairer and more predictable, as well as put Nebraska farmers and ranchers on equal footing with their counterparts in neighboring states already using a market-based method, including Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota.

This will be long-term property tax reform by structurally changing how we value ag land, he said.

Agriculture groups have been supportive of the effort but said it wont relieve the pressure tax bills are placing on their pocketbooks.

The governors office estimates that had the Agriculture Valuation Fairness Act -- recently introduced by Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft as LB338 -- been in place this year, taxable values for agricultural land would be about 2 percent lower statewide. The amount it would shave from valuations varies by region, ranging from almost no change in north-central Nebraska to dropping values by 4 percent in the Panhandle.

Steve Nelson, Nebraska Farm Bureau president, said the bill on its own would have minimal impact on property taxes.

A 2 percent reduction in land values for most farmers and ranchers isnt likely to translate into much property tax savings when you consider agricultural land values statewide increased more than 6 percent alone from 2015 to 2016 and more than 263 percent over the last 10 years," he said.

Tax bills for ag land, which are based on a combination of the assessed value and tax rates set by local governments, have gone up by 164 percent in 10 years. In contrast, property taxes paid in Nebraska overall have gone up 60 percent.

Ricketts acknowledged his plan is only a single step toward reforming property taxes, which are set and collected by local governments, including towns and cities, county boards and school districts.

You can only have sustainable tax relief if you control spending. Fundamentally tax relief is the difference between funding restraint and revenue growth, Ricketts said.

Shelton farmer Paul Gangwish, one of five farmers who spoke at the governors news conference, said the bill might not answer all of ags problems, but you have to start somewhere.

I do believe it is a good start. Without starting, you dont get anywhere, Gangwish said.

Ricketts plan also would cap annual statewide ag land valuation increases at 3.5 percent and increase state aid to schools by $19.8 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year. The aid would help soften the financial blow to school districts that have hit the ceiling on their property tax levies and cant raise them to make up for the loss in ag land valuation.

No additional aid would be offered to schools that can raise their levies or to other government entities, including railroad safety districts.

The Legislatures Revenue Committee has a hearing on the proposal set for Wednesday.

Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, said he has many questions in need of answers, including how the new model would be implemented and concerns regarding the 3.5 percent cap on ag land valuation increases. What amendments are made to the bill as it makes its way through the Legislature will affect whether NACO supports it.

Any time there is a reduction in the tax base, we obviously are concerned because  it still doesnt stop laws from being passed that create unfunded mandates or underfunded mandates, Dix said. It will be a moving target as we see that bill either advance or not advance."

Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach also spoke at the Chapman news conference in favor of the plan.
Depending on how the term is defined, Nebraska at one point had more than 350 opera houses -- some four or five stories tall but most having only one or two floors that frequently served many functions including community and lodge halls.

Because few entrepreneurs, villages or fraternal organizations could afford the luxury of their own exclusive halls, most utilized the ground level as store fronts which brought rental income whether the hall was in use or not.

Today, probably less than 50 are extant with a good number of those unrecognizable or their auditoriums being utilized only for storage. One interesting extant opera house lies well out of sight to passersby yet sits prominently on Auburns main street.

Todays Auburn started life as two towns about a half mile apart. Sheridan, whose name was picked by drawing slips from a hat, was platted in 1865 on a square mile of land near the center of Nemaha County. Calvert to the south was named for T.E. Calvert of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad and platted when the railroad built through in 1881.

The following year the Missouri Pacific Railroad arrived at Sheridan, which then became known as North Auburn and Calvert as South Auburn. Both cities merged as Auburn, named for the town in New York, in 1883. When the county seat was moved to Auburn from Brownville, a frame courthouse was built in South Auburn and replaced in 1899 with the extant stone building.

In 1885, a local newspaper, knowing an opera house was one visible way a village could proclaim itself a true city, decried the lack of a theater and urged creation of an opera house. The following year Hamilton Cooper enlarged and rebuilt his skating rink as Coopers Hall, which later changed its name to Peoples Theatre. Daughertys Theatre followed in 1886 on a square block tract south of the courthouse in South Auburn. This hall seated about 600 and was said to cost over $15,000. Though still frequently referred to as Daughertys, the name became the Park Theatre in 1887.

A newspaper editorial in 1889 urged a second theater be built in North Auburn to compete with Daughertys, which implied that Coopers Peoples Theatre must have closed at or about the same time. In spring 1890 three single-building fires were followed by a major conflagration ultimately destroying 10 businesses creating a large open area in the business section of North Auburn.

That June a number of local businessmen, including James Maclay, sold 250 shares of stock at $100 per share, incorporating the Auburn Building & Improvement Association for the betterment of the city. The corporation immediately announced plans to construct a $14,000 opera house on Central Avenue.

The building, named the New Opera House, was 100 by 110 feet with a nearly flat roof. Made of stone, it was two stories high with a tall second story for the theater. Two business areas were on the ground floor, first occupied by W. M. Robisons store and the Dort Drug Store. The front of the building had two stone drama masks above two central brick-arched windows and the structures date represented as stones 18 and 90 set in the cornice.

In deference to the normal street front theater entrance, the second-floor auditorium was entered in the rear at the southwest corner of the building. Tickets were purchased on the ground floor in a room beneath the balcony. The lobby above was accessed via a grand 6-foot-wide wooden staircase. There was a second entrance through the adjacent Hetzel Building to the west giving access to the stage.

The 16-foot-tall, 50-by-55-foot flat-floored auditorium was lit with kerosene lamps and had benches as well as chairs. The balcony along the west wall was raked/tiered and utilized chairs for seating and, like the Daugherty Opera House, seated about 600. The stage, along the east wall of the second floor was 19 feet deep, had a trap door, footlights, a 12-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide proscenium and was elevated above the floor about three feet.

The theater was completed late in the summer of 1890 and opened in September with a performance by Robert Wilkinson noted as so humorous that the roof will part in the center to give vent to the roar of laughter.

In 1915 the original building associations corporation expired, and in 1925 the buildings ownership was transferred to the Auburn Opera House Co. with management by Fred Maclay, perhaps James son, who changed the name to the Maclay Opera House.

Motion pictures brought an end to the opera house era in the 1920s. The second floor auditorium, ultimately, became storage, with many of the chairs and curtain moved to the Brownville Theatre, while the ground floor tenants became Hemmingsons Clothing, Union Bank and later a computer incubator start-up.

The last remnants of Daughertys Theatre were destroyed by a tornado in 1950. In 1988 the opera house building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits, well-preserved, next to its iconic, highly visible neighbor, the Hetzel Building on the southeast corner intersection of the north/south Nebraska 73/75 and east/west Nebraska 136.
Seeking the truth, even if it hurts, in the depressingly dank Cave of Adullam
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Defense Ministry is consistently examining the Hot line calls received over the existence of records or their validity in the military books of demobilized servicemen on carrying out military service, participating in the military operations, press service of the Ministry told Armenpress.

The Ministry is taking measures to correct the defects, to exclude repetition of mistakes.

All Hot line calls have been examined in-detail and currently the statistical picture of complaint letters is the following:

Overall 75 complaint letters on respective records in the military books about demobilized servicemens participation in April 2-6 military operations have been received, from which

-70 complaint letters were not valid since the divisions of those military units were not included in the operations during that period, no attacks by the Azerbaijani side were carried out at these military units. These units fulfilled their military tasks, the military books include records only about their military duties.

-1 military book didnt contain respective record about a serviceman who took part in the military operations and was awarded with Medal of Courage.

-Data recorded in the documents on 4 servicemen need to be clarified.

A working group has been formed in the Defense Ministry on examining the issues reflected in the compliant letters, eliminating the defects and bringing the guilty officials to responsibility. Some officials have already brought to responsibility.

At the same time, the Defense Ministry cooperates with Ministry of Education and Science, state universities and Armenias Youth Foundation aimed at increasing the amount of compensation for the tuition fees of servicemen who have fulfilled a military duty during the April operations.

In case of inconsistencies in the military books, the demobilized servicemen can call the Defense Ministrys Hot line 1-28 free telephone number. We assure that every case of violation will be examined and will receive a respective process.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. No precipitation is expected in Armenia on February 5, 8 and 9, the Ministry of Emergency Situations told Armenpress.

Northwest wind speed is 3-8 m/s.

Light snow is expected in western regions on February 6 and 7.

Starting from February 5 air temperature will increase by 6-8 degrees.

No precipitation is expected in Yerevan on February 5, 8 and 9. On February 6-7 cloudiness is expected, no essential precipitation is predicted.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Ambassador to Poland Edgar Ghazaryan met Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Marek Ziokowski, press service of the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

The sides expressed mutual satisfaction over the Armenian-Polish mutual partnership, as well as the stable development of bilateral ties.

A number of issues related to the further development and political agenda of bilateral relations were discussed during the meeting. They talked about the holding of political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries in 2017, by attaching importance to the necessity to discuss issues of mutual interest in this format.

Ambassador Ghazaryan and Marek Ziokowski also discussed issues related to the organization of a number of events to be held in 2017 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Poland, as well as the 650th anniversary of the formation of the Armenian community in Poland.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan had a meeting with Minister of National Defense of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis, press service of the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

At the meeting the Armenian Ambassador congratulated Raimundas Karoblis on his appointment and said intensive and stable mutual cooperation has been established between the two countries as a result of the cooperation agreements signed in the defense sector in 2002 and 2012.

Speaking about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Ambassador Mkrtchyan said Armenia, together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, is making efforts to create respective conditions aimed at moving forward the settlement process of the NK conflict. The Ambassador stated that by regularly violating the ceasefire regime Azerbaijan further prolongs the possibility to peacefully settle the conflict.

In his turn Minister Raimundas Karoblis reaffirmed Lithuanias principled stance on settling the conflict exclusively through peaceful means.

The sides attached importance to the cooperation between the Defense Ministries of Armenia and Lithuania within the frames of NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan.

Ambassador Mkrtchyan thanked for the assistance provided by Lithuania to the education programs in the defense sector, as well as for the readiness to make exchange of experience.

Both sides stated that the mutual visits of the Defense Ministers of the two states must be continuous.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Russias Rosselkhoznadzor is planning within two weeks to ban the import of poultry products and hatching eggs from the EU countries where outbreaks of bird flu cases have been registered, the authority's representative Yulia Melano said, reports TASS.

We do not have an exact date yet. But we consider announcing the ban within two weeks, Melano saying as quoted by TASS.
Automotive supplier will add 42 jobs and invest more than $13 million

Contact: Ford Porter

Ford Porter govpress@nc.gov

RALEIGH, N.C. Keihin Carolina System Technology will expand its automotive assembly operations in Edgecombe County, adding 42 jobs over the coming three years, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The company plans to invest more than $13 million at its Tarboro facility.Governor Cooper said.Keihin Carolina will hire production associates and technical staff. While compensation will vary by position, average salaries for the new jobs will be $32,230, in line with Edgecombe County's current average annual wage of $32,642.N.C. Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. were instrumental in the expansion project.said Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland.Keihin Carolina System Technology assembles and tests electrical components for Honda vehicles made around the world. Keihin Carolina has operated in Tarboro since 1998 and currently employs 400 people.A performance-based grant of $150,000 from the One North Carolina Fund will help facilitate Keihin Carolina's expansion in Tarboro. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance to support local government efforts to attract economic investment and create jobs. Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All One NC grants are contingent upon a local government match.said plant manager David Catt.Catt added,Engine control units produced at KCST's 147,000-square-foot plant in Tarboro are shipped to Honda assembly sites in the USA, as well as Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The company is a unit of Japan's Keihin Corporation [Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7251], founded in 1956.said NC Senator Erica Smith-Ingram.said N.C. Representative Shelly Willingham.In addition to North Carolina Commerce and EDPNC, other partners include the North Carolina Community College System, the Town of Tarboro, Edgecombe County and the Carolinas Gateway Partnership.
More than $1 million worth of trees will be planted in and around Fort McMurray this spring to help restore urban forests damaged by the last year's massive wildfire.

Tens of thousands of trees are scheduled to be planted as part of Tree Canada's Operation ReLeaf.

The program is largely focusing on replacing trees in residential areas.

CN donated $1 million for the project, though Tree Canada has received donations from other companies and individuals.

"We are deeply grateful to Tree Canada and all of its partners for this generous donation," Melissa Blake, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said in a news release.

"This support will undoubtedly lift the spirits of the entire community and help us restore so much of the natural beauty that was impacted by the wildfire."

The Fort McMurray wildfire in last May forced more than 80,000 people from their homes. More than 2,400 homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed.

The neighbourhoods of Abasand, Waterways and Beacon Hill were hit hardest. In some places, whole streets of houses burned to the ground.

Operation ReLeaf is specifically focused on replacing the tree canopy in Beacon Hill.

Surrounding First Nations affected by the fire may also receive some planted trees.

The project is expected to continue into 2018, and perhaps 2019 as well.
FRIDAY, Feb. 3, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Death rates are lower for older Americans treated by doctors trained in other countries than by those who went to a U.S. medical school, a new study reports.

That finding held true even though foreign-trained doctors are more likely to care for patients with more chronic health problems.

The results of this study should dispel Americans' concerns about the quality of care provided by doctors trained in other countries, the researchers said.

The study included information from more than 1.2 million Medicare patients aged 65 and older. All had been admitted to the hospital between 2011 and 2014. The 30-day death rate was 11.2 percent for patients treated by foreign-trained doctors and 11.6 percent for those treated by U.S.-trained doctors, the investigators found.

There was no difference in patient hospital readmission rates. But the cost of care was slightly higher for patients cared for by foreign-trained doctors, $1,145 versus $1,098, according to the report.

The study was led by Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Although the study wasn't designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, the findings "should reassure policymakers and the public that our current approach to licensing international medical graduates in the U.S. is sufficiently rigorous to ensure high-quality care," Tsugawa's team concluded.

Doctors who graduated from international medical schools make up about 25 percent of doctors in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the study authors said.

The findings were published Feb. 3 in the BMJ.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers advice on choosing a doctor or health care service.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko

I am ready to impose a moratorium on the death penalty if such a measure is supported by the majority of Belarusians, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the meeting with the members of the public, representatives of the Belarusian and foreign mass media on 3 February, BelTA has learned.





The head of state noted that he does not have the right to abolish the death penalty or impose a moratorium on its use because the majority of the Belarusians voted against abolishing it in the referendum. Alexander Lukashenko suggested launching a big campaign in the society (including in the parliament, parties, public associations) to discuss the matter and study all pros and cons. "If people vote to abolish capital punishment, I will sign the corresponding decree the same day as the results of the referendum are announced," the President stressed.





"Every time that a death sentence is awarded, I sign a decree. You have no idea what it takes. I understand that a man will be gone," the head of state said. "But before I sign a decree, I study the case file on the man: photographs, operational materials, etc. When I see them, my blood turns to ice," the president said.





Alexander Lukashenko cited an example of the recent criminal case of Mogilev 'black realtors' who had been killing people for several years burying them alive to get their apartments. "They have killed many old men and women... And what for?" the President stressed.





The issue of death penalty is often politicized, the head of state noted. "I often tell Europeans: Let's start with America. Will you force them to abolish the death penalty? Or others from whom you take money, shake hands with? Let's start with them. These are double standards," Alexander Lukashenko emphasized.





The president recalled that Russia imposed the moratorium a long time ago but eventually came to regret it. Now they are not abolishing it for a number of reasons. "Maybe it is bad that we have this moratorium. Or maybe we are right? Those who have imposed the moratorium are ready to cancel it today. It is just that they do not know how," Alexander Lukashenko noted.





Belarus cannot abolish capital punishment - president

Capital punishment cannot be abolished in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Europe's only retentionist country, said on Friday.





"I have no right to abolish capital punishment as we held a referendum," Lukashenko told reporters, referring to the referendum held in 1996 when over 80% of Belarusian voted against abolishing the death penalty.





"If people vote against death penalty, I will sign the moratorium," the president said, accusing Europe of double standards.





"Let's begin with America, make them abolish capital punishment," he said.





Under the Criminal Code of Belarus, capital punishment can be imposed for terrorism, treason, war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, homicide, etc.





According to Amnesty International, at least 3 people were executed in Belarus in 2016.

 | 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: belta.by, Feb. 3, 2017Source: tass.com, Feb. 3, 2017
Nollywood actress Georgina Onuoha has had it up to here with journalist and former governor's daughter, Kemi Olunloyo.

Nollywood actress Georgina Onuoha.

READ ALSO: Serial troublemaker: Kemi Olunloyo's criminal past (and present) revealed (photo)

She posted a video of herself in Ibadan with police ready to arrest Kemi after she threatened them to come to Obadan. See the video below:

Georgina said: "To my fellow Nigerians, I use this medium to apologize to you all for the idiocy and stupidity of Kemi Ajoke Ashley Olunloyo AKA : P*ssy Investigative Journalist."

"She has been a nuisance and publicly assaulting Nigerians. She taught she could use the online media to bully people who have done nothing to her. She spreads false accusations and false information to the public.. But I'm glad Nigerians have a better picture of the psychotic fellow they are dealing with. Don't ever turn your back to a bully.. Stand Your ground..Face them squarely and watch them run. I'm thankful I have the resources to chase this demon to the pit of hell.Unfortunately she is in hiding.I know many will ask why I engaged her?"

Journalist Kemi Olunloyo

"I refused to be bullied by anyone let alone a fugitive wanted in the united state for s*xually molesting kids and throwing her son out from a moving car. She feeds the society with lies and tarnishes the images of hard working Nigerians and Celebrities.At this juncture I rest my case with her. She is a cheap scum and will be picked up soon."

READ ALSO: Divorce or not, he will remain the king - Georgina Onuoha says of ex-husband, throw shades at Kemi Olunloyo (photos)

"You can run but you can't hide.. your own people are giving you up for a few thousand naira.. Go find peace and report yourself to the authorities. You can not be a US citizen and be seeking alyssum in Canada where you were eventually deported from.The end of your criminal sprees is here."

"We are enroute Iperu Remo for the night.. God bless Us. Once again.. I apologize to my fans for engaging this pig and lowlife. At times you just have to fight to be a man. Please report her handles to both the IG and Twitter social outlets."

PAY ATTENTION! Never miss a single gist! Download Legit.ng news app for android

"No place for bullies in our society and we have to protect our kids from molesters like her. fugitive. Visit the Newton County police Department and verify her charges and crimes and serial name changes."

Kemi is yet to respond.

Source: Legit.ng
1 February 2017 23:30 London, UK - A lineage of multidrug resistant P. falciparum malaria superbugs has widely spread and is now established in parts of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, causing high treatment failure rates for the main falciparum malaria medicines, artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), according to a study published today in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The emergence and spread of artemisinin drug resistant P falciparum lineage represents a serious threat to global malaria control and eradication efforts. The authors warn that malaria parasites resistant to both artemisinin and its widely used partner drug piperaquine are now spreading quickly throughout Cambodia, with fitter multidrug resistant parasites spreading throughout western Cambodia, southern Laos and northeastern Thailand.

"We now see this very successful resistant parasite lineage emerging, outcompeting its peers, and spreading over a wide area. It has also picked up resistance to the partner drug piperaquine, causing high failure rates of the widely used artemisinin combination therapy DHA-piperaquine" says study lead author Prof. Arjen Dondorp, Head of Malaria and Deputy Head of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand, Asia. "We hope this evidence will be used to reemphasize the urgency of malaria elimination in the Asia-region before falciparum malaria becomes close to untreatable.

Noting that the further spread of these multidrug resistant parasites through India to sub-Saharan Africa would be a global public health disaster, the study authors call for accelerated efforts in the Greater Mekong Sub-region and closer collaboration to monitor any further spread in neighbouring regions.

"We are losing a dangerous race to eliminate artemisinin resistant falciparum malaria before widespread resistance to the partner antimalarials makes that impossible," said study contributor and Oxford and Mahidol University Prof Sir Nicholas White. "The consequences of resistance spreading further into India and Africa could be grave if drug resistance is not tackled from a global public health emergency perspective."

After examining blood spot samples from patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria from sites in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the study team found that PfKelch13 C580Y, a single mutant parasite lineage, has spread across three countries, replacing parasites containing other, less ACT-resistant mutations. Although the C580Y mutation does not confer a higher level of artemisinin resistance than many other PfKelch13 mutations it appears to be fitter, more transmissible and spreading more widely.

"It isn't that the C580Y mutation itself makes the malaria parasites fitter, it is the other genetic changes that go along with it - hence the critical emphasis on the term "lineage". This is what makes superbugs - the evolution of multiple factors that make them fitter and more transmissible," explains Prof. Sir Nicholas White of Mahidol and Oxford Universities. "The spread and emergence of drug resistant malaria parasites across Asia into Africa has occurred before. Last time it killed millions. We need to work with our policy, research and funding partners to respond to this threat in Asia urgently to avoid history repeating itself."

Dr Mike Turner, Head of Infection and Immunobiology at Wellcome Trust concurs: "Already hundreds of thousands of people every year die from drug resistant infections, including malaria. If nothing is done, this will increase to millions of people every year by 2050. The Oxford and Mahidol-led results show a worrying spread of malaria parasite resistance. Data to help track resistance to drugs, such as this study, are vital for improving treatment, diagnosis and prevention of drug resistant infections."

###

This study was led by researchers at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), the Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand and Oxford University, UK. The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust (UK) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Press enquiries and interview requests: We have lead authors and experts available for interview and quotes on this study.

ASIA media desks: please contact John Bleho

Email: john@tropmedres.ac

Mobile / WhatsApp /Facetime: +66.81.750.0539 Visit: http://www.tropmedres.ac

UK, EUROPE, AFRICA & AMERICAS media desks: please contact Andrea Stewart, Head of Advocacy & Communications based in Oxford, UK time zone

Email: andrea.stewart@ndm.ox.ac.uk

Office: +44 (0) 1865 857 412 (Thursday 3rd February)

Mobile +44 (0) 7528 132 489 (Friday 4thFebruary onwards)

Visit: http://www.wwarn.org & http://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/home

Study Reference:

Link to go live February 1st 2017 23h30 UK time. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(17)30048-8/fulltext

The spread of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum in the Greater Mekong Subregion: a molecular epidemiology observational study. Imwong M, Suwannasin K, Kunasol C, Sutawong K, Mayxay M, Rekol H, Smithuis FM, Hlaing TM, Tun KM, van der Pluijm RW, Tripura R, Miotto O, Menard D, Dhorda M, Day NPJ, White NJ, Dondorp AM. Published online 23:30 GMT 1st February 2017 in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, THELANCETID-D-16-01360R2 S1473-3099(17)30048-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30048-8

Additional notes:

The Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), http://www.tropmedres.ac is a research collaboration between Mahidol University in Thailand and Oxford University. This study was developed in partnership with multiple research groups and experts from across the Asia-region including the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network and The Institute Pasteur in Cambodia.

The WorldWide Antimalarial Research Network (WWARN) mission is to support the WHO and national governments by providing comprehensive, timely, quality-assured evidence to track the emergence and spread of malaria drug resistance, and improve drug efficacy of existing antimalarial medicines and new drugs in development. Our international partnerships with MORU and Oxford University play an important role in gathering the evidence needed to inform malaria treatment policy and practice. Through this collaborative approach, WWARN will continue to provide valuable evidence to help save more lives and support the global effort to control, eliminate and eventually, eradicate malaria. Visit http://www.wwarn.org

WHO Global Malaria Report http://www.wwarn.org/news/news-articles/who-releases-2016-world-malaria-report

WHO Greater Mekong Sub-region Report http://www.wwarn.org/news/news-articles/new-report-details-who-efforts-eliminate-malaria-greater-mekong-subregion

Prof Sir Nicholas White honoured in UK Queen's New Year's List January 2017 http://www.wwarn.org/news/news-articles/prof-nicholas-white-recognised-contributions-global-health-uks-new-years-honours

Surveillance of molecular markers - http://www.wwarn.org/news/news-articles/new-programme-launches-molecular-and-vitro-surveillance-act-partner-drug-efficacy

Two other recent Lancet ID studies report on molecular markers of resistance http://www.wwarn.org/news/news-articles/two-lancet-infectious-diseases-papers-highlight-importance-monitoring-failure
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Town and Country Financial Corporation (OTC Pink:TWCF), the parent holding company for Town and Country Bank (TCB), with the help of an online, community vote, has selected four individuals who will each receive a $2,500 grant to help overcome hardship and start the New Year a little more comfortably. TCBs Your Need, Their Voice, Our Help campaign invited area residents to share stories of how the available grants could make a big impact on their lives.



TCB will host the winners for a check presentation event on Wednesday, February 15, from Noon to 2 p.m., at the Town and Country Bank branch located at 1645 State Highway 121, Mt. Zion, Illinois.

The four winners selected by community vote are Decatur residents Sandra Lee, Greg Scharf, Kathy Bledsoe and Nadia Hines. Their stories helped draw attention to the struggle many face to meet basic needs including food, shelter and healthcare.

Sandra Lee lost her husband in 2014 after a long battle with diabetes and kidney failure. He had always taken care of the handy-man projects around the home, and since hes passed, the projects have piled up. Lee shared, Homeowners insurance wont cover the leaky roof and the money will really come in handy to fix leaks, as well as a number of other projects. Its been very difficult on my own and Im trying to provide a safe environment for my daughter and three grandchildren as well.

Nadia Hines shared a powerful story to help her mother secure resources to finish her education. She is only two classes away from finishing her Bachelors Degree. This money is such a relief. Now there are no more roadblocks standing in her way. We are so proud of what she has been able to accomplish and thankful to Town and Country Bank for relieving the financial stress so she can finish what she started, said Hines.

Hines mother stayed home for more than 20 years to raise her family. She is recently divorced. Hines said her mother always put the needs of her children ahead of her own, including her education. Hines mother will graduate in May with a Bachelors degree in Psychology.

Kathy Bledsoes 16-year-old daughter is recovering from a traumatic brain injury that was caused by a car accident. The teen has been in therapy for months and still has at least two more years of therapy ahead. Since submitting the story, Kathy and her family also lost everything to a house fire on New Year's Eve.

Greg Scharfs life was changed when his child developed a serious medical condition. His 9-year-old son was diagnosed with Arteriovenous Malformation, AVM, a rare condition that creates a tangle of abnormal blood vessels connecting arteries and veins in the brain. Scharfs son has undergone four surgeries since September and needs physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy twice a day, six days a week.

We are incredibly thankful. This grant will allow our family to focus on our sons recovery. It will help alleviate the stress of travel expenses, missed work, and some medical bills, said Scharf.

TCB has a culture of compassion that focuses on the importance of the people in the communities it serves. This program is a way of giving back and showing solidarity with friends and neighbors in their time of need.

We believe money should empower people, not hold them back, said Micah R. Bartlett, President & CEO, Town and Country Bank. The grants from Your Need, Their Voice, Our Help are going to help these individuals take on the challenges in their lives.

Town and Country Financial Corporation is the parent holding company for Town and Country Bank and Town and Country Banc Mortgage Services, Inc. with offices in Buffalo, Decatur, Edwardsville, Fairview Heights, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Mt. Zion, Springfield, Waverly, White Hall and Quincy, the latter operating under the name of Peoples Prosperity Bank. Town and Country Financial Corporation shares are quoted under the symbol TWCF. For more information about the bank, please visit www.townandcountrybank.com.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
February is Heart Health Month.

Its also a time to proceed with caution.

Nebraskas harsh winters can lead to icy sidewalks and the potential for falls that can lead to fractures and sprains. The extreme conditions can also take a toll on your ticker.

Activities such as snow shoveling lead to high-exertion levels and create the potential for heart failure. When a cardiac episode occurs, you want a team of top-notch cardiologists to nurse you back to health.

And when it comes to selecting a rehabilitation center to guide you on a path of recovery that leads to a return home, trust the facility thats earned the trust of Lincolns leading cardiologists: Lancaster Rehabilitation Center.

Putting your heart health needs in the hands of the trained professionals that work in the Cardiac Care Neighborhood at Lancaster Rehab is a huge step on your path to recovery.

Were coordinating care with area hospitals in an effort to provide successful patient outcomes, says Registered Nurse/Nurse Manager Jessica Wilcox, who supervises a team of nearly 20 employees who receive specialized training in cooperation with the Nebraska Heart Hospital.

Lancaster Rehab is one of six local skilled-nursing facilities to comprise a cross-setting work group designed to provide a better transition of care for their patients and to reduce the need for hospital readmission.

The success of the Cardiac Care department at Lancaster Rehab is measured in part by the low number of hospital readmissions. The success is reflected in the departments role it plays in the overall short-term rehab numbers at the facility.

Wilcox noted her department is seeing more patients rehabbing from LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device), an implant surgery performed when the heart is no longer able to pump enough blood to meet the bodys needs.

The majority of our short-term rehab patients are in our Cardiac Care neighborhood, observed Lancaster Rehab Administrator Amy Fish. We have 15 units dedicated solely to cardiac care, and can handle up to 25.

Cardiac Care Unit personnel maintain constant contact with each patients cardiologist during their stay at Lancaster Rehab. In addition, Dr. Ted Triggs, a practicing internal medicine doctor, pays weekly visits to Tenth and South streets to monitor patients progress at LRC.

For more information about Lancaster Rehabs high level of care, call (402) 441-7101.
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 ...
So many choices this week: Sean "obviously I meant Orlando" Spicer; Kellyann "Buy her stuff/this is a free commercial" Conway; Donald "I'll see you in Court" Trump; and Mike "no, I'm pretty sure I didn't talk about sanctions before my boss was even sworn in" Flynn. Plus Senator Town Hall and Senator "Nevertheless, she persisted." Honestly, I'm thinking that I really have to go with Flynn here. Kellyann embarrassed herself, but it isn't like she is going to be fired for it and her boss probably loved it. There is an argument (your argument) that McConnell's oops was on purpose because they think that Elizabeth Warren would be as easy to attack as Hillary as a candidate. Finding out that Spicer has only a tenuous grasp of American geography is hardly surprising. Trump's defeat is closer but is still just a stay, not a decision on the merits and buys his people time to figure out how to implement it without looking so incompetent if he does win on the merits. Plus DeVos got confirmed. And Gorsuch is looking good for confirmation. But substantive foreign policy negotiations with an adversary state when you have ZERO relationship with the administration that was in place at the time of the conversation? That is a mess. And very likely illegal. And just no way at all to make friends in Congress. I think I'm going with Flynn. Not the most embarrassing or the most public, but the worst.
Countries like Bulgaria have spent decades balancing East and West, and playing one off the other. But the prospect of President Trumps moving closer to Mr. Putin has scrambled that strategy, as have the conflicting messages coming out of the new American administration.

Mr. Trump has seemed eager for closer Kremlin ties, even echoing Moscows disdain for NATO and the European Union. But last week, his new ambassador echoed the Obama administrations harder line, saying the United States would not withdraw sanctions against Russia until the country pulled its troops out of Crimea.

At the same time, Mr. Putin has been showing new signs of swagger in his dealings with Russias neighbors; on Thursday he arrived in Hungary for his first foray into Europe in the Trump era.

Bulgaria is an eager member of the European Union, but as rising nationalism caused support for the union to wane, here and elsewhere, Russian influence has crept in. On the surface, this suggests that Mr. Trumps outreach to Moscow, if genuine, would be good for Bulgaria  and, indeed, nationalists are thrilled.

But Bulgaria has also known so many betrayals and occupations that this sudden lurch has inspired as much worry as elation, including fears that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin will forge a bargain between themselves that serves their two nations but carves up the region into spheres of influence, just as the major powers did at the end of World War II.
Two complaints on the case of blogger Alexander Lapshin will be filed in the Supreme Court.

As Lapshins lawyer told Armenian News - NEWS.am, the day before she had a meeting with his client, during which the details connected with complaints were discussed.

Two complaints, on behalf of Alexander Lapshin, and on behalf of his lawyer will be submitted, the lawyer noted.

According to her, the defendant honestly believes that he did not commit the alleged offense:

He expressed his opinion as a journalist and blogger, which fully complies with the principle of freedom of speech.

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.
Person accused of arson in Russia cafe confesses

Bayramov: Azerbaijan, Armenia leaders next meeting will take place in Brussels this month

Unity rally of participants start march in downtown Yerevan

North Korea launches 4 ballistic missiles

Council of Border Guard Troops commanders discusses situation at CIS external borders

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan joins rally in downtown Yerevan

Russia oil, natural gas companies plan to collaborate with Iraq

Armenia army intelligence troops 30th anniversary is solemnly celebrated (PHOTOS)

Rally of unity in support of Karabakh kicks off in downtown Yerevan

Pentagon announces sending 8 NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine

Armenian Apostolic Church Supreme Spiritual Council meeting ends, Armenia and Artsakh security discussed

Tropical Storm Nalgae death toll climbs to 155 in Philippines

Artak Beglaryan is appointed advisor to Artsakh Minister of State (PHOTOS)

US House committee extends deadline for Trump to produce documents on Capitol attack

Over 200 elephants die in Kenya amid drought

13 dead in cafe fire in Russia

Armenia Security Council chief to head for Poland, Netherlands, Lithuania

Rishi Sunak: State cannot fix all problems

Newspaper: To what extent Armenia adheres to sanctions on Russia?

Biden accuses Twitter of spewing lies

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
Where there is hatred, we declare love is the theme of this years Love & Justice Breakfast, to be presented by the Racine Interfaith Coalition at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18.

The annual, public breakfast will be held at the Miracle Center, 1100 Grand Ave., and provides the opportunity for people of different faiths to come together in a spirit of friendship and goodwill.

All are welcome to attend; doors will open at 7:30 a.m. and tickets must be purchased in advance.

This years event will feature a keynote speaker, Karen Danielson, outreach director for the Muslim American Society of Chicago, who also serves as chairperson of the MAS Interfaith Committee. Danielson, who teaches Islamic studies and sociology at the Universal Islamic High School in Bridgeview, Ill., will address the topic of this years theme.

Nikki Fisher, a RIC member who lives in Wind Point, said she is excited to have Danielson speak at the breakfast, having heard her talk at an interfaith symposium, during the annual MAS convention held at Chicagos McCormick Place in December.

Describing her as a most interesting and articulate person, Fisher said Danielson shared her compelling, personal story of conversion to the faith of Islam and can provide a unique perspective about the similarities and differences between faiths, as well as the role of interfaith activities in the U.S.

Community awards

As is tradition, the Love & Justice breakfast will also include the presentation of this years Community Awards.

The awards are given each year by RICs Clergy Caucus to other organizations or individuals in our community working on issues of social justice.

Two Community Awards will be given out this year, according to Carol Zukewich, RIC office manager.

Recipients had not yet been named at press time.

Event attendees will also have the opportunity to learn about the work that RIC is doing, and the coalitions plans for the future.

The nonprofit organization is a group of diverse faith communities that work together to address the root causes of social injustice and poverty in the Racine community, according to its website.

It currently has 25 member congregations, representing a variety of different religions, including Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Muslims, Unitarian Universalists, Jews and Methodists.

Faithful baked goods

Food for the breakfast will be catered by DeRangos restaurant on Washington Avenue in West Racine.

In addition to the meal and presentations, the event will include an auction of items baked by RIC clergy, as well as a silent auction of gift cards.

Proceeds from the event go to toward RIC programs and operating costs. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $5 for children ages 5-12 and must be purchased in advance. They are available at the RIC office, 2302 DeKoven Ave, or by calling 262-635-9532. There is no charge for children ages 4 and younger.

For more about this and other RIC programs, go to www.ricracine.org.
YEREVAN.  The German KfW bank will provide Armenia with a 5 million euro grant to support agriculture insurance, project coordinator Bella Andreasyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The amount will be allocated in 2017 for a pilot project set for 2018-21. The Armenian government is also expected to provide its support to the project.

A consulting company will issue recommendations for the types of risks (hail, drought), extent of damage, subsidies provided by insurance. An international tender to choose a company was invited by the German government.

Given the high risks in the agriculture of Armenia and the lack of experience in the insurance market, German government will support and help to attract experienced insurance company that will agree to reinsure the risks of domestic insurers.
RACINE COUNTY  An Illinois man was arrested on Interstate 94 for driving under the influence of drugs with three children in the vehicle, according to a news release from the State Patrol.

At approximately 2:17 a.m. Saturday, a Wisconsin trooper stopped a vehicle for speeding on I-94 just south of Highway 20 in Racine County.

The driver was identified as Ricardo Cannon, 45, of Dolton, Ill.

Subsequent investigation indicated that Cannon may have been operating a motor vehicle while drugged. A walk-around search by a Racine County Sheriffs canine unit indicated the presence of drugs, but no contraband was located.

There were also two 10-year-olds and one 5-year-old child in the vehicle.

Cannon was taken into custody and transported to the hospital for a blood test. He faces charges of operating under the influence of a controlled substance first offense with minors in the vehicle. He was released to a responsible party.
YEREVAN.  Armenian Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan met with the Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis.

The Ambassador stressed that a stable and intensive cooperation was established as a result of the agreements signed in 2002 and 2012 in the field of defense.

Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr. Mkrtchyan noted that Armenia together with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group is taking efforts to create conditions to promote the process. The Ambassador added that Azerbaijans periodical ceasefire violations delay the possibility of a peaceful settlement.

The Minister reiterated the principled position of Lithuania regarding the exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The sides noted importance of cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries within NATO individual partnership program. Armenian diplomat thanked the Lithuanian side for their assistance in the framework of educational programs in the military sector and a willingness to share their experience.
The UN lifted sanctions against the former Afghan commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Now he will be able to return to his country, reports the BBC. The Afghan authorities applied to the UN with that request under the agreement concluded with Hekmatyar and his armed group in September.

The agreement grants amnesty for Hekmatyar in exchange for support of the Afghan Constitution and a promise to disband the military wing of the organization. His group Hezb-e Islami is the second largest paramilitary formation in the country.

Hekmatyar was the minister of Afghanistan in 1993-93 and 1996. In 1996, he was forced to flee from Kabul, when the Taliban came to power. In 2003, the US declared him a terrorist. The location of Hekmatyar is unknown. He was not present at the signing of the agreement with the government in Kabul.
The purpose of the first Armenian Innovation Forum of the European Youth Parliament is not only to give an opportunity for young people from Armenia to present and discuss their ideas as members of the Parliament but also to present their own initiatives to the local and foreign companies, told the main organizer of the forum in Armenia Tatevik Mkrtumian in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am. According to her, one of the projects of the last year is now being used in the activities of the Central Bank of Armenia.

Today, on February 4, Yerevan hosted the official opening ceremony of the first Armenian Innovation Forum of the European Youth Parliament under the slogan "Innovations Today" with the support of the EU Delegation to Armenia. During 4 days 120 participants, including students and teachers will discuss the most urgent issues of social entrepreneurship and innovative ways to address them.

Its not only the Armenians that attended the forum but also students and enthusiasts from the European Union. The fight against corruption, the integration of migrants in the labor market, the role of women in science and economy, the development of the digital single market, as well as food safety issues are on the agenda. It is noteworthy, that the format of the discussions has changed. Usually, the participants have been provided with the formulas, i.e. have been introduced with samples of decisions, resolutions adopted by the EU. However, this time they were free to present their own projects.

After 4 days, the participants included in the six commissions will present their projects to the international office of the European Youth Parliament and the members of the EU delegation in Armenia. The most successful initiatives will be suggested to a number of local companies and organizations for further application.

By the end of the forum, the elected delegates will have an opportunity to represent Armenia at the main international forum of the European Youth Parliament, which will take place in April this year in Norway. The Forum is co-financed by the European Union, the Organization of the Red Cross in Armenia, and the Armenian branch of Oxfam.
Later in the night of the incident, the detective investigating the case reported receiving a voicemail from a woman who said she went to bed and felt a lump in her pillow; she discovered the bullet while checking out the lump.
Sometimes its the empty space that is most crowded, the silence that screams the loudest and the darkness that shines the brightest.

It is that kind of confusing contradiction that is on full and marvelous display as David Cecsarini directs a stellar cast  highlighted by his wife, Deborah Staples  in a searing production of Sharr Whites "The Other Place" at his Next Act Theatre. It is yet another in a string of absolutely marvelous productions that Next Act has been bringing to Milwaukee, and this one may be the best of them all.

Its a story that is now you see it, now you dont and I can see it, why cant you and everybody sees it, but nobody does. Its about a mind, and that of everyone in the audience, that goes astray so rapidly and profoundly that being dizzy may well be the most appropriate reaction.

The story is about Juliana Smithton (Staples) a scientist who has moved from her lab into the role of pitchman for a presumably miraculous drug she has patented and is expected to earn untold sums of money for the drug company and for her.

While pitching a convention of doctors at a posh resort in the Virgin Islands, she suffers what she calls "an episode" during which she becomes confused and must halt her speech. She comes away with the horrible conclusion that she is suffering from brain cancer, a disease she says has left a trail in her family. But it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems, and we are soon introduced to the other people who simmer in her mind.

First of all, there is her husband, Ian, a prominent oncologist who Juliana says is divorcing yet still serves as the doctor to her cancer. And there is their daughter, Laurel, who ran away from home as a teenager, never to return. And there is Richard, the researcher who worked for Juliana and who lured Laurel, 15 years younger, to run away with him. They have had twins, and the rift between the young couple and her parents has remained a steadfast and an insoluble problem.

Just as we have become settled in, putting each of these characters into an appropriate slot in our theatrical visions, the scene shifts  again and again and again. What we believe to be the truth two minutes ago gives way to what we believe to be another truth, until another few minutes pass and we are confronted with still other sincerities.

This series of changes is, in large part, introduced and narrated by Staples, who is both precise and ambiguous in relating the passage of her character's life. She is mocking and brutal toward her husband. He accepts these accusations with a mildly good humored nonchalance, boiling over in frustration on occasion. She is full of longing for her daughter and is contemptuous of the doctor to whom she has gone for psychiatric treatment.

Staples is at the center of this world, and our view and understanding of her begins to shift, in small and imperceptible steps at first, and then with significant giant leaps. This, we learn, is a woman on a journey, although neither she nor we know what the destination is. The only certainty after a bit is that the journey is going to be complex and full of unexpected pains.

It's hard to find enough praise for Staples. I saw this play several years ago at Forward Theatre in Madison with Tracy Michelle Arnold in the role. It was a powerful performance and one that I remember clearly to this day, but Staples has added things to the role that I didn't see the first time around. Her descent into her own private hell is marked with good humor and great temper, dogged determination and shaky uncertainty. Every actor should see her in this role; it's a master class in how things should be on a stage.

Cecsarini has also assembled a positively powerful cast to surround Staples in this production.

Cristina Panfilio plays the daughter, the doctor who treats Juliana and, most tellingly and strikingly, a woman who lives in "the other place," the weekend home that gives the play its title. Panfilio is a versatile marvel, and her final scene bringing the heartbreak home, a scene between the two women, is as close to theatrical genius as it ever gets. She and Staples together bring a power and passion that is a rarity to see.

Todd Denning, one of my longtime favorites in Milwaukee, has found in Ian some depth that is hard to find. Its easy to see Ian as a foil for all of his wife's machinations. But Denning creates a man of depth, full of sorrow and substance, wanting nothing more than to have his wife return to him and to herself.

DiMonte Henning plays several roles, including Laurel's husband, the pariah who lured a 15-year-old girl out of her home and into a wifely and motherly marriage. Henning is rapidly developing into an actor with serious abilities to create multi-dimensional characters.

Its difficult to imagine how fascinating this play is without seeing it. As it moves along, it becomes clear that there are truths to be told, but that it may be both inconvenient and surprising to confront them.

Thank good fortune that Cecsarini continues to stage productions at Next Act that challenge what we want to think that we know.

"The Other Place" continues through Feb. 26 and information on tickets and showtimes is available here.

Production Credits: Director, David Cecsarini; Scenic Design, Ron Weirick; Lighting Design, Aaron Sherkow; Costume Design, Elsa Hiltner; Prop Design, Heidi Salter and Shannon Sloan-Spice; Video Design, William Cusick; Sound Design, David Cecsarini; Stage Manager, Veronica Zahn.
Starting this April, India will hold the right to tax capital gains on its equity shares sold by Singapore residents. The change came via an amendment to Singapore and Indias 20-year old Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) on 30 December 2016.

The newest protocol was signed by Mr Lim Thuan Kuan, Singapores High Commissioner to India and Indias Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Shri Sushil Chandra in New Delhi. The treaty aims to phase out capital gains tax exemption.

The contract was preceded by a meeting between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last October. According to this IRAS media release, Singapore is one of the biggest profile investors in India markets. We are also the largest foreign direct investor into India for the months of April 2015 to March 2016.





The Terms







Source: Pixabay

The existing taxation terms on capital gains are retained for shares acquired before April 1st of this year. Tax treatment for gains procured from the alienation of such shares follow these conditions:

Capital gains from this period will still be taxable only in the Residence State of the alienator

Subject to specified conditions including the expenditure on operations of the alienator in its residence State of at least S$200,000 in Singapore or INR5,000,000 in India, as the case may be, for each of the 12-month periods in the immediately preceding period of 24 months from the date on which the gains arise

Shares acquired from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019 will come under the protocols two-year transition period terms, for which capital gain of these shares are subjected to a tax of 50% of Indias prevailing domestic tax rate. The same conditional sums for expenditure on operations apply, but only for cases whereby there is an immediate preceding period of 12 months from the date gains arise.

Capital gains after 31 March 2019 will be taxed according to the state in which the company whose shares are alienated is resident.

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Another noteworthy Article to consider in the DTA protocol is this: in Article 28A, it states that this Agreement shall not prevent a Contracting State from applying its domestic law and measures concerning the prevention of tax avoidance or tax evasion.





The Joint Promotion for Bilateral Investments







Source: Pixabay

Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies of Singapore, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam and the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India, H.E. Shri Arun Jaitley are also in agreement to make further steps towards a series of new initiatives for joint promotion of bilateral investments with a vision to finalizing an agreement within the second half of this year.

The Third Protocol is awaiting ratification and as such, is not enforceable to date. The previous two protocols were both signed in India in June 2005 and June 2011, while the first DTA took place on 24 January 1994.

(By Annette Rowena)

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By Paul Ho (iCompareLoan.com)

Have you ever wondered how is Singapores land supply managed? Who controls the largest land supply? You often see that URA launches land for sale, and HDB launches land for sale, etc. So do they own these land?

In order to shed light on this topic, it is important to understand the role of each statutory body, in general.

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)

The Urban redevelopment authority is in-charged primarily with urban renewal, designing Singapores land use master plan and various other initiatives. Their role spans residential dwelling, entire townships design which includes commercial, industrial as well as residential zoning and density.

URA also acts as agent for the State in carrying out land sales for commercial, hotel, private residential land industrial developments. In addition, URA also sells sites for special uses e.g,heavy vehicle parks, conservation shophouses and recreational developments. (URA, Reference 1)

Picture 1: URA Master Plan 2014, URA

Housing Development Board (HDB)

The housing board as most people are already aware, involves itself in building low cost public homes for Singaporeans as well as Permanent Residents. Apart from that, HDB is also involved in many other facets of properties.

HDB manages a total close to 12,000 ready-built factories and industrial land leases located island-wide catering to a wide spectrum of customers needs. These properties include low rise workshops, warehouses, high-rise factories with vehicular ramps for access, specialized high-rise food factories and motor-vehicle service and repair complexes, and land-based properties. Majority are for rental. Most of the trades that can be accommodated within these properties and developments are Clean and Light industries and some small-scale General industries.

(HDB, Reference 2)

Although it is still a puzzle why HDB is involved in Industrial properties to begin with.

Again, HDB also acts as agent for the state to sell land for various uses, though the bulk of these land is residential HDB or EC use, it is not restricted to these. (HDB, Reference 3)

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Singapore Land Authority (SLA)

Singapore land authority helps the government to manage its land sales system. Its role is to make sure that the land is to achieve optimum returns. SLA is also to manage the land title system. SLA is also in-charged of appoint sales agent for state land. Hence it is the authority responsible for appointing sales agent such as HDB, URA, JTC, LTA and make sure that compliance and statutory guidelines are adhered to for the land sales process.

Certain parcels of land are also available for sale by the state under SLA. These land are remnant lands (landed development) which cannot be economically used by the state and could also be odd shaped. These land holds great value to the land owner as they can extend their development and combine it with these remnant land to create better economic value, or more luxurious consumption. Other lands such as Agricultural land on short leases are also sold by SLA to bidders. (Reference 4)

Contrary to popular belief, SLA is a statutory board of the Ministry of Law.





Jurong Town Corporation (JTC)

Jurong town corporation (JTC) is mainly focused on building Singapores industrial infrastructure. JTC has developed 7,100 hectares of industrial land and 3.2 million square metres of ready-built facilities across the entire spectrum of industrial space. (JTC)

JTC roles is to help Singapore to concentrate industrial and economic clusters together by grouping the suppliers, services close to the end users coupled with funding and support, to promote the growth of Singapore.

JTC is also appointed to be the sales agent of state land, hence it launches land under the government land sales program (GLS).

JTC is under the purview of Ministry of Trade and Industry. (MITI)

And JTC has ventured into mixed use Industrial offices as the lines blurred between offices and industries with the advent of internet companies and online services, reflecting the emergence of the new economy.

Perhaps the old bureaucratic structures of Commercial businesses and industry will need to be redefined very soon.





Ministry of national development (MND)

This is the ministry where Minister Lawrence Wong sits. This is the hottest seat. The ministry of national development (MND) develops the land use planning for Singapore and pushes through various visions such as, An endearing home and a global city initiative. As such MND has purview over national well-being, namely food (via Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority, AVA), safety of dwellings (via the Building and Construction Authority, BCA), Housing (via HDB), Housing transaction and orderliness (via Council of Estate Agencies, CEA), nature and enjoyment (via the National parks, NParks) and Land use planning, zoning and land user master plan (via the Urban Redevelopment Authority, URA) and aims to provide a superior living environment for Singapore citizens, Singapore PR as well as other nationalities.

But in short, URA is also often appointed as the Sales agent for government land sales relating to private condominiums, commercial properties, but must less in other property segments.





For researchers & Property buyers and Investors

In short, Singapore Land Authority (SLA  under the Ministry of Law) helps to appoint sales agent for government land sales (GLS) program for sales of state land. URA, HDB, JTC, LTA as well as SLA can be appointed sales agent for state land. MND overlooks URA and HDB while Ministry of trade and industry (MITI) overlooks JTC, while LTA is overlooked by Ministry of Transport.

Hence for any researcher to do a comprehensive supply of property and land research, he cannot overlook any other sectors within the constraints of the national boundary.

For example, if there is an over-supply in Condominium (private properties), but there is an under-supply in Commercial properties. It is always possible for condominiums to be converted to become Commercial properties by paying a Differential premium (DP) to Singapore Land authority (SLA) for change of use. Hence often we cannot analyse any particular property segment in isolation of the other segments.

You could contact a Singapore Mortgage broker such as iCompareLoan to help talk you through some basic property investing and help you through your property financing options.





Is HDB veering too far off?

And some statutory boards such as the HDB seems to be more enterprising and have even industrial properties under management for rental, which is weird considering that its Housing development board. Perhaps it has veered a little off its original aim of providing housing for the masses.

References: 

1. URA, www.ura.gov.sg/sales/body_index.html

2. HDB, http://www.hbiz.gov.sg/web/aa17/corporate/properties/overview.en.html

3. HDB, http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10297p.nsf/ImageView/SITES_SOLD_-_RESIDENTIAL_-_CONDO_APT_LANDED/$file/RESIMASTER+Condo+devt(Sites+sold)(14+Jun+13).pdf

4. SLA, http://www.sla.gov.sg/htm/ser/ser0202.htm

5. Other related articles, www.iCompareLoan.com
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
By Julia Edwards Ainsley and Kinda Makieh

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced a judge who lifted a travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, vowing that his government would reinstate it as affected travelers scrambled for tickets to try to quickly enter the United States.

The federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked Trump's week-old order to stop people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the United States as his administration develops stricter vetting rules for immigrants and travelers that Trump says are needed to prevent attacks.

The Washington state lawsuit is the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump's travel ban, which has been condemned by rights groups that consider it discriminatory.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump said on Twitter. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which is an independent arm of the U.S. government.

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted.

Because of the temporary restraining order, the U.S. government said travelers with valid visas would be allowed to enter the country. The State Department said almost 60,000 visas had been suspended because of Trump's ban.

The order had set off chaos and moved thousands of people to protest at airports across the United States last week.

"I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it," said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented from boarding a flight to New York last week.

"I didn't surrender and I fought for my right and other people's right," Sharef told Reuters as he and his family prepared to fly from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Story continues

Virtually all refugees also were barred, upending the lives of thousands of people who had spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

On Saturday, a small group of immigration lawyers, some holding signs in English and Arabic, gathered at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, offering services to passengers arriving from overseas destinations.

"This is an instance where people could really slip through the cracks and get detained and nobody would know," said John Biancamano, 35, an attorney volunteering his services.

At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, volunteer lawyers also were in place to help travelers and monitor how visa holders and permanent residents were being treated as they arrived.

REFUGEES ENSNARED

The Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travelers but that the Trump administration would fight to overturn Friday's ruling.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the president's executive order, which is lawful and appropriate," DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said a statement.

Some travelers told Reuters they were cautious about the sudden change. Overnight, some international airlines were uncertain about whether they could sell tickets to travelers from the countries in Trump's ban.

"I will not say if I have hope or not. I wait, watch and then I build my hopes," said Josephine Abu Assaleh, who was stopped from entering the United States after landing in Philadelphia last week with five members of her family.

Abu Assaleh, 60, and her family were granted U.S. visas in 2016, some 13 years after they initially made their applications.

"We left the matter with the lawyers. When they tell us the decision has been canceled, we will decide whether to go back or not," she told Reuters in Damascus, speaking by telephone.

Trump's order also put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee admission program and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely. With Friday night's restraining order on the ban, refugees who have been cleared can now board planes.

Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab, 52, told Reuters in Lebanon: "If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now."

He said his family had been due to travel to the United States for resettlement on Jan. 31. The trip was canceled two days before that and he was now waiting for a phone call from U.N. officials overseeing their case. "It's in God's hands," he said.

(Additional reporting by Issam Abdullah in Beirut, Dan Levine in Seattle, Alana Wise in New York and Yegenah Torbati in Washington; Writing by Roberta Rampton and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Louise Heavens and Bill Trott)


For small businesses, having an effective website is no longer optional. But theres a lot that goes into making your website really work for your small business.

Members of our small business community are keenly aware of what it takes to put together a great website. Check out some of their top tips in the list below.

Increase Engagement With Website Visitors

Consumer attention spans arent as long as they used to be. So business owners and marketers need to be able to quickly engage with website visitors in order to convert them into customers. This SUCCESS agency blog post by Mary Blackiston shares tips for increasing engagement with website visitors.

Avoid These Small Biz Website Errors

When customers or potential customers visit your website, they arent likely to stick around very long if your site is full of errors. There are some common ones that can really hurt your business online. Here, Natasha Golinsky shares some small business website errors you should avoid on the On Purpose Projects blog.

Use a Blog to Drive Your Business

A blog can be a great addition to your website, if you use it wisely. To learn how to drive business using a blog, take a look at this Startup Professionals Musings post by Martin Zwilling. Then you can see further commentary on the post over on BizSugar.

Generate Stellar Social Media Content

If you want to get more people to actually visit your website, social media can be a great tool. But you need great content in order for your social media strategy to be effective. Stephen Moyers elaborates in this Basic Blog Tips post.

Go Above and Beyond With Your Content

Content Marketing isnt exactly a new concept for most businesses. And with so many competitors out there using the same strategies to try to get new online customers, its so important for your content to stand out. This Marketing Land post by Julie Joyce discusses how to go above and beyond with your content.

Know These Facts About SEO

SEO is an essential component of any successful small business website. But if youre not sure where to start when it comes to SEO, you might want to take a look at the points in this 3Bug Media post by Gary Shouldis. Then you can see what the BizSugar community says about the post here.

Fix These User Experience Pet Peeves

User experience is a huge part of your website. If users have a bad or confusing experience, they arent likely to actually do business with you. But you can fix some of the most common user experience pet peeves using the tips in this Search Engine Journal post by Josh McCoy.

Do SEO for a Tiny Website With No Visitors or Money

If you think that your website is too small for you to have to worry about SEO, think again. SEO is still important. And there are ways you can leverage it even for a small website with no existing visitors or money, according to this post by Neil Patel.

Write a Blog Post That Goes Viral

When youre working to get website visitors, having a blog post go viral can provide a huge boost. You cant necessarily guarantee that it will happen. But there are ways you can increase your chances of writing a viral blog post. Check out the tips in this Web Hosting Secrets Revealed post by Lori Soard. And then see what BizSugar members have to say here.

Avoid These Critical Web Design Mistakes

When building a website, its important to have a great design. But not all businesses get it right at first. Plenty of businesses have made critical web design mistakes that can ultimately hurt the bottom line. In this Noobpreneur post, Ivan Widjaya lists some of those common mistakes to avoid.

If youd like to suggest your favorite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community roundup, please send your news tips to: sbtips@gmail.com.
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
WATERFORD  After the voters rejected a referendum in April, the Waterford High School District is trying again, but this time going beyond what it did before to inform voters.

The referendum asks the voters for $12.21 million to build a new fieldhouse and fitness center. Voters will have an opportunity to vote on the project on Feb. 21.

What our board heard was the community didnt know enough about the referendum, Superintendent Keith Brandstetter said.

To help better inform the public this time around, the district sent a referendum newsletter to more than 6,400 prospective voters, and has scheduled four informational meetings, the first of which is Saturday, Feb. 4.

The high school district includes the Village and Town of Waterford, portions of the Village of Rochester and portions of the towns of Dover, Norway and Raymond.

The April referendum was voted down 3,590 votes to 2,786 and failed in all municipalities in the district.

Brandstetter said at the first meeting on Jan. 25 more than 40 people attended, which was better than any previous district referendum meeting.

Were trying to get the facts out to the community, Brandstetter said.

There are three more informational meetings scheduled to take place before the vote. All the meetings will be at Waterford High School, 100 Field Drive, in the Large Group Instruction room. The meetings will be Feb. 4 at 9 a.m.; Feb. 8 at 9 a.m.; and Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m.

Waterford High Schools tax rate decreased this year and Brandstetter said residents wouldnt see a tax hike if the referendum is passed.

There is no tax increase, Brandstetter said. We have debt thats falling off and that debt is greater than the new debt that we will get.

Currently, residents pay $4.14 per $1,000 of assessed property value. He said even if the referendum passes, he anticipates residents would see up to a 13-cent per $1,000 decrease in their property taxes.

The proposed fieldhouse and fitness center, if passed, would be open to the public.

We definitely see it as a community field house and not just a high school field house, Brandstetter said adding the district wants the public to enjoy the building. We see that as always being a priority of ours.
Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now...
British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover will still come to Slovakia despite Brexit, Alexander Wortberg, the companys executive director for the investment in Nitra, said on July 26.

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Jaguar is keeping to its schedule so far, and it would like to launch construction of a plant near Nitra by the end of the summer, as soon as it acquires a construction permit.

I can say that we took [a possible] Brexit into consideration when we were considering the investment in Slovakia, Wortberg said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. We have not halted anything due to Brexit and we dont plan to do so, either. Work with Slovak partners is going very well, he added.

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Nevertheless, the result of the June referendum on Britains exit from the European Union was a big surprise, he noted.

Suppliers of components for the Jaguar plant in Slovakia also considered a potential Brexit. It hasnt changed much for them, as they mostly develop global activities, Wortberg noted. Defence mechanisms against risks are always created. The investment in Nitra was planned in euros, and its being charged in euros as well, he said, when asked whether the announced total cost of the investment for the firm will change because the value of the British pound has fallen since the referendum result.

International construction company Strabag is also involved in preparations at Nitra industrial park, where Jaguars automotive plant will form the core. At the moment, I cannot confirm whether Strabag will also build the factory because the tender for this is still under way, said Wortberg. He also added around 2,800 people should find a job directly at the Nitra plant. Approximately 40,000 people have already shown interest in working for Jaguar via the companys website, he said. Hiring will start next year, while the first cars should leave the companys production lines in 2018. Annual output in the first stage should amount to 150,000 vehicles.

In line with a government decision from January 13, 2016, Jaguar Land Rovers plant in Nitra enjoys the status of a significant investment. A business plan with investment costs of a total nominal value of 1.406 billion will be implemented in the area of Strategic Park Nitra on the territory of the villages of Drazovce and Luzianky [Nitra region], the Economy Ministry stated in a report, cited by TASR. A total of 2,834 jobs will be created in direct connection with the business plan.

State assistance worth a maximum of 130 million in the form of a subsidy for long-term tangible and intangible assets was approved for the Jaguar investment on December 11, 2015.

Wortberg did not specify what model they will make in Slovakia. He only said, as quoted by the Sme daily, that they are going to produce here several models of one product line.
The September 27 meeting of EU defence ministers is important regarding the steps to be taken in defence cooperation.

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Slovakia has contributed 50,000 to the training of the Libyan coast guard, said Slovak Defence Minister Peter Gajdos (nominee of the Slovak National Party) after an informal session of EU defence ministers in Bratislava on September 27.

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Moreover, Slovakia is ready to send its military police officers to serve in the Sophia naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea targeting the network of people smugglers.

Slovakia, the Slovak Armed Forces and the Defence Ministry all have to focus on the creation of armed forces and their modernisation, the minister said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. This way we can contribute, including the allotment of a sufficient amount of financial resources.

Slovakia also participates in the ALTHEA operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has entered into the Eastern Partnership Technical Assistance Trust Fund, which supports the participation of Eastern Partnership countries in activities involving the EUs common security and defence policies, Gajdos said, adding that the country will contribute 20,000 to the fund.

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini described the September 27 negotiations in Bratislava as highly important in terms of further steps to be taken in defence cooperation. The EU defence is made up of three pillars  implementation of EU global strategy, the European defence action plan supporting the defence industry and new technologies and implementation of the Warsaw Declaration concerning EU-NATO cooperation emanating from the July 8-9 NATO summit, she added.

The ministers did not discuss the creation of a joint European army at the session in Bratislava.

Im very clearly stating that I didnt hear a single word uttered about vetoes, or blocking the European armed forces during the three-hour discussion, Mogherini said, as quoted by TASR. This isnt about European armed forces but about strengthening of defence cooperation within the EU.
After several big investments in the west of Slovakia, the biggest investment of the past decade is coming to east of Slovakia: the Japanese company Minebea will create at least 1,100 jobs there.

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The Japanese automotive industry supplier Minebea will start building its plant next year; while the production shall start in two years, the Pravda daily wrote on December 3. If it fares well, the initial investment may increase from 60 to 100 million and the company could employ up to 2,000 people.

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Economy Minister Peter Ziga stated that Slovakia was competing with several countries for the investment. We were with Romania in the final round, he told the TASR newswire. Although the labour force is cheaper in Romania, Minebea has decided to invest in Kosice, the minister said, adding that the plant should be opened in 2018.

The Japanese investor will be able to find enough skilled people in the area, Kosice Mayor Richard Rasi said. The city and region of Kosice arent particularly cheap, but weve been able to provide the best mix of an educated labour force [and its price], courtesy of the Technical University of Kosice, Rasi noted.

His words were confirmed by the Minebea Slovakia CEO and Minebea Europe chief manager Joerg Hoffmann: Slovakia might not be the cheapest environment for new investments, but weve decided not to go only for price, he said, as quoted by TASR. Of course, the style of production will be different here than in Asia. Well really focus on creating as high of production optimisation as possible in Europe. Well need many engineers and technicians to help us to achieve this goal, so weve realised that the work price shouldnt be the most significant factor to be considered.

Production plan - and R&D centre

Well focus on two sectors in Kosice  the production of accumulators, engines, fans and LCD screen illumination for the car industry, and the production of one-way drive engines, said Hoffmann, adding that a research and development centre will be set up later.

Im happy to announce that in recent days weve made several significant steps to ensure that Kosice becomes the home for another international company, said Prime Minister Robert Fico, adding that Minebea has around 60,000 employees worldwide. Its a company involved mainly in producing supplies for the car and aviation industries, he said. A workplace for research and development should be set up there, a fact that provides significantly higher added value to this investment, Fico pointed out. He also admitted that the investor will ask for state investment stimuli but at the moment it is allegedly too early to talk about a specific amount.

The construction work on the new plant at the industrial park near Kosice Airport should begin in April 2017, TASR wrote.
Following an outbreak in the Dubravka borough of Bratislava, this is second instance of bird flu in Slovakia.

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The infection occurred in two breeding pairs of Muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata), Michal Feik of the Agriculture Ministry informed the TASR newswire on January 4.

The ministry is calling on breeders, as well as the wider public, to keep up biological protection of their breeds and if they suspect any new bird flu case, to immediately inform the nearest Veterinary and Food Administration (SVPS), Feik added.

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A private vet taking care of the birds at the zoo in the eastern-Slovak metropolis of Kosice recognised the symptoms in the ducks which were later caught, put down and sent for laboratory examination on the same day. The lab confirmed the presence of the sub-type H5 virus in the samples examined, on January 3.

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Read also: First case of bird flu in Slovakia Read more

The SVPS immediately took the necessary measures, according to Feik. Kosice zoo was established as the source of the infection and has been immediately closed until further notice.

An initial check showed that 341 birds sensitive towards the virus are kept at the zoo. A radius of three kilometres from the source has been set as the so-called zone of protection and 10 kilometres as the so-called zone of monitoring, according to the ministry.

So far, the transmission of this bird flu type to humans has not been confirmed, Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matecna pointed out, as quoted by TASR. However, Slovaks are recommended to avoid contact with live poultry and birds and to thoroughly heat meals made from poultry  at least 70C for a minimum of 20 minutes.

We have no reason for panic, but caution is prudent, head of SVPS SR, Jozef Bires, told TASR, adding that the virus circulates freely within the wild bird population and can appear in any part of the country.
This site focuses on Republican politicians and conservatives that rip off their constituency. We have the Tea Party, fundamentalist churches, the corruption of ALEC and other special interests groups. But the site also supports progressive Democrats and the local Democratic Socialist of America. We must have ideas on how to replace regressive and corrupt politicians with something better. For comments steveotto2001@yahoo.com or ottozero2001@yahoo.com.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO--(Marketwired - February 03, 2017) - In the news release, "Global SuperTanker Sets World Record in its Fight Against Wildfires in Chile," issued earlier today by Global SuperTanker, we are advised by the company that the first sentence of the first paragraph should read "...Global SuperTanker set a world record for liquid dropped in a single day by a land-based aerial tanker..." rather than "...Global SuperTanker set a world record for liquid dropped in a single day by an aerial tanker..." as originally issued. The figures in the last sentence of the first paragraph now reflect more recent totals, and the wording of the "About Alterna Capital Partners" boilerplate paragraph has been updated. Complete corrected text follows.

Global SuperTanker Sets World Record in its Fight Against Wildfires in Chile

World's most-advanced aerial firefighting tanker drops over 134,000 gallons of water in single day

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- February 3, 2017 -- During its deployment in Chile, the Global SuperTanker set a world record for liquid dropped in a single day by a land-based aerial tanker at 134,400 gallons (508,000 liters). The SuperTanker, which has now been deployed in Chile for nine days, achieved this milestone through seven sorties on Wednesday, February 1, which far surpassed the previous known world record of 110,000 gallons. The record was achieved while the aircraft assisted the country's military and firefighters combat the worst forest fires Chile has ever seen. The SuperTanker has flown approximately 11,500 miles on 36 separate missions spanning several regions of the country, amassing over 40 hours of flying time in Chile. It has dropped a total of over 670,000 gallons (over 2.5 million liters) of water on spreading fires.

The SuperTanker has been highly effective and its efforts have been well received by the people of Chile. A local official credited the Supertanker with saving five firefighters and a village on the verge of being overrun by quickly-spreading fire. The wildfires have destroyed over 900,000 acres of land and 1,100 homes since January.

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"It has been a tremendous honor to work on behalf of the people of Chile as they fight these devastating fires," said Jim Wheeler, President of Global SuperTanker Services, LLC (GSTS), which operates the aircraft. Wheeler has been on the ground with the crew of the SuperTanker since it landed in Santiago last week. "No other tanker has the capability to respond as quickly and comprehensively as the Global SuperTanker. This has truly been a team effort between our crew, the Chilean people and authorities, and private philanthropy to protect the people and property directly in harm's way."

The initial mission of the Global SuperTanker was underwritten through a generous donation from Fundacin Viento Sur of the Walton Family Foundation, which was made possible by Lucy Ana and Ben Walton. Its work continues through the support of the Chile-based Luksic Family. GSTS and its Colorado Springs-based crew have worked closely with the Chilean military and other government officials and personnel to respond to the areas hit hardest and in the direct path of quickly-spreading wildfires.

The Global SuperTanker's arrival in Chile was met with widespread relief and excitement from the people of Chile, who had suffered from these fires with little relief in sight. In fact, #SuperTanker reached the top 5 of worldwide trending topics on Twitter last week, and with social media still full of user-submitted pictures and video of the SuperTanker, remains a top trending topic within Chile.

"The outpouring of heartfelt support that we have received on social media by the folks affected by these fires has been inspiring," added Wheeler.

"The Global SuperTanker has performed effectively and efficiently during its incredibly important work in Chile," said Harry Toll, Managing Partner of Connecticut-based private equity firm Alterna Capital Partners LLC. "We are incredibly proud of our portfolio company GSTS, and in particular the work of our crew and partners on the ground. The SuperTanker has no doubt been a very valuable asset deployed against one of the worst natural disasters in Chile's history."

Global SuperTanker's B747-400, The Spirit of John Muir, incorporates a patented system capable of delivering single or multiple payload drops aggregating over 19,000 gallons (72,000 liters) of water, fire retardant, or suppressant. These fluids can be released at variable rates from the plane's pressurized tanks, producing a tailored response to the firefighting need. This unique ability allows it to make as many as six drops in a single flight, while other aircraft such as the C-130 or BAe-146 must repeatedly land and refuel to achieve the same results. The Spirit of John Muir is the world's youngest, most modern, and fastest Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT). With a flying speed of 600 miles per hour, the Spirit of John Muir can reach any part of the globe in 20 hours or less.

For more information about the Global SuperTanker, please visit the website, or follow it on Facebook and Twitter.

About Global SuperTanker Services:

Global SuperTanker Services, LLC was formed in 2015, joining a strong portfolio of companies managed by Alterna Capital Partners LLC as part of its aerospace sector. Along with the formation of Global SuperTanker Services, LLC, all SuperTanker related system hardware, spare parts, intellectual property and STC's were purchased and upgraded to fit our newer, more modern B747-446, tail number N744ST, Tanker number 944. The core operations group represents 259 years of aviation and related U.S.F.S. experience. It includes many decades of international flight, maintenance and ground support, the majority of it on the 747.

About Alterna Capital Partners:

Alterna invests in large capital assets and related operating companies in the transportation, energy, power and industrial sectors globally. Alterna was founded in 2007, manages over $1.25 billion of equity capital across two funds and co-investment, and owns commercial aircraft, power plants, ships, resource processing facilities and other energy related assets.

The following files are available for download:
Michael Fallon said Russia was responsible for creating what we might now see as the post-truth age. Photograph: Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters

Nato must begin to compete on the cyber-battlefield to counter Russian hacking, which is weaponising misinformation to create a post-truth age, the defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, has said.

In his hardest-hitting comments yet about Russia, Fallon said that in the past two years it had targeted the US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Montenegro, which becomes a full Nato member this year. He blamed Russia for helping create the fake information age.

Today we see a country that, in weaponising misinformation, has created what we might now see as the post-truth age. Part of that is the use of cyber-weaponry to disrupt critical infrastructure and disable democratic machinery, he said.

His rhetoric contrasts with that of Donald Trump, who appears to be moving towards rapprochement with Moscow and has described Nato as obsolete.

In a speech on Thursday night at St Andrews University, Fallon said there had been a step-change by Moscow last year that brought a rise in cyber-attacks. Russia is clearly testing Nato and the west. It is seeking to expand its sphere of influence, destabilise countries, and weaken the alliance. It is undermining national security for many allies and the international rules-based system. Therefore, it is in our interest and Europes to keep Nato strong and to deter and dissuade Russia from this course.

He added: President Trump has spoken about the need for engagement with Russia. Hes right. Great nations like the US and Russia will talk. Indeed, they must talk to preserve the rules-based information system underpinning our security and prosperity. The UK too needs to engage with Russia, including military to military. Yet President Trump is a realist. He knows engagement is an equation of risk versus reward, with the outcome decided by a nations deeds, not its words.

There were areas where the west did cooperate with Russia, Fallon conceded. But he went on: Above all, we must not accept as any kind of new normal Russias propaganda, whether overt or covert, its easy disregard for hard facts and numbers, or its blatant distortions and evasions.

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Fallon said Russia, having opted to become a strategic competitor to the west, could not expect business as usual. Part of our response is for Nato and the west to do more to tackle the false reality promoted through Soviet-style misinformation. Whatever else we do on deterrence and dialogue, we must counter Putins Pravda with faster truth  We need to call out messengers such as RT [the Russia Today television channel].

Although Fallon portrayed the Kremlin as the aggressor in terms of hacking, Americas National Security Agency and Britains GCHQ hack targets in Russia on a regular basis.

Fallon insisted Trump was 100% backing Nato, as Theresa May said after meeting the US president in Washington, and that his grievance was over the failure of most Nato members to contribute more towards defence costs.

In a speech a fortnight ago, the chairman of the Commons defence committee, the Conservative MP Julian Lewis, was less sanguine than Fallon and described Trumps comments that the US might abandon Nato as radical and reckless.

Fallon also accused the Russian government of routinely lying. There is a special Russian word for this. Not maskirovka, the old deception perpetrated by its intelligence agencies, but vranyo, where the listener knows the speaker is lying and the speaker knows the listener knows he is lying but keeps lying anyway.

There is no certainty among senior officials at the Ministry of Defence and elsewhere around Europe that Trump is indeed 100% behind Nato. They are waiting for a visit by the new US defence secretary, James Mattis, in a fortnight to the Nato headquarters and the Munich security council in the hope of clarification.

Previous US presidents and defence secretaries have repeatedly called on Nato members to raise defence spending to at least 2% of GDP but, unlike Trump, they have always combined it with assurances that Nato forms the bedrock of US and west European defence policy.

Fallon said that 19 of Natos 28 members did not even spend 1.5% on defence. Only five members meet the 2% rule, including Britain, albeit through creative accounting. So President Trump is right to challenge Nato to raise its game, Fallon said. That means not five but all members meeting the 2% commitment. It means supporting reform to make Nato more agile, resilient and better configured to operate in the contemporary environment including against hybrid and cyber-attacks.

As Fallon was preparing to deliver his speech, which praised the imposition of US and European sanctions on Russia, the US Treasury announced it was adjusting sanctions imposed last year by President Obama on the Russian intelligence agency, the FSB.

A report by the Commons public accounts committee today says a skills shortage is undermining confidence in the governments ability to protect Britain from high-level cyber-attacks. Ministers have taken too long to consolidate the alphabet soup of agencies tasked with protecting the country, the public accounts committee said. The role of the Cabinet Office, responsible for coordinating information protection across the government, remained unclear.

Meg Hillier, the committee chair, said the government  approach to handling personal data breaches has been chaotic and does not inspire confidence in its ability to take swift, coordinated and effective action in the face of higher-threat attacks.

The threat of cybercrime is ever growing, yet evidence shows Britain ranks below Brazil, South Africa and China in keeping phones and laptops secure. In this context it should concern us all that the government is struggling to ensure its security profession has the skills it needs.
By Jamie Freed SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tigerair Australia said it would quit flying to Bali permanently after being told by Indonesian authorities to switch to a new operating model - likely resulting in a loss of tourism dollars for the Southeast Asian nation and new opportunities for airline rivals. The budget unit of Virgin Australia Holdings had its permission to fly revoked last month, accused of breaking charter flight rules. Virgin Australia had previously operated the flights but shifted them to Tigerair, aiming to restore its international division to profitability. The surprise developments - Tigerair had been expected to resume flights to Bali on Friday - have underscored uncertainty about Indonesia's flight approval process and raised the question of whether others, particularly Indonesian airlines, will step into the fill the gap. "What surprises me the most is the confusing and short notice decisions of the Indonesian authorities," said Rico Merkert, a professor of transport at the University of Sydney Business School. "Tigerair can deploy the aircraft on another route, but Indonesia is losing vital tourism revenues," he said. Bali is an Indonesian holiday island known for its beaches and rice paddies, and Australians tourists are its biggest market. Tigerair usually carries hundreds of passengers to Bali each day from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. How much tourism revenue Indonesia may lose is unclear, however, as other airlines may take advantage of Tigerair's misfortune. The decision by Indonesia's regulators comes just weeks after Batik Air, part of Indonesia's Lion Air Group, received a licence to fly to Australia from Australian regulators. Batik Air named Perth as its first destination said it had ambitions to fly to Sydney and Melbourne at a later date. A Lion Air spokesman said Batik was aiming to start flights to Perth as early as next month. Garuda Indonesia is looking at whether to increase its flights, company spokesman Benny Butarbutar said. Qantas Airways budget offshoot Jetstar, the biggest carrier between Australia and Bali, said it would keep a close eye on demand for the routes Tigerair had exited and look at its options. Tigerair said switching to a new operating model would be take about six months to put in place and would be prohibitively expensive. "Providing a reliable, low-cost service is critical for Tigerair Australia and our customers, and therefore our only option is to withdraw from flying to Bali altogether," Tigerair Chief Executive Rob Sharp said in a statement. Tigerair offered nearly 180,000 one-way seats a year between Australia and Bali, although not all were filled. Bali saw 1.1 million Australian arrivals in 2016. Virgin Australia said it has no plans to operate the Bali routes from which Tigerair had withdrawn. It declined to comment on the financial impact of pulling out. Both Merkert and Peter Harbison, executive chairman for the CAPA Centre for Aviation estimated the financial impact on Virgin Australia at several million dollars. (Reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney; Additional reporting by Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Thousands of blue blubber jellyfish washed up on the Australian east coast in a spectacular sight.

Sand was barely visible at Queensland's Deception Bay at the weekend when thousands of jellyfish stranded themselves in a phenomenon known as bloom.

Charlotte Lawson, 24, captured the blue-glowing beach on Sunday after noticing an unusual colour in the water. She told the Telegraph that she believes they washed up with the morning tide.

"[When] we got closer we realised it was jellyfish," she told the BBC. "It was like bubble wrap across the beach."

"Jellyfish bloom is part of their lifecycle and if the winds blow just right and if the water level falls with the tide, then they get stranded," marine biologist Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin, who specialises in jellyfish, told ABC News.

"We see jellyfish bloom, but not like this, this is jaw dropping," the biologist said, adding the bloom, which she described as a "wallpaper of jellyfish", was the biggest she had seen in her 25 years of research.

Ms Lawson told the Brisbane Times that while the bloom happens every year "there's never been this many, this year it's been heaps."

"There was only a metre of sand between the jellyfish and the concrete," she said, estimating the jellyfish carpet was between four to six metres wide.

The common blue blubber jellyfish grows to 35 centimetres in diameter and is not normally dangerous to humans unlike the infamous bluebottle, also known as Portuguese man o' war, or the at times deadly Irukandji, which is found further north.

The blubber jellyfish sting, however, can hurt and a hot shower is recommended to treat any marine sting in south-east Queensland, Surf Live Saving Queensland says.

"They are really common in south-east Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria," Dr Gershwin told ABC.

As scientists predicted, after less than a week the jellyfish have almost completely gone from the beach about 30km north of Brisbane. Ms Lawson told the Telegraph on Friday that "just a couple" of them are left.

Dr Gershwin said she believed the combination of factors including northerly winds, tide conditions and warmer waters caused the jellyfish to strand in such numbers.
Prince Harry has shared his experiences of the horrors of war with ambulance staff as he urged them to discuss their mental health with each other.

The Prince, who was often called on to evacuate injured service personnel as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, said he understood how traumatic it was to help people with terrible injuries.

On a visit to the headquarters of London Ambulance Service, he told staff it was important to unburden themselves of any mental "baggage" by confiding in their colleagues if they were struggling to cope.

He said: "You land and then hand them over and then are radioed to do something else. You never find out how that guy or girl recovered, whether they did recover or they didn't.

"I understand what you go through and thank God you have got each other. "

The Prince, 32, was undertaking the visit in Waterloo, south east London, to launch this year's Time To Talk Day, an annual awareness day run by the organisation Time To Change, which aims to get the nation talking about mental health.

Prince Harry, along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have launched their own mental health campaign, Heads Together, bringing together several leading charities in the field to break down the existing stigma around mental health.

The theme of today's event is "conversations save lives" and the Prince was keen to highlight the way good mental health is promoted at the ambulance service, whose staff listen and deal with difficult incidents every day of their working lives.

He met Paramedic Sue Trow, who told him how, in 2010, she was terrified by a member of the public who threatened to kill her when she responded to an emergency call, and then a few days later had a similar experience.

After the second incident, Peter Rhodes, a duty manager at the time, sat down and talked with her, helping her to deal with the issue.

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The Prince told them: "If people in the green uniform aren't coming forward and talking about it, people driving blue light vehicles in general aren't talking about it, then the rest of us aren't going to talk about it.

"You guys are literally right in the thick of it, and to be able to carry on and operate at a really high percentage and be on your game the whole time, you need to come back and just get rid of all that - it's unnecessary baggage."

He added: "We're all human, we're not machines, despite a lot of people in certain jobs having to think and behave like machines in order to get the best out of you - I accept that - but it's not weakness, it's strength to be able to come forward, deal with it, move on and be a better person."

He also met Alexandra Turp, 24, an emergency medical dispatcher in the emergency operations centre, and allocator Katie Shrimpton, 28, who also acts as LINC worker, a voluntary network of staff who listen to and support their peers. The acronym stands for Listening, Informal, Non-judgmental and Confidential.

Ms Turp told the Prince about an incident she had to deal with in October when she took a call about a member of the public who wasn't breathing.

She said: "It was a hugely chaotic situation with five people all shouting at me down the phone to send help.

"It took me a while to even establish the patient wasn't breathing, it was really, really difficult situation. I felt so helpless for the patient and no-one was actually helping them."

Three weeks ago she found out that the patient concerned had died and had what she describes as a an "absolute breakdown".

She said: "I was a real mess. I knew instantly that I couldn't be on duty - I was a wreck - and someone covered for me. I sat down with Katie and we spoke for an hour and a half. I walked out feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"In my head this patient had gone to hospital and got his treatment. It was such a shock to find out he had died. At the time I just didn't realise I needed to talk about it. But I am so glad I did."

The Prince said: "It shows the importance of talking. For you guys every day is different, you never know what you are going to get."
Somali refugees gather to collect water at the Kobe refugee camp, near the Ethiopia-Somalia border, during the 2011 famine. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

Somalia is facing a very real risk of famine, with more than 6 million people, half its population, facing acute food insecurity in the country, three UN agencies have warned.

Humanitarian groups in Somalia cautioned there was a small window to stop a repeat of the 2011 famine, when an estimated 260,000 people starved to death in the country after a slow response from donors.

The projected speed of deterioration in a country gripped by severe drought, rising prices and forecasts of poor rains, together with the number of people at risk and the difficulties involved in reaching those affected, have led to a stark warning that an immediate and massive response is needed to avert catastrophe.

According to the latest findings, by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) in Somalia, almost 3 million people face crisis and emergency food insecurity, more than double the number six months ago. Crisis and emergency, a classification of the severity of food insecurity, is one step away from famine. About 363,000 acutely malnourished children need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including about 71,000 who are severely malnourished, according to FSNAU.

Dick Trenchard, the Food and Agriculture Organisation representative in Somalia, said: The latest report tells us that we risk famine in several areas of Somalia in the coming months. The warning could not be clearer and it could not be more stark. What worries most is the projected speed of deterioration, the scale  in terms of number of people at risk, the geography and the very real risk of a significant worsening.

Trenchard, who was speaking on behalf of the FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN childrens agency Unicef, said the response must span prevention  particularly in rural areas where farmers can be given cash to keep their animals alive  mitigation measures such as nutrition, and health support.

He urged international partners, Somali civil society and government to work together to avert catastrophe.

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We have a small window to stop what happened in 2011 from happening again  but that window is quickly shutting Hassan Saadi Noor, Somalia country director, Save the Children

Global hunger levels are at their highest for decades, with four countries  Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen and Somalia  facing the risk of famine and 70 million people in need of food aid, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, a US-based agency. Failed rains across parts of the Horn of Africa, following one of the strongest El Nino events on record, has led to a drought affecting Somalia, south-eastern Ethiopia and northern and eastern Kenya.

Two seasons of failed rains in Somalia have resulted in severe water shortages, tripling the price of a barrel of water (200 litres) to $15. Three-quarters of the countrys livestock has died and cereal production is down 75%, sending food prices through the roof. All of these are famine indicators, according to the WFP.

Save the Children warned that millions of children in the country risked starvation or even death.

Hassan Saadi Noor, director of Save the Children in Somalia, said: With the spring rains expected to be much lower than average, we have a small window to stop what happened in 2011 from happening again  but that window is quickly shutting.

Five years ago, more than a quarter of a million lives were needlessly lost, 130,000 of them children. We simply cannot have a repeat of that tragedy. The only way to prevent this devastating loss of life is for donors and international leaders to act now.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is calling on the international community to provide $300m by April, while Save the Children said it requires $60m to reach 1.2 million Somalis affected by the crisis.



Preliminary forecasts for poor deyr or rains in Somalia in March-May, follows the failure of the last two rains, which may lead to a further deterioration in food security.



Abdurahman Sharif, the director of Somalia NGO Consortium said: Food security is very bad in certain areas and we also have access limitations. A lot of people are concerned about the famine that happened in 2011. That hit southern central Somalia. Here we have a situation that has hit the whole of Somalia. One of the big failures of 2011 is we didnt act in time and we do not want to repeat those mistakes.

The very sad fact is that we have competing priorities. The situation in Yemen is very bad, Syria is bad. But we are asking NGOs, the UN, the donor agencies, to scale up their response.

There are fears that, if the forecasts are accurate, more people could be affected than in 2011. Food insecurity is more widespread than in 2011, when the southern and central part of the country were worst hit.



Arif Husain, chief economist and head of the World Food Programmes vulnerability assessment mapping unit, said: The difference is, before we had the drought of 2010, we had a good season, so people had some coping strategies. This time around, the previous rains have been bad, so people are at a lower level of coping.

The last famine was declared in July 2011, but the excessive mortality had started to happen in April and May. We are starting in February, so that people can see the urgency of the situation.

The death toll in the 2011 famine was exacerbated by extremist militants from al-Shabaab, an Islamist group allied to al-Qaida, which banned food aid deliveries to the areas of south-central Somalia it then controlled. In 2011 the group, which has been fighting an insurgency in Somalia for a decade and once controlled much of the country, was forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, and many other towns and cities, but it still dominates in rural areas.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia  Simona Halep withdrew from the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Friday because of a knee injury, the same issue she blamed for her opening-round loss at the Australian Open.

The fourth-ranked Romanian had said she was pain-free after her win over Ana Konjuh this week.

Halep was the top seed in St. Petersburg. Her withdrawal sends Russian wild card Natalia Vikhlyantseva into the semifinals, matching her best showing at a WTA tournament.

Vikhlyantseva, ranked 115th in the world, will next play Kristina Mladenovic, who beat defending champion Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-4.

Also, second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova advanced by beating fifth-seeded Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3.

The Slovak will face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who surprised third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5.
Fairfax City residents will vote Tuesday in a municipal election that will help close the door on a dark, embarrassing chapter for their small Northern Virginia community.

The three City Council members running for mayor  Eleanor Schmidt, Michael DeMarco and David Meyer  believe that their hometown must rebuild its image after last summers arrest of then-Mayor R. Scott Silverthorne in a sordid meth-for-sex scheme.

As theyve campaigned through the community of strip malls and Colonial-style homes, each has vowed to be a steady leader who will work to restore the citys integrity while guiding its 24,000 residents through problems with traffic and aging commercial corridors.

Getting some stability back in the mayors office is going to be really important, said DeMarco, 56. Weve been focusing our attention on activities that we really shouldnt have to focus on, as opposed to the issues at hand, which are economic growth, affordable housing and so forth.

Silverthorne, 51, is scheduled to appear before a Fairfax County judge the day after the election to face a felony charge of distribution of methamphetamine and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Prosecutors said the longtime mayor agreed to give an undercover officer two grams of crystal methamphetamine in exchange for an orgy with other men at a Tysons Corner hotel.

Television comedians are making fun of Fairfax coast to coast, Fairfax resident Matt Baird, 50, told the City Council during a public meeting in late December. Friends of mine in Los Angeles are calling me up saying, Hey  whats going on in Fairfax City? I think you need to do a positive P.R. move.

During the six months since Silverthornes arrest made international headlines, city leaders have quietly worked to patch up the damage done inside City Hall. The council appointed an interim mayor, Steven Stombres, to help push through projects that needed city approvals and assure leaders in surrounding jurisdictions that Fairfax City was in good hands.

What the job called for was a no-nonsense approach to just get the job done and provide stability in a time of transition, said Stombres, who had been a chief of staff to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) and who now works at a Washington lobbying firm.

Stombres, who served on the City Council between 2008 and 2014, will step down once a new mayor is sworn in.

The nonpartisan mayoral race has focused mostly on economic development and traffic congestion in Fairfax, which sits just off Interstate 66 nearly 20 miles west of Washington, D.C.

DeMarco, a former senior executive for the ExxonMobil oil company, has campaigned on a smart-growth platform, urging voters to embrace the idea of more mixed-use developments where residents can walk to restaurants and stores and drive less frequently. He has been vocal about creating strategies for long-term growth, arguing that Fairfax needs to do more to attract young professionals as older residents reach retirement age.

The neighboring jurisdictions are in competition with us, DeMarco said, referring to the luxury apartments, restaurants and boutique stores that have revived Arlington Countys Ballston neighborhood and the Mosaic District in Fairfax County. If we dont provide the same types of places for people to live and enjoy, I think were going to die on the vine.

Schmidt, who works as an executive vice president at Cardinal Bank, argues for more measured growth, noting that rush-hour traffic is already miserable in some sections of the city. With 1,000 new apartments and townhouses slated to be built over the next four years, it could get a lot worse.

We dont know how that is going to impact traffic yet. We dont know how that will impact schools, said Schmidt, 56. Looking at future approvals, we need to be very cautious and balanced.

Meyer, a former senior executive at the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is focused on redeveloping some long-idle parcels  in particular, the vacant Fairfax Circle strip mall, a community eyesore frequented by homeless men and women.

Plans for a new shopping center stalled several years ago.

Its a terrible sight to see when you first enter the city, said Meyer, 65. The absolute first order of business of our new council will be to jump-start that project.

Meyer also argues for more affordable housing for elderly residents who are at risk of being priced out of the city where they have lived for decades. They would like to stay in Fairfax, Meyer said. I believe that the city should get serious about having some high-quality senior housing.

With Silverthornes legal problems as a backdrop, the level of interest in this election seems higher than previous mayoral elections.

A recent candidates forum had a standing-room-only crowd, and the audience inside the Old Town Hall listened intently as candidates debated development and whether it makes sense to re-brand their community as Fairfax City instead of The City of Fairfax.

Silverthorne, who has not returned calls from reporters or posted on social media since his arrest, has not weighed in on the election or endorsed any of the candidates.

The city has not yet scheduled a special election to replace whichever council member wins the mayors seat.
A man suspected of stabbing another man to death in front of three of his children last summer was arrested Friday by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to a spokesman for the agency.

The U.S. Marshals Service found Shannon Patchell, 37, near Zuni and Pennsylvania Friday. He was wanted for allegedly stabbing and killing 33-year-old Alonzo Dale on June 22.

Dale was at the Walgreens at Central and San Mateo with his three youngest children the night of the stabbing, his mother told the Journal in June.

Police at the time said they were looking for one man who attacked Dale, as well as two other men who joined in.

Authorities havent said if they believe Patchell was one of those men and didnt release any detail about how they tracked down Patchell or why they believe he is the suspect. Its unclear if the other two men who were also suspected in the crime have been identified or are facing charges.
SANTA FE  The New Mexico Secretary of States Office plans to post financial disclosure statements on its website that detail income, investments and other business ties for hundreds of state officials including lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries and the governor.

In recent years, the information has been available upon request only. Agency spokesman John Blair said disclosure forms will be posted online as soon as next week.

Disclosure forms obtained Thursday for Gov. Susana Martinez and top legislative leaders in the state Senate and House this week provide mainly brief descriptions of income, investments and financial ties outside government  with no dollar amounts, no addresses for real estate holdings and no specifics on investment holdings.

Filed by most officials by Jan. 31, the disclosures are intended as a precaution against conflicts of interest in government under the Financial Disclosure Act and are signed under penalty of perjury.

A recent analysis by the nonprofit group New Mexico Ethics Watch found that the state officials disclosure statements frequently contain omissions and vague or evasive information. The groups executive director, Douglas Carver, described online access to financial statements as a major step forward. But he warned that state law does little to encourage detailed revelations about business interests.

The law itself is pretty thin, even if someone were to fill out the forms perfectly correctly, he said.

Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver was elected in November as the states top regulator for elections and political finances on promises to increase transparency and accountability in government.

Blair said the Secretary of States Office is making a concerted effort to review disclosure statements this year for omissions and errors. Problems are typically corrected on a voluntary basis by those who have submitted them, though state law allows for fines of up to $50 a day or $5,000 with opportunities for arbitration.

Evidence of willful errors can be referred to prosecutors for criminal penalties of up to one year in jail.

Omissions on annual disclosure statements recently have come back to haunt public officials in New Mexico.

Former state Sen. Phil Griego, a Democrat, has been ordered to stand trial on a string of corruption charges that include financial disclosure violations.

The state Attorney Generals Office is examining disclosure statements for former state Taxation and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla amid allegations that she gave preferential treatment to a former business client.

A search warrant suggests she failed to list income from that client on disclosure forms. Padilla resigned in December and has not been charged with any crimes.

The Legislature is considering a bill that would tighten deadlines for new government appointees to file financial disclosures and ensure records from active employees are kept for more than five years.
New Mexico faith leaders voiced support this week for immigrants and refugees and said they will work to counter fears caused by a pair of executive orders signed last week by President Donald Trump intended to tighten U.S. borders.

The New Mexico Conference of Churches called on Trump to rescind a Jan. 27 executive order that halted, for 120 days, the resettlement of refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations, and indefinitely banned Syrian refugees.

In a separate statement, Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester pledged support for New Mexicos immigrant community on Friday and promised to advocate for the legal rights of immigrants at all levels of government.

I know there is fear because of President Donald Trumps possible changes to policies on immigration and the threat of a wall being built on the U.S.-Mexico border, Wester said in a written statement.

Wester referred to an executive order Trump signed Jan. 25 intended to fast-track construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall. It also ordered cuts in federal grants for immigrant-protecting sanctuary cities and a boost in the number of border patrol agents and immigration officers, pending congressional funding.

Wester urged immigrants in need of legal assistance to contact Catholic aid groups, including the New Mexico Immigration Law Center and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Wester acknowledged that the Catholic Church cannot make changes to the laws or decrees of governments but pledged to advocate for immigrant rights with federal, state and local lawmakers.

Wester also said he met this week with Mexican Consulate officials who pledged to help as much as possible the Mexican community in New Mexico.

I want to tell you that in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe we will walk shoulder to shoulder with you during this time of uncertainty, he said. Trust that the Catholic Church advocates for you and your dignity.

The New Mexico Conference of Churches, which includes representatives of eight New Mexico churches, said of Trumps immigration order that we do not support fear and anxiety as a foundation for immigration policy.

We know from our history that excluding whole groups of people based on ethnicity and religion does nothing to make us safer but rather drives us further into insecurity and suspicion, the Conference of Churches said in a written statement.
SANTA FE  A Las Vegas, Nev., woman lived a nightmare between being forcefully kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend who was allegedly stalking her and being rescued by New Mexico State Police officers near Espanola Monday night, a police affidavit shows.

State Police arrested 31-year-old Jack William Morgan and 19-year-old Samuel Lee Brown, who is female, around 11 p.m. Monday for kidnapping a 28-year-old woman, who was found in the back of a white Chevrolet van driven by Morgan in just her underwear and bound by chains and handcuffs.

The chained woman told officers that Morgan told her he was going to take her to a cave to brainwash her to be his wife, the search warrant affidavit states. Morgan and Brown are being held in the Santa Fe County jail on $100,000 cash bonds for kidnapping and false imprisonment charges.

According to the affidavit, filed in Santa Fe District Court Thursday, Las Vegas police got a call around 10 a.m. Monday about a woman who was forcefully taken from her apartment. Officers arrived and found an electronic stun device and a knife near the door as well as a recording studio they believed was used for making explicit adult videos.

A neighbor who called 911 said she saw a man later identified as Morgan dragging a tall woman who was wearing undergarments and was bound by chains around her legs and had handcuffs around her wrist.

An emergency contact for the woman who was seen being dragged told officers that the description the witness gave sounded like the womans ex-boyfriend, known as Wolf and Murk Evar. The father of the woman seen in chains later spoke with officers and said Morgan had violent tendencies.

Las Vegas detectives pinpointed Morgans cellphone location to Espanola and informed New Mexico State Police. Officer Jerry Santana made a traffic stop in Upper San Pedro near Espanola and had Morgan and Brown get out of the van before seeing the kidnapped woman in the back of the van, bound by the padlocked chains. Santana could hear her screaming help me and described her as being hysterical.

The woman told State Police that Morgan had started communicating with her via text messages and social media about a week before she was taken and said they met up for coffee.

The woman told a detective that when Morgan attacked her, he wrapped duct tape around her face, neck and hair. Morgan also choked her six times, she said, and he got on top of her in an attempt to hogtie her. A chain was wrapped around her neck and attached to the wheel well of the van, she said. The woman had abrasions to her arms, legs, neck and face. Officers searched the van and seized several items including cellphones, a laptop and DNA evidence.
Automated vehicles are the future of American transportation and are expected to be completely driverless within the next 20 years, according to an architect and road planner.

Dale Dekker, founder and architect at design firm Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, and Nathan Masek, senior transportation planner with the Mid-Region Council of Governments, presented information about autonomous cars during this weeks NAIOP Rio Rancho Roundtable meeting at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center.

The two chatted up driverless cars and how they will change Americas future infrastructure.

Low-end, entry-level autonomous vehicles capable of sensing their environment without human input have been available since 2010, Dekker said. More advanced autonomous vehicles are expected to hit the consumer market in the next few years, with Ford projected to build an autonomous car without a steering wheel or pedals by 2021. Dekker said a future with fully automated driverless cars can be reached by 2030.

It sounds like a long time from now but thats 14 years, thats not that far away, Dekker said. Look back in the rearview mirror towards 2003 and what was going on then.

Shared automated vehicle projects, similar to Lyft and Uber, could increase urban space by 30 percent, Dekker said, and could open opportunities for future building developments to uncouple parking lots from buildings.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has already begun planning for driverless cars, Masek said. Infrastructure updates are being proposed by the USDOT, he said, that will help turn a city into a smart city. Smart cities would help automated vehicles communicate better with the city theyre driving in thanks to strategically placed free Wi-Fi access points, incident detection software and road infrastructure.

With the nations car accident rate projected to decrease by 90 percent due to automated vehicles, Dekker said driverless vehicles could drastically change a number of industries, including insurance businesses.

This is where I think we have to really put on our thinking caps as to how this is going to impact society as we know it, he said. Fewer accidents, fewer claims  think about that. Think about the industries that are built on human error.

Automated vehicles can be of benefit and detriment to Americas manufacturing industry; with 3.5 million truck drivers across the nation, automated vehicles pose a serious threat to millions of jobs, Dekker said.

Truckers are the largest single employer in the United States, he said. What do 3.5 million truckers do for a living? These are big issues that are going to impact the way we live and the way we do things.
The good news is that President Donald Trump opened Black History Month by mentioning the renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The bad news is, he doesnt seem to realize hes dead.

Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice, Trump said at his African-American History Month Listening Session, which he hosted at the White House.

Whether it was a misstatement or genuine ignorance of who Frederick Douglass was, or, perhaps, one of Trumps alternative facts, is not clear. What is clear is that the spirit of resistance for which Frederick Douglass is best remembered is alive and well, and is directed squarely against the Trump administration.

Frederick Douglass was born in either 1817 or 1818. As he wrote in his bestselling 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, he wasnt sure which was the year of his birth, since by far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant.

Despite the uncertainty, the life of Frederick Douglass is well-documented, from the violence he suffered as a slave, to his courageous resistance, to his escape to the North and work as an abolitionist leader and orator.

He died on Feb. 20, 1895, at the age of 77.

Protests against Donald Trump have been raging since his inauguration. Outside the ceremony itself, scores of people were arrested. A contingent of Black Lives Matter activists successfully blockaded an inauguration security checkpoint.

The next day, one of President Trumps first public acts was to denounce the indisputable fact that crowds at Barack Obamas 2009 inauguration dwarfed attendance at Trumps. Then, later that day, insult to Trumps ego only worsened, as attendance at the historic Womens March on Washington was at least three times larger than at his inauguration the day before.

Throughout Trumps first week in office, protests continued, with disruptions of the ongoing confirmation hearings for his many controversial cabinet picks, to emergency mobilizations against a flurry of executive orders and memoranda intended to revive and expedite the building of both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

On Friday, Trump issued an executive order, Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States, popularly known as Trumps Muslim ban. The order prohibits entry to the U.S. of all refugees, and further excludes travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Customs agents began detaining people at airports almost immediately, provoking demonstrations at airports from coast to coast. By Saturday night, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn issued a nationwide stay against the executive order. Soon after, federal judges in California, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington followed with similar rulings.

Despite presidential misconceptions, Frederick Douglass is dead. But he continues to inspire people around the world. Douglass worked against oppression as an early practitioner of intersectional organizing, fighting slavery, but also advocating for womens rights, and for liberation struggles outside the U.S.

If there is no struggle there is no progress, he said in 1857. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
On Tuesday, voters who havent already done so can weigh in on four seats on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, as well as four seats on the Central New Mexico Community College Governing Board. In years past, few voters have seized that opportunity  about 3 percent to 3.5 percent of registered voters  in great part because the state Constitution, and state law based on it, scheduled school elections separate from all other political contests so women could vote.

Under a recent constitutional amendment vote and a state Supreme Court decision last year, that archaic provision no longer binds us. Now, state legislators need to change the law that puts school elections in February of odd-numbered years and combine them with other non-partisan elections, like city and county races.

It is important they do so  New Mexico spends more than $2.75 billion a year on its K-12 public schools and there are around 30 community colleges in the state. So, while the status quo likes a low turnout it can dominate, taxpayers deserve to have the people who determine how all that money will be spent and how those schools are run elected by more than a shameful 3 percent of voters.

But, for this election, its still February. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for early voting today and on Tuesday, Election Day. District maps and a list of voting sites are available at bernco.gov, aps.edu and cnm.edu.

Here are the Journals recommendations:

Albuquerque Public Schools

District 3  Ali Ennenga

Ennenga has professional experience inside and outside APS. She was a paralegal before teaching in the districts elementary and middle schools from 2009 to 2015, and now runs a business that helps children and adults improve their reading.

Ennenga says seeing the look on a childs face when he or she discovers a love of reading is priceless. She supports retaining third-graders who cant read, but emphasizes APS needs to streamline its literacy interventions. And she says APS and the New Mexico Public Education Department have the opportunity to move our students from 49th in the nation to a higher level through collaboration and cooperation.

District 3s rough boundaries are the county line to Central Avenue and the river to Louisiana. Incumbent Lorenzo Garcia has fought state education reforms that are now bearing fruit. The Journal recommends voters in District 3 elect Ali Ennenga to the school board.

District 5  No endorsement

The four candidates in this district, west of the river and roughly from Monta n o to Dennis Chavez Boulevard, are all opposed to basic measures of accountability the state has put in place in recent years. These include: third-grade retention for those few children who cannot read after numerous remediation efforts; including student test scores as part of teacher evaluations; and requiring high school students to pass a graduation test. Because not one of the four candidates vying for the West Side seat appears focused on improving the educational outcomes of the districts 80,000-plus students, the Journal cannot support a candidate in District 5.

District 6  Abbas Akhil

Akhil is a native of India who came to New Mexico to study engineering at New Mexico State University and stayed for long careers at Sandia National Laboratories and PNM.

Akhil understands there is value in the Common Core curriculum if implemented correctly, believes student achievement scores have a place in teacher evaluations, and says the Board of Education and the school superintendent should have periodic meetings to inform the N.M. PED of the issues that are unique to the district  .

District 6 includes Tijeras, and sections of the Southeast and Northeast Heights. The Journal recommends voters in District 6 elect Abbas Akhil.

District 7  Brian Tierney

Tierney is also a Sandia National Laboratories employee and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves Military Intelligence Corps. The Massachusetts native supports third-grade retention as a last resort  and he speaks from personal experience, sharing that aggressive, earlier intervention is key. It worked for me after failing kindergarten. After intensive summer reading, I entered first grade at an above-average reading level.

Tierney is alone in pushing for an independent audit of APS finances. He also believes APS would be well served by seeking a better relationship with the New Mexico Public Education Department.

District 7 runs roughly from the county line to Comanche Road and the Foothills to San Pedro Drive. Incumbent David Peercy has also fought state education reforms that are now bearing fruit. The Journal recommends District 7 voters put Brian Tierney on the school board.

Central New Mexico Community College

District 1  Pauline J. Garcia

Incumbent Garcias political experience demonstrates a longtime interest in education. She currently is vice-chair of the CNM board, on which she has served since 2013. But she also served on the board from 1997-2000, when the college was still T-VI. She also was a member of the APS Board of Education from 1987-94.

District 1 covers Albuquerques West Side north of Bridge. The Journal recommends that voters keep Pauline J. Garcia on the CNM board.

District 4  Annette Chavez y De La Cruz

Chavez y De La Cruz already has an insiders view of CNM that should serve her well on the board. Though now retired, she worked for CNM for 17 years, and has been the director of its South Valley Campus and its Job Connection Center.

She says as a board member, one of her priorities would be identifying workforce needs so the community college could address them.

District 4 basically covers the South Valley. The Journal recommends that voters put Annette Chavez Y De La Cruz on the CNM board.

District 5  Nancy Baca

Baca was appointed to the CNM board in September and says she would like to see CNM expand the number of short programs that more quickly lead to jobs and offer more online education options.

Baca owns a residential property management business and was a longtime journalist who previously worked for the Albuquerque Journal.

District 5 covers Albuquerque east of the river and south of Central, and an area between Central and I-40 from the river to San Mateo. The Journal recommends voters keep Nancy Baca on the CNM board.

District 7  Michael Glennon

Glennon knows CNM from top to bottom. He worked there nearly 26 years and served as its president from 1998-2007 before retiring. He says balancing the budget is the biggest issue now facing CNM, but he appears primed to face the real difficult decisions.

District 7 is a huge district that covers areas of the North Valley, Northeast Heights and East Mountains. The Journal recommends that voters put Michael Glennon on the CNM board.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
New Mexico is under threat from the Trump administration, with our air, drinking water and climate among the prime targets.

The Environmental Protection Agency, its scientists, regulators and its public information functions have been shut down from public communications. The nominee for administrator of the agency is a climate denier, whose career has consisted of supporting industries over the protection of the public health. Theres more, of course, including the apparent overriding of environmental review for pipeline projects, the vow to bring back clean coal (a term that has no evident meaning) and the preliminary steps taken by Congress to give away our national forests and public lands.

Most insidious is the threat to slash EPAs budget; it can be done by the Congress with a minimum of public review yet will stop EPA from delivering the services upon which we rely.

We need to act now in New Mexico to protect our environment in the face of these actions.

Since 1970, when Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency, states largely have relied on the federal government for financing research into science and technology and developing regulations based on that research. Implementation mostly occurs at a state level.

Federal regulation also helps protect against great discrepancies in environmental regulation, so that industries are, in theory, faced with a level playing field when they make siting decisions. And, of course, pollution doesnt respect state boundaries, so federal law protects states from air and water pollution occurring in nearby states. With the Trump administrations intent to dismantle the EPA, New Mexicans can no longer rely on an effective EPA.

We can voice our desire to protect our environment through electing people at the state level who are committed to clean air and water, wildlife and the health of our citizens. The governor appoints the heads of the Environment Department and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, as well as the members of other critical regulatory bodies. Ask candidates now if they are ready to step up to the challenge of the Trump administration and put fair-minded people in these agencies.

One of the most pressing issues in New Mexico is pollution from the oil and gas industry; the Obama administration addressed methane pollution, but these regulations are under attack. Each member of the state Legislature should be asked if he or she is willing to regulate these emissions; our neighboring state of Colorado has already done so.

Pollution from coal-fired power plants damages the health of New Mexicans and the burning of coal suppresses the renewable energy industry, which is ready to provide clean energy to our homes and businesses. Just ask Facebook: When it demanded renewable energy as a condition of moving to New Mexico, the Public Regulation Commission and PNM quickly cooperated.

State legislators have an opportunity to strengthen the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which will help us move towards renewable energy; to amend state laws so that community solar can be a reality; and to provide incentives for industries and individuals to install renewable energy. And we elect the members of the Public Regulatory Commission, so join others who support clean energy in the next election.

It is unconscionable that scientists working for federal agencies should have political appointees censoring their research and that we, the citizens and taxpayers of this country, should be unable to communicate with agency staff. It is unconscionable that climate deniers should be nominated to head federal agencies.

In addition to joining this national outpouring of protest, we must step forward as a state. Please get involved in the next elections  just two years away  and ensure that the environment counts.
Ten-year-old Rhiannon Montoya carefully sprinkled a bowl of fish food into a 50-gallon tank in the Bernalillo Elementary School library, then watched intently as red shiner, Western Mosquito fish, flathead trout and other species swam up to the surface.

The fourth-grader has a couple of betas at home, so she was particularly excited to see the new addition in the reading area, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Native Fish in the Classroom project.

My family goes fishing, but we let the fish go, Montoya said. We got a crawdad once. Itll be fun to take care of the fish.

This kind of engagement is the goal of the USFWS program, which launched in 2011 and currently operates in nine schools around New Mexico.

Bernalillo Elementary fourth-grade teachers Amber Braden and Patricia Santscoy recently signed up to participate, receiving a few dozen small fish at the end of January.

The delivery was an intensive process  fish biologist Angela James arrived at the school with a container full of native fish culled from various tanks at the USFWS Albuquerque office.

Students from the two classes gathered in the library to watch James transfer the critters to their new home, which is on loan from USFWS.

Your job is to be good stewards of the fish, James told the children. You are their caretakers.

Over the coming months, the kids will take turns cleaning the tank, feeding the fish and testing the water for chemicals like nitrates. Then, in May, the fish will go home to the Rio Grande  James will take the students to a nearby spot on the river to release them back into the wild.

Santscoy said the program offers a wonderful hands-on science lesson that teaches skills like measurement, observation and responsibility.

I want them to learn about our native fish in the Rio Grande and learn how to be scientists, she added. And theyll be taking on a project they have ownership in.

To James, the fish also teach greater awareness of New Mexicos rich ecology.

After they are back in nature, the small species in the Bernalillo Elementary tank will become prey for larger fish and birds, a critical link for the Rio Grande ecosystem.

Its great the kids will know these fish exist, James said. It will make them more conscientious.

Plus, having fish is just fun.

Students quickly picked out their favorites and gave them creative names: Stewie, Fathead, Shimmer, Nemo, Fred, Bob.

Nathan Encinias, 9, a student in Bradens class, said he is looking forward to watching the fish grow and tracking the conditions in their tank.

Well have to be exact in what we do, Encinias said. You have to be really precise and accurate.
SANTA FE  The sponsor of a firearms proposal working its way through the House says shes willing to amend the bill so it applies to fewer law-abiding gun owners.

As it stands now, the proposal by Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, D-Los Alamos, would require background checks when people sell, lend or give firearms to one another in private transactions.

But she said Saturday that she wants to focus on gun sales, not lending a firearm to a neighbor or someone else for personal protection.

Garcia Richard told the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, Im confident we can come up with better language.

The committee voted 3-1 along party lines  Democrats in favor  to recommend passage of the measure, House Bill 50. It now heads to the Judiciary Committee, potentially its last stop before the House floor.

It would also need approval from the Senate and Gov. Susana Martinez, who has not yet taken a position on the proposal.

A similar bill, meanwhile, has cleared its first committee in the Senate.

Supporters and opponents turned out in force for Saturdays three-and-a-half-hour hearing, held on the House floor to accommodate the large audience.

Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace said the proposal will be impossible to enforce. Criminals, he said, generally get their weapons through theft or other illegal means.

This bill does nothing to protect New Mexico, Mace said. The criminal element is going to obtain a weapon no matter how.

Under the proposal, people who want to sell, lend or give a firearm to someone else would have to go to a licensed dealer to have the background check done. The dealer could charge a reasonable fee for the work.

The bill applies to the transfer of firearms between people who arent licensed dealers.

There are some exceptions, such as transfers between close family members, transfers involving law enforcement, or transfers at shooting ranges or during hunting trips.

Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, was the lone vote against the bill Saturday. He said a cousin of his was shot.

I know what many of you have gone through also, he said, but, right now, the majority of criminals do not get guns legally and if this law is passed  they will find another way to get guns.

Garcia Richard brought a gun to the hearing.

Its amazingly easy to get a gun online or in a parking lot, no questions asked, she said. I know this because I did it myself.

In other action

Supporters of a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana say it could generate about $60 million a year in tax revenue for New Mexico schools, health programs and other efforts.

The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee heard that estimate during a hearing on Saturday, just before voting 3-1 to allow the proposal, House Bill 89, to keep moving through the House. The committee made no recommendation on whether the bill ought to be passed or rejected.

The measure, sponsored by House Democrats Bill McCamley of Mesilla Park and Javier Martinez of Albuquerque, must go through two more committees before reaching the House floor.

This is the one thing we can do this year that will instantly inject a massive amount of money into our economy and create jobs right away, McCamley said.

Opponents said New Mexico should move cautiously, especially given that marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Its too early for this, said Rep. James Townsend, R-Artesia. We dont know what were doing.
WASHINGTON  Late Friday night, some of President Donald Trumps top advisers huddled on the phone to craft a response to a court ruling that blocked the White Houses refugee and immigration ban.

The White House statement slammed the order as outrageous. But the presidents lawyers quickly raised objections to that wording, according to a White House official. About 10 minutes later, a new statement was sent without the fiery characterization of the ruling.

The lawyers warnings dont appear to have made their way to the president. On Saturday morning, Trump lashed out on Twitter at the so-called judge and called the judges decree ridiculous.

Later Saturday, Trump followed that tweet with another: What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?

The episode illustrated just how little ability anyone in the White House has when it comes to restraining the president  not his lawyers, his aides or his family. Not even at a time when Trumps views of judicial independence could complicate the looming confirmation fight for his nominee to the Supreme Court, which holds one of the ultimate checks on presidential power.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said Saturday that Trumps tweet shows a disdain for an independent judiciary and raises the bar even higher for Trumps Supreme Court nominee, federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch.

His ability to be an independent check will be front and center throughout the confirmation process, Schumer said of Gorsuch.

While presidents have publicly disagreed with court rulings before, personal criticism of a judge is rare. The independence of the judiciary is enshrined through the Constitutions separation of powers, and judges are supposed to have freedom to decide cases impartially and without political pressure.

In 2008, President George W. Bush said he disagreed with a Supreme Court ruling upholding the rights of prisoners at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but said his administration would abide by the courts decision. During his 2010 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama rebuked the Supreme Courts decision in the Citizens United campaign finance, though he opened his remarks by noting that his criticism was with all due deference to separation of powers.

Trumps Twitter attacks were a sharp contrast to his measured, statesman-like introduction of Gorsuch during an address to the nation Tuesday night. Gorsuch, a 49-year-old conservative, has been widely praised by Republicans and his sterling credentials have put Democrats eager to block Trump any way they can in a bind over how hard to fight his nomination.

On Saturday, after Trump disparaged U.S. District Judge James Robart, some Democrats appeared to sense an opening. Sen. Patrick Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Gorsuch must show an ability to be an independent check and balance on an administration that shamefully and harmfully seems to reject the very concept.

Robarts ruling temporarily blocked Trumps executive order halting the entire U.S. refugee program and stopping all entries from seven Muslim-majority countries. The White House vowed to fight the ruling, even as government agencies moved swiftly Saturday to comply.

Republican lawmakers were largely silent about Trumps criticism of Robart, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2004.

Top GOP lawmakers did break with Trump during the presidential campaign, when he repeatedly criticized Gonzalo Curiel, a U.S.-born federal judge of Mexican descent, who ruled against him in a case involving Trump University, a for-profit education company.

At the time, Trump said Curiels heritage meant he had an an absolute conflict in the case, given the then-candidates hard stance on immigration and call for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said then that Trumps comments about Curiel were the textbook definition of a racist comment.

Trump has said his executive order, which was signed without robust input from the government agencies tasked with implementing the provisions, will keep Americans safe at home by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in Fridays statement. He also called the order both lawful and appropriate.

Experts have disagreed on the effectiveness of the order, which created chaos at U.S. airports and around the world. The State Department said up to 60,000 foreigners had their visas provisionally revoked to comply with Trumps directive.

Trumps order also sparked protests nationwide. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Trumps estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
He also said nabbing fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is said to be hiding in Pakistan, was just a matter of time. I am confident that we will succeed in getting him back. It is just a matter of time, the home minister said. While Singh took a hard-line towards Pakistan, he was more measured when it came to China. He refused to criticize it for repeatedly blocking the designation of another of Indias most wanted  Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar  as a terrorist at the United Nations. Maybe China did not support us because of their own internal deliberations. But am hopeful they will support us in the future, he said.

Interestingly, the home minister also refused to criticize the US decision to put a blanket ban on travelers from seven Islamic nations entering America, a decision that has triggered widespread opprobrium for President Donald Trump. Singh gave Trump a wide berth, saying he must have taken such a decision after assessing local terror situation.

Talking about his home state Uttar Pradesh that is holding assembly elections in two weeks  time, Singh expressed faith that BJP will win over 250 of the 403 seats. He said the BSP and the SP-Congress alliance should decide who is the main opposition to BJP, and observed who the real opposition would varies from region to region. Singh, a former CM of the state, ruled himself out of the race to become the UP chief minister. I am already the home minister, it would be injustice if others are not given a chance, he said, noting that going ahead with the poll campaign without declaring a CM candidate would not affect his partys chances.

With regard to the candidature of his son Pankaj Singh, Rajnath said his opinion was that a leaders son should work at least 10 years in party before fighting elections. He pointed out that when AB Vajpayee had recommended Pankajs name to be a candidate in 2007, he had politely declined since Rajnath Singh was the BJP president then.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has serious opportunity to attract investments from Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Arpine Hovsepyan, expert of the Hayatsk applied policy and research analytical center told reporters on February 3.

We see that Armenia is taking active steps recently for developing relations with Arab States of the Persian Gulf. There is really a chance to attract serious investments from that countries, because one of the priority components of their economic policies is export of capital, Hovsepyan said.

The expert says an important step in strengthening relations with Persian Gulf countries was the visit of President Sargsyan to the United Arab Emirates, where important agreements were made in terms of cooperation. She added that Armenias cooperation with Persian Gulf countries began back in 2009, when the President visited Kuwait.
They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it is sometimes best to leave the detective work for the specialists. In this case, we are referring to the police, who attempted to use their trained dogs to track down the scent of the thieves that were using the stolen vehicle.Unfortunately for the police, too many people from a Facebook group dedicated to thefts in Darwin came to see a Holden Monaro that was parked on the Channel Island Road street.The car was stolen in December, and a police cruiser had recently pursued it a night before it was discovered. Its occupants ditched the vehicle, and it is assumed that they were picked up by another car.According to Australia s ABC , the Duty Superintendent who spoke to the media about the situation, Rob Burgoyne, told reporters that three people were in the vehicle when the cruiser engaged pursuit, but had to stop following them because the situation was too risky for bystanders. In cases like these, some police officers prefer to let the runaways drive off to prevent a high-speed crash that could kill innocent people.Unfortunately for the investigators, the trained dogs were unable to pick up the scent of the thieves that were in the vehicle before the moment it was abandoned.The crime scene had been accidentally tampered by all the people who walked around the Holden Monaro to see if it was the one reported as stolen on the Facebook group dedicated to missing cars in Darwin.Police officers urge people to stay vigilant and inform them if they notice anything suspicious, but it is best to leave the examination to the professionals. If thieves have raided your vehicle, do not touch it, as you may accidentally remove the fingerprints that could lead to the arrest of the culprits.
Home Improvement Fire forces owners to restore historic Somerville home  again What could have been an obituary for the Queen Anne Victorian turned into a rebirth. The Joseph K. James House, completed in 1894 and seen here in a recent photo, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Charlie Allen Renovations

Its true that love is lovelier the second time around.

In March 1894, the Somerville Journal heralded the completion of Joseph K. Jamess home. The architect was none other than the owners teenage son, Thomas Marriott James, who would later co-design the Shubert Theatre in Boston. The grand house was built on the crown of Spring Hill, the Journal reported, with several fancy windows of leaded plate glass, and a panel window in the dining-room of stained glass.

More than 120 years later, in December 2014, the Joseph K. James House was back in the local news  after it was severely damaged by a two-alarm fire. But what could have been an obituary for the Queen Anne Victorian turned into a rebirth.

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The longtime owners asked Cambridges Charlie Allen Renovations to bring the house back to life. It was Charlie Allen, after all  the companys founder and CEO  who had carefully restored the home when the owners first purchased it decades earlier, en route to a designation on the National Register of Historic Places.

We were in the office thinking, It couldnt have been that much of a fire, right?  said Julie Palmer, president of Charlie Allen. People who love their house like this are not people who usually experience a fire.

The fire started in the basement.charlie allen renovations

But while the exterior suffered little damage, the fire devoured the basement, where the blaze began, sparked by an unattended candle, and shot up through the walls as if they were chimneys, destroying much of the third-floor rental apartment and leaving the first two floors covered in icy freeze-dried soot. Almost every window  with the original leaded glass  was broken, and many of the ornate cast-iron radiators froze and cracked. And though firefighters exercised tremendous care, even removing artwork before taking axes to the walls, the house was very much a disaster inside.

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It would take a year of cleanup before Allens crew could even begin the restoration process. Everything had to come out of the house before we could really assess all of the damage, Palmer said.

The company hired a subcontractor, Belfor, to handle the initial cleaning. They use dry ice to blast all the smoke and soot off of it, and then they seal it, Palmer said. After that, all work halted as ozone machines filtered the air nonstop for more than a week.

Then the patience-testing process of disassembly, deep cleaning, and restoration began. In order to clean it, we had to take it apart. So all of the moldings came off, all of the door trim, all of the wainscoting was removed by hand, cataloged, wrapped together with an identification key, Palmer said.

They filled an entire bedroom with shelving to hold the various lengths of molding and trim. Allen said he took photos of everything they removed, capturing even how the molding and mantel intersected. We needed to have a record of that in order to replicate it and put it back, he said.

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To find architecturally appropriate replacements for the many windows damaged in the fire, Palmer said, they turned to Jackson Schillaci woodworking of Waltham (cofounder Jeremy Jackson lives across the street from the house). Their crew provided all the new windows and did all the custom trim, Palmer said. Then Needham-based Wayne Towle, a master finisher, matched the tone of the original wood. The only clue betraying the new windows is the absence of the wavy leaded glass.

This stained-glass window in the dining room was destroyed during the fire and restored.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

The stained-glass window described in the 1894 Journal article was also broken, and an overzealous cleanup crew swept up and tossed the original glass fragments. But working off photos of the original, Jim Anderson Stained Glass in Boston was able to re-create the window, hand painting it to match the color. Only one of the four red-glass circles in the window is from the original, but the work is a close enough match that the owner cant tell which one it is.

While an insurable disaster is a nightmare at best and potentially life-threatening at worst, it does create the opportunity to make improvements. Thats about the only silver lining, Palmer said. So this time, in addition to another meticulous restoration of the home, Allens crew put in a new kitchen and bathroom, opened up the rental unit, and extended the railing of the main staircase to make it more accessible, among other improvements.

It makes so much sense, Allen said, to address projects youve had in mind while the house is already under construction. You have to put the third-floor apartment back, you have to put the kitchen back, you have to put the second-floor bathroom back, but maybe for years it hasnt been the way you really wanted it, he said. Couldnt we put it back the way you wish it was?

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But even those new rooms were designed to fit the character of the house  and echo its history. During demolition on the third floor, workers discovered original built-in cabinets stamped with the name of an old woodworking company in Somerville, J. Wiley Gates. They now have a more prominent position, incorporated as recessed cabinets in the new second-floor bathroom.

Likewise, the new, longer subrail on the main staircase features intricate woodworking, custom carved and finished to match the existing railing. But other pieces are actually transplanted from elsewhere in the home, like a Major League pitcher whos undergone Tommy John surgery. The brackets for the handrail were salvaged from another part of the house, Palmer said. They instructed us from day one to not throw away anything of any original importance.

The turret in the remodeled third-floor apartment.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

In the rental apartment upstairs, Allen suggested removing a wall in the entry area, which had a powerful impact on the space. Meanwhile, the team was charged with re-creating the Hobbit-like feel of a small archway that leads to a round turret room bursting with charm, character  and an intriguing history: It was once a ritual room for witchcraft. Nowadays, just the hilltop city views cast a spell.

The owners made some minor cost concessions in the rental unit, Palmer said, but even getting them to agree to stock doors upstairs was a battle. Many homeowners would say, Its a rental, lets just put whatever, but it was extremely important to them that every detail  right down to the doorknobs, the window locks, the doors  still look appropriate to the house, she said.

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All that attention to detail costs money, though, and the owners refinanced their mortgage to cover what insurance would not. Insurance has kicked in $700,000 so far for the $1 million-plus renovation. (The owners received a grant from the city to repair the stained-glass window.) It is, under the best of circumstances, very, very difficult to get things put back even the way that they were for what an insurance company will allow, Allen said.

Owners of an architecturally significant or historic home should make sure theyre adequately insured with a policy that allows for the restoration  not just the replacement  of their home, experts say. Most of the time, the replacement value would be the most important thing to look at, said Bob Mackey of Kelleher & Mackey Insurance in Quincy. Insurance estimators automatically assume higher replacement costs for homes built before 1930, Mackey said, but homeowners can add extra coverage for the restoration of specific features as well.

For very high-end homes with specialty finishes or very old interior fabric  rare 18th- or 19th-century wallpaper, things like that  theyll need to look at special policies to cover full replacement, said Sally Zimmerman, senior manager of historic preservation at Historic New England, a nonprofit.

Zimmerman said its a good idea to take photos of specific details, such as special hardware or moldings. Documentation of the house will be helpful, but you have to keep it in a location thats not in the house, with a family member or someplace secure like a safe deposit box, she said. And while some contractors may tell you its impossible to find a replacement for a historic feature, she added, often theyre simply unfamiliar with the materials or where to find them.

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Thats not a problem for Allen, an experienced restoration pro. Charlie and I, Palmer joked, are nothing if not an encyclopedia of building supplies.

Still, as hard as the crew worked to match the home to its history, there are some details only time can create. The thing that strikes me is the new floors, and then I remind myself that they will patina, and they will yellow as the sun gets to them, Allen said. The polyurethane literally yellows over time. And if you put a little tint in it, so it looks yellow, then itll look too yellow.

New floors notwithstanding, the homeowners  who lived in the carriage house during the restoration  were thrilled with the results as they prepared to move back in just before New Years. And with any luck, their house wont make headlines again any time soon.

AFTER THE FIRE

(Photos taken by Charlie Allen Renovations)

THE RESTORATION

The glazed-tile hearth is the center of attention once more in the dining room.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A closer look at the glazed tile.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

From left, project manager Nortoh Alexander and carpenter Alex Romanowicz look over the woodwork in the entrance.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A wooden doorknob is one of the period details in the home.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

An ornate bulls-eye light fixture hangs in the second-floor hallway.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A stained-glass panel with a vineyard motif and a tiled chandelier are among the period details that needed to be restored.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

Stained-glass wing windows frame the entryway.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A closer look.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

Carpenter Alex Romanowicz replaces the top piece on a mantel.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A room on the second floor.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

Many of the period radiators had frozen and cracked after the fire.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A webbed oval window.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

An ornate window latch.  Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

Jon Gorey is a freelance writer in Quincy. Send comments to [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @jongorey.
Ambassador nominations in final stage

The ruling Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre) have almost finalised the ambassadorial nominations for 13 diplomatic missions abroad, with an aim to make an announcement in the upcoming Cabinet meeting.
Gardai in Wicklow have arrested a teenager and recovered an assortment of jewellery this evening.

An investigation was launched earlier when a car failed to stop for Gardai and was intercepted and abandoned in Wicklow town.
The day before President Donald Trumps chief strategist advised the media to shut up, Chicagos leading daily newspaper reminded its audience exactly why good journalism must keep talking.

The Chicago Tribune detailed Illinois Governor Bruce Rauners proposal for broad regulatory changes to how pharmacies alert their customers to dangerous drug combinationsthe most recent result of the Tribunes Dangerous Doses series. The Tribunes top investigations editor said the project, which culminated in December with a sweeping indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, was one of the largest and most extensive undertaken by the paper in the past two decades. Rauner credited the Tribune with revealing deficiencies in the states current pharmacy system that put patients at risk.

At a time when many scientists and journalists believe the reception to their work to be unfairly politicized, the Tribunes investigation is an unequivocal success. Dangerous Dosesa finalist for the annual Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reportinghinged on a unique collaboration between journalists and scientists that enabled the Tribune essentially to conduct its own scientific investigation. The impact of that investigation is a credit to the Tribunes reporting as well as to the science that supported it.

The three-part investigative project focuses on hidden interactions between prescription medicines that could have life-threatening consequences if taken together. The first of the Dangerous Doses series, published a year ago, identified four potentially unsafe drug combinations; one pairing, according to the report, blocked an electrical channel crucial to the heart. The second story focused on a woman whose drug combination of Lamictal and Depakote left her legally blind and fighting for her life. Neither the doctor who dispensed her medications nor the pharmacist who filled her two prescriptions warned her of the potential risk.

For the final story in the series, a Chicago physician wrote prescriptions for drugs with dangerous interactions and gave them to the Tribune. Led by reporters Sam Roe, Ray Long, and Karisa King (who has since left the paper for a position as investigations editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal), the Tribune dispersed those prescriptions among 15 staff reporters. At each of the pharmacies that reporters visitedin Chicago, downstate Illinois, and neighboring Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michiganreporters presented prescriptions and noted whether pharmacists warned them of potential drug interactions. Although they did not identify themselves as journalists, the reporters used their real names and answered questions truthfully. The filled prescriptions were collected and stored in a secure location.

In all, the Tribune tested 255 pharmacies; of that number, 52 percent failed to provide reporters with adequate warnings.

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We set out to do this as scientifically as possible. In order for this to work, to impact the country, it had to be extremely scientific and solid in every way, Roe says. We felt that, if we hadnt done this, there was good reason to believe that people would be harmed unnecessarily. That pushed us forward. It was a public service.

The impact of the pharmacy investigation was quick. CVS, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart, whose pharmacies were tested as part of the project, vowed to take significant steps to improve patient safety at their stores nationwide, according to the Tribune. Combined, the actions affect 22,000 drugstores and involve additional training for 123,000 pharmacists and technicians.

In the days following publication, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the nations top association for pharmacy regulators, called on states to enact laws requiring pharmacists to counsel those patients who pick up medications that could be dangerous if taken together. (State laws vary as to whether pharmacists are required to offer counseling or simply ask patients if they have questions, the Tribune reported.) In Illinois, Rauner, a pro-business Republican, ordered state agencies to figure out how to hold pharmacies accountable. Lawmakers have begun drafting legislation that would set minimum requirements for staffing at pharmacies.

Theres no way Walgreens or Wal-Mart [were] going to make substantial changes to the way they do business unless this piece wasnot just rock-solid journalism, but rock-solid science, Roe told me during an interview at Columbia College Chicago, where Roe and I are co-teaching a graduate course this spring on legislative and investigative reporting. This is why it took so long.

Often, when a news organization reports on a scientific finding, it will seek out qualified scientists in the relevant field to explain the findings significance. The Tribune distinguished itself by performing its own independent testing and analysis, says Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT. She notes that Consumer Reports accomplished something similar in 2012, when it analyzed arsenic in apple and grape juice and found that children were being exposed to unhealthy levels of the poison.

When journalists produce their own science, my feeling about it is that its really unusual and its really a powerful tool, Blum says. In the right circumstances, Id love to see us do it more often.

George Papajohn, the Tribunes assistant managing editor of investigations, says that, in the past, the Tribune typically outsourced its scientific workfor instance, sending toys to a lab to be tested for lead or fish samples to be tested for mercury. Then youd await the results, he says.

For Dangerous Doses, the Tribune worked with data scientists, pharmacologists and cellular researchers and used novel data-mining techniques to identify four drug combinations associated with a heart condition that can lead to a potentially fatal arrhythmia, Roe explained in a first-person account for CJR last year. In the process, the team created an innovative scientific model with the potential to flag hundreds of additional drug interactions, offering a new way to protect patients and save lives.

Papajohn says that approach distinguishes Dangerous Doses from previous investigations. The Tribune journalists, he says, were actually helping to think about how the scientists should approach the work and in some cases looking over their shoulder. It was much more of a collaboration.

Jeff Lyon, a 34-year veteran reporter at the Chicago Tribune who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for a medical series on gene therapy, says the Tribune has a long history of consumer-based science reporting. That work is particularly important now, when so much of the public is questioning science and the media, he says.

Our job is to try to educate people and, between the smaller budgets and the increasing resistance by a large segment of the public to understand the realities of science, its making it very hard, he says. The more that news organizations report on global warming and species becoming extinct, the more people turn a deaf ear because they think we are lying or dont know what we are talking about. That frustration is likely shared by journalists and scientists, says Lyon.

Such resistance makes journalismand science journalism, in particularmore urgent than ever, says Lyon.



I think we have to pile on, he says. We have to keep going and get the message out there and work with scientists.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Jackie Spinner is CJRs correspondent for Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. She is an associate journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and a former staff writer for The Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @jackiespinner.
CG, Nimbus team up for start-up incubation

CG Corp and Nimbus have joined hands to support budding entrepreneurs who wish to start their own businesses.
please guide me what argument i need to pass with ppt files name when run with Process.Start as a result ppt slide should start automatically



System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("pptfilename.pptx")



thanks

tbhattacharjee





This space for rent





C# webBrowser1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill; webBrowser1.Navigate( " about.blank" ); webBrowser1.Navigate( @" e:\Presentations-Tips.ppt" );



when i run the code then a dialog come which ask me to choose one option out of 3 and i select open option. after selection open option power point apps open but no slide show run in my webbrowser control.



[here is the screen shot url]



the problem is when i run the above code then first power point application is open which i do not want. also nothing start showing in web browser controls.



basically i want to run ppt slide show in web browser controls but power point application will not run. now tell me how it will be possible and what code i need to use. thanks

tbhattacharjee



I have a basic WindowsForm C# application that loops thru a key (Dependencies) and list all values of all subkeys found. It is compiled to use Any CPU (unselecting "Prefer 32-bit" option as well )



registry hive looks like this:

Dependencies

-{{050d4fc8-5d48-4b8f-8972-47c82c46020f}

.....

.....

-{030d4fc8-5d48-4b8f-8342-47c82c46020f}

...

...

-Microsoft.VS.VC_RuntimeAdditionalVSU_x86,v11

-Microsoft.VS.VC_RuntimeMinimumVSU_amd64,v12

....

....



When I run the application in server 2012 or higher, the application reads all values found in each subkey (works great) but when I ran it in Windows 10 Pro, only the subkeys that start with Microsoft.VS.VC_..etc are read.



Any ideas how to fix it?



picasso2 wrote: Any ideas how to fix it? Without seeing some code it is impossible. You need to use regedit to look at the entries and see if there are any differences between the two systems. Then use your debugger to track the code and see exactly where the problem occurs. See also 32-bit and 64-bit Application Data in the Registry (Windows)[^].



I am using a third party reference, which is a COM object. The COM object has an Open and Close function and I need to make sure that Close is always called whenever possible. I wrote a wrapper class that implements IDisposable and in the Dispose function, I try to call the Close function. However I get a System.Runtime.InteropServices.InvalidComObjectException when I try to call the close function with additional details of "COM object that has been separated from its underlying RCW cannot be used."

public class MyWrapper : IDisposable { private Session _mySession = new Session(); public void Open() { _MySession.Open(); } public void Close() { _MySession.Close(); } public void Dispose() { Dispose( true ); GC.SuppressFinalize( this ); } public void Dispose( bool disposing) { _MySession.Close(); } ~MyWrapper() { Dispose( false ); } }

From my (limited) understanding, there are two reasons why I am getting the exception.

1) The Finalizer is running and calling the destructor, but because the finalizer is on a separate thread I get the error.

2) Based on this Stack Overflow[^] post, the Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW) has it's own finalizer which is being called before mine, and getting rid of the COM object.



I don't know if either of these, or both of these are true, but what is the recommended way to implement a COM object that needs to have finalizer code run?



Hello, I have a Problem. I'd like to list all existing files on a Network share. My Problem: When I save my Username and Password in Windows I can access the NAS with Visual Studio and list the files.



Here is my code:

string path = @" \\192.168.0.5\Share" ; string userName = @" User" ; string userPassword = " Password" ; string userHost = " 192.168.0.5" ; NetworkCredential theNetworkCredential = new NetworkCredential(userName, userPassword); CredentialCache theNetCache = new CredentialCache(); theNetCache.Add( new Uri(path), " Basic" , theNetworkCredential); var g = theNetworkCredential.GetCredential( new Uri(path), " Basic" ); var tt = CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials; StorageFolder folder = await StorageFolder.GetFolderFromPathAsync(path); IReadOnlyList<StorageFile> fileList = await folder.GetFilesAsync(); foreach (StorageFile sF in fileList) { }







I'd like to save the Credentials in C# into the saved Login Passwords (logon-information, in German it is called Windows-Anmeldeinformationen, but not the Web-logon-Information)



Please rate it 1-10 where 10 is the highest. I only learned VB.NET from school and only have self-taught C# so most of the logic here I got from open-source projects and some throught. Took me hours to refine this but I still feel I can do better (I know how to use constructors, accessors, and such but I didn't use them here).



It is a simple INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE form with datagridview/listbox display.



MainForm:

C# using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Data.SqlClient; using System.Drawing; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace Workers { public partial class ManageUserRecords : Form { string getID { get ; set ; } string Emp_ID, Username, Password, Type, FirstName, MInitial, LastName, FullName, Address, Phone, Email; public ManageUserRecords() { InitializeComponent(); } private void ManageUserRecords_Load( object sender, EventArgs e) { load_Dgv(); hide_GridColumns(); load_lb(); } private void dataGridView1_CellClick( object sender, DataGridViewCellEventArgs e) { set_TxtBox(); } private void dataGridView1_ColumnHeaderMouseClick( object sender, DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e) { set_TxtBox(); } private void dataGridView1_KeyDown( object sender, KeyEventArgs e) { if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Up || e.KeyCode == Keys.Down) { set_TxtBox(); } } private void btnInsert_Click( object sender, EventArgs e) { if (( string )btnInsert.Tag == " Add New" ) { btnInsert.Tag = " Save Add" ; btnInsert.Text = " Save" ; clear_All(); txtFName.Select(); } else if (( string )btnInsert.Tag == " Save Add" ) { if (txtFName.TextLength < 1 || txtLName.TextLength < 1 ) { MessageBox.Show( " First Name & Last Name is required" ); return ; } else if (txtUsername.TextLength < 1 || txtPassword.TextLength < 1 ) { MessageBox.Show( " Username & Password is required" ); return ; } else if (cbType.Text == " " ) { MessageBox.Show( " Account Type is required" ); return ; } btnInsert.Tag = " Add New" ; btnInsert.Text = " Add New" ; Username = txtUsername.Text; Password = txtPassword.Text; Type = cbType.Text; FirstName = txtFName.Text; MInitial = txtMInitial.Text; LastName = txtLName.Text; FullName = FirstName + " " + MInitial + " " + LastName; Address = txtAddress.Text; Phone = txtPhone.Text; Email = txtEmail.Text; new FormWorkers().insert_Record(FullName, Username, Password, Type, FirstName, MInitial, LastName, Address, Phone, Email); string userInfo = String .Format( " Details:{0} Name : {1}{0} Address : {2}{0} Phone : {3}{0} Email : {4}{0}{0}Account:{0} Username : {5}{0} Type : {6}" , Environment.NewLine, FullName, Address, Phone, Email, Username, Type); MessageBox.Show( String .Format( " Record Added!{0}{0}" + userInfo, Environment.NewLine)); load_Dgv(); load_lb(); clear_All(); } } private void btnUpdate_Click( object sender, EventArgs e) { int count = dgvEmployees.SelectedRows.Count; if (count == 1 ) { if (( string )btnUpdate.Tag == " Update New" ) { btnUpdate.Tag = " Save" ; btnUpdate.Text = " Save" ; accessControls(); } else if (( string )btnUpdate.Tag == " Save" ) { btnUpdate.Tag = " Update New" ; btnUpdate.Text = " Update" ; Emp_ID = getID; Password = txtPassword.Text; Type = cbType.Text; FirstName = txtFName.Text; MInitial = txtMInitial.Text; LastName = txtLName.Text; FullName = FirstName + " " + MInitial + " " + LastName; Address = txtAddress.Text; Phone = txtPhone.Text; Email = txtEmail.Text; new FormWorkers().update_Info(Emp_ID, FullName, Password, Type, FirstName, MInitial, LastName, Address, Phone, Email); MessageBox.Show( " Record updated" ); load_Dgv(); load_lb(); clear_All(); } } else { MessageBox.Show( " Select an item from the list to update." ); } } private void btnDelete_Click( object sender, EventArgs e) { int count = dgvEmployees.SelectedRows.Count; if (count == 1 ) { Emp_ID = getID; new FormWorkers().delete_Record(Emp_ID); MessageBox.Show( " Record deleted" ); load_Dgv(); load_lb(); clear_All(); } else { MessageBox.Show( " Select an item from the list to delete." ); } } void accessControls() { foreach (Control txt in this .Controls) { if (txt is TextBox) { txt.Enabled = true ; } } foreach (Control txt in groupBox1.Controls) { if (txt is TextBox) { txt.Enabled = true ; } cbType.Enabled = true ; } } void load_Dgv() { new FormWorkers().load_Db(); dgvEmployees.DataSource = FormWorkers.sqldt; } void load_lb() { listBox1.Items.Clear(); new FormWorkers().load_List(); foreach (DataRow dtrows in FormWorkers.lbdt.Rows) { FormWorkers.dtrow = dtrows; listBox1.Items.Add( " (" + FormWorkers.dtrow[ " Emp_ID" ] + " ) " + " Name: " + FormWorkers.dtrow[ " Name" ]); } } void set_TxtBox() { DataGridViewRow CurrentRow = dgvEmployees.CurrentRow; getID = CurrentRow.Cells[0].Value.ToString(); txtFName.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[5].Value.ToString(); txtMInitial.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[6].Value.ToString(); txtLName.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[7].Value.ToString(); txtAddress.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[2].Value.ToString(); txtPhone.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[3].Value.ToString(); txtEmail.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[4].Value.ToString(); txtUsername.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[8].Value.ToString(); cbType.Text = CurrentRow.Cells[9].Value.ToString(); } void hide_GridColumns() { int colcount = dgvEmployees.Columns.Count - 1 ; for ( int i = 5 ; i <= colcount; i++) { dgvEmployees.Columns[i].Visible = false ; } } void clear_All() { foreach (Control txt in this .Controls) { if (txt is TextBox || ( string )btnDelete.Tag != " Delete" ) { txt.Text = " " ; if (txt.Enabled == true ) { txt.Enabled = false ; } else { txt.Enabled = true ; } } } foreach (Control txt in groupBox1.Controls) { if (txt is TextBox || ( string )btnDelete.Tag != " Delete" ) { txt.Text = " " ; if (txt.Enabled == true ) { txt.Enabled = false ; cbType.Enabled = false ; } else { txt.Enabled = true ; cbType.Enabled = true ; } } cbType.SelectedIndex = 0 ; } dgvEmployees.ClearSelection(); } } }



MainForm Class:

C# using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Data; using System.Data.SqlClient; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace Workers { class FormWorkers { SqlCommand cmdSelect, sqlInsert, sqlUpdate, sqlDelete; SqlDataAdapter sqlSelect; SqlDataReader rdr; public static DataRow dtrow; public static DataTable lbdt; public static DataTable sqldt; public static string ID; private static FormWorkers _main = new FormWorkers(); public static FormWorkers Main { get { return _main; } } public void load_List() { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (SqlDataAdapter sqlSelect = new SqlDataAdapter( " SELECT Emp_ID,Name FROM Employees INNER JOIN Accounts ON Employees.Acct_ID=Accounts.Acct_ID WHERE Emp_ID >= 1" , conn)) { lbdt = new DataTable(); sqlSelect.Fill(lbdt); dtrow = null ; } } } public void load_Db() { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (sqlSelect = new SqlDataAdapter( " SELECT Emp_ID AS 'ID',Accounts.Name,Emp_Address AS 'Address',Emp_Contact AS 'Phone',Emp_Email AS 'Email',Emp_FName,Emp_MName,Emp_LName,Username,Type FROM Employees INNER JOIN Accounts ON Employees.Acct_ID=Accounts.Acct_ID" , conn)) { sqldt = new DataTable(); sqlSelect.Fill(sqldt); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information); } } public void insert_Record( string FullName, string Username, string Password, string Type, string FirstName, string MInitial, string LastName, string Address, string Phone, string Email) { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (sqlInsert = new SqlCommand( " INSERT INTO Accounts (Name,Username,Password,Type) VALUES (@name,@username,@password,@type);" + " INSERT INTO Employees (Acct_ID,Emp_FName,Emp_MName,Emp_LName,Emp_Address,Emp_Contact,Emp_Email) " + " SELECT TOP 1 Acct_ID,@FName,@MName,@LName,@Address,@Phone,@Email FROM Accounts ORDER BY Acct_ID DESC" , conn)) { sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @name" , FullName); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @username" , Username); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @password" , Password); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @type" , Type); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @FName" , FirstName); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @MName" , MInitial); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @LName" , LastName); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Address" , Address); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Phone" , Phone); sqlInsert.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Email" , Email); conn.Open(); sqlInsert.ExecuteNonQuery(); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information); } } public void update_Info( string Emp_ID, string FullName, string Password, string Type, string FirstName, string MInitial, string LastName, string Address, string Phone, string Email) { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { conn.Open(); using (sqlUpdate = new SqlCommand( " UPDATE Accounts SET Name=@name,Password=@password,Type=@type FROM Accounts INNER JOIN Employees ON Accounts.Acct_ID=Employees.Acct_ID WHERE Emp_ID=@Emp_ID;" + " UPDATE Employees SET Emp_FName=@FName,Emp_MName=@MName,Emp_LName=@LName,Emp_Address=@Address,Emp_Contact=@Phone,Emp_Email=@Email WHERE Emp_ID=@Emp_ID" , conn)) { sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @name" , FullName); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @password" , Password); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @type" , Type); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @FName" , FirstName); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @MName" , MInitial); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @LName" , LastName); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Address" , Address); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Phone" , Phone); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Email" , Email); sqlUpdate.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @Emp_ID" , Emp_ID); sqlUpdate.ExecuteNonQuery(); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } } public void delete_Record( string Emp_ID) { try { string connStr = @" Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS_KEVIN;Database=Test;Integrated Security=true" ; using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr)) { using (sqlDelete = new SqlCommand( " DELETE Accounts FROM Accounts INNER JOIN Employees ON Accounts.Acct_ID=Employees.Acct_ID WHERE Emp_ID=@ID;" + " DELETE FROM Employees WHERE Emp_ID=@ID" , conn)) { sqlDelete.Parameters.AddWithValue( " @ID" , Emp_ID); conn.Open(); sqlDelete.ExecuteNonQuery(); } } } catch (SqlException err) { MessageBox.Show(err.Message, " Error" , MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } } } }





Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...







Secure Password Authentication Explained Simply[^]

Salted Password Hashing - Doing it Right[^]





You've repeated the connection string in every method. You should move that to a field on the class, or better yet, store it in the application's configuration file.



You should remove all of the fields currently on your FormWorkers class, and use local variables and return values instead. As it stands, your code is not thread-safe.



You should make all of the methods in the FormWorkers class static , and mark the class itself as static . That way, you won't need to keep creating instances of the class to call the methods.





On the plus side, you have correctly parameterised your queries, avoiding SQL Injection vulnerabilities.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







Message Closed



modified 7-Feb-17 6:52am.





Cheers,



Mick

------------------------------------------------

It doesn't matter how often or hard you fall on your arse, eventually you'll roll over and land on your feet.







In List case, you can always grow the size or shrink it as needed. Such as, C# var names = new List<string> (); names.Add( " Afzaal" ); names.Add( " Ahmad" ); You cannot do the same in case of arrays, the above is similar to having the following, C# string[] names = new string [] { }; names[0] = " Afzaal" ; names[1] = " Ahmad" ; To see what happens you can do the following, C# Console.WriteLine(names.Length); That will print "0", telling you that the array was empty and you cannot grow or shrink it on runtime. On the other hand you can easy do so.



The generic stuff really don't matter much in my opinion, you can do the same, C# var list = new List<string> (); var list = new string[] { }; But however, the helper functions are very much great in List objects as compared to the Array objects. The comparisons have been made for a lot of time, you can read any of other articles as well.

The sh*t I complain about

It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem

~! Firewall !~



modified 3-Feb-17 7:39am.


Corning Incorporated engages in display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses worldwide. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices. Its Optical Communications segment provides optical fibers and cables; and hardware and equipment products, including cable assemblies, fiber optic hardware and connectors, optical components and couplers, closures, network interface devices, and other accessories. This segment also offers its products to businesses, governments, and individuals. Its Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that provide material formulations for glass, glass ceramics, crystals, precision metrology instruments, software; as well as ultra-thin and ultra-flat glass wafers, substrates, tinted sunglasses, and radiation shielding products. This segment serves various industries, including mobile consumer electronics, semiconductor equipment optics and consumables; aerospace and defense optics; radiation shielding products, sunglasses, and telecommunications components. The company's Environmental Technologies segment offers ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile, gasoline, and diesel applications. The company's Life Sciences segment offers laboratory products comprising consumables, such as plastic vessels, liquid handling plastics, specialty surfaces, cell culture media, and serum, as well as general labware and equipment under the Corning, Falcon, Pyrex, and Axygen brands. The company was formerly known as Corning Glass Works and changed its name to Corning Incorporated in April 1989. Corning Incorporated was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Corning, New York.
While there is abundant data in other areas of credit unions critical functions, such as loans, strategy, marketing, and regulation, accounting is a grey mist on the horizon.

We have found there is little to no industry data compiled in this area, and many credit unions are left wondering if their accounting team is staffed appropriately as well as whether they should outsource various functions, such as ATM balancing.

Debra Templin, CFO of CU Service Network, manages the companys Outsourced Accounting Service, which assists many credit unions across the country. The most frequent question we are asked is are we overstaffed? That is a difficult question to answer without knowing the type of positions and activities that are performed within the accounting department.

The accounting function mystery is so difficult to crack because it is three-fold. Not only do credit unions need data on how many employees are staffed in credit unions accounting departments, but secondly, they need more data on what accounting functions are being managed. And thirdly, are their resources appropriately aligned in their asset class. Without these three pieces of information available concurrently, the individual data is basically irrelevant.
President Donald Trump will order a sweeping review of the Dodd-Frank Act rules enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis, a White House official said, signing an executive action Friday designed to significantly scale back the regulatory system put in place in 2010.

Trump also will halt another of former President Barack Obamas regulations, hated by the financial industry, that requires advisers on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients. Trumps order will give the new administration time to review the change, known as the fiduciary rule.

Taken together, the actions are designed to lay down the Trump administrations approach to financial markets, with an emphasis on removing regulatory burdens and opening up investor options, said the White House official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The orders are the most aggressive steps yet by Trump to loosen regulations in the financial services industry and come after he has sought to stock his administration with veterans of the industry in key positions. His plans are sure to face fierce criticism by Democrats who charge that Trump is intent on undoing changes designed to protect everything from average investors to the global banking system.
In April 2013, the French government passed a law giving gay couples the right to marry and adopt children, despite months of public protests against those rights. But why did this measure -- enacted well after similar laws in other European countries had already passed -- stir so much controversy in a country often regarded as a bastion of personal liberty? Why have some factions of French society been so reluctant to, well, vive la difference?

To MIT professor Bruno Perreau, this iteration of the global LGBTQ rights debate highlights an important way of grasping an essential tension in French society: France's ideology of universalism has helped it drive toward equality in some respects, but the country has had trouble accommodating social differences in other regards.

"France defines its identity through the logic of unity," says Perreau, the Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies and Language in MIT's Global Studies and Languages program. In this sense the strife over gay rights, like many French disputes, is "about trying to find what's the totem of the nation."

Now Perreau has written a book analyzing this political controversy. And his tome, "Queer Theory: The French Response," published by Stanford University Press, examines basic French questions of universalism, specific contours of the recent dispute -- and recommends a new approach to crafting legal rights in the future.

Perreau's new work crosses disciplinary boundaries; Bernard Harcourt, a professor of law and political science at Columbia University, calls it "a signature contribution to contemporary political and critical theory." And Perreau also grounds his study of the debate in French history; as he sees it, this French rights controversy contains a notable mix of the old and the new, politically.

An American Invasion?

First, the old: As Perreau suggests in the book, the language of France's anti-rights movement echoes other episodes in French history, where minority groups were branded as foreign entities in France's body politic -- for instance, it recalls the antisemitism present in the infamous Dreyfus Affair, over a century ago.

"The fear of separatism, the apparent plot against the state, is still very present," Perreau says.

As for the new, Perreau explains that people campaigning against LGBTQ rights in France developed an unusual new target of ire: American academics, principally "queer theory" scholars, such as Judith Butler of the University of California at Berkeley, who have recast gender identity issues in recent decades. The opponents of the measure, in Perreau's account, blame those scholars for helping to fuel the issue in France, in new ways.

On one level, as Perreau observes, such assertions bear little weight. After all, the struggle for LGBTQ rights in France rests strongly on many of the same fundamental human rights claims, for equality in civic and family law matters, seen in other countries. Indeed France itself began passed a measure recognizing civil unions in the late 1990s.

Moreover, Perreau notes, it is "quite ironic" to hear claims that American queer theory has threatened French traditions, when many of America's best-known queer theory scholars were inspired by French academic theorists in the first place. At most, the influence of queer theory in this debate represents "the return of French theory to France," Perreau observes.

"Claiming there is an American invasion is quite absurd," Perreau adds, suggesting that anti-LGBTQ rights activists have done this for "strategic reasons," namely, to draw on a convenient tradition of anti-Americanism.

"They give Anti-American arguments a little twist," says Perreau. "It's more effective to use arguments that are already present for other reasons."

Perreau notes that these old and new concerns been explicitly connected during the recent debates. As he writes in the book, for anti-rights activists there has been "a direct link between dread of an American invasion and fear of contagion by a minority culture, that is, the propagation of its erotic, political, and social practices." On both counts, those activists have continued to hold to an exclusionary vision of French society.

Rethinking rights

But as Perreau views it, the stakes in the recent French debates are not limited to debates and political combat about French universalism. Rather, as he emphasizes in the book, the ongoing disagreement over LBGTQ rights can -- and should -- lead us to reconsider our foundational ideas about rights and the nature of democratic participation.

In Perreau's view, academic queer theory has helped us perceive the complexities of gender identity -- and made it more difficult for the entire breadth of LBGTQ experiences to be reduced to traditional identity-group politics and rights.

Queer theory, Perreau writes, "views kinship as a way of simultaneously belonging and not belonging" within society, and, given a set of social norms, "approaches citizenship from the perspective of the norm's failures, gaps, and inability to fully grasp reality." As such, Perreau suggests, today "a feeling of belonging stems from a challenge to, rather than a sanctification of, the social order."

In turn, he proposes, rights cannot be based on reductive identities, but must take into account what Perreau calls "the multipositional nature of minorities." As he notes, a gay men can be fathers; transsexual women can become mothers; and children grow up with a wide variety of parental relationships. These roles demand a more flexible social compact.

Or, as Perreau writes in the book's conclusion, "These situations ... invent new forms of life that combine several types and levels of identity." Thus, he contends, "We must invent new rights that are at once personal (accruing to individuals) and relational (accruing to members of various communities)."

To be sure, as Perreau acknowledges, doing this might require "a much more demanding political system" than our current democracies can produce. But it might also allow us -- all of us -- to more fully realize la difference.

###
In what will be a transformative approach to women's health care in South Florida, the University of Miami Health System and VitalMD Group Holdings LLC, and its wholly owned medical practices LLCs ("VitalMD"), one of the largest private physician group practices in Florida, have agreed to establish a strategic collaboration to advance the missions of both entities, improving access to high-quality medical care by creating a broader network of providers in the South Florida region.

VitalMD's more than 500 private affiliated physicians focus on women's health, both primary care and obstetrics and gynecology, as well as primary care and pediatrics, among other specialties. The University and VitalMD's collaboration will enable patients to have seamless access to cancer services provided by physician experts at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center -- part of UHealth -- and any of the health system's other specialists. Similarly, working with VitalMD's network will enable expansion of UHealth's mission to deliver premium academic health care and access to OB/GYN and other women's health services in the community.

The collaboration creates a synergistic platform for both health care providers to build on their own strengths, sharing best practices to more efficiently and effectively serve patients; maintaining the convenience of primary care across the community combined with seamless access to specialty care when needed.

"This initiative is a natural fit for the University of Miami Health System as we expand our care into more communities," said Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., senior vice president for health affairs at the University of Miami and CEO of UHealth. "Women's health often translates to the health of the entire family. Bringing academic specialty care and research to VitalMD affiliate practices' patients will create a network of services that run the continuum of care and further enhance our mission to improve access for more patients."

Among the expected benefits is increased value through clinical program collaboration, improved efficiencies, coordination of care, creation of evidence-based care models, and expanded resident/fellow teaching opportunities.

Glenn Salkind, M.D., president of VitalMD, describes the alliance as a "bold step" for South Florida health care. "Working with the University of Miami Health System, we dramatically expand our network of physicians. We are better able to meet our community's needs by offering this seamless connection to academic medical care for specialty services."

The alliance will start with select VitalMD physicians providing care in Sylvester multi-disciplinary breast cancer clinics in Miami-Dade -- at The Lennar Foundation Medical Center on the University's Coral Gables campus -- and in Broward, seeing patients at Sylvester at Deerfield Beach and Sylvester at Plantation.

###
A recent survey of 400 arable farmers who all grow winter oilseed rape (OSR) reports that 8.3 per cent of the crop this year has failed.

The survey, carried out by the Kleffmann Group, also estimates that a huge 46,000ha has been written off due to the mass scale of oilseed rape crop failure this season.

Slug attacks, the effect of a ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments and most importantly, flea beetle damage combined with dry conditions in autumn has been put to blame for poor establishment.

The oilseed rape area for harvest 2017 has been forecasted to be as low as as 511,000 ha.

Roger Pratchett of Independent Business Resource, the UK agent for Kleffmann, said: OSR is still important as a different crop to satisfy the Three Crop Rule and remains a very useful break crop for weed control purposes, but its yields are variable and it is attacked by cabbage stem flea beetle, which in the past has been responsible for destroying crops early on.

The average yield of rape at 2016 Harvest according to DEFRA was just 2.6/t/ha (compared with 3.5 t/ha in 2015) and even if you take the increased price of rape into account, this makes it less profitable to grow.

Growers have also remarked about the increasing input costs which impact negatively on gross margins, he says.

Right inputs is 'vital'

In November last year, the National Farmers Union called upon industry bodies to discuss how access to the right inputs is vital for the future of oilseed rape.

Discussions included Rothamsted Research speaking on cabbage stem flea beetle resistance, AHDB Cereals on its work in developing integrated crop management techniques with oilseed rape and plant breeders on improving the performance of oilseed rape and its economic sustainability.

NFU combinable crops board chairman Mike Hambly said: It is vital for the industry to work together to tackle the growing problems that oilseed rape presents to farmers and to the supply chain.

As we move to a year where it looks like the area of oilseed rape will decline for a fifth year in a row, it is abundantly clear that there is a lack of confidence among farmers to plant the crop and that is something that we need to address.

Oilseed rape can be an important crop for the sector and it has good demand. There are clearly difficulties with the crop and coming together as an industry we can agree on a proactive plan to move forward and tackle this issue head-on.
Spot oilseed rape values lost about 10/t this week, following a big drop in French oilseed rape futures prices.

With poor crushing margins and no real improvement in prices further forward, some crushers have been looking to offload stock to shorts and exporters.

While UK supply from domestic production is tight, new crop Australian oilseed rape is on its way to the UK and this, alongside slightly stronger sterling and soya bean crop news, has contributed to the softening of prices.

See also: Business rate valuations appeal process explained

Ex-farm values ranged from 345/t-352/t spot on Friday (3 February), with most offers were at the higher end of this scale.

This price range reflects a 360/t delivered price for crushing at Liverpool.

With the current market background, the market is offering less than 1/t a month to carry rapeseed forward over March and April so trade is expected to be relatively quiet, with stocks and imports mainly likely meet crushers requirements during this period.

There is an inverse on rape oil prices, meaning prices are lower in the forward positions so crushers do not want to own rapeseed past the spot position, said United Oilseeds trading manager Owen Cligg.

We are therefore reliant on rape oil demand remaining buoyant so that forward prices can rise to keep rapeseed prices at current or better levels.

European rapeseed supplies are still tight and a high level of imports are still required to meet EU demand.

On paper this should be possible with a better than expected Australian crop.

At about 320/t ex-farm for harvest, new crop prices were better than in many seasons but few growers were being tempted by this, said Mr Cligg.

Other oilseed market factors

UK and French plantings are down but traders are hoping for a return to trend yields to restore higher EU production.

Despite a downwards revision to its crop forecast this week, continued weather improvement in Argentina put pressure on soya bean markets, in turn pushing down global rapeseed prices.

Brazilian soya bean exports are running at a high level (0.912m tonnes in January  up 0.518m tonnes year-on-year)

Increased export sales have pushed up US soya bean prices

Wheat
A pedigree breeder says seven dog attacks on his sheep since November have left him frustrated at the lack of awareness among dog owners and disappointed there has not been a tougher response from the police.

Craig Forsyth, who farms on the Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire border, said he had been the victim of a series of horrific incidents over the past two months, the worst of which led to the death of five in-lamb ewes and abortions in another two.

It is thought the attacks involve dogs which stray onto his land when they are being walked off-lead in a nearby country park, close to the town of Leighton Buzzard.

See also: Sheep worrying remains unacceptably high

Mr Forsyth, who runs about 50 cattle and 500 sheep  predominantly pedigree Charollais, told Farmers Weekly that until November he had not suffered a dog attack for 15 years.

Vigils

But the incidents have now become so frequent that he and his brother are staging vigils at 4.30am every day so they can monitor dog walkers in the area and talk to them about the need to keep dogs under control.

This had left him surviving on about four hours sleep a night as he was doing this at the same time as working full-time as a sales representative, looking after his family and lambing.

It has got to the point where I could happily sell up because of the impact of Schmallenberg and these dog attacks, he said.

I have been trying to raise public awareness and to get the police involved but I am getting no resolution.

Mr Forsyth said the dogs were getting through three sets of fencing to reach the sheep, including a six strand barbed-wire fence, suggesting that dog walkers were letting their dogs off the lead and out of their sight.

He had made repeated calls to the police, who had agreed to put up warning signs, but he felt more could be done.

We had one man with a Husky dog who was chasing the sheep in the field. The police didnt come out, but told him later to write a letter of apology. I dont think that is a hard enough line given what weve gone through.

Police alert

Bedfordshire Police issued an alert on 30 January in response to what it called several sheep worrying incidents, which has resulted in the loss of livestock.

Inspector Tracey Day said: Incidents like these have devastating effects on farmers, especially as we are soon approaching lambing season.

Causing death, injury or distress to sheep could also affect unborn lambs.

We have received reports from around the county of dogs being seen on private land where there is livestock.

We would urge all dog owners to consider their walking routes and avoid private land, or anywhere where sheep or other livestock may be grazing.

Walkers should always ensure their dogs are on a lead if livestock are present in order to prevent such incidents from occurring.

Senior police officials were presented with a report earlier this month which estimated 15,000 sheep were killed by loose dogs in 2016, ten times more than previously thought.
Democratic party tech shills are opposed to regulating UBER, Airbnb and other crooks who are ignoring the law and they are getting big bucks from them

CA lawmakers can't figure out what to do with Airbnb. Here's why "Airbnb spent nearly $250,000 on Newsomlobbying efforts in Sacramento during the last two years, and company executives, including Chief Executive Brian Chesky, have given more than $225,000 to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsoms 2018 gubernatorial bid, according to state records.Airbnb hosts in Los Angeles meet last year to consider regulation in the city. (Los Angeles Times)Liam DillonContact ReporterIn San Francisco, tumult at the ballot box, with the Board of Supervisors and in the courtroom has defined the citys relationship with Airbnb and other short-term rental sites. In Los Angeles, regulating Airbnb is a top issue at City Hall. In New York last fall, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed one of the nations most restrictive laws penalizing Airbnb hosts who do not abide by limits on how frequently they can rent out their properties.Yet in California, state lawmakers have done nothing major either to crack down on Airbnb or make it easier for short-term rentals to operate. The lack of action is in sharp contrast to the scores of regulations passed in cities and states across the country, but also to the way California legislators have responded with fervor in tackling other issues surrounding the so-called sharing economy, including Uber and Lyft and the booming ride-hailing industry.The question of regulating short-term rentals is not going away, said Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who wrote multiple bills over the last two years to deal with the issue. And in fact the longer we ignore it, the more challenging it will be to resolve.Short-term rental legislation has failed in Sacramento for multiple reasons, those on all sides of the issue said, including cities reluctance to let the state involve itself in local tax collection and the relative political strengths of both Airbnb and labor unions, which are typically the industrys most powerful adversaries. Hotel-worker unions in particular are troubled by the effects short-term rentals could have on the hotel business and the livelihoods of workers.The fight between the company and labor played out during debate over McGuires 2015 legislation. His bill would have required short-term rental companies to essentially police properties listed on their platforms, telling the companies to report addresses, usage and prices to cities, and also allowing cities to go after companies if hosts violated local rules. The hotel-workers union, Unite Here, led a group of labor, tourism, police and local government organizations to push the legislation.Individual members did not want to be seen as bucking the sharing economy. Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg)But even though a large coalition was behind it, the bill died in a legislative committee. Airbnb worked hard to defeat it, sending their hosts in California an email with a button to click that would automatically generate a letter of opposition to legislators. Nearly 20,000 emails were sent to every state senator as a result, according to the company. The tactic is the same as one employed by Uber. Last year, when state officials tried to roll out a regulation the company didnt like, Uber emailed their drivers and customers telling them to oppose it. The response flooded regulators inboxes and the state backed down.Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies have been successful in expanding their operations in the state while also defeating bills that would have led to deeper background checks or stricter work rules for their drivers. Lawmakers have said theyve supported pro-ride-hailing legislation because they want to back the tech industry, and McGuire said his 2015 short-term rental bill failed for the same reason.Candidly, individual members did not want to be seen as bucking the sharing economy, McGuire said.The next year, McGuire returned with more limited legislation, which was supported by Airbnb. The bill would have ensured local governments could collect hotel-room taxes from short-term rental hosts, and allowed state officials to audit the money. Airbnb liked the idea of having a statewide tax deal instead of working city by city. But cities balked at the state involving itself in collecting hotel-room taxes, which are solely local dollars. As in 2015, that measure also didnt make it out of a committee.State legislators in New York acted last year in part because of existing laws. New York already had rules on the books designed to block short-term apartment rentals in an effort to prevent flophouses and other illegal hotels. The legislation signed by Cuomo simply revised that law to impose steep fines for those who violated the rules.In California, the major fights have been local battles. Airbnb has gone to court over strict rules regulating the industry passed in Anaheim and Santa Monica. Last year, San Diegos then-City Council president proposed banning short-term rentals entirely, an effort that was voted down in favor of working on less-stringent regulations. Los Angeles city officials are expected to take up a proposal later this year that would limit how frequently hosts could make rooms available and force them to register with the city.Nowhere in the state is the battle more pitched than in San Francisco, Airbnbs hometown. Voters in the city rejected a ballot measure in 2015 that would have made it a misdemeanor for Airbnb and other platforms to list rentals the city had deemed unlawful. Airbnb sued San Francisco over regulations passed last summer, which the company claims unfairly punish them if their hosts violate rules.Even though major short-term rental legislation hasnt passed at the Capitol, Airbnb still has a large presence in state politics. Its global head of policy, Chris Lehane, a long-time Democratic strategist in California, joined the company in 2015 after running political operations for billionaire investor and environmental advocate Tom Steyer. Lehane is scheduled to speak on the 2016 election results at the Senate Democratic Caucus policy retreat next week. Airbnb spent nearly $250,000 on lobbying efforts in Sacramento during the last two years, and company executives, including Chief Executive Brian Chesky, have given more than $225,000 to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsoms 2018 gubernatorial bid, according to state records.McGuire said hes holding off on introducing new legislation this year while Airbnb and the League of California Cities discuss potential resolutions to the tax issue. No other lawmaker has sponsored a bill on the issue yet this year. The company remains interested in state action.We certainly are still eager to figure out a statewide solution on the tax piece to simplify and streamline the process to make things easier for our host community, Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty said.Still, legislators have not ruled out new rules that would go beyond taxation. A persistent argument used against short-term rentals is that they can take homes off the market, which opponents say could add to a housing shortage that has plunged the state into an affordability crisis. Recent academic research has showed that short-term rentals can have a modest effect on housing supply in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other popular cities, though the effects might be greater in desirable neighborhoods.Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose), chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, said he wanted to see more research on short-term rentals influence on the housing market in San Francisco, but would consider taking action if he was convinced they displaced existing residents.Id be concerned about that, Beall said. Id want some limits on dealing with that particular problem."
China urged to reopen Tatopani checkpoint

Commerce Minister Romi Gauchan Thakali on Friday urged China to reopen the Tatopani border point that has remained closed due to damage by the 2015 earthquake and subsequent floods and landslides.
Its the type of frequency which is a hallmark of a 21st-century bus service.

However, only six of those services are timetabled to whisk the weary passenger to the western city in three hours with just five stops along the way.

For the rest of the services, the journey time is in the region of just under four hours because the bus is scheduled to stop more than 20 times.

Compare that to the equivalent trip on private operator Citylink. It offers 19 services with journey times of either 2.5 or three hours because there arent endless stops.

The service is a bit dearer  19 compared to 14.72  but is just over 4 much to avoid sitting on a bus for up to an hour and 20 minutes longer?

But what about all those towns in between that the Citylink avoids  what if one is travelling from the airport to Ballinasloe? People living in rural towns and villages are entitled to a service.

So Bus Eireann needs to provide that. This is a crucial issue facing the State bus company.

The fact that private operators can choose to offer more popular, direct, routes is what is slowly killing Bus Eireann.

Bus Eireann has lost huge swathes of income to the competitors who can provide a much faster service on the intercity moneymaker routes.

But the fact remains that the State cannot just abandon hundreds of thousands of people outside the large population centres in limbo  they must have access to a viable bus service. But how is a commercial company meant to cater to that demand without increased State funding?

As far as unions are concerned, the bus market has been allowed to become over-saturated with private companies offering inferior terms and conditions compared to those enjoyed by the unions members.

They concede that efficiencies need to be found in Bus Eireanns business model but are adamant that cuts to their members core terms and conditions will not be countenanced.

The unions claim that cuts proposed by acting Bus Eireann chief executive Ray Hernan would mean losses of up to 8,000 to average driver earnings of around 42,500.

While the company has not formally removed its cost-cutting plan from the table, Mr Hernan has said 30m in savings needs to be achieved, with 40% coming from the payroll.

While he is willing to meet the unions without preconditions, that huge figure is still to the forefront of everyones mind.

Furthermore, there has been no sign of managements cost-cutting plan being ripped up, as has been demanded by the union negotiators.

But what happens if the two sides do come face-to-face? According to Dermot OLeary of the National Bus and Rail Union, discussions will be short if there is any attempt to hit core pay and conditions.

So how else is that 12m to be found, if not from the pay of the 2,600 staff?

And if cuts are pushed through, what message does that send out?

As far as unions are concerned, other transport workers, and those in the wider economy, are watching events in Bus Eireann closely to see what it means for future industrial relations.

They are already warning that Irish Rail and Dublin Bus workers are agitated by what they are seeing and the likelihood of them acting in solidarity with their Bus Eireann colleagues is high.

There are just over two weeks to go until the companys date for the implementation of cuts which will trigger indefinite all-out action.

As each day passes without resolution, the likelihood of this strike going ahead  further hammering the companys scarce finances  becomes all the greater.
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CK Raut charged with organised crime

The Siraha District Court on Friday remanded CK Raut,coordinator of the Independent Madhes campaign, in 10-day custody.
The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

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Fabrinet provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical, and electronic manufacturing services in North America, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company offers a range of advanced optical and electro-mechanical capabilities in the manufacturing process, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, printed circuit board assembly, advanced packaging, integration, final assembly, and testing. Its products include switching products, including reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers, optical amplifiers, modulators, and other optical components and modules that enable network managers to route voice, video, and data communications traffic through fiber optic cables at various wavelengths, speeds, and over various distances. The company's products also comprise tunable lasers, transceivers, and transponders; and active optical cables, which provide high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel, and optical backplane connectivity. In addition, it provides solid state, diode-pumped, gas, and fiber lasers used in semiconductor processing, biotechnology and medical device, metrology, and material processing industries; and differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel, and other sensors used in automobiles, as well as non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. Further, the company designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, lenses, prisms, mirrors, laser components, and substrates; and other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products. It serves original equipment manufacturers of optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers, automotive components, medical devices, and sensors. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in George Town, the Cayman Islands.
Dahal govt fails on three fronts: RPP Chair Thapa

Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Kamal Thapa has alleged that the government has lost its relevance as it could not address the demands of the Madhes-based parties, conduct the elections and work effectively to implement the constitution.
The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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Beaufort County's governing board of commissioners met June 28, 2022 to discuss a continuing issue of how to best handle solid waste here in Beaufort County by employing the concept of two "mega sites;" one on the north side of the Pamlico River, the other on the south side.
Energy Minister assures of local elections at the earliest

Minister for Energy Janardan Sharma assured that the local level elections will be held soon.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets commercial aerostructures worldwide. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment offers forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections and systems, struts/pylons, nacelles, and related engine structural components; and wings and wing components, including flight control surfaces, as well as other structural parts. This segment primarily serves the aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or engine OEMs of large commercial aircraft and/or business/regional jet programs. The Defense & Space segment provides fuselage, strut, nacelle, and wing aerostructures primarily for U.S. Government defense programs, including Boeing P-8, C40, and KC-46 Tanker. This segment also engages in the fabrication, bonding, assembly, testing, tooling, processing, engineering analysis, and training on fixed wing aircraft aerostructures, missiles, and hypersonics works, such as solid rocket motor throats, nozzles, re-entry vehicle thermal protections systems, forward cockpit and cabin, and fuselage work on rotorcraft aerostructures. The Aftermarket segment offers spare parts and MRO services, repairs for flight control surfaces and nacelles, radome repairs, rotable assets, engineering services, advanced composite repairs, and other repair and overhaul services. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. has a strategic partnership with Sierra Space to enhance access to commercial space economy of the future. The company was formerly known as Mid-Western Aircraft Systems Holdings, Inc. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.
Guffadi is a grumpy old man who blogs at guffadi.blogspot.com.
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Zoetis Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic products in the United States and internationally. It commercializes products primarily across species, including livestock, such as cattle, swine, poultry, fish, and sheep; and companion animals comprising dogs, cats, and horses. The company also offers vaccines, which are biological preparations to prevent diseases of the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and reproductive tracts or induce a specific immune response; anti-infectives that prevent, kill, or slow the growth of bacteria, fungi, or protozoa; and parasiticides that prevent or eliminate external and internal parasites, which include fleas, ticks, and worms. It also provides other pharmaceutical products that comprise pain and sedation, antiemetic, reproductive, and oncology products; dermatology products for itch associated with allergic conditions and atopic dermatitis; and medicated feed additives, which offer medicines to livestock. In addition, the company provides portable blood and urine analysis testing, including point-of-care diagnostic products, instruments and reagents, rapid immunoassay tests, reference laboratory kits and services, and blood glucose monitors; and other non-pharmaceutical products, including nutritionals and agribusiness services, as well as products and services in areas, such as biodevices, genetics tests, and precision animal health. It markets its products to veterinarians, livestock producers, and retail outlets, as well as third-party veterinary distributors through its sales representatives, and technical and veterinary operations specialists. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.
The Mets were reportedly unwilling to trade outfielder Juan Lagares as of November, but teams are continuing to show interest in the soon-to-be 28-year-old, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). Its unclear whether New York is now open to moving Lagares, whos far and away the most qualified center field candidate on a team loaded with corner outfielders. Dealing the defensively adept Lagares and getting rid of his $4.5MM for 2017 would perhaps give the Mets the financial freedom to address their bullpen, though, as Puma notes. Lagares, whos fresh off back-to-back underwhelming offensive seasons, has four years and either $20.5MM or $29.5MM left on his contract  depending on what happens with his 2020 club option.

More from the market:
Ghanas number one lead controversial celebrity Afia Schwarzeneger, has set Regie Rockstones office blazing with her succulent dance to the Onaapo song.

The hall which was predominated by males but as soon as Afia Schwarzeneger stormed the dancing floor with the Onaapo song been played, she immediately at once by force won all admirations and instantly became the center of attention.

With a charged atmosphere the Tv presenter gave her all out dance and only one word could best described it and that is lit.

Watch Afia Schwarzenegers dance with her pinky hair wig on,
Three children, aged between 12 and 16 years who were allegedly practicing occultism in a container at Chapel Hill area in Takoradi have been arrested and are in the custody of Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana police.

Another child, who was believed to be 'the grandmaster' and a resident of Takoradi was on the run with another culprit.

Information DAILY GUIDE gathered indicated that the children were engaged in the alleged nefarious practice because they wanted to be strong and powerful spiritually.

Others also alleged that the children were preparing charms for other young people for them to become attractive to girls also known as 'for girls'.

An eye witness told DAILY GUIDE that a female resident in the area used to operate a boutique in the container but thieves broke into it and made away with some of the items.

So the owner of the container, one Aunty Kwansima, emptied the container, which was located behind her house, as she looked for another place to put the container, the eyewitness indicated.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that on January 28, 2017, a gentleman decided to weed around the container and saw some strange items in it and so the following day, he decided to hide somewhere to see which people would come there.

After a few minutes, he saw five young boys entering the container so he quickly informed the owner of the container who together with her husband entered it and managed to arrest three of the young boys.

Upon interrogation, the children admitted practicing occultism for different reasons and that the container was their meeting place.

They were reported to have said they were introduced to the practice by the grandmaster who was on the run because they wanted to get more money.

The children were later handed over to the police pending further investigations.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that even though some of the parents of the children were informed about the arrest of their kids, they never set foot at the police station alleging that their children were stubborn and needed to be punished.

Meanwhile, the owner of the container had indicated that she would take a new container from the parents of the children.

According to her what the kids were doing in her container had lots of spiritual implications and could adversely affect her business if she continued to sell in it.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi


I am inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa because all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours  whereas all the testing says not really. I hope that everyone is equal but people who have to deal with black employees find this not trueYou should not discriminate on the basis of colour, because there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don't promote them when they haven't succeeded at the lower level.

Prof James Dewey Watson

When one considers the level of deprivation, denial, poverty, social and economic injustice in the Ghanaian society, then it is not only immoral but also criminal for certain provisions of the 1992 Republican Constitution, the supreme law of the land, to allow legal corruption to thrive. It would appear that the Constitution was crafted to allow the elite in society who find themselves in positions of trust to perpetuate a perpetual master-servant relationship and thus worsening the gross injustice existing among the citizenry. There are many provisos in the Constitution which I could cite to prove my point of view. However, but for the purpose of this article, I will make reference to chapter 9: the Council of State, chapter 8: the Executive and chapter 10: the Legislature because the Constitution has created these three bodies which in combination create a colossal corruption coalition whereby legal corruption is perpetrated with impunity.

Article 91 of the Constitution which establishes the Council of State states as follows:

(1) The Council of State shall consider and advise the President or any other authority in respect of any appointment which is required by this Constitution or any other law to be made in accordance with the advice of, or in consultation with the Council of State.

(2) The advice referred to in clause (1) of this article shall be given not later than thirty days after the receipt of the request from the president or other authority.

(3) The Council of State may, upon request or on its own initiative consider and make recommendations on any matter considered or dealt with by the President, a Minister of State, Parliament or other authority established by this Constitution except that the President, Minister of State, Parliament or other authority shall not be required to act in accordance with any recommendations made by the Council of State under this clause.

(4) The Council of State shall perform such other functions as may be assigned to it by this Constitution or any other law not inconsistent with this Constitution

The Council of State consists of 25 members, eleven of whom are appointed by the President. The President therefore has the opportunity to appoint eleven sound, sane, wise, healthy looking professionals and academicians of the highest intellect and repute in various fields of human endavours to form part of the Council of State. However, what has been the reality on the ground is far less palatable. A critical examination of many of the nominees of past presidents depicts disused extra time politicians with no relevance to the constituencies where they come from. Looking at the backgrounds of many of them, there is no way they can offer any reliable, independent, objective advice to a president who already acts quite clearly in politically partisan and tribal manner with large dose of nepotism as we have witnessed in the immediate past, especially when it comes to making crucial appointments. The legal corruption surrounding the Council of State runs deep.

The President is not bound to act on the advice of the Council of State and this is ominous since all proceedings of the Council of State are considered secret. Thus, the public has no way of judging the competencies of the Council of State, the quality of advice it offers and the respect given to it by the President. Additionally, it is not only the advice of the Council of State which is shrouded in secrecy but also its budget. However, from the manner the educated elite in society always polish their shoes and lace their gloves to contest for the elected slots on the Council of State as it is already happening, there can be no denying that fact that a position on the Council of State brings both enormous social and economic benefits. Indeed evil tongues rumour that the entire budgetary allocation of the Council of State for a four year term should be enough to remove and rehabilitate all the deprived souls putting their lives in danger running after vehicles while selling wares on our streets.

The superfluous nature of the Council of State becomes obvious when it is linked to the constitutional provision on the prerogative of the President to make appointments onto many state bodies and in particular the powers of the President to appoint ministers. One important area where the privilege to make appointments has always been grossly abused is that of the appointments of ministers and deputy ministers. Article 76, clause 1 states:

There shall be a Cabinet which shall consist of the President, the Vice President and not less than ten and not more than nineteen Ministers of State. Article 78 expects that majority of the Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament. Clause 2 of the article also states: The President shall appoint such number of Ministers of State as may be necessary for the efficient running of the State.

In our current dispensation what it means is that the President with Parliament at his beckon has no limit as to the amount of Ministers of State he can appoint. This clearly breeds legal corruption. Additionally, if the Constitution allows the President to appoint 19 cabinet ministers, an unspecified number of non-cabinet ministers, regional ministers for each region plus undefined number of deputy ministers, numerous metropolitan and district chief executives, should the President be allowed to spend state money to appoint additional citizens to advise him on any other issue, such non-binding advice, when such advice on any issue could be sought from any quarters by the President, even ex-gratis? Clearly, the Council of State is one of the most wastepipe elitist institutions created by the Constitution and it must be abolished with immediate effect and its budgetary allocation channeled to more useful and productive endeavours.

The Constitution, unfortunately, has created a corrupted Presidency and Parliament which allows legal corruption to be perpetrated with impunity. Article 71 of the Constitution which deals with Determination of Certain Emoluments is perhaps the most contentious, the most immoral and the most criminal provision ever crafted in the supreme law of any country, while article 76 which forces the President to appoint majority of the Minsters of State from Parliament clearly cripples and destroys the powers of the Legislature to act as the watchdog of the Executive, all clear cases which allow legal corruption to be perpetrated with gross impunity.

E-mail: [email protected]

By Kwame Gyasi
A broadcast journalist with Accra-based Oman FM, escaped death on Thursday night after he was shot by suspected armed robbers.

The journalist, Michael Craigg Afful, who lives at official town, a suburb of Ashaiman with his wife and other relatives, was rushed to the Tema General Hospital for treatment, and has since been discharged.

According to him, the incident occurred around 2:00am on Friday, when he heard some movements on his compound.

He said when he got up to find out what was happening, the armed robbers had already broken into his room through the main entrance.

He said was pushed to the floor and asked to surrender all the money he had. He obliged and gave them Ghc1,300 and CFA 3,000.

The robbers also made away for a flat screen LED television and four mobile phones belonging to him and other occupants of the house.

I was shot in my leg when I attempted raising alarm, they beat me up till I also lost two of my teeth.



By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana


SCORES OF officers who were engaged by the Electoral Commission (EC) to work at the various polling stations during the December 7 elections are complaining about illegal deduction of monies due them.

According to them, the EC had unjustifiably deducted GH20 from the amount that each person was supposed to have collected.

Some of the affected officers called into the 'morning show' programme of Ashh FM, a radio station in Kumasi on Thursday, to complain bitterly about the happening.

They claimed that about 1,000 people were recruited by the EC to render services to the electoral body during the polls and they suspected every one of them was given the raw deal.

The affected people therefore appealed to the EC leadership to intervene immediately so that their monies  which they claimed had been illegally deducted  would be refunded to them.

When the EC was called into the programme, its Ashanti Regional boss, Serebuo Quaicoe, stated that his office had not ordered any of its officials to deduct monies from people who worked for the EC last year.

He said the categories of workers that the EC engaged during the polls were supposed to be paid ranging from Presiding Officers (GH400), Ballot Officers (GH350) to Ballot Paper Issuers (GH300).

But some of the workers from Suame, Oforikrom and Manhyia North Constituencies complained bitterly on radio that GH20 was illegally deducted from their emoluments by the EC officials.

They alleged that they were made to sign for amounts such as GH400, GH350 and GH300 respectively, to be paid to them, but to their dismay, GH20 was deducted from each person's perquisite during the payment.

Mr. Quaicoe stated that he had no hand in the alleged illegal deduction of monies, admonishing the workers who are yet to receive theirs to insist that the full amount is paid to them.

He said two accountants in the Ashanti Region had been engaged to pay the monies to the workers, and so he was surprised about the turn of events.

The regional EC boss said it would be extremely difficult for the deducted monies to be refunded, since the affected people signed that they had been paid the full amounts.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi


Gradually ministers are taking their positions as are heads of parastatals. Very soon, we know the President's representatives in the districts and municipalities would be following suit and the complement of appointees would have been complete for the realization of the assortment of life transforming programmes of the new government.

The journey to today has been arduous, inclement political climate et al conspired to work against all, safe the then ruling party and its agencies.

Ghanaians have had to endure very terrible and restive moments, because those at the helm were not committed to making life easy for their compatriots; their promises largely hot air, never seeing the light of day.

For them, serving in public offices is synonymous with amassing wealth even if hunger was etched on the countenances of the masses.

The mismanagement of state resources to the detriment of the welfare of the people is unacceptable and not commensurate with the tenets of the two great faiths.

Such callousness, in a country where poverty is rooftop altitude, is beyond comprehension.

One advantage the incumbent political administration has is that it can learn from the pitfalls of its predecessors, whose hubris and ostentation are classic attributes which accelerated its demise.

If the freshly minted appointees do not steer off these, they would discover when it is too late what their folly has done to them.

Many factors set the former political administration on collision path with most Ghanaians  something which was evidenced in the outcome of the December polls.

Ghanaians voted for change because they were glaringly opposed to the status quo which was symbolized by arrogance, ostentatious lifestyle and abuse of office, alongside corruption. Indeed, the ostentatious lifestyle could not have been sustained without corruption upon which it was hinged.

The message of the opposition during the campaign season touched the hearts of the electorate, and so when it was time to vote, they could not resist the urge to succumb to the call of the then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo to consider their pitiable and avoidable statuses and vote out the erstwhile government.

Let them who have been given the nod to hold the office of ministers and other appointments understand that they must toe the line of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who crisscrossed the country and endured mendacious stories about him just so he would be voted to come and serve the people and not lord it over them.

The President has said time without number that those who seek money should turn their attention to the private sector, which would be supported with the necessary impetus to make it attractive.

By implication, public or political office, should not be the place to make money that being the mentality of many who go into politics in the past, not any longer anyway; President Nana Akufo-Addo has decreed.

That politics or public office is about rendering selfless service to the country is something which cannot be overlooked. Indeed there is no gainsaying the fact that those who do not emulate the incorruptibility status of President Nana Akufo-Addo would soon find themselves kicked out by a man who continues to boast of this sterling attribute  a quality which has endeared him to most Ghanaians, some of them outside his political party. If they have found themselves among the team, let them learn from the clean public life records of President Nana Akufo-Addo, lest they are chased out by the now politically savvy Ghanaian electorate.
James Ibori, seen here in 2006, served as governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP/File)

04.02.2017 LISTEN

Lagos (AFP) - One of Nigeria's most powerful men, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering and fraud in a landmark anti-corruption case, has returned home, his aides told AFP on Saturday.

"Chief James Ibori has arrived. He landed in Abuja in the early hours," said Ighoyota Amori, a political adviser to Ibori, who was governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007.

He said Ibori, who was released in London in December after serving just over four years of a 13-year jail term, would later fly to the southern port city of Warri in Delta state.

"A chartered private plane will fly him to Warri and he will land at Osubi airfield operated by Shell," he added.

The former politician would be received at the airstrip by supporters and sympathisers who have lined up to welcome him back, he added.

"For now, it is going to be a quiet ceremony. An elaborate reception will be organised later for him at Oghara, his hometown," he said.

Ibori's media aide, Tony Eluemunor, also confirmed his arrival, saying only: "He is in town. I will keep you posted later."

Rare blow against graft

Ibori was jailed in April 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly 50 million pounds (at the time $78.5 million/62 million euros) following a drawn-out extradition procedure and his evasion of arrest and prosecution in Nigeria.

He had fled to Dubai in 2010, from where he was extradited to Britain.

Anti-corruption campaigners say billions of pounds of ill-gotten wealth is moved each year through Britain, its overseas territories and dependencies and Ibori's conviction was a rare success against global graft.

Ibori, 57, has vowed to appeal the conviction, claiming that at least one police officer involved in the investigation against him had been compromised by taking bribes.

London's Metropolitan Police has said it has investigated the claim but no charges were brought.

Transparency International on Friday called Ibori's intent to appeal "an affront to justice".

Opinions are divided in Nigeria itself about whether Ibori should face a fresh trial on his return given the strong anti-corruption stance of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ibori is said to have partially funded the election of Umaru Yar'Adua in his successful bid to become president in 2007.

Even during his time in prison, he is said to have influenced the election of the current Delta state governor and other politicians.
Forty years on, construction of Kankai dam takes forever

Although four decades have elapsed since the construction of Kankai dam in Jhapa district first made the buzz, not an inch of progress has been achieved towards this end, grieve the local peasants.
Tawia Adamafio recalled in his book how the return journey from Bawku to Accra took place under a heavy deluge and without an order of travel.

His car was the 34th in the convoy something which he said was used against him during his trial in 1963 when he was charged with treason.

The position of his car according to him was used by his enemies to mean because he knew what awaited the President he positioned it as such.

Later in 1963 when I was standing trial, this incident was brought against me by my enemies that because I knew of the impending attack on Kwame I kept far away from him. Nothing could be far from the truth, he said.

The road from Tenkudugu to Bawku was untarred and as the vehicles drove along they left in their trail a pall of dust. When we had gone some distance, we heard a violent explosion like the firing of a cannon, we wondered what this could be. Cofie-Crabbe, the Executive Secretary of the Party, was with me in my car and we gave no more thought to the matter. It was when we reached the outskirts of the village of Kulungugu that we saw the Party outriders standing guard and they narrated what had happened to us, he said.

On their journey, a village headmaster in Tenkudugu had assembled school children along the road whom he wanted Kwame to inspect but when the request was referred to Tawia Adamafio by Mr. Dei-Annang he declined saying that the convoy was not to stop.

During the return journey, however, the request from the headmaster was passed through a higher authority and granted. Apparently on our return, this schoolmaster approached someone with authority and succeeded in getting the President to stop and alight to receive a bouquet. It was in the process of this ceremony that a hand grenade was thrown at Kwame. The explosion killed the little boy who was presenting the bouquet but narrowly missed the President. The pellets sprayed the back of the President but did not cause any greater injury. It was a miraculous escape from death. Several persons were injured including Asumda, the Upper Regional Commissioner, Tawia Adamafio narrated in his book.

At the Bawku Hospital where Kwame was rushed to, the place became a beehive of activities. Many people had converged on the place some of them party officials. I was directed to the theatre. Dei-Anang and Ako Adjei the Foreign Affairs Minister were standing in the porch and I first went in to see the President. I led the way followed by Cofie Crabbe and Ako Adjei, the Foreign Minister, he said

He continued we saw the President lying on his stomach on a big table. I said to him: 'Oh Kwame.' He said Tawia, these UP men are wicked. They had nearly got me.

Cofie-Crabbe after greeting Kwame burst into tears. Kwame is reported to have said that the doctor was working to remove the pellets buried on his back but has gone into another room to fetch a certain instrument.

Although Kwame had directed Tawia Adamafio to tell the nation what had happened the latter thought it wise to conceal the fact of the injury given his international stature and his position as chief of Nsuaem in the Western Region.

I considered also that political sagacity dictated that we should not give our enemies the satisfaction that they had hit Kwame Nkrumah's person whom we had sold to the world by efficient propaganda as an invincible , impregnable and un-vulnerable personality, he said and which Kwame Nkrumah agreed with him.

A draft of the release to the media was prepared by K.B. Asante and Tawia Adamafio to the approval of Kwame who showed it to the British doctor.

The President had according to the release escaped unhurt a bomb attack. In spite of this, however, Tawia Adamafio was tried for complicity in the Kulungugu grenade bomb attack.

They said I had suggested concealment as a signal to my supporters in Accra to know that 'our plan' had failed and that they should call off the intended uprising!! This was a piece of invention too naive for examination but inner-party struggle is diabolical and knows no shame. It is as bitter and cruel as civil war. My enemies fed fat their ancient grudge against my relentless fight against corruption, he said.

Following the treatment, Kwame and his entourage departed for Tamale the following day where chiefs came to greet him at the Residency including the then Brigadier Ankrah.

After a week's stay, Kwame inspected a guard of honour in Tamale and flew back to Accra to a tumultuous welcome.

Rumours made the rounds that Tawia Adamafio was behind the assassination attempt on Kwame. A meeting at which a staff of the Establishment Secretariat, an Nzema, discussed the rumours and Kwame was encouraged to dismiss Tawia Adamafio from office. I was shocked, but I decided to wait and see whether Kwame Nkrumah, for whom I had slaved all these years, with whom I was so close in friendship, would believe this nonsense. I was informed that a certain Fanti Minister was present at this meeting of the Nzemas, he said.

Tawia Adamafio was told about plots by some officials to put him in trouble. On Monday, 27 August 1962, Dr. Nkrumah sent Okoh to tell Tawia to move to his own ministry away from the Flagstaff House.

Nkrumah is said to have told him that the decision was intended to take off the presidential segment of his assignments to lessen his work.

He asked Kwame Nkrumah But Kwame, why did you not give me the instruction personally, why did you have to pass it through a civil servant?' Kwame replied and said In this Flagstaff House we are all friends and if I sent a message to you by Okoh who is a member of our team I don't see anything wrong with it. However if you think it is not right, I am sorry.'

Kwame told Tawia Adamafio that the Ghana News Agency was not making the necessary impact and tasked him to alter it.

On Tuesday 28 August 1962 Tawia commenced work in his new office Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A few days, however, he recalled in his book that his secretary Miss Janet Moses called his attention to two men waiting to see him.

It was a Police Officer Owusu Sekyere and another officer; the former walked to him and told him after greeting him politely that Mr. Minister I have instructions to take you into custody.

Only one person in Ghana had power to order my arrest. That person was Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the President, my staunch friend and leader, the man we had created by expert propaganda into a demigod. I had coined the deifying slogan: Nkrumah does no wrong. Nkrumah never dies. Now providence was about to show me how transient and futile was political power!

Commissioner of Police, E.R.T. Madjitey instituted an investigation and concluded that I was innocent and that those behind the plot were Northerners based in Togoland.

Another police officer who was instructed to implicate Tawia Adamafio ended up being arrested and detained at Nsawam Prison after the failed attempt by a policeman to shoot Nkrumah.

By A.R. Gomda
Some legal practitioners are against the setting up of a Committee by Parliament to investigate an allegation of bribery involving some members of the Appointments Committee.

This was after a member of the Appointment Committee, Mahama Ayariga leveled allegations of bribery against Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko.

According to Mr Ayariga, the Energy Minister bribed the 10-member Minority on the Committee with GHS3,000 to get his nomination approved.

Mr Ayariga asserted that he received the said amount from Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, whom he claimed also obtained the money from the Chairman of the Committee, Joseph Osei Wusu.

Related: Ayariga's bribery allegation 'colossal untruth' - Osei Owusu

He together with two other minority members of the Committee, Alhassan Suyuhini and Okudzeto Ablakwa then proceeded with a letter to the Speaker of Parliament requesting for a thorough investigation of the bribery allegations against Mr Agyarko.

Mr Muntaka has denied giving any money to any of the minority members. So has Mr Osei Wusu, who described the allegation as a fabrication and sought permission from the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Ocquaye to sue Mr Ayariga.

However, the Speaker after hearing submissions from both the Majority and Minority constituted a five-member committee to investigate the matter.

Contributing to a discussion on the issue on Joy FMs news analysis programme, Newfile, law lecturer at the Central University, Yaw Oppong said the Speaker should not have set up the Committee.

He said there are instances where Parliament is allowed to investigate itself, not in this case, and that an outer body should have undertaken the investigation.

In my view, it is not within those matters that the Article 116 and 117 stated that Parliament is entitled to set up a committee or even engage in an internal investigation.

Related : I have not offered money to anyone  Boakye Agyarko considers legal action

This is a matter purely for the Attorney general and the police to investigate and establish whether or not the allegation is proven, Mr Oppong said.

In his view, Mr Osei Wusu may have misconstrued article 115 or 116 which states that there shall be freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in parliament and that freedom shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of court and that subject to the constitution, civil or criminal proceedings shall not be instituted against a member of parliament in any court in respect of a petition, bill or otherwise.

He said Mr Osei Wusu could have commenced civil proceedings if he so wished without taking a fiat from the Speaker because the matter at hand was not a petition in respect of a bill or motion in Parliament.

It is only in respect of matters that are deemed to be defamatory made on the floor of Parliament that someone will seek permission from the Speaker, he stressed.

Mr Oppong said the Attorney General should have directed the police or other institutions like CHRAJ should have taken up the matter.

He believes that the issue is a purely criminal matter and not defamation, therefore Parliament had no business investigating it.

Another legal practitioner and law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Clara Kaseer-Tee who also contributed to the discussion said Parliament does not have the jurisdiction with respect to corruption to investigate itself.

I dont think that Parliament is in the position to investigate whether or not corruption has occurred or it has carried out corruption.

there is a statement in law that justice must not only be done but it must be seen to be manifestly done, so how do you decide yourself to investigate yourself to see whether or not I am guilty of corruption, she queried.

Mrs Kaseer-Tee said the issue falls within the ambits of the police or CHRAJ, as stated by Article 218e, and they should have been called in to do so.

However, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central Isaac Adongo disagrees with the two lawyers.

He said Parliament did no wrong in setting up the Committee and that it has the power to have it set.

We have to understand that Parliament has the power to set up the committee and indeed apart from the standing and select committees, our standing orders allows the Speaker to set up an adhoc or special committee to deal with matters that are not covered by the standing and select committees.

And so it is completely right to have the Committee, it is completely legitimate, he said.

Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea, who was also on the panel, said proceedings of the Committee should be done in the open.

He believes that because the issues involve parliament and senior members of parliament, the public interest will be served if it is done in the open.

To improve credibility and public accountability, they should have these proceedings televised. Sometimes proceedings by the privileges committee, which is against individuals are broadcast so parliament should rake a cue from it.

He, however described the issue as bizarre and that so many aspects of it that defies understanding.

Me Akomea said a situation where the minority making a categorical allegation against heir leader is extraordinary and has never happened.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected]
The Ghana Police Service on Friday [February 3], held a pulling out parade for its retired Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor.

Mr. Kudalor retired from service two weeks ago, after more than two decades of serving in the service.

The ceremony was attended by the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Marshall Samson Oje, and the Heads of other state security agencies.

Mr. Kudalor was appointed by former President, John Dramani Mahama to the position in an acting capacity in November 2015. He was later confirmed IGP in February 2016.

Mr. Kudalor in his remarks thanked the government, both past and present for their support, and called on the public to support the acting IGP, David Asante Apeatu to effectively discharge his duties.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, January 25, named COP David Asante-Apeatu as the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) after John Kudalor went to the Flagstaff House to bid the president farewell.

Role/Positions held by the new IGP

Director General Research & Planning of the Ghana Police service

He was once the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the service.

In 2007 he was appointed Director of the Specialised Crime and Analysis (SCA) Unit at the INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon France.

Internationally, he had worked at the Sarajevo Police Academy as an Instructor in Human Dignity, Police Ethics and Criminal Investigations under the auspices of the United Nations Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1997 to 1998.

He was the team leader in a successful homicide investigation under the request of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNAMIL).

He was the team leader in investigations into the mass murder of more than 50 people, mostly West African nationals, in The Gambia.

In Ghana, he was the Lead Investigator in the serial killing of more than 30 women that led to the arrest of a culprit who had been prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to death.

Under the supervision of Mr Asante-Apeatu and based on intelligence, the CID successfully conducted an operation that resulted in the seizure of 588 kilogrammes of cocaine with the street value of about $38 million.



By: Franklin Badu Jnr/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Ghana Mental Health Authority has appealed to government to commit resources to funding mental health care, by employing mental health professionals to improve the countrys worsening mental health situation.

According to the Deputy Director of Community Care at the Authority, Mrs. Priscilla Tawiah Elikplim, regular funding of mental health and recruitment of clinical psychologists and counselors is critical to ensuring that, the populace remains mentally healthy.

Speaking at Mental Health Services 2016 Annual Regional Performance Review in Bolgatanga, Mrs. Elikplim bemoaned the shortage of antipsychotic medicines at all public mental health facilities due to governments inability to supply the drugs for close to three years, thus affecting mental health delivery.

Priscilla Tawiah Elikplim

Government is supposed to fund mental health care, but the funding is not coming leading to no government sponsored free antipsychotic medicines like Risperidone, Olanzapine, injectables and other tablets which are not coming for almost 3 years now. But we are currently relying on benevolent donors and philanthropists, sometimes they will donate near expiring medicines to us, with the lifespan of the medicine being just a month but is better than none.

She appealed to the Minister of Health, Kwaku Aygemang-Manu, to adequately fund mental health care, especially regular supply of anti-psychotic medicines since they were left at the mercy of donor support.

Mrs. Elikplim also appealed to government to recruit Clinical Psychologists and Psychiatrists to improve mental health care, and educate the public on psycho-social disorders.

She appealed to Parliament to pass the Legislative Instrument (LI) on Mental Health to give legal backing to the Mental Health Authority to function effectively.

Mrs. Elikplim stressed that, the passage of the LI would not only make the state commit more resources to addressing issues relating to mental health, but would ensure that all stakeholders in support of the mentally ill live up to their tasks and responsibilities.



By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana
04.02.2017 LISTEN

An unexamined life is not worth living. I have always loved this quote to bits. In spite of its Socratic embellishments, its much more of common sense to me. Well, philosophy mostly, is common sense wrapped in history and experience. Essentially, we need to constantly remind ourselves about the things that happened to us in the past to enable us to steer away those very things that showed us the negative sides. Even a country needs to examine its life constantly.

Back in the days, I enjoyed listening to fairytales from grandma after dinner by a bon-fire with my siblings. It was interesting listening to her because of the inspiration she offered; the stories inculcated in me my reading culture and also increased my level of understanding. Seemingly, the art of storytelling is on its death bed with the advent of new technology in communication.

While on a visit to grandma this Christmas in the village, she shared with me some of the fascinating things about education in Ghana and how far weve come, I really enjoyed it because she was once the headmistress of our village school in the late 70s. She asked me if I remembered my class one teacher; of course, I replied in the affirmative. In her response, she narrated how teachers were held in high esteem in the past and why everyone remembers that special teacher in primary school.

Indeed, teachers showed much interest in the development of their students at no extra cost in the past. Parents and town macho men were not the ones you would usually compare to teachers. No teacher was threatened for disciplining a child; they were the gatekeepers of the communitys code of discipline. It was beautiful how communities appreciated the effort of teachers by providing accommodation for newly posted teachers, farm produce, fish and other foodstuff. Their motivation and reverence were much desired by other professionals. Communities supported the building of schools in their locality in a form of communal labor hence limiting the cost and governments, never reneged in transferring school funds and grants early. Teachers served as mentors and role model for student, even suggested to parents when their kids should sit for common entrance and supported students career development. So where did we go wrong as a nation?

I believe the time has come for us to remember this glorious past and envision how it can sharpen todays educational policy and the future. The world is changing and society must also change. Cyber world and Information Technologies are growing at a remarkable pace and this is the reality. Mobile phones and Tablet are banned from our schools, these gadgets are becoming too important to us as if without it, we cant survive and that is the reality! In the advanced world, kids are using these gadgets in schools, we must rethink the use of phones and tablet to acquire knowledge or regulate it use rather than the ban. Parent use these gadgets to assist kids homework because they have no idea of what their kids are learning in modern times, most at times resort to internet for assistance and thats the reality. Knowledge in the 21st century cant only be acquired in a four square room but anywhere and even online.

We must rethink skills development in Ghana. Various government and policy analyst talk about technical and vocational education but little attention is given. You take the budget of various government at the Ministry of Education and youll be amazed the provision for TVET is less than 5%. Our laboratories are not adequately equipped and in places no laboratories hence dont even provide student with the necessary skill needed.

We must revisit our curricular. What student learn and how they learn must be changed. What employers want and what we have learnt represent a big deficit. We should engage employers in our curricular to know what they really need before they hire to reduce the graduate unemployment.

In conclusion I believe government must provide resources and adequate infrastructure to improve education and teachers must be put in their place as the glorious light of the educational system. There should be reforms in the way we do our assessment. Whatever youre learning, we have one way of assessing and thats written examination. We are all subjected to one way of assessment, we have to rethink of how we assess people in technical schools. At the end of the day, its not what you have chewed and poured that will give us work but what you can do.

Lately its as if when youre born in a village, your future is defined but in the past it wasnt like that. Most of our leaders attended syto but lately most leaders take their kids to international schools, we must pay special attention to rural education and less privileged schools. I encourage teachers to take the students as if they were theirs and be that special person the student will always remember, for one day theyll be rewarded. Student should always remember whose mother and father they are and take studies serious. Teaching is not a job but a God given talent and calling so let serve well. Long Live Ghana!

Bright Baah Egyir

Executive Director, Glarmorgan Institute

[email protected]
04.02.2017 LISTEN

From a publication on Ghanaweb on Tuesday, 31 January 2017, sourced from the Al-Hajj newspaper titled, Ibrahim Mahama warns Kennedy Agyapong, as could be read via the web link below, I have my own reservations.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Ibrahim-Mahama-warns-Kennedy-Agyapong-505369

The Managing Editor of the newspaper (Al Hajj), Alhaji Bature, is an intrinsic liar; a known partisan affiliated to the NDC. His publications are always pregnant with nothing, but absolute lies directed at discrediting the political rivals of the NDC. He always puts words into the mouths of people just to have them hate one another, or to incite them to take action against others. Subsequently, I cannot take him very seriously with regards to his newspapers reportage on Ibrahim Mahama, the younger brother of former President Mahama; purportedly threatening to deal with Hon. Kennedy Agyepong should he not desist from soiling his hard earned reputation.

This same Alhaji Bature once published a fictitious article about me (Rockson Adofo). He claimed that Nana Akufo Addos supporters, of whom I figure principally, had been incited to cause the destoolment of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on learning that Otumfuo had bribed the Atugubas Supreme Court judges to declare a ruling in favour of then Presidential-candidate/President John Dramani Mahama in Election 2012.

The article is found on Ghanaweb under their General News of Thursday, 26 September 2013, sourced from AL-Hajj and titled, Akufo-Addos men involved in plot to remove Otumfuo. It can be read from the web link below.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Akufo-Addo-s-men-involved-in-plot-to-remove-Otumfuo-287016

He wrote this article following the Supreme Courts ruling in favour of President Mahama with regards to the 2012 Election petition filed against the Electoral Commission by Nana Akufo Addo, Dr Bawumia and the late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey of cherished memory.

He might have arrived at this conclusion following my numerous publications on the Kumawu chieftaincy case where doubt was cast on Asantehenes role as the Asante Overlord who claims to have absolute right to interfere in Kumawu chieftaincy affairs whereas actually, he has not. Additionally, my publications in support of Nana Akufo Addo might have moved Alhaji Bature to publish that malicious article about me.

Having known Alhaji Bature to be a liar and his newspaper only good to be consigned to the refuse dump, I will not take his views expressed as purportedly coming from Ibrahim Mahama against Hon. Kennedy Agyepong any serious.

However, were his assertions really coming from Ibrahim Mahama, then I will have to ask or point out the following three things to Ibrahim Mahama.

1. Was he not the cause of the collapse, and the eventual dubious sale of the Ghana Merchant Bank to some questionable persons? Had he not refused to pay, or was dithering to pay up, the loan, he had taken from the Bank hence the near-folding up of the bank that led to its sale? As soon as the bank was sold, he offered to make full payment of his loan (debt) to the bank which went to benefit the new owners, I should think.

2. When some Ghana gold ingots in transit to Iran was allegedly temporarily impounded in Turkey, was Ibrahim Mahamas name not nationally mentioned as being behind the illegal removal of the bullion from Ghana? Was it Hon. Kennedy Agyepong who started that allegation or who brought it to the attention of the public? No!

3. In the month of November and December 2016, some NDC faithful including President Mahama and Ibrahim Mahama did embark on what they called fit walk. They used to walk down the streets of the cities in their numbers. Their main aim was to prove that President Mahama was young, energetic and could rule Ghana better than Nana Akufo Addo whom they claimed to be too old, sick and weak to be the leader of Ghana. During that spurious exercise, did Ibrahim Mahama not have armed military personnel guarding him? Was that not an abuse of power come about because of his senior brother being the President of Ghana? Did this issue not raise a national concern?

Hon. Kennedy Agyepong has not been soiling his hard-earned reputation as alleged, but his own untoward behaviours among which he number-plated two of his fleet of expensive cars PEPENI No. 1 & PEPENI No. 2) give him away to be ridiculed. Therefore, both Ibrahim Mahama and Alhaji Bature must get their facts right and get their act together.

Can Ibrahim Mahama swear on the Koran or the Bible or any fetish he believes in that he has not corrupted himself by the fact that his brother was the President of Ghana?

He should please give us a break. Since I do not believe all that Alhaji Bature says in his rubbish newspaper which is not even worth using for a toilet roll, I will not say anything further about Ibrahim Mahama and I do profusely apologise to him if I have hurt his feelings by this write-up. I was compelled to write this article following all that Alhaji Bature said about him threatening to take action against Hon. Kennedy Agyepong.

In case Ibrahim Mahama has cheated anyone in the course of amassing his massive wealth, I shall only advise him to be like Zacchaeus, the Jewish tax collector who after encountering Jesus Christ said, in Luke 19:8  And Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."

The culture of silence and the bullying of the poor by the rich must be the thing of the past, and it shall be! I say shame on Alhaji Bature and his disgracefully substandard journalism.

Rockson Adofo

(Written on Friday, 3 February 2017)
Even before he is sworn into office as the substantive Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Honorable Ignatius Baffour Awuah is predicting an unending Labour strikes in the country.

In an interview with SPACE FM SUNYANI, a private radio station in Sunyani, Mr. Baffour Awuah said he will be the most dishonest person on earth, if he will say there will be no labour strikes in the Akuffo Addo administration.

He noted that, the era of labour strikes are no over.

He promised that when issues comes, the government will deal with them diligently, but to tell Ghanaians that there wouldnt be any labour strikes, he would be lying to Ghanaians.

The Sunyani West Constituency legislator said, it is his prayer that there will be no labour strikes under his leadership as a Minister, but, it is one thing wishing and another thing facing the reality.

The Employment and Labour Minister Designate said the differences will be how to handle the issues when it comes.

Mr. Baffour Awuah indicated that inability to deal with the numerous labour agitations in the country is as the results of inconsistencies on the part of the government in tackling issues confronting the various labour unions.

He noted that, that inconsistencies will always spark labour agitations and pledged to do his best when approve by Parliament to bring Labour agitations down.

The Minister Designate for Employment and Labour Realations stated that workers will be more appreciative if their employers consistent in dealing with their issues.

According to him, if government is able to deal with workers fairly, sanity will prevail in the Labour front and Labour strikes will reduce drastically.

He noted that there should be a national data on the number of unemployment people who are not unemployed to identify the interventions the government has to put in place to address the unemployment situation in the country.

Mr. reiterated his commitment he had earlier made when he appeared before the Appointment Committee of Parliament, to respect the workers.
The US authorities have rolled back a controversial travel ban on people from seven mainly Muslim countries after a judge suspended it.

The state department said it was reversing the cancellation of visas, 60,000 of which were revoked after President Donald Trumps order.

Judge James Robart ruled there were legal grounds to challenge the ban.

Mr Trump reacted furiously, calling Mr Robarts ruling ridiculous and vowing to restore his ban.

People affected by the ban treated news of the suspension warily as airlines began allowing them to board flights to America on Saturday.

Dont degrade us

Dr Samuel Jacob, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was born in Syria. His Syrian wife has been unable to join him.

I am going to meet with my attorney on Tuesday and he will know the latest information about whether my wife can try to come.

Its hard to really understand the detail of this ruling without speaking to my lawyer and so I cant make a decision about what we can do until then.

I live and work hard every day in the US to serve everybody and save lives but at the end of the day I still get classified by the government as simply an x or a y and treated accordingly.

I work hard for the US and I expect the USA to help me and protect me and let me be with my family, not be degraded in this way.

The bans implementation was halted with immediate effect by Judge Robarts ruling, in which he found that legal challenges to the ban launched by two states, Washington and Minnesota, were likely to succeed.

Homeland Security Department employees were told by the department to comply with the ruling immediately.

Customs officials told airlines that they could resume boarding banned travellers. Within hours, Qatar Airways said it would do so, followed by Air France, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa and others.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Mr Trump said on Twitter.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble! he tweeted separately.

The US administration argues that his executive order last week, which caused confusion and anger, is designed to protect the US.

It is expected to seek an emergency stay that would restore the restrictions.

We made it

I am very happy that we are going to travel today, Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented along with his family from boarding a flight to New York a week ago, told Reuters news agency from Irbil on Saturday. Finally, we made it.

Image copyrightREUTERS Fuad Sharef (right) and his family were turned back last month

A cardiologist training in the US, who wished to remain anonymous, told BBC News his Syrian wife had recently joined him but people in her situation would not take the risk of leaving the country in case things change back again.

Among those expected to travel soon is an Iranian infant with a heart defect who had been due to undergo life-saving surgery in the US.

The family of four-month-old Fatemeh Reshad flew her to Dubai last week to get a visa to enter the US, but this was denied under Mr Trumps ban.

The girl will now be allowed into the country and doctors have pledged to treat her for free, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said late on Friday.

Image copyrightREUTERS The plight of four-month-old Fatemeh has been highlighted in the US Congress

Mr Trumps order imposed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. Anyone arriving from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan or Yemen faces a 90-day visa suspension.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson described the move as unconstitutional.

Folks who had visas, folks who were allowed to travel were denied that right without any due process whatsoever  thats un-American and unconstitutional, he said in a BBC interview.

Courts in at least four other states  Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Michigan  are hearing cases challenging Mr Trumps executive order.

In London, protesters converged on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square on Saturday to vent their anger over the travel ban.


04.02.2017 LISTEN

Mr. President, you are welcome from your trip to Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia where you attended the ordinary session of Assembly of the African Union (AU). Your presentation at the Summit was excellent. You gave a mouthful. The nation is proud to have you as President.

Mr. President, the Coalition of Youth Against Propaganda (CYAP) is one of the several volunteer groups affiliated to the NPP which played vital role to get the party elected into office.

His Excellency, literally, it is said in our local parlance that, a contractor does not know his road is not straight until he or she is told, therefore synonymously you could be likened to that contractor. You need us to remind you when you are getting something wrong.

Mr. President, it is important that your attention is drawn to some sad events which occurred in 2008 when the New Patriotic Party lost power to the National Democratic Congress. It is an open secret that, members of our party who were employed on the very social intervention programmes we initiated were dismissed without remorse by the National Democratic Congress. Hence replicating same will not be a bad idea.

To cite further example, Ghanaians who were employed into the civil and public services, but were suspected to have affiliation with our party were equally transferred, dismissed and unfairly treated the same year we lost the election.

Mr. President, you may recall that there were reported cases of our women who had the opportunity to gain contract on the school feeding programme which is under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, had their contracts revoked or abrogated by the erstwhile administration of the National Democratic Congress in 2008. These women who worked as caterers of the school feeding programme made livelihood and become bread winners, but were denied the opportunity to continue their source of livelihood to feed their dependants and family. Some of these women died out of shock. What is more painful than this? Certainly there is nothing.

Mr. President, there were so many bitter experiences the then ruling NDC took our party members through eight

(8) years ago. The NDC took seizure of everything that belongs to the state which had our party members working there. They have no basis to cry foul that, they are being dismissed from public offices simply because they lack the moral good will and justification.

Your Excellency, you are very much aware that, the volunteer groups campaigned immensely for our great party across the length and breadth of the country which led to the historic victory of our party, therefore the members of the volunteer groups are in much anticipation that they will get jobs to do in the NPP administration lead by you. Their efforts as volunteers cannot be under estimated.

Mr. President, there is a saying that charity begins at home, therefore you are to ensure that policies that will create more jobs for these volunteers are enrolled as soon as possible. The existing jobs which are congested by known faces who are NDC members need to be told in the face to move out to allow volunteers to occupy such jobs.

When we allow members of the NDC to continue to occupy such positions which were once occupied by our party faithfuls, but for the sake of politics they were dismissed by the NDC, they will continue to sabotage your administration particularly as our party plan to win the 2020 election beginning from this year by delivering on our key promises.

Mr. President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, our humble appeal to you and the party hierarchy is that the decision to allow the NDC members to work on the very social intervention programme we initiated and other key government sectors should be reconsider to build confidence in our volunteers and Ghanaians as a whole. This will prevent NDC members from impeding our progress.

Finally, Mr. President, the volunteers, party members, sympathisers and supporters expect jobs from you as soon as possible. This should be given the needed attention to prevent any possible attacks on your government.

Thank you.

Signed on behalf of the group by:

T.D (Convener)

(0508121418)
A typical African, gets really defensive and quickly irritated when the vast areas of his or her intellectual shortcomings are highlighted and compared to people of other races, who by the way, have proven to make better decisions at numerous spheres of national life.

We're quick to condemn criticism however sincere or polite, classifying it as racist, even if it were from a fellow African! Indeed, common sense isn't quite common after all...

From the overwhelming backwardness of the African continent, one can be almost certain to conclude that the bulk of Africans are 'blessed' with specially configured minds that rarely THINK! We just empower the brilliant and crafty few amongst us to do the thinking, while we tag along like abducted little children, lured away with sugar candies by their abductors after school.

THE EXPENSIVE LUXURY OF COMMON SENSE IN AFRICA

 It is the absence of common sense, that makes an individual continue to prioritize political party affiliation, far above the prospects of tangible development or the complete lack of it! It's quite stunning how people continuously stay stuck to political parties that have either impoverished their country in the past(naively believing they've repented and turned a new leaf), or tag along still, with the political party that currently impoverishes them!

 It is the lack of common sense, that grants an entire army of citizens the fortitude and patience to tolerate a flawed democratic system, that continually renews the tenure of a frail power hungry leader(of 92years of age) who has clung to power since independence(almost four decades of that country's existence) and intends to carry along his exalted presidency to the grave! He's already been endorsed as candidate for the 2018 elections!

 It is the overwhelming deficiency in common sense, that prompts a large congregation of African Christian worshipers(comprised of both the 'highly educated' and the pardonable illiterate ones) to eat and drink toxic substances at the command of a weird and creepy prophet! In this modern time of knowledge and enlightenment, this can rarely be done anywhere but Africa!

If collectively as Africans, we cannot evolve our thoughts towards politics, religion and other socio-economic areas that truncate our growth, then we shouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed to bear whatever nickname(regardless of how condescending) our peers from other races tag us as, because that's actually who and what we are, until we decide to rebrand ourselves!

Twitter: @princewill_nimi
Garbage litters highway forest in Nawalparasi

The forest along the East-West Highway between Gaidakot and Sunwal Bazaar in Nawalparasi is littered with garbage from nearby towns and settlements.
04.02.2017 LISTEN

How would you like Ghana's 60th anniversary marked? For me, it is about national consciousness. About our values, integrity, patriotism and how to unleash our creative energies, i.e. time to reflect and realign. No wastage, please (Jefferson Sackey, Member of the 30-Member Planning Committee).

Baloney!

What values, integrity, patriotism and creative energies is this clueless man of a scarecrow talking about?

Granted, his specific comment about national consciousness is the dumbest thing we heard thus far regarding why celebrating Ghanas sixtieth independence anniversary is justifiable.

It is the dumbest thing to say because Ghana has never enjoyed any period of national consciousness before and after the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, the worlds Africas Man of the Millennium.

As a matter of fact the apogee of national consciousness coincided with the progressive politics of Nkrumah.

Out post-1966 politics has merely been about political stupidity for the most part.

Thus we have not been able to recover fully since we lost our national consciousness in 1966, owing to the CIA-funded putschism that usurped our national consciousness for good.

National consciousness is serious business and for this reason, and this reason alone, it completely ignores the childlike frivolity and intellectual, philosophical unseriousness of public figures such as Jefferson Sackey.

And then the day after the independence anniversary celebrations Ghanaians go back again to their unpatriotic ways, their old ways of doing thingsthat is, destroying a nation others worked so hard building. This is not national consciousness!

Importantly, building a strong system of national consciousness is a process, a long, tortuous and painful one, of course, one that also requires a dedicated critical mass led and represented by great men and women with a powerful vision of patriotic consciousness, like Nkrumah, to bring about.

But, unfortunately, our largely Eurocentric education and rising materialism have no room for African-centered critical consciousness, patriotism, and political selflessness, the likes we witnessed in Harriet Tubman, Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Amilcar Cabral, Steve Biko and a few others.

National consciousness is when a country enjoys tactical and strategic supremacy in comparative advantage and pragmatic nationalism.

National consciousness is not when our leaders grossly mismanage and plunder the public purse while children continue to study under trees, while open defecation runs the length and breadth of the country making Ghana the seventh dirtiest in the world, while our technocrats and the ruling class care little about improving the networks of unmotorable roads, and while the country dedicates less resources to maintaining its dilapidated infrastructure.

In fact national consciousness is when we drive the engine of social progress, and we have been able to build a formidable economy based on the concept of export-oriented industrialization, where we add value to raw materials; where we provide employment to our millions of unemployed, idling citizens; where create, loot and share and other forms of public corruption is curtailed to the barest minimum; where accountability and transparency and probity reign supreme in the Ghanaian body politic; where we invest in ideas to improve the economic and material and spiritual well-being of the masses as well as to develop the country; and where we successfully renegotiate contracts and deals on our natural resources in order to retrieve what rightfully belongs us.

That is not all, however.

Closing loopholes that allow taxes and other revenues to disappear into private pockets, foreign and local, and providing better public services to our citizens irrespective of regional and political affiliation are worth the public interest and pursuing.

The country and its economy are in bad shape, according to Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP), yet the same country whose public purse we are consistently told is dry suddenly has enough money in it to adequately provide for Ghanas sixtieth independence anniversary celebrations.

It therefore does not make any sense to celebrate in a house that is on fire. That is to say, a house on fire is not worth celebrating in for any reason other than that this house is actually not on fire.

It does not even matter whether or not the 30-member panning committee works on a pro-bono basis.

What we do know in fact is that this anniversary celebrations is merely another means to formalize and entrench the so-called create, loot and share, mostly to benefit campaign financiers and to enrich cronies.

Indeed crony capitalism, mediocrity, open-defecation democracy and political stupidity have come to stay!

Ghana is not at 60! Actually it is at a standstill, negative 60!

President Kalyppo Plagiarizer should watch out! Hear him:

The celebration of our 60th anniversary should be modest, it should take into account our financial circumstances, but it also should be elegant and appropriate; we should live in a good feeling about ourselves.

Look at him, that dated politician!

Rather, we need to build elegant and appropriate brick-and-mortar classrooms for under-tree-studying children so that they should live in a good feeling about themselves.

In other words, these under-tree-studying children should be living in a good feeling about themselves where brick-and-mortar classrooms shield them from the frigid authoritarianism of the elements.

What if our parliament and the Golden Jubilee House (Flagstaff House) were under-tree structures?

Time to reflect? Time to realign? Unleash our creative energies? No wastage, please!

Baloney! Political stupidity at its apogee!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: WHAT JEFFERSON SACKEY, AKUFO-ADDO AND THE NEW ADMINISTRATION CAN LEARN FROM FRANTZ FANON

National consciousness, instead of being the all-embracing crystallization of the innermost hopes of the whole people, instead of being the immediate and most obvious result of the mobilization of the people, will be in any case only an empty shell, a crude and fragile travesty of what it might have been.

The faults that we find in it are quite sufficient explanation of the facility with which, when dealing with young and independent nations, the nation is passed over for the race, and the tribe is preferred to the state.

These are the cracks in the edifice which show the process of retrogression that is so harmful and prejudicial to national effort and national unity.

We shall see that such retrograde steps with all the weaknesses and serious dangers that they entail are the historical result of the incapacity of the national middle class to rationalize popular action, that is to say their incapacity to see into the reasons for that action.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

We need to move away from wanton dissipation of public funds toward a more sagacious use of our limited resources. Wasteful spending and misapplication, misallocation of public funds have done us more harm than good. Most significantly, money and resources yet to be earmarked for this years independence anniversary celebrations constitute an excellent instance of wasteful spending given the current unhealthy state of the national and global economy.

Regrettably these wasteful celebrations offer a golden opportunity for Akufo-Addo and his friends (and the NPP) to recoup their campaign investments through the backdoor. Some of those who stand to benefit from this may include some of the persons in the 30-member planning committee, who think they can somehow throw dust into the masses eyes, with their false claim of accepting to work pro-bono on behalf of the government. The naivety of Ghanaians is killing the country.

Even so Akufo-Addo has a lot to learn from the model example of Tanzanias John Magufuli when it comes to the strategy of prioritizing national objectives and goals by cutting down on wasteful spending. Akufo-Addo needs to do this in order to put Ghanas open-defecation democracy in check.

SOURCES

Ghanaweb. [email protected] Is About National ConsciousnessJefferson Sackey.

Frantz Fanon. The Wretched of the Earth (Chapter 3: The Pitfalls of National Consciousness).
The Lagos state police command has granted 2baba the permission to lead the planned protest scheduled for Monday, February 6.

Fatai Owoseni who is the commissioner of the Lagos state police earlier issued a statement banning any anti-government protest in the state but on Friday, February 3, the state rescinded its threat.

READ ALSO: Northern musicians to boycott 2face's nationwide protest

The commissioner explained that the police was concerned about the safety of Lagosians because a pro-government group planned to stage a protest on the same and worried that there might be a clash as hoodlums may hijack the rally.

The Nation reports that Owoseni met with the 2baba camp where it was agreed that instead of a demonstration, the protesters would meet at a point and read out their demands.

He said: We had a meeting with the protesters and we explained to them why we advised against the protest. A pro-government group wants to protest that same day and we dont want a situation where there would be friction.

We also dont want hooligans to hijack the process and injure the protesters.

READ ALSO: 15000 youths to welcome Buhari from UK vacation

After explaining to them, they said they will go back and discuss with others. They said if they decide to go ahead, they wont demonstrate but would assemble at a point and read their demands.

That notwithstanding, we have resolved to provide security for them. It is our responsibility and we wont shy away from it. We will ensure trouble makers do not hijack the process.

The federal government had also insisted that it was not against the protest as citizens have a right to association.

Source: Legit.ng
The former governor of Delta state Jame Ibori is finally back to Nigeria.

The former governor of Delta state Jame Ibori is finally back to Nigeria, Vanguard reports.

Ibori has been away in the United Kingdom where he served jail term for corruption and money laundering.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: James Ibori appears in UK court again, may lose N95b worth of assets

Ibori who was the governor of Delta state was released in December after serving half of a 13-year jail term slammed on him by a British Court.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the latest News on Legit.ng News App

Also, shortly after his release, the former governor had promised he would return to Nigeria to continue his political career in Delta his home state and Nigeria at large.

READ ALSO: Meet Reverend who is ready to dance naked because of James Ibori (photo)

Ibori in an interview had said: "What happens in African politics... you are in it until you die."

I am a politician, I will always be a politician. I play the politics in my party and in my country for the good of my people," Ibori had told a Reuters reporter in the UK.

Source: Legit.ng
Hunger strike for modern Janakpur enters third day

The Janakpur Extensive Area Development Council Chairman Ram Kumar Sharma and Naya Shakti Party CC member Kalamuddin Raeen have continued their hunger strike on the third day at Janak Chowk to draw the attention of the concerned authority for the creation of a modern Janakpur.
- The United States of America has condemned the attacks on Nigeria Christians

- The US House of Representatives said that Nigeria has been cited as the most dangerous place for Christians to live in the world

The United States of America has condemned the attacks on Nigeria Christians.

The US House of Representatives said that Nigeria has been cited as the most dangerous place for Christians to live in the world.

The congress, also said that the impunity for people responsible for killing Christians in Nigeria is in proliferation.

READ ALSO: Thought we've defeated Boko Haram, Nigerians react to purchase of 12 warplanes

In an invitation letter to former president Goodluck Jonathato sub-committee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights and International Organization, the chairman Christopher Smith said the killing of Christians seems to be widespread.

Thisday reports that Smith said the sub-committee has investigated many crisis faced by Nigeria.

He said himself and one of his staff, Greg Simpkins, have made several visits to Nigeria and have spoken to many religious leader  Christians and Muslims  on the various crisis in the country.

READ ALSO: Boko Haram war: US blocks Buhari from buying fighter jets

Smith said: My staff director, Greg Simpkins and I have made several visits to Nigeria, speaking with Christians and Muslim religious leaders across the country and visiting fire-bombed churches, such as in Jos. Unfortunately, Nigeria has been cited as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world and impunity for those responsible for the killing of Christians seem to be widespread.

He urged former president Jonathan to fulfill the mandate of his foundation  The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation  by promoting democracy, peace and transformational change in Nigeria.

I invite you to come to the United States next week to share your views on this matter, including the alleged Islamisation of government under the current administration and the actions your foundation is prepared to take in pursuit of religious freedom," Smith said.

READ ALSO: Just in: Nigerian lawyer challenges US congressman to a live TV debate

Your timely concession after your electoral loss in 2015, demonstrates a commitment to democracy and the stability of your nation, which was acknowledged by current President Muhammadu Buhari," he said.

Former president Jonathan addressed the sub-committee on Wednesday, February 1.

Among issues discussed with the committee are the implementation of the 2014 National conference, the continuous violence and killing of Christians in Southern Kaduna among many others.

Source: Legit.ng
On Saturday, February 4, the media was hit with the news of the arrival of James Ibori from the United Kingdom.

Ibori arrived Nigeria from UK where he served half of a 13-year jail term slammed on him by a British Court.

READ ALSO: Finally! James Ibori arrives Nigeria

He also arrived the country with the anticipation of continuing his career as a politician, although there are speculations that he the Nigerian authorities will be leveling some corruption charges against him.

Below are some of the comments Nigerians are making on his arrival:

Source: Legit.ng
KUKL chairman agrees to withdraw court case

The obstinate chairman of Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has agreed to withdraw a court case filed against the company he is working for.
Following the arrival of Chief James Onanefe Ibori, after deportation from the UK, the former Delta state governor, has arrived Oghara his country home where he was received by a large crowd.

On his arrival today, Ibori had earlier been quizzed by the DSS and later released.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians have condemned the celebration of Ibori's arrival.

Below are the images from Oghara.

Ibori arrives Oghara to wild jubilation

James Ibori in conversation with his kinsmen

A smiling James Ibori

James Ibori arrives Oghara

Massive crowd surrounds his SUV

James Ibori arrives Oghara

James Ibori arrives Oghara

James Ibori arrives Oghara

Source: Legit.ng
- The governor of Ekiti state Ayodele Fayose has called on the Nigerian government to increase allowance of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)

- Fayose said N19,800 is no longer enough for members of the National Youth Service Corps

- He called on the federal government to increase corps members' allowance to N50,000

Governor Fayose said the N19,800 NYSC allowance is no longer enough

The governor of Ekiti state Ayodele Fayose has called on the Nigerian government to increase allowance of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The governor said Nigerian must collectively join him to mandate the federal government to increase the allowance from N19,800 to N50,000.

The corps members' allowance popularly known as allawee was increased by former president Goodluck Jonathan in July 2011, from N9,775 to N19,800.

READ ALSO: I thought you're PMB's sister: Nigerians attack NYSC member who exposed the AWFUL things Igbos did to her

Jonathan approved the increment in a letter that was sent to the office of the director general of NYSC.

Although the increment was approved in July, 2011 the payment of the N19,800 allowance was with effect from March of the same year.

READ ALSO: So Lovely! Corps member proposes to female colleague (photos)

The then DG of NYSC, Maharatzu Tsiga in a statement had said: They (the corps members) are serving their fatherland, we are posting them to states outside their state of origin, nobody gives them anything except the allowances and it has been stipulated in the law establishing the NYSC that the Federal, States, local government and other stakeholders should periodically review the allowances of the Corps members.

However, in a similar noted governor Fayose in a tweet said a new increment by the current President Muhammadu Buharis led administration will be seen as the promised Change mantra of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party.

See Fayose's tweet below:

Source: Legit.ng
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said that what Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has been saying against them on behalf of his Hausa Fulani masters is reminiscent of the behavior of Aaron when Moses went up the mountain to get the Commandments of God for his children.

In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Powerful Emma, the group said the Adoration of the Golden Calf is what it is called in the texts by Biblical scholars.

IPOB said: "Instead of waiting for IPOB to fulfil God's promise by leading the long suffering children of God to Biafra, Mbaka was possessed by the spirit of the devil to mislead God's children with promises of rich ungodly occultic men like Iwuanyanwu leading them in a movement awash with money."

READ ALSO: Many Nigerians are suffering - Mbaka to Buhari

The group noted why Usman Mbaka's prayer ground was named Adoration. It's from Lucifer himself.

"This same thing Mbaka and his evil followers at Adoration Ground has done is exactly what Aaron did with the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. Those possessed by the spirit of Baal, as Mbaka followers are today, couldn't wait for Moses to come down from the mountain, before worshipping a false god- a molten image.

Today, the exact same Satan is at work in Mbaka and his followers at Adoration Ground who have demonstrated their impatience for Nnamdi Kanu to leave prison to lead God's children into his promise but instead they have risen up to challenge the will of God.

They have sought to introduce Mammon the god of money that Biafrans may look up to wealth and riches rather than the purpose he has for his children" the group said.

He added: "Mbaka and his followers, who are effectively worshippers of Baal, possessed by the evil spirit of Mammon and Lucifer is using them in vain to try to stop Biafra from coming, the same way some elders of Israel were used to rebel against God's purpose at Mount Sinai.

Usman Mbaka never condemned the horrible wave after wave of Fulani herdsmen attack against his fellow Roman Catholics at Nimbo, Uzo Uwani etc because he knows the attackers are Fulani. His blood ties to Fulani people made it impossible for him to utter a word in condemnation.

To Adoration Ground worshippers who are held under the bondage of superstition, Usman Mbaka may have impregnated your mother in the name of Holy Spirit when she was looking for a child, or knelt in prayer with your wayward sister when she was looking for a husband, still that doesn't make him a servant of the Most High God Chukwu Okike Abiama."

Source: Legit.ng
LLRC chairman says report cant be revised

A day after the government formed a three-member taskforce to study the report of the Local Level Restructuring Commission, its Chairman Balananda Poudel said the number and boundaries determined by the commission are unchangeable constitutionally.
- Ekiti state Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen his two accounts at the Ado-Ekiti branch of Zenith Bank Plc

- Fayose noted that when he got to the bank, the officials claimed they were acting based on an undated Notice of Appeal the agency claimed it filed

- Justice Taiwo Taiwo had last December given a judgment ordering the EFCC to de-freeze Fayose's accounts

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has again prevented him from making withdrawal from his two accounts at the Ado-Ekiti branch of Zenith Bank Plc.

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state and President Muhammadu Buhari

The governor vowed to challenge the action he described as the impunity by the anti-graft agency.

READ ALSO: There is nothing good about Buharis administration - Fayose

Daily Trust reports that governor Fayose, who stated this on Saturday 4th February in Ado-Ekiti in an interview with journalists, said he was at the bank's branch in Ado-Ekiti on Friday 3rd February and was prevented from withdrawing money from his account despite the ruling of a Federal High Court which threw out EFCC's application for a Stay of Execution of its earlier judgment that his accounts be defrozen.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo had last December given a judgment ordering the EFCC to de-freeze Fayose's accounts however, the anti-graft agency approached the same court to seek stay of execution of the judgment, but the court threw out the agency's application saying it lacked merit.

Fayose recalled that when he got to the bank, the officials claimed they were acting based on an undated Notice of Appeal the agency claimed it filed.

He said: "This is the impunity we are condemning. The bank and the EFCC got all the judgments of the court, but the agency still harassed the bank to act against the law. If I sent somebody with a cheque, they could give excuse but I was there myself and acts of impunity such as this cannot continue. We will challenge them," he said.

On his recent election as the Chairman of the PDP Governors' Forum, Fayose said he never lobbied for it."My colleagues, in their wisdom, unanimously elected me the chairman of the forum. By the grace of God, we are going to reposition our party.

The Peoples Democratic Party is only a sleeping giant and when it wakes up, those mocking us now will quake. Charlatans who are one leg in one leg out and causing confusion in the party would have to decide where to belong," he added.

While appreciating journalists for their support, he advised them not to allow themselves to be drawn into politics.

Doing so, he noted, would impugn on their integrity and make them inherit other people's enemies.

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Fayose also called on Nigerians to pray for their leaders and support them.

In his remarks, the Chairman, Ekiti State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Laolu Omosilade, commended the governor for his support for the union and his developmental strides in the state.He later presented a gift item to the governor on behalf of the union.

Source: Legit.ng
Against the backdrop of the request by Biafra activists and the Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS) for the referendum to be conducted on the independence of a republic of Biafra, the European Union (EU) has replied the agitators.

Federica Mogherini, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security

Pro-Biafra activists earlier requested that the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Federica Mogherini, wades into the need to conduct a referendum for Biafras independence. The call was made through the OEAS.

The organisation also called for the release of those it described as 'Biafran political prisoners' and a stay of action by the Nigerian troops, and for quick referendum to be held within 90 days.

READ ALSO: Follow latest updates on the 'Biafra issue'

In response to this request, Mogherini told Dr Jonathan Levy, the OEAS chief administrative officer, that while the EU has strong diplomatic and economic relationship with Nigeria, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms remains a priority for the EU and we encourage the authorities [in Nigeria] in every occasion to respect such rights.

The EU further went on to caution the OEAS and Biafra agitators that the push for self-determination and border changes must be carried out within the ambits of the established international law.

It added that the state of Biafra can only be recognized through the international law, and not through the armed secession.

The OEAS had been pushing for an internationally recognized referendum on Biafra independence or autonomy.

READ ALSO: Igbo chieftain wants Nnamdi Kanu to drop his Biafra dream

In the same vein, the OEAS advised that all nonviolent means should be utilized including general strikes, economic boycotts, work actions, demonstrations, lawsuits, and civil disobedience.

The ILO recognizes the right to engage in general strikes and the right to strike is also recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 (Article 8(1)(d)).

Nigeria is a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Meanwhile, the former president Olusegun Obasanjo had continued to hit hard on Biafra agitators lashing out on the pro-Biafra movement describing it as dead agitation which was borne out of sheer ignorance and error of judgment.

He added that those involved in the current agitation in support of Biafra were embarking on a hopeless and futile exercise, which no serious-minded Nigerian should ever become a part of.

Source: Legit.ng
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American military forces launched an operation in Somalia on Monday against the Qaeda-linked militant network the Shabab, defense officials said.

Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that officials were still assessing the results of the operation, and will provide additional information as and when appropriate.

Admiral Kirby declined to go into further detail about the operation, which was first reported by CNN.

A senior American official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the operation, said it had been carried out with Somali partners against a senior Shabab operative.
Perhaps it would be more correct and humane to not pay any attention to this at all, the RIA Novosti commentator Michael Sheinkman observed. In the end, everyone has his faults. Although not everyone tries to elevate them into virtues.

Mr. Sheinkmans take on the matter was broadcast by a state news agency that was reorganized late last year under the direction of the pro-Kremlin pundit Dmitry Kiselev, who is known for both his extreme nationalism and frank homophobia.

As Buzzfeed News reported, Russias deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, took time out during a diplomatic visit to India to mock Mr. Rinkevics for describing himself as proud of being gay. He found something to be proud of, Mr. Rogozin wrote on Twitter on Friday. Though, if you have nothing else to be proud of, you can be proud of that :)
SEOUL, South Korea  An American citizen who said he had illegally entered North Korea held a news conference in the capital, Pyongyang, on Sunday during which he offered a lengthy criticism of the policies of the United States and human rights conditions there, and said that he would seek asylum in Venezuela.

The man identified himself as Arturo Pierre Martinez, 29, from El Paso, and said he had entered North Korea by crossing the Yalu River from China. A statement he read during the news conference was published by North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency.

Mr. Martinez entered North Korea in November, two days after the United States director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., arrived in Pyongyang to seek the release of two Americans, Matthew Todd Miller and Kenneth Bae, according to CNN, which cited a North Korean statement. Mr. Miller and Mr. Bae had been held in the North for antistate crimes after entering the country on tourist visas.

Mr. Martinez said he had tried in vain to swim across the Han River into North Korea from South Korea. In September, the South Korean military said that it had arrested an American who was trying to swim to the North, but did not identify him. At the time, South Korean news media reported that the American had told investigators that he intended to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
The Human Rights Foundation is asking Nicki Minaj to reconsider her scheduled performance in Angola on Saturday, citing a list of abuses committed by the president of the oil-rich African nation.

In an Instagram post, the 33-year-old rapper said that she would be performing at a public Christmas festival hosted by the communications company Unitel. In a letter published on Tuesday, the Human Rights Foundation said that the company is controlled, in part, by the daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled the country since 1979.

Nicki Minaj is a global artist, the groups president Thor Halvorssen, said in a statement. Millions of people look up to her for creative inspiration. There is no good reason for her to do business with the corrupt Angolan dictatorship and endorse the rulers family company.

It is not unusual for celebrities to receive seven figures for performing in countries with questionable human rights records. Lately, the celebrities have also been receiving some scrutiny: In 2013, Jennifer Lopez was criticized for accepting $10 million to perform for Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the president of Turkmenistan, who has long been accused of rigging elections and running a repressive government.
MoWSS seeks Rs 310m to repair water pipelines

Expressing concern over the pipelines damaged due to the ongoing road expansion drive, the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation (MoWSS) has sought Rs 310 million to repair them.
GAMBELA, Ethiopia  In a bright green hospital room buzzing with flies, an older mans eyes glazed over with pain. His hand was pressed to his collarbone, where blood seeped through a white bandage.

He needs treatment now, pleaded a young man at his bedside. The bullet is still inside.

After cattle raiders from South Sudan unleashed a spate of grisly attacks on Friday in western Gambela, a region in western Ethiopia, the main hospital is filled beyond capacity. Othow Okoth, a security affairs officer with the regional government, estimates that 182 Ethiopians were killed in the attacks, and that 104 children were kidnapped.

In this part of Africa, hundreds of people have been killed in large-scale ethnic and tribal fighting in recent years.

Dr. Changkuoth Thuok, Gambela Hospitals medical director, worries that there is not enough time in the day for him and his staff to tend to all of the wounded.
On Sunday, Mr. Ortega is seeking his second consecutive re-election, with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as the vice-presidential candidate. There will be voting, but election doesnt quite describe the result. Under a system controlled by Mr. Ortegas party, the Sandinista Front, the voting will take place without any independent observers and with the Ortega ticket uncontested. An opposition coalition was effectively barred from participating. So now, as the 27 did during the Somoza regime, citizen groups are protesting, proclaiming there is no reason, nor anyone to vote for. Other parties have been given places on the ballot, as in 1974, but voters know they are collaborating with the government and call them bloodsuckers. The result is an election that resembles more closely a ritual of one-party rule.

The only real question in this election is the percentage of voters who will take part purely to protest, by simply not marking their ballots or deliberately spoiling them  the only courses left open to challenge the regime. But in an electoral system without any transparency, even the scale of this protest will be impossible to know for sure. The latest survey by C.I.D. Gallup, a polling organization based in Costa Rica, found Mr. Ortega favored by 52 percent of the potential voters, while 42 percent planned to leave their ballots blank. Nevertheless, the president of the Supreme Electoral Council has predicted that this election will have a historic level of voters participation  well above 75 percent.

Ironically, when the Sandinista revolutions leaders were voted out of power in 1990 (allowing my mother, Violeta Chamorro, to become Nicaraguas president for seven years), it was Mr. Ortega himself who contributed to the establishment of an electoral democracy by conceding defeat, thereby setting the country on course to transfer power peacefully among political parties. However, Mr. Ortega and the next president, Arnoldo Aleman, who later was accused of corruption, arrived at a political compact in 1999 that weakened the trend toward pluralistic democracy by setting up bipartisan control of the electoral system. In 2007, that, too, collapsed when Mr. Ortega, now back in office, took sole control.

In 2008, well-documented fraud marred municipal elections. And in 2011, Mr. Ortega, defying term limits law, was re-elected in balloting that was denounced as unconstitutional. He has used the time since to consolidate an institutional dictatorship that concentrates absolute power and that derives political support from an alliance with private business interests and from citizens who benefit from government policies that aid the poor.
President Trumps executive order banning travel and rescinding visas for citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations does not lack for opponents in New York  from Kennedy Airport, where striking taxi drivers joined thousands of demonstrators, to the United Nations, whose new secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said the measures violate our basic principles.



Now the Museum of Modern Art  which in past decades has cultivated a templelike detachment  is making its voice heard as well. In one of the strongest protests yet by a major cultural institution, the museum has reconfigured its fifth-floor permanent-collection galleries  interrupting its narrative of Western Modernism, from Cezanne through World War II  to showcase contemporary art from Iran, Iraq and Sudan, whose citizens are subject to the ban. A Picasso came down. Matisse, down. Ensor, Boccioni, Picabia, Burri: They made way for artists who, if they are alive and abroad, cannot see their work in the museums most august galleries. (A work from a Syrian artist has been added to the film program. The other affected countries are Somalia, Yemen and Libya.)

The works will be up for several months, and alongside each painting, sculpture, or photograph is a text that makes no bones about why it has suddenly surfaced: This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States, according to a presidential executive order issued on January 27, 2017. This is one of several such artworks from the Museums collection installed throughout the fifth-floor galleries to affirm the ideals of welcome and freedom as vital to this Museum, as they are to the United States.

On Thursday night I observed three curators  Christophe Cherix, head of the department of prints and drawings; Jodi Hauptman, a senior curator in that department; and Paulina Pobocha, an assistant curator in the department of painting and sculpture  mulling which works from a rolling dolly to include and, no less challenging, what to remove.
After weeks of pressure from President Trump, Lockheed Martin agreed on Friday to a somewhat larger price cut on its F-35 fighters than it had on the last few orders, and finally brought the cost of the main version below $100 million for each jet.

The Pentagon will buy 90 of the radar-evading planes under the new contract for $8.2 billion.

The F-35 is by far the Pentagons largest program; it has plans to eventually build more than 2,400 of them for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, and hundreds more for allies. Mr. Trump began to criticize the much-delayed project shortly after he was elected and met with Lockheeds chief executive, Marillyn A. Hewson, twice to try to bring down the price.

Officials with the military and with Lockheed said the presidents intervention helped speed up the negotiations and contributed to the cost savings. But some savings will simply come from increased manufacturing efficiencies as the production rate grows, making it difficult to quantify how much can be attributed to Mr. Trumps prodding.

The price of the Air Force version of the plane, for instance, will drop 7.3 percent to $94.6 million from $102 million in the previous batch that the government ordered before the November election. That price was 5.5 percent lower than the $108 million that Lockheed had charged for the planes in the previous production lot.
 39A: Tops of the Mounties had to refer to some sort of helmet or hat, but I didnt think STETSON would be it. O, Canada, honestly it looks pretty good right now, to ride a trusty steed about, keeping the peace and doffing ones Smokey Bear hat.

41A: Take solemn note, everyone. OBAMAS is no debut, but it is in answer to this particular clue. A year ago, Barack and Michelle were clued as Renegade and Renaissance, to the Secret Service. The new presidents Secret Service name, if you didnt know, is Mogul, a word with interesting etymology and multiple meanings, among them a dominating business figure (thought to be referring to the wealthy Mughal Empire in India), and, also, a bump on a hill for people to ski over, which would be from the German.

 45A: This is the sort of trivia that plenty of people might just know, but I didnt; apparently DANISH PASTRIES did originate in Denmark, but they were baked by Viennese chefs, who presumably made stacks of delicious, flaky concoctions.

 14D:Post boxs contents could have something to with mail, but not on Saturday, people. On Saturday we get something made by the Post corporation, CEREAL.

 33D: A pun clue, denoted by a question mark, for an answer thats rarely been seen in the puzzle before. Over-the-counter product? in this case isnt referring to anything medical, but a material anyone renovating a kitchen in the last 50 years would know, FORMICA. An entry that can refer to something quite different, and has in the past  a genus of ants. Cinnamon, Im told, should keep them off the counter.
This result illustrates how pre-stagnation flushing can mask serious lead in water problems in schools, Marc Edwards, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech who helped uncover elevated lead levels in the water in Flint, Mich., said in an email. I applaud their retesting in a manner that better reveals the widespread scope of the contamination and health concern.

Although no level of exposure to lead is considered safe, Professor Edwards said that any tap providing water with a lead level of more than 400 parts per billion represented an acute health risk to young children.

Water absorbs lead when it sits stagnant in pipes for long periods of time. For that reason the E.P.A. recommends that schools testing for lead take samples after water has been sitting in pipes for at least eight hours.

In 2016, amid the water crisis in Flint, New York moved to test the water in its more than 1,500 school buildings. Older buildings often have pipes and fixtures that contain lead, and young children are particularly at risk from exposure to lead, which can harm the developing brain.

Under the protocol the city used for the initial tests, workers went into schools at night, turned on all outlets and let the water run for two hours. The outlets were then turned off, and the water sat in pipes overnight for eight hours before samples were taken. The E.P.A.s guidelines for schools do not address this practice, but experts say it temporarily reduces lead levels because it cleans the inside of pipes of soluble lead.

After finishing the tests, the city announced that only 1 percent of the outlets in schools had been found to have lead concentrations above the E.P.A. action level, that those outlets had been removed and that the water was safe.

In September, after The New York Times reported on the citys flushing practice, citing experts who said it could distort the test results, officials said the city would adjust its protocol and avoid pre-stagnation flushing in most cases.
A law that would have charged New York City shoppers 5 cents for using disposable bags will almost certainly be delayed after leaders of the State Assembly joined with the State Senate to oppose the measure.

The proposed city law, which would have begun on Feb. 15, was aimed at encouraging shoppers to carry reusable bags by charging them 5 cents for each plastic or paper bag taken at the checkout counter. There were some exemptions to the fee, such as bags used for takeout.

Environmentalists have said the law would reduce waste and cut the amount of bags sent to landfills. They also said many of the bags end up in the ocean where they present a hazard to sea life, or they simply fill city streets and tree branches with unsightly trash.

But opponents argued that the tax would place an undue economic burden on shoppers, especially the poor. Dog owners also wondered how they would cope without free bags to clean up after Fido during walks.
None of the citys officers currently wear body cameras, despite a 2013 federal court order requiring that the Police Department create a large-scale pilot program using the devices. That program, overseen by a court-appointed monitor, was set to begin this year and stemmed from the courts decision against the city in a lawsuit over its stop-and-frisk practices.

But the planning between the city and a vendor for a pilot program cannot normally begin until a contract is registered. That the body-camera contract would have to be refiled with the comptroller added a delay to a program that had already been redesigned once by the federal monitor and has yet to be rolled out on the streets.

Austin Finan, a spokesman for the mayor, said the procurement process had been rigorous and extensive and that it was baffling that anybody would stand in the way of greater transparency and the deployment of these important policing tools.

The Police Department has around 36,000 uniformed members, though not all work in a patrol function. It was not immediately clear how many would wear body cameras under the mayors proposal.

Mr. de Blasio said on Friday he was confident the Police Department and the city could quickly expand the program from an initial group of 1,000 officers, to roughly 5,000 and then to the whole patrol force.
While the European Union is assisting in rescuing migrants at sea and in training the Libyan Coast Guard, its priority remains to ensure effective control of our external border and stem illegal flows into the E.U. That effectively means leaving people stranded in Libya, where migrants are subject to rape, beatings and torture in overcrowded camps. Europe hopes to enlist the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations refugee agency to ensure that migrants in Libya are detained in humane conditions. But these organizations in a joint statement warned that, given the situation in Libya, it is not appropriate to consider Libya a safe third country, nor to establish extraterritorial processing of asylum seekers in North Africa. Europe is also investing in improving conditions in Africa that compel people to flee, but that is a long-term solution that does little to address the immediate crisis.

On Wednesday, Libyas United Nations-backed prime minister, Fayez Serraj, offered to allow NATO or European Union ships to pursue smugglers in Libyan waters. Putting smugglers out of business is important. But if NATO or the European Union sends migrants back to Libya, it would violate the law, not to mention basic decency, and betray the values on which the E.U. and its member states were built, said Judith Sunderland, the associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Ahead of the Malta meeting, the European Council president, Donald Tusk, and Maltas prime minister, Joseph Muscat, warned that, with populism on the rise, the E.U.s key values are in danger, if we dont act now. But counting on Libya to keep migrants from leaving for Europe also puts those values in danger. The obvious immediate answer to the plight of African migrants is to open more legal channels for people to reach Europe, and to ensure that every member country assumes its fair share of new arrivals so that Italy is not overwhelmed.
How bad do you need to be to get rejected for Donald Trumps cabinet?

Weve got nominees who dont really know anything about the subject theyd be overseeing. Some hatehatehate the federal programs theyd be charged with guiding. Some have messy financial issues that havent been resolved.

But Trumps pick for secretary of education swept the board. Trifecta! Betsy DeVos, its become clear, knows very little about public schools, doesnt like them and has minimal experience in management. Plus, shes a billionaire whose money is in a bewildering stack of holding companies.

I have never seen a nominee with such tangled and opaque finances, complained Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington.

This was after a procedural vote on the nomination on Friday. The Republican leadership dragged the senators in at dawn, before everybody left town for the weekend. It was a productive morning. Not only did they kick the DeVos can down the line, but by 7 a.m., the majority had also managed to castrate a formerly bipartisan rule aimed at keeping oil and mining companies from bribing foreign governments.
Nepal by numbers

Medha Joshi will soon start researching her masters thesis. Shes from Kathmandu and studies rural development at Tribhuvan Universitys Tri-Chandra Campus.
Dear Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America and South America:

No need to stress.

If youve heard anything about a newly discovered lost continent beneath the Indian Ocean, dont worry too much: Your spots as the continental magnificent seven are secure.

Its true that geologists have found something strange under the island of Mauritius, the former British colony east of Madagascar with a population of 1.3 million. Theyre calling it Mauritia. But its not a continent like you all are. As Lewis D. Ashwal, the researcher who made the discovery, put it: Its a continent in the geological sense, not in the geographical one.

Mauritia is not something people can see, visit or live on, because it's buried beneath millions of years worth of volcanic material.
In the waning days of this years Affordable Care Act sign-up period, the Trump administration declared war on the health law, releasing an executive order that could weaken its requirements and yanking advertisements and outreach off the air.

Those actions appear to have made a difference. Sign-ups for health plans in the states managed by the federal government are down slightly compared with last year. About 9.2 million Americans picked an Obamacare marketplace plan for this year, according to a government report released Friday. Last year, that number was 9.6 million.

The decline by itself isnt that meaningful, but several snapshots over previous months had shown that sign-ups were on track to overtake last years enrollment. It was only in the final two weeks of enrollment, when theres typically a deadline-driven surge, that the numbers dropped. Fewer than 400,000 people signed up for Obamacare plans over the last two weeks. Last year, more than 700,000 people signed up in the last week alone.

The falloff suggests that Trump administration actions may have confused consumers, discouraged them from enrolling or simply made it easier to forget about the deadline.
The Trump administration scaled back publicity and advertising in the final days of the open enrollment period. Mr. Trump also issued a broadly worded executive order that directed federal officials to waive or delay any provision of the Affordable Care Act that would impose a cost, fee, tax, penalty or regulatory burden on individuals.

The order, issued within hours of Mr. Trumps inauguration on Jan. 20, did not specify what actions would be taken. But lawyers and health policy experts read it as an indication that the government might not enforce the federal requirement for people to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.

Mr. Trump has described the Affordable Care Act as a complete and total disaster and has said he wants to replace it with better, cheaper coverage for everybody, but he has not offered a plan to achieve that goal.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and chairman of the Finance Committee, who is trying to draft a replacement for the law, said that todays numbers failed to keep pace with last years. In addition, he suggested, some people who signed up will not pay their premiums and will therefore not have coverage this year.

Either way, Mr. Hatch said, enrollment numbers are down, and costs are up.

That response was predicted by Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader and an architect of the law.

Now, Republicans will cynically point to the dip in enrollment they caused, declare the Affordable Care Act broken and move to steal the affordable health coverage of every American, she said. Meanwhile, in states committed to delivering affordable health coverage to their residents, enrollment in the Affordable Care Acts marketplaces has surged.

Democrats will continue to stand our ground to ensure that every American has access to affordable health coverage, she added.
WASHINGTON  The two most influential social liberals in President Trumps inner circle  daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner  helped kill a proposed executive order that would have scrapped Obama-era L.G.B.T. protections, according to people familiar with the issue.

A third, Gary D. Cohn, the chairman of the presidents National Economic Council, a Democrat who was brought to the West Wing by Mr. Kushner and reflects the socially liberal and economically conservative views of many Wall Street power brokers, privately told aides to the president that he was disturbed it was even being considered.

The executive order has exposed what is likely to be a persistent schism in Mr. Trumps paradoxical presidency: He is a cosmopolitan New Yorker who has long operated in an environment where sexual orientation is often an afterthought, but is nonetheless beholden to the social conservatives who backed him overwhelmingly in 2016, despite reports of his crudeness and sexual misdeeds.

Mr. Kushner, a lifelong Democrat, and Ms. Trump, an independent, travel in liberal social circles and have long supported L.G.B.T. rights. Neither had seen the order before details were leaked. They expressed their dissatisfaction to Mr. Trumps other advisers, and then weighed in directly with the president, who opposes same-sex marriage but has spoken out against discrimination.
UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations childrens agency told its staff this week to avoid nonessential travel to the United States.

The United Nations office in Vienna, which hosts several agencies of the world body, told its staff not to bother showing up to previously scheduled visa interviews at the United States mission there.

And some meetings scheduled to be held in March on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women, an annual session held at United Nations headquarters, are being canceled.

The impact of President Trumps executive order, barring the nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, is reverberating through the United Nations system, even though it does not affect foreign country envoys who have diplomatic passports. And Secretary General Antonio Guterres has told his staff that he has received assurances that foreign nationals who have special visas because they work within the United Nations bureaucracy should be able to enter the United States, too. Or as he put it in a memorandum to the staff this week, the order should not impact U.N. staff and their families who are coming into the United States on so-called G4 visas.
LAKHNA, India  Gurshinder Kaur, a school principal in a village near Indias border with Pakistan, can catalog a long list of local men lost to heroin, which passes across this fertile agricultural belt on its way from Afghan poppy fields to users in the West.

Ms. Kaurs cousin was arrested last month on smuggling charges. Another cousin, her next-door neighbor, changed over four years into a menacing, manipulative specter, forcing his mother to provide him with money until he turned up dead one day, of an overdose.

It has become reflexive for Ms. Kaur to scan her 17-year-olds eyes every time he arrives home, searching for signs that he has tried heroin. At a family wedding, the day before, she counted four young relatives who had crossed that line.

They were there, she said. But they had become empty.

Punjabs drug problem, which in past years was discussed in a hush in family circles, is being trumpeted by opposition parties this year as a full-blown social crisis. With unemployment high, and 230,000 men and women estimated to be dependent on opioids, an anti-incumbent wave seems likely to force the Shiromani Akali Dal party from power in state elections on Saturday and clear the way for major gains by the Aam Aadmi Party, a young political group founded to fight corruption.
Last May when forest fires ravaged Fort McMurray, Alberta, I visited the Al Rashid Mosque in Edmonton. Among the 100 or so evacuee families it helped and sheltered were two families with members who had recently reached Fort McMurray as refugees from the turmoil in Syria. The efforts of the members of the mosque didnt stop there. They rapidly tapped their business contacts and sent several tractor-trailer loads of clothing and supplies to other evacuation sites.

But what I most remember is that in the midst of all that frenzied activity, I was received graciously and warmly by everyone I met at the mosque.

Memories of that reception came back to me on Sunday night as word began to trickle in about the shooting at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec in the Ste.-Foy neighborhood of Quebec City. As is usually the case with such stories, initial reports were confused and often inaccurate. A man of Moroccan descent who went in to help the wounded was arrested, leading to suggestions by the police that there were two killers.

In the end, six people were dead and eight wounded, some critically. Most of them were shot in the back while praying. It appeared to be the work of a single gunman, Alexandre Bissonnette, according to the police. He now faces six counts of first degree murder. The police may also bring terrorism charges.
At the same time, some hope that by reckoning with its troubles, the Met is poised to turn a corner.

Were getting to the same page, said Keith Christiansen, the chairman of the Mets European paintings department. One benefit from all this: Its brought the departments together with the administration to sit down at a common table, and thats something. Now what do we do to move forward and make sure the mission of the museum is not compromised?

Efforts to right the ship have been difficult and painful. In addition to staff cuts, curators were asked to curtail spending for shows and acquisitions. The Met stages nearly 60 exhibitions a year, far more than most museums, but now expects to reduce its exhibitions to about 40 a year.

Instead of moving forward with the architect David Chipperfield on a wing intended to help attract art and money from contemporary collectors, the Met has been forced to prioritize the replacement of its aging skylights and roof above the European paintings galleries.

In an interview, Mr. Campbell acknowledged that the museum had been through a trying year.

My colleagues have every right to feel upset, he said. At the same time, one has to step back and look at the success of the institution.

To be sure, most agree that the museums expansive collections and ambitious exhibitions remain strong. The recent Kerry James Marshall survey at the Met Breuer was widely judged a success, though some critics say the museums first retrospective of a living black artist would have been even more momentous in the hallowed main building.
Heat up your Saturday night with The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wooks sumptuous erotic fantasy, set in 1930s Korea. Or partake of more political satire when Kristen Stewart hosts Saturday Night Live.

Whats Streaming

THE HANDMAIDEN (2016) on Amazon and iTunes. A devious maid, Sookee (Kim Tae-ri), worms her way into the employment of a beautiful young heiress, Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), held hostage in a mansion by her uncle (Cho Jin-woong), an erotic-book collector intending to marry her for her fortune. But a con man (Ha Jung-woo) masquerading as a count has plans of his own  a scheme that seems doomed when things between the women turn steamy. The director Park Chan-wook spun his voluptuous fantasy from Sarah Waterss lesbian romance, Fingersmith, and transplanted it to 1930s Korea during the Japanese occupation. A rebus, a romance, a gothic thriller and a woozy comedy, The Handmaiden is finally and most significantly a liberation story, Manohla Dargis wrote in The New York Times.
BOULDER, Colo.  Quinn Snacks was founded in Arlington, Mass., in 2011. The companys goal was to clean up microwave popcorn, which had come under fire for the material used in its bags, and trans fats and other ingredients that many of todays consumers find offensive.

But just a couple of years later, Quinns founders and three of its employees picked up stakes and moved to this city, which Coulter Lewis, a co-founder, described as the ideal place for a small food company.

When we were getting started, Kristy was calling all over the place to figure out where to get ingredients and the packaging wed need, said Mr. Lewis, referring to his wife, also a company co-founder. Over time, she was calling people in Boulder three, four, five times a week for advice, and we just realized that our support network was here.
Chaplain Alliance, Christian Legal Society file friend-of-the-court brief

WASHINGTON - Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Marine court-martialed for posting a Bible verse in her workspace.Lance Cpl. Monifa Sterling posted the versea reference to Isaiah 54:17, three times around her workspace at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in honor of the Trinity. Her supervisor said,and told her to take them down. When Sterling declined, her supervisor took them down at the end of the duty day. Sterling reprinted and re-posted the messages, but she found them in the trash the next morning. She was then court-martialed.said Chaplain (COL) Ron Crews, USA (Retired), executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.The brief filed in Sterling v. United States explains that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces appears to have wrongly discounted Sterling's religious exercise because she was motivated, not compelled, by her religion to post the biblical quotation. As the brief points out, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act makes clear that religious exercise is protected regardless of whether it is compelled or central to the adherent's faith.the brief states.The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty is an organization of chaplain endorsers, the faith groups that provide chaplains for the U.S. military and other agencies needing chaplains. The endorsers in the Chaplain Alliance speak for more than 2,600 chaplains serving the armed forces.
Newborn baby goes missing from hospital ward in Birgunj

Tension ran high at Narayani Sub-regional Hospital on Friday after a newborn baby went missing three hours after birth.
They come to this country with nothing to their name, said Zaman Ali Hassan, a program manager with the International Rescue Committee.

The Lebanese women who help the groups community centers are sometimes met with reluctance when they try to persuade vulnerable women to join the program. But Ms. Mazloum has an ability to break through the obstacles, discussing her own experience as a way to strike up a friendship with refugees and then gradually become a confidante. With an amiable smile and a dependable confidence, she regularly visits the informal tent settlements throughout the Bekaa region to identify Syrian women and girls who are most at risk.

Rawda is the link between the refugees and the center, Ms. Hassan said. Without our outreach volunteers, none of this would be possible.

At the center, the women can take language, conflict-resolution and computer classes, as well as participate in knitting, yoga and Zumba. There are also programs for adolescent girls on sexual health and healthy relationships, and for women who married young and are now widows and for divorced pregnant girls, who are often stigmatized and sexually harassed. Programs for gender-based violence remain the least funded of all refugee programs, Ms. Hassan said.

The women reach the shelter with various needs, but they show, one way or another, the scars of intense war. Ms. Mazloums dreadful memories tend to come in waves at night: The blast of an explosion ripping through her neighbors building and her three young daughters covered in white dust, and stumbling out of a bombed-out building. The panicked faces of neighbors fleeing their town, Homs, passing by bodies scattered in the streets, and the cold, damp basements they huddled in as they waited out the shelling. The thick stench of blood and dust that triggered her daughters first asthma attack and almost killed her. And, finally, the piercing pain that came out of nowhere and shot through her as she crossed the border into Lebanon.
Abuse marks Ms. Gentiles body. A white scar runs along her hand  the lasting effect of being stabbed by a sharp piece of plastic. She has also endured mental trauma. Ms. Gentile said she had lost count of the number of times her children had been hospitalized or institutionalized, because of the harm they were causing their mother and themselves. But she said the trouble had started after their father died in 2002.

Ms. Gentile takes care of both children, who still live at home. Her son has bipolar disorder, and her daughter has anxiety, depression and mild intellectual disabilities. She said that medication and therapy had helped manage their symptoms, and that they had not been hospitalized since 2009.

But Ms. Gentiles own health problems, including depression, high blood pressure and arthritis, exacerbated by years of abuse, have worsened.

She had an operation to remove her ovaries because of a precancerous cyst. Doctors have told her that she needs to have gallstones removed and both knees replaced, but she cannot afford the operations and fears leaving her children for the duration of the recovery without another caregiver. Injections would ease the pain in her arthritic knees, but her insurance does not cover the cost.

Ms. Gentile, who worked as a medical office assistant and coordinator for a physical therapy clinic, stopped working in 2008 and started receiving Supplemental Security Income a year later. The family now subsists on a cumulative $1,434 in Supplemental Security Income. The familys benefits had previously been cut by $733 when her sons Supplemental Security benefits were terminated in April, because proper documentation was not submitted. The benefits were reinstated this month but reduced by $30.

In 2009 she moved from Queens Village to Far Rockaway in Queens. She sleeps on a makeshift bed and gives her children the two bedrooms. After a public housing subsidy, she pays $410 a month for rent.
1. As a patriot and veteran I am sickened by this callous disregard for people who are critical to the safety of our men and women in combat. As an American I am sickened by the religious test. We can never have liberty and freedom when we deny it to others. This is unsustainable.

 tbriggs47 in Longmont, Colorado, reacting to an article about President Trumps executive order to ban refugees from entering the country for 120 days and citizens of seven countries for 90 days.
We absolutely have a long, shameful and continuing history of prejudice; as the offspring of Czarist Russian emigres, during the Cold War I experienced the ridiculous distrust of many here toward people perceived as a threat. I also recognize that the vast majority of Muslim-Americans simply want to be left in peace. But while non-Muslims need to look at ourselves, Muslims do, too. To counter prejudice there must be wider acknowledgment within your community that the threat is real, and there must be a more visible attempt to make it clear that Muslim-Americans do not adhere to the worst practices of their religion.

VALENTIN K. GRIBKOFF

Watertown, Mass.

I dont think much about my Muslim self. I occupy my life thinking about myself as a doctor, husband, father, son, friend and neighbor. Nonetheless, I am thoroughly Muslim. That is my identity. Society wants to hate the Muslim part of me. Not because it knows it, but rather because it doesnt understand it.

The stories in recent days are so heartbreaking: green cards surrendered, visas revoked, little children separated from their parents, abandoned Syrian refugees. Is the false sense of security worth imposing such suffering? I wish the thousands of patients I took care of in Louisiana for many years and who get their view of Muslims from Fox News knew that their doctor was Muslim. Maybe then, they wouldnt be so quick to judge. Once the labels fade into the background, most human beings realize they are not all that different from one another.

We are dealing with gun violence, school shootings, lack of health care access, an obesity and diabetes epidemic, and so much more. These are things of much more serious public health import. These do threaten the lives of Americans in a serious and meaningful way. We dont need a prejudiced ban. We just need Americans to talk to one another.

UMER AHMAD

Basking Ridge, N.J.

No doubt because I am old enough to have experienced  and participated in  civil rights and marriage equality struggles, I am confident that we can defeat Ms. Mataris enemies as long as we are patient, persistent and polite. Patience because it will take a while before Donald Trumps supporters realize that his policies will not fulfill his extravagant promises of safer and better times. Persistence because it will take repeated efforts to break through the like-minded friendships, Fox News and Twitter insults that Trump supporters use to create a self-defined world. Politeness because anger and insults from us liberals only reinforce the belief of Mr. Trumps base that he must be doing something right. Millions of us are with you, Ms. Matari. We will overcome.

PETER K. FROST

Williamstown, Mass.

Im not even sure I know what identity politics means. As an adopted Asian-American who grew up in rural part of a mostly white state (Maine), I cant say I identify with anything other than myself. The way I vote is based on my convictions, not because I am Asian or grew up in a white family. This term gets thrown around so much by partisans on both sides that it has become meaningless. It is both a call to action and an accusation, a source of unity and a slur. So if someone could adequately define what identity politics that encompasses all the ways that it gets used, I would be greatly appreciate it.

STEPHANIE HARRELL

Hillsborough, N.C.

No person should be subject to the harassment that Ms. Matari has described. But Ms. Matari should also realize that she, as a Muslim, is treated far better in the United States than Jews or Christians are in any Muslim-majority country. Perhaps, just perhaps, if Muslim countries practiced the toleration for other faiths that we have here and that Ms. Matari would want, Muslim-Americans would find themselves more courteously treated.
Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court, must publicly condemn the presidents attack on the judge who blocked his immigration order. Judge Gorsuchs sterling credentials notwithstanding, his supporters in the legal community should withdraw their backing for his nomination if he fails to do so.

After Judge James Robarts ruling Friday evening, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Mr. Trump may be right that the order will be stayed or overturned  the legal merits are tricky, and Judge Robart has not heard full briefing of them yet. But the attack on Judge Robarts integrity is indefensible.

Federal judges have frustrated American presidents since the founding. Thomas Jefferson fulminated against judicial overreach and tried to get a Supreme Court justice impeached. Andrew Jackson disregarded a judicial order from the Supreme Court, Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court with his own appointees after it blocked many of his New Deal reforms. In his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama criticized an opinion of the Supreme Court on campaign finance reform in front of some of the justices.

But, by and large, presidents have respected the federal judiciary. As far as I know, no president has publicly challenged the integrity of a judge who has ruled against him. Mr. Trump, as in so many other cases, has broken new ground.
President Trump has a tense relationship, to say the least, with African-Americans. He earned it. He built his political base in part by questioning the legitimacy of the first black president and demanding to see his birth certificate. He used racism for traction.

So what was his demeanor on Wednesday, when he marked Black History Month by sitting down with a handful of black leaders (supporters, really) in the Roosevelt Room? Did he ramp up the courtesy? Tamp down the self-congratulation? Go out of his way to emphasize that hed be a president for all and that he fully appreciated the struggles and hardships of black Americans over time?

Not so much.

But he did talk about his struggles. His hardships. He couldnt mention Martin Luther King Jr. without flashing on the King bust in the Oval Office, noting that there had been an erroneous report of its removal and lamenting what he sees as his terrible victimization by biased journalists and fake news.

Kings martyrdom became Trumps martyrdom. Black History Month turned into Trump Appreciation Day.

Me, me, me, me, me.
Im more worried about Trumps presence in the White House than Melanias absence. Whether or not she intends it, the woman who calls herself a full-time mom is making a modern statement about the role of the first lady. Shes saying: Ill do it on my terms.

Never since Abigail Adams has a first lady not lived in the White House from Day 1  if they were alive and well, said Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of Americas Modern First Ladies.

Melania may just be enjoying some proper rest in her golden aerie without the distracting light of Donalds devices as he taps his wee-hour tweets that set the world afire.

The reason it would have been so delicious to see Bill Clinton in the first lady role is that it would have illustrated starkly just how antiquated the white satin music box is. The man who knew every detail of the Irish and Middle East peace processes would not have been expected to simply read books to schoolchildren on trips abroad or deal with flowers for state dinners.

Bill Clinton would have upended the role and changed all the gender stereotypes, Brower said. Melania Trump is going to do something equally interesting by refusing to accept our expectations of what a first lady should be. Her refusal to fulfill this thirst that people have for the first lady role to be held by an ideal wife and mother who is everything to everyone is a really unfair expectation for anyone.

We do not know if she would call herself a feminist, but in a weird way its a strangely feminist thing to do. Its gutsy not to move there until shes ready.
These ought to have been the honeymoon days of Trump-era diplomacy. With no major foreign policy crisis to troubleshoot and world leaders anxious to decipher what, exactly, America First would look like on the global stage, President Trump had an opportunity to reassure allies and start laying the foundation for joint approaches to international challenges.

Then the president began picking up the beautiful Oval Office phone. In the span of a couple of weeks, Mr. Trump has rattled the world by needlessly insulting allies and continuing to peddle the dumbfounding narrative that the United States has long been exploited by allies and foes alike.

His administration has not departed radically from some core positions it inherited from the Obama administration. Last week, for instance, it admonished Russia over its destabilizing role in eastern Ukraine and signaled unease about Israeli settlements. Yet Mr. Trumps pugnacious approach to foreign relations and his first executive orders  the most misguided of which was the sweeping travel ban targeting people from seven predominantly Muslim nations  have already undermined Americas standing. The fallout has included large demonstrations in Europe, searing news coverage (the latest cover of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel features an illustration of Mr. Trump holding the severed head of the Statue of Liberty) and strong rebukes from United Nations officials.

It began, predictably, with Mexico. Mr. Trump made Americas southern neighbor and third-largest trading partner the prime punching bag of his campaign. While Mexicos president, Enrique Pena Nieto, has met the deluge of insults and provocations with exemplary restraint, White House officials have done nothing to dial down the tension. Late last month they insisted they would find a way to bill Mexico for a border wall, perhaps by slapping taxes on imports. This message left Mr. Pena Nieto no option but to cancel a trip to Washington that had been arranged to begin undoing the damage. In a subsequent call between the two leaders, Mr. Trump reportedly threatened Mr. Pena Nieto with deploying troops across his border to take care of bad hombres. This was, his aides later claimed, just a joke.
We tried to warn people  hipster friends, Republican neighbors, fellow suburban parents wrangling toddlers near the Thomas the Train section at Barnes & Noble. This was going to be a war on Islam. Not radical Islam, but Islam itself  which includes three million American Muslims and a global population of nearly 1.7 billion people.

The signs have been there for years, but many people said we were whining, exaggerating or claiming victimhood.

Even when Donald J. Trump said, I think Islam hates us. Just to make sure he wasnt subtle, he also promised an extreme vetting of Muslims. He promised a ban on Muslims.

Still, people didnt believe it was going to happen.

At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, a Republican police officer laughed at my dark humor  I asked if he would bring me halal meat in the Muslim camps  and assured me I shouldnt take Mr. Trump seriously. An elderly man in Maine, wearing his red cap, put his hand on my shoulder and promised me that after November I would understand how this once great country would be great again.
There is a hideous injustice overwhelming the world right now. Im speaking, of course, of the war on sugar. Many books and studies are asserting that sugar causes or contributes to multiple fatal illnesses, costing billions of dollars in health care each year. I dispute none of this. But I would like to add that sugar tastes really, really good.

My results can be termed anecdotal, since my research was conducted primarily in my own mouth. Let me ask this: Which would you rather eat, a best-selling 800-page book outlining the evils of sugar consumption, or a Snickers bar? Whom would you rather listen to, a scientist with impeccable credentials, or the green M&M, the one with the little legs and arms that are probably every bit as delicious as the rest of him?

I began my comprehensive inquiry into the benefits of sugar as a child in New Jersey, where sugar was voted our State Addictive Substance. I diligently sampled Hostess products, the entire Mars and Hershey product lines, and that canned frosting sold with an attached plastic container of rainbow sprinkles as a booster. I can report that all of these items caused the following symptoms: tooth decay, parental horror, occasional nausea if devoured in bulk while riding a Ferris wheel, and complete and utter happiness.

As anyone whos ever experienced a romantic breakup, a fruitless job interview or an unfortunate election will testify, sugar can heal. If Three Musketeers bars were handed out before each session of Congress, there would be instantaneous bipartisan cooperation on all matters. I have it on good authority that the more sane Supreme Court justices all conceal boxes of Ring Dings beneath their robes, which theyve offered to share with Clarence Thomas, who has refused, which explains so much.
NT prepaid subscribers to get 4G from today

Nepal Telecom (NT) will be offering 4G (fourth generation) service to its prepaid subscribers too from Saturday, a month after it was launched for postpaid subscribers.
Writing in 1965, the distinguished British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper argued against the idea that black people in Africa had their own history: There is only the history of the Europeans in Africa, he declared. The rest is largely darkness. History, he continued, is essentially a form of movement, and purposive movement too, which in his view Africans lacked.

Trevor-Roper was echoing an idea that goes back at least to the early 19th century. But it wasnt always this way. When the young Prince Cosimo de Medici (1590-1621) was being tutored to become the Duke of Tuscany  about the time that Shakespeare was writing Hamlet  he was asked to memorize a summary of world leaders that included Alvaro II, the King of Kongo, along with the Mutapa Empire and the mythical Prester John of Ethiopia. Soon, however, even that level of knowledge about African history would be rare.

Perhaps it shouldnt surprise us that ideas about Africans and their supposed lack of history and culture were used to justify the enslavement of millions of Africans throughout the New World, especially during the 19th century when sugar production was reaching a zenith in Cuba and cotton was making growers and manufacturers rich. What is surprising is that these ideas persisted well into the 20th century, among white and black Americans alike.

When I was growing up in the 1950s, Africa was the shadow that both framed and stalked the existence of every African-American. For some of us, such as Paul Cuffee and Marcus Garvey, it was a place to venerate, a place to escape the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow. For so many others of us, however, it was a place to run away from. After all, scholars such as the sociologist E. Franklin Frazier insisted that the horrors of bondage and the trans-Atlantic crossing had severed any meaningful cultural or religious links between black folks on either side of the ocean, when in fact enslaved Africans brought with them their religious beliefs, music and ways of seeing the world.
He can do this because members of the Trump administration feel confident that the alternative-reality media will provide air cover, even if they are caught fabricating facts or twisting words (like claiming that the ban on Muslim immigrants wasnt really a ban). Indeed, they believe they have shifted the paradigm of media coverage, replacing the traditional media with their own.

In a stunning demonstration of the power and resiliency of our new post-factual political culture, Mr. Trump and his allies in the right media have already turned the term fake news against its critics, essentially draining it of any meaning. During the campaign, actual fake news  deliberate hoaxes  polluted political discourse and clogged social media timelines.

Some outlets opened the door, by helping spread conspiracy theories and indulging the paranoia of the fever swamps. For years, the widely read Drudge Report has linked to the bizarre conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who believes that both the attacks of Sept. 11 and the Sandy Hook shootings were government-inspired false flag operations.

For conservatives, this should have made it clear that something was badly amiss in their media ecosystem. But now any news deemed to be biased, annoying or negative can be labeled fake news. Erroneous reports that the bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office or misleading reports that sanctions against Russia had been lifted will be seized on by Mr. Trumps White House to reinforce his indictment.

Even as he continues to attack the dishonest media, Mr. Trump and his allies are empowering this alt-reality media, providing White House access to Breitbart and other post-factual outlets that are already morphing into fierce defenders of the administration.

The relationship appears to be symbiotic, as Mr. Trump often seems to pick up on talking points from Fox News and has tweeted out links from websites notorious for their casual relationship to the truth, including sites like Gateway Pundit, a hoax-peddling site that announced, shortly after the inauguration, that it would have a White House correspondent.
If Donald Trump is the in-your-face chief executive, John Roberts has perfected the art of being the nearly invisible chief justice. He can be tough on the bench during arguments and in the justices private conference as well, but in public he exudes a self-deprecating diffidence.

Heres an example: In the early 1980s, when John Roberts was a Supreme Court law clerk, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger would travel every year to the American Bar Associations midwinter convention to give a state of the judiciary speech, unrolled as a grand occasion in the manner of the State of the Union. His successor, William H. Rehnquist, dialed the speech back, issuing it through the press office rather than delivering it in person.

At the end of 2009, his fifth year on the job, Chief Justice Roberts boiled it down to one page. He said that when the political branches are faced with so many difficult issues, and when so many of our fellow citizens have been touched by hardship, the public might welcome a year-end report limited to what is essential. All that people needed to know was that the courts are operating soundly, and the nations dedicated federal judges are conscientiously discharging their duties.

Imagine President Trump stepping back from the stage in such a manner.

The chief justice, a strategic thinker with exemplary work habits, is every bit a match for the president. He is a very good lawyer with very conservative instincts, and his own long-range game plan includes getting the government out of the business of taking account of race, even for the purpose of protecting voting rights or preserving the hard-won gains of integration. On rare occasions, notably in the two Affordable Care Act cases, his lawyerly instincts outweigh his ideological preferences.

The question now is to what extent he is willing to lead his court in standing up against a president who, it is hardly far-fetched to imagine, may trample the First Amendment, withhold information the law regards as subject to disclosure, or defy court orders on immigration or other matters. The signs are equivocal at best. Chief Justice Roberts was not on the Supreme Court for the first round of post-Sept. 11 cases, and was recused from the second round because he had participated in the case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, as a federal appeals court judge.

Then in 2008 came Boumediene v. Bush, a 5-to-4 decision with a majority opinion by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. It held that the Guantanamo detainees had a constitutional right to petition federal judges for writs of habeas corpus. Chief Justice Roberts signed a hyperbolic dissenting opinion by Justice Scalia that opened with America is at war with radical Islamists and went on to warn that the decision will almost certainly cause Americans to be killed. Perhaps more to the present point, the chief justice also filed a dissenting opinion of his own, in which he asked rhetorically who had won the case. The answer, he said, was certainly not the American people, who today lose a bit more control over the conduct of this nations foreign policy to unelected, politically unaccountable judges.
It was fantastic at such an early hour of the morning to be hailed by a beautiful woman in a low-cut red gown asking, Feeling lucky? But of course the woman leaning over the blackjack table was just another electronic fantasy at the video-steeped Resorts World gambling casino on the outer fringes of Queens.

The alluring human images inviting play at the craps, baccarat, poker, roulette and slots games are all electronic figments on happily binging and bonging screens. They are figments well known to Michael Suarez as he wades through the far more threatening fantasies of the players slouching at the screens. Those fantasies ricochet from dreams of big payoffs to the reality of ruinous losses  nightmares driving compulsive losers into desperate gambling spirals.

People call me crying about their lost lives, said Mr. Suarez, an addiction specialist who is director of the Queens Center for Excellence, an optimistically named program of the New York Council on Problem Gambling. The council is a nonprofit contractor freighted with one of the states looming challenges: The growth of legalized gambling  now rapid across the state  is setting off a comparable boom in ruined lives of pathological losers.
Thats not who we are. So said President Obama, again and again throughout his administration, in speeches urging Americans to side with him against the various outrages perpetrated by Republicans. And now so say countless liberals, urging their fellow Americans to reject the exclusionary policies and America-first posturing of President Donald Trump.

The problem with this rhetorical line is that it implicitly undercuts itself. If close to half of America voted for Republicans in the Obama years and support Trump today, then clearly something besides the pieties of cosmopolitan liberalism is very much a part of who we are.

This self-undermining flaw makes the trope a useful way to grasp the dilemmas facing Trumps opponents. In seeking to reject Trumps chauvinist vision, they end up excluding too much of what a unifying counternarrative would require.

The exclusion happens by omission, in the course of telling a story about America thats powerful but incomplete. In this narrative, which has surged to the fore in response to Trumps refugee and visa policies, we are a propositional nation bound together by ideas rather than any specific cultural traditions  a nation of immigrants drawn to Ellis Island, a nation of minorities claiming rights too long denied, a universal nation destined to welcome foreigners and defend liberty abroad.
This is moving much faster than I thought it would. Im not surprised Silicon Valley is a liberal bastion; I am surprised that workers here reacted so strongly to the new order. Were you? And where do you think this goes?

Mike: Honestly, I wasnt shocked. It seemed like a national backlash, and people mobilized almost immediately. Besides being quite liberal, tech has many, many workers here from Asia and the Middle East and this directly affects them and their families. I would have been surprised if they had all stayed quiet.

I do think the Uber phenomenon around this was interesting. Almost overnight, Uber became the target for outrage, as people were upset at the continued willingness of Ubers chief, Travis Kalanick, to be on Trumps economic council. As hundreds of thousands of people deleted their Uber accounts and employees internally voiced concerns, Travis stepped down from the council.

And to your earlier point, the speed of how people mobilized so quickly was indeed breathtaking. I think a lot of it had to do with a feeling of helplessness among people that I heard about quite a bit. They wanted to do something, hence the protests, but also deleting and boycotting Uber felt satisfying to many, like they were taking a stand. Well see if that blows over now that Travis is off the council.

Farhad: On the other hand, Elon Musk, Teslas chief, decided that hes not quitting the Trump advisory council. In a statement, Musk said he didnt like the immigration order, but that hed use his position on the council to suggest changes to the policy.

The funny thing, though, is that Musk already seems to be limiting his ambitions. He suggested on Twitter this week that he didnt think he could press Trump to retract the order. That ship had sailed! But yes, this is still a man who wants to colonize Mars. Guess some things are easier than others.

Mike: Sending a man to Mars is more feasible than changing Donald Trumps stance on immigration. This is the part where I would normally use the thinking face emoji if we were texting each other.
By nearly every measure, Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens was exceptional. Chief Owens, 36, who was killed by enemy fire during a raid in Yemen last week, was a team leader in the Navys most elite commando force, SEAL Team 6, and had earned numerous awards for heroism under fire during a dozen deployments.

He was, one former SEAL Team 6 official said, a blooming star.

But on a moonless night when gunfire erupted as he approached a suspected terrorist compound, hitting him in the chest, he joined a group in which he was suddenly more typical. Two-thirds of the troops killed in action in the last 12 months served in Special Operations units. Like Chief Owens, they were the cream of the militarys crop  older and more experienced than the vast majority of troops, better trained and more decorated. Many were veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who survived the official end of combat operations only to find themselves still fighting in the same countries.

Over the last year, Special Operations troops have died in greater numbers than conventional troops  a first. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they made up only a tiny sliver of the dead. That they now fill nearly the whole casualty list shows how the Pentagon, hesitant to put conventional troops on the ground, has come to depend almost entirely on small groups of elite warriors.

Weve moved out of the major combat operations business, said Linda Robinson, a counterterrorism expert at the RAND Corporation. In recent years, she said, the military has effectively outsourced rank-and-file infantry duties to local forces in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, leaving only a cadre of highly skilled Americans to train troops and take out high-value targets.
WASHINGTON  The Trump White House appears to have backed off for now on its consideration of reopening overseas black site prisons, where the C.I.A. once tortured terrorism suspects, after a leaked draft executive order prompted bipartisan pushback from Congress and cabinet officials.

On Thursday, the White House circulated among National Security Council staff members a revised version of the draft order on detainees that deleted language contemplating a revival of the C.I.A. prisons, according to several officials familiar with its contents.

The draft order retains other parts of the original that focus on making greater use of the militarys Guantanamo Bay prison, which the Obama administration had tried to close. Those sections, reflecting repeated vows from President Trump, include a call to bring newly captured terrorism detainees there and to freeze plans for any more transfers.

After news outlets reported details of the original draft on Jan. 25, lawmakers erupted in outrage, and both the defense secretary, Jim Mattis, and the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, disavowed any prior knowledge of the contemplated order.
WASHINGTON  Decades before he began writing legal opinions, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court, was a student columnist at Columbia University. And he had no shortage of opinions.

His topics ranged broadly, from life on campus to the Iran-contra affair. His conservatism was a constant. And he had a lively writing style that persists to this day.

He and his collaborators seemed to sense that their writings would survive the years. We ought not forget, they wrote in an unsigned 1987 editorial for The Federalist Paper, which Judge Gorsuch helped start, there is something vital and useful in the curious, if imperfect youth  something that shall not be stifled.

Here is a selection of that youthful curiosity.

Free speech works

While mounting an ultimately unsuccessful bid for a seat on the university Senate as a freshman in 1986, Judge Gorsuch was asked by The Columbia Daily Spectator for his views on hot-button issues, including the question of whether the Marines should be allowed to recruit on campus.

The question here is not whether the Marines should be allowed to recruit on campus but whether a University and its community, so devoted to the freedom of individuals to pursue their own chosen lifestyles and to speak freely, has the right or obligation to determine who may speak on campus or what may be said. To fulfill an immediate end, we are likely to forget the underlying principle that every human being, according to our nations proclamations, and reinforced by our Universitys standards, has an inalienable right to express himself or herself  whether we agree or not. Free speech works; it works better than any form of censorship or suppression; and in exercising vigorously, the truth is bound to emerge.

The mire of indecision

The Spectator commissioned a series of columns on the lessons that should be learned from the Iran-contra affair. Judge Gorsuch, whose mother had served in the Reagan administration, saw a need for a more decisive American foreign policy.

We need to clarify our policy-making, act with confidence, and decide: will we truly support the liberation of Nicaragua or will we try the hands-off approach? To futilely condemn more Contras to death, as we did the Cuban freedom fighters at the Bay of Pigs and our own countrymen in Vietnam, to continue in ambivalent, contradictory policy-making, is no longer an acceptable alternative. It is time to step out of the mire of indecision that has frustrated American foreign policy over the last 20 years and that continues today.

Tyrannical atmosphere of ideas

In a February 1987 column, he took the university to task for what he called its failure to promote diversity (that cherished buzzword) of thought.

But on at least one significant count, Columbia falls considerably short. Amazingly, radically different people from radically different backgrounds and locales share an incredible hegemony here on Morningside Heights in their radical politics. Truth is: Columbia does have a moral responsibility. It has a moral responsibility to overcome the tyrannical atmosphere of ideas that has so dominated life on Morningside for the last 20 years; it has a responsibility to make the political, philosophical, and ethical experience here as diverse and varied as the cultural and ethnic experience.

Heavy-handed moralism

In March 1987, Judge Gorsuch argued against making Columbias fraternity system coed as the university more fully integrated women. Writing with his friend Michael Behringer in The Federalist Paper, Judge Gorsuch, a member of Phi Gamma Delta, once more cited freedom of association.

Drawing analogies to slavery and segregation, supporters of the coed rule say that Columbia has a moral obligation to recognize that changing our Greek system is a matter of equal rights. What such heavy-handed moralism misses is the fact that Columbia is a pluralistic university, that its fraternity system is equally pluralistic, with options available for everyone. There is no one at Columbia who cannot join a fraternity or initiate a new one if they wish to do so.

Asking for special treatment

In 1988, Columbia was embroiled in debates about its fraternities, new university rules governing protests, and a student council election. Judge Gorsuch, never a fan of student protesters, derided progressives in a Spectator op-ed column as being anything but progressive as they claimed a monopoly on righteousness.
This new alignment of power is causing alarm among not only environmental groups but also other  mostly liberal  advocates who have spent much of the past eight years pushing for new rules to cover Wall Street banks, broadband providers, teacher preparation requirements, prepaid credit cards and even companies that sell high-calorie foods in vending machines.

All of these measures, and many others, now stand a chance of being reversed, watered down or blocked.

For the last several years, whenever Congress would concoct some way to roll back a rule protecting clean air or clean water or undermine the fight against climate change, we always felt confident as we had an adult in charge at the White House, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, an environmental group. Now, what used to be a wish list of the oil and coal and gas industry has become the to-do list for Congress and the White House.

For Republicans, these first moves are the easy part, made possible by a law that gives Congress the power to reverse regulations within 60 legislative days with a simple majority vote in the House and Senate. Other Republican efforts to exploit this 20-year-old law  which until this week had been used only once to nullify a new rule  were thwarted five times with vetoes by President Obama since 2015.

Once the 60-day window expires, Republicans will have a harder time reversing Mr. Obamas regulations, but will still have tools at their disposal, including cutting financing for the enforcement of rules, issuing new rules that are weaker, or negotiating with Democrats to pass new legislation.

They have bold ambitions, including rescinding a rule enacted by the Obama administration that could close dozens of coal burning power plants, and another that would extend overtime pay eligibility to an estimated four million Americans.

At a private meeting on Thursday hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade group, a senior White House adviser provided a plan on how the administration would handle efforts to curtail environmental regulations beyond the initial rush now underway to nullify recently adopted rules, said an energy industry executive who participated in the meeting and spoke on the condition of anonymity because details were confidential.
Panel formed for resettlement of landslide-prone villages

The National Reconstruction Authority has formed a nine-member panel to look into and recommend the shifting of settlements that are at risk due to the 2015 earthquake.
The executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel, Judge Robart wrote. He said the states had been hurt because the order affected their public universities and their tax bases.

Still, Judge Robarts order left many questions, said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston.

Does the executive order violate the equal protection of the laws, amount to an establishment of religion, violate rights of free exercise, or deprive aliens of due process of law? Professor Blackman asked. Who knows? The analysis is bare bones, and leaves the court of appeals, as well as the Supreme Court, with no basis to determine whether the nationwide injunction was proper.

While large crowds had yet to materialize at airports, there were individual stories of people trying to enter the country.

Nael Zaino, 32, a Syrian who had tried unsuccessfully for nearly a week to fly to the United States to join his wife and American-born son, was allowed to board a flight from Istanbul and then Frankfurt late Friday. He landed in Boston around 1 p.m. Saturday and emerged from immigration two hours later, said his sister-in-law Katty Alhayek.

Mr. Zaino was believed to be among the first revoked visa holders to enter the United States since the executive order went into effect. His advocates had sought a waiver for him from the State Department, citing family reunification. Mine must be a very special case, Mr. Zaino said by phone from Istanbul.

Iranians, many of them students on their way to American universities, also rushed to book flights to transfer destinations in other Persian Gulf countries, Turkey and Europe. Pedram Paragomi, a 33-year-old Iranian medical student bound for the University of Pittsburgh, who had been caught up in the initial chaos over the travel ban, flew to Frankfurt on Saturday, where he was to transfer to a flight to Boston.

Im anxious, he said from Frankfurt. The rules keep on changing, but I think I will make it this time.
A Russian technology executive who was named in a dossier containing unverified allegations about connections between President Trump and the Russian government has sued BuzzFeed News, which published the information.

The defamation suit was filed in court on Friday in Broward County, Fla., according to lawyers for the executive, Aleksej Gubarev, the chief of XBT, a technology company based in Luxembourg. The suit focuses on allegations, made near the end of the dossier, that Mr. Gubarev and his company were involved in hacking operations against the leadership of the Democratic Party.

In the complaint, Mr. Gubarevs lawyers say that BuzzFeed acted recklessly; that none of the statements have any basis in fact; and that Mr. Gubarevs association with the dossier has left his reputation in tatters, compromised his familys security and damaged his companys business prospects. It called BuzzFeeds decision perhaps one of the most reckless and irresponsible moments in modern journalism.

The publishing of the dossier was one of the most startling moments of the weeks before Mr. Trumps inauguration.
While President Trumps travel ban threw American airports into chaos last weekend, Bob Ferguson, the attorney general of Washington State, was biding his time on an airplane.

On his way home from a conference of Democratic attorneys general in Florida, Mr. Ferguson landed a week ago in the center of a political and legal firestorm. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was in disarray, with protests massing. Gov. Jay Inslee, a fellow Democrat, had sent word to the attorney generals staff that he wanted to mount a battering-ram attack on the presidents decree.

Within two days, Mr. Ferguson had become a leading combatant in a battle with the president of the United States, filing a dramatic challenge to Mr. Trumps travel ban that yielded a ruling from a federal judge on Friday freezing the orders implementation.

A genial 51-year-old with an earnest demeanor, Mr. Ferguson cuts an unlikely figure as an antagonist for the most pugilistic president in modern times. He is seen in the state less as a chest-thumping showman than as a former member of the King County Council with a wonky sensibility and an eager manner.
Every Sunday in February, we will feature and explore previously unpublished photographs from The New York Timess archives, with a special focus on the 1960s. Revisit last years Unpublished Black History project, sign up for our Race/Related newsletter and share your own experiences with black history in the comments.

The copper-jacketed bullet tore through a civil rights workers shoulder, stopping within an inch of his spine. The shotgun blast shattered the car windows of four voting rights activists and gouged the wall of a nearby home.

And a fire destroyed voter registration equipment and materials outside the citys Voter Registration Headquarters, leaving the street strewn with rubble.

It was 1963 in Greenwood, Miss., a major battleground in the fight for civil rights, and white officials were playing down and ignoring a series of attacks intended to discourage thousands of African-Americans from registering to vote.
HARARE, Zimbabwe  The cave squeaker is back.

Researchers in Zimbabwe say they have found a rare frog that has not been seen in decades.

The Arthroleptis troglodytes, below, also known as the cave squeaker because of its preferred habitat, was discovered in 1962, but there were no reported sightings of the elusive amphibian after that. An international red list of threatened species tagged them as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

Robert Hopkins, a researcher at the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, in Bulawayo, said his team had found four specimens of the frog in its known habitat of Chimanimani, a mountainous area in eastern Zimbabwe.

The research team found the first male specimen on Dec. 3 after they followed an animal call they had not heard before, Mr. Hopkins said. They then discovered two other males and a female. Mr. Hopkins said he been looking for the cave squeaker for eight years.
BUENOS AIRES  Argentina is so used to celebrating immigration as a cornerstone of society that a 19th-century saying  to govern is to populate  remains in use to this day.

But in an abrupt shift coinciding with the immigration restrictions put in place by the Trump administration, President Mauricio Macri has issued a decree curbing immigration to Argentina, with his government declaring that newcomers from poorer countries in Latin America bring crime.

The measures announced by Mr. Macri in recent days made it much easier to deport immigrants and restrict their entry, prompting irate comparisons to President Trump and igniting a fierce debate over immigration.

A decree like this scares people, said Arfang Diedhiou, 33, a Senegalese immigrant who runs his own clothing store here in the capital, Buenos Aires. It came out just after what Trump did, a coincidence that seems very strange to me.
BEIJING  China reacted with strong displeasure on Saturday to a promise by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that the United States would defend two uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan controls but China also claims as its own.

Mr. Mattis, the first member of President Trumps cabinet to visit East Asia, had told Japanese officials earlier Saturday that Americas defense obligations to Japan extended to the disputed rocky outposts, known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku.

The chief spokesman for Chinas Foreign Ministry, Lu Kang, accused Mr. Mattis of putting regional stability at risk and urged him to forgo what he called a Cold War mentality.

We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation, Mr. Lu said in a statement posted on the ministrys website.
TOKYO  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis described Iran as the worlds greatest sponsor of terrorism on Saturday, but he emphasized that there was no pressing need for the United States to beef up its military presence in the Persian Gulf region.

I do not see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time, Mr. Mattis said, speaking in Tokyo at a news conference as he wound up his visits to Japan and South Korea, his first foreign trip as defense secretary.

Michael T. Flynn, President Trumps national security adviser, said this week that the United States was putting Iran on notice because of its recent missile test and support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom the United States has accused of threatening American vessels in the Red Sea and attacking a Saudi Navy patrol boat.

The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions on Friday against 25 Iranians and companies that it said were connected with Irans missile program and the countrys Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But so far, the White House has not announced military steps to strengthen its presence in the region. No American aircraft carrier is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf, though the Navy was expected to rotate one into the area.
BUCHAREST, Romania  After five straight days of spirited mass protests, and predictions that a half-million or more people might take to the streets on Sunday, Romanias month-old government backed down Saturday and withdrew a decree that had decriminalized some corruption offenses.

We will hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw it, cancel it, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said late Saturday evening.

It was a remarkable and rapid turnaround for a government that had shown every sign of holding firm against the protests.

As recently as Thursday, Mr. Grindeanu said, We took a decision in the government and we are going to press ahead.
Panel formed to study modality of inducting partner at NAC

The Tourism Ministrys plan to induct a strategic or management partner at Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has taken another slow step forward with the formation of a panel to study how this will be done.
Polls even if Madhes parties boycott

Nepali Congress General Secretary Shashank Koirala has said the elections would be held even if the Madhes-based parties boycotted them.
We at Kimmel Galleries extend Ms. Arroyos invitation to our NYU students; during the course of the exhibition, works may be submitted to kimmel.galleries@nyu.edu, said Kimmel Galleries curator Pamela Jean Tinnen. Works will be produced and added to this ongoing exhibit through the course of the Spring Semester. Through art-making and display, we seek to provide a safe and visible space for expression, and by extension, hope to cultivate community for those at the University would seek to make the make their voices heard, and their artistic expression seen.

Presidential inauguration-eve, Arroyo unveiled a complex response to Trumps election. Unnatural Election: Artists Respond to the 2016 Presidential Election, is a broad reaction to election of the 45th President of the United States.

In early November, just days after the U.S. election, Arroyo asked other artists for an artistic response to the result. The world-wide response was immediate and overwhelming. Drawings, sketches and images of fully conceived ideas poured in from all over the world, mostly from people Arroyo had never met.

So far, shes received more than 250 works, from about 200 artists. Im getting more work every day, she said.

Each submission is printed in color on 8-1/2 by 11 white paper, giving the responses an eerie uniformity. The works, on view at NYUs Kimmel Galleries, range in emotional complexity from rage to sad resignation. There are humorous pieces, too. But it is clear that most of artists who submitted their work dont appreciate the new presidents form of populism.

Arroyo eventually wants the show to travel to other cities, where local artists will likely add to the collection. The hope is that the show and the art will continue to evolve over time.

Media Articles


Andrea Iocco Leads After Day 1b of the 888Live Rozvadov Main Event

February 03, 2017 Will Shillibier Executive Editor E.U.

One-hundred-fifty-five players were whittled down to just 41 after the second of three flights of this the 888Live Rozvadov 888 Main Event. Each player had their eyes on securing at least a small part of the 300,000 guaranteed prize pool which awaits a select few at the end of the tournament, but today was all about guaranteeing a place in Day 2 on Sunday.

With players allowed one re-entry per flight, and late registration open until the start of Day 2, the day started slowly, but reached a crescendo through mid morning as the excitement of qualifiers and pros mingling really started to catch on. Some players may have left before securing themselves a stack for Day 2, but they secured themselves a cap and a gift box for eliminating one of the Team 888 pros.

Sofia Lovgren, Kara Scott, Chris Moorman and Dominik Nitsche were all eliminated, with Moorman and Nitsche re-entering. Nitsche survived to bag 54,500 along with fellow Team 888 pro Natalie Hof (111,000).

Leading the way is Andrea Iocco with 266,200. The Italian had a quiet day and briefly tangled with High Roller Champion [Removed:291] (111,400) on his way to bagging the chip lead. Jean-Philippe Schoonbrood (152,600) had 300,000 at one point late on and bagged up.

"He has my chips," he said, perhaps indicating how the pendulum swung Iocco's way late on Day 1.

Other large chip stacks around the room include Peter Marz (251,900), who boosted his stack calling Lazer Gjergji's all in on a nine-high board with just ace-king. Gjergji held only ace-queen and Marz's hand held up! Also above the 200,000 mark in chips are Miroslav Forman (216,800), Renee Xie (224,000) and Pavel Berka (202,500).

The final chance for players to join the Main Event action starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time. The starting stack is 30,000 and there will be 12 levels livestreamed on Twitch with David Tuchman and Parker tonkaaaap Talbot. Be sure to stick around with PokerNews for full chip counts and continued live coverage from the 888Live Festival here in Rozvadov.

Sharelines The Italian had a quiet day but is leading the way with 266,200 chips.
Vjinternationals ltd. Launches five star hotels at auckland, miami, toronto, oulu, and sydney. Vj internationals with the dedicated investment of 398 million dollars for the development of series of hotels, spa, restaurants, etc.

By: VJ INTERNATIONALS LLC

Contact

VJ INTERNATIONALS

***@vjinternationals.com VJ INTERNATIONALS

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-- ~The launch marks entry of brand VJ INTERNATIONALS into AUCKLAND, MIAMI, TORONTO, OULU, AND SYDNEY.~~Takes the total number of hotels under Ginger Hotels VJ INTERNATIONALS to 14~VJ INTERNATIONALS, from Adda Finance LLC - the Finance and Investment Company, today announced the launch of its 5 star hotels in AUCKLAND, MIAMI, TORONTO, OULU, AND SYDNEY. The 72 room VJ INTERNATIONALS was launched in the presence ofAbout HotelThe rooms are also furnished with a workstation and an ergonomically designed chair, to make business on the go productive. The hotel offers complimentary Wi-Fi to all resident guests helping the modern business traveller to stay connected.Guests can indulge in sumptuous Indian and International cuisine at VJI- bright and inviting multi-cuisine coffee shop and an all-day diner.With the launch of its new hotel, VJ Internationals now has 14 hotels in its portfolio.About Launch:An unparralled cocktail program was introduced when Quadrant Bar & Lounge first opened its doors, using culinary techniques to develop handcrafted, artisanal cocktails. With the introduction of new seasonal menus, Quadrant is elevating its culinarian cocktail approach by offering pairings to complement all dishes, enhancing the dining experience of each guest.The new menus and each pairing are thoughtfully curated to focus on seasonality of the ingredients used in both the culinary offerings and cocktails.The lunch and dinner menus, which have been crafted by Perry Jurric, new Chef d Cuisine at VJI, includes seasonal dishes from his diverse culinary background ranging from experience with Asian, French, Spanish and American cuisines. Dishes now found on the menu include. Having embraced the new cocktail pairing program, Chef Jurric works with Lead Mixologist Antony Parulian in harmoniously aligning the two.A signature classic cocktail at VJI, the Smoked Old Fashioned, is comprised of bourbon, house made smoked syrup, cherry bitters, and cedar smoke. The cocktail is paired with warm mixed olives, which are soaked within the same wood chips used in the drink. The Smoky Pineapple, made with bourbon, house made smoked syrup, cherry bitters and cedar smoke pairs well with Chef Jurric's Head on Prawns with jalapeno escabeche and Meyer lemon. From culinary and cocktail connoisseurs, to guests' eager to learn about pairing ingredients and flavors, the new cocktail pairing program at VJI is an approachable upscale experience for all.As one of the most refreshed hotel brands around the World, VJI recently completed a brand-wide renovation of more than 5 hotels in New Zealand and Finland. Together with its franchise partners, VJI has invested more than $600 million in past 2 years into refreshing its portfolio. The hotels feature distinct lobbies, inviting guest rooms and suites, along with contemporary event spaces, boldly designed bars and restaurants. The uniquely designed hotels differ in style from location to location and reflect the local area and personality of the hotel.VJ INTERNATIONALS as the part of Adda Finance LLC, Looking for oppurtunites to buy hotesl, build hotels around the world. In this regard we are inviting proposals.Media Contact:Wei Zang: +6498889293
We offer Search Engine Optimization Services nationally. Our main office is located in Brevard County, FL offering Cocoa Beach SEO and Cape Canaveral SEO in our immediate area.

Contact

The Florida SEO

***@thefloridaseo.com

(321) 613-2524 The Florida SEO(321) 613-2524

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--The Florida SEO is a team of search engine optimization experts ready to generate growth for our clients. We work closely with businesses to optimize their on line presence. Our main office is located on the space coast of Florida in Brevard County. We offer free consultations to anyone seeking SEO services.One of the most descriptive quotes that accurately sums up SEO work is, "The best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google." Although this quote is meant to be a joke, it really illustrates the importance of being on that coveted first page of Google results. The Florida SEO can offer this. It is our passion to achieve success with each of our clients. We believe in being completely transparent in our collaborations and feel that we are successful only when our client is successful.The Florida SEO is an agency born out of necessity. Simply put, we are a group of data driven innovators who bonded over a love for SEO and an identical perspective on the need for transparency in marketing. We grew very fond of the relationships we've built and treat every client's business as if it were our own. The Florida SEO is dedicated to growing each client's business with data-driven techniques. Our team of certified professionals is here to help every step of the way. Whether a client is simply looking for information, or they're already neck-deep in a campaign and are planning to optimize, we're here to help.Our Process is Highlighted below: Research & Development:We work tirelessly to gather intel, develop a strategy and understand the ins and outs of our client's industry, competitors, and much more Roadmap: Our team collaborates with our client, then constructs a detailed, step-by-step plan of action to achieve measurable results Adjustments:We re-visit and fine-tune all areas of each project to align with our projected goals. At this point we are competing with the top SEO companies Maintenance:At this juncture we enter a continuous phase of evolving and maintaining growth. The Florida SEO works to ensure we maintain an upwards trajectory and meet deliverablesOur main office contact information is as follows:201 International DrCape Canaveral, FLPhone: 321-613-2514Contact Email: Contact@thefloridaseo.comWebsite: http://thefloridaseo.com We also have satellite locations in Cocoa Beach, FL, Volusia County, FL and Miami FL
By: Atlas Group LC

Contact

Andrew Pourghahreman

www.property- mgmt.com

***@property- mgmt.com

725-244-4700 Andrew Pourghahremanwww.property-mgmt.com725-244-4700

End

-- The Atlas Group LC announced today that it exceeded its revenue goals by 40 percent for the 2016 calendar year over the previous 2015 year. Residential property management commissions were up over 5.21% from the previous year and sales commissions of residential properties increased by 2.4% over the same time period."We have expanded our business and increased our bottom line every year since 1995 when we opened our doors in Las Vegas, Nevada. Being one of the larger and more experienced firms in the greater Las Vegas Valley poses additional growth challenges that many smaller firms don't have."In August of 2015 they outgrew their property management accounting software. Their current desktop system had not been supported by the software manufacturer for several years. The system did not feature any online capabilities whatsoever. A decision was made to leave a fully paid for but inadequate system for a monthly fee-based system that was continually adding features and was internet capable. As it turned out, the monthly cost savings in personnel and hard costs for supplies far outweighed the monthly access fee for the new software. This in turn helped create a stronger bottom line while eliminating many of the accounting and daily operating challenges."Each year our goal is to increase our business by a minimum of 5%. Now that we have a full year under our belt with the new software we will once again be able to focus our efforts on expanded services and growth."The Atlas Group LC began in Las Vegas in May of 1995 as a one-man office sharing office space with another property management firm that specialized in Home Owner Associations, TMC Realty and Management. Since then they have moved into 3 different offices and now have a group of 18 individuals to manage their more than 1500 units. They are continuing to provide the type of management services that owners prefer. Each of their property managers handles the entire management of an owner's property from beginning to end. Other firms divide up responsibilities for leasing, maintenance, accounting, tenant interfacing, inspections, evictions, etc. Unfortunately, for those owners it makes it difficult for them to get all the information they need in a timely manner. Their contact person is always having to go to someone else to get the information the owner needs.At the Atlas Group an owner is assigned a property manager that knows every detail of the property and what is happening with it. Getting answers is fast and efficient. If you would like to know more about the Atlas Group LC or read what other owners have to say about their services, please visit them at https://www.property- mgmt.com/
When the Geldermalsen ship crashed into a reef and sank in the South China Sea during its return journey to the Netherlands in January of 1752, it claimed the lives of eighty crew members who went down with the vessel's precious cargo.

By: Great Gatsby's Auction Gallery

Two lovely blue and white porcelain cups and saucers from the Nanking Cargo.

Contact

Great Gatsby's Auction Gallery

***@greatgatsbys.com Great Gatsby's Auction Gallery

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-- When theship crashed into a reef and sank in the South China Sea during its return journey to the Netherlands in January of 1752, it claimed the lives of eighty crew members who went down with the vessel's precious cargo of tea, textiles, gold, silk, lacquer, and porcelain. As part of the fleet of the powerful Dutch East India Company commissioned for the Zeeland division, the loss of the mightyhardly went unnoticed.Over two hundred years later, a successful salvage expert named Captain Michael Hatcher would excavate the ship and its contents, giving new understanding of eighteenth century trade demands and the rise of porcelain's availability. Great Gatsby's Auction Gallery is excited to offer fourteen lots of blue and white porcelain from this incredible salvage from the personal collection of one of the expedition's private backers.The auction is slated for February 10-11-12, with 11 am start times all three days, online and in the firm's Atlanta gallery at 5180 Peachtree Boulevard.Hatcher, along with his partner Max de Rham, a marine geophysicist, led a successful team of divers who unearthed the precious bounty that would catapult its already famous hunter into superstardom. 'The Nanking Cargo,' as it became known by its sale at Christie's Amsterdam in April of 1985, contained a massive trove of the aforementioned blue and white porcelain, which was originally potted in China's Jiangzi province bound for European markets.The sheer scope of this find shed light on the true nature of the market's demands, as traditional experts had always believed the records kept by the DEIC had exaggerated their shipments of porcelain. Safely protected underwater by the tea loosely packed in wooden crates, the porcelain in the Nanking Cargo represented the range of influence eastern artisans had over western tastes during the eighteen century.Captain Hatcher and his team had the untouched archives of the DEIC in Holland to thank for locating the whereabouts of this famous  and suspicious wreck. Due to the nature of the disaster  in well chartered waters by one of the world's most esteemed shipping companies  the DEIC spent weeks interrogating the survivors who had made it to present-day Jakarta on two open boats.Not only was an entire cargo worth of precious porcelain and trade goods missing, but so was the gold, at first believed to be hidden by the survivors. With such detailed records on hand, Hatcher would embark on months of searching, believing his efforts to be worthless until they unearthed the treasure from a three foot layer of silt and coral.The excitement generated by the find was evident during the first frenzied days of the cargo's namesake auction at Christie's Amsterdam. International interest  both financial and historical  had taken hold and this caught the attention of the Chinese government, who tried unsuccessfully to bring the porcelain back to its country of origin.Maritime salvage laws permitted the cargo to go across the auction block, where it broke numerous records and raised a staggering $20 million USD. Consider this your chance to own a piece of decorative and maritime history; perhaps it will inspire the treasure hunter in you!Great Gatsby's Auction Gallery is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions. To inquire about consigning a single item, an entire collection, or an inherited estate, you may call them at (770) 457-1903; or you may send an e-mail to auction@greatgatsbys.com . To learn more about the Feb. 10-12 auction, visit www.GreatGatsbys.com . Updates are posted often.
-- Vintage Jeep Enthusiasts to Drive the Entire Alaska Highway in 'Willys' Jeeps Over Five Day, 1,500 Mile Adventure --

By: Alaska Or Rust

Contact

David Eilers

***@alaskaorrust.com David Eilers

End

-- This July, to celebrate its 75th anniversary, a group of travelers from across the United States and Canada will drive the entire Alaska Highway in vintage Jeeps. The trip, dubbed 'Alaska Or Rust,' will span five days and cover the nearly 1,500 miles between the famed highway's start in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and the end at Fairbank, Alaska."Honestly, we're taking this trip purely for the adventure and comradery of doing so," said David Eilers, publisher of eWillys.com and the trip's primary organizer. "This group shares a passion for old Jeeps and a common desire for adventure. If we can spread some goodwill from the US through Canada, and into Alaska, then that's a successful trip."The group will launch as three separate caravans: one from the East Coast, led by Bill Reiss, one from the Midwest, led by Scott Gilbert, and one from the West Coast, led by David Eilers. On their way to Dawson Creek, each caravan will make scheduled stops where additional travelers can join. Upon arrival at the highway's entrance, the three groups will merge and convoy together throughout the whole of the Alaska Highway."The beauty of this trip is that it isn't the high-speed, air-conditioned affair that's become so common on the Alaska Highway," said Bill Reiss, another of the trip's organizers. "We're driving our old, beloved Jeepsmodels from the 40s, 50s and 60sand by doing so, we're paying homage to the rugged and beautiful story of both the Jeep brand and the Alaska Highway. It's an adventure for us and a tribute to some incredible history."The 'Alaska or Rust' caravan has already attracted attention from sponsors like http://www.fourwheeler.com/ jp-magazine/ ), a favorite periodical of vintage Jeep lovers, which will send a contributor, Traci Clark, to document the journey. Two sponsors have already joined the effort, Allied Jeeps and Overland Diesel. Additional sponsors will be announced shortly.Fans are encouraged to join the adventure by following the group's Website ( http://www.alaskaorrust.com ), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AlaskaOrRust/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/AlaskaOrRust), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/alaskaorrust/)accounts, which will update as connectivity allows. Additionally, a daily trip recap will be posted on organizer Dave Eilers' trade publication, eWillys.com (http://www.ewillys.com)To join the trip, learn more or sponsor a portion of the journey, visit www.alaskaorrust.com.The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous United States to Alaska across Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. Completed in 1942 at a length of nearly 1,500 miles long, the highway was opened to the public in 1948. Legendary for being a rough, challenging drive, the highway proved perfect for showing off the capabilities of early military Jeeps.
Bharat Book Bureau provides the report; on "Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market". This Report to obtain research based business decision and add weight to presentations.

By: Bharat Book Bureau

Media Contact

Sandhya Nair

***@bharatbook.com

+91 22 27810772 / 27810773 Sandhya Nair+91 22 27810772 / 27810773

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-- Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts (2016-2021)(By Devices Type: BGM - Monitors, Strips, Lancets and CGM - Monitors, Transmitters and Receivers, Sensors; By Region-North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East; By Country- US, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, India, China, UK, Germany)Growth in the prevalence of diabetes among the population coupled with growing focus on technology has resulted in the rising of market for glucose monitoring devices globally.Global Glucose Monitoring Devices market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6.52% during 2016  2021F, driven by the increasing number of diabetic patients as a consequence of sedentary lifestyles. As per capita healthcare expenditure is rising along with the growth in the disposable income, it has resulted in increasing healthcare spending including expenditure on diabetes.While blood glucose monitors are holding major market globally due to its prominence and affordability among the emerging nations, technological advancements have led to the growth of Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices which is expected to grow faster in the future. Among the regions, North America holds the major market due to the higher disposable income as well as insurance coverage. However, among emerging markets, Asia Pacific is expected to grow the highest due to the growth in aging population as well as per capita expenditure.Research report, "Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts (2016-2021F)Global Glucose Monitoring Devices market is projected to exhibit a CAGR of over ~6.52% during 2016 - 2021. In 2016, market for Continuous Glucose Monitoring is expected to grow at a faster pace due to the non-invasiveness as well as increasing adoptability mainly in developed regions.Global Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts (2016-2021) - (By Devices Type: BGM - Monitors, Strips, Lancets and CGM - Monitors, Transmitters and Receivers, Sensors; By Region-North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East; By Country- US, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, India, China, UK, Germany) analyses the following aspects of global Glucose Monitoring devices market:- Global Glucose Monitoring device market size, Share & Forecast- Device Types - Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices and Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices- Regional Analysis - North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East- Country Analysis - United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, India, China, United Kingdom, Germany- Policy & Regulatory Landscape- Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities- Competitive Landscape & Strategic RecommendationsHistoric market trend has been figured out by various paid databases which was further triangulated with inputs and insights from industry experts, companies and stakeholders, through primary research. Back-of-the-Envelope calculation for the market estimation has been made through proper understanding of the market as well as future business strategies of the companies operating in the market.- To gain an in-depth understanding of global Glucose Monitoring device market- To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years- To help industry consultants, Glucose Monitoring device manufacturers, suppliers and distributors align their market-centric strategies- To gain insights on the prevalent market entry strategies in Glucose Monitoring device market for domestic as well as foreign companies- To obtain research based business decision and add weight to presentations- To avail limited customization in the report without any extra chargesBharat Book Bureau is the leading market research information provider for market research reports, company profiles, industry analysis, country reports, business reports, newsletters and online databases Bharat Book Bureau provides over a million reports from more than 400 publishers around the globe. We cover sectors starting from Aeronautics to Zoology.In case the reports don't match your requirement then we can do a specialized Custom Research for you. Our multifarious capabilities, cross-sector expertise and detailed knowledge of various markets, put us in a unique position to take up Custom Research demands of yourself.OR+91 22 27810772 / 27810773poonam@bharatbook.comhttps://www.bharatbook.com/blog/https://www.bharatbook.com/
Protest against KU shutdown

Students of Kathmandu University attend their classes under the open sky as a symbolic protest against the ongoing strike of the All Nepal Free Students Union.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  An unusual meteorite found in Algeria in 2012 has given scientists information about volcanic activity on Mars, and it's not like anything we've ever seen on Earth.

Analysis of the 6.9-ounce meteorite, labeled Northwest Africa (NWA) 7635 by an international team of scientists, has helped determine that sometime in its 4.5 billion-year history, Mars had a single volcano that erupted continuously for more than 2 billion years.

"We've never seen anything like that on Earth," says Marc Caffee, professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University and a member of the research team.

The research was published this week in the journal Science Advances.

So far, more than 100 meteorites in collections around the world have been identified as Martian meteorites.

"Even though we've never had astronauts walk on Mars, we still have pieces of the Martian surface to study, thanks to these meteorites," Caffee says.

Most Martian meteorites are found either in Antarctica or North Africa.

"Between Antarctica and other deserts we add more than 1,000 meteorites per year, but only a few of those are interesting, including those originating from Mars and the moon," Caffee says. "The standard ones are sent to the Smithsonian, but the unusual ones are sent to NASA and the community of scientists is informed in case they want to request samples."

Mars' lower gravitational attraction, combined with its thinner atmosphere, makes it easier for fragments released during impacts to be propelled off the planets surface.

From there it's not a direct path to the deserts of Earth, however. The rock fragments orbit in space for hundreds of thousands - or millions - of years, until, for a few fragments, a close pass to a planet or something else in space perturbs their orbit. Over the next thousands of years, that perturbed orbit puts the fragment on a collision course with our planet.

Once the meteorites arrive on Earth they begin to degrade over tens of thousands of years, ultimately becoming unrecognizable as extraterrestrial rock unless they are found and recognized as the interplanetary space travelers that they are.

Of the 100 meteorites ever found, Caffee has analyzed approximately 30 in the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement (PRIME) Laboratory. He's found that the meteorites tend to fall into age groups, indicating that each group was likely ejected from the surface of Mars by distinct events.

NWA 7635 is one of a group of 11 meteorites that Caffee's lab has determined were exposed to cosmic rays for 1.1 million years.

"What we interpret from that is that all 11 were knocked off Mars at the same time," Caffee says. "But this one was different than the others."

Although the other 10 meteorites in the group were all approximately 500 million years old - meaning they were formed from cooling magma half a billion years ago on the surface of Mars - NWA 7635 was found to be 2.4 billion years old.

"What this means is that for 2 billion years there's been sort of a steady plume of magma in one location on the surface of Mars," Caffee says. "We don't have anything like that on Earth, where something is that stable for 2 billion years at a specific location."

Mars is known for the most magnificent volcanoes in our solar system. The largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, is found on Mars. Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, like those found in Hawaii, with one exception - Olympus Mons is a monster volcano 17 miles tall and with a footprint the size of Arizona.

"We don't know at this point where this particular meteorite came from, whether it was Olympus Mons or some other location," Caffee says.

Martian volcanoes can grow to such enormous proportions because, unlike Earth, Mars doesn't have plate tectonics that constantly shuffle the surface. So a volcano, like the one that birthed NWA 7635, can plume for billions of years.

"These meteorites are allowing us to conduct geologic science on the surface of Mars, and we haven't even been there yet," Caffee says.

Writer: Steve Tally, 765-494-9809, steve@purdue.edu, @sciencewriter

Source: Marc Caffee, 765-494-2586, mcaffee@purdue.edu

ABSTRACT

Two billion years of magmatism recorded from a single Mars meteorite ejection site Thomas J. Lapen, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA; 1* Minako Righter, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA; Rasmus Andreasen, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA, and Aarus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Anthony J. Irving, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA; Aaron M. Satkoski, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and NASA Astrobiology Institute, Mountain View, Calif., USA; Brian L. Beard, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and NASA Astrobiology Institute, Mountain View, Calif., USA; Kunihiko Nishiizumi, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif., USA; A. J. Timothy Jull, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz., USA; Marc W. Caffee, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

The timing and nature of igneous activity recorded at a single Mars ejection site can be determined from the iso- tope analyses of Martian meteorites. Northwest Africa (NWA) 7635 has an Sm-Nd crystallization age of 2.403  0.140 billion years, and isotope data indicate that it is derived from an incompatible trace elementdepleted man- tle source similar to that which produced a geochemically distinct group of 327- to 574-million-year-old depleted shergottites. Cosmogenic nuclide data demonstrate that NWA 7635 was ejected from Mars at 1.1 million years ago Q5 (Ma), as were at least 10 other depleted shergottites. The shared ejection age is consistent with a common ejection site for these individual meteorites. The spatial association of 327- to 2403-AMa depleted shergottites indicates >2 billion years of magmatism from a long-lived and geochemically distinct volcanic center near the ejection site.
Shocking is one word Jill Pruetz uses to describe the behavior she witnessed after a chimp was killed at her research site in Fongoli, Senegal. The fact that chimps would kill a member of their own community is extremely rare -- most aggression is between communities -- but the abuse that followed was completely unexpected.

"It was very difficult and quite gruesome to watch," said Pruetz, a professor of anthropology at Iowa State University. "I couldn't initially make sense of what was happening, and I didn't expect them to be so aggressive with the body."

Pruetz has witnessed many things since establishing her research site in 2001. She was the first to document chimps using tools to hunt prey. However, what she observed in 2013 was different. Pruetz and her research team documented the chimps' behavior after discovering the body of Foudouko, a former leader of the Fongoli community, who was exiled from the group for five years. As Pruetz explains in the video above, the chimps -- many of which Pruetz suspects killed Foudouko -- abused and cannibalized his body for nearly four hours.

There is a lot of anecdotal information on how chimps grieve, but Pruetz says these chimps were not in mourning. The team's reports and video, published in the International Journal of Primatology, build upon a 2014 study on lethal aggression. The younger adult male chimps were the most aggressive. Researchers noted that two of Foudouko's former allies were the only ones that didn't show any aggression. Pruetz says one of the two did yell at and hit the body, but it appeared to be an attempt to rouse Foudouko.

Few animals, other than humans, show such deadly aggression, and the field of primatology has been divided as to what causes this behavior among primates, Pruetz said. It is important to understand this deadly behavior because of the chimpanzee's endangered status.

Pruetz has long thought that human-made environmental changes, which disrupt the chimp's habitat, may contribute to the aggressive behavior researchers observed. She cannot say definitively if that was the case with Foudouko's death. It's likely that competition for a mate -- there are more male than female chimps at Fongoli -- and a power struggle with younger chimps were contributing factors.

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The skewed gender balance at Fongoli may be linked to human factors. Pruetz says local residents have reported people hunting female chimps to get infants for the pet trade. Hunters capturing just one female chimp every few years would have a real impact on the community, because of their slow life history, she said.

Isolation and exile unique

The fact that Foudouko survived in isolation for several years is quite unusual. No one has ever recorded this happening for such a long period, Pruetz said. During the five years of his exile, Pruetz and her team observed Foudouko following the group from a distance, and privately interacting with some of his former allies, but these interactions were rare.

"It really struck us that Foudouko lived on the outskirts for so long," Pruetz said. "Chimps are very social, so this type of isolation would be a huge stress, and it seemed Foudouko wanted to get back into the social group."

Pruetz says Foudouko might have had a chance, if he had been more submissive. During the days before his death, researchers suspected he was in the area. Still, there was no indication or warning that the group would kill him, she said. As a leader, Foudouko was very dominant and feared by the other chimps. It's possible the younger chimps were concerned he would try to regain a position of power, and decided to attack him, Pruetz said. The younger chimps outnumbered Foudouko and his allies, and they were in their physical prime, which gave them an advantage.

Even after the deadly attack, Pruetz says it was obvious the other chimps were still afraid of Foudouko. They showed signs of fear, especially when Foudouko's body would jerk or move during the attacks. Once the chimps left the body, Pruetz and her team buried Foudouko. His bones will be exhumed for examination in the future.

Stacy Lindshield, an ISU lecturer in anthropology; Kelly Boyer Ontl, an ISU Ph.D. student; Elizabeth Cleaveland, a former ISU student now at the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative; Joshua Marshack, a lecturer at Colgate University; and Erin G. Wessling, a former ISU master's student now at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; all contributed to this study.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnhFCTGC4JM
University of Montana doctoral candidate Robin Steenweg shows how remote cameras can transform monitoring wildlife and habitat biodiversity worldwide in a paper published Feb. 1 in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

He and study co-authors, including UM Professors Mark Hebblewhite and Jedediah Brodie, call for a global network of remote cameras. The researchers believe a large-scale, connected network that collects and manages data from remote cameras could help meet goals to conserve wildlife and other natural resources.

"There is so much remote camera data being collected out there by both research scientists and citizen scientists, we just need to link it together," Steenweg said. He points to examples such as Snapshot Serengeti and Snapshot Wisconsin, which use citizen-collected, remote-camera data to drive conservation.

Researchers and resource managers currently use remote cameras to monitor wildlife all over the world -- an estimated 20,000 cameras in 2015 -- and more are added daily. Steenweg and colleagues propose regional networks could be pulled together in national and even global biodiversity monitoring systems.

"A hundred years ago, meteorologists went through the same process of building a set of standardized weather stations that now number in the tens of thousands across the world," Hebblewhite said. "Without this network, modern-day climate science would impossible."

The researchers say ecologists already are linking together hundreds of remote wildlife cameras to successfully monitor biodiversity trends at regional scales, and they believe a global collaboration is the next step.

The insights gained from remote cameras are powerful. Cameras have been used to document the first evidence of wolverine recolonization in California, endangered wildlife in Montana like wolverines and fisher, and elk and deer population trends in Idaho as an alternative to expensive aerial helicopter surveys. In the tropics and developing countries where it is difficult to observe or capture wildlife, noninvasive cameras are transforming ecology and conservation.

Hebblewhite points to the Yellowstone and Yukon regions as an example of sharing resources.

"We're linking together hundreds of remote cameras in the Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks so that wildlife managers can track trends of grizzly bears, lynx, wolverine and other sensitive wildlife species," he said.
Viral infections that occur in a patient's lungs are a significant cause of hospitalization and death among children and the elderly. According to the Centers for Disease Control, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes about 60,000 hospitalizations of children aged 0 to four, and nearly 200,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths among adults 65 and older. However, there are virtually no vaccines or treatments for these infections. In a study published online ahead of print in PLoS Pathogens, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine found evidence that the cytokine, Interleukin 27 (IL-27), may be the key to fighting and treating these infections.

Working with a mouse-model of parainfluenza virus infection, Sendai virus, which causes similar symptoms and patterns of tissue damage to RSV, researchers found that mice fared much worse in fighting the infection when their cells lacked IL-27 signaling.

"IL-27 is a specific cytokine naturally produced by immune cells to regulate the response to infection, limiting symptoms such as severe airway inflammation," said Gaia Muallem, MD, a Perelman School of Medicine Measey Fellow in the division of Renal, Electrolyte and Hypertension. "Our recognition of IL-27's importance in mouse models could lead to improved diagnosis and prevention of lung disease following a viral infection in human patients."

When the researchers blocked IL-27 signaling -- by genetically engineering mice to lack working IL-27 receptors or IL-27 proteins -- infected mice suffered much worse illness and higher mortality. Since virus levels stayed the same in all of the mice, more severe illness resulted from an excessive immune reaction in those mice without IL-27. Other researchers have shown that while the immune response Th1 is necessary to clear such viruses, another response, Th2, which is associated with severe airway inflammation and the development of post-infection asthma, could arise after viral infection. Originally, researchers thought Th2 response had evolved to promote tissue repair; however, in the context of lung virus infections, Th2 cells appear to contribute to the overactive immune responses that endanger patients.

In this study, immune cell infiltration of the lungs increased, and Th2 responses became more prominent. Previous studies have found evidence that IL-27 has a moderating effect on the Th2 response, and in general, keeps T-cells -- the "battle tanks" of the immune system -- from causing too much damage.

"The suggestion here is that IL-27 normally limits the severity of disease during these viral infections in part by influencing the quality of T-cell responses," Muallem said. "Other studies have also linked variants of the IL-27 gene with chronic or severe lung disease, so in theory, we might be able to test for such variants to identify people who are more at risk of complications from these lung infections."

Researchers note more animal studies are needed to determine whether the administration of IL-27 can successfully treat severe illness from these viral infections. In principle, IL-27 could be delivered via an intranasal spray, so the effects would be isolated to the airways, and not affect other parts of the body.
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Since late 2016 there have been more $200 million in orders for the American TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) missile. This is a system that entered service in 1970 and, obviously, continues to be popular. So popular in fact that two countries (Iran and China) developed and still manufacture clones of the TOW system. But there are enough users of the original to keep a weapon dreamed up during World War II and finally put into development fifty years ago.

The Iranian TOW clone, the Toophan ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) has been heavily used in Syria by the Iran backed Lebanese Hezbollah force. Toophan is literally an Iranian copy of the TOW missiles sold to the Iranian monarchy in the 1970s. When the monarchy was overthrown in 1979 the rebels found themselves in possession of lots of modern American weapons, including plenty of TOW systems. By the 1990s Iran had managed to copy the TOW as the Toophan. By 2000 they upgraded it and are now supplying Hezbollah with dozens of TOW systems. Iran probably noted that in early 2015 Kurdish forces fighting in Iraq and Syria were using the Chinese HJ-8 ATGMs, which is the Chinese version of the TOW. Israel has also been using the TOW since the 1970s and now faces the prospect of fighting someone else (Hezbollah) who has it.

The original American TOW is still in service worldwide and over 500,000 TOW missiles have been manufactured so far and it remains in service with the United States military and troops from many other countries. All versions of TOW are shipped and fired from a sealed launch tube. That tube is placed on a MGS (Missile Guidance Set) that contains the gunner sight, with night vision, and operator guidance electronics. The MGS weighs 25 kg (55 pounds). The 1970 version of the missile weighed 19 kg (42 pounds) and had a 3.9 kg (8.6 pound) warhead. The latest version (TOW 2B or BGM-71F) weighs 22.7 kg (50 pounds) and has a 6.2 kg (13.5 pound) warhead that can defeat ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) at targets up to 4,000 meters away. Nearly all ATGMs use shaped-charge warheads that penetrate most tank armor and are also effective against structures and unarmored vehicles.

The HJ-8 and Toophan are nearly identical to TOW 2 in size, weight, range and, according to the users, performance. Both TOW and HJ-8 use SACLOS (semi-automatic command line-of-sight) guidance. This system works by having the operator hold the target in the MGS sights and the missile will be guided to the target via wires that connect the missile to the launcher. The big problem is that the operator is often under fire and that sometimes makes it difficult to maintain aim. The next generations of anti-tank missiles were wireless and fire-and-forget which allows the operator to duck as soon as the target is identified by the MGS and the missile fired. Wireless versions of TOW have been developed but the cheaper, more reliable (and immune to jamming) wire system remains popular. This is especially if you are frequently using TOW as an infantry support weapon. This was a popular use in Iraq, where precise aim was important for urban combat.
Police are warning members of the public to be aware of a phone scam that is currently targeting New Zealanders.

In recent weeks, police have received a number of reports from people who have been scammed out of significant amounts of money, after being contacted by someone claiming to work for Spark.

The scammers say they need to speak to them regarding issues with their Spark account or computer.

In the Tasman area, three elderly residents have been scammed out of a total of $120,000.

Enquiries into the scams have discovered that in some of these cases the funds have been deposited into Australian bank accounts.

Spark will never call customers out of the blue to ask for personal details like bank account, credit card, or internet banking details, says Sparks General Manager of Care Bridgette Dalzell.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Spark who asks for your personal information, end the call immediately.

If you believe you may be on the receiving end of one of these calls, police advise the following:

Hang up immediately.

If it doesnt seem right, be cautious, double-check details first.

Look after your personal details in the same way you would your wallet and other possessions.

Your personal details are very valuable to scammers, they will use your details to take out loans or run up debts if they can.

Be aware of common scams.

For example, banks, Immigration New Zealand or Inland Revenue never email, call or text customers to ask for money to be sent using money transfer services.

If you receive a request like that, its a scam.

Dont trust anyone who calls you and asks for your financial related information, such as your account details and password.

Simply hang up, call them on their published contact 0800 number or arrange a meeting at the relevant agency branch.

If you have been targeted by a scam, report it immediately by visiting Consumer Protections Scamwatch website at www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/get-guidance/scams-and-online-safety/scams.
Small-volume trading on weekdays too

Investors willing to sell or purchase less than 10 units of shares will not have to wait until Friday as Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) is allowing such small-volume transactions also on regular trading days (Sunday to Thursday).
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Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, SEEPEX, Seepex (M) SDN, Seepex Australia Pty Ltd, Seepex Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung, Seepex France S.a.r.l., Seepex GmbH, Seepex Inc., Seepex India Private Ltd., Seepex Italia SRL, Seepex Japan Co. Ltd., Seepex Nordic A/S, Seepex OOO, Seepex Pumps (Shanghia) Co. Ltd., Seepex UK Ltd., Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Shanghai Ingersoll-Rand Compressor Limited, Shenzhen Bocom System Engineering Co., Superay, Syltone, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Tamrotor Marine Comp AS Norway, Tecno Matic Europe s.r.o., Thomas Industries Inc., Trane Technologies, Tri-Continent Scientific Inc., Vacuum and Blower Systems division, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zaxe Technologies Inc., Zeks Compressed Air Solutions Llc, Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, Zinsser NA Inc., and crayon interface.

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Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE), an S&P 500<sup></sup> 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.
Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies. The company operates through two segments, Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group. The Sally Beauty Supply segment offers beauty products, including hair color and care products, skin and nail care products, styling tools, and other beauty products for retail customers, salons, and salon professionals. This segment also provides products under third-party brands, such as Wella, Clairol, OPI, Conair, and L'Oreal, as well as exclusive-label brand merchandise. The Beauty Systems Group segment offers professional beauty products, such as hair color and care products, skin and nail care products, styling tools, and other beauty items directly to salons and salon professionals through its professional-only stores, e-commerce platforms, and sales force, as well as through franchised stores under the Armstrong McCall store name. This segment also sells products under third-party brands, such as Paul Mitchell, Wella, Matrix, Schwarzkopf, Kenra, Goldwell, Joico, and Olaplex. As of September 30, 2021, the company operated 4,777 stores, including 134 franchised units in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. It also distributes its products through full-service/exclusive distributors, open-line distributors, direct sales, and mega-salon stores. Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Denton, Texas.
When the mom of a lovable pit bull noticed people were scared of her and tried to avoid her when they were out walking, she decided to try and do something about it. In 2015, Malibu the pit bull ended up at a kill shelter in southern California when she was just a year old, after her owner surrendered her on New Year's Day. She was thankfully pulled by a rescue and sent to be boarded in Huntington Beach, California, where she met her future mom, Christine Smith.

Smith volunteered with different rescue organizations, and when she found out Malibu was being boarded near her home, she started working with her every week. "I began walking her every Friday in hopes of working on her social skills and leash work, hoping to make her more adoptable," Smith told The Dodo.

After she'd been at the boarding facility for about two months, the rescue in charge of Malibu was forced to close, and had to leave her behind, according to Smith. Smith took over her case, working tirelessly to try and find her a home, and finally decided to foster her herself. "I reached out to another rescue I knew asking them if they would take her into their rescue if I fostered. They agreed," Smith said. "On July 1 I left the boarding facility, this time with Malibu, and we both had big smiles on our faces. We knew the first night she was home, as we couldn't imagine life without her."

Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs

Malibu quickly became a foster fail and a permanent member of Smith's family. She immediately thrived in her new home, and especially loved going on walks and exploring the world with her new mom. "Our favorite activity is hitting the trails, which we do seven days a week," Smith said. "We live in an area where we can explore beaches, where she loves dancing around the sand, dirt trails and walks along the bay or river."

When Smith first started taking Malibu out on walks around her new neighborhood, however, she began to notice something upsetting - everyone who saw Malibu seemed to be judging her based on the fact that she's a pit bull. "Every time I walked Malibu, we would experience people crossing to the other side of the street to avoid us," Smith said. "Small dog owners would pick up their dogs off the ground cradling them close, mothers would pull their children to the side with a death grip, all the while eyes focused on Malibu's every move. This broke my heart, knowing what a loving dog she is. I knew I had to try to change people's perception."

Back when Malibu was still looking for a forever home, Smith used to dress her up in cute outfits to make her look more adoptable. She decided to try this approach when taking Malibu out for walks, and began dressing her in simple paisley bandanas. The result was incredible.

"I immediately noticed a change when we would walk, Smith said. "People would smile when they looked at her. They would ask questions, what breed is she, how old is she, or just comment on how cute she was. Not everyone was accepting. However, this gave me the opportunity as her owner to communicate with them in a less stressful environment as the bandana made them actually look at her as just a dog, not as a breed."

The banadas made sweet Malibu seem more approachable, and allowed her mom to start conversations with people about why they were afraid of pit bulls. She questioned their fears and tried to help people see that pit bulls are just as sweet and wonderful as any other type of dog. "I would begin to explain that any dog can be raised to be aggressive," Smith said. "It is the owners who encourage aggression, either through intent or neglect."

Now, Malibu has an entire drawer filled with different types of bandanas, and her mom even sews some custom ones for her and her friends. The bandanas have made Malibu an ambassador for her breed, and she even works with some small businesses to promote adoption and raise awareness about breed discrimination.
The vaquita almost doesn't look real. Only about 5 feet long, these tiny porpoises are silvery gray, and have dark rings around their eyes and dark patches across their lips, making them look more like children's book illustrations than actual animals.

But the vaquita is a real animal, although the species is racing towards extinction at breakneck speed. This week, the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA) announced that there are only 30 vaquita porpoises left, making them the most endangered cetacean in the world. Since 2015, the species has declined by nearly 50 percent. "The situation is absolutely dire, and we are on the brink of losing the vaquita forever," Kate O'Connell, a marine wildlife consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), told The Dodo. "Only drastic action will save the species from extinction."

Dodo Shows Odd Couples Dog And Wild Dolphin Play Whenever They See Each Other

Vaquitas in the Gulf of California in 2008 | Thomas A. Jefferson/VIVA Vaquita

This shy, magical-looking creature is known to live in only one part of the world - the Sea of Cortez in the Upper Gulf of California, near Mexico. But vaquitas were only discovered in the 1950s, so scientists know very little about their life history or behavior. (There are also very few photos of vaquitas, and illustrations are used to show what they look like up close.) "We've heard the vaquita more than we've seen live ones, and acoustic monitoring has been a key part of studying these animals," O'Connell said. "How sad is it that we could wipe out a species before we have had the chance to really know it?"

Vaquitas in the Gulf of California in 2008 | Thomas A. Jefferson / VIVA Vaquita

Fortunately, scientists do know what's causing vaquitas to go extinct. The main culprit is gillnets, a type of net used by fishermen in the area. When fishermen release gillnets into the ocean, vaquitas will become entangled in them and drown. Note: The following photo is a recreation with a model, not an actual porpoise.

In an effort to save the vaquita, the Mexican government placed a two-year ban on gillnets in the Gulf of California in April 2015. However, illegal gillnet fishing for another endangered species - a fish called a totoaba - continued in the area.

"Totoaba swim bladders are highly prized in Asian markets, and sell for astronomical sums of money, and a black market trade has sprung up which has added to the pressure on the vaquita," O'Connell said. The temporary two-year ban on gillnet fishing expires this coming April. The only way to save the vaquita is to place a permanent ban on gillnet fishing, O'Connell said, and for better regulation of fishing practices in the area.

Vaquitas in the Gulf of California in 2008 | Thomas A. Jefferson/VIVA Vaquita

For the past two years, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been working with the Mexican government to patrol the Gulf of California and deter illegal fishing, and the group is currently in the middle of its third campaign, Operation Milagro III, to help save the vaquita. "Saving the vaquita is a priority for Sea Shepherd," Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd, told The Dodo. "We have the opportunity to save the vaquita from extinction. I am confident that with the support of the Mexican Navy we can stop the poachers and we will give this campaign all that we can to ensure the survival of this species."

Vaquitas in the Gulf of California in 2008 | Thomas A. Jefferson/VIVA Vaquita

While the situation currently looks pretty dire, O'Connell believes there's reason for hope. "There have been other species of marine mammals that have recovered from equally low population numbers," O'Connell said. "For example, the northern elephant seal had been hunted to near extinction, with some estimates putting the population as low as 20 individuals; they now number well over 100,000."

A vaquita seen by the Sea Shepherd crew in 2015 | Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
As you may or may not be aware, the world is effing bonkers these days. That observation applies to just 
SAN JOSE, CALIF.When Pat McIntyres company started making its smart sprinkler system 10 years ago, ETwaters production was done in China, where labour costs were cheaper.

Today, the company, based in the Bay Area city of Novato, Calif., does its manufacturing at a production facility in Silicon Valleys Santa Clara. Although McIntyres costs initially went up by 10 to 15 per cent, thanks to automation, his new factory is much more efficient.

It also employs far fewer workers.

As President Donald Trump pushes U.S. companies to make more products in the U.S., firms like ETWater and Tesla, which rely heavily on automation, illustrate that it can be done in some industries.

But even if more Bay Area companies start making products in the U.S., experts in manufacturing and job creation say Trumps pledge to tax offshore manufacturing isnt likely to produce a boom in old-style factory jobs. And despite rising labour costs in China, its still cheaper for Apple  and consumers  to build smartphones overseas.

The success of Tesla is a good example that you can bring manufacturing back to this country, for sure, said Venky Ganesan, managing director of Menlo Ventures and chairperson of the board of the National Venture Capital Association. But dont expect it to create a tremendous amount of jobs.

Since winning the election, Trump has doubled down on his campaign promise to tax companies that make products overseas and ship them to the U.S., meeting with tech and auto executives last week to talk tariffs. Last week, the White House announced a new Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, which will tap tech leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell. Trump has also promised to ease regulations in the U.S. as an incentive for companies to bring production here.

But not all tech gadgets are good candidates to return home.

The question everyone seems to be asking is: Will the iPhones come back? said Andy Tsay, a business professor at Santa Clara University who specializes in global manufacturing. My answer is: theres not a good economic reason for it.

Trump has pressured Apple CEO Tim Cook to make iPhones here, but the smartphone manufacturing industry already is entrenched in China. Everything from the companies that make smartphone components to the technicians who repair the factory machines is there, Tsay said, and moving that massive ecosystem to the U.S. would be a costly and time-consuming endeavour.

Some of that cost would be passed on to consumers. The price of a $749 iPhone 6s, for example, would increase between $30 and $40 if Apple assembled the product closer to its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, according to a report by the MIT Technology Review. If the phones components were also made in the U.S., the price likely would go up by $100.

The auto industry faces a similar problem, AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan said.

Union workers at U.S. auto manufacturing plants make almost $50 an hour, he said, compared to $7 or $8 in Mexico.

Theres a lot working against the notion of bringing auto manufacturing back to the U.S., he said.

U.S. companies with overseas factories risk being demonized by the president on Twitter and watching their stock prices plunge as a result. But at least one global company appears to be taking advantage of Trumps agenda. Taiwanese Foxconn, which makes iPhones and other electronics, is reportedly considering spending more than $7 billion to open a display-making plant in the U.S.

Now companies in emerging Silicon Valley-centred fields, such as autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence, are primed to open local factories for everything from the cars themselves, to the semiconductors that go in those cars, to the cameras and other sensors used by AI technology, said Peter Leroe-Munoz, vice-president of technology and innovation for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

I really see these emerging companies being localized here in Silicon Valley, he said. Its going to make more and more economic sense to build, produce and ultimately sell in the same marketplace as where your expertise and ultimately your consumer base is.

And labour costs are rising in Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai after years of American factories pumping money into the local economies, Tsay said, making it less enticing for companies to build factories there.

Chinese factories also tend to be less productive, while U.S. plants rely more on automation and require fewer human workers. At Teslas Fremont, Calif., factory, for example, which moved into an old Toyota plant in 2010, a combination of robots and skilled technicians and engineers replaced many of the blue-collar labourers who used to build Toyotas there. Tesla says it employs more than 6,000 people at the factory, including former workers who were retrained.

ETwater started production of its smart sprinkler system in 2006 in China because it was cheaper, McIntyre said. In 2009, the average manufacturing worker in the U.S. made $34.19 an hour, compared to $1.74 in China, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But having a factory so far away made quality control difficult, McIntyre said.

ETwater began transitioning to a Santa Clara factory in 2010. While the Chinese plant employed hundreds, McIntyre said, the more automated Santa Clara factory has about 50. After the move, the number of sprinklers returned by unhappy customers was cut in half.

If there is a quality issue, were there, McIntyre said. We can work collaboratively with our engineers.

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LOS ANGELES  When Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy were undergraduates at Stanford University, they made an unconventional observation about what makes a social network valuable.

Thanks to the rise of Facebook, most everyone believed that networks became exponentially more valuable by amassing more users. But Spiegel noticed that in real life, even people with thousands of acquaintances spent most of their time with just a few friends whose value outweighed a large number of looser ties.

So when Spiegel and Murphy created Snapchat in 2011, they inverted the social networking dynamic. Out of their Stanford dorm rooms, they made Snapchat as an app that would send disappearing messages and photos in a way that more closely mimicked the dynamics of a real world conversation. That would increase the appeal of Snapchat as a service that people used with a small number of good friends, they figured.

While online identity previously emphasized everything anyone has ever done, with Snapchat my identity is who I am right now, Spiegel said in a 2015 video to describe the app.

Spiegel, 26, Snaps chief executive, has since built a budding digital empire based on that initial unconventional insight  and has continued upending the tech industry with his different way of seeing the world, often with a touch of ego. Rather than accept the norms of the social networking ecosystem, he has stuck to atypical viewpoints on matters from mobile video to video-recording spectacles. And he has done all of this more than 350 miles away from Silicon Valley, in the sunny climes of Venice, California, where Snapchat is based.

Spiegels singular approach will soon be more publicly on display. This week, Snapchats parent company, Snap, is expected to reveal its public stock offering paperwork. The filing will show how Snap is doing as a business and whether that justifies a public valuation of $20 billion to $25 billion, which the company has been reported to be seeking. It will also disclose Spiegels ownership stake in Snap; the public offering is set to vault Spiegel and Murphy, who is chief technology officer, into the ranks of other tech billionaires.

Along with financial information, Spiegel is expected to include remarks about Snaps mission that will showcase his zag-while-zigging philosophy.

If you want to understand Snap, look at Evan Spiegel, said Todd Chaffee, a partner at IVP, one of Snaps three largest venture capital investors. He is the visionary who drives that company.

Mary Ritti, a spokeswoman for Snap, declined to comment for this story.

Spiegel grew up in Pacific Palisades, a wealthy Los Angeles suburb, and attended Crossroads, a prep school in Santa Monica, California, that counts Jonah Hill, Kate Hudson and Jack Black as alumni.

He lived a privileged life, with expensive cars, exclusive club memberships and fancy vacations, according to records from his parents divorce proceedings. His father, John Spiegel, a securities lawyer who helped overhaul the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King beating in 1991, also had his children volunteer and build homes in poor areas of Mexico.

While many techies talk about how the industry is a meritocracy, Spiegel has not shied from his wealthy roots. In public comments, he has said he is a young, white, educated male who got really, really lucky. And life isnt fair.

At Stanford, also his fathers alma mater, Spiegel majored in product design and started a handful of companies with Murphy, a fellow Kappa Sigma fraternity brother. (Their early startups flopped.) There, Spiegel also met some of the men who would become his mentors, including Scott Cook, then the chief executive of Intuit, and Eric Schmidt, the Google chairman, who taught an MBA class that he attended.

Spiegel really is the next Gates or Zuckerberg, Schmidt said in an interview, comparing the Snap chief to Microsofts co-founder, Bill Gates, and Facebooks chief, Mark Zuckerberg. He has superb manners, which he says he got from his mother. He credits his fathers long legal calls, which he overheard, to giving him perspective on business and structure as a very young man.

When Snapchat started taking off, Spiegel did not wait to graduate from Stanford. He moved the company to the Venice Beach boardwalk, away from what he perceived as Silicon Valleys too-narrow focus on technology.

His decamping for Southern California put off some in Silicon Valley. The perception of a divide with Silicon Valley was also fostered by Spiegels rejection of a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook in 2013. Some who met Spiegel during Snapchats early days at Stanford describe him as akin to the villain of a 1980s teen movie. He often came across as having a healthy ego, an impression Spiegel sometimes stoked.

When Spiegel met Institutional Venture Partners to discuss possible fundraising, for example, he told IVPs partner, Dennis Phelps, that he was unwilling to accept the firms standard investment terms.

If you want standard terms, invest in a standard company, Phelps recalled Spiegel telling him. IVP went on to invest in Snaps third financing round in 2013.

In Los Angeles, Spiegel has shown interest in the citys fashion, art and music scene. He met his fiancee, the model Miranda Kerr, at a Louis Vuitton dinner. And he once toyed with the idea of owning a record label with ties to Snapchat, according to a 2015 email between Sony executives that was released by hackers.

Hes different from most tech people because he knows whats cool and whats next, said Ryan Wilson, an artist in Los Angeles who worked with Spiegel on a piece of art for one of Snapchats offices. He doesnt like things because a dealer says he should. He just likes what he likes, whether its made by a high school friend or a famous artist.

Spiegel has involved himself in some political conversations. In 2015, he met with Chinas president, Xi Jinping, as a member of the 21st Century Council at the Berggruen Institute. Its founder, Nicolas Berggruen, said he impressed a group that includes Mohamed El-Erian, the economist, and former president Nicolas Sarkozy of France with his thoughtful and mature approach to people. Last fall, Spiegel also attended a private dinner with John O. Brennan, then the director of the CIA. According to multiple attendees, Spiegel listened more than he spoke and had the ear of Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles.

Spiegels unconventional streak may be most evident in how he has steered Snap. He has long said that a public offering was what was best for the company and its investors, even as other tech startups chose to stay private as long as possible.

Since Snapchats debut, the app and the company have also undergone dozens of changes that were criticized for being too different from other consumer internet companies.

Spiegel rejected the idea of a newsfeed in Snapchats app, for example, because he said people prefer stories chronologically. In Facebooks News Feed, posts are reverse chronological, meaning the newest posts are at the top.

Unlike other social networks, Snapchat also does not use algorithms to push people to see certain content. Snapchat users swipe their screens to navigate and view video vertically, rather than tap on menus or turn their phones to watch videos horizontally.

From what I can figure out, he thinks differently about the way to monetize and develop a social network, Schmidt said of Spiegel.

Investors who buy into Snaps initial public offering will soon be getting a piece of that approach.

Allowing ourselves to be pulled in another direction is what makes us human, Spiegel said in a commencement speech at the University of Southern Californias Marshall School of Business in 2015. Quoting John F. Kennedy, he added, Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

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JASPER, ALTA.-If you step beyond the borders of a pathway marked by multi-coloured rope lights at Lake Annette, the surrounding landscape will become indiscernible. Your eyes, although fully adjusted to the darkness, might only make out two or three fellow stargazers in the near distance. There are however, hundreds of others around you, respecting the darkness of the midnight hour with hushed voices and soft steps.

A visitor to this dark sky preserve will find out soon enough those foggy specks are a reflection of the upper atmosphere upon the lake just ahead. Yet in that moment, the horizontal realm wont matter in comparison to the vertical. And forgetting the fact you might have worn the wrong shoes and the night grass is harnessing the cold as dew that is soaking its way toward your skin, youll deny all things downward, forward or backward and simply look straight up.

When you stare into an impossibly star-filled sky, theres no experience like it . . . its primal, says Nadia Drake at a roundtable discussion in downtown Jasper. An award-winning science journalist and daughter of famed astrophysicist Frank Drake, Drake is one of four astronomy experts slated to deliver a keynote speech as part of the towns annual Dark Sky Festival.

The festival, held every October as Jaspers daylight hours begin to recede, aims to connect wanderers from across the globe in mutual celebration of all things beyond the Earths surface. Over 10 days, programming that includes DIY rocket launches, state-of-the-art telescope exhibits and science-centric seminars is almost entirely free.

Related story:5 places to experience in Jasper

Massively popular are night excursions to sensational star-watching spots, such as Lake Annette. During these excursions, hundreds of participants are shuttled to and from a drop-in dark-sky destination for a free night of expertly guided telescoping, photo-taking and star-spotting, all beneath Jaspers shimmering upper canvas.

You think about how these cultures all inscribed their own stories in the constellations, Drake continues, And the fact that kind of thinking is ubiquitous  you see it everywhere you go on Earth. Finding places in the world to preserve the sky and make it so anyone can still get a glimpse of that . . . I love that.

Jasper is, officially speaking, one of those places. At 11,000 square kilometres, its considered to be one of the worlds largest dark sky preserves in the world. Having received the formal designation in 2011 by the Royal Astronomy Society of Canada, the Alberta mountain town of about 4,500 permanent residents is one of 40 around the world taking active measures to reduce light pollution within the community.

Essentially a dark sky preserve is an astronomy park where local rules and bylaws defend the night against light pollution, says Jaspers astronomer-in-residence Peter McMahon, who fronted the endeavour to secure the town its preserve status. It cant simply be a place thats just dark  it has to have infrastructure to help make it so.

And while the remote expanse of Lake Annette, six kilometres from the town, makes for an unforgettably brilliant vantage point for stargazing, Jaspers central strip offers just as spectacular a spot for star-seekers. During a downtown astronomy excursion offered as part of the Dark Sky Festival, it is explained that the street lights along Connaught Dr. have been affixed with full cutoff fixture lighting  or casings that discourage glare from spilling out into the sky. This and other measures enable visitors to Jasper, even on overcast evenings, to take in the brilliant offerings of space from the comfort of the cores main street.

I remember there was a woman who came here from Beijing, whose husband was a little bit older than her, says McMahon, recalling a night sky excursion he led up a mountain via the Jasper SkyTram. A staff member noticed this woman was crying. Sometimes you see that up there  and the staff member asked if she was OK, to which the husband answered, Its because she was born too late.

The husbands meaning, as it turned out, was that his wife had been born soon after stars had become invisible to the people of Beijing, and she was witnessing the first of her life. Its a memory McMahon retells to many who visit Jasper, and who come to see the power of darkness as its harnessed to shed light upon the universe.

She came on a mostly cloudy night, and it suddenly cleared, says McMahon. She was able to see the Milky Way. She was able to see everything.

Liz Beddall was hosted by Tourism Jasper, which did not review or approve this story.

When you go

Get there: I flew to Calgary International Airport via WestJet, where I transferred to a Sun Dog Tours bus to Banff. From the Banff Greyhound bus station I took my final and spectacularly scenic trip to Jasper via a Sun Dog van. If youre going straight to Jasper, Edmonton is the closest gateway.

Get around: Jasper as a town is highly walkable but visitors could certainly benefit from having a car to travel to its many surrounding parks and lookout points. Avis, Budget and Hertz are all available downtown along Connaught Dr.

Stay: I stayed at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in one of its many log-cabin suites, which came complete with a pre-stoked, wood-burning fireplace.

Take part in the Dark Sky Festival: Drawing specialists in the field of astronomy from across the globe, this annual festival offers a variety of events throughout the month of October, including outdoor excursions, childrens programming, and seminars with a focus on the night sky. Most of the festivals programming is free to the public, with a few ticketed events available for purchase online.

Eat: One of Jaspers more unique culinary experiences can be found at Cassios Italian Restaurant. Located within the Whistlers Inn hotel, the popular dining spot not only offers a range of tasty pastas and mains, but also invites waiting diners to take a tour of an adjoining natural history museum, complete with taxidermy of 100 local animals against a range of dioramas.

Do your research:jasper.travel or jaspercanadianrockies.com

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Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will travel to Washington Monday to meet with U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, the first face-to-face meeting between top officials in the Liberal government and the new Trump administration.

Sajjan will be joined by Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff, for the meeting at the Pentagon with Mattis and Gen. Paul J. Selva, vice-chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff.

The two nations joint interests in the NATO and NORAD military alliances and the ongoing mission to defeat Daesh extremists will likely top the agenda for their discussion, Sajjan spokesperson Jordan Owens told the Star.

She couldnt say if Canadas plans for a military peace mission in Africa  reportedly on hold as Ottawa takes stock of the priorities of the new U.S. administration  would also be discussed.

Its certainly one of our governments priorities so it could come up, Owens said.

Following the formal meeting, Mattis and Sajjan, both former military officers, are expected to have dinner together.

Work continues behind the scenes for a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump, a session that White House spokesperson Sean Spicer suggested Friday would happen in Washington, rather than Ottawa.

I know that theyre looking at a time to come down . . . I think that will be a meeting that is set up very shortly, Spicer told reporters during a White House briefing.

In a telephone conversation Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked trade and cross-border traffic.

The two politicians underlined the importance of the Canada-U.S. bilateral relationship, including mutually beneficial trade and economic ties, according to a statement from Freelands office.

They also highlighted progress of recent pre-clearance measures, as well as the need for a safe and secure border that does not impede the smooth flow of goods and people, the statement said.

Tillerson and Freeland agreed to meet as soon as possible.

Just a few weeks into his term, Trump is already having an impact on Canada-U.S. relations on issues such as energy policy, cross-border travel and his vow to quickly renegotiate NAFTA.

In the Commons Friday, Conservative MP Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar) pressed the Liberals to abandon their plan for a carbon tax to adjust to the new reality in the United States.

The United States, under the new administration, is cutting taxes, decreasing regulations. They are committed to no carbon tax, Bergen said in question period.

Things have changed in Canada, in North America. Is the government able to pivot . . . ?

Canadian officials spent much of the week scrambling to react to the fallout from Trumps executive order imposing a 90-day travel ban on residents of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya entering the United States. There were concerns that Canadians with dual citizenships from one of the affected nations could also get held up at the U.S. border.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale repeated assurances Friday that dual citizen Canadians should be OK, despite reports that several Canadians holding Nexus trusted-traveller cards had their cards revoked.

In the diplomatic dance of not wanting to upset the Trump administration in these early days, Conservative MP Michele Rempel said the Liberal government has stumbled in tone and not been vigorous enough.

That doesnt mean that we cant . . . continue to have a very positive working relationship with one of our biggest allies and trading partners. It simply means that the government needs to be more transparent and more vocal in its effort to protect Canadian interests, Rempel told reporters.

But Liberal MP Andrew Leslie, the newly appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs with special responsibilities for the Canada-U.S. relationship, counselled patience.

The whole idea of standing firm on our values, by all means, but working co-operatively with our biggest friend, largest trading partner is perhaps the wisest approach, Leslie, a retired lieutenant-general in the Canadian Armed Forces, told reporters earlier in the week.

I think all of us have to stay calm and carry on.

With files from Daniel Dale

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The federal government signed a memorandum with Metis in Ontario on Friday that aims to pave the way for advancing their rights and settling various claims.

The document kick-starts discussions toward a tentative agreement  to be reached by September  that will set up negotiations on Metis self-government, lands, rights and other outstanding claims against Canada.

Margaret Froh, president of the Metis Nation of Ontario, called it an incredibly important event, even though the memorandum of understanding is just a commitment to more talking.

This is a whole bright new day and not just for Metis in Ontario, but for all the Metis Nation, Froh said in an interview ahead of the signing.

It is the beginning of developing a true nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship between Canada and the Metis Nation.

The Metis trace their origins to early unions between First Nations people  usually women  and European settlers. They later developed a distinct culture. While they have historically had an enormous part to play in the formation of Ontario and Canada, Froh said, formal recognition of the Metis as a nation has largely been lacking.

We have been standing on the outside looking in, Froh said. The fact that weve got a federal government that acknowledges us...is a remarkable shift.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of the federal government, with her Ontario counterpart, David Zimmer, Metis dignitaries and others in attendance at a downtown hotel ceremony.

This is a historic step forward in achieving lasting and meaningful reconciliation on a nation-to-nation, government-to-government basis for the benefit of the Metis Nation of Ontario and all Canadians, Bennett said in a statement.

In November 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directed her to advance a nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship with the Metis. In April last year, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the Metis are one of the three constitutionally recognized indigenous groups  along with First Nations and Inuit  making Ottawa responsible for negotiating with them as a nation.

Trudeau had planned to meet with Metis on Parliament Hill on Monday for what was to be the first permanent bilateral Metis Nation-Crown summit but the mosque massacre in Quebec City scuttled that plan.

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Waiting by an elevator after paying condolences to the friends and family of Quebec mosque attack victim Mamadou Tanou Barry this week, Mounir Laffet expressed a frustration shared by everyone in Quebec Citys Muslim community.

The problem here in Quebec is the trash radio. I think they are accomplices, he said, referring to Quebec Citys flourishing community of talk radio and shock jocks who kick off controversy while attracting criticism and lawsuits with their on-air commentary.

I know that there is freedom of the press and all that, but do we give them the right to say whatever they want? Laffet asked. For me they are extremists on the other side.

The Tunisian-born Laffet is not the only one to have reached that conclusion.

In 2014, Universite Laval journalism professor Dominique Payette was tapped by former Parti Quebecois premier Pauline Marois to conduct a study into the dynamics of the citys media landscape as well as its influence and sway over the listening public.

Payettes professional qualifications are impeccable, but as a defeated candidate for the PQ, critics said she had a vested interest in making the citys private radio stations  dismissively referred to as radio poubelle (trash radio)  pay for the political defeat.

Her report, released in November 2015, described a toxic culture driven by competition for ratings, advertising and the desire to cause a stir on social-media. With little budget for teams of professional journalists to gather news, Payette wrote, hosts are instead encouraged to take provocative positions on issues of the day, often picking fights with everyone from feminist groups to government bureaucrats to labour unions to welfare recipients to practising Muslims.

Read more:

What now for 17 kids whove lost their father in Quebec mosque attack?

What happened the night of the Quebec mosque attack

The result was a climate of fear that has no place in a democracy the report concluded. It was all with an eye to engaging a target audience of angry white men and stoking their latent fears of emancipated women and an invasion of visible minorities.

But Payette was nevertheless shocked when, 14 months after submitting her work, the shooter opened fire Sunday evening at the mosque. The descriptions of friends and acquaintances of the alleged killer as a bullied loner angry at women and immigrants closely matched the archetypal trash radio listener she had sketched out in her report.

At first I was very uncomfortable with this whole situation because its like Ive been proven right but I really would have preferred to have been wrong, Payette said in an interview this week.

When Herman Okomba-Deparice hears the descriptions of the alleged attacker he feels only regret.

Were hearing that this young man was isolated, that he had a love of guns, that he was polarized, that he spoke out against women. These are signs of radicalization, said the head of the Montreal-based Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence.

We have put in place a barometer of behaviours to be able to say to people, Here are the signs to look out for. When I look at the barometerand I dont want to blame those close to himbut if they had been more vigilant, maybe this could have been avoided.

The program that Okomba-Deparice runs was set up in early 2015 after a series of incidents in which young Muslims were arrested on suspicion of terrorism activities or ended up fleeing the country for Syria to join the terror group Daesh.

He said the bulk of the centres interventions have involved Islamic radicalization, but there has been a worrying rise in cases of right-wing extremism, hate speech and Islamophobia, he said. Most of the incident reports originate in Quebec towns outside of its largest city, Montreal.

In some cases they involve organized groups like Soldiers of Odin or Pegida who run Facebook sites and claim to be fighting against radical Islam. Another Facebook page run by the purportedly secret group, La Meute, claims members are inclusive and multi-ethnic.

But Okomba-Deparice said their messages that Quebecois and Canadian culture or jobs or economy or identity are threatened by religious groups or immigrants are being received by people who are vulnerable.

People who radicalize are people who are looking for an identity and these extremist right-wing groups are feeding these vulnerable people with simplistic answers to complex problems, he said.

In the days since the Quebec City attack, calls reporting hate incidents, Islamophobia and right-wing extremism have been coming into the centre at a greater than average rate. In the 72 hours after the attacks there had been 10 reports of Islamophobia, four which were judged serious enough to flag to the police, Okomba-Deparice said.

For a man on the frontline of the fight against extremism, they are encouraging signs that help counter the regret.

Its always difficult because when someone commits an act like this, its a failure, he said of Sundays killings. It means that there is something that didnt work properly.

But he hopes the murders will serve as a wake up call to make people think twice when they encounter extremist thoughts or worrying behaviours in their family, in their communities or online.

Before we would let it go when we saw someone on the Internet spouting off, he said. Now people are calling us and saying Thats enough. Its zero tolerance and were happy because at least this unfortunate tragedy will have succeeded in making people wake up.

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QUEBECIt was only as he cowered inside a small prayer room, one arm around each of his young sons, that Farhat Guemri realized what he was hiding from.

Seconds before, as he knelt in prayer, a pop had pierced through his mosque, sounding to him like firecrackers, or a rock pelting nearby windows.

Amidst the panicked crush that ensued inside his mosques large prayer room, he saw his boys, 10 and 12, running in the crowd. He ushered them away from a nearby exit and into a small imams room in the back of the mosque, believing it was safer.

As the trio crouched on the floor, taking refuge alongside seven or eight others, more popping sounds rang out, and three men suddenly dropped to the ground immediately outside the small room. One mans blood spattered Guemris sweater.

It was then that Guemri realized the danger was inside.

I heard tack tack tack tack tack, and all I could do was wait. Because we were there, there was nothing I could do... He was shooting at us.

Read more:

What now for 17 kids who have lost their father in the Quebec mosque attack

Trash radio creates culture of intolerance in Quebec

On the night of Jan. 29, members of the Centre Culturel Islamique Quebec gathered inside Quebec Citys largest mosque for the most important prayer of the day. For many, it was a Sunday ritual. For others, a time to recite the Quran in the basement. For two parents, it was a convenient spot to meet in the middle and pick-up their kids after a playdate.

On this night, two lifelong friends would wave a casual goodbye that would be their last, one life saved by leaving right after prayers, the other lost for staying a few minutes longer.

Another mans choice to return for one more prayer  taking his boots off the rack to leave, then placing them back down and re-entering the room  likely cost him his life.

There was no denying that simmering anti-Muslim sentiment, across the United States and in Quebec, was sowing fear. Just one week before, this mosque had posted on its community board a floor plan showing upcoming renovations intended to increase security.

Still, they had prayed facing Mecca, their backs to the main entrance.

The bullets unleashed just after 7:50 p.m. would kill six men and injure more, shatter some Muslims sense of security, and call into question presumed tolerance within Quebec and Canada.

There was a world before January 29, said Ramzi Khemiri, a former mosque administrator, and there is a world after.

Originally based at Universite Laval in the early 1980s, the mosques current location, in the suburb of Ste-Foy, used to be a bank. Over the years, the community paid for it to be renovated; the spacious central prayer room, with forest green carpet, was the heart of the mosque.

On Sunday, prayers began there at 7:30 and lasted between 10 and 15 minutes. When they were over, about 45 adults and four children knelt or stood in the central area, some leaving, some lingering, and a few praying individually.

On his way out, Ali H.  he asked that his full name not be used  spotted Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, praying across the room. His close friend of 23 years and a work colleague, Ali knew he would see Hassane tomorrow at the office, where Hassane worked as a computer programmer.

Ali waved goodbye without stopping to chat, not wanting to keep his ride waiting outside.

Also in the prayer room was Aboubaker Thabti, a 44-year-old father of two. While working to obtain his equivalency requirements, the Tunisian-trained pharmacy technician worked a factory night shift; weekend evenings were the sole times he could come to night prayers at the mosque.

According to his close friend Anis Hammami, a mutual acquaintance had seen Thabti begin to walk out of the mosque, then change his mind.

He got up to leave, got his boots, but then he said, no Id like to do one more supplementary prayer, Hammami said. And thats when it happened.

The first sign of danger was a loud pop. Witnesses said the gunman initially fired outside the mosque before entering through the main door, the mens entrance.

Khemiri, the former mosque administrator, was not present during the shooting  a family gathering put him closer to a different mosque at prayer time. But he says witnesses told him the shooter was carrying two guns: a weapon that looked like an assault rife, and a handgun.

But the rifle jammed, so the shooter instead used his handgun.

Standing nearby were close friends Ibrahima Barry, 39, and Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42. Both natives of Guinea, the men lived just one floor apart in a nearby apartment building. Between them they had six children  Mamadou two kids under three, Ibrahima four under 13.

Encountering the gunman as he entered, the men became the first two victims. They died together.

As the shots rang out, those inside and near the prayer room scattered, some running the length of the mosque and out the womens exit, others fleeing downstairs or into the imams room.

Within seconds, the gunman fired more shots, walking into the mosque, though never straying much further than a few metres from the mens entrance.

Those who were on this side of the room were most vulnerable. Thabti, the man whod come back for another prayer, was fatally shot near an archway near the back of the mosque. Another man nearby was shot four times in the torso and once in the neck. He survived but is in critical condition.

At some points, the shooting briefly stopped as the gunman reloaded his weapon. Positioned behind a pillar near the shooter, beloved local butcher Azzedine Soufiane apparently realized there was an opportunity to intervene.

He stepped out and attempted to stop the shooter as he reloaded a second time.

The brother was courageous, Khemiri said. He got close, and then he shot him three times.

The father of three was killed, but his actions bought precious seconds for others inside the room to get away.

Without this intervention we would have more deaths, said Mohamed Labidi, vice-president of the mosque.

Downstairs, about 20 people who had been reciting the Quran were panicking, hearing the shots but not knowing if they should run. Some called 911, said Mokhles Yousfi, whose brother-in-law was downstairs.

Upstairs, crouched with his boys inside the imams prayer room, Guemri heard gunfire on and off.

I thought the shooting was done, then it would restart  tack tack tack. I was concentrating on my children, I was calming them, saying its going to be OK, dont be scared, the police will be here soon. I wasnt in shock, but in control, because I didnt want my children to cry or lose control, Guemri said.

By the time the final shots had been fired, three people lay in the vicinity of the imams room, among them Khaled Belkacemi, a Universite Laval professor. Guemri could see that he was not moving.

Witnesses say the shooter left through the mens entrance, leaving a rifle in the snow and fleeing in a car parked nearby.

Guemri estimates that police arrived about 10 minutes after the shooting began. At first, he didnt understand the gunman had left. When a loud voice instructed him to raise his hands and come out of the room, he was afraid he would die.

I saw that (the officer) was close and I thought it was the shooter, because I didnt hear (them yell) Police, I looked at him and he looked at me, and I thought he was going to shoot me.

As paramedics arrived on scene, tending to the injured, police instructed anyone who wasnt hurt to raise their hands in the air. They were then lined up along the back wall of the mosque and searched.

Outside the prayer room, Guemri surveyed the devastation. Men lay on the ground, bleeding. A voice called out, please, ambulance, ambulance. Near the centre of the room, a little girl sat unharmed, staring at her father who was hurt: She was in shock, she wasnt saying anything.

As police walked him and his sons towards the exit, Guemri urged his children not to look, but I couldnt prevent it.

As they left, Guemri looked back at Belkacemi, the professor whod been shot outside the prayer room. I heard someone say, theres nothing we can do for him.

The barrage of 911 calls began at 7:55 p.m, all urgent requests for police and ambulances. Except one.

According to Surete du Quebec, 30 minutes after the shooting a 911 operator got a call from a man claiming responsibility for the shooting. Soon after, police arrested the man on the side of the road, near the bridge to Ile dOrleans, five kilometres from the crime scene.

He was armed and he spoke to us about his acts, said Quebec City police inspector Denis Turcotte, in a press conference hours after the shooting.

According to Quebec news channel TVA, the 911 caller had not actually told the operator his whereabouts. Rather, police had used GPS to track the location of his cellphone.

Taken into custody was Alexandre Bissonnette, a 27-year-old Universite Laval student from Quebec City. In a court appearance Monday, the diminutive man appeared on six counts of first degree murder, and five of attempted murder. He never looked up.

Descriptions from friends, classmates and neighbours paint a picture of a quiet, antisocial man who as a child had few friends and was rarely separated from his twin brother. He had been bullied, but he bullied back, former classmates said.

Recent online activity shows he was a Facebook fan of far-right politicians, including Frances Marine Le Pen. On a now-deactivated Twitter account belonging to an Alex Bissonnette, with a profile photo of the accused, he described himself as a big Donald Trump fan, saying last year that it was time for a real leader who will fight against terrorism.

Already in custody when Bissonnette was arrested was Mohamed Belkhadir, a 29-year-old engineering student, also at Universite Laval. Just before the shooting, he had stepped out of the mosque to clear snow off the steps. He was at the side of the building when he heard an explosion of gunfire.

Belkhadir saw people fleeing from the mosque, but his reflex was to stay and help. He called 911 then tried to offer assistance to a friend who had been injured. It was then that he saw someone with a weapon approaching.

I thought it was a shooter I was scared and thats why I ran away, but when I heard the orders to drop to the ground I understood that it was the police, he said.

Belkhadirs attempt to flee, and his misfortune to have dropped to the ground, reportedly next to the shooters discarded rifle, led the police to wrongly conclude that he was one of two killers.

As news of the shooting was breaking on news outlets around the world, word of the massacre reached Premier Philippe Couillard in Saint-Felicien, a rural town about 300 kilometres north of the provincial capital, at 9 p.m. He immediately made arrangements to fly back to Quebec City.

Couillard began coordinating the provincial response with his cabinet over the phone. Around 10 p.m. the decision was made to put in place the counter-terrorism police management structure, a provincial protocol that brings the expertise and resources of Quebecs three largest police forcesthe RCMP, the SQ and the Montreal forceto bear on terrorism cases.

By 11:30 p.m., Couillards staff tweeted that he had been in touch with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume as well as Quebec Public Safety Minister Martin Coiteux and that the premier was on his way back to the capital.

Once Couillards flight landed at the Quebec City airport, he was driven straight to the Minister of Public Securitys headquarters. There, he was debriefed by police investigators.

Just after midnight, while reporters were being summoned to a news conference at 1:30 a.m., Couillards office tweeted that the premier had ordered flags on government buildings to be lowered to half mast to commemorate a terrorist attack.

It was the first time the mosque shooting had been described as terrorism.

They were killed because they were Muslim. It wasnt a coincidence, said the premiers spokesperson, Harold Fortin. For him it was obvious that it was a hate crime.

In the chaotic hours immediately after the shooting, family and friends who received frantic calls rushed to the mosque for information, only to find police tape blocking entry.

Amine Abderrezag had heard his friend Souffiane was among the victims and was desperate for information. With none available at the mosque, he and 12 others went to the nearby university hospital.

We just didnt know what to do. It was our first reflex, Abderrezag said.

The six men who died were transported to the university hospital, the closest to the mosque. Twelve of the less serious shooting victims were transported to Hopital Saint-Francois dAssise and two of the injured were taken to Centre hospitalier de lUniversite Laval.

Five of the most seriously injured went to Hopital de lEnfant-Jesus, the citys trauma centre. At home in his pyjamas when he got the call to come in, Dr. Julien Clement said he knew only that there had been a shooting; He didnt know how many victims there were.

I took for granted that if my colleague was calling me, it must be serious.

By 9 p.m., just 15 minutes after the call, Dr. Clement was at the hospital, part of a team that included six general surgeons, one anesthesiologist, two intensive care specialists and two emergency room doctors.

One victim had a gunshot wound to the abdomen that turned out to be less serious than anticipated. For two others, the bullets had gone through muscle, but not hit any organs. The other two were in serious, unstable condition.

They were pretty much dying in front of us, Dr. Clement said.

It was a rare scene in a city that receives, on average, 15 gunshot cases each year, most the result of hunting accidents or suicide attempts.

It was controlled chaos. The hospitals four operating rooms filled up quickly as physicians, surgeons and nurses rushed into action.

Its kind of a fog of war, Dr. Clement said. I wasnt sure how many patients there were on the scene. I didnt know if there was a second wave of patients coming. We heard rumours of this, but we werent sure.

Few trauma surgeons would be as well prepared to deal with a mass casualty event as Dr. Clement, who also served as a Canadian Armed Forces surgeon and deployed three times to Afghanistan. It wasnt unusual during those deployments to be confronted with multiple traumatic injuries, treating soldiers who had been targeted in an ambush or a strike from an improvised explosive device.

Its more about the number of injured that come inI think thats the main skill that is transferrable from that type of situation, he said. You can think about it, but its really hard to train ... Its never like the real thing.

Horrified family members, friends and other members of the Muslim community also began arriving at the citys hospitals in desperate efforts to locate those who couldnt be found and werent responding to phone calls and text messages.

About 40 people were on hand at Hopital de lEnfant-Jesus.

It wasnt just the wives and close family. It was the whole community, said Genevieve Dupuis, a hospital spokesperson. They wanted information but they also wanted a few seconds to pray with the patient. At first it was overwhelming, but they remained respectful and polite.

They were ushered into a meeting room to wait for updates. It took three hoursuntil 11 p.m. before Dr. Clement could take a breath. All of the lethal injuries had been treated in the operating rooms.

They needed some more surgery, but we knew that they were survivors, he said.

Inside Universite Lavals Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, there would be no good news for friends desperate for information on Hassane, the computer programmer who stayed to linger after prayers.

Initially, there had been hope he was alive. Someone had seen paramedics perform CPR on him.

According to Ali, Hassanes friend of 23 years whod left the mosque minutes before the shooting began, another member of the mosque, a mutual friend, had gone to the university hospital searching for Hassane.

Ali said that when the friend arrived, hospital staff couldnt confirm Hassane was among the victims because they hadnt identified one body. So his friend pulled up a photo of Hassane from his Facebook page and showed it to a doctor, then a nurse. One said the body didnt look like him, the other said it was likely him.

Ultimately, Ali said, they let the friend in to see the body himself. It was Hassane. Though he had been shot, he had also suffered a heart attack. Ali rushed to the hospital.

When I got there I said, what do we do now? We have to inform his wife. She had been calling us, but we couldnt respond. What were were going to tell her?

Back at Hopital de lEnfant-Jesus, where things had calmed down, Dr. Clement called the citys other hospitals to offer his skills as a trauma surgeon, in case more victims arrived.

Back at Hopital de lEnfant-Jesus Dr. Clement delivered the news to the community members waiting near the operating rooms.

At one point past midnight I told them the best thing they could do was to go home because there was nothing else they could do, he said.

By about 1 a.m., the work of cleaning wounds and fixing bones was passed on to the orthopedic surgeons. By 2 a.m., Dr. Clement left the hospital. He tried to get some sleep. He couldnt.

Days after the shooting, he remains angry at the shooter, and bewildered by the forces he sees at play in a changing world.

Those guys who were on the table were just like me, he said. The same age, most likely two or three kids. The only thing is they are Muslim and got shot. Thats all.

Word of the deaths spread quickly  to families in Guinea, New York, Ohio and more.

On the Universite Laval campus, doctorate student Herve Nlandu was eagerly seeking his advisor, Prof. Belkacemi. The two were to run an experiment together in the lab Monday morning.

When Belkacemi didnt show, Nlandu worried.

Then, I saw an email saying he was gone, he said. I thought, this is not possible.

By midday, widely circulated erroneous reports there were two shooters were corrected by police. After spending the night in custody Belkhadir was released.

They said: Mohamed, youre not a suspect. Youre a witness I was so relieved! I had these horrible thoughts that I would no longer be able to work, no longer be able to go to university, no longer be able to do the things I dreamed of.

As anger and sorrow mounted, and crowds gathered for memorials across Canada, the largest in Quebec City, members of the Muslim community crowded into the Annour Mosque, a short drive from the crime scene.

Barely 24 hours after the shooting, the group, shell-shocked and haggard, had come together to discuss the massacre and seek reassurance of their safety from police.

Among them was Lhoussine El Manoug, an immigrant from Morocco who just hours before had made a shocking realization he wanted to share with the group.

On Thursday, three days before the shooting, hed spoken with Bissonnette outside the mosque, after the prayers of Isha. Hed been asking for money; El Manoug thought hed wanted to know about Islam, and greeted him with a Salam!

He said, I love Allah.I thought, okay, what is this all about? He said, Ive seen photos of him, El Manoug said.

Then I understood that he was laughing.

With files from Laura Beeston

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The devil within

When we think of a mental institution, we immediately imagine a chaotic hospital where things are terribly awrypatients shrieking, throwing objects around, harming themselves and others, and some even strapped down by strait-jackets.
QUEBECThe school bus turned onto a snowy Ste-Foy cul-de-sac just after 3 p.m., coming to a stop in front of an apartment building.

Ali eyed its opening doors from the front lobby, where he was saying goodbye to a stream of visitors who had come to give their condolences.

His girls are home, he said.

Two days had passed since the children, 12 and 10, were told, with the help of a psychologist, that their father was dead. Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, was among six victims of a fatal shooting inside Quebec Citys largest mosque just a few minutes drive away. In the familys apartment upstairs, Hassanes widow was caring for their youngest daughter, a 15-month-old baby.

The girls are among 17 children who no longer have fathers  men who were killed where the families worship.

Read more:

What happened the night of the Quebec mosque attack

Trash radio creates culture of intolerance in Quebec

On Wednesday, Hassanes eldest girls went to school as the familys support network, led by Ali  Hassanes friend of 23 years, who asked to be identified by first name only  busily arranged the logistics of the coming days. Funeral in Montreal first. Burial in Hassanes home country of Algeria after that.

His cellphone rang every other minute, his voice low and solemn. Dark circles around his eyes betrayed a sleepless night at the hospital Sunday, where he learned Hassane was killed moments after the men had waved goodbye to each other at the mosque, Ali leaving, Hassane lingering.

But as the girls stepped off the bus, clomping in big boots up to the door, frizzy curls poking out of their toques, he transformed.

Girls, youre home! he called out to them excitedly, putting on a grin as he propped open the door and ushered them upstairs.

He knows he can only distract them from their grief for so long.

When the apartment is empty, when no one is coming and going, thats when theyll feel the absence of their father, he said.

The young ages of some of the victims children may ease, for now, the task of explaining the inexplicable  why their fathers are gone. But inside the Ibrahima Barry household, there has nonetheless been confusion for the littlest of his four children, his 2- and 3-year-old sons.

Hours after learning his older brother was among the dead, Thierno Barry flew from his home in New York to his brothers Ste-Foy apartment, to be with Ibrahimas wife and children. Since then, visitors have repeatedly commented on how much the brothers look alike  Its remarkable, said one of Ibrahimas co-workers to Thierno Barry Wednesday night.

But the boys, giggling as they played with strangers shoes down the hall, cant tell the difference.

They have been calling me dad, Theirno Barry said.

Ibrahimas two eldest, girls aged 13 and 6, have a better grasp of whats happened. We have tried to speak to them (as) diplomatically as possible, he said.

It is not only the children of the dead who need comfort. Hours after her mosque was reopened following the attacks, blood stains still on the carpets and a bullet hole visible in the wall, Yasima Hadj-Sahraoui asked what she should tell her 13-year-old son and other kids from the mosque.

Most of them were born here  they feel absolutely, totally Quebecois. We have, every time, tried to teach them the good values of Islam, not to do bad things. What can we say to them?

For now, Farhat Guemri has just been trying to listen. He was with his boys, 12 and 10, when shots rang out inside the mosque Sunday night. They hid together in an imams prayer room until the shooting stopped.

He tried to protect them, both during the attack and after  covering their ears from the screams and telling them to close their eyes to carnage around them.

But then police took us and we walked through the room, and I couldnt prevent it, Guemri said.

Psychologists have been arranged for the boys at their school, and for now their well-being is Guemris sole focus. Asked how he is doing, he has no answer, having not yet stopped to consider it.

I want to make sure that my kids are all right, he says. Well see about how Im feeling after that.

The day after the shooting, he tried to stop his boys from watching television. But inevitably, they saw accused gunman Alexandre Bissonnettes face in the news. Guemri used it as an opportunity to talk.

I asked my son what he would say if he could speak to this man, Guemri said, his voice cracking.

And he told me: Dad, I would ask him why he hates Muslims. 

SHARE:
Around the corner from my home the other afternoon, broad daylight, theres a male body lying in the open.

I walk by within minutes of Torontos fifth murder, 2017. The police havent even arrived yet.

That was Anastasios Leventis, 39, shot to death near George Brown College.

A couple of months ago, a 17-year-old boy I knew was gunned down on a Saturday morning in the Jane-Finch area, outside a townhouse where hed been visiting friends. Two men stepped out of a car and fired multiples times before fleeing in the same vehicle.

A few weeks earlier, Id scolded Caheem Clayshawn Ramsuchit for trying to mooch a cigarette off me, saying theres no way I was going to support a teenagers nicotine habit. Smoking will kill you. He shrugged and grinned and walked me to my mothers house, where the teenager attended backyard barbecues last summer.

He was homicide No. 60.

In another apartment where I previously lived, a few blocks away, a man down the hall stabbed to death with a screwdriver. My place broken into three times.

Maybe I live in a dangerous neighbourhood, encompassing Moss Park, a long stretch of flophouses and multiple shelters. Statistics bear that out, with the area second-highest for assault rates in Toronto, first per capita in drug crime charges. The citys first homicide this year occurred outside a variety store up the street, penetrating gunshot wound to the chest according to the police release. Across the street, the proprietor of another convenience store corner store was slain  was it last year or the year before? Theyre all starting to run together.

These are the streets where I live. But the down-and-out were here first, before the area started edging towards gentrification, at least around the edges and spit-ugly, those condo developments.

Everybody has to be somewhere, including those who are turned out from their overnight dossing accommodation during daytime hours and have nowhere to go, the homeless congregating on corners with the clearly mentally ill and a steadily increasing number of men who I suspect are recent immigrants or refugees, somehow fallen through the cracks of settlement and integration services. Fights break out frequently.

While I sometimes grow weary of the endless panhandling and the occasional physical accosting, this is my normal.

Except murder should never become anybodys normal.

Perhaps Im just acquainted with some of the wrong sorts of people, though detectives havent indicated that Clayshawn  who was obviously targeted  had been running with a guns n gang crowd and his friends have insisted to me that was not the case.

Unsolved.

Leventis, as the Stars Peter Edwards reported Thursday, was the brother of Mihale Leventis, awaiting trial in Montreal as part of a massive cocaine trafficking bust. So that raises obvious inferences about last Mondays downtown murder.

Im beginning to think that six degrees of separation  or four or three or two  is all that distances us, certainly me, from lethal violence.

The murder roll thus far, for 2017:

Anthony Earl Smith, 41. Shot.

Dylan Gill, 24. Shot.

Victor Ogundipe, 41. Died from injuries inflicted in an altercation with another inmate at Toronto South Detention Centre.

Ali Rizeig, 18. Shot.

Anastasios Leventis, 39. Shot.

Dameion McFarland, 35. Shot.

The new year has come in like a lion. And where 2016 left off. There were 73 homicides in the city last year, 40 of them from bullets flying  way up from 26 in 2015 and worst toll of the gun in a decade. Shooting occurrences in 2016: 407. Shooting occurrences in 2015: 288. Shooting occurrences this for January: 23, which is actually significantly lower than last January.

Since Torontos infamous Year of the Gun  52 bang-bang murders in 2005  the gun deaths had actually been falling and remains, still, far below the gun carnage in similar sized American cities. Do you take solace in that fact? I dont.

I cast my mind back to all the dying Ive chronicled over the decades as a reporter  the murders, the accidents, the wars, the refugee camps, the natural disasters, the terrorist attacks, the children starved and beaten by their parents. The direct damage and the collateral damage.

But a slain man at my feet, blood pooling, around the corner from my home; a boy riddled by bullets  homicide brought too close to home.

My normal. The abnormal normal now for too many residents in Toronto.

Even if the rest of you never take much notice.

Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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U.S. President Donald Trumps travel ban against Muslims came as no surprise to Canadian Muslims, though they did not expect how harshly and quickly it happened.

Then came the massacre at a Quebec City mosque that struck another blow to a community already numbed by the Islamophobia its members have faced day in day out in Canada.

A group of Muslims invited by the Star to a roundtable discussion last week described their immediate reactions to the disturbing events on both sides of the border with such phrases as not again, resistance and heavy heart.

Its a familiar narrative. Its very real in our lives, said Gilary Massa, 31, whose family came to Canada from Panama in the late 1980s. Some people say at least we live in Canada. This is what we say to ourselves to cope, but (the shooting) is an unfriendly reminder of how Islamophobia is well and alive in the country.

Massa, a co-ordinator for a national Muslim advocacy group, said she felt lucky she didnt have to explain what was happening to her daughter, who is only 16 months old.

For Mississaugas Farrah Marfatia, also a parent, the response from her 7-year-old son to the events was worrisome. The young boy tried to comfort his mother, telling her it would be OK for them to travel to the United States as long as they painted themselves white.

Marfatia, a school vice-principle who was born and raised in Toronto to Pakistani immigrant parents, said she wondered where he got that from. Thats not what we want to teach kids, our second generation. Canada is supposed to be our home, but its just our house, she said.

With heightened security and police patrols at the private Islamic school where she works, Marfatia, 37, worries about the effects these events might have on the childrens mental health.

The past week has been exhausting for a community thats trying to find the space to grieve amid their concern for their fellow Muslims in the U.S. while being overwhelmed by support from well-meaning fellow Canadians who suddenly were confronted by the issue of Islamophobia.

Like many, Shazlin Rahman, whose family moved to Toronto from Malaysia a decade ago, is still trying to digest what all these changes mean to her as a Muslim.

We have lost our sense of security and safety. A mosque isnt only a place we go to pray. It is a social hub for us. We can pray at home, but we go there also for social support, said Rahman, 34, who works at a non-profit organization.

My parents live in Brantford and they just block it out. Everywhere my father goes, hes the only Muslim. I have a large support network in Toronto, but they dont.

Many of the participants in the discussion were also advised by their families not to speak out about the travel ban and Quebec shooting for fear of retribution. Rahman said she now takes cabs for safety reasons and avoids going to the mosque late at night.

A post-9/11 Canada vigilant about national security and threats by Muslims is all Rania El Mugammar knows, but the 28-year-old Sudanese artist and consultant counts herself as less vulnerable because she doesnt wear a head scarf.

That said, she said shes not unfamiliar with discrimination and racism, growing up as a black woman in the citys St. James Town and Regent Park community.

You call the cops and you are the ones who get arrested, said El Mugammar sarcastically. The community is highly racialized, highly Muslim. We all have this thread of shared fear. You do not have to explain yourself. Thats the only reprieve.

She said often victims feel they have no one to turn to when bad things happen even when we are on the terror-receiving side.

The events have also shaken the faith of staunch community activist Sureya Ibrahim, who has been working tirelessly in community building with Toronto police and the RCMP.

It is me being naive, feeling its my home. I dont feel that way anymore. There is no rest here, said Ibrahim, who is in her 40s and came to Canada in 1995 with her Ethiopian family.

Ibrahim said she attended an interfaith event after the Quebec shooting and was glad to see the huge turnout of white Canadians in the audience.

However, she wishes the sympathizers support had been just as strong when the community was fighting against the Peel District School Board over Friday prayer restrictions, the York Region District School Board over a principal who posted anti-Muslim messages on Facebook and Justin Trudeaus Liberal government over the unfulfilled promise to amend Bill C-51, the sweeping and controversial anti-terrorism legislation.

Tweets are politics. Leadership is action, said Adil Dhalla, 34, who was born and raised in Toronto to Tanzanian immigrant parents, referring to a tweet by Prime Minister Trudeau praising Canadas diversity after the announcement of the U.S. Muslim travel ban.

Dhalla, who grew up making every effort to hide his Muslim identity to fit in, said diversity wont serve as Canadas strength without inclusion and equity.

The country has to change. We have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We have to recognize our challenge. Otherwise, we are no better than whats happened in the U.S., added Dhalla, who is the executive director of the Centre for Social Innovation, a Toronto organization that promotes community collaboration and development.

Inspirit Foundation, whose mandate is to advance social inclusion, said tackling Islamophobia is a top priority for the organization.

There is much more work to do and this moment underscores the urgency, said Andrea Nemtin, president and CEO of the foundation, which facilitated the Stars roundtable discussion.

Massa said it is time for Canadians to recognize the multifaceted identities of their fellow Canadians.

At what point, should we shed our (Muslim) identity as immigrants? asked Massa rhetorically. We dont want to erase our culture, but the framing of our identity separate from our Canadian identity is a double-edged sword, that we are always just guests, hyphenated Canadians.

Marfatia said Canadians dont need to be apologetic but should confront their own biases by recognizing the Islamophobic reality. It starts with education in school by including Islamophobia in the curriculum for children and for adults to be allies against injustice.

Instead of spending money on cultural celebrations and festivals, added Marfatia, governments and community groups should invest in programs that promote systemic inclusion and equity.

A national survey by the Environics Institute last year found 83 per cent of Muslim Canadians are proud to be Canadians, despite experiences of discrimination and unfair treatment.

We hope we belong here, said Massa. But it is more a hope than an assertion.

What six GTA Muslims say about the ban

Shazlin Rahman

Shazlin Rahman, 34, came here from Malaysia in 2007: (Last) weekend made me feel really sad, not only for the loss of lives, but also the fact that it took this kind of tragedy for Islamophobia, racism and bigotry to register on everyones radar.

Rania El Mugammar

Rania El Mugammar, 28, moved here from Sudan in 2001: We knew this was just going to get worse after the election of Trump state-side, so for a lot of us the challenges became very practical. Im Sudanese Canadian, so my first concern was for my family members who are in the U.S.

Sureya Ibrahim

Sureya Ibrahim, in her 40s, came to Canada in 1995 from Ethiopia: I felt heavy-hearted. I couldnt sleep . . . I dont know how to feel anymore. I think all of us could collectively come up with solutions.

Adil Dhalla

Adil Dhalla, 34, was born and raised in Toronto to Tanzanian immigrant parents: Whats happening is not right. It hasnt been right for a long time. Many of us have been saying and doing things to communicate that. Now it is the time that we all need to do something.

Farrah Marfatia

Farrah Marfatia, 37, was born and raised in Toronto to Pakistani parents: As a Muslim Canadian, we have been experiencing hate and bigotry for years now. I cant even remember a time when I didnt experience or we didnt experience it.

Gilary Massa

Gilary Massa, 31, came here from Panama with her family in late 1980s: Its been a difficult week. Ive had no words to communicate the way it impacted us collectively as a Muslim community. How do we heal from this?

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The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada says it is changing its approach for scheduling asylum hearings in order to cope with increasing refugee claims and global instability.

The board has seen a dramatic increase in the number of inland refugee claimants (those who arrive in Canada and seek asylum) from 10,751 in 2013 to 16,914 in 2015. Just nine months into 2016, 16,279 claims had been filed and the yearly tally, which isnt yet available, is expected to reach 20,000.

U.S. President Donald Trumps anti-refugee and anti-immigrant policies coupled with as Ottawas recent move to lift the visa requirements for Mexican travellers mean Canada is expected to see its annual asylum claims peak again this year.

In a terse notice, the board said it will redeploy up to half of its capacity to address its backlog of claims, which stands at more than 21,000, while the rest of staff will continue to focus on newly arrived claims that must be heard within 60 days under the controversial statutory timelines imposed by the former Conservative government.

In the last year or so, lawyers have been complaining of delays by the Canada Border Services Agency in issuing security clearances, which refugees need before their claims can be heard. If they dont have a security clearance at their first hearing, lawyers say, claimants are doomed to wait in a black hole until a new hearing is scheduled.

Under a new process, certain claims identified by the (boards) refugee protection division as straightforward will be scheduled for a short hearing, said the notice issued Friday.

The expectation is that a substantial majority of these claims will be finalized at the end of the short hearing. The provision to grant refugee protection to certain claims without a hearing will remain.

The board didnt respond to the Stars inquires about the changes Friday.

Refugee advocates and immigration lawyers welcomed the changes but said the measures are long overdue.

I have had clients who have been waiting for three, four years to get their cases scheduled, suffering acute depression from being separated from their families, said lawyer Lorne Waldman, past president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

The backlog is extremely serious. The (board) is slow in coming up with creative solution. This is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed right away.

The board said countries that have a refugee acceptance rate of 80 per cent and above will be the first to be considered for the new short hearing process, while a separate expedited program will continue to be limited to claimants from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Eritrea.

Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees said the expedited program is not necessarily faster but is less resource-intensive because claims are assessed in less formal interviews than full hearings.

The expedited program should not be limited to several countries only, she said, adding that there are still 5,631 so-called legacy cases  filed before the Conservatives refugee reforms in 2012  that are languishing as priorities are given to new claims with statutory timelines.

Waldman said the refugee board should introduce a triage system to stream all claims at the front end and fast-track the solid and strong cases that do not require too much scrutiny. It is not a matter of country. It is a matter of claims and how well documented they are, he said.

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We dont want this to become an international joke, and we dont want it to turn into an example of Chinese investment failures. Wang Jing Chinese entrepreneur

Wang Jing, meet William Walker.

By most standards of measurement, these two individuals would seem to represent two distinct breeds of men, hailing as they do from different cultures and different countries  not to mention different centuries.

But Wang Jing of Beijing is nowadays seized by the same grand and tantalizing prospect that long obsessed an American named William Walker  the dream of building a canal across the Central American republic of Nicaragua. More direct and therefore cheaper, such a waterway would provide a better route between the Atlantic and the Pacific, or between the east and west coasts of the United States, than the canal that was eventually built, the one through Panama.

Still, no matter which century youre in  the 19th or the 21st  the challenge of a Nicaraguan route remains a breathtaking proposition, a test of political skill, physical engineering and personal mettle that has so far defied all comers.

Take Walker, a diminutive, fast-talking southerner from Tennessee. He tried to accomplish the feat during the 1850s, with disastrous results. First, he declared himself the president of Nicaragua, only to wind up losing a jungle war against a Central American army  one partly bankrolled by rival American entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt. Walker was executed by a Honduran firing squad in 1860, aged 36.

That was where overweening ambition could get you, if you were a gringo in Central America a century and a half ago.

Cue the present and enter, stage left, a Chinese businessman who has considerable experience in telecommunications but no history of tackling colossal transportation projects, much less a continent-cleaving canal.

Nonetheless, Chinese industrialist Wang Jing is now preparing to attempt the same engineering achievement that eluded William Walker more than 150 years ago. It may well be the largest, most expensive infrastructure plan in development anywhere in the world.

The resulting waterway could potentially dwarf the economic fortunes of the once-mighty Panama Canal, while causing a major shift in international trade and signalling what may well become a reconfiguration of global politics.

Where are the Americans?

This past June, Wang received a 50-year concession for the project, courtesy of the Nicaraguan government. Pending the results of a feasibility study  now underway  the concession grants Wang a green light to dig.

The Chinese entrepreneur says he is ready to do exactly that, to start work on what is by any measure a gigantic undertaking, a canal that would bisect Central Americas largest country, joining existing rivers and Latin Americas second largest lake with a series of man-made channels.

Just think: here comes a Chinese engineering concern with a proposal to tackle what is possibly the worlds most ambitious infrastructural project, one that just happens to be located in Central America, a neck of the geopolitical woods that Washington has long regarded  and treated  as its private backyard.

Whats more, the Americans have yet to utter a peep in protest.

During recent years, the U.S. has been preoccupied by other issues, especially the Middle East, says Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs. We didnt have a clearly defined Latin American policy. We still do not have an articulated policy.

There used to be a policy  the notorious Monroe Doctrine, an oft-cited 1823 U.S. diktat that declared the Americas off limits to outside powers. But things are apparently different now.

Opponents of the project have staged demonstrations in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, but most Nicaraguans are said to be happy with the scheme, at least so far.

It means a large investment in the country, jobs, says Hector Palacios Galo, a political scientist at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua. There will be more money, more work. Of course, the greater part of the Nicaraguan people are in agreement.

As well they might be.

After all, Nicaragua is the second-poorest country in the Americas, with a per capita gross domestic product that is superior only to that of woebegone Haiti. The proposed canal would make a huge economic difference to the republics 6 million inhabitants, as long as the profits arent all spirited away by those at the top.

That is hardly a remote prospect.

There is so much money to be made from that canal that few could resist it, says Birns. Nicaragua is rated as one of the most corrupt countries in Latin America. It doesnt have a mature government with long-term goals. Nicaragua is kind of a champion of opportunism.

Environmentalists are also likely to have qualms about the project, which would cross vulnerable water systems and stretches of more or less pristine forest. The varieties of flora and fauna that might be threatened include the storied bull sharks of Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River, an aquatic species with the unusual ability to migrate between fresh and salt water.

I wouldnt rule out the possibility of some environmental protests, says Susan Purcell, head of the Latin America studies program at the University of Miami.

Whatever its ecological impact, the idea of a Nicaraguan canal might, to some, seem merely redundant.

After all, Central America already has a man-made transcontinental waterway  the Panama Canal, which began operating 99 years ago, in 1914. It has united the worlds two largest oceans ever since, nowadays handling 5 per cent of the worlds seagoing cargo traffic.

But the Panama Canal has problems. For one thing, at least in places, its either too shallow or too narrow to accommodate the massive draught and beam of many modern vessels. Limitations such as these have helped clear the way for newer competition.

The Panamanian marvel

The construction of the Panama Canal was, for its time, an extraordinary accomplishment.

The French were the first to try. They sought to build a channel across the isthmus during the 1880s, but were flummoxed by a combination of tropical diseases and the inadequacy of their machinery. By some estimates, more than 22,000 men died in the failed attempt.

At the time, Panama was not independent  it belonged to Colombia. After the French abandoned their work, Washington petitioned Bogota for permission to try. The Colombians said no.

But the Americans did not let a little thing like sovereignty get in the way. Instead, Washington threw its support behind an existing Panamanian insurgent movement. When the insurgents declared the independence of their new country, the Americans immediately granted official recognition to the fledgling state. That was in 1903. Colombias objections were noted but ignored.

Work on the canal began the following year. The Americans employed powerful locomotives, massive steam shovels and armies of men. Upwards of 40,000 workers laboured on the project at a time, most imported from the Caribbean. A decade later, the job was done.

Dubbed the Panama Canal, the facility was not really Panamanian at all. It was an American operation from the outset.

Not only did Washington control the canal itself, but the U.S. also enjoyed sovereignty over eight-kilometre-wide buffers on either side, a territory known as the Canal Zone. There, the Americans who ran the operation  known as Zonians  lived lives of U.S.-style wealth and ease, while most Panamanians remained trapped in poverty.

By the 1960s, this arrangement had become politically untenable and sparked violent street protests. In 1977, then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Omar Torrijos, his Panamanian counterpart, which led to the gradual transfer of authority over the canal, a process that culminated in full local control in 2000.

Panama falls behind

Panamanian authorities are now racing to complete a $5.25-billion reconstruction that will greatly enhance the channels capacity.

But its not clear that the worlds largest shipping companies will continue, or resume, using the Panama route.

Earlier this year, Danish-owned Maersk Line, the planets biggest fleet of container vessels, announced it would cease traversing Panama owing to a combination of high tolls and uneconomical restrictions on ship size.

Even following the work now being done to expand the Central American channel  scheduled for completion in mid-2015  the waterway will still be unable to handle the largest of the vessels now plying the worlds oceans, to say nothing of the behemoths planned for the future.

The size of container ships is measured in something called 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, each of which approximates the length of a single cargo container. At present, the Panama Canal can handle vessels measuring up to 4,500 TEUs, a benchmark known in the industry by the abbreviation Panamax.

With the addition of two new systems of locks as well as the dredging of existing channels, the waterway will be able to handle ships measuring as much as 12,000 TEUs, which insiders already refer to as New Panamax.

That seems like a huge improvement, until you consider that vessels of up to 18,000 TEUs are already being built, while container ships of the near future may well be as large as 30,000 TEUs.

Built from scratch, a Nicaragua canal could be far better equipped to handle the new seaborne giants.

Plus, a route through Nicaragua rather than Panama would shorten voyages between the Atlantic and the Pacific by about 800 kilometres for a trip between New York City and California, saving time and money.

Panamanian authorities profess to be unperturbed by the prospect of a Central American competitor.

We dont consider there will be any competition, the countrys foreign minister, Fernando Nunez Fabrega, told British journalists during a recent trip to London. We have never taken it seriously.

He said Nicaragua, unlike Panama, is prone to hurricanes and earthquakes. Plus, the sky-high cost of the project would make it uneconomic.

Our canal is already paid off, Nunez Fabrega said. If you invest $40 billion, repayment will take 200 years.

Wang Jings plan

Wang Jing, the Chinese entrepreneur behind the Nicaragua project, says he has already considered most of the potential obstacles his project might face.

We dont want this to become an international joke, and we dont want it to turn into an example of Chinese investment failures, Wang said during a recent news conference in Beijing.

According to a report in Bloomberg Businessweek, Wang first studied medicine before turning his hand to business. He now oversees more than 20 companies  principally Xinwei Telecom Technology  with interests in some 35 countries.

His newest enterprise, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co., has more than a canal in mind. Its associated projects are said to include an oil pipeline, two deep-water ports, a transcontinental railway and two airports  all for $40 billion. For perspective, that figure is about four times greater than Nicaraguas GDP.

Our investors are big banks and other large institutions, he recently told The Telegram, without being specific. They are first-class investors.

Not everyone is convinced that Wang is for real.

Some doubters cite his almost complete lack of experience with major engineering projects  in fact, with engineering projects on any scale.

My sense is a lot will depend on the credibility of the Chinese to do this, says Purcell at the University of Miami.

One things sure: it wont be easy.

It was different when the Panama Canal was being built, Purcell says. There was no such thing as an environmental movement or democracy as we know it. Even indigenous people are rebelling now, in Ecuador and elsewhere. Were in a different era now.

William Walkers failures

A Nicaraguan canal was first broached in the late 1500s at the royal court in Madrid during the reign of King Felipe II. Later, Spain conducted several preliminary surveys of possible routes for a waterway across Nicaragua. For Americans, dreams of a Nicaraguan canal stretch back at least to the 1820s, during the presidency of John Quincy Adams.

Nicaragua has long been considered, from the very beginning, says Purcell.

The most colourful advocate of building a canal through Nicaragua was the aforementioned William Walker, who combined modest stature  he stood just 5-foot-2  with an imposing intellect. He graduated from the University of Nashville at age 14 and added degrees in law and medicine from the University of Pennsylvania before he reached 20.

And yet, in most other respects, Walker was a thoroughgoing failure. He washed out as a doctor, a lawyer and a journalist. He even tried his hand at prospecting for gold in California  once again, with no luck.

Later, with backing from a pro-slavery organization in the American South, he spent several years in Mexico trying to transform the states of Sonora and Baja California into slave territories, without success. Next, he set off for Nicaragua with a private army of 58 men and two objectives  to convert the Central American republic to slavery and to oversee the construction of a canal.

With political support from Nicaraguas Liberal Party, Walker and his fighters won an initial armed skirmish with militants from the countrys Conservative Party. Thus emboldened, Walker declared himself president.

Infuriated by this interfering gringo, Central Americans mustered an opposing army that was partly funded by Vanderbilt, a wealthy financier who harboured his own dreams of building a Nicaraguan canal.

The ill-starred Walker was put to flight, and his army dispersed. After a time spent licking his wounds in the United States, he made the mistake of returning to the region  he still regarded himself as Nicaraguas president  and was promptly captured and subsequently executed.

What route?

Wang Jing is probably safe from comparable perils, but there is still much that could go wrong with his project. For one thing, Wang has yet to settle upon a precise route.

The most likely course would begin on the Pacific coast at Brito and proceed across Lake Nicaragua, before traversing the jungles of central Nicaragua. Next, it would burrow through the flatlands of the eastern coast, finally joining the Caribbean Sea at Bluefields. But at least four other possibilities are under study.

Critics also warn that Nicaraguans support for the project could change, especially if economic benefits fail to trickle down to the masses. Or if they become disenchanted with the current government, headed by former Sandinista guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega.

The Sandinistas may not be in power forever, says Purcell. Will the people of Nicaragua feel theyre benefitting from the canal or will they think it just increases the corruption?

And will a former medical student named Wang Jing prove himself to be more persistent than the French were in Panama in the 1880s?

Nicaraguans  and the world  are soon to find out.

Canals: Nicaragua vs. Panama

Nicaragua Canal

Late 2014

Expected start of construction

5 years

Estimated construction time

$40 billion

Rumoured cost of construction

280 kilometres

Approximate length

-

Panama Canal

1880

Year the French broke ground

1889

Year the French abandoned project

1904

Year the Americans broke ground

10 years

Total construction time

$375 million

Cost of construction

77 kilometres

Length

Sources: Panama Canal, USA Today

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SEATTLEA U.S. judge on Friday imposed a nationwide hold on President Donald Trumps ban on travellers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, siding with two states that had challenged the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trumps order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed. About 60,000 people from the affected countries had their visas cancelled.

The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury, Robart said. This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis ...

It wasnt immediately clear what happens next for people who had waited years to receive visas to come to America.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate. Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word outrageous.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, the statement said.

Canadas Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale also said the government is trying to ensure Canadian dual-nationals can still use their Nexus trusted-traveller cards at the border following word that cards have been revoked.

Goodale told the House of Commons on Friday the government will urge American officials to apply the rules fairly in the wake of a Trump administration executive order banning travel to the U.S. by people from seven countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Global Affairs Canada says Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland stressed the importance of efficient border measures during a discussion Thursday with her U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Trumps order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travellers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.

After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.

Judge Robarts decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trumps unconstitutional and unlawful executive order, Ferguson said. The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States.

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesnt comment on pending litigation. The judges ruling could be appealed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The judges written order, released late Friday, said its not the courts job to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches of government.

The courts job is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our countrys laws.

Robart ordered federal defendants and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from enforcing the executive order.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under litigation, said Friday: We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travellers to the United States as soon as that information is available.?

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trumps order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

In court, Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said the focus of the states legal challenge was the way the presidents order targeted Islam.

Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and the travel ban was an effort to make good on that campaign promise, Purcell told the judge.

Do you see a distinction between campaign statements and the executive order, Robart asked. I think its a bit of a reach to say the president is anti-Muslim based on what he said in New Hampshire in June.

Purcell said there was an overwhelming amount of evidence to show that the order was directed at the Muslim religion, which is unconstitutional.

When the judge questioned the federal governments lawyer, Michelle Bennett, he repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the order.

Robart, who was appointed the federal bench by President George W. Bush, asked if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties listed in Trumps order since 9-11. Bennett said she didnt know.

The answer is none, Robart said. Youre here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and theres no support for that.

Bennett argued that the states cant sue on behalf of citizens and the states have failed to show the order is causing irreparable harm.

Robart disagreed.

Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas cancelled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.

That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order is harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system.

Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the states efforts to stop the order. They say its hurting their operations, too.

With files from The Canadian Press

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A diversity committee in Westport, Connecticut, a wealthy coastal town that was 93 per cent white as of 2010, asked high school students earlier this year to reflect on the role of white privilege in their lives.

The students were largely fine with the question, which was posed in an annual essay contest.

As it turns out, adults had much more to say.

Some residents in the town of 26,000, which has a median household income north of $150,000 and voted by a margin of 2-to-1 for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, chafed at the idea that race was a factor in their success. And after the story attracted media attention recently, many outsiders weighed in by calling local officials and storming the townships Facebook pages.

The essay contest, which has run for four years and typically attracts 10 to 30 entries, offers prizes of $1,000, $750 and $500 to the top three winners. Its run by a volunteer committee that is not associated with the school district, and the prizes are funded by private donations.

This years writing prompt, unveiled in January, reads:

In 1,000 words or less, describe how you understand the term white privilege. To what extent do you think this privilege exists? What impact do you think it has had in your life  whatever your racial or ethnic identity  and in our society more broadly?

Harold Bailey Jr., a retiree and the chairman of Team Westport, the towns diversity committee, said in an interview Thursday that the question  devised in September  was not intended to be leading.

We are not implying anything about our town other than this town has an openness to exploring the topic and discussing it, he said.

But merely mentioning white privilege seems to have struck a nerve, with much of the criticism coming from out of town.

The term is used, most often by those who lean left politically, to reflect what they identify as a wide range of societal advantages white people knowingly or unknowingly enjoy. The classic example of unequal treatment is the ability to easily hail a cab, but there are more serious ones, such as easier interactions with the police. The term tends to make some white people bristle because they interpret it to mean that their success is unearned or that they benefit from racism.

The national attention began this week with an Associated Press story that quotes one resident calling the question offensive, and one woman who said she wouldnt go there.

Bari Reiner, 72, told The Associated Press that Westport welcomes anyone who can afford to live there.

Its an open town, she said. There are no barricades here. Nobody says if youre black or whatever, you cant move here.

Some of the response on Facebook were much more spirited.

This is nothing more than race baiting, one commenter wrote on Team Westports page. You are a joke.

Make no mistake, the idea of white privilege is just as racist as saying there is black privilege, another commenter wrote.

Westport, which is about 80 kilometres from midtown Manhattan and about 20 kilometres east of Stamford, Connecticut, created the diversity committee in 2003 to make Westport a more welcoming community on an ongoing basis, Bailey said.

In an overwhelmingly white area, its all the more important to discuss race, he said. While the adults might commute into New York City or maybe once lived in more diverse areas, the students are less likely to have been exposed to people who arent like them, he said.

The committee, he added, is intended to get folks to take a look at whats not here demographically, and to think about it and talk about it and keep it in the forefront.

So, mission accomplished.

For all of the hand-wringing among adults, the students appear to have greeted the essay contest and the resulting uproar with a shrug. Some students said the question wasnt a big deal in the high school until the media spotlight arrived, and that they were comfortable discussing white privilege.

It isnt that much of a taboo subject, said Franz Schemel, a 17-year-old senior at Staples High School.

He said he had read several essays in English classes debating the term. At the very least, he found the essay question to be the start of a reasonable discussion. Students who disagreed with the concept were free to say so, he said.

Claire Dinshaw, also a 17-year-old senior at Staples, said the discussion was important because on a daily basis, we really arent exposed to much diversity within our town.

Its important to learn about that and figure out how the nation as a whole works, because the whole nation isnt going to be 93 per cent white, she said.

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For many Americans, last weeks executive order on immigration was a clear case of religious discrimination since it singles out Muslim-majority countries and gives preferential treatment to non-Muslim refugees from those countries.

The implication seems to be that, in keeping with U.S. President Donald Trumps campaign promises, the United States will sort people at the border based on faith.

For other Americans, the executive order might not seem like a case of religious discrimination  not because the policy doesnt differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims, but because they are skeptical that Islam is actually a religion at all.

Google Islam, religion and politics, and its easy to find websites like PoliticalIslam.com, which claims to use statistical methods to prove that Islam is far more of a political system than a religion.

The argument travels outside the internet fringe of conspiracy theories. When we discuss Islam, it should be assumed that we are talking about both a religion and a political-social ideology, former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew C. McCarthy wrote in the National Review in 2015.

Islam is not even a religion; it is a political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest, said John Bennett, a Republican lawmaker in the Oklahoma state legislature, in 2014.

A thoughtful, educated evangelical pastor recently told me that he thinks religious liberty just needs to be protected for all belief systems, but there also needs to be clarity as to if Islam is fully a religion, or if its really a political movement disguised as a religion.

The idea has adherents at the highest levels of power. Islam is a political ideology that hides behind the notion of it being a religion, national security adviser Michael Flynn told an ACT for America conference in Dallas last summer.

The growing popularity of this idea speaks to a profound disconnect in American conversations about faith  and it offers a way that many self-proclaimed advocates of religious liberty might defend discriminatory policies against Muslims.

It is difficult to think of a definition of religion that does not include Islam  an ancient tradition with practitioners who believe in one God, pray and try to live their lives in accordance with a scripture.

So why has this particular canard taken off?

Wajahat Ali, a writer, attorney and the lead author of Fear, Inc., a report on American Islamophobia, traces the ideas recent surge to anti-Islam activists David Yerushalmi and Frank Gaffney. In 2010, Gaffneys Center for Security Policy published a report, Shariah: The Threat to America, arguing that Muslim religious law, or sharia, was actually a dangerous political ideology that a cabal of Muslims hoped to impose on the United States.

Though it certainly has spiritual elements, it would be a mistake to think of sharia as a religious code in the Western sense, the report argued. It also suggested banning immigration of those who adhere to sharia . . . as was previously done with adherents to the seditious ideology of communism.

They misdefine sharia in a way which is not recognizable to any practicing Muslim, Ali said. But the idea was influential. By the summer of 2011, more than two dozen states were considering anti-sharia legislation. More recently, Gaffney reportedly advised Trumps transition team.

For many Americans, confusion about religious law, political ideology and sharia may reflect a distinctly Christian, and especially Protestant, way of thinking about the nature of religion.

Its hard to talk about this sometimes because there is no equivalent of sharia in the Christian tradition, said Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World. Even when youre talking to well-intentioned, well-meaning people who really want to understand, explaining sharia is very challenging because theres nothing in Christianity thats quite like it.

This kind of wide-ranging religious legal code may be unfamiliar to many Christians, but its not unique to Islam. There are strong similarities between sharia and Jewish law, or halakhah, which itself descends from legalistic sections of the Bible that both Jews and Christians consider scripture. Both words derive from roots meaning path or way.

Judaism has also been accused of being as much a political program as a religion. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an influential anti-Semitic forgery, falsely depicts Jews describing Judaism as the one and only religious and political truth.

Both sharia and halakhah include laws for communal as well as personal life. These traditions do not necessarily draw sharp legal distinctions between religious and other kinds of spaces.

Certainly, some Muslims may believe that faith touches all parts of their lives, including their political involvement. But the same could be said for devout members of almost any other religious tradition.

The entanglement of faith and politics is not unique to Islam. Consider the televangelist Pat Robertson, who ran for president in 1988 because, he believed, God wanted him to do so. After he lost, Robertson wrote about his hope for one of Americas major political parties taking on a profoundly Christian outlook in its platforms and party structure.

Nevertheless, Robertson told viewers in 2007 that Islam is not a religion but instead a worldwide political movement.

The idea of Islam as a political ideology fits well with our particular political moment. Since the fall of communism, some Western intellectuals, most notably the late Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington, have argued that the next great global struggle will be between Western civilization and Islamic civilization.

The ideology that is against the U.S. or the American values used to be communism, and now its Islam. And it cannot be Islam as a religion. It has to be Islam as a political ideology, said Jocelyne Cesari, a professor at the University of Birmingham in Britain and author of Why the West Fears Islam, paraphrasing those arguments.

Increasingly, there seems to be a disconnect between those who understand the national conversation about Islam in terms of religious rights and the protection of religious minorities, and those who see it as a conversation about large-scale ideological battle.

As Cesari points out, thinking about Islam in these terms allows people to reconcile a commitment to First Amendment rights with a sense of Islam as an existential political enemy. The stakes could be high. Once you look at Islam as a political ideology, especially one that is threatening, you can ignore or neglect all kinds of civil procedures or protection of religious freedoms that go with the status of being religious in this country.

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As the world sinks deeper into Donald Trumps abyss, this was the most depressing of weeks  except for two extraordinary developments that should give us some inspiration.

The carnage from his most recent actions was certainly strewn all over the place. We could see it in the faces of Muslims now banned from Trumps America, as his policies threaten to set the Middle East ablaze.

We could see it in the shell-shocked reactions of Western leaders, once thought to be the closest of American allies, as their far-right political opponents revel at home in their good fortune.

We could even detect traces of Trumps racist influence in the horrific massacre last Sunday at a Quebec City mosque. The 27-year-old Laval University student charged with the murder of six Muslims was described by friends as being inspired by the extremist politics of Trump and of Frances National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

But two other important things emerged at the same time that may have a far more enduring impact on how Trumps era as U.S. president unfolds.

First, the resistance to Trumps rule is beginning to build in every corner of America, and in many parts of the world. This silent majority  yes, majority  is no longer silent.

It began the day after Trumps inauguration with the breathtaking womens marches in more than 600 American cities, as well as many world capitals, denouncing his policies. This event is now regarded as the largest day of demonstration in American history. Since then, there have been countless protests across America, both inside and outside of government, fuelling a growing resistance movement similar to the emergence of the conservative Tea Party in 2009.

Second, these first two weeks of Trumps presidency have been remarkably clarifying: we should have no doubt anymore how potentially radical  and dangerous  his agenda is.

Even if there is no evidence Trump has ever read a complete book, he is no dummy. With his cronies, the new president is determined to reshape American society to enrich his family and friends. He will try to do this by closing the borders, ditching Americas allies, rigging elections and eliminating dissent wherever it surfaces.

Trumps ban has been a propaganda victory for Islamic terror groups. It affects citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, allegedly to end radical Islamic terrorism in the United States. Yet none of the attackers on 9/11 in 2001 or any of the terrorist incidents in the U.S. since then came from these seven countries. The countries not covered by the ban  Saudi Arabia, for example, the birthplace of most of the 9/11 attackers  happen to be countries where Trump has considerable business interests.

Also ignored in the presidential executive order outlining the new policy is the fact that white supremacists and anti-government fanatics have committed the vast majority of terrorist incidents in the U.S. since 2001. In other words, non-Muslims.

In spite of all this, the Trump administration seems determined to demonize Muslims. On Wednesday, the Reuters news agency reported that the new government intends to revamp a U.S. government program that is now directed at countering all violent ideologies. It will be changed to focus solely on radical Islamic extremism  and will no longer target white supremacist groups.

The intense events of Trumps first days in office have created shock waves across the country. A Gallup poll this week indicated that about half of Americans, 51 per cent, disapproved of Trumps performance. Since this poll began in 1945, no president has ever reached the 51-per-cent disapproval mark so early in his presidency.

Some of the protests have been evident in overflowing town halls and besieged congressional offices, while others have been more discreet. In an unprecedented act of disapproval, more than 1,000 State Department employees signed a letter condemning Trumps anti-Muslim ban.

In Austin, Texas, meanwhile, the sentiment was more dramatically expressed.

Every year since 2003, a small group of Muslims in Texas have met in Austin to visit with lawmakers. It is called Texas Muslim Capitol Day and last years event was disrupted by protesters shouting anti-Muslim slogans.

At this years event on Tuesday, more than 1,000 people showed up to form a human barricade around the Muslim group to show solidarity.

As this unpredictable Trump era unfolds, it will take considerable willpower and work on the part of Americans for this face of America ultimately to win out.

Tony Burman is former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com .

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Heroin, like cocaine and marijuana, seems to inspire an endless supply of monikers once the drug hits the streets.

In case you needed a refresher, theres dope, smack, China white, brown sugar, Mexican mud, black tar, horse, snowball, and Big H, just to name a few.

Florida law enforcement officials announced this week that theres a new name for the deadly drug: Donald Trump.

After a six-month investigation into local drug dealing, the Hernando County Sheriffs Office last month confiscated 5,500 heroin packages, some of which included an image of the presidents face and name, according to NBC affiliate WFLA.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, addressing the media at the Hernando County Emergency Operations Center on Friday, was not amused, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

All I want to say to this drug dealer is, Big mistake by putting the presidents picture on this, Bondi said. Big mistake. Because he is going to be our most fierce advocate in taking this junk off of our streets. Can you believe this? Big mistake.

Bondi found herself at the centre of a controversy during the presidential campaign last year, when it emerged that Trump had failed to disclose an improper $25,000 contribution to a political group connected to the Florida Republican, who was at the time considering whether to open a fraud investigation against Trump University.

The donation, made in 2013 by the Donald J. Trump Foundation, violated federal rules that prohibit charities from donating to political candidates, The Washington Post reported in September. Trump and his team also failed to disclose the gift to the Internal Revenue Service, instead reporting that the donation was given to an unrelated group with a similar name  effectively obscuring the contribution.

Trump brushed off questions about the donation in September, saying: Ive just known Pam Bondi for years. I have a lot of respect for her. Never spoke to her about that at all. And just have a lot of respect for her as a person. And she has done an amazing job as the attorney general of Florida. She is very popular.

The heroin bust  the largest in county history, according to Sheriff Al Nienhuis  also turned up heroin-filled envelopes named after Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. Some bore the name of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the notorious Mexican drug kingpin. Most of the drugs were seized Jan. 27, the Times reported, but authorities didnt know why they were labelled with different faces.

Was it a political message? A joke?

Nobody can be sure.

Authorities are, however, sure about who is being blamed for allegedly bringing the drugs into the county: Kelvin Scott Johnson, a 46-year-old Hernando County man.

Johnson has been charged with heroin trafficking, cocaine possession and driving with a suspended license, according to Hernando County records. Johnson is being held at the Hernando County Detention Center on a $75,000 bond.

If convicted, Johnson faces 15 to 25 years in prison, the sheriff said.

This individual is definitely someone that we dont want selling poison to our brothers and our sisters and our sons and our daughters, Nienhuis said, noting that Johnson has been arrested 13 times in Florida alone, according to the Times.

Nienhuis accused Johnson of purchasing heroin in the northeastern part of the United States and shipping it to Florida, where it was intercepted by a postal worker who alerted the sheriffs office, according to WFLA. Once authorities had been alerted, detectives opened an investigation and began monitoring Johnsons movement, the station reported.

The Times reported that detectives arrested Johnson during a traffic stop after hed recently returned from the northeast. Inside his car, Neinhuis told the paper, investigators recovered a package with 5,000 doses of heroin at a street value of between $50,000 to $100,000.

The sheriff said that if 10 per cent of the confiscated batch ended up in the hands of new users, it could have created 500 new addicts.

It is the one area in law enforcement where we can be a little bit proactive and take this stuff off the street rather than responding to a death or an overdose or a burglary, Nienhuis added. We can hopefully prevent some of that stuff by working hard to get this stuff off the street.

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The hopeful herd

Sanu Majhi was just 15 years old when she decided to run away from her village near Hetauda.
TEHRAN, IRANIrans missiles will come down on the countrys enemies if they do wrong, a senior commander in Irans elite Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying in a Saturday report from semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the Guards airspace division, said: If the enemy does not walk the line, our missiles come down on them.

Hajizadehs comments came during a Revolutionary Guard military exercise aimed at testing its missile and radar systems. The exercise was taking place in a 35,000-square-kilometre (13,515-square-mile) area in Semnan province in northern Iran.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

The exercise comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trumps administration imposed sanctions on Iran in response to a recent missile test. The sanctions target more than two dozen people and companies from the Persian Gulf to China.

Tasnim said all the equipment used in the war game, including all defensive systems, radars, command centres and ground-to-air missile equipment, are designed and manufactured by Iranian scientists.

Iranian English language Press TV reported that Iran Senior Vice-President Ishaq Jahangiri dismissed what he called recent anti-Iran posturing by the U.S. He said threadbare accusations are aimed by Washington at scaring away investors.

The Iranian nation and authorities do not attach the least value to these remarks, he said.

Read more:U.S. imposes new sanctions on Iran over ballistic missile test

Iran insists its missile test was only for defensive purposes and not a violation of the U.N. Security Council 2231 resolution or the nuclear deal with Western powers.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that his country was unmoved by threats as we derive security for our people. Well never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence.

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MANILA, PHILIPPINESPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday he would scrap peace talks with communist rebels and asked several rebel leaders who were freed for the negotiations to return to prison or face arrests in the latest blow to efforts to peacefully settle one of Asias longest-running rebellions.

Duterte said at a late-night news conference in southern Davao city that he would ask government negotiators not to participate in talks with the Maoist guerrillas scheduled to resume this month in Norway, repeating that peace with the communists might not come in this generation.

Duterte made his remarks a day after he lifted the governments 6-month-old ceasefire with the rebels and ordered troops to prepare for new fighting after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce and killed six soldiers in fresh violence.

Some of the soldiers were killed like wild pigs and raked with gunfire, Duterte angrily said.

Im not ready to resume, Duterte said. I will request the Philippine contingent to fold their tents and to come home.

Asked if he was scrapping the talks, Duterte said, Yes, entirely, adding that the peace negotiations could resume after his six-year term ends in 2022.

Though his talk was tough, Duterte said he may reconsider his decision if there was a compelling reason, but did not elaborate. Resuming talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army, and Muslim rebel groups was one of his key campaign promises, along with launching a crackdown against illegal drugs.

I tried everything. I walked the extra mile, released prisoners, released their leaders so they can go to Oslo to talk, Duterte said, but added that the guerrillas have made excessive demands, including the release of more than 400 mostly captured rebels and left-wing detainees.

Freeing such a large number of rebel allies amounted to a general amnesty, which usually comes at the end of successful peace negotiations, he said, suggesting that he would lose a bargaining chip if he yielded to the rebels demand.

Duterte called on several rebel leaders, who were freed to join the peace talks in Europe as consultants, to fly back to the country and return to prison, threatening to ask the police to arrest them if they will refuse.

There was no immediate comment from the rebels.

The hostile moves are a blow to ongoing talks brokered by Norway that have progressed steadily in recent months toward the goal of ending one the 48-year Marxist insurgency, which has left about 40,000 combatants and civilians dead.

The rebels and the government declared separate ceasefires last year as they resumed peace talks. That allowed the government to withdraw troops from battlefields to focus on a months-long offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim extremist groups in three battlefronts in the south.

The prospect of new fighting with the Maoist rebels, estimated to number 3,700, comes after Duterte announced that he would enlist the already overburdened military in his anti-drug crackdown after prohibiting the national police and the National Bureau of Investigation  the Philippine counterpart of Americas FBI  from enforcing his brutal campaign due to corruption and an extortion scandal.

The rebels announced Wednesday that they would halt their ceasefire Feb. 10 after accusing the government of reneging on earlier pledges to free more left-wing detainees and raising concerns over Dutertes brutal anti-drug crackdown and his allowing the burial of long-dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a heroes cemetery.

Founded in 1968, the rural-based guerrilla group has unsuccessfully tried to negotiate an end to its rebellion with six Philippine presidents, including Duterte.

Battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting have weakened the rebel group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.

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Re: Chaos, fear and anger, Jan. 29

Chaos, fear and anger, Jan. 29

Canadians outraged at Trumps ban on Muslims and refugees can take concrete action by contacting the United States embassy in Ottawa and pledging not to travel to the U.S. until the ban is overturned. We cant vote south of the border, but we can ban ourselves in solidarity with the victims of Trumps racist policies.

John Gilmore, Montreal

While emphasizing Canadas diversity and willingness to accept refugees are good things, they are not enough. President Trump and his cadre are putting in place the foundation for religious and racial discrimination that, liberals are convinced, will lead to undermining democracy and endangering the world by pitting Muslims against non-Muslims.

I recognize that our relationship with and trade dependence on the U.S. is important, but the U.S. government will operate in what it deems its own best interests regardless of what Canada says publicly. There is no more risk to speaking out than in staying relatively silent. The rest of the world, however, needs to hear our message and see our opposition to this intolerance.

The federal government, as one of the last liberal regimes in the world, must be a voice for the sort of fairness and equality that will alleviate the fears of others and undermine the messages of fear and hatred coming equally from Daesh and Trump.

Bruce Milner, Richmond Hill

In the year 1939 the German liner MS St. Louis left Hamburg, Germany, just before the start of the Second World War. On board were more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution. At the helm was Capt. Gustav Schroder, who ordered the passengers be treated well despite official German policy.

En route to the West and hopefully refuge, the rules and visas were changed (sound familiar?), the passengers were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada. The ship had to return to a hostile Europe and while about 300 passengers were granted safety in the United Kingdom, the rest had to find places in continental Europe with more than 250 ultimately falling victim to the Holocaust once the war started.

This was a black stain on our history much as slavery, the treatment of native Americans and Americans of Japanese decent are. Are we looking at this again?

Mike Caggiano, San Mateo, Calif.

It is heartening to see the global condemnation of Trumps (Muslim) travel ban. Citizens and politicians of all political stripes are joined in protesting this extremely shortsighted and unjust policy. In Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau was joined by several premiers, mayors and members of the Opposition in Ottawa in denouncing it. Except, that is, for Kellie Leitch and Maxime Bernier. To them, it is a matter of U.S. policy and therefore not our business. Wrong. This is a matter of international urgency as it tests our conviction to collective values of compassion, justice and inclusion.

Richard Schertzer, Milton

Todays xenophobic fears and hatred of Muslims is not much different from that of the Japanese during the Second World War. Of course the major difference was the internment of more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, many of whom were American citizens.

Let us all stand in solidarity, so that history doesnt repeat itself. Hate will never make America great.

JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Fla.

With his unlawful ban on refugees, Donald Trump set a precedent of what he expects to get away with. Unfortunately, we can be sure that there will be more and worse, unless his advisers, his staff, elected officials and the people stand up against their presidents whims and keep America great.

At the end of the Second World War, the German people were saddled with a collective guilt, because they tacitly/passively allowed Hitler to succeed. The Americans are at the threshold of the same indictment.

Ivar Heissler, Stirling, Ont.

President Trump has signed an executive action barring travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. This order was established to protect the United States from foreign nationals entering from countries compromised by terrorism.

Trump seems to fail to realize that by approving this action, he is protecting the U.S. from innocent families attempting to escape the carnage and despotism that has become rampant in their homelands. What crime have they committed that they are being prohibited from entering a country in which they wish to start a better life? And what right does Trump have to judge seven countries based on the actions of a small minority?

Osama Sobhi, Calgary

On so many levels what Trump is proposing violates the sanctity of human life. It is a blatantly racist and xenophobic order that slanders our constitution. It also slanders the history of courageous men, women and children who have positively changed the world in ways that our president cannot comprehend.

Trumps illegal ban on refugees is fundamentally un-American. This nation has welcomed millions of human beings who have saved themselves and blessed the American experience as a result. There is no our America if we mean that one group gets to save another. America is beyond groups. It does not have the right to turn groups away. Nor does it have the right to shut groups down. It is a country bound together by principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that apply to all people.

For more than two centuries, the policy of openness, trust and diversity has paved the way for groundbreaking achievements in the arts and sciences. It is the spirited invention of the immigrants journey that has been our greatest legacy as a nation. It is what makes our nation admirable. If nothing else, the world loves us because we are a nation of immigrants. From the first people to trek across the Bering Strait to the next migrant from El Salvadora to cross the Rio Grande, America is America because they are here.

George C. Payne, Rochester, N.Y.

U.S. President Donald Trumps executive order halting refugees, particularly from Muslim-majority countries, violates fundamental human rights and completely goes against the sense of moral human decency. Refugees are the most vulnerable class of people, who have gone through great lengths to flee from persecution, discrimination, armed conflicts and war.

Contrary to what Trump thinks, his executive orders barring refugees and erecting a wall to keep out the Mexicans do not protect American interests. In fact, these will be costly in terms of economic and security terms. His policies will likely foment even greater hatred of the United States abroad.

I urge the Canadian government and the minister of immigration to continue to open our doors to more asylum seekers following the deplorable actions by Trump to restrict them.

John McCool, Montreal

Santayana wrote in The Life of Reason, 1905: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. These words were never truer than now.

Tariff wars were one of the major causes of the Great Depression. Disallowing refugees from Nazi Germany in the 1930s led to the destruction of one-third of European Jewry. American isolationism after the First World War led to the rise of fascism in Europe and Asia. The parallels with current American politics are astounding, but they are being neglected by the press, moderate politicians and the public, much to societys peril.

Stephen Bloom, Toronto

By enacting his immigration ban, U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the land of opportunity into the land of discrimination and inequality, all in an attempt to combat terrorism. However, it is this very ideology of generalization that breeds extremists and terrorists.

Following this very immigration ban, in Quebec City a local mosque was subject to a terrorist attack that killed six innocent worshippers. Interestingly enough, the prime suspect of this very atrocity has been described by former classmates as a Trump supporter with anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist and pro-Israel views.

If Trump really wants to combat terrorism, this is not the way!

Saba Sadiq, Toronto

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Re: Deadly mosque attack in Quebec City, Jan. 30

Deadly mosque attack in Quebec City, Jan. 30

Almost 12 years ago, there was a shooting in a mosque in Pakistan. I was 10 years old. I was there. I got shot.

Canada offered the refuge that my own country could not. Now I see such a horrendous thing so close to home, Canada, and it brings back memories and feelings.

But still, despite having seen it all firsthand, one thing is clear as day; those Muslims that opened fire in that mosque in Pakistan and these Muslims or Islamists or whatever mask they wish to wear, belong to no one. They are enemies of humanity. They are enemies of peace and faith.

The victim is all of us, as one human race; the enemy doesnt care about faith, sex, creed, nation or anything else. The victim is the peace of our houses and houses of worship. This is what we must remember, lest some of us may be encouraged to build walls against each other out of hate, literally.

Omar Farooq, Vaughan

It is time to learn from historys lesson, Jan. 31

Martin Regg Cohn is right to remind his readers of previous acts of terror committed against innocent worshippers in their holy places in other countries. Anyone who desecrates a place of worship is a coward and depraved of humanity.

As a Muslim, I call on Muslim brothers and sisters to integrate in the Canadian society and adopt the Canadian way of life without abandoning our beliefs. Let us remember that the Canadian way of life is full of morals and principles that we admire. Let us get to know our neighbours  invite them to our homes, introduce them to our culture.

We shouldnt just sit there waiting to be invited. We should take the initiative and embrace this beautiful and generous land that has, and is, offering us peace and freedom.

Belle Jabouri, North York

The Quebec City mosque attacks have shaken me to the core, because something so barbaric and senseless has hit us so close to home. These types of incidents are a result of the anti-Muslim rhetoric and agenda being propagated across the border, even more now with the reformed immigration policy.

These types of legislation will only result in a continued spiral into ignorance. The public will continue to be misinformed about Islamic teachings and will foster an environment characterized by xenophobia and hatred. No one deserves to be killed on the basis of faith, especially when engaged in acts of worship.

As Canadians, the principle of protecting religious freedom is ingrained in our values and way of life. We must stand together and fight this ignorance with education and compassion towards our fellow Canadians.

Wajahat Nasir, Scarborough

I stand with all who support the victims of terrorism in our country and abroad. It was beautiful for me to see the support of all of our federal, provincial and municipal leaders, and the candlelight vigils for the people of the Centre culturel islamique de Quebec, also known as La Grande mosquee de Quebec.

It can be difficult to see current events in our world and to still keep our sanity. At the same time, all that is happening is serving to show what is going on beneath the surface.

People are divided, polarized. We choose, us or them. We have chosen to allow ourselves to be divided. We can choose to not allow ourselves to be divided.

The time has come to support each other and those among us who most need help.

Jaret Blidook, Oliver, B.C.

Our nation has again failed as a beacon of multicultural tolerance, co-operation and unity. We must accept our failure while understanding the only real defence against such madness is our collective voice and presence.

Multiculturalism is Canadas wall. It protects our safety, our wealth, our strength and our common future. Our enemies within are massively outnumbered by an amazing cavalcade of Canadians who just want to live, love and laugh. May our collective spiritual, cultural and human wisdoms guide us as we all go forth, together.

Randy Gostlin, Oshawa

Congratulations on your recent articles and editorial comments on Trumps policies and the mosque shootings in Quebec.

The reporting is in-depth and your editorial stands on democratic values are clear. In this world of disappearing newspapers and alternate facts, your coverage on these and similar issues is very important.

Cathy Brown, Toronto

It is crucial that all 35 million Canadians continue to support the peace and community that make up the fabric of our wonderful country despite the senseless, brutal killing of at least six of our citizens. It was only one person of the 35 million who has caused so much grief. We must not let that one person dictate, in the name of law and order, the loss of liberties and freedoms we value so highly.

Other hate-mongering individuals within our society have and will continue to ferment suspicion among us. They want to fragment the nation into groups that will despise each other.

Stand strong, fellow citizens. We are a great nation that has compassion, understanding and tolerance as the cornerstones of our democracy.

David Gladstone, Toronto

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Carl Icahn must feel a tad sheepish these days. The super investor announced on April 28, 2016 that he was dumping his entire stake in Apple (AAPL) because of concerns that the company's sales were in a long-term slump. Since then, Apple shares have jumped more than 30%.

Apple this week proved the pessimists wrong, yet again.

The tech giant on Tuesday reported robust fiscal first-quarter operating results that beat analysts' expectations and rocketed shares higher. Apple stock Wednesday jumped 6.1%, its largest one-day gain in six months. After three consecutive quarters in which the company's revenue fell on a year-over-year basis, the company's revenue in the first quarter resumed its upward trajectory.

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The revenue increase was driven by record sales of its iPhone, defying naysayers who have echoed Icahn and predicted an inexorable decline for the company's signature product.

Fiscal first-quarter revenue reached $78.4 billion, up 3% year over year, compared with projections of $77.25 billion. Unit shipments of the iPhone hit 78.3 million, up 5% from a year earlier and much stronger than expectations for 76.3 million.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $3.36, a 2.4% increase compared to the same quarter a year ago, beating analysts' expectations of $3.21 and setting a company record.

Shares of Apple are up 10.7% year to date, vs. a gain of only 1.8% for the S&P 500 and a gain of 4% for the benchmark Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF.

Some analysts are put off by the company's rather weak guidance for 2017, as well as flagging sales of products such as the iPad. However, let's examine the positive factors that point to further upside for Apple.

The average analyst expectation for adjusted earnings growth in the current year is 7.8%; next year it's pegged at 12.2%. For the next five years, earnings growth is estimated to come in at 10.6% on an annualized basis, vs. 8.9% annualized growth posted over the past five years.

Apple still is home to scores of innovative engineers and marketers. The company's pipeline is jammed full of new products awaiting launch, including the iPhone 8. Another unexpected tailwind: the policies of Donald Trump.

Trump and Silicon Valley have experienced a rocky relationship, especially in the wake of the new president's executive order banning refugees. The tech community typically takes a liberal attitude toward immigration, in large part because it relies on brainpower from overseas.

America's CEOs also are leery of Trump's "America First" trade policies. Trump has pressured U.S.-based companies such as Apple, Boeing and General Motors to keep and create jobs in the country and has lambasted Apple in particular for making its iPhones overseas.

But here's the good news. Trump plans to offset the pain of trade restrictions by granting corporations significant tax cuts and by allowing cash hoards repatriated from overseas to get taxed domestically at a reduced rate. That would be a boon for Silicon Valley technology giants that are hoarding a lot of cash overseas, prompting them to launch a wave of acquisitions. This activity would in turn stimulate innovation and profits.

Apple is sitting on $246 billion in cash, almost all of it parked overseas to avoid higher tax rates in the U.S. Trump's tax repatriation plan would invigorate Apple like a shot of steroids. The verdict: Don't repeat Icahn's mistake. Hang on to this growth stock for the long haul.

---

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John Persinos is an analyst with Investing Daily. At the time of publication, he owned stock in Apple and Boeing.
The Senate voted in favor of a resolution to repeal a regulation requiring energy companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk.

Put forth by Republicans Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act seeks to nullify the Securities and Exchange Commission's resource extraction rule, finalized in June. The rule requires companies to disclose payments to foreign governments for the rights to commercially develop oil, natural gas and minerals and is aimed at preventing corruption. It was first mandated under section 1504 of Dodd-Frank in 2010.

The measure passed 52-47 in the Senate early Friday morning. It passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday in a 235-187 vote.

Oxfam America, a nonprofit group that supports the rule and sued to expedite its enactment in 2015, slammed the Senate's vote.

"Shame on the Senators who voted for corruption today," said Isabel Munilla, senior policy adviser for extractive industries at Oxfam. "Under the guise of deregulation, Senators gutted a major bipartisan accomplishment that would bring sunshine to the payments oil companies make to despots and dictators. If President Trump is serious about his promise to 'Drain the Swamp' and protect American Security, he will veto this dangerous bill immediately."

Trump is expected to sign the resolution.

The rule was widely opposed by American oil and gas companies, which argued it would put them at a disadvantage against private companies and companies not traded publicly in the United States and said compliance would cost them millions of dollars.

The American Petroleum Institute, whose members include ExxonMobil (XOM) , Chevron (CVX) , Phillips 66 (PSX) , ConocoPhillips (COP) and Apache (APA) , successfully sued to overturn an original version of the rule in 2012, forcing an SEC rewrite. The lobbying group has been a vocal advocate of repealing the June 2016 rule under Trump.

"Today's quick action by the Senate is a step closer to establishing sensible regulations that balance increasing transparency without diminishing our industry's competitive advantage," API spokeswoman Brooke Sammon said in a statement. "Our industry strongly supports transparency efforts. However the SEC's rule fails to strike the right balance between its intention to expand disclosure and protecting the competitiveness of Americans companies, harming American workers. It is also inconsistent with other major international reporting regimes, like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the European Union's disclosure rules. We are hopeful the administration will build upon Congress' efforts by signing this resolution into law, helping to protect American companies, workers and investors."

Senator Elizabeth Warren on Thursday blasted congressional Republicans for supporting the rule's repeal, calling it a "giveaway" that will help "corrupt and oppressive foreign regimes and make it easy to funnel money to terrorists around the world."

The Massachusetts slammed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for lobbying against the rule as the former CEO of Exxon.

"In fact, Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon at the time, personally lobbied against the requirement in 2010. His reason? The foreign payments rule would undermine Exxon's ability to do business in Russia," she said.

Tillerson was confirmed as Secretary of State on Wednesday, the same day the joint resolution to repeal the rule was voted on by the House.

Congress killing the rule via CRA will not likely result in any significant improvement in the financial results of the companies that stood to be affected, Ed Groshans, analyst at Washington, D.C.-based investment research firm Height Securities, wrote in a note on Wednesday.

Firms were likely in the process of determining how to comply with the rule, but significant expenditures for compliance would have likely be incurred in 2017 and 2018.

The SEC estimated compliance could cost $55 million to $575 million for the more than 400 companies affected.
Returning capital to shareholders remains a priority for CEO Ian Read's Pfizer (PFE) , which on Friday commenced its latest accelerated share buyback program.

The New York-based drugmaker has entered into an agreement with Action Alerts PLUS holding Citigroup (C) to repurchase $5 billion of its common stock, representing about 126 million shares. Pfizer will receive the shares on Feb. 6, and expects to complete the program before or during the third quarter.

The share repurchase comes as no surprise, and is line with previous commentary by management. Damien Conover of Morningstar described the move as "widely anticipated," and noted Pfizer's aggressive share buyback tendencies in the past.

Pfizer in 2016 returned $12.3 billion directly to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Pfizer said earlier this week in its fourth-quarter earnings report that its 2017 share buyback authorization is expected to offset potential dilution related to employee compensation plans.

Besides Read's commitment to maintain buyback activity, Pfizer has remained vocal about its intentions to use its capital for potential transactions. Management earlier this week during its the earnings conference call reiterated it will lever up to the extent it deems necessary when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. Its ratio of total debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization sat at about 2.25 times at the end of September.

Pfizer, meanwhile, is likely looking to raise more cash via possible divestitures for even greater financial wherewithal to pursue large-scale M&A that will fuel top-line growth.

Adding to speculation that Pfizer is looking to sell or spin of its consumer health unit, home to the Chapstick and Advil brands, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Pfizer is exploring a sale of a group of treatments in cardiology, urology and primary care. The group of assets could command more than $2 billion from a buyer, according to the report.

Pfizer decided against splitting into two public independent companies in September, after scrapping its $160 billion plans to combine with Allergan (AGN) just months earlier.

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A Pfizer spokeswoman didn't immediately return a request for comment on Friday.

Pfizer shares rose moderately during morning trading Friday, adding 1.1% to $32.06.
The state of California has filed a civil suit against units of drugmakers Teva (TEVA) and Allergan (AGN) , for allegedly obstructing generic competition to Lidoderm transdermal patches.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, alleges a "pay-for-delay" deal between the companies and Endo Pharmaceuticals, which already had its Lidoderm product on the market and had made $825 million off of it in 2011.

The alleged anti-competitive violations took place between 2012 and 2014.

According to the court records, Allergan signed an agreement with Endo Pharmaceuticals, promising that the company would not face any generic competition for Lidoderm from units of Allergan from May 2012 through September 2013 and in turn that Allergan would not face any competition from Endo until May 2014.

The lawsuit names Watson Laboratories, now a subsidiary of Teva, Allergan Finance, also known as Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Activis Inc., as well as Allergan.

As noted in the lawsuit, Lidoderm is the brand name for lidocaine transdermal patches, often prescribed for treatment of pain associated shingles.

The action claims as a result of the agreement, consumers had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in surpa-competitive prices for prescriptions of Lidoderm as well as AB-rate generic equivalents from May 2012 for two years. The suit documents state that such anticompetitive agreements "... lead consumers, payors and the State to pay, directly or indirectly, monopoly prices for Lidoderm medications and deny them the lower prices that generic competition provides."

The 10-count legal action asks the court to judge the agreement to be a violation of the Sherman act, constituting a restraint of trade, a conspiracy to monopolize trade, and those ill-gotten gains be disgorged, and that the defendant companies pay $2,500 for each violation proven at trial.

Neither Allergan nor Teva responded immediately to a request for comment on the action.
Saturday

Peace Lutheran Church, 1301 Avenue D: Intern Pastor Liz Frey preaches about healing, based on the Gospel of Luke at the 5 p.m. worship service.

Sunday

Billings Association of Humanists meeting at First Congregational Church, 310 N. 27th St.: At 1 p.m., Super Bowl Advertising Over Time, offers a look at the history of television advertising during the Super Bowl, with a focus on technique and the changes in culture.

St. Johns Lutheran Ministries, 3940 Rimrock Road: Pastors Jen & Ben Quanbeck, of King of Glory Lutheran Church, lead worship in the Ocee Johnson Chapel at 7 p.m.

Billings Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2032 Central Ave.: At the 10:30 a.m. service, Curt Haney shares Believable, Reliable 2017? He offers a cursory look at the claims and counterclaims of science, religion and politics about present and future reality. Living in times of unprecedented change and some unusual shifts in values, we search for trustworthy information and reliable facts to live by. Some current issues include death and dying, science and supernaturalism, multiculturalism, positivism and President Donald Trump.

Unity of Billings, 9 14th St. W.: The Rev. S. Culliver Brookman, Unity minister, shares "The Answer to Everything" at 10 a.m. Her message is about love being the perfect answer to whatever the question might be. It is said that love is the language of Spirit. It is up to us to learn how to access, express and experience this caliber of love. A monthly potluck takes place at 11 a.m.

Atonement Lutheran Church, 1290 Sierra Granda Blvd.: Womens Sunday, a celebration of the many and varied contributions of women to the mission and ministry of Atonement Lutheran Church, is the theme of the 8 and 10:30 a.m. worship services.

First Presbyterian Church, 2420 13th St. W.: Regina Griemsman, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Yellowstone County, is the guest at Church and Society class at 9:15 p.m. One-to-one mentoring makes profound differences in a childs life. Griemsman discusses the mentoring process, as well as the mentoring gap that is occurring in the area and throughout the country. During the 10:30 a.m. worship service, Mark Soueidi, principle trombonist for the Billings Symphony, plays music with accompanist Sandi Rabas, and also accompanies the hymns. A monthlong book sale benefiting the Presbyterian Womens organization begins.

First English Church, 1243 N. 31st St.: Kyla Borg, flutist, gives the music offering, and Scout Sunday is celebrated during the worship service at 10 a.m. A concert and reception with Mark Soueidi, principle trombonist for the Billings Symphony, takes place at 4 p.m.

Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ, 2940 Poly Drive: The Adult Ed course Living the Questions: Part 3 takes place at 9 a.m. and includes various TED Talks and discussions. After the 10 a.m. Holy Communion service, the youth participate in "Souper Bowl of Caring" by collecting money as parishioners leave. Everyone is encouraged to donate $1 for a charity chosen by the youth. Confirmation class is at 4 p.m.

Peace Lutheran Church, 1301 Avenue D: The 10 a.m. worship service features special music by Robin Goodheart. Fellowship and education for all takes place at 11 a.m.

Billings First Church, 310 27th St. N.: At 10 a.m., Dan Cohn and Emma Kerr-Carpenter lead a discussion on their recent experience at Standing Rock. The discussion includes the issues at stake in the clash over the pipeline through North Dakota. Also at 10, the high school Sunday school class watches and discusses the movie Zootopia. Laura Keating, intern, presents the message at the 11 a.m. worship service, and Communion Sunday is observed. The church practices open communion, and all are welcome.

Central Christian Church, 1221 16th St. W.: The 10 a.m. worship service includes a farewell to the Rev. Dana Keener, who is leaving to accept a call at the Christian Church in Helena.

First United Methodist Church, 2800 Fourth Ave. N.: Communion Sunday is observed, and the JOY! Chime Choir presents music at the 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. worship services.

Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 1108 24th St. W.: Bishop Jessica Crist leads worship services at 9 and 11:15 a.m.

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 180 24th St. W.: After Sunday school at 9:30 a.m., the 11 a.m. worship service includes a viewing of a Faith Impacts Video about local homelessness. Also, The Lords Supper is served to all who wish to partake, and Pastor Susan Barnes preaches on Isaiah 58:1-12, using the prophets words Is this the fast that I choose?

Monday

Trinity Lutheran Church, 537 Grand Ave.: The first part of the Financial Peace workshop series takes place at 7 p.m. Everyone, including those who have not yet registered, is welcome.

Womens Soul Therapy Workshop at Unity of Billings, 9 14th St. W.: From 6 to 9 p.m., Crystal Rasmussen, licensed soul therapist, leads a three-hour womens gathering, exploring how to connect to true authentic expression. Participants are asked five questions designed to lead them into greater awareness of who they are, why they get stuck, what their souls want to communicate to them, how to manifest dreams and how to love themselves. Rasmussen supports and guides participants along the way. Cost is $25 per person. For more information, go to crystalrasmussen.com.

Tuesday

First United Methodist Church, 2800 Fourth Ave. N.: The Music, Art and Drama Choir (M.A.D. Choir) for third- through sixth-graders rehearses The Story of Pauls Shipwreck from 6:15 to 7:30 pm., continuing weekly for six weeks. Everyone is invited to join in this happy, creative experience. Dress rehearsal will take place Saturday, March 18, and the performance will be Sunday, March 19.

Wednesday

Billings Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2032 Central Ave.: Scott Twito, Yellowstone County attorney, discusses the Yellowstone County Drug Intervention Program at the Community Lecture Series at 7 p.m.

Mayflower Congregational and First Congregational youth meeting at Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ, 2940 Poly Drive: Older youth meet at 6 p.m.

First English Lutheran Church, 1243 N. 31st St.: At 5 p.m., Gods Kids meet to hear a parable of the lost sheep and make Valentine's Day cards for the shut-ins of the congregation. Dinner is served at 6. Youth Group meets at 6:30 for Bible study and an indoor scavenger hunt. All are welcome.

Friday

United Church Women meeting at Shiloh United Methodist Church, 1810 Shiloh Road: A potluck luncheon followed by a program on Black History takes place at noon.

Saturday, Feb. 11

St. Valentine's Dinner Dance at DoubleTree Hotel, 27 N. 27th St.: The annual event, hosted by St. Mary Queen of Peace parish, includes champagne and dinner at 6:30 p.m. and dancing to music by Spur of the Moment at 8. Tickets cost $75 per person or $600 for a table of nine. Reservations must be made by Wednesday, by contacting Celest Kessler at 259-7611 or ckessler@maryqueenofpeacebillings.org.

Other news

Synod Youth retreat hosted at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 1108 24th St. W.: A youth retreat featuring special guest Agape, a Christian music artist, takes place Feb. 10-12. For more information, call the church office at 656-1080.

Agape concert at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 1108 24th St. W.: A Christian music concert featuring Agape (aka Dave Scherer) takes place at 7 p.m.

To submit items

The deadline for submitting information for the Faith Guide is noon Tuesday for consideration for publication in the upcoming Saturday edition. The items should be special events open to the public and of interest to readers outside your congregation.

You may mail information to: Faith Guide; Billings Gazette newsroom; P.O. Box 36300; Billings, MT 59107. Items also may be faxed to 657-1208 or emailed to citynews@billingsgazette.com. Be sure to address faxes or emails to the Faith Guide. Or you may drop off your item at The Gazette, 401 N. Broadway; please mark it to the attention of Rachelle Lacy.

Items are used as space is available.
ResMed Inc. develops, manufactures, distributes, and markets medical devices and cloud-based software applications for the healthcare markets. The company operates in two segments, Sleep and Respiratory Care, and Software as a Service. It offers various products and solutions for a range of respiratory disorders, including technologies to be applied in medical and consumer products, ventilation devices, diagnostic products, mask systems for use in the hospital and home, headgear and other accessories, dental devices, and cloud-based software informatics solutions to manage patient outcomes, as well as provides customer and business processes. The company also provides AirView, a cloud-based system that enables remote monitoring and changing of patients' device settings; myAir, a personalized therapy management application for patients with sleep apnea that provides support, education, and troubleshooting tools for increased patient engagement and improved compliance; U-Sleep, a compliance monitoring solution that enables home medical equipment (HME)to streamline their sleep programs; connectivity module and propeller solutions; and Propeller portal. It offers out-of-hospital software solution, such as Brightree business management software and service solutions to providers of HME, pharmacy, home infusion, orthotics, and prosthetics services; MatrixCare care management and related ancillary solutions to senior living, skilled nursing, life plan communities, home health, home care, and hospice organizations, as well as related accountable care organizations; and HEALTHCAREfirst that offers electronic health record, software, billing and coding services, and analytics for home health and hospice agencies. The company markets its products primarily to sleep clinics, home healthcare dealers, and hospitals through a network of distributors and direct sales force in approximately 140 countries. ResMed Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,555 customers in parts of Manhattan. The company also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and gas to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York. In addition, it operates 533 circuit miles of transmission lines; 15 transmission substations; 64 distribution substations; 87,564 in-service line transformers; 3,924 pole miles of overhead distribution lines; and 2,291 miles of underground distribution lines, as well as 4,350 miles of mains and 377,971 service lines for natural gas distribution. Further, the company owns, operates, and develops renewable and energy infrastructure projects; and provides energy-related products and services to wholesale and retail customers, as well as invests in electric and gas transmission projects. It primarily sells electricity to industrial, commercial, residential, and government customers. The company was founded in 1823 and is based in New York, New York.
Morgan Stanley is the 6th largest financial institution in the US. The company is ranked 61st on the Forbes Fortune 500 list and is the 39th largest bank in the world. A financial holding company, Morgan Stanley provides a full range of financial services to clients around the world.

Morgan Stanley was formed in 1935 as a result of the Glass-Steagall Act. Glass-Steagall separated commercial and investment banking in a way that forced the then-largest bank J.P. Morgan & Co to split into two groups. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to retain the commercial side of the business while partners Henry S. Morga, grandson of J.P., and Harold Stanley took the investment end. In its first year, Morgan Stanley did 24% of the IPO business and maintains a lions share of the market to this day.

The original company existed and grew through acquisitions until 1987 when it merged with Dean Witter Discover & Co. The new Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co existed for 14 years until 2001 when the name was shortened back to Morgan Stanley.

The bank is credited in part with both beginning and ending the financial crisis of 2007/2008. The Process Driven Trading unit lost $300 million in one day due to a short-squeeze that popped the bubble in the housing market. After teetering on the brink of failure Morgan Stanley agreed to become a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve, a key factor in the original decision to split from parent J.P. Morgan & Co. Ironically when given the chance, present-day J.P. Morgan refused to buy Morgan Stanley but that was for the better.

Today, Morgan Stanley operates through three segments via offices in 41 countries and employs more than 75,000 people. Revenue in 2021 topped $49 billion and total assets topped $1.15 trillion.

The operating segments are Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. The Institutional Securities segment is by far the largest and most profitable. It offers a range of services and products for businesses, institutions, and entities that include capital raising, strategic advisory, underwriting, advice on M&A, restructuring, and real estate. The Wealth Management segment provides brokerage and investment advisory services for individuals and employers. The services include brokerage, financial planning, company stock-plan administration, insurance, mortgage loans, lines of credit, and retirement planning. The Investment Management segment provides investment products to a range of institutions, organizations, corporations, and governments.
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a marine fuel logistics company that markets and supplies refined marine fuel and lubricants to vessels in port, at sea, and on rivers worldwide. The company offers fueling services to ocean-going and a range of coastal vessels, including oil tankers, container ships, drybulk carriers, cruise ships, reefers, LNG/LPG carriers, car carriers, and ferries, as well as to marine fuel traders, brokers, and other end-users of marine fuel and lubricants. It also markets and distributes marine lubricants under the Alfa Marine Lubricants brand; and provides a range of shipping services, such as technical support and maintenance, insurance arrangement and handling, financial administration, and accounting services. As of December 31, 2016, the company owned and operated a fleet of 46 bunkering vessels, including 45 double hulls and 1 single hull special purpose vehicle; 15 double hull bunkering vessels with an aggregate carrying capacity of approximately 292,400 deadweight ton (dwt); operated 10 land-based storage facilities with an aggregate storage capacity of approximately 1,075,000 cubic meters; and operated 2 vessels as floating storage facility with a cargo carrying capacity of approximately 86,800 dwt. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.
Weatherford International plc, an oilfield service company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere. It offers artificial lift systems, including reciprocating rod, progressing cavity pumping, gas, hydraulic, plunger, and hybrid lift systems, as well as related automation and control systems; pressure pumping and reservoir stimulation services, such as acidizing, fracturing and fluid systems, cementing, and coiled-tubing intervention; and drill stem test tools, and surface well testing and multiphase flow measurement services. The company also provides safety, downhole reservoir monitoring, flow control, and multistage fracturing systems, as well as sand-control technologies, and production and isolation packers; liner hangers to suspend a casing string in high-temperature and high-pressure wells; cementing products, including plugs, float and stage equipment, and torque-and-drag reduction technology for zonal isolation; and pre-job planning and installation services. In addition, it offers directional drilling services, and logging and measurement services while drilling; services related to rotary-steerable systems, high-temperature and high-pressure sensors, drilling reamers, and circulation subs; managed pressure drilling, conventional mud-logging, drilling instrumentation, gas analysis, wellsite consultancy, and open hole and cased-hole logging services; reservoir solutions and software products; and intervention and remediation services. Further, the company provides equipment and drilling tools; tubular handling, management, and connection services; equipment rental services; and onshore contract drilling and related services through a fleet of land drilling and workover rigs. Weatherford International plc was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.
The following companies are subsidiares of Ashland: 565 Corporation, ASH GP INC., ASHLAND SPECIALTY CHEMICAL (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD., ASHLAND SPECIALTY CHEMICALS (MALAYSIA) SDN.BHD, Adams Drive Totowa L.L.C., Alera Property Holdings LLC, Alera Technologies Inc., Alix Technologies LLC, Aloe Vemera S.P.R de R.L. de C.V., Ash B5 Limited, Ash GH One Inc., Ash GH Switzerland GmbH, Ash Global Holding Three GmbH, Ash Global Holdings Two B.V., Ash Junior Global Holding One LLC, Ash Junior Global Holding Two LLC, Ash Swiss Holding Two GmbH, Ashland (Australasia) Pty. Limited, Ashland (China) Holdings Co. Ltd., Ashland (Gibraltar) One Holding Inc., Ashland (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Ashland Argentina S.R.L., Ashland CZ s.r.o., Ashland Canada Corp./Corporation Ashland Canada, Ashland Canada Holdings B. V., Ashland Chemco Inc., Ashland Chemical De Mexico S.A. De C.V., Ashland Chemical Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ashland Chemicals (Nanjing) Company Limited, Ashland Colombia S.A.S., Ashland Comercio de Especialidades Quimicas do Brasil Ltda., Ashland Eastern Markets LLC, Ashland Ethanol Inc., Ashland Finance Limited, Ashland Global Holdings Inc., Ashland India Private Limited, Ashland Industria de Ingredientes do Brasil Ltda., Ashland Industries Deutschland GmbH, Ashland Industries Europe GmbH, Ashland Industries Italia S.r.l., Ashland Industries Nederland B.V., Ashland Ingredients Poland Sp. z o.o., Ashland Italia S.r.l., Ashland Japan Ltd., Ashland LLC, Ashland Licensing and Intellectual Property LLC, Ashland Mexico Holdings One LLC, Ashland Mexico Holdings Two LLC, Ashland Nigeria Exploration Unlimited, Ashland Oil (Nigeria) Company Unlimited, Ashland Oil Inc., Ashland Pacific Pty. Ltd., Ashland Pharmachem International Holdings LLC, Ashland Services B. V., Ashland Services Mexico S.A. de C.V., Ashland Singapore Pte. Ltd., Ashland Spain Real Estate Holdings S.L., Ashland Specialties Austria GmbH, Ashland Specialties Belgium BVBA, Ashland Specialties France S.a.r.l., Ashland Specialties Hispania S.L., Ashland Specialties Ireland Limited, Ashland Specialties Sverige AB, Ashland Specialties UK Limited, Ashland Specialty Chemical Korea Co. Ltd., Ashland Specialty Ingredients G.P., Ashland-Alaskan Limited, Ashland-Plasticos De Portugal Lda., Ashmont Insurance Company Inc., Ashprop Two LLC, Avoca LLC, Avoele S.A. de C.V., Belleville Realty Corp., Blazer Properties LLC, Bluegrass Insurance Company Limited, CLTA LLC, CVG Capital III LLC, Carol Clifton Inc., Curtis Bay Insurance Co. Ltd, East Bay Realty Services Inc., Fospur, Hercofina, Hercules, Hercules Holding BV BVBA, Hercules Hydrocarbon Holdings Inc., Hercules International Limited LLC, Hercules Investment ApS, Hercules Investments Netherlands B.V., Hercules Islands Corporation, Hercules LLC, Hercules Paper Holdings Inc., Hercules Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, ISP (Belgium) International N. V., ISP Alginates Inc., ISP Canada Corp., ISP Capital LLC, ISP Chemco LLC, ISP Chemical Products LLC, ISP Chemicals LLC, ISP Environmental Services Inc., ISP France Holding SARL, ISP France Marketing SARL, ISP Freetown Fine Chemicals Inc., ISP Freight Services N. V., ISP Global Operations (Barbados) Inc., ISP Global Technologies Deutschland Unterstutzungskasse GmbH, ISP Global Technologies Inc., ISP Global Technologies LLC, ISP HC Limited, ISP Holdings (U.K.) Ltd., ISP Hungary Holdings Limited Liability Company, ISP International Corp., ISP Investments LLC, ISP Lima LLC, ISP Luxembourg Canada S.a.r.l., ISP Management Company Inc., ISP Marl Holdings GmbH, ISP Microcaps (U.K.) Limited, ISP Pharma Systems LLC, ISP Real Estate Company Inc., ISP Singapore Holding LLC, ISP Technologies LLC, International Specialty Holdings LLC, International Specialty Products, International Specialty Products (India) Private Limited, International Specialty Products Funding Corporation, International Specialty Products Inc., Jiangmen Ashland Chemicals Company Limited, Nanjing Clear Environment Protection, Northwest Coatings, Oil Can Henrys, PT Ashland Asia, PT. Ashland Specialty Chemicals Indonesia, Pakistan Gum Industries (Private) Limited, Pharmachem Laboratories, Pharmachem Laboratories LLC, Pharmachem Laboratories Utah LLC, Prince Street Paterson LLC, Progiven S.A.S., Proprietary Nutritionals LLC, Ralop S. de R.L. de C.V., Schulke & Mayr - Personal Care Business, Shanghai Ashland Chemical Technology Development Co. Ltd., St Croix Petrochemical Corp, Taiwan Ashland Co. Ltd., Techwax Limited, Vemera S. de R.L. de C.V., Vornia, and WSP LLC.

Read More
The United States economy added over 227,000 new jobs during February, which was ahead of the gain in December of 157,000.

The rate of unemployment moved up just slightly to 4.8%, as more people in the U.S. began looking for work, a good sign that explains the slight unemployment rate increase.

Get

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alerts:

It is the first jobs report released under the new Trump administration. Nevertheless, the Department of Labor conducted the survey for jobs during the second week in January when the office of the president was still occupied by President Barack Obama.

One economist said that the Trump administration has inherited a U.S. economy that is headed toward full employment but work still needs to be done.

The jobs report is now contentious, because President Trump at one time dubbed the rate of unemployment a hoax. His treasury and labor nominees have criticized the unemployment rate as well.

While the top numbers look strong, Trump also has inherited problems in the job market across the U.S.

The underemployment rate, which is people who are unemployed as well as those who work just part-time, rose during January from 9.2% to 9.4%.

However, the rate has dropped considerably the past few years. Nevertheless, there are still 5.8 million people in the U.S. working jobs that are just part-time but who want positions that are full time.

Another issue is the quality of jobs. During January 76,000 new jobs were added in the U.S. in the restaurant and retail area. Those jobs are usually lower paying and lower skill positions.

However, the economy gained in good paying jobs as well. Construction added over 36,000 new workers. Financial services hired 32,000 workers and the healthcare sector added 18,000 new workers.

While barely any new jobs were added in manufacturing during January, some see the outlook improving for factory jobs under new President Donald Trump.

This is the start of the Trump march to fulfilling his promise made during the campaign of creating over 25 million new jobs over the next decade.

Many U.S. economists said that Trump would be challenged to create so many new jobs with unemployment already so law and the growth of the economy remaining sluggish. However, his plans to lower taxes and to spend large sums on infrastructure could increase jobs and add growth.

Americans saw wages boosted during January with paychecks growing 2.5% during the month in comparison to January of 2016.
The international community must respond to the shelling by Russian armed forces in Ukraine despite the Minsk agreements.

This has been stated by President of the World Congress of Ukrainians Eugene Czolij, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"The Ukrainian World Congress urges the international community to significantly strengthen the targeted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and to provide Ukraine with military assistance in response to this deliberate escalation of artillery by Russian military forces, the refusal by the Russian Federation to honor the Minsk agreements, and the brutal disdain of the Russian Federation for the lives of innocent children, women and men living on the war-torn territory in Eastern Ukraine, UWC President Eugene Czolij wrote.

Drawing attention to the potential for yet another humanitarian crisis in the region, the UWC President supported the conclusion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine that these military actions amount to a war crime in violation of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949, specifically, the extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

ish
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed by phone the escalation of the conflict in Donbas.

This has been reported by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"During the conversation the officials discussed the situation in Libya, issues related to the Syrian settlement, the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine and the developments in the Balkans," reads a statement.

The parties agreed to meet on the sidelines of one of the forthcoming multilateral events for a more detailed discussion of possible interaction on international and regional issues, and the general state of affairs between Russia and the European Union.

ish
In recent years, the laparoscopic approach in oncologic urology seems more attractable to the surgeons. It is considered to have the same oncologic quality as open surgery, but is less invasive in patients. It is used widely in all of Europe, but with various frequency. The aim of the study was to present a various amount of oncourological procedures from three neighbouring countries - Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. Prostatectomy, cystectomy, nephrectomy and tumorectomy (Nephron Sparing Procedures - NSS) were presented as a list of procedures prepared from the national registry.

The total amount of procedures was presented, as well as the LO (Lap to Open procedures) index, P/P (procedures/population) index, ratio of cystectomy/population, and cystectomy/TURBT.

In the Czech Republic, the most complex procedures are performed (laparoscopic/robotic prostatectomy, NSS LAP, LAP nephrectomy) in the majority when analysing the country's population. In Hungary and Czech Republic, there are more laparoscopic/robotic radical prostatectomies performed, than open ones. In Poland the largest number of cystectomies is performed when analysing the country's population, but it is difficult to explain the much higher ratio of 6.57 TUR/one cystectomy. In the Czech Republic this procedure is performed in almost one quarter of the patients (23.36%). Interestingly, in Hungary the cystectomy with pouch creation is performed in about 67.65% cases. The highest reimbursement for surgical procedure is present in the Czech Republic with approximately 20-40% more than when compared to Poland or Hungary.

The definitive leader in Central Europe (based on the national registry) is the Czech Republic, where the most complex procedures are performed (laparoscopic/robotic prostatectomy, NSS LAP, LAP nephrectomy) in biggest amounts when analysing the country's population. Explanation of such circumstances, can be the higher reimbursement rate for surgical procedure in this country.

Central European journal of urology. 2016 Nov 30 [Epub]

Przemysaw Adamczyk, Kajetan Juszczak, Tomasz Drewa, Milan Hora, Peter Nyirady, Marek Sosnowski

Nicolaus Copernicus Hospital in Torun, Department of General and Oncologic Urology, Torun, Poland., Department of Urology, Memorial Rydygier Hospital, Cracow, Poland., Department of Urology, Faculty Hospital in Pilsen and Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic., Department of Urology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary., Department of Urology, Medical University, odz, Poland.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28127446
Exceptional Excellent Very Good



(Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post)

This weeks wines include two rose sparklers to fit your Valentines Day budget: a champagne splurge and an Italian bargain. Then we have a white burgundy that performs much higher than its price, a delicious red from Washington state and, of course, an early 2016 rose, a hint of many more to come.

 Dave McIntyre

Bruno Paillard Premiere Cuvee Rose Extra Brut

Champagne, France, $68

For a romantic splurge, its hard to beat a rose champagne. Bruno Paillards is top-notch, with a fine bead of bubbles that catch the light and enhance the mood. Alcohol by volume: 12 percent.

Distributed by Monument: Available in the District at Ace Beverage, the Bottle Shop, S&R Liquors; on the list at Le Diplomate, Matisse. Available in Maryland at Dawsons Liquors in Severna Park (including in half-bottles), Iron Bridge Wine Co. in Columbia, Vino Volo in Bethesda; on the list at Voltaggio Brothers Steak House at MGM National Harbor.

Domaine Feuillat-Juillot Montagny 1er Cru Les Coeres 2014

Burgundy, France, $35

This Premier Cru white burgundy shows chardonnay at its best: rich and unctuous, channeling stone-fruit flavors through a mineral core. And because Montagny is less famous than pricier appellations such as Chassagne-Montrachet and Meursault, its a relative bargain. ABV: 13 percent.

Distributed by Lanterna: Available in the District at Ace Beverage, Capital City Wine & Spirits, Cork & Fork, Rodmans; on the list at Marcels. Available in Maryland at Wine Cellars of Annapolis, the Italian Market in Annapolis.

GREAT VALUE

Kiona Vineyards Cabernet-Merlot 2013

Washington State, $17

Kiona Vineyards is one of the oldest wineries in Washingtons Columbia Valley. Cabernet-Merlot is a bit of a misnomer, in that the wine also includes lemberger, sangiovese, syrah and cabernet franc, with a dollop of carmenere and petite sirah for spice. Its a juicy, unpretentious red, ideal for burgers and casual meat dishes. ABV: 13.5 percent.

Distributed by Lanterna: Available in the District at Calvert Woodley, Capital City Wine & Spirits, Cork & Fork, Morris Miller Wine & Liquor, Rodmans, Wine Specialist; on the list at Marvin. Available in Maryland at Bin 201 Wine Sellers, Italian Market in Annapolis, Bin 604 Wine Sellers in Baltimore, Dawsons Market, Beer and Wine Cellar, Gillys Craft Beer and Fine Wine in Rockville, Finewine.com in Gaithersburg, Franklins Restaurant, Brewery and General Store in Hyattsville, Red Wine, Beer and Spirits in Columbia, Wine Harvest (Gaithersburg, Potomac); on the list at Barrel and Crow in Bethesda.

GREAT VALUE

Winter en Provence First Press Rose 2016

Coteaux Varois en Provence, France, $13

This early-arriving rose with a bilingual mishmash of a name is spritzy and fresh, with nice watermelon and strawberry flavors. Drink it up: You might not want a winter wine in July! ABV: 13 percent.

Distributed by M. Touton: Available in the District at Cairo Wine & Liquor, Capital City Wine & Spirits, Rodmans, Sav-On Liquor, Whole Foods (various locations), Wine Specialist. Available in Maryland at the Bottle Shop, Wine Harvest and World Gourmet Wine and Beer in Potomac; Bradley Food & Beverage and Cork 57 Beer and Wine in Bethesda; Choice Wine & Beer in Wheaton; College Square Liquors in Westminster; Cranbrook Liquors in Cockeysville; Downtown Crown Wine and Beer and Finewine.com in Gaithersburg; Dunkirk Wine & Spirits in Dunkirk; Frederick Wine House, Old Farm Liquors and Village Mart Beer & Wine in Frederick; Grosvenor Market in Rockville; Nicks of Calvert in Prince Frederick; Nicks of Clinton in Waldorf; Patuxent Wine & Spirits in Lusby; Rodmans (White Flint); Total Discount Liquors in Eldersburg. Available in Virginia at the Vineyard in McLean, Wegmans (various locations).

GREAT VALUE

LaJara Organic Rose

Italy, $12

A charming bubbly in the prosecco style, it has a lovely salmon color and bright fruit flavors. If youve spent a lot of money on a gift for your valentine, this bargain will still get the evening off to a great start. ABV: 11.5 percent.

Distributed by Dionysus: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, MOMs Organic Market (New York Avenue), Rodmans, Wagshals Deli. Available in Maryland at Balduccis and Bradley Food and Beverage in Bethesda, MOMs Organic Market and Village Beer & Fine Wine in Rockville. Available in Virginia at Balduccis (Alexandria, McLean), MOMs Organic Market (various locations), Unwined (Alexandria, Belleview).

Availability information is based on distributor records. Wines might not be in stock at every listed store and might be sold at additional stores. Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
THE DISTRICT

Police: Bank robber hits 2 banks same day

D.C. police and the FBI are seeking a man who authorities said robbed one bank in downtown Washington on Thursday, and then tried to rob another branch the same day.

The first robbery was a TD Bank in the 900 block of Seventh Street NW. Police said a man handed a teller a note demanding money at about 9 a.m. No weapon was displayed and police said he left with an undetermined amount of money.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m., police said the same man walked into another TD Bank in the 900 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE, again passed a demand note to a teller but left before getting money,

The man is described as black, about 40, about 5 foot 9 to 5 foot 10, with a slim build, a dark complexion and thin mustache. His hair was in twists or braids, and he was wearing a black knit hat, large framed glasses, a black wool coat, gray pants and gray shoes.

 Peter Hermann

Embezzler created ghost employees

A payroll specialist for a global consulting firm in the District pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to embezzling a quarter-million dollars by diverting salaries from fictitious employees to his personal bank accounts, according to the U.S. attorneys office.

KaShaun Perkins, 43, of Upper Marlboro, Md., is to be sentenced in April. He faces up to 21 months to 27 months in prison, and prosecutors said he has agreed to reimburse his company nearly $250,000. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Neither a news release nor documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia identify the company for which Perkins worked. The documents refer to it as FGG in the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Perkins worked for the company from December 2014 through July 2015 and managed external payroll records, court files show.

According to his plea agreement filed in court, Perkins admitted that between January and July of 2015, he created ghost employees by altering files of terminated workers to trigger automatic salary payments that Perkins deposited into his bank accounts. .

 Peter Hermann

VIRGINIA

Pedestrian, 18, dies of injuries from collision

An 18-year-old woman died after she was struck by a vehicle while walking along a road in Woodbridge at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, said police in Prince William County.

Nana Owusuaa of Woodbridge was trying to cross Rippon Boulevard near Jefferson Davis Highway when she was struck by a 2015 Dodge van, police said.

Police said their investigation found Owusuaa was not in a designated crosswalk at the time of the accident. She died of her injuries Thursday.

The driver of the van was a 47-year-old man from Dumfries who stayed at the scene and was not injured. Police said speed, drugs and alcohol were not factors in the incident. The driver was not charged, police said.

 Dana Hedgpeth

Supreme Court date is set for bathroom case

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments March 28 in the case of a transgender teenager from Virginia who sued his school board for the right to use the boys bathroom

Gavin Grimm, now a senior at Gloucester High School, sued in 2015 after the board barred him from the boys bathroom. His lawyers argue that the policy, which requires students to use bathrooms aligned with their biological sex, violates a federal law against sex discrimination in public schools.

 Moriah Balingit
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, center, listens to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, left, as D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is seen at right during a press conference on the Death with Dignity Act at the Cannon House Office Building. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

D.C. elected officials are trying, and so far failing, to find a way to fight back against the most hostile Congress and presidential administration they have faced in decades.

Part state, part city and granted self-government only in the 1970s, the District has always endured an uneasy relationship with the federal government, which retains the seldom-used power to meddle with the Districts laws and budget.

But not since the 1990s  when a federally empowered control board seized the levers of government to rescue the city from financial crisis  has the District faced the prospect of such aggressive interference in its affairs, say longtime observers of local politics.

I want to be optimistic, but I dont wake up many mornings feeling good about things, said Arrington Dixon, who served on the first D.C. Council, elected in 1974. The [federal] leadership here seems to be so harsh and insensitive. Were at their mercy in many respects. Were on the menu.

The twin threats to D.C.s autonomy are clear. On one hand are congressional Republicans determined to gut they citys progressive policies, including the legalization of assisted suicide and marijuana use, and some of the nations strictest gun controls.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, left, and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, center, are joined by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, right, at a press conference on the Death with Dignity Act at the Cannon House Office Building. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

On the other is a president who has declared an unofficial war on Americas large, liberal cities, promising a crackdown on their sizable immigrant populations and promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which extended Medicaid coverage to many of the urban poor, including more than 10 percent of D.C. residents.

The Districts perilous circumstances were illustrated over the past week. Just days after President Trumps executive order that federal dollars be stripped from cities that harbor illegal immigrants, the House threatened to ramp up oversight of the District  or perhaps dismember it and return its land to Maryland, as Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) suggested Tuesday during a House Oversight Committee hearing.

[ GOP House chair: Maybe we should lop off part of D.C. and send it to Md]

Still unclear is how local elected leaders will react to this onslaught.

Democratic officials in other big cities have adopted a defiant tone toward Trump. In the District, with its unique vulnerability to federal intervention, such an approach risks antagonizing a president who could help deflect attacks from members of his own party in Congress.

Such practical calculations must be weighed against the mood of the Districts overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, many of whom have joined the protests that have convulsed the city since the presidential inauguration and 96 percent of whom did not vote for Trump.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has so far tried to walk a fine line. She has voiced clear, albeit muted, support for the Districts status as an immigrant sanctuary city and wrote a letter to the House GOP leadership in defense of Obamacare. But she has avoided specific attacks on the president or members of Congress, and some say she has been too passive.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is seen during an interview with The Washington Post after taking part in a press conference on the Death with Dignity Act at the Cannon House Office Building. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Sapna Pandya, executive director of the immigrant rights group Many Languages One Voice, said the District should be making backup plans in case Trump follows through on promises to cut federal funds from cities whose police officers do not cooperate with immigration authorities.

Bowser and the council need to be proactive in identifying some of the alternate sources of money in the city, so we dont get the rug pulled out from under us, she said.

Outside the mayors office, city officials have produced an ad hoc flurry of responses to the new reality, from Attorney General Karl A. Racines appearance on a British television news station to denounce Trumps travel ban to instructions on the D.C. Public Librarys official Twitter account for residents who wish to download an audiobook of George Orwells 1984. (All hard copies were checked out.)

The disjointed messaging has led to growing frustration among activists, and even among the politicians themselves. Anxieties boiled over at a breakfast meeting Tuesday between the mayor and local lawmakers, with council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) warning that they were being caught flat-footed.

These people are bullies, and if we think that accommodation is going to get us anywhere, I think thats wrong, Cheh said. She said D.C. residents are looking to us for leadership on this but that the city had done essentially nothing to counter House Republicans threats.

The discussion, which ended inconclusively, showed the extent of city officials disarray. Beverly L. Perry, a senior adviser to the mayor, said she had identified 25 Republican and Democratic members of Congress, in the House and Senate, who might be sensitive toward the District and was trying to meet with them.

That approach dismayed council member David Grosso (I-At Large), who said it was a strategic misstep to court members of the more right-leaning House.

I think its an absolute waste of time, he said in an interview. Were not going to move the House, in my opinion. We can, issue by issue, move votes in the Senate.

Appearing later that day at a news conference in defense of the Districts law allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives with the help of a doctor  a law Chaffetz said he plans to block  Bowser said her administration is working to forge alliances with Senate leaders but declined to go into details.

Just understand that there are things you will see and hear about and things that will happen and are happening behind the scenes that you wont, she said.

The GOP-dominated federal governments new assertiveness comes at a challenging time for D.C. elected officials, who enter 2017 in a fractious state.

Bowsers relationships with some council members, in particular Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), are in disrepair after a series of drawn-out legislative fights. She is working with one eye on council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), the former mayor she unseated in 2014 and who many believe will try to return the favor next year.

Mendelson said in an interview that he recognizes the need to guard against federal interference but that there are no obvious paths to agreement with Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Theres not a clear strategy, he said. The fundamental problem is that these are members of Congress who are not answerable to the District, who can use the District to score political points.

[Congress once ran the D.C. govt; now GOP leaders suggest they may do so again]

Since Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in 1973, tension has been built into dealings between occupants of the John A. Wilson Building and their neighbors to the east and west on Pennsylvania Avenue.

For much of that time, however, the relationship stayed in a precarious balance. During only four of the 44 years of the Home Rule era have Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. For the past eight years, former president Barack Obama was a last line of defense against Republican designs on the District.

Even during previous periods of GOP ascendancy, the Districts leaders often stayed on good terms with congressional Republicans of a more moderate bent.

Tom Davis, a former seven-term Republican congressman from Northern Virginia, said he worked well with District officials when he served on and for a time led the House committee responsible for the District.

That included the control board period, which ultimately left the city on sound financial footing after years of overspending by mayors Marion Barry and Sharon Pratt Kelly.

We worked really well together, Davis said. There was a recognition that this was the nations capital. We wanted to make it proud.

Davis was a proponent of expanded congressional representation for the District and said that unless constitutional or federal policy issues were involved, he preferred to leave the District alone to govern itself.

This is the capital of the free world, and they dont get a vote in Congress  but they pay federal taxes, he said. My view is, you give them some leeway.

Chaffetz has indicated that he thinks otherwise.

He declined to comment through a spokeswoman, MJ Henshaw. She pointed to statements Chaffetz made in a recent guest column for The Washington Post, co-authored with Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, including that the awesome responsibility of acting as the state for the citizens of the District lies not in the hands of a local government, but with Congress.

Bernard Demczuk, former assistant vice president for District relations at George Washington University, said city officials have to balance their constituents demands for moral leadership in the Trump era with realpolitik.

Demczuk said that the mayor, and perhaps other high-ranking city officials, should make an earnest effort to work hand-in-hand with the White House and Congress. At the same time, he said, council members and community activists can take a more fervent tone in opposing Republican initiatives that would harm the District.

I think, quite frankly, its a good-cop, bad-cop scenario, Demczuk said.

Whether such maneuvers will have any effect remains to be seen. Bowsers creation of a $500,000 legal-defense fund for D.C. immigrants last month suggests the District could be in for a rough ride, no matter what tone its leaders adopt.

For Bowser, the fund was an incremental step toward meeting the demands of immigrant rights activists, who had criticized her mild statements in defense of the citys sanctuary policy. The fund was smaller than those in some other cities, and the mayor announced it in a statement that did not mention Trump, let alone use the firebrand rhetoric in which other big-city mayors have denounced the new president.

For Chaffetz and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who heads the subcommittee for District affairs and is chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, it made no difference. Two weeks ago, they sent Bowser a letter saying they believed the fund conflicted with federal law, and they planned to investigate.
ANNAPOLIS, MD - FEBRUARY 1: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan was the target of a protest Saturday by demonstrators who want him to take a hard line against President Trumps policies. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Hundreds of protesters gathered Saturday in Annapolis outside the residence of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, demanding that he wield his status as a Republican governor of a moderate state to condemn President Trumps Cabinet nominations as well as his order temporarily banning the entry of citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries as well as refugees.

Chanting Shame, shame, shame! protesters held signs with messages such as Hogan, were WATCHING YOU! and Your silence is deafening, according to videos posted online. On Twitter, the rally gained momentum with the hashtag #WhereIsHogan.

In an interview, one of the rallys organizers said that more than 400 people attended, including two state senators. In addition to the travel ban, the crowd rallied against Trumps choice of education secretary, Betsy DeVos, and chanted its support for the Obama administrations Affordable Care Act.

Governor Hogan is particularly well placed to call on Donald Trump to stop these actions. This state is against what Trump is doing, and he hasnt said anything. Its actually been incredible, said Kyle Lierman of Silver Spring, a former senior policy adviser in the Obama administration who helped plan the event.

Lierman, whose sister is Maryland Del. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore), said that demonstrators rallied in front of the governors official residence on Lawyers Mall from noon to 2 p.m. but that Hogan made no appearance. Lierman said protesters included some of his former White House colleagues.

Hogans office released a statement that said the governor is focused on making a better place to live, work, and raise a family. We look forward to seeing these same groups support the administrations common sense and bipartisan initiatives, including legislation to strengthen our ethics laws, aid in the fight against heroin, and create thousands of jobs for Marylands hardworking citizens.

Regarding the travel ban, his office said, The governor appreciates and supports actions to make America safer, but it must be done in a manner consistent with American values.

Prominent state Democrats  including Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D)  have condemned Trumps actions and have been calling on Hogan to follow suit, but they have been met mostly with silence. Late last month, after Trump issued the travel ban,spokeswoman Amelia Chasse released a statement saying that the governors legal counsel was reviewing the presidents executive order and that Hogan likes to get the facts before he comments.

[Maryland Democrats press Hogan on Trumps travel ban]

Lierman recently posted a petition on the MoveOn.org website calling on Hogan to rebuke Trumps ban, attracting more than 800 signers.

Some demonstrators took part because the ban hits home. Hena Zuberi, the editor in chief of Muslimmatters.org and a reporter for the Muslim Link newspaper, lives in College Park but was born in Pakistan and raised in Sudan. After Trumps executive order, the State Department revoked nonimmigrant and immigrant visas of nationals from seven countries, Sudan among them. The others were Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order to stop the ban, but the Justice Department has indicated that it will fight the order.

Zuberi, who came to the United States as a 17-year-old to attend Wellesley College and graduated from the University of New Orleans, said Hogans silence has been hurtful.

It shouldnt be politics as usual. He needs to address his constituents  these are people from all parts of society, said Zuberi, who is now a U.S. citizen. Citing the presidents remarks about U.S. District Judge James L. Robart, who temporarily halted enforcement of Trumps travel ban, she added: When Trump calls a federal judge a so-called judge? It shakes the confidence in our checks and balances.
Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Edith Brewer, food service worker

Edith Brewer, 92, a food service worker for the Montgomery County Public School System from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, died Dec. 14 at a retirement center in Gaithersburg, Md. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a son, Bob Brewer.

Mrs. Brewer, a longtime Gaithersburg resident, was born Edith Fink in Montgomery County. She was a homemaker before working for the schools. In the 1990s, she worked for Flos Antiques in Damascus, Md., in a variety of capacities, including as a buyer of antiques. She was a volunteer at Grace United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg.

Thressa Stadtman, NIH biochemist

Thressa Stadtman, 96, a National Institutes of Health biochemist who made key discoveries concerning the role of vitamin B-12 and the chemical element selenium, died Dec. 11 at her home in Derwood, Md. The cause was pneumonia, NIH said in a statement.

Dr. Stadtman was born Thressa Campbell in Sterling, N.Y., and was an NIH biochemist from 1950 until retiring in 2009. At the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, she became chief of the section on intermediary metabolism and bioenergetics.

She made important discoveries on the role of vitamin B-12, a nutrient that supports the formation of red blood cells and the maintenance of the central nervous system, NIH said. She also made key discoveries involving selenium, properties of which can support a healthy thyroid and immune system.

Jean Hefner,clown

Jean Hefner, 92, a talkative homemaker who for more than 30 years shed her personality and gender to perform at hospitals, nursing homes and presidential functions as a mute and mournful male clown called Trampis, died Dec. 4 at a retirement community in Gaithersburg, Md. The cause was rectal cancer, said her husband, Thomas Hefner.

Mrs. Hefner, a former clerical worker and resident of Silver Spring, Md., was born Constance Kendle in Roanoke. She began performing as Trampis in 1978, after taking a clowning class at Montgomery College. A Washington Post reporter once noted Trampis was an irretrievably sorrowful hobo who never speaks, no matter how hard others might try to get him to talk.

Mrs. Hefner performed regularly until about four years ago, and for many years was a fixture of inaugural parades and the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival parade in Washington. She appeared at several White House Easter Egg Rolls, where she once stymied President George H.W. Bushs attempts to engage her in conversation, her husband said.

Mrs. Hefner taught clowning classes at Silver Spring United Methodist Church, where she also volunteered, and in 2015 was honored with a lifetime achievement award from Kapitol Klowns, the regional chapter of Clowns of America International. Her volunteer work included positions at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where she was president of the Womens Guild and a member of the board of trustees.

 From staff reports
Iris Hernandez Rivas, 20, has been charged with child abuse of her daughter, who died this week. (Montgomery County Police)

At first, police say, Iris Hernandez Rivas couldnt explain the traumatic injuries that left her 4-year-old daughter, Nohely, barely alive.

One moment, the little girl was taking a shower, Hernandez Rivas had told police, the next she was facedown in a bathtub in their apartment in Gaithersburg, Md.

Hernandez Rivas later offered further explanation, according to a police affidavit filed in Montgomery County District Court: Shed become angry because Nohely wouldnt brush her teeth, so she kicked the girl in the stomach, causing her to fall backward and hit her head against a living room wall, according to police allegations.

Those statements are likely to figure in a criminal case being developed against the 20-year-old mother. Late last month, police jailed Hernandez Rivas on charges of first-degree child abuse and first-degree assault.

This week, days after being placed on a ventilator at Childrens National Medical Center in the District, the girl died, police said Friday. Any additional charges will depend on autopsy results and consultation with prosecutors, said Capt. Paul Starks, a police spokesman.

Hernandez Rivas remained held without bond Friday. Court records do not indicate whether she has retained an attorney.

On Jan. 26, just before 12:30 p.m., Hernandez Rivas called for medical help because her daughter was unresponsive. Paramedics arrived and took the child to a hospital in Rockville, where medical staff found reddish bruising on multiple regions of her body, according to court records. A CT scan also showed injury to her brain, and the girl was taken to Childrens Hospital, court records show.

Hospital reports indicated that the child also suffered a small liver contusion and patterned injuries that are the result of blunt force trauma with an object.

Hernandez Rivas initially told detectives that as her daughter was taking a shower, she heard a noise, went to check on her and found her facedown in the tub unresponsive with her hands clenched at her side, according to court records.

She said she took the child out of the tub, placed her on a bedroom floor and called her boyfriend and her brother. She eventually called police for help, according to court records, but did so 58 minutes after first noticing that Nohely was unresponsive.

Hernandez Rivas later told detectives about kicking her child. When asked about the reddish bruising, Hernandez Rivas said she had hit the child with a belt several days earlier.

Federal immigration agents have placed a detainer on Hernandez Rivas at the Montgomery County jail, an indication that she could be deported at a later date.
From left, Elhadj Diallo, Ian Anderson, Tyrek Arrington and Dillon Lewis were charged in connection with an attempted robbery of a CVS in Wheaton. (Montgomery County Police)

For weeks, police in the Washington area suspected that a team of armed robbers was hitting 24-hour drugstores and gas stations. Only one would go in to the store  dressed in a ski mask and dark clothing. He would point a revolver, get cash and run to a waiting car.

Its not clear how many stores have been hit, but detectives from seven police agencies and the FBI have worked the cases together. On Friday evening, police officials said they may have caught a big break.

Police in Montgomery County arrested four men  ages 19 to 23  and charged them in connection with an attempted robbery at a CVS Pharmacy at 4:15 a.m. Thursday in Wheaton. One of the four, according to court files, admitted to police that he hit a store employee in the head with a handgun  apparently to get him to move faster toward a cash register.

In Montgomery alone, police said, the four may be involved in eight robberies from Jan. 20 to Jan. 31 at three CVS sites, two Rite Aid locations, two 7-Elevens and a Sunoco station.

Detectives also are investigating whether the four Montgomery suspects are connected to similar robberies in Alexandria, Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties, and other jurisdictions, said Officer Rick Goodale, a Montgomery County police spokesman.

Court records filed in Montgomery last week describe the extent of police cooperation.

Since January, 2017, the Montgomery County Police Department became part of a joint investigation being conducted for a series of commercial armed robberies that appear to be related, detectives wrote in an affidavit. The investigation included the Prince Georges County Police Department, Howard County Police Department, Anne Arundel Police Department, Greenbelt City Police Department, Annapolis City Police Department, Alexandria Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cross Border Task Force.

It is not clear whether detectives suspect the four men arrested by Montgomery County are suspected of taking part the robberies across the region, or if there are other suspects being sought.

Officials on Friday identified the suspects arrested in connection with the Wheaton CVS case as Ian Marquis Anderson, 19, of Temple Hills, Tyrek Montez Arrington, 19, of Clinton, Elhadj Malick Diallo, 22, of Rockville, and Dillon Rashad Lewis, 23, of Upper Marlboro.

Police say that Anderson entered the CVS, pointed a gun and hit the employee with the gun. Another clerk furtively called 911 and then hung up the phone, according to court records. When a police dispatcher called back, police allege Anderson heard a phone ring, panicked and fled.

Patrol officers converged on the area and one saw a dark Nissan Altima occupied by four people, and the two rear-seat passengers were attempting to crouch beneath the window level.

The officer pulled the car over, according to court records, and as he approached the car, he smelled marijuana. More officers arrived and searched the car.

Police said Friday they found a loaded revolver under the front passenger seat.

The four suspects were charged in the Wheaton case only, on robbery and gun related charges. The four men are expected to have a court appearance Monday.

Montgomery police said in a statement that the four may be involved in the following robberies in the county:

Jan. 20 at 4:40 a.m., CVS Pharmacy, 2271 Bel Pre Rd.

Jan. 26 at 2:45 a.m., CVS Pharmacy, 6917 Arlington Rd.

Jan. 26 at 5 a.m., Rite Aid, 1411 East-West Highway.

Jan. 26 at 5:20 a.m., CVS Pharmacy, 7809 Wisconsin Ave.

Jan. 27 at 4:40 a.m., 7-Eleven, 8946 N. Westland Dr.

Jan. 30 at 12:05 a.m., 7-Eleven, 10594 Metropolitan Ave.

Jan. 30 at 12:30 a.m., Rite Aid, 1411 East-West Highway.

Jan. 31 at 6:05 a.m., Sunoco gas station, 11355 Seven Locks Rd.
The protests of 2016, against pipelines and police shootings and a presidential candidate, have sparked lawmakers in eight states to consider bills boosting penalties for unlawful demonstrations. They include one that would protect drivers who unintentionally run over activists blocking roads and another aimed at forcing protesters to pay up to three times the costs of any damage they caused.

In Washington state, a lawmaker termed some protests economic terrorism and introduced a bill that would permit judges to tack on an additional year in jail to a sentence if the protester was attempting to or causing an economic disruption.

In Minnesota, a person convicted of participating or being present at an unlawful assembly could be held liable for costs incurred by police and other public agencies.

And in Indiana, a proposed law would direct police encountering a mass traffic obstruction to clear the road by any means necessary, echoing a phrase made famous by Malcolm X during the 1960s civil rights movement.

Were not trying to restrict peoples right to protest peaceably, said Iowa state Sen. Jake Chapman (R), in comments similar to those by legislators involved with each of the measures. He introduced his bill, increasing the penalty for blocking a high-speed highway from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, after an anti-Donald Trump protest by high school students in November blocked one direction of Interstate 80 for 30 minutes. But theres appropriate places and times. And the interstate is not one of those places. . . . Right now theyre going to get charged with jaywalking and fined $35. That doesnt fit the crime, in my opinion.

Demonstrators block Interstate 94 during a protest for slain black motorist Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn., in July. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Lee Rowland, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union specializing in First Amendment issues, said she had seen occasional attempts to crack down on protests over the years.

But Ive never seen a coordinated attack on protesters rights anywhere near this scale, Rowland said. What all of these bills have in common is they may be dressed up as being about obstruction or public safety, but make no mistake about it: These are about suppressing protests with draconian penalties so that the average person would think twice before getting out on the street and making their voice heard.

Cody Hall, a member of the Lakota tribe who was arrested while protesting the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, said the measures would set back civil rights.

Were going backwards 60 years, Hall said. Its okay to use your vehicle to run down protesters? How is it that protesters are not considered human beings? Its my free speech  we can do this. Youre going to get people who say, Hey, the law backs us. We can run people over. 

None of the measures have passed yet. All have been proposed by Republicans. Rowland called them undoubtedly unconstitutional and said the ACLU would challenge any which are signed into law.

But their sponsors said they reflect the publics frustration with prolonged, disruptive protests, such as those at the Dakota Access pipeline, where demonstrators have camped for months, and the Black Lives Matter protests around the Minneapolis area, which have at times closed parts of the famed Mall of America.

Most states have laws restricting protests at funerals, after protests outside military services prompted outrage, and federal law and some states regulate protests near abortion clinics. But Jonathan Griffin of the National Conference of State Legislatures said he had not seen such a spate of bills addressing protests in general.

The pending bills mostly were not created as a response to protests against President Trump, the sponsors said. But as Americas political debate becomes more fractious, as seen by last weekends spontaneous demonstrations against Trumps new immigration executive order, the proposals take on new meaning.

Peaceful protests have occurred throughout history, noted Tamara Madensen, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, who studies crowd dynamics and protests.

Marching in the street is symbolic, Madensen said. Smart police have learned that the best way to police a public protest is to facilitate it. In doing so, the focus should always be on protecting constitutional rights and public safety and not just enforcing laws for the sake of enforcing laws.

Laws targeting protesters need to be crafted in a manner that allows police to address the very few who wreak havoc, but the laws should also be there for people who want to spread their legitimate message and exercise their constitutional rights, she said.

Some feel the protesters frequently go too far.

In Minnesota, said state Rep. Nick Zerwas, blocking freeways and closing down the airport have become the go-to move for the protester class. His bill would make someone who is convicted of participating or being present at an unlawful assembly civilly liable for public safety response costs.

Zerwas pointed to the recent Womens March, which drew 100,000 people to Minneapolis, as an example of non-intrusive protests without any arrests or closures.

My point is, Zerwas said, you dont have free speech rights for the middle of the freeway. If you block the freeway, go to jail. And when you get out of jail, you should get a bill for riot.

The wave of new protest-related bills is a sign, not of any coordination between lawmakers in various states, Zerwas said. I think thats the electorate talking to their elected representatives saying theyre sick and tired of that nonsense, he said.

The standing protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota began last April and has annoyed many residents because it involves people interfering with traffic on a nearby highway, Rep. Keith Kempenich said. He said the protest was located 40 miles from any population center, so demonstrators were not going to get any attention unless they took dramatic action. In one episode, traffic on the 65-mph road was slowed to a crawl, ensnaring some of Kempenichs family members. At that point, I thought, this isnt right,  he said.

He introduced a bill, which states that any driver who unintentionally causes injury or death to an individual obstructing vehicular traffic on a public road . . . is not guilty of an offense. Kempenich said, The First Amendment works both ways. Youve got the right to assemble peacefully and legally. The other side of it is other people who dont want to participate. . . . I just intended it to keep people that didnt want to be involved in this from being drawn into it.

Similar sentiments about keeping the roads clear, particularly for public safety and emergency vehicles, were voiced by officials in Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana. The object of this measure is very simple, said state Sen. Jim Tomes of Indiana in a statement about his bill directing law enforcement to use any means necessary to clear roads. An ambulance needs to be able to get to an individual who is having a heart attack, and law enforcement needs to be able to respond to a call to attend to someone who needs help.

Tomes declined to be interviewed about the laws language echoing the phrase made famous by Malcolm X.

In Washington state and Colorado, lawmakers filed bills after activists targeted oil refineries to protest the continued use of fossil fuels. Colorados bill would make the crime of tampering with oil or gas gathering equipment a felony instead of a misdemeanor. Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen introduced a bill that would allow a judge to increase jail time by six months for a gross misdemeanor and 12 months for a felony for those involved in economic disruption, and would allow those convicted of organizing or funding such protests to be charged three times the actual damage caused.

Thats the most important part of the bill, said Ericksen, who was deputy director of the Trump campaign in Washington. If youre organizing a protest thats done lawfully, theres no problem.

In Missouri, legislators are considering a bill that would make it illegal to conceal ones identity by the means of a robe, mask or other disguise while committing the crime of unlawful assembly. And in North Carolina, an incident which occurred in Washington shortly after the inauguration caused a legislator to say he would introduce a bill making it a crime to threaten, intimidate or retaliate against a present or former North Carolina official in the course of, or on account of, the performance of his or her duties.

Sen. Dan Bishop, who also authored the controversial bathroom bill, was outraged by a video of protesters who cornered former Gov. Pat McCrory and shouted Shame on you! for three minutes. This is dangerous, Bishop said on his website. He said former North Carolina governors never faced riotous mobs in their post-service, private lives, without personal security. His bill has not yet been introduced.

Activist DeRay Mckesson, a member of the Black Lives Matter movement, said the proposals were all aimed at muzzling opposition. People in power benefit from silencing dissent, and these laws function to silence those willing to challenge those in power, he said. If passed, these laws would penalize citizens who are willing to speak out against injustice. . . . Protest is a core American right.
Protesters chant Not my president! at the entrance to a security checkpoint before the inauguration ceremony began.

Protesters chant Not my president! at the entrance to a security checkpoint before the inauguration ceremony began. Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post

More people may be arrested in connection with violent Inauguration Day protests as authorities sort through evidence of the rioting that left six police officers injured and caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage to vehicles and store windows, a D.C. prosecutor said.

During the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Trump, 230 people  many of whom defense attorneys said are college students who live outside of the District, Maryland or Virginia  were detained in a mass arrest and charged with felony rioting. Since then, authorities have been working through the cases in an effort to identify each persons role, then pursuing some cases and dismissing others.

As of Friday, prosecutors had dropped charges against nine people. Four of those are journalists who were swept up as they reported on the protests. Prosecutors would not say why they dropped the cases against the other five.

Court records show that 63 of those arrested have so far been indicted on a charge of felony rioting, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. The remaining cases are making their way through the court system.

In D.C. Superior Court last week, one of the lead prosecutors told a judge additional arrests, as well as dismissals, could occur in coming days.

A large crowd cheer as their friends are released from the D.C. Superior Court on Jan. 21. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

We are continuing to get new information every day. In the next week or two, we expect to bring in more defendants, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff told Judge Danya Dayson during the Thursday hearing.

[Protesters who destroyed property on Inauguration Day were part of a well-organized group]

Investigators within the office are working to view still photos and hundreds of hours of video to pinpoint the actions of people involved in the rioting. Undercover D.C. police officers were dispatched at the protests with cameras, according to a court charging document. And D.C. officers wore body cameras during their interactions with protesters.

Several videos have been circulated publicly, some of which have been posted on YouTube.

Still, identifying particular people may be a challenge, as many had their faces covered with goggles, hats and black scarves.

In addition, defense attorney Jason Flores-Williams said three of his clients received emails from Facebook alerting them that prosecutors have subpoenaed information from their accounts. Flores-Williams said he plans to seek a court injunction blocking Facebook from releasing the information.

The attorney said he believes prosecutors wanted to look at the postings and friends of his clients.

This violates their rights. And what does that have to do with the case? Its broad and overreaching. Theyre just trying to intimidate people and scare them, Flores-Williams said.

A spokesman with the U.S. attorneys office declined to comment on the Facebook request allegations, or generally on the cases.

A Facebook spokesman confirmed Friday such emails have been sent to users regarding subpoenas involving the Inauguration protests, but the spokesman declined to comment further.

At last weeks hearing for 10 of those indicted, one defense attorney showed some signs of his strategy in the case.

Matthew Davies, with the Districts Public Defender Service, argued that the U.S. attorneys office should recuse itself from prosecuting the case, because the president selects and nominates the U.S. attorney. Defense attorneys have argued that a special prosecutor or even prosecutors within the Districts Office of the Attorney General should be appointed. The judge said she would respond to the attorneys petition at a later date.

Davies represents 22-year-old Breton Strasburger of Pittsburgh, who is charged with rioting. He also argued that prosecutors had failed to specify what his client  or any of the defendants  were alleged to be doing at the time of their arrests.

In charging documents, authorities recount the actions of the group but do not elaborate on any individuals alleged role.

Some defense attorneys for the protesters have argued that prosecutors are rushing to indict the defendants to avoid preliminary hearings, where the prosecutor would have to present evidence of the allegations.

Without such specifics or merit, a judge could find there is no probable cause and order the case dismissed, said Betty Ballester, head of the courts Trial Lawyers Association, who is not involved in the case. They dont want to have to prove their case early on.

D.C. authorities had prepared for the possibility of mass arrests. In anticipation of the large number of protests on Inauguration Day, prosecutors met with police officials and attorneys within the D.C. police department to discuss strategies.

The cases have been assigned to the U.S. attorneys office major crimes unit, a division that includes veteran homicide prosecutors such as Kerkhoff.

The incidents occurred in a four-block area between the intersections of 13th and O streets NW and 12th and L streets NW.

Other cases have shown the challenges of prosecuting those picked up in mass arrests. Last November in Portland, Ore., 120 people who were part of an anti-Trump demonstration were detained. Two months later, prosecutors were forced to drop the cases of about 80 of them. The cases were basically dropped because police were unable to identify each person arrested as being involved in criminal activity by viewing video taken during the arrests.

Reviewing hundreds of hours of video footage, said Kirsten Snowden, chief deputy district attorney for Portland, was not an option.

It was painstaking and very time consuming, she said. Since most of the cases dropped were misdemeanors, Snowden said her office was then allowed to focus on the more serious felony offenses, such as vandalism. Unlike in Washington, only two people arrested in Portland were charged with rioting.
Maher Salam is seen at Dulles International Airport in Virginia with his mother, Rukaieh Sarioul, a Syrian citizen who was stuck in Saudi Arabia for a week because of President Trumps entry ban but arrived in the United States on Saturday. At right is Salams wife, Abeer Mohideen. Salam and Mohideen are doctors. The family lives in Cleveland. (Michael Miller/The Washington Post)

Most of the more than 40 people from Iran who arrived at Logan International Airport on Saturday afternoon were ecstatic, the first large wave of travelers to come to the United States a week after President Trump banned them from entering the country.

The decision late Friday by a federal judge to temporarily halt Trumps denial of entry to travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries had created an opening  and in a frantic race on the other side of the globe, thousands of people rushed to book flights to the United States, uncertain of how long the opportunity would last.

Flights carrying previously barred travelers reached Logan on Saturday afternoon, with more expected at airports across the country starting Sunday.

But amid the euphoria and excitement, the Jalili family of Iran passed through the checkpoints at Logan and onto American soil in a heartbroken state, even though their dream to emigrate  10 years in the making  had been revived by the federal judge.

At the last minute, after passing through security in the Tehran airport, officials would not let their oldest daughter, 19-year-old Helya, board the Boston-bound plane. She was kept back with about 15 others whose names were called. They got no explanation.

(Natalie Jennings,Bastien Inzaurralde,Alice Li/The Washington Post)

After a quick and agonizing decision, and with Helyas urging, the rest of the family boarded the plane with heavy hearts. They spent most of the flight crying, next to Helyas empty seat.

The familys plight was emblematic of the confusion that continued Saturday  even as government officials and airlines tried to restore normalcy after a week of chaos surrounding the entry ban  amid protests and legal challenges, and after the issuance of the nationwide stay.

We were very, very sad last night, said Hamid Jalili. If [my daughter] will come here tomorrow, our gladness will be complete.

Only a small number of citizens of the seven Middle Eastern and North African countries covered in Trumps banning order arrived at U.S. airports Saturday, but attorneys representing them expected a flood in the coming days.

Becca Heller, the director of the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in New York, said considerable problems remained as citizens of the seven nations  Libya, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Syria  trickled Saturday into the United States.

Its just completely unclear what coordination is happening.

. . . What were witnessing is the Wild West of immigration law, she said. And the people who are suffering are the people who desperately need to come to the U.S.

She said her group is hearing reports from travelers of inconsistencies in how airlines are complying with the judges order; it appeared that some low-level employees of some carriers were still unaware Saturday that a stay of Trumps ban had been issued.

Nevertheless, Heller urged travelers to book flights soon, given the Trump administrations impending challenge of the stay, which was issued by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in Seattle but affects the entire nation.

Theres a window right now. No one knows how long the window will last, Heller said. People that need to get to the United States for an urgent reason should get on a plane as soon as possible.

IRAP was preparing packets of information for travelers to present to authorities if they encounter any problems. The documents explain their right to travel to the United States.

A number of airlines  including Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Air France and Lufthansa  announced that they would allow travelers from the seven nations to board flights after the State Department said Saturday that it was restoring visas that had been revoked under Trumps Jan. 27 executive order.

And Department of Homeland Security workers were told at the start of their shifts to start processing travelers with visas as normal.

The Jalili family and others at Logan described few problems when they arrived in the country, a marked change from the previous weekend, when some travelers from countries named in the banning order were detained for hours and some sent out of the country on return flights.

Hamid and Bahareh Jalili and two of their daughters, Helya and Hanya, 13, had been issued immigrant visas to join Hamids brother, who moved to the United States 40 years ago, and the brothers recently widowed mother.

They had spent most of the first leg, from Tehran to Frankfurt, Germany, in shock after being separated from Helya.

In Frankfurt, they received text messages from Helya saying that their names had been called just after they left  officials had wanted to keep them, too. But the Seattle judges decision, which came before they left for Boston, had shifted the situation, and they were hopeful again, Hamid said in halting English.

Arriving in Boston, Bahareh with tears in her eyes and Hanya looking stunned, the family was greeted by a small but enthusiastic crowd of well-wishers, lawyers and relatives of other passengers.

The family applied for visas in 2004. The visas came through at the end of October, and the family decided to leave at the end of January. Then came Trumps entry ban.

Brothers Reza and Hamid had not seen each other in three years. Hamid could not attend their fathers funeral last year. He worried that his mother, 84 and with a heart ailment, would die before he could reach the United States.

Reza had tried to reassure Hamid when Trumps executive order was announced. I said, Theres no way they can take this away from you.  Now, he said, I have egg on my face.

Asked whether the situation had changed his view of the United States, Reza Jalili said: Ive been here 40 years. You cannot change my view now.

He said he was upset that such a thing could happen in what he called a country of immigrants, but at the same time, I want to thank the other half of America that has nothing to do with this.

The Jalilis were not the only travelers who had to scramble to get on flights.

Syrian national Nael Zaino had spent three days at airports, unable to sleep because his cellphone kept buzzing with the latest news about Trumps temporary ban on refugees and the U.S. courts reaction to the ban.

Zainos wife and 18-month-old son had received asylum and entered the United States last year; now he was increasingly desperate to join them.

At the airport in Istanbul, where he has lived since fleeing Syria two years ago, Zaino was told a half-hour before his flight was scheduled to leave that he would not be allowed on. He had already twice been barred from boarding U.S.-bound flights.

He went to find a place to sit and wait for his next chance, when his name was called. The court had just reversed the U.S. entry ban and Zaino would be allowed to fly. He grabbed his bags and ran full-tilt to the gate, the last to board the Boston flight.

He was still nervous when he landed, worried that he would be sent back.

It sank in that he was safe, he said, only when a customs officer handed his passport back to him.

He told me go start your new life with your son. Choose a very good doctor for him, a very good school, Zaino said in accented but fluid English, choking back emotion.

As some waited for loved ones at airports, protesters in New York, Miami, the District and other cities around the world turned out to express anger at the entry ban. Hundreds gathered near the White House in Lafayette Square.

Many in the crowd wore Statue of Liberty foam crowns or displayed posters with the Statue of Libertys face plastered with the words: Silence Equals Violence.

Jessica Fix, 27, of the District, attended Saturdays protest at the White House just as she did the previous week. She said she is Jewish and that her ancestors had migrated to the United States from Russia.

In my opinion, this is how the Holocaust started, said Fix, a senior at the University of Baltimore. Its important to come out and fight for people who are too scared to.

Back at Logan Airport, immigration lawyer Susan Church spent the afternoon keeping a record of arriving foreigners and offering pro bono services from American lawyers.

As people from the listed countries walked out of customs and into Logans lobby, lawyers and others cheered and offered them flowers, pastries and gift bags.

Church welcomed most of them, shaking their hands and saying, Im sorry.

Kate Jubboori, from the Boston suburb of Hopkinton, stopped at Logan just before 6 p.m. to drop off goody bags for arriving migrant children. Jubboori, whose father-in-law migrated to the United States from Iraq in the 1960s, said the family had toys left over from her sons fourth birthday party earlier Saturday. She had printed labels that said Welcome home on the small gold-colored bags. Asked why she made the effort, Jubboori said she was just being a human.

Ian Shapira and Abigail Hauslohner in Washington, Vera Haller in New York, Steve Freiss in Detroit, Leah Sotille in Portland, Ore., Lornet Turnbull in Seattle, Camille Pendley in Atlanta, Mark Guarino in Chicago, Francisco Alvarado in Miami and Rob Kuznia contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump hands Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R) an executive order that directs agencies to ease the burden of Obamacare, after signing it in the Oval Office in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2017. Also pictured is White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter (C). (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The number of Americans signing up for coverage through HealthCare.gov dropped by a half-million for 2017, as efforts by President Trump and congressional Republicans to demolish the Affordable Care Act propelled the first enrollment decline in its history.

The lower total, with 9.2 million consumers choosing health plans in ACA marketplaces through the enrollment deadline Tuesday, marks a striking turnabout from the trend as the Obama administration neared its end  when sign-ups for coverage under the law were running steadily ahead of a year ago.

The volume plummeted, in particular, during the final week of the three-month enrollment season  falling from nearly 700,000 in 2016 to just over 375,000.

That last week traditionally is a peak time when eligible customers race to get ACA health plans, most of them with federal subsidies. This time, however, the Trump White House directed federal health officials to halt all advertising and other enrollment-outreach activities for the last six days of the sign-up period.

The administration partly retracted the directive the next day, but the seesawing decisions exacerbated what had already been considerable public uncertainty over whether ACA health plans will continue through all of 2017, though insurers have signed contracts requiring them to do so.

(Senate Committee on Finance)

The absence of the customary deadline surge could very well be the result of tremendous confusion and uncertainty surrounding the future of the health law, as well as the last-minute pulling of some outreach advertising, said Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

[White House stops ads, outreach for last days of 2017 ACA enrollment]

The numbers released Friday ended speculation that the Trump administration might break with its predecessors practice of announcing soon after each enrollment season how many people had chosen health plans. But the figures immediately touched off a fresh spate of the partisan warring that has been building since Trumps election handed the GOP its first realistic chance of fulfilling its goal of abolishing the 2010 law.

In sharp contrast to the praise that Obama-era spokesmen lavished on the final tallies, Trump appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services delivered a jab along with the numbers.

Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another, an HHS spokesman said, noting that some insurers abandoned this years marketplaces while a popular and significant tier of ACA coverage increased an average of 25 percent. We look forward to providing relief to those who are being harmed by the status quo, the spokesman said.

The chairman of the influential Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), said: Enrollment numbers are down, and costs are up. These cost hikes are exactly the reason why Republicans are committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare.

But leading groups that support the law sought to portray the figures in a different light.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a consumer health lobby, accused the administration of sabotage of the enrollment process by withdrawing some advertising and sowing confusion over the marketplaces future. Trumps first executive order as president called for agencies to undo some ACA rules, Pollack noted.

Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America, which has worked to spread insurance coverage through the ACA, said: The fact that in the face of opposition and controversy, millions of Americans continued to enroll is an incredible testament to the importance of Affordable Care Act coverage to families all across the country.

That coverage is intended for individual and families who do not have access to affordable health benefits through a job, as well as for small businesses. The small-business numbers were not released Friday.

[Obamacare is the Affordable Care Act: So whats in it?]

The new numbers span the 39 states that relied this year on HealthCare.gov, the website for the ACAs federal insurance exchange. They do not count the number of people who signed up in the remaining states, which run their own marketplaces under the law.

One of those separate marketplaces, Washington Healthplanfinder, announced Thursday that its enrollment for 2017 increased by 13 percent  record growth. The District of Columbias insurance exchange has not released final numbers but said last month that its December enrollment was 47 percent higher than it was the previous year.

And Peter Lee, the executive director of Covered California, announced Tuesday that eligible state residents would have an extra four days to choose health plans so that they did not get caught up in a wave of last-minute shoppers.

State-level figures in the federal exchange show no clear relationship between jumps in insurance premiums and sign-ups for 2017.

Coverage does not take effect until customers begin to pay monthly insurance premiums. For this reason, and because eligibility fluctuates, enrollment has ebbed during the course of each year since the marketplaces first opened in 2014.

Of the 9.2 million people who enrolled in the 39 states using HealthCare.gov, one-third were new to ACA coverage, while the rest were repeat customers or were automatically renewed by the government.

For 2016, 9.6 million people chose health plans in what were then 38 HealthCare.gov states, and about 1 million more enrolled in Kentucky, which moved to the federal marketplace for 2017 after its Republican-

controlled government ended what had been one of the nations most successful state-run marketplaces.

The number of people using the federal websites Spanish version also tumbled, from 1.7 million a year ago to slightly less than 1 million.
Professional poker player Daniel McAulay, right, prepares to compete with the Libratus computer system as one of its creators, Noam Brown, looks on. (Andrew Rush/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via Associated Press)

 Twelve days into the strangest poker tournament of their lives, Jason Les and his companions returned to their hotel, browbeaten and exhausted. Huddled over a pile of tacos, they strategized, as they had done every night. With about 60,000 hands played  and 60,000 to go  they were losing badly to an unusual opponent: a computer program called Libratus, which was up nearly $800,000 in chips.

That wasnt supposed to happen. In 2015, Les and a crew of poker pros had beaten a similar computer program, winning about $700,000. This time, the pros had initially kept things more or less even by finding flaws in how the computer played; fans following this Brains Vs. AI competition at the Rivers Casino here put the odds of the AI winning at only about 1 in 4.

But by the second week, the flaws had disappeared; the odds of the computer triumphing rose. On Day 1, it had played well, but it wasnt impressive, Les said. Whats impressive is how this thing has learned and evolved, how much better it has gotten every day.

Machines have learned a lot about how to play games. Twenty years ago, they figured out checkers, and 10 years ago they toppled the Russian grandmasters of chess. Even Chinas game of go has been solved. But poker remained firmly in the hands of humans.

Thats because unlike checkers and chess, where all the pieces are visible, poker is a game of limited knowledge and uncertainty, of hidden cards and bluffs. It is perhaps truer to life, which may explain why it has been difficult for silicon chips to grasp.

AIs have had a lot of trouble with poker, said Noam Brown, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University who developed Libratus with CMU computer scientist Tuomas Sandholm. Its the holy grail of imperfect information games.

A victory for Libratus, Brown said, would not be much of a threat to human poker players. Its brain is a supercomputer that costs millions of dollars per year to run, so using it to play poker would not be a great way to make money. But Libratus could be a step toward helping artificial intelligence deal more broadly with uncertainty.

Thats because poker is not simply a game of chance. Neither does it require being able to read an opponents facial expressions, although Hollywood might like us to believe otherwise. What guides Libratuss decisions is powerful mathematics, math that could be applied to auctions, negotiations, finance, security and other real-world arenas in which information is hidden.

Serious mathematicians have long been fascinated by poker. John von Neumann, a pioneer in game theory, the branch of mathematics that deals with competition, explored the ins and outs of the card game early in the past century. So did John Nash, whose struggle with schizophrenia was depicted in the movie A Beautiful Mind. In 1950, Nash published a paper showing that there is a best strategy for many games, including one-on-one poker, regardless of how your opponent plays. That strategy, now called a Nash equilibrium, may not always win, but it does better than any other approach.

Finding the Nash equilibrium for simple games such as tic-tac-toe or rock, paper, scissors is easy. Finding it for a game as complicated as poker is hard. An artificial intelligence developed at the University of Alberta has been able to master a basic version of poker called heads-up limit Texas Hold em, in which two players compete against each other with a restricted ability to bet. But a hand of no-limit heads-up poker, in which the players can wager as much as they want to, involves a huge number of possibilities: 10 to the power of 160, which is a one followed by 160 zeros. Thats more than the estimated number of atoms in the universe. For poker games involving more than two people, the possibilities become seemingly incalculable.

People ranging from university academics to enthusiastic retirees have tried to create artificial intelligences to simplify the problem. Every February, they pit their creations against each other at a machines-only competition. A winner is declared, but a person who simply folded each hand would do better than many of these AIs. Every year, the computers play billions of hands against each other, says Jonathan Schaeffer, a University of Alberta computer scientist who helped to start the contest. Every year, we see incremental improvement.

Aside from the people behind Carnegie Mellons Libratus, only the Alberta team has made the claim of being able to beat humans. The Canadian program, called DeepStack, uses a neural network, a piece of software that works a bit like the human brain, making fast estimates that its creators compare to an intuition and reconsidering its options as new cards are laid on the table. A research paper posted on Jan. 10 claims that DeepStack played 40,000 hands against dozens of poker players and won, becoming the first computer program to beat professional poker players in heads-up no-limit Texas Hold em.

But the poker pros facing off against Libratus brushed off that victory, pointing out that the people recruited for that study were not specialists in one-on-one, heads-up poker. Those guys dont play our game type, said Dong Kim, one the high-stakes poker players in the tournament. They might play other kinds of poker, but even small-stakes heads-up players on the Internet would crush them.

The Alberta researchers declined to comment, pending the acceptance of their paper in a scientific journal.

Libratus prepared for its epic match by first playing trillions of hands against itself to build a database about which choices tend to work better than others. While playing, it pauses once in the middle of each hand to rethink its strategy, assessing not only what moves it can make but also other moves it could have made if the situation were different.

This method has led to some seemingly unusual decisions by Libratus that fly in the face of traditional poker wisdom, Sandholm says. When an opponent raises the stakes on the last bet, for instance, the computer may match that raise, even with weak cards that are unlikely to win.

If my 10-year-old daughter made that move, I would teach her not to, Sandholm said. But it turns out that this is actually a good move. It helps to catch bluffs.

Those strategies paid off. By the end of the 20-day competition, Libratus was declared the winner, up more than $1.7 million in chips. This is a major milestone for AI, said Andrew Ng, a computer scientist at Stanford University who followed the tournament.

[The great AI gamble that finally paid off]

Les and his companions each walked away with a share of a $200,000 purse (real money, not chips)  and perhaps some lessons in how to play cards.

We are definitely learning from how this computer thinks, Les said. I think I will come out of this a better poker player.

health-science@washpost.com

Read more:

Mark Zuckerberg builds an AI assistant to run his house  and entertain his toddler

Mind-controlled devices offer hope for the disabled

Everything you think you know about AI is wrong
Michele Booth Cole is executive director of Safe Shores  The DC Childrens Advocacy Center, a nonprofit that serves child victims of abuse, and was a member of the Prince Georges County Public Schools Student Safety Task Force.

Just when you think the dystopic world of child abuse cannot get any more outrageous, the news of the Russell County (Va.) School Boards response to child sexual abuse proves you wrong. A janitor at Lebanon Elementary School pleaded guilty to 150 counts of aggravated sexual battery, carnal knowledge and sodomy in connection with the abuse of four boys, two of whom were students at the elementary school. Yet, the school board denies responsibility.

This preposterous and reckless response by an institution entrusted with the education and care of children sends a frightening message to students and families as well as an open invitation to child predators. Predators look for opportunities to knit themselves into the fabric of communities where children abound. The school district seems to be flashing a neon Welcome sign to those who would harm kids.

For the Russell County School Board to disavow its central role in protecting children is just flat-out wrong, legally and morally. Schools by the very virtue of their mission should be among the safest spaces for children in our society. Indeed, schools and educators have a duty of care to act with a reasonable degree of watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence whenever students are in their charge. How could a reasonable person, who is responsible for other peoples children more than seven hours a day, five days a week, not take basic steps to make the environment safer? Fundamental protection of students means conducting effective background checks and ensuring all faculty and staff are provided with instruction in recognizing, responding to and preventing child sexual abuse. Further, this duty of care requires adults who suspect that a child is being harmed to report their suspicions to law enforcement or child protective services.

Children deserve to be safe in schools. They must actually be and feel safe to learn. Schools have a mission-based moral and legal obligation to ensure safe environments by preventing and reporting child abuse.

Research on adverse childhood experiences tells us that child abuse can inflict lifelong damage on victims if the adults and systems that are supposed to come to childrens aid dont step in or, worse, intentionally choose not to know. Both faculty and leadership at Lebanon Elementary spotted plenty of signs that the janitor was abusing at least one boy  from catching the janitor and the boy hidden in a dark room, to seeing the janitor give the boy money, to knowing the boy moved into the janitors home, to learning of an official child abuse complaint against the janitor. Any one of these events would be a red flag to any responsible adult who has had basic training in preventing child abuse and/or who simply has any concern about their students well-being.

The Lebanon case underscores the imperative for schools and all places that serve children to have and enforce effective child abuse prevention policies, which include a code of conduct for interpersonal interactions and training for all personnel on how to recognize signs of abuse, how to report abuse and how to prevent abuse from occurring in the first place.

One in 10 children in the United States will be sexually abused by his or her 18th birthday. The only reason this shocking statistic persists is because too many adults are shirking their duty. We can stop the victimization of children. It starts with accepting our responsibility to create, nurture and monitor safer environments for all children.

We can only hope that the court requires the Russell County School Board to rise to its duty. Whatever the outcome, the importance of this case cant be overstated because weve hit rock bottom when any school not only turns a blind eye to child abuse but also willfully denies its responsibility to protect students from the crime. Every adult should be outraged by the school boards unprincipled stance and the potential for a dangerous legal precedent that would further endanger children. Either we take action or admit that children arent really as important as many claim.
Regarding the Jan. 28 Free for All letter Bentleys special snowflakes:

Another farmers scientific discovery should be noted. Although Edward Jenner is credited with having discovered the smallpox vaccine in 1796, dairy farmer Benjamin Jesty of Dorset, England, realized that milkmaids who had borne cowpox lesions were resistant to smallpox.

When a local outbreak of smallpox occurred in 1774, Jesty dipped a knitting needle into the pus of a cowpox lesion on a cow and inserted the pus under the skin of his wife and two young sons. None of the Jesty family members became infected.

In 1805, the Original Vaccine Pock Institute in London was made aware of this oversight and invited Jesty and his son to London for an interview. His son agreed to be exposed to infectious smallpox. He was found to be protected years after his immunization, demonstrating long-term protection. The Pock Institute commissioned a portrait of Benjamin Jesty, which is kept in the Wellcome Library in London.

Gene M. Shearer, Bethesda
As the Feb. 6 birthday of my collateral ancestor Aaron Burr approaches, I take factual exception to the misguided Jan. 21 Free for All letter by Joann Everly Tell, Bristling over the Aaron Burr apologist, which called Burr a villain and murderer.

Wrong! Burr was, rather, a progressive thinker and doer, brave military patriot and brilliant lawyer who helped establish some of the physical infrastructure and guiding legal principles that founded our new nation.

Starting at age 19, the aristocratic Burr fought the British at the battles of Quebec, Long Island (where he helped save Alexander Hamiltons life) and Monmouth, and he restored discipline among mutinying troops near Valley Forge. Burr championed education and rights for women and immigrants. He introduced legislation and joined the Manumission Society in unsuccessful attempts to abolish slavery in New York. He hosted black and Native American leaders at his New York City estate. He founded the Manhattan Company (which became Chase Manhattan Bank) to bring clean water to Lower Manhattan.

He served as attorney general for New York and as its senator. As vice president to Thomas Jefferson, Burr distinguished himself by the fair-trial principles he insisted on while presiding over the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, wrongly instigated by Jefferson. Chase was acquitted. As for the illegal and tragic 1804 duel, Burr gave Hamilton several months to simply apologize, in writing, for his 15-year attempt to destroy Burrs career. When Hamilton chose not to do so, Burr was required to defend his honor. It was Hamilton who supplied the Wogdon pistols that, nearly 200 years later, were found to contain hidden hair triggers.

Stuart Fisk Johnson, Upper Marlboro

The writer is president general of the Aaron Burr Association.
The lengthy profile of Imam Suhaib Webb, Show of faith  [Washington Post Magazine, Jan. 22], dismissed my organizations legitimate criticisms of Webb and his former Boston mosques extremism. The article noted we allege Webb was anti-Semitic and homophobic but dismissed our research without further consideration.

We do not merely allege Webbs bigotry. We have proved it. Videos of sermons we uncovered show Webb preaching that effeminate men are cursed and that he understands Muslims who have animosity toward the Jews.

In 2001, according to FBI surveillance documents, Webb appeared alongside al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki to raise $100,000 for Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, who was convicted of shooting two U.S. police officers and killing one of them.

And if all this were not enough to discourage a puff piece, Webb also spent three years as the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston. There he was involved with the tarbiya program, an educational course in which radical Islamist texts are taught to youths from Bostons historically moderate Muslim community.

The Post may paint Webb as the cool Snapchatting imam, but we and our moderate Muslim allies know that beneath the pose, Webb has a history of peddling hate. Bostons Muslim community was left a lot worse off for his time here. How will the District fare?

Charles Jacobs, Boston

The writer is president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance.
NOT SURPRISINGLY, one of the first countries to probe the mettle of the Trump administration was Iran, which continues to seek hegemony in the Middle East at American expense. The prod was a familiar one: a test of one of Tehrans medium-range ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying a payload of more than 1,000 pounds  including a nuclear warhead. Over the objections of the United States and other Western powers, Iran has conducted a number of such tests since the signing of the nuclear accord in July 2015. Eager to avoid a rupture that would ruin a legacy achievement, the Obama administration played down the launches while applying mostly symbolic sanctions to entities involved in the missile program.

The Trump administrations rhetorical response to the latest launch was much hotter. National security adviser Michael Flynn appeared before the media to dramatically assert that Iran was being put on notice. But when the first follow-up action came Friday, it was similar to that of the previous administration: targeted sanctions against officials and entities involved in acquiring materials for missiles. For a president who during his campaign had spoken of ripping up the nuclear accord and blowing Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf out of the water, it was a measured and modest step  which is a good thing.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Iranian aggression across the Middle East as well as the missile tests. But it should be strategic in doing so. Nullifying the nuclear accord would reopen the one threat from Iran that is, for now, contained: the enrichment of uranium that could be used in nuclear devices. What is needed are measures to address other pressing threats, including the thousands of Shiite militiamen deployed in Iraq and Syria; Iranian support for Houthi rebels in Yemen; threats to U.S. ships in the Gulf; and cyberattacks.

The missile launches are particularly troubling because they exploit a loophole allowed by the Obama administration in U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which ratified the nuclear deal. Previously Iran was under a U.N. ban for conducting tests of ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but the resolution changed the language so that Iran was merely called on to comply. Though the United States, Britain and France have taken the position that the missile tests are not consistent with the resolution, Russia has sided with Iran, making U.N. enforcement action impossible.

If the response to the latest launch is limited to sanctions, the Trump administration will deserve credit for not rushing to measures that could provoke an escalation it is not prepared for. As it is, the response looked ragged: The U.S. Central Command was not given advance warning, according to The Posts David Ignatius, even though U.S. soldiers and ships deployed across the Middle East could be vulnerable to Iranian reprisals. Nor is it apparent that U.S. allies were consulted, though sanctions are unlikely to be effective unless they are backed up at least by European governments.

Rolling back the gains Iran has made across the Middle East in the past decade will be, at best, a work of years. To succeed, the Trump administration will have to clarify priorities: Russia, which it regards as a potential ally in the region, has become Irans strategic partner. Leaving the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad in place will lock in Iranian domination where it matters most. Until it has a strategy for addressing such challenges, the administration will find it hard to impress the mullahs.
Emily L. Heil, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice and science at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore, is coordinator of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

A story of yet another person succumbing to an infection caused by a superbug, this time in Nevada, came across my news feed recently. Unfortunately, I dont need to read about the womans recent death to know that we have an antibiotic-resistance crisis. As an infectious-diseases pharmacist and coordinator of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center, I live and breathe the science on antibiotic resistance and am acutely aware of the consequences of inaction.

I have some alarming news: If we want antibiotics to work for future generations, we need to act fast to curb their overuse in animals.

It is well-known that antibiotic-resistant bacteria have created an increasing challenge to health-care providers and have caused illnesses and deaths in our society. States should curb the overuse of antibiotics to prevent the spread of resistant bacteria.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses occur each year in the United States as a result of resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance increasingly threatens to send society back to a pre-antibiotic era that would significantly curtail many of the advances made in medicine. Surgery, ventilator care, intensive-care units and many aggressive cancer chemotherapy regimens require antibiotics to work.

While originally considered miracle drugs, many antibiotics have lost their ability to protect against harmful bacteria. Many of these bacteria have evolved and mutated, allowing them to resist, in the worst cases, all of our available antibiotic therapies because of the sheer volume of use in concentrated environments such as on farms. Incidence rates have risen overall, and the problem has spread worldwide as a result of inadequate infection-control practices and international travel.

There are tremendous domestic efforts to curtail unnecessary antibiotic use in humans to enhance infection-control practices and antibiotic stewardship. These programs have helped drive a decrease in antibiotic prescriptions per capita for humans in recent years. But these programs do nothing to control animal applications, which encompass nearly 70 percent of the medically important antibiotics sold in the United States.

The Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists recently published a position statement in an issue of Pharmacotherapy outlining the dangers caused by antibiotics used in agriculture. The authors, including me, describe how antibiotic resistance can transfer from the farm to humans in ways other than consumption of undercooked meats. Resistance also can spread through direct contact with animal handlers, through wastewater runoff from farms harboring resistant bacteria and even through direct inoculation of flies that harbor resistant bacteria from the farm to sources outside of the farm. These modes of documented resistant-bacteria transfers highlight the complex nature of the problem.

Two Food and Drug Administration regulations that address the use of antibiotics on farms went into full effect on Jan. 1. One rule removed growth-promotion uses from antibiotic product labels. Food animal producers cannot legally use those antibiotics for growth-promotion purposes.

At the same time, the FDA also requires veterinary oversight of drugs available for use in animal feed through a Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD). Now, no medically important antibiotics given in feed are available over the counter; they instead require a VFD to be administered. The VFD also requires a valid veterinarian-client relationship and mandates that the veterinarian assume responsibility for making clinical judgments about the animals health and provide any necessary follow-up care.

While these regulations are small but positive steps, they will not alone solve the problem. The FDA regulations will not prevent the use of antibiotics at identical or near-identical doses for the purpose of disease prevention rather than growth promotion.

Through the use of good animal husbandry techniques, vaccines, probiotics and other alternatives, the animal agriculture industry can and should move away from low-dose antibiotic use for routine disease prevention and use antibiotics only to treat sick animals.

California passed a law that bans antibiotics used regularly for disease prevention when animals are not sick. This law complements the new FDA regulations.

The Maryland General Assembly will consider a similar measure in its 2017 session, the Keep Antibiotics Effective Act, and I encourage the public and my colleagues in the public-health community to support the bill.

Antibiotic resistance poses a profound threat to our medical systems and public health, but we do have solutions. Will Maryland use them?
This is a column on a subject of broad public interest but with a single reader in mind: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Justice Kennedy, if youre reading this, my message is simple: Please dont retire. It could put your legacy at risk; even more, it would be terrible for the country at a moment that demands healing, not another bitter fight ripping at the seams of national unity.

Its natural, of course, that stepping down would be on your mind. At 80, you are the courts longest-serving justice  29 years this month. Appointed by a Republican president, you might decide that a Republican president should have the chance to name your successor.

Please dont.

Your tenure will be best remembered  and justly celebrated  for rulings on gay rights. Romer v. Evans (1996) struck down an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that barred the state or localities from passing anti-discrimination laws to protect gays and lesbians. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) declared unconstitutional laws criminalizing homosexual conduct.

Next, U.S. v. Windsor (2013) struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and its prohibition against having the federal government recognize same-sex marriages permitted by state law. Finally, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Some argue that the consequences of these decisions are already so woven into the social fabric that a future court, a court without a Kennedy to protect his precedents and their underlying rationale, will be reluctant to unwind them.

Lets hope so  although a worrier might note that it was just two years ago that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., dissenting in Obergefell, warned against stealing this issue from the people and making a dramatic social change that much more difficult to accept. That the right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade remains contested 44 years later counsels against assuming that this debate is settled.

But even if there is no going back in the arena of gay rights, there are issues bound to make their way to the court. Can employers discriminate against workers on the basis of sexual orientation? Can landlords refuse to rent to gay or lesbian tenants? How should the law treat transgender citizens? How should courts balance gay rights against claims of religious freedom or invasions of the right to privacy?

Justice Kennedy, your voice on these issues is essential  not simply your vote but your approach to understanding gay Americans rights to equal dignity in the eyes of the law, as you put it in Obergefell.

Notably, Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trumps nominee to Justice Antonin Scalias vacant seat, seems disinclined to read the Constitution in that expansive way. The Constitution, he wrote in a concurring opinion last year, is not some inkblot on which litigants may project their hopes and dreams . . . but a carefully drafted text judges are charged with applying according to its original public meaning.

In a 2005 column for National Review, Gorsuch wrote disapprovingly that American liberals have become addicted to the courtroom, relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected leaders and the ballot box, as the primary means of effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education.

In short, Justice Kennedy, Gorsuch seems more a guaranteed Scalia vote on gay rights and related cases than a Kennedy ally.

If you were to leave, a Trump-selected successor would almost certainly be in that camp as well  shifting the court dangerously away from the path of respect and justice on which you helped launch it.

And you, of all people, understand the national uproar that your departure would create. Your selection came after the retirement of Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., who, like you, occupied the role of swing justice, and the failed nomination of Robert Bork.

The Bork episode feels, in strange retrospect, like an artifact of a gentler era. One data point: Democrats did not filibuster his nomination; he was defeated by a vote of 58 to 42, with six Republican senators joining the opposition and two Democrats voting for him.

In the current party-line environment, with a nuclear option looming if not already triggered, the fight over your successor might have a predictable end. But the intervening battle would be surpassingly ugly, reviving a debate over abortion rights that you sought to settle a quarter-century ago in declining to overturn Roe.

The country, in the aftermath of the 2016 election, is already so split and bruised. Please, dont put it through more.

Read more from Ruth Marcuss archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook.
Regarding the Feb. 2 Metro article Proposed $1,000 speeding fine is lowered  to $500:

The Districts proposed traffic regulation rulemaking includes at least 10 increases in moving violation fines, doubling or even tripling the current amounts. The goal, claim D.C. Department of Transportation officials, is that by the year 2024, Washington, D.C., will reach zero fatalities and serious injuries. Plainly, DDOT imagines that increased fines lead to increased compliance. The trouble is that both common sense and scientific research show that that is not so: As long as the probability of being ticketed is low, the size of the fine is irrelevant. For example, a study found that doubling of speeding fines in Sweden yielded no evidence of a change in offending road user behaviour.

Are the increases in moving-violation fines for, as AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John B. Townsend II worried, revenue generation, [rather] than traffic safety? No, I think this is all about politics and perception: The public wants something done, so DDOT is doing something, however ineffectual. Unfortunately, this rulemaking does not even mention the truly serious causes of traffic fatalities and injuries: drunken driving, drugged driving, distracted driving and drowsy driving. Those are the killers, not trivial violations such as failure to yield to a bus reentering traffic.

Jack McKay, Washington
The Feb. 1 Metro article GOP looks at broader oversight of District reported that Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is considering retroceding the District to Maryland. I encourage Mr. Chaffetz to find out why we are not part of Maryland or Virginia. The answer is in part because of white supremacy.

Alexandria did not want to be part of the District because its residents knew slavery was likely to be banned in the District. As it turned out, the slave trade was banned in the District in 1850 and slavery itself was prohibited in 1862. Alexandrias Duke Street had a lucrative slave trade, which thrived for more than a decade after 1850. Before and after the Civil War, African Americans came in large numbers to the District as part of a crucial workforce, building forts for the Union, the Capitol and later the White House.

While Maryland is a lovely state, it does not want the District, and the District does not want to be part of it.

Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, Mary Jane Patterson, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown, Stephen Colbert and Dave Chappelle are either from the District or contributed to its rich culture. We want and deserve representation, and it is only D.C. residents who can take ownership over our local government with our own elected representatives.

Mr. Chaffetz should do the right thing for the taxpaying citizens of the District and grant us equal representation.

Justine Kalas Reeves, Washington

Rep. Jason Chaffetzs (R-Utah) reference to possible retrocession of parts of the nations capital to Maryland, which had ceded the land north of the Potomac River to the U.S. government for creation of the nations capital, brings to mind the fascinating, seemingly endless debate about the location and legal status of Washington, D.C.

Despite continuous efforts by citizens groups in Maryland and Virginia throughout the 19th century calling for return of the lands they had donated from 1789 to 1791, only Virginia was successful: The land that today contains Alexandria and Arlington County was retroceded in 1847 after only desultory discussion in Congress about whether it could or should return one-third of the capital city. Virginias argument proved persuasive: By law, no public buildings had been built south of the Potomac River, its citizens were denied the right to choose their government, and none of the promised economic benefits materialized.

While retrocession of any remaining part of Washington to Maryland is most unlikely, Mr. Chaffetz has placed himself in a historical tradition rich with irony and disappointment for many Washingtonians.

John P. Richardson, Arlington
The Feb. 2 editorial Questions for Mr. Gorsuch was correct that Judge Neil Gorsuch must be pressed on many issues  none more important than how he would use a Supreme Court seat to shape our democracy.

For four decades, the courts flawed approach to money in politics has gutted common-sense protections against the power of special interests and wealthy individuals. The court has created a rigged system that 85 percent of Americans from across the political spectrum want to fundamentally change.

At the heart of the courts flawed approach is the notion that we should limit political spending only to fight bribery, not to ensure we all have an equal voice. This logic gave us Citizens United and more.

So, heres one more question Mr. Gorsuch must answer: Do the people have the power to ensure that Americans of all incomes, races and backgrounds can run for office and make our voices heard?

With the court split 4-4 on this and other issues, the stakes couldnt be higher. Mr. Gorsuchs record suggests hes not the person to shift the tide toward building a democracy in which the size of our wallets doesnt determine the strength of our voices. Senators must press for clear answers.

Adam Lioz, Washington

The writer is counsel and senior adviser at Demos.

Regarding the Feb. 1 front-page article Supreme Court nominee is Gorsuch:

Colorado federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch deserves a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote. But Senate Democrats should use the same timeline that Senate Republicans afforded Judge Merrick Garland.

Senate Democrats should do everything in their power to prevent a hearing or vote for the next 293 days, as was the case with Mr. Garland. On Day 294, the Senate can take up this matter. But obstructionism cannot be rewarded, and there should be consequences for Republicans treatment of former president Barack Obamas nominee. Waiting 293 days to proceed ensures consistency in the treatment of both parties nominees and still gives Mr. Gorsuch something Mr. Garland was wrongfully denied: a hearing and a vote.

Joe Macri, Baltimore

I am as deep blue a Virginian as one is likely to find in Fairfax County, but I urge my fellow Democrats not to filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Investigate him thoroughly to make sure there is nothing disqualifying in his background, question him intensely at hearings and vote nay when the time comes, but do not filibuster.

Mr. Gorsuchs placement on the Supreme Court will make very little difference. He may be slightly more to the right of Justice Antonin Scalia, but not much will change this time.

Senate Democrats should keep their powder dry and save their ammunition for the next time, when it will really count.

Bonnie Witlin, Herndon
To review the lefts reaction to Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is to infer hes the spawn of Dracula  a cruel and bloodless beast who shrinks from the light and plays havoc with history.

Among the many distortions: Gorsuch is against clean water, consumers, womens health, dying people and workers. The liberal Alliance for Justice declares him worse in some ways than Justice Antonin Scalia, whose seat Gorsuch would assume if confirmed. People for the American Way claims hes an ideologue far outside of the judicial mainstream who has a record of warping the law to serve the powerful over the interests and constitutional rights of ordinary Americans.

Or, one could argue that he is courageous in protecting the people and the Constitution by adhering to the text and original intent without concern for his popularity.

As background, Gorsuch has served since 2006 on the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, where his reputation as a brilliant jurist and writer gained national attention. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he also earned a doctorate from Oxford University in legal philosophy. His dissertation was on euthanasia, which has raised flags among those fighting for death-with-dignity laws. If Gorsuch opposes assisted suicide for the terminally ill, goes the thinking, then he must also oppose a womans right to terminate a pregnancy.

Gorsuch has said that human life has intrinsic value and that no other human has a right to destroy anothers, which seems on its face to be manifest. He has never written or ruled specifically on abortion, so this remains a hazy correlative. He is, indeed, an originalist, as was Scalia, and his rulings might not differ much from his conservative predecessors.

Fundamental to his approach is the understanding that legislatures, and not courts, should create laws. This position also extends to administrators and bureaucrats. Liberals have sometimes preferred to fashion law through the courts, rather than navigate the legislative process, which is burdensome, stubborn and slow. Its so much easier to create law in the courts and let people adapt.

This view would seem almost Trumpian but for his selection of Gorsuch, who is of the opposite inclination. After two dizzying weeks of confounding (Mexico), outrageous (travel ban) and absurd (Australia) first acts, Trump brought a welcome pause in naming Gorsuch. Yes, it was showmanship  prime time and all that  but, seriously, who cares? It was far and away the most presidential performance weve thus far witnessed, notwithstanding Trumps nearly separating Gorsuchs arm from its socket during a handshake.

Should Gorsuch be approved, the courts composition obviously doesnt really change. The balance would remain the same, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch clerked, as the swing vote. Its the next seat for which Democrats should save their fire, lest they be viewed as intractable as the Republicans were the past eight years. No one wins this war.

Democrats are entitled to their indignation over Republicans refusal to consider Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas choice for Scalias seat. But their energies will be spent for naught  and they could do far worse. Besides, theres no real knowing how a justice will rule. Philosophical temperament is a factor, but its not the only one. Individual cases present facts and circumstances that can lead to unexpected conclusions. One neednt look far for examples.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. shocked conservatives when he ruled favorably on the Affordable Care Act, but his decision was double-edged. By deciding that the penalty in Obamacare, intended for people who refused to buy insurance, was really a tax, Roberts also exposed the dishonesty in the Obama administrations presentation of the health-care plan. Throughout the legislative process, the administration insisted that it was not a tax.

Though cold comfort to conservatives, the ruling bolstered arguments that Obamacare was based on false pretenses and the assumption, as one of the laws architects later boasted, that people would be too stupid to know the difference.

The upcoming debate should be scintillating theater as it strikes at the heart of a judges role. Gorsuch has made himself clear on this. In a 2016 concurrence, he wrote: Ours is the job of interpreting the Constitution. And that document isnt some inkblot on which litigants may project their hopes and dreams for a new and perfected tort law, but a carefully drafted text judges are charged with applying according to its original public meaning.

I wouldnt wish on anyone the task of proving that wrong.

Read more from Kathleen Parkers archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.
The Monday Fix column on Jan. 30 included an item titled Best thing that happened to Democrats that referenced President Trumps reaction to the womens marches: Why didnt these people vote? Amber Phillips wrote that Democratic leaders are hoping that Trumps first week as president could ensure that these people do vote  for them.

Given that almost 66 million people voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, its reasonable to conclude that most of the estimated 500,000 people at the march in Washington and the nearly 3 million protesters around the United States were among that immense group of voters.

To allow Mr. Trump to minimize these protesters as nonvoters is wrong and encourages his delusions of voter fraud as the reason he lost the popular vote. Unprecedented numbers of people came out to protest, among other things, an election that gave them, for the second time in 16 years, a president who lost the popular vote.

The article should have pointed out that the protesters did vote, just not for Mr. Trump.

Maureen Nolan Rehg, Alexandria
Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His book Ronald Reagan: New Deal Republican is scheduled to be published in June.

Monday would have been Ronald Reagans 106th birthday. President Trumps election has caused many observers to bemoan Reagans supposedly waning influence on todays Republican Party. But these people start from the same flawed assumption, that Trumps election means the United States and Republicans have rejected Reagans legacy.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Trumps election does not represent the de-Reaganization of the Republican Party; it presents Republicans with their last, best hope to re-Reaganize it.

This flawed common wisdom flows from a flawed understanding of Reagans philosophy that accepts the myth that Reagan was an anti-government ideologue. But to paraphrase Reagan himself, its not that the common wisdom is wrong, its that so much of what it knows just isnt so.

Reagans conservatism was not a more attractive version of Barry Goldwaters anti-statist ideology. From the moment Reagan started speaking out as a conservative in the late 1950s, he endorsed an active role for government. He believed that government should care for those who could not care for themselves, build public housing for the poor and expand public universities. Where Goldwater attacked Republican President Dwight Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon for supporting Franklin Roosevelts New Deal, Reagan enthusiastically backed both men in their presidential campaigns.

Reagans conservatism even supported the idea of universal health coverage. He opposed Medicare only because he felt it unnecessary in light of another federal bill, the Kerr-Mills Act. That long-forgotten program gave federal funds to states to construct programs that paid health-care bills for poor seniors. He believed deeply, as he said in 1962, that any person in the United States who requires medical attention and cannot provide for himself should have it provided for him.

Reagan did not shrink from endorsing government action when needed as governor or as president. He raised the gas tax in 1983 to fund road construction and repair. He also imposed sanctions on Japanese industries and companies for what he believed were unfair trade practices even as he sought to extend free-trade agreements throughout the world.

Even Reagans support for immigration was limited by a belief in protecting U.S. workers. He supported taking in genuine refugees fleeing communism or dictators, but he opposed open borders. He wrote one correspondent in 1981 that he favored immigration quotas because there is no way that we could, without limit, take all who want to come here simply for the opportunity this country offers.

Each of these positions has a clear analogue in Trumps early acts or statements. Trumps position that everyone should have some sort of health insurance finds its counterpart in Reagans long-expressed beliefs. Trumps belief in building more public infrastructure could be funded by a gas tax hike just like Reagans was. His belief that free trade should be fair trade was Reagans, and his belief that immigration controls to protect U.S. workers are just also was Reagans.

Thats not to say Reagan would have agreed with everything Trump says or does. But the overlap in their views on these issues stems from a broader overlap in philosophy. Trump seems to believe the federal government should act forcefully to protect the interest of the U.S. worker. Reagans philosophy was broader and deeper, but it stemmed from the same source: that enhancement of the life, dignity and freedom of the ordinary American was the proper role for the government.

Republicans have too often forgotten this principle in the years since Reagans presidency. They have tended to shy away from forceful action to help ordinary Americans in limited circumstances in favor of a more purist free-market ideology that can overlook the genuine suffering markets can create. Too often the person who loses his or her factory job has been treated as collateral damage in the march toward globalization. Reagan never believed government alone or even primarily was the solution, but he also didnt believe it was never the answer. Republicans have lost that belief, and with it have lost the presidency for most of the post-Reagan era.

Its no coincidence that Trumps biggest popular vote gains over prior Republicans came where Reagan also excelled. Throughout the Midwest, the areas where Reagan in 1980 surpassed Gerald Ford in 1976 are usually the same places where Trump overperformed Mitt Romney. Northern and western Wisconsin, the automobile-building and rural regions of Michigan, industrial Ohio and Pennsylvania  many of those who are todays Trump Democrats were Reagan Democrats first.

A re-Reaganized Republican Party would, like Reagan, meld this belief in limited but forceful government action with the traditional belief in the private sector. Like Reagan, it would reduce burdens on private economic activity while ensuring that the government did not stand idly by when average Americans were hurt. It would finally bring into being that New Republican Party Reagan spoke of in 1977, a party that would give working men and women of this country . . . a say in what goes on in the party.

That New Republican Party would finally make the GOP something it has not been since before the Great Depression: Americas majority party. And giving birth to that party would be the best birthday present the GOP could possibly give to the Gipper.
They didnt come out to vote for Hillary. They didnt come out. And that was a big  so thank you to the African American community, taunted Donald Trump at a mostly white post-election rally in Hershey, Pa., in December.

Trumps celebration of lower black election turnout came to mind as I watched him on television kicking off Black History Month at the White House this week with his top black supporters and campaign workers. The assembled were all grins as they listened to Trump pay tribute to himself and past black civil rights heroes. Dont know what they made of his off-the-wall reference to abolitionist, orator and writer Frederick Douglass, who died in 1895. Frederick Douglass, Trump said, is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice. Say what?

Left unspoken at Trumps black soiree, however, was the possibility that had black voters in Pennsylvania turned out in 2016 in the percentages they did for Barack Obama in 2012, Trump might have lost the Keystone State. That possibility also existed in other key states with sizable black voting blocs, such as Wisconsin and Michigan, which Trump won by razor-thin margins.

Hillary Clinton rolled up, as expected, huge majorities in black strongholds across the country. However, voter turnout tended to be lower than four years ago in many heavily African American jurisdictions, according to an in-depth look by Rasmussen Reports.

Thus, Trump again: They didnt come out. . . . Thank you to the African American community.

The other elephant in the room that the president and his black celebrants knew about but didnt want discussed was the fact that lower Democratic Party turnout  where most black voters are found  was a Trump campaign goal all along.

Toward that end, Trump got plenty of help. FBI Director James B. Comeys 11th-hour letter on the Clinton email investigation helped depress Democratic turnout. The Russian WikiLeaks campaign also helped tear down Clinton. And voter-suppression efforts launched by Republican-led state legislatures disproportionately targeted blacks.

Measures such as requiring voter IDs, closure of polling places and the elimination of early voting were aimed at making voting much harder.

The attacks were blatant, too.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit struck down North Carolinas voting restrictions, concluding that the states law targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision. How precise? In justifying why it did away with two days of Sunday voting, the state explained in court, counties with Sunday voting in 2014 were disproportionately black and disproportionately Democratic. That was enough for North Carolina to impede access to the franchise.

But this moralizing during Black History Month is not about targeting and suppressing votes. It is about what some voters did to themselves and, by extension, to the country.

Those voters, the ones Trump is heckling the rest of us about, ought to get down on their knees and beg the forgiveness of Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers and all of the towering African American heroes who sacrificed, bled and died to get African Americans from the fields and colored-only water fountains to the ballot box.

Voting is a sacred responsibility.

Too many did not exercise it, and for all the wrong reasons.

Contrary to what I heard leading up to the elections from black professors at Georgetown and Howard universities about the attitudes of some of their students toward voting, those privileged youth were wrong, damnably and unforgivably wrong, to believe that voting didnt matter. That some in their generation sat out the elections on their butts in the comfort of dorm space won for them by elders they have never seen  let alone thanked  is a slap in the face.

There were also silly stories about Clinton not exciting the community like Obama did. Clinton cant help that she isnt black. Besides, 2016 wasnt a style and profile show.

Those who sat out November acted as if the struggle for economic and racial justice began and ended with Barack Obama. That torch needed carrying beyond Election Day 2016.

By staying home and refraining from voting, the backsliders let down those who paved the way. They helped forfeit the shaping of America to forces that care only about their own selfish interests and values.

They helped Donald Trump to become president.

Now go forth and celebrate Black History Month with the sound of Trumps chortling ringing in the ear: They didnt come out. . . . So thank you to the African American community.

Ancestors weep.

Read more from Colbert Kings archive.
Tight labor markets shrink income inequality by causing employers to bid up the price of scarce labor, so policymakers fretting about income inequality could give an epidemic a try. This might be a bit extreme, but if increased equality is the goal, Stanford Universitys Walter Scheidel should be heard. His scholarship encompasses many things (classics, history, human biology) and if current events are insufficiently depressing for you, try his just-published book, The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century. Judge this book by its cover, which features Albrecht Durers woodcut The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The tendency in stable, peaceful and prosperous societies is for elites to become entrenched and adept at using entrenchment to augment their advantages. The most potent solutions to this problem are unpleasant. They are disruptions such as wars, revolutions and plagues that have egalitarian consequences by fracturing societys crust, opening fissures through which those who had been held down can rise. Scheidel says that mass-mobilization wars give the masses leverage and require confiscating much wealth from the comfortable. Revolutions can target categories of people considered impediments to the lower orders, e.g., landlords, the bourgeoisie. And the Black Death century was particularly helpful.

By killing between 25 percent and 45 percent of Europeans in the middle of the 14th century, Scheidel explains, the bubonic plague radically changed the ratio of the value of land to that of labor, to the advantage of the latter. The well-off were not amused. In England, the Chronicle of the Priory of Rochester noted that the humble turned up their noses at employment, and could scarcely be persuaded to serve the eminent for triple wages. The king decreed wage controls but the canon of Leicester dourly noted that the workers were so above themselves and so bloody-minded that they took no notice of the kings command.

Todays milksop egalitarians probably will flinch from such a robust attack on inequality, assisted by the rats that carried the fleas whose intestines carried the bacterial strain. But, then, what really is the problem of inequality? The Cato Institutes Michael Tanner, noting the highly redistributive nature of Americas economy and government, refutes four myths about economic inequality.

The first, that inequality has never been worse, ignores taxes, transfer payments and changes in household composition. In 2013, Americas top 1 percent of earners paid 25.4 percent of all federal taxes, which fund more than 100 anti-poverty programs, dozens of which provide direct cash or in-kind grants to individuals. Combined spending by federal, state and local programs approaches $1 trillion. In 2012, families in the bottom income quintile (less than $17,104 in earned income) received net government benefits of $27,171. According to the Congressional Budget Office, accounting for taxes and transfer payments reduces inequality almost 26 percent.

The second myth, that the rich inherit rather than earn their money, is true of less than 3 in 10 American billionaires, a third of whom are either first-generation Americans or were born elsewhere. And the percentage of the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans who grew up wealthy has fallen from 60 percent in 1982 to 32 percent today. Of Americas one-percenters, fewer are in banking or finance (14 percent) than are doctors or other medical professionals (16 percent).

The third myth, that the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, is refuted by this historic trend: About 56 percent of those in the top income quintile will drop from it within 20 years. Barely one-half of the top 1 percent of earners are in that category for 10 consecutive years. And, says Tanner, one out of every five children born to parents in the bottom income quintile will reach one of the top two quintiles in adulthood.

The fourth myth is that more inequality means more poverty. For example, in the mid-1990s, inequality was unusually high but basic measures of poverty showed significant decreases.

The fact of inequality is a hardy perennial; inequality is a problem when, and to the extent that, a critical mass of people decide that it is. When developed nations live in what Scheidel calls a world without horsemen  without revolutions, mass-mobilization wars, epidemic diseases  reducing inequality is the province of governments, which know, or by now should know, how little leverage their policies have on income distributions driven by vast economic forces.

Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook.
Regarding the Feb. 2 front-page article Trump badgers leader of Australia:

Someone should remind President Trump that the United States has more to lose by breaking agreements with Australia than does Australia. Its not just that Australia has supported the United States in every war since World War I, including Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, but Australia also serves as a home for U.S. military bases that provide essential intelligence for the United States. Many Australians believe we should shut down these bases. Mr. Trumps actions have boosted support for that view.

Paul Malone, Ocean Grove, Victoria, Australia
Police stand guard outside the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Documentation involving the hotel discloses how President Trump is still benefiting from the hotels ownership. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)

Before taking office, President Trump promised to place his assets in a trust designed to erect a wall between him and the businesses that made him wealthy.

But newly released documents show that Trump himself is the sole beneficiary of the trust and that it is legally controlled by his oldest son and a longtime employee.

The documents, obtained through a public records request by the investigative news service ProPublica and first reported by the New York Times, also show that Trump retains the legal power to revoke the trust at any time.

The documents were filed to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in Washington to alert the board that oversees liquor licenses at Trumps D.C. hotel of the change in the business.

The documents show that Donald Trump Jr., the presidents eldest son, and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organizations chief financial officer, were placed in legal control of the trust on Jan. 19, one day before Trump took office.

But they outline that the trusts purpose is to hold assets for the exclusive benefit of Donald J. Trump, who has the power to revoke the Trust.

The records provide documentary evidence of what ethics experts have been warning about since before Trump took office.

While Trump has promised he will observe a separation between his business and the presidency, he retains ownership of the business and will personally benefit if the business profits from decisions made by his government.

Further, the business will be run by family members who remain the most trusted members of Trumps inner circle, raising questions about whether Trumps promises to limit communication about the businesss fate are realistic.

What Im going to be doing is my two sons, who are right here, Don and Eric, are going to be running the company, Trump had said at a news conference shortly before taking office. They are going to be running it in a very professional manner. Theyre not going to discuss it with me.

Less than two weeks after returning to their New York City home following their fathers inauguration, Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump, also assigned to run the business, were back in Washington this week to attend the announcement of Trumps nominee to the Supreme Court.

Trump Organization representatives did not respond for comment about the documents Saturday.

The trust also does not dissolve other potential conflicts, including his title as executive producer of the NBC competition reality show Celebrity Apprentice. He recently made headlines for criticizing the shows new host, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the National Prayer Breakfast.

NBC representatives have not said whether Trump will be compensated for that role, or how much. But executive producers are traditionally paid, even when only retaining a passive credit.

The trust document obtained by ProPublica is attached to license filings tied to Trumps Washington hotel, and it remains unclear whether other Trump businesses are governed under the same trust. The company has declined multiple requests to provide company trust agreements that could provide more clarity.

In recent weeks, corporate filings have documented that the Trump Organization has been removing the president as an officer or director of the more than 400 entities registered across the country associated with the organization.

The Trump Organization also provided a list, signed by Trump on the day before his inauguration, of more than 400 companies from which he had agreed to resign. Other companies have been dissolved in recent months, the company said.

Those resignations provide evidence the president no longer has official management responsibilities in the businesses, as he and his attorney pledged during a news conference last month. Still, Trump will continue to profit from their success.

The company has also named Bobby Burchfield, a veteran Republican lawyer who has advised both Bush presidential teams, to serve as an outside ethics adviser, indicating that some corporate transactions would not be undertaken without his sign-off.

The question of Trumps continued ownership stake has been particularly nettlesome at his Washington hotel, which is located in the Old Post Office building and is owned by the federal government. The terms of the 2013 lease agreement with the General Services Administration prohibit any elected official from benefiting from the property.

It is not yet clear whether placing his shares in the hotel under the control of the trust will provide sufficient legal separation to satisfy the terms of the lease. The GSA, which controls the lease, indicated on Jan. 27 that it had received new information from the Trump Organization and was reviewing and evaluating this information to assess its compliance with the terms and conditions of the Old Post Office lease.

Congressional Democrats, including Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), have been pressing the GSA to conclude that the Trump Organization is out of compliance with the lease.

This legal concoction from President Trumps lawyers does nothing to address his conflicts of interest or the breach of the lease for his hotel, Cummings said in a statement.
A baby girl cries in her mother's arms as they stand in line to get aid at the humanitarian aid center in Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine, on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. Strong shelling hit both government- and rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine in a continued escalation of the country's fighting. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

A Ukrainian political leader said she received assurances from President Trump that he would look out for Ukraine in its ongoing dispute with Russia, according to people briefed in the aftermath of a quick, informal conversation between the two political figures.

Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko had a momentary meeting with Trump on Thursday just before he spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton.

Tymoshenko and a group of supporters who traveled with her from Kiev this week quickly relayed word of the exchange, telling allies in Washington that Trump had said he would not abandon Ukraine and would not lift sanctions against Russia until Ukraine was secure.

The White House issued a statement late Friday confirming that a brief conversation had taken place.

The President and the former PM had a brief, informal photo-op meeting in the reception before the National Prayer Breakfast, the White House said in a statement released late Friday.

While no formal assurances were given, as the former PM is not the Presidents counterpart, the United States remains concerned about violence in Eastern Ukraine.

A member of Tymoshenkos team issued a brief statement late Friday confirming the conversation but declining to say how Trump responded. Tymoshenko will make no further comment out of respect for the private nature of the conversation with Trump, said Hryhoriy Nemyria, a member of parliament from Ukraine who traveled to Washington this week.

During the presidential campaign, Trump and his aides hinted that he might favor easing sanctions against Russia that were imposed after it invaded Crimea, a part of Ukraine that was annexed in March 2014 by Russia. Since then, more than 9,000 people have been killed in fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed separatist forces.

On Jan. 28, the same day that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone, fighting in Eastern Ukraine spiked with reports of intense shelling by separatist forces. Utilities were damaged, and tens of thousands were reported without water in subfreezing temperatures.

While the White House has not spoken formally about Ukraine since the election, the U.S. ambassador to United Nations condemned Russias aggressive actions Thursday and warned that sanctions imposed against Russia after it annexed Crimea would remain until the territory is returned to Ukraine.

The United States stands with the people of Ukraine who have suffered for nearly three years under Russian occupation and military interventions, said Nikki Haley in her maiden speech as U.N. envoy. Until Russia and the separatists it supports respect Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, this crisis will continue.

Russias ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, blamed Ukrainian forces for instigating the current escalation in fighting while insisting Russia continues to hope for improved relations between the Kremlin and the White House.

Analysts in Washington say that both Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appear to be using the intensified fighting as a means of influencing, and perhaps testing, the Trump administration. The brief exchange on the topic between Trump and Tymoshenko was first reported Friday by Politico.
The Department of Homeland Security complied with a judges orders Saturday and stopped enforcing President Trumps controversial entry ban, and the fast-moving legal dispute over the presidents powers could land at the nations highest court.

On Saturday evening, Trump administration lawyers filed a notice to appeal the Seattle federal judges decision from Friday night that imposed a temporary, nationwide halt to Trumps order barring refugees and those from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the country.

While his administration followed the orders of U.S. District Judge James L. Robart, the president blasted out his unhappiness with an extraordinarily personal criticism.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump said in a Saturday morning tweet. On a weekend trip to Florida, Trump went off to play golf, then returned to Twitter in the afternoon to say many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country because of the judicial decision.

[Trump lashes out at so-called judge who temporarily blocked entry ban]

1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations begin to arrive in the United States after executive order is suspended View Photos A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked enforcement of the travel ban. Government authorities immediately communicated with airlines to allow travel by those who had been barred, a U.S. official said. Caption After a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked enforcement of President Trumps travel ban, government authorities immediately told airlines to allow travel by those who had been barred, a U.S. official said. Feb. 6, 2017 Muhamad Alhaj Moustafa, an internal medicine resident at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, embraces his wife, Nabila Alhaffar, after her arrival at Dulles International Airport. She had been temporarily blocked from returning to the United States after a trip to Qatar to see family. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Trump exaggerated the impact of Robarts order, and Democrats charged that the president was trying to intimidate the independent judiciary. The presidents hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement.

The State Department said that those with valid visas could enter the country. DHS said it would resume inspection of travelers in accordance with standard policy and procedure that existed before Trumps more restrictive executive order.

Advocates encouraged travelers from the affected countries who qualified for entry to get on planes as soon as possible because of the unpredictable legal terrain.

The developments continued what has been a chaotic rollout of Trumps order, made on Jan. 27. More than a dozen legal challenges have been filed around the country, and only one judge so far has indicated that he was willing to let Trumps order stand.

The decision of Robart, who was nominated by President George W. Bush and has been on the bench since 2004, was the most consequential because of its national implications.

It is somewhat unusual for a district judge to issue an order that affects the entire country, but Robart said it was necessary to follow Congresss intention that the immigration laws of the United States should be enforced vigorously and uniformly.

He was quoting from a 2015 appeals court ruling that had blocked President Barack Obamas executive action that would have made it easier for undocumented immigrants in this country to remain. It was never implemented because of legal challenges.

(Natalie Jennings,Bastien Inzaurralde,Alice Li/The Washington Post)

[Travelers from Iran board flights to the United States following stay, attorney says]

Justice Department lawyers were preparing to immediately ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to dissolve Robarts order, but had not filed anything as of Saturday evening. It will go to a panel of judges who consider such emergency requests, and that decision could be crucial.

While the losing side can then request intervention from the Supreme Court, it would take the votes of five justices to overturn the panel decision. The court has been shorthanded since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia nearly a year ago, and ideologically divided between four liberal and four conservative members.

The issue could reach the high court in days  or weeks.

Robart granted a request from attorneys for the states of Washington and Minnesota who had asked him to stop the government from acting on critical sections of Trumps order. Justice and State department officials had revealed earlier Friday that about 60,000  and possibly as many as 100,000  visas already have been provisionally revoked as a result of Trumps order.

A U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that because of the court case, officials would examine the revoking of those visas so that people would be allowed to travel.

Robarts order also enjoined the government from enforcing a section of the executive order that bars the entry of Syrian refugees.

The State Department said it is still working with other government agencies and the organizations that process refugees overseas to comply with the judges order. That means the action may not immediately help those seeking approval. Immigration lawyers said the State Department had informed them they should rebook trips for refugees whose plans were canceled after the executive order, which temporarily halted the refugee resettlement program.

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said it would allow 872 refugees into the country who were already in transit and would face undue hardship if denied admission.

This ruling is another stinging rejection of President Trumps unconstitutional Muslim ban, said Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Immigrants Rights Project. We will keep fighting to permanently dismantle this un-American executive order.

Trumps criticism of Robart reminded some of his remarks during the presidential campaign about the impartiality of a California federal judge who was hearing a class-action lawsuit involving Trump University.

Others counted that Obama had also been critical of judicial decisions he did not like  scolding the Supreme Court during a State of the Union address for its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and saying during the legal battle over the Affordable Care Act that it would be unprecedented to strike it down.

But Trumps denunciation of Robart was more personal and direct. Vice President Pence defended the presidents words in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that will air on ABCs This Week.

I think the American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them, Pence said.

He agreed with Stephanopoulos that Robart had the authority for his ruling, and said well go through the process in the courts to get a stay of that order, so that, again, we can implement this action that is entirely focused on the safety and security of the American people.

Other Republican leaders were mute, on both the decision and Trumps language, and some in the GOP were unsettled by it.

My advice to POTUS  attack the decision (its weak) not the judge, Rep. Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho), who had backed Trumps immigration order, wrote on Twitter. Liberals are imploding, dont make personal attacks the story.

Democrats were not shy. The presidents attack . . . shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesnt always bend to his wishes and a continued lack of respect for the Constitution, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

Leahy said Trump seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

The legal battles over Trumps immigration order have become the mirror image of Obamas attempt to shield illegal immigrants after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Obamas executive action would have deferred deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants who had been in the country since 2010, had not committed any serious crimes and had family ties to U.S. citizens or others lawfully in the country.

In that case, Republican state attorneys general led the fight against the order. A district judge in Texas agreed with them that it probably exceeded the presidents powers, and issued a nationwide injunction. Months later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit agreed; months after that, the Supreme Court took up the issue.

But the court deadlocked, meaning that the lower court ruling stood and the Obama administration suffered one of its most consequential legal defeats.

The players have changed sides now, with Democratic attorneys general and immigrant rights groups leading the fight against Trump and celebrating a district judges imposition of a nationwide order.

Anne Gearan, Abigail Hauslohner, Katie Zezima, Spencer S. Hsu and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
The machete-wielding man was quickly shot and arrested Friday morning by French police and soldiers, but from the vantage point of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it was a crisis dire enough to put a nation 4,000 miles away on high alert.

A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S., President Trump tweeted.

French authorities are indeed investigating the incident as possible terrorism. But other than the critical wounding of the assailant, there were no injuries, except a slight cut to the scalp of a soldier.

Trumps reaction to the Egyptian attacker who had shouted God is great in Arabic also stood in stark contrast to his public silence on the killing of six Muslim worshipers five days earlier at a mosque in Quebec City.

The episode spoke loudly to the fact that stoking fear  a strategy that helped get Trump elected  is emerging as a central part of how he plans to carry out his governing agenda.

People protest outside Trump Tower in Manhattan following President Trump's election victory on Nov. 9. ( Andrew Kelly / Reuters/REUTERS)

He wants people to understand that he is aggressively going to combat anybody who seeks to do us harm and hes going to put the safety and security of this country first, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Hes not going to sugarcoat it.

That is a theme to which Trump has returned again and again at critical moments  from his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that conjured crime and terrorism and lawlessness, to his dark inaugural address, with its vivid image of American carnage.

[Trump aides film warned U.S. could turn into Islamic State of America]

Channeling and amplifying fear can be an effective campaign tool, but Trumps critics say it is a dangerous way to lead a country.

It is used to increase the public threshold for risk, said Michael Gerson, a chief speechwriter for former president George W. Bush who writes an opinion column for The Washington Post. Because poor neighborhoods cant get any worse, why not try something new? Because America is already a jihadist battleground, why not take a radical and discriminatory new direction on immigration? Because the planet is in chaos, why not entirely reorient American foreign policy toward alliances and great power rivals?

Things, after all, cant get any worse, Gerson continued. The problem is: Things can get a lot worse, and quickly.

Playing upon the nations anxieties about what might happen also stands as a stark contrast to how presidents have lifted the country out of actual crisis in the past.

Officers patrol the courtyard of the Louvre museum near where a soldier opened fire on a machete-wielding attacker on Friday. (Christophe Ena/AP)

Perhaps most famous was the line that most Americans can still recite from Franklin D. Roosevelts first inaugural address, when he told a country in the depth of the Great Depression that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself  nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

There were also other presidents  Bill Clinton in the wake of the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, Bush standing on the rubble of the World Trade Center in 2001  who seemed to grow into the job as they summoned the nation to defy what it feared rather than succumb to it.

Scholars of the subject say they can think of no previous U.S. president so enamored as Trump with scare tactics.

If he frightens people, it puts him in the drivers seat. Hes in control, said historian Robert Dallek. These are what I think can be described as demagogic tendencies.

[Trump adviser cites Bowling Green Massacre that never happened to defend travel ban]

Timothy Naftali, a New York University professor who specializes in presidential and national security history, said, We have a special word for seeing a threat everywhere. Its called paranoia. Its good for mobilizing a base. Its very bad for turning a base into a governing majority.

One danger, Naftali said, is that a fatigue will settle in, making people numb and skeptical when actual threats emerge.

Trumps penchant for amplifying potential threats on the campaign trail drew sharp rebukes from then-President Barack Obama, who warned repeatedly that he was misleading the public by exaggerating the danger posed by terror groups such as the Islamic State.

Groups like ISIL cant destroy us, they cant defeat us, Obama said, using an acronym for the group last March during a trip to Argentina. They dont produce anything. Theyre not an existential threat to us. They are vicious killers and murderers who perverted one of the worlds great religions. And their primary power, in addition to killing innocent lives, is to strike fear in our societies, to disrupt our societies, so that the effect cascades from an explosion or an attack by a semiautomatic rifle.

Obama  like Bush before him  had been careful not to use the phrase radical Islamic terrorism, saying the phrase would aid terror groups intent on casting the United States in a war against Islam. Trump has made a point of embracing the term.

[More companies back away from Trump under pressure from customers]

Julie Smith, a former national security aide in the Obama administration, said that every administration must balance the need to level with the public about actual risks and to also reassure them to avoid causing an overreaction or panic.

Trump is determined to instill fear at every turn in order to put faith in whatever idea he comes up with about making Americans safer, she said. These guys dont talk in nuance. They talk in stark terms, in black and white, about fighting the bad guys.

For years, the public was weary of war in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan and leery of U.S. military overreach in those regions, Smith said. But after the Obama administrations struggles to respond to the civil war in Syria, and the gruesome images of the Islamic State beheading American hostages, the public grew more fearful.

Many Americans, polling data shows, are of the mind that ISIL is, in fact, an existential threat, Smith said, when in reality, they are a very serious threat that we must do everything we can to combat. But they are not in position to fundamentally bring down the United States.

Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a global risk analysis firm, faulted Obama for his unwillingness to portray radical Islam as a problem, when globally it was an issue.

But Trump, Bremmer said, has gone way too far in the other direction.

On Sunday, Trump wrote in a Twitter message: Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world  a horrible mess!

Bremmer said Trump failed to differentiate that the United States has been far more effective in integrating immigrants and refugees than Europe has been. Trumps rhetoric risks alienating Muslims in the United States who might be less trustful of cooperating with U.S. authorities to help root out terror plots or other risks.

[After Trump pledges America first, the world responds with protest and dismay]

On the flip side, Bremmer said, Trumps approach is a great strategy for the base.

There are a lot of white, undereducated men in America who see the world become less white and less undereducated and less male who have a problem with that, Bremmer said. Trump speaks very clearly to them. Hes willing to brand the other. Hes doing it with China and Mexico and hes doing it with terrorism, and hes doing it very effectively.

Chris Newman, an immigrant rights advocate with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said Trump has purposely blurred the lines of various potential threats to the country, including undocumented immigrants living here, refugees from abroad and even the unfounded claims that up to 5 million immigrants voted illegally in the presidential election.

He lumps them altogether to stoke fear, Newman said. Our view is that President Trump is engaged in a salesman, carnival trick  hes selling fear first and then selling the fact that he can respond to the fear  only he can fix it.
White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, left, and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus listen during a meeting with House and Senate legislators in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Feb. 2 (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Soon after President Trump lifted off from the South Lawn of the White House for a long weekend in Florida, the administrations communications and policy teams convened for a staff mixer.

The Friday gathering in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building was both social and practical: While the senior staff had been working closely together, many others still did not know each others names, portfolios or phone extensions at a time when communication breakdowns threatened to hamper Trumps young presidency.

But the brief break soon gave way to another crisis when on Friday evening a federal judge temporarily halted Trumps week-old ban preventing refugee entries for 120 days and individuals from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days.

The judges ruling sent the administration scrambling yet again on an issue that has bedeviled officials, sowed confusion at airports worldwide and pushed tens of thousands of protesters to the streets. It came at the end of a week when Trump, upset that early stumbles had undermined his policies and image as a can-do executive, had taken steps to try to present a new sense of competence.

At a senior staff meeting last Monday, according to one adviser in attendance, the president delivered an unmistakable decree: Reince [Priebus] is in charge. Hes the chief of staff. Everything has to go through him.

(Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

That directive included setting clearer boundaries among the various departments and assertively tamping down reports of staff infighting, which aides said personally angered the president.

[From order to disorder: How Trumps immigration directive exposed GOP rifts]

Over the rest of the week, Priebus sought to assert control over the policy process and interagency communications, slowed the assembly line of executive orders to avoid errors and tried to organize the daily rhythms in the White House.

This is the chief of staff saying, Look, we have a very qualified team here, and we want to make sure that everyone has time and opportunity to make comments on these policies,  said Katie Walsh, a deputy chief of staff.

The big thinker remains chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon, who has used chaos as a tool for implementing transformative policy but who aides said is now trying to adapt to working within Priebuss structure.

Some of us are a little more aggressive than others, and others have a more calming influence, and its what makes a perfect partnership, Bannon said. Theres no daylight between us, and theres really no daylight with the president.

One senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, said the issue isnt so much about areas of responsibility but about whether people can stay within them.

1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  See what President Trump has been doing since taking office View Photos The new presidents tumultuous first weeks have been marked by a controversial executive orders and 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.

These clearly marked lines have always been in place, the official said. The question is: Are people coloring outside the lines? Do people do an end run?

Bannons rising profile  captured on this weeks cover of Time magazine, which labeled him The Great Manipulator  caught the attention of senior officials, as well as Trump, who takes pride in his own cover appearances and inquired about Bannons Time debut with aides.

News reports have depicted Trumps West Wing as two warring factions, pitting Bannon and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller against Priebus and his cohort of deputies. But top officials rejected that portrayal, saying they spend much of their time working collaboratively  whether in Priebuss spacious corner office, where he keeps a fire crackling, or in the Oval Office with the president.

We basically live together, and were on the same page with everything, Priebus said, referring to Bannon, Walsh and Miller. The four of us have become super tight. I think weve figured out where a lot of our strengths are at.

Miller similarly described his relationship with Priebus as one of my closest in the whole administration  hands down. He added, The idea that he and I are in a separate wing is utterly false, totally ludicrous and spectacularly, phenomenally ignorant.

Counselor Kellyanne Conway has been taking on a big-picture, behind-the-scenes role shaping communications strategy. She said she is in policy planning meetings, focusing on everything from the visuals of the presidents events to the messaging and planning for his executive actions, with an eye toward what she calls RPI: real people impact.

Trumps team complains that the media focus too much on the mistakes of a new White House that hasnt been given a chance to settle in. (Only two aides, deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and advance director George Gigicos, have held senior jobs in previous administrations.) They argue that outside critics are unfairly ridiculing Trump and his team for being in over their heads, just as they did during the campaign  even though the early problems have resulted from their own actions.

[The first days inside Trumps White House: Fury, tumult and a reboot]

The real story of the first couple weeks is the unprecedented success of the administration in changing government and delivering on the presidents core campaign promises  one after another after another, Miller said.

There have been successes. Last weeks rollout of Neil Gorsuchs Supreme Court nomination and of Trumps executive order scaling back financial regulations, for instance, were both mistake-free  in part because White House aides took pains to brief both Capitol Hill staff and journalists about their plans.

Nevertheless, the administration remains dogged by slip-ups, half-truths and bombshells, some of them set off by the president himself.

Responding to the Washington state judges order on the entry ban, the White House issued a statement late Friday saying the Department of Justice planned to file an emergency stay against the outrageous order, only to send out an updated statement 12 minutes later deleting the word outrageous.

The correction, which was aimed at striking a more moderate tone, was undone Saturday morning when the president went on Twitter. From his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Trump pecked out a trio of fiery bulletins dismissing the ridiculous ruling of a man he maligned as a so-called judge and warning that if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction!

Trumps missives frustrated some of his aides and underscored the tension inside the West Wing between a staff striving to appear more professional and a president accustomed to indiscriminate commentary.

In addition, the White Houses statement marking the Holocaust that did not mention Jews, breaking with the bipartisan practice of presidents, sparked controversy. And Trumps contentious phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the details of which were first reported by The Washington Post, ignited a diplomatic flare-up with one of Americas most steadfast allies.

If you stumble and dont look like you know what youre doing, then people who voted for Trump who thought he was a competent business leader, that gets diminished, said Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who ran a pro-Trump super PAC. Thats the risk at this point.

Trump himself has been directing the minutiae of his White House, suggesting that national security adviser Michael Flynn deliver an in-person statement at Wednesdays news briefing putting Iran on notice for its ballistic missile tests. Trump watched Flynn on television and was pleased, one aide said, personally congratulating him later.

Many internal debates split more over ideological lines than personal ones, with coalitions shifting depending on the issue. Trump ran as a pragmatic businessman rather than a traditional Republican and has stocked his White House accordingly, with the president consulting both social conservatives, such as Vice President Pence, and a contingent of advisers who hail from the more liberal environs of Manhattan.

In some ways, the dominant ethos of what the Trump administration hopes to be is one of efficiency and accomplishment, not ideology. Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and the presidents son-in-law, is working to build an in-house consulting firm, currently called the Strategic Development Group, which would likely be led by business executives Chris Liddell and Reed Cordish and reimagine the workings of the federal bureaucracy.

Trumps decision not to move forward with an executive order that would have undone many of former President Barack Obamas protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals came only after he was lobbied by Trumps daughter Ivanka and her husband, Kushner, and was first reported by Politico.

Trumps adult sons are both avid hunters and have offered a more moderating voice on protections of federal lands.

Gary Cohn, a Democrat and former president of Goldman Sachs who is chairman of Trumps National Economic Council, has helped bring a more progressive Wall Street sensibility to the administration. He worked to prevent CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow, a longtime Trump economic adviser, from joining the administration and has tried to sideline Peter Navarro, a vocal China critic and hard-liner on trade inside the White House, according to someone with knowledge of his moves.

Wall Street figures and progressive activists also see a possible ally in Dina Powell, a former Goldman Sachs executive who joined the administration and is close to Ivanka Trump and Kushner.

Ken Blackwell, a principal domestic policy adviser to the Trump transition team and a senior fellow at the conservative Family Research Council, said that Trump sees his base as a movement that transcends the Republican Party, with the best ideas rising out of the disorder.

His approach is a tad bit Darwinian, Blackwell said. He lets folks sort of duke it out.

[Trumps relationship with Hill Republicans is thawing, at least for now]

On Capitol Hill, where lawmakers control the fate of Trumps agenda on such big-ticket items as health care and taxes, Trumps team has labored to repair relations frayed by the travel ban.

Pence acknowledged early missteps at a private luncheon Tuesday at the Capitol, telling Republican senators, Well do better, several attendees said. The role is a familiar one for Pence, whom one Hill Republican described as the Catcher in the Rye  perpetually defending the president and his actions.

Two senior White House aides  deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn and legislative affairs director Marc Short  also reached out individually to scores of lawmakers with a similar message.

After Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) distanced himself from the travel ban last Sunday  You have an extreme vetting proposal that didnt get the vetting it should have had, he said on CNN  he said he heard immediately from White House officials.

They were conciliatory and attentive, Portman said, offering him a message that has become the White House mantra in recent days: Were going to do better.
About every two weeks, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer keeps an important dinner date with five of his colleagues, and theyre not the five most senior members of the Senate or even his closest advisers in his new job.

They are the Big Five, as Schumer calls them: five moderate Democrats representing states that President Trump won who are likely to face the most difficult reelection fights next year.

Given the stakes, We have to protect these people, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said of his targeted colleagues. And sometimes were going to have to do things to help them. We all have to watch each others backs.

Heres the rub: Alongside Schumers concern for these vulnerable Democrats is a sudden burst of energy on the left, not only to express deep-rooted anger at Trump but growing impatience with congressional Democrats. If they dont push far enough, the liberals will be angry. If they push too far, they risk losing seats.

They also risk provoking Republicans. If Democrats try to block Judge Neil Gorsuch, for instance  Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court  Republicans have the ability to eliminate the filibuster, which would enable Gorsuchs confirmation on a simple-majority vote.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) emerges from a lunch with fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill on Jan. 24. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Im worried about the Senate coming apart, said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who faces a multimillion-dollar reelection campaign next year. If you cant get anything done and you eliminate the filibuster to remedy that . . . then it becomes just a rote majority vote every time, and the Senate doesnt function as the Senate has functioned for 240-some years.

Trumps attack on the so-called judge in Washington state who overturned the administrations travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries will make things harder for Gorsuch, Schumer said Saturday.

With each action testing the Constitution, and each personal attack on a judge, President Trump raises the bar even higher for Judge Gorsuchs nomination to serve on the Supreme Court, the lead Senate Democrat said in a statement. His ability to be an independent check will be front and center throughout the confirmation process.

The situation for Democrats is so intense and personal that Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were taunted by protesters during a rally on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 30. Back in New York  where Schumer won reelection last fall with 70 percent of the vote  protesters recently rallied near his Brooklyn home, chanting curse words that rhyme with his nickname, Chuck.

[After court ruling, U.S. moves to admit people previously banned]

All of it puts Schumer in a pretty tight squeeze trying to protect a diminished minority caucus, support the far left and at the same time temper expectations of what Democrats can do.

Schumer has another top goal, as well: to keep Trump at his already historically low approval ratings for a new president.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is surrounded by his leadership team and journalists at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 31. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

The number one thing thats going to determine whether we win or lose? If Trumps at 35 percent we could take back the Senate, he said. If Trumps at 55 percent, we could lose the whole ball of wax. So part of my job is to make sure that we dont let Trump get away with stuff.

Schumer said he believes that his job will be made easier by Trump.

His rhetoric is staying populist, but his activities  if you look at the Cabinet, if you look at so many things theyve done  theyre hard right, Schumer said. Immigration, some of the executive orders, and very little populism. Not a thing to appeal to the economic interests of working people.

Schumer said he believes that Trump is trifling with the Constitution, and as a result, he said he thinks Democrats can make the impending battle over Gorsuchs nomination into a Trump referendum. But they also risk galvanizing conservatives who favor the federal appeals court judge  and given how many within their party are vulnerable next year, they may not have the votes for a filibuster.

[Progressives cheer Democratic obstruction  and aim at Supreme Court]

Republicans who know Schumer well are watching closely, struck by how quickly his caucus embraced combative tactics in recent weeks to stall the confirmation of Trumps Cabinet secretaries. In a Republican-controlled chamber, where the rules no longer allow Democrats to filibuster Cabinet nominees, Democrats tried slowing things down by burying nominees in hundreds of written follow-up questions, boycotting committee-room votes to protest their qualifications or Trumps latest actions, and then forcing the Senate to stretch out consideration of each pick.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the No. 2 Republican, described the Democratic strategy as spiteful and an irritant.

My hope is well get past that, he said.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has worked with Schumer on some of the Senates most ambitious legislation, said, Im pretty confident that hell be the result-oriented guy that Ive known for many years. But right now, as you know, theyre angry and upset.

McCain said he worries that Republicans who dont know Schumer will react more combatively to Democrats and pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to change Senate rules.

The New York Democrat is adjusting to his new second-floor office suite in the U.S. Capitol, with sweeping views of the Mall and downtown Washington, including Trumps new hotel. Hes still figuring out where to hang paintings on loan from Olana, the historic home and studio of the famed Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church; how to use the remote for his flat-screen television; and how to spark flames in the fireplace.

Look at that fire, he said in an interview Thursday, pointing at the flames during the interview. All done by a kid from Brooklyn who never had a fireplace  because of the beauty of starter logs.

With no national leader of the Democratic Party, Schumer has narrowed his focus to the most pressing matters facing the Senate and his party. Hes keeping his commitment to visit all of New Yorks 62 counties each year, but he said most of it will be during the summer recess. As a senator known for his easy access to the media, Schumer said that he is trying to watch his words more.

One of the changes is everything you say, people pay attention to, he said. That didnt happen three months ago. Ive got to learn that.

Twenty-five senators that caucus with Democrats face reelection next year  10 of them in states that Trump won in November, meaning Democrats could lose even more ground next year.

The big five dinner dates  at least for now  are Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Jon Tester (Mont.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.). Schumer aides were reluctant to share more details, but aides to some of the senators confirmed theyre meeting regularly, usually dishing strategy over plates of Chinese food.

Many Democrats credit Schumer as a more inclusive leader than his predecessor, Harry M. Reid of Nevada, whose top-down, iron-fist, combative approach upset younger, ambitious senators, as well as the kinds of moderates facing reelection next year.

After Trumps executive order banning some foreign nationals from entering the United States incited protests last weekend at the nations airports, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) used Twitter to blast Republican colleagues for staying mostly silent. The next morning, Schumer called him to discuss potential legislative proposals.

I talk to Chuck almost every day  and Im not a committee chair, Murphy said. Hes really empowered a lot of newer and younger members.

[Trumps joke about Schumers fake tears sours an already complicated relationship]

While much of the public action has involved confrontation with Trumps nominees, behind the scenes Schumer and his team have been taking stock of what went wrong in the 2016 election. He admitted that the partys economic agenda the past four years has been bland; he said hes working on assembling a populist message that will appeal to working-class, white voters, as well as minorities.

If we have a strong economic message and platform and policy, then we can unite the disparate elements of the Democratic Party, he explained. People have said, Who are you going to go for? The old Obama coalition or the blue-collar people you lost? A strong populist, strong economic message unites both. And thats why I think Ill be able to get from Bernie [Sanders] to Joe [Manchin].

Schumer has been so consumed by the fate of his party that he spent more than four hours at a recent Womens March in New York, polling people in the crowd.

Twenty percent had not voted and another 10 percent had voted for a non-Hillary [candidate], including Trump, he said.

The fresh wave of liberal activism in the streets is terrific, he said. Do some of them throw some brickbats and things? Sure, it doesnt bother me.

Theyre out there and active and caring, and that is 90 percent of the battle, he said. Our biggest problem in 2016 and 2014 was apathy. Now, will it be a challenge to try to channel it into productive ways? Yes, but thats a process that will take several months.

The morning after Election Day, Schumer described himself as destroyed by Hillary Clintons loss to Trump. He said he consoled his grown daughters by singing them verses from a song by the Shirelles, Mama Said.

My eyes are wide open / But all that I can see is / Chapel bells are callin for everyone but-a me / But I dont worry cause, / Mama said therell be days like this

I knew that if Hillary won and I was majority leader that Id have fun and Id get more good things done, Schumer said. But this job is more important. And thats how I feel.

Read more at PowerPost
(Kevin Sieff,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

He had become a minor celebrity in the worlds biggest refugee camp, the small man staring at his battered cellphone, who had somehow managed to become an expert on America from inside his tiny hut in the desert.

His fame was attached to one particularly arcane category of knowledge. Mohammed Rashid, a refugee since age 14 and now 38 years old, had become an authority on the U.S. process of screening and resettling refugees. It was a niche that begot his nickname, which stirred some mixture of pride and sadness in him each time he heard it: Mr. Resettlement.

Now, in the wake of President Trumps executive order suspending admission of refugees, Rashids expertise had become even more vital to the people of Dadaab, asprawling agglomeration of tents and stick huts the size of 12,000 football fields. It was his role to translate Trumps policy to those who had been waiting years for their flights to the United States. About 14,500 people in the camp are in the U.S. refugee pipeline, including Rashids family of five.

What will happen with Trump? Rahma Noor Farrah, a 25-year-old with bright purple eye shadow and a pink headscarf, asked Rashid. It was three days after the executive order had been issued, and she had spotted him in the camps market, a dusty street lined by corrugated metal stalls.





We are going to have a rough time together, he said.

Rashid had applied for resettlement in 2010. Farrah had applied in 2007. They had inched forward in the process, interview after interview, promising that they werent terrorists, recounting the horrors that had broken their families.

Theres no hope as long as Trump is there, Farrah said.

We need to see what happens after 120 days, Rashid said, feigning optimism. That was how long Trump had said he would suspend the refugee program, while U.S. officials reviewed its anti-terrorist provisions. The order also banned most visitors from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days.

Rashid had stayed up late over the weekend, reading about the new policy on his 5-year-old Nokia phone, a quest he began by typing Trump News into Google.

He read about travelers stuck at U.S. airports and protests at arrival terminals, trying his best to imagine those places, even though hed never been on an airplane. He read @SenJohnMcCain criticizing the order. He read @realDonaldTrump saying the United States was now safer. He tried not to curse.

At night, during the few hours of electricity in the camp, Rashid watched CNN on his television, a gift from his brother, who had been resettled in Seattle four years ago and told Rashid upon arriving there, We are behind the world, brother.

Now, Rashid waited for any indication that the airport protests had been successful. He would fall asleep in front of the TV, then wake up and check his phone.

All day with him it is news, news, news, said his wife, Dahabo Abdulahi, shaking her head.

***

Dadaab is a constellation of four camps, separated by bursts of thorny acacia trees and wide expanses of orange sand. Some areas remain as empty as they were when Rashid fled Somalia in 1992, as it was devoured by a civil war that left his mother and two sisters dead. But much of Dadaab is now a vast city of mud huts, tents, market stalls and U.N. offices. Nearly 300,000 refugees live here, most of them Somalis.

The Kenyan government has threatened for years to close the camp. Its new deadline is May.

Rashid grew up in the camp, attending school in white tents donated by foreign aid groups. But even after 25 years, it doesnt feel like home. His wife was raped here in the late 1990s when she went to collect firewood. His father was beaten and robbed while transporting food on a donkey cart. Rashid secures his hut, made of mud, sticks and corrugated metal, with a makeshift fence of tree branches and a metal door with a padlock.



Food distribution at Dadaab becomes violent as men run for their rations. Food rations at the camp were recently cut in half, making life for the 270,000 refugees there even more difficult. (Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post)

In 2010, the United Nations acknowledged his familys procession of traumas with a one-page letter  they had been chosen for resettlement in America.

Rashid learned as much as he could about the U.S. refugee screening system, a labyrinthine process that involves eight federal agencies, six security databases, five background checks and four biometric security checks. His family got their medical exams. They sat for interviews with American caseworkers, who asked whether he had ever been a terrorist. Rashid said no. He said he was an English teacher.

While he was waiting for his final approval in 2015, Rashid and his wife had a third child. According to U.S. policy, American officials would have to meet the baby before Rashids family got on a plane. The visit still hasnt happened, because of the limited number of caseworkers and the many people waiting for the relatively few refugee approvals each year.

On his Nokia, Rashid checked his status on the U.S. refugee resettlement website every other day. The words never changed.

Security status: currently clear, it said.

On hold.

Please be patient.

***

On Tuesday, four days after Trumps travel ban announcement, Rashid rode his bicycle, a clunky brown contraption with a red plastic flower on the handlebars, to the Horyaal Primary School.

On the blackboard he wrote: The eye is a sense organ. It is used for seeing.

The students read the line aloud. Rashid walked around the room, where 40 children, all native Somali speakers, were crammed onto eight benches.



Mohammed Rashid teaches an English class in the Dadaab refugee camp. (Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post)

He was trying to focus on the lesson, but his mind was on Trumps new policy. While the children copied notes from the board, Rashid pulled out his Nokia.

He read on CNN.com that the protests were gaining strength.

He read on Facebook that more than 100 Somali refugees, whose flights were scheduled for the following week, were stuck in Nairobi.

After class, he walked outside.

Mr. Resettlement, Abdi Nasir Abukar, another teacher, called to him from a bench. Youre going to go crazy thinking about America. Youre going to become a mad old man picking rubbish from the ground.

Abukar, 29, had a different plan. He was going back to Somalia. The United Nations was offering about $400 as humanitarian assistance for each person who returned to parts of Somalia it considered relatively secure.

Rashid thought a move back to Somalia was too risky. In late January, al-Shabab militants had set off a car bomb at a hotel in Mogadishu, killing 28. Weeks earlier, they had attacked the citys port, leaving 16 dead.

You made your own choice, he said to Abukar.

Out of earshot, Rashid said softly:

Hes the crazy one.

***



Mohammed Rashid talks to two young women who also applied for refugee status in the United States. (Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post)

During a lunch break, Rashid went to a restaurant in the camp with sky-blue wallpaper and a television playing a Somali-language news channel.

Put on CNN, Rashid said.

A waiter slid a metal plate of rice on his table as the television flashed to a reporter at an American diner, asking a bearded man what he thought about Trumps travel ban.

Theres a lot of bad people in those countries, the man said.

Rashid looked down at his rice.

Some Americans dont seem like they know anything about the world, he said.

Behind him, at a different table, an old man recognized Rashid.

What can we expect to happen? the man asked. Will the Europeans take us?

I am advising everyone to be patient, Rashid said, and then he thumbed his phone again.

A stream of pictures and headlines passed in front of him. White House press secretary Sean Spicer had said the executive order wasnt a Muslim ban. The Somali-born British track star Mo Farah had been detained at an airport. On Facebook, Rashids friends in Seattle had posted a photo in front of the Space Needle.

Look at them enjoying, he said.

Then he pulled up the U.S. refugee resettlement website. It took a long time to load. His hands shook.

Please be patient, it said.

***

As the week continued, it appeared to Rashid that the worlds interest in the refugee suspension was fading.

On his phone, he read that the protests were shrinking. On television, the coverage shifted to Trumps Supreme Court pick.

He was running out of answers for the people who stopped him in the camp.

People keep asking me, What do you think?  Rashid said, his expression suddenly severe. But Im just a refugee like them.

But then Saturday morning, he woke up to a flurry of news articles about a judges decision to halt the executive order. He read as much as he could. Then he went to the monthly food distribution, where he and hundreds of other refugees waited for bags of donated corn and beans in the 100-degree heat.

While they waited, people kept coming up to Rashid, he recalled.

I told them: Its finally good news. The judge has stopped Trump. 

He knew the court order was tenuous. He kept checking his phone to see whether the news had changed again. But by late afternoon, he read that passengers from the seven banned countries were allowed to board their fights to the United States.

The door had cracked open again. This time, Rashid hoped, it would last long enough for his family to pass through.

Thats one of the things I love about America, he explained over the phone. No one is above the law.

Read more:

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U.S.-funded Somali intelligence agency has been using kids as spies

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looks out the window of his plane after attending a ceremony to inaugurate the M9 motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Feb. 3. (Caren Firouz/Reuters)

To U.S. and international officials, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is a terrorist who orchestrated a bloody urban siege that killed 166 people in India in 2008. But to his many devout followers in Pakistan, he is a champion of Islamic values and Kashmiri independence from India.

To U.S. and international officials, Shakil Afridi is a courageous man who helped the United States track down and kill Osama bin Laden in 2011. But to many Pakistanis, he is a traitor who sold his services to a Western adversary of Islam and should remain in prison.

Therein lies the conundrum facing Pakistani officials today as they scramble to forestall punitive actions by the Trump administration  and ease pressure from other foreign partners, including China  without provoking turmoil at home, especially among Muslim militants the state has long coddled as proxies against India.

Suddenly confronted with a U.S. president who has declared war against Islamist extremism and has expressed little interest in the long history of political accommodation and security alliances between Washington and Islamabad, officials here are struggling to find a middle ground that may no longer exist.

The disarray was evident in clashing public statements by two government officials concerning the draconian travel ban imposed by Trump last week on all visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries.

White House aides suggested last week that ban might be expanded to include Pakistan and other countries with terrorist links. On Saturday, Pakistani media outlets quoted a White House spokesman telling the BBC that there are no immediate plans to add Pakistan, Afghanistan or Lebanon, but warning that this could change if the countries stop complying with U.S. requests for information.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria, addressing a news conference Thursday, noted deferentially that it is every countrys sovereign right to decide its immigration policy. He said Pakistan looks forward to continuing its long-standing and cooperative relations with Washington.

But Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, speaking at a seminar, declared bluntly that no solution from America and the West can be imposed on our region and that the West should stop blaming Islam for the worlds ills. The tendency to label every man with a beard and every woman wearing hijab as a potential terrorist should cease now, he added.

In the past week, Pakistan has taken steps to tighten legal nooses around both Saeed and Afridi, confining the firebrand cleric to house arrest and denying travel documents to the imprisoned doctors family. Taken together, these moves send a double message: The government is serious about reining in a high-profile Islamist militant with a U.S. bounty for his arrest, but it is also serious about keeping an alleged traitor  whom Trump once vowed to set free  behind bars and under wraps.

The crackdown on Saeed and his group, which has been allowed to function freely for the most part, is seen by many here as a hasty conciliatory gesture to the new administration in Washington. But Pakistani officials insist it was the product of long internal deliberation  and further proof of a permanent shift from official tolerance for extremists who once served as Pakistans deniable agents in India and Afghanistan.

Pakistan is not merely an aspirant for cooperation with Washington, it is a serious and credible partner, Tariq Fatemi, a senior aide to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said in an interview Friday. He said Sharifs government, with strong support from the army, is determined to clear the country of all militants. We will kill them or drive them out, he said. Any willingness to look the other way is no longer there.

Some analysts said that while Pakistan is concerned about the Trump administration expanding its travel ban or cutting off aid, it also faces other sources of pressure to clamp down on extremists. One is China, Pakistans giant neighbor and major economic partner, which does not want its investments  especially the planned $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC  threatened by violence.

The other is an intergovernmental watchdog agency, the Financial Action Task Force, which monitors money laundering and terrorist financing. The group, which can blacklist countries that dont have enough safeguards in place, has reportedly raised new alarms about gray payments, or money being funneled as charitable donations to or from militant groups in Pakistan, including Saeeds.

There is a lot of speculation about what Trump might do, but I think we are seeing a confluence of other factors, said Amir Rana, director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. The financial issues are the most urgent. The CPEC has injected a lot of hope and optimism into the country, and everyone wants to make sure it succeeds.

Some commentators say that to prove it is serious about curbing Islamist extremism, the government must stop sending mixed signals to groups like Saeeds as well as to hard-line sectarian movements, which are often banned but then allowed to regroup under new names. Saeed once headed a militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, that was accused by India of staging the Mumbai siege. Now he heads two other groups that claim to be charitable and educational, but are also fiercely anti-India.

Fatemi said that the government also intends to counter extremist ideas with persuasion, registering radical seminaries and bringing them into the mainstream through a National Action Plan established by Sharif. We are going to bring about a major shift in the thinking process of people on the fringes, he said.

But that message is not so easy to spread in an impoverished country of 180 million people, about 80 percent of them Muslims. Today, more than 2 million youths are studying in seminaries, and groups like Saeeds enjoy wide popularity. The cause of Kashmiri oppression has been a national rallying cry for decades, and many Pakistanis have been taught to believe that India, Israel and the United States are mortal enemies of Islam.

Among the few Pakistanis who express hope for sympathy from the Trump administration are the relatives of Afridi, who has been in prison for six years on charges of abetting Islamist militants. His family says it believes the real reason was his role in locating bin Laden, by conducting a medical survey in the city where the al-Qaeda leader was found and killed by U.S. Navy Seals.

This week, relatives and attorneys for Afridi said the government had refused to renew identity documents for his family members and had placed their names on a list of Pakistanis who are banned from leaving the country. In an interview, his younger brother, Jamil Afridi, 55, said he hoped the Trump administration would come to the doctors aid.

My brother did nothing wrong. He was a true American hero who helped the United States eliminate the worlds most wanted terrorist, Afridi said. I congratulate President Trump and I am optimistic about him, because he said he would help free my brother once he was elected to office. He is a man of action who does what he says.

Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

Read more:

Pakistani cleric arrested to appease Trump administration, India, supporters say

In Pakistan, five girls were killed for having fun. Then the story took an even darker twist.

Pakistan plans to expel Turkish teachers linked to opposition at home

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
A long-range S-200 missile is fired on Dec. 29, 2016 in a military drill in the port city of Bushehr, Iran. (Amir Kholousi/ISNA via AP)

Iran on Saturday began extensive military exercises in a defiant response to a week of warnings from the Trump administration, including new sanctions, with a senior Iranian military commander calling the actions futile and threatening to rain missiles down on the countrys enemies.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Irans most influential security institution, said it would test missile and radar systems as part of the drill, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

A statement on the IRGC website said that the aim of the exercise was to showcase the power of Irans revolution and to dismiss the sanctions, Reuters reported.

Should the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will rain down on them, IRGC Air Force commander, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

Iran also threatened its own sanctions on unnamed U.S. individuals and companies, saying it would take action against those it deemed to have played a role in generating and supporting extremist terrorist groups. The statement from Irans foreign ministry came a day after the Trump administration announced new sanctions on individuals working on Irans ballistic missile programs, as well as those who have helped the IRGC support U.S.-designated terrorist groups.

Those sanctions were in response to Irans successful testing of a medium-range ballistic missile last week, which the United States says defied a U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

President Trump said that Iran was playing with fire and that Iran had been put on notice for the missile test. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also called Iran the biggest state sponsor of terrorism on Friday.

[Trump administration sanctions Iran over missile test]

At least three types of missiles were scheduled to be tested during the drills in Iran on Saturday, the privately owned Mehr News Agency reported, as well as radar systems and cyberwarfare technology.

The drills capped a week of rising tensions between the United States and Iran, which the Trump administration has also faulted for an attack by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on a Saudi Arabian frigate off the coast of western Yemen.

For nearly two years, the United States has supported a Saudi-led coalition in a devastating war in Yemen that the United Nations says has killed 10,000 civilians.

Experts say the escalation between the United States and Iran probably wont unravel the nuclear deal, a multilateral agreement made to ease sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. The deal was negotiated by China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany.

Trump is unlikely to tear up the deal and shoulder the full wrath of the international community, Cliff Kupchan, chairman of political risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a briefing note.

In addition to the multilateral deal, a follow-up resolution from the U.N. Security Council calls on Iran to refrain from testing ballistic missiles capable of nuclear payloads. But there is disagreement over whether such tests violate the resolution  Iran insists the missile tests are part of its conventional weapons program and do not violate the nuclear agreement.

[ Iran bars U.S. wrestlers from tournament in response to Trumps travel ban]

Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Trump blasted the nuclear deal and vowed to renegotiate the terms.

US-Iran relations will be volatile under the Trump Administration, Kupchan wrote. And Trump will likely implement sanctions more frequently.

Iranian officials reiterated the countrys right to maintain defense capabilities. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that Iran was unmoved by the threats.

We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense, he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that the United States considers Irans testing of a medium-range ballistic missile a violation of a 2015 nuclear deal aimed at curbing Irans nuclear weapons development. U.S. officials said the test defied a U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Read more

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A Washington man accused of being the supplier in a large drug ring that brought an estimated 60 to 65 pounds of meth to the Billings and Belgrade areas admitted federal charges this week.

Juan Ramon Delgadillo-Meza, 41, of Ephrata, Wash., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess meth with intent to distribute and to conspiracy to commit money laundering during a hearing on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan.

In a plea deal filed in the case, Delgadillo-Meza agreed to a $1.3 million money judgment to be paid jointly with his co-defendants. The money represents proceeds of drug conspiracy, the agreement said.

Delgadillo-Meza also agreed not to dispute the forfeiture of a 2010 Dodge Avenger, $52,930 in cash that was seized from a safe deposit box at Western Security Bank in Billings and residential property at 319 S. 30th St. in Billings.

Delgadillo-Meza is the last of four people indicted in the drug case to plead guilty.

Belgrade resident Edward Lee Donnes, 55, who admitted making drug runs to Washington and to stashing meth in his storage shed, was sentenced in January to about 10 years in prison.

Billings resident Noel McDermott Morris, a local dealer, was sentenced in November to more than 12 years in prison for conviction on conspiracy and money laundering counts.

A third co-defendant, Bethany Ann Fairchild, 30, of Libby, pleaded guilty in January to a conspiracy count and is awaiting sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McCarthy said the four conspired to bring large amounts of meth into Montana for redistribution from about 2014 to 2016.

During the investigation, agents with the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the FBI seized more than two pounds of meth that were hidden in a vehicle and also seized about 13 ounces of meth from a storage facility rented by Morris.

Morris initially bought the meth for about $12,500 a pound, but later got the price dropped to about $7,000 a pound, McCarthy said in court records.

The investigation identified Delgadillo-Meza as one of those transporting the meth from Washington and Morris and Donnes as local distributors.

Surveillance by agents showed Delgadillo-Meza on Billings South Side on Aug. 7, 2015 and meeting with Morris and others in a restaurant parking lot. During the meeting, Morris, holding a thick manila envelope in his hand, and another person got into Delgadillo-Mezas vehicle for about a minute, McCarthy said in court records.

When Morris exited the vehicle, he no longer had the envelope, the prosecutor said.

Agents also got information in late October and early November 2015 that Delgadillo-Meza and Morris met in the parking lot of a convenience store in Columbus.

On Nov. 15, 2015, agents surveilling Delgadillo-Meza saw his vehicle traveling back to Billings, and a Montana Highway Patrol officer stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation near Manhattan. Delgadillo-Meza and Fairchild were occupants.

Investigators got a warrant and a search of the vehicle turned up two pounds of meth hidden in the front drivers side fender and about three-quarters of an ounce of meth in various places in the passenger compartment.

A search of Fairchilds phone showed drug-related text messages and that she had accompanied Delgadillo-Meza on trips to Montana.

And in January 2016, agents executed a search warrant at Morris home and a storage facility he had rented and seized about 13 ounces of meth from the storage unit.

Delgadillo-Meza faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison and up to a $10 million fine on the drug count.

Cavan recommended that Delgadillo-Mezas plea be accepted by U.S. District Judge Susan Watters, who will set a sentencing date. Delgadillo-Meza remains in custody.
President Trump arrives at Dover Air Force Base aboard Marine One to pay his respects to a Navy SEAL killed during a raid on the al-Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen in January. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

A U.S. commando raid in Yemen that set off a fierce firefight revealed the growing strength of an al-Qaeda affiliate that has targeted both the United States and Europe in recent years.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the branch is known, had collected enough intelligence to anticipate the raid last weekend, Yemeni officials and analysts said. The militants also had the firepower to counterattack from their bastion, which was surrounded by land mines and other traps.

By the end of the raid, a Navy SEAL was dead and three other American troops were wounded. Yemeni officials said that as many as 30 civilians, including 10 women and children, were also killed. Among them was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni American al-Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

The Pentagon initially said it could not confirm reports of civilian casualties, but it acknowledged Wednesday that civilians were likely killed in the raid, which took place in remote Bayda province.

The raid and civilian casualties have triggered widespread anger across Yemen toward Washington, adding to tensions over President Trumps travel ban on citizens of Yemen and six other majority-Muslim countries. Yemenis have posted photos on social media of children purportedly killed in the attack.

A man reads a story about the recent U.S. raid in central Yemen, at a cafe in Sanaa, the capital, on Jan. 30, 2017. (Yahya Arhab/European Pressphoto Agency)

[U.S. acknowledges civilian deaths in Trump-authorized Yemen raid]

In the capital, Sanaa, where anti-American slogans are scrawled on billboards and walls across the city, the raid appeared to unify Yemenis, a rare occurrence these days in the fractured country.

What happened caused more anger and hatred toward America, said Bassam Mahmoud, 40, a government employee. America has no right to carry out any military action in our country. This a serious violation for our countrys sovereignty and is totally unacceptable.

On Thursday, the watchdog group Amnesty International called for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to launch an investigation into the civilian deaths, and, if appropriate, prosecute those responsible.

The raid was the first counterterrorism operation greenlighted by Trump, and he hailed it as a success. But regional analysts say it could help AQAP gain sympathy and support from local populations.

The use of U.S. troops and the high number of civilian casualties . . . are deeply inflammatory, April Longley Alley, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, wrote on its website this week, and breed anti-American resentment across the Yemeni political spectrum that works to the advantage of AQAP.

The militant group, which U.S. officials consider al-Qaedas most dangerous branch, seized large swaths of southern Yemen after the 2011 Arab Spring revolts that toppled longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. Now, with Yemen gripped by a two-year-old civil war, AQAP has expanded its reach even more, gaining territory and recruits and deepening its influence and networks among local tribes.





Al-Qaeda in Yemen is stronger than it has ever been, the International Crisis Group said, adding that the militants are thriving in an environment of state collapse, growing sectarianism, shifting alliances, security vacuums and a burgeoning war economy.

[Ousted after the Arab Spring, a former dictator is back]

AQAP was behind some of the most audacious assaults against the West in recent years, including a failed attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. It also asserted responsibility for the deadly 2015 shootings at the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Also of concern is an emerging Islamic State affiliate that has staged numerous suicide bombings against Yemeni military and government officials in the south, especially in the port city of Aden.

Together, the groups emerged arguably as the biggest winners of the failed political transition and civil war that followed, the report said.

The ill-fated raid was an indicator of how much the political fallout from the Arab revolts has weakened U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. As the nation slid toward civil war, Washington scaled back on counterterrorism training, intelligence-gathering and advising of Yemeni forces. The conflict pits an alliance of northern rebels known as Houthis and Saleh loyalists against forces nominally loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is leading a government in exile. The United States, along with a regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, is seeking to restore Hadi to power.

Today, a small contingent of U.S. Special Operations forces is helping Hadis government and regional units combat AQAP and the Islamic State.

U.S. counterterrorism efforts during the Obama administration mostly involved drone strikes targeting the radical groups. Many AQAP leaders and operatives were killed, but the overall strategy did little to neutralize the radical groups.

Analysts say it is unclear what broader strategy the Trump administration will employ, but that it appears he might also heavily rely on drones and special operations.

Yet drone attacks have shown limited effectiveness and a propensity to backfire politically when they cause high civilian casualties, Alley said, adding that the strikes have failed to stop AQAPs rapid growth  in large part because the opportunities provided by the war outstrip its losses.

[White House says Yemen raid was long planned. Not true, say officials who served Obama.]

AQAP has forged alliances with influential Sunni groups and tribes, often with cash payments. It earns revenue from smuggling goods into Yemen, where an air, sea and land blockade is being enforced by the Saudi-led coalition. In particular, the militants are covertly embedded into local community and within militias battling the Houthis and their allies.

To prevent alienating people, the group has stopped enforcing its rigid Islamic codes in some areas, wrote Michael Horton, a Yemen analyst, in last months issue of CTC Sentinel, a magazine published by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy.

Horton, who described AQAP as better funded and armed than at any point in its history, said the group is bolstering its intelligence and counterintelligence cells, while creating a network of informants and sympathizers, even in areas were the group no longer rules.

In Bayda, where the U.S. raid unfolded, AQAP exploited tribal rivalries, leveraging its access to arms, funds, and the military acumen of some of its ranking members in exchange for safe havens, according to Horton.

But many of the tribesmen were probably supporting AQAP because of its fight against the Houthis and Saleh loyalists and not because it has targeted the West.

In fact, the United States is providing weapons, intelligence and other support to those fighting the Houthis and Saleh. But even U.S. allies condemned the raid, which left as many as 13 militants dead, including an AQAP leader named Abdulraoof Aldahab.

Killing outside the law and killing civilians is a condemned act and supports terrorism, Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi, the foreign minister in Hadis government, said in a recent tweet.

Ali Al-Mujahed in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.

Read more:

In Yemeni capital, signs of hatred toward Americans are everywhere

Life and death in Yemens hospitals

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A federal judge in Washington state on Friday temporarily blocked enforcement of President Trumps controversial ban on entry to the United States, and airlines planned to begin allowing passengers from banned countries to board, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Following the ruling, government authorities immediately began communicating with airlines and taking steps that would allow travel by those previously barred from doing so, according to a U.S. official. At the same time, though, the White House said in a statement that the Justice Department would at the earliest possible time file for an emergency stay of the outrageous ruling from the judge. Minutes later, it issued a similar statement omitting the word outrageous.

The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people, the White House said.

The president, however, was less cordial on Twitter.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump posted in a Saturday morning tweet.

He also claimed that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban.

They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction! he posted.

The federal judges ruling, which was broader than similar ones before it, set up a high-stakes legal confrontation between the new president and the judicial branch over his temporary ban on entry by citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries as well as refugees. In his opinion, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart wrote that fundamental to the courts work was a vigilant recognition that it is but one of three equal branches of our federal government.

The court concludes that the circumstances brought before it today are such that it must intervene to fulfill its constitutional role in our tripart government, he wrote.

The ruling is temporary, and the ultimate question of whether Trumps executive order will pass constitutional muster will fall to higher-level courts. Legal analysts have said the ban could be difficult to permanently undo because the president has broad authority to set immigration policy.

Robart granted a request from lawyers for the state of Washington who had asked him to stop the government from acting on critical sections of Trumps order. Justice and State department officials had revealed earlier Friday that about 60,000  and possibly as many as 100,000  visas already have been provisionally revoked as a result of Trumps order. A U.S. official said that because of the court case, officials would examine the revoking of those visas so that people would be allowed to travel.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hailed the case as the first of its kind and declared that it shuts down the executive order immediately. Robart, a judge appointed by George W. Bush, said in his written order that U.S. officials should stop enforcing the key aspects of the ban: the halting of entry by refugees and citizens from certain countries. He did not specifically address the matter of those whose visas already had been revoked.

The Justice Department said in a statement that it was reviewing the courts order and will determine next steps. A State Department official said the agency was working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations.

We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available, the official said.

Immigration lawyers said Friday night that they were still assessing the Washington case but were heartened by it.

The order makes it clear that all of the main provisions of the executive order cannot be enforced at this time, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Immigrants Rights Project. That means that a lot will have to change immediately, and the government will have to make clear how they intend to follow the order with respect to all of the ways in which immigrants here and abroad are being affected at the moment.

Since it was first rolled out a week ago, Trumps travel ban has been evolving  both because of legal challenges and as a result of decisions by the administration to walk back aspects of it. Green-card holders from the affected countries, for example, no longer need waivers to get into the United States, as they did when the order took effect. And the Department of Homeland Security asserted Friday that the order does not apply to dual citizens with passports from countries other than the seven listed.

[Has your visa been affected by Trumps travel ban? Tell us about it.]

The numbers of visas revoked, too, demonstrated the far-reaching impact of the order. Families have been split, students unable to pursue their education, and those in the United States unable to leave for fear of not being able to return  and not by the handful, but by the tens of thousands.

During a hearing in a lawsuit by two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles International Airport last Saturday and were quickly put on a return flight to Ethiopia because of the new restrictions, a Justice Department lawyer said 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The figure, though, was immediately disputed by the State Department, which said the number of visas revoked was roughly 60,000. A spokeswoman said earlier Friday the revocations have no impact on the legal status of people already in the United States, but if those people left the country, their visas would no longer be valid.

About the same time, in Boston, a group of four students enrolled in area colleges, a researcher and the spouse of a permanent resident  all of whom came from countries affected by the ban  flew into the United States.

The group that entered was aboard the same flight from Frankfurt operated by the German airline Lufthansa, which a day earlier had noted on its website a court decision from last weekend that it claimed had suspended Trumps decree on flights to Boston. Lawyers hailed the development as good news.

Weve got six more today than we had yesterday, said Susan Church, an attorney for the American Immigration Lawyers Association of New England.

[No matter what you call it, Trumps executive order on immigration will be tough to overturn]

Among those who made their way back to the United States were two undergraduate Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who had been visiting their families for winter break; as well as 27-year-old Behnam Partopour, a PhD student from Iran studying chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute who had been working on a project in Germany; and Samira Asgari, an Iranian scientist who was headed to Boston to conduct research at Brigham and Womens Hospital.

Colleen Wamback of Worcester Polytechnic Institute said Partopour had a student visa which was issued before the executive order but was delayed in getting to him. Asgari, on the other hand, had tried twice to board flights to the United States but was turned away because of the ban. She had filed a lawsuit over the matter.

Washington and Minnesota had filed a broad legal challenge to Trumps order, alleging it was separating families, harming thousands of the States residents, damaging the States economies, hurting State-based companies, and undermining both States sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees. Jeffrey P. Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post and a Washington state resident, has spoken out against the ban.

In the past several days, federal judges in New York, California, Massachusetts and Virginia have issued rulings temporarily blocking aspects of the Trump order  though the orders all seemed to be limited to people who had made their way to U.S. airports, or, in Virginias case, to certain people.

The New York and Massachusetts rulings both blocked the government from detaining or deporting anyone from the seven affected countries who could legally enter the U.S., and the Massachusetts ruling added the critical phrase absent the executive order. In California, a judge declared that U.S. officials were also prevented from blocking people from entering who had a valid visa.

Doug Struck, Rachel Weiner, Ann Marimow, Abigail Hauslohner and Sari Horwitz contributed to this report.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Trump this month, settlements will be on the agenda, the White House said Friday. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)

The Trump administration is shaping its policy toward Israel and a potential peace settlement with the Palestinians in ways that may seem surprising for a president who had appeared to offer the government in Jerusalem a blank check on the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and other issues.

The outlines of the policy emerged Friday after a conflicting series of statements attributed to the administration.

On Thursday evening, the White House issued an unusual statement discouraging new Israeli settlements in the West Bank. That was prompted by a Jerusalem Post story that appeared to be based on the leak of parts of a harsher, draft statement criticizing settlements as an obstacle to peace. The subsequent official statement was an attempt to soften any blanket condemnation of settlements and any perceived criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, people familiar with the episode said Friday.

The official statement, rushed as it was, is nonetheless expected to be the foundation for Trump administration policy on Israeli homebuilding on land that Palestinians claim for a future state. It puts the United States on record agreeing with Israeli leaders that current settlements are not necessarily an obstacle to peace, but it also says that new construction may not be helpful.

There was no mention of the long-stated U.S. goal of a separate Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The settlement policy  more lenient toward Israel than the Obama administrations, but not as lenient as sought by many of Israels strongest backers  is expected to be formalized when Netanyahu visits President Trump at the White House on Feb. 15.

The presidents committed to peace. Thats his goal, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday, adding that settlements would obviously be a topic for the two leaders. We dont believe that the existence of current settlements is an impediment to peace, but I think the construction or expansion of existing settlements beyond the current borders is not going to be helpful moving forward.

Thats not what the original, leaked version of a U.S. statement about settlement expansion had said. Drafted in response to Israels surprise announcement of 5,500 new homes for Jews in the West Bank over the last week, the remarks originally charged that settlements could hamper peace efforts, according to people who saw its contents or were briefed on them.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the statement was drafted.

The Jerusalem Post quoted an unidentified administration official Thursday as saying settlements could undermine U.S. chances to foster peace. The official was also quoted as saying that Trump is committed to two states.

The article set off a scramble to issue revised language that softened the rebuke and removed the reference to two states, while making clear that the United States will not countenance everything Israel does.

The result may be helpful to Netanyahu in two ways, U.S. and Israeli officials and analysts said. It lifts U.S. pressure against current settlements, which previous administrations have called illegitimate and a hindrance to peace, while giving him political cover against critics on his right who want to greatly expand building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

It also suggests more continuity with past policy than many foreign policy analysts had expected, given Trumps fierce condemnation of the Obama administration for being unfair to Israel, and the strong views of close advisers shaping his Israel policy.

This statement is important in that it seeks to eliminate tension created by the last administration over growth within existing Israeli communities in the West Bank, and it signals a return to the status quo ante of U.S. opposition to settlement expansion, said Joshua Block, president of the Israel Project in Washington.

Block likened the statement to the much more detailed written understandings between former president George W. Bush and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in which the United States gave quiet assurance that it would recognize existing settlement blocks as part of Israel in a future peace accord. The Bush policy allowed for growth within settlements but not for expanding their perimeters or the building of new communities.

Settlements are usually considered one of the primary obstacles to a peace settlement, because Palestinians consider them an illegal expropriation and their existence complicates the drawing of viable borders for a Palestinian state.

As a candidate, Trump said Israel should go ahead with settlements, and as president-elect, he railed against the Obama administration for allowing a U.N. condemnation of Israel over settlements.

As president, Trump has mentioned the prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Trump has said that he plans to deploy his son-in-law, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, to the role of Middle East peacemaker.

Prime Minister Netanyahu looks forward to his meeting with President Trump on February 15 in which they will speak about a wide range of issues, including this one, Netanyahus office said of the White House statement.

If you dissect the wording it seems a slight departure, said Alon Pinkas, a former senior Israeli diplomat and top government aide. At the same time, the right wing in Israel didnt expect this and was blindsided.

The administration statement followed extensive conversations here this week between visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan and the White House. Abdullah, who spoke briefly to Trump at Thursdays National Prayer Breakfast, met with Vice President Pence, national security adviser Michael Flynn and other White House officials, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and senior lawmakers with whom he maintains a close relationship.

Jordan is among the few Arab countries considered stable and trustworthy by the administration. Its geography, bordering Israel, the West Bank, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, also makes it a key player on a range of issues, from the anti-Islamic State campaign to the migrant crisis that has brought more than 650,000 Syrian refugees to Jordan and an additional 85,000 on the Syrian side of the border waiting to get in.

A White House statement on the meeting with Trump said that the president underscored that the United States is committed to strengthening the security and economic partnership with Jordan and that they discussed an official visit in the near future.

Anxious to get a reading on where the new administration stood on a number of issues, Abdullah cautioned in particular that the promised movement of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would have cascading, negative consequences. More than 2 million Palestinians live in Jordan, about one-third of the population. Any upheaval in the West Bank would have immediate spillover effects.

Despite his campaign statements that it would take place immediately after his inauguration, Trump appears to have dialed back his commitment to moving the embassy. While the Jerusalem Embassy Act passed in 1995 calls for relocating the mission to Jerusalem, the law included a national security waiver that every administration since has exercised. The current waiver, signed by President Obama in December, expires in June. Regional partners who have spoken to Trump administration officials about it believe the White House intends to delay a final decision until forced to do so when Trump would need to sign another waiver or take steps to implement the law.

In Israel, there was head-scratching and instant punditry about what exactly the Trump administration may be saying with its statement.

Israels ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told Israel Radio, Its still too early to tell. I would not categorize this as a U-turn by the U.S. administration, but the issue is clearly on their agenda.

Danon added, We dont always agree on everything.

The White House statement came just a few hours after Israeli police forcibly evicted 40 families from the Jewish settlement of Amona, a messianic community of battered mobile homes on a windy hilltop built on land privately owned by Palestinians that the Israeli Supreme Court branded as illegal.

The eviction of the 600 settlers and hundreds of supporters on Wednesday and Thursday required more than 3,000 police officers. The most committed youth hurled excrement, bleach and rocks at the police. Dozens were injured. The young activists, goaded by zealous rabbis from West Bank religious schools, chained themselves together in Amonas synagogue for a final standoff, which ended only a few hours before the White House statement.

As the Amona evictions began, Netanyahu and his defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who resides in a settlement, had announced the plans to build the 5,500 houses for Jews in the West Bank.

A week ago, Netanyahu assured his Likud party and his security cabinet that when he travels to Washington, he will not yield to pressure to give the Palestinians a full state, but something he called a state-minus.

William Booth in Jerusalem and Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday that the threat from Irans missile program does not currently require the realignment of U.S. forces in the Middle East, striking a note of restraint shortly after the White House issued a strong warning to Tehran.

Mattis, on a three-day visit to South Korea and Japan, echoed statements from the White House identifying Iran as a chief danger to U.S. security after a recent ballistic missile test.

On Thursday, Michael Flynn, President Trumps national security adviser, told reporters that the new administration was officially putting Iran on notice. He provided no details on what that may mean.

But Mattis, a former commander of U.S. operations in the Middle East and a hawk on Iran, said the United States did not need to add military assets, potentially including additional troops or an aircraft carrier, to the region.

Mattis inaugural overseas trip is aimed at reassuring Asian allies concerned by Trumps questioning of longstanding U.S. security alliances.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Mattis called Iran the worlds single biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

I think its wise to make certain that Iran recognizes that what it is doing is getting the attention of a lot of people, he said. It does no good to ignore; it does no good to dismiss it, and at the same time, I dont see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time.

Mattis comments raise additional questions about whether Trumps new national security team can come together on major issues facing the United States.

The retired Marine general gave a similar answer to a question about the South China Sea, where Beijing is seeking to assert control over areas claimed by other Asian nations. China has launched a major campaign of building up artificial islands and has installed equipment that analysts believe is military in nature.

Trumps new secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said during his confirmation hearing that the United States should block Chinas access to those areas. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has also made similar remarks.

Speaking to reporters at the Japanese Defense Ministry, Mattis said that military action was not now needed to counter Chinas actions.

What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try to resolve this properly, maintain open lines of communication, he said. Certainly our military stance should be one hat reinforces our diplomats in this regard. But there is no need right now, at this time, for military maneuvers or something like that that would solve something thats best solved by the diplomats.

Mattis did say that freedom of navigation remained a core principle for the U.S. military and said U.S. ships would continue to transit international waters.

Read more:

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Majid Tawouz and his five children have refugee status. They were prepared to emigrate from a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey to the United States until President Trumps refugee travel ban went into effect. (Louisa Loveluck/The Washington Post)

Last month, the Tawouz family were told a new life in the United States was just days away. Last week, they learned they were no longer welcome. And by Saturday, they had no idea what to believe.

Four years after they fled the bombs of Aleppo, Syria, despair turned to joy as they heard that a federal judge had blocked enforcement of President Trumps controversial entry ban on refugees and nationals of seven majority-Muslim nations, their family among them.

But as the day wore on, the clouds of uncertainty crept back.

Weve been hopeful, weve been devastated. Now we just dont know, said Majid Tawouz, a father of five, reached by phone in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

Tawouz and his five children are among the thousands left in limbo after a Jan. 27 executive order barred nationals from the seven countries from entering the United States, suggesting they could be a threat to national security. The order also explicitly banned Syrian refugees indefinitely.

The news Friday that U.S. District Judge James L. Robart had temporarily blocked that order has left the refugees in a bind: Hope too much and risk devastation when resettlement is blocked again; dont hope at all and risk giving up altogether.

[Travelers rush from banned countries: No one knows how long the window will last]

Their bags had been packed and were nearly bursting on the morning in late January when they learned they would not need them. The official who called said that he was sorry and that he was just doing his job. He just kept apologizing and saying these were orders from above, Tawouz said.

I asked them how I could explain this to my daughter. We had told her a plane would take her to a place she could get treatment, he said.

For Wajeeha, 11, the suspension meant an indefinite wait for hormone treatment that the family cannot afford in Turkey, leaving her in pain and unable to grow. For her younger brother, it meant longer until a doctor can explain why his bones have grown curved.

Syrias almost six-year-long crisis has pushed at least 4.5 million refugees into Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. With limited rights to work and education, many now struggle badly to make ends meet.

The United States had resettled more than 15,000 Syrians, most arriving within the past year. Although the State Department said it did not publicly disclose figures for the number of Syrian families affected by the suspension, aid officials suggested it was in the thousands. According to the United Nations refugee agency, more than 800  of all nationalities  had been set to make the United States their home this past week alone.

The program focused on resettling those requiring urgent medical or psychological treatment, and households headed by vulnerable women.

[Trumps executive order barred Iranian baby in need of heart surgery]

Now stuck in limbo, Syrian families interviewed last week spoke of heartbreak, exhaustion and fear.

In Jordan, Mohammed Hassoun, tortured for six months in Syrian President Bashar al-Assads prison network, described the suspension as a dagger to his dreams. In Lebanon, a young woman  speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear for the safety of her husband, still in the notorious Damascus jail from which she had been freed  said that she had spent the week mired in depression. You cannot understand the haze that I feel. I lost my husband, then I lost my future, she said.

But for Trump supporters, the ban represented a promise kept. During campaign rallies, he repeatedly claimed that Islamist militants were posing as refugees to enter and attack U.S. cities  a claim yet to be proved. That logic was echoed in Trumps executive order, which said the president himself would be the judge of whether sufficient changes had been made to the vetting process.

Current and former officials involved in the 21-stage admissions process for Syrian refugees said it was unclear what further checks could be introduced to improve the system.

This is a process that was already adapting. Over the years we brought on more and more steps as the situation evolved, said Natasha Hall, a former immigration officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Turkey. These included new questions, additional layers of vetting, formal training to help interviewers identify a variety of potential red flags, and introducing new questions.

An aid official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivities surrounding the suspension, said last week that U.N. officials would probably be expected to sort through already-vetted case files to identify the most vulnerable families for referral to another nations resettlement program. In other words, Hall said, strains on an already deeply strained system.

[After four years and Trumps travel ban, a child meets her family]

In Ankara, the Tawouz family waited anxiously for news late Saturday in their extended familys cramped apartment.

We left Syria so our children would have a future, and after everything we went through, we thought we had finally got it, Majid Tawouz said. They thought theyd get treated and go to school again.

Moments later, Wajeehas small voice echoed down the phone line. I was so excited, but now I just feel sad, she said. Baba told me there arent planes for people like us anymore. Why dont they want us?

Zakaria Zakaria reported from Istanbul. Taylor Luck in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Read more:

Amid Kabul winter, Afghan war refugees shiver in frigid informal settlements

Refugees are already vigorously vetted. I know because I vetted them.

A former refugees moving photos of crisis he knows so well

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Top Democrats have thrown their support behind new sanctions announced by US President Donald Trump against Iran, part of an aggressive foreign policy shift of the incoming administration.

The sanctions were formally announced on Friday by the US Treasury Department, nominally in response to Irans launching of a missile last weekend and its alleged support for Houthi forces targeted by the US-backed Saudi bombardment of Yemen. The sanctions target 13 individuals and 12 companies that have ties to Iran, including one Chinese national.

Fridays actions are more significant for what they indicate about the direction of the Trump administrations policy toward Iran than for their immediate impact. They came two days after an extraordinary press briefing in which National Security Adviser Michael Flynn declared that Iran was being put on notice, and that the US would retaliate in some way, including possible military action.

The announcement of the new sanctions was followed by a statement from Flynn on Friday, declaring that the international community has been too tolerant of Irans bad behavior and that the days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over.

The US president responded with a Tweet on Friday: Iran is playing with fireThey dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me! The administration is reportedly carrying out a strategic review of Iran policy, and one top administration official said that the sanctions were just initial steps.

At a briefing on Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked whether military options against Iran were still on the table and whether there are more actions coming. Spicer replied, I would never rule anything off the table. I think the president has made it clear throughout his time that thats whats going to happen.

While there are divisions within the American ruling class over whether to continue with the 2015 nuclear agreement backed by the Obama administration, there is broad support from both Democrats and Republicans for a harsher line against Iran, which is seen as a principal regional threat to US imperialist interests in the Middle East.

In advance of Fridays formal announcement, a bipartisan group of 22 senators, including Tim Kaine, Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clintons running mate, sent a letter to Trump backing the new sanctions. Eight of the signatories, including Kaine, had supported the nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump has pledged to scrap.

The letter states that the senators are concerned by reports of a ballistic missile test, which would violate both the letter and the spirit of its obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

UN Resolution 2231 endorsed the nuclear deal agreed by Iran and the US, along with other major imperialist powers. Iran has said that the missile tested was not nuclear-capable and is not covered by the resolution, and that the test was instead a response to the militarization of other countries in the region.

Full enforcement of existing sanctions and the imposition of additional sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missiles program are necessary, the letter states.

The letter was spearheaded by Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Ben Cardin, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively. Among the Democrats endorsing the letter was Chris Coons from Delaware. Coons said in an interview with the Weekly Standard earlier in the week that Irans actions are a grave threat to our vital ally Israel, and to our troops in the region, and if they continue along the path of developing better and better ballistic missiles, its ultimately a threat to Europe and the rest of the world.

The involvement of Kaine in endorsing the sanctions underscores the central focus of the criticisms of Trump from Democrats and the campaign of Hillary ClintonUS foreign policy. While Democrats have raised concerns that the Trump administration will be too soft on Russia, there is agreement on taking more aggressive measures against Iran, either within or outside the framework of the nuclear agreement.

The response of Democrats and the Democratic Party-aligned media to the extraordinary statements from Flynnan open threat of war against Iranhas been either muted or broadly supportive.

In an editorial published on Friday, the New York Times called Flynns statements dangerously provocative, but added that the Trump administration was right to highlight Irans troubling behavior  as well as Irans expanding influence in Iraq. The newspaper added, Israel and Americas Sunni Arab allies are also alarmed about Irans aggressive moves and consider the country their chief adversary.

The Times said nothing about the fact that Israel has interpreted the election of Trump to be a green light to aggressively militarize and expand illegal settlements in Palestinian territory. It also did not note that Saudi Arabia, armed and funded by the United States, is waging a bloody war in Yemen that has killed more than 10,000 people.

The real concerns of both Democrats and Republicans were outlined in a report by Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which has close ties to the US military and intelligence apparatus. Iran remains the major threat to US strategic interests in the Gulf and the Middle East, Cordesman wrote last month. He added that General James Mattis, Trumps new secretary of defense, has been all too correct in singling out Iran as such a threat.

Irans development of non-nuclear missiles, Cordesman warned, could allow it to target critical petroleum, desalination, power, and military facilities in the Gulf, and even Israel and Egypt. Cordesman also expressed concern that Iran was building up its political influence in Iraq.

The initial actions of the Trump administration make clear that the US is preparing a major escalation of military aggression in Central Asia and the Middle East. Fifteen years of the war on terror under Bush and Obamaincluding the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the bombing of Libya, the US-backed civil war in Syria, and the Saudi bombardment of Yemenhave killed over one million people.

American imperialism, however, has failed to secure its aim of establishing unrivaled domination over the oil-rich region. Now, under Trump, a new and even bloodier chapter is opening.
Photo: Facebook

Roger Logan complained to doctors for 15 years that something was wrong regarding his weight gain. They responded that he was just fat. In reality, Logan had a benign tumor growing inside him for more than a decade.

Dr. Vipul Dev was the only one to properly diagnose Logans condition and treat it with surgery. The 57-year-old Logan had the 130-pound growth removed this week. We are very fortunate that we can do this surgery with little to no complications, Dev told KERO.

The tumor, likely caused by an ingrown hair, was attached to Logans abdomen. Its heavy weight left him confined for years to a reclining chair. Logan described living with the tumor as being like carrying three bags of cement around you all day long, just swinging.

Logan, who is from Gulfport, Miss., flew to California especially to benefit from Devs expertise.

Logan is optimistic about his recovery and shares regular updates through his Facebook page. In one photo he holds up a newspaper article about his surgery, a slight smile on his face. In a video he jokes with a nurse about giving her his autograph.

The largest tumor ever removed from a human being weighed 242 pounds and belonged to Yang Jianbin of Beijing, China. In 2014 Jianbin checked into a Beijing hospital with the massive growth coming out of his back. We have seen neurofibromatosis patients before, but this is the biggest nerve tumor we ever saw, said chief surgeon Chen Minliang.

The surgery to remove Jianbins tumor took 16 hours and required transfusing five liters of blood, more than the amount contained in an average person.

Related: Can Tom Bradys Unique Diet Win Him Yet Another Super Bowl?

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Shes the daughter of one of the most famous political families in America and shes been in the public eye for more than 25 years now. But former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton has always been known for playing it safe  for being in politics at her parents side, but always careful to keep her soundbites bland and not make waves. Until now.

Clinton, 36, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Democratic presidential nominee and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has become more and more outspoken against President Donald Trump and his team in recent days, hitting her mothers 2016 rival where it hurts  on Twitter.

Her tweets  including a particularly biting one from Friday in which she criticized Trump adviser Kellyanne Conways Bowling Green massacre gaffe  show a politically proactive side of Clinton that weve rarely seen in the past, and news outlets like The Washington Post are taking note of the striking change in tone.

Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please don't make up attacks.  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 3, 2017

And Conways fiery response Friday afternoon could signify the start of Clintons first political Twitter feud.

Bosnia lie a Great reminder. And 2 @ChelseaClinton & others, you can't "invent" quality candidates either. I misspoke; you lost the election https://t.co/7TwnX2b5yA  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) February 3, 2017

Below are some of Clintons other politically charged posts from the past week.

Anyone taking him seriously. https://t.co/OxA461M47O  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 3, 2017

That includes

-LPRs

-Student visa holders

-Work visa holders

-immigrant visa holders

-accompanying fam/spouse visashttps://t.co/0SIFBaIRWT  Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) February 3, 2017

But not hilarious https://t.co/RM0nQgdxCT  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 3, 2017

Because white supremacists & non-Muslim lone wolves less of a threat now? What evidence do we have that? Certainly not recent tragic history https://t.co/fvMrDmb9Vc  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 2, 2017

Not to be forgotten: https://t.co/7DtPaYEkar  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 1, 2017

Horrifying. We are better than this https://t.co/EuAlLVfH0e  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 31, 2017

Yes. We will keep standing up for a country that matches our values and ideals for all. pic.twitter.com/yfVlX5sL3f  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 29, 2017

Clintons recent tweets on the Womens March on Washington, Trumps travel ban and his National Prayer Breakfast speech quickly joined the ranks of her most-retweeted posts, the Post noted, citing favstar. By contrast, the majority of her other most-circulated tweets were past posts on the births of her two children, her mothers presidential campaign, and the Obamas.

RELATED VIDEO: Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack

The targeted tweet storm comes after a November report from the New York Post that Clinton was being groomed to run for Congress, specifically for the New York seat held by 79-year-old Rep. Nita Lowey. Her parents Chappaqua home is in the district and they recently purchased the house next door.

It remains to be seen whether Clinton will carry on the family dynasty. Until then, weve got our eyes on her Twitter.




Winners were announced on Feb. 2 for the first innovateAfrica Fund, a $1 million initiative to support digital innovations and leapfrog technologies in newsrooms across Africa.

The first edition selected 22 projects out of more than 700 submissions from across the continent. The winners will receive grants ranging from $12,500 to $100,000, as well as support and mentorship from tech labs across Africa and media experts from around the globe.

The proposals collectively highlighted the innovative ways in which emerging technologies are helping to transform African news media as it performs its vital role as civic watchdog.

There was a lot of focus on empowering journalists and newsrooms to be better at their jobs, says Justin Arenstein of Code for Africa, an umbrella federation of civic technology and data journalism labs across the continent, which manages the fund.

Collectively, the projects reflected a conscious effort, he says, to help newsrooms improve and strengthen the way they actually produce the news  gather it, craft it into a narrative, and then check that before it goes out publicly.

The team behind innovateAfrica also runs a $500,000 companion fund, impactAfrica, which launched in February 2016 and offers grants of up to $20,000 for journalists utilizing pioneering digital reporting methods in their work. Both are part of the International Center for Journalists wider data journalism initiative in Africa.

innovateAfricas partners include the Omidyar Network, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the CFI, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Media Development Investment Fund, the Global Editors Network, and the World Bank.

As the new digital economy transforms newsrooms around the world, African media companies face distinct challenges. Along with the universal question of how to monetize social-media clicks and shares and offset declining advertising spend, Arenstein notes they often struggle to find and engage their audiences, and frequently lack adequate technological tools for data gathering and analysis.

Story continues

While digital innovations can help address those challenges, Arenstein says that in a corporate environment subject to market pressures, risk isnt necessarily rewarded, making the support of innovateAfrica all the more important.

We celebrate failures, he says, while noting that he often tells media partners, You can and you should fail, because were going to learn from the failures.

While submissions came from 49 African nations, a number of common themes emerged. InfoFinder, by AfricaCheck (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal), and Overlay, by Paul Watson (pan-Africa), were among the projects looking to combat the challenge of fake news in Africa, where traditional, factual, evidence-driven reporting isnt always the norm, according to Arenstein.

New technologies like drones, sensors, and satellites were singled out in winners such as africanDRONE, by WeRobotics and UnequalScenes (pan-Africa), and Frontline, by African Defence Review (South Africa), as a way to produce real-time reporting in hard-to-reach places.

AfriBOT, by the European Journalism Centre and The Source (Namibia, Zimbabwe), and NewsBot, by Atchai, Star and Punch (Kenya, Nigeria), were among the proposals that utilized bots to better gather and analyze data, or explored how chatbots can help deliver news through smartphone apps like WeChat and WhatsApp  a way to reach mass audiences and help turn news into more of a conversation that can be personalized by the recipient, says Arenstein.

Together the winning projects paint a portrait of a rapidly evolving media landscape.

When we first ventured into this in 2012, there was no pan-African data journalism community or ecosystem, says Arenstein, pointing to a continent-wide network of some 35,000 members across groups like Code for Africa and Hacks/Hackers Africa.

He adds, Its the industry itself thats now setting the pace.




Lionsgate

Its not overstating things to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Donald Trump are in a proper feud at this point in the week. Not just a feud either, the type of feud where one person won prom queen even though the other person didnt even want it and now theyre both focusing on how many votes the winning margin was and all of the small details wrong with each others corsage and dress combinations. The last couple of days alone have seen Arnold tweeting about Donald not releasing his taxes

the two trading insults during and after the National Prayer Breakfast, and more tweets about the ratings for Arnolds rebooted version of The Apprentice.



Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got "swamped" (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

Please study this quote from Lincoln's inaugural, @realDonaldTrump. It inspired me every day I was Governor, and I hope it inspires you. pic.twitter.com/QRoOFTZfQ9  Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 6, 2017

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you'll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.  Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 6, 2017

Its absolute absurdity at this point, but things are somehow continuing to escalate and the latest quotes from Schwarzenegger might be what finally puts Trump over the edge if he isnt there already.

In an interview with Mens Journal, Arnold reveals that he once considered flying all the way from California to New York to smash Trumps face into a table after the President tweeted disparagingly about the former California Governors opening night Apprentice ratings. Apparently, the once and future actor was almost ready to go through with the plan before reconsidering.

I said, Lets sit on it for an hour. I called my assistant and said, I think what we really should do is request a meeting and go back to New York.  He pauses for maximum impact. And then we just smash his face into the table.



Of course, logic and decency won out on Arnolds side of things and he just tweeted a reply to the dig instead. It might be a good thing that the stronger, braver, and more intimidating person in this feud is the one with more self control otherwise there would be a lot of face-smashing-middle-of-the-night-spontaneous-flights from LAX to JFK.

(via >Mens Journal)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- About 140 Somali refugees whose resettlement in the United States this week was stopped by President Donald Trump's executive order have been sent back to their refugee camp instead, one of the refugees said Saturday.

It was not clear why they were returned a day after a U.S. court order blocked Trump's ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Somalia. Officials with the International Organization for Migration, which runs the transit center in Nairobi where the refugees had been waiting for their flights to the U.S., could not be reached for comment.

"How would you feel? One day you are telling friends bye, wishing them well, and the next you are back where you started," 28-year-old Nadir Hassan told The Associated Press by phone from the camp. "My home for 27 years was a refugee camp. I was hoping to start a new life in the U.S., get an education, a job, a life. We feel bad."

He had been on a waiting list to leave for about a decade, he said.

The fate of the Somali refugees is especially uncertain because Kenya's government has vowed to close their Dadaab camp, the world's largest, by the end of May, citing security concerns. Kenyan officials say the refugees will be returned to neighboring Somalia, where the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group continues to carry out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere.

The Kenyan government says al-Shabab uses Dadaab as a recruiting and training ground for extremists who attack Kenya, but it has not presented any proof.

Human rights groups have protested Kenya's plans to close Dadaab, saying some of the more than 250,000 refugees there have reported being pressured to leave the camp and that Somalia remains too unstable for people to return home. Refugees who have heeded Kenya's call to voluntarily leave have said they felt betrayed because assurances of safety and support went unfulfilled in Somalia.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, Yvonne Ndege, said Saturday the agency was looking at other ways of settling the refugees, including moving them to another camp in Kenya, Kakuma, which houses mostly people from South Sudan.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Authorities say a second human rights activist has been killed in the same township in northern Mexico where the first one died two weeks ago.

The statement from Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said the body of Juan Ontiveros, a member of the Tarahumara indigenous group, was found Wednesday in Guadalupe y Calvo.

The statement released Thursday said Ontiveros' brother escaped the attack and later told authorities it arose from a conflict between members of two families. They have identified a suspect and are searching for him.

Amnesty International and the European Union lamented the killing in statements.

Last month, Isidro Baldenegro, who had been awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, was killed in the same township, which lies in the so-called Golden Triangle, where Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango states meet.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Volunteers are scrambling to find homes for hundreds of wild horses in South Dakota that were spared a possible trip to the slaughterhouse but are now suffering through a harsh winter.

The horses, some of them blind, were once kept at a troubled South Dakota sanctuary. Now a small group of volunteers from across the country is working 10 hours a day to feed and care for animals, using rented plows to carve paths through 15-foot snowdrifts. In a nearby hotel room, other volunteers are sorting through adoption applications and networking through social media, desperately trying to find homes for the horses before they are forced to leave the property next month.

"We are working to get the whole herd out of the 15-foot snow. Some are blind and are walking out right over the fences. It's really hard to work with so many horses with so many problems," said Elaine Nash, director of horse rescue organization Fleet of Angels, who is spearheading the operation. "Every time we get over one hurdle there's another one waiting for us."

Some 500 horses have already been placed in sanctuaries and ranches across the country, from Arizona and Oregon to California and Minnesota. But the effort near Lantry, in northern South Dakota, isn't done.

The remaining 300 wild horses could be more difficult to sell or have adopted, Nash said. Nearly 200 are stallions that need gelding before anyone will want them. Dozens are old and have health problems. Others are blind from what Nash suspects was toxic farm runoff in their drinking pond.

But Nash was grateful for the response so far to the neglected herd. Many of the less desirable horses have already found homes, and Nash is hopeful that most will be out of South Dakota by their deadline.

When Nash first spread the word in October, This Old Horse rescue in Hastings, Minnesota, agreed to take two older mares.

They wound up taking seven stallions, all blind, instead.

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"I don't know how it happened," joked Nancy Turner, board president of This Old Horse. "Elaine is really good at convincing people."

Turner said it's not easy. The horses are wild, after all, and need special handling and transportation. Most have never been inside a barn or trailer.

"But part of it for me is that these aren't poor needy horses," Turner said. "They are magnificent. I thought that we could celebrate them rather than see them as poor things that should probably be put down."

More than 800 horses were impounded in October at the nonprofit International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros after a state veterinarian found they were being neglected and a former ranch employee said they were being starved to death. All but 20 were eventually surrendered by their owner.

By mid-December, a third of the horses had been adopted or sold while the other 550 or so were being held as collateral by county officials seeking reimbursement for the cost of caring for the horses. When it didn't come, the counties started planning to auction off the rest to recoup the cost, making animal rights groups fear many of the horses would be brought to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.

Fleet of Angels and other animal rights groups raised the $78,000 still owed to the counties and stopped the auction. They then assumed the costs and responsibility of caring for the horses

The group is now gathering, microchipping, collecting blood samples and trimming the feet of the remaining horses and gelding the stallions. Meanwhile, they still need financial support to feed and care for a herd burning through $1,000 in hay each day.

Nash said horses won't be euthanized unless they have broken bones or serious conditions  even horses that might be difficult to adopt.

"We know that someone will come forward and give them good homes. People care about these horses and about making this mission a success," she said.

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Follow Hannah Weikel on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HanWeikel

___

Online:

Fleet of Angels: http://bit.ly/2l5BOfw

Fleet of Angels on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2l5CNfr
Chinese exchanged billions of electronic "red envelopes" over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said Saturday, as more people turned to modern technology to perform the ancient tradition of handing out cash.

For centuries parents, relatives and employers have distributed red paper envelopes containing money, known as "hong bao", to children or menial workers to celebrate the dawn of the new year.

But tech-savvy givers in China are increasingly opting to transfer money via their smartphones rather than go to the trouble -- and expense -- of buying envelopes and handing them out.

About 46 billion electronic hong baos were sent or received via the popular messaging app WeChat from January 27 -- the eve of the Year of the Rooster -- to February 1, the China Daily reported.

That was 43 percent more than last year.

On January 27 alone more than 14 billion electronic red envelopes were transferred on WeChat, which is owned by internet giant Tencent and has more than 800 million users.

That was up nearly 76 percent on last year, the newspaper said, and included a record 2,125 hong baos sent by a man in Shenzhen.

An apparently very popular man in the eastern province of Shandong received a staggering 10,069 envelopes.

Tencent did not reveal the total amount of money contained in the red packets.
ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

The Packers ruled out linebacker De'Vondre Campbell (knee) after he missed practice all week. That leaves rookie Quay Walker to wear the communication helmet on defense against the Lions. The only game Campbell has missed the past six seasons was Week 18 last season when he was inactive to rest for the postseason, not for [more]
PARIS (Reuters) - Air France said on Saturday it had reopened U.S.-bound flights to passengers affected by President Donald Trump's travel ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, after the executive order was temporarily suspended by a federal court. "Starting today we are implementing this court decision," Air France spokesman Herve Erschler said. "Nationals from the countries concerned are being authorized to fly once again to the United States, providing their papers and visas are in order." Erschler said American government representatives in Paris had advised local airlines they could resume U.S.-bound services for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A federal judge in Seattle on Friday suspended Trump's week-old executive order barring their travel. (Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Reality took a beating from the Washington blame game this past week. Americans heard about a Kentucky massacre that never happened, a travel ban that was a ban despite it being called something else, and a dark plot to help Russian intelligence that was nothing of the sort. A look at some of the ways political figures strayed into fiction:

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SEAN SPICER, White House press secretary: "Well, first of all, it's not a travel ban."  On President Donald Trump's executive order halting travel to the U.S. for people from seven majority-Muslim countries.

JOHN KELLY, secretary of homeland security: "This is not a travel ban; this is a temporary pause that allows us to better review the existing refugee and visa-vetting system."

THE FACTS: That's not what their boss said the day before. President Donald Trump defended the order and its immediate implementation in a tweet: "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!"

Spicer himself also had called it a ban Monday at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, saying "the ban deals with seven countries that the Obama administration had previously identified as needing further travel restrictions."

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TRUMP, in a White House statement Sunday: "My policy is similar to what President (Barack) Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months."

THE FACTS: That's not what happened. According to State Department data, 9,388 Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States during the 2011 budget year. The data also show that Iraqi refugees were admitted every month during the 2011 calendar year.

The Obama administration did slow processing for Iraqi nationals seeking refuge in the U.S. under the government's Special Immigrant Visa program for translators and interpreters who worked with American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. That happened after two Iraqi nationals were arrested on terrorism-related charges. But that year, 618 Iraqis were allowed to enter the U.S. with that special visa.

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As well, government data show that during the 2011 budget year, more than 7,800 Iraqis were allowed into the United States on non-immigrant visas, including tourists.

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TRUMP, in the same statement: "The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror."

THE FACTS: That's misleading. There were no special U.S. travel restrictions on citizens of those seven countries. The Republican-led Congress in 2015 voted to require visas and additional security checks for foreign citizens who normally wouldn't need visas  such as those from Britain  if they had visited the seven countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. This was included in a large spending bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed by Obama.

As the law was enacted, the Obama administration announced that journalists, aid workers and others who traveled to the listed countries for official work could apply for exemptions.

___

TRUMP, also in Sunday's statement: "To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion  this is about terror and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order."

THE FACTS: Trump is right that there are many majority-Muslim countries that have not been included in the travel ban. But he's also being misleading. The executive order signed Jan. 27 does not specifically say Muslims can't visit the U.S., but it does create a temporary total travel ban for citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries. It also indefinitely bans Syrians.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani recently told Fox News that Trump had asked him to create a plan for a Muslim ban that would meet legal tests. Giuliani said he ultimately made recommendations that focused on security and what countries posed security threats.

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NANCY PELOSI, a California Democrat and House minority leader, on Thursday: "Less than two weeks after walking into the White House, President Trump lifts sanctions on the Russian Security Service. Vladimir Putin's thugs meddle with an American election, and President Trump gives them a thank you present. "

THE FACTS: Pelosi's complaint about Trump's revision of sanctions on the Russian intelligence service FSB doesn't hold water. If the revision is a gift to anyone, it's to U.S. sellers of consumer electronics.

The Dec. 29 sanctions imposed by the Obama administration were not intended to ban the U.S. sale of cellphones, tablets and other consumer electronics to Russia. But they had that effect, by barring U.S. firms from getting the permits needed from the FSB to sell in Russia. The FSB has regulatory as well as intelligence responsibilities.

Trump's change does not materially benefit the FSB, except in a minuscule way. It allows U.S. firms to pay the FSB a required fee of up to $5,000 per year to export encryption-capable consumer electronics to that country. It's of more benefit to the U.S. sellers and Russian buyers of those devices. It's not unusual to fine-tune sanctions to permit certain transactions.

Democrats incensed at alleged Russian hacking of their party's campaign communications have been watching for a sign that Trump would ease Obama's Russian sanctions in a consequential way. But this wasn't it.

___

KELLYANNE CONWAY, senior Trump adviser, in an MSNBC interview Thursday: "President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre." She went on: "Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

THE FACTS: There was no massacre. Conway tweeted the next day that she'd misspoken, and meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists." But she didn't address another mischaracterization  that Obama had instituted a similar ban.

Obama never banned Iraqi refugees or other Iraqi travelers from coming to the United States. His administration did slow down the processing for Iraqis seeking Special Immigrant Visas, which are given to translators and interpreters who worked with the U.S. in that country.

The slowdown was prompted by the May 2011 arrest of two men in Kentucky charged with plotting to send weapons and money to al-Qaida operatives abroad. Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi had been mistakenly admitted to the U.S. as Iraqi refugees in 2009 and resettled in Bowling Green.

Alwan and Hammadi are in prison after pleading guilty. They were never accused of plotting to launch attacks inside the U.S.

EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
A new law known as Act 45 or the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act signed into law last week by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson bans women in the state from terminating a pregnancy in the second trimester using dilation and evacuation (D&E)  the most common, and the safest, procedure used to carry abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy. The controversial law makes it a felony to perform D&E, which the act refers to as "dismemberment abortion," even if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

As a result of the law, most second trimester abortions will be banned, as an estimated 95 percent of abortions during this period in the U.S. are carried out through D&E. It also allows husbands to sue their wife's doctor for civil damages if the spouse is scheduled to have an abortion. Apart from husbands being able to seek injunctive relief, under the new law, even parents can sue their daughter's doctor if the girl is a minor and has an abortion.

Doctors who carry out the procedure can now face a fine of up to $10,000 or up to a six-year prison sentence in the state.

State Representative Andy Mayberry, who is also the president of Arkansas Right to Life, a subsidiary of America's largest pro-life organisation, the National Right to Life Committee, besides co-sponsoring the bill said that: "We've tried to account for all the worst case scenarios, and also called D&E a gruesome, barbaric procedure, adding that the routine procedure is one that no civilised society should embrace.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas has pledged to challenge the legislation before it starts to be executed this summer.

"The law has disturbing provisions that would allow a parent, legal guardian, even a perpetrator of rape or incest, to attempt to enjoin an abortion. The law enables a putative father or legal guardian to attempt to interfere with a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. It is clearly unconstitutional," Bettina Brownstein, an attorney working with the ACLU, reportedly said.

Related Articles
Miami (AFP) - The body of Canadian documentary filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart was reportedly found off the Florida coast on Friday, days after he disappeared during a dive while making a film about sharks.

Stewart, 37, vanished Tuesday afternoon during a dive with three of his crew members at the Alligator Reef coral reef, some four nautical miles (seven kilometers) off the island of Islamorada.

"The body was reportedly recovered late in the afternoon," Marilyn Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard's Seventh District, told AFP.

"It was found about 300 feet (90 meters) from his last know position and it was found at approximately 220 feet in depth," she said.

The Key Largo Fire Department volunteer dive team discovered the body and identified it as Stewart's, although the coroner's office will officially confirm the identity.

Earlier in the evening, the US Coast Guard announced that it had suspended the search for Stewart.

Officials made no comment as to the reason for Stewart's death. After surfacing from his dive, he went underwater again before the crew's boat was able to pick him up. The other three divers emerged safely.

A biologist and underwater photographer, Stewart was filming a sequel to his best-known 2006 documentary "Sharkwater," about shark hunting and its impact on the marine ecosystem. The film won the Directors Guild of Canada award and a dozen others the following year.

"So happy to be shooting #sharkwater2 with the best cameras and equipment in the world," he wrote in his latest Instagram post three days ago. "For the first time I can show you sharks through my eyes."

The filmmaker was capturing "the personality in #shark faces that people that spend their lives with sharks truly understand," he added.

The accompanying picture shows a diver from behind, presumably Stewart, holding a camera on his shoulder.

Stewart's team is fundraising and looking for volunteers via Stewart's Twitter account to continue the search.
Kellyanne Conway cited a "massacre" that never happened while appearing on MSNBC Thursday night to defend President Donald Trump's travel ban. On Friday morning, a website commemorating the fictional massacre appeared, along with a request donations -- a request that took visitors directly to the ACLU's donation page.

Conway, a senior aide to Trump, went on "Hardball" and told Chris Matthews that two Iraqi refugees were the "masterminds behind the Bowling Green Massacre."

"Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered," Conway said. Of course, it didn't get covered because it didn't happen. There was no such thing as "the Bowling Green massacre." Conway admitted as much on Twitter Friday morning, clarifying that she meant to reference two al-Qaeda affiliated insurgents who had come to the U.S. as refugees and were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2011. The Justice Department said at the time that both were charged with crimes related to insurgent activities in Iraq, and neither were planning attacks on U.S. soil.

But after being roundly mocked for fabricating -- if accidentally -- a domestic terrorist attack, someone decided to set up a fake website to commemorate the attack. The website says it is for "The Bowling Green Massacre Victims Fund" and is a simple landing page with a black and white picture of a young man pensively gazing out a window.

"We all still carry the vivid memories of what horrors occurred at Bowling Green, but some still relive those moments everyday as they work to rebuild a community torn apart," the site says.

The site has a two different "donate" links for the "fund." But when users click on those links they are taken to the ACLU's donation page. The ACLU has vigorously attacked Trump's travel ban in court, filing a suits in several states contesting the ban immediately after it was issued. On Thursday, the ACLU announced it was part of class action lawsuit filed in federal court seeking to overturn the ban.

Story continues

An ACLU spokesman told the International Business Times in an email that the organization "had no involvement" with the website.

Related Articles
Sao Paulo (AFP) - Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will hold a vigil Saturday for his late wife Marisa Leticia before her remains are cremated, he said.

The former first lady's funeral arrangements were released on Lula's social media accounts after the Sirio-Libanes hospital in Sao Paulo officially confirmed she was brain dead following a day of tests.

Marisa Leticia, a veteran labor activist like her husband who was first lady from 2003 to 2011, was pronounced brain dead on Thursday, a condition her doctors said was irreversible.

Tests on Friday cleared the way for her organs to be donated, in keeping with her family's wishes.

The news of her death prompted an outpouring of sympathy for Lula, Latin America's most popular leftist leader, and a minute of silence in Congress on Thursday.

Da Silva, 66, had been treated in intensive care since January 24 with a brain hemorrhage due to a ruptured brain aneurism.

"The wake will be this Saturday at the Metal-Workers' Union of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Marisa Leticia met," said the statement.

"Afterward there will be a private cremation ceremony at the Jardim da Colina cemetary."

Lula ended his rule with sky-high ratings and taking credit for Brazil's economic boom, but his legacy has been badly tarnished by a subsequent recession and a string of corruption charges last year in which his wife was also indicted.

Both Lula and his wife denied any wrongdoing.

Lula's ally and successor in the presidency, Dilma Rousseff, described Da Silva as "a fighter" and called the corruption inquiries "persecution."

"I imagine that Lula's pain now is intolerable," Rousseff said. "We are together president Lula, now and forever."
BEIJING (AP)  The U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said, following remarks by President Donald Trump's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

The 1960 U.S.-Japan treaty is "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights," Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

"We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands' sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation," Lu said.

On his first trip to Asia as secretary of defense, Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous U.S. stance that the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to defending Japan's continued administration of the Senkaku islands.

The islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa were under U.S. administration from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim, and Japan's move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese riots in China and prompted the government to dispatch ships and planes to the area around them as a challenge to Japanese control.

China also registered its displeasure with Mattis' remarks Friday in South Korea that Trump's administration is committed to carrying through on a deal the Obama administration reached with the Seoul government last year to deploy a high-end U.S. missile defense system to South Korea this year.

Story continues

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is meant to improve protection of South Korea and Japan  as well as U.S. troops stationed in both countries  against a North Korean missile attack.

Beijing objects to the system because its powerful radar would allow it to peer deep into northeastern China, possibly allowing it to observe Chinese military movements.

At a Friday news conference, Lu said China's "resolute opposition to the deployment ... remains unchanged and will not change."

The deployment "will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region," Lu said.

Chinese officials and scholars say they anticipate further turbulence in relations with the U.S. under Trump. The president sparked anger among Chinese following his election when he broke with decades of diplomatic protocol by talking on the phone with the president of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory.

Trump has also raised concerns with criticism of China's military buildup in the South China Sea, accusations of currency manipulation and unfair trade policies and allegations that Beijing was doing too little to pressure its communist neighbor North Korea.

In a lighter moment, however, Chinese media and internet users praised an appearance by Trump's daughter Ivanka and granddaughter Arabella Kushner's visit to the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday to attend Lunar New Year festivities. A video clip of Arabella singing a song of holiday greetings also set alight China's internet.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwan bus carrying Chinese tourists crashed into a bridge on Saturday, authorities said, wounding some passengers and prompting a call from China for "greater security safeguards". The accident in the southern city of Kaohsiung follows a grisly murder-suicide last year in which 24 Chinese tourists were killed after the driver set their moving bus on fire. Taiwan's tourism industry has already suffered a major downturn in visitors from China. The mainland discouraged tourism to the island after Taiwan's president declined to commit to the "one China" principle that it is part of China. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be united by force, if necessary. China's National Tourism Bureau was paying close attention to the incident and called for greater security safeguards for mainland tourists in Taiwan, China's official Xinhua news agency said. Of the 26 Chinese tourists on board the bus, nine Chinese tourists, the driver and the tour guide were taken to hospital, Taiwan's tourism bureau said, adding none of the injuries was life-threatening. The Chinese tourists, from Zhejiang province, were in Taiwan on a six-day trip. (This version of the story was refiled to drop quote marks in paragraph 5) (Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Benjamin Jumbe

Dr. Margaret Mungerera, one of Ugandas senior consultant psychiatrist and former Womer World Medical Association President has died.

Dr Mungerera the first female and first Ugandan to head the world Medical association died on Saturday morning in India where she had gone for medical treatment.

The president of the Uganda Medical Association Dr. Fred Bisso has confirmed the news noting that she succumbed to cancer.

She died in India she only flew out of the country on Thursday this week direct from hospitalization in Nsambya hospital where she had been admitted for a week. She had travelled to continue with her anti-cancer treatment Dr Fred Biso said.

Dr Biso described her death as a great blow to the health fraternity.

It is a very big blow to us as a fraternity we hope the country learns from this huge loss to put our own health sector in such a state that it can take care of our own people. Dr Bisso said.

Dr Bisso says the late had done a lot for the country and was still doing a lot and had put Uganda on the global map with the fraternity having a lot of hope in her.

Dr Mungereras death coincides with the world cancer day marked on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

At the time of her death, Dr Mungerera was the chair of the International association of medical regulatory Authorities a post she was elected to in October last year 2016.

She is a founder member of Uganda Women Medical Doctors Association and was the first woman in Uganda to be elected president of the Uganda Medical Association in 1998 and again in 2010.

Margaret Mungherera served as the president of the world Medical association from October 2013 until October 2014.

She took up office in October 2013 becoming the first woman President of the WMA since 2002 and the first African woman, having been elected unopposed by delegates at the WMAs annual General Assembly in Bangkok, Thailand.

As President of World Medical Association Dr. Mungherera facilitated policy interventions to promote good ethical practice in the world and champion human rights of patients and physicians.

Dr Mungherera the first born of six children-three girls and three boys was born on October 25 1957 to Seezi and Joyce Mungherera.

She went to Kijjabwemi Primary school in Masaka, Nakasero Primary school in Kampala and Gayaza High school.

She later joined Makerere University medical school and the London school of Tropical medicine and Hygiene.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Police in Colombia have arrested a 17-year-old accused of carrying out more than 30 murders.

Given strict privacy protections for minors in Colombia authorities are identifying the teenage killer only by his nickname of "Frijolito." Police in Cali on Friday said the highly dangerous criminal was picked up this week after a four-month manhunt.

The young man allegedly began killing people around the age of 12 and developed a reputation for ruthlessness as head of a gang of drug traffickers and assassins that terrorized the southern city. His latest criminal act was a double homicide at a shopping center in Cali.

Authorities said he was being held at a juvenile detention center but that when he turns 18 he'll be transferred to a prison.
By Aaron Ross KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday killed at least eight members of a separatist religious sect, local activists said, escalating tensions in a normally peaceful part of a conflict-ravaged country. The police opened fire on members of Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) as they approached the morgue in the town of Kimpese to recover the bodies of fellow members killed in protests last month, Jonas Lukoki, the provincial coordinator of the New Civil Society, told Reuters. "There were 12 deaths, including three children," Lukoki said. A police spokesman told Reuters that several people had been killed when BDK members clashed with the police in Kimpese but did not have further details. (Editing by Tim Cocks, Larry King)
ABUJA/LONDON (Reuters) - James Ibori, who as governor of oil-rich Delta State became one of Nigeria's richest and most powerful men, has returned to the country after serving a sentence for corruption in Britain, his lawyer said on Saturday. "I can confirm that he left last night and arrived this morning in Nigeria," Jonathan Chike-Epelle, Ibori's lawyer in Britain, told Reuters by phone. Local media have said he remains influential in politics, and in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Ibori did not rule out a political comeback. Arrested in 2010, Ibori served half his 13-year sentence - as is normal under British procedures - after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering. He was released in December, but is still locked in a battle over his assets. While in office, Ibori acquired luxury properties in Britain, the United States, South Africa and Nigeria. He is the most senior Nigerian politician to have been held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa's most populous nation. His jailing in Britain, where he had laundered millions of pounds and sent his children to an expensive private school, was hailed as a high point in the international fight against graft and an important signal to other corrupt politicians. But the conviction has since become bogged down in allegations of misconduct by British authorities. Asked by Reuters if he would run for office again, Ibori said he was barred from doing so for 10 years because of his conviction, but that he intended to appeal to have that conviction overturned. The appeal would be based on an allegation, made by one of Ibori's former associates, that a British police officer had taken bribes in return for inside information on the case before Ibori's conviction, and that prosecutors had covered it up. British police say the allegation was investigated, resulting in no arrests or charges. The state prosecution service says material supporting the allegation exists and it initially failed to disclose that to Ibori's defense team, but it is confident Ibori's conviction remains valid. Court proceedings are ongoing. (Reporting by Paul Carsten in Abuja and Estelle Shirbon in London)
Pakistan must do more to combat homegrown terrorism or risk joining the Muslim-majority nations on President Donald Trump's travel ban, political risk consultancy Eurasia has warned.

"Pakistan's continuing loss of influence with the [U.S.] executive branch and Congress could result in some form of economic and travel sanctions," said analysts Sasha Riser-Kositsky and Shailesh Kumar in a Thursday note.

"A senior White House official already suggested that Pakistan could be included on a list of terrorism-wracked countries whose citizens are now temporarily banned from entering the U.S."



Some policy experts were surprised that the South Asian nation wasn't included on Trump's Jan. 27 executive order . The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has long been a hotbed for various militant groups and those motivated by sectarianism, anti-India sentiments , the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, or ISIS, are among the most prolific.

Washington and Islamabad share a multi-faceted relationship in areas of security, energy and investment, with the U.S. being Pakistan's largest export destination. In a December phone call, Trump told Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he was "willing to play any role" to help "fantastic' Pakistan."

But because the White House is committed to fighting Islamic terrorism, bilateral ties will worsen if Sharif doesn't reign in local radical cells, particularly the Haqqani network that's closely associated with the state intelligence agency, Riser-Kositsky and Kumar said.



If individuals related to Pakistan are blamed for another terrorist attack on American soil, Trump would likely to punish Islamabad, they continued.

"Indeed, it was after the late 2015 San Bernadino shootings , perpetrated by a couple with deep links to Pakistan, that then candidate Trump announced his support for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S."

Almost half, or $400 million of the $900 million of the U.S. Coalition Support Fund aid to Pakistan budgeted for 2017 is conditioned on Islamabad seriously combating the Haqqani network and a loss of these funds would certainly hurt Pakistan's widening current account and fiscal deficits, the analysts flagged.



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The capture of Hafiz Saeed, the accused mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks , is a recent example of poor governance. This week, Islamabad placed Saeed under house arrest but the government won't seriously pursue him given the popularity of his Islamic charity, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Eurasia warned.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chief executive of Phillips 66 said on Friday he expects the Dakota Access Pipeline to start operations in the second quarter, even though the project - which has sparked protests by Native Americans and environmentalists - is still in the midst of legal battles and a U.S. regulatory review. Phillips 66 has a 25 percent stake in the $3.8 billion project led by Energy Transfer Partners LP. Phillips 66's CEO, Greg Garland, made the comments on a conference call with analysts to discuss quarterly earnings. The pipeline was originally set to start in late 2016 but has faced intense protests and legal challenges from climate activists and Native Americans, led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose land in North Dakota runs adjacent to the route.. "Commercial operations are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2017, pending the issuance of an easement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete work beneath the Missouri River on DAPL," Phillips 66 said in its earnings news release. On Wednesday, the U.S. Army said it had taken initial steps to "expeditiously review requests for approvals to construct and operate" the pipeline per an order issued by President Donald Trump, but the project's easement has not yet been approved. It is unclear whether the second-quarter timeline would be met unless the easement is granted soon. The comment period ends on Feb. 20, and even if the easement were granted immediately after, ETP has estimated a 90-to-120-day drilling period. Late on Wednesday, three Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter to the Trump administration objecting to its move to expedite the review process, saying it undermined federal law and treaty responsibility to Native tribes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given protesters until Feb. 22 to leave the campsite, which they have occupied for months, ABC News reported on Friday. The Army said that the campsite, which is on federal property, may flood in the coming weeks making it dangerous for protesters, according to ABC News. The pipeline is expected to carry some 470,000 barrels per day of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken shale play into Illinois, and is more than 95 percent complete, according to a Phillips 66 filing on Friday. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Sam Holmes)
DETROIT (AP)  When Donald Trump visited Detroit as a presidential candidate, he was confronted by protesters, denounced by pastors and blasted by the mayor for running a campaign of bigotry.

On Election Day, Detroit voters cemented their opinion of the GOP ticket by overwhelmingly casting ballots for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The city that received hundreds of millions of dollars in help from President Barack Obama's administration now waits to see what kind of treatment to expect from Trump, who pledged to rebuild urban areas but also famously remembers criticism.

"It's going to be interesting to build a relationship, and we're going to work on it," Mayor Mike Duggan said this month during a Detroit Economic Club panel discussion.

When Detroit was mired in debt and unable to provide basic services for its shrinking population, Obama and his department heads stepped up with checkbooks in hand. City officials are concerned they might get far less assistance over the next four years.

Detroit's relationship with Trump will probably be "fundamentally different," said Rip Rapson, president and chief executive of the Michigan-based Kresge Foundation, which offers grants to support the arts, human services and community development.

The Obama administration was committed to helping "a struggling city committed to helping itself, coming out of place of decency and compassion," Rapson said. "I don't have the sense that would be the impulse of the Trump administration. I would love to be wrong."

Asked about its plans for Detroit, the White House declined to say whether funding levels would change. Assistant press secretary Ninio Fetalvo said the administration was "considering all options."

Since emerging in 2014 from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, Detroit has been on an upward path. Dozens of new city buses now roll through the streets. A 3.3-mile light rail line is expected to open this year, and tens of thousands of vacant homes have been cleared away from blighted neighborhoods. It all happened with vast sums from Washington.

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Without consistent support from the Obama administration, "we would not be as well-positioned today for the city's comeback," said Dave Bing, mayor from 2009 through 2013.

Jeff and Sharil Roby have been selling shoes near Detroit's Midtown since 1979, witnessing the city's descent into insolvency and its slow climb back toward stability. The owners of Roby's Shoes are counting on Trump to smile on the Motor City because, they say, Detroit still needs it. The new streetcars will pass by their store.

The "neighborhood is changing and coming back," Sharil Roby said. "We see a lot of improvement."

Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that he would fix troubled urban areas, although he offered no clear plans. In his inauguration speech, he referred to "mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities."

He also mentioned Detroit.

"And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the wind-swept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky. They fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator," Trump said.

However, Trump's relationship with the city got off to a contentious start during a September visit to a Detroit church.

"I want to help you build and rebuild Detroit, and we can do that," Trump told the congregation. "I want to make this city the economic envy of the world ... factories everywhere, new roads and bridges, new schools."

Outside, hundreds of protesters picketed. Other pastors sharply criticized the future president, and Duggan accused the nominee of running a campaign "through the nomination process of bigotry."

Now that Trump is in the White House, Duggan said the president's interest in improving the nation's infrastructure could lead to collaboration with Detroit.

During the panel discussion broadcast on Detroit television station CBS-62, the mayor said he planned to approach the relationship "with an open mind, looking to build partnerships where we can. And if it goes a different way, we'll deal with that."

The city's support for Clinton and criticism of Trump could pose tall obstacles, said Matthew Hale, associate professor of political science and public affairs at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

"Everything that we know about Donald Trump is that he holds a grudge," Hale said. "I would imagine Duggan would not be on an invite list with Donald Trump anytime soon."

Detroit and other cities where Trump constituencies are small or nonexistent are likely to see cutbacks in funding, added Wayne State University Law professor Peter Henning.

"The goodie store is going to close," Henning said. "The urban areas don't do as well under a Republican administration. Also, if the incoming administration's plans come to fruition  an increase in defense spending and lower taxes  there's going to be a budget squeeze."

The easiest place to squeeze out dollars is from "constituents who don't have much of a voice," such as the urban poor, Henning said.

Leila Harrison, 50, might be considered one of those constituents. She is on disability and uses the city's bus system to get from place to place. She said Detroit still needs money from Washington, but she doubts it will continue at the same levels under Trump.

Moments before boarding one of the new hybrid buses, Harrison said: "What we have right now is going to be it for a while."
Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday named the Holy See's number three as his special delegate to the Knights of Malta, sidelining a conservative cardinal involved in a bitter dispute between the order and the Vatican.

Monsignor Angelo Becciu will work in "close collaboration" with the order's interim leadership, after Grand Master Matthew Festing was forced to relinquish his post last month.

Becciu's mandate to oversee "a spiritual and moral renewal of the order" will expire once a new grand master has been elected, after a council meeting expected to be held within three months.

In the meantime, Becciu will be Francis' "sole spokesman" with regards to the order, suggesting that prominent US conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke will no longer act as the pope's liaison to the group.

Burke has been outspoken in his disapproval of Francis' efforts to reform Church teaching on questions related to the family, marriage and divorce.

The dispute between the knights and the Vatican erupted into public view in December, when the order's grand chancellor, Albrecht Boeselager, was dismissed.

Press reports claimed that Boeselager oversaw charities that took part in a programme offering free condoms to prostitutes and others in Myanmar, but his dismissal had been seen by some as the result of his being too liberal for Burke.

After weeks of tension, Francis secured Boeselager's reinstatement.

"The accusations against me are without merit, and my conscience is clean", Boeselager said at a press conference last Thursday, adding that he had stopped the condom distributions as soon as he learned of them.

He attributed the dispute to "growing tensions" between elected members of the order and advisers with no official role who had "poorly advised" the former grand master.

The Order of Malta was founded in Jerusalem in 1048 as a community of hospitals caring for the sick. It now operates in 120 countries, managing hospitals and clinics, with 13,500 members and 100,000 employees and volunteers.
By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska VALLETTA (Reuters) - European Union leaders said they agreed to stick together in dealing with Donald Trump, but at their first summit since he took office they were at odds on how far to confront or engage with the new U.S. president. Trump and his policies, from questioning the value of NATO and free trade to banning Muslim refugees, came up repeatedly in discussions in Malta on external "challenges" facing the Union. British Prime Minister Theresa May, about to lead her country out of the EU, briefed peers on her visit to Washington last week and assured them Trump was committed to cooperating in their defence -- just as Britain would also be after Brexit. Francois Hollande, the outgoing Socialist president of France, led criticism of Trump, calling it "unacceptable" for him to applaud Brexit and forecast the break-up of the EU. In thinly veiled rebukes to May and some eastern states, he warned of trying to cut their own transatlantic deals. "A lot of countries should think of their future first of all in the European Union rather than imagining I don't what kind of bilateral relationship with the United States," he said. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, who like many in the east is alarmed by Trump's conciliatory noises to Moscow, poured cold water on May's suggestion Britain could be a link to Washington. Europe did not need a "bridge", she was quoted as saying, because it could communicate with Trump on Twitter. But her Polish neighbour, Beata Szydlo, reserved her main criticisms for her predecessor as prime minister, EU summit chair Donald Tusk, who described Trump this week as a "threat" to the EU, along with Russia, China and militant Islam. "European politicians trying to build this sense of fear ... are making a mistake," said Szydlo, whose government, like Trump, has spoken out against Muslim immigration. "One cannot be confrontational in our relations with the United States." MERKEL CAUTIOUS Stressing the need for unity, the bloc's dominant leader, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Europeans still had common ground with the United States in many areas, while not sharing Trump's scepticism about many international institutions. "We have again made very clear our common values and our faith in multilateralism," she told a news conference. The Union would, she said, push for free trade deals with more nations as Trump pulls back. But cooperation with the United States against militant threats would continue, she said. One EU diplomat said France was clearly pushing to use the Trump presidency to rally Europeans behind a policy of greater distance from Washington and turning to the EU, rather than NATO, for their security. "The Germans are much more cautious," the diplomat said. "There is a clear issue to be decided: whether we seek common ground to engage with the United States, or turn our backs." Summit host Joseph Muscat, the Maltese prime minister, chose to emphasise balance in summing up the discussions, speaking of "concern" at Trump's policy but "no sense of anti-Americanism". "There was a sense that we need to engage with the U.S. just the same," Muscat said. "But we need to show that we cannot stay silent where there are principles involved." (Writing by Alastair Macdonald, editing by Larry King)
People protesting controversial Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos march in the street in Berkeley, California: Getty

Donald Trump does not have the authority to follow up his threat to cut federal funding from the University of California at Berkeley, analysts say.

The President took to Twitter to angrily accuse the famed university of not allowing free speech and practicing violence on innocent people with a different point of view after violent protests against a Breitbart News editor, adding: NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

Federal funding contributed an estimated $200m (160m) in student financial aid and generated $400m (320m) in revenue from research contracts and grants in the 2015/16 financial year, the UC Berkeley said.

Students protest at UC Berkeley (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty)

Some of the money can be withheld in very specific circumstances, such as the publication of fraudulent research or the refusal of a university to comply with anti-gender discrimination law.

But adding Mr Trumps definition of free speech to the list of offences would need a new law to be passed by Congress.

There is nothing in current legislation that would allow President Trump to do that, Don Heller, a provost at the University of San Francisco, told Reuters.

And even if such a law were passed, Berkeley's situation would be highly unlikely to be affected as the university had attempted to allow the speech.

Police said agitators hurled smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at police, started fires and smashed windows after 1,500 people joined an initially peaceful protest ahead of Milo Yiannopoulos scheduled visit on Wednesday.

As officers decided that could not guarantee Mr Yiannopoulos security, they cancelled the event and removed him from the building. There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries.

Breitbart, described as alt-right supported the President throughout his campaign and has been accused of propagating fake news with its vehemently anti-immigration agenda.

Mr Yiannopoulos is a senior editor of the website, whose former executive chair Steve Bannon has been appointed as Mr Trumps chief strategist.

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His comments have been criticised as racist, misogynist, anti-Muslim and white supremacist. A harassment campaign against Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones led to him being banned from Twitter last year.

Berkeley University said it did not endorse his ideas but was committed to free speech and rejected calls to cancel the event, which was sponsored by the campus Republican club.

Dan Mogulof, the assistant vice chancellor in the universitys communications office, told The Independent: UC Berkeley condemns in the strongest possible terms the actions of individuals who invaded the campus, infiltrated a crowd of peaceful students, and used violent tactics to close down the event.

"We deeply regret that the violence unleashed by this group undermined the First Amendment rights of the speaker as well as those who came to lawfully assemble and protest his presence."

He said the university went to extraordinary lengths to facilitate Mr Yiannopoulos talk, for which dozens of police officers were brought in after protests and a shooting at his previous appearances.

While we have made clear our belief that the inflaming rhetoric and provocations of Mr Yiannopoulos were in marked opposition to the basic values of the university, we respected his right to come to campus and speak once he was invited, Mr Mogulof added. The violence was an attack on the fundamental values of the university.

The commentator has since claimed that American universities should be on notice because the President is watching.

The days you could silence conservative and libertarian voices on campus and still expect to collect their tax money are coming to an end, he added.


Donald Trump Russia, Donald Trump golden shower, Trump pee tape, Vladimir Putin and Trump, Rosneft Russian oil company, Steele Dossier, What did the Steele Dossier say, Did Putin bribe Trump

Did Vladimir Putin try to bribe Donald Trump to lift sanctions on Russia with an $11 billion stake in Rosneft, the largely state-controlled Russian oil company giant? While no evidence directly links Trump to last months sale of a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft to mysterious buyers whose identities have yet to be revealed, an allegation contained in the so-called Steele Dossier published earlier has thrust the question of the new U.S. presidents role into public scrutiny.

The Steele Dossier, compiled by Christopher Steele  a former British intelligence agent who now acts as a private research consultant  made headlines primarily for the allegation that Trump had hired Russian prostitutes to perform a golden shower show for him in a Moscow hotel.

But while the vivid imagery of Trump enjoying the scene as women urinated on each other grabbed the national imagination, the Steele Dossier contained a far more important and potentially explosive allegation: that a secretive former top Trump confidant, Carter Page, received an offer from Rosneft CEO Igor Sachin to broker a sale of 19 percent of the massive oil firm, according to a report by Business Insider last week.

Former Trump adviser Carter Page, who allegedly met in Moscow with Rosneft CEO Igor Sachin. [Image by Pavel Golovkin/AP Images]

According to the report, the offer of nearly 20 percent of the Russian oil megalith was tied to a promise that if elected president, Trump would lift economic sanctions against Russia that had been imposed by former President Barack Obama as punishment for Putin and Russias aggression against neighboring Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

Click here to continue and read more...

Donald Trump, Russia, And Rosneft: Vladimir Putin Oil Mystery  Shares Sold To Mystery Buyer Once Offered As Trump Bribe, Dossier Says is an article from: The Inquisitr News
Washington (AFP) - Neil Gorsuch, nominated this week by President Donald Trump to fill a vacant seat on America's highest court, faces an epic confirmation battle in the US Senate.

Gorsuch's main task will be to argue that he is not the partisan, reactionary judge his critics say, in a process that will last months in the amphitheater of Capitol Hill.

There he will meet significantly more opposition from Democrats than they are currently creating for Trump's efforts to assemble his government.

If cabinet members can remain in office a maximum of the eight years spanning two presidential terms -- exceedingly rare in any case -- Supreme Court justices are appointed for life. If confirmed, Gorsuch, at 49, could weigh in on US law for the next three decades.

The rules for confirming members of the country's highest court also raise the bar for nominees.

Cabinet members require a majority of 51 votes from the country's 100 senators. Supreme Court justices must land at least 60 in order to avoid the possibility opponents would obstruct the process by mounting a filibuster -- a procedure that essentially prevents a vote with endless debate.

With only 52 seats in the Senate, the majority Republicans will have to convince at least eight Democrats to cross party lines to vote for a nominee who supports the death penalty and other core right-wing positions.

Supporters of Gorsuch, whose nomination was announced by Trump on Tuesday, paint him as a fierce defender of the conservative family and religious values championed by the justice he would replace: Antonin Scalia, the Republican icon who died early last year.

But Democrats are under strong pressure from an electoral base alarmed at the direction in which Trump is taking the country, insisting Democratic senators take an uncompromising line in retaliation for Republicans' refusal to even schedule hearings to consider Merrick Garland, former president Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia last year.

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Gorsuch can expect a full-scale fight, the first phase of which will take place behind closed doors and the second under the full glare of the media spotlight.

- Weak links -

Gorsuch will begin his campaign holding individual meetings with as many senators as possible to try to win them over or reassure them about his positions.

The Republican leadership is helping by identifying possible weak links among the Democrats. They have identified a dozen so far, representing states that voted for Trump.

Gorsuch must also complete a questionnaire that could run into the hundreds of pages, spelling out his income, clients he's defended, media interviews he's given, travel destinations, writing and many other details.

Federal law enforcers will verify the information while the Senate Judiciary Committee conducts a parallel review.

The second phase -- public hearings in the Senate -- will be more difficult to negotiate.

Gorsuch will have to explain each of his past decisions without displaying views staunch enough to force him to recuse himself from future cases before the court.

Armies of supporters are lining up on each side.

Backing Gorsuch are the heavyweights of the conservative universe, from evangelical Christians to the anti-abortion and gun lobbies.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure Justice Scalia's seat is filled... with a real constitutional scholar, and that's what we have in Neil Gorsuch," said Chris Cox, a Washington lobbyist for the hugely powerful National Rifle Association (NRA).

NRA leader Wayne LaPierre appeared at Trump's side on Wednesday, when the president summoned conservative figures to the White House ahead of the confirmation fight.

- Nuclear option -

Gorsuch's opponents include civil and women's rights activists and anti-capital punishment campaigners.

"Gorsuch argued use of birth control is 'wrongful conduct,'" tweeted NARAL, which opposes restrictions on abortions.

"There is nothing normal about this #SCOTUS nomination, this White House, or this fight," it added, using an abbreviation for the Supreme Court. "We MUST #StopGorsuch."

The ACLU, the country's leading civil liberties group, expressed "concern" about Gorsuch's belief that the constitution must be interpreted according to the original meaning its framers intended.

Among Democrats' concerns is that failing to make a convincing-enough argument would ease the job of those Republicans who want to end the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, meaning they would require a majority of only 51 votes for confirmation.

Many other Republicans want to avoid the so-called nuclear option because it would remove their own ability to filibuster future Democratic nominations when they are in the minority.

Trump, who appears to have no such qualms, has urged them to "go nuclear."
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed accusations of currency manipulation by U.S. President Donald Trump, warning other countries in the European Union that the future of the 28-country bloc lies in its hands.

The new U.S. president's comments have been hard on the EU: he praised Brexit and criticized the bloc's refugee and monetary policies. Trump also said the EU was a "vehicle for Germany".

Asked by CNBC about those comments at a press conference Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe "will need to stand on our own two feet" as we may have some policy differences.

"We have to clearly nurture the values in our foreign policy that we consider to be important," Merkel said. "We also have to bear our vested interest in mind, that's what others have to do. It's what the President of the United States is doing.

"There will be invariably areas where we are linked with common interest. I don't think International terrorism can be fought on one's own, globally. That has to be done together. And then there will be tasks where, well maybe, in the future where we will need to stand on our own two feet."

European leaders gathered Friday in Malta to discuss informally the future of the EU once the U.K. leaves the bloc, as well as its migration policy.



However, this is the first European meeting since Trump took office and the first since he has openly criticized some European members.



President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker told CNBC that "there's room for explanations" in some of the president's remarks.

Earlier this week, Trump accused Germany of manipulating the euro.

"Sometimes I have the impression that the new administration does not know the European Union in detail but in Europe details matter," he told reporters.

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Executives from Netflix, Google and Facebook have signed a tech industry open letter opposing President Trumps immigration ban, according to a Mother Jones report. The letter is being signed by more than 30 CEOs from some of the largest tech companies, and is scheduled to be delivered to the Trump administration next week.

We are a nation made stronger by immigrants, a draft version of the letter reads. As entrepreneurs and business leaders, our ability to grow our companies and create jobs depends on the contributions of immigrants from all backgrounds.

The letter goes on to acknowledge security concerns around immigration, while opposing the recent executive order that bans travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries: We are concerned (..) that your recent Executive Order will affect many visa holders who work here in the United States and contribute to our countrys success.

The letter also defends the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) order, which has granted temporarily legal status to undocumented immigrants that arrived in the U.S. as children  a group thats also commonly known as Dreamers.

The tech industrys concern about visa holders being impacted by the order isnt theoretical. On Friday, a Justice Department attorney acknowledged that the order led to the revoking of more than 100,000 visas. And earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that hundreds of his companys employees had been affected by the ban.

The open letter is just the latest sign of companies coming out against the ban, which is often driven as much by engagement from employees and customers as by executive leadership. Earlier this week alone, employees of Google and Comcast walked out to protest the ban. And on Thursday, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down from Trumps business advisory council after a customer boycott campaign that reportedly led to the deletion of 200,000 Uber accounts.

Story continues

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In the first 10 days of Donald Trumps presidency, controversy shrouded the administration. Perhaps nothing drew more opposition and backlash, including from some Republicans, as Executive Order 13769.

The order, entitled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, sparked protests at airports in major cities across the country as individuals from seven predominately Muslim nations were held at airports or sent back to their country of origin. Within hours of the order, a federal court in Brooklyn granted an emergency stay, and a few days later, acting Attorney General Sally Yates was fired from her position for refusing to enforce a legal order designated to protect the citizens of the United States.

Executive Order 13769 is one of seven executive orders issued by the Trump administration in its first 10 days. That is the same amount that John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe issued during their entire presidenciescombined.

For almost a century after the founding of the United States, the amount of executive orders was relatively limited. That may be because there is no actual provision in the Constitution that speaks to executive orders. The power has developed over time, with presidents using Article II, Section 3the Executive should take Care that the Laws be faithfully executedas a basis for creating law without Congress as long as it holds true to the Constitution.

Perhaps the most famous executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln, marked a shift in the power of the executive branch to essentially circumnavigate Congress when deemed necessary. During Lincolns four years as President, he signed 48 executive orders, the most of any President until that point. However, the deteriorating state of the nation and the urgency of action on both practical and moral levels could justify what many believe was an increase to the power of the executive branch.

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While the average number of orders increased in the latter part of the 19th century, three men in the 20th century truly expanded the power of the executive via the executive order: Theodore Roosevelt with a total of 1,081 orders, Woodrow Wilson with 1,803 and Franklin D, Roosevelt with a lofty 3,522 total executive orders. The federal government, the executive branch and much of the security apparatus as we know them today are results of these presidents and the actions they took.

Since Eisenhower took office in 1953, no modern president has come close to the number of orders of even Theodore Roosevelt. Ronald Reagan had 381 over his 8 years, George W. Bush had 291 and Barack Obama had a total of 276. But are these numbers still far too high?

The debate over the power of the executive branch is as old as the country itself. Even with the comparably low number of executive orders by todays standards, Lincolns adversaries called him King Lincoln. President Obama faced similar criticism by Republicans throughout his presidency.

While Obama was slightly below average for the number of executive orders issued during his presidency, he did sign nine orders in his first 10 days. The only other modern president to come close to that amount of action right out of the gate is President Trump.

Within the first 10 days of his presidency, Trump has attempted to fulfill some of his central campaign promises through executive order, including first steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the early stages of building a wall and securing the border between the United States and Mexico, and banning immigration from seven nations, including refugees from war-torn Syria, in defense of national security.

Adversaries of specific executive orders are often the opponents of the party in power. For example, many liberals that are opposed to Trumps order to move forward with building the Dakoda Access Pipeline were pleased when the Obama administration took steps to stop its construction. In addition, the constitutionality of the law outlined in the orders themselves is a major factor of whether the public and, more importantly, the courts may approve.

However, there is also a more fundamental question: Should executive orders be considered constitutional in the first place? Do they give too much power to one branch of government and therefore obscure the system of checks and balances intended by the Framers of the Constitution?

Presidents have used executive orders to advance civil rights, as President Harry Truman did with Executive Order 9981, which abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces, or as Lyndon B. Johnson did with Executive Order 11246, which prohibited federal contractors and federally assisted construction contractors  from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Yet it was also through an executive order that FDR created Japanese internment camps during World War II.

The Trump administration will surely face tough legal and political battles concerning the way he wields his executive power, just as many presidents have before him. While many of Trumps executive orders will likely face the scrutiny of the courts, and while the wisdom and morality of his action will be judged by the public, it is evident from Trumps first 10 days that the power of the executive is not shrinking any time soon.

Maggie Baldridge is an intern at the National Constitution Center. She is also a recent graduate of Dickinson College.

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The mysterious case of a billionaire who went missing from Hong Kong last week, reportedly abducted by mainland security agents, has underscored the precarious lives of China's ultra rich.

Local media say financier Xiao Jianhua was last seen at his apartment in Hong Kong's Four Seasons hotel and is under investigation in connection with China's 2015 stocks crash.

There is no shortage of examples of other tycoons who have met a similar fate in a country that has the largest number of billionaires in the world: 594, according to the latest ranking of the magazine Hurun.

In China, company chiefs need the backing of the Communist Party to get rich, but they also need it to survive.

It is a relationship that -- when the political winds change -- can leave them out to dry, experts say.

"Chinese businessmen know their country, and they all know that they must have the support of the authorities," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor at the Baptist University of Hong Kong.

"Every day, local Communist Party officials receive gifts from company bosses... who need protection."

Without this support, a businessman might have to pay more taxes, for example, "because taxation is very arbitrary in China," said Willy Lam, a political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"If you don't have official protection, it's possible that your business might be wiped out, for whatever capricious reasons."

- 'Double-edged' -

There has been widespread speculation that Xiao's disappearance was part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-corruption drive, which some critics believe has been used to target his political opponents.

The campaign was launched after Xi took power in 2012 and has brought down government officials and corporate executives.

"There is always the risk of being dragged into the fall of a politician when he is prosecuted for corruption," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan.

Story continues

"If your protector is doing OK then you make a lot of money," said Mr. Lam.

But if he's arrested "this may suddenly become a big disadvantage. So it's a double-edged sword".

There has been no shortage of examples in recent years.

In addition to Xiao Jianhua who is believed to be close to Xi's family, a real estate kingpin, Guo Wengui, who had strong political connections, has fled abroad.

Several of his supporters who were at the top of the state hierarchy have since fallen in the anti-corruption purge.

The billionaire Xu Ming, who is close to former top-ranking leader Bo Xilai (a political rival of Xi), died in prison at the end of 2015.

Others, who had disappeared, resurfaced after claiming to have "cooperated with investigations".

"In China, a joke says that if your name appears in the list of the 100 richest people in the country, then you should be careful because many of these people have been arrested for tax evasion or economic crimes", said Willy Lam.

The former leader Deng Xiaoping was attributed with the phrase: "To get rich is glorious"; but Lam pointed out another aspect of wealth: "It is dangerous to be rich in China, certainly."

- Hong Kong haven? -

While the anti-graft campaign has had few macroeconomic consequences, it nevertheless generates a cautious outlook among the business community, said Klaus Baader, senior economist for Asia at Societe Generale.

"When you have major anti-corruption drives, what often happens, is that it makes decision makers very reluctant... to take decisions," he added.

"Because they are concerned that any decision could potentially be linked back to some bribery or some degree of corruption of one sort or the another."

Especially in China, economics, politics and the judiciary "are all linked," said Willy Lam. "If you are arrested by the police, there is no guarantee that you will receive a fair judgement."

As a result, many tycoons domiciled themselves in Hong Kong, reassured by the judicial independence enjoyed by the former British colony.

But it is not clear how much longer they can shelter there.

"Until what happened to Xiao Jianhua... many of these top business people thought that Hong Kong was safe, but no longer so," said Lam.
LYON, France (Reuters) - France's far-right National Front detailed 144 proposals for party leader Marine Le Pen's election bid, including leaving the euro and a vote on European Union membership. Here are the main proposals from the anti-immigration party's manifesto for the April and May presidential election: 6 MONTHS TO RENEGOTIATE THE EU OR GO FOR "FREXIT" * Election to be immediately followed by six months of talks with EU partners with the aim to radically change France's membership and turn the bloc into a loose cooperative of countries: no more euro, border-free area, EU budget rules or pre-eminence of EU law. * Referendum on EU membership at the end of the 6 months. Le Pen to recommend leaving if does not manage to radically change the bloc. Most likely scenario is therefore "Frexit." LEAVE THE EURO * The manifesto gives no details but a top FN official said would go together with: re-denominating the debt stock in the new currency, having the central bank defend that new currency and giving the government the right to order the central bank to buy its bonds. * Would be accompanied by some form of loose monetary cooperation which could for instance manage exchange rate fluctuations. PROTECTIONISM * Public procurement to be open only to French firms as long as the price difference is not too big. * "Intelligent protectionism" includes a 3 percent tax on imports. Le Pen's adviser Jean Messiha told Reuters the FN wants to force retailers to hold a certain percentage of French goods on their shelves. * Reject international trade treaties "NATIONAL PREFERENCE" * Reserving certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens only, which would be put to voters via referendum. * Employers who hire foreigners to pay a tax worth 10 percent of the salary paid to those people, Le Pen's deputy Florian Philippot said. SECURITY, DEFENCE * Hire 15,000 police, build jails to make room for another 40,000 inmates. * Automatically expel foreigners who have been condemned in court. Also expel all foreigners that are monitored by intelligence services for links with radical Islam. Close all mosques suspected of links with radical Islam. * Leave NATO's integrated command, boost defense spending. IMMIGRATION * Make it impossible for undocumented migrants to legalize their stay in France. * Curb asylum to requests made abroad, in French consulates. * Make it much harder to become a French citizen -- being born in France would give no right to citizenship anymore. * Curb migration to a net 10,000 people per year. * Stop giving free basic healthcare to illegal migrants. REFERENDUM * Allow referendums to be organized on issues called for by 500,000 citizens. * Cut the number of lawmakers by nearly half. ECONOMIC TARGETS * Says gross domestic product to grow by 2 percent in 2018, well above Bank of France's 1.4 percent forecast. The French economy grew by 1.2 percent in 2016, according to the INSEE statistics office. FN sees GDP growth at 2.5 percent per year by the end of the 5-year mandate. Sees inflation at 2.5 percent in 2015. * Says to cut taxes for households and increase welfare benefits. Says to be compensated by savings from fighting social security fraud and tax evasion, changing EU policy, new migration policy, administrative reform. * Sees the public deficit at 4.5 percent of GDP in 2018, down to 1.3 percent in 2022. Says debt to be cut to 89 percent of GDP by 2022. LOWER TAXES, BETTER WELFARE * A 10 percent cut to income tax on three lowest revenue bands. * Cut payroll tax for very small and medium-sized businesses and lower the corporate tax rate for SMEs. * Lower the retirement age to 60 from the current 62, increase aid to the poorest of the elderly. Give child benefits to all without conditions. Cut by 5 percent the regulated price of gas and electricity. * Allow each parent to give each of their children 100,000 euros tax-free every five years. * Keep the working week to 35 hours, make overtime tax-free. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alexander Smith and Louise Heavens)
By Seham Eloraby CAIRO (Reuters) - The father of the machete-wielding man who was shot by a guard as he tried to enter Paris's Louvre museum said on Saturday his son was not an Islamist and the French were only accusing him of terrorism to excuse the brutality used to stop him. Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, an Egyptian, was shot several times after attacking soldiers outside the museum crying "Allahu Akbar" on Friday, in what President Francois Hollande called a terrorist attack. Al-Hamamy was initially feared to be close to death but doctors at the hospital where he is being treated no longer consider his life in danger, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Saturday. Paint spray cans - but no explosives - were found in his back pack. Back in Egypt, Hamamy's father, Reda Al Refaai, said he had learned of his son's case from Facebook and was still not aware of his fate. Is he alive? Is he dead? Was it really him?" he asked Reuters. "For them to say in the end that he is a terrorist is nonsense ... This is a cover up so they dont have to apologise or justify the acts of this soldier who used brute force with a poor young man of 29." Al-Hamamy's uncle, Riyad al- Refaai, said: "I find it incomprehensible that a young man on his way to commit a terrorist act only has a knife with him. If you tell me he had a gun, a rifle, then yes, Id believe you, but I dont know ... All we want is the truth," he said. Al Refaai said he son worked in Sharja in the United Arab Emirates and was on a business trip to Paris for a week. French authorities say al-Hamamy arrived in France on Jan. 26 after obtaining a tourist visa in Dubai. (Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Seham Eloraby CAIRO (Reuters) - The father of the machete-wielding man who was shot by a guard as he tried to enter Paris's Louvre museum said on Saturday his son was not an Islamist and the French were only accusing him of terrorism to excuse the brutality used to stop him. Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, an Egyptian, was shot several times after attacking soldiers outside the museum crying "Allahu Akbar" on Friday, in what President Francois Hollande called a terrorist attack. Al-Hamamy was initially feared to be close to death but doctors at the hospital where he is being treated no longer consider his life in danger, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Saturday. Paint spray cans - but no explosives - were found in his back pack. Back in Egypt, Hamamy's father, Reda Al Refaai, said he had learned of his son's case from Facebook and was still not aware of his fate. Is he alive? Is he dead? Was it really him?" he asked Reuters. "For them to say in the end that he is a terrorist is nonsense ... This is a cover up so they dont have to apologize or justify the acts of this soldier who used brute force with a poor young man of 29." Al-Hamamy's uncle, Riyad al- Refaai, said: "I find it incomprehensible that a young man on his way to commit a terrorist act only has a knife with him. If you tell me he had a gun, a rifle, then yes, Id believe you, but I dont know ... All we want is the truth," he said. Al Refaai said he son worked in Sharja in the United Arab Emirates and was on a business trip to Paris for a week. French authorities say al-Hamamy arrived in France on Jan. 26 after obtaining a tourist visa in Dubai. (The story was refiled to correct the attribution of final quote to suspect's uncle, not father; corrects spelling on byline) (Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Ford Raptor

The Ford Raptor is a pickup for pickup-truck fans who want just a little bit more.

The truck is part of the Ford Performance division, which includes high-end Mustangs, the stonking Ford Focus ST, and the Le Mans-winning GT supercar.

The Raptor was first sold in 2010 and has been a popular member of the Ford family since, bringing some serious offroading credibility to the F-Series lineup of pickups, the bestselling vehicles in the US for decades.

Now the Raptor is headed for China.

"Ford has started shipping its all-new 2017 F-150 Raptor ... to eager customers in China, marking the first time any U.S.-built F-Series truck has been officially exported to China," Ford said in a statement

Ford is one of Americas top exporters, and F-150 Raptors appeal and unmatched off-road performance has earned the truck a loyal following around the globe, Joe Hinrichs, Ford's President, the Americas, added. Export to China enables us to bring a new group of enthusiasts into the Ford family.

Ford Raptor

Like the top-selling F-150 full-size pickups, the Raptor has been re-engineered to use lightweight aluminum in place of steel in its construction, and the truck gets Ford's 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, which is good for 450 horsepower. With a 0-60 time that's been estimated at under six seconds by some reviewers, the Raptor is every bit a performance machine.

So why is is headed for China?

As a pickup-and-SUV boom has gripped the US, China has begun to mirror America's buying habits. Now the made-in-Michigan Raptor is headed for the Middle Kingdom  and a market that's already bigger than the US, as Ford strives to grab its piece of a growing sales pie.

NOW WATCH: FORD CEO: This is why women and young people love SUVs





More From Business Insider


SAO PAULO (AP)  Government officials joined the friends and family of former Brazilian first lady Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva on Saturday in paying their respects following her death at age 66.

Party leaders, state governors, mayors, senators and congress members were among those who filed past her coffin, which was covered in both a Brazilian flag and one of the Workers' Party. The gathering was followed by cremation.

The wake was held at the Metalworkers' Union of Sao Paulo's industrial suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where she and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met more than 40 years ago, just as his career as a union leader was taking off.

She had been hospitalized in Sao Paulo since Jan. 24 after suffering a stroke and died on Friday.

By the couple first met, both of their first spouses had died. They married in 1974, going on to have four children together.

In 1975, Silva was elected head of the Metallurgists Trade Union and in 1980 he helped found the Workers Party, his wife sewing its first flag.

While Silva was gaining notice as an organizer, his wife was developing as an activist, helping to organize large protests of women demanding workers' rights.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f372209%2f8662bf9e-239b-4df5-bbdd-7788ba5c9afe

Trump is just two weeks into his presidency but already gamblers are rushing to bet on his impeachment.

Online betting site Paddy Power is offering odds as low as 2:1 that Trump will be impeached in his first term. That's cut in half from before his inauguration, when they stood at 4:1, Fast Company reports.

SEE ALSO: Trumps Muslim Ban could have doomed Apple

If you think Trump will be impeached in the first six months of his presidency, meanwhile, the site is offering 6:1 odds. For 2017, it's 7:1. They lengthen every year right up to 20:1 for an impeachment in 2020.

The divisive president's removal from office is not the only thing gamblers can bet on at Paddy Power. Trump splitting from Melania, painting the White House gold and heading to North Korea for his first state visit are all theoretical eventualities gamblers can spend on.

The company is also offering 4:1 on the chances of a compromising video involving Trump being posted online, according to a section titled "Donald Trump Specials."

Image: Paddy Power

Paddy Power is not the only company offering bets on an impeachment either; Ladbrokes brought theirs right down to evens in January. Labrokes bets include the possibility of a resignation too.

Impeachment has only happened to two other U.S. presidents  Bill Clinton in the 20th Century and Andrew Johnson during the 19th Century. It's a lengthy and complicated process, but legally speaking, it's a possibility for Trump, according to some legal experts.

Trump has already violated the part of the U.S. Constitution that bars him from receiving payments from foreign governments, according to John Bonifaz, a lawyer and president of Free Speech for People. Bonifaz, whose organization helped start the Impeach Donald Trump Now campaign told Democracy Now! that already makes for a solid impeachment case.

"This kind of corruption is massive, and its far worse than even Watergate," Bonifaz said.

Currently, 40 percent of voters want to see Trump impeached, according to a recent survey by Public Policy Polling, which reports that just 35 percent wanted impeachment a week ago. Meanwhile, 52 percent of voters said they would rather have Barack Obama as president again.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Sergio Garcia made a birdie putt from six feet in darkness on Saturday to take a three-shot lead into the final day of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Garcia finished with a pair of birdies for a 4-under-par 68, which took his three-day total to 16 under.

Henrik Stenson missed a birdie chance on the 17th from three feet but did not fail from four feet on the 18th, aided mostly by the lights from the grandstand. The Swede, in the group ahead of Garcia, shot a 67 to move into second at 13 under.

England's Ian Poulter, who shot a 67, and Thailand's Prom Meesawat, with a 68, also birdied their last two holes to move into a tie for third place at 11 under.

Garcia started with a bogey and seemed to be in trouble a few times on the front nine  including when he nearly hit his tee shot into the water on the par-3 seventh but went up and down for par.

The Spaniard, who is yet to finish in the top 10 in seven appearances in the tournament, instead finished 4 under on the back nine.

"Yeah, it was a nice round," said Garcia, currently ranked No. 15 in the world. "Obviously, it wasn't easy, a little shaky here and there at the beginning, but back nine was great. A lot of good shots, a lot of good putts."

The late Saturday finish was prompted by the halting of play in the second round on Friday because of high winds. Players began the third round in threesomes and started from the first and 10th tees.

"At the end, it was very, very dark, I'll tell you that," said Garcia, whose third round began with countryman Nacho Elvira and South Africa's George Coetzee on the first tee. "When we were walking on 17, I thought, 'Well, it will probably be a little dark, but not too bad.'

"But then it gets dark very, very quickly here. Couldn't really see much on the last three shots. Pretty much couldn't see the ball land and the last putt was a little bit of a feel and a little bit of the read that George gave me, and I'm very fortunate to be able to make it."

Story continues

Stenson, the 2007 champion, also wobbled a bit on the first few holes, including making a three-putt bogey on the sixth for only his second bogey of the tournament.

"Yeah, the hitting has been really good when it's been on, and then there's been some very poor shots in between, but I managed to save myself a lot," said Stenson, the world No. 4.

"I am looking forward to tomorrow. Make a couple of quick birdies and try to put some pressure on Sergio."
BERLIN (Reuters) - German weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked controversy at home and abroad on Saturday with a front cover illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty. It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue's head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: "America First". The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol." The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as "tasteless". The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin's policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former U.S. president Barack Obama, who praised her as "an outstanding partner". Last month, Trump said Merkel had made a "catastrophic mistake" with her open-door migration policy, and this week his top trade adviser said Germany was using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain advantage over the United States and its European partners. No one was available for comment on the Spiegel cover at the U.S. embassy in Berlin. (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Google Sells Terra Bella Satellite Imaging Arm To Planet Labs

Tech giant Googles parent company, Alphabet, announced Friday that it is selling its Terra Bella satellite imaging arm to Planet Labs. This was confirmed in a blog post from the latter companys co-founder and chief executive, who believes the acquisition will help Planet achieve its most impactful year ever.

On Friday, Planet Labs CEO Will Marshall announced on the companys official website that it has struck up a deal with Google parent company, Alphabet, to acquire its Terra Bella business, which most importantly includes seven high-resolution SkySat satellites. Once the sale is closed, Google will purchase Planets earth-imaging data over several years.

The constellation of high-res satellites appears to be, and is a big score for Planet. According to TechCrunch, theres also the fact that Googles satellites stand out for the clear and crisp image quality they provide to Google Earth and Google Maps users, thanks to their use of sub-meter technology. But Marshall stressed that the SkySat acquisition is more complementary than anything else.
By Jonathan Stempel REUTERS - A U.S. judge has ordered Google to comply with search warrants seeking customer emails stored outside the United States, diverging from a federal appeals court that reached the opposite conclusion in a similar case involving Microsoft Corp. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter in Philadelphia ruled on Friday that transferring emails from a foreign server so FBI agents could review them locally as part of a domestic fraud probe did not qualify as a seizure. The judge said this was because there was "no meaningful interference" with the account holder's "possessory interest" in the data sought. "Though the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centers abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States," Rueter wrote. Google, a unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc, said in a statement on Saturday: "The magistrate in this case departed from precedent, and we plan to appeal the decision. We will continue to push back on overbroad warrants." The ruling came less than seven months after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said Microsoft could not be forced to turn over emails stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland that U.S. investigators sought in a narcotics case. That decision last July 14 was welcomed by dozens of technology and media companies, privacy advocates, and both the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On Jan. 24, the same appeals court voted not to revisit the decision. The four dissenting judges called on the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress to reverse it, saying the decision hurt law enforcement and raised national security concerns. Both cases involved warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 federal law that many technology companies and privacy advocates consider outdated. In court papers, Google said it sometimes breaks up emails into pieces to improve its network's performance, and did not necessarily know where particular emails might be stored. Relying on the Microsoft decision, Google said it believed it had complied with the warrants it received, by turning over data it knew were stored in the United States. Google receives more than 25,000 requests annually from U.S. authorities for disclosures of user data in criminal matters, according to Rueter's ruling. The cases are In re: Search Warrant No. 16-960-M-01 to Google and In re: Search Warrant No. 16-1061-M to Google, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Nos. 16-mj-00960, 16-mj-01061. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
For Indian IT firms and their employees, harbouring onsite dreams, more trouble seems to be in the offing. First it was the Brexit in June 2016, which saw Britain pull out of the European Union in order to thwart immigration and better protect rights of eligible locals losing out to low cost skilled foreign workers, especially in the tech domain. Now, its Trumps win and subsequent ascent to the U.S. Presidents post on the back of a protectionist stance and hard-line rhetoric against immigration.

In a bid to deliver on the campaign promises fast, his government has just tabled the contentious H1B visa reform bill in the House of Representatives, the latest in a series of game changing announcements and executive orders. The move, which received little coverage in the international media concerned with the much graver travel ban imposed on seven Muslim majority countries  that just preceded it, spooked the stock markets in India in no time. Five Indian IT majors of the likes of TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra saw over Rs.33, 000 crore market capitalisation wiped out the very next day. Mid cap tech companies also took a hit.

This is because a key feature of the bill, called the High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, stipulates upping the minimum salary for H1B visa holders to US$130,000. If implemented, this could deal a hammer blow to the thriving Indian outsourcing industry. The current minimum salary of US$60,000, which is less than half of the proposed sum and was fixed way back in 1989, helped the industry reap a windfall. IT businesses, which form the backbone of the outsourcing industry, expanded at a cracking pace by sending low cost skilled IT employees to work for their clients on the U.S. soil. The opening up of the Indian economy and the dotcom boom in the 90s decade also helped in the process. The industry weathered external headwinds such as the dotcom bust and the 2008 economic meltdown to reach a staggering value of $150-billion. Not just that, onsite remittances soared to record levels.

Story continues

However, even as the robust IT sector was powering the nations growth story, it also became a source of worry for employees in the U.S. They started to lose out to skilled Indian employees who could be recruited at lower costs. A case in point is Walt Disney that supplanted 850 American workers using the H1B visa programme. Critics felt the H1B visas detracted from the primary objective of complementing the labour force in the U.S. and was being misused by Indian outsourcing giants to supply lesser paid contractors to U.S. firms by flooding the system with mass applications. Almost 70% of H-1B petitions approved in the fiscal year 2014-2015, for example, were for candidates from India.

To undo the so-called damage, the Trump administration  vigorously pushing for sweeping changes that has often got negative press  has proposed a clampdown on H1B visas by upping the minimum salary prohibitively. This would make it difficult for U.S. companies to hire skilled workers at cheaper rates from India. It would also compel the Indian IT companies to hire more American workers and increase salaries of employees working on client sites in the U.S. As a result operating costs would spike and forex earnings get reduced, hurting their profit margins. This would likely pose a roadblock to their expansion plans on the U.S. soil

Yet another negative impact of the move would be on onsite workers remittances. It would also come down, feel experts, further debilitating the rupee against the dollar. With lesser influx of capital in banks for making loans that help drive domestic businesses, the move might have ramifications for the Indian economy, which is on a somewhat jittery path of recovery post demonetisation.
Madrid (AFP) - Separatists in Catalonia plan to come out in force Monday when the Spanish region's former leader, Artur Mas, stands trial over a non-binding independence referendum he held, further straining ties with Madrid.

Supporters of independence for the wealthy, northeastern region say they hope to draw at least 30,000 protestors on the large avenue next to the Barcelona court Monday morning.

Inside, Mas -- who was president of the semi-autonomous region from 2010 to 2016 -- his former vice-president Joana Ortega and Irene Rigau, the official once responsible for education in Catalonia, will face accusations of "serious civil disobedience" and "misfeasance".

Prosecutors want them banned from holding public office for nine to 10 years for having organised a symbolic, non-binding referendum in November 2014 in public schools, despite a ban from the Constitutional Court.

- 2.3 million 'on trial' -

Their defence argues they were merely defending "the right to freedom of expression" of Catalans, many of whom want a say in the future of their 7.5-million strong region -- be it for or against independence.

More than 80 percent of those who cast their ballot in the 2014 vote did so for independence -- although just 2.3 million people out of a total of 6.3 million eligible voters took part.

"On February 6, it is those 2.3 million people who will be on trial," Mas said Friday.

Faced with a pro-independence movement that refuses to die down, the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists that this type of local, one-region-only referendum is unconstitutional.

- 'More than ready' -

The fight for greater autonomy, or independence, for Catalonia, a region with its own culture and language, has for decades soured relations with Madrid but the clash has worsened over the past few years.

A watershed moment was in 2010, when Spain's Constitutional Court watered down a special statute awarded to Catalonia in 2006 under the Socialist government, giving it more powers.

Story continues

Supporters of independence slammed what they said was "judicial harassment" and asked for a referendum similar to the one organised in Scotland in 2014.

After the Constitutional Court banned that, Mas and his associates held the non-binding vote for which they are on trial.

Then in 2015, a coalition of separatist parties won regional elections, promising to steer Catalonia towards independence in 2017 and to organise a "real referendum" which is planned for September, with or without Madrid's consent.

"We are more than ready," a Catalan government source said this week, requiring anonymity. "If we win the referendum, everything will speed up," he said.

- Investigations, debt -

Madrid, though, refuses to be caught short, and considers that Catalonia is ruled by a "bunch of separatists" who are using independence to hide bad management of the region and corruption.

A probe is ongoing over alleged commissions received by members of Mas's party in exchange for public contracts.

And a week ago, prosecutors launched an investigation into claims made by an outspoken pro-independence senator that the regional government had illegally obtained Catalans' tax records to create a separate treasury -- claims he later retracted.

This week, reports emerged in several national dailies that Madrid was considering drastic measures to stop a referendum, such as closing schools where polling booths could be set up or taking control of the police, which is normally managed by the regional government.

The central government is also banking on the 100,000 civil servants in Catalonia whose salary depends on Madrid to refuse to obey orders.

It also has an economic weapon as Catalonia is hugely in debt, and would not be able to finance itself without the central state.

The Catalans themselves, meanwhile, remain divided -- 44.9 percent want independence while 45.1 percent don't, according to a poll conducted by a Catalan public institute.

A large majority, however, wants a referendum.
(WASHINGTON)  The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of President Donald Trumps refugee and immigration ban and scurried to appeal a judges order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trumps authority  and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The stand-down, a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the ban, marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend Americas refugee program and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

As the White House worked to reinstate the ban, Trump mocked U.S. District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a so-called judge whose ridiculous ruling will be overturned.

Trumps direct attack recalled his diatribes during the campaign against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a Trump University case. Justice Department lawyers could be called upon to answer for his words as the travel ban case reaches the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The order had caused unending confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the United States and led to multiple court challenges. Demonstrations took place outside the White House, in New York and elsewhere. One was planned later Saturday near the estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was spending the weekend and where the American Red Cross scheduled its annual fundraising gala.

Robarts ruling, which the Justice Department promised to challenge, led federal agencies to unwind enforcement of Trumps executive order.

The State Department, after initially saying that as many as 60,000 foreigners from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen had their visas canceled, reversed course on Saturday and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.

Story continues

The department on Saturday advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order will now be allowed into the United States. A State Department official said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that the government was focusing on booking refugee travel through Feb. 17 and working to have arrivals resume as soon as Monday.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trumps order from boarding U.S.-bound planes. The agency said it had suspended any and all actions related to putting in place Trumps order, which the White House argued was intended to protect the homeland.

The Justice Department was expected to ask the 9th Circuit to set side Robarts ruling so the ban could go back into effect.

Trump made clear what he thought of Robarts action.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned, Trump tweeted. When a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security  big trouble!

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Trump for attempting to bully and disparage yet another federal judge and said he seemed intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. Trumps rhetoric also could put government lawyers defending his order in a tough spot.

Either they have to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a so-called judge, which you cant do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who is their boss, said University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman.

With legal challenges pending, two prominent Middle Eastern air carriers announced they would resume carrying passengers from the seven affected countries. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said U.S.-bound travelers from those countries with valid visas would be allowed to board.

In Egypt, Cairo airport and airline officials said they have received instructions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend President Trumps executive order.

Government-backed Qatar Airways is one of a few Mideast airlines operating direct daily flights to multiple American cities. Its U.S. destinations from its Doha hub include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.

At New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, volunteer lawyer Renee Paradis said most of the flights involving passengers from the affected countries were to arrive later Saturday.

Anybody who comes here on a visa is supposed to be allowed in, so we would anticipate that somebody who is in the air would be able to land and enter, she said. Of course, as with everything this week, it remains to be seen what happens on the ground.

The executive order has caused chaos within the government and the courts. Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was serving as acting attorney general, after she said the Justice Department would not enforce it. In Washington on Saturday, demonstrators chanting No hate, No fear, Refugees are welcome here walked from the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hearings have also been held in court challenges nationwide.

In arguments to the court, Washington state and Minnesota said the temporary ban and the global suspension of the U.S. refugee program harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

But in his written order Friday, Robart said its not the courts job to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches, but rather, to make sure that an action taken by the government comports with our countrys laws.

___

Associated Press writers Alicia A. Caldwell, Mark Sherman, Matthew Lee and Jessica Gresko in Washington, Martha Bellisle in Seattle, William Mathis and Julie Walker in New York, Susannah George in Baghdad, Hamza Hendawi in Cairo and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
Siguatepeque (Honduras) (AFP) - Over the past three years, Honduras has lost a quarter of its pine forests to a plague of bark-munching beetles.

Now though, after a long campaign that saw soldiers wielding chainsaws to contain the bug invasion, a little green is growing back.

In mountains north of the capital that were stripped bare, trees replanted by students from the National University's forest sciences department are growing.

The reforestation work started four months ago. The professor leading the students, Oscar Leveron, explained it will be a slow healing of the landscape: it takes 25-30 years for the trees to mature to the heights of the ones lost.

The infestation of the southern pine beetle, whose scientific name is Dendroctonus frontalis, was first detected in 2013.

Its march blighted bigger and bigger swaths of woodland until, a year ago, the exponential spread prompted President Juan Orlando Hernandez to declare a "forest emergency."

The pest has delivered what is considered one of the worst ecological disasters to befall the Central American country.

- Chainsaws vs bugs -

Some experts attributed the massive invasion to a prolonged drought brought on by the El Nino phenomenon felt across the region.

Satellite images show a total 509,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) have been destroyed by the insect since 2013.

The emergency decree allowed authorities to set up task forces of up to 3,500 people deployed in mountains across the country under the supervision of the Forestry Conservation Institute.

Wielding chainsaws, their mission was to cut down infected trees, and healthy ones in a close radius, to prevent the beetles jumping onto new hosts.

The forestry students joined soldiers in chopping down vast areas of the 5,000 hectares (1,300 acres) of pine forest owned by the university.

Traps made of rows of black funnels and pungent resin were hung from shrubs to attract and catch the bugs, which measure no more than four millimeters (0.15 of an inch).

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At the worst point of the plague, they found one tree infested with 139,000 of the insects, and a trap contained up to 12,000.

As he helped students collect the bugs inside the plastic devices, Leveron said the ideal is to have "zero in the traps."

He showed one trap that contained two bees and a dozen beetles.

Leveron and authorities from the forestry institute told AFP that the plague "is being controlled." But the woods remain vulnerable to new attacks.

- Dry season risk -

The Forestry Conservation Institute official in charge of fighting back the beetle, Juan Barrios, told AFP that 883 hectares were still infected, with little pockets of up five trees teeming with the insects.

"The plague is under 98 percent control. But the problem is to prevent the dispersion of the outbreaks," he said.

The students and the forestry institute have been using seeds from pine cones to replant the devastated zones, although they believe much of the woodland will eventually regenerate naturally.

But Leveron said the rainy season that started last September helped slow the bugs' advance.

The risk now, he said, was the next dry season might see them expanding again, as the lack of water reduces the trees' production of resin, a natural defense.
With Justice Department lawyers making bold claims that President Donald Trump has unchecked power to control who enters the country, the White House is moving swiftly to challenge a federal judges nationwide order barring enforcement of new rules strictly curbing immigration.

Update: The Justice Department filed its appeal to a three-judge panel at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday night.

U.S. District Judge James L. Robart of Seattle on Friday afternoon issued the most sweeping ruling against the Trump Administration to emerge from nine lawsuits across the country challenging the orders. So far, only one judge  in Boston  has rejected such a challenge. The controversy is likely to move quickly to the Supreme Court.

While Judge Robarts decision was temporary until he can weigh further arguments, he made it clear that he had serious doubts about the constitutionality of the controversial presidential executive order against arrivals of new immigrants seeking refugee status or coming from seven Muslim-dominated Mideast nations.

Not long after the judge acted, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Justice Department lawyers would move at the earliest possible time for a postponement of the ruling. Such a delay request would go first to Judge Robart and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco. After that, the next stop would be the Supreme Court; it would take the votes of five of the eight Justices to grant a delay, if the lower courts had refused.

Press Secretary Spicer initially denounced the Seattle judges order as outrageous, but in a later statement deleted that word. He argued that the executive order was lawful and appropriate and it was within the Presidents constitutional authority to protect the homeland.

On Twitter, President Trump criticized the ruling. The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned, Trump stated.

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The Trump Administrations legal defense of the new rules is being made by career Justice Department attorneys under orders from a new Department leader, Acting Attorney General Dana J. Boente. Boente is a career prosecutor who was elevated to that temporary top post after a holdover Department chief, Sally Q. Yates, had barred government lawyers from defending the executive order in court, doubting its legality.

On Thursday night, the new legal team filed its first, broad defense of the new rules, in Judge Robarts court. The filing argued that President Trumps power to issue the executive order was at its maximum because he was using both his own powers over foreign policy and national security under Article II, but also an explicit delegation to him by Congress in federal immigration law to bar the admission into the United States of any foreign nationals whose entry would not be in the national interest.

In that situation, the government lawyers argued, the presidential action was not subject to any review by the courts.

In the judges order delaying enforcement of the rules, he did not react directly to those broad claims, but he did find that the two states challenging President Trump  Washington and Minnesota  were likely to win the case when a final decision is made after further review in his court. The judge did explicitly reject two government arguments: that any enforcement delay should not be nationwide but should be limited to only those two states, and that the two states did not have a legal right to sue because they could not prove that they, as states, had suffered any direct injury from the executive order.

The judge thus implicitly accepted the states argument that they would lose tax revenues, that businesses in the state would suffer economic harm, and that colleges would be disrupted in dealings with foreign students.

The judge did not say which of the states constitutional arguments against the executive order were likely to prevail when the case is decided on the merits. Among those arguments were that the presidential action violated doctrines of religious equality by planning to favor Christian immigrants over Muslims; that it would deny foreign nationals legal equality bases upon their nationality; that it would deny foreign nationals fair procedures when they seek entry to the U.S.; and that it would coerce the states into enforcing a national policy in violation of their rights under the Tenth Amendment.

The judge also did not comment specifically on the two states claims that the executive order violates federal immigration law, including a law that directly forbids discrimination based on national origin.

In the concluding parts of his order, Judge Robart defended the role of the federal courts in enforcing the Constitution. While he conceded that his order might have considerable impact on the federal government and on the nations citizens and residents, he contended that it was narrow in scope, going only as far as necessary to fulfill his constitutional duty.

Robart ordered the two sides to propose by Monday a schedule for filing written legal arguments on whether he should make his temporary bar of enforcement more binding. He said he would promptly schedule a hearing, if that seemed necessary.

In the specifics of his order, Judge Robart did not block enforcement of all provisions of President Trumps immigration restrictions. But he did block five specific parts  the ones that the two states had directly challenged. His order took effect immediately when issued Friday afternoon.

Thus, the government was barred from enforcing these restrictions: first, the 90-day suspension of entry of any immigrants from seven Mideast nations with Muslim majorities; second, the 120-day suspension of admission of foreign nationals seeking refugee status; third, any action by the government that gives favoritism to foreign nationals who follow a religious faith that is a minority in the designated Mideast nations; fourth, deciding on a case-by-case basis which individuals of a minority faith are to be admitted; and, fifth, the indefinite delay of admission of any refugees from Syria.

The Trump Administration has a legal right to appeal the judges order, and it apparently will do so. Its most immediate response apparently will be an emergency request for a postponement of the order pending such an appeal.

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.

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NEW DELHI (AP)  Nearly three years ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a sweeping national election victory with promises to develop the economy and root out corruption. But with a series of key state elections beginning this weekend, Modi's popularity  and his surprise currency decree that sparked months of financial uproar  is now being tested.

India is just emerging from the fallout of a November decision that withdrew India's two largest currency notes from circulation and caused weeks of chaos as people waited to get their money back in new bills.

Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party hailed the move as a way to curb tax fraud and corruption and push India toward more digital spending. Opponents say it was a self-inflicted blow on the world's fastest-growing economy, causing enormous hardship for the vast majority of Indians, who often rely completely on cash.

While the five state elections will not decide whether Modi remains in office, a loss would be seen as a serious blow to his political image. Most important is the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, whose immense population of 204 million means state elections often help shape the national political agenda.

"In these elections, Uttar Pradesh is the real biggie," said Ajoy Bose, a political analyst in New Delhi.

"If the BJP were to lose in Uttar Pradesh, it would be a huge setback, both for the party and for Modi. It would destroy the myth of Modi, who has been projected as this political juggernaut of invincible proportions," Bose said.

Elections were held Saturday in the northern state of Punjab and the beach resort state of Goa. Hundreds of paramilitary troops and police were posted near voting stations across Punjab to ensure security as voters stood in long lines to cast their ballots. By evening, when voting ended in Punjab, around 83 percent of the state's eligible voters had cast ballots, officials said.

In Goa, more than 83 percent voters had cast their vote when polling ended Saturday.

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In the next phase of the election, the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand votes on Feb. 15, and remote northeastern Manipur votes on March 4 and 8.

Elections in Uttar Pradesh begin on Feb. 11, but because of the state's size, voting is divided into seven phases. Results from all the elections will be declared on March 11.

In 2014, the BJP had won an overwhelming 71 out of 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh, or 15 percent of all national legislators in the powerful lower house, ensuring that it emerged as the single largest party in Parliament.

But Modi now faces a tough fight in Uttar Pradesh, with the state's current top official, Akhilesh Yadav, in a political alliance with the Congress Party, led by Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family that ruled India for decades. While the Congress Party is a shadow of its former self, it remains the country's second most popular. The alliance is seen as a way to boost the chances of Yadav's Samajwadi Party while the Congress Party tries to remain relevant in a politically key state.

All those candidates must also face Mayawati, a former chief minister of the state and a master of caste-based politics. Mayawati, who uses only one name, is a Dalit, the name given to the lowest rung of India's caste hierarchy. She commands strong support among the state's Dalits, who form more than one-fifth of the population.

Uttar Pradesh voters are divided over the recent currency decree, analysts say.

"People in rural areas of the state saw the currency withdrawal as an equalizer, where the rich and the poor were hit by the same shortage of currency notes," said Nomita P. Kumar, an economist at the Giri Institute of Development Studies, a think tank in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh's capital. "Poor people were happy that, for once, the rich were in the same boat as themselves. They think it was a smart move by Modi to curb corruption."

Not so in Punjab, where the ruling coalition of the BJP and the regional Shiromani Akali Dal party faces the twin challenges of strong anti-incumbency sentiment and palpable anger against the chaos unleashed by the currency withdrawal. Voters appeared to hold Modi responsible for the economic disruption that followed the abrupt removal of currency.

"The people's anger is directed against Modi and this will be reflected in the way they vote," said Bose, who returned Tuesday from a trip through that state.

The BJP-led coalition also faces a strong challenge from the upstart Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man Party, which has tapped into the voters' disappointment with the state government.

In Goa, the ruling BJP was beset with divisions among its political allies, while the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress were also putting up a strong fight.

Modi's performance in the current state-level elections is also likely to determine his political strategy in the run-up to the next national elections due in 2019, when he is hoping to wrest a second term in office, analysts said.

"This makes the outcome so important. It could be a make-or-break election for Modi," said Bose.

The state elections are also significant for their power to help elect a new president. While the Indian presidency is largely ceremonial, it is a high-profile position, and the president can wield significant power in times of political crisis.

The current president is Pranab Mukherjee, a Congress Party stalwart whose term ends in July. Presidents are elected by a combination of national and state lawmakers. For Modi to bring in his own president, he needs to win Uttar Pradesh and at least one other state.
Trouble falling asleep, frequent night wakings and chronic insomnia could double or even triple the risk of developing asthma, a new European study has found.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that currently affects 300 million people worldwide. Many risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, atmospheric pollution and depression and anxiety symptoms, have been associated with a risk of developing the disease in adulthood.

While many asthma patients experience sleep-related problems, the reverse phenomenon -- whether insomnia patients have a higher chance of developing asthma -- has not been studied in depth.

A team of researchers set about investigating the link between insomnia -- defined as "having difficulties initiating or maintaining sleep, or having poor-quality sleep" -- the risk of developing asthma in adulthood.

The scientists used data from a Norwegian study called HUNT (Nord- Trondelag Health Study) to assess the risk of asthma in 17,926 participants aged between 20 and 65. Participants reported sleep problems (difficulty falling asleep, night wakings, poor-quality sleep) as well as any asthma symptoms at the beginning and end of the study.

The results, published in The European Respiratory Journal, found that participants who reported difficulty falling asleep "often" or "almost every night" over the course of the previous month had a 65% and 108% increased risk of developing asthma in the next 11 years.

Those who reported night wakings with trouble getting back to sleep "often" or "almost every night" had a 92% and 36% increased risk of developing the disease. For patients reporting poor-quality sleep more than once a week, the risk of developing asthma increased by 94%.

The researchers then looked at patients with chronic insomnia who reported at least one insomnia symptom at the start of the study and 10 years later. For these participants, the risk of developing asthma tripled compared to those without chronic insomnia.

For the study's authors, insomnia may cause changes in the body which could accumulate over time and risk causing more serious, harmful effects on the airways.

"As insomnia is a manageable condition, an increased focus on the adverse health effects of insomnia could be helpful in the prevention of asthma," concludes Dr Linn-Beate Strand, one of the study's co-authors.
Tehran (AFP) - Iran has extended a deadline for bids on oil and gas projects, urging Britain's BP to join major international companies that have already applied, local media reported Saturday.

The bidding round for exploration and production licences comes as it seeks to revive the sector, hard-hit by international sanctions that were lifted last year.

National Iranian Oil Company head Ali Kardor said the deadline for bids had been pushed back to February 15, ISNA news agency reported Saturday.

He said the original late January deadline had been extended because "information from some companies was not complete".

He said British Petroleum had still not submitted a bid.

"We are interested to see more companies on the list," Kardor said.

"BP has not sent its information to us.

"Although we said this is an official process and you need to enter your information, they haven't done it," he added.

The new licensing round comes a year since a deal between Iran and world powers came into force, lifting international sanctions against Tehran in return for limits on its nuclear programme.

Iran is keen to access new technology to boost its production from fields it shares with its Gulf neighbours.

In early January, it published a list of 29 companies it would allow to bid.

It said it had received bids from Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, Italy's ENI, France's Total, Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil, and Schlumberger of the Netherlands.

Asian giants including China's CNPC and Sinopec International, the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration also put in bids along with companies from Malaysia and South Korea.

Oil-rich Iran has increased production to 3.9 million barrels per day from 2.6 million bpd before President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013.

It has also earned more than $2 billion (1.9 billion euros) from gas sales since sanctions were lifted, Kardor said.

The country has already signed a flurry of deals with international companies.

Story continues

In November, French oil and gas giant Total signed a preliminary agreement for a $4.8-billion (4.3-billion-euro) project to develop an offshore gas field at South Pars, which Iran shares with Qatar.

In December, Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia's Gazprom on the development of two major oilfields.

Also in December, it signed three preliminary deals with Shell to examine developing major oil and gas fields.
Tel Aviv (AFP) - Israeli Arabs and Jews marched arm-in-arm through central Tel Aviv on Saturday night, calling for the government to stop demolishing Arab homes built without permits that it rarely grants.

An AFP journalist said that around 1,000 protesters took part, many carrying banners in Hebrew and Arabic, reading "Jews and Arabs together".

Leading the march were opposition lawmakers from the left-wing Meretz party and from the Joint List, a coalition of mainly Arab parties.

Israeli Arabs say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government has cracked down on unlicensed Arab construction to try to placate Jewish settlers angry at a demolition order against the Amona wildcat outpost in the occupied West Bank.

Tensions flared last month when police flooded the Arab village of Umm al-Heiran in southern Israel to supervise demolitions, and a policeman and his Arab alleged attacker were killed in disputed circumstances.

Police said that villager Yacoub Abu al-Qiyan, 50, was shot dead after he rammed officers with his vehicle, killing one of them.

They alleged he was active in the Israeli Islamic Movement and may have been influenced by the Islamic State group -- a claim residents strongly denied, calling him a respected teacher.

"Members of our government are proud to establish alternative facts," Meretz MP Michal Rozin told the demonstrators on Saturday.

"They do this not from ignorance," she added. "They are building a narrative of fear, racism and hatred of the other in a deliberate and sinister fashion which serves their political ends."

In a December video address, Netanyahu linked the order to dismantle the Amona outpost with a fresh offensive on unapproved Arab construction in Israel.

"The law must be equitable; the same law which obliges vacating Amona also obliges removing illegal construction in other parts of our country," he said.

"Therefore I have given orders to speed up demolition of illegal construction... in all parts of the country and we shall do that in the coming days."

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Amona residents and their supporters were cleared from their West Bank hilltop on Thursday, and their homes are expected to be taken down during the coming week.

Israeli Arabs are descendants of Palestinians who remained after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

They now make up around 17.5 percent of the population, and say the state systematically discriminates against them.

They say the Jewish state makes it impossible for them to obtain planning permission to expand their communities.

The result is that many resort to building homes without permits, leaving them liable to demolition.
By Phil Stewart and Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrapped up a visit to Japan on Saturday reaffirming Washington's commitment to its defense treaty with Tokyo amid concerns about President Donald Trump's approach to the region and the alliance. Mattis reiterated that provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs, as well as China's growing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas, left no room for doubt about U.S. commitment to Japan's defense. That was similar to the message that Mattis - making his first overseas trip since taking office - delivered in South Korea, Washington's other key Asian ally, earlier in the week. He appeared eager to reassure Japan of U.S. resolve, after a 2016 election campaign in which Trump suggested both South Korea and Japan were benefiting from a U.S. security umbrella without sharing enough of the costs. "The U.S.-Japan alliance is critical to ensuring that this region remains safe and secure  not just now, but for years to come," Mattis told a joint news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada. But in what could been seen as a subtle prod to Japan to do more, he added: "But make no mistake: in my meetings with Japanese leaders, both our nations recognize that we must not be found complacent in the face of the emerging challenges we face. "As our alliance grows, it will be important for both our nations to continue investing in our defense personnel and capabilities." Mattis said Tokyo's financial support for U.S. troops in Japan had been a "model of cost-sharing" while Inada told the same news conference there had been no discussion of whether Japan should increase that funding. Mattis also noted that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has increased defense spending since taking office in December 2012, a move he said was "on the right track." Japan's defense spending is around 1 percent of gross domestic product, compared to around 2 percent for China and over 3 percent for the United States. DEEPER THREE-WAY TIES Mattis also repeated that Trump's administration would adhere to Washington's commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China, an assurance that Tokyo has been keen to hear. Inada said she told Mattis that Japan would play a proactive security role, in line with legal changes enacted under Abe that eased the limits of its pacifist constitution on its military's operations overseas. At the start of her talks with Mattis, Inada said she hoped his visit to Seoul and Tokyo would deepen three-way security ties. Japan's relations with South Korea have frayed recently due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation vital. "South Korea is an important neighbor," Inada said. "I want to link Secretary Mattis' visit to Japan and South Korea to the further deepening of defense cooperation among the three countries." Japan's relations with South Korea have frayed recently due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation between the two allies vital. Japan last month temporarily recalled its ambassador to South Korea over a statue near the Japanese consulate in Busan city commemorating Korean "comfort women". The term "comfort women" is a euphemism for women forced to work in Japanese military brothels. Tokyo says the statue, put in place late last year, and another near the Japanese embassy in Seoul, violate a December 2015 agreement stating the issue - which has long plagued ties - would be "irreversibly resolved" if all conditions were met. (Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Nick Macfie)
LONDON (AP)  Harry Kane's penalty was decisive as Tottenham took advantage of its rivals' losses and secured a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Saturday.

Despite being frustrated for long periods by the organized Middlesbrough defense, Kane's 14th league goal this season was enough to secure a vital three points at White Hart Lane for second-placed Tottenham.

With Arsenal and Liverpool both having lost earlier on Saturday, Tottenham seized the opportunity to move ahead of its rivals at the top of the table behind leader Chelsea.

The crucial moment came in the 58th as Heung-Min Son cut inside from the left side of the Middlesbrough penalty area and Espinosa Bernardo brought down the South Korea forward for a clear penalty.

Kane made no mistake as he sent Victor Valdes the wrong way to give his side a lead it never looked like relinquishing.

Aside from Bernardo's blip in concentration, Middlesbrough had done well to frustrate a Spurs team, which has now won its last seven league games at White Hart Lane and boasts the only unbeaten home record in the division.

Valdes saved well from Son early on and did well to keep out Christian Eriksen's powerful strike moments after Spurs had taken the lead, while Kane had a goal rightly ruled out for offside three minutes before the break.

Middlesbrough's resilience was no surprise. Aitor Karanka's team holds the third best defensive record away from home in the Premier League, but its shortcomings at the other end were apparent.

Alvaro Negredo's header over the bar after just four minutes was the closest Middlesbrough came until stoppage time, when substitute Patrick Bamford came close to snatching a point for the visitors as he shot narrowly wide.

Nine points behind Chelsea, Tottenham moved three points clear of Arsenal and four of Liverpool.

Middlesbrough has now failed to win its last seven league games and remains 15th, just one point above the relegation zone and two points clear of bottom team Sunderland.
LONDON (AP)  Harry Kane's penalty was decisive as second-placed Tottenham secured a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Saturday to take advantage of its rivals' losses.

Despite being frustrated for long periods by Middlesbrough's defense, Kane's 14th league goal this season was enough to secure a vital three points at White Hart Lane for Tottenham.

With Arsenal and Liverpool both having lost earlier Saturday, Tottenham seized the opportunity to move ahead of its rivals at the top of the table and within nine points of leader Chelsea.

"The last few minutes we were a little bit nervous. But I think we played much, much better and deserved the three points," Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said.

"Nine points (Chelsea's lead), it's okay, it's three games, but it's up to us to keep pushing, to keep up the pressure and keep winning games."

Middlesbrough had secured impressive draws against Manchester City and Arsenal already this season, but was unable to repeat the trick a third time.

"It was almost the same (as Manchester City)," Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka said. "But the difference was we couldn't score today ... Once again we showed that we can compete against every single team and once again I have to say that the players have been amazing."

The crucial moment came in the 58th as Heung-Min Son cut inside from the left side of the Middlesbrough penalty area and Espinosa Bernardo brought down the South Korea forward for a clear penalty.

Kane made no mistake as he sent Victor Valdes the wrong way to give his side a lead it never looked like relinquishing.

Aside from Bernardo's blip in concentration, Middlesbrough had done well to frustrate a Spurs team which has now won its last seven league games at White Hart Lane and boasts the only unbeaten home record in the division.

Valdes saved well from Son early on and did well to keep out Christian Eriksen's powerful strike moments after Spurs had taken the lead, while Kane had a goal rightly ruled out for offside three minutes before the break.

Story continues

Middlesbrough's resilience was no surprise. Karanka's team holds the third best defensive record away from home in the Premier League, but its shortcomings at the other end were apparent.

Alvaro Negredo's header over the bar after just four minutes was the closest Middlesbrough came until stoppage time, when Marten de Roon almost snatched a point for the visitors as he shot narrowly wide.

Tottenham moved three points clear of Arsenal and four of Liverpool. Tottenham plays at Liverpool next weekend in the league.

Middlesbrough has now failed to win its last seven league games and remains 15th, just one point above the relegation zone and two points clear of bottom team Sunderland.
Kellyanne Conway and Chelsea Clinton are dueling on Twitter over the Trump advisers latest alternative fact.

After Conway referred to the non-existent Bowling Green massacre during a Thursday interview with MSNBCs Chris Matthews, many were quick to correct  and criticize  her on social media.

Among the critics was Clinton, who fired off a biting tweet Friday morning that read: Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please dont make up attacks.

It didnt end there. Conway responded to the former first daughter several hours later with an equally scathing tweet referencing mother Hillary Clintons false claim that she landed in Bosnia under heavy sniper fire in 1996.

Bosnia lie a Great reminder, Conway wrote. And 2 @ChelseaClinton & others, you cant invent quality candidates either. I misspoke; you lost the election.

Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please don't make up attacks.  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 3, 2017

Bosnia lie a Great reminder. And 2 @ChelseaClinton & others, you can't "invent" quality candidates either. I misspoke; you lost the election https://t.co/7TwnX2b5yA  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) February 3, 2017

Conway cited the phony Bowling Green massacre on Thursday in an effort to defend President Trumps controversial executive order temporarily banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

The 50-year-old later clarified that she was referring to the two Iraqi men who lived in the city when they were arrested for terrorist activities.

Mohanad Hammadi and Waad Alwan admitted to using improvised explosive devices against U.S. soldiers in Iraq  not in Bowling Green  and were accused of attempting to send money and weapons to al-Qaeda, according to the Department of Justice.

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Hammadi was sentenced to life in federal prison and Alwan was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison followed by a life term of supervised release, according to the Department.

In the interview, Conway also noted that former President Barack Obama first identified the countries affected by Trumps ban: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

She added that Trumps controversial policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months.

However, Obama did not ban visas for Iraqi refugees for six months.

In 2016, Obama added Somalia, Yemen and Libya to a list of countries of concern, slowing down visa approvals for those who had visited the countries after March 1, 2011, according to The Hill. Iraq, Iran, Syria and Sudan have been on the list since 2015, the publication reports.

RELATED VIDEO: Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack

The visa restrictions came in the aftermath of Hammadi and Alwans arrests, but there was never a point when Iraqi refugees were banned from entering the U.S. under Obamas administration, the Post reports.

There were, however, more extensive background checks and vetting procedures imposed, thus slowing down visa approvals, according to the Post.

Clinton wasnt the only one to go after Conway on social media. Here are some of the tweets criticizing her Bowling Green massacre gaffe:

Saddened and sickened by Frederick Douglass' silence surrounding the Bowling Green Massacre.  Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) February 3, 2017

I wrote a doctoral thesis on the Bowling Green Massacre and now I have a Ph.D from Trump University. DeVos plagiarized it.  mauitam (@mauitam) February 3, 2017

Finding these Bowling Green Massacre jokes to be a little too soon. Out of respect, we should wait until it takes place.  Justin Shanes (@justinshanes) February 3, 2017

Devastated to learn that Manti Te'o's girlfriend was one of the victims lost in the Bowling Green Massacre.  Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) February 3, 2017

Please, a moment of alternative silence for the victims of the Bowling Green massacre, another person tweeted.

Guys, these Bowling Green Massacre jokes are a little too soon, another wrote. Out of respect, we should wait until it takes place. #AltFacts.




A soldier was injured and a suspect was in serious condition Friday in Paris after an attack French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called "terrorist in nature." The suspect, who has not been named by the police, was identified as a 29-year-old man from Egypt hours after he was shot while storming the legendary Louvre museum with a machete, franceinfo reported.

The suspect rushed toward a crowd of guards shouting "Allahu akbar," an Arabic term for "God is great," at about 10 a.m. local time, the Local reported. He had two backpacks and two weapons but no explosives. As the suspect approached, a soldier opened fire, hitting him in the stomach and head.

The suspect was taken to the hospital. He did not have identity papers on him, CNN reported, though as the day wore on, photos of the incident leaked on social media.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said at a Friday night news conference the suspect's name had not been "formally established." Other authorities revealed they were working to figure out whether he'd acted alone.

"We are dealing with an attack from an individual who was clearly aggressive and represented a direct threat, and whose comments lead us to believe that he wished to carry out a terrorist incident," the head of Paris' police, Michel Cadot, told reporters. "There was also a second individual who was behaving suspiciously, who has also been detained, but for now there does not appear to be a link between that individual and the attack."

Much of France remained on high alert Friday, as it has since the November 2015 Paris attacks, in which Islamic State group fighters killed more than 130 people with explosions and bombs, and the July 2016 Nice killings, in which more than 80 people at a Bastille Day celebration died after being run over by a truck.

United States President Donald Trump, who recently enacted a travel ban for people coming from certain Muslim majority countries over security concerns, referenced the fact that France was "on edge again" in a Tweet Friday morning about the Louvre shooting. "A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down," he wrote. "GET SMART U.S."

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Cairo (AFP) - The father of an Egyptian suspected of being the machete attacker in Paris's Louvre museum said Saturday his son showed no sign of radicalisation and he believed in his innocence.

Reda El-Hamahmy, a retired police general, told AFP he had been constantly in touch with his son who worked as a sales manager in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

"He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday," Hamahmy said.

"He is a simple guy. We all love him," he added, saying he had not detected any signs that his son had been radicalised.

French investigators believe the man who launched a machete attack outside the Louvre in Paris, before being shot and wounded by a soldier, is a 29-year-old Egyptian who entered the country on a tourist visa.

A source close to the case said the man's condition has improved in hospital and it is "no longer life-threatening".

His father has disputed the police account of how his son came to be shot outside the museum.

"The French government's account is not logical. He was 1.65 metres tall (five foot five) and attacked four guards? And in the end they found nothing in his bags," he said.

"I can show you pictures where he has no beard," he said, referring to beards grown by some devout Muslims.

"Our household is a moderate household and mind our own business," he added.

Hamahmy said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah El-Hamahmy, who he said has had no contact with the family since Friday.

"National Security (police) came yesterday and asked for information about him, and I gave them whatever I had," he said.

Abdallah El-Hamahmy is married, with his pregnant wife currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son, his father said.

The attacker is believed to have entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26, a French source said.

Story continues

- Twitter account probed -

Investigators are examining a Twitter account of an Egyptian man named Abdallah El-Hamahmy who posted around a dozen messages minutes prior to the attack.

"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," El-Hamahmy wrote, linking to a post he wrote on his Facebook page.

"No negotiations, no compromise, steadfastness and no retreat," he added.

His Facebook page and his Twitter account have since been suspended.

In another post on Twitter, he cited a Koranic verse that promises heaven to those who are killed fighting for the sake of God.

Another post questioned: "Why are they afraid of the creation of a state for Islam? Because the state of Islam defends its resources and the honour of Muslims."

He also insulted US President Donald Trump the same day, labelling him "Donald Duck".

He had announced his trip to France in a Twitter message on January 26. "Travelling to Paris, France from DXB," he wrote.

A friend of El-Hamahmy said he believed the Twitter account to be that of the suspect, who he insisted had not been an extremist.

"I knew him since he graduated," he said of Hamahmy, who travelled to the United Arab Emirates after obtaining a law degree from Egypt's Mansoura University.

"I didn't pay attention to his Twitter account, but read it after the incident," said the friend, who requested anonymity.

"It's as though it's a different person. As though it was hacked."
HELENA  The Montana Legislature voted Friday to send back a spending bill to Gov. Steve Bullock without any changes, a day after the Democratic governor criticized the measure's disproportional spending increase compared with budget cuts being considered across the rest of state government.

The House and Senate rejected the Democratic governor's recommendation that lawmakers trim an additional $1.3 million from the so-called "feed bill," which pays for the operations of the 90-day legislative session. Bullock's recommendation came Thursday in an amendatory veto, which allows the Legislature to vote for or against the governor's changes and send the bill back to him for reconsideration.

Bullock can now sign the bill into law, veto it or let it become law without his signature. Bullock spokeswoman Ronja Abel says he is considering his options.

If the governor vetoes the bill, the Legislature won't be able to pay for operations and the salaries of staff, and would have to adjourn about a third of the way through the session, said House Appropriations Chairwoman Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton. The cash flow problem already has begun, with the Legislature having to find money from another budget source for lawmakers' per diem payments this week, she added.

Bullock said during a news conference Thursday announcing the amendatory veto that lawmakers increased their own funding by nearly 15 percent while planning deep spending cuts elsewhere to fix the state's budget shortfall caused by a drop in energy production.

Republican bristled at the idea that they are exempting themselves from the planned cuts, saying the Legislature has already pledged to return $1.2 million of unspent money to lessen the budget shortfall. Many of the increases in the feed bill are due to laws that were passed during the 2015 legislative session, they added.

In the end, the governor's amendatory veto was a political stunt, a distraction from the larger issue of fixing the budget, Ballance said.

"This is so minor because it was so blatantly obviously what was going on," Ballance said. "He's not going to send us home, because what's he going to do, send us back to a special session?"

Bullock said in a statement that he is disappointed the Legislature did not agree to his recommended changes.

"I will continue to stand with Montanans across the state as we look for ways to fund the services they expect, trim back unnecessary government spending, create jobs, and grow the economy," he said. "I hope the Republican-led legislature decides to join me."
LYON, France (Reuters) - French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called on U.S. scientists, academics and entrepreneurs at odds with Donald Trump's administration to move to France. The former economy minister, one of the frontrunners in the upcoming presidential election, urged U.S.-based scientists working on climate change, renewable energy or health issues who were wary of the new political situation to seek refuge across the Atlantic. "I want all those who today embody innovation and excellence in the United States to hear what we say: from now on, from next May, you will have a new homeland, France," he said. Rogue Twitter feeds voicing employee concerns at more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have been launched in defiance of what they say are Trump's attempts to muzzle federal climate change research and other science. Representing scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus, either directly or through friends and supporters, the accounts protest restrictions they view as censorship since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Without naming Trump in his campaign speech in the southeastern city of Lyon, Macron, a former investment banker, said his "solemn call" was meant to all "researchers, academics and companies in the United States fighting obscurantism and who are afraid today", to join the land of innovation he wants France to be. Macron's campaign for the Elysee palace has been given a fillip by a scandal over fake pay embroiling his main rival, conservative Francois Fillon, and the nomination of a hard-left candidate to represent the ruling Socialist party. The 39-year old is now seen reaching the election's crucial second round runoff in May and beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin, according to a number of opinion polls published this past week. Macron also had a thinly veiled dig at Trump's intention to build a wall along the Mexico border, comparing it to France's Maginot Line, which in 1940 failed to keep Nazi invaders out of France. "I don't want to build a wall. I can assure you there's no wall in my program," he told about 8,000 cheering supporters. "Can you remember the Maginot Line?" (Reporting by Michel Rose, Emmanuel Jarry and Catherine Lagrange, editing by Louise Heavens)
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico and Turkey agreed on Friday to speed up negotiations for a free trade agreement in the wake of protectionist threats from US President Donald Trump.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and his visiting Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu said the two governments have held seven rounds of talks and will meet again in the coming weeks.

"We have agreed to give a faster impetus to the search for an agreement," Videgaray told reporters.

"Today, more than ever, Mexico is open to the world and Mexico wants to build and strengthen its trade and investment ties with every country that we are friends with, regardless of geographic distance," he said.

Cavusoglu said Turkey wants to "intensify talks" on free trade with Mexico.

He also proposed to strengthen the MIKTA forum, a political and trade forum that includes Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia.

"Together we will invest more efforts into making this forum more politically relevant, more effective and more visible," the Turkish minister said.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are preparing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as demanded by Trump, who calls the pact a "catastrophe" for his country.

Faced with Trump's threat to leave NAFTA if necessary, Latin America's second biggest economy is speeding up negotiations with the European Union and seeking to tighten trade bonds with other nations.
A young mother died a hero after she saved her newborn babys life during a fire at their Illinois home Friday, authorities said.

Shelby Carter, 21, reportedly strapped her baby girl in a car seat, broke a second-floor window during the fire, and tossed her 12-day-old daughter to the ground below  saving her life, authorities confirmed.

Read: Hunters Discover and Save Unconscious Children Poisoned by Carbon Monoxide

"I guess it's the motherly instinct to take care of their young," Ed Foglesonger, chief of the volunteer fire department in Wyoming, told CNN. "We're all wondering why she didn't go out after the baby."

Firefighters later found Carters body in a room on the second floor of the home. Authorities said the mom died of smoke inhalation, according to reports.

The newborn was transported the hospital and was in good condition, according to reports.

The Wyoming-Speer Fire Department took to Facebook to express their sadness at the tragedy.

"Words cannot describe what has happened within our community today. We have experienced a feeling that no department wants to go through," it said in part.

According to Carters obituary, she passed away the day after her birthday.

Read: Dad Rescues Daughter From House Fire, Dies When He Goes Back Inside For Another Child

Carter and the baby girl lived in the house with her mother and fiance, but only Carter and the baby were home when the fire broke out in the living room downstairs, according to reports.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.

Watch: Stray Bullet Nearly Misses Baby After Flying Through Headboard of Crib

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Guatemala City (AFP) - Some 30,000 motorcycle-riding Catholics left the Guatemalan capital Saturday on a pilgrimage to the eastern city of Esquipulas to venerate the so-called Black Christ.

The 140-mile (222-kilometer) journey ends with the devout paying homage to the Black Christ, an aged wooden likeness of Jesus grown dark over centuries.

The image is worshiped by Guatemalans, other Central Americans and some Mexicans.

The first such ride took place in 1961, when a motorcyclist and fervent believer in the powers of the Black Christ -- one Ruben Villadeleon, nicknamed "Zorro" -- took the ride with a handful of friends.

The shrine and the city attract a huge influx of pilgrims and tourists every year.

President Jimmy Morales gave the signal to start this year's motorized pilgrimage. Participants left from Guatemala City's Central Plaza for Esquipulas, which Pope John Paul II declared in 1996 to be the "Central American Capital of Faith."

Organizers of the Caravan set up four stops along the way for riders needing refreshments or mechanical assistance, seven check-in points and four rest stops. Most of the riders were planning to return home on Sunday.

Although the voyage began as a family tradition, most participants now are messengers or collection agents -- among other professions that use motorcycles -- who travel east in hopes of receiving divine favors.

Dozens of people don costumes for the ride. This year one dressed as US President Donald Trump and another as his predecessor Barack Obama, according to photos in the local press.

In 2015, organizers attempted to set a Guinness record for the largest motorcycle caravan in the world, but failed to meet all of Guinness's requirements.

Guatemala gave the caravan national-heritage status in 2011 due to its huge popularity.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A Louisiana State Museum exhibition that opens Friday (Feb. 10) will commemorate the centennial of New Orleans' oldest surviving women's Carnival parade krewe and the evolution of women's krewes from the 1890s to the present.

The Krewe of Iris, which was formed in 1917, and the krewes of Muses and Nyx provided display material and helped financially with the exhibit, called "Iris and the Goddesses of Carnival," said Wayne Phillips, the museum's curator of carnival collections.

The exhibit runs through December 2018 at the Presbytere.

Museum artifacts on display include a photo of the first queen of the first women's krewe, called Les Mysterieuses (lay mis-TEHR-ee-UHZ), which held leap year balls in 1896 and 1900.

A new group has taken the name, and gave a ball in late December, billing it as the third Les Mysterieuses ball, Phillips said.

He said a number of groups, many of them very short-lived, sprang up in the first two decades of the 20th century.

"The late 1800s and early 1900s were a very active time for ladies' social clubs, many of which embraced the fight for suffrage," he said.

World War I may have killed some of the groups, he said. "Everything ground to a halt Mardi-Gras-wise in World War I; a lot of those krewes disappeared after 1916 or 1917," Phillips said.

Iris may have started out as a social club, but almost nothing is known about its early years, he said.

The group held its first ball in 1922, but disbanded in 1929, and some of its members created a new group called Iridis, meaning "rainbow." Iris re-formed about 1938, Phillips said.

It didn't parade until 1959, but wasn't the first women's group to do so.

Men's groups had sponsored every parade until 1941, when the Krewe of Venus put on its first parade.

"The woman who founded Iris also founded Venus," Phillips said. But Iris has been created as a ball-only group, and didn't want to parade. For more than 10 years, he said, Iris founder Aminthe Nungesser was captain of both groups.

Story continues

Women's groups parading now included Muses, Nyx, Femme Fatale, Shangri-La, and Cleopatra.

The exhibit will include a detailed overview of women's krewe parades, including forgotten groups such as Mittens, the Mystic Maids, Empyreans, and Titanians, Phillips said in a news release.

Items on display come from the museum and a number of lenders. Those include Arnaud's restaurant, which owns the earliest known existing Iris queen's dress, worn in 1941 by Irma Cazenave, wife of Count Arnaud Cazenave.

Rare photographs from the late 1800s and early 1900s and ball favors, invitations and dance cards from the early 20th century are among items to be shown. The exhibit is part of the Women of New Orleans: Builders and Rebuilders exhibition initiative of the nonprofit Nola4Women , launched in honor of New Orleans' tricentennial.

___

Louisiana State Museum: http://www.crt.state.la.us/

Iris and the Goddesses of Carnival: http://www.crt.state.la.us/Assets/Museum/exhibits/Goddesses-of-Carnival/Image-Highlights.pdf

Links: nola4women: http://www.nola4women.org/
Yangon (AFP) - A second suspect has been arrested over the brazen murder of a prominent Muslim lawyer in Myanmar, state media reported on Saturday, as questions build over a killing that stunned the Buddhist-majority country.

Ko Ni, a 63-year-old legal advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy, was shot in the head outside Yangon's airport last Sunday while he was holding his grandson and waiting for a taxi.

A cab driver who tried to intervene was also killed, and the gunman -- identified as 53-year-old Kyi Lin -- was arrested at the scene.

Police have not offered a motive for the murder of Ko Ni, who spoke out against rising anti-Islamic sentiment and also criticised the army's lingering grip on power.

But the NLD, whose electoral victory ended decades of military rule, has called the murder a political assassination and "terrorist act" against their policies.

After a series of police leaks and conflicting comments about the investigation, state media confirmed Saturday that a second suspect had been arrested 12 hours after the murder.

Aung Win Zaw, 46, was detained in Kayin State on January 30, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported, describing him as "an alleged conspirator of the crime".

"A combined team from the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) and Myanmar Police Force is continuing to work to get more information," said a statement from the president's office.

Political murders are rare in Yangon and Ko Ni's killing has rippled fear across Myanmar's minority Muslim community and the young NLD-led government.

The veteran party member was an outspoken critic of a charter drafted by the former junta that enshrines the military's control over key government bodies and a quarter of parliament seats.

He was also a voice for religious pluralism in Myanmar, which has been hit by bouts of sectarian violence.

His funeral on Monday drew thousands of mourners and a rare show of solidarity between religious leaders and politicians from across the spectrum.

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On Saturday hundreds more attended a prayer ceremony jointly led by imams and Buddhist monks honouring both Ko Ni and the taxi driver Ne Win.

Among those in the crowd was NLD member Wai Wai Thein, who told AFP that she feared for the safety of other leading politicians.

"We... feel this way as the details of the case have not been revealed yet," she said.

"We want the true information to be released. We worry for the security of all NLD leaders, especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."

The killings come amid heightened religious tensions in Myanmar, with the army accused of carrying out a murderous crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority in western Rakhine state following an attack on a police post there last October.

Myanmar refuses to grant the Rohingya citizenship and describes them as Bengalis -- or illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh -- even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

On Friday the UN said it was "very likely" that security officers committed crimes against humanity in their hunt for the attackers.

The report detailed testimony from 204 Rohingya refugees who have fled the crackdown and described horrific scenes of officers killing villagers, gang-raping women and torching homes.

Myanmar's government called the allegations "extremely serious" and said it would review the report.
Nepali model Anjali Lama hailed a "dream come true" on Friday after becoming the first transgender model to walk the runway at an Indian fashion show.

The 32-year-old, who was born a man in rural Nepal, has been strutting the catwalk at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai, India's premier fashion show, which started on Wednesday and runs until Sunday.

"Ever since I started modelling it's been my dream to appear in a fashion week. My dream has come true and I feel so happy and grateful," she told AFP.

Lama was born Nabin Waiba to a family of poor farmers in the remote Nuwakot region in mountainous Nepal.

But she always knew that she had been born in the wrong body and in 2005 took the decision to dress as a woman for the first time.

Lama, who has undergone partial sex reassignment was ostracised by members of her own family when she came out and said it had been a difficult journey to get to where she is today.

"The name I carved out as the first transgender model in India wasn't an easy process. I had to work hard, mentally handle stress and pressure. I struggled a lot," she said.

Lama added that she hoped transgenders across conservative South Asia would take heart from her success.

"Some transgenders may feel scared to come out. If they come out after being inspired by me ... (and) think 'I can be like her' and then believe in themselves, then I'll feel very proud of myself," she said.
Lagos (AFP) - One of Nigeria's most powerful men, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering and fraud in a landmark anti-corruption case, has returned home, his aides told AFP on Saturday.

"Chief James Ibori has arrived. He landed in Abuja in the early hours," said Ighoyota Amori, a political adviser to Ibori, who was governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007.

He said Ibori, who was released in London in December after serving just over four years of a 13-year jail term, would later fly to the southern port city of Warri in Delta state.

"A chartered private plane will fly him to Warri and he will land at Osubi airfield operated by Shell," he added.

The former politician would be received at the airstrip by supporters and sympathisers who have lined up to welcome him back, he added.

"For now, it is going to be a quiet ceremony. An elaborate reception will be organised later for him at Oghara, his hometown," he said.

Ibori's media aide, Tony Eluemunor, also confirmed his arrival, saying only: "He is in town. I will keep you posted later."

Ibori was jailed in April 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly 50 million pounds (at the time $78.5 million/62 million euros) following a drawn-out extradition procedure and his evasion of arrest and prosecution in Nigeria.

He had fled to Dubai in 2010, from where he was extradited to Britain.

- Rare blow against graft -

Anti-corruption campaigners say billions of pounds of ill-gotten wealth is moved each year through Britain, its overseas territories and dependencies and Ibori's conviction was a rare success against global graft.

Ibori, 57, has vowed to appeal the conviction, claiming that at least one police officer involved in the investigation against him had been compromised by taking bribes.

London's Metropolitan Police has said it has investigated the claim but no charges were brought.

Transparency International on Friday called Ibori's intent to appeal "an affront to justice".

Story continues

"Ibori claims that the police who investigated him were themselves corrupt.

"All allegations of corruption against the police force must be taken with the utmost seriousness and independently investigated, and those found guilty should be held accountable," it said.

"But this should have no bearing on the guilt of an individual who amassed an astonishing personal fortune, whilst his notional official salary as a state governor would typically have been no more than $25,000 annually," it said.

"Attempts to mask his own corrupt dealings by highlighting corruption elsewhere must not be allowed to prevail."

Opinions are divided in Nigeria itself about whether Ibori should face a fresh trial on his return given the strong anti-corruption stance of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ibori is said to have partially funded the election of Umaru Yar'Adua in his successful bid to become president in 2007.

Even during his time in prison, he is said to have influenced the election of the current Delta state governor and other politicians.
Paris (AFP) - The French equivalent of the Academy Awards will not have an honorary host this year, its organisers announced Saturday, after their first choice, director Roman Polanski, pulled out in a storm of controversy.

"The board of the Cesars Academy has decided there will be no president... We take responsibility for the tumult that you have seen", said Alain Terzian, president of the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques.

Women's groups and government officials had protested the choice last month of Polanski, an award-winning director of "The Pianist" and "Chinatown" who has been wanted in the United States for almost four decades over the rape of a 13-year-old girl.

The group Osez le Feminisme ("Dare to be Feminist") led to a petition drive for the 83-year-old to be removed which garnered nearly 62,000 signatures.

Less than a week after the announcement, the Polish-born Polanski, who also has French citizenship, said through his lawyer that he would withdraw from hosting the Cesars.

Last month the director won a legal battle in Poland to end US efforts there to extradite him.

He was also arrested in 2009 in Switzerland as authorities there acted on Washington's extradition request -- but that country ultimately decided not to respect the order.

The extradition campaign dates back to the 1970s. Polanski was accused of drugging Samantha Gailey before raping her at a friend's house in Los Angeles in 1977.

He pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, as part of a plea bargain, but later fled to France.

Meanwhile, he has led a prolific career as an esteemed filmmaker, earning eight Academy Awards and numerous international accolades.
New York (AFP) - About 3,000 people demonstrated in New York Saturday against Donald Trump, voicing solidarity with LGBT groups, Muslims and others they fear the US president could target.

In bright afternoon sun, protesters massed around the historic Stonewall Inn, a powerful symbol of the gay community and its hard-won rights, in Greenwich Village.

Waving rainbow and American flags, a colorful crowd that included people wearing pink "pussy hats," a symbol of the women's marches that gathered around the globe two weeks ago, chanted slogans such as: "Resist" and "No hate! No fear! Refugees are welcome here!"

The protests were called in response to Trump's decree late Friday that sought to bar citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries from entering the United States. A federal judge later that day blocked its implementation.

Saturday marked the first time since the billionaire realty TV star was sworn in on January 20 that the gay community held a major protest in Manhattan.

Several local politicians delivered speeches calling for an end to Trump's travel-related restrictions, particularly the refugee ban, including powerful New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer.

Gabriel Blau, one of the organizers, said the LGBT community is made up of "immigrants, Muslims, women... we are no strangers to what it is to be under attack."

In a city and community that voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton, some protesters took harsh tones.

"I came because we have a fascist at the head of the United States and we have to come together to resist him," said filmmaker Steve Lippman.

The Stonewall Inn is the site where riots broke out on June 28, 1969 after police raided the gay bar in the middle of the night to enforce a law that at the time barred homosexuals from being served alcohol.

The episode was considered a major catalyst for the LGBT rights movement in the United States. Former president Barack Obama designated it a national monument in June 2016.
Protestors stormed the campus of New York University in opposition of a conservative guest speaker Thursday night. The speech by Gavin McInnes, which was recorded by a student with the NYU independent news source's Periscope account, NYU Local, showed the address to the NYU Republican student body at the Kimmel Center was interrupted by students' Anti-Fascist group about eight minutes into his appearance.

Eleven people were later arrested for misconduct, CBS News reported. During the demonstration, angry protestor sprayed McInnes with pepper spray.

The 22-minute Periscope broadcast showed the Anti-Fascist group screaming at the conservative event's attendees. The group organized the protest on Facebook after discovering the Republican group's event. The event description, which has since been taken down, encouraged students to join them to "let NYU know that we will not stand for bigotry, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny on our campus," the NYU Local reported.

"No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!" the crowd chanted.

"This is what democracy looks like!" they added.

McInnes, co-founder of Vice Media, comedian and leader of the conservative group "Proud Boys," was invited to speak by the NYU Republicans, according to the NYU Local. McInnes has had a reputation among feminist organizations and the LGBTQ community over his controversial statements written in an article he published on Thought Catalog in 2014 titled Transphobia is Perfectly Normal. He received backlash for his views on transgerism, which he called a mental illness. He also wrote that changing from one gender to another is in fact "sexist, misandrist, homophobic, and further damages the lives of the mentally ill." After the article was heavily criticized and reported for violating guidelines by the Thought Catalog community, McInnes went on to create his own podcast called "Free Speech with Gavin McInnes."

Story continues

The decision to invite McInnes was based on how "he brings up interesting conversation topics, especially for NYU and the current campus culture," NYU College Republican President Elena Hatib explained to NBC New York despite not personally agreeing with everything he has said.

"I'm disappointed that many students on this campus are so disrespectful when it comes to hearing opposing speakers," the NYU Republicans said in a statement. "The purpose of this event was to promote free speech and NOT to promote certain ideas."

The protest came one day after the University of California Berkeley's violent protest against invited speaker Breitbart News editor and conservative journalist Milo Yiannopoulus. The event was canceled due to turmoil that erupted across the college town.

Related Articles
President Obama waves as he leaves the Oval Office on Jan. 20, before the start of inaugural festivities for Donald Trump. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

Some Democrats may think former President Barack Obama has been too quiet since leaving office on Jan. 20  particularly on the subject of his controversial successor, Donald Trump.

The same cannot be said of the people who worked for him.

In the days since Trump assumed the presidency, an increasingly ardent and even aggressive army of formerly buttoned-up Obama administration alumni  aides, advisers, speechwriters, spokespeople  have taken to their own social media platforms to rail, loudly and publicly, against pretty much every move Trump has made, undaunted by his 23.5 million followers and determined to tweet fire with fire.

This is a new development in American politics.

Colin Kahl, then-U.S. deputy assistant defense secretary for the Middle East, participates in a panel discussion about Irans nuclear program on Feb. 21, 2012. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

There are more than a few of us who believe deeply in holding this administrations feet to the fire  especially when they offer falsehoods to the American people and distort our record, a former senior administration official tells Yahoo News. We have an email chain going where we share impressions, etc.

The latest to enter the fray is Colin Kahl, a Georgetown University professor who served as a national security official under Obama. Angered by the current administrations attempts to blame Obama for the first counterterrorism misstep to occur on Trumps watch  a botched Jan. 29 raid in Yemen that left one American commando dead  Kahl on Thursday fired off a flurry of tweets explaining that Obama neither planned nor approved the mission and that any reports saying otherwise were totally false.

Trump and his team owns the process and the ultimate decision  and the consequences, Kahl snapped.

Kahl isnt alone. Former senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, speechwriting directors Jon Favreau and Cody Keenan, speechwriter Jon Lovett, longtime Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and many others are flaming and fact-checking the new president up to a dozen times a day.

Former White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, left, and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes. (Photos: Carolyn Kaster/AP, Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Its not that previous White House graduates refrained from countering or criticizing their bosses successors. They didnt, of course. But the current go-round is different  faster and more furious  for several reasons.

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First, theres Trump himself, who has never been shy about picking fights (and who has shown no sign of backing off as president). His incessant Twitter spats  with enemies, with allies, even with Arnold Schwarzenegger  have set a coarser and more combative tone for presidential discourse and given his opponents little choice but to turn their own volume knobs up to 11. At the same time, his immediate blitzkrieg of provocative executive orders has invited an equally rapid response.

Then theres the sour mood of the country to consider. Previous presidents enjoyed honeymoons with the public. Not Trump. A popular-vote loser who refused during his transition to reach out to the nearly 73 million Americans who cast ballots for other candidates  and who has catered exclusively to his base as president, inspiring worldwide protests  Trump has seen his job-approval rating crater much faster than any of his predecessors. According to Gallup, Obamas disapproval rating didnt surpass 50 percent until 936 days after his inauguration. For George W. Bush, 1,205 days. Before him, Bill Clinton, 573; George H.W. Bush, 1,336; and Ronald Reagan, 727. Trump, however, crossed the same unfortunate threshold just eight days into his White House tenure. Its not just Obama alumni. More people oppose the new president, period  and theyre spoiling for a fight.

From left, former Obama speechwriters Jon Favreau, Cody Keenan and Jon Lovett (Photos: Evan Agostini, AP, WH Gov, Marvin Joseph/Getty Images)

But perhaps the most important factor here is technology.

The last White House exodus took place in 2009. Social media existed, but it was hardly dominant. Twitter had about 2 million active users; today it has more than 300 million. Facebook had 150 million; now it has 1.86 billion. Instagram wouldnt launch for another year and a half. If Obama was the first social-media president, the alumni of his administration represent the first generation of White House staffers to learn the ropes of social engagement while on the job, then emerge into the wider world fully immersed in the new media environment and prepared to harness its power and reach for their own political ends.

This is really the first time in history where you have a huge cadre of former staff who can all broadcast their thoughts whenever they have them and fact check the current administration in real time, says former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller, who frequently rebukes the Trump administration over law enforcement issues on Twitter.

By way of comparison, George W. Bushs chief strategist, Karl Rove, didnt join Twitter until Jan. 8, 2009, a few days before Bush left office; between then and early February 2009, he didnt tweet a single direct criticism of Obama. Dana Perino, Bushs last press secretary, didnt sign up until May 2009; her feed was similarly muted. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, meanwhile, tweeted only four times that entire year  none of his tweets were political  while former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer tweeted only once. Savoring the Dolphins great win last night, Fleischer wrote on Oct. 13, 2009. Go fins.

When the Bush folks did tweet, it was mostly to promote their work for establishment media outlets: a Wall Street Journal column, a National Review blog post, a hit on Fox News.

I was at DOJ at the time, says Miller, and I dont remember anyone  no former Bush administration official  pushing back at us on social media.

Thats not the case anymore.

On Feb. 3, alone, Tommy Vietor (87,900 followers) implied on Twitter that Trump is a lunatic; questioned the legality of Trumps doctor talking to the New York Times; and referred to the presidents tweet about putting Iran on notice as chest-thumping bulls***.

Dan Pfeiffer (154,000 followers) retweeted a story about Trump rolling back financial regulations and sarcastically asked readers to remember when Trumps working class base flocked to his rallies to demand fewer rules and bigger pay days for Wall Street. Ben Rhodes reminded his 29,600 followers that revoking 100,000 visas, as Trump has done with his travel ban, is not keeping out the bad; hours earlier he linked to an Instagram post by former White House photographer Pete Souza showing Obama laughing last September with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a close ally whom Trump had just blasted over the phone. For his part, Souza has all but transformed his Instagram feed (740,000 followers) into an implicit critique of the new president, posting archival images of Obama talking with young refugees and hanging out in the Oval Office with Merrick Garland, his stymied Supreme Court nominee  a kind of alternate Democratic reality where every Trump outrage is met with an image of Obama doing the exact opposite.

Then-National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor at the White House on Feb. 3, 2011. (Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)

Not all of these ex-Obamians are new to the so-called resistance: Vietor, Favreau and Lovett hosted a 2016 campaign podcast for the Ringer called Keepin It 1600, which laughed off the possibility of a Trump presidency until the bitter end. Distraught by the outcome, they recently launched another podcast  Pod Save America  under the banner of their own company, the pointedly titled Crooked Media. Their goal? To stop being analysts and start being activists.

I woke up feeling like sitting on the sidelines wasnt an option anymore, Vietor told the Daily Beast. I wanted to be part of whatever is going to happen over the next four years to preserve the things we fought for at the White House.

Other members of the Obama administration, however, are just getting started  mainly because, up until a few weeks ago, they were still working for the president (who was, in turn, urging a gracious transition).

What all these former White House staffers share is a strong desire to use the sizable media platforms they built while serving the leader of the free world  and the authority they accrued as people who actually know how the U.S. government works  to repudiate policies they disagree with and set the record straight when necessary.

When there are specific issues we need to take on, well consult with the relevant experts, says the former Obama administration official. For example, [former Homeland Security Adviser] Lisa [Monaco] provided a detailed tick-tock of what actually went down with regard to Yemen. Everyone is interested in batting down some of this nonsense, and those weve reached out to have been more than happy to help (even those who were in career posts).

Just about every Democrat in the country feels incredibly motivated to speak out right now, says Miller. But while a lot of Dems are motivated, people who worked for the Obama administration  people who have a little bit of a voice  feel something else: a deep sense of obligation to use those voices for good.

And as Trump himself has demonstrated, political combatants no longer need to rely on, say, CNN to be heard. I think the lesson from Trump is if youre filtering every message and idea you have through traditional media, he will swamp you with a tweet, Vietor recently told Politico. So we need to build up infrastructure that allows people to communicate directly with young people across the country.

This means, says Miller, that Americans should expect more Obama-era staffers to start speaking out against Trump in the weeks and months ahead, creating an unprecedented sense of direct conflict between one administration and the next.

I imagine this is going to break down agency by agency, eventually, he predicts. What youre going to see is someone from Obamas Environmental Protection Agency pushing back on something that Trump has done or said that is wrong or not true. Youre going to see someone from Labor, and so on. Nobody knew who Colin Kahl was before this week. But now they will.

With Olivier Knox
World

On foreign policy, Trump is still speaking campaign language

For all the White Houses early bravado, President Trump has taken office with few concrete plans for how to make good on his pledge to unravel Barack Obamas foreign policy and tackle some of the biggest national security challenges facing his administration. Trump has shown keen interest in trade and Americas economic standing with other countries in his discussions with foreign leaders. But his direction on many other foreign policy issues  from his plans for confronting ISIS to how he plans to pursue a better relationship with Russia  remains hazy. Ambiguity was a hallmark of Trumps campaign, and while he has moved swiftly on the immigration-related national security issues that were its centerpiece, the fact that Trump is using vague language in private discussions has left both allies and officials in his administration uncertain whether he has policies in mind to back up his rhetoric.

The team that weve seen in action over the last few weeks is the White House team. That team is breaking a lot of china. Nicholas Burns, a longtime U.S. diplomat and professor at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government

Some early moves by Trump officials have given hints about their priorities  and raised concerns within the administration. Senior officials have been soliciting guidance from national security agencies on how to improve relations with Russia, asking what Washington could offer Moscow and what Trump should seek from Vladimir Putin. According to one official, national security aides have sought information about Polish incursions in Belarus, an eyebrow-raising request because little evidence of such activities appears to exist. Poland is among the Eastern European nations worried about Trumps friendlier tone on Russia. Amid a flurry of leaks about policy process, as well as leaked draft executive orders and details of the presidents calls with foreign leaders, career officials and policy experts are being looked at with more suspicion and getting cut out of additional discussions, according to people with knowledge of the processes. Those longtime policy hands fear their influence could be further marginalized by an in-house think tank Steve Bannon is said to be working on. The project, known as the Strategic Initiatives Group, could focus on both foreign and domestic policy issues, potentially giving the presidents chief strategist even broader sway in the administration.
(Reuters) - More than 9.2 million U.S. consumers signed up for health insurance using the Healthcare.gov website during the open enrollment period between November and Jan. 31, the U.S. government said on Friday. Enrollment was down from 9.7 million a year ago but the decline was smaller than some had predicted amid President Donald Trump's push to overturn former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform under which the plans are sold. With several insurers pulling out over rising costs, and Republican congressional efforts to scuttle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, the enrollment period was seen as a test of the program's popularity. HealthCare.gov sells health insurance under the ACA for 39 states. The remaining states run their own exchanges. The total number of plan selections across all states for the entire open enrollment period will be released in March. Average premiums for the second-lowest cost silver plan rose 25 percent compared with the previous year. At the same time the number of insurance providers choosing to participate in the exchanges fell by 28 percent. Of the 9.2 million, about 3 million were new consumers while 6.2 million were returning consumers. The figures include any cancellations that occurred during the period. Trump's surprise victory in early November as the enrollment period got underway created serious doubts about whether people would sign up for the insurance program. A move by the Trump administration to pull television ads reminding consumers that the enrollment deadline was approaching likely contributed to the dropoff. "This may have cost about 500,000 additional enrollments," said Ron Pollack, executive director of healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA, in a statement, calling the move an "attempt to sabotage enrollment." "And despite all that, millions of consumers still got their insurance through the ACA," Pollack said. Meanwhile, Republican efforts to repeal the healthcare law have stumbled over an inability so far to come up with a comprehensive replacement plan. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee this week said changes to the law would be made in "chunks" and would be better labeled a "repair." (Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington and Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Andrew Hay)
Paris (AFP) - Major global airlines including British Airlines, Emirates and Air France began boarding passengers bound for the United States after a court order lifted a travel ban imposed on them a week earlier by US President Donald Trump.

A Seattle-based federal judge, James Robart, on Friday issued a nationwide order blocking Trump's ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, in the most severe legal blow to the president's executive order.

Trump has slammed the decision as "ridiculous" and vowed it will be overturned.

Although a few airlines said they were waiting to see how the situation developed, carriers including Air France, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Swiss Airways and United Airlines said they would allow nationals of the countries in question to board if they had a valid visa.

"Since this morning we have applied with immediate effect the (US) judicial decision taken overnight. All passengers presenting themselves will embark once their papers are in order to travel to the United States", an Air France spokesman told AFP.

Swiss airline said it was in touch with US customs and border services and that "at the present time all passengers with valid travel documents can travel on any Swiss flights bound for the United States."

Germany's Lufthansa also cited the court injunction and underscored that those "holding a valid immigrant or non-immigrant visa for the US are again allowed to travel to the USA".

Trump's January 27 executive order placed a 90-day ban on nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States and blocked for at least 120 days the arrival of refugees. Syrian refugees were banned indefinitely.

The State Department said up to 60,000 people from the seven Muslim-majority countries had had their visas cancelled. A Justice Department attorney put that figure at closer to 100,000.

Story continues

Hours after the federal judge's decision, the State Department told AFP that it had "reversed the provisional revocation of visas" and that visa holders from the targeted countries were again allowed to travel as long as their documents had not been "physically cancelled".

The Department of Homeland Security -- which runs border agencies -- also said it would cease implementing the order.

- Fly while you can -

Trump's move, which he justified on security grounds, wrought havoc at airports across America, sparked protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

The US leader lashed out on Twitter hours after the court ruling, calling the federal judge Robert a "so-called judge" and denouncing his decision as "ridiculous".

"When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted.

He added that "certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!

In Tehran, one travel agent advised Iranians wishing to fly to the United States to "take a plane to any city this evening," warning the repeal of the ban may not stand.

Some carriers, including low-cost carrier Norwegian, said they were waiting for official confirmation and advised passengers to contact US authorities for more information.
Melbourne (AFP) - Doubles pair John Peers and Sam Groth gave Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup World Group with a crushing straight sets victory in Melbourne on Saturday.

Peers and Groth raced through the scratch Czech pairing of Jiri Vesely and Jan Satral, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in 90 minutes to deliver the tie to the Australians.

The Czechs had to win the pivotal doubles rubber to stay in the best-of-five match tie after losing both of Friday's opening singles matches.

But they were further disadvantaged when doubles specialist Radek Stepanek was forced to withdraw from the doubles with injury on top of the unavailability of world number 10 Tomas Berdych for the tie.

World number 15 Nick Kyrgios conceded just seven games in reeling off a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win over the 157th-ranked Satral, while rookie Jordan Thompson upset Czech number one Vesely 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in Friday's singles.

Australia, captained by Lleyton Hewitt, will now face either the United States or Switzerland in the quarter-finals of the teams competition on April 7-9 and will have home advantage should the Americans progress.

"I'm very happy. We wanted to make a run this year. We know it'll get tougher but we've got a really good team," Hewitt said.

"They (Peers and Groth) prepared well, they did all the hard work getting to gel because they don't play together that often.

"It would be a tough ask against the USA. They're a tough team with four good players but it's not long between ties which is good."

Doubles specialist Peers is fresh off a Grand Slam title win at last week's Australian Open, while Groth reached the quarter-finals of the men's doubles in Melbourne.

"It's never easy to back up after what happened at the Australian Open. Everyone did an amazing job to come together and that made it easier," Peers said.

Groth added: "I thought we played well together. We've had a lot of time on court and it came together."

Australia now lead the Czech Republic 8-1 in the Davis Cup competition.

Australia, 28-time winners, have not won the Davis Cup since 2003 and only returned to the competitions top tier in 2014 after a six-year absence.
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Saturday called Iran the "world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism," reiterating National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn comments on Tehran's alleged support for violent activities aimed at destabilizing the Middle East. Mattis' remarks come a day after President Donald Trump imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran in response to its ballistic missile test late last month.

Mattis comments were made during a press conference in Tokyo where he also said that as things stand now, there is no plan to increase the number of U.S. forces in the Middle East to counter the growth in Irans weapons capabilities. On Jan. 27, Iran test fired a ballistic missile capable of traveling 2,500 miles and of carrying a nuclear warhead.

"As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," Mattis reportedly said. "It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it and at the same time I don't see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time.

The fresh sanctions imposed on Iran target 13 individuals and 12 companies, including groups in China, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates working to help Tehran obtain technology and materials required to advance its ballistic missile program. While announcing the sanctions, the Trump administration said that Washington would no longer overlook Tehrans hostile actions.

"The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Irans provocations that threaten our interests," Flynn said in a statement. "The days of turning a blind eye to Irans hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over."

Iran "was playing with fire" by testing medium-range ballistic missiles, Trump said in a tweet Friday. However, Tehran insisted that the missile test was meant for defensive purposes and did not violate the nuclear agreement.

Story continues

However, Iran could still face tough consequences if it does not curb its ballistic missile program and continued to intervene in regional proxy conflicts, a senior U.S. administration official said, according to Reuters, adding that the latest sanctions were the initial steps in response to Iran's "provocative behavior."

On Saturday, Iran announced that it will take reciprocal action against U.S. individuals and companies. The country said it will deploy missiles and carry out maneuvers aimed at demonstrating its complete preparedness to deal with the threats and humiliating sanctions from Washington.

In response to the new move by the United States of America and as a reciprocal action, (Iran) will impose legal limitations for some American individuals and companies that have had a role in the creation and support of extreme terrorist groups in the region, the foreign ministry said. The names of these individuals and companies will be announced later.

The statement also added: Missile development and capabilities of the country, which is merely designed for defensive objectives and carrying conventional weapons and that will never be used except for legitimate defence, is the right of the people of Iran based on international law and the UN charter.

Related Articles
LIMA, Peru (AP)  Peruvian police searched the house of ex-President Alejandro Toledo for five hours on Saturday in a case involving alleged bribes from a Brazilian construction firm under investigation in a major corruption probe.

It's the latest development in a case that first started in Brazil but has since caught up dozens of politicians from around Latin America in a far-reaching probe.

Prosecutors said on social media that the evidence they gathered at Toledo's home in Lima will be evaluated by investigators.

Local television images showed investigators who are on the team looking into suspected bribes paid by the Odebrecht construction company entering Toledo's home.

Toledo, who was Peru's president from 2001-2006, on Saturday was reportedly in Paris for a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The pro-democracy activist, who rallied Peruvians in the streets to force the resignation of strongman Alberto Fujimori, denied any wronging in telephone call late Friday with El Comercio newspaper

"I don't have anything," Toledo said in the phone call, a recording of which was published by the website. "Look at my accounts."

Specifically, authorities are looking into whether money paid by Odebrecht to a Peruvian businessman ended up in Toledo's hands. Further stoking speculation that Toledo's arrest could be imminent, the former president's attorney abruptly resigned Friday without providing a reason.

"Justice is for everyone," President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who served as Toledo's Prime Minister and whom authorities also want to speak to in the far-reaching probe, said on Twitter. "If someone committed corruption they should be punished."

Kuczynski has denied any wrongdoing as well and has called for a "deep investigation" of Odebrecht for illicit activities in Peru.

In January, Odebrecht agreed to provide investigators with information about its involvement in corruption in Peru. Three officials from the administration of former President Alan Garcia (2006-2011) have been arrested thus far.

The giant Brazilian construction firm acknowledged in a plea agreement in December with the U.S. Justice Department that it gave bribes of some $800 million to win business in 12 countries, including about $29 million to officials in Peru during the administrations of Toledo, Garcia (2006-2011) and Ollanta Humala (2011-2016).

During Toledo's administration, Odebrecht began construction on a series of highways that stretched from Peru's border with Brazil to the Pacific coast.
LIMA (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Peru were preparing to request the arrest of former president Alejandro Toledo on Saturday after uncovering evidence that implicates him in $20 million in bribes that the Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht has acknowledged distributing to win a contract during his government, a source said. Authorities searched a house owned by Toledo in Lima early on Saturday, the attorney general's office said on Twitter without providing additional details. A source in the attorney general's office who was not authorized to make public comments said the raid follows the detection of $11 million transferred to an associate of Toledo that prosecutors believe is part of $20 million in bribes that Odebrecht has said it gave to help secure an infrastructure contract during his 2001-2006 term. A representative of Toledo did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Toledo, reached by phone from Paris by the local daily El Comercio, denied taking any bribes, according to audio of the interview posted on the newspaper's website. Peru already has imprisoned one of its former presidents for graft - ex-authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for convictions that include human rights abuses. Toledo rose to power denouncing Fujimori and promising to usher in a democratic era free of corruption. In a settlement with U.S. prosecutors in December, Odebrecht acknowledged distributing $29 million in bribes to secure public work contracts in Peru over a period spanning three presidencies. The agreement said the family-owned engineering conglomerate made $20 million worth of corrupt payments between 2005 and 2008 to benefit an unnamed high-ranking official that offered to help the company win an infrastructure contract in 2005. Current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was Toledo's finance minister and prime minister and has denied any involvement in Odebrecht's kickback schemes. "Justice must be the same for everyone," Kuczynski said on Twitter. "If someone committed acts of corruption, they must be penalized. I've ordered the executive to collaborate with whatever is necessary to guarantee the investigation is efficient. Corruption never again." Kuczynski is the subject of a separate preliminary investigation regarding a law he signed off on in 2006 that removed legal obstacles to highway contracts awarded to Odebrecht and other Brazilian companies. He has denied wrongdoing. Odebrecht has acknowledged doling out hundreds of millions in bribes to win public work contracts in Latin America, spurring inquiries from Peru to Panama that have shaken the region's elites. (Reporting By Mitra Taj; Editing by Bill Trott)
WASHINGTON (TNS)  Evangelicals played a large role in getting President Donald Trump to the White House, and now they will shape Trumps education agenda.

Betsy DeVos, Trumps beleaguered pick for education secretary, supports taxpayer funding for religious schools and once called education reform a way to advance Gods kingdom.

Mike Pence, a leader in the evangelical community, will likely break a tie in the Senate to ensure DeVos nomination.

And Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of one the largest evangelical colleges in the nation, Liberty University, will lead an education reform task force focusing on higher education.

They werent even at the table under President (Barack) Obama, said North Carolina Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger, who is connected to the evangelical community. I think its prudent  that those who have a world view of the Bible be able to have a conversation.

In education circles, a major part of that conversation is an ongoing policy debate on the role of vouchers and taxpayer funding for religious schools. Liberal Democrats have vocally opposed DeVos nomination and turned it into a referendum on allowing tax dollars to be spent on scholarships for students to attend religiously affiliated schools.

I dont think that religion defines a person, but what we see is a real clear agenda that Trump began, said Mary Kusler, who is overseeing the National Education Associations effort to oppose DeVos nomination. We believe that the public school system has largely been a cornerstone of democracy.

The opposition to DeVos nomination is unprecedented, as a sitting vice president has never been required to break a tie over a Cabinet nomination.

Senate Republican leaders are expected to bring DeVos nomination to the floor early next week, and if Pence breaks the tie the vocal advocacy efforts against her confirmation will fall one vote short.

There is a lot of overlap for school choice and religious freedom, said Neil McClusky, director of the Cato Institutes Center for Educational Freedom, a libertarian-leaning think tank in Washington. Her nomination is a proxy on private school choice.

McClusky added that DeVos had three things working against her during the confirmation process: a lack of conviction in some of her answers, a lack of personal experience in the public education system and her wealthy background. He said the furor around DeVos nomination will die down once she is confirmed.

In six months to a year, no one will remember her confirmation, McClusky predicted.

But DeVos likely appointment combined with Falwell, who will focus on higher education issues and wants to stop universities from independently investigating sexual assault cases on campus, could be a boon for religious conservatives.

There is a genuine belief and great evidence to back it up that higher education in this country tends to dis a Christian worldview, said the Rev. Mark Harris, a North Carolina pastor who twice ran for Congress. I think were going through a shift in the country, a sense that a Christian world view deserves a seat at the table and in the marketplace of ideas.

Harris pointed to the recent protests at the University of California, Berkeley, where windows were broken and fires started by protesters who opposed a right-wing speaker scheduled to make an appearance on campus, as evidence of hypocrisy on the left. Trump threatened to withdraw federal funds from the university after the protest.

The word tolerance is used all the time to talk about evangelicals, Harris said, arguing that the protests are examples of intolerant liberals.

Harris invoked efforts in North Carolina like the Opportunity Scholarship, which provides up to $4,200 a year for a child to attend a private school, as ways that DeVos can promote education and force public schools to compete with charter and private schools.

But Kusler argued that opposition to DeVos, even if it fails to sink her nomination, will render her ineffective as Education secretary.

I think our activism has already made a difference, Kusler said. If she is confirmed next week she will be the first Cabinet secretary who has had to engage the vice president of our country to break a tie. Thats the antithesis of a mandate coming into office. We firmly believe all of this calls into question the agenda she will try to implement.

Conservatives are hopeful that despite the vocal opposition, the Trump administration will support school vouchers and listen to the concerns of evangelicals before making education decisions.

There is now a seat at the marketplace of ideas for evangelicals and people with a biblical worldview, Harris said. Thats how weve got to begin to look at people on both sides of the aisle and not jump to conclusions.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Police have arrested several people for a 1993 apartment building fire that killed 10 people, including seven children, it was announced Saturday.

Those arrested remained jailed, Officer Aareon Jefferson said. He had no other details. Police planned to hold a news conference on Monday.

The three-story building in the Westlake district caught fire on May 3, 1993. At the time, police said they believed the blaze was set by gang members kicked off the property for selling drugs.

The building, packed with mainly poor immigrants from Central America, had inoperable smoke alarms. Investigators found fire doors had been propped or nailed open for ventilation, allowing smoke to surge through the apartments.

Tenants tried to escape by jumping from windows, scrambling down fire escapes and climbing down bedsheets tied to balconies. At one point, neighbors formed a human chain to pass along children from upper floors.

Other children were dropped from balconies into waiting hands.

The dead included three women, two of whom were pregnant, and children as young as 4. One woman's baby was delivered by Caesarean section before she died.

Most of the bodies were found in a corridor on the third floor.

Investigators believe the fire was set by gang members who had been ordered off the property because the manager suspected they were dealing drugs. The apartment complex was known for cocaine dealing by a local gang, and the manager had begun reporting the activity to police.

"The local thugs in the area decided that she had to leave, and the fire was set," Detective Steven Spear said in 1998, after two gang members were arrested and charged with murder.

However, the case against the men was dropped two years later for lack of evidence.

"It wasn't clear these were the right guys," Deputy District Attorney Joseph Esposito said at the time.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Up to 700 migrants could arrive on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus next week on smuggling trips from Turkey, a top Cypriot official said Saturday, hours after 93 migrants landed in the dark on the island's northwestern shore.

Cyprus Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos, who made the comment to state broadcaster RIK, said authorities could handle any new arrivals as long as their numbers remained low. His prediction was based on reports about the activities of a known Turkish smuggler, he said.

Officials on the eastern Mediterranean island said they believe Saturday's smuggling trip began in Mersin, Turkey.

Bashir Khashan said he had to sell his home in the Syrian village of Edlib to raise $12,000 to pay Turkish smugglers to get his wife, four children and a son-in-law aboard the overcrowded boat that landed just after midnight. Officials said those on the boat included 42 children and 17 women.

Khashan, 49, was among several Syrians waiting outside a migrants' reception center near the Cypriot capital of Nicosia to greet his family after the perilous, 30-hour boat trip.

"There was no other way to get them here," Khashan told The Associated Press. "What else can you do? You either die at sea or you die in the village."

Khashan said the Syrian government had reserved particularly harsh treatment for the residents of Edlib, leaving him little choice but to flee. His arrived in Cyprus by boat six months ago, got a temporary residence permit, but is having a hard time finding work after suffering a back wound from an airstrike in Syria. He's still trying to figure out how to get his eldest daughter from Turkey to Cyprus.

Hamid Idris didn't find out that his wife Majeda and three children  three-year-old Razan, six-year-old Rafi and nine-year-old Reem  were going to be on the boat until his father-in-law told him Thursday evening.

"I haven't slept a moment in 48 hours," Idris, 33, told the AP. "I didn't want my children on that boat. It's like you're throwing the dice with their lives."

Story continues

Idris, who has been in Cyprus since 2011 and works at an animal shelter, last saw his family two years ago in Istanbul.

Both men said authorities told them their families could join them in the next few days.

Police said the boat early Saturday was spotted 15 kilometers (9 miles) off the coast before landing near the village of Kato Pyrgos. Cyprus' Civil Defense acting commander Loukas Hadjimichael said it was the first migrant boat to arrive this year and the 11th to land bringing a total 948 migrants since September 2014.

Cyprus lies 100 miles (160 kilometers) off Syria's Mediterranean coast, but has not had the massive inflow of refugees and migrants that Turkey and Greece have experienced.

___

This version corrects to say that the boat landed in northwest Cyprus.
ROSEVILLE, Calif. (AP)  Congressman Tom McClintock, a Republican from California, on Saturday faced a rowdy crowd at a packed town hall meeting in Northern California, and had to be escorted by police as protesters followed him shouting "Shame on you!"

McClintock was constantly interrupted and booed as he defended his party's national agenda during the hourlong event at a theater in downtown Roseville, the population center of his sprawling congressional district, the Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2k8fQHQ).

Hundreds of protesters stood outside chanting "Vote him out," while those inside the theater held signs that read "Resist," ''Dump Tom McTrump," and "Climate change is real."

"I understand you do not like Donald Trump," McClintock said. "I sympathize with you. There have been elections where our side has lost ... Just a word of friendly advice: Remember that there were many people in America who disagreed with and feared Barack Obama just as vigorously as you disagree with and fear Donald Trump."

A video posted on the newspaper's website shows demonstrators chanting "Shame on you!" as they follow McClintock who walks to a waiting car surrounded by police officers.

"I can no longer just sit back. I believe in the Constitution. I was an infantryman in Vietnam. I fought for this. These people need to understand, we want them out," said Vietnam War veteran Lon Varvel, referring to Trump and McClintock.

Trump supporters also attended the town hall. David Ramsey said he volunteered for McClintock's 2008 campaign and voted for Trump in November.

"President Trump is doing what he said he was going to do," Ramsey said. "I like what he's talking about  securing our borders and vetting immigrants. Hopefully, he'll lower taxes, and reduce big government and regulation."

McClintock's district is solidly Republican and incorporates all or part of 10 counties spanning from Tahoe to Yosemite.
DEVILS LAKE, N.D. (AP)  An attempt to stop a pickup truck with a loud exhaust system led to a wild chase in which the driver shot at a trooper, stole a car with a baby inside and eventually barricaded himself inside an apartment, where he shot and wounded himself, authorities said.

Only the pickup truck's driver, Daniel TwoHearts, was hurt during the ordeal, which began Thursday night with the attempted traffic stop in Grand Forks and ended Friday night with TwoHearts shooting himself in an apartment in Devils Lake, about 80 miles west, authorities said.

TwoHearts, who shot himself as officers began to negotiate with him to surrender, was hospitalized with an apparently non-fatal wound, Devils Lake police Capt. John Barnett told the Devils Lake Journal (http://bit.ly/2k6lU3F ). TwoHearts' condition was unknown Saturday.

"People can relax. It got a little tense for a while in town," Barnett said.

Authorities initially said that a man and woman had been held hostage before leaving the apartment. But Ramsey County State's Attorney Kari Agotness said in a statement Saturday that this wasn't the case and that they hadn't been held against their will.

It began when a trooper tried to pull over a pickup truck with a loud exhaust on Interstate 29 in Grand Forks, which is along the state border with Minnesota, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Instead, the driver tried to get away, reaching speeds of about 100 mph before law enforcement put down tire spikes, stopping the pickup about 40 miles down the highway.

The suspect jumped out and fired three shots at a trooper, who wasn't injured and didn't return fire, said patrol Lt. Troy Hischer.

Two others in the pickup were arrested and methamphetamine was found in the truck, authorities said. Meanwhile, TwoHearts ran into a neighborhood and jumped into an idling car with an infant inside it.

"The mother had started the car to warm it up, brought out the 1-year-old, then went back to retrieve an older child" when the suspect drove off, Hischer said.

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Officers spotted that car on a county road about 20 miles away, again deployed road spikes, flattening the tires and recovering the infant unharmed, but TwoHearts got away again.

After dawn Friday, another truck was reported missing, and was later found abandoned at the Wal-Mart in town.

Law enforcement agencies in North and South Dakota and Minnesota were on the lookout, but Devils Lake Police and other agencies caught up with TwoHearts Friday night, barricaded inside an apartment with two people, Barnett said.

"We got the female out and the other male, and he was isolated" when they heard a shot fired and then forced their way in, he said.

___

An earlier version of this story was corrected to reflect that the suspect's first name is Daniel, not Danile.

___

Information from: Devils Lake Journal, http://www.devilslakejournal.com
President Donald Trump on Saturday morning lashed out at a court ruling that temporarily blocked his executive order on immigration, which barred people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security  big trouble! Trump said in a tweet. Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in its death & destruction!

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle temporarily blocked Trumps immigration order on Friday night, ruling that the state of Washington had met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury. The ruling, which applies nationwide, will temporarily allow visa holders from the seven affected countries to enter the U.S.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Trump said in another tweet, specifically targeting Robart, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2003.

Trumps executive order, which sparked immediate backlash, met legal challenges in several states in the past week. But Robarts ruling on Friday was the most far-reaching.
JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Allrounder Dwaine Pretorius claimed career-best figures as South Africa beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the third one-day international at the Wanderers on Saturday.

Pretorius came into the South African team in place of Wayne Parnell and recorded figures of 3-19 from seven overs as Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 163 in 39.2 overs.

South Africa had no trouble chasing the small target, with AB de Villiers top-scoring with 60 not out to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. South Africa scored 164-3 in only 32 overs.

With Sri Lanka once again failing to produce a significant score, the drama came from another source as a swarm of bees held up play for more than an hour.

Sri Lanka made a promising start, with openers Niroshan Dickwella and Upul Tharanga putting on 60 for the first wicket as South Africa had a rare bad spell in the field, dropping two catches.

But Kagiso Rabada made the breakthrough when he had Tharanga (31) caught at fine leg, and wickets fell regularly after that.

The bees arrived in the 25th over after Sri Lanka had sunk to 115-4 and soon forced the players from the field.

Ground staff attempted to remove the swarm using a fire extinguisher before a beekeeper was called in to do a more effective job.

When play resumed, it did not take long for Rabada to grab a second wicket, before Pretorius claimed two wickets in two overs as Sri Lanka collapsed once more.

Legspinner Imran Tahir picked up the final dismissal to finish with 2-21 as Sri Lanka was bowled out inside 40 overs.

Although Quinton de Kock played on during a feisty opening spell from teenage fast bowler Lahiru Kumara on his ODI debut, South Africa controlled the remainder of its chase with ease.

Hashim Amla scored 34 and Faf du Plessis contributed 24, before De Villiers and JP Duminy (28 not out) saw South Africa to victory with 18 overs to spare, giving it a record 12th straight win on home soil.

The fourth ODI takes place at Newlands on Tuesday, before the series finishes at Centurion on Friday.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Refugee resettlement organizations are bracing for significant funding cuts and possible layoffs over the coming months during President Donald Trump's temporary refugee ban.

The agencies receive a certain amount of federal dollars per refugee they help resettle, which means they would lose a key source of funding unless the Trump administration provides funds in the interim during the 120-day temporary halt to refugees entering the U.S.

Catholic Charities USA says the executive order will cost the organization millions of dollars and put at risk about 7,000 jobs out of the 54,000 jobs at their agencies around the country, according to spokeswoman Patricia Cole.

The group launched an $8 million fundraising campaign this week to help replace the funding it expects to lose during the four-month moratorium.

Catholic Charities agencies resettled roughly 23,000 of the nearly 85,000 refugees that entered the U.S. last year, Cole said. Most of them were women and children.

It is one of nine agencies that handle refugee resettlement. Another agency, International Rescue Committee is asking its donors to help raise $5 million to ensure its 29 offices around the country can continue to support refugees already here.

Making matters worse for agencies is that President Barack Obama's administration told resettlement organizations to staff up in anticipation of an increase in refugees this year, said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

The organization resettled nearly 4,200 refugees last year and was expecting nearly 4,800 this year, he said. Hetfield said agencies receive a set amount of $2,075 per refugee for initial reception and placement. The amounts organizations get after depends on many different factors.

"We're not going to be able to keep staff on over several months if the funding disappears," Hetfield said. "If they really are serious about this continuing, they'll have to provide some kind of infrastructure support so our staff can survive the pause."

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Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, which includes Detroit and suburbs, said it laid off four people in January from the refugee program, leaving a staff of 10. The agency said those jobs would be at risk if there's an "extended interruption" in the flow of refugees.

One World Relief agency outside Chicago estimates it will lose about $500,000 in funding due to the executive order, equivalent to about 20 percent of its funding, shows an email sent to supporters. The organization is asking for help to raise $250,000 to keep core services going.

At the offices of Catholic Community Services in Salt Lake City, pictures of the 70 employees in the refugee resettlement program are pinned on a tac board. Many of them are refugees who used their own experience and specialized training from the agency to become valuable staffers, said Aden Batar, director of immigration and refugee resettlement.

Batar, a refugee himself who worked his way up into his current role since joining the agency two decades ago, worries about how these employees will support their families if he has to lay off some or cut back hours. Most of the program's funding comes from the federal government, he said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the government provided interim funding during a pause on the refugee program, Batar said. But he sees no indication that will happen this time. That's why his organization is asking community partners to donate.

"We can rely on our community more than the federal government," Batar said.

___

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Richmond, Virginia, and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.
Pretty much everything President Donald Trump has done the past two weeks has riled up Susan Mansfield and her daughter Melissa.

The two women from Winona were among the hundreds of people who rallied Friday evening in downtown La Crosses Cameron Park in response to President Donald Trumps executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and halting the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. But many at the rally are angry about other moves by the new president.

Where has my country gone to? Susan said. It is scary.

One of the speakers at the rally was La Crosse resident Daoud Jandal, who said this event was an opportunity for people to come together. Being able to celebrate our differences is one of the reasons he believes America is one of the greatest nations on earth.

But America cannot stay great if we abandon our values, he said. We need to listen and start conversations with each other. Lets stop and see each other.

Many at the rally held signs with slogans such as Love thy neighbor does not come with an asterisk, Refugees Welcome or Love Trumps Hate. Between speakers remarks, chants of No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here, and No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all broke out.

The Mansfields said they were upset with how aggressive Trumps actions toward immigrants, refugees and other countries have been since he took office. He doesnt have empathy for anyone, they said. So Susan did something new.

I have never rallied before, she said. But it is time.

Several of the speakers at the rally called for local leaders to use their positions for good. They highlighted Mayor Tim Kabats recent remarks to media that La Crosse will continue to ignore federal orders that local police departments enforce immigration laws and hoped the city council would support La Crosse being a so-called sanctuary city.

Suthakaran Veerasamy, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, called out UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow for walking back emailed remarks earlier this week that he and other leaders felt shocked and saddened by Trumps executive order. After criticism from some, including state Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, Gow apologized for the line in an email he sent out to the campus community reiterating the universitys commitment to diversity.

Some political beliefs and actions are simply racist, Veerasamy said. By walking back his comments, he said, Gow hurt people and he should have stood his ground.

Not all political beliefs are equally valid, he told the crowd. Not all political beliefs are right.

The rally ended with the crowd joining hands and singing We Shall Overcome, modifying the song to express support for Muslims and refugees.

La Crosse resident and community advocate Shaundel Spivey attended the rally, saying it was an opportunity to gather with others to share his frustration with the president. He said he believes the actions and policies Trump has introduced so far arent in the best interest of the country. He was grateful for the big turnout and community support the rally generated but said the next step is to go from words to actions.

I am all about action, he said. We need to examine our policies both locally and nationally and work to make a change.

Between speakers remarks, chants of No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here, and No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all broke out.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  After mass protests that have rocked the country for days, Romania's government announced Saturday that it will repeal a highly controversial emergency decree that decriminalizes official misconduct.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said the government would hold an emergency meeting Sunday to withdraw the decree, which has sparked the biggest protests in Romania since the end of communism in 1989.

"I don't want to divide Romania ... Romania in this moment seems broken in two," Grindeanu told reporters.

Protesters were angry that the measure would water down the country's fight against corrupt officials. Tens of thousands took to the streets for the fifth consecutive day Saturday, marching through Bucharest and forming a human chain around the Palace of the Parliament built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu.

There were also large-scale protests Saturday evening in the cities of Cluj, Timisoara, Sibiu, Constanta and Brasov and more planned for Sunday.

The Social Democrat-led coalition government has come under huge pressure at home and abroad to repeal the emergency decree it passed Wednesday without Parliament input, which critics say will drastically weaken an anti-corruption fight widely praised by Romania's Western allies.

Grindeanu said the proposal would be sent to Parliament for debate, a move that is not likely to appease all protesters.

One protester, Florin Dutu of Bucharest, said he wasn't totally satisfied with the development but said it was important government understood the determination of the people.

"Romania is a strong democracy. People are on the streets and you cannot avoid doing the right thing," he said.

Presidential spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi called the development "a step toward normality."

The Constitutional Court was expected to rule next week on whether the measure violates the constitution.

The ordinance decriminalizes official misconduct if the funds involved are less than 200,000 lei ($47,800), which critics said would just encourage officials to steal on the job up to that point. Grindeanu said he would consult with other parties about scrapping the monetary threshold.

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Liviu Dragnea, head of Social Democrats, is one of those who would have benefited from the new decree. He is banned by law from serving as prime minister because he was handed a two-year prison sentence in April 2016 for vote-rigging.

Adults came to the protest Saturday in Bucharest with their children or dogs, stressing the peaceful nature of the rally to fight corruption. Cristian Busuioc came with his 11-year-old son.

"I want to explain to him ... what democracy means, and the way the ones who govern must create laws for the people and not against them or in their own interest," he said.
They could have called it "Cats," if someone hadn't got there first, for John Hurt's strangest movie by far is an obscure Shakespeare adaptation placing him opposite 108 feline co-stars.

The British knight of the realm played some of cinema's most iconic characters across 150 movies before his death in January, but even ardent film buffs are unlikely to have seen him in "Romeo.Juliet."

Hurt is the only human in Armondo Acosta's 1990 movie, playing a Venetian bag lady while the feuding Montagues and Capulets -- or should that be Cat-ulets? -- were strays voiced by leading lights of stage and screen.

A sought-after curio, it was never released on home video, but Acosta has made available on the Internet rare footage of Hurt's scenes, not viewed for a quarter of a century, in tribute to the actor.

"He adjusted to everything, he moved so sweetly," Acosta, 78, said of Hurt in a telephone interview from Manhattan's iconic Chelsea Hotel, where he has run a meditation workshop for the last 29 years.

"He had always a little bit of too much wine, but who didn't, who doesn't in that business? He was just beautiful. He really became a bag lady, he really got it."

Hurt, who turned 77 a few days before his death, is not the only cast member to play against gender; Juliet is portrayed by a white Turkish Angora who in real life was a neutered male called Maria.

Almost all of the cats -- they numbered 250 at one point -- were plucked from rescue organizations in Belgium, where Acosta was living and where he filmed much of the action.

"If you're directing an amateur, never rehearse them. If you rehearse an amateur, you're in trouble," Acosta told AFP.

"But if you get why you cast them as an amateur and let them do their thing, you've got a shot, you've got a chance. And cats are that way."

- 'Fascinating film' -

The feline cast's reward for their work was homes for life with the crew or in Armondo's "Adopt A Movie Star" initiative -- except for Romeo, Juliet and four others taken on by the director.

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Acosta has worked in various roles on some of the biggest films of all time -- including "El Cid," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Birds" and "The Pink Panther" -- with auteurs like Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean and Roger Corman.

He got the idea for a cat movie as an executive at Paramount in the mid-1960s, he told AFP, when he encountered a family of cats on the Hollywood backlot and was struck by their balletic movement.

The score is provided by the London Symphony Orchestra playing Sergei Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet Ballet," while Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Ben Kingsley, Robert Powell and other big names voice the cats.

The movie opened at the 1990 Venice Film Festival and toured the world's capitals for two years as a "live film concert," backed by various orchestras.

Hurt saw it at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels in 1992 along with Oleg Prokofiev, the son of the composer, who reportedly described it as "not simply a film... (but) a poem."

"I'm sort of used to transformations, that's my living," Hurt told a documentary crew on the film set back in 1989.

"But I haven't very often gone this far... The whole idea is unique, as far as I know. I've never heard of such a thing and I thought it would indeed make a fascinating film."

Watch Hurt's scenes at www.academyfilmarts.org/romeo-juliet/remembering-john-hurt
On the occasion of Rosa Parks birthday, Constitution Daily looks at her journey from a childhood in the segregated south to her enduring status as a civil rights icon.

rosaparks400

On February 4, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents separated during the early part of her life, and Rosa and her mother lived her grandparents for a time, who were former slaves.

Rosa met and married Raymond Parks in 1932 at the age of 19. Raymond was a barber and an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (or NAACP). About a decade later, Rosa Parks joined NAACPs Montgomery, Alabama chapter, and she later served as the secretary for that chapter.

Parks had attended a public meeting of concerned citizens in late November 1955 after the murder of black teenager Emmett Till. Parks also had attended a meeting in August 1955 with a new preacher in town, Martin Luther King, who spoke about the importance of the Supreme Courts Brown v. Board decision about the legality of segregation.

The NAACP also had been looking for a test case about segregation on Montgomerys bus system, but a first potential test case wasnt feasible when its prospective plaintiff was found to be pregnant.

But then, Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, after she refused to give up her seat on a crowded bus to a white passenger.

Contrary to some reports, Parks wasnt physically tired and was able to leave her seat. She refused, on principle, to surrender her seat because of her race, which was the law in Montgomery at the time.

Parks was briefly jailed and paid a fine. But she was a long-time member of the NAACP and a highly respected person in her community, so the NAACP realized it had the right person to work with, as it battled against the system of segregation in Montgomery.

It also worked with another group of local leaders to stage a one-day boycott of passenger buses, when Parks went to court. The group expanded to include other people, chose a name, the Montgomery Improvement Association, and planned an extended boycott.

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The MIA picked the 26-year-old King, who was a little-known pastor who had recently arrived in Montgomery, to lead the boycott.

The combination of the MIA, King, Parks, and a united African-American community made the boycott a success. About 75 percent of the public transportation customers in Montgomery were black, and they remained united for more than a year, as the boycott crippled revenues for the bus line. Parks lost her job and Kings home was attacked, but the movement kept the boycott in place for 381 days.

At the same time, the segregation fight was making its way to the Supreme Court.

On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Browder v. Gayle, and it agreed with a district court that segregation on buses operating within Alabamas boundaries was illegal, because it deprived people of equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

The legal team that had pursued the case for the NAACP included Thurgood Marshall, a future Supreme Court Justice. It had decided that Parks case would get tied up in the state court system and filed a separate suit on the behalf of four other women.

After the boycott ended, Parks had become a civil rights icon, and she and her husband Raymond moved to Virginia after experiencing a series of hardships, and then moved to Detroit.

Parks was disillusioned by discrimination in Detroit, but she befriended a young politician there, John Conyers. Parks worked for Conyers after his election to the House of Representatives, and she remained active in the civil rights community, and wrote several books.

When she passed away at the age of 92 in 2005, Congress voted to have Parks honored by having her coffin at the Capitol Rotunda for a public viewing.

At the time, she was only the 30th person accorded that honor. She was the first woman to receive the honor, and her coffin sat on the catafalque built for the coffin of Abraham Lincoln.
Paris (AFP) - French politicians accused of playing fast and loose with their finances have long gotten a pass from voters, but a string of recent scandals is putting their patience to the test.

For many, "Penelopegate" -- the media's term for the furor over the fake-jobs claims against presidential candidate Francois Fillon -- may be the last straw.

Once considered the frontrunner in elections set for April and May, Fillon is scrambling to save his candidacy after the Canard Enchaine newspaper reported that his wife, Penelope, was paid more than 800,000 euros ($860,000) to be his parliamentary aide, but never actually worked.

He is also accused of hiring two of his children when he was a senator from 2005 to 2007, paying them a total of 84,000 euros, the paper said.

But financial shenanigans have often caught up with prominent French officials: Ex-president Jacques Chirac was found guilty in 2011 over a "fake jobs" scandal while he was mayor of Paris in the 1990s.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, for his part, is under investigation on charges of illegal campaign financing, and Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate in this year's presidential race, is facing claims of using EU funds to pay officials in her National Front party.

"It all stems from a culture of caste, of privilege... where they assume that reaching public office means they can get away with doing whatever they want with public money," said Jean Garrigues, a history professor and author of "Elysee Circus".

Many voters are also still fuming over the "Cahuzac case" of 2013, when former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac was found to have stashed money in Switzerland to avoid taxes.

Cahuzac, who was sentenced in December 2016 to three years in prison, became a huge embarrassment for President Francois Hollande, who has bowed out of trying to win a second term.

"There was a healthy electroshock with the Cahuzac case", said Daniel Lebegue, president of Transparency International France.

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The French "no longer overlook these things, they don't accept them," he said. "It's a consequence of the financial crisis, the sacrifices that everyone had to make."

A 2010 report from his group on transparency among public officials in 27 European countries ranked France second to last, just ahead of Slovenia.

- An 'invitation to fraud' -

After Cahuzac, new efforts were made to ensure financial probity, such as requiring MPs to declare their financial assets and to identify their assistants and other employees.

In 2014, a specialised financial prosecutor's office was created, with judges focusing on fraud and corruption.

And in November 2016, France finally created an official anti-corruption agency.

"But between the moment they change the rules and the institutions, and seeing a change in politician's attitudes and behaviour, it takes some time," Lebegue said.

"There's a gap between people's demand for morality and the sense of impunity among politicians, which explains why Francois Fillon might not even understand what's happening to him."

Unlike at the European Parliament, or in Germany's Bundestag, French law allows a lawmaker to hire family members, a practice that astonishes many foreign observers.

"The fact that you can hire your close relations, with almost no oversight, is an invitation to fraud", said Bjorn Willum, a Danish journalist based in Paris.

A French poll taken in the wake of the claims against Fillon -- one of an estimated 15 percent of French MPs who have hired relatives -- found that 76 percent oppose the practice and now want it outlawed.

But if it were, there would still be work to be done: for example, MPs are given some 9,500 euros a month to pay their assistants. But no one checks to see how that money is spent...
By Dan Levine and Scott Malone

SEATTLE/BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Seattle on Friday put a nationwide block on U.S. President Donald Trump's week-old executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries from entering the United States.

The judge's temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump's action, although his administration could still appeal the ruling and have the policy upheld.

Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, made his ruling effective immediately on Friday, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted straight away. He is expected to issue a full written ruling over the weekend.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: "no person - not even the president - is above the law."

The state's attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: "This decision shuts down the executive order right now." He said he expected the federal government to honor the ruling.

The Justice Department made no immediate decision on an appeal. The Department looks forward to reviewing the courts written order and will determine next steps, it said in a statement.

The new Republican president's order signed on Jan. 27 triggered chaos at U.S. airports last weekend. Some travelers abroad were turned back from flights into the United States, crowds of hundreds of people packed into arrival areas to protest and legal objections were filed across the country.

The challenge in Seattle court was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

Washington's case was based on claims that the state had suffered harm from the ban, for example students and faculty at state-funded universities being stranded overseas.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on the "litany of harms suffered by Washington states universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

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Robart said no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trumps order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be based in fact, as opposed to fiction.

The judge's decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.

This order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order, said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: "Congress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good." FOUR STATES IN COURT

The decision came on a day that attorneys from four states were in courts challenging Trump's executive order. The Trump administration justified the action on national security grounds, but opponents labeled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump's three-month ban.

U.S. District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed skepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Trump's order represented religious discrimination.

The State Department said on Friday that fewer than 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had been invalidated as a result of the order. That disclosure followed media reports that government lawyers were citing a figure of 100,000.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.

Trump's directive also temporarily stopped the entry of all refugees into the country and indefinitely halted the settlement of Syrian refugees.

On Friday the Department of Homeland Security issued additional clarification of the order, stating that there were no plans to extend it beyond the seven countries. The DHS also reiterated that the ban did not apply to permanent residents, or green card holders, and some others, such as those who have helped the U.S. military. (Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York, Brian Snyder in Boston and Lawrence Hurley, Lesley Wroughton and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Jonathan Weber and Kristina Cooke; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Rigby)
SEATTLE (AP)  The Seattle judge derided by President Donald Trump on Twitter Saturday after blocking Trump's executive order on immigration is known for his conservative legal views, for a record of helping disadvantaged children that includes fostering six of them, and for dramatically declaring "black lives matter" during a hearing on police reform in 2015.

Judge James L. Robart, 69, was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2004, following a distinguished 30-year career in private practice that included his selection to the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor bestowed on less than 1 percent of lawyers.

The judge made the most high-profile ruling of his tenure Friday when he temporarily invalidated Trump's ban on travel to the U.S. from seven primarily Muslim nations. Washington state sued to block the order  with support from Minnesota and major corporations including Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia  arguing that it's unconstitutional and would harm its residents, and Robart held that the state was likely correct.

The ruling did not sit well with the president, who on Twitter called Robart a "so-called judge" and the ruling "ridiculous." The president later falsely claimed the decision meant "anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S."

The comments are unlikely to sway Robart, said those who know him.

"Jim will give a wry smile, maybe adjust his bowtie a little bit and go back to doing his business," said former Seattle U.S. attorney John McKay, who worked with Robart for a decade at the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky. "He's a very careful judge, and he's conservative in the sense he looks at the law and tries to determine what that is, not what he wants. He's conservative in his review of the law, but courageous in his application of it."

Another former Seattle U.S. attorney, Jenny Durkan, called Robart exacting: "We won some in front of him and we lost some in front of him, but we knew anytime we walked into his courtroom we'd better be prepared."

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That was evident Friday when Robart grilled a Justice Department lawyer, Michelle Bennett, asking if foreign nationals from the seven countries named in the order had been arrested for plots in the U.S. since 9/11. Bennett said she didn't know.

"The answer to that is none, best I can tell," Robart said. "You're here arguing on behalf of someone that says we have to protect the United States from these individuals coming from these countries, and there's no support for that."

He added that he was tasked with determining whether the president's order was "grounded in facts, as opposed to fiction."

Robart, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, is an expert in patent and intellectual property law, and he issued a landmark decision  later upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals  in a lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola that provided guidance in how to calculate reasonable rates for use of another company's patents.

He's considered a tough sentencing judge in criminal matters, especially in cases involving white-collar defendants, and he has overseen reforms at the Seattle Police Department since 2012, when it agreed to make changes in response to Justice Department findings that its officers were too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

Robart was holding a hearing in that case in summer 2015  a time fraught with tension over violence by and against police officers around the country  when he surprised the courtroom by adopting the mantra of protesters.

"The importance of this issue to me is best demonstrated by the news," he said, shaking his head and sighing heavily. "According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in death involve 41 percent black people, despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population: Black lives matter."

Robart donated to the state Republican party and to GOP candidates before becoming a judge, but was picked for the bench with the help of a bipartisan selection panel. He helped lead his law firm's efforts to provide free legal services to those who couldn't afford them, and he served as president of Seattle Children's Home, which offers mental health services and special education for at-risk children.

And as U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted during his confirmation hearing, he and his wife had fostered six children themselves.

Robart drew high praise from Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who cited his "exceptional qualifications" and his work representing southeast Asian refugees.

"Working with people who have an immediate need and an immediate problem that you are able to help with is the most satisfying aspect of the practice of law," Robart said then. "If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed by the Senate, I will take that experience to the courtroom with me, recognize that you need to treat everyone with dignity and with respect, and to engage them so that when they leave the courtroom they feel like they had a fair trial and that they were treated as a participant in the system."

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Follow Gene Johnson at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle
Los Angeles (AFP) - Jack Sock and John Isner won the opening singles on Friday to give the United States a commanding 2-0 lead over Switzerland in their Davis Cup World Group first-round tie.

World number 20 Sock got the United States off to a fast start, breezing past Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

The 24-year-old American, who cracked the top 20 for the first time in his career with a second-consecutive runner-up effort last month in Auckland, needed one hour, 58 minutes to dispatch his 146th-ranked rival.

Sock fired 12 aces with only one double fault and lost only one of 33 points on his second serve. He also denied Chiudinelli on all four break points he faced, all in the final set.

Isner, ranked 23rd, had to work a little harder for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) victory over Henri Laaksonen, ranked 127th in the world.

"There were a few extra nerves I think playing Davis Cup," Sock said. "When you're playing for your country, being part of a team, maybe at a normal event, normal tournament, you come out swinging a little bit more.

"I think I was a little hesitant at the beginning, maybe too conservative playing when obviously my game is to kind of play big and hit forehands and be aggressive.

"But after getting the break (to win the first set) it loosened me up a little bit and I was able to play a little bit bigger," Sock added. "That's how I like to see matches go. I love playing in front of a home crowd. I love playing at home, especially Davis Cup. I love being on the team."

The Americans can wrap up the best-of-five match contest in Birmingham, Alabama, with a victory in Saturday's doubles, when Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey will play the Swiss duo of Antoine Bellier and Adrien Bossel.

Reverse singles are set for Sunday if the Swiss can extend the match.

The US squad is 3-1 against the Swiss in Davis Cup play, losing only in 2001 when Roger Federer won two singles and played a triumphant doubles match.

Switzerland lifted the trophy in 2014, but are without their biggest stars in Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
SpaceX may be grounded for a little while. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has raised concerns about the safety of private aerospace manufacturers Falcon 9 rockets, noting they suffer from persistent cracking according to a Wall Street Journal report.

According to the preliminary findings from an investigation into SpaceX and rival company Boeing, the rockets from the company founded by Elon Musk may not be fit for future manned missions.

The issue stems from a pattern of problems with turbine blades that deliver fuel into the rocket engines. The blades are prone to cracking, which is considered a major threat to the safety of the craft and will require a redesign of the Falcon 9s turbopumps.

SpaceX said its rockets are designed to withstand such cracking without affecting its performance, but will be updating the design to avoid the issue entirely. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has reportedly told SpaceX the cracks are an unacceptable risk for manned flights.

When the GAO report is finalized and published in the coming weeks, it will mark the first public disclosure of a serious defect in SpaceXs Falcon 9 rockets. However, the government has reportedly known of the issue for years, and the cracks had been found in rockets launched as recently as September 2016.

The news marks a continuation of what has been a rough couple of months for Musks aerospace company. In September 2016, SpaceX had its first major setback when one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded on the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

While SpaceX called the incident an anomaly, it caused considerable damagedestroying an AMOS-6 communications satellite from Israeli company Spacecom that was to be part of an effort from Facebook to deliver internet connectivity to parts of Africa. The explosion was reported to have scared off other partners looking to launch with SpaceX.

Investigations into the issue also caused delays to future launches from the company. A launch planned for December 2016 was pushed into January, then postponed again due to uncooperative weather conditions.

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The GAO has reportedly determined neither SpaceX nor competitor Boeing will be able to meet their goals of launching missions to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2018.

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I

ts not an easy gig to be the face of one of the first major controversies of Donald Trumps presidency. But after Stephen Miller played a key role in drafting and rolling out Trumps immigration executive order that unleashed global chaos last weekend, he found himself with a degree of public prominence that is unusual for someone in a policy role.

Its not the first moment in the spotlight for Miller, one of the top policy advisers in the White House. During the campaign, the 31-year-old often gave the warm-up speech for Trump at rallies. But the controversy surrounding Miller highlights the unusual degree to which the Trump White House is structured around competing ideologies, producing the infighting that has always characterized Trumps milieu.

Miller, along with chief strategist Steve Bannon, are the key figures of what could be called the Breitbart wing, one ideological grouping within the White House; the other, the Washington wing, is represented by chief of staff Reince Priebus and press secretary Sean Spicer, both longtime Republican hands and experienced political insiders. Millers public profile, especially in the wake of the tumult over the travel ban he helped engineer, puts a target on his backbut also confirms how influential he has become in the early days of the Trump administration.

Recommended: How to Build an Autocracy

The immigration ban itself shouldnt have come as a surprise. It was one of Trumps signature campaign promises. Yet the rollout led to waves of fallout. Several key figures in the administration (including, reportedly, top officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon) were left in the dark, not being informed until Trump was signing the order, which led to mass chaos and protests at airports around the country. As with any crisis originating in Washington, the search for a scapegoat began early, and it quickly targeted Miller.

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Miller seemed unprepared for the scrutiny and criticism that have come his way. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has made a point of attacking him repeatedly on his daily televised news program Morning Joe and on Twitter. On Sunday, Scarborough tweeted: The incompetence on the NSC release and Miller's refusal to get interagency sign off on the refugee order are fireable offenses. On Monday on his show, Scarborough said: Youve got a very young person in the White House on a power trip thinking that you can just write executive orders and tell all of your cabinet agencies to go to hell. Scarborough also made note on Twitter of having met with President Trump over the weekend, along with his co-host Mika Brzezinski. Press accounts have noted the displeasure of other White House officials with Miller; a Politico story described Priebus as wary of the young adviser.

Recommended: How to Respond to Donald Trump's Betrayal of American Values

The gossip in Washington is that this is a classic palace intrigue story; two axes of power in a dysfunctional White House, taking aim at each other in the press. The unusual bit is that instead of the same old set of operators, this crew includes nationalist ideologues like Miller and Bannon who took unconventional paths to power. The pair came together over their ideological harmony on immigration, and their background in a no-holds-barred kind of politics aimed at uprooting exactly the kind of Republican Priebus represents: establishment Chamber of Commerce types who, after 2012, tried to push immigration reform and legalization of undocumented immigrants as a way to bring more voters of color into the party.

You put the ideologues on one side of the office and the statists on the other, what the fuck do you think is going to happen? asked one source close to Miller, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Miller, this source said, is essentially being outplayed: He doesnt know anyone in our world. Reince, of course, knows everybody.

Leaks out of the administration have also been unflattering to Miller. The explosive lede of a recent New York Times story asserted that Department of Homeland Security chief John Kelly and other top DHS officials were kept in the dark on the executive order until Trump was signing it, and a Los Angeles Times story reported that Miller effectively ran a National Security Council meeting about the orderan extremely unorthodox move, and one sure to ruffle feathers among more experienced officials. (Miller has denied this.)

Im just one voice, Im blessed to have the opportunity to be a voice.

They're totally outmaneuvering him in the press, the source close to Miller said. I think he feels totally under assault. He's not politically astute, he's not ready for this.

But in an interview, Miller batted down the idea that hes in conflict with Priebus and his allies, and instead emphasized what he says is a close relationship with him.

Recommended: Milo Yiannopoulos Tested Progressivesand They Failed

Ive had the enormous privilege to get to know Reince throughout the campaign, then the transition and now the administration, Miller told me. We've spent hours and hours together flying across the country all during the general election. I developed a close relationship with him. My respect for him has only deepened as time has gone on.

Millers White House role is in policy, but his background is as a communications staffer on the Hill, and his political patrons have made full use of his polished appearance on-camera. In recent days, Miller has been on MSNBC and Fox News defending the order and its rollout while also downplaying his role in the incident.

I get a lot more credit than I deserve, Miller told Tucker Carlson on Carlsons Fox News show on Tuesday night. The immigration orders were drafted by a team of some of the most qualified and talented lawyers in the United States of America.

My main responsibility at the White House is to advise on policy matters, Miller told Carlson. Im just one voice, Im blessed to have the opportunity to be a voice.

Miller says hes more than happy to publicly defend the executive order.

Im thrilled to have the opportunity to go on TV as a member of the White House staff to explain and advocate for a policy that we believe will be enormously beneficial to the country, Miller told me.

Miller was initially more circumspect. Reached on Tuesday for a request for an interview, he said over email Did you see the presser today from Kelly?

I responded affirmatively and asked what had struck him about it.

It was tremendous, MIller said, and left it at that. In Kellys press conference, Kelly had denied having been caught off guard by the executive order, saying: We knew it was coming. It wasnt a surprise.

M

iller, a native of Santa Monica, developed his right-wing beliefs early. The roots of his activism date back to high school  according to a profile in Politico Magazine, his political awakening came in the form of National Rifle Association president Wayne LaPierres book Guns, Crime and Freedom, and flowered at Duke University, where he wrote flame-throwing columns in the Duke Chronicle.

The Duke lacrosse controversy, in which a black woman accused white members of the lacrosse team of raping her at a party, was Millers first entrance onto the national political scene. Miller was early to spring to the defense of the lacrosse players, writing in March 2006, that not only have many already convicted the lacrosse players, but they have also diffused that conviction across the entire team. Being a white, male lacrosse player was all it took. Miller appeared on television several times to discuss the case, which became a national controversy. The charges against the players were eventually dropped.

"Miller had two very well earned reputations: as an aggressive self-promoter and as a bomb thrower, said one friend of Millers from Duke who holds him in high regard and requested anonymity for professional reasons. He was extremely effective at both. He sustained himself on liberal tears and hysteria. Some Duke [College Republicans] used to call him the 'Miller Outrage Machine.' You might say he was the Trump campaign 10 years before the Trump campaign."

Miller parlayed his experiences as a conservative activist at Duke into a job on Capitol Hill, where he worked for former Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, then for Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, Trumps choice for attorney general. Its in Sessionss office where he came into his own in Washington.

Miller was someone on whom Sessions relied very heavily, said Andrew Logan, who worked as Sessionss press secretary while Miller served as communications director. He sort of necessarily became involved in all of the policy areas as well. According to Logan, Miller was involved in writing nearly all of Sessionss speeches.

Miller quickly became associated with the hardline anti-immigration, anti-globalist views that characterize Sessions and which became a main theme of the Trump campaign.

I think that was one thing he and Andrew Breitbart had in common, was a belief that if the left controls, if they win the culture war, then its going to be impossible to convince the public of the rightness of conservative ideas on any number of discrete policy debates, Logan said. So I think that is something that is sort of innate in him. Obviously immigration is probably the most, in Stephens view, one of the most existential issues facing us right now.

Millers hardline views on immigration track closely with some of the other thought leaders of the Trump movement, like conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

Someone with Millers gargantuan IQ could have been making millions on Wall Street, hundreds of thousands as a lawyerbut hes been working in the Senate because he loves this country and the people who live here, Coulter wrote in an email.

Asked whether she influenced Miller on immigration, Coulter referenced how in California, even some liberals had begun to worry about the issue: 1) his enormously high IQ and patriotism and 2) growing up in california. look at marxist Mickey Kaus! Look at DiFi  at least until her personal political interests dictated a different course. theyve seen the ghost of christmas future for america.

I wish I could claim credit but I cant, Coulter said.

Miller developed a close relationship with Breitbart News staffers during his years on the Hill, and especially during the battle over the Gang of 8 immigration-reform bill that emerged in the aftermath of Mitt Romneys 2012 defeat. The bill would have provided a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrantssomething Bannon and Sessions were both implacably opposed to. During that period, Breitbart became one of the loudest mouthpieces for the forces working against the bill, and Miller was instrumental in feeding them.

There were a few people [in Sessionss office] who had really close connections or good relationships with Breitbart reporters, Logan said. Stephen was one of them.

Though Miller preceded Bannon on the Trump campaign, they got to know each other while Bannon was still running Breitbart.

I know Bannon feels the same way that I do about him, said one Breitbart News staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity. Always expressed a lot of admiration for him.

The staffer referred back to a speech Jeff Sessions gave at a Breitbart-sponsored CPAC event two years ago in which Sessions spoke about being a populist, and tied it to Miller.

That Sessions speech at CPAC was basically Breitbart laying down the This is what we believe on immigration and thats pretty much inseparable from Miller, the staffer said.

Asked to describe Bannon and Millers relationship, a former Breitbart News staffer said Sponsor-client relationship from what I can tell, or mentor-mentee, which is the policy Bannon regularly adopts with younger people.

You could not get where we are today with this movement if it didnt have a center of gravity that was intellectually coherent, Bannon told Politico Magazine last year. And I think a ton of that was done by Senator Sessionss staff, and Stephen Miller was at the cutting edge of that.

And now, look at where theyve ended up: Bannon on the cover of Time magazine, Miller as the young face of the White House.

Steve and I got to know each other very well during the 2013 immigration debate, Miller told me. He and I and Sessions would spend an enormous amount of time developing plans and messaging and strategy; also him just covering what we were doing, pushing out narrative and copy. I got to know him, I got to know a lot of his staff, a lot of people who came in to the Breitbart embassy. Miller referenced a memorable night in 2014 at the Breitbart embassy, a Capitol Hill rowhouse used by the site, involving Jeff Sessions and Nigel Farage, the right-wing British leader.

Millers close relationship with Breitbart and Bannon continued during the campaign. According to one political consultant who was targeted by Breitbart during the campaign, it was known among Republican operatives that Miller could serve as a backchannel to Breitbart to smooth over conflicts. Miller has made multiple appearances on Breitbarts SiriusXM show, including joint appearances with Bannon during the campaign.

And now, look at where theyve ended up: Bannon on the cover of Time magazine, Miller as the young face of the White House. Miller came onboard the Trump campaign early on, before any primary votes had been cast, and rose quickly. But in an environment like Trump-world, where anyone who outshines the principal is at risk, that might not be the safest position.

Stephen's passion for drawing attention to the plight of middle Americansmen and women of all ethnicities and backgroundsis unmatched, as he believes (correctly in my opinion) that elites in both culture and government who disdain them have left them behind over recent decadesand Stephen is determined to change course, Garrett Murch, a former fellow Sessions staffer who is now an editor at Laura Ingrahams website LifeZette, told me in an email. It is only fitting that some of those responsible for the elevation of the elites and the plight of the middle class may wish to damage him."

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
How did a 1920s high fashion French dress find its home in the La Crosse County Historical Societys textile collection? It is a fascinating journey.

This gorgeous dress was donated by the late Barbara McMahon in 1978. The sleeveless, drop-waist dress is a black silk chiffon, covered with floral designs of metallic sequins and tiny metal beads. Their colors darken from silver at the neckline to copper, gold and bronze as the complex design flows down to the bottom hem. (Trust me: The photo doesnt do it justice.)

The label inside reads Haute Couture Henry Gallet, Paris 9. Rue de Conde. McMahon was born in 1923, so she was too young to wear this glamorous dress in the Roaring 1920s. So who did wear it?

McMahons parents were Frank and Gertrude Lahm. Frank, a brigadier general, was the first military officer of the U.S. Air Force to fly in an airplane, and he trained directly with Wilbur and Orville Wright. He was stationed in Paris as air attache to France, Spain and Belgium. Gertrude contracted pneumonia in 1931 and died before Frank returned home from Paris, leaving behind an 8-year-old Barbara.

Barbaras cousin, Mary McConnell, brought Frank and Gertrudes children, Barbara and Lawrence, to Europe to be with their father. The children stayed in Europe until Franks career shifted again, and he became the chief of aviation, First Army, at Governors Island New York. When the family returned to New York, Barbara married Robert Emmett McMahon in 1942. At some point the McMahons moved to La Crosse and settled down. Robert worked at Grandview and Gundersen clinics in internal medicine.

Based on the familys travels, we can assume that this dress was owned and worn by someone in Barbaras family and was held onto as a family memento. Her mother, Gertrude, would have been a young married woman when this dress was fashionable, and she had the means to afford its haute couture price tag, as well as a husband stationed in France who could have purchased it for her.

It also makes sense that Barbara, who lost her mother at an early age, would have saved keepsakes of her mother and treasured them for much of her life. But not having further documentation, we can only surmise. We can only say that this dress, which journeyed from France all the way to La Crosse, was cherished for many years by Barbara McMahon, and is now a cherished part of the our collection. We value it as a magnificent example of an elaborate 1920s dress as well as for the story it shares.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Archives has a Frank Purdy Lahm collection, with photographs and information pertaining to Lahms life and career that was donated by Barbara and her brother, Col. Lawrence Lahm. The La Crosse County Historical Society is enriched because we get to share in this history through this stunning dress.
Swedish Environment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin signs a referral of Swedish climate law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045 at the ministry in Stockholm: AFP

Sweden has committed to completely phase out greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and called for all countries - including the US - to step up and fulfil the Paris Agreement.

In one of the most ambitious emissions plans published by a developed nation, the Swedish government has reaffirmed the urgency of tackling climate change, ignoring uncertainties about global policies under Donald Trumps administration.

"Our target is to be an entirely fossil-fuel-free welfare state," said Climate Minister Isabella Lovin.

"We see that the advantages of a climate-smart society are so huge, both when it comes to health, job creation and also security. Being dependent on fossil fuels and gas from Russia is not what we need now, she added.

All parties but the far-right Sweden Democrats party agreed to pass the law in the coming month, which will oblige the government to set tougher goals to cut fossil fuel emissions every four years until the 2045 cut-off date.

Plans also include a 70 per cent cut to emissions in the domestic transport sector by 2030.

The Government said the target would require domestic emissions to be cut by at least 85 per cent and the remaining emissions would be offset by planting trees or by sustainable investments abroad.

The law is expected to enter into force as early as 2018.

Britain has committed to cut its emissions by 57 per cent by 2032 but so far, the government is nowhere near on track to meet its goal and the latest report predicts the target would be missed by the equivalent of all the greenhouse gases currently produced by industry.

The image of Ms Lovin signing the emissions order appeared to be a reference to this image of Mr Trump, surrounded by men, signing an executive order hitting foreign NGOs that help women have abortions (Getty)

The Independent previously revealed the Governments Emissions Reduction Plan, which was supposed to be published in March after being delayed twice, will no longer be made public by that deadline.

Activist group Client Earth is now considering legal action against the Government over its failure to come up with a plan to dramatically reduced fossil fuels and meet its target.

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Meanwhile, Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven criticised climate sceptics inside the Trump administration as worrying, since the US greenhouse gas emissions would affect everyone. He warned all countries need to "step up and fulfil the Paris Agreement."

Mr Trump previously called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, and there are suggestions he will pull out of the legally-binding Paris Agreement.

Climate minister Ms Lovin urged European countries to take the lead in tackling climate change now the US is not there anymore to lead".

She warned climate sceptics were really gaining power in the world and that Sweden wanted to set an example of continued action to its international pledges.

Last year in Paris, nearly 200 countries agreed to limit temperature rise above 1990s industrial levels by 2C and work towards a 1.5C target.

The EU has set a target of an 80 to 95 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Meanwhile, China is "investing billions and billions of dollars in solar (...) it's a game changer. Those that are still wanting to invest in fossil fuels will be ultimately the losers, Ms Lovin warned.
Sao Bernardo do Campo (Brazil) (AFP) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held a wake Saturday for his late wife, ending it with harshly worded criticism for the couple's detractors in an ongoing corruption scandal.

Leftist party staff and hundreds of citizens, many wearing the red shirt of the Workers' Party and carrying posters that read "President Lula," went to Sao Bernardo do Campo in metropolitan Sao Paulo to offer their condolences to Latin America's most popular leftist leader.

"Marisa died sad," Lula said at the headquarters of the Metalworkers' Union where they met four decades ago, before later breaking into tears.

She was affected by "the nasty remarks, the idiocy and the wickedness that they inflicted on her," he said of her critics, standing in front of her coffin which was draped with a Brazilian and red Workers' Party flag.

Marisa Leticia Rocco, who was first lady from 2003 to 2011 and a veteran labor activist like her husband, was pronounced brain dead at 66 at the Sirio-Libanes hospital in Sao Paulo on Thursday.

She had been treated in intensive care since January 24 with a brain hemorrhage due to a ruptured brain aneurism.

Lula ended his rule with sky-high ratings and took

credit for Brazil's economic boom. But his legacy has been tarnished by a subsequent recession and a string of corruption charges last year in which his wife was also indicted.

"I'm 71 years old and I think I'm going to live much longer because I want the criminals who insulted Marisa to have the humility to apologize," Lula said to applause.

Lula's leftist party colleagues were quick to defend the political couple as they paid their respects, with several suggesting that the year of scandal had weakened the former first lady's health.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that they killed Dona Marisa," leftist senator Lindbergh Farias told journalists.

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"She was the victim of enormous persecution and couldn't take it."

Lula received condolences and hugs from hundreds of Brazilian citizens throughout the morning.

On Thursday evening conservative President Michel Temer -- who replaced Lula's ally and successor in the presidency, Dilma Rousseff -- offered his condolences at the medical center.

The former first lady's remains were to be cremated in a private family ceremony following the wake.
New York (AFP) - From London and Paris to New York and Washington, thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in American and European cities to protest US President Donald Trump's travel ban, even as it was suspended by a federal judge.

The biggest demonstration by far took place in the British capital, where an estimated 10,000 people turned out, chanting "Theresa May: Shame on You" to denounce the British prime minister's support for the new US leader.

Brandishing placards declaring "No to scapegoating Muslims" and "Socialism not Trumpism," the protesters moved from the US embassy toward May's Downing Street office.

In an executive order issued on January 27, Trump slapped a blanket ban on nationals of seven mainly Muslim countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- barring their entry to the United States for 90 days.

Refugees were also barred from entry for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were blocked indefinitely.

However, on Friday, a US federal judge suspended the ban, a move which the Republican president -- who took office on January 20 -- condemned and vowed to fight.

- 'Dump Trump' -

On the other side of the Atlantic, about 3,000 people demonstrated in New York, Trump's home town where protests against the property magnate-turned-world leader are near-daily.

Activists and supporters gathered outside the historic Stonewall Inn, a landmark of the gay rights movement in New York's Greenwich Village, to show support for Muslims and others affected by Trump's immigration order.

Democratic Senate minority leader Charles Schumer led the crowd -- which carried rainbow flags and Americans flags -- in cheers of "Dump Trump."

In Washington, hundreds marched from the White House to Capitol Hill to show their solidarity.

"Donald, Donald can't you see, we don't want you in DC," chanted the demonstrators in the largely Democratic-leaning US capital.

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Many waved homemade signs with slogans like "Love knows no borders" and "Will swap Trump for 1,000 refugees."

"I was born and raised here and for the first time in my life, I don't feel safe," said Abu Bakkar, 26, whose parents are originally from Pakistan.

The Department of Defense consultant said the new president "has revealed hate that's been underground for so long. He has divided one of the greatest countries in the world."

- Anti-Trump petition -

In Britain, more than 1.8 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be afforded a formal state visit because it would embarrass Queen Elizabeth II.

"We're going to bring this capital to a halt on the day he comes over. We are going to make it impossible for him to have a state visit," Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, told AFP.

The Guardian newspaper said around 10,000 people attended the London protest, while organizers claimed 40,000.

Elsewhere in Europe, about 1,000 people turned out in both Paris and Berlin, while smaller gatherings of several hundred people took place in provincial British cities including Manchester and Birmingham.

"We are here to say we don't accept hate," said 20-year-old American Michael Jacobs, co-organizer of the Paris rally, surrounded by signs saying "Refugees are welcome!"

In Berlin, protesters rallied in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

"I hope they will change something, but I am really disappointed," said Mahsa Zamani, a 26-year-old Iranian medical student who had been due to head to a Florida hospital for an internship.

"It is still discrimination, and I don't know if I really feel like going even if they are changing (the rules)."

On Saturday evening, hundreds of protesters were planning to march near Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and vacation home in Florida, though police were expected to keep them far from the property.
BEIJING (AP)  A 13-year-old girl has died after being flung out of a fast-turning ride at an amusement park in southwest China. China's product safety regulator said in a statement late Saturday that an initial investigation showed her seatbelt had broken and a passenger safety bar did not fit tightly enough at the Chaohua Park in Fengdu county, which comes under Chongqing municipality. Cellphone footage carried by state media showed the girl flying out of the "Travel Through Space" ride on Friday afternoon as seats repeatedly spun round 360 degrees. Media reports say she fell on to iron railings and was taken to a hospital, where she died.

TOKYO (AP)  In his debut abroad as the first retired general to lead the Pentagon in more than half a century, Jim Mattis found that in Japan and South Korea his experience in uniform is seen as an asset. Not everyone who knows Mattis well in the U.S. shares that view, but he clearly was an instant hit in northeast Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was effusive in his endorsement as the two shook hands Friday before a phalanx of Japanese and international news reporters and cameras. "I was very encouraged," Abe said, "to see someone like you who has substantial experience, both in the military and in security, defense and diplomacy, taking this office." Mattis won easy confirmation by the U.S.

TOKYO (AP)  U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday the U.S. cannot afford to ignore destabilizing moves by Iran, but has no plans to respond by increasing American military forces in the Middle East. Mattis spoke at a joint news conference in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Tomomi Inada. Mattis held a series of high-level meetings in Seoul and Tokyo this week on his first overseas trip as Pentagon chief. He was returning to Washington Saturday. Asked about U.S. concern about China's militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea, Mattis was critical of China's moves but said U.S.

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BEIJING (AP)  The U.S. is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said, following remarks by President Donald Trump's defense secretary that a U.S. commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the U.S. to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China's claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu. The 1960 U.S.-Japan treaty is "a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China's territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights," Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

NEW DELHI (AP)  Nearly three years ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a sweeping national election victory with promises to develop the economy and root out corruption. But with a series of key state elections beginning Saturday, Modi's popularity  and his surprise currency decree that sparked months of financial uproar  is now being tested. India is just emerging from the fallout of a November decision that withdrew India's two largest currency notes from circulation and caused weeks of chaos as people waited to get their money back in new bills. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party hailed the move as a way to curb tax fraud and corruption and push India toward more digital spending.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesian and Filipino students on Saturday protested President Donald Trump's immigration policy outside the U.S. embassies in their capitals. In Jakarta, dozens of students and activists from several rights groups called on the Indonesian government and the international community to help stop Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. They do not include Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and the Philippines, a key U.S. ally. However, Indonesia is home to nearly 14,000 refugees seeking resettlement in third countries, and Trump's ban will significantly impact their chances of going to the U.S., said rights activist Veronica Koman, who organized the protest.

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday he would scrap peace talks with communist rebels and asked several rebel leaders who were freed for the negotiations to return to prison or face arrests in the latest blow to efforts to peacefully settle one of Asia's longest-running rebellions. Duterte said at a late-night news conference in southern Davao city that he would ask government negotiators not to participate in talks with the Maoist guerrillas scheduled to resume this month in Norway, repeating that "peace with the communists might not come in this generation." Duterte made his remarks a day after he lifted the government's 6-month-old cease-fire with the rebels and ordered troops to prepare for new fighting after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce and killed six soldiers in fresh violence.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  The United Nations has removed the name of a former Afghan warlord from its Islamic State group and al-Qaida sanctions list. According to a statement posted Friday by the Security Council, a U.N. committee removed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's name from the sanctions list. The statement said Hekmatyar, leader of Islamist organization Hezb-i-Islami, would no longer have his assets frozen, be subject to a travel ban or to an arms embargo. Amin Karim, the group's chief negotiator told reporters on Saturday "The removal of sanctions proved that the solution is Afghan-owned negotiations inside the country and coming to a national consensus.

CHICAGO (AP)  A Singapore teen seeking asylum after blog posts mocking his government landed him jail will remain in U.S. custody until a Chicago immigration court hearing next month. Amos Yee's attorneys said Friday that immigration authorities denied a request for his release. He's been detained since Dec. 16 when he was taken into custody at O'Hare International Airport. His hearing is March 7. Attorney Sandra Grossman submitted his asylum application this week, saying it was unclear whether he'd be released from an Illinois jail during the proceedings. She says he'll be imprisoned longer in the U.S. than he was in Singapore.

GENEVA (AP)  Myanmar security forces are "very likely" to have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya Muslims in recent months, U.N. human rights investigators said Friday, citing an unprecedented upsurge in violence such as gang rape and brutal killings of children as young as 8 months old, at times before the eyes of their own mothers. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein commissioned a "flash report " that was released Friday based on scores of interviews last month and indicates that violence against the long-persecuted Rohingya has reached a new level. Zeid urged the government of Buddhist-majority Myanmar  which has generally ignored international appeals to take action  to "immediately halt these grave human rights violations." The report, which will raise pressure on the governing party of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Aung San Suu Kyi, is based on harrowing accounts from over 200 people among an estimated 66,000 Rohingya who have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since October, when Myanmar's military began a crackdown following attacks on border posts.
It wasn't supposed to take Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin five years to write a book about the death of their son, Trayvon Martin. But their grief has made finding the words unbearable until now.

Martin's parents collaborated to write "Rest In Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin," published Tuesday by Spiegel & Grau. The book recounts the journey of two grieving parents, thrust into the spotlight by tragedy and on some days, still as close to their loss as the day he died.

"The calendar says five years, but it seems like just a few months," Sybrina Fulton said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I know that we're still healing."

Writing the book wasn't a healing experience, but it was therapeutic to know that writing it might help others, Tracy Martin said.

"It was hard because we relived this every time we had to go back and write something about it. ... It stayed fresh," he said.

Trayvon Martin, shot to death by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in a gated community in the central Florida suburb of Sanford weeks after his 17th birthday on Feb. 26, 2012, became a rallying cry for millions of black Americans seeking justice for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen. Trayvon Martin would have been 22 on Sunday.

His case  propelled by national news reports and social media  was the predecessor to the Black Lives Matter movement that came in response to similar killings, mostly by white police officers in cities nationwide. Trayvon Martin's killer, who was not initially arrested, was later acquitted of murder by a jury, further inflaming racial tensions.

Martin's parents say the shooting deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, and others, have added to their grief. But comforting other parents has helped them heal.

Having a black president who identified with their son from a podium in the White House also "went a long way," Tracy Martin said.

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"It meant a great deal for the most influential and most admired president that this country has ever seen mention our son," he said. "This new administration ... you would hope they would have compassion for families who are losing children to gun violence."

The family, which has a foundation in Trayvon's name, has not reached out to President Donald Trump, but is open to working with the administration in their efforts, Tracy Martin said.

Sybrina Fulton campaigned frequently for Hillary Clinton last year, along with other black mothers who had lost their children to gun violence. She said that the experience reinforced what she and Tracy Martin believed they should be doing, and that both are now exploring public office, though they have not decided what they would run for.

"We've been researching it, talking about it, trying to see what's available," she said, adding that they would likely start at the local level in their community in Miami. "We know that if we want change, we have to be a part of that change."

The Trayvon Martin Foundation, based at Florida Memorial University, is marking his birthday with a peace walk on Feb. 11. Sybrina Fulton said she doesn't observe her son's death, but chooses to celebrate his life.

"It speaks to what he was doing: Walking home, in peace," she said. "He wasn't allowed the opportunity to do that. The message we have is that we want our young people to know that they have the right to walk in peace ... without being murdered."

___

Errin Haines Whack covers urban affairs for The Associated Press. Follow her work on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/emarvelous
Tunis (AFP) - Mourners held a ceremony at Tunisia's main airport on Saturday to receive the body of a Tunisian-born victim of the January 29 attack on a Quebec mosque.

Boubaker Thabti was among six men killed when a far right-wing student stormed into a mosque in Quebec City during evening prayers and unleashed a barrage of bullets from a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle.

The attack also wounded eight people.

Thabti's body arrived at Tunis-Carthage International Airport in a coffin wrapped in the flags of both Tunisia and Canada.

His widow and their young son attended the ceremony along with Prime Minister Youssef Chahed ahead of Thabti's burial in the town of his birth, Tataouine, in southeastern Tunisia.

The 44-year-old food company employee had two children, aged 11 and three.

The foreign ministry said two Tunisians were also among the wounded, including one in a "serious condition".

Two Algerian dual nationals, agricultural science lecturer Khaled Belkacemi, 60, and 41-year-old computer programmer Abdelkrim Hassane, also died in the attack.

Their bodies arrived at Algiers airport early on Saturday, the APS agency reported.

Also killed in the attack were Guinean-Canadians Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and Ibrahima Barry, 39, and Azzeddine Soufiane, of Moroccan origin and 57 years old, who had lived in Quebec for 30 years.
If the Trump administration renegotiates or even pulls out entirely from the North American Free Trade Agreement, new car buyers may be forced to pay considerably higher prices.

Among all the rumors swirling around President Donald Trump's plan to scrap NAFTA and tax products imported into the U.S. from global trading partners like Mexico is that it may be up to retailers to actually foot the bill for a 20 percent import duty.

But don't expect car dealers or automakers to absorb the tariff, which is essentially a border tax; they'll pass it onto consumers, experts say.

We'll leave the human cost of how a NAFTA dissolution could affect workers on both sides of the border to economists to focus instead on the numerous scenarios as to how this could hit consumer wallets when it comes time to buy a new car.

A car built in the U.S. with mostly domestic parts

Even if a car isn't built overseas and uses few imported parts, its price tag could climb. Economists suggest that although there may be some cost advantage to a car built in the U.S. compared to one charged a hefty import duty, consumers will come to expect higher prices overall because the market can bear higher prices. Demand for cars is somewhat elastic in that consumers can put off a purchase.

"There's a lot of incentive to charge them a 20 percent increase," NAFTA expert Rachel Wellhausen, an Assistant Professor of Government at the University of Texas-Austin, said. "Consumers are going to pay more no matter what percentage of their car crosses the border from Mexico. The general price of cars is going to go up."

That means that a mid-size sedan built in the U.S. may not significantly undercut the price tag of a competitor's car assembled in Mexico, even if a tariff is implemented.

On average, a new car sells for over $34,000 today. A decade ago, that figure was under $29,000.

ALSO SEE: Trump's border tax faces more opposition--this time, from auto dealers

Workers assemble a Fiat 500 in Toluca, Mexico

A car assembled in Mexico

Let's consider one of the pricier vehicles built in Mexico, a $45,000 Ram 1500 pickup truck. Although only about 30 percent of a typical Ram truck's parts are actually sourced locally, it's in Mexico where assembly is completed. A value-added tax would likely be applicable to the final vehicle rather than the sum of its Mexican parts.

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If the Ram's invoicethe price paid by the dealer to the manufactureris $40,000, that means that it would likely be subjected to an $8,000 tax. The dealer isn't likely to absorb this since it would decimate any chance of a profit on the vehicle.

Instead, it would be passed onto the consumer when they're sitting in the finance office at the dealership. State and local taxes run somewhere around 5 percent, on average, on a new car's transaction price (rather than its invoice price).

That Mexican-built Ram that currently lists for $45,000 and sells for $40,000 is subject to around $2,000 in taxes at the state and local level. If the 20-percent figure currently being floated around Washington is implemented, that pushes the total tax burden to about $10,000with $8,000 of that collected by the federal government.

One possible workaround floated by Wellhausen is that automakers could seek to complete vehicle assembly in the U.S. rather than in Mexico. A half-complete car could be shipped from Mexico for final assembly in the U.S., which would help automakers lessen the burden of a value-added tax.

By building the car in Mexico, it is taxed on its higher value as a complete vehicle rather than as a bunch of parts waiting to be assembled. "Whichever country added value to the good last, that's the rule that's going to apply to the product," Wellhausen explained. Doing final assembly of the car in the U.S., rather than in Mexico, would lessen an automaker's exposure to a tariff.

2017 Chevrolet Tahoe

A car built in the U.S. with many Mexican parts

This is perhaps the most complicated scenario: a tariff could affect cars assembled in the U.S. assembled with parts sourced from Mexico. For instance, nearly half of what goes into a 2017 Chevrolet Tahoe comes from Mexico, even though the SUV's final assembly is completed in Arlington, Texas.

Those Mexican-sourced parts could be subjected to a 20 percent tax on their own, which would be factored into the price of the Tahoe.

In this case, it's possible that suppliers building seats and radios for Tahoes may have to cut costswages, overhead, and profitsif they want to remain competitive.

"Mexican suppliers may have a lot of leverage over American buyers, or they may be able to absorb the tax themselves," Wellhausen said.

That's especially concerning to Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, who warned that a border tax would "disrupt Texas commerce with our most important trading partner."

Doggett's district encompasses much of the Interstate 35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin, where countless trucks make their way to points in the U.S. loaded with goods from Mexico.

Mexico's impact

All told, Mexico, which has been targeted specifically by the Trump administration, exported about $74 billion worth of cars to the U.S. in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. Vehicles represent the largest single chunk of exports from Mexico to the U.S. and every major automaker now builds cars in Mexico, something that couldn't be said prior to 1994 when NAFTA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

About one in 10 new cars sold in the U.S. was built in Mexico in 2015, although that figure is poised to increase as several automakers have invested heavily in assembly plants south of the border.

Dodge Grand Caravan construction at the Windsor plant

How Canada fits in

One aspect of NAFTA not necessarily making headlines is how this could affect new car production in Canada, which is centered in an industrial corridor between Windsor, Ontario, and Toronto.

In 2015, Canada exported about $55 billion worth of light vehicles to the U.S. built by the Detroit Big Three, Honda, and Toyota. Although Canada itself isn't a massive new car market, it's a big producer of vehicles. It's not clear if the Trump administration would levy the same tax on cars built in Ontario as those assembled in Chihuahua, for instance, or if it would implement a transit tax for goods passing through the U.S.

"Mexico could divert trade to Canada around the United States," Wellhausen said. "Both Canada and Mexico produce more goods than they consume, meaning they're not destination markets."

Diverting trade around the U.S. could either avoid taxation or simply be a retaliatory move. Either way, it's something automakers generally don't do; a Volkswagen spokesman told The Car Connection that Jettas built in Mexico make their way through the U.S. via rail to dealers in Canada.

However, the automaker "would certainly look at" more cost-effective ways to ship vehicles if a transit tax were to be implemented. VW is one of Mexico's largest producersand one of its oldest, having assembled the automaker's cars since 1964.

While there are certainly no firm answers now, any changes to NAFTA could have an almost immediate affect on new car prices.
WASHINGTON -- If the 230-year American democratic experiment unravels -- no longer an unthinkable possibility -- the postmortem should focus on what happened in the Senate this week.

The majority Republicans could have put the brakes on President Trump and forced the rewriting of his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. They chose not to.

The sloppily executed travel ban, produced under the auspices of attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, has been blocked in part by federal judges, while the acting attorney general, doubting the order's legality, said she would not defend it. Trump aides reacted with conflicting signals of whether they would honor the court orders and by firing the acting attorney general -- Trump's own version of Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, after just 10 days on the job.

Many Republican lawmakers voiced their objections. But given a chance to do something about the offending order, they demurred.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday morning to vote on the Sessions nomination -- a perfect leverage point to force Trump to revise or withdraw the order. Not one of the Republicans made a peep.

One of those on the panel, Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., had called the order "unacceptable" as written.

But Flake said nothing of that Tuesday morning in his brief statement calling Sessions "a good man."

Another on the panel, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had said in a joint statement with John McCain, R-Ariz. that the "order was not properly vetted" and that "we should not turn our backs" on blameless refugees, mostly women and children, who "suffered unspeakable horrors."

But on Tuesday, Graham "enthusiastically" saluted the man behind the order.

Also on the committee: Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who called the order "too broad" and cautioned that it could help terrorist recruiters.

Sasse didn't speak at Tuesday's meeting.

It's commendable that many Republicans have spoken out against Trump's travel ban. But the disconnect between what they say and what they do was particularly pronounced Tuesday morning.

As The Post's Philip Rucker and Robert Costa reported, Sessions has been the "intellectual godfather" of Trump's policies, including the travel restrictions. Key Trump aides Stephen Miller, Rick Dearborn and Stephen Bannon have strong ties to Sessions, and Bannon called Sessions "the clearinghouse for policy."

Roger Stone, a Trump confidant, described Sessions as Trump's John Mitchell -- the Nixon attorney general who wound up in prison after an earlier constitutional crisis.

It's not much of an exaggeration to describe the current situation as a constitutional crisis -- except in this instance, those in the legislative branch have quickly surrendered the Article I authorities given them in the Constitution.

There's a strong case that Trump's unilateral action violates federal law, and the cavalier treatment of court orders is worrisome regardless of the outcome. But Senate Republicans have twice blocked attempts by the Democrats to rescind the order -- swallowing their own misgivings along the way.

Back in December 2015, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. R-Ky., asked about Trump's proposed Muslim ban, said, "We're not going to follow that suggestion." He called the proposal "completely and totally inconsistent with American values."

Now Trump is doing just such a ban in the affected countries, a Muslim ban in all but name, and McConnell is punting: "It's going to be decided in the courts as to whether or not this has gone too far."

Democrats delayed action on three of Trump's nominees Tuesday to protest the executive's caprice, but ultimately only the majority GOP can stop Trump. And the Republicans will never have more bargaining power than they have now, with several of Trump's Cabinet nominees unconfirmed.

Democrats forced a one-day delay in the vote on Sessions with long-winded speeches on the Judiciary Committee. "This is an administration that needed only one week to find itself on the losing side of an argument in federal court," Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said. "Never, ever seen anything like that."

Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, tied the Muslim ban to the internment of U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II, and she praised Republicans such as Sasse, Flake, Graham and Orrin Hatch of Utah for their critical statements.

But what about actions?

Hatch had previously encouraged Trump to "move quickly to tailor its policy  as narrowly as possible."

But he didn't press the point Tuesday, instead calling Sessions' qualifications "unmatched in American history."

Mike Lee, R-Utah, also on the panel, had previously raised "questions" about Trump's order.

But he had no questions Tuesday. Lee praised Sessions's "deep commitment to the notion" that "laws govern us rather than the will and whim of individual humans."

That was the notion, anyway -- until 10 days ago.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with the chief executive officers of airlines on Thursday, the White House said, another in a series of meetings the new president has had with business leaders.

The White House statement on Friday did not say who would attend the breakfast and "listening session." Last week, Trump met with the CEOs of the Big Three U.S. automakers and pressed them to bring more jobs to the United States. This week he met with pharmaceutical executives and called on them to make more drugs in the United States and cut prices.

(Reporting by Eric Beech)
Tens of thousands of visas were revoked last week by President Donald Trumps executive order than bans the citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S.

The revelation illustrates the scale of the disruption caused by Trumps decree, which he signed an executive order on Jan. 27 . The initial disclosure came in a federal court hearing in Virginia in a case challenging the revocation of the visas of a pair of Yemeni brothers who arrived at Washingtons Dulles airport on Jan. 28. The Justice Department initially said 100,000 visas had been revoked, but the State Department later claimed it was closer to 60,000.

The admission capped a week of legal and political turmoil triggered by the imposition of a ban that could reshape the network of allegiances and historic grudges that govern the modern Middle East. Nation states there divided roughly into two camps: those affected by the ban, and those exempt. Among the first camp, outrage ensued. Iran banned U.S. citizens from entering. The Iraqi parliament called for the same. An official from Libyas U.S.-backed government accused America of racial discrimination. But elsewhere there was a tactical silence. With their citizens unaffected by the ban, the governments of some U.S.-allied states, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, declined to comment. The United Arab Emirates defended the ban.

Throughout the region, Trumps executive order seemed to foreshadow a coming season of turbulence in relations with the United States. During his campaign, Trump called for a total and complete shutdown on all Muslims entering the United States. Here, in the first week of Trumps administration, was a policy that followed through on his campaign rhetoric, apparently with little regard for the geopolitical fallout.

The Americans dont get to act in a vacuum, and when they do act they will often trigger responses from other political leaders who have their own political base. And I dont think they thought about that at all with respect to Iraq and Iran. My guess is they would say, we dont care, says Robert S. Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and a career diplomat with years of experience in the Middle East.

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U.S. allies in the region now face a choice of acquiescing to a policy that appears to indiscriminately target citizens of other Arab and Muslim states, or rattle relations with the new U.S. administration by expressing reservations about the ban. Few seem likely to take the latter path; among states not included in the ban, only Qatar voiced criticism of the new policy. Asked about the ban, Egypts former ambassador to the U.S. Abdel Raouf el-Reedy tells TIME, Is Egypt supposed to sayto comment on anything happening in the United States?

Trump spoke on Sunday with Saudi King Salman, but a Saudi readout of the call made no reference to the ban. In Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan voiced support for the Trumps policy, saying the executive order is not directed at a certain religion. Israels right-wing government remained silent. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted in support of Trumps plan to build a wall on U.S.-Mexico border, but Israels President Reuven Rivlin later apologized to his Mexican counterpart for that statement.

There was far more dissent within the U.S. than in the Middle East. The executive order enacted on Jan. 27 created days of chaos at Americas international airports, as customs and border officials struggled to interpret the order. The White House initially declared that the order also applied to permanent legal residents of the United StatesGreen Card holdersbefore reversing that position two days later. As a policy, the order mirrored Trumps personal style: abrupt, unpredictable and sometimes inscrutable.

Hes too erratic. Its one of the things that sets off everybody around the world, that he just says stuff. He issues policy, this crazy Muslim ban thing. And nobody knows quite what it means, so theyre scrambling, says. H.A. Hellyer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Imagine youre sitting in one of these foreign ministries. Is there a difference between Real Donald Trump tweeting and POTUS tweeting? Is there a difference, policy-wise? Thats how some people are going to look at it, he adds.

If the new policy presented a challenge for Americas allies in the Middle East, it also gave an opening to its opponents. In Iraq, the ban undermines the standing of Iraqs U.S.-allied government, handing a political opportunity to pro-Iranian rivals. The Iraqi parliament called for the government to retaliate by banning Americans, a move that would create a fiasco for more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel who are in the country helping Iraqi forces fight ISIS. In Iran, the order strengthens hardliners over officials who favor compromise and negotiation with the U.S. Moreover, experts also say the ban hands rhetorical ammunition to the jihadi propagandists of the Islamic State, who could use Trumps policy in recruiting.

There are fears the order will set the tone of the White Houses approach to the Muslim world over the next four years. Certainly, theres a history of hostility to Islam; Stephen Bannon, the White Houses influential chief strategist, has in the past called Islam a dark religion. National security advisor Michael Flynn once said that fear of Muslims is rational.

I think it reflects a deeply-held dislike of Islam among Trump and his top advisors. And I think the evidence for that interpretation is now overwhelming, says Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. We know what people like Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn have said explicitly about, not just disliking extremism or Islamism, but Islam as a religion, and seeing Islam as a civilizational and ideological threat.

Hamid says that Trumps policies are likely to worsen Americas image in the Middle East and the broader Muslim world. When America is literally closing its borders to large numbers of people and promising to do more of that in the coming four years. How long will that perception last? Can the damage be undone if someone else is elected in four years? I dont know. But I assume that four years of this will do lasting damage on how America is perceived.

As the week wore on, the Trump administration gave more hints about its approach, signaling it would take a far harder line on Iran. On Wednesday Flynn declared that Iran was on notice following an attack on a Saudi naval vessel, in an assault blamed on Iranian-allied Houthi rebels. Further raising tensions on Friday, the Treasury Department announced new sanctions on 25 Iranian people and companies.

A consequential week could signal the shape of Trumps Middle East policy: driving a wedge yet further into the reigning split between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran. Others in the region will find it increasingly difficult to straddle the gap.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The caller needed no introduction  except, perhaps, to Sen. Joe Manchin.

"He says, 'Joe, this is Donald.' And I'm thinking, 'Donald who?'" the West Virginia Democrat remembered from the first time Donald Trump called his cell phone. "I didn't know the voice. Then I kind of got who it was and I said, 'Oh, Mr. President-elect."

That late November conversation was the beginning of an unlikely bond between the coal-country politician and New York real estate mogul, a relationship that's turned Manchin into one of the Democrats' best  and nearly only  conduits into the new Republican administration. In Manchin, Trump sees the potential for a partner in a Democratic Party that's all but declared war on his agenda.

In Trump, Manchin sees a lifeboat for his brand of bipartisan politicking. A centrist from a state that went overwhelmingly for Trump, West Virginia's only congressional Democrat now finds himself in the middle of the political hurricane sweeping through Washington.

Fueled by a wave of national protests, furious Democrats are demanding nothing short of complete resistance to Trump's agenda from lawmakers. Republicans, meanwhile, see Manchin as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in next year's midterm contests.

While not quite friends, Manchin and Trump have developed a political rapport. They call each other directly on their cell phones, have met at Trump Tower and even flirted with the idea of a Cabinet post. Manchin has met twice with Vice President Mike Pence, who has made frequent visits to Capitol Hill, and he has an open line to some of the administration's top aides.

"Trump's looking to do stuff and Manchin sees how popular he is here in West Virginia," said Chris Regan, who lost the chairmanship of the state Democratic Party to a Manchin ally in June. "And he's looking to see if some of that rubs off on him."

Manchin says his pragmatic approach hasn't changed since he was a state legislator in West Virginia; it's Washington that's grown more divided.

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He says he's committed to remaining a member of the Democratic Party and is hopeful that he'll be able to negotiate with a man he describes as a consummate dealmaker. But he isn't giving the new leader of the free world much advice.

"He is who he is. He's not going to change," Manchin said during an interview with The Associated Press at his Senate office. "And if you're a Democrat and you take it personally when he attacks, you better understand he respects also when you think you're right and you fight back. So don't be so mealy-mouthed about it."

So far, Manchin has voiced opposition to just one of Trump's nominees: Betsy DeVos for education secretary. This past week, he was the first Senate Democrat to meet with Trump's Supreme Court pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch.

"We'll see whether Manchin stands up or if he caves on this as well," said Kurt Walters, campaign director of the left-wing group Demand Progress, which has been organizing protests against Democratic senators.

The pressure is coming from both sides: Conservative groups have said they will spend more than $10 million pushing Senate Democrats to confirm Trump's nominee.

"I'm sure when I run they'll all try to beat me," said Manchin. "That's the way the gig goes, but that doesn't mean I don't try to still make this place work."

David Urban, a Republican lobbyist who ran Trump's presidential campaign in Pennsylvania, credited Manchin as someone "who has reached across the aisle to try to work with Republicans." There's no guarantee Manchin's seat won't be a GOP target. "He's got a D after his name," Urban said.

Former aides say both sides would be foolish to misjudge Manchin's deep connections to his home state, where he served as governor for six years. "Never underestimate Joe. He's masterful at what he does," said Republican Gil White, who worked for Manchin as his chief legislative liaison.

A former carpet store owner from a small mining town, Manchin has shown an almost reflexive need to try and confound his party's leadership.

After firing a rifle at President Barack Obama's "cap and trade" energy bill in a 2010 campaign ad, he ended up becoming a surprising ally for Obama during his 2013 push to craft a bipartisan deal on background checks for gun purchases. The bill failed.

Manchin recognizes that some of his past positions may hurt him, particularly his support for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, which earned him the label "Traitor Joe."

Within the Obama administration, Manchin became better known, perhaps, for what he was against. Manchin opposed the nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015 and sided with a Republican-backed bill to halt federal funding for Planned Parenthood. And as a lawmaker representing thousands of coal workers, Manchin has long derided Obama's environmental regulations as a "war on coal" that failed to strike the proper balance between the needs of the environment and industry.

The coal industry has also been a focus of his conversations with Trump, said Manchin. He's asked the president to back legislation that would ensure long-term health and pension benefits for retired coal miners, which he says are at risk because of a host of coal-company bankruptcies.

"I'm trying everything I can," said Manchin. "Around here they might be mad at you today, but they sure need you tonight."

___

Associated Press writer Michael Virtanen in Morgantown, W.Va., contributed to this report.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
While President Donald Trumps jibes at Arnold Schwarzenegger that provoked a Twitter war between the two dominated the headlines after Thursdays National Prayer Breakfast, a private meeting between the president and a prominent Ukrainian opposition leader has also raised some eyebrows in political circles.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, recounted her meeting with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the prayer breakfast a few hours later at the Heritage Foundation and the Hudson Institute. Tymoshenko, a member of parliament who is projecting herself as a potential successor to the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko, said that Trump assured her that he would not abandon Ukraine, according to Politico.

She also said that Trump promised not to lift sanctions on Russia until it had pulled out of Ukraine.

The White House confirmed that the conversation took place in a brief statement issued late Friday.

The President and the former PM had a brief, informal photo-op meeting in the reception before the National Prayer Breakfastwhile no formal assurances were given, as the former PM is not the Presidents counterpart, the United States remains concerned about violence in Eastern Ukraine. it reportedly said.

Tymoshenkos comments about President Trumps assurances are contradictory to the claims he made during his campaign where he asserted that he may ease sanctions against Russia. Trump had also praised Russian president Vladmir Putin, and, on a few occasions, dismissed reports by U.S. intelligence that suggested that his campaign received a boost against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton due to Russian intelligence facilitating cyberattacks.

Several unanswered questions linger in the aftermath of Trumps supposed support for Ukraine  especially regarding the extent to which a hardline position would be embraced. For instance, would the U.S. lift sanctions against Russia if it withdrew from Ukraines southern region of Crimea?

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The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, for instance, has adopted a hardline approach, as was witnessed this week when she rebuked Russia and announced that the U.S. was not rescind its sanctions related to the annexation of Crimea.

It was also reported that Tymoshenko's meeting with Trump irked incumbent Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

"The administration is furious with the meeting," a political consultant with connections to the Poroshenko administration, whose name was not revealed, told Politico, adding that Poroshenkos team will project as though the meeting "wasn't important, and they will try to ignore it as much as possible.

However, the consultant added: Diplomatically, it was a slap in the face. They're mad and don't know what to do, and what will come next.

Most recently, the White House announced that it would participate in a phone call with Poroshenko Saturday afternoon.

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By Harry Pearl and Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters rallied across Australia on Saturday condemning U.S. President Donald Trump's order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries and demanding an end to Australia's offshore detention of asylum seekers. U.S. ties with Australia became strained on Thursday after details about an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull emerged and Trump said a deal between the two nations on refugee resettlement was "dumb." About 1,000 people gathered in Sydney to protest against Trumps executive order on immigration and to call on Australia to close its offshore processing centers on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Similar protests were held in Canberra, Newcastle and Hobart, while hundreds attended an anti-Trump rally in Melbourne on Friday. Under the "dumb deal", the United States would take up to 1,250 asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus. In return, Australia would take refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Trump has begrudgingly said he planned to stand by the deal, but a source told Reuters on Friday U.S. immigration officials have postponed interviews with asylum seekers on Nauru. In Sydney, protesters carried placards that said "Refugee torture, Australia's shame" and "No walls, no camps, no bans". "Australia should not be trying to palm off people the government considers problems to the U.S.A. We have the solution here," protester Beverley Fine, 62, told Reuters. Trump's executive order last week suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and stopped visits by travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days. A U.S. federal judge on Friday put a nationwide block on Trump's executive order, although his administration could still have the policy put back into effect on appeal. (Editing by Nick Macfie)
Reactions from civic and community leaders are pouring in after Donald Trump's apparent threat to pull federal funding from U.C. Berkeley. Trump's comments came after the university cancelled an appearance by Breitbart editor and Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos, following a fiery protest by more than a thousand demonstrators. The protesters hurled smoke bombs, broke windows and sparked a massive bonfire to protest the firebrand editor's speech, scheduled for Tuesday night.

In a statement, university officials wrote, "UC Berkeley condemns in the strongest possible terms the action of individuals who invaded the campus, infiltrated a crowd of peaceful students, and used violent tactics to close down the event," adding U.C. Police "concluded that the speaker had to be evacuated from campus for his own safety, thereby bringing the event to an end."

In an early morning tweet Wednesday, Trump condemned the university:





According to the university's 2014-2015 Annual Financial Report, U.C. Berkeley received $466.5 million in federal funding. The number includes grants, contracts and bond subsidies.

Among the Democrats who fired back at Trump was Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), whose district includes the campus:

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin told CNBC that Trump's tweets could put U.C. Berkeley students on edge.

"It's a real concern. I think the university's been concerned ever since he took office that there would be deep cuts in federal funding, " said Arreguin. "It's really irresponsible for the President to make such a claim," he added.

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But Ed Wasserman, dean at U.C.Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, believes Trump's tweets shouldn't be taken literally.

"I don't think that Trump's implied threat should be taken seriously. I don't think 90 percent of his tweets should be taken seriously. He tweets the way someone doodles on a scratchpad when we're sitting in a meeting," Wasserman told CNBC.

The incident also touched off debate about freedom of speech. While Trump argued in his tweet that Yiannopoulos' freedom of speech was curtailed, critics of the Breitbart editor say Yiannopoulos' provocative language is hate speech.

Wasserman says in this case, the line between free speech and hate speech is murky.

"I'm reluctant to condemn it as hate speech...," said Wasserman, "but I would certainly say that I understand the discomfort that people feel about him, and understand people who feel that way not just because they don't like to be referred to in the ways that he refers to them, but they're very much afraid that other people will be emboldened by his words and act in ways that are genuinely harmful to them."

The university dean later pointed out to CNBC that while hate speech on its own is not illegal, it can be used as evidence of hatred, which can lead to stiffer punishments in certain hate-crime cases.

For his part, Wasserman worries that political divisions across the country will mute freedom of speech.

"It certainly doesn't look good right now," he said. "People aren't listening to each other, they're shouting at each other."

Correction: Ed Wasserman, dean at U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, says he misspoke in an earlier version of this article. It was updated to clarify that hate speech is not, on its own, illegal.


Washington (AFP) - With the first two weeks of his presidency behind him, Donald Trump arrived at his luxury Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, dubbed the "Winter White House," where he will spend the weekend.

The president's long day included slapping new sanctions on Iran and announcing plans to take an ax to a landmark financial reform bill. A few hours before midnight, the White House issued a pledge to fight a judge's order temporarily halting Trump's controversial traveler ban.

Here are five takeaways from Friday's events in Washington:

- Travel ban halted -

The White House vowed to fight back late Friday after a federal judge in Seattle ordered a temporary nationwide halt to Trump's controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Press secretary Sean Spicer called Trump's executive action "lawful and appropriate" and said the Department of Justice would request an emergency stay of the federal court order filed earlier in the day.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," Spicer said.

- Iran sanctions -

The US president slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's weapons procurement network, provoking an angry response from Tehran in what is an increasingly tense stand-off.

"Iran is playing with fire -- they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump tweeted.

The fresh US measures were in response to Iran's latest ballistic missile test and its support for Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen who in the past week targeted a Saudi warship, US officials said.

- Dodd-Frank goes under knife -

The landmark Dodd-Frank financial reforms adopted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis were aimed at curbing risky excesses by Wall Street investors that led to the "Great Recession."

On Friday, Trump -- who frequently vowed on the campaign trail that he would get rid of Dodd-Frank -- ordered a review of the law, telling business leaders: "We expect to cut a lot out of Dodd-Frank."

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"I have friends who can't start businesses because the banks wouldn't let them borrow because of rules and regulations and Dodd-Frank."

Critics claim the legislation created red tape that stifles the finance industry.

- Visa numbers out -

The United States has revoked up to 60,000 travel visas since Trump ordered a ban on visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries, the State Department said.

"We recognize that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the Executive Order," Will Cocks, spokesman for the department's bureau of consular affairs said.

A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

A week ago, Trump issued an executive order halting arrivals for at least 90 days for the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

All refugee arrivals from around the world were also halted, in this case for 120 days.

- Bannon brigade -

Fifty Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter to Trump demanding he explain his placement of controversial chief strategist Steve Bannon on the National Security Council despite lacking formal foreign policy experience.

Trump caused an uproar last weekend when he issued a memorandum that reorganized the NSC to elevate Bannon onto the Principals Committee and to relegate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Director of National Intelligence to roles where they only attend when "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise" are discussed.
Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia's armed forces have taken delivery of six US-made military helicopters from a total order of 24 for use in its fight against "terror", the government announced Saturday.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed was present at the southern military base of Gabes for the delivery of the aircraft, said a government statement.

The helicopters would reinforce the army's reconnaissance and attack capabilities in "the war against terrorism", it said.

A government official said the six Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters were the first batch of a total order of 24 of the same type.

The rest are due for delivery in March.

The official said the aircraft are equipped for both day and night operations, for "reconnaissance, security, air support, surveillance and determination of mobile and fixed targets".

In May last year, the US State Department approved the sale of the aircraft to Tunisia at a total cost of $100.8 million, in a contract that includes specialised systems support and training.

"The United States is committed to the security of Tunisia, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Tunisia to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability," the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said at the time.

It said the deal "will improve Tunisia's capability to conduct border security and combat operations against terrorists, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)", the Islamic State jihadist group in neighbouring Libya and the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia.

Tunisia has been the target of a wave of deadly jihadist attacks since its 2011 revolution, including on foreign tourists, and the UN estimates that more than 5,000 Tunisians are fighting for extremist groups, mainly in Iraq and Syria.

On January 16, Tunisia also received two ships from the US military, as part of an agreement reached in 2012.

The vessels are the third and fourth of a batch of six that will also strengthen Tunisia's ability to combat illegal immigration across the Mediterranean.

The last two ships are to be delivered within a year.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A high-profile conference on Libya planned for mid-February in Washington has been postponed, the organizers said on Friday, citing U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Libya, from entering the United States. The Feb. 16 conference titled "Libya-U.S. Relations 2017: New Vision, Hope and Opportunities," and co-hosted by the National Council on U.S.-Libya Relations, had listed Libyan speakers, including two former prime ministers and the head of the National Oil Corporation (NOC). As a result of the executive order, "banning Libyan citizens from entrance to the USA, it will not be feasible for the full complement of speakers, sponsors and guests to be in Washington, D.C., as originally planned," a statement from the conference organizers said. A new date for the conference would be announced soon. The executive order by Trump comes at a time of uncertainty over U.S. policy in Libya, which remains mired in the chaos that followed the NATO-backed 2011 uprising against long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. "This administration recognizes the role of the oil industry in economic stability and recognizes the importance of economic stability for political stability," Rihab El Haj, a member of the National Council on U.S.-Libya relations, told Reuters. "We have been working for visa waivers for speakers and key sponsors and based on our conversations with the various institutions involved in making the decision, there was consensus this was an important event and there is political will to facilitate the conference but it's just a question of timing and we understand that humanitarian exceptions are a priority," she said. The United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) was strongly supported by the administration of former President Barack Obama, but has struggled to assert its authority in Tripoli and beyond. Factions in eastern Libya aligned with a rival government and Khalifa Haftar, an influential military commander, welcomed Trump's election, hoping for more support for their anti-Islamist stance. Several speakers who had been slated to attend the conference are connected with or loyal to eastern-based factions. "Generally speaking, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State may on a case-by-case basis, and when in the national interest, issue visas or other immigration benefits to nationals of countries for which visas and benefits are otherwise blocked under this executive order," said William Cocks, spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. "As visa records are confidential under U.S. law, I'm unable to discuss any individual cases." (Writing by Yara Bayoumy, editing by G Crosse)
In Christian tradition, the Epiphany feast marks the end of the 12-day Christmas season and celebrates the revelation  to the whole world  that Jesus is the Son of God.

Thus, it was highly symbolic when a Muslim participating in an Epiphany rite at St. Marys (Episcopal) Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland, chanted verses from the Quran, Surah 19, in which the infant Jesus proclaims:

Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet. ... Peace is on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! The text then adds: Such was Jesus, son of Mary: a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. It befitteth not Allah that He should take unto Himself a son.

Cathedral leaders took to social media to hail this as a lovely moment. But in the Church of England, one of the chaplains of Queen Elizabeth II was dismayed by what many would consider an act of blasphemy  a reading of this clear Islamic denial of Jesus being the Son of God.

The Glasgow rite was justified as a way of building bridges and a way of educating people, the Rev. Gavin Ashenden told the BBC.

Nevertheless, he argued that it was wrong to insert such a reading into the Holy Eucharist, and particularly a Eucharist whose main intention is to celebrate Christ, the word made flesh, come into the world. ... To choose the reading they chose doubled the error. Of all passages you might have read likely to cause offense, that was one of the most problematic.

After hearing from Buckingham Palace, Ashenden resigned as one of the queens chaplains. Thus, he surrendered his unique status in a land in which the Church of England has been weakened by almost every cultural trend, yet retains a unique niche in the national psyche.

This was, Ashenden said, a matter of personal principle and ancient doctrine. He also noted that he asked cathedral leaders to apologize because I think Western clergy in their comfort have responsibility towards other Christians who suffer for their faith. Thats part of being the body of Christ.

That kind of language can get a priest in trouble in todays multicultural England.

They might have pushed me. They didnt. But we agreed that the things that I wanted to say, about the Gospel, about the faith, were becoming sources of embarrassment to the establishment, he said, in a recent Anglican Unscripted podcast.

Its not easy for people outside England to understand that the queen is not just a person, shes an idea. ... She is an office. So, behind the office, you have bureaucrats, and the bureaucrats have views. The bureaucrats can be leant on by other bureaucrats in other palaces or offices. So the bureaucrats were getting increasingly uncomfortable, and not just with this issue of the Quran being read in the cathedral.

If anything, he said, this collision with Islams rising presence in the United Kingdom and Europe is a sign that doctrinal traditionalists now face challenges on issues other than marriage, family and sexuality. In this case, its telling that a public defense of the Incarnation of Jesus as Son of God  a statement of faith at the heart of credal Christianity  created so much public controversy.

Reached by email, Ashenden said he understands that this kind of doctrinal clash may seem picky and unimportant to the growing number of unbelievers in this secular age in Western culture. But doctrine matters to traditional Christians, and Muslims, who do not believe all religions are the same. It would have been impossible, he noted, to read a biblical passage about the divinity of Jesus during Friday prayers in a major British mosque.

Yes, public battles over sexuality make bigger headlines. Nevertheless, Ashenden said that this Epiphany dispute  as a credal issue pitting the Quran against the Gospels  was important. It offered a revealing window into larger disputes in which advocates of relativism and syncretism are colliding with the objectivity of Christian claims about the Universe and God, he said.

Our culture doesnt like objective differences, he said. They require people to make choices. ... That is embarrassing.

One of the chaplains was dismayed by what many would consider an act of blasphemy  a reading of this clear Islamic denial of Jesus being the Son of God.
(Reuters) - U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) has informed U.S. airlines that they can once again board travelers who had been barred by an executive order last week, after it was blocked nationwide on Friday by a federal judge in Seattle, an airline official told Reuters.

In a conference call at around 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT), the U.S. agency told airlines to operate just as they had before the order, which temporarily had stopped refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Individuals from those states who have proper visas can now board U.S.-bound flights, and airlines are working to update their websites to reflect the change, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The judge's temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump's action, although his administration could still appeal the ruling and have the policy upheld.

Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, made his ruling effective immediately on Friday, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted straight away. He is expected to issue a full written ruling over the weekend.

CBP and Washington-based trade group Airlines for America did not immediately comment. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Phil Stewart TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday he was not considering hiking the number of U.S. forces in the Middle East to address Iran's "misbehavior" at this time, but warned that the world would not ignore Iranian activities. President Donald Trump has vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran and his administration is warning of concrete action if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile program and continues support in regional proxy conflicts. The United States announced new sanctions on Friday, just two days after the Trump administration put Iran "on notice" following a ballistic missile test. Mattis said putting Iran on notice was worthwhile, given its behavior. "As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world and I think it is wise to make certain that Iran recognizes that what it is doing is getting the attention of a lot of people," Mattis told a news conference in Tokyo in his most detailed remarks on Iran since taking over the Pentagon. Still, he firmly played down the idea of any military buildup. "I don't see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time. That's not in the cards right now," he said. "We always have the capability to do so. But right now I don't think it's necessary." The United States has already sent a Navy destroyer to patrol off the coast of Yemen to protect waterways from Houthi militia aligned with Iran. But there are other actions Washington could take, including giving greater priority to rotating aircraft carriers through the Gulf. There is currently no U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf, for example. The U.S. Navy believes having a robust presence helps deter any moves by Iran to block that strategic waterway. In 2008 and 2010, in moves that prompted critics to accuse Iran of destabilizing the region, the Islamic Republic threatened to disrupt oil shipping in the Gulf by shutting the Strait of Hormuz if there were any attack on its nuclear sites. Mattis said ignoring Iranian behavior - something former President Barack Obama's critics routinely accused him of doing - wouldn't work. "It does no good to ignore it, it does no good to dismiss it," Mattis said, without citing Obama or his policies. The White House has said that while the latest sanctions were a reaction to recent events, they had been under consideration before. It added that a landmark 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear program was not in the best interest of the United States. Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and said it would impose legal restrictions on American individuals and entities helping "regional terrorist groups", state TV quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying. Those affected under the sanctions cannot access the U.S. financial system or deal with U.S. companies and are subject to secondary sanctions, meaning foreign companies and individuals are prohibited from dealing with them or risk being blacklisted by the United States. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Nick Macfie)
PARIS (AP)  The Louvre Museum reopened to the public Saturday, less than 24 hours after a machete-wielding assailant shouting "Allahu akbar!" attacked French soldiers guarding the sprawling building and was shot by them.

The worldwide draw of the iconic museum in central Paris, host to thousands of artworks including the "Mona Lisa," was on full display on a drizzly winter day as international tourists filed by armed police and soldiers patrolling outside the site, which had been closed immediately after Friday's attack.

The attacker was shot four times after slightly injuring a soldier patrolling the nearby underground mall but his injuries on Saturday were no longer life-threatening, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

French President Francois Hollande said there is "no doubt" the suspect's actions were a terror attack, and he will be questioned as soon as that is possible.

An Egyptian Interior Ministry official confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday that the attacker is Egyptian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, who is 28, not 29 as widely reported.

The official said an initial investigation in Egypt found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any militant group by him. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

French authorities said they are not yet ready to name the suspect, but confirmed they thought he was Egyptian.

The suspect was believed to have been living in the United Arab Emirates and came to Paris on Jan. 26 on a tourist visa, prosecutor Francois Molins said. The suspect bought two military machetes at a gun store in Paris and paid 1,700 euros ($1,834) for a one-week stay at a Paris apartment in the chic 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Elysees Avenue.

On the Twitter account of an "Abdallah El-Hamahmy," a tweet was posted about a trip from Dubai to Paris on Jan. 26. In the profile photo, Hamahmy is seen smiling and leaning against a wall in a blue-and-white sports jacket.

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In another tweet in Arabic written shortly before the Louvre attack, Hamahmy posted an angry tirade: "No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war."

In an interview Saturday on the Dubai-based news channel al-Hadath, Hamahmy's father, Reda Refae al-Hamahmy, said he was shocked to learn of his son's alleged involvement in the latest Paris attack and denied that he was a radical or belonged to any militant groups.

"All I want is to know the truth and find out whether he is dead or alive," the father said.

"This is all a scenario made up by the French government to justify the soldiers opening fire," he added. "He is a very normal young man."

The father said Hamahmy is married with a 7-month-old child and told them he intended to tour the sights in Paris before leaving France. He sent his father a photo of himself with the Eiffel Tower in the background shortly before the clash at the Louvre.

Hamahmy's brother Ahmed, who works at the Health Ministry in Dubai, was interrogated for several hours by security officials in the United Arab Emirates, the father said. In Egypt, several domestic security agency officers visited the family home in the Nile Delta on Friday night to question family members.

At the Louvre on Saturday, visitors expressed mixed feelings about the incident, with some planning to leave Paris earlier than planned.

"We heard on the news that a terrorist attack took place ... we stayed at the hotel and we're thinking about cutting our vacation in Paris short," said Lucia Reveron from Argentina.

Others felt safer because of the heightened security presence.

"I went around yesterday in the evening and security was everywhere. Even now, when we arrived (at the Louvre), we were checked and it's secure. I don't feel any threats," said Kurt Vellafonde from Malta.

With the spate of attacks on France in the last few years, many residents have become resilient, even blase.

"There have been very good security measures taken and it does not scare me at all," said Regine Dechivre. "It's the phenomena of a person a little bit disturbed. The investigation will tell us what exactly happened."

The United Arab Emirates condemned the attack at the Louvre but UAE officials offered no comment Saturday about the suspect's possible connection to the country.

The UAE, which includes the Mideast commercial hub of Dubai, is a major destination for guest workers from Egypt and other countries. Foreign residents outnumber native Emiratis roughly four to one.

"The UAE, while strongly condemning this hideous crime, affirms its full solidarity with the friendly French Republic in these circumstances and its support for whatever measures France may take to preserve its security and safety of its citizens and residents," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said.

France is working with the Emirates to build a branch of the Louvre in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi. The project has been repeatedly delayed and is now expected to open later this year.

___

Hendawi reported from Cairo. Chris Den Hond and Nadine Achoui-Lesage in Paris and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report
The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on the notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, previously branded "a global terrorist" and accused of war crimes.

The move follows a peace deal between Hekmatyar's insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government in September that granted him legal immunity from past offences, sparking outrage from rights groups.

Although Hekmatyar is accused of killing thousands in Kabul during the 1992-1996 civil war, many foreign governments, including the United States, praised the landmark accord as a step towards peace in Afghanistan.

A statement on the UNSC's website Friday said an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo targeting Hekmatyar -- a former prime minister and one of the most controversial figures in Afghanistan's modern history -- no longer applied.

Diplomatic sources said only Russia had opposed the move, which theoretically opens the way for Hekmatyar's return to Kabul after two decades of exile in Iran and then in Pakistan.

France was initially reluctant because of Hezb-i-Islami's involvement in an ambush northeast of Kabul that cost the lives of 10 French soldiers in August 2008, but later changed its mind.

"It is an important point of the peace agreement between Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government," chief negotiator for Hekmatyar, Mohammad Karim Amin, told AFP.

"And it shows the commitment from the government and from the Hezb-i-Islami to pursue on this peace track," Karim said.

It would also "open the door" and stimulate the peace process and would send a "strong signal to other fighters" in the country, he said in reference to the Taliban.

He further said that it showed "the only key to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict is through an inter-Afghan negotiation without any foreign interference".

"We always said his return (Hekmatyar) won't be linked to the lift of the sanction but obviously it will widely ease it," Karim said.

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The whereabouts of Hekmatyar, who was not present in Kabul for the signing of the agreement that was completed via video conference -- remains unknown.

Hekmatyar was a prominent anti-Soviet commander in the 1980s and a major figure during the bloody civil war of the 1990s when he was accused of indiscriminately firing rockets into Kabul, as well as other human rights abuses.

In recent years the insurgent conflict has been led by the Taliban.

Hekmatyar is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan, but his group claims he remains in Afghanistan.

With the UN sanctions now scrapped, government officials expect Hekmatyar to return to the Afghan capital.

Hezb-i-Islami has been trying to repair Hekmatyar's public image as a murderous warlord as it attempts to rebrand from a radical, misogynistic movement to a mainstream political force.
BEIRUT (AP)  It's up to the U.S. to decide the legality of the ban on admitting any refugees but the United Nations is extremely concerned by its implications, the U.N.'s top official on refugees said in an interview Saturday.

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Associated Press that "we are extremely involved and concerned by the operational aspect, of course, because many people have been affected and have gone through the whole process of being admitted to the United States."

"We're busy with gauging the consequences of that and managing them and discussing them with the U.S. administration," Grandi said in Beirut after visiting Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley where hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees live.

His comments came hours after a federal judge's order blocking President Donald Trump's ban on admitting travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries or any refugees left authorities and advocates at a loss Saturday.

Trump lashed out at "this so-called judge" who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S.

Trump ordered in January a four-month suspension of America's broader refugee program. The suspension is intended to provide time to review how refugees are vetted before they are allowed to resettle in the United States.

Trump's order also cuts the number of refugees the United States plans to accept this budget year by more than half, to 50,000 people from around the world.

During the last budget year the U.S. accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 people from Syria. President Barack Obama had set the current refugee limit at 110,000.

The temporary halt to refugee admissions does include exceptions for people claiming religious persecution, so long as their religion is a minority faith in their country. That could apply to Christians from Muslim-majority countries.

Grandi said that cutting down the number of refugees "goes against the spirit of international cooperation" which the United States and other nations reaffirmed as the fundamental approach toward refugees last year at the Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York."

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"So if you reduce one of the most significant aspects of burden sharing of global responsibility you weaken that spirit which is really what we need to have and to maintain to uphold to expand to address the huge problem of refugees and displaced," Grandi said.

Asked whether UNHCR plans to identify other countries to take in those refugees that the U.S. has banned, Grandi said other countries have their own procedures and shouldn't be additionally burdened by those who can no longer go to the United States.

"We have to be careful that we don't block those pipelines to put (or) to transfer the U.S. pipeline," Grandi said.

He added that the ban has affected some 411 refugees currently living in Lebanon, a small Arab country hosting some 1.2 million refugees, or a quarter of the country's population.

"These are people that have actually completed the process, are ready to go, were ready to board planes and go to the U.S. and were told that they have to wait here," Grandi said. "This is a big problem. Maybe they have sold all their belongings, maybe they have given up whatever residency permit they have."

"We will have to backtrack for them, we will have to negotiate that they can stay here for another while in a country that already hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees," he said.

"It's unfair to them terribly, it's unfair to Lebanon too," Grandi said.
Washington (AFP) - US authorities on Saturday suspended President Donald Trump's controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries, following a court ruling that blocked its enforcement.

"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a US State Department spokesman told AFP. The department had said some 60,000 travel visas had been revoked in compliance with the president's recent executive order.

"Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid," the official said.

The official added that the Trump administration is "working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams" pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state's attorney general, which filed one of several legal challenges to the measure.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a separate statement on Saturday wrote: "In accordance with the judge's ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the executive order."

It added: "DHS personnel will resume inspection of travelers in accordance with standard policy and procedure," but said that US Department of Justice officials would launch an appeal "at the earliest possible time" to reinstate the ban, which the Trump administration believes "is lawful and appropriate."

"The order is intended to protect the homeland and the American people, and the President has no higher duty and responsibility than to do," the DHS statement said.

Trump meanwhile lashed out at the court ruling suspending his controversial ban affecting travelers from seven Muslim countries dismissing it as "ridiculous" and vowing to get it overturned.

The order, issued late Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state's attorney general.

The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at airports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets.
Tokyo (AFP) - US Defense Secretary James Mattis told his Japanese counterpart on Saturday that their alliance remained a "cornerstone" of regional stability as he wrapped up a visit aimed at reassuring key Asian allies about Washington's commitment to their security.

Japan and the US have a decades-long security alliance while US-South Korea military ties date back to the 1950-53 Korean War.

But on the campaign trail, US President Donald Trump accused Seoul and Tokyo of not paying their fair share for US troops stationed in their countries, sparking concerns about the future of the security alliances.

Mattis arrived in Japan on Friday from South Korea and his visit to the region marks the first overseas trip by a senior official from the Trump administration.

Mattis, a former Marine general who has served in both Japan and South Korea, made clear in no uncertain terms that the United States was ready to answer any threats the two countries may face.

"We see the alliance between ourselves and Japan as a cornerstone of peace, prosperity and freedom in the Asia Pacific area," he said at the start of discussions with Japanese defence minister Tomomi Inada.

"It will continue as strong as ever."

Earlier, Mattis and Inada shook hands under clear skies and a military band played the two countries' national anthems.

They are expected to discuss strengthening military cooperation and ways to counter the regional threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

On Friday, Mattis told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who will hold a summit with Trump next in Washington, that the US would continue to defend Japan.

"We stand firmly, 100 percent, shoulder-to-shoulder with you and the Japanese people."

And in Seoul on Friday, Mattis had strong words for Pyongyang and warned it against any violent adventurism.

"Any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming," Mattis told reporters ahead of a meeting with his South Korean counterpart.

North Korea carried out two atomic tests and a series of missile launches last year, and casts a heavy security shadow over the region.
SEATTLE (AP)  A U.S. judge on Friday imposed a nationwide hold on President Donald Trump's ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, siding with two states that had challenged the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed. About 60,000 people from the affected countries had their visas cancelled.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart said. "This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis ..."

It wasn't immediately clear what happens next for people who had waited years to receive visas to come to America, however an internal email circulated among Homeland Security officials told employees to comply with the ruling immediately.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate." Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

Trump's order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.

Story continues

After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," Ferguson said. "The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States."

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation. The judge's ruling could be appealed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The judge's written order, released late Friday, said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches" of government.

The court's job "is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our country's laws."

Robart ordered federal defendants "and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from" enforcing the executive order.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under litigation, said Friday: "We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available.?"

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trump's order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

In court, Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said the focus of the state's legal challenge was the way the president's order targeted Islam.

Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and the travel ban was an effort to make good on that campaign promise, Purcell told the judge.

"Do you see a distinction between campaign statements and the executive order," Robart asked. "I think it's a bit of a reach to say the president is anti-Muslim based on what he said in New Hampshire in June."

Purcell said there was an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to show that the order was directed at the Muslim religion, which is unconstitutional.

When the judge questioned the federal government's lawyer, Michelle Bennett, he repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the order.

Robart, who was appointed the federal bench by President George W. Bush, asked if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties listed in Trump's order since 9/11. Bennett said she didn't know.

"The answer is none," Robart said. "You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that."

Bennett argued that the states can't sue on behalf of citizens and the states have failed to show the order is causing irreparable harm.

Robart disagreed.

Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas canceled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.

That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order is harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system.

Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the state's efforts to stop the order. They say it's hurting their operations, too.

___

Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee and Alicia A. Caldwell contributed from Washington.

___

Follow Martha Bellisle https://twitter.com/marthabellisle
Cardinal Raymond Burkes fight with Pope Francis is full of irony. The irony centers on Burkes understanding of the Gospel and the meaning of authority.

Let me explain.

When I was director of the Franciscan Spirituality Center, Burke was bishop of the La Crosse Diocese. Periodically, I would receive a letter from him that began, It has come to my attention that FSC is hosting .... Each letter explained why this event was contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. As the authority of the church in La Crosse, he said, he could not permit this event to happen.

I had many conversations with Burke in which I explained that Jesus was more about relationships than rules, inclusion rather than exclusion, teaching discernment rather than issuing decrees. But, alas, these conversations were only in my head.

I decided to not play hardball with the bishop. He had all the bats.

This decision was painful not only for my staff but for others of goodwill. I remember crying with June Kjome, the matriarch of social justice in La Crosse, when I told her we could not host her Lutheran bishop friend because his position on homosexuality was contrary to that of the Catholic Church.

However, there was one occasion when I stood ground. Burke insisted the spirituality center cancel a presentation by Sister Joan Chittister. She is a Benedictine in good standing with the Catholic Church, author of many inspiring books and an internationally known speaker. I objected to canceling her presentation. After letters and conversations over eight months, I asked Burke if I could transfer her sponsorship to Church Women United. He agreed, stating he had no authority over Church Women United.

CWU hosted Chittister at the La Crosse Center. About 800 people attended. Ironically, CWU chose Kjome to introduce her. After the introduction, Chittister said of Kjome, I want to be like her when I grow up.

Several months later, another letter arrives from Burke. He wrote that he had been notified that the Vatican wanted to investigate Franciscan Spirituality Center. It was not hard to deduce who informed the Vatican about us  Burke had asked for the home run bat.

Burke named a priest theologian to lead the investigation. He requested documentation and notes from presentations of several speakers from the previous 10 years. The investigating priest and I had several discussions during which I had to provide more specific details. Finally, I had to respond in writing to several questions from Burke. It was now time to send the report to Rome.

Then nothing happened.

Burke was promoted as archbishop of St. Louis. The investigating priest was sent to Rome to pursue graduate studies. I never heard another word. Apparently, Burkes successor put the bats in storage.

Fast forward to the present. Burke is the cardinal patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta. Until recently, the grand master of the order was Matthew Festing. Festing fired the orders health minister, Albrecht Boeselager, over providing condoms to fight AIDS. Burke said his sacking was the desire of the Holy See.

Pope Francis responded that Burke had never discussed the matter with him. Consequently, Francis appointed a commission to investigate the order. Burke insisted that the pope had no business interfering with the removal of Boeselager because the matter was an act of internal governance of a sovereign order.

When Francis received the commissions report, he asked for and received the resignation of Festing. On Jan. 28, the governing board of the Order of Malta met to decide whether they would accept the resignation of Festing, still insisting they had authority in this matter.

On Jan. 30, Crux, a news agency focusing on the Catholic Church, reported that the Order of Malta accepted Pope Francis intervention in their governance.

Francis then encouraged the order to follow the path of renewal as they elect a new grand master. He encouraged them to put aside personal interests and dangerous ambitions to better dedicate themselves to defending the faith and serving the poor.

Francis will appoint a special delegate to take care of the spiritual and moral renewal of the order. The popes letter did not clarify how the delegates responsibility would intersect with those of Burke.

The irony is that the conversations I used to have in my head with Burke, the pope is having with him in reality. I wonder what Burke believes about who has the bats now that hes playing hardball with the pope.
Couples in a shoestring romance may want to check out a new list of top, budget-friendly Valentine's Day destinations compiled by travel experts at Fodor's.

From city breaks, beach holidays to cheaper European destinations, the list features a few tried and true destinations tested by the self-described "underpaid editors at Fodor's" who "know a thing or two about economic travel."

Here are some of their recommendations:

Merida, Mexico

Flights to Merida from the US can be found for as little as $500 and a romantic stay at a boutique hotel can easily booked for $250 a night, an itinerary that's easy on the wallet for a three-day weekend. "You'll even have enough money left over to splurge on the tasting menu at Kuuk, a modern Mayan restaurant specializing in molecular gastronomy."

Chicago, Illinois

February is off-season for Chi-Town, with hotel room rates as low as $100 at trendy properties like the Acme Hotel Company, Whitehall Hotel and Millennium Knickerbocker. And unlike New York, visitors can easily find theater tickets to a world-class show for less than $200, along with a world-class meal for about $150.

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston's quaint southern charm is recommended for couples who appreciate historical architecture, warm weather and flavorful, dynamic dining. February is also low-season for the city and be found for less than $200.

Reykjavik, Iceland

Through March 26, Icelandair is offering package deals to Iceland for less than $1,000 per person that includes airfare, a three-night stay in the capital, a trip to the Blue Lagoon's famous hot springs, and a Northern Lights sightseeing cruise.

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon has the charm and romance of its more popular European cousins, at a fraction of the price tag. Couples in Lisbon will also find cobblestone streets, romantic vistas, intimate cafes and romantic restaurants. Last-minute flights from the US can be found for about $700.
Moscow (AFP) - Alexandra Glebova knows only too well the trauma of domestic violence in Russia after suffering years of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her father.

"He would always hit me on the head," Glebova, 26, told AFP.

"Sometimes he hit me so hard I bounced off his hand round the whole room like a ping-pong ball."

Now a law set to be signed by President Vladimir Putin will soften the punishment for such domestic violence from a jail term to a fine.

Already fast-tracked through parliament, the proposed law was drawn up by conservative pro-Kremlin lawmakers who argue that tough legislation on domestic abuse represented undue interference into family life.

But the change has infuriated rights groups and victims and prompted unusually heated debate in a country where violence at home is not seen as out of the ordinary.

Glebova, whose father abused her for around five years but was never reported to the police, said the proposed law had prompted her to speak out.

"With this law, they break lives," she said.

"These are people, and the authorities should protect people. It turns out they protect some people but others not at all."

Living with her boyfriend in Moscow, she said she still suffers from depression and has nightmares about her "tyrant" father, with whom she has ended contact.

One in five Russian women has suffered physical violence from a partner, according to a 2011 official report. Rights group ANNA estimates 7,500 women died in 2015 from domestic violence.

"If he beats you, it means he loves you," a popular saying goes, and a recent survey by the state-run opinion polling agency found 59 percent thought such violence could be acceptable.

In Russia there is no separate law covering domestic violence where the victim is living with the attacker, unlike in many other countries, but rather it is lumped in under battery. There are also no restraining orders against abusers.

Story continues

Now the new legislation would cut the punishment that first-time abusers could face from two years in jail to a fine and says they will only face criminal charges if they reoffend within a year. Even then, the onus will be on the victim to launch legal action.

Proponents of the new law, such as prominent senator Yelena Mizulina, slam Western countries for taking children into care and praises patriarchal values and corporal punishment.

She claimed the changes offer the "very good" option of community service for abusers "which won't hit the family budget."

Meanwhile foreign affairs committee chief Konstantin Kosachev said the West was criticising the measure with the aim "of attacking our country". Upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko insisted fines of up to $500 "are enough if it's the first time and it's just some light family squabbles."

- 'Removing a last resort' -

Anna Veduta, a former spokeswoman for opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said she felt compelled by the proposed law to share her experience of domestic violence.

"I thought it would be a good moment to draw attention to this problem," said Veduta, who now lives in Washington DC.

When she was an 18-year-old student in Moscow, her boyfriend abused her both physically and psychologically -- hitting her, smashing her possessions and forcing her to carry out sexual acts, she said.

"He wouldn't strike me in the face so you'd see something," she said. "You'd have bruises on your body, but people don't see them, especially in winter in Russia."

She wrote a Facebook post about her experiences that was reposted by a news site and a popular blogger.

Yet, "most of the comments were: 'It's your fault'," she said. "I just want people to get used to this simple concept: the victim is never guilty."

She condemned the legislation for removing a woman's "last resort" to call police and get a criminal investigation.

- 'A step back' -

Lawmakers who back the proposed law argue it gives an abuser a chance to reform.

But activists predict the opposite.

"This is a step back again because women find themselves without protection -- and so do children," said Irina Matviyenko, coordinator of the abused women's helpline ANNA.

"What is happening again is a kind of impunity for abusers,"

The law fails to recognise that domestic violence consists of multiple attacks aimed at controlling the victim, Matviyenko said.

"Domestic violence will recur and get more serious."

The head of a regional woman's centre also said she expected "the number of dead will increase and the number of injured women".

She requested not to be named due to a law penalising foreign-funded NGOs for "political" activities.

Asked if in 19 years she had ever seen an abuser stop after the first attack, she said: "Never".

The best-case scenario is the woman leaves with the children, she said.

Domestic violence is most common against a female partner, but also often targets elderly parents or teenage children, she added.

She estimates that in each of the Russian regions she works with, some 30,000 families are at risk of violence.

In Russia as a whole, "this doesn't affect 100,000 women, it's definitely half a million. I think that's the most modest estimate."
Washington (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday warned Democrats not to block a vote on the president's Supreme Court pick, saying such a move would be "unwise" and pledging the Senate would get its say "one way or the other."

President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch, faces a fierce confirmation battle. He needs at least 60 votes from the country's 100 senators to prevent opponents from launching a filibuster -- a procedure that essentially prevents a vote through endless debate.

"Make no mistake about it. This would be an unwise and unprecedented act," Pence said of the Democrats' filibuster threat, during a speech in Philadelphia to a local chapter of the Federalist Society, an influential organization that promotes a conservative view of US law.

"President Trump and I have full confidence that Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed," he said.

"We will work with the Senate leadership to ensure that Judge Gorsuch gets an up or down vote on the Senate floor -- one way or the other."

"This seat does not belong to any party or ideology," Pence said, adding that "the Supreme Court belongs to the American people, and the American people deserve a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

Many Democrats deeply resent last year's refusal by Senate Republican leaders to even consider former president Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, to fill the vacancy.

The seat has remained empty since the death, nearly a year ago, of conservative justice Antonin Scalia.

Supporters of Gorsuch cast the 49-year-old federal judge as an ardent defender of the conservative values championed by the late Republican justice.

Trump's nominee "will pick up where Justice Scalia left off," Pence said.

With only a 52-seat majority in the Senate, Republicans will have to convince at least eight Democrats to cross party lines to vote for Gorsuch, who supports the death penalty and other core right-wing positions.

Story continues

If support falls short, Trump has urged Senate Republicans to change longstanding rules -- using what is referred to as the "nuclear option" -- to allow Gorsuch's confirmation by a simple majority of 51 votes, a highly controversial approach.

Pence's campaign for Gorsuch came as Trump attacked another federal judge who blocked the president's controversial immigration ban targeting nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted early Saturday from his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.

US District Judge James Robart of Washington state -- an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush -- issued a nationwide order blocking Trump's ban late Friday.

By early Saturday, the US government began implementing the judge's order.
President Donald Trump reportedly told Senate Republicans Wednesday to go nuclear if thats what it took to get his Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, confirmed for a seat on the high court. If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ala., does choose the nuclear route, party members could head straight to a floor vote immediately following his concession hearings, which could require the conservative 10 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge to uproot from his cannabis-friendly town of Boulder, Colorado, to a permanent residence in Washington, D.C. within six weeks time, according to CNN.

Since Gorsuch is a native Coloradan, some folks would assume the longtime judge may be 4/20-friendly. After all, Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational use of marijuana for adults, and Gorsuch, who also teaches at the University of Colorado Law School, was the first judge to ever take on cases surrounding the plant following full legalization.

However, its not very clear where Gorsuch stands on legal marijuana. The judge hasnt made any outright statements condemning marijuana or sharing his views on the plant, but he has ruled against cannabis in the past.

In 2010, Gorsuch ruled against a couple who were on trial on charges of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. The duo claimed that their offense should have been dismissed on religious grounds, but Gorsuch ruled against them, claiming that the couples professed beliefs are not religious but secular, according to court documents, adding that the couple didnt sincerely hold the religious beliefs they claim to hold, but instead seek to use the cover of religion to pursue secular drug trafficking activities.

In 2013, Gorsuch ruled in favor of Colorado police officer John Harris, who was accused of fatally tasering a man who was attempting to resist a marijuana arrest. In Gorsuchs final ruling, he said, Illegal processing and manufacturing of marijuana may not be inherently violent crimes but  they were felonies under Colorado law at the time of the incident. And Officer Harris testified, without rebuttal, that he had been trained that people who grow marijuana illegally tend to be armed and ready to use force to protect themselves and their unlawful investments.

Story continues

Gorsuch ruled against marijuana again in 2015 after owners of a Colorado dispensary refused to hand over tax data to the Internal Revenue Service over fears of incriminating themselves due to marijuanas federal ban.

Yes, the Fifth Amendment normally shields individuals from having to admit to criminal activity, Gorsuch explained in his final judgment. But, the IRS argued, because DOJs memoranda generally instruct federal prosecutors not to prosecute cases like this one, the petitioners should be forced to divulge the requested information anyway. So it is the government simultaneously urged the court to take seriously its claim that the petitioners are violating federal criminal law and to discount the possibility that it would enforce federal criminal law.

Related Articles
The Justice Department will challenge a judge's temporary nationwide block on President Donald Trump's travel ban applicable to seven Muslim-majority nations, the White House said Friday night. Federal Judge James Robart of Seattle, had, on Friday, heard arguments from Washington state and Minnesota, which called the ban illegal and unconstitutional.

The White House initially issued a statement calling Robarts order outrageous, but a revised statement omitted the word. The Justice Department now plans to file an emergency stay on Robarts ruling.

"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. "The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

While issuing his order on a nationwide block of Trumps executive order  which puts in place a 90-day ban on visa-holders from seven nations, an indefinite ban on Syrian refugee admissions, and a 120-day ban on the entire refugee program  Robart wrote that the states have shown immediate and irreparable injury caused by Trumps move.

The executive order adversely affects the states residents in areas of employments, education, business, family relations, and freedom to travel, he wrote.

The work of the court is not to create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches, Robart wrote. The work of the judiciary, and this court, is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our countrys laws, and more importantly, our constitution.

Trump Travel Ban_1

Photo: REUTERS/Kate Munsch

Story continues

Following Robarts order, Customs and Border Protection informed U.S. airlines to allow previously banned travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to board flights. Individuals from these states who have proper visas can now board U.S.-bound flights.

We are a nation of laws. Not even the president can violate the constitution, Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson told reporters outside the courtroom, according to the Guardian. No one is above the law, not even the president.

This decision shuts down the executive order immediately, shuts it down, he added. That relief is immediate, happens right now. Thats the bottom line.

Since Trump signed his order on Jan. 27, and after travelers who were en route to the U.S. were either stranded at airports or were deported, there have been widespread protests against the travel ban. The State Department said Friday that nearly 60,000 foreigners from the seven countries had their visas canceled because of the executive order.

Protests over Trumps travel ban continued Friday, including a large group that gathered outside the Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Related Articles
People protest at a demonstration in Cleveland: AP

The White House has hit back after a judge temporarily blocked Donald Trump's controversial immigration ban, initially describing the ruling as outrageous before omitting the word from a later statement.

The Justice Department said it would ask for an emergency stay to honour Donald Trumps executive order to ban people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US, after District Judge James Robart ruled there was a strong chance that a legal challenge against the ban would succeed.

Judge Robart issued a temporary restraining order on a nationwide basis at a hearing in Seattle and ruled against government lawyers who claimed states did not have the standing to challenge Mr Trumps order.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are said to have told airlines they are allowed to board passengers who had been barred from entering the country, with the Justice Department not filing a motion immediately. Gulf carrier Qatar Airways said this morning that it would carry passengers from the seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees who had been banned under the order, according to a statement on the airline's website.

In his ruling Judge Robart said that federal defendants "and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from" enforcing the executive order.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer released a statement following the ruling saying the government "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

Soon after, a revised statement was released that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

Story continues

Mr Trumps order bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the US refugee programme globally.

Washington and Minnesota were the first two states to sue over the order and Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and mandates discrimination.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately ... puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," Mr Ferguson said.

"The law is a powerful thing  it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States."

The Trump administration has justified its actions on national security grounds, but opponents have labelled the order as unconstitutional as they belive it targets people based on religious beliefs.Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said there was an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to show Mr Trumps executive order was directed at the religion of Islam.

Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.

The Judge asked the federal government lawyer, Michelle Bennett, if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties listed in Mr Trump's order since 9/11. Ms Bennet said she did not know.

"The answer is none. You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that," Judge Robart said.

For President Trump's order to be constitutional, Judge Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction."

In Dubai, Tariq Laham, 32, and his fiancee Natalia had scrapped plans to travel to the U.S. after their July wedding in Poland, where Natalia is from.

Mr Laham told Reuters the couple would not reverse their decision.

"It is just too risky," said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. "Everyday you wake up and there is a new decision."

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under litigation, said: "We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travellers to the United States as soon as that information is available."

The State Department said the order had cancelled up to 60,000 visas. That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer who during a court hearing in Virginia said 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The decision in Washington state came at the end of a day of furious legal activity around the country over the immigration ban. In Boston, US District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed scepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group's claim that Mr Trump's order represented religious discrimination, before declining to extend the restraining order.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of "all persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States."

The state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is looking into how embarrassing details of President Donald Trump's recent tense phone conversations with his counterparts in Australia and Mexico were leaked to news organizations, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Fox News Channel.

"The president takes these leaks very seriously," Spicer said in an interview with Fox News Channel, which on Friday provided a transcript of a segment set to air on Saturday.

Trump cut short a phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after an acrimonious discussion about a refugee swap deal, a conversation that threatened ties between the two allies after details appeared in The Washington Post.

In an earlier call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto about paying for a wall on the southern U.S. border, Trump said he might send the U.S. military to Mexico to stop drug cartels - details from a transcript obtained by a Mexican news organization Aristegui Noticias and the Associated Press. The White House later said the comments were meant to be lighthearted.

"Thats troubling and I think the president has asked the team to look into this because those are very serious implications," Spicer said.

Spicer described the conversations as "candid" but respectful, and has noted that both the Australian and Mexican governments have disputed some of the details.

White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the investigation into the leaks.

Trump told politicians and faith leaders at a prayer breakfast that he was having difficult conversations with world leaders as he worked to overhaul immigration rules.

"Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls I'm having - don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it," Trump told the leaders.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by James Dalgleish)

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
In January 2016, an emaciated little boy was found roaming the streets of southern Nigeria. The orphan  naked, riddled with worms and close to death  had been abandoned by his family, who believed he was a witch, and had been living on food scraps for eight months. His rescuer, aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven, shared a heartbreaking photo on Facebook of the 10-pound 2-year-old sipping from a bottle of water, and the post quickly went viral, garnering thousands of likes and comments.



PHOTOS: Real-Life Stories That Inspired and Captivated Us in 2016

I have chosen to call the boy Hope for right now, Loven wrote on her charitys Facebook page in February 2016. We all hope that he survives.

Just one year later, Hope is thriving: On Tuesday, January 31, the happy, healthy toddler embarked on his first day of school. And to celebrate the milestone, Loven re-created the iconic image of her, encouraging him to drink from a bottle of water. The difference between the two pictures, taken 13 months apart, is remarkable.

This picture makes me cry of happiness! wrote one person, while another raved: Look at him!! He is so cute! I love his little book bag!



Hope lives with 35 others in an orphanage run by Loven and her husband, David Emmanuel Umem. All the other children are so protective of him, especially the older ones, Umem told Us Weekly in April 2016. Initially Hope was aggressive with everyone, but we have gained his trust. Now he is so happy. His favorite activities? Building little houses with soil and drawing pictures!

See Who Made Us' List of Stars Who Care

Loven set up her charity African Childrens Aid Education and Development Foundation in Nigeria to help young people who have been accused of witchcraft. I traveled to Nigeria where I met children who have been tortured and beaten almost to death because they were accused of being witches and there left alone on the street, she previously told Huffington Post UK. What I saw was so barbaric and terrible and it left a deep impression on me.

Story continues

According to UNICEF, belief in witchcraft is widespread in Africa, and those most likely to be accused are boys with physical deformities or conditions such as autism. The Washington Post reported that in the southwestern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom, there are an estimated 15,000 children who have been labeled witches and abandoned on the streets.







Related Content:
The Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, a meeting place for Scandinavian design, kicks off in the Swedish capital on February 7, with a newfound popularity for wooden architecture and a continuing concern for sustainability among the trends to be found this year.

More than 700 companies come together at the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, and 80 percent of them hail from Scandinavia.

Among the highlights of the 2017 fair will be the exhibition "Welcome to Woodland," which will spotlight wooden architecture, which organizers say is becoming a new Swedish export item. Swedish wooden constructions will be presented for their craftsmanship as well as for the ways in which they might inform industrial methods in the future.



Rounded and bent banisters from the design company C&D Joinery will be featured at the exhibition, which will include daily talks about the future possibilities of wooden construction.



Also looking toward the future is the Greenhouse program, a platform for emerging designers intended to serve as a stepping stone for tomorrow's design stars. Lies-Marie Hoffmann, Frag Woodall, Studio Fy and yuue design are among the 31 designers and design teams chosen to take part.

Hoffmann, a Sweden-based German designer, will exhibit a new wooden stool and sideboard collection made from re-purposing "the otherwise lost trees in the public environment." The Berlin-based studio yuue design combines Eastern culture with Nordic product design in its lighting, furniture and home decor, while Oslo-based Studio Fy presents playful design objects and Frag Woodall infuses poetry and humor into functional products.



The fair's Architecture & Design Talks program is this year focused on "Sustainable Thinking," covering sustainable materials, production methods and architecture, and discussing sustainability as it concerns designers, producers and consumers.



Spanish artist and designer Jaime Hayon is the year's guest of honor, and the purpose-built Hayon DNA Gallery will exhibit his varied work, characterized by playful expression and versatile construction. Hayon's work will also be available, alongside that of other designers, at Light Shop, a pop-up store for lighting and fittings.



In further guest exhibitions, Nordic and US designers have collaborated on "Furnishing Utopia," for which they participated in a Shaker woodworking workshop before creating designs inspired by Shaker aesthetics, while the emerging Icelandic design scene will be showcased in "Good vibrations" by DesignMarch Reykjavik.



The Stockholm Furniture & Lighting Fair runs February 7-11, with the final day open to the public.

www.stockholmfurniturelightfair.se






First Lady Melania Trump might still be spending her weekdays in New York but she is getting the Trump White House in ship-shape with the help of interior designer Tham Kannalikham.

Mrs. Trump has a deep appreciation for the historical aspects of the White House and with Thams traditional design and expertise, they are focusing on a seamless integration of elegance and comfort into where the President, the First Lady, and [their son] Barron will be spending their family time and calling their home, said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, senior adviser to the First Lady.

The Laotian-American designer got her start at Ralph Lauren Home in New York and now heads up her own firm as principal of Kannalikham Designs. While pundits and comedians have mused about the likelihood of an Oval Office adorned with gold and marble accents along the lines of the Louis XIV-inspired style that Angelo Donghia created for the Presidents penthouse in Trump Tower, their White House is likely to be more toned down given Kannalikhams ethos.

With what was described as extensive experience working with private clients from around the world, her interest in traditional design, coupled with her past work, has led to a decade of extensive study in the fields of early American architecture and decorative arts. I am honored by the opportunity to be working with the First Lady to make the White House feel like home, Kannalikham said in a statement released Thursday.

While it was not immediately known how she and the First Lady met, the fact that Kannalikham keeps a relatively low profile may have been a selling point with FLOTUS. The designers web site has a private login for clients, and it does not feature any photographs or information beyond an e-mail contact. Her Instagram account is private. Her Ralph Lauren tie may have been another upside with the First Lady, who millions of inauguration watchers know wore a powder blue ensemble by Lauren for her husbands swearing-in ceremony last month. With the exception of Lauren, Trump gravitated toward lesser-known  and lowkey  designers for her inaugural weekend wardrobe.

Story continues

The President wasted no time in hanging a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office and the First Lady may also keep a fast pace with her White House redecorating. The Lincoln Bedroom, the Presidents Dining Room, the Truman Balcony, the Yellow Oval Room and the Treaty Room are all housed on the White Houses second floor, and are among the spaces that First Families generally rework to their taste.

During the Obama years, it was the Los Angeles-based designer Michael Smith who reimagined the private quarters at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with an array of 20th and 21st century art. The turnaround time was a mere two months, according to an Architectural Digest article. Smiths first priority was reportedly squaring away the bedrooms for Malia and Sasha. In terms of First Family decorating, that M.O. may remain intact given First Lady Melania Trumps devotion to her 10-year-old son.

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Its the Super Bowl weekend, which means were about to be hit by a deluge of commercials, including plenty of trailers for upcoming movies. But until then, we have a great selection of new trailers released this week, including the final trailer for Beauty and the Beast, the first full trailer for Ghost in the Shell, and many others.

Don't Miss: MITs new AI understands the hardest part of human language

Beauty and the Beast

If its one movie you have to see this year, other than the new Star Wars episode, then its Disneys live action Beauty and the Beast remake. Weve got a final trailer, and its absolutely fantastic  if you loved the original animation, that is. The movie launches

Ghost in the Shell

Okay, so its not a full trailer, but well just have to make do with it until Sunday. Paramount released a teaser for the Super Bowl Ghost in the Shell trailer, watch it below.

Girls Trip

This will sound pretty familiar. Weve got a group of friends that decides to take a trip and just go wild. Come July 21st, well see if its also funny. Playing the girlfriends are Regina Hill, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, and Queen Latifah.

In Dubious Battle

Directed by James Franco, who also stars in In Dubious Battle, the movie tells the story of what standing up for your rights as a worker looked like in the 1930s. Aside from Franco, weve got a star-filled cast for this one, including Selena Gomez, Nat Wolff, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Vincent DOnofrio, Brian Cranston, and many others.

Smurfs: The Lost Village

On March 31st, the Smurfs returns to the big screen, and this time around its all about some sort of list village. Heres a brand new trailer for that.

The Lost City of Z

Just last week we saw a trailer for Amazons The Lost City of Z, a story based on real-life events at the beginning of the 20th century. Charlie Hunnam plays a British explorer whos looking for a mythical city into the Amazon  yes, theres a pinch of irony right there. Heres Amazons, the company not the region, brand new trailer about the early exploration of Amazon, the region not the company:

Story continues

Their Finest

Making movies while the German army is at the height of its Blitzkrieg operations during World War 2 might seem insignificant, but the film crew in Their Finest does it for a purpose: to inspire the British people. Add to that the fact that a woman is doing what many regard as a mans job, and you got an interesting plot for this comedy/drama. The movie about making movies at perilous times launches on April 7th.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformers: The Last Knight is getting a brand new trailer this Sunday. But in the meantime, we have a teaser for the Super Bowl clip for this next installment of Transformers.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
The FCC has reversed a decision to expand its Lifeline program, which provides subsidized internet to low-income users.

Nine companies participating in a program designed to provide subsidized internet access to low-income customers have been told by the Federal Communications Commission they are no longer allowed to provide their service.

The decision by the FCCs new leadership to prevent the companies from providing a more affordable internet option marks a reversal of a ruling made by former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler just weeks earlier.

Ajit Pai, the successor to Wheeler and current head of the regulatory commission in the Donald Trump administration, said the decision to give the go ahead to companies providing low-cost internet was an example of a midnight regulation passed in the lame duck session.

These last-minute actions, which did not enjoy the support of the majority of commissioners at the time they were taken, should not bind us going forward, he said in a statement.

Pais reversal effectively stifles an expansion of the FCCs Lifeline program. First launched in 1985, the initiative provides households a $9.25-per-month credit to be put toward the purchase of home internet service. It also provides a credit toward mobile phone subscriptions. The program serves 13 million low-income Americans.

On Jan. 18two days before he was to step down from his postWheeler granted approval to nine carriers to be included as part of the Lifeline program. One of those companies, Kajeet, has partnered with school districts in 41 states and the District of Columbia to provide internet to underserved communities.

Until 2016, Lifeline participants could only apply for the program to receive support for landlines or mobile phone planssome may recognize the program as part of the Obamaphone controversy that falsely claimed welfare recipients were receiving free cell phones from the Obama administration.

Under chairman Wheeler the commission passed the 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order, which extended the financial benefit to broadband internet. Chairman Pai and fellow Republican commissioner Michael ORielly opposed the decision at the time, arguing it left open the possibility to fraud and abuse of the system.

Story continues

In a statement on the decision to roll back the most recently approved providers for the program, Pai said his decision would promote program integrity by providing the [FCC] with additional time to consider measures that might be necessary to prevent further waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline program.

The reversal isnt finalthe FCC maintains a 30-day period to reconsider its decisionsit is may signal a wider attempt by Pai and the current commission to strip away parts of the Lifeline program, including putting a cap on the programs budget.

Related Articles
The idea of a lost continent is a romantic notion that has long since passed from the realm of possibility, but while the chances of actually discovering inhabitable land masses we dont yet know about is essentially zero, researchers believe they now have hard evidence that chunks of the supercontinent Gondwana are actually hidden underneath the island nation of Mauritius.

Don't Miss: Scientists just discovered water on a planet youve never even heard of

The continents that make up the Earth as we know it today looked a whole lot different hundreds of millions of years ago. In fact, they were all mashed together into a supercontinent called Pangea, which eventually broke up into smaller chunks  one of which was Gondwana  and then even smaller ones which are the land masses we identify as continents today. The new research suggests that when Gondwana broke apart about 200 million years ago a chunk of its crust ended up sinking into the ocean.

The scientists were able to make the discovery thanks to volcanic eruptions containing the mineral zircon. Confirming the age of the rocks shot out during the eruptions, the team can conclusively say that the material dates back billions of years, meaning that at one point the rocky matter underneath the island of Mauritius was on the surface, and for a very long time.

Researchers arent sure exactly how large the chunk of continent actually is, but they believe that several more fragments of what was once habitable land currently lies at the bottom of the Indian Ocean thanks to Gondwanas split.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
UPDATED, 7:31 PM: Just hours after a federal judge in Seattle issued a nationwide temporary restraining order that stops the travel ban, the White House tonight responded  not once but twice.

While President Donald Trump has not addressed the matter of Twitter, as we all expect him to do sooner or later, the White House Press Office sent out a response to Judge James Robar action, calling it an outrageous order and vowing to fight back with all of the presidential powers. However, a mere seven minutes later, the White House sent out a second response that omitted the word outrageous.

Such a backpedal has become almost standard practice in the Trump administration, where incendiary comments often are followed by more conciliatory ones.

Here are the dueling releases sent out by the office of the White House Press Secretary, starting with the first from 10:09 PM ET:

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate. The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people. As the law states, Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.

And here is the tweaked version that went out at 10:16 PM:

At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate. The presidents order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people. As the law states, Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.

Story continues

And while media outlets around the country breathlessly watched Trumps Twitter account for a response, instead he randomly tweeted this two minutes before the Press Secretarys first response:

Countries charge U.S. companies taxes or tariffs while the U.S. charges them nothing or little.We should charge them SAME as they charge us!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

PREVIOUSLY, 5:14 PM: A week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order limiting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries to the U.S., a federal judge in Seattle has just issued a nationwide temporary restraining order kneecapping the White House. The ruling against the so-called travel ban, which elicited a backlash across the country that has included lawsuits and protests, puts the next move in the court of the Celebrity Apprentice host-turned-POTUS and how he reacts.

Judge James Robarts TRO ruling just came down at the conclusion of a hearing in which Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson squared off against federal lawyers over the controversial executive order of January 27. The Constitution prevailed today, Ferguson said in a statement after the ruling. No one is above the law  not even the president.

Fergusons office had filed an amended complaint Wednesday in U.S. District Court to stop Trumps order. The state of Minnesota had joined as a plaintiff in the action.

The Twitter-friendly President has not responded yet, but he put this up on Twitter a couple hours earlier:https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827655062835052544

Hollywood has been vocal in its opposition to the ban, which put a 90-day halt on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from entering the U.S. (it also froze the Syrian refugee program for 120 days, with an aim to eventually cut it in half). The most high-profile victim in the industry is Iran-born director Asghar Farhadi, an Oscar nominee for The Salesman. His status to attend the upcoming Academy Awards was uncertain after the executive order was signed; he later said he would not attend the ceremony anyway in protest.

Complicating things further for the administration, beyond anger, additional legal action and political backlash, there isnt a lot Trump can do against the George W. Bush appointed Robart  unlike Acting Attorney Generals and Apprentice contestants, federal judges cant be pink slipped by the President.

Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.

RelatedTrump Fires Acting Attorney General Who Told DOJ Not To Defend His Travel Ban  Update

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Around the state and the region, when people have serious and complicated health issues, they come to Billings.

Our citys medical providers serve thousands of people from multiple states. They offer primary care, mental health care and specialties not found anywhere else nearby.

And our health care corridor does more than improve and save lives. It is also the heart of our economic health in the region, providing about 13,000 jobs in the Billings area and directly or indirectly supporting more than 21,000 jobs. Thats an economic output of somewhere around $2.6 billion  and growing.

But now, the future is uncertain. The new administration and its allies in Congress seem deadset on ripping away health care for millions across the nation, and tens of thousands in Montana, with no serious plan for a replacement. This would leave people from all walks of life scrambling for coverage of their routine, chronic and emergency care.

Pulling the rug out from under our patients doesnt just hurt them. It hurts the financial health of our hospitals and clinics, and all their good-paying jobs, and could ultimately leave fewer providers to care for us. The situation will be even worse in rural communities

More Montanans have gained health coverage than ever before, thanks to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion. More than 62,000 people in Montana, including 5,000 in Yellowstone County, have gained coverage under Medicaid expansion.

Just four years ago, 20 percent of Montanans  one in five  lacked health coverage. Now, only 7 percent are uninsured.

Many of these newly insured people work, but their jobs dont provide health insurance. Many had pre-existing conditions like diabetes or heart problems and couldnt afford insurance. Now, these people are able to work, care for their families and receive health care, without the threat of financial disaster. Medicaid expansion, and the ACA, are saving lives in our communities right now.

Our health care system is far from perfect. We have a long way to go control costs and make coverage available to those who still do not have it. Montana Democrats have several bills to start addressing some of those problems  to control prescription costs, to protect patients from surprise out-of-network charges, to expand mental health services and control the rising costs of health care.

Repealing the ACA and rolling back Medicaid without a comprehensive plan to replace them is reckless.

We hope that in the upcoming days and weeks Montanans will tell their state and federal lawmakers we dont want them playing Russian roulette with Montanans health and jobs. Weve made a lot of progress. Montana cant afford to go backward.
WASHINGTON (TNS)  What would seem to be an innocent decision to cancel a trip to the Milwaukee headquarters of Harley-Davidson amid protests and instead have executives over for lunch Thursday at the White House has raised questions about whether President Donald Trump is developing a fortress mentality akin to the Nixon White House.

Presidential scholars already are drawing comparisons between Trump and former President Richard Nixon for his authoritarianlike proclivities and public battles with journalists. Nixon faced large protests across major cities after he was inaugurated, as well  albeit those were anti-war demonstrations during the height of the Vietnam War.

Nixons White House would later become known as a bunker where the president and loyal staffers holed up, away from scrutinizing cameras. If he did travel, Nixon took precautions.

Richard Nixon would like to land at military bases, and they would turn out some military who would applaud him, said George Edwards, a presidential scholar at Texas A&M University. Hed work the fence line a little bit, as opposed to going to places where there would be lots of problems.

Several historians could not recall a similar trip cancellation by a president of the United States in modern history. But Trump would not be the first president struggling in the polls who tried to avoid situations where the news media could show lots of people opposing him.

The White House downplayed the significance of the cancellation. Press secretary Sean Spicer said no final plans had been made for the trip and emphasized that the decision had nothing to do with planned protests. He said it was just easier for the executives to come to the White House, considering the week, and all of the activity thats been going on.

Trump met the group on the South Lawn as they rolled up on five motorcycles. The president, in a suit and overcoat, stood out as he shook hands with the leather-wearing riders, who would have fit in better with a biker rally than lunch in the White Houses Roosevelt Room.

Made in America, Trump said as he admired the motorcycles. He declined an offer of a ride.Still, there was no way to avoid linking the cancellation, in just the second week of Trumps tenure, to the strong current of opposition that has besieged the new White House. Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump has faced demonstrations over his election and his executive orders calling for tougher enforcement of the nations immigration laws and a temporary ban on migrants from seven Muslim-majority nations.

When hundreds of thousands of women showed up to march in the capital the day after Trumps inauguration, the event immediately drew comparisons to the protests that followed Nixons inauguration in 1969, when anti-war protesters threw burning miniature flags and stones at police. It also reminded pundits of Nixons 1973 inauguration, when an estimated 100,000 protesters gathered at the Washington Monument to protest the Vietnam War, which Nixon had promised to end.

Trump also is facing strong resistance from his own government. Leaks continue to flow out of the White House, revealing his hostile conversations with foreign leaders. Trump fired his acting attorney general after she refused to defend his 90-day travel ban. Hundreds of foreign service officers and diplomats at the State Department signed an official dissent warning that the order could damage relations overseas.

His own party, which controls the Senate, is perilously close to not supporting his nomination of Betsy DeVos for education secretary. The defections likely will set up a potential 50-50 vote in the Senate that Vice President Mike Pence will need to break, the first time a vice president has been the deciding vote on a nomination.

Trump already is known to keep to himself. He rarely left Trump Tower in New York before his inauguration, often limiting his travels to the elevator connecting his three-story penthouse directly to his 26th-floor office. In Washington, hes kept a similar schedule, with a squad of friends and loyal advisers nearby. His foray to the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning required that he pass demonstrators protesting his Muslim-majority travel ban.

Trump has struggled in the polls since taking office. No president has reached majority disapproval so early in his presidency since Gallup began tracking job approval. As of Jan. 28, about 51 percent of Americans polled disapproved of Trump, according to a Gallup poll.

There are other similarities between Trump and Nixon, whose second term was cut short when he resigned after the House of Representatives voted to impeach him. Running for president in 1968, Nixon had adopted a law and order mantra, a familiar refrain in Trumps campaign as well. In at least one campaign ad, Nixon used unflattering images of protesters to try to win votes from his base in middle America. Trump has seemed to take a similar approach via Twitter.

During the Womens March on Washington following his inauguration, Trump seemed miffed: Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didnt these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.

Like Nixon, Trump has had a combative relationship with the news media and prefers keeping journalists at a healthy distance. Trump has given only one formal news conference, with British Prime Minister Theresa May, since he became president.

In 1962, after losing the California gubernatorial race, Nixon famously told reporters: You wont have Nixon to kick around anymore.

Trump calls reporters the opposition party.

No president has reached majority disapproval so early in his presidency since Gallup began tracking job approval. As of Jan. 28, about 51 percent of Americans polled disapproved of Trump.
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.

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Despite what you might have seen on Facebook or Twitter on Friday afternoon, there is not an immigration checkpoint at the corner of Pico Boulevard and San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles. In fact, there are no checkpoints of any kind at Pico and San Pedro. Here's a panorama of the intersection taken just after 4:30 p.m. today:

While U.S. Customs and Border Protection does operate a number of fixed traffic checkpoints in permanent locations near the U.S. border, its sister agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), does not operate traffic checkpoints of any kind, according to ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

ICE spokeswoman Lori K. Haley told LAist via email that rumors "claiming the agency has set up checkpoints at multiple locations in Los Angeles or that the agency is conducting random 'raids' are completely baseless." Haley said that the agency was "working diligently to address these false reports." Further, Haley told LAist that ICE "does not conduct random enforcement of any kind."

People started tweeting about the alleged checkpoint at Pico and San Pedro a little after 1 p.m. Friday. At 2:57 p.m., local radio station KPFK tweeted out a warning about the checkpoint, which likely hastened the spread of the rumor:

HEADS UP LA!

There is an immigration checkpoint happening right now in Pico and San Pedro. Please be careful and... https://t.co/OOR63LHyUm  KPFK (@KPFK) February 3, 2017

Similar fears spread through the Inland Empire yesterday, when rumors circulated that there was an immigrant checkpoint in Ontario, leading to a bevy of social media postings.

A woman working at a business near the intersection of San Pedro and Pico in the Garment District told LAist intern Yazmin Nunez that she hadn't seen any unusual happening outside. "Immigration wasn't here, or else they would have taken everybody," the woman said in Spanish.

Given recent events, it's no surprise that people are feeling scared, but Angelenos should know that the LAPD has reconfirmed their commitment not to cooperate with federal immigration officials numerous times. And don't panic if you do see what appears to be a "checkpoint" this weekendthe LAPD is setting a number of DUI checkpoints in anticipation of Super Bowl revelry.

Here is the ACLU's extremely helpful "Know Your Rights: What To Do If Immigration Agents Are At Your Door" guide.

This article previously misstated Los Angeles's relationship to CBP's 100-mile buffer zone; the city falls inside of it.
The 2016 murder-suicide of a Reed Point-area couple was precipitated by a dispute with neighbors and an investigation into drug activity, according to a newly released report.

James Scott Dunakin, 59, and his wife, Margaret Catherine Dunakin, 58, were found dead at the end of a daylong standoff at their home about 25 miles northwest of town.

A report released by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and the Sweet Grass County Attorney's Office outlined law enforcement's findings. It said that the day began when one of the Dunakins fired at a neighbor's house, and that they later made preparations in their home before James Dunakin killed his wife and then himself.

A medical examiner ruled James Dunakin's death a suicide and Margaret Dunakin's a homicide.

Ultimately, a medical examiner found that James Dunakin died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Margaret Dunakin's was caused by two gunshot wounds to the head, the report states.

In the investigation, law enforcement viewed text messages between a witness and James Dunakin during the standoff.

He wrote that "Maggi shot herself this morning and he'll be joining her soon," according to the report. He later wrote that "he could tell she was dead but had to put another shot into her just to be sure."

The Sweet Grass County Sheriff's Office first received a call at 8:55 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2016, when neighbors on Stephens Hill Road reported shots had been fired into their home.

The Dunakins had feuded with the neighbors, Ronald and Barbara Terenzio, in previous court cases. In one incident, Ronald Terenzio allegedly sprayed Margaret Dunakin with bear spray. In another incident, Ronald Terenzio allegedly fired a gun toward Bob Straight, a friend of the Dunakins.

"Maggi and Dunakin were not happy with the situation involving the bear spray incident with Ron," said a witness who contacted law enforcement. The witness' name was redacted from the report.

It's believed that James Dunakin fired into the neighbor's propane tank on Feb. 27, according to the report. Investigators believed he was trying to cause an explosion.

Law enforcement responded to the call, which led to a standoff at the Dunakins' home. Sweet Grass County Undersheriff Alan Ronneberg said at the time that the couple barricaded themselves inside. A release from the department said they "received word that James Dunakin was going to kill as many law enforcement officers as he could."

By 7:35 p.m. that evening, a Gallatin County Special Response Team entered the house and found the couple dead.

The Dunakins were shown to be self-reliant people, according to a Facebook page set up after their deaths. They made and sold jewelry from their outpost home on Skunkbelly Lane.

Agents from the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation joined the case on the day after the incident. Weapons and ammunition were found throughout the property. James Dunakin's body was found inside the home; Margaret Dunakin's was outside.

There were handwritten notes on the floor, fridge, freezer and dresser that alleged law enforcement killed the couple and their four cats, which were found shot to death at the home.

The report noted that law enforcement fired no shots during the standoff.

On the table was a search warrant for James Dunakin's fingerprints. He'd been served the warrant for prior suspicion in an ongoing drug investigation, in which someone was seen throwing packages at a local school building at night.

The packages contained a combination of "prescription and non-prescription drugs," according to the sheriff's office. The vehicle and man caught on a surveillance video reportedly matched the description of James Dunakin.

Investigators also found an email written a day before the shooting that "appeared to provide instructions regarding personal belongings," according to the report.

The report, which was dated Dec. 21, 2016, was forwarded to Sweet Grass County Attorney Patrick Dringman for review.
CHEYENNE  A bill that would have protected gay people from discrimination at work failed in the Wyoming Senate late Thursday afternoon.

Senate File 153 would have created protected classes for everyone  gay, straight and bisexual  and said no one could be hired, fired, promoted or demoted based on their sexual orientation.

Sara Burlingame, the education and outreach coordinator for the LGBT organization Wyoming Equality, said the debate contained references to religion, including some by bill supporter Sen. Stephan Pappas. Pappas said his Greek Orthodox faith doesnt condone homosexuality. But in the business world  Pappas is an architect  he knows Wyoming can be perceived as not being inclusive, which could hurt the Equality State, said Burlingame, who watched the debate.

Opponents to the bill told fellow senators they wanted to watch what the courts would say on gays, Burlingame said.

While Wyomings LGBT community hasnt made any gains this legislative session, it hasnt lost ground, either.

Were deeply disappointed, Burlingame said. Although we knew this bill would be an uphill battle this year (when there are budget challenges before the Legislature). At the end of the day, were celebrating we defeated House Bill 135, which was the most draconian bill.

HB135 would have allowed people to not provide services, follow company policies or abide by laws that they found objectionable to their religious beliefs or moral convictions. Wyoming Equality termed it the most discriminatory of all religious rights bills before state legislatures across the nation.

Members of the gay community in and around Wyoming emailed legislators, expressing their opposition. The sponsors withdrew the bill, saying there wasn't the time to have a discussion on the matter.

Burlingame also noted that HB244 wasn't assigned a committee by Thursday, a key legislative deadline. The measure is dead.

The legislation would have expanded the definition of public indecency to include people who use public bathrooms or changing rooms that do not correspond to their sex at birth or their anatomy. Burlingame said the bill would have prohibited transgender people from using bathrooms of the gender with which they identify.
Saturday, February 4, 2017

An attorney who was convicted of offenses involving importation and sale of counterfeit goods from China has agreed to an actual two-year suspension accepted in the recommendation of the California State Bar Court.

The story is told in the stipulation

Between August 18, 2009 and May 31, 2013, Respondent was the treasurer of OHR, Inc. ("OHR"). OHR would wire money to Chinese corporations who would then produce counterfeit goods.

Specifically, OHR imported counterfeit housings and batteries for various cell phones (Sony, Blackberry, Motorola, etc.) and other electronics. Once obtained, a sister company of OHR owned by Respondents son-in-law would then sell the products through retail stores in Mexico.

The day to day management of the company was left to Respondents son-in-law. However, Respondent would handle the finances including the payment of invoices for the products imported from China.

Respondent made payments to the Chinese company for cellular products knowing that it would cause those products to be imported into Chula Vista, California.

Many of the products were counterfeit in that they bore an unauthorized trade mark registered with the U.S, Patent and Trademark office.

Between August 18, 2009 and May 31, 2013, Respondent received nine notices from U.S. Customs advising Respondent that the items imported were counterfeit. Nevertheless, Respondent and OHR continued to acquire counterfeit items from the Chinese supplier.

In one instance, Respondent requested the return of some items that were seized by U.S. Customs. Customs had seized both counterfeit goods and non-counterfeit goods that had been commingled. Respondents request was denied.

On August 9, 2011, U.S. Customs seized boxes shipped from China from the same supplier that had previously shipped counterfeit goods to OHR. The boxes contained 206 Blackberry housings, 150 Nokia housings, 420 Motorola batteries, 260 Sony Ericson batteries, 190 Blackberry batteries, and 50 Samsung batteries all of which were counterfeit. The fair market value of the counterfeit goods was between $120,000 and $320,000.

There is mitigation

It is worth noting that the crime did not involve Respondents practice of law. Further, although Respondent acted~as the treasurer of OHR, he received only nominal compensation. Therefore, there was no substantial motive for pecuniary gain.

Respondents mitigation is substantial. He has thirty-two years of prior discipline-free practice. This lengthy time tends to indicate that the misconduct here is unusual for Respondent. Combined with the evidence of good character, the misconduct appears more aberrational and unlikely to be repeated. In addition, Respondent has mitigation in the form of pro bono work, community service, and emotional difficulties.

Although there is some aggravation in harm to the public, it is greatly outweighed by the mitigation present. In fact, the mitigation compels a deviation from disbarment. Given the compelling mitigation, Respondent should receive a five-year period of stayed suspension and a five-year period of probation with conditions including an actual suspension of two years and until a Standard 1.2(c)(1) showing is made. Doing so is sufficient to protect the public, the courts, and the legal profession; maintain the highest professional standards; and ensure public confidence in the profession.

(Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2017/02/an-attorney-who-was-convicted-of-offenses-has-agreed-to-an-actual-two-year-suspension-in-a-recommendation-of-the-california-s.html
The Syrian government has created an all-female military unit in a mostly Kurdish city in the northeastern part of the country. It is the same city in which American-led Kurdish forces have been fighting Islamic State militants.

Jazya Sheikh Ali is a leader of the ruling Baath Party. He told the pro-Syrian Lebanese al-Jadeed TV that the unit will be made up of volunteers. It will have no minimum age requirement. He said at least 150 women have been recruited for the unit. He said they will receive, in his words, intensive training on how to use small weapons and guard checkpoints.

A Kurdish activist in the city posted a Facebook video of the military unit. The video shows women in Syrian military clothing training near Qamishli, the largest Kurdish city in Syria.

Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, the government has kept only a small number of troops in the Kurdish region. In 2012, Syrian troops withdrew from most of the cities and towns in the north and northeastern part of the country. That is because they were needed to fight rebels in other parts of the country.

A small group of Syrian troops was based outside Qamishli. They let Kurds control the city. But last summer, the Kurds tried to increase the territory they controlled. The Syrian troops stopped the Kurds from doing so.

The fighting between the two groups has ended, but the tension between them remains.

The members of the new all-female military unit are ethnic Arabs. Local observers say they could worsen ethnic tensions. The women are being used to strengthen the Syrian Arab Army.

Fighting the rebels and the Islamic State terrorist group in other parts of Syria has weakened the army.

Dilovan Cheto is a political expert in Qamishli. He told VOA that the all-female unit was formed because, in his words, the (Syrian) government wants to send a message to the local Kurdish administration that they are willing to come back to this area.

Cheto said the Syrian military is suffering from a severe shortage of male soldiers. He said the Syrian government believes women can help strengthen the army.

Cheto said Syrian forces appear ready to try to reestablish control in the Kurdish region after driving rebels from Aleppo, about 400 kilometers to the west.

Kurdish units headquartered in Qamishli are known as People Protection Units, or YPG. These units have helped the U.S.-led coalition fight Islamic State militants south of the city. They appear to be in control of Qamishli.

Ekrem Salih reports on military activities in the area. He called the all-female unit propaganda material.

I dont think this will change anything as far as local military dynamics, he told VOA. YPG doesnt accept any military competitor on the ground. Therefore, this unit wont achieve any goals for the regime.

YPG officials would not talk to VOA about the female unit.

The YPG has its own all-female unit called the YPJ. It has joined in combat against IS fighters.

Im Caty Weaver.

VOA News Writer Sirwan Kajjo wrote this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

unit  n. a single thing, person, or group that is a part of something larger

minimum  adj. the lowest number or amount that is possible or allowed - usually singular

recruit  v. to find suitable people and get them to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, etc.

checkpoint  n. a place where people, cars, etc., are searched by someone (such as a police officer) before being allowed to continue

region  n. a part of a country, of the world, etc., that is different or separate from other parts in some way

dynamic  n. the way that two or more people behave with each other because of a particular situation

regime  n. a form of government
By early Friday morning, President Donald Trump was back on Twitter. He tweeted about U.S. relations with Iran and Australia, radical Islamic terrorist and Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Just the day before, the president had already tweeted that Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. And he questioned if government financial aid should stop for a California university where protestors prevented a Breibart News editor from speaking.

Trump, entering his third week as president, is tweeting often  just as he did during his successful campaign for president.

Why some are concerned about his tweets

His frequent postings on Twitter are raising questions. Some want the White House to keep all of Trumps tweets as part of the official administration records to be turned over after he leaves office. Others worry his Twitter account can be hacked, while some question if his tweets will make it difficult for him to govern.

Shontavia Johnson is director of the Intellectual Property Law Center at Drake University Law School in Iowa.

Johnson said some might ask whats the big deal saving Trumps tweets for presidential records. But she said it is important the White House keep all tweets so National Archives and Records Administration experts can organize them for study by historians after Trumps presidency ends.

Concern about hacking

Chris Dore is a Chicago lawyer who works on privacy and technology issues. Dore said he worries people will hack into Trumps Twitter account and post fake material.

Twitter accounts get hacked all the time, Dore said. If people got a hold of Trumps Twitter account, they could pass on false information about a business, or create an international crisis, so they could gain financially, he said.

Already tweets from the @realDonaldTrump have affected the price of stocks. The Wall Street Journal reported that, after Trump criticized companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Ford, General Motors and Toyota, their stock prices dropped.

Trump aide says president wants to connect with people

Kellyanne Conway is a Trump adviser. She said Trump continues to tweet because it is a very powerful way for him to communicate and connect directly with people.

But Trumps tweets have not always helped him. On Tuesday, Trumps spokesman Sean Spicer talked about the president's order temporarily blocking travel to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim nations. Spicer said news reports were wrong to call it a travel ban. Reporters noted that Trump himself had called it a ban just the day before on Twitter.

Using Twitter to hit back at critics

As he did as a presidential candidate, Trump uses Twitter to hit back at people and organizations he believes have been unfairly critical. He accused Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of showing fake tears to criticize Trump's travel restrictions. And he continues to attack news organizations, saying they are dishonest and providing "fake news."

Theodore Glasser is a professor of communications at Stanford University in California. During a recent talk on Trumps relations with the news media, he complained that Trump is not always truthful in his tweets and statements.

There is no commitment to facts or truth, he said. Glasser said Trump has done more damage to the quality of public discourse than any president I can remember.

Carole Bell is a communications expert at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She said Trump supporters enjoy reading tweets directly from Trump on how he feels about issues and his critics. It gives him authenticity, she said.

But Bell said Trump is bringing that same informality to more formal settings. She cited speeches at the National Prayer Breakfast and for Black History Month that drew questions whether he was taking the events seriously enough.

John Wihbey, another Northeastern University communications expert, said tweeting helped Trump win over voters during the election. But Wihbey said tweeting his opinions in 140 characters or less as president might not be helpful as he tries to govern and negotiate health and tax bills, or new international trade deals.

I'm Bruce Alpert. And I'm Anne Ball.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Hai Do 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

formally  adv. made or done in an official and usually public way

ballistic missile  n. a weapon that is shot through the sky over a great distance and then falls to the ground and explodes

editor  n. a person whose job is to prepare (something written) to be published or used: an editor can make changes, correct mistakes, etc., in (something written)

frequent  adj. happening often

account  n. an arrangement in which a person uses the Internet or e-mail services of a particular company

hack  v. to secretly get access to the files on a computer or network in order to get information or cause damage

fake  adj. not real

stock  n. share of the value of a company which can be bought, sold, or traded as an investment

complain  v. to say (something that expresses dislike or unhappiness)

commitment  n. a promise to do or give something

discourse  n. a long talk or piece of writing about a subject

authenticity  adj. real or genuine

cite  v. to mention (something) especially as an example or to support an idea or opinion
United States officials are preparing to try a Mexican man who has been called the worlds most powerful drug trafficker.

Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, better known as El Chapo, will be tried in New York City.

Guzman is the head of Mexicos Sinaloa drug cartel. Mexican officials have jailed him not once, but twice, at maximum security prisons. But he escaped both times.

Last month, Mexico sent Guzman to New York, one of several American states in which he faces criminal charges.

Robert Capers is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He says Guzman is responsible for much of the drug cocaine sold in the state.

The continuing criminal enterprise charges that I will describe for you by itself attributes to Mr. Guzman cocaine shipments of over 200 tons, which were supplied by some of Colombias most powerful drug-trafficking organizations, and links Guzman to over seven and a half tons of cocaine and heroin that were seized in the United States, including four tons that were seized right here in this district.

Paul Callan is a former prosecutor who represented the government in murder cases. He believes the Department of Justice chose to prosecute Guzman in New York because it has a very strong case against him.

New York is also well-accustomed to trying high-notoriety defendants. We have very secure courtroom facilities. We have secure jail facilities, and New York is used to handling the press and the kind of coverage that takes place in these high-profile cases.

After he was told the charges against him in a U.S. federal court, Guzman was sent to the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) near New Yorks financial area.

The MCC is a high-security jail. It has held a number of notable criminals, including people who claim to belong to al-Qaida.

Selwyn Rabb worked as an investigative journalist at The New York Times newspaper. He has visited the MCC many times during his career as a reporter.

Hes going to be monitored 24 hours a day. Hes not going to be able to go to the bathroom or take a shower or do anything without some eyes poking at him.

Experts consider the MCC to be one of the most secure jails in the United States. Few people have escaped from the 12-floor tall building since it opened 42 years ago.

New Yorkers have mixed feelings about having Guzman jailed there.

Jean Young works in Lower Manhattan, near the MCC.

Thank God that the federal building has a lot of checkpoints. And I know the street goes up at one point, and they go under the cars with mirrors, but I mean its the cartel -- if they want to get here, theyll get here.

Many people work or live near the prison, in New Yorks TriBeCa neighborhood. Luke Valente says he likes the area.

I have a lot of faith in the professionals that are working here and in the U.S. in general. I think considering what hes done in the past, in places outside the U.S. as far as being in custody, I feel that much more safe and confident that theyll be able to see his sentence through.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Ramon Taylor and Asli Pelit reported this story for VOANews.com from New York. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted their report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

cartel  n. a group of businesses that agree to fix prices so they all will make more money

maximum  adj. the highest number or amount that is possible or allowed  usually singular

enterprise  n. a project or activity that involves many people and that is often difficult

attribute  v. to say that (something) is because of (someone or something)

accustomed  adj. familiar with something so that it seems normal or usual (+ to)

facility  n. something (such as a building or large piece of equipment) that is built for a specific purpose

profile  adj. used to describe the amount of attention that someone or something is given

monitor  n. to watch, observe, listen to, or check (something) for a special purpose over a period of time

poke  v. to look around or search through something

checkpoint  n. a place where people, cars, etc., are searched by someone (such as a police officer) before being allowed to continue

mirror  n. a piece of glass that reflects images
One man is in custody after witnesses say he fled the scene of a two-car crash at the intersection of Ferry Street and Fifth Avenue S.W. in Al
On Nov. 1, Linn Benton Food Shares warehouse in Tangent received two truckloads of food and household supplies arranged by the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
CHEYENNE  Rajan Zed approached the podium of the Wyoming Senate on Friday, dressed in a saffron-colored shirt and pants, a yellow shawl draped around his neck and a line of paint streaked across his forehead that he said symbolized auspiciousness.

He began a prayer, alternating between Sanskrit and English.

Minutes later, he uttered the same words in the House.

Each day at the Wyoming Legislature begins in prayer. But usually the religious leaders wear collars. Friday was the first time that a Hindu cleric led prayers for the Wyoming Legislature.

Zed is from Reno, Nevada. He's the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism.

We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven. May he stimulate and illuminate our minds, Zed prayed.

Zed said hes led prayers in Congress and other state legislatures.

In the Cowboy State, few people practice Hinduism -- one of the oldest faiths in the world. It has over 1 billion adherents, most of whom live in India.

But we do have some in Laramie, professors and students, the cleric said. And some of them run hotels in Rawlins and different places in Wyoming.

Zed ended the prayer in both chambers with: Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all. Om.

And in the House, Rep. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, shook his hand and posed for a picture with Zed.

House Speaker Steve Harshman chatted with Zed for a moment Friday morning before the prayer. The Casper Republican said was thrilled to have him lead the prayer.

Hes a wonderful guy, Harshman said.  It makes you feel good to be around him.
COZAD  A former rural Cozad church employee pleaded not guilty to felony theft Monday in Dawson County District Court.

Candice Hasbrouck, 34, of Cozad is accused of embezzling more than $46,000 from St. Johns Lutheran Church where she was treasurer since 2009.

According to court records, after church personnel set in place more detailed accounting records they allegedly found questionable transactions in September, including the movement of $4,000.

Church personnel told law enforcement that a professional accounting firm audited the churchs financial records between Nov. 2013 and Sept. 2016 and found that $46,109 was missing.

A jury trial has been set for Hasbrouck on April 11. Her pretrial is set for March 24.

If convicted of a Class IIA felony, Hasbrouck could spend up to 20 years in prison. In addition, she may be required to pay restitution.
LEXINGTONLexington Regional Health Center's Board of Directors received financial reports for the last two months of 2016 and a radiology department update during its monthly meeting Tuesday night.

Brandon Holt, director of radiology for LRHC, reported on new radiology equipment purchased at the end of last year.

Holt noted that the new digital radiography system produces higher quality images for healthcare providers, and also exposes patients to much less radiation when compared to the recently retired system.

According to Holt, it allows the technologists to complete exams with up to half the radiation dose compared to previously used radiography systems.

During his presentation, Holt showed radiographic images of both systems for comparison. Radiographic images from the new technology were much clearer and provided more anatomic information when compared to the older system.

Holt also provided image comparisons between the new digital radiography system and outdated film radiography systems, which again demonstrated the superior imaging quality of the digital system.

"This technology will allow us to identify pathologies, fractures, and other abnormalities that may otherwise go unnoticed on other radiography systems and that becomes very important in early detection and treatment options," Holt stated.

Holt went on to say that patients deserve to have radiology studies performed by the most up-to-date technology regardless of the complexity of the exam. "Being on top of advancing technologies is a priority for maximizing patient outcomes at LRHC and this is just one more step forward in that vision," said Holt.

The new radiology equipment provides better diagnosis during routine visits for patients at Urgent Care and at the Family Medicine Clinic and is the technology many visiting specialists prefer to use, Holt said.

Holt also noted the importance of the partnership with radiologists in Lincoln noting that all radiology exams performed at LRHC are read by Board Certified Radiologists.

Wade Eschenbrenner, chief financial officer of LRHC, presented the financial outlook for the end of 2016.

He said financial ratios through November included 91 inpatient days, 49 swing bed days, 12 new born days and an average daily census of 6.1. Days with cash on hand were 107, below the budget desired amount.

The total profit margin for the month was -16.43 percent, year-to-date operating profit margin was -8.28 percent and year-to-date total profit margin was -5.74 percent.

Operating cash for November was $4.7 million and total cash on hand was $10.5 million, up by about $2 million from same time in 2015. Total assets were $65.78 million, up by $3 million from the same time in 2015.

On the liability side for November, Eschenbrenner said long-term debt was $36.4 million, up by $3 million compared to the same time in 2015. Total liabilities were $65 million.

Looking at profit and loss data, gross revenue was $14.39 million, up by $2 million compared to 2015. This was a "good sign," he said.

Another "positive growth" said Eschenbrenner, was total operating revenue of $11.873 million, up by $1.6 million compared to 2015.

Expenses for November included $6.6 million for wages and total operating expenses of $12.86 million, up by $2.2 million compared to 2015. There was a net loss of $698,000 for the year through November, he said.

Financial ratios for December 2016 included 113 acute patient days, 35 swing bed days, 20 newborn days and an average daily census of 6.6. Total profit margin for the year-to-date through December was -4.69 percent.

Total assets through December were $65.161 million, up $1.3 million compared to 2015. Total liabilities were $39.4 million, up by $1.7 million compared to 2015.

The profit and loss statement for December included $14.264 million in net patient revenue and a net loss of about $600,000.

Eschenbrenner also noted that he and members of the finance committee have started talks on the budget process for the coming fiscal year.

A summary of miscellaneous reports given at the meeting are as follows:

Nursing service: Nicole Thorell, chief nursing officer, discussed that LRHC has reduced patient re-admissions and this was the reason the Nebraska Hospital Association recognized LRHC.

Thorell said Brittany Hueftle, director of transition care for LRHC, was awarded the Population Health Pioneer Award for the most valuable care coordinator by the National Rural Accountable Care Consortium. The NRACC provided her complimentary travel to Phoenix to receive the award and attend a conference on care coordination.

The staff at LRHC also participated in a national webinar through the American Hospital Association and Hospital Research and Education Trust to discuss processes used to reduce patient readmissions. LRHC was one of two hospitals chosen nationally to participate in this event, Thorell said.

Nationally, hospitals aim for a readmission rate of 8 percent; at LRHC the readmission rate is 4 percent, she said.

Lexington Regional Health Center will be presenting their success with reducing readmissions at the American Hospital Association Rural Healthcare Leadership Conference in February.

Service Excellence: Jim Hain, chief operating officer, told the story of a male patient from Loomis who recently had a procedure done at the hospital.

"He had previously been here as an outpatient for rehabilitation services. He is a Vietnam Vet, wounded in war. He has had 14 surgeries," Hain said.

Hain said the patient was happy and satisfied with the service and very friendly staff. The patient even told him he would like to have three future surgeries at LRHC.

Provider Recruitment: LRHC's Chief Executive Officer Leslie Marsh said a contract had been offered to a prospective family practice doctor. Another prospective family doctor had signed to work with Kearney Clinic.

Construction: Don Young, Executive Director of Ancillary Services, said work is still going for window glass replacement on the west side of the hospital.

Virtuous Organization: Jill Denker, executive director of human resources and physician liaison, said Lee Elliott met with staff on site the second week of January. The training topic was "How to be Exceptional."

Denker said both Elliott and Marsh gave a presentation last month in Lincoln at Bryan Health about LRHC's Virtuous Organization journey and the successes the training has brought to the organization.

Marketing: Denker said the hospital is currently taking a committee approach with marketing. Staff involved with the marketing, such as Denker, Holt, Erin Chytka, Laura Robbins and Melissa Schumacher will be focusing primarily on promoting outpatient services, showcasing patient testimonials and preparing for the hospital's Leaving a Legacy event. Aug. 19 at Kirk's Nebraskaland Restaurant.
LEXINGTONThriftys Gas and Liquor opened for business in Lexington on Monday.

It is located at the base of the Jackson street viaduct, on the southwest corner of Jackson and Sixth streets, and was formerly a Pump and Pantry.

Singh Cheema of Scottsbluff is the new owner. He is an experienced businessman with a diverse portfolio, including rental properties.

Cheema said he owns other similar gas and liquor convenience stores in Sidney, Bridgeport, Torrington and Scottsbluff. Five of them carry the Thriftys name and two are called by his nickname of Cheemas.

Cheema has 100 employees systemwide. He said he and two other employees from Scottsbluff are currently working at the Lexington site during setup. Eventually he will employ five people in Lexington.

Cheema said he believes in providing what customers need at the best price.

In every town we are in, we are the lowest price on gas, liquor and tobacco. Those are three things customers need. We are always the cheapest.

He said his stores dont offer food cooked on site, but there are pre-packaged convenience foods available.

We dont cook meals at our stores. I know from personal experience I dont eat at mini marts, he said.

The store does have fountain drink, coffee and tea.

While some gas stations and convenience stores have a customer loyalty program, Thriftys does not, said Cheema.

We compete on price. I want to earn your business. We give the deal now. We save you money today. I have to be loyal to you. The customer doesnt have to be loyal to me.

There are four types of gas offered at the pumps: unleaded with ethanol, unleaded without ethanol, premium fuel and diesel.

Cheema said he heard through the grapevine that Bosselmans didnt want to be in Lexington anymore and had the business for sale and found a listing through a realtor.

He said the sale, effective Jan. 3, was contingent on obtaining a liquor license.

Cheema said city officials were nice to work with, and he appreciated their willingness to work with him from afar. Thank you city, he said.

Thriftys Gas and Liquor will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

Cheema said he came to the United States in 1991 from India. At first he lived in big cities but he desired to be somewhere rural, so he settled in Scottsbluff, where he has lived for over 20 years.

Im from rural India so I wanted to go somewhere rural, he said.

Cheema said he was a dairy and agriculture farmer in India, but that a farmer is also a businessman. When he came to the United States he looked for business opportunities to fill gaps which led him to real estate and rentals. Real estate is our main business - this is our having fun business.
Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen
It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future.

This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this.

Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".
WASHINGTON  Nonprofit groups are rejecting federal grant money to combat violent extremism because of what they described as President Donald Trump's actions against the Muslim and Arab community.

The Obama administration in its final days awarded 31 grants through the Homeland Security Department worth a total of about $10 million. Those agreements haven't been signed, and no money has been disbursed.

Now, two groups are rejecting the money they were offered, while others have objected to Trump's plans.

Leaders Advancing and Helping Communities in Dearborn, Mich., said it was turning down $500,000 for youth development and public health programs because of the "current political climate."

Ka Joog, a leading Somali nonprofit in Minneapolis, rejected nearly $500,000 for its youth programs, citing "our nation's new administration and their policies which promote hate, fear, uncertainty and even worse; an unofficial war on Muslim-Americans and immigrants."

The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to email and phone requests for comment.

Trump has endorsed extreme vetting and ordered a temporary ban on refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Charities that already have worked with U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, Justice Department and Homeland Security, said they were reacting to discussions within the Trump administration to exclusively target "radical Islamic terrorists" under a U.S. program to counter violent extremism, known as CVE.

A U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions said the Trump administration has been discussing changing the Obama administration program's name, established as a presidential strategy in 2011, to some iteration of "countering Islamic extremism." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to speak publicly.

Most of the 31 federal grants were promised to municipalities, but some were directed to nonprofit groups such as Life After Hate Inc. in Chicago, which received $400,000 for its work with former white supremacists  a large portion of which will also go to a partner group to work with individuals inspired by al-Qaida or the Islamic State group.

The U.S. official said it was unclear whether a group such as Life After Hate would continue to receive funding or be included in any future program.

Christian Picciolini, co-founder of Life After Hate and a former white supremacist, said such a change would be troubling and "sends a message that white extremism does not exist, or is not a priority in our country, when in fact it is a statistically larger and more present terror threat than any by foreign or other domestic actors."

White supremacist groups saw renewed interest during the presidential campaign, which many credited to Trump's candidacy. Picciolini said that since his group had not received its funding yet, "I suppose it's possible it could be rescinded altogether."

The nonprofit Washington-based Muslim Public Affairs Council had encouraged the Muslim community to give the program countering violent extremism a chance.

Council President Salam Al-Marayati said Thursday, "If there's a policy change that basically in effect tells us we have to fight our own religion, then this is a fundamental violation of our constitutional rights and we will consider all possible actions for redress."

Still, Al-Marayati said there is such disarray throughout federal agencies that "nobody knows where this is going."

"With this toxic vitriol coming out of the White House ... this administration may undermine everything we've been working on for the last 10 years," Al-Marayati said.

Since 2014, when pilot programs under CVE were announced by the Obama administration, U.S. officials have worked to convince the American Muslim community that the program was not just about them.

Suehaila Amen, a director for Leaders Advancing and Helping Communities, said its members voted unanimously Jan. 26 to reject the funds and were influenced by recent discussions of a possible name change.

"What's most important is we protect our community and their needs and concerns," she said. "Our patriotism isn't tied to a grant, and at the end of the day we need to continue to serve our community (and) ensure transparency and trust, and we're not willing to compromise that."

Amen, who worked with the Bush and Obama administrations to help build outreach to minority groups, said she told U.S. officials this past week that she will no longer be participating in discussions around countering violent extremism with the Trump administration.

Jihad Turk, the founding president of the Islamic graduate school Bayan Claremont in California, said its board would review the language of its $800,000 award before accepting to make sure it doesn't place additional restrictions or impositions on them.

He said the problem with making the program focus on "Islamic extremism" is that "there's nothing illegal about an extreme interpretation of your religion."

"What's illegal is terrorism," he said, and that's why the word "violent" is key.

John Cohen, a former DHS official who helped write the CVE strategy and led its implementation, said it specifically didn't target extremists inspired by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, because local law enforcement said white supremacist and other extremist groups were more problematic and targeted communities and police.

He criticized the program for focusing too much on Muslim and Arab communities since he left in 2014, and called on Trump to dump his campaign language from any reimagining of CVE or risk driving "an even greater wedge between those responsible for stopping violent attacks and those within the community who are critical partners in effectively doing that."




Particularly during my sojourns in South Africa, it may not be possible for me to perform the moderation function speedily. I regret the necessity of moderation but it has been rendered inevitable by the behaviour of a particular commentator whose contributions will always and without exception be rejected.





No correspondence will be entered into regarding moderation decisions.

Readers are invited to comment on blog posts. All comments require to be pre-moderated by me, and I shall reject all (a) that are not related to the Lockerbie disaster or (b) that fail to meet my -- perhaps idiosyncratic -- standards of courtesy towards other contributors. Comments will not be rejected simply because I disagree with them or because I, or other contributors, find them irritating. But comments will be rejected if they distort or misrepresent the evidence; are defamatory; or if they risk embroiling me, as publisher, in defamation proceedings. I am perfectly relaxed about being sued in respect of material which I personally have posted -- but not in respect of material that others wish to post as comments and which, in any case, I often strongly disagree with.
A group of Bismarck mobile home park owners are petitioning the city commission for the creation of a task force to keep park living affordable.

These homes represent the most affordable unsubsidized housing in Bismarck, a letter from the park operators read. Unfortunately, Bismarcks city policies unfairly burden the affordability of manufactured homes and impose on these homeowners costs which other homeowners are not asked to bear.

The group represents 90 percent of the mobile home units in the city. They say the Burleigh County Tax Equalization office shows there are 3,119 mobile homes in Bismarck. Using the citys most recent population estimates, they estimate about 10 percent of the population lives in mobile home communities. Of those, they estimate 90 percent own the mobile homes in which they live and paying rent on the lot.

Meanwhile, Myron Atkinson owner of the 362-home Tatley Meadows and spokesman for the group, said the manner in which costs for water, sewer, property taxes and other services are calculated leads to a higher price per unit for those living in mobile home communities than those in other residential properties.

For example, sewer service is charged at a rate of $2.41 per unit for those with one to four families on a meter. For those with five or more on a meter, the rate is $2.92 per unit, meaning mobile home owners pay a higher rate even though they each own their homes individually.

Atkinson said some progress was made with special assessments last year but there are still discrepancies. Mobile home owners used to be specially assessed at 200 percent of a special assessment basis, compared to 100 percent for a single-family dwelling. That percentage has been reduced to 150 percent, but its still unequal.

We want our people treated like every other homeowner, said Atkinson, pointing out that park operators are expecting a sudden change in sanitary sewer rates being affected by federal environmental regulations, with rates expected to go from $2.56 to $2.92.

Its going to make a real difference in what rent increase is going to have to be, he said.

For his park, Atkinson estimates a $15 per month increase in rent just due to the sanitary sewer. He said he usually tries to keep increases below 3 percent annually as he adjusts for rising cost in employee salaries and services.

He said other park owners are also saying, Holy smokes, thats really going to be a problem.

If youve got affordable housing, you should keep it affordable, Atkinson said, and thats what hes hoping a task force could help do.

Atkinson estimates park lot rent in Bismarck averages around $340 to $350 per month. With the help of Capital Credit Union, he ran some numbers on housing costs for mobile homes. An existing, 15- to 20-year-old home could be purchased for about $50,000. With a good credit score and a 10 percent down payment, interest would be about 7 percent.

That means a $390-per-month house payment, about $84 in insurance, $35 in taxes and, if you live in his park, about $335 in rent. This comes to $840 a month.

Atkinson said the group hasnt heard from city commissioners on its request but hope to receive some response soon. He said, ideally, the task force would include park residents, as well as park operators, working with the city to find solutions.
The St. Petersburg mayor is speaking out about President Trump's order to crackdown on sanctuary cities.

Mayor Rick Kriseman spoke out against Trump on his blog Friday, saying he was "implored" to declare St. Pete a sanctuary city.

"St. Petersburg is progressive and diverse and the city not only tolerates diversity, but celebrates it," said Mayor Kriseman.

He also said the president is "demonizing the Muslim community."

While it is up to the county sheriff's office to notify the federal government about illegal individuals, Kriseman said the city will be safe from harmful immigration laws.

To read the mayor's full blog, click here.
FARGO  A group of clean energy advocates is proposing a network of fast-charging stations on major highways crisscrossing North Dakota to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.

Citizens Local Action Energy Network, or CLEAN, based in Fargo, has applied for a grant under Volkswagens $11 billion settlement that allocates $7.5 million for North Dakota projects that reduce automobile emissions.

Members of CLEAN believe a network of charging stations, located along Interstates 29 and 94 and U.S. Highway 2, would encourage motorists to switch to electric vehicles.

The idea is it will facilitate sale of electric vehicles and therefore reduce the emissions, said Paul Jensen, a member of CLEAN.

Of North Dakotas $7.5 million allocation under the Volkswagen settlement, 15 percent must go toward infrastructure to support clean energy projects, he said.

In Fargo, the group is recommending charging stations at West Acres Mall and the Roberts Ramp under construction downtown. The group also proposes charging stations along I-94 in Bismarck, Dickinson, Jamestown and Beach; along I-29 t in Pembina, Grand Forks and Hankinson; and along Highway 2 in Devils Lake, Rugby, Minot, and New Town, with alternatives in Stanley or Williston.

The equipment cost for a fast-charging station is $30,000 to $35,000, plus $10,000 to $15,000 for installation, said Jensen, who is a green energy consultant.

The price is continuously going down, he said.

CLEAN member John Bagu, who leases a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle, said they are more economical to drive than gasoline-powered cars. He and his wife also own a gas-powered car, which they use for long trips and as a secondary vehicle.

By his calculations, assuming gas at $2 per gallon, drivers in Fargo and Cass County spend $300 million a year on gas; that figure increases to $500 million per year if gas hits $3.50 per gallon.

Bagu said his electric car costs a fraction of what it costs to fill the tank with gas: about $3 for a charge. Imagine going to a gas station and paying $3 to fuel up, he said.

He said its also more fun to drive -- a source of rivalry with his wife, who also prefers driving their electric car.

Now we literally fight over it, he said. The loser gets to drive our gas vehicle.

Bagu, who also has equipped his Fargo home with solar panels and generates his own electricity, estimates there are half a dozen electric vehicles in Fargo, while Jensen estimates there are 50 around North Dakota.

But both said the technology is rapidly advancing and costs are going down. They predict electric vehicles will be widely adopted in time.

South Dakota has placed electric charging stations along Interstate 90, a major tourist highway, said Ed Gruchalla, another CLEAN member.

They put the chargers in there so people can drive through the state, he said, noting I-90 is a common route to the Black Hills.

North Dakotas tourism industry also could benefit from having a network of charging stations to accommodate electric cars, said Mike Williams, a former Fargo city commissioner and a supporter of the proposal.

It would help the tourism a lot, he said.
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KIMBERLY  If its related to agriculture in the Magic Valley, theres a good change Agri-Service has been involved.

Agri-Service, a local farm equipment dealership, started in 1990 when founder Cleve Buttars moved to Twin Falls from Logan, Utah. Buttars family had owned and operated a tractor dealership in Utah when he was approached by Agco about opening his own dealership.

With its proximity to potential agriculture customers, Twin Falls was a strategic location, President Clint Schnoor said. The small business grew quickly to multiple stores, and Buttars sold the business to the Terteling family in 2013.

By 2015, the Twin Falls facility had expanded as much as it could  so it moved down the street to Kimberly, doubling in size to 60,000 square feet. The company now has 13 locations in Idaho, Utah, Washington and Oregon.

Were a strong customer service business, Schnoor said.

Agri-Service offers a selection of machinery such as tractors, balers, combines and RoGators from its major supplier, Agco. Its Kimberly office includes a showroom and service rooms for hay equipment and tractors.

The company also hosts customer appreciation days, where it invites representatives from Agco to offer education, Business Development Manager Jeri Ahrens said. Customers can go and ask for troubleshooting advice in order to prevent a problem from happening.

Agri-Service also strives to be involved in the community.

We like to be strong advocates and supporters of the communities around us because they support our business as well, Schnoor said.

Agri-Service sponsors 4-H and FFA chapters, high school senior parties, rodeos and events such as Kimberlys Good Neighbor Days and Trunk or Treat.

Every year we are the major sponsor for the FFA convention held here in Twin Falls, Ahrens said.

During field trips to the facility, employees teach Kimberly second-graders about agriculture.

We just try to be in everything local thats ag-related, Ahrens said. Were pretty ag-focused, but thats our business.

Additionally, Agri-Service employees participate in soup kitchens and Paint Magic. The company donates to charities such as Valley House, Tough Enough to Wear Pink, the American Red Cross and the Boy Scouts of America  giving roughly $300,000 a year in donations, Schnoor said.

Agri-Service chooses where it will donate based on what will provide opportunities for people to grow and succeed, he said.
BUHL  When times are tough, some households in the Buhl and Castleford area need a resource for emergency food.

Thats why the West End Ministerial Associations food bank appreciates the frozen fish product Clear Springs Foods donates each year  an estimated 400 to 500 pounds.

Distribution of local product is always appreciated, and Clear Springs has been generous, Pantry Coordinator Charlene Howsden said.

Clear Springs Foods has been in Buhl since 1966, and is widely recognized throughout the Magic Valley for its contributions.

Were here in this area because of the natural spring water source, Vice President of Corporate Relations and Organization Development Cally Grindstaff said.

The Clear Springs Trout Company started when former 1000 Springs Trout Farms employee Jess Ted Eastman decided to raise his own rainbow trout. Clear Springs later bought the other company and changed its name in 1991. It is privately held and employee-owned.

The 58-degree aquifer water is perfect for raising rainbow trout, Grindstaff said. And water rights dating back to 1966 and older are valuable for its operations.

The business ships product to restaurants and retailers all over the U.S.

Clear Springs Foods has seven farms where it raises fish from its brood stock in Soda Springs and Mackay. About 27 million pounds of trout come out of its facility each year.

Its 350 employees run all operations from hatching and feeding to trucking, marketing and sales.

We like to give money, time and product to the communities where our employees live, Grindstaff said.

In cash and product, Clear Springs Foods estimates it gives $100,000 to $150,000 a year. That doesnt include the time employees put into community organizations, she said.

Our employees are engaged in different activities based on interests, Grindstaff said.

Clear Springs employees have served on the board of the College of Southern Idaho Foundation, and on several committees at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center.

They were among the first donors in 1985, and they havent missed a year since, CSI Foundation Executive Director Debra Wilson said.

The business has also donated trout for the colleges annual dinner and scholarship fundraiser.

Clear Springs is a major donor for the St. Lukes Magic Valley Health Foundation, too, Executive Director Dawn Soto said. Records of its involvement go back to 1990 with event sponsorships and upfront donations. This money has been used for cancer patient emergency funds, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and the pediatric unit at St. Lukes.

Soto said the business has been a great partnership.

Clear Springs has also supported the Boys and Girls Clubs of Magic Valley.
A proposed bill that would allow North Dakota cities and the governor to place a moratorium on refugee resettlement while data is collected drew several hours of public testimony, mainly in opposition. The bill generated so much discussion that now the topic will be turned into a legislative study during the 2017-18 interim.

House Bill 1427 was presented Friday at the House Government and Veterans Affairs committee meeting, where it drew a crowd of more than 150 people at the state Capitol.

The bill would allow local and state governments to halt refugee resettlement in areas that don't have the resources to handle refugees. It also would gather data on refugees and allow local and state governments to have more input on refugee resettlement.

"The purpose of my bill ... is not to ban refugee resettlement. The purpose of the bill is to put into (North Dakota Century Code) that state and local governments be consulted as per federal law, which already requires this. And thats not happening," Rep. Chris Olson, R-West Fargo, primary sponsor of the bill.

The bill's hearing lasted four hours Friday morning, and continued that afternoon after the House floor session adjourned. At the second half of the hearing, the bill was amended into a legislative study of refugee resettlement in the state.

According to the bill, the moratorium must not exceed one year. Olson said the moratorium ability would give local and state governments "more teeth in the negotiating process," allowing governing bodies to be consulted in the refugee resettlement process and to determine their own capacities.

The bill's hearing drew opposition from several refugees and representatives from the North Dakota Catholic Conference and the American Civil Liberties Union. Those who oppose the bill said it could prevent other refugees fleeing persecution from entering the state and paint the wrong picture that refugees are a burden to their communities. Some said the bill was discriminatory by singling out refugees.

The big elephant in the room is whats making this public sentiment very negative toward refugees? We cant ignore that. Its not about money, I think, its about fear, said Zahra Mohamed, who came to the United States in 2005 from Somalia.

Mohamed, who lives in Bismarck with her husband and four kids, graduated from the University of Mary in 2015.

"This country has given me opportunities that my own country wont give me," she said.

The state's refugee resettlement agency is Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, which operates three U.S. State Department-approved sites in Fargo- West Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismarck. Last year, LSSND helped to resettle 558 people and 236 families  38 percent of whom were children and 85 percent were reuniting with families.

According to LSSND, 70 percent of the resettlement in the state occurs in the Fargo and West Fargo area, about 20 percent in Grand Forks and 10 percent in Bismarck.

Jessica Thomasson, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, told the committee that the agency opposed the bill primarily because of the idea of a community's "absorptive capacity" as well as potential untended effects of the bill.

"Im not questioning the intent of the bill, but, if we are to make the assumption that somehow a refugee, just because of their status as a refugee, creates a different set of costs in the broad way thats described in this bill, that does seem to me to be crossing a line," Thomasson told the committee.

If enacted, the bill could make it difficult in the future for refugees to reunite with their families, which Hukun Abdullahi, a Somalian refugee, said was his "biggest fear."

Abdullahi came to the Fargo-Moorhead area three years ago from Kenya and met his mom after 15 years of separation. His mother came to the U.S. as a refugee.

Abdullahi said he goes to college, works and runs a nonprofit. His two youngest brothers, ages 9 and 11, are still back in Africa and are going through extensive vetting processes.

My biggest fear is  if this bill passes, I may never have my other brothers join their mother, because, who knows, we may have a state moratorium in place by the time they are approved to come over," Abdullahi said at the hearing.

Those in support of the bill included representatives from local municipalities, who told the committee they want to be more involved in the process of refugee resettlement in the state.

We have no involvement, the city commission. We have no partnership, Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn told the committee. "To me, thats alarming.

Chad Peterson, chairman of Cass County Commission, echoed Piepkorn's comment.

Theres no one I work with, no one I serve with, that wants to see this program end, Peterson said. "All we want to do is figure out whats going on, become better partners with (Lutheran Social Services) .... We want to be involved. We want to be heard.

Thomasson said LSSND strives for "transparency and regular discussion with local stakeholders on strategies for working with refugees. The agency also holds quarterly meetings and has strong cooperative relationships" with schools, law enforcement and local and state governments.

Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, testified against HB1427.

I think how we accept and move with refugees is really a reflection of who we are as a state. Are we truly an open community where strangers are welcomed and honored?" she said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued notices Friday to protesters, warning that corps-managed federal property adjacent to the Cannonball River would be closed Feb. 22.

In addition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs pledged its support in helping the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe close the protest camps within its reservation boundaries.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., lauded the federal government for its assistance.

After the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe requested BIA support, this federal assistance is a step in the right direction," she said. "But our work isnt done, and Ill keep pushing with the governor and the rest of the delegation for financial assistance for state and local law enforcement agencies and for the manpower to guarantee everyone stays safe."

The Oceti Sakowin camp is being closed in anticipation of flooding that could cause injury and environmental damage, according to the corps.

"Because of record snowfall and long periods of frigid temperatures in the Bismarck and Fort Yates area this year, there is a high potential for flooding at the mouth of the Cannonball River from spring runoff and ice jams," according to a statement released by the corps. "Much of the land where the protest camps are currently located is directly in an area prone to flooding in years with heavy plains snowpack."

The corps warned that ice jams can quickly cause flooding; and, without proper preparations, debris, trash and untreated waste from the protest camps could wash into the Cannonball River and Lake Oahe. Soil erosion where grass cover was damaged by camp structures also is a concern.

As stewards of the public lands and natural resources, we have a responsibility to the public to prevent injuries and loss of life, and to ensure that our precious water resources are free from pollution due to human activities and respect for all who rely on this water for their livelihoods, said Col. John Henderson, the corps' Omaha District commander. Public safety will continue to be our top priority.

The notices are unrelated to the Army's ongoing full review and analysis of the pipeline easement, according to the corps.

Various activist groups continue to pledge support for the anti-pipeline movement.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has fully engaged in the deeply flawed process that has been stripped away to benefit the interests of big oil  a process that is now essentially a rubber stamp in the Donald Trump administration," said Tara Houska, national campaigns director for Honor the Earth.

"The courts have yet to issue an injunction to fully cease construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline while the tribes legal claims are heard. It has been non-violent direct actions, peaceful prayers, and the bravery of unarmed water protectors on the frontlines who garnered worldwide support and cost Dakota Access hundreds of millions of dollars," she said. "We stand with the Sacred Stone camp, and with any willing to make a stand in this fight and in their own localities. Strong hearts to the front."

Meanwhile, two days after an anti-Dakota Access Pipeline demonstration took place at Backwater Bridge, former congressional candidate Chase Iron Eyes was charged on Friday with inciting a riot and trespass.
PAUL  For more than three decades, Barclay Mechanical Services Inc. has called Paul its home.

Mike Barclay ran the company from the early 1980s through 1991. Current owners Rick Hall and Rusty Perley bought it in 1991.

Since the 1980s, the manufacturing company and mechanical shop has kept its roots in Mini-Cassia.

Its just kind of stayed here from that point, office manager Nancy Young said.

Workers install equipment  such as for piping and built-to-specification projects  in Idaho and elsewhere across the country.

We do a lot of work for the potato plants and sugar plants, Young said. Plus, it offers a walk-in business.

The company does welding projects, too, such as for broken farm equipment. And it offers a crane service and is one of the areas largest suppliers of metal.

Barclay Mechanical Services has a full machine shop and three WaterJet tables, which allow for cutting a variety of materials.

Outside of Idaho, the company has worked in places such as Louisiana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington and at a pistachio plant in California.

Hall and Perley are active community participants and donors in Mini-Cassia. But you probably wont hear them talking about it.

They like to keep that kind of private, Young said. Theyre not the kind of guys who toot their own horns.

The owners are strong advocates for 4-H, she said. Theyve also supported the YMCAs Rupert project, senior centers in Rupert and Burley, and Boy Scouts. Plus, theyve helped high school agriculture departments in Declo and Burley.

We try to sell at cost for the agriculture department over there, so the kids can have a chance to do some building, Young said about Burley High. Hall and Perley have always got an open heart for those guys.

In December, the company presented a check to The Senior Junction in Burley for the Meals on Wheels program, senior center director Catherine Walcroft said. The owners matched what employees had raised.

The company has also donated beef for meals, she said. Theyve been very gracious.

Walcroft called Barclay Mechanical Services a wonderful supporter for Meals on Wheels.

We are not a government agency, so we rely completely, 100 percent, on donations from the community. Places like Barclay allow us to keep our doors open and seniors fed.
JEROME  After years of speculation, commissioners have vowed to finish the county's 4,000-acre North Rim Park.

The park takes up a 6.25-square-mile block of land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management north of the Snake River  roughly from the canyon rim to Interstate 84 and from U.S. 93 to near Devils Corral.

The park has been a possibility since Jerome County signed lease agreements with the BLM in 2003 and 2007. It will cost taxpayers nothing but the price of a parking lot, Commissioner Roger Morley said Thursday.

"Jerome wants to make the North Rim Park an outdoor destination for all ATV, motorcycle, mountain bike, equestrian and shooting sports," he said. "And it will always be free."

The county has another 17 years, as per the lease agreement, to gain legal access to the property and complete the park, Morley said. If the county isn't successful, the BLM plans to sell the land.

Once the park is established, the county can apply for federal and state recreational grants, he said.

The county worked on various plans for the park for years, but each time ran into obstacles. Until recently, the property was landlocked; Jerome County had no legal access into the park. In addition, recreational shooting and hunting allowed on neighboring Department of Lands endowment land make the park unsafe.

Commissioner Charlie Howell has personally experienced near misses as bullets have flown by him on the IDL property.

"It's dangerous to all people around," Howell said.

But the situation now appears more favorable to completing the park.

The county has worked out a deal with the Jerome Highway District to "piggyback" on its easement through neighboring IDL property. The county has also hired consultant Ryan Lay to work with the IDL to gain additional access.

But the recreational shooting hurdle may be a tough one to clear.

The commissioners want encourage shooters to use a safer location at the east end of the park instead of on IDL property. Howell will meet later this month with the state Land Board to discuss prohibiting shooting on the IDL land.

"IDL allows hunting and shooting on endowment lands because the law allows it," said Sharla Arledge, spokeswoman for the department.

"This might be a tough one," Morley said. "We'll have to see."

To further enhance the park, Idaho Power Co. has agreed to build a scenic overlook in its easement on IDL property above Shoshone Falls, Morley said.

"We have just as good of a view of the canyon as Twin Falls does," Morley said.
TWIN FALLS  A Gooding mother who gave her daughter marijuana-infused butter to treat seizure-like symptoms pleaded guilty Friday.

Kelsey Osborne, 23, is charged in Twin Falls County with a misdemeanor count of injury to a child.

Osborne initially plead not guilty Oct. 18, according to online court records, but she changed her plea Friday. The prosecutor made a very reasonable offer to Kelsey, her attorney Tom Curl told the Times-News. She decided it was in her best interests to take a plea agreement, he said.

They understand what Kelsey is facing with her daughter and are sympathetic to her case, he said.

If shes convicted, the maximum penalty is up to a year in jail or up to 10 years in state prison.

Curl said he thinks the state legislature set such a wide range of options to give broad discretion to the judicial branch for sentencing.

Osbornes sentencing is slated for Feb. 28.

Osborne says she gave her 3-year-old daughter, Madyson, a smoothie with marijuana butter on Oct. 5 to help calm the girl, who was suffering from seizure-like symptoms, vomiting and hallucinating.

Osborne said Madysons behavior was the result of several weeks going on and off the antipsychotic medication Risperidone.

Osborne said the butter calmed the girl and helped treat the seizures and hallucinations, but when she took Madyson to a doctor later that day, the toddler tested positive for marijuana and the doctor reported it.

The incident resulted in the criminal charge in Twin Falls County and prompted the Department of Health and Welfare to take Osbornes two children, Madyson and son Ryker, and place them in the custody of her ex-husband.

In late December, she sought to regain custody of her two children, but a judge ruled against her.

A group of protesters gathered outside the Twin Falls County Courthouse in late November for Osbornes initial court appearance to protest the misdemeanor charge.
Cassia County

Felony sentencing

Sara Nicole Dabell; felony possession of controlled substance, guilty, $285.50 costs, two years determinate time, two years indeterminate time, five days credited, retained jurisdiction, penitentiary suspended; misdemeanor petit theft, dismissed on motion of prosecutor.

Felony dismissal

Gregory Allen Hunter; felony grand theft, dismissed by court; felony unlawful possession of weapon by convicted felon, dismissed by court.

Driving under the influence sentencings

Triston C. Dayley; misdemeanor driving under the influence under age 18, guilty, $1,000 fine, $800 suspended, $202.50 costs, 365 days driver's license suspended, 18 months probation.

Rolando Guerrero-Varela; misdemeanor driving under the influence, guilty, $200 fine, $205.50 costs, 180 days driver's license suspended, 12 months probation, 90 days jail, 88 days suspended, two days credited; driver's license or commercial driver's license violation, dismissed on motion of prosecutor; misdemeanor alcoholic beverage - consume or possess open container by driver, dismissed on motion of prosecutor.
TWIN FALLS  Days before 15-year-old Canyon Ridge high school student Vason Lee Widaman was gunned down last May in a brazen daylight shooting, Gerardo Raul Chavez swore to his friend he would kill Widaman, the friend testified Friday.

Months after Widamans death, the same witness testified, Chavez confessed to the killing after a night of drinking.

That evidence was revealed Friday during a preliminary hearing for Chavez, 19, and Jose Daniel Alvarez, 20, of Buhl. Both are charged with first-degree murder in Widamans killing. They also face felony counts of intimidating a witness.

The pair is accused of the drive-by slaying of Widaman, who was gunned down May 7 while riding his bicycle on Northern Pine Drive and North College Road West in a shooting that shocked the community but remained unsolved for more than seven months.

Police arrested the two men just hours apart on Dec. 20, taking Chavez into custody after about an hour-long standoff at a home on Locust Street North.

Fridays preliminary hearing was a chance for prosecutors to show a magistrate judge they have sufficient evidence for the cases to move to trial in district court.

Judge Roger Harris ruled there was enough evidence against both suspects on both charges for the cases to move toward trial.

Prosecutors called seven witnesses during the hearing, including Austin Dobbs, the friend and roommate of Chavez whos also the victim of the intimidation charge. Dobbs testified that he and Chavez pooled about $800 to buy Xanax from Widaman.

When Widaman instead stole the package of Xanax meant for Chavez and Dobbs, Chavez allegedly made his violent threat.

After he found out it was Vason that took it, I was playing video games and he said to look at him, Dobbs testified. I wasnt really looking. He said, I need you to look at me. And he said that whoever took our money, he was going to kill. And that was the last time hed ever bring that up.

Did you know who he was referring to at that time? Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs asked.

Whoever took our money, Dobbs said. I mean, I figured it was Vason since he said his name on the phone.

Dobbs later testified that after a night of drinking in October, Chavez told Dobbs to turn his phone off and leave it in a vehicle they were driving. They got out and Chavez confessed to the killing, Dobbs testified, without using Widamans name.

He said, hey Dobbs, I just want to let you know, whoever took our money, I handled him, Dobbs testified. I already knew it was Vason because he dropped that name earlier.

Other witnesses called to testify Friday included Detective Ken Rivers, the lead investigator in the case, as well as a DNA expert who linked Alvarez to the shell casings found at the scene. Two neighbors who lived near the crime scene also testified about hearing the gunshots and seeing a car that looked like Alvarezs 2014 gray Dodge Charger.

But while prosecutors were able to provide enough evidence for Harris to bind the cases over to district court, the defense attorneys also scored some key victories.

While one of the neighbor witnesses identified Chavez in court Friday as the passenger in the suspect vehicle, Doug Nelson, Chavezs attorney, revealed that same witness missed two chances to identify him before.

Once, shortly after the shooting, she was presented with a six-pack lineup of photographs, one of which was Chavez, and she couldnt identify any of the six as the passenger in the car. Later, she was presented with a second six-pack that again included Chavezs photograph. That time she picked someone else, not Chavez.

Rivers said she identified an incorrect person, which drew a laugh from Nelson.

Youre saying its incorrect, Nelson said, but its incorrect because you think (Chavez) did it.

Nelson and Steven McRae, the attorney for Alvarez, also seemed to probe for weaknesses in the DNA evidence, and by the end of the hearing a plausible defense seemed to be shaping up.

Areas they could point to in their defense: Dobbs, the key witness, is testifying for prosecutors in exchange for them dropping a criminal charge against him; the only eye-witness to the shooting couldnt identify Chavez in two photo lineups, only pointing him out when he was sitting in front of her in an orange jumpsuit; and the DNA evidence was gathered in a complicated matter and can only link the shell casing to a man from the paternal side of Alvarezs family, but not Alvarez himself.

Prosecutors also offered no evidence of finding the murder weapon, and did not detail communications between Widaman and Chavez. Rivers testimony though did seem to hint there was more of a connection than was revealed Friday, and the detective also shared the way in which he was able to access Widamans phone: by using the dead teens finger to unlock his iPhone.

Chavez and Alvarez will next appear in front of a district judge for an arraignment in the coming weeks. At that hearing, theyll plead guilty or not guilty, and trial dates will likely be scheduled.
TWIN FALLS  Dual credit is booming at the College of Southern Idaho, but Idahos governor isnt recommending any extra money to hire more instructors.

CSI asked for $137,600 to hire two full-time faculty members next school year who would teach solely at Magic Valley high schools  a model that doesnt currently exist.

The vast majority of dual credit classes  where teenagers earn high school and college credit simultaneously  are taught by high school instructors at high school campuses.

In late July, Gov. C.L. Butch Otter decided not to recommend funding. But the decision comes as the state is pushing for more students to pursue higher education to meet industry needs.

CSI has a great relationship with the governors budget office, said Todd Schwarz, executive vice president. But we fully anticipated there would be some raised eyebrows about this one. It completely blows up the notion about whos doing what with dual credit.

The college received inquiries from budget analysts about the request this summer, he added.

Every year, many agencies  including community colleges  submit a list of legislative line item requests for specific projects or staffing needs. Otter makes recommendations to legislators of which items he thinks should be funded.

Jon Hanian, spokesman for Otter, said there are two primary reasons why the governor didnt recommend funding for CSIs dual credit request: high school teachers should get the support and funding to teach dual credit classes, and it creates a fairness issue.

Otter believes money should go toward high school teachers to lead college-level classes rather than embed community college professors at high schools, Hanian said.

If we had a lot of extra money, is it a good idea to do that? Yeah, he said. But we have to watch how we use those resources.

Another concern: uniformity and fairness, Hanian said. Allowing community college faculty members to work in high schools is good for cities with a community college nearby.

What do we do about the rural schools that cant fall back on that? he said.

CSI was looking at an academy model for business and computer science classes, where faculty members could teach classes at high school campuses and help create a pathway for students to continue their education, Schwarz said.

In particular, CSI was looking at reaching small, rural school districts.

Quite frankly, we were interested in trying to identify under-served schools, possibly, Schwarz said, where it would be difficult  if not impossible  to find a computer science or business teacher with a masters degree.

In total, Otter is requesting $14.3 million in state money for CSIs 2017-18 budget up from $13.67 million this year. Hes also asking for an overall 6.3 percent increase for community colleges.

And he approved a couple of CSI line items: $132,200 for two faculty members at CSIs Idaho Falls center and $133,800 for the Bridge to Success program.

CSI hopes to move forward with its own initiative this fall: having 40 high school seniors come to campus to participate in technical programs with low enrollments.

Its just a shame those seats are sitting empty, Schwarz said, when there are interested high schoolers and state money would pay for their college classes.

Across Idaho, more students are taking advantage of the opportunity to earn college credits.

A decade ago, 871 students took dual-credit classes through CSI  about 13 percent of the student body.

By the 2016 fall semester, that number jumped to 2,444 students at more than 65 high schools  plus virtual academies  making 35 percent of the colleges total headcount.

A big reason for the increase: students can access state money to help pay for classes. The Idaho Department of Educations Fast Forward program went into effect in 2014.

State legislators boosted funding for advanced opportunities programs during the 2016 session. Now each student has a total of $4,125 available to use from seventh through 12th grades.

Idaho is getting close to the point with dual credit where we need to take a hard look at how were funding it, Schwarz said.

The Idaho Board of Education has asked CSI to compile a balance sheet showing its profits and losses from the dual credit program, which is incredibly difficult to do, he said.

At the state level, there has also been deliberation over changing the dual credit fee, Schwarz added. Dual credit students through CSI pay $65 per credit  about half the cost of a traditional student.
FILER  You might think of Filer as a sleepy little town outside of Twin Falls, but an unassuming factory there is ensuring people all over the country get a good nights rest.

Everton Mattress Manufacturing  which also does business as Therapedic Mattress Idaho  is one of 15 factories licensed to produce the Therapedic Mattress brand in the United States. Its 40,000-square-foot factory employs nearly 50 workers.

Many people dont know theres a mattress factory in Filer, owner Chris Sanders said.

Since he purchased the company in April 2014, theyve invested about $500,000 into new, better machinery to improve processes and products.

Weve invested a lot into our company in a short period of time, he said.

Every day, anywhere from 200 to 450 pieces of product leave the factory. The company ships within a 500-mile radius mostly through its own trucking company.

Sanders is the first non-family owner of the fifth-generation company. He has worked for the company for more than 20 years, beginning as director of retail operations.

Former owner Steve Everton still runs a Twin Falls retail store  Everton Mattress & Furniture Gallery  but its separate from the factory.

The company has a long history in the Magic Valley. Everton Mattress Manufacturing started in 1924 in Logan, Utah, and a factory in Twin Falls opened in the 1930s.

The local factory  which moved to Filer in 2003 from downtown Twin Falls produces products for mattress and retail stores and has contracts with hotels and universities.

Were a one-stop shop for retailers looking for a branded product, Sanders said.

Making a mattress starts with a quilting process. There are about five steps from when the project starts to when the finished product leaves the factory, Sanders said.

In addition to products, Sanders said he focuses on creating an excellent work environment.

The company provides benefits to its employees and feels its necessary to provide health insurance coverage, he said, even though its not required as a small company.

Hopefully our conditions and pay structure is above average, he said. I pride myself on finding good people who want to work here and want to make a great product.

The companys community involvement centers around youth. It gives monetary donations and items for raffles and auctions to groups including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Magic Valley and Twin Falls Optimist Club.

The Everton familys focus has been on local service and helping children, Sanders said, and weve kept that tradition going.

Employees have also volunteered with the Boys & Girls Clubs. We just feel its a great organization.

The factory donated $1,200 to the club in 2016 to sponsor the nonprofits tree at the Magic Valley Festival of Giving, said Rashell Eskelsen, director of resource development for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Magic Valley.

We feel that kids and underprivileged kids need a leg up, Sanders said.
TWIN FALLS  Glanbia Foods rise to success is a bit of a Cinderella story: an Irish cheese maker buys a small cheese factory in the tiny town of Richfield, and ends up a giant in the cheese, whey protein, and sports- and performance-nutrition industries.

It didnt happen overnight, but Glanbia increased its cheese manufacturing by 15 times its original capacity by working hand in hand with its dairy partners and Magic Valley communities. It is now the worlds largest processor of American-style cheese.

Eventually, the company created a lucrative market for whey, a former waste product of the cheese-making process.

Milk is a nutritional powerhouse, said Daragh Maccabee, who just smiles when Idahoans butcher the pronunciation of his name. We reached this success by extracting the maximum amount of value out of it.

The company bought the Ward Cheese plant in Richfield in 1990, when Idahos dairies produced just 7.5 million pounds of milk per day  and Glanbia turned 12 percent of that milk into cheese.

Since then, Glanbia has been joined at the hip with local dairies to help grow the states dairy production to 40 million pounds of milk per day.

The growth required a heavy investment on Glanbias part, said Maccabee, senior vice president of procurement and dairy economics. But it also required the company to invest heavily in its employees and local communities.

Maccabee moved from Dublin to Idaho for a three-year stint. That was 10 years ago.

People feel good about working for Glanbia, he said.

The company also takes pride in what its employees do for their communities. Each facility  Glanbia now has plants in Twin Falls, Richfield, Gooding and Blackfoot  commit to giving back to its communities by adopting local charities and projects.

We dont have to write big checks to do good, Maccabee said. But we can.

Glanbia was instrumental in building Goodings skateboard park and helping the city with Christmas lights. The company also donated $40,000 to Idaho Horse Therapys Re-boot Camp for veterans.

In Twin Falls, Glanbia built its corporate office in the heart of the city to bolster its downtown revitalization project. It also opened its cheese marketplace on Main Avenue so folks can taste firsthand what the company makes.

In addition, Glanbia employees have raised thousands of dollars for local charities.

In return, Glanbia gives employees a generous benefit package, including a gym membership, free cheese and whey powders at cost. The company also has a tuition reimbursement program for employees who want to further their education.

Glanbia is a place of opportunity grounded in the local community but provides global opportunities, Maccabee said.
GOODING  John Hatfield was a diesel mechanic and welder who did service work for local dairies.

Over time, John developed product and started his own business, founding Hatfield Manufacturing in 1976. Today, his three sons  David, Deven and Jason  continue his work specializing in dairy and livestock handling equipment.

President David Hatfield said he and his brothers grew up in the business.

We like being creative and solving problems, David said. Thats all we do is fix problems.

The company has 60 employees, a main office in Gooding and a satellite facility in Wendell. It makes products including headlocks, freestalls, implements, calf hutches, bottle trailers, tanker trailers, gates, scrapers, corral harrows and freestall groomers.

We are surrounded by the dairy industry, said Deven Hatfield, vice president of sales. We service the dairy industry all across the nation.

Deven was involved in FFA throughout high school and graduated from Gooding High School in 1990. Now the company gives back to local FFA chapters, including the one at Gooding.

We supply them with technical support, Deven said, even some of the metal so they can do their training.

FFA students often tour Hatfield Manufacturings facility. College of Southern Idaho students in the colleges welding program have also visited.

We think its important, Deven said. We love our community for starters. We want people to know, especially the young people to know, there are good jobs that arent office jobs.

Hatfield Manufacturing also donates money and welding supplies to local FFA chapters. It provides job training and job-shadowing opportunities.

Jason Hatfield, vice president of manufacturing, said hes worked only at the family business.

I love what I do; its all Ive ever done, Jason said. Obviously thats a big part of our economy, is the dairy. We need to be educating the young people to do these things. Not everybody is going to sit behind the desk. We need welders and laborers. Its important to teach people how to do those things.
Francis Frank Cardin, 68, of Twin Falls, died Monday, January 30, 2017 at home. Arrangements are pending Serenity Funeral Chapel Life Celebration Center & Cremation Services of Idaho, Twin Falls.

Elizabeth Sue Hilton, 51, of Twin Falls, died Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center. Arrangements are pending Serenity Funeral Chapel Life Celebration Center & Cremation Services of Idaho, Twin Falls.

Richard Allan Moore, 57, of Twin Falls passed away Thursday evening, February 2, 2017 at Willowbrook Assisted Living Center in Twin Falls. Arrangements are pending and will be announced by Reynolds Funeral Chapel, Twin Falls.

Norma Harris Ward, 91, of Twin Falls, and formerly of Burley and Jerome, died Thursday, February 2, 2017, at St. Lukes Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls.Arrangements are under the care of Rasmussen Funeral Home, Burley.

Penny Louise Thompson, 73, of Malta, died Thursday, February 2, 2017. Arrangements are under the care of Rasmussen Funeral Home, Burley.
Clarence Henry Miller

JEROME - Clarence left us for his last trip the morning of February 1, 2017.

Clarence was born in Anoka, MN to Irma Schwab and Cecil Miller. He was the 2nd of four children. With his mother and 3 siblings, he moved to Idaho on a train. Everything they owned was moved in 2 large trunks.

He went to school in Kimberly, Jerome, and Twin Falls, finishing his schooling at U of I in Moscow.

He was barely 18 when he joined the police force in Jerome as a patrolman. He arrested several bad men, one of which tried to shoot him.

He married Doris Claycomb in 1945 and of this union 5 sons were born; Pete, Larry, Robert, Kenneth and Vernon.

In 1951, he and his family, consisting of his wife and 3 sons at the time, moved to Jungo, NV to haul Iron Ore for the Austin Mine. He was able to purchase a fleet of Ore Trucks.

In 1960 they moved to Jerome, where Clarence built a house for his growing family consisting of his wife, 4 boys, and one on the way.

In early 1970 Clarence and Doris were divorced.

In 1980 Clarence and Donna Jones were married. She brought to the family her 3 sons, so together they had a family of 8. They built a house on the edge of Jerome.

Clarence retired from the Jerome Highway District as Supervisor on Nov. 30, 1990. He held that position for 32 years. At that time he and Donna bought a new trailer and enjoyed camping, fishing, dancing in the summer, and traveling in the winter. What a wonderful retirement full of memories.

Clarence was the best of the best and will be missed by all who knew him.

Clarence is survived by his wife, Donna, his sons; Pete (Joyce), Larry (Lori), Robert (Karla), Ken, Vernon (Sherry); stepsons; Mike (Michelle) Jones, Janard Jones II (Teresa), seven grandchildren, and numerous great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, 2 stepchildren, 2 brothers; Walt and Archie, and one sister Elizabeth.

Funeral Services will be held on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017 at 2:00 pm at Demaray's Jerome Memorial Chapel (corner of 3rd and Fillmore). Burial will follow at the Wendell Cemetery.
Lena Nash Rice

May 15, 1917 - January 31, 2017

BOISE - Lena Nash Rice, age 99, went to her heavenly home on January 31, 2017, at her home in Boise, Idaho with her family by her side.

Lena was born on May 15, 1917, in Zena, Oregon, to Ray and Grace Nash. She was 14 when her family moved to Hill City, Idaho, after purchasing the grocery and dry goods store. It was there that she met and later married the love of her life, Gwinn Rice. Hill City was always their home where they farmed, raised their three children, and were active church and community members. Lena's kitchen was the hub of life on the farm. She was known for her hospitality, her wonderful meals, and her homemade bread and delicious cinnamon rolls! There was always room for one more around her kitchen table, which was also the gathering place for playing the many games she loved.

In 1968, Lena was selected as the Idaho Mother of the Year. In 1990 she was chosen as Senior Mother of the Year for Idaho's Centennial Celebration. During this time, she co-authored The Lasting Legacy, a history of Camas Prairie. She treasured this time spent with her neighbors and friends listening to and recording their stories.

Lena's Christian faith was her mainstay in life. She looked for and found the good in every person and every situation. Her smiles and kindness brightened the lives of everyone around her. She was an example of true Christian love and was a wonderful mentor to countless family members, young people, and friends whom she prayed for daily.

At 93, she retired from her work at the Hill City Farm and moved to Boise, but Camas Prairie was always her home.

Lena was preceded in death by her husband, Gwinn. She is survived by her sister Pearl Ruby (Idaho); her brother Ray Nash (Oregon); daughter Joy (Tom) Gill of Mountain Home; daughter Norma (John) Odiaga of Jerome; son Jim (Tina) Rice of Hill City and Meridian; 7 grandchildren--Kim (Curt) Phillips, Todd (Darci) Gill, James (Shelly) Rice, Joe (Stacie) Rice, Amaya Odiaga (Hans-Peter Marshall), Jordan (Karen) Rice, Annie (Jamon) Frostenson; 16 great-grandchildren; and a multitude of friends and relatives.

A funeral service will be held on March 3, 2017, at 1:00 at the Cloverdale Funeral Home in Boise. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Lena's name to the Fairfield Community Church, PO Box 306, Fairfield, Idaho 83327.
Alfred Ilk

IDAHO FALLS  Alfred Ilk, funeral services at 2 p.m. Saturday, February 4 at Reynolds Funeral Chapel, 2466 Addison Ave. East, Twin Falls. A visitation will take place from 1:15 p.m. until the time of the service.

Richard Morris

RUPERT  Richard Morris, celebration of life at 2 p.m.Saturday, February 4 at Morrison Funeral Home, 188 S Hwy 24, Rupert.

Viva Jones

TWIN FALLS  Viva Jones, funeral at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 4, at Twin Falls LDS 9th Ward Church, 2680 Elizabeth Blvd., Twin Falls; viewing Friday from 6-8 pm at White Mortuary, Chapel by the Park, and one hour prior to the service from 10 to 10:45 am at the church.

Stephen Buck

BURLEY  Stephen Buck of Burley, funeral service at 11 a.m.Saturday, February 4, at the Burley LDS 2nd and 4th Ward, 515 E 16th. A visitation will be held from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, February 3 at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E 16th St and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. Saturday preceding the service at the church.

Luella Schmidt

BUHL  Luella Schmidt of Buhl, Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 4 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Buhl. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. followed by the Rosary at 10:30 a.m.

Dr. Tim Lavens

CALGARY, Alb.  Dr. Tim Lavens formerly of Twin Falls, celebration of life at 10 a.m. Saturday, February 4 at Eden Brook Funeral Home, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Margaret Wells

OAKLEY  Margaret Wells of Oakley, funeral at 1 p.m. Saturday, February 4, 2017, at the Oakley Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 355 N. Center Ave. A visitation will be held from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, February 3, 2017, at Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., Burley, and from 12 Noon until 12:45 p.m. Saturday, at the church in Oakley.

Otto Florence Jr.

TWIN FALLS  Otto Florence Jr. of Twin Falls, Funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. Monday, February 6, at St Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, 161 6th Ave East, Twin Falls. Arrangements are under the direction of Reynolds Funeral Chapel.

Lawrence Turner

DECLO  Lawrence Turner of Declo, funeral at 1 p.m. Monday, February 6, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 East 16th Street in Burley, Idaho,. Visitation will occur prior to the funeral services from 12 noon until 12:45 p.m.

Julio Benavides

TWIN FALLS  Julio Benavides of Twin Falls, Celebration of Life at 1 p.m. Monday, February 6, 2017 at White Mortuary, Chapel by the Park.

Donna Andrew

PAUL  Donna Andrew of Paul, funeral at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 7, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E 16th St. in Burley. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.

Lee Roy Crumbliss

TWIN FALLS  Lee Roy Crumbliss of Twin Falls, funeral service at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 7, at Parkes Magic Valley Funeral Home, 2551 Kimberly Road, Twin Falls. A viewing will be held from 5 until 7 p.m. Monday, February 6 at the funeral home.

Norma Harris Ward

TWIN FALLS  Norma Ward of Twin Falls, funeral at 2 p.m. Tuesday, February 7 at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E 16th St, Burley. A visitation will be held from 6 until 8 p.m. Monday, February 6 and from 1 until 1:45 p.m. prior to the service.

Larry Shaw

TWIN FALLS  Larry Shaw of Twin Falls, celebration of life at 2 p.m. Friday, February 10 at the Twin Falls Reformed Church, 1631 Grandview Dr. North. Arrangements are under the direction of Serenity Funeral Chapel Life Celebration Center & Cremation Services of Idaho.

Penny Louise Thompson

MALTA  Penny Louise Thompson of Malta, funeral at 11 a.m. Friday, February 10, at the Malta LDS Church, 280 N. 1st St., in Malta. Friends may call from 6 until 8 p.m. Thursday, February 9, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. preceding the service at the church.

Ora Deahl

TWIN FALLS  Ora Deahl of Twin Falls, funeral service at 1 p.m. February 11 at Reynolds Funeral Chapel, 2466 Addison Ave. East, Twin Falls. A viewing will be held from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, February 10 at the funeral chapel.
For many Americans, last weeks executive order on immigration was a clear case of religious discrimination since it singles out Muslim-majority countries and gives preferential treatment to non-Muslim refugees from those countries.

The implication seems to be that, in keeping with President Donald Trumps campaign promises, the United States will sort people at the border based on faith.

For other Americans, the executive order might not seem like a case of religious discrimination  not because the policy doesnt differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims, but because they are skeptical that Islam is actually a religion at all.

Google Islam, religion and politics, and its easy to find websites like PoliticalIslam.com, which claims to use statistical methods to prove that Islam is far more of a political system than a religion.

The argument travels outside the internet fringe of conspiracy theories. When we discuss Islam, it should be assumed that we are talking about both a religion and a political-social ideology, former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew C. McCarthy wrote in the National Review in 2015.

Islam is not even a religion; it is a political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest, said John Bennett, a Republican lawmaker in the Oklahoma state legislature, in 2014.

A thoughtful, educated evangelical pastor recently told me that he thinks religious liberty just needs to be protected for all belief systems, but there also needs to be clarity as to if Islam is fully a religion, or if its really a political movement disguised as a religion.

The idea has adherents at the highest levels of power. Islam is a political ideology that hides behind the notion of it being a religion, national security adviser Michael Flynn told an ACT for America conference in Dallas last summer.

The growing popularity of this idea speaks to a profound disconnect in American conversations about faith  and it offers a way that many self-proclaimed advocates of religious liberty might defend discriminatory policies against Muslims.

It is difficult to think of a definition of religion that does not include Islam  an ancient tradition with practitioners who believe in one God, pray and try to live their lives in accordance with a scripture.

So why has this particular canard taken off?

Wajahat Ali, a writer, attorney, and the lead author of Fear, Inc., a report on American Islamophobia, traces the ideas recent surge to anti-Islam activists David Yerushalmi and Frank Gaffney. In 2010, Gaffneys Center for Security Policy published a report, Shariah: The Threat to America, arguing that Muslim religious law, or sharia, was actually a dangerous political ideology that a cabal of Muslims hoped to impose on the United States.

Though it certainly has spiritual elements, it would be a mistake to think of shariah as a religious code in the Western sense, the report argued. It also suggested banning immigration of those who adhere to shariah . . . as was previously done with adherents to the seditious ideology of communism.

They misdefine sharia in a way which is not recognizable to any practicing Muslim, Ali said. But the idea was influential. By the summer of 2011, more than two dozen states were considering anti-sharia legislation. More recently, Gaffney reportedly advised Trumps transition team.

For many Americans, confusion about religious law, political ideology and sharia may reflect a distinctly Christian, and especially Protestant, way of thinking about the nature of religion.

Its hard to talk about this sometimes because there is no equivalent of sharia in the Christian tradition, said Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World. Even when youre talking to well-intentioned, well-meaning people who really want to understand, explaining sharia is very challenging because theres nothing in Christianity thats quite like it.

This kind of wide-ranging religious legal code may be unfamiliar to many Christians, but its not unique to Islam.

There are strong similarities between sharia and Jewish law, or halakhah, which itself descends from legalistic sections of the Bible that both Jews and Christians consider scripture. Both words derive from roots meaning path or way.

Judaism has also been accused of being as much a political program as a religion. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an influential anti-Semitic forgery, falsely depicts Jews describing Judaism as the one and only religious and political truth.

Both sharia and halakhah include laws for communal as well as personal life. These traditions do not necessarily draw sharp legal distinctions between religious and other kinds of spaces.

Certainly, some Muslims may believe that faith touches all parts of their lives, including their political involvement. But the same could be said for devout members of almost any other religious tradition.

The entanglement of faith and politics is not unique to Islam.

Consider the televangelist Pat Robertson, who ran for president in 1988 because, he believed, God wanted him to do so.

After he lost, Robertson wrote about his hope for one of Americas major political parties taking on a profoundly Christian outlook in its platforms and party structure.

Nevertheless, Robertson told viewers in 2007 that Islam is not a religion but instead a worldwide political movement.

The idea of Islam as a political ideology fits well with our particular political moment. Since the fall of communism, some Western intellectuals, most notably the late Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington, have argued that the next great global struggle will be between Western civilization and Islamic civilization.

The ideology that is against the U.S. or the American values used to be communism, and now its Islam. And it cannot be Islam as a religion. It has to be Islam as a political ideology, said Jocelyne Cesari, a professor at the University of Birmingham in Britain and author of Why the West Fears Islam, paraphrasing those arguments.

Increasingly, there seems to be a disconnect between those who understand the national conversation about Islam in terms of religious rights and the protection of religious minorities, and those who see it as a conversation about large-scale ideological battle.

As Cesari points out, thinking about Islam in these terms allows people to reconcile a commitment to First Amendment rights with a sense of Islam as an existential political enemy.

The stakes could be high. Once you look at Islam as a political ideology, especially one that is threatening, you can ignore or neglect all kinds of civil procedures or protection of religious freedoms that go with the status of being religious in this country.
This appeared in the Idaho Press-Tribune:

The Trump presidency is less than two weeks old, and already we have seen three major protests  the first on inauguration day, the second two days later in the national Womens March on Washington and other cities, and a third in airports and other locations over the weekend protesting the presidents immigration policies.

If these protests are merely a warm-up for whats to come, then were in for a rocky four years.

Along the way, were seeing bad things coming from these emotionally charged protests  violence and property damages. For some people, unfortunately, an organized protest ends up being an excuse to wreak havoc on city streets and not necessarily to speak out against a president or certain policies.

Fortunately, such incidents seem to be isolated and few and far between.

The recent Womens March in Boise and in other parts across the country provided an example of how protests should be conducted.

The march was more in the spirit of Martin Luther King than the kind of ridiculous scenes we sometimes see in conjunction with other protests.

This march was organized by two ambitious teenagers, Colette Raptosh and Nora Harren, who in the process provided a valuable civics lesson on the positive things that can happen through citizen involvement.

They adopted the mission statement from the national march, We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families  recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.

It remains to be seen if the march, or mission statement, has any effect on Trumps approach to the presidency. But for Raptosh, a student at Capital High School, it was an opportunity to take a stand against discriminatory rhetoric and take activism beyond posting on social media.

Harren, a student at Borah High School who recently turned 18 and was not eligible to vote in the November election, said the march was a part of an important lesson learned. Its not enough to go out and vote. You really need to take action.

So with these young women leading the way, nearly 5,000 people  women, men and children  gathered in downtown Boise on a cold winter Sunday.

There were plenty of anti-Trump signs and chants, such as We are women, united, well never be divided. But there was not a shred of violence, cars overturned, or people getting beaten. Police did not need to employ SWAT teams, or call on the National Guard for riot control.

People were there to exercise their rights as citizens, which even Trump eventually acknowledged is a hallmark of our democracy.

Congratulations to the two high school students who helped make it happen.

Similarly, there were peaceful protests in Boise and across the nation in reaction to President Trumps executive action on the vetting of immigrants from certain countries as a way to protect the United States from terrorists.

Again, these were peaceful protests that gave voice to thousands of Americans who opposed the presidents action.

Agree or disagree with the protesters views or positions, we are encouraged by the airing of differences, the registering of complaints and the peaceful resistance against government policy that some dont agree with.

Agree or disagree, this is democracy in action. Peaceful protest and civil disobedience are about as American as freedom of religion, freedom of the press and a representative form of government.
A new modern city is rising in Central Luzon, as investors look for an alternative to Metro Manila which is bursting at the seams amid the capitals sustained economic expansion.

Clark emerges as an economic hub in Central Luzon which is at the center of the countrys demographic sweet spot given its large population of young, educated and skilled workforce. With a median age of only 23, the Philippine economy has been growing faster than anywhere else in the world.

Clark, where infrastructure development is in full swing, is ready to lead the next wave of growth as the new economic hub. Clark International Airport is less than two hours away from Taiwan, southern China, Hong Kong and Macau, and only three hours away from Japan, Thailand, northern China and Singapore by plane.

Sitting at the crossroads of North Luzon Expressway and Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway, Clark is also 30 minutes from the newly expanded Subic Bay deep-water port.

Under the Duterte administration, the well-connected city is poised to raise its profile further. With the revival of the Manila-Clark railway route, Clark will transform into even more of a destination.

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Atop one part of the old US Airforce Base and adjacent to Clark International Airport is a 177-hectare site that is transforming into an important commercial and logistics hub. With the incomparable advantage of its strategic location, Clark Gateway City is one of the largest development sites in Luzon and already has easy access to air, sea, and land connections.

Clark Gateway City is also close enough to Metro Manila for its residents to benefit from its concentration of businesses, but distant enough not to suffer from the congestion consuming the capital.

Clark Gateway City is the brainchild of Global Gateway Development Corp., an international firm that has been developing the fully master-planned property.

Designed as the answer to Metro Manilas Bonifacio Global City, GGDC has built the site to the highest international standards of quality, safety and design.

Mark Williams, chief executive of GGDC, said the master plan provides for parks and open spaces that, in addition to the sites modern sewage system, keep the city livable, disaster-ready, while minimizing its environmental impact.

The Medical City hospital opened in Clark Gateway City in 2014, bringing the best of the Philippines healthcare to Clark and Central Luzon.

Close by is the growing campus of the University of the Philippines in Clark. Once an extension of UPs flagship campus in Diliman, UP Clark is being expanded into a three-hectare permanent campus.

The government is featuring Clark as the site of the 31st ASEAN Summit when the country hosts the gathering in November 2017.

Clark is tapping the young and educated Filipinos to drive growth. The backbone of this remarkable growth story is the countrys demography. The 100-million strong population is projected to reach 123.6 million by 2030 and 148.3 million by 2050, according to the United Nations estimates.

Over a third of the population is under 15 years old and only 5 percent is over 65 years of age, based on the survey of Philippine Statistics Authority. These factors distinguish the country from its more development Asian neighbors, including China and Japan.

The Philippines young, highly literate, and English-speaking population has been a driving force behind the countrys growth as the chief attraction of the BPO industry, which generated $21.2 billion in service exports in 2015, based on the data from the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines.

In 2014, investment advisory firm Tholons identified Clark and six other Philippine locations as part of the Top 100 BPO destinations worldwide. Clark-based BPOs can draw from the more than 60,0000 new graduates in Central Luzon each year. The graduates come from over 220 colleges and universities in the region, which enjoys a lower cost of living than the National Capital Region.

As Metro Manila is straining to accommodate a growing population and business activities, it has outgrown the capacity of its infrastructure designs. The congested airport is landlocked and has no further room to expand.

In 2014 alone, over 470,000 square meters of office space was added in Metro Manila. Despite this, vacancy rates have been on the decline, reaching figures as low as 4 percent.

With Manilas capacity close to the hilt, the countrys BPO sector is approaching a crossroads. The industry is estimated to have employed up to 30 percent more people between 2014 and 2016, growing from 1 million to 1.3 million people (IBPAP).

New companies will need to take advantage of locations and labor outside of the capital. Central Luzon has the best advantage. As the third-largest region in the Philippines, it is host to 11.1 percent of the countrys population, comparable with the 12.75 percent of the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila.

Despite the similarity, the NCR is about 40 times more dense, with a population density of 20,785 people per square kilometer as opposed to the 512 per square km of Central Luzon (PSA).

The answer lies in Clark, which is recognized by the government itself. The administration committed to an PhP8-trillion infrastructure spending program that highlights transport links outside the capital, including the revived Manila-Clark railway.

Over the next ten years, as the Philippine economy grows and its young middle class grows with it, Filipino and international businesses and workers will be catering to larger markets and will require proportionally larger, more efficient, and better connected environments to keep up the pace.

With the infrastructure and connectivity already in place, Clark in Central Luzon is one of the best-places to take advantage of. Its proximity to Manila already makes the airport a viable alternative to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, together with its road and sea connections.

Developments outside the capital give a vision of what the future could look like. A well-planned and extensively connected Clark Gateway City holds the key to sustained Philippine economic growth.

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Iacopo Rovere, the Italian co-founder and managing director of foodpanda Philippines, is an entrepreneur, motivated leader and resolute innovator.

The hands-on CEO used to be the global operations manager of foodpanda in Germany. Six months ago, he was assigned to the Philippines, one of the most vibrant markets of the online food delivery service.

I love the sunny weather and the vivid colors of the countryside, but what I mostly enjoy here is the positive and enthusiastic attitude of the Filipinos, says Rovere.

Foodpanda started its business in the Philippines two years ago and has since then expanded its footprint to more than 1,000 partner restaurants and diners.

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The company delivers for popular food choices, from Japanese to Italian and even fusion-inspired diners. Clients such as Bonchon, Juju Eats, CPK, Wendys, Pepper Lunch, Yoshinoya, Lazy Bastard, Jollibee and Frankies have expressed satisfaction for the service and developed an affinity to the ubiquitous food logistics firm.

Iacopo is confident that foodpandas established number of restaurant partners nationwide, a fleet of able and agile delivery crew, and perpetually increasing customer satisfaction rating will lead the brand to greater heights in the coming years.

Their customer satisfaction rating has also improved to over 90 percent.

We are only at the beginning of our adventure here in the Philippines. As the awareness and relevance of our brand expands, recognition from the biggest players in the industry also starts to pour, like Jollibee which we recently launched on our platform. We must have been doing something right and this is very rewarding after all the effort our teams puts into our mission, Rovere says.

Seen boosting foodpandas business in the Philippines is the new fixed delivery fee of P59 this year, exclusive for in-house delivery. Since its launch in the Philippines, foodpanda has been charging a fixed delivery fee of P30 plus a service fee of 15 percent on total food bill.

With the substantial growth of foodpanda in the Philippines, we are happy to share this latest development in our offering. We owe it to our customers, that is why we are committed to continue finding ways to provide them with great food options and an affordable delivery scheme right at their fingertips, Rovere says.

In its online platform, the company will continue to provide and allow customers to discover and access extensive food options in key cities and urban centers by introducing the significant changes in their delivery scheme.

Foodpanda aims to increase the order frequency and encourage service usage by highlighting its affordability via its latest offering.

Now, customers can order as much as they want to and just pay a fixed delivery fee of P59 without worrying about the service fee. Customers can also choose to pay online with their credit card, PayPal, or even with cash upon delivery.

The new delivery scheme is seen helpful for partner restaurants to boost growth, increase their reach and acquire new customers.

Founded in May 2012 by Ralf Wenzel, with its headquarters in Berlin (Germany), foodpanda operates in more than 67 cities across five continents and teamed up with over 300,000 restaurants globally.

Foodpanda enables restaurants to become visible to mobile app and web users, thus customers can directly order their favorite restaurant meals via foodpandas website or smartphone app.

The foodpanda app is powered by tech giants Delivery Hero and Rocket Internet and is available in the App Store and Google Play Store for free.

All eyes are now on the Philippines as it gains significant numbers for the organization.

Rovere says with the competition getting stiffer year-on-year, foodpanda Philippines will exhaust all efforts to stay relevant and viable to retain its market dominance.

Main thrust at the moment is to switch the offline customers to online and introduce platforms to them on where and how they can have their food delivered, he says.

Foodpanda envisions itself to be the most convenient and fastest online food delivery service in the Philippines. We target to deliver 99 percent of orders under 40 minutes by end-of-year, and expand to key cities over the following months, he says.

Foodpanda increased its total orders from the first to second quarter this year by over 30 percent.

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The Miss Universe 2016 pageant is over and a new queen has been named. But before we close this beautiful chapter that happened in our country, lets look back at some of the heartwarming and remarkable events that you probably didnt see transpired on the pageants stage.

Miss Thailand cried in the arms of her mother

When times get tough, we all need our mother to tell us everything will be all right. And thats true even for crowd favorite Miss Thailand Chalita Suansane. The 21-year-old beauty queen became emotional when she saw her mother after she failed to make it to Top 3 during the coronation night.

Miss Thailand Chalita Suansane became emotional when she saw her mother backstage. AFP

Suansane met her family, friends and fans who flew from Thailand backstage, wherein she was seen crying in the arms of her mom. A video shown during the pageant revealed that Suansane had a hard life; she would help her mother do the latters menial jobs. And the beauty queen herself had to work hard.

Miss Bulgaria donated her gown to a Filipina teenager

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A 15-year-old girl is now the proud owner of a gown worn during the Miss Universe 2016 pageant after Miss Bulgaria Violina Ancheva donated the blue Sherri Hill dress she wore during the parade of nations to her.

Miss Bulgaria Violina Ancheva (left) donated the Sherri Hill dress she wore to Zhyra Cifra (right) for the latter to wear on her prom night.

Zhyra Nicole Cifra is attending her prom in a few weeks, but she didnt have a dress to wear. It was then her mother Issay Gallano messaged Miss Bulgaria, hoping the beauty queen would choose her daughter to be the recipient of the dress she was planning to donate. Ancheva responded and passed on her gown to the Pinay teenager.

Anchevas heartwarming deed earned the respect and love of many people across the globe; shes now being called a true fairy godmother.

Miss Myanmar carried a 40-kilogram costume

We know that Miss Myanmar Htet Htet Htun paid homage to her countrys Burmese puppetry, yoke the, during the National Costume portion of the Preliminary Competition, and we were all surprisedamazed, even.

In case you didnt know, Miss Myanmars national costume weighed approximately 40 kilograms . AFP

But in order to bring a stage on stage, Miss Myanmar had to carry her entire costume that reportedly weighed approximately 40 kilograms, while mimicking the movements of a marionette. No wonder she won the best national costume award.

Host Nick Teplitzs funny rhymes

Not only was the National Costume segment of the Miss Universe 2016 pageant replete with over-the-top costumes, but also with witty and funny rhymes of host Nick Teplitz. During the presentation of 86 contenders, Teplitz provided rhyming introductory spiels, adding color to the event.

Some of his funny rhymes included: The hills are alive, making this costume thriveAustria! You know these wings are her favorite thingsBelize! Its absurd not to dress like a birdwhen youre Ecuador! Lets give her a hand cause shes inspired by sandNamibia! Please make some room cause shes dressed like a tombits Turkey! You wont hear this rhyme so I wont waste my timeits Philippines!

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A US federal judge on Friday ordered a temporary, nationwide halt to President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, in the most severe legal blow to the controversial measure.

The restraining order issued by Seattle US District Judge James Robart is valid nationwide pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

"The constitution prevailed today," Ferguson said, describing the judge's decision as historic. "No one is above the law  not even the president."

"I said from the beginning it is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it's the constitution," he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush.

But the White House quickly hit back, making it clear it was ready for a drawn-out battle on the issue. It initially denounced the decision as "outrageous" but later removed the word from its statement.

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"At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file (for) an emergency stay of this order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate," a statement said.

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people."

 Limbo 

Friday's ruling was not the first to challenge the travel ban, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated the main tenets of the order.

Ferguson said the order technically means that anyone with a valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

But it was unclear whether the Trump administration would succeed in challenging it, leaving travelers in limbo over their legal status.

Robart's decision came after Ferguson filed a suit to invalidate key provisions of Trump's executive order which bars Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days. Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

The State Department said Friday that up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven countries concerned had their visas canceled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The US State Department was still studying the federal judge's order as of late Friday night.

"We are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams to determine how this affects our operations. We will announce any changes affecting travelers to the United States as soon as that information is available," the department said in a statement.

 'Battle not over' 

Trump's executive order created chaos at airports across the United States and beyond as some travelers were detained or deported, prompting an uproar by rights groups and immigration attorneys.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee welcomed Friday's ruling as a "tremendous victory" but warned that the battle to overturn Trump's controversial order was far from over.

"There is still more to do," he said in a statement. "The fight isn't yet won. But we should feel heartened by today's victory and more resolute than ever that we are fighting on the right side of history."

Senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the minority Democrats in the upper house of Congress, urged Trump to repeal his order "once and for all."

"This ruling is a victory for the constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer," he said in a statement.

In his suit  which the state of Minnesota joined  Ferguson said the president's ban violated the constitutional rights of immigrants and their families, and specifically targeted Muslims.

However, federal attorneys representing the Trump administration argued that as president, he had broad powers and was within his right to issue an order that protects Americans.

The White House argues that the ban is aimed at making the country safer and at preventing terror attacks such as those in San Bernardino or Orlando.

Critics, however, say Trump's immigration freeze is arbitrary and point out it doesn't include any countries  such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Pakistan  whose nationals have been involved in terror attacks that have killed Americans.

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THE government should discourage the deployment of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) to countries where they are not adequately protected by the rule of law, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said over the weekend.

As it is, our HSWs abroad are already susceptible to abuse, not only because their skills are easy to replace, but also because they live in virtual isolation with their employers. If we continue to send them to work in countries where the rule of law is perceived to be weak, they become even more exposed to potential harm, Pimentel warned.

The Jan. 25 hanging of Filipino HSW Jakatia Pawa in Kuwait has put the spotlight on the Philippines export of labor, especially low-skilled HSWs.

Pawa, a native of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, was put to death for the 2007 murder of her Kuwaiti employers 22-year-old daughter.

But Pawas family claims that the 41-year-old widow and mother of two was a victim of miscarriage of justice, and that she was framed up by her employer.

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Up until her execution, Pawa had maintained that her employers daughter, who was stabbed to death, had been arranged to marry somebody, but was caught having sex with another man.

It was a very shameful violation, considering that the family is prominent and wealthy. They killed the daughter but blamed Jakatia, said ACTS OFW Party-list Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz.

There are a number of countries that host many Filipino HSWs, and have good reputations of adhering strictly to the rule of law, according to Pimentel.

In these countries, when the employee is victimized, the abuser gets punished. This has helped to deter ill-treatment, so our HSWs enjoy a large degree of protection from the rule of law, Pimentel said.

Pimentel said the Philippine government should lessen the overseas deployment of low-skilled workers such as HSWs, and concentrate instead on the placement of professionals and other high-skilled workers that the country has ample supplies of.

We have many Filipino nurses and midwives from Mindanao who provide home care services for the sick and elderly in the Middle East. They too live with their employers, but we seldom come across cases of mistreatment. They are well taken care of by their employers. This is because their skills are very difficult to replace, Pimentel said.

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PUERTO GALERA, Oriental MindoroIn the wake of recent cases of kidnapping, murder and extortion activities on their fellow nationals allegedly committed by ranking police law enforcers, Korean nationals here have expressed their fears that they might be the next victims of similar incidents.

In response, the local government and the Philippine National Police jointly expressed their assurance to South Korean nationals and their steadily growing community here of their safety and protection during a recently held dialog among the islands stakeholders.

Puerto Galera Mayor Rockey D. Ilagan and the Sangguniang Bayan, headed by Vice Mayor Marlon L. Lopez, also guaranteed full cooperation with the South Korean nationals for their protection and to make Korean tourists and investors safe.

The local government and the PNP will guarantee and make sure the protection of your investments and the safeness of the stay of your compatriots here in our town, Ilagan, a three-time former barangay chairman of Sabang, stressed.

During the meeting in Sabang, Chief Superintendent Wilben M. Mayor, PNP regional director for Mimaropa, assured the South Koreans, who are mostly resort owners, which they are safe and fully protected to stay in Puerto Galera and the two ugly incidents that happened in Angeles City, in Pampanga, will not happen here.

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Mayor also urged the South Korean expatriates and investors to open communication lines with local government and police officials of Puerto Galera by organizing themselves into one solid group to expedite the resolution of issues and other problems confronting them.

With an organized group, the LGU and the PNP could expedite the resolutions of issues and their other problems with the community, he said.

Cha Eun Sik or Michael Cha, owner of the Oceana Beach Resort, conveyed their groups gratitude to the local and police officials for their concern on the welfare of South Korean businessmen and tourists staying in this resort town.

Cha said there are 88 South Korean establishment owners who own resorts in this municipality, mostly in Barangay Sabang, operating dive centers, hotels and restaurants.

Meanwhile, Song Yoon No, 49, also a South Korean resort owner, said all the negative reports involving their nationals and the national police force do not affect their relationship with the host municipality which remains cordial and warm.

South Korean tourists who visit Puerto Galera every year have reached to a high of more than 100,000 persons, Cha said.

The tourists from South Korea now almost outnumber European and American visitors who come in mostly during the winter months of November to February.

Senior Superintendent Christopher C. Birung, Oriental Mindoro provincial director, designated Chief Inspector Catalino P. Batulayan Jr. as chief of provincial tourist police unit and Chief Inspector Lawrence Panganiban as the new Puerto Galera police chief.

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In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ~
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has named his successor on Friday, heralding an end to his 38-year reign.

Defense Minister Joao Lourenco will be the presidential candidate for the ruling Peoples Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the elections planned in August 2017, dos Santos said.

The autocratic Dos Santos, 74, became president in 1979, making him Africas second-longest serving leader  one month short of Equatorial Guineas Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

His reign has seen the end of civil war and an investment boom, but has also been criticized as secretive and corrupt with Angolas citizens suffering grim poverty as his family became indecently wealthy.

The end of Dos Santoss regime will shake up Angola, where he has been a looming presence in daily life longer than most people can remember, exercising almost total authority over government, politics, media and business.

The drop in the price of crude oil to its lowest level in more than a decade has not only pushed Angolas currency to record lows, it also plunged the economy of Africas second largest crude producer into a crisis.

Despite the countrys oil and diamond resources, Angola suffers endemic poverty, with more than a third of the population of around 24 million living below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.
In Cameroon, businesses are losing money as a result of an internet cut that has been ongoing since January 17, 2017. Schools as well as public services in the English-speaking region of the country remain closed, local media reported.

According to a report published by Internet Sans Frontieres (Internet without Borders), small businesses lost an estimated 44,000,000 CFA Francs, which translates to $723,000 or 675,000.

IWB calls for internet restoration to the affected areas as a matter of urgency.

The Right group also alleged that even though the government issued no official statement on the matter, they had information that service providers were ordered to truncate access because of alleged threats to national security.

Violent protests and arrests have occurred for months, as Anglophone activists have pressed for reforms in the French-speaking nation. What began as protests evolved into boycotts and doctors and health professionals joined the strike.

Over 100 people were arrested and one person killed in November last year in the northwestern town of Bamenda.

The situation has become more intractable following the arrest and subsequent transfer of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium from Buea to Yaounde last week.

The West Cameroon diaspora has been called upon to provide proxy servers to the freedom fighters back home.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan thanked King Mohammed VI for his visit to Africas newest nation, saying such a visit shows Moroccos strong willingness to support the stability and peace-building process in his country facing many challenges.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the official visit paid by King Mohammed VI to South Sudan Feb. 1-2, President Salva Kiir says the issue of Sahara is different in its genesis, legal and political background from that of South Sudan.

He also backs UN efforts engaged to reach a political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara and lauds as serious and credible the efforts made by Morocco in this regard.

President of South Sudan congratulated King Mohammed VI for the reintegration of Morocco within the African Union and hailed the support of the overwhelming majority of African countries to Morocco, says the joint statement.

He underlined Moroccos role and effective contribution for the development, unity and stability of the continent, and praised the royal vision seeking to enhance inter-African cooperation, peace, stability and prosperity, adds the document.

For his part, King Mohammed VI paid tribute to the recent call made by President Salva Kiir for a national dialogue, describing it as a bold move for achieving African Union goal of silencing the gun by 2020 and creating a stable, developed and prosperous South Sudan.

During their talks, the leaders of the two countries expressed commitment to foster bilateral relations and build a win-win South-South cooperation and triangular partnership.

King Mohammed VIs first visit to Juba was crowned by the signing of several bilateral cooperation agreements in agriculture, energy, mining, urbanism, hydrocarbons, industry, investment, tax avoidance, vocational training and partnership between the business communities.

The joint statement says the two countries leaders were pleased to witness the signing of the agreement related to the construction of the new capital city of Ramciel.

In a presentation made before the two Heads of State, Moroccan Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad expressed the North African Kingdoms readiness and commitment to help South Sudan build a new capital city.

Before the Sovereigns visit, South Sudan voiced desire to benefit from Moroccos assistance and expertise to build its new administrative capital.

The project will cost nearly $10 billion and Morocco has agreed to pay $5.1 million for the technical and financial feasibility studies of this large-scale project.

King Mohammed VI has informed President Salva Kiir about Moroccos readiness to share its experience with South Sudan in the areas of security, economic and social development with a view of contributing to the new nations stability and development.

During this visit, the Moroccan Monarch and President of South Sudan co-chaired the inauguration and the launching ceremonies of several development projects undertaken in South Sudan by Morocco.

In this regard, the two Heads of State officially opened the field hospital installed in Juba by the Royal Armed Forces to provide medical services to the population.

The two Heads of State also visited the storage sites for humanitarian assistance donated by Morocco. On this occasion, King Mohammed VI handed over items to a number of internally displaced persons.

He also visited Juba Teaching Hospital wherein the Sovereign donated medical equipment and medicine.
Charlie Reed's formidable presence roared back to life Friday inside the Alumni Center at Florida State University. This, after all, is what a memorial service is all about.

Reed, who died in December at age 75, was the leader of higher education systems in Florida and California for more than three decades and was a feared and respected fixture in Tallahassee, where he also served as Gov. Bob Graham's chief of staff in 1984-85.

He was blunt and highly critical of what he saw as a penny-pinching, short-sighted Florida Legislature. He was fiercely supportive of students, hard-working and unpretentious, and he hated titles like "Chancellor," demanded to be called Charlie and refused to work under a contract. He said if he wasn't wanted any more, he needed an hour to clean out his desk.

"Not always liked, but he was respected," California educator Jim Rosser said. "An unruly giant," said Tallahassee lawyer and former university regent Duby Ausley. "Enough work ethic for a hundred people," in Graham's words.

Graham, fighting the flu, couldn't attend. But former U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley, also a former governor of South Carolina, read his remarks, which included Graham's moving recollection of a story John Sowinski wrote on the FloridaPolitics.com news site.

Sowinski is known today for his work on ballot initiatives, such as opposing expansion of casino gambling in Florida. But when Reed was chancellor of Florida's universities, Sowinski was a lobbyist for university students who clashed with Reed on tuition and other issues. As Graham told the story, when Reed learned Sowinski wanted to go back to Orlando, he offered to put in a good word with Orlando Mayor Bill Frederick, who hired Sowinski and gave his budding career a big boost.

"I enjoyed that column," Graham wrote, "because it spoke exactly to who Charlie was -- someone who really lived to help others."




The Embassy of Switzerland Contributes to East Africas Premier Music Festival





The Embassy of Switzerland has contributed over TZS 260 million to support the Sauti za Busara music festival for the next three years. The Swiss Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E. Florence Tinguely Mattli, met with the Chairman of the Busara Promotions Board of Trustees Hon. Simai Mohammed for the handover at the Swiss Embassy offices in Dar es Salaam on February 3.





The Sauti za Busara festival is one of Africas leading music events. This unique annual festival promotes respect for diversity by bringing people together to celebrate live music from across the continent. This festivals mission is to increase visibility and accessibility for African music, develop skills and opportunities for those in the music industry and strengthen regional and international networking and partnerships.





Switzerland has been promoting and supporting various initiatives and events within the arts and culture sector in Tanzania for over a decade now, said Ambassador Tinguely Mattli. The Sauti za Busara festival is a good example of a cultural event that brings people together to enjoy the arts while contributing to economic development.





Honourable Simai expressed appreciation on behalf of the Busara Promotions Board of Trustees for the support. The sustainability of most cultural organizations in Africa has mostly depended on support from donors. The support from the Swiss Embassy is a huge boost for this great festival, he said.




ROME  The Italian firm restoring one of Christianity's holiest sites  the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem  says it's more than halfway finished with the 14 million-euro project, which has already uncovered a Crusades-era mosaic angel hidden under plaster.

Piacenti SpA, a family-run conservation firm from the Tuscan town of Prato, won the contract to restore the biblical place of Jesus' birth and began work in 2013 alongside Palestinian workers.

The overhaul became necessary after UNESCO listed the site as endangered, with its leaky roof, rotting wood beams and centuries of built-up candle wax that blackened the brilliant mosaics ringing the interior.

Piacenti CEO Giammarco Piacenti said Monday the work is among the most satisfying of the restorers' careers because they are "touching heaven with their fingers."

The high point so far has been the discovery between two windows of a mosaic angel that had been covered over with plaster following an earthquake in the 1830s. The angel  the seventh in a sequence of angels walking toward the site of the Nativity  emerged after restorers using thermographic cameras noticed a change in the plaster color.

"We started to search and then the first tiles of the mosaic appeared, soon a wave of euphoria raced through all the restorers," Piacenti said. "This was a beautiful discovery."

The Church of the Nativity was first built by St. Helena in the 4th century over the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have given birth to Jesus. Rebuilt in the 6th century, it is a major pilgrimage site bringing sorely needed tourism funds to the West Bank town.

The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches share ownership of the church, and run it according to a 19th-century agreement that assigns responsibilities for upkeep that are jealously guarded by each denomination.

The churches have traditionally viewed each other with suspicion and have had fraught relations that prevented previous restoration efforts. But the Palestinian Authority eventually persuaded them to agree to the works after it became clear the church was falling into potentially disastrous ruin.

The restoration, which Piacenti estimated would cost 14 million euros, has progressed in phases as funding has come through from countries and individual donors, particularly from the Palestinian diaspora. He estimated another five million euros was still needed.

The first phase involved replacing the roof and windows. Now workers are redoing the electricity. With about 60 percent of the work finished, the final phases include restoring columns and pavement. Works are expected to be finished by 2020, when Bethlehem is expected to be named the Arab world's capital of culture, he said.
Here are the felony arrests reported in the Helena area during the month of January. Defendants are innocent until proven guilty.
Snow and a biting cold hurried things along, but the 250 people who gathered Friday at Caras Park got their point across.

They called on Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Bozeman to soften his support for what they call President Donald Trumps ban on Muslims. Then they climbed up to street level and marched to Daines Missoula office on East Front Street to present a petition asking him to meet with Missoula, the only city in Montana with a refugee resettlement office.

This is what democracy looks like, right here, Erin Erickson of the community group Missoula Rising said at the conclusion of the Montana for Immigrants rally.

This is not an anti-Daines rally. This is his constituents asking him to sit down, have a meeting, and discuss with us his position on the anti-Muslim ban. Thats what this is.

The rally was the second of its kind in five days since Trumps Jan. 27 executive order that placed a temporary ban on immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries.

Daines got national attention when he issued a statement explaining why he thought it was a good idea.

We are at war with Islamic extremists and anything less than 100 percent verification of these refugees backgrounds puts our national security at risk, he said. We need to take the time to examine our existing programs to ensure terrorists aren't entering our country. The safety of U.S. citizens must be our number one priority.

Speakers at Fridays rally included Mayor John Engen and Marilyn Marler of the Missoula City Council.

In my mind America is a country thats strong and generous, Marler said. The presidents ban on refugees is cowardly. Its neither strong nor generous.

Engen said he was glad he was there and Im glad more people are coming all the time to make our world better, brighter, different, varied, exciting, interesting colorful, meaningful.

Montana is for everyone and Missoula is for everyone.

Missoula has welcomed 16 families from the Congo, Eritrea, Iraq and Syria in the past five months, said Mary Poole of Soft Landing Missoula.

In this tiny amount of time, these families have already begun to weave into the fabric and daily life of hundreds of Missoulians, Poole said. They have enriched many of our churches and faith communities, adding experience and a global perspective to our public schools, entered our work force, and a few brave souls have even dared to explore our ski hills.

Eamon Ormseth of SALAM Missoula, a support and educational group for local Muslims, was master of ceremonies for the 35-minute event under the canopy at Caras Park. He introduced speakers Laurie Franklin, rabbinic intern and spiritual leader of Har Shalom, Pastor John Daniels of First United Methodist Church, and Claire Charlo, a descendant of Chief Charlo of the Bitterroot Salish.

The rally was one of five around the state, starting with one in Billings on Thursday evening. Three hundred people attended a rally on the downtown walking mall in Helena on Friday at noon, the same time Bozeman and Eureka planned events.

The participants carried banners that read Daines Meet, Dont Tweet, Muslims Are My Friends, and Treating Refugees As the Problem Is the Problem.

Charlo noted the snow coming down and related to the demeaning name sensitive liberal snowflakes.

My tribe believes that the snow brings the ancestors songs, the snow brings the ancestors. And its very powerful, she said.

If being a snowflake means that I believe in equity, equality, if I believe that takes courage to be compassionate, if I believe that I can love fiercely, then I am a snowflake.

Daniels said his family, some of whom attended, say every day they are angry and frightened.

Thats a dangerous combination if it goes awry, the Methodist minister said. Those two things, if theyre not guided, can go into this dark morass called hatred, and I think thats what were experiencing in our country today: the dangers of hatred.

Stacy Houge showed up in the cold to support resisting whats happening.

She brought with her Lewis and Clark Elementary third-grader Oliver Darlington and second-grader Khaden Meyers, each of whom carried a sign.

Darlingtons said Stand for Nonviolence. Stand for hope. Stand for love.

Meyers said Empathy and compassion.

Why did he come? Darlington was asked.

Donald Trump, he answered promptly. Im scared of Donald Trump.

A spokesperson from Daines office didnt say if he would agree to meet with leaders of the rally.

"Steve's number one priority is to represent all Montanans and Montana values in the Senate, she said in an email to the Missoulian. He welcomes the opinions of everyone from the Treasure State.
Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother became "abuela" on Friday.

It was one of three plays put on by Paxson Elementary's 79 third-graders. The program also included "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "The Frog Prince."

The students' dialogue flowed between Spanish and English; Paxson is Missoula County Public Schools' sole dual-language immersion school. This is the second year the school has performed dual-language plays, thanks to Spark! Arts Ignite Learning and the Missoula Children's Theatre.

"The level of proficiency in some of the third grade ... is really quite impressive," said principal Peter Halloran, who used to teach Spanish and grew up less than an hour from the Mexico border.

"It opens up their worlds. Language is a gateway, language is a bridge that allows you to access other cultures, other perspectives and other ways of thinking. MCPS and Paxson's philosophy is we live in a global world, and we're raising our students to be prepared to not only participate but contribute."

Spanish came into Paxson classrooms in 2013, and has transitioned to reach more and more students ever since. This school year marks the first year of full immersion; starting with this year's kindergarten class, every student spends half their day in Spanish-led instruction.

"I love it," said third-grader Lexi Souliere, who played a knight in Frog Prince. "It's fun to learn another language."

***

It's starting to show.

According to data from MCPS third-graders' Smarter Balanced exams last year, Paxson students showed higher proficiency in the listening portion of the English exam than did the rest of MCPS' third-graders.

On the test, 94 percent of Paxson third-graders were proficient, with 42 percent above proficient. That's compared to 89 percent proficiency in the other schools.

"It's one data source that is worthy of celebrating," said executive director of teaching and learning Elise Guest.

The English exam assesses listening, reading, writing and research inquiry.

"They're really accessing other communication skills besides reading and writing," Guest said. "Their focus in the classroom is more presenting, listening and speaking with each other  that focus on the oral piece. The result is you see it cross over to other areas of their learning."

Research on the benefits of dual-language study for native English speakers is slim, but some studies show a correlation between students who speak multiple languages and higher achievement.

A study of Portland Public Schools' dual-language programs in 2015 found that students randomly assigned to immersion outperformed their peers in English by about seven months in fifth grade and by nine months in eighth grade.

Six states, as well as Washington, D.C., require students to complete one or more foreign language credit to earn a standard high school diploma, according to the Education Commission of the States. Two more states will add a foreign language requirement for future graduating classes.

Montana does not have a foreign language requirement, though local school districts' requirements can add to the state's baseline. MCPS, for example, requires 24 credits to graduate, whereas the state requires 20 (MCPS has additional requirements in math, social studies, health enhancement and electives). Foreign language is not required.

***

Full immersion is a shift from the lottery system of years past.

Paxson's started out as an opt-in program, meaning families would submit their student's name and a random lottery would determine who got to be in Spanish immersion.

"It was kind of controversial," said third- and fourth-grade Spanish exposure teacher Miranda Mosis. "Some parents were saying, 'Why didn't my kid get in?'"

Then it shifted to opt-out, meaning students got some Spanish instruction unless their parents chose otherwise.

In full immersion, kindergartners spend half their day in a Spanish-speaking classroom, and third-graders spend a third of their day. The other grades will transition into full immersion year after year.

MCT education director Matt Loehrke and tour marketing associate Dory Lerew helped with Paxson's plays, including acting in lead English-speaking roles.

They admit: They're a bit jealous of Paxson kids.

"I'm not fluent in any other language," Loehrke said.

"This is a skill they'll have the rest of their lives," Lerew said.

This third-grade class is made up of students who have learned in Spanish since kindergarten, those who had some exposure to Spanish last year, and those who are in their first year of Spanish.

Kids in the lead roles rattled off their Spanish lines with ease, projecting their voices to the back row. Some of the new Spanish speakers were hesitant, though most remembered their lines, as did the few who had lines in English.

"It's really empowering for kids to show off their Spanish skills," said third grade teacher Ted Muhs. "It's a fun way to put their developing Spanish skills into practice."

But it's more than being able to read and speak a language, Muhs said.

"Something easy to overlook is they're not just memorizing lines," he said. "They understand what they're saying and they're interacting in the play."

He's starting to see the payoff of dual-language education in his students, some of whom are showing growth in subjects in which they were struggling before starting Spanish.

"They have biliteracy, because they're learning content in social studies, in science through a second language," he said.

As the final play ended, the cast squeezed on stage to sing a song and wave goodbye.

"Gracias!" they yelled to the crowd.
Just before Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst rested the prosecutions case against Emmanuel Gomez on Friday, she asked police detective Stacy Lear to hold up the clothing Charlie Ann Wyrick was wearing when her body was found frozen at the bottom of a Deer Creek ravine in December 2015.

Gomez is charged with deliberate homicide as well as a misdemeanor for partner or family member assault in the case.

Lear unrolled a pair of jeans, then unfolded a hooded sweatshirt with a camouflage pattern, showing the jury a slice in the chest that lined up with a stab wound on Wyricks body. She turned the jacket inside out, showing a dark stain down the front, before opening the last sealed evidence package.

It was a short-sleeved shirt Wyrick had on under the sweatshirt. It was originally teal in color, but the front and back were almost entirely covered by dark crimson stains.

Lear was the last person to testify before the prosecution rested its case on Friday. Saying she didnt want to start jury deliberations late in the day just before a weekend, District Court Judge Karen Townsend let jurors leave until Monday, keeping the attorneys in court to decide on final jury instructions.

Townsend indicated closing statements would begin at the start of the day on Monday, meaning its unlikely the defense intends to call any witnesses or have Gomez testify on his own behalf.

***

After the morning of Dec. 21, 2015, when roommates heard a scream following an argument between Gomez and Wyrick, and saw him leaving in his SUV, Lear said Gomez placed several phone calls to his mother. He also searched the web for Missoula stabbings police scanner codes and missing persons reports for Montana, she testified.

Defense attorney Brian Smith asked Lear if the stabbings searches could have been about a prominent case from a few days earlier, in which a woman was stabbed in a parking lot and another woman was killed in a motel room.

He also said there was nothing illegal about people listening to the scanner.

On Dec. 22, 2015, Gomez bought cleaning supplies. When police searched his house after Wyrick was declared missing days later, Lear said they found his SUV's center console, which still had traces of Wyricks blood, in his room.

In his bathroom, Lear found a towel stained with Wyricks blood, along with a bottle of a cleaning solution. Smith asked Lear if she thought it was odd someone would keep cleaning supplies in the bathroom. Pabst showed the detective a photo of the bathroom, asking her to describe whether it was clean or not. Lear said the room was disgusting, and that the variety of cleaning products in the house and vehicle stood out to her.

They primarily appear to have been used to clean up blood. They certainly werent used to clean up this bathroom, Lear said.

Before she left the stand, Smith asked Lear to read a series of text messages recovered from Gomezs phone that were part of a conversation between Gomez and Wyrick. In the exchange, days before Wyrick went missing, the couple wrote that they loved each other, and chatted about meeting for lunch.

Smith also showed a series of photos to the jury from Wyricks phone, including one of her and Gomez overlaid with the words My baby.
Mother Nature is armed and marching through western Montana  and it looks like shes got both guns blazing.

From sub-zero lows in parts of the region as we headed toward the first weekend of February, residents could be dealing with potential flooding by the months second weekend.

In between will come snow (up to a foot and a half in the Flathead Valley), rain, freezing rain and snow-and-rain mixes as temperatures climb above 32 degrees during the days, and drop below the freezing mark at night.

By Thursday or Friday, high temperatures could reach the mid-40s, and lows may be in the low 30s. The accompanying snowmelt could pose flooding problems.

All sorts of changes are coming, says Dan Zumpfe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula. It could be quite a wacky week.

***

It got off to a bad start Friday, with a pair of two-vehicle crashes that included three tractor-trailers on a short stretch of Interstate 90 about five miles west of St. Regis.

The wrecks, less than two miles apart, blocked both westbound lanes for a period. There were no injuries.

Two tractor-trailers were involved in the first crash, at about 1 p.m., and a tractor-trailer and a vehicle were involved in the second about 15 minutes later. In addition, the Highway Patrol said there were a number of slide-offs reported in the area.

The crashes occurred during snow and severe driving conditions, said the Montana Department of Transportation.

Chains were required for towing units on Lookout Pass. The severe driving conditions on I-90 ran more than 30 miles on either side of the Montana-Idaho border, according to DOT.

Other parts of I-90, and Montana Highway 200, reported blowing and drifting snow.

***

Zumpfe said that in Missoula proper, only 2 to 3 inches of snow is expected through Monday, but farther north, it could be 12 to 18 inches. Mountains in and near Glacier National Park could get another 3 feet of snow.

When you go up to Kalispell, you might be seeing over a foot of snow, and maybe a foot-and-a-half, he said. Later (early next week) the snow will transition into freezing rain.

By Thursday, another scenario is forecast.

Well go from highs near freezing and lows in the teens, to lows near freezing and highs in the mid-40s, Zumpfe said.

That could bring about conditions similar to the end of winter in 2014.

Once the snow starts melting, ponding could be an issue along with flooding, Zumpfe said.

Zumpfe also warned drivers to be extra-careful, given the sometimes fluctuating, sometimes changing conditions expected in the coming days.

It might make for tricky driving with all the snow and ice, he said. And sometimes, people think freezing rain means the temperature is below freezing, but rain can freeze after it hits because the ground has been cold for so long.
A proposed pig research facility would not be located on campus, but the lab remains under consideration at the University of Montana.

"The location has not been determined," said Scott Whittenburg, vice president for research, on Friday. "It will not be on campus. And it will not be at Fort Missoula."

According to UM records, the university may consider sites outside Missoula County including locations closer to Hamilton.

UM officials have tried to keep the idea under wraps although internal communications show discussions about porcine research have been underway since at least May 2016.

Friday, UM had not yet decided whether to move forward on a proposal that involves hiring a faculty member with expertise in pig research, and opening the porcine research facility.

The idea already has drawn support and opposition. Some faculty members have weighed in to back the proposal  arguing animal research saves lives and is "vital to relieving human suffering."

But other faculty members and community members have protested the idea. Opponents have urged UM to fund "cutting-edge non-animal methods" instead of animal research.

Kevin Boileau, co-director of Freedom 4 Animals, has said he wants UM to engage the wider community about the research, and he provided public records from UM to the Missoulian on Friday.

In December, Anita Santasier, chair of the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, sent a note to colleagues about the facility in response to a Missoulian story.

"One of the issues discussed centered around having one consistent and accurate voice," Santasier wrote. "We are not going public with the porcine facility until we get the president's OK, which is presently dependent on the overall cost estimate ...

"But I do believe we need to address the ethics and practice at UM for animal research in general."

In response, another faculty member agreed UM's response needed to be broad and not focused on one species.

"I think the response needs to reflect the importance of all animal models, not just pigs," said a professor in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences. "That being said, (redacted) will be sending me some of the talking points she has used in public education regarding her projects.

"(For example I am pretty sure all injuries are induced under anesthesia)."

UM has been in discussions with a researcher and associate professor at the University of Alabama School of Medicine, Candace Floyd, about coming to Missoula.

Floyd's web page notes she directs a research team at her laboratory focused on spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation website identifies its spinal cord research program as having the only porcine lab in the U.S.

Friday, Whittenburg addressed the proposed location of the site, but otherwise declined to respond to questions. Whittenburg directed inquiries to communications director Paula Short, who agreed to an interview next week.

***

In emails, another research professor also urged recipients of the chain "try to take the focus off pigs and address the protections ... in place for all animal research at UM."

"A single well written statement (one consistent and accurate voice) from the university stating our commitment to animal welfare and upholding the highest standards of animal care for all work conducted at the university could go a long way to dispel some of the community concerns.

"If the large animal facility is approved, a community or university outreach forum could be set up to address questions and concerns at that time."

In the communication, UM employees also argued that faculty searches should not be subject to political pressure. UM is the "ideal environment" for discussing animal research, but a Faculty Senate meeting is a questionable forum for the dialogue, one professor argued.

Whittenburg agreed, the communication shows: "As you say, next, right wing groups will want us (to) open up searches and help choose a climate person."

***

In correspondence last summer, Whittenburg discussed purchasing or leasing a facility "to do the porcine work." The needs include an enclosed loading dock, surgery room, pre-surgery room, post-surgery room, animal run, and animal holding "for up to 15 pigs and the 30 pigs" for another UM researcher, an email said.

Whittenburg declined Friday to identify the species of pigs or address the specific projects UM might launch at such a lab.

An email notes the facility would also need a dirty wash room, clean room, and clean storage for cages, food and bedding, as well as office space, showers, a break room, and locker rooms for workers.

In July, the research vice president toured a potential facility near the airport, and at the time, he said in an email he believed UM was at least six months away from a facility, "assuming no major hurdles in getting approved," but likely closer to a year.

In correspondence, Whittenburg also suggested a site "outside Missoula County," writing that "permitting process in Missoula is tough."

The animal expenses were estimated at $100,000, according to the records. The funding sources were not clear, but Whittenburg said that UM would own the facility after five years and "can only make money on this."

"Large animal facilities are in demand," he said in early August.
Remember when the voters elected the first black president, twice? He also campaigned for change in Washington, D.C. He was met with Republican obstruction from Day One. Conservatives cried loudly, shut down government, and yelled "you lie" during a State of the Union address. What crybabies!

Those crybabies now call liberals crybabies for exercising their right to express their opinions publicly. Like Donald Trump, they sling insults because it is all they have to offer. They ignore and deny the facts.

First, Trump has imposed unconstitutional measures restricting Muslim immigrants from seven countries listed as dangerous areas for travel. Trump omitted countries like Saudi Arabia where he has business interests. Remember that nine of the 16 Sept. 11 attackers were from that country. Is Trump more concerned about national security or his businesses?

Next, President Trump is "at war" with the media for calling him on his lies, such as accusations of voter fraud, inauguration attendance numbers, and that he was responsible for job creation by a recent General Motors announcement, a claim quickly refuted by the company. Also, a Trump aide said that "alternative facts" are OK, which is an attempt to legitimize lying.

I was privileged to serve our country in the military for 20 years while defending the rights of all its citizens to have and speak their opinions. I sometimes feel compelled to exercise my rights to do so, also. If that makes me a crybaby, consider the song lyrics: "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

Leonard Frank,

Missoula
On Saturday, Jan. 21, I was privileged to join a group marching in Helena in support of the Women's March on Washington, D.C. That march drew over 600,000 women, men and children in a peaceful protest that saw not one arrest. In Montana, we proudly gathered more than 10,000 marchers, ages ranging from less than 2 to 94, to gather before our state's magnificent Capitol. The mood was invigorating, but why were we there?

Indeed, why did we march? Was it a protest of the newly elected president? Or was it in response to his campaign promises that he is now bringing to fruition through executive orders that target and alienate seniors among us, immigrants among us, women, African Americans, Latinos and the "dream children" among us? Not all of us could march, so those who could, did.

I marched because once, Rosa Parks defiantly sat where she wanted. I marched because Jeannette Rankin stood bravely as the sole voice against world war; not once, but twice. And I marched because Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for the right of all women to vote, rich and poor alike.

Generations before me have defined and stood up for my rights as an American citizen. As they didn't know me, I don't know the effect of my demands for affordable health care for all, or civil treatment of our immigrants. But I know what the United States of America stands for - we stand for inalienable rights for all.

That's why I marched.

Elisabeth Hudnutt,

Choteau
Almost a century ago the attorney general of the United States, under the direction of President Wilson, rounded up and arrested 10,000 American citizens of German, Irish and Eastern European descent because they supposedly constituted a threat to American democracy. The Palmer Raids, as they were known, were conducted without cause other than that Germans couldn't be trusted (after World War I), nor Irish (because of the troubles in Ireland), nor people deemed communist sympathizers simply because of their ethnic or national origins.

In 1941, history repeated itself when American citizens of Japanese descent were rounded up and put into internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The same rationale was used then as is used now: these people are threats to American security, even if facts argue the opposite.

History repeats itself yet again. The fear and loathing against Muslims is creating an atmosphere of mistrust that is spilling over to violent attacks on houses of worship and on people because of their national or religious origins. I am ashamed of a president who would stir up ethnic hatred against Muslims, Mexicans and others, just as I am encouraged by the community of citizens willing to stand up against these abuses. America makes America great, not a demagogue willing to exploit fear for his own personal ambitions.

Ronald Tobias,

Philipsburg